"Where is Buffy? She was queasy earlier. I hope she is okay, " Willow asked taking a bite of her sandwich.

"She looked fine when I saw her go into the library," Xander said.

Cordelia snorted, "Yeah, I bet."

They all turned and looked at Cordelia oddly everybody but Oz that is.

He was busy looking at Willow.

The redhead inquired, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"What none of you suspect? I mean come on, none of you could possibly be that blind." Cordelia said.

They remained silent.

"Since she has been back, she and Giles have been awfully I don't what's the word- secret-y. And they make a lot of furtive eye contact and they touch a lot. Arms, legs, the arch of the others back."

Willow looking at her darkly said, "Furtive means secretive."

"Anyway, I have been trying to find a way to say this without sounding like a gossip," Cordelia said.

"Babe, since when have you ever cared about that?" Xander asked.

"Since Lolita and Humbert are your friends. Plus, I have no problem with Giles. If I was a dude his age and I was able to bang a hot piece of supernatural, teenaged ass I would, too. If nothing else, Buffy is pretty if you like that sort of thing?" Cordelia said. She would never put the slayer on her favorite person list.

Xander, ever so very thoughtful replied, "What? Hair, eyes, lips, tits, ass and legs?"

Cordelia punched his arm hard and Willow threw her banana peel at him and scoffed.

"I am saying she is athletic is all," Xander recovered rubbing his arm and pouting.

Cornelia tut-tutted then continued. Still, she took no joy in revealing her revelation. Some people you hold to higher standard.

"Saturday night, I was visiting a friend of mine at her apartment complex. She does my nails and help her with her makeup. Anyway, Moira, her name is Moira. She had lost her keys and was digging through her purse. I know Buffy's squawking laugh anywhere and cheap Coty perfume and as they came around the corner. They did not see me. I saw them.

Then they got whispery and they were walking really close like hip to hip or more like waist to hip. She is so damn short."

"Cordy, you are telling us nothing," Xander said.

Willow added ever a staunch friend, "There is nothing to tell."

"I am traumatized and I am getting to it. So, they stopped at his door. There was a light above it. Like in some scandalous, tacky Monday night movie NBC used to show after Blossom a couple years ago-"

Oz chimed, "I used to live for those movies. Mother, May I Sleep with Danger? The most god awful title but it was kind of awesome. Tori Spelling has skills."

Then Xander said, "You see the one when Mulder gets Jo from Facts of Life knocked up- she is his mistress and the chick from Hill Street Blues, what is her name, Veronica Hamel fakes pregnant to keep Mr. Blonde- Vic Vega himself Michael Madsen from divorcing her. So, pretends to be a social worker or something in order to get into Jo the ho's house and wouldn't you know it, she waits until Jo goes to I don't know, make some tea, pee, I don't remember, and she takes the baby and pretends it is hers. I cannot think of the name," Xander held his head in his hands.

Oz offered, "Baby. Snatcher. Love. That. Movie. So very bad that it is so very good. Speaking of Duchovny, you ever seen Red Shoe Diaries. I-"

Cordelia got up and stomped.

"Will you two WASP post menopausal middle-aged women cram it? Damn. Stay on point. Okay for once and for all, he is looking down at herand she up at him. She gets on her tippytoes and pulls him down hard by his collar, you can hear it ripping from where I was standing and she kissed him right on the mouth. I mean full on sloppy soap opera kiss. He pulled away from her frowning. I was hoping she had gone off her rocker and English was going to slap her back into reality because he was frowning at her. She pouted. Want to know what he did next?"

"You are lying," Willow huffed.

"I am not a liar," Cordelia said with more conviction than she had for not wearing white after Labor Day.

"Even though it may come out rude, thoughtless, tactless, hurtful and hateful, what Cordy says is never a lie," Xander said.

