"Giles, I'm bored," Buffy yawned, "Amuse me!"
Giles looked up from the translation he was reading to glare at her. "I'm working, Buffy. Amuse yourself! Or you could go home if you wanted; I don't need you right now."
"Yeah, and then you'll grumble at me," Buffy reminded him, "Like the last time! No, I'll stay until you're finished. But could we at least take a break?"
He looked at her in exasperation and then reluctantly put the notepad down to the side. He took off his glasses to rub his eyes and looked at her. "And what would you like to do now?"
Buffy seriously considered giving him some nice, crude answer just to see him blush. He hadn't blushed and stuttered at her for ages and she sort of missed that. Considering he was now her boss! But Giles was giving her that 'Head of the Watcher's Council' look he reserved for people who he had no intention of obliging. "I don't know. Maybe we can have a chat."
He raised an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong that you want to tell me about?"
"Why does something have to be wrong for me to want to talk to you?" she snapped.
"Well, you spend most of your time with me as it is, helping me with Council work," he reminded her, "There's really not much we do that the other doesn't know about." Giles saw the look on her face. "And whatever else you do is not something I necessarily want to hear details of; not when it means you use that expression!"
The Slayer hastily composed a look of innocent sweetness on her face, something Giles was not fooled by in the least. "Oh, don't look so innocent, Buffy. I think I know you well enough by now!"
"Yeah, we have had a pretty good marriage, actually," Buffy said artlessly.
He stared at her in shock and looked as if he was trying to move discreetly away from her. "**M- Marriage**? What the hell?"
"Oh, not like that," she hurriedly added, going pink herself, "It's an expression of speech, Giles; breathe! I don't mean we're married, but we kinda have to stick together if you know what I mean. With the Watcher- Slayer relationship."
He still couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry considering all the statistics of Watcher and Slayer pairs that showed they usually ended up lovers anyway. Which was, in his case, largely incestuous considering he preferred to see her more as a daughter than a woman and he was certainly not going to be thinking along those lines any more!
"Giles!" she yelled. He blinked and brought his eyes back up from her breasts. "Don't do that!"
"S-sorry," he stammered, "It's just- you said- can we get back to work now?"
"No!" she snapped. Buffy glared at her Watcher for a good minute before looking away. "So how come you never married? Haven't you wanted to?"
"Excuse me?" Giles blurted out. Perhaps it was exhaustion that was making Buffy ask him personal questions; he certainly hoped so. Specifically since this was one topic he just didn't want to bring up, considering it was two days to 'That Day'!
"Oh come on, Giles! We know you're not married," Buffy reminded him.
Giles looked keenly at her. "Have I *said* I wasn't married?"
And now that she thought of it, he never had said he wasn't married. But no wife and no kids and certainly no ring! "Well, you don't wear a wedding ring," Buffy pointed out, "We all just assumed! Are you?"
Giles groaned a little; he really didn't want to talk about this with anyone, least of all Buffy. Maybe he was exhausted and not thinking straight too because he decided to tell her the truth. "I am, actually."
Buffy blinked at him, taking in the helplessly honest shrug he gave and the way he was anxiously watching her face. "You're married?" Giles nodded. "To who?"
"The person's name will remain unsaid," the Watcher said instantly, a harsh note in his voice.
"Oh, no," Buffy warned, getting out of her seat and sitting on the edge of his desk in front of him. She shook a determined finger at him, "You are telling me, Mister! You're my Watcher; I'm supposed to know all this!"
"Buffy, I really don't want to talk about it," Giles tried, "And even though I am your Watcher, it really is none of your business."
Gray eyes filled with moisture and God help him, but the pouting lower lip actually trembled. He'd always known he was a sucker for a pout, but this was carrying it too far! "For heaven's sake, don't expect that to work on me."
Buffy meekly got off her perch on his desk and sat quietly back in her chair. She wouldn't look at him but stared soulfully at her hands.
"You are a scheming, conniving little witch, you know that?" he grumbled. "I- it's not that I don't trust you, Buffy, I just don't want to talk about it. There- there are rather bad memories associated with it."
She stayed silent but allowed him a small understanding nod.
"Oh dear Lord," Giles groaned, dropping his head in his hands, "I will never hear the end of this, but oh, all right! I'll tell you! Just- just don't ask me about this ever again, you hear?"
