With a faint smile, Giles picked up the crystal matrix that now contained Vaurtain; it had been sitting on the mantle since they'd got back from that final battle. 'I suppose we ought to see about putting this in the vault instead, but I'd feel better if we could keep an eye on it,' he sent as he handed it over to Ethan.

'It should be with us,' Ethan agreed, beginning to fold tissue over it, although really they both knew that protection was unnecessary. The matrix couldn't be smashed or broken. 'We're the only ones with a hope in hell of protecting it from the types who might want to pinch it.'

'Not that they'd ultimately be able to do much with it, not without a Key to open it. But even just as a symbol it could cause more than its share of trouble.' Giles paused, watching as Ethan began to wrap it in the bubble-wrap. 'Besides, I rather like the way it looks on the mantelpiece.'

Ethan chuckled. "It does have a certain je ne sais quois," he said aloud.

"Beats mounting demon heads on the wall," Giles agreed. At the questioning looks he got from everyone in the room for that comment, he explained, "My great uncle Bernard was a bit... eccentric."

"Now, there's a new hobby for you girls to consider," Ethan said, laughing. "Demonic taxidermy. No nasty looking corpse goes unutilised. You could set up one of those road-side attractions America seems so fond of – World's Largest Diabolic Exhibit, entrance fifty cents."

Through the doorway, Giles saw Dawn look up from where she was packing up kitchen stuff and wrinkle her nose. "Eww," she said succinctly.

"But think of the educational value of such an exhibit," Ethan persisted. "Might piss off a few demonic relatives, mind you, when they discovered little Joey packed to the gunnels with sand and posing with an axe in his tentacles next to a Gromloch beast. But you should look at such reactions merely as an opportunity to expand your collection."

"And then someone comes along and reanimates them all," Buffy said, "and it's the wax museum all over again. I prefer to have to kill a demon only once. Repeat performances get old."

"Oh, there's something to be said for the odd encore of quality, surely." Ethan winked at Giles as he crouched to begin moving piles of books into a fresh crate.

"Which category demon-killing doesn't generally fall into," Buffy replied smoothly. She held up her hand. "And no, please do not give me examples of what does fall into the category of 'encores of quality'. Some knowledge is just not meant for Buffys."

Giles smiled to himself as he watched the interaction, relishing how well Ethan truly fitted in now, in Giles' life and with his friends, even with Buffy.

There was a loud bang from upstairs... where Xander and Kat were. "Encore," Ethan murmured as if to himself, but it was still loud enough to make Megan giggle apparently.

"Perhaps we should send someone upstairs to make sure they haven't broken anything in their 'encore'," Giles suggested, not quite managing to keep a straight face.

"So not volunteering," Dawn said. "Bad enough the things I'm finding in these cupboards. Things that no way belong in a kitchen."

Buffy looked up sharply, and Ethan visibly winced. Giles looked at him. 'I wasn't aware we had anything incriminating in the kitchen,' he sent.

'You're forgetting that day Nana arrived unexpectedly to say goodbye, aren't you, dearheart?' Ethan made his way into the kitchen, presumably to remove evidence from young eyes. 'I had to put the leather paraphernalia somewhere...'

'Oh dear lord. Perhaps Dawn could be better put to use out here helping me with the books? Or is there something hidden on the back of the shelves I need to know about?'

'God knows. There could be anything anywhere, all things considered. At least we don't need lube anymore, eh? As there wouldn't be a room without a ready supply.' Ethan began to speak aloud to Dawn. "I'll just take that, shall I? And that. Hmm, and that. And you'll just be pretending you never saw them, won't you, sweetheart?"

"Better take this too," Dawn said, holding up something small and black; Giles didn't try too hard to focus upon it. "In that case."

"Giles..." Buffy said, a hard question in her tone.

"Yes, Buffy?" Giles replied playing innocent for all he was worth.

Then she grinned. "I'm thinking this might be the best time to tell you all about my new boyfriend."

Giles frowned; that sort of grin from Buffy rarely boded well, especially when coupled with the word 'boyfriend'. "He's not a vampire, is he?"

"Oh no." She gave Giles one of those big bright grins that he knew all too well were an attempt to hoodwink him. "Been there, done that. Twice. No more vamps for this girl!"

Dawn giggled, which didn't exactly put Giles' mind at ease. "Not working for any shadowy government agency is he?" he asked.

