With Friends like That 10

"Right," Giles said, standing by the open door of his apartment. "Good hunting, be very careful, because I will take it personally should something bad happen, and I shall see you when you return..."

Buffy glared at him as she passed and mouthed, 'You'd better...'

Oleecia then stood in front of him and frowned, "Aren't you coming with us, Giles...?"

He shook his head. He thought to leave it at just that, not really feeling comfortable with lying to Oleecia, but he couldn't just stay silent. So, mentally biting his lip, he said, "Not this time, Oleecia, I have some important business to resolve, um, something that needs my immediate attention..."

She knew what business Giles was on about, and she didn't want to leave his side. "Then I'll stay here" she said brightly, "and help you with it..."

When Oleecia started to move back into the apartment, Giles placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "It is alright, Oleecia, this is something I can do by myself. I'm not *that* old and decrepit," he teased her.

'Oh', she thought, 'on his own, so Spike's coming then... Good...' She smiled and nodded, then turned to Spike and said, "C'mon, then Spike, what-ya waiting back there for...? Let's leave Giles to his oh-so-important business and get with the Patrolling..."

Spike shrugged at her, "Er, sorry Leec, I'm gonna help Giles with 'is business..."

Giles actually flinched at the glare he then received from Oleecia; and from being found out; and immediately tried to placate her, "Now, Oleecia, please, it is something that only Spike can help me with..."

All thoughts of staying beside Giles, sticking to him like glue, flew rapidly out the opened door, as she petulantly sulked at him, "Yeah, right, Giles..." And with that stomped out into the night, without any other thought than how unfair Giles was being to her.

However, once the door had clicked shut, she suddenly realised just what she had done, and in that moment, she felt a cold spike of fear run the length of her spine. She turned back towards the door, wanting to go knock on it, but she knew she couldn't without making Giles suspicious. An arm went about her shoulders and gently turned her away from the door. She looked up into Xander's face.

"C'mon, Leec," he smiled down at her, "Don't worry about the big guy. If he really needed you there, then he'd've said..."

'My arse...' she thought, but still allowed Xander to lead her to the others.


Giles closed the door with a sigh, then turned to Spike. "Did you really have to make me out a liar, Spike...?"

He shrugged, "Well, it go' rid of her, didn' it...?"

"I suppose so..."

"Look, Ruper', you said y'self that Leec couldn' come along..." At Giles' nod, he added, "So, what's the harm in makin y'out to be a liar...? Which I didn', cos ya did lie..."

"Yes, well, thanks to you, Oleecia is now fully aware of that fact..." When Spike opened his mouth again, he guessed to re-iterate his innocence, Giles held up a hand and said, "Point taken Spike..." Then, looking to the clock, he added, "Shall we start out, then...?"

"Bit early, aint it...?"

Giles looked at the clock again, "Perhaps," he conceded and sat down. But then he added, "I just find this waiting around extremely frustrating. I would rather have this over and done with, and then be embracing Richard, with the hope that he could forgive me my suspicions..."

Spike turned away from Giles then, and whispered, "Yeah, mate, but some things y'never get, no matter how hard y'wish for them..."


Richard paced the length of the sidewalk directly outside the Apollo Hotel, glancing anxiously to his left and right. It wasn't that he was really expecting Rupert and the Vampire Child to be here, he was far, far too early, it was more to have something else to think about; something other than the conflicting emotions that seemed determined to run riot within him.

He didn't want to think that he was about to lose a friend that, he too, as Rupert had said, had grown to love and care for. 'If only there was another way...' he thought for the thousandth time; his brain beginning to ache with the options that dwelt in his mind. But still they had come to nothing. Not one of thought had presented him with another solution.

On and on he paced, convinced that he would wear a rut in the paving where his feet pounded out his frustration.


Oleecia walked between Xander and Willow, glancing furtively behind her every now and then, at the front door of Giles' apartment, until she couldn't see it any longer. She would have whimpered at that, had she thought then that it wouldn't've made the others wonder why; and she couldn't tell them why.

"C'mon, Leec, we'll be back there soon." Xander said to her. "Hey," he added, "soon as this is over with, we'll get you straight back to Giles. How's that sound to you...?"

She blinked up at him, smiled and nodded, not sure how she would sound if she said anything. She could feel her worry taking over, and before, when that had happened, even she'd noticed the wobble in her voice.

With a smile on his face, Xander patted her on the back, and then opened his mouth to say something else...

Oleecia blinked at him when she heard the growl, confused for a moment as to why Xander would growl at her, then, before she could ask, she felt a shove in her back. She stumbled forward a pace, then turned to find two Vampires standing right in front of her.

She blocked and parried their blows aimed at her, then shoved Xander away from her. She heard his yelp of surprise, but ignored it and forced the Vampires in front of her back. She ducked under an arm then rose and thumped the stake into its chest. With a howl it then burst into a cloud of dust.

