Fic: Laura Giles Part 13
TITLE Laura Giles Part 13/20
AUTHOR Laura Curtis
PAIRING None so far
RATING PG
SUMMARY Laura, while on the road to Buffy’s with new Potentials, feels the strength of the slayer take her over then the lost of her soul mate.
DISCLAIMER I don’t own them, just the ones I make up. Don’t know them. Not making any money. I’m just having fun with them. I promise to return them
unharmed.

Thanks to my sister for Beta reading this and letting me know where I messed up.







May 2003

They had been driving, resting only when they felt it was safe enough to. Laura and Amy were beginning to feel the strain after the long drive from Tucson. Luckily Amy had her license and was able to help with the driving. Laura was driving the last leg into Sunnydale when, all of a sudden, she got dizzy so she pulled over.

Amy was the first to ask. “Laura, you ok?”

Shaking her head for a moment she looked over to Amy. “I don’t know. I suddenly got dizzy.” Turning to the two girls in the back Laura asked. “Are you two ok?”

The other two girls also said that they had felt dizzy as well. Amy also nodded yes. When she turned back around Laura used the steering wheel to hold on to. Only when she was done turning around it was bent out of shape. Laura’s eyes widened when she realized what it meant. Somehow she was a slayer now.

Turning to the other girls Laura asked. “You said that you felt dizzy?” When they nodded she asked. “Step out of the car for a minute.”

They all got out and Laura led them to the trunk. Opening it, she got the crowbar out. She gave it to Amy first. “Amy, try and bend this for me.”

“What? I can’t bend a crowbar.”

“Just try. If what I think has happened, has happened you’ll be able to bend it.”

Shrugging her shoulders Amy took the bar and started bending it. Her eyes widened and she asked, “How is this possible?”

“Hang on a minute. Kelly your turn.”

Kelly shook her head. “My Watcher told me that there is only one Slayer at a time. When one died another was called.”

“Just try it.”

Kelly took the bar. Looking skeptical she started unbending it. Her eyes widened. “How is this possible?”

“In a minute Kelly, Becky, your turn now.”

Becky took the bar without comment and started bending it again.

“Now it’s my turn.”

Amy spoke up. “Wait a minute. My Watcher told me that once a Potential reached the age of 19 she was
considered too old to be a Slayer. No Potential past 18 has ever been called.”

Laura looked at the girls and while bending the bar back straight said, “That’s right. Not in the history of the Council has a Potential past the age of 18 ever been called to be a Slayer. We don’t know about before the Council. I was once a Potential and a Watcher I considered an Uncle found a book. The book told of a time of many Slayers all at once. I don’t know how, but we just became Slayers.”

Turning, looking in the direction of Sunnydale Laura spoke. “My brother will be able to explain this to us. I think we had better get going to Sunnydale. They might need us there.”

They all got back into the car and started off.

They had just crested the last hill before Sunnydale and started down it when Laura grabbed her middle and almost doubled over.

Thinking quickly, Amy grabbed the wheel and steered the car to the edge of the road.

Just as the car came to a stop, Laura put the car in park then she screamed out in pain. It was a pain like something was being ripped out of her. Then she fainted.

Becky spoke up. “Oh my God Amy. What do we do?”

“Let’s move her over to my side and I’ll take over driving. I know the address we’re headed to.”

Just as they got Laura moved they felt the earthquake start. Becky was the one to draw their attention to a rising dust cloud. “Look! What’s happening?”

From their vantage point they could see parts of Sunnydale collapsing downward. Then they saw it: A school bus racing towards them. And just as it cleared the city limits sign the crater that was once Sunnydale stopped. It was as if the Arizona meteor crater had been transposed to Sunnydale. A few feet away from the city limits sign the bus came to a halt and a blond person riding on top jumped off.

Amy was the first to speak. “What the hell happened?”

“Let’s go over and talk to those people.” Becky said. Then she looked at Laura “Maybe they can help her.”

They looked at one another and then Amy spoke up. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll go. You take care of her. If something happens to me, get in the car and run like hell. Head to L.A. and the Hyperion like Laura told us to do.”

Becky and Kelly nodded.

After a moment Amy turned and headed over to the bus. When she got close she started calling out for help.
There were a few girls standing on the side of the road. They heard Amy’s shouts and yelled for Buffy.
Buffy and Faith came to the front of the bus and saw the girl heading towards them. Their spidery-tingles weren’t going off so they started towards her. Half way there they heard her saying that they needed help with someone in the car.