"Hmm," Buffy said as if pretending to think. "Nope. Self-employed. You'd like him – he's Italian!"

Knowing there was more to this than she was telling, Giles pulled out the big guns. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Buffy. He had found that an uncompromising silent stare often got results where active questioning did not.

"He wears Armani?" Buffy said hopefully.

Ethan reappeared in the main room. "Buffy's dating the Godfather." He sounded very amused.

"Getting warmer," Dawn called out. Giles added an artful touch of a frown to his expression and kept staring.

Buffy looked down and mumbled, "They call him 'the Immortal'."

"You're kidding." Ethan sounded genuinely surprised. "Surely not."

"Ethan?" Giles asked in a 'please enlighten the rest of the class' sort of way.

"He's a one-man Illuminati," Ethan said, staring at Buffy. "He's been around a long time, back to ancient Egypt some rumours would have it, and he has his fingers in every pie worth getting them sticky for. He employed me once. Never again. Buffy, are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Buffy folded her arms and looked stubborn. "He's on the good guys' side."

It took an effort, but Giles refrained from pointing out that he'd heard that before. Instead, he observed mildly, "You do have a thing for older men, don't you?"

"Eww," Buffy said succinctly. "He doesn't look older."

Ethan moved closer to Buffy. "It seems you are in a position then to satisfy some long-held curiosity of mine. Just what is it that he keeps in th–"

Giles frowned. "Ethan."

Ethan flashed Giles a mildly annoyed look, but held his hands up in surrender. "If you ever feel like doing so, of course," he added to Buffy before moving back to Giles' side. "Probably best you don't mention me to him, by the way."

Giles made a mental note to ask Ethan for details later, when there weren't young, possibly impressionable minds listening.

There was a drum of boots on the stairs, and Giles looked up to see Kat coming rapidly down carrying three large boxes piled on top of each other. She couldn't possibly see where she was going. Xander followed behind her at a more sedate pace, carrying just one.

"Ah Xander," Ethan said, moving to take the top box from Kat. "Always such a mensch."

"Hey!" Xander was obviously stung by the insinuation in Ethan's words. "I'm busy being a good Watcher here, training my Slayer in blind manoeuvres."

"Giles did that with me," Buffy said. "I got blindfolded and then had to throw a ball at him." She smiled brightly. "One of the funner training sessions."

"For some of us," Giles added dryly.

"Bet you're not gonna miss the protective get-up, eh, Giles?" Xander asked.

"Not the bruises at least." Giles smiled. "I quite happily bequeath those to you."

Ethan was frowning. "I don't want any abuse of Watcher privileges while you're house-sharing here." He turned to Megan. "You will tell Xander to get lost if he tries to get you to do housework and calls it training, won't you, sweetheart?"

"What, like I did to you two with all the dog-walking?" Megan asked, smiling sweetly. Ethan stuck his tongue out at her.

"The dogs are going to miss you," Giles said, glancing over where Gwydion and Skunk were sitting quietly in the corner watching the chaos of packing.

"We'll still see them plenty," Megan said, walking over to the dogs so that she could crouch down and pet them. "Won't we?" Her voice suddenly sounded a little tight.

Ethan went over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "If you don't come visiting at least once a month, there'll be trouble. And of course, we'll be carelessly shoving you out of our old room here every time we come up to the city." She looked up at that, and he winked at her.

"You're all welcome to visit any time," Giles put in, making sure his gaze took in everyone in the room, settling at the last on Xander and Kat. "We're not that far from Devon, especially in the ways you Americans measure distance, so I expect you two to drop in on the various trips back and forth."

"Well, free bed and beer is hard to turn down," Xander said. "Even if it is real ale. I've gotten a taste for the stuff actually."

Giles smiled. "We'll turn you into a proper Englishman yet."

"Cor blimey, guv. Pull the other one!" Xander's 'cockney' was, Giles thought, worse than his attempt at an upper crust accent.

"Or possibly not," he continued, doing his best not to wince.

Ethan laughed and picked up one of the boxes. "Hold the doors open for me, Rupert, like a good husband?"

"Do I get a biscuit if I do?" Giles teased as he crossed the room to do as he was asked.

"Is that all you demand for your services?" Ethan chuckled as he made his way out of the front door. "And I was prepared to give so much more."

"Well, yes, but those were things you were going to give me anyway. You're still stingy with the biscuits though." Giles took a box from Xander and followed Ethan outside.

