That morning, everyone seemed to be in an odd mood.

For one thing, Giles was whistling as he came downstairs, still struggling to properly knot his tie, but looking rather…perky.

Never thought that could be a word to describe Giles, but there you are.

I raised an eyebrow at him as I motioned at where his tea was waiting for him on the counter. He smiled brightly as he went over to it, but didn't pick it up right away, since the tie was still troubling him.

"Good morning!" he announced brightly. I smirked a little and strode over to help him with his tie. He'd gotten it twisted at some point, hence why it wasn't knotting properly.

"Good morning," I acknowledged, "let me help you with that." I undid his tie and started over again while Giles reached for his tea, gingerly working around me, as I did with him.

"Thank you, Margery." He beamed as I worked on the tie.

"All right," I said, glancing up at him suspiciously, "what's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. You're positively bouncy this morning, and as far as I now, we don't have any new volumes coming in until Friday. So, what goes on with thee?" I smirked, gave a final adjustment to his tie, and then stepped back to survey my work.

Not bad.

Giles grinned in thanks, and a faint flush crept into his cheeks.

All right, now I was really suspicious.

"Rupert?" I dragged the word out, planting my hands on my hips.

"Nothing's really 'going on'," he stammered, "but…well…Miss Calendar asked me if I would like to spend an evening with her."

I blinked at him. It wasn't really a surprise, but…Giles actually looked pleased at this prospect. I wasn't sure how to take that, honestly. I mean sure she'd been more flirtatious with him as of late, but there was still enough snark present in their interactions that I thought they were just…chums.

Apparently I am not very good at figuring out human relationships.

Small surprise there, but still…

"Oh?" Was my witty response.

"Y-Yes. She...hasn't really told me where we're going," he added, "We're supposed to discuss it today so I'd rather not be late?"

He eyed me as he said this.

Lately Giles and I had been having small disagreements about what I was to wear now that I was a Seeker. I thought I needed to be perfectly relaxed to do my Seeking, so I could concentrate on helping the Watcher and not be distracted by something as silly as how uncomfortable I was in trousers that actually fit me, and a suit-coat that had ridiculously large shoulder pads I hated.

Giles thought I should look as professional as my title sounded.

But I didn't agree since it was pretty much a self-made title, and if it was self-made then I should have a say in the dress-code.

And I said there shouldn't be one.

This had been going on for some weeks, clearly.

"I'm ready." I shrugged, enjoying the slight frown of distaste.

I had on a very baggy Nirvana T-shirt (R.I.P Mr. Cobain) and dark jeans, which were also a size or two too large for me. And since the day was going to be unseasonably warm, I had opted for a dark blue flannel shirt instead of my usual hood. That was an improvement. You'd think Giles would appreciate that. But no.

He sniffed, and then sighed dramatically and shrugged in defeat.

"Well then we'd best be going, yes?" he asked, downing the rest of his tea in one swallow, and immediately regretting the decision since it was still very hot.

He spluttered and coughed, turning bright red.

I managed not to laugh, but only just.

"I'm ready," I told him, "unless you think we need to go to the hospital first?"

He glared at me, still trying to breathe through his singed throat.

"No." he croaked. "It'll be fine. Move."

I moved.

"It's a secret!" Ms. Calendar teased as the three of us (her, Giles and I) made our way down the stairs. She and Giles had been chatting together and walking side-by-side since Giles and I arrived. Which left me very much the third wheel, trailing along behind.

I suppose that's an appropriate term: 'third wheel'. Like a training wheel on a bicycle. You're there for a purpose at first. You're supposed to keep things upright, help them steer things along, but once they've done it for a while and get the hang of it, you're just the annoying extra appendage, now slowing things down a bit.

I may have been a bit grumpy about the situation.

"What sort of secret?" Giles demanded, but he was smiling around the question. He was enjoying this a little too much.

"The kind that's secret," Ms. Calendar retorted, "the kind where I don't tell you what it is?"

"I believe it's customary when two people are going out for an evening that they both have an idea of what they're doing." Giles complained.

"Am I not right?" he suddenly remembered I existed and turned towards me. I shrugged.

"Giles, dear, I haven't dated since before you were born." I reminded him. "I don't know what on earth happens anymore. For all I know you're both lying."

"Oh come on," Ms. Calendar prodded Giles, ignoring me…again. "Where's your sense of adventure?" she asked.

Giles flushed and looked around wildly for a reply.

"H-How will I know what to wear?" he demanded. Ah yes, a master of banter my friend is.

Ms. Calendar stopped short and looked him over.

"Do you own anything else?" she asked.

All right, that was clever.

Even Giles realized it.

"N-Not as such…no." he admitted.

"Rupert," she laughed, playing with his tie, an act which somehow made me stiffen. I'd fixed that tie, gods take you, woman. "You're gonna have to trust me." She finished, smiling happily up at him.

