Disclaimer - Nothing here belongs to me. All characters are property of Joss Whedon and the WB.

Summary - response to the challenge on Strange Brew - write a story based on the title Where The Wild Things Are

Author's Notes - not sure that this is what you were expecting, but this is the first thing I thought of! Feedback - yes please!

The doorbell chimed loudly, waking Giles from his reverie. Looking vaguely around him, he shook his head as he tried to make sense of all he had read. He had been researching the same topic for over two days, and he was no closer now to finding out what he needed to know than he had been when he started.

It had been so much simpler, once upon a time, when there were two of them to share the researching duties. He had never noticed just how much he depended on Willow, not until she wasn’t there anymore. How many nights had they sat together, here in his apartment, in the library before that, poring over computer screens and dusty old volumes, looking for answers? He remembered how she would get that frown on her face as she read, and the way her eyes would brighten as she showed him something she’d found. Two minds were definitely better than one in matters like this he realised belatedly. He had come to depend on her, and then she had left.

With Oz, goddammit.

If there was one thing he had realised in the past few months, it was that his feelings for Willow went far deeper than simple friendship. He didn’t know when the change had taken place, so subtle had it been. All he knew was that he loved her.

Unfortunately, he’d only figured it out when Oz came back and asked Willow to leave Sunnydale with him, and make a new start.

He still couldn’t believe that he had the gall to do that. He’d walked out on Willow over a year before, broken her heart. Giles still ached when he remembered her tears, the pain she had gone through…not to mention the chaos she had caused when her wish spell backfired. Even that hadn’t been as bad as it seemed at the time though, Spike and Buffy notwithstanding. Willow made the best chocolate chip cookies in the world, and he’d got a month’s supply of them. Not to mention how much he loved hearing her voice…. it was as beautiful as she was.

Then he just waltzed back into her life, putting her through hell all over again. Should she go or should she stay? She’d talked to them all about it – she’d even cried in his arms right here. That was when he had known. As she cried, all he had wanted to do was take her in his arms and make all the pain go away. Show her what real love was like. Make love to her like there was no tomorrow, and have her stay right here forever.

He hadn’t done that though.

He’d held her, and comforted her, and told her that no matter what happened, he would always be there for her.

And he’d let her go.

The doorbell chimed again, this time more insistently. Giles shook himself, wondering how long he’d been thinking like that. Not that it mattered. Buffy was out patrolling and would be going back to Riley’s. Xander and Anya were off God-knows-where doing God-knows-what. And Spike had finally found a place of his own, and stopped visiting every night. Although Willow’s departure had changed that. It was probably just someone lost, looking for directions.

He swung open the door…. and stopped dead in his tracks.

He stared at her, dumbfounded. She looked exactly the same as the last time he saw her, exactly the same as she appeared in his dreams. There was a holdall slung over her shoulder, and an uncertain smile on her face as her right hand came up in a small wave. "Hi Giles."

"Willow!" He couldn’t help it. He was so happy to see her, he pulled her into a hug. She seemed startled at first, but then he felt her relax against him. She felt better than in his dreams he decided. Then reality came crashing down and he pushed her away to face him. "Good Lord Willow, what are you doing walking the streets of Sunnydale at this hour of the night?"

Willow grinned, having known this was coming. "That’s not an invitation Giles, but it’ll do." Without further ado, she pushed by him into the apartment. Some part of Giles’ brain acknowledged that that was good – at least she hadn’t been turned into a vampire. That still left the question of what the hell she was doing here. Speaking of which….

"What are you doing here?"

"I’ve come home," she said simply. She had been sitting down, but now she bounced up and moved over to the kitchen. "Any nice munchies? Tea?"

"Willow…" She cut off his question.

"Giles…. please?"

The tone of her voice was what did it. She sounded lonely and afraid, desperately in need of something or someone to hold onto…. he decided to stop that train of thought before it got him into trouble. "Tea would be delightful," he decided.

