Okay, here is "The Dark Age". Before I was going to do "Reptile Boy" or "Halloween." But there's a lot of Angel and very little Giles in those. Please enjoy!
*********
In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer.
Giles sat at a table in the library, watching Buffy do her step aerobics to her loud, techno music, while pretending not to. Her glanced over to her and clamped his hands over his ears for affect.
"Must we have this noise during your calisthenics?"
She grinned. "It's not noise! It's music!"
"I know music. Music has notes. This is noise."
"I'm aerobicising! I must have a beat!"
Giles rolled his eyes and muttered, "Wonderful. You work on your muscle tone while my brain dribbles out of my ears."
Neither of them heard the man outside as he pounded on their door in desperation, the dead woman advancing on her.
"No! Please!" The man screamed, making one more desperate attempt to gain the attention of the people inside, "Help!"
The dead woman blacked him up against the door, then moved her hands down to settle around his neck. He began to choke.
Finished her exercises, Buffy decided to cut her Watcher some slack. She strolled over to the table and turned off the music.
Giles smiled. "Ahhh! Very good. And the rest is silence."
Outside, the man fell dead against the ground, and the woman melted away into a pile of goo.
******
Giles tossed and turned in his bed that night, haunted by nightmares of his long supressed past. Behind his closed and wildly flickering eyes, he saw him and his "buddies" performing the rituals, spotted the tattoos etched onto their arms.
"Time to go to sleep!" His younger, nightmare-self said, then gave a long, bloodcurdling scream. A demon appeared before him.
Giles awoke with a start and glanced around his room in confusion. Slowly, his hand reached up to cover the tattoo on his arm, and he closed his eyes tightly against the memories.
******
"Giles!"
The next morning, Giles was so lost in thought that he almost walked right past Buffy, Willow and Xander, who were sitting together outside the school. He turned when she walked is name and walked over.
"Oh! There you are..."
Buffy looked amused about something. "Hey, morning. Say, is that tweed?"
Still preoccupied, Giles tried to focus on her words. "What? Oh, uh, yes. Um, now, uh, look, tonight is very important, um..."
He turned away from her and started towards the library, knowing she would follow. She did, but he still heard her say, "Now, that's a surprise." to Willow and Xander.
Buffy asked, "So, what's on tap tonight that's so important? Uprising, prophesied ritual, preordained deathfest?"
Giles frowned. He wished Buffy would take this more seriously. There was no way he wanted her to turn out like he had been at her age. Assuming it was a game. Just something that was "cool" as opposed to extremely dangerous. That could get her killed.
"Ah, the old standards!" Xander said with a sigh.
"Um, a medical transport is delivering the monthly supply of blood to the hospital."
"Mm. Vampire Meals-On-Wheels." When she stopped at her locker, Giles just smiled and shook his head a bit ruefully. Buffy would never turn out like him. He would be there to prevent that. There was no reason for him to take out his memory-ridden angst out on her. He might start acting like Angel. He shuddered slightly at the thought and said, "
"Hopefully not. Uh, we'll meet outside the hospital at 8:30 sharp. I'll bring the weaponry."
"I'll bring the party mix!"
"Just don't be late."
"Have I ever let you down?" Buffy asked.
Never. "Do you want me to answer that, or shall I just glare?"
"Morning, England."
Giles sighed, his new good mood vanquished by the arrival of Jenny.
"Oh, hello, Ms., uh, uh, tuh, Jenny."
Willow grinned at Xander. "Feel the passion!"
"Mm-hm!"
They looked over at Buffy, but her face was blank, unreadable.
"Willow..." Jenny warned.
Willow coughed. "Coughing, not speaking."
"We still on for tomorrow?" The woman asked.
Willow smiled and nodded.
"What's tomorrow?" Xander asked.
Jenny explained. "I'm reviewing some computer basics for the couple of students who've fallen behind. Willow's helping out for extra credit."
Xander: chuckled. "Those poor schlubs have to attend school on Saturday!"
Jenny's head titled to the side. "9am okay with you, Xander?"
His smile faded and Buffy's face lightened somewhat as she said, "Got a bit of schlub on your shoe there."
He made a face at her. "Heh, heh."
"Well, Cordelia's gonna meet us."
Xander's voice went rich with sarcasm. "Ooo, gang, did ya hear that? A bonus day of class plus Cordelia! Mix in a little rectal surgery, and it's my best day ever!"
Jenny turned to Giles. "Walk me to class?"
He forced a smile. "Pleasure."
As they left together, Buffy murmured, "Look at them." Her voice was pained, her expression sad, but Xander and Willow did not notice as they began to talk about how cute Giles and Jenny looked together.
