TITLE Laura Giles Part 14/?
AUTHOR Laura Curtis
PAIRING Giles/Buffy Xander/OC
RATING PG
SUMMARY The gang arrives at the Hyperion. Some revelations are made and two pairs bond completely.
DISCLAIMER Don’t own them, just the ones I make up. Don’t know them. Not making any money. Just having fun with them. I promise to return them unharmed.
Thanks to my sister for Beta reading this and letting me know where I messed up.
Italic denotes thought. (Italic denotes psychic talk)
Please send feedback.
May 2003
Finally, they arrived at the Hyperion. It had been a long trip, the traffic on the freeway being the worst of it. They were a little later than they had thought they would be, but it being L.A., they should have expected the traffic jams.
Angel and the others were waiting for them when they arrived. After checking everyone, Robin was determined to be the worst, slayer healing having kicked in for the girls. Buffy was walking a little slow, with Giles right beside her helping her into the old hotel. Wesley, seeing Laura walking behind them with one of the medical people, came up to helped her in.
“Laura. When Buffy called she said that you were unconscious. What happened?”
“I don’t know. One minute I was driving down the last hill into Sunnydale and the next my insides were on fire and then part of me was ripped away. I still feel as if there is a part of me is missing.”
Wesley looked at Laura with a surprise on his face. “You finally met him?”
Laura looked at him with a confused expression on her face. “Met who?”
“Your soul mate. I’ve talked to Watchers who felt that their Slayers were their soul mates. When the Slayer died they felt just as you have described. Like a part of them was missing, ripped away.”
Just as Wesley finished his explanation they walked in the door of the hotel.
Wide eyed Laura turned to him. “No. I haven’t met him yet Wes. How could I feel that way if I haven’t met him yet?”
“Somehow you have either met, seen, or talked to him and the bond started to form a little without you knowing. Have you seen or talked to anyone that you felt somehow connected with?”
Thinking back, Laura thought of the day of Buffy’s funeral the blond haired man walking into the kitchen. Then the last time she was in Sunnydale, the man walking down the street from Buffy’s house. “Oh God.” Laura said coming to a stop. “There was someone. The day of Buffy’s funeral I walked into the house, I was going over to talk to Dawn when I heard a noise. I turned and saw a blond haired man walking into the kitchen. Then 4 days ago I arrived in Sunnydale, bringing a couple of new Potentials. There was a man walking down the road from Buffy’s house. Both times I felt something, for a moment, then it was gone. I didn’t think anything about it at the time.”
Just as Laura finished speaking she looked around the Hyperion. The lobby looked like an ER at a hospital. Angel and Gunn were organizing things and there were some medical people looking after the girls. There were chairs everywhere. Upon looking around Laura didn’t see Buffy, Rupert, Faith or Robin.
Wesley saw her look around and spoke up. “We have a surgery set up in Angel’s office. They said that Robin was bad. There is a doctor in there taking a look at him, seeing what needs to be done. Buffy is also being checked by the doctor. Giles said that she wasn’t as bad but the doctor insisted. They are expecting you, Giles said they wanted the doctor to check you out. I wouldn’t say anything in front of the doctor about maybe losing your soul mate. But when he is done I’d tell your brother about it.”
Laura nodded and, with Wesley’s help, headed off for Angel’s office.
The doctor was talking when they walked in.
“His wound is bad but not as deep as I was led to believe. I wouldn’t even recommend stitches. I think one unit of blood will be enough.”
Faith spoke up at that moment. “Doc, I saw the wound right after it happened. He lost a lot more than one unit of blood. I thought he died for a moment.”
“I can’t explain what you saw. I can only comment on what I see.”
Right then Rupert spoke up in a soft voice. “Characteristic of the Slayer.”
Everyone turned to him. Wesley spoke up first. “What? What do you mean, Characteristic of the Slayer?”
Rupert looked at everyone then repeated himself. “Characteristic of the Slayer. It’s why a Slayer cannot donate blood. It is thought that maybe a Slayers blood might contain some of their characteristics. It is thought that for them to give blood would give someone else temporary Slayer powers. The theory has never been tested.”
