Hey, guys! Hope you are liking the story so far. I know it feels a bit slow, but it won't stay that way for long. Already have 23 chapters and more to go. But not many more. Please continue to read, follow, and comment. Sharing is caring.

Chapter 4

"A man your age should not eat that much bacon." Willow said as Giles started on his fifth piece.

He eyed her own plate. "A girl who celebrates Hanukkah shouldn't be eating any." Willow glance at the bacon between her fingers, shrugged, and ate it anyway.

"Bacon comes from pigs," Alex stated. "Pigs like Babe and Wilbur."

Willow and Giles looked at one another. Willow pushed her plate, which had a piece left on it still, away. "I think I'm done."

"As am I."

"More for me!" Alex exclaimed as he took one from Willow's plate and two from Giles'. Portia giggled.

Willow looked absolutely scandalized. "Giles! I think we were just outsmarted by a six year old!"

"You are surprised Alex stole food from us? Alex?"

"Well, not when you say it like that."

"Mr. Wyndam-Price, I don't know where your stapler is. Just grab one from another desk." Andrew sat at the table, talking on his cell phone. "Not a single one?... I'm not going to ask him that!... I won't!... Why would... ugh!" he loudly groaned and dropped the phone from his ear. He sighed heavily. "Mr. Wyndam-Price wants to know if you hid all the staplers on the sixth floor," he deadpanned.

Giles raised his brows while Mandy and Willow giggled. "That would be a completely ridiculous thing to do, now wouldn't it?"

"See?!" Andrew shouted into the phone. "I told you he didn't!" Andrew stood and left the room again.

Portia smiled at Giles. "You didn't say you didn't do it."

"Hmm, I didn't, did I?." He drank his tea. The girls laughed.

"Where's Aunt Buffy?" Alex asked his mom.

Giles looked at his watch. "Dear lord, she is going to be late." He stood to head out, then stopped. "Maybe you should go, Willow."

She knit her brows together. "Why?"

"I, uh, don't want to walk in on something with Antony."

Willow remained looking confused. "Tony isn't here."

"What?"

"He isn't coming until Friday."

Now Giles looked confused. "He's not?"

Willow shook her head. "Giselle had a slight mishap during training. She's okay, but he wanted to stay a few extra days to be sure."

"Riiight." Giles put his hands in his pockets and seemed to stare off at nothing.

"Are you alright?" Mandy asked.

"Hmm? Oh, yes. Sorry. Just... I'm going to go wake Buffy." He headed for the stairs.

He thought about what Willow had said and it didn't make sense to him. If Giselle had a "slight mishap" during training, her healing would have her fine in no time. If she had been more seriously injured, there would have been a report on it. He reached Buffy's door and decided to push the thought from his mind for now. He would ask Mark, Andrew, and even Wesley if any reports on Giselle had come in the last day or so.

He knocked on the door. There wasn't even the sound of movement inside. He knocked again. Still nothing. Trying the knob, he found it locked. He sighed and started pounding on the door. "Buffy! Get up!" Now he could hear noises. First, it was an annoyed groan. "Buffy, you've got to get up," he called through the door. Another groan before a second of silence followed by loud cursing. Then a thud followed by more cursing. "Are you alright?" Buffy swung the door open and Giles jumped back.

"How could you let me sleep so late?" she growled. She turned from the door and he blindly followed her inside. "Dawn is going to kill me." She searched through the clothes she had placed in the small dresser, grabbing a couple of items now and then. She caught her reflection. "Ugh! Look at my hair!"

"You look fine."

She turned on him. "Fine?! Are you blind?!" She tossed her clothes on the chair and turned her back to Giles, quickly pulling her sleeping shirt off leaving her in only her panties.

"Good lord, woman!" He quickly turned away. "I am still here, you know."

"They're just breast, Giles. You've seen hundreds of 'em."

"Hundreds?! What kind of man do you think I am?"

Buffy huffed. "One with a penis."

Giles groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Let's never have this conversation again."

He felt her hand on his shoulder, but was too afraid to turn around. Buffy rolled her eyes. "You're safe now, Giles."

