Her eyes narrowed. "I don't remember you ever mentioning that you'd been there..."

Giles enjoyed the flash of jealousy in her eyes. "I don't ever recall an instance where you would have cared one way or the other," he pointed out, the light in his eyes softening the bluntness.

Her contented smile wavered and her colour rose. "Low blow," she retorted. "So who was the lucky girl?"

"Does it matter?"

Buffy's face puckered into a pout. "Well, no," she conceded, clearly wanting very badly to know.

His amusement increased. "Her name was Emma. We ate. We danced and eventually I took her home."

"And I never got to meet Emma because...?"

"Because you were far too busy making eyes at Riley, and besides, Emma had to go home to her husband. Our relationship was doomed from the start," he added mock melodramatically.

Buffy, whose eyes had gone like saucers, narrowed them and scowled at him, aware now that she was being got at.

He chuckled. "The owner of the Espresso Pump. Her husband was supposed to be there too, but he was called out of town...an executive of some sort...and he suggested that we carry on...uh...with the dinner engagement. A celebration of sorts, to mark my last performance."

"You rat. You let me think...anyway, what it's like?"

"What's what like?"

"Your singing? I never got to hear you..."

"I did wonder why I never saw you at a performance...even after the others found out," he said, turning her to guide her off the ice.

The following silence lasted until they reached the car.

Buffy hesitated at the passenger side door when Giles would have opened it for her.

"I'm sorry I didn't come." She shrugged. "Riley...mostly. And...and I kinda wigged," she admitted. "One minute you were my stuffy British Watcher, the next minute you're Giles Clapton...unplugged." she added as an apparent afterthought then shifted again, uncomfortably. "Will said you were really good, but I never did get to hear you. I was so busy trying to turn prince charming into a frog, among other things, I kinda forgot to grow up there for a long time...maybe not even until after mom..."

"It doesn't matter...about coming to see me sing," Giles said awkwardly. "I really didn't want any of you to see, anyway. What matters is that you have grown up...at last."

Buffy finally smiled, just a little. "I guess...I guess it's about time, anyway. I mean, with Glory and all...I may not have that much time to be..."

Giles covered her lips with his forefinger, then lifted it and brushed her lips with his, before smiling back at her with a kind of gentle ferocity.

"Not if I can help it. If I have my way, I promise you, you will have all the time in the world..."

Buffy came back into the living room with coffee, tea and cookies and found Giles hanging up the phone.

"Problem?"

He looked up, blinked, and then shook his head. "Apart from suspecting that every muscle in my body is going to make me pay dearly for my showing off earlier today? No. Not a thing. Willow says hello."

She looked more closely at him. Something was up.

"And you were talking to Will today, because...?"

"I needed a favour," he said cryptically and took his cup of tea from the tray.

Buffy put the tray down, picked up her coffee and sat alongside him on the couch, half amused, half annoyed.

"Okay, none of my business. Getting that loud and clear."

Giles studied her profile for a moment. "As a matter of fact I rather hoped you might come out to dinner with me tonight. Willow has agreed to baby-sit, should you say yes," he finally confided, eyes dancing with amusement.

Her eyes widened then lit up. "Dinner...us?"

He nodded. "Willow is happy to baby-sit; Dawn has agreed, and reservations have been made...if you want to go."

"Do I...?" She deliberately put down her tea and turned to him. "As long as we're not going to Taco Bell. I'm about up to quota on moron punks for this year."

He laughed. "Not quite what I had in mind. Do you have an evening gown of any kind?"

Buffy frowned. "If you mean ultra-formal 'Cinderella-going-to-the-ball' gown, then nope."

"How about a 'Cinderella-going-to-Alessandro's-for-dinner' gown?" He asked gently.

"Alessandro's? Really? Oh my God...I've got nothing to wear! It's been so long since...I mean I-I've really never needed those kind of clothes, and..."

Giles rose and extended his hand.

Effectively silenced, a bewildered Buffy slid her fingers into his palm. Next thing she knew they were in the BMW.

And then, before it could all register, they were in Skye's...a designer eveningwear boutique in the mall. She had never been able to do more than press her nose against its window before.

Buffy was more than surprised when Giles stayed and more or less supervised her purchases, especially the dress, vetoing several outright and a couple after she modelled them. Yet another green, a red, and an ivory number later, they both fell for a lovely pale amethyst coloured creation. It was perfectly cut for Buffy's slender body, so that it moved with her and accentuated every curve as she modelled it, wearing the delicate silver evening sandals and carrying the matching purse brought by the assistant.

