Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Rating: T

What If

Chapter 6

"Dawn! Come on you're gonna be late!" Buffy shouted up the stairs, shrugging her jacket on and shoving her keys in the pocket at the same time.

"I'm right here you don't have to shout" Dawn said appearing at the top of the stairs.

"Obviously I do" Buffy muttered herding her down the stairs and out the front door, locking it behind her.

"Wow you're bitchy when you're hungover or is it just the argument with Giles that's turned you into this grouchy version of my sister?" Dawn asked as she settled her bag over her shoulder.

"Ok one, not hungover and two, non of your business" Buffy groused shoving her hands in her pockets and stalking off in the direction of the school.

"Why'd he leave?" Dawn asked, refusing to drop it until she had satisfied her curiosity.

"I told him too" Buffy muttered hoping that her demeanor would put Dawn off asking any more questions.

"Oh" Dawn murmured giving Buffy sidelong glances for a few minutes as she judged her mood. The thundercloud that seemed to be hovering over her head was definitely a sign of badness. She chewed her lip for a few more minutes then asked what she really wanted to know, "Is he coming back?"

Buffy closed her eyes at the question, half in annoyance at her sisters persistence and half in regret at telling him to leave in the first place, "I don't know" she replied honestly and silenced her next question with a glare that could melt glass.

Dawn just followed her in thoughtful silence, concocting ways to force them to talk to each other again if she needed to. She loved having Giles around, he made Buffy so happy and he was so much more relaxed now which just added to the blissful atmosphere in the house lately.

Even Spike was friendlier now. Sure he'd been more sarcastic and snarky at first but she could tell it wasn't meant in a mean way and Buffy always responded in kind anyway. Giles had been tense around him, worried that Spike still held a torch for Buffy but after a few weeks he'd realised that they were just friends and he joined in on the banter between them when it was directed at him.

Willow and Tara had moved out when Giles started to stay more often but would come for dinner most days, same as Xander and Anya, and they would still stay over if Buffy wanted to stay at Giles'. Tara had a few whispered conversations with Giles about Willows magic use a couple of weeks ago and no one had seen either witch since, something that had added to the tension in the house the last few days.

Dawn scowled at Buffys back as they reached the school. There was no way she was going to let them screw up this happiness that surrounded them all for the first time in a long time. She'd lock them in a room to fix it if she had to.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Giles sat up on his sofa with a groan wondering if it was finally time to replace the old thing as he tried to rub some life back into his neck.

He had been confused when he had first woken up but then he'd rolled onto his back with a pained sigh when his memory of the previous night played out in his head. He had been so worried about her, having not seen hide nor hair of her in hours, and he was ready to start scouring all of Sunnydale to find her. But then Spike had helped her in through the front door and told him what had happened.

He shook his head as he stood and made his way to the bathroom, once again thinking that Buffy should never be allowed so much as a drop of alcohol if that was how it affected her. He hadn't expected her ire though, that had taken him completely by surprise, and it wasn't until she was throwing up that what she had told him registered.

He'd dropped down onto his couch with a glass of scotch when he'd returned to his flat and he'd sat there drinking, trying to convince himself that he hadn't overreacted to her disappearing for most of the night, that he wasn't being childish because he had stormed out of the house and that he was too old to be arguing with his girlfriend about her probable paranoia about being tested by someone or thing.

He swore loudly after a few minutes of contemplative silence and actually smacked himself on the forehead. She was right. Something was targeting her and he didn't have the first idea how to find out who, or what, it was. That was when his alcohol fogged brain woke up enough to remind him about the black van Buffy had said she'd seen following her around.

After he was done calling himself an idiot he had phoned his contact on the police force and asked if he wouldn't mind checking any and all surveillance camera's around the college, construction sight and the shop at the times Buffy was there and to let him know if any black vans showed up in any of the footage.

Back in highschool the others had thought the police slow, stupid or lazy and in most cases they were right and he was happy to let them believe that. What they hadn't known was that the first thing he had done after his arrival in Sunnydale was flash his council credentials at the police station and secure enough freedom to do what he was sent there to do.

