__Invaded by Evil__
By Gibberish




      It watched her. She was beautiful. Grace in motion while she fought the vampires. She finished off the last vampire with a pithy remark. Then, as if she felt the inhuman eyes upon her, she looked around. It wanted her, craved her very essence, her power and it would have her. Soon, but how?


   Buffy's eyes were sharp as she made her way to Giles'. Something was there, she felt it, like icy fingers had taken hold of her spinal cord. She opened the door to Giles' and walked in. "It's still there." She announced dourly.

 Giles, who had been lounging on his couch with a book, sat up and looked at her, concerned. "Watching you?"

 "Yeah." Buffy said as she flopped onto the couch next to him. "It's so creepy. I'm not going to be able to hold back the wiggens much longer."

 "Perhaps you just have an admirer." Giles said hopefully.

 "It's not human." Buffy stated emphatically.

 "And?" Giles asked. Buffy glared at him. "Buffy, I just won't know how to help you until we find out what it is."

 "Great. I've got a supernatural stalker and you want formal introductions." Buffy said snidely.

 "Buffy." Giles said in a warning tone.

 "I'm sorry, Giles." Buffy said contritely. "It's just *really* starting to get to me." She looked at him with wide, frightened eyes. "What does it want?"

 "I don't know." Giles said gently.

 
   It watched from the window as the man took her into his arms for a moment of comfort. The man. That was how. It just had to wait for the right moment. So it watched.


   Giles was making tea some nights later. The 'stalker,' whatever it was, had rattled Buffy to the point where she stopped by every night after patrol. Sometimes, even before patrol. What was it? He was sorely tempted to join her on patrol.

 He nearly dropped the tea kettle when he felt it. A dark presence. He set the kettle down and whirled around. He didn't see it, at first. Then a gray, misty form took shape. "What are you?"

 "Don't you know, Watcher?" It asked in return.

 Giles very much feared that he did. "What do you want?" He tried to remain calm.

 "The same as you." It told him. "Her." It enveloped Giles in it's gray mist.


   When Buffy arrived a short time later, it was with a sense of relief. It hadn't followed her. "Giles." She called out semi cheerfully as she entered the apartment.

 She froze at the sight of Giles, his expression pained, backed against the wall as if something held him there. "Giles?!" She moved towards him, only to freeze again when she heard his voice.

 "No!" Giles fought the creature's control. "Run!" To force the words out was bitterly painful. "Must ... Buffy." He closed his eyes in pain.

 "I can't just leave you ..."

 "Now!" When Giles opened his eyes, she was still there, tears on her face, even closer than before. "Please?! Can't ... Don't want ... Hurt you." Every word was an agonizing struggle, but he knew what it wanted. "Run!"

 It was angry, but it had expended too much energy already. "You fool!" It hissed as it left the human's body. "We could have had her."

 Buffy didn't know what to do. Then, she saw Giles fall to the floor and the decision was made as she ran to him.

 Giles slumped to the floor as it forcefully left his body. "No." He said fiercely. "Can't have ..." He drifted into unconsciousness. <... My Buffy.>

 Buffy got Giles to the couch. She checked his pulse and breathing, both were slow, but steady. Then, she called Willow.

 
   Willow, Xander in tow, arrived within an hour. Willow went immediately to Giles and checked him over. Xander went to Buffy, who watched Giles from the chair. Her knees were tucked up to her chest, her arms tightly around her legs and her chin rested on her knees. She was curled up into a little Slayer ball, which frightened Xander more than Giles being out cold.

 Willow looked at Buffy. "What happened?" Buffy didn't answer. "Buffy, you have to tell me what happened."

 "He was possessed." A voice said from just inside the door. Two pairs of eyes swung to Ethan. Buffy continued to watch Giles.

 "Did you do this?" Xander asked angrily.

 "No." Ethan said calmly as he moved towards them.

 "Then, why are you here?" Buffy asked without taking her eyes from Giles.

 "I felt it." Ethan said as he, too, looked at Giles. He knew that even though she wasn't looking at him, she knew exactly where to strike should she decide to. "You could say that dark power calls to me. That ... Thing is very powerful, but much too dark for my tastes."

 "What is it?" Buffy asked.

 "An extremely malevolent incubus." Ethan told her.

