Title: Intimate Intervention
Author: Gileswench

Date: 4/28/01
Spoilers: Intervention
Summary: Buffy fears that she's shutting down emotionally. Can the Scoobies help prove her wrong?
Rating: FRAO
Pairing: Buffy/Giles
Distribution: If you've had my permission in the past, you have it now. All others, ask and ye shall receive.
Feedback: Constructive criticism always welcome. Praise abjectly sought.
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Joss, Mutant Enemy, etc., etc., etc. I just let them have all the fun Joss won't. I own nothing except my twisted mind which you really don't want. Please don't sue.

Note: I don't usually rewrite shows, but this one sat up and begged me to do it.

"Riley's gone, and now my mom's gone, and I loved her more than...anything. And I don't know if she knew."

Giles rose and went to Buffy and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"She knew. Always."

"I don't know. To slay. To kill. Those are all words for being hard on the inside. Maybe being the perfect Slayer means being too hard to love at all. I already feel I can hardly say the words."

"Buffy..." Giles began.

"Giles. I love you."

The Englishman blinked at her words.

"Love, love, love, love, love, LOVE, Giles even the words sound strange."

"Not so strange as all that, I should hope. At least, the first one didn't."

"What about the rest?"

Giles guided her back to the sofa and sat her down.

"Perhaps you're trying too hard. Buffy, how do you feel about me?"

Buffy looked at the floor as she twisted her fingers together.

"You know that."

"Are you certain? You've never told me in so many words."

"You've never said either."

"No, I don't suppose I have."

The two regarded their hands with surprising interest for some moments.

"So I guess this is one of the major drawbacks of the Slaygame. Is this how you do it, Giles? You can train me and teach me because you don't let yourself care? You shouldn't have to be this way just because of me."

"Buffy, no! I - I care...a great deal. If you'll recall, that's how I got myself fired as your Watcher."

"'A father's love'. That's what Travers said."

"Yes. He did say that."

"What do you say?"

Giles took a deep breath. "I say that Travers is a horse's ass."

One look in Buffy's wounded eyes was enough to tell him he'd said the wrong thing. The girl got to her feet and went to the stairs.

"Dawn? Do you have any plates in your room? Bring 'em down now!"

She returned to the kitchen leaving Giles to sit and kick himself mentally for his mistake.

*****

The next few days were strained between Watcher and Slayer. Buffy avoided Giles as much as she could. When they were together, awkward silences ensued. Neither seemed to know how to repair the damage from that one conversation.

When a week had passed with no improvement, the Scoobies held a meeting at Xander's apartment.

"I just don't get it. Buffy and Giles, Giles and Buffy; they've always been the amazing cojoined twins of Slayerdom." Xander shook his head. "Nothing got between those two. Even the Watcher's Council couldn't break them up."

Anya nodded. "Even other lovers couldn't do it."

Willow got an odd look on her face

"It's not like they ever...y'know, y'know? That's not the kind of relationship they have."

"They don't sleep together, but maybe they should. It was clear for months that Buffy cared more about Giles than she did about Riley. And Giles chose Buffy over his orgasm friend...what was her name?"

"Olivia. But An, Buffy and Giles...they work together," Xander told her. "They're a team. It's a working relationship, not a romance."

"There are lots of couples who work together, too" Tara observed. "In fact, all of us in this room do. We patrol together when Buffy can't, and we do research together. And look at Mr. and Mrs. Nakamura who run the corner market down on Vine street."

"Yeah, but Mr. Nakamura isn't thirty years older than Mrs. Nakamura. That'd be a little...weird."

"Will's right. A big age difference is just asking for trouble in the romancing department."

"Excuse, me, Xander. I thought we were happy."

"Huh? What, An?"

"Have you forgotten that I'm eleven hundred years older than you? And Angel was two hundred some odd years older than Giles."

"Okay, you're a bit older. I keep forgetting that 'cause you look so young and pretty. Giles doesn't."

"So if he looked the same age as Buffy, it'd be okay?"

"Yeah...I mean no! It'd be...icky."

"I think we're getting sorta off the track here," Willow brought things to order. "This isn't about whether Buffy and Giles should be having smoochies; it's about getting them to talk again. What they do once they start talking is their business." She shuddered slightly.

"So how do we get the two most emotionally repressed people on the face of the planet talking again?"

A silence followed Xander's excellent question. Finally Tara got a thoughtful expression on her face.

"I think I have an idea."