They knew all about it now of course and he had endured quite a bit of merciless teasing especially from Xander but, and he always told them this when they started to giggle at him, it was always a good idea to have the chief of police as a friend in unfriendly terrain.

He finished up in the bathroom, absently drying his hair with a towel, and made himself a cup of tea, dressing quickly as he let the leaves steep in the pot. He was half way through his second cup and a slice of toast when his phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered, "That was quick…oh really, and you checked the day of the robbery as well...same van?...And you'll let me know what the outcome is?...Thank you Phil, I'm truly grateful...Haha yes it is time I reinforced the wards, I'll come by at the weekend, it's better to do it under a new moon...Hopefully I'll hear from you later today?...Fantastic yes, bye"

He hung up the phone and quickly finished his tea, eager to get to the shop and wait for Buffy to arrive for her daily training.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Buffy had seen Dawn safely to the front door of the school, endured the headmistress' dutiful platitudes and praises of her coping skills and headed to the magic box for her now daily training session. She stopped outside and looked in through the window, breathing a sigh of relief when she didn't see Giles, not really wanting to see him right now.

Yeah right, you miss him and you know it she thought as she pulled open the door and marched through the shop towards the back, waving to Anya as she passed her. They hadn't been together for very long but it already felt weird waking up alone without his arms wrapped around her and his face pressed into her neck.

She sighed as she started to change into her workout gear, dropping her clothes in a pile on the chair in the wet room, and walked over to the mats to begin her stretching. All the while trying to quiet the chaos of her mind and focus on the most important thing that was happening; the unknown attackers who seemed to be testing her.

She moved through her warm up and stood in front of the workout bag, scowling as she wrapped her hands. She still hadn't managed to stop thinking about Giles, everything else had faded away but not him. Sighing again she flexed her fists, rolled her shoulders and started to take out her frustrations on the bag.

She felt him step into the room an hour later and, giving no outside acknowledgement to the thought, she wondered why he had waited until now. She had sensed his arrival at the shop forty five minutes before and had smiled at the way her heart seemed to leap for joy inside her chest. That of course had made her pummel the bag harder, she was still mad at him even though she didn't actually know why she was mad at him anymore.

She continued punishing the bag for another half an hour, pushing past the sense of calm emanating from Giles that she could feel trying to over take her senses. When she finally couldn't resist the siren call of his presence anymore she slowed enough to be able to talk to him.

Giles, who had stepped into the shop and immediately heard the thud of her fists and feet hitting the bag, was content to just watch her move from his position by the door. He could feel her responding to the calm that had settled over him when he had walked into the training room and had seen for himself that she was fine. His overactive and quite often ridiculous imagination had convinced him she had gone back out after he had left and gotten herself injured in the process.

"So what did Chief Wiggum have to say?"she asked suddenly.

"I've asked you not to call him that" he said gruffly trying not to let on that she had successfully startled him.

She turned to face him, panting heavily as she started to unwind the tape from her fists, looking at him expectantly waiting for his answer.

"How did you know I would contact him?" he asked retrieving her towel and water bottle from the sofa and walking over to stand in front of her.

She tucked the rolled up tape from one fist into the front of her sports bra and took the water from him, "Thanks" she muttered before popping the cap and downing half the contents. "I knew you'd phone him because it's you and even if you think I'm nuts..."

"I never said that" he muttered, handing her the towel.

"And I quote - 'You've been under a lot of pressure lately, it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility you may have been seeing things'" she said with a glare before turning and walking towards the wet room, unwinding the tape from her other fist, "So despite that you would still phone him to check it out for you just in case I was right".

"Yes, well, a lot was said last night" he muttered walking after her with his hands in his trouser pockets. He really did need to stop underestimating her, she seemed to know him better than he thought she did.

"Whatever" she muttered from behind the door, "What did he say when you called him?"

