Watch the World Die
by: GylzGyrl
Rated PG
Disc: Joss, aah, savior of the universe. Fox.
Rating: PG (violence, a little language)
Timeline: Third season, between Revelations and Lover's Walk. That's right, I defy you Joss! Wait {tremble} I didn't mean it oh Joss. Please don't smite me!
Author's Notes: Thanks to Kazza and Meawan for their patience. Title comes from an Everclear lyric that I couldn't get out of my head but it's not a songfic.
Written: Fall 1998
Rupert Giles stood by the long oak library table, removing his glasses and securing his head gear. He proudly watched his two Slayers sparring with the full-staffs, and waited for a natural lull in their rhythm. "Good! Buffy!" He plunged in between them. Faith backed up as he and Buffy went at it. Buffy was having a slightly harder time with the bulkier staff then she had when Giles had introduced the quarterstaff to her, but she still managed to just barely parry each of his blows. "Good job! Faith!"
Buffy moved back to catch her breath as the black-haired Slayer moved in on the Watcher. Where Buffy's style was to take things easy at first to learn her attacker's style, then use that information to defeat them, Faith was more instinctual, more visceral. She came on aggressively and kept it up. Quick forceful blows drove Giles farther back across the library until he was able to angle his staff just right and sweep in under her jabbing assault. With a wave of his staff, he managed to knock her off of her feet.
"Buffy!" The blonde was on him in a flash, not about to let her Watcher get cocky. She imitated his own move and within seconds, he landed beside Faith on the floor. He sat up grumbling. Faith smiled at him sympathetically and offered him her water bottle.
"You always were better at projectile weapons Rupert," a commanding voice with a English accent spoke. Three sets of eyes drifted to the doorway to appraise the tall burly stranger that stood there. He wore a finely tailored suit of tweed. He was a bit heavy set with a handsome, if slightly pudgy, face, half-hidden by the salt-and-pepper beard that matched his hair.
Giles rose slowly and smoothed his clothes down. "Hello Father," he said rather quietly. The two girls both adjusted their gaze to fall on the younger Giles, their jaws slightly agape.
"Well Lad, how are you?"
"Fine," Rupert said with a tight smile.
The elder man's smile was beginning to fade, picking up the slightest twinge of a scowl. "Aren't you even going to invite me in Boy? It's not like I'm some damned vampire."
Giles' eyes remained downcast. "Yes of course. Sorry. Do come in."
The man's grin returned with almost theatrical brightness. "Thank you. Well, these two beautiful ladies must be Buffy and Faith." He sat down at the table. "It's an honor to meet such legends."
Faith beamed under the compliment. Buffy smiled at that, but she was also watching her Watcher. He was not happy to see this man here. He had spoken of his Father to her, rarely and not with much fondness. Giles was being polite, and she decided she would follow his lead. However, she decided something else too, she didn't like this man.
"Rupert, aren't you going to introduce us?"
"Yes of course." He raised his eyes and looked at the girls. "Buffy, Faith this is Warrick Giles." Rupert lowered his gaze again. "My father."
"Hey," Buffy said in a neutral, vaguely disinterested tone.
Faith finally picked up on the uncomfortable vibes radiating from Buffy and Giles. She smiled, deciding to cheer them both up. "Hey there Papa G." She moved forward and shook his hand, Slayer-hard. Warrick struggled not to wince. Buffy struggled not to laugh. Rupert couldn't repress a smile.
Warrick Giles cast a disapproving glance at his son. "Yes, well, my son and I have a lot to catch up on girls. Perhaps you could give us some time to get reacquainted?"
"Sure, come on B, we got patrol."
Buffy looked to Giles, reluctant to leave her Watcher to his father's company. He nodded her on, fondly. "Right. We'll be back for check-in in an hour." Her last sentence emphasized for the older man's benefit. Just so he knew she'd be back soon enough to see if *her* Giles been upset. He'd had enough emotional trauma over the past year. She'd be damned if she'd let this man add to it.
The Slayers disappeared through the swinging double doors. As the sound of their footsteps echoed further down the hall, the father turned to his son. "Two Slayers and you make them check in on the hour? Sounds a bit *overprotective* to me."
