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Title: Oh Dear Lord! 1/2 Giles woke to a ringing telephone. He peered blearily at the alarm clock and groaned when he realized it was only six thirty in the morning. "Good lord," he mumbled. "Who on earth would be ringing at this hour?" Since the only way he could find out was to pick up the phone, he did. "Hello? Yes?" Instead of an answering voice, he heard the familiar strains of The Beatles:
The recording clicked off and was replaced by someone doing a very poor Indian accent. "Go to the window," it intoned. "If this is somebody wanting to sacrifice me, I think I'll give it a miss, thank you very much." "Just go to the window already," the voice continued dropping the accent. "Xander?" "Take a look and see." The line clicked dead. Giles hung up, reached for his glasses and draped his robe around his shoulders. He hurried to the window and looked out. His mouth opened in surprise, then widened into a delighted grin. He raced for the door. "Oh dear lord! I don't believe it; you're all here!" Anya ran to Giles and flung her arms wildly around him. As soon as he'd extricated himself from the embrace, Xander came forward and hugged him. Next came Willow then Dawn. Giles was saddened to note that Tara wasn't there. He looked for a long moment at Buffy, unsure how she was going to respond to him. He held out a hand to her. "Are you all right?" he asked when she hesitated. "I missed you." "I'm right here." Seconds later, she was in his arms. This time she even remembered to reign in her Slayer strength. The embrace continued for a long time. At last, they pulled apart, blushing, when Xander cleared his throat. "S - sorry," Giles stammered to the others. His eyes were drawn to Buffy again. "You cut your hair." Buffy put an embarrassed hand to her shorn locks. "Yeah. It was a sort of spur of the moment decision." "I like it. It's very pretty." They smiled at one another. "I still can't believe you're here," Giles said. "A - all of you...are here." "It's your birthday," Dawn piped up. "We wanted to surprise you. Besides, who could pass up a chance to give you a spanking?" The others looked at her in dismay. "What? Birthday spankings? Tradition? And just think how many whacks we'd get. Don't tell me you weren't all thinking the same thing." The silence grew uncomfortable. "Well, be that as it may," Giles hedged as he sat down in an armchair that afforded little room for attack, "I still can't quite imagine how you're here." "Group effort," Willow answered. "Xander got a big Christmas bonus, and my parents decided to give me a big ol' check for Hanukkah, and Dawn put in half her Christmas check from her dad - she'd have put the whole thing but Buffy wouldn't let her since it's supposed to be for her education and stuff - and Anya gave herself bonuses at the shop for Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, Saturnalia and the hell of it, and well, here we are." "And how long are you staying?" "A week," Anya supplied. "After that, I need to get back to Sunnydale to the shop. I hired a girl to sell things while I'm away. It's expensive having employees." Giles smiled quietly at them all. "I still can't quite believe this. Thank you." "You can thank us after you spend a week tripping over us," Xander quipped. "The getting here and back didn't leave us much moolah for hotel staying. I hope you don't mind too much." Giles actually grinned. "It'll feel like old times. Would you all like some tea?" The others nodded. "I'll help," Buffy volunteered. As the pair moved about the kitchen, automatically accommodating one anothers' movements, Giles kept looking at Buffy. And she kept catching him looking at her. "It's the hair. You hate it." "No, no, it isn't that at all. All right, it'll take some getting used to, but that's really not it." "Then what is?" "You. You've changed since I've been gone and it isn't just the hair." Buffy screwed the lid onto the teaball and closed the tin of tea. "You're right, Giles. There've been changes, inside and out. Some big some small. Most of them pretty unexpected." "Would you like to talk about them?" She poured the boiling water into the teapot and stood quietly for a moment. "Not right now. Later. Maybe tonight? Right now, I sort of want to pretend nothing ever changed at all for a couple hours. Is that okay?" Giles smiled and placed a warm hand on her shoulder. "We can pretend for a little while." He smiled at her and placed a plate of cookies on the tray. "But not too long, Buffy." "I know. Tonight. We can have a real talk tonight." ***** The day passed happily for the little crew. Willow asked a million questions about the history of the area, Anya told them all about an unfaithful man who had lived in Giles' home in the early Nineteenth century, Xander inspected the woodwork, Dawn asked if there were any cool hauntings in the area, and Buffy sat the entire time at Giles' feet - ostensibly because there were no chairs left - and drank in his presence. From time to time, Giles looked down and every time Buffy was looking intently at him. As time wore on, Giles made dinner for them and arranged who would sleep where. Shortly after dinnertime, there was nothing pressing left to do. Buffy pulled on her jacket and cocked her head at Giles. "Wanna take a walk?" "Of course," he replied, snatching up a handful of stakes from a drawer of his desk. The pair retreated into the night as the others watched. "Do you think it will work?" Dawn asked anxiously. "I sure hope so," Xander said. "I think they both want it," Willow added. Anya shrugged. "If they want a double wedding, that's not acceptable. I finally figured out the seating arrangements for the reception. But I hope it works."
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