Buffy waited for Giles to look back over his shoulder. To make a face at her and prove he didn't want to be walking with Jenny.
He didn't look back.
*********
"Oh!" Jenny said after they had been walking for a while. "Thank you so much for loaning me the Forrester book. It's wonderful!"
Not really listening, Giles managed to say, "Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it!"
"Yeah, it was so romantic, so evocative."
"That edition was my father's. I, I, I must've read it... twenty times."
"Yeah, y'know how you have to, to dog-ear your favorite pages so you can go back to them?"
Giles froze, fully listening for the first time. "Uh, uh, uh, what?"
"Well, I mean, I-I practically had to fold back every single page. So finally I just, I just started underlining all the pages I really wanted to discuss."
"U-u-underlined...?"
"But then, of course, I spilled coffee all over it, I can't even read it..."
Giles felt himself slipping into shock. "It's a first edition!"
She smiled. "I'm lying, Rupert. The book's fine." She held it up, then handed it to him. "I
just love to see you squirm."
Giles smiled, relieved. "Yes, well, I, uh... trust I gave good... squirm."
His book safely in his hands, he no longer needed to listen. So when Jenny said, "Did anyone ever tell you you're kind of a fuddy-duddy?" He simply ran his fingers over the cover and muttered. "Nobody ever seems to tell me anything else."
"Did anyone ever tell you you're kind of a sexy fuddy-duddy?"
At first, Giles was silent as he tried to fight the urge to run away, screaming, at the look on her face. Why did she think he liked her so much????? Sure he was nice enough, but hadn't he made it obvious enough that he wasn't interested?
"Well, no. Actually that, that part usually gets left out." He forced another smile. "I c-can't imagine why."
"This weekend."
Giles winced. He knew what Jenny wanted him to ask. He shuddered slightly, and was about to adamantly refuse, when another memory- or rather, several - occurred to him, these much fresher and much more traumatic to him. Angel. Hearing Buffy talk about Angel, seeing her in his arms, hearing Xander's angry, sarcastic comments about the vampire... "Would you like to go out?"
He could hardly believe he had said the words.
"Mmm" Jenny crooned, pressing her face close to hers. "Mm, no, I think I'd like to stay in."
Jenny pressed her lips against his and Giles sprang back as the bell rang.
"Uh, this," He cleared his throat. "Saturday, then."
"Saturday night." She cleared her throat too and gave him a coy look. "I'll see if I can make you squirm."
Giles shuddered again and hurried off to his library. When he got there, however, there was a detective and two police officers there.
"Rupert Giles?" One woman asked.
"Yes?"
"Detective Winslow. You're gonna have to come with me."
Giles frowned. "Why?"
"There was a homicide on campus last night. The victim had no identification, but he was carrying this slip of paper with your name and address on it." She held up a baggie with the evidence contained in side.
Confused, Giles set his briefcase down. "My name?"
Interruptive as usual, Cordelia chose that moment to walk into the library. "Well, evil just compounds evil, doesn't it? First I'm sentenced to a computer tutorial on Saturday, now I have to read some computer book... There are books on computers? Isn't the point of
computers to replace books?"
Giles interrupted her. "Cordelia, I'm a little busy right now." He waved pointedly at the detective, and to his annoyance, the girl grinned and hurried over.
"Oh! Great! Can you help me with a ticket? It's totally bogus. It was a one-way street. I was going one way."
Giles rolled his eyes and raised his voice. "Cordelia!"
"What?! Why does everyone always yell my name? I'm not deaf! And I can take a hint." Then she frowned. "What's the hint?"
"To come back later."
She sneered. "Yeah, when you've visited decaf land." She left.
Giles turned his attention back to the detective. "Where do you want me to go?"
******
Later, at the city morgue, the coroner opened one of the body storage doors and pulled out the drawer, a body under it covered with a thin sheet.
"Have you had your breakfast?" The attendant asked.
"No."
"That was probably a good idea."
He pulled back the sheet to reveal and heavily bruised and very dead man, who had the most prominent of his many bruises collected around his neck. Giles started in surprise. Philip?
"Do you know him?" The detective asked.
His voice at a whisper, Giles said, "Yes. Yes. I-I mean, I did. His name's Philip Henry. He was a friend of mine in London. I... I haven't spoken to him in twenty years."
"Can you think of any reason why he might've wanted to contact you?"
"No."
He looked down and saw the tattoo on Philip's arm. Dammit.
"Do you know what that is? The tattoo."
He lied quickly, easily. "No. No, I don't."