The change in attitude was instantaneous. Buffy sat up straight and smiled happily at him, gray eyes shining. "You *know* you can tell me anything and everything, Giles."
"I'm starting to believe I have no choice in the matter," Giles commented dryly. "All right, let's see. Well, it was a long time ago and it's not a conventional marriage. Well, it's not even an unconventional marriage, but it's a marriage all the same. One that I, well, have not been able to break free of."
Buffy nodded sympathetically, hoping she never had to meet the woman who had put that shamed, hurting look on her Watcher's face. She was very much aware that she'd probably break the woman's nose for it. "Who was she?"
Giles swallowed convulsively and then continued. "It's not a 'she', Buffy."
She waited for him to explain but he stopped and gestured helplessly. "It's a demon?"
"No!" Giles said at once, and then looked thoughtful, "Though it is ironic you should ask me that; very ironic indeed, all things considered. No, it- it was another, um, man."
"WHAT?"
The yell was enough to reverberate around the wood paneled room, startling Giles and accompanied by a shocked Buffy jumping to her feet and staring at him like he'd just grown two heads and a tail.
"Well, I told you not to ask," he managed to say waspishly, "And don't shout like that!"
"B- but you- I mean you're not- I mean, are you?" she asked, eyes round as saucers, "You never told me you were gay." Giles shot her an exasperated look. "Oh right! I forgot about Jenny and my mom; and that Olivia person. You're bi?"
He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yes, Buffy, I am! Or did you think I was with a man simply because I *wasn't* attracted to him?"
"Well, you were young, right?" she reminded him, waving vaguely around in the air, "It could have been youthful experimentation or something. Like- like Dawn and that girl she was dating."
"Dawn was dating a girl?" Giles asked, looking confused, "I didn't know that."
"Yeah, well, go figure! It didn't even last past the first kiss," Buffy said, "Apparently they kissed, Dawn said it didn't do anything for her and now she's dating some weird guy with a nose ring."
"That girl has no taste," Giles couldn't help remarking, almost ready to bite his tongue out when Buffy got that protective look on her face. "And what made your choice so special?" she snarked.
Giles squirmed in his seat. "Well, I suppose you have a point," he admitted, "Though I will say Ethan was- oh bugger! I never meant to say that!"
This time her reaction was the complete opposite to being told her Watcher occasionally liked men- she dropped back into her seat with her mouth open and nothing to say. Giles mildly waited for her to recover and comment.
"E- Ethan Rayne?" she managed, stumbling over the name in disbelief.
"Yes, Buffy, Ethan Rayne," Giles agreed.
"You and Ethan are- are married?" Buffy gulped.
The Head of the Council shifted uncomfortably in his seat and let out a sound that genuinely sounded like 'meep'. He cleared his throat and tried again. "We- we were, in a way. But as you said, we were young and it didn't exactly last, did it?"
"How in half of the world did you marry Ethan Rayne of all people?" she asked, "I mean, what; did you have a magic wedding or some ceremony in Chaos magic or- or what? I don't think the Church would have married you."
"We're not legally married," Giles shrugged, "And we didn't get a blessing. But we just- got married. We- we deluded ourselves into believing this was what we wanted out of life and we went ahead and did it."
"But **how**?" Buffy insisted.
Giles sighed and opened the first drawer in his desk. After rooting around in it for a while, he found what he was looking for. Buffy was not expecting to see a big wooden box land on the desk, and she definitely didn't expect to see the things it held.
"Handcuffs?" she gasped, "Giles!"
"They were Ethan's Ann- Christmas- gift ten years ago," her Watcher excused, "He seemed to find it amusing when I woke up handcuffed to the bed. I keep them here in case I ever need to use them on someone. There's a- a special watchword that opens them; they don't even respond to a key. B- but the word is hardly something an enemy would use to me, so they're rather handy."
Buffy just shook her head in a daze, sifting through the earrings that cluttered the floor of the box. Giles slapped her hand away and slid his fingers in at the end, withdrawing only a folded paper. When he opened it, Buffy gasped. Inside was a gold wedding ring that glinted dully up at her in the light of the desk lamp.
"That's how," he said simply, "We exchanged vows and we exchanged rings. When I left, I was in such a hurry I forgot to take it off and leave it behind. I have never worn it since I took it off in front of my father."
"Wow," she breathed, "What did he say about it?"
