'*~*
The first time he'd attempted to leave Davinia, Giles had failed. He blamed his lapse on her insistence that he needed a clean shirt. She'd risen from the bed with the sheet trailing behind her like the train of a bridal gown. Tendrils of coppery hair had fallen from her braid and there was a collar of red bruises around her neck—all from his ill use of her body. The sight of her in that state hit him like an unexpected wave and he nearly toppled. When she’d handed him the button-down, he'd kissed her again to keep from crying. She'd started to undress him without breaking the kiss. He let her, because there was nothing else to hide. Then he gave her what was left of himself.
That was over, though.
It was plain by the rigid set of her shoulders Davinia was pretending to be asleep. Perhaps she was trying to make things easier on him, but it only served to make him feel worse. He crawled off of the mattress and scooped up his clothes. As he tugged on the striped, Oxford shirt she'd chosen for him, he noticed it smelled of sweet starch, like Necco wafers.
"Davinia," he said.
She didn't stir, yet somehow she seemed to move further away. He waited for a breath.
"Please don't ask," she said.
The bottom of his stomach dropped down to his feet, landing with a sad, dry sigh. He didn't have it in him to give her a response with either jagged wit or reassuring blandishments. There was just nothing now.
He finished dressing and slipped out into the hallway, noticing immediately how unnervingly quiet it was in the corridor. His sense of alarm intensified as he passed by the kitchen and saw Eddie soundlessly munching on a bowl of cereal. For a moment, Giles feared he'd gone deaf. When he crossed the threshold and joined the young man, Giles could suddenly hear the clang of the spoon against the ceramic bowl.
"What's going on?" Giles asked.
"Kashi. I ate all the Fruit Loops last night."
"Urm, I meant—there seems to be an odd phenomenon—"
"Before he fell asleep, I asked Andrew to cast a dampening spell. It isolates noises to the room in which they occur. I figured it would be better for all of us, since voices carry."
"Yes, quite," Giles said, as he took off his glasses and plucked a handkerchief from his pocket.
"No problem." Eddie set his spoon down and gave Giles the full impact of his dark, brown eyes. "There are some things that should stay private, don’t you think?”
“Indeed,” Giles said. He returned his spectacles to their proper place and gave Eddie a slight bow as he headed toward the bathroom. “Thank you.” The words seemed inadequate given that Eddie had preserved the last tatter of Giles’ dignity.
“No problem.”
Eddie gave him a short, wry smile and returned to his food.
~*~*~
The car ride back to Dav’s was turning out to be super-epic-awkward. Spike held Buffy’s hand the whole time and he kept casting her sidelong glances that seemed to ask, 'Are you getting a load of this?' From the moment they got on the road, Xander hadn't stopped talking about Willow and their fantasy wedding. The fawning had gone on so long that Spike had gotten bored of making lewd, mocking hand gestures.
“Of course we’re not getting married until I get her a ring and convert,” Xander said.
“Xan, you don’t have to convert--that’s nuts--and I’m not in any rush to make this official.”
“Come on, I’m not going to spend the rest of my life listening to Ira and Sheila griping about me being your goy toy.”
Willow let out a piping laugh.
“So did you guys get everything you were looking for?” Willow asked.
“Yeah, we did,” Buffy said, glancing down at the container of ashes on her lap.
“Buffster, is it too soon to discuss the next plan of attack? I want you guys to be in the bridal party and that’s not going to work if you’re both on the lam. Temple Beth Israel will probably be free next spring, so if you could be out of mortal peril by then, that’d be tops,” Xander said.
“Um?”
“I think Buffy needs at least one night to decompress,” Willow said. Xander tempted fate by turning his focus from the street to give his fiancee a smile.
“You’re right, Will. I’m just excited. I’ve never been so sure about anything in my life.”
