They barely spoke in the taxi to the airport. It was the uncomfortable silence of two people who have no idea of what to say to each other, and are afraid to say anything for fear of making things worse. On the aeroplane it was the same, and they both sat there with their eyes closed, trying to think everything through.
Towards the end of the flight Buffy fell asleep, the emotional upheaval of the past few hours catching up to her. For a moment, when the stewardess woke her as they began their descent, she was completely disoriented. She knew she had been dreaming, but could only remember flashes of Giles talking to her and giving her a slightly dangerous grin. The one thing she did know was that she felt a brief pang of disappointment that she had not finished the dream.
As they descended Giles took her hand and squeezed it lightly, comfortingly and Buffy immediately felt better. Maybe I'll survive this after all, she thought.
Giles' thoughts were not too dissimilar. She isn't blaming me yet, which is one small mercy. As long as she doesn't hate me for what happened, whatever we find out, I think I'll survive this.
***
The taxi ride from the airport was strained, both of them trying to prepare for whatever their friends were going to say to them.
As they reached the town limits Buffy finally looked at him and asked, "Do you think they'll be mad at us?"
"I-I really don't know," Giles answered honestly. "On the one hand, we left them a n-note saying we were off to Las Vegas to get m-married, on the other we were evidently not ourselves at the time."
"Are you saying that now you're yourself you wouldn't marry me?" For some reason Buffy felt mildly offended at that.
"N-no, or, uh . . . not . . . it's not that . . ." Giles stuttered to a halt, face red, and wishing there was a way to answer that would not get him into a lot of trouble.
Thankfully the taxi driver chose that moment to stop and ask for his money, saving Giles from the possibly dangerous conversation.
The taxi deposited them outside the house, and for a long moment all they could do was stand and stare at it.
"We could just go back to Vegas," Buffy suggested eventually.
She immediately decided that was the wrong thing to say when Giles looked as though he was about to have a heart-attack.
"Sorry," she grinned. "Shall we?"
Giles almost answered 'If we must', but knew that was just being silly. Instead he got out his key and opened the door.
Willow and Xander must have been waiting for them because they appeared in the doorway of the living room as soon as the door opened. Any fears that Buffy had about her friends' reaction was relieved when her "Hi guys," was met with a hug from Willow. To her embarrassment she began crying again as soon as she felt her friend's arms around her. She was not aware of Giles and Xander going into the living room and closing the door behind them to give them some privacy. She just clung the familiarity of her best friend and sobbed. Eventually she began to calm down and Willow led her upstairs.
"I'm turning into a tea-spout," Buffy said wryly, hiccuping a little in the aftermath of her crying fit.
"I think you mean water-spout," Willow corrected as she handed her a box of tissues.
For a long while Buffy sat on her bed, Willow next to her, trying to compose herself. When Willow thought it was safe, and Buffy was unlikely to burst into tears again, she asked, "What happened?"
"I wish I knew. One moment I'm feeling ill and going to bed here, the next I'm waking up in bed with Giles in Las Vegas."
"Wow." Willow paused. "I don't know what else to say. Just, wow."
"I kind of used other words, but that's been my thought all day as well," Buffy smiled for the first time since she entered the house.
"What was it like?" Willow asked, curious.
"What was what like?"
"Waking up, uh, with Giles."
Buffy thought for a moment, trying to put things into words. "Before I realised where I was it felt good. Warm. Comfy. Safe."
"Then what happened?"
"I woke up more."
"Oh." Willow evidently wanted more detail than that.
"He had his hand on my stomach, and that's what kind of made me realise something was wrong. And then it began moving-"
"Moving?"
"Sort of . . . massaging my stomach, then moving up," Buffy reddened at that memory.
Willow's eyes widened as she realised what Buffy was implying. "And then?"
"It became fairly obvious that the hand belonged to a man."
"How?"
Buffy was surprised at how innocent Willow still was. "There are certain differences between men and women, and one of those differences was becoming, uh, noticeable."
"Notic - oh!" Willow reddened as well, but tried to stay calm (even though she was stuck on the < oh! oh! Giles? oh! > thought). "What did you do?"
"I panicked."
"Anyone would have. What happened next?"
"Want the gory details, or just a rough outline?"
"Game plan," Willow replied quickly.
"Ok. Panic, confusion, embarrassment, then Giles made me close my eyes while he got out of the bed."
"Why - oh! He was . . .? And you were . . .?"
"Yes and yes, to our eternal embarrassment."
Willow thought for a moment, then asked, "Did you look?"
"Willow!" Buffy turned a shade of red that would not look out of place on a fire truck.
"You did!"
Buffy began gathering up clothes and towels, trying not to look at her friend.
"So, did you like?"
"Willow!"
"You did! I knew it! Well, not knew it knew it, but, I knew it!"
Buffy did not dignify that with a response, because she was fleeing down the corridor to the bathroom.
*finis*