( RIPOSTE ][ A Watchergirls Archive )

__All The Relatives__
By Escargoat

There was a soft cursing sound coming from the general vicinity of Giles’ refrigerator as Buffy strode into his place without knocking. As Buffy crept closer, she could indeed hear the sounds of an irritated Giles. The kind of sounds that usually made her cringe, as they were generally directed at her when she had done something incredibly stupid and irritating.

Of course, Buffy had not done anything irritating, that she knew of, lately, so she crept even closer. Giles had everything out of his refrigerator and was furiously scrubbing out his vegetable drawer.

“You, know Giles, even I know that veggies rot when you don’t use them. I don’t think that your fridge deserves to die for that,” Buffy commented over his shoulder.

“What?” Giles turned around from his hunched over position. “Buffy, I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Yeah, well you were kind of busy threatening your kitchen appliances with evil torture to notice me.”

“Ah,” was Giles’ only comment.

Buffy stood there and stared at him. He stared back.

“Sooooo, what did it do to piss you off? Did your jellied kidneys or whatever spoil?” Buffy said after a bit.

Giles sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Why not?” Buffy pouted.

“Because, I just don’t want to,” Giles snapped.

“But, I thought we were like friends or partners or something. Shouldn’t you tell me? It always helps to talk to friends. Unless, of course, this has something to do with me, in which case maybe you should talk to Xander or Willow ‘cause you might not want to talk to me.”

Giles smiled briefly at Buffy’s attempt at empathy. “It doesn’t have anything to do with you directly, Buffy.”

“But indirectly?” Buffy queried.

“In a way, yes.” Giles replied.

“So? Tell Buffy.”

“My family is having a reunion,” Giles mumbled.

Buffy looked at him in shock. “You have family members that are living?”

“No, I have three zombies and ten vampires in my family. Of course they are living.”

“Hey, it isn’t my fault that you never mentioned them,” Buffy retorted.

“You never asked,” Giles shot back.

“Well, talking about your relatives doesn’t require asking. Xander, Willow and I freely gave away that kind of info. Anyway, why is that causing you to viciously attack your fridge?”

Giles took his glasses off and played a bit with them before he answered. “My family situation is very difficult. My father married my mother on impulse after they had been dating for only a few weeks. She did not know about watcher or slayers or vampires. When my father tried to explain the situation to her, she became hysterical and accused him of trying to get out of the marriage. Eventually they reconciled, but Mother steadfastly refused to believe in any sort of mystical powers, so father basically hid what he did from her.”

Buffy frowned. “How could she not believe it?”

“I’m not exactly certain. Her willingness to disbelieve stretched farther than most; I assume. In any case, my brother George was born about a year after they were married.”

“Wait a sec, you have a brother?” Buffy asked in shock.

“A brother and a sister, actually, I happen to be the baby of the family,” Giles responded.

“The baby Giles?” Buffy smiled teasingly.

Giles simply ignored her and continued with his short story. “Neither my brother nor my sister tested to be a potential watcher…”

“They test for watcherness?” Buffy interrupted.

“Yes, they do. Now let me tell the story. My father did not want to end our particular line of watchers with himself, so he talked my mother into having another child which turned out to be me. Of course, my mother had enough on her hands with two children, and my father basically wanted me just to continue on his legacy,” Giles continued.

Buffy frowned. “No wonder you aren’t happy to see them.”

“Ah, but it gets better. Obviously, I did test for a watcher, and my father’s frustrations with my childhood grocer dreams aside, I grew up fairly well. That is, of course, until the day that the council decided to give my father a potential to take care of and train.”

“I take it that your mother didn’t like the idea,” Buffy stated.

“She loathed it. She accused him of having an affair with her. My brother and sister took mother’s side. I, of course, took father’s side and tried to explain it to them, but all of them were quite upset with me. Mother left and took my sister with her. George was already in college, as he was twenty. Nancy, my sister, was seventeen, and I was the ripe age of sixteen. My mother and siblings refused to talk to me after they left.”

Buffy’s face contorted in anger. “You should have loosed a vampire on them and then seen how fast their tune changed.”

Giles smiled faintly at Buffy’s protective speech. “Really, Buffy, I don’t think killing my family members by vampire would have solved anything. In any case, you have a fair idea of what happened afterwards. My Ripper days need not be explained and after that, I dragged myself back to the council where my father had rather harsh words to say to me. Basically, he told me that he never wanted to speak to such a disgrace again and that I would never be worthy of the Slayer.”

Buffy snorted. “Shows how much he knew. Was he shocked when he found out about your assignment to me?”

“Actually, he doesn’t know. He took a research assignment to observe in another dimension. When he came back, he apparently bumped into my mother, and they have reconciled which gave them the idea to reconcile with poor, old Rupert.”

“Hence the angry appliance slayage?” Buffy asked.

“Yes. I honestly don’t know what to do. My mother never wanted me in the first place. My father saw me as a tool, and was quite disappointed in me. My brother always felt himself superior, and my sister was fond of me, but she did cut ties with me. I don’t really care to see them, but I’m afraid that I cannot avoid it.”

“I don’t suppose you could tape a note to the door that says ‘Go away’?” Buffy jested.

Giles shook his head. “I’m afraid not. What is worse is that they are bringing their families along. And what am I? A lonely, old Watcher,” Giles looked away as he got as close as he ever did to sulking.

“Hey, I resent that. I’m your family. Why don’t you take me along? Or better yet, you could take the gang with.” Buffy said in a fit of inspiration.

“I’m not entirely certain that would be a good idea,” Giles replied.

Buffy dismissed him with a wave of her hand. “Of course it’s a good idea. Think how envious your brother is going to be when fit and buff Giles strides in with all of his hip and cool friends.”

“Or, he could just think I’m an asinine twit going through a midlife crisis,” Giles rejoined.

Buffy shook her head in disagreement. “I don’t think so. Come on, Giles, you’re like really fit for your age. Beheading vamps and beating up creepy crawling things.”

“Getting hit on my head every other day,” Giles reminded her bitterly.

“You mean to tell me that your family wouldn’t be shocked and mildly pissed if I showed up on your arm?”

“I just don’t think that… What?” Giles asked not certain about what he had just heard.

“Well, you can’t go to one of these things dateless. And I’m fairly certain that Willow would be with Tara, and Xander would want to be with Anya. Who were you planning on taking? Spike?”

“Buffy,” Giles began, “You are my slayer.”

“So? Nobody knows that. Not even your dad knows that I’m the Slayer from what you’ve told me.”

“Although the thought does sound appealing, I don’t think that it is a good idea. A man my age running around with people your age, doesn’t exactly reflect well.”

Buffy sighed in exasperation. “Well, what about taking me? Or don’t you think I’m good date material? I get it. Riley was right. I’m totally un-date-able. I’m the road kill of dates. One look at Buffy and the dates turn into toxic waste zones.”

“Buffy…”

“No, that’s fine, Giles. Really, I understand,” Buffy said as she started out of his kitchen.

Giles looked up at his ceiling and exhaled before speaking, “Buffy, I’d love to have you come with me.”

“Really?” Buffy squeaked in excitement.

Giles smiled, “Yes.”

Suddenly, he found himself in a hug.

“Thank you, Giles,” Buffy said with her face against his chest.

They stood there for a second, neither one particularly hurried to let go. Giles had just let his mind wander to how he should hug Buffy more often when a muffled voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Giles, where exactly is this reunion being held?”

* * * * *

“Why did they decide to have your reunion in California? Isn’t it expensive to fly all those people over from jolly old England?” Buffy asked as Giles sped along the highway.

“My brother owns a small vineyard in California. I would imagine that he likes to show off along with his wealth. Besides, if they had had the reunion in England, I would have had an excuse not to go,” Giles answered her.

“You mean they spent all that money so they could force you into going?”

“In essence, yes. It really isn’t all that different from the tradition of spending large amounts of money on weddings and cajoling relatives and loved ones to come.” Giles turned and smiled briefly at Buffy before returning his eyes to the road.

There was a term of companionable silence before Buffy spoke again. “Say, Giles, you don’t think I’m going to look skanky just showing up as your girlfriend at this party, do you?”

“It was your idea Buffy.”

“Well, I know that, but don’t you think that maybe a girlfriend is too shaky, kind of like you just picked me up off of the street and asked if I wanted to spend the week with you in a country vineyard?”

“I somehow sense that you are leading up to asking me something, so why don’t you just ask your question?” Giles said with a tinge of exasperation.

“Because that would be rude?”

“Like that ever stopped you before,” Giles mumbled underneath his breath.

“Hey!” Buffy said as she took a half-hearted swat at his arm, “Slayer hearing here.”

“I apologize. What is it that you are trying to say?”

“Well, I thought that maybe it would look better if we were, you know, engaged or something,” Buffy suggested.

“You want to pretend to be my fiancée?” Giles choked out.

“Is it going to be harder than pretending to be your girlfriend? They are going to assume we are ‘shagging’ anyway, but it adds more legitimacy.”

“I suppose that you do have a point, but there is a small problem with the fact that you have no engagement ring.”

Buffy rummaged through her purse. “How about this? Willow gave it to me for a good luck present on our trip.”

Giles glanced to the side. “No,” he said before returning his attention to driving.

“What’s wrong with it?” Buffy asked as she wrinkled her nose and more closely examined the ring.

“I would never propose to you with such a ring. Its design has utterly no romance, and the stone is nowhere large enough, aside from the fact that it is made out of cubic zirconia. Besides, if you try it on, I’m sure that you will find it will sit better on your index finger than your ring finger.”

“You could tell all that from a tiny glance?” Buffy asked in awe.

“Most of it, I knew it was cubic zirconia because I highly doubt that Willow has the finances to give you a real diamond ring, even with that small of a stone.”

“So I guess that idea is out the window?” Buffy said as she put the ring back in her purse.

“Perhaps not,” Giles said as he turned on his signal and took an exit ramp.

“Giles, where are we going?”

“We are going to a pawn shop to get you a proper ring.”

“Isn’t that going to be a touch pricey?” Buffy asked in concern.

“Jewelry at pawn shops is often sold at less that its value, Buffy. And you can think of it as my thank you for helping me to annoy my relatives.”

* * * * *

Two hours later, Buffy was wearing an ornate, art nouveau ring that Giles had deemed befitting of a lady of her stature. The stone was not much larger than the one that Willow had given her, but it was a genuine stone, and Giles had promptly announced that the design of the ring and its age more than made up for the small stone size. His words could also have been influenced by Buffy’s longing stare at it, but he certainly was not going to admit to that.

So once again they got onto the highway and made their way to Giles’ brother’s place.

* * * * *

When they finally pulled up the long driveway to the main house, it was around nine o’clock. Buffy was wide awake and sadly disappointed as the premises seemed to be vampire free. Giles, also used to late nights, was just as awake as Buffy with the exception of being slightly sore from the long drive and the fact that he had absolutely refused to let Buffy drive.

As they pulled their luggage out from his trunk, Giles tapped Buffy on the shoulder. “Buffy, perhaps you should let me carry the larger pieces.”

Buffy’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “Are you feeling okay Giles? This is my bag. I’m a woman. I’m also the Slayer. That makes it very, very heavy.”

“I am aware of that. However, it would look very bad if I did not carry your bags for you. We aren’t pretending to be married. As such, I am still under an obligation to be chivalrous and put my back out whilst carrying your bags.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. “Men are all the same. Fine, you carry my suitcase, but I’m still carrying my weapons bag.”

“You brought your weapons bag?” Giles asked.

“Yes,” Buffy replied testily.

Giles’ eyes lit up. “I’m very proud of you Buffy.”

Buffy’s stiff posture relaxed at the compliment and she smiled until Giles spoke again, “Buffy, do you think you could grab my weapons bag too?”

* * * * *

Eventually, they trudged their way up to the front door and rang the bell. A tall figure opened the door. For a second, Buffy was struck by the resemblance to Giles until she noticed the slight paunch that hung around the man’s waist and the more haughty look that adorned the other man’s face.

“Rupert, we were beginning to think you weren’t going to make it,” the man said in a voice slightly deeper and raspier than Giles’.

“I am terribly sorry, George, we, ah, had to stop for something on our way here,” Giles replied as he moved inside and set the bags on the floor in the foyer.

“Well, you got here at least. I suppose that is what matters.” George said as his eyes swept appraisingly over Buffy. “Who is this then, your daughter? I didn’t know that you had children, Rupert. She looks much like her mother, I dare say.”

“What? Oh, no. Pardon me for not introducing you. George, this is Buffy. She’s my fiancée,” Giles lied smoothly.

“Pleased to meet you,” Buffy said too sweetly as she held out her hand.

George’s eyebrows rose significantly as he reached out to shake her hand. “Buffy? What an unusual name. What does it stand for?” He asked snidely.

“It stands for Buffy,” Buffy replied as she squeezed a bit harder than was necessary before releasing the elder Giles’ hand.

George shook his hand a bit to restore blood flow before he spoke again. “Well, why don’t I show you your room so you can drop off your luggage, and then you can come down and visit with the rest of the family. Can I help you carry something?”

Buffy glanced at Giles with a meaningful look.

“Why don’t you take Buffy’s makeup bag?” Giles said as he pushed a deceptively small looking bag towards his brother.