Willow scrunched down in her seat, seemingly humiliated by his zeal. Buffy wondered if Xander's enthusiasm was the product of a botched spell, like the time he tried to make Cordi love him again and turned every girl in town into a murderous nympho. At least neither of them looked violent, but Xander did seem way too shiny and happy. And way, way into floral arrangements. Spike leaned close and whispered in her ear.
“Did someone lobotomize him when we were gone? Maybe replaced the whelp with one of those Stepford robots?”
Buffy arched her eyebrow and shrugged. Then she nuzzled his neck.
"We'll ask Giles, he'll know what to do."
*~*
Giles didn't know what to do. Buffy had been gone for nearly three hours, and he was on the verge of leaving the apartment to search for her. Joyce was used to subsuming her anxiety in mundane action. She was in the kitchen helping Davinia bake bread. Eddie and Andrew, though good people, were far less invested in the situation. They were on the living room couch watching something called "Dawson's Creek." Giles had been moving throughout the flat, never being able to settle in one area for any length of time. The nattering of the television made him want to smash the blasted thing and being near Davinia was killing him. He couldn't bear the way Davinia's voice got higher in his presence or the forced smile upon her face. Instead of looking him in the eye when they had to speak, she'd cast her eyes away demurely and adjust the red scarf tied around her throat. When he filled the kettle for tea, she hid in the pantry. Joyce hadn't seemed to notice anything amiss, but her powers of denial were extraordinary.
As his restlessness took foot, he ran through his threadbare justifications. It had been the reasonable thing to stay behind, in case something went wrong at Walsh's flat and the others needed to be rescued. Reasonable, but so terribly wrong. He hadn't exactly been waiting for their return with bated breath, either. Instead he'd stolen one more moment for himself. Leaving it at the kiss in the pantry would have been better. Davinia would have been able to retain something sweet and loving rather than having to endure the depths of his character. These thoughts preoccupied him as he made another pass by the sectional.
He overheard the boys talking about how dreamy someone named Pacey was, when somone knocked on the door. He ran to answer. Much to Giles' relief, Spike and the children were standing in the hallway, uninjured.
"Buffy," Giles said, hugging his slayer as she stepped inside. In his periphery, he noticed Xander and Willow were clinging to one another like sticky monkeys. Spike closed the door behind them. Xander nuzzled Willow's ear with his nose like he was rooting for truffles; the redhead blushed scarlet and giggled. Spike and Buffy were also discomfited by the couple. Giles felt his pulse leap with anger at the disrespectful public display of affection.
"It's so good to be here," Buffy said as she withdrew, but stood within arm's length.
Eddie and Andrew popped their heads up from behind the couch. Andrew got up from the comfortable seat reluctantly, like someone trying to drag himself out of a pool.
"Hey guys! Let me go get Joyce and Dav," Andrew said, stretching before he sidled off to the hallway.
"Hail the conquering heroes!" Eddie said.
"Not so much, mate. Whole thing was a bit of a bust," Spike said, leaning against the filigreed wall. The former vampire caught his reflection in the pink-framed mirror by the door and a grin passed over his face.
"Someone murdered Maggie Walsh before we got there—like ten minutes before—and stole all of her records. We're thinking cover-up," Buffy said, her fingers skimming through the remains of her hair. Her nervous gesture, and the distance in her eyes when she remembered, yet again, that her hair was gone, broke his heart.
"I had anticipated this situation and unfortunately, our best option may be soliciting asylum from the Watcher's Council."
"Solicit asylum, what does that mean? Like go to England?" Buffy asked. She was searching his face and he couldn't help but feel a pang of regret remembering why she distrusted the council. His hands rested briefly on her shoulders.
"Yes. It would be the safest option. We can't take the chance the government won't be hunting for you and Spike."
"But I'm the Slayer."
"Which makes it imperative your talents aren't warped to someone else's agenda."
Buffy opened her mouth, on the verge of responding, when her attention shifted to something just left of his shoulder.
