Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Rating: T

Chapter 18

"So Spike never died when he and Angel fought off the senior partners?" Dawn asked, "Or is this another brought back from the dead deal?"

"And why didn't we know about any of this?" Willow asked, narrowing her eyes at Spike when he snorted and looked at the ceiling with a shake of his head before levelling a defiant stare at her.

Buffy looked at Spike and saw the shadow pass over his face, his eyes shuttering against the memory of what had happened, and she sighed. Gripping Giles' hand tighter she looked down at Bash,

"Honey, maybe you should go upstairs for a bit and play with your Lego" she said lifting her other hand and cupping his cheek when he looked at her, his mouth open ready to argue, "No arguing, you shouldn't hear this"

Xander had made good on his promise and had made pancakes, chocolate chip ones for Bash, and had even added bacon and eggs. After he had eaten he had disappeared, his car screeching away from the curb. He had returned an hour later with a grumpy and still tired Willow and Dawn, demanding an explanation to Spike as soon as he had ushered them through the front door.

Buffy had handed Dawn a coffee and Willow a tea as well as a plate of food each and had finished tidying up. Ignoring Xanders pacing and barbed comments towards Spike, who was enjoying the reaction to his presence, before sitting on the sofa with Bash perched on her lap and Giles beside her. She'd told them some of it but hadn't wanted to go into details with Bash sitting there.

"But Mum, I already know, why have I gotta go upstairs?" he whined, pinning her with his version of her pout.

"What did your Dad say yesterday about why we do this?" she asked him, composing her face into a serious expression and making every effort to not break out into giggles at Giles' silent resigned sigh at the pout.

"I dunno" he muttered stubbornly, looking down at his hands that were resting on her belly, poking at Lucas' foot when he pushed back against the pressure.

"He said that just because you see it..."

"I don't have to deal with it" Bash said softly with a sigh, "I can do it you know" looking up at her with a determined expression.

Buffy did smile then, proudly, "Oh I know but you're a little boy, I want you to be a little boy for as long as possible and that means going to play while the grown ups talk about serious stuff"

"And no listening in" Giles told him sternly, taking his arm from around Buffy's shoulders and pulling him from her lap, "I want you to promise me that you won't"

"I promise" Bash said seriously as Giles let him slide to the floor, "but when you're done can I play Mario with Aunty Dawn, she did promise yesterday?"

"Oh you wanna get beat that bad?" Dawn said taunting him with a smirk.

"No I wanna beat you that bad" he said grinning at her when Xander laughed and high fived him.

He ran from the room and up the stairs giggling at her growl and Buffy shook her head at the display, waiting for the sound of his door shutting. Once she heard it she looked up at Giles and nodded when he silently asked her if she was sure.

"It was my idea to let everyone believe they had died" she said with a grim smile, "I thought it would be safer for them, we didn't know what the backlash would be, or if there even would be any"

"She showed up in the nick of time just as the last few were about to finish us off," Spike said, sniffing and shrugging his shoulders trying for nonchalant but just giving off Spike-ness, "Gunn was dead, Angel was down, I was only barely on my feet and Illyria was fighting two trolls and three hellhounds at once, we thought we were gonna die in that alley but then she showed up" he looked at Buffy and she saw the pain behind the facade.

"I managed to behead the demons pummelling him then ran over to Illyria and helped her finish off the trolls, the rest of the demons ran and they looked pretty much dead, uh, ya know apart from the dusty ending, so I let the rumour spread that they had their heads ripped off by a troll" Buffy said with a shrug, "luckily the Hyperion was still empty and Illyria and I dragged Angel and Spike there then went back for Gunn, they told me where Wes was so I...I went and got him too" she drew a shuddering breath and leaned into Giles when he tightened his hold on her.

"I found out about what had happened shortly after we went to Florida after she was injured," Giles said, stroking a hand up and down her arm and pressing his lips to her head, "and Faith knew because Buffy sent them to Cleveland to recuperate and to regain their strength"

"So why not tell us?" Xander asked, looking back at Dawn and Willow and seeing they shared some of his annoyance at being kept out of the loop.