He peeked over his shoulder and she placed her hands on her hips. Knee length shorts and a silky tank top. Much better. Her hair was even brushed and she had make up on her eyes, though he wondered how much of that was from last night. He turned and furrowed his brow. "All these years I have been waiting for you to 'get ready' and you can do it in under two minutes?"

She clapped his upper arm. "Slayers have many powers, Giles." She stepped around him with a smile.

When they got downstairs, Dawn was already there. "We've been waiting for you."

"Sorry," Buffy said. "Giles slept in." He rolled his eyes but didn't correct her.

"Everyone ready to go then? Excellent!"

The group was split up onto two different carriage tours. Dawn and Jake were on the first one with his mother, sister, uncle, his children, and a few other out of town relatives. Buffy and the gang got onto the second carriage with some other member's of Jacob's family. Portia, Alex, Giles, and Buffy sat in the second to last row with Willow and Mandy behind them. Giles sat leaned back with his arms across the back of Alex's and Buffy's seats. Giles would poke Alex's shoulder when he wasn't paying attention to the tour guide. He occasionally had to do so with Buffy as well. Their little gang took note of places they would like to circle back to, including the Waterfront Park, The Powder Magazine Museum, and Battery Park. Not to mention the City Market!

Once their tour had ended, they met with the rest of the group at a restaurant named The Noisy Oyster. Their group had taken up an entire section of the place, but it had thankfully been planned. At least Dawn's obsessive Bridezillaness was good for something.

Giles and Buffy had sat themselves down together at a table for two. They were getting along well and having a nice time with one another. They joked, laughed, and conversation was easy. This, however, lead Giles to a false sense of security and he brought up a topic that had been bothering him since this morning. "So, I hear Antony isn't joining us until Friday."

Buffy gave a small smile. "You could just call him Tony."

"I refuse."

"Yes, Tony is coming Friday. He wanted to be sure Giselle was fine."

Giles looked at his plate and poked at his food. "And what exactly happened to Giselle?" He tried to make the question sound light, but he still noticed Buffy stop and look at him.

"Didn't you read the report?" Her tone was genuinely curious, not accusatory.

"I, ugh, I hadn't seen it." Truth was, no one had. He had quietly asked Andrew, who then made a few inquisitive calls of his own, but none to Giselle or her Watcher himself. Giles made it clear to keep it quiet. Buffy would be less than thrilled to know he was checking up on her boyfriend. He also didn't want to tip Antony off, just in case he was indeed hiding something. And Giles was sure he was.

"I don't know specifics, honestly. It was hard for Tony to talk about. I guess they had been training while waiting for a -," Buffy stopped. She suddenly remembered how public she was. "They were waiting for a friend to show and they were... mugged... by... someone. Giselle was hurt, but I think her trauma was more mental or emotional. She kept calling in the middle of the night. At first I was a little annoyed, but then I realized that if it were me, that's what I would do, too. I mean, that's what you Wat-, you, um, guys are for, right?"

Giles smiled but she could still tell he was holding something back. "How is she doing now?"

"I'd tell you if I could get a hold of him," she said without thinking and sounding like there was an edge of bitterness. Giles raised his brows and Buffy's eyes widened. "It's just... time difference. Makes it hard to get into touch. Plus he does have three … girls. Three! Remember how it was with just little old me? Triple that."

Giles looked her straight in the eye and spoke softly. "I'm sorry about sending Leesa. I really didn't want to overburden you- um, Antony."

"You'd rather he not have any," Buffy muttered, but Giles could still hear her.

Now Giles froze, watching her. He dropped his fork to his plate with a clatter. Leaning back, he removed his glasses and rubbed his face. "Buffy..." he sighed.

"I'm sorry," she cut him off. "I'm breaking our truce. I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, it's..." Fine? No. It wasn't. Antony was a touchy subject for both of them to talk about and he should have known better.

"Hey." She held out her hand on the table. He reached out and held it. "I am having a great time with you. It's how we were years ago and as if we haven't been apart. I would like to enjoy that feeling a little longer, so let's just focus on us, okay? Just Watcher and Slayer. Giles and Buffy. Okay?"