 "As opposed to a good incubus?" Xander asked uncertainly. "What's an incubus?"

 "Most incubi, and succubi for that matter, merely are." Ethan explained. "They are neither good nor evil. They inhabit the dream realm. They siphon the energy they need that way. The person wakes up, curses a bad night's rest and they never know what truly happened. All they remember is a rather intense sexual dream."

 "Sexual ... What?" Xander asked.

 "This one feeds off the real thing." Ethan ignored the boy and went on. "The act itself. It seems to fixated on Rupert."

 "He said it was after me." Buffy said in a small, quiet voice.

 "Bloody hell." Ethan muttered the swear. "It must be using Rupert's body as the siphon, but why?"

 "How do I kill it?" Buffy asked.

 "You can't." Ethan told her. "There are spells, but by the time a spell could effect it, it would have killed Rupert. That thing has incredible power."

 "Maybe we can distract it." Willow suggested.

 Ethan shook his head. "The only way to distract it, is to give it what it wants. I'll admit, I've done some magick that's involved sex, so has Ripper for that matter, but never forced."

 "Can you do the magick?" Buffy asked.

 "I know a spell, but it won't do any good unless ..." Ethan's eyes widened as comprehension dawned. "You're out of your bloody mind." Ethan told her. "Do you know what that thing would do to you? Killing you would be the least of it."

 Buffy moved and knelt on the floor by Giles. "If he keeps fighting it, it'll kill *him*." She gently touched Giles' cheek. "Better me than him."

 "Buff ..." Xander began.

 Buffy looked at Ethan. "Can you do it?"

 "Ripper'd kill me if something happened to you." Ethan said, but there was something in her eyes. A plea that he'd never seen there before. "I can do it." He said giving in.

 "Can't you do it without getting either of them killed?" Xander asked. Ethan looked doubtful. "I can try."


   Ethan sent Willow and Xander after supplies first thing the next morning. Giles still hadn't woken up. Ethan ushered Buffy into the kitchen. "We need to talk."

 "About what?" Buffy asked confused.

 "Are you certain that you know what you're doing?" Ethan asked. "I mean, really? How's he going to feel about you trading your life for his?"

 "I'm hoping it doesn't come to that, but at least he'd be alive." Buffy said softly.

 "At what cost?" Ethan asked gently.

 "I'm the Slayer, Ethan." Buffy told him. "That's my destiny, remember? Giles knows that. He was prepared for that before he ever even met me."

 "That's probably true." Ethan conceded. "But, what about after he met you? Do really think he's going to see it as simple as you being the Slayer? You're *his* Slayer, *his* Buffy. This isn't about duty, you and I both know that, so let's not pretend."

 "I won't let him die." Buffy whispered. "I can't ... I can't do this without him. He'll be okay without me, maybe even be happy again."

 "Do you really think so? I'm not so certain. Especially ... Have you thought about what you're asking him to live with?"

 "I just want him to live." Buffy nearly wailed.

 "I understand that." Ethan said somewhat surprised by her outcry. "But he'll have to go on with his last memory of you being ... Well, ... Essentially, it will be of him raping you."

 "No." Buffy said vehemently. "That is not ..."

 "That's how he'll see it, don't kid yourself." Ethan said bluntly. "Buffy, ..." He went on more gently.

 "No, Ethan." Buffy said "You can't let him think that. You make sure he knows that it was what I wanted. I don't care what you tell him, but you can't let him believe that."

 "Yes, well, Ripper doesn't very much listen to me, now does he?" Ethan reminded her drolly. "Believe me, I wish he did."

 "Damn you, Ethan." Buffy cried. "Just make him all right. He has to be all right. He has to." She left the kitchen and went back to sit by Giles. Ethan watched in shock as she did so. "How the hell does he do that?"


   Buffy knelt down next to the couch and looked at Giles. "I don't know if you can hear me, Giles." She spoke softly. "But I wanted to tell you something." She wiped her cheeks. "I don't know what's going to happen, but I wanted it this way. Even though it won't really be you, it's okay. Don't ... Don't blame yourself, okay? I have to stop it. We'll pretend it's you, not it, and it'll be all right. No matter what happens, I love you, Giles. Remember that." She leaned down and kissed his cheek. Ethan watched bemused. "What a pair of bloody fools." He muttered.

