Let the Games Begin
As Buffy sobbed in Giles’ arms, William got Anya’s attention and assistance in making his way to the kitchen.
“Why didn’t you just ask me to make the tea, William?” Anya asked curiously.
“I felt that we at least could give Miss Buffy the privacy she deserves,” William replied shyly.
When Willow joined them in the small kitchenette, Anya responded to William’s remark. “Looks like Willow agrees.” Much as Anya would have loved to read Willow the riot act, she was of the opinion that the would-be witch wouldn’t listen to anything she had to say.
Willow had no idea what she was doing back at Giles’ apartment. The last thing she remembered was doing the spell to renew the friendship between her, Xander, and Buffy. She couldn’t work out how she’d gotten from her dorm to a place she had left hours before. Maybe if she could ask the right questions of the two she was in the kitchen with, she’d be able to work out the problem and fix it. It wasn’t like they were overly bright, and she so didn’t want to go back into the living room and listen to Buffy go on about Angel again. She didn’t know what the brooding vampire had said to her, but judging from the tear-fest that was going on out there it had to be something bad.
Sheesh, couldn’t she just get over him already!
“So,” Willow began chirpily. “What’s been happening?”
William and Anya shared a look. William turned back to the tea. “I believe this is ready now. Miss Rosenberg. If you could carry the tray, Miss Jenkins would be free to assist me. I am afraid it is difficult for me to walk unassisted at the moment.”
Neither William nor Anya was under any illusion that Willow was interested in them personally, she only wanted information and they both knew it.
Leaning heavily on Anya’s arm, William made his way slowly back to the living room.
Buffy had finally stopped crying, but it didn’t look like she’d be moving from Giles’ embrace anytime soon.
Angel still hovered by the front door.
Anya helped William to sit down on the couch and Willow placed the tray on the coffee table. “We have tea,” she announced perkily.
Buffy turned to William and gave him a teary smile. “Thank you, that was very thoughtful of you and Anya.”
“Hello?” Angel called sarcastically from the door. “Does someone want to tell me what’s going on?”
Buffy stood almost regally and walked to the door with her head held high. With one swift, definitive gesture, she slammed the door shut in the broody vampire’s face. “How’s that for a big honking pile of no!”
Feeling immeasurably better, the Slayer turned back to address the group. “Anya, I need to ask you a few things but it can wait till we’ve dealt with other matters first. Giles, thanks for the hug-age while I was totally Breakdown Buffy. William, you need to forget about everything but taking care of the demon. We’ll do the rest. And Willow...”
Buffy started to move back to the couch when a loud pounding on the door interrupted her. Rolling her eye’s she walked back to the door and opened it.
Angel rushed to get out what he had to say before she could slam the door on him again. “It’s a spell!” he blurted. “I worked it out. You’re under the influence of some spell. I can help. Let me fix this for you.”
“You know you’re delusional, right?” Buffy informed the looming brunette. “It was a spell. You were the one affected, but it’s been fixed.”
“But Buffy, you’re not acting yourself.” Angel looked bewildered.
“You mean she’s not acting like a simpering fool just because you’re here?” Anya called pleasantly from her seat in the living room. “That’s probably because the claim’s been broken.”
Angel looked like a thief caught in the act. “Claim?” he squeaked. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Um…what claim?”
Buffy just looked at him, outraged at his duplicity.
Giles walked up behind Buffy, placed his hands on her shoulders, and gently urged her out of his way. Facing the vampire at his door, Giles asked his question in a deceptively mild voice. “There was a reason you came back to Sunnydale, Angel. What was it?”
“What?” Angel snapped his eyes away from the retreating blonde slayer and back to the watcher. “Oh, I er, needed to talk to Spike. Privately.”
“We have no secrets here, Angel. If you wish to speak to Spike, then please feel free.” Giles smiled pleasantly, his eyes cold.
“It’s private, Giles,” Angel growled, not used to having his motives questioned, especially when it came to his childer.
“William, does Spike wish to speak privately with Angel?” Giles asked the seriously ill blond on the couch.
“Actually, Rupert, Spike can’t imagine any scenario in which anything Angelus had to say would be of interest to him,” William replied with quiet dignity.
Angel snarled and slammed a fist against the barrier. “Get out here, Spike. I’m not playing around.”
William turned to grace the furious vampire with a look of complete disdain. “I think you will find that the use of sire’s voice on this master vampire has no actual affect.”
“You can’t stay inside all the time, Spike. We will talk.” Angel spat out as he spun away from the door and stalked into the darkness.
Giles gently closed the door. It had suffered more than its fair share of abuse during the course of the day. Turning to face the group in his living room, Giles focused his attention on the little red-headed witch.
Willow squirmed under his unforgiving glare. “What? Giles...”
“Do you have any idea what you've done? The forces you've harnessed, the lines you've crossed?” Giles was angrier than at any other time he could remember, with the possible exception of that terrible time just after Jenny’s death.
“I didn’t think anything bad would happen,” the young girl whined miserably, wringing her hands together in frustration.
“That’s just the problem, Willow. You didn’t think. We had only just managed to reverse your last disastrous mistake. Did you learn nothing? You were the one I trusted most to respect the forces of nature,” he lashed out.
