Who, What, Why, Where, When?

Chapter 7

Fraser smiled at Giles over the top of his beer glass and toasted him before taking a drink. "Its good to see you back on familiar territory Rupert" he said.

"It's down to you that I'm here at all" Giles replied and raised his own glass in the Doctor's direction.

"Well I think it had more to do with your thick skull but I'm prepared to let you buy me another drink if you're still feeling grateful!" he smiled.

Giles laughed and signalled the waitress to bring another round of beers. "I know we're not on office time but would you mind if I asked you a question about my condition?"

"Only if I get to ask you a few questions in return" replied Fraser and finished his first drink. Giles smiled, he was pretty sure that even if he told the Doctor the whole truth he could probably get him drunk enough to forget it by tomorrow morning.

"OK" he smiled "It's a deal. First of all I need to know whether I will remember the day of the accident. When we spoke just after I woke up you said I may never recall the few hours or days immediately prior to the injury?"

Fraser pondered the question for a short time. "So far you've remembered about 90% of the lost time?" Giles nodded his agreement. "I guess that means you're just a few months short of the critical period so you may still retrieve everything. Although it is most common for the actual event that caused the trauma to remain forgotten as the 'memory' never gets the chance to be processed and 'remembered'. Is this making sense?" he asked and squinted at Giles.

"Sort of" he replied. "The thing is, I really need to remember something which happened in the fortnight leading up to my accident and it would be easier if I could find some kind of trigger to get it back sooner rather than later". He smiled apologetically at the Doctor, knowing he was asking a lot of his friend.

"Perhaps I could help you there" Fraser thanked the waitress for his drink. "So far your memories have been returning when certain senses have been triggered?" he waited for Giles to take up the point he was making.


"Well that was certainly the case with the first couple of instances but less so now" Giles drank some more beer and pondered the question. "Initially it was smell which triggered my first return of memory and I remembered Jenny when Willow and I were kissing" he blushed slightly at the memory and noticed Fraser's eyes narrow. "However, the biggest portion returned that night when you mentioned a key phrase which, well, opened a door and let an entire raft of memories return".

Fraser nodded "Just as I thought, it seems to be a combination of factors which are effecting the return of your memories but if you experience two triggers fairly closely together, as you did with Willow and I, then more memories will hopefully return as a consequence".

Giles nodded and smiled at the Doctor. "Thanks, you've given me something to think about"

"My turn" said Fraser and emptied his second glass. "First of all, what on earth do you do here?"

Giles looked a little surprised and couldn't understand what he was getting at. Fraser sighed and explained "I know you're not a ariaarian and I'm guessing you are some kind of mentor to these kids who adore you so much, but I can't for the life of me imagine what you're mentoring them in?"

Giles signalled for another round and sat back to look at his friend. He had finally remembered their previous nights together in this bar and had offered to stand Fraser a few drinks as a thank you, however, it was proving a little more complicated than he had expected.

"First of all" he started. "I wctuactually a librarian at Sunnydale High but you are right, it wasn't my chosen profession" he paused, still unsure how much to tell him. They both sipped from their recently delivered drinks and Giles decided that he would tell him as much as he could and let Fraser decide whether to believe it or not. "You may not believe what I'm about to tell you but if you could bear with me I will try to explain as much as I can"

After two hours, and several whiskies to go with the beers, Giles finally finished his explanation. Fraser was looking a little unfocused but was still able to follow the conversation. "Wow" he breathed. "That explains sooooo much about the last few years".


Giles, who if truth be told was a little squiffed himself, smiled and leaned in towards him. "You have no idea how much better I feel to have finally told you". He reached out and patted the Doctor's hand. "But remember, not a wor any anyone"

"Abso-blooming-lutely old chap" Fraser said and put his finger to his lips. "Not a word". They sat amiably smiling at each other for some time before Fraser remembered he had another question. "So" he beckoned Giles to move in closer. "If you don’t think Willow feels that way about you, how would it be if I offered to take her out and give her something else to think about for a while?"

"You could do that" Giles nodded. "But then I would have to beat the living daylights out of you and I don't really want to do that"

Fraser considered this for a few seconds. "Fair enough then" he nodded and promptly fell asleep on the table. Giles smiled at him and finished his own drink, carefully moving the empty glasses aside before he too fell asleep with his head pillowed in his arms.

