Giles lay back in his hospital bed going through the deep recesses of his memory looking for the events that led up to his current heavily bandaged-self. The large amount of painkillers flowing through his veins didn't help but then neither would screaming like a lunatic who has just been told that fish can't talk let alone discuss macroeconomic policies designed to give genuine relief to the poor whilst maintaining low levels of taxation. His mind flashed him back to a bright shining light. Had he died then been brought back to life on the operating table? Had he been on the verge of entry to the glorious kingdom of heaven for an eternity of happiness? His mind continued the flashback to reveal the source of the light as the sun reflecting off a very shiny and expensive looking car. Oh, well. He probably would have got bored. Eternity is a very long time after all. He hoped he had banged up that rich kid's car. You know, done some serious damage to it. Damn, he hated spoilt brats racing around with not a care in the world. He missed being young.
Buffy entered the room, saw Giles dazedly smiling and thought the drugs must be working. "Hey." She said stepping forward to the edge of his bed.
"Oh." Giles snapped back to reality. "Hello Buffy."
"Are you okay?" They both looked at the various bleeping machines he was hooked up too. "Stupid question."
"I'm fine." He said reassuringly.
Buffy smiled with relief.
Giles looked down to her bandaged hand. Buffy saw him looking and instinctively clutched her damaged hand. "It's nothing. A little bit of glass, that's all. Xander's much worse."
"What's wrong with Xander?"
"He got a brick in the back of his head. 23 stitches and a concussion. Doctor said he would be good as new in a few weeks. He's in a room down the hall."
"What happened? Vampire?"
"Yeah. But…" Buffy hesitated as if she thought Giles might laugh at her if she continued. "They were daylight vamps."
"Daylight vamps?"
"Yeah."
Giles went into deep thought mode and said, almost to himself, "So, it has begun."
After a moment's pause, during which Buffy looked confusingly at him, she said, "Err…what's begun?"
"Faith hasn't called you?" Said Giles in surprise.
"Nope."
"I knew that mobile wasn't any good."
"What?"
"Oh. Nothing. So, you don't know anything about the coming of Bastook?"
Buffy shook her head.
"The ritual of deliverance?"
Buffy made a no type sound. Kind of a cross between a baby refusing to play peep-a-boo and an Englishmen trying to buy a loaf of bread from a French bakery that only sells baguettes.
"The chest of Hadiz?"
"This feels like my English exam. Not that I didn't read the book. I did. It's just…"
"Buffy this is slightly more important that your English exam. This is the end of the world."
"That's what I told Mr Greenway."