Title: Home For The Holidays
Author: Gileswench

(notes and disclaimer with part one)

The next afternoon, Buffy had to return to Sunnydale. Giles drove her to the airport and saw her off. She almost missed her flight, she and Giles shared so many 'one last' kisses. At last, though, the final call couldn't be ignored. She had a home and responsibilities to get back to, and Giles would be with her soon. Still, he watched her until the gate closed behind her, and then stood staring at it a while longer before he sighed and turned to leave.

His eyes widened in surprise.

"Donald? Whatever are you doing here?"

"Buffy's leaving. I thought you might want a drink."

Giles smiled wryly.

"What I want is to be on that plane with her," he admitted. "But I'll take that drink, if you're offering."

"You're paying, you bastard," Donald grinned. "I paid last night, remember?"

"Actually, last night is a bit hazy," Giles joked. "Tell you what, you buy the first round and I'll pick up the second."

"Okay," Donald agreed. A moment later, he stopped in his tracks. "Hang on a tick," he protested, "you never have more than one when it's still light out!"

Giles grinned back at his friend. The next moment, Donald caught up, still grumbling, but not really offended.

"Does Buffy have any idea what a pain in the arse you are?"

It was only a matter of a few weeks before Giles was at Heathrow again, this time for the flight that would take him home to Buffy. Donald and Mary saw him off with a great many tears and hugs. Giles was eager to go and be with Buffy, but this parting was difficult. When he went to board his flight, he took one last look back at his friends. Donald had his arm around Mary's shoulder as she attempted to smile through her threatening tears. As for Donald, his lips were stretched into a broad smile, but it couldn't quite reach his eyes. Giles knew his own grin was equally forced.

At last, he raised his hand, waved to them one last time, turned and headed toward his new life.

Buffy, Willow, Xander, Dawn and Anya stood gathered as close to customs as they could get. Buffy peered anxiously through the crowd, looking for Giles.

"His plane got here about two minutes ago, Buffy," Xander reminded her. "He probably isn't even off it yet."

"'Cause Giles will be all polite and let everyone else off first," Willow agreed.

"He'll be here soon," Dawn added hopefully.

Anya snorted.

"Have you all forgotten what day it is today?" she demanded. "It's Buffy's birthday. We're lucky the plane didn't crash out of the sky or get hijacked by terrorists. Maybe he missed the plane."

The others all glared at Anya. Buffy went wide eyed with panic.

"But he would have called if he missed his flight," she fretted. "What if he's there, but he's really sick and the paramedics have to pick him up? Or if he decided he'd rather live in England after all."

"He wouldn't do that," Willow soothed her friend. "When he called last night, he sounded all bubbly that he was gonna see you again, remember? He's not gonna stand you up."

"And if they sent for the paramedics, I think we would have seen them by now," Xander added.

"He's gonna show," Dawn said fiercely with another glare at Anya.

"I'm sorry," Anya grumbled at last. "It's just we all know bad things happen on Buffy's birthday. It's one of the eternal verities. Buffy gets a year older, people suffer. It's not like I blame you," she assured Buffy. "It's really not your fault. It just...is. I don't hold you personally responsible at all."

Willow muttered something under her breath that Xander was very glad Anya didn't seem to notice. In fact, when he looked again, he realized Anya was staring straight ahead with a smile on her face he hadn't seen in a long time. His heart leapt, then crashed when he realized he would probably never see that expression pointed in his direction again. At last, though, he followed her eyes, a grin developing on his face, too.

"Uh, Buff?," he said. "You might want to look up."

Buffy raised her head from Willow's shoulder. In an instant, she'd bounded ahead of the others. Another instant and Giles had lifted her completely off the ground and was holding her as closely as he was able.

Dawn made a move to join them, but Willow held her back.

"Give 'em a minute, Dawnie," she said. "I think they sort of need it."

Willow looked up to see Buffy and Giles kissing desperately in the middle of the airport. She took in the faces of the other three and made a decision.

"Come on, guys. Buffy knows where we parked, and I don't think Giles ever wants to think about us seeing this."

