2. Neither Did This

Sitting at the breakfast bar, Giles was falling asleep in between sips of coffee.

While Buffy had been fighting they mayor and preventing the Ascension, Jenny, who had fled to Los Angeles with Joyce at Giles' insistence, had given birth to Anastasia. In the three weeks since, Giles had not slept more than two hours together. At first he had been fueled by a giddy excitement with having a little person who was his. Then the excitement gave way to a delirious exhaustion. Now, he was simply exhausted. Giles was past the point of being astonished at how messy the apartment could get, all he knew was that it had to be cleaned. He had decided to take a minute for a coffee break; though he had known that the second he stopped moving he wouldn't be able to keep his eyes open, but the caffeine was supposed to counteract that. It would have worked in theory. In practice, he was having trouble staying awake long enough to drink it.

"Hi Giles!" Willow's cheer jolted him from his dazed state. He looked up to see Willow, Xander and Buffy traipsing in.

"Oh, er, uh, h-hello. How nice to see you all," Giles replied. "What are you doing here?" It was summer break, demon activity was low, and Xander was about to set out soon on his quest to see America. Buffy and her friends should have been out enjoying themselves like normal teenagers.

Xander answered, "We just came for our regular dose of infantile cuteness. Where's the li'l goo-goo monster?" he glanced around the living room. Of all the Scoobies, Xander seemed to show the most aptitude with Anastasia. Giles found the fact rather disconcerting.

"Asleep," he told them, rubbing his eyes. "Finally."

Buffy looked at him with sympathy. "Long day?"

"Possibly. I've lost track."

Willow approached the breakfast bar where Giles sat after circling the appartment. "Hey, is Jenny around?"

"She's asleep." Jenny had spent the past few weeks in bed, recovering from severe anemia.

"Oh," Willow sounded disappointed. "Well I brought her these," she said, brightening slightly, and producing a large, red plastic bag, which she set on the counter before Giles. He stared at it a moment before making the connection between the logo and the contents, realizing that it was a club-sized bag of raisins.

Giles looked at Willow over the top of his glasses.

"Cause of the iron!" she explained

"Ah. I'll tell her." Giles was too tired to bother to inform Willow that there was medication for such things. He put Willow's gift away and turned wearily to the dangerously high stack of dishes in the sink, which he had been about to tackle when the idea of a coffee break occurred to him.

"Um, Giles?" he heard Buffy say skeptically, "You just put the rasins in the microwave."

Giles heard the words, but was having trouble piecing together their meaning. "What?"

Buffy appeared at Giles' side, took his arm, and guided him away from the sink.

"Why don't you sit down for a while, let us tidy up," she said gently.

"Tidy? Us?" Xander started to protest, but Buffy silenced him with a look. Willow set to work putting away the random packages of food that had been left lying about.

"That would be greatly appreciated," Giles said, and started towards the door.

Buffy followed. "Where are you going?"

"I should do the laundry while they're asleep," he yawned.

Buffy took his arm again, and with little effort changed course back to the couch in the living room. "No, you should rest."

"But..."

"Um, why is there a mace in the fridge?" came Willow's voice from the kitchen.

Buffy cocked an eyebrow at Giles.

"Maybe I'll lie down for just a bit."