"Thank you for choosing to shop at the Magic Box," Giles beamed at his first ever customers. "Please do come back again."

He followed the young couple with his eyes all the way to the front door until the bell chimed and the door closed behind them.

"Did you see that?" he asked almost giddily from Willow who was sitting at the new but still somehow familiar study table reading a book. "Customers! Real, live customers. They came in, and I gave them things, and they gave me money and then they left. It's brilliant!" That was in such a contrast to his experiences of his previous tenure as the high school librarian where the only things changing hands were mostly schoolbooks, usually in various states of disintegration.

"Congratulations, Giles," Willow beamed at the euphoric Watcher. "You're an official capitalist running dog."

The past week and a half after Buffy's birthday party had been a flurry of activity for Giles and Xander to get the shelves stocked and the final touches to the interior completed. They had left the back room last, and it still wasn't fully finished. Some of the gym equipment was still in boxes, the weapon cabinets needed stocking and the wall bars needed to be fastened.

But, all in all, it felt like a dream come true for Giles.

Some of his precious book collection had perished in the battle against Olvikan but the rarest and most valuable ones he had either carefully transported home just before the fight or stored in a fire-proof cabinet in his office. All those had mercifully survived. They were now stored in beautiful but secure cabinets in the "staff only" section of the upper-level area. He had also been able to procure copies of some of the lost collection from other book sellers. His request for the Council to supply him with the missing part of the "standard" Watcher library was still going slowly through bureaucracy despite Gwen's promises to expedite the process.

Looking around in actual awe, he realised for the first time that he really owned all this. No longer would he have to hide behind a façade like he had to as the librarian. Of course, there were the few pesky little clauses in the agreement with the Council they had demanded to be included in exchange for financing the enterprise. He would have to break the news to Buffy sooner or later, but, for today, it was later.

The bell above the door chimed again and a middle-aged couple stepped in. "Erm... if there's anything you need help with, let me know," he addressed them helpfully.

Before the door could fully close, it opened again letting in Xander and Anya. "Your conjuring powder is grotesquely overpriced," the ex-demon commented loudly as she passed the earlier couple who were examining a bag of the stuff in question.

"Anya," Xander snapped and dragged her quickly away from the frowning couple. "We talked about this."

"I'm sorry," Anya apologised when they stepped over to the counter. "But money's tight and I've never had to afford things before. It's making me bitter."

"The change is palpable," Giles deadpanned. "None of this comes cheap, you know."

"Well, you're getting ripped off," Anya huffed. "I could hook you up direct with the troll that sheds it."

Before Giles could respond, Xander had pulled his girlfriend aside and started animatedly explaining her some of the finer details of social interaction norms. He sighed in relief but then the bell chimed again... and again... and again.


"No, no, no. Ground cloven hooves are 30% off. The whole ones are full price..."

"Excuse me, do you gift-wrap?"

"That's... that's not candy..."

"Sorry, but what's the price of these runestones?"

"Erm..."

"Excuse me, do you gift-wrap?"

The shop was full of people, touching, smelling and occasionally tasting the merchandise. Items were carelessly replaced on the shelves; books were left open on the table. It was a mad house, a mad house.

"Yes, we do gift-wrap," an overly bright voice interrupted his inner chaos, and to his absolute amazement he saw Anya step authoritatively behind the counter. There, with a few expert movements she had the item in question neatly wrapped and taped in no time.

"There, please go now," Anya smiled at the customer from whose hand she had practically snatched the money at the same time she handed over the paper bag containing the wrapped package.

"Um, change?" the customer hazarded in a small voice.

"Here!" Xander leaped into action and quickly withdrew the required change from the cash register. "Have a nice day," he grinned weakly at the stunned customer who withdrew quickly.

"Anya," Xander practically groaned. "Please repeat after me. 'Have a nice day.'"

"But I have their money," Anya frowned. "Who cares what kind of a day they have afterwards?"

"A satisfied customer is a returning customer," Willow commented off-hand when she passed the bickering couple on her way to restock the supply of dried crows' legs.

Anya blinked a few times and then grinned widely. "Hey, you, over there! Have a nice day!"

"There's my girl!" Xander beamed and gave his girlfriend a one-armed hug.


"H-hi, Willow." The hesitant question made Willow's heart skip a beat and she almost fell off the ladders she was currently using to fetch an elusive tome of Akkadian fertility rites from a high shelf.

