"NO" she shook her watcher violently but to no prevail. "Giles" she shouted, looking up to Wesley for answers, her eyes beginning to stain with tears. The younger watcher said nothing, swaying on the spot still as if in a trance. "Wesley?" The slayer cried. He looked up and stumbled backward, energy suddenly draining quickly.
"I'm sorry" he fought with consciousness but began to fail miserably. His legs gave way and he went down, dropping the crystal it dropped to the floor first, barely making a sound. He held to book steady as he could in his hands as he began to fall. In a last ditch attempt he brought the volume above his head and swinging down onto the blue trinket, it shattered.
Giles eyes shot open and he gasped out for breath as if just waking from a nightmare. Buffy almost mirrored his actions, her eyes already stained with unfallen tears. She backed up giving her watcher some space.
"What?" Giles croaked, summing up the situation in one word, "What's happening?" his disorientated expression flitted from Xander and then to Buffy.
"I don't understand" she tried to whip her eyes, hiding there red puffy appearance but Giles saw through it. "You're alive" she exclaimed wrapping her arms suddenly around the watcher which took him by surprise.
"Is he ok?" Giles noted Wesley's unconscious form at the end of his bed, Xander bent down to him, checking his vitals.
"He seems fine" Xander looked up, "Just, um, unconscious, I guess the run in with Angelus kind of drained him"
"Ok, this is making no sense" Giles cried, rubbing his head and finding no glasses there, "Angelus?"
"No it was the spell that did it" Buffy answered, on her own train of thought, "He used his energy to bring Giles back"
"Exactly how much have I missed?" The watcher sighed pulling himself out of bed finding himself only dressed in a pair of boxers that he didn't remember putting on. "OK, now this is embarrassing." He blushed grabbing his nearby dressing gown and covering himself, looking at the other two and then noting Cordelia's sleeping form in the nearby chair.
"Lets get Wesley sorted and then tell me what is going on" Giles insisted as he bent down to the other watcher, "For a start what happened to Wesley?"
Xander and Buffy gave him a quick rundown as they carried the unconscious watcher into the spare room placing him on the bed where he continued to make no response to any movement. He was pale and cold but seemed to be breathing ok, and despite the scrape with the now soulless Angel, had few injuries. They insisted Giles to sit down, though he couldn't understand why. Although his head was throbbing he felt just fine.
"Silly twit" the watcher smiled in thanks, "he knew what a spell like entailed, he could have been killed, why did he go ahead and do it."
"Prehaps because Buffy told him to" Cordelia appeared, in the doorway, shaking the last remains of sleep from herself. "Maybe if Buffy here, hadn't bullied Wesley into doing the spell he wouldn't be laying there" she felt anger rise in her voice as she went over to the unconscious watcher.
"And maybe if not, Giles wouldnt be here!" Buffy countered, finding her own voice raise a level with irritation, "And maybe if you'd told me about Angel sooner, no of this..."
"That's enough" Giles stood up, coming between the feud, "I understand you have your differences, but now is not the time to be sorting them out" he said with authority, the room fell silent. "Right now we have a matter more pressing at hand, one that involves a prophecy, the master and re ensouling Angel, so please can we postpone the arguments until after we save the world."
There was an awkward silence and Buffy and Cordelia exchanged glances.
"I think Wesley is going to be ok" Giles said looking to the other watcher, "And thanks to him I will be also," he turned to Buffy. "But that is still not the point. You placed him in unnecessary danger"
"To save you" Buffy cried, feeling bewildered.
"Yes" Giles said simply, "And for that I'm grateful, to all of you, especially Wesley" The watchr looked around the room at their tired expressions. "For now I think we should all get a few hours sleep before dawn, and then I'll work on opening a portal tomorrow, but keep your wits about you, the vampires will not be far off" Giles then left for his own bed, exhaustion beginning to take over him. Buffy and Xander left soon after, they crashed on the couch, to tired to bother about going home they both drifted swiftly off to sleep.
Cordelia remained with Wesley, lodging herself in a comfortable chair next to his bed she watched over him until sleep finally caught up with her and her head nodded onto her chest as she finally fell soundly asleep. For the rest of the night it would be peaceful for the gang, it was the calm before the storm, they were about to face much bigger foes than ones with pointy swords and poison arrows.
>> >>
Wesley woke with a start, breaking out in a cold sweat, he was breathing heavily. It was long past dawn, the bright Californian sunshine was glowing through the curtains, pressing the daylight into the room. He sat up looking around finding Cordelia slumped sleeping form in the chair beside him.
