Title: In Giles' Living Room 2/3
Author: K.V. Wylie
Disclaimer: Permission to use these characters relating to BtVS & AtS, has not been given. Joss, Twentieth Century Fox, UPN, WB & Mutant Enemy own TM and copyrighted them. This is purely for fun, and no copyright infringement is intended

"My daughter wishes to stay at the dormitory tonight," Ira said, as Giles let him into the apartment. "I thought she would understand, seeing as there is the young woman with whom she is involved." Ira had waited at his home all day for Willow, and finally received a phone call after dinner.

"I'm sorry," Giles said.

"No, Rupert. No child wishes to see their parents part, but I'd hoped this would be easier as she knows and cares about you."

"Perhaps she is feeling betrayed. She was here this past week and I didn't say anything."

"I'm her father. The unpleasant job should be mine," Ira said.

"I did offer to share that particular job with you."

Ira smiled. "So you did."

They kissed, then Ira looked past Giles, at several objects on a table.

"What are those?"

"I'm not sure. They were pulled up by workmen where Gulch Road is being expanded. Xander brought them over."

Ira picked up one of the objects, eyed it, then put on his glasses, sat down by a lamp, and studied it more closely. Giles took a chair across from him, and the evening progressed as so many other familiar evenings had gone between them.

Last year, during a similar night, Ira had said, "I think the two of us must be as ancient as these vases." This when they discovered they could read each other's esoteric scribbled notes. Giles had laughed at the comment, not minding feeling his age for once in his life, and happy with the fact that there was one person in all the world who understood that it might take ten hours to decipher a single row of letters, and that those ten hours were well spent.

Merrick had considered Giles' ability to lose himself in ages past an escape, akin to the escape provided by alcohol. And Giles, seeing a grain of truth in the statement, took it to mean that he was neglecting his training as a Watcher. He threw himself into his official duties with such singular intensity that it took fifteen years away from Merrick before Giles would even admit to people where his degrees lay. His Ph.D. and Masters became, as the ditty went, dirty little secrets.

Ira Rosenberg was the first man Giles had met with the same academic background as himself. Ira was above board with it though. He'd published papers, given lectures, and taught at schools around the world. He lived Giles' stifled hopes.

Ira broke Giles' wandering thoughts by saying out of the blue, "You're closer to my daughter than I am."

"I'm no judge," Giles said uneasily. Joyce had charged him with the same thing, the summer Buffy had run away. And Joyce had been acutely brutal about it.

However, Ira was looking at him without accusation. "Miss Summers was the one who called me tonight to let me know where my daughter was staying. I think she is volunteering to be a fence mender. She suggested meeting on neutral ground."

"Neutral ground where?"

Ira shrugged. "She didn't say. You know my daughter. What are her interests?"

"Wicca, computers, and her friend Tara."

"Wicca? Is that not witchcraft?"

"Ira, you've seen the crap I have around here. I suspect Willow has much of the same."

"Do you…..cast spells?"

"I try to avoid it, though I'm tempted to do something about the Teletubbie invasion," Giles said, trying to keep his tone nonchalant. The other man actually looked alarmed. "What about the fall exhibition at the fairgrounds? That might serve as neutral territory."

"If you are free, we could take both women there after their classes tomorrow."

"Wouldn't you rather go with Willow alone?"

Ira gave Giles a pointed look. "So that I can spend hours wandering through animal pens with a woman who isn't speaking to me?"

"I don't think your daughter is speaking to me either, so I'm not sure I care to go."

"I'm willing to…..persuade you."

Giles caught the twinkle in the other man's eyes. "The point is," he started, but he had no point, other than he didn't want to get in the middle of parents and their children anymore. However, if Buffy was going, he was not ashamed to admit (to himself) that he was willing to put her between him and the worst of this particular situation. True, she was innocent of this fallout, but hadn't she offered to be the fence mender?

"All right, we'll go and look at the animals," Giles said reluctantly. "After due persuasion, of course."

Ira smiled. He went to put down the object he'd been examining when he noticed a depression in a crust of dirt.

Giles handed Ira a small brush. "What is it?"

"Writing." Ira carefully swept the soil away. "Lateor praemanc."

"Hidden expecting?" Giles queried. The two men's heads bent together.

"And over here," Ira turned the object around. "Edistesc."

"Eminence," Giles murmured.

The item looked like a grimy tulip bulb made of clay, though it was much heavier. Ira handed it to Giles. "The writing pertains to something inside. Where is Gulch Road being expanded?"

"Just past Highway Sixteen, where it widens towards Mirror Basin."

