CHAPTER FOUR

There was a knock at the door just before the sun was about to go down. Giles stood up tiredly to open the door and gave a quick glance towards Buffy who was still tossing and turning on the couch.

He had considered moving her upstairs to his bed but Spike had told him it would be easier to move her if they needed to while she was still downstairs.

Giles opened the door and saw Xander and Anya standing there, hand-in-hand, Tara standing a few feet behind them. He motioned for them to come in, and the three of them immediately noticed the still silence in the room.

Xander was the first to see Buffy sleeping on the couch, Spike sitting beside her, a wet wash cloth to her forehead.

"What happened?" Xander asked quickly.

Giles sighed, wishing he didn't have to tell the complete story but knowing that he would have to anyway.

"Buffy was attacked last night by a rather ferocious demon. Some of it's blood infected her-"

"You mean like those mind reading demons when we were in high school?" Xander asked.

Giles shook his head. "No, nothing like that. These demons.they come out of hiding every ten years to.to feed on the blood of a Slayer. Most other Slayers tend to fare a little bit better than Buffy did I'm afraid."

Anya looked on in shock. "But.Buffy's unbeatable. Well, except for hellgods, and that really old Master guy but, apart from that."

"It seems that th-the demon is weakening her defences. Making her weaker and weaker until he can feed on her without her putting up much of a fight. The only way to cure what Buffy's going through is to kill the demon," Giles explained.

"Alright then, avengers assemble," Xander said without hesitation. "We find this demon, kill it and Buffy gets better."

Spike glared at Xander and shook his head. "S'not that simple mate."

"The demon seems to be.rather brutal. If neither Buffy nor Spike could defeat it, I rather think that none of us will stand much of a chance," Giles said.

Willow went to suggest a spell, but quickly opted not to say anything regarding magic, especially in Giles' presence.

"Well, what about a spell of some sort?" Xander asked.

Willow winced, hating that Xander and she were still on the same wavelength at times.

Giles cast a look at Willow who could only look away.

"Willow won't be performing any more magic," Giles said, his voice showing that he wasn't going to waver on his stance.

Tara looked towards her girlfriend worriedly.

"Oookay," Xander said. "Which begs the question, why?"

Giles was silently seething. Spike looked up from his position of tending to Buffy.

"Red cast a spell that backfired," he explained.

Tara glared towards Willow who refused to meet her gaze.

"Why am I not surprised?" Anya muttered under her breath.

Willow glared at the ex-demon and tried to blink back tears.

There was a silence that followed and Xander finally choked under the tension.

"There's more about Buffy's condition than you're telling us," Xander said.

Giles nodded and removed his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"The demon that did this to Buffy is opening up her defences, leaving her vulnerable to everything, especially to dark magic of any sort," Giles said.

Tara looked towards Willow, aghast. "You used a spell on Buffy?"

Willow shook her head. "I didn't know this was going to happen! I was just trying to make things better," Willow protested.

"I don't get it, what spell?" Xander asked.

Giles looked towards Willow, wanting her to explain her folly in all of this.

"It was a memory spell," Willow finally whispered. "I was just trying to make her happier."

Xander looked at his best friend in shock. When had she got so completely selfish?

"No you weren't," Xander accused, his voice becoming tinged with bitterness.

"Xander," Giles said sharply.

"Giles, I'm sorry, but.Willow, you weren't doing this for her and you know it. You just hated that she couldn't look at you. At any of us. You hated that she hated us. Well, newsflash Will," Xander said, his voice nearly becoming a yell, "It hurt all of us, but we have to deal. We made a mistake, and she was trying dammit! She was trying so hard for us, but you couldn't leave it alone."

Xander stopped himself before he went into an all out rage. He would have as well, but he knew it wouldn't help the situation at all.

He looked towards Giles and offered a silent apology which was immediately accepted.

"So, what are our options?"

Giles was silent for a moment, trying to think of a way to save Buffy from a third death.

"Rupert," Spike began softly. Giles looked up at the vampire who looked extremely hesitant about what he was about to say.

"I know you hate 'im as much as I do, probably more, but.Angel could be our best hope," Spike said.

Giles nodded slowly. "I'll call him."

