Xander breathed a sigh of relief when they had finally made it out of the mansion and away from the violence, but hearing Giles' groan replaced the relief with fear. The Watcher was hurting and Xander knew that walking probably wasn't helping the man. What he wouldn't have given for a car right then.
"Giles?" The older man didn't reply. "Giles," Xander repeated before physically shaking the Watcher a bit.
Shaking his head, Giles replied, "Yes? What?"
The boy noticed that his eyes were dull and glazed over in pain. "We have to get you to a hospital. Do you think you can walk that far?"
"Jenny," Giles whispered, clearly out of it.
As fear and panic bubbled up inside of him, Xander tried to remain calm. "I'll take that as a yes." Shifting to shoulder more of Giles' weight, Xander steadied himself and began to walk down the sloping road. He could see the blood that soaked through Giles' shirt and his mind wandered, wondering what exactly had been done to the Watcher. Knowing Angelus, it could've been anything.
From the looks of Giles' back, he'd been whipped raw. Xander was fairly certain that the older man had several broken fingers and quite possibly a few cracked or broken ribs. Xander didn't even want to think about what the vampire could have done to the lower parts of Giles' body.
On their long, slow journey, Giles kept repeating, "Jenny, Jenny." The boy hoped that Giles wasn't permanently mentally damaged.
**
"I found him in the park," Xander lied, trying to explain Giles' condition to a doctor and a few nurses. "I think he was mugged. I didn't have a car and couldn't find a phone, so we walked."
"Jenny," Giles whispered.
"Who's Jenny?" The doctor asked as she helped place Giles' on a rolling bed.
"Um, his girlfriend." Not wanting to tell them that Jenny was Giles' DEAD girlfriend, so as to not get him admitted to the psych ward, Xander left that part out. Well, you had better go call her. We'll take care of him."
Xander closed his eyes for a moment as they wheeled the Watcher away. Jumping when a hand grasped his shoulder, he barley contained a scream. His eyes popped open.
Cordelia smiled reassuringly at him. "How'd it go?"
Drawing her into a tight embrace, Xander inhaled her scent, happy to alive to smell it again. "Got Giles out."
"Buffy?" she asked as she pulled back.
Xander shrugged. "Big fighting, but I had to get him out. He wasn't in a good way, Cordy. I don't know about her."
**
Xander sat in the small private room waiting for Giles to awaken so that he could take the wounded man home. Cordelia had gone to Willow's and then to Giles' to pick up clothes for the two.
Having sat there for two hours already, Xander stood up and began to pace. Talking out loud, he said, more to himself than to the unconscious Watcher," You know, you had me scared there for a little while, G-Man. Thought you were dead when I first walked into that room. For a moment I thought for sure you were sitting there, tied up on that chair, dead. But you weren't. And that's good because we'd all be lost without you. I wouldn't have anyone to yell at me when I make a stupid joke at an inappropriate time.
"I know I don't act like it much, but you...you mean a lot to me, Giles. I could say that you're like a father to me, more a father than my own, but that wouldn't really be right. You're so much more than that. I haven't told anyone this and I doubt that I ever will gain, but I...I love you. I don't know if it's just hero worship or a fascination with you as an authority figure, but, and don't tell Cordy, 'cause she'll kick my ass, I think it's more because sometimes when I'm kissing her, I'm thinking of you. Not of actually kissing you...well, I do think about that too, but I think about a lot of stuff. The way you pinch the bridge of your nose when you're upset or trying to think. The gruff quality of your voice when you reprimand me for being stupid. The look on your face when reading an old, dusty book. These are the things I think about when I'm kissing Cordelia."
Stopping next to Giles' bed, Xander leaned down. His face was only an inch away from the older man's. Xander just studied the face for a moment, noting how it looked so very young but at the same time, looked as if Giles had already lived two lifetimes, before leaning down farther and placing a gentle kiss on Giles' lips. "I love you," he whispered.
He felt the librarian stir. Moving back, he watched as Giles slowly began to wake up. With his eyes still closed, Giles whispered, "Jenny?" And for the second time in less than twelve hours, Xander's words had been mistaken by someone he loved for the words of someone else.
His heart fell a little, but he smiled despite his uneasy sadness as Giles opened his eyes. "Hey," Xander greeted softly.
"Xander? I was dreaming of Jenny, Xander," Giles said with near wonder.
No longer wanting the man to know it was him who had whispered his love into his ear, Xander smiled again and said, "Yes. You were dreaming."
~**~
The End