Reunion

By obi's girl

Note: Spoilers for Tablusa Rasa

Disclaimer: Everything Buffy belongs to Joss.

Summary: After about a year, Giles returns to Sunnydale on Council business; the Scoobies are happy to have him back, even though it's temporarily but Buffy is still sour about his leaving.

~~

Rupert Giles removed his glasses as he walked through Sunnydale's airport. It had been a year since he left this place, a year since he left Buffy. He really didn't want to but after losing Buffy, he was convinced he was a failure and that there was nothing else he could do.

But there he was again in Sunnydale, although not a permanent visit. If he as lucky, maybe he wouldn't meet Buffy but he didn't think that was unlikely. Their paths would cross again, he was sure of it. The thing was what would happen when they saw each other again?

~~

Buffy tried to focus as she ran through her daily exercise in the danger room. The danger room. She smiled a moment, remembering Giles and Xander show-off their craftsmanship. The Slayer was in total awe of the place. Anything and everything a trained Slayer would want. After Xander left, Buffy thanked Giles personally. She didn't know honestly what to say to him, so she hugged him instead.

Her mind flashed forward a year later, to when Giles revealed he was leaving for England, permanently. It wasn't exactly something she wanted to hear. Angel left her, Riley left her and now her Watcher was leaving her? She couldn't deal with it. She had depended on him for so long.

For weeks, she didn't know how to deal. She thought about calling him up or e-mailing him or something, but it never seemed right. It didn't matter. He was coming back anyway, so why bother to talk to him when she couldn't even convince him to stay.

But she really hated how she left things with him before he left. But then again, she never expected him to leave her alone, leave her ever. He was always there. He stayed with her, even after she lied about Angel returning from Hell. He refused to allow her to quit when she first came to Sunnydale. He had so much faith in her, and internally, she always had faith in him.

The Slayer stifled back a cry, breaking her concentration. She dropped onto the floor, crying emphatically.

~~

Anya looked over the receipts as Willow and Xander, were doing research trying to figure out who was testing Buffy. After awhile, Will stopped what she was doing. She was tempted to use magic to figure things out but remembered she promised Buffy. She huffed, opening up another book.

"Hey, maybe we can ask Willy. He might know something." Xander suggested, closing another book.

Buffy walked into the room. Willow smiled at her friend as she grabbed a seat, but frowned when she sensed something else about the Slayer. Before coming in, she heard part of what Xander was talking about and shrugged, "I talked to Willy the other night and he said he didn't know anything and I actually believed him." Buffy frowned, scrunching her nose but quickly nodded, "Keep looking. I'll try another source." The blonde saw her friends' concern, but only shrugged, rolling her eyes as she stood up, grabbed her jacket and left the shop.

As she left, Giles came from the opposite direction, entering the shop. Anya, hearing the sound of the shop bell, left her station behind the counter to greet the incoming customer. But froze when she saw Giles. He smiled back at her as she engulfed him a big hug.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, as the two of them joined Willow and Xander. Will rose from her chair, hugging Giles as Xander simply nodded and smiled to the old man.

"Hello all." He replied softly, removing his glasses and wiping his eyes.

They all smiled back at him, ignoring the layers of books on the table. For a moment, none of them knew what to say until Anya broke the silence, "So, what are you doing here?"

He shrugged, settling down, "The Council sent me. An assignment. They said something really big was coming to Sunnydale and that I should warn you all about...and Buffy. How is she doing?"

"She's fine. We're still trying to figure out who's testing her, but so far, we haven't found anything. She left a few minutes ago to talk to another source." Xander replied.

"...But she'll be back later and you guys can talk!" Will chirped excitedly as Giles smiled quaintly.

Talk. Yes.

TBC