Willow's Ripper

Eyes of the Beholder

by Nikki

Rupert Giles walked slowly past the memorised doors of the hospital. The glossy red floor squeaked minutely at his faltering step which carried him to the far benches and the Oncology waiting area.

He paused at the low table to peruse the magazines choosing one of the earlier vintages and sat down to read. He felt at his breast pocket for his glasses but instead his fingers traced the raised lump in his flesh. Sensory memory igniting the fuse of the night Oz died and Willow left.

****

"You can't expect her to be the same! You left, Willow grieved, we suffered!" Giles deposited his tea mug on the mantle, it slopped.

"I was gone only a short while, Giles. She... she didn't have to take up with a ...Girl!"

Giles' eyes flashed. Oz had said "girl" with the same venom as some people would say, "dyke"

Oz regretted his statement immediately. The argument between himself and Giles had just advanced a few stages from a slanging match to perhaps blows being exchanged. He watched as Giles' fury cooled on his face.

The Watcher took a couple of paces toward him. "Willow, is a lovely creature, I knew it wouldn't be long before she found someone who returned her love equally." Giles announced this fact carefully; his eyes never left the Were-Wolf. "Tara has proved to be a useful member of the Slaying team and is a powerful Wicca in her own right. Together she and Willow have grown in love and knowledge. I refuse to stand by and let you or anyone else ruin their relationship. Do I make myself clear?"

Oz tilted his head to the side and scented the air. "You're excited by them..."

Giles took a step back, swallowing nervously and his eyes darkening.

"You want to watch them love each other..." Oz growled softly as Giles became still and pale.

"You're insane" Giles murmured and continued to back out of the room.

Oz blocked his path, and placed a changing paw to his chest, his yellow eyes reflecting the moonlight from the window. "No. Not both, you want Willow." Oz snarled and drew air in through his enlarging muzzle, smelling the waves of guilt and arousal coming from the Watcher.

He would only be able to talk for a few more moments. "You've always lusted after Willow, the times when I changed, you were always near." Oz panted, and tore at his clothes. "You touched her as she slept, covering her, your fingers lingering. Taking... Her. Hand!" He howled.

Giles glared at Oz as he changed. His sinews tightening in readiness.

Oz leapt at his chest.

Giles' linked fists hammered Oz's skull and the were wolf slewed sideways, momentarily stunned. Giles staggered to the weapons chest, heaved the heavy lid open and rummaged for a weapon.

He turned at the outraged scream and as the Were-Wolf attacked once more. Giles fell back into the weapons and bellowed as a sword point punctured his thigh. Oz's weight forced the point wholly through his leg and Giles was faced with a slathering wolf driven by bloodlust.

Through the red veil of pain, he managed to keep Oz's jaws from his throat, but couldn't prevent Oz from clawing his shoulders and forcing him further back into more lethal blades.

Giles' fury and pain bought him time. He drew back and head butted Oz, seeing stars himself as he did so. He drew a deep breath and heard a familiar sound, a speeding whisper. The silver arrowhead ripped through Oz's heart killing him instantly and now lodged in Giles' chest two inches above his right nipple.

The sudden dead weight of the Were-Wolf on his chest and the sound of Willow's Screams were the last things he remembered before darkness claimed him.

****

A finger and thumb clicked before his eyes and he came back to the present. "Giles...Giles?!" He smiled wanly and got up. So weary today. He followed his blonde doctor into the scan room and disrobed in a vacant cubicle.

"Ahem," Buffy swished the curtain round her patient. "Modesty, curtain Giles."

"But I'm not modest..." He eased his shoulders from his shirt and left it on the chair picking up a short white hospital gown. "That won't fit!"

"Yep, don't I know it!" Buffy smiled as she hugged her clipboard. It was wonderful to hear such spirit in her friend's voice. "You're a regular Stud Muffin!"

The new female Cat-scan technician blushed as the young consultant continued the lewd banter with her well preserved sixty year old patient.

"C'mon Giles, I've seen you before!"

"Yes, thank you so much for reminding me! But that young girl hasn't!"

Buffy smirked and winked at the technician, "Ok Giles, there's a second robe you can put on under the bench, should be plenty big enough, I borrowed it from Obstetrics."

The curtain swished open and Giles stood barefoot in all his pink flowered glory, blushing a delicate shade of rose.

Buffy smiled at him. He looked pale but better than he had in months and his hair had grown back soft and spiky. "You know the routine," she slipped her arm round his waist in a friendly gesture and felt his ribs; he wasn't gaining weight as he should.

Giles put his arm round Buffy's waist, kissed her briefly atop her head, and walked toward the table and the metal donut which would reveal his soul to medical eyes.

"Relax, this will take an hour... And no, you can't read." Buffy pre-empted Giles' question. ##

His eyes closed and his mind fell into it's familiar nightmarish remembrance.

Screaming. He heard Willow screaming and saw the flashing fall of her auburn hair mixed with Tara's gold.

Oz was dead; cold on the ground after Buffy had moved him snapping the arrows shaft, leaving the blessed arrowhead embedded in Giles' chest.

Buffy stared in disbelief at Oz. He knew peace at last.

Giles lay on his side ashen and shaking.

It was then that Spike appeared in the living room, the scent of a massacre had led him to the Watcher's home; the screaming issuing an irresistible invitation.

He stood in the centre of the room and bathed in the shock. His ice blue eyes taking in the scene; pooled blood, dead Were-Wolf, weeping witches, Slayer in shock and wretched Watcher.

He'd arrived too late for this party. He sighed disappointedly and took charge. "Slayer, get an ambulance for your Watcher. Witches? Leave now. I'll take care of the Wolf and the mess. Move!" Without another word, Spike picked up Oz's body and walked from the house.

Willow skirted round the sticky pool and kissed Rupert's forehead. His eyes fluttered open for a second and committed the tortured Jade hue of Willow's eyes to his memory. His vision blurred as pain blocked out her tearful farewell.

****

The technician looked up and smiled at the gentle snoring sound that came for the scan room; she couldn't see Giles' tortured expression. "He's asleep again." She announced.

"Good." Buffy glanced over the brain scans. Her heart beat madly in her chest. It was true. The tumour had gone. Thank God for stem cells! She sat back in her chair and sighed. Today was a good day! Buffy the Cancer Slayer reigns supreme!

Buffy collected her snack from the machines in the doctor's lounge and sat next to Xander, he was munching his way through a Pizza and he raised his drink to the Slayer as she took her seat.

