Author's note: Hello I've finally worked through my writer's block and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for reviewing cause it helps encourage me to get off my arse and keep writing, and I need lots of encouragement lol, enjoy peeps.
Disclaimer: I own nothing Joss owns everything. Except Drake and Olmeck, they're the product of my imagination.
Chapter 27
GILES'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Willow was doing a pretty good impression of a Guppy and Tara would have found it funny, if she hadn't sensed how serious the situation was. Willows mouth continued to open and close in astonishment as she tried to think of something to say to the other girls revelation. "You're an empath, wow, I mean that's kinda not what I expected you to say and you're a Wicca too? that's also kinda unexpected but it's a good unexpected not a bad unexpected cause I mean I'm a Wicca as well or at least I will be once I learn how to stop blowing things up and stuff but ooh maybe you could show me cause you're a Wicca not that you have to of course and I should probably stop babbling now before you think I'm crazy, which I'm not." Willow babbled.
"I-it's okay, I-I think I-it's cute." Tara stammered causing both Willow and herself to blush. Before Willow could reply to Tara's statement, she was interrupted by Giles.
"Willow the antidote is ready." He said. Seeing that she was about to stand, he gestured for her to stay put. "It's okay, you stay here, I'll take it upstairs."
"Are you sure I mean I told Buffy that I would bring it up." Willow said.
"Yes I'm sure, I'll need to explain everything to Buffy as she will be wanting answers. You can come and see her when I'm finished." he said. He turned and headed for the stairs. "Help yourselves to a drink, or something to eat while I'm gone." he called over his shoulder.
Willow watched him go before turning back to Tara, she studied the girl in front of her intently. She barely knew the other girl but for some reason she felt that she could trust her. She sat there for a moment, silently debating whether or not to tell her what was really going on.
"W-what's happening is n-none of my business." Tara said smiling gently in understanding. She could sense her new friend's indecision. "Y-you don't have t-to tell me if you d-don't want to."
"I know" Willow said quietly "But I want to." Tara sat in silence and listened as Willow told her about the real Sunnydale and the impending apocalypse that they where all a part of, whether they liked it or not.
GILES' SPARE ROOM
Buffy lay on her side, on the bed next to Faith. One hand resting gently on Faith's stomach, her face buried in the crook of Faith's neck. Placing a kiss where her lips lay against Faith's neck, Buffy flinched at how cold her skin was, reaching down she pulled the blanket up and tucked it around both of them, wincing as the movement caused the wound on her shoulder to pull. She hadn't allowed Giles to look at it, the wound was already healing and was insignificant compared to the wounds that Kennedy had inflicted upon Faith. The worst of them being the bite on her thigh, which was deep and had become infected.
Buffy gently traced her fingers over the numerous cuts and bruises that marred Faith's torso before coming to rest on the bandage that covered her abdomen, where the slightly deeper cuts lay. With every cut she encountered, her anger grew and Wesley words still echoed in her ears, only serving to stoke her temper. Was this the way it was always going to be? Never having a chance at peace, without someone or something trying to kill them. When Faith had asked her if she would ever give up slaying she had said no, and she had meant it. But if someone was to ask her now, her answer would be very different. All slaying seemed to have brought her was misery, and as long as she was a slayer the people she loved where in danger. Buffy's gaze caught the matching soul band that Faith wore, reaching her hand across she linked her fingers with Faith's, so that their soul bands where touching. She studied Faith's face sadly. "When you're better, and the apocalypse is over, we'll get away from here." she whispered, caressing Faith's cheek with her other hand. "Somewhere where it's just the two of us." A soft knock at the bedroom door caused Buffy to look up, Giles entered and she could see that he was holding a mug and some gauze swabs, which seemed to be covered in a red paste. "Please tell me that's the antidote." she said.
Giles nodded and made his way towards the bed. Buffy sat up next to Faith, never releasing her grasp on her hand. She watched quietly as Giles kneeled next to Faith and peeled back the dressing covering the wound on her chest. He cleaned the wound before placing one of the gauze swabs over it and taping it down. "The swabs are coated in a paste which will draw the silver out of her system." he explained, seeing the questioning look on his slayers face. "When the paste turns grey the dressing will need to be changed, I've made plenty of dressings should we need them." he said, wiping his hands on a cloth.
"Is that it?" Buffy asked hopefully, grasping Faith's hand tighter.
Giles shook his head. "I'm afraid not." he reached over and picked up the mug that he had brought in with him. "We will need to get her to drink this. It will make her stronger, allowing her body, to combat the silver." Looking down at Faith's prone form, he new that it was going to be a difficult task.
"She can barely breath." Buffy stated sadly. "And you expect her to be able to drink that."
"There is no other way for it to be taken, if there was I would have chosen it, but this is the only antidote there is." Giles said. "Would you like me to hold her while you give the antidote?" he asked.
Buffy shook her head "No I'll do it." Letting go of Faith's hand, she leant down and gently lifted Faith into her lap, positioning her so that her head was resting against her arm. When she had Faith settled, Giles handed her the mug.
"Try and time it so that it doesn't interfere with her breathing, otherwise she will choke." he said.
Buffy held the mug up to Faith's lips and carefully poured a small amount of liquid into her mouth. They both waited anxiously to see what would happen, however after a few seconds Faith managed to weakly swallow the liquid. Buffy slowly repeated the procedure with the rest of the liquid until the antidote was finished.
