Was It Always Like This?

Chapter 18

Anya looked up and sighed as Willow came into the shop. “Hey” she mumbled and returned to the book she was reading.

“Hey” Willow mumbled in return and started choosing items from various jars and boxes around the store. “Do these come individually or do I need to get the whole bundle?” she asked as she held up a bundle of twigs bound together with some ribbon.

Anya looked up, a little surprised at Willow’s question. “I can do you a good deal on the whole lot but you can take as many as you need” she put her book under the counter and came round to see what Willow had gathered on the table. “Séance?” she asked and lifted one of the jars to see the contents more clearly.

“Giles and I are going to try to summon the spirits that we think are haunting the residential home” Willow smiled at her. “And since I don’t keep any supplies at home any more I needed to stock up on the basics.”

Anya nodded and sat down on one of the chairs. “How is Giles?” she asked and pretended innocence at Willow’s sudden glance in her direction.

“He’s very well” Willow nodded and gave up hunting for the final ingredients to sit down next to her. “He and I are trying to work through some personal issues and he suggested that you had helped him to come to a decision about them?” she left the sentence open ended, hoping to get a response.

Anya nodded and concentrated on removing a non-existent piece of lint from her skirt.may may have suggested that life for mortals was very short and that it wasn’t worth wasting it by being indecisive” she shrugged. “Was he decisive?” she asked, a hint of a grin quirking her lips.

“Oooooohhhhh” Willow breathed out slowly and was aware of a blush creeping up her neck. “Decisive doesn’t really cover it, let’s just say that I took your advice as well” she smiled. “I guess that means I owe you one?” Willow asked.

“Actually you owe me $37.50” Anya smiled and got up to fetch a paper bag for the purchases.

Willow laughed and shook her head. “Have you heard from Xander recently?” she asked, trying to retain the bantering tone but failing miserably.

“Nope, he’s not likely to be here unless he’s with one of you these days” Anya shrugged and finished packing the items. “Why, is there something wrong?”

“Not really” Willow shook her head. “It’s just that Giles told him about our new arrangement and he sort of flipped and gave Giles two black eyes and a broken nose” Willow sadly finished and saw the look of worry on Anya’s face. She raised her eyebrows as she recognised that Anya was concerned for Giles and not Xander and wondered when that strange shift had happened and why it made her uncomfortable.

“Is he alright?” Anya asked and put the money in the till without even checking it. Willow was seriously concerned now, Anya must care for Giles more deeply than any of them had ever guessed.

“He’s fine, Buffy reset his nose and he’s just a bit sore” Willow remained seated at the table. “He worked late last night and I left him sleeping this morning, I guess the painkillers knocked him out a bit as well”

“What do you want me to tell Xander if I see him?” Anya asked, trying to get the image of Willow leaving Giles in bed out of her head.

“Just tell him that I need to see him, I’m not mad or anything but I just need to know he’s OK” Willow shrugged. “I know this is difficult for him but he’s my best friend, I can’t lose him now”

Anya nodded and returned to stand behind the counter. “If I see him I’ll let him know” she seemed to pause for a moment, unsure of whether to continue. “Perhaps you could tell Giles that I hope he gets better soon”

Willow nodded and indicated the shop. “I think he wants to spend some time here before he leaves again and I’m sure he’ll give you a call once this séance thing is over and done with”

*****

Giles woke up feeling as if his mouth was full of cotton wool. He rolled over and started to wipe his hand across his eyes when he was painfully reminded of the previous day’s events. “Oh, bloody hell” he shouted and lay on his back to try and catch his breath.

“Giles, is everything OK?” Buffy asked from the other side of his bedroom door.

“Yes, yes” he mumbled and his head began to pound like some crazed jazz quartet. He slowly got himself out of bed and headed for the bathroom. He was startled to find Buffy still standing outside his door when he opened it. “Buffy” was all he could manage as he gritted his teeth.

“Willow’s gone out to the Magic Box and I think she was going to pick up some stuff for your head on her way home” Buffy stood back to let him past. “Can I get you anything?” she asked as he shuffled down the hallway.

“I’ll be fine once I’ve got myself together” he said and closed the bathroom door to forestall any further questions. A ten minute shower, most of it spent standing under the scalding water and trying to breath through his nose, helped get him some of the way towards greeting the new day. He decided to miss shaving for a few days to let the bruise on his jaw quieten down a little. He also admitted to himself that he didn’t really want to look at his purple and black eyes and nose in the mirror. Feeling a little refreshed he headed back to the bedroom and managed to get dressed and be feeling almost human by the time he headed downstairs.

