Welcome to Sunnydale: Part Eighteen
by Eliz
Giles had an unfamiliar feeling when he woke up the next morning. He felt a tickle on his chest as he moved and tried to figure out where he was. He felt a small, warm presence in his arms and he felt soft skin rub against his.

“Oh God”, Giles whispered as it dawned on him where he was. He slowly and carefully pulled his arm out from under Nikki’s body and climbed out of bed, being careful not to wake her. He got dressed and went downstairs to get his stuff ready for work.

On the way to the school Giles tried to think of something to say that would break the silence but he couldn’t think of one topic of conversation.

“Giles”, Nikki eventually broke the silence. “I’m sorry about last night. It was very childish of me”.

“Not at all”, Giles said. “Vivid dreams can often be pretty terrifying - I know that from personal experience. And your dream could help us to decipher what Spike is up to”.

“I certainly hope so”, Nikki smiled as they pulled into the car park.

The school was practically deserted when they arrived. They went straight to the library and began researching. Giles began reading through some old Watcher diary’s while Nikki looked up stuff on the computer in his office.

The rest of the gang arrived a short while later and settled down for a long day.

“Where’s Nikki?”, Buffy asked. She was still a bit worried about her after last nights run in with Spike.

“Oh, she’s doing some research on the computer in my office”, Giles said absentmindedly.

“She doesn’t seem to be getting much research done from where I’m standing”, Xander looked through the window of the office. Buffy and Giles walked to the door and saw Nikki fast asleep at Giles desk. Giles indicated for Buffy to follow him out of the room.

“We should let her sleep. She didn’t get much last night”, Giles blushed furiously as Buffy grinned and gave him a sly wink. “She had a nightmare about Spike. He was going to kill her”.

Giles, you don’t think...”, the smile disappeared from her face.

“I don’t know but I’m not willing to take any chances”. Suddenly a loud scream caused them to run back into the office.

“Nikki”, Giles got to her first and pulled her chair around to face him. She was crying and shaking and obviously still disorientated by whatever had caused her to scream. Giles gently stroked her hair while waiting for her to calm down.

“Oh God Giles”, she looked at him while trying to catch her breath.

“Was it the nightmare again?”

“Yes, no. It was different this time”, she tried to compose herself. “He had you, Giles. Spike. He was torturing you. You wouldn’t tell him what he wanted to know so he was slowly killing you. And I couldn’t stop him, I couldn’t....I couldn’t move”. She broke down once more as Giles wrapped his strong arms around her. He nodded to the rest of them to leave them alone.

Buffy stood at the door for a moment, looking at them. There was something about the way Giles looked at Nikki and in the way he held her in his arms. It was..., Buffy’s thoughts were interrupted by Cordelia tapping her on the shoulder.

“So, I guess this means that we’re not going to the dance tonight”, she sighed.

“No”, Buffy decided. “We should go. It’s probably exactly what Nikki needs to take her mind of stuff. A great night out with her friends. Plus, I’ve seen the best dress for her”. She looked around the room at the others who nodded happily in agreement.

“Good”, Cordelia smiled. “Then it’s all set. Oh God. I better go home and start getting ready”.

“Cordy”, Xander stared at her. “It’s 10 o’clock in the morning”.

“I know - how I am I going to get ready in time”.

Xander rolled his eyes at the others as Cordelia ran out of the library. “You get used to it - at least I hope you do”.

“Okay”, Giles said walking out of his office. “We better get to work”.

“How is she”, Willow asked.

“She’s still a bit shook up but...”, Buffy nodded, she understood completely.

“Well, what she needs is to go shopping. It always works for me”.

“Buffy, aren’t you being rather flippant”.

“No, Giles. We need to keep her mind this as much as possible and that will be easier if we go to the dance tonight”.

Giles reluctantly agreed and with that Buffy, Willow and Nikki headed off shopping.


This story archived at: The Slayer\'s Fanfic Archive
The Slayer\\\\\\\\'s FanFic Archive - http://www.slayerfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=1875