No idea where this came from. Slight onesided Giles/Buffy, if you squint and stand on your head. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Not mine!
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The first day he saw her was not the first day he had seen her.
The day she strolled into the library, looking every bit the prom queen and cheerleader she seemed to be, he had been expecting her. But it was not the first time he had ever laid eyes on her.
Watchers, like slayers, were fated to become those roles. Before he was even born, his destiny had been laid out. He had rebelled against it for a while, but in the end, he knew what he was and what he would be. Eventually he gave up the rebellion and accepted his fate.
He'd had several slayers before her; none of them were quite like her, though. He was unprepared for what he faced with her, from a lack of a real father figure to falling in love with a vampire. The world almost ended numerous times. She had turned her back on the Council; he had been dismissed by the Council. She drove him crazy half of the time, and the other half he couldn't imagine not being her watcher.
Closing the book in front of him, he pulled his glasses off and rubbed his eyes before turning the light off. Then he rolled onto his side and closed his eyes.
His second day in America found Rupert Giles in a large and crowded mall in California. He was only there for a visit, but somehow he had forgotten to pack a few things in his haste to make his flight. Now he was being subjected to the loud noise and excessive lights of the local mall, which was brimming with people.
As he made his way down the escalator and finally reached solid floor again, a little blond girl raced across his path. He paused when she suddenly stopped and looked up at him with large blue eyes. There was something familiar about her, though there was no way he could have seen the girl before this very moment.
Her expression shifted from scrutinizing to smiling. "Hi!"
Before he could respond, a woman hurried up to them and took the girl's hand. "Buffy, what have I told you about talking to strangers?" she scolded, pulling the girl along with her, away from him.
As more and more distance was placed between them, Buffy looked over her shoulder, back at him. He gave her a small wave, and she beamed before disappearing into the throng of shoppers.
He never gave the day a second thought until his path crossed once more with the blue-eyed girl some twelve years later. It seemed Fate deemed it necessary to bring her back into his life, this time as his slayer and charge, his responsibility. He would carry that burden with pride, knowing he would always be there for her, and yet never fully hers.
Finis.