Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Giles had to admit: enlisting Xander’s help in remodelling the Magic Box had been a very good idea. As he listened to the young man excitedly discuss blueprints and measurements for a set of shelves he was putting together, he marvelled at how far he seemed to have come since Buffy and Willow had started college. It was great that he, too, had found his calling.

“I must say, I’m very impressed,” Giles told him, removing his face mask and laying down the paintbrush he’d been using.

“Yeah,” Xander replied as he carefully slotted the final piece of wood into place. “Carpentry is pretty cool.”

A knock came at the door, and Giles strolled past Tara and Anya to answer it.

“Hi, you two,” he greeted Willow and Buffy. “Come on in.”

“Thank you, kind proprietor,” Willow responded cheerfully. They stepped inside. “Oh wow, this place looks great. I feel like a witch in a magic shop.”

Giles smiled. “Yes, well, Xander has been most helpful in getting everything set up.”

“Uh, excuse me?” Anya called out. “Have I not been helpful? Or is my work not manly enough to get any credit?”

Willow and Tara exchanged amused glances. Xander said, “I’m sure Giles is grateful for everything you’re doing too, An.”

“Of course,” Giles said quickly. “Thank you, Anya. I apologise for the oversight.” He looked at Buffy. “Ready to train?”

“You betcha,” she nodded.

They wandered down to the end of the shop, Xander following behind with interest. Giles pushed open the door to the back room and led them both through.

Buffy gasped as she took in the sights around her. There was a brand new training mat on the floor, a pommel horse, punching bag, dummy and exercise bike, along with a couch and walls adorned with weapons and protection symbols. It was just as Giles had promised. Better.

“Oh my god. Look at this place!” She grinned, then looked at Giles. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“It’s just a start,” he replied, removing his glasses so that he could pull the mask off over his head. “You need a proper space to train, so…”

“I love it,” she said firmly. Walking to the centre of the room, she imagined herself using this incredible new space. “This must have been so much work.”

Xander, who had been lingering in the doorway, suddenly came bounding up to her like an excitable puppy. “I’m the dummy man,” he informed her. “I mean, I made the dummy… The thing that you hit that doesn’t hit back. That, uh, I made.”

“It’s great,” Buffy assured him. “It’s all great. Thank you guys so much.”

“Well, you’ve earned it,” Giles smiled, putting his glasses back on. “Truly.”

Buffy smiled back at him. “Well, I’m gonna go change,” she announced. “Thank you again. This is great, and I just know the shop’s gonna be great too.”

“I certainly hope so,” Giles said. “Xander, have you more to be getting on with while Buffy and I train?”

“Yep. Got more shelves to take care of.” Xander clapped his hands together and gestured toward the door. “I’ll leave you guys to it.”

Buffy tried to catch her breath, lowering herself slowly onto the couch and gratefully accepting the towel Giles flung in her direction. She mopped her brow. “That was… intense. I could really use some water before we get back into it.”

Giles nodded in agreement, panting. “Of course. Let me get you a glass.” He headed for the door. Suddenly feeling dizzy, he hesitated and rubbed his forehead with his palm.

“What’s wrong?” Buffy asked.

“Dizzy spell. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“Maybe we both need water?”

Giles took a deep breath and composed himself, then continued on his way. “Yes. Make that two glasses.”

When he emerged from the training room, he noted how much better he felt already. Probably just needed some air, he thought to himself. Buffy was right: it had been a fairly intense session. He also noted the absence of the other Scoobies and frowned. Had they really been training that long? Perhaps no one had wanted to disturb them. Xander did appear to have made considerable progress with the shelving.

He retrieved two glasses and went back inside to fill them at the sink. Closing the door behind him, he remarked, “It seems we are now alone.” Woah. A strange tingling feeling seemed to creep through his entire body, only this time there was no sensation of dizziness. It was more of a… Nervous energy? Excitement? Both?

As Giles tried to work it out, Buffy stood up and walked slowly towards the centre of the room. “Alone?” she said, still sounding as though she was short of breath. “Good.”

Giles’s heart began to race. Keeping his eyes on her at all times, he wandered over to the sink and placed both glasses down next to it. “I… don’t think I’m thirsty anymore,” he said.

“I am,” Buffy said, continuing to stare at him with a look in her eyes that could only be described as primal. “But not for water.”

“Mm.” Giles lingered by the sink, looking her up and down, increasingly conscious of where a not insignificant portion of his blood supply was now rushing to. “Then what for?”

Buffy smiled and licked her lips. “Come over here and I’ll show you.”

Her words seemed to flip a switch inside him, and he strode across the room to meet her where she stood. In one swift movement, he scooped her up into his arms. She grunted and threw her legs around his waist as he sealed his mouth over hers, then her hands were in his hair while he staggered in the direction of the pommel horse and placed her into a seated position on top of it.

Still kissing her frantically, he unzipped his fly and undid the button of his jeans with a trembling hand. Then he felt Buffy’s own hand on top of his, guiding him to free his now throbbing erection from his underwear. Giles took himself in hand and groaned, breaking their kiss and opening his eyes to realise with barely concealed delight that Buffy had lowered herself off the pommel horse and proceeded to undress from the waist down. Once done, she pulled herself back up, nestled between the handles, and grinned.

Giles gripped Buffy’s hips and guided her onto his cock. She let out a whimper as he began to thrust up into her, again and again, quickly building speed and muffling her increasingly loud moans with his mouth, his kisses every bit as urgent as his thrusts.

Finally, Buffy could take no more. She prised her lips away from his and shouted, “Oh god, Giles!”

“Mm… I know…” he mumbled in between his own moans. “So bloody good…”

“I need… oh god…” Buffy’s panting was becoming more and more desperate.

“Tell me what you need.”

“I need to… you’re gonna make me… oh, fuck!”

Giles felt her internal muscles clench around him, and in that moment he was fairly sure he’d never experienced anything more euphoric — until the rush of his own orgasm, which left him gasping for breath as he slumped against her, one hand on her lower back and the other gripping onto the pommel horse.

Once he’d pulled out, Buffy sat for a moment, legs quivering, before easing herself back onto her feet. “What the fuck was that?” she wondered aloud, reaching down for her discarded underwear with a bemused smile on her face.