Giles was enchanted, and when she dreamily declared all of it beyond perfect, he ordered the lot wrapped and paid for it with a credit card.

When his wallet fell open as he was pulling the card out, she realised with a start that the small photo window had a picture of her in it, not recent. It took a moment to place, particularly since she was still dealing with the idea of Giles having a picture of her in his wallet in the first place. Then it came to her. She'd had dozens and dozens of the things laser-copied for her campaign against Cordelia for Prom Queen. Giles must have 'liberated' one of the smaller ones that were posted on the library noticeboard, at some point, without ever saying anything.

Dazedly, she watched him put the card back in his wallet and wondered how he was going to pay for it all. It gave her a small, but painful, pang to realize how little she'd truly gotten to know him...for all their time together over the years.

They were on their way out of the mall when Buffy realised that, owing to a lack of any kind of demonstrable social life, she didn't have a single pair of undamaged tights or stockings to her name.

Giles, wandering toward the exit slowly while she nipped back to buy some, pottered for a short while in the florist, then stopped to look at the display in a jeweller's window. It was a small one, not one of the ubiquitous chain stores with their windows bulging with mass-produced watches, chains and rings. This one even had a section for second-hand and antique pieces. When his eyes lighted on the delicate antique white-gold filigree setting with a blazingly intense teardrop amethyst the size and shape of a small pumpkin seed at its centre, he knew what he was going to do.

When Buffy returned she was too full of her new purchases, and speculating excitedly about what Alessandro's was going to be like, to notice the new packages in Giles' right hand.

"It's only me." Giles called, closing the front door against the cool of the evening.

"Good, because I'm not ready to come down there yet and there's no way I'm ruining this dress just to kick some stupid demon's butt...uh...you are still *you*, right?" Buffy called from somewhere upstairs.

He smiled to himself. "Last time I looked, yes."

When she finally reached the head of the stairs, Giles wasn't there.

"Giles?"

"In the kitchen. Hang on."

He arrived bearing two champagne flutes in one hand, and looked up.

"Wow. You're going to be the belle of the ball," Buffy teased, eyeing his slim figure as she came down. He wasn't wearing his glasses, again, and he was in an immaculately cut, black tuxedo. Where the one at the prom had been rented, this one was tailored to fit his physique in beautiful lines, over a white linen shirt with razor sharp collar and cuffs, silver cufflinks and an elegant black bowtie.

By the time she was halfway down the stairs, she realised he was wearing a diamond stud in his left ear. And from the way it caught the hall light as he turned, she decided it definitely wasn't from the home shopping channel. He looked...amazing.

"Beautiful..."

It was no more than a whisper but it roused Buffy from her appreciation of the sight before her, and made her focus on Giles' stunned expression as she halted, one step up, in front of him. Uncharacteristically self-conscious all of a sudden, she lifted her arms slightly in a 'so what do you think?' gesture.

"You like?"

Her hair was up in an intricate style and her makeup complimented the gown, which Giles had noticed still clung gloriously to every curve, yet moved quite freely as she'd descended.

He brushed her surprised mouth with his and handed her a glass. "More than I can find words to express." He raised his own. "To the future."

They stared at each other for a very long moment before an even more bemused, but glowing, Buffy raised hers and touched his with it. "To the future."

They both drank. Then, after a beat, Giles lifted his other hand, which had been nonchalantly tucked behind his right hip the whole time.

He was holding a single, utterly perfect, Sterling Silver rose, the elegant bloom trailing a fine, silver threaded ribbon from its long stem.

Buffy leaned forward to breathe its sweet perfume, then brushed her cheek against the petals before straightening and taking it her hands.

"It's beautiful. I've never seen a lavender rose before."

"Lavender," he explained gently, "for enchantment."

Cheeks even warmer, she looked up from sniffing the rose again, her pleasure obvious. "I'm not enchanting. Slayers aren't enchanting. Enchant-*ed* occasionally, but not-"

Giles leaned down and caught her lips with his, effectively silencing the babble. After a satisfyingly long interval, he lifted his head.

"Enchanting," he whispered, as though he hadn't heard her, and drew his other surprise from his pocket.

Buffy turned the velvet box around in her hands for a moment then looked up at him again.

"You've already given me so many beautiful things today..."

He smiled. "Then one more won't hurt." The smile faded. "All these years there's been so much ugliness in your life and I've not had the right..." He touched the rose. "Let me do this...?"

Buffy, lost in his eyes, nodded slowly. It was several more moments before she was able to tear her gaze away, to look down again.

When she opened the box, her breath caught. She looked up at him again, moisture cluttering her view for a moment.