Ira frowned. "I can't think of anything outstanding about the area. There were farms there for centuries. I'll look up the names of the families who resided there."

"Tomorrow." Giles put the bulb on a table. "Right now I'd rather strip off some of your dignity."

After the day they'd had, Ira's laughter felt like rain after a heat wave. He turned off the lamp, then stood and offered his hand to Giles. "Let's go upstairs then, Rupert."

<<<>>>

Xander looked as if he didn't know whether or not to laugh. "No way," he said.

"It's true," Buffy said.

"Giles and Willow's dad?" Xander shook his head. "No way."

"I don't know what the big deal is," Anya mused, idly watching people wander around them. Apparently fall fairs were *the* events to go to, in California. The exhibition grounds were packed. "All it means is that they get together for conversation and sex. Is that candy floss?" She waved down a passing vendor. "Buy some for me, Xander."

"Anya!" Buffy said in irritation, feeling Willow tense beside her at the three-letter "s" word. She'd had enough trouble getting Willow here, and she'd hoped Xander would offer Will some support. She should have expected that Xander would bring his girlfriend.

As Xander distractedly pulled out some money, he shook his head harder. "Buffy, you must have heard wrong. Willow's dad is like super-Rabbi. There's no way that he would--"

"Jewish people like sex too, and so do old men," Anya cut in, after trying some of the candy floss. She grinned. "It turns to sugar in your mouth."

The vendor, who happened to be an elderly man, gave them a strange look. "Oy vey," he sighed as he pushed his cart back into the crowd.

"I didn't hear wrong," Buffy insisted. "Look, they're going to be here soon. I told Giles three o'clock."

"And how are we supposed to act?" Xander said, sounding panicked. "Do you have any idea what Willow's dad is like, Buffy? The faces on Mount Rushmore are more bendable than he is. And there's that look of annihilation he makes when he's angry. When he was teaching overseas, he stared down Queen Elizabeth *and* every single Russian leader since nineteen sixty-seven." He wheeled around at the sound of laughter behind him, and yelled, "Hey! What are you laughing at? You think this is funny?"

A man dressed as a giant chipmunk put down the balloons he was holding, and yelled back threateningly, "You got a problem?"

"Nope. No problem," Buffy said, steering her friends several feet away. "Guys, we're just going to spend a few hours petting the goats and eating sausage."

"My father doesn't eat sausage," Willow said uncomfortably. "Because of the pork. I don't think he cares for goats either."

"I think there are sheep," Buffy tried. "The thing is just to get used to things, you know? Spend a few hours hanging."

"Look!" Anya cried, entirely uninterested in the conversation. "Ring Toss! Win a teddy bear for me, Xander, and not one of those tiny ones either. One of the big green ones."

"The game is unwinnable," Xander replied.

Anya eyed a man in a ski jacket throwing a ring. "Circular, plastic devices you throw over empty glass bottle necks. It doesn't look unmanageable. I want a green bear."

"Anya, believe me. No one ever--"

Xander was interrupted by loud rings and flashing lights. The man in the ski jacket whooped a couple of times as he was given a large teddy bear.

Taking a breath, Xander said, "They do that once in a blue moon just to *make* people think the game isn't rigged. You won't see that happen again."

The lights flashed once more. The bells sounded, and an excited three-year old was given a huge stuffed duck.

Anya crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow.

Uneasily, Xander said, "Buffy will do it."

Buffy sighed loudly. "Every year it's the same."

"Every year what is the same?" came Giles' voice.

Buffy glanced behind her and saw Giles and Ira Rosenberg approaching. Willow moved until Buffy was between her and the men.

"Just because I'm the Slayer, I'm supposed to win prizes for everyone every year," she complained.

"Hello, Miss Summers." Ira peered around Buffy and added, "Hello, Willow."

"Hi," Willow mumbled.

Anya gave Ira a complete up and down look. "This is your father?" she asked Willow. "I suppose it's not too farfetched to think of he and Giles lifting their shirttails." To Giles, she said, "You have more orgasm friends than any of us. When Xander is old like you, I'll have to remember not to leave him alone with either women *or* men."

"Well, *that* only took two seconds," Giles murmured, putting a hand to his forehead as Xander made a choked sound.

In a subdued voice, Ira asked, "Mr. Harris, who is this young lady beside you?"

"This is my girlfriend, Anya. Sir." Xander swallowed.

"Ah," Ira said. "Anyanka. The vengeance demon."

"Former," Xander said hastily.

With a happy, oblivious grin, Anya said, "I'm a working girl with a place in society and responsibilities and an alarm clock. Which I actually use."

