Rabidreject- thanks very much for the review, I'm glad you liked that chapter and sorry I made you look like a nutcase laughing. Haha. And yes Season 6 soon, hehe.
zigpal- yay, claps. teehee. and I know- everything going very bad at the moment- I think Joyce is close to breakdown. Who wouldn't be? thanks very much for review and hope you like this chapter.
g120- thank you for review, and Riga eh? Nice. Happy to be of use in making the waitage more bearable. Your last comment about internet gods really made me chuckle (the library people are now looking at me oddly...). And I hope they smile down on me too...coz at the moment I'm smile free. Apparently I need an ethernet cable according to the good-people-charging-me-a-dollar-per-minute-for-the-call at the internet service. So after uploading this I'm on an ethernet hunt. There's very little woo or hoo for that. I am so large with the confused. Haha.
Buffy sat there, motionless. Her eyes weren't even seeing what was going on around her in the abandoned gas station and her expression didn't reveal any hidden fears over the fact Dawn was gone, stolen by Glory.
On the opposite side of the room, Joyce also sat motionless, looking so lost that Willow's only assurance that she hadn't drifted into the same catatonic state as her daughter was the fact she kept crying at odd intervals at the entire situation and also seemed to register the fact that she was sat next to the now permanently conscious and well-on-the-way-to-getting-better Giles. She was holding onto his hand tightly as though that would give her strength to carry on, which Willow thought, on reflection, it probably did. However, she did notice that Giles was wincing slightly at the tightness of the grip.
"Better part of a century spent in delinquency just paid off," Spike announced, walking back in and for the second time (The first being Giles finally being able to sit up and stay conscious) Joyce's attention was dragged away from staring at the dusty floor or staring across at her practically lifeless daughter. "Hot wired Ben's car," Spike explained, "Who's for getting the hell out of here?"
"What about Buffy?" Joyce asked, her voice hoarse from lack of use ever since Dawn had been taken away, "I mean...she's not moving...we can't...how can we move her?"
"Still no change?" Spike asked and there was worry in his voice as he glanced over at the Slayer.
"No," Willow replied, "It's been almost half an hour..."
"The Slayer'll be alright. Won't she?" Spike looked around at all them for confirmation and it was clear he was close to panic over the whole situation. Joyce knew exactly how he felt and she smiled weakly at him in understanding. She didn't answer his question though and neither did anyone else. None of them knew the answer...or really, they were afraid that they did.
"Try again, Will," Xander urged for lack of anything else to say.
"Okay, but I'm not sure if she's you know...really in there..." Willow hated voicing these thoughts, because it brought a harsh reality to them that couldn't be brushed away. She also regretted her words when she heard Joyce's choking sobs once more. The woman was barely able to hold it together anymore.
"Try," Xander insisted and Willow shrugged in acceptance before walking over to Buffy, kneeling down so she was on eye level with her, though Buffy showed no recognition of this fact. Willow might as well have been on the opposite side of the room for all Buffy registered she was there.
"Buffy?" Willow called as though trying to grab the attention of somewhere lost way down a deep well. "Can you hear me? Buffy? Buffy? Buffy?"
"Oh god," Joyce murmured, unable to watch the scene anymore, finding it all too harrowing. She instead buried her face in Giles' top, careful to avoid the injury to his abdomen.
Giles didn't know what to say. What could he say? Both her daughters were essentially gone, one in the arms of an insane hell god who could be, in all honesty, torturing her right now. What on Earth was there to say that could make all that better? He struggled to put his arm around her comfortingly, that small gesture causing sharp, agonizing stabs of pain to tug at his stomach.
"Their my babies," Joyce carried on, looking at him, "Both of them. They're just little kids...I just want them both home with me. I want them both home. Oh God...what must Dawn be going through...oh God..." She started to cry again, the thought too harrowing for her not to.
