Title: Repercussions 1/7
Author: Jadedragon
Email: blm55@bellsouth.net
Disclaimer: Not mine, Buffy and company belong to Josh, Mutant Enemy and the WB and UPN
Rating: PG 13
Summary: What happened after Grave
Thanks: I want to again thank, Aleta. A wonderful beta, who always makes my stories just that much better with her suggestions and ideas.
Notes: < > denotes thoughts

Giles looked around at the ruins of the Magic Box. <It's going to take weeks if not a month or more for repairs and restocking.> He would have Xander make arrangements for the repairs to begin immediately.

Giles knew that they would have to deal with the police and insurance investigators, he surmised that telling them it was a bomb or something similar and would be accepted. <This being Sunnydale! >

Giles was lucky that he didn't have any broken bones, but he was bruised and battered all over his body and was glad that Anya was here to help him. Once she had left a message for Buffy and Xander in case either came here looking for them, she was going to help him get to Buffy's house. He knew that he would need to be bed bound for several days recuperating from the battle with Willow, but he doubted that he would be granted such a luxury. There was too much that had to be done immediately. He didn't mind the aches and bruises, as much as he did the pain of almost losing Willow. Giles held himself partly to blame because he had left. If he had stayed, he might have prevented, or at least have minimized the damage done to his loved ones in Sunnydale. <Willow> He was most concerned with what this had done to the quiet, loving young woman he remembered.

"Giles, I'm ready and the taxi is waiting out front. Let me help you," Anya told him as she helped him to stand and slowly they made their way to the front door. Anya had already pulled the metal grate over the front window and pulled the door behind them as they left the ruined shop. While they had waited for the taxi, she had put a sign in the window stating that they were closed until further notice for repairs.

Once they got to Buffy's Anya helped Giles upstairs and put him in Willow's room because it had the largest bed and would better accommodate the Watcher's large frame. She made him lie down while she went downstairs and called Xander. She left a message on his answering machine, asking him to bring Giles some pajamas and other clothes. If Buffy called her from the store, she would have her bring the extra clothes Giles kept there for training. Anya had forgotten about clothes until she had gotten Giles to Buffy's.

Anya was glad that Willow had been stopped, but she had ambivalent feelings about it. The world being saved was great, but why did Xander have to be the one to stop her. Xander was hers, or had been. Anya was realizing that she stilled cared for him and she was jealous of his feelings for Willow. Anya also hoped that Xander finally realized his true worth, truly he was the heart of the Scoobys.

********** Buffy and Dawn headed toward the Magic Box, each hoping to find Giles alive. Buffy realized when they had talked earlier that she and Giles were equals, partners in defeating whatever the Hellmouth chose to throw at them. She wanted to talk to Giles about Dawn and her newly discovered skills. <Dawn had fought like a Slayer! > when the Earth demons attacked, in the pit where they had fallen after Willow's fireball. She didn't want Dawn to be a Slayer; she wanted a better longer life for her sister.

Dawn was scared of what they would find at the shop. Giles was the only father she had ever truly known. Hank Summers had never really been around. She had missed Giles so much and wanted him to continue to be in her life. Buffy had told her that Giles had apologized for leaving them, and Dawn hoped that he would move back to Sunnydale, if he's still alive.

They found the shop locked and shuttered with a sign in the window stating that it was closed for repairs. Buffy suggested that they go to the rear entrance and soon were in the shop. Dawn was shocked by the extent of the damage.

"Please let him be alive, Please let him be alive," was the mantra that went through Dawn's mind as she wandered around the shop in a daze.

When Buffy found the note by the cash register, she called home to check on Giles and Anya.

"Hello," Anya answered.

"Anya, it's Buffy. How's Giles?" she asked.

As soon as Dawn heard Buffy ask about Giles, she went to listen to the conversation.

"Buffy, he's sore, but alive. He tricked Willow into taking the magic the Coven gave him and Xander was able to reach her before she finished the spell at the temple." Anya explained what she knew.

"Dawn and I are on our way home. Do you or Giles need anything?"

"Giles has no clothes. I think he kept a change or two at the shop in the supply closet off the training room. Could you bring them?"

