Title: Choosing Darkness

Author: Kate R.

Rating: R

Pairings: Giles/Ethan, Xander/Spike, Anya/Willow

Summary: Buffy has Chosen Darkness.

Disclaimer: All belong to Joss. I make no money off this.

Choosing Darkness
by Kate R.

Chapter 1: The Call

Giles woke up hearing the phone ring and grumbled to himself. Whoever was calling this late had better have a damn good reason for it.

"Hello?" he growled into the phone. It took him a moment to process the voice on the other end.

'Hi Giles!" the overly bright voice of Xander Harris said. Giles was immediately on alert.

"Hello Xander," he replied. "What can I do for you?"

'Did you know Sunnydale general has a real nice waiting room G-Man?'

"No, Xander, I did not," Giles replied feeling his concern and anxiety going up several notches.

"Xander, are you hurt?"

'Uh---no, but, uh---Well, Wesley is.' Xander told him. Giles felt his stomach drop.

"How bad? Was it on patrol?" Giles asked. He heard Xander gulp on the other end of the phone.

'Uh---bad. And Giles, Buffy beat him---I saw it happen. Spike said I had to see it to believe it and I didn't want to but I saw it. She beat him into the ground and then beat him some more and it wasn't sparring.' Xander sounded almost like he'd just been told Santa Clause was a fake and

Giles sighed asking a question he wasn't sure he wanted to ask.

"What did Dis say about his condition?" Giles managed to get out.

'He'll live,' was Xander's reply. 'Giles, how could she do this to her Watcher?'

"She's been going out of control for a while, Xander," Giles answered sadly. "I'm just sorry I didn't see this." He sighed to himself as he began looking for his shoes. Ethan handed them to him after a second as he was already dressed in his black jeans and purple button down shirt.

"I'm on my way Xander," Giles told the youth as he hung up the phone. He shook his head regretting what he knew he had thrown the young Watcher into as he and Ethan headed out of the house a fast pace.

At the hospital, Xander sat in the waiting room praying Wes would be okay. As he waited for the doctors to come out, he thought back to when this had started. He had started fighting vamps at 13 when Dawn's father and Uncle Ares had allowed he and Jesse and Willow to learn with her. But if he thought about it, it had actually started when he met Dawn. That had been more than 10 years ago---

end part 1