The next morning Buffy arrived for a training session and was more than a little surprised to see the 'dishy doctor' sleeping on Giles sofa. She rushed over and tried to shake him awake, afraid that Giles had needed his professional help the night before and worried that he had felt the need to stay. She soon realised, however, that it was more than tiredness that was keeping him unconscious and smelled the beer and whisky fumes coming from his snoring mouth. "Oh boy" she murmured and headed for the stairs to Giles' bedroom. Even as she reached the middle of the stairs she heard muffled groans coming from his room. "Please God" she whispered to herself "Let him be alone in there!" Edging to the top of the stairs carefully she peeked round the banister to see him sitting on the sidehis his bed with his head in his hands. She squinted to see if anyone else was in sight but eventually realised that he was in the same condition as his friend downstairs. She smiled and remembered her experiences with alcohol, and his subsequent lectures, and decided to get her own back. Gently she took a couple of steps back before hollering "Giles" at the top of her voice. She rushed into the room. "Are you alright?" she shouted at him.

He had fallen off of the bed onto the floor when she shouted his name. Now he was kneeling on the carpet trying to hold his head to stop it from falling off and, unsuccessfully, trying to get her to lower her voice.


"Who did this to you" she shouted dramatically and stamped her foot. She did feel a little guilty when he grabbed his mouth and headed at top speed for the bathroom, but she felt he deserved it and headed downstair mak make him some tea. Fraser was still deeply asleep, even with the racket she had been making, and she simply made sure he was covered with the blanket before heading to the kitchen. She was debating making Giles fried eggs when she heard the shower running upstairs. A thought struck her and she turned the hot water on, only to hear a muffled scream as he got coldcold shower treatment upstairs. She figured he had suffered enough and turned the water off, taking her tea to the table and opening one of her textbooks to read while she waited for him to come down.

He finally emerged about half an hour later. Although he had shaved and showered he still looked awful and she couldn't help the small giggle that escaped from behind her hand. He tried to glare at her but his heart wasn't in it and he slumped into the chair across from her and groaned. "Never again" he croaked. She patted his arm gently and got him a cup of strong tea from the kitchen.

"Do we need to worry about the good doctor or will he recover soon as well" she asked, pointing to the sleeping form on the sofa.

"I don't bloody care, it's all his fault I'm in this state" he grumbled.

"He tied you down and made you drink until you were ill?" she asked with an astonished tone.

"Not quite" Giles acknowledged and grimaced as the hot tea burnt his mouth. "I told him all about us and then needed to get him drunk enough so he would forget it"

Buffy stared at him and then laughed a little. "I must remember that excuse when I next over indulge". She finally took pity on him. "I guess the training session is postponed?"

He looked at her out of red eyes and smiled slightly "I'm game for the crossbow practice if you are".

"Nooo" she laughed "Perhaps another time, I've got to get to class anyway but I do need to talk to you about something else, perhaps I could call by tonight?"

"Sure" he said "I'll probably have recovered enough to be at death's door by then, but just in case, please be gentle with me"


"Aren't I always" she smiled sweetly at him and left. He shook his head and then wished he hadn't. After a couple of minutes of deep breathing he finally had the energy to stand up and head back to bed.

He finally woke, and felt human, about three hours later. He washed and dressed again and went downstairs, realising he was hungry and trying to remember if he had anything "munchable" to eat.

Fraser was sitting at the table with a bowl of cereal in front of him. For someone who had passed out on the sofa he looked remarkably chipper and grinned at Giles as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "Morning Rupert" he said cheerily and munched another spoonful of sugar puffs. Giles winced slightly and took the chair opposite the smiling doctor.

"Why are you so bloody cheerful" he growled. "Unless you have some drugs you can give me to get rid of this headache now, I might have to wipe that cheesy grin off your face!"

Fraser sighed. "I thought you were only this grumpy when you woke up in hospital". He reached behind him for his jacket and took out a bubble pack of white pills. "How did you ever get a woman to stay for breakfast with that charming attitude?"

