V!Giles, and Buffy's had a bad dream
Buffy sat up, rubbing her eyes. Dawn blinked at her sleepily. "A dream?"
"What kind of dream?" Giles asked, frowning. "The usual sort or something more?"
"I was dreaming about the guys back at the convent. Glory was there."
Dawn squeaked in alarm, but Giles continued to look serious. "Did it seem like something prophetic or just the usual sort of nightmare projection of your worries?"
"It wasn't just a nightmare, but it didn't seem like one of the Slayer dreams, either. More like--something that's already happened. I heard Tara's voice, she was calling for help." Buffy licked her lips. "She said they were losing."
"If Glory has arrived, I imagine Willow would try the spell to get Tara's mind back. I have never been certain of everything that Tara is capable of, perhaps she did find a way to contact you."
"So you think this is real? That Glory's there and they're in trouble?"
Giles checked his watch. "It's not quite dawn. We can't go back yet, regardless."
Dawn sat up. "But--if Glory's there, she could--Mom's there!"
Giles was unmoved. "Spike, Xander, and Willow are there, they'll defend Joyce."
Buffy got to her feet. "I couldn't take her. The guys may not even be able to slow her down."
He gave her a much more adamant version of his usual Watcher look. "What was the point of all this, the running, coming to this dimension? It was to protect Dawn from Glory, to save the world. Surely you didn't think Glory would shrug it off, that after everything she's done she'd just accept that her Key was out of reach. I admit I'm surprised she was able to follow us to the convent, but I knew she wasn't going to sit idly by and let herself be trapped." The cold look faded a little. "I don't like thinking about anything happening to the others, either. But our first priority has always been to stop Glory from opening her portal."
Dawn looked at her own watch. "Dawn's less than an hour from now. Didn't you say she had to be in Sunnydale for her spell to work? She'd never make it in time, we could--"
"I am not going to risk it," Giles said firmly. "You are not stepping back into our own world one second before 6:17 AM. Glory might have some way to open her portal with just you, I can't imagine she doesn't have an emergency back-up plan of some sort. We are not going back."
Dawn looked at Buffy anxiously. "I saw bodies, Giles," Buffy whispered. "Lots of bodies. And Tara was really scared. Spike was laying into Glory, but he wasn't doing enough damage. She was starting to get up." She saw regret was briefly over Giles' face, but it was swiftly replaced by acceptance.
"The possibility is quite real that someone we--that someone could get seriously hurt whom we don't want to be hurt." His brave, resigned smile looked very human. "Occupational hazard, I'm afraid."
Yowsa!
Victor, go get 'em, baybee, this is wonderful.
I was waiting for Faith to bounce him off a wall. Nice!
Buffy looked away, knowing very, very well that he was right. She'd risked everything to keep Dawn from harm, dragged her unwell mother out of the comfort of her own home, disrupted everyone's lives, demanded obedience to her demands that Dawn's safety come first--and gotten it.
Maybe those monks had put that in her, that blind focus on Dawn's safety before everything else. Whatever the source, she simply couldn't bring herself to risk opening the portal before the deadline, risk Glory getting her hands on the Key after everything they'd done. The writers of the Slayer Handbook would approve. The girl who knew that the Slayer was stronger with friends and family, though, screamed in her mind, "But they're dying! They're covering your ass and they're dying for it! As least give Glory a target that's not so fragile!"
She couldn't stay here, not while knowing her mother and Willow and Xander and Anya and those nice nuns and, heck, even Spike were holding the line for her and losing. But she couldn't go back, she couldn't take Dawn back there yet--
"Goose, corn, fox," she whispered.
Dawn blinked. "Huh?"
"There's a game. You've got a goose, some corn, and a fox, and you have to get them across a river. But you can only carry one thing at a time in the boat. The fox will eat the goose and the goose will eat the corn if they're left alone together."
"So?"
Buffy turned to Giles. "Please, let me trust you just one more time."
He tilted his head at her in that painfully familiar way. "Excuse me?"
"I can go back there, if I leave Dawn here with you."
He smiled suddenly, proudly. "Instead of the goose alone with the fox, Dawn should be the corn?"
She nodded. "Let me trust you to keep her safe. Despite whatever your brain is currently telling you is a good idea, please be my Watcher again for just a few more minutes, instead of something I'm supposed to kill."
The look he gave her was dispassionate and assessing. "And you would believe me why?"
"I would if you promised."
"I'm not Spike. He was raised on tales of chivalry and noble quests."
"No," Buffy nodded. "You're not Spike. You're Giles. And if you promised, I'd believe you."
"You shouldn't," he said softly. "You can't. Not now."
"I know. But I would. Please? For just a little while?"
He'd only ever lied to her when she'd insisted. He would keep things from her, try to change the subject, try not to say anything at all, but he'd always told her the truth. He studied her for several moments, his thoughts locked behind remote, unhuman eyes. Then he smiled, and the man who'd wielded chainsaws in her behalf with such disturbing glee was back.
"I promise. I'll keep Dawn safe while you're gone, and we'll come back just as soon as sun clears the horizon and it's too late for any of Glory's plans to work."
Buffy ran to hug him, but not long enough for the lack of heartbeat to register or for the chill in his skin to feel like anything more than someone who had been out in the cold. "Thank you. Now, where do we open the portal so I can get home?"
“Old Rupert did always have good taste,” he thought, as he took a sip.
One wee thing...
No one would say that about Johnny Walker Red. That's just a step above Monarch.
Oh, and Victor? Is it ok if I feel a little sorry for James?
No one would say that about Johnny Walker Red. That's just a step above Monarch.
I would take Plei's word on the Scotchness of it all. What was Giles' tipple, anyway? Is that known (in terms of canon)?
I was waiting for Faith to bounce him off a wall. Nice!
Heh. I couldn't resist, really.
No one would say that about Johnny Walker Red. That's just a step above Monarch.
Fair point, although--ahem--I used to drink it. Suggestions for better?
Oh, and Victor? Is it ok if I feel a little sorry for James?
Oh, certainly. James is being put through the wringer here.
She nodded. "Let me trust you to keep her safe. Despite whatever your brain is currently telling you is a good idea, please be my Watcher again for just a few more minutes, instead of something I'm supposed to kill."
Okay, you're breaking me here. Keep it comin'.
I MUST see Manchild. Now. (In other words, I'm loving it, Victor.)