The year passed, as years are wont to do. There were happy times, such as the day Willow announced she had a new girlfriend and the day Xander and Anya decided to give their love one more try. There were sad times, such as the night one of Dawn's school friends was killed in a random vamp attack outside The Bronze. There were funny times, such as the day Buffy and Giles took Dawn to Disneyland. They all had a good laugh at the Haunted Mansion and Giles nearly got thrown off The Pirates of the Caribbean for pointing out the historical inaccuracies as they floated past the piratical tableaux. And there were the scary times, as well. As always.

The First Evil had returned, and couldn't be defeated. Still, somehow, they managed to fight it to a standstill - or at least to a tactical retreat.

And through it all, they survived.

That was all any of them asked.

To survive.

With survival came yet more change. Giles and Willow found themselves arguing more and more until Buffy wasn't sure what to do with both of them under the same roof. Willow solved the problem by moving in with her new girlfriend. Oddly enough, as soon as they were no longer trying to share the same home, the combatants became good friends again, as they had always been.

Having Giles on tap helped Dawn settle down a lot more. She paid more attention to her studies and snuck out less. She didn't stop entirely - after all, she was a Summers - but her hyper-rebellious period was finally at an end.

Xander was offered a better job; one that would take him away from Sunnydale. For several days, he couldn't decide what to do. At last, however, he chose to stay where his friends lived and worked and fought evil. For all he detested it in some ways, Sunnydale was home and he couldn't bring himself to leave for long.

Choosing to stay lost him Anya, however. She'd decided she was tired of being put in danger and living with people who constantly belittled her. Nobody quite knew where she'd gone. They only knew they all missed her more than they would have expected.

And eventually Christmastime rolled around again.

Giles grinned for a week solid when Donald and Mary announced they were coming to California for the holiday. Buffy madly cleaned, straightened, and readjusted the guest room until she drove everyone in the house almost to distraction. In between Slaying and work, she baked, shopped and decorated more than she ever had in her life.

At last it was Christmas Eve. Buffy and Giles had the whole gang over to have dinner and meet Giles' friends. The night went well. Dinner was a great success, the wine flowed generously - but not too generously, and the Scoobies immediately welcomed Donald and Mary into their circle. If the conversation felt a little edited at any point, nobody mentioned it.

Giles had just pulled out his guitar and tuned it for a sing along of Christmas carols when the doorbell rang. Buffy started to get up, but Xander motioned her to stay where she was. He went to the door and stood gaping for a long moment.

"Anya?" he said at last.

Immediately the Scoobies were all crowded around the doorway.

"Hi, everybody," Anya said with an attempted show of bravado. "I'm back. Did you miss me?"

Xander smiled softly.

"I see you're a redhead now."

Anya's smile was dazzling.

"You noticed?"

"Yeah, I noticed. I even like it. Not that you didn't make a gorgeous blonde or brunette, because you did."

"You're looking thinner, but more muscular. I like it."

Xander held out his hand to Anya. She took it a bit hesitantly, but stepped over the threshhold without a verbal invitation.

"I missed you, Xander," she said in a tiny voice. "I don't like being where you aren't."

"I know," Xander said as he wrapped his arms around her. "I don't like you being there, either."

Buffy felt her eyes brim with tears. All at once, there was a hand at her shoulder offering her a fresh handkerchief. She smiled up at Giles and leaned into his warmth.

"Sorry I'm being such a goof," she said, "but I'm a total sucker for happy endings."

Giles pulled his love to him, her back pressed against his chest, and dropped a small kiss on the crown of her head.

"Come on, then," he urged her. "Let's let them have their moment."

Buffy turned and kissed him softly.

"There's something I have to do first, okay?"

Giles nodded. He herded the others out of the hall and back into the living room. Well before Xander and Anya ended their embrace, Buffy could hear the others singing carols.

"Anya?" she said at last.

The girl turned to her a bit nervously. Buffy smiled.

"Welcome home," she said. She hugged Anya briefly and smiled at Xander. "You guys are more than welcome to stay here while the party's going on, but if you want to make a quick get away, I'd do it now."

The couple shared a complicated look for a long moment. At last Anya turned to Buffy.

"Do you think anyone would mind if we stayed?" she asked timidly.

"I think Rupert and I would be really happy if you did."

The three walked back into the living room just in time to join in a rousing chorus of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Christmas morning dawned bright and chilly, though the English contingent seemed to think the day a bit too warm for the season.

