Sadly, I've a sinking feeling that the closest we'll see to a group hug is Wes with his arms around the bloodied and battered Gunn.

Poor loves.

I'm torn between wanting to torture them even more, and wanting to feed them soup.

I'm okay with bloody and battered hugs... Hell, I loved Boromir's death scene. If Gunn and Wes could have themselves one of those...

I really need to watch LoTR again.

Plei and Elena speak for me--or they did last night. Happiness isn't skipping hand-and-hand through fields of daisies, happiness is having a reason to get up in the morning other than a job you have to do. Or, more importantly, a reason to go home at night because you know there's someone there who can make everything better just for a while.

Or, more importantly, a reason to go home at night because you know there's someone there who can make everything better just for a while.

I hope not too much more importantly, since I've never had one.

Cats count. Heck, a perky fish will do the job.

Cats count. Heck, a perky fish will do the job.

TTT: Aragorn had a horse. Oh, dear. Oh, dear.

Did I mention oh dear?

Cats count. Heck, a perky fish will do the job.

Never had a pet either. Still get along okay, though.

Superior persons always transcend commonalities.

(writing while I wait for calls, it's a happy thing)

Giles coasted the BMW to a stop just outside the parking lot of the Parkeview Apartments. He jumped over the car door instead of opening it. Buffy stared in surprise but opened her door normally.

"Guess that knee's not bothering you anymore, huh?" she said.

"No, it's not." Giles was more concerned with studying the area than with conversation. He turned his head to scan in all directions, the rest of him still as--as a very still thing. Suddenly he turned as a faint footstep crunched on the asphalt.

Xander stopped well out of reach. "Nice to see you two."

"Go home, Xander," Giles snapped.

"I don't take orders from vampires." He turned back to Buffy. "I snuck in and took a quick look around, chatted up a janitor. Glory's on the sixth floor. Jorge figures they're a weird cult, cause of the robed people."

"Did he see Spike?"

"Jorge's like the guys at the construction site, he doesn't see anything he's not explicitly told to see. So how are we going to do this?"

Giles went to the back of his car and opened the trunk. "Buffy and I will go inside and see if we can get Spike out of there. You are going to go home."

Xander looked pointedly at Buffy. "How are we going to do this, Buffy?"

Buffy studied the building and the number of lighted windows. "Any people moving around?"

"Middle of the night for normal people, only people moving are the maintenance crew."

"Good. We can go up the fire stairs, sneak up on them."

Xander shrugged and went to peer into Giles' trunk. "Well, three people isn't what I'd normally call a crack hostage extraction squad, but whatever works." He pulled out an ax and tested the swing.

Buffy pulled out a crossbow. "Rescue's not my first priority," she said softly. "Keeping him from telling Glory about Dawn is."

Xander stopped the swing and stared at her. "You're just going to go in and shoot him?"

"He's a threat to Dawn. I can't risk him telling."

Giles pulled out a sword and another crossbow. "I hope you don't mind if I try to get him out of there first. I've rather gotten used to the rotten bastard." He saw Xander watching him with a very thoughtful look, and he wondered just how much reading the young man had been doing in the restricted books on inter-vampire relations.

Buffy studied her crossbow. "I'd rather you two just stayed back and covered me. If Glory grabbed either of you--"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence there, Buff," Xander snapped.

"You know who Dawn is as well as we do," Giles added softly. "But you're not worried about the danger you're in?"

"I'm not in any--"

"You told me yourself, when Glory raised the snake, that you couldn't stop her. You couldn't even slow her down. She's not sure if Spike knows about the Key, but she is sure you do. She knows you're protecting it. By rights you shouldn't be going in there at all."

"Which means none of us should be going."

Xander grinned. "Which means, I think, that all of us are going." He went over and squeezed her shoulders. "Come on, Buff, it'll be like old times, we go in there, we make it up as we go along, we kick some butt, and we get out of there alive--no offense," he added to Giles.

"None taken," Giles said. "I see you've entered into your usual pre-battle inane chatter."

The grin never faltered. "Hey, it's kept me alive so far."

Giles wondered if he'd really heard that slight emphasis on "me".

All the Slayers in the back of Buffy's head screamed at her that people going with her would only get hurt. Those voices had screamed at her for years now. And still Xander kept popping up with the babble and the cocky grin and Giles was there with the determination, and she knew they'd only follow her if she said "No" and tried to mean it.

"OK, then," she sighed. "Let's go."

Xander stopped well out of reach. "Nice to see you two."

This might scan better as 'you guys' or something like, because for just a second I wondered if it should be 'you too' meaning 'you as well'...

But I'm hopped up on goofballs.

"None taken," Giles said. "I see you've entered into your usual pre-battle inane chatter."
The grin never faltered. "Hey, it's kept me alive so far."
Giles wondered if he'd really heard that slight emphasis on "me".

This entire exchange? Brilliant.