"W-we were, um. We were..."
"Exchanging spit?"
He glared at Xander. "Yes, well, I wouldn’t have put it quite like that."
"Whatever."
They continued to stare at him. He couldn’t tell how they felt. Were they angry? Did they despise him?
Buffy moved forward. "Willow?"
Willow looked upset. Hurt. "How could you?"
"Willow, I -"
"How could you not tell me how you felt? I told you about all my feelings. I even told you when I had a crush on Giles."
"Wh-what?" Giles didn’t know if he could take many more shocks.
"You had a crush on Giles?" Xander looked towards the Watcher. "What is your secret? If we bottled it, we’d make a fortune."
"Y-you, um, you had a crush on me?"
Willow and Buffy exchanged a smile. "Only a little one. For a couple of weeks, or months."
Giles tried to remember a time when Willow had acted differently. He didn’t notice the goofy smile on his face. "When?"
"Giles! I really don’t want to talk about your other conquests tonight."
He managed to look suitably contrite. "Yes. Yes, right. Um. Neither of you appear upset about what you saw."
"Well, now I know why Willow wasn’t. But, no. It just seemed right. The two of you. Last year, or even a couple of months ago, I would have wigged. Now. It’s cool."
"Ditto."
Both Giles and Buffy realised exactly how lucky they were to have these special people as their friends. They looked at them with real gratitude.
"I, um, have to go - somewhere. I won’t be too long."
"Rupert?" She couldn’t hide her concern. "Will you be allright?" His affirmative nod reassured her. "Good luck." She held his warming smile close to her as he left the library.
Xander looked at the Slayer. "Where’s he going?"
"To destroy a monster. One that’s beaten us both before."