The doctor then spoke up. “Did one of the Slayers give him some of their blood to try and help him?”
“No doctor. They didn’t have to. Robin is the only known son of a Slayer. So he has the characteristics of a Slayer in his blood from his mother.”
Everyone except Buffy turned to Rupert and then to Robin. Wesley spoke up at that moment. “Giles first of all how do you know he is the son of a Slayer? And second, did the Council know of Robin?”
Just as Rupert turned to answer Wes, Laura mentally reached out to him. She acted on instinct, needing the reassurance of his presence to fill the hole she felt in her. But all she felt was nothing. It was like he was no longer there. It shocked her so much that she took a step forward, raised her arm and called his name. “Rupert?” Mentally reaching for him again and feeling a blank was too much for her and her system. She promptly passed out.
Wesley had turned to her when she called Rupert’s name. On seeing her eyes roll into the back of her head he jumped forward and caught her just as she started to fall down.
Giles was instantly at her side, followed by the doctor.
“Laura! Wesley what happened to her?”
“Giles, you know she is a Slayer now? Did she explain about when she passed out the first time?”
Picking her up and placing her on the other cot in the room Giles spoke up. “Yes she said that her insides felt as if they were on fire then it was like a part of her was pulled, no she said ripped away from her. Why, what does it mean?”
“I’d talked to older Watchers who had bonded with their Slayers, and yes a few of them were soul mates. When the ones lost their Slayers they said it was like a part of them was missing, ripped away. When I was walking Laura in here she said the same thing. I think somehow she either met, saw or talked to her soul mate without realizing it.”
“Who? When? Wait, no, it’s not possible. We figured out that Spike is her soul mate. She never saw him that I know of. Even if she had, she would have bonded with him. Wouldn’t she?”
“Spike?!” Wes shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I think she had just started to bond to him, the beginning stage. But it was enough for her to feel his death. She told me that she had seen someone the day of Buffy’s funeral. She was walking over to Dawn when a noise drew her attention. She said she saw a blond haired man walking into the kitchen. Then four days ago she saw a man walking away from Buffy’s house. Both times she felt something but shook it off.”
Right then Dawn gasped. When everyone turned to her she spoke. “The morning after Buffy’s funeral I woke up and went down stairs. Spike was sitting on the coffee table staring at Laura. It was like he was under a spell. He asked who she was. I told him that she was your sister. Right then Laura turned over to face the back of the couch and it was like the spell was broken. He started for the basement, I told him goodnight then Laura raised her arm, waved and told him goodnight also. They laughed, said a few more words then he headed off to the basement. He got to the door, looked back at her, shook his head and went down closing the door. When the door closed Laura turned around, looked in that direction, shook her head, closed her eyes and went back to sleep.”
Giles spoke up. “Good Lord. They not only saw each other, although not at the same time, they spoke to each other. The bond had started to form.”
Buffy spoke up. “Giles, you and Laura have that sibling bond. Why don’t you reach out to her?
Giles nodded and reached out to Laura with his mind. Only his mind didn’t take him where he thought it would. When he opened his mind he expected to feel Laura’s feelings, thoughts. What he got was Buffy’s. It was faint, only in the beginning stages of the bond but it was there none the less. He turned and looked at Buffy. (Buffy?)
Buffy’s eyes widened at hearing Giles in her head. (Giles?)
(Dear Lord Buffy, our bond has started. I think that is why Laura fainted.) Giles turned back to Laura. (I may be a blank to her.)
(Is your bond completely broken? Didn‘t you talk with your mind to her 4 nights ago?)
(No I didn’t. She was rather upset with all of us over what we had done to you, I don’t know if it was broken then or not. We’ll have to wait until she wakes up.)
(Giles? Can we keep our beginning bond to ourselves for now? I don’t want to share what we have right now. I just want to keep this special ness between us, for now. I feel complete with you: like everything is as it should be.)