"That he would look into it" he said slightly louder so she could hear him over the sound of the shower, "He phoned me back this morning and told me that the black van you have been seeing was indeed at all three sites and it was also outside the bank the same afternoon it was robbed," he paused to let her say something then sighed in defeat when she stubbornly remained silent, "The van is registered to a Warren Mears and Phil said thanks to Warrens reflection in the window of the bank he had enough to get a warrant and was leading a team to raid his house this morning"

She opened the door without warning making him jump again before he realised she was standing there without a stitch on. His heart, already skipping at the fright, sped into an entirely different rhythm as he stared at her.

"Warren Mears? That creepy little perv who built a robot girlfriend? He's been spying on me?" she asked her voice rising with every question, her face screwing up into an expression of disgust.

He tore his gaze away from the temptation of glistening skin and looked at her face, "Yes it would appear so" he said taking a step forward.

She put her hand up to stop his progress with a scowl, "What do you think you are doing mister?" she asked forcing him back when she took a step forward.

"I'm sorry my dear but you are entirely too tempting, standing there like that" he said bringing his hand up and trailing his fingers down her arm with a smirk.

"Oh yeah? Well you'll have to wait until I scrub at least twenty layers of skin off first" she said with a shudder and taking a small step closer, her hands coming up to rest on his chest.

"Whoa naked Buffy!" Xander cried from behind them followed immediately by the solid thunk of a head connecting with the door frame.

Buffy yelped and jumped back into the wet room, "Jeeze Xander, knock much" she shouted through the door.

"Sorry" he called back, a hand rubbing at a spot on his forehead, "Ow, yeah that hurt"

"Serves you right" Giles grumbled, annoyed at the interruption to what he thought would have been the beginning of a reconciliation between himself and Buffy.

"Sorry, but Chief Wiggum is here, said he wants to talk to you" Xander said, turning back to the door and taking an overly large step to the left making sure he wasn't going to hit the door frame again before walking through it.

Giles sighed and glanced regretfully at the door behind him before following Xander from the room and onto the shop floor. He had barely taken two steps when he was accosted by his assistant manager.

"What did you do to Xander?" she demanded with a glare, "I told him not to bother you but you didn't have to resort to violence".

"Nothing Anya, he walked into the door frame" he said with a weary sigh trying to step around her.

"Then why did he walk into the door frame?" she asked sounding slightly less demanding now.

"Because he walked into the training room to find Buffy standing in front of me without any clothes on that's why" he hissed in an angry whisper, "Now do you mind if I go and talk to Phil now?"

He side stepped her, taking advantage of the fact that he had managed to stun her in to silence and smiled up at Phil who was examining a jar of Gigglebee spines.

"I didn't expect you to come over, a phone call would have been enough" Giles said with a grin at Phil's baffled expression.

"Why do you have hedgehog spines in a jar and why are they purple?" he asked, absently shaking his hand.

"Ah, well those are actually spines from the Gigglebee. It's similar to a hedgehog in size but, as you can see, have purple spines and only live in sea caves along the equator" Giles said twisting the jar so the spines caught the light.

"The Gigglebee?" Phil said turning to face him, "Let me guess they make you giggle?" he asked with a laugh.

"Actually they're mainly used as an ingredient in a potion that increases the power of any protective amulet, shield or charm being used with good intentions" Giles said, gesturing for Phil to follow him, "And the strange thing about them is that they will only increase the power to those specifically and nothing else"

"That's not strange seeing as how the Gigglebee is a creature on the side of light and protects anyone they deem as an ally if they happen to run into their cave" Anya said as they passed, settling an ice pack on Xanders head.

"And what happens if you are not deemed an ally?" Phil asked, intrigued despite himself, "Do they shoot fireballs out of their nostrils?".

"Don't be ridiculous" Anya said with a withering glare, "They puff up to three times their size and shoot their spines at you" she said matter of factly and turned back to Xander effectively dismissing them.

Giles rolled his eyes at her back and shook his head, "Join me in my office and we can talk privately" he said to Phil who was trying to stifle a smile.

He gestured for Phil to go first and looked up as Buffy walked through the training room door. She gave him a tentative smile and squeezed his hand as she passed him. He watched her walk out of the shop and turn left towards the coffee shop with a soft smile on his face.