"I asked her not to, Angel too, especially after the way you lot turned your backs on us when Fred was dying" Spike said, glaring at them.

"With what we knew about Wolfram and Hart we couldn't risk getting involved" Willow said angrily.

"And what was that goose chase your boy Andrew led us on when we went to Italy? Buffy was never there yet you had some blonde wannabe pretending to be her" Spike responded, sick of the walk down memory lane.

"Ah," Giles looked down at Buffys giggle and grinned at her, "we didn't want the fact that she had disappeared to be common knowledge so we had decoys, ones that looked enough like her from a distance, and it kept the demonic community oblivious. We weren't sure it would work until it had you two berks running in circles"

Spike snorted and slouched deeper in the chair, "Not like it mattered anymore since she had already decided to shag an old git like you"

Giles gritted his teeth and glared at him, "I've seen what you did too her, how you demoralised her, be grateful you can be helpful" he growled.

Don't love, it's what he wants Buffy told him, squeezing his thigh and looking up at him.

Giles just nodded at her and covered her hand with his. She immediately turned her hand over and linked their fingers.

"Any more questions?" he asked the others, ignoring the way Spike was staring at their joined hands and at how Buffy would occasionally run the fingers of her other hand up and down his forearm. The fact the action raised goosebumps on his skin was probably not lost on him.

"Just one; how is he gonna help?" Dawn asked pointing at Spike, her mind still reeling at the story Buffy had told them.

"We don't know" Buffy said, shifting her hips with a hiss when Lucas stretched, "We think Bash does but he won't tell us, something about..." she trailed off and concentrated on Willow, opening up the old mind link they had had in place years ago, He says we're being watched she said and watched Willows eyes widen in surprise.

"I can stop that" she said then jumped up and rushed down the stairs to the basement flat.

"Where's she going? What can she help with? Something about what?" Dawn asked, looking between Buffy and Giles.

"You'll find out in a minute" Giles said, stroking a hand over Buffys stomach, attempting to calm Lucas.

"Ow, you're gonna have to talk to him" she said flinching at a punch to her bladder.

"I'll do it!" Bash shouted and he thundered down the stairs a few seconds later.

"What did I say about listening in?" Giles said sending a little hairy eyeball in the direction of his son when he ran around the back of the sofa.

"I wasn't, I promise!" Bash said jumping onto the sofa next to Buffy, "I just checked to see what you were talking about coz I'm bored"

"What are you lot talking about?" Spike asked, watching in fascination as Bash lay his head on Buffys stomach, giggling when his head moved with the force of the kick from his brother.

"Telepathy" Giles said with a smile, watching Bash start talking to Lucas about the house he was building with his Lego.

"What, you can all do it?" he asked in surprise.

"Yeah, me and Giles can do it coz of the bond and Bash and Lucas can for sorta the same reason" Buffy said smiling down at her son when he giggled at another movement, "Good job sweetie, he's slowing down"

"He likes me telling him stuff" Bash said, looking up at her with a proud grin, "I think I'll like having a baby brother when he gets here"

Buffy opened her mouth to respond then blinked at the sudden flash of light and looked at Giles to see him doing the same thing, "What the hell was that?"

"Willow must have succeeded with a cloaking spell," Giles said taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes, "a little warning would have been nice".

"Oh that won't work," Bash said sitting back, scrunching his eyes shut and shaking his head.

"Why not?" Xander asked pushing himself off the sofa and walking towards the kitchen, empty coffee mug in hand.

"Coz of the shadows" Bash said, sliding off the sofa and running over to his aunt, climbing up onto her lap for a hug.

"What shadows?" Giles asked, replacing his glasses.

