Synopsis of Parts 12 and 13: Still affected from the spell casting and hurting from Buffy's rejection, Giles deserts the others and heads home -- where Drusilla is waiting for him -- to get the weapons to work out his frustration on patrol. Before Drusilla can move in on him, Willow appears. Willow and Giles argue and their aggressions and magic-caused empathy work to trigger other passions. They both retire to Giles' apartment, unknowingly leaving a frustrated Drusilla outside at the door.
In the silvery pre-dawn light, Drusilla wandered back to the mansion. She'd fed and then played with her food for awhile before finishing him off, but she felt aggravatingly unsatisfied. The full moon had finally fallen silent and was sinking to the horizon. She sensed the raging sun waiting at the opposition, poised to seize the last of the night and rend it to pieces.
For the first time in scores of years, she remembered how that fierce light felt on her mortal flesh. Dru took off her flowery moonhat and stood looking out to the eastern horizon, considering that memory. She wanted to feel that heat again, even if it meant letting it tear her immortal substance to dust.
That wicked teacher was back, putting false memories in her head again and tempting her to destruction. Drusilla smiled grimly, and placed her hat back on her head. She knew what the teacher was up to now -- trying to protect the Watcher, her chosen Man. "Go to sleep, dearie," she said to the teacher. "Princess is safe home now, and she shall take your beloved tonight no matter what you do."
She opened the front door and stepped inside, shutting out the first piercing rays of sunlight.
Dru realized the instant the door was shut that she wasn't alone in the mansion. She moved silently into the courtyard where Acathla stood. "Did you bring me a present?" she sang out.
Spike moved from the shadows from behind the petrified demon. "Does my Princess deserve one?"
Drusilla smiled at him. He was terribly angry with her, he was never this angry with her. "I'm going to have a party," she said and moved past him, barely brushing his arm. "There will be guests." She reached up to caress Acathla's frozen grimace. "Angel will be there."
"Angel has gone to Hell," Spike said angrily. "I'm quite sure, Dru, that he's not coming back for a party."
"We're going to have cake and punch and treacle," Drusilla continued.
"We're going back to Seattle," Spike said. "You can throw your party there. We'll make a right bash out of it --"
Drusilla ignored him. "We will have music and dancing. And I will be the belle of the ball, won't I Spike? All the handsome men will dance with me."
Spike pulled a pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket and lit one, eyeing her intently. Dru smiled at him and continued to circle round and around Acathla. "Who's invited to the event, Dru?"
"New friends," she said vaguely. "And old. Miss Edith will be there. He will bring her."
Spike frowned. "Who's 'he'?"
"The Watcher," she said. "He will dance with me and we'll all be good friends, won't we?"
"Is the Slayer coming too?" Spike said, carefully controlling the anger in his voice, but Dru could hear it clearly.
"The Slayer's far away," she said.
"That's one small favour," he growled. "Pity she's not dead and buried. Tell you what Dru, we'll tie our lad Acathla here up top of the car and take him off to Seattle with us for the party."
"You don't want to see me dancing with all the handsome men," Dru scolded him.
Spike didn't bother to answer that one. Instead, he crushed his cigarette under foot and moved to grab her up in his arms. She smiled as he nuzzled her neck, scraping against her tender flesh with a fang. Despite the mischief he intended to try to play with her plans for the night, she was pleased to have him here. He settled her back in her skin again, would silence the thoughts the naughty teacher had been slipping into her head.
"Pet," Spike murmured into her ear. "You know how good we are together. We don't need anybody else here mucking up the works. Tonight we'll move on; back to Europe, if you like."
Drusilla smiled to herself and reached up under his shirt to draw her fingernails lightly up his chest. She smelled his blood.
"Do you like my new hat?" she asked him coyly.
Oz sat on the school steps watching the incoming morning summer school students and practising wrist flips with a drumstick. Several of the students eyed him curiously as they entered the building, but only one of them bothered to stop and talk.
"Hey Oz!" Larry caught the drumstick on its downfall and eyed the sharpened end. He carefully handed it back. "You coming to class today?"
