Breaking a Slayer

Breaking a Slayer: Chapter 28

Disclaimer: I don't own them.

Spoilers/Ships: This is AU. Buffy/Spike/Angel.

Distribution: Sure, just let me know.

Feedback: Is always nice.

Rating: NC-17.

Author's Note: I'm sure I don't need to inform you all of this, since you are, as a group, highly intelligent. However, just so we're clear, this is AU. My Spike didn't try to rape Buffy. My Spike, conflicted as he is, is far too in love with the Slayer to harm her in that particular way, at least, he has been so far. Now that the chip's out…well, you'll just have to keep reading, won't you? --Rhi

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Giles was pulled from his reverie by frenzied banging on his door. He rose and grabbed a crossbow, moving to the door and opening it cautiously. One never knew what might be lurking outside, even in the daylight hours.

The lurker turned out to be a mightily distraught Willow. Giles motioned her inside and she collapsed upon him in an alarming and completely emotional way. The staid Watcher was completely taken aback by this turn of events and dropped the crossbow to the floor, luckily not triggering it in the process, as he tentatively hugged the crying wiccan.

"Willow, my dear, whatever is the matter? Is something wrong with Buffy?" he asked in alarm, concluding that Willow had been to hospital and seen the drained Slayer.

"Yes, yes, it's Buffy! She's left!"

"She's gone? Gone where, whatever for? Does Spike know? Why didn't Angel contact me?" Giles turned to the phone, hoping he might be able to contact Angel at his cell number, which the vampire had handed him the previous day.

"Spike? Angel? Huh? Giles, Angel's in LA, and Spike? Why would he know anything about Buffy?" Willow asked, totally perplexed at the Watcher's response.

"Spike was at hospital with her, Willow. When did she leave? Did she say where she was going? What happened?"

"Um, Giles, still needing way more info here. Was Buffy in the hospital? Is that why…but that still doesn't explain why her stuff is missing and why Spike…what does Spike have to do with her? Where's Riley? And how did Angel get involved?" Willow was growing more confused, not less, with every word that Giles spoke.

"Stop!" he ordered. "Willow, calm yourself. Now, let's start again. Buffy is missing from hospital?"

"No, Giles, Buffy is missing from our room. Her stuff is all gone. I thought she wigged out about my being gay and decided to leave. What do you mean about the hospital? Did she get hurt? Did she move back home with her mom?" Willow was getting the feeling that she'd missed an awful lot this summer in Europe.

"Willow, Buffy had to leave university. Her mother died," Giles said gently. "She's in hospital because Spike drained her after Angel took him to her."

"Giles…I don't understand. Buffy's mom is…dead?" Willow's voice broke on the last word and she crumpled into Giles's arms.

He attempted to comfort her as she cried, muttering "There, there," to her and patting her awkwardly on the back. "Yes, dear. She died of a stroke, I believe, and Buffy had to leave school shortly thereafter. A great deal has happened whilst you’ve been away, Willow. Buffy has, well…changed. Much has happened to her. I'm not sure how to tell you all of it, or even if she'd want me to. I must speak with her first," he said, contemplating the Slayer's reaction to his spilling her secrets to her friends without her permission or knowledge.

"Oh, goddess, Giles, Buffy had no one here when it happened, did she? I mean, Tara and I were away, and Xander and Anya went road tripping…are they back yet? But, wait, what about Riley…he was spending the summer here with the Initiative. Wasn't he here for her when it all happened?" Willow was confused. The last she'd seen of Riley, he'd been head over heels in love with Buffy, even if she hadn't fully reciprocated the emotion. Honestly, she'd seemed to be trying to feel something, but incapable of it. Willow knew she hadn't let him do more than kiss her. But she was right to wait till she was ready. The fiasco with Angel had scarred her in ways Willow was sure Buffy hadn't fully come to terms with.

"Um, er, ah, I believe that Riley ended their relationship soon after you departed, Willow. You will have to wait and speak to Buffy about it. I can't really divulge her confidences to you without permission," Giles said, uncomfortably.