Though he knew his father well enough to know he'd never admit it, the man was gloating, relishing throwing the same word the 21 year old Rupert had used to dismiss his father when he left university, back in his face. "I'm sure it might to you, but then you don't live on a Hellmouth. You haven't had to deal with a recent surge in demonic activity that warrants extra precautions. You don't have two flesh and blood young girls counting on you to care whether or not they live or die." Giles calmed himself down a bit, but continued. "They're all just numbers to you, aren't they? Another one dies, you just tick them off, move on to the next. Even Rebecca was no different to you was she?" Warrick glared at his son. "Not really. I don't think Mr. Zabuto would agree with that philosophy Father. Nor do I."
"Zabuto?" He scoffed. "He locked himself away in a monastery in Tibet after Kendra died...under your care." His father was never one to resist a painful dig. "And what will you do when your Slayers go the way Rebecca and Kendra did? Will you weep and wail? Lose control as you did when that gypsy you'd taken up with was killed?"
"Very possibly. That's sort of the peril of being human Father. Sometimes you have to risk looking foolish, acting foolish, in order to remain feeling."
His Father stood, meeting his son eye-to-eye with their equal height. "Sometimes I think you're too soft to be entrusted with any Slayer, let alone two Rupert."
Rupert stared his father back down, a cold hatred smoldering in his eyes. "Sometimes I wonder why you advocate the Slaying of vampires at all, sharing as many emotional traits with them as you do."
The older man looked away, his back now to his son. "You really think I feel nothing, don't you?"
"You proved that to me when I was ten, and you've only kept on proving it ever since. Now why did you come here? What is it you want of me?"
"Perhaps I just missed you. It has been three years after all."
Giles barked a laugh. "I'll ask you once more. What is it you want from me?"
Warrick sighed, then turned back to his son. "We're facing a crisis of epic proportions. If we don't stop it, not only will your two precious Slayers fall, but there will be none to replace them, ever."
Giles read the blunt honesty in his father's weary features and sank into the chair. "Tell me."
*-*-*-*-*-*
Warrick sat back down next to his son. "That Post woman was, it seems, not alone. We've got quite an evil little underground breeding."
"Imagine that. Watchers are such an understanding lot. Hard to believe anyone being mistreated or embittered."
"That's enough of that," Warrick snapped. Rupert's glare bored through his father. "You always were an insufferable smart-ass."
"The one trait of yours I managed to pick up," the younger Giles retorted.
"Look if you don't want to listen, those two girls you profess to care about are going to die." Rupert fell quiet. "Good. As I was saying, Post wanted the Glove of Milligan to empower her little group, to lead them in their glorious cause."
"Which is?"
"They are all misfits of some sort. Some left us of their own will, crushed when they were passed over for Slayer duty. Some, like Post, were booted for meddling in the dark arts. According to our reports, they have formed an alliance with several powerful and ancient master vampires."
"An alliance?"
"In exchange for lost dark magicks, they eliminate the present Slayers and prevent future ones. This gives the vampires their payment and concurrently gives them what they really want, to eliminate the Watchers."
"I'm confused. They will try for Faith and Buffy. We know that now and we can prepare for it. How will they stop the future ones?"
"As you know, we have meticulous records of the already existing Slayers-in-waiting and books of astrological charts for the ones yet to be born. Very accurate, although your girl Buffy was one of the few to slip through."
"Yes?"
"That's who they're going after. They've already killed two. Melissa Creek of Sussex and Alice Bain of Baltimore." Warrick produced two photos from inside his jacket.
Rupert took them and swallowed a lump in his throat. Melissa, a little blonde, looked to be about 3, Alice a brunette, 2, and they reminded him of how Buffy and Faith might have looked at that age. "My God," Rupert breathed, "they're just babies."
"Babies who would have grown to be fine warriors, and were killed before they could make their names."
"For God's sake Father, children are dead. Could you look past the war for one second and see that much?"
Warrick spoke sadly. "I have Rupert. What do you think your mother would have done if we'd lost you at that age? What would I have done?"