They sat together, with Giles catching Willow up on all the Sunnydale gossip that she’d missed. Finally, he turned to her and said, "So what brings you back here?"

Slowly, Willow reached over and put her cup back on the table. "I knew you’d ask that."

"Well, I am of course thrilled to see you, but you suddenly arrive on my doorstep in the middle of the night on the Hellmouth, risking life and limb and soul, with no warning whatsoever – it’s quite the valid question."

"I know." She sighed. "I think I knew I’d made a mistake the moment I said I’d go with him…it just didn’t feel right. Inside, you know? But I’d missed him so much…I was so lonely. And we’d been so good until you know, he cheated on me, and killed Veruca and left me broken-hearted and all….but it was good up to then! I thought we could get it back, and I’d be happy. I was just tired of being alone, you know?"

"Yes, I know." Giles’ sigh was heavy. He did know. He’d spent so long missing Jenny, and then Olivia had come along….what a disaster that had been! Once she’d found out the truth about his life on the Hellmouth, it had been curtains for their relationship. They’d limped along for a while, but she had returned to England, and never come back. He couldn’t say he missed her….it was Willow who he had missed, Willow who had taken his heart when she left.

"And for a while, it was good. We were happy. Kinda. It just wasn’t like it was before. He thought it could be, but we’d changed. And I don’t know….I could get past the Veruca thing. It’s not as if I didn’t cheat on him before that, and we got through it. I couldn’t get past him leaving me."

"I can see where that would be difficult."

"It wasn’t difficult, it was impossible!" Willow’s voice raised an octave, and she flung her hands out wide, in so doing, almost knocking off his glasses. She didn’t even notice. "He left me! I begged him not to and he did it anyway! And then, all I could think about was the time when he caught me with Xander….he didn’t speak to me for weeks! And it seemed like every time I needed him, he walked away from me! And I tried to tell him how I was feeling, and he just didn’t want to know! I want someone who’s always there for me….is that so wrong?" Frustrated, she put her head in her hands.

"So you came back to Sunnydale."

"We had a huge fight…I was the one who left this time." Her smile was ironic. "And here I am."

"Willow." He was still puzzled over one thing. "Why did you come here?"

"It wasn’t a hard choice." Willow smiled at him.

"It wasn’t?"

"Well, I figured Buffy was out patrolling, or with Riley. God knows what Xander and Anya are up to. And my parents are out of the country…"

"So I was your last choice was I?" Giles tried hard to keep the hurt out of his voice.

"No, not at all!" Willow’s voice rose again. "You were my first choice."

"Really?"

"Yes." Willow paused, weighing her next words carefully. "I kept reading the book you gave me before I left….I read it every night."

Giles’ face brightened into a smile. "Really? Every night?"

"It was kinda like my blanky," she admitted, reaching into her bag, and pulling out a tattered copy of Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are. "I was surprised when I opened it."

Giles smiled softly, remembering instructing her not to open it until she got to where she was going. "I figured it was appropriate for your stage in life….going off into the unknown, where who knows what demons lurk in the forest and all that…"

She opened the front cover and read the inscription for the thousandth time. "To Willow…Remember, no matter what wild things you find on your travels, remember, there will always be a place where dinner is ready and the light is on. Love Giles" She looked up at him again, and he prayed she couldn’t hear his heart skip a beat. "That got me through," she admitted. "I knew that no matter what happened you’d be here for me. With dinner…."

He looked at the remnants of their pick-up supper. "Hardly a four course banquet."

"And the light on…"

"Late night research."

"And that you wouldn’t pump me with questions the minute I walked in the door. You’d just be here, like you always are." She lowered her eyes. "I missed you Giles."

Smiling, he pulled her into a hug. "I missed you too Willow," he admitted. Staring into the firelight, he held her, savouring the feeling of her in his arms. "Welcome home."

He knew that Willow wasn’t the only one who had come home that night.

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