Buffy was in the kitchen and had just poured his tea when he came in. “Good timing” she smiled at him. “Are you OK?” she winced.

“Just a bit tender this morning, sorry I was grumpy earlier” he blew on his tea to cool it a little. “Where did you say Willow had gone?” he asked.

“She went to the Magic Box to get the stuff you need for the spell and was going to stop at the pharmacist on the way back to get you some more painkillers” Buffy headed for the living room and he followed her. “Are you sure you should be doing any magic if you are in this much pain?” she asked. “Won’t it affect your focus or something?”

He nodded a little and sat down on the sofa. “Willow is actually going to be doing most of the work and I’ll just be anchoring her” he explained. “She is much more powerful than me anyway and I think she needs to do something like this to get her confidence back”

They sat in silence for a while until he looked up at her. “Any word from Xander?” he asked quietly.

Buffy shook her head. “Willow was hoping Anya might have heard something” she shrugged. “He’ll come round eventually, probably just needs some time to get his head round this”

“I don’t suppose I should expect him to understand 100% when I’m not sure Willow and I do ourselves” he agreed and looked towards Buffy. “About last night” he started.

“I’m sorry, I had no right to complain that you were able to stay longer” she interrupted.

“It’s OK” he interrupted her. “I just need you to know that you and I have a bond that Willow and I will never have and it isn’t going to be diminished by whatever we eventually become to each other” he sat forward in the chair and reached for her hand. “I never meant to hurt you” he squeezed her fingers and tilted his head to see her eyes.

She turned her head back to him and smiled. “You didn’t hurt me, I was just tired and still a little freaked about you being all cuddly and kissable suddenly” Taking a deep breath she squeezed his hand in return.ruinruined things for you once before by being selfish and I don’t intend to do it again, especially when I’d be messing with Willow as well”

He nodded and sank back in his chair. “Oh, and by the way” he added as an afterthought. “What makes you think I’m only staying to get some action?” he raised his eyebrows. “Why would I need to come all the way to America for that?”

Her embarrassment was finally matched by her shock at his teasing tone as the implications of what he said sank in. “Found you’re little black book when you got back to England?” she asked and shook her head. “Too much information, I’m going to do some training in the basement”

Willow returned ten minutes later and found him still sitting in the chair, finishing his tea and enjoying the relative peace and calm. “Hello” she smiled as she leaned down to kiss the top of his head. “Did you sleep OK?”

“Not bad” he admitted. “Although I could have used a little company” he suggested and then caught her surprised look and suddenly blushed. “Sorry, just something Buffy and I were talking about” he mumbled and realised that yesterday’s ‘saying something incredibly stupid without thinking’ problem was still afflicting him.

Willow stared at him and shook her head. She decided to keep her mind on the problem at hand and emptied the bag onto the coffee table. “We’ll come back to that later” she suggested. “I picked up everything we’ll need from Anya and I finished putting together the phrases we’ll need for the calling from my notes this morning”

“We’ll take half an hour to go over everything to make sure we haven’t missed anything important and then you can call Mrs Wayne and arrange a time for us to visit this afternoon” he nodded, feeling happier to be back on familiar ground. “Once the preparations are made we should both relax for a couple of hours to get ready.”

Buffy came back upstairs an hour later to find Giles sitting in the armchair and Willow sprawled on the sofa. “Hey, what happened to the research and everything?” she shifted Willow’s legs and squeezed onto the end of the sofa. “Is this how you two always work while Xander and I are out killing things?”

“Afraid so” Giles nodded. “We generally get the research done in about five minutes and then just spin out the lazing around till you come back all dirty and covered in demon gloop” he smiled.

“Yep” Willow agreed and lifted her legs tiley rey rested on Buffy’s lap. “Sometimes snacks and beverages are involved or not, depends on whether one of us can be bothered to get back up once the lazing has begun” she yawned and stretched a little.

“What’s the plan?” Buffy looked sternly at Giles. “I thought we were clearing this up today so you two could get down to serious smoochies?”

