Who, What, Why, Where, When?

CHAPTER 23

Xander stood next to Buffy as she knocked on the door and waited for Giles to answer it. “What” she asked with a smile as he shook his head and returned to his chair. “There is no harm in being careful, I’m still dealing with the emotional scarring from the last time I interrupted a Giles love-a-thon” she huffed past him and sat on the sofa next to Willow. “Sorry” she whispered to her friend. “Didn’t mean to mention that in front of you”

Willow shrugged her shoulders and leaned in to whisper in Buffy’s ear. “I’m OK with it now but don’t let Rupert know, I can still use the leverage for a while” she smiled as Buffy nodded her head and looked impressed.

“Way to manipulate that man Will” she whispered back and punched Willow’s arm gently.

“If you two are quite finished?” Giles sighed and removed his glasses before beginning to pace in front of the sofa. “We had a message from Wesley to confirm our suspicions that the next meeting of the blue robes will be the one where the host is finally chosen and the transference takes place” he paused to ensure he had everyone’s attention. “It seems that the adept wearing the red robe is the only one who actually knows the identity of the current host for Bolak, however, as we still don’t know his identity we will need to wait for the meeting before carrying out our plan. we’vwe’ve discussed previously we will enter the premises before the final incantations are cast and remove all of the potential hosts from the immediate area of Bolak” he noticed Xander’s hand in the air and turned to him with a long suffering sigh. “Yes” he wearily asked.

Xander smiled and lowered his hand. “Will he pack the place with vampires like the last time or are we looking at a room full of robe wearing, breathing live types”

Giles nodded and ran his hand through his hair. “Good question Xander” he murmured and smiled at the young man. “I think we will mostly be dealing with non-vampiric humans this time around as he won’t be expecting us to make an appearance” he checked with Buffy and Willow and noticed Buffy looking at him a little strangely. “Buffy is everything OK?” he asked and stopped pacing in front of her.

She pulled herself out of the reverie she had sunk into and smiled a little guiltily at the group. “Yeah” she murmured. “Everything’s OK so far, on with the Watcher-y pacing” she smiled at him and he shook his head and continued.


“Where was I?” he murmured as he took his glasses off and cleaned them. “Ah, yes” he replaced his glasses and started pacing again. “Once we have removed all of the potential hosts from the area Buffy, Xander and Wesley will also remove themselves from the immediate vicinity” he a d a deep breath before continuing. “I’ve talked this over with Wesley and Angel and they have agreed that the best plan for disrupting the transference is for me to present myself as host with Angel remaining nearby to offer assistance at the appropriate time.” He held his hand up as he caught Willow’s movement in his peripheral vision. “Willow will remain outside the premises for the entire operation but will proceed with the joining to aid me in the final stages of the spell” he finally turned to look at her. “The biggest outlay of ‘magic muscle’ will be from the person setting up the joining and initiating the conjunction at the appropriate time and I won’t be able to do that”

Willow was sitting staring at him with a calculating look in her eyes. “Why do I have to be outside for the whole fight?” she asked.

He let out the breath he had been holding until her agreement with the plan. “Because you are the integral part of the plan without which the entire scheme will undoubtedly fail” he stopped pacing and leaned against the fireplace. “Buffy, Xander, Wesley and Angel can easily deal with the cult members and Angel and I need to be in place at the final stand off with Bolak, however, without your strength I won’t be able to defeat him and, well..” he faltered a little.

“Bolak would be pretty ticked off at having an ancient, English host type with a history of memory l” Xa” Xander supplied.

“Quite” Giles said dryly and focussed his attention on Buffy. “Do you have any reservations with the plan?” he asked her softly.

“It should work” she nodded and raised her eyebrow. “Are you feeling OK?” she asked him.

“I’m fine, why do you ask” Giles seemed a little perplexed at Buffy’s question.

“No reason” she smiled at him and shrugged her shoulders. “So how do we plan to remove the robe wearers without hurting them and keep them out of the way while you magic types do your stuff?” she asked.

“If they are all as wimpy as the car lot guy it should be fairly easy” Xander suggested. “After all we do know some serious moves”

“Normally of the ‘dusting with a stake’ variety” Buffy suggested. “We can’t kill these guys but we need to keep fourteen of them out of the way while we finish the job” she looked at Willow and Xander.


“Perhaps Fraser could help out?” Willow suggested. “If you, Xander, Wesley and Angel can get the robes out to the sidewalk, Fraser and I could dope them up with something to keep them quiet for the rest of the week if we needed to”

“Good idea, although I’m not sure how Fraser would feelicalically about drugging people under those conditions” Giles suggested.

“It’s got to be better for their long term health than letting Angel or I deal with them ourselves?” Buffy suggested and smiled at Willow in reassurance. “Can you call Fraser tomorrow and scope him out on the plan?”

Willow nodded and looked back towards Giles. “If the basics are agreed we should get some practice done for the joining” she suggested.