“Of course,” George replied before he grabbed the bag and grunted in surprise.

Buffy smiled sweetly, “Oh, I forgot that I put my training weights in there. I hope you don’t mind.”

George glared at Giles for a moment before shaking his head and leading the ‘couple’ to their room.

As they deposited their bags in the room, they saw two beds.

“I assumed that Rupert was bringing a friend when he said he was bringing a guest, so I gave you two separate beds. I trust that you won’t have a problem with this?” George asked.

“No, of course not. Giles is very inventive,” Buffy replied.

“Giles?” George queried.

“I’m American. We call people by their last names sometimes. I called Giles that when we first met, and I’ve called him that ever since.” Buffy ended her sentence by gazing adoringly at Giles.

“Yes and just how long have you known Rupert?” George asked hoping to catch Buffy in a lie as he had assumed that Rupert had simply picked the girl up a few weeks ago in order to look good.

“Since I was sixteen,” Buffy replied absentmindedly.

Apparently, Buffy’s absentmindedness worked in her favor as her ability to shock worked doubly well on Giles’ family as it had on him. For George began to make distinct choking noises that would have evolved into a stuttered sentence had he been Rupert Giles instead of George, but he was not Rupert. Therefore, he simply moaned in consternation before leading Buffy and her watcher down the stairs to meet the family.

* * * * *

Buffy put on her best smile as she walked into the living room on Giles’ arm. She was the picture of devotion, and oddly enough, she did not have to pretend she was with Angel in order to achieve the serene and happy look she was wearing.

Her eyes swept the room. Sitting on a large loveseat were two elderly people: one tallish man and an average size woman. They were obviously Giles’ parents. On a long sofa sat two identical boys about Buffy’s age and one girl who appeared to be a couple of years younger. In a recliner, a middle aged woman with graying blond hair sat. And last but not least, a tall, trim woman stood next to the obscenely large fireplace that was the center of the room.

“Rupert, you made it,” the tall woman said with a more welcoming smile than George had used.

“Hello, Nancy,” Giles replied with much greater affection than he had greeted his brother with.

By the time they had said hello, the two elder Giles had gotten up to greet their youngest son.

“Rupert, you look well,” his mother spoke politely but with little warmth.

Giles arm stiffened under Buffy’s hand, but he calmly greeted his mother with a nod of his head.

Giles’ father swept his eyes over his son appraisingly. Unlike when he had greeted his mother, Giles visibly bristled as he waited for his father to speak first.

“You look better than the last time I saw you,” his father spoke in an almost conversational tone.

“Yes, I quite imagine that I do,” Giles replied with a hint of acid in his tone.

“Robert,” the former Mrs. Giles admonished her ex-husband, “we are here for a reunion, not to start fights. Who is your friend, Rupert? Your father did not mention that you had children.”

“Oh, he doesn’t. I’m his fiancée. Buffy Summers,” Buffy said as she stuck her hand out.

She shook Buffy’s hand numbly. “Your fiancée, Rupert?”

“No bloody way,” one of the twins sitting on the sofa commented.

Buffy spared him a glance mostly akin to a withering glare before returning to the people in front of her. “I’m sure this must be quite a shock. After all, you know Giles so well, why would he ever do a thing like propose to an attractive woman who loves him dearly?”

Mrs. Giles’ nostrils flared at the insult, but she wisely decided not to engage in a fight with Buffy.

“Well, I for one think that it’s good that at least one of us found someone who is so devoted,” Nancy said as she tried to calm the brewing storm. “I don’t believe you have met the children, have you?”

“Ah, no, no I haven’t,” Giles replied, still tense from how close he had gotten to seeing Buffy pick a fight with his entire family.

Nancy smiled briefly before leading Buffy and Giles over to the couch. “This is James and Eric, George’s boys. And this is my daughter, Iris. And this,” she motioned towards the blond sitting in the chair, “is your sister-in-law, Arlene.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Giles nodded at them each individually.

Eric’s eyes drifted leeringly over Buffy. “I’m pleased to meet you,” he said in his smoothest voice.

Buffy looked at him and turned to Giles. “Can I hit him?”

Giles stifled a laugh at the look on his nephew’s face. “No, I don’t think that would be wise, Buffy.”

“Buffy is it? How did you come by such an odd name?” Arlene asked snootily and, in part, to avert Buffy’s attention from her son.

“The same way everybody else does. My mom gave it to me,” Buffy replied flippantly.

George laughed, “Not everyone gets their names from their mum. Rupert got named by Dad.”

“Well, what can I say at least Rupert’s initials don’t make a good name for a French Poodle, Gigi,” Buffy said in lieu of being able to beat George senseless.

Giles coughed discretely into his hand, “Yes, well why don’t we move onto more pleasant topics.”

“Indeed,” Robert Giles agreed quickly, seeing that Rupert’s girlfriend seemed inherently protective of Rupert and their relationship. Given the fact that she was with Rupert in the first place, one could easily assume that she was rough and tumble. That seemed to be the type of woman his son attracted. Fighting with her would not be the best of ideas.

Mrs. Giles smiled icily at Buffy. “I don’t believe that you got my name dear. You may call me Grace.”

Buffy looked chagrined for a half of a second as Grace’s initials happened to be G.G. also, but then she remembered that she did not like Giles’ mother any more than she liked George.

“Buffy, how did you and my son meet?” Robert inquired.

“Giles was the school librarian,” Buffy answered quickly.

A collective horrified gasp arose from the assembled family members, and for once in his life, Rupert Giles was elated by Buffy’s shocking etiquette.

“Your librarian? In college?” Grace asked appalled.

“Nope, high school. We got to be friends, and he helped me out when my boyfriend left me.”

“I must say that I’m shocked at your behavior, Rupert,” Grace admonished him.

“Would that be the helping the heartbroken girl behavior or the two times on the hood of the police car behavior?” Buffy shot back brazenly.

Jaws hung open and the room was deathly quiet until Grace fell to the floor in a dead faint.

* * * * *

Giles looked at Buffy as they sat on the separate beds provided. Buffy looked sheepishly back at him.

“I guess I kinda over did it huh?” Buffy asked as she looked at Giles with her biggest puppy dog eyes.

Giles ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m not sure I’m in a position to answer that right now, as I seem to be actually enjoying the fact that you made my mother faint. It may be a regrettable incident in the future, but I do find it quite amusing at this point.”

“Well, at least they don’t see you as a wuss anymore,” Buffy supplied.

“I hardly think that will change their opinion of me. More likely, they think that I’ve been hoodwinked by a young American female who is after my pension. Except, of course, for Father who probably thinks that I’ve not changed since I came crawling back to the Council.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be, I rather think they mostly deserved that. Although, might I ask what drove you to use the police car incident?”

“It sort of stuck in my head, and I figured that the best thing to do when lying is try to mix in as much truth as possible. And I thought that using an orgy story would have been too much.”

“Yes, I’m quite glad that you didn’t. However, I shan’t promise a comfortable breakfast tomorrow.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. “Shan’t? Get you around some stuffy old Brits and you revert on me, and I think I’ve lived through enough awkward situations to live through a meal with a bunch of snobs. If push comes to shove, I’ll just imagine that they’re Cordelia and her crew and that I’m back in high school.”

Giles smiled. “Buffy, you amaze me sometimes.”

“Well, I’m pretty amazing. Besides how can I not be good when you gave me such a beautiful ring? I do get to keep it don’t I?”

“Well, it is customary to return the engagement ring if one doesn’t marry,” Giles replied smarmily.

Buffy tossed a pillow at him. Giles reciprocated. Soon, they were mutually bashing each other around with big feather pillows.

Downstairs, the only other member of the family still awake stared at the ceiling.

Robert Giles shook his head in disgust. He really should have let the Watcher line die rather than subject it to the failure that was his son. As he heard the two hooligans rolling around on the wooden floor, he sneered. It was a good thing the council had stuck Rupert in a researching position. He shuddered to think what he would have done with a potential slayer on his hands.

* * * * *

Buffy growled in frustration as she was rudely woken by a knocking at the door. Fortunately for the knocking person, Giles got up and answered it.

“Good morning, Rupert,” George greeted his younger brother.

“George,” Giles said in a questioning tone.

“I came to inform you that you and your charming fiancée may use the shower down the hall. There isn’t a lock, so we installed a hook by the door. Just hang your robe on it so that we know that it is occupied. I’ll let you get back to whatever it was you were doing.” George smiled pleasantly.

“It’s called sleeping. Go away,” Buffy mumbled out from underneath her pillow.

Giles smiled and closed the door on George’s face.

“You realize, Buffy, that you are an incredible woman.”

Buffy peeked blearily at her Watcher. “Giles, don’t give me compliments I can’t figure out when I’m still groggy.”

“I merely meant to say that even half awake, you have managed to trump my brother,” he explained.

Buffy grunted her acceptance of the compliment before she forced herself to roll out of bed. “Yeah, well anyone who has a weird system about the shower and bathrobes seriously needs to be insulted. Didn’t it ever occur to them to simply listen for the shower? Or, novel idea here, don’t go in if the door is closed?”

Giles simply smiled at his cranky slayer and grabbed his bathrobe. “Would you mind turning around?”

“Why?”

Giles simply stared at her in response. Buffy stared back and after a bit, her eyes widened, and she blushed deeply. “Oh, gotcha,” she said before turning around to give Giles some privacy.

Giles chuckled and slipped out of his nightclothes and into his robe. “You may turn around now Buffy. I believe that I am adequately attired.”

Buffy turned around and looked at Giles. “Nice robe,” she said for lack of anything else to say.

“Thank you,” he replied, somewhat amused.

“I wish I had packed one,” Buffy commented.

“You didn’t pack a robe?”

“Well, it isn’t exactly something I was planning on needing. Not exactly expecting it to be on the must list, you know?”

Giles smiled briefly and shook his head. “George can be a bit eccentric.”

“Yes, a good trait especially when added to his large ego and nasty attitude.”

“Yes, well, while I do admit that he is not the nicest person in the world, perhaps we should concentrate on the more important areas instead of fighting him on this point. I shall lend you my robe when I am done with my shower.”

Buffy grinned. “Oooh, sexy.”

Giles sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “Must you torment me?”

Buffy’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What’d I do?”

“Now really isn’t the time to assault my sexuality, Buffy”

“Who’s assaulting? I don’t see any assaults going on. Besides, if I wanted to pick on a Giles, I have a whole household to choose from. I honestly meant that if you were my actual boyfriend, I’d find that gesture romantically sexy. Now, go take your shower before you explode from all that blood rushing to your face,” Buffy said as she pushed her now blushing Watcher out the door.

* * * * *

A freshly cleaned Buffy skipped down the stairs to join the others for breakfast. She squeaked into her chair moments before Grace started serving.

“It is a pity you couldn’t have helped us with breakfast, Buffy. We could have used the help,” Grace said as she seated herself across the table from her youngest son.

“I don’t cook well. Giles cooks, I, um…”

“Buffy does her job,” Giles finished for her.

“Do you mean to say that you’re a house husband, Rupert?” George asked, scandalized.

“Well, that is to say,”

“Giles had a job, but after the school blew up, he hasn’t had the right opportunity come along,” Buffy supplied.

Nancy’s eyes lit with interest. “The school you were working in exploded? That sounds like an interesting story.”

“Not, not really. There was a.. a gas leak. It exploded,” Giles said smoothly.

Arlene raised an eyebrow. “I must say that you have had a long run of bad luck with your jobs. Your father had informed me that you were once a museum curator. How on earth did you end up being a librarian in the United States? And then to be unemployed, and a man of your education…”

“Excuse me, but I don’t think that you know Giles well enough to judge him. Now, you may be family by marriage, but you don’t see me ripping apart what your husband does for a living. So, I’d ask you not to rip apart my fiancée’s life, of which you know nothing. If you want to pick on his wardrobe, be my guest. You’ve seen that. You have a right to an opinion. Otherwise, butt out lady.”

Buffy rose from that table and looked over at Giles. “I’m not hungry. I’m gonna go for a walk.”

With that, Buffy strolled out of the room.

“Well I never,” Arlene said indignantly.

Nancy sighed and wiped her mouth. “She is right, Arlene. We have been too judgmental of Rupert, and you have never met him before last night. It is no wonder that Buffy is so protective of him. If you’ll excuse me, I think that I should go and get to know my future sister-in-law a bit better.”

Nancy left the table.

Giles stared at his remaining family members. “So, delightful weather we’re having.”

* * * * *

Buffy was angrily strolling through the vineyards when Nancy caught up with her.

“You walk very fast. I had to run to catch up with you,” she wheezed when she finally reached Buffy.

“What, you need to impart some holier than thou wisdom to me?”

Nancy laughed between her gasps for breath. “I don’t really wish to be on the receiving end of your tongue. It is obvious that Rupert chose you for some reason other than your pretty face.”

Buffy crossed her arms and looked down at the ground. “So he keeps telling me. He always tells me how smart I am. I’m not really sure that I believe him.”

“Well, I can’t weigh in on your intelligence, but I can say that you are very loyal. Rupert needs that after the life he has had,” Nancy rejoined.

Buffy shrugged. “So what are you here for?”

Nancy shrugged back at her. “I always felt a bit guilty for abandoning Rupert so completely. I was young, and I was hurt by my father’s betrayal, but it wasn’t Rupert’s fault. Recently, my husband left me for a much younger… man. I think that I now know how Rupert felt when we cut all contact with him. I want to make it right.”

