Title: Explosion 7/7
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

Buffy sat beside her husband's bed and watched the sun starting to come up. The neurologist's report had shown nothing new and Dr. Breson told her that he could wake up a anytime, it was just a waiting game at this point. She laid her head down on Rupert's shoulder and was soon asleep. Several hours later, she awoke to someone gently stroking her hair. Buffy looked up expecting to see her Mom and but instead saw Rupert's beautiful green eyes watching her.

"Buffy, shouldn't you be at home?" he asked her, a smile on his face.

"Rupert, you're awake!" Buffy exclaimed as she reached up to kiss the man she loved. When he didn't respond and pushed her away, she looked at him in surprise. "Rupert, what's wrong?"

"Buffy, since when do you call me `Rupert'? Giles asked in confusion.

"Since we starting dating," she slowly told him. After a moment it dawned on her he had some of his memories back. "What's the last thing you remember?" She asked in a small scared voice.

"Being quite drunk in my flat and falling down the stairs. That did happen last night, didn't it?" he asked in an unsteady voice.

"Love, that was over five months ago, the night before we defeated Adam." Buffy told him.

"Well, Mrs. Giles, I see that your husband is feeling better." Dr. Breson said as he entered the room seeing his patient awake.

"Husband? Buffy what has happened in the past five months?" Giles asked her in disbelief. Buffy was his wife and he didn't remember any of it. Had his greatest dream come true and he had no memory? "Buffy, we're married?"

"Yes." She told him with al the love she felt clearly showing in her eyes.

"How? When?"

"Last week actually, but it's a long story, just know that I love you so very much."

Dr. Breson quietly left the room to the newlyweds.

"What was your mother's reaction? Is that why I'm here?" he grinned.

"When we first started dating, she went ballistic, but after the explosion, when we thought you were dead, she finally saw just how much you truly mean to me.

"You thought I was dead?" Giles asked in disbelief.

"Yes," she told him quietly. "There's so much to tell you, as soon as I can get you home," she told the man she loved.

"I hope the doctor will release me, I would love to go home with you. I hate hospitals."

"I know. Dr. Breson was just here, I'll go find him." Buffy told him as she got up to leave the room in search of the doctor.

Giles watched her go and wondered when he would wake up from this wonderful dream. The phone beside his bed rang and he reached for it.

"Hello?"

"Rupert! You're awake!"

"Joyce, yes. Buffy just went down the hall to get the doctor," he told her. Joyce was now his mother-in-law!

"How are you feeling?" she asked him.

"A bit strange, Joyce. The last thing I remember happened over five months ago. I'm a little `wigged' to borrow a phrase from Buffy," he told her as Buffy and Dr. Breson reentered the room. "Buffy, it's your Mom," he told her as he handed the phone to her.

"Mr. Giles, I'm Dr. Breson. Your wife tells me that the last thing you remember is falling down the stairs at your condo five months ago."

"That's correct, Doctor."

"You don't remember the explosion you were in a week and a half ago?"

"No, not at all. I don't even remember dating Buffy, much less marrying her." Giles told the physician.

"I want to keep you for a couple of days for observation…"

"Doctor, is there any real reason to keep me here? Any physical reason?" Giles asked him.

"Mr. Giles, you were in a coma for 6 hours last night for no reason that we can ascertain. I want to keep you for observation." the doctor started.

"I want to go home. I can't get my life together sitting here in a bloody hospital bed." Giles told him in no uncertain terms.

"Dr. Breson, is Rupert well enough to leave the hospital?" Buffy asked wanting to take her husband home, but wanting him in the hospital if that was where he needed to be for now.

"He needs to be under observation for at least the next 48 hours." He started.

"Callie is a friend and will be here for a couple of days before she leaves for home, couldn't she keep watch on him at home? She's a trauma nurse." Buffy asked, knowing that Giles would not stay in the hospital any longer than he felt was necessary.

"I wouldn't recommend it." Dr. Breson started before relenting. "I will need to examine him first, but as long as you are sure someone can keep a close eye on him and call me immediately if there is any change in his condition. I want him to be under close professional observation for the next five days. If your friend stays for the next five days until Mr. Giles' appointment with me, I will let him go home. I will need to talk with her and let her know what to look for and go over my orders for him." Dr. Breson told the couple.

