Title: Odd Couples
Author: Gileswench

(notes and disclaimer with part one)

The next month passed in a haze for Buffy. During the day, she went to classes at UC Sunnydale, then raced from appointment to appointment for wedding-related things. Things like gown fittings and interviews with caterers and photographers, and consultations with florists. Her evenings were spent slaying vampires and making love with Giles. In the early morning fog, she would head back to the dorm room she shared with Willow and start the cycle all over again.

"Whose wacky idea was it to get married on Christmas Eve, anyway?" she grumbled to her witch friend one afternoon. "Everybody good has already been booked, and anyone who's free that day isn't someone I want to hire. We're gonna have third-rate food, fifth-rate photographs, and a dismal DJ. Again, I ask whose idea this was."

"Um...yours, I think," Willow said with a wry smile. "Something about wanting to hurry up and get to the good part while leaving your mom and Xand plenty of time to turn your old room into a nursery...which is an idea that still wigs me a little."

"You and me, both, Will. And you know what the worst of it is?"

"I'm afraid to guess."

"The day after we told Mom and Xander about us getting married, Xander started needling Rupert every chance he gets about how he's gonna get to call the shots now, since he's gonna be the father-in-law. We should just give up and go on Jerry Springer right now."

"Poor Giles," Willow giggled. "I bet he hates that."

Buffy shut her wedding planning binder and flopped on her back on her bed.

"I don't think he hates it nearly as much as I do. And the whole baby thing...okay, I'd gotten used to the idea that Mom and Xander were married. I was even happy for them. But this...Will, I can't get used to the idea that Xander is sleeping with my mom."

"Um...isn't that sort of part of being married?"

"Well, yeah. One of the bigger perks, in my opinion. I just didn't want to think about them having perks. Kinda hard to ignore when there's a baby on the way. God! Listen to me! I can't believe what a total bitch I'm being. I should be happy for them. I am happy for them."

"You're just unhappy for you, too, aren't you?"

"I'm trying not to be. I shouldn't have issues on this. Love is a good. Babies are a good. I go out and kill the beasties every night so love and babies don't get munched by bad things. So why is this pissing me off so much?"

Willow crossed the room and took two bottles of water out of the small refrigerator. She tossed one to Buffy and opened the other for herself, taking a long swig.

"I dunno," she said at last. "What does Giles think?"

Buffy dragged one finger through the condensation on the bottle. She frowned.

"Buffy? What did he say? You did tell him you were having issues, didn't you?"

"Not...exactly."

"Then what, exactly, did you say?"

The Slayer got up and prowled restlessly around the room.

"I...told him...I was okay with it. I mean, yeah, a little weirded out at first, but okay. And I did feel that way, then."

"But now...?"

"Now. I don't know. I see my mom all glowy and buying up mini stuff like there's no tomorrow, and I see Xander being all protective of her and building baby furniture, and I can't tell Rupert it makes me want to scream sometimes. I so need to get over this whole thing. Will, I hate me when I feel that way; like I want to just smash things up and yell at everybody. I shouldn't feel like this."

"You feel like you feel," Willow shrugged. "And, okay, not happy, fuzzy feelings like you want, but that doesn't mean you get to ignore them. Maybe if you look at them a little, you'll figure out *why* you feel like you do and it'll be silly and you won't feel that way, anymore. Or, at least, you'll feel less that way. I don't think the strangeness of your mother and Xander is going away anytime soon. Neither is the baby. If you can find a way to be okay - really okay and not just pretend okay - about that, it'll be better for everybody." She looked at her watch. "And with those words of wisdom, I'm off to really suck at cultural anthropology."

"You don't suck at it, Will. You got a ninety-eight on the last quiz."

"Out of a hundred. Usually, I get a hundred and ten out of a hundred. Ninety-eight is a big ol' academic wake-up call for me." She stopped by the door. "Will I see you tonight, or are you gonna be at Giles'?"

"Probably with my honey. I'm still trying to get an opinion out of him about whether we should write our own vows. Every time I bring the subject up, he hits me on my weak side."

"What side is that?"

Buffy's raised eyebrow elicited an embarrassed 'eep' from her best friend.

"Getting it, now. Not wanting details. Glad you're getting the perks, but not wanting to know, okay?"

"Okay."

"And just talk to Giles, will you? 'Cause it'll be better that way."

"Yes, sir, ma'am. Now arise, go forth, and athropologize culturally."

"Talk to the man, Buffy. I mean it."

"Okay, okay, I hear and obey."

Willow rolled her eyes at Buffy, turned on her heel and left. Buffy shut the door behind her roommate and sighed. Of course Willow was right. The smart thing would be to talk to Giles and figure out how to get past whatever was bothering her. On the other hand, though, she had three weeks to finish planning her wedding. The baby issue could wait, she decided.

But first, there was Modern European History to get through. She sighed, picked up her books, and left the room.

*****

That night after patrol, Buffy went straight to Oakpark Street. She found the door unlocked and a note on the desk. She picked it up only to discover it was addressed to her. Smiling, she unfolded the sheet of heavy, creamy paper. There was just one word on the paper, in a larger-than-normal version of Giles' exquisitely-formed handwriting: 'wait'.

"Wait where? For what?" she puzzled. "One day, Giles, you'll learn that obscurity is not your friend."

