( RIPOSTE ][ A Watchergirls Archive )

__Rebuilding The Family__
By Escargoat

Giles gasped as Anya settled him gently on Buffy’s couch. His head was swimming, and he really was not sure if he could see straight. In the back of his mind, he tried to reason out whether is was just his eyesight that was blurry or if it was just a side affect from the powerful magics, but his concentration slipped, and he found he could not remember what he had been thinking about.

He could not remember much of anything. Where was he? Oh yes, Buffy’s house. Why was he there? Did Oz bring him? No, no Oz was no longer with them. Perhaps Buffy brought him.

Buffy, Buffy… Where was Buffy? Perhaps she was hurt. He had to protect her! Surely the Mayor would be out to destroy her after what she had done to Faith.

The front door opened and closed. The loud bang sent Rupert’s mind skittering off in another direction. A door. Jenny. Dear God, Jenny. He had to stop Angelus. He had to stop him before he hurt Buffy.

As Giles mind twisted and turned on him, Buffy took the cool cloth that Anya had wet and began to dab at Giles’ forehead.

“He’s been like this since I got him here. He seemed pretty coherent when we left the shop, but when I came back from the kitchen with the glass of water he asked for, he was mumbling in disjointed phrases. I think he’s concussed or in shock, or maybe both,” Anya explained rapidly.

Buffy softly wiped the blood off of his face. “If he’s concussed, he’s going to need to stay awake,” she turned to speak to Dawn who was standing in the doorway, “Dawn, go get the first aid kit and the other medical supplies we have.”

“Shouldn’t we take him to the hospital?” Dawn asked tentatively.

“No, I don’t think that he teleported his papers with him. And they aren’t going to be happy with a foreigner who entered the country illegally, even if he is British,” Anya supplied.

Buffy shook her head. “Anya’s right. Now go get that stuff. Anya? You help me get his shirt and jacket off. I need to see how his ribs are.”

“No, Buffy, come back,” Giles’ tortured voice whispered as Buffy and Anya began to undress him.

The two women shared a concerned look and Buffy awkwardly patted Giles’ arm. “I’m right here. Not going anywhere,” she whispered as tears threatened to start spilling out.

“I got the stuff,” Dawn announced as she came back into the room. Her blue eyes widened at the massive bruising on Giles’ now exposed torso.

“Did Willow do that?” she choked out in horror.

“She did, but she’s better now. Xander helped her,” Anya said in her own comforting way.

“It doesn’t matter right now. What we need to do is help Giles,” Buffy said brusquely as she grabbed the first aid kit from Dawn and began to clean and bandage the damage.

“What if he’s got internal bleeding?” Dawn said through tears that were flowing much more freely than her sister’s.

“Oh, I’m sure he doesn’t. I think it was the magic loss that was killing him,” Anya explained, “I’m sure he’ll be okay if he doesn’t go into a coma from all of the mystical powers that he was channeling and getting hit with and got sucked out of him.”

“But, but it’s Giles. Why would she want to hurt him like that?” Dawn whimpered, “I don’t understand.”

Buffy looked up from her work on Giles and looked at her sister, “I don’t think any of us understand right now, Dawn, but what I know is that Willow isn’t ending the world and that Xander is with her. Why don’t you go upstairs and get cleaned up? We’re going to have to keep Giles awake in case this is another concussion, and we might have to take turns doing it.”

Buffy turned quickly back to tending her watcher and Dawn turned and went up the stairs to do as her sister said.

Anya gestured towards the kitchen. “You guys are going to need to eat. I’ll go make something.”

Buffy nodded in acknowledgement and continued to clean Giles’ wounds while keeping an ear out to make certain he was still rambling under his breath instead of slipping into unconsciousness.

“Buffy,” his voice sounded so lost as he cried her name again.

“Why does the fact that delirious you thinks of me so much not comfort me?” Buffy responded as she wrapped cloth around his broken ribs.

Unfocused green eyes tried to look at her, “You’re so beautiful, standing on my doorstep,” he slurred as his left hand tried to touch her face.

Buffy gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Yup, you got me there. I’m really pretty,” she sniffled.

“I should never have let him touch you,” he responded.

Buffy shrugged and tried to continue the conversation, “He was Angel and you couldn’t stop me. Not really your fault.”

“Angel, oh my poor girl. What did he do? Did he hurt you?”

Buffy felt the tears begin to well up again. “Can you maybe ramble about something a little more uplifting? I’m tired of crying today.”

He laughed creepily, “I’m going to kill Ethan for what he did to my girl.”

Buffy’s nose wrinkled. “I said uplifting, not psycho killer creepy, ‘cause I’ve really had enough of the today to.”

“My Buffy, did I hurt you much? I only ever wanted to make you happy. I would have staked that nancy soldier boy if I’d known he’d make you cry. And him making it your fault. He should have realized that he’d been gifted to have such a treasure in his bed.”

Buffy stopped from where she was getting his shoes off to stare at his glazed over eyes.

Anya stepped into the room. “I’m making some of those frozen pizzas that were in your freezer. How are things going in here?”

“Aside from the fact that Giles is seriously disturbed when he isn’t lucid? Pretty good. I just sort of need to get his pants off…” Buffy trailed off as Giles began to giggle.

Anya looked at her former business partner then looked at Buffy. “I’m pretty sure I could grant you a vengeance wish against Willow if you want. It wouldn’t really be your fault then.”

Buffy shook her head. “I don’t think so. I just need some help. I’m thinking that the blood stain by his thigh isn’t someone else’s.”

Anya moved to help Buffy shuck Giles’ pants off. “Maybe we should move him to one of the bedrooms? I mean, it might be a little creepy to put him in Tara and Willow’s room, but he’d probably be more comfortable.”

“NO! I mean, I don’t think that having him in Willow and Tara’s room will help. We don’t know what kind of mojo Willow tried when Tara got shot, and I don’t want to hurt him more if some of this stuff is a reaction to those powers. We’ll put him in my room. I can sleep down here or in the other room.”

Anay nodded. “Good idea.”

The two of them grabbed the ailing watcher and carried him as gently as they could up the stairs. Thankfully, Dawn was taking a long shower to rid herself of the dirt she had picked up and did not have to witness the sight of a battered and delirious Giles being carried along the hallway.

* * * * *

A bleary eyed Buffy stumbled down the stairs the next afternoon to find Dawn making toast.

“Hey,” she greeted her little sister.

Dawn smiled, “Hey. Giles quit rambling this morning. Anya thinks he’s doing good, or at least that was what her demon friend that used to be a doctor said. Toast?”

Buffy frowned, “Is that why she wouldn’t let me in the room?”

“No, actually after we had to sedate you to get you to leave his side, we thought it would be best if we made you eat before you went back in to see him.”

Buffy blushed a little and began to nibble at the toast her sister offered her. “I’m sorry that I, well, you know.”

“Totally freaked out about being separated from the crazy British guy who was expressing really violent tendencies and telling very disturbing limericks?”

“He was telling limericks?” Buffy asked.

“Yeah, that was after the whole scene where Anya stabbed you with enough sedatives to knock out an elephant. They were pretty dirty to, the limericks, not the sedatives.”

“That was after he quit half singing every love song he knew and kept whining for his Slayer,” Anya said as she came into the kitchen.

“He was asking for me?” Buffy asked concernedly.

“Actually, it was more like piteously begging, I had to send Dawn away. I’ve heard men beg for a thousand years. I’m used to it,” Anay said as she grabbed a piece of toast.

“And you didn’t come get me?” Buffy demanded.

“You were kind of sedated Buffy,” Dawn reminded her.

“Is he alone up there right now?” Buffy glared accusingly at Anya.

“Oh, don’t worry. He’s unconscious, but he isn’t in a coma. He’s going to need a bath though, and I need to change my clothes, so I thought that maybe you should clean him after I had to clean up his vomit earlier.”

“He threw up? That isn’t good,” Buffy commented.

“But, he’s okay now. The doctor said that he just got over excited, and when he tried to stand up, he got all queasy,” Dawn hurriedly explained.

“I think I’d better go sit with him,” Buffy said as she slid off of her chair.

“Oh, the sponge bath instructions are on your nightstand,” Anya said as Buffy walked up the stairs. She turned and shrugged at Dawn. “I’d better get going. I’ll come see you later.” With that, she teleported out of the kitchen.

* * * * *

Buffy stared at the exposed body of Rupert Giles. An adult diaper was fitted snugly around his hips to prevent any accidents, but the rest of him was laid bare and bandaged before her. Nervously, she wrung out the sponge and started to clean his hand. With gentle strokes, she cleaned the back of it and then the palm. Slowly, she moved to clean his forearm before dipping the sponge back into the water.

When she reached his shoulder, a pleased murmur escaped his lips as she traced along his collarbone. She stilled for a second, but there were no further movements, so she continued with her duty.

It wasn’t until she was cleaning the cut he had received on the top of his left thigh that she became aware of a pair of eyes watching her. She looked up to see Giles’ green eyes actually focusing on the top of her head.

“You know, I’ve had dreams like this before, but they usually don’t hurt this much and I’m generally not wearing a nappy,” he grumbled.

Happy tears started tracking down Buffy’s face. “You’re awake! Awake, and not saying severely disturbing things.”

Giles managed the strength to raise one eyebrow. “Since when has any talk remotely related to my sex life not been severely disturbing to you?”

“Since you threatened to take off Riley’s penis and choke Spike with it,” Buffy said as her body gave an involuntary shudder.

Giles brow furrowed, “I don’t recall doing that.”

“You were kind of not right, last night, after we got you home,” Buffy explained as she moved to sit next to Giles.

A faint smile crossed Giles’ lips at the word home before he quickly looked away. “What other sorts of things did I say?”

Buffy shrugged, “It was all disjointed.”

Giles turned to glare accusingly at her, “You’re lying.”

“And you need to be recuperating your body, not your pride. Don’t worry. I’m not going to make a big deal about anything you said. It’s all past.”

“That might not be so,” Giles replied.

“Okay, care to explain that to the less than knowledge girl here?”

“My delusional state originated in the most part to the large amount of magical energy that Willow withdrew from me. I was in withdrawal so to speak. I could relapse a few more times.”

“You mean crazy, axe murdering Giles could reappear?” Buffy asked concernedly as her hand flew to Giles’ forehead.

“In essence…” Giles paused as Buffy’s hand went from laying against his head to gently smoothing out the creases in it, “Buffy, what are you doing?”

Buffy jerked her hand away quickly, “I was checking for a temperature. Or, I... well it always made me feel better when Mom touched my forehead when I was sick.”

Giles swallowed hard. Between the sponge bath and the sudden tenderness Buffy was showing, he was suddenly very glad that his entire body ached. Otherwise one specific part of his anatomy would be aching for an entirely different reason.

“Well, I suppose I better finish cleaning you up,” Buffy said in a falsely chipper tone.

Alarm crossed Giles’ features. “I’m sure that isn’t necessary.”

Buffy looked at him with her own personal glare. “Well, you’ve got four choices here. One you can stink and cause potential infections because you sure can’t clean yourself in this state. Two, I could mortify you and Dawn by having her clean you. Three, I could call Anya, and she could graphically tell everyone she knows about the experience. Or four, you can let me do it.”

Giles sighed and flopped back against the pillows. As much as he hated to admit it, he was barely able to sit up halfway at the moment, let alone do anything that required using both halves of his body at once.

“Good,” Buffy said brightly as she began to clean her Watcher again.

* * * * *

It was a little after three in the morning when Buffy was awakened by Giles’ voice. From the rising and falling timbre of it, she could guess that he had relapsed. With a quick movement, she grabbed her robe and walked down the hall to her room.

Anya looked entirely too grateful when Buffy walked into the room. “He tried to get up when you weren’t here,” she supplied when Buffy’s eyes latched onto the rope tying Giles’ hands to the headboard, “I was going to go get you, but I didn’t want him to try to follow me.”

Buffy merely nodded and sat down on the edge of the bead.

“Buffy,” he whimpered when he saw her but could not get his hands to her.

“I’m here Watcher Guy,” she whispered as she began to smooth out the worry lines in his forehead as she had earlier that same day.

“Buffy?” Dawn’s sleepy voice asked from the doorway.

Anya caught Buffy’s look and got up to deal with the younger Summers. “Giles is having a setback. You should wait in your room, where you can pretend to sleep so your sister doesn’t have to worry about exposing you to the insane British man.”

Dawn took a glance into the room to see a pair of glazed over green eyes darting around helplessly. She shook her head and forced herself to look away. She wanted to think of Giles as the man he had been that afternoon when Buffy had allowed her to come in and visit, not the deranged version laying there now.

