Title: Castaways 9/16
Author: Gileswench
Spoilers: Through Older and Far Away
Feedback: Constructive criticism always welcome. Praise abjectly sought.
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Joss, Mutant Enemy, etc., etc., etc. I just let them have all the fun Joss won't. I own nothing except my twisted mind which you really don't want. Please don't sue.

"Okay so all we know so far is that Buffy never checked into the hotel. Do we have any reason to believe that something happened, or could she just be off somewhere having a better time not in the hotel?"

Dawn looked stricken and the Scoobies looked shocked. Xander took a deep breath and faced his fiancée.

"An, she wouldn't do that."

The former demon crossed her arms over her chest and slumped down in her chair.

"Of course not. Just like she wouldn't ever run away, which you said she did once. And she wouldn't not tell her friends what she's doing, like she's been not doing ever since we brought her back."

"No," Dawn insisted. "She wouldn't. She promised she would call every night. She promised."

"I know, Dawn," Willow soothed. "A - and she's been real good about keeping promises to Dawn lately. Ever since her birthday." She narrowed her eyes at Anya. "Ever since that friend of yours..."

"Hey, Will, Anya didn't do that. Hallie did," Xander reminded her. "And she only did it because Dawn wished it. Not that Dawn knew."

"I hope you've learned your lesson," Anya said to Dawn. "Never make wishes to strangers. And don't take candy from them or get in their cars, either. It's not safe."

"Can we get back to the point, already?" Dawn said as she rolled her eyes. "The point is that Buffy is missing and we need to find out what happened to her."

"Okay, so, what do we know?" Xander asked. "We know Buffy left for Florida because the Watchers sent her to take care of some demonic threat. They sent her in a private plane. She never checked into her hotel. Do we know if she was alone?"

"Well, I heard Mr. Travers say there was gonna be some Watcher going with her," Dawn supplied. "I guess that means she's got the pilot and a Watcher with her."

"And we all know how useful those guys usually are," Xander snorted.

"Xand!" Willow scolded. "That's not very nice."

"Think about it, Will. Look at the Watchers we've known. Wesley, that Gwen Post lady - and I use the term loosely - Travers and his little entourage he brought with him last time he came to town. Face it, there's only about one good Watcher out there and that's Giles. I say Buffy's only chance is if he's the one the Council sent...and I'm willing to bet good money he isn't."

"Okay, you're probably right," Willow allowed, "but Dawn doesn't need to hear that right now."

"Hello, right here, guys," Dawn snapped. "So what do we do?"

The others looked at one another.

"Maybe we should call Giles," Anya suggested. "He might know who was being sent with Buffy. He could tell us what sort of person Buffy's with, if he knows."

"I'll make the call," Dawn said. "Anyway, he should know about this even if he doesn't know who Buffy went with."

*****

All the way back to the campsite, Buffy wondered at her reaction to Giles' attempt to kiss her. She'd said everything but the one she'd thought she would say: she didn't say she didn't want it.

Now she sat poking the fire with a long stick of driftwood and thought. Her thoughts, as usual when left alone for too long, were a jumble of contradictions. Her head hurt and she wanted to stop thinking at all.

Then again, wasn't that how she'd gotten into the wretched mess she was in with Spike? Faced with thoughts that filled her with guilt and shame, she'd turned away from the people she was angry with, the people who loved her, and turned to Spike. Spike who had nothing in his life but her. Spike who was dead. It had seemed so easy at the time. Forget life. Forget friends and enemies. Forget responsibilities and complications. Just forget.

Forgetfulness never lasted.

Escapes tended to take on complications she couldn't foresee and made life harder to deal with.

Every safety net developed holes.

Maybe it was time to just get rid of safety nets.

She considered the men she'd been with in the past few years.

Angel. He was the ultimate romantic fantasy. He was Heathcliff and Hamlet and Romeo rolled into one handsome, brooding package. He was strong and mysterious and well dressed and forbidden. What sixteen year old girl wouldn't want that?

But between his curse and his status as an undead American there really had been no way it could work out.

Riley. He was the fantasy of the clean cut all American boy. He was cute and funny and polite to her mother. He was dependable and devoted and exactly what every girl is supposed to want. He was a slice of normal in her insane existence.

But she didn't really love him, and he couldn't deal once he lost his Initiative orders and enhancements.

Spike. Another fantasy. He was a way to embrace death and punish herself. He was everything she hated about her in one bad boy package. He was evil and ambiguity and manipulation and obsession.

And she hated him every bit as much as he hated her.

"Great. So there've been three big relationships in my life and every one has been a fantasy about getting away from who I am. How sick is that?"

So where did Giles fit into the picture?

Whatever else he might be, Giles had always been real. Solid. A bit unpredictable, a little quirky, but a man who was neither threatened by nor a groupie of her superpowers.

He knew her inside and out. He was well acquainted with both her strengths and her faults, and he still cared about her. He still wanted to kiss her.

Buffy just wondered what exactly she wanted.

*****

"So what did Giles say? Did he know who's with Buffy?" Anya asked eagerly.

Dawn shook her head sadly, but didn't say anything.

"Dawn?" Xander asked, "Are you okay? Giles isn't mad, is he?"

"I don't know. He didn't say."

"Yeah," Willow said, "but he has a way of not saying stuff that lets you know what he's not saying sometimes. Is that what he did?"

"No."

"So what did he say?" Anya asked. "He had to say something."

"He - he wasn't there. Some lady answered and said he was gone and she didn't know where or how long he'd be gone. She hadn't heard from him either."

"A lady? Really? So big G's got himself a girlfriend," Xander said.

"A girlfriend who doesn't know where he is or when he's coming back," Willow reminded him. "So what do we do now?"

"We could call Mr. Travers," Anya suggested. "This is all his fault. He should find Buffy. And whoever he sent with her."

"There's just one problem with that idea," Dawn said. "We don't know where he is or what his phone number is."

*****

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