Watchers Retreat: Part 7

One more creature had stormed the site and now lay dead, although two more Watchers had been hurt. The other three were being held off by bolts for the time being. Giles was still conscious but he was practically being sat on to keep him from trying to help. Buffy was a bit stunned at the loyalty these Watchers had toward Giles. The fact that it surprised her so much shamed her.

His being sick had rallied them even further and they were now determined to keep him safe after he had been keeping them safe for so long. She watched them with him; they couldn't do enough for him. He was currently arguing with a woman who was trying to spoon-feed him. Buffy couldn't help grinning. She didn't imagine the woman was going to win that fight.

Then the grin came off her face. At the rate she was going, she'd manage to get the rest of the Watchers killed all on her own. It made her appreciate Giles and his fighting skills all over again. She couldn't believe how inept most of the rest of them were. A few of them showed promise but it made her shiver trying to imagine taking any of them on patrol with her. All of these guys would be dead in a week. The only reason Wesley hadn't died that first week was because he'd had Giles. Her Watcher was different. And these people knew it.

Buffy walked around the circle, around the site, keeping her eye on the different battles, waiting to intervene if any of the beasts came too close. Maddy had told her that they'd been able to hold one off for quite a while with the rocks and bolts. Buffy hoped that was true. If they all charged at once she'd be in trouble.

She headed over to Giles and took the hot soup away from the woman. "I'll do this."

The woman looked disgruntled for a moment but she acquiesced and moved away. Giles glared at Buffy. "Don't even try it."

Buffy sat on the ground next to him. "I was rescuing you again. Stop grousing." She handed the soup to Giles. He grunted and took it, spooning some into his mouth. "Why was she trying to feed you anyway?"

"Celiane says I shouldn't use my arms." Buffy glared at him and tried to take the soup back. He moved it out of her reach. "Buffy, I'm fine. Now that I've rested for a while I feel much better."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Right. And that's why you're all sweaty, and your eyes are sort of glassy, and those cuts of yours look so gross."

Giles let out a long suffering sigh. "I'm sweating because the fever has broken. And I've been awake for close to 48 hours without little sleep, half of that time fighting for my life. Excuse me if my eyes look tired."

"And the cuts?"

Giles shrugged. "Buffy, they're infected." He grabbed her arm. "Celiane is right about one thing. I will die, and so will everyone else who's been touched by these things if we don't get off this mountain. So, let's finish this."

"What?" Giles' stark comment about him dying threw her.

He kept going. "Sooner or later these three will attack. Maybe they're the last of them. Let's kill them. Let me help you now while I'm still conscious." He pointed at one of the creatures. "You know you can't do it on your own. And I know you haven't taken them on because you don't want any more Watchers to get hurt. I'm already hurt. I'm all you've got."

Buffy hated that he was making sense. "Can you even stand?"

It took a bit of effort but Giles did manage to stand. "You can take them on, you can take the beating, and I'll do the sneaking up behind them."

"Giles, if that's the plan, Daniel, or Steven could do your part."

"And if the creature turns on them? Like it turned on you?"

Buffy blew out a breath. No rebuttal came to mind.

Celiane saw that he was up and began to protest. Both Buffy and Giles turned to her, their hands up to stop her. Buffy considered Giles. She pointed her finger at him. "You fall down once, and we're done."

"Fine." He looked at the ground. "Would you pick my sword up?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Afraid you'll fall over?"

"Actually, yes." He held out his hand and she bent over and picked it up. He slowly turned to look at the three that currently held them at siege. "Pick one."

Buffy pursed her lips. "Eeny meeny miny mo." She pointed. "That one."

Giles noted someone moving up behind him. It was Daniel, sword in hand. "I'm backing you up."

Giles gave him a quick smile. "Just remember that I'm tired. You need to give me some extra room so I don't hurt you."

"Got it." As Giles swayed a bit he frowned. "Are you sure you should be doing this?" Giles just looked at Daniel. Daniel nodded and repeated himself. "Got it."

The three of them headed for the creature Buffy had chosen. Giles waited for her to tell Maddy to stop firing. Maddy glared at Buffy as she saw Giles moving around. "What's he doing up?"

Buffy ignored her. She nodded at Giles and then she moved forward to engage the creature. When she was a few feet away it charged at her. She focused all her concentration on keeping those claws away from her. Buffy didn't even notice Giles until the creature's head went flying.

Daniel kept Giles from falling. Buffy saw the toll the exertion was taking on him. Buffy hated this but she pointed to the next one. Giles nodded but put up a finger to tell her to wait a minute. Hanging on to Daniel he tried to catch his breath. He couldn't seem to. He couldn't seem to draw in a breath at all.