~*~

The group stood uncomfortably in Giles' living room, none of them able to hear what Giles was saying softly on the phone.

All eyes in the room were trained on the fitfully sleeping Slayer.

She suddenly shot up on the couch, startling everyone in the room. Spike automatically went to her, holding onto her tightly. The compound that Giles had given her was still working, making her have the strength of a normal person.or a normal sick person at least.

"You're alright, pet," Spike whispered.

She struggled against him violently.

"Get away from me!" she cried, trying to get out of his grasp. She tried to kick him away, but he wouldn't let go.

"Giles!" she cried, tears streaming down her face.

Spike let go, wondering how much farther back her memory had gone.

Giles had heard Buffy's cry and had dropped the phone, racing towards the living room and gathering the crying Slayer in his arms.

"Shhh, it's okay. No one's going to hurt you."

"But Spike.he's.he's evil. He could.he can hurt you. Don't let.don't let him hurt you. He's.chip but.he's evil. He.hurts.don't want to hurt people," she said, trying to speak coherently through her sobs.

Spike could only close his eyes in pain. Her memory was going back quickly, if she was forgetting that he wasn't evil anymore. Which meant that within a few hours, she would forget that he couldn't harm anyone even if he wanted to.

"I'm safe Buffy. He won't hurt me."

Buffy nodded, somehow accepting the answer. She closed her eyes again and leant herself on his shoulder. He gently kissed her forehead and rocked back and forth as though he was cradling a small child in his arms.

He laid her back down on the couch and looked towards Xander who immediately shot towards where Buffy lay and took over Giles' job of tending to Buffy.

Giles walked back into the kitchen and quickly told the vampire who had stayed on the other end of the phone to hurry before he hung up the phone.

He walked back into the living room and glanced apologetically at Spike.

"I'm sorry, but-"

"I should go," Spike finished. He nodded sadly and shrugged into his jacket. "Give us a yell as soon as you find out anything. I'll be demon hunting tonight so.with any luck I'll find the bugger and kill 'im."

Giles gave a small smile and sat down on the couch next to Buffy, shifting her so that her head was resting in his lap. She gave a contented sigh and nestled further into him.

There was silence as Spike walked dejectedly outside, thankful that Buffy had chosen a moment just after sunset to forget that he was harmless.

Xander looked up at Giles and sighed. He didn't know any other ways to help Buffy or to help Giles either.

"Can we do anything?" Xander asked.

Giles shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid not. A-Angel will be coming from LA, he said he'd be here in the morning. He's bringing Wesley and another friend of his with him as well. He assures me that they're more than capable."

"Wesley? As in, touch-me-with-a-feather-and-I-jump-and-scream-like-a-woman Wesley?" Xander asked.

Giles nodded. "Apparently he's a rather good fighter."

Xander shrugged. "Well, Wes did live on the hellmouth for a while I suppose."

There was silence once more. Tara looked around uncomfortably. She hated the fact that Willow had cast such a stupid spell on her best friend knowing that it was dangerous and extremely self-centred. Tara needed to get out of there soon before she exploded at her girlfriend in front of the group that had accepted her unconditionally.

Buffy had known absolutely nothing about her, except that she might have been a potential threat and even then, Buffy hadn't hesitated to defend her so completely against Tara's father. Even though Tara had found a girlfriend in Willow, she had found something of a kindred soul in Buffy.

"Mr Giles, if you don't n-need me here, I'm gonna go."

Giles nodded softly and gave the girl a smile. "Of course. I'll keep you updated."

Tara nodded and looked down at Buffy. She gently touched the sleeping Slayer's forehead.

"Peace," she whispered.

Buffy seemed to stop tossing for a moment before her body relaxed completely, falling into a restful sleep.

Giles looked up at Tara in surprise and smiled genuinely for the first time in days. "Thank you."

Tara nodded and walked out the door, aware that Willow's eyes were on her as she walked away. She didn't look back.

~*~

There was a knock at the door and Xander sprang to his feet, not wanting Giles to stand in case he disturbed the sleep that Buffy was getting. She had slept fitfully through the night, waking up intermittently, screaming out her fears for a certain person that had gone through problems so many years ago. It had frightened the group to see how much Buffy had taken on over the course of a few years.

