CHAPTER EIGHT: REVELATIONS
The room burst out with noise, seemingly endless statements of disbelief of "What?!" "Oh my god" "Since when?" "Why wouldn't she say anything?" "Does Giles know?"
Wesley held up a hand and the room went quiet. He was a little astounded by the fact that they had given him authority when the never previously had. He supposed it had something to do with the fact that it was only his presence in the room that was keeping Buffy somewhat lucid.
"We don't know that for certain," he said quietly.
Cordy shook her head and stood up, looking down at Buffy. She ran a gentle hand over the Slayer's forehead, brushing back strands of hair. Willow looked on in shock. She'd never seen Cordy be so gentle with anyone, especially not Buffy. There had always been badness between Cordy and the Slayer, and to see Cordy so sympathetic towards Buffy seemed incredibly strange.
"She loved him. I felt it in my vision. She…she's so sad without him," she whispered.
The room shuffled uncomfortably. They had all noticed the way that Buffy flinched whenever Giles was mentioned. They had all noticed the way that Buffy and Giles had looked at each other the first time they had reunited after Buffy's resurrection.
Anya could have sworn that Giles looked as though he had wanted to kiss her when he had touched Buffy's face and called her a miracle.
"Of course she loves him, but…that doesn't mean she's in love with him," Xander protested.
It seemed far too strange to him. Giles was like a father to them all. How could Buffy have fallen in love with him? It was just…weird.
Tara stepped in shyly. "It kinda m-makes sense though, doesn't it? They h-have a destiny together. Historically, the b-bond between a Slayer and her Watcher is…unbreakable."
"Unless the Watcher, oh say…leaves," Anya added angrily. She regarded the Slayer, someone she considered a friend. "If I still had my Powers, I'd be wreaking vengeance."
Wesley ran a tired hand across his face.
"It still doesn't make sense. I've always known that Buffy and Mr Giles had a close bond, closer than the Council usually allows, but…even though they were close, and even though she has feelings for him, there's no reason for her to be feeling the way these girls did when they lost their husbands. I mean…I've heard myths of course, but…I'd never believed them to be true," Wesley said quietly, the last part more to himself than to the group.
Xander chuckled a little. "Huh…a Watcher not believing in myths. I thought that was part of the whole gig."
Wesley looked up, trying to catch what the young man had said.
"Oh…well, there is an old wives tale about Watchers and Slayers marrying. Mostly the Council tells of the affects on the Watchers, that they drive themselves mad once their Slayer dies. The flip-side to it is that the Slayer will die as well if they lose their husbands. The bond between them breaks at the point of death and takes about two months to completely disintegrate. Legend has it that it's a rather excruciating time," Wesley explained.
"Well, as far as we know, they aren't married," Willow said quietly. "And there's no way that Giles would have left if they were."
Tara looked towards Wesley, hesitant to ask this in front of the group.
"Did they have to be m-m-married for this sort of thing to happen? Has any Slayer ever had this sort of a b-break-down even though she w-wasn't married?" Tara asked.
Wesley shook his head thoughtfully. "Not since the 1800's, and all of those Slayers had married. Like Anya said earlier, the Council no longer allowed marriages between Slayer and Watcher. There was only one other couple who defied Council and had a relationship, which was in 1912, but both Slayer and Watcher died before they could be legally wed."
Willow regarded her lover curiously, wondering where Tara was going with her questions.
"Tara?"
Tara looked up at Willow.
"What if what's wrong with Buffy is the same as these other girls? Exactly the same, I mean."
Cordy looked towards the hesitant blonde girl and cocked her head to the side thoughtfully.
"You think they were sleeping together."
Tara nodded and the room fell into silence.
Xander was the first to break it. "No! No way! There's no way that Giles would leave if they'd slept together. And if he did, he should know better than that."
Tara went bright red. "It's j-j-just a theory."
Dawn stepped forward. "It does make sense though. That first diary said it was eight weeks, and…Giles left seven and a half weeks ago. She's got all the symptoms, and I don't care how far she's come with learning Latin for the museum, there's no way she'd just start mumbling the Watcher's oath or whatever it is."
The group nodded thoughtfully at Dawn's explanation. It did make sense. They just couldn't work out what could have happened to make Giles leave though.
"He still wouldn't have left," Willow pointed out.
"Unless it happened before she died," Anya added.
The group turned to look at her. She went a little bit red under their scrutiny.
"I'm just saying…they were really cliquey before she died, and…there's always been some serious vibes between those two. Not to mention all the sparring and stuff. Talk about a way to work up sexual tension. I'd be surprised if they weren't having orgasms together."
Wesley looked at the ex-demon, unable to believe that she'd just come out and said something so incredibly blunt like that. The rest of the room didn't seem to be bothered by it. Almost as though they were used to it. He shrugged and considered her words, however distasteful they were.
"You could very well be right about the timeframe," Wesley said. "What I don't understand however is what happened afterwards. Why he left."
Willow's face fell sadly. "What if he's not in love with her? Oh how horrible."
"Or else he knew that if the Council discovered their relationship, he'd be replaced in a matter of seconds," Wesley said. "Though, they aren't technically under Council jurisdiction anymore. Not since Graduation."
"No, they're back in the Council," Xander corrected. "Since last year about two months before she died. They came here to 'test her methods' or some crap like that. Buffy told 'em where to go and demanded that Giles be put back onto the Council at full pay as well as back pay. It was so cool."
"Hmm," Wesley said thoughtfully. "Then it's quite possible that they either started their affair just before or just after the incident with the Council. My bet is the Council threatened to remove Mr Giles if anything happened between them."
Dawn looked at her now-sleeping sister thoughtfully.
"Wouldn't this sickness thingy have hit straight after? I mean…if they stopped having sex, why wouldn't it have hit her two months later?" she asked.
"She was dead," Willow whispered. "That's why Giles was so upset. Their original bond broke as well as the new one. But then she came back again."
"And as long as Buffy and Giles stayed within the same area, the bond would still be there. Neither of them would have been terribly happy about no longer continuing a physical relationship, but there wouldn't be a reason for this type of reaction. But there's a few thousand miles between them now, so she's no longer feeling the bond, which is what's making her ill," Wesley explained.
"Question?" Xander said, putting his hand up to gain everyone's attention. "If Buffy's like this because of the link, does that mean Giles is as well?"
The Scoobies looked stricken at the thought. The fact that he hadn't answered his phone any of the times they had tried to call him didn't sit well with any of them. Wesley, however, quickly alleviated their fears.
"No, he wouldn't. He'll be upset for certain, but…nothing like this. A Watcher can live without a Slayer, though they never really like to. A Slayer can't go without her Watcher. She's not meant to. It's part of the magick of it all. Her strength, her will to live, usually comes from the Watcher's themselves," Wesley said. "We may have bought her a little more time with me being here, possibly another week, but only because of the oaths I've sworn. If the Council were to hear of this, they would swear in a new Watcher for her."
Dawn didn't look happy about that idea.
"Buffy didn't trust anyone in the Council except you Giles and Merrick. I spoke to her about this, she doesn't want a new Watcher," Dawn explained. "We have to get him here. If she just needs to be close to him, all he has to do is come home."
"Assuming we can get in contact with him," Wesley said.
The group could only cross their fingers and pray that they would be in time to save their friend.