FIC: "Quand le ciel nous tombe sur la tête" 3/3 (Giles/Xander, FRM)
Title: "Quand le ciel nous tombe sur la tête" (Nothing Left to Lose) 3/3
Word count: 6,300 this part | 20,350 complete
Pairing: Giles/Xander
Rating: FRAO
Warnings: several non-graphic canon character deaths.
Summary: It's the end of the world as they know it; they have nothing left to do but try to save it with their last breath.
Note: Finally done. Posted with permission from elizabuffy.
Thanks to mireille719 for the quick readthrough.
PART I | PART II
Epilogue
Giles turned over in his bed, and reached for his clock, before he realized it was the incessant knocking on the door--added to the shrieked "Mr. Giles!"--that had woken him up, and not the shrill ring of the alarm. He sat up and blinked. Barely seven in the morning; Giles had gone to bed much too late again the previous evening, and then he'd had the strangest dream... "What is it, Andrew?" he asked, rubbing a hand on his face and reaching for his glasses. It had better be important, or else he'd have to rethink the idea of rooming with both Andrew and Xander in the same house.
"Urgent phone call from L.A." Andrew replied, sounding panicked. "Wesley says it's important."
Giles groaned. He'd no wish to deal with any of Angel's crew, not that early in the morning, not ever if he could. He couldn't think why Wesley would be calling him with an emergency; Giles had made it quite clear to them he wasn't going to clean up their mess. He ran a head in his hair and pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead. He'd have two tablets of paracetamol with breakfast, it seemed like; this headache felt like it had been going on for days, but he couldn't remember--
"Please, do tell him to--" Giles was about to say that he'd call back--perhaps later, much later; perhaps never if he could--when he came face to face with himself in the mirror on the dresser. The scar on his cheek was barely a day old, and he couldn't remember a fight the day before. "Hold on," he told Andrew, his voice tight with dread.
Had it been real then? The end of the world, Andrew and everyone else dead? The long walk, the pain--he touched his forehead again. Xander? Had everything been real and not a dream?
He touched the wound with the tip of his fingers and hissed when the pressure gave way to pain. Definitely real. The creature sent by the Powers had said he'd be left with a reminder. He remembered his conversation with Xander, just before the wound had been stitched up. Perhaps he should have woken up one of the girls after all. The wound was not as well stitched as it could have been.
"I'll be downstairs immediately," he croaked at Andrew. He felt dehydrated; he needed to eat, hunger tightening his stomach. He needed to sleep for a week. Giles rubbed his eyes and reached for his glasses. No time to put on his contact lenses.
"Okay, boss!"
Giles heard Andrew rushing down the stairwell, and quickly pulled on his trousers and shirt, which he'd discarded on a chair last night before bed. He grabbed a clean pair of socks from the drawer and opened the door of his room.
He ignored his flatmates' wide eyes and barely heard Xander mumbling, "What happened to your face?" around his morning cereal. Giles shook his head and grabbed the telephone from Andrew's hands. He'd been a bit too brisk, he realized, when the boy yelped, and he gave Andrew an apologetic smile. "Wesley," he said into the phone and then continued without waiting for Wesley to acknowledge him. "I'll have a group of slayers on location in one hour, and we'll all leave England as soon as we possibly can."
"How did you--"
"It's a long story," Giles interrupted him, "one that will be better told once this apocalypse is averted and the world doesn't go to hell. Please do try to stave off Angel as much as you can until we arrive."
"I'll do my best." There was no conviction in the tone.
"Oh," Giles added, rubbing his forehead and trying to will his brain to work faster--food and water, no, tea, should help--"ask him to grab a tooth from the dragon once it's dead; tell him he'll understand in due time." Giles hung up the phone and turned to find Xander had put down his bowl and was eyeing him strangely. "I have no time to explain the situation more than once," Giles said before either he or Andrew could ask questions. "Give Buffy a call, and have everyone meet us in the mansion's front room in fifteen minutes."
Xander nodded, no questions asked. Giles had expected him to at least wonder, but perhaps Giles' tone was enough to give Xander an idea of the urgency of the situation. Xander grabbed the cordless phone from the table at the bottom of the stairs and went up while dialling. "Buff? Emergency--" was all Giles heard before the door of Xander's room was shut, cereal bowl forgotten on the kitchen counter. Giles grabbed a muffin and set about preparing tea. He wouldn't have time for anything elaborate, but something would have to do. He did need his wits to function.
"Andrew, I want you to call our Californian group and send them to this street corner," he said, when he realized Andrew was still staring at him. He picked up a scrap of paper and wrote down the coordinates Wesley had given him before he'd left L.A. "And pass me Brian as soon as you possibly can."
Brian would know who to send to make sure Wesley and Charles survived this. There was no possible way for Giles and the others to arrive on time, and he'd be damned if he let them walk to their deaths.
Giles ate and drank quickly, pulling on his socks and shoes and meeting Andrew in the doorway on their way out. "Xander, we'll be over at the mansion. Come quickly," he called, going out when Xander said, "Sure! I'll be right there."
The mansion was the Giles family home. It had been built in the eighteenth century, by the first Watcher of their line. It wasn't nearly big enough for everyone to live there, and Giles had taken the decision to leave it to the women. There were only three men, and it was easier to put slayers four to six to a room than it was for Giles, Andrew, and Xander to share close quarters. Buffy and Dawn shared the master's quarters, and there was enough room there for Willow and Kennedy to join them whenever their travels brought them to London.
Fortunately, the front room was more than wide enough for everyone to stand in and listen. Giles arrived to find most of the girls already there, and he asked them to quiet down immediately. "Where are Dawn and Rona?" he asked Buffy when he noticed the two were missing. "I need everyone here."
"They're coming down. They were sleeping when you called. Ali and Henriette were out on a run, they should be here in a second."
Andrew already had a pen and paper out for note-taking--the boy was sometimes annoying in his efficiency--and when he turned to the window, Giles could see Xander and the two runners coming towards the house at high speed. "All right, we'll start now," he said as soon as the door closed behind them and Dawn and Rona came down the stairs.
He hadn't expected all of them to believe him on the first try, but it seemed that the sight of his scar and the stern tone he used as he spoke were enough to keep everyone quiet. "We'll make sure this future never happens. That is why we are here."
"But it did happen," Xander argued. "To you, anyway."
Giles took a deep breath and took off his glasses. "Yes, I suppose you're right, but no one else but me must remember. I want everyone dressed and fed in half an hour, ready to go. Andrew, have the jet ready at the airport. Xander, Buffy, Willow and Carly, you'll follow me for the last details." Giles waved at all of them to follow him and they headed for the study. He went straight for the bookshelves and picked up the book they had found the first time they'd researched this. He opened it on the right page quickly and handed it to Willow. "Carly and yourself will gather all the ingredients detailed here. Do not worry about the last three."
She nodded and grabbed Andrew's pad, shaking her head when he started to protest. "I need this, thank you."
"Andrew, do call for the plane now, please." Giles sighed and shook his head. Children. "Buffy, I've contacted Brian, and he'll have the twenty Slayers under his care on the scene in less than an hour, but I'll need you to call Gareth, Faith and Jude and have them on standby, should we need reinforcement."
"I'm on it."
"And me?" Xander asked, bouncing on the soles of his feet. "What do I get to do to save the world?"
"Nothing for now," Giles said with a soft smile. "But I promise you the world could not be saved without you."
