catch_yerself_on

TITLE: “What They Shouldn’t Have To”

AUTHOR: catch_yerself_on

RATING: FRT, references to violence and trauma

PAIRING: None, Giles & Willow friendship, background Buffy & Giles friendship

SUMMARY: Giles has to accept that Willow understands him more than he’d like. He needs her help with his injury if he’s going to stop Glory’s apocalypsao3e. And help with something else that Buffy won’t talk about.

My attempt to answer some questions - how did Giles feel about Buffy’s threat to kill him and anyone who might try to stop her from letting the whole universe die (“including Dawn”) if it meant she had to sacrifice Dawn? (The full impact of that won’t hit him this early, future installment foreshadowing here). How did Willow transition to the leader of the Slayerettes? Most of all, how the hell did Giles dive “once more unto the breach” a couple of hours after a spear wound, a vehicle flip, hours of bleeding out, and emergency surgery in a filthy gas station performed by an intern who was apparently subletting from Glory? 

TIMELINE: Season 5

AUTHOR'S NOTES: My second published fic! Yeah, it's very talk-y again. I’m so sorry I didn’t respond to comments a...year ago. I got shy and kept putting it off. I admire you all so much, both for writing the way you do, and for doing the courteous thing by getting back to people. 

Dialogue you recognize is taken from season 5, episode 22, “The Gift” written by Joss Whedon. A clause in italics inside parentheses mean someone’s thoughts.

Word Count: 2,788 Dreamwidth AO3 ( What They Shouldn't Have To )