Chapter One
Willow stood silently, clutching her sleeping two-year-old son to her body just above the bulge of her pregnancy. Her normally pale skin seemed almost shock white against the black linen dress she wore. The only color to her face was the dark circles under her bloodshot, tearless eyes.
Xander Harris stood by her side in a navy colored suit. Indeed, he had not left her side since she got the news a few days earlier. As the casket began to lower, they made their way to the tall British man standing a few feet away.
Willow smiled up at Giles slightly and leaned her cheek down upon her child's head.
"How are you doing Love?"
"I'm getting through. As best as I can. I'm fine as long as I don't think about how this baby is never going to know her father. How her father will never sing her to sleep, or hold her, or tell her that he loves her. How Rupert is going to forget his father ever did those things for him because he is too young." She choked back a sob.
Xander put his arm around her. "Take it easy Willow. Remember what the doctor said." She nodded and leaned against his shoulder.
"Buffy hopes you aren't too upset with her for not coming," Giles said.
"Of course not. How is Joyce?"
"She's responding well to the chemotherapy. Buffy intends on coming back as soon as her mother is a bit stronger. She'd like to call you this weekend."
"That's be nice." The child at her chest stirred. " I think someone needs changing. Giles, you're coming to the house after right?"
"Of course."
"Good." She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. He smoothed the red hair on his namesake's head.
"I'll catch up in a few Wills," Xander said. Willow toted her son towards the facilities. When she was well out of earshot, Xander turned to Giles. "So you heard why it had to be closed casket right?"
Giles cleared his throat, looking first at his shoes and then at Xander. "He was...mutilated?"
"Shot with a silver bullet, skinned," Xander's eyes bored into Giles', "one tooth missing."
The color drained from Giles' lips. "Caine?"
"That's our guy."
"Does Willow know?"
Xander nodded. "It wasn't my shift at the precinct. Some rookie caught her coming out of her office at the University. She was wearing a raincoat so I guess he didn't notice her condition. Anyway, he took her to ID the remains. By the time I heard the news and got there, she was unconscious on the floor of the morgue. She almost lost the baby."
"Good Lord," Giles said, sadly.
"Yeah. Then to top it all off. I got a letter today from Will and Oz's lawyer. It was something Oz wrote to me in case...well in case exactly what happened were to happen." Giles arched an eyebrow in interest. Xander looked slightly away from him, watching for Willow to emerge from the building.
"He said that he'd known Willow and I were meant to be together all along. That it was how he had come to accept what had happened between her and I senior year. He said he'd also known since he found out he was a werewolf that he probably wouldn't have a long life, and he thanked me for letting him have his time with Willow because she was his whole world." Xander turned a little more from Giles' view and tried to nonchalantly wipe away a tear. It did not go unnoticed by the Englishman.
"He asked me to be there for Willow and the kids. And when she was ready, to take his place in their lives," he laughed bitterly, "as if anyone could. He said he was counting on me."
Giles put his arm around Xander's shoulders. They watched Willow appear, walk to the car, and wait for Xander. "There's more...about Caine. It's too much to tell now. See you at the house tonight?"
"I'll be there." He patted Xander's shoulder and the young man moved off to drive Willow home. Giles solemnly watched the gravediggers fill in Oz's final resting-place.
Giles finished loading the dishwasher at Willow's house, glancing with a smile into the living room as Xander made Willow stay put in her chair as he attended to the departing guests. After he showed the last guest out, Xander turned to Willow's chair, where she sat, sleeping. He smiled affectionately and covered her with a blanket before moving to the kitchen. Xander motioned for Giles to sit down at the table.
"You said earlier, there was more?"
"Right. The coroner found a blood type other than Oz's on the body. Specifically, in the mouth. Our friend Caine has a record and when I checked the two against each other..."
"They matched."
"They did indeed."
"So Mr. Caine is a werewolf now...or will be come next month's full moon."
"We can use this right?"
"Oh yes," Giles said in a low, dangerous voice Xander had come to identify with Ripper.
"OZ!!!!!!!" Willow screamed and sat up in her chair.
Xander was on his feet in a split second. "Willow! Calm down! I've got you."
Her arms reached out for him. "It's my fault! It's all my fault!" She was flailing wildly, nearly hysterical.
"Stop! Stop! You have to stop!" In desperation to keep her still and out of his own fear for her safety, he embraced her.
Willow clutched desperately at his back, sobbing heavily. "Why didn't I make sure he was secured?! Why didn't I double-check all the locks so he couldn't get out?! Why?! Why?!"
Xander was blinking back tears. "Hold on Wills. I'm going to take you to your room." He pulled back the blanket and his eyes widened in total fear. "GILES!"
Giles, who had been watching the two of them worriedly from the doorway, let his gaze follow Xander's. The lap of Willow's dress was drenched in blood. "My God!" Xander scooped her into his arms. Willow's head lulled listlessly against his shoulder. Xander looked to Giles, on the brink of panic. "Get her to hospital! I'll mind Rupert."
