"So that's what happened." Buffy said. Tears were starting to fill her eyes again. "I thought, y'know, yeah, I kept it from them, but maybe they'd understand." She closed her eyes. "Maybe I put to much pressure on them."
"Or maybe, you do not trust them enough." Cane said. Buffy looked at him. "A true friend can be trusted to bare the greatest burden. Yet you must always remember that a secret kept can drive a wedge between the truest of friends." Buffy looked at him.
"That actually made sense." She said. "Your right, though. I should have trusted them to handle the secret. All of them, not just Willow. Now…" A small sob tore from her throat. "What do I do? What if I've lost them?"
"You will not know if you do not ask." The Shao Lin said. "Talk to them. It is the only way you will find out. If you wish, I will help."
"Why?" She asked. "You barely know me. Why do you want to help me?"
"Why do you continue to patrol for vampires?" He said simply. "You are no longer the Vampire Slayer, so why do you patrol?" Buffy thought for a moment.
"Who else will?" She said after a while. "I'm the only one who can. Besides, why not?" She stopped, looking at the priest. He smiled knowingly and nodded. "Giles would like you." Buffy said after a while. "You've both got the whole father figure thing going. Well, he did."
"Perhaps there is another reason." Cane suggested. "Someone maybe pressuring him." Buffy's face turned hard.
"If it's those bloated wind bags from the Council again, I'm going to…" She was cut off as a very out of breath Xander charged in.
Xander's first thought was who the old guy sitting with Buffy was. He was dressed simply, with something next to him wrapped in leather and an old cowboy hat. "Buffy I'm sorry." He blurted. Okay, not the perfect way to apologise for running out on your best friend who's saved your life more times than you can count. He took a few breaths to calm himself, pushing the detached, emotionless feeling that came with that calm to one side. He needed to be Xander here, not a living supercomputer.
Buffy ran over to him. Well, it looked more like she leapt. She grabbed hold of him. "Buffy, ribs. I need them."
"Oops." She said, breaking the embrace. She looked up at him and she knew she was going to cry again. "Xander…"
"Hold on, I need to finish." He said. He took another breath. "Buffy, I was a jerk. I know you had your reasons for keeping the whole mutant thing a secret. I shouldn't have reacted that way." Besides, he thought. She wasn't the only one that had secrets.
Buffy hugged him again, this time careful with her strength. "I'm the one that should be sorry, Xand. I should have trusted that you guys could handle it. Forgive me?"
"The most unnecessary request you've ever made." He said. He looked over at the old man. "So who's this? You out to replace me already?"
"Like that's possible." She said, finally relaxing. "Your one of a kind, Xand."
"And girls everywhere will mourn when I'm finally taken off the market." Xander quipped. The old man grinned as he stood to his feet.
"I am called Cane." He said, holding his hand out. Xander took it.
"Just call me the insensitive jerk face." He said with a grin. Buffy elbowed him in the side.
"This is Xander." She said. "I ran into Cane, literally. He's been helping me…" She paused, trying to place her feeling into words without hurting him. She was saved when Angel burst in.
"Buffy, are you…" He saw Xander first. "You've talked to her?"
"Yeah, we're all good." Xander said. "Though I think I owe her about a year as her devoted sex slave." Angel growled slightly.
"Sorry Xander." Buffy said, pointing at Angel. "That's his job." Xander's laughter turned to a gasp of shock as, for the first time in centuries, Angel blushed. Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Damn, you should blush more often, Angel. You're cute when you're red like that." At that point, Willow and Oz arrived, dragging a very flustered Giles behind them. Buffy felt her breath catch in her throat at the sight of her former Watcher.
"Giles." She whispered. Angel moved close behind her.
"Go on." Cane urged her. Buffy closed her eyes and nodded.
"Giles, I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier." She said.
"Buffy, it's alright." Giles said before she could say anymore. "Truth be told, I suspected something was different for a while. The undesirables of Sunnydale had been complaining to Willy about how your efforts to clean up the streets had become a bit more…painful." Buffy's jaw dropped. "I didn't know what it was, but I knew it wasn't Slayer strength. The Council knows. Well, that you're not the Slayer any way." Buffy suppressed the growl she felt coming. "They've ordered me back to England for reassignment. 'All is forgiven' they say." The growl tore out of her throat. "I…didn't want to upset you with leaving."
"You aren't leaving." Buffy said, as calmly as possible. "They fired you, remember? You don't have to do anything they say. If they think they can just 'request' you presence and watch you jump through their hoops, they can guess again. We still need you here Giles. I still need you." Giles couldn't believe it. After what happened she was ready to let things get back to normal. "You will stay, won't you?" The older man looked around them, his young friends. His family.
"Well of course I'll stay." He said with a smile. "You think I'm going to let you delinquents run around without a chaperone?" Buffy smiled and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight. "Buffy, I need to breathe."
"Oops." Buffy said, pulling back. "Sorry."
"Don't worry, Giles." Xander said. "I know the feeling. I think she cracked a couple of my ribs." He turned to Angel. "What about you, Deadboy?"
"You really can't call me that anymore." Angel said.
"I know." Xander said. "But 'Liveboy' isn't as funny." Cane made his way to the door.
"Where you going?" Buffy asked, breaking away from her friends.
"It is time for me to move on." He said. "I still have a journey ahead of me."
"Anything I can do?" She asked.
"I do not think so." He said. "I am looking for someone. My son."
"Do you know his name?" She asked. "'Cause if you do, Wills could probably find him on the Internet. Failing that…well wouldn't be the first time she's hacked police files looking for something. 'Sides, I owe you one. And maybe you can help Oz." She gestured the dark haired young man standing next to Willow. "He's got a beast within kinda problem." Cane looked over at Oz. He did indeed seem to have an edge to him, like there was something else, hidden.
"I will see what I can do." He said. Buffy smiled and grabbed his arm.
"Come on." She said. "I want to properly introduce you to everyone."