“You’re right. I’ll go back to my room. Call me if things get really bad?”

Anya’s face became sympathetic, “Oh, don’t worry he isn’t going to die. But, I can curse Willow for you if you want.”

Dawn looked incredulously at Anya for a second. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’m pretty vengeance wished out.”

Anya shrugged and closed the bedroom door before she started to walk Dawn back to her own bedroom.

Meanwhile, Buffy had managed to calm Giles down enough that she decided to untie him. With gentle fingers, she began to undo the knots. It was a mistake.

The instant his hands were free, they clasped both sides of her face and hauled her in for a kiss.

Shock was quickly replaced with a flash of fear and then anger as Buffy pushed the hands away. It was only when she was halfway across the room did she realize that she had just reacted irrationally. Giles was nowhere near himself, and the kiss had not even been demanding, let alone violent. Definitely not violent enough to compare to Spike’s normal kisses. Plus, she was fairly certain that Giles was going to have a new bruise in the morning, and to top it off, he was crying.

“Hey, there. None of that now,” she tried to say soothingly as she awkwardly patted his arm.

Doleful green eyes stared up at her. “Teacher struck me.”

Buffy’s hand froze in place. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Giles…”

“Make him stop. I can’t help it that I’m not as smart as the other boys. I don’t want to be a Watcher. I’m no good at it at all,” he whimpered and then moaned in pain as his battered ribs protested when he tried to curl into a fetal position.

Buffy’s face went white. Oh, great. She was really wishing for the psychotic Ripper to come back at the moment. Him, she could deal with.

“Your, um, teacher is gone now… Rupert. He won’t hurt anyone anymore,” Buffy hesitated as she began to rub soothing circles on Giles’ back, “Why don’t you come out and talk to Buffy?” She said as she desperately tried to string together some half remembered ideas from psychology class.

“Buffy?” his voice seemed to hold a lighter tone.

“Yup, Buffy, the gorgeous porch step stander. Why don’t you talk about killing her boyfriends again?”

“My Slayer. It hurts to be apart from you. Oh Lord, why won’t you let me in?”

“Hey, sitting right here. Not that far apart.”

“I love you, so very much,” he whispered as he reached up to touch her cheek.

Buffy grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I know.” To her surprise, this upset him.

“No, no you don’t. I love you,” he whispered as forcefully as his parched throat and delusional mind would let him.

“Oh. Oh! Oh, Giles, you really need to quit talking when you’re incoherent. Next thing you know, you’re going to be giving me all of your internet passwords and credit card numbers,” Buffy fretted while she tried valiantly NOT to process what had just been told to her.

“I must not speak of it,” he agreed with her even though it was clear he didn’t understand what was going on. “It would upset her to know. You won’t tell Buffy, will you?”

“She won’t hear it from my lips,” Buffy hedged.

He nodded once and snuggled down against one of the pillows. Buffy stayed with him through the rest of the night, listening to his quiet ramblings.

* * * * *

Giles woke up with a sense of unease. Thoughts from the previous night tried to make their way through, but he could only remember the vaguest of impressions.

“Hey, you’re awake,” Dawn bubbled happily.

“So I am,” he responded as he pushed himself into a reclined sitting position.

“You did better, last night I mean. You were only crazy for a little while,” Dawn spoke to fill the silence.

He smiled slightly for her and then glanced about the room. “Where’s Buffy?”

“Showering, and don’t you ever think of anything else?”

He blushed slightly. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You’re like always talking about her when you’re not really here. I mean, it’s like ninety percent of everything you say has something to do with Buffy. It’s kinda creepy and really sweet at the same time.”

“Oh dear,” Giles said as he cast about for his glasses. “I knew I should have grabbed them when I left,” he groused when he realized that they were still sitting on a table top in England.

“Hey, it’s okay, I mean it isn’t like Buffy isn’t used to dealing with crazy people. Not that you’re crazy, or anything, just you know, not all there when you get all loopy.”

“Yes, thank you Dawn. I’m fairly certain that your sister has rubbed off on you. You’re starting to ramble.”

“Yeah, but at least I’m not as bad as Willow.” Dawn stopped and looked down at the floor embarrassed.

“It’s quite alright, you know,” Giles assured her.

Dawn shook her head. “Is she really Willow anymore? I mean, for the longest time I wasn’t sure that Buffy was Buffy, and now Willow?”

“We all make mistakes as we grow, Dawn. It is just that not all people have the large opportunities to do so that the, ah, ‘Scooby Gang’ has had.”

“Buffy told you about the kleptomania, huh?”

“Among other things.”

“She told you about what Spike did!” Dawn’s voice sounded very surprised.

“That she slept with him? Yes. We had a bit of a moment to talk before Willow broke the hold I had on her. I’m very sorry for what happened after I left, Dawn,” Giles apologized to the younger Summers.

Dawn waved a dismissive hand. “You’re here now, right? And I’m thinking that you really wouldn’t have been able to stop Spike from trying to, you know,” she trailed off with a little shudder.

Giles tilted his head to one side as he tried to grasp what exactly Dawn was trying to say. As his slightly muddled faculties tried to go over the way she had phrased things, she took his tilting head as an inquiry into what she had said.

“I mean, he’s a vampire, and you’re just a normal guy. I mean, you’re brave and everything, but I don’t think you could’ve stopped him from trying to rape her,” Dawn spit the words out quickly.

His eyes widened. “He tried to rape her?” he rasped out in what should have been an angry tone, but sounded far more like a mind who had been beaten senseless just a couple days earlier.

“Yeah, I thought you knew.”

“Buffy only told me that she’d been having relations with him. Although, we did not exactly have much time to discuss anything,” Giles again reached for his nonexistent glasses.

“Don’t be mad,” Dawn pleaded, “I’ve already done the mad bit with Buffy, and she’s trying to do better. Plus I think it kinda happened right before Tara, you know.”

“I’m not mad. I’m not even disappointed, really, I’m just sad. When Buffy came back from the dead, she had problems, and she did deal with them eventually. I had hoped that she would do better, but I can’t exactly judge her for her mistakes when I have Randall, Ethan, and Eyghon hanging over my head. I just had hoped that she would do better.”

“And that’s different from disappointed how?”

“Disappointed means that I expected her to do better. Sad just means that I hoped. I knew that I had to leave, but I also know Buffy well enough to know that she never makes life easy on herself, or the people around her. She’s a marvelous woman, but flawed that way. And if I know her as well as I think I do, she’s blaming herself for Spike’s actions.”

Just as Dawn was about to respond, Buffy poked a wet head through the door. “Sleeping Beauty’s awake,” she commented as she came in, flopped her butt down on the edge of the bed and placed her head on Giles’ forehead. “Dr. Buffy says you don’t have a fever,” she turned to look at Dawn, “And Sister Buffy says that you shouldn’t be in here unless you want to see Merry Olde England in all its glory.”

Dawn snorted. “You joining a nunnery?”

“Out, now,” Buffy commanded as she pushed her sister out the door and closed it behind her.

Giles shifted uncomfortably. “Buffy, you really don’t have to…”

“You are so getting bathed. Giles, I had to change your diaper last night. I think I can handle bathing you. Besides, you’ll start to smell. Until you can sway on your own two feet, I’m bathing you. I thought we covered this yesterday.”

“That was before,” he hesitated.

“Before Dawn told you about Spike? And don’t look surprised, I have Slayer hearing, and you guys didn’t even notice when I was standing right there with your bathwater.”

“I just don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“Yeah, well you should have thought about that before you kissed me,” Buffy snapped back defensively.

“What?” he asked although he was very certain that he didn’t want an answer.

“Last night, you kissed me. I think you thought I was Jenny,” Buffy lied.

“Oh.”

“I kind of shoved you away a bit roughly. I think I might have hurt you,” Buffy continued to talk.

“I’m fairly certain I’m not going to notice. I’m a bit sore all over. One more bruise isn’t going to make much difference.”

“Have I mentioned the whole sorry thing lately? I never meant for this to happen, it’s just that, I didn’t know what to do.”

“I don’t believe that. You’re so much better than all of this. And you know that you are. If I thought for a moment that whisking you away from here would have solved your problems, I would have done it.”

Buffy ignored him and began to wash his feet.

“Buffy,” his voiced quietly commanded her to look up at him.

“What, Giles? What do you want me to say? That I screwed up? ‘Cause I’m thinking you can get more than one witness to that.”

“No, I want you to say that you’re going to be Buffy again.”

“Who do you think I am?” she replied as she returned to her task.

“I think you’re trying to be someone you aren’t. I think you’re trying to be who Xander and Willow and Tara and Anya and even Spike wanted to you be. But you aren’t any of those things. You aren’t even what I want you to be. You are who you are, and as long as you are trying to meet their expectations, you won’t, because you can’t. You’ll be no better than that bloody robot. Almost but not quite you.”

She sniffled a bit. When she started paying a little bit too much attention to his toes, he pulled his foot out of her grasp. Instinctively, she glared up at him. He smiled back.

“Was that so hard?”

Buffy grabbed his other foot, “No, but it took me a long time to get there.”

“A fast turnaround was an unrealistic expectation of you. As was expecting you to run this house when you haven’t a college degree to get a job with.”

Buffy shrugged. “I had to learn somehow, and it wasn’t like Willow could afford someplace else when she was going through the whole magic addiction. Not afford and get the money legally anyway.”

“Still, I shouldn’t have left you with the entire mess. As I said earlier, even adults need help. Sometimes I think they need more than children do.”

“You mean kind of like the fact that you need to be bathed?”

“You would pick the single most embarrassing scenario, now wouldn’t you?” he teased good naturedly.

Buffy smiled a tiny smile in response.

They remained in silence for a while. Buffy meticulously washed Giles while he meticulously focused on jostling sore muscles to keep himself from reacting in an unseemly manner. It would do no good to have Buffy see him in such a condition after what Spike had tried to do to her. She would obviously need time to recuperate. And even more evident was the fact that once she was past what she had done with Spike, she would not be looking for the companionship of a middle aged, confirmed bachelor.

At that thought, Giles let a despairing little sigh.

Buffy looked up from her progress on his right hand. “You okay?”

“Yes, yes. Fine. I’m a bit mortified by the thought of you changing my, ah, diaper, but otherwise I’m fine.”

Buffy blushed. “Well I didn’t look. Not really. I mean more of a quick look to make sure every thing was clean, after I you know... No groping or ogling or taking naughty pictures to put on the internet.”

“Yes, well I’m feeling stronger today. Hopefully my brain will be able to handle the signals to move my body back tomorrow, and you’ll just need to assist me to the bathroom. In fact, I’m quite sure that I could clean certain areas by myself if you’d be so kind as to leave me with the wash basin.”

Buffy looked down at her hands and nodded. “If you need anything,” she began.

“I shall call for assistance immediately. I do appreciate the help, Buffy. But there are just some things that I would prefer to be able to do on my own.”

She nodded and quickly left, closing the door behind her. She stood outside his room listening to his occasional grunt when he obviously moved the wrong way. After about twenty minutes, she heard his noticeably weaker voice call her back in.

She poked her head in to see him reclining against the headboard. He looked a bit pale, but oddly comfortable.

“Before you make any crude comments, I assure you that I was no doing anything untoward whilst I was in here.”

Buffy shook her head. “I forgot how stuffy you can be. What with the whole showing up and saving the world with spiffy magic tricks and long, trendy jackets thing.”

“Trendy? Are you certain that you didn’t suffer more damage in the last fight? I was certain that you would never use that word to describe anything that I owned.”

Buffy poked him on the arm. “I’m being nice. Now, I’m going to go get new water so I can shampoo your hair. Try not to think up any new snarky comments while I’m gone.”

Giles merely nodded and watched her go. As much as he regretted certain decisions, he had to admit that Buffy had matured through her last ordeal. She still had the same teasing tone that she had always had, but she had not become unhinged at the idea of having to assist him. Then again, why should she? He was really nothing but an old man to her. One she could easily break in half should she so choose, and certainly extremely non-threatening as far as his sexuality was concerned.

“Ta-Da. Nice warm water and my secret stash of shampoo and conditioner,” Buffy interrupted his thoughts as she re-entered the room.

He looked inquisitively at the obviously brand name bottles. “Really, Buffy, I’m sure that my hair will be fine with whatever generic brand you normally use.”

“Nope. Not gonna work. You need serious herbal remedy after that fight. Believe me, I’ve been beat up lots, and there is nothing like a good foamy lather and soft, bouncy hair afterwards.”

With one look at her face, Giles consented. Soon he found himself rearranged on the bed so that Buffy had his head over the basin. Within seconds, he felt the warm water soak into his hair, wetting it down against his scalp. Then he felt her hands move away and quickly return to start working through his short strands.