“Why aren’t you in there telling that to him then? I’m not the one you hurt.”

“Because you are the most important thing in the world to him. I could apologize for years to Rupert, but it would never mean more to him than if I treated you kindly.”

“I’m not really…” Buffy began.

“Nonsense. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. The way he devotes every breath to you. He cares for you, very deeply.”

“I guess I don’t know what to say,” Buffy hesitantly said.

Nancy began to walk again. “Don’t say anything. I don’t think that those sorts of statements can really be replied to unless you are truly inspired to do so.”

“I guess you’re right. I suppose now is the time that I ask you about your life and we have a bonding moment?”

Nancy laughed. “I never would have imagined that Rupert would have picked a woman with your sense of humor. He has always been so uptight and conservative. Did you know that he actually wanted to be a grocer when he was younger?”

“Or a fighter pilot,” Buffy added.

“True, true. I wanted to be a librarian, and I ended up marrying a grocer who used to be a fighter pilot.”

“Now that would be a bit of strange irony I could have lived without knowing. So this grocer ended up playing for the home team?”

Nancy nodded. “Gary told me he was gay about a year ago. I had known that he was having an affair. I just never knew that it was with another man. Iris didn’t take it quite as well.”

“I didn’t take it too well when I found out that my dad was having an affair with his secretary. I can relate.”

“Yes, but you haven’t channeled all of your energy into trying to become a wicca.”

“Your daughter is practicing magic?” Buffy asked as nonchalantly as possible.

“No, she just thinks she is. I know it’s a phase, but I do tire of the foul smells from the herbs she uses.”

“Yup, fouls smells a big no. That’s why I beat things up. I mean, that’s why I go to the gym and use the punching bag to relieve my aggression. Which, now that I think about it, doesn’t really get rid of foul smells because you sweat, and then you have to take a shower, but the smells lasts a shorter time, so I think I end up ahead.”

Nancy stopped and looked at Buffy. “Do you often ramble like that?”

“That would depend on your definition of often,” Buffy replied.

Nancy shook her head once again. “And I thought I knew Rupert so well.”

* * * * *

Giles watched his father pace back and forth in the small study that he had called his son into after breakfast. “I take it that there is a particular reason you asked me to join you in here,” he stated calmly.

Robert glanced up at his son. “This girl you are with, you aren’t really serious about bringing her into the family are you?”

“I don’t see that it would be any concern of yours.”

“Rupert, she’s too young and much too wild to be a member of our family. I realize that you are getting to the point in life where you wish to finally settle down, but really, you shouldn’t be marrying the girl that you picked out on one of your middle aged last grabs at youth.”

“I’ve already had my wild times, if you recall correctly, Father. I assure you that my relationship with Buffy is not some fly by night adventure to prove my male virility,” Giles contested.

“I suppose that I should have known better than to try to reason with you. I know that look on your face. I suppose that I should be glad that you haven’t followed in the footsteps of that idiot that I met in Los Angeles.”

“What idiot?” Giles inquired.

“Oh, Wesley what’s his name. Did you know that the blasted fool isn’t working for the council anymore? Apparently he was given charge over the current Slayer, but the simpleton was influenced by the girl’s previous Watcher who had been fired.”

Giles played with his glasses nervously for a second. “You don’t say?” He managed to get out.

“Yes. You should have seen his face when he saw me. He thought the council had sent me after him. What I really should have done is called Travers and asked if I could do anything about him, but I didn’t want to do anything to alarm your mother. You could do something, though. Why don’t you give the council a call? Maybe they will reassign you to somewhere else other than where you are now.”

“W..well I’ll have to think about that. I’d like to focus on one thing at a time right now,” Giles spoke quickly.

“Yes, I suppose that you do,” his father eyed his son carefully. Rupert was hiding something, but what? It could be any myriad of ideas. He would have to watch his son carefully to figure out what it was.

* * * * *

That night, Buffy collapsed on her bed in their room and glanced over at Giles. “You are making that up. Your father asked you to rat out Wesley to Travers? The council really didn’t bring him up to speed did they?”

“Apparently not, I must say that I was in a bit of a conundrum trying to decide whether to be irate or burst out laughing.”

“I would have gone for the laughing bit. Really, I’m very proud of how you ‘corrupted’ poor Wesley.”

“Hmmm, if I recall correctly, I did have some help in that area,” Giles said back.

Buffy grinned in response.

They were silent for a while before she started again. “Did you know that Iris is trying to learn magic?”

Giles nodded. “She’s doing a very poor job of it from what I’ve gathered. I’m not surprised really, that sort of thing usually doesn’t skip a generation to go on to the next.”

“Does that mean that Old Mr. Giles can work mojo?”

“My father is skilled. He isn’t anywhere as good as I am…”

“Humble much?” Buffy poked lightheartedly at Giles.

“Merely certain of my abilities, I assure you.” Giles smiled back at her. His eyes studied her as she laughed.

Buffy noticed the way he looked at her and blushed. She couldn’t help but think about what Nancy had said earlier in the day. Of course, Nancy did not know anything about the Watcher-Slayer dynamic, but Buffy could not help but wonder, just for a moment, what it would be like if Giles really was infatuated with her. What would it be like if Giles really did love her in that way?

“Don’t tell me that I’ve finally found a way to win a discussion with you?” Giles asked after a bit.

“Huh?” Buffy said as she was pulled from her musings.

“You’ve been unusually quiet for the past few moments,” Giles provided.

“I was just thinking. Nothing important, just, you know, thinking.”

“Ah, in other words, you don’t want to tell me.”

“All that college really paid off huh?”

Giles looked up at the ceiling as if he was beseeching help from it. “You truly do vex me sometimes, Buffy.”

“Good,” Buffy said perkily before she crawled under her covers. “Goodnight Giles.”

Giles shook his head and smiled gently at her as he turned out the bedside lamp. “Goodnight Buffy.”

* * * * *

Giles awoke to the sound of the bedroom door closing. Buffy was tiptoeing into the room. Her hair was damp and curling adorably at the back of her neck. Then again, Buffy’s hair was always adorable to him, so he probably was not the best judge in this case. Not, of course, that he would ever say anything about liking her hair as it would inevitably lead to discussions on fashion and similarly abominable topics. He just had a fondness for her hair as it seemed to be radiant and golden and had everything in its life that Buffy was denied in hers.

Bleary, Giles shook his head to clear his addled thinking before it began to wax poetic about Buffy’s feet. “What are you doing up so early?”

Buffy turned around surprised to hear Giles’ voice. “I’m sorry, did I wake you? I was trying to be quiet.”

“Yes, well I do live on a Hellmouth. I tend to wake up easily.”

Buffy nodded and then answered his earlier question, “Nancy talked me into helping her out with breakfast this morning. Only it turns out that neither of us can actually cook, so we’re heading into town to buy breakfast and get back to dirty up pots and pans to pretend that we cooked.”

Giles smiled fondly at Buffy. “I have very little doubt that that was your idea.”

“Just call me idea girl,” Buffy shot playfully back.

A frown overtook Giles’ features a moment later. “You didn’t say that you could take my car did you?”

* * * * *

Two hours later, Buffy was happily re-heating pancakes while Nancy carefully poured Styrofoam containers full of coffee house coffee into a large coffee pot. The others were already milling about in the breakfast room. Just as Buffy finished stacking the newly reheated pancakes onto the serving platter, she heard Nancy put the lid on the coffee pot. Iris came in and grabbed the platter of breakfast meat, and the three of them trooped into the dining room to put the food on the platter.

When they got into the room, Eric and James were laughing conspiratorially in the corner. Buffy looked inquisitively at the twins. Her head cocked to one side trying to figure out just what was wrong with the picture. Then it dawned on her.

“Isn’t that Giles’ robe?” she asked bluntly.

Two pairs of horrified eyes turned to stare at her. A muffled curse came from the kitchen seconds before George came into the dining room. “I shall have to have words with the maintenance man. I’m getting nothing but ice water, and he assured me that the water heater was in tip top shape.”

Buffy glared at the two boys. “You want to tell me what you’re doing with that?”

“That would be a question I would like an answer to as well,” Giles ground out. He stood in the dining room dripping wet with only a white towel wrapped around his waist. His green eyes held murder in them. “Here I was taking a nice shower after my morning jog only to have it turn blissfully cold. I rushed out of the bathroom only to find out that my robe is gone and be assaulted by camera flashes.”

James and Eric quivered in fear at from their uncle’s glare. They were saved by a gasp from the newly arrived Grace. Soon, all eyes except Buffy’s and Giles’ were focused not on the offending twins, but on what had caused the eldest woman in the group to gasp.

Nancy’s eyes widened while Grace covered her mouth in horror. Arlene looked on in fascinated horror while Iris looked quickly away. The men hid their emotions better, but George’s voice was the one that broke the silence.

“Oh, good God,” his voice shook in shock.

Buffy’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. What were they all staring at? Sure Giles was really good looking and in very good shape for his age, but it wasn’t really something that family members should be staring at. Then it hit her. They were looking at the various scars on Giles’ back. The various scars that covered his exposed skin.

Giles must have made the same realization at about the same time as his posture stiffened. He wordlessly grabbed his robe. “I believe I should like to be alone now,” he said steadily as he exited the room.

Buffy waited for a moment in the awkward silence that had filled the room before following her Watcher up the stairs. She knocked twice at the door before she let herself in. Giles was sitting on the edge of his bed. He had not dressed and was merely staring out the window that was in the room.

“You okay?” Buffy asked as she gently sat down next to him.

“Well, I shan’t immediately die,” he responded.

“I’m sorry,” Buffy said as she tentatively touched Giles’ shoulder before letting her hand drop to her side.

“For what?” Giles asked, “For the scars?”

“Well, that, but also the whole them thinking I was in the shower and doing that to you thing.”

A sardonic laugh came from Giles’ lips. “You apologize for the strangest things.”

“Well, I wouldn’t be me if I suddenly became touchy-feely girl without an impending apocalypse,” Buffy said trying to inject a touch of levity into the conversation.

Giles grabbed her hand with his and stared down at the two entwined hands. “I think that you are doing a very good job at being empathic right now as it is. There was a time that it would have taken a couple of weeks for you to notice that I had feelings on a subject at all.”

“Hey, I thought we worked on that after the whole killing Adam thing,” Buffy said only mildly irritated.

Giles turned his head to look at her. “So we have, and I am very grateful that you are with me right now. I wanted to see my family again, but I don’t think that I realized how much I have changed since I last saw them. They know so little about who I am, and I really haven’t bothered enlightening them. I just wanted to pretend, I suppose. I wanted to be just plain old Rupert, even if they looked down on him, but at the same time, I wanted them to notice me as someone different. I just didn’t want to do it by displaying my various and sundry torture scars.”

Buffy smiled in understanding. “Hey, Slayer with an absent and clueless father here. I can relate.”

“Yes, yes I suppose that you can. Why don’t you go try to choke down some food in what is no doubt an unpleasant atmosphere right now? I’d like to have a little time by myself.”

Buffy patted his arm one more time before she got up. “Gotcha, I’ll go run interference for the Watcher man. You just sit there practically naked and contemplate your navel.”

Giles smirked at her and made a waving gesture for her to shoo.

When Buffy stepped out of the room, she ran straight into Robert.

“Giles isn’t in the mood to talk right now,” she said as she stood protectively in front of the door to their room.

Robert took one look at the determination on her face and backed away. “He didn’t have all those scars the last time I saw him. The tattoo, yes, and a couple of others…”

“Yeah, well, Giles isn’t exactly the talky type of guy. And he’s got some scars from you guys that go a lot deeper than his skin. Heck, I’ve put some of them there myself.”

“The skin ones or the deeper?” Robert asked uncertainly.

“Both, actually, though I’m guessing mostly the deeper kind.”

Robert sighed and ran his hand through his mostly white hair. Absently, Buffy pondered whether Giles’ hair would turn the snowy white his father’s had, or if he would favor his mother and go steely gray.

“I don’t like you,” he said finally.

“Yeah, well same thing here. In fact, if you didn’t get the hint before, I really, really don’t like you.”

“You’re too young for him.”

“I wish that was true,” Buffy murmured to herself.

“Pardon?”

“It’s nothing,” Buffy dismissed his question with a wave of her hand before she crossed her arms back across her chest.

“I.. I told the others that Rupert had been a spy. He had been caught and tortured for information.”

Buffy snorted. “They’d believe that before they’d believe in vampires, huh?”

Robert shrugged. “I do care for my son.”

“Tell him that then. All I see is a guy that saw his son as a way to continue his legacy. Do you think that I don’t know the reason you dislike me so much? You’re worried that your grandchildren are going to become ‘bloody colonials’ like their mother. You had Giles so you could make your little Watcher line, and now he’s gone and done something that might just be irreparable to it. You guys are such prigs.”

“Yes, well my son can do a lot better than some shameless hussy who is only after his money.”

Buffy’s eyes narrowed. “You should be really glad I don’t pick fights with elderly, still breathing people mister. ‘Cause you’ve got one thing right about me. Giles could do a heck of a lot better than me, and one of those reasons is that I tend to solve things through violence.”

