Thanks, although I suspect I'm too much of a sucker for a more-or-less happy ending.

Nonsense! Why the hell else do we have to put up with Hope having slithered out of Pandora's Box if not to have the occasionaly more-or-less happy ending?

Anyway, next post, more V!Giles.

Buffy didn't know she was asleep until she jerked awake. Dawn was curled up next to her in the corner farthest from the doorway, but Giles was nowhere to be seen. It seemed a little brighter, though the light had a weird pinky tone to it like Barbie's Dream House gone bad.

She got to her feet slowly, doing her best not to wake Dawn, then she walked silently to the doorway. The wind blew louder through the plants, and the temperature was a bit higher. Daytime? Dear god, did Anya say if the sunlight in this place was dangerous to vampires? Buffy hadn't thought to ask. Maybe Giles had miscalculated, maybe the wind that blew the weedy things around had swept his dust away, too.

She told herself the fear in her gut was because Giles was the only one who knew how to get them home. There was no sign of him outside; none of the dirt had the consistency of vampire dust, and she felt foolish for checking. She tried to control her anxious breathing as she listened, then she ran down the trail, to where she heard something disturb the gravel.

He was practicing sword katas, chopping and slicing at an invisible opponent, moving at vampire speed that made the sword edge whistle in the air. He still wore his human face, all his attention focused on the movements.

A knot built in Buffy's throat as she watched. He moved the way a young man would, the way he never had in the time she'd known him. Was he remembering the strength and skill of his youth, or merely enjoying the demonic abilities of his new form? She'd always wished there was a way she could make him stop hurting, take away the twinges and aches that made him move so stiffly on bad days. She'd used them against him, too, on selfish days when his middle-aged human endurance was no match for teenaged Slayer energy.

Watching him now, she realized that he still knew more weapons technique than she did. In hand-to-hand she thought she could take him, but only Slayer speed had ever helped her beat him when they were sword-to-sword. He pulled a combination gut-slash/decapitation so quickly the sword blurred, and he was back two steps from his position before the afterimage had faded from her eyes.

Note to self: If it all goes bad, do not let Giles get his hands on a sword.

He looked up and spotted her, and the remote, inhuman look went away. "Is something wrong?"

"Uh . . . no. I--just woke up and wondered where you'd gotten off to."

"I didn't want to wake you and I was feeling restless." He swung the sword up and into the sheath on his back without even checking.

"What time is it?"

"Nearly 2. Not much longer."

Buffy nodded absently. She kept trying to fall into the old habit of "aimless chatter with Giles", then her memories kicked her with "this isn't your Giles." She couldn't afford to forget the differences between Giles and Ripper. No matter how easy it would be. She glanced up at the sky, where the pink glow had gotten more pronounced. "So is the sun up?"

"I believe so. In any case, the light doesn't seem to be harmful to me, which was quite a relief." His smile was the old self-deprecating one, and she imagined him poking a finger cautiously out into the light to see what would happen.

"If we're staying here until after the sun comes up at home, what are you going to do when you go through the portal?"

Giles started to reach for his glasses again. "Run, I imagine. The mountains to the east of the convent are sufficiently close that there should be shade in the courtyard well after the time of dawn. That should give me time to find proper shelter. Spike says it's character building, to play tag with the sun."

"Yeah, like he's a good role model."

"Indeed."

"And then what?"

"What do you mean?"

"The world is saved from Glory's portal, Dawn is safe. What do we do about Glory?"

Giles sighed. "I'm not sure, to be honest. The texts suggest that she is fighting a deadline of her own, that it is more than just homesickness and the desire for her full power that is driving her to open the portal. Being in our world weakens her, and it's possible that she will eventually be weakened far enough to be destroyed."

"How long will that take?"

"I have no idea."

Buffy started to pace. "Even with her weakened, she's still pretty darn indestructible. And she won't go quietly."

"No, she won't. But our first goal has always been the preservation of the world."

"No, our first goal has always been the preservation of Dawn."

He smiled very slightly. "Which is why both of us are here. We can worry about dealing with Glory once we know Dawn and the world are safe."

"And after that? Assuming we do bring down Glory?" She sat on a nearby rock and studied him. "We save the world, but I don't think it's going to be time to party."

The remote look was back on his face. "You'll have to do what you think best. A Vampire Slayer's duty is clear."

"You're telling me to come after you and Spike."

"Neither of us would be surprised if you did."

"And you two would just let me."

"We wouldn't be able to stop you making the attempt. But I would not count on your success being guaranteed."

He'd only ever lied to her when she asked him explicitly. She shouldn't be surprised that he could discuss a campaign against himself so matter-of-factly. He knew her and her sense of responsibility better than anyone. And fighting Angelus, who wore the form of the man she loved and surgically exploited all her weak spots, was not as frightening as the idea of going up against the mind that had trained her, that knew things she had only ever had glimpses of. Her trust in him had been her refuge, and she kept thinking, "Giles will know how to deal with this."

He relaxed slightly, let the aura of Ripper dissipate. "You ought to get more sleep. Surviving till d

He relaxed slightly, let the aura of Ripper dissipate. "You ought to get more sleep. Surviving till dawn is only part of what we have left to do." He started back up the trail towards the shelter where Dawn still slept. All Buffy wanted to do was to sit in the weird Barbie light and cry a few frightened, grieving tears, but she followed, instead.

