Willow awoke to a dull light. Disoriented, she tried to figure out where she was. She saw Oz and Giles still sitting at the research table, both of them very much asleep. Xander was stretched out on the floor. Willow herself was curled up in an armchair next to Buffy, who was still weirdly unconscious. Angel was nowhere to be seen, which was fortunate since the sun was streaming through the windows. He must have gone back to his mansion before the sun rose.
She searched around for a clock without moving from the chair. The nearest one she could see was on Oz’s wrist, but it was still too far away to read, so she reluctantly got out of the chair, stretched, and picked up Oz’s wrist gently to see the time.
7:30am. Willow said “Oops,” quite softly, but it still woke Oz up. He blinked himself awake and seemed to try to orient himself quite the way Willow had. He hugged Willow as a good morning to her and gestured to Buffy. Willow shook her head and a look of extreme concern that worried Oz quite a bit flashed across her face. She quickly replaced it with a minorly mischievous “How should we wake Xander up” face. Oz only smiled at his strong Willow and watched as she prepared herself to cast a spell that would dump a bucket of icewater on Xander’s head.
She was rudely interrupted by the telephone, which immediately jolted both Xander and Giles awake quite effectively. It took Xander, too, a moment to figure out what was going on, but Giles got up immediately to get the phone. Willow’s disappointment about the ruined gag faded, and she spoke with Oz and Xander what they should do about getting to school. It started in about half an hour, so they had to determine what they’d do. It was a matter of Buffy, too; they’d been told that Joyce didn’t know about the injury and just thought Buffy was at Giles’ working late. She’d be expected to be at school.
The awkward demeanor that Giles’ voice took said that it was Joyce on the other end of the line. He haltingly explained that no result had come of the search but that he was sending Buffy and the others away to school that very moment. He hung up and came over to discuss the situation with the others.
“Giles, how are we going to get Buffy to school? We’ve still got the problem of Buffy being sort of unconscious.” Willow said.
“You’re right, but I had a thought. Perhaps we could use Oz’s van to transport Buffy to school. We can then lay her down in my office. Hopefully she’ll awaken before school ends, and we can tell Joyce that a demon attacked you all on the way to school and that’s where Buffy’s injury came from.”
Xander raised his eyebrows. “Whoa. Stuffy British guy comes up with a plan. Okay, so the rest of us keep researching while the Buff’s recuperating, and…”
“No,” Giles interrupted. “You three will go to your classes. I’ll keep researching. It’s possible that the volumes in the library will prove more successful than my volumes here. Although I’m certain I’ve read those characteristics somewhere recently… No matter. Oz, if you could bring your van around in a half hour…”
“One van, coming up.” Oz kissed Willow’s forehead gently and left through the front door.
“Willow, Xander, you can go home and prepare yourselves for the day. There will be more research to be done after school, of course. Xander, if you could at some point tell Angel that we’ve moved Buffy to the library…”
“Sure I will. Anything for Buffy, as ever.” He glanced sadly at the unconscious Slayer and left.
“What can I do?” Willow asked. “Do you want me to go to the Magic shop for anything? I could try and find a healing spell, or maybe just a spell to get Buffy to wake up…”
Giles smiled kindly. “No, Willow. I’m not sure a reviving spell would help Buffy here. If what Angel said is true and Buffy did awaken last night, she’d only become about that coherent even with the spell. I think it’s best if we just let this run its course. Now, go home and I’ll see you at school.”
Willow smiled back reluctantly and left as well. Giles drank what was left in his mug and grimaced at the taste of the cold tea. Nothing fits. Nothing should be able to do this to a slayer, except perhaps a bloodstone vengeance spell. Judging by her lack in change of condition, though, he was left to deduct that whatever her problem was, she’d get over it when she was ready. He could do nothing to help her but try to find out about the creature that did this to her. He collapsed into a chair and just sat until Oz arrived.
***
It was about twelve hours later, and everyone was still on the research brigade. Angel had appeared with Xander about an hour ago, and Willow had informed Cordelia about what was going on during school. Even with the help of just two extra people, Willow noticed the pile of books already read was becoming a pile much more effectively.