“Are you trying to threaten me?” Robert asked somewhat awed by Buffy’s outburst.

“No. I am threatening you.”

Robert chuckled. “Well now, I think I finally see what Rupert could possibly find attractive about such a short and annoying blonde.”

“What’s that?”

“You challenge him. Rupert always chases illusive dreams. With your temperament, it is a wonder he ever even suggested a first date. You also appear to be curiously loyal, which is, mind you, the only reason I’m not truly trying to break you up. I thought it was his money, but you do appear to have genuine affection for him.”

“You think you could actually break us up?” Buffy sneered.

“I assume that Rupert has told you about the council. They are very powerful. I could easily pull some favors if I so chose.”

Buffy laughed. “Now that, that would be funny.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“It’s a long story and one you probably wouldn’t find humorous. But I’ll just say that I’m certain the council won’t think that I’m trying to come between Giles and his Watcherly duty to the Slayer.”

Robert twisted his mouth around for a bit while he thought. “Well then, I suppose that we should call a truce.”

Buffy shook her head. “No. I don’t think that we can. A cease fire for Giles’ sake at the moment, but you people are going to have to be way nicer to him before I call a truce.”

“You drive a hard bargain young lady,” Robert said as he extended his hand to shake her own.

Buffy reached out her own hand. “I do, and my name is Buffy.”

“So it is,” Robert said before he turned around and started down the stairs. “I suggest then, Buffy, that the two of us go to breakfast before the tea is all gone, and I have to drink that wretched coffee.”

* * * * *

Buffy fiddled with the small mortar and pestle that was sitting on the floor in front of her. The entire family had been uncharacteristically quiet when she had come down from seeing Giles. The afore mentioned Watcher was still sitting up in their room and had basically left Buffy to her own devices.

Iris had started puttering about with various herbs and a small magic book, so Buffy out of her boredom had volunteered to help her out.

Iris glanced shyly at Buffy as she handed over a group of leaves to get pulverized. “Are you certain that you don’t mind? I can do this myself.”

“Me? Nah, my best friend is a Wicca. I’m down with the whole burning dried plants thing,” Buffy replied as she began to grind the plant matter into a fine dust.

“Really?” Iris asked.

“Yup, doesn’t bother me a bit.”

“No, I meant your friend.”

“Oh yeah, Willow was kind of a shy girl when we met. Big into school and computers and stuff, now she’s super smart and does the whole magic thing.”

“Is she very good at it?” Iris asked intrigued.

“She’s,” Buffy suddenly felt several pairs of eyes on her. She knew that it probably was not a very good idea to talk about Willow too much given the fact that Giles family probably would not take to the idea, and at the moment Buffy did not feel like provoking them any more than necessary. “Willow is pretty good, but she’s got the whole college thing going, so it’s more of something she does in her spare time.” Buffy tried desperately not to wince at the lie.

“Does Rupert know her?” Grace’s voice was soft and unusually inquisitive.

“Yeah, Willow and I are best friends. She used to hang out in the library a lot with me.”

“Do you have many other friends?” Grace asked in return, for a change not being abrasive in her questioning.

The change in Grace’s demeanor was marked, so Buffy answered her question with her normal civility that she used towards normal people. “Well, there’s Xander and his girlfriend Anya, and there’s Tara too. My Mom, but she doesn’t really like Giles much.”

“No, I don’t suppose that she would,” Grace responded.

Buffy’s eyes flew up in a challenging glare only to meet a pair of green ones crinkling in amusement. She would have said something witty, but those eyes reminded her too much of her Watcher’s eyes.

Grace chuckled at the look on Buffy’s face. “Oh come now, the two of us don’t get on famously, but I can imagine what it is like for your mother. I don’t suppose any woman would want her little girl taken away from her by a man old enough to be her father.”

Buffy blushed and opened her mouth to correct Grace before she remembered that she and Giles were engaged as far as his family was concerned. Finding nothing to say, Buffy turned and looked back down at the now powdered herbs.

“Have you set a date yet?” Nancy’s voice carried softly over to Buffy.

“A date for what?” Buffy asked distractedly.

“The wedding,” Nancy answered her.

“The wedding,” Buffy squeaked, “Ummm, not really. Sometime in the summer when there’s lots of daylight I suppose. Not this summer, but maybe next summer or maybe not…” she stammered to a halt.

“Can obviously see that Rupert is the brains in that relationship,” George muttered from behind his newspaper.

Buffy grit her teeth. Just when she had started to find a few redeeming virtues strung out amongst Giles’ relatives…

“Pillock,” Buffy said in a sugary sweet voice.

George whipped the paper down. His face went from white to a blustery red. “Do not use that sort of language in my house, young lady! You are a guest, and so far your behavior has been most unbecoming of you.”

“And I suppose that your two sons trying to take pictures of me wrapped in nothing but a towel is the model of civility? And don’t even try to pretend that wasn’t what they were doing. I might not have Giles’ IQ, but I’m not an idiot. It isn’t my fault that Rupert can pick up a woman half his age while you live with the queen of the artic tundra.”

George’s mouth opened and closed several times, but no sound issued forth. The twins cringed at the angry face their father had. Iris looked alarmed. Well, really everyone in the room looked alarmed except for Buffy. She figured that there was very little that George could do to her that had not been done by The Master, Angelus, The Mayor, or Adam.

“HOW DARE YOU?” George bellowed.

“How dare I what?” Buffy asked in the voice that she normally reserved for taunting vampires. In fact, the Slayer side of her was desperately hoping for a fight. She had not killed anything in ages.

“How dare you come into my home and insult me in such a fashion?”

“How dare you take Giles’ home and family away from him in the first place? You know, the rest of your family seems to have at least gotten a clue that they treated Giles badly, but you have got to be as dense as a sarcophagus.”

“I… what?” George’s face took on a look of bewilderment, “A sarcophagus?”

Buffy shrugged. “The word just sort of came to me.”

Robert’s eyes widened marginally. His eyebrows rose up fractionally, and Buffy knew what he was going to say before he said it.

“Oh, Dear Lord.”

“What?” George asked his father.

Robert shook his head to clear the thought. “It’s nothing. Do continue with your pointless argument, son.”

“Pointless? What do you mean, pointless?” George sounded wounded.

“I mean that we are all dancing around a very big topic, and you are taking it out on Rupert’s fiancée. This reunion was supposed to be about rejoining us as a family, but so far all we have accomplished is to further alienate your brother. And as far as the rest of us are concerned, the only two that have really done any reconciling are your mother and I.”

George shook his head. “That isn’t true. Rupert’s girlfriend started all this bickering in the first place.”

“Is that really true, George?” Nancy’s soft voice interrupted, “If Buffy weren’t here to take shots at, we would either be not talking or fighting amongst ourselves. As it is, we have been avoiding each other as much as possible.”

“They are right,” Grace added.

George looked around at the various members, “Well what else can we do?”

* * * * *

Buffy crept timidly into their room. Giles was still sitting on the edge of his bed staring out the window, except that he was now dressed.

“Gave up the natural Watcher look, huh?” Buffy teased as she seated herself next to him.

Giles smiled. “I got a bit chilled the other way. There was nothing to keep me warm.”

Buffy nodded, and they drifted into an awkward silence.

“How did things go downstairs?” Giles asked after a moment.

“Okay, I guess. There was talking, so it wasn’t all silence and guilt laden breathing,” Buffy evaded.

“You can tell me Buffy, they are my family. I shan’t be surprised at anything that they do.”

“It’s just… Giles, have I ever told you how much you really, really mean to me?”

“Not in so many words,” Giles replied uncomfortably. He would have reached for his glasses had they not still been sitting on top of the dresser where he had placed them before he went to take his shower that morning.

“Well, you do. I’m not sure I could live without you. You mean the world to me, and I can’t help but worry about this changing our entire relationship.”

“This?” Giles inquired softly.

“I.. I have to tell you something, Giles. And I’m not sure that I can live with you not liking what I’ve got to tell you…” Buffy trailed off.

Giles focused his eyes on her and felt his breathing and heart rate speed up a bit. She was not saying what he thought she was. Was she saying what he thought she was? Ever since he had placed that ring on her finger, he had not been able to help the errant thoughts that crossed his mind. Thoughts of how much he cared for Buffy, deeply denied bouts of longing that rose occasionally to the surface.

After his initial embarrassment with the morning’s happenings, Giles had sat and analyzed why exactly he had become so completely upset. What he had told Buffy earlier was true, but there had been something else. When he stumbled upon that something else, he had been quite shocked. He had fallen in love with his Slayer. He could not say exactly when it had started, but he knew that regardless of when it was there now.

Perhaps Buffy had come to the same conclusion. The way she was speaking seemed to indicate that she did.

Giles let his hand rise to push back a lock of hair from her face. His eyes centered on hers as that same hand began to cup her face.

“I am certain that it will change some things, and your friends and mother would have to make some adjustments, but I could never be upset with you to that degree over this sort of thing. In fact, I’m quite happy about it.”

“You are?” Buffy looked skeptical.

“I am,” Giles’ voice was barely a whisper.

“How did you know?” Buffy’s forehead wrinkled in confusion.

“I suppose that I was hoping for this to happen, but I really did not think that it would until you started talking.”

“Oh,” Buffy said, still confused.

Giles chuckled softly. Instead of answering with words, he took Buffy by surprise and quickly pressed his mouth against hers.

Instinctively, Buffy responded as her brain was still trying to figure out their whole conversation and had not yet reached the ‘My Watcher is trying to play tonsil hockey with me!’ thought.

Giles’ tongue battled with Buffy’s for a moment before he pulled her onto his lap for better access to her lips. It was at that moment that Buffy’s brain processed the fact that she was kissing Giles. One moment, Giles had the very warm and pleasant weight of his Slayer in his lap. The next, she was half way across the room staring at him in shock.

“What was that?” Buffy gestured helplessly at Giles.

“I thought it was rather obvious,” Giles replied not sure of what else he was supposed to say.

“Well yeah, but you know that isn’t what I meant. I mean one moment I’m telling you that your family has decided to have the rest of their reunion in Sunnydale, and the next I’m finding out that you taste all, all… Gilesy.”

It naturally did not take Giles brain very long to realize that he had drastically misread their conversation. He buried his head in his hands in shame.

“Oh Dear Lord,” was all he muttered.

“Buffy, I…” Giles began, but Buffy interrupted him.

“No, no. It’s okay, this is normal type stuff. I mean you were really upset and acted out of your inner turmoil. I say we just pretend it never happened.”

“Like we do with so many other things?” Giles shot back.

“Yes, exactly. When hasn’t that helped us? Besides, we have much bigger problems right now. Your family is going to Sunnydale so they can become close to you and the life that you lead. Now, I’m going to have to call the gang and tell them that they have to pretend that we’re engaged, oh, and I’m going to have to call mom and talk her into the whole thing too, I suppose.”

“Buffy,” Giles tried interrupting.

“What is it Giles?”

“I, I, oh never mind. Why don’t I call Xander and Willow. They can tell Anya and Tara. You call your Mum. I’m fairly certain that she will be harder to convince than the others.”

“Great, wonderful,” Buffy began to walk towards the door then paused. “Giles?”

“Yes, Buffy?”

“Are we okay?”

“I suspect not, but we will be.”

“Oh, good,” Buffy nodded once before leaving the room.

Giles closed his eyes in pain when she left. He was the biggest fool in California. Whether he was foolish for kissing her in the first place or not telling her about his feelings, he was not quite sure, but he was a fool nonetheless.

* * * * *

The car ride back to Sunnydale was uncomfortable to say the least. On top of Giles’ faux pas, Joyce had taken the news rather badly. In his mind’s eye, Giles could easily imagine the reaction that Buffy’s mother would have had if she had learned that he had indeed kissed her daughter. He enjoyed singing, but he did not wish to become castrated in order to hit the high notes.

Giles had volunteered to shelter his parents at his place. They would get to stay in his bed, and he would sleep on his couch. Buffy had talked her mother into allowing Nancy and Iris to stay at her house. It had taken a bit of cajoling to convince Joyce of the plan, but Buffy had promised regular ‘mom’ time and a few little white lies about how it would help her slaying by improving her relationship with Giles. George and his family had refused to participate too much in the new bonding exercise, and had decided to get an expensive hotel room instead of becoming closer to the family by sharing close quarters.

The Scoobies had thought it a grand idea. Xander thought it would be fun to go on the attack for the ‘G-man’, and Anya had naturally agreed with Xander’s view. Willow had been excited about the opportunity to learn more about her favorite ex-librarian’s past, and Tara had quietly agreed.

All of that, however, did not mitigate the effects of the kiss that Giles had given Buffy. They sat in silence during the car ride. Giles berating himself for kissing her, and Buffy trying to forget the myriad of conflicting flavors that made up Giles’ kiss, trying to block out the way his lips had slid against her own and definitely trying to forget the whole lap thing.

It was in this fashion that they both set out for, and arrived at Sunnydale.

* * * * *

“So, this is your flat Rupert?” Grace asked as Giles opened his front door.

“Ah, yes, it is a bit, ummm, cluttered at the moment. I wasn’t really expecting visitors,” Giles mumbled as he moved about quietly shoving his more suspicious books out of sight.

“The walls are very… green,” Robert said as he viewed the interior.

