"W-what? I... you... pardon? I'm what, now?"
"Right. As in 'correct'." His mouth shaped into a thin smile. "Savour the moment, Buffy. You and I are both aware of how rare this is."
"I... what?"
If he'd been in a laughing mood, Giles thought to himself, he'd be having chest pains right now from laughing so hard at the stunned expression on Buffy's face. She looked as though she couldn't decide whether to be hurt, offended, worried, surprised, amused or dismissive of his half-teasing remark.
"I'm teasing, Buffy." He gently reassured her.
Settling on an emotion at last, her brow furrowed and she looked away from him so he wouldn't see the hurt in her eyes. "So... what? I give this whole 'We May As Well Not Be Friends, If We're Not Open With Each Other' speech and you tease me about it? Why don't you just leave already? That's what the whole 'I'm right' thing is about, isn't it? I'm right that you don't like it, so you're gonna go... just like you always do."
"Buffy." When he received no response to his heavy tone, Giles stood and crossed the space between them to kneel before her, between her feet. There, he lifted a hand to gently turn her head back to his, forcing her gaze to lock with his. "The times I left were for no reason other than that I sincerely thought it was the best thing to do. I was not running away then... and I have absolutely no intention of doing so, now." He paused for a moment as a memory pricked at his mind. "Do you... do you remember that day you witnessed Dawn singing a... uh, particularly depressing, although somewhat relevant, song?"
She let out a bitter laugh. "Remember it? Hell, I can't erase it from my mind."
Absently, his thumb stroked her cheek as he watched her swallow hard against the obvious pain she was inflicting on herself. She half-leaned into his touch, but he didn't seem to notice as he allowed his own recollection to be voiced. "Well... what you missed, was my own attempt at finding a cheerful song... which I failed, by the way. The song I sang was also rather depressing, but the lyrics... well, they seem to be appropriate for us."
"And?" A ghost of a smile appeared on her lips, albeit briefly. "Sing it for me?"
He hesitated for a moment. "I'll try... although I'm not certain I can recall the complete melody... or the lyrics for that matter." He drew a deep breath as he tried to pitch the song correctly.
"Many..." He shook his head in frustration. "No, too high." He cleared his throat and tried again, this time successful.
"Many roads to take:
Some to joy, some to heart-ache;
Anyone can lose their way.
And if..."
"Uh..." he faltered briefly, trying to remember the rest of the lyrics.
"And if I said that we could turn it back -
Right back to the start,
Would you take the chance and make the change?
Do you..."
He shook his head slightly, breaking eye contact as he at last lowered his eyes. "It's gone, I'm afraid, Buffy. I can't remember the rest."
She lifted her hand to cover his still warming her cheek. "That's okay, I know it.. although you do know, that's the second verse, right? It starts off even worse than that. So, anyway... um... Kate Winslet, huh? I'm so not gonna ask." Not giving him a chance to respond, she softly completed the bridge and chorus for him; her voice more an anguished whisper than a tuneful melody.
"Do you think how it would have been sometimes?
Do you pray that I'd never left your side?
What if I had never let you go?
Would you be the man I used to know?
If I'd stayed,
If you'd tried,
If we could only turn back time
But I guess we'll never know."
"You see?" Giles inquired quietly, aware that somehow they'd moved a lot closer to each other as she sang and that if he tilted his head upward just a little, he'd feel her breath on his face. By some miracle, he restrained himself from doing so and kept his gaze centered on the rug below his knees. "It really is 'us', through and through, isn't it?"
He sensed, rather than saw, her nod, so he continued. "We keep wishing we could turn back time, make things right... and it stops us from changing what we can today. Buffy..." There was a tone of sadness in her name as he spoke it. "I don't know why we've always struggled to be honest with each other, but I know that I'd like to rectify that from now on, if we can."
"Me too." Buffy agreed, miserably. "I think we lost our way."
"Well..." he looked up, and suddenly wished he hadn't as he did indeed feel her soft breath on his face. "I... er... I..." All of a sudden, words seemed a foreign concept as he realised the depth of her ever-changing eyes.
"Giles?"
Her free hand came to rest upon his shoulder and he had to remind himself to breathe; not to let her show that she was affecting him in such a manner. Think of Xander... having sex. The thought had the desired effect and he found himself able to speak the English language once again. "I think we should find our way again... only... I think there is one issue that we need to move past first. You admitted it yourself that, that's what all 'this' is really about."
Buffy nodded slowly. "Spike."
"Yes," Giles murmured, "Spike." Then, to Buffy's complete surprise, he confessed, "I believe I have several apologies to make."
"You? B-but... I thought..."
"That I'd forgotten about it? That I was pretending it never happened?" As she lowered her eyes and removed her touch, he half-chuckled softly. "Just because I forgave you, doesn't mean I was able to forget it all. After all, what I did had serious consequences... what?" He realised that partway through, her eyes had flown upward again to stare at him in shock.
"What did you say?" Her voice was a harsh whisper as she continued to stare at him.
"That there were serious -"
"No, rewind a bit."
"Oh." This time, when his thumb stroked her cheek, it was deliberate and when he spoke his voice was slightly choked, yet full of love. "I forgave you."
For the second time in an hour, Buffy was struck speechless.