It was a gorgeous day; blue sky, fluffy clouds, warm sunshine. Buffy smiled at everyone she passed. Whenever she thought of waking up next to Giles, or about kissing him, she was filled with a giddy excitement. She couldn't remember ever being so inexplicably happy about being in love before. But as the day wore on, the excitement mutated into nerves. She wondered if kissing Giles had really been the right thing to do. Maybe she had only succeeded in scaring him off. Then when she thought of Riley she felt so guilty it made her sick.

She had to talk to Riley. And the sooner she did, the better it would be for everyone. After her classes she went to his frat house, but no one had seen him that afternoon. She checked out the library and the grad student lounge and the caf, but he wasn't in any of those places either. Finally she decided to give up.

As she approached the Magic Box, Buffy felt her stomach twisting into knots. She was suddenly overcome with the worry that her hair had somehow degenerated during the day. The very next moment she was buzzed just from the thought of kissing him again and started spinning airy fantasies of arriving to find they had the store all to themselves. But then the image of Riley suddenly turned up and all her fantasies were sunk by a cold wave of guilt. And there was also that annoying little doubt that Giles even wanted to kiss her at all and she was really just making a fool of herself.

But then when she saw him, all those thoughts fell away.

"Hi, Giles."

"Hello, Buffy."

She felt frozen, like she couldn't move. It was probably a good thing, since she was vaguely aware of other people being in the shop too and she didn't want to do anything stupid in front of them.

"Um, Riley's waiting for you."

"What?"

"Hey there Buffy."

Buffy turned to see that Riley was indeed standing there, in front of her. Behind him, she could see Willow and Tara at the research table and Xander standing by the counter with Anya.

"Riley. Why'd you come here? I was, uh, looking for you on campus."

"Oh." Riley quirked a humourless smile. "You usually leave campus right away. I came looking for you, since I can always count on finding you here."

Buffy thought she heard a note of hostility in Riley's voice. His look seemed to be cold, and when he smiled it didn't reach his eyes.

"Yeah," Buffy said carefully. "Well, it's where my handy dandy training room is. And the books. And my, uh, other slayer stuff."

"Yeah. Um, where, uh, where were you last night?" he asked, trying to be casual and failing.

"What?"

"I came around your house. No one was there."

Buffy could feel a wave of panic coming on. "Oh, um…"

"She was at my place," Giles intervened. "She had come over to talk, and just ended up sleeping on the couch."

"Oh." Riley smiled, relieved. "I knew it must have been something like that."

"Why?" Giles asked suspiciously.

"Nothing, it's nothing. Spike just said... he said something it's best to pretend he never said."

At the mention of Spike, Buffy's eyes went wide. Until that very moment she had forgotten completely that he had been chained up in the bathroom. "He said something about Giles and me?"

"Not in so many words, but..." Riley stopped. He looked at Buffy curiously. "How did you know?"

Buffy cursed herself silently and put on a brave face. "That's, um, that's a funny story, actually..."

"Hello Dawn!" Giles said suddenly and very brightly. "How are you?"

Buffy turned to see Dawn coming through the door.

"Okay." Dawn replied, giving Giles a sideways look. "Kinda sleepy."

"Well, that's what you get for going to sleepovers on a school night," Buffy said sharply. "Why don't you go home?"

"I wanted to hang with Willow and Tara."

Willow and Tara were watching the scene unfolding at the front of the store with apprehension.

"Well, I think you should go home," Buffy said firmly.

Giles turned away for a moment and swore very quietly to himself, knowing that had not been the wisest thing for Buffy to say.

"Why?" Dawn asked

"Yeah, why?" Riley demanded.

Buffy kicked herself mentally. "Oh, um, no reason," she said, failing to be off-hand. "Just..." She turned to Dawn. "I'm your big sister and I say so."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Screw that." She walked into the store, but Giles put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from joining the others at the research table for the moment.

"No, you told her to leave," Riley said to Buffy "What don't you want her to hear?"

Buffy cringed.

At the back of the store Willow and Tara were making their way quietly to the training room. Willow nodded to Anya to indicate that she and Xander should join them. Anya took Xander's hand and pulled him along.

"What?" Xander said, bewildered. "Why are we all leaving?"

"You'll find out when you're older, sweetie." Anya said under her breath.

Riley turned to see the four friends disappear into the training room. He turned back to Buffy. "What's going on that I don't know about?"

"Dawn, please go home," Giles told her quietly, seeming to decide that the situation had become intractable.

"But..."

"Now, Dawn.".

"Fine." She scowled and left in a huff.

Buffy, Riley and Giles were the only three left in the store. Riley looked back and forth between the watcher and slayer. Giles looked very serious, though relatively composed. Buffy was clearly distressed.

"What's going on?" he asked again, fighting to keep the anger out of his voice.

"Riley..." Buffy said nervously, "I-I want to break up."

"What?" both men said at once. Riley was shocked. Giles was also surprised, but had to fight back a smile.

Riley glared at him.

"Giles, I want you to leave too," Buffy said.

Giles nodded and headed for the back of the store. Riley blocked his way.

"No, I want to know his explanation!"

"He doesn't have anything he has to explain to you Riley. This doesn't have to do with him."

Riley let him go. Giles glanced over his shoulder at Buffy one last time, to confirm she wanted him gone, and continued towards the training room.

"Not really," Buffy added.

"What do you mean, 'Not really?!'"

Meanwhile, Xander had figured out what all the upset was about.

