CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: TAN
It had been Dawn's idea not to tell Giles, to have Buffy's return to be a complete surprise. Giles had called to confirm when he would be arriving in Sunnydale, telling them not to bother with picking him up from the airport, that he would just rent a car for the two weeks he would be staying in California. Willow had been fairly bursting with excitement, but she wanted to see his reaction in person, not just hear it.
Buffy hadn't been home for the phone call, and she hadn't been informed of it either. Dawn wanted to leave some things a mystery, and seeing Buffy's reunion with her father-figure would definitely be one worth seeing. Giles return, however, had been one of the only topics of conversation for the last few days. The house was decorated, the tree put up and the mistletoe placed in strange locations within the household.
The mistletoe had been a co-conspiracy between Spike and Xander, both of them wanting to get as many Christmas kisses from the girls of the house as they could. Xander had pulled Stephen into their bet as to who could get the most kisses, completely missing Spike's low growl about Stephen being completely accepted into their fold when it had taken Spike nearly three years to gain their trust.
Stephen had been confused by the entire holiday, even more befuddled by the tradition of mistletoe kisses, and having to have it explained to him by the entire gang who had taken Stephen's naïveté and ignorance in their stride. They had been patient and understanding, and Xander quickly realised that it was Anya's humanification all over again.
Willow, Tara, Anya and Dawn had been cooking in the kitchen, the radio blaring loudly with old Christmas carols that were just begging to have their words changed into funnier lyrics were being massacred by the group as Xander tried to steal any titbits of food he could get his hands on. Buffy and Stephen had been in the living room talking quietly when a crash had sent Buffy running into the other room, leaving Stephen on the couch, a small smile on his face.
He had never known people to be so…welcoming. His father had loved him, he was sure of that. Buffy loved him and had proven it to him time and time again, but these people had welcomed him into their home without question. They had helped him make the transition between a demon dimension and Sunnydale, and had made it bearable for him. They were patient when explaining things to him, they were understanding when he sometimes got confused with names of people and objects. They had introduced him to the world of television, movies and music, trying to educate him on the finer points of all things trendy and had done so without making him feel stupid or embarrassed.
He smiled again when he heard Buffy's loud groan come from the kitchen. It was tinged with laughter, a fact he knew from having paid attention to her every sound for the last two years that he had known her. At the beginning, he had studied her so completely that she had once snapped at him to 'quit making her feel like a damn experiment'. That of course had led to much questioning of what she had meant, and in turn had made Stephen feel rather like a stalker. He had stopped treating her as an experiment long ago.
The doorbell rang and Stephen waited for one of the gang in the kitchen to rush out to get it. No one came and the bell rang again. He stood up and went to the door opening it. He came face-to-ace with an older man who looked momentarily taken aback. The man quickly caught himself and regarded Stephen curiously.
"Can I help you?" Stephen asked, remembering how Dawn had answered the door to him the other evening.
"Uh…yes, quite possibly," came the reply. "This is still the Summer's household?"
Stephen nodded and finally realised whom he was talking to.
"You're Giles aren't you?" he asked, a smile on his face. He had heard so much about this man, so many different tales, especially over the last day when the gang had been regaling him with their past battles and Giles' role in more than half of them.
"Yes I am…and uh…you are?" Giles asked.
Stephen stuck his hand out, remembering how Buffy had taught him how to shake hands properly on the first day he had met her.
"Stephen Holtz," he replied, not embellishing on his role in the household. "It's nice to meet you. I've heard nothing but brilliant things about you."
Giles chuckled self-consciously, wondering how this young man fit into the Scooby Gang. No one had told him of an addition, and he had spoken to them only a day ago. Anya was still with Xander, and as far as he knew, Willow and Tara were still together and…batting for the other team. He didn't even entertain the idea of this young man being a suitable suitor for Dawn, seeing as Stephen looked to be about twenty to Dawn's young age of sixteen.
"I'm sure half of it's not entirely true."
Stephen just smiled and opened the door, standing out of the way to let Giles enter. He was glad to see that the young man had a modicum of sense by not issuing a verbal invitation to a complete stranger.
"So…where is everyone?" Giles asked.
A peal of laughter broke out of the kitchen, followed by a squeal that sounded like Dawn. Giles just smiled fondly as Stephen pointed needlessly to the kitchen.
"They've been looking forward to you coming all day," Stephen said, walking ahead of Giles towards the kitchen.
He walked in, Giles behind him and both men stopped as they took in the sight in front of them. There was flour everywhere, eggs splattered on the walls, water and soapsuds and cake mix strewn throughout the room. Willow was the first to notice Giles.
Willow threw herself into his arms, getting flour and water all over Giles' sweater.
Giles hugged the girl back and scanned the room quickly, noticing Stephen had been hugged by a flour-clad figure as well. He panicked when he saw the glint of gold adorning the small hand that was on Stephen's back. A wedding ring. He could see Dawn rubbing flour into Xander's hair and Tara and Anya were grinning at Xander's yelp of indignation.
Willow pulled out of the hug, realising that Giles still hadn't seen or felt Buffy's presence in the room.
"Hey, Giles?"
He looked down at the young Wiccan a smile playing on his face.
"What's the one thing you want for Christmas that you know you can't have?" she asked with a grin.
He regarded her curiously, wondering what sort of a question that was. And then he carefully considered the answer. What did he want for Christmas that he couldn't have? The answer came to him rather painfully and he wondered what game Willow was playing at, because Willow knew the answer all too well. What Giles wanted for Christmas was to have his Slayer by his side again.
It was then that Buffy pulled slowly away from Stephen. She hadn't even noticed her Watcher's presence. She had only felt Stephen enter the room and had been too entranced with the feeling of his arms to realise that there were more people in the room than was usual. She had pulled away when she noticed the extra person.
Their eyes met, Slayer and Watcher. Buffy wet her lips apprehensively, wanting to say something but having no words to say to the man who had been her mentor and her father in everyway but one. Giles swallowed nervously and the room went deathly still, all eyes on the pair who had been their leaders in everything.
Giles couldn't believe his eyes, couldn't help but think that his plane had actually gone down and he had died and gone to heaven. His Slayer was back.
Willow touched his arm gently, not expecting him to acknowledge her.
"Merry Christmas Giles."
(I'm also a B/Ger, trying not to make it a B/G fic. It's HARD!!! *whines*)
