g120- Thank you very much for review and what you said. And yes you're right, it woul change things a lot and things will bgettig ver presto-change (although possibly without the presto) after Tabula Rasa.;-)

Rabidreject- Thanks for review- your must have now comment really made me chuckle. It sounded very homer simpson meets terminator.haha.

zigpal- thanks for review (and claps!). And well, you will just have to see where the Gileses(eseses...haha) are going- OMWF should be all revealo. ;-) hehe. You liked the non-spikage in the last chapter? Well you'll like this one too then. I seem to be spike-lite lately. And also- I already have Hells Bellian plans...durn durn durn. Ominous, no? Haha.

Although Buffy wasn't yet back from her trip to see Angel, the dining room table at 1630 Revello Drive was far from empty.

Tara and Willow had taken Dawn out for the day when High School got canceled due to the discovery of some exotic, unidentified sea creature dead in the sewers directly underneath the school. The smell had been terrible enough, according to the newspapers, to spread throughout the entire building. Initially, the Slayerettes had been worried by this, but Giles had done a little quick recon to find, in a unexpected blast from the past, one of the fish monsters the swim team had turned into during Buffy's Junior year at Sunnydale High. Apparently one of the group hadn't quite made it all the way back to the ocean. So, the only worry caused by the discovery was what half-assed explanation the Sunnydale Council and Police Force was going to come up with and, also, what had killed the ex-swim team member in the first place. Giles had decided, and the others agreed, than unless obvious evidence popped up showing what had caused the death of the Fish Monster, then, for once, the group shouldn't go looking for trouble where there possibly was none.

And so, after Tara and Willow had been so kind as to look after Dawn for the entire day and taking her to the mall, when they returned Joyce had insisted they stay for dinner, much to Dawn's glee.

And so now they all sat around the table, with only one spare seat where Buffy should be sat had she been back earlier, chatting as they finished off what was left of dinner.

"Hello!" Buffy's voice called out as she walked in through the (recently reattached) front door.

"Buffy?" Joyce called back, looking over from where she sat to see Buffy wander in, holding a bucket full of what looked to be Kentucky fried chicken.

"Yep, me." Buffy replied as she walked into the dining room, "And I picked up dinner. Deep fried chicken parts" Her eyes fell on the array of plates that had moments ago held food. Dinner-type food. "You ate"

"Well, uh, w-w-we didn't know what time you'd, you'd be back," Joyce told her, sounding incredibly guilty as though being caught eating was being caught doing something she shouldn't.

"S'okay," Buffy told her, but Joyce could tell she was disappointed, "More for me" She took the remaining seat at the table, peering into her bucket of chicken.

"Well, I don't know about everybody else but I for one would love some chicken," Tara said, smiling at Buffy as she reached for some chicken and at that moment Joyce could have hugged her, just for that one small effort to make Buffy feel better.

"Yes, as would I," Giles agreed, catching on.

"It does smell good," Joyce admitted, before looking at the others, "In a forbidden-I-really-shouldn't-fast-food sort of way"

"I'll take a drumstick," Dawn announced.

"I'm more of a breast girl myself," Willow grinned and Joyce, who at that moment had been taking a sip of her drink, choked and spluttered, "Then...I guess you all already knew that..." She added quietly.

"So...?" Dawn prompted after they had all taken their respective pieces of chicken.

"What, so?" Buffy asked, completely nonplussed.

"So how was it?" Dawn asked, "Seeing Angel. Him seeing you. Was it weird? What about that Gunn guy? Was he there too?"

"Dawn" Joyce reprimanded her youngest daughter for her bluntness over sensitive topics. She turned to Buffy, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to honey"

"Of course not," Tara agreed.

"I don't," Buffy said quietly. She looked up at everybody, "I'm sorry...I'd just rather not"

At this comment Giles threw Joyce a very pointed look as if to say 'see?'. She ignored him completely, and simply started collecting up the dirty plates, and as she piled one on top of the other, she brought her plate down on his in front of him a little louder than she intended, her anger coming through slightly and the others at the table jumped, startled by the sudden, sharp noise.

"Buffy," Giles said, if only to fill the sudden silence that had entered the room, "there was some discussion during your absence about...well, about what you're going to do now. Your plans"

"My, my plans?" Buffy asked, looking around at everyone. "As in life plans? Like right now?"