"Hey, how goes the healing?" He smiled as he was rewarded by a thousand watt smile. "That good, huh? Giles?" Buffy nodded and her face crumpled into her coffee. Her friend brought his arm around to hug her. He knew enough not to ask for details.

Giles had been diagnosed six months ago when he'd had memory problems and slurred speech. Buffy had been frantic and Xander tried to support both of them through the trauma of surgery and chemo and finally the experimental stem cell therapy.

"He's clear." Buffy uttered a strangled whisper and blew her nose. She sniffed and raised her head, her eyes red from holding back tears of relief until she got to the safety of the lounge and Xander's arms. She wiped away the last vestige of her tears and swallowed her coffee, pinching a slice of pizza from his plate.

" Mmmmm! That's good! I've not eaten today! Too nervous," she waved her pizza in mid air. "Now we can start the children on stem cells. They can't deny us funding, we've proved it works. It cures." She hesitated at Xander's expression. "We can, can't we? What's wrong?"

Xander sighed. He had promised Giles he would never tell Buffy how painful the treatment was, but she was talking of giving it to children...

"Buffy, you can't give it to the kids. Giles-" He sat back and blew out a breath sighing as he remembered Giles' body frozen in agony as the treatment attacked the cancer growing in his brain.

****

Xander had moved into Giles' condo at Buffy's request after he'd been diagnosed, just to keep an eye on him. And he witnessed the ravages of the miracle cure first hand.

Nothing in Paediatrics had prepared him for Giles' unrestrained agony. Xander could do something to comfort a child, he could joke and prescribe, operate and entertain, but for Giles he could do nothing but hold him through the night, every night. The thing that most frightened him was when the Watcher just gave up the fight for consciousness and slept as the dead for days.

Giles haunted his home he didn't live there. In rare moments of lucidity during the treatment Giles confided in Xander that if he didn't survive the cure Buffy was not to continue the research.

"Xan-derr, I can't let Buf-fy lose the fight against the-the can-cerrrr that kill-killed Joyceee. She has to-to win..." Giles' eyes watered grey-green and his pallid face held no animation, he was drained. "If I sh -should die, don't let her give stem ce-lls to aaa child." He shuddered and pulled his blanket closer round himself, heat and cold out of control was the legacy of his cure but he still fought on at Buffy's side and together they would win.

****

Xander finished his explanation over the now cold pizza, "Y'see, Buff? You cannot give it to a kid. Giles knew a child would not survive. He also knew you needed to defeat his cancer and he was willing to die to enable you to do that." He gazed into Buffy's eyes, throughout his explanation, they had been alternately wet and dry, now she was calm possessing all the facts and her inner scientist had analysed the possibilities. She couldn't give the cure to a child.

****

"Well, Watcher?" Spike stood at the unexpected intrusion into his realm. It was seldom that he had visits from those still living. In the Watchers case, living was not an apt description, existing, despite everything. Spike looked at the old man through his unchanged eyes. No, the Watcher was not long for this world.

"Surviving, Spike!" Giles smiled. The vampire came from his corner and hugged the man who had become his friend. "I've forgotten, are you black today?" he gestured to the chessboard on the table.

"Always Watcher and I'll win one of these days too! Drink?" Giles nodded, slipped off his jacket, and studied the board. He nodded as the vampire placed the mug of tea by his left hand.

"Business slow?" Giles questioned as he placed his knight taking Spikes bishop.

"Buggar!" Spike declared as another of his pieces joined their mates on Giles' side of the board. He sipped his blood from his own mug. "Yes, just how I like it. Being lazy in my place is just my cup of blood." He grinned and Giles smiled back, sparing a moment to glance round Spikes Kingdom, the hospital mortuary.

An hour later and the game was over, they had chatted about old times and carefully skirted round the subject of Oz. Preferring instead to talk of Willow, the vintage before college

"Oh, she was just a sweet bundle of fluff, and if I had my way, she'd never have got any older!" Spike worried his lip nervously and glanced up at the ceiling... "Customers." He sighed.

Giles got up and collected his jacket. He knew the vampire liked to work alone. "I'll see you next week. Oh and I'll be earlier... I don't have a scan. It's gone Spike."

Spike stared at him then his face broke into the widest grin Giles had ever seen. "Great! Why didn't you tell me before? I would have broken out the scotch!"

Giles chest jarred with the back pounding he received and just smiled bemusedly back. "And miss our game of chess?" he raised his hand in farewell and exited through the back as the trolley entered through the double swing doors.

Spike thrust his hands into latex gloves and nodded briefly at the attendants to go. He paced round the body and drew in a breath; the scents surrounding the body gave him a clue as to the time and cause of death. He smelt nothing strange but this one had a familiar base note perfume. This one was female and he knew her.

If his heart had been capable, it would have thundered in his chest. He felt the icy chill of his recent meal rising as he whipped the sheet from the body to reveal its identity.

"Red!" He gasped. Her skin was pale and beneath her eyes, dark circles rested. Her skin looked mottled and discoloured blotches marred her once flawless features. Spike listened and narrowed his gaze to her throat. Her fine red hair moved minutely it was barely discernable to human eyes but the sheen of her hair shifted, indicating a pulse.

Spike stood as a marble statue beside her, transfixed at her beauty and strength of will. Then suddenly he leapt to the wall and the phone tapping the number of the Slayers pager almost too rapidly for the phone to decipher.

"We got a live one!" he yelled. Then slammed the receiver back in its cradle; the handset fell from the wall.

He turned back to the table his chest heaving with unneeded breath. Just sometimes, he needed to breathe to be able to understand the living. He dragged the oxygen from the cupboard and set up a mask for Willow to breathe properly. He was standing taking her pulse when Buffy arrived minutes later.

"You're slowing, Slayer!" Spike announced with his back to Buffy.

"Sue me!" Spike whirled round to be met by a stake.

"Whoa! Not that kind of live one! Shit!" He exclaimed and stepped out of the way. "It's Willow..."

"Willow?" Buffy moaned, she looked closely at the body on the table and smiled. "We need to get her warm... Spike?"

The vampire had already opened the door to his inner sanctum and scooped up the witch's body, he smiled sadly at the Slayer. "She's so light Buffy." He swallowed as his eyes welled with tears, he could feel her bones through her meagre flesh. Buffy's hand on his shoulder urged him into his flat.

"Then, we'll have to fatten her up before she sees Giles." Buffy followed him in and was surprised at the calm space, a few books on a board supported by bricks and a tape deck, a metal sconces on the walls sported thick church candles and the high narrow window was hung with a dark velvet drape.