"We'll find them and be there as soon as we can. Have you heard from Xander or Willow?" Buffy asked concerned for her other friends.

"No, I don't think that we will for a while, yet. Giles was asking about you a few minutes ago. I'll tell him you and Dawn are all right."

"We'll be there as soon as we can. If Xander and Willow come by, make them stay until we get there," Buffy told Anya as she hung up.

"Is Giles alright?" Dawn asked as soon as Buffy put the phone down.

"He's alive, very sore, but alive."

"Oh, thank God!!" Dawn said in a very relieved voice, and with eyes closed, <Thank you, thank you, thank you! >.

"My sentiments, exactly. He had some extra clothes here, Anya wants us to bring them with us."

"Lets go find them and get out of here."

Buffy and Dawn quickly found the clothes and were on their way home within ten minutes.

**********

Xander held Willow as she wept, weeping with her. He felt her pain and wished that he could take some of it away from her. She felt so fragile and small in his arms. He had his Willow back, but at what cost? How would killing Warren and Rac affect her? < What about Giles? >

Willow cried for over an hour before the tears and her grief began to ease up. "Xander, how can you stand to even look at me?" she asked the only friend she felt that she had left in the world.

"Willow, I love you. You're the best friend that I've ever had. I'm here for you. I'll help you however I can."

"I killed Giles!" Willow told him, tears again streaming down her face.

"It was the magick, not you, not the real you." Xander told her the tears streaming down his face. Giles has been more a father to me than his own had ever been, but he couldn't blame Willow. He knew Willow in her right mind would never have hurt anyone, much less Giles.

"I killed Giles, Buffy will never forgive me. I've lost everything, everything. I might as well be dead."

"Willow, don't talk like that! I'll help you through what ever happens. We'll find a way, together. I love you, Will. I won't let you go through this alone. You won't be alone!" Xander assured his best friend as he got to his feet and helped her up. "I want you to stay with me for the time being. Lets' go to Buffy's and get some of your clothes."

"I can't go there!" Willow sobbed.

Xander realized that it was too soon for Willow to try to see any of the rest of the group so they headed to his apartment. He sat her down on the couch while he went to get her something to change into. Xander found an old pair of his pajamas and led Willow to the bathroom and drew her a bath. Willow had shut down completely, so he helped her to undress and slowly bathed his friend. He felt like he was bathing a corpse. Willow seemed dead, unresponsive. She would move when he asked her to, but she would not respond to his questions. He was truly worried about her. Once he got her dressed in the pajamas and got her to bed, he checked his messages. Xander had seen the light on the machine an hour earlier when he had brought Willow home.

Xander was never so glad to hear Anya's voice. Giles was alive! < Thank God! > He needed some clothes and Xander would willingly give his entire wardrobe to the Watcher. Willow hadn't killed Giles. Xander was on the phone to Buffy as soon as he could function after receiving such wonderful news.

"Hello?" Buffy answered the phone, hoping it would be Xander.

"Buffy, how's Giles?" Xander asked immediately.

"Xander, he's sore, tired and asleep at the moment. How's Willow?"

"Buffy, I'm really worried about her. She thinks that she killed Giles!"

"Have you told her…"

"I can't, she won't respond to anything. She totally shut down once I got her here. I bathed her and put her to bed. She'll move when instructed to, but she won't respond to anything else. Buffy, I don't know what to do?" Xander told her in desperation, knowing that he was in over his head.

"Xander, how does she look?" Giles asked from the extension in Willow's room.

"G-man, it's great to hear your voice!" Xander offered a relieved greeting.

"How is Willow?" Giles asked again to get him back on track.

"She's very pale. I stopped her and after, while she was crying, her hair turned back to red."

"Is she sleeping quietly or is she dreaming?"

"She was quiet when I left her."

"Stay close to her." Commanded Giles, "We'll be over there shortly. There are some things that need to be done as soon as possible."

"Giles, I think she would want to see you, but not the others. She feels so guilty for her behavior."

"Xander, believe me, I understand. But there procedures that have to be followed in order to safeguard us and anyone else who might have been affected by the magicks that Willow was using."

