"Are-are you sure this is a good idea?" Tara asked nervously.

Willow finished brushing her lover's hair and kissed her on the cheek.

"I trust Giles.If he says it'll be okay, then it'll be okay."

"Did Mister Giles tell you anything about w-why he w-wants to eat dinner
with Mister Rayne?  I thought he didn't much like him?"

They put on their jackets and walked down to the front door to wait
for Giles to arrive with the car.

"Don't know,"said Willow. "He said something about Ethan having some
information to give him. "

"Mister Giles is such a m-mystery. I'm always learning new things about
him."

Giles pulled up in his little red sports car. He got out and opened
the car door for the girls. The dark haired man sitting in the
passenger's side of the front seat didn't make a move to help him.

Giles glared at him.

"I believe you've met Miss Rosenberg?"

The man nodded.

"Blessed Be. " Ethan turned around and stuck out his hand. "Ethan
Rayne. And who is this blonde goddess? I must say, Miss Rosenberg,
you've got wonderful taste."

Tara blushed and ducked her head.

"Tara M-Mckay."

"Ahh, an Irish lass. Wonderful people, the Irish, wonderful people."

"Ethan, you're overdoing it," Giles grumbled.

"I'm sorry, would you rather I not talk at all?"He grinned. "Ripper
doesn't like me to talk to people. I embarrass him. "

Giles' knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel a bit
too hard. Ethan leaned over and flipped on the radio.Loud, 1970's
rock pounded out of the stereo speakers.

Giles reached down automatically and quickly changed it to a
classical station.  Ethan changed it back.  Giles' finger slammed
down on the preprogrammed button. Ethan went to change it again and
Giles' hand clamped tightly around his wrist.

"Wot? You know you like it. "

"I'm sure the girls don't want to hear that sort of music,"Giles
said .

"Yes, you must have some Sarah Mclaughlan or Tori Amos somewhere."
Ethan said sarcastically. He pulled open the glove box and started
tossing Giles' tapes and cds onto the car floor. "Aha! Lorena
Mckennit-close enough!"

********************

"Giles, party of four."

"Right this way, sir."

Tara sat across from Willow, leaving Giles to sit across from Ethan.
The waiter came and handed them each a menu.

"Tonight  is Father/Daughter night.We have some wonderful specials."

"We're not their fathers," said Giles.

"Would you gentlemen like to buy roses for your dates?" The waiter
asked, not to be deterred.

"Actually, they're with each other." said Ethan. "We're their middle
aged bisexual  friends."

"Speak for yourself," said Giles.

"You aren't middle aged, you aren't bisexual or you aren't their
friend?" Ethan queried.

"Believe it or not, Ethan, there is such a thing as too much
information."

"At least I'm not ashamed of my choices."Ethan drawled.

Giles ignored him.

"I'll have the steak, well done. "He requested.

"I'll have the chicken," said Ethan. Willow ordered the Borscht and Tara
requested a vegan menu. After much bickering between Ethan and Giles,
they finally settled on a wine.

"Would you pass the salt?" Giles asked Tara. The shaker rose from it's
stand, floated across the table and deposited itself in Giles' hand.

"Thank you," He smiled.

"How long have you two birds been seeing each other?" Ethan looked at both
girls.

"Since May of last year." Tara said shyly. "We met at school."

"In Wicca group," said Willow. "It was through magic that we first
discovered our feelings."

"Magic opens the doors to so many new things. "Ethan agreed, giving
Giles a meaningful glance.

The look Giles returned was one of undisguised contempt.The food
arrived,along with the wine. Giles reached to begin pouring it, at the same
time Ethan did and their fingers brushed. Ethan's eyes widened
slightly.Giles removed his own hand as if he were afraid of catching germs.
Ethan smiled brightly.

"And I hear you've both been helping to save the world."

"Yeah," said Willow. "Three weeks ago, we teleported a hellgod."

"Willow dropped her out in the middle of nowhere!" Tara laughed.

"Well, that's good. Good, wholesome work. Unlike the wild shenanagins
me and Ripper got up to in our day. But are you that advanced
already?"

"I got a bloody nose," Willow confessed.

"Poor baby, she keeps trying spells she'd not ready for yet," Tara
said.

"We used to have that problem with Ripper. Just couldn't accept his
limits. Liked to be daring, liked to push things."

"Ethan, shut up,"Giles said through his teeth.

"So wild and passionate. Back before he became The Amazing Tweed Man."