The best sex either of us has ever had? Giles wanted to suggest. Instead, he shook his head and proceeded to clean himself up with the nearest towel. “No idea,” was all he could manage. He looked at Buffy — god, she was so incredibly attractive… why had he never considered this before? — and realised that, were it not for the refractory period he now found himself in, he would be all over her for a second time.

And, judging by the way her gaze was fixed on a certain area of his body, she felt the same…

When Buffy arrived at the Magic Box on the morning of the grand opening, she felt more than a little uneasy. It had been two days since her training session with Giles had turned… well… bizarre. She couldn’t make sense of why such feelings of lust had suddenly come over her; less so why they’d been so readily reciprocated by Giles without so much as a discussion. But the weirdest part was how normal she’d felt about the whole thing afterwards. That is, until they’d dressed themselves and left.

Since then, the more Buffy thought about it, the weirder and more embarrassed she felt, and she hoped Giles would be feeling the very same. She’d decided she needed to talk to him before anyone else arrived.

The shop bell jingled when she walked in. Thank god, there didn’t seem to be anyone else here, she thought as she looked around. Then she saw Giles in… a wizard costume?

“Buffy…” He cleared his throat and hastily removed his hat and cloak. “I, uh… I was just…”

“I get it. It’s a magic shop, you’re a wizard. Makes sense.”

Giles smiled sheepishly as she sat down in a chair next to the counter. “Where are all the customers?” she asked.

“Good question. We’ve been open since nine, and so far, not a soul. Still, not to worry. I’ve got good feelings about this place. Magic’s a small niche market, but, um… Well, think about it. Sunnydale. Monsters. Supply and demand. They’ll be lining up around the block in no time.”

As she listened, Buffy found herself studying Giles’s mannerisms in a way she never had before, wondering if she might be able to summon even a little of the intense attraction she’d felt towards him the other day. So far, she felt just the same as always. He was… well, Giles. She couldn’t reconcile that with the fact that he’d made her feel so damn… good.

Now he was looking at her with a somewhat awkward expression. “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I get the impression you’re not here to talk shop, as it were.”

“Not really,” Buffy confirmed. “Giles, I gotta be honest. I have no clue what happened in training the other day. I just… came onto you, or something, and I don’t really understand how we ended up…”

Giles shook his head. “I don’t think either one of us instigated it, Buffy. It just sort of… happened.”

“It doesn’t really make any sense,” Buffy said. “One minute we were training — or trying to — and the next, we’re…” She sighed. “…Doing it on the pommel horse…”

“I know…” Giles cringed, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes. “I don’t know how to explain it either. All I can say for certain is that I felt rather strange, and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there was this… well… desire.” He looked at her. “Which — dare I say it — appeared to be the case for you, too?

She nodded, a look of embarrassment on her face. “Kind of hard not to notice that, huh?” She shifted in her seat, reluctant to say the words she was thinking out loud, but she knew she had to get it over with if they were to have any chance of moving past this. “It was weird. But, at the time, it was also kind of… great.”

Giles’s mouth fell open — in surprise rather than horror, she hoped — and he fiddled nervously with his glasses before putting them back on. He cleared his throat. “Yes, it… certainly was. H-however, it—”

“It was a moment of madness and should never happen again,” Buffy interrupted.

He nodded enthusiastically. “Exactly.”

“Even though we both liked it.” Buffy gulped, knowing the word ‘liked’ was a pretty big understatement. “But, you know, I don’t think we have anything to worry about. We did something kinda crazy, got… whatever it was… out of our system, and that’s it. Right?”

“Right,” Giles said. “We’ve both been under a lot of stress lately. You have a lot going on, with college and family life, and I’ve got the shop… Let’s chalk it up to a bizarre experience.”

“Good. Okay.” Buffy forced a smile. There were still so many questions; about the intensity of their mutual desire, and why it seemed to have fizzled out so quickly. But she decided it was best to file them away for now. After all, they’d both concluded it was a mistake, so there was no way it was going to happen again.

Giles was starting to wish he could go home and curl up with a good book and a cup of tea. Or a very large whiskey.

The initial excitement of having real live customers come into the shop and actually give him money was wearing thin. While business was undoubtedly booming after a rocky start, he was feeling a tad overwhelmed.

“Xander… There’s too many of them,” he stammered. “People. A-and they all seem to want things.”

“I hear ya,” Xander reassured him. “Stay British. You’ll be okay.”

Deep breaths, Giles told himself, looking around at the Scoobies who were doing their best to be as helpful as possible. Anya, though, wasn’t doing his nerves any favours by telling each and every customer she served to “Please go.” Xander’s suggestion that she try “Have a nice day” instead was met with the reply: “But I have their money. Who cares what kind of day they have?”

He wished Buffy were here to help lighten the load, but after their conversation earlier she’d muttered something about having “things to do” before she went out on patrol that night. Giles hoped she hadn’t simply been trying to avoid him; he thought they’d cleared the air.

When closing time finally arrived, the gang sat sprawled out around the table, exhausted.

“I think I liked it better when demons would just crash in here and tear the place apart,” Giles mused, sitting back in his chair, utterly drained. “Just seemed so much simpler.”

The only person who didn’t seem to be remotely tired was Anya. Her complete lack of regard for social niceties notwithstanding, she certainly seemed to possess business acumen. As Giles watched her behind the counter, talking about raising the prices of the most popular products, he found himself offering her a permanent job. Clearly, after today, he was going to need an employee.

The Scoobies headed for home, Giles staying behind to take care of a few admin tasks before locking up for the night. The phone rang and he answered it. It was Buffy.

“Hey. I hoped I’d catch you. How was your first day?”

“Good.” Giles was relieved to know she wasn’t avoiding him. “Rather overwhelming at times, but we are officially earning money. Oh, and I’ve employed Anya.”

“Wow. Cool. I can picture you two driving each other crazy, though. Can I have a front-row seat?”

“I may have to ask you to referee.”

“I think I’ll leave that to Xander. It’s much more fun.” Buffy changed tone. “I’m sorry I left you guys hanging.”

“That’s quite alright,” Giles said. “How was patrol?”

“Okay…” She didn’t sound convinced, then he heard her sigh. “Well, not that great, actually. That’s kind of why I called. I wasn’t quite… ‘on it’, tonight.”

“What do you mean?”

“I got beat up. A lot more than usual. I don’t know, it was like my reactions weren’t quick enough. Something didn’t feel right.”