Perhaps he should pretend to be infirmed a little longer, he mused as she worked up a lather.

“Like that?” she asked.

Giles eyes shot open from their half closed positions. “What?”

“You made a little humm-y noise,” she explained.

“I suppose it is rather relaxing,” he choked out as his face began to turn red.

“Good. You need to relax. And sleep, Anya’s doctor demon friend said so.”

“You had a demon look at me?”

“Well, it was going to be kind of hard to explain you to the nice ER nurses. Especially when you’re supposed to be in England.”

Giles said nothing in response, and Buffy continued to rub his scalp. It felt funny. She was used to scrubbing her own silky locks, but Giles’ hair felt totally different. It was shorter than she had ever worn her hair, except for maybe when she was a baby and didn’t have long hair… But beyond the length, the texture was different. It was a fine texture for the most part, but the patches where gray was beginning to set in were coarser. Idly, she wondered if her own hair was going to be coarse when it went gray. Then again, she probably wouldn’t live to know.

She covered her sigh by rinsing out the shampoo and applying the conditioner.

She saw Giles’ nose wrinkle. She said nothing. It wrinkled again, and she stifled her chuckle.

“Oh, now really Buffy. Must you make me smell like a bloody fruit?”

“It’s got vitamins, minerals and lots of hair care goodness to it. Your hair will thank you for it. Besides, who’s going to know that you smell like a tropical rainforest?”

“I’ve been in a tropical rainforest. It doesn’t smell like that.”

“Spoilsport. I suppose this means you aren’t going to let me moisturize you?”

She felt him tense underneath her hands. She almost kicked herself for saying that, but she had to know. His delusional mind had declared his love for her, but his tenseness proved that his rational mind really was in love with her. Or at least, he was still interested in her sexually. She wasn’t sure if he could love her after what she had done in the months since he had left.

“You’re being rather quiet. I would think you’d at least have a comment about the amount of gray hair I have,” Giles said after a moment.

“I’m just thinking. And gray looks good on guys. It makes them look distinguished.”

Giles simply snorted in response.

“Well it does. Women just look frumpy.”

“You only think that because you don’t want to have sex with a woman. There is nothing wrong with gray hair on a woman.”

“How do you know I’m not secretly gay?” Buffy said simply out of a need to get back into their comfortable pattern of arguing and away from her own thoughts.

“Because all of your romantic liaisons have been with men. Unless Xander was correct about you and Faith,” Giles let the sentence dangle waiting for her reaction.

“Hey, a little frisky dancing and synchronized slaying does not a lesbian make. You’re just horny that way.”

“Well, you must admit, the threesome potential is quite astounding. Assuming a normal man could survive having two slayers at once.”

“Giles!”

“You are the one who brought up your sexual orientation. Besides, aside from the fact that Faith became, evil as it were, I think that you would have made a very fetching gay couple.”

“Maybe you should put the Faith being evil thing back in there. I think that the whole sort of good, sort of bad thing might be my big attracting factor. Or maybe I just make them bad. Maybe I’m what drove Faith to be bad.”

“I would like to take this opportunity to say that Spike was evil and killing people long before you were born. You did not cause that, Buffy, it was already there.”

Buffy looked down as the eyes staring up at her. “When did you learn the new technique?”

“What new technique? If you recall, I used this technique to help you deal with Acathla. You just respond more quickly now.”

Buffy responded by rearranging him back into a normal position. She set the water aside and grabbed a towel. With a quick rub, she dried the excess moisture from his hair.

“I’m rather certain I could have done that myself.”

“Yeah, but I wanted to take care of you.”

“In that case, you could have given me a shave.”

“I didn’t want to take that much care of you,” she replied as she turned around to put the towel down next to the basin. When she turned back around, Giles was sleeping. With a soft smile, she began to move out of the room. After a second, she moved back and placed a chaste kiss on his forehead.

“Pleasant dreams,” she whispered before leaving.

* * * * *

The next days went slowly. Buffy, with the help of Dawn and sometimes Anya, nursed Giles back into his former irascible state. To say the least, he was extremely pleased when he was able to bathe and use the facilities without Buffy’s assistance.

The tiredness and lack of muscle control that the magic withdrawal had caused were gone, leaving only the physical remnants of the fight. The various cuts and bruises had darkened considerably and his body was an interesting array of colors.

A week after the fight, he finally broached the subject of Willow with Buffy. “I really should go and see her,” he commented almost off handedly over breakfast.

Buffy froze. “Willow?”

“Yes.”

“Giles! You can’t! I mean, look at you. You’re not doing well, and I can’t risk your health.”

“Buffy, I’ll be fine. Willow needs more help than I do right now, and I’m sure that she is not going to threaten me.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. I mean, yeah, Willow did some way bad stuff, but you were hurt pretty bad there Giles. And you still need support to walk anywhere. I just don’t want you to get worse instead of better.”

“And while I appreciate your concern, I cannot allow Willow to simply fester in her self loathing over at Xander’s while I’m here.”

“Why not? It was good enough for me,” Buffy shot back without thinking.

Giles flinched slightly, and Buffy hasted to apologize, “I’m sorry, Giles. I didn’t mean that. You know that I want Willow better. I just don’t, I don’t…”

“You don’t understand why I’m treating Willow differently?”

“Actually, I don’t want to see you get hurt. And also, I don’t know why I didn’t try ending the world. Obviously I would have gotten a couple people to hold my hand and probably would have gotten me a trip to England instead of a life sentence at the Hellmouth. And I know it’s selfish of me, ‘cause I really do want to do whatever it takes to help make Will better, but why did I get punished Giles? Why did I get punished for something that wasn’t my fault? And why do I get dumped on because I couldn’t handle it and went looking for some comfort in the wrong place?”

“What do you want me to say? I can’t deny that I made some wrong choices, but surely you see that you’re a different person than Willow is. You’ve always been two completely different personalities, and that merits two different techniques. Also, you’re more of an adult than Willow is. None of your friends have had to raise a child, and none of them have had to support that child. And I’m afraid that your Calling alone will always make you grow up faster than your peers.”

“Great, just one more perk to look forward to,” Buffy muttered as she turned back to the pancakes she was making.

“Buffy, I’m sorry, you know that if I could change…”

“Change the fact that my friends dragged me back to life, you would? I know that. In fact it’s probably the only reason I didn’t hate you after you left. I mean, I really tried to hate you, but I was pretty much just hurt.”

“I wouldn’t have blamed you if you did. For all my beliefs about your adulthood, not even I can make it alone anymore. Do you know what I’ve been doing in England?”

“Making friends and hanging around a bunch of witches in Devon?”

“Reading books. And the Coven is a way to keep myself busy. The most meaningful relationship I’ve had was buying a horse. I seem to be unable to relate to normal people anymore. You all have ruined me.”

“You think I’m strange?”

“Yes,” Dawn responded for him as she walked into the kitchen.

“Did you use up all of the hot water?” Buffy accused more than asked her sister.

“No.” Dawn replied as she settled herself down on the stool next to Giles. “Hey, you can keep yourself upright on the stools now.”

“Yes, it’s a miracle,” Giles deadpanned as his gaze continued to linger on Buffy.

“So, what’re you guys fighting about?” Dawn asked bluntly as she forked a couple of pancakes onto her plate.

“We aren’t fighting. Who said we’re fighting?” Buffy responded while adding emphasis to her sentence by waving her spatula.

“The whole tension thing when I walked into the room. You guys are so fighting.”

“Dawn, while I appreciate your concern…”

“Willow. We were fighting about Willow. Giles wants to go see her when he can barely stand, and then he’s going to take her on a nice vacation to England.”

“Oh, now Buffy. Don’t be petty. You don’t need to drag Dawn into this.”

“Giles, she’s already a part of this, and you know that whole me being a grownup thing? Well this is part of that. I promised Dawn that there weren’t going to be secrets. So there aren’t.”

“Just the same, she doesn’t need to be subjected to our pointless bickering. I’m going to see Willow whether you like it or not.”

“Well, I don’t like it. And I want you to know that. Look at yourself, Giles you can barely sit there are argue with me, and last I checked, I haven’t tried to kill you lately. Do you really think that you’re up to talking to Willow?”

“That isn’t the point. She needs me, and I’ll be damned if I make another foolish mistake with one of the few people I still care about in this world.”

Buffy turned back to flip now almost burnt pancakes. “Fine, but if I think you’re too weak for one moment, we are coming straight home,” she finally said after wiping away a few tears.

“I want to go too,” Dawn spoke softly.

“Are you sure about that?” Giles queried.

“Willow’s my friend. Even if I don’t see her, I think that I should at least be there. Even if it’s just for Xander.”

“I’m not sure that it would be a good idea,” Giles responded.

“If you get to go, Dawn gets to go. I’m her guardian. And advocating her not dealing with this? Well let’s just say I’ve done the whole not dealing thing well enough for the both of us,” Buffy said as she plopped the suspiciously dark brown pancakes down in front of Giles. “Would you like some butter with those?”

* * * * *

Xander had rings around his eyes when he answered the door. “Hey guys,” he welcomed them without any of his normal enthusiasm.

“Xander,” Giles greeted him in return as the small group came into the apartment.

Xander eyed Giles’ grip on Buffy’s shoulders apprehensively. Dawn caught his eye and shook her head ‘no.’

“Giles needs to talk to Willow. She in your bedroom?” Buffy went straight to business.

“Yeah, she’s not exactly into the whole getting out of bed thing yet.”

Buffy bit back any comment she could have made and helped Giles into Xander’s bedroom. The curtains were pulled mostly shut and Willow sat in the middle of the bed with the covers pulled up protectively around her. She looked so different from the last time that Buffy had seen her that Buffy’s first reaction was to go over and hug Willow and cry with her. But Buffy was not there to help Willow. She was there to support Giles, so she settled him down on the bed next to Willow and quietly left.

When she came back out of the room, Xander was handing Dawn a cup of cocoa.

“Hey, Xander,” Buffy said quietly as she slid onto the couch next to her sister.

“Hey, Buff. You missed the big excitement with the microwaving of the water and the instant chocolatey goodness,” he joked with none of his usual enthusiasm.

“No thanks, I’m on a diet. I think that if I eat something that doesn’t come from the Doublemeat Palace that I’m off of it.”

“You know, if I were you, I think I’d try a different diet. And coming from me? I think that says a lot.”

“I’m glad you’re so thoughtful, but I’m more concerned about Giles right now. He’s not exactly stable if you didn’t notice.”

“Yeah, between Giles and his rickety old man routine and Willow and her rickety old brain, I’m thinking we’ve got unstable covered in there.”

“Yeah, well Giles wasn’t exactly into the whole mentally stable thing himself for a while there,” Buffy replied with an anxious glance at the door to the bedroom.

“What?”

“Giles, was kinda out of it for a while after Willow, you know, sucked the magic out of him? Buffy had to sit up with him a couple of nights until the ranting went away,” Dawn explained.

“Oh, God. Should he be in there right now?”

“He’s Giles. He needs to do this. He doesn’t want to lose us Xander. This is his way of helping us put ‘us’ back together. I think that we need to give him the chance,” Buffy explained.

“Plus, Buffy already had a big fight with him about coming over here,” Dawn added.

“It wasn’t big. It was medium or a small. It was barely even a fight, more of a disagreement.”

“There was pouting, glaring, and stony silence. It was totally a fight. Except, no kissing and making up afterwards,” Dawn said as she looked to Xander for support.

“Be thankful for small miracles. I’m pretty sure the kissing thing would be a good sign of another apocalypse,” he replied with a half smile.

Buffy shifted uncomfortably.

“Ah, I’m sorry Buff, I forgot about the whole bathroom deal.”

“It’s not that,” Buffy said hesitantly.

“Bathroom deal? What bathroom deal?” Dawn asked.

“Well, you know the whole cleaning toilets thing,” Xander tried to cover.

“Dawn, when Spike tried to, when he, that is, he kinda tried it in the bathroom,” Buffy spoke softly.

“The bathroom? Our bathroom? Man, this knowing stuff is hard. Not that I want you to stop, ‘cause knowing is a lot better, just. Wow,” Dawn trailed off as she stared into her cup of hot chocolate.

“Yeah, welcome to adulthood,” her sister murmured.

“Buffy,” Giles voice suddenly called out from the other room.

In seconds, she was exploding through the door to Xander’s bedroom. She stopped as she entered. Willow lay sobbing in the center of the bed. Sparks were floating off of her, and Giles looked positively sick.

Xander and Dawn entered behind Buffy.

“What happened?” Xander asked in a rough tone that was a mixture of terror, concern and anger.

