[Disclaimer: I bow humbly to Almighty Joss and pray that he does not bring to bear his enormous powers and smite me for profaning his characters with my inferior writing skills (or lack thereof)]

[Other Disclaimer: chapter title came from a song. Don't remember song-title, or artist, sorry.]

Author's Notes:

Star, Dr Dele recommends some C/A fluff treatment, and possibly chocolate. Also, I'm not killing Buffy in this fic, but I can't make any promises about 'A Different World'...[feral grin]

sibling, thank you for your nice review, nice little pick-me-up after negative reaction to C/G. Enforces my belief in the cycle of Happy Authors and Reviews, since I started writing this chapter after reading my reviews. I'll try not to drop the ball, but you never know, I've never been that great at sports. (I am, however, pretty damn good at wriggling out of sports) In the meantime, it's back to torturing those poor, poor characters some more, in the sixth chapter of 'Surprise!'.

!!!!!

Surprise!

Chapter Six: Going Home

by Adele Elisabeth

Buffy and Willow cornered Cordelia and demanded details the second she walked into the library, before school started.

"You have to tell us everything!" Buffy ordered, an air of bouncy exuberance about her.

Willow nodded vehemently. "Absolutely. Details, details, details."

"Jeez, let me sit down first or something," Cordelia grinned at her friends, while doing just that. "Number one, he makes great pasta. Number two, he's a really great kisser."

"There was kissing! Was it friendly peck, or was there some serious lip-locking going on?" Buffy asked, eagerly.

Giles stood at the door, just out of sight, but not out of earshot. He smiled faintly at the topic of conversation, and decided to keep on listening.

"Definitely making with the serious lip-lock." Cordelia nodded. "Talk about daydream material."

Willow wrinkled her nose. "Not wanting to rain on your parade, Cordy, but not really wanting to think about Giles in That Way..."

"Understandable." Cordelia nodded. "Rupert is, after all, like a father figure to you guys."

"But not to you, clearly, or this whole situation would just reek of incest." Buffy said, innocently as she could.

"You can talk, Little Miss Necrophilia." Cordelia shot back, friendly banter style.

"Hey!" Buffy protested, and Willow sniggered.

"Well, Angel is dead. Technically, you are a necrophiliac. I thought slayers were supposed to kill vampires, not boink them."

"You go to far, Chase!" Buffy stood up, grabbing a ruler from her bag and holding it aloft like a sword.

"Bring it on, Summers," Cordelia raised an eyebrow, doing the same.

They began to have a mock-swordfight around the library, which was interrupted by Xander's entry.

"Heheheh, this is like one of my fantasies, only minus the mud..." he grinned at them, which lead to a chorus of 'Xander!'s.

Giles stepped into the room, Buffy, Xander, and Cordelia sitting down.

Everybody (except for Xander, who was 'out of the loop' on this, so only Willow and Buffy) noted the way Giles sat next to Cordelia.

Angel and Cordy entered, followed by Genevieve. Giles looked up, eyebrow raised inquisitively.

"We're going home today." Cordy announced breathlessly. "In like, half an hour."

"Already...?" Cordelia sounded disappointed. "We'll never get to see you again."

"Maybe someday they'll discover cheap inter-reality travel." Cordy suggested. "Don't worry, I've got a feeling we will, and I'm a seer."

"Then I'll take your word for it." Cordelia tilted her head. "I'll -- we'll -- miss you."

"Don't be a stranger, Cordy." Xander chimed in. "And you too, Not-Dead Boy."

"Xander!" That came in various feminine tones.

"It was...interesting having you here." Buffy smiled. "Kinda enlightening."

"I'm glad you got something out of it." Angel inclined his head. Cordy nodded, too.

"It was fun, but kind of weird." Genevieve gave her two cents.

"Amen." Giles added fervently.

"Certainly food for thought." Angel (of this reality) said, quietly. "I'll take good memories from this."

There were extended (and somewhat teary) farewells, which ended in a group hug with the girls, and Genevieve being hugged and cuddled and kissed by just about everybody (wait, Xander gave in to the cuteness, and so that makes everybody).

Giles and Cordelia stood, him with his arm around her waist, her with her head on his shoulder. Xander gaped at them, but was shushed by Willow. Angel and Buffy stood in a similar pose. A silvery portal opened, and Giles could be seen on the other side, staring at his other self and Cordelia, gaping in a fashion similar to Mr Harris. The others around the portal (Wesley, Buffy, Willow, Tara, among others) looked much the same.

"It's been...it's been surprisingly good." Cordy said, as she stepped through. "Don't go forgetting us."

"Like we could...!" Buffy murmured.

"Cuddles and ice-cream to all," Genevieve cried as she went through, which they took to be a good thing.

Angel just nodded, a faint smile on his features.

With that, the portal closed.

In...The Safe And Sound Reality In Which Our Heroes Reside

Giles just about pounced on the couple. "Dare I ask exactly what is going on between...my other self and your other self?"

Cordy grinned at him. "But Giles, that would be telling..." Seeing his expression, she quickly added, "Oh, come on, isn't it obvious?"

"It's impossible, is what it is." Giles told her, incredulous.

"You mean to say I'm not even the least bit attractive to you?" Cordy asked, eyes widening innocently.

"Yes...I mean no, I mean," Giles began to stutter, looking from Angel to Cordy with a harrassed expression.

Cordy laughed. "Don't worry about it, Giles. Trust me, they're happy, and isn't that what matters?"

He deflated somewhat. "I suppose so."

"Good. So, anyone try to end the world while we were away?" Cordy inquired brightly.

"Subtle, Cor, really subtle." Angel chuckled.

"Aww..."

"No, no apocalypses." Buffy shook her head.

"Really? None at all? No evil little nasty dudes with a grudge trying to open the Hellmouth?" Cordy sighed. "Demons these days."

Genevieve giggled.

And all was right with the world.

Back In The Alternate Reality That These Fine Folks Call Life...

"Giles...Cordelia...C-c-c-cordelia....Giles..." Xander stuttered.

Giles arm tightened around Cordelia's waist. "Is there a problem, Xander?"

"Er...no, no problem, no problem at all, if you want to -- oh, mental images, my mind, my poor defenseless mind..." Xander pretended to claw at his eyes, collapsing melodramatically into a chair.

"Moron." Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"So...what do we do now?" Willow asked, speaking up. This is all a bit...well, I mean...we're kind of..."

"Know what you mean, Wills." Buffy nodded. "I think we need some recovery time. Let's go vegetate in class."

"Eurgh. Class. As if I hadn't suffered enough." Xander groaned.

"Xand, you are such a--"

"Moron." Xander finished for Cordelia.

"Hey, look! I've got 'im so well trained he's insulting himself!" Cordelia beamed proudly at them.

She kissed Giles lightly on the lips (which resulted in some fairly graphic sounding gagging from Xander), and flounced out of the library, with Buffy and Willow.

Xander gave Giles a Look, and followed them.

Giles just smiled.

And all was right with the world.

***

Author's Note:

One more chapter to go, folks, the epilogue. It was a pretty lame ending, I know. Maybe I'll write a sequel one day.