He walked into his office and put the kettle on before he sat at the desk, "So what did you find at the Mears residence?" he asked watching Phil set the briefcase he was carrying at his feet and flip through a notebook.

"The jackpot," he said with a gleeful chuckle, "There were piles of money stacked around the room, whiteboards detailing plans to rob a museum, mission statements for taking over the world and enough data to keep the boys in the cyber crimes division busy for the next month"

"Was anybody else involved?" Giles asked doing his best to dampen the shame that coursed through him. A part of him had hoped that she had been seeing things and it had been her paranoia prompting her to believe she was being followed. Now that he had been proved wrong he knew he would have to make it up to her. He just hoped she let him.

"Yes a Jonathan Levinson and an Andrew Wells are being charged as accomplices in the bank robbery" Phil said as he consulted his notebook, "the reason I came by to tell you all of this was the amount of possible occult objects that were found at the scene and the rather troubling file simply titled Slayer stats"

Giles sighed and removed his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Do you have any pictures of the objects?" he asked focusing on the least troubling find.

Phil lifted his briefcase and lay it on the desk, opening it enough to remove an envelope, "They're grouped together so if you see anything troubling let me know and I'll send everything in the photo to you" he said watching Giles turn his attention to the pictures as he removed them.

He flipped through them after a quick examination of each, setting aside two pictures whose contents made him a little worried before looking back at Phil, "These ones have at least four objects that should be with me, as soon as you can manage it. In the wrong hands the resulting spells that they are used for are catastrophic" he said handing over the ones he set aside.

"Right," Phil said turning them over and writing 'Urgent. Send to Rupert' on the back of each of them, "Anything else catch your eye?"

"Not at first glance no. May I keep them so I can look over them more thoroughly later tonight?" Giles asked sliding the pictures back into the envelope before standing and making a tea for himself and a coffee for Phil.

"Of course, just let me know if you find anything else and I'll get it sent over" Phil said amiably.

"Now what was it that you found in the file labelled Slayer stats?" Giles asked sitting back in his chair and sipping his tea.

"At first blush it looked like the type of file a stalker might keep; height, weight, sizes that sort of thing, but then I noticed one of the dates you gave me as a header and looked closer. Turns out they've been testing your girl and documenting response times. They seem to have been giving each other scores to see who was better at beating her" Phil said before reaching for his coffee and taking a much needed sip.

"Could I have that as well, in it's entirety?" he asked, the muscle in his jaw jumping as he bit down on the rage that wanted to spew from his mouth.

"Thought you might want it" Phil said with a smile removing a slim case containing a CD from the briefcase still laying on Giles' desk. "Everything I found on their computer that looked as if it had anything to do with Buffy is on this and the hard drive has been wiped and is set to be destroyed in the next hour"

"Nobody else has a copy of this?" Giles asked holding it up.

"No one. I oversaw the tech who copied it then watched as they wiped the hard drive and removed it from the computer" Phil said calmly, he could see the anger in his eyes and didn't blame him at all, "I then destroyed it by, essentially, stomping on it until the cover came off"

Giles chuckled at the imagery his words created, "Well, I'm grateful to you for doing it" he said then sobered at the next thought that flitted through his mind, "In the wrong hands this information could prove fatal to Buffy"

Phil closed his eyes as the memory of how Giles had looked after Buffy had died surfaced at those words. The haunted eyes of Rupert Giles had begged him to keep her death quiet, asking him to do whatever it took to keep the world from finding out that she had died as much for the safety of the town as it was for the well being of her sister.

"I understand" he said with a small nod, "I was going to destroy it myself but perhaps you would feel better doing it" he pulled the rather battered remains of what Giles assumed to be the aforementioned hard drive sealed in a plastic bag from his briefcase.

"As always you have my gratitude Phil" he said taking it from him with a grateful nod. He heard a giggle and looked over Phil's shoulder to see Buffy reaching over the table to tug a book from Xanders hands, his eyebrows raising in surprise to see Willow sitting there with them.

