"Why didn't you stop him?"

"They're powerful magicks, nothing we can't handle but it was dangerous and foolish to interrupt," explained Giles to the near hysterical girl beside him. "By the time I realised what he was doing, it was to late."

"What were you doing there anyway?" Willow enquired, her voice slightly more shrill than usual for the panic brought on by the situation. "You said you were going out, and disappeared."

"I had the suspicion Xander would try something like this," he admitted, slipping off his glasses for a clean, his nervous habit looking extremely annoying for the budding witch before him. "I honestly did not expect for him to use that, though - I suspected he would use the resources to discover the whereabouts of the necklace he pointed out to me."

"This is bad, how could he be so stupid?" hissed Buffy from her seat next to them, glaring accusingly at the sphere that was still where Xander left it. Her gaze flickered around to the others in the room. "If he didn't finish the spell, like you said, then we've got a case of 'what the hell's gonna happen?' and I don't like that. Ugh, he can be such an idiot! Why did he do this?"

"I believe everyone constantly presuming he's an 'idiot' could be the source of this," pointed out Giles in a quiet voice. The Slayer shot him a look, but he spoke before she could protest. "No, Buffy. Think about this from his point of view. He is the only one among us who has no specialties, nothing to set him aside. That isn't to say he's not important, but I'm sure to someone of his age it would seem as though he was unwanted."

"Since when were you in his head?" snapped Buffy, her face full of irritation. "You're saying that it's our fault he's set uncontrolled magicks loose on a Hellmouth?"

"I'm saying you haven't helped," he replied, his own tone far more formidable than that of the slightly shocked girl. "He's obviously not happy with the way he is, if he has attempted to change the way we perceive him. None of you have noticed."

"You didn't either."

"You're his friends, I'm just a musty old librarian."

"You're a Watcher, why didn't you watch?"

"Buffy! Giles!" cried Willow, standing up from her seat angrily, her fists clenched and her eyes glaring out from under her floppy pink hat. "No more. We've gotta help Xander. Stop arguing!" When they both stared at her for a few minutes before relaxing slightly and sitting down, she nodded to herself. "Right. Now call me dumb for the first time ever but I'm a little unclear. What's going on?"

"Xander got a fright, and didn't finish the spell he was attempting on the sphere - which, as Willow thought she discovered, has a little to do with self worth, and how others see you," explained Giles in a tired voice. "Had he succeeded, he would have improved in how he acts, how he thinks, how he behaves. He would have generally become what in his eyes is a 'better person'."

"…Remind me why this is a bad thing?" commented Cordelia, who was perched on the stairs, clutching a pretty little bag in her lap with sunglasses pulling back her fashionably-tussled hair. "Xander wants a make-over, who are we to stop him?"

"The point is, Cordelia," said Giles, "that it didn't work. He performed the magic right above the Hellmouth - there is no telling what could happen. Luckily I have some experience in this spell-"

"How?" asked a curious Slayer.

"-and I happen to know that it takes just over a day for the effects to take place," he continued, ignoring her completely. "If he can be persuaded to come around to knowing that he doesn't need to change, then a reversal spell can be done before the uncontrolled, unfinished magic takes place."

"Can't we do the spell ourselves?"

"Unfortunately not," he sighed, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand before slipping back on his glasses, as they had being lying idle in his grip. "It is a … very personal spell. He must believe sincerely that there is no need for the spell. That he is wanted for who he is."

"That's like, impossible," laughed Cordelia with a raised eyebrow. "He's got absolutely no self confidence. Losers generally don't."

"I think, Cordelia," said Giles in a voice so low and angry that it reminded Willow of a growling, possessive dog. "You should stay away from Xander for the duration of these hours. Obviously, nothing you have to say is going to be of any help at all, as usual."

"Well, excuse me for speaking my mind," she hissed, standing instantly with her bag swinging onto her shoulders. "Like I give a damn."

She left with maximum noise, to make her point known. Her heels clacked on the floor and she made many 'hmph' sounds. Giles kept his eyes on the group as they watched her leave.

"Maybe that was a bit harsh, Giles," suggested Willow in a quiet, almost nervous tone.

