No More Farewells - Chapter 2
Buffy sat in her hotel suite staring at her cell phone. It had been a long two days. The flight from San Francisco to Paris obviously hadn't been part of her original itinerary when she had booked the trip to visit her dad and sister in California. Somewhere along the way, the airline had lost her luggage and when she had finally arrived in France, she'd been met by a French driver who didn't speak English. On the plus side, the French government had given her the best suite in the top hotel, and even if she had absolutely nothing to hang up in the walk in closets, there was at least a wine and cheese basket to enjoy along with a copy of the agenda for the upcoming summit.
France had a demon problem - especially in the larger cities like Paris and Marseilles - and they were looking for a way to deal with the problem without overt involvement. Buffy could provide a solution with her army of willing Slayers and their Watchers. France wanted that solution, but on their terms, naturally.
Now that there wasn't just one Slayer in the world who guarded a hellmouth, local populations in other countries didn't have to solve their own vampire and demon issues. The world was truly becoming a safer place. In some countries it was easier having a team or two secretly living amongst the population and quietly taking care of the local demon infestation. However, the problem in France was such that it had garnered the attention of the government, and government involvement meant egos and politics.
She looked out the window, unable to conjure up the excitement that being in The City of Light should. She'd never been to Paris before and it had never really occurred to her that she might visit one day… not before the Hellmouth closed, anyway. But in her dreams, she'd always imagined exploring the city with a lover - Paris having that reputation and all - not acting as a diplomat and representing the Council before the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior to broker a deal to bring the country's demon population under control.
Buffy wasn't quite sure how she'd manage. She wasn't politically savvy. In fact, she pretty much spoke from the hip and told things how they were. From her first impressions, she sensed that probably wasn't the French way of doing things.
She sighed and looked down at her phone again. She owed Giles a call. He needed to know that she wouldn't be back until the weekend... should all go well. She still had no idea what she wanted to do about him… about them. He'd confessed his love for her, that was true, but there was so much more to their relationship than just being lovers, and Buffy didn't feel confident that she would be able to separate them out and be friends and partners in the fight against the darkness should things not work out between them. She just wasn't sure she could survive another heartbreak.
Blinking away her brown study, Buffy looked at the clock by the bed. It was nearly eight in the evening. He was probably out, grabbing a bite to eat. She needed to venture out and find some food too. The concierge had recommended a nice little restaurant a couple blocks away, and she had to admit she was starving.
A knock at the door brought a porter there with her recovered luggage. Her mood definitely brightened at the sight of her suitcases. She hadn't fancied hand washing her delicates in the sink and leaving them to dry overnight, nor wearing the same clothes she had worn earlier again the next day.
Things were looking up.
Smiling, she promised herself she'd call Giles later.
—
Having completed a very rough draft of his presentation an hour before the museum closed, Giles decided to go home and get cleaned up. He'd spent the previous night at his desk and he had plans to meet Xander at a pub for dinner and a pint that Sunday evening. A few hours distraction was exactly what he needed before returning to the museum and working to polish the paper.
"Hey, man! You're looking good." Xander greeted, finding Giles at a table near the back of the pub.
Giles stood and pulled his old friend into a bear hug. "You are looking good yourself, Xander." When the men pulled apart, they sat at the table and Giles apologized. "Too much time has passed since we were together last… and on congenial terms. I'm ready to rectify that."
"You know, you could've condensed that down to "long time no see, sorry for being a hermit," Xander teased.
"Yes, but then you'd know I'd been abducted by aliens and replaced with an automaton," Giles replied dryly.
"Someone has been watching old episodes of Doctor Who," the younger man teased and Giles shared his smile.
"Can I get you a pint while you look over the menu?"
"Sure. Whatever you think is good. I'm still acclimating to the concept of warm beer."
"It's hardly warm. It's just not…" He tried thinking of a proper word, but gave up and added, "Frosty."
"Whatever. Go order the foamy goodness."