Buffy took one look at him and screamed for Celiane. Running back to him she was suddenly blinded by a huge light that lit up the entire campsite. Shielding her eyes she looked for the source and as the wind whipped up she realized it was a helicopter. Buffy glanced at the creatures and saw them slinking off in response to the light.

When she looked back at Giles, Celiane was there. And then in a few seconds so were some men dressed in black, descending from the sky. Celiane ran to them. "Do you have intubation equipment?"

He pointed to the man behind him; he was carrying a kit. Celiane grabbed it from him. Buffy had Giles' head on her lap. He was gasping for air. Tears were running down her face. "Please don't die, please don't die." She said it over and over again, like a litany.

Celiane rushed back to his side and had Buffy move back. In less than a minute she had a tube down his throat attached to an ambu bag. She started giving him some breaths. She glanced up at Buffy. "He's going into circulatory collapse. This will only hold him so long." She looked up at one of the men. "We have wounded who must be taken out of here, immediately. Starting with him."

He nodded and pointed. Buffy turned and realized that an area was being cleared for the helicopter to land. She pointed up. "The light is keeping the demons away."

"The lights will work down here as well."

Buffy kept an eye on Giles while Daniel took over from Buffy and filled the Special Ops Commander in on what had been going on. Buffy was counting the minutes until the helicopter landed. As soon as it did another one took its place in the air. A team started loading up the sickest patients at Celiane's direction. She had given the ambu bag over to Buffy with instructions on how often and how hard to squeeze it to help Giles breath. Buffy desperately paid attention. She was afraid she'd forget and use her Slayer strength and blow out one of his lungs.

The helicopter was able to take eight wounded on stretchers. When Giles was loaded, Celiane went with him so she could keep an eye on them all and continue to help Giles breathe. Xander was the one who remembered to ask where they were being taken. The pilot yelled at him. "Redding Medical Center." Xander nodded and the helicopter took off. The next one landed and the rest of the wounded were loaded on. When it had taken off and the final helicopter had landed, all its lights were turned on and it made the clearing light as day.

Buffy wished she could have gone with Giles but the work here wasn't done. Those creatures had to be killed. At least now she'd have some people to help her who knew how to use weapons. Xander sidled next to her. "Where were these guys when we were battling the Mayor, or Adam, or Glory?"

Buffy shook her head. "I have no idea." As Buffy joined the Watchers by the fire she tried not to notice the bodies of the dead Watchers. She slowly counted heads of those still remaining. Not counting the wounded that had been airlifted out, there were thirty-two of them. Almost ninety percent of their numbers dead or hurt, and these guys were still functioning. Buffy had to give them credit for that. She shook her head to push her thoughts away, especially her fears for Giles, and she moved to stand next to Daniel to make a plan.

***

Giles came in and out of consciousness. He tried to talk but the tube in his mouth prevented him. Often when he opened his eyes Celiane was there, and sometimes it was people he didn't know. It was never who he wanted to see. It was never Buffy.

Giles couldn't ever remember hurting more. There wasn't a part of him that didn't ache. He knew he was still having fevers. He wondered if he was going to die. Somehow it seemed so unfair, now that he and Buffy seemed to be patching things up.

Sometimes he wondered if he'd dreamed the whole thing. Maybe that creature had killed him. Maybe he was still in Bath, having a nightmare. Giles heard someone moving around in his room. He opened his eyes. A woman was standing there. She looked familiar and Giles tried to place her. Then he remembered. It was Sarah, the woman who'd left with her husband.

She smiled at him. "Hey Rupert."

He nodded tiredly, still unable to speak.

"They're just letting me stay a minute. You're still pretty sick." She cleared her throat, and tried to blink the sting of tears away. "They just called in from the site and Daniel wanted you to know that Buffy is fine. They've killed the last three creatures and no more showed up, so she'll be on her way here soon. Okay?"

Giles nodded, gratitude shining out of his eyes.

Sarah swallowed again. She gently touched his hand. "Well, I better go. I just wanted to let you know. You keep fighting." After a last nod from Giles she left the room. She walked over to her husband and gave him a hug.

Doug hugged her back. "How is he?" His own arm had been reset and cast.

"He looks bad."

"Celiane says he still might make it. All the others who got wounded last night are still alive, and most of them are doing great."

"But all the ones who got hurt the night before have died. Every one of them. And Celiane says because he kept moving around that he got as sick as they had." Sarah laid her head against his chest. "I just feel like we're alive because of him. I don't want him to die."

"We are alive because of him. And I'm just going to assume that he'll be fine."

Sarah lifted her head and wiped her tears away, blowing out a shaky breath. "Okay. Me too."

