Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Wheldon and The Da Vinci Code belongs to Dan Brown and Ron Howard. The story title doesn't belong to me either. It's from the song Safest Place To Hide by the wickedly amazing Backstreet Boys. Please don't sue me, I'm completely and utterly broke and it's for entertainment purposes only.
Timeline: From the end of season six to the end of Chosen, BtVS and post-movie, Da Vinci Code
Pairing(s): Willow/Tara (a little bit), Willow/Silas, Buffy/Spike, Dawn/Silas (friendship), Xander/OC
Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait. RL got in the way as usual. Anyway, don't flame me if Silas is a little OOC in this chapter because I have reasons for him to be that way.
1) He and Willow are not so different in some ways because of their pasts
2) Silas has never experienced romantic love before so I just wanted to create a whole new side of him. Also, after the Da Vinci incident, he may be very emotional at times so just to warn you for future chapters.
Well, that's all for now. Please review and remember no flames!! I will ignore them and I don't have the patience for them.
Summary: Willow was attacked by vampires but was saved by an albino who goes by the name of Silas. He took her to a nearby hospital after she was injured trying to escape the vampires.
As Silas was taking her back to the ER waiting room, Willow couldn't help but make a face at the cast on her leg. After waiting an hour to see the doctor, she had x-rays done and sure enough, the ER doctor told her that she had broken her leg in one place. He had a cast put on it and prescribed her some pain medication to ease the pain. Giles arrived at the hospital twenty minutes after Silas took the Wicca in to see the ER doctor and decided to wait in the waiting room. Then Willow looked up at Silas and kept her gaze on him intently.
"You said that you live and study in the U.S." She said breaking the silence. "Where in the U.S?"
"New York." Silas replied. "I iminagrated there ten years ago from France."
I was right. Silas is a foreigner by birth. From France, no less. The redheaded Wicca thought to herself before Silas spoke again breaking her train of thought.
"What about you?" The monk asked her. "You do not sound British."
Stay as close to the truth as possible. Willow thought to herself as she spoke carefully and evenly.
"That's because I'm not." Willow said. "I'm also from the U.S. I'm originally from California. Born and raised in a small town called Sunnydale which is two hours away from Los Angeles."
Inside, Silas was stunned but didn't dare to let it show on his face. He had heard of the small Californian town via Bishop Aringarosa but all of the things he heard about Sunnydale were not very pleasant. Although he had never visited the town himself, Silas was told stories of death, destruction and mayhem and of that the town was on top of a Boca del Inferno or, translated from Spanish, The Mouth Of Hell. Aringarosa also told Silas the legend of a young girl in all the world who was chosen by God to rid the world of evil and to protect humanity. She was called the Chosen One, the Slayer Of The Vampires and a warrior for God.
Should I tell Willow of this?
Silas broke out of his train of thought when he saw an older man with brown hair and glasses, assuming to be Willow's male companion, coming up to them. He glanced at Willow worriedly.
"I came as soon as I heard." He said to her. "Are you all right?"
Silas saw the smile that creeped onto Willow's face at her companion's words. "Just a broken leg." She said rather calmly. "Other than that, I'm fine. No pain, no game."
Then Silas began to feel uncomfortable when the British man's gaze shifted from Willow to him. The look he gave the monk was rather fierce and distrustful which indicated to the monk that Willow's companion was very protective of her like a father trying to protect his child. Willow must have sensed Silas's discomfort because she spoke up.
"Relax, Giles." She said sounding a little annoyed. "He's the one who saved me from the vamps. This is Silas."
The fierce look on Giles's face vanished and was replaced with a grateful smile. "A pleasure to meet you, I'm Rupert Giles."
"Pleasure." Silas replied. Then he noticed that Giles was staring at him with a curious expression on his face which both surprised and startled him. After a long minute, Giles broke the silence with a question.
"Are you a member of Opus Dei?"
Silas was surprised and suspicious. "Yes, I am." He answered evenly. "How did you..?"
"Do you know a bishop by the name of Manuel Aringarosa?" Giles asked cutting him off.
Silas glanced down at Willow who had a look of confusion and bewilderment on her face that he was sure was mirrored on his own. Who is he? How does he know about me?
"Yes. He is my mentor." Silas answered. "But how do you know?"
"Giles, what's going on?" Willow asked sounding very concerned and confused. "Why are you asking Silas these questions?"