Cordelia said smiling, "Ahh. You know me so well. Anyway, he leaned down and he, I throw up in my mouth a little at the sight. Okay, just then I was lying, it was actually a little hot. He sucked her bottom lip then clutch the pearls, he actually threw her over his shoulder and then they went inside. And no one came out all night."

"How can you possibly know that, Cordelia? How do we know that what you saw just wasn't a trick of some sort? Or maybe the light was playing tricks on you? Or maybe they saw you and were messing with you."

Xander snapped his fingers when he made a correlation.

"Yesterday morning, I went to the library for study hall. Giles reading the newspaper and was actually, wait for it, studying and out the clear blue, he starts singing that song by Duran Duran. I mean like really putting some stank on it. You know the one where they are in a library and there is a rabbi and a monkey."

"That is Tears for Fears, Head Over Heels. I love that song. Buffy turned… me on.. To … it," Willow said before groaning.

Oz shook his head disapprovingly, "Duran Duran."

"I asked G-man, what is her name? Clearly, it was a love song. He blushed and said he did not realize he was singing. Then he got all defensive. He said because they are English and he heard it on the radio. Who among us has ever heard him mention a band formed after nineteen seventy-five? Let alone sing.

Then during fifth period guess who else is singing that song although not as well. The Buffster."

"Yeah, I have to admit, Will, there is something a little Don't Stand So Close to Me about them now that just was not there before," Oz rubbed the small of her back in an effort to soothe her.

Willow scoffed, "How so?"

"The other day I was actually in there looking through microfiches for an American History report. I think they thought they were alone. All of a sudden I hear Buffy moan and say deeper. The harder and faster. At this point, I am looking to hightail it out of there when I heard Buffy say,

"Hi, Oz. Where is Will?"

Thankfully, he was massaging her neck. I mean, that type of touch is intimate. You don't ask any joe blow to touch your body unless you are throwing money down."

"Tsk," Willow began, "Buffy told me about that. A big ass vamp threw her like a rag doll. If she had been anyone but her, she would have been in traction, paralyzed or worst."

Oz replied, "It is more than that, babe, I smell them on one other."

"Okay. What does that mean?" Xander asked.

"How can I put this delicately? You see people's smells come from two places. Their underarms and between their legs. Pheromones, musk, the whole nine. And I thought maybe I was being weird but sometimes I swear I can smell her her on him and his him on her. Like on his face, breath, fingers and their no-no places but I never smell him on her face though. Respect."

"When you say her her, you mean," Xander pointed to his groin.

"Eww. Wait, can you smell everyone's . . . privacy?" Cordelia asked.

"Yeah. I know what all you smell like."

"I suddenly feel the urge to go home and take all the showers," Xander said feeling suddenly naked.

"No, man. You have one of the nicer scents as far as dudes go. Cordy could do with a little less perfume. Sometimes you make my eyes water. My Willow, you smell like sunshine," he said.

She wanted to smile but could not. Listening to her boyfriend and Cordelia say that Buffy and Giles were getting naked together was like hearing your twin sister and your favorite uncle were involved. It rankled her.

"Enough is enough. I can't hear any more of this," Willow collected her things and ran away. Natch, Oz followed her.

"Willow," he called out.

"Take it back. You do not smell that. It can't be true."

"It makes a fucked up sort of sense," Oz said.

"How? Can't anything just be pure? You don't see Jiminy Cricket poking Pinocchio or Obi-Wan bending Leia over a table."

"Whatever you do not look up fan fiction online. Secondly, so it was okay when she was with Angel."

"Well, yeah, it was all forbidden like Romeo and Juliet."

"More like West Side Story. Because Maria lives in the end."

"It was gothic and romantic. But, Giles should know better. He is older. I mean he is handsome and I can see the appeal. But, it is just wrong."