Some of the things she had battled the group had never known about, and none of the group had ever really considered how much she had taken the incidents to heart. How much she had blamed herself for everything that had happened to the group.

The sun had come up nearly an hour ago, each of the group looking worse for wear. Giles had told them to leave, but, none of them were willing to leave Buffy's side. Giles' hadn't had the heart to force them away.

Xander opened the door and stepped back as a blanket-wearing Angel rushed past him out of the sunlight. Wesley, Cordelia and a young man that Xander had never met before walked in behind him.

Xander smiled as he saw his ex-girlfriend walked in.

"It's good to see you Cor," he whispered.

She took him completely by surprise and enveloped him in a hug. He hugged her back and ushered her in.

"Xander, this is Gunn. Gunn, meet Xander, the only person to think that Hawaiian shirts are still in," Cordelia said, a smile playing across her face.

Xander grinned at her and shook Gunn's hand. "It's nice to know that's some things never change."

"Angel," Giles greeted.

Angel returned the greeting and cast his attention towards Buffy. "How is she?"

"Still in pain. Her fever doesn't seem to be diminishing, and.her memories are getting worse," Giles said.

"You said it was a Miedstayne demon," Wesley said, coming up behind Giles to peer down at the Slayer. He gently put his hand to her forehead, feeling for her temperature.

"She's certainly got the symptoms of the demon, but.I don't understand why her memory is receding. That's never happened to any other Slayers," Wesley stated.

"This has happened to other Slayers?" Xander asked.

Giles nodded. "The demon only feeds on Slayer's blood. But usually the demon will be killed in battle as well, meaning that the Slayer's don't go through what Buffy's going through. They'll just feel something like the flu come over them for about an hour after the demon dies."

"I don't understand how the demon got away," Cordelia stated, taking a seat next to Willow. "Why couldn't she kill the demon?"

Giles looked gently at his Slayer, tears coming to his eyes. "I don't know that she wanted to."

No one in the room moved, everyone seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for a pin to drop in the room. After Buffy's confession of being in heaven, the group didn't question her death wish. They had tried to ignore it, deny it, but they found that it was still hard to grasp when being spoken about aloud.

Buffy stirred in her sleep and opened her eyes tiredly.

Giles looked down at her and helped her to sit up. She looked around the room, her eyes seeming to be focused a little more than they had been in her past awakenings.

"Angel?" she whispered.

Angel stepped forward and touched a cold hand to her burning skin. She leant into it, craving the cold that was bringing a wonderful amount of comfort.

"I'm here Buffy," he whispered.

She smiled and wrapped her arms around him. She leant her head to his chest, pressing her ear over his unbeating heart.

She looked up at him in confusion. "It's gone," she whispered.

"What's gone?" he asked.

"Your heartbeat. It's not there. It was there! I heard it!" she cried.

Angel looked at her, astounded. How had she remembered their twenty four hours together with him as a human being?

"It's okay Buffy. It wasn't meant to be," he said, trying to calm her down.

"No you were.it was good, remember? You could.we could.without the curse! You were alive!" she said, her small fists pounding on his chest as if to try and restart his heart once more.

Giles pulled her gently away from Angel who stood up and took a step back, trying to ignore the looks that he was getting from everyone around him.

"Buffy," he whispered.

She looked at him, her eyes becoming cloudy once more, staring at him as though she was desperate for answers.

"Is Xander.he's okay, right?" she asked.

Xander looked up, startled at hearing his name on the Slayer's lips. He couldn't understand why Buffy would ask about him, especially after just saying something about Angel having a heartbeat.

"He's fine Buffy," Giles answered.

Buffy nodded and let herself be pulled back onto the couch, her head resting on Giles lap again. She couldn't help but close her eyes as she felt Giles gently stroking her hair.

Giles sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Giles, it's getting worse," Xander whispered. "She's remembering things that have never happened."

Angel coughed uncomfortably.

"No.they happened," the brooding vampire admitted.

The entire room turned to look at him, surprised by his confession.

"I had a heartbeat. For a day," he said sadly. "And everything was.perfect."