Giles sighed as he glanced at both the albino monk and the Wicca knowing that what he was about to reveal would be a shock to them both. Especially to Silas since his mentor and I had dealings with each other in the past. Bishop Aringarosa probably never told him about his dealings with me and the Watcher's Council.
"What I'm about to reveal to you cannot leave this room. Understood?"
Confused and a little worried, Silas and Willow both nodded their heads. Giles chose his words very carefully as he began to tell his story to them. He avoided making eye contact with Willow as he asked Silas one more question.
"Did Bishop Aringarosa mention to you an organization called the Council of Watchers?"
Silas was about to say no when a memory entered his mind uninvited. It was over two years ago when the monk had walked in on an argument between Aringarosa and another man later to be identified as a Watcher who went by the name Quentin Travers. Silas had just returned from Mass when he stopped outside the doorway to one of the conference rooms and he heard raised voices. One of them was Aringarosa's. The other was Travers's.
"What you are asking me to do is against everything I stand for!!" Aringarosa was shouting angrily. "I can not do it!!"
"You can't or you won't?" Travers asked in a rather concending voice. "In case you have forgotten, Bishop, your companion was once a murderer who killed his father with a kitchen knife and another man by breaking his neck. By turning him over to us, he will be of use to us. To help us fight our war against the forces of evil."
"You mean forcing Silas to help you and your organization fight a war that you are raging." Aringarosa spat unexpectedly. "You have the Slayer to do that for you. Let her fight it but leave Silas out of this. I will let God strike me down before I turn Silas over to you and your people."
Silas didn't stay to listen to the rest of the conversation. He ran to his room sick and horrified over what he had overheard. After a lengthy session with the Discipline, he laid on his mat crying.
It was the next day that Father Aringarosa told me everything. How the Council of Watchers tried to talk him into turning me over to them. To force me to fight their war against dark forces. He also told me of the Slayer and of the world of vampires, demons and other supernatural forces that roam the earth.
Feeling very cold inside and not bothering to force the memory out of his mind, Silas nodded his head at Giles. The Watcher glanced at him grimly before he spoke again.
"It was twelve years ago." Giles said wearily. "Bishop Aringarosa was a missionary then and I was an operative for the Council. I was sent to Spain on a mission for the Council. One night, as I was passing a Catholic cemetery in Madrid, I saw someone being attacked by vampires."
Although he already knew what the Watcher was trying to tell him and Willow, Silas couldn't help but put voice to the thought in his mind.
"Father Aringarosa." The monk said keeping the shock from coloring his voice.
Giles nodded. "Although, I was not supposed to get involved, I ignored protocol and rushed to his aid saving his life. After that, Bishop Aringarosa and I became allies and later friends despite our differences. He was passionate about the teachings of Opus Dei and he believed in it very strongly."
"But you do not believe in the teachings of Opus Dei." Silas said with an insightful look on his face.
"No, I don't." Giles admitted. "But that didn't mean that I didn't respect Aringarosa's beliefs and his opinions. After I returned to England, we kept in contact. Then two years after we met, he wrote me a letter stating that he had taken in an albino prisoner who had escaped from a prison in Andorra after an earthquake hit the area and destroyed everything in its path including the prison itself."
Willow was about to ask Giles about the idenity of the prisoner then when she saw the look of shock and horror on Silas's face, she put two on two together and turned back to the Watcher.
"Silas was the prisoner who escaped." The Wicca said with an hint of surprise and horror in her voice.
Again, Giles nodded his head at her. "Yes." He said. "One of many who escaped but also the only one that the Council wanted to bring over to their side. Travers had a plan to force Silas to fight the Council's war against vampires by imprisoning him in the Watcher's Council's HQ and programming him into becoming the perfect killing machine. So dangerous that not even the Slayer could stop him."
"But as you can imagine." Giles continued on. "There were some in the Council who opposed Travers including me. Bishop Aringarosa was horrified when I explained to him what Travers had in mind for Silas. What concerned the both of us and also some of the members of the Council who were opposed to the plan was Silas's history. We were concerned that Travers would use his past to his advantage. Over the course of several years, some members of the Council tried to talk Travers into abandoning the plan but he refused saying that it would benefit the Council."
Anger and uncontrollable rage filled Silas's soul as he spoke. "How does turning me into a murdering monster benefit them?" He spat angrily. "I would kill myself before I serve them."
