The Cure:
Disclaimer: Do I need to state the obvious? I'm not Joss, I'm not Mutant Enemy (although my partner might disagree), I don't know the Kuzuis, and I have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with Fox and/or WB... and besides, suing me would be like, well, like a Slayer falling in love with a Vampire... you can try and try, but ya ain't gonna get nothin' out of it but pain... (i.e. I'm not making any money from these stories, thus, I have no money -- although I do have a job-- so don't bother suing.)
ANYHOO... the story picks up more or less at the beginning of "Graduation Day, Part 2"... so if you haven't had the pleasure of even seeing a poor internet bootleg of the ep, this is a MAJOR spoiler. Of course, if you haven't seen it, you wouldn't know that until you HAD seen it... but I digress. The rest of the Ep doesn't happen, and it would appear most of Season Three didn't happen, either. No mayor, bare mention of Faith, no Ascension, etc.
Chapter Three
Giles looked again at his watch. Damn Buffy for being late. Again. Saying up late to train her in the night was beginning to wear him to a frazzle. And when she didn't even have the courtesy to show up...
He heard the library door swing open, and rose from his desk, rushing into the main room, his anger blazing.
"Buffy, I do wish you would try..."
He stopped. Standing before him was not Buffy, but Ms. Laidir, dressed in a comely red outfit with sensible shoes, and smiling warmly at him, despite her obvious nervousness. She wrung her hands...
"Hello, Mr. Giles, I..."
"Rupert." He interrupted.
"What? Oh. Yes... Rupert. I'm sorry to come so late, unannounced, but I was hoping I might speak to you."
She had the warmest hazel eyes...
"Of course. Do, come in..." He gestured to his office. He was suddenly thankful that it was bigger than his old one, and that he had cleaned and straightened it that afternoon.
"May I get you some tea?" He offered.
"Thank you. That would be nice."
She asked for milk, no sugar, he remembered. A woman with fine, strong teeth...
'What an idiot thing to think.' he chastised himself.
Amanda settled in and made herself comfortable, choosing the very chair she had collapsed into the last time they met.
"Mr. Gi...Rupert. I've been...troubled...since the other night."
Giles would imagine so. He wondered why this woman didn't seem to suffer the selective amnesia so common in the citizens of Sunnydale...
"I see." he replied, "And what can I do for you?"
"You seem to know so much about...um...monsters... you and your friend."
"Angel?"
"Yes...I... I've been having...nightmares...and...I have so many questions..." she lowered her eyes.
Her shyness touched him. He sat in the chair directly across from her, and leaned forward to listen more attentively.
"I will do whatever I can to allay your fears..." he promised. Of course, there was only so much he could tell her...
"How can I... defend myself?" she asked.
'As if she were worried about a common mugging...'
"Well," he began, "Much of what you've seen in the movies holds true... holy water, garlic, and as you know, crosses..." he thought the woman was terribly clever under pressure, to remember the cross she wore around her neck. She wore another, much bigger one, now...
"I don't know what made me think of that..." she said, "Too much late night TV, I guess..."
"Yes. Well, it's a good thing you did, or Angel might not have been able to get to you in time."
He sounded glad. She smiled.
"Daylight and a stake through the heart are the common means of killing them, but it takes an inordinate amount of strength and skill to get an accurate thrust to accomplish the latter...Your best avenue of defense, of course, is not to walk alone at night... Vampires are restricted from entering private structures without invitation, and tend to hunt the weakest and most defenseless." He thought ironically about the Latin sing over the old school, which invited all seekers of knowledge to enter -- had allowed Jenny's murderer to enter...Thinking with sorrow of Jenny, he was glad the same invitation was absent from the new building.
Amanda nodded. "I'll remember that, from now on. I shouldn't have been walking alone, anyway."
"No. No, you shouldn't." Giles agreed.
"Rupert, there is something else..."
Giles' heart skipped a beat.
"Is Angel a vampire? Because I thought I saw..."
How should he field this one?
"Ah. Well. Uh." He stuttered. Should he tell her? How much could she be trusted? He blinked at her.
"I'm afraid he is." He answered, finally.
"But...he...he saved me." She objected, obviously, and understandably, bewildered. "And...how is it that the two of you know each other? You're not..."
Giles chuckled. "No, of course not."
"Nosferata the Vampire Slayer, reporting for duty!" Came Buffy's cheerful greeting, hollered from the main room, "Sorry, I'm late... unscheduled slayage..."
She halted in the door, staring at Amanda, then at Giles.
"Oops," she said, "I didn't mean to interrupt..."
"No, no." Giles stood, "Amanda, this is Buffy Summers. Buffy, Amanda Laidir... she... Angel saved her from attack several days ago, and she had some...questions..."
Buffy grinned, cocking an eyebrow at him.
"Ah." She said, obviously not completely buying his story, then turned to Amanda, "Nice to meet you."
The two women shook hands, and Amanda rose from her chair.
"Thank you, Mr. ...Rupert. I hope that we can finish this discussion some other time."
She spoke like a grown-up trying to hide an ugly truth from a child.
'If only she knew...' Giles thought. He wished Buffy would wipe that smart-aleck grin off her face.
"That would be nice," he said to Amanda, trying to ignore Buffy, "I'm available most anytime."
He took Ms. Laidir's arm and walked her to the exit door, then out to her car, parked quite illegally close to the school. He didn't blame her, really.
"Is that your daughter?" Amanda asked as she fished in her bag for her keys.
"No, no. I have no children. Buffy is a former student of mine...I, uh...tutor her. In history. She is a close friend, and Angel's er...partner."
Amanda's head shot up in shock.
"Is she...?"
Giles nodded sadly.
Amanda shook her head in wonder. "Amazing. Do you have any human friends?" she said, unlocking her door.
Giles didn't answer, but only shut the door for her once she got into the car. The engine started, and she regarded Giles through the open window.
"This is all terribly fascinating." she commented, "I'm dying to know more... would you let me cook you dinner? Say, Friday night?"
Giles blinked. He hadn't exactly been expecting a date to result from this...this odd tutoring session. He had to stop and think for a moment. Did he want to have dinner with this lovely woman, spending an evening answering awkward questions that would only draw her deeper into his dangerous world?
He considered for a moment...almost said no.
"That would be lovely." He heard himself say, instead, wondering where it had come from.
Amanda smiled broadly, and handed him a fine, pink linen business card.
"8 o'clock Friday, then?" she asked.
Giles nodded, and she drove away.
He was a knot of conflicting emotions as he walked through the empty halls and back to the library, fondling the business card absently.
'Amanda Laidir, Language Specialist' , it announced in elegant calligraphy, along with her address and phone.
Buffy was sitting on the heavy oak table, her legs dangling carelessly in the air, when he returned. She still wore the same smart look on her pretty face.
"What are you grinning at?" He snapped, stashing the card in his blazer pocket and unlocking his shiny new weapons cabinet.
"Gi-les has a daaaaate..." Buffy sang.
"Oh, do hush, Buffy." he said.
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