Giles took the two pills from him and used his mug of cold tea from earlier to 0washm dom down. "Cheeky bugger" he murmured then went into the kitchen to get a bowl and spoon.

After they had finished their breakfast, and the painkillers were finally working their morning after magic, Giles apologised. "I'm sorry about last night and this morning".

Fraser smiled gently at him. "I don't normally prescribe strong drink for my patients but I think it helped me to get some things straightened out, how about you?"

Giles looked a little abashed. "My cunning plan was to get you drunk enough that you wouldn't remember anything I told you, I'm guessing that it hasn’t worked?"

Fraser laughed and moved to the armchair. "Come on Rupert, heavy drinking was a prescribed part of the medical training at Oxford, wasn't it taught to you history buffs?" Giles seemed a little distant and Fraser could tell that he had uncomfortable memories from his time at the University. He decided to focus on something a little closer to home.


"So" he looked straight at Giles "How is the vampire and demon business doing, keeping you busy?"

Giles shrugged. "I make a living". He did like this man and was comfortable in his company but he couldn't really understand why he had told him the deepest secret he held. After all of the lectures he had given the gang about their secret identity and the responsibility of their roles he had blabbed it all to the first friendly face from home.

"I would like to help" Fraser said softly and saw his friends face transform into a scowl. "I don’t mean I want to become one of the slayer SAS, just that you might need medical assistance in the future and I'm fairly well qualified if I do say so myself"

Giles looked a little less argumentative. "It wasn't my idea to have a group of people involved in the first place but Buffy and I kind of inherited Xander and Willow from the very beginning of our work here." He still found it difficult to understand how he had allowed that to happen. "Once they knew, various 'significant others' came onto the scene and pretty soon we had assembled the cast of a De Mille film into our secret, exclusive group". He looked seriously at Fraser. "We have lost a lot of friends over the years, probably people who passed through your hands and others who never even made it that far" Fraser nodded his agreement. "We are all very aware of the dangers but others aren't quite so clued up and it takes time and energy to keep them safe, time and energy which could be better used elsewhere."

He hadn't meant to sound so judgmental but Fraser took his comments on board. "I don't intend to be someone else you have to baby sit and worry about, but I do have certain skills which would be useful in your line of work and I'm more than happy to get the call whenever you need me"

Giles put his hand on the doctor's shoulder. "Thank you, Fraser" He couldn't think of anything else to say but he wondered whether the doctor understood the import of what he was offering to do.

"Anyway" Fraser said and stood up. "How about I buy you some lunch and you can explain to me again how an old man like you is going to stop me taking Willow out to dinner?"

Buffy returned that evening and they sat together listening to music and drinking coffee. Eventually Giles asked "Was there anything specific you wanted, not that I'm not pleased to see you for no reason". She looked at him with one eyebrow raised and he shrugged his shoulders. "You know what I mean, anyway you said there was something you needed to talk about this morning?"


Buffy stared into her coffee mug and eventually turned on the sofa to face him. "Have you remembered anything about the day of your injury?" she asked him in a quiet voice.

He shook his head. "No more than when Xander asked me the same thing the other day". He drank some more of his coffee and looked uncomfortably at her. "Fraser said that I might not remember the actual injury but that I should be able to get back everything else up to it". She didn't seem convinced. "I don't think there is anything I can do to make it come back any quicker but if there is something specific you need me to remember why don't you tell me about it, it may even jog the memory into coming back?"

She looked sceptically across the room at him then shrugged. "You're not going to like this but I think you had serious concerns about our safety during the last battle, or particularly Willow's safety". He looked up sharply at mention of the girl's name. "I promised I wouldn't tell you any of my reasoning behind this but I think it may have had something to do with the prophecy you found and then wouldn't tell us about"

He looked even more frustrated. "I just can't remember" Buffy winced at the anguish in his voice. "Xander and I managed to find some interesting references the other day, but this will take weeks unless you can persuade Willow to come back and help out". Her heart sank as she saw the hope in his eyes and realised how much he had missed Willow over the last few days. "It was partly my fault" he continued. "I thought it was for the best to give her some space but I've missed her more than I care to admit and her absence is slowing down the work I've been trying to do".