Giles looked a little pale for a minute before speaking as normally as possible. "My father was very good to me. He lost his temper at me only three times, as far as I can remember- once was just after my mother died and he was trying to cope with me and his grief; the second was when I did something stupid and invited a vampire into our house that ended up killing the girl who worked in the kitchen; and the third was when he saw that ring and heard the story behind it. He could understand me running away; he could even feel guilty for it. But he couldn't understand why I had fallen in love with another man. He made me take it off my finger and put it away in front of his eyes. I didn't have a box or anything so I grabbed this paper off his desk in the library and wrapped it up. It's perhaps the most shameful memory I have of coming back."
"Beat out the physical examination too, huh?" Buffy asked sympathetically.
He actually took that literally. "Yes. Having my- sexual activities come to light was not my favorite time. Having them broadcast in an open hearing at the Headquarters was not something I appreciated either. Or the confiscation of my books. Or the public apology. But they pale in comparison to that look on my father's face, yes."
Buffy said nothing but touched the ring gently. Giles nodded at her enquiring glance and she picked up, turning it around in her fingers. Not that anyone knew this, but part of her talents as a Slayer meant she could sense strong emotions from objects or people. And this ring held a lot of strong emotions. She also sensed a recent emotion, something that was strong but wasn't very old.
"You've touched this ring recently, haven't you?" she asked.
Giles looked surprised but nodded. "Yesterday. Why?"
"It feels- sad," she commented softly, "Almost painful."
He looked oddly at her, but didn't ask her how she knew. Giles actually did know more about Buffy than he let on; and this aspect was something he'd seen a lot with her over the years- the way she'd pick things up and hold them just that second too long with a concentrated look on her face as if she was listening for something.
"At least, I guess you must have been sad," she said hurriedly, snapping out of her reverie and giving it back, "Unless you were doing the dance of joy at getting rid of him."
She had only intended to joke but the look of sheer anger that flared up in the green eyes confronting her made her take an involuntary step back. It was gone almost as soon as it came. "Whoa! Hey, it was just a joke! Geez, Giles!"
"I'm sorry," he sighed, "Yes, I was very happy to get rid of Ethan Rayne; yes."
She looked at him with that shrewd look on her face. She knew more about him than she'd let on as well- the advantage of knowing where the spare key to his house in Sunnydale had been hidden. And to know not only that he was lying but to hear the truth before he would admit it was something she could pick up. Not that it required Einstein or Willow's mind magic for that! The signs were almost neon in this case.
"You're still in love with him," she guessed.
"WHAT?"
Another shout reverberated through the wood paneled room as Giles tried desperately to think of ways to dissuade her from that way of thinking. He wasn't in the mood to have too many people knowing his secrets. And having anyone but himself know them was far too many. He preferred to not let even himself know that particularly secret!
"Are you insane?" he hissed, "I am not in love with him; not, you hear me? N-O-T, not!"
To his ultimate chagrin, Buffy burst out laughing. "Yes, you do! I know it; I know it! Rupert Giles, you're in love with a chaos mage! That's why you insisted on that team of Council representatives getting him out! We all thought you just felt guilty. Xander even thought you were being tactically careful. But you were in love with the man! Don't you dare lie to me, Giles; tell me the truth."
He opened his mouth to say he *wasn't* lying, that he really and truly didn't want anything to do with Ethan Rayne any more. Except it was two in the morning, he was exhausted and since he'd already told his Slayer this much he might as well tell her everything. He sighed and rethought his answer. "All right, yes. I still wonder what it would be like to have gone through with that ridiculous scheme. And I believe I do still have feelings for him, yes. Are you satisfied? May we go back to work now?"
"Just one more question, Giles," she pleaded.
He looked back up from the notepad he had made a frantic grab at. "What now, Buffy?"
"When's your anniversary?" she asked innocently. He looked at her in confusion. "Well, you said you've never really been able to let go, right? And you still have the ring and stuff, so I'm guessing you guys haven't really 'divorced' each other. So when's your anniversary and which one is it?"
He silently got back to his translation. Buffy waited for him to speak but he looked too engrossed in his work. She was just adjusting to the irritating notion of Giles ignoring her question when he spoke without looking up, "Christmas Day. In two days we should be celebrating our twenty- eighth anniversary."
Buffy wisely let the subject drop after that, her mind fixed on a rather far-fetched plan forming in her brain.