"So, Mister Giles was like, r-really wild in his youth?" Tara asked.

Willow choked on her soup, by no means a mean feat.
 

"Ethan, how about you give us that information you agreed to give us in
exchange for this outing?" Giles deftly changed the subject.

"Ripper an' me did this spell once where we-OWW!" Giles' foot descended onto
Ethan's under the table.

"BLOODY-!"

"I-I have to powder my nose," Willow said, getting up from the table.

"M-Me too."

"Look what you did." Ethan complained when the girls were out of
earshot."You ruined the fun and made them want to go talk about us.
Killjoy."

"Would you like to die now, or later? I'm comfortable with either."

"Then you'd get no info from me, would you?"

"I can make you talk."

"You can make me scream, but you never would. You don't do that anymore."

They ate in silence for a few moments before Giles spoke again.

"Ethan, why?"

"Why what?" Ethan chewed his food as his eyes wandered innocently around the
room.

"Why are you making this so difficult? You don't usually worm dates out of
me. All you've ever been after before was a beating."

"I'm doing this because I hate you, and I enjoy making you miserable."

"The feeling is entirely mutual,"said Giles.

"Oh, Ripper, I figured that out years ago. You know, back when you LEFT ME."

"Don't."

"Don't what? Do you want me to pretend that I don't miss you? We shared
something, we shared a bed, or don't you remember? I have to hate you. If I
stop hating you,I'll remember what we used to feel."

"We felt nothing," said Rupert.

"No, you felt nothing."

"We weren't capable of loving each other. We couldn't even manage our own
lives, let alone some sort of relationship."

"I know, it was the magic, the drugs, the music,the sodding *times*, two
screwed up little boys fooling around in the back of a van. I know. I have
the list of excuses memorized."

"Then leave it alone. Dammit, Ethan! Leave it alone."

"I can't!" Ethan's voice rose. "I loved you!"

"I'm not the same person I was 25 years ago. I'm not Ripper." Something
wasn't right here. Ethan was bieng too honest, they were both bieng too
honest, the conversation was spiraling bizzarely out of control.

"The Hell you aren't!"

Willow and Tara came back from the bathroom, they took their seats again,
eyes  going back and forth between the men like ping pong balls. The wizards
  noticed their return and tried to pretend that nothing had been going on
in their absence.

"How was the bathroom, Ladies?" Ethan asked.

"It-was-uh-a bathroom." The expression on Willow's face was hard to read.

Ethan smiled. The sort of tight, forced smile found on a society matron who
has just stepped in something distasteful left by someone else's housepet.
Giles' dinner suddenly turned into a huge green toad and hopped away. It
landed 30 feet away, on the table of an elderly couple who started screaming
and waving their arms around. The Maitre'd came running.

"Put it back," said Giles,"whoever did it and I think I know who..."

"I'd never dream of denying you."said Ethan. "What Ripper wants, Ripper
gets. I know the drill,but that toad's long gone, baby."

Giles' wine glass levitated and with one quick motion, flung ruby liquid
on the front of Ethan's shirt.

"HEYYY! That shirt is brand new, I'll have you know!"

"It was ugly. I did you a favor."

"You can't keep doing this to me!" Ethan cried. "You can't keep shutting me
out and treating me I don't deserve to live. I'm a person too and I have
feelings!"

"Uh oh," Willow whispered to Tara.

"Well, perhaps if you behaved a bit more human and less like a-a-a freak!"

"You used to dig this *freak*. You used to boff this *freak*, did you think
I was a freak when I was down on my knees in front of you?" Ethan shouted.

"No, I thought you were beautiful!"

They were standing now, and the whole restauraunt had fallen silent.

"I t-think the s-spell  we tried  in the bathroom-um-b-backfired," Tara
worried.

The two British wizards rounded on the two American witches.

"YOU WHAT?"

"The-The 'No more secrets, no more lies' spell we did when we pretended
to-to have to go to the bathroom?" Willow said weakly. The tiny redhead gave
them her best 'Please don't hate me' smile.

"W-we thought-you were s-so closed o-off and-"

"Emotionally constipated, that-that we thought-"

"Well, thank you! Now we've got emotional freakin' diarrhoea!" Ethan
snapped.

"You thought you'd help by messing with our minds and forcing us to tell
each other things we never wanted to share? Yes, I believe it backfired,"
said Giles.

"I said it was a bad idea." Tara fretted."I knew it would only make things
worse. I knew we shouldn't meddle."

