Anya, Giles, Dawn, Spike and all other characters who have appeared in the syndicated series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, together with the names, titles and back story are the sole copyright property of Joss Wheldon, Fox and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement was intended in the writing of this fan fiction. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Please contact the author for permission to reproduce this story on any other fan fiction site.
LOVE/GRAPHIC SEX DISCLAIMER: This story will depict love sexual relationships between all kinds of genders, races or species. If you can't deal, don't read.
TIMEFRAME: After the end of Season Six
PAIRING: Remains to be seen.
Part 2 - Mending
"Anya, could you come over?" Buffy asked, hoping the vengeance demon would understand her over the bad static in the phone line.
"Done." Anya appeared next to Buffy in a swirl of colors. "Sorry for the bad reception, I was in Peru, turning an unfaithful husband's box of chocolate for his girlfriend into a box of llama dung." She chuckled. "I'm always amazed how good you can curse in spanish."
"I'm sorry to pull you from work, I really am. But I was hoping you could do me a little favor?"
"No problem, I was all done. And we don't get paid, so we can take off however much time we want. I'm thinking of reopening the Magic Box and only doing vengeance work on my off hours and weekends." Anya prattled on excitedly.
"The coven in ireland called me, they have a book that they believe
might help with Giles." Buffy interjected, knowing that Xander's
ex-fiancé tended to veer off-track easily. "They want to send it over,
but you know how it is with ancient tomes, you can't really UPS them,
and it would take like a week. I was hoping you could, you know, pop
over and grab it for us. I'll probably also need your demony knowledge
to understand the spell they found."
"Oh, sure. I'm like the demon UPS. Abusing my powers like that actually gets me plus points with the boss. So why don't you call them, let them know that I come, so they don't try to banish or vanquish or stab me when I teleport into their library?"
Buffy grinned, picked up the phone, and after a short conversation hung up again.
"They expect you at 2PM, our time. They need to copy some of the other spells in the book before they are ready to part with it."
"I don't see why they couldn't have just scanned the spell and sent it via email. We live in the 21st century, you know?"
"Don't look at me, demon girl. You know I don't get this old stuffy books deal either." Buffy shrugged. "So how about the Magic Box, do you need help getting it back up running?" She asked, hoping to pass the time until they could get the book.
"Well, you know, there's a lot of damage." Anya sighed and sat down at the table.
"I could help you with that, I mean hello, super strength here. And I
did sort of break half of the things in there." She added sadly,
remembering her fight with Willow.
"The reason I have put it off for so long is that the thing I need most
is a good carpenter." Anya confessed to her friend. "And whatever I do,
it sends out a message. If I hire Xander, it will look like I forgave
him, and if I hire someone else it will make him sad and hurt."
"I thought you wanted to, you know, make him hurt?" Buffy asked softly.
It was a difficult topic for her, because Xander was her best friend,
but she also understood Anya's desire for revenge.
"Oh, I don't know what I want. I thought after I got back into my old job, I would forget about Xander, but being so close to him over the last few months, taking care of Giles, of Willow and of you two, I'm not so sure anymore."
Anya blinked a bit, then continued. "He kinda grows on me. Like a fungus. And lately, when I lie in bed at night and ..."
Buffy coughed demonstratively, knowing Anya's complete disregard for tact.
"... do things that I don't talk about in public and would certainly never mention to Dawn, I think about him a lot." Anya finished her sentence without even flinching at Buffy's cough. "You should see a doctor, that's a nasty cough."
---
The book hadn't brought mugh insight, as it was as cryptic and
difficult to understand as Buffy had expected from the ancient tome.
Anya had excused herself, teleporting off to get some vengeance work
done, and Dawn, who had become quite adept at decyphering old texts
wasn't home from school yet. Buffy frowned, she didn't like the idea of
her little sister reading about demons and magic, but over the last
year, with Giles back in england, Willow off and on the black magic
band waggon and Tara moving out, she had been the only one with the
patience to do research. "And the brains." Buffy dryly confessed to
herself.