"For starters, he is like two hundred years younger than Angel. And he's human as far as I know. They can mate and his soul will not leave his body. He can be in the sun. He can get her pregnant if she wants. Now, other than the fact her mom will probably murder him with her teeth if she finds out let's say ever, he is a step up. Be honest, no one can make Buffy do anything she does not want to. Besides, Buffy does not smell like other people. Kind of musky like before it rains."

"She smells like the earth then."

Willow's eye twitched and she kept walking. Still, he was behind her.

Halfway down the hall, Willow saw Faith and decided to approach her.

"Hey, where are you coming from?" Willow asked.

"The library. Giles wanted to talk to us about some nonsense I quit listening about ten minutes in because I did not hear the words slay, vampires or kill or stab but protocol, rules, respect. Whatever," Faith said pulling her panties out her ass without any shame.

Willow winced.

"Where is Buffy now?"

"Still in the library with Grey Flannel. I decided to leave those two alone. You know sometimes you get the feeling you are not wanted in place? She is real possessive of him like she owns him or something. She can keep him. I had a watcher. She was eaten. I am good alone."

Faith said.

Oz said, "No one is good alone."

She hunched.

Willow curious on her take had to ask, "Cordelia has this absurd theory."

Faith widened her eyes as if to say, "About?"

"She thinks Giles and Buffy are being inappropriate with one another. Isn't that just silly?"

Faith grinned mischievously and said, "Hell no, Dude is beating B's pussy like it knows karate."

The brunette slayer is one of the few people that can make Oz laugh out loud, hell Willow wanted to laugh at what she said but she instead turned red as she kept a stiff upper lip and Oz simply went back and told Cordelia and Xander what she had said at the beginning of the second half of fifth period.

Cordelia guffawed, "And has fangs. I bet that is the real reason he lost his soul. She sucked it out of him."

Xander feigned quiet laughter. His feelings was hurt for a different reason.

She rather be with anybody but him.

Buffy arrived late shortly thereafter.

"Her majesty, Miss Summers had decided to grace us with her presence," the instructor said rightly upset. She could count the times she had been on time to her music theory on one hand.

"Sorry, Mrs. Johannes, I got tied up in the library," Buffy replied pitifully handing her now requisite handwritten excuse Giles would always write for her. Her teacher resentfully accepted it.

Oz, Cordelia and even Xander snickered.

Willow shot Buffy a sympathetic look. Buffy looked at all them perplexed as she tightened her hair tie on her high ponytail.

The slayer hurried to her seat in front of Willow.

"You missed lunch. Were you sick again?" Willow said with concern.

Buffy shook her head no.

"Yeah, Buff, we missed you," Xander said rolling his eyes unintentionally.

She balked at the eye roll but made no comment about it.

Stop being paranoid, Buffy, she thought. No one knows.

Thirty minutes passed. She knew something was up for sure when Cordelia asked, "Do you know karate?"

It was not so much that she asked her, it was how she asked, with a smirk as if to say caught you.

She responded, "You know I do. Why?"

Cordelia, Xander, Oz and Amy who had been clued in by Xander busted out laughing.

"What is so funny?" Buffy asked.

Willow assured, "Ignore them. They are all twelve year olds today."

"Something happened during lunch?" Buffy asked.

"We'll talk later," she smiled unconvincingly.

Feeling the tension, she gripped onto her desk tightly and practiced breathing exercises Giles had taught her. It helped her to resist the urge to either cry, scream or punch them all in the face and demand an answer.

Things had nearly calmed when Xander said, "Hi-ya."

They erupted again. This time, Cordelia was laughing to the point of near seizure as she choked asking to be excused.

Buffy looked at them all like they were crazy. But moreover, she felt discomfited. Whatever the joke was, she knew it was at her expense. In that moment, she broke her desk in two.

"Miss Summers, are you all right?" The teacher asked while the students turned their eyes to her.

Feeling flustered and exposed, she ran out the classroom into the restroom.

She was in full tears by the time her hand hit the handle.

Cordelia was in there snorting because her nose was running from laughing so.

