My Salvation
by Bwriter
Part three
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Part Three
Willow was in shock. Buffy had just told her how her own father had beaten her and tried to rape her. More than shocked she was angry. She was so angry she was visibly shaking with rage. Buffy felt this and thought that she had done something to upset Willow.
"Hey, Will I never meant to make you mad. Please don't hate me now." Buffy wasn't scared of Willow using violence on her but she was terrified of Willow thinking that maybe she deserved everything that had happened, and hey who knows maybe she did. No, no-one deserves what he did.
"Buffy I am mad. I'm so mad right now I'm actually entertaining the idea of murder! What he did to you was unforgivable. Are you going to the police?"
Willow paused and looked down at the girl in her arms noting that she looked like she wanted to bolt.
"What's wrong?"
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Something had just occurred to Buffy. She hadn't showered yet. She was sitting letting Willow hold her when she could still feel him on her skin. Jumping up she made a dash for the bathroom. Bursting through the door she turned on the water as hot as it would go and jumped in not caring that she was still fully clothed or that the water was so hot it was causing blisters to appear on patches of skin.
Hearing a noise she looked up from her crouching position to see Willow running through the door. She watched as she reached in to turn off the warm water and switched it off, then she watched as she stepped into the shower with her and once again enveloped her in a hug.
"It's gonna be okay you'll see. I won't let anyone else hurt you."
The site that greeted Giles when he got home brought a smile to his face. Buffy was curled up into Willow and both were fast asleep on the couch.
Deciding to let them sleep he began preparing dinner for three.
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Buffy woke up feeling like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She had come to a decision just before she fell asleep against Willow. First thing she wanted to do was shower and then change into something a little less guy like.
Stretching she looked over at the girl who had held her for hours while she cried. Willow looked very relaxed in sleep Buffy mused. She had an almost sated — wow were did that come from? Getting up she heard sounds coming from the kitchen.
Making her way there she found Giles standing by the stove making dinner.
"Hey." Buffy's soft voice interrupted Giles musing over which to heat up — beans or mushrooms.
"Buffy how are you feeling?"
Hugging herself she walked to the fridge to get a drink before realising what she was doing and turning away to instead look at Giles.
"I'm feeling better. The pain has dulled but my ribs are still kinda painful. Do you mind if I get a drink?"
"This is your home now as well." Giles turned around to continue his cooking but frowned when he heard no noise coming from behind him. Turning back he was surprised to see Buffy just standing there.
"I thought you were thirsty."
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"This is your home now as well."
What did that mean? Can I have a drink or not? If it was home I wouldn't be asking I would just wait 'til da — no Hank had passed out or for mom to get home when she was still there. She was pulled out of her musings when she heard Giles asking a question.
"I thought you were thirsty."
"Yeah I am but I was just wondering if it was okay to get a drink. When I asked you just told me this was my home now as well, which I'm grateful for if I haven't already said so before now."
Hoping that he wouldn't be mad at her questioning him she missed the incredulous look on his face before he asked in a hard voice,
"Did he make you ask?"
Looking him in the eyes and not caring that a few tears escaped Buffy answered truthfully,
"He would make me go without food or even water 'til my mom came home from work or until I begged him for it. He liked begging so I tried to hold off as long as I could."
Averting her eyes as she was unsure what she would see in her uncles she looked at the floor.
Suddenly two feet appeared beside her and when a hand lifted her chin up she couldn't help her natural reaction which was to flinch and whimper.
Giles tried not to notice and waited patiently for her to refocus. When she had he began.
"Buffy you should never have to ask for something as basic as food and water when living in a home where there is an abundance of both. From now on whenever you get hungry or thirsty just take. You never have to ask okay?"
Giving Giles a teary smile Buffy gave him a quick hug before opening the fridge and taking out two orange juices for her and Willow. Turning to go back to the living room she paused when Giles called her name.
"We will have to talk about everything you know. For now just go on through and I'll call the both of you when dinner is ready to be served."
Willow was just waking up when Buffy got back. Sitting down beside Willow and handing her a juice Buffy began quietly sipping on hers enjoying the down time.
"So what happens now?"
Turning her head to look at Willow Buffy sighed before starting.