"Xander is in trouble, and the last thing we need is her buggering it up," he scowled, standing up himself. "Now, Willow, please set up the counter protection spell we'll need while I speak to Xander. It is a matter of utmost emergency. Don't let Cordelia back in."

They watched him as he walked out, the silence thick in the room for a few seconds until Buffy looked knowingly at Willow.

"There is so something he's not telling us."

---

"Yes, excuse me, is Xander home?"

There was a short pause.

"He says he's not."

"Mom!" came a muffled shout.

"Could I speak to him please?"

"Who are you? A teacher?"

"Yes, I am Mr Giles, the librarian."

"Has he forgotten a book or something? 'Cause if so it can wait 'til tomorrow. He's pretty busy with the crying right now."

"Mom!" came a louder shout.

"Could I just speak to him, please?" Giles persisted. "It's a matter of urgency."

"Fine."

A muted sound of a phone being passed from a passive mother to an embarrassed son was drowned out by the sigh from Giles.

"Xander?"

"Look, if you're gonna tell me off make it fast, I've got homework."

Well, he must be stressed if he's resorting to schoolwork, thought Giles, but what he said was; "I'm not going to tell you off."

"…Right, well I'm busy," he replied bluntly. "Can't you wait 'til morning? I can't go to any Scooby meetings if that's what this is about."

"Xander, don't be an idiot."

"I thought you weren't gonna tell me off?"

…This isn't going so well. Perhaps I should just let Willow do it.

"That's not what this call is for, no," sighed Giles. "Would you please come round? I need to speak to you."

"…Will the others be there?" he asked, tone slightly curious.

"Probably not. They've all gone home."

"I don't know, I should probably stay home…"

"Would you prefer it if I came to you, then?" sighed Giles. This was urgent, he wasn't about to give up just because Xander didn't want to leave the house. "If you tell me where your house is, I shall."

"Nah," he said quickly. "I'll come over. I'll be there in a bit."

Before Giles could respond, Xander had dropped the phone back on the hook. Looking bemused, he put the phone down himself and stared at nothing silently for a few moments. He felt kind of guilty about what he was planning to do, but it had to be done and he was the only one who was available to do it.

---

"So let me get this straight," said Xander slowly. "You called me over as if it was the most urgent thing in the world… To give me cookies?"

"Yes," replied Giles with a pleasant smile. "I made them myself. They're rather tasty, aren't they?"

"…I think I may be confused," admitted Xander, but he took another cookie anyway. "But if you've turned evil and these are evil poisoned cookies, I'm telling Buffy."

"They're perfectly safe," he promised with an amused sigh. "I merely thought you might enjoy some company."

"You were speaking like the apocalypse was happening again."

"Yes, well, I was feeling lonely."

"And how did I come into this?"

"Well, I thought…You'd like some company…?"

"Is this some sort of counselling session?" he laughed. "Because really Giles, I'm fine."

"Yes. Yes of course you are," the Watcher smiled in agreement, quickly turning towards the kitchen to hide the mildly panicked look that threatened to appear. Oh, how he wished he'd asked Willow to do this, his people skills were frightful at best. "Tea?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"Are you sure? I had some friends in England send over decent tea," he said, smiling like it was a great achievement; but the smile was directed at the wall. "It's rather nice."

"Fine, you twisted my leg," sighed Xander, then paused and frowned slightly in confusion. "I mean, my arm. Or some other bodily part. Whatever."

So once again, Giles headed into the kitchen.

------

"Oh my god, are you okay?" called Xander, rushing in behind him a few minutes later where the Watcher was doing a strange kind of dance and yelping strange noises, hand cradled to his chest. He flinched away when the panicking boy tried to reach out and have a look. "Come on. Don't be a baby. What did you do?"

"I spilt the tea," said Giles with a hint of an amused smile. He held out his hand rather reluctantly for Xander to study.

He took the scalded hand into his own, rolling his dark eyes. Giles watched with the slightest of embarrassed blushes as he ran fingers around the red patch, gently and caringly, turning it over to check the other side.

He saw the exact moment where Xander realised he had the hand of his librarian in his own. The eyes which had been wandering over the reddened skin froze suddenly, as did the fingers that were tracing over it.