He coughed. “That is still, essentially, the plan” he agreed. “We’re due at the home for three thirty and have been guaranteed a couple of hours, free from interruption, in the rooms that have been affected to try and summon the spirits, see what they are trying to communicate and then persuade them to stop whatever they are doing”

Buffy shrugged and snuggled down a little lower in the sofa. “OK, daytime TV here we come”

Willow finally roused herself from the sofa at two o’clock. “I need to go and transform myself into efficient reporter woman, does anyone need to use the bathroom for the next twenty minutes?”

“Give me a shout when you’re finished and I’ll come up and get ready” Giles suggested as he put down the book he was reading.

Buffy watched Willow head upstairs before turning on her side on the sofa. “Bet you wish you still had the Willow-vision thing still going on?” she smirked at him.

He looked at her sharply and she thought he was going to refuse to answer when he finally picked the book up again and pretended to concentrate on it. “I should have remembered the female habit of sharing every embarrassing titbit of news” he shrugged, still refusing to look up. “Now you know just how difficult that situation was for me?”

Buffy sighed. “When Willow told me I felt sorry for you but you got int,int, things over the last day or two have made it seem kinda worse”

*****

Mrs Wayne stared at him as she shook his hand. “What on earth happened to you, Professor Giles?” she vaguely waved her free hand in the direction of his face. “Were you mugged?”

Giles coughed a little and wished he had thought up a reasonable lie before arriving.

Willow took pity on him and tried to get to the business at hand. “The professor was trying to teach some of us to play cricket and unfortunately misjudged his timing a little” she nudged Giles who was looking just as surprised as the older woman. “We should get set up and ready to get started” she suggested.

Giles cleared his throat and shook his head. He was always amazed at the completely innocent look that Willow habitually wore while lying so convincingly. He knew that it was a useful talent in their particular line of work, but was more disconcerted than usual as he realised the power she held over him. “Bit of a leg spin that caught me unawares” he finally let go of Mrs Wayne’s hand. “Definitely looks worse than it he he suggested manfully. “The rooms were down this way I believe?” he pointed to the east wing and followed the two women as they made their way to Mike’s room.

Mrs Wayne watched nervously from the doorway as Willow laid out several candles and dishes in a vague circle. “You don’t need to worry” Giles suggested as he removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. “Ms Rosenberg and I have done this many times before and we’ll be perfectly safe”

“If you could just lock the door on the way out and we’ll come and find you once we’re finished” Willow suggested. “I thought she would never leave” she sighed and began pouring a ring of coloured sand onto the carpet.

“Are we in a hurry?” he asked as he removed his waistcoat and loosened his tie.

Willow finished what she was doing and passed her hand over a large dish, causing a slightly green tinged smoke to begin forming. “Just looking forward to defeating the evilness, that’s all” she smiled sweetly at him. “That’s a good look on you” she nodded towards him. “Slightly ruffled tweed with designer stubble”

He rolled his eyes and lowered himself onto his knees within the circle of sand. “Concentrate” he glared at her and held his hands out.

She smiled and dropped into the lotus position in front of him, taking his hands in hers and rolling her neck to get rid of any remaining kinks. When she was quite settled she stared into his eyes. “Let’s do this” she said quietly and began reciting the celtic chant, modified slightly to specifically call on members of the Guilen sect.

He had slowed his breathing and felt himself becoming aware of the magic slowly being generated around him. His job was to remain focussed on the physical surroundings and anchor Willow in their present time and space while she tried to bring forth the sect members.

Willow had admitted to being more than a little nervous. Her previous dealings with the spirit world had all ended badly and she wasn’t sure she wanted anything to do with this type of magic ever again but she knew that Giles was very experienced in this area and wouldn’t allow any harm to come to either of them.

After about ten minutes they both became aware of a darkening in the smoke that now surrounded them. The green colour slowly changed to a dirty grey and eventually developed into a human form. Willow continued in her chant, becoming a little more insistent to try to actualize the form more distinctly. After a few minutes they were able to make out a human male wearing clothes consistent with the Guilen’s time period. He was quite small and Giles wondered briefly if he were a child, however, the final few seconds of the form’s appearance distilled into a bearded figure.

“You must hurry” the form urged them. “You must get out while you can”

“Why?” Willow asked quietly. “What is it that you are frightened of?”

The man looked at her as if she was mad. “The demon knows we are trying to vanquish him and is coming to destroy us all” he looked over his shoulder. “I don’t have time to explain, we must all leave here now” he was practically begging them now and they both knew that he was petrified of whatever he thought was coming to get them.

