It had been ages since he had seen her.  When she had left Sunnydale, she had promised to come back as soon as she could, but unfortunately, her life was suddenly so encompassed by midterms and exams and parental obligations, that she simply hadn't had a minute to even talk on the phone, much less take the one hour drive it took to get down to the ever loving Hellmouth.  Not  that things had been any better on his side of town, either. With the Hellmouth on the fritz, and only Buffy and Angel around as his fighting force, his time was usually spent in the library, researching some prophecy, or demon or another.  And before that reunion, he would have been thoroughly happy with this series of events. Afterall, he loved his "stuffy old boring books" as Buffy called them.  But that was before he had fallen in love with one of the most exquisite creatures on the planet.

Now, he considered the afternoon a success if he went even for half an hour before his mind wandered to a young woman with chestnut hair,  with glistening eyes and a dazzling smile.  A young woman, who despite being an old student and more than ten years his junior, admitted that she had fallen for him.

  And the strangest and most wonderful thing of all was that Cordelia Chase had changed so much these past five years, and also stayed so blessedly the same. When she called him, her words were usually welltimed endearing sarcastic insults, and small moments of tenderness, that , because they were so rare, and so full of meaning, made Rupert's heart leap and his breath catch as he heard them.  And it was during those phone conversations that he missed her the most. When he could hear her sexy voice, a tint of laughter emanating from it, and he could close his eyes and envision her twitching her nose in that way that just made him bloody crazy.  It had taken him a while to get used to the idea that he was  helplessly in love with Cordelia Chase, of all people, but once he did, and once Buffy began to see the extent of his affection, he wondered how he could have ever not loved her.  Of course then she would remind him of her rather eccentric behavior in high school and the romantic nonsense , as Buffy called it, would be knocked right out of him.  But even then, he thought that maybe it might have been some sort of starting point. In high school, she had driven him crazy with her lack of tact and selfish habits.  Now, she drove him a crazy in a similar way, and he enjoyed it  much, much more.

 And he missed her terribly.  And when he was overcome with what Buffy deemed "Cordy missage"  he would sit down at the old wooden  table, drink his tea, and brood.  And today, he brooded even more, as Cordelia, who was  spending her times studying for a huge exam and didn't have time to even sleep. She had informed him she wouldn’t be able  to talk to him for a while, and he  understood. He was just surprised that  he  felt so empty when he didn't talk to her everyday.
 This was insane.

He was at it again. Cordy missage. Buffy suppressed a sigh as she walked into the library, too soft to be heard by her Watcher. This was getting really sad. But she still smirked, even as she pretended to scowl. She had forgotten how cute Giles could be when he was head over heels in love with someone. At first, the idea of him and Cordelia as an item had been ridiculous, and barfworthy, but after a while the idea had grown on her. Cordelia had  a tender heart beneath that Ice Queen facade, the last guy she completely gave her heart  to had treated it like trash. Not that Xand man wasn't a good guy, but still... how dense could a guy get?  Something told Buffy Giles would rather die
than hurt her friend. And Buffy new Cordelia needed that.

"Hey Giles."Giles suddenly jumped, surprised at the interruption, in the process  banging his knee under the chair. Buffy could only smile at her Watcher's clumsiness.

 "Like the new aerobics, Giles."  She commented, a smile emerging on her face.   Rupert stumbled, muttering British curses at his knee while he rubbed at it in an  attempt to slow down the pain.

"Buffy!  Hullo! Dammit!" He sat down, breathing slightly, looking frustrated.  "How are you?"

 "Much better than you are, I'm guessing." She remarked, giving him a quick hug before she settled down across from him. "Just saw Willow off. She said "thanks" for the new spell book, to just give her a ring if we need her again."

Giles nodded.  "Of course."   He finally let go of his knee, and smiled softly at Buffy."And Angel?"

 "Good, completely recovered.  He did pretty well when we went on patrol tonight."

 "Oh.  Good." He fell silent fingering the old markings on the table, and Buffy half smiled at his longing indifference.  I swear, Cordy, she thought , if you only knew what you did to this man. Sighing, she leaned back and folded her arms.

"Hey Giles, what's wrong?  No call from Cordy tonight?"He looked surprised at her blatant observation, and was about to deny anything was out of the ordinary, when she raised an eyebrow.

  This girl knew him too damn well. "No, I'm afraid not." He answered.  "I'm just wondering how she is."

"She's good." Buffy quipped, getting up and stretching.  "I talked to her today."His head shot up.

 "You did?!"

 "Yup."  His mouth parted in surprise."But she-"

 "Had a midterm that she had to study for?"  Buffy nodded.  "Yup,  She called me during a study break."

 She continued to act nonchalant knowing full well he was going to go crazy in a bout a minute if she didn't explain why Cordelia would call her and not him.

"Pardon?" He was still in a shocked state.  That was a good thing. For Buffy at least.  A flustered Giles.