"Okay, then." Xander grinned at him, if a little strained. "At least, let me get us all some fuel. We're gonna need it. Coffee, tea, donuts? I'm thinking a Starbucks run, and I'll get donuts from the store across the street."
"Very good idea."
* * *
Giles had never been so thankful that the previous Council had gotten itself a private jet and that it had been spared in the destruction of the Council buildings. There were no waiting lines, no check-ins, no Customs to go through. Within an hour, everyone was walking across Bath's small airport's tarmac and climbing up the ramp into the plane. Fifteen minutes later, they were in the air, chewing on donuts and sipping their lattes and other Starbucks beverages. Giles took a sip of his tea, and sighed, letting his head fall against the headrest. The flight would be a long one.
There was time aplenty then to teach Willow and Carly the protection spell and to build protection around Xander. "You'll be staying with me while the others go off to fight. I'll need you there for the ritual." Xander had a frown on his face, but Giles warded off any of his questions. They had no privacy on the plane; now was not the time for questioning.
Brian Curtis was waiting for them at LAX, with a school bus and a grim expression. Andrew opted to stay in the plane, using its table and comfortable seats as a command center. Remembering the broken body he'd found on his way out of the mansion the first time, Giles was all too happy to agree. Andrew might have his faults, but it wouldn't do to lose him a second time.
"What news?" Giles asked Brian, already leading the girls into the bus.
"Wyndham-Pryce and the other guy are good. We had to get Mr. Gunn to the hospital, he lost a lot of blood, but he's going to make it. Wesley's back in the fight. He wouldn't back off," Brian said, nodding grimly. They'd been at school together, if Giles remembered correctly. There was a hint of surprise in Brian's voice, as if he himself couldn't believe how changed Wesley was.
Giles climbed in after everyone, and stood at the head of the bus, taking in the close to twenty girls all sitting silently and waiting for him to speak. He wouldn't be giving them a long speech, not this time. "You're all going to disperse yourselves out there and fight," he told them simply, and then he turned to Buffy. "As soon as you see Angel, have him meet me at the Wolfram & Hart building, or at least as far as he can get with the sun up, and send Wesley with him."
"Okay." She turned to everyone else. "You heard the man, let's go kick some butts!" The cheers were loud and Giles climbed back down with a wave to Brian, who took his place in the driver's seat. The door shut and they were off.
Giles motioned for the others to follow him inside, where reports of the downtown destruction were being blasted on the screens. The rental car attendant was miraculously fast, and they were on the road only half an hour behind the bus.
The sight of downtown, with its fallen buildings, was eerily familiar. Giles got out of the car first and couldn't repress a shiver. The others followed him out and crowded around him.
"Okay, what's that?" Xander asked, pointing at the portal.
Giles shushed him, and shaking his head to clear his thoughts he led them all to the building he'd hidden behind with Connor. "That's the portal to hell," he answered, when he was certain they wouldn't be noticed. Of course, coming down here with a car had probably not been the smartest plan if they didn't want any of the demons to know they were there, but so far their luck was holding. The area was seemingly deserted except for the Loplekcs they could see guarding the doors.
"Oh my goddess," Willow whispered, and Giles turned to face the portal again; another pair of Loplekc were coming through and walked right past them. "How are we going to get there?"
"We don't need to be near the portal for the spell to work I only need to grab some soil, and then we can do this here." Giles turned to them and said, "Carly, you'll follow me; Xander will assist Willow."
"Hey, I can fight," Xander protested.
"I know you can," Giles replied quickly, squeezing Xander's shoulder. "But the guards around the portal are Loplekcs." He nodded at the two demons that were making their way further into the city, away from them. "They have claws the size of your arm, as you can see, and are very quick to pick up on anyone's handicap." And Giles did not want Xander fighting just now. This would all be for nothing if anything happened to him.
Xander touched the edge of his eyepatch and said with a soft sigh, "Okay. I get it." Giles knew he hated being reminded of his lost eye, but there was nothing Giles could do about it then.
He looked around at the alley and shook his head. "This won't do," he told Willow. "We need a spot where the sun is very prominent."
She nodded and looked at Xander. "We'll look for something close by."
"Stay hidden as much as you can," Giles warned.
"Don't worry," Xander replied, holding out the crossbow. He'd become quite good at using it, despite his lack of depth perception; Giles had been more than a little impressed with him when he'd watched Xander train--he'd also been impressed by the muscular arms and firm-looking body yielding the crossbow, but he wouldn't have told Xander that. Not yet. "We'll be careful."
Giles watched them go with a certain feeling of dread, but turned resolutely to Carly. He motioned for her to follow him, and they went to the edge of the building, hiding behind a mangled piece of metal.
"You'll have to lure them away from the doorway," Giles told Carly nodding at the Loplekcs guarding the portal. "I need to be within ten feet of it to grab the most potent soil for the spell."
Carly nodded and pursed her lips. "I guess the best way would be to make a lot of noise and go that way." She pointed at the street, which was still mostly intact. "How long do you need me to hold them for?"
"As long as possible," Giles answered, scratching the back of his neck thoughtfully. "I'll have to do some digging to reach the soil, and I've no idea how hard that would be."
"We should have kept Leila with us," Carly said, sighing. "She's good at digging. Maybe we should take Xander--"
"No," Giles said vehemently. Perhaps a little too vehemently, he supposed, when Carly looked at him with a frown. "I'll need him later; I can't risk it." He knew he was risking Xander right now, sending him out to find a spot of sunlight wide enough for them to draw the pentagram on, but it was different from sending him straight into harm's way. He shook his head and looked straight ahead. Both Xander and Willow were protected like he'd been; they would be fine.
Carly nodded without asking any further questions. A moment later, she stood, squeezed his shoulder, and took off. She ran without making a sound until Giles couldn't see her anymore. "Good luck," he muttered under his breath, resuming his lookout.
Finally, about two minutes after Carly had gone, both demons were distracted by the sound of something collapsing--perhaps the wall of a fallen building, he thought, though it sounded more like a bomb going off than anything else--and they left the portal to investigate. Giles patted his coat pocket to make sure he still had the bag. Reassured somewhat that at the very least he had something to put dirt in, he made his way carefully towards the doorway. His instincts kept him on edge, waiting for demons to be crawling the place, for something to come out of the portal any time now, but nothing happened as he walked.
It was almost too much luck. He hoped all that it meant was that the demons were too busy fighting to pay attention to much else, not that there would be an ambush waiting. He reached the open space before the portal and looked down at the ground, pieces of metal, rock and asphalt littering the place. A spot had been cleared within the first five or so feet in front of the door to hell, but Giles looked at it and decided not to come any closer. He had no idea what kind of an effect the portal would have on him, and he'd no wish to be swallowed by it, or to have something push him through while he was attempting to gather enough soil.
Quickly, he pushed away the debris, yelping when his finger caught on a sharp edge. Droplets of his blood mixed with the soil as he picked it up, but he had no time to bandage the cut now. He filled the bag and sealed it. When he looked up, the two Loplekcs were just a yard away, looking towards him. "Uh oh," he muttered, looking for Carly. Just as the Loplekc seemed to notice his presence and start running, one of them collapsed, and its friend stopped to see what was going on.