******
He had to figure out what was going on.
Giles had been working frantically ever since he had gotten back from the morgue that afternoon. It was far too much of a coincidence. First the nightmare, then Philip showing up to look for him, only to be brutally strangled to death? Something was quite obviously wrong.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Giles sighed at the interruption. If this was Jenny...He let the threatening thought die as he opened the door and saw Buffy standing there, her face concerned.
"Buffy. I-it's late. Uh, are you alright?" He watched her face carefully.
"I was gonna ask you the same thing."
She was okay. If she was okay, he really didn't have time for this at the moment. Lives were at stake. Normally that was something he would contact Buffy about, but he did not want her to know about that part of his life. Not under any circumstances.
"Yes, I'm fine, fine. Look, I'm, uh, I'm rather busy a-at the moment, so, uh, I'll see you on Monday at, at school."
He started to close the door, but Buffy stopped him.
"Giles, did you forget? The hospital, vampires, handy carryout packets of blood?"
"Oh! Yes, uh, are you alright? W-were you hurt?" His eyes shot back to her face.
"No. I mean, my feelings a little."
His face softened a little. He regretted that. He hadn't meant to leave her out there on her own, especially since he had been in change of weapons. She seemed to wave that aside.
"It doesn't matter. Angel was there. What's wrong?"
Giles' face when hard and blank again. Angel. He almost growled, but stopped himself. He couldn't deal with this at the moment.
"Nothing, nothing, nothing's wrong. I-I'm just in the, uh, middle of something extremely important, and, uh, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to say good night now."
This time, he closed the door in her face, leaving her confused and a little hurt on the other side.
Giles moved to the phone. "Yes, I'm, I'm sorry to disturb you. It's, uh... I-I realize it's, uh, five in the morning there, um... Uh, I-I'm trying to reach Diedre Page. My name is Rupert Giles, uh, uh, she knows me. It's, it's very important." He listened, then winced. "I'm terribly sorry. I... I-I didn't know. W-when did she, uh, pass away? Ohhhh. That recently." He sat down heavily at his desk. "Um, yes, yes, um, we were friends when we were young. My condolences."
He hung up and stared into space for a minute, his fingers pressing against his lips. Then he took off his glasses and reached for the drink, not caring that the bottle next to his glass was already half empty. He finished the drink and grabbed his pen, crossing Diedre's name off a list in front of him. There were five names on the list. Thomas Sutcliff, Ethan Rayne. Philip Henry, Diedre Page, and Rupert Giles. When he went into the bathroom, he glanced into his mirror and memories assailed him once more.
"So." He murmured. "You're back."
******
In the library at school the next day, Buffy entered the library and headed for Giles' office. Jenny might not believe her that Giles was in trouble, but he had not been Giles last night. Something was wrong, and for whatever reason, he was not telling her what is was. But she fully intended to find out, whether he wanted to tell her or not. Whatever it was, she was not going to let him suffer through it on his own.
Suddenly she heard a strange noise, and looked around the library in confusion, halting in her determined walk. She saw a shadow cross one of the bookcases, and quickly ran up the stairs to the main part of the anteroom, searching each aisle silently.
Buffy heard another noise, and looked up just in time to notice a bookshelf about to be pushed onto her from above. She avoided the bookshelf and dashed after Ethan Rayne, the one who had pushed the shelf in the first place. She caught him easily, as he was limping.
"I know you! You were in that costume shop." Buffy exclaimed.
"Oh, I'm pleased you remember." The man tried to leave, but Buffy stopped him.
"You sold me that dress for Halloween, and nearly got us all killed!"
Ethan shrugged. "But you looked great."
She punched him, hard in the jaw.
"Owww!" He rubbed at his jaw. "So now we're even?"
Buffy scowled. "I'll let you know when we're even. What're you doing here?"
"Snooping around."
She blinked. "Honesty. Nice touch."
"It's one of my virtues." Then he grinned. "Not really."
"I've got a great idea: why don't I just call the police and have you arrested for breaking and entering, and then I can get back to my fun Saturday?"
"Yes, the police. Well, they'll have all those questions, and they'll really need Rupert to answer them all."
Buffy frowned. "You know Giles."
"We go back. Way back. You don't happen to know where he is, do you?"
*********
Giles was having the nightmare again. Again, in his mind, he saw the tattoo on his arm, the demon, and this time Diedre, her skin rotten and her eyes glowing yellow.
Suddenly, his phone rang, and he awoke with a start. He realized that he had fallen asleep at his desk.
He answered the phone. "Hello."
"Giles, it's me."