Giles looked up from the translation he was reading to glare at her. "I'm working, Buffy. Amuse yourself! Or you could go home if you wanted; I don't need you right now."
"Yeah, and then you'll grumble at me," Buffy reminded him, "Like the last time! No, I'll stay until you're finished. But could we at least take a break?"
He looked at her in exasperation and then reluctantly put the notepad down to the side. He took off his glasses to rub his eyes and looked at her. "And what would you like to do now?"
Buffy seriously considered giving him some nice, crude answer just to see him blush. He hadn't blushed and stuttered at her for ages and she sort of missed that. Considering he was now her boss! But Giles was giving her that 'Head of the Watcher's Council' look he reserved for people who he had no intention of obliging. "I don't know. Maybe we can have a chat."
He raised an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong that you want to tell me about?"
"Why does something have to be wrong for me to want to talk to you?" she snapped.
"Well, you spend most of your time with me as it is, helping me with Council work," he reminded her, "There's really not much we do that the other doesn't know about." Giles saw the look on her face. "And whatever else you do is not something I necessarily want to hear details of; not when it means you use that expression!"
The Slayer hastily composed a look of innocent sweetness on her face, something Giles was not fooled by in the least. "Oh, don't look so innocent, Buffy. I think I know you well enough by now!"
"Yeah, we have had a pretty good marriage, actually," Buffy said artlessly.
He stared at her in shock and looked as if he was trying to move discreetly away from her. "**M- Marriage**? What the hell?"
"Oh, not like that," she hurriedly added, going pink herself, "It's an expression of speech, Giles; breathe! I don't mean we're married, but we kinda have to stick together if you know what I mean. With the Watcher- Slayer relationship."
He still couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry considering all the statistics of Watcher and Slayer pairs that showed they usually ended up lovers anyway. Which was, in his case, largely incestuous considering he preferred to see her more as a daughter than a woman and he was certainly not going to be thinking along those lines any more!
"Giles!" she yelled. He blinked and brought his eyes back up from her breasts. "Don't do that!"
"S-sorry," he stammered, "It's just- you said- can we get back to work now?"
"No!" she snapped. Buffy glared at her Watcher for a good minute before looking away. "So how come you never married? Haven't you wanted to?"
"Excuse me?" Giles blurted out. Perhaps it was exhaustion that was making Buffy ask him personal questions; he certainly hoped so. Specifically since this was one topic he just didn't want to bring up, considering it was two days to 'That Day'!
"Oh come on, Giles! We know you're not married," Buffy reminded him.
Giles looked keenly at her. "Have I *said* I wasn't married?"
And now that she thought of it, he never had said he wasn't married. But no wife and no kids and certainly no ring! "Well, you don't wear a wedding ring," Buffy pointed out, "We all just assumed! Are you?"
Giles groaned a little; he really didn't want to talk about this with anyone, least of all Buffy. Maybe he was exhausted and not thinking straight too because he decided to tell her the truth. "I am, actually."
Buffy blinked at him, taking in the helplessly honest shrug he gave and the way he was anxiously watching her face. "You're married?" Giles nodded. "To who?"
"The person's name will remain unsaid," the Watcher said instantly, a harsh note in his voice.
"Oh, no," Buffy warned, getting out of her seat and sitting on the edge of his desk in front of him. She shook a determined finger at him, "You are telling me, Mister! You're my Watcher; I'm supposed to know all this!"
"Buffy, I really don't want to talk about it," Giles tried, "And even though I am your Watcher, it really is none of your business."
Gray eyes filled with moisture and God help him, but the pouting lower lip actually trembled. He'd always known he was a sucker for a pout, but this was carrying it too far! "For heaven's sake, don't expect that to work on me."
Buffy meekly got off her perch on his desk and sat quietly back in her chair. She wouldn't look at him but stared soulfully at her hands.
"You are a scheming, conniving little witch, you know that?" he grumbled. "I- it's not that I don't trust you, Buffy, I just don't want to talk about it. There- there are rather bad memories associated with it."
She stayed silent but allowed him a small understanding nod.
"Oh dear Lord," Giles groaned, dropping his head in his hands, "I will never hear the end of this, but oh, all right! I'll tell you! Just- just don't ask me about this ever again, you hear?"