Phil, who had looked back down at his notebook and had missed the shift of Giles' attention, carried on talking, "There was one more thing that we found that was quite frankly disturbing"

"Hmm, oh yes, well, uh, I wouldn't be truly surprised at anything you find" Giles said distractedly as he watched Buffy actually bend over the table and lightly smack Xander round the head as Anya scowled at him.

Phil looked over his shoulder with a frown and smiled when he saw what had caught Giles' attention. He coughed to regain his focus, grinning at the blush that spread across the Englishmen's cheeks when he realised he had been caught staring.

He cleared his throat, "My apologies, what did you find that was so disturbing?" he asked politely while trying to control the heat he could feel in his cheeks.

"It was actually a couple of things. One was a detailed plan for something they called a 'cerebral dampener' which could apparently turn any woman into a willing sex slave" Phil looked up from his notebook at Giles growl and nodded in agreement, "Right there with you, I believe the female officer who led Warren out to the car said he tripped over a lawn ornament, left rather a nasty bruise on his jaw"

"Good" Giles grunted, anger at what that pitiful excuse for a man had been planning surging through his blood, "you said a couple of things?"

"Ah yes, well the thing is I need you to remain calm," Phil said shutting his notebook and slipping it back into his inside pocket, "We found, well I found, schematics for a robot Buffy..."

Giles smiled and shook his head, "Old news I'm afraid, Warren built that for Spike last year..." he trailed off when Phil shook his head.

"It's not those that gave me cause for concern it was what I found in between the pages; pictures of the two of you" he said slipping another envelope out of his pocket, "In various situations, seems they have a camera in more than one location"

Giles swore he heard a tooth crack when he clenched his jaw against the surge of rage that shot through him as he looked through the pictures, "Is there anything you can do to find out where the camera's are?" he asked him dropping the pictures into his desk drawer.

"Yes actually there is. Would you be adverse to a tech team coming in to sweep the place and everywhere else associated with your group?" Phil asked standing and pulling a phone from his back pocket, "I can have them ready to go in seventy two hours" he said after consulting a calender.

"No, of course, send who you must. I will talk to the others and make sure they are available to accommodate your team" Giles said standing as well. He held his hand out and gripped Phil's hand when he shook it, "Thank you Phil, I really must buy you a drink this time"

Phil laughed as he let go of his hand and opened the door, "We both know that we're too busy for that kind of commitment Rupert" he said with an easy grin, "How about we just settle for the usual sneaky scotch when you come by to reinforce the wards?"

"Sound plan" Giles agreed with a friendly smile as Phil trotted up the steps and out the door.

"So what gives?" Buffy asked looking up at him from the table.

"It seems Warren along with Jonathan and a lad by the name of Andrew Wells were the ones responsible for the bank robbery and the M'Fashnik and..."

"And they were testing me, right?" she said looking at her hands that were clenched on the table top.

Giles sighed and sat next to her, pulling her along the bench until she turned and lay her head on his chest, "Yes love, they were testing you but why is, I'm afraid, going to have to wait because they seem to have been watching us as well"

Buffy sighed and sat up, staring at him until he smoothed her hair back from her face and bent his head to place a soft kiss on her lips, "What do you mean watching us?" she asked after giving him a small smile and taking his hand.

"Phil seems to think they have planted cameras so they can watch us and wants to send a team out to search the shop, our homes and any other place we frequent" he said, absently rubbing his thumb back and forth over her knuckles.

"And the eww just keeps coming" she muttered with a shudder. She looked up at Giles then, "What else did they find?" she asked then frowned and looked over at Xander, "I swear to God Xand, if you don't stop staring at me like that I'm gonna smack you" she growled and Giles saw a blush rise on his cheeks as he looked away.

"Various magical objects that Phil wants me to look at," he said still faintly amused at the expression on Xanders face, and pulled the envelope of evidence pictures from his pocket and handed them to Willow, "Tell me what you think of these" he said, "and it's good to see you Willow, we've missed you at the house these last couple of weeks".