"Later, maybe," Oz said vaguely. "I wanted to talk to Willow first."
Larry grimaced. "Yeah, wish I had an excuse. But if I don't get caught up on some of these courses I'm going to have to repeat Senior year. Not that the coach seems to mind. But hey, I already saw Willow going inside, like about half an hour ago."
Oz blinked in surprise. "Okay," he said. "Thanks, man."
He got up from the steps and made his way to the library. He peeked in through the door windows. Willow and Giles were already at the books. The two of them sat next to each other; Willow was talking to Giles with that mischievous smile -- the one that made Oz go squish -- on her face. Giles had his head cocked towards her and was smiling faintly. Oz felt a glimmering of loneliness as he watched them talking together like that; it was if they were wrapped in a world that nobody else could access.
He shrugged the feeling off -- they were in a world of their own and he had no desire to get tangled up in magic just so he could join them there. He had enough problems trying to live with his Inner Wolfiness.
"Hey, guys," Oz said as he pushed the door open and walked in. "Any news of the Prodigal Slayer?"
The smile on Willow's face vanished, and she looked at Giles.
"Fill Oz in," Giles told her quietly. "I'll go put some tea on."
Willow watched the librarian as he went into his office. The look on her face was intense -- and unreadable. For the first time in their relationship, Oz discovered that he hadn't a clue as to what was going on with her. "If this is a bad time, I can go back to lurking outside for a while."
She stared at him.
"If you and Giles were in the middle of something --"
Willow opened her mouth, then went back to staring.
"Willow?" Oz stared at her hard, trying to puzzle out her mood. He was missing something really obvious, he knew it and still couldn't guess what it was. It was hard to focus on anything but her wide, beautiful eyes. He guessed that she still had a bit of glamour from the last night's casting about her that was unfocusing his mind, but it still didn't make it any easier to focus. He didn't want to focus on anything other than her eyes. "You wanted to tell me something?"
"Yes! No!" Willow suddenly got up and ran into Giles' office.
Oz stared after her, totally perplexed. Had something gone wrong with the casting last night? But she and Giles had seemed to be in a good mood when he arrived. Maybe it was more of that post-casting wigginess.
"Giles," Willow whimpered, holding the door to his office shut behind her. "What do I tell him?"
The Watcher finished pouring the tea out, trying to keep calm, although her panic was beginning to affect him. "What do you want to tell him?"
"I don't want any secrets. Secrets are bad," she said emphatically. "They always come back to get you. But I don't know what to tell him."
"Here." Giles handed her the tea tray. "It's up to you. But I will suggest that neither of us is in any condition to be undertaking any deep emotional decision-making now."
Willow looked at him intently. "It's already dying back," she said unhappily. "I can't tell exactly what you're feeling anymore."
He sighed. "I told you the empathy we were experiencing earlier was a temporary effect of the magic."
She set the tea tray down again. "I didn't think it would feel so bad to lose it." A tear escaped her eye and coursed down her cheek.
"Willow . . ." He finally moved to take her in his arms. "I meant what I told you earlier. I'll be here for you as long as you need me. But the closeness we were feeling can't last. And we both have lives outside of that magic that we have to relate to. You have to deal with your boyfriend -- and I have my responsibility to Buffy."
She stiffened in his arms. "You're not going to help me with the magic any more."
Giles very gently pushed her away. "Years ago I walked away from my involvement in the magic arts," he said. "It was the right decision, for me. I happen to think that it should be your decision as well, but I can't force you to follow my lead. I don't want you to think that I won't watch for you if you decide to continue on this path, but I can't actively help you any more."
"But we're good together," Willow insisted, then blushed. "With the magic, I mean -- and oh yeah the other too. Don't you think maybe we were meant to be partners?"
"We're a little too good together, as far as the magic is concerned." Giles sat on the edge of his desk and considered his broken hand. "We managed to destroy a large portion of the school's electronic equipment with one minor spell gone slightly awry. Mistakes like that shouldn't matter -- but we're effective enough together as spell casters that it does matter. And the magic is seductive. There's always a temptation to go one step further with it."
Willow sat down next to him. "You were right. It is a high. And it was incredible, being with you when we were connected like that. I don't want to lose it."