"She can't be brain dead," Spike said the statement with such firmness and power behind it, it was as though he were willing it to be true. If he carried on saying it, perhaps it would happen. Buffy would wake up, blink her eyes...stretch as though from a long sleep. But she wasn't waking up, blinking her eyes to clear her dreary sight...nothing. There was no Prince Charming to bring her back to life. Just Spike with a vampire's impatience and several friends who were just as clueless about what to do as her Mother and Stepfather. "I mean she's still Buffy," Spike carried on, "Somewhere in there. Right?"
"Spike, come on," Xander spoke as the voice of reason, "We're not getting Dawn back by sitting around here"
"You're not getting Dawn back anyway you slice it Harris," Spike retorted, "That's for Buffy to handle"
"Good," Xander said sarcastically, all voice of reason gone in a flash, "Panic. That oughta help"
"It's like she's in some kind of fugue state..." Anya stated, looking at Buffy contemplatively.
"We should move her," Willow suggested, "Unless we shouldn't...should we?"
"We're going to have to...eventually," Joyce told her quietly, "We can't stay here forever..."
"We don't even know what's wrong with her," Xander said, "So we don't know what'd be good or bad for her...I am so large with the not knowing"
"It's impossible to know for sure," Giles spoke up in his familiar I've-got-a-theory voice and everyone was suddenly eager to listen to anything that would give some sort of explanation for Buffy's state, "Losing Dawn...after everything that Buffy's been through this...well, this entire year...I think it's pushed her too far, into some kind of catatonia"
"She's fine though," Spike jerked a thumb at Joyce and she jumped slightly in surprise as to why he was referring to her, "No offense love, but in all frankness you've had it bloody darn bad lately. First you had that Ethan guy doing god knows what to ya, then you find out Dawn ain't real, then you miscarry, then you have to drop everything to run away from Glory, then your brand new hubbie is speared by some musketeer and almost dies, Dawn is snatched away by a crazy hell god and your other daughter isn't waking up anytime soon."
"Spike," Giles said in a warning tone, "I strongly suggest you get to whatever point it is your trying to make"
"What I'm sayin' is if anyone should be catatonic because it's 'too much' it should be her. But she's still with us...so what's got Buffy over there is something more than too much of something in my opinion"
Everyone was silent as they contemplated Spike's highly insightful argument and they realized there was some truth to what he had said, and that it in fact, surprisingly, made sense.
"Guilt," Joyce whispered quietly into the silent gas station and everyone turned to look at her.
"What?" Willow asked.
"Guilt," She repeated, thinking to herself about the conversation she had had oh-so-recently with Dawn, where she had felt she had been at fault for everything even though it just wasn't true, "I think...she blames herself..."
"Yes," Giles was surprised by the concept, but agreed with it nonetheless- the entire thing made perfect sense to him, "She counted herself responsible for Dawn's safety so when Glory took her away..."
"She held herself to blame," Willow finished.
"Hence the coma," Anya concluded bluntly.
"Well, it's time for her to get over it," Spike said, heading over to Buffy and grabbing her shoulders to shake her violently, "Oi! Rise and shine love!"
"Spike!" Joyce and Anya shouted at him and he paused in his Buffy-shaking to look over at them both and subsequently the rest of the group.
"Come on people, the girl's endowed with Slayer strength. Hardly the time to get dainty," He returned his attention back to Buffy, "BUFFY!"
"We tried that," Xander informed him, realizing Spike had been out of the room, apparently hot wiring Ben's car, when Willow had been calling out to Buffy.
Spike didn't reply to Xander's statement or even show any sign of having heard it, before he slapped Buffy.
"Spike!" Joyce exclaimed in shock.
"We didn't try that," Anya acknowledged.
Xander shoved Spike away from Buffy, well away from her and stood in front of the Slayer, standing between her and Spike, as an extra caution.
"Are you insane?" Xander asked the vampire, outraged, "We could be dealing with neurological damage here. You want to kill her?"
When Spike replied, his voice was filled with mounting panic and for the first time Xander saw how much Spike actually did care for Buffy, infatuation or no.
