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[Early, early Sunday morning, Buffy is at Giles' apartment and unshackling her chained prisoners. She is morose, guilt-ridden, and fairly worn out after these last two weeks. Her everything seems to hurt and she cannot figure out whether it's from stress or all the fights she has been getting into. Or maybe it had something to do with suddenly no

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[consultmybooks]

[Giles feels absolutely disgusting. He aches all over, his clothes are ruined with old bloodstains and the taste of blood is still in his mouth and would probably make him physically ill if he had actually had anything in his stomach to lose

[consultmybooks]

I know.

You did the same for Willow and I, after all. [Even if he has his misgivings about that fact, at least in his case.] None of us paid Andrew much attention back then.

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Jack survived. We got him help.

[Because she knows it would mean something to him, now.]

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[It does. His body count was one instead of two, and with his soul back in place he can look at what happened and know that the pirate did not deserve what Giles had done to him. At least that mistake wasn't entirely irreparable.

But he has to say, she has to know, even if it's one of the hardest things he's ever done to tell her.]

Mizuno Ami didn't.

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Giles.

[She frowns -- that knee jerk disapproval -- but then forces a neutral expression onto her face. Stepping backwards.] Oh, God.

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[He manages not to flinch, at that. Because Buffy has ever right to be upset, disgusted, angry, and Giles has no right to flinch from it. Because Ami had been an innocent girl who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time and the fact that he even knew her name, knew her made it so much worse, now. He's killed before, yes, but never people like Ami.

He raises a hand to cover his mouth, because suddenly he's worried that he really might be sick. He can still remember the taste of her blood. But otherwise, Giles doesn't move.]

She, um, she sh-should be back sometime today. It's, it's been seven days.

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[Gently touching his shoulder. Then she grabs it more firmly and pulls him away from the wall.] Sleep. You need it. Don't think about that now.

[consultmybooks]

[Sleep. He does need it. He hasn't had much of it, this week, and even then only because the demon had still be puzzling out how to pretend to be human. And then there had been the week before, because his other self hadn't known a proper night's sleep unless he was unconscious.

And the last thing he's prepared to deal with is help from the girl he's spent the last week plotting how to murder with Willow. But Giles lets himself be pulled, because right now he's too tired to do much of anything else.]

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[Buffy mourns the dead girl. And the fact that Jack had to get involved. That she had to fight Giles and that all of this had happened. But she would never hold against him the things he said to her as a vampire. The things he did to her. Not his choice -- he was temporarily not in possession of his soul. His humanity.

So she loops an arm around Giles' back.] It's not far. [She whispers.]

[consultmybooks]

I know. [But that doesn't mean he isn't grateful for the help. Even so, he tries not to lean too much.]

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I haven't seen one this bad since Angelus, Giles.

[consultmybooks]

Everyone who's been here long enough seems to agree on that account. Raine's is the only real explanation I've heard for any of this.

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That it was a distraction? Yeah. I believe it.

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We were certainly distracted. Well, I know I was. But it seems as though half the village wasn't themselves, somehow.

...I was attacked by Helios. [Apart from Sunday, that probably ranks as the worst bit of this whole experiment.] That was certainly, um, distracting.

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...I'd ask about damage, but the vamp-time probably healed it up. [Oh look, Giles. Your bed. She gingerly releases her Watcher.]

[consultmybooks]

A-Actually, no. I was still human for that. So I, um, fixed myself up. [Using Helios' magic. But of all the people in the village he owes apologies and explanations to, Helios isn't one of them at the moment. So Giles leaves it at that.] My other, um, self had a bit more of a knack for magic.

[Bed. When did that get there? Giles finds himself going from standing with Buffy's assistance to sitting on his bed without really remembering the seconds in between. His vision is starting to go gray and fuzzy around the edges, even with his glasses back on.]