Giles started to reply when Xander groaned and put his hand over his eyes. “Jeez, surely you guys have had enough practice at that in the last few weeks?”

Giles grimaced slightly and took his glasses off, pinching the bridge of his nose. “She meant the joining of our minds for the final assault on Bolak” he said through grated teeth.

“Oh, right” Xander agreed. Buffy sighed and nodded her head towards the door. Xander nodded but moved towards Giles first. “Giles” he said quietly as Buffy and Willow headed towards the front door. “I’m sorry, I was just kidding around” he laid his hand on Giles shoulder and felt the tension in the muscles. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you or Willow”.

Buffy had signalled Willow to follow her out to the courtyard. “Is Giles OK?” she whispered urgently Wil Willow looked strangely at Buffy and put her hand on her arm. “What’s the matter, what do you think is wrong with him?” she asked in a worried tone.

“Didn’t tonight seem familiar to you?” Buffy asked and stared at Willow, willing her to understand her.

“How do you mean?” Willow asked and shrugged.

“I mean that Giles was suddenly Giles again” Buffy said in an exasperated tone. “He was laying out a battle plan and using big words and pacing and cleaning his glasses and doing Watcher-y stuff again”


Willow replayed the scene in her mind and finally turned to Buffy with an excited look on her face. “You’re right” she whispered. “Come to think of it he has been sliding towards his old self over the last few days but I didn’t notice the gradual change”

Buffy looked a little worried. “He isn’t behaving differently towards you?” Buffy asked.

Willow shook her head and smiled. “No, he’s still seems to be OK with us as, well, us…” she stopped and bit her lower lip. “Although he is getting a bit freaked out about how you and Xander are reacting to us”

Buffy glanced back inside to see Xander patting Giles’ shoulder and walking towards the front door. Giles remained standing at the fireplace and didn’t acknowledge Xander. “I think he may be a little more than freaked out tonight, I c sta stay if you wanted me to” Buffy offered as Xander joined them both outside.

“Giles seems a little tense, is he just worried about the fight?” Xander asked, looking between Buffy and Willow.

Willow shook her head. “No more than normally” she sighed and hugged Buffy and Xander before moving back to the door. “You guys go on patrol and be careful, I’ll talk to him and get this sorted out” Willow shooed them away and closed the door behind her.

She put the kettle on and laid out the mugs and teapot before moving towards him. She laid her hand on his back, between his shoulder blades and gently rubbed her hand across the tensed muscles. “We need to talk about this” she said gently and left him to continue making the tea. When she returned with two mugs he was still standing in the same position. She sighed as she put thgs dgs down on the coffee table and put her arms round his waist, leaning against him. “I didn’t do anything wrong, how come I’m getting the silent treatment” she murmured against his sweater as she hugged him.

He sighed as her hands wondered over his chest and stomach muscles. “I expected the effect of the teasing to wear off eventually but it just seems to be getting to me more and more”. He was still facing the wall and she slid one hand under his sweater and rubbed his tensed abdominal muscles until he put a hand down to stop her. “I don’t think sex is the answer to this problem” he suggested and removed her hand, taking the sting out of his words by kissing her palm and turning to smile gently at her.


“Never underestimate the problem solving properties of incredible sex” she suggested and moved to the sofa.

He shook his head as he moved to the armchair and settled into it. He settled his head against the back of the chair and took his glasses off again. “We are about to undertake a very serious battle with a determined and clever demon whose sole purpose for existing is to wipe us all off the face of the earth” he began in a quiet voice. “Our solution to this threat is, in itself, fraught with danger and may not work. The slightest deviation from our plan of attack will result in either one or both of us becoming hosts to said demon” he held up his hand as she leaned forward to interrupt. “However” he continued in the same level tone. “Our brave gang of demon quellers choose to spend their precious time joking about my sex life instead of preparing for the coming ordeal”

Willow was sitting staring at him, slowly sipping her tea. When he had apparently finished she stood up and handed him his mug of tea. She then gathered some texts together and headed for the bedroom. “I’ve got some studying to do before we begin practicing tomorrow, you cleepleep with me or on the sofa, whichever option best allows you to prepare for killing the bad guys” she shrugged and headed upstairs, leaving him sitting in the chair staring into space.

She was angry with herself for not sensing the changes in him. He had reacted more and more strongly to Xander’s teasing and tried to avoid all mention of their relationship whenever they were all together. She thought hard and realised that his hug and kiss for her in the café earlier in the day had been one of the few overtly boyfriend-y things he had done in the last few days. She dropped the pile of books onto the bed and crawled onto it, leaning back against the headboard as she reached for the top of the pile. Despite her worries about him she soon immersed herself in the translation, trying to understand the fundamentals of the joining process from his point of view as well as her own.