"We've got to do something! I can't just sit here watching. You waste time with kid gloves. I'm willing to gamble when all's said and done- Buffy likes it rough."
And on that disturbing note Spike walked around Xander to shove Buffy into awakening again, but Xander wouldn't let him.
"I said stop!"
He shoved him away again, but even harder this time and Spike stumbled for a moment before heading towards him angrily and within moments they were in one another's face, both clearly looking for some violence.
"Do that again and I'll have a piece of you," Spike told him menacingly.
Xander promptly punched Spike right in the jaw and Spike lunged at him in retaliation.
"OKAY! EVERYBODY JUST STOP!" Joyce exclaimed, standing up, the fight between Spike and Xander clearly being one thing too much for her on a very long list. Willow, who had been about to cast a spell to separate the two, looking up in mild surprise at Joyce, who had walked over to stand between the two guys, "That is just about enough," She continued as everyone fell into silence, "Things are bad enough as it is and we do not need two stupid little boys playing fisticuffs." The boys looked embarrassed and both slightly hung their heads, not making eye contact with Joyce, "Buffy clearly needs help, if not medical attention and right now Glory is doing god-knows-what to Dawn and if I'm entirely realistic we all know that no matter what, it won't be pleasant so I do not need these petty rivalries coming into play. The only way either of them and any of us are going to be okay is if we think clearly and act responsibly and quickly. There is no time for mistakes"
At her words, silence once again hung in the air, but both Spike and Xander seemed to calm down and the two of them headed to opposite sides of the room and away from each other. Willow, satisfied that everyone had settled down for now, took charge once more.
"Right, first thing's first- we need to head back to Sunnydale. Agreed?" Everybody nodded, "Xander- you drive Giles to the hospital. Joyce- you go with. Anya- you will look after Tara, and Spike? You find Glory, check her apartment first, and see if she's still there. Try anything stupid like payback and I will get very cranky,"
"What about Buffy?" Joyce asked, "I mean sh-"
"I will help Buffy," Willow told her calmly, "Don't worry. I will fix it."
Joyce nodded, forcing herself to put her faith and trust in Willow- she had done many times before of course, but never to this extent. Yet, she knew the sweet young woman would do anything not to let her down in all things Buffy-related. Happy that she could trust Willow, Joyce started to help Giles up with Anya's assistance, but Spike's question stopped them all in their tracks.
"Uh...people, what do we do if come across Ben?"
"Nothing," Willow replied, wondering, like everyone else, why on earth Spike had even asked such a random question, "I don't think a Doctor's what Buffy needs right now"
"Well, yeah," Spike agreed, "Especially not one who happens to be Glory"
"What do you mean?" Giles asked.
"You know..." Spike prompted slowly, "Ben is Glory..."
"You mean Ben's with Glory?" Willow attempted to translate (wrongly).
"'With' in what sense?" Xander asked.
"You mean, like a couple?" Joyce checked, wondering how they couldn't have figured out up till now that the two were dating. Scary stuff.
"Does that mean that they're working together?" Anya surmised and Joyce shrugged along with everyone else. If they were dating, it was entirely possible...or was it?
"No," Spike said firmly, "no, Ben is Glory. Glory's Ben. They're one and the same" His impatience was seeping through into both his voice and his body language.
"When did this all happen?" Anya asked.
"Not one hour ago!" Spike exclaimed, "Right here! Before you very eyes!"
"What happened...'before our very eyes'?" Joyce asked, confused as to what the hell Spike was prattling on about.
"Ben!" He shouted in reply, clearly exasperated at all of them, "Ben was here, he then turned into Glory, snatched the kid and pfft! Vanished! Remember?" He looked at them all hopefully, praying their memory banks would kick in, yet they looked even more clueless than ever, not even attempting to reply or guess to what he was talking about. "You do remember?" Silence. "Is everyone here very stoned?" He cried out in frustration, running his fingers through his bleached blond hair, "Ben. Glory. He's a doctor. She's the Beast. Two entirely separate entities, sharing one body. It's like a bloody sitcom! Surely, you remember!"
