[buffywantswillow]FIC: The Last Death (2/?)

[Jessica Cioffi <cioffi@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Disclaimer: Dor(i)an is mine ... all mine! Bwah hah hah ha ... ahem ...
uhm, we all know that the most popular folk aren't mine and belong to
Joss and ME, no, not me me ... Mutant Enemy.

Title: The Last Death (2/?)
Author: Still me, not Mutant Enemy me, me me, Jessie

Rating: PG maybe PG-13. Yo no se.
Warning: Still not being beta read .... but it's being written and sent
to you nice folk. Awww.
Spoilers: None of which I am aware, but I don't wanna promise anything,
so ... all's fair in this game of fiction.
Feedback: Yessirree Bob, and even if your name's not Bob ... yessirree
(Enter Name Here).
Archive: You wan' it? You got it! Toyota! Just lemme know where.

THE LAST DEATH (2/?)

... "No offense, Doran or Dor-ee-an, but we know who we are. Who are
you?"

"There's time for that later Buffy. Dor," Giles paused mid-name,
looked at his friend for validation, "ian has travelled far to get
here. I'm sure she's tired. I know I am."

Giles noted an apologetic glance from Dorian. He knew that she
wouldn't have disturbed him unless it was absolutely necessary.
Forgetting for just a moment his long-lost companion's situation, he
offered a gallant, "It's alright, Dorian. For you, I would gladly be
woken from the peaceful slumbers of death."

Dorian, sensing Giles' immediate regret for such his faux paux, "You
say that now," she mustered up the bravest smile she could find,
"because you don't remember." Her eyes glowed under their sadness. She
looked so tired, but her radiance wasn't lost on anyone in the room.
Especially the Slayer.

"Ahm, Dorian, yes. Well. That, too can be discussed later,"Giles
stammered and toyed with his glasses. Giles' sudden discomfort stole
Willow's attention from the stranger, "much later."

____________________________________________________________________________________

"She's not a demon, Buffy."

Buffy eyes, squinted and staring at the door of Giles' guest room,
didn't move. "I didn't say she was."

"Then why are you trying to summon Superman's x-ray vision? You've
been staring at that door for 3 hours." Willow curled her leg under
her. "I think she's nice ... presently mysterious ... but nice."
Willow punctuated her statement with a smile, which Buffy missed because
she was still concentrating on the door.

"Buff ..."

The door to the guest bedroom opened and, just as it did, Buffy was
on her feet and in front of Giles' guest. Dorian, expecting as much
from a Slayer, smiled and pointed to the bathroom.

"If you don't mind," she said, moving past the blonde barricade.
Once inside the bathroom, Dorian turned around, leaned on the door and
said, "Do you trust Giles?"

"What does that have ... "

"Do you?" She was so sweet in her interrogation that Buffy was
almost helpless in resisting.

"With my life."

"Then you don't have to trust me," Dorian flashed a shy smile. She
couldn't place it, but Buffy knew that smile. "Besides, what kind of
Slayer would trust a stranger, right?" With that, the door closed.

Almost simultaneously, Giles' bedroom door opened. Although he knew
it wasn't a dream, he was still surprised to see Willow and Buffy in his
living room. He was even more surprised to find Buffy standing in front
of the closed bathroom door.

"Buffy, there's no need to stand guard. She'll be of no harm to
you." Giles walked past Buffy.

"I'll believe that when you tell me what's going on. You're being
too mysterious, even for you, about who she is." Buffy followed Giles
into the living room. "I'm tempted to, ungh, look in one of your old
musty books for some answers if you don't spill it."

Letting a sigh escape, Giles readied himself to explain Dorian. He
knew that, in doing so, he would let the two people whom he trusted
most, know what he had kept from the for so long.
____________________________________________________________________________________

Giles was 30 when The Watchers Council approached him. He was, as
far as they were concerned, too old to become a Watcher, but his
connections made him a suitable candidate. He was, by far, the most
well-read candidate they had seen in a long time. But, because of his
age, they feared he wouldn't take well to the training. He would have
to, after all, be able to keep up with a Slayer.

The evening that he was approached, Giles was given the run-down on
what a Watcher is and to whom he or she is resonsible. First and
foremost, a Watcher would be responsible to his or her Slayer. The
Watcher's life, in fact, would be intertwined with that of the
Slayer's. As long as the Slayer lived, the Watcher lived. If the
Slayer were relieved of duty, for whatever reason, the Watcher would be
placed with another Slayer or be granted mortality. While the Watcher
pledged allegiance to the Slayer, eternal obedience was given to The
Council. Herein is where the trouble began.

Giles was granted one year to train for the position of Watcher.
Within this year, he would learn the identity and uses for an arsenal of
weapons, the identity and weaknesses of the most common demons and the
art of medicinal botany. His physical training was arduous, but he
surprised even the most difficult to impress of the Council members.
His intelligent exterior cast his physical appearance into the shade.
At 31, Giles received his first Slayer. His first, and for a long time,
he believed, his last.





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