She didn't cheer or congratulate herself, she just half-turned away from the dust and advanced on the second Vampire. It started to back-pedal away from her, but tripped. She was on him in a moment and, as quick as a flash, she staked him.

Brushing her clothes clean of the Vampires' demise, she looked to where she could hear other growls. Two Vampires were on Buffy, and Xander and Willow were busy with another. 'Too busy to notice me...' she thought. She then started to back away from the fight ahead.

She knew that she should be helping them, but her concern for Giles overrode anything else. She had to get back to him, before she might never see him again. With that she turned fully away and sprinted, as fast as her legs could move, back to Giles' apartment.


Giles looked at the clock again, as he had done for the last half-hour, and as before, only five minutes had passed. Unable to take the inaction any longer, he suddenly stood and said, "I believe that we should leave..."

Spike shook his head, "Look, I know this a bit 'ard for y' Ruper', but it's still too early..."

"Yes, I know that, Spike" Giles tersely replied, "but if I remain here one moment longer, without doing anything, then I shall explode. This waiting is interminable, and I cannot take it any longer..." With that said, he strode to the door, opened it and said, "Are you coming, Spike, or was your only use for tonight, was to make me the liar, that I am, to Oleecia...?"

As he moved towards the door, Spike muttered, "Gotta say, Ruper', I don't envy y'friend, tonight..."

"Yes, well, let's hope that the air in which that statement was spoken, will prove to be unfounded..."

Spike frowned at him as he passed him by the door. "Huh...?"

As Giles closed the door, he cried with frustration, "Oh for the Love of God, please, please teach this heathen some English..."


Richard turned and then looked at his watch. Another half-hour to go, but if Rupert was feeling anywhere near how he was feeling, he didn't expect to be waiting too much longer.

He bolstered himself against the whirl of emotions, turned and resumed his pacing again. 'Time out... No more time for anything...' On that thought, he started the internal process of switching himself off. One by one each emotion that had crippled him, mentally died a cold and lonely death inside of him, until the only thing that remained was the resilience to follow through with this plan; regardless of how he *might* feel afterwards.



Spike looked across from where he was and then down the street. He followed Giles' finger, pointing in that direction, and could see at the end of it, in the distance, a car parked.

"You will need to take them out of the equation, Spike..."

Spike nodded and then stood, secretly admiring Giles' ability to not crumble when faced with the fact that his friend *had* tried to trick him. Spike was angry at the thought and wished that he could be the one to take out Giles' friend... the Dick... He softly growled at the thought. He cared for Giles, more than he would ever admit out loud, and this... this stank as bad as something he might've done when he hadn't had the chip inside him. The difference being was that he'd been a Vampire, completely dominated by a vicious, unrepentant Demon. This bloke, that says he's Giles' friend, is human, with a Soul. There was no excuse...

At Spike's nod, Giles also stood, then straightened his jacket and tie and started forward. He stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned with an enquiry on his brow.

Spike shrugged, then said, "I just wanted ya to know, that y'needn' worry 'bout those two over there, you just concentrate on ya friend..."

Giles nodded and smiled, "Thank you, Spike..." he quietly whispered back, then patted the hand on his shoulder and added, "And I'm sorry..."

Spike frowned, "F'what...?"

Giles simply tapped his head, "For your pain..."

"Don' worry about that, Ruper', it'll be worth it..."

Giles nodded sadly at him and then started on his way. He could see Richard in the distance. He felt his footsteps grow heavier the closer he got, but they would never be as heavy as how his heart now felt.


Richard turned and almost jumped with surprise. Rupert was crossing the road, making his way towards him, but it did not look like it was someone trying to be inconspicuous, and in a rush, more someone who was out for an evening stroll. It confused him for a moment until he then understood. Why be covert when this is, after all, just a meeting between two friends. He moved forward, with a hand out in front of him, in greeting, "Rupert," he breathed, "thank you, thank you for coming. It means so much to me."

Giles firmly took the offered hand in his own and, through gritted teeth, he said, "Does it, Richard, does it really mean a lot to you...? And why would that be, dear... friend...?"

Richard tried to prise his fingers from Rupert's grip. When he had succeeded, he shook out his hand saying, "Of course it does, Rupert, you should know that..." With that said he looked past Giles, as though looking for something. He then turned back to him with a frown. "You haven't brought the Vampire Child...?"

Giles shook his head, his lips pressed tightly together, then in a voice that seethed with his anger, he leant forward and said, "Now why would I do such a stupid thing as that, Richard...? Why would I bring the one thing that you wish to destroy, into a place that is teeming with subversives...? It's bad enough that you have allowed me to wander into such a situation, but then..." He leant even closer, so that he was inches from Richard's face, and said, "I'm... not... LIKE... YOU!!..."