Giles breathed out. "Buffy, u-unless this is an emergency, I'll see you on Monday."
"What's the Mark of Eyghon?"
Giles stiffed. No. She could not know ANYTHING about the Mark. Who had told her? Dammit!
"Giles?"
"Cat got his tongue?" Someone spoke from beside Buffy on the other end of the line and Giles recognized the voice immediately. Dammit!
Buffy spoke again, "I'm in your office with someone who claims to be an old friend
of yours. Ethan Rayne?"
"He's there with you? Listen, Buffy, you're... you're in grave danger while Ethan's there. I want you to put the phone down and get out of the library as soon as possible."
"I'm not going anywhere until you give me some answers!" She snapped.
Suddenly there was a loud crash on the other end of the line.
"Buffy?"
There was no answer.
Not bothering to hang up, he dropped the phone on his desk and took off out of his apartment, grabbing his glasses on his way out.
******
In the library, the dead body of Philip had crashed through the window of Giles' office, his eyes glowing a strange yellow. He came out of the office and went straight to Buffy, who kicked him in the chest and rolled over the counter. He came after her again, and Ethan rolled over the counter as well.
"Ethan!" Dead Philip called.
Xander rushed into the room, followed by Cordelia, Willow and Jenny.
"Don't let him get away!" Buffy called.
Xander pushed Ethan up against the counter, and was pushed aside. As Ethan tried to rush past Willow, Jenny and Cordelia, Cordelia kneed him in the crotch, and he collapsed.
Buffy, meanwhile, backed towards the open cage door, then turned and pretended to run inside it. When Philip tried to chase her, she sidestepped at the last instant, and slammed and locked the door after him.
********
Later, Giles burst into the library. The first thing he noticed was that Buffy was okay, watching him with confused and angry green eyes - not that he blamed her for that. The second and third things he noticed were that Ethan was in a chair, being carefully guarded by Buffy, and Dead Philip was locked in the cage.
"Is everyone alright?" He asked.
"Super!" Cordelia enthused. "I kicked a guy!"
"We're okay." Jenny answered, more appropriately.
"Deadguy here interrupted our tutorial." Xander explained, gesturing to Philip. Then he turned to the dead man and said, "Been meaning to thank you for that."
Philip jumped at Xander, startling the boy. Giles walked up to examine his old friend.
"It can't be!"
"Yes, it can." Giles turned to face Ethan. "Hello, Ripper."
Giles scowled at the old nickname. "I thought I told you to leave town."
"You did. I didn't." He looked a little anxious as Giles started towards him. "Shop's lease is paid till the end of the month."
"Uh, why did he call him Ripper?" Cordelia asked Xander, who looked just as baffled.
Giles grabbed Ethan by the hair on the back of his neck and lifted him out of his chair.
"You should've left when I told you." Giles growled.
"Ohhhh..." Cordelia murmured, understanding.
"Giles?!" Buffy cried.
Giles knew he was frightening her, but he was too angry to look at her at the moment. "You put these people in danger. The people I care about."
"If you cared so much about them, why didn't you leave town?" Ethan asked, pushing Giles' arm away. "You've been having the dreams, I know. I have. We both know what's coming."
"What dreams?! What is going on here?!" Buffy cried.
"Tell her, Ripper."
"Giles..."
He turned to her, his eyes already pleading for forgiveness and understanding that he did not really expect. Before he could say anything, however, Philip broke the cage door and threw it open into Jenny, who collapsed. Xander moved away, pulling Cordelia with him, and Giles called Jenny's name in surprise.
He moved to help the woman while Buffy stood between Ethan and Philip and kicked him in the chest several times, forcing him into the cage again. He slid down to the floor, but was up a second later. Before he could reach Buffy, his eyes went wide and he began to convulse. He collapsed yet again next to Jenny and turned into a puddle of slime.
Everyone stared in shock, until Willow muttered, "Now, there's something you don't see everyday."
"I'm gonna be in therapy till I'm thirty." Cordelia agreed.
Buffy looked around. "Where's Ethan? Where'd he go?"
Jenny woke up.
"Are you alright, Jenny?" Giles asked.
"Ow!"
"Careful."
"Ohhh..."
"Can you stand?"
"I think so."
Giles helped Jenny up.
"This is what happens when you have school on Saturday." Cordelia complained, earning a look from Xander.
Jenny groaned. Giles considered pushing her to Xander, which would be easy enough, then looked over at Buffy. Once again an image of Angel fluttered into his mind. Because he was in a nasty mood, he pulled Jenny closer to him.
"Lean on me. It'll be alright."