Giles took this opportunity and ran as fast as he could, jumping up to hide behind the scrap of metal from earlier. He looked back when he couldn't hear the sounds of anyone following him, and saw the second Loplekc was down as well. Carly was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, Giles!" he heard from above. He looked up and found Xander on the building top, crossbow in hand. "There's a ladder on the other side. Come on up."
Still breathing heavily, Giles stood and ran to the ladder, climbing the stairs two by two, then pushing himself up to the roof when the top landing stopped short of reaching it.
"This works, right?" Xander asked, holding out his hands to show off the rooftop.
Giles took in the gravel floor and the sunlight beaming from the east and nodded. "This is perfect," he said, giving Xander a smile. He looked at the crossbow and raised an eyebrow. "Did you--"
"Save your life?" Xander finished for him as he put the crossbow down against the edge. "Yeah. I got the first one easy, but the second one took a couple tries."
"Impressive," Giles whispered. He looked up at Xander and then away at the sky. The west was already darkening, and Giles could start to feel time pressing them on. "We should get going."
Xander took Giles to the other side, behind the door leading to the inside stairwells, where Willow was already drawing the pentagram into the gravel with a stick. Much easier and faster than if she'd had to move rocks to create it. Xander hadn't asked about Carly, but it was the first thing Willow asked when she saw him.
"I've no idea," Giles admitted. "We separated, but I haven't seen her since." He didn't want to think about what it might mean, not just then.
Xander had brought out a metal garbage container he'd found just inside the door and was filling it with wooden furniture and paper from a recycling bin. "No one's going to say anything about it," he said for sole explanation. "It's not like they'll notice their bookshelf's missing with half of downtown destroyed."
Giles couldn't fault the logic, and they needed to keep a fire going for a while either way; he was just thankful Xander had found anything at all. He helped Willow draw the pentagram, then lined up the ingredients close to where Willow would be sitting. He kept the soil in his pocket; they were still missing the dragon tooth.
"Hold on, this is gonna hurt," they heard coming from below. Xander rushed to look down, crossbow in hand, when all of a sudden two bodies leapt up and onto the roof. Carly gave a little cry of pain, then bit her lip as Connor put her down against the staircase wall, facing Willow.
"Connor," Giles said, relieved to see both him and Carly in one piece.
Connor frowned. "You know me?"
"I--yes, no, it's a long story. Is Wesley behind you?"
Eyeing him carefully, Connor seemed to decide it wasn't worth pursuing the question, and he said, "He's coming up the stairs. Could only take one of them at a time."
When Giles looked at him, Xander had his crossbow aimed at the boy, and Giles told him to put it down. "He's on our side," he said, when Xander proved reluctant to do as he was told.
"How do you know? He just jumped up ten floors with a girl in his arms. Don't tell me he's human."
Connor rolled his eyes with all the grace of a teenager and crossed his arms. "And I would save a slayer why?"
The look on Xander's face clearly meant he would have kept arguing if Wesley hadn't reached the landing, and said, "Giles, I have your tooth. And now would you mind telling me--"
"In good time, Wesley," Giles replied, taking the dragon tooth from the outstretched hand. His fingers brushed against Wesley's hand, and he felt something uncurl in his stomach. Wesley was alive, truly alive, and to see it, feel it, even after being told, was enough to give Giles hope that they could do this. That it would work.
"We're ready, Giles," Willow announced, drawing Giles back to his senses. "Where do you need us?"
"Carly will need to sit at the tip of the triangle," he said. The girl nodded, holding herself up on the wall to stand on one foot. Giles had no idea if her ankle or leg was sprained, broken or else, but he was glad that she wasn't injured in any worse way. "Wesley and Connor, I'll need you to stand guard. Once we've started the ritual, it might take us a while, and I'd rather we were not interrupted."
"No problem," Connor said quickly, tugging a sword out of its sheath on his back.
Wesley only nodded.
Giles turned to Xander and pulled him apart from the others. "This is where you become incredibly important."
"How?"
"You're the last ingredient that the spell needs to work; well, your blood is." Giles took Xander's hand in his, barely resisting the urge to kiss it. He wouldn't slash the wrist this time; he hoped a simple cut across the palm would yield enough blood for this to work. There was no way he was risking Xander's life again.
"So--how's it going to work?" Xander asked.
Giles let out a short, quiet breath, thankful that Xander hadn't thought to ask "why" but only "how." "I'll cut into your palm at the very end of the ritual. You'll have to kneel in the middle circle with me until then."
"Do I have to say anything?"
"No. You'll have to spread some of the contaminated soil into the circle with me before we kneel, but afterwards, I'll only need you to hand me your palm when I ask for it." Xander's expression turned into a frown, and Giles reached out, stopping himself moments before he cupped Xander's cheek and putting his hand on his shoulder instead. "I won't lie to you. When I did this before, I had to take a lot of your blood--"
"Did I die?"
Giles couldn't bring himself to say it, and he shook his head. "It doesn't matter; you are alive here and now, and there's only one portal to close instead of more than a dozen."
"Okay, I trust you." It was said with such conviction that Giles looked up, and their eyes locked. He couldn't bring himself to look away.
He could read the question burning in Xander's eye, "Why me?" but Xander never voiced it; Giles wasn't even sure he could explain it all now, not without privacy and the possibility of a strong drink.
Xander finally looked away, and they made their way into the circle. Giles gave Xander the soil, and with a nod to Willow, they started.
It seemed to go much faster this time around. The sun was still high up in the sky when Willow threw the last of the eye of newt into the fire, and Giles reached for Xander's hand. He had no idea if any demon had noticed their presence, if the power they were invoking was so strong that some found themselves attracted by it, and Giles didn't dare looking up and away from what he was doing. He grabbed his knife and looked into Xander's eye.
There was no cry of pain when the knife cut through the skin this time. Xander held his gaze and the first drop of blood felt onto the ground. The rumbling was barely an echo of what Giles had heard the first time, but he could feel and hear the demons being sucked back into the portal, to where they belonged. Another trickle of blood fell down; one minute, two minutes passed, and the rumbling ended abruptly to a sound not unlike that of a door slamming shut. Time stopped again.
"Watcher. Rupert. Giles." The same disembodied voice.
"Yes."
"Stand."
This time, Giles didn't argue. He stood, waiting for the figure to appear, though he never let go of Xander's hand.
"You have restored balance once more. Your wish will be granted."
The creature hadn't appeared, and Giles tried to argue, opening his mouth just as time resumed its course. When he heard Carly yelled "We did it!" Giles dropped to his knees and reached for his handkerchief to wrap Xander's hand.
"Hey," Xander said, putting his uninjured hand on Giles' knee, then taking it away with a blush a second later. "The world's still standing, huh?"
"Apparently, it is," Giles replied. He hoped his voice wasn't as hoarse as it sounded to his ears; he could still feel Xander's hand on him. "Can you stand?"
The roll of Xander's eye was a welcome sight, so very much the opposite of how it had ended the last time that Giles found himself smiling. "Yeah, I barely bled at all; didn't even hurt."
"That's good to hear."
Giles helped Xander up, looking around to see Willow and Connor looking down into the street, while Wesley held up his hand for Carly. Giles made his way to the edge and looked where the others' eyes were turned. A deep, open crater stood where the Wolfram & Hart building had been. He could already see the headlines; yet another earthquake in California, not much news at all.
"I've seen it happen," Wesley said behind him, and Giles turned. "I've seen the portal close. It was quite a sight."
Giles nodded thoughtfully. "How long did it take?"
