Chapter 5
Buffy walked downstairs and headed to the kitchen where she found her mom and Giles. She smiled at the older man. "Hey, Giles. It seems like I haven't seen you in a while." Joyce gave Giles a look and Giles just ignored it and turned his attention on Buffy.
"Yes, I'm sorry about that. I have something for you." He said as he handed her a white box that was on the counter. Buffy smiled and grabbed it.
"Cool, I like presents." She said as she opened the box and gasped when she saw what was inside. She looked up at Giles. "This is the blouse that I wanted. I don't know how you knew about it, but thank you." She said as she hugged Giles and he smiled at her excitement. "I'm gonna try it on now." She commented as she ran upstairs. Joyce gave Giles another look when Buffy was gone.
"You shouldn't be spoiling her." She said and Giles turned to look at her.
"I'm not spoiling her, Joyce. Is it a crime to want to buy my daughter something nice?" Joyce shook her head.
"No, it's not. I just wonder if you bought her that because you feel guilty about something." Giles took his glasses off to clean them before he placed them back on.
"I do feel guilty. I feel guilty that I haven't been around much. I also bought you this." He said as he handed Joyce a smaller box and she took it and sighed as she opened it to find a beautiful, silver, heart shaped locket inside. She looked back at Giles.
"It's beautiful, but you didn't have to." He nodded and took the locket out of the box.
"I know I didn't have to, I wanted to." He put the necklace on her and let it fall down her neck. "You look beautiful." He told her and she blushed at his comment.
"Thank you, Rupert." He smiled at her.
"There's also a little surprise inside." She gave him a look and then opened the locket to find a picture of the four of them that was taken a few years ago. It was one of her favorite pictures and it reminded Joyce of how grown up her children were now. She looked at Giles with tears in her eyes. She moved closer to him and planted a kiss on his mouth. She pulled away and smiled at him.
"This means a lot to me, but I don't want you to think that you have to buy us gifts whenever you feel guilty. I know you love us, honey." Giles returned her smile and gave her a kiss of his own.
"This family is very important to me, Joyce. I don't want you to think that it isn't." Joyce nodded and thought of something else.
"I know it is, but I think you need to talk to your son. I think he's feeling more neglected by you. I have a feeling he has for a while now; he just doesn't know how to talk to you about it." Giles agreed.
"Is he upstairs?" Joyce nodded again.
"Yes, he wanted to stay over tonight. He's probably sleeping right now so maybe you could talk to him tomorrow." Giles nodded also and went to grab a scotch while Joyce just watched him still wondering if everything was okay. They didn't know that Spike was standing at the top of the stairs and heard most of their conversation. He just turned around and walked back to his room.