Xander turned to Giles. "So, you are…..I mean, um, how long have…..um…..that is, it's ok by me if…..not that you probably care what I…..oh, congratulations. Anya, let's go play Ring Toss." Xander grabbed Anya's hand and disappeared.

"Thanks for the support!" Buffy shouted at his retreating form.

"Anytime!" came a faint reply.

Ira took a step towards Willow. "We passed the Fish Pond, coming in. Would you like to play it? It used to be your favourite game."

His tone was gentle. Hearing it, Buffy nudged Willow. "Sounds like fun, Will."

"No thanks," Willow mumbled.

Ira tried again. "Is Tara well? I'd hoped she would be able to join us."

"She's fine. She has French Lit at five-thirty," Willow said to the bottom of a fence post.

Then, despite the roaring circus music, shrill noises from the arcade, and shouts and calls from people around them, they fell into an awkward silence. It broke when Giles spoke a heartfelt, "Thank God," and accosted a candy apple seller. He didn't bother to ask; he simply bought everyone an apple.

"I've a mind to win something there," Giles said, nodding at a booth where arrows and bows were used to hit targets.

"Me too," Buffy said, taking his arm. As they were lining up their arrows, Buffy said, "We're ditching Willow."

"You're ditching Willow," Giles corrected. He gave her a challenging look as he raised his bow. "Ready?"

"I'm the Slayer. I'm always ready."

"Is that a yes?" But he didn't wait for her. All three of his arrows hit the centre of the bulls-eye. She did the same on her own target, causing the carnie to eye them suspiciously. He handed them stuffed snakes before scrutinizing the bows carefully.

They went to the next booth, a ridiculously easy (for them) dart throwing game. As Buffy popped a fifth balloon with her dart, she said, "What's he like Giles? Xander calls him super-Rabbi."

"I haven't encountered *that*, but he does take his faith seriously."

"Xander says he can outstare Queen Elizabeth."

Giles laughed so hard, his dart went wild and impaled a kewpie doll in the face. Several of the game's patrons gave him horrified looks.

"Time to move on," Buffy said, taking his hand and leading him to the next booth.

"You didn't get your prize," he said.

"You're stalling. Does he have a stare of doom?"

"Not that I've seen," Giles replied, still chuckling. Then, surprising both of them, he added softly, "Though he does have beautiful eyes."

Buffy smiled delightedly. "Did I just hear you right?" she teased. "Did the stuffed-shirtedness slip a little there, Giles?"

"Your throw," he said, handing her a basketball.

She stopped talking long enough to sink six baskets in a row and earn another stuffed creature.

"Platypus?" she asked.

"It looks like a demon, but I believe it's supposed to be Elmo."

"Who?"

"The muppet from Sesame Street."

Buffy gave it to him. "You forget. I was busy going to school last year. I didn't spend all day watching preschool television."

"Yes, let's keep reminding me of my lost year."

She laughed as she handed him a tiny fishing pole. "We're finally at a game you can best me at."

As he lowered his rod, he glanced back. "This is the game Willow likes?"

"It's the first place she hits every year." Buffy followed the direction of his gaze. Willow and her father were still standing where they'd left them.

"You haven't answered my question," she said. "What is Willow's dad like?"

It took Giles a few minutes to answer. From the changing expressions on his face, Buffy surmised he considered several responses, but rejected them. At last he said, "He's lovely."

Buffy studied him thoughtfully.

His line caught one of the tokens in the brackish water. Unfortunately, it redeemed for a goldfish in a leaky bag. Giles discreetly 'forgot' it on the counter.

They strolled on, passing kiddie rides and a merry-go-round. Giles paused at some animal pens. "These pigs are, ah….."

"Cool!" Buffy leaned over a fence. "They're dressed up."

Over a pig wearing a huge feathered and velvet hat was a placard which read The Earl of Oinkdom. A sow in a black dress and short blonde wig had been given the name The Swine of Music. Another one, in purple goth gear and a punk wig, was Babe's Evil Twin.

"Every time I think there is nothing I haven't seen in America, something like this appears," Giles mused.

"Hey, Giles, let's go through that!" Buffy grabbed his sleeve and dragged him towards a ride called Poltergeist House.

"Wouldn't you rather go on the merry-go-round?" he asked, eyeing the small cars that jostled riders through the attraction.

"No, it keeps playing a garish version of Bang Shang-a-Lang. I'd rather go on this one."

Sighing, he bought tickets and got in a car with her.

"Off to get scared," she laughed. Giles, trying to find a position that didn't put his knees right up under his chin, sighed more loudly.

"Sssh." She gave him a swat as the car bumped forward towards cardboard poltergeists.

<<<>>>

NEXT