"That, Silas, is why both Aringarosa and I agreed that it was best that you would know about the supernatural world." Giles replied evenly. "Even about the existence of the Hellmouth."
Willow couldn't help but be shocked and surprised at the Watcher's words and looked up at Silas. "You know about the Hellmouth?"
Silas looked just as shocked as her at her question. "Yes." He answered. "You know of it as well."
"I should since Sunnydale sits on top of one." Willow replied. "And I live there. Or I did live there." Her eyes clouded over with sadness as the memories of what she had done back in Sunnydale ran through her mind. She saw that Silas was starting to look concerned and a little afraid of what she might reveal.
Giles must have sensed the questions that Silas had for the Wicca because he said. "Perhaps, we better reveal to you why Willow is here. You don't know us very well but it's obilvious that you have a certain respect for her."
At Willow's approval, the Watcher told Silas what had happened back in Sunnydale. The story that Giles told about Willow shook the monk to the bone and horrified him. The story of how Willow frayed a man alive after the death of her lover and how she nearly destroyed the world only to be saved by the loving and comforting words of a friend.
Witchcraft is an evil in the eyes of the Lord. So is murder and homosexuality. How can Willow be capable of such things?
But then there was something that Bishop Aringarosa once told Silas that stuck with him for the ten years that he had been a member of Opus Dei and since he was saved.
The Lord works in mysterious ways. Mysterious ways that we can not imagine.
Giles must have sensed the turmoil within Silas over the truth about Willow because he spoke again this time in a gentle voice.
"Silas, I know what you have been taught about magic being evil in the eyes of God and of everything else." He said. "But not all witchcraft is evil. It can be good if that person knows how to control it. Willow was one of the unfortnate ones who wasn't taught how to control her magic …"
"Witchcraft is a sin in the eyes of God!!!" Silas shouted angrily. His pale blue eyes suddenly turned a shade of red in anger and fury. "How can you say that it is good when it is evil?"
Despite feeling her own anger flaring, Willow tried hard to control it as she felt her control over her magic slipping over Silas's words. That both saddened and terrified her. Her green eyes began to turn black.
NO!!! I won't let my rage control me!! I can't lose it. I won't lose it. Not now!!!
"I'm saying that not all witchcraft is evil, Silas." Giles argued apprentally unaware of the Wicca's inner torment. "Bishop Aringarosa and I had the same argument a long time ago when he became the head of Opus Dei. I even proved it to him once with a friend of mine who was a Wicca …"
"Stop!!!" Silas shouted again in denial. "I will not hear anymore!!! You do not know him!!! He would never keep secrets from me!!! I will not …"
At that point, Willow lost all control of both her magic and her anger. "STOP IT!!!!" she screamed. Both Giles and Silas turned and they both gasped in utter horror as the Wicca threw a force field at their direction. Giles was thrown halfway across the room and as he hit the wall and slid to the ground, his last conscious thought was on his old friend's companion.
It is up to Silas now.
Silas gasped in pain as he hit the floor hard. He turned to his left and saw that Giles was a few feet away from him unconscious. Then he glanced up at Willow and was shocked at the changes in her earlier. Her hair and eyes were now black and for the first time, he understood what the Watcher had tried to tell him. He also began to understand why Willow had always returned to her flat with a sad expression on her face every day.
She was feeling remorse over her actions. God had punished her enough with everything she has done. Willow is no different than me. She has done terrible things and so have I. Perhaps, God has allowed her to become a witch for some other purpose.
Shaking and a little afraid, Silas struggled to his feet and walked over to Willow who was eying him with rage in her eyes. He didn't flinch as he started to speak.
"Willow …"
"NO!!!!" The Wicca shouted in rage. "You say that witchcraft is evil, right? How can you fear what you don't understand?"
Remorse and guilt filled Silas's heart and soul but he pushed on. "You are right. I do not understand why or how this is possible but I do know this. You did not deserve my ire or my ignorance. Please forgive me."
Silas saw that the anger that was controlling Willow was starting to weaken at his words so he repeated them. "Forgive me."
"Shut up!!!" Willow screamed but the strength was weakening in her voice and tears welled in her eyes.
"Forgive me." Silas repeated again. "Forgive me."