Rupert snorted. "Mother would have been a wreck. You would simply have insisted you try for another child to ensure the continuation of the line." He looked up and faintly registered genuine hurt behind his Father's eyes. "I'm sorry. That was incredibly cruel and uncalled for."
"The point is, many more *babies* are going to die if we don't stop these fanatics."
"All right. What's the plan?"
"We need to lure the whole group here and take them out."
"What? Kill them? They are still human beings Father."
"No, not kill them. We need them incapacitated. They will then be taken back and tried before the Council Tribunal. They will decide their ultimate fates."
"Whole group is how many?"
"Twenty, well nineteen now that your Slayers eliminated that Post woman."
"So how do we get them here?"
"Five are already on their way to town, coming after your girls. The rest will follow them soon."
"Why's that?"
"We've rounded up as many of the future Slayers as we could and brought them here. The group will see this as a chance to deliver a huge blow against us."
"Putting all those children in danger."
"They are already in danger Rupert."
"But they are still bait."
"Can't be helped."
Rupert sighed. "I realize. But it still doesn't make it all right. They are going to lose their childhood and innocence to this awful, dark, unending battle soon enough. It just saddens me that we're taking even more time away from them." If he'd been looking for it, or willing to see, Rupert would have seen something resembling pride in his father's eyes at that moment.
Warrick stood and handed Giles a slip of paper. "My hotel, and the number. I'll leave you to explain the situation to your girls. I think they'd rather hear it from you. That Buffy was staring daggers my way."
"Yes, one trait she seems to have picked up from me." They shared a small smile at that.
"I'll see you tomorrow my Boy. Uh, get some sleep won't you? You'll need it."
"Good-night." As his father exited, Giles studied the photographs, burning the faces into his memory. A few minutes later, he heard his Slayers enter the room. "Ah, Buffy, Faith, patrol is suspended for the rest of the night. Sit down, I'll go put on some tea."
"Gee tea, it really must be the end of the world," Buffy quipped. Giles turned to her with an expression so dire, she felt a shiver pass through her system. She looked again and could swear she saw the start of tears glittering in his eyes. "Giles?" He moved into his office without another word and started to brew a pot. Faith and Buffy sat down quietly.
*-*-*-*-*-*
Giles drained the last drops of the comforting warm liquid from his cup and looked over the rim at Faith and Buffy. Faith was staring down at her hands resting in her lap, stunned. Buffy was gazing ahead at him, her eyes glassy with unshed tears. Giles sat the cup on the saucer with a shaky hand that made the China clink. The small noise seemed to bring the girls back to the present, for the moment.
Buffy quickly rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand. "They're not going to get those kids," she said quietly.
"Damn straight," Faith confirmed.
"Agreed. But first things first. We have the five members coming ahead of the other group. Coming for the two of you. We have to take care of ourselves first before we can take care of the others."
"So what's the plan?" Buffy stood and began to pace.
"Take them down alive. My Father and his associates will take care of keeping them locked up and sedated until we can send the whole sorry lot back for their trial."
"When do they show? I feel like doing some damage," Faith rose and crossed her arms over her chest.
"They arrive tomorrow. That's why my Father came here tonight. As far as we know, they know nothing about him being here. They don't know we're expecting them. We can use that." Giles noticed the disappointed scowl on the brunette's face. "Faith, i-if you feel the need to burn off some excess energy, you have my permission to go take a patrol."
"Cool!" She grabbed her jacket from the chair's back. "Later!" She strode off for the door.
"Call in a half-hour for check-in."
She stopped at the door. "What happened to an hour?"
"Hour for both of you, half-hour for one." His fists unconsciously perched on his hips. "You can't help stop rogue Watchers tomorrow if a vampire kills you tonight."
Faith smiled. "Night Mom."
She was out the door before he could reprimand her. Buffy was looking up at him, almost smiling, almost. "Giles?" she said quietly.
"Yes?" He pulled his glasses from his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. "And I'll warn you, if you call me Mother, you will seriously jeopardize your position of the good one."
A full smile now, though it didn't last long. "No, it's not that. I-I want to meet them."
"Them?"
"The children. The future Slayers. I want to see them."
