Yep, you guessed it—The Library—
Giles watched Buffy wear a path in the library floor with her pacing. She had rejected his offer of hot tea, instead choosing to vent her frustration and fear on inanimate objects. The remains of what used to be a chair lay in the corner, a testament to the Slayer’s anger. It would make excellent kindling.
He turned his gaze to Willow who sat in a chair. She had accepted Giles’ offer of tea, but only held it in her hands, staring at the double doors of the library in anxiety. Oz was perched on the back of her chair, stroking her hair absently.
Cordelia was actually the most composed. She had agreed to run everyone home so they could all shower and change. She had even picked up two dozen donuts at the store. She sat at a table separate from the others, fiddling with the locket Xander had given her and nibbling half-heartedly on a glazed donut.
“Where the hell is she!” Buffy finally burst out, startling everyone in the room. “I knew it was a mistake to trust her!” She glared accusingly at Giles, as if it were his fault.
Giles opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a crash from the stacks. As one, the group hit the stairs and headed towards the disturbance. They were met by Leonora, who still shouldered Xander.
“I…decided to…use the back door,” she heaved, relieved to hand Xander over to Giles. He cradled the unconscious young man in his arms and led everyone back to the front of the library. Leonora bent over, gritting her teeth against a nauseating wave of pain, put her hands on her knees, and tried to regain her breath.
Gently Giles lay Xander out on a table. His breathing and vital signs were good, which was promising. His face was a mask of blood, most of it coming from a gash at his hairline. He spotted the telltale puncture wounds on Xander’s neck, but Giles couldn’t hazard a guess at the amount of blood he’d lost, although it didn’t appear to be much judging from his vital signs.
“Be careful. He’s got some bruised ribs—one may be cracked.” Leonora stood at the top of the steps and reviewed his condition for the others. “He shouldn’t have lost too much blood--Angelus didn’t get a chance to do more than bite him. His head looks worse than it actually is--scalp wounds are messy. He may have a dislocated shoulder. The rest is just various cuts and bruises.”
“Why didn’t you take him to the hospital?” Buffy challenged, still angry and determined to find fault with Leonora for something.
“You want to try and explain him, then be my guest.” She sounded more weary than angry, causing Giles to look away from Xander and turn his attention to her.
Leonora looked like hell. She was pale and layered in sweat, and her skin had a grey cast to it. There was a hitch in her breathing that indicated something was seriously wrong. Obviously the rescue had not been an easy one and Leonora had pushed herself too far. Giles could see that it was taking her every last bit of stubbornness to stay on her feet.
“I’d better go. They’ll be looking for me now and should leave you alone for a bit.” She turned, weaving on her feet.
“Wait,” Giles called out, trying to stay he exit. He watched as her knees buckled. Leonora’s body canted left, crashing her into the railing. She let out a strangled howl and folded in on herself, holding her side. With her face pressed against the carpet she gasped for air.
Giles reached her first and tried to lever Leonora up into a sitting position. She snarled in pain, but accepted his help. Buffy held her shoulders to steady her while the others looked on from Xander’s side. “Will she be okay?” Willow queried softly.
“I’m checking on it,” Giles replied. “In the meantime, clean up Xander. There’s a kit beneath the couch in my office. It should have everything you need. I’ll see about his shoulder and those ribs as soon as I’m through here.” He the focused on Leonora who watched him warily.
He pried her hands away from her side and inhaled quickly. Apparently all of the blood on her had not been Xander’s—some of it was her own. “I’m going to have to see it,” he warned, the yanked her shirt away from the wound. Leonora made a pained sound deep in her throat and grew still paler as more blood leaked from the hole in her side, as the shirt that had been acting as a makeshift bandage was torn away.
“You’re not healing,” he told her in a low voice, concern lining his features.
“Really,” she choked out. “I never would have guessed.” She knew she was close to passing out—she had pushed herself past the safe limits and now was paying for it.
“What’s wrong?” Buffy asked, genuine worry creeping into her voice.
“Low on fuel,” Leonora whispered, fighting to stay awake. Her body was shutting down to help her heal.
“Fuel? Wha—oh.”
Giles was already loosening his tie and unbuttoning his shirt. Buffy opened her mouth to protest, when the dhampir raised a bloody hand to stop him. “No need to go that far,” she explained weakly, dropping her hand. Her eyes drifted closed, then opened briefly. “Butcher shop…” she mouthed, and then darkness.
Giles gathered Leonora in his arms, ignoring the blood. He looked at Buffy. “You’d better get going.”
“Me? Why me?”
Giles simply looked at her in that ‘Giles’ way and Buffy fell silent. Sighing, she headed towards the doors. “Cordelia! We’ve got an errand to run!”
Giles saw Leonora to another table, then went to help Willow and Oz with Xander. Truth be told, he wasn’t entirely sure he could do anything for her, considering that he wasn’t familiar with dhampirs. So he devoted his energy to someone he could help.
Leonora had been remarkably accurate in her diagnosis of his injuries. Willow and Oz had done a good job of cleaning the blood from Xander’s face and now they sat back to let Giles have a look at him.
“Why hasn’t he woken up yet?” Willow fretted, her hands fluttering around his head.
Giles considered the question rhetorical and worked at Xander’s dislocated shoulder. Willow winced in sympathy as it popped back into place.
“Where did you learn the medical gig?” This from Oz who was handing Giles some bandages.
Giles continued examining the young man’s torso as he answered. “Watchers get a basic first aid training in order to be better ah-equipped to help their Slayer. When you a Slayer like Buffy, you have to learn a bit more than the basics.”
“Cool.”
“I think he’s waking up,” Willow broke in excitedly. She leaned closer, practically on top of Xander. Giles gently pulled her back a bit, and after a bit of resistance, she complied.
Xander’s eyes cracked open. Surroundings slowly came into focus. The library. Willow, Giles, and Oz looking anxiously down at him. He tried to turn his head and the vague feeling of discomfort erupted into something far less pleasant.
“Hey Xand,” Willow said. “How do you feel?”
“Anybody happen to get the name of the natural disaster that hit me?” The joke was weak, but it was a joke nonetheless. The group grinned. At least his sense of humor had made it through the attack unscathed.
“Do you remember anything?” Giles asked.
“Thankfully, no. And I don’t think I want to, no offense.”
“Ah, none taken. I need to see about those ribs.” Giles looked to Oz, who handed him more bandages.
“Where’re Buffy and Cordy?”
“They had to go get something,” Willow offered, moving to the side so Xander could see Leonora.
“That can’t be a good sign. Should she be that dead looking?”
Giles shrugged eloquently. “Once we get you all cleaned and bandaged, we’ll take you to a hospital to make sure nothing is really broken.” He eased Xander into sitting position so he could wrap his ribs.
“Sure. Cordelia can drive me over. You guys will probably have your hands full.” He nodded over to the dhampir on the table.
“What are you going to tell the doctors?” Willow asked. “I mean, it’s not like you could just walk in and tell them you were attacked by vampires. Well, you could, but they’d probably stick you in a white room with padded walls for observation.”
“I’ll just tell them…OW! That’s a little tight, G-man…I’ll just tell them that my girlfriend got mad at me and pushed me down the stairs.” He smiled, then winced as Giles hit a tender spot.
“They’d buy that,” Oz observed from where he propped Xander up.
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