How could Dawn be all right? Her mother was dead.

How can any of them be all right?

Giles sighed, as he gathered the small china dishes from the living room coffee table. They were Joyce’s favorites, and Buff’s choice for the wake. Somehow, as he looked at the airy, flower pattern on the white background, it seemed appropriate. Joyce wouldn’t have wanted anyone to be sad. Yet, how could he feel anything but that?

He brought the dishes into the kitchen and gently placed them in the sink...

******

‘Rupert Giles, I seriously hope you’re going to rinse those before putting them in the dishwasher.’

‘I was just going to do that,’ Giles sighed, as he turned on the water.

Joyce smiled and shook her head, ‘You’ve been a bachelor far too long,’ she giggle, as she heard her two daughters arguing in the next room. ‘They never seem to stop, do they?’

Giles grinned, as he finished rinsing off the last of the dishes, ‘This is well behaved. You’ve haven’t seen them at the magic shop.’

‘I’m afraid to know,’ she listen to the arguing grow louder, ‘Okay, I think it’s time to be referee. Buffy! Dawn! In three seconds I’m going to put an end to this with some serious grounding!’

******

Buffy. Dawn.

Giles’ heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t imagine not hearing her voice in the house, or smelling her perfume in the air. In the past two years he had become close to his Slayer’s mother. First, physically, with the night of the band candy. Then, as time went on, a real friendship began to form. They had more in common then he had once thought. And most of it was due to Buffy...

******

‘Mom, Giles!’ Buffy huffed, pacing the floor like a trapped lioness, ‘That’s not fair!’

‘What’s not fair, Honey?’ Joyce said, folding her arms calmly, as she sat next to Giles.

‘You and Giles ganging up on me like this!’ Buffy said indignantly, stomping her foot.

‘And how might we be doing this?’ Giles asked innocently.

‘Certainly not by threatening to take away your Bronze privileges for a month...’

‘Or, by condemning you to a month of book studies,’ Giles added. ‘There are so many things about Carathen demons that you should know....all one hundred species.’

‘I’m not doing this,’ she grumbled, placing her hands on her hips, ‘And you both teaming up won’t change my mind one bit!’

Dawn hopped down the stairs, dressed in her most ‘coolest’ outfit, ‘I’m ready. Mom and Giles said you would take me to the concert in the park.’

Buffy looked at the resolution on the faces of the only two adults in her life and sighed, ‘Fine...let’s go.’

As Buffy and Dawn left the house, Joyce smiled, ‘Sometimes it’s too easy.’

‘Indeed.’

******

Giles picked up a stray pillow that somehow made its way to the floor. As he was about to place it on the couch, a scent caught his attention. He slowly brought the pillow to his nose and took a deep breath. It smelled like her. That spicy scent she always wore. He laid his hand on the soft fabric of the furniture and sighed. He could almost feel her presence there; almost hear her voice as she called out to her daughters.

Everything about the house was her. And now she was gone. So, what was left? Rooms filled with the remnants of what once was, and what will never be.

“Giles, I’m sorry I took so long. Dawn was still pretty upset...” Buffy whispered, as she descended down the stairs, and saw him sitting on the couch clutching the pillow to his lap, “You okay?”

Giles looked up, seeing the beauty that was Joyce, reflected in her daughter’s eyes, and sighed, “I was just...thinking. This sofa...”

“Yeah,” she sighed sadly, “I was thinking of getting a new one. I can’t seem to be able to...well...you know...being the place where she...”

“Don’t,” Giles said quickly. He then patted the seat cushion next to him.

“I don’t think I can...”

“Don’t think,” he said, “Just sit here with me.”

Buffy reluctantly walked over to the couch, trying hard not to envision her mother’s body draped where Giles was now sitting. Silently she sat down, feeling the soft, warmth of the material pressing against her black skirt.

“Can you feel it?” Giles said at long last.

“Feel what?” Buffy took a deep breath.

“Her.” Giles sighed, closing his eyes, “Here. On the couch. In the kitchen. In the house. Close your eyes. Can’t you still see her? Hear her voice? Feel her love? There are reflections of her in every nook, every inch of this house. Can you feel it?”

Buffy felt tears begin to spill down her cheeks as she concentrated on the memories that still hung in the air. Giles was right. Everywhere she went in the house, she could see reflections of her mother, and the life they once had. She could hear her mother laugh. Smell the cookies she loved to bake. Feel the warmth of her embrace. Her mother was in walls, the rug, the furniture, the very air Buffy breathed.

She was still in her life.

“I miss her,” Buffy sobbed quietly, “Reflections aren’t enough. You can’t hug a mirror. You can’t go to a shadow for advise. Her memory won’t be at my wedding, or at Dawn’s graduation.”

“No,” Giles let his own tears wash over his grief stricken face, “But when there is nothing else, even a reflection, is better than nothing at all.”

Buffy and Giles sat on the couch for the rest of the night, holding on to one another and sharing in their own reflections of the woman they loved.

The end