"I'm gonna stay here with Giles. I can't go back there. What he did was... I don't have words right now about how wrong what he did was. I feel so betrayed by both him and my mother. She just left, knowing how bad he gets and knowing how bad he could get she just walked out and left her seventeen year old daughter with him. I never want to see any of them again to tell you the truth."
Pausing to take a breath she turned her gaze to the fire.
"Giles told me that we're gonna have to have a conversation about what's gonna happen but I already have a vague idea about what I want to see happening. I want that man to know what it felt like to be me living in that house with him. I want him to lose his freedom; I want him to have to beg for food, for water. I want him to know the fear of saying the wrong thing and suddenly having someone bigger and stronger than you are beat the hell out of you so bad you wind up in hospital. I want him to go to jail. And I just want to forget the past six years ever happened."
Buy the end Buffy was in tears again. Her eyes felt like the Sahara desert but still her tears fell. Feeling herself being pulled into another hug she drifted off still weeping gently while Willow whispered nonsense into her ear just to calm her down.
She was sound asleep when Giles came to tell the two that dinner was ready.
When Buffy next awoke she found herself in Giles spare bedroom, which was to be her room when she thought about it. Getting up and going into the living room she was surprised to find Giles and Willow standing by the couch with boxes spread out all over the place.
"What's going on? How long was I asleep?"
"Buffy! Giles and me figured that you might need some clothes and girlie things plus stuff for school tomorrow if your going, so we went by your old place to pick up some stuff then we stopped by the mall and you were asleep for over sixteen hours. Its late Sunday night."
Willow was excited to be doing something useful to help Buffy out. Looking at her friend she was surprised to see tears tracking a course down her cheeks yet again.
"Oh don't cry, we didn't mean to upset you. Giles help!"
"No. No happy tears. You guys didn't have to go to so much trouble for me. Thank-you."
Buffy began opening some of the boxes that she assumed were from her old room. There was one thing she was looking for specifically: Mr Gordo, her stuffed piggy.
After a hour of searching for it but not finding it she gave up and sat down with a pout. She never really expected them to have it, seeing as how her — Hank — took it away from her one time because she forgot to bring him a drink in from the kitchen, and had never given it back.
Not seeing the look Giles and Willow shared she continued to sit there pouting over Mr Gordo.
Giles finally took pity on her and from behind his back appeared her stuffed pig.
With a squeal Buffy jumped up and grabbed her pig checking to make sure he was fine and seeing that he was gave Giles a heartfelt hug for returning her childhood piggy.
"Wait. How did you guys get this? Even I don't know where he put it."
Giles took a seat and told the story of teh resue of Mr Gordo.
"Well just as we were leaving Willow asked if there were any teddies that you would like to have with you. Something about girls keeping them on the beds even when they grow up. I remembered the one pig I always saw you with when you were younger so we began looking. We found it stuffed in a corner in the master bedroom."
"Thank-you. This really means a lot." Once again giving Giles and then Willow a hug Buffy walked into the kitchen still holding her once only friend close to her as she poured herself a glass of water.
Rejoining the other two she for once noticed the time.
"Will? Aren't your parents gonna be worried about where you've been all weekend?"
"They aren't at home. They're in Europe. Can't remember what they're doing out there but they've been there for most of the month. They won't be home for another three at most. So I'm good here. Unless that was you politely asking me to leave. Was it?"
"No I was just checking so you wouldn't get in trouble with your parents." Turning to Giles Buffy looked at his sombre expression and figured she knew what was coming.
"Okay I know it's time for the talk."
Giles looked towards his niece hoping she would have the strength to go through this, though thinking back on what she had to endure at the hands of her father he figured she was all set.
"What are you going to do about Hank?"
"Wow, you just start with the biggies don't you?" Buffy took a seat on the armchair and opened her mouth to speak. Looking over at Giles she closed it again at seeing him smiling a small smile.
"What?"
"You were beginning to sound like your old self for a moment there. I missed her."
"Me too."
Willow knowing that this was going to be a pretty intense conversation decided to leave them to it and took off saying that she would see Buffy tomorrow is school if she showed up and if she never then she would call round to Giles place.
"Well then. Why don't we get started hmm?"