Who, What, Why, Where, When?

CHAPTER 14

"What is it?" he asked anxiously as Buffy shut the door behind her. "Are you OK, where's Xander?" he was getting more worried with every passing second and wished she would answer at least one of his questions.

"Everyone's fine" Buffy said quietly and moved to sit at the table. He looked questioningly at Willow but she had turned away and wouldn't meet his gaze.

Neither of them was crying so he knew it couldn't be a life or death thing. As Buffy sat staring at her clenched hands he could feel anger building. "If this isociaocial call you have impeccably bad timing" he said dryly and sat down across from his slayer, gently putting his own hands on top of hers. "Tell me" he said gently.

"Angel called this morning to give me the latest on the research he was doing on Bolak" she began quietly. When she finally looked up at him her face was set and her eyes had darkened with anger.

He recognised the look and suddenly knew that a slight backache was the least of his worries. "Oh" he said then realised that he hadn't exactly helped his case. "What did he say exactly?"

She took a deep breath and held his eyes with her own. "He told me about the prophecy" she said and watched his eyes flinch slightly as he understood that she knew everything. "He told me about the part which meant you were supposed to die to let me live" she had raised her voice slightly and the anger was starting to leak out around the edges of her carefully controlled temper. "He mentioned, in passing, that you were lucky to have such a thick skull but that we'd better be more careful next time". Abruptly she stood up and started pacing. "He was a little surprised at my not knowing any of this, after all he assumed you would have told me after you spoke to him about it the day before the fight"

At this Willow jerked her head up. "You told Angel about this before the fight?" she asked incredulously. He looked at Willow for a brief second and she saw thock ock in his eyes. "You don't remember do you?"

Buffy stopped pacing. "What bit don't you remember Giles? The bit where you fully expected to die and didn't tell your slayer or the bit where you deliberately put yourself in danger in some macho, heroic kick which nearly accomplished it's sick goal". Her fury was almost at the point where she would have to hit something but he had faded her out and was concentrating instead on trying to remember talking to Angel.


"Buffy wait" Willow said and moved to kneel down beside his chair. "Do you remember talking to Angel about this?" she asked gently.

He shook his head. "No, I still don't remember the last few days before the fight but it would make sense to speak to him if Bolak was using a vampire host as we suspect"

He looked up at Buffy as she stood, silently fuming, with her hands on her hips. "If I had told you what I'd found you would have chained me to my desk to stop me taking part in the fight and the prophecy may have been fulfilled by your death" he said quietly.

"Damn right I would have stopped you going, we could have taken them even without you there!" she stated with certainty and crossed her arms.

"No" Willow whispered and they both looked at her. Buffy was about to argue when Willow also stood up and moved towards her. "Do you remember what I told you about Gile's getting hurt?" she asked, willing her friend to remember the sequence of events. Realisation finally dawned on the slayer's face and most of the anger left her.

"Of course" Buffy nodded. "Angel said that the whole idea was to cripple the slayer either by killing me or someone close to me so that I was out of action and Bolak could move in and open the Hellmouth again"

Giles looked from Willow's face to Buffy's. "Will one of you tell me what is going on?" he asked. When Willow shook her head Buffy turned ace ace him.

"You and I will sort this out at training tomorrow" she moved across to kneel down in front of his chair. "I've trusted you with my life so many times I've lost count and it hurts that you didn't think you could trust me with yours" she said quietly and put her hand on his knee as he started to reply. "I know you're going to have a long winded and logical explanation but it won't be enough this time"

She stood up and moved to hug Willow. "I'm sorry to dump this on you but I don't think you guys need an audience for this next bit" she whispered in her friends ear.

Willow smiled weakly back at her. "Just be careful with him tomorrow, he's already hurt his back" she sighed.

"I'm not even going to ask" Buffy said dryly and picked her bag up from the table.


When she was gone the silence lasted for several minutes. Eventually Giles stood up and moved to the kitchen to put the kettle on.

When he put her tea in front of her she seemed to rouse herself from the reverie she had lapsed into. She put her hands round the mug and looked up at him. "Sit down" she said quietly. "There are some things about the fight that you need to know"

She told him in detail about the progress of the final battle at the sawmill, up to the point where she was surrounded by the five large vampires. He had taken his glasses off and was staring at the tabletop as she relayed his rescue of her from certain death. Her voice was flat and devoid of emotion but when she had finished he looked up to find her starting to cry.

"You don't remember any of this do you?" she sniffled.

"No" he replied huy. Hy. He stood up and started to pace a little then returned to sit across from her. "The prophecy clearly mentions the one who watches as the only acceptable sacrifice in lieu of the slayers death" he said and looked to her for confirmation. "So why would they attack you?" he asked quietly.