"We didn't meddle, we helped." said Willow."See-see? They-they're talking,
a-and getting their feelings out?"

"It wasn't nice. We lied to them, and we made them make spectacles of
themselves. In a fancy restauraunt. And I've never been anywhere this pretty
and nice before, and now they'll kick us out!"

"You could've said no, you didn't want to do it!"

"Do you ha-have any idea h-how difficult you are to say no to?"

"Me? It's not hard to take charge when you're all 'Yes Willow', 'Whatever
You Say, Willow'. Show some backbone!"

"All I'm s-saying is that it was m-mean of us." Tara started crying.

"It's not like-like it's part of your stupid Witch rules! We thought we were
helping!"

"Stupid Witch rules? I don't tear down your traditions. When was the last
time I sat down next to you on a Friday afternoon, chompin' on a big ole
pork sandwhich? And that's not just because I don't eat meat. It's because I
love you and I respect your traditions."

"Oooh, Honey," Willow sniffled.

The girls started hugging and crying. "I love you too!"

"Why can't we be like that?" said Ethan.

"We're men, we're English and our parents weren't hippies." said Giles.

"My mum was a lush," said Ethan, leaning his head on Giles' shoulder.
"Damn spell's makin' me say all sortsa things."

Tossing some bills on the table, Giles kissed him on the nose.

"Take us to my place."

When Willow and Tara turned around, Giles and Ethan were gone. The Maitre'd
swore later that they disspeared into thin air.

The shock of bieng transported from one place to the other so quickly
was dissorientating. They lost their balance and landed on the
floor. Ethan fell on top of him and lay there. His wieght was still
light, he still smelled like herbs and his eyes were as brown and
full of mischief and mystery as they had always been. It was as if
nothing had changed, at least for the moment.

Giles grabbed the back of Ethan's hair and pulled him down for a kiss.

"Your reentry skills aren't what they used to be, " He teased.

"I was aiming for the bed, " Ethan pouted, "You moved it."

"And how do you know where my bed is supposed to be?"

"Who do you think got you home the last time we were pissed together,
Mon Chere?"

"Because you were so concerned for my well being and safety,
Dearest?" Giles tightened his grip on Ethan's hair, Ethan made a
pained face.

"Ooohh, are you still mad at me? It was just a silly prank. " Then
his eyes sparkled seductively. "Do I still need to be punished?"
Ethan breathed. They both found themselves rock hard at the
suggestion, neither one wanting to move from their awkward
postioning for fear of losing the moment. Ethan slowly straddled
Giles, the friction created by his hardness rubbing against Rupert's
made the other man moan audibly.

Giles pulled him down for another kiss, his tongue delving into the
familiar territory of Ethan's mouth.

"You should get out of that shirt. " He murrmurred, indicating the
stained fabric of Ethan's dress shirt. "Here, let me help. " And he
unbuttoned it, ripping it off Ethan's shoulders. Ethan's body had
changed little in the time they'd spent apart. He was no longer a
teenager, but his stomach was still flat, his waist still slim, his
arms still well defined and his thighs still firm. Ethan's nimble
fingers were busying themselves with undressing him, desperately,
urgently.

"Slow down! " Giles laughed. "We have time.."

"No, "Ethan moaned. "No, we don't! I don't want you to change your
mind. "

He rolled off Giles and wriggled out of his pants, kicked off his
shoes and presented one socked foot to Giles. Giles pulled it off
and motioned in a commanding way for the other one. Ethan yanked
Giles' pants off and threw them behind him dramatically. There was a
loud crash as the trousors hit a statuette and tipped it over.

"Mind where you hurl my trousors. "

"Oh, that statue isn't very valuable anyway," Ethan said
dismissively, "Some would even consider it to be bad luck to own
one. "

"That would explain your presence in my life again. How did you -
escape from Nevada?"

"Shush, " Ethan laid a finger to Giles' lips, " I remember when you
didn't like to talk during sex. "

Giles remembered saying that to his lover once, when he was young and
angry and just wanted to fuck. And pretend he wasn't taking advantage
of his best friend in the worst possible way. And now they were
here again, and the darker feelings rose up inside. `Own this
man,' `Possess him.'

Ethan scrambled onto the bed and wiggled his finger in a way that
said `C'mere.' Giles stood up and stalked toward him, smiling what he
was sure was an oddly Ripperish smile. Ethan watched him, with wild
eyes and parted lips, stroking himself.