“I see.” Giles paused. That didn’t sound good. “Are you still free for training tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Come by as planned. We’ll put our heads together and try to make some sense of this.”

The next day, Buffy was startled to see a ‘Closed’ sign displayed on the Magic Box’s door. Surely Giles hadn’t forgotten about their appointment? She knocked, and within seconds the door had opened just enough for her to see Giles’s face peering through.

“Okay, that’s not creepy at all,” she remarked as he swung the door open wider and stood to one side, allowing her through.

“Sorry,” he replied. “Just checking it was you and not any… unwanted visitors.”

“Otherwise known as customers?” Buffy said, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, I think we can afford to open a little later, since trading was so positive yesterday.”

“Uh, I’m not sure that’s how it works.”

“I know, but needs must. I’d prefer it if you and I could have some… privacy… during training today. No interruptions.” He paused. “And, seeing the look of abject terror on your face, I’ve only just heard that as you must have heard it.”

“Thank god, ‘cause I was about to ask if you’d lost your mind,” Buffy said, dropping her bag on the floor. “It sounded like you actually wanted a repeat performance.”

“Good lord, no,” Giles said, possibly a little too firmly. “I’m merely trying to ensure we have the time and space to work out what’s been going on, particularly with regard to your energy and sharpness. Why last night’s slaying was so challenging for you.” He folded his arms, looking pensive. “Perhaps this is my fault. I may be working you too hard.”

“Yeah, you’re a real slave driver,” Buffy said, quickly adding, “Kidding. Look, Giles, this is not your fault. It was my idea to start taking my training more seriously, remember?”

“Even so… Maybe some slight adjustments to our regimen would be helpful.”

She shrugged. “Has to be worth a try, I guess.”

They’d decided to try it again, exactly as before, without the ensuing interruption from Dawn.

Buffy stood, eyes closed, hands resting on the block, as Giles issued gentle instruction: “There is nothing but you. You are the centre. And within you, there is the core of your being, of what you are.”

Slowly, he circled, his eyes on her at all times. “Find it,” he continued. “Breathe into it. Focus inward. Let the world fall away.”

She opened her eyes and, using all her upper body strength, pushed herself into a handstand, feet facing skyward. Eyes now closed again, she lifted one hand off the block and slowly stretched out her arm. For every second she maintained her balance, she felt stronger; more in tune with herself than she ever had.

When she came back down to earth, she felt adrenaline coursing through her whole body. Her muscles tensed, heart rate increased. She felt alive.

“Good!” Giles exclaimed, clasping his hands together. “How did that feel?”

“Incredible,” Buffy said. It was as though electricity was surging through her veins, and there was no way she was going to stop now. Not while she was in the zone. Picking up the nearby pair of punching mitts and tossing them in Giles’s direction, she said, “Let’s go.”

Their sparring began at a high intensity, Buffy hitting the target every time. “Christ — someone’s on form today,” Giles remarked as he ducked away from a spinning kick.

“Yeah,” Buffy panted. “And someone loves it.” She threw a punch for emphasis, once again connecting with Giles’s left hand.

“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow and took a couple of steps backward, stealing an opportunity to catch his breath. “And by someone, you mean me?”

“Yeah. You love it.” She moved in and managed to sneak another jab. “Admit it. You can’t take your eyes off me. And not just because I’m throwing punches.”

Giles smirked. “Is it that obvious?”

“Uh-huh.” She softened her stance, then slowly walked right up to him and removed each mitt from his hands, one at a time. She tilted her head slightly and looked deep into his eyes. “So. Are we done fighting now?”

Giles nodded and grabbed her waist, pulling her into a searing kiss. She groaned into his mouth when she felt him press his knee between her thighs, and before long she was tugging impatiently at the buckle of his belt. She heard him chuckle slightly.

“What’s so funny?” she asked after breaking the kiss.

“Nothing. Just love how keen you are.”

He focused his attention on her neck while getting to work on his jeans. The sound of his fly being unzipped almost sent Buffy wild with lust, and she tackled him to the floor with her Slayer strength and positioned herself over him, gripping him by the wrists.

She looked down at him, flat on his back and panting desperately, and grinned. “And I love how hard you are,” she purred.

“Oh my god.”

Buffy rolled over onto her back, utterly spent. She was pretty sure she’d just had the orgasm of her life. Not that she had a tendency to rank them or anything, but if she did, that one would definitely go top of the list. With the preceding one — in this very same location, delivered by her very same Watcher — a close second.

“I know. Incredible.” Giles, lying next to her on the floor, shirt open, was as breathless as she was. He touched his bare chest, which was covered with red fingernail marks. “I think you’ve left some evidence behind,” he said with a giggle.

She turned her head to look. “Oops,” she laughed. “Sorry about that. Here…” She shifted in closer and muttered, “Let me kiss it better…”

He sighed approvingly as she peppered kiss after kiss against his sternum, then grinned as her affections travelled further down his torso. “Mm… fairly sure there are no injuries — ah! — down there…”

“Do you care?” Buffy asked, glancing up at his face.

He giggled. “Not really.”

“Good. ‘Cause you’re getting all hot and flustered again and I really need to do something about that.”

Giles moaned deeply as she took him into her mouth. She was a little surprised to hear and feel the effect she was having on him, considering what they’d just done minutes before, but she must have underestimated this man’s stamina. The noises he was making soon had her equally aroused, and before long she realised she was touching herself while continuing to work him over with her lips and tongue.

He came with a forceful thrust, his back arching upward, and when he’d finally regained some composure after she released him from her mouth, he noticed what else she’d been doing and propped himself up on his elbow.

“Need a hand?”

She smiled and nodded, letting his fingers envelop her. She threw her head back, mouth open, and clasped her hand over his as he vigorously rubbed her until she let out an ecstatic cry.< /p>

Gasping for breath once again, Buffy shook her head. “Wow. I gotta say… you are one heck of a sparring partner, Mr. Giles.”

Giles smirked. “Is that what you’d call it?”

They were suddenly distracted by the sound of someone hammering loudly on the door of the Magic Box. Giles sighed. “Suppose it’s about time I opened up.” He went to pull himself to his feet, and Buffy grabbed his arm.

“Do you have to?” she whined. “I don’t know about you, but I could sure go another round…”

He sniggered. “I’d love to, but I think I need some recovery time.”