Spike swept past Buffy and deposited Willow on his bed. He opened the wardrobe and left Buffy to dress her warmly. He removed the toe tag and went into the living room. He reached under the sofa and brought out his laptop. He was tapping the code number into the database when Buffy came in.

"Spike, you are a constant paradox!" She smiled as she looked over his shoulder and saw the Emergency Room report and probable cause of death. Spike stopped typing as one word grew in his vision to encompass the screen. Buffy gave the cause of his unrest a name.

"Aids-Willow is HIV positive." Buffy scrolled down the report and mentally ticked off the symptoms, Karposi's sarcoma, high T Cell count and and... Willow had a child? Death in infancy... Spike turned the computer off.

"I'm going to get rat-arsed! Join me?" Buffy nodded and sat back on the sofa, moments later Spike arrived with two bottles.

"Sorry," he muttered. "Only glasses I got are specimen beakers." Buffy accepted the bottle and opened the seal. It was going to be a long night.

****

Willow dreamt. She was so cold and soon she would see Tara and Oz again. Would they want her still after all she had been through? She closed her eyes on the world fully expecting to see the next when she opened them. But it was strange; did heaven have candles and warm covers? And... She lifted her hips and looked at the magazine that had disturbed her rest.

"Sadie Stern, a magazine for leather... Oh God! Where am I?" she eeped. She felt down her body, she was dressed in a soft warm nightgown that reminded her of one she owned when very small, the summer that she met Xander for the first time. A bright smile lit her face briefly, her jaw ached to smile too much. She moved her tongue about her mouth, her teeth felt like they had fur coats on...

"Toothbrush." She slipped out of the covers and walked lightly to the bathroom.

****

"shhhusshh... you hear sumfin?" Spike heaved his head off the Slayers lap... and listened.

"Nope, jus, noisy gurgly Slayer tummy" He smiled and nuzzled back down. Buffy listened for a few seconds more, and tipped the remains of her bottle down her throat.

"Okeydokey, Buffy need bathroom..." She lifted her hips and Spike's head followed. "Hey, hey! Spike! I need to go potty!"

Spike smiled wolfishly, turned on his back and opened his mouth... The Slayer left the sofa; the crash of a vampiric body shook the walls.

"I'm-ok Jus broken neck" Spikes' voice drifted into the bathroom.

Buffy frowned. Spikes blatant disregard for energy saving offended her ecological principles. She let it mellow and turned the light off.

****

Willow fell back into her bed and closed her eyes. They sprung open again as she remembered the light. She got out of bed and went back, the light was off. Strange. She flushed the cistern and turned to leave. She froze as she heard thunderous footfalls and swearing.

The light flashed on. "Willow!" Spike and Buffy shouted in unison. They had happy beaming smiles as they bowled into the room together.

Willow backed away from them in terror. She turned her face to the tiled wall and slowly slid down its smooth surface, weeping inconsolably.

Buffy took a step toward her, her hand held out in a gesture of comfort. Willow batted it away, and hunched further down. "Don't touch me. Don't look at me. I'm sick"

Buffy knelt by her friend, and just stretched out her hand to touch Willow's fingertips. "I know Will. I'm just glad to see you." She blinked her tears away and licked her lips. "We all missed you so much! Xander will want to see you and Giles-"

Willow whipped her head round at the sound of his name. "Not Giles!" She grabbed Buffy's hand in a vice-like grip. "Please Buffy, not Giles." Willow's hollow eyes implored her and at last, she nodded. Willow seemed to relax and take in Spike, she smiled her first shy smile, and he reached out to stroke her flaming hair.

"Your hair saved you Red. They thought you were dead, I knew different." Willow looked puzzled.

Buffy explained. "Willow, Spike works in the mortuary of the hospital. Actually, the workroom is just next-door. Xander and I are doctors, he's a paediatrician, and I'm an oncologist. Your condition was serious. Umm we know about the Aids, but no one else does."

Willow nodded. She managed to smile at her friend. Buffy was a doctor? She walked back to the bedroom and slipped between the covers. Spike made popcorn and sat on the end of the bed. He looked at her as though she were transparent.

"Spike? How have you been?" He curled round her feet like a panther and fixed her with his azure gaze.

"Oh, fine, a little mayhem, a little molesting. I get along, y'know. I work down here because it's peaceful and I can't hurt the customers." He grinned. "Slayer says I know the cause of death before the tests do." He winked at Buffy. "It just means she saves on her budget." He noticed the witch's eyes drooping. And signalled Buffy.

"Willow, I think it's time you rested. Do you want me to tell Xander in the morning?" Buffy pulled the comforter up to her friend's neck and tucked it snugly about her shoulders.

"Yes, but don't take him away from his work! He loves being with kids...a big kid himself isn't he?" She murmured, soon her eyes closed and her hand holding Buffy's went limp.

****

Giles tossed and turned in his covers. The dream was not the usual nightmare, he dreamt of Buffy, of the brief time they had together after Willow and Riley left. It was warm and comfortable, what they both needed at a difficult time. It had lasted a year and then a deep friendship had formed between them and had lasted ever since.

In his dream he shared Buffy's bed with Willow watching them pale and silent, she moved closer as his climax approached and stood so close that her perfume surrounded him. He left the bed and she stepped away he followed until he was running after her, his heart racing in his chest.

****

Xander turned the TV low he heard a moan from Giles's room and then a crash. He shot from the sofa and wrenched open the door of the Watchers room.

Giles was on the floor drenched in sweat with his eyes open and pleading, his arm outstretched toward a receding apparition. Xander checked his pulse, Giles' heart was racing, and he breathed too rapidly...

"Giles! Take it easy..." He shook the old man mildly. Xander cast his eyes round the room. The mask and oxygen were over the other side of the bed.

Giles' eyes and lips paled; with his last conscious breath, he uttered her name. "Willow-"

Giles breathed deeply through the mask. He fussed over his covers like a mother hen. Xander perched on the end of Giles' bed looking anxiously at the clock and then at the Watcher's face.

"Don't you dare call Buffy!" Giles glared as Xander glanced at the phone. "She'll be sleeping and she has early shift tomorrow." He removed the mask. "See? I'm fine! I had a bad dream and fell out of bed-"

"Dreaming of Willow again" Giles gave him a sharp look and Xander ploughed on. "You called her name, and you fell out of the bed because?"

"She was leaving me." He swallowed and held his head in his hands. "All those years Xander! Where did she go? I searched... I hunted-" Giles' voice faltered as a fat tear raced down his cheek. He shuddered and fell back against his pillows. "I want to hold her, to love her, to see her hair glinting in the sun. I would die happy if I saw her just once more."