Clearly they didn't if their almost comically blank stares were anything to go by.
"So you're saying..." Xander began slowly, attempting to make sense of all that Spike had said to them, "Ben and Glory..."
"Have a...connection" Anya finished.
"Yes, obviously," Giles nodded, "But what kind?"
"Good question," Joyce agreed, looking around at everyone, "They could be dating."
"Ooh! That's probable," Xander nodded in eager agreement at the theory.
"Ah I get it!" Spike nodded in frustrated realization, "Very crafty. Glory's worked the kind of mojo where anyone who sees her little presto-chango instantly forgets. And yours truly, being somewhat other than human, stands immune"
"So Ben and Glory... are the same person?" Willow checked uncertainly.
"Ben is the mortal body Glory has...that Buffy was telling me about," Joyce continued, finally getting what Spike was saying.
"So Ben can turn into Glory, Glory can turn into Ben?" Xander checked and Joyce nodded, as did Spike.
"Yes but-" She began before falling into spooky synchronization with Anya.
"Anyone who sees it instantly forgets"
Spike nodded in relief, so glad that they all finally understood it all.
"And a Kewpie doll for the ladies over there," He grinned at them
"Excellent," Giles agreed, now that was done with, "Now. Do we suspect that there could be any kind of link between Ben and Glory?"
"Is that really possible?" Joyce asked him skeptically and Spike sighed in resignation.
"Might be best I explain on the way"
"Hi," Xander smiled cheerfully at the woman at the reception desk at Sunnydale General, as though willing her to not ask any awkward questions as he continued, "We kinda need to see a doctor. Pronto" He stepped aside so the woman could see the badly injured Giles being helped onto a seat by Joyce.
"Oh...you know, this is really for A&E" She informed him and Xander just replied with a steely gaze, "But you're here now," She continued off his look, "So we'll just erm...I'll see who we can get to see to him." She almost immediately started pressing buttons, making calls and answering phones. After a few minutes she finally came to a standstill and Xander waited expectantly for what she had to say, "Well, if you could wait over there for just a minute Dr Gregory will be right with you"
"Okay, thanks," Xander smiled, heading over to where Joyce and Giles were sat, "Hey, a doctor should be over in a few"
"I knew we should have gone to accident and emergency," Joyce grumbled, detesting even the smallest of waits.
"Maybe...but then there would have been questions of what type of accident," Xander countered, "This way? Minimal questions"
Joyce chose not to reply, but instead returned her attention to Giles.
"How are you...holding up?"
"I'll be better when painkillers come my way," He joked feebly, but deep down meant every word and Joyce seemed to know that as she gave him a sympathetic look, holding his hand, before looking up and down the corridor, willing 'Dr Gregory' to hurry up and suddenly appear stood on the linoleum floor in front of them.
Which oddly enough she did, as for the one moment Joyce was looking down the west corridor, Dr Gregory appeared from the east.
"Hello, I'm Dr Gregory," The woman smiled at the three of them, but her expression soon became very non-smiley and more shocked-frowny when her eyes fell on Giles, "Oh god." At these words all three shared looks of panic and Dr Gregory hurried to reassure them, "Oh sorry!" She apologized, "I didn't mean- sorry, it's just they told me very little when they called me down here. Just said 'are you free?', assumed it was a broken finger or something. Sorry, so it was a bit of a shock…sorry." There was a moment of silence before the (slightly ditzy apparently) doctor realized she had a job to do, "Oh sorry, again, we'd best get you to a ward...first that is. I mean, I don't think you'll need operating on, but you'll definitely need that wound inspected and...Well, re-dressed," She wandered off slightly, calling a couple of porters who were hanging in the corridor over. "Could one of you, erm, please just get Mr..." She looked at Giles for a prompt.
"Giles, Rupert Giles," He filled in and she nodded in acknowledgment before turning her attention back to the two porters.