She watched with a mixture of longing and disappointment as he hastily dressed himself, then moved towards the training room door. Looking back over his shoulder, he gazed at her still naked form and smiled.

“I don’t get it,” Anya said with a frown after Giles answered the door and let her into the shop. “First you tell me we’re opening late. Then when I turn up at the time you told me to, the door’s still locked. Is this some weird thing humans do when they want to fire someone?”

Giles sighed and flattened his dishevelled hair with his palm. “I don’t want to fire you, Anya. Buffy and I merely lost track of time. I’m sorry.”

“Okay, well, don’t make a habit of it. I know Slayer training is important and all, but some of us have jobs to do and customers to serve. While pretending to care about their day. Xander says I should work on that.”

“Hm, yes, that would be ideal,” Giles agreed.

Buffy emerged from the training room. With a quick glance in Giles’s direction, she pushed her hair back from her face.

“Oh, Buffy, hi,” Anya said. “How was training?” She looked her up and down, and pointed at her. “You’ve got… orgasm face.”

Buffy froze, while Giles felt his throat tighten.

“What?!”

“Orgasm face,” Anya repeated. “You’re all flushed. That’s exactly how Xander looks after we—”

“I don’t need to hear about that,” Buffy blurted out, waving her hand. “Anyway, of course I’m gonna look flushed after training.”

“If you say so.” Anya looked at Giles, who now felt rather faint and was gripping the edge of the counter for dear life. “You don’t look flushed at all. Clearly you haven’t had any orgasms for a really long time.”

He swallowed hard as Buffy gave him an urgent look. “Y-yes, um… thank you for the observation,” he said weakly.

“For a second there, I thought you two were sex friends now,” Anya continued. “But obviously not.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Buffy scoffed. “That’s just gross.” Ignoring Giles’s raised eyebrow, she sauntered over to the counter and said, loudly enough for Anya to hear, “Can we have a quick debrief on the training?”

Anya sighed. “Honestly, I seem to be the only one doing any real work around here.”

“Of course,” Giles replied. “We’ll just be five minutes, Anya.”

He followed Buffy to the storage room and shut the door behind him. “Gross?” He folded his arms, offended.

“Oh, come on. I had to say something,” Buffy protested. “Anyway, you’re seriously telling me you’re not just a little bit disturbed by all of this?”

“Well, of course I am. I certainly didn’t expect any of that to happen again. And clearly you didn’t either.”

Buffy let out a sigh of frustration and buried her head in her hands. “Giles, what is going on with us? Why does this keep happening? It’s like, I can’t keep my hands off you and then the second I come out of there, I’m really weirded out by it all.”

Giles straightened up, as though a light had just gone on in his brain. “Yes…” he muttered. “That’s exactly what it’s like for me, too…”

Buffy stared at him, her hands on her hips. “So what are you thinking?”

He slowly began pacing the floor. “I’m thinking… there must be some kind of magical force at work here.” He looked at her. “Why else would you and I be… drawn to one another in such a way, without being able to rationalise it afterwards?”

“Hm.” Buffy absorbed his words. “And how come it’s only happened when we’ve been training?”

“Exactly,” Giles said. “That has to be the key to it all.”

“But it never happened before, so… what’s changed?”

“The location.”

“Okay, so, magic shop equals… magic sex?” She cringed. “I can’t believe I just said that.”

Giles shook his head. “No, it’s not that simple. If that were the case, you and I would be… um… copulating, in here… at every conceivable opportunity.”

Buffy screwed up her face in disgust. “Copulating?”

“I was trying to be tasteful,” Giles replied, exasperated. “Alright then. Shagging, if you’d rather I be British about it.”

“On second thoughts, copulating’s fine,” Buffy muttered, feeling slightly ill. Getting back to the matter at hand, she asked, “So if it’s not that simple, then what?”

“Then it’s not so much the Magic Box itself as the training room. It’s only in that room that these, um… feelings… seem to come to light. And only after we’ve been training.”

Buffy nodded slowly. “And what happened when I was patrolling… You think there’s a link?”

“Perhaps,” Giles said. “It’s quite possible that whatever magic we’re dealing with is draining your resources, making it more difficult for you to carry out your duties.”

“But we don’t know what we’re dealing with. So we need to find out ASAP and stop it. Because if I can’t be the Slayer that Sunnydale needs… then what?”

“It won’t come to that,” Giles tried to reassure her.

“But what if it does?”

“Then we can’t let it,” he said simply. “I’ll consult my books. There has to be an explanation somewhere.”

Chapter Text

Yet another day passed without a solution to their problem, and Giles was becoming increasingly anxious. He’d made a pact with Buffy not to breathe a word to the Scoobies — Anya’s little remark had been an excruciating taster of what would inevitably follow if the others got wind of what was going on — but he wasn’t sure how much longer they could stay silent. Buffy’s unease about her diminished Slayer strength meant she’d been avoiding patrol, and Giles knew it wouldn’t go unnoticed. Then there was the matter of Willow’s skills in the witchcraft department, which it now looked as though they might need to avail of…

Buffy walked into the shop to find him poring over yet another book. “Any luck?” she asked, more out of habit than optimism at this point.

He sighed, removing his glasses. “No. And I must admit, I’m beginning to go rather cross-eyed.” Seeing the frustration on her face, he added tentatively, “I think we, um, may have no choice but to reconsider our earlier agreement. About telling the others.”

“Giles, no. We can’t! If they find out what we’ve done, we’ll never live it down. Never. You know that, right?”

“They’ll understand. You and I both know this is due to forces beyond our control. They will too.”

“That doesn’t matter. They’ll still think it’s weird, and gross.”

“Oh dear lord, if I hear that word one more time, I fear I’ll develop a complex,” Giles muttered. “Look, I’d rather take that risk if it means putting a stop to all this. You cannot avoid your duties forever, and they will start asking questions. Right now we have no idea whether this was caused by a physical object of some kind, or something in the walls themselves, or perhaps something left behind, from previous ownership. Either way, we need to find out if anyone else knows something we don’t.”

She shrugged. “I guess. If we’re really out of other options…”

“I think we may be.” He gave her a sympathetic look. “I know it’s difficult. But we can give them the basic information while sparing them the more, er, salacious details. In fact, I insist we spare them.”

Buffy smiled weakly. “Well that’s something, at least.” She sighed, gearing herself up for what was to come. “Okay then. Let’s get it over with and tell them tonight.”