Right at that moment Giles caught up with them. He heard the girl ask for help and when he saw the car he knew that it was Laura’s car and started running towards it. As he got near he slowed down because the girls there were in a battle stance and he knew one wrong move on his part and he would be on the ground.
He looked at the girls and didn’t see Laura. “Is Laura in the car? Is she ok?”

Kelly looked at Becky then spoke. “How do you know Laura?”

“I’m her brother Rupert. Is she ok? What happened?” He went to the passenger side of the car, bent down, and was taking a look at Laura.

Amy and the rest caught up with him at this point. “We don’t know. A while back we all got dizzy and Laura pulled over to make sure we were ok. When she turned back around she bent the steering wheel so she had us all get out and we got the crowbar out of the trunk. All four of us bent and then unbent it. She said that we’re Slayers now. We got back in the car to head on to Sunnydale. She said you could explain it to us. She was driving and we had just crested the hill and started down when she doubled over in pain. I was able to grab the wheel and steered us to the side. She’d just got the car stopped and into park when she screamed and fainted. We had just got her moved when the earthquake hit. Then you guys came along. And what the hell happened to Sunnydale?”

Buffy, listening to what the girl was saying, spoke up. “I’m Buffy. We’ll explain about Sunnydale later. Giles, is she ok? What happened to her?”

“I’ll have to wait until she wakes up.” Then Giles looked up at Buffy. “We need to go somewhere so we can tend to her and the others. The only place I can think of that’s safe is the Hyperion. Angel and Wesley
can help us.”

Buffy looked at Faith, nodded, and then turned back to Giles. “Ok. Do we take her car or leave it?”

“She and Robin would ride more comfortably here. But whom could we get to drive it?

Amy held her hand up. “I’ve been helping Laura drive ever since she picked me up in Las Vegas. If you make sure I’m right behind you when we’re in L.A. I can handle it.”

Two other girls raised their hands and said that they had their licenses as well and could help with the driving. Xander also volunteered to drive as well.

Giles stood up and asked. “Laura had a cell phone. Where is it?”

Kelly looked in the front seat, found it and handed it to Giles.

“Buffy, we need to get everyone loaded up, transfer Robin to Laura’s car and get going to L.A. Once we’re on our way, you need to call Angel and tell him all that’s happened. Tell him to be ready for us; we’ll be there by dark.”

Buffy nodded and started moving to get everyone back on the bus.

Giles looked at the girl who came and got them. “What’s your name?”

“Amy.”

“Amy, I’m Rupert Giles. Everyone calls me Giles. I want to thank you for looking after my sister.”

“It was nothing. She found me just as a Bringer was coming after me. Together we killed him. It kind of bonds people together, saving each other.”

“Thank God. Now you’ll drive the car, following the bus. We have radios and if you need a rest just call out to us, we’ll pull over and change drivers. I imagine Faith will want to travel with Robin so she’ll be with you.”

Right then she saw them helping a large man over to the car. It looked like he had been stabbed.

“Amy, this is Faith and Robin. Faith, Robin this is Amy. She’ll be driving Laura’s car to L.A.” Turning to Faith. “Did you get the radio?”

“Yea don’t worry Giles. We’ll be ok, right Robin?”

Robin rolled his eyes then got into the back seat of the car. After a minute of much groaning Robin was comfortable in the car.

“Ok let’s get going. Remember, call if you need us.”

At Amy’s nod Giles turned and headed back to the bus.

Xander took over driving the bus.

Once they were on their way Giles looked over at Buffy. Holding out Laura‘s cell phone he told
her, “Buffy, I think you had better call Angel and warn him that we are on our way. And let him know what kind of medical help we’ll need, especially for Robin.”
Buffy nodded and then took the phone from him.
Listening, Rupert only hears Buffy’s side of the conversation.

“Hey Wes.

“Yeah we‘re alive.”

“Is Angel there?”

“No don’t wake him. We’ll be there by dark. We’re gonna need medical help. Several of the girls are hurt badly. Robin Wood got stabbed. I got stabbed also. I don’t think I’m bad though.”

At this statement Giles took notice of her. It was then that he saw her wound. Giles being Giles instantly became concerned over her. He came over to her and looked her in the eye. When she saw him come over she knew that he would want to look after her so she pointed out where she was hurt.

“And for some reason, we don’t know why, Giles’ sister is passed out. She wasn’t in the battle. She was bringing three new Potentials to Sunnydale. The girls said that she doubled over in pain and then a couple of minutes later screamed, and then passed out.”

