Buffy collected her snack from the machines in the doctor’s lounge and sat next to Xander, he was munching his way a Pizza and he raised his drink to the Slayer as she took her seat.

"Hey, how goes the healing?" He smiled as he was rewarded by a thousand watt smile. "That good, huh? Giles?" Buffy nodded and her face crumpled into her coffee. Her friend brought his arm around to hug her. He knew enough not to ask for details.

Giles had been diagnosed six months ago when he’d had memory problems and slurred speech. Buffy had been frantic and Xander tried to support both of them through the trauma of surgery and chemo and finally the experimental stem cell therapy.

"He’s clear." Buffy uttered a strangled whisper and blew her nose. She sniffed and raised her head, her eyes red from holding back tears of relief until she got to the safety of the lounge and Xander’s arms. She wiped away the last vestige of her tears and swallowed her coffee, pinching a slice of pizza from his plate.

"Mmmmm! That’s good! I’ve not eaten today! Too nervous," she waved her pizza in mid air. "Now we can start the children on stem cells. They can’t deny us funding, we’ve proved it works. It cures." She hesitated at Xander’s expression. "We can, can’t we? What’s wrong?"

Xander sighed. He had promised Giles he would never tell Buffy how painful the treatment was, but she was talking of giving it to children…

"Buffy, you can’t give it to the kids. Giles-" He sat back and blew out a breath sighing as he remembered Giles’ body frozen in agony as the treatment attacked the cancer growing in his brain.

Xander had moved into Giles’ condo at Buffy’s request after he’d been diagnosed, just to keep an eye on him. And he witnessed the ravages of the “miracle cure” first hand.

Nothing in Paediatrics had prepared him for Giles’ unrestrained agony. Xander could do something to comfort a child, he could joke and prescribe, operate and entertain, but for Giles he could do nothing but hold him through the night, every night. The thing that most frightened him was when the Watcher just gave up the fight for consciousness and slept as the dead for days.

Giles haunted his home he didn’t live there. In rare moments of lucidity during the treatment Giles confided in Xander that if he didn’t survive the cure Buffy was not to continue the research.

"Xan–derr, I can’t let Buf–fy lose the fight against the–the can–cerrrr that kill–killed Joyceee. She has to–to win…" Giles’ eyes watered grey–green and his pallid face held no animation, he was drained. "If I sh –should die, don’t let her give stem ce–lls to aaa child." He shuddered and pulled his blanket closer round himself, heat and cold out of control was the legacy of his cure but he still fought on at Buffy’s side and together they would win.

Xander finished his explanation over the now cold pizza, "Y’see, Buff? You cannot give it to a kid. Giles knew a child would not survive. He also knew you needed to defeat his cancer and he was willing to die to enable you to do that." He gazed into Buffy’s eyes, throughout his explanation, they had been alternately wet and dry, now she was calm possessing all the facts and her inner scientist had analysed the possibilities. She couldn’t give the cure to a child.

"Well, Watcher?" Spike stood at the unexpected intrusion into his realm. It was seldom that he had visits from those still living. In the Watchers case, living was not an apt description, existing, despite everything. Spike looked at the old man through his unchanged eyes. No, the Watcher was not long for this world.

"Surviving, Spike!" Giles smiled. The vampire came from his corner and hugged the man who had become his friend. "I’ve forgotten, are you black today?" he gestured to the chessboard on the table.

"Always Watcher and I’ll win one of these days too! Drink?" Giles nodded, slipped off his jacket, and studied the board. He nodded as the vampire placed the mug of tea by his left hand.

"Business slow?" Giles questioned as he placed his knight taking Spikes bishop.

"Bugger!" Spike declared as another of his pieces joined their mates on Giles’ side of the board. He sipped his blood from his own mug. "Yes, just how I like it. Being lazy in my place is just my cup of blood." He grinned and Giles smiled back, sparing a moment to glance round Spikes Kingdom, the hospital mortuary.

An hour later and the game was over, they had chatted about old times and carefully skirted round the subject of Oz. Preferring instead to talk of Willow, the vintage before college.

"Oh, she was just a sweet bundle of fluff, and if I had my way, she’d never have got any older!" Spike worried his lip nervously and glanced up at the ceiling… "Customers." He sighed.

Giles got up and collected his jacket. He knew the vampire liked to work alone. "I’ll see you next week. Oh and I’ll be earlier… I don’t have a scan. It’s gone Spike."

Spike stared at him then his face broke into the widest grin Giles had ever seen. "Great! Why didn’t you tell me before? I would have broken out the Scotch!"

Giles chest jarred with the back pounding he received and just smiled bemusedly back. "And miss our game of chess?" he raised his hand in farewell and exited through the back as the trolley entered through the double swing doors.

Spike thrust his hands into latex gloves and nodded briefly at the attendants to go. He paced round the body and drew in a breath; the scents surrounding the body gave him a clue as to the time and cause of death. He smelt nothing strange but this one had a familiar base note perfume. This one was female and he knew her.

If his heart had been capable, it would have thundered in his chest. He felt the icy chill of his recent meal rising as he whipped the sheet from the body to reveal its identity.

End of pt.2

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