The change in attitude was instantaneous. Buffy sat up straight and smiled happily at him, gray eyes shining. "You *know* you can tell me anything and everything, Giles."
"I'm starting to believe I have no choice in the matter," Giles commented dryly. "All right, let's see. Well, it was a long time ago and it's not a conventional marriage. Well, it's not even an unconventional marriage, but it's a marriage all the same. One that I, well, have not been able to break free of."
Buffy nodded sympathetically, hoping she never had to meet the woman who had put that shamed, hurting look on her Watcher's face. She was very much aware that she'd probably break the woman's nose for it. "Who was she?"
Giles swallowed convulsively and then continued. "It's not a 'she', Buffy."
She waited for him to explain but he stopped and gestured helplessly. "It's a demon?"
"No!" Giles said at once, and then looked thoughtful, "Though it is ironic you should ask me that; very ironic indeed, all things considered. No, it- it was another, um, man."
"WHAT?"
The yell was enough to reverberate around the wood paneled room, startling Giles and accompanied by a shocked Buffy jumping to her feet and staring at him like he'd just grown two heads and a tail.
"Well, I told you not to ask," he managed to say waspishly, "And don't shout like that!"
"B- but you- I mean you're not- I mean, are you?" she asked, eyes round as saucers, "You never told me you were gay." Giles shot her an exasperated look. "Oh right! I forgot about Jenny and my mom; and that Olivia person. You're bi?"
He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yes, Buffy, I am! Or did you think I was with a man simply because I *wasn't* attracted to him?"
"Well, you were young, right?" she reminded him, waving vaguely around in the air, "It could have been youthful experimentation or something. Like- like Dawn and that girl she was dating."
"Dawn was dating a girl?" Giles asked, looking confused, "I didn't know that."
"Yeah, well, go figure! It didn't even last past the first kiss," Buffy said, "Apparently they kissed, Dawn said it didn't do anything for her and now she's dating some weird guy with a nose ring."
"That girl has no taste," Giles couldn't help remarking, almost ready to bite his tongue out when Buffy got that protective look on her face. "And what made your choice so special?" she snarked.
Giles squirmed in his seat. "Well, I suppose you have a point," he admitted, "Though I will say Ethan was- oh bugger! I never meant to say that!"
This time her reaction was the complete opposite to being told her Watcher occasionally liked men- she dropped back into her seat with her mouth open and nothing to say. Giles mildly waited for her to recover and comment.
"E- Ethan Rayne?" she managed, stumbling over the name in disbelief.
"Yes, Buffy, Ethan Rayne," Giles agreed.
"You and Ethan are- are married?" Buffy gulped.
The Head of the Council shifted uncomfortably in his seat and let out a sound that genuinely sounded like 'meep'. He cleared his throat and tried again. "We- we were, in a way. But as you said, we were young and it didn't exactly last, did it?"
"How in half of the world did you marry Ethan Rayne of all people?" she asked, "I mean, what; did you have a magic wedding or some ceremony in Chaos magic or- or what? I don't think the Church would have married you."
"We're not legally married," Giles shrugged, "And we didn't get a blessing. But we just- got married. We- we deluded ourselves into believing this was what we wanted out of life and we went ahead and did it."
"But **how**?" Buffy insisted.
Giles sighed and opened the first drawer in his desk. After rooting around in it for a while, he found what he was looking for. Buffy was not expecting to see a big wooden box land on the desk, and she definitely didn't expect to see the things it held.
"Handcuffs?" she gasped, "Giles!"
"They were Ethan's Ann- Christmas- gift ten years ago," her Watcher excused, "He seemed to find it amusing when I woke up handcuffed to the bed. I keep them here in case I ever need to use them on someone. There's a- a special watchword that opens them; they don't even respond to a key. B- but the word is hardly something an enemy would use to me, so they're rather handy."
Buffy just shook her head in a daze, sifting through the earrings that cluttered the floor of the box. Giles slapped her hand away and slid his fingers in at the end, withdrawing only a folded paper. When he opened it, Buffy gasped. Inside was a gold wedding ring that glinted dully up at her in the light of the desk lamp.
"That's how," he said simply, "We exchanged vows and we exchanged rings. When I left, I was in such a hurry I forgot to take it off and leave it behind. I have never worn it since I took it off in front of my father."
"Wow," she breathed, "What did he say about it?"
