Willow stood at the gate of the Sunnydale cemetery clutching a bouquet of flowers. Oz was waiting in the limo, she had preferred to do this alone and by herself, besides Oz hadn’t really ever gotten to know Giles. She walked into the cemetery her heels crunching the gravel as she strode past the memorials and graves. Overhead the trees swayed rhythmically, and the leaves rustled, it scared Willow a little bit, but she bit her lower lip, and kept on walking. To calm herself she took deep breaths, thinking to herself that it certainly smelt like rain. Walking past gravesite after gravesite she thought back to the last time she was here. The authorities hadn’t been able to locate Giles’s family in England, so all funeral arrangements had been left up to Miss Calendar.
As Willow approached the unassuming grave with the little angel seemingly perched precariously on top she knelt on the ground somewhat wet with dew and placed the bouquet against the grave. For a moment she sat there, tracing Giles’s name on the grave, but she turned suddenly when she heard someone breathing behind her.
“You must be one of Buffy’s old friends,” a voice said.
“Who are you?”
“Buffy’s protégé.”
“Nice vocabulary.”
“I try, she doesn’t talk about you guys much, but once in awhile she lets something slip, and she gets kind of this dreamy look on her face, but when I press for more, she makes me do back flips. Would you be Cordelia?”
Willow smiled for a moment, a little flattered, a little frightened.
“No, no, I’m Willow.”
“Ohh, for some reason I had pictured you in a totally different way.”
“What would your name be,” asked Willow.
“Courtney,” she responded as she walked closer to Willow, she sat down next to her and Willow carefully looked the girl over. She was a little taller than Buffy, with brown, almost black hair. Courtney was pretty, but in a different way than Buffy, a little darker, more mysterious.
“So,” Willow started, making an attempt at conversation, “where is Buffy tonight?”
“Well, she usually doesn’t like to do this menial labor, she only comes out of her boyfriend’s embrace when there’s something big to fight, demon, vampire overlord, that kind of stuff.”
“So, I take it that you’ve met Angel.”
“Ohh, yeah. That boy is one good looking vamp. I’ve often wondered how that guy shaves.”
“Mmm,” Willow murmured, “the burning question.”
A moment of silence ensues, when Willow fingers one of the flowers in the bouquet and Courtney checks her nails.
“Ohh,” starts Courtney, “whatever happened to the rest of the group. I mean did you and Xander, ever, you know, get down with your bad selves?”
“No,” chuckled Willow, “Xander and I never got together, I, uhh…married Oz, I don’t know if you’ve heard anything about him from the Buffster. The whole group, me, Buffy, Cordelia..”
“Isn’t she the beauty queen,” interrupted Courtney.
“Well, she was, but last I heard, she was head of some grass rootsy type clinic. Well, anyway the group, me, Buffy, Cordelia and Xander, lost touch with each other.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened with Giles. Buffy never, ever talks about it,” prodded Courtney.
Willow sighed, a little hesitant to reveal what had happened to Giles after only just meeting this girl, but something touched Willow about Courtney, and made her feel a deep connection with the girl. She looked into Courtney’s eyes, and then turned away and began the tale very softly at first, almost imperceptible to hear, but gaining strength and volume as she continued on with the tale.
“Almost a year ago to the day, Giles died. Buffy has…has always blamed herself for his death, and Xander always blamed himself. Together they were one big pity party,” she said with a smile, “Yeah, that wasn’t very funny. Well, anyway, Buffy was fighting a bunch of vampires, you know the usual, and Angel had her back, and they were doing pretty good, but something happened and Angel got knocked out. Buffy couldn’t take them all by herself. And they hurt her, hurt her badly. For some reason they didn’t kill her, they knew that..” Willow started to cry, but she continued the story, it felt good to let it out. She had told Oz about it once, and that was it, they had a connection though, and he knew whenever she thought about it. She continued the story after Courtney had taken her hand, and held it tightly. “The bastards knew that if they killed Giles, then Buffy would be confused, and weakened, and they could play with her, make her death more of a game. So they went to the school library, the one that you go to everyday, and they burnt it to the ground.”
For a moment there was silence, and Willow heard the leaves blowing in the wind once again.
“Why does Xander blame himself,” queried Courtney.
“Xander was in the library at the time. He was asleep at the computer when the fire was raging, he woke up in time to see his shoes catching on fire. The whole room was filled with smoke, and Xander dropped to the ground. He called for Giles everywhere, but couldn’t find him. He felt that he was about to pass and he quickly got out of the room, just in time to see the ceiling crash down. The worst part was that he could hear Giles’s screams. I don’t think that has ever left him, it still haunts him, when he sleeps, showers, breathes.”
“God,” Courtney said, genuine horror in her eyes, “where were you, you sounded like you were there the whole time.”
Willow blinked the tears from her eyes. After a moment of hesitation she replied, “I was. I was asleep with Xander, it was late and we had been waiting for Buffy to come back, he woke up, but I didn’t. I was already passed out. He grabbed me and tried to find Giles, but it was too late, and we had to get out.” The tears rolled faster down Willow’s face. “I was always better at dealing with things than Xander was, I don’t think that he could handle it. He blamed himself for the whole mess, he didn’t show up for graduation, and I haven’t heard from him since. The night he left for God knows where, he came to my house, like he’s done time and time before. He said absolutely nothing, just kissed me on the hand and left.”
“Wow,” Courtney sighed, “that is the saddest thing.”
“Yeah, I guess it is. We loved Giles, it was hard without him. But I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again. Does Angel still live where he used to live?”
“If you mean over by the Bronze, yeah.”
Willow and Courtney got up and a little awkwardly shook each others hands, but Courtney pulled Willow into a hug. Willow smiled happy that she had been able to talk to someone about this.
“My husband is waiting for me, he probably thinks that I was abducted or something,” said Willow as she wiped one of the last tears from her eyes.
“Yeah, I guess I should do another sweep of the cemetery and then report in with Craig, he’s my Watcher.” With that Courtney flounced off, leaving Willow alone with Giles.
“There Giles, your memory will always live on as long as people know your story.” She turned and walked off, going back to the limo, and heading for a familiar apartment near the Bronze.
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