Disclaimer and notes with part one. *************************************

Giles had driven as fast as he dared to L.A. Whatever instinct had told Buffy Faith was in trouble had also told her that the other slayer was in a hospital, just not which one. They checked several of them, but no one matching Faith's description had been admitted. They were ready to give up, but decided to try one more. As they headed into the emergency room and were about to ask the nurse at the admittance desk, an old man stopped them. With a wink and a grin, he told them that their 'daughter' was here. He put his hands on Buffy's shoulders.

"Don't worry 'son', she'll be fine. Lucky for you, I was around to let them know who she was. Now give your old man a hug." He put his arms around Buffy who, although confused, hugged him back. As they were embracing, the old man whispered in her ear, "And I took care of Travers for you. He won't be bothering you again for a long time."

Buffy pulled back, even more puzzled. "What's he got to do with this? I thought he was in England."

"Faith will tell you what you need to know. Then maybe you and your 'wife' can sort things out and get back to where you belong. Well, I must be toddling along now. Take good care of her." He patted Giles on the arm as he passed. Then seeing Ethan, he stopped for a second. "If it weren't for the fact that you still have something to do, I'd take care of you too. Maybe later." Then the old men left, leaving a stunned Buffy and Giles, and a visibly shaken Ethan, behind.

Giles shook himself and said, "Perhaps we should find out where they're keeping her." He then turned to the nurse who had been standing there and asked what room Faith Snyder was in. After getting the room number, they started off. Once they found the room, Buffy stopped Giles outside the door.

"How did you know she was here as Faith Snyder?"

"When the old man said it was our daughter, he made sure to call you son. It seemed like he was telling us that we had to pretend to be who we look like in order to get in to see her."

"Oh. Who was he anyway? He felt so familiar."

Giles just looked at her for a moment. "Damned if I know. But if he can put fear into Ethan, he can't be all that bad."

As they entered the room, Faith sat up. "Who are you? You're not with that damn Council, are you?"

Buffy stopped in her tracks. She was starting to get used to being Snyder and forgot that Faith didn't know anything about what had been going on. "Chill Faith, it's Buffy."

"B? What happened? You've really let yourself go. So who's that with you? Xander and Red?"

"No, she's Giles. That 's Ethan. You're allowed to hit him on the head if you want to."

"Hey!" Giles and Ethan said at the same time. Ethan started to protest. Giles cut him off by saying, "It's my turn to hit him."

Faith started to laugh, but stopped when it hurt too bad. "So how did you know I was here? As far as I knew, the Council guy I took out was gonna come after you next."

Buffy moved closer to the bed. "I'm not sure. Something told me that you were in trouble and that we'd find you in a hospital." (Okay, we admit it. We put it in her head to speed things up. After all it gets us that much closer to Buffy/Giles smoochies. ;-P Eli and Ewie)

"Well, I'm glad you're here. I have to tell you something important."

Giles spoke up. "If it's to tell us that we're actually a goddess and god of some sort, and that you're our daughter, we already figured that out."

Faith snorted. "No. You were supposed to figure that out on your own. I'm supposed to tell you to get your heads out of your butts and come home. That's the whole reason I left, where ever it is. You're both pretty much done here. They figured mom atoned enough for what she did, so they sent me to make sure you knew who you were and lead you back. I just sorta forgot who I was along the way. That's why it took so long."

Buffy and Giles just looked at each other. Ethan laughed. "I think you're forgetting something, my dear. They still have one more thing to do before they can go. Oh wait, you don't know. That's the reason I'm here."

Buffy started towards the sorcerer. "You've been jerking us around since this whole thing started. What else do you know?"

Ethan stood up, a grin still on his face. "You know, since I've been here, you've done nothing but abuse me. I'm back to normal and I've found true love, so tell me why should I do anything else for you?"

Buffy lunged at him and pinned him up against the wall. "Because I'll take your tonsils out through your stomach if you don't." As she held him there, her body against his for leverage, she felt something in his front pocket. Remembering what the women at the party had written on the sign, she reached in and started to pull it out.

"Why Buffy, if I'd known that you really wanted to have your way with me all along, I would have gladly obliged. Of course you aren't as attractive as usual, but I could have gotten past that."

"Shut up." Buffy snarled as she finally managed to get a small vial out of his pocket. It contained some kind of pinkish liquid that glowed faintly. She let go of Ethan and took the vial to Giles. "What is it?"

Giles opened it and sniffed. The magic in it was strong and the smell was familiar. "It's a magical truth serum. It gives off a magical smoke. Who ever breathes it in will admit their true feelings for someone." He walked over to Ethan. "What exactly were you planning on doing with this?"

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, Ripper. How dense can you be? I was going to use it on you and that bird of yours. You both love each other, this was just going to get you to say it out loud. After all, that's all you really had to do to get back into your bodies. Admit what you feel and maybe have a snog."

Buffy stared at him wide eyed. "Then why did we go through all this? Why didn't you just give it to us and get it over with?"

"And miss out on all the fun and chaos it caused? Oh come now, you know me better than that. Besides, look at all the things you learned." Ethan seemed to actually gloat.

Buffy and Giles stared at him. Then they stared at each other. When neither seemed ready to say anything, Ethan produced another vial from somewhere in his clothing. Before they could move to stop him, he uncorked it and threw it at them. A cloud of pink smoke enveloped them, causing them to choke. But they just stood there. Ethan became confused.

"You should be all over each other by now. Why isn't it working? "

"Because love isn't always about 'snogging' and sex and physical things, Ethan." Giles offered. "It's also about respect and caring and inner beauty. My respect for Buffy and how deeply I care for her, has kept me from pursuing something she wasn't ready for. While I think she's the most beautiful person I know, it's her inner beauty, her soul that I love most of all."

Buffy moved closer to Giles. "It means you trust the other person, even if you don't always understand why they do something. It means trying to protect the person, even if you don't realize you're doing it. I've always trusted Giles to take care of me, but didn't know how I wanted him to do it. And I did all those hurtful things to him, because I wanted to keep him from getting hurt worse by something else that might be after me."

By this time Giles and Buffy were close enough to touch. They looked into each others eyes. They forgot that they weren't in their normal bodies, their own essence shined out from their eyes. Buffy was Buffy, and Giles was Giles... the bodies didn't matter. That they were together did. Slowly they drew together and kissed. Just as their lips met, they disappeared. Ethan did a little dance.

"Ha. I knew they'd finally get around to it." He turned to the bed. Faith was gone also. Ethan stood there for a moment. Finally, he turned and walked to the door. "Bugger this. I've got to get back to Dusty and Julie."