The next morning, Buffy was quite closed off to him. Oh, she was just as friendly as she had been the night before, and was still far more tactile than she had been back in Sunnydale, but she kept their conversation light and inconsequential. Giles didn't get the impression that she regretted the previous night, but he sensed that she no longer wanted him to see her vulnerabilities. He didn't take this personally. She was clearly holding herself together for her people, and he had no intention of endangering her control. It was only for a few hours anyway, just until they reached the surface. So the questions that he had been too tired to ask the night before went unasked, and he followed her lead.

After everyone had eaten breakfast, they set out for the portal. The hike lasted for several hours, because no one appeared to be in a hurry. Despite the fact that they were moving into Osh-shutz territory, there was a carnival-like atmosphere among the group. This struck Giles as hubristic, and put him on edge. Every instinct he had was shouting at him to be careful, though the others did not seem to feel the danger. No, that wasn't true. A quick glance at Buffy showed that she, at least, shared his concerns. Perhaps that was the reason for the distance she had shown towards him this morning; her Slayer senses were stretched taut. Or perhaps, she was simply nervous about getting the last of her people above and giving up command.

Giles dropped back to talk with his Slayer. "Do you sense anything?"

Buffy looked at him grimly. "No. And I should. They have to know that we're leaving, and I can't believe that they're just going to let us go. They know about my Slayer instincts, and have gotten good about slipping in close before I sense them." Buffy scanned the dark corridors and then glanced up at him. "I don't know, Giles. I don't sense them, but—"

"But your instincts say that they're close." Buffy nodded shortly, and then went back to scanning the perimeter. "I'm inclined to trust your instincts more than my eyes, Buffy. Why don't you have your people pull in closer? And for God's sake, can't you tell them to be quiet?"

"I can't tell them to be quiet, Giles. It's a party! Everyone was like this on their way to the portal, or at least all the adults were." Buffy stopped him, and gave him an earnest look. "I'm not sure you can understand, but maybe I can try to explain. I was the last person to come down here before they closed all the portals. That means that I've been down here the least amount of time of any other adult human ... and that time is at least a dozen years, perhaps closer to fifteen. Most of these people," Buffy vaguely waved her hands at the others, "have been in this dimension for twenty years or more. It's horrible down here, Giles--worse than you can imagine!--but it's the only home we've had for a very long time. It's hard to give it up, unless you convince yourself that it isn't quite real."

Giles stared at Buffy intently, trying to read everything she couldn't or wouldn't say within her hazel eyes. "Is that how you feel," he asked softly.

Buffy shrugged and gave him a rueful smile. "Uh, maybe? I've been fighting monsters the entire time that I've been down here, and when there weren't monsters there were administrative headaches like you wouldn't believe ... but there were some good times down here too. A lot of em. When I go above, I'll be far away from those moments, and I'm afraid that they'll be harder to remember. This is where I met my man; I'm not sure I would even have talked to Jahari if I had met him above. This is where my children were born; I mean, yeah, it was brutal, but it was also wonderful. This is where my first daughter died, and my mate, and my best friend. This is where they are buried; I can never go visit them again once I go above. So yeah, I have mixed feelings about leaving hell. They all do, Giles, and I have to let them deal with those feelings however they can."

"I don't understand why they can't deal' with a bit less noise," Giles muttered under his breath. Buffy glared at him good-naturedly, and they fell into a comfortable silence.

A few minutes later, they ran into a seven-man patrol. The volume of excited chatter increased significantly, and Giles began sweating. Any Jai'il Osh-shutz within a five-mile radius would certainly hear the humans. Were they insane, jeopardizing their rescue in this fashion?

Buffy once again demonstrated just how remarkable she was when she managed to impose order upon the unruly humans. "Okay, we are just about at the portal." She pointed at four members of the patrol. "You guys go find the other patrol, and tell them we'll meet them at the portal. The sooner the better." The four people she had indicated nodded and ran off. "Okay, we're almost there; let's not screw it up now people. Talk quietly, and keep a sharp eye out."

When they got to the portal, Buffy took up a position by the metal gate and began scanning the hallway. Giles went to join her, and was startled to see that she was shaking. Well, why not? Years of responsibility were almost over. She gave him a pleading glance. "Talk to me, Giles. Distract me."

"If you wish," Giles agreed with a shy smile. "There was something that I wanted to ask you anyway. Um, if that's alright." Buffy nodded, encouraging him to proceed. "I, uh, noticed that you keep saying children,' plural. How many do you have?"

"Well, you've met Giles, right," she asked carefully.

Giles nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. He's a wonderful boy, Buffy. You must be very proud of him."

Buffy gave him a very odd look. "Yes, yes I am."

"But—" he prompted.

"But nothing," Buffy snapped. "He's a wonderful boy, like you said." Giles continued to pierce her with his sharp gaze, and she suddenly deflated. "But ... I'm not used to hearing others say nice things about him. It, uh, it took me by surprise."