“Are you saying you don't trust me?” Willow demanded indignantly.
“Do you have even an inkling of the havoc your irresponsible behaviour has created? What effect your actions have had on the people you’ve be-spelled? Good Lord, girl, look what you've done to Buffy.” Giles could not believe the gall of the girl. She’d done two disastrous spells in less than twenty four hours and was shocked to think they didn’t trust her anymore!
Willow had no clue what the fuss was all about. She still didn’t know how they found out about it in the first place. “What? I only wanted to fix the problem between Xander, Buffy, and me.”
“And created a larger one!” Giles raised his voice to respond. “You took an incredible risk!”
“Risk? Of what? I was trying to help!” Willow yelled back. She was getting more and more agitated. He kept talking about it being bad but she wasn’t hearing any actual bad.
“Of killing us all. Perhaps unleashing hell on Earth. Shall I go on?” Giles spat out in fury.
“That's not what I did, Giles,” Willow whispered, tears forming in her eyes.
“You were lucky. The magicks you channelled are more ferocious and primal than anything you can hope to understand, and you are lucky to be alive, you rank, arrogant amateur!”
Willow stood straight at his insult. Blind fury wiped the tears from her eyes. “You're right. The magicks I used are very powerful. I'm very powerful, and maybe it's not such a good idea for you to piss me off!” she ranted, her eyes flickering ominously.
Giles lifted an eyebrow and chortled dismissively. Even if Anya’s spell couldn’t withstand an attack from the redhead, Ripper was not without his own skills.
Anya started to chuckle quietly. She knew exactly what the backlash would be if anyone tried to go up against one of her protection spells with a direct attack. She hoped the silly girl would try it; she really did.
Willow felt humiliated, angry, and resentful. She needed to think. Standing abruptly, she walked to the door and left without a word.
Buffy shook her head sadly and asked a question that she hoped she wouldn’t regret later. “Can you bind someone’s powers, Anya?”
“Yes, Buffy, but it will have to wait till tomorrow. I’ll need to be refreshed and Giles’ stores are low.” Anya responded quietly. This would require the blessing of Gaia, but it was something that really needed to be done.
“Was it the claim that made my love for Angel so…all-consuming?” Buffy asked the ex-demon, tilting her head to the side in curiosity.
Anya studied the girl for a moment. “The claim was a controlling claim, Buffy. If you felt all-consuming love for Angel and it disappeared when the claim broke, then it was the results of an order he gave you. I’m sorry.”
Buffy just nodded. She had suspected as much. She was comforted when William hesitantly placed his hand over hers and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“I saw all their memories. Cordy, Oz, Willow, Angel and Xander,” she spat out the last name. It would be a long time before she would be able to even look at the young man that she thought had been her friend without wanting to rip his head off.
Looking Anya directly in the eye, Buffy spoke with absolute conviction. “You don’t have to accept being second choice. You deserve to be first choice and don’t you ever let anyone tell you differently. I saw all of Xander’s memories for the last three years, Anya. Nobody deserves to be treated the way he’s been treating you. I’m your friend. You’re a member of my team and Xander no longer is. If you need anything; you let me know and we’ll come up with something.”
Anya just stared at the young blonde, jaw gaping and tears streaming down her face. No one had ever spoken to her like that before. She’d never had a true friend. She was touched beyond measure.
“Oh, look, you’ve made me all puffy.” Anya dabbed at her eyes as she smiled through her tears, hoping to break the seriousness of the conversation and thereby the weird, squishy feeling she was experiencing. “We need to talk about something else now.”
“Good idea. We can Gone-With-the-Wind it till tomorrow. Let’s talk about the skeletons or should I say vampires in Giles’ closet.” Buffy grinned at her watcher cheekily.
“This is precisely what I was trying to protect my human family from when I hid all evidence of our relationship. They don’t deserve to be ridiculed or blamed in any way for my actions,” William said sadly from his place on the couch.
Giles regarded the saddened features of the man he thought he would never meet. “And the family appreciated it too, William, but Buffy is also family and she has earned the right to tease me,” he assured the concerned blonde with a smile. “It isn’t her intention to ridicule.”
“Ooooh, may I tease you too, Giles?” Anya bounced happily as she asked her question.
Laughter cleared away the last vestiges of drama that tainted the air.
“Before we get carried away and begin our rousing game of mock-the-librarian, there is something we should discuss.” Giles gently brought the group back to the point. When he was sure that he everyone’s attention, he continued. “William is already in a great deal of danger from the poison. We should also be concerned about attacks from Xander, Angel, and perhaps even Willow. That does not take into account the commandoes that caused Spike’s problem in the first place. I will not allow him to be harmed.”
“I agree, Giles. We also have to worry about what happens after we get him cured. He can’t defend himself.” Buffy gripped Williams hand as she spoke. She wanted him to understand that they weren’t speaking about him as if he wasn’t there- she knew he was very much there. In fact, she was so aware of him that it was starting to scare her a little.
She wondered if it wasn’t a small side effect from the removal of the claim and the overwhelming power Angel had held over her. The slight attraction she had always denied feeling for the bad boy blond was developing into something a great deal more.
“I could always magically disable whatever it is they did to him,” Anya offered. “I just need find out what it is.”