A hush descended over the Magic Box when Buffy finished explaining the situation. She could barely bring herself to make eye contact with Giles as she anxiously surveyed the faces of everyone around the table. Xander looked like he wanted to erase the last five minutes from his memory, while Willow and Tara sat open-mouthed. In the end it was Anya who broke the silence, as only she could.

“I knew you had orgasm face!”

Xander looked at her, horrified. “I’m sorry. What, now?”

“You know! Orgasm face. The flushing? It happens to you all the time after we have sex.”

Suddenly everyone’s eyes were on Xander. “Gee, thanks for the mental picture nobody wanted,” he protested, then gestured at Buffy and Giles. “Can we please get back to being freaked out by these two?”

“Sure. But you did ask,” Anya said, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, I was about to tell you all that I noticed Buffy’s orgasm face after ‘training’ with Giles.” She made air quotes with her fingers to emphasise the point. “They tried to deny it, but my instincts are usually right.”

“We were training,” Buffy said defensively. “Well. We were trying to. Something just… took over. Controlled us.”

“Yeah. That’s called lust,” Anya replied.

“No! I’m being serious. Giles, tell them.”

“She’s right,” Giles chimed in. “What happened in that training room, happened under the influence of some kind of magic. We don’t know what, exactly. But as a result of our… ahem… activities… Buffy is being sapped of her strength. And I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that the consequences of that are potentially catastrophic.”

Willow turned to Buffy, worried. “So that’s why you haven’t been out on patrol?”

Buffy nodded. “Exactly.”

“Believe me: no one feels more uncomfortable discussing this subject than Buffy and myself,” Giles continued. “However, we have no choice but to involve you all. We need to work out what we’re dealing with, and we can’t do that alone.”

“Willow and I can go through some books?” Tara offered. “Maybe there’s something you might have missed?”

“Yes, that would be most helpful,” Giles said. He turned to Xander. “The materials you sourced for the training room… Did you notice anything strange or unusual, perhaps when you were making the dummy?”

Xander shook his head. “Nope. Nobody had a chance to tamper with it or anything like that.”

“Then it won’t be any particular object…” Giles mused.

“Will — can’t you do a delusting spell or something?” Buffy asked.

“I could try,” Willow said. “But if you guys are only, um… attracted to each other inside the training room, it might not do much good. Besides, the last time I tried to do one of those… well, I never actually got the chance to see it through.” She glanced awkwardly at Xander.

“Let’s run through what we know so far,” Tara said. “The room itself has got some kind of magic attached to it, and it’s feeding off your energy when you train.”

“And that energy then becomes sexual in nature,” Giles added. “It’s as though the room is compelling us to be intimate.”

“And you guys have had so much sex that Buffy’s way too exhausted to fight vamps properly,” Anya said. She looked at Buffy. “That’s a tough trade-off. You have my sympathies.” Taking note of Xander’s bemused expression, she cheerfully explained, “See? I’ve been practising that whole sensitivity thing.”

Buffy nodded politely. “So now we just need to figure out how this happened,” she said, returning to the matter at hand.

There was a knock at the door. Giles frowned. “The sign clearly states we’re closed.” He got up and went to answer it. “Oh,” he said to the unwelcome visitor standing before him. “What are you doing here, Spike?”

“Nice to see you too, Watcher. I was in the area and fancied a chat.”

Giles glared at him. “I’m really rather busy, so if you’ve come here just to waste my time…”

“Relax. I’ve got some news for you.”

“What kind of news?”

“Well, you’ll have to invite me in to find out, won’t you?”

“Will I? In that case, I think I’ll decline.”

“Giles?” Buffy appeared behind him. “What’s going on?”

Spike spotted her over Giles’s shoulder. “Evening, Slayer. I was just trying to persuade your friend here to let me in. He’s gonna want to hear what I’ve got to say. You might, too.”

Buffy narrowed her eyes at him. “And how do I know this isn’t one of your games?”

“You don’t,” Spike shrugged. “But that’s a chance you’re gonna have to take. Or I could walk away and you’ll be none the wiser. Until something bad happens.”

Buffy and Giles looked at each other. She nodded at him, and Giles turned back to Spike. “Fine. Come in.” He held the door open and stood aside.

Spike followed them down to the table where the other Scoobies still sat. “Oh look, the gang’s all here,” he said. “How very cosy.”

Xander stood up suddenly. “What the hell’s he doing here?”

“It’s okay, Xander,” Buffy said as Anya grabbed his arm, encouraging him to sit back down. “Spike has something to tell us. Apparently.”

“I had a feeling you had something to do with this,” Xander said. “So come on, what have you done?”

“Xander…” Buffy hissed.

“What are you going on about?” Spike asked. “I haven’t done anything.”

“Don’t play dumb. We all know you have some kind of weird obsession with Buffy. Is that what this is? You got one of your friends to mess with her and Giles, make them do… stuff… so you can have some power over her?”

“Xander…” Buffy warned him again, louder this time.

Spike stared at him. “First of all, I have no friends. Don’t need ‘em. Secondly, I have no idea what you’re talking about. What do you mean, mess with her and Giles? Do what stuff?” He looked around at everyone’s faces. No one said anything. Then he focused his attention specifically on Buffy and Giles, both of whom now had their eyes fixed firmly on the floor. Giles cleared his throat and removed his glasses. Spike’s jaw dropped.

“You two!” He pointed at them and grinned. “You’ve been having it off, haven’t you?”

“Don’t be so ridiculous,” Giles said feebly. He’d intended to snap, but it came out sounding utterly unconvincing.

“You bloody have! The Slayer and the Watcher. Shagging. There’s a turn up for the books!”

The colour drained from Xander’s face. “So you really… didn’t have anything to do with it, huh.”

“Look,” Buffy said, “something weird has been happening here, okay? Not that it’s any of your business, but me and Giles are under some kind of spell.”

“Is that what you’re calling it?” Spike jeered. “And they say romance is dead!”

“I’m not kidding, Spike. Somebody’s done something to our training room, with magic. Now, clearly it wasn’t you, but I’m thinking you must have some kind of information on who, or what, might be involved.”

Spike’s eyes lit up. “As a matter of fact, Slayer, I think I have a fairly good idea. That’s what I came here to tell you about, see. Rumour has it someone’s been spotted hanging around Sunnydale, looking shifty. Now, I thought I’d do the decent thing and give you a warning, but sounds as though he’s already been up to no good.”