"Sorry," muttered Xander, dropping the hand from his grasp and taking a step away. "I didn't mean to… Sorry…"

"What? Don't be silly," said Giles quickly, then quickly changed the subject to avoid the blush that was raising on the poor boy's face, darker than the burn. "I'm afraid the tea has decided not to be consumed today. Juice?"

That succeeded in breaking the tense atmosphere. Seeing Giles grab a cartoon of orange juice, holding it up with a grin like he was planning on auditioning for a commercial, made Xander unable to resist an amused chuckle.

"I'm okay thanks. I'll avoid the beverages in this house."

"A good plan," replied Giles, putting the juice down carefully. "Would you like to watch some telly instead?"

"You have a TV? A TV that works?" said a stunned Xander a short while later as they sat down in front of it, beside each other. "That's kinda weird. I thought you were joking."

"It's rarely used," he said quickly. "It's merely there as… as a gift from a friend. It would be rude to dispose of it."

"Don't worry, I promise not to let the others in on your naughty little secret."

"It's, uh, much appreciated," said Giles, giving him an odd look. "Now what would you like to watch?"

"Anything you can throw at me."

---

How incredibly cute, thought Giles, looking down at the sleeping form. Xander had apparently been far more tired than he looked, because within an hour he'd slumped sideways onto the arm of the chair with his eyes half shut. It didn't take long after that before his eyes had completely shut. His slow, even breathing became apparently when Giles tilted his head for a closer look. His eyes were lightly shut, all signs of smiles, scowls or any other of his numerous expressions were gone, and his hair was flopping over his forehead in a very messy way.

He couldn't resist. With his hand faltering a little, he reached over and stroked away the hair to tuck it behind his ears. Xander stirred and Giles pulled his hand back like it had been stung, but all the sleepy boy did was look up at him through blurry eyes, then try to sit up. It didn't seem to work that well… as soon as he was upright, he was falling sideways again with closed eyes. This time though, he fell onto the shoulder of one very surprised Watcher and promptly began snoring quietly.

Giles didn't dare move, lest he disturb him. He seemed comfortable enough and only a short while passed before he was shifting in his sleep to curl more against the warmth beside him. Finally certain that Xander wasn't planning on moving away any time soon, he raised his arm to hold him closer. He ran caring fingers over the baggy material of his shirt, earning sleepy smile.

"S'nice," he muttered, on the borders of wakefulness. His eyes opened a crack to look up when Giles' hand stopped moving. "Neh… Nice…"

So the Watcher's hand resumed it's careful, gentle stroking of the dark locks as instructed by the barely comprehensible words and there came a small noise of contentment from the half-asleep boy. Long, heavy and relaxed minutes passed by and Giles himself was getting sleeping from the situation. His hand was slowing until there was barely any movement at all, at which point Xander opened his eyes once more to gaze groggily at him.

He didn't say anything. Through the haze of sleep, nothing seemed wrong as he hoisted himself up and clumsily planted a small kiss on the older man's lips. Giles was stunned into silence as he had been about to say something, his mouth opening comically in shock.

"Oh god," whispered Xander a moment later. "Oh god. I'm sorry."

Apparently he had managed to pull himself all the way out of sleep, because his eyes were wide and he was shifting away from Giles like he had the plague.

"No, Xander-" he started, but he was already on his feet and starting towards the door. "Don't go."

"Sorry." The blushing boy turned back to face him, still taking steady steps backwards to make his escape. "I didn't mean to… I'm sorry."

"Would you…just stop apologising?" sighed Giles. "It's alright. Please, don't go."

"But… I just k-kissed you!"

"Yes, I had noticed," he smiled kindly, and Xander stopped to look at him in mild disbelief.

"You…You didn't mind?"

He took few steps towards him. "I have no problem at all with it, unless you have."

"So you called me over for this and not evil cookies?" said Xander, raising an eyebrow. "Isn't that a little pervy?"

"No. And if you'd care to remember, it was you who kissed me and not the other way around."

"I'm sorry."

"Apology not needed."

They both moved back to the sofa, Giles lounging against the arm on one side and Xander perching himself at the other end. Their eyes stuck in contact for a few moments, before one pair was suddenly lowered as he cleaned his glasses with a flush rising on his cheeks.

"Giles?"

"Hmm?"

There was a tense pause in which the Watcher looked back up at him, replacing his glasses to see clearly again.

"…Can I kiss you again?"