CHAPTER FOURTEEN: GUARDIANSHIP
Morning came and when the Scoobies arrived to find Giles in Sunnydale and in Buffy's kitchen, there were hugs all around. Giles hadn't realised how much he had missed the general bustle of the youngsters that surrounded him. Dawn especially had been thrilled to see Buffy's Watcher back in the house.
After breakfast, the group made their way back to the living room, looking through books to see if they could find out how to reverse the effects of what was happening to Buffy. Surprisingly, it was Anya who had the answer.
"Couldn't you just swear the oaths again?"
She had suggested that after two hours of solid research from the gang. Giles had looked at her in surprise and wondered if Anya's seemingly simple answer could be the one that they were after.
Wesley looked up in deep thought. He reached for Sarah Jacob's journal and flipped to the relevant pages. He read them and nodded thoughtfully.
"I think Anya's quite possibly right," he said. He passed the journal to Giles who read it.
"The voices have stopped. I miss them, yet I am grateful at the same time. I've been given a new Watcher, a female this time."
"It does sound as though this girl was cured by being given another Watcher," Giles said. "I don't understand why she's not better though. There's no real reason for my first oaths to not still be binding. Theoretically Wesley's should have holding over her as well."
Wesley too looked a little flummoxed. "Perhaps the majicks of the breaking of the bond are too strong. We've only really got one more day to be able to cure her. And if Anya's theory is correct, then all you have to do is swear the oath again."
Giles shook his head. "There's more to it than that. You and I should still have had…guardianship of her."
Willow looked towards Giles who suddenly looked panicked.
"What is it Giles?" she asked quietly.
"I don't have guardianship of her," he whispered.
The group looked at each other in confusion. The only one who looked as though he had an idea of what Giles was talking about was Wesley.
"What's he mean by that?" Dawn whispered.
Giles looked towards Dawn. "Do you remember the quest that Buffy went on just after your mother's passing?"
Dawn nodded slowly.
"I transferred my guardianship of her over to a spirit guide. I assumed that when she returned to me that the spell would just reverse itself, but obviously there's another ritual that needs to take place to fully regain my position as her Watcher," Giles explained. "Which means that even if I renew my vows as her Watcher, part of her will still be lost."
"So, can we do the ritual to give you guardianship?" Dawn asked.
Giles ignored the question and frantically flipped through one of the texts that had been on the coffee table. He read through the writing quickly and looked up with a terrified look on his face. "Damn."
The Scoobies all blanched when they heard Giles soft curse. They knew that it couldn't be a good sign.
"What's wrong?" Xander asked eventually when no one else would disturb the silence.
"The completion of guardianship is a spell that Buffy herself must perform," Giles said. "That's why the ritual wasn't complete after the visit to the desert."
"Is Buffy well enough to be doing such a spell?" Wesley asked.
Giles shook his head slowly. "No. She's no where near full strength, and this spell requires intense concentration. Even if she could stay awake for longer than ten minutes, she would need to be in a deep trance that requires more concentration than she has right now."
The room went silent with worry.
"Isn't there some way to transfer strength from one person to another?" Tara asked.
"Isn't that kinda what we did with Adam?" Xander asked.
Giles looked thoughtful and nodded. "It does sound like a good idea."
"An enjoining spell?" Wesley asked. "That's incredibly dangerous. The backlash from the spell could kill her."
"Unless you did the spells in a specific order," Willow said.
The room turned to look at her, and she went bright red.
"I'm just saying…you could perform the enjoining spell to give her more strength, get Buffy to complete the ritual, Giles could renew the Watcher's oath, and then you could break off the enjoiner," Willow explained.
Giles looked hesitant. "That sounds as though we'd have to time everything down to the last microsecond."
"You would have to," Wesley replied. "And it means that someone beside Mr Giles would have to be the person giving their strength. You also have to keep in mind that Buffy's body is used to an inordinate amount of strength, so it would have to be someone who practically equalled her."
The group went silent, trying to think of a solution. Tara was the first to speak up.
"Does the enjoining force have to be human?" she asked.
"If you mean Spike, I'm voting a big no," Xander said.
"You can't enjoin a Slayer and a Vampire anyway," Wesley said. "The demon would end up infecting her, which is something that you wouldn't wish to see."
"Okay, so that's out," Willow said quietly.
"What about Angel?" Cordy suggested. "He's got a soul."
"But he's still got the demon inside of him," Wesley explained. "It's too risky, even though he does have his soul. Plus, we couldn't be guaranteed that Angel himself wouldn't lose his soul if we did this spell."
"That's definitely out," Willow said.
"Quite right," Wesley said. He hesitated and then breathed in deeply. "There's only one person that I can think of who has the strength that Buffy would need."
Giles tried to follow Wesley's train of thought. He caught on quickly. "No. You know Buffy's thoughts on that."
"I do know her thoughts about that. I know my own thoughts about it as well," Wesley replied. "She tried to kill me. Nearly bloody did. But I do know that she wants to make things right with Buffy. Angel told me that she was most worried about making things up to Buffy out of everyone."
Giles sighed and closed his eyes. He could only pray that Buffy would forgive him for allowing this to happen.
"Alright."
"You're talking about Faith aren't you?" Dawn asked.
Wesley and Giles nodded. Dawn had to squash down her anger at the second Slayer who had very nearly killed Buffy and had almost got away with stealing Buffy's body so many years back.
"We still have the problem of Faith being in prison," Giles said. "And, without the help from the Council, we won't be able to get her out anytime soon. And this spell needs to be performed before tomorrow evening."
"C-c-could we do the spell in LA?" Tara asked. "You wouldn't need to be in the same room, you'd just n-need to be within a one mile r-radius."
"We could do that. It seems much simpler than bringing Faith here," Wesley said.
"And Faith doesn't have to perform the spell," Tara said. "The enjoining spell can b-be performed by anyone, they just have to specify who they want to join together. She j-just has to be willing to let her strength be drained for a few hours."
Giles and Wesley looked at each other and stood up simultaneously.
"Looks like we're going to LA," Xander said. Giles stopped before he left the room.
"Wesley, Cordy and I are going to LA with Buffy. You are all staying here in case anything hellmouth related comes up," Giles said.
The group went to protest, but they knew they wouldn't win against Giles. They grudgingly agreed to stay.
"What about me?" Dawn asked. "She's my sister."
Giles softened a little and nodded. "Alright, you can come. But, you must allow us to concentrate when we're doing the spells. That means no interruptions, at all."
"I'll be quiet as a mouse, I swear," she promised.
"Alright then. Dawn, if you could pack a bag for yourself and for Buffy, that would be greatly appreciated."
Dawn nodded and moved to do as asked.
"Who's going to perform the enjoining spell?" Willow asked curiously.
"I'll perform the most of it. When it comes time to recite my oaths, Wesley will take over the spell for me, until I can complete the vows. When I finish, I'll pick the spell back up from Wesley and then break off the enjoining," Giles said.
"Are you sure you don't want me or Tara there just in case?" she asked.
Giles shook his head. "You've come so far without your magick, Willow. I won't have you jeopardise that."
Willow sighed and nodded, understanding why he wouldn't let her come. "What about Tara?"
"Wesley and I will be able to handle it."
The group could only watch as Wesley, Cordy, Dawn and Giles who was carrying Buffy, headed for LA to cure their best friend. All they could do was wait and quietly pray to the Powers that she would be alright.