"Yes, erm, could you get a wheelchair for Mr Giles, here? Thanks,"
"Oh, no I can walk," Giles insisted even as the porters rushed off, "I don't need a wheelchair- I can walk to...wherever it is we're going quite easily, I assure you," The thought of having to be wheeled into a room was just too humiliating for him even to consider.
"Nonsense," Dr Gregory shook the thought aside, "No point exerting yourself with an injury like that if you don't have to," She frowned at him then, "Just how actually did you acquire such an injury? And in the gut?" She added frankly
"D.I.Y," Xander filled in an excuse immediately, "Sharp pointy things that are used in D.I.Y. D.I.Y was what he was doing and then with the falling and then with the...and that's how he got the...yeah..." He trailed off just as the porters returned with the requested wheelchair that looked as if the moment Giles even put his hand on one of the arms the entire thing would collapse under the mild pressure.
"Oh don't be put off by its appearance," Dr Gregory said, reading all their minds, "It's a lot sturdier than it looks"
"Hmm..." Giles grumbled, sounding highly unconvinced, but without much more of a choice he reluctantly sat in the chair and was relieved to find it didn't fold in on him. Still, the feeling of humiliation was creeping up on him as Dr Gregory started to wheel him down the corridor, Joyce and Xander following. Suddenly he came to an abrupt stop as Dr Gregory turned to both Joyce and Xander.
"I'm sorry, but how are you related to Mr Giles?" She asked, putting a hand on Giles' shoulder protectively. Perhaps she was this caring and protective towards all her patients, but the way she said his name Joyce doubted that it was the same kind of attention and caring she was intending to pay to Giles, so it was with a hidden grin and barely concealed smugness that Joyce claimed;
"I'm his wife,"
"Oh," Dr Gregory, slightly deflated, nodded to let Joyce know that it was okay for her to come along. She then turned to Xander, " What about you? Sorry to ask, it's just when we first see to a patient we try to keep it family only"
Joyce really wanted Xander to come along with them, for support if anything. With Xander's constant situation-jokes that had become his trademark, Joyce felt she was less lightly to fall into the breakdown she knew she was precariously leaning towards right now. Xander could bring a levity to anything Dr Gregory said and Joyce, right now, really needed that. But it was only family that was aloud to go along.
"Son," She suddenly blurted without thinking and Dr Gregory looked at her questioningly, "He's...our son..."
"I am?" Xander asked at the same time Giles asked, "He is?" in the same incredulous tone.
Dr Gregory looked at them all suspiciously.
"I...am," Xander tried to bring a level of certainty to his voice, but found it wavered slightly, nevertheless, Dr Gregory seemed to accept this.
"Okay," She sighed, "Guess it's a family outing"
As they followed behind Dr Gregory and Giles, Xander turned to Joyce questioningly.
"Son?" He whispered.
"It was all I could think of okay?" She whispered back testily.
"Well, that's pretty much all I can do," Dr Gregory informed them later on after she had seen to Giles' injury and he was now bandaged properly and had had a reasonable amount of painkillers injected into his arm, "You should be okay. The stitches should hold...as long as there is no undue strain on them,"
"Well, I guess that's no more D.I.Y for you for a while," Xander joked, tapping Giles on the arm jovially, "Dad"
This earned him a glare from Giles that Xander feared would burn him to a cinder where he stood. Nevertheless, this whole situation and cover-up was too fun for him to back away due to a simple glare.
"Mom told him I could do the shelving units," He told Dr Gregory, "But Dad insisted he wanted a Father-Son activity, time to re-bond you know..." Xander grinned even more when he saw the look on Giles' face. Joyce on the other hand was apparently trying to remain somber while she clearly wanted to start laughing. Which was a nice change from all the crying she'd been doing since Glory had stolen Dawn and Xander was happy he was the one who had been able to distract her and cheer her up.
