This can't go on, she thought. Somebody's going to notice. That is, if they aren't all too wrapped up in their own problems. Lately it seemed as if everyone was preoccupied about something or other. Except, unfortunately, for Cordelia and Oz.
Trying to concentrate on the task at hand, Willow scanned the bookshelf for helpful-looking titles, but was having a difficult time making sense of the letters. She could feel Xander's eyes on her, and tentatively turned her gaze to meet his. They stood there enraptured by each other for a moment until they were reminded that Giles was in the library too.
"Oh, this is intolerable," they heard him say as he slammed shut the book he had been studying in frustration. "There's not a word here about Lagos or the glove. We don't have time for this near-missing," having stood up, Giles now turned to face Willow and Xander. "Just find out all you can about the demon, its-it-its strengths, its-its weaknesses, its places of origin, and most importantly, what it plans to do with this blasted glove."
Xander did not take kindly to being ordered in such a way. "Hey, you're not the Watcher of me."
"Then go home. But if you choose to stay, then work." Giles shot back, highly irritated, and turned towards his office.
Xander, however, was not in a mood just to let it go. "So, I take it you're out of Miss Calendar's good graces…again."
"What? No! I mean, that's none of your business."
"You're not?" Willow asked, concerned. Both Giles and Jenny had been acting… unusual for the past week; Willow had assumed the reason was that they were having some sort of spat. Giles gave Willow a funny look, so she explained her concern, "We just thought… well, because she's not here, and-and lately she's been acting… um…"
"Schizo?" Xander supplied.
"…edgy."
"Not to mention you're Mr. Moody," Xander added
Trying to ignore these remarks, Willow continued, "so we thought, you know…"
Xander took advantage of Willow's hesitation to interject, "that you aren't getting any—"
"That you're fighting!" Willow said emphatically, glaring at Xander.
By this time Giles was feeling exasperated. "Thank you for you're concern," he said, not without sarcasm, "but I assure you it's misdirected," and he looked at Xander in such a way as to indicate "on both counts."
Willow, however, required more of an explanation. "Then what's wrong with Jenny?" she asked tentatively.
"Nothing." Giles answered bluntly.
Xander scoffed, disbelieving.
Willow wasn't convinced either. "Haven't you noticed she's been acting kind of, um, weird, lately? Like, uh, for example, she kind of, um, blew up in class today. She made Jonathan cry. And-and yesterday, she left class really suddenly and when she came back, her eyes were all red."
Upon hearing this Giles began to take Willow and her concerns seriously. "Well, uh, maybe-maybe she's still, uh, recovering from the-the effects of the band candy? She was a-a-a rather, um, emotional teenager," he suggested rather lamely.
"Yeah… maybe… but something else weird she did: on Sunday, when we met for our Wicca study session, she ate, like, a whole tub of yogurt with potato chips."
Giles had nothing to say to this news. He could only make a face.
"I think it's demon possession." Xander said.
Giles rolled his eyes. "I hardly think Jenny's behaviour is serious enough to-to –"
"C'mon… out of character behaviour? Inhuman eating habits—"
"You ate the same thing last week!" Willow pointed out.
"Yeah, but that was for a bet!" Xander defended himself. He could tell from Will's look though that she wasn't buying it. "Okay, so I was hungry and there wasn't much choice. My point is that, in Miss Calendar's case, it smacks of Hellmouth."
"Yes, of course, it's the demon that makes one eat junk food and act 'moody'. It's a very grave evil. I don't know why I didn't realize it before," Giles said sarcastically, turning away.
"Where is Jenny anyways?" Willow asked, her worries unabated.
"She had a doctor's appointment… but nothing is wrong."
"Then why go to the doctor?"
Giles sighed wearily. "That is none of your concern. Now please, get back to work."
Willow couldn't stop worrying that easily, though. And anyways, to stop worrying about Jenny meant she would no longer have anything to distract her from Xander. "Sorry, you're right," she said, turning back towards the bookcase "I just worry too much. When you live on a Hellmouth, you can't help worrying about the people you care about, what with all the horrible things that could potentially happen to them, but it doesn't matter if it would give me peace of mind to know, because you're right, it's none of my business, I just worry too much—"
Giles sighed and reluctantly gave in to Willow. "She's just been feeling, uh, nauseous, recently."
"Oh, I haven't noticed that…"
"It's mostly been in the morning. Perhaps the prospect of facing students' insolent questions brings it on."
Willow was somewhat hurt by Giles's remark. She had good intentions, after all.
Xander hadn't really been paying attention, having turned back to his book after Giles's rejection of his demon theory, but said absent mindedly, "Sickness in the morning… like morning sickness."
Willow raised her eyebrows. "Oh. That would make sense…" she said, more to herself than anyone else.
"Really?" Xander said, surprised that he may actually be right about something. "What is morning sickness anyways?"
Willow glanced over at Giles. He was standing stalk still, as if rooted to the ground. His brow was furrowed and he blinked as if he had just been presented with a baffling problem. "I'll tell you in the stacks," Willow whispered, and the two of them disappeared between the bookshelves.
Left alone, Giles took off his glasses with a shaky hand and sat down unsteadily in the nearest chair to think.