"Well that went better than expected." Giles said the relief evident in his voice.
Buffy kissed Faith on the lips and gently lay her back down on the bed, tucking the covers around her. Reclaiming her hold on Faith's hand she turned her attention to Giles. "Will she be okay now?" she asked.
"Once the antidote starts to work you should notice an improvement in her condition." he replied. "and if her dressings are changed when needed, she should make a full recovery."
Buffy smiled in relief, glad to finally have some good news. "Thank you."
"Your welcome Buffy and know this, I helped Faith because I wanted to. I want you to know that Wesley's views are rather different from mine. He's blinded by his loyalty to the council."
Buffy nodded thoughtfully "I know." she said quietly "Do you really think he told the council?"
"Yes, without a doubt. I'm not sure when the council will act on his information, what with the upcoming apocalypse, but this couldn't have happened at a worse time." Giles said as he removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "We need the Garou in the upcoming battle and Faith is our only link to them. I don't think the council would be stupid enough to tamper with that."
Buffy looked down at Faith thoughtfully. "Back in the clearing she said something about someone being here and that they where scared. At first I thought she was hallucinating because of the silver, but what if she meant the Garou?."
"You could be right. She may have sensed that her clan have arrived. Garou have a bond with members of their clan, maybe they sensed that she was in danger. It could explain why they would be scared." he said thoughtfully.
"So what do we do? Should we go out and see if they're out there?" Buffy asked,
Giles shook his head "No I don't think so. They may see us as a threat. If we went out there ourselves they would be able to smell Faith's scent on us and the fact that they could sense she was in trouble, well they may come to the wrong conclusion and think that we had done something to her. I think we should wait until Faith is well enough to come with us."
"Good point." Buffy said looking down at Faith's hand which was resting in hers. "Did you find out anything about that disc?"
"Wesley managed to find something." he said, and noticed Buffy's eyes darken at the mention of Wesley's name, clearing his throat he continued. "It appears to be a slave disc, which was used by the Drachna's thousands of years ago to control the Garou. Seeing as the Drachna's only natural enemy is the Garou, they decided to keep them close and used them as slaves. They where under the Drachna's complete control and would do anything that they where ordered to do. Therefore whilst they where wearing the disc, they posed no threat to the Drachna's. If they tried to remove the disc it would release a lethal dose of silver into their bloodstream, and within a few minutes death would occur." he said. "It was a foolproof idea, the Garou where under complete control and if they tried to escape they died, meaning that they where no threat to the Drachna's at all. However somehow a few Garou managed to escape without being killed and they found a way to free the rest of their kind. This resulted in a battle for power, the Garou, choosing the side of good, took it upon themselves to guard the hell mouth that the Drachna had planned to open. That battle resulted in both species becoming near extinct." he said. "And it looks like history is repeating itself."
"I suppose Olmeck just happened to have one of these disc left over." Buffy said.
"I would believe so, as Olmeck would have been around at the time of the last great battle." Giles said. "In fact the age of the disc worked in Faith's favour, the amount of silver in the disc wasn't as great as it would have been thousands of years ago. So instead of minutes she had hours, which gave us enough time to make the antidote."
Buffy looked down at Faith and noticed that she didn't look as pale as she did before, caressing her cheek she was relieved to feel that her skin was slightly warmer. "Looks like the antidote's working." Buffy said relief evident in her voice. "Her breathing's getting better, and she feels warmer." Checking the dressing on her chest, she saw that the paste was beginning to turn a dark grey colour.
"That dressing may last a little longer, check it again in five minutes." Giles said, he gestured towards the dressing table. "I think I've made plenty but if you need anymore let me know." Buffy nodded gratefully. "Well I had better head downstairs and tell Willow the news. She wanted to bring the antidote up herself, but I thought it best that I did. Shall I send her up?" he asked.
Buffy shook her head. "No, tell her I'm sorry but I'm really tired, what with everything that's happened, I just want to spend some time alone with Faith."
"I understand Buffy. Can I get you anything?" he asked, seeing her shake her head he smiled and got up to leave the room. "If there are any problems with Faith during the night, just come and get me. Good night Buffy."
"Night Giles." Buffy said watching as he left the room, closing the door silently behind him. Lying down beside Faith, Buffy gently cuddled into Faith's side, resting her head on her shoulder and draping her arm over her waist.. "You hear that baby? Your going to be okay." she said. Now that she knew that Faith was going to live Buffy felt relief flood her, then she realised that when Faith woke up she would have to tell her about what had happened. How am I going to tell her that she's killed innocent people?
DESERT - OUTSIDE SUNNYDALE
Drake reached out with his senses to try and find his missing sister. The rest of the pack where becoming restless. Their link to there sister had become increasingly weaker and they could sense that she was in danger. The need to find her overriding any other rational thoughts. Unable to take the noise any longer Drake let his annoyance show. "ENOUGH!" he roared. Silence rang throughout the camp, they all turned to face him. "She is still alive." He gestured to the two men by his side. "You two come with me, the rest of you stay here, we can't afford to alert anyone else to our presence." With that said the three men armed themselves before jumping into a nearby car. The rest of the camp watched as they sped down the road, leaving dust in there wake as they headed towards Sunnydale, and Faith.
Tbc.
