While time was still a bit wonky for Buffy, she at least trusted that the imminent danger had passed. The gang wouldn't have acted that chill all day if it hadn't. But right now Buffy had larger concerns as she sat next to Giles, holding his hand while he slept. Listening to all the small telltale signs of his pain, her heart ached for him. There were half grunts and deep inhales, fast breathing and whines, but all soft and noticeable only because she was so close to him. When his attempt to turn on his side caused a shout of pain, she squeezed his hand. "Want me to press the morphine button?"

"Yes, please." A tear leaked from the corner of his visible eye and Buffy's heart clenched as she pressed the button. Giles didn't cry often, and never from physical pain. The idea of him hurting like that made her wish she had the nonexistent kind of magic. The kind that would fix all of them. Instead he still seemed to suffer despite the medication. "Do you need anything else? Water? They said you can eat now. The cable hasn't gotten fixed yet, but Xander said he'd bring videos and a VCR if you were interested in any of his videos that we all know you'd detest."

Giles tried to smile but winced from the cut over the left side of his mouth. "Water, with a straw, if you don't mind."

"You got it." She poured him a glass of ice water from the pitcher on his bedside table into his Kiss the Librarian mug and put in the crazy straw, both of which Dawn had brought an hour ago. When Buffy handed it to him, Giles started to tear up again.

"My children. You're all still children." And then more tears fell. "My soldiers are children."

The cup got saved only because it was caught between their bodies as they clung to each other, sobbing.

From the door, Tara watched the father daughter type bonding with a sense of foreboding. Buffy's aura didn't look quite right. It had faded since last she looked at Buffy. That had been just after lunch and it wasn't even dinner yet. She wondered if something went wrong with the resurrection spell and set her mind to finding out. With the growing strain on her and Willow's relationship, Tara often felt that she'd returned to outsider status. And that meant that no one would miss her if she left and did some more research on the spell they'd performed.

Buffy's reflexes saved Giles's mug when they pulled apart. "You know that's not your fault, right? You know that how the gang got into this would've happened even if you weren't my Watcher. And you know that without you, we'd all be dead. You know all that right?"

Giles smiled with the good side of his face and his eye wrinkled with it. "You're a miracle. I'm lucky to have been your Watcher. I could never have asked for better or been more proud of anyone in my life."

She smirked as she wiped her tears away. "Enough brooding! Angel isn't even here. Let's talk about something else. Like Spike teaching my sister how to drive and hot wire cars."

"Well to be fair, Spike only taught her how to drive after he found out she'd been trying to steal cars, already knew how to hotwire, and had wrecked three vehicles." Giles shrugged. "I'm not sure how much we can blame him, since the reparations for Dawn's antics drained much of your mother's life insurance money. We've been talking about selling the house and with my lease expiring, getting a small place that could still fit Dawn, Willow, Tara, Spike, and myself."

"Spike?"

"He lives in your basement right now. It's astonishing how much he can fix. Turns out he can follow even the most complicated and intricate instructions. And having him on hand helps when we need to have someone keep an eye on Dawn. When he's not patrolling that is."

Her eyebrow shot to her hairline. "You. You're defending and making a case for Spike living in my house? The same Spike that stalked me all last year?"

With the good sense to look sheepish, Giles cleared his throat. "Yes, well do know that it causes me great pain to say these things about the creature. But I blame this on you. You did invite him back into the group."

"Uh huh."

Flouncing into the room, Dawn asked, "Did he like the straw and mug?"

"He thought it was childish." Buffy's eyes twinkled with mirth.

"They're not childish! They're playful and whimsical, and if you're always serious you die sooner! Which means Giles needs extra extra whimsy in his life cause he's all old and stuff."

"Yes, I'm ancient and would be obsolete without twisty straws and novelty mugs." Giles and his dry sarcasm didn't sway Dawn from her position.

"I said you were old, not ancient. And you'll never be obsolete, so I have even more reason to try and make sure you live as long as I do." Dawn flopped into the seat on the other side of Giles's bed.