“They aren’t that green. They are a very pleasant color I think. Better than white in any case. I find them quite soothing,” Giles defended himself.

“Don’t listen to you father, Rupert. He has the decorating sense of a blind house mouse. All he cares about are his precious books and making sure that they are stored carefully,” Grace pointed out.

Giles shifted uncomfortably as his eyes automatically went to the multiple books on shelves littered about his home.

“Not, of course, that you don’t share his love of books. You just seem to have thankfully added some more decorative touches.”

“It is quite an avant-garde flat you have, Rupert. The bed is in an unusual place, isn’t it?” Robert commented as he took a closer look about.

“Yes, I suppose it is.”

Grace inspected his banister. “What happened to your rail?”

“Pardon?” Giles responded.

“You’re railing has been fixed. It looks as though it was broken clear off.”

“Ah, yes, that. Would you believe that I did that because of a rather bad hangover?” He asked sheepishly.

“What did you do, fall on it?” Robert laughed.

“No, I ripped it apart with my bare hands,” Giles deadpanned hoping that his tone would end the conversation.

Grace eyed his books. “Rupert, I think you are worse than your father. I think that most of these books aren’t even in English. And the only one in English that sounds fairly normal is a book of fairytales.”

“Ah, yes, but if you look over here, I have succumbed to societal pressures and purchased a television, thereby adding shallowness to my character,” Giles quipped uneasily.

Grace sighed and shook her head. “I think that I’m going to go sit outside while it is still light out. You and your father no doubt wish to talk about books now, and I have no wish to interfere with such a conversation.”

Giles watched his mother leave. Robert waited until the door closed before he spoke.

“I’ve figured it out, you know.”

“Figured out what?”

“You and Buffy. She isn’t just your fiancée is she?”

Giles took his glasses off and began to polish them. “No, she isn’t. I suppose that you are mad at me for the deception, but after the tone of our last meeting, I don’t think that you should hold it against me.”

Robert chuckled and began to leaf through the pages of a book. “I’m not angry with you. I’m just merely astounded by my lack of notice. I should have realized that the reason you were around such a young girl in the first place was because she was a potential. Obviously, she wasn’t chosen, but you had already bonded and became closer as she matured. It is quite obvious now that I think of it. Why else would you willingly spend time with such a child?”

“Buffy isn’t a child, father, and I would appreciate it if you gave her some respect,” Giles ground out.

“Come now, Rupert. I had a potential myself once, and I was very fond of her, but it was that same potential that caused your mother to think I was unfaithful. I am merely worried that you are acting out your past.”

“Acting out my past would involve large amounts of alcohol, a few orgies, and a rather nasty fellow named Ripper. I live in the now, the here, not some bloody family drama that happened ages ago. My relationship with Buffy is one you could never hope to understand. I wish you would just accept that and wish me happiness.”

“Well, I cannot wish you happiness because there might be a vengeance demon nearby that could be granting wishes.”

Giles stared at his father. “Was that a joke?”

“It was. I have reached a ‘cease fire’ agreement with your Buffy. I merely desired to have one last shot of changing your mind.”

“Well, it didn’t work. Buffy knows me better than anyone, and we have forgiven each other much. She is the only reason that I agreed to this whole reunion. I thought that if Buffy and I could forgive each other, then there might be a chance with the rest of you. Don’t prove me wrong.” With that, Giles went out to sit with his mother and leave his father to contemplate.

* * * * *

Buffy stared in shock at her mother. Joyce had taken immediately to Nancy, and they had been talking almost all night. Then they had finally gone to bed only to awake chipper and talkative. Ruefully, the Slayer stirred her cereal. Naturally Joyce had slept well; she had not been plagued with memories of Giles.

Memories of soft lips and large hands and, and Buffy was going to stop thinking about Giles that way. Because he was old and gross and her Watcher and her father figure and…

“So, you don’t have a problem with Buffy being engaged to an older man?” Nancy asked.

“Well, I’ll admit that Buffy’s relationship with Mr. Giles bothered me at first, but on the whole, I do like him better than I liked Angel.”

“Angel?”

“Buffy’s first boyfriend, she deserved better,” Joyce supplied.

“Hey, sitting right here,” Buffy reminded around a mouthful of cereal.

Iris laughed quietly before resuming her careful inspection of her toast.

“Well, it’s true, honey, you did deserve better.”

“So Rupert is better for Buffy you think?” Nancy entered back into the conversation.

“Well, I suppose so, I can’t say that I’m excessively fond of the notion of them getting married, but at least he’s breathing.”

Nancy laughed, “That isn’t a very high standard.”

“Sometimes, it is. Would you like some more coffee?” Joyce quickly changed the subject.

“Oh, no, thank you. I’ll be quite energetic as it is. Besides, I should like to save some indulgence for when we have our get together tonight.”

“Yes, the get together. Let’s talk about that. Can we not have it?” Buffy spoke quickly.

Joyce turned and looked at her daughter. “Buffy, what on earth are you talking about?”

“The get together. There’ll be people there and my friends, and Giles and people and friendliness, and I don’t think that we really want to go there. With the friendliness I mean, and besides, Giles will be there.”

Nancy and Iris stared without comprehension at Buffy. Joyce just smiled.

“Buffy’s getting ‘wigged’ that we’re getting along,” she translated.

“Am not, okay, maybe a little, but that’s just because you hated Giles so much and now you’re like defending his honor or something,” Buffy defended herself.

“Buffy, I’m not doing anything,” Joyce replied.

“Are too. There’s talking and laughter, and there is the potential that there will be talking and laughter with the others. Then there could be mingling and good times, and Giles will be there.”

“Buffy, are you feeling alright?”

“I guess I didn’t sleep well last night,” she admitted grudgingly.

“Bad dreams?” her mother asked concernedly.

“Not exactly, I was just thinking. A lot. Not about anything in particular, just stuff. Stuff that would make you very angry if you knew about it, bad stuff,” Buffy clarified.

“She had a tiff with Rupert,” Nancy blurted out.

“Did not,” Buffy automatically retorted.

“You did too,” Nancy turned to face Joyce, “They were barely speaking to each other when we left to come here. I had hoped that they had sorted it out during the ride, but they obviously didn’t.”

“Buffy, what happened?” Joyce asked gently.

“Nothing. Nothing happened. Giles was just upset, and he did something stupid.”

“How stupid?” Joyce prodded.

“Let’s just say it was pretty much up there as far as Giles goes. You know, with him being Mr. Brainy Guy and everything.”

“He didn’t hit you did he?” Iris asked mortified.

“Your Uncle Rupert is a very gentle man, he wouldn’t hit his girlfriend. He didn’t, did he?” Nancy said.

“Giles? Hit me? Not of the likely. He just misinterpreted something I said.”

“Oh, well then I’m sure that you’ll figure it out, Buffy. You just need to talk to him and straighten it out,” Joyce comforted her daughter.

“See, that’s the thing. The problem is that he knows that he misinterpreted the whole thing, and it’s more the what he did than the what he said thing.”

“Honey, what exactly did he do to upset you?” Joyce asked pointedly.

“Well, see, are you sure you want to hear this?”

Joyce merely nodded.

“Right, of course you would. Giles got sort of frisky. In the hands, mouth, tongue sort of way,” Buffy blurted out then blushed and looked down at the floor.

“Oh, Buffy, sometimes men just try to fix the situation with sex. Even the best of them try it. Poorly timed attempts at amorousness are not something to fight so long over. Especially when he is actually having them with you,” Nancy advised easily.

Joyce was simply trying to figure out what sort of mystical thing that Giles and Buffy had fought about. The kissing was obviously a cover, but for what? She was not as good as Buffy’s friends on decoding that sort of babble, so she simply decided to agree with Nancy.

“She’s right, you just need to see Rupert and get this all straightened out between the two of you.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Buffy wrinkled her nose slightly as she talked. That was definitely not the response that she had been expecting.

“Well then, I suppose that I should start making the appetizers.”

“Huh?” Buffy asked her mom.

“Well, we thought it would be nice to have our meeting at someplace comfy. The house sounded ideal. It’s much better than that dreadful hotel George is staying at,” Nancy informed her.

“Great,” was Buffy’s only response.

* * * * *

“So, Buff, how’s the pre-marital bliss coming?” Xander asked as he and Anya came through the front door.

Buffy glared at him. “Wonderful, I’ve been at home helping mom cook all day. Giles and his evil relatives are going to be here any moment, and I hate half of them.”

“Half of the relatives or half of Giles?” Anya asked. Xander subtly elbowed her. “Ow, it was just a question,” she pouted.

“Xander, leave Anya alone. I might need her to annoy them later,” Buffy said as she led the couple into the dining room. “Xander, Anya, meet Nancy and Iris.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Xander said as he shook both their hands.

“I’m happy to meet you too,” Anya said brightly.

The doorbell rang and Buffy rushed off to get the door. Giles was on the other side with his parents. He looked anywhere but at Buffy as he lets himself in. Willow and Tara soon followed with George and his family coming in last.

“You live in a wretched town. My sons got mugged last night, and your police barely cared when we filed the complaint,” George blustered before he was introduced.

“Really?” Buffy asked more out of curiosity than concern. “They don’t look like they were hurt.”

“We weren’t,” Eric supplied. “It was this funny fellow with a sort of bumpy face. He was dressed all in black and had this peroxide blonde hair.”

“Oh, that was just Spike, he’s,” Anya paused as she looked the faces of the Scooby gang, “He’s a really bad gang member.”

“There are lots of gangs around here. They’re on PCP. You shouldn’t be walking around at night,” Buffy added.

“Yes, they, ah, put on rather odd makeup to give them those ridges. It scares the tourists,” Giles furthered the lie.

“Well, your town should do something about that, Rupert. Perhaps you should write a letter to your Mayor,” George said as he sank down into a chair.

“Yes, thank you, we’ll keep that in mind for a time that we don’t have a corrupt one,” Xander poked.

George stared at him then thought better of picking a fight with one of Buffy’s friends.

“Right then, why don’t we eat?”

* * * * *

George and his family left soon after dinner. Robert and Grace had started to have a heart to heart talk with their future “in-law” in the kitchen where Nancy and Joyce were cleaning up.

Iris had volunteered to help clear the table, leaving Buffy alone with her friends.

“You know, I was thinking we should get those boys’ money back from Spike, but know that I know them better, do you think we could give him their luggage too?” Anya asked.

“As tempting as that might be, Anya, I don’t think that we should encourage him,” Giles replied.

“Well, I for one agree with Anya,” Willow spoke.

“You do?” Xander and Anya said simultaneously.

“Yes, did you see how they kept asking Tara and me stupid questions all night and bugging us? They were number one poopheads,” Willow finished then added, “Sorry, Giles.”

“It is quite alright Willow. I’m not terribly fond of them. Although, I don’t think they meant to annoy you and Tara. I think that they meant to hit on you.”

“What? Why?”

“Because you’re both good looking, and they didn’t realize that you two are gay?” Buffy answered.

“And now I know why Giles put up with us. We aren’t smart, we just aren’t as clueless as his relatives,” Xander shared his sudden illumination.

“Thank you Xander, my world suddenly makes sense now,” Giles intoned dryly.

“Happy to help,” the younger man replied.

“Well they’re only here for a couple more days, and then things can get back to normal. I suppose that I should thank all of you for your assistance in this matter. It does mean quite a lot to me,” Giles said as he softly polished his glasses.

“Aw, that’s so sweet. Isn’t that sweet Buffy?” Willow said fondly.

“Yup, the epitome of sweetness. Giles is sweet.”

Xander raised an eyebrow as he looked over at Buffy.

“Not in the, you know the…” Buffy trailed off.

“The Giles has a hot ass kind of way?” Anya finished for her.

“Ahn, I think we’d better be going before you cause Giles to have a heart attack,” Xander said as he ushered Anya to the door.

“Bye Buffy, have fun having pretend orgasms with Giles,” Anya waved goodbye.

Tara blushed and stared at the floor. “W..Willow, don’t we have s..somewhere to go?”

“What? Yes, somewhere to go, a place, a place that we have to be, because, you know this is fun, but we really have to be going. Bye,” Willow said as she grabbed Tara’s hand and quickly left the house.

Buffy sneaked a look over at her former Watcher. “You okay Giles?”

“I’ll manage to live. I think. This is quite embarrassing given the recent, ah, events that have transpired.”

“Hey, I told you to forget about it right? No biggy.” Buffy tried to blow it off for him.

“But it is a very big thing Buffy. It is not something that should be ignored.”

“Okay, so how do you suggest that we deal with the fact that you were trying to engage in smoochies with me?” Buffy asked in an irritated tone due to the fact that Giles was refusing to accept her ‘forget about it’ approach.

Giles flicked his gaze up to her, a hint of annoyance shown in his eyes. “If I recall correctly, I did not attempt, I succeeded. In fact I would say what I was attempting to do something much more intimate.”

Buffy’s mouth opened in shock. “You did not just say that to me.”

“And what if I did? I’ve been lying all week, Buffy. In fact, I’ve been telling lies for the majority of my life, but today I had to spend the day with my parents, and unlike you, the most horrible event of the day was not the fact that I had to help my mum cook. Do you know what I realized? They don’t really know each other, and they never will because my father never really tells her what he thinks or how he feels, and my siblings and I have dealt with the repercussions of that in my own life. I can’t abide for that to happen to us. If I must live with the fallout of this, than so be it, but the effects will be based in reality. Buffy…”

“No. Giles don’t,” Buffy pleaded.