Xander stared at the coverlet and let his mind travel back to the last time he'd seen Willow. She stared out of the back of a bus with Tara at her side, both girls wept. He had raced after the bus shouting her name but had to stop and stood helplessly in the middle of traffic as half his life disappeared before him.

"Do you want some tea before I go, G-man?"

Giles lifted his head and smiled. "You've not called me that in years Xander. Tea would be very welcome thank you." He sniffed and grabbed a tissue from the box at his bedside.

When Xander called him for tea and breakfast Giles had dressed in his "visiting" clothes. He checked the calendar in the kitchen. "Ah, It's the Children's ward today, so you'll be under my feet all day hmm?" Giles gave him a sideways glance and smiled.

****

Xander watched Giles as they approached the hospital. The change in his face as he practiced the glamour was subtle, but it smoothed out the ravages of his illness. He did this every time he visited the children to enthral them with his magical tales.

Xander cursed as his beeper went just as he parked in his space. "Damn! No coffee for me, Buffy wants me in the morgue." His face darkened as he mentally went through the list of his patients there was no one critical. So why does she want me there? "Giles, can you take yourself to the ward? I've got to sort this mess out." Xander hopped out of the car and ran through the hospital doors.

Giles opened the car door and locked the vehicle before proceeding to the hospital at a more leisurely pace.

****

"Buffy? Buffy!" Xander called as he stepped into the morgues cool interior. He shivered, he always did when he entered Spikes domain. Even for their Friday night poker game. He never liked this place, it reminded him of his failings as a doctor. But give Spike his due, whenever a child died he would lay them out with the utmost care and was an artist when preparing a body to be claimed and an expert in saying just the right thing to grieving relatives.

Xander gasped and whirled round when he heard a gentle step in the silent room.

"Wil-low?" The broken name and emotion that swelled in his chest when he saw her standing before him was almost too much to bear. He rushed to take her in his arms to make his dream a reality. He felt her frail body, light against his, and let go his fierce hug.

"Xander!" She smiled through her tears and allowed him to lead her into Spike's living room where the vampire had left them some tea and snacks. Willow sat with her legs curled beneath her and a shawl round her shoulders, warming her hands on her tea mug.

"Where did you go? Giles is gonna be so glad you're back!" Xander hastily put his mug down on the table and was half way to get him when she stopped him.

"No Giles! Perhaps when I'm a little stronger, Xander."

He sat down again and let himself bathe in the reality of Willow.

****

Gradually over the course of an hour, Xander found out her hiding out in San Francisco, about Tara's death and her marriage to Gareth Ffoulkes, an English diplomat. They had a son Rupert, who unfortunately died when he was just a toddler. Little Rupert's death destroyed her husband and shortly afterward he was involved in a car crash. His injuries were bad enough to warrant a blood transfusion. They found out later that the blood was tainted with HIV. Gareth contracted full-blown AIDS and infected Willow as well. She was all alone and surviving on her will power and resolve.

Xander's smile quivered and his eyes brimmed with tears. Willow had plenty of that! He cupped her face with his hand and whispered "Brave little toaster..."

She smiled and snuggled into his hand. Xander was her rock. She knew she was home when Xander was at her side. His beeper sounded and she jumped then laughed as he did too.

"I'm sorry, I'm needed in the O.R. I'll be back though. Buffy and Spike will be about won't they?"

Willow nodded and shooed him away smiling after him. Her face resumed it's wistful expression, the one she fell into whenever she thought of Rupert senior. She would do anything to hold him and to see him just once more.

****

Giles surveyed the room; his audience had swelled since the sessions began three months ago when Buffy had suggested he go down to children's to get a refill of resolve when his own was flagging. The first story he told he could barely focus on the book. But the children listened and begged him for more, and as he began to feel better, he could show them small tricks and illusions to illustrate his stories. Today he was retelling an old favourite "Witches and Were-Wolves."

"There was once a great castle surrounded by high rose briars and honeysuckle, the walls were thick and ancient, weather worn and drafty. Inside the castle walls there lived two witches, one with hair the colour of corn on a summers day and the other with hair of fiery red." He paused for the youngest to stop fidgeting.

"Were they bad witch's?"

Giles' gaze fastened on a small child in the front with a tube into his chest. "No they were good, only casting spells to help the hopeless and baffle the bad." Giles confided pausing with a twinkle in his eye. He waved his hand before him and a scene appeared.

There stood Willow and Tara in long velvet robes they walked in a garden in the sunlight. Suddenly a black clad figure leapt over the wall, he was slender with bright silver hair and pointed ears, he resembled Spike. He proceeded to tell the witch's of a Were-wolf in distress and both gathered their magic together and clambered over the wall. Unfortunately, they fell straight into a hay wagon and were spirited away.

"A-hem!" A cough from the doorway informed Rupert of the arrival of his Slayer and the imminent surgery for one of the assembled children. He glanced over to the bed in the corner and got to his feet.

He followed Buffy over to the small child's bedside and kept a quiet vigil while she consulted with the child's parents. He pushed a stray lock of red hair from the girl's eyes and his own stung as her ashen skin felt cool beneath his fingers. He looked at Buffy and then back to the child, he couldn't let this happen.

He leant into the bed, picked the girl up, and cradled her on his lap. He read the label on her wrist and sat down by the bed. He rested his chin atop her head and began to sing beneath his breath.

"What the Hell are you doing with my little girl? You pervert!"

Buffy whirled round from speaking to the mother to find the father about to punch Giles' lights out.

Giles stopped singing abruptly and the girl continued the song opening her eyes as she came to the last note.

"She was sleeping." Giles explained in a weak voice. "She'll be fine now. " He set the girl down on the ground and she walked shakily over to her parents. Giles also stood and walked out of the ward.

****

Buffy caught up with him at the water fountain, his hand shook as he drank from the paper cup. He looked suddenly old and Buffy was frightened. She swallowed the lump in her throat and forced a sardonic smile to her lips.

"You've got to stop doing that y'know, you'll put me out of a job!" she searched his face for signs of recovery and found none. "You gave too much this time, Rupert. You said you wouldn't heal the ones who were too far gone. You promised me after the last time!"

Giles flinched at the hurt in her voice. He finished his drink and crushed the cup. "I'm tired Buffy and she's never coming back." He thrust his hands into his pockets and turned away his mind filled with visions on Willow and the child who looked so much like her.

The Slayer's tears coursed down her cheeks as her mouth hardened into a determined line. Time to get these two together. Not even Giles could resist the combined power of a Slayer, a Vampire and a Xander!