"Buffy, what wrong with you? Come on. You of all people should be equipped to handle a joke," she said.

Buffy said nothing but looked at her like she was a lost little girl in a department store looking for her mommy.

Feeling compassion, Cordelia sighed then hugged her. She looked like she needed a hug.

"Look, I know you have been and probably still are going through whatever. I am sorry. Just be careful, okay? Imagine if it had been Harmony instead of me. The whole school, your mom would know. I am not judging believe it or not. I do not like you much but even I know Golden Oldies is better choice than that last loser no matter how hot he was," Cordelia hugged her tighter.

Buffy pulled away and frowned before drying her eyes and saying, "You should really invest in a dictionary and look up the word comfort."

Buffy stormed off, slamming the door so hard she ripped the handle off.

Cordelia snorted and reapplied her makeup.

"Hi-ya," she laughed once more.

The next two hours passed without incident.

After school, Willow made it a point to make a beeline to the library where she knew Buffy would be there because the last period was her study hall. Giles had coaxed the guidance counselor into making her a library helper so she could train then and have some semblance of a social life after school before patrolling.

She saw no one and was about to walk out when she heard Buffy shriek. It came from the direction of Giles' office.

Willow ran to the closed door but was afraid to open it. The last thing she wanted to do was catch then in flagrante.

Willow knocked lightly.

"Come in," he said exasperatedly.

She opened the door and noticed several odd things off the bat.

First off, Buffy was sitting behind his desk in front of his desktop and her hair was down. He was knelt beside her, one finger pointing at the screen, the other on the armrest next to hers. His hand half on top hers.

His suit jacket was draped on her shoulders. His hair was mussed and his glasses were not on.

"Giles, it is called reading. I thought you were like born with a textbook in your hand. Hi, Will. Guest what mister computer genius just done here."

"Inform me," she sighed.

"I called myself finishing up the last page of my chem paper so I can actually turn it in early. It was brilliant, Will. I asked him to proofread it. You know the one you helped me with fake hormone man," Buffy said.

"Percy Julian. He was a genius. Got in trouble though. Pooping where you eat can do that to you especially in education," she tilted her head and her eyes were full of derision.

They both felt the chill but ignored it.

"Well, anyway, he was supposed to hit save as, instead he hit open and it said file already open will replace with existing file and guess what happened."

"He erased your last page and all your corrections. Did you back up the file?"

Giles interjected, "Maybe if someone had not carelessly threw my glasses about they wouldn't have shattered in a million little pieces and I would have been able to see what I was doing."

Willow's imagination went into overdrive. She could imagine them kissing passionately and in the midst of her allowing him to push her against the wall, she grabs off his glasses to get a better look at him and them landing hard against the opposing wall.

Lo and behold if those glasses weren't where she imagined.

"I told you, hey, Giles, don't do that. Well, I am not going rewrite it. Or replace your glasses."

He grunted as he stood up. He raked his fingers through his salt and pepper dark brown hair and made a squinty face at Buffy before asking, "When is it due again?"

"Tuesday, the thirtieth."

"So, I have a week then," he said looking at her with unmistakable affection.

She pushed out his from his swivel chair and stuck her arms into his sleeves. She was not going to give his jacket back. She wanted an excuse to see him later. Plus, it smelled like him.

"No, no, no you don't. I wanted to turn it in tomorrow no later than Wednesday. One less thing to worry about. So, please could you do it, nowish?" She half-smiled, half pouted and grasped her hands together but was completely serious.

He was sitting in his chair almost looking like another person, a younger person without his glasses to age and harden him. He scooted back and flopped his large feet on his desk, crossing them at the ankle. Without the shackle of his glasses one could tell he felt relaxed or that was the reason Willow hoped.

This made Willow think, Goddamn, I sometimes forget how good-looking he is. Classy, well-dressed. That accent. I bet he looks good naked.

She focused on his large feet and smirked to herself as she thought thoughts that usually only starred Oz as of late.

