Well here are the last parts.
Thank you to all of you who have kept reading.
Of course, I just know you have been holding back those reviews until I had finished...
Be happy.
Chapter ten
Willow walked slowly down the corridor. She shuffled along taking care not to exert herself too much on her first trip out of her hospital room. She eventually reached her destination: a glass partitioned room with blinds for privacy. The young red head stood in the doorway, using the left side to hold herself steady and her free hand to brush her hair back better to see Giles sitting by Buffy's bedside.
"Wotcha thinking?" She asked affectionately as she slowly approached the Watcher.
"Willow," he acknowledged. "Just hanging on in quiet desperation," he quoted. "Should you be up?"
"Probably not, but it was either that or go insane in a rather undignified manner." She flashed him a wide smile that Giles found infectious despite the still form laying next to him and the tuneless sounds from the monitors.
"Has there been any change?" Willow asked glancing over at Buffy.
"No….which is a good thing, not necessarily bad," he added quickly.
They both sat quietly, allowing the beeping of the monitor to count away the minutes.
"Have you decided yet…about you and her?" Willow added when her sudden question was met with a questioning look.
Giles didn't answer straight away. He watched Buffy slowly inhale and exhale in rhythm with the machinery. "I can't help thinking of her and Angel. Their love was so fierce. They wrung every emotion in their short time together; affection, exasperation, humour…"
"….And finally an acceptance that they couldn't be together," Willow interrupted.
"The love is still there, though."
"Of course."
"And Riley….."
"Riley was too hung up with his own feelings of inadequacy, and Angel…..he was her first, so will always be special."
"What can I offer?"
"An understanding of what she is and an appreciation of what it means as well, which neither Angel nor Riley could figure. Stability and continuity and tenderness…"
"But not protection from harm…."
"She doesn't want James Bond." Willow stated humorously.
"That's good to know. I've always seen myself as more Harry Palmer than 007."
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"Hello, Buffy. How are you feeling?" Giles asked simply. She had regained consciousness that morning; two days after Spike had brought her and Willow to the hospital.
"Uncomfortable. Hello, Giles."
"Uncomfortable?"
"Very. This tube up my nose itches. This tube connected to my wrist is sore, and last but certainly not least, I have three electrode things attached to my chest which, by the way, I think the doctor got more than professional satisfaction in attaching."
"Besides that?" The Watcher asked calmly, fighting back a smile.
"Peachy. How's Willow?"
"She's fine."
Buffy nodded her head accepting the answer. She then looked away. She tried to wipe a tear away with her right hand, but the tubes prevented her. She slammed her hand down frustrated and used her left instead. "Good, I'm glad she's OK," she said. "Did Tara arrive safely?"
"Yes, a little late but….Buffy what's wrong?" He laid a hand on her shoulder.
"I killed him, Giles." She didn't need to say whom; Willow had given Giles all the details of that night. "I killed him. I could have wounded him or let him go even; he didn't pose any real risk and the Council would have tracked him down, but I chose to kill him instead and enjoyed it." She let her tears fall unhindered.
"I won't condone what you did, Buffy, but your remorse now…."
"Perhaps it's just as well we die young; the things we see and are forced to do would be too much to bear in a natural life span," she continued. "I've seen things no one should see and remember afterwards. And I'm tired, Giles. I don't want to fight it any more. Let me go and another be called in my place."
"Buffy, you're not dying. You came close…..the closest yet…."
"I'm not…."
"No, you silly girl," Giles admonished affectionately.
"Oh. That kind of makes my whole death speech rather redundant."
"Just a bit. It was very touching, though. Melodramatic and …"
"Hey, I came on to you all vulnerable and you're making wisecracks about me coming on to you all vulnerable. Isn't that kind of contemptible?"
"Xander's been teaching me. The important thing is that you will recover and we will both find a way to meet our calling….together," he added. Buffy didn't take the bait. "Buffy, about what I said that night, before you left…"
"Don't worry, Giles I won't hold you to it. If we're both honest, neither of us thought I'd still be alive today…"
"I'm serious….."
"I know, you sweet man, but I couldn't put you through…not after Jenny. Besides, you're too tall. I really need to date someone my own height."
Epilogue
Giles went about his evening ritual: he carried a tray to the table in front of his settee and sat himself down with a large book on twelfth century demonology. Before he could settle, however, he heard a key in his front door and the familiar creek as it was opened. He craned his neck round to see who the visitor was. Buffy stood in the doorway.
"Sorry. I know I should have knocked first, but I found this small box in my jacket pocket." She held up the box he had given her on her birthday for him to see. "It had a key inside." Giles stood up and approached to within a couple of feet of the young girl. "Anyway," she continued, "I've been wandering around Sunnydale trying different locks and thought I'd try this one…."
They both looked at each other for long seconds before she finally entered the apartment proper. Giles tentatively held out his arms and Buffy linked hers and held him close, her head nestled on his chest.
"Do I call you Rupert?"
"You do just once and I'll kick your butt back out the door."
"Oooh, I hit a sore point. I'll have to file that one away…and 'kick my butt'? Where did you learn that, the mean streets of Oxford?"
"Yes. You get a large number of Americans at Oxford."
They sat together on the settee.
"You know that some people will talk…..disapprove even," Giles commented not caring, however.
"Let them. In the scheme of things people shouldn't be too bothered by this ending. I mean it's not the end of the world. Besides, even if most people want Scully to get together with Mulder, there are a few out there who want her to be with Skinner."
Giles nodded sagely. "Of course, I have no idea what you are talking about."
"Oh, Giles."
End