Rupert's sitting with Dawn as she reads out parts of the prospectus for NYU to him. She's got her heart set on the courses there but he knows Buffy is set against letting her sister move two thousand, eight hundred miles away – he'd checked the distance after Jenny told him during their last phone call.

Buffy and Willow are in the kitchen bickering light-heartedly about sides and how to keep them away from Xander before they sit down to eat. Rupert listens to the sounds for a few minutes, welcoming the noise that is absent from the house in England. These are the moments he misses the most.

"You're not going to let Buffy cook the entire meal, are you?" Dawn asks suddenly. "You're going to supervise, right?" Rupert looks at her, her face aghast with concern that her sister might actually cook. "I mean I'd like to eat something today."

He chuckles fondly at her. "What do you eat when I'm not here?"

"We eat a lot of cereal and she can't really mess up salad, it's raw vegetables and dressing," Dawn replies seriously. "I don't know if she can handle a whole turkey."

"I believe she and Willow will be tackling the turkey together," he reminds her gently. It's a little reassuring that he saw Willow looking up the safe cooking temperature for turkey after finding Joyce's meat thermometer last night. "And we'll let Xander try it first, just in case."

Dawn beams up at him before shifting to her knees in front of the coffee table to grab another booklet for him to look at. "This is course material, what do you think?"

Rupert wonders if their father realises all he is missing out on or if he thinks of them at all beyond a nuisance or the measly cheque he writes once a month for Dawn's maintenance. Buffy has given up trying to convince herself Hank Summers will be there for Dawn as anything other than that. She doesn't approach him for herself and she only approaches him for Dawn as a last resort.

He goes through the material for the classes Dawn wants to take, and reads through the background information on the lecturers and the Head of the department, Laura O'Shay – Jenny's friend, Laura – who specialises in European texts. Her qualifications are extensive and Dawn raved about her after speaking with her.

"Is Willow really better?" Dawn asks him quietly, her eyes glancing towards the kitchen.

Rupert follows her gaze. He'd received bone-crushing hugs from both her and Buffy when he and Willow walked out of the arrivals lounge at the airport last night. However, Dawn seems to be clinging more to him than Buffy, possibly because her sister has spent most of the time since then hanging out with her best friend, whom Dawn is avoiding. Rupert is aware part of her clinginess stems from the fact that he has spent the summer with Willow and will be able to stop Willow if there are any signs of her dark side returning. He forgets that Dawn needs him as much as Buffy does.

"Dawn, Willow is still hurting but she is coping, I promise you," he tells her. He's not sure what it is that convinces Dawn, yet she accepts his explanation easily.

Willow is doing well. The real test for her was coming home to Sunnydale, to the home she and Tara shared and to be confronted with memories they made here. It was easier for her to test out the coping techniques she learnt at the retreat in his house in Bath as there were no memories there, no ghosts for her to encounter. Here is a different story. Here, she'll have to put them into practice. First with Rupert present, then without him when he returns to Bath alone. He doesn't intend to leave until he's prepared Buffy and Xander to help Willow fend off her darker impulses until he can get here if need be.

Dawn goes back to sorting through the pamphlets that litter the coffee table, engrossed in her own thoughts. He spies a prospectus for UC Sunnydale underneath the rest of them. He pulls it out to read through, hoping the classes have some redeeming features so the opportunities offered by NYU don't seem as appealing and Dawn and Buffy can reach a compromise.

Although he has his own reasons for finding NYU appealing…he might be getting ahead of himself but he thinks things are going tentatively well with Jenny. He'd wanted to invite her to Sunnydale; he doubts Buffy would have minded considering what she said about their reunion.

He couldn't find the words to ask her for fear of rejection or to set their tentative reconnection back. They shouldn't have an audience either. As encouraging as Buffy and Willow are for him and Jenny to reunite, their first in-person meeting should be private. They were meant to talk today but there was no answer at her apartment when he called. Jenny mentioned plans with Laura so he'll try again this evening.

"You have your 'Jenny' face," Dawn says looking up from her book.

"My what?!"

Dawn smiles and wags a finger at his indignation in a way that reminds him of her sister. "Your expression, Buffy calls it your 'Jenny' face. Are you thinking about her?"

"Well," Rupert blushes under her scrutiny, thinking he'll have to have a talk with Buffy later. "Yes, actually."