(I feel the same way. Yes, we can keep it to ourselves for now. I‘d better tell them that I can‘t reach her.)
Giles shook his head. “I can’t feel her. That may be why she fainted. To her I may be a blank and right now that would be a shock. Our father said, when she broke almost all of our bond the one time, that she was depressed for a while.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Dreamtime
Looking around, all Laura could see was white. “Oh God! Am I dead?”
A voice spoke from behind her. “No, you’re not dead.”
Laura turned around and there standing before her, dressed in white, was Anya. “Anya? Where are we. Did we go into another dimension ?”
Smiling she answered. “No we’re not in another dimension. We’re in the dreamtime.”
“What’s the dreamtime?”
“The dreamtime is a place where things are part real and part not real.” At Laura’s confused look Anya added. “That’s the closest explanation I can give. I’m not sure how this works.”
Laura’s eyes widened. “Anya. Are you real?”
“Yes I’m real. I died back at the school. I did a lot of bad things in my life, which I didn’t understand were bad until the Powers That Be gave me the knowledge I didn’t seem to understand while I was alive. Now I have to do penance for what I did to others. Except to Olaf. Even they said he deserved what I did to him.”
“Why are you here?”
“I’m here to bring you a message. Two actually. The first one is that Buffy and Giles have started to bond. Normally that bond would take over your bond to Giles.” Laura nodded. “The Powers are going to allow the small bond you had, the one you had after you broke your bond to Giles, to remain.”
“Is that why I couldn’t feel him when we got to the Hyperion?”
“Yes it is. Ok the second message. You will not remember this until all has come to pass. Around eight months from now you will meet your soul mate. You will know him when you finally see him. But there will be a problem. He will be bound to another. You must break this binding so he can be with you.”
“How? How do I break the binding?”
“Normally to bond with your soul mate takes a little bit of time; a delicate time.” Laura nodded. “In order to break the binding you must bond instantly, completely to him.”
Laura’s eyes widened. “How?”
“When you see him, you will feel the binding that keeps him from you. Place your hand over his heart and pledge yourself to him. You will feel a shock like static from rubbing your feet across carpet, but then that binding will be broken and your bond will be complete. You’ll bypass the jealous stage. You also need to tell Buffy and Giles to do their bond this way as well. They don‘t really have time to do the delicate time of bonding. Plus they don‘t need to do the jealous stage either.”
“That’s good. I’ve read accounts of the time of bonding.” Laura looked down, thinking. After a moment she nodded her head and then looked back at Anya. “Anya? Who is he?”
Anya smiled. “Not that you’ll remember but his name, his real name, is William.”
Laura smiled at Anya. “I’ll remember. Somehow, I’ll remember. Anya, can I ask you something? Why you? Why not one of my parents or Uncle Merrick or even Mitchell my first Watcher?”
“From my understanding, only one serving penance can come to the Dreamtime. But there can be other times to come to the Dreamtime. Now when you die, one of them will be there to greet you. I have to go now. Others need my help. A few of the Slayers are having a rough time of adjusting and also coping with what happened in Sunnydale.” Anya turned to leave.
“Anya! We’ll miss you.”
Anya turned back one last time. “I know. I miss you all to. Take care of Xander. Tell him his soul mate is closer than he thinks. Goodbye.”
“I will. Goodbye.”
The white place started to fade and Laura knew that she was waking up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Giles and the others were talking when Laura called out to Anya. Everyone stopped to listen.
“Anya! We’ll miss you.” After a moments pause. “I will. Goodbye.”
Not thinking Giles reached out to Laura with his mind. Feeling Buffy he thought to her. (I’m sorry Buffy. I didn’t think, just reached out to her.)
(It’s ok Giles. You acted on instinct.) A moment later Buffy felt something. (Giles? What is that?)
Giles felt for what Buffy was talking about. At first he didn’t feel anything then something was there. It was faint, but it was the one thread that had been between him and Laura all those years. Feeling along the thread, Giles felt Laura starting to wake up.