"There's no rush, Buffy," Joyce assured her as she piled up the last plate, "Rupert's making it sound a lot more sudden and fast paced than it is. We were just wondering if you have any idea what you'd like to do next. Maybe return to college perhaps?"

As Buffy considered her answer, Joyce took the dirty dishes into the kitchen.

"Well, I enjoyed last year" Buffy reasoned, "And I did plan on continuing with it. I mean it isn't like I have any incompletes...I mean Glory conveniently left the uber plans till after the semester had finished," Buffy didn't seem to notice how uncomfortable this reference seemed to make everybody feel as she carried on talking, "And so I planned to enroll in the fall. But then I missed the registration cut-off being dead and all..." Again she failed to notice how uncomfortable her words made everyone feel and even Joyce, who'd only caught the end of her words, felt awkward when she walked back into the room.

"Well, even it's too late for late enrollment and too early for early you could still come to classes with Tara and me," Willow suggested helpfully.

"That's a good idea Willow," Joyce agreed encouragingly.

"Yeah," Tara nodded, "You can audit for the rest of the semester until registration"

"Audit, okay," Buffy nodded firmly, but she sounded unsure, "That seems like...a pretty good plan I guess. I mean sure. I could do that...right? What do you think Mom? Giles?"

"Well, uh-" Joyce stumbled over her words in reply, as she tried to ignore the look she knew Giles was giving her even if she couldn't see it, "It's really your decision sweetheart, but if it's what you want to do, I'm positive you could. You're very, uh, very capable" Buffy still looked unsure, "But if school isn't quite where you want to go right now..."

"Right," Willow said, a little too quickly, "Right, it might not be. Not that I'm saying it couldn't be because you wouldn't be able to...I just mean if you didn't...Xander could probably get you some work on the building site."

"Very music video with a hard hat on," Dawn agreed.

"Or, erm, you could also work at the shop with Anya and I," Giles suggested, clearly not keen on the idea of Buffy working on a building site- Xander being the only decent person in the building trade he knew.

"Retail?" Buffy asked, a little weakly.

"And then there's the gallery," Joyce added her own suggestion, "I mean-maybe till you just got an idea of what you really want to do. I mean, I know we could certainly use your help on the crate-opening front," She smiled slightly and Buffy tried to return it, but there were too many ideas being thrown at her and right now, not one of them appealed to her.

"I understand how this can be an awkward thing to begin," Rita George,marriage councilor, reasoned into the silence that contaminated the room where she was sat facing Joyce and Rupert Giles, "But I'll try to make this as easy as possible and if, at any point you don't feel comfortable about talking on a certain topic, please don't hesitate to tell me"

The couple both nodded, but neither of them said a word in response. Rita felt that this couple were going to be hard work, but no matter, she liked a challenge.

"Well," Rita began, sitting back in her chair, "Let's start with the obvious question. What brought you here?"

"Him," Joyce said at the same time Giles said, "Her"

Rita raised an eyebrow at them, intrigued by this response.

"What we mean is," Joyce explained, "Is that I booked the appointment with you, but Rupert is the one who gave me cause to"

"What?" Giles asked, looking at his wife incredulously.

"Okay," Rita intervened, before the two could begin arguing, "We won't delve any further into that just yet. Okay, how about for starters we don't focus on what brought you here but what brought you together in the first place"

Giles groaned inwardly. This entire thing was far too...'cheesy' he found himself thinking. He wasn't about to start sharing his feelings in front of some complete and total stranger- it was absurd. His feelings were his feelings and he wasn't going to just broadcast them to the first person with 'Doctor' in front of their name.

"Rupert..." Joyce said warningly, even though he hadn't said a single word, "We agreed we'd try this"

"Pardon?" Rita frowned, "He didn't say anything"

"Precisely my point," Giles nodded in agreement, but Joyce quickly explained.

"I know what he was thinking," Joyce said, turning to look at Giles with a pointed glare as she spoke, "He was thinking of quitting already and leaving"

"How could you have possibly known that?" Giles asked in exasperation, while Rita merely viewed the entire scene with keen interest.

"Well,you were weren't you?" Joyce challenged and Giles sighed.

"Well, of course I bloody was. Joyce, this is r-"

"Now that is interesting," Rita commented and the two cut off to look at her with matching bemused expressions.

