Feedback: it's like oxygen.........
Part Seven
The sound of a key in the lock caught the boy's attention first. The sleepy slayer whose head had slid from his chest and was now nestled in his lap gave no indication that she'd heard it until a cultured voice echoed in the small hallway.
"Hello! Dawn? Buffy?"
At the familiar voice, Buffy bolted upright, looking anxiously around the room for a way out. Resigned to the fact that the only way out was the only way in, she straightened against the back of the couch, focusing intently on the television screen in a determined effort to prove to the visitor - and herself - that she wasn't affected by his presence.
"Ah, there you are! I should have known you'd be in here." Giles' smiling face appeared in the doorway. "Hello, Xander, Buffy."
"Hey, G-Man! Come sit with us. We're learning the art of relaxation."
"Ah." Giles chuckled as he stepped into the room, "A rare skill, indeed. Oh, and by the way..." he added, partly out of habit and partly because it was expected of him, "Please refrain from calling me that. It's getting very old."
A burst of laughter escaped Xander before he could stop it and his eye twinkled merrily by way of cheeky response.
"Like you, you mean?"
"Hey!"
The two objecting outcries cut Xander's laugh short as he stared in amused bewilderment at the woman beside him.
"Um... Buff? I know what his 'hey' was for, but... well... since when do you object to our not-really-insults at Giles' age?"
"I... uh... I... well... you know... he's not old... really... just... um... smarter, brainier, maturer... you know what I mean."
"Um-hmm." He slowly nodded his head in agreement as he watched another pink blush rise up her neck to fill her cheeks. The day was definitely getting weirder and weirder by the minute. He bit back a query of concern, only to hear someone else sound it.
"Buffy? Are you alright?"
She startled slightly at Giles' soft question.
"Yeah... you know... I'm fine... just... uh... a little woozy from being horizontal with Xand for too long." The pink bled into scarlet as she realised how her words sounded. "Uh, uh, I mean... I was horizontal, he wasn't. You see, we were... we were watching this thing and my... my head was in his lap... in, um, in a non-sexual way... and it's all stiff... my neck, I mean... and... and... um... you know what?" She jumped up suddenly as he made a small step toward her. "I think the load I put on should be done by now. So, um, if you'll excuse me... I'd better rescue it before it starts to crease."
In a heartbeat, she had swiftly sidestepped the Englishman regarding her with surprise - and was gone, leaving the two men to look at each other in confusion.
"That was weird."
"My thoughts exactly."
The dark-haired young man watched in silence as his mentor stepped forward and settled beside him on the couch, rubbing his forehead in thought as he moved.
"I don't understand. In all our years together... Buffy's never... not even when... this doesn't make sense."
"I know. These last couple of weeks... well... she's fine until someone mentions you. Then she gets all... well... weird."
Giles' head snapped up to fix a penetrating gaze on Xander.
"Weird... how?"
"She... uh... she just gets all jumpy. Goes into major babble mode... starts avoiding the subject... usually ends up running off to do something... oh!" The last word came out on a single descending note as the memory of his earlier conversation with Buffy echoed in his mind, causing the proverbial penny to drop. He turned a wide eye upon Giles as he replayed his thoughts. Reaching the same conclusion as before, he could only mutter, "Oh!" repeatedly to himself.
Shutting out the young man's mutterings, Giles closed his eyes and frowning to himself, cast his mind back over the last fourteen days. There was something tugging on the edge of his awareness - some small bead of knowledge that he strained mentally to reach. Touching it at last, he straightened in his chair, his eyes opening in horror.
"Oh, dear Lord." He bent over and full of remorse, buried his face in his hands. "How did I miss it? I've been so stupid."
"Me too." Xander added absently. "There I was asking who it was.. and... it was staring me right in the face. It's so obvious a blind man could see it. I should have seen the signs. Man, I should have known it would be you. It all makes sense, now."
Giles looked up, his expression part sorrow, part curiosity.
"What does? You mean you knew she was still upset about that? Why didn't she just talk to me about it? She should know that withdrawing isn't the answer. We need to move past this." He pulled off his glasses and rubbed his forehead lightly again. "Oh, I knew should have gone after her straight away. I didn't realise she was still hurting after all this time. Not that I helped matters by singing that stupid, stupid song. Bloody hell. What have I done to her?"
Xander's eyebrows crept north as he listened to Giles' ranting. "Oh. Uh... I don't think we're talking about the same thing, here, so I'll... I'll just be going... I have a class to teach right about now."
"Xander." Confusion, self-hate and bitter regret coalesced into a low growl that rumbled from Giles' throat as he spoke the boy's name. "What aren't you telling me?"
Xander was saved from answering as Dawn cheerily stepped into the room, her guitar case hanging off her shoulder as she attempted to shoo him away.
"Okay guys. Chat time's over."
He looked up at his unexpected saviour and let out an audible sigh of relief, willingly complying with her shooing motions, eager to escape Giles' searching gaze.
"Uh... yeah... I gotta go."
She smiled brightly at him. "Good. You go, now. Bye, bye Xander." She turned to the other man with the same smile, unaware of what she'd interrupted. "C'mon Giles... let's get learning."