Giles gave her a look of genuine puzzlement. Hugh's cautious silences in response to his questions about Buffy's son were starting to make a bit more sense now, but not much more. "I don't understand. He's clearly very intelligent, and highly articulate. I enjoyed talking to him very much, even though he did almost all of the talking. I can't imagine that anyone could spend more than a few moments in his company without complimenting him."

Buffy smiled at him, a genuinely happy, thousand-watt smile, and Giles beamed back. "You really mean that, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. But you were going to tell me about your other children. You mentioned daughters?"

"Only one, now," Buffy said sadly. "I had a girl a few years before Giles. Dawn was all yellowy, and someone said that they thought she was jaundiced. I guess that is totally easy to cure in a modern hospital, but down here..."

"Oh, Buffy," Giles breathed.

Buffy gave him a tight smile, acknowledging his sympathy but clearly letting him know that she didn't want to discuss it. Giles gave a short nod, to let her know that he understood, and she relaxed a bit. "And then there was Giles, who I'm guessing is close to nine. And then the no-available-birth-control Russian roulette wheel missed me for seven years or so, until Joyce was born. She's somewhere between one and two, and is hell on wheels." Despite the denigrating words, Buffy had a proud smile on her face when she mentioned her baby, one that seemed a bit forced when she spoke of her son. There was a mystery there, and he intended to pursue it when they got back to Sunnydale, but for now he wanted to keep the conversation light.

"I must confess," Giles mused, "I was quite surprised when I learned that you named your son after me."

"Why would you be," Buffy asked with surprise. "I never expected to see you or Mom again; I wanted to remember you guys."

"Yes, yes, of course," Giles responded uncomfortably. "It's just that I would have expected you to name your son William or Alexander."

"Nah," Buffy grinned. "Jahari said those names were just too white-bread for any kid of his." Of course. She hadn't picked the name, her spouse had; Giles was oddly disappointed by this. Buffy must have picked up on chagrin, because she added, "Jahari listened to every name I suggested, and he thought that Giles was the coolest name by far. I was thinking of the people behind the names, so of course I had to agree!"

Giles grinned. His sudden elation made no more sense than his previous disappointment, but it was real nonetheless. "I thought that your young man didn't care for the name once he remembered that the boy's last name would be Davis."

Buffy giggled. "That was Jahari re-writing history. He loved that name at first! He thought naming his son after Miles Davis was the best idea he'd ever had. But then his sister started teasing him about it and he got embarrassed. No mater what he told Giles, Jahari never forgot his name. He would never do that." Buffy suddenly sobered. "You don't understand, Giles. You can't possibly get how important names are down here. The slavers used to tell humans that they were nobody. They beat the hell out of any human who dared to use his own name. They made everyone anonymous, because they thought that was the best way to maintain order." Giles shuddered, horrified by the very thought of such an existence. "Names are a symbol of freedom down here, and no human would ever give one up, even if he never used it."

Giles was silent for a moment. Earlier, he had been pleased by the knowledge that Buffy had named her son after him. Now that he understood the value that names held in this society, he was awed. He cleared his throat self-consciously and tried to think of a response. "Well, I—"

"I sense them! They're near." Buffy's yell drew the attention of the rest of the group, and she raised her voice dramatically. Giles loved watching Buffy command others; she was very good at it. "Everybody up! Now, people! I'll hold them off, but you guys have got to go NOW. I'm going to lead the Jello Shots away from here, so somebody is going to have to stay behind to let the other patrol know what's going on. Everybody else needs to get their asses up above yesterday."

Giles expected them to argue, but none of them did. He found himself cursing Buffy's leadership ability, the same quality that he ad been admiring just moments before. She needed help, damnit! Buffy's people evidently didn't believe that, or didn't care, because they immediately began piling on top of each other and straining for the portal. Despite the orderly departure, most of them looked like they were on the edge of a panic. Giles realized that nobody was going to stay and help Buffy. Nobody but him.

Buffy started moving down the corridor, clearly following her "Spidey Sense." After a few steps she swung around, sword raised. "Giles! What are you doing here? I told you to go above."

"Bugger that," Giles said coarsely. "I'm not leaving you here."

"The hell you aren't," Buffy hissed angrily. "I can handle these guys by myself, or at least buy enough time for everyone to escape. So get outta here!"

"Whether you need help fighting or not, you need me. What if the portal closes; how will you get out?"

"You'll open it again," Buffy declared stoutly, though her eyes showed fear at this prospect. "It's no biggie."

"You're right," Giles conceded. "I can open it on the other side, but it takes over an hour. How old would you be then?" Buffy started to protest, but Giles overrode her. "Is it fair to your children, to have you come back to them far older than they remember? And how about you? You'll go mad, down here all by yourself for years." Giles deliberately gentled his tone, trying to convince her. "Let me stay, Buffy. Let me fight by your side, and help defend the portal. And if we don't make it in time, let me keep you company while I try to open it again from this side."

