Title: Explosion 2/7
Author: Jadedragon
Email: blm55@bellsouth.net
Pairing: Buffy/Giles
Rating: PG 13
Disclaimer: The characters from BVTS don't belong to me (sigh), they are the property of Joss, the WB, UPN and Mutant Enemy. I'm just playing with them for a while.
Summary: Giles is trapped in a warehouse when it explodes and believed to be dead.
Feedback: I'd love to know what you think. If you disagree with something I would like to hear it, small flames okay, but bonfires are not appreciated.
Notes: <> denotes thoughts

The mountains were misty and cold on this early autumn morning, just hours before sunrise. The rain, which had started earlier, was now coming down harder, making it a rather miserable to be out. The mountain was quiet. The sounds of the rain hitting the leaves and rocks, the only sounds to be heard, this far from civilization. The deep darkness of the night was suddenly broken, by a flash and a man falling from a rift, hitting the rocky ground, the loud sound destroying the stillness of the rain on the mountain.

Slowly he became aware and conscious of his surroundings. He hurt dreadfully. It even hurt to breathe. He felt the icy rain on his skin and knew he needed to try and find shelter, but he had no energy. He made an attempt to get up, and realized his left arm was broken when he almost passed out from the pain. He was lying on a rocky hill, rain pouring and chilling him. He knew if he didn't get to shelter soon, he'd go into shock. What had happened? His clothes were in tatters and there were burn marks on his torso and legs and he felt cuts and bruises all over his body. Nothing looked familiar, and it was cold, so cold.

He forced himself up and stumbled toward the top of the hill. It took him only a few minutes to reach the summit, but it seemed like an hour. When he finally made it to the top, he looked around and saw a cabin nearby, with smoke coming from its chimney. Slowly he made his way toward the cabin. He felt like he was trying to move through quicksand, and his feet felt like he was wearing lead shoes. He was so weak. He had to make it to the cabin; had to get help. He staggered toward the small cabin, his pace slow as it hurt so much to move, only his will made him continue. He was finally within five feet of the cabin when someone opened the door and a large dog stood by the shape in the doorway, barking.

"Help me!" he begged before he collapsed onto the rocky wet ground.

**********

Warmth. He was lying in a bed near a fire and could feel that his clothes had been removed and he only had on his boxers. His arm had been set and his wounds cared for, but his head was on fire, it hurt so badly. He couldn't help the groan that escaped when he moved.

"Finally awake? You're in pretty bad shape. What are you doing alone in the mountains?" asked a woman dressed in jeans, a sweater and moccasins, her long brownish gray hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"I-I don't know. Where am I?" the man answered.

"You're in the Olympia Mountains on Stone Bluff." she answered him.

"W-where's that?"

"Oregon. I'm Callie. What's your name?" the woman asked him speaking slowly.

"Callie, I'm...I don't know who I am." he told her with a surprised expression on his face.

"Well, you're English, that much is clear. Also there is the aura of magick about you, strong magick were you casting?"

"C-casting? I-I don't know. Callie, w-what happened? How did I get here?" he asked her in a confused and fearful voice.

"Shh. We'll figure that out later. Now the important thing is to get you well. I've set your arm and cleaned your other wounds. I don't have any plaster here and will have to go into town tomorrow and get some, so I can put a cast on your arm. The breaks were simple and easily set. I'm a R.N. and have experience with trauma patients. You should be fine. Your clothes were rags and I tossed them," she told the man in her bed.

Callie was concerned. A stranger who reeked of magick suddenly appears on the bluff? Who was he? Was he connected with the people who had tormented her early in her life? One thing for sure, he couldn't hurt her at the moment, it would be several days, probably a week before he was back to his full strength.

"Why can't I remember who I am?"

"I don't know. There was no significant head trauma that I could discern, so your loss of memory must be a reaction to something else, maybe a reaction to the events that led to whatever spell you were involved in."

"Did I have any identification?" he asked her wanting to know who he was.

"No, the only things you had on you were crosses, stakes and a set of keys."

"Why would I have crosses and stakes?"

"The only reason I know of would be to kill vampires, but we don't have that trouble here, too sparse a population," she told him, deciding to tell him the truth to see if there was any sort of reaction from him. "But that can wait until later, now I've got stew cooking and I want you to eat, then go back to sleep. I want to back track and see if I can tell where you came from. Later, I'll to into town and gather some supplies and get you some clothes. I have a friend who can help me determine what spell was used and see what we can discover about it. She may be able to help us to discover who you are."