Buffy's eyes went dark with some unknown emotion, then her face was made carefully blank.
"Promise?" Jenny crooned.
"I promise."
"I believe you."
Jenny closed her eyes and hugged Giles close. Buffy turned away and left the library quickly, in search of Ethan, and Giles watched her go.
*********
When Buffy entered the library once more, Giles was at the table, stoking Jenny's hair as she rested her head on her hand. Buffy purposefully looked at neither of them.
"How's your head?" Giles asked Jenny.
"Throbbing."
"I lost Ethan. Giles, what's going on?" Buffy was glaring at him, and he could tell she was in as horrible a mood as he was now. For some reason, that didn't make him feel any better.
"It's complicated, Buffy, and quite frankly, it's private."
Buffy's glare deepened. "I don't care from private! I care from dead guys attacking us. I care from you lost weekending in your apartment."
"I wasn't..." He sighed and looked away. "I was just trying to find a solution."
"Giles, share! What is the Mark of Eyghon?"
His anger returned and he stood up. "Hey! This is not your battle! And as your Watcher, I'm telling you unequivocally to stay out of it!"
Buffy looked shocked.
"I have to get Jenny home." He helped her up, ignoring the hurt look on Buffy's face.
"Mm. Thank you." Jenny groaned.
They walked from the library.
Fighting back tears and pain, Buffy marched determinedly over to the table where Willow, Cordelia and Xander were sitting. No matter how angry she was at Giles right now, no matter how much he was hurting her, she as NOT going to let him face this alone.
"We have work to do. Will, I want you to find out anything and everything you can about the Mark of Eyghon."
"I'll try the 'Net, but 'Mark of Eyghon' sounds like Giles and his books sorta deal." Willow said.
"Then we hit the books."
Willow vanished into the stacks.
"Xander, how do you feel about digging through some of Giles' personal files and seeing what you can find?"
"I feel pretty good about it. Does that make me a sociopath? Nah."
Cordelia hopped off the counter and looked expectantly at Buffy, who only raised her brows and asked, "What?"
"What about me? I care about Giles."
"Uh, work with Xander."
"Well, when I say 'care', I, I mean..."
"Cordelia..."
"Okay, okay!" She followed Xander into the office.
Buffy sighed and went to work as well.
**********
"Thanks for bringing me here." Jenny looked around Giles' apartment and accepted a drink from him. "Not quite ready to be home alone just yet."
He sat down on the couch next to her and prepared himself to apologize to her. As much as she often annoyd him, he had never meant for this to happen.
"Jenny, uh... I'm so very sorry about all of this. I, uh... I never meant for you to be
involved in, in, uh, any of this."
"So I got involved." She shrugged and leaned forward. "That's what happens when two
people get involved."
Giles smiled slightly, his mind still whirling as he tried to think how he was going to handle this horrible situation.
"I really am, however, gonna have to get you home. It's not, uh... I'm not a very safe person to be around at the moment."
"Nothing's safe in this world, Rupert. Don't you know that by now?"
She reached up and stroked his face.
******
Back in the library, Willow hurried over to Buffy with her book. "Ah! Aha! It's not Egyptian, it's Etruscan. Mistaken for Egyptian by the design pattern, but any fool can see it predates their iconology. Look, the Mark of Eyghon, worn by his initiates. 'Eyghon, also called the Sleepwalker, can only exist in this reality by possessing an unconscious host. Temporary possession imbues the host with a euphoric feeling of power.'"
"Yeah, but what about non-temporary?"
"'Unless the proper rituals are observed, the possession is permanent, and Eyghon will be born from within the host.'"
"I'm guessing eww!" Cordelia interjected.
"Wait. Hey, listen. 'Once called, Eyghon can also take possession of the dead, but its demonic energy soon disintegrates the host, and it must jump to the nearest dead or unconscious person to continue living.'"
"I still don't get what this has to do with Giles." Buffy said, frowning.
"I don't know about Giles, but ancient sects used to induce possession for bacchanals and, and orgies."
"Okay! Giles and orgies in the same sentence. I coulda lived without that one." Xander cried. Cordelia winced in agreement.
Buffy frowned at them, then said, "Uh, wait a minute. The dead guy's all puddly now."
"So the demon's gone." Cordelia said, "There was no one dead to jump into. I mean, we're all not dead, right?"
"No, no one dead." Buffy began.
Xander finished for her. "But someone unconscious."
They look around at each other in shock and alarm.
*****
Giles heard a small noise come from the living room.
"What was that?" He asked, as he came out of the kitchen with tea.
"What was what?"
He frowned slightly, then shrugged. "I thought I heard something."