 
   In the bathroom; Willow watched as Ethan set up for the spell that they would perform later. He'd explained to them that the incubus couldn't know that they were there, it would only put Buffy and Giles in more danger. So, they stayed out of sight in case Giles woke up.

 Unlike Xander, Willow understood just what Buffy would have to do to keep the incubus distracted long enough for them to finish the spell. "Will the spell kill it?" She asked Ethan.

 "Not in the literal sense." Ethan told her. "It will banish it, effectively trapping it in another dimension." He explained.

 "And Giles?" Willow asked. "Will it hurt him?"

 "The spell?" Ethan asked in return. "No. No, the incubus might hurt him. I think, though, that Ripper's real pain will come after ... He'll remember what happened, you know? He'll know what that thing used his body for, what it did to her."

 Willow looked away. "I-I hope he can live with it."

 "So do I." Ethan responded. "I wish I knew another way."

 "You really do, don't you?" Willow asked, surprised and confused by that.

 "I know." Ethan said in understanding. "You can't quite figure it, can you? I've hurt him, both of them really, myself. So, why? Simple. It's the only way to bring out the old Ripper anymore. I miss him. As for Buffy ... Well, when she's angry, she reminds me more than bit of Ripper. I quite like her."

 Willow shook her head at him. In a twisted sort of Hellmouth way, it made sense.

 "Once the spell has been completed, it could still take a minute for it to effect the incubus." Ethan told her. "Especially with us being so far away."

 Willow took a deep breath. "I'll have the first aid kit ready." She said, trying to sound practical.

 "That's a girl." Ethan said in approval.

 Xander poked his head in the door to check on them, then moved off.

 "He should be prepared." Ethan told her. "We can't chance him ... He needs to be made aware of what could take place tonight."

 Willow nodded and moved to follow Xander. She stopped at the door and turned back to Ethan. "What about Buffy?"

 Ethan met her eyes. "I just don't know." He said uncommonly honest. "She is the Slayer." He said optimistically.

 Willow didn't say anything more as she left the room.


   Buffy had gone home for a short while to shower and change. When she returned, she had on a light summer dress. Xander's first instinct was to make a smart remark about distracting the incubus, but he just didn't have it in him. Not after the talk he'd had with Willow.

 Buffy went straight to Giles and checked on him, before she went to Xander in the kitchen. "Can I talk to you?" She asked.

 "Sure, Buff." Xander said calmly, although inside, he screamed in panic. He knew it wasn't good.

 "Don't be so eager." Buffy said to him. "I'm about to ask heavy duty favors."

 "I'll do my best." Xander assured her.

 Buffy smiled at him. "They're biggies." She warned him. "If I don't ... I don't want him to see me. Not here. Not where he found ..." She looked down.

"D-don't let him see me."

 Xander swallowed with difficulty, but he nodded. "I promise."

 "You can't leave him alone." Buffy whispered. "Make sure he understands. Tell him I ... Tell him I love him. I-I never ... H-he ..."

 Xander took her into his arms as she cried. "He knows, Buff. He knows."

 When she calmed, she went to her bag and retrieved two envelopes. She brought them to Xander. "For Giles. A-and Mom."


   Ethan, Willow and Xander locked themselves in the bathroom as the sun went down. They were ready, except for the incubus' appearance. Ethan glanced at Willow, then gave Xander a rather hard look. "Under no circumstances are you to leave this room. Either of you. Until I say."

 "We understand." Willow told him.

 "Do you?" Ethan asked. "Do you really? It's going to hurt them. You can't help them, no matter what you hear. If you go out there, all you will succeed in doing is getting them both very painfully dead. Possibly us as well. The magick is the only way."

 "Just make damn sure it works." Xander said with a hard look of his own as he fingered the two letters in his pocket.


   Buffy felt it enter the apartment and fought the urge to run. Behind her, she heard Giles get to his feet and turned to face him.

 Giles' face was anguished when he saw her. "Buffy?" He couldn't stop it from moving him toward her.

 Buffy watched him. It was stronger. "Something's been snacking." She said to it.

 "What are you doing, Buffy?" Giles asked her as the incubus forced him to roughly grab her shoulders and pull her flush up against him.