He sat for twenty minutes, staring at a point in space a few feet in front of his . Ev. Eventually he roused himself and moved to the kitchen to rinse the mugs. Moving slowly round the room he switched off all of the lights and checked the front door was locked. Sighing slightly he moved up the stairs slowly, almost as though he was carrying a heavy weight. As he reached the bedroom he saw her sitting on the bed. Her position had changed, she was now lying on her stomach with the book resting on the pillows. Her anklere ere crossed and she was gently bumping the bed cover with her toes. He stood watching her for a few seconds before sighing agai
Sh
She jumped slightly at the noise behind her and turned to see him leaning against the wall at the top of the stairs. “Do you want a pillow and some covers?” she asked quietly.


He shook his head and moved towards her, his hands in his trouser pockets. “I think I would very much like to sleep beside you, if you don’t mind” he asked, standing next to the bed as if awaiting her permission.

She closed her eyes for a moment, relief flooding through her and put her hands out to welcome him next to her. “Rupert” she whispered as he gathered her in his arms. “Everything is going to be fine” she mumbled against his shoulder.

He held onto her as if his life depended on it. “I’ve spent the last few months, since the accident, worrying over what we had faced in the past” he started quietly. “Over the last few days I suddenly realised that I was genuinely frightened about the coming battle, but I couldn’t let any of you see my weakness just when we all needed to be strong for each other”

She pulled back from him slightly and kissed his lips, stopping his next sentence. “You don’t need to hide anything Rupert, we’re all frightened but we have each other and that’s always been enough in the past”

He shook his head. “In the past you were all frightened but I seem to remember keeping a stiff upper lip and an unshakeable calm in the face of adversity”

He smiled a little and Willow laughed. “Don’t you dare lie Rupert Giles” she placed her hand on his chest. “You were just as scared as the rest of us and that made it OK for the rest of us to show the fear a bit”. Her hand moved across his chest and she leaned in to kiss him gently. “I think you’re nearly back to the perennial worrier we all used to know and love” she smiled at him. “Some more than others, with the love thing I mean”He tHe took a deep breath. “Was this the way it always felt before we faced a demon?”

“Pretty much” she nodded. “Although, I have no first hand evidence of how you used to feel” she suggested as her hand continued rubbing his chest and abdomen and she raised her eyebrow. “I am prepared to admit that you feel pretty damned yummy right now, in a ‘Watcher before the battle’ kind of way”

He shifted slightly and removed some of the books from immediately behind her before stretching them both out across the bed. “You said something earlier about incredible sex as an aid to problem solving” he suggested as his own hands began an exploration under her blouse.

“Uhuh” she mumbled as she tried to get him to remove his hands to allow her to slip his sweater off. “It is also an exceptionally good way to remain calm before an impending demon bashing session”


He suddenly stopped moving and pulled back to look at her seriously. He gently pushed her hands away from his waist as she tried, once again, to get his sweater off of him. “Exactly how did you come upon this interesting side effect?” he asked She She realised he had stopped the touching and groping and looked up at him with a pout. “What?” she asked and then understood what he was asking. “Oh” was all she managed before she blushed and tried to bury her face in his chest.

“Oh no you don’t” he grinned and pulled back, lifting her chin so that she had to meet his gaze. “We haven’t fought any demons since we got together and, as far as I remember, you weren’t seeing anyone when Adam was finallspatspatched so…” he left the sentence unfinished and looked at her with his eyebrow raised.

“How do you know that I’ve got prima facae evidence, it could be hearsay” she countered and defiantly met his gaze.

He looked into her eyes and suddenly smiled. “You had sex with Oz before the Ascension?” he laughed.

His smile completely melted her insides and left her weak at the knees, despite the fact she was lying down. “We weren’t really that late, we made it for the snake thing” she mumbled and then realised her mistake.

“You had sex with Oz on the afternoon of the Ascension?” he asked incredulously. “I was busy setting explosives to raze the school to the ground, Buffy had gone to retrieve Faith’s knife, Xander was ensuring everyone had a weapon and you were busy having sex”

She knew she should just accept his mocking in good grace but somehow her mouth didn’t get the message and she just kept talking. “It had been a pretty stressful couple of days, I had been kidnapped and then we were talking about blowing up the library and I really liked the library and we could all have died and..” her righteous indignation finally lost steam as he collapsed in laughter next to her.

“Thank God Xander and myself didn’t have any significant others at the time and some of us managed to keep our minds on the job” he managed before kissing her through his laughter.

She kissed him back then pushed him away. “I think I liked the worried old Watcher type better than the mean new guy who keeps teasing me” she tried to pout again but couldn’t quite pull it off as he ran his hand up her thigh and stopped at her hip.


“You don’t like being teased?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. “Because I was planning on kissing and licking and nibbling and teasing for the next hour or so” he began to match his actions to his words.

“Perhaps we could get started on that plan and modify it as we go” she suggested and nibbled his earlobe as he kissed her neck.