"What is?" They asked in synchronization.

"The ability to know what the other is thinking," Rita explained, "It shows a lot about the type of relationship you have." The couple looked at Rita, before looking at each other, neither saying a word yet again. The marriage councilor knew she could really work with this couple, what was more, she really wanted to, if only for the reason that the two were an amusing show to watch. They had even purposely (or perhaps subconsciously-on-purpose as was more likely the case) sat on opposite ends of the sofa they shared, leaving a large gap stretched out between them. Great, Rita thought to herself, a visual aid. She planned to close that gap by the time they came to the end of their series of sessions with her. "Now," Rita said, brining focus once more to the situation, "back to what I was saying. How exactly did you two meet?"

"And it just kept looping and looping and looping- always with that woman, always with that mummy hand," Buffy finished explaining all the weird occurrences that had happened at all three of the different jobs she'd had so far that day. First the time-going-too-fast thing at college with Tara and Willow, then the demons turning up at the construction site and then, the most terrible of all the terrible things, the mind-numbingly boring time loop at the magic shop.

"Well, if it's any consolation, the first counseling session Rupert and I had today was a boring time loop as well," Joyce explained as she and Buffy pulled up outside the gallery. Yep, Buffy was at the last of all her last resorts. She just prayed nothing freaky would happen here as well.

"Seriously?" Buffy asked, concerned.

"Well, not really" Joyce admitted as the two got out of the car, "But it felt like it. She just kept asking to go over and over the details of how we first met and then kept reprimanding me for being a little fuzzy on the details. I tried to explain how having been admitted into hospital with a severe neck injury meant I was a little less than merely incoherent. How on earth am I supposed to remember all the details?"

"So you're not going again huh?" Buffy reasoned.

"Oh no," Joyce shook her head firmly, a look of determination in her eyes, "We're going again. If only for the reason that no longer going would mean I lose and Rupert wins"

"You guys have such a mature relationship," Buffy told her with a tone of light-hearted sarcasm and Joyce smiled at her patiently, before going into explain mode on the gallery front.

"Now, I know it isn't exactly what you had in mind when you thought on 'life plans', but it's not too bad is it?" Joyce asked hopefully, "I mean for now anyway?"

Buffy just smiled and in her mind was thinking seriously about returning to the whole original audit-for-the-rest-of-the-semester idea. As long as time stayed at the same rate, it could be pretty good. After all, she never did get to try out Tara's Art Appreciation class.

"So, what're you gonna have me doing?" Buffy asked as they walked in, "I suspect something to do with crate lids for a start," She guessed as they walked into a room that contained several crates of a new delivery.

"Would you mind?" Joyce asked with a wince, "I mean the others are busy with the rest of the collection now so there's no worry...of, well," Joyce shrugged uncomfortably, "awkward questions. And I'll, uh, I'll help- when I'm not needed elsewhere I mean. Of course. But if-"

"It's fine Mom," Buffy assured her, "I'm cool with it. I will you show you why crowbars are a thing of the past when I'm around. Just one question though"

"What?" Joyce asked.

"You don't have any Inca Mummies around here do you?"

"We're an art gallery Buffy, not a museum,"

"Oh good," Buffy nodded with a smile, "Just checking"

"Okay, target is in sight," Warren announced to Andrew and Jonathon in the van as he hooked their monitors up to the security cameras in the gallery.

"I can't believe she's at another job," Andrew whined, "I'm tired. Can't she just stay in one place?"

"Just shut up," Warren told him impatiently, "Besides, I think this her last stop"

"What's she doing?" Jonathon asked peering at the screen.

"Opening a load of boxes of...stuff by the looks of it," Warren reasoned as they watched Buffy and her Mom opening each crate, lean inside to see what was in there, before moving onto the next. There wasn't any sound but their lips were moving, so they were obviously having a casual Mother-Daughter chat while they were working. They stopped though, when a tall guy walked in, presumably asking if the 'little ladies' needed any help, if the way the Slayer looked completely affronted before returning to her task with gusto, was anything to go by.

"She is so freakin' hot," Warren commented as he watched Buffy intently as she opened another crate and leaned over to look inside. Joyce was doing the same, both Mother and Daughter apparently refusing the help of the guy- presumably more on principle in Joyce's case rather than ability, "Her Mom's pretty bitchin' too," Warren added and Jonathon nodded in agreement on both counts.