He lightly touched his hand to her shoulder. "Buffy, I'm not sure that is such a good idea."
"Please?"
"I-It's highly irregular."
"Please?" She pouted up at him.
It was getting to him. He had wards for demons from before the dawn of time but had yet to find a barrier for the slight, almost imperceptible, curl of this girl's bottom lip. "Why?"
She shrugged slightly. "To remember...what it was like when I was them. To tell them, they don't have to just be the Slayer. That it's okay to be a person too. To care and have friends and feelings of their own."
"Ah."
"So can I?"
He smiled, replacing his glasses on his nose. "My Father would never approve."
She smiled back. "So that's a yes?"
"It is indeed."
"You're a rebel." They exchanged smiles. Buffy sat up on the table, her legs dangling. "So, how do we get ready for them tomorrow?"
Giles sat on the table top next to her. "First, you are calling in sick."
"I am?"
"Yes. They will almost assuredly act during the day. A Slayer's senses are more heightened at night. The school is too dangerous. Too many people coming and going, too scheduled, too many opportunities for them to grab you or..."
"Or something else? Like a drive-by shooting? Blamed on gang members high on PCP or something?"
"E-exactly."
"Well if it means avoiding being shot, I definitely feel a cold coming on."
"Good. Your Mother should make the call and then I suggest she head to Los Angeles for a few days."
"They'd come for her?"
"Oh yes. They mean to press any advantage and you can't look after yourself and Faith and the children and your mother."
"She won't like it."
"I do realize. I'll go with you to talk to her." Giles looked around the room. "I'll take a personal day tomorrow. That way I can lock up the library. One less thing to guard."
"And Faith?"
"Yes. We'll go talk to your Mother when Faith gets back tonight. Then we'll send her on her way, just to be safe. I suggest you, Faith and I set up shop in my apartment."
"What about the others?"
"We'd better call them and have them stay home sick as well. Keep them inside until this first group is settled. We may need their help with the rest."
******
Joyce Summers descended the stairs of her home, carrying a suitcase. "I've called the school and told their machine that Buffy is ill and won't be in tomorrow, and that I will be out of town for a few days. I also left the number of my hotel saying they are to call there if they need to verify, Buffy needs her rest and I don't want her disturbed."
"That was good thinking Mom."
"Faith, Buffy, if you two will go upstairs, I need to talk to Mr. Giles alone now."
"Uh Mom." When they first told Joyce that assassins were coming for her little girl and she was expected to leave town and let the big strong Watcher handle it, she took it badly. She tried logic at first. When that didn't work, she ranted. Language came out of her mouth that had made Faith blush. Buffy stepped in when she thought her Mother was about to strike Giles in her anger. After much more persuasion, from all three of them, Joyce had reluctantly acquiesced.
"Buffy, you will let me talk to Rupert or I'm staying and that's final. I promise I won't hit him."
Buffy looked to her Watcher. He gave her a small nod. The Slayers ascended the stairs. "Now Joyce..."
"Shut-up."
"Excuse me?"
"Shut-up. I have things I need to say and I'm going to say them. You owe me at least that much. She's picked you over me in this situation, just as she always does."
"That's not exactly true." Gone was the awkwardness they'd experienced since their cursed-chocolate-enduced tryst. It was a small comfort for Rupert as she seemed to have channeled any leftover emotions from that experience into stronger bitterness toward him. Just what he needed to make his job a little easier.
"Whatever. There is one thing I ask you to do for me."
"Yes?"
"You promise me these people aren't going to get Buffy. Or Faith."
"Joyce..."
"You promise me! Promise me I'm going to have a daughter to come home to."
"I-I," from the look on her face he didn't trust her to keep her word not to punch him. She didn't want excuses or explanations, just this assurance. The only thing that would let her protect herself and let the rest of them get on with things. The only thing that was going to move her out that door and on her way out of town. "I promise." He knew he would either keep that promise or die trying.
Joyce silently picked up her suitcase and hurried out the door before her tears began to fall.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The girls entered his apartment ahead of him. Giles locked the door and tiredly made his way to his couch. Buffy sat in the chair and watched him with concern. Faith was sitting Indian-style on his floor.