*****

The next evening, Buffy went to Willow's dormroom. She was meeting her witchy friends for an evening of study, possibly to be followed by a trip to The Bronze if they got enough work done before patrol time. She was surprised to find three chairs set in the middle of the room, one facing the other two.

"What's this? Some kind of quiz show? The prizes better be fabulous."

"Not a quiz, Buffy; more sort of a talk." Tara led her to the single chair as Willow shut the door.

"This is another intervention, isn't it? Like that one after Angel came back?"

"This situation with you and Giles, we feel it's gone on too long," the redhead began. "We don't know what the problem between you is, but we think it's hurting you both."

"We're not hurt," Buffy asserted. "We're just...not exactly talking to each other. It's no big."

"No big? Buffy, you've been walking around like you're just a big ol' zombie, and I've seen zombies so I know what they look like, even."

Tara laid a hand on her girlfriend's arm to quiet her.

"We're not here to judge you, Buffy. I know after my mother died, I did lots of crazy things. I'm afraid maybe you're making the same sort of mistakes I did. I feel like, maybe you're pushing Giles away because you're hurting and that's hurting both of you."

Buffy got up from her chair and toyed with objects off the shelves.

"Maybe me, but it's no big for Giles."

"Okay, now I'm thinking maybe I need my ears checked" Willow responded. "Did you just say this is no big for Giles? 'Cause I think it's a great big big for him. Buffy, I don't think I've seen him look this sad since..."

"Since when, Will?"

"Since...since the summer you went away. He looks all...deflated all the time. Like he doesn't know what to do if he doesn't have you to train, and do stuff with...not that I think you do stuff stuff, if you know what I mean, which I'm sorta hoping you don't ask about..."

"Honey, you told me to stop you if you babbled. Um, I think this might be a good time to say." Tara patted Willow's hand. "But Willow's right, Buffy. Giles looks really sad all the time. I've never seen him like this."

"Well, you're wrong. He already told me he doesn't...he doesn't care about me."

The two witches looked in confusion at one another and then at their friend. Willow was the first to find her voice.

"So, what exactly did Giles say to you, Buffy?"

Tears welled up in the Slayer's eyes.

"He said...he said...Travers was a horse's ass!"

Again the witches were stunned and confused.

"Travers? Wasn't that the guy from the Council?" Tara tried to make sense of the matter. "He seemed sorta, um, unpleasant."

"No, not this time. Before. When he fired Giles. On my birthday."

"Your birthday? He wasn't here on your....oh." Willow finally got it. "You mean your eighteenth birthday, don't you. That's the guy who fired Giles, right? But Buff, he is a horse's ass. Why would you be mad at Giles for saying it?"

"Because...because it means he doesn't love me!"

*****

Giles looked up in mild surprise when he heard Anya lock the door behind a customer.

"Is it as late as that already? Where did the time go today?"

The former demon turned to face her boss.

"I closed the shop early."

"I see, and when precisely did you buy me out?"

"Don't be silly. I haven't done that. I'll need a bit more money before I can. We need to talk. Xander's coming."

As if on cue, the young man came to the door and Anya let him in. Xander took charge.

"Giles, take a seat," he indicated the tarot table. "We need to talk."

Giles was too stunned to disobey.

"Now, this thing with you and Buffy. Giles, you know this can't go on."

Now see here, Xander, this is none of your business..."

"Like hell it isn't. Buffy is one of my best friends and you're...well...I never had a real Dad until you came along."

"You...you mean...? Xander, I don't know what to say."

"Say you'll make it up with the Buffster. Say you guys will be friends again."

"I'm afraid it isn't as simple as that."

"Sure it is, Giles," Anya assured him. "You just tell her you're sorry for whatever it is you did to her and maybe bring her some chocolate. Or flowers. Or, since it's Buffy, a new crossbow. She'll forgive you and you'll be friends."

"After what I said, I doubt we'll ever truly be friends again."

"Oh come on. You guys always forgive each other. It's one of the great truths of our time: the Earth rotates around the Sun, Sylvester Stallone should never attempt to do comedy, and you and Buffy are the Slaytwins. What could you possibly say that would mess with that reality?"

When Giles continued to inspect the floor, Xander tried again.

"Look, you and Buffy not talking is a bad. I saw what it did to both of you last year. She was totally lost and you tried to turn back the clock about twenty five years, with very little success and a high embarrassment factor. And this time she doesn't have government commandos to fall back on. If you guys don't mend this, we're all screwed. Especially Buffy."

"That's all well and good, but I'm not sure this can be mended."

"What the hell did you say to her, Big G?"

"I told her I loved her."