"Just about two hours. Demons were swallowed into the doorway along with some of the debris. I'm actually very surprised this building is still standing."
Giles was too, but he didn't say so. He put a hand to the small of Xander's back, and pondered what else they had to do before they could all sleep.
He didn't react or even notice the look Xander gave him, just felt him leaning into the touch.
* * *
They found everyone else on the Hyperion lot. No one was inside, except perhaps Angel, and they all stood or sat or lay on the grass, bags of fast food littered around them as they ate. Xander, Carly, Willow and Connor took off to where there seemed to be some food not yet consumed, and Giles smiled with a shake of his head. "Giles, over here!" Buffy called.
Giles followed her voice, and found her sitting next to Andrew. "How did it go?"
Buffy's face fell, and she looked up to where Brian was sitting. "We lost three girls. Leila, and two from Brian's group."
Leila. She'd survived the first time. Giles took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Every action has a price," he whispered to himself, looking at the dirt under his fingernails. "I'll take care of calling her family."
"I've got us the top floor at the Hilton, boss," Andrew intervened around a mouthful. He swallowed, and went on, "I figured you wouldn't mind; cheaper than getting a room for everyone anyway. I'll get you Leila's contact info soon as we're settled."
"Thank you, Andrew." Giles spotted Wesley in the doorway, looking at him, and he excused himself. "What is it?"
Wesley led him inside and they sat in the empty lobby. "I suppose I deserve an explanation now; or perhaps not, considering I'm part of the team who brought about the end of the world, but I'd still really like to know how you knew."
Giles gave him a smile and told him his tale. The smile made his scar hurt, and he found himself touching it gingerly. It would need to be cleaned again. The last time it had been done, well, it hadn't been done in this timeline at all, now, had it?
Angel was hiding up in his room; Spike hadn't come back from the alley; and when Wesley added a report of his own, Giles found out that Illyria had been sucked back into the portal with the rest of the demons, though she hadn't come from it. "I'll have to research what happened," Wesley added, "but perhaps it was a demon's essence or some such; I wouldn't be surprise if every demon but vampires and half breeds and the few peaceful ones had been sucked in."
"From the area, at the least," Giles added. It made sense, though Wesley was right that research would be needed to understand the phenomenon. "I should probably find something to eat," he said, feeling himself dizzy when he stood.
"There should be some left outside, I believe Curtis ordered enough for an army of a hundred."
Giles gave Wesley a tired smile. "He's very effective in that way."
"Yes, he always were if I remember correctly." Wesley looked away at the door, and sighed, but didn't speak.
"Is there anything you wish to ask?"
Wesley's eyes drifted to him, and he pursed his lips. "I've heard not one good thing from my father about what you're doing with the Council. He thinks what you're doing is ridiculously wrong and flies in the face of everything he believes in."
Giles snorted. "Yes, I've had the pleasure to argue with him more than once already. For everything from the Council's new location to the brand of toilet paper we order."
Wesley laughed. "That doesn't surprise me at all."
"He's very set in his ways, isn't he?"
"You could say that." Wesley's expression turned troubled.
"Is there anything else?" Giles prodded gently. He had a feeling he knew what Wesley wanted to ask.
"I'm not sure that there's anything left for me to do here." Wesley sighed. "The city's already talking about earthquakes, and we're not needed to clean up, as it's been done for us when the portal shut down. Even before all this, I--" He stopped and looked around at the hotel lobby, wistful.
"Well," Giles said when Wesley didn't continue after a moment. "We need more Watchers than we have, so I'll just say that anyone with training is welcome to contact me at any time, if they want to come back to work."
With that, he gave Wesley a smile and went outside again. There, he was handed a bag full of food he hated, but craved, and he found Xander, Connor and most of the others deep in conversation. He sat next to Xander and ate. They'd have work to do later, but for now, it seemed there was a celebration to attend to.
* * *
Giles heard the door leading into the hall open behind him, but didn't look away from the window. The common room of the suite was vast and the whole south wall was made of glass, giving quite a spectacular view into the city.
Los Angeles was waking as if nothing had happened.
Wesley had wondered why they weren't staying at the Hyperion, but the thought of stale sheets and dusty rooms hadn't appealed to anyone. The girls had preferred stacking up three to four a room in the penthouse of the Hilton, and they deserved the expense. Besides, the Council's accounts were not exactly close to being empty. Not for a very long time.
"Willow said I'd find you here." Xander walked in and let the door shut itself behind him, but Giles didn't look away. "I've been wondering, you know, about the spell."
Giles slowly turned to him and saw him waving his bandaged hand in front of his face. "Yes?"
"Willow won't tell me why it had to be me, and I'm not that close to Carly, so..." He shrugged.
"You thought I would give you the answer," Giles finished for him. He watched Xander steadily, and nodded for him to come stand next to the window. "I saw this world gone to hell," he whispered when Xander was just a feet away. "And now--to hell and back again."
"Must be hard; knowing how it ends," Xander said. He reached out and touched Giles' hand tentatively. Giles looked at him and Xander's hand stayed where it was. "Do you like like me?"
Giles had to bite his lip not to laugh. "Pardon?"
"You know," Xander replied, shrugging again and his cheeks flushing slightly. "Are you--are you in love with me?"
"Xander--" he started, not quite sure how to answer that.
"I have a second set of memories, like Connor said he did; well, apart from the part about being raised in hell and stuff. It didn't just appear, but it's been, you know, superimposing itself for the past few hours. I think I figured it out." Xander looked down at the street, and Giles did the same; two early risers passed by, hurrying to wherever it was they were going. Life followed its course.
This took Giles by surprise and he struggled to say, "They said they couldn't--"
"You promised," Xander interrupted him. "You promised I'd get my memories back--"
"--if I could." Perhaps that's what the Powers had meant when they said his wish had been granted. He hadn't had time to make one now, but they'd fulfilled the one he'd wanted before...
"It's working. It's slow, and at first I had no freaking clue what was going on, but it's pretty clear now. I saw the world end too, and now you won't be alone remembering it." Xander's fingers tightened on Giles' hand, and he leaned closer, almost close enough to lay his head on Giles' shoulder.
Giles wished he would. The touch of his hand was enough to make Giles yearn for the comfortable closeness they'd had on that very last day. "I considered going back on that promise; you wouldn't have remembered me making it, after all."
"But you would."
"Yes, I would." Whether or not he'd have been able to live with himself if he'd decided not to ask was irrelevant now. Giles only hoped Xander wouldn't regret his decision. What they'd seen, the memories they had, they weren't anything Giles would have wanted to share in any other circumstances.
"We had sex."
It was said with such "aplomb" that Giles was unable to resist laughing. "Yes," he replied, even it hadn't been a question. "Yes, we did."
"Was I any good?"
Another burst of laughter escaped him, and Xander slapped his arm, saying with a mock-insulted look, "Hey, you seemed to like it at the time."
"I'm sorry." Giles stifled his laugh with his hand, and turned around, cupping Xander's cheek. "Don't you remember it?"
"I'm a little fuzzy on the details."
"You were adequate," Giles answered, grinning.
"Adequate? That's all you have to say?"
"Well, I suppose I might need to experience it again, just to be certain." Giles attempted the tease with uncertainty, but Xander laughed, and something uncurled in Giles' stomach. He could breathe; he hadn't even noticed he'd been holding his breath.