"Safeguard?" Xander and Buffy said at the same time.

"Yes, if her magick is not bound, and quickly, she could draw the dark magick back into herself, but this time, she would destroy herself and probably anyone near her. We'll be there in fifteen minutes." Giles told them as he hung up the extension. He was just getting back out of the bed, sitting in his t-shirt and boxers, when Buffy came into the room followed quickly by Anya and Dawn.

"Giles you need to stay in bed," Buffy told her Watcher as she tried to prevent him from getting up.

"Buffy," Giles started as he pulled the covers back over his lap. "There are spells which have to be in place before Willow wakes up. Her body will be a magnet for the dark magicks unless we place wards around her and bind her powers. Believe me, I would rather stay right here and rest, but this must be done now!" Giles insisted.

"Can't someone else do it?" Buffy pleaded, not wanting anything else to happen to him.

"No, I won't be performing the spells by myself, I don't have the reserves to do so. Anya, will you help me cast the spells?" he asked the demon.

"Giles, I'll do what ever I can to help Willow, and you," she agreed.

"But you need to stay right here, in bed!" Buffy stated emphatically.

"No, I can't." Giles said as he reached for the clothes he had taken off. "May I have a little privacy to get dressed?"

"Here Giles, we brought the clothes you left at the Magic Box." Dawn told him as she handed him what she and Buffy had brought with them from the ruined shop.

"Thank you, Dawn. Now if I could have a few minutes alone?" he pointedly asked the three.

Realizing that she could not stop him, <Stubborn much! > Buffy led Dawn and Anya from the room so Giles could dress. They waited for him downstairs and soon he joined them dressed in a set of sweats that Buffy recognized from the many hours of training in the back of the Magic Box. He looked so relaxed from the short nap he'd had, but the long black coat looked rather odd with the gray sweats. They all got into the SUV and soon were pulling up the Xander's building.

Once there, Anya and Giles proceeded to Xander's apartment, leaving Buffy and Dawn in the SUV with instructions to stay there until Xander came for them. Buffy didn't like Giles going to Xander's without her, she didn't want to think about what would happen if they were too late to cast the binding spells. < I repeat, Stubborn much! > She fidgeted.

**********

Xander opened the door at the first knock. Anya and Giles told Xander what had to be done, asking him to stay in the living room while they performed the necessary spells.

On the way to Xander's, Giles had explained to Anya what spells they would be casting. He had taken a small notebook from an inner pocket of the black coat and handed it to her asking that she read over the series of spells that began on the third page of the journal. Anya had studied the spells as they drove to Xander's.

Once Giles and Anya entered the bedroom, they proceeded to prepare the room and Willow for the spells that had to be cast. After placing the wards around the room, they continued with the most difficult and dangerous spell, binding Willow's magick.

There was a chance that she would awaken during the spell and try to stop them, especially if she had drawn any of the dark magicks back into herself, triggering the Dark Willow, whom they had fought last night.

Both Giles and Anya were relieved when the spells were completed and Giles confirmed that Willow's powers were bound. He knew that this wouldn't last forever, just long enough to transport her to England, where the coven would be more prepared to deal with the dark magicks that Willow now drew to her body as a magnet.

Giles sent Xander down to get Buffy and Dawn as he waited for Willow to awaken. While they waited, Anya fussed over Xander and bandaged his wounds. As Anya bound his wounds Xander told them how he had been able to reach Willow, continuing to confirm his love for her even when she had attacked him with her deadly magick. Anya had never considered how brave Xander was until she realized what Willow had put him through before he had reached the witch with his love.

As he waited by the bed, Giles hoped that Willow wasn't lost in her mind. He had not recuperated enough to try and Xander didn't have the magical abilities to reach her if she was trapped. Giles didn't feel that Willow would come for any of the others; she felt too much guilt about what had happened.

Giles sat beside the bed where Willow lay, still deep in herself, sleeping, but not moving. <Come on, Willow. > It worried him that she was so still. He could see her breathing and knew that she was alive, but he wished she would, <Wake up. > Giles had been sitting beside Willow for over four hours, but he wouldn't leave her side. Buffy, Dawn, Xander and even Anya had tried to move the exhausted Englishman, but he insisted that he must be there when Willow awoke.