"As I've said many times," Ethan said, heading for their hired van, "the answer is for you to understand that biscuits are not a shared commodity. I have my packets, and you have yours. It's not my fault if you don't buy yourself any."

"I do. It's funny how those become yours the second we leave the shop."

Ethan whistled a little tune as he waited by the back doors of the van, clearly expecting Giles to open them. Giles, now encumbered with his own box, just looked steadily at Ethan. It was the same look he had used on Buffy earlier. Dealing with each of them often needed the same techniques, much to Giles' amusement. However, Ethan's reaction to the look was frequently different to Buffy's.

This time, Ethan put down his box on the ground and sidled over with an evil grin. Before Giles knew it, he had Ethan's hand rummaging around in his trouser pocket, and he didn't seem all that interested in finding the keys.

"Ethan." Giles kept his voice level and a bit disapproving.

"Am I being bad?" Ethan asked with a wide-eyed look, not stopping.

"What have I said about that? If you have to ask..."

Ethan moved around behind Giles, his hand still in Giles' pocket, and pressed against him. The street was not empty. "Why don't we give all these stodgy neighbours we have here something to remember us by?" he said low beside Giles' ear.

"Because we want to be able to visit Xander and the girls without causing a scene every time we step on the street?" Giles replied, still using a reasonable voice.

Ethan sighed softly, and with one last fondle, withdrew his hand, standing back and holding the keys. "If you insist."

"I do." He waited patiently for Ethan to open the van doors.

They put the boxes inside, Ethan climbing within to strap them safely as they'd been advised. 'Don't be irritated with me, Ripper,' he sent. 'Not today.'

'I'm not,' Giles replied the same way, surprised that Ethan even thought he was. 'Far from it.'

Ethan smiled softly through the doors at Giles. 'I wasn't completely sure.' He moved and sat down on the edge of the van floor beside Giles. "It's leaving here that's doing it," he said quietly. "Makes me think of the early days after my... release. It's only a year ago. It feels like a decade. More, really."

Giles moved to sit beside Ethan. "Most people don't have decades as eventful as this last year has been for us."

Ethan rested their joined hands on his leg. "Sometimes I still don't quite believe it," he said, staring out into Mountbatten Road.

"It can seem like a dream sometimes," Giles said softly, knowing exactly how he felt. "Especially when everything is quiet and dark in the middle of the night and all I can hear is your breathing."

Ethan turned to look at Giles, smiling with what seemed to be a lot of emotion in the expression. "Oh, am I allowed to kiss you out here? Please do say yes."

Giles smiled. "You can kiss me anywhere."

So Ethan did, and as he did, he spoke in Giles' mind. 'You found me broken, my pride a shattered mask, and piece by piece you have rebuilt me into something that deserves my pride in it,' he sent, his thoughts intense. 'You made me a hero in your own image. You made me matter to the world and for the world to matter to me. You did this, Rupert.'

Pulling back enough to meet Ethan's eyes, Giles shook his head slightly. 'I may have shown you the path, but you walked it.' He raised a hand to touch Ethan's face. 'And you've done the same for me. Made me comfortable in my own skin in a way I haven't been since... Well, since we were together before.'

Ethan smiled softly, sincerely. "When you lifted me from that prison bed, you were freeing yourself as well, I think. You know, for a long while afterwards I'd still find myself wondering if this were all an hallucination, but no more. Not seriously now." He snorted. "I would never have allowed myself all this even in my wildest, most fevered imaginings."

"Truth is often stranger than fiction. Better as well, in our case." Giles looked down where their hands were entwined. "But if this is all just a dream, I'm going to hurt the stupid git who wakes me up."

Ethan squeezed Giles' hand hard. "It's real. It's realer than anything that has come before for us. We were only half-alive before, only partially who we were born to be. This –you and me, no Council, no Chaos– is the pattern I've been searching for all my bloody life without knowing it, and it couldn't be more real." And as if to show just how far he had come from the emotionally brittle boy he had once been, Ethan looked deeply into Giles' eyes as he added softly, "And I couldn't love you more than I do."

Giles closed his eyes briefly. "When I was ten my father told me I had a destiny. He was right about that; he was just wrong about what the destiny was. It's you. It always has been you." The only appropriate punctuation to that was what Giles then did -- he kissed Ethan breathless. 'I love you.'

***