The Male Slayer - A Buffy The Vampire Slayer Fanfiction

II. Things Have Changed (Chapter 5)

The next day, there was a knock at Giles' door. Giles wandered down the stairs in his robe, walking past a fast asleep James on the couch, to open it. 

"Hey." said Willow, Tara standing by her side.

"Hello. Um, pardon the robe, it's a bit of a late start." Giles responded, grabbing his robe tighter. 

"Right." Willow said, noticing that James' shoes were on the floor next to Giles' couch, indicating he was still here.

"I hope you're feeling alright, Mr. Giles." Tara told him.

"Oh yes, quite well, thank you. I'll probably have a brisk jog later on. Did you want something?" Giles asked Willow, making her jolt back to reality. 

"I forgot my laptop and the disks." she replied, pointing to his desk. 

"Uh, yes, please, please come in." Giles opened the door, taking off his glasses. "Get up." Giles grabbed some papers off of his desk and hit James over the head with them.

"Wh-what?" he spluttered, sitting up. "Oh my god, my head!" 

"It's called a hangover, James. And you're not the only one with it." Giles told him.

James looked around dizzily, noticing that Willow and Tara were in the room too, "Oh, hey." 

"Hi." Willow said awkwardly. 

"Listen Willow, I'm sorry about how I was last night." James started, grabbing his head as he suffered from the hangover.

"No, it...it's fine." Willow replied, smiling at James, "I know what it feels like to have your heart played with like that, and I'm sorry for doing that to you." 

James smiled back, attempting to stand up. "I won't do that again, so don't worry about that ever repeating itself." 

"Will you be working here? Uh, typing...talking? Because, um, that will be fine." asked Giles, a hint of annoyance in his voice yet he tried to mask it. 

"No, that's okay." Willow said, smiling still, feeling slightly better about everything. She took her laptop and put it in her bag. Giles and Tara exchanged pleasant looks as Willow walked back to the door, "Got 'em, so...see ya." 

"Right. Yes well, good luck with...with all that." he told them. 

"Okay, bye." Willow said, taking one last look at James quickly. James and Giles gave their goodbyes before Willow left with Tara. Giles walked out of the kitchen and sat down next to James on the couch, passing him an aspirin and a glass of water. 

"Thanks." James responded, taking the aspirin tablet, desperate to quench both his thirst and headache. 

James' cell phone began to ring, he took it out and looked at it, "Julie." he read aloud, answering the phone. "Yeah?" 

"Main street, twenty minutes." Julie said, hanging up immediately after.

James put the phone back into his pocket and put his head in his hands. "What am I going to do now?"

"Well in my experience, wherever you lay your hat, that's your home." Giles said, putting his glasses back on from earlier. 

James turned to look at Giles, "What does that mean?" 

"I heard it in a song once. I suppose it means that where you feel most comfortable and at ease, it's where you're meant to be. And right now, you don't seem too relaxed here." he continued. 

"What happened to 'horrible council, terrible council?'"  asked James, referencing some things that Giles had said last night.

"It's clear to me that the council clearly treat you well, you're honestly more safe with them than you are anywhere else. But it's your choice." Giles finished, standing up.