 "I can't hurt you, Giles." Buffy told him as she gently touched his cheek.

 "You don't know ..." Giles began.

 "I know." Buffy said softly. "It's okay." It forced her back against the wall, hard. She met his eyes. "It's you. It's okay." She said again.

 All Giles could do was watch and feel as, through him, it ripped the thin straps of her dress and it fell to pool at her feet. She didn't even flinch.

"Fight, Buffy."

 Buffy shook her head as his hands roughly cupped her breasts and pressed forcefully against her. She wrapped her arms around him tightly. "I love you, Giles."

 It forced his hands over every part of her, tearing her panties from her in the process. Then it tore his own clothes off. His eyes raked her body, then he grabbed her and threw her to the floor. She knocked the coffee table over on the way down.


   Xander winced when another crash came from the other room. He glared at Ethan, but the older man's eyes were closed as he chanted in what Xander was fairly certain was Latin. Willow threw pinches of the mixture that Ethan had concocted earlier, into the flames between them, so that the flames flashed and snapped.

 When yet another loud crash was heard, Xander began to pray, to whatever god or goddess that would listen, in a way that he hadn't in a very long time.

 Ethan finished chanting, grabbed a handful of the mixture and tossed them into the flames. The fire flared up and then burned itself out. Ethan took a deep breath and waited.


   Buffy's eyes were locked with Giles' as his body thrust painfully into hers. His eyes were him, they were all she had to focus on. They were the only thing that made it bearable.

 In Buffy's eyes, Giles saw her love and was awed, even as it terrified him. Would she still be able to meet his eyes when this was over?


   "What the hell is taking so long?" Xander asked Ethan angrily. He glared at Ethan and grabbed a handful of his shirt in a threatening manner.

 "Look who wants be a little Ripper." Ethan said calmly, although the boy did look a bit like Ripper at that moment.

 Xander pulled back his fist only for it to be caught by Willow. "Stop it, Xander." She said quietly.

 "But, Will ..." Xander began.

 "No, Xander." Willow said with the frightened version of her resolve face. "Just ... Don't." She let go of his arm and turned away.

 "It's not like he's never lied before, Will." Xander pointed out.

 "It'll work." Willow whispered. "It has to."

 A scream came from the living room. "No!" Giles' hoarse cry followed. More screaming and the sounds of furniture breaking echoed through the apartment. "Buffy!"

 Willow started to shake and Xander wrapped his arms around her as she covered her ears.

 Ethan watched the boy rock his friend in an attempt to comfort. He was surprised by how much it bothered him to see them like that. Xander's hands came up to cover Willow's over her ears to try to keep her from hearing the cacophony of agonizing sounds that came from the other room.

 Suddenly, the noises stopped. After a minute, Willow and Xander both turned to Ethan hopefully. Just as they moved to the door, noises could once again be heard. Ethan listened carefully, then bit back a grin as he turned away from the other two.


   Giles collapsed atop Buffy when the incubus left his body. He pushed himself up onto his elbows and gently touched Buffy's cheek with one hand.

"Buffy?" He asked frightened. She was still and her eyes were closed.

 Buffy blinked open her eyes and looked up at him. "G-Giles?" She said his name tearfully.

 "It's gone. Are you all right?" Giles asked. He became aware that he was still inside of her and moved to pull away.

 Buffy felt him start to move and wrapped her arms around him tightly. "No, please, don't let go."

 "B-Buffy? Giles asked hesitantly. He didn't understand. Since the incubus didn't get what it wanted, he was still erect, still inside of her and it was becoming increasingly difficult not to move.

 Buffy met his eyes. "I don't ... Giles, I need ... You have to make it okay."

 Giles was at a loss. "What? How?"

 "It wasn't you." Buffy told him. She wasn't altogether certain that she was making sense. She didn't know how to explain. She needed to *know* that it wasn't him. She needed him to show her. "You wouldn't hurt me." The comment was almost a question.

 Giles thought he understood, but couldn't quite believe what she was asking him. "No, Buffy, I wouldn't hurt you." He said softly. Buffy's eyes pleaded with his. Giles leaned down and kissed her gently.


   In the bathroom, Willow and Xander kept looking at each other, then at Ethan's back. The sounds that came from the other room weren't the same as before. "What happened?" Xander finally asked.