“It isn’t Willow’s fault. We just had a bit of an accident,” Giles assured them.

Buffy eyed him speculatively. “Okay, I think we’d better get you back home. Xand, you going to be okay taking care of Willow by yourself?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Buffy walked over to Giles and with Dawn’s help got him to lean against her. “If you need anything, you call Dawn or me or even Anya if we can’t come.

“I’m pretty sure I’ll be okay. Willow’s pretty good by herself when I have to go to work,” Xander said with an uneasy glance at the girl in the bed. She did not even look up at the sound of her name.

Buffy nodded and started moving herself and Giles towards out of the bedroom. Xander and Dawn filtered out after her closing the door behind them.

Instead of going straight out of the apartment, Buffy turned to Xander. “Look, when Willow gets out of her catatonic state in there? Tell her Dawn and I said goodbye. And tell her that if she needs anything she can call or send you over to get it.”

“Will do,” Xander whispered softly before he bade them goodbye.

* * * * *

Buffy glared wholeheartedly at Giles as he slumped down onto her bed.

“Ill be fine, Buffy. Willow needs me, Buffy. Why don’t you let me go get killed, Buffy?” she growled in a bad English accent as she yanked his boots off.

“You’re acting irrationally,” he whispered in self-defense.

“No, I’m acting rationally. You’re the one trying to get yourself killed,” Buffy bit back at him.

“Well, heaven forbid I argue with you over that. You do know what you’re talking about. The reigning queen of getting herself killed. Going to go for third time’s a charm?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Buffy snapped at him as she put her hands on her hips.

“What do you think it means?” he half snarled, half wheezed.

“Saving the world is my job, Giles. Dying to protect it is my job. And you know what? Dying to protect the innocent, also my job. Dawn was innocent. I’m not going to apologize about my decision.”

“Then don’t expect me to! Damn it all Buffy Summers! Don’t you understand that I’ve got a job too?”

“Yes, I do, last time I checked it said “Watcher” not “Slayer” so quit trying to die on me!”

“Well, you quit trying to leave me then!”

“Leave you? Leave you? I think you’re forgetting how this went. You left me.”

“You left me long before I ever set foot on that airplane back to England.”

“Well, maybe if you were a bit more honest, I would have trusted you more. Or do you want me to still pretend that I don’t know what happened to Ben?”

Buffy gasped in unison with Giles. She had not meant for that to slip out. It just did. She was so angry with him. She was so scared that he was going to leave her, so scared he was going to die on her that she was not watching what her tongue was doing.

“You knew?” he rasped out.

“Of course I knew. Ben’s gone. There’s no sign of Glory or her minions. He’s got to be dead, and I didn’t kill him. Spike couldn’t kill him because of the chip, and Anya would have told me if she killed him. Tara and Xander wouldn’t have been able to handle killing him, and you see how well Willow is handling killing Warren. And Dawn can barely kill a mouse without a major guilt trip. You’re the only other person that was there, and you’re the only person I know that’s cold enough to do it.”

“It had to be done.”

“Well, you notice that I’m not calling the police to come arrest you. It just kind of hurt that you didn’t think I’d notice. Maybe you were right, maybe with how I was coping when I came back, I shouldn’t have noticed. But I did. When you’re sitting there trying to think of something that doesn’t hurt, you get really introspective and start to think about anything that doesn’t really need to be thought about. I knew you killed Ben the day you came back from England. I just didn’t care then.”

“And now?”

“Now, I still don’t care. I mean, I can’t exactly say you were wrong I doing it, and I can’t say that I’m thrilled that you took a human life. I don’t know what to think about you anymore.”

Buffy slumped down on the bed next to Giles.

“Well, I’m very handsome for my age,” he said after a few minutes.

Buffy rolled her eyes and turned to look at him. “You want me to think about how you look.”

“Well, it’s a starting point. You think about my ruggedly handsome features, and I’ll think about your hideous fashion sense.”

“Hey, no fair, you’ve got way worse clothes sense than I do.”

“I thought you said I was trendy.”

“Well, yeah, but your taste in sweaters? Uber bad.”

He smiled slightly in response.

“So, you wanna tell me what happened with Willow?” Buffy said after a few moments.

“It wasn’t her fault. We were talking. I went to hug her. When I did, my energies tried to pull out of her and back into me.”

“I’m guessing she won the tug of war?”

“Yes. It really wasn’t her fault. We had to stop the arcing before something worse happened. She stopped it, but it left me rather drained.”

“So you’re going to be visiting the nut farm later on?”

“No, I’m just drained. It took me a long while to regain my strength.”

“Can you take mine? I mean, I’ve got plenty to spread around.”

“No, no. I couldn’t ask that of you. To take part of your energy from you, it would be too intimate of an act.”

“Giles, you and me and Willow: one of us needs help, one of us needs more help, and one of us is a basket case. Seems how I’m not exactly good with the whole counseling magic addicts thing, I’m guessing that you need to get up to speed here.”

“I couldn’t.” Giles did not get to finish the sentence as Buffy put her fingers over his lips.

“What are you afraid of?” she asked quietly, “Are you afraid I might find out about this?” She replaced her fingers with her lips for a chaste kiss.

When she moved back, he was blushing furiously and staring intently at the bedspread.

“You said that I thought you were Jenny,” he said reproachfully.

“Yeah, well I lied. Remember what Dawn told you about how much you rambled about me?”

“I’m so sorry, Buffy. My feelings aren’t what…”

Buffy placed her fingers back over his mouth.

“I know that you don’t feel that way anymore, Giles. I can’t blame you. It’s probably better for you that you don’t feel that way anymore. Just don’t hold it against me that I wish I had known, back when I had a chance. Back when I could have been something special to someone special. God, why do I always mess things up with the breathing ones?”

Her fingers trailed away from his mouth as he tilted his head in confusion. She began to pull her hand back towards herself when his larger one clamped around it loosely. With a gentle tug, he brought her hand back to his lips and brushed a kiss across her knuckles.

“Parker was a pillock long before you met him, and Riley wanted you to be something that you were not ready to be.”

She sniffled slightly. “And you?”

“I’m a terribly dirty, old man with more baggage than you have. You don’t want me, Buffy. I want you to have so much more.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing that you’ve moved on then. ‘Cause I think my jumbled feelings inside are too close to being in love with you,” she cried mournfully.

His hand dropped hers and reached out to wipe away the tears tracking down her cheeks.

“Shhh,” he whispered, “You’re just upset about what happened earlier.”

“No, no I’m not. Don’t you know hard it’s been for me to live without you?”

“I know, and once a little time has passed, you’ll see that this is all just a way of dealing with your emotions about the entire mess of this last year. You don’t love me that way, Buffy.”

“And you were around to find out? Of course this is about the last year, Giles. Who do you think I was thinking about when I started having my affair with Spike?”

“Oh dear Lord, you mean that, don’t you?”

“Yeah, well not so good at the lying thing when I’m not being a stony assed bitch. And I’m really sorry about giving you that particularly wigsome thought about Spike.”

She pushed herself up into a seated position and wiped away the remaining tears.

“I should probably go,” she said after a couple of good sniffles.

“Don’t go. I can’t follow you,” he pleaded quietly.

“I don’t understand.”

“Stay here, with me. I can’t bear to be apart from you for long. I’m much too needy at the moment, and I’d like to pretend, even for a little while, that you meant what you just said.”

“But, you said…”

“What I was saying was that my feelings are not what they should be. They are highly inappropriate for our relationship. But I can’t help wanting.”

Buffy nodded and lay back down beside him. He gently tugged her into his arms and rested his head on top of hers. Lulled by the sound of each other’s breathing, they fell asleep.

* * * * *

Buffy woke to the sound of Giles’ voice and the feel of his hand nudging her.

“What?” she asked blearily.

“I need to use the loo, and I’m not quite steady enough to make it there by myself.”

She quickly scrambled off the bed and helped him to his feet. Together, they staggered down the hallway to the bathroom. Dawn was on the floor, scrubbing it by hand with a bleach based bathroom cleaner.

“Dawn?” Buffy asked.

“I didn’t wake you guys, did I? I mean, I thought you were sleeping, and it just seemed wrong that, well Anya and I scrubbed to blood out of the carpet from Tara; it just didn’t seem right that we hadn’t, you know, scrubbed in here.”

“What happened in the bathroom?” Giles queried.

“Dawn, Giles needs to pee, do you think that you could maybe go scrub elsewhere for a bit?”

Dawn nodded and practically bolted from the room. Buffy guided Giles over to the toilet after closing the door behind them.

“Buffy, what happened?”

“Don’t you need to go? I’m not cleaning up after you.”

“Buffy,” he commanded sternly.

“Spike,” she answered tersely.

“Ah, would you like to wait outside then?”

“Giles, Spike tried to kill me lots of times. I slept with him. I’ve done terrible sexual things with him, and yeah the bathroom gives me a bit of a wiggins on occasion now. But so does my Mom’s old bedroom. And the couch in the living room? Major issues there. That doesn’t mean I’m never going in that room or sitting on that couch again. Pee, and do yourself a favor and sit down while you do it. I don’t think I’m going to let Dawn back in here to scrub.”

* * * * *

Dawn sat silently as she watched the television. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Buffy come into the room seconds before she felt the couch depress next to her.

“How’s Giles?” she asked.

“Better. He’s sleeping. Look, Dawn, I know that I haven’t exactly been accessible lately.”

“What, no, Buffy you’ve got to take care of Giles, I get that. Contrary to popular opinion, I’m not a total brat.”

“Dawn, the thing with Spike. You can’t make it better by scrubbing the bathroom anymore than you can bring back Tara by getting new carpeting.”

“I know that, it’s just. I trusted him, you know? I trusted him, and he did those awful things to you. And I just feel so guilty.”

“Dawn, the things I did with Spike, they were wrong. On his part and even on my part, but you didn’t know not to trust him. I let you think he was safe. I thought he was safe, or at least not able to really do anything. I should have told you.”

“But Buffy, isn’t that just an excuse? I mean, sure you should have told all of us what was going on, and you didn’t, and that was bad. But isn’t that like any other woman saying she deserved to be raped because she was a bad person and needed to be punished?”

Buffy shook her head. “Maybe you’re right about that, but I still should have told you.”

“Fair enough. You were wrong, but he was more wrong. And maybe I went a little overboard with the cleaning, but I just felt so useless.”

Buffy unceremoniously pulled her sister into a hug.

“It’s just linoleum, Buffy,” Dawn quipped when her sister began to cry as well as hug.

“I know, it’s just, for a second, I remembered how things used to be, with Mom. She used to do silly things because she didn’t know what else to do,” Buffy said as she pulled away.

Dawn sniffled herself. “You mean back when things were safe? Like when Giles was here?”

Buffy shook her head. “Giles is different from Mom.”

“Don’t see how, he’s like always taking care of us. I think he’s been more of a dad to Xander than his real dad.”

Buffy looked down at her hands. “It’s different. If Dad came in that door right now, he’d still be Dad. If Xander’s dad remembered that he still had a son, he’d still be Xander’s dad. Giles is our Watcher. He’s my Watcher. It’s different. He’s Giles.”

“Buffy? Are you okay? With Giles, I mean. You’ve been acting kind of strange. One moment you’re all protective of him and the next you’re all angry at him, and then you’re all angry at him because he won’t let you protect him.”

She chuckled without mirth. “No, I’m not okay with Giles. I don’t know which way is up with him anymore, and the scary part is that I think he feels the same way. Don’t grow up, Dawnie, it hurts too much.”

“I don’t think I get that choice. Oh, unless Peter Pan is real and there is a Neverland. Only, I suppose it would be full of vampire children and Captain Hook would actually be the good guy.”

Buffy raised an eyebrow. “I have a morbid sister.”

“Buffy, what are we going to do about money? I’m guessing you kind of don’t have a job anymore with the not showing up to work because you’re taking care of Giles.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure that Giles will give us some money. The Magic Box had to be insured and everything. I can ask Dad for a little extra, or I’ll just call his new secretary and ask her for a check. She usually writes them anyway. And I’ll try to get a job as soon as Giles is back on his feet and off to England. I guess. Maybe I could ask Xander for a little loan? He probably doesn’t need that nest egg money right now, and I’m sure I could pay him back, or you can when you get a job and pay off my next funeral.”

Dawn’s eyes widened. “And you just called me morbid?”

“Did the part about the funeral come out?” Buffy asked guiltily.

Dawn just looked at her in response.

“I’m sorry it’s just that apocalyptic things make me think about dying, again. Plus Giles and I had a fight about me dying, again.”

Dawn sighed. “You really don’t want him to leave, do you?”