(Buffy do you feel this?)
(Yes. What is it?)
(In a minute Love. Can you follow it to where it goes?)
After a moment Buffy answered him. (No. I can only feel that it is like a off shoot from you. Why? Where does it go?)
(Somehow it goes to Laura. It shouldn’t be possible. Our bond should have broken the bond between me and Laura. It was broken. I didn’t feet her earlier. I don’t understand.)
Right then Laura woke up and the questions started flying. Laura raised her hand. “Hang on a minute. Give me a minute to process everything.” After a minute Laura sat up and looked right at Xander. “I was in the dreamtime, what ever that is. Anya was my… guide? She told me some thing’s, but most important for you Xander is this. She’ll miss you. She wants us to take care of you for her. She also said that your soul mate is closer than you think.”
Shaken Xander said. “What?”
“Your soul mate. She’s closer than you think. Don’t look at me, I’m just delivering the message.”
Giles spoke up. “Laura? What happened to you? Why did you faint earlier?”
“You know why I fainted. You were a blank to me. There is, was, a hole in me. I reached out to you and you weren’t there, I was shocked. Also I need to talk to you and Buffy privately later.”
“But I feel you now, faintly, but you are there. How is that possible?”
Laura looked upward. “The Powers That Be. They are allowing us to keep a light bond to help me keep my sanity. Now tell me all that happened to Sunnydale.”
And for the next hour and a half Giles, with help from everyone else, told of what happened to Sunnydale.
“So that Hellmouth is closed for good. What about the one in Cleveland? We have to go there. Rupert, what are we going to do about Watchers for all those girls out there?”
“You talked to Carol. She was suppose to try and save as many of the Watchers in training that she could. After we rest here for a few days we’ll leave for Cleveland and see how many are there. I want to reestablish the old way of matching a Watcher to a Slayer.”
“The soul mate spell? That would be good. The best pairs were always soul mates. You said that Willow turned all the Potentials in the world into Slayers. What are we going to do about them? I hate to say this but we need a Council to take charge.”
“I’ve been thinking about that ever since the old Council was destroyed. I think we need the Council but…” He added seeing Buffy starting to rile up. “But I think it should be made up of Slayers as well as Watchers. There are enough Slayers in the world that Buffy can retire from active service if she wants to. I hope she will head the Council. Who better than the Chosen One to be head of the Council?”
Buffy thought for a moment then spoke. “When a girl was found to be a Potential she was taken away from her family, right?”
Rupert saddened by the old practice looked down. “Most as soon as they were born.”
“That stops now. Willow was a little specific with her spell. No girl before puberty will become a slayer. I assume there is a way to know when a Potential is about to be born?” Giles nodded. “Ok, when one is, we’ll contact the parents and let them know what will happen to their daughter at puberty. When the girl reaches puberty and becomes a Slayer another Slayer with her Watcher will go and start her training, if she wants to. If she doesn’t want to become a Slayer then Willow has told me that there is a spell to take away the power and she can go on to be a normal girl.”
“For now we have to go around the world and contact all the new Slayers. Those who want to be Slayers we’ll bring in and start her training. Only because we don’t have the resources for now to send trainers to them. If they choose not to, then the spell will be done and they can go on with their normal lives. Only as a last resort do we take a girl from her parents.”
Laura spoke up at this point. “Buffy, Rupert what about the Potentials like me, the older ones? Will we contact them as well. Give them the same choice?”
Buffy and Giles looked at each other. After a moment they both nodded and Giles spoke. “It will be up to them as well. We’ll need trainers most of all right now so they can help with the training of the younger ones. Also I think the support system Buffy has had over the years with the Scoobies is a good idea. With so many Slayers we can also have, say four Slayers in each area so each are not out being the only one slaying each night. Now we need to check on the others and see what the medical people have to say.”
“ Willow. I just thought of something. Is it possible to do some kind of spell so the girls, when they become Slayers, instantly know a number to call to contact us. That would save a lot of searching time.”
