When Buffy woke, the rain had stopped.  She eased up into a sitting position and turned to check on Giles.

A dark figure leant over them.

In a pulse, Buffy was on her feet, stake raised.  Angel jumped back.

"Easy, Buffy."

She advanced, putting herself between him and Giles.  "Get the hell away," she said.

"I know what you're thinking, Buffy," he said.  "I thought the same thing when I first saw you…..afterwards.  I didn't know if I could trust you.  I couldn't tell if it was really you or not."

She looked into his dark eyes until her own filled with tears.  "You came into the hellmouth?"

"How could you think I wouldn't?" he asked.  "Do you think there is anyplace I won't go for you?  I will never let you be lost."

Buffy dropped the stake.  He hugged her fiercely.

Finally, he asked, "Can you walk?"

She nodded.  "But Giles….."

Angel lifted Giles into his arms and looked down at him sadly.

"Is this that Rapture thing?" she asked.  "Because he keeps…..changing."

"He has too much demon blood in him to remain in the Rapture state," Angel said quietly.  "He's descending."

"If we get him out of here, he can come back, right?"

Angel didn't answer her.  He started through the mist.  "Willow and Cordelia and that other Watcher are waiting for us."

"Willow knows?"  Buffy fell into step beside him, glancing around them like a sentry though, in truth, she couldn't see anything but white.

"There was no way to keep it from her," Angel said.  "She's as persistent as certain other young women I know."

The grim humour made her feel a little better, that was until she glanced at Giles and saw the fangs.

Angel suddenly stopped and nodded ahead of them.

"What is it?" Buffy asked.

"Listen.  Willow is calling for you."

Buffy squinted ahead.

"Do you hear her?" Angel asked.

"I think so," she said softly, peering into the white.  She looked back at Giles.

"I'll bring him to you.  I'll be right behind.  I promise," Angel said.

Buffy met Angel's eyes, then nodded before turning back around and going forward into the fog.

She dropped into nothingness.  "ANGEL!" she cried but she was on the ground again, lying on it apparently.  She heard Willow.

"I think she's waking up!"

There were footsteps and something shifting under her.  Buffy opened her eyes to find herself lying on some grass with her head in Willow's lap.  Willow looked down at her happily and said, "Buffy!"

Wesley's face came into view over Willow's shoulder.  "Buffy, can you hear me?" he asked.

"Yes….."  She rose slowly, Willow's and Wesley's arms supporting her.  She leaned gratefully against Willow's shoulder, then remembered and straightened.  "Giles?"

"Over there," Willow said, pointing.

Buffy turned, found Angel kneeling on the ground with an unconscious Giles still in his arms.  Cordelia knelt beside him, staring at Giles with an uncertain expression on her face.  Behind them rose the tilted steeple of the sunken church.

"It was so weird, Buffy," Willow continued.  "We thought we could see Michael's church, the way it was before.  You and Angel came out and it went down again, but then you fell."

Buffy began to shiver so hard her teeth clacked.  Wesley took off his jacket and wrapped it around her.  "Oh, Will, I saw Michael!  And Giles is…..Giles is….." she tried, chattering.

Willow lost her smile as Wesley said quietly, "I know."  He helped Buffy stand.  "We need to get you home."

"I'm not leaving him," Buffy said as firmly as she could.  She looked over at Angel.  "Where should we take him?"

"His apartment, I guess," Angel said.

"Not a church or something?  When Drusilla first infected him, he went to a priest."

"Mr. Giles has gotten a…..little beyond that," Wesley said.  "Let's get him to his apartment and we'll see what we can do from there."

Angel rose and Cordelia stood too though still hesitantly and still not touching Giles.  Her reluctance angered Buffy.  She caught Cordelia's eye and glared at her before allowing Willow and Wesley to take her across the cemetery towards the road.

They went to Giles' apartment.  Angel carried Giles up towards the bedroom but Wesley and Willow hauled Buffy between them to the downstairs bathroom.

"I need to--" she tried, still shivering.

"You need to get a hot shower," Willow said.  "I hate to say this, Buffy, but you, well, you've smelled better."

"You also need to sleep.  You're still feeling the effects of the hellmouth," Wesley said.

Buffy planted herself at the bathroom door though, in truth, she did feel weak and ready to drop.  "You're not coming in here with me," she said to Wesley.

He had the grace to blush.  "Of, of course not.  I'll see to Mr. Giles."

As Willow helped Buffy strip her filthy clothing off, she said, "I bet Cordelia would have let him come in."  The joke fell lamely.

"I don't think so.  She's been seeing Giles."