Giles opened the front door and Xander rushed out with her. Giles watched as Xander put her in the passenger seat, ran to get into the driver's side, attached a red flashing light onto the roof of the car and sped away. Giles silently closed the door.
As he turned back into the living room, a pair of wide innocent eyes looked up at him from the hallway. "Rupert?" The little redhead padded slowly over to the chair where Willow had been sleeping. His hand neared the bloodstain as Giles moved to him quickly and pulled it away.
The child calmly looked up to him. "Mommy hurt."
"Your Mum will be fine Love. Come here." He effortlessly picked the boy up. Rupert's arms came around Giles' neck and he leaned his head on his Godfather's shoulder. Giles bent to the discarded blanket on the floor and covered the crimson on the chair. He carried the tot back to his room, lay him on the bed, and sat beside him as he tucked him in. Large green eyes shimmered at him in the near dark.
"Bad man hurt Daddy."
Giles smoothed down Rupert's hair. "I know Love."
"Mommy sad."
"I know Love." Giles looked into the boy's eyes and saw understanding there. These were obviously not just words to him. He knew what he was saying. He seemed to understand the situation beyond his ability to verbalize it. "You know too, don't you?" The boy nodded slowly. "I think maybe you have more of your Mother in you than we thought. Something else we share besides a name." Giles leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. "Go to sleep now." He moved to stand up when a tiny hand reached out for his arm.
"Don't go?"
Giles smiled gently and shrugged out of his jacket. He lay down so that his head rested on the pillows and stretched his arm under Rupert's head. The boy turned against him and hugged to him tightly. Within minutes, both were asleep.
Giles awoke in the morning to an incessant ringing noise. He blindly reached out to shut off an alarm that wasn't there. When he realized that was not the culprit, he awakened more fully and recognized it as the phone ringing down the hall. He gently lifted Rupert off of his chest and back onto the pillows, then hurried quietly to the phone.
"Giles?" It was Xander's voice. Gods he sounded tired.
"Yes. Did she lose the baby?"
"No. But they've had to sedate her, and she'll be laid up in bed for the rest of the pregnancy."
"Well, stay as long as you need to. Rupert's in good hands."
The young man let out a long breath. "I know..."
"What is it?"
"I want to kill him. Caine. I want him dead."
"I know. Now isn't the time to discuss that though. Emotions are riding too high."
"Right. And he's probably left the state by now."
"Oh I don't think so. When a werewolf is first created, its instincts tie it to the area in which it was made. It's some sort of leftover pack instinct. That takes a while to wear off, sometimes years. Trust me, our Mr. Caine isn't going far."
"I do trust you it's just...I have to call you back Giles, the Doctor just came in."
"Talk to you soon. Give Willow my love." As he hung up the phone, Giles sat and ran his hands through his hair. Yes, emotions were riding far too high right now. That interfered with creating an effective strategy. Something had to be done about Caine, and soon. Before Buffy came back and could talk him out of what he was thinking. Before Willow could be traumatized anymore by that bastard. Before Xander went off half-cocked and did something silly, something similar to the ideas that were going through his own mind. Yes, something had to be done about Mr. Caine. On the next full moon. And by Rupert Giles, and Rupert Giles alone.
Chapter Two
It had been almost easy. Almost. Over the past month, they had fallen into a routine. Giles had moved some of his things into Willow's house and was taking care of Rupert in the daytime. Xander would come home and take the boy to see his mother in the hospital in the afternoon, and then stay with him all night so that Giles could go and patrol in Buffy's absence. Being summer, longer days than nights, the vampire populace was reduced to a dwindle, easy enough for a Watcher to handle alone. Tonight, the night of the full moon, Xander was at the hospital, taking care of the last minute details to get Willow home in the morning. Giles had agreed to stay with Rupert until it got near sundown, and then Amy would watch the boy until Xander could get home. A small interruption in the schedule but covered none the less, or so Giles thought, until Xander drove up half an hour before Amy was scheduled to arrive. Until Xander came in the front door while Giles was still in the back room tucking Rupert in.
When Giles came out of Rupert's room, he found Xander checking out the rifle he had placed with his patrol gear for the night. "You know, I'm really hoping to find wooden bullets in here when I..." he opened the chamber only to find glistening metal there to greet him, "Golly, silver bullets, what a surprise."
"I-I can explain."
"Let me guess, you're going werewolf hunting and you didn't want me to know. Didn't want me involved? Planned to be long gone by the time I got back, knowing I'd figure you were after vampires again?"
Giles slipped his hands in his pockets. "No, that was pretty much it."
"Well hear hear for the truth. I can't believe you were going to cut me out of going after Caine."
"I've found his hideout, these past few nights on patrol. I narrowed it down and last night I found it."
"And what about me? You were afraid I'd screw up the hunt."
"No. No that's not it at all. Willow and Rupert need you, as will the baby when she comes. And you're a police officer. You must think of your career. There are certain things you can't afford to be involved in. Like when his body turns up in the morning."