During dinner Giles and Xander caught up on each other's lives and fell back into an easy friendship. The older man listened as Xander talked. He seemed to have found his purpose in the Council as Buffy's right hand man. He'd also found a quieter strength and an inner peace. Xander had accepted Anya's death and had come to terms with the loss of his estranged parents. The change of scenery had done him some good, he said, and he'd fallen in love with London and all her charms.
"So, regular movie nights. My place. We should start them up again. I've hosted one or two at my place with Buffy and Willow. Andrew tagged along once, but after he talked through the entire movie and gave away spoilers, we banned him. It sort of hurt his feelings so we promised to go to the movie theater with him for first run movies."
Giles laughed. "He's still the menace."
"He's actually mellowing out a bit now that he knows we're not going to abandon him or throw him into the Thames," Xander said with a broad smile.
"I was told you have quite the set up at your place."
"Yeah. I figured: why not splurge? I have the extra room and a steady, well paying job."
"Why not indeed. Set up the first viewing then. I look forward to it!" Giles said as he raised his glass in salute.
They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, drinking their beers before Xander braved the subject, "So, uh, when are you going to ask me about Buffy?"
Giles nearly choked on his beer. "Excuse me?"
"It's obvious things aren't great between you two, which is why I figured you'd gone all hermit like after turning down her job offer and then taking that really fancy job at the V&A, but I thought you would at least ask about her."
Carefully placing his glass down on the table, Giles decided the best course was to deflect. "Dawn tells me you sent Buffy on an emergency trip somewhere."
"Dawn's speaking to you now?" Xander asked with shock. "Must be a cold day in hell."
Giles shot him a glare. "Never could keep a secret from you lot! Yes we are speaking… as of yesterday afternoon."
"Good. And yes, I sent Buffy to Paris. The French government is interested in partnering with us. Seems they are knee deep in demon troubles and are looking for a more covert way of reducing the number of baddies rather than sending in their military or their national police force."
"Can't blame them," he answered, but his mind inevitably went to the fact that Buffy was in Paris. Perhaps they could meet up should time allow, of course.
"No," Xander agreed and Giles returned his attention to his friend. "Ordinarily we'd just send a team in, but this looks to be a large scale operation with several campaign fronts in the major cities."
"Any apocalyptic signs?" Giles asked with worry.
"Not that we could find. We had our ace researchers looking into that."
"Odd… but good."
"I'll drink to that. 'Odd, but good.'" They raised their glasses and touched them together before Xander said, "She's good, you know, really good at the whole running the Council thing." Giles nodded. "And she's doing well personally. She misses you, though, I can tell."
"I miss her too, Xander. I am sure everything will work itself out," he reassured his friend, though he wasn't entirely convinced of that himself. Buffy loved him, he knew, but she didn't trust him. She loved Angel too, once, but she couldn't trust him, nor could she trust herself around him. Giles hated comparing himself to a one-time vicious killer, but in the end, it boiled down to trust, and she had listed that as a reason for them to not be together.
"Well, if you want some advice," Xander started helpfully. "Don't be all Action Guy."
Giles blinked owlishly. "Don't be Action Guy?" That was in direct contradiction of Dawn's instructions.
"I'm just kinda thinking. Angel, Riley, Spike… they were all take charge and make decisions for her. And I think with Buffy, you just kinda… need to show her and let her work it through."
"Show her what, exactly?" he asked carefully, picking up that his friend had included him in Buffy's list of ex-lovers. Did Xander know about his affair with Buffy too? Just how thin were the walls of that damned motel?
"You know, your sincerity. That you want to be friends again. That's all," Xander explained with a smile. "She'll come around."
"Well, if she doesn't, it will make our movie nights awkward."
"Nah, it won't," Xander countered. "We'll just invite Andrew back and you two can bond over deciding his fate for talking through the film."
"Hanging's too good for an offense like that," Giles quipped, ending the discussion. He thought about telling his friend he would be in Paris later in the week, but decided against it. It would just invite more discussion on how he could mend his relationship with Buffy and he just didn't feel it was appropriate to discuss their relationship with anyone.
After finishing the last of his pint, Xander replied, "I couldn't agree more."