“Pfft! The decent thing…” Xander scoffed. “What’s in it for you?”

“He?” Buffy prompted, ignoring Xander.

“Your old mate,” Spike said to Giles. “Ethan Rayne.”

Giles was livid, but not surprised by the idea of Ethan Rayne managing to escape from detention. The thought had crossed his mind more than once since the Initiative had folded. Even so, he never imagined the man would have the nerve to show his face in Sunnydale again. There was, of course, a chance Ethan had nothing to do with what was happening to him and Buffy… but surely that would be a hell of a coincidence.

“This is giving me flashbacks,” Spike said from the back seat of Giles’s car. “Still. At least you’re not a Fyarl demon this time, eh? And you get a shag out of it, too. Sounds like a far better deal.”

Buffy turned back to glare at him from the passenger seat. “Did we have to bring him along for the ride?” she asked Giles.

“Charming!” Spike said.

“As much as it pains me to say, he has been rather helpful,” Giles admitted. “If it weren’t for him, we may never have known Ethan was anywhere near Sunnydale.”

“Okay, but I don’t trust him,” Buffy said. “It’s Spike. It’s like Xander said: there’s always something in it for him.”

“I love it when you talk about me like I’m not here,” Spike said drily. “Look, I don’t want the guy hanging around, okay? From what I’ve heard, he’s a pain in the arse. And since you agreed to compensate me the last time I helped you track him down…”

“You thought you’d try and get more money out of me?” Giles interrupted.

“Well, you can afford it, can’t you? Being a successful businessman these days, as opposed to—”

“An unemployed librarian, yes, I know.”

“Actually, I was going to say washed-up, but sure. Unemployed it is.”

Giles pulled the car over and parked outside the same bar where he and Ethan had been drinking the night of the Fyarl demon incident.

“You really think he’d come back here and risk being seen?” Buffy asked.

Giles shrugged. “It’s Ethan. If he’s foolish enough to come back to this town in the first place, who’s to say he wouldn’t be foolish enough to drink in the same establishments? Especially if there are pretty waitresses with which to flirt.” He turned back to address Spike. “You say your contacts thought they’d seen him nearby?”

Spike nodded. “That’s what they said.”

“Right.” Giles opened the door and got out of the car. “Stay here and keep watch.”

“Both of us?” Buffy protested, removing her seat belt. “No way. I’m coming with you. Spike can stay.”

“Oh, thanks,” Spike said. “And what if Spike doesn’t want to stay?”

“I’ll pay you double,” Giles offered.

“Fine.” He leaned back in his seat, hands behind his head. “Triple if Mr. Rayne shows his face and I get to him first.”

Buffy got out of the car and walked into the bar with Giles. It was quiet, with just a handful of patrons on stools. She scanned the room and noticed all the booths were empty, except for one. A lone man with a baseball cap pulled down over his eyes — that didn’t look suspicious at all. She nudged Giles with her elbow and nodded towards the booth, and they made their way over. But when they got closer, the man looked up and they realised it wasn’t Ethan.

Giles sighed. “Worth a try.”

Buffy’s eyes widened. “Giles…”

He turned to look behind him at the door of the men’s restroom, which had just opened, and there was Ethan. Time seemed to stand still as he met their eyes and registered their presence, then turned to flee back through the door as Giles charged towards him with Buffy following.

Giles burst in, with just enough time to stop Ethan locking himself inside a toilet cubicle. He grabbed him by the collar and shoved him against the wall.

“Ripper,” he groaned. “Long time no see.”

“Not long enough,” Giles said darkly. “What the hell are you doing here, and why?”

“Well, I came in here for a piss,” Ethan replied with a laugh, which quickly turned to a yelp as Giles tightened his grip.

“I meant in Sunnydale, you berk.”

“Easy.” Ethan clasped his hand over Giles’s fist. “I was only joking. Want to let go of me? Then we can have a proper catch-up.”

“That won’t be happening,” Giles assured him. “Not until you’ve told me what you’re playing at.”

Ethan glanced at Buffy standing behind Giles and smiled. “You’ve got company, I see. Dear oh dear. What’s a young lady doing in the gents’ toilets?”

“Stop playing games, Ethan,” Buffy snapped. “We know you’ve been up to something, and you’re gonna tell us what it is.”

“Just as feisty as I remember,” Ethan sneered. “But oh so grown-up.”

He gasped in pain as Giles pressed him harder against the wall. “One more crude remark from you, and I won’t be responsible for my actions. Now I’ll ask you again: what are you doing back in Sunnydale?”

“Making the most of my newfound freedom. Surely you’ve heard the Initiative is no more? Because from what I heard, you and your Slayer were rather closely involved in the whole process.”

“Of course. But I don’t for one second believe the military just released you. Which means you must have escaped.”

“You always were a clever boy, Ripper.”

“Whereas you clearly never were, if you thought coming back to the scene of your crimes would be a good idea. So much for rehabilitation in Nevada.”

“Now, now,” Ethan said, raising his hands as though to declare his innocence. “Who says I haven’t been rehabilitated? How do you know I’m not a completely reformed character who has seen the error of his ways and is just trying to live a quiet life?”

“Because I know you, and I know the lure of chaos is too tantalising for you to resist.” Seeing that Buffy was guarding the door, Giles let go of Ethan’s shirt while leaving him little room to slip away from the wall. “Now, here’s what’s going to happen. I’m giving you a chance to tell me what spell you’ve put on Buffy and myself, and how and why you did it. Then you’re going to undo it, and if you are suitably cooperative, maybe — just maybe — I might consider not handing you in to the police. Not that you deserve it.”

Ethan looked him in the eye and tilted his head. “You’ve lost me, Ripper. I don’t know what spell you’re referring to — aargh!”

All of a sudden Giles’s hand was on his throat. “You think I won’t kill you? I will.”

“Giles!” Buffy grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away. “Nobody’s getting killed, alright? We need him to come with us.”

Ethan seized his chance and ran out the door. “Shit!” Giles took off after him, with Buffy in hot pursuit. They chased him through the bar and out onto the street, where Buffy noticed that Spike had got out of the car and was standing, ready to pounce. Spotting Ethan, he moved quickly and grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him backwards and locking an arm around his chest to restrain him.

“Bonus payment for catching your fugitive,” he deadpanned.

