Title: Atonement, Part 2/?
Author: Neena (varscona_pal@yahoo.ca)
Overall rating: NC-17
Pairing: Giles/Angel
Summary: Angel returns to Sunnydale intent on saving Giles’ life and making amends, but discovers that his good intentions may bring about more suffering than either of them can handle.
Setting: Season four of BtVS, season one of AtS.
Warning: Slash and a little angst.
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon, Kuzui, Fox, ME, Sandollar, etc. own the rights to the characters in this story, but I’m happy to live in their shadow.

It was nearing dinnertime when Giles finally stirred.

Buffy was at his side in a heartbeat. “Take it easy, Giles, you took a serious hit from that door—you’ve been out for hours.”

“Where am I?” he asked, confused. He’d thought he was in the temple, but he was lying on something soft and he had his pillow under his head.

“You’re still trapped in the sacrificial chamber,” she answered. “Xander took Willow home and came back with some supplies from your place…in case you’re stuck here for a while.”

Giles looked around and saw that Xander had brought food and a little camp stove, some more water and some of his clothes and blankets, too. He didn’t want to break it to them that he wasn’t likely going to need any of it.

“I know it lacks in comfiness, but it should be good enough to keep you going until we can figure out a way to get you out of here.”

“My books…” said Giles, trying to sit up.

“Are perfectly safe and nothing you should be concerned about until you can move without turning green around the gills,” said Buffy, gently pushing him back down on the air mattress Xander had procured for him.

“Buffy, there’s no time—if I can’t find a way to escape before the full moon, chances are very good I’ll become the guest of honour at the next ritual sacrifice.”

“Ah… So that’s why you were asking Willow when the next full moon was,” said Buffy.

“She said the full moon is tomorrow night—that leaves me until sunset tomorrow to decipher the writings on the altar and walls and pray they tell me what I need to know get through that blasted archway.” He punctuated his last remark with an evil glare at the offending doorway.

“So…books. Right,” said Buffy. “Don’t move.” She jumped to her feet and returned moments later, her arms laden with his books and notebook. “Anything I can do to help?”

“You could bring the lantern closer,” he said with a small, grateful smile, which was quickly followed by a wince. “And if Xander thought to bring painkillers, I could use about a hundred of them.”

Buffy could do little to help him over the next few hours—translation was definitely not her forté—but she and Xander busied themselves with making dinner in the hallway just outside the chamber.

The aroma of sizzling bacon finally permeated Giles’ subconscious, but his findings so far were grim enough to make him lose his appetite. It wasn’t until a plate of baked beans, bacon and scrambled eggs was shoved under his nose that he finally pried his eyes from his translations and acknowledged his surroundings.

“Thank-you, Buffy, but I’m not all that hungry right now,” he said.

“That bad, huh?” she asked.

“Afraid so,” said Giles. “Buffy, I’m going to need your help, and I need you to act quickly.”

“Sure. Anything.”

“I need you to find a pure-blooded demon—a friendly one…one that we can trust—and bring him here as quickly as possible.”

“No sweat,” she said, “I’ll just call Angel, and…”

“No. Not Angel. Anyone but Angel,” Giles said firmly, then added: “There’s really no need to bother him with this.”

Buffy could see by the resolve face he had on that Giles was finished discussing the matter. It troubled her that he still didn’t trust Angel—that the two most important men in her life couldn’t get along.

“Do it quickly,” said Giles. “The Freb-Ont ritual begins at sunset tomorrow night.”

“Got it. Friendly, trustworthy demon. How hard can it be to find one of those? Oh wait—Hellmouth, centre of all things evil—yeah…gonna be pretty tough, actually.”

“Buffy…”

“Don’t worry, I’m on it,” she assured him. “Are you gonna be okay here by yourself?”

“There’s enough supplies here to last me through a nuclear winter. I should be fine. Just…please hurry.”

Buffy had barely walked through her dorm-room door when she ordered Willow to toss her the phone. She’d had a long car ride to think things through, and she decided that Giles’ stubborn pride be damned—she was going to ask Angel for help. There was no way she’d be able to find another friendly demon before the full moon.

“Who’re you calling?” asked Willow from her bed, where she was laying with her foot propped up and her laptop open beside her.

“Hi, Cordelia,” said Buffy into the phone. “Is Angel there?” Buffy ignored Willow’s raised eyebrows and paced back and forth until her ex-boyfriend picked up on the other end.