"Yes, well," Dr Gregory looked knowingly at Giles, "I doubt you're the type who'll willingly stick to bed rest, but I have to say your son is right when he says no more D.I.Y activities," Giles didn't reply but looked extremely unhappy and Dr Gregory seemed to assume that this was the veto on the D.I.Y that was causing this mood and not the fact that Xander was mocking him, "Well, I guess you're free to go-" She went to open the door then stopped as she remembered something, "Oh, but you'll need to fill in some forms of course, sorry. Insurance details, things like that"
"Of course," Joyce nodded, "We can sort that out at the desk, right?"
"Yes, yes you can," Dr Gregory nodded before saying bye to them all, telling them she was needed down at another ward, before leaving the room.
"You were loving that way too bloody much," Giles said to Xander as soon as the Doctor had left and Joyce couldn't contain her laughter any longer, which is when Giles also turned on her, but admittedly, less harshly, "And you're as much to blame, coming up with that ridiculous cover"
"Sorry," She apologized, but she was still smiling so Giles doubted she actually meant it, "It was the only thing I can could come up with on the spot that didn't involve Xander having to make a terrible attempt at a British accent"
"I cud have cam up with a British accent imeedjutleh" Xander protested, his English accent completely atrocious.
"I do not talk like that," Giles argued, standing up with Joyce's help. He wasn't 100, but he definitely felt a lot better than he did before which he took to be a good sign and this spurred him on, "Do we have any further word on Buffy?" He asked as the three of them left the room and started heading down the hallway.
"Yeah, actually," Xander admitted, "While you were getting sticherific with California's very own Emma Thompson, I got a call from Anya"
Giles didn't bother to inform him that in a hospital cell phones were meant to be switched off.
"She said that Willow's on it," Xander continued, "She's working some spell, trying to reach Buffy psychically."
"She's gone into Buffy's mind?" Giles asked in disbelief.
"Pretty trippy stuff," Xander agreed.
"It's extraordinarily advanced," Giles informed him, looking momentarily concerned about Willow, before he seemed to shake it off, "I'm thinking we might check on Glory's victims while we're here."
"Why?" Joyce asked with a bemused frown.
"Perhaps they could give us some insight into Glory's plans," Giles shrugged, "Perhaps some incoherent ramblings that we could read into?"
"No point," Xander told them both, "Mental ward's cleared out. Nobody there. It's like they all just got up and walked away"
"Which considering the way Tara was acting..." Joyce suggested and Giles nodded in agreement.
"It could be very possible that that is exactly what happened," He finished her sentence just as Spike walked over to them, looking extremely out of place, his black ensemble a stark contrast against the white, sterile environment of the hospital.
"Checked out Glory's flat," He said as he reached them, falling into pace beside them, "looks like the Great One has scampered"
"Oh god," Joyce put a hand to her mouth in distress, realizing that wherever Glory had gone, she had taken Dawn with her.
"Gone to perform her ritual," Giles elaborated on Spike's comment, though he struggled to say the next bit, "with...Dawn. And leaving us entirely clueless"
"Not entirely," Spike countered and the three looked at him, interest piqued by the prospect that he may have some Dawn-saving insight into the situation. "I know this bloke. Well, not so much a 'bloke' as a demon, but still..." Despite the fact he was in a hospital and it was so very strictly against hospital policy, Spike lit up a cigarette, ignoring Joyce's look of disapproval as he carried on talking between drags, "might persuade him to suss out Glory's game plan. Sound worthy?"
None of them answered his question, but their looks of resolve answered it well enough. They were agreed and they were in.
"Off we go then," Spike said, grabbing hold of Xander, before turning to look at Giles and Joyce, "Meet you back at the shop" He told them heading off with Xander out of the hospital.
"You think it'll help us to find Dawn?" Joyce asked as she and Giles walked in the opposite direction. She didn't know whether she wanted a lie or a truth in answer. She just wanted Giles to wipe all her fears away about Glory, about Dawn, about Buffy...but she knew, deep down, that that would never be possible.
