Disclaimer: No, no, no, no, no, I don't wanna say it!

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Chapter 18

Dawn actually managed to wait until they made it back to Willow's office until she squealed and jumped at Buffy.

"Where's my present?!" She asked the important question first as she tried to squeeze the life out of her sister.

Laughing, Buffy hugged her back. It was good to see Dawn hadn't changed that much over the years.

"It's in my room, you'll have to wait."

"But I don't wanna!" Dawn whined playfully as she stepped back, "Man, you've gotten short."

"Don't push it," Buffy frowned up at her sister. "I can give your present to someone else."

"Sorry, sorry," Dawn backed away laughing, holding her hands up in mock surrender.

Giles watched the two sisters squabble, happy that they could resume their relationship so easily. He only hoped Buffy and he could do the same. But somehow he thought it would be a little more complicated than that.

Though Dawn had been among the Scoobies when they'd kicked Buffy out she, of all of them, had had some excuse. She'd been scared of what here sister had been becoming. She'd seen it as the only way to stop her. Giles and the others had simply lost their faith in her.

"Hello, Giles," he blinked wildly behind his glasses and looked down to see Buffy standing before him.

"Ahem, yes," he coughed uncomfortably and shifted on his feet, unsure of his welcome. "Well, it's good to see…"

He trailed off as Buffy grabbed hold of him and hugged him, burying her head in his chest.

"It's good to see you," he repeated, all the tension running out of his body as he hugged her back. Dawn and Willow tried to hold back tears at the emotional reunion but Buffy had no qualms and proceeded to soak Giles's suit jacket.

A few minutes later Buffy stepped back, sniffling, as Giles coughed again and began to clean his glasses, surreptitiously wiping away a tear or two of his own.

"Dawnie," Buffy looked over at her sister with a pleading look in her eyes, "Why don't you get Willow to show you where my room is. Your present is in a small red box in the top right shelf of the dresser."

"Okay," Dawn flicked her eyes rapidly between Giles and Buffy and then took the subtle hint. Quietly, she and Willow left the room, and the two, to their privacy.

"So, I'm sure you have some questions," Buffy said as she gestured to Giles to sit.

"Yes," Giles nodded, following her suggestion and settling himself in one of Willow's chairs, "But Willow said you wished to wait until we were all together to answer them. I'm willing to wait until you're ready."

Buffy studied him for a moment, and then nodded.

"Thank you, Giles. That means a lot to me."

"I also wish to explain a few things," Giles reached up and absently began to cleaning his glasses with quick, agitated movements. "Buffy, in the past my actions have not always been…clear. I wish…"

"Giles," Buffy interrupted, smiling kindly, "Its okay."

"Excuse me?" Giles was very flustered now. He had practiced this speech time and again in his head but it had never turned out this way. She hadn't even let him get to the good parts.

"It's okay," Buffy looked at him with new eyes. Willow was right. It was like she was peering straight into his soul. "I get it now, I do. You were scared of feeling hurt if you lost me again and so you tried to distance yourself."

Giles blinked as she summed up the entirety of his feelings with one simple sentence.

"How did you…?"

"I've had a lot of time to think in the past five years," Buffy shrugged. "I knew you still loved me and that was the only explanation that made sense. And Master Shin was very helpful in getting me to figure it out." She shook her head ruefully and then looked up at him

"Don't fool yourself. I spent a good amount of time being angry with you. You hurt me, Giles." Giles felt like someone had sucker-punched him in the gut.

"I always thought of you as family. I mean, let's face it," She looked down at the ground and hunched her shoulders slightly, "You were more of a father to me, to all of us, then our real dads' were. And when you left after…I came back, I just couldn't figure out why."

"Buffy, I…"

"Wait, let me finish," Buffy stopped him, meeting his eyes again. "There was something I forgot through all those years, something important. You're human, Giles. You make mistakes."

"You came in and you took on not only a rebellious Slayer, but her pack of crazy, teenage friends. You supported us as best you could, when it went in the face of everything you'd been taught to believe was right. You even broke away from an organization that has been a part of your family for generations, all for me. To protect me."

"I idolized you. I put you on a pedestal and then when you made a mistake I pushed you away and refused to really forgive you. That was wrong of me, so I'm…I'm sorry."