Angel hung up the phone, tossed his leather jacket over his shoulder and headed for the door. Doyle and Cordelia exchanged quick glances then got up to follow him.

“What’re you doing?” Angel asked them as they strode out the door in his wake.

“”We’re coming with you,” said Doyle.

“No, you’re not,” said Angel.

“Um…excuse me, but if there’s trouble in Sunnydale, I want in. I’ve got family there, you know,” said Cordelia, her arms crossed firmly across her chest, barring argument.

“Your family is fine—this is about Giles.”

“Giles is family…sort of. Anyway, we’re still coming with you.”

“Not that I don’t appreciate the offer, but there’s nothing you can do to help. He’s trapped in this temple, and he needs a pure-blood demon to get him out before the ‘Free Bone’ ritual tomorrow night. So unless you’ve turned into a pure-blood demon overnight, I think this is a solo mission,” said Angel.

“’Free Bone’?” asked Doyle, stopping in his tracks. “Do you mean ‘Freb-Ont’?” Doyle grabbed Angel by the arm and pulled him aside, out of Cordelia’s earshot.

“Yeah, that’s the one. Why?” asked Angel.

“She didn’t happen to mention what it was he wants you to do, did she?” he asked.

“She didn’t seem to know much about it. Again, why?”’

“Nothin’. It’s just…I happened to eavesdrop on a particularly nasty gang of demons down at this Karaoke bar I know. They were talking about this Freb-Ont thing, fighting over which one would get to perform it. It’s a ritual sacrifice of a virgin, see? The chosen demon gets the privilege of torturing the virgin to death as he, uh…deflowers her. From the way they were talking, it sounds like a pretty brutal way to go.”

“Then I don’t think we have anything to worry about. I mean, it’s not like Giles is a virgin…is he?” asked Angel.

“Why d’you think he specifically asked for a demon? I’m guessing sex with other humans doesn’t cut it in their books,” said Doyle with a sad smile. “Just thought you should know what’s involved here.”

A shadow of uncertainty flitted across Angel’s stoic features. “It makes no difference,” he said at last. “Giles needs me. I’m going.” Angel slipped out of Doyle’s grasp and whipped past Cordelia.

“Hey!” she said. “It’s bad enough you won’t let me into your little boy’s club—now you’re blowing me off?” She was already trotting after Angel when Doyle snagged her arm.

“He’s right, Cordelia. He has to do this alone,” said Doyle.

Cordelia didn’t like the uncomfortable look on Doyle’s face, but she was ready to concede defeat on the matter.

“Fine. Whatever,” she said. “But things must be really bad if Giles is asking Angel for help.”

“Why’s that?” said Doyle curiously.

“Didn’t Angel ever tell you about his latest trip to Angelus-land?”

“I asked once. He was…less than forthcoming, if you know what I mean.”

“Well, things got bad, and Giles got the worst of it,” she explained. “Angelus killed his girlfriend and left her on his bed as a little present. Then he tortured him to get info on the Acathla thing. No details there, understandably, but I’m guessing it was pretty horrible.”

She couldn’t be sure, but Cordelia thought Doyle’s expression got decidedly more uncomfortable.

Angel stood looking down at the black, circular hole in the ground. In the pale light just before dawn, he paused at he entrance to the temple and turned to look at Buffy. There was something that had been bothering him since he’d picked her up in Sunnydale.

“Did Giles tell you what we he wants me to do?” he asked.

“Nada. Not a peep. Probably a lot of chanting and maybe a plucked chicken… You know, the usual.”

Angel wasn’t in the mood for her banter. “This is serious. Did he specifically ask for me?”

Buffy couldn’t help feeling a little hurt by his tone. And she really hated that she sucked so much at lying. He obviously saw it all over her face. Not…exactly,” she said. Angel’s frown dug a new trench into his brow. “Okay. I think his exact words were ‘anyone but Angel’. But we’re working on a time limit here—and do you know how hard it is to find a friendly, trustworthy demon on a Hellmouth?”

Angel fought back a scowl as the first rays of sunlight illuminated the desert landscape. “Go home. We’ll talk about this later,” he said, his voice dry and flat. With those menacing words hanging in the air, Angel disappeared down the hole with a flapping of black leather.

Angel followed the scent of bacon down the long central hallway until he saw light coming from the room at the end. He slowed his pace, not particularly eager to get where he was going.

He arrived at the chamber’s entrance unnoticed—Giles’ attention was focused solely on the transcriptions on which he was working. Angel stood awkwardly in the doorway, not knowing how to announce his presence without alarming Giles. He settled on a gentle clearing of his throat.