Giles looked a little pale for a minute before speaking as normally as possible. "My father was very good to me. He lost his temper at me only three times, as far as I can remember- once was just after my mother died and he was trying to cope with me and his grief; the second was when I did something stupid and invited a vampire into our house that ended up killing the girl who worked in the kitchen; and the third was when he saw that ring and heard the story behind it. He could understand me running away; he could even feel guilty for it. But he couldn't understand why I had fallen in love with another man. He made me take it off my finger and put it away in front of his eyes. I didn't have a box or anything so I grabbed this paper off his desk in the library and wrapped it up. It's perhaps the most shameful memory I have of coming back."
"Beat out the physical examination too, huh?" Buffy asked sympathetically.
He actually took that literally. "Yes. Having my- sexual activities come to light was not my favorite time. Having them broadcast in an open hearing at the Headquarters was not something I appreciated either. Or the confiscation of my books. Or the public apology. But they pale in comparison to that look on my father's face, yes."
Buffy said nothing but touched the ring gently. Giles nodded at her enquiring glance and she picked up, turning it around in her fingers. Not that anyone knew this, but part of her talents as a Slayer meant she could sense strong emotions from objects or people. And this ring held a lot of strong emotions. She also sensed a recent emotion, something that was strong but wasn't very old.
"You've touched this ring recently, haven't you?" she asked.
Giles looked surprised but nodded. "Yesterday. Why?"
"It feels- sad," she commented softly, "Almost painful."
He looked oddly at her, but didn't ask her how she knew. Giles actually did know more about Buffy than he let on; and this aspect was something he'd seen a lot with her over the years- the way she'd pick things up and hold them just that second too long with a concentrated look on her face as if she was listening for something.
"At least, I guess you must have been sad," she said hurriedly, snapping out of her reverie and giving it back, "Unless you were doing the dance of joy at getting rid of him."
She had only intended to joke but the look of sheer anger that flared up in the green eyes confronting her made her take an involuntary step back. It was gone almost as soon as it came. "Whoa! Hey, it was just a joke! Geez, Giles!"
"I'm sorry," he sighed, "Yes, I was very happy to get rid of Ethan Rayne; yes."
She looked at him with that shrewd look on her face. She knew more about him than she'd let on as well- the advantage of knowing where the spare key to his house in Sunnydale had been hidden. And to know not only that he was lying but to hear the truth before he would admit it was something she could pick up. Not that it required Einstein or Willow's mind magic for that! The signs were almost neon in this case.
"You're still in love with him," she guessed.
"WHAT?"
Another shout reverberated through the wood paneled room as Giles tried desperately to think of ways to dissuade her from that way of thinking. He wasn't in the mood to have too many people knowing his secrets. And having anyone but himself know them was far too many. He preferred to not let even himself know that particularly secret!
"Are you insane?" he hissed, "I am not in love with him; not, you hear me? N-O-T, not!"
To his ultimate chagrin, Buffy burst out laughing. "Yes, you do! I know it; I know it! Rupert Giles, you're in love with a chaos mage! That's why you insisted on that team of Council representatives getting him out! We all thought you just felt guilty. Xander even thought you were being tactically careful. But you were in love with the man! Don't you dare lie to me, Giles; tell me the truth."
He opened his mouth to say he *wasn't* lying, that he really and truly didn't want anything to do with Ethan Rayne any more. Except it was two in the morning, he was exhausted and since he'd already told his Slayer this much he might as well tell her everything. He sighed and rethought his answer. "All right, yes. I still wonder what it would be like to have gone through with that ridiculous scheme. And I believe I do still have feelings for him, yes. Are you satisfied? May we go back to work now?"
"Just one more question, Giles," she pleaded.
He looked back up from the notepad he had made a frantic grab at. "What now, Buffy?"
"When's your anniversary?" she asked innocently. He looked at her in confusion. "Well, you said you've never really been able to let go, right? And you still have the ring and stuff, so I'm guessing you guys haven't really 'divorced' each other. So when's your anniversary and which one is it?"
He silently got back to his translation. Buffy waited for him to speak but he looked too engrossed in his work. She was just adjusting to the irritating notion of Giles ignoring her question when he spoke without looking up, "Christmas Day. In two days we should be celebrating our twenty- eighth anniversary."
Buffy wisely let the subject drop after that, her mind fixed on a rather far-fetched plan forming in her brain.