Spike looked over the body one more time and gently ran his hairbrush through the silken hair one last time. He stood back near the viewing window and surveyed his handiwork.

The body of a little girl lay on her side on a small raised bed with a soft looking pillow beneath her head. She was dressed in her favourite nightclothes and clutching a replica of her bedtime toy; she looked as though she were only sleeping. She had died at dawn that morning and the parents were coming in to see her in half an hour.

Spike's eyes picked up the tiniest flaw in her skin, stepped up to the girl again, reapplied a dusting of powder to her face and a dewey pink sheen to her lips. His hand hesitated and briefly brushed towards her throat to feel for a pulse, he smiled sadly. He always checked now, since Willow came back to them.

"Would you do that for me Spike? When the time comes?" Willow's soft voice came from behind him.

"'Course, Red, the Watcher too and the rest of you lot..." He turned and saw the livid marks on Willow's face, the make-up he did for her yesterday when she met Xander had worn off. "How about some breakfast? Then I'll do your face again, what colour do you fancy for eyes today? " He looked deep into her eyes as she smiled at him.

"I leave that up to you Spike." Her eyes fluttered down to her hands and saw the track of her tears on her fingers. "I used to have beautiful hands-" She sniffed and settled into his chest as he held her tightly and kissed her hair.

"C'mon Willow, you're not dead yet! Eat and you'll feel better." He looked down at her and plunged on talking round the lump that had formed in his throat. "I've got some of your clothes in a chest in my room, including my favourite fluffy pink sweater. You look too Goth in this gown." He snarled playfully and Willow giggled.

* * * *

"Xander, why did you wake me?" Rupert's eyes remained stubbornly closed despite the smell of Earl Grey wafting from the cup that Xander held before him.

"Because you have to come to the ward again today." Xander's voice was flat.

Giles eyes opened and he half sat up, pain flashed over his face constantly now, he never let Xander see it before. "You lost?" He let the question hang as he accepted his tea from Xander's shaking hand.

"Lucy..." He sat down and hung his head gesturing weakly with his hand. "Just like that. She listened to Spike telling her a story like he does y'know, "The little Vampire" and went to sleep. She... she didn't wake up."

Rupert stirred his tea. Saved one, lost one the souls are balanced again. Why did it have to be children? Why not some stupid drunk driver or child abuser? His cup shook then shattered with the pressure of his hand.

"Shit!" He leapt from the bed as hot tea soaked into the duvet.

Xander whipped the covers off and guided Rupert to the shower. "Cold water on that scald, then lukewarm."

Giles stepped into the shower and stayed under the spray. He reached for the soap and imagined Willow standing beside him warm and lithe sharing the shower, her hair darkened to liquid ruby under the water and droplets of it clinging to her pearlescent skin. He moaned as he imagined her hands on his body. Soothing his aches and pains away, creating a new ache in his groin. In his mind's eye he saw her there, felt her arms weave round his chest and standing on tiptoe to lick and torture his nipples. He gasped as his seed flew from him and spattered the screen, the vision of Willow faded as the evidence of his self-love was washed away. He turned his face to the spray to cleanse it of his tears.

The door opened and Xander deposited a fresh towel on the stool by the bath. "We're leaving for the hospital in ten, G-man"

"R-right Xander, thank you. " Rupert's voice echoed hollow in the steamy room and he leaned back and softly sobbed, "Willow" into the wall.

* * * *

Buffy stood by the parents who clung to each other by the curtained window. Spike came from the viewing room and gave the Slayer a nod, then she pulled the curtain cord and Lucy's parents saw her for the last time.

Buffy looked over at Spike, her eyes bright. The child had died in her sleep and he had preserved that, but here she looked angelic almost as if she still breathed. The people beside her gasped and took a pace forward, they had seen their daughter the night before, pale in death.

They left the room some time later, both still traumatised but a little calmer. Buffy lingered at the threshold-eyeing Spike. "You're good for a bloodsucker."

Spike placed his pale hand over his heart and bowed his head to the Slayer, in acceptance of the backhanded compliment. Buffy smiled and brushed past him. Spike walked over to the window and muttered. "Off you pop sweetness, go and play with the rest of your mates." Then he pulled the curtain closed and switched off the light.

* * * * Upstairs in the Children's Ward there was great excitement. Balloons and decorations were everywhere, the ones who were able sat around a table eating party food. There was one clean freshly made bed in the corner and a new patient had been admitted. They always had a party to welcome a new child. Xander, Spike and Buffy were there all playing hard.

Giles hung around in the stairwell. He had an uneasy feeling in his stomach and had been in pain since waking that morning. He paced the concrete landing until finally sliding down the wall of the stairs. He reached for his hated painkillers. He swallowed two and closed his eyes, his head resting on the wall behind him while he waited for them to take affect.

He heard a soft step on the stair tread and listened. Swallowing and getting to his feet, he saw a flash of red hair through the banister. His heart beat with the sound of the footfalls as he saw her ascend.

Her face and his wearing the same amazed statement of disbelief and then changing to the dawn of realisation.

Just a pace away from paradise they closed the gap and embraced, murmuring words of apology and acceptance; finally lips greeting. Their warmth melting all pain and the distance of time between them. The moment was one where the universe was held suspended, where no sand flowed through the hourglass and where no pendulum swung.

The lovers united at last and would never now be parted.

Rupert clung to Willow, as a drowning man would cling to driftwood. She was alive in the here and now, not an illusion; a dream made real and she loved him he could feel it. The tears that fell from his eyes were those of joy, replacing and banishing those he'd shed in despair.

Willow buried herself in Rupert's chest and rejoiced in the comforting boom of his heart. Strong warm arms surrounded her and she trembled as she realised how the news of her illness might affect him. She knew the prognosis was bad.

She didn't need to go over her symptoms, the progress of her disease no longer disturbed her; she cared that others would be upset by her passing and wished to lessen their burden.

She smiled ruefully, like it said on the website, you have to own your disease. She chuckled and wondered at her inner calm.

"Willow? " Rupert smiled down at her. "It's good to hear you laugh."

"It's nice to laugh Rupert. " She beamed up at him.

Together they walked with arms linked round the others waist, up the last flight of stairs to the party.

**********

Xander tripped over his clown feet for the fourth time and everyone exploded into giggles. The ward was littered with party food and streamers. The drip stands sported bunting and balloons the children arranged in a rough circle seated on play mats. Raucous music played and Buffy bopped with the plastic play skeleton they used for demonstrations.