Buffy turned back to the phone talking with her mother and Callie. As she discussed what the doctor said with them, Dr. Breson started his examination of Giles.

"Callie said she would be glad to stay a little longer to help. She and Mom will be here in about thirty minutes," she informed them.

Giles patiently answered the doctor's questions and responded to his instructions wanting to finish the examination as soon as humanly possible. He had his life to return to, a life with Buffy. As soon as Dr. Breson left the room, he turned to his Slayer.

"Who is Callie? And what is this about an explosion?"

"We were searching for the lair of Boris, a sorcerer vampire, who had been trying to open up the Hellmouth and release the demons to follow him. We heard that he was making an old factory his new lair and when we went to investigate, there was an explosion. We thought you were killed. Wesley felt the spell you had used to escape and was able, with Willow and Tara's help, to locate where the spell had taken you. Callie found you and took care of you until Wesley was able to reach you," Buffy told him.

Giles looked into Buffy's pain filled eyes, but before he could say anything, she continued.

"I thought I would never see you again. Giles, I didn't want to live without you, I didn't know what to do. When your will was read, it broke my heart all over. It hurt so much to marry you, thinking you were dead, but I wanted our child to have its father's name," she told him as she looked into his eyes.

"Child? Buffy! You're pregnant?" he asked slowly, in disbelief.

"Yes. I had found out the day of the explosion and hadn't had a chance to tell you…"

"Oh, my luv," Giles said as he took Buffy into his arms, holding her tightly to him, tears falling from his eyes. "I never thought to marry, much less have a child. I only regret that I can't remember any of it."

"You will remember, I know it," Buffy assured him as he continued to hold her. "I have loved you so long, but I didn't feel that I was who you needed. I've put your through so much pain, but you've always forgiven me. You told me that the past didn't matter, only the future."

"What about Riley?"

"I thought I loved him, but he couldn't give me what I needed. He was jealous of my being the Slayer and being stronger than he was. He couldn't deal. Riley felt he had to compete with me, he couldn't understand that I just needed to be a girl in love, a girl loved for herself. You've always seen me as Buffy, the whole package, the slayer, the girl who wanted to be loved, and a girl who just wanted to be normal. You accepted me for who I am. How could I help but love the one man who stood beside me for all of it, the good and the bad."

"What happened to him?"

"He went home to Iowa after we defeated Adam. The Initiative's history so there was no reason for him to stay," Buffy told him as she surrounded him with her love.

They were still holding each other as her mother and Callie entered the room followed by Dr. Breson, who took Callie to one side to give her the orders for Giles' treatment over the next several days. He made an appointment for Giles in five days to remove the stitches from his head wound. Within thirty minutes they were on their way. Joyce took them to the Scooby House because everyone wanted to see Giles to assure themselves that he was okay.

As soon as Giles entered the door, Willow was in his arms and Xander was hugging them both. Giles felt the love from his friends, whom he thought of as the son and daughter he had never thought to have. Willow and Xander had proven their love and caring so many times in the past, and their reactions were typical of the love the three of them felt for each other, even though it was seldom expressed. Once Giles was able to extricate himself from Willow and Xander, he was hugged by Wesley and Cordelia, briefly before being led to the couch in the living room where he was introduced to Gunn, Sun and Karl.

"Rupert, I didn't tell you everything about Callie when I introduced her to you at the hospital," Buffy told her husband. "Callie is also a Slayer."

"What?" Giles asked as he looked at the woman before him who looked about his age.

"I'll let Callie and Sun tell their story. They haven't told us much, waiting until after the attack on Boris to go into greater detail." Buffy informed him.

"Giles, I was raised by the Watchers' Council," Callie started. "I don't remember anything about my parents or family. My earliest memories were of being in a dormitory at the age of three being trained to kill vampires. I had no childhood; no one cared if I was hurt or crying from pain and loneliness. I thought that was the way that everyone was raised. When I was ten, I met a Watcher who showed some caring and love. It was through her caring that I was able to learn that not everyone was like the people that had raised me. Three years later, she was sent somewhere else and I managed to escape to try and find her again. Instead, I found Sun and she helped me to fake my death so the Watchers would stop looking for me. When I was fifteen I became the Slayer. Once I realized what had happened, Sun helped me to again fake my death so I could try and have a normal life. I was able to fool the Watcher's Council, but the vampires still came after me. Once I was able to finish my schooling and became a registered nurse, I moved to small out of the way towns with less chance of vampire populations. I have moved many times over the years until fifteen years ago when I moved to Oregon to be near Sun. There I have been able to find the peace I have searched for all of my life."