"So, Buffy and Giles, they… they, uh… Giles and Buffy, uh… trying to say it without picturing it here and it's not working!"

"Yeah," Willow said. "They did."

"Oh." Xander nodded. "And this was, uh…"

"After the truth spell."

"Oh." Xander looked at the faces of the three women he was with. They all looked worried for him. "Am I the only one shocked and appalled by this?"

"Well, I already knew," Willow said.

"Willow told me." Tara added.

"Buffy told me."

Willow turned to Anya. "Buffy told you?"

"Yes. A mutually non-caring relationship is quite conducive to secret sharing."

"So is that it? I care too much? That why nobody told me? Or is it that you all cared too much about me and preserving my adorable child-like naivety?"

"We knew you'd react like this," Willow said, exasperated. "We knew you'd freak and make a big deal out of it and make it all weird."

"Well, maybe that's because it is freaky, and it is a big deal, and it is weird, Will. It's a big, freaky, weird deal, and it's goddamn wrong!"

"Excuse me."

They turned and saw Giles standing by the door. His eyes had a cold fire in them.

"What? You're actually gonna act insulted?" Xander spat.

"Seeing as you did insult me, I believe I will."

"Newsflash, watcher-man, it's not an insult, it's the truth. You're like her goddamn father!"

"Except for the fact that I'm not."

"Well if it's so very not wrong, why d'you have to hide it?" Xander's volume was rising.

Giles' tone was becoming colder and deadlier. "I don't have to defend myself to you."

"Don't have to or can't?" Xander wore a look of utmost disgust. "God!"

Tara started, "We shouldn't ju--"

"I can't believe she lets you around Dawn!"

Giles snapped. Before Xander knew what was happening, he was knocked to the ground with a bloody nose.

"Hey! Stop it!" Willow yelled.

Xander was just getting to his feet when Giles kicked him in the gut. Then Giles was thrown back against the brick wall. He landed on his feet, though he seemed stunned.

"I said stop!"

Xander was on his knees gasping for breath. "Can't even fight like a man, you f--"

"Hey!" Willow yelled, and Xander flew back into the pummel horse, knocking his breath out again. "There's nothing wrong with Giles!"

"Maybe there's something wrong with the both of them!" Xander said hoarsely.

"Don't you dare start on Buffy!" Giles had abandoned his cold anger and yelled at Xander across the room.

"You're one to talk!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"You used her!"

Giles eyes flashed like he was ready to kill Xander again. "I would never—"

"You think I didn't notice how depressed she was last year? Or maybe you're the one who didn't notice what you did to her!"

"I'm in love with her!"

The room was silent. Giles himself looked stunned by his pronouncement. He noticed the others weren't staring at him, but at someone behind him. He knew it was Buffy and felt a wave of panic, though he didn't show it. He didn't turn around when he heard her voice.

"Hey. What's going on?"

No one said anything.

Xander got to his feet and wiped the blood from his face. He glared at Giles.

Buffy stepped into of his line of vision. "Xander, don't you dare give Giles or me a hard time about this. Accept it and move on like everybody else."

"Okay, I can move on. As long as I know you two have moved on and I won't have to live in Nabakov novel."

"Don't you go pulling the Lolita references on me Xander, you never even read it."

"Neither did you."

"I saw the movie, and it doesn't apply. A, I was eighteen. B, I came on to him. And C, who the hell do you think you are trying to tell me what to do with my life? I'll date Giles if I want to, and if you can't accept that and still be my friend, then you were a suck-ass friend all along!"

"So, you guys are, like…?" Willow asked tentatively.

"I'm being hypothetical!" Buffy snapped.

"Fine," Xander said acidly. "I'll just stand back and watch you get into another doomed relationship if that's what friends are supposed to do. But don't expect your mom and sister to do the same." He walked out.

Buffy turned to Giles. "I need to talk to you."

"Of course." He looked to Anya. "Anya, um, would you mind running the store on your own for the rest of the day?"

"Fine. But if you broke anything of Xander's I'm going to expect a raise." She walked past him and out of the training room.

"Well, I guess we'll be too going then," Willow said awkwardly as she and Tara hurried out after Anya.

"Um, bye," Tara said before she left.

Buff and Giles stood in silence for a moment.

"So, uh, that didn't go so bad." She smiled ironically.

Giles shrugged. "It was only Xander who accused me of paedophilia."

"You mean besides the Lolita thing?"

"His exact words were, 'I can't believe she lets you around Dawn.'"

"Oh…" For a moment Buffy was genuinely speechless. "Okay, I am so killing him dead. Then I'm killing him deader. Then I'm killing him again."

"I expected it." Giles looked distant, obviously bothered. "Um, h-how did things end up with Riley?"

"I told him I loved him, just not as much as I should. He was still really upset."

"Of course."

Buffy let another moment of silence pass before she spoke again. "So… you're in love with me?"

"I suppose I am," Giles said softly, too bashful to look at her. "I did sound rather vehement about it, didn't I?"

"Yeah." Buffy smiled. She stood right up next to him and held his hand. He didn't respond, just continued to look sombre and distant, but he didn't move away either. And Buffy noticed him gulp when she started lightly stroking the back of his hand. "So, what are we gonna to do about that?"

"Xander's right. Your mother will never condone it."

"Well, who says? She got used to me being a slayer. Maybe if we talk to her first we can get her used to this."

"Well, um, I don't know…" He looked at her skeptically. "I-if you're certain that's a good idea."

"I am. I want to make us work."