{One Month Later}

Buffy gazed lovingly around the table at her family. She was glad that she was finally able to include her father as family again. Right now, he was listening attentively to Dawn talk about her week at school. It had only been a month since Quentin and his cronies had tried to kill her, but it felt like it had been much longer than that.

As soon as Buffy and Giles had arrived at the Magic Box, her sister had embraced her. Her father, of course, had demanded an explanation. She and Giles had decided on the way over that they would tell him about the slaying. It seemed pointless to try and hide it at this point. He had been incredulous at first, not wanting to believe it. Even after she, Spike, and Willow had given demonstrations of their abilities, he still wasn't sure. He had said that he needed time to think and had gone back to LA that afternoon. Buffy hadn't really expected to hear from him again after that, so she was quite surprised when he had called that next weekend. They had talked for a long time and Hank had finally come to accept it. He had also taken to visiting more often and was even considering finding a place in Sunnydale.

Buffy was interrupted from her reverie with the ringing of the doorbell. "Why is he always late?" she asked Giles, blaming him for his friends tardiness.

"What do you expect?" Giles replied, rising to get the door. Buffy just sighed in exasperation.

"Sorry I'm late," Ethan said entering the dining room.

"Why can't you ever be on time?" Buffy demanded, glaring at him. "The food is getting cold."

"I just don't have it in me to be on time," Ethan replied as he and Giles sat down. Buffy was forced to admit that when Ethan wasn't trying to wreak havoc in their lives, he wasn't such a bad guy. He had shown up again about a week after transporting the Watchers back to England. He had informed them gleefully, that they were locked up and would stay that way for a very long time. Then for some reason, Ethan decided to stick around and Buffy begrudgingly found herself becoming friends with him. She was glad he had stuck around though, because having Ethan around seemed to make Giles happy. And anything that made Giles happy was pretty much okay in her book.

With the arrival of the final guest, everyone dug in to the dinner that Buffy had prepared. Voices rose and fell as different conversations cropped up around the table. Instead of joining in like she usually did, Buffy just sat back and smiled, content to watch her family enjoying themselves. Turning her head, she noticed Giles watching her, his green eyes sparkling. "Whatcha looking at, Watcher-mine?" she asked softly.

"You," he replied, just as softly. "You just looked so peaceful."

Buffy looked around the table before answering, "I am. I really am." She grinned brightly at him and he couldn't help, but smile back. She had come so far from the broken girl he had found after her resurrection. Looking around the table himself, he couldn't remember a time when he had been happier.

Dinner ended and their friends dispersed. Giles was surprised when Dawn left with Hank and he turned to Buffy questioningly. Smiling up at him, Buffy said, "Dawn's going to spend the weekend with Dad in LA. We have the whole house to ourselves." Smiling at the thought, Giles leaned down and kissed her. When they finally pulled apart, they were both gasping for air. "Take me to bed," Buffy said huskily. Giles looked at her in surprise. Buffy had been very self-conscious about her missing leg so they had yet to go any farther than just kissing and cuddling.

"Are you sure?" he asked, looking into her eyes and seeing the unconcealed passion in them.

"Positive," she said pulling him down for another mind-numbing kiss. Giles picked her up and Buffy automatically wrapped her legs around his waist. Tearing his mouth from hers so he could see, he carried her upstairs.

*************

Later, Buffy sighed in contentment as she snuggled closer to Giles, who tightened his grip on her. She hadn't been sure how Giles would react to her missing leg. Her head had known that he wouldn't care, but she had been unable to convince her heart of that. When Giles had seen it, he had simply kissed it and told her she was beautiful. Seeing the love and desire in his eyes had washed away the last of her doubt. Lying here in his arms, she knew that things wouldn't always be this perfect; she was still the Slayer and this was still the Hellmouth, but for now, it was enough.

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AN: I want to thank everyone for their wonderful reviews. I hope you all enjoyed 'Return of the Watcher'. There might end up being a third story to this series, but currently it's nothing more than a vague idea in the back of my head. Thanks again for reading!