"Well, if anyone can drag vital information out of the pits of hell... it's Spike," Giles reasoned, "And he seems desperate enough to help...and with Xander along as well..." He didn't say anything else. He had given all the positive points he could, but he was not going to go as far as to give false hope that would only make the let down later on even greater.
"You feeling better now?" Joyce asked suddenly and Giles was startled by this abrupt change in topic.
"Well, uh, yes, actually, much," He told her and actually meant it as he found he was starting to lose the slight limp he had developed since he had first stood up after having the injury partially dealt with by Ben.
"Good," She told him before impulsively putting her arms around him warmly and giving him a gently demanding kiss. He responded, despite where they were and despite what dire situations they had to face, as he felt as though he hadn't any such moment with her in years. Although in matter of fact, it was barely weeks, but it was long enough. As they slowly broke the kiss, she smiled at him slightly, but it was a weak smile. "Thank you"
"I assure you...the, uh, pleasure was mine," He smiled back at her.
"It's just... I-I needed that," She told him, "I mean with everything that's happening right now...and you almost died and…. I just needed something to...remind me that you're there and...you almost died," She repeated, falling into sobs and he held her as they stood in the hospital corridor.
"It's okay, it's okay," He repeated reassuringly, "We'll figure everything out I promise. If I have to read every Glory-related text a million times to find a way to save Dawn, I will do it" He kissed the top of her head as he held her close, her sobs the only sound he got in reply, "I promise"
Joyce was pacing the floor of the Magic Box anxiously, not even attempting to research. Last call they had had, they'd found out Willow had just gone into Buffy's mind. As of yet they had both to awaken from their catatonic state and it was this, among many other reasons that was causing Joyce to pace.
Giles wasn't even paying attention to her as he looked over the same text he had just come across again and again as though checking he had read the information right. After the fifteenth check he pushed the pieces of paper aside angrily, cursing under his breath. Next he took his glasses off abruptly and slammed them down on the table along side the offending information. He then stood up just as abruptly and then seemed to begin his own brand of pacing, but instead settled to stand there, running his fingers through his hair in frustration, every now and then pivoting on the spot as though undecided about which direction to pace, before he cursed under his breath once again.
Xander, while wondering what on earth had gotten Giles so rattled, couldn't help looking at the fact that neither husband nor wife seemed to be taking any notice of each other's similar actions, both apparently too busy with their own frustration and worry.
Tara continued to murmur about time in the corner, occasionally asking Anya in a round about way, where Willow was. Anya had, at first, paid full attention to Tara in between attempting to research into Glory and Dawn's part in it all. But now, her own frustration evidently mounting though it had yet to reach Giles level, whenever Tara called for attention, Anya simply handed her back Joyce's necklace without even glancing up. Xander dreaded the moment when the silver pendent would no longer entertain the Wicca.
Spike, for once, was actually researching, but Xander could clearly see that his mind was on Buffy constantly, wondering whether she was okay, whether Willow had fixed it, whether-
The sound of the bell ringing above the shop door drew everyone's attention and they all stopped whatever useless thing they were doing at the time to see Buffy and Willow walking over to them.
"Buffy!" Joyce exclaimed happily, running over to hug her daughter tightly, "You're okay, oh thank god you're okay"
"You're back," Giles smiled.
"Have you found the ritual text?" Buffy asked, all business once she had hugged her Mom and she walked over to the round table matter-of-factly. Joyce and Willow followed closely behind as Joyce mouthed a silent thank you to Willow for saving one of her daughters.
"Something like that, yes," Giles, admitted.
"You have?" Joyce asked, "Why didn't you say? I thought you hadn't found anything yet"
"I had to look over... check some final details," Giles would not look Joyce in the eye as he sat back in his seat at the table, dragging the previously discarded information back over to him.
"Did you know- Ben is Glory?" Xander asked Buffy enthusiastically as Giles put his glasses back on.
"So I'm told," Buffy replied, Willow having told her this little snippet of information on the way and as she had been told Buffy remembered the moment in the gas station when Ben had freaked. And then Ben hadn't been Ben anymore. She spoke to Giles directly, "What do we know?"