She nodded and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "The prophecy was written when only the slayer and watcher were aware of what needed to be done and the loss of either one was enough to effectively disable the other". She looked to see him nodding absently. "It didn't take into account our situation where several of us are de facto watchers to Buffy" she continued. "My death, or Xander's would have been just as effective in taking the slayer out of the game for long enough to get the Hellmouth open, by which time she wouldn't have been able to fight back"

He moved across to hold her and they stood in each other's arms for several minutes. "I'm sorry,” she mumbled. "I just keep remembering the vampire swinging that piece of wood at your head and thinking you were dead"

He held her a little tighter and moved them both to the sofa. "I had no idea that you came so close to death" he said quietly. "I don't think I'll ever get those memories back but that somehow makes it worse"

She smiled a little weakly at him. "Buffy was right about the macho, heroic thing. You were in full Ripper mode and could have taken on Stallone and Schwarzenegger with one hand tied behind your back"


"Until I forgot to duck?" he asked and pulled her closer to him. "I'm sorry for most of what happened and the worry I've caused all of you but I can't say that I'm 100% sorry as it brought us together" he looked down at her upturned face and smiled slightly. "Well, in a roundabout sort of way?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I knew if you survived at all I was going to make you admit your true feelings for me!" She scowled at him "I was also planning some painful retribution for the argument where you called me childish and told me you didn’t love me"

He kissed her and rubbed his index finger down her throat, continuing until he met the lace of her bra. "I think you can leave the painful retribution to Buffy tomorrow" he smiled ruefully. "I seem to remember lecturing her about duty, responsibility and trust when she gave me the damaged back first time around"

Willow smiled. "She'd better not put you out of action or she'll have an angry and frustrated wicca to deal with"

He laughed and stretched out on the sofa. She wriggled round until she was comfortable and her left hand rested on his thigh. "Will you both be OK?" he asked as he began stroking her hair.

"What do you mean" she asked and began stroking his knee absently.

"I mean will it cause any tension between you that you knew about this yesterday and kept it from her?" his hand was now gently rubbing her neck and shoulders.

"We'll sort it out" she murmured and turned her head so he could rub a tight muscle in her neck.

They lay, gently stroking each other, until he realised that her deep, steady breathing meant she had fallen asleep. He continued to gently rub her back and pulled the throw from the back of the sofa to keep them both warm.

She woke in the early hours of the morning and moved out from under his protective arm. She shiv sli slightly and went to the kitchen to make some hot milk for them both. Gently shaking him awake she handed him the hot milk and some painkillers. "If you sleep here all night you won't be able to walk for a week" she suggested and handed him his glasses from the coffee table.

"Are you OK?" he asked as he gingerly sat up and took the painkillers.


An almighty yawn shook her frame she she smiled sleepily at him. "I will be in the morning. What time do you need to be up to get Fraser's car back?"

He tried to stand and eventually managed, with a steadying hand from Willow and judicious use of the back of the sofa, to straighten up. "I'll meet up with him for a late lunch" he suggested and yawned himself. "Do you have early classes?"

"Nope" she smiled at him. "Sounds like a lazy morning in bed for both of us then?"

He took several deep breaths before attempting the stairs and didn't answer until they were in the bedroom and he was getting assistance to undress. "We should get to the library first thing and sort out whether the prophecy is done with" he suggested as she untied his shoelaces. "After all, I have an appointment with a homicidal slayer at 10.30 and I need to have some good news on that front before she decides to really lose her temper"

She quickly undressed herself and jumped into bed next to him. "She's more upset that you confided in Angel and not her" she said quietly.

He put his arm round her and she snuggled against him. "Is she the only one?" he asked and turned his head to look at her. "I mean I don't remember what Angel and I discussed but he obviously expected me to tell all of you"

She shook her head but wouldn’t meet his gaze. "I don't want to start this argument again" she murmured. "Let's get some sleep and we'll talk about it tomorrow"

He sighed but let the matter drop. He knew that the repercussions of his decision would continue for a long time to come but he still wasn't convinced that he would do anything differently if the same circumstances arose now.

He was awakened by the sound of the shower the next morning and took several minutes to test that the pains in his back seemed to have settled down sufficiently to get up. By the time he had risen the shower had switched off and he knocked the bathroom door. "Willow?"

She opened the door and smiled as she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. "Good morning, how's the back?" she asked as she returned to the bathroom to finish drying herself.


"Better" he said and hugged her, smiling at her in the mirror. "In fact it feels as if I should probably exercise it to get rid of some of the stiffness" he said coyly and raised his eyebrows in question.

