Disclaimer: - Do Spike and Giles spend every episode of Buffy naked? Then

                      obviously BTVS does not belong to me!

Timeline: - I have spent long and hard thinking about when this story should be set

                  and this is what I've come up with. It's set after Buffy comes back to life

                  and after "Once more with feeling." However, Giles didn't make the

                 decision to leave and Buffy and Spike didn't kiss. However again, this does

                  not mean that Giles hasn't thought about leaving etc, these are things that

                  may well come up. Hopefully that isn't too confusing J

Note: - Thank you for all your kind reviews, particularly edicat who had obviously

             taken a lot of time and trouble!

The first thing Rupert Giles registered when his senses once again became active was that the sound surrounding him wasn't the familiar unassuming stillness of his own home. The second thing he registered was that he could never before remember his house bearing the aroma of pancakes first thing in the morning. Frowning a little – with apprehension of what awaited him – Giles gently eased open his complaining eyes.

"Bloody hell!" He quickly screwed them shut again as excruciatingly bright lights pierced his fragile optic nerves. He sat up and cursed again as almost instantaneously a steady pounding began in the back of his skull.

"Breakfast?"

Giles opened his eyes again, screwing them up at the young blonde woman standing above him holding out a plate of hot pancakes oozing globs of butter.

Dawn raised an eyebrow as Giles stumbled rapidly past the kitchen.

"Hmm, I'm guessing Giles doesn't want pancakes this morning huh?" She licked the gooey syrup of her fingers before flicking back her hair from her face. Willow glanced up and exchanged an amused look with the exasperated slayer. She quickly mouthed "Drink?" and smiled when the slayer nodded.

"You know, I really am not a kid anymore. I can tell when someone's had too much to drink and is all," Dawn searched for the right word, "yicky the next morning." Buffy raised an eyebrow at her younger sister. "Oh come on Buffy, I am in high school. You know? High school? The place you got sucked into the hell mouth?"

"Hey!" Buffy retorted, "We talked about this, no using my past as your example, remember?" She shot a warning look at her sulky sister who rolled her eyes and went back to the task of scooping up any runaway syrup with one finger.

Rupert Giles blinked at his reflection in the mirror. It was mercifully blurred thanks to the removal of his glasses. Even without studying his form he could tell that the somewhat un-refreshing shower had done little to improve his overall demeanour. Sighing Giles placed his glasses back on his nose, squinting slightly as the world came sharply into focus. Moving unsteadily out the door the ex-watcher found himself colliding with a young witch.

"Oh," She exclaimed, Then her eyes widened as Giles quickly covered up his bare chest with his damp polo neck, thanking whatever gods there were that he had at least had the thought of putting on his trousers. "Oh!" Tara said again, her full lips parting slightly. She reversed slightly until she hit the wall and tried to smile casually. "Morning!" She said hurriedly.

"Good morning Tara." Giles tried to rush past the witch while still holding onto his dignity. As Giles hurried down the hall he cursed at the luck that had made him loose his keys and also made him choose to come to Buffy's for sanctuary. A sudden thought made Giles stop and frown. Hesitantly he moved his hand around to his back pocket and patted tentatively, a decidedly key-shaped object met his fingers. Giles closed his eyes with a pained expression on his face.

Buffy looked around at her worse-for-wear mentor as he headed for the kettle, swiftly sidestepping Dawn as she searched for more sugar to inhale.  

"Good night?" She inquired innocently. Giles shot the young woman a wary look and chose not to answer. Buffy raised her eyebrows and deliberately played with a teaspoon left on the side of the kitchen. "Dawnie isn't it nearly time for you to leave?" She said casually. Dawn just looked at her.

"No I don't think so." The teenager broke off as Willow whispered something in her ear. "Oh right." Dawn smiled happily at her sister. "Yeah, I'll see you later." She turned to look at Giles. "You are so busted." Then turning on her heel she walked out of the kitchen with Willow close behind.

Giles closed his eyes momentarily, taking a sip of his still scalding tea. 1…..2…..3…..4……5……6……

"Ok, 1 – Why did you turn up at my house at 2 o'clock in the morning last night," Buffy hesitated, "Or this morning. And 2 – Spike? Not exactly the odd couple I was expecting."

"I'm sorry to inconvenience you Buffy," Giles said carefully, "I simply lost my key last night, however I've found it now so there's no reason for you to worry." Please? He added silently.

"That still doesn't explain Spike." Buffy studied the older man closely as he looked away. He was looking surprisingly aged this morning. His face appeared more careworn than it had done for a long while. Although… Buffy breathed a sigh of relief as she noticed that his eyes were still as startlingly blue as always. She bit her lip as the thought hit and wondered if one of a slayer's favourite things should be her watchers sparkling eyes. Buffy chewed on her lip even harder and filed that thought away in the "think about later" section of her brain.

