His nightmare was always the same, his desperate chase and the vampire’s headlong rush. Its expression of resolve matching its suicidal assault and the brief smile before the dust that peppered his lungs with an engulfing poison.

Giles arched out of his bed and heaved into a bucket at his bedside. His throat and lungs burning, without pause he reached for the bottle of water he now kept on the nightstand, taking a huge swallow to slake his thirst. He shifted his pillow and sat upright swallowing the tiny eruptions of bile that threatened. He opened his eyes and surveyed Sunnydale in the grey light of dawn.

Sunnyhell, Spike had called it. Too bloody right, he thought. His head rolled to his mirror illuminated by the bright sunlight that lanced into his room highlighting his wretched reflection. Ripper had been out every night for a month. Brute force wasn’t working although it felt good for a while. He knew that Cyanide had killed Buffy in his nightmare. She was going to die it was inevitable. He dragged his bone weary body to his bathroom for a shower and shave. He had to go out today; he needed help. The Council was his last resort. He couldn’t go on feeling like this!

He felt Buffy wake as he stepped under the shower’s icy stream and his daylight nightmare started. He rested his head against the streaming tiles, shutting his eyes and ears to the incessant chatter of his Slayers’ mind in the morning. His head ached with a slow thudding. He didn’t realise he was pounding his head against the tiles until blood mixed with the water pooling at his feet. His eyes wide with shock; he threw back his head and adjusted the temperature of the spray. The blood washed out of his eyes. He ordered himself to concentrate.

He wiped the condensation from the bathroom mirror and donned his glasses. Considering his hand shook through lack of sleep, his shave was remarkably bloodless. He dressed and was soon on his way to the CyberCafe where Willow worked for the summer.

He opened the door and slipped guiltily inside, sliding into one of the window seats. He glanced at the bank of computers staring ominously at him from the far wall. He shifted his gaze to the tabletop, his eyes obscured by the dark glasses he wore against the sun’s glare. Someone waited expectantly by his elbow. He breathed in her honeysuckle scent.

"Willow?" His head snapped up and he immediately regretted it. He saw in a nano- second all the worries and concerns of the world rip over her elfin features. She swallowed.

"Rup…Giles! What have you been doing to yourself?" She queried, aghast. Her hand reaching out to the fresh cut on his forehead he stopped her with a weak smile.

"I tripped in the shower this morning. I’ve not been sleeping well…" He added knowing that she had seen the dark circles under his eyes.

"Or eating.. . I’m going to get you breakfast! Then I want some answers." Willow left the spectre of her "resolve face" bristling in her wake. Coming here was a mistake!

She was back in ten minutes with enough food to feed an army. His stomach flipped and complained. He lifted his cutlery and began. She helped him with the croissant.

"You don’t have to stay and watch me eat, Willow. Don’t you have other tables to wait on?" He looked around; he was the only one in the cafe. She smiled at him smugly. He put his knife and fork down.

"Finished?" He nodded. "Good, now why are you here? Apart from eating breakfast." She quantified.

"Can you show me how to operate one of those things" He waved his forefinger in the direction of the terminals. "I need to do a search and to send an e-mail to someone." He smiled apologetically. In response she gave him one of her enchanting smiles. It nearly took his breath away.

"Follow me.…" she crooked her finger.. He followed willingly and sat down awaiting instruction. Then the music started. Buffy was doing her exercises. He paled as the horrendous beat pounded inside his head. Willow was talking to him. He could just make out what she said by lip-reading. He asked her to write down some instructions for him to follow and he managed as best he could. The tension in his shoulders increased by the minute, causing him to rub his hand over his knotted muscles and sigh.

"Only an hour…"

Giles logged on, resting his head in one hand, trying to remember the password. The thundering rhythm stopped abruptly and he took advantage of the lull and quickly typed:-rgSlay2004 in the appropriate box. The save prompt came up and he saved all the information to disc. He swung his legs round the stool and was about to leave when the newspaper headline caught his eye.

The story told of Sunnydale’s newest horror. He searched the cafe for Willow, grabbing the paper he surreptitiously nipped round the counter. He overheard Willow talking to Buffy on the phone. That’s why the din had stopped!

"He look’s awful, Buffy, like he’s not slept or eaten in days… I think he’s hurting himself as well."

:Willow, he wouldn’t do that, not Giles.

"Well you don’t know how depressing it is being all alone with no-one to talk to…"

:Will, if he’s depressed we have to undepress him. Give him an invite to my party! See if that cheers him up. Gotta go, gotta aerobiscise.

Willow hung up and the music battered him almost senseless again. When Willow came out of the back room Giles had left. He forgot to disconnect his terminal and she spied some information on "A Slayer’s death" before the connection terminated automatically.

Buffy pulled the headphones from her ears and listened. Someone was downstairs pounding on the front door. She tripped lightly down the stairs to open the door. Her smile of welcome faded when she saw her Watchers face. Undammed rage clouded his handsome features.

"Will you shut the fucking row off! It’s driving me mad!" He bellowed and pushed past her into her hall. He took the stairs two treads at a time on the hunt for her CD’s and batteries. He bounded down the stairs and whipped the headphones from round her neck and the stereo from her hands. She regarded him with an expression of shock written all over her face.

"Take up yoga!" He snapped and slammed the door behind him.

End of part 4.

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