Title: Stop Motion
Author: Shannon
Pairing: Willow/Giles
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Joss Whedon, ME, UPN, FOX, and WB.
Distribution: http://magical-worlds.us/musings/, My LJ (shannon730), Hairy Eyeball if Elisabeth wants it. Anyone else that has my other fics. Any one else just let me know first.
Summary: Buffy is injured. Willow and Giles work together to help her and find the vampires behind the attack.
Author's Notes: Thanks to Gabrielle for betaing this for me.
This is written in response to Michelle's challenge What would happen if Buffy was paralyzed? I'd like to see a story about this, and about Giles' reaction to it. Pairing: A Giles/Buffy pairing would be preferred, but any pairing would be good. (It could be interesting to see how Buffy's paralysis would affect Giles' relationship with someone else.) I hope it's at least close to what you wanted.
Giles rubbed his fingers across his temple trying to make sense of all the noise in the room. Everyone was talking at once. Not an uncommon occurrence, but they hadn't all worked together in a long time and he wasn't as accustomed to it as he had been. Willow's information had not been well received. Not that he had expected it to be.
They knew that Wolfram and Hart had hired the vampires to attack Buffy. They also knew that the law firm had not wanted Buffy dead, just wounded. The vampire Willow had.questioned didn't know why. Just that the orders were to wound only. Giles was more confused now than he had been before Willow had told him what she'd learned.
He knew so little about the law firm. He knew it was run by demons; very old, very powerful demons. He also knew they'd been lying low since the battle with Angel in Los Angeles. Angel hadn't stopped them, but he had hurt them. Willow's idea of locating Spike was beginning to look better. He had been on the inside of the firm, he might have information that could help them.
"So, how do we find Wolfram and Hart then?" Faith asked, pulling Giles attention back to the conversation going on around him.
"We can't just 'find' them," Willow sighed. "It's not that easy. If it had been Angel would've succeeded two years ago."
"What then?" Faith asked angrily, "We sit around and wait until they decide they do want to take B out completely?"
"Of course not," Giles cut in. "Charging in without a plan is foolish. Fighting them is unlikely to be any easier than fighting the First. We need to act carefully."
"Why just injure Buffy?" Dawn asked. "That's what I don't get. Kill the Slayer, I can understand, but why just wound?"
"I wish I knew," Giles sighed. "Willow, are you certain the vampire told you everything?"
"Yeah," Willow frowned. "I think that other thing we discussed could come in handy for this."
"What other thing?" Xander asked. "Did we discuss something else and I missed it?"
"You didn't miss anything," Willow answered. "Giles and I discussed possibly contacting Spike to try to help Buffy deal with her injuries."
"No," Xander yelled, "Buffy's finally over her thing for the undead and now you want to bring one of them here on purpose?"
"How can Spike help?" Dawn asked ignoring Xander's ranting.
"He knows what it's like," Willow explained. "He lost a part of himself when the Initiative put in that chip."
"Spike." Xander continued, "Even Angel would be better than."
"And he may know something about Wolfram and Hart," Faith agreed, "More than we do anyway. He was on the inside for a while."
"I can't believe you would even consider."
"Xander," Willow said angrily over Xander's ranting. "Get over it. You don't like Spike, we all know that. Deal with it."
"We're agreed then?" Giles asked, when Xander leaned back in his chair, quietly glaring at Willow. "We call Spike?"
Everyone except Xander, who was still glaring at Willow, nodded in agreement. "Do I have a choice?" Xander finally asked.
"You can be an ass and make everyone miserable," Faith suggested, "Or you can agree; but either way, Giles is calling Spike."
"Fine, call him."
"I'm going to bed," Faith said, heading toward the door. "I told Buffy I'd go to the hospital in the morning."
"I'll go with you," Dawn said, following the slayer from the room. "We're going to have to tell her what we know."
Willow and Giles waited until Xander too had followed Faith from the room before speaking. "He's our best chance, Giles."
"I agree," he sighed, "I'm just afraid of what he'll do to Buffy emotionally."
"It can't be any worse than what this attack has done to her," Willow said quietly, moving to sit next to him on the couch. "She'll be okay."
"You sound so certain," he said, looking at her. "You don't know that she'll be okay. We have no idea what's going to happen. She's so.crushed."
"I know, but that was yesterday," Willow offered. "Dawn and Xander both said she was better today. She's going to be depressed for a while. Anyone would be. But she's Buffy. She'll find a way."
"We shouldn't have spread out all over the world," Giles said, "We should've stayed together."
"And what would that have changed?" Willow asked. "They're after her because she's a slayer. The slayer. You couldn't have protected her. If we had stopped those vampires, they would've sent something else, something bigger and harder to fight."
"Intellectually, I know you're right, Willow," he agreed. "Emotionally."
"Emotionally," Willow sighed, "Your slayer almost died, and is still in danger."
"Yes," he admitted quietly.
Willow had never seen Giles so beaten down. So defeated. That's why she had convinced him not to go to the hospital with Dawn and Xander. If Buffy saw him right now, it would cause her to backslide and give up hope. "Have you slept, Giles?" Willow asked. "At all, since we talked to that doctor?"
"Of course, I." Giles looked at her, staring at him, and knew he couldn't deny lie, "No."
"You need to," Willow said, pulling him to his feet, "Buffy's healing fast, they're going to want to send her home. She's going to need us to be strong, Giles. She won't be able to fight this if she thinks we've given up."
"I need to call Spike first," Giles argued as she pushed him toward the door. "I'll try to sleep later."
"Give me the number," Willow insisted. "I can call Spike. You go to bed."
Giles walked over to the desk on the opposite side of the room, quickly pulled a book from the drawer, and flipped several pages. "This is the last number I had for him. It's only a few months old so it should still be good. He's moving around often, trying to stay under Wolfram and Hart's radar."
Willow took the book from him. "I'll get him here as soon as possible."
Giles turned and headed back toward the door. He knew she was right; he needed to sleep. He had tried a few times in the last few days, but it always ended in nightmares. "Willow."
"Yeah," she glanced up, pausing in dialing the phone.
"Thank you."
"Anytime."
When he had left the room, closing the door behind him, she finished dialing the phone. She didn't want to think about what she'd do if the number wasn't good any longer. She breathed a cautious sigh of relief when she heard the familiar voice on the other end. "Hi, Spike."