Buffy was just about to drop the book to get another coffee, as her phone rung.
"Buffy Summers?"
"Miss Summers, are you able to speak freely?" The female voice on the other end inquired without giving as much as her name.
"Yes, I am. Who is this?"
"I'm sorry, this is Mrs Launder, Mr. Travers' assistant. He'd like to talk to you, can I put you through?"
"Sure." Buffy replied nervously. Having the head of the council call her was not exactly something she was used to, but with Giles out of commission, she realized that she was the obvious choice for the council to contact.
"Miss Summers." The familiar voice greeted her.
"Hello, Quentin. How are things on the other side of the planet?" Buffy
knew that it bugged the much older man when she used his first name,
but the council hadn't exactly treated her well over the years, and
making them feel better was the last thing on her mind.
"As well as can be expected. The council has an unusual proposal to make, and I beg of you that you seriously consider it before rejecting it. We came to the conclusion that it could be an important asset to you and your ... team. Even though we do realize that it at first will sound repulsive to you."
"Quentin, are you going to tell me about this suggestion of yours anytime soon?" Buffy asked, quickly getting annoyed by the watchers stiff voice.
"We have been going over the recent events involving you and your friends, and we believe that you are in dire need of mental health care."
There was a long pause; Buffy was completely speechless.
"Miss Summers, are you still there?"
"You want have me admitted?" She managed to ask, still shocked, her mind busy with a thousand worries about how to avoid the council.
"Oh, god, no. I have to apologize for not being clear. We want to send you council trained psychiatrist." Quentin Travers clarified.
"A shrink?" Buffy asked, still too confused to manage to say much.
"I suppose that is a term you could use. We came to realize that with
the events of the last two years, the loss of your mother, your own
death, the loss of your friend Miss McClay, Miss Rosenberg's path
towards black magic and the ... event at Miss Anya's and Mister Harris'
wedding, you and your friends could benefit from having a trained
professional to talk to."
He paused a moment, seeing if Buffy had anything to say, then
continued. "You couldn't talk to a normal therapist or psychiatrist,
because basicly every word you said would have to be carefully
considered not to betray your true destiny, going against the very idea
of talking to someone. There are very well trained specialists that are
members of the council, which whom you could freely talk."
"And why would you offer that. So you could have a spy right here in Sunnydale, telling you every secret we might share?" Buffy asked angrily, having somewhat recovered from the first shock of the unusual suggestion.
"I assure you, Miss Summers, you would all enjoy full doctor-patient-confidentiality, just as it would be the case with any other doctor. Please excuse my bluntness, but if we wanted to spy on you, we would simply plant surveillance equipment into your house." He pointed out the obvious fact, that with the councils ressources, spying on Buffy and her friends would be easy without their cooperation.
"Then why? You never seemed to care much about my health in the first place." Buffy wasn't about to let the issue drop.
"As I pointed out, the latest events in Sunnydale would have left everyone emotionally and psychiologically scarred. If you don't believe that you could benefit from professional council yourself, then I ask of you to consider your sister, or your best friend. Mister Harris." He added the name after a short pause.
"So this is what this is about. Willow. You think what has happened could have been stopped if she had went to see a therapist?" She accused.
"That is part of the reason, yes." The head of the watchers council
readily confessed. "Miss Summers, after our last meeting two years ago,
the council had much to think about."
"Like you not calling the shots anymore?" Buffy snapped.
"As a matter of fact. As you pointed out then, we'd have to change if we wanted to continue being a support for the slayer line in the future. If you can, accept this as a first step from our side to a new partnership. Please understand that this is only an offer. If you decide against it, we will not try to force it upon you."
The old man sounded almost tired, as he continued. "When we met then,
you made it clear to us that some of the old methods were too
antiquated to be applied to slayers in the new millenium." He coughed.