The tears that filled Willow's eyes when Silas asked for her forgiveness now ran down her face and as she broke down crying, her eyes and hair returned to their natural colors. With tears in his own eyes, Silas gently lifted her from her wheelchair and held her in his arms as she cried. Then as he closed his eyes, Silas felt the tears run down his pale cheeks and he cried silently for the young woman in his arms.
3 Orme Court
Three hours later …
As she watched Silas help Giles to the door to their flat, Willow couldn't help but feel an odd mixture of pity for the monk and self-loathing for herself over her actions back at the hospital. Once she was calmed down enough to be left alone, Silas helped Giles to a gurney and stayed with both him and Willow. Once Giles was checked out and given the ok to go home, the trio went back to the Watcher's flat in silence.
The coven did warn me that there will be times when I would lose control over my magic for the first few months but reassured me that it will pass with time. I hope so because I hate to have a repeat of what happened today. I could have killed both Giles and Silas with the power I have.
But it wasn't just the loss of control that made Willow regain control again but the sound of Silas's voice begging her for forgiveness. He had said the words the same way that Xander did when he told her that he loved her. She wasn't sure why but Willow felt her stomach flutter when she saw Silas coming out of the door to hers and Giles's flat and walk over toward her. Willow also saw that he had something in his hand but couldn't tell what it was from she was standing with her crutches aiding her.
"Are you sure you will be all right?" Silas asked her. "Because I will stay."
Willow shook her head. "You've done enough, Silas." She said with a smile. "You saved me from turning back into Darth Willow as well as my life so I owe you."
"You owe me nothing, Willow." Silas started to say but was cut off.
"No, Silas. I do owe you." The Wicca insisted. "And I will find a way to make it up to you someday. Besides, I have something for you."
Willow handed Silas a piece of folded paper. As he took it from her, Silas unfolded it to reveal two addresses. One was in London and the other was in Sunnydale. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"They're both ways to contact me." Willow explained. "The first address is to my house back in Sunnydale and the other is to the Watcher's Council just in case you can't get me in Sunnydale."
Once again, Silas's eyes became bright with tears. Her kindness and willingness overwhelmed him. As he placed the addresses in his robes, Silas took Willow's hand and placed something it. The Wicca looked down to see the item that the monk put in her hand. It was a rosary with beautiful black beads on it.
Willow was shocked. "Silas, I can't accept this. I'm not even Catholic."
"I know you are not, Willow." Silas replied. "But there is one thing I know about you that you do not. That God allowed you be able to practice magic for a purpose. Please accept this for me and think of it as a gift from a man of God."
Willow didn't know what to say or what to think and before she could stop herself, she bent forward using her crutches for assistance and kissed Silas on the cheek.
"Thank you, Silas." She whispered. "I hope to see you again soon."
Silas started shaking in sheer emotion. He should have been angry, disgusted and revolted at the thought of being kissed by a woman but for some reason when Willow kissed him on the cheek, he felt very light-headed and complete as if something had been missing for most of his life despite his calling in Opus Dei. Tears streaming down his cheeks, Silas bent down and kissed Willow on her forehead and in a voice filled with emotion, he said.
"May the peace of the Lord be with you, Willow."
Willow's green eyes looked straight into Silas's pale blue ones as she spoke. "And also with you, Silas." As he started to cross the street to enter the front of the Opus Dei Centre, Silas turned around and nearly burst into tears at the crushed and sad look in Willow's eyes as she started to go inside her flat.
I will miss you, Willow.
Watcher's Council Headquarters
London, England
Three years later …
Dawn Summers sat down in front of her laptop computer and began the long process of researching and cataloging certain demons for the newly rebuilt Watcher's Council. It had been two years since the final battle against the First Evil in Sunnydale. Two years since Giles had begun the difficult process of rebuilding the Watcher's Council after its destruction during the war against the First Evil. Two years since Willow activated all potiental Slayers and two years since Buffy began the difficult task of training them all.
Who would have thought that all of this would change us all?
Dawn was about to get back to work when she heard the doorbell to the Headquarters sound and she frowned in confusion and curiousty.
Who would be ringing the doorbell at this time of day?
Curious but catious, Dawn went to the front door of the huge mansion that she and her friends called home and headquarters of the Watcher's Council and she opened the door. What she saw made her gasp in horror. A extremely pale man dressed in grey robes stood in front of her. His pale eyes glanced at her with a pleading look in them.
"Please." He rasped in an accent that was hard to place. "Willow."