"I didn't."
Giles handed Jenny some tea. "Here. Drink that, and then I'll drive you home."
Jenny took a sip then set down the cup. "You could take me home. Or you could take advantage of me in my weakened state."
*****
In the library, Buffy hung up the phone sharply. "Thank you, operator. There's no answer at Ms. Calendar's, and Giles' phone is out of order. I'm gonna go over there."
She left.
*****
In Giles apartment, Giles moved quickly away from Jenny. "Now really isn't the right time." He protested.
Why hadn't he just ended this before? Told her he would never care about her in that way? That he already loved another? Why was he so obsessed with getting back at Buffy, when she had never tried to hurt him? Why was he so damned jealous?
"Oh, there's never been a better time."
She pushed him back onto a chair, climbed onto his lap and kissed him. He pushed her away.
"It's not right."
Angry now, Jenny moved away and began to pace. "God, you just don't change, do you?"
"What?"
"It's not right, it wouldn't be proper, people might get hurt. You're like a woman, Ripper. You cry at every funeral. You never had the strength for me. You don't deserve me." Her voice lowered to a whisper. "But guess what? You've got me..." She took his head and her voice lowered to a deep male voice. "Under your skin."
She kissed him again and her face began to transform to that of Eyghon.
"Was it good for you?" She snarled, then smashed his head into the phone.
"Aw, you never had the stomach. But that's okay. 'Cause I'm about to rip it out!"
She pulled him back and slammed him into the floor just as Buffy kicked open the door and ran in, instantly assessed the situation, and kicked Jenny/Eyghon in the jaw. She flew over the couch and onto the floor, then stood and walked around the couch, glaring darkly at the Slayer.
"Back off!" Buffy cried.
She only laughed. "Three down, two to go. Be seeing ya."
She ran and dived through the window, but Buffy ignored her departure and knelt at Giles' side.
"Are you alright? Giles, how do we stop this?"
"Oh, God, what have I done?"
"Talk to me! Giles, you're scaring me."
He blinked her into focus. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry, be Giles. C'mon, we fight monsters. This is what we do. They show up, they scare us, I beat 'em up and they go away. This isn't any different!"
"It is different."
"Because you don't know how to stop it?"
"Because I created it!"
Buffy was silent for a moment, then helped him up and led him to the couch. Then she sat beside him and waited silently for an explanation. Giles sighed and began.
"I was twenty-one, studying history at Oxford. And, of course, the occult by night. I hated it. The tedious grind of study, the... overwhelming pressure of my destiny. I dropped out, I went to London...I fell in with the worst crowd that would have me. We practiced magicks. Small stuff for pleasure or gain. And Ethan and I discovered something... bigger."
"Eyghon."
"Yes. One of us would, um... " Unable to look at her, he poured himself a drink and studied it. "Go into a deep sleep, and the others would, uh, summon him. It was an extraordinary high!" He smiled humourlessly. "God, we were fools."
"You couldn't control it."
"One of us, Randall, he lost control. Eyghon took him whole. We tried to exorcise the demon from Randall, but it killed him. No. We killed him. We thought we were free of the demon after that. But now he's back. And one by one, he will kill us all."
"Three down, two to go?"
Giles nodded.
"Then it's going after Ethan." She stood. "I better beat it there."
Giles stood too. This was exactly what he had wanted to avoid. He did not want anyone - least of all Buffy- paying for his mistakes. "We'd better."
"I'd better." She corrected. "Giles, you're barely mobile, and speed is of a serious essence here."
He could not argue. Slowly, he sat back down. "I don't know how to stop it without killing Jenny."
"I've got the guys working on it. I'll, um, try to contain it until we figure something."
She started to leave.
"Buffy?" When she stopped and turned to look at him, he caught her eyes and looked at her carefully, searching for lingering signs of anger. He wished, in that moment, that he could tell her how he really felt. That he loved her so much, and was only acting this way because he would be unable to stand losing her. Instead he simply said, "I'm sorry."
She sighed slightly, and said, "I know." Then she left.
The moment she was gone Giles closed his eyes and focused on her mind, searching for her amid the jumble of his already overcrowded mind. It took him longer then usual to locate her, but when the vision finally came, it was jump in time for him to see Buffy opening the door to Ethan's shop several long blocks away.
"Ethan?" She came in and closed the door, looked around. "Ethan? Giles told me everything. Look, it's coming for you."
Ethan appeared behind her. "And you came to protect me? I'm touched."
"Don't worry, it's nothing personal. To protect Giles I have to protect you."
Ethan looked at her curiously. "How does Ripper inspire such goodness?"