"Yeah, okay," he said. "Come on, your room's closer." Xander grabbed Giles and pulled him away from the bay window.
The end.
Word count: 6,300 this part | 20,350 complete
Pairing: Giles/Xander
Rating: FRAO
Warnings: several non-graphic canon character deaths.
Summary: It's the end of the world as they know it; they have nothing left to do but try to save it with their last breath.
Note: Finally done. Posted with permission from elizabuffy.
Thanks to mireille719 for the quick readthrough.
PART I | PART II
Epilogue
Giles turned over in his bed, and reached for his clock, before he realized it was the incessant knocking on the door--added to the shrieked "Mr. Giles!"--that had woken him up, and not the shrill ring of the alarm. He sat up and blinked. Barely seven in the morning; Giles had gone to bed much too late again the previous evening, and then he'd had the strangest dream... "What is it, Andrew?" he asked, rubbing a hand on his face and reaching for his glasses. It had better be important, or else he'd have to rethink the idea of rooming with both Andrew and Xander in the same house.
"Urgent phone call from L.A." Andrew replied, sounding panicked. "Wesley says it's important."
Giles groaned. He'd no wish to deal with any of Angel's crew, not that early in the morning, not ever if he could. He couldn't think why Wesley would be calling him with an emergency; Giles had made it quite clear to them he wasn't going to clean up their mess. He ran a head in his hair and pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead. He'd have two tablets of paracetamol with breakfast, it seemed like; this headache felt like it had been going on for days, but he couldn't remember--
"Please, do tell him to--" Giles was about to say that he'd call back--perhaps later, much later; perhaps never if he could--when he came face to face with himself in the mirror on the dresser. The scar on his cheek was barely a day old, and he couldn't remember a fight the day before. "Hold on," he told Andrew, his voice tight with dread.
Had it been real then? The end of the world, Andrew and everyone else dead? The long walk, the pain--he touched his forehead again. Xander? Had everything been real and not a dream?
He touched the wound with the tip of his fingers and hissed when the pressure gave way to pain. Definitely real. The creature sent by the Powers had said he'd be left with a reminder. He remembered his conversation with Xander, just before the wound had been stitched up. Perhaps he should have woken up one of the girls after all. The wound was not as well stitched as it could have been.
"I'll be downstairs immediately," he croaked at Andrew. He felt dehydrated; he needed to eat, hunger tightening his stomach. He needed to sleep for a week. Giles rubbed his eyes and reached for his glasses. No time to put on his contact lenses.
"Okay, boss!"
Giles heard Andrew rushing down the stairwell, and quickly pulled on his trousers and shirt, which he'd discarded on a chair last night before bed. He grabbed a clean pair of socks from the drawer and opened the door of his room.
He ignored his flatmates' wide eyes and barely heard Xander mumbling, "What happened to your face?" around his morning cereal. Giles shook his head and grabbed the telephone from Andrew's hands. He'd been a bit too brisk, he realized, when the boy yelped, and he gave Andrew an apologetic smile. "Wesley," he said into the phone and then continued without waiting for Wesley to acknowledge him. "I'll have a group of slayers on location in one hour, and we'll all leave England as soon as we possibly can."
"How did you--"
"It's a long story," Giles interrupted him, "one that will be better told once this apocalypse is averted and the world doesn't go to hell. Please do try to stave off Angel as much as you can until we arrive."
"I'll do my best." There was no conviction in the tone.
"Oh," Giles added, rubbing his forehead and trying to will his brain to work faster--food and water, no, tea, should help--"ask him to grab a tooth from the dragon once it's dead; tell him he'll understand in due time." Giles hung up the phone and turned to find Xander had put down his bowl and was eyeing him strangely. "I have no time to explain the situation more than once," Giles said before either he or Andrew could ask questions. "Give Buffy a call, and have everyone meet us in the mansion's front room in fifteen minutes."
Xander nodded, no questions asked. Giles had expected him to at least wonder, but perhaps Giles' tone was enough to give Xander an idea of the urgency of the situation. Xander grabbed the cordless phone from the table at the bottom of the stairs and went up while dialling. "Buff? Emergency--" was all Giles heard before the door of Xander's room was shut, cereal bowl forgotten on the kitchen counter. Giles grabbed a muffin and set about preparing tea. He wouldn't have time for anything elaborate, but something would have to do. He did need his wits to function.
"Andrew, I want you to call our Californian group and send them to this street corner," he said, when he realized Andrew was still staring at him. He picked up a scrap of paper and wrote down the coordinates Wesley had given him before he'd left L.A. "And pass me Brian as soon as you possibly can."
Brian would know who to send to make sure Wesley and Charles survived this. There was no possible way for Giles and the others to arrive on time, and he'd be damned if he let them walk to their deaths.
Giles ate and drank quickly, pulling on his socks and shoes and meeting Andrew in the doorway on their way out. "Xander, we'll be over at the mansion. Come quickly," he called, going out when Xander said, "Sure! I'll be right there."
The mansion was the Giles family home. It had been built in the eighteenth century, by the first Watcher of their line. It wasn't nearly big enough for everyone to live there, and Giles had taken the decision to leave it to the women. There were only three men, and it was easier to put slayers four to six to a room than it was for Giles, Andrew, and Xander to share close quarters. Buffy and Dawn shared the master's quarters, and there was enough room there for Willow and Kennedy to join them whenever their travels brought them to London.
Fortunately, the front room was more than wide enough for everyone to stand in and listen. Giles arrived to find most of the girls already there, and he asked them to quiet down immediately. "Where are Dawn and Rona?" he asked Buffy when he noticed the two were missing. "I need everyone here."
"They're coming down. They were sleeping when you called. Ali and Henriette were out on a run, they should be here in a second."
Andrew already had a pen and paper out for note-taking--the boy was sometimes annoying in his efficiency--and when he turned to the window, Giles could see Xander and the two runners coming towards the house at high speed. "All right, we'll start now," he said as soon as the door closed behind them and Dawn and Rona came down the stairs.
He hadn't expected all of them to believe him on the first try, but it seemed that the sight of his scar and the stern tone he used as he spoke were enough to keep everyone quiet. "We'll make sure this future never happens. That is why we are here."
"But it did happen," Xander argued. "To you, anyway."
Giles took a deep breath and took off his glasses. "Yes, I suppose you're right, but no one else but me must remember. I want everyone dressed and fed in half an hour, ready to go. Andrew, have the jet ready at the airport. Xander, Buffy, Willow and Carly, you'll follow me for the last details." Giles waved at all of them to follow him and they headed for the study. He went straight for the bookshelves and picked up the book they had found the first time they'd researched this. He opened it on the right page quickly and handed it to Willow. "Carly and yourself will gather all the ingredients detailed here. Do not worry about the last three."
She nodded and grabbed Andrew's pad, shaking her head when he started to protest. "I need this, thank you."
"Andrew, do call for the plane now, please." Giles sighed and shook his head. Children. "Buffy, I've contacted Brian, and he'll have the twenty Slayers under his care on the scene in less than an hour, but I'll need you to call Gareth, Faith and Jude and have them on standby, should we need reinforcement."
"I'm on it."
"And me?" Xander asked, bouncing on the soles of his feet. "What do I get to do to save the world?"
"Nothing for now," Giles said with a soft smile. "But I promise you the world could not be saved without you."