Giles blushed again and smiled sheepishly.

This was getting too sickly sweet for me.

"All right!" he gave in, "I put myself in your hands."

Ms. Calendar raised an eyebrow.

'Don't.' I thought.

"Well that sounds like fun." She smirked.

"Ugh." I groaned, and didn't bother to mask it this time.

"Something wrong, Marge?" she frowned at me.

"If I were capable," I said, smiling at her, "I think I would have vomited by now."

"Margery!" Giles snapped.

"She asked." I shrugged, secretly enjoying the flush on Ms. Calendar's face.

"Anyway," Ms. Calendar broke in, starting to move away from us, thank heavens, "tomorrow night, seven-thirty, right?"

Giles nodded.

He started to turn towards me, no doubt to reprimand me for my behavior, but we were interrupted by Buffy's arrival.

She was acting differently, as well.

She looked…a bit tired. And she was acting more demure than I was used to.

"Hey." She murmured.

"Hello," Giles smiled at her, glared at me once more, and then started walking down the corridor, with Buffy and I on either side of him.

"Did you uh, go hunting last night?" he asked her.

"I…did a couple of quick sweeps downtown." She nodded. I frowned and looked over at her. Something definitely wasn't right. Had she run into trouble? Was she hurt? Did she get scared? Maybe I should start going with her more often and let Giles translate Sanskrit by himself for a bit. For practice.

"Any encounters?" Giles queried.

"Nothing vampire-y." Buffy answered. Which really wasn't much of an answer, I thought .

Before I could ask about it, however, Giles was speaking again.

"I've been researching our friend Spike." he said, and immediately I looked away. I'd let Giles research that on his own. He hadn't asked me to join in, which was decent of him. He knew enough about Spike and me and our previous relationship to know that it was a sore subject. So he let me be.

"The profile," Giles continued, "is, uh, fairly unappetizing but I still haven't got a bead on why he's here."

"You'll figure it out." Buffy said. I think she meant it as an encouragement, but it came out very quiet. This time Giles seemed to catch on to it as well.

"Are you all right?" he asked, frowning slightly.

"You are being very quiet this morning." I commented. "Are you feeling well?" She looked at me.

"Something happened last night." I said.

Buffy blinked and the slightest red appeared in her cheeks. I'd hit the mark.

"N-No." she stammered. "Not really. Nothing notable…nothing dangerous." She looked from Giles to me and back.

"I'm fine." She insisted. Not very convincingly.

"Why don't you take the night off?" Giles suggested.

Buffy blinked in surprise but smiled a little.

"Okay." She nodded. "That'd be nice."

"You could spend some time with Angel?" Giles said, and Buffy froze.

Ah. Angel trouble. But somehow it related to last night? How?

I frowned again tilted my head.

"I don't know," Buffy said, "he…might have other plans."

Another girl.

I looked at Giles.

"I think I'll sit in on History class today." I told him, knowing that was Buffy's next class. He blinked in surprise at me.

"Why?"

Very straightforward.

"It amuses me to reminisce. And I need a little amusement right now." I answered with a shrug. He shifted uncomfortably. Oh, heavens. He thought I was pouting. He thought I was upset with him for going out with Ms. Calendar.

"Oh don't sulk, my dear." I laughed, giving him a playful shove in the shoulder.

"I'm not upset," I murmured to him, so Buffy wouldn't hear, "I just need to find something out. I'll come back after, all right?"

He sighed in relief and nodded.

I turned, linked my arm through Buffy's, and started off again.

"So," I said once we were far enough away from Giles, "who did you see Angel with? Cordelia?"

Buffy's surprise was pretty evident.

"How'd you know?"

I shrugged and smiled softly.

"Some things don't change over the years." I answered, "And girls jilted in love often exhibit the same symptoms. So, who was it?"

She shrugged.

"I don't know." She answered, "They met up last night, in the park. Long dark hair, old dress. Really pretty."

"Old dress?" I repeated. "How old?"

"I don't know…why does it matter?"

"Because that's one of the first things you thought of when you started to describe her. Maybe it doesn't mean anything obvious, but…your subconscious might have noticed something you didn't. Understand?"

"I think so." She frowned. "But heck if I know what it noticed."

We'd reached History class, now. So there wasn't time to discuss it any further.

Still, food for thought.

(Hope you liked this one! Sorry these keep being so short but it's what's working for me right now. Also, KLR (you were logged in as a guest reviewer so I hope this is the right way to address you? I can tell you that for sure this won't be a Margery/Oz story, I just wanted to establish that Margery felt a connection with Oz, but not really a romantic one. And really I can't say that I have an overall plan for Margery potentially romancing anyone. I haven't quite decided if that's necessary or not. I like having her be platonically affectionate with some people but I really don't know if it'll ever blossom into anything more than that.

I hope that answers your question?)