Spike was holding court in a corner with one of the critical patients; she suffered from Leukaemia. She giggled softly as Spike strutted Barbie and Ken down a makeshift catwalk doing an effeminate voice for Ken and a butch one for Barbie making them fall flat on their plastic faces and having a kickboxing fight afterwards...

Spike raised his head and glanced toward the door, he'd picked up a familiar combined scent; one he'd not sensed in a long time. The grin that broke out on Spike's face made Xander twist to look behind him and he fell again.

Willow and Rupert looked happy and relaxed as they surveyed the Children's party in progress. They walked into the throng hand in hand, sat down and were immediately offered food and had their laps occupied in the demand for stories. Buffy exchanged smiles with her co-conspirators and joined the circle. Spike's charge slept in his arms as he rocked her gently.

*************

The children gathered in an excited knot, their heroine was here at last in the flesh! They smiled at Willow and Rupert together and guessed the story would have a happy ending. Rupert showed them the last chapters of the tale, where the evil was defeated, and the witches made plans to retire from witchcraft to marry their sweethearts.

They all exchanged knowing glances and the two adults blushed in unison.

"Now...now children. It's umm past your bedtime." Rupert shooed them to their beds. Spike got up and tucked his charge snugly beneath her covers. "A story quickly, my kiddie lumps then to sleep... Or the Big Bad Growly will get you!" He cackled to the collective delighted gasps of the ward.

**************

Willow hesitated in the stairwell, Rupert's hand slipped from hers and his heart felt as though it might break. She was leaving him again. She turned her tear-stained face toward him and swallowed hard. Ready for the impact her unguarded features would create. "Rupert... I came..."

Rupert faltered on the step, his hand wrenched down the banister, as his body no longer bore his weight. His mind raced through too many painful memories of children dying of AIDS in this hospital. It was the one illness where his healing held no sway. He couldn't speak: his breath came in half sobs as Willow fell into his embrace, hugging him fiercely with all the strength she could muster until she was as helpless as he.

"Ohh Willow-" Rupert groaned and hugged her closer, his body forming a shield against her disease.

"I just want to be with you Rupert, when the end comes. I won't be afraid if I'm with you. " Willow announced this to his sweater because he was hugging her so hard, she managed to battle free and her hair foofed up with static. She met his eyes and saw in them concern, compassion and unconditional love. He stroked her hair, gathering his thoughts. "Willow, I love you, I have done for a long time. When Oz came into your life, I thought my feelings would change. They didn't..." Willow's eyes became luminous knowing how hard it was for him to talk of Oz.

"I could see that it was a tragic love affair, strange that the two women I am closest to have had both passion and tragedy interlaced in their affairs." He looked down and kissed her capturing her silken lips with his, her tongue a warm dart invading his mouth, soon hands roamed to places at once familiar and strange their blood pounding through vessels young and old. Willow trembled and moaned in his tender embrace remembering all the loves of her life, finally realising the one she wanted and had waited an age for was Rupert. "I want you to share my life, Rupert, however long that might be." She whispered.

Rupert gazed at her, his fingers tracing her small face. He answered her equally softly so as not to waken the Gods. "However long we're given, Willow, I will stay with you, love you and keep you in my heart-"

Their quiet contemplation was disturbed by Spike who thunged through the stairwell door and wolf-whistled shattering the mood completely.

"Hey, hey! Some of us work here y'know! Hey! Slayer! " Spike bellowed and Buffy came a running.

"Spike! I told you not to... Oh my--" Buffy smiled at her friends. "It's about time you two met..." The warmth in her voice died when Willow looked up at her. Her expression was one of such sadness Buffy swallowed realising that Giles had told Willow of his illness or that Willow had guessed.

"Perhaps, if you could spare the time from gawping, someone could help us up?" Rupert thrust his hand up into the air in demonstration. Xander came out from behind Spike and helped them both up.

Rupert groaned and arched his back, hearing numerous cracks; "I'm really getting too old for love on the stairs Willow!" She smiled impishly at him. Rupert turned to his friends.

"I'm taking Willow home, we have some catching up to do. " Willow snuggled into his chest and lifted her hand in farewell to her friends and together they went down the stairs.

**********

"Well-" Xander craned his neck down following Willow and Giles. "Hey! Where am I gonna sleep tonight?" His answer was the metallic clang of the basement door closing. "Great! I don't have a lift either..." Spike grinned and slapped his friend on the back. "Xander, you can borrow a slab for the night. " Xander smiled uneasily then wagged his finger at the vampire. "No snacking! For you know I'm nummy and delicious!"

Spike made the sign of a cross over his chest and fixed an innocent expression on his face; Xander turned his back, satisfied temporarily. Buffy saw Spike vamp out behind Xander and guffawed.

************ In the semidarkness of Rupert's apartment, they sat opposite each other naked and smiled in the candlelight's gentle glow.

"Willow, are you sure you want to cast? " Rupert's sweet low voice caressed her soul, her smile grew wide, and she nodded. He held her hands with the candle between them and began the soft chant that would activate the Eyes of the Beholder.

"See me, as I see you beloved. See my soul, feel my love. See my mortal body as it truly is. " The candle flame wavered between them as Rupert finished the chant Willow took it up and completed it with closed eyes she took a small breath and then opened her eyes to her lover; he was smiling.

"Hello, my beautiful Willow-"

She shed tears of joy at his words and found solace in his arms. The two made one, made love in the candlelight that masked their scars to prying eyes.

********

Warm water cascaded down Willow's pale back, one of her legs hooked round Rupert's back as he leant with his shoulders to the tiles. His head bent in a passionate kiss while his strong hand reached for her other leg and supported her weight. Willow moaned into his mouth and moved in an easy gentle rhythm building to her climax.

At last feeling their bodies tense and the crest of their orgasm crashing around them, Rupert held Willow closer still wishing to share her warmth and vitality, creating yet another memory to take with them. Leaving an echo of their passion imprinted in the room.

Willow smiled up at him under the water and slid from his body then knelt to clean where the water did not reach. Rupert sighed and closed his eyes, his dream made real before him.

********

Buffy yawned as she collected her towel and wash bag from the cupboard by her bed. Being on call sucked! She approached the shower with half closed eyes and yelped as she reached in and connected with hot wet flesh.

"What the fuck!" She whipped the curtain open to reveal a grizzled soaking wet Xander. Her mouth fell open in shock. My, he's grown!

Xander screamed and ripped the curtain back. "Buf-fy! Christ, don't you knock?"

"Xander? " Buffy protested holding an offensive loofah in her left hand. "What are you doing in my shower?" She looked into his eyes and saw that they swept over her hastily covered body, she pulled her robe tighter round her and arched her eyebrow. "Well?"