Willow? How does he …? Then a realization hit Dawn like a ton of bricks as she remembered the story that the Wicca told her and Buffy about when she was saved by a albino monk from a pack of vampires.
Oh, my God!! This is the albino monk that Willow was talking about!!!
Sensing that he needed help, Dawn turned around and yelled. "Willow!!! Buffy!!! I need some help here!!!"
A few minutes later, Willow and Buffy came down the stairs upon hearing Dawn's shouts. The Wicca's face paled when she saw the bleeding albino monk standing at the door.
"Silas?" Willow gasped with a hint of fear and concern in her voice.
Silas turned at the sound of the Wicca's voice and glanced at her gratefully. "Willow." He whispered. Then he leaned against the doorframe for support trying to keep from falling onto the floor. The Wicca gasped when she saw blood on his hands. Oh, Goddess, what happened to you?
"Silas!!" Willow cried and she rushed to his side. Then she turned to Buffy.
"Buffy, help me!!" She called out. With Buffy's help, Willow helped Silas inside the house and took him down the hall to the newly built infrimary. Once they entered the infrimary, Buffy and Willow gently led Silas to a bed near the doorway. As she helped him onto the bed, Buffy noticed that he had been shot in the shoulder and that he had lost a lot of blood.
"I'm going to get Beth." She said and turned to run to the far side of the infrimary leaving her best friend alone with the wounded monk. Willow took Silas's blood-covered hand and glanced at him with tears in her eyes.
"Oh, Silas." She said softly. "What happened?"
Silas's pale eyes suddenly filled with tears at her words. "I made a terrible mistake." He said in a hoarse voice. "I was decieved into committing unspeakable sins in the name of the Lord."
Oh, no. Do I want to know what he did?
Despite her fear, Willow pushed it aside when she saw the grief and remorse on Silas's face. It was something she was all too familiar with. She had seen it and felt it before from people she once knew in her life during the years in Sunnydale before its destruction three years previous. Not wanting to indugle into the past, the Wicca forced the memories out and laid a hand on Silas's arm.
At that point, Silas burst into tears. His sobs wracking his entire body. Willow, concerned for him and afraid of the answers to her question, went closer to him and wrapped her arms around his shaking shoulders in an effort to comfort him.
"Silas, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Willow said softly trying to keep her voice even as she spoke.
Silas didn't look at her as he spoke. "I …I killed them." He sobbed uncontrollably. Willow's insides turned to ice and her heart gave a horrible jolt at his words.
Oh, Goddess!! No!! You can't be capable of killing anyone! Not you, Silas!
"Killed who, Silas?" The Wicca asked as gently as she could.
"Men. I was told to. By the man who decieved me." Silas said in between sobs. "I was to retrieve a keystone and bring it to him. I did so and then he betrayed me. And I shot someone I trusted. He is …"
Silas tried to choke back sobs but upon seeing the tears in Willow's eyes, he lost all of his emotional restraint and he sobbed harder. He felt her arms wrap around his shaking body and heard her soft sobs as she started to cry with him.
"Forgive me, Willow." Silas whispered sobbing. "Forgive me."
Oh, Goddess. Silas, I'm so sorry.
The tears that Willow was trying to fight back now swam down her cheeks and her body began to shake with sobs as she took Silas in her arms. For the first time since that fateful morning in Sunnydale three years ago, Willow gave in to her fear and her love for the man in her arms and wept as she heard his words begging her for forgiveness for the crimes he committed in the name of God.
Later …As she helped Beth put away medical supplies, Dawn couldn't help but glance at the albino monk lying quietly on one of the beds in the infrimary sympathetically. It had taken a long while but after crying for hours, he had allowed Beth to treat his wounded shoulder. Then after that, he wouldn't let anyone visit him at his bedside not even poor Willow. That made the teen feel sorry for the monk.
Silas, his name is Silas.
Beth must've seen the sad look on Dawn's face as she was looking at Silas because she took the teen's hand and glanced at her sympathetically.
"He was pretty upset as I was examining his wound." The medic said with sympathy in her voice. "As soon as I finished treating him, he told me and poor Willow to leave him. For a couple of hours, he started praying then he laid back down onto the bed like nothing was wrong. I tried to talk to him but he wouldn't respond to me so I left him alone.'