"The ones she put in you and Uncle Ethan so she can see and listen, doesn't work when you're on your own, spell only works when you're with Mum" Bash said, looking at him with a confused expression, "but Willow's spell will make it so she can't hear you, so you can talk about her if you like"

"How the bloody hell do you know so much?" Spike asked, staring at Bash with a mixture of fascination and confusion.

"I dream it, don't know why, I think someone whispers it to my head" he said looking at his Dad, "Do you know why?"

"Haven't the foggiest" Giles said shaking his head with an impressed smirk, "but if she can't hear us then you can tell us how you managed to hide us when we were on holiday"

Bash's eyes widened in surprise, "You knew I did that?"

"Well it wasn't me and Willow was preoccupied with what happened here and it definitely wasn't your mother..."

"Hey! It could've been me, I know stuff" she said pouting at him.

"True, you have picked up some magic in your time alone, finally" he said grinning down at her, laughing when she lightly shoved his shoulder with hers with a roll of her eyes, "but you haven't got that much power"

"I didn't do it on purpose, I just wanted Mum to be happy and I didn't like that you were all grumpy and stuff" Bash murmured, looking down at the floor and fidgeting with the legs of his shorts.

"You're not in trouble Bash but I would like it if you had some extra lessons with the Coven to help you to control your magic" he said smiling at the excitement in his eyes when he looked up at him.

"Ok, yeah that'd be cool" he said eagerly then squealed and wriggled when Dawn started tickling him.

"Right, that should keep her from listening for now" Willow said when she rejoined them a few seconds later.

"We already figured that out Red" Spike said with a smirk.

"Oh," she said her face falling slightly. She looked at Bash who was grinning proudly and blew him a raspberry, "Way to steal my thunder squirt"

Bash laughed and slid off of Dawns lap onto the floor. He ran over to his mother when she held her hands out and pushed his way between his parents.

"How long will the spell last Will?" Buffy asked her, shifting slightly to accommodate Bash and shaking her head at his inability to stay still for longer than five minutes.

"Should be permanent" she said sitting down next to Dawn.

"So Bash can tell us what he knows about her then" Xander said coming back with an armful of drinks, handing them out to everyone, "And I thought that you couldn't be that far away from Giles when you were pregnant because of the sick feeling you got, so how did you manage to go to LA without the vomiting every ten minutes?"he asked.

"No" Buffy said taking a bottle of water, "We, as in me and Giles, will talk to him later. He's five, I don't want him interrogated and how'd you think I found out about it? Angel was the one who told me I was pregnant actually, heard munchkins heartbeat and told me, that was fun" she said with an eye roll at Giles' smug thought and chuckle.

"It's ok Mum, I can tell them why Spike's here" Bash said, twisting his head to look up at her.

"Ok you can tell them that..."

"And I know her name" he interrupted, sucking at the straw to his drink carton.

"And you can tell them that but that's it" she said shaking her head in disbelief at his unconcerned attitude.

"Ok," he said happily, "Spike's here coz Dru is and her name is Annabelle".

Buffy looked up sharply when she caught the expletive that shot through Giles' head and watched the colour drain from his face, frowning when his mind shut off from hers.

"Drusilla?! She's back? Fucking wonderful" Xander said sitting up in shock.

Buffy whipped her head round and pinned him with an angry glare, "Xander!" she hissed, "Language!"

"Oops, sorry Buff" he said trying not to smile at Bash's giggle as he jumped up onto his lap.

"What's Dru doing involved with all this?" Willow asked, shaking her head at Xander who was now playing thumb war with Bash.

"My guess is she wants to make you lot suffer for taking me away from her" Spike said with a smug grin, "last I knew she was off in some corner of the world talking to the stars and enjoying herself after Darla left her"

"Wonder if this Annabelle sought her out so she had insider bad guy knowledge" Dawn mused, sitting back and watching Buffy try and get Giles to look at her with a frown on her face.

"'Insider bad guy knowledge' do you actually hear yourself lil' bit?" Spike asked with a chuckle.

"Why are you still here?" she asked him angrily, "Shouldn't you be tucked away in the shadows downstairs, brooding?"

