Stating The Obvious
Part Six
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ha! I resisted this time.
Waitaminnit...
*******
Giles sat on the couch, reading his book and listening to Buffy sing as she puttered about the kitchen. Life was good, he was happy, and nothing could change his mood.
The phone rang.
He regarded it suspiciously for a moment before answering.
"Hello?"
"Giles?" the voice on the other end asked. "It's Angel."
"Angel?" Giles asked. Buffy stopped singing. "What is it?"
"Are you guys okay?"
"We're fine," Giles said. "Why? What's wrong?"
"Good," Angel said. "Good."
Giles looked up as Buffy came out of the kitchen. She leaned against the wall and looked at him. Looked at the phone in his hand.
"Angel," Giles said, "what is going on?"
"I will. I know," Angel said. His voice was muffled, and Giles assumed he was talking to someone at his end. "Sorry, Giles," he said, "I'm back."
"Good. Then what's going on?"
Angel sighed. "It's sort of a long story, but it boils down to Cordelia had a vision. She gets them now, when something is going to happen, or has already happened. Something bad. And this one was about you guys."
"A vision?" Giles asked. "What of?"
"It was all of you - you, Buffy, Willow, Xander, Anya, and some girl Cordy didn't know - fighting against a bunch of demons. We're not a hundred percent sure what kind, but we think they were Qaltoth demons. Cordy says they were tall and thin, with horns and purple scales, and Wesley says Qaltoths are the most likely suspects."
"Wesley?" Giles asked, more confused by the minute. "Wesley Wyndham-Price?"
"Yeah, he's working with us now. Doing a damned good job, too."
"I had no idea," Giles said. He looked up and caught Buffy's eye.
She was still staring at him. At the phone. She smiled slightly, and Giles tried to smile back, then gave his attention back to Angel.
"... and Wesley said that you might be able to find more on Qaltoths in MacKenzie's Bestiary, but he's not sure because he doesn't have a copy."
"Yes," Giles said, falling back into Watcher mode, "they're definitely in MacKenzie. I believe Lockley has a short chapter devoted to them, as well."
"Great," Angel said. "You can read up, then. We were just afraid you'd already gone up against them."
"Were there any more details to the vision?"
"Nothing concrete. Cordy says she doesn't know where it was, or what the Qaltoths are up to, or anything else useful like that. She did say it didn't look like you guys were having a lot of problems with the things. But she doesn't usually get visions about easy fights, so we were worried."
"Yes," Giles said. "We certainly appreciate your calling. We'll look into it and hopefully be able to guess what these Qaltoth demons are planning. Knowing what we're up against for once should be a great help. Thank you. And thank Cordelia, please."
"Of course," Angel said. He was quiet for a moment, then asked, "Is Buffy there?"
"Yes," Giles said, looking at her. "She's here."
"Can I talk to her?"
"Of course." Giles stood up and held the phone out to Buffy. "Angel would like to speak to you."
Buffy looked at him before accepting the phone. She didn't bring it up to her ear, just stood there holding it, with her hand over the receiver.
Giles turned and walked to his bookshelf. He picked out the MacKenzie and Lockley books, as well as the Patagonia Manuscript and a few others he thought might be useful. He turned to look at Buffy and said, "I'll be upstairs, to give you some privacy."
"You don't have to," Buffy said.
"I think it would be best," Giles said, walking to the stairs.
"Giles," Buffy called when he was halfway up.
Giles stopped and turned to look at her.
"I love you," she said. "You," she emphasized.
Giles smiled. "I love you." He turned again and continued up the stairs.
"I know," Buffy said, then, "Angel? How are you?"
Giles walked into his bedroom and closed the door. He sat down on the bed with the books, but didn't open them. He could hear Buffy's voice downstairs, but he couldn't make out what she was saying.
He decided that was for the best, and opened MacKenzie to the section on Qaltoths.
Some time later, Buffy came into the room. Giles looked up and closed the book he was taking notes from. He set it beside him on the bed.
Buffy's eyes were red from crying, but she smiled as she walked over and pulled him to his feet.
"I love you," she said, pulling his head down for a kiss.
"I love you," he said, when they pulled apart.
"Angel would like to talk to you," Buffy said.
Giles nodded, kissed her again, then took her hand. He started walking towards the stairs.
Buffy pulled her hand out of his. "I'll stay up here. To give you some privacy."
"You don't have to."
"I think it would be best," Buffy said, then smiled.
Giles smiled back and left the room. He heard Buffy close the door behind him as he walked down the stairs.
"Hello?" he said when he picked up the phone.
"Giles," Angel said.
"Angel," Giles said.
"Cordy had two visions about you guys. The first one was the Qaltoths. The other one was more..."
"Personal?"
"Personal. That works."
"So you already knew?"
"Yeah. I wanted to talk to Buffy about it first, though."
"Of course," Giles said.
"She told me she loves you," Angel said.
"I don't think what you discussed is any of my business."
"Some of it isn't, but some of it is. She loves you, and she wants to be with you, not me."
"She loves you, as well," Giles said.
"I know," Angel said, and Giles could detect a smile. "But I'm not the one she wants. I'm not the one she needs."
They were silent for a time, and then Giles said, "Well, then."
"Yeah. I should go. But Giles?"
"Yes?"
"I'm not going to threaten to kick your ass if you treat her wrong, or anything like that. I know you'll treat her right."
"I will," Giles promised.
"Good. 'Cause if you don't, I'll kick your ass."
Giles laughed, and Angel laughed with him. Then Angel said "What? No, it's - Hey!"
Giles heard the phone pulled from Angel's hand and put up to someone else's ear.
"Giles?" a woman's voice asked.
"Hello, Cordelia."
"Hi. So. Congratulations, I guess. Also, Ewww."
Giles chuckled. "Thank you."
"Listen," Cordelia said, "I only have one question."
"What's that?" Giles asked. It couldn't be...
"Who won the pool?"
*******
END 6/7
On to Part Seven