"That guy is so cool- just offering to help like that," Andrew commented with a smile as he watched the unknown Macho Man walk back out of the room. The others looked at him with frowns. "I mean...they're hot, yeah." Andrew added, sounding very much like he was covering his tracks.

"Right fellas," Warren said, rubbing his hands together eagerly, "I think this is a team effort this time. What shall we cook up for the Slayer next?"

As the three watched the scene in front of them flickering on the screen, they each contemplated how they could reek havoc this time in the Slayer's life.

"It'd be best if we could enchant one of those artifacts," Jonathon reasoned.

"Yeah, but what genius?" Warren asked impatiently, "I mean this all pretty useless stuff to curse," He said, squinting at the screen. His eyes suddenly widened, "Whoa, check out the uh 'detail' on that fertility statue."

"That's some detail," Jonathon agreed, eyes just as wide as Warren's.

As their eyes were practically glued to the screen, the three saw Joyce pull out what appeared to be a talisman from the most recent crate.

"Perfect," They agreed in synchronization.

"Talismans?" Buffy asked her Mother, as she eyed the trinket in Joyce's hands suspiciously, "You know in Sunnydale, that's just asking for trouble right?"

"It's not a talisman," Joyce insisted, "At least to my knowledge anyway," She added, "It's jewelery. French. Showed someone was of religious importance."

"Religion huh?" Buffy asked, sounding unimpressed, "Just as risky if you ask me. Religion...talismans...always ends in demons attacking the place in hordes"

"It does not," Joyce protested.

"Need I remind you of the last time you said something was just art?" Buffy asked, "It's a pretty mask 'that brightens up the room' you said. Next thing you know- zombie massacre"

"Point taken," Joyce sighed setting the talisman aside and as she and Buffy returned to their respective tasks, neither noticed the talisman glow an eerie yellow for a moment, before returning back to normal.

Buffy was pretty much bored girl. Okay, maybe not Magic Box boring, but still pretty bored. It was alright here, but the gallery and art section of life was her Mom's thing, not hers. Still, what work she had been set to do was pretty simple and no big evil uglies had attacked, which when compared to the other attempts of the day, had this one rated miles high above the others.

Still, her real wish had been to go back to college. And if her Mom was honest, it had been hers too. So why should she let some Speedy Gonzales moment, that Giles was researching right now, stop her from returning to school? It shouldn't. That's what.

Buffy stopped walking across the area of the main gallery suddenly when she heard a low growl from just behind her. She spun around and came face to face with a demon that looked like Darth Maul gone even more horribly wrong. If Darth Maul had been blue and yellow. Not wasting a second Buffy hit him upside the head with a doubled fist and the demon stumbled backwards. She kicked him squarely in the chest and he fell into a display, though thankfully nothing fell off the shelves to the ground.

Buffy had barely started walking forward to finish the demon when another one tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around and the demon got the full force of her entire arm across his face and he went careening sidewards.

"Just great," Buffy complained, "You guys don't melt as well do you?"

The demon headed towards her and with an excellent spinning kick she sent him crashing into the wall.

Breathing accelerated from the fight, Buffy looked around the entire gallery and saw she was surrounded by the Darth Maul-esque demons. She took a deep, preparing breath before rushing forward to attack them all, hoping she could take them all on.

She was well into the fight, lost in the moment, for the first time since she'd been brought back. Demons were falling down around her. None of them stood a chance against her.

"Buffy!" She heard her Mom shout and after backhanding another demon, she turned to look at Joyce.

"It's okay Mom, don't worry, I got it!"

"Buffy, no!" Joyce exclaimed, running forward, "Stop that!"

"Hey, how come it's not worked on her Mom?" Warren asked Jonathon accusingly as he turned away from the screen.

"I-I don't know," Jonathon replied, clearly nervous under Warren's glare, "Maybe because she handled the talisman before hand. The spell's very tricky- it may have made her immune"

Warren groaned in extreme frustration.

"We can't ever afford to have miscalculations like that!" He shouted at Jonathon, "If we're making these mistakes now, what about the big things?"

"Yeah," Andrew agreed, switching which leg he had crossed, "I mean, you could like...set us on fire...by mistake or something..."