He ignored her. “I love you,” he said softly.

Buffy took a shaky breath and backed away from Giles. Her hand came up to cover her mouth, and unbidden tears formed in her eyes simply because her emotions were so tangled up inside that she did not know what to do, so her body decided that crying would be the appropriate reaction.

“Buffy, would you come in the kitchen?” Iris’ voice floated over to them.

“I’ll be there in a second,” she called back as she quickly dabbed away the tears on her face. With a quick look back at Giles, she strode quickly away.

Giles followed her.

Buffy stepped into a very cheery scene in the kitchen. Joyce was laughing, as were Grace and Nancy.

“What’s with the merriment?” She said in an almost normal voice.

“Oh, it’s nothing. We were just talking about weddings,” Joyce said with a suspicious glow on her face.

“And this makes you happy why? You haven’t been drinking, have you?”

“What, oh no, its just we started talking about who we would invite to your wedding, and it sort of went from there,” Joyce explained.

“Uh huh, right. Mom in case you’ve forgotten, you hate Giles, and his family hates me. Why would we want any happiness? My life sucks. So does theirs, only they don’t know it. So why would you be taking about my WEDDING, ‘cause it’s never going to happen, and I’m probably going to end up dead and lonely,” Buffy stormed off in a sea of irrational tears.

The remaining people looked at Giles. “We got into a bit of a tiff,” he said by way of an explanation.

“And whatever you just said to her made it worse,” Robert commented.

“I beg your pardon?” Giles asked confused.

“Well, it was obvious that you two had had a fight when she didn’t even call you earlier today,” Grace stated.

“And you didn’t even look at each other during dinner,” Iris added.

“Yes, well, I..I don’t need to expound upon this to any of you. I’m a grown man, and my business with Buffy is my own,” Giles snapped and walked out the door in a huff.

He walked back in a couple of seconds later. “Ah, Mum, are you and Father ready to go?”

* * * * *

Joyce knocked gently before opening the door to Buffy’s room. “I wanted to catch you before you went off patrolling,” she said as she walked in and shut the door behind her.

“Yeah, well, just in the nick of time,” Buffy said as she belly flopped onto her bed after walking away from the open window.

“Look, I’m sorry about tonight. I guess I just got so caught up in the lie that I didn’t think. I always thought about the day my little girl was going to get married. And I used to think about how there would be in-laws that I could complain about and how we would argue about your flowers and your cake. Having spent the last couple of years knowing that that dream probably won’t ever happen, I just grabbed at the opportunity.”

“Gee, thanks,” Buffy mumbled sarcastically.

“You know I didn’t mean it that way. It was just something normal. Am I so bad for wanting to believe it was real, just for a little while?”

The bed creaked as Buffy rolled into a sitting position. “No, but that’s the problem, isn’t it? It isn’t real, and when this is all over, we get to deal with that. And did you really have that much fun when you were planning to marry me off to Giles?”

Joyce smiled. “Well, he isn’t exactly all that I hoped for in a son in-law, but he is considerably younger than Angel, and he does devote his entire existence to keeping you alive. I’d say that’s pretty good.”

“I guess I kind of overreacted, huh?”

“Just a bit, but I think they’ll forgive you. Or, more appropriately, I think that Nancy and her daughter already have and Rupert will make his parents forgive you. After all, he always forgives you. I think that he must have gotten that from his parents.”

“I wouldn’t place money on that bet Mom, but thanks.”

Joyce patted Buffy’s shoulder. “So is everything good now?”

“Yeah, but why did you guys call me into the kitchen in the first place?”

“Oh, Grace mentioned the fact that she thought you would look lovely in Rupert’s grandmother’s dress. It is apparently a silk, family heirloom. We were going to ask you what you thought.”

Buffy frowned. “I’m thinking the thought would have been something along the lines of the Giles clan being tall and broad shouldered, neither of which are in abundance in the land of Buffy.”

“I thought of that, but she was apparently a very tiny woman. They said that Rupert was quite fond of her.”

Buffy moaned and buried her head in her hands. “Great, Giles’ family was making grand gestures of being nice to me so that Giles feels loved, and I’m all selfish and ruin it for him.”

Joyce laughed. “Now, I’m sure that it isn’t that bad. Besides, he’ll forgive you. He always does, remember?”

Buffy forced a smile. “I suppose that you’re right. I think I need to go kill something now. I’ll see you later?”

Joyce nodded. “I take it that this is the sign that says you don’t want me to ask what you fought with Mr. Giles about?”

“That would be the one. Goodnight Mom,” Buffy said as she crawled out her window.

“Goodnight, Buffy.” Joyce moved towards the door of her daughter’s bedroom before Buffy’s head popped back through the window.

“Hey, Mom? Remind me to thank you for letting me use the front door these days.”

Joyce merely nodded and turned off the lights to Buffy’s room. The Slayer herself stared at the darkness a bit. Realizing vaguely that if she truly was marrying Giles, she would always be leaving through his front door. There would be no windows, and there would be no secrets because Buffy’s secrets to Giles had always revolved around her love life, and he would be that love life. She sighed and dropped off the roof to go clear her head by seeing what evil creatures she could kill.

* * * * *

Buffy stared at the darkness. She had found and staked one vampire all night. One pathetic vampire that could not even quip well or fight well for that matter, the rest of patrol had been walking. She had not even seen Spike, which was actually kind of bad for him because she might have thanked him for mugging Giles’ relatives. Of course, that might have been bad too as then Spike would have known that Giles actually had relatives and ones that were in town, so maybe that would not have been good.

Buffy sighed. At least seeing Spike would have made patrol less boring and more patrol-y. Instead, all she could think about was Giles. Which did not help as the entire point of going out had been to lose herself in mindless violence, so she did not ponder him.

His lips danced in her vision for a moment. She could see them move as he formed those three little words uttered earlier in the night, and if she concentrated hard enough, she could feel them press against her own mouth again as they had back at the vineyard.

Her eyes started leaking. Leaking, that was the word, because Buffy refused to think she was crying. Why did Giles have to complicate everything like that? She had been very happy to simply have him around, never to examine the entirely too complicated relationship that they had. Adding another layer to their bond seemed like both the simplest and hardest thing ever to be combined, and the problem was that she had to decide if she even wanted to combine it.

Giles obviously did. He had made that fact abundantly clear earlier that night. He had also made it exceedingly clear that he was not going to give her an out in this matter as he had so often done for her at other times. Buffy was to give him a distinct answer one way or the other. She was not going to be able to just pretend nothing ever happened.

She hated him for doing that to her. Of course, she was also challenged by the new version of Giles. Intrigue had crept in; she wanted to see just how far this new resolve went. And part of her, if she was honest, was excited by the fact that he was challenging her. He knew he could not compete with her physically, so he had gone after the part of her he knew was vulnerable. All of her previous suitors had sought to really prove their affections by physical displays. Giles had tried making out, but when the honest confessions came, he had not even tried to kiss her. He just made her listen. He knew that she preferred to be “action girl,” but Giles had also realized that where her other relationships had failed was that she had acted too much on instinct and not enough on thought until something bad happened.

That was why he had kissed her the first time, she realized. Giles had thought that the light bulb had gone on over her head because she had been thinking about them, so he moved straight on to the happy land of smoochies. Then, when he realized his mistake, he had retreated. Apparently, he had decided that he did not like the retreat.

All of that realization was just peachy, but it still left her with the question of how she really felt towards Giles. She loved him. There was no doubt about that. She did not really love him like a father, but she did not really love him as a friend or a brother, and there really was not a burning passion for him like she had for Angel. It was all very snarled.

The question was: how did she untangle it?

Love Giles? Check. Think he was old? Check. Think he was sexy? Buffy paused at that one. He certainly kissed well. His eyes were dreamy and could definitely convince a girl to go into a bedroom. He had great shoulders and long legs. His voice was all shudder worthy even when he was droning on about some impossibly boring subject, and there was that rumor that he could sing… He did not have six pack abs, but he was not paunchy. So, overall he was of the sexy. Now, did she like old sexy guys? Buffy snorted. Even Riley had been older than her, and Angel was not even born in the same century.

Was she in love with Giles? She knew that she could not live without him. Even when she had ignored him during her freshman year of college, she had known that she could not really live without him. And really, that answered the question more than anything didn’t it?

An insane warm fuzzy feeling swept over Buffy at her realization. She needed to tell Giles. She needed to go to his place and tell him right away, but it was late, and his parents were there. Buffy pouted that she’d have to wait as waiting was not her strong point. Then her mind wandered to thinking about telling Giles and the warm fuzzy feeling came back. Emitting a little squeal at her happy dilemma she danced around a tombstone. Then she stopped and glanced around to make sure nothing had seen her do that.

Something had.

A group of somethings had.

A group of big, green, ugly somethings with greasy, bumpy skin, and short, yellow tusks coming out of their mouths, at least she hoped that they were mouths…

Buffy pulled her stake out and prepared for a fight. One attacked her. As she began to fight with it, the others ran away. Then, the one she was fighting shoved her over a bench that was in the graveyard. When Buffy popped back up to her feet, it too was gone.

Frustration boiled up in Buffy. All night had been quiet, and when she finally got to being happy, she got attacked. Then she did not even win her fight. Angrily, she began stomping her way towards home. It was at that point that a nasty little thought entered her mind.

Giles needed to know about the strange monsters. He would want to know. It was her duty to mankind to tell him as soon as possible. And if he just happened to be all late night rumpled when they talked, she would not mind that. Because, saving the world took priority over propriety.

She turned and began the jaunt to Giles apartment.

* * * * *

Rupert Giles fell off of his couch when there was a loud knocking at his door. His first thought was ‘Who on earth could be knocking? And why weren’t they just letting themselves in?’ Then his sleep fogged brain got the message through that he had actually locked the door on his mother’s insistence.

Groggily, he shoved his glasses on his face and stumbled to the door ignoring the grumpy sounds issuing from his parents upstairs.

He yanked the door open to see a very awake and suspiciously happy Buffy on the other side.

“You locked your door,” she stated in a half approving and half pouting tone.

“Yes, I did. I hope you didn’t wake me up at four in the morning to tell me that.”

“It’s four?” Buffy sounded surprised.

“Yes, it is. Buffy what are you doing here?” Giles whispered.

“I need to talk to you,” Buffy said in her best ‘duh’ tone.

“Can’t it wait?” Giles snipped at her.

Buffy glared at him before she started smiling again. “Can I come in?”

“Can you come in?” Giles asked suddenly suspicious.

Buffy stuck her tongue out at him and flounced through his door. “I saw something strange when I was out on patrol tonight.”

The ‘solemnity of duty’ look instantly came down over Giles’ face. “I suppose that you should tell me then, but why don’t we talk outside? I think my parents have been disturbed enough, and I don’t wish to have them come down in the middle of this discussion.”

Buffy nodded and slipped back out. Giles followed her, wrapped in his robe and shuffling in his slippers. Buffy told him in record time about the demons. Giles was fairly certain she did not even breathe while she was talking.

He stared at her for a couple of seconds before responding, “Yes, well I’ll have to consult my books about this, but you really needn’t have bothered to come by tonight. I’m fairly certain that they don’t pose an immediate threat to us.”

“Well, duh, Giles. Even I knew that.”

Buffy started to grin again at the befuddled look that came across Rupert Giles’ face. It was oddly charming when mixed with the rumpled hair and rumpled robe. And speaking of the rumpled robe, it was gaping most becomingly. Buffy’s eyes had started to trace the pale skin downwards to where the robe closed together when Giles’ voice broke her train of thought.

“Pardon?”

“The ugly green demons, not an immediate threat,” Buffy responded.

“Then why the bloody hell did you wake me up at sodding four in the morning?” Giles whispered fiercely at her.

“Because I wanted to see you, and it was a good excuse?” Buffy said with a teasing tone.

“Buffy, I don’t know what is wrong with you, but this is very uncalled for,” Giles said in a stern tone.

Buffy simply grinned at him. “You’re grumpy.”

Giles, to his credit, was about to give a scathing reply, but found himself unable to as Buffy bounced up on her tiptoes and kissed him. He instinctively crushed her closer and opened his mouth before he roughly pushed her away.

“You’ve been drugged or, or spelled or something,” he said in fear, “I need to call Willow, perhaps she or Tara will have an idea what has happened. Don’t worry, Buffy, you’ll be fine soon.”

Buffy’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “What? Giles, I’m fine now.”

“Yes, yes I’m sure you are,” he said placatingly, “Now why don’t you come inside and have a cup of tea while I do a little research?”

“Because it’ll wake your folks up?”

“Bugger them. Just come inside where you’ll be safe while I look over some texts.”

“Giles, nothing you do is going to fix me,” Buffy said in exasperation.

“Don’t say that,” Giles voice rose in pitch, “You’re going to get better. Now, we’ve always found a solution before, and we will this time.”

“Did anyone ever tell you that your big Watcher brain doesn’t work well when it gets woken up at four in the morning? Giles, I love you, and I don’t think that you’re going to find a spell that is going to get me over that.”

“You what?” Giles’ face had reverted to the earlier befuddled look.