"Okay, then." Xander grinned at him, if a little strained. "At least, let me get us all some fuel. We're gonna need it. Coffee, tea, donuts? I'm thinking a Starbucks run, and I'll get donuts from the store across the street."
"Very good idea."
* * *
Giles had never been so thankful that the previous Council had gotten itself a private jet and that it had been spared in the destruction of the Council buildings. There were no waiting lines, no check-ins, no Customs to go through. Within an hour, everyone was walking across Bath's small airport's tarmac and climbing up the ramp into the plane. Fifteen minutes later, they were in the air, chewing on donuts and sipping their lattes and other Starbucks beverages. Giles took a sip of his tea, and sighed, letting his head fall against the headrest. The flight would be a long one.
There was time aplenty then to teach Willow and Carly the protection spell and to build protection around Xander. "You'll be staying with me while the others go off to fight. I'll need you there for the ritual." Xander had a frown on his face, but Giles warded off any of his questions. They had no privacy on the plane; now was not the time for questioning.
Brian Curtis was waiting for them at LAX, with a school bus and a grim expression. Andrew opted to stay in the plane, using its table and comfortable seats as a command center. Remembering the broken body he'd found on his way out of the mansion the first time, Giles was all too happy to agree. Andrew might have his faults, but it wouldn't do to lose him a second time.
"What news?" Giles asked Brian, already leading the girls into the bus.
"Wyndham-Pryce and the other guy are good. We had to get Mr. Gunn to the hospital, he lost a lot of blood, but he's going to make it. Wesley's back in the fight. He wouldn't back off," Brian said, nodding grimly. They'd been at school together, if Giles remembered correctly. There was a hint of surprise in Brian's voice, as if he himself couldn't believe how changed Wesley was.
Giles climbed in after everyone, and stood at the head of the bus, taking in the close to twenty girls all sitting silently and waiting for him to speak. He wouldn't be giving them a long speech, not this time. "You're all going to disperse yourselves out there and fight," he told them simply, and then he turned to Buffy. "As soon as you see Angel, have him meet me at the Wolfram & Hart building, or at least as far as he can get with the sun up, and send Wesley with him."
"Okay." She turned to everyone else. "You heard the man, let's go kick some butts!" The cheers were loud and Giles climbed back down with a wave to Brian, who took his place in the driver's seat. The door shut and they were off.
Giles motioned for the others to follow him inside, where reports of the downtown destruction were being blasted on the screens. The rental car attendant was miraculously fast, and they were on the road only half an hour behind the bus.
The sight of downtown, with its fallen buildings, was eerily familiar. Giles got out of the car first and couldn't repress a shiver. The others followed him out and crowded around him.
"Okay, what's that?" Xander asked, pointing at the portal.
Giles shushed him, and shaking his head to clear his thoughts he led them all to the building he'd hidden behind with Connor. "That's the portal to hell," he answered, when he was certain they wouldn't be noticed. Of course, coming down here with a car had probably not been the smartest plan if they didn't want any of the demons to know they were there, but so far their luck was holding. The area was seemingly deserted except for the Loplekcs they could see guarding the doors.
"Oh my goddess," Willow whispered, and Giles turned to face the portal again; another pair of Loplekc were coming through and walked right past them. "How are we going to get there?"
"We don't need to be near the portal for the spell to work I only need to grab some soil, and then we can do this here." Giles turned to them and said, "Carly, you'll follow me; Xander will assist Willow."
"Hey, I can fight," Xander protested.
"I know you can," Giles replied quickly, squeezing Xander's shoulder. "But the guards around the portal are Loplekcs." He nodded at the two demons that were making their way further into the city, away from them. "They have claws the size of your arm, as you can see, and are very quick to pick up on anyone's handicap." And Giles did not want Xander fighting just now. This would all be for nothing if anything happened to him.
Xander touched the edge of his eyepatch and said with a soft sigh, "Okay. I get it." Giles knew he hated being reminded of his lost eye, but there was nothing Giles could do about it then.
He looked around at the alley and shook his head. "This won't do," he told Willow. "We need a spot where the sun is very prominent."
She nodded and looked at Xander. "We'll look for something close by."
"Stay hidden as much as you can," Giles warned.
"Don't worry," Xander replied, holding out the crossbow. He'd become quite good at using it, despite his lack of depth perception; Giles had been more than a little impressed with him when he'd watched Xander train--he'd also been impressed by the muscular arms and firm-looking body yielding the crossbow, but he wouldn't have told Xander that. Not yet. "We'll be careful."
Giles watched them go with a certain feeling of dread, but turned resolutely to Carly. He motioned for her to follow him, and they went to the edge of the building, hiding behind a mangled piece of metal.
"You'll have to lure them away from the doorway," Giles told Carly nodding at the Loplekcs guarding the portal. "I need to be within ten feet of it to grab the most potent soil for the spell."
Carly nodded and pursed her lips. "I guess the best way would be to make a lot of noise and go that way." She pointed at the street, which was still mostly intact. "How long do you need me to hold them for?"
"As long as possible," Giles answered, scratching the back of his neck thoughtfully. "I'll have to do some digging to reach the soil, and I've no idea how hard that would be."
"We should have kept Leila with us," Carly said, sighing. "She's good at digging. Maybe we should take Xander--"
"No," Giles said vehemently. Perhaps a little too vehemently, he supposed, when Carly looked at him with a frown. "I'll need him later; I can't risk it." He knew he was risking Xander right now, sending him out to find a spot of sunlight wide enough for them to draw the pentagram on, but it was different from sending him straight into harm's way. He shook his head and looked straight ahead. Both Xander and Willow were protected like he'd been; they would be fine.
Carly nodded without asking any further questions. A moment later, she stood, squeezed his shoulder, and took off. She ran without making a sound until Giles couldn't see her anymore. "Good luck," he muttered under his breath, resuming his lookout.
Finally, about two minutes after Carly had gone, both demons were distracted by the sound of something collapsing--perhaps the wall of a fallen building, he thought, though it sounded more like a bomb going off than anything else--and they left the portal to investigate. Giles patted his coat pocket to make sure he still had the bag. Reassured somewhat that at the very least he had something to put dirt in, he made his way carefully towards the doorway. His instincts kept him on edge, waiting for demons to be crawling the place, for something to come out of the portal any time now, but nothing happened as he walked.
It was almost too much luck. He hoped all that it meant was that the demons were too busy fighting to pay attention to much else, not that there would be an ambush waiting. He reached the open space before the portal and looked down at the ground, pieces of metal, rock and asphalt littering the place. A spot had been cleared within the first five or so feet in front of the door to hell, but Giles looked at it and decided not to come any closer. He had no idea what kind of an effect the portal would have on him, and he'd no wish to be swallowed by it, or to have something push him through while he was attempting to gather enough soil.
Quickly, he pushed away the debris, yelping when his finger caught on a sharp edge. Droplets of his blood mixed with the soil as he picked it up, but he had no time to bandage the cut now. He filled the bag and sealed it. When he looked up, the two Loplekcs were just a yard away, looking towards him. "Uh oh," he muttered, looking for Carly. Just as the Loplekc seemed to notice his presence and start running, one of them collapsed, and its friend stopped to see what was going on.
Giles took this opportunity and ran as fast as he could, jumping up to hide behind the scrap of metal from earlier. He looked back when he couldn't hear the sounds of anyone following him, and saw the second Loplekc was down as well. Carly was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, Giles!" he heard from above. He looked up and found Xander on the building top, crossbow in hand. "There's a ladder on the other side. Come on up."