Giles lifted up her shirt over her wounds. Upon seeing that the stab wound went through her, Giles became concerned. It wasn’t bleeding badly, but it was bleeding. “Buffy.”

“Hang on a minute Wes.” Bringing the phone down to her leg, Buffy looked at Giles. “Giles I think the Scythe helped me, partially healed me. Just with the running and jumping on the bus, it got aggravated. When I’m done talking to Wes you can look at it.” She put her hand on his and smiled at him.

“Talk to Wes. Tell him we’ll be there as soon as possible.”

Buffy nodded. “Wes? Yeah Giles is here and ok.” She smiled again at him. “We’ll be at the Hyperion as soon as possible. Did you get this number on your caller id?”

“Giles, what is Laura’s cell number?”

“Give me the phone.” When Buffy handed him the phone Giles started talking to Wes. “Wes, Laura’s number is 1-234-316-1964. The Slayers I’m not too worried about but it’s Buffy, Robin and Laura I’m most concerned with.” (Author’s Note: The phone number is a fake.)

“Yes, I’ll have all the girls checked by the time we get there so we know who needs helped most.”

“We’ll be arriving in a school bus and Laura’s car.”

“See you when we get there. Bye.” Then he switched off the phone.

“Alright Watcher-mine you can look at my wounds now.”

Right at that moment Dawn came up to them.

“Dawn, would you get me a first-aid kit? Buffy has just now told me that she was hurt.”

Dawn walked back to get the kit.

Grabbing Giles’ hand Buffy took his attention from her stab wound. “Giles, no matter how bad it is, would you down play it a little to Dawn? I don’t want her to worry too much.”

“Buffy, from what I could see, it isn’t as bad as it looks. It’s bleeding, but not badly. Where the wound is isn’t a vital area so we don’t have to worry about that. Get the bleeding stopped and your Slayer healing will take over.”

In a soft voice Buffy spoke. “Giles? What about the other girls, the Slayers? I have you: who will they have?”

“I’m not sure. Before I would have called the Council and gotten Watchers for them that way. But as far as I know, Wesley and I are the only trained Watchers left. Although, Laura talked to an ex Watcher the night we broke into the Council Headquarters to get the information on the First. She said that she would help us save as many of the Watchers in training as possible. She was to send them to Cleveland. If any made it, we’ll find them there.”

“How do we match Watcher to Slayer?”

“I want to reestablish an old way of matching Watcher to Slayer. I want them to be bonded, not only that, but soul mates. All the best Watcher/Slayer pairs were bonded soul mates.”

“But Giles, we’re a good Watcher/Slayer pair. We’re not bonded let alone soul mates.”

Giles bowed his head, not wanting to meet her eyes.

“Giles, we’re not bonded or soul mates, are we?”

When he didn’t raise his head, Buffy placed her hand under his chin. Raising his head to meet her eyes she asked. “Giles, are we?”

Dawn came up right at that moment, so he didn’t answer her. Once he was done cleaning and dressing her wounds, he asked Dawn to give them a few minutes.

“Giles, please answer me. Are we bonded soul mates?”

“Yes Buffy, we are soul mates. But we’re not bonded. Not yet.”

“Why not: why haven’t we bonded?”

“Remember when we first met?” Buffy nodded. “You had, in a way, started to bond to Merrick. His death shook you deeply. By the time you came to me, you fought the bond. Then Angel happened and all the rest. You only ever saw me as an older man, your Watcher. You weren’t ready for the bond so I never tried to initiate it. But we have always been soul mates.”

“How do you know that we are soul mates?”

“The Chosen One’s prophecy talked of it. When Laura and I did a soul mate spell we found, I saw you. Merrick knew this when he found you. He didn’t tell me. I didn’t know it was you until the day you walked into the library. That is why I’m so protective of you. No other Watcher would have been with you.”

“What all does this bond entail?”

“When we bond, we become closer than even most husbands and wives. In a way it is a marriage of our souls. And seeing how we are already soul mates it will be all encompassing. We will, in essences, become one.”
In a soft voice Buffy said. “I won’t be alone anymore.”

Giles brought his hand up cupping her cheek. “Oh Buffy, you have never really been alone. Will you let me open a small portion of the bond to you? It will let you know how I truly feel about you.”

“You can do that? Open just a small portion?”