Dawn kept her gaze on Silas before turning back to Beth. "Let me try to talk to him." she said. "He has to talk to someone besides Willow plus he looks like he really needs a friend right now."
Beth nodded her head in consent and said. "Go ahead. See if he responds to you."
"Thanks." Dawn said. She set down a set of towels in her arms on the counter and then entered the infirmary. Quietly so that she wouldn't startle him, Dawn sat down at Silas's bedside with a small smile on her face.
"Hi." She said in a gentle voice. "Remember me? The girl who answered the door when you came here?" To her surprise, Silas lifted his head to look up at her but Dawn could feel her heart breaking at the sad expression on his pale face and in his eyes. Pushing her emotions aside, she continued to talk to him in a gentle voice.
"My name is Dawn. Dawn Summers. I'm a friend of Willow's." Dawn kept her sympathy from coloring her voice as she spoke. "She told me and my sister and the rest of our friends about what you did for her three years ago when you saved her from the pack of vampires. She never forgot about that. I mean, you were all that Willow would talk about. I know that because every time we pass by the Opus Dei Centre on Orme Court, she mentions you. Every time when we cut through Kensington Gardens to come back here, Willow would wonder what you are doing that particlar moment."
"It doesn't take a genius to see that Willow cares about you." Dawn continued. "Maybe even love you." Her words must've struck a cord in Silas because he looked up at the teen with tears in his pale eyes. Dawn couldn't help but feel even more sympathetic toward him.
"How can she love someone like me?" Silas finally said in a voice filled with emotion. "How can she? I am a murderer and I do not deserve her love and respect."
"That's not true, Silas." Dawn insisted with confidence and conviction that she didn't know she had inside of her. "Even those who commit crimes in the name of God deserve a second chance and a shot at redemption. Someone I knew once told me that the greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return. It doesn't matter what you've done or why. You are still a child of God and I think He still loves you despite what you have done and the circumstances surrounding them. Willow will proably hate me for telling you this because she wants to tell you herself but she really cares about you and possibly loves you very much."
She loves me? Willow loves me?
Silas's eyes became bright with tears as Dawn's words echoed in his mind like an empty hallway. In spite of everything that had happened, he knew that he would never go back to Opus Dei. Not after what had happened. He also knew that he had nowhere else to go except here with Willow and her friends in the Watcher's Council's Headquarters. As he stared at the teen, Silas felt her hand on his own and she gave it a tight squeeze. Then she opened her mouth to say something but instead of talking, she began to sing. The song she sang brought more tears to Silas's eyes.
Dawn felt tears prickling at the back of her eyes as she was singing. The song she was singing to Silas reminded her painfully of someone she once knew and trusted. Someone she loved like a brother.
Spike.
For two years since the destruction of Sunnydale, Dawn had no idea how much she missed the blonde-haired vampire until now as she was looking at Silas. Since she had helped Willow and Buffy with him at the door, Dawn saw that she and the albino monk had one thing in common. They had suffered more than they should have in their lifetimes. The teen could tell that Silas had a tragic past just by looking at his face and in his eyes perhaps no different than her own and Buffy's when she became the Slayer. Smiling gently through her unshed tears, Dawn gave Silas's hand another tight squeeze and she continued to sing her song.
She has a voice of an angel!!!
That was the one thought that ran through Silas's mind as he glanced at Dawn. He had never heard such a beautiful voice come from anyone before not even in all of his years in Opus Dei. He was surprised that he was able to control himself as she was singing and holding his hand in a comforting gesture. Dawn's kindness and willingness to befriend him overwhelmed him. At that point, Silas felt his control over his raging emotions slipping as Dawn gave his hand another gentle squeeze. Then for the third time in a day, Silas broke down crying. As he was sobbing, he felt Dawn's small arms wrap around him and heard her voice whispering soothing words of comfort in his ear making him cry even harder.
"Willow …" Silas choked around his sobs. "Willow..."
The tears that Dawn had been fighting back as she was singing to Silas now ran down her cheeks and she allowed herself to cry silently for the crying man in her arms. They were engrossed in their emotions that they didn't notice that Buffy, Willow and Beth were watching the whole thing with sympathetic expressions on their faces knowing that there was a lot they could say but nothing they could do to ease Silas's pain and grief.
This took me a lot of time that I could squeeze into to do this chapter so please be kind. Please review and remember no flames. I will ignore them and I don't have the patience for them. I'll update as soon as I can.