__Out of the Darkness__
By Gibberish



        Giles walked right into Buffy's room at the hospital. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?"

 Buffy didn't even look up from the bag she was packing. "Getting out of here."

 "It's only been two days, Buffy." Giles said gently. Two days since she'd looked up at him and told him that she was going to die, again.

 "I'm vulnerable here, Giles." Buffy told him. "You know that."

 "You're not well enough." Giles pointed out her shaking hands.

 "Well enough to stake a vamp last night." Buffy told him.

 "What?!" Giles exclaimed. "Where the hell was Xander?"

 "Bathroom." Buffy told him. "I can't stay here, Giles. At least at Mom's, they can't come in." She finally looked at him. "Xander would protect me with his life, but I don't want him to." She sat, carefully, on the bed.

 "All right." Giles agreed. "But I can't let you put your Mother in danger. Why don't you ... Why don't you stay with me?" He asked, but couldn't quite meet her eyes.

 "Why, Giles, I'm flattered." Buffy teased him. She actually enjoyed the glare accompanied by the blush. Then, her grin faded. "What about Olivia?" She asked quietly.

 Giles looked away and moved to stand by the window. "Olivia is no longer an issue." His voice just as quiet.

 "What happened?" Buffy asked. "Oh, God. Was it me?" She asked, horrified.

 "No." Giles said calmly, however, he continued to look out the window.

 "It *was* me." Buffy said sadly. "I'm sorry, Giles."

 Giles did look at her, then. "It was *not* you." He told her sternly. "It was me. And Olivia. It just didn't work." He met her sad eyes, his own held pain and apology. "She knew that you were here." He whispered. "She didn't tell me, deliberately kept the knowledge from me."

 Buffy looked down. How many times had she done something just like that? Way too many. "Giles, I ..."

 But Giles wasn't in the same place as Buffy. "What if I'd lost you? I'd have never forgiven myself if I had come back and you'd been ..." He couldn't finish the thought. "Four messages about you and she threw them all away. She didn't want to be bothered."

 "She was afraid." Buffy said simply.

 "Terrified." Giles agreed.

 "Can you blame her?" Buffy asked cautiously.

 "No." Giles said simply, softly. "I understood the fear, truly I did, but ... To keep those messages from me."

 "She doesn't understand, Giles." Buffy pointed out. "How could she?"

 How could she, indeed? Giles thought. <How could Olivia understand my relationship with Buffy, when I don't?>

 "All right, I'll stay with you." Buffy said. "But Mom's not going to like
it."


   At Giles'; Joyce, in the chair, looked from where Buffy was ensconced on the couch to where Giles sat on the arm of the couch at Buffy's feet.

"Explain to me again why Buffy would be better off here, than at home."

 "Joyce," Giles began as calmly as he could manage. "Buffy isn't completely up to defending herself, let alone someone else. She would be putting you in danger."

 "You don't think I can protect Buffy?" Joyce asked sadly.

 "Do you?" Giles asked, gently, in return.

 "I know that I'm no strategist, but if the vampires are after you both, then aren't you making it easier for them." Joyce commented.

 Giles raised his brows at Joyce's words, she'd come a long way. "It may seem that way, but I assure you, it isn't as simple as that."

  "Mom, I don't want you in danger." Buffy told her. "Anymore danger than you're in just by living in Sunnydale."

 "Who's going to take care of you?" Joyce asked.

 "Mom," Buffy said gently. "Giles has taken care of me before. Injuries, he knows. Chicken and Stars, not his forte." She grinned at her Mom.

 Joyce didn't even try to hold back the small smile. "I'll bring you some for lunch tomorrow."

 "Ooh, bonus." Buffy said. "Yay me."

 Joyce shook her head as she stood. She looked at Giles. "Are you sure?"

 "As sure as I can be." Giles assured her as he stood as well.

 Joyce nodded her acceptance. She bent over and kissed Buffy on the forehead. "Try not to run him ragged."

 "Be careful, Mom." Buffy said to her.

 Giles led Joyce to the door and saw her out. When he turned from the door, he met Buffy's serious eyes. "Already taken care of. She should be all right during the day and I've already arranged for Spike to keep guard at night. Oddly, he didn't put up much of an argument."

 "He likes Mom." Buffy explained. "Of course, I think he likes Mom's hot chocolate more."

 "Well, are you hungry?" Giles asked. "I don't have Chicken and Stars, but I think I could manage something."

 "That's okay." Buffy told him. "I haven't much cared for Chicken and Stars in years. I just can't bring myself to tell Mom." She tilted her head at his smile. "Maybe toast. And juice, if you have any."

 "Orange juice?" Giles asked on his way to the kitchen. He saw her nod before she laid her head back and closed her eyes. "The others will be here in a bit for research. The Caulter Stone itself is well known in arcane circles, but I have no idea why vampires would want it."

 "What do you know about it?" Buffy asked.