“Is it the Lareck demon?” Giles asked and knew he was right from the friged led look the man gave them. “We have nothing to fear, he was defeated by the strength of your joining. He is gone”

The man frantically shook his head and tried to reach out to pull them after him. “I couldn’t make them understand and now it’s too late”

Willow took a deep breath and concentrated to bring a little more of her power on line. “You can sense my power” she stated and saw the man stare at her in surprise. “You know that the demon will be defeated if he comes anywhere near me so we are all safe”

He seemed to calm down a little but continued to glance over his shoulder regularly. “You are a sorcerer of great power” he finally admitted. “Perhaps you are our only hope now that the demon is free” they could both see a glimmer of hope in his eyes. “You must use your power to resurrect the link between the houses. Without the link we will be destroyed”

Giles signalled to Willow to let him take over for a while. “You must believe us when we tell you that the demon has been destroyed. Your fight is over, you have won and can let go of your connection to this place and allow yourself to rest with the others of your sect”

He looked at Giles and his disbelief in their words faded away. “I cannot rest” he finally admitted as he hung his head. “It is because of my mistake that the demon is free and I cannot rest until I can persuade the council to leave this place before the demon arrives and kills all of us”

“What was your mistake?” Giles asked softly.

The apparition took a deep breath and slowly looked up. “I thirsted after knowledge and would not listen to the elders on the council when they said that some areas were not for novices to study” Giles heard Willow’s breathing quicken but trusted her to keep her concentration until they had finished their work. “I stole some of the ancient texts and let my pride get the better of me, summoning the demon in an attempt to prove to them that I was strong enough to vanquish it myself”

“The demon was destroyed” Giles gently reminded him. “You are drawn to this place because it holds your memories of the final battle, but that battle was fought and won over two hundred years ago and you must recognise the futility of continuing to torture yourself”

“I deserve no less” the man suggested and stepped back, spreading his arms wide. “I am worse than the demon himself, I cannot allow myself to rest with the innocents. I should suffer for the rest of eternity and it would still not be enough”

“You are not the only one suffering” Willow allowed a little more of her power to build. “Your actions are hurting people in our time and we cannot allow you to indulge your guilt at their expense”

The three of them sat in silence for a moment or two.

“I do not mean any harm to those in your world but I must remain as I am to warn others of the dangers”

Willow shook her head. “There are many here who know of the demon world and its powers, they will continue the fight if you choose to rest after all of this time”

“I do not warn of demons” he argued impatiently. “You understand nothing” he turned away and closed his eyes. “I must remain to warn others who would seek the power without having the knowledge to temper its use” he admitted quietly.

Giles squeezed Willow’s hands. “There are those of us who have learnt this lesson already and are prepared to remain in your stead” he suggested. “You may look into our souls and detect the knowledge you speak of. You will see the battles we have fought and won over many years to teach others this lesson, and you will see that your presence here is only causing harm.” Giles allowed a little steel to creep into his tone at the end and met the surprised gaze of the apparition without giving any quarter.

“It is as you say” the man finally agreed. “I have longed for and dreaded this moment for centuries” he admitted. “I am sorry that I have caused your people suffering, I meant them no harm, only to warn them that the house they inhabited could be overcome by the demon if they were not vigilant”

Giles nodded. “We understand but you must leave now and allow these people to live here free from your intervention”

Willow felt an overwhelming sense of relief wash over them to be followed by a deep sadness. “I wish you luck in your coming battles and thank you for releasing me from my duty” the final words seemed to emanate from the cloud of smoke as the form slowly dematerialised.

Willow slowly reined in her power and ensured that the door they had opened to the spirit world was firmly closed before allowing herself to relax and drop her hands to her sides.

Giles was leaning back against the bed, catching his breath. He watched her roll her neck and wiggle her toes and fingers. “You were controlling the doorway for an hour, are you OK?” he finally asked and was rewarded with a smile and her opening her eyes.

“A little tired and a lot sad” she admitted and slowly uncrossed her legs and stretched them out in front of her while leaning back on her hands. “Do you think he’s really gone?”

