"So when do you think Buffy will be getting back?" Willow asked Giles. "I don't quite know. But perhaps soon?" Giles replied as he took his glasses off and began to clean the lenses. "I think we should all be nice to Buffy when she's around." the former Watcher said to the group, which consisted of Xander, Willow, Dawn and Anya. "We are nice!" said Dawn in a louder voice than she had expected. Giles eyed her for a moment. "Especially nice then alright? Buffy is going through a hard time right now."
"She just wants attention that's all." interrupted Dawn. "She's been doing that since she was young. She'd pout over the smallest thing and then mom....." Dawn's voice became a whisper as she suddenly thought of her mother.
"What are you blokes up to?" came the voice of Spike as he walked in. "How did you get in here?" asked Giles who seemed confused. "It's the fourth of July out there." Spike pointed to the training room which was in the back of the magic shop. "Came up through the sewers outside and just thought I'd let myself in. By the way mate, you need a new window." said Spike as he walked over to the counter and helped himself to a complimentary candy, which Giles had set out for customers. Within a few seconds he spit it out. "What in sodding hell is this? Tastes worse than Xander's blood." Spike cried as he tried to get rid of the taste. "Hey!" said Xander. "Those are for customers!" Giles quickly said as he walked behind the counter to put them away. "Yeah and I don't see you buying a crystal ball so why don't you get outta here?" Xander said. Before Spike could say anything, the door burst open and in walked a smiling Buffy. Spike grinned. But his grin quickly faded away when his eyes came upon Riley who had walked in a second later. "Hey everyone," Buffy said. "Look who's here!"
"Heyyy Riley." said Willow. "What are you doing here?" All the Scoobies gathered around. Giles stayed behind the counter and noticed that Spike had left. He thought this strange but then quickly dismissed any thought as his attention went back to Riley, who by now was answering a lot of questions.
"So what happened with the mission? Or is it top secret?" laughed Xander. "Uh actually it is." Riley responded. "When did you get back?" asked Dawn. "Late last night. I was going to come over but I figured no one would be here and Buffy was out patrolling. Sooo....."
"We bumped into each other today." Buffy said with excitement. "I was just there standing around and here came Riley, all Inititatively."
"Well why don't we order some take out and you can tell us the full story. Every detail." said Giles. "Anyone for Chinese?"