"Mom!" Buffy said, dashing from him to greet Joyce. Andrew was beside Mrs. Summers. The blond boy smiled when mother and daughter were reunited.
"So what did I miss?" Andrew asked Eddie.
"Evil hell bitch is dead. Buffy and Spike might have to go to England," Eddie said, as he rose and arched his back.
Buffy stood with her arm around Joyce's waist, still in mid-hug.
"There's no way I'm going to let them order me around, like some kind of monkey butler," Buffy said.
"Monkey butler?" Andrew asked.
"Honey, Mr. Giles thinks going to England is the safest bet right now, and so do I."
"But mom, I need to fight this."
"Buffy, you know I'll respect whatever decision you make, but retreat is a valid stratagem in war," Giles said.
"If the council finds Faith, who's to say they won't try to kill her again?" Buffy asked.
"We could skip telling them that part of things—just try to find her on our own," Spike said, unable to stop scrutinizing himself in the mirror.
Willow wrested herself from Xander's attentions to join the conversation.
"Well, what about everybody else? We've all risked our lives," Willow asked.
"Accomodations could be made for the group, though there will undoubtedly be expectations placed upon us."
"Look, whatever Willow decides, I'll go with, but I don't have a passport," Xander said.
"Nor I, obviously, unless Red can magick something up for me," Spike said.
Willow warmed to this suggestion, her eyes bugging and her hands moving from Xander's neck to flutter through the air.
"I could totally find a spell to do that."
"Urm, that's not necessary," Giles said, perhaps too harshly, because Willow quailed at his words and pressed herself closer to Xander. Giles took off his glasses so he wouldn't have to see her big, sad eyes glisten. "There is a coven in Hampton which could teleport the lot of us. Once we're in England, it wouldn't be difficult to procure papers of some kind."
Davinia shuffled in, looking unbearabley small. When she saw Xander wrapped around Willow, she diminished further, receding against the wall like a shadow. Giles became lost to the surrounding conversation in his desire to sweep her into his arms, but he wouldn't permit himself such a thing. Afterall, she'd made it plain—he was leaving and she was not.
Willow had also noticed Davinia and was trying to extricate herself from Xander's grasp, but the boy was utterly oblivious. He kept kissing the tiny redhead's neck even as she tried to swat him away. This observation stuck out through the noise in Giles' head. Xander was wildly clumsy, but never intentionally cruel. There was something wrong with the situation, and Willow's expression told him everything. She'd done something to the young man—something she had not intended. Willow had tinkered in Xander's brain, just as she had wiped away Ethan's memory, but hadn't realized what the consequences would be.
Giles put his glasses back on and the room was suddenly back in sharp focus. He raised his voice above the din.
"There is a great deal to consider. I suggest we have dinner and then make our decisions after a good night's sleep," he said.
"That's an excellent idea, Rupert," Joyce said, taking Buffy's arm. Davinia looked at him, then turned away as though the sight of him hurt. Spike walked by and paused for a moment before him.
"Has my nose always looked like this?" Spike asked.
"Urm? Yes, I believe it has."
"It felt different," Spike said, wandering after the Summers. Andrew and Eddie were at Spike's side.
"I think your nose is great," Andrew said, a bashful smile peeking out.
"Standing right next to you, you little flirt," Eddie said.
"Don't worry, mate. I'm spoken for—"
Giles caught Willow's arm before she and Xander could retire to the kitchen.
"Willow, if you'd be amenable I'd like to attempt a spell to locate Faith. We'd have to leave the safe house to get supplies," Giles said.
She grinned and shrugged out from the weight of Xander's hands. The brunette pouted, but let her go.
"That would be great. Ooh!" she said, tapping Giles' chest, "We could use an array of maps in case she's all international."
"Map array—sounds complicated. While you guys are doing that, I'll be in the pantry eating the rest of the fiddle faddle," Xander said.
"Perfect," Giles said, as he watched the couple go.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks to Puddinhead and Science and Dorian's Kitten.