Buffy nodded. "I'll see what I can do but she is pretty screwed up about everything right now and I don't know that putting you both together in a room for several days is going to resolve anything". He looked even more crestfallen than before and she moved over next to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "It won't be much longer before we can get this sorted out and you'll have all of your memories back". He put his hand of top of hers and squeezed it gently. She hated seeing him like this, especially when she couldn't fix it by beating up a demon. "Anyway" she said as she returned to the sofa. "I don't want to see you destroying any more brain cells with alcohol Mister, we need all of them working this thing out!"

He laughed and took his glasses off. "I suppose I should be lucky that I didn't wake up as a demon that you were hell bent on killing this time around".


She looked a little surprised and then guilty. "How come you can remember every time I've screwed up and none of the times I've been heroic and brave and stuff?"

As they took their cups to the kitchen he coughed slightly and looked a little nervous. "I was wondering if I should ask everyone over for dinner or something?"

She looked nonplussed "OK, Xander will definitely come if you're making pizza"

"No" he said and looked even more uncomfortable. "I was meaning a proper dinner type, party sort of thing" he ended in a quiet voice and looked at her.

"OK" she shrugged. "Why"

He concentrated on rinsing out the mugs before turning back to her as he dried his hands. "Well I did tell Fraser, that is Doctor Alexander, all about our activities and he offered to become our team medic" Buffy stared at him in astonishment. "I know" he forestalled her lecture about secrecy and continued. "I know I've lectured you about this on numerous occasions but we could do with someone more expert on the medical side, even just for training injuries, and anyway…" his voice trailed off again.

She shrugged "OK, I guess you do know what you're doing and it's not as if the Watcher's Council can rap your knuckles any more than they have in the past". He looked a little relieved. "But that still doesn't explain the dinner party idea?"

"I thought it would be a good way for Fraser to get to meet everyone and you could all get to know him a little better"

Buffy considered this for a while and then her face lit up. "We're not really multiple cutlery people but you could bring him to the Bronze on Saturday night and he would get to meet us in our natural habitat"

Giles looked a little surprised and then relieved again. "I'm not sure he's ready for Xander's dancing but perhaps he should know what he's letting himself in for from the very beginning."

Buffy smiled. "I'll let the guys know and we'll meet you there about 8.00?" He nodded but looked a little concerned. "Was there anything else?"

He took his glasses off. "Fraser is interested in Willow and I think it's reciprocated and well.. I, that is perhaps .. or maybe" his sentence died an honourable death and he put his glasses back on and looked at Buffy.


She was shocked but knew that she couldn't tell him about Willow's confessional. "I don't think Willow feels that way about him and anyway, I was hoping to bag him for myself!" She was amused that he went from relieved to worried in the space of one sentence. "I'm only joking" she sighed. "Nice to see you're losing your sense of humour and getting back to normal Giles"

He leaned against the wall as she grabbed her bag an exited. Sighing he shook his head and wondered, again, how he had managed to cope with all of these young people and their hormones while training a top class slayer. He took a sip of his whisky and suddenly realised that his secret had been to keep his own hormones and feelings under lock and key. A curious feeling of relief that he wasn't able to do this any more and sadness that he had lost this ability was his companion for the rest of the evening.

Fraser was a little surprised at the phone call from Giles with the invitation but promised to change his shift and meet him there on Saturday evening.

"Not another one" Xander sighed. "Have you been monkeying with a love potion young woman?" he asked a bemused Willow.

"Of course not" she replied a little crossly. "Are you sure about this?" she asked Buffy.

"Giles seemed pretty sure" Buffy replied. "He started to stutter, wiped his glasses and looked at the fl Ne Need I say more?"

Willow shook her head. "This is just typical, the minute you think you've found someone and stop looking, more come out of the woodwork!"

Xander looked at Buffy and raised his eyebrows. "I think I've missed something here" he said. "You've found someone else, please tell me it's still Giles and you haven't picked out another one?"

Buffy sighed. "We're not going through all that again, just believe me when I say that Giles is back at the top of her list"

Xander looked between the two of them and realised he wasn't going to get any more information. "OK" he said, getting up and putting his jacket on. "That makes tonight so much more interesting, let's get over to Giles' and get some research time logged"