"Willow, how are you feeling?" he quietly asked as he saw her waking, moving slowly to sit up.

Willow quickly turned in disbelief. "B-but I killed you!" she said with hesitation in her voice.

"No, once Xander stopped you, I was alright, a little sore, but alright" he assured her.

"Giles, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" she broke down again, sobbing as he took her into his arms, sitting on the bed beside her.

"Willow, I'll recover. The rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated," he assured the weeping woman in his arms as they sat down.

Willow continued weeping as Giles stroked her hair, trying to calm her. He heard a noise at the door and looked up to see Xander standing there with Anya, tears streaming down his face. Buffy and Dawn were standing just behind them.

"Willow, I need to have a long discussion with you about magick," the Watcher calmly stated.

"I'll never use it again, I swear."

"Willow, I'm sorry, but I can't trust your word. Some drastic steps had to be taken," he told her in a stern voice. "Anya and I have put your powers in stasis. I'm sorry it had to be this way, but I have to think of everyone else."

"But how will I live without magick?" she asked in panic.

"The same way you lived before you realized you had it in you. I know it will be difficult, but you can do it," Giles said to comfort her.

"How would you know?" she asked, anger in her voice.

"Willow, I too, was drawn into the dark magicks and was almost seduced as you were." Raising his eyebrows for recognition, "Remember Eyghon?"

"I remember you telling us a little about it," she stated. "But you use magick!" trying to rationalize, wanting to keep her magick.

"Willow, if I had gone any deeper into the dark magicks, I would have been stopped and my magick would have been taken. When you abuse your powers to the extent that you have, you become a threat to others and have to face the repercussions of your actions," Giles told her sadly.

"Giles, what are you talking about?" she asked in a small scared voice.

"Willow, I will be taking you with me when I return to England. The coven that imbued me with their powers, are, even now, finding a way to take your magick from you. They will be transporting us as soon as I contact them."

"They can't take my powers! I won't let them!" Dark Willow tried to make an appearance.

"Willow, there is no discussion on this matter. You tremendously abused your magick and with each dark force that you drew into yourself, you created a more powerful `magnet' for the dark forces. That `magnet' will continue to draw the dark magicks until the darkness again takes over your body, but the next time you may not be able to come back. Do you want to kill everyone you care about?" Giles asked her in a cold Ripper voice.

Willow looked at him in disbelief.

"Willow, the consequences of your actions are severe and I don't know what the outcome will be. The coven is convening a Court of Magick, as it were, to decide the extent of your punishment, losing your powers is the least of your worries. What you have done has not happened in over a thousand years, and there are those who simply want you put down like a rabid beast!" Giles paused to let his last statement sink in before continuing in a softer tone. "But most feel that once your powers are removed, you can be rehabilitated. I'm sorry, but there is nothing that I can do. If I do not return and bring you with me, I and any one who helps me will be killed and you will be taken forcefully to England."

"They would hurt the rest of you if I don't go?" she asked in a small scared voice.

"Yes, Willow, they would. I'm sorry, I know that this is very hard on you, but you must face the repercussions of your actions," Giles again emphasized the seriousness of what Willow had attempted to do.

"How will we get there?" Willow asked, knowing that there was only one decision she could make.

"Once I contact them, they will open a portal and we will enter it here and come out in Devon at Brianna's home. She is the high priestess of the coven."

"How long will I be there?"

"Willow, I don't know. That will depend on what the Court decides."

"Giles will you stay with me?" she asked fearful of being left in a strange country with people that she didn't know.

"I won't be allowed to stay Willow, but I will speak with you daily. If you want we can all talk with you whenever you like." Giles told the distraught witch, letting her know that the others were concerned about her too.

"Why would they want to talk to me? I almost killed everyone," Willow asked as she looked to the Scooby gang standing in the doorway.

"Will, you're my best friend, of course I want to talk to you!" Buffy told her.

"But I beat you up.."

"So I got an ass whooping, nothing I'm not use to," Buffy assured her as she sat on the bed beside her friend. "Will, this has been a tough year for all of us. I want to help you in any way that I can."

