"Pop pop tell me about mommy and daddy."
Xander gathered the little girl onto his lap and smoothed back her honey blond hair, preparing to tell the story he'd told a thousand times before. "Your mommy and daddy were two of the most awesome people I ever knew. She was the most beautiful woman I've ever met and the bravest. Not many things scared our Buffy."
"Because she had superpowers?"
"Yep, she was chosen to be a hero so she was faster and stronger than anyone else."
"Until Faith."
"Yes, until the others, but she was still the first, the best. She saved the world a million times without anyone really noticing."
"From the vampires." It wasn't a questions but a statement.
"From all the bad things. That's how we met, she saved me from a vampire. If there was anyone who could've loved your mother as deeply and as truly as your father did, it was me." The little girl tightened her arms around him, giving him her comfort. "And your father was the best man for her. He was like a father to me. Nobody else stayed as long as he did after enduring everything he had to. He stayed with us all."
"Not me."
"Evelyn Joyce Giles, your father is still with you. Just because you can't see him doesn't mean he isn't watching over you. If he had been given a choice he never would've left, but he wasn't and he was taken from you." He didn't mean to get mad at her, she was only three and didn't know any better. All this little girl knew was that her parents were gone. He knew when she was older she would discover the whole truth and he hoped that it would make her feel better.
"I miss them." The words were nearly drowned by her sniffles.
Xander patted her back, "Me too kiddo, me too." He stood up cradling her small form in his arms. "Come on little one, time for bed." He carried her up the stairs and put her to , pulling the princess sheets up around her. "Good night little Evie."
"'night pop pop." He was about to shut the door when her green eyes opened and flashed at him. "Pop pop is all the evil really gone?"
"I promise, now go to sleep." He shut the door and looked at the picture of Buffy and Giles that hung on the wall. "You'd better not make a liar out of me."