Still breathing heavily, Giles stood and ran to the ladder, climbing the stairs two by two, then pushing himself up to the roof when the top landing stopped short of reaching it.
"This works, right?" Xander asked, holding out his hands to show off the rooftop.
Giles took in the gravel floor and the sunlight beaming from the east and nodded. "This is perfect," he said, giving Xander a smile. He looked at the crossbow and raised an eyebrow. "Did you--"
"Save your life?" Xander finished for him as he put the crossbow down against the edge. "Yeah. I got the first one easy, but the second one took a couple tries."
"Impressive," Giles whispered. He looked up at Xander and then away at the sky. The west was already darkening, and Giles could start to feel time pressing them on. "We should get going."
Xander took Giles to the other side, behind the door leading to the inside stairwells, where Willow was already drawing the pentagram into the gravel with a stick. Much easier and faster than if she'd had to move rocks to create it. Xander hadn't asked about Carly, but it was the first thing Willow asked when she saw him.
"I've no idea," Giles admitted. "We separated, but I haven't seen her since." He didn't want to think about what it might mean, not just then.
Xander had brought out a metal garbage container he'd found just inside the door and was filling it with wooden furniture and paper from a recycling bin. "No one's going to say anything about it," he said for sole explanation. "It's not like they'll notice their bookshelf's missing with half of downtown destroyed."
Giles couldn't fault the logic, and they needed to keep a fire going for a while either way; he was just thankful Xander had found anything at all. He helped Willow draw the pentagram, then lined up the ingredients close to where Willow would be sitting. He kept the soil in his pocket; they were still missing the dragon tooth.
"Hold on, this is gonna hurt," they heard coming from below. Xander rushed to look down, crossbow in hand, when all of a sudden two bodies leapt up and onto the roof. Carly gave a little cry of pain, then bit her lip as Connor put her down against the staircase wall, facing Willow.
"Connor," Giles said, relieved to see both him and Carly in one piece.
Connor frowned. "You know me?"
"I--yes, no, it's a long story. Is Wesley behind you?"
Eyeing him carefully, Connor seemed to decide it wasn't worth pursuing the question, and he said, "He's coming up the stairs. Could only take one of them at a time."
When Giles looked at him, Xander had his crossbow aimed at the boy, and Giles told him to put it down. "He's on our side," he said, when Xander proved reluctant to do as he was told.
"How do you know? He just jumped up ten floors with a girl in his arms. Don't tell me he's human."
Connor rolled his eyes with all the grace of a teenager and crossed his arms. "And I would save a slayer why?"
The look on Xander's face clearly meant he would have kept arguing if Wesley hadn't reached the landing, and said, "Giles, I have your tooth. And now would you mind telling me--"
"In good time, Wesley," Giles replied, taking the dragon tooth from the outstretched hand. His fingers brushed against Wesley's hand, and he felt something uncurl in his stomach. Wesley was alive, truly alive, and to see it, feel it, even after being told, was enough to give Giles hope that they could do this. That it would work.
"We're ready, Giles," Willow announced, drawing Giles back to his senses. "Where do you need us?"
"Carly will need to sit at the tip of the triangle," he said. The girl nodded, holding herself up on the wall to stand on one foot. Giles had no idea if her ankle or leg was sprained, broken or else, but he was glad that she wasn't injured in any worse way. "Wesley and Connor, I'll need you to stand guard. Once we've started the ritual, it might take us a while, and I'd rather we were not interrupted."
"No problem," Connor said quickly, tugging a sword out of its sheath on his back.
Wesley only nodded.
Giles turned to Xander and pulled him apart from the others. "This is where you become incredibly important."
"How?"
"You're the last ingredient that the spell needs to work; well, your blood is." Giles took Xander's hand in his, barely resisting the urge to kiss it. He wouldn't slash the wrist this time; he hoped a simple cut across the palm would yield enough blood for this to work. There was no way he was risking Xander's life again.
"So--how's it going to work?" Xander asked.
Giles let out a short, quiet breath, thankful that Xander hadn't thought to ask "why" but only "how." "I'll cut into your palm at the very end of the ritual. You'll have to kneel in the middle circle with me until then."
"Do I have to say anything?"
"No. You'll have to spread some of the contaminated soil into the circle with me before we kneel, but afterwards, I'll only need you to hand me your palm when I ask for it." Xander's expression turned into a frown, and Giles reached out, stopping himself moments before he cupped Xander's cheek and putting his hand on his shoulder instead. "I won't lie to you. When I did this before, I had to take a lot of your blood--"
"Did I die?"
Giles couldn't bring himself to say it, and he shook his head. "It doesn't matter; you are alive here and now, and there's only one portal to close instead of more than a dozen."
"Okay, I trust you." It was said with such conviction that Giles looked up, and their eyes locked. He couldn't bring himself to look away.
He could read the question burning in Xander's eye, "Why me?" but Xander never voiced it; Giles wasn't even sure he could explain it all now, not without privacy and the possibility of a strong drink.
Xander finally looked away, and they made their way into the circle. Giles gave Xander the soil, and with a nod to Willow, they started.
It seemed to go much faster this time around. The sun was still high up in the sky when Willow threw the last of the eye of newt into the fire, and Giles reached for Xander's hand. He had no idea if any demon had noticed their presence, if the power they were invoking was so strong that some found themselves attracted by it, and Giles didn't dare looking up and away from what he was doing. He grabbed his knife and looked into Xander's eye.
There was no cry of pain when the knife cut through the skin this time. Xander held his gaze and the first drop of blood felt onto the ground. The rumbling was barely an echo of what Giles had heard the first time, but he could feel and hear the demons being sucked back into the portal, to where they belonged. Another trickle of blood fell down; one minute, two minutes passed, and the rumbling ended abruptly to a sound not unlike that of a door slamming shut. Time stopped again.
"Watcher. Rupert. Giles." The same disembodied voice.
"Yes."
"Stand."
This time, Giles didn't argue. He stood, waiting for the figure to appear, though he never let go of Xander's hand.
"You have restored balance once more. Your wish will be granted."
The creature hadn't appeared, and Giles tried to argue, opening his mouth just as time resumed its course. When he heard Carly yelled "We did it!" Giles dropped to his knees and reached for his handkerchief to wrap Xander's hand.
"Hey," Xander said, putting his uninjured hand on Giles' knee, then taking it away with a blush a second later. "The world's still standing, huh?"
"Apparently, it is," Giles replied. He hoped his voice wasn't as hoarse as it sounded to his ears; he could still feel Xander's hand on him. "Can you stand?"
The roll of Xander's eye was a welcome sight, so very much the opposite of how it had ended the last time that Giles found himself smiling. "Yeah, I barely bled at all; didn't even hurt."
"That's good to hear."
Giles helped Xander up, looking around to see Willow and Connor looking down into the street, while Wesley held up his hand for Carly. Giles made his way to the edge and looked where the others' eyes were turned. A deep, open crater stood where the Wolfram & Hart building had been. He could already see the headlines; yet another earthquake in California, not much news at all.
"I've seen it happen," Wesley said behind him, and Giles turned. "I've seen the portal close. It was quite a sight."
Giles nodded thoughtfully. "How long did it take?"
"Just about two hours. Demons were swallowed into the doorway along with some of the debris. I'm actually very surprised this building is still standing."