"That's nice," Dawn doesn't shrink away as he expects her to. "She's nice and really pretty. I can see why you have a 'Jenny' face. Plus, I think she's the only thing on Buffy's pro list about New York, whereas her con list is like a mile long."

"Buffy has some valid concerns," Rupert concedes. "And yes, Jenny is very nice."

"Eloquent," Dawn rolls her eyes. "Do you guys have plans? Buffy wanted to invite her but she didn't want to force you guys into a situation you weren't ready for."

He ducks his head, appreciating their consideration. He wants to make plans with Jenny. He wants to let her lead this reconciliation. He wants to grovel at her feet for the way their relationship ended. He should have confessed his love for her but he didn't want that to be a part of their goodbye. He doesn't think he could let her go if he had said the words. He broke both of their hearts that day. It's only right that Jenny decides it's time to re-enter his life. "I don't want to pressure Jenny into anything."

"It wouldn't hurt to ask her though, it's not a deal breaker," Dawn argues distractedly as she puts the pamphlets into an order that only makes sense to her.

"No, no, it wouldn't hurt."

"Good, I hope you guys work it out."

"You do?"

She nods. "I got the impression she really cares about you. And I didn't know you when you guys were together, but you seem lighter now she's back in your life."

Lighter? He's long since learnt there are things to keep to himself when the girls confound him, especially if he doesn't want them to make fun of him. He's fairly aware of the effect Jenny has on him but he always considered it to be limited to her immediate presence. He wasn't aware it lingered. He was relieved that she responded so readily after that first letter and to hear her voice after so long was beyond anything he could imagine. Deep and throaty, he'd forgotten how intoxicating he found it. That realisation imparted clarity on exactly what he wants for them going forward. He wants to find a way to be in her life and circumvent the three and a half thousand miles between their current residencies. Or two thousand, eight hundred while he's in Sunnydale.

As amenable as she has been, Rupert understands what he wants may conflict with what Jenny wants. Though she hasn't mentioned being involved with anyone, he doubts she's been pinning for him for four years; she can have anyone she wants. However, he will be honest with her as he doesn't want to waste any time with any misconceptions.

Rupert doesn't expect her to put her life on hold or choose him again. He'd hoped she wouldn't answer that first letter, that she'd ignore him rather than allow herself to be drawn back into his life. Jenny did answer though. She seemed quite willing to communicate with him, open with him. He'd forgotten how accepting she was, without judgment. That doesn't mean she lets him get away with anything, she still tells him when he's wrong but she always listens and tempers his reasoning with her own.

He really has missed her.

She had a point about them falling back into their relationship without discussing how it ended. It really was very easy to speak with her. The little they had discussed had provoked the subsequent night terrors he'd had after she left to return, the ones where he lived through discovering her body as Angelus intended him. He woke from them with them hearing the crescendo of O Soave Fanciulla in his head; the lingering smell of rose petals and candles burning in the air; and remembered her dead eyes staring back at him, her neck twisted unnaturally towards him.

Those days he spends reading her letters and reminding himself she is very much alive and safe in New York. Those days he spends second-guessing whether bringing her back into his life is the sensible thing to do. He even told her as such.

"That's not your decision to make, Rupert," Jenny told him. "I think if our roles were switched, you would be saying the same thing. I'm not going into this blind, you know that."

"That's not as comforting as you think it is."

"Fair enough, but you also know how easily that could happen to me if you weren't in my life."

"True," Rupert concedes. "Once again, may I reiterate your polite request to stop doing things that may toe the line of getting killed."

"I don't think I phrased quite as eloquently Rupert, but that was the jist of it."

"Alright, Xander is doing a mercy run to the grocery store for pie and rolls, do you guys need anything?" Buffy announces, walking into the living room with the cordless phone in her hand.

Rupert blinks up at her, trying to register what she's asking.

"Chocolate and peanut butter," Dawn insists. She looks over her shoulder at Rupert. "Hey, can you read my application essay?" And like that, Dawn was up and running out of the room without waiting for his answer.

Buffy shakes her head in her sister's wake. "What about you Giles? Do you need anything from the store?"

"Um, I don't think so," Rupert answers.

Buffy frowns at his distracted response. He forgot that she could read him as well as he could read her. It's different with the others, they see it but don't necessarily call him out as readily as Buffy. Their communication and openness developed over the years, at first from necessity then out of love. Yes, she is the closest he has to a daughter, and now Dawn by extension.