"Willow, I hold by my promise, I will stand by you and help you however I can," Xander guaranteed his best friend.

"In a non-sexual way, right?" Anya started. "Xander I love you and I want you back." Anya told Xander then she turned to Willow. "You can't have Xander, I want him!"

"Anya, Xander and I have been friends ever since sandbox days. He is my friend. At the moment, I really need my friends," Willow voice began to break. "I can't think about anyone in a sexual way….I miss Tara so much," Willow started crying and was held by the people who loved her. She felt the love that she thought that she had lost by her actions. Willow felt something inside her begin to heal as she felt the love surrounding her.

"Giles, how soon can we leave?" she asked, tears still falling from her eyes.

"We can leave once I have spoken with Xander, Anya and Buffy."

"What about me?" Dawn asked.

"And Dawn," he added, with a warm smile.

Giles turned to Xander and gave him instructions on having the shop repaired. Anya, Buffy and Dawn agreed to help with the repair and restocking of the Magic Box. Together they knew that they would come up with a plausible explanation for the insurance company and the police. They assured Giles that they would begin in the morning, after resting the rest of the day, which he insisted upon. Once that was discussed, he took Buffy into the living room to talk with her privately.

"Giles, I wish you could stay." Buffy started. < I've got so much more I want to say…>

"Buffy, I have to go and get Willow settled with the coven. She will be there for several months, at the very least. We'll have contact with her, but there is so much that I don't know about how this situation will be handled. < One hopes they'll see fit to rehabilitate her. > I've known Brianna for many years and know that she will do everything in her power to help Willow through this. She lost her lover several years ago in a similar situation and will be sensitive to the grief that Willow's going through."

"Giles, I'm so worried about her. It was hard to believe what Willow became after Tara's death."

"I know, Buffy. But when you love someone as deeply as Willow loved Tara that grief can sometimes take on a vengeful aspect and can lead one to doing things that they normally would never do. Once Willow began taking in the dark magicks, they took over her body and she became the dark magicks. I don't know how she will come out of this, but I know that she'll need all the love we can give her."

"She'll have it, be sure that she knows that," she told her Watcher, clasping his hand, not wanting him to leave again.

"Buffy, once I get Willow settled and my affairs in order, I would like to return here. I feel that I need to be here. If I had been, this might not have happened, or at the very least, I could have recognized it sooner and maybe have stopped the worst of it."

"Giles, it's not your fault. What happened, happened. But I do want you to move back here. I need you here. Of all the friends that I have, you are the one who truly knows me. I understand why you left and I have realized how badly I handled my responsibilities. Giles I have grown up, but I still need you as my friend," she pleaded. <I haven't even told you about Dawn yet. >

"It may be several weeks before I can get back, and even then I may occasionally have to return to England for business purposes."

"Business purposes?" <Council? >

"Brianna and I have opened a second Magic Box in London. I'm more of a silent partner, finding ancient tomes and researching, but a partner just the same. I may have to go to England occasionally to help her," he explained to his Slayer.

"I thought she lived in Devon?"

"Her family home is in Devon, where the coven is based. She spends most of her time in London where she and E.. ah her brother, now run the shop. < I hope she didn't catch that. > I help out occasionally."

"Oh, so you'll live here in Sunnydale?"

"If you think you can put up with me?" he said both relieved and hopeful.

"Of course, we can put up with you. You're one of us, a Scooby." Buffy assured him as she hugged him, glad that he was coming home.

Once assured that he would be welcomed back, he stood and took a pendant from his pocket. "I must contact Brianna now and leave with Willow. The sooner we leave, the sooner I can return and Willow can begin healing and facing the consequences of her actions.' He then went to get Willow.

The parting of the friends was bittersweet, knowing that it would be a long time before they saw Willow again. Giles placed the pendant around Willow's neck and took her hand as he recited a chant in Latin a vortex opened. Before them was a woman standing with her arms open, Giles led Willow through the doorway and it closed behind them once they were on the other side.

Dawn looked at the others still in the room and asked. "Did that lady look a bit like Tara or were my eyes playing tricks on me?"

NEXT