"It's beautiful," she whispered, the word sounding like there was no greater superlative. She lifted the velvet box a little towards him. "Would you...?"

Giles' eyes shone with pleasure, his face lighting up as he lifted the piece by its delicate chain and moved behind her. When it was fastened he turned her slowly to face the hall mirror so that she could see the antique filigree nestled against her creamy throat, the lighter colour of her gown the perfect foil for the intensity of the stone.

"There, you see?" He dropped a kiss on her right temple. "Utterly enchanting..."

Buffy looked around her as they stepped into the restaurant, taking in the elegant decor, the bandstand and the actual dance floor, and smiled at the thought that sometimes dreams really could come true...

For the first time she also relaxed and stopped worrying about being overdressed. It was obvious that was the point of Alessandro's, and that Giles had known exactly what he was doing. She was surrounded by elegance. It was so totally a Giles kind of place...well ... except maybe for those funky sweaters of his...but still...

She looked up at him. He was scanning the room, waiting patiently for someone to seat them and...

She felt a shiver go up her spine and froze.

*God, did the air conditioning jump ten degrees...?* She shook herself, suddenly very, very warm. In profile, she could see the earring close up for the first time, and his jaw, his throat, even the way his hair curled around his ear and sat on his collar. He was shaved really close and his hair was done with casual elegance...in a word he looked: wow.

Okay, lame, she told herself. A million words you could pick...he gives you 'enchantment' and the best you can do is 'wow'?

A waiter in a white jacket, even whiter shirt and a peacock blue bowtie had arrived, and was talking quietly to Giles.

Buffy watched Giles' mobile mouth, the quick grin; the way he ducked his head slightly when the waiter remarked on what a handsome couple they were; even the way his Adam's apple moved as he spoke with an ease and a confidence she'd rarely seen in him. It occurred to her, dream or no dream, that if he swept her off her feet right now and carried her back to his apartment she wouldn't hate it at all. Another tremor ran up her spine as her eyes moved over his full length. Really, really wouldn't hate it at all....

Instead they moved to a quiet, candle-lit table next to a wall. Like everything else in Alessandro's...the real candlelight, tiny white roses in a slender vase, wineglasses and beautiful silver setting on a burgundy linen tablecloth, were about old-fashioned elegance.

Buffy gave a sigh of pleasure as Giles guided her seat in. For the first time in a very long time, everything: life, death, destiny and responsibility seemed very far away. The waiter had seated Giles, who was ordering French champagne. She loved the way the name of it sounded as it rolled off his tongue. Funny how long she'd been listening to his voice, without ever hearing it before... Well, no. That wasn't exactly true...

From the first time they ever really trained with meditation crystals, the sound of his voice had done things to her that she'd refused to contemplate then: relaxing, soothing... transporting her to a place so peaceful, yet of such clarity, that the lessons were always a complete success...as long as Dawn wasn't allowed to touch anything...

"Would you like something to drink now?"

The voice in question roused her from her reverie. "Oh. Um...you choose," she managed, not quite all the way back yet.

Giles spoke softly to the waiter, who then melted away, then raised an eyebrow.

"Penny for them?"

"Huh?"

"Your thoughts. You seemed a very long way away just then."

"Oh...well, yeah. I was remembering something."

He was looking at her inquiringly, his clear green eyes vividly so, today, accentuating the tiny brown patch in the left one.

She suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious. "I-I was remembering your voice...from the lessons with the meditation crystals."

Giles smiled slowly. "At least you were thinking of me."

It made everything all right: that smile, and his gentle good humour. Buffy grinned back. "Did anyone ever tell you how amazing your voice is? You could make audio books out of demonology texts...or...something. I think it's sexy as hell," she added impulsively then turned bright red. His eyebrows flew up, but Buffy suddenly grew bolder, parts of her still resonating from her earlier flush of heat. "I think *you're* as sexy as hell," she blurted.

It was Giles' turn to colour adorably, even though, apart from the eyebrows disappearing into his hairline, he seemed quite relaxed about it.

"Thank you. A much more bracing evaluation than 'eiwww' I must say," he teased.

Buffy, whose colour had almost returned to normal, flushed again. "Different times, different me. Dying a time or two will do that to you," she added and picked up one of the menus left by the waiter. Her eyes bulged at the prices for the meals, but a glance at Giles's expression as he followed her lead, found him seemingly unconcerned.

She buried herself in her menu again, even though she knew at a glance what she was going to have, despite many of the actual dishes being in French. Like, there was no way she was going to do anything but point to the delicious sounding scallop entree she wanted.

End part 4