Buffy relays Dawn's request to Xander before hanging up and walking over to him. She pulls a face at the college material laid out on the coffee table, collecting the various booklets into a neat pile on one side of the table and creating a space for her to sit in front of him.

"Everything okay?" She asks, taking the last one from him to place on top of the others.

"I'm fine," he sighs.

"You're lying," Buffy tells him, not at all offended. "What's up?"

"I was thinking," Rupert concedes. He doesn't want her to think he's keeping anything life-threatening from her but he doesn't need to bother her with his concerns about rekindling his friendship with Jenny. "It's nothing serious."

"Right," Buffy drawls. "And Will and I are making everything from scratch today. Anything I should be worried about?"

"No, this is a personal quandry of mine," he assures her.

Buffy studies him for a long minute before her eyebrows raise. "How personal are we talking?"

"Do I, uh, have a 'Jenny' face?" Rupert asks her pointedly.

Her eyes go wide as a pink blush blooms on her cheeks. "You totally do," she informs him, looking anywhere but directly into his eyes. "To be fair, it's the same as Miss Calendar's 'Giles' face. You know the one you two made when you were looking into each other's eyes and didn't realise anyone else was in the room?"

"We knew other people were in the room," he argues weakly.

"I thought things were going well with you two, the hills were alive again," Buffy presses gently.

"They are," he assures her. "The hills are…resurrecting themselves."

"I'll bet," Buffy mumbles with a raise of her eyebrows.

"However, I have concerns about she and I becoming further involved," he continues, ignoring her.

"You two are so in sync it's crazy," Buffy sighs. "She said the same thing about you. Neither of you want to risk hurting the other. You're both convinced you'll do something wrong and the other will suffer the consequences. You're old enough to know that anything can happen, it doesn't need to be an off-shoot of our lives. One of you could get hit by a bus or something and it's out of your hands."

Rupert cocks his head to the side, considering her reasoning. "I understand what you're trying to say, Buffy."

"So, you know I'm right and you guys seriously need to look both ways when you cross the street," she quips. She swallows. "I hate the idea that you could wait too long and one of you might end up living with more regrets than you already have."

"Given our lives, I think that's inevitable." Rupert sighs. "I've been doing some reading on New York, though. Especially after you said there was little vampire activity, just to be sure there's nothing else prevalent in the area that's keeping them at bay."

"Ah, any chance you've figured out that New York is really a demon haven and there's no way I can let Dawn move there alone?"

"Not as such, no. The most interesting information I've found are reports from a priest, a psychologist and a technical advisor who complete assessments for exorcism requests for the Church. One of my theories is that vampires avoid the City because it is the perfect feeding ground for them. Easy for them to thrive and just as easy to pick them off if a Slayer decided to turn up."

"So, they don't go there because people would expect them to be there, so they're like tourists? Pretty flimsy theory for you, Giles."

"Do you have any theories?"

"No," Buffy whines. "Neither did Miss Calendar when I asked her."

Rupert smiles at her. "How come Dawn can call Jenny by her first name but you can't?"

Buffy screws up her nose. "She never taught Dawn. Besides, it would be like calling you Rupert and that's never happening." She turns thoughtful. "You could've invited her."

"I appreciate that, yet I think it would be best all around if our first in-person meeting should be private."

"It's no secret that you guys were crazy about each other, you don't need to hide this from us," Buffy's sincerity touches him.

"It's not about hiding from you," he promises. "If Jenny and I decide to meet face to face, I have no doubt that it will be awkward. I would like to limit any apprehension to mine and Jenny's rather than subject her to you four gawking at us."

"We wouldn't gawk!" She looks mildly upset by his words but accepts them grudgingly.

"But you would have expectations and I don't want the pressure of those to weigh on my own or Jenny's. I don't want to force that kind of obligation on her, it's not fair." Buffy looks away. "I know you care about me, Buffy, but this is something Jenny and I need to work out together."

"I know, that's why I didn't call and ask her myself," Buffy bobs her head before meeting his eyes. His extraordinary girl, independent and strong. "I just want you to be happy, and no one makes you happier than Miss Calendar does," she says.

"There are some things you can't force, Buffy," Rupert reminds her. "This is one of them."