Willow thought for a moment. “I can look into it. It would be easier than for us doing locating spells and then us flying to get them.”
Buffy stepped in at this point. “We need to get to Cleveland as soon as possible to see if any of these Watchers in training made it. So as soon as we can leave, we will.”
Giles turned to Wesley. “Wesley. You and I, for right now, are the only two known active Watchers alive. You are more than welcome to join us if you want to. We could use your help in training Watchers and Slayers.”
Wesley turned and looked at Fred. “For now I will have to decline. I could consult with you once and a while. But I think I’m needed here for the moment.”
Looking between Wes and Fred and seeing the way they were looking at each other Buffy smiled. “Alright Wes. We’ll keep you on speed dial. Now we need to check on the other girls. And I don‘t know about the rest of you but after the last two days I‘ve had, I need some rest. I feel like I could sleep for a week.” Having seen Angel come in a minute ago Buffy asked. “Angel? Do you have room enough for all of us?”
Angel smiled. “Buffy, this is a old six story hotel. There’s more than enough rooms for everyone. And as for how everyone is, we already had the medical people check them out and they are all ok. Slayer healing kicking in just fine with them. Gunn has already gotten them settled into rooms. I have one question. Do you have any idea how long you’ll be here?”
Buffy and Giles look to one another. After a moment of unspoken looks, Buffy turned back to Angel. “I don’t know. We really need to rest and regroup before we head to Cleveland, Ohio. There is another Hellmouth there. We’ve all been going nonstop the last few weeks. Can you show us to some rooms so we can get some sleep?”
“Yeah. I saved the top floor for you: figured the other girls might get noisy.”
“Giles. Want to come with me to check on the others? (Please come with me. We should talk to Angel together.)”
“Yes we should check on them. (Alright Love.)” Then Giles turned and thought to Laura. (Laura, Buffy and I are going to check on the girls and talk to Angel. Will you be alright?)
(Go on Rupert, I’ll be fine. I know where your heart belongs, as it should.)
Rupert smiled to his sister then turned and followed Buffy and Angel to check on the girls and their rooms.
After they had left Angel’s office Willow turned to the others. “Is it just me or is there something new about Buffy and Giles?”
Xander said. “Yeah I kind of saw something while we were on the bus to here.”
“I don’t know if they want this known yet so wait for them to tell you. They may want to have this special time for themselves. But you should know that they have finally started to bond as Watcher and Slayer.”
Wesley looked at Laura. “Why haven’t they bonded yet?”
“Rupert felt she would have fought the bond at first because she was still hurting from Uncle Merrick’s death; they had bonded slightly. Then with Angel and Jenny and all the rest he didn’t think she would want it. Also, he has loved her from the beginning and he feared her rejection too much.”
Xander came over and sat down beside Laura. “Laura? What did Anya mean by ‘my soul mate is closer than I think’?”
“I think she meant that one of the Slayers is your soul mate. That’s why you couldn’t marry Anya. She wasn’t the one for you.”
“Which one? I’ve seen all the girls up til now.”
“Have you met the new ones I was bringing today?”
Xander thought for a moment then shook his head. “No I haven’t. I was too busy with two of the girls on the bus to notice. Could it be one of them?”
“Could be, or maybe there is a girl near by. If we had some incense in your favorite scent then we could do the soul mate spell on you. What is your favorite scent?”
“I’ve always favored the smell of lilacs.”
“I wish we had some. The spell is really easy.”
Fred, listening to what was being said, spoke up. “Cordy has a whole bunch of different types of incenses. She said it helps her visions sometimes to become clearer. I could go and check and see what type she has.”
Laura’s eyes widened. “That would be a big help. We could also do some of the girls as well. It would be a big help in starting the process to match them to their Watcher/Soul mates.”
“I’ll go look. If she doesn’t have what we need, there is a Wicca shop a couple of blocks down the street. That’s where she got her incense. Be right back.” With a nod Fred was out the door.
“Gunn, if she does have the incense we need then we will need something to burn it in and some scissors. Do you have anything we could use?”