Giles waited for Buffy's answer too. For a moment, she was silent, and a hundred emotions seemed to cross her mind at once. Then she merely shrugged and said, "'Cause he's Giles."
"And I'm not. Still, lucky me." Ethan said.
Buffy wasn't paying that much attention. "Hmm. Lucky you."
"Well, we can't run. Eyghon will find us." He lifted his sleeve to show her his tattoo. "This
mark's like a homing beacon."
"That's okay. I'm not much into running."
Ethan rolled his eyes. "Aren't we manly?"
"One of us is. You're gonna hide till it's over."
Ethan wasn't insulted. He just nodded. "Excellent plan."
"Is there a way in through the back?"
"Uh, there's a back door. It's locked. I think it's solid."
Buffy nodded. "We'll set up there. Let's go."
"Oh, no, please."
He gestured for her to go first, and Giles' eyes instantly narrowed in suspicion.
She headed toward the back, and Ethan picked up an arm from a mannequin.
"Buffy look out!" Giles shouted futilely. She could not hear him. Ethan slammed the arm into Buffy, and she crumpled to the floor.
"Ladies first." Ethan said.
And the vision faded.
As long as it took him to get into the vision, it took him twice as long to escape from it, despite the fact that he could see nothing anymore. He was not practiced at following Buffy with his mind of his own free will, and they rarely came on their own anymore. Cursing to himself, Giles finally managed to pull free. He jumped off the couch and grabbed his coat. Suddenly, his vision went black again and he toppled to the floor. Another vision? No. Another nightmare. His mind had been left open and weak by his forced vision, and the waking nightmare had caught him unawares.
Images flashed through his mind. He can see the Mark of Eyghon, and various friends incarnate of the demon. The last thing he sees however, terrifies him. Buffy, writing on the table as Ethan tattoos the Mark of Eyghon on the back of her neck. Buffy is trying hard not to scream, but she is obviously in great pain. Giles woke.
"Oh! Ethan... No. No!" God, not Buffy! He staggered to his feet and out the door, ignoring weak muscles and not bothering to close the door behind him. Giles
barges in through the door.
******
Giles drove as fast as he could in his weakened and cloudy-minded state, but when he got there Jenny/Eyghon was already attacking Buffy, trying to knock her unconscious or kill her so he could take her body. Ethan was nowhere to be seen.
"Eyghon! Take me." Giles shouted.
Jenny/Eyghon turned to face him.
"Buffy, get out of here!"
As Jenny/Eyghon advanced on Giles, Buffy leapt between them. "No! No!"
Jenny/Eyghon stretched her arm out at Buffy and sent her flying into a pile of boxes. Giles cried out in protest, but the demon grabbed his collar and pulled him to the floor, standing over him.
"I've been waiting a long time to do this." She snarled.
As she bent down, Angel came crashing through the door, grabbed Jenny/Eyghon and smashed her into a crate. He began to choke her, and Xander, Willow and Cordelia ran in behind him, Willow helping Giles to his feet.
"He's killing her!" Giles said.
Willow shook her head. "No! Trust me! This is gonna work!"
Xander helped Buffy up just as Eyghon lost the fight and leapt from Jenny's body and into Angels. Jenny falls to the floor and Angel begins to tremble and convulse against the wall. Willow let go of Giles, but instead of hurrying to Buffy, as he wanted to, she knelt down by Jenny. Buffy was okay, he was not entirely sure Jenny was.
"Jenny?"
Angel's face twisted, from vampire to human and back again, as the demon inside of him battled it out with Eyghon. Finally, the demon inside Angel kicked Eyghon out of the body. Bodiless, Eyghon crumbled into ashes and died.
Everyone hurried to Angel, except Giles, who was still trying to make sure Jenny was okay.
"Jenny?"
"Rupert?"
Ethan came out from where he'd been cowering and ran from the shop.
"You knew that if the demon was in trouble it was gonna jump into the nearest dead person." Buffy said to Angel. Angel turned his wide, puppy-dog brown eyes to Buffy.
"I put it in danger."
"And it jumped." Said Willow, standing.
No one noticed the glare Giles shot Angel from across the room.
Angel stood. "I've had a demon inside me for a couple hundred years...Just waitin' for a good fight."
"Winner and still champion." Buffy agreed, standing way to close to the vampire for Giles' liking.
"Uh, I think that Ethan guy disappeared again." Xander pointed out.
Buffy frowned. "Darn. I really wanted to hit him till he bled."
"Well, at least it's over." Cordelia said.
Buffy and Angel looked over at Jenny and Giles. Jenny clung to Giles as they walked out of the shop.