"It wasn't real."
"What's real?" she said, suddenly angry. "You're saying that you aren't really attracted to me? I know what you were feeling last night."
"Can't you see the trap?" he said in exasperation. "Can you tell me if those were my real feelings or not?'
"They were," she said defiantly. Then -- "Weren't they?"
"Would you have ever thought about relating to me on that level without the magic?"
"Well, yes," Willow said, surprised out of her anger.
Giles looked at her with such startlement that she felt an tension-relieving urge to laugh. "First time I ever walked into the library and saw you shelving books. I-I had this flash, that I walked right up and kissed you. And, well there were some pretty steamy dreams. In between the Xander steamy dreams."
He stared at her. "I never knew . . ."
"I've had a lot of practice hiding my teen lust," Willow said ruthfully. "You're not saying that you never thought about me too, so I'm guessing you have?" He evaded her eyes, and she sighed in relief. "Giles, I don't think we could have worked as well as we do together unless the feelings were real."
"Maybe. But what about Oz? Or, for that matter, Xander?"
She frowned. "I don't like this," she said finally. "Having a boyfriend is supposed to be nice, not messy. At least it's not supposed to be messy for me. A year ago I didn't even have one guy to be messy with."
"I suppose it could be worse," Giles sighed and sipped at his tea. "At least you don't have to worry about Xander's taking an interest."
Willow laughed. "Lucky me! What do you want to do?" she pleaded. "It's your decision too."
"What I want is immaterial," he said. "I have to concentrate on finding Buffy. I'm her Watcher, and she needs my help now whether she realizes it or not."
"You love Buffy too," she said.
He didn't said anything, but then he didn't need to.
"So," Willow said, "what do we do now? We've tried magic, which Buffy isn't having any part of."
Giles took her hand and turned it over. "I'm going to put out some calls to people I know. You can start consulting your 'Net'. Maybe the mundane approach will work where the mystical failed."
She nodded, hopped down from the desk, and picked up the tea tray. He moved to open the door for her. "But Giles -- what about us?"
He looked down. "We need to let the magic die first, Willow. To see what's left when that's gone. You need to decide what's happening between you and Oz. And I need to find Buffy."
"Because she always comes first," Willow said with only some bitterness.
"I'm sorry."
"I want to be noble and say it's okay. But it isn't really." She sighed. "But I know why it has to be."
Giles nodded. "It's something you have to consider." He bent forward and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "Go sit with Oz before he starts wondering where we've got to. Tell him whatever you think he needs to know. You know him better than I do."
"Yeah, and do I know what he'd say to this?" Willow said unhappily. "Xander, I could predict -- and no, there's no way I'm gonna tell him -- but Oz. . . Maybe he'd be okay. I mean it's not like we've decided to go steady or anything. Of course, it's not like either of us thought we needed to decide to go steady since we kind of took it for granted that neither of us was interested in others. Although Oz should have known I might, because he knew I have a crush on Xander. Except that Xander is with Cordelia, maybe Oz thinks that isn't a problem any more. . ."
"Willow -- you're babbling." Giles steered her out the door. Oz looked up at them from a big book he'd been paging through.
Willow gulped.
"You did have an errand to run for me today," Giles prompted her as he led her to the table.
Willow looked up at him in a panic.
"Acathla?"
"Oh, yes." She took a deep breath. "Oz and I had better go find Xander then. But Giles -- it'll be loads easier to deal with the problem by you staying out of Drusilla's way, okay?"
He smiled and nodded at her. "Don't worry about me. I'll be at home tonight with my books and the telephone."
She shot a look at Oz and sighed. "Okay then. We'll work out the rest on our end."
"So why is Giles so keen on moving Acathla now?" Xander was grumbling. He was carefully dissecting a bran muffin across the coffee bar table top. So far he'd successfully avoided eating any of it. They were waiting for Oz at one of the outdoor tables. It was late afternoon and the summer heat was pretty much at a high point for the day. They all huddled miserably under the small patch of shade the umbrella offered, but none of them had the energy to initiate a move inside.