"I'll have you know I have never brooded in my life" he said with mock outrage, "I leave that for the great poofini"

"True, you prefer hiding in basements spewing crazy at the walls" Dawn said innocently.

Buffy tuned their squabbling out while she tried to get Giles to talk to her but he wouldn't meet her gaze, "Hey Giles, we still need to go and get that thing, should we go now or should I phone and reschedule?"

"Hmm?" he intoned looking down at her blankly for a few seconds before he shook his head and blinked, "No, we can go now, would you three mind watching Bash for an hour or so while we go out?" he asked Dawn, Willow and Xander.

"Sure"

"Not a problem"

"Can we play Mario?"

They all replied at once and he smiled at Buffy when he caught her relief that he was talking.

"What thing? Where are you going?" Bash asked his parents, looking at them with an almost feral curiosity.

"You'll have to wait and see, it's a surprise" Buffy said with a wide grin, sliding to the edge of the sofa before pushing herself to her feet.

"But I wanna know now" he whined, dropping to the floor and crossing his arms over his chest with a pout.

"Come on Bash, let's play Mario" Dawn said turning the TV on and grabbing one of the controls.

"Go on, you can play until we get back" Giles said bending at the waist and lifting Bash to his feet, "You can even have one of the doughnuts in the kitchen if you like"

Bash smiled and ran off towards the kitchen, squealing with excitement when he found his favourite chocolate cream, "Thanks Dad" he shouted.

Giles shook his head in disbelief at his sons mercurial moods and opened the front door for Buffy. He followed her down the stairs to the street, watching her walk around the car and trying to appear unconcerned by the revelation of who was tormenting them. The storm raging inside was proving a little more difficult to hide. They climbed into the car and set off in silence.

"Pull over" Buffy said a few minutes after they had left their street.

Giles sighed and did as she asked. He knew the silence was a sign that he was in for the third degree and had made bets with himself on how long it would take before she started questioning him. He had lost by two minutes.

"How do you know Annabelle and why did you act like you'd just been told you were dying?" she asked him once they had stopped, shifting on the seat until she was facing him.

"First, how do you know her?" he asked, turning the engine off and staring out at the street in front of them with his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, dreading her answer.

"She was at my pregnant yoga class in England, she tried to get me to drink this foul smelling herbal tea and way overreacted when I turned it down" she told him with an unconcerned shrug.

"She's Ethans daughter" Giles muttered, releasing the steering wheel and staring at her with a frown, "did you eat or drink anything she gave you?"

Buffy shook her head, narrowing her eyes at his relieved sigh, "I didn't know Ethan had a kid"

"She was the result of our time spent with Randall, Thomas, Philip and Deirdre..."

"And Eyghon" Buffy muttered closing her eyes in understanding.

"Yes. Deirdre was her mother and for a time we didn't know who her father was, but based on...well it came down to either Ethan or myself. We made sure she was placed with a loving family, not connected whatsoever to the world we inhabited and organised a trust fund for her" he stopped and sighed in defeat, his face flushing with shame, "I kept track of her and made sure that I was involved in her life just in case I was her Father. I also took her out with my niece and nephew every once in a while but only because I wanted to keep a closer eye on her. She had already started to show signs of having magic but she had also started to show signs of instability. I needed to prevent a problem from developing so I, uh, I gave her a, uh, potion that blocked her gifts for long enough that I could find something else to, to help her or stop her..."

Buffy smiled at him and covered his hand with hers, "It's ok Giles, I get it".

"When Ethan told me that I wasn't her Father, that it was him, I felt relieved. But I was also terrified," he rubbed a hand over his face and sighed, "Ethan being who he was, Deirdre not being the most stable and the fact she was conceived during a demonic rite I worried that she was doomed to become something awful, something I would have to report to the council who would only deal with it one way..."

"The wet team" she muttered looking horrified.