Giles nodded, catching his breath. “Put him in the car,” he said. “We’re taking him back to the Magic Box.”

Ethan sat back in his chair, arms crossed, smirk spreading over his face. “Well, well. Ripper! You have been a naughty boy. Still, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. You always did have a thing for your Slayer. That much was obvious.”

Giles bristled with irritation. “You just can’t help yourself, can you?”

“Nor can you, it seems,” Ethan taunted him. “Can’t keep your hands off her.”

“Only because you’ve put our training room under some sort of spell,” Giles retorted. “Admit it. You know exactly what you’ve done. Now what I want to know is why.”

“I told you. I have no idea what you’re talking about. If you two can’t resist one another, that’s not my problem. Though I’m sure the Watcher’s Council would have a thing or two to say about it. To be dismissed once, Mr. Giles, may be regarded as a misfortune; to be dismissed twice looks like carelessness…”

“If you’re so innocent, then why did you run?” Buffy demanded. “You can keep lying, Ethan, but we’re not gonna let you leave here until you’ve told us everything. And if you continue being difficult, we can always ask Spike to come back and deal with you. I’m sure he’d be only too happy about it.” She glanced at Giles. They both knew Ethan had no idea about Spike’s inability to hurt a human due to the chip in his head. It was just as well he’d managed to restrain him without it being activated, but then there hadn’t been any intention to harm.

Ethan thought for a moment, then sighed. “I assure you, I didn’t intend for any of this to happen.” He smiled. “But how fun that it has!”

Giles clenched his fist, but Buffy grabbed his arm and held on until he relaxed it. “What were you trying to do?” she asked, as calmly as she could manage.

“I heard about this place being ransacked,” Ethan explained. “And the poor unfortunate owner, killed by vampires. Then I heard you were considering buying it.” He pointed at Giles. “So I knew then it was probably worth sticking around, seeing what might come of it. That’s when I found myself head-hunted by the very vampires who’d broken in.”

“Harmony’s gang,” Buffy muttered. She and Giles glanced at each other.

“That’s the one. Well, this Harmony — lovely name — made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. You know how it is when you’re on the run, hard up for cash. You need to form alliances where you can. She told me about this book they’d taken, about the Slayer, and the plans she had to take her down. Oh, she was quite determined. Said her last plan hadn’t worked out too well and her new one was to do a spell that would sap the Slayer’s strength and energy, bit by bit, until she couldn’t fight anymore.”

Buffy glared at him. “And that’s where you came in. You were actually willing to risk Sunnydale becoming overrun by vampires and demons, all for money.”

“Oh no, not just money,” Ethan said cheerfully. “Freedom. If I could be their eyes and ears and perform the requisite spell—”

“They’d help you stay out of prison,” Giles said.

Ethan shrugged. “Seemed a good deal to me. So when I heard you were constructing a new little project in the back room here… what a gift! Played right into my hands.”

“Well, now you’re going to get back in there and reverse it,” Buffy said. “Because if you don’t, we’ll make sure you never see daylight again.”

“Ah.” Ethan scratched his head. “You see, this is where things become somewhat complicated. If you recall, I said I didn’t intend for this to happen. The spell in question was only ever supposed to weaken the Slayer, when you engaged in your training. It wasn’t supposed to make you come over all… horny. And it wasn’t supposed to have any effect on Ripper.”

“What?” Giles’s voice began to shake with anger. “You are seriously telling us this is all because of a spell you performed by accident? You utter pillock.”

Ethan suddenly seemed a little rattled. His raised his hands and stood up. “Look, I’m sorry, mate. It got out of hand.”

“I’m not your mate!” Giles snarled. “Those days are long gone.”

“Okay, I get it. You’re angry. You have every right to be. But I’m not too sure what I can do about it. It seems I got my wires crossed… mixed up two spells, or did one spell wrong…”

Their heads turned as the shop bell sounded. “Guys!” Willow and Tara burst in, out of breath, carrying several books each in their arms. Seeing Ethan standing there with Giles and Buffy, they froze. “Oh, good!” Willow exclaimed. “You got him. Has he told you anything yet? Because we think we found something. Well, sort of.”

“This spell isn’t exactly the same as what’s been happening to you,” Tara said, laying one of her books on the table and opening the right page for Buffy and Giles to read. “But it’s the closest we’ve been able to find. The sexual compulsions, but without the energy sapping.”

They scanned the text, then looked at each other. “That makes sense,” Buffy said. She looked at Tara and Willow. “Ethan just told us he tried to do a spell from the book Harmony’s gang stole from here. It’s supposed to weaken the Slayer during training.” She narrowed her eyes at Ethan. “But he thinks he did it wrong.”

Tara nodded. “It sounds like it may have combined with this spell. Especially if Giles is affected too.” She slid the book across the table towards Ethan. “Does any of this look familiar to you?” she asked.

He leaned forward and cast his eyes over the incantation, then swallowed hard. “Er, yes… Rings a bell. Read that book myself recently.” He gave Giles a sheepish look. “I-I may have got my words muddled a bit.”

“For fuck’s sake…” Giles muttered under his breath, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes. He turned to Buffy. “What kind of idiot can’t even recite the correct words on a page that is right in front of their face?”

“Well, that’s, uh, just it, you see,” Ethan stammered. “I wrote it down from memory.”

Everyone stared at him, and he shrugged. “The vampires wouldn’t let me have the book! They thought it was too risky bringing it back here, in case I was caught.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. “Well, you really need to work on your memory, ‘cause it sucks. Will? Tara? Do you guys think you can help reverse all of this?”

The girls looked at each other and nodded. “We can try,” Willow said. “Now that we know which two spells we’re dealing with.”

Ethan shuffled nervously. “Well, if you don’t need me anymore…”

“Oh, no you don’t,” Buffy said. “You’re not going anywhere. This is your mess, and you’re gonna stay here and help us clean it up.”

Giles smiled coolly at him. “Come along then. Mate.”

Buffy finished towelling herself off, got changed and packed up her bag, then made her way out into the shop. From behind the counter, Giles looked up and smiled when he saw her.

“Good session today.” “It looks as though things are getting back on track.”

“Yeah. I feel really good,” Buffy replied. “In fact, I think I’m ready to patrol again.”

“I think you’re more than ready,” Giles enthused.