“I don’t get a choice. I never get a choice. Willow needs help, and she can’t get it in Sunnydale. I can’t ask him to stay.”

“Why not? How come we can’t get what we want for once? I mean, how come all you ever get for saving the world is a crummy fast food job? Life sucks.”

“Actually, I think life is just really bad. Vampires, they suck, and they’re sorta dead.”

Dawn shook her head. “You’re a doof.”

“Well, you’re a brat, and you eat strange things.”

“Only because you bring them home.”

“No fair, you know I can’t defend the Double Meat burger.”

“That’s what makes me the crafty sister.”

“No, that is what makes you the brat.”

Dawn smiled. “Buffy? We’re really going to be okay, aren’t we. I mean, I didn’t think so before. So much bad stuff has happened, but we’re going to be okay.”

Buffy nodded. “Well be okay. Maybe not super or as good as we want, but we’ll be okay.”

* * * * *

Giles looked up from the game of Scrabble he was playing with Dawn. It was a pointless exercise, really. They both knew that he would win, but it was supposed to be a distraction from the fact that Buffy had left the house. She had gone off somewhere with Anya, and had evaded telling Giles where she was going by simply walking out of the room. When he had tried to follow her, she had sent Dawn upstairs to keep him in bed.

That had been over four hours ago. His eyes glanced at the clock, Make that four and a half hours ago.

The front door slammed open. Soon, the sound of Buffy’s footsteps were heard trudging up the steps and down the hallway.

She walked into the bedroom, her hair and clothes covered in dirt. Nervously she glanced at the Scrabble set.

“Isn’t that really, really unfair?”

“Where were you?” Giles bluntly asked.

“Well, hello to you too,” Buffy answered as she unbuttoned her jacket and made a shooing gesture at Dawn. She sat down in the chair that her sister vacated and played with the unfortunate ‘X’ that Dawn had gotten.

“I was out with Anya. We got rid of the temple that Willow raised.”

Giles eyebrows made a desperate attempt to mold with his hairline. “You what?”

“I took a sledge hammer to it. Xander lent it to me from his work site. Anya helped out with some of the bad mojo deflection,” she explained as her eyes continued to look at the small game piece in her hand.

“Do you realize the kind of danger that you just put yourself in?”

“Not really, and I didn’t want to know. That thing couldn’t just be left out there, Giles. And I knew that you would be upset with me if I told you.”

“So you just didn’t tell me?”

Buffy looked up at him. Her eyes held no remorse or shame. Instead they held boundless worry hidden behind what looked like fierce determination. “You would have wanted to go along. You and I both know that I’m the one that needed to take that thing down. You would have eventually agreed that this is what I needed to do. I just couldn’t risk the fact that you would have come with. I can’t lose you, not like that. And I know that it’s selfish of me, but if I’m going to lose you, then I want it to be to Willow. I want to be able to see you off to that plane and come home and cry my heart out and still know that I can hear your voice if I can afford the long distance charges. And I’m not going to apologize for that. I don’t get what I want in my life. I probably never will, but I can make sure that it is at least bearable.”

“You’re a silly and irrational girl. I’m not worth all this agony. I’m good for certain things, indispensable even, but don’t go breaking your heart over me. I’m not worth it.”

Buffy glared at him. “Why do men always think that they need to tell me what I need or want or feel in my relationships? If you aren’t going to let me love you, then I don’t think that you get to dictate how I feel about it.”

“I’m sorry, Buffy, that isn’t what I meant. I just…”

“Have the self-esteem of a slug? Think you’re a dirty pervert? Want to rip off all my clothes and screw me senseless?”

“Yes,” he bit out angrily and then looked away. “You don’t know what I’m like, not really.”

“No, the person who doesn’t know you is you. I might not know all about your past sins, Rupert Giles, but I do know that I’ve never seen you be anything but the bravest man I know. You were brave enough to walk away.”

“I rather think that should be filed under rampant stupidity.”

“That too. Sometimes being brave means being stupid, and don’t argue with me on that, I’ve got lots of experience on both words.”

“Buffy, I can’t give you what you want, what I want. But I can’t seem to let go.”

“Then don’t. Don’t do anything. Giles, you have to go back to England. I get that now. I need Willow to at least have the chance of coming back to us, and she isn’t just going to snap out of it here. And I can’t follow you there. I’ve got a Hellmouth to guard. Now is too soon. For me, for you – I can’t get over you leaving, not yet. I know you did it for the right reasons, but it still hurt. Plus the thing with Spike is whole big issue that’s gonna take some time to heal.”

“What do you suggest we do then?”

“Talk. I figure most of a continent and a whole ocean between us more than covers that whole ‘I need some room’ thing. They do have phones in England, or so I’ve heard.”

“Yes, fancy that, I heard they have them in America too.”

“Point taken. I’m just saying that if I don’t know you all that well, maybe you should let me get to know you that well. And I’m hoping by then you won’t be quite as fragile and needy. Actually, I’m kind of hoping that I won’t be fragile and needy by then either.”

“It sounds like a good plan.”

“I’m glad you think so because Anya pulled some strings, and you’ve got a flight tomorrow afternoon.”

“What? I’m in no condition to fly, and Willow…”

“Willow will be fine. Xander himself said that she’s really docile most of the time. You, sir, are going to get a Slayer sized pick-me-up, and no complaining. If you can swap magics with a bunch of strange coven members, then you can take a little from me.”

Giles shook his head. “When did you become so pushy?”

“I’ve always been pushy. You’ve just forgotten how to deal with me,” she responded as she knelt next to him on the bed.

With a sigh, he grabbed her hands in his own. “This might feel strange.”

“I’m a big girl, I can handle it.”

“I’m sure you can,” he replied a second before he began to pull energy from her.

For a split second he felt an odd sense of euphoria as he was connected with her. It wasn’t like a part of him had been missing, but more like a part of him had always been plain, and she had decorated it.

That sensation was quickly wiped away by the mad power rush that followed their hesitant joining. It was wild and untamed, and it was making him randy as hell. Suddenly he believed the old wives tales that floated around the Council about the depth of the Slayer’s power. It had often been said that a Slayer lived such a short life because of her inability to live with the immense power she was gifted with. He had always called such rumors absolute rubbish, but he was beginning to wonder if there was not some element of truth to them.

He yanked his hands away with a gasp. Buffy shook her head slightly.

“Is that it?”

Giles looked at her incredulously. Was that it? He felt better than he had in years, and she didn’t even appear to be tired.

“Yes, quite,” he managed to choke out.

“I guess I better go help Dawn with supper then.”

Buffy got up to leave the room. She hesitated and turned around. Decisively, she grabbed his face between her hands and kissed him.

“That was incredible,” she whispered against his lips before she left.

* * * * *

A few months had passed since Buffy had gone with Giles to the airport to send him back to England, and it seemed like an eternity.

Buffy had known what it felt like to be left behind. She knew what it was to be dumped, but never in her life had she known the pure torture of being separated from someone she loved like she was separated from Giles.

Perhaps that was why she had suddenly lost her reservations about their relationship. Maybe when she realized how terrible being away from him made her feel, she knew that she needed to have him back.

When he had been gone before, she had been in too much pain to really realize why anything hurt. It was all so terribly complicated. Now, it wasn’t. Or it was still complicated, but she knew what the end of the story was going to be. She just had to figure out a way to get there.

Luckily, Giles seemed to have come to the same conclusion. Now, if only she could get the others to help out…

Alone in her bedroom, she dialed the number she now knew better than her own. It rang three times. Then, the other end picked up.

“Buffy?” a soft and sultry voice murmured groggily.

“Who else would be calling you at four in the morning?”

“Mmmm, my dry cleaner? I think he has a crush on me.”

“Do I need to come over there and hit him?”

“He’s not my type,” Giles purred into the phone.

Buffy giggled nervously. “Remind me not to wake you up like this.”

“Why? Does the thought of me all alone in my bed with nothing but a phone for company disturb you?”

“Giles!” she squeaked in response. “If this starts turning into one of those phone calls, I am so hanging up on you.”

“You don’t want to know what I’m wearing then?”

“Not until I have a memory of the real thing to compare it with.”

“I could send you a photo.”

“Or you could dip your family jewels in wax and send me the mold.”

An exasperated sigh filtering through the line told Buffy that she had won. “You do vex me sometimes.”

“I hope I do. You deserve it for having the sexy phone voice. I’m no good at sexy voice. I’m a physical girl. I can’t pout over the phone.”

“Oh, but I can imagine it.”

“Yeah, well I can imagine you polishing your glasses and stuttering. It doesn’t make you here.”

“I know, Love,” he whispered.

“I miss you so much,” she whimpered.

“I miss you as well. I should be there soon. I promise that as soon as Willow is ready, I’ll be on the next flight.”

“I know, I know. I just don’t like waiting, and I don’t like the fact that Xander and Dawn wig every time I even get close to mentioning the fact that I’m in love with you.”

“If it makes you feel any better, Willow objected strenuously to the idea that I was not a paternal substitute. What I wouldn’t give for the days when I was just your ‘adult friend’ and not boxed into the confining role of father figure. I understand why they all need to have a simplified structure in their lives after what happened, but I don’t care for the fact that I get sacrificed for it.”

“I’m not sacrificing you,” Buffy reminded him gently.

“No you aren’t. In fact, I’m quite thrilled that I can actually talk to you about these things.”

“Well, it’s nice to know that talking to me now rates above getting drunk with Ethan to talk out your feelings.”

“Well, I don’t recall you trying to turn me into a demon. Although, I do believe there have been thoughts of castration and perhaps murder at certain points.”

“Nope, never though of eunuch-izing you. The murder thing I’ve thought of a couple of times, but I’m pretty sure I’ve grown past that. Plus, I really don’t want to have another dead boyfriend.”

“You do realize that ‘eunuch-izing’ is not a real word.”

“And you do realize that conversations over the phone are not as good as conversations in person,” she retaliated.

“Yes, but I think we’ve done rather well with discussing things over the phone. We’ve eradicated much of the guilt, blame, anger, sorrow, disappointment, sadness, and loneliness that we had previously.”

“Okay, check here, the loneliness thing? Not totally gone. I’m really lonely, and I’m really horny. I mean really, Giles. Really, really, really.”

“I believe I heard you on the first ‘really.’ And stop pouting.”

“I wasn’t pouting.”

“You most certainly were. I know it by the tone of your voice, and I have a very fertile imagination that can conjure the image quite readily.”

“Good, then you’ll be just as horny as I am,” Buffy said waspishly.

“I thought you didn’t want this to turn into one of those phone calls,” he reminded her.

“I don’t. I happen to think that our first time should be in bed, in the same bed, not thousands of miles apart on a phone line.”

“Unfortunately, I am inclined to agree with you. However, it leaves us little to talk about.”

“You mean it leaves us little to talk about besides the entire angst fest that we’ve been talking about ever since you left?”

“‘Angst Fest’ doesn’t really cover it.”

Buffy sighed wistfully into the phone. “You know, sometimes I wish I didn’t have to be an adult. If I was more immature, I would have just jumped your bones before you left and foregone the months of painful reconciliation where we forgave and learned and did all that touchy-feely stuff.”

“And that would have ended so well,” Giles noted wryly.

“Well, I did say sometimes.”

“Yes, but when you act like an adult, I don’t have the feeling that I am a dirty old man.”

“Giles! You are not dirty, and well you are old and a man, but not in the pervy sense, more in the distinguished and sexy way, and so totally not Hubert Humphrey.”

“Hubert Humphrey?” Giles managed to say without bursting into laughter.

“Yeah, you know the Lolita guy.”

“Yes, he was quite known for his role in politics.”

“He was? I don’t remember that in the story.”

“That would be because he was the Vice President of the United States. Humbert Humbert was the character in Lolita.”

“Hey, no making fun of the Slayer when she’s trying to make you feel better.”

“But you are making me feel better.”

“See? Now you’ve said something sweet, and I can’t be mad at you because then I would be the bad guy.”

“Buffy, I love you,” Giles said suddenly.

“Not that I’m complaining, but is there a reason you said that?”

“Because I need to say it. Because I need to be able to say it without our friends making horrible faces at me. Because it is half past four in the morning and I want to be holding you in my arms. Because I need you, and I need you to wait for me to come back.”

“Did I ever tell you that you get emotional when I wake you up?”

“Buffy…”

“I’m not going anywhere. Hordes of single, attractive men aren’t exactly beating down my door trying to save me from the fate of Giles. And even if they were, I’m a strictly one person gal. I don’t fool around.”

“What if Xander doesn’t take to the idea? What if Dawn doesn’t? I can’t come between you and your family.”