"To get back to the point. We believe with the absence of Mister Giles,
it is important for all of you to have a person you can talk to freely.
If you yourself don't believe you are in need of such a person, I hope
you will at least acknowledge that your younger sister would benefit
from it, as well as possibly the rest of your friends."
Buffy pondered the thought for a moment, then replied. "Assuming I would agree, which I haven't decided yet, how exactly would this work?"
"Well, we have about half a dozen trained candidates. We would send you their personel files, so that you could decide which of them you consider best suited for your unique group. Additionally, an interview over the phone could be arranged, if you deemed neccessary."
"Go on." Buffy wasn't sold on the idea yet, but couldn't shake the thought that despite her history with the council, Dawn might be in need of the offer, and wasn't about to discard it without giving it some serious thought.
"Your choice would then be sent to Sunnydale, where they would open a regular psychiatric praxis, taking on regular patients. You and your friend would, of course, always come first. You could talk to him or her as often or as rarely as you wish, and about anything you wish. All your conversations would be treated absolutely discreet, not even me being privy to the details."
"I'll think about it and call you back, Mr Travers. Thank you for calling me." buffy hung up the phone, then slumped down on the kitchen chair. That was the last thing she had ever expected from the council.
---
"Stop pacing, Buffy, or go and pace outside!" Dawn complained.
Understanding the old texts was hard enough without her sister giving
her the 'Hurry up, hurry up!' pacing while she was reading.
"You said yourself, Giles is stable, so it's not like rushing me would do him any good."
"I'm sorry, I just feel so useless."
"Well, it's not my fault that our entire research team is gone!" Dawn snapped. "I'm, I'm sorry, Buffy, thats not what I meant."
"No, you are right Dawn. Giles is barely alive, Tara isn't, and Willow ..." Buffy sighed, then sat down next to her sister.
"It's like our head was cut off." Dawn agreed.
"Well, at least we got your pretty head left. I don't get how you can
not get all A's at school, you are better at research than any of them,
except perhaps Giles."
"If ancient nubian would be a class, I'd get A's all the time." She joked lightly. "Wait, that can't be right."
"What is it, Dawn?" Buffy asked, seeing her sister tensing.
"This say here that after what Willow did to Giles, he has no soul anymore!" Dawn said sharply. "As I said, that can't be right. Let me read, Buffy."
"He doesn't act like someone without a soul. He's not evil!" Buffy said, raising her voice a little.
"Buffy, do you even listen? I said it can't be right, meaning that this translation is flawed. Go fetch me the summerian dictionary." The tall brunette was annoyed. "We don't have the original text, so I have to see which word in summerian could have been translated mistakenly as 'soul' into nubian."
She hurriedly flipped through the dictionary. She knew she was on to something. The coven didn't find anything in the book that could help Giles, but if it had indeed been inacurratly translated, the might have missed something.
"There, that makes much more sense." She pointed to a line. "'goch' can
be translated into soul, but it can also mean lifeforce. The book is
mostly about warlocks, who used their magic to steal souls from people,
so it's an obvious translation. But 'goch' can also mean lifeforce,
which is exactly what Giles is missing."
"So why didn't those witches pick it up?"
"Because this spell reads as one used to restore the soul to a person who's soul you took, and we knew Giles didn't lose his soul, so they didn't pay much attention to it."
"But if it means lifeforce ..."
"Exactly, it means that this spell can be used to return Giles'
lifeforce back to him." Dawn explained.
"So we found a cure? We can cure Giles?" Buffy jumped to her feet excited. Then she frowned, as she noticed that her sister wasn't looking very excited. "What's wrong?"
"Remember what I said, Buffy. It can be used to return the lifeforce you took from someone."
"And? I thought you said that's what Willow did to Giles?" Buffy looked confused.
"Exactly, Buffy. What Willow did. She is the only one that can cure Giles, she has his lifeforce, only she can return it."
"Oh god." Buffy said down, suddenly feeling cold. "Then Giles will die."