She had found out that Giles and the rest of the board had had to use the wet team to remove the threat of a few unstable Slayers that had started to show a willingness to use their gifts for evil. He had told her that it wasn't a decision he had taken lightly and she had confessed to killing a couple of girls she'd come across who had become assassins for hire, revealing the warning that Whistler had left for her about the possibility of her having to do it. Both of them finding the absolution they needed in each other and inadvertently strengthening the bond even more in the process.

"Yes and they wouldn't have waited until she became that problem. So I kept up weekly visits under the pretence of caring how she was, it ate at me especially with how attached she seemed to get but I couldn't just walk away, not with the threat that I thought she could become" he said looking stricken, his eyes locked onto Buffys understanding gaze.

"And then you were called to Sunnydale for me" she whispered, dropping her head and looking at her hands, "That's why she's gunning for me, she blames me for you leaving her"

"Yes, I assume so. After I arrived I never really had the time to keep up the contact, you were more important. Keeping the Hellmouth from consuming us alive took priority and I may have been eager to put her and the burden of her possible decline behind me" he said reaching over and covering her hands with one of his. "I'm so sorry Buffy, if I had known..."

"Shut up Giles" she said without heat, "You are not responsible for what she has done or how she turned out"

"Maybe I should have told the council of my fears, let them take responsibility of her" he said shaking his head in regret.

"No." she said softly. "Giles you wouldn't have been able to live with yourself if they dealt with her as a child, she deserved the chance you gave her" Buffy told him firmly, lifting her hand to his cheek and rubbing her thumb under his eye, smiling when he nuzzled against it.

"Come on, let's go and get his puppy" she said, shifting so she was facing forward again.

Giles smiled, grateful that she was his.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Bummer for you love" Ethan said trying not to grin at the pained expression on her face.

"How did they know?!" she shrieked and threw her glass across the room.

Ethan watched the shattered glass fall to the floor and bit his cheek to keep from smiling, "At least you can still see them," he said trying to sound sympathetic, "maybe you should learn to read lips"

"Shut up!" she shouted and stormed from the room, "take him back to his cell" she growled to the Shargal at the door as she whisked past it.

Ethan held up his hands and smiled at the Beast, "C'mon then mate, what are you waiting for?"

The beast grunted and unclipped the end of the chain attached to the wall then violently yanked it making him jerk to his feet and stumble forward before falling onto his face.

He rolled to his side and glared at the Beast, "Now that was uncalled for, I was being cooperative" he grumbled as he pushed himself to his knees.

The Beast just glared at him as he awkwardly pushed himself to his feet then started walking, jerking the chain every so often to get him moving quicker. When he arrived at his cell he sauntered through the door with a cocky grin and sat on his bed, waiting until the Beast had clipped the chain to the wall, undid his manacles then clip the chain to his ankle cuff and walk out before turning and laying down, bringing his hands up behind his head and grinning happily at the ceiling.

Nice one Rip, that boy of yours is a genius he thought and resisted the urge to laugh out loud at the way things were starting to work out.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"You couldn't have given me a heads up?" Buffy asked as she moved her dress, still in its bag, from inside the wardrobe to the outside of the door.

"Didn't really think about it to be honest B" Faith replied not sounding the least bit sorry.

Buffy sat on her bed with a sigh and rubbed her forehead, "How's things on the Hellmouth?"

"Same old same old," Faith said sounding stressed, "might come and help out myself, I need a break I think"

"You're always welcome, you know that" Buffy said with a grin, "There's enough Slayers and Watchers in Cleveland that it won't implode if you leave for a few weeks, might even do them some good to do it without you"

"Maybe," Faith muttered distractedly, "Any news on the lovable perv?"

"We have a way to get to him," Buffy said mysteriously, standing and staring at herself in the mirror, twisting to the side and smiling at her reflection as she rubbed a hand over her bump, "I just don't like how it will happen"

"How will it happen then?" Faith asked and Buffy heard the low thunk of a knife hitting a target.