"He thinks that with Drusilla in town -- she might be after Angel," Willow said, gnawing nervously at an uneven fingernail on her right hand. "So we need to move the gateway so she can't try to open it again."
"Yeah well so what?" Cordelia said. She pushed her sunglasses up on her forehead to glare at Willow, then seized her hand and pulled it away from her mouth. She took a nail file from her purse and handed it to the redhead. "She needs Angel to get it open, and Angel's already locked away inside."
"Giles isn't so sure that there isn't another way. So we move Acathla to make sure." Willow awkwardly tried to file the ragged nail using her left hand. Cordelia took the file back and grabbed Willow's fingers to work on the nail herself.
"But why the cloak and dagger routine?" Cordelia grumbled. "I mean okay, get Xander's cousin to move the awful thing, but you've got us borrowing the truck and doing all the hard work ourselves. And Giles -- whose big fat idea it is -- isn't even going to help?"
"We don't want to put Xander's cousin in danger, which he might be if he knew where Acathla was," Willow explained. She examined her finished nail. "Thanks!"
"Hold on, I'm not done." Cordelia reclaimed the hand and started in on the other nails. "How long has it been since you've had a complete manicure?"
"Manicure?" Willow said.
Xander was frowning as he watched them. "Will, you're holding onto something. Give."
"Nothing! Really!" Willow insisted, gnawing at a fingernail on her left hand.
"Look, we'll deal." Cordelia took out another digital instrument and started to work on Willow's cuticles. "You'll make sure Giles stays in at night and keeps busy looking for Buffy, and the rest of you guys will take over the patrols. Between the three of you, you should be able to manage an undignified retreat when necessary."
Xander stared at her. "Besides the giving orders thing, what is your function in all of this?"
"I'm going to be in Mexico. Hopefully getting a decent tan." Cordelia finished Willow's right hand and pulled her left from her mouth. She did a double-take. "Nice hicky there, Willow! You and Oz get past the holding hands stage?"
"Mexico?!" Xander said. "You're running away to Mexico when all this is going down?"
"It's not like I have a choice, okay?" Cordelia watched speculatively as Willow pushed her shirt collar up around her neck. "Here." She reached into her purse and pulled out some cosmetics. "If you want to hide it, try these. A scarf would work too, but you'd have to change your outfit."
"I'm okay," Willow said in a small voice.
Cordelia shrugged and put the cosmetics back in her purse. "My father decided on Las Palmas this year, so it's off to Mexico we go. At least I'll be able to spend a few days in a row without the obligatory scare."
"Oh right, just the occasional hormonal overload from all those buff cabana boys padding about the beaches in nothing but their trunks," Xander snapped.
Cordelia smiled dreamily. "Maybe." She took his hand in hers. Xander started to retort, but shut his mouth at the glimpse of the nail file in her hand. Cordelia started to work on his nails.
"Ooh, here's Oz and the van!" Willow said, jumping up.
"How long are you going to be gone?" Xander demanded.
"It's a summer vacation, Xander. Take a guess," Cordelia said. She put away her file and looked around. "I left my sweater back in the library."
"Oz will drive you back," Willow said.
"No, don't bother. Oz's van is so not air conditioned. I'll take my car and meet you guys later at the Bronze. Besides, you've got to go get Oz settled for the night."
Xander was suddenly staring at Willow's neck. "Wait a minute! You didn't have a hicky last night!"
"No?" Willow said weakly.
"Oz hasn't been taking you into the utility closet, has he?"
"Cordelia, can I please please please borrow your scarf?"
"This is my magicked scarf, but here." Cordelia pulled another one from her purse. "That one goes better anyway."
Willow snatched it. "Thanks! I'm going into the Girl's Room, tell Oz? Uhm on second thought --" She whimpered and ran.
"Willow!" Xander shouted after her. He sat slowly down, scowling. Which changed to a look of alarm. "Hicky!"
Cordelia dropped her sunglasses back on her nose. "Stay out of it, Xander."
"But if he bit her --!"
"Hickies don't count," she said.
"Who says hickies don't count!?" Xander demanded.