Giles looked up with a start, and even in the dim light Angel could see the blood draining from his face at the sight of him.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you,” said Angel.

“What are you doing here?” Giles demanded. “I told Buffy to leave you out of this.” He was fairly shaking with fear and anger.

“Yeah, well Buffy must have got her lines crossed, because she told me you asked me to come.” Angel could see the anger boiling up in Giles and he held up his hand; “I know now you didn’t, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m here now, so we might as well make the best of it.”

“Angel…I don’t think you fully understand the situation.”

“Sure I do. You need a demon. I’m a demon. See how easy it is?”

“Trust me, there’s nothing easy about it,” said Giles. “I’m sorry Buffy dragged you all the way out here, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Or, if you really want to be of use, you can help Buffy do what I asked her to do and find me another demon.”

“Don’t be stupid, Giles,” said Angel. “You know we’ll never find another demon in time for tonight’s full moon. Or maybe you’d rather die than have sex with me?”

Giles blanched. “Maybe I would,” he answered defiantly. Only the shaking of his voice betrayed how frightened he was.

“Fine then, I’ll leave,” said Angel, and when Giles didn’t argue, he turned on his heel and disappeared down the dark corridor.

As soon as Angel stepped foot inside the temple’s main entrance, he was met by a very cross-looking Buffy.

“What?” he asked. And when she simply crossed her arms and frowned at him he explained: “He doesn’t want my help.”

“So that’s it? You’re just gonna walk away and leave him to be slaughtered?” she said.

Angel paced in frustration. “He said he doesn’t want my help.”

“Look, I know Giles has some issues with you, but you’ve got to go back down there and tell him to get over it.”

“Get over it?”

“That’s what I said. Do whatever it takes, but don’t come back up until you’ve changed his mind. I can’t lose him, just because he’s too proud and stubborn to put his grudges behind him.”

Angel paced faster, stopped in his tracks like he wanted to say something, and then returned to his pacing. He couldn’t very well tell her the real reason Giles didn’t want his help—if he’d wanted her to know, he would have told her himself. The really annoying thing was that he knew she was right—he couldn’t abandon Giles. He finally stopped his pacing and jabbed a finger in Buffy’s direction: “Alright, I’ll go back down there…but I don’t want you hanging around, and I know for a fact that Giles wouldn’t want you here for this either. So go. Give us some space. You can come back for us tonight.”

“Angel,” said Buffy, her voice softening, “get him out of there. I have a bad feeling abut this one. Promise?”

“I promise,” answered Angel, cupping her cheek gently. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had to make such a difficult promise.

They shared a look of longing, and as Angel turned and headed back down the corridor, he wondered how willing Buffy would have been to send him back in had she known what he was about to do.

Giles heard the footsteps approaching—had been half-expecting them. Once again he lifted his eyes from his translations to see the ghostly pale face of Angel appearing out of the shadows of the archway.

“Let me guess…Buffy?” asked Giles.

Angel nodded. “She knows you’re as good as dead if I don’t help you,” he said. “She’s right, you know.”

“I’ve made my decision,” said Giles.

“She still needs you, Giles,” said Angel, cautiously approaching the skittish ex-watcher. “She’s learned a lot, and she’s trying to do things on her own…but she still needs you. Don’t be selfish.”

Giles’ eyes flashed furiously at Angel, but despite himself, the words sank in. Was it fair to choose death and leave his slayer alone in the world? No doubt she would manage without him; she was an extraordinary young woman, and she had the help of her friends. But Angel was right—she still needed his guidance…from time to time.

Angel could see the emotional battle playing out across Giles’ face and he slowly inched his way closer to the altar where he had laid out his books. He took his continued silence as an indication that he was at least considering his options.

At last Giles cleared his throat. “There are certain…requirements…that must be met. The hieroglyphs leave little room for loopholes, I’m afraid.”

Angel came around to the other side of the altar so he could see what Giles had been working on. Giles shied away at his approach—his brain might have agreed to go through with it, but his instincts had other ideas.

“Okay. So walk me through it,” said Angel softly. “What is it we have to do?”

Giles reluctantly edged closer to Angel so he could read from his notes. “The writings on the altar say that only an unsullied human may be used in the sacrifice—that being ‘one who has never been penetrated sexually by a demon of pure blood until he be well-sated.”

There was a heavy silence between them for a moment until Angel gave voice to the only thing he could think to say:

“Oh.”

NEXT