On Time, Just For Once FRT, Gen
On Time, Just For Once
Written for summer_of_giles
AU, set in March of Season three
Gen
FRT
Summary: What would happen if Xander were on time, just for once?
Warning: Mentions of canonical and non-canonical character death, angst
Disclaimer: They belong to Joss. If they belonged to me, Giles would have slapped Wesley. Repeatedly.



Giles sat down on a large tombstone and angled his watch so he could read it in the dim moonlight. Wesley Wyndam-Pryce was droning away, critiquing Giles’ work with Buffy, for all the world as if Wesley were a competent, experienced watcher instead of a great bloody twit who couldn’t find his own arse with both hands. Giles didn't know how much more he could take. Xander was supposed have been here 15 minutes ago for patrol. Buffy had gone ahead, telling them to catch up when Xander showed. "I do wish that boy would be on time just for once in his life," Giles muttered under his breath.

"Did you say something?" Wesley inquired, drowning out a soft voice that said, "done."

Suddenly it was quiet in the graveyard. Wesley had not only stopped talking, he seemed to have vanished altogether. Lord only knew what kind of trouble that prat would get himself into alone in a graveyard. Giles began to walk among the graves, looking for him.

"Rupert!" Giles turned to see Angel coming towards him, followed by a man in a suit and a teen-aged girl.

"Good! You found him. Wesley, you really shouldn't be wandering about on your own. It's dangerous."

Angel laughed. "I think I can handle myself, Rupert. Did you just call me ‘Wesley’?"

"No, I was talking to-- oh!" Giles got a better look at the man in the suit. "I'm sorry, Gregori, I thought you were someone else. It's been what, 3 years, 4? What brings you to Sunnydale? And who is this?" Giles gestured towards the young girl.

Three faces stared back at him in alarm.

"Demon attack?" Gregori asked Angel.

"Could be, or a spell. Maybe plan old-fashioned amnesia.” Angel stared into Giles’ eyes, trying to see if his pupils were unevenly dilated. “Did you hit your head, Rupert?"

Giles backed hastily away from Angel. He’d accepted that the vampire was souled again, but he still wasn’t comfortable being close to him. "Of course I didn't hit my head. What are you going on about?"

"Rupert, I last talked with you about six hours ago,” Gregori told him. “Kennedy and I have seen you almost daily for the past two weeks."

Giles looked to Angel for confirmation, and the vampire nodded.

"I'm Kennedy," the girl said helpfully, "the council decided I needed some experience on the hellmouth."

"You’re a potential Slayer?" Giles asked.

"Nope," said Kennedy proudly, "I'm the real deal. Kennedy, the Vampire Slayer."

Giles felt suddenly very cold. "Faith or Buffy?" he asked Angel.

"What do you mean?" Angel said.

"Faith or Buffy? Which one died?" Giles couldn’t bear to think that Buffy might be dead.

"This is more than simple amnesia," he heard Gregori say to Kennedy.

"They both died, Rupert," Angel said gently, "Buffy was killed by the master. Kendra died fighting a bunch of vampires. A gang of demons killed Faith. And Annabelle, um, Annabelle died about a month ago."

Giles blinked, "I'm afraid I don't remember even meeting anyone named Annabelle. And Faith -- killed by demons. How did Buffy take it? I thought they were beginning to get along well together."

"Buffy was getting along with Faith?" Angel asked incredulously.

"Yes, well, I thought so,” Giles said. It wasn’t always easy to tell with teenagers. They could be so changeable. “Didn’t you?"

"Rupert, I think we'd better take you home." Angel looked concerned. "You're in no condition to be patrolling tonight."

Giles didn't ask any more questions until he was sitting comfortably in his own living room, with a cup of tea in his hands. He desperately wanted a Scotch, but knew it was a bad idea if there was any chance he had a head injury. The fact that Gregori and Angel stood looming over him wasn’t helping matters. At least Kennedy was sitting down.

"The last day I remember," said Giles "was March 12, 1999. How much time have I lost?"

There were more uneasy looks all around.

"Rupert, you don't have amnesia," Angel told him. "For one thing, today is March 12, 1999. For another, you said Buffy got along with Faith. But the master killed Buffy long before Faith came to Sunnydale."

