Xander resisted the urge to get up and pace around the kitchen. An hour of quiet meditation. Willow had to know that he so wasn't hour-of-quiet-meditation-guy. Still, she said it was important for the spell to work, so he was sitting here at the kitchen table trying to center himself and feeling more and more off center by the minute.

Xander heard the front door softly open and close. Either Giles was home or one of the "girls night out group" that Andrew had organized had returned. Xander wondered if he could count 47 minutes of nervous fidgeting as an hour of quiet meditation and leave now through the back door.

Giles walked into the kitchen, picked up the tea kettle and began to fill it from the tap. Xander realized he'd missed his chance to escape.

Giles turned and spotted his fellow watcher.

"Xander! I thought you'd gone out with the others."

Xander eyed the older man's happy grin with suspicion. "You look glad to see me," he said in a doubtful tone.

"Yes, yes, I suppose I am," Giles sounded as though he'd surprised even himself.

"You have some junior watcher thingy that needs doing?"

"No, no. I'm just pleased to see you looking so, uh, recovered after all you've been through. Life in London seems to agree with you." Giles turned and began to take the tea things from the cupboard with unwarranted concentration.

"I guess. I know you must be looking forward to an evening of tea-and-reading goodness, with the girls out of the house, and all. I'll get out of your way in a few minutes."

"Really, Xander, 'Slayer Central,' as the girls call it, is your home, too. You have every right to be here. Don't leave on my account."

"No, that's okay, Giles. I was leaving soon anyway."

"Ah… you have plans?"

"Just going down to one of the pubs -- one that isn't packed with Slayers."

"I'll come with you then." Giles started to take the kettle off the burner but paused when he saw the look on Xander's face. "Oh, you're meeting someone."

"Well, I hope so," Xander said uncertainly.

"Not sure she'll be there? Is this a first date?" Giles replaced the tea kettle.

"Not, not exactly."

Giles nodded, accepting that Xander didn't want to discuss it. He leaned against the counter, half watching the kettle as he waited for it to boil. Xander tried to ignore Giles and concentrate on being all center-y. He looked up to see Giles smiling at him.

"What's so funny?"

"N-Nothing."

"Then what are you grinning at?"

Giles opened his mouth to reply, but the kettle whistled, and he turned away to make his tea. Teacup in hand, Giles wandered over to sit next to Xander. He noticed the book on the table. "What are you reading?"

"Uh, that's Willow's. It's in Latin, not my thing."

Giles glanced at the metal bowl, and then used his teaspoon to poke at the ashes within it.

Xander briefly wondered if he could claim that he had started smoking, but one look at Giles' face told him it was hopeless. Xander fought the babble rising within him, but was unable to resist the power of Giles' raised eyebrows.

"It's just a little spell, very safe, hardly a spell at all really. Willow said my ego needed boosting, and she got on her resolve face and God! Could I be any more pathetic -- needing a spell to help me meet women?

"Xander!" Giles grabbed him by the shoulders. "A love spell? Didn't you learn anything from that debacle in high school? Do you want all the slayers running after you wth axes?"

"God, no! How stupid do you think I am? No, don't answer that. It's not a love spell. Willow called it a 'come hither' spell."

Giles stared blankly at Xander for a moment and then pulled his hands away as if they burned. He stood up and paced to the other side of the kitchen. "A come hither spell. I shall kill Willow with my bare hands."

"But Willow said it was a very mild spell. Just like, if I'm sitting in the pub and a woman likes what she sees, then she'll come over and talk with me. That's all. Willow promised it doesn't change anyone's feelings. It just gives them a little push to act on them.

"Did Willow also tell you that the stronger the feelings, the stronger the push?"

"Sure, but it's not like anyone is going to fall desperately in love with me tonight. I doubt if anything will really happen -- I mean, a one-eyed unemployed carpenter isn't exactly every woman's dream. I figure I sit at the pub for an hour, then come home and tell Will no such luck. Even Will said that spell is so mild she wasn't sure if it would work, didn't know if it could overcome 'overdone British restraint.'"

"Did Willow -- I need to see the spell she used.' Giles walked to the table and picked up the book. An odd expression came over his face.

"I don't know what page it was on," Xander said, "Somewhere near the middle, I think."

Giles set the book on its spine, and let it fall open. "Here it is."

"How'd you do that?"

"Just a reader's trick. If a book is opened to a certain page more than any other, it will often fall open to that page. This is the most used spell in the book."