Willow paused to stare at her.  "Giles?  No way."

"They've been getting pretty intimate," Buffy stepped into the shower.  Willow had turned it on hot but she still felt chilled under it.

"How do you know?"

"She kissed him in front of me and he admitted they'd spent a night together."

"Cordelia and *Giles*?" Willow shook her head, trying to take it in.  "That's almost…..creepy."

"Like Addams Family creepy," Buffy agreed.

Willow considered Buffy's clothes briefly before putting them in the bathroom garbage pail.  "One night doesn't make a relationship," she tried.

"She's claiming ownership of him."

"She'll get tired of him," Willow said.  "Poor Giles."

Buffy glanced around the shower curtain at that.

"You were right.  Xander and I never thought Giles would, you know, with a student," Willow said uncomfortably.  "I wonder how she…..managed it."  She shook herself.  "No.  Not going there.  Buffy, will you be ok for a moment?  I want to get you something to wear and also a pillow and a sheet for the couch so you can get some sleep."

"I'll be fine," Buffy said though exhaustion blurred her vision and she wanted to lie down in the tub and sleep for a year.

When Willow returned, she brought a pair of Giles' pants and a shirt that Buffy could have wrapped around herself twice.  "Giles is a lot bigger than you, isn't he?" Willow asked as she buttoned the shirt.  "I never noticed that before."

"How is he?"

"Sleeping, they think," Willow glanced at the stairs as she settled Buffy on the couch.  "He's really cold to touch and his heart's going like crazy.  There's another bedroom upstairs but I think it would be quieter for you down here."

"I should--" Buffy started but Willow pushed her back down on the couch.

"I'll be here.  I promise," Willow said.

Buffy laid back.  The living room was dim and impossibly cold it seemed.  Willow got up and returned with another cover.  "Will, I saw Michael."

"Angel said you might," Willow replied softly.  "But, Buffy, the man we knew died last year."

"And he died again today," Buffy said in a trembling voice.

Willow hugged her.  "It's not your fault."

Buffy closed her eyes and fell asleep almost immediately in Willow's arms but it was an unsettled rest.  There was noise and activity, things flying by her and raised voices.  When she came out of it, the sun was high up in the windows.

She sat up blearily.  The apartment was ominously quiet and she panicked, thinking herself alone in it.  Then she heard a scrape from the ceiling above her, a chair moving on a floor.  Buffy got to her feet and went up the stairs.

Giles' bedroom was dim, the curtains drawn across the window and the lights extinguished.  Buffy took a step in and jumped when she discovered Wesley sitting on a chair just inside the door.  He rose, took her arm, and made a motion to pull her from the room.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Wesley shook his head after a quick look towards the bed.  Buffy squinted through the dark.  There was a figure lying on it, Giles she assumed, but he was completely unmoving.  She couldn't even hear him breathing.

She panicked again but Wesley was stronger than he looked.  He pushed her into the hall and shut the door.

"Wait," he said.

"Is he dead?"

"No," Wesley said.  "But, for Godssakes, don't wake him."

"Why?"

"We'll talk in here," Wesley opened the door to the second bedroom.  Sitting on the guest bed were Willow and Cordelia.  Willow, huddled in Wesley's jacket, looked miserable, as if she'd been crying.  Cordelia, strangely, had her arms around the other girl and was rocking her gently.

"Will?"  Buffy rushed over.  Willow had indeed been crying.  She wiped her cheek with a trembling hand when Buffy came over.  "What happened?" Buffy demanded.

Willow looked at Buffy for a long terrible moment.  "Giles…..."

"He *is* dead?" Buffy cried.

Willow shook her head.  "He's…..he's….."

"Dying," Cordelia said in a flat tone.  "And not in a good way."

"I don't know that anyone dies in a good way," Buffy snapped.

"He's turning into one of them," Cordelia said, still in that even voice.  "He attacked Willow."  She pulled up one of Willow's sleeves.  Willow's forearm was bandaged and spotted with blood.  "It took both Angel and Wesley to get Giles off Willow.  They…..tied him to the bed and he kept screaming and screaming.  I don't know how you slept through it."

Willow began crying again.  Cordelia hugged her grimly to her.

"Where is Angel?"

"Doing some trip through the sewers to get a Rabbi that Wesley knows," Cordelia replied quietly.

Buffy wheeled around, found Wesley in the doorway, and said tightly, "Don't get in my way."

After a moment, he stepped aside.  Buffy stalked into Giles' bedroom and turned on the light.

"Oh Giles," she mumbled.