Buffy spoke up. "Giles you look wiped out. We can figure this all tomorrow. You should sleep." She nudged Faith with her foot.
"Yeah, she's right Giles. You should hit the sack."
"No!" He looked up a bit sheepishly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap like that." He removed his glasses, sat them on the table next to him, and ran his hand back through his hair. "We all need our sleep but we need a plan."
Faith stood up and moved behind the Watcher. "Plan fast, or we'll have to tuck you in." Her hands moved to his neck and began to massage.
"W-what are you doing?"
"Relax Sexy," she grinned over his shoulder at Buffy. "My old Watcher used to get viscous tension headaches and this was the only thing that got rid of them. You look like you've got one coming on. Now, plan."
"Uh...right um, first thing tomorrow, we should set-up Buffy's house in preparation." Giles slowly relaxed into Faith's touch. "They will no doubt contact the school and find out Buffy is home ill...with her Mother absent."
"You just expect the school to dole out that information?"
Giles tried a stern glance Buffy's direction but it dissolved into a smile, his eyes closing in pleasure as Faith smoothed out another knot in the base of his skull. "These people were trained to be Watchers Buffy. If they have no other way, we can plan on them knowing everything as soon as the attendance office enters it in the computer. Not all of them are...God that feels good...uh um, n-n-not all of them are as leery of computers as I. Some would actually make Willow look technophobic."
"What about me?" Faith asked as her hands slipped down onto his shoulders.
"Well, annoyed as it makes me when you disappear for days on end, you have established a pattern of it, which in this case works in our favor. They will think nothing of finding you missing from your room. Which means you get to help us at Buffy's. They will definitely send more than one for a Slayer. Once we have them, we put out word on where you can be found and pick off the remainders."
"Cool." Faith's thumbs made short quick stroking motions, almost like cat paws, where his neck met his hairline. A small soft sigh escaped his lips then turned into a yawn.
"We should g-get some rest. 5 am comes rather early when you are waking up to it instead of staying up to it. You two can go on upstairs." He stood.
Faith grinned widely and moved in front of him. "Ooh why Giles, you studly you. Both of us at once? What a tiger!" She ran her hands down the lapels of his jacket.
"Faith." He put his hand on hers to move them off. "I was offering the two of you my bed. I'll take the sofa."
"Like a gentleman," Buffy interjected. She liked Giles being flirted with. It was good for his self-consciousness about his looks. Plus it made him all shy grins and blushy, which was kinda...cute, in a Giles way. But sometimes Faith just went too far...and Buffy wasn't entirely sure Faith was just playing.
"No sweat G, the Slayers will rough it on the floor. You take the bed."
Giles looked to Buffy, who nodded and smiled. "Very well. G-Good-night then."
"What no kiss?"
Giles finally succeeded in prying her fingers from his coat-front. "Good-night Faith." He made his way up the stairs and ignored her as she wolf-whistled at his exit.
"You take the couch B. I like the floor better anyway." Buffy turned off the light and made herself comfortable on the sofa. Faith pulled down a throw pillow from Giles' chair and stretched out.
"Faith?"
"Yeah B?"
"Why do you do that?"
The brunette chuckled. "Do what?"
"Flirt with Giles that way," she whispered.
"Cause he's cute. He should be flirted with more often."
"You think he's cute?"
"Yeah. And he's, you know, nice. Meet some of the jerks I have and you appreciate that more."
"But, cute in a distinguished older gentleman way right?" There was no answer. "I mean, you haven't thought about...you know."
Another laugh. "Screwing him?"
"Faith!" Buffy quickly covered her mouth with a pillow, not having meant to be that loud. "Well...y-yes."
"Like you haven't."
"I haven't."
"Right."
"I. Haven't."
"Jealous?"
Buffy was starting to get a little mad. "He'd never sleep with you."
"I know. That's why he's so fun to play with. But that's not what you asked me. You asked if I had *thought* about it. I mean that face...English accent..."
"Faith."
"Watcher's stamina."
"Faith!"
"That adorable butt." Faith was hit square in the face by a fast moving throw pillow. The two girls erupted in giggles and then frantic shushing so as not to keep Giles awake.