“It will be hard. Instincts will tell me to open completely to you. But you need time to prepare for that. The time of bonding is a delicate time. We will get territorial with each other towards other people. If a woman were to come up to me, and in your mind you felt she was making advances towards me? Your instinct would be to beat her up. As would my instinct be to any male towards you. You might even be jealous towards my and Laura’s bond; although if we bond completely, our bond would break my and Laura’s bond.”

“You know we’re going to L.A. to Angel. I think we had best wait until we leave L.A. before we even open a small part of the bond.”

A look of wonder came over Giles’ face. “You’ll bond with me? Completely?”

“Giles, Rupert, there has always been something between us. I’ve always felt something. That’s why I felt I couldn’t do this without you. And why we could hurt each other.”

She reached down and touched his face. “Yes, I’ll bond with you. I think we should wait until we leave The Hyperion though. I don’t need you beating up Angel when he is trying to help us. Also it would be a little wrong if I beat up one of the girls for getting too close to you.”

Giles got up and sat on the seat next to Buffy. Wrapping his arms around her he pulled her in to a gentle hug. A sense of peace came over him; of completeness. In a whispered voice he exclaimed, “Oh Buffy!”

Hugging Giles back, for Buffy, was a sense of coming home: that the missing piece of her was now in place. That everything was as it should be.

They sat that way until the call came in.

“Giles, this is Faith, pull over, Laura is starting to wake up.”

Giles looked at Buffy then turned to Xander to ask him to pull over. But Xander was already pulling over, having heard Faith’s call.

Just as the bus came to a stopped Giles looked towards Buffy. With a nodded of her head he got up and
headed off the bus for Laura’s car.

When Giles got back to Laura’s car he saw that she was sitting up with her eyes closed, tears were running down her face. He opened her door and knelt down beside her. Giles looked at Amy with questions in his eyes.

“She sat up right after Faith called you. She hasn’t opened her eyes yet, she just started crying.”
Giles took her hand in his and in a soft voice said, “Laura?”

It was then that she opened her eyes and looked at her brother. “Rupert? What happened?” Reaching up and wiping the tears from her cheeks Laura asked, “Why am I crying?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing. You were on your way to Sunnydale with the three girls when you all got dizzy. You pulled over, realized that you had become Slayers, got back in the car, deciding to come and talk to me. Amy said you had crested the last hill before Sunnydale and had started down it when you doubled over in pain. She helped to pull the car over to the side of the road. You had just got the car stopped and into park when you screamed then passed out.”

Laura turned to Amy who nodded yes.

“We knew where we were going so Becky helped me to move you over so I could drive you to your brother. Just as we got you moved an earthquake hit. The next thing we know we see this dust cloud rising above Sunnydale, then this school bus racing away from the dust cloud. Just as the bus cleared the city limits sign the earthquake stopped and there was this huge crater where Sunnydale once was. We saw this blond lady jump off the top and walk to the edge of the crater. Others got off the back of the bus. I went over to ask for help. Your brother looked over and recognized your car and came running over to help. After talking it was decided to head to L.A. to the Hyperion. You and this guy Robin were the worst hurt so it was decided that you would be more comfortable in your car. We transferred Robin and Faith and are on our way to L.A.”

With a confused look on her face, Laura turned to Rupert.

“I’ll explain it all when we get to the Hyperion. Now can you tell me what happened to you?”

Laura thought for a moment. “Like Amy said, we got dizzy, realized we were Slayers, got in the car to head to you. We crested the hill, and then it was like…” Laura closed her eyes and shook her head. “Like my insides were on fire and then it was like a part of me was being pulled, ripped out of me. Next thing I know I’m waking up crying and looking at you.”

“How do you feel now? Ok enough to keep traveling to the Hyperion?”

Laura laid her head back against the head rest. After a moment she shook her head no. “I feel as if a part of me is missing. Like I have a hole in me.” She turned her head to Rupert. “But I can go on.”

“Alright. Do you want to ride in the car or up in the bus with us?”

“I’ll stay here. I don’t feel like being with too many people right now.”

“Ok. Amy has a radio, call if you need anything.”

“I will. Let’s get going. I know from what Amy said that Robin is bad and staying here isn’t helping.”
Rupert smiled and cupped her face with his hand for a moment. Nodding, he got up, stepped away from her and closed her door. Turning he headed back to the bus.

Once they were on their way again Laura turned to Faith. “Can you tell me what all happened?”
Faith nodded and for the rest of the trip explained all that had happened.