"You are worse than a teenager!" she giggled and turned in his arms to kiss him again. "Enough" she finally managed to pull away from him. "We have to get to the library, meet Buffy then Fraser and I also have classes to go to this afternoon while you do some grocery shopping"

He stood back and looked at her, still slightly wet and pink from her shower and started to laugh. "You sound like an old married woman" he finally managed and ducked as she threw her towel at him. "Why on earth am I going grocery shopping?" he shouted to her as she went into the bedroom to get dressed and he ran warm water to shave.

"Because I'm cooking you a special meal tonight and I don’t have time to go shopping myself" she shouted back at him and heard him start to laugh again.

They grabbed some toast and mugs of tea before heading out for the library. "I think I'll miss this car" she sighed as she rubbed his left thigh. "But at least your right thigh will get some attention"

He didn't answer but coughed a little and shuffled in the seat. When she didn't stop running her nail down the side seam of his trousers he pulled the car over and turned to look at her. "I can't go into a library with you on my arm and in this aroused state" he whispered fiercely indicating the general direction of his groin. "I'll be drummed out of the library corps!"

She laughed and crossed her arms. "We can't have that" she said and smiled sweetly as he started the car and headed for the university campus again. "Would you be defrocked or de-bagged or de-fined?" she giggled

"Probably all three" he mumbled and ran an amber light to get to his destination before he changed his mind.

Willow stopped to chat to some friends from her dorm and to catch up on the latest gossip. Giles headed for the restricted section that contained the arcane folklore and middle ages texts. After ten minutes he had collected six books that he took to the nearest booth and, removing his jacket and cleaning his glasses, he sat down to tackle the final part of this mystery.

Ten minutes later Willow appeared at his elbow and pulled a chair over to sit next to him. "How you getting on?" she asked quietly.


"Just started" he mumbled and handed her two of the books. "Can you look through these?"

She sighed a little and took the books from him. She never thought she would admit it but, even in the library, she would rather be ing ing him than researching with him. The thought surprised her more than a little and she hoped that it was just the novelty of finally being able to kiss him that was disturbing the normal order of things. She settled down and concentrated on the first transcript. She was soon deeply immersed in the rather flowery prose of the original author that hadn't been helped by a humourless translation from the original manuscript. Occasionally she would make notes and once, when she gazed ovt hit him, saw that Giles was doing the same.

By 10.15 she had identified the important passages and checked their meaning in relation to the information they already had. She glanced over at Giles and found him staring at her. "Finished?" she asked and stretched a little. At this time on a Monday morning the library was still quiet and they could talk in normal voices without disturbing others.

"Two of these seem to agree with the vampire host theory but this one" he held up what seemed to be a small notebook. "Seems to suggest a different host/demon relationship entirely" She nodded and he continued. "I think the confusion has arisen because the demon always uses vampires as his right hand men, although he inhabits living hosts "

He gathered the other books together and left them in a trolley next to the desk. Willow took the book he was holding and thanked the librarian who handed it back to her with her card. They continued to the exit and she walked close by him so that they weren't overheard. "Buffy was fairly sure we were the only live ones in the sawmill" she suggested and looked up at him. "Which means he could have been outside coordinating the fight without actually getting his hands dirty?"

"It could" he nodded. "But if that were the case why didn't he finish the job he started?" She stopped to stare at him and he looked a little crestfallen at the language he had chosen. "Sorry, but I mean I was lying in a hospital bed for three weeks and he could have attacked at any time"

She nodded and started to walk towards the car again. "In fact" she remembered. "Buffy was complaining how quiet everything was while you were recuperating, remember what she said at the first pizza night at your place?"


He smiled at the designation of the meeting and agreed with her. "That's right, she was wondering if it was the calm before the storm or if the battle had discouraged the local vampires for a while"

They drove the short distance to the gym and found Buffy sitting outside chatting to a couple of young men. Willow waved and moved to join her but Giles took a little longer, admitting to himself that he was prevaricating because he wasn't looking forward to the discussion he was about to have with his slayer.

When he joined them Buffy said goodbye to the two college students and headed indoors without speaking to Giles. Willow shrugged and followed her inside. Giles took his time in changing into his sweats and eventually ran out of things to do which would prolong the inevitable. Buffy and Willow were sitting on one of the benches at the side of the private room and were in deep conversation. Willow was doing most of the talking with Buffy occasionally nodding in agreement.

He walked over and handed his glasses to Willow. "Ready?" he asked Buffy and headed for the middle of the mats that had been laid out for them.