He heaved a sigh and shut off the water accepting the towel Buffy handed him. "It's Giles and Willow... When I got up this morning, they were in the shower together, not showering..." at Buffy's ready smile he continued. "And in the kitchen, not cooking and in the living room, the bedroom, the patio... God! Buffy where do they get the energy?!" He wailed.

She shrugged her shoulders and stepped round Xander and into the shower, she turned the water on and wondered just what her Watcher was playing at.

"Hey Xander, there's coffee in the pot if you want it, pour me some too?" She called and heard Xander's muffled reply before the warm relaxing water took her thoughts far from her work and its life and death problems.

********

Rupert lay on his side and reached over Willow for a strawberry from the bowl, he kissed her shoulder and left a sweet juicy mark. She turned her head to smile at him and he kissed her gently.

"What happened in San Francisco? " He swallowed his mouthful and took another two fruits, he dangled one over her mouth, and she nibbled it before answering.

"Oh, Tara and I opened a shop called "The Protection Racket," we sold charms and crystals, Feng Shui clobber an all that jazz... "

Rupert grinned at the name of the shop and Willow's use of the word "clobber," she'd acquainted herself with some hippy types whilst in the city.

He gave her another strawberry and then dipped his finger in the bowl of melted chocolate beside the strawberries.

"We cleansed some apartments of supposedly evil spirits, it turned out that landlords were screwing with their tenants, not keeping up with the maintenance and we had them prosecuted. We weren't popular! " She sighed as she remembered the night Tara died.

Rupert licked his fingers, draped his arm over her waist, and moved closer to her. "Do you want to talk about it? " She nodded and squirmed round to face him.

"Tara was working late on inventory, I was patrolling -" She hesitated at his frown and continued with a small shrug. "Old habits... I saw a vamp attacking a man in the middle of the park; the man was putting up a fight. I couldn't let him be snack food Rupert, so I ran toward the vampire screaming like a banshee! It fled! " She grinned proudly and Rupert kissed her forehead. "A lot of noise normally scares them off in the flower-power city. Anyway, I helped the man up and he'd been wounded. He was dressed in tweed and carried an umbrella and he looked so like you... I thought-He introduced himself as Gareth Ffoulkes he worked in the British Consulate. I took him to the local hospital and discovered that Tara had been brought in twenty minutes before. " She stopped as large tears fell to his chest. "The shop had been torched and she'd been unable to escape... I knew it was her because of the ring I gave her at Christmas."

"She loved you very much Willow, I saw it in her eyes every day before you left. She loves you still her aura surrounded you as we did the spell last night." Rupert finished softly and smiled at Willow's statement. "Didn't you know? We all leave something behind, how much and how strongly those remaining feel it depends on how strong we are. And Tara was strong but we are stronger, the others will be able to see and feel us after we're gone."

"Really? Because I was hoping they would, hey! We'd be haunting them!" She smiled at the realisation.

Rupert was serious once more. "Did they ever catch who did it?"

"No, the police closed ranks, our little shop was gone along with all my mementos of Sunnydale, and I had no means of support. Gareth helped me to get a job at the consulate and he joked I made a mean cup of tea! She smiled and Rupert shared her joy.

"We married a year after Tara's death, we had a son little Rupert..."

Rupert beamed down at her; his joy was short lived.

"He died when he was two, and it broke Gareth's heart, mine too." She struggled on. "Umm then-then Gareth had a car accident and was taken to the nearest clinic, he'd lost a lot of blood, I got there as soon as I could. They'd already given him a transfusion. He pulled through, slowly he recovered, and we decided to try for another baby. " She fell silent and knotted the sheet in her fingers.

"Willow, love, you don't have to go on..." He whispered unable to bare her pain.

She sobbed into his chest. "My wonderful man, my friend, my lover died of AIDS two years ago. It was the blood they gave him..." He rocked her gently and marvelled at her strength of will to survive so much tragedy. He let her cry herself to sleep cradled in his arms. There was enough time for his story in the morning.

********

He stared through the window, the curtains shifted in the early dawn breeze, his love lay sleeping at his side and he wondered if today would be the day when they lost the fight. He listened to his body and carefully stretched out his hands, one normal one arthritic he didn't need to pretend to himself anymore, he'd been using healing on himself for decades and now it was beyond his power to shield the others from his true form.

A soft warm hand on his cheek drew his gaze to Willow's beautiful face, she clung to life for him, and he loved her beyond measure for it.

"Morning Rupert, my lover. " she kissed him, each kiss was like the first, dewy and soft a sweet invitation to greater delights.

"My story now Willow, ready? " he inquired with a raised brow. She nodded and reached for a strawberry from the bowl.

"I have loved you for so long! Watched you as you took tentative steps into love and magic, you terrified me for the longest time! I saw myself in you and thank the Gods! You stepped back from the abyss that I overstepped with Ethan. I - it's my fault Oz died Willow. I can't help thinking that I provoked him into attacking me and then Buffy had no choice but to kill him." Her hand traced the silver arrowhead embedded in his flesh beneath her fingers.

"I know she didn't have a choice Rupert, I gave her the crossbow! " A frown creased her brow and he kissed it away.

"He could smell the arousal on me when you and Tara were around, I wouldn't be normal if I wasn't aroused by the two of you together." He blushed. "Then Oz was able to narrow it down to just you Willow and then I knew I was in big trouble! He discovered how long I'd wanted you, and he remembered how tenderly I treated you whilst we were watching over him at the full moon."

"Rupert, why didn't you tell me when Oz first left? We've wasted so many years..." Tears stood like crystals on the edge of her lashes.

Rupert shrugged and dipped his head to disguise a trembling chin, " so many reasons got in the way. I've been carrying the guilt for so long..." She watched as his tears fell and she kissed them away, enfolding him in a tender embrace as he cried into her shoulder, she stroked his hair and rocke him as one would a babe.

Eventually his sobs subsided and turned to passionate pleas as Willow worked her magic on his tired body. Each caress and kiss returned with equal fervour until together they bathed in ecstasy's pool.

********

Xander knocked on Giles' door. He put his ear to the wood and listened, no moans this morning, he couldn't decide if that were good or bad.

"Morning Xander!" Giles opened the door quickly and Xander nearly fell in. "Beautiful day hmm?" Willow smiled as she stood beside Giles.

"Buffy says to come in for some tests today, both of you. " Xander gulped down his fear at the first sight of his friends, both looked pale and wan but still when he looked into their eyes they had a fierce burning life force as if they were hanging onto life for the sake of the other.