Buffy rolled her eyes and simply grabbed him for another kiss. This time, he didn’t push her away. Soon, though, Buffy did out of her desperate need for oxygen.

“Okay, so things other than your brain still work,” Buffy said a little unsteadily.

“Indeed?” was all Giles could manage around his panting.

“Not that you, oh well, I guess that works too. Umm, wow?”

Giles’ lips twitched into a small smile, “You needn’t humor me, Buffy. My ego isn’t that easily shattered.”

“No, seriously, I mean that is just, just, is that normal? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure it took Riley a lot longer to get all, you know, frisky,”

“The woman I love just told me she loved me and proceeded to kiss me senseless while I’m standing here in nothing but my boxers and a bathrobe. What did you think my response would be? And, really, being compared to your previous boyfriend is somewhat insulting.”

“You’re grumpy and really blunt when you get woken up,” Buffy grumbled then continued, “Did you say you were only wearing boxers under there?”

Giles’ green eyes widened. “Buffy, no.”

“You don’t mean that,” Buffy whispered as she started to trail a finger down the middle of his chest.

“Yes, yes, I do mean that. My courtyard is not the appropriate place for this type of activity. I, oh,” Giles moaned slightly as Buffy started to nip at the base of his neck.

Her fingers traveled down and tugged at the belt for his robe. Her lips left their previous target as she backed up to look at him.

“White? You wear white cotton boxers?”

“Am I supposed to wear something else?”

“Well, it’s just that you’re Mr. Stuffy on the outside and Mr. Wild Secrets guy on the inside, I guess I kind of thought it would be the same for your clothes. You know Tweedy and Sweater Guy on the outside – Silk Boxers guy on the inside, maybe even patterned silk boxers instead of the colored kind.”

“Yes, well why don’t you stop your imagination before you start putting me in a spandex thong?”

“Hey, silk boxers are a long way from spandex thongs. Not that it matters a whole lot, they come off the same,” Buffy said with a grin as she advanced once more towards her prey.

“Now stop right there. I am not going to make love to you outdoors on the ground for our first time. Especially as you should be getting back home or your mother will be worried,” Giles said as he quickly retied his robe.

Buffy pouted.

“I’m quite serious, Buffy. Things are going too fast here. I’m tired, and you haven’t slept all night, and I know how slayers are after they’ve been out fighting. I don’t want to start our relationship out on a bad note.”

Buffy frowned, “Fine, I’ll go home, but only because I love you, and you’re being really mean and thinking about consequences instead of ravishing me.”

Giles laughed softly. “I must be insane.”

“Because of the not ravishing me part? Because it isn’t too late to fix that,” Buffy said perkily.

“For falling in love with you,” Giles said tenderly as he brushed her hair back behind her ear.

Buffy smiled. “Ditto. You do believe me, right? You don’t think that I’m just all horny and saying stuff?”

“I think you’re forgetting that I love you, and I know you better than anyone else. Did you really think that I would have told you I loved you yesterday if I did not already know that you loved me back?”

“Wait a second. You did so not know about that. I didn’t know about that.”

“Ah, but I did. The risk was only in how deep that love ran and whether or not you would ever acknowledge it.”

Buffy punched him lightly in the shoulder. “You are going to pay for that smugness.”

“Promise?” Giles retorted in a throaty voice.

Buffy just turned and started walking away. “My boyfriend says I need my beauty sleep, so I don’t think I’m going to answer that. But if I were you, I’d make sure you wore your jeans and an earring tonight if you want to make your girlfriend happy.”

Giles just stood and watched her go. His girlfriend. He could get used to that.

* * * * *

Buffy’s eyes flew open. It was morning. Of the a.m., the time when people got up and went about their business. Her eyes strayed over to the clock on her nightstand. She had dropped off to sleep at about 5:45 it was now 8:00 a.m. Two hours and fifteen minutes of sleep were plenty; she decided as she popped out of bed.

Buffy ran over to her closet to pick out an outfit. She needed something that would make Giles happy, but something that his family would not dislike, or did she want to dress to give Giles a happy and scandalize his family? Then again, they were having the final reunion bash tonight, so she should save a special outfit for that and just go casual for going to see Giles during the day.

But what was technically “casual” anyway? Jean were casual, but she wasn’t sure if Giles liked her in jeans. She knew that he looked good in them. In fact, he was of the major good in jeans. A naughty smile crossed Buffy’s lips as she thought about that for a few moments. Then she shook her head and forced herself back to staring at her wardrobe.

A skirt or maybe a sundress. A sundress would be good, cute and sassy, but there was not anything about it that would make her seem like she was trying to get into Giles’ pants. Actually, she supposed that she was trying to get into Giles’ pants now that he was her boyfriend. Buffy grinned. She had a boyfriend, and the likelihood he was going to leave her was very slim. He probably knew more about the evil monsters they battled than she did, and he was not about to get creeped out because of her friends. Plus, he had a pulse, so that was very good. Although, she wasn’t sure if she could actually get him on a beach even if he could go out in the sun, but she was fairly certain that she might be able to bribe him with enough promises of musty books.

Happily, Buffy started to try on each of her sundresses so she could find the perfect one.

* * * * *

Rupert Giles woke up groggy. He had not had much sleep the night before. He vaguely remembered someone pounding at the door. Buffy, he thought it was. The world must have been coming to an end. No, wait, that wasn’t it. Perhaps there was a new menace he need to research. Yes, he did remember Buffy going on about that, but he was quite certain that there was something else he was missing.

Blearily, he looked in his bathroom mirror. His lips looked a touch puffy. Green eyes widened in the mirror. It couldn’t be, yet he could not seem to keep his hand from pulling apart the top of his robe to expose his throat. His fingertips gently prodded the slightly darker area of skin he saw. It was tender.

It hadn’t been a dream. Buffy had come by, and she truly had confessed her love and tried to make out with him.

Shaking fingers went from his throat to his lips to touch the place where Buffy’s lips had been the night before.

“Rupert? Are you all right in there?”

Giles jumped at the sound of his mother’s voice. “Yes, Mum, I’ll be out in a bit,” he responded absently.

Grace’s eyes widened a bit. Rupert had not called her “Mum” since he was ten. Not in that tone of voice anyway. The familiar tone that he used was so different from the mannerly way that he had been addressing her.

Giles opened the door of the bathroom with a silly smile on his face.

“Well, you look like a cat who got into the cream,” Robert stated as he came to see what was keeping Grace.

Giles’ smile turned into a grin. “Buffy came by to see me last night.”

“Is that what that racket was? I swear she is a very strange girl, Rupert.”

Giles ignored his mother. “She kissed me,” was all he said. Then he simply walked away to go make tea.

“I think that our son is a very strange man,” Grace commented when the distinct sound of humming started to come from the kitchen.

Robert merely nodded.

* * * * *

Downtown Sunnydale saw Rupert Giles staring into a gift shop window later that day. His parents had wanted to walk around and see where he lived, so he had suggested a quick trip into town to do some shopping. They had long ago departed from their son when he was waylaid by a used book sale being put on as a fund raiser.

After buying eight different books, Giles had deposited them in the back of his car and then began meandering the streets. That was when he decided that he should buy something for Buffy. Buying her jewelry would be a bit forward, particularly as he had already purchased a ring for her. Besides, Angel had been the beau that gave Buffy jewelry, and Giles preferred to be an originator.

Flowers were out until it was a special and romantic occasion. Clothing was also a gift best avoided. He had not the faintest idea of what was “in,” and he doubted that Buffy would ignore a fashion faux pas just because she loved him. Chocolates were always a good bet, but he was not sure if Buffy would object and say that he was trying to get her to gain weight.

So engrossed in thought was he, that he did not notice the reflection in the mirror as a person came up behind him. A pair of arms encircled his waist.

“Guess who.”

“My dear Auntie Mildred, you’ve come back from the dead,” Giles quipped.

Buffy punched his side playfully for his insolence.

“Just what I need, another one of your relatives,” Buffy said in her best pouty voice, “And I thought I told you to wear jeans.”

“Ah, but it isn’t tonight yet, therefore I am perfectly welcome to go about in my sweater and slacks,” Giles replied as he turned around to face her.

Buffy looked at him expectantly. Giles tilted his head to one side and stared uncomprehendingly at her.

“Well?” She asked impatiently.

“Well what?”

“Aren’t you happy to see me?”

Giles smiled fondly and squeezed her shoulder. “Of course I am.”

“But not in a happy boyfriendy way?” Buffy asked somewhat confused.

Giles blushed. “I am ecstatic to see you Buffy. I could hardly think about anything else this morning.”

“Good.”

Silence resumed as they stood awkwardly in front of each other. Buffy’s face had resumed its expectant look.

“You know, I think that Anya has the right idea about these things,” she said after a few moments.

“What things?”

Buffy popped up on her tiptoes and kissed him. “These sorts of things.”

Giles blushed. “I, ah, I see. Is that what you wanted?”

“Duh, Giles. I’m Buffy. I need smoochies. Didn’t three years of being my librarian teach you that? Buffy needs her nookie.”

Giles blush grew deeper. “Well, yes, I guess that I just assumed that you would not wish to be, ah, publicly affectionate.”

Buffy rolled her eyes and grabbed Giles’ hand. She laced their fingers together and started walking down the block. “See, I’m public affection Buffy. Angel and Riley got the super dedicated non-cheating Buffy package. You get the same deal. All the good things, all the really crappy things, no discounts, no service fees, yours for only $19.99 per month, shipping and handling extra.”

“Hmm, actually that is a good deal. I think I spend more than that on you as it is.”

“Hey, you didn’t hear the shipping and handling part.”

“Oh, are they expensive?”

“Yup, super expensive. Especially the handling.”

“Really?” Giles said with a raised eyebrow.

“Dirty minded Watcher,” Buffy replied archly.

“Well, Watcher is my job title.”

“I prefer the hands on approach to your Watching technique.”

“I suppose that I could have you over for some training, see if you like the weaponry.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure that I like your broadsword. Do you think I’m big enough to handle it?”

“Oh, I’m fairly certain that your abilities combined with your natural athleticism will lend themselves nicely to, ahem, sword training.”

Buffy paused in her step. “Giles, are we talking subtext-y conversation in the middle of the sidewalk?”

“Yes, I suppose we are.”

“I’m not usually a dirty talking Slayer.”

“Well, there are bound to be repercussions from our pent up sexual energies,” Giles said philosophically.

Buffy grinned. “Now that is the Giles I know and love. I’m thinking we should get rid of those energies as soon as possible.”

“Amazingly, I concur with your opinion. As soon as my parents leave, perhaps you could come over for dinner?”

“Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of testing out the back seat of the Tramp.”

“Ah, no, that would be quite out of the question. For one thing, I brought my parents into town.”

“They can walk,” Buffy supplied quickly.

Giles glared at her. “More importantly, I have some books resting in the backseat.”

“Books?”

“Don’t give me that look, Buffy. You know full well that if I wasn’t about to shag you on my patio, I’m not going to have our first time be in the backseat of my car.”

Buffy pouted. Giles looked away.

“Hey guys,” Willow’s chipper voice sounded from behind them.

Buffy felt Giles drop her hand and practically leap two feet away from her.

“H..hello Willow,” Giles voice quavered.

“Hey Will,” Buffy greeted with much less enthusiasm.

“Whatcha doing?” Willow asked as she looked quizzically at Buffy and then Giles.

“I was shopping, and I just happened to run into Buffy, and we shopped together,” Giles rambled uncharacteristically.

“Actually, I was trying to talk Giles into having sex with me in the backseat of his car,” Buffy supplied in an irritated tone.

Willow nodded once. “Ooookay, so I’m guessing that you don’t want me intruding on a private conversation, and you’d like me to leave now. So I’m going to get gone and go do important stuff.” With that, Willow hustled away as quickly as possible.

Buffy turned to glare at Giles. “What was that?”

“What was what?”

“You dropped my hand like I just confessed I was a vampire.”

“Yes, well you were unconscionably rude to Willow.”

“I was not, I told her the truth. Remember? Me the new Truth Buffy. No more lies. The guys need to know that I intend on being Possessive Over Giles Buffy.”

Giles shook his head. “I’m not quite certain whether I am more bothered by the fact that you have started referring to yourself by action figure titles or the fact that I understand you.”

“Action figure titles?”

“Yes, you know, “Super Arctic Freeze Macho Mother” or whatever they call them.”

“Have you been watching Saturday morning cartoons?”

“Yes, NO! Weren’t we just having a fight that you’d like to get back to?” Giles asked nervously.

“What? Oh, yeah. You didn’t want Willow to see us together. Well, tough. I had enough of the hidden relationship thing with Angel. I want it to be public knowledge that I own every inch of your book loving body, and I want to complete and utter right to hit anybody that so much as thinks about touching, fondling, kissing, or groping you.”

“While I do agree with you, don’t you think it prudent to be a little more sensitive when telling the others? Let alone what your mother is going to try to do to me.”

“Okay, so you have a point. But, we need to tell them soon. And Mom will adjust. She already likes you better than Angel, and if she kicks me out of the house I can always move in with you,” Buffy spoke the last sentence with a suggestive leer.

Giles stopped breathing for a second and then started to furiously polish his glasses.

Buffy’s mouth quirked up in amusement. “Why Rupert, have I touched on a private fantasy of yours?”