The time for talking was definetly passed. Ethan waved his hand and
a couple of condoms and a tube of lubricant popped out of thin air.
Ethan opend the tube and applied it to himself, then rolled over and
raised himself onto his knees. Giles slipped the condom on.

"We didn't used to need those," Ethan complained.

"I thought we agreed, "Giles smiled, "No more talking?"

Ethan lifted his arse up and shook it.

"Then what are you waiting for, Silly? Let's see how YOUR reentry skills
are."

******

"Are you sure we should be bothering Mister Giles?" Tara asked as she and
Willow crossed the campus the next morning.

"I'm worried,"said Willow, "They just dissapeared last night, and I know
they probaby went back to his place to-you know-" she blushed "but we don't
know if Ethan will take advantage of the situation, so I gotta know that
he's okay."

"Can he really not-not be trusted? He s-seemed like such a nice man."

"He is a nice man. That doesn't mean he can be trusted. He's still sort of
evil."

"What sort of things has he done?"

"One Halloween, he made everyone turn into whatever it was that they had
dressed up as. Then there was this other time he tried to get Buffy killed
by this demon, and another time when he made chocolates that made all the
grownups in town act like teenagers. And the last thing he did was turn
Giles into a demon."

"Oh."

"Giles says he's an incredible sorcerer, though." Willow said. The girls
walked to Giles' car and Willow got behind the wheel. "Whatever else, I bet
Giles wants his car back after he left it at the restauraunt last night."

*********

Giles opened his eyes slowly and breathed in the scent of the warm, thin
body fitted against him.

"Good morning, " Ethan smiled.

"Good morning."

"Been a long time since we did that."

"Nothing's changed. I thought things would have-changed."

"Since we aren't 20 anymore?"

Ethan rolled over and propped himself up on his elbows.

"Why did you invite the girls?" He asked out of the blue.

Giles sat up.

"They're my friends, I explained that already."

"You don't have any gay friends your own age?"

"Well, this is Sunnydale, Ethan, there are very few gay people my age
here,"He paused, "The truth is, I, didn't want to be alone with you, I
didn't trust myself or you."

"When have I ever given you a reason to mistrust me?" Ethan joked
awkwardly."Are you sure you weren't giving the baby witches an object lesson
in how they might end up in 25 years? "

"Using ourselves as an example? I have been trying to impress upon Willow
the dangers of dark magic. It certainly wasn't premeditated though."

"Willow's into dark magic? Now that is suprising. The thing that I found the
most interesting about last night was in fact, the spell. Now, I would have
done it because it's funny, you would have done it to make some bloody
point. Your girls did it because they seriously believed that they were
helping us, and in some ways, that's as dangerous as any black magic we
tried."

"I agree, but they've got good hearts, and good intentions, and they are
adults, I can't tell them what to do."

"There's nothing like a 20 year old for not listening, "Ethan laughed.

Giles watched his lover, sleepy eyed, tousled, flushed, the white sheets
contrasting against his brown skin.

"You really are beautiful," he said before he could stop himself.

"I know I am. I don't need you to feed my ego, Ripper. "

"That you never needed," Giles agreed. "I-I've never told you that before, I
wanted to see how it sounded out loud."

Ethan looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

"People say a lot of things they don't mean. No one's ever not meant it when
they tell me I'm beautiful, however. You need to come up with something
better, Rupert darling."

Giles whacked him with a pillow.

"Hows that?"

Ethan grabbed his own pillow and whacked him back.

"Hurt me, baby, hurt me," He said in a bored voice.

Giles whacked him again, Ethan started laughing and Giles joined him as they
play fought.

***

Willow knocked on Giles' door. There was no answer, so she tried the knob.
The door swung inward, Willow and Tara stepped caustiously inside.

"What's that sound?" Tara wondered.

They could hear yelling, laughing and muffled thumps coming from upstairs.

Willow raced for the stairs, with Tara following close behind.

"Say Uncle!" Giles growled.

The witches skidded to a stop in the doorway of Giles' bedroom.

"Oh. My. Gosh." said Willow.

"Goddess.." Tara gasped.

Giles was straddling Ethan and they were naked, sweaty and covered with
feathers.

"Hello, ladies,"Ethan grinned.

"Lesbian, lesbian, lesbian.."Tara chanted under her breath. Willow's face
was lobster red and she was blinking rapidly.

"We-we-we shouldgoTara," she babbled, "They lookprettybusyorsomething."

They turned and fled down the stairs, squealing in embarrassment.

"We'll do lunch?" Ethan called after them.