It was a good thing she was not listening because she would have heard this.

". . . Now that may be a problem," he began low flirtatious voice, "we both know how much I enjoy taking my time."

Her whole body blushed. She smiled coquettishly as she placed her hands on his desk and leaned into him and replied, "Well, this is one time I am asking you to go fast."

They were making seriously moony eye contact when Willow started to feel dirty in her own thoughts and began paying attention again. She looked at her watch.

"Buffy, if we go now. Oz can drop us off at the coffee shop."

"Uh, okay. Nine?" She asked referencing what time they were going to meet.

"What's wrong with eight? It is a school night. I figure the earlier the better," he said. He said this more for Willow's benefit than not. Plus, the earlier they met the more time they would have alone.

She said okay in her funny little way, bid him adieu.

"His jacket, Buffy," Willow said simply to see what she would do and as a display of dominance.

"Oh, yeah," she slipped out of it in a fluid motion and held it up on one finger. She always felt more graceful when his eyes were on her.

He smiled at this and decided to counter.

"Give it to me . . . later," he said with his voice low and sultry and full of rife with innuendo.

She said very quietly, "Gladly."

Willow shuddered and rolled her eyes at him. She grabbed Buffy by the hand.

"Bye, Willow," he smirked. He knew she knew but somehow he did not find the compunction to care. After all she did not know the circumstances.

Ten minutes passed. Buffy was uncharacteristically silent when Willow asked her, "We should invite Cordelia and make fun of her in code right in front of her face. So she won't even realize."

"Oh, please no Cordelia," Buffy stuck her finger down her in quasi real disgust.

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? It is Cordelia. I dealt with Faith earlier, too. I have been irritated enough by brunettes for one day. I just want to chill now and patrol later. FYI, Cordy knows. Xander told me."

"Oh. Want me to come with when you patrol? I have been working on a protection spell," Willow said sunnily.

Buffy slid down in the car seat and lazily said, "Nah. I figure you, Xander and even Cordelia have done enough patrolling last summer because of me. Relax and be with your honey. Giles and I got it."

Willow rolled her eyes and let out a grunt of frustration.

Oz let out a convincing cough to get Willow's attention and made eye contact with Buffy who looked away but only after a big smile crossed her lips for a nanosecond. Oz knew she really liked the librarian. And hoped his girl would not be so uptight about it.

"I would not mind is all. I like a little action," Willow said.

"Don't we all?" She almost cooed when she said it.

Five minutes passed and they were there. Oz volunteered to get their drinks so could talk.

"Oz is pretty cool. What do you have planned?" Was the only thing Buffy could think to say.

"Nothing much. It is Monday. Why don't you come to the Bronze tonight? It is Manic Monday where all sodas and snack are half off."

"Because they are flat and stale. Besides, I told you I have to patrol."

"Why? Can't it wait?"

"There is new nest, Will," she said seriously.

"Then I can help. All I want to do is help you because clearly you are sinking and you need help."

"Sinking? I am feeling better than I have in a while. What is your problem?"

"I do not have a problem. I just want to patrol with you."

"I told you. Giles and I can handle it."

"Why just the two of you? Why all the alone time? You do not have any time for me anymore."

"Really? Today and yesterday were the first times you volunteered to be around me in a month. Besides, he is my watcher. One on one time is in the job description."

"You have not been exactly the most inviting. You act like you have not done anything wrong. That you matter so little what you do does not hurt other people."

"We already had this convo, remember? What is really bothering you?"

You are hiding something from me. You are basically my sister and I feel it," Willow grabbed her hand.

"It is not what you think. Well, not exactly. Nothing has changed that much. We train and patrol."

"So, what do you do afterwards? You and Giles," Willow asked refusing to make eye contact at this point.

Buffy sighed not sure where she was going with this continued to act normal.

Then she said worst possible thing, "Go to bed."