Dawn was the first one out of bed. She whined for permission to open packages before breakfast, but was told in no uncertain terms that Giles getting his tea and Buffy getting her coffee were more important than anyone getting their Christmas gifts.

"I'm so never getting hooked on caffeine," Dawn grumbled. "It makes people no fun."

Eventually, though, breakfast was eaten, coffee and tea drunk to the dregs, and adult conversation finished. Christmas was finally allowed to commence.

An hour later, the living room was littered with brightly colored shreds of wrapping paper and ribbons, with no packages to grace, festooned the floor instead. Everyone had a lapful of carefully chosen gifts.

And Buffy was feeling a little underwhelmed.

Giles' gift to her had been a warm, snuggly robe she'd admired once when they were out shopping for gifts for Dawn. It was pretty and practical and very observant of him, but Buffy had thought he might give her something...more romantic.

Of course, he might have a Victoria's Secret box stashed away somewhere to give her when prying eyes of little sisters and lifelong friends would be well out of the way. Buffy tried to imagine Giles going into a lingerie store to find her something sexy. Her brain nearly short circuited.

Not of the likely.

Besides, he'd never seemed to care much what she wore to bed. He just enjoyed taking it off of her.

No sexy undies, she decided.

But she couldn't think of anything else he might have gotten her that he couldn't give her in front of the gang.

Unless he'd gone to the local porno shop and bought some interesting movies or toys.

Oddly enough, though she couldn't imagine him in Victoria's Secret, she could imagine him doing that.

And he was being strangely furtive.

Maybe a robe would be enough after all.

Buffy was pulled from her musings by Donald. He took her arm and held a finger to his lips to warn her to keep quiet. She raised her eyebrows, but followed instructions. He led her to a doorway where Mary and Dawn already stood, holding their hands over their mouths so their giggles wouldn't be heard. As soon as she got there, Buffy understood and clapped a hand over her mouth, too.

There in the middle of the kitchen stood Giles. He seemed to be having difficulty picking the correct words to address the jar of kitchen utensils on the counter.

"W-what I mean to say," he stuttered, "...we've been acquainted for some time...and...and we've grown...intimate, a-as it were. I know we've been cohabiting for...some time now...but I believe we could have...so much more...idiot!"

He dropped onto one of the kitchen stools bonelessly. Dawn couldn't suppress a giggle anymore.

"Who knew you liked the spatula that much," she sniggered.

Giles looked up with stricken eyes.

Mary steered the teenager and an equally amused Donald out of the doorway. "I think you may have something to say to Buffy," she said with a merry twinkle in her eye.

When Mary had removed the others, Buffy walked over to Giles. He had covered his face in his hands. What little she could see of his cheeks were bright scarlet.

"Y'know," she said, "you might want to leave off that 'idiot' part. As I recall, I've had to talk to you about that before. Also, the use of words like 'intimate' and 'cohabiting'? Not the best use of language skills. Keep it simple. Y'know; you have a thing, maybe I have a thing...maybe we could have...a thing."

Giles chuckled in spite of himself.

"And how do you feel about Mexicans?"

"More interested in a certain wordy English guy right now, though I have no objections to Mexicans as a people. Or to their food. I like a taco as much as the next girl." She stroked his hair softly as she spoke in a voice that was both teasing and tender. "So, wordy English guy...was there something you wanted to ask me?"

He looked up at her ruefully.

"I rather think the words keep getting in the way," he said. "At least ones like 'cohabiting'. Perhaps it's best if I just show you something and let you draw your own conclusions." He stood and pulled a small velvet box out of his pocket. "Happy Christmas, Buffy."

She opened the box. Even though she knew what she would find inside, her breath was taken away when she saw the diamond ring nestled inside.

"It's beautiful," she said. "And it's what I think it is, right?"

"It is," he said simply.

Buffy held out her left hand.

"Put it on me?"

Her hand shook as Giles did just that. Then again, so did his. She looked briefly at the sparkling stone, then wrapped her arms around his neck as his arms slid around her waist. She felt at peace and as loved as possible.

After all, Giles had asked a chair to date him when he was interested in Miss Calendar, but he'd practiced proposing to her on kitchen utensils.

That had to outrank a chair.