"Isn't that my risk to take though?"
"I was also thinking that if I get myself in over my head with this, I may need your help to get out of it."
"Well, I suppose there is that," he said, reasonably if less than happy.
"We have three nights. If I don't get him tonight, you can come tomorrow."
"No I can't. Willow will be here, and I can't lie to her. And I won't risk upsetting her more."
"Leave it to me then?"
"Yeah," Xander moved to the bedroom to check on Rupert. "Giles?"
"Yes?"
"Don't let the bastard get away." He disappeared into Rupert's room.
Giles cocked the rifle and checked the scope. "I don't intend to."
Giles drove to Sunnydale's version of Lover's Lane and got out of the car. He loaded his pocket with extra bullets, slipped the rifle down his back to conceal it in the holster there, grabbed a flashlight and headed deeper into the woods.
After a half-hour's trek over the semi-familiar terrain, he came upon the van that was Caine's hideout. He checked his rifle once more to make sure it was loaded and as the sun began to sink, he made his way into the clearing. As it began to darken, and the moon began to appear high over the trees, Giles could hear an almost inhuman wailing from inside the van. He trained his rifle on the sliding door on the vehicle's side. The door slid open and the man Giles recognized as Caine fell out onto his knees in the dirt. His bones were visibly rippling beneath his flesh. He had ripped his shirt open, sweating, shaking. He looked up with pain-streaked eyes, saw Giles, and laughed. "Oh thank God I'm saved! If it isn't People for the Ethical Treatment of Werewolves, and just in time too. Looks like I'm about to join the clan."
"Pity for you I seemed to have let my membership slip in that fine organization. I rather think I'll be taking over your job." For the first time, Caine seemed to notice the rifle that Giles held. "After all, one can't really be both a werewolf hunter and a werewolf now can one?"
Caine doubled over, screaming in pain as the final changes came over him. "Course, unlike you I plan to retire after one specific kill. But what a glorious kill it will be." Yellow hate-filled eyes glared at Giles in the darkness. The Caine-Wolf snarled at Giles and lunged just as Giles squeezed the trigger.
~ Two Months Later ~
"You look beautiful."
Willow smiled up, green eyes shining brightly. "And you're a horrible liar, but you're also sweet so I'm inclined to forgive you." Giles moved forward and kissed her on the cheek. He moved aside the blankets near her chest and ran a finger along the chubby cheek of the infant there. The baby burbled and turned into the touch. Willow offered the baby up into Giles arms and he cradled it there, smiling as the child curled its small fingers around his own.
"So did you decide on a name?"
"Alexandria Elizabeth Ozbourne."
"I like it. She's a beauty. Just like her mother."
"Keep talking like that and we may just have to keep you."
"Is this a private party or can anybody play?" Xander stood at the doorway holding Rupert's hand.
"Xander! You get in here!"
Rupert climbed up into the chair next to his mother's bed. Giles smiled down on his namesake. "Come to see your baby sister?"
The little boy nodded vigorously as Xander leaned over and kissed Willow on the forehead, hugging her. "You look fabulous Wills."
"Oh sure, twenty hours of labor does wonders for the complexion," she laughed.
"Xander," he looked up, "introduce this young man to his sister won't you?"
He smiled brightly. "Gladly." Xander took the little girl into his arms and sat beside Rupert, who climbed onto his knees and touched his sister's face so gently, a feather's touch could not have been lighter.
Giles moved to Willow's side and knelt down beside her. "There's something I want to give you."
"Okay."
He reached into his coat pocket and removed an envelope, which he handed to her. She opened it and looked over the contents, gasping when she realized what it contained. There were two bankbooks, trust accounts that had been opened in the names Rupert Ozbourne and Baby Girl Ozbourne, each containing $250,000. And a check for $400,000, made out to Willow. "Giles this...this... I can't accept this."
"You have to."
"How...how did you do this?"
"Let's just say there were certain debts owed to Oz and in his absence, I felt his wife and children were due the benefits. Consider it his way of making sure you will all be all right."
"I-I don't know what to say," a tear slipped down her cheek.
"Don't cry Love," Giles hugged her. "Not today when you have so much to be happy for."
"Come on Little One, I think your Mommy is missing you." Xander stood and placed the baby once more in Willow's arms.
"I have an errand to run," Giles moved towards the door, "I'll be back later on."
"I'll walk you out," Xander picked up Rupert and placed him on the bed at his mother's side. "Be right back Will."
When they were a little ways down the hall, Xander put his arm on Giles' and stopped him. "So, where'd you get the windfall Daddy Warbucks?"
Giles stared out the window. "Caine was right. Pelts really do go for a fortune in Sri Lanka."
Xander smiled slowly. "And this errand?"
"The cemetery. I have something I need to take to Oz." His hand dug into his pocket and produced a single, quite long, canine tooth. "Something that may help him rest in peace." Xander patted his shoulder and returned to Willow's room. Giles' footsteps echoed down the quiet corridor as he exited into the morning light.