"Rupert, I don't understand..."

"Yes you do, Richard, of course you do. This isn't a meeting to get you out of danger, this is a meeting to eradicate that which you deem as Evil... Isn't it, dear friend..."

Richard then looked up at Giles and for the first time, in a long time, he suddenly understood. Suddenly realised what he had done and what he was about to do. "Oh God," he whispered, "Rupert, this wasn't just to eradicate the Vampire Child, this was also to eliminate you..." He then looked about him, panicked and sick to the stomach. "We-we must get out of here Rupert... NOW!!..."

Richard heard the car starting and started to pull Giles away, all the while looking behind him. "Rupert," he shouted, urgently.

Instinctively, Giles shook the hand on his arm away from him. He stumbled briefly before righting himself, then turned to Richard.

Richard could see the car, fast approaching from behind Rupert. He lunged forward, making a grab for Rupert. He screamed his denial, when he heard the gunfire start. He managed to catch Giles about the shoulders, but they both turned with his forward momentum. Richard gasped when he felt the first bullet hit him, but not as loud as his heart when he heard the unmistakable groan of pain that came from Rupert.


"Giles!!..."

He looked to where someone had screamed his name, and felt his heart jump into his throat. "No, Oleecia, no..." he yelled back, "Get back... Get back..." He tried to move, but the pain in his leg burnt fire the length and breadth of him. He groaned again, unable to stop himself. He then felt Oleecia's tears splash his face. He looked up, then to the side and yelled, "Spike!!... Spike, get Oleecia away from here... NOW!!..."

She suddenly disappeared from his sight in a blur, then a stake was heading towards him. Ignoring his pain, he thrust a hand upwards and managed to stop the downward momentum of the weapon, however, he was unprepared for the boot to his face. His head snapped to the left with the force of the blow, his grip loosened and then his hand dropped. The stake was rising again.

He tried to move from beneath Richard, but his dead weight kept him pinned. When he looked up again, he was surprised to find that he was alone. He strained to look in the direction he'd seen Oleecia suddenly disappear to and saw three Councilmen fighting Spike and Oleecia.

Giles could hear Spike's moans of pain, about which, regrettably, he could do nothing. He turned back to look down at Richard, lying sprawled across his chest. He waited and watched, for what seemed an age, for his friend's chest to rise; indicating that he was alive. He was just about to grieve for his friend, when he saw the slightest of movements.

His heart bloomed with hope. Trying to ignore his own pain, though a groan here and there did escape him, Giles shuffled his feet back, and to the side. His legs shook with exertion and shock, but eventually, he managed to get enough of himself free, so that he could lift himself to lay upright, but on his side. He placed a shaking hand on Richard's shoulder and heaved to turn him over onto his back.

Richard groaned with the movement.

Once Richard was on his back, Giles shifted forward and started to remove his friend's tie and unbutton his shirt. He stopped when a bloodied hand took a hold of his. He looked into his friend's face. It was contorted in pain, but he could see his mouth opening and closing. He leant forward and placed an ear there.

"R... Rupert," Richard gasped at him, "You must get someone here, now..."

He looked up and saw two unconscious Councilmen lying sprawled on the ground and one that Oleecia was about to knock out. "No!!..." He shouted, "bring him here, Oleecia, and hurry... hurry..." He then looked back down at Richard, and was surprised to find him smiling back up at him. He frowned.

"I... I was... so... so very wrong, Rupert..."

"Shh, please, Richard, don't talk..." he begged of him.

Oleecia and Spike dragged the Councilman to them both and then unceremoniously plonked him down beside Rupert and Richard; Oleecia keeping a hold of his arms.

Richard looked up at the man and then smiled again, "M-Michael, you... you are witness... witness to this..." The Councilman nodded in response. Richard then looked to Giles and said, "You... you, my... my friend... are... to succeed me..."

"No, Richard, I can't. My place is here, with Buffy. Please, think of someone else..."

Richard's face scrunched up with thought, then he slowly shook his head, "There... There is no... no other, Rupert... that... that I would trust..." He then looked back at Michael and said, "You heard...?"

Michael nodded and said, "It shall come to pass, sir. I shall see to it myself..."

Richard nodded, then looked to Giles. He took a hold of his hand, took a deep breath in, then on the exhalation of that breath, he whispered, "I am so very sorry, my friend..."

Giles would have argued the point, told him that there was nothing to be sorry for, that he understood and that all was going to be fine. He would have prattled on and on if it only meant that his friend had not spent his last breath with an apology on his lips.

He blinked back the moisture in his eyes, forced back the cry of anguish that so desperately needed to be expressed, and looked up at Spike, Oleecia and Michael. "He's gone..." he whispered.




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