Giles was glad to be back. More than glad. England had seemed so dull, so empty, only making the ache caused by his loss worse. Despite this, he could only be half-glad of the reason for his return: Buffy. She was alive and dear Lord, it was still difficult to believe, even after seeing her in the flesh.

He had not seen her in months and had thought never to see her face again – and there she had been, standing just across the room with a dazed look much like his own. Alive and looking well, as far as he could tell. But then, Buffy had always been one to shield her emotions, even from her closest friends – at least in recent years it had seemed so. There was no way he could tell, no visible signs of what she might have experienced and he knew better than to ask. Whatever she had suffered, she would tell it if she chose to.

He for one was not sure he wanted to know what torments she might have gone through, how long she had been lost. All that mattered now was that she was back. The call from Willow had thrown his colourless life into disarray, shocking him, angering him, bewildering him – all at the same time.



Ah Willow. The reason he could not be completely happy with what had happened – despite his joy at the end result. The risk involved in a spell of that kind was phenomenal and no-one seemed to realise, not even the naïve girl herself. His knowledge of resurrection spells was not all-encompassing but he knew enough to know that bringing a person back to life required a magic so close to dark magic that it made him uncomfortable. There were sacrifices to be made and a number of dangerous ingredients were needed.

Willow had done all of this with no thought for the potential danger involved and it made him angry. The number of things that could have gone wrong was also weighing him down. They had been lucky though and everyone had come away from the spell unscathed. It could so easily have been much worse though. The witch was an amateur and an arrogant one at that. She had no real idea of the consequences of magic – that much had been clear when he had heard of the spell’s unfortunate side-effect.

She thought little of the importance of using her power appropriately and when he thought about it, it had often been so. His only hope now was that the spell had been completely successful and that Buffy would not have suffered.



By all appearances, Buffy seemed to be coping well, considering what she had been through. She was quieter, it was true, but she had been back so little time and was likely still adjusting. Her humour, it seemed, was still intact. The pressure was building on her in other areas though, as it soon became clear as she had helped him to prepare the sofa for his first night. Money was tight and the burden was pressing down on her shoulders already.

He had had no idea himself that money had become an issue before he left for England, had rarely heard Willow or Tara mention it. He wished they had now, so he could have stepped in and helped before it got to the desperate situation facing Buffy. Yet another reason to feel resentment towards the witches, but he clamped down on this – they were simply naïve and did not truly understand what it cost to run a house and raise a teenage girl.

Unfortunately, that mistake was now falling at Buffy’s feet, adding just one more thing to the growing list that she had to deal with. Despite her chirpiness, he could see her struggling under the strain and was already beginning to work out a way to help her get back on her feet. With all of his savings now in England though, it was a difficult task, thanks in part to the ridiculousness of English bureaucracy that made getting his own hard-earned money a complicated process. Until then, he was thinking of ways for Buffy to help herself as much as possible – ways to make her future more secure.



When she returned from visiting Angel, he decided to address this with her. As they politely picked at the chicken she had brought home, he spoke up.

“Buffy, there was some discussion in your absence… about what you’re going to do now,” he started uncertainly, not sure how to broach the delicate subject, “You know… your plans.”

At first, he was pleasantly surprised as she admitted that she too had been thinking about it but as she continued, his heart sank.

“…Yeah, so I figure if I hold off paying the plumber, I can pay the utility bill. And then I can wait ton re-shingle the roof until we get the refund back-“

“I meant… with your life,” he interrupted, the enormity of the situation now dawning on him as she listed the bills yet to be paid. He would be on the phone to his bank first thing in the morning.

“I have no idea,” Buffy admitted after a few moments and he saw the way her shoulders squared as she looked up at the group, ready to defend herself.

Immediately, he felt annoyed with himself for bringing the subject up, especially in front of the group.

“I guess, um, well I left school, you know, when Mom got sick, but I always figured I’d go back… and then she…”

Buffy paused uncomfortably, a shadow of grief flitting across her face and softening his own expression.

“Um, so I was thinking about re-enrolling, but I missed the registration cutoff. Busy being dead and all.”

He couldn’t help but wince at her blunt statement, even if he knew it was just his Slayer’s way of dealing with things. He listened as Willow and Tara suggested Buffy sit in on their classes and saw the carefully veiled hope in her expression.

“Yeah that sounds like a good plan,” she murmured, “What do you think, Giles?”

Still lost in his own reverie, wondering just how the young girl he had met had turned into such a strong woman, he only nodded in answer. He would definitely be on the phone first thing tomorrow.