In a Corner of My Soul: Angel: Skipped Out on Homeroom

[dragonyphoenix]

Summary: Rewrite of season 1 with Giles as the Big Bad.
Master List for In a Corner of My Soul (previous chapters / scenes)

Rupert woke with a crick in his neck. High-school furniture did not make for a comfortable bed. Blurry-eyed, he glanced up at the clock before jumping to his feet. It was well into first period. Knowing that Buffy was categorically unable to let him sleep, he could only conclude she'd missed homeroom. Had she been attacked on patrol? Was she still alive? The halls flew by in a blur as he raced to her class. As he peered through the window, he saw her sitting there, next to Willow and behind Xander, barely paying attention to the lesson. He knocked on the door and asked if he could see her in the hallway.

“Giles! What are you doing? You can't just walk into a class and ask for me. It looks bad. It looks suspicious, like why are you paying so much attention to me?”

“You missed homeroom.” He was bluffing. For all he knew she'd been to homeroom, found him sleeping, and had decided to skip her meditation session.

“I was late. Didn't get in until first period. Sorry. You try getting out of the house on-time when you're sneaking around and hiding a guy in your bedroom.”

“You were what? Hiding a man from your mother? Buffy, I know you want to have a life outside of Slaying but bringing home a young man, on a school night, right under your mother's nose …”

“It wasn't a guy, it was Angel.”

Oh, and that made it better.

“After he saved me. I couldn't let him go outside. What if those three vamps were still waiting?”

“Saved you? Three vampires?”

She peered toward his skull. “What? Did you hit your head last night? Three unusually strong vampires? Angel saved me? I thought you were looking stuff up.”

Damn. Why couldn't the bastard who took over his body ever leave notes? “Ah, of course. I left the library without my morning tea. Still a bit groggy. But I was worried when you didn't make homeroom.”

“Worried, huh?” She crossed her arms and stared up at him. “First period's gonna end in about ten minutes. You're just checking up on me now?”

“Unlike you, I was working all evening, researching.”

“Come up with anything?”

Damn. He hadn't looked at the books scattered across the table. “We'll discuss it at lunch.” She didn't look convinced. “You ought to get back to your class.”

Three vampires, unusually strong. He could only hope that the relevant texts hadn't been reshelved.