"Well, that's a stirring endorsement from a teenager with the eye makeup of a raccoon and clothes that would be better left to Rocky Horror cast offs." He couldn't turn his head enough to see her but he knew how she'd been styling herself for the last couple months.

Dawn giggled. "I bet you made a great Frank N Furter."

Skin turning pink, Giles stammered and Buffy choked on soda. "Giles! You're blushing! You really were Frank N Furter?"

"He was. I saw the pictures in one of the albums he hides under his bed. He also used to play guitar in a punk band, and there are some candids that make me wonder what the exact nature of his relationship with Ethan Rayne was when they hung. Is he hung?" Dawn loved Buffy's horrified look. .

"Ugh! I can't think about Giles like that!" Buffy covered her ears and hummed for a few seconds.

Giles looked at the ceiling. "Dawn I told you before that I'd drop the matter without punishment if you never discussed the contents of that album. And now you're forcing me to think up a punishment that would dissuade even you from sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."

"I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of this. You were hot when you were younger, and you and Ethan looked like you had a wonderful and passionate relationship. There's nothing sexier." Dawn put her feet up on his bed as she slouched in her seat.

"I removed my hands too soon." Buffy's pout amused both Dawn and Giles. It amazed both of them that they could be so normal so quickly after Buffy's return from the dead. Buffy, on the other hand, had to force herself to act like everything was fine when inside she wanted nothing but to be in that coma again. Her life had been so much better when she thought she was dead.

Sitting in the middle of the disaster that had been the Magic Box, Anya felt like crying. Her livelihood had been destroyed. She'd seen pieces of the bot in a dumpster being used by a cleanup crew she passed on her way here. Between Giles's injuries and Buffy's resurrection and Willow being unaccounted for, the only silver lining Anya could see was that Xander wasn't here bitching that he needed a drink. He should be out looking for Willow, but instead, Anya knew that he'd be at the closest open bar. Last she'd seen him, his hands had been trembling from withdrawal.

She'd managed to board up the front window and door on her own, so it made her jump when the door of the training room opened. Her squeak annoyed her. "Tara! Don't do that."

Tara didn't even look at Anya as she went straight up to the loft with a quick, "Sorry," thrown over her shoulder.

"What are you looking for?" Anya climbed up the stairs and was relieved to see that this section hadn't been damaged at all. The basement, though, had been trashed when the Hellions came after them during the attack.

"I just want to make sure we didn't miss anything with the spell." Tara didn't look up. Her attention focused on finding the right book.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"If that were true, you wouldn't be here."

"Okay fine, I just have a sinking feeling that something's not right. It's probably nothing, but I-I'll feel better if I can confirm that we didn't miss anything."

"Since I have nothing better to do, I'll help you." Anya knelt down and started looking through the shelves too.

This time Tara did look at Anya. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Willy poured another beer for Xander. His place had managed to get passed over in the Hellion debacle, not a surprise. But that meant most of his customers today were of the human variety, which was a surprise. This one he remembered. Xander had been in more than once after the Glorificus debacle.

Debacle was the word of the day on the Word-a-Day Calendar Willow had gotten him last Chanaka, so he tried to work it into his thoughts and not just his conversations. Smartening himself up a bit to impress the ladies. Since he didn't have the looks or the money, he needed the brains. He'd tried working on getting into Willow's orbit, a fellow Jew, sure to make his mother happy, but he found out fast that she only had eyes for Tara.

"You might want to ease up Xan-man. This is my break from the debacle of cleaning up gross messes." Willy set the beer down.

"I've been calling myself the Xan-man for years." He smiled, sloppy and goofy, dribbling beer down his shirt as he tried to drink at the same time. After wiping his mouth with his sleeve, Xander threw a few bills at Willy. "You're the best."

Counting the money and finding a twenty in the mix, Willy grinned. "You know it, kid."

Xander downed half his beer and then asked, "Do you know what an Irish Car Bomb is?"

"Coming right up." Even if the kid couldn't pay his tab at the end of the night, Willy would let it slide. Xander hung with the Slayer and Willow, making him a good guy to be in good graces with to help avoid any unwanted debacles. Besides, he kinda liked the kid.