"Giles will be taken soon, by Ethans kid" she admitted in a whisper.

"Tell me everything" Faith said after a few minutes of stunned silence.

Buffy sat back on the bed and told her everything they knew, including the vision dreams she'd had and everything Bash had told them about Annabelle, which wasn't much more than what Giles already knew. He still wouldn't tell them why Spike could help which just made her anxiety level rise along with her frustration and feelings of helplessness.

"Fuck B" Faith said twenty minutes later, "Why didn't you tell me sooner, I could be there already"

"That's why I didn't tell you, you're trying to keep Cleveland from being consumed by all the demons Hell can squeeze through its mouth and that's more important" Buffy said smiling up at Giles when he entered the room.

"We need to be there in two hours love" he said taking his suit from the wardrobe door where she had left it, staring at her dress bag in curiosity.

"That G?" Faith asked.

"Uh huh," Buffy said into the receiver then dropped it away from her mouth, "I know, I'm nearly done and it won't take me long, see my hair is already in the curlers" she told him pointing to her head and making a face at his eye roll.

"Tell him I said hi" "Faith said, the grin obvious in her voice, "I'm gonna go and sort out things on my end so I can come visit for a while, I'll let you know when I book my flight" she hung up before Buffy could say a word as usual.

"Faith's coming to visit" she told him, dropping the phone onto the bed behind her.

"Is she able to?" he asked as he brushed a lint roller over his jacket.

"Well yeah, the demonic bomb doesn't go off for another few weeks so I guess she'll come help afterwards and there are more than enough capable Slayers and Watchers to manage the usual madness" she said, grinning when he bent over to retrieve his shoes, "Nice butt love"

He straightened with an embarrassed splutter and looked at her with a pleased blush spreading over his cheeks, "Please get ready, I don't want to be late"

She rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to respond when she was interrupted by Bash bursting into the room with his new German Shepherd puppy chasing him.

"I know his name" Bash told them excitedly, bending to pick the yapping pup up off the floor and giggling when he immediately attacked him with his tongue.

"What's his name then?" Buffy asked with a wide smile, watching the puppy wiggle to be let down.

"Bear" Bash said when he had put him down then ran back out of the room calling for his puppy who ran after him with a gleeful bark.

"You know I'm really not surprised he's bonded with him that quickly" Buffy said standing, stretching slightly before walking over to her vanity table and sitting on the stool.

"Nor am I," Giles said undoing his shirt, "it seems an affinity for animals may be one of his gifts"

"We knew that already thanks to the stray cat he used to pet," she said lifting lipsticks out of the draw and checking the colours, "and that thing was evil, hissed at all of us but when he got close it would purr and weave through his legs"

"I meant that he knew the dogs name" Giles said smiling at her as she turned and gave him a puzzled frown, "Bear seems to be the dogs true name judging by how he immediately knew to follow when he was called. It usually takes a while before an animal learns that"

"Oh, well that too then" she said turning back to the mirror and continuing with her preparations.

"What do we do about him love?" Giles asked, watching her apply her foundation with smooth practised strokes of a brush.

"What can we do?" she asked, looking at him from the mirror, "It's who he is"

"But his power..."

"Is worrying but not a bad thing," she said, putting the brush down and turning to face him, "We're doing everything we can to help him manage it, he has Willow and a whole coven of Witches to help him understand and use it, what else is there to do?"

"What about his being a child?" he asked sitting on the bed opposite her, his dress shirt hanging limply in his hands as his face tightened with worry.

"Is that what you're so worried about?" she asked with an amused smirk. She tutted and stood, walking the few paces to him and sitting next to him, "Listen" she told him smiling.

He gave her a puzzled frown then cocked his head and did as she instructed, looking back at her with a happy smile on his face when he heard the faint sound of his sons laughter accompanied by the sound of a puppy barking.

"See, he's just fine" she told him with a grin standing again, kissing his cheek before moving back to the vanity, "he's not Annabelle love" she told him with a knowing glance in the mirror.