 "It's a large crystal." Giles explained. "About the size of a goose egg. It's believed to have incredible power, but no one seems to know what that power is. There seems to be no account of what it actually does. It has to be in the hands of the right person, or it does nothing."

 Buffy grinned. "Are you saying that it only performs in the right hands?"

 Giles tried to glower at her, but couldn't pull it off. "I suppose that rules out the teenage contingent."

 "Hey." Buffy protested. "Teenage boys, maybe." She muttered.

 "I heard that." Giles said mildly.

 "Good." Buffy returned. Giles came back in with the toast and juice. "If no one knows what it does, or if it actually does anything, why do the vamps want it?"

 "Perhaps they know what it can do." Giles told her.

 "If you don't know, how could they?" Buffy asked seriously. She took a bite of toast as Giles sat in the chair.

 Giles smiled at her comment. "What I don't understand, is what we have to do with it. Why would they draw attention to themselves by attacking you? It seems counterproductive."

 "Who's going to make it work?" Buffy asked.

 Willow was the first to arrive, with Tara. Then, Xander and Anya. They each grabbed a book and sat down.

 "I've heard of the Caulter Stone." Tara said.  "I-I thought it didn't do anything."

 "It does stuff." Anya said.

 Giles looked at her sharply. "You've seen it?"

 "Well, yeah." Anya answered. "I thought it disappeared."

 "Anya, what did you see?" Buffy asked.

 "Oh. A sorcerer by the name of Caulter." Anya said. "Around 1258. I was in Ireland cursing a ..." She saw their looks. "Nevermind. Anyway, before that, it was just called the Black Stone, its a smokey quartz. He's the one that made certain that not just anybody could use it. For the power to work you have to be a descendent. When he died, it disappeared for a couple of centuries. Turned up again in Scotland. Last time I heard of anyone using it, successfully anyway, was 1532."

 "And you didn't tell us any of this before, because ...?" Buffy asked.|

 "You didn't ask." Anya said simply.

 "Do you know anything else?" Giles asked.

 "It's original power is said to come from the Druids." Anya said. "I don't know if that's true."

 "Anya," Buffy said carefully. "What does it do?"

 "Pretty much whatever you want." Anya told her. "Caulter stopped time."

 "Stopped time?" Willow echoed. "How do you stop time?"

 "How do you know he stopped time?" Giles asked.

 "As a demon, I existed outside of time." Anya explained. "I don't know the incantation he used, but time stopped. Froze. Whatever. The world was lucky that Caulter was a good man. For a man."

 "What did he do?" Buffy asked. "Why did he stop time?"

 "To stop a clan war." Anya told him. "I've never seen his equal in magick. His power was ... I can't describe it. You could feel it from miles away. Some believe that he was Merlin."

 "*The* Merlin?" Xander asked. "As in King Arthur? Round Table? *That* Merlin?"

 "Merlin." Giles breathed.

 "I thought Merlin was a myth." Xander commented.

 "Never say that to an Englishman, Xander." Giles told him. "What happened to him? Caulter, that is."

 Anya shrugged. "No one knows. He simply disappeared. The village claimed that he died."

 "Could he have been a Watcher?" Buffy asked, more calmly than she felt. Giles looked at her startled.

 "Not when I knew him." Anya answered. "But I guess he could have been at some other time."

 "Do they have the Stone or are they looking for it?" Buffy asked.

 "Why would they announce their presence to Buffy?" Willow asked. "Try to kill her?"

 "She's the Slayer." Xander pointed out.

 "What if she's a descendent?" Tara asked.

 "They wouldn't want her to have that kind of power." Anya said.

 "That makes a certain amount of sense." Giles commented.

 "No." Buffy said distractedly. "They need Giles. He's the descendent." They were all looking at her oddly. "No, think about it. If they just wanted me dead, why would they need Giles. They just needed me out of the way. They want him to help them use the Stone."

 "I wouldn't cooperate." Giles said emphatically. "They must know that."

 Buffy met Giles' eyes as she spoke. "Anya, is there anything that says that the user of the Stone has to be alive?" She saw Giles' eyes widen as the implication sank in.

 "No." Anya answered, thoughtfully.

 "My guess is that they already have the Stone." Buffy said. "They just need Giles to use it."

 "This is bad, isn't it?" Xander asked.

 "We don't know that Buffy's theory is correct." Giles pointed out.

 "Do you have a better theory?" Buffy asked.

 "Well, no." Giles responded. "But that doesn't make yours correct. It could just as easily be you that's the descendent."

 "Then why would they need you?" Buffy asked. "They referred to you by name. What does that say to you?"

 "This is bad." Xander said, answering his own question. "What do we do?"

 "If I were at full strength, I'd get the Stone from them." Buffy sad distracted. "We have to keep them away from Giles."

 "You really don't want them to have that kind of power." Anya said.

 Buffy glared at her. "I was thinking more along the lines of Giles being dead was a very bad thing."

 "Yeah, there's that, too." Anya agreed.




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