“Ah, w..w..well not exactly, the thought had crossed my mind a few times… since breakfast.”

Buffy’s grin grew larger. “How many times?”

“Come now, you don’t think that I counted.”

“How many?”

“Twelve, but the last two were only because you brought it up and therefore entirely your doing.”

“The first ten weren’t?” Buffy looked slightly insulted.

Giles slipped his glasses back on and glared at her. “You’re even more insufferable today that you were yesterday.”

Buffy’s face lit up. “You should have purchased the extended warranty Buffy. That would have ensured no nagging for two months.”

Giles smirked at her. “Did I ever say that I don’t like being irritated by you?”

“Well, no, but…”

“I like it when you bother me. I like it when you challenge me and outright insult me. I just don’t like to be completely ignored. But, you irritating me? Lately it has gone from just a pleasant realization that you have come to see me to the odd sensation of making me unbearably randy,” Giles finished his speech right next to her ear.

Then he took a step back and grinned smugly at her. Buffy stared at him in shock.

“You, I, you,” she stuttered.

“You did want me to act like your boyfriend. I’m afraid that you will find that I am a terrible flirt, and under the right circumstances, I have quite a one track mind.”

“I am so gonna get rid of that smirk,” Buffy said threateningly.

“Really?” Giles taunted her even though he knew it was a mistake the instant his lips started to form the word.

Buffy grabbed a hold of his sweater and hauled him up against her. She slid her hand up his chest to the back of his neck and pulled his head down towards her own. Her lips attacked his, and soon Giles forgot that they were standing out in the middle of downtown Sunnydale. Fortunately, so did Buffy so they were both duly embarrassed when Grace tapped Buffy’s shoulder.

“Now that you have patched things up with Rupert, perhaps you would like to see the pictures of the family wedding dress?”

* * * * *

Buffy smiled politely as Grace showed her the photos of the heirloom wedding dress. It was beautiful. The silk was cut perfectly and Buffy had to admit that she would probably look stunning in it. Which, of course, brought up one very large question that needed to be answered.

“So, you wanna tell me why you’ve gone from hating me to offering me the family wedding dress? Not that I mind, but it seems like a pretty quick turnaround,” Buffy said as she sipped her tea.

Grace sighed. “If it eases your fear any, it has nothing to do with you. I can’t say that I like you anymore than when I first met you, but I dislike you less than I did. The truth is that I am doing this for Robert and Rupert as well. Robert was not at either George or Nancy’s weddings. He deserves to see one child happily married. As far as Rupert is concerned, I realized that he appears to be just as strange as you are.”

“Thanks,” Buffy said flatly.

“I was under the impression that you enjoyed bluntness in conversations,” Grace replied easily.

“You know, let’s just not go any farther down this road. I don’t really feel like fighting about this right now. Especially when Giles is in the kitchen eavesdropping.”

“I’m not eavesdropping. It isn’t my fault that my living room happens to be so close to the kitchen,” Giles’ voice floated out from the afore mentioned area.

“It doesn’t bother you that I can hear you as well?” Robert asked from Giles’ desk.

“Nope, only Giles. The rest of you, umm, Giles-es can be uncomfortable,” Buffy said glibly.

“And that, of course, in no way made the conversation awkward,” Giles said as he came out with a fresh pot of tea.

Buffy smiled sweetly at him and grabbed a cookie off of the tray he had set on the table earlier.

Giles ignored her and looked at the photo album. “You brought the family pictures?”

“Well, this was supposed to be a reunion, Rupert. I thought it might be nice to have it with. I suppose I thought that some of us might like to reminisce about the past,” Grace replied as she handed the book to her son.

“So, is there a picture of little Rupert in there?” Buffy asked as she tried to peek in the book while it passed in front of her.

“Yes, and before you ask, you cannot see it,” Giles replied.

Buffy pouted. “But I want to see it.”

“No,” Giles replied without even looking up.

“Rupert, I daresay that isn’t a very nice way to treat your fiancée. No wonder you fight so often,” Robert admonished.

“You should listen to your Dad. He’s an expert after all,” Buffy spoke quickly and then cringed, “That came out a bit too Coredlia-ish didn’t it?”

“Entirely,” Giles sighed as he handed over the book.

Grace helpfully pointed out the picture and Buffy stared at it. She looked over at Giles and then back at the picture.

“Don’t say anything. I beg it of you, I’m quite certain you don’t have a tweed joke left that I haven’t heard anyway.”

“But, but you’re like two, and you’re sitting with a handkerchief and a book,” Buffy said in awe.

“Rupert has always been rather buttoned up, so to speak,” Grace said with something almost akin to fondness in her voice.

“I’m not two. I’m one and a half, and if you tell Xander about this, I’ll tell Anya that you want to sleep with him.”

“Rupert! Surely you wouldn’t spread such lies about your betrothed!” Grace sounded shocked.

Buffy grinned, “Yeah. I’m totally mortified and discomforted, you should make it up to me with flowers, jewelry and much kissage. Oh, and more cookies.”

Giles dutifully grabbed the now empty plate and trudged to the kitchen. He returned shortly with more cookies.

“Buffy, don’t you have to go home and do whatever it is that takes women hours to do before they go out?” He said when he saw that his mother had helped Buffy find the rest of his childhood pictures.

“I thought you liked having me here,” Buffy tried to sound offended. It would have worked if not for the fact that she was grinning at the amount of blackmail material she now had.

A desperate look came over Giles’ face, and Buffy took pity on him. “Fine, I’ll go. Walk me to the door?”

Relief flooded his face, and he nodded at her request. They went to the door and Buffy grabbed his hand and pulled him outside with her.

“I need a goodbye kiss,” she explained.

He smiled and put a quick peck on her lips. She frowned at him.

“The sort of kiss you are going to ask for is much more conducive for saying ‘hello’ rather than ‘goodbye,’” he said before she opened her mouth.

“Spoilsport.”

“For not giving you what you want or for trying to get rid of you in the first place?”

“Both.”

“Well it can’t be helped. A man should never leave his girlfriend around his mother when they are feeling friendly and childhood remembrances are close at hand,” he paused for a second. “Why are you getting along with her?”

“I don’t know. I think it’s that love thing where you like the guy’s relatives because you’re in this haze. Then, you get married and realize that your mother-in-law hates you. It’s the way of the world.”

Giles chuckled softly and smiled at her, “I love the way you make me laugh.”

“Is that some sort of accidentally spoken sentence, or has Mr. Repressed suddenly found himself in touch with his inner woman?”

“Not at all, I just thought that you might enjoy the compliment.”

“Well, it is a step up from ‘Good job stabbing that vampire.’”

“I’m quite certain I never said that.”

“You’re right. You probably said that exact same thing with really big words and much glasses polishing.”

“Is it healthy to have a relationship where we insult each other so much?”

“You mean a relationship where I insult you, and you make witty sarcastic comments back? I think it adds spice to life. Besides, you like wordplay. All those wordy words just waiting to get rolled off of my tongue,” Buffy grinned cheekily to punctuate her sentence.

“I think you had better be on your way before I find something more productive to do with your tongue.”

“Promises, promises,” Buffy said as she turned and sashayed away. She just made it out of sight before breaking into a run. Giles was right. She did need to get home and make sure she was properly primped for that night.

* * * * *

Robert smiled as he watched Grace emerge from the bathroom later that night. The two of them had decided to change downstairs to allow their son the luxury of using his own dresser to get ready.

“You look magnificent,” he whispered.

“Thank you, dear,” Grace smiled.

“You know, I would never have thought that Rupert would be so forgiving,” Robert mentioned casually.

“I don’t understand,” Grace replied.

“Things haven’t gone well with Rupert, but today I don’t think I’ve ever seen him happier than when you were just talking with Buffy. It was almost like he just swept the entirety of his problems with us into a little corner and forgot about them.”

Grace nodded. “I’m a bit amazed at how that girl completely turns his life around. She is the one thing that doesn’t seem to fit, but the one thing he can’t live without. I would never have thought that quiet, book loving Rupert would fall in love with a girl like that.”

At that moment, Giles came bounding down the stairs in his jeans with his leather jacket tossed over his shoulders. “Mum, have you seen a small wooden box with a knife carved on the top of it?”

Grace stared at her son for a moment before responding, “Yes, I believe that you put it on your desk when you unpacked your luggage.”

Giles nodded his thanks and moved over to the desk. He found the box after moving a couple of books and flipped open the lid. He pulled out a small flask and stuck it in his pocket. Then he moved a few things around until he produced a small gold hoop. He quickly stuck it into his ear.

“Well then, I suppose we should be going if we don’t wish to be late. I’ll bring the car around.”

Grace looked at Robert. “When did he get an earring?”

Robert shifted uncomfortably. “Let’s just say that he had a bit of a period where the only book he looked at was a telephone book.”

“Oh, dear,” Grace said as they walked towards the door.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Robert mumbled.

* * * * *

George smiled proudly as the guests arrived. He had rented out a small meeting room at the hotel where they were staying. He had specially arranged for his boys to sit next to those nice young girls that Rupert seemed to know. How they managed to like his brother and the tart he was dating was beyond George, but they were very pretty, and his sons needed a pleasant distraction.

Arlene sat regally in her chair. She had specifically made certain that the food would be much better than what that Joyce woman had served. It irked her that Nancy had taken such a liking to Buffy’s mother when her sister-in-law had taken ages to warm up to her.

Willow and Tara were the first ones to arrive and had quietly sequestered themselves in their seats. They seemed such good friends with each other, and were very quiet and mannerly. Arlene quite approved of them.

Joyce arrived next with Nancy and Iris and her brat of a daughter, Buffy. Arlene could not have cared less, except for the fact that Buffy’s arrival kept Willow and Tara’s attention away from her boys.

Xander and Anya arrived next. Arlene was very perplexed by that couple. Normally a woman elbowed her boyfriend in order to get him to behave. It appeared that young Mr. Harris was desperately trying to keep Anya from talking to anyone, especially George.

Finally, Robert and Grace walked in. Arlene put on a smile and rose to meet them.

“I’m glad you made it,” she said pleasantly.

“Yes, so are we. We got caught behind a funeral procession. Rupert left us off at the door and went to park his car,” Robert explained.

“He didn’t have the valet park it?” George asked.

“Giles doesn’t like other people handling his tramp,” Buffy supplied from the place she had moved to so she could greet Giles when he came in.

Arlene’s eyebrow’s rose to her hairline. George coughed slightly. “I beg your pardon?”

“Giles. Does. Not. Like. Other. People. Driving. His. Car,” Buffy enunciated slowly.

“Of course I don’t. Heaven only knows what would happen to it if I let you drive it,” Giles said as he came in.

Buffy’s face lit up in her famous smile. “I like a man who takes orders,” she said as she appreciated his outfit.

“Really? Now I finally know what you saw in young Finn then,” Giles said as he grabbed her hand.

Buffy smiled some more and forgot for a moment that there was a room full of relatives and friends watching them. It just seemed natural to give Giles a kiss hello to make up for the one he did not give her to say good bye.

Joyce watched in horrified fascination. She leaned over to Xander. “Are you sure they’re just pretending?”

“I’m going to take a rain check on that question as this whole visual is getting placed in the ‘Not gonna think about it’ area of my brain.”

“Wow, do you think they’re using their tongues?” Anya asked in a much less horrified and more fascinated way.

“W..Willow said that they were acting funny in town today. Maybe they’re under a spell,” Tara whispered quietly.

“I’ve got to find out what spell,” Anya said. She turned around to look at the faces of the others. “After Willow undoes it, of course,” she tried to amend.

Buffy’s eyes flew open as she realized what it was that she was doing in front of her previously clueless family.

“Heh, sorry I got a little carried away,” she mumbled as she slipped back to her seat.

Dinner was served promptly and they ate in silence. Giles’ family was mostly shocked at his public display of affection. So was Buffy’s family for that matter.

Iris finally worked up the courage to talk to Tara, “So you believe in spells?” she whispered quietly.

“What? Spells? No spells here, only good clean American fun,” Willow tried desperately to lie for Giles’ sake.

“Oh, well I heard you mention a spell earlier. When Uncle Rupert was kissing Buffy,” Iris explained.

Tara blushed, “That, that was more of a, a… ”

“A euphemism for Viagra or, you know, other sexually enhancing drugs,” Willow tried to help her girlfriend out, “Because there is no such thing as magic or demons or fairy tale creatures that come to life and try to kill you.”

The quiet clattering of knives and forks stopped. The only sound that could be heard was the strangled noise coming from Giles that was either laughter or a plea for the earth to swallow him whole.

Anya glared at Xander, “And you said that you didn’t want me to make a scene.”

George was beginning to rethink his opinion of the redhead.

“Oh, demons,” Buffy said suddenly.

“Buffy, I don’t think that this is the time to have this discussion,” Giles said quietly.

Buffy rolled her eyes at him. “No,” she pointed her hand at the doorway, “Demons.”

Standing there were the group of demons that Buffy had fought the night she had realized she was in love with Giles.

* * * * *

“This is so not fair,” Buffy whined as the demons began to growl unintelligibly at the group.

“Define fair, ‘cause I’m thinking this is pretty good compared to some other parts of your life,” Xander whispered back.

Giles merely glared at them both. “I think that we need to focus on getting my family out of he