Chapter 8

Buffy lunged back towards the stairwell, but Angel held her back. "No, Buffy. You can't go down there. There is too much smoke. Take Wesley outside. I'll go."

Spike interrupted him, saying, "We'll go. We don't need to breathe."

Buffy knew they were right, but she was torn. She hesitated for a moment.

"They'll get him, Buffy." Wesley told her. She nodded, and helped him outside, while the two vampires ran back down the stairs into the fire.

Flames were everywhere. The dry, abandoned warehouse had no fire extinguishers or running water anywhere in sight. The vampires tried to ignore the flames as best they could, squinting through the thick smoke. Spike whipped off his leather duster and tried to pat down the fire, marking a trail for Angel to follow to get to the trapped door. But the flames were numerous. Spike wished he were still a ghost in this instance, because then the flames wouldn't have bothered him. Opening the door in the floor might have proven difficult however.

Below the floor, smoke billowed into the small room where Giles' had been thrown and tied. The Fyarl demon hadn't known what to do with him, and didn't want the inconvenience of taking care of another prisoner. While the Fyarl demon was tying him up, Giles had awakened and began to fight, but another swift punch had rendered him unconscious. The demon had left him down there, and returned to his true focus, the prophecy books and the man that could decipher them for him. That man hadn't awakened yet, and was still slumped against the wall. The Fyarl demon quickly removed the books and candles from his pack, and set up the circle needed. He was just waiting for the young Watcher to awaken when the vampires had surprised him.

Now Giles' breathing was labored. He was inhaling too much smoke, and the carbon monoxide would kill him soon. He had never awakened from that last punch to realize the danger he was now in.

Angel wrenched open the burning door and spied Giles' lifeless body. He picked the man up, trussed like a turkey, threw him over his shoulder, and made his way up out of the basement room to the stairs to escape the burning inferno. Now the flames were licking their way up the stairs, and Spike's charred duster did little to help extinguish the fire's destruction. Spike through the remnants down into the flames, frowned in mourning of his jacket that he had had for many decades, and then followed Angel up the stairs, and out of the building.

Buffy met them at the door, crying and yelling Giles' name. They gently laid him down on the pavement, and Angel quickly untied him. Giles, thankfully, was still breathing. His chin was black and blue and swelling, and there was dried blood at the corner of his mouth, but other than that, he seemed okay.

Buffy cradled his head in her lap, rubbing the soot off his face, and willing him to wake up. Wesley grabbed the man's wrist to check his pulse. It was weak, but steady. Soon, Giles' eyes opened. He was momentarily confused and disoriented. He thought he heard Buffy's voice, and she was crying. Her face loomed over his. He smiled at her, and blinked the salt of her tears out of his eyes as they fell from her face. She smiled back at him in relief.

As Giles slowly began to sit up, he noticed Spike standing close behind Buffy, a hand on her shoulder. The rage filled him immediately, and without another thought, Giles leapt up and with one step, slammed his fist into Spike's chin, knocking the vampire to the ground.

"Giles! What are you doing?" Buffy, shocked by her Watcher's behavior, got up from where she had been sitting and holding Giles just a moment ago, and ran over to Spike, helping him up off the ground.

"Don't touch her, Spike, ever!" Giles spat at the fallen vampire. Then he watched as Buffy helped Spike up, and he deflated, but the anger was still in his eyes. Spike and Giles eyes locked in a moment of understanding. The vampire knew then why Giles had hit him. He looked down at his feet, ashamed. As Buffy turned her gaze back to Giles, she said, "What are you doing? He just saved your life!"

Angel, standing behind Giles, raised his hand up in the air as if to say, "Me too," but then pushed his hands into his pocket without saying anything.

"I'm sorry, Buffy. I'm..uh….sorry." Giles didn't know what to say. He couldn't explain the rage that had overtaken him with once glance at Spike, knowing how he had hurt his beloved. He couldn't stand the sight of Buffy touching the vampire, especially knowing what had happened in the past.

Sirens could now be heard in the distance. "We should get out of here." Angel directed the group back towards the car. Five would be a tight fit, he realized too late.

"I'll just walk back." Spike said, while rubbing his chin, keeping his eyes on Giles out of the corner of his eye. He was gone in a flash.

Buffy helped Giles into the back seat of the car, and then sat beside him, leaving the passenger side for Wesley.

She turned to her Watcher, noting the look on his face. "Are you okay?" She asked with concern. He nodded and slowly smiled at her.

They sat so close, but didn't touch. Buffy wanted to reach out and put her small hand in his big one that rested on his leg. But she was confused as to what had just occurred, and mixed up in her own feelings. She clenched her hands in her lap instead.

"Giles, what are you doing here anyway? What happened? And I still don't understand why you hit Spike."

Giles was quiet for a moment. Angel pulled down into the parking garage before he had gathered his thoughts enough to answer her. "I came to be with you Buffy. Perhaps it was a mistake."

Now she did reach out, and softly touched his hand, before returning it to her lap. "I'm just glad you are okay. When Wes said you were down there…I thought I'd lost you." Tears were trickling down her cheeks again. Giles, moved by her tears, placed his arm around her shoulders. "I'm fine, Buffy, really." He squeezed her shoulder as Angel pulled into his parking spot. "I'll explain everything to you, later, okay?" She nodded her assent, just grateful that he was there beside her, and safe. "I have some things to tell you, too." She whispered.

"Indeed." They smiled at each other then, and got out of the car.

Spike didn't return to the offices, heading the other direction instead. He walked the city sidewalks, welcoming dusk. He missed the comfort of his leather duster.

Having a soul was a bloody bother, he thought. He understood perfectly why Giles had lashed out and hit him, and he didn't blame the Watcher for a moment. In his shoes, Spike would have done the same thing. Obviously someone had told Giles what had happened between Spike and Buffy. "What had happened?" Spike muttered. "What I tried to do to her. How I hurt her." He hung his head in despair and guilt.

It was most likely that one eyed whelp, he thought.

Spike hadn't been too surprised when Giles had returned to Sunnydale in ignorance. Buffy and Giles had not been on the best of terms for a while then, and she hadn't told anyone what Spike had done to her. Spike wasn't grateful for that. He deserved whatever he got. They had all just been too distracted to think about it then. But now that he was back, things would be different.

He debated about leaving, never returning to LA. He could do it now, he thought. Now that he was his old self again, he didn't feel the pull to Wolfram and Hart, or Angel. Whatever had been holding him as a ghost, did not have him now. He could just keep walking. He could walk out of Buffy's life forever.

Or he could take his medicine, and endure whatever punishments came his way. No matter what he did, he would live with the guilt for the rest of his life.

He thought of Buffy, holding Giles head in her lap. She hadn't looked that stressed or lost when Spike had been burning up. She had said she loved him, but he knew she didn't. Not like she loved Giles.

That thought settled him. It was Buffy's choice, and Spike would allow her to make it. He owed her that much.

Chapter 9