When he tried to ask her more questions, she deferred him, telling him he needed rest now more than answers. As soon as it was hot, she gave him a bowl of stew, which he quickly consumed. Once he had finished the stew, she turned the lights out and he was soon asleep. He dreamt of a beautiful young girl who was fighting a vampire. After she killed it, she came to him and kissed him very passionately, telling him she loved him.

**********

Callie looked at the stranger sleeping in her bed. He would be a handsome man again, once the burns and cuts healed. She needed to trust her instincts about him. He was a lost soul, who needed help. She would help him as she had been helped years before, when she had first met Sunshine and later when they had come to the mountains. She wasn't concerned about his wounds, they appeared to have been caused by debris falling, the cuts had been mostly shallow, only the burns and the broken arm were more serious and even those were easily cared for. But his memory, that could be a problem. Having been a nurse for over twenty years, she knew that most amnesia victims regained their memory usually within a couple of weeks. She would just have to take care of him and find what he could do.

He had a cultured British accent, she would guess from the way he spoke, that he had an Oxford education; but the stakes and crosses, that was strange. Not too many people knew about the reality of vampires and of those not many would have the strength and stamina to fight and kill one with a stake, she preferred a crossbow when there had been reason to carry one. She had done her share of fighting demons in her younger days, before she had moved into the mountains and found the pleasure in the simple things of life.

As soon as the rain had ended, she took Bo, her blue Doberman, and went to see if she could find out how her guest had arrived on Stone Mountain. The rain had washed any scent that Bo could have followed, but she could see where the man had stumbled over rocks and weeds, making a path from where he had come from. It was not long before she came to the end of the path, just over a small rise about 150 yards from her cabin. It appeared that he had been lying on the rocks and scrub, before getting to his feet and making his way to her home. There were remnants of his burned and torn clothing where he had been lying. It was as if he had appeared in that spot and the aura of magick was still strong there, very strong. She would definitely go and see if Sunshine could come up to her cabin. Sun had much more experience with magick and would know more what type of spell was lingering about the site where her guest had appeared.

The stranger was still asleep when she got back to her cabin. Rather than waiting for him to wake, she left him a note telling him she was going into town for supplies and would return in three to four hours. She left more stew where he could find it and a set of sweats next to his bed for him. She again speculated where he had come from and who he was as she drove to Tolley, the small town at the base of the mountain. From the smell of sulfur in the remnants of his clothes, she would guess that he had been in an explosion and from the magicks, that she was sensitive to, her guess was that a translocation spell of some sort had been involved in bringing him here. Could he have used such a spell to escape from the authorities or from some catastrophe? She would just have to bide her time and help him as best she could until his memory began to return.

Callie knew that he was a good man she could see that in his aura, but there were dark elements in his aura, also. He was a very complicated man who had lived many roles in his life, playing different roles at the same time. He was a puzzle, one that she had to figure out and piece back together.

It took her 45 minutes to arrive in Tolley. Once she was there, she got the supplies she needed and then went to visit Karl Logan, the sheriff and her friend of 15 years. When she arrived, Callie told him about the stranger, knowing that he would be discreet and help her in trying to find his identity. Also, Karl was almost the same size as her unexpected guest and he would have clothing to fit him, not making it necessary for her to buy men's clothing, thereby starting gossip in the small mountain town. Karl went with her to the home he shared with Sunshine Lindy, the only person fully trained in magick in the area and Callie's dearest friend. Sun was in her garden, gathering herbs which she would dry inside her greenhouse, as the weather this time of year was too wet to try to dry anything outdoors. As they approached, Sun spotted them and met them at the gate giving Callie a big hug.

"Callie, it's good to see you. I missed you last month, while I was out of town and haven't had the chance to come up to see you." she told her best friend.

"Sun, it's good to see you, too. I need your help. You are much more familiar with magicks than I..."

"This sounds serious. Let me get these herbs inside and we'll sit down with a cup of tea." Sun told her as she headed to the greenhouse to lay down the herbs before walking to her house at the other end of the garden. Karl left them to gather some clothes for Callie to take for her guest. Callie joined Sun at the table as the water boiled for tea. She told her friend of the stranger and how he had appeared at her house several hours before dawn.

"He has no memory of how he got to your cabin?"

"He walked from the spot where he woke up and his clothes were singed. He was cut and bruised all over his body and his left arm was broken in two places. I sensed magick about him and his aura was full of pain. This morning before I left I read his aura again. He seems to be a very complicated man with many secrets. He is a good man with many dark elements which he has overcome on his life's path."

"I think I need to go home with you and meet this man."