"I'm afraid it..." Giles began, but then faltered. He didn't want to say what he had read. He didn't want to tell Buffy or Joyce, but especially not Joyce. How could he tell her this? That the death of her youngest daughter seemed to be the only way to save the world? There was another reason he didn't want to say it though. Saying it made it real. Made it unavoidable. And god how much Giles wanted to avoid it. When Giles had first met Buffy, Dawn had been nothing more than the Slayer's little sister (though of course, if he thought further on this, that was never how he met Dawn as she wasn't there to meet...but thinking on that too much could give one a near-fatal headache), but as he had gotten to know both Buffy and Dawn more...and then began dating Joyce...well, he had loved Dawn more and more like a daughter, just as he loved Buffy. He didn't want to see her killed all for 'the greater good' anymore than Joyce did. Or Buffy. It wasn't fair. It was stupid, pointless, unfair. And even more unfair? He was the one who was going to have to tell them. "Buffy, I've read these very carefully," He continued, "There's not much margin for error. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Might help if you actually said it," Buffy quipped, and Giles knew that within moments that lively, witty attitude that was Buffy's trademark would fade away as he gave her the devastating discovery of how to defeat Glory and save the world.
"Glory plans to open a dimensional portal, by way of a ritual blood letting," He explained and everyone nodded in understanding.
"Dawn's blood," Buffy elaborated, trying to keep her emotions out the affair as she made that statement.
"Yes," Giles agreed, "Once the blood is shed at a certain time and place, the fabric separating all realities will be ripped apart. Dimensions will pour into one another with no barrier to stop them. Reality as we know it will be destroyed, and chaos will reign on Earth"
"So how do we stop it?" Buffy asked, determination in her eyes.
"The portal will only close once the blood is stopped," Giles explained, not even looking down at the papers. He had read the details so many times; they had been brutally committed to memory. "And the only way for that to happen is..." Giles trailed off, his mouth drying up, rendering him unable to say the words as he looked on at Joyce and Buffy, both of them waiting for what he had to say. Both of them expecting him to come up with the perfect world saving answer as always. One that would give them all purpose and the ability to save Dawn. Not this time though, not this time, "Buffy," He said, his voice returned, "The only way is to kill Dawn,"
Buffy didn't say a word in response, but her expression lost all determination, all resolve. She looked like she had lost all hope.
There was a slight 'thunk' and the group turned to see Joyce had slid down the bookcase she had been leaning on and had fell to the floor, her facial expression almost matching Buffy's exactly. Willow's first thought was 'oh no, another coma' as she watched Giles run over to Joyce, kneeling down so he was at her level.
"You're wrong," Joyce said quietly, not looking at Giles, "You've got to be wrong. We can't kill...I can't even say it," She turned to look at him, tears streaming down her face, "You're wrong,"
"I wish I were," Giles told her, "But I can't change...it is what it is..."
"No," Joyce argued, shaking her head firmly at Giles just as Buffy ran out the back door, wanting to get away from it all. Willow decided now was not the time for her to have a friend following her- she needed time alone.
"Joyce, I-" Giles began but Joyce was still speaking and she talked over him.
"No, no, you're wrong," Joyce insisted.
"I'm not," Giles, told her, his voice quiet as though he'd lost all energy to carry on going and Willow thought, in light of everything, he probably had.
"Yes you are," Joyce insisted further, "You're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong," She punctuated each word with a fist to Giles' chest, fighting him, though her meager punches had little effect on him. She kept going though, kept hitting, as though fighting him was fighting what the scrolls said about Dawn, "You're wrong, you're wrong," Her fists disappeared as her hands opened and she just grasped at Giles' shirt tightly, falling into him as he held her, her sobs loud and uncontrollable as she cried into him, still protesting, "You're wrong, you're wrong"
And Willow could just hear Giles' words echoing in her head, haunting her.
The only way is to kill Dawn.