Every scar, the ache in his fingers on rainy days, even the sunlight hitting his floor at just the right angle at just the right time of day

Oh, Steph. Dayum.

snerksnerksnerksnerksnerkGAMERA!ANGELsnerksnerksnerksnerksnerk

Buffy saying "bloody hell". Totally - wow. Damnit, Victor.

Connie, nice.

Victor, a wonderful end to the story. I love Buffy in London.

I'vemissedyouallsomuch

Victor, send me file, and I will put it up!

But, err, turnabout is fair play, and I wrote two with Wesley and I'm a little afraid to hear what you think, but I'm such a whore that I'll still ask.

When I am fully-recovered from HellHope, I shall comment.

At the moment, I stink of woodsmoke and wish I'd had more whisky and ginger. But I'm home. Which means I'm not there. Which is good.

PLEI!

You'rebackyou'rebackyou'rebackyou'rebackyou'reback!

"The world is saved from Glory's portal, Dawn is safe. What do we do about Glory?"

Connie, such a good question, and not one that they ever really explored on the show. And - oh! oh! - they have no idea that BenisGloryGloryisBen! Shit... And I remember now what you're doing next and I love you even more!

Such lovely Giles and Buffy interaction. I miss it. And I miss the days when Giles would only lie to Buffy when she asked him.

Victor - I have to read this all in one piece. It's so damn good.

The drabbles were all fantastic.

Holy cow. Loved the Riley/Spike to pieces, and the Wes/Andrew - my God, perfection. Yes. Lovely. SA's Faith story was also top, and the drabbles v. good. Victor's story I've been skimming, because I missed most of the pieces and I'd rather read it all from the beginning, so I think I'll have to catch up with it once it's been tweaked and given a home - still, the bits I've caught are thoroughly intriguing.

Dayum, there's always such good stuff here. What have I missed? Ooh! Willow the Vampire Slayer, yes - beautifully logical development of that particular What If. Loving what you're doing with it. Go team.

Unfinished Buffy/Faith thing continued

Next Year's Girl

Faith had given up kidding herself that it would ever happen. Prison had provided plenty of time for thinking things through, and one conclusion had been inescapable: B was never, ever going to embrace her inner dyke. Just not going to happen. Time to get the hell over it and move on.

She hadn't expected to see Buffy so soon, if ever, but that was okay. Girl looked ten years older, but that was still pretty good for a dead person of the non-fanged variety. It was still there, of course, all the old tension - but Faith understood, now, that it wasn't about sex or love and it never had been. It was just slayer stuff, and it was all the things Faith had done. The choices that Buffy couldn't understand or condone, even though they'd been the only damn choices Faith had felt she could make at the time. The boys Faith had done, or tried to do. Riley. Angel. Angelus. It wasn't about any Romeo and Juliet shit connecting the two slayers themselves. Buffy Anne Summers was as straight and vanilla as Mary fucking Poppins, and that was that. End of story.

It wasn't the first time Faith had been wrong, and it probably wouldn't be the last.

Friends was good - hell, friends was great, and more than she'd expected. Not that it was exactly friendship, still, but it was closer to friendship than most any relationship Faith had had since kindergarten. Except Angel - but that was a whole nother thing. It was kind of weird to be back in Sunnydale, but it felt good to be fighting on the side of truth, justice and all that shit; felt good to have all the little potentials looking at her wide-eyed, like she was worth something. It felt good to help to save the world for once, and kick the First Evil's intangible ass. But, yeah, having B trust her and respect her as an equal - that, Faith had decided, was as good as it got.

But it turned out that as good as it got was B trusting her and respecting her as an equal and fucking her breathless in the rain. Which was one hell of a surprise. And Faith liked Robin, liked him a whole lot, but she didn't spare him a second thought when B touched her. B. Buffy. Little Miss Perfect. Miss Goody Two Shoes shoving her up against the wall and kissing her like it was a competitive sport, vampire dust on her lips and the memory of cherry coke on her tongue. Buffy's fingers wet and clever, Buffy's mouth framing words Faith never expected to hear outside her imagination, Buffy's eyes meeting hers and not looking away.

"Holy shit," Faith had said, when she could speak again. She was fresh out of wisecracks and weirdly off balance. She felt oddly vulnerable in a way she didn't associate with sex, 'cause sex was all 'get some, get gone', and this wasn't all she wanted from B. There was nothing casual about her feelings for B. "Holy shit." Buffy had grinned at her, and the smugness had made Faith's fingers itch to form a fist. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

She'd had Buffy.

"Holy shit," Faith had said once more, grinning like an idiot, and then Buffy had kissed her back into silence.

* * *

She wasn't being all stalkery or nothing. It was just that she'd woken up first, and she'd just wondered if B was awake yet. And when she found B wasn't awake yet - well, she'd stayed anyway. Not like she was watching over Buffy, trying to keep her safe, some sentimental bullshit like that. Not at all. Just one friend waiting for another friend to wake up. Friend. Fuck buddy. Whatever.

The rest of the gang (Andrew kept suggesting catchy names for them, like they were in some dumb cartoon or comic book, and old Giles kept making withering responses) had gone out. They were going to have to figure out some kind of long term plan they could all live with (looked like setting up a school of some kind was the most likely bet, but where the hell they were going to get the money from beat Faith) but just now they were taking a well-earned breather for a day or two. Just that a well-earned breather still included evenings of kicking demon butt if you were a slayer.

Kicking demon butt and, it seemed, finally getting some hot slayer action. Who'd'a'thunk it?