"Buffy stop it!" Joyce shouted, tugging Buffy away from one of the demons.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Buffy asked, easily breaking free of the grip.

"What am I doing?" Joyce asked incredulously, "You're the one-"

"Look out!" Buffy shouted, shoving her Mom aside as a demon walked up behind her. Joyce went tumbling into the nearby wall as consequence of Buffy's slightly over-enthusiastic push. She looked over to see Buffy using some of her most lethal Slayer moves. What on Earth was she doing?

As Joyce got up, her eyes fell on the talisman she'd brought out to the front of the gallery moments ago. It was the same talisman Buffy had warned her about. And right now, it was glowing a luminescent and not-at-all-normal yellow.

"Oh crap, she found it," Warren commented, panic mounting in his voice for the second time that day, as he saw Joyce looking intently at the enchanted talisman.

"Well, what do we do?" Andrew asked, "I mean- if she finds it and-"

"We don't do anything," Warren said, sounding confident once more, "It's not like she's gonna do anything about it- she's not even gonna know what to do"

Joyce looked at the glowing talisman and had absolutely no clue in heaven or hell what she should do. So she'd decided guess work was the best way to go and her best guess was to break the talisman- or at least make it stop glowing.

She picked up the object and looked around for something to break it with. Something heavy preferably and lo and behold, there was a small, yet hefty statue in sight.

Buffy was just about to deliver a death blow to one of the demons she had easily cornered, when there was a flash of yellow white light in her eyes and then suddenly, it was no longer a demon in front of her, but a terrified looking middle-aged man, quivering against the wall.

"Oh god," Buffy breathed in shock, backing away slowly. She looked around and saw all the 'demons' she'd been fighting, were now no more than defeated and terrified innocent human beings. Buffy saw her Mom was also on the floor, not terrified like the others, but she was holding the broken pieces of the talisman in her hand.

"Damn, she figured it out," Andrew whined, with a little stomp of the foot.

"It doesn't matter," Warren brushed the concern aside, "Have you seen how freaked it still got the Slayer? She's totally goin' nuts there"

"Buffy." Joyce got up and ran over to her very confused and lost daughter, just as the sound of police sirens filled the gallery. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"I don't know..." Buffy looked so lost, "They were...where'd the demons...the people...oh God."

"Who called the police?" Someone asked in the crowd.

"I did," A guy replied, "That girl was going crazy, some of us got seriously hurt"

"She's not crazy and the police are not needed," Joyce insisted harshly, "She's just-"

"Losing control," A woman finished, "She just suddenly started attacking me"

"They looked like demons," Buffy whispered to her Mom, "They were demons. With blue and yellow tribal markings and big, nasty,wicked-sharp teeth and...they were. I swear"

"I believe you," Joyce assured her, before looking around in the crowd in concern, and at the door through which two police officers were entering, "I just don't know how I'm going to explain it to everyone else"

"Well, it was some task," Joyce admitted to Giles later on when he asked how she had cleared things up at the gallery, "But eventually, we convinced the police that there was really no need for them to be there and well...the customers and staff that were on the receiving end of Buffy's wrath were a little harder to convince but-" Joyce sighed in frustration, flopping back on her seat on the sofa, "I don't want to talk about it anymore. It has been a very long day"

"Even longer for Buffy, I don't doubt," Giles reasoned.

"Where is Buffy anyway?" Joyce asked, suddenly realizing her daughter wasn't in the house.

"Out patrolling, I suspect"

"So, do you have any idea what caused Buffy to have the worst working day of her life?" Joyce asked, referring to the research she knew had been going on at the magic shop all day.

"Not as such, no," Giles admitted, "Dawn found references to-"

"Dawn?" Joyce asked, sitting upright suddenly, "You had Dawn researching?"

"Well, when I picked her up from school, she- well, she wanted to and we were a little short on researchers and-"

"You know I don't like her researching Rupert," Joyce complained, "I don't want her near all those things. It's dangerous"

"I-I know, but...well, she threatened me," Giles defended himself but Joyce looked unimpressed.

"You felt threatened by a fifteen year old girl?" She asked sceptically.