Willow nodded. "Of course, I understand Giles. I'm just glad it wasn't me…I mean, I'm not glad that Buffy's mom died, of course…or that she had to leave school. Or that Riley broke up with heddesddess! I just mean, I'm glad it wasn't me. That she wasn’t…isn't gone because of me…and, and Tara, I mean…" she stuttered to a stop, nonplussed at speaking about any of this with Giles of all people. *Quick, change the subject, Willow!* "So, um, Giles, have you…have you heard from Xander?" she asked quickly.

"No, I've not heard a word nor, indeed, received a message since I returned to Sunnydale. One hopes that Xander and Anya" he rolled his eyes at that pairing, "have um, enjoyed their vacation and are returning forthwith?! I do expect their return any time now," he said.

"Ok, well, what room is Buffy in? You said Spike drained her with Angel's help? But how are they together? And why would Angel help Spike drink Buffy's blood? I thought that Angel marked Buffy for his own when he was poisoned? I mean, I read in one of your books that that was what the mark meant…" Willow's voice trailed off as Giles glared at her.

"Willow," he said sternly, "I don't recall giving you permission to read that particular book. In fact, I believe that was in my private collection. How, precisely, did you come to read anything at all about vampire marking and other rituals? Hmm?"

Willow blushed a brilliant crimson. "Um, Buffy wanted to…ah, I was just curious and you were out that one afternoon and left the cage unlocked and all those books just called to me and I might have browsed through a few…" her voice died as he glared at her.

"You don't need to cover for Buffy, Willow. I'm certain that she inveigled you into snooping through those books to get information for her concerning Angel. Especially since I was so…troubled about the continued relationship after his return from Hell" he added, honestly, remembering his reaction when he'd seen Angel standintsidtside his door on Christmas Eve. He couldn't blame Buffy for failing to ask him about the mark Angel had placed on her neck. Goodness knows, Giles and Xander had practically attacked him after he'd brought Buffy to hospital the night she had saved him.

Giles winced in remembered shame. He'd known that Angel would never purposely harm Buffy, known that Angel would gladly die for the Slayer. But still, he'd joined Xander in accusing the vampire of attacking her after Faith had poisoned him. It was only after speaking with Buffy in hospital that Giles had learned how far she had gone in her quest to save her lover. That she had tried to force him, and he had crawled from his deathbed to avoid drinking from her. That she pursued him and hit him again and again until finally, with the soul near true death, she had forced the demon to the fore and he had marked her as his own and drained her near to death before Angel was able to control himself. That he had rushed her to safety and suffered the contempt and hatred of her friends and Watcher with not a word to defend himself.

Giles knew that the hatred he felt for Angelus had become displaced to Angel. God knows, Angel had suffered enough for the crimes of his evil alter ego, yet Giles, who above all others should have beene toe to keep them separate, still shuddered in reaction every time he saw the dark vampire. He couldn't help but be transported back in time to the awful night of y's y's death and his subsequent torture at the hands of Angelus. He and Angel had enjoyed a camaraderie unusual for the Watcher prior to Angelus's reemergence. They had joked about the callow youth surrounding them, laughed at the Slayer's obsession with fashion and taken turns teasing her about her lack of interest in anything over 20 years old, with the notable exception of her vampiric lover. Angel shared his love of good literature, obscure languages and dialects, and scholarship. Not to mention ancient weapons. All that was lost.

After Angelus, nothing that Angel ever did to atone was enough, not for Giles and certainly not for Xander. And Giles had transferred his despisal of the demon to the soul. He wondered, now, how his hatred had weakened Buffy. Angel had left because of her, but also to protect her. Not only from himself, but from the reactions of those closest to her when she was with him. He'd thought, perhaps rightly, that without him to defend, Buffy would have an easier time relating to her Watcher and friends.

Unfortunately, without him there to defend her, she'd fallen to Faith. Giles knew, unquestioningly, within his heart that Angel would never have mistaken Faith for Buffy. Angel would have realized the danger immediately and acted to save his lover, no matter what the cost to himself. Instead, Buffy had been raped, lost her education, lost her mother, lost her friends and herself. That she was now, slowly, recovering, was due in no small part to Angel and to his childe, Spike, who had unaccountably stepped forward to help her.

How could Giles tell that to Willow? Tell her that she'd failed her friend and abandoned her. Inform her of the dire consequences of that abandonment? He didn't even know where to begin.

To be continued…