"Willow knows what the risks are. She wouldn't let a guy nibble her if it was going to do weird stuff." Cordelia waved at Oz, who'd parked the van at the curb and was now making his way to the table. "Oh, and Xander?"
"What?"
"Find some other topic of conversation other than hickies, okay?"
"Why? She's my best friend. I have a right to --"
"No you don't, you moron. Lay off or I'm gonna have words with you later tonight. Lots and lots of words. Instead of smoochies. Your choice, lover boy." She stood and flounced off towards her car, confident that Xander's eyes were on her back every step of the way.
Willow sat on the chair between Xander and Oz, and fidgeted.
"Look," Xander was saying to Oz. "It's a matter of need to know, okay? I mean, say if you were to accidently nibble me, or something --"
"How would this interesting turn of events come about?" Oz said, eyeing Xander warily as he sipped his expresso.
"Okay, uhm. Let's say I -- uh -- got bit by a snake and you had to suck the poison out."
"Snake bite kit," Oz said.
"Huh?" Xander said.
"That's dangerous. Sucking the poison out. I'd use the snake bite kit."
"All right then, say that you don't have a snake kit --"
"There's a snake bite kit in the first aid kit in the van." Oz looked at Xander over the rim of his cup.
"Say somebody broke into your van, stole the first aid kit, then threw a poisonous snake at me, and I got bit. So you start to suck the poison out --"
"What kind of snake was it?" Oz asked.
Xander floundered. "Uhm -- I don't know. So you start to suck the poison out --"
"I'm not going to suck any poison unless I know what I'm sucking," Oz stated.
"Okay! Rattlesnake. So you start to suck --"
"Big rattlesnake or little baby rattlesnake?"
"I'm going to make a phone call guys okay?" Willow said.
Xander looked up at her anxiously. "You all right, Will?"
She stood, nervously twisting her purse strap in her hands. "I'm just real -- perky! That's it! And uhm -- I need to talk to -- I need to go to the girl's room too."
"You're not -- You're not feeling. . . furry or something?"
"I'll be right over there, Xander," she said in exasperation, and fled for the public telephone.
She dialed Giles' home number, and checked her watch as she waited out the rings. An hour to sunset. She'd never looked forward to sunset on a full moon night before. She bit at her lip in agonized guilt, which turned to worry as the phone continued to ring. He'd left the library at the same time this afternoon as she had. He'd said he was going straight home. . .
"Hello?"
Willow let out a sigh of relief. "Giles. It's me. Willow."
"I know your voice, Willow." She heard the smile in his voice. "What do you need?"
"I-I wanted to check on you is all, I guess. I'm feeling really weird and Xander and Oz aren't helping."
"Weird?" She pictured him taking the phone to a more comfortable seat -- the couch. "You're at the Bronze? Should I come out?"
"Not yet. And no," she said hurriedly. "I feel better knowing you're at home. I mean, I knew you were going home, but I keep getting these weird danger feelings. Guess I'm still wired from last night."
"Maybe you should go home."
"No, I've got to wind down some." She bit her lip, then forged ahead. "I'd like to come over."
There was a pause. She still had enough sense of him to read the longing in his silence. "What are the others going to be doing?"
She sighed. "We were going to the Bronze, after we take Oz home. But Xander's being -- he's in Big Brother mode. I don't know how to deal with him."
"You're welcome here, Willow. You know you are. But you can't start avoiding your friends over this. And we'd decided . . ."
She nodded, knowing that he'd sense the nod. "I know what we'd decided. We wouldn't have to do anything." Liar, she thought, and sighed. "Okay, I'll go to the Bronze with Xander and Cordelia. But -- I can call you, right?"
"Of course. Although, I may be on the phone quite a bit tonight."
She smiled. "Okay then. I'll feel better anyway knowing that you're at home." She hung up feeling calmer. You can handle black magic, Willow, she told herself as she walked back to the table. You can manage your relationships too.
Xander and Oz glanced up at her as she slid back into her seat at the table. "Okay," Xander said, still looking at Willow. "Forget the water moccasin then. Pretend that it was a scorpion."
Willow whimpered and hid her face in her hands.