Giles wanders down the museum corridor with his fresh cup of tea, intent to make it to his office and finish unpacking the department's latest acquisitions without encountering colleagues or gaggles of school children which seem in endless supply at this time of day.
He pauses as he reaches the edge of the small exhibition space which is a landing above the main room. It's a necessary path for him today as painters are redecorating the internal staircase for employees. Unfortunately, it causes a quandary for him as he has no way to pass the two colleagues looking out over the gallery at the top of the stairs.
Gunn and Wesley. Both are perfectly able and brilliant in their respective fields. They have an awfully friendly rivalry when it comes to women that Giles can't stand. Usually, it involves a wager where the victor walks away with the woman and the cash. He's long since learnt to avoid them when they're huddled together as they are now, watching their current would-be target for their affection.
Giles tries to blend as far as he can into the displays, moving to the furthest reach of their peripheral to edge towards the stairs to sneak past them. It doesn't work.
"Giles!" Gunn notices and gestures him over. "You need to settle this for us and tell Wesley he's being a fool."
Giles sighs, anticipating the indignant outburst by their coworker as it happens. "Gunn is labouring under a delusion he stands a chance."
"A better chance than you," Gunn fires back.
Giles's fairly certain neither have a chance without laying eyes on this woman.
"You are both aware of the echo in here, aren't you?" He says, resigning himself to his fate. He doesn't want to cause a scene by walking away and them calling after him. The poor woman who has them tripping themselves over will appreciate his intervention if she ever finds out. He hopes for her sake, that she doesn't.
Both men look suitably chastised by his reminder and sober as he reaches their viewing spot. They silently indicate with pointed looks at the main floor and the woman dressed in the black flowy dress with the red cardigan.
Giles tries to hide his surprise; he'd recognise her anywhere even without seeing her face. She's facing one of the tapestries, her dark hair pulled back by one of her favoured hair clips. A black cloth bag slung over her far shoulder.
He glances back to Wesley and Gunn to find them grinning at him.
"So, at first glance, what do you think?" Gunn.
"I believe we've finally found a woman to pique his interest." Wesley.
Apparently, his surprise was misconstrued as appreciation. Well, it is, but it isn't any of their business.
"I believe the phrase is 'she's out of your league'," Giles intones. "Both of yours."
Gunn's grin widens as slaps Wesley on his shoulder, as if this was their intent all along. "Come on man, she is beautiful."
"She is," Giles concedes. Jenny is as beautiful as the day they met in Sunnydale. "But forgive me for wanting to save her the embarrassment of being fawned over by strangers." He's including himself. "She hasn't come here for that."
He has no idea why she's here. They met a couple of years ago, he was on a trip for the museum and he'd met her in a coffee shop on the only rainy day in weeks. They'd been drenched after getting caught in a sudden downpour. They'd huddled into the sofa area over hot drinks – black coffee for her, tea for him – and exchanged stories of their reason for being in town on the same day. She was there for a job interview.
Day led to night, night led to his hotel room and waking up to each other in the morning. They'd exchanged contact information because they enjoyed speaking with each other, he enjoyed the spark she lit in him, but it wasn't a promise or a commitment. That would have been ridiculous for people who met less than twenty-four hours before and lived nearly twelve hours apart by plane. Still, he did call and she emailed. They kept talking.
She never mentioned plans to visit. He would have offered his guest room if he'd known, he wasn't presumptuous.
"Screw this, there's only one way to find out," Gunn states drawing himself to his full height, and adjusts his tie. "Maybe I'll be just what she came here for."
Giles purses his lips, signalling his disapproval. He's curious, not jealous, to see what happens this time.
"Care to make it interesting?" Wesley asks. Giles groans.
"Usual bet?"
"How you can attribute a value to this absurdity is beyond me?" Giles mutters as the two men take out their wallets and produce two five-pound notes. They hold them out to him expectantly. "Don't drag me into this."
"No harm in a friendly wager. Someone's got to hold the pot," Wesley tells him.
Giles looks between them before taking their money and folding it to place in his trouser pocket as he left his jacket in his office. He casts his gaze on Jenny as Gunn makes his way down to introduce himself and make his move. Wesley joins him watching the scene with interest as Gunn approaches Jenny at the tapestry, standing beside her, close but not overly intrusive.
Giles resists the urge to roll his eyes. Gunn waits for Jenny to notice him. Giles is fairly certain she saw him approach yet she doesn't acknowledge his presence as she moves on to the next exhibit. Giles tucks his chin to hide his smile. She's just as he remembers. Her mannerisms are embedded in his brain from that one day and fuelled by dozens of conversations since. Her writing style is unique and amplifies the lasting impression he has of being in her physical presence.
Gunn isn't easily deterred as he follows at a safe distance so as not to spook Jenny. She pays no attention to him. Giles knows Wesley won't fair any better. If Jenny were in the right frame of mind, she'd have both men grovelling while tripping over their tongues if she gave them the time of day.
Gunn gives up on waiting and makes his move, talking about the exhibit in front of them. He helped Giles set it up so he had enough information about it to speak about it with some authority. Jenny nods with thinly veiled disinterest. Gunn misreads her and continues speaking until she speaks to him in low tones. His face falls a fraction before he plasters on an apologetic smile and probably voices it too, if his hand gestures are anything to go by.
Jenny returns her attention to the exhibit, bending slightly to read the card at the corner. Gunn takes it as a dismissal and walks away towards the area underneath Giles and Wesley, signalling to them with a slicing gesture with his hand at his neck that he's out. As if they didn't already know.
Wesley practically preens as he makes his way down the staircase. Giles stays where he is, content to watch him make a fool of himself. This really is a fault of their own making.
Wesley isn't as subtle as Gunn and takes the same gung-ho approach he takes to most things in life. His face is beet red when he does a sharp heel turn away from Jenny to join Gunn a few minutes later, relegated to the depths of the museum.
This time, Jenny turns to watch him leave before she tilts her head up to meet Giles's gaze. "Your turn next, England?"
His smile is instant. "Well, I was enjoying the show."
"They are aware there's an echo in here right, they aren't exactly quiet or subtle," Jenny says rather than questions as though Wesley and Gunn aren't present. She smirks at Giles in a way which makes his heart flutter the same way it did in the coffee shop in Sunnydale and their eyes hold as he makes his way down the stairs.
"I didn't place a bet."
"That's why you won." Jenny meets Giles as he reaches the bottom step. "You know, when a girl hops on a twelve-hour flight to see a guy, she doesn't want his friends to hit on her."
"I wish I'd known you were coming." It's not an accusation. "It's lovely to see you, Jenny."
"I wanted to surprise you." Her teeth catch her lower lip in a sudden moment of indecision as she gives him a look he understands. She'd given him the same look before she kissed him the first time.
This okay?
He nods in response. He has no idea how her smile can be shy and flirty at the same time. "Good. You can always make it up to me, you've got drinking money."
"Make it up to you for not hitting on you?"
"Yes." As if it's the most obvious thing in the world.
They stare at each other, lost in their own little world until someone clears their throat. They look over at Wesley and Gunn who are wearing the confounded expressions.
"You two know each other."
"For a few years now," Giles confirms without offering an explanation or introduction. He offers Jenny his arm. "My office is this way."
Her hand curls around his bicep as they walk past his colleagues to continue their reunion in private.