Giles paced while he waited for Buffy to finish in the bathroom. She had just turned on the shower and he sensed she would be in there for a while. Three days. How did we lose three days? And what did we do? Images suddenly came to him, and he firmly clamped down on those thoughts. Three days. I need to research.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Room service!"
It took him a moment but he managed to find his coat and get a cross (At least we weren't that far gone, he thought) and cautiously opened the door.
A man dressed in hotel livery came in, pushing a cart with covered dishes on it.
"Did you sleep well Mr Giles?" the man asked as he bustled around, removing covers from dishes and carefully setting them out on the coffee table.
"Yes, I-"
"Good. I hope you and your wife had a pleasant stay," the man winked suggestively and carried on, oblivious to Giles' confusion. "Your bill can be settled at the desk. And may I say again, congratulations."
He bustled out again and carefully shut the door behind him.
The trolley he had used to carry the food was still sitting in a corner of the room, so Giles decided to investigate it to see if there were any more clues. All that was there was a bill with the breakfast order written on it. It was charged to the Honeymoon suite at the Las Vegas Hilton.
Something glinted on the hand holding the bill. Bloody hell, Giles thought as he realised what it was.
On the ring finger of his left hand was a simple gold band.
***
Buffy opened the door of the bathroom and peeked out to see Giles standing in the middle of the room staring at his hand. He appeared to be muttering, and he periodically opened and closed his eyes as though hoping that whatever he could see would go away. Oh no. It's hit him. He's lost it, she thought.
"Giles?"
He carried on staring at his hand, seeming not to have heard her. This is bad. Everything that's happened over the years has finally hit him, and he's lost it. My Watcher - Ex-Watcher has lost it. Not good. She was not sure why the distinction mattered so much.
Walking over to him, Buffy could see his eyes were glazed and guessed he had gone into shock. She gently led him to the sofa and made him sit down. The action seemed to shake him out of his shock and he grabbed her left hand. On the ring finger was a matching gold band.
"Bloody hell," he whispered.
"Giles? What's wrong?" Buffy asked, searching his face.
She slowly lowered her head until she was looking at their hands. The gold rings seemed to glow as their significance dawned on her. "We didn't . . .? We couldn't . . . there are . . . what about the blood tests!" she cried irrationally.
"W-we appear to be in Las Vegas. I doubt we needed them."
"But-but, there's got to be a but! How did we get here?"
"Buffy, I can't remember us getting married or having sex. If I can't remember that, do you honestly think I can remember how we got to Las Vegas?"
Somehow Giles finally saying it made it all sink in for Buffy. She still tried to deny it though. "Maybe we didn't get married. Maybe we're just putting it on to get rooms in this place."
A thorough search of the room, however, produced an authentic looking marriage certificate, two return plane tickets to Las Vegas, a receipt for a chapel and a picture of them standing in front of a building with a sign that said 'Chapel of Love'.
"We're married. Husband and wife." Buffy said after a while.
"I noticed."
"I guess we should call home. Let everyone know we're . . . well, not ok, but safe."
"That would be an idea."
While Buffy made the call, Giles found his clothes and went back into the bathroom. Xander answered the phone.
"Xander?" Buffy asked, the familiar voice almost starting her crying again.
"Buffy? Or should that be Mrs Giles now?"
Buffy's heart sank. "You know?"
"Of course we know. That was the purpose of your message."
"Message?" Buffy asked faintly.
"You know, note stuck on fridge, 'Guys, we've gone to Vegas to get married, back Sunday, Buffy and Giles,'" he elaborated.
"We left a note?"
"Yeah. And a message on the answer machine. Buff, are you ok?"
Buffy gave a brief, mirthless laugh. "Oh, yeah, fine. I just don't remember going to Vegas, getting married or anything else about the past three days."
"How did . . .? That's bad."
"Thanks for stating the obvious. Look, tell Willow we're ok and catching the first flight back. As soon as I find my clothes."
"There's a visual I didn't need."
"Bye Xander."
"B-" Buffy hung up the phone.
She felt Giles' hand on her shoulder and looked up into his concerned face.
"The bathroom's free. Go and get dressed and I'll call the airport."
She briefly leaned her cheek against his hand, then got up to sort out her clothes. The top she had evidently been wearing was badly torn, a fact she was not going to think about too deeply, so she had to borrow Giles' sweater. By the time she was dressed he had managed to book them on a flight home and ordered a taxi to the airport. They went down to reception and sorted out the bill, trying to ignore the grins and winks they were given, and then set off home.
*finis*