Angel, who was the only one who knew Giles' true feelings for Buffy, looked between the two of them and sighed. Would they ever work this out? As much as Angel loved Buffy, as much as he didn't want to loose her, Giles' love for her was different. Deeper. There was no way he could ever compete with Giles' for Buffy's heart. Judging by the pain in Buffy's gaze as she watched Jenny snuggle into Giles, and Giles bend to kiss her head, Giles had already won it.
******
The next day, Giles saw Jenny in the hall. He had to mend their friendship. He knew she was angry with him over what had happened, but as much as he found Jenny annoying sometimes, and as much as it bugged him that she was often so gaga over him, he found he did not want to loose her as a friend. He hurried over to her.
Jenny felt a deep, horrible pain inside of her, as she walked the halls of Sunnydale High. It had nothing to do with physical pain, but it did not make it any less easy.
"Uh, uh, Jenny! Jenny..."
She stopped and faced Giles, careful to keep her expression blank.
"Rupert, hi."
"Uh... I-I-I tried to call you last night, s-see how you were."
Jenny looked away. "Yeah, I-I-I, uh... I left my phone off the hook. I seem to need a lot of sleep lately."
"But, but you're al-alright? Is, is, is there anything you need?"
"Mm, no, I'm fine. I mean, I'm not... running around, wind in my hair, 'the hills are alive with the sound of music' fine, but... I'm coping."
"I, I would like to help." Giles offered.
"I know."
"Perhaps we could, um, talk sometime, um... dinner, or, or a drink? When you're feeling stronger."
"Sure, sometime."
Giles reached out to her, wanting her just touch her arm, know that she was okay, but she backed up.
"Yeah. Sometime. I better get to class."
"Yes, of course."
Jenny walked away. She could feel Giles' gaze on her, but she knew he was merely worried about her, and guilty. She had delusioned herself as long as she could. She would never be with Giles. The pain inside her had nothing to do with the demon attack the day before. That had not truly been Giles' fault. Simply a mistake from his younger and more foolish days. Didn't Giles think she would be able to tell that he loved Buffy, and not her? She had known Giles was only using her to get back at Buffy, because he was jealous of Angel. but she had been so desperate that she hadn't cared.
Now it was horribly obvious that she would never be able to change his mind. Buffy and Giles love, whether they had admitted their feelings to each other or not, ran far to deep. Nothing she would ever do would change their love for each other. She could never love him as much as Buffy did, just as Giles would never be able to love her as much as he loved Buffy. Was there anyone, aside from Giles and Buffy themselves, that this was not completely clear and obvious to?
Jenny looked back at Giles one more. The man turned to go to the library, then paused and turned again to see Buffy coming towards him. It was all in their faces as their eyes caught and held, as their expressions brightened slightly at the sight of the other.
Jenny entered the classroom, and didn't look back again.
"Hey." Buffy said when she reached Giles.
Giles continued to move, and didn't stop walking until they were around the corner. Then he turned to face her.
Buffy's small heart shaped face was tilted up to his, creased with concern. Despite her obvious anger and jealousy over Jenny the last couple of days, her worry was sincere as she asked,
"Is she okay?"
He didn't really know what to say to that. "Um... The hills are not alive."
Buffy frowned in confusion. "I'm sorry to hear that. I think."
Giles shrugged. "I don't think she'll ever really forgive me. Maybe she shouldn't."
"Maybe you should."
He looked into her earnest, shining face, then looked away.
"I never wanted you to see that side of me."
"I'm not gonna lie to you. It was scary. I'm so used to you being the grownup, and then I find out that you're a person."
At first he frowned, not wanting to believe that Buffy saw him that way. Then he saw the teasing light in her eyes and smiled.
"Most grownups are."
"Who would've thought?"
Giles nodded. "Some are even, uh... shortsighted, foolish people."
"So, after all this time, we finally find out that we do have something in common. Which, apart from being a little weird, is kind of okay." She paused, then said, "I think we're supposed to be training right now."
"Yes. Yes. Um, need to concentrate on your flexibility."
"And you know what? I have just the perfect music." She grinned and held up her CD. "Go on, say it. You know you want to."
Giles grinned at her. "It's not music, it's just, uh, meaningless sounds."
"There. Feel better?"
"Yes. Thanks."
They started off towards the library.
"Bay City Rollers. Now, that's music."
"I didn't hear that."
******
Okay that was fun ^ ^ Anyway, I'm very excited because the next episode is the one where things finally change between Buffy and Giles!!!! It will probably be updated tomorrow or the next day.