"Cordalia?" he lightly touched her arm and she jolted upright in shock, blinking in the morning sunlight.
"What, what's wrong?" she rubbed her eyes into focus and looked to the watcher, "Wesley, your awake"
"It would seems so, yes" he looked over and there eyes met, "how are you feeling?"
"Peachy" she said smiling at him, "Thank God Giles has comfy chairs, I managed to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep, how are you?" she asked gently.
"As well as can be expected" he cried, pulling himself out of bed, "though I am rather hungry" the watcher added standing up and straightening his clothes out.
"I think I can smell food, I think the others are up already, seeing as its quite late" She stood up too and the pair of them headed downstairs to find that the rest were up. Well, discounting Xander who was still fast asleep on the sofa. Buffy and Giles were speaking in a hushed tone as not to wake him.
"Morning" Giles noticed them come down stairs, Cordelia and Wesley made there way into the living room. "How are you feeling?"
"Fine" both almost said in union.
"You?" Wesley added sitting on one of the bar stools and helping himself to a plate, Cordelia mirrored his actions sitting beside him.
"Good, thanks to you" Giles smiled in appreciation, "Though I would like to apologise for the way Buffy pushed you into doing the spell"
"I didn't need pushing into it, if it was the last resort, which it was, then I wouldn't think twice about doing it again" The younger watcher said, looking to the slayer, who was wearing a sheepish smirk on her face.
"Yes well" Giles turned back to the food, cracking an egg into a frying pan, "Thank you" he said.
"Your welcome" Wesley smiled back.
After a long relaxing breakfast and Xander had woke up the five of them freshened up and set to the research. Most of the day was spent in silence, each bound to a book searching for ways of opening a portal into the other dimention. It was late in the day when there was any breakthrough, Xander stumbled upon an ancient spell of opening portals into a parallel universe. The procedure involved some rare ingredients and Buffy took Xander in search of them while Cordelia and the watchers researched on into the evening. It had been a couple of hours since the pair had left and worry was beginning to rise in the three of them, it was then that the door burst open and Buffy stumbled in holding an injured Xander at her side. All three shot to there feet and helped them to the sofa.
"What happened?" Giles covered the young boy over with a blanket, his head was bleeding, but it didn't look too serious.
"The vampires" Buffy stuttered, "Angel" she swallowed back a sob and stood up pacing the room, "If we're doing this portal thing, we need to do it now. It's getting worse out there, there's vampires everywhere. I think their tracking us here. And Angel knows where you live" She was beginning to slowly panic.
"OK" Giles cried rushing off to find things, "But what about Xander, we can't just leave him here?"
"I'm coming with you" he answered surprising them, he rubbed his head and looked up, "I want to help" He smiled at Buffy, ⌠Just fetch me a couple of aspirin and I'll be fine" Cordelia did the honours and went in search of Giles' medicine cabinet.
"There is one small problem" Wesley added as Giles returned with a handful of candles and powders and began to empty his weapons chest. "The portal is only available to be open for a short period of time, only 90 minutes I think, after then the link between the two dimensions is severed"
"So" Buffy said loading herself with a couple of stakes and picking up her watchers best sword, "We just have to kill him quick. You ready?"
"Almost" Giles hastily began to draw out a circle with powder and light some candles. Cordelia returned soon after with a glass of water, two tablets and antiseptic cream for Xander. He cleaned his head quickly and downed the pills. The gang then loaded themselves heavily with weapons, each adorning themselves with stakes, swords, axes and crossbows. None knew what they would be facing in this alternate dimension.
"Alright ready" Giles stepped out of the circle, revealing a large red orb that was placed in the centre. "Are you sure that you're all up for this?" The watcher looked at each and every one of them in turn. They all nodded in unison.
"You can talk Giles" Buffy joked for a minute, "We're not the one that was dead 12 hours ago." She suddenly realised what she was saying and her smile faded, she'd almost lost him.
"Yes well" The watcher turned away, "Lets begin" Wesley stepped forward holding a book and reading in an ancient language. Giles spoke here and there scattering powders and lighting candles. This continued for several minutes until the air seemed to tingle, static built up and the watchers chanted. Then in true magic style the portal appeared, a bright red glow filled the room and the air cracked with energies.
"Here goes" Buffy stepped forward towards the mystical gateway feeling her body begin to be pulled towards it. "Let's do this" She looked to the others and then jumped into the energy and disappeared. Then one by one the others followed, swallowed up by the red glow, the room became empty. But unknown to them, there was someone watching, they would not be the only ones to cross over, an old friend was to join them soon.