His eyes widened even as he blushed at her insight, "No, he isn't" he smiled at her eye roll and continued to dress for the annual board dinner. "May I ask you something?"

"Sure" she said distractedly as she concentrated on applying her eyeliner.

"How can you be so sure that he won't be tempted by the darker aspect of the craft?" he asked, pulling on his trousers and fastening the button before pulling up the zip.

She stopped what she was doing and focused on him without turning, "Ethan spoke to him" she told him in a whisper.

"Why did he speak to him? What happened?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at the way she frowned at him.

"Why do you always assume something happened?" she asked with a sigh, "It was after the demon attacked me on the beach, he sat him down and explained as well as he could to a two year old that there is good and bad, that Bash and I were good and that he was trying to be good after a long time of being bad" she smiled at the memory and Giles watched it play out in her head.

"He told him he wished he had never given in to the pull of chaos," Giles said in an awe filled voice, "I never thought he would ever say that"

"Yeah, shocked me too, but he told him that even if he felt better when he did something bad it wouldn't last, that he would start to feel empty and cold inside and he told him that if he started to be bad he wouldn't be able to hug me anymore because I fought the bad guys"

"He said that" Giles said angrily, the muscle in his jaw twitching as he clenched it.

"Yeah I know, I yelled at him for that after Bash went to bed," she said with a shake of her head, "but it worked. He always talked to Ethan after that and his laughter came back, Ethans too" she said with a small half smile, "That's how I know he'll be fine, because of what Ethan told him that day and since then he has never used his magic in anger or fear"

"I did wonder how a child as young as him had such a respect and understanding for the craft" he said almost to himself. He smiled at her, letting her know that he was fine now and continued getting ready.

"Ethan always spoke to him as if he was an adult and always answered his questions honestly, just like you do" she said, watching him pick out a tie, "Eww, not that one," she said, wrinkling her nose at the navy blue and pink striped one he had chosen.

"What's wrong with it?" he asked looking at it again.

"Just no Giles," she said standing and running her fingers through his tie rack, "here, wear this one," she said handing him a navy blue one with a fine silver paisley pattern.

"Why this one?" he asked putting it on, dropping his hands when she took over and tied it for him.

"You'll see" she said with a secretive smirk, "Now, out. I need to finish getting ready and you are way too distracting looking like that"

"Distracting how?" he asked with a mischievous smirk, trailing a finger down her bare arm.

"Oh no you don't" she said with a laugh, stepping away from him, "Out, I mean it" she told him pointing to the door.

Laughing he pulled his jacket from the hanger and retrieved his shoes, "I'm leaving in twenty minutes" he said as he pulled the door open.

"I'll be ready in fifteen" she said as she sat back at her vanity with a grin.

Twenty five minutes later Giles shut the car door still muttering about being late.

"Hey this time it was all you," she said as she fastened her seatbelt, "Not my fault you turned into a quivering mess at the sight of this dress"

"You could have warned me you were wearing something like that" he said as he started the car.

She looked down at her dress with a smirk. The pale blue halter neck bodycon dress with the glittery chiffon overlay showed off every inch of her bump, shimmering in the light whenever she moved. When she had seen the look on his face as she came down the stairs she knew she had made the right decision to buy it.

"Now where would have been the fun in that?" she asked innocently, taking his hand when he placed it on her knee, "Let's get this suck fest over with"

"Yes dear" he said with a grin.

Neither of them noticed the motorbike start up a few seconds after they pulled away from the curb and fall into traffic behind them, keeping a few cars between them the entire journey. They never saw it speed past them when they pulled up outside the new council offices nearly forty minutes later.

Suspecting nothing they entered the building arm in arm, smiling happily at each other as they made their way to the ballroom. They had changed so much since the fall of Sunnydale but some things were so deeply rooted in the fabric of the Watchers Council that they had had to adapt this particular tradition to fit their more modern ideas.

Now it was definitely time to party.