“Giles, you are family. Dawn is my sister, and she’ll deal, and if Xander and Willow are still family, then they will cope too. If it makes it any better, Anya knows, and she thinks it’s kinda cute.”

“Ah, yes, a vengeance demon approves of my lustful thoughts. How comforting.”

“Buffy you upstairs?” Dawn’s voice was loud enough to come through a floor, a door and a phone line.

“I take it Dawn is back from the movies?” Giles asked.

“You heard her too, huh? Now I can tell her that people in other countries really can hear her when she yells.”

“And your excuse for calling me when it is so early in the morning over here would be?”

“Party pooper. Look, I better go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Bye.”

Giles barely had his farewell out of his mouth before Buffy hung up the phone. It was damn frustrating, but it was comforting that the waiting and the hiding would soon be over. As soon as Willow was well enough, they would be going back to Sunnydale. Or, at least, he would be going back to Sunnydale. Hopefully everyone would be healed enough by then not to just stick him in a convenient little box in order to make their lives make sense. Otherwise, things were going to become unpleasant.

* * * * *

Giles’ fingers twitched as he tried to read one of his favorite chronicles. It had been three days since Buffy’s last call. She rarely missed a day for calling. It was her indulgence, or rather, her indulgence with his money. She called him, and he paid her phone bill.

Now it had been three days. He was acutely aware of the fact that Dawn had started school the day after his last phone call to Buffy. Worry gnawed at his insides. He reached for the phone, but pulled hi hand back. There was no proof that he was wrong, and there was no other reason for him to call. Giles called them once a week. It was their pattern. It made them comfortable. Anything out of the ordinary would cause suspicion.

Not that he did not plan on upsetting Xander and Dawn and Willow’s little worlds in the near future, but he would rather not upset them with any unnecessary worrying. Calling Buffy when it would be about five in the morning her time was not going to bring anything but worry.

Reluctantly, he pulled his hand back only to be startled when it began to ring. He yanked the receiver off of the cradle and brought it to his ear.

“Hello?”

A long silence greeted him.

“Buffy?” he hazarded a guess.

“Giles?” her voice was tired, and she sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

“Buffy, what’s wrong?”

Another long silence was punctuated only by the sound of Buffy’s breaths. Just before he was about to ask again, her voice came over the line.

“Spike’s back.”

* * * * *

Willow never knew what hit her. One moment, she was peacefully meditating learning all sorts of good, earthy, empowering in a nice way things and the next Giles was pulling her through an airport to fly them both back to Sunnydale.

All he had told her was to get packed. No preamble, no ‘Gee Willow, how do you feel about going back to the town that killed your girlfriend and turned you into a magic abusing-world ending freak?’ just a quick order to get ready.

Warily, she eyed her travel companion. He was literally twitching. Giles, the calm collected one. The one who always had the answer. The man who had brought her back to being Willow after Xander had brought her back to being human.

It was scary. Scary and not right. And there was not anything she was going to even attempt to do about it. Asking why they were leaving had only earned her a glare. A very large glare. Not even a sarcastic comment. Just a glare.

Willow shook her head and did a bit of fidgeting herself. She was not sure if she was ready to see her friends again. She was not sure she was ready to face life again. She bit her lip.

“Giles?”

Surprisingly, he turned and looked at her without his earlier irritation. “Yes, Willow?”

“Not that I want you to get all ‘grrr’ on me again, but do you want to tell me why we’re on this plane? In a ‘we’ sense that really means ‘me.’ ‘Cause, if you wanted to take a trip, you could have just left me and gone by yourself.”

“Because I needed you to come with me. Buffy called me. Spike is back.”

“Oh, well, that isn’t good, but I don’t really see where you need me.”

“Willow, Spike is back, but Buffy says he isn’t right. He’s crazy. I’m afraid that the Hellmouth is starting its annual ‘Increase in badness’ as Buffy put it. It would not have been wise to leave you alone at this time. Besides, you are ready, or at least as ready as you’ll ever be. You have to face life sometime.”

A nosy little old lady looked at them oddly while she walked down the aisle to the bathrooms. Giles ignored her.

“Do you understand?”

“Yeah, I mean, in a whole conceptual kind of way, but Giles, what if I get all icky again?”

“You won’t as long as you stay focused and remember what you’ve learned. And if you do lose yourself, please try to remember one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“That I’ve been very nice to you and would like you to kill Spike for me.”

“Was that a joke? ‘Cause you might notice the absence of mirth over here.”

“I’m sorry, Willow. I suppose that talking to Buffy has finally taken its toll on me. I’m just so worried about her. About the Hellmouth. Whatever is affecting Spike is probably not simply his karma getting back at him for all the people he has raped and pillaged.”

Willow winced. “You know I didn’t even know that he tried to, well, you know. And now he’s back and all crazy and did you say ‘people?’”

Giles pulled his glasses off to inspect them. “Surely you don’t think that Buffy is the first person Spike has attempted to rape? He is essentially a creature of evil. He has killed countless people. If memory serves, his plan to regain Drusilla’s love was to torture her until she loved him again. He is not Angel; he has no soul to guide him. He isn’t even William. The person that was William died centuries ago. A demon took his place. His brain may carry the memories of William. Perhaps he is even motivated by certain morals that William had, but he is not the man.”

‘Wow, I guess I never really thought of that before.”

“Sometimes it is best not to think of that. It keeps one sane.”

“But that means that when the Gypsies cursed Angel they, well they…”

“Their intent was to torture the demon named Angelus, but by doing do they are also torturing the man that Angel was before he was turned. It is actually rather unfair when you think of it. They condemned a man to pay for a demon’s sins. However, the spirit of Liam was not pulled back into Angelus, only his soul, so it is not as if the whole man is being tortured.”

The old lady who had passed by earlier walked by again as she returned to her seat. This time she stopped and stared.

Willow glared at her, “Do you mind? We’re having a theological discussion here.”

The old lady shuffled quickly on.

“A theological discussion?” Giles asked, amused.

“Well, it was the best I had on short notice.”

Giles smiled and Willow briefly returned the smile before her brow furrowed in thought.

“If Spike is so inhuman, then why did he do some kinda human things?”

“I said Spike was a creature of evil, not that he was not clever. Evil often fools us into believing that it is good. And, as I said earlier, he was more than likely influenced by the man whose body he took. When a demon takes over a body certain ways of thinking have already been ingrained into them. William’s brain had set patterns that it thought with. It had memories of being a very decent person. The demon cannot change that. The demon is using William’s body as a conduit to this life. It in essence stole the body, and it does not have the power to change certain aspects of its host.”

“Wow, you know, now I think I’m really creeped out by vampires. I used to be afraid of them, now I’ve got the super icky stuff to go with. Why didn’t you mention any of this before?”

“Because it would have bored you lot senseless. All Buffy really wanted to know was that a vampire was bad and needed to be staked. And I highly doubt that Xander would have wanted to hear the results of hours of philosophical debates about the nature of vampires.”

“So, why didn’t you stake Spike when we had the chance?”

“Because he was useful and somewhat influenced by the man that he had been. Looking back, perhaps I should have staked him. Perhaps not. There is only so far that philosophy will take you.”

“Kinda like you had to choose what to do with me?”

“You were never completely evil, Willow. But there was the chance that you could have become that. I’ll not lie to you that the thought of having to take more drastic measures did not occur to me.”

“Well, I’m glad that your plan worked. And also I’m glad that we got these plushy first class seats with nobody around us, ‘cause we might get asked to get off the plane otherwise.”

Giles smiled lightly in response. After a moment, Willow spoke again. “What if they, you know, don’t want me back? I mean, I don’t want me back, and I have problems trusting me.”

“I cannot guarantee that they will be waiting with open arms, Willow. We have all changed over the past year or so. For good or for bad.”

“Yeah, well I’m thinking that I’m pretty much on the bad side. And Buffy and Spike? Badness. Dawn. Bad. Xander? Bad. Anya. Really bad.”

“But they have made improvements over the summer, as have you. You must remember that.”

“Yeah. I just hope that the guys do too.”

* * * * *

“Just relax and smile,” Buffy said for the tenth time as she, Dawn and Xander waited for the plane.

“I think we heard you the first fifteen hundred times, Buffy,” Dawn said as she nervously shifted from foot to foot.

“Do I look okay? Is my hair good?” Buffy asked in a sudden state of panic.

“Relax, it’s the same shade of obviously dyed blonde it was when we left the house. And yes, Xander, I’m sure that Willow will like the sign,” Dawn answered as Xander’s mouth began to open.

“Are you sure?” Buffy and Xander asked at the same time.

“Yes! For crying out loud, who’s the child here?”

“Ooh, there they are!” Buffy squeaked excitedly.

“Hey,” Xander grinned and waved at Willow as she walked towards them.

Buffy, however, froze like a deer in headlights. She saw Dawn squeeze Willow and then practically strangle Giles with her enthusiastic hugs. She observed Xander wrap a supportive arm around Willow and shake Giles hand, but still she could not move. Then, he was standing in front of her.

“Buffy?” he asked softly.

It had not been that long since she had last heard his voice. But it seemed like ages. A telephone may be a wonderful invention, but the real thing was so much better.

Without conscious thought, Buffy threw her arms around him and buried her noise in his jacket as she tried to memorize the way he felt and smelled.

“Buffy,” this time his voice was a bit strangled.

“Well, it looks like the Buffster is keeping up with her tradition of breaking Giles’ ribs when she greets him,” Xander quipped.

“Sorry,” she mumbled as she stepped away.

“Don’t be,” he whispered.

Buffy quickly broke eye contact with him and wrapped her own arm around the side of Willow to which Xander was not attached.

“Hey, Will.”

“Hey. Xander made me a sign.”

“Yeah, I know, and don’t think that it means I’m a bad friend. I made a bed for you so you can stay with me. Only, you get to stay in my room because I sort of took over Mom’s old room. Dawn helped me redecorate it.”

“Thanks Buffy,” Willow said as her eyes telegraphed her thanks for no having to sleep in the same room that Tara had died in.

“Am I to assume that I will be taking the couch then?” Giles asked good naturedly.

“Actually, no. Xander sort of insisted that you stay with him. His couch pulls out into bed.”

“Yeah, I figured that you should have a comfy place to sleep. And we all know how fun Buffy is in the morning. Three women, one bathroom? I thought I’d spare you from that fate.”

“I’m lots of fun in the morning,” Buffy pouted.

Giles forced back his disappointment at being forced away from Buffy during the night by talking to Xander. “I don’t remember your couch folding out.”

“Well, it still doesn’t, but seems how Anya took the one I had, I had to get a new one.”

“He totally couldn’t handle shopping for it by himself. Buffy and me had to drag him to the store and make him pick one,” Dawn chimed in.

“‘Buffy and I,’” Giles corrected absently as the group began to walk towards the luggage claim.

“Hey, no getting Watchery with my sister. You’ve already ruined her with those dusty old books you keep sending. Now she calls me names, and I can’t call her on it because they’re in Sumerian.”

“Than how do you know that they’re names?” Dawn retorted.

“Because you’d say it in English otherwise.”

“Would not, some things just sound better in…”

“Dead languages that only the mystical speak?” Buffy finished for her.

“Bossy,” Dawn pouted.

“Ah, yes, I’m so glad that I missed you all so much. I haven’t had my share of pointless bickering in ages,” Giles interrupted before Buffy’s attention was drawn back to her sister.

“Hey, it isn’t pointless. There’s a point. It’s good for Dawn to argue with me. It shows a healthy teenage mind trying to establish her sense of self.”

Dawn made a gagging noise. “She’s been studying her old psych books since she’s gotten her big counseling position.”

“Counseling position?” Giles asked as he pulled Willow’s suitcase off of the conveyor and placed it on the airport floor.

“Yeah, I kind of have a part-time job at the school. Which is good because I can see what’s going on without stalking the place, and it was supposed to be a surprise,” Buffy finished the sentence with a well aimed glare at her sister.

“Well, I’m surprised. The excited kind of surprised. I’m happy, really, really happy for you Buffy. This is good, and you see that I’m being supportive and not psycho, and also talking too much.” Willow said with a sheepish grin.

Buffy smiled tolerantly. “It’s okay, Will. I get the whole guilty rambling thing.”

“Oh, good ‘cause I wasn’t sure how I was going to get out of that otherwise.”

“Well a good old ‘Congrats Buff’ worked for me. Or if you’re Giles you could have tried, ‘Golly good show, Buffy. I’m immensely proud of you,’” Xander said as he hoisted Willow’s bag onto his shoulder.

“Hey, Giles isn’t that stuffy… anymore,” Buffy defended him as she hoisted Giles’ bag onto her shoulder.