Gunn thought for a moment then nodded his head yes. “Yes we do. I’ll go get them and be right back.”
“Laura? How did she look?” Xander spoke up a minute later.
Laura thought. “She was all in white. She looked like she was content. She said that the Powers gave her the understanding of things that she didn’t seem to get while she was human. She is paying penance for all the bad she had done. Except to someone named Olaf. He got what he deserved. Who was Olaf?”
Xander and Willow looked at each other and smiled. Then he proceeded for the next half hour explaining about Olaf.
Just as Xander finished the story, Gunn and Fred returned.
“You would not believe the amount of incense Cordy has. I brought at least one of each, I think. There may be more. Here is a bowl for burning it in, and scissors. Need anything else?”
Laura snapped her fingers. “A map, world map if you have one. It will help Willow to find where the soul mates are.”
“I know where one is. I’ll be right back.” Gunn finished saying and was out the door.
Laura turned to Xander. “Want to be the first guinea pig?”
Xander leaned back. “It’s not going to hurt, is it?”
Laura smiled. “No Xander, it won’t hurt. I need a clip of your hair and you need to say a few words. The image of your soul mate will appear in the smoke from the incense.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it. Nothing else. Although I should warn you that if you try and touch the image it will dissipate. I know cause I tried to touch the image of my soul mate.” Laura started looking through the incenses. After a moment she found the Lilac one she was searching for. She looked at Xander. “Ready?”
When Xander nodded she set up the bowl, wrote something down on paper, and started the incense. “Now when I point at you. You need to say these words.” She handed him the piece of paper and clipped a piece of his hair.
Willow came closer, wanting to see the process. She had only seen Laura use magic once before and that time was a shock.
When the incense was burning good Laura placed Xander’s hair in it. When the hair started to burn Laura pointed to him.
Xander spoke clear. “Night to day, Day to night. Bring my soul mate, to my sight.” The hair flared up and smoke arose and there before them was the face of a girl. A beautiful girl.
Laura looked at the smoke amazed. She knew the girl. She is one of the new ones she just brought. Then Laura looked at Xander. Wonder was written on his face.
“She’s beautiful. I wonder who she could be?”
“Xander…” Laura began. Then she heard a gasp from the door. When she turned, there, in the door, was Kelly.
“Laura? Why is my face in that smoke?” Kelly asked.
Xander mesmerized by the face in the smoke didn’t hear the conversation. Laura saw this so she took steps to ease them into the bond.
Laura jumped up and ran over and pulled Kelly out of the room before Xander could see her. “Kelly, I have something to tell you.” She took Kelly over to stairs, sat down and began to explain everything to her. By the time she is done Kelly was excited to meet Xander.
A half hour later Buffy and Giles came into the room just as they were about to do the bonding spell.
Giles spoke up first. “What’s going on?”
“Rupert, we did the soul mate spell for Xander and Kelly is his soul mate. They were about to bond to one another completely. Anya told me how to do it. She also said that you two don’t have the time to go through the delicate time of bonding so you two have to do the fast bonding as well.”
Buffy stepped in. “If we have to do this bond as well. Let me and Giles do it first. What if something goes wrong? Giles do you agree?”
Giles and Buffy looked at each other. (I’ve never heard of this type of bonding. Bonding usually can take up to a month to complete. What if something happened to you? I couldn’t bear it.)
(I don’t want to ask someone else to do something that might be dangerous first. Besides, I’d rather skip the jealous phase of the bond.)
“Alright, Buffy and I will do it first. If something goes wrong then the rest are to do it the other way. Is that clear?”
Everyone nodded.
“Right, now how do we do this quick bond?”
Laura came over to Buffy and Rupert. “You have to put your hands over each others hearts and pledge yourselves to the other. We had decided to make it like a marriage pledge. They were going to say, ‘With everything that I am, I pledge myself to you.’ First the Watcher pledges himself then the Slayer claims him with her pledge. Anya also said that it would feel like a static shock from carpet.”