Buffy scowled fiercely at him, and Giles was certain that she was about to refuse. Instead, she clenched her teeth and gritted out, "fine. Just don't get knocked unconscious. If you do, I'm totally going to kick your ass as soon as you wake up."

Giles gave her a cheeky grin. "Promises, promises," he crooned out. Buffy glared at him, and then gave him a reluctant smile. She held out her left hand, and tugged him along behind her.

It had only been a few months since Giles had patrolled with Buffy, but this felt like a brand new experience. In some ways, it was. Buffy had always liked to chat when they patrolled, but now she was silent. Giles watched her move, intrigued by the differences he saw. She had always been graceful, but now she moved like a panther. She had obviously honed her instincts, just as he had told her to do when he first met her, because she never hesitated whenever she encountered branches in the corridors. She knew what she needed to do, and knew how to do it. Giles was enchanted. So much so, that he forgot to pay attention.

"Get down!" Buffy slammed into him hard, and he stumbled to his knees ... just in time to prevent a spear from hitting his chest. He felt a rush of air through his hair as the projectile passed over his head. He turned to Buffy, to see if she was okay, but she was already on her feet, holding her sword up defiantly. With a rush of pride, Giles sprung up and stood by her side.

The fight was vicious, and they were vastly outnumbered, but Giles and Buffy held the advantage in terrain. Although there may have been thirty Jai'il in a large cavern twenty feet away from the humans, the passageway leading up to the Slayer and her Watcher was unusually narrow. Moreover, there was a bend in the passage, so spears and arrows were quite useless. Buffy and Giles stood in a bottleneck, and the Jai'il could not send more than three soldiers at a time to attack them. The humans made short work of their foes, and of the next batch, and of the next ... but by the time Giles sliced the head off of his fifth slaver, he had to admit that he was beginning to tire. "How long can they keep this up," Giles asked waspishly.

"Pretty much forever," Buffy answered cheerfully.

"You needn't sound so chipper about it, Buffy," Giles snarked back.

"Why not," Buffy asked happily. "As long as they are coming after us, they aren't looking for side corridors to get around us. We're doing it, Giles," she gushed. "We're keeping them away from the portal. My people are going to get out of here!"

Giles smiled, suddenly catching Buffy's enthusiasm. "How much longer do you estimate before the last patrol reaches the portal?"

"Oh, let's give them another fifteen minutes, or at least ten. Think you can last that long, Watcher-mine," she teased.

Giles ducked to avoid a particularly aggressive blow that was aimed at his head. While he was crouching, he aimed his sword up through the Jai'il's chest and skewered him. Finding he couldn't pull his sword free, he simply snatched up the dead soldier's weapon and turned to Buffy with a grin. "I'll last longer than you, Slayer-mine, if you don't stop dropping your shoulder in that fashion."

"Oh yeah, who just lost his weapon," Buffy demanded hotly.

Giles pretended not to hear her. "And twice you missed a possible kill because you were relying too heavily upon the blade of your weapon. Your sword has a point as well, and I would urge you to use it."

"And you should have stepped back instead of ducking," Buffy responded. "You lose stability when you change your center of gravity. You're lucky that your guy was incompetent; I know some grandmothers who would have taken you out just then."

Shocked and hurt, Giles swung around to look Buffy in the face. He found a devilish smile on her face, and an adorable twinkle in her eyes. She was joking. Right, he'd show her. She saw the wordless challenge in his face, and winked to show her acceptance. And the contest was on, to see who could demonstrate the best Slaying technique and who could deliver the most devastating comment to the other.

Giles and Buffy pushed to attacked the Jai'il with renewed vigor, each trying to demonstrate their Slaying techniques. And with the attacks came the running commentaries. At first, Giles was determined to make as many criticisms as possible, to pay Buffy back for her grandmother remark. But as he began watching her, he couldn't help falling back into their old training patterns. He gave encouragement along with critiques, and he Watched. To aid in this, Giles stepped back and let Buffy work alone. Oh, he stayed close enough to help her if she needed it, but mostly he observed her.

Buffy had lost much of the discipline that he had drilled into her months or years ago. She did drop her shoulder and rely too heavily upon the blade. She also telegraphed moves, failed to follow through with ineffective sword thrusts, and tended to overextend herself on the left side. These were all things that he could help her with, once they instituted a regular training schedule, and he felt a wave of relief wash over him as he realized that he could still be very useful to her. But in a larger sense, she had outgrown him. Her technique might have gotten sloppy over the years, but her general ability as a Slayer had increased exponentially. She was comfortable with her abilities in a way that she never had been before; she owned her powers. Buffy called upon her strength, speed and instincts effortlessly now, and she moved with the grace of a dancer. The deadliness she had always possessed was still there, but now a layer of beauty lay on top of it, and Giles was enchanted. And, he admitted to himself, proud. Once he helped her overcome a few bad habits, she would be one of the most effective Slayers in history. He always knew that she had it in her.