Callie smiled. "I was hoping that you would say that. I wanted to get your help in trying to discover where he might have come from. Someone is probably looking for him. In his sleep, he called for `Buffy', whether that is his wife, girlfriend, daughter, lover, whatever, she will want to know that he is here and okay. Also, I am concerned that the only items he carried were crosses, stakes and a set of keys."

"Stakes?" Sun asked her friend with fear and concern in her face.

"Stakes. Wherever he is from, there must be vampires. It must be an area more heavily populated than here."

"Callie, are you prepared to deal with this? You have put your past behind you. It took you a long time to make peace with yourself," her friend told her, the worry she felt written on her face.

"Sunshine, when I met you, I was a wreck and I wouldn't still be here if not for your help. You gave me back my life and helped me to find the peace I had never known. I'm not that person anymore; I'm stronger. I have a real purpose and a real life. If I can help him to find his life, or help him to find a new one, I will be repaying all the help that you gave me all those years ago."

"I just wanted you to realize just what you might be getting into, what memories this might bring up."

"I know, but he showed up here for a reason and this is something I have to face. Are you going with me or will you follow me later?"

"I'll go with you. Let me tell Karl and I will ride with you in your truck. He can come and pick me up in a couple of days or sooner if he gets any information on your guest."

Karl entered the kitchen handing an overnight bag to Callie. "I packed three changes of clothes for him. If you need anything else, let me know," he told her.

"Karl, I'm going with Callie to see if I can help her find out more about this man."

"Sort of thought that you would, Sun. Just be careful and let me know what you find," Karl told the woman he had spent the last 14 years of his life with. He still loved her as much or more than he did when they had first met. He had been blessed when she had come into his life.

After Karl had left to get back to the station, Sun went to pack her clothes and the herbs she would need to try and locate where the mysterious man had come from. They were back at Callie's cabin by 1:00 and her visitor sitting in a chair in the sun. After introducing Sun to her guest, Callie went about getting lunch for all three of them.

"Hi, how are you feeling?" Callie asked him.

"My head and arm hurts, but other than that, I feel quite well," he told her, the hesitancy in his voice gone.

"Have you remembered anything?"

"No, but I had a strange dream last night. Do you remember finding the stakes in my pockets and telling me that they were used to kill vampires?" he asked her.

"Yes."

"Well I dreamed of a young girl who killed a vampire with a stake. She then came to me, kissed me and told me she loved me. She looked so familiar. I wonder who she was?" he asked, confusion on his face.

"In your sleep you called out the name `Buffy'. Could that be her name?" Callie questioned.

"Buffy? I don't know, it might be, that does sound familiar. She called me Giles. I guess that's my name."

**********

Soon after they finished lunch, Callie had Giles lay back down, firmly suggesting that he needed the rest. He was soon asleep. Callie and Sun then left the cabin, Bo following them. Callie led Sun to the spot she had found that morning. As Callie had, Sun was able to sense the strong magicks that surrounded the spot where they confirmed he had come from. As she readied a spell to determine what magick had been used, Callie stood by, ready to help if she was needed. It didn't take long for Sun to bring the spell query to its end.

"Callie, you were right. It was definitely a translocation spell that brought your guest here. It is an old one, not used or known by many people. It appears that he was in a great hurry in casting it, as he had not set a goal for the spell, he just let it take him wherever it would. He must have been very desperate to get away from something or someone," she told her friend with the emphasis on the last word. "Callie, what if people are looking for him?"

Callie immediately knew what lay behind Sun's words. "Sun, it's been over 35 years. Do you really think that they would remember me? Even if it is the same group, the people that could have remembered me are dead and my appearance has changed. Besides, I'm not that person anymore. I can protect myself now. You taught me that."

"Callie, I know that. I'm just remembering what you were like when I met you. There is still a lot about your early years that you have not even told me. This could bring back those memories, if it is the same people. I don't want you hurt." Sun told her friend with concern in her eyes and voice.

"Sunshine, I appreciate that, but maybe it's time that I face my past and not keep running from it. 35 years is a long time to run."

"Well, just the same, I am going to cast a covering spell to hide the evidence of the spell that brought him here. It's not foolproof, but it should keep anyone from being able to find him from here," she told her friend as she got the spell ready to cast.

As they returned to the cabin, Callie's thoughts returned to her past. The past that she thought she had left behind all those years ago. She knew, in her heart, that there was a reason why Giles had been sent to her. She didn't know what the reason was, yet. She did know that she would find out soon enough. In the meantime, she and Sun would help Giles to try and remember more about who he was.

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