Note: ~< >~ indicates telepathic conversation

Buffy entered their room and flopped on a bed. Willow, who was putting away the last of her things, tossed her cell phone to Buffy.

Buffy sighed. “Guess I should call, huh?”

Willow glanced at the reluctant, reclining Buffy. They had discussed the situation as soon as they were left alone in their room. Buffy had been doing everything she could to delay making this call since then, including calling her mother and going to the washroom.

The sound of beeping irritated the air as Buffy began dialling.

“Hi, Giles.”

“Buffy! Hello. How was your trip?”

“The trip was fine. Other than severe embarrassment. And being ‘ma’am’ed.”

Giles frowned. Mamed? Maimed?!! What on earth . . .??

“Honestly now, Giles. Do I look old enough to be a ma’am?”

Oh. Ma’am. Oh dear Lord.

“Buffy, do not worry about it. As far as I am concerned, you’re still a child.”

“Thanks! Wait. HEY!”

“How is your cousin?”

“He’s nice. Let’s get back to that ‘child’ comment, mister.”

“Here. Give me that. You’re procrastinating.”

“Will - “

Silence. Giles could feel the look.

“Hi, Giles. Buffy’s cousin is one of the people from her dreams. In fact, we’ve ran into most of the people from her dream.”

“What? Are you unharmed?”

“We’re great, Giles. But get this, one of them is named Kitty. Guess which one?”

“The cat woman?”

“Giles scores. At first, we were thinking that it might be a situation like with the swim team. But now we’re thinking that maybe all the - well - things might be as obvious as that one is, to them.”

Willow watched Buffy unpack her bags. She had already finished unpacking hers while Buffy had checked her hair in the washroom. Which they had to share. With a bunch of other people.

Sharing a small house with an open floor plan and two almost-Honeymooners didn’t actually sound as bad as it had at first. Still not good enough to switch, but better than it had.

“Willow, could you hand me back to Buffy, please?”

Willow couldn’t help the small smirk as she handed back the phone to a wincing Buffy. She really shouldn’t try to avoid the explosion the way she did. She still eventually had to deal with it and she had the added stress of the wait.

“Hi, Giles!” The forced cheer echoed loudly in the room. “How’s patrol been? I bet it’s been quiet, huh? Still, you better remember to be caref - “

“Buffy.” The quiet interruption caused a small flinch to flicker over Buffy’s face. Then, “What were you BLOODY well THINKING, Child?! You went with people who had appeared in your dreams as MONSTERS. People your dreams seemed to be WARNING you about. Buffy! You know better than that. Even small children know better than that. And the close quarters of a vehicle would make for a very difficult place for you to fight without injuring Willow.” The voice was even with effort and, every once in a while, Giles’ control slipped, resulting in a conversation that could be clearly heard where Willow was standing.

“It was a Rolls Royc -”

“I don’t care if it was a bloody limousine with a trampoline in it!” A calming breath rasped through the lines as Giles tried to regain his composure. Willow was starting to worry as she watched the argument. Buffy held the phone slightly away from her ear, the eye on the phone side of her head shut tight as she winced away from the rare sound of Giles in a fury.

“You risked yourself. And, worse, you risked someone else, as well. Why?” Giles was starting to calm down again, but, unfortunately, the thought that Giles believed Buffy had put Willow in danger was sparking Buffy’s own anger.

She straightened and her face became an expressionless mask.

“I made an assessment of the situation and acted accordingly.” The cold in her voice practically froze the phones. Giles realized that probably shouldn’t have put his fears quite the way he had.

Giles opened his mouth to try and make Buffy understand his worries, and his frustration with being left behind when he heard Willow.

“WHOA! Hold it! Back off, guys!”

With relief, Giles listened to a calming murmur from Willow as she talked Buffy down. The last thing they needed was to be at odds. Especially when he was on the other side of the continent. Privately, Giles knew that his reaction to being left out the action was as bad as his Slayer’s. The stress got to him every time. He was just a bit better than Buffy at hiding his feelings.

“Giles?”

Nothing to do but face up.

“Buffy. I feel I must apologize. I fear that my anxiety manifested itself in a regrettable display of-”

“Giles! Geeze. I really must have upset you. You’ve gone all extreme accents on me. Umm. Will was just reading me the riot act - “

There was the sound of disagreement in the background.

“You were. You just did it politely.”

Something everyone could be grateful for. Willow in a temper was quite a sight. Not something he wanted to be in the vicinity of, and he had routine dealings with a super powered teenager and demons.

“ - And I sorta got it. But I don‘t think they want to hurt us. I think we‘re supposed to help them. And I would never put Willow in the kind of risk you’re talking about.”

* Sigh *

“I am well aware of that, Buffy.”

“And I . . . Uh, actually . . . “

There was an uncomfortable silence, both understanding the other and neither wanting to speak. Then, -

“So. We’ve got here. I embarrassed myself repeatedly. And I think we’ve both unpacked and stuff. The school is in a mansion, - a REAL mansion, Giles - and it’s almost dinner. I don’t know if we dress up for dinner, so we better check on that. I guess we’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Sooner - “

“Sooner if anything happens. Yes, Mother.”

There was fondness in her voice again.

“I have finally managed to contact my friend at the Museum again and have made an appointment for you for Wednesday at ten o’clock. You have the information if you need to reschedule. I believe you’ll enjoy your visit with him, Buffy. Tell Willow goodbye from me and to get some rest tonight. Jet lag is not a fun experience to deal with. Goodnight, Buffy.”

“Night, Giles. Bye.”

Closing the phone, she flopped on the bed.

“That went better than I hoped.”

***

“Guys?”

Kitty’s voice cut through the low conversation still continuing in the Professors’ Study. The tone of her voice caught their attention.

“I was starting to set up surveillance on our two visitors and caught the tail-end of a phone call. Listen.”

Replaying the taped conversation, Kitty ignored the cell phone static and concentrated on the voices. She had already heard what they said. This time she was listening to the tone and emotion in their voices. A lot was being said silently here. A very nice English voice and Buffy were stepping around an apology, talking about an appointment, and saying goodbye. The interesting part was in the apology.

Kitty swung in her chair to face the group. “Anybody else find that interesting?”

From the looks on their faces, they did.

_________________________

I sincerely apologize for the lateness of this chapter and for the dismal quality. I think I hit my first writers’ block. Either that, or my muse stole my Christmas chocolates (I COULDN’T have ate ALL of them!) and is somewhere gorging herself. Hopefully, this horrid excuse for a chapter will shame her into coming out again, because I really need her help with this part. It is at a transitional stage right now. I have scenes that I know exactly what I want to do, but they’re all further on. So, I have to get my story from here to there, somehow.

Oh, and to partially answer a certain question: I will explain why Charles and Jean can’t read their minds. I promise.

Hopefully, I will have more ready next week.