Giles could only stare at Buffy as she stood there, practically scuffling her fear. To be honest, he'd never expected words like that to come out of her mouth. She'd really become a mature woman and he'd never been prouder of her than at this moment.

"Thank you, Buffy," he blinked rapidly, "But I should have trusted you more. I always knew you were an exceptional young woman but I didn't always allow you the chance to show it. All too often you had to do things in spite of me and that's not how it's supposed to work. A Watcher is supposed to support his Slayer."

"Hey, I'm not saying that I'm not grateful for the trust," Buffy grinned engagingly at him, "But back then I don't know if I would have recognized it anyway."

"All I was looking for back then was a way out. You were an adult and so I expected you to save me, to do my job for me. But Giles," she looked at him with those piercing eyes again and Giles found himself pinned to the ground, unable to move even though he wanted to back away, "The truth of the matter is that no one can to my job…except me."

…

"Did you have a good visit?" Willow asked Buffy as they walked back to their rooms later that night.

"Yeah, I did," Buffy nodded, "It was good to see them again. I missed them a lot more than I thought."

"Oh?"

"It's weird, you know?" Buffy mused, "You get so caught up in what you're doing at the time. It's not that I didn't miss them but time, just seemed to…blur…"

For a moment Buffy's voice trailed off and her eyes seemed to look off into the distance. Willow wondered where her mind was taking her, what thoughts were going on inside her head.

"If I can ask, how'd your talk with Giles go?" Willow tried not to let how intensely curious she was show through her expression.

She had had her own problems with Giles's decision to go back to England after Buffy's death. She and Tara had essentially been left alone to raise Dawn. They had both loved Dawnie and Tara had been great with her, but Willow had to admit that trying to balance finances and everything else had been stressful. Not to mention having to deal with Sunnydale without a Slayer.

But she couldn't really resent him. Every time she tried, she just kept seeing his face as they'd buried Buffy. His expression had been so frozen but his eyes had reflected all the agony he'd been going through. Though sad when he'd left, he'd almost looked relieved and Willow couldn't find it in herself to deny him the chance to heal.

Besides, at that time she'd almost been relieved to see him gone. She'd known Giles would have never approved of her plan to bring back Buffy and at that stage in her life she likely wouldn't have listened to him.

"It went well," Buffy told her, "We both said things that had needed saying for a long time. In a way, the distance was good for me. It helped me get a perspective on a lot of things."

The two women stopped outside of Willow's door as Buffy ended her comment. The corridor was deserted. Most of the staff was just beginning their day, off on patrol or teaching classes. Besides Willow, being the Principal, had an isolated nook on the top floor, her single mark of rank.

"So, you have your first patrol tomorrow night," Willow asked, "How do you feel about it?"

"I get to go out with a Newbie class," Buffy smirked, "At least this time I only have to protect them from normal vamps and demons. No Turok-Hans or Bringers for this little girl, no siree."

"That and they're all Slayer this time, not just Potentials," Willow remarked.

"That almost makes it worse," Buffy told her, "Now they have the idea that they're invulnerable. At least the Potentials had sense enough to be scared."

"That's true," Willow laughed, thinking of how the new Slayers always strutted around after their first Patrol.

"Hey, Willow?"

"Hmmm, what?" Will absently looked over at Buffy, already going over the things she had to get done tomorrow in her head.

"Remember that thing I said about perspective?"

"Yeah…," Willow was cut off as Buffy reached out and drew her head down to her own, silencing her with her lips.

Willow froze, her entire mind filled with gibbering panic and absolute glee, each fighting for supremacy. It was a light kiss, a searching one, and then the pressure on her mouth was gone. She was left standing there in shock as Buffy rested their foreheads together and inhaled unsteadily.

"Perspective is always of the good," the Slayer said and then let go, spinning on her heel to walk down the corridor.

"Ehhhh…uhmmm…huh?!"

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Author's Note:

Alright, I'm expecting death threats from this one, so bring it on. I live for danger!! Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter, I appreciate them as always. Actually, the amount of people asking for the next chapter (and politely, too!) made me speed this chapter along.

Also, I told you I would run you over clues as to the couple and if this aint' a Mack truck I don't know what is. So I hope you like it and I'll see you next chapter…chapter….chapt………..