PART 2

Xander Harris stared at the house in front of him. Angel had come here tonight, and not to the mansion. Xander stood thinking and reached the only decision he could based on his narrow-minded, prejudicially blind mind could: Angel was not Angel and this was a secret base he had to kill them all.

Xander waited until dawn and then walked up to the house to see whom Angelus had on his side. He banged on the door hard thinking to startle anyone who was there. He got a shock as a moment later the door was ripped open and he found himself face to face with Giles. And Giles looked pissed.

"If it's not the fucking end of the world, I don't want to be bothered," he growled. Xander stepped back in shock of the normally quiet librarian growling at him and he moved forward.

"Xander, get the hell out of my house," Giles growled. Xander stepped back again, shocked.

"Your house?" Xander squeaked. "But Angel…I saw him… and he never said and you never said…"

"Is it any of your damn business where I live when I'm not pandering to your whims? This is My house. And you all are not bloody welcome here!"

"So, why is he here?' Xander asked shoving past Giles into the house and storming over to where Wesley was sitting hunched over a book as if trying to hide.

"Why are you here Wussly?" he demanded snidely. He jerked Wesley's head up and barely glanced at him before he was ripped away from the younger watcher.

"Get your hands off of my beloved," a voice growled in his ear. Xander turned his head and und himself looking into a pair of green/gold eyes that held him pinned to the wall in shock by something in them.

"Who are you?" Xander asked coldly as he was getting angry. Giles had people over the Scoobies didn't know. That wasn't how it was supposed to work.

"I am someone who was invited here. You are not."

"Neither was Wussly there," Xander snapped.

"On the contrary," Giles said. "He was. Now, Xander you do not belong here. This is not Giles the Librarian's place. This is not Giles the Watcher's place either. He quit months before he was fired. This is Ripper Giles' place and there is no room here for self important twits."

"Self important?" Xander demanded. "We save the world!"

'No, I research; others fight but not you all. The hell mouth is small in comparison to other things that you would not last an instant against."

"Why is he here?" Xander yelled as he saw Ethan. He moved, or started to, to grab the sorcerer, when Giles grabbed him by the scruff.

"He is here because I want him here you little bastard!" Giles growled. "He is here because I brought him here. I did not invite you in or welcome you. You can get the hell out of here. Now!"

Xander stared from Giles to Ethan feeling like it was all Ethan's fault Giles was not being Giles and he lunged at him in rage. Again Giles grabbed him. Giles seemed to read his mind as he looked down at his hate filled face.

"Actually, Alexander," Ripper said. "It's my fault. I did this, all of it. And some things are your fault and yours alone. You can get out until I can stand to be in your presence again and the next time you try to hurt one of those under my protection, you wont like happens to you. Now, go!"

He shoved Xander out the door and then turned to look at where Ethan was standing frozen on the steps.

"It was my fault," Giles said aloud as he moved and caught Ethan who looked about to shatter. "It was my fault."

"What was?" Joe asked.

"Everything," Giles answered. "I caused it."

And he caught Ethan and lowered him to the floor as the nightmares Ethan had lived with at night slammed through them both and Ethan began to scream and sob against Giles' shoulder.

"I'm sorry, luv," Giles repeated over and over as he, too, became lost in the memories. The memories of the place he had found Ethan in and he remembered vomiting when he saw what was done to his friend to pay for his screw-ups.

"Ethan,' he whispered as he held the man in his arms. "Ethan…."

Warehouse location, London, England

Rupert Giles had thought the letters were the worst things that he could have seen as his imagination was more than graphic enough to come up with scenarios of how Ethan paid for them. And paid and paid and paid. But nothing and here he emphasized the thought Nothing could have prepared him for what he was seeing. It was worse than even his imagination after 2 years on a Hellmouth.

"Dear God," Giles whispered. "Have mercy."

And then he knew that he was the mercy. He moved then, to grant his friend mercy and freedom from this. He reacted grabbing the thankfully this time human man off of Ethan and he lived up to his name of Ripper. It had nothing to do with the knife he'd always carried. No, Ripper came from the fact that he could and on occasion had ripped people apart with his bare hands.

Witness the bloody mess on the floor in front of him. It had at one time been a man but now it wasn't.

Giles moved then to Ethan's side and looked down at the bound and gagged man.

"Ethan," he whispered. There was a visible cringe as the man fought away against his restraints.

Ripper could see him trying to speak through the gag and he knew he was begging for this to not happen again. Ripper sighed and did the only thing he could think to do to calm Ethan: He opened their bond and flooded his love along it. Ethan arched visibly shocked by the pulse of magic and love and Ripper used that opportunity to pull the ball gag out of his mouth.

He felt the scream building before Ethan even drew the breath for it and he responded, dropping his mouth over Ethan's and sharing the scream with him. Taking the pain and the hurt and the blood and the fear and absorbing it into himself so Ethan knew he was not alone.

"Ripper," Ethan sobbed finally. "Ripper, please, don't leave me here again."

"I wont," Ripper had promised and he had lifted Ethan off the table and carried him out of the house of horrors. In his car, he had gently and carefully dressed Ethan in the clothes he'd brought for him and then he'd driven them away. Once in the air aboard a plane taking them back to the states, Giles had called the council and told them he quit, effectively immediately. Upon landing he'd been met by Joe Dawson who had given him a file of things to research for the immortal branch. Still a watcher but not in the Slayer division any longer. And if he were honest with himself since it let Ethan be free, there was no other place for him. And, Ethan could help him when he was well.

He'd then looked at the shaking man, caught in a nightmare, and swallowed hard.

If he got well. But Ripper was determined that he would and there had been very little in Ripper's life that his determination could not over come.

"You'll be fine, Eth," he'd whispered the old endearment. "I'll make you better, I promise…"

*

So I did," Giles said coming back to the present and holding the shaking Ethan against his chest. He was aware of talking as the memories assailed him and he was quite touched when Wesley and Adam moved to his side and gently touched Ethan as well. Ethan tensed briefly but then relaxed as he realized he was in no danger. He was safe. As safe as houses here, protected by those who cared about him.

"New friends, luv," Ripper said. "We wont let you be hurt anymore."

"Promise?" Ethan asked softly. He sounded so young and insecure and Joe Dawson nodded laying his hand on Ethan's shoulder.

"Swear it all, son," Joe said as he looked down at the broken man in Giles' arms. "We all swear and we don't break promises."

Ethan looked at them all and received nods in the affirmative so he relaxed against Giles. Finally, at long last, feeling safe.

For now at any rate. On the hell mouth one never knew how long safe would last. Or normal. As witnessed by the appearance of Adam Pierson and the abrupt changes in Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. It just went to prove that on the Hellmouth, nothing was as it seemed. Nothing.