Giles nodded. “I think the mayor may have had something to do with this building being put in the same place and built to a similar specification as the original sect buildings” he stretched his back and rotated his shoulders. “The spirit obviously assumed it had been built to resurrect the demon and tried to warn all of those living here of the danger they were in”

Willow nodded and stood up, brushing sand and herbs from her clothes as she moved to open the windows. She wafted some of the smoke out of the window before moving to his side and offering her hand to help him stand. “I don’t suppose he had any way of knowing that the elderly residents wouldn’t react very well to ghostly visits foretelling doom and their imminent death”

Giles stood up himself and then took her hand in his. “I’m sorry you had to go through this, it must have been very painful for you so soon after your own battles” he hugged her close. “You were magnificent today, the gradually increasing power and your control of it was what finally convinced him to leave”

“Just doing my job sir” Willow smiled at him and hugged him tightly before stepping away. “I’ll go and find Mrs Wayne and sort out getting this mess cleared up”

Giles nodded and slowly stretched before putting his waistcoat and jacket back on. He looked at himself in a full length mirror on the back of the door and shook his head. When Willow had originally suggested the tweed suit to impress the woman who ran the residential home he had assured her that he hadn’t packed anything like that for his holiday. Willow had giggled and Buffy had been dispatched to the basement to retrieve the box with his name marked on it. “What on earth?” he had asked as he pulled out several notebooks and items of clothing, including two tweed suits and some very baggy sweaters. Buffy had shrugged her shoulders “We figured you didn’t want them any more but we couldn’t really bring ourselves to throw them out”. Now, looking at himself in the mirror he struggled to remember the early days when this had been his uniform. He was still staring at himself when he heard Willow and Mrs Wayne returning. He stepped out into the corridor and found Ernie watching him from the door of his adjoining room. He left Willow to sort out the domestic issues and followed the old man into his room.

“Did you find out what happened to Mike?” he asked as he sat down in the high backed chair.

“I think so” Giles nodded. “We managed to track down a spirit who thought you were all in danger and was trying to warn everyone to leave before it was too late” he sat down on the edge of the bed. “Unfortunately he didn’t know that the usage of the building had changed in the last two hundred years and his exhortations to leave and explanations of the danger were probably overwhelming enough to frighten a person to death” he paused. “Do you know if Mike had any heart problems?”

Ernie stared down at his hands clasped in his lap for a moment or two before answering. “He had survived three fairly large coronaries over the last ten years and his doctor had just recently upped his medication” he shook his head. “What happens now?”

Giles stood to pace, taking the chance to look at the many photographs on the wall. “Willow and I persuaded the spirit that the danger was over and done with many years ago and that he could leave this place” he turned to look at the old man. “I don’t think you will be getting any more visits but I will be suggesting some works be carried out to change the floorplan of the building” he indicated the room around him. “Part of the reason for the spirit’s insistence was the uncanny resemblance of this building to the one previously destroyed.”

Ernie looked up at him. “I was at the opening of this home fifteen years ago” he smiled at the memory. “Mayor Wilkins cut the ribbon and we all clapped and sipped our cheap wine as the first residents were wheeled in”

Giles returned to sit on the bed. “You were still a serving police officer?”

“Yes, the Mayor liked his photocalls to have a uniform in them, reminded people how strong he was on law and order” Ernie shrugged his shoulders to acknowledge the irony. “I didn’t have any idea at the time that I would eventually live here but I remember thinking that it was real nice that a serving official took such an interest in the welfare of the older members of society. It was in all of the papers that he had overseen the design himself to make it as accessible as possible”

Giles nodded “I suspected as much, a few changes to the usage of certain rooms and perhaps a sun terrace or two tacked onto the building should change it enough to negate any further interference”

Ernie stood up and stared at the picture of him next to the mayor. “To this day I still can’t believe he had us all duped” he shook his head. “A few of the senior officers disappeared after you blew up what he had become, but nobody else had any idea of his influence”

Giles stood up as well and rested his hand on the man’s shoulder. “There was no reason you should have, he was a very intelligent man who had been around for over three hundred years by the time the Ascension took place” he headed for the door. “If you have any further problems please contact Willow on this number and she can contact me if it is necessary, however, I meant it when I said that there shouldn’t be any more occurrences”

Ernie took the card and shook his hand. “I’m sorry I was rude to you the last time we met, I was just so used to seeing you turning up every time we had a strange dead body that I didn’t believe you were on the right side”

Giles smiled and shook his hand warmly. “Professional hazard I’m afraid”

Ernie smiled as Willow joined them in the corridor. “Is that the explanation for the bruises” he asked.

