"For Her"
Author: Arkin
Email: arkina@trendline.co.il
"Where is she?"
Quentin Travers woke from the feel of a weight on his stomach. He opened his eyes to find himself staring down the barrel of a gun. A very angry ex-watcher glaring at him.
"Where is my slayer?"
With shaking hands, Travers opened the call steal door. They rushed inside, and Giles handed Xander the gun.
"What do I do with it?"
"You point it. If he moves, you pull the trigger." He rushed over to the small form of his slayer, crumbled in the corner.
"Buffy?"
"Giles..." she moved her head a little and grunted.
"Come on..." Giles turned her around until he had a good grip on her and hoisted her up into his arms. She rested her head against his shoulder and fall silent, too exusted even to moan at the throbbing in her head.
Giles turned towards the exit, hugging his slayer to him. "Don't take your gun off him, Xander."
They left the room and Xander closed the door behind them, locking Travers inside. "What about him?"
"I'll deal with him later."
Giles sat on Buffy's bed, waiting for her to come out of the shower. Once she did, he stood up and allowed her to slide under the covers, sitting once more by her side.
"Feeling any better?"
"Yeah."
"Good. You rest, your mother is downstairs if you need anything."
"Okay." Giles made a move to get up. "Giles?"
He turned to her again, waiting. "What about Travers?"
He looked at her for a moment. "You just sleep tight, I'll come see you in the morning."
He kissed her forehead and got up. Her hand shot up to grab his arm. "Please don't become him."
"He was going to kill you, Buffy."
"You're better than him."
"He'll try again."
Buffy bit her lip. She knew he was right. There was no other option. "Just remember... you have a soul."
Giles nodded slowly. "I remember."
Xander drove Giles back to the holding place. "You want me to wait here?"
"No, thank you Xander. I'll find my own way back."
"Okay."
Giles looked at him, his wide eyes and shaking hands. "It won't hurt Xander. He won't feel a thing."
"Okay."
Giles exited the car. Xander raced away.
Travers blinked as the door opened and the light was switched on. He was at the mercy of this very irate watcher, he knew that. He choose to keep quiet.
"I was going to hurt you. Make you feel some of what Buffy and I have been through to protect this planet and the likes of you. But sadly, I was reminded of the fact that I have a soul. That I am better than those I kill, that even you don't deserve what I've been through. Or so say my little crickets. So I will make your death quick."
Giles pulled on the safety and raised the gun. After several very long seconds, he lowered it again.
"First I would very much like to know why you thought I'd let you get away with hurting my slayer."
"I... I wasn't going to kill her - she was to be taken back to the council to stand judgment..."
"And be murdered there! The victim of foolish, centuries old laws! She will survive the master, Angelus, the ascension. She will not survive those who were meant to protect her! To serve HER! She is not ours, we are hers!"
"That little bi..." Giles raised his gun and Travers froze, only to speak again with more confidence. "There is nothing fatherly about your love to her."
Giles lowered his hand. "That is something you should have seen on your first visit. She had my heart from the very first time she set foot in the library."
"You are an old fool."
"Don't you think I know that?"
"She'll never love you."
"She already does."
"Not like that."
"It doesn't matter. What ever she'll offer me, I'll take it. If she loves me as a friend, than I will be her friend. If she loves me as a father, than I will be her father. I love her enough not to ask her to love me in return."
"And if she asks you to leave? To stay away from her and her life?"
"Then I would honor her wish. And I will lose myself to madness. But I will make sure she is as safe as can be. And that, my dear Quentin, means that I can not allow you to go after her again." Giles raised his hand.
"You will lose yourself before you find love. And it will not be hers."
In the silence of the night, slumbering birds were startled out of their hiding by the loud shot of a gun.
Giles shivered in the cool night air. His ears were ringing, his mind was screaming for a justification for what he had just done. His heart provided one willingly, aching. For her. Always for her.
The End