"Tara, hi!" Willow greeted the other Witch brightly, meeting blue eyes that were curiously looking up at her. She took the large tome into a tight embrace and made an unconscious mental check of her outfit. 'Light blue sweater with a flower motif, ok. Blue jeans, not too tight or loose, ok.' The train of her thought was briefly derailed when she realized Tara's head was currently on the approximate level of her waist and quite close to... not that it made any difference one way or another...

To Willow's delight, Tara had kept her promise and called her the day after Buffy's birthday party. They had talked for what felt like hours, keeping the conversation light and innocent, until Willow had hastily ended the call, hearing Buffy open the door to their room.

Since then, they had met a few times in Tara's room, finally being able to perform the will-o'-wisp exercise successfully. Each time Willow had come back to her and Buffy's room after these evening sessions, the Slayer had been mercifully away, saving her from having to babble her way through a hasty explanation.

With Buffy spending more and more time with Riley, and Giles and Xander busy with the final touches to the Magic Box, Willow had felt herself somewhat neglected and even lonely. Now, in Tara she had someone and something that was just hers, someone who really understood her – in a similar way that Buffy and Faith understood each other.

Also, the basically disastrous introduction attempts at Buffy's birthday party had left Willow with a reluctance to subject Tara, and herself to a lesser degree, to a humiliation like that again.

"Wow, it looks q-quite busy here," Tara smiled as Willow carefully stepped down the steps back to floor level.

"Grand opening," Willow grinned. "Giles is very nearly hysteric. I don't think he quite expected this level of interest right from the start."

"Who's hysteric?" Giles asked curiously from behind her, making her squeak like a mouse.


"Um, er, Giles... this is...," Willow spluttered with her cheeks flaming.

"Hello, Mr Giles," Tara jumped to the rescue seeing Willow's current mental state. "I'm Tara Maclay. C-congratulations on a successful opening."

"I'm delighted to make your acquaintance, Ms Maclay," Giles greeted the Wicca and shook her hand lightly. "You're Willow's friend, am I correct?"

"Y-yes, Mr Giles," Tara nodded. "W-we both g-go to UC Sunnydale. We met..."

"...When I collided into her during the, erm... Gentlemen thingy," Willow cut in, half-way to babble land. "Tara, um, goes to the same Wicca group meetings where I went after the... um, stuff with your eyesight."

"Oh, you're also a Wicca," Giles smiled widely. "Erm, you're always welcome here, Ms Maclay. Now, um, please excuse me." With that he was once again whisked away to deal with another minor catastrophe.

"He seems nice," Tara commented after they were once again alone – as much as a store full of customers would allow.

"Oh, he is," Willow nodded vigorously, but just then they heard a loud clearing of a throat somewhere close to them.

"Excuse me, miss. My book?" a haughty woman demanded with a look of clear annoyance.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Willow hurried to apologise. "Um, Tara...," she licked her lips. "See you later?"

"That w-would be great," Tara nodded with a smile. "I, um, g-gotta go anyway. Bye, Willow."

With a final wave she was out of the door feeling Willow's eyes follow her all the way and giving her a warm feeling somewhere deep inside.


"Would someone please rip that bloody bell off its hinges," Giles groaned from where he was slouching in a chair as the door closed behind the last customer of the day.

"Would that involve moving?" Xander queried weakly from where he was sitting with his head buried in his crossed arms on the table.

"My feet are numb," Willow piped in in a small voice.

"I think I liked it better when demons would just crash in the library and tear the place apart. It just seemed simpler."

Behind the counter Anya was happily checking the contents of the cash register, occasionally singing "oh, how the money rolls in" under her breath.

"You're out of crystal balls," she called out with a thick wad of $10 bills in her hand. "They're very popular with the amateurs. Better restock and raise the price by 10 %... make it 15."

"Anya..." Giles groaned.

"The cash register looks like a squirrel's nest..." she started and stuffed the money back inside. "You really need to start accepting credit cards."

"Anya..."

"And the numbers on your ledger don't add up. You need to balance..."

"ANYA!"

"..."

"Would you like a job?"

The ex-demon looked stunned for a second but then her mouth gradually widened to a genuine smile.

"Ok."

"Good," Giles nodded simply. "Then we can talk shop... tomorrow."

"Ok," Anya repeated. "Boss."

Right then the door opened and the trio around the table groaned as the infernal bell chimed once again.

"Hi, guys," Buffy greeted everyone cheerily. "Did I miss anything?"