He was spread flat on top of the covers, eyes squeezed shut, and breathing that queer rapid panting.  His wrists and ankles, strung by ropes to the bedposts, were crusted with darkened blood.

She walked to the side of the bed and touched his face.  He felt wet, as though he'd been sweating, but his skin was icy.  She heard a step behind her.

"Can the Rabbi make the demon part go away?"

Wesley didn't answer.  Buffy finally looked over to him.

"I don't know," he said.  "Mr. Giles is more vampyr than human.  To go after Miss Rosenberg as he did….."  He quieted.

"Why didn't you phone this Rabbi?  Why send Angel?  He can't go in a temple."

"Angel's presence…..stirs Mr. Giles up."

Buffy sat on the edge of the bed, prompting a nervous twitch from Wesley.

"Don't get too close," he whispered.  He paused at the look she gave him.  "Come downstairs.  I'll make you some breakfast while we wait."

"I'm not hungry."

"I'll get you a glass of milk which you will drink," he said, trying to assert some scrap of authority.  At the doorway, he added, "And don't turn your back on him."

Trying to still that awful breathing, Buffy put her palm on Giles' chest.  "Giles….." she murmured.

Then she frowned, looking down at her hand.

He had no heartbeat.

Buffy pressed her fingers against his neck.  "Oh God," she mumbled in horror.

He reacted to her words, twisting painfully on the bed with a yank that opened a wound on one of his wrists and started it bleeding.  "Don't you dare do this!" Buffy cried softly.  "Do you know what I went through to get you?"

She startled, suddenly seeing that his eyes were open.  "Giles?"

The green eyes were so full of anguish she wanted to cry.  "Buffy?" he asked hoarsely.  "Where have you been?"

She hugged him fiercely, laying her cheek against his face.

"It's so cold," he said, shaking under her.  "Why is it so cold?"

There was a quilt on the floor.  Buffy grabbed it and wrapped it around him.  "It's going to be ok, Giles," she said.  "A Rabbi's coming.  He can cure this."

He tried to get his arms under the covers and cried out when the ropes cut into him.  Buffy untied one of his arms and glanced down to see such an expression of confusion on his face that her heart broke.  "It'll be ok," she said, laying a hand on his cheek for a moment before reaching across to his other wrist.

This rope was tighter.  He shuddered under her when her attempt to undo it caused more bleeding.  "Sorry," she said.

His free arm went around her, as if to brace himself.  "I don't know which one of them tied this," she started, then gasped as two sharp pricks went into her stomach.

Buffy tried to jump back but his arm around her pushed her into him again.  She looked down in bewilderment at his mouth pressed against her abdomen.  "Giles?"

He yanked her so hard she thought her back would snap.  The pain spiked as he chewed through her skin.

She lodged a knee into his chest and cuffed his head, freeing herself.  As she floundered backwards off the bed, he snatched vainly for her and yelled, "I'll take that DAMN SMILE off your face!"

She stared at him in terror, one hand pressed to her stomach, the other against the floor, trying to hold herself up.

Giles tore at the ropes in fury.  "Dirty fucking slut to spread your legs for everyone but me!" he screamed.

She could see the blood on his teeth, *her* blood.  "Oh God!" she sobbed.

Wesley rushed past her, a cross held aloft.  Giles smashed him with such vehemence that two legs of the bed lifted off the floor.  He raised his hand, preparing for another swipe and, in that moment when his attention was off her, Buffy rushed forward.  She grabbed his wrist and bent it towards the bedpost.  Wesley crawled up behind her with the rope and they tied Giles swiftly while he screeched at them from the mattress.

Buffy didn't dare look down at his face until the rope was secure.  When she did, he stilled and looked back at her.  The expression on his face was one of utter hatred.

"Giles?" she tried.

Her reply was a soft hiss.  Wesley took her arm and pulled her out the door, closing it behind them.  In the hallway were Willow and Cordelia, Willow crying anew and Cordelia still wearing a tight subdued mask.

"I *told* you not to untie him!" Wesley said angrily.

Buffy raised a fist.  Cordelia stalked in between them.  "Shut up," she told Wesley.

"Buffy, you're bleeding!" Willow cried.

A small stain darkened the front of Buffy's shirt.  She pressed a palm against it.  "When is that Rabbi going to get here?" she demanded.

Wesley raised a hand to his forehead and the gesture was so reminiscent of Giles that all three women cringed.  "Soon, I should think.  You three should leave."

"How do you plan to make us?" Cordelia retorted.

"And do you really want to stay here…..alone…..with him?" Willow asked.

"At least let's go downstairs," Wesley said to Buffy.  "And we'll tend to you."