Giles was too, but he didn't say so. He put a hand to the small of Xander's back, and pondered what else they had to do before they could all sleep.
He didn't react or even notice the look Xander gave him, just felt him leaning into the touch.
* * *
They found everyone else on the Hyperion lot. No one was inside, except perhaps Angel, and they all stood or sat or lay on the grass, bags of fast food littered around them as they ate. Xander, Carly, Willow and Connor took off to where there seemed to be some food not yet consumed, and Giles smiled with a shake of his head. "Giles, over here!" Buffy called.
Giles followed her voice, and found her sitting next to Andrew. "How did it go?"
Buffy's face fell, and she looked up to where Brian was sitting. "We lost three girls. Leila, and two from Brian's group."
Leila. She'd survived the first time. Giles took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Every action has a price," he whispered to himself, looking at the dirt under his fingernails. "I'll take care of calling her family."
"I've got us the top floor at the Hilton, boss," Andrew intervened around a mouthful. He swallowed, and went on, "I figured you wouldn't mind; cheaper than getting a room for everyone anyway. I'll get you Leila's contact info soon as we're settled."
"Thank you, Andrew." Giles spotted Wesley in the doorway, looking at him, and he excused himself. "What is it?"
Wesley led him inside and they sat in the empty lobby. "I suppose I deserve an explanation now; or perhaps not, considering I'm part of the team who brought about the end of the world, but I'd still really like to know how you knew."
Giles gave him a smile and told him his tale. The smile made his scar hurt, and he found himself touching it gingerly. It would need to be cleaned again. The last time it had been done, well, it hadn't been done in this timeline at all, now, had it?
Angel was hiding up in his room; Spike hadn't come back from the alley; and when Wesley added a report of his own, Giles found out that Illyria had been sucked back into the portal with the rest of the demons, though she hadn't come from it. "I'll have to research what happened," Wesley added, "but perhaps it was a demon's essence or some such; I wouldn't be surprise if every demon but vampires and half breeds and the few peaceful ones had been sucked in."
"From the area, at the least," Giles added. It made sense, though Wesley was right that research would be needed to understand the phenomenon. "I should probably find something to eat," he said, feeling himself dizzy when he stood.
"There should be some left outside, I believe Curtis ordered enough for an army of a hundred."
Giles gave Wesley a tired smile. "He's very effective in that way."
"Yes, he always were if I remember correctly." Wesley looked away at the door, and sighed, but didn't speak.
"Is there anything you wish to ask?"
Wesley's eyes drifted to him, and he pursed his lips. "I've heard not one good thing from my father about what you're doing with the Council. He thinks what you're doing is ridiculously wrong and flies in the face of everything he believes in."
Giles snorted. "Yes, I've had the pleasure to argue with him more than once already. For everything from the Council's new location to the brand of toilet paper we order."
Wesley laughed. "That doesn't surprise me at all."
"He's very set in his ways, isn't he?"
"You could say that." Wesley's expression turned troubled.
"Is there anything else?" Giles prodded gently. He had a feeling he knew what Wesley wanted to ask.
"I'm not sure that there's anything left for me to do here." Wesley sighed. "The city's already talking about earthquakes, and we're not needed to clean up, as it's been done for us when the portal shut down. Even before all this, I--" He stopped and looked around at the hotel lobby, wistful.
"Well," Giles said when Wesley didn't continue after a moment. "We need more Watchers than we have, so I'll just say that anyone with training is welcome to contact me at any time, if they want to come back to work."
With that, he gave Wesley a smile and went outside again. There, he was handed a bag full of food he hated, but craved, and he found Xander, Connor and most of the others deep in conversation. He sat next to Xander and ate. They'd have work to do later, but for now, it seemed there was a celebration to attend to.
* * *
Giles heard the door leading into the hall open behind him, but didn't look away from the window. The common room of the suite was vast and the whole south wall was made of glass, giving quite a spectacular view into the city.
Los Angeles was waking as if nothing had happened.
Wesley had wondered why they weren't staying at the Hyperion, but the thought of stale sheets and dusty rooms hadn't appealed to anyone. The girls had preferred stacking up three to four a room in the penthouse of the Hilton, and they deserved the expense. Besides, the Council's accounts were not exactly close to being empty. Not for a very long time.
"Willow said I'd find you here." Xander walked in and let the door shut itself behind him, but Giles didn't look away. "I've been wondering, you know, about the spell."
Giles slowly turned to him and saw him waving his bandaged hand in front of his face. "Yes?"
"Willow won't tell me why it had to be me, and I'm not that close to Carly, so..." He shrugged.
"You thought I would give you the answer," Giles finished for him. He watched Xander steadily, and nodded for him to come stand next to the window. "I saw this world gone to hell," he whispered when Xander was just a feet away. "And now--to hell and back again."
"Must be hard; knowing how it ends," Xander said. He reached out and touched Giles' hand tentatively. Giles looked at him and Xander's hand stayed where it was. "Do you like like me?"
Giles had to bite his lip not to laugh. "Pardon?"
"You know," Xander replied, shrugging again and his cheeks flushing slightly. "Are you--are you in love with me?"
"Xander--" he started, not quite sure how to answer that.
"I have a second set of memories, like Connor said he did; well, apart from the part about being raised in hell and stuff. It didn't just appear, but it's been, you know, superimposing itself for the past few hours. I think I figured it out." Xander looked down at the street, and Giles did the same; two early risers passed by, hurrying to wherever it was they were going. Life followed its course.
This took Giles by surprise and he struggled to say, "They said they couldn't--"
"You promised," Xander interrupted him. "You promised I'd get my memories back--"
"--if I could." Perhaps that's what the Powers had meant when they said his wish had been granted. He hadn't had time to make one now, but they'd fulfilled the one he'd wanted before...
"It's working. It's slow, and at first I had no freaking clue what was going on, but it's pretty clear now. I saw the world end too, and now you won't be alone remembering it." Xander's fingers tightened on Giles' hand, and he leaned closer, almost close enough to lay his head on Giles' shoulder.
Giles wished he would. The touch of his hand was enough to make Giles yearn for the comfortable closeness they'd had on that very last day. "I considered going back on that promise; you wouldn't have remembered me making it, after all."
"But you would."
"Yes, I would." Whether or not he'd have been able to live with himself if he'd decided not to ask was irrelevant now. Giles only hoped Xander wouldn't regret his decision. What they'd seen, the memories they had, they weren't anything Giles would have wanted to share in any other circumstances.
"We had sex."
It was said with such "aplomb" that Giles was unable to resist laughing. "Yes," he replied, even it hadn't been a question. "Yes, we did."
"Was I any good?"
Another burst of laughter escaped him, and Xander slapped his arm, saying with a mock-insulted look, "Hey, you seemed to like it at the time."
"I'm sorry." Giles stifled his laugh with his hand, and turned around, cupping Xander's cheek. "Don't you remember it?"
"I'm a little fuzzy on the details."
"You were adequate," Giles answered, grinning.
"Adequate? That's all you have to say?"
"Well, I suppose I might need to experience it again, just to be certain." Giles attempted the tease with uncertainty, but Xander laughed, and something uncurled in Giles' stomach. He could breathe; he hadn't even noticed he'd been holding his breath.
"Yeah, okay," he said. "Come on, your room's closer." Xander grabbed Giles and pulled him away from the bay window.
The end.