Anya smiled as she listened to their exchange. “It’s nice to hear you two being normal with each other,” she said. “Talking about training and slaying and all that stuff. No grossing everybody out with your sexcapades. It’s like old times.”

Giles grimaced. “Yes, thank you, Anya. No need to keep bringing it up.” Buffy stifled a laugh as he shook his head. “Still. It is nice that things are, uh, resolved now.”

“Totally,” Buffy agreed. “I just wanna forget all about it. Oh, but before we do: what’s gonna happen to Ethan?”

“I don’t think we’ll be seeing or hearing from him any time soon,” Giles said.

“But how can you be so sure? I’m still thinking we should have handed him in while we had the chance. He can’t be trusted. I mean, after everything that happened before, with you and the Fyarl demon thing and the Initiative, and he still came back…”

“Yes, but he knows that if he so much as thinks about trying anything else, we wouldn’t hesitate to hand him in. That, and the fact that Harmony and her stooges now know they can’t trust him either. They’d be first in line for revenge if he ever came back here. And now he can add Spike to his list of enemies too. All in all, I think he may have learnt his lesson.”

Buffy nodded. “Let’s hope so.”

“Trust me, I know Ethan. When all is said and done, he’s a coward.” Giles smirked. “And, dare I say it, I think he may now be a little afraid of me.”

“Hm… Don’t tell Xander, but you’re kind of hot when you’re authoritative,” Anya remarked, raising an eyebrow. “Spell or no spell, I think Buffy should reconsider.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. “Can we not go there again? Anyway, I’ve gotta run. I said I’d meet Willow after training and catch up on college stuff. I’ll see you guys later.”

She left them to it, glad that she’d finally started to feel like her old self again.

Well, almost her old self…

“Damn,” Buffy hissed, cradling her injured left hand. Her first night back out there and she had a pretty nasty-looking wound to show for it. She considered going home to take care of it, but didn’t particularly want her mom to see it and make a fuss. She already had enough on her plate.

Instead, she decided to go to Giles’s place. She’d promised to update him on how things had gone, anyway.

When he answered the door, he took one look at her hand and frowned. “What happened? Are you alright?” He put a hand on her shoulder and gently guided her into the apartment, as though she were having trouble walking.

“I’m fine, Giles. It’s not as bad as it looks. And anyway, it’s my hand — I am still capable of standing.”

“I know. Just thought you might feel faint.” He moved back to give her some space. “It does look quite bad, though. Will you at least let me help you clean and bandage the wound? You don’t want it to become infected.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

Five minutes later he was holding her hand in his, cleansing the wound as gently as he could. Now that most of the blood had been washed away, it didn’t look quite as bad. Even so, Buffy winced slightly when the cloth touched her skin. “Stings,” she said.

“It will, for a while.” Giles carefully patted her hand dry with a clean towel, then proceeded to apply some gauze. He looked up at her. “Be honest. Did you struggle tonight?”

Buffy shook her head. “No. Honestly, it was going really well, until it wasn’t. I don’t know, I think I might have been a little…”

“Overzealous?”

“Yeah. Just a little. I was so excited after training, you know? And relieved that everything was back to normal, after…” She trailed off self-consciously. “But I dusted a few vampires, so it wasn’t all bad.”

“Well, I’m pleased for you,” Giles said, continuing his bandaging. “I apologise if I can come across a little too over-protective sometimes. I’m your Watcher; I want everything to be okay. I want you to be okay.” He paused and looked at her. “I want… us to be okay. Are we?”

Buffy smiled and patted his wrist with her unhurt right hand. “Of course we are. I don’t want anything to be awkward between us or ruin our friendship. And it’s gonna take more than a stupid spell to do that.”

Giles smiled back and wrapped a final layer around her hand, then cut and secured the gauze with tape. “All done,” he announced softly.

“Thank you.” Buffy sat looking at him gratefully as he put the roll of gauze, tape and scissors to one side. He always had her back; made her feel safe. No one else really came close to making her feel like that.

Giles looked up, and his eyes met hers. His gaze lingered a little longer than either of them expected. Then he brought her bandaged hand towards his lips and gently kissed it.

“I-I’m sorry,” he mumbled, registering the surprise on her face. “That was, er… inappropriate.”

Buffy slowly shook her head. “No it wasn’t,” she said. She put her other hand on the back of his neck and leaned in to kiss him. He was quick to reciprocate, parting his lips and sighing softly as he felt her tongue against his.

After a few moments of this, she shifted into his lap and he leaned back against one of the couch cushions while she pulled his open shirt off his shoulders. He dutifully tugged the sleeves from his wrists, then tossed the shirt behind him and lifted both arms to allow Buffy to pull his Henley up and over his head.

He was becoming breathless with arousal, and he sensed she was, too. “Buffy, are you… sure about this?” he asked. He was fairly certain there was no spell involved this time, at least not as far as he was concerned — but he had to make sure the same was true for her.

She looked him right in the eye. “I’m totally sure. Unless you don’t want to?”

Her moment of concern for him was enough of a reassurance, and he shook his head. “Don’t worry. I want this.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him, sweeping his tongue into her open mouth once more as she groaned loudly.

They lay together on the couch, Buffy lightly stroking Giles’s chest.

“Well,” he said, his arm around her shoulder, “that was… unexpected.” She looked up at him, and he added quickly, “But very, very nice.”

She smiled and planted a long, lingering kiss on his lips. “I thought so, too,” she said. She lay her head down against him and sighed. “So what does this actually mean? Because that definitely wasn’t a spell.”

“No,” he said, absent-mindedly tracing circles on her arm with his fingertips. “Truthfully, I don’t know what it means. But I do know that, on this occasion, it felt… right.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Before, it felt like I wasn’t fully in control of my body. There was all this energy that needed to be released. But this time? I didn’t feel that desperate need. I just… wanted you. Does that make sense?”

“It makes perfect sense,” Giles said. “I wanted you too.”

“Good.” Buffy snuggled into him more tightly. “So, do you think maybe you might… want me again, sometime? Not in the training room, though. Workplace etiquette and all.”

“Oh, now you’re concerned about workplace etiquette?” Giles laughed. “I think we’re way past that, don’t you?”

“Yeah. Maybe.” She looked into his eyes. “So is that a ‘yes’?”

“Hm.” Giles pretended to think about it for a little longer than a second, then smiled. “What do you think?” he said, and kissed her again.