Still, she sat down on the sofa and curled her legs under herself. As much as she wished she knew what Giles was up to, she had to admit to herself that he usually did the best possible thing. A smile flitted across her features as she reflected he might be bringing home some little gift for her. His streak of romantic whimsy had been a pleasant surprise in the early days of their new relationship. He had a way of hiding small presents of good coffee or pretty jewelry in places she'd find them unexpectedly. Her engagement ring had been secreted under the rim of her plate when she came over for dinner one night. Later that evening, she'd found a sexy nightgown under her pillow when they went to bed.

So this was probably another case of happy things for Buffy.

Then again, it was Giles' way to hide his treats, delighting in her astonishment when she found them. He would flash his shy, lightning-quick grin at her, as she kissed him for his thoughtfulness. It was like having an Easter egg hunt almost every week. He didn't usually announce that the gifts were there or tell her to wait for things.

A small frown formed on her face. A sneaky Giles was a dangerous Giles. There was no predicting what he might be up to.

Still, there was no help for it. Whatever he had in store for her, she couldn't make it happen any faster than it was going to. That was an aspect of life with Giles that had both its upside and its downside. It was often an irritant to her when she wanted something right now, but at bedtime it resulted in the sort of pleasure she'd never suspected she could feel. Buffy knew she would never be a truly patient person, but overall she was glad she'd found a life partner who had that quality.

"Come on, Rupert," she sighed in frustration. "You're the patient one, not me. Get home and show me what you had to leave me alone and bored for."

At last, she couldn't sit still any longer. She moved to the kitchen to make some tea. When she went to pull down the teapot, she found another note sitting on the counter. She opened it eagerly. Perhaps it was a clue.

'I said wait, Buffy. Go back to the living room.' it admonished her.

Pausing only to put back the teapot and stick out her tongue at the note, Buffy returned to her post on the sofa.

"I wonder if I'm allowed to go to the bathroom," she grumbled.

Moments later, she heard a murmur of voices just outside, and then the soft click of the door being opened. She jumped up, her instincts reacting to the presence of the unfamiliar by preparing for battle. She quickly dropped her hands to her sides when Giles walked into the room with an elderly couple.

"Ah, Buffy, I see you got my note," he said with a quick grin.

"Both of them."

"What, only two? I left them all over the flat. By this time, I thought you'd have read them all."

"I was a little late," she shrugged. "If you'd been gone another ten minutes, I'd have gone on the hunt."

"Rupert," the old woman said, nudging him in the ribs, "aren't you going to introduce us?"

"I think we can guess who she is," the unfamiliar man said quietly. "Buffy, however, may wish to know who we are."

Giles crossed to his fiancée and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Buffy, these are my parents, Daphne and Ernest Giles. Mum, Dad, this is Buffy."

Her eyes widened and she suddenly found she had difficulty keeping her jaw off Giles' immaculately clean floor.

"Uh...hi," she said with what she hoped was a sincere smile of welcome. "It's nice to meet you."

Daphne smiled back at Buffy and took her hands.

"Welcome to the family, my dear," she said. "You're every bit as pretty as Rupert said you were."

"He says that? Really?"

"Every time I call home. Now, I think a pot of tea, don't you?"

He moved to the kitchenette and pulled down the teapot. Buffy couldn't resist calling over her shoulder.

"You know, if it wasn't for your snotty notes, that would have been done by now."

"If it wasn't for my notes, you'd have begun a house-to-house search and missed meeting my parents."

She moved to the kitchen. Her voice dropped as did the temperature in the room.

"I didn't know I was meeting your parents."

"If you'd known, it wouldn't have been a surprise, would it?"

"Did I ask to be surprised?"

"I rather thought you liked surprises."

"Jewelry surprises, yes. Tickets to the ice show surprises, yes. Parents shouldn't be surprises. In-laws make lousy surprises, Rupert."

"Buffy, you must have understood I'd want my family at the wedding."

"Maybe I would have if you'd ever said so. How many more are on the way? Let me have it all at once."

"Perhaps we ought to return to the hotel."

Ernest's soft voice from the living room startled Buffy. She turned to see Giles' parents standing stiffly together, twin grim expressions on their faces.

"I-I'm sorry," she said meekly. "I just...please, don't go." She looked up at her fiancé only to find the same frozen look on his face. "Rupert, c'mon. Tell them to stay."

"It really is quite late, dear," Daphne said with a gentle smile. "And I rather think we're all a little overwrought. I'm sure a good night's sleep will do us all a world of good."

"I'll drive you," Giles offered.

He quirked an eyebrow at Buffy. Her reply was to go and sit back down on the sofa. He nodded slightly and shepherded his parents to the door. At least she knew he approved of her plan to stay until his return.

As soon as he was gone, she heaved a sigh of frustration. A moment later, the teakettle whistled.

"I know exactly how you feel," she grumbled.

She went to the kitchen and switched the kettle off. The movements required to make tea had become automatic to her, allowing her more time to go over the scene in her mind. She knew her behavior had been something less than stellar, but the more she thought about it, the more she felt justified in her reaction. Giles had no business springing something that big on her so suddenly.

Pouring a cup of tea automatically, she returned to the sofa and contemplated the badness that was Giles. Damned, frustrating, secretive, hyper-sensitive jerk. He should have known this was the last thing she needed on top of Slaying and planning the wedding, and her mother's marriage, and the stupid baby, and looming finals, and everything else. What business did he have springing parents on her with no warning?