 "Shouldn't the incubus be gone by now?" Willow asked.

 Ethan turned and faced them with a naughty grin. "Such innocence. The incubus has been gone for a good ten minutes, Luv."

 "Then what ..." Willow's eyes widened. "Oh."

 "What?" Xander asked.

 
   It had been a week since they had banished the incubus. Buffy hadn't seen Giles in that time. Her Mom, to whom Buffy had been unable to explain what had happened, was finally letting her out of the house again. Without an excuse, Buffy went to face Giles. She just hoped that he'd see her. She worried, he hadn't been to see her while her Mom had forced her to rest and recover. She took a deep breath and knocked on Giles' door.


   Giles had slept, nearly continuously, for two days after they had banished the incubus. Willow and Xander had both been by, but he'd been afraid to ask why Buffy had not.

 Ethan had stayed the first day and the first time Giles had woken up Ethan had initiated one of their oddest discussions. Ethan had aimed quite a few 'bloody idiot's and 'blind fool's Giles' way and made certain that Giles understood that Buffy
had known exactly what she had been doing and had, in fact, expected to die. For him. The knowledge chilled Giles to the soul. It also made him wonder, could Buffy live with what had happened?  What were they to do?

 The knock on the door startled him out of his reverie. He put down the book that he had meant to be reading and rose from the couch. He opened the door and found Buffy.  Shock held him still for a moment before he moved so that she could enter. He closed the door absently once she was inside. "Buffy, h-how are you?" He asked haltingly.

 "Is this a bad time?" Buffy asked worriedly.

 "No." Giles said quickly as he ushered her to the couch.

 "W-Will said that you were sleeping a lot." Buffy said, not quite meeting his eyes. "Do you feel better?"

 "Somewhat." Giles told her. "Still going to b-bed early." He swallowed. "Buffy, I-I was worried about you."

 Buffy shrugged. "Mom wouldn't let me out of the house. I c-couldn't tell her ... She called it rest and recovery time. I thought of it more as house arrest." She gave him a fleeting smile. "Didn't the guys tell you?"

 "Well, uh, no." Giles said. "I didn't ask. I was afraid ..."

 "That I just didn't want to see you." Buffy said in understanding. "That's why you didn't come to see me."

 "I wasn't certain that you would want me to." Giles told her. "After what I ..."

 Buffy wrapped her arms around herself. "Do you mean what the incubus did, or after?"

 "Both, actually." Giles said. "I hurt you, Buffy."

 "No, it hurt me." Buffy replied. "After ... I can't explain why, but I needed ..." She took a breath. "You."

 "Ethan yelled at me before he left." Giles told her.

 "That was awfully brave of him." Buffy said confused by what seemed to be a change of subject.

 "He called me a fool." Giles told her. "Buffy, can you ... Can we go on from this? I'd understand if you ..."

 "You can't stand to be near me, can you?" Buffy asked in a whisper.

 "What?" Giles asked blankly. "Buffy, what I did to you ..."

 "You mean when you showed me what it should have been like?" Buffy asked. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have ... But I needed ... I couldn't let what that *thing* did be ... I wanted the memory of *you*."

 "Ethan's right, I am a fool." Giles said sadly. "You thought it would kill you." He hoped that she would deny it, but she nodded. "Oh, Buffy. How can you even look at me?"

 Oddly, that was when Buffy did finally look at him.  "Because I love you, Giles." She said simply. His eyes shot to hers. "I know we don't talk about it. I know that talking about feelings gives you the wig, but I need you to know."

 "I don't know what you want, Buffy." Giles said, very confused.

 "I want to live to be a hundred and three, but I don't think there's much you can do about that." Buffy told him. She met his eyes. "I don't ever want to feel like that again. Like I was gonna lose you. I love you, Giles, but more than anything, I need you. Even if it's only the way it's always been." She finished on a whisper.

 Giles reached out and touched her cheek. "Do you have any idea just how much I love you?" When she just continued to look at him, even as she leaned into his touch, he went on. "I was so afraid that you would hate me. That you would ... Want me to leave."

 "You can't leave me. I can't do this alone." Buffy whispered.

 Giles simply took her into his arms and held her to him. "Never alone."


* * *