After five minutes he remembered why they were called crash mats and five minutes after that he lost count of the number of times he had used them for that purpose. She was going easy on him, he knew that, but it was still trying to spend most of the time looking at the ceiling. With the last judo throw she sighed and looked towards Willow. "It's no fun when he doesn't fight back" she said and walked back to the bench to get a drink from the water bottle Willow was holding.

"I told you he had hurt his back!"low low said defensively then blushed when Buffy stared at her for several seconds with a raised eyebrow.

He got up from the floor slowly and used the towel she threw at him to wipe his face. Willow handed him a bottle of water as well as his glasses. "OK?" she asked, trying not to sound worried but not succeeding.

"I'm OK" he sounded a little out of breath but not as much as she had expected. "I don't think Buffy needs to worry about your wicca frustration" he said as he took another drink and left her to explain to Buffy.


When Buffy had stopped making vomit sounds Willow stood up. "I'm leaving you two alone" she announced. "I expect him to be in one piece when you're finished with him!" she wagged her finger at Buffy and kissed him quickly before turning away. She was almost out of the door when she turned and ran back towards him. "I nearly forgot" she said, rummaging through her backpack. Finally she found what she was looking for and handed him two sheets of paper. "Shopping list" she smiled sweetly at him and, with one more, quick kiss, she ran from the room.

He stared after her and was wondering what on earth he had done to deserve her when he was brought out of his reverie by Buffy laughing. "What?" he asked in an injured tone.

"You're just like an old married couple already" she giggled and used her towel to mop her eyes. She expected him to deny this statement but realised that he was actually standing with a stupid grin on his face. "Oh my god!" she gasped. "You didn't get married did you?"

The stupid grin turned to a shocked look. "Of course not, we've only just ated ted how we feel about each other" he protested.

"Right" she nodded exaggeratedly. "And you're still at the courting stage. When will you ask her father's permission to take her to a movie?" she smiled sarcastically and moved to the weapons bag she had brought with her.

She had hit upon something he had been deliberately ignoring since his recovery. "What is her father like?" he asked as she threw a sword at him.

She smiled as he caught it perfectly. "He's OK, just a bit old, kind of detached" she answered and squared up to him.

He looked a little worried. "How do you think he will react when he finds out about us?" She didn't answer until he had successfully defended four of her attacks.

"If you can counteract my offense this well he should be a pushover" she said and mounted another attack. "When are you planning on telling him?"

"I wasn't" he announced and, noticing she was off balance launched an attack of his own. "I was hoping that we could keep sneaking around behind his back until Willow was about forty then we could elope"

She dropped her guard and stared aghast at him. "You've faced demons from hell, vampires and Cordelia on a bad hair day yet you're still too scared to talk to her parents?"


He dropped his own sword point to the f and and nodded. "Exactly, at least the demons, vampires and Cordelia were things I could fight or get the better of with my ready wit and dashing good looks" he smiled at her.

"I'm seeing a whole new side of you since the accident mister!" she concluded and they spent the next fifteen minutes in serious practice.

"About the accident" he said breathlessly when they stopped for another break. "I know you think I let you all down when I didn't tell you about the prophecy but I need to know you understand why I did what I did"

She nodded. "I did a lot of thinking last night after I left you. I even phoned Angel and talked to him about it" she said quietly. "We talked it through for a while and he reminded me of times where I'd screwed up big time in not trusting any of you" She stared at thoor oor for a while.

"I should have learned from that as well" he ssoftsoftly remembering the time when she had kept Angel's return secret from them all. "I need to know that you still trust me to be your Watcher" he finally said quietly.

She turned to look at him and put her hand over his. "Of course I do!" she said in surprise. "Giles I wouldn't have survived this long if it wasn't for you, I owe you my life several times over" he was about to interrupt when she stood up and started to pace in front of him. "You're not just my Watcher, you're one of my closest friends and you've stayed by my side through the worst that the Hellmouth and normal teenage fate has thrown at me. You've taught me things I won't even realise until I'm older and wiser!" she finished and turned to stare at him.

He stared at her in amazement. He had honestly expected her to still be furious with him and had thought that the time had arrived when she would realise she didn't need a Watcher any more. He couldn't think of anything adequate to express his feelings of pride, thanks and love.

She saw many feelings cross his face. "Look at me" she said and he came out of his reverie and looked at her. "You've even got me hooked on pacing!" she said with disgust and he laughed.

He stood up and moved to hug her. "Thank you" he said and would have added more if she hadn't thrown him the length of three mats to land in a heap. He lay still for several moments and finally lifted one hand in surrender "Thank you" he managed to croak.