TITLE: Everything
AUTHOR: Lily2332
Rating: G
SPOILERS: The Replacement
DISCLAIMER: Not mine, don't sue
FEEDBACK: Yes, please.
NOTES: This is for jbgiles. I tried to be mushy, not sure it worked. J HAPPY BIRTHDAY, J!

Giles tossed his keys onto the counter and turned the light on as he entered the back room of his new business. It felt good to once again have a place to go in the morning, a reason to get out of his apartment.

"Don't be scared, it's just me," he heard a small voice say, and he couldn't help the surge of adrenaline that rushed through his body, or stop the rather loud shout of fright .

Buffy. And, bloody hell, she was giggling. At him, no doubt, and the foolish way that he'd just tossed his belongings all about the room.

"Sorry," she said, not looking very sorry at all from where she sat on the floor. "I hope you don't mind." She brought her knees up to her chin, and sighed. "I just needed to be somewhere...safe, for a while."

He cocked an eyebrow and began retrieving the things that he'd dropped . "Safe, the magic shop? Can I get that in writing?"

"It's your word against mine," she said with mock fervency. "You'll have to break me first." With a coy smile, she added, "The way you broke Toth with your deadly fertility statue."

Giles blushed a deep, adorable shade of red, indignantly replying, "You have no idea what went on when Toth was here."

"Oh, Giles, I do, thanks to your riveting reenactment. I haven't seen so much action since Xander tried to kill that bee." She couldn't help teasing him, and she knew he enjoyed this banter as much as she did.

Giles shoved his hands into his pockets and shook his head. "All right, I suppose that I was a little over-enthusiastic." He finished stacking some of the papers that had fallen, and turned back to Buffy. "I just haven't very much...activity in the past year. Not compared to the past, that is. It's not as commonplace as it used to be."

Buffy thought about all the dangers that she'd conquered with the Initiative, and with Riley, and for some reason felt a pang of guilt. "I'm sorry." She said, then laughed. "Boy, pretty pathetic when I'm apologizing to my friend for not putting him in enough life-threatening situations."

She watched him filing some things in a cabinet, his back to her, and noticed the slight stiffening of his shoulders with her words.

"I mean- my Watcher." She quickly corrected, assuming that he was uncomfortable with that idea. She didn't know what had made that slip out, anyhow. She rested her head on her knees. It had been a long day.

Quickly, he turned to face her. "I consider myself your friend, as well as your Watcher, Buffy." He assured her, coming over and reaching for her hand. She took it and allowed him to help her to her feet. The floor had been getting a little uncomfortable.

"Okay," she said, trying to picture herself with Giles, getting coffee, or with Giles, shopping at the mall. She shuddered. Better just stick to these after hours chat sessions.

"And maybe you could start by telling me what you're doing here so late, sitting in the dark."

The both walked to the front of the store, and sat at a table. He waited until she was ready to talk.

"Do you remember what Riley said earlier, when Xander was still split in two?" she asked.

Giles shook his head. "There were a lot of things said today. Most of which I hope I forget very soon." He replied, and Buffy smiled. He probably wasn't joking.

"He asked if Xander being split in two made anyone else want to lock them in separate rooms and do psychological experiments on them." She said the words softly, as though it hurt to say them any louder.

"I see," Giles said, recognizing the implications immediately. He didn't say anything, instead waiting for her. She knew what she wanted to say, and there was no need to rush her. His night hours all belonged to her, anyhow, each and every one. And if he ever had to admit it, so did his daytime hours.

"That's how his mind works. He can't help it," she shrugged, her eyes sparkling with misery. "But- but I know that he thinks that about me, too."

"Buffy," he spoke in hushed tones, too, though there was no one around to hear them. He knew that what she said was most likely true. "Has he given you any reason to believe that?"

She laughed, but he saw her hand swipe at her cheek, where a couple of tears had escaped. "Buffy, see if you can jump up there, Buffy see how far you can throw this, Buffy, let's fight, let's go, don't hold back."

"I'm sorry," he said. " I thought that things were going well between you and Riley."

"Oh, sure they're going well. Fine and dandy. He opens doors and lays his coat over mud puddles and all that stuff," she snorted. "The thing is, that I don't even care about him. What bothered me was that he thinks of me like that."

"Well, if you don't care about him, then wh-"

"-because I don't want anyone else to, either, Giles!" she was a bit louder now, louder with desperation. "I don't want to be that. I was almost tempted, when we found out what Toth had done. I almost wanted to be split, just to see what it would be like to be normal Buffy Summers." Her voice shook slightly.

As shocked as he was that she had felt that way, he could understand it. She hadn't mentioned wanting to be normal in a long time, but it would be foolish to think that she was completely resigned to such a difficult life.

"Tell me, Giles-" she begged, "do you think of me that way? Do my friends? My mother? Am I just a slayer now, and nothing else?" Her eyes were completely open to him, and he knew the power that his next words would hold.

"Buffy, no!" he assured her, reaching for her hand. "I promise you, I think of you many ways, and the fact that you're the Slayer is merely a most fortunate addition to the package." He waved his hand. "Trimmings. You are so much, Buffy, you're-"

He stopped, knowing that he was trembling as much as she was, and couldn't believe that he'd let himself slip out of the role that he's assigned himself in his Slayer's life.

But she didn't seem to mind, instead prompting gently, "I'm what, Giles?"

"Nothing," he dismissed.

"I'm nothing?" she asked, a hard edge to the question.

"No! That's not what I meant, I-I-I was j-just going to say that you're-"

Now a tiny smile curved her lips. "I'm?"

"Not nothing." He mumbled, hating his cowardice.

"Not nothing." She repeated thoughtfully. There was a teasing note in her voice. Oh, yes, he was definitely being teased, and it gave him courage.

"More like...everything." He admitted, his gaze fixed on the marbled table. He would never again see this pattern without thinking of this conversation.

"Everything," she said, surprised. "That's a lot." As she spoke, she covered his hand with her own, saying more with that touch than she could've said with any amount of talking.

And that gave him even more courage, the courage to bring his eyes up to hers, and to see that hers weren't hurting anymore, and to say,

"Yes, it is."