“I should say not. Although, as long as Xander brought it up, I am immensely proud of you,” Giles said as he purposely seized his other bag before Buffy could grab it.

“See, Buff, what did I tell you? Giles is as proud of you as any man would be of his little girl.”

Dawn rolled her eyes. “They had a fight on the way to the airport about Buffy’s new job. She didn’t think you’d be happy for her and her new job.”

“I didn’t say that. I said that he wasn’t going to be all ‘that’s my girl’ about it. More happy, friend-like, not paternally substitute-ish.”

“Yes, quite right. I am, of course, very happy that Buffy has moved on past the everyday grind of flipping burgers, but to say that I should wish to impart my heartfelt congratulations on her newly found employment through the guise of being her father would be erroneous.”

Xander and Willow’s eyes glazed over for a second.

Willow cleared her throat. “Xander, did you just have flashbacks to our first year at high school?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m expecting the tweed to appear at any moment.”

Giles sighed. “Remind me why I missed you lot? I seem to have forgotten.”

“Because you’re a lonely old man without us?” Dawn piped up.

“Yes, of course, why couldn’t I think of that?” Giles mumbled as he handed Willow her other bag and began to weave his way out of the airport.

Buffy immediately trotted after him. Dawn Willow and Xander stared at the retreating duo.

“What’s gotten into him?” Xander asked as they began to follow at a less brisk pace.

“I think it’s Spike. Giles was all cranky when he heard the news,” Willow supplied.

Dawn and Xander looked at each other.

“This isn’t going to go well,” Dawn muttered.

“Why not?” Willow asked.

“Well, the Slaymeister isn’t exactly into the whole staking the bad vampire thing right now. She kind of feels sorry for him and wants to know why he’s gone all loopy, and given how our favorite Watcher is getting his cranky factor going…”

“It isn’t going to go well,” Dawn finished the sentence for Xander.

“Oh, well, not good, but I’m sure they’ll work things out. Won’t they?” Willow asked nervously.

“I hope so, Will,” Xander responded as they continued on their way to the car.

Meanwhile, Giles and Buffy had already made it to said car.

“Giles, hey, Giles relax. They didn’t mean anything by it,” Buffy said as she tried to put a calming hand on his shoulder.

“No, that’s the problem. They honestly think I’m old, Buffy. They think I’m old and your father. Even you think I’m old,” he said sullenly.

“Hey!”

“You didn’t grab Willow’s bag. You grabbed mine.”

“Only because Xander took Willow’s bag and carrying extra luggage happens to be a nice thing people do for their friends. It’s awkward to carry multiple bags through an airport.”

A contrite look cut through his moping features. “I’m sorry, Love. I didn’t… I just… Bloody hell, I don’t know what I thought.”

“You just couldn’t handle the fact that they were treating you like you knew they were going to?”

“I suppose that I had hoped that they would just instantly recognize how much I loved you and how right we were for each other and that I wouldn’t be put into a paternal role or accused of being too old.”

Buffy smiled. “While you’re at it, why don’t you hope for me to retire from being the Slayer and have us move to a nice quiet place in the country where you can keep me barefoot and pregnant?”

His lips quirked into a slight smile. “Now would I take away all those ridiculous shoes you love to wear?”

“Hey! What about the pregnant part?”

“It’s rather appealing, the thought of you carrying my child. Especially as I know what we’d have to do to get you in that particular condition,” he said cheekily.

Buffy rolled her eyes. “So, no more cranky Watcher?”

“Well, I can’t promise that, but I do promise to be a bit more patient.”

“Good, because I’ve had to be lots more patient than you have lately. But, if you need to vent, I’ve got Anya’s phone number. All those years of being a vengeance demon made her a really good listener.”

“While I doubt that I will be in need of Anya’s counseling services, I shall try to be more patient. In the meantime, I suggest we put my bags in the boot before the others catch up with us. Do you have the key?”

Buffy stared at him.

“What?”

With a disgruntled sigh she handed him her spare key to Xander’s car. “You have been in England way to long.”

* * * * *

Giles glared his hardest at the pull-out sofa. Somehow, he truly believed that it would evaporate should he glare at it hard enough. Not that it would help if it did. He could hardly go traipsing off to Buffy’s house just because Xander’s couch burst into flames.

“Something wrong?” Xander asked.

“No, just thinking,” Giles said softly.

“Ah,” Xander replied in a knowing tone.

Giles raised an enquiring eyebrow.

“Look, Giles, it’s okay about Spike. I’m not too thrilled about the idea either, but Buffy is a big girl now, and she’s learned from her mistakes. Well, most of them anyway. I think we’ve all grown up after last year.”

“Actually, Xander, I’ve been meaning to speak with you about that,” Giles decided to pounce upon the opportunity when it presented itself.

“Spike? Or the badness that was last year?”

“Neither. I was referring to the fact that you are all adults now. As such, I feel the need to point out that my relationship with all of you has and rightfully should have changed. My relationship with Buffy has changed.”

“Hey, no worries there, G-Man. You’ll always be the Buffster’s Yoda. Only not short and talking backwards.”

“Yes, I just, that is to say, I’m not simply an old man, Xander. And as you have all matured during the recent difficulties, I find that it would be scurrilous to label me as simply a substitute father for any of you.”

“Oh, gotcha. Look, I’ll talk to Buffy for you, tell her not to lean on you so much now that you’re back. Give you some space to be a regular guy. She’ll understand. It’s just, you know Buffy, she’s pretty pumped at having you home.”

“That isn’t what I….” the ringing of the telephone cut off Giles’ words as Xander bolted for it.

“Hello? Hey, yeah, no prob I can make it in early tomorrow…”

Giles quit listening to Xander’s conversation as the younger man began to ask questions about the extra job he was being called out on. With a sigh, he pulled of his glasses and stripped down to his boxers. That conversation had gone in the wrong direction very quickly. He only hoped that he would have the chance to talk to Buffy before Xander did.

* * * * *

“Hey, Xand. What brings you around so early?” Buffy asked as her friend came in her door the next morning.

“I got called in early to work. I’m getting the old responsibility blues. Pretty soon I’m going to be talking about the good old days when I could sleep ‘til noon.”

“Aw, poor Xander,” Buffy said in mock sympathy as she continued to make breakfast.

“And don’t you forget it. Say, Buff, as long as I’m here I thought that maybe we could talk about Giles.”

Buffy tensed for a moment then relaxed. “What about him?” she asked neutrally.

“He’s, well, he just got back and I think that he needs his space. You know, he needs to be a regular guy.”

“And you don’t think that I’m treating him like one?”

“I didn’t say that, I just… he’s got some concerns, and I don’t want anything bad to happen.”

Buffy stopped mixing her pancake batter to stare at her friend. “Xander, what exactly did Giles say to you?”

“Ah, Buff, don’t get upset. I’m just saying that he wants to be treated as a part of the gang, not just your Watcher, and I’m not saying that you’re treating him like that, just that he’s worried about it, and I don’t want to see two of my best friends in pain.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I swear that I’m not going to treat him like dirt. Believe me, I’ve done enough dirt treating to last me a lifetime.”

“Ah, good,” Xander replied completely flummoxed as to why Buffy was not outright attacking him, and seemed instead to have a slight smirk on her lips.

“So, where is Giles, now that you’ve brought him up?” Buffy asked after allowing Xander to be puzzled for a good minute.

“Sleeping. I think the time difference got him all mixed up and when he fell asleep, he really fell asleep. How’s Willow doing?”

“Good. It’s kinda the same with her, only we stayed up late watching movies.”

“And yet, you’re still in the chipper mood.”

“Xand, I’ve spent the years staying up late and then going to school or work in the mornings. I’m way used to it. Besides, if I wasn’t awake early, I’d never be able to fend off the empty pit called Dawn.”

“Hey, I heard that,” said sister complained as she walked into the kitchen.

“Well, it’s true. You eat more than Xander used too, and I was pretty sure that was impossible.”

“And as much as I’d like to hang around and listen to your sister tell tall tales about my appetite, I’ve got to run. Are you two going to be good with getting to school?”

“Gee, I’m not sure if I can handle driving that new used car out front. I only passed my driver’s test with flying colors,” Buffy murmured sarcastically.

“Well, you don’t have the world’s best driving record, Buff,” Xander pointed out.

“I was seventeen! I’m a lot older now, and I did pass the exam,” Buffy huffed out.

“Point taken. I think I’ll bid you ladies adieu before a certain slayer decides to add me to the pancake batter,” Xander said as he backed out of the kitchen and made his way out the door.

Dawn giggled softly at Xander’s hasty retreat before snagging the first cooked pancake and starting to eat.

* * * * *

Buffy took a deep breath as she made her way down into the Sunnydale High basement. There were hundreds, maybe even thousands, of things she would rather be doing on her lunch break, but duty did not know how to quit dialing her number, so she was going to check on Spike.

“Swirling, swirling through my mind. Biting, tasting – song and flowers, not enough. He’s got her parts – the parts no one else can have,” Spike’s soft ramblings reached her ears as she rounded a corner.

“Spike?” she called softly.

“The Slayer! Burns me, burns me from the inside she does. All pure and light,” he mumbled as he hid his face in his hands.

“I guess asking you how you are would be a bad idea at this point,” Buffy stated as she took in the vampire’s disheveled appearance.

“Death, death is in this school. The school of the dead,” he said in a conspiratorial tone.

“Great, just great. Look, Spike, do you need anything to eat?”

“NO! No blood, mustn’t, shouldn’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t. Pools of it lie in the li and brary. Seeping and flowing, puddling and glowing in the light of the fake light.”

“Are you sure that you didn’t somehow merge with Drusilla?” Buffy asked as he stood upright and began to sway as he sniffed the air.

“I’m hungry, but I’m good. I haven’t tasted a drop. Left them alone, I have. The dead one and his children.”

“The dead one? Spike, who’s dead?”

“The librarian. Who else?”

“Giles?” Buffy ground out before she grabbed Spike and slammed him against the wall. “What happened to Giles?” she demanded roughly.

“Watcher is well as Watcher’s goes. The librarian is the one who has no more prose.”

Buffy dropped him down to his feet. “You really were an awful poet, Spike,” she said in an attempt to cover her relief.

Spike merely nodded and sat back down on the floor.

Buffy shook her head and backed away. She did not know what to do with Spike, but she did know that if the vampire thought there was blood, then there was probably blood, and it was her duty as Slayer to find it.

That meant a trip to the library, and if nothing was there, she was going to have to search elsewhere.

* * * * *

Giles made a distracted clucking noise as Buffy sat scrubbing her stylish new boot. “You didn’t have to step in it. You know that blood leaves nasty stains,” he commented as she continued her scrubbing. “I needed to check to see if any of them were still alive,” she responded absently.

“Okay, so could we maybe talk less about Buffy’s boots and more about the fact that my librarian is dead?” Dawn asked.

“Librarian and several classmates,” Giles corrected her.

“Well, yeah, but none of them were going to help me with my research project. Plus, they were all on the cheerleading squad.”

“What’s so bad about that?” Buffy asked as she applied more leather cleaner to her cloth.

“You do realize that was a total ‘mom’ answer, don’t you?” Dawn replied.

“What’d I say?” Buffy asked genuinely confused.

“Ignore her, Dawnie, I think she’s having her blonde moment of the month,” Willow stage whispered.

“Hey, I heard that.”

Giles cleared his throat. “Their no doubt snobbish behavior aside, we cannot ignore the fact that they were rather gruesomely slaughtered.”

“I was a cheerleader,” Buffy continued sullenly.

“So was Cordelia,” Willow pointed out.

“Well, yeah, but I wasn’t like Cordelia. Not really. Right Giles?”

“Having not known you whilst you were an actual cheerleader, I feel I am unqualified to answer that. Now perhaps you three would like to get back on topic?”

“Spoilsport,” Buffy pouted.

“Buffy, don’t pout you know how it makes me,” he paused as his mind realized what his mouth had been about to say, “…annoyed,” he finished lamely.

“You mean that you give into her and give her, her way,” Dawn corrected.

“Yes, precisely,” he responded absently as Buffy peevishly continued to pout. His own eyes betrayed him as he continued to look longingly at her lips, and he found himself wishing that they were alone.

Buffy caught the look in his eyes and her pout turned into a mischievous smile.

He smiled lazily back at her before snapping back to reality.

“You two done being in your own little world?” Xander asked as he moved from his position near the archway and came into the Summers’ living room.

“Xander,” Giles greeted with a slightly embarrassed smile.

“In the flesh. Sorry I’m late. We had to work over, so I hear that we’re up to some old fashioned death in the new school?”

“Something killed the librarian and a bunch of cheerleaders,” Buffy stated.

