Rupert Giles walked slowly past the memorised doors of the hospital. The glossy red floor squeaked minutely at his faltering step which carried him to the far benches and the Oncology waiting area.

He paused at the low table to peruse the magazines choosing one of the earlier vintages and sat down to read. He felt at his breast pocket for his glasses but instead his fingers traced the raised lump in his flesh. Sensory memory igniting the fuse of the night Oz died and Willow left.

"You can’t expect her to be the same! You left, Willow grieved, we suffered!" Giles deposited his tea mug on the mantle, it slopped.

"I was gone only a short while, Giles. She… she didn’t have to take up with a …Girl!"

Giles’ eyes flashed. Oz had said “girl” with the same venom as some people would say, “dyke”

Oz regretted his statement immediately. The argument between himself and Giles had just advanced a few stages from a slanging match to perhaps blows being exchanged. He watched as Giles’ fury cooled on his face.

The Watcher took a couple of paces toward him. "Willow, is a lovely creature, I knew it wouldn’t be long before she found someone who returned her love equally." Giles announced this fact carefully; his eyes never left the Were–Wolf. "Tara has proved to be a useful member of the Slaying team and is a powerful Wicca in her own right. Together she and Willow have grown in love and knowledge. I refuse to stand by and let you or anyone else ruin their relationship. Do I make myself clear?"

Oz tilted his head to the side and scented the air. "You’re excited by them…"

Giles took a step back, swallowing nervously and his eyes darkening.

"You want to watch them love each other…" Oz growled softly as Giles became still and pale.

"You’re insane" Giles murmured and continued to back out of the room.

Oz blocked his path, and placed a changing paw to his chest, his yellow eyes reflecting the moonlight from the window. "No. Not both, you want Willow." Oz snarled and drew air in through his enlarging muzzle, smelling the waves of guilt and arousal coming from the Watcher.

He would only be able to talk for a few more moments. "You’ve always lusted after Willow, the times when I changed, you were always near." Oz panted, and tore at his clothes. "You touched her as she slept, covering her, your fingers lingering. Taking… her hand!" He howled.

Giles’ sinews tightened in readiness as he witnessed Oz changing.

Oz leapt at his chest.

Giles’ linked fists hammered Oz’s skull and the Were–Wolf slewed sideways, momentarily stunned. Giles staggered to the weapons chest, heaved the heavy lid open and rummaged for a weapon.

He turned at the outraged scream and as the Were–Wolf attacked once more. Giles fell back into the weapons and bellowed as a sword point punctured his thigh. Oz’s weight forced the point wholly through his leg and Giles was faced with a slathering wolf driven by bloodlust.

Through the red veil of pain, he managed to keep Oz’s jaws from his throat, but couldn’t prevent Oz from clawing his shoulders and forcing him further back into more lethal blades.

Giles’ fury and pain bought him time. He drew back and head butted Oz, seeing stars himself as he did so. He drew a deep breath and heard a familiar sound, a speeding whisper. The silver arrowhead ripped through Oz’s heart killing him instantly and lodged in Giles’ chest two inches above his right nipple.

The sudden dead weight of the Were–Wolf on his chest and the sound of Willow’s screams were the last things he remembered before darkness claimed him.

A finger and thumb clicked before his eyes and he came back to the present. "Giles…Giles?!" He smiled wanly and got up wearily. He followed his blonde doctor into the scan room and disrobed in a vacant cubicle.

"Ahem," Buffy swished the curtain round her patient. "Modesty, curtain Giles."

"But I’m not modest…" He eased his shirt from his shoulders and draped it on the back of the chair. His eyes rested briefly on his chest, the white raised scar of the arrowhead branding him letcher. He smiled as he picked up a short white hospital gown and announced, "This won’t fit!"

"Yep, don’t I know it!" Buffy smiled as she hugged her clipboard. It was wonderful to hear such spirit in her friend’s voice. "You’re a regular Stud Muffin!"

The new female Cat–scan technician blushed as the young consultant continued the lewd banter with her well preserved sixty year old patient.

"C’mon Giles, I’ve seen you before!"

"Yes, thank you so much for reminding me! But that young girl hasn’t!"

Buffy smirked and winked at the technician, "Ok Giles, there’s a second robe you can put on under the bench, should be plenty big enough, I borrowed it from Obstetrics."

The curtain swished open and Giles stood barefoot in all his pink flowered glory, blushing a delicate shade of rose.

Buffy smiled at him. He looked pale but better than he had in months and his hair had grown back soft and spiky. "You know the routine," she slipped her arm round his waist in a friendly gesture and felt his ribs; he wasn’t gaining weight as he should.

Giles put his arm round Buffy’s waist, kissed her atop her head, and walked toward the table and the goddess Bast who would reveal his soul to medical scrutiny.

"Relax, this will take an hour… And no, you can’t read." Buffy pre–empted Giles’ question.

His eyes closed and his mind fell into it’s familiar nightmarish remembrance.

Screaming. He heard Willow screaming and saw the flashing fall of her auburn hair mixed with Tara’s gold.

Oz was dead; cold on the ground after Buffy had moved him snapping the arrows shaft, leaving the blessed arrowhead embedded in Giles’ chest.

Buffy stared in disbelief at Oz. He knew peace at last.

Giles lay on his side ashen and shaking.

It was then that Spike appeared in the living room, the scent of a massacre had led him to the Watcher’s home; the screaming issuing an irresistible invitation.

He stood in the centre of the room his ice blue eyes taking in the scene and bathing in the shock; pooled blood, dead Were–Wolf, weeping witches, shocked Slayer and wretched Watcher.

He’d arrived too late for this party. He sighed disappointedly and took charge. "Slayer, get an ambulance for your Watcher. Witches? Leave now. I’ll take care of the Wolf and the mess. Move!" Without another word, Spike picked up Oz’s body and walked from the house.

Willow skirted round the sticky pool and kissed Rupert’s forehead. His eyes fluttered open for a second and committed the tortured Jade hue of Willow’s eyes to his memory. His vision blurred as pain blocked out her tearful farewell.

The technician looked up at the sound that came for the scan room; she couldn’t see Giles’ tortured expression. "He’s asleep again." She announced.

"Good." Buffy glanced over the brain scans. Her heart beat madly in her chest. It was true. The tumour had gone. Thank God for stem cells! She sat back in her chair and sighed. Today was a good day!

Buffy the Cancer Slayer reigns supreme!

End of part 1

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