Doug chucked her under her chin and smiled softly. "Let's go check on everyone else."

She nodded and wrapping her arm around his waist they headed down the hall. "Oh, Daniel said that when they all get down here that he wants to have a meeting with all the Watchers."

"What for?"

"I imagine to figure out where we go from here."

"Did they say whether they've found anybody else?" The search and rescue teams had been scouring the mountain since dawn.

"Not anyone alive."

"Well, the first thing we'll need to figure out is who's going to be in charge."

Sarah gave her husband a look. "I don't think that will be too hard."

Doug nodded. "Assuming he lives."

"Which, according to you, we are assuming."

"Right, which we are assuming."

"Right." They both turned and looked back at the door to his room. Somehow it seemed even more essential that he make it. After exchanging another look at each other they turned the corner.

***

Xander had barely come to a complete stop in front of the hospital when Buffy was out of the truck and racing for the door. A Special Ops guard had been waiting for her and escorted her upstairs. The reports she'd been getting hadn't been reassuring. Of the eight that had been in that first helicopter, seven had died. Only Giles was still alive and he was in critical condition.

As she stood outside his door Buffy took a deep breath. Then she pushed it open and stepped inside. The first thing she saw was Celiane resting in a chair by his bed. Then she saw Giles and her eyes filled with tears. He was surrounded by equipment. There was a machine breathing for him, and one that was monitoring his heart. Even Buffy could tell that all those irregular beats couldn't be a good thing. There were countless numbers of IV drips, metal poles filled with them, like some sort of bizarre steel tree.

She took a step closer, not sure what to do, whether she should go any closer. Her mom had never had this many things attached to her. Buffy felt her heart start to shatter at the thought of losing him.

Celiane heard her and opened her eyes. At the look on Buffy's face she got up and gave the young girl a hug. "I think he'll be fine."

Buffy looked at her, trying to see the lie there. She didn't see one. "Really?" Her voice caught.

Celiane nodded. "He's stopped getting worse and he's holding his own. That's a good sign."

"Can I…?" Buffy pointed at him.

"Of course." Celiane walked Buffy to the bed. "He won't break. You can hold his hand if you'd like."

Buffy nodded and sat down in the chair Celiane had just vacated. She very gently took a hold of his hand. She glanced up at Celiane. "Can I talk to him?"

Celiane nodded. "Yes. He wakes up every now and then. I'm not always certain he's completely aware but he does wake up." She pointed to the door. "I'll be right outside if you need me."

Buffy smiled tightly and then turned all her attention on Giles. Buffy opened her mouth, intending to give this long speech about everything Giles meant to her but all that came out was that same prayer. "Please don't die." Then her throat tightened up and she didn't think she could say another thing without bursting into tears.

Giles thought he heard Buffy. And he knew someone was holding his hand. He struggled for a moment but he managed to pry his lids open. She was sitting there with her head bowed, so her hair was obscuring her face, but Giles was certain it was Buffy. He squeezed her hand.

Buffy looked up and saw him looking at her. She let out a sob. "Giles?"

He nodded, just the smallest bit, not wanting to set the ventilator off.

"You know it's me?"

He squeezed her hand again. Giles looked at her and saw a long scratch on her arm.

Buffy followed his eyes. "This? No, it wasn't one of those things. I did it, racing through the woods."

Giles looked at her again, his eyebrows lifted.

"How did we kill them?" At his slight nod she answered. "We shut off all the lights and just waited for them to come back. The ops guys distracted them and I chopped their heads off. Just like you and I did it."

Giles squeezed her hand again, wanting to convey how proud he was of her.

Buffy smiled back at him. She reached out her other hand and moved it towards his face. Then she pulled it back. "Is it…can I…?" Buffy wanted to touch him so badly. When he squeezed her hand again Buffy gently laid her hand on his face.

Giles wanted so much to hold her. Now that he was with her, and now that the danger had passed, the ache of having been without her for a year felt sharp and raw. He wished he could talk to her; tell her how he felt, tell her that he would never leave her again. Instead he turned his head the smallest amount and pressed more firmly against her hand.

Buffy thought her heart might break with loving him. "Giles, you have to live."

Giles closed his eyes, feeling the exhaustion of just this simple interaction.

Celiane peeked in. "Buffy, he needs to rest now."

Buffy nodded and pulled her hand away from his face. She tried to pull her other hand away from his hand but he wouldn't let her. With his eyes still closed he laced his fingers through hers. Buffy looked down at their hands and then up at Celiane. "He doesn't want me to go."

Celiane looked at their hands and nodded. "All right. But no more talking. He needs to rest."

Buffy agreed and curling up in her chair she held Giles' hand and watched him sleep.

End Part 7