Willow giggled. “Sporting injury” she suggested and looked so honest and innocent that Ernie didn’t have the nerve to disagree with her.

Giles shook his head and put his arm around her shoulders. “Have you finished cleaning up the mess you made?” he asked and winked at Ernie over her head.

“Yes professor” she simpered and pulled away from his arm. “Let’s just say goodbye to Mrs Wayne and we can get to that other meeting we have planned for this afternoon” she winked in a completely unsubtle way and then grinned at both of them. “Ernie, can you let Kate and Sheila know that the problem has been cleared up and I think Xander will probably be around to visit them soon to make sure everything is OK”

Ernie nodded and smiled at her. “Will you come back to brighten up our days as well?” he asked and was delighted when she nodded. “Take care of the professor here” he nodded towards Giles and walked off down the corridor to find the others.

Mrs Wayne came out of Mike’s room and looked a little worried. “How long do you think the smell will take to go away?” she looked towards Giles again. “I have some prospective client’s coming to see the room tomorrow morning and I don’t want them thinking we encourage smoking of any kind”

Giles tried desperately not to laugh and refused to look at Willow, knowing she would undoubtedly set him off. “I think the smoke should have dissipated completely within an hour or so and perhaps the liberal use of some room freshener would suffice to clear the smell” he turned away as the smile won the battle and he had to take a deep breath to stop the giggles. “I’m sorry” he mumbled when he turned back round. “The séance has tired me and I should get some rest before my next appointment” he had placed his hand over his eyes and could hear Willow coughing behind him in a losing battle. “Ms Rosenberg, have you quite finished?” he asked and glanced at her, sticking his tongue out so that only she could see.

She stared at him for a moment, determined not to react to his taunting. She took a deep breath and turned to look at the bewildered woman. “I’m sorry Mrs Wayne but sometimes defeating the powers of darkness weakens the professor, it would be best if I accompanied him to make sure he is OK”

Giles lowered his head and groaned dramatically to cover his grin. He felt Willow’s hand in the small of his back and allowed himself to be guided down the corridor to the front door. “Of course” Mrs Wayne hurried along beside them. “Will you be OK professor, perhaps some tea before you go?” He managed to draw out an even deeper groan and was sure that his ribs were going to ache for days wthe the pain of keeping from laughing out loud.

“No, I must insist” Willow practically shouted. “The professor needs to get to bed as soon as possible, it really is the best thing for him when he is in this condition”

By this time they were standing outside the door and Willow reached out to shake the woman’s hand. “We’ll submit our report in due course and I’ll contact you in a week or so to make sure everything has settled down”

“Goodbye” Mrs Wayne waved as they set off. “I hope you feel better soon Professor Giles” she shouted as the pair disappeared into their car.

Giles was sitting in the passenger seat, his hands over his eyes still and his other arm wrapped around his ribs, shaking with laughter. “You are evil” he giggled. “ ‘get to bed as soon as possible’ ” he quoted and finally chanced a look at her as she drove them round the corner of the building. “We’ve just eradicated a two hundred and ten year old spirit that was killing off her paying customers and she was worried about the smell” he finally gasped out and leaned back in his seat to laugh out loud.

Willow was laughing with him. “You should have heard her complain about the ring of sand and herbs” she finally managed to get out. “Thank goddess for vacuum cleaners, I thought she was going to make me scrub the carpet”

They finally got their collective breaths back after a couple of blocks and he glanced out of the window. “Where are we going?” he asked. “Buffy’s house is back the other way”

“I know” Willow nodded and looked at him a little sheepishly. “I just wanted to find Xander and tell him that the thing was done with” she shrugged as he stared at her. “His latest project is on the outskirts of town and I thought we could drop by and give him the good news”

“What happened to getting me into bed as a matter of urgency?” he sighed and stretched his legs out in front of him, folding his arms at the same time.

“We need to have the serious talk first and I’d rather sort out the thing with Xander before we tackle anything else” she pouted a little. “Please, I promise it will be worth the wait”

He sighed dramatically and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “Luckily for you I’m still in a good mood from the magic earlier or we would be having our first argument right about now” he suggested dryly.

Willow smiled a little sadly and put her hand on his arm. “We have the rest of our lives together but I need to know I’m OK with Xander, it just feels wrong to not have him be a part of this”

He nodded grudgingly and patted her hand. “I’ll behave but I’m warning you, I will defend myself this time”