He squeezed her hand and smiled when she returned the gesture. "I would like that very much."

After lunch the crowd went across the street to the City Market. It was a long building stretching down multiple blocks. There were craft vendors down both sides with homemade gifts, treats, and goodies.

Giles got distracted looking through someone's photography so Buffy meandered away. When he found her, she was holding a crocheted baby blanket with a sad look on her face. He stood back and watched her for a few moments. She wiped a stray tear off her cheek. She placed the folded blanket back on the table and started to turn around. Giles quickly focused attention on the booth behind him, hoping Buffy had not seen him staring.

Soon he felt her hand on his arm and turned towards her. She wore a curious smile. "Something you need to tell me, Giles?"

He gave her a confused look. She glanced sideways at the booth he had been pretending to visit. It was a selection of different female clothing. He hadn't actually paid any attention to the booth at all. "Oh! Umm," he looked around quickly trying to find something that would lend him an excuse. Buffy's smile was big and bright as she watched him become speechless.

He looked back at her with his mouth hanging open as if he was about to say something, but nothing came out. Buffy placed her fingers under his chin and closed his mouth. "Sorry. I didn't realize I was going to short circuit your brain." She took his hand and started leading him away. "Come on. Unless you actually want something."

"Umm, no. No. Let's go."

They walked together silently, Buffy still holding his hand. They glanced at the booths they were passing but not really seeing them. Buffy was the first to speak. "Ten months ago, I found out I was pregnant."

Giles stopped walking and the person behind him bumped into him. They both apologized. Buffy pulled Giles to the side, into an empty booth slot. "Buffy, I... I had no idea."

She smiled sadly. "I know. I was just ten weeks along when we went in for a check up. The doctor couldn't find a heart beat. They figured I wasn't as far along as they originally thought and ordered an ultrasound."

Giles saw the distressed look on her face and stopped her before she continued. "Buffy, you don't have to tell me any of this if you don't want to. I know it must be difficult."

"No. I mean, yeah, it is difficult. But I want to tell you." He nodded so she continued. "The ultrasound showed that they were twins. But they shared a placenta. Momo twins. The odds aren't great for survival. Take into account my level of activity, and," she looked down at the floor, "well..."

"Buffy."

She shook her head to stop him from continuing. "Baby A had fluid in his heart. His heart failed and Baby B followed. They kept me in the hospital overnight so I could have surgery the next morning." A tear slid down her cheek. Giles brushed it away. "I had to lay there all night knowing-". Her voice broke and he gathered her into his arms. A few people stared as they walked by, but neither Buffy nor Giles cared at the moment.

"No one ever mentioned any of that to me," he whispered. He had missed so much of her life.

"No one knew. Well, Willow. And Tony, obviously, but that was it. I wanted to tell you. I almost called a few times. When I was home alone at night, I would think, 'Giles would help'."

He pulled back slightly. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"We weren't exactly talking then. I was also scared. Scared of what you might say. That you might say it was for the best. And I just couldn't... I couldn't."

Giles was shocked. "Buffy, I would never say anything as such."

"I know that now, but my mind was so fried then, Giles. Plus, given why we weren't speaking in the first place and you not being a fan of Tony's. Like, at all. It made sense to me then." She stepped back from him and wiped at her face. He handed her his handkerchief. "Thanks." She dabbed at her cheeks. "I was alone and depressed and I wanted to, but I just couldn't bring myself to call you."

"Alone? What about...?"

Buffy let out a sad, almost nervous sounding chuckle. "Leesa was sent the day after the surgery. He was a little pre-occupied."

"My god, Buffy. I'm so sorry. If I had known-."

"But you didn't," she interjected. "And I got through. And I'm fine now. Mostly."

"Mostly?"

"I know you were watching me back there," she said with a knowing smile.

"Oh, umm, yes. Sorry."

"It's okay, Giles. Really. I couldn't tell you then, but I'm glad you know now." She wrapped her arm around his and lead him back into the market shoppers.

He glanced out the side exit and stopped. He smiled and pulled her over. "Look."

She smiled as she spotted the Ben and Jerry's ice cream shop across the street. "You wanna?"

"Oh, yes."