"Buffy," Giles hesitated, thinking of what to say in his mind. "I simply went out for a walk last night and ran into Spike, we got chatting and then…"

"You got drunk?" Buffy supplied helpfully. Giles cringed.

"Yes I suppose I did." He quickly gulped down the rest of the tea. "And it was an extremely stupid and irresponsible thing to do." He fixed his erstwhile slayer with a knowing look. "And now I really should go to the Magic Box." He quickly brushed past the dumbstruck blonde and headed for the door. 

"Oh you so did not just do that." Buffy stormed past the older man and barred his way to the door. "Maybe you think that I'm still some 16 year old girl without a clue but this is my house so I have a right to know what's going on!" She faced her mentor defiantly. Giles felt wrong-footed. He mentally tried to calculate when the young rebellious teenage girl he had tried to teach and help had turned into the fiery woman facing him today.

"Buffy, I'm an adult, I have as much right to a night out as you." He stated, slightly baffled as to why he was still arguing this point.

"Yes but you're Giles." Buffy shot back, "Remember Giles? Responsible man with an addiction to tea and a really unfortunate habit of wearing tweed? And you were with Spike! Remember him? Likes blood a lot, daylight not so much."

"Yes I remember Spike, the bloody vampire who spent the best part of a good few months living in my bathtub at your insistence!"  Giles glared at Buffy who glared right back. "And now I have to go, goodbye Buffy." Giles reached an arm and gently moved the slayer away from the door, slightly surprised when she let him. He hesitated just before leaving. "Even I make mistakes Buffy, you of all people should know that." With that he left. Buffy stared at the closed door with a frown on her face. There was something wrong with Giles, she knew it. That meant that just maybe… he needed her help. The slayer suddenly felt more alive than she had for a long time.

There were some days when Giles thanked the gods that he had such an efficient money-grabbing ex-demon working for him. However other days…

"Giles? Hello?" Anya waved a hand determinedly in front of the prone form of Giles. The tired man blinked.

"Sorry, what?" Anya sighed impatiently.

"This woman wants to see the orb of agastusis." Anya frowned at her still confused employer. "You need to wake up Giles, sleeping only means missing valuable money taking opportunities." With that the ex-vengeance demon turned her back and flounced to another area of the store where an unsuspecting teenager was closely examining a jar of pickled toads eyes.

Giles stared after the blonde woman as she unfailingly harassed the worried teenager. It took him a few moments to realise a woman was waiting politely next to him.

"I'm sorry," He cleared his throat. "What was it you wanted?"

"The orb of agastusis?" The brunette woman arched a finely defined eyebrow at him. She was actually not altogether unattractive Giles had to concede to himself. He cleared his throat again.

"Yes, well… erm, if you'd like to follow me over… ah… over here we have the orb located behind the erm… texts on…*ahem* Thiron." Giles mentally slapped himself and wondered when his throat had got so damned dry. The woman seemed to smile slightly.

"Thank you Mr… Giles was it?" Giles nodded dumbly. The woman nodded and sashayed off in the direction of the orb. 

"Well?" Giles jumped when he realised that Anya was once again standing behind him. He looked at her enquiringly. "Aren't you going to follow her?" Anya continued impatiently. "I mean she obviously wants sex and she's walking in that I-want-to-hold-you-down-and-cover-you-with-various-condiments way." Giles stared at the ex-demon with a dumbstruck look covering his handsome face. After a beat of silence during which he struggled with various sentences in his head he simply gave up and followed the brunette.

The leggy brunette was crouching by the bottom shelf, as she stood up Giles felt a sudden pang and wondered why her hair couldn't be blonde and catch the sunlight in a certain way.

"I was just wondering if you'd like any help?" He offered, thanking whatever gods there were that at least this time he managed to form a coherent sentence.

"I was hoping this orb could help me with getting rid of an unwelcome guest." The woman smiled at him, Giles wondered why he couldn't smile back. He studied the woman again, she was undeniably attractive. Her eyes were deep brown and looked as if they housed countless intelligence. Her hair was thick and glossy and fell to her waist and her smile was inviting. However, she just wasn't quite… right.

After the woman had paid and left Anya turned to Giles in frustration.

"Do you just not want sex?" She inquired and without waiting for an answer homed in on a customer entering the shop.

Giles sighed and took a sip of his sickeningly sweet tea. He grimaced and held the mug at arms length, studying it. After a reflection he quickly reached in a secret drawer underneath the cash desk and pulled out a half full, clear bottle. Looking around surreptitiously he heard the familiar slosh in his mug, he suddenly found he was able to smile.  

TBC

Note : - If you were expecting more from this chapter don't despair! Good things come to those who wait.