"Thank you Xander, for putting up with us for so long. " Willow kissed him as she passed by and followed Rupert out to the car.

Xander closed the door behind them and hurried for his lift. Willow and Rupert gazed at each other all the way to the hospital. Giles stopped the car to buy Willow some flowers, the florist was astounded to see such an obviously sick pair out and about.

Willow hugged her freesias to her body and smiled happily at her handsome suitor. Xander sat in the back of the car and watched the two of them, as he saw the evidence of their love glowing from every pore he forgot the way their bodies looked and saw only Willow and Giles, finally together and very much in love.

Giles parked the car and Xander leapt out and ran to the hospital doors.

Rupert looked at Willow. "Ready darling?" she nodded. "Which is it to be then? Do we protect the innocent or the public?"

Willow sighed "the innocent of course Rupert, I can't have children running from me in terror."

He smiled at her choice and kissed her slender fingers. The Eyes of the Beholder spell was an ancient one used to cloak the appearance of royalty and gods. Both he and Willow had cast it together over two days to make sure that any innocent souls looking at them would see their healthy bodies undamaged by disease.

They made their way to Buffy's office through the hospital with heads held high and a smile on their faces. Willow trembled as she noticed the stares of the people that passed them. Children took no notice.

Soon they were at Buffy's door, knocked, and entered. She looked up and her statement spoke volumes. Tears pricked at her eyes, she tried to smile, but it wouldn't come.

"It's back isn't it?" She gazed into Giles' eyes as he nodded. His soul burnt fiercely behind his eyes. She looked to Willow and saw the same elemental glow. "You're both leaving me... soon. "

"We have to Buffy, it's our time. But after we're gone, the balance will be upset and you will be the Slayer again. The Council will be in touch swiftly, with their knickers in a knot!"

Buffy giggled at the image and Rupert smiled, he slipped his hand into Willow's and turned away... Buffy looked up and saw her two friends leave, her vision blurred with unshed tears.

********

"Boo, Spike!" Giles giggled when the blond jumped, knocking over the chess pieces.

"Gawd, Watcher! Nearly killed me!" His eyes fell on Willow and summed up what they were both here for, to say goodbye. "Ah, the delicious Red! Would you like some tea? I've just brewed."

"Thanks Spike!" Giles replied warmly and drew up his chair close to the chessboard. Willow sat on the Vampires bed and flipped through the Sadie Stern magazine...it was an eye-popping read!

An hour passed quickly, Spike and Giles matched move for move the atmosphere could be cut with a knife. Giles sighed and wiped his brow, Spike sat back in his chair, and looked at the board in amazement, he had him beaten. He looked across to the Watcher and caught the quiet smile on his old friends lips. His left hand tipped his King over acknowledging his defeat.

Giles drained his mug of tea and glanced over at Willow, she slept curled round the porn mag on Spikes bed.

"Well done Spike! Ummm I think we'll be going now, Willow?" He called her name softly and she seemed to lift twice from the bed. Spike stared and blinked at her.

"Goodnight Spike..." She came toward him, an angelic vision and placed a chaste kiss on his lips and he swore he almost felt his heart rouse and beat.

*********

Xander opened his eyes when the front door opened. Willow and Rupert walked quietly into the living room and smiled at him. Willow came so near he could fell her breath on his cheek.

"Xander, would you like a drink? We're just having tea. " Willow smiled as her old friend nodded and went back to dribbling on his pillow.

He heard the kettle whistle and smelt Giles' cologne as he put the tea on the table beside him, he felt Giles shake his shoulder to rouse him from his sleep. He sat up and wiped the sleep from his eyes.

"Don't let it get cold Xander." Giles smiled down at him and gave him a kiss on his forehead. "Goodnight, son."

"Night, dad..." Xander reached for his tea and took one sip, then snuggled under the covers once more.

********

The alarm rang in his head and Xander stretched himself awake. His fingers dipped into the warm tea that Willow had made him, he drank it down then showered and dressed before going to Giles' door and knocking.

The door was ajar and he pushed it further open, he saw his two best friends embraced in bed, their tea mugs on one table and the bowl of strawberries on the floor empty.

Something about the scene froze the breath in his lungs. The window was open and a cool breeze played through the room. They were so still- He fled the house. His lungs burned, his feet slapped the cold silent street, and his tears streamed from his eyes. He had to get to Buffy. He had to tell Buffy. He crashed through the doors and screamed the Slayers name dropping to his knees in grief...

Minutes or hours passed he didn't know which time meant nothing now. He felt her hand on his shoulder and looked up, his eyes empty.

Buffy shook her head as she gazed at Xander's sweat-drenched body. "No!"

*********

Spike drove like a maniac to Giles' house all the while repeating his mantra, not true, not dead, not true, not dead. The sun singed his clothes as he strode into the silent house. He moved his head sharply from side to side scanning the room for signs of life. He approached their bedroom and drew a quiet breath into his lungs; he caught the scent of freesias and strawberries, lust and finally death.

Giles and Willow reclined in bed, at peace in love. Spike's sob when it came was dragged from Hell and filtered through heaven, the demon within wept for his fallen comrades, the only true human friends he'd ever had. He turned his head as the Slayer entered the room and gestured hopelessly at the bed. He was unable to speak at the beauty of the couple on the bed frozen in death in the midst of an intimate embrace.

Buffy drew Spike fiercely to her chest and wept with him, slowly inching him out of the room, the vampire gulped and shook unashamedly. He finally quietened after a couple of scotches.

"I beat him at chess last night... First time ever! I should have known then" Spike swallowed the last of his drink and crunched the ice. Xander sat slumped opposite Buffy nursing his drink.

"He made me some tea and called me... " His lip trembled, he tried to smile but failed. " S..son..."

Buffy smiled brightly, her eyes shining with tears. "I bet you answered dad..." Xander nodded and grinned briefly. Buffy sniffed. "What's to be done? I mean funeral wise?"

"Crypt." Spike offered. "I'll put them there, no one will disturb them and I'll tend them."

They all agreed to that arrangement and silently under cover of darkness that night a lonely procession wound through the empty streets to Spikes crypt.

They left them, as they were naked and embracing for eternity. Buffy gave Willow flowers, Xander placed Giles' guitar at his feet and Spike left four gold pieces in the tomb to pay for their fare. They took one last look at the lovers' before Spike and Buffy slid the stone lid into place.

Rupert Giles and Willow Rosenberg-Ffoulkes died of natural causes on the 20th July 2015

The end.

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