"I’m well aware that the master drowned Buffy,” Giles said impatiently as he set the empty tea cup on the table. “But Xander performed CPR. He brought her back. You were there, Angel."

"What's a Xander?" asked Kennedy.

"Xander. I've heard that name somewhere," Angel said. His brow furrowed in thought.

"Oh for the love of God, Angel!” Giles stared at the vampire in exasperation, “You know Xander. Tall, brown hair, calls you 'Deadboy.'"

"Sh, Rupert, I'm trying to think.” Angel looked off into the distance for a moment. “Yeah,” he said. “That must have been the boy who got killed right after Buffy came to Sunnydale. There were three of them that Buffy told me about. Weird names - Xander, Jesse and … Wisteria? No. Some kind of plant, I think. Buffy met them her first day of school, and thought she had found some friends. When they all died within days, well, that's when she decided a Slayer shouldn't have friends."

"You're saying Buffy, Xander and Willow are all dead?" Giles asked in disbelief.

"Willow, yes. I knew it was a plant." Angel nodded.

"If Xander died shortly after he met Buffy, then there was no one to revive Buffy when the master drowned her," Giles said. “My God! How did we stop the master from rising, without Buffy, Willow and Xander?”

Again, Angel, Gregori and Kennedy exchanged awkward looks. After a moment, Giles understood. Without Buffy, they hadn’t stopped the master. He shook his head. He couldn’t even begin to think about that now.

"Did Buffy tell you how Xander and Willow died? Tell me everything you know," Giles demanded.

"Okay, but its not much. It started at The Bronze. Xander got there first, and the poor kid left with Darla. Buffy saw Willow walk off with another vampire, and tried to follow her. She found Willow and Xander both, along with a bunch of vampires.

“Darla had already been feeding on Xander, and the kid was pretty out of it. Buffy told Willow to take Xander and get out, but when she went to look for them, there were vampires everywhere. She never saw them again.” Angel grimaced, remembering how sad Buffy had been.

“Jesse was at the harvest,” Angel continued. “He tried to stop the master’s minions from taking some girl he had a crush on, so they took him instead. But then they took the girl next. Both kids were dead before you, Buffy and I could stop the harvest."

Giles had listened to Angel in stunned silence, but now he blurted out, "Xander got to The Bronze first?"

"Yeah,” Angel said. “That's the most shocking part of the whole story." He gave Gregori a puzzled look and a shrug. Gregori looked just as confused. But Giles wasn’t paying attention to them. He was remembering the last thing he'd said before everything had changed. Darla got to Xander because Xander had been on time just for once in his life. When Xander had been late to meet Willow, he’d come at the right time to help Buffy. When he’d been on time, he’d left before Buffy even arrived.

Angel pulled Gregori aside. "He's cracking,” Angel said quietly. Giles supposed they thought he couldn’t hear them, but his hearing had always been particularly good. “Not surprising after all he's been through,” Angel went on. “He blamed himself for everything that happened after the Master turned Annabelle."

Annabelle the slayer, Giles thought. He shuddered. There had been only a few instances of slayers being turned. All of them had resulted in bloodbaths.

"Revenge is all he's been living for," Gregori agreed. "Now the Master is finally defeated, it'd be surprising if he didn't have some kind of breakdown.”

Could he being going mad? No, it was possible that Giles’ deranged brain could have spun stories about Buffy, could have invented Willow, but Xander? Giles could never have made up Xander. The boy was utterly incomprehensible to him a good third of the time.

“True,” Angel said to Gregori. “Before Rupert was able to stake her, his wife described in sadistic detail how she killed their baby. Even my demon was impressed by Jenny’s viciousness and imagination. I’ve seen men driven mad by much less.”

Jenny! Giles thought. He would never have believed his memory of Jenny lying dead and murdered in his bed could ever be considered a mercy, but the picture Angel was painting was unspeakably horrific. He’d far rather be mad than believe what Angel said was true. But he wasn’t mad. He wasn’t.

“I’ll report it to the council,” Gregori said. “They’ll recall him, but they’ll get him help. They have plenty of experience with watchers driven mad by grief.”



Anyanka congratulated herself as she strolled through the cemetery. The number of graves had practically doubled. They were packed in like sardines. D’Hoffryn had been annoyed over her failure to get that spoiled little Chase girl to make a wish, but this would please him.

Too bad about the boy, though. He’d been kind of cute.