"W-well, yes," Giles admitted, "She said if I didn't allow to research I would be forcing her to learn all she could 'on the streets'"

"And you took her seriously?" Joyce was incredulous, "You know it was an empty threat"

"Well, I chose rather to not that take that chance"

"What chance?" Joyce scoffed, "There was no chance. And if it really came to that, Spike would make sure she didn't go any further with that plan. He'd keep her safe"

"Spike," Now it was Giles' turn to scoff, "You really-"

"Yes, you know how much he helps. I trust him-"

"But he's still a soulless vampire-"

"-and he's proven himself so many times so why-"

"-which is essentially nothing more than a demon, he'd be-"

"-do you never relent-"

"-feeding if it wasn't for that darn chip, for which I am most bloody grateful for"

The two were talking quite loudly over one another now, not even hearing the other's argument any more, when Buffy stumbled in through the front door, cutting them off mid-argument.

"Urngh," She groaned, feeling incredibly sick.

"Oh, Buffy, what happened?" Joyce asked as she and Giles rushed over to help her.

"Kittens!" Buffy exclaimed, "Playing for kittens! Crazy! Though not not not not as weird as the guy...the guy with the skin you know? Skinny guy! Though he wasn't skinny skinny...he just had lots and lots and lots and lots of skin," Buffy giggled slightly, with a bemused frown on her face.

"Buffy, are you drunk?" Giles asked incredulously, not believing what he was seeing. Buffy tried to look him directly in the eye to challenge him in response, but she swayed slightly where she stood and failed to maintain eye contact.

"No" She insisted firmly, "I am not drunk. I am...sick. Really sick." Covering her mouth she ran up the stairs at high speed, before running into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. The sound of retching could be heard. In gross volume.

Both Giles and Joyce grimaced at the sound, before reluctantly fulfilling their duty and following Buffy up the stairs.

"Feel better?" Giles asked Buffy as she and Joyce (having held Buffy's hair back in the toilet) returned from the bathroom and walked into Buffy's room, where Giles was sat waiting on the bed.

"For a second there I actually turned completely inside out," Buffy replied, still feeling ill but no longer vomitrocious, "But yeah, better"

"That'll teach you to go out drinking yourself into a stupor" Joyce said sternly, but in a kind way.

"Mom," Buffy whined as she slid down onto the floor, her back resting up against the bed on which Giles and her Mom sat, one on each side of her.

"I know- last thing you need right now is one of Mom's oh-so-helpful guilt trips...but I can't help it. It's my job"

"Plus, I've seen you when you've mixed Kahlua with Pepsi," Buffy responded, "Even when it hasn't been a candy-induced moment"

Joyce truly did not know how to respond to that.

"I'm sorry I didn't find this demon with my research," Giles apologized to Buffy, "I'd liked to have saved you the fight,"

"That's okay," Buffy assured him, craning her neck to look up at him as she said it,"It wasn't much of a fight. I got lucky" She let her head droop forward into her hands and she didn't say anything for a moment as her Mother stroked her hair soothingly, pulling out the strands that had tucked in behind her neck gently. "I'm really screwing up," Buffy finally said, not taking her head out of her hands as she did so.

"Oh honey, why would you even think that?" Joyce asked, still continuing the hair stroking even as Buffy raised her head, "That is not true"

"Not it's not," Giles agreed, "You were being sequentially tested by an unknown demon. I don't see how that's screwing up"

"No it completely is," Buffy argued, "Because I let it set the rules. And even worse, I let all you guys do the same thing! Do this thing, be this way, blah blah!"

"Well, that is an extremely awkward transition to me giving you advice, but I shall give it you anyway," Giles told her, "Go easy on yourself won't you?"

"Yes, Buffy," Joyce agreed, "I know we want you to find your feet again- for your own good- but you don't have to do it all at once- all in a rush"

"It's a steady progress," Giles added, "Just take it one step at a time"

"One step..." Buffy said thoughtfully, clearly thinking over what she had been told. "Thank you," She told the both of them. She lay her head on her Mom's hand where it rested on the bed sheets and with her left hand she reached to hold onto Giles' right- a mixture of reassuring herself that he was still there and letting him know she hadn't forgotten. "You two will always be here right?" She asked.

Giles and Joyce looked at one another a moment, over Buffy's head, before Joyce said:

"O-of course, sweetheart,"

"Good," Buffy replied, "It makes me feel safe, knowing you'll both always be here for me."

The three of them sat there like that together for a little while.