“We think it’s a ritual of some kind,” Giles added.

“We do? When did we decide that?” Buffy asked.

“Sometime when you, your sister and Willow were talking about cheerleaders, I believe.”

“Ah cheerleaders, you hate to see such a waste of talent. All that jumping and shouting and tiny skirts never to be seen again,” Xander sighed nostalgically.

“Yes, quite,” Giles murmured as his mind steadfastly insisted on putting Buffy in a cheerleading outfit. He shook his head. He really needed some alone time with his Slayer. Preferably near a bed.

“So a ritual, huh? Was it a cheerleader sacrifice?” Dawn asked in a slightly chipper tone.

Buffy raised her eyebrows in a slightly disapproving way. “My sister is a freak. Dawn, what did I tell you about getting so excited about bad things happening?”

“That I could cause bad and horrific things to happen because I could summon a demon or something worse,” she replied in a bored tone.

“Listen to your sister, she knows about these things,” Xander interjected.

“I forgot what fun it was to be around you lot,” Giles feigned his irritation as he hid a pleased smile behind his book. It felt good to be around their pointless joking. The way that they dealt with the horrific things that they saw everyday was oddly comforting.

“Oh, oh! I got it!” Willow said before the others had a chance to reply to Giles’ sarcastic comment.

“You do?” Buffy said surprised at how quickly Willow had found the answer on her laptop.

“Well, I think I do. I searched the ritual sacrifice database that I built for Giles that one summer? And boom – here it is.”

“Good work, Will,” Buffy said as she and Giles simultaneously moved to read over the redhead’s shoulder.

“Ah, yes the rite of… well of… I’m not sure that I can pronounce that,” Giles finally admitted.

“Don’t worry. I’m pretty sure I can’t even read that,” Buffy said consolingly.

“In any case, there is a simple vanquishing spell that should undo the rite itself. The demons that initiated it, however…”

“I got it. I’ll go get my sword and stake,” Buffy interrupted her Watcher as she became business like.

With swift strides, she walked over to the other end of the living room. “Simple beheading should work once you find them, but I do fear that they will not be easily tracked,” Giles said as he followed her.

“Not a problem. I’ve got a crazy vamp that smelled the whole thing. I’m pretty sure that he can track them down. And wipe the worried look off of your face,” Buffy added without turning to look at Giles.

Genuinely agitated, he pulled of his glasses so that he could polish them. “Are you sure that taking Spike is a wise idea?”

“No, but it’s fast. And after the way those bodies looked, fast is good. Look, I’ll take Xander with me to keep an eye on our resident nutcase.”

“Buffy…”

“Look, Giles. You said that I was an adult. Let me prove it. Besides, I’m more worried about you,” she finished with a whisper.

“What on earth for?” he asked concernedly.

“I just, I don’t want to think it, but Willow found that ritual pretty fast. I mean, we hadn’t even finished our pre-research squabble, and she finds the answer?”

“Surely you don’t think that Willow caused this.”

“No, not really. If I did, well I wouldn’t be taking Spike out for a walk, but I’m worried that she might have used magic to aid her computer search. Giles, if she starts falling off of the bandwagon because she’s back here…”

“Buffy, I promise you that the instant I see any sign of her doing that, that I will send her back to England,” he said reassuringly as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

“Right after you have her kill Spike?”

“How did you?”

“Hey, I know you a lot better than you think I do. That funny brain of yours isn’t completely undecipherable you know.”

“Well at least one of us should be in possession of discernable thought patterns, I suppose.”

“Hey, are you calling me irrational?”

“You are the one who is going off with an insane vampire that tried to rape you. You tell me,” Giles snipped as his concerns began to get the better of him.

“Well, I’m not the one who almost got himself killed trying to rescue Willow, and then took her off to England.”

“I did what I had to do. You know that. You said so yourself.”

“And I’m doing what I have to do, Giles.”

“Spike isn’t the same as Willow, Buffy. He isn’t human.”

“And this isn’t about him. This is about stopping some demons, and I need to find them to do that,” she finished with an angry whisper as she shouldered past Giles.

“Let’s go, Xander,” she said shortly as she strode towards the door. Xander looked around helplessly before he reluctantly followed her.

“What put the cranky bug in her pants?” Willow asked after the front door closed.

“I’m afraid I did,” Giles admitted as he settled down on the sofa.

“Well, yeah, we kinda got that from the whole angry whisper thing you guys were doing,” Dawn pointed out.

“We had a disagreement about Spike.”

“Oh,” was all Dawn said in response.

“It isn’t as if I don’t have good reason to be concerned,” Giles defended himself against the silence in the room.

“Did I say you didn’t?” Dawn asked.

“I think what Dawnie means is that we get why you’re upset, but you gotta remember that Buffy is Buffy, Giles. She isn’t all rational and calm – she’s, well…”

“Buffy?” Dawn asked impishly.

Willow rolled her eyes at Dawn. “Not exactly what I was looking for, but yeah.”

“Believe me, I know that Buffy is a highly unusual person, I just do not wish to see her make foolish decisions.”

“Well, you picked the wrong girl for that. I mean, when we shopping the other day? Buffy bought a bunch of frilly lingerie. What does she need that for she’s practically joined the nunnery since Spike, and I totally see from the look on your face that this is way too much information. Sorry Giles,” Dawn said as she bolted from the room in embarrassment.

Willow fidgeted nervously. “Giles?” She finally asked.

“Yes?”

“Does Buffy think that I’m using magic again? I mean the bad stuff, ‘cause I’m not, really I’m not. Not that I don’t understand why she would think that, ‘cause she should. But…”

Giles raised a weary hand. “Willow, Buffy has her concerns about you the same as she has for her other friends. She merely does not want to see you hurt again. And as the Slayer she sometimes puts the objective ahead of everything else. I’m afraid that I was a poor teacher in that regard. I pushed her to be so conscious of her slaying that I destroyed part of the girl inside.”

“Yeah because Angel and her Mom’s death and, hey, her own two deaths didn’t do anything to her.”

“I am well aware that I am not completely responsible for her behaviors, Willow.”

“Good, because I have my own psychosis to deal with. I’m not really up on my Watcher counseling techniques.”

Giles shook his head slightly and strode across the room to a pile of books on the coffee table. “Perhaps you would like to assist me in the spell?”

* * * * *

“There once was a named Spike,
Who Xander, he didn’t like.
The vamp, he had guts
So he kicked Xander in the nuts
And got himself a, ah…”

“How about a new face to go with the charming hair,” Xander snarled at the looney vampire.

“No, that doesn’t rhyme,” Spike said flippantly as he continued to walk in front of Buffy and Xander as he tried to catch a scent.

“Less rhyming, more sniffing,” Buffy commanded snippily.

“Oooh, someone’s not getting over her tiff with the Watcher is she now?”

“I didn’t have a tiff with Giles, and how did you find out about that anyway?”

Buffy looked over at Xander. He shrugged sheepishly.

“Xander!”

“Well, you were the one who left me alone with Mr. Not-So-Peroxide-Anymore when you had to go use the bathroom at the gas station. I just casually mentioned that Giles wouldn’t have any trouble killing him, and that he didn’t like your plan with Spike.”

“Boy’s getting soft on his threats,” Spike said as he sniffed a fire hydrant.

“Eww, Spike!” Buffy chided.

“What, I’m not gonna piss on it.”

“Just keep walking before I have to put you in an urn.”

“Fine, fine,” he grumbled in response, but he began his trek forward again.

A little while later, Spike stopped suddenly.

“If you try to take a leak on that tree,” Xander threatened.

“Shh, I smell them. They smell like old Avon perfume.”

Buffy peered around the tree in the direction that Spike pointed out. “Spike, that’s a group of little old ladies,” she hissed.

“Yeah, so? You’ve never been accosted by a little old granny? Besides, what’s a nice group of ‘old ladies’ doin’ wanderin’ around Sunnydale at midnight, hmm?”

“Can I stake him now?” Xander asked.

“What for?”

“Because I hate it when you make sense, and I want to keep it to a minimum.”

“Shh,” Buffy held up a hand as the ‘Old Ladies’ began to form a circle and chant.

Spike chose that moment to start humming a jaunty tune along with their chanting. Buffy quickly punched him in the gut.

“What? They needed backup.”

Buffy shook her head and got a firm grasp on her sword. “Xander stay here and watch him. If he does anything bad, cut off his ears.”

“What about the demons?” Xander asked.

“I’ll be fine. What’s a bunch of geriatric demons gonna do to me?”

* * * * *

Giles rubbed his eyes after he looked at the clock. Fourteen minutes past one in the morning and still no Buffy. Just before it turned fifteen past the hour, the front door burst open. Buffy limped in while Xander came in chuckling behind her.

“Buffy, what happened?” Giles asked concernedly.

Xander choked back a laugh and managed to answer Giles before Buffy. “She got hit by a little old lady with a cane.”

“That is so not true. They were demons. And I think that I’ve put up with enough harassment, or do you want to go join Spike on his fiftieth round of ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat?’”

“Aw, come on Buffster, He’s probably only up to the thirtieth.”

“What happened?” Giles inquired.

“Spike keeps forgetting the words, so he keeps restarting the song,” Xander supplied.

Giles merely glared at him in response.

“Demons. Looked like Old ladies. Had canes and walkers and venomous fangs. Killed them. Sore owies,” Buffy replied so much more helpfully.

“Yes, I see. Perhaps I should stay and assist you with your injuries. Xander? Why don’t I stay here tonight? Perhaps I could do a bit more research. I don’t remember there being anything about fangs in the description of the demons.”

Xander nodded in mid yawn. “Just make sure that they give you a comfortable pillow for the couch.”

“Hey, I always give out good pillows,” Buffy protested.

“And with that stunning remark, I think I’d better get going while the going is to be gotten. And did I just sound like crazy Spike?”

“Yes, and it serves you right,” Buffy pouted as she threw one of the not so soft couch pillows at him.

“Goodnight Xander,’ Giles said politely before the two friends erupted into a pillow fight.

“‘Night, Xander,” Buffy echoed before Xander exited.

Giles shook his head and pushed Buffy onto the couch. “Sit. I’ll go get you some aspirin.”

“Don’t want aspirin,” Buffy responded as she pulled Giles onto the couch with her.

“You said you were in pain,” he responded hesitantly.

“I lied. How else was I supposed to get Xander to leave without you so easily?”

“Are you certain you weren’t injured?”

“Giles, they attacked me with walkers.”

“And the poisonous fangs?”

“True, but I’ve had years of experience avoiding fangs. I just kinda assumed the venomous part from the yellow liquid dripping off of them.”

“Ah, I see, what about Willow and Dawn?” He asked as he wiggled closer to her.

“Wellll, if we’re really, really quiet…” Buffy trailed off as her fingertips began to brush his outer thigh.

“I used to run a library. I am the epitome of quiet,” he replied as his lips descended to her jaw and one hand snaked around her waist.

“Hey, no kiss first?”

“My apologies, I cannot imagine what I was thinking,” he mock apologized before brushing his lips against hers.

Buffy gasped slightly after he broke contact. Then she surged after his lips with her own. She slid one set of her fingers into his short hair and the other curled a fist around the front of his shirt. Then she pushed him away and bounced up on her feet.

Bewildered, he opened his mouth to speak. Before he could utter a sound, Dawn and Willow came flying down the staircase. “Hey, you’re back,” Willow noted happily.

“So the slaying went alright?” Dawn asked.

“Yes, and yes,” Buffy answered. “And Dawnie, shouldn’t you be in bed? Last I noticed, Friday is still a school day.”

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Dawn grumbled.

“No false guilt trips. I know you were watching t.v. with Willow. I can see the popcorn crumbs on your pajamas. Which, by the way, look like my pajamas.”

“I’m tired and need to go to bed. Bye,” Dawn said quickly as she ran back to her bedroom.

Willow smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, you know, about the t.v. thing. Oh, and I’m sorry that we interrupted you.”

Buffy colored slightly. “Interrupted?”

“Yea, I mean, the last thing you need is for Dawn and me to wake Giles up when you’re trying to make him all comfy. I guess he isn’t used to staying up all night like he used to be.”

Buffy turned around to see Giles conked out on the couch. “Yeah, well, you know he’s getting soft with all the sleeping and vamplessness of England,” she almost visibly winced at how dumb she sounded.

Willow smiled knowingly. “Well, I’ll let you finish tucking him in.”

Buffy waited until she left. Then turn exasperatedly around to stare at her Watcher. “Honestly, you’d think that you could at least stay awake,” she muttered as she pulled his feet up on the couch and tried to arrange him more comfortably.

“What makes you think I’m not?” he asked as he cracked one eye open.

TBC

* * *