"Yeah sorry I should have called and let you guys know that we were fine but we've both been so swamped with school work and then I caught a bug which I seem to have given to Tara..." she trailed off as she laid out the pictures in front of her "Ooh they have a transmogrifying bone, definitely should have that under lock and key" Willow said looking intently at the objects grouped together in the photos.

Everybody looked up when Xander gasped in shock, "Oh my God they have a rare R2D2 collectors figurine" he said looking up at them with wide eyes, gripping a photo in his hands. "Can I have it?"

Willow smiled fondly at him, "It doesn't work like that Xand," she said gently, "It's not a catalogue that you can say, hey I want that and they send it to you, it's evidence"

"But can't Giles say he needs a closer look at it, that he thinks it might have some dangerous magical curse attached to it?" he asked looking over at Giles hopefully.

"I will do nothing of the sort" Giles said watching as Buffy stood and walked back to the training room, her shoulders dropped slightly as if she was carrying something heavy, "I'll be right back" he muttered as he stood and followed her footsteps, ignoring Xanders yelp and Anya's angry hiss.

He pushed open the door to the training room and saw her sitting on the sofa, her elbows resting on her knees and her hands loosely clasped in front of her. She looked up when he shut the door and he saw a tear fall from her lashes before she brushed it away with her thumb.

"Hey" she mumbled sounding a little morose.

"Talk to me love" he said sitting next to her, brushing his fingers down her arm hoping to get her to sit back and curl into his side.

"You didn't believe me," she said still looking at the floor, "instead of listening to me, giving me the benefit of the doubt, you immediately assumed that recently alive Buffy was imagining things"

"That isn't entirely true" he said then sucked in a surprised breath when she stood and started to pace.

"Is it because I spent the first few weeks I was back all jumpy and needy? Do you think I can't cope now is that it?" she asked in a rush, her speed increasing and her hands waving about in front of her face, "Do you think I can't be the Slayer now because I died and came back the way I did, that it damaged me?"

Giles jumped up and gripped her shoulders forcing her to stop, "Stop it" he said giving her a little shake to snap her out of her rant before moving his hands up to her face when she gripped his wrists, "It's not that I didn't believe you"

She looked up at him sadly, "Then why..."

"I didn't want to believe you love" he whispered, smiling when she frowned in confusion, "I can't breathe properly when you're on patrol, my heart rate and my adrenaline act like I'm in a constant state of panic when you're gone and it's not because I think you can't do your job anymore or that you're damaged" he explained gently.

Buffy sniffed and held his hand to her cheek, "Still wanna know why" she said, her voice hitching slightly as she tried not to cry at the way Giles' eyes glazed with pain.

"I can't stand the thought of losing you again" he admitted in a whisper, dropping his head and kissing her forehead, "I don't want to imagine, even for a second, that you are in the cross hairs of something that wants to kill you, that is testing you to find a weakness," he pulled her into his chest and held her tightly, his chin resting on her crown, "I've already had my miracle you see, I doubt very much I'll get another"

Buffy closed her eyes and slid her hands around his waist, griping him tightly as she fought the urge to climb up his body and kiss away the pain she could still hear in his voice. Instead she nuzzled her cheek against his shirt and sighed when his hand cupped the back of head.

"I'm sorry about yesterday" she muttered, grinning when she felt his chuckle rumble under her cheek.

"It's quite alright my love, Spike explained when he dropped you off" he said shifting her slightly and walking over to the sofa with her tucked safely under his arm.

"Who'd have thought Spike would turn out to be a good guy?" she asked rhetorically as she curled into his side.

"Certainly not I" Giles said with a chuckle, "What do you think of Willow's story?" he asked her in a whisper.

She shook her head and looked up at him, "Not even a little bit true," she whispered back, "We should check on Tara"

Giles frowned down at her, "Why's that love?"

Buffy looked up at him, her serious, business like expression tinged with a deep sadness. "She's making me itch" she said simply.

Giles frowned as the implications of her words sunk in and nodded once in acknowledgement.