"Willow's been using the come hither spell a lot? Do you think Kennedy knows?"

"This isn't Willow's book, Xander. It's mine. And its one I've had for a long, long time."

"What!?"

"When I was young, reckless and running about in London, I must have cast this spell three times a week. Things were different then – no one had heard of AIDS, or penicillin-resistant diseases-- sex was open and casual and we thought we could do what we wanted without consequences." Giles smiled wryly at the memory. "You went to a club, you met a bird, you asked if she wanted to come back to your flat, you shared a shallow physical experience and never saw her again. That's what the seventies were about, for some people. For me, too, until I saw what I was becoming. The come hither spell was just one more shallow, thoughtless act on my part. I cast it, sat back and let them come to me. That's how I met Ethan, you know."

"I repeat, What!?"

"Didn't Willow warn you? This spell works on men and women, both." Giles turned and stared hard into Xander's eyes. "How would you feel if it were a man who expressed interest?"

Xander stood up and moved away from Giles, crossing his arms across his chest. He was feeling more wigged by the minute, that's how he was feeling. Xander tried to break the tension, "Well, I did once ask Will to gay me up. Maybe she thought it was time." Xander shook his head. "This is ridiculous, Giles, nothing is going to happen."

Giles continued to stare intently at the younger man for a moment, and then turned away, grabbing the top rail of one of the kitchen chairs and tightening his grip until his knuckles turned white.

"Are you okay?" Xander stepped towards him, but Giles threw up his hands to warn him away and said "I'm fine. Just. Fine. Look here, if you and Willow cast this spell to help you meet women, why are you spending the evening sitting alone in the kitchen?"

"That's part of the spell. Willow said I needed to be quiet-meditation-guy for an hour before it could take effect. I'm supposed to be finding my center, which normally I'd think was about here," Xander pointed to his navel, "but now I'm not so sure."

"Nonsense," said Giles. "That spell is immediately effective. In fact, I think Ethan approached me while I was still in the middle of casting it."

"That can't be right," Xander objected. "Why would Willow tell me to sit here alone, when she had to know you'd be coming home and finding me here with that book and that bowl sitting in front of me, and oh, could I be any stupider. You two had another fight about her using too much magic, didn't you. And she cast a little spell on her stupid, half-blind friend to show you that you couldn't tell her what to do. Why do I always end up in the middle of these things?"

"I did not have a fight with Willow. She's handling her abilities very well lately. I told her so just the other day. But you're correct. She would have known I'd come home and find you here alone. Think! What was her mood like when she was casting the spell? Did she seem upset about anything, angry at you or at, at me?"

"No, no. She was all happy, fluffy Willow. The only thing she said about you was, she said she wished she could cast this same spell for you, but she didn't think you'd let her. I guess she doesn't know about you and the seventies. She said she wanted me to be happy and she wanted you to be happy, and neither of us to be alone. I guess she thinks you're as pathetic at meeting women as I am, huh G-man." Xander grinned.

Giles grinned, too, but somehow Xander didn't feel that it lightened the mood.

"Willow is very smart, isn't she, Xander. She's an academic powerhouse, and a incredible wiccan. But you think she understands her friends, the people around her? Does she know how they feel, what they want?"

The change of subject surprised Xander, but he understood Giles was a private person who didn't want to talk about his love life, or lack thereof. He gave some thought to Giles' question. "Yeah, I think she understands people, well, better than I do, anyway. That's for sure."

Giles walked over to stand next to Xander. "Yes. Maybe she understands better than either of us. Maybe she sees what I've been trying to hide. Maybe she thinks you're hiding something, too. I hope she really is your best friend, Xander, because I'm going to put my trust in Willow."

And suddenly Giles had his arms around Xander, and he was kissing him, softly at first, and then more insistently, his body leaning into Xander's.

Xander was frozen with surprise at first, but then found himself responding, responding and opening his mouth under the onslaught of Giles' lips. Suddenly Gile's tongue was in his mouth, and his was in Giles' and all at once Xander realized that he was FRENCHING GILES. He broke out of Giles' embrace and stared at the man who suddenly seemed like a complete stranger.

"Giles, what are you doing!"

"Xander, I---"

"Stupid, stupid question. I know what you were doing. I even know what I was doing. Oh. My. God. Giles, this never happened. Let's be totally clear about that. It NEVER happened." And Xander fled out the back door.