Buffy was still dead to the world in Giles’ office. Joyce had called wanting Buffy home for dinner, but she mistook Cordelia’s voice for Buffy’s when Cordelia was saying in the background that she’d help and go home when they knew that it was. Giles also told Joyce about “the demon that attacked Buffy on her way to school”, but assured her that Buffy was fine aside from a minor shoulder injury. Joyce reluctantly accepted everything and hung up. Angel, Giles and Xander were all constantly checking in on Buffy, hoping that at one point she’d have her eyes open.
Something that both Giles and Angel noticed but didn’t put words to was the way Buffy wasn’t healing properly. A Slayer has advanced healing power, like vampires do; they heal about four times faster than a normal person would. But Buffy’s shoulder was still lacking skin, and they still had to change the bandages every few hours.
The only noise was that of turning pages and Cordelia saying “Ew” to every icky demon she came across. Then, suddenly, from within Giles’ office, there was a groan and some obvious stirring.
Angel got up immediately and walked quickly into Giles’ office. Giles followed and everyone else, after exchanging looks with each other, piled into the office behind him. Angel was holding Buffy’s hand in his own and Giles was talking to her, asking if she was awake.
“…Angel?” Buffy said dimly, the least aware she’d been since the graveyard while being awake but the most coherent.
“I’m here.” Angel was smiling slightly in relief.
“Oh, good. Where’s the… the…” Buffy struggled to remember the connection she’d come up with, but she didn’t recall the dream she’d had. That seemed to be the missing link. Angel mistook it for over-effort and shushed her, telling her she was safe.
Buffy opened her eyes a little bit and smiled at Angel. She looked behind him and saw Giles, so she smiled at Giles, too. Giles grinned back at her, and she forgot her inner struggle.
“I think I’m going to sleep, now,” she said, and she was good to her word.
Everyone left the office much happier than they were when they entered it. “Well, it seems Buffy’s finally getting over her… whatever this is.” Giles commented obviously.
“Well, what does this mean? It doesn’t get us any closer to knowing what the demon is does it? I mean, so she’s awake, big deal. That doesn’t mean the research party’s any closer to finishing,” Cordelia said.
Xander looked at his former girlfriend in amazement. “You could have played the Tin Man on the Wizard of Oz fabulously, since you both have the whole lack of heart thing down.”
Oz smiled slightly at the reference and responded to Cordelia’s comment. “It might, actually. Buffy experienced the demon first-hand.”
“I did, too, though, and there wasn’t a lot of experience to have with that thing. It seemed pretty much feral, and that’s about it,” Angel supplied.
“That’s not what I mean. Maybe something happened when the demon attacked her that you didn’t experience because you won; some phenomena that happened when it bit her. It might be something minor, or maybe it’s something bigger. It may bring us to a crucial breaking point.”
“Oz brings an excellent point,” Giles said. “I suggest that we let Buffy recuperate a bit. Research seems a bit futile to me until we know more. Keep the piles as they are and we’ll go through the remaining books when we have more to go on. In the meantime, go home or something. I’m going to take Buffy home as well when she wakes up again. We’ll meet back here tomorrow bright and early to continue our research.”
“…So I’m free? Wow. That didn’t take as long as expected.” Cordelia fished out her car keys and turned to leave the library.
“Will you be joining us tomorrow, Cordelia?” Giles asked.
With reluctance and a sigh, Cordelia said she’d be there, and left in a hurry as though if she stayed any longer, Giles would change his mind and try to keep her there.
“Are you sure there’s nothing else to be done tonight, Giles?” Willow asked.
“I’m quite sure, Willow. Go home and rest. There’s no use bothering over something we clearly don’t know enough about.”
“So, all that research we’ve already done was down the drain? Wow. What a spectacular waste of time,” Xander said.
“Well, no, I didn’t say that. We didn’t find anything to do with metallic mist demons, so I should say that we’ve only narrowed down our job for later. And if Buffy doesn’t have anything to add…”
“Hey, Giles, chill. I’m only kidding. I don’t mind these research parties… they’re actually the most exciting thing in my life right now.” Xander sighed and gathered his things. “Say Oz, can I hitch a ride home with you?”
“Sure,” Oz responded simply. He, Xander and Willow all left, leaving Angel and Giles alone with Buffy.
“Would it bother you if I stayed with Buffy until she wakes?” Angel asked Giles.
“No, no. I’ll just be out here, contending with some filing and such.”
Angel nodded and reentered Giles’ office.
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