FIC: Per Omnia Saecula Saeculorum (part 6)

["cdreramius" <mike_mcd@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Title: Per Omnia Saecula Saeculorum
Author: Tony McD
Rating: M (15+ for language and adult themes)
Summary: The events and consequences immediately after `Grave'.
Distribution: Anywhere, just keep my name on it. As long as I am
remembered, I will never truly die.
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer nor do I own any
other characters. This is a work of fiction written for your enjoyment.

*-*-*-*-*

"How many hot dogs you want?" Dawn asked Giles from the kitchen. There
hadn't been much food left in the kitchen and hot dogs were the best
that Dawn could come up with. Tomorrow she and Giles would go
shopping, but tonight they would have to make do with hot dogs.

"Two please." She heard Giles reply.

When she was done putting on the hot dogs and getting the buns ready,
Dawn went into the living room where Giles was going through all the
household bills.

"So, is the bank gonna foreclose the house on us or not?" Dawn half
joked. Money had been tight ever since Joyce died and Buffy hadn't
been keeping on top of the bills lately.

"By the looks of it, no."

"What?" Dawn was surprised that Buffy had actually done anything about
the household bills and she expressed that to Giles.

"I don't think that it was Buffy." Giles said and handed Dawn a bill
with a cheque attached. Dawn examined it closely.

"Where did you find this?" she asked.

"In the pile of outgoing mail waiting to be posted. There's four more
bills with cheques with the same signature."

The signature was Xander's.

"But why would Xander..." Dawn wondered out loud then stopped, knowing
the answer to her question. Xander would do it because that's the type
of person he was.

"How long do you think he's been doing this?"

Giles just shrugged his shoulders. He doubted that if they asked
Xander about it that he would give them a straight answer. Giles also
doubted that Buffy knew what Xander was doing.

"Do we tell Buffy or not?" asked Dawn. "I mean, now that she's got a
good paying job she can pay Xander back." They knew that once Buffy
found out, she would insist on paying Xander back. They also knew that
Xander would refuse to take the money.

Giles took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"I don't know. Obviously Xander didn't want anyone finding out about
it, especially Buffy. Perhaps we should respect his wishes in this
matter."

"But, Giles, Buffy needs to know she owes Xander and she's gonna want
to repay him when she finds out."

"And she will when she eventually finds out." Giles reassured. At some
point down the track Giles would help Buffy `discover' Xander's
secret. But not just yet.

Dawn huffed in frustration but let the matter go. Buffy and Xander
were adult enough to eventually resolve the matter between them.

There was another matter that worried Dawn too.

"What do we do about Willow?"

Giles put his glasses back on and collected the bills off the table.

"I'm not sure yet." He told Dawn. He had some phone calls to make
before he made that decision.

And it would be a decision that he alone would make.

*-*-*-*-*-*

Peccatum meum cognitum tibi feci et delictum meum non abscondi.

(I have acknowledged my sin to Thee, and my guilt I have not concealed.)

*-*-*-*-*-*

The house was quiet, not that it had been all that noisy today. Buffy
was in her room with Willow, Dawn had gone to bed, and Giles had made
a make-shift bed on the sofa downstairs.

The phone ringing interrupted the quietness.

"Hello?"

"Giles, it's Xander. I didn't wake you up did I?"

"Not really. Just doing some light reading before bed. What did the
hospital say?"

"They've finished poking and prodding and X-raying and drawing blood
and whatever. They wanna keep me overnight but I'm checking myself out
in about 5 minutes. Can you pick me up?"

"Are you sure that's wise?"

"They're not gonna do anything that I can't do back at Buffy's, so I'm
taking their bottle of pain killers and heading back to you guys."

Giles contemplated arguing the matter but decided that he wouldn't
change Xander's mind.

"I'll be there in 15 minutes."

"Thanks. How's Willow?"

"Buffy's looking after her."

"Good, I'll see you in 15 then."

*-*-*-*-*

et ait:  Gradiamur simul, eroque socius itineris tui.

(And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go
before thee.)

*-*-*-*-*

The streets of Sunnydale looked deceptively peaceful as Giles and
Xander drove back to Buffy's house.

"As soon as I can arrange it, I'm taking Willow with me to England so
that the coven can help her." Giles declared without preamble. No `I
think I should' or `I'd like to' nor any hint at inviting discussion
over the course of action. Giles had made up his mind and that was that.

"I'm not planning on telling Buffy or Willow or anyone else until just
before we leave."

"Then why are you telling me?" Xander asked, confused at why Giles was
confiding in him but not the others.

"I know what you did up there." Giles told Xander, obviously alluding
to the confrontation up on Kingman's Bluff. Xander looked surprised.

"What? How?"

"When Willow took the magic that the coven had given me, it opened a
connection between myself and Willow. I saw what she saw, I heard what
she heard. That's why I'm telling you."

"Oh." Xander went quiet, the painful memory of what happened still raw
on his mind.

"You're not going to hurt her, are you?" Xander asked, a slight edge
in his voice.

"No, we're going to help her come to terms with what she did, help her
control her power. Hurting her is the last thing I'd want to do.
Besides, you'd hunt me down and kill me if I did."

"This isn't a laughing matter, Giles!" Anger burned in Xander's eyes.

"I know it's not. It's a deadly serious business and I wasn't joking.
You would stop at nothing to protect Willow and that's good. Right now
Willow needs that strength, that love more than ever. I'm relying on
you to help her recover, both now and once she returns from England."

Xander calmed down at the explanation. Giles was right.

"Buffy needs help as well. Dawn too." Xander observed. There was so
much that needed fixing but he was determined to make it right.

"What about you?"

Xander just shrugged his shoulders and looked out the window at the
passing houses.

"I'll live, Giles. I'll live."

Giles kept his contrary opinion to himself as they arrived at the
Summers house.

"Relegated to the couch, hey?" Xander joked as he and Giles entered
the house. It would be a long time before anyone would sleep in the
room that Willow and Tara once shared.

"It could be worse; I could be sleeping in a basement."

"Laugh it up, tea drinker." The light hearted moment ended as Xander
looked upstairs and contemplated the hurting friends that awaited him.
Just as he reached the staircase, Giles stopped him.

"Xander, I need to thank you."

"For what?"

"For saving the world." Giles told him with a subdued but proud smile.
Xander looked at Giles uncomfortably for a second before turning and
heading up the stairs.

"That wasn't my intention."

Quietly, Xander slipped into the darkness of Buffy's room. He watched
the sleeping forms of Buffy and Willow for a while and silently
thanked whatever power that ran the universe for allowing him a second
chance to make things right. Quickly he changed into his boxers and a
t-shirt before sliding into the bed next to Willow.

His last thoughts before sleep claimed him were about Willow and how
she slightly relaxed as her body became cocooned between him and Buffy.

*-*-*-*-*

Laboravi in gemitu meo, lavabam per singulas noctes lectum meum;
lacrimis meis stratum meum rigabam.

(I have suffered and wept, every night have I washed my bed and
drenched my blanket with my tears.)

*-*-*-*-*






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Willow: "It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
Buffy:  "I kinda love you."
                     'Choices'

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