Both Buffy and Giles nodded the turned to one another. Giles spoke up first. “Ready luv?”
Buffy nodded.
Rupert placed his hand over Buffy’s heart, looked into her eyes, and in a loving voice said. “I, Rupert Giles, with everything that I am, pledge myself to you.”
Looking into Giles’ eyes, Buffy placed her hand over his heart and in a loving voice said. “I, Buffy Summers, accept you and with everything that I am, pledge myself to you.”
Both jumped a little like they had been shocked. Then they pulled one another into a hug. Giles buried his face in her hair. (Oh God Buffy. I feel you so strongly now.) They pulled back from one another and looked each other in the eyes. Giles put his hands up to Buffy’s face and gently pulled her into a kiss. After a moment the kiss deepened. When the need for air forced them apart they looked into each others eyes.
(Giles, Rupert, will you marry me?)
Giles’ face broke out into a huge smile. Picking her up and swinging her around he said yes over and over, both through their bond and out loud.
Laura smiled and walked up to them. “Rupert, Buffy? What are you saying yes about?”
Rupert looked from Buffy to Laura and said. “Buffy asked me to marry her: I said yes.”
Grabbing the two in a big hug. “It’s about time you two. When? Where?”
Rupert looked back at Buffy. Buffy spoke up “We need to wait until everyone is healed and rested. But I don’t want to wait until we get to Cleveland.”
“I don’t want to wait til then either. But we would have a problem about blood tests, so we can’t marry here in California.”
Dawn finally spoke up. “Vegas is on the way to Cleveland the last time I saw a map. No blood tests, no waiting and a bunch of theme weddings. Can we have an Elvis impersonator perform the wedding?”
Both Buffy and Giles turned to Dawn and at the same time said. “NO!”
Giles then added. “No Elvis impersonators. All I want is a traditional wedding.”
“I agree with Rupert, no Elvis impersonators. I wouldn’t mind a themed wedding of some sort but no Elvis.”
Willow chipped in. “I can research the different types of weddings they have in Vegas. We can come up with something traditional yet themed.”
Giles bowed his head. “Alright. As long as I get my traditional wedding first, you can have what ever type of wedding you wish. Just no Elvis. Buffy, you, Dawn, Willow and Xander get to each choose a type of wedding. Just tell me where to be and what to wear.”
“Now, Xander I think you and Kelly should do the bonding spell. Laura was right, it did feel like a static shock.”
Xander turned to Kelly. “You ready?”
When Kelly nodded they did the spell as well. Instantly they were in each others arms hugging and kissing.
“We all need to rest now. I suggest that we go to our rooms and get some sleep. Even though we will be resting for the next few days we still have things to do. We need to replace ID’s and I need to get my passport replaced. Also we need money to shop and get some changes of clothes for everyone. Being the only member of the Council left, I will have access to the Council funds. But it will take a few days to access that money.”
Angel, having slipped in unnoticed spoke up. “You can use the Angel Investigations card til you can get your money.”
Giles turned to Angel. “Thank you Angel. How is your kitchen here? Big enough to handle all of us?”
Angel nodded. “Yes it is. Matter of fact I sent Wes out to the grocery to buy more food to handle you guys.”
“Good. Thanks. And thanks for letting us stay here while we recover.” Giles let out a sigh. “I’m tired. I could use some rest.” He turned to Buffy. “You could too. I feel your exhaustion Luv. Lets go and get some sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow.”
Buffy walked up to Giles nodding. She wrapped her arm around him and together they headed up the stairs.
Everyone else followed a short time later.
For the next week, time was spent healing, replacing ID’s, replacing Rupert’s passport, getting a replacement Council card, shopping and resting. Also time was spent on planning Buffy and Giles’ wedding.
A week and a half later and everyone was healed and well rested and ready to head to Cleveland. After the traditional wedding, Faith with Robin and Andrew were going to head on to Cleveland with all the new Slayers, while the rest did the other ceremonies in Vegas.