"How? What kind of spells did you use?" he asked in disbelief, wondering if he and Buffy could use them.

Callie looked to Sun who continued with a detailed explanation of the series of spells that she used in creating Callie's fake death. The discussion was only fully understood by Giles, Wesley, Willow and Tara, the rest understood only that to the Council Buffy would appear to have died and the next Slayer would be called.

"Would any of the spells or ingredients harm our child?" Giles asked concerned not only for the unborn child, but Buffy as well.

"I wouldn't even attempt this while Buffy's pregnant. Callie was very sick after the second attempt, once she was the Slayer. The spells remove the binding of the calling of the Slayer. It will leave Buffy with the strength, that cannot be removed, but she will no longer be the active Slayer. To the Watcher's Council's Psychic Seers who immediately know when a Slayer has died and know who will next be called, it will appear that Buffy was killed by a vampire and they will find the next Slayer. I have to stress that this is a very powerful series of spells and the decision to undergo this transformation, as it were, is not one to be taken lightly. Once done, it cannot be undone. Buffy, you must be sure that this is what you want." Sun told the Slayer.

"Sun, I'm tired of all the killing. I want to have as normal a life as I can with Rupert and our child"

"Buffy there is more. Once we have faked your death, I would strongly suggest that you move and change your identity immediately. With Callie, that was easy, because she had no family. I would suggest that for the first two to five years that you have no contact with your family and friends, in case the Council somehow gets wind of what we've done. I would also suggest that you, Rupert and your child move to an area with a smaller population, where there is less chance of vampires. Vampires will still sense that you are a Slayer and will try to attack and kill you. That is why Callie has moved so many times over the years."

"Sun, I don't think you realize that Buffy is in a considerably different situation than Callie was in. Callie was alone except for you, whereas Buffy has all of us by her side to help if the Council should discover she is still alive and will help should they try to do anything. I wouldn't want to take her or myself for that matter from the people we love, who have helped us throughout our tenure on the Hellmouth. I also don't think that Buffy could turn her back on her duty when others needed her help." Giles looked at Buffy sitting beside him, who she nodded her approval.

"Sun, I understand why Callie didn't want the Council to find her," Buffy told the sorceress. "I've had trouble with them myself, but while I don't want to continue to be the `active' Slayer, I will not leave my friends and family just to keep the Council from finding out that I am still alive after another Slayer has been called. I plan to stay here, at least for the time being. Callie, I would like to ask you if you would consider moving here to help the gang with the slaying while I am pregnant," Buffy said as she turned to the older Slayer. I know that it won't be long before I am unable to fight and your help would be greatly appreciated."

"Buffy, I don't know. I haven't slain vampires in years, until last night. I don't know if I'd be much help." Callie said to the younger Slayer.

Buffy stood up and looked around the room at all of her friends before going to sit beside Callie. "Callie, you were instrumental in our defeat of Boris and his minions. I think you would be a big help. I can show you the patrol routes and everything over the next month or so before I start to lose my girlish figure and Giles stops me from patrolling. I really would like for you to move here so I can get to know my new sister Slayer," Buffy told her. "Besides the gang is here to help."

"Can I bring Bo?" Callie asked.

"Who is Bo?" Buffy asked her.

"I should have known that she wouldn't forget that dog!" Karl teased her.

Callie told the group about her Doberman and arrangements were soon made for his transportation and plans were made for her to move into Buffy's old room. Everything seemed to be falling in to place and soon Buffy and Giles were on their way home. Buffy felt that everything was going to work out just fine. She had a new Slayer sis, and this one was not psychotic. She looked forward to the getting to know Callie, Sun and Karl better over the months as she and Giles waited for the birth of their child.

The End
(at least for now)

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