 Gosh, this was getting funner by the second.  "Yeah, said she had big plans for this weekend, since I'm going up. Wants to go clubbing."    Purposely avoiding his eyes, Buffy almost felt bad for the torture she was putting  Giles through.

Almost.His jaw dropped open. "Bu-but, This weekend she going to come down, to see-"

 "Changed her mind.  Said she has this thing with her parents on Sunday, and she can't afford to come down after all.  She told me to tell you.  So I told you."Giles was frozen stiff.  Cordelia had never acted this inconsiderate of him.

"What is she thinking!" he sputtered, suddenly angry.  "Doesn't she know how dangerous it is to go out at night?  In Los Angeles, especially?  And you, Buffy-" He pointed a finger at his Slayer.  She raised an eyebrow. "You know MUCH better than to encourage that sort  of behavior."

 "Giles-" Buffy began, resting her head on her hand.

 "And what kind of behavior is that condoning! She made a promise  and if she intends to break it, the LEAST she could do is call me and let me know and not send  messages through my ..."

 "Slayer?" Buffy supplied helpfully.

   "Yes, Slayer."  He pulled at his tie, his face getting redder by the second.  "She is a student!  She needs her sleep!"  He was about to continue his rant when he noticed that Buffy was absolutely still.
 Her face was mild, and even showed the hint of a smirk on it as she looked up at him.

 "What!?" he asked her.She stared at him for a moment, and then shrugged, finally allowing herself to smile.

  "Giles, get off the overprotective kick, will ya?"  She grinned.  "I'm messing with you."

 He stared at her, stunned into silence, not quite getting it.  "Pardon?" he stammered.

 Buffy grinned wickedly. "Do you realize how gosh darn funny you look when you get all flustered?  You two have been dating for what? Like, three months? Already you're possessive whipped boy."

 Giles  removed his glasses, slowly and deliberately.  "Buffy-"

 "I know, not funny." She said quickly, getting up. "But I really did talk to Cordelia." She began matter of factly. Giles could be pretty intimidating when he wanted to be, what with that Ripper thing, and she didn't want him to get TOO mad.  He looked up again.

 "You did?" He asked earnestly.

 Buffy nodded. "Yeppers.  She wanted to ask me  a favor."

 Giles  knew better than to pry when Buffy didn't choose to elaborate.  Cordelia and Buffy were good friends, had always been since graduation, and he knew that even as Cordelia's... "man", and Buffy's Watcher, what they talked about  was no business of his.  But he felt his curiosity grow more and more.  He shifted in his seat. Trying desperately to come up with a way to ask Buffy what she and Cordelia talked about without sounding.... Too curious..

 Buffy saw Giles begin to grow red as he shuffled around in his seat.  Supressing the urge to roll her eyes, she settled back in her chair."Go ahead, Giles, ask away."Giles sat up immediately.

 "Did you discuss me?"

 Buffy smirked.  "A little.  Mostly it was about me."

 "Why did she call you?"

 "Because." Buffy sounded exasperated.  "It was during a study break. Worry, much? She said she would call you."

 Rupert felt his heart leap.  "She did?"

 As if on cue, the phone suddenly rang.  Buffy grinned, and got up.

 "Well, my work here is done, I think I'll go see Angel. We're meeting up again."

 Giles gave her a distracted nod, heading over to the telephone.

 Pausing to compose himself, he picked up the  phone casually.

 "Hullo?"

 "Hey Ripper.  Read any good books lately?" A sultry voice replied.  Giles felt a smile float on his face, and he felt a slight sight of relief float through his body.  How did she do it? She just made him feel so... so...distracted.

 "Cordelia?"

 "Anyone else call you Ripper?" The voice had a twinge of sarcastic laughter edged into it.  "Cause if they do, we're gonna have words."

 'No, no, just you."  He chuckled, settling down in an old wooden chair, cradling the phone to his neck carefully.  "How are you?"

 "Ready to drop dead." Cordelia sighed.  "I was in the library a whole day.  Literally.  Twenty four hours.  Now, that might seem like heaven on earth for you, but for me it was -"

 "Like the Hellmouth?" Giles asked, smiling."Yup.  Hellmouth like."

 "Well, I'm sure libraries have some good points." He defended.

 "Mmm... Nope.  The librarians over here aren't nearly as sexy as the ones in Sunnydale."  He felt his breath catch. Even now, he still found it difficult to believe Cordelia really cared about him as much as he cared about her.  He lived for the moments when she would prove him wrong.

 "Really?" He said, after a moment.  "Sexy?" He grinned.

 "Huh. Don't get too big of an opinion of yourself, you old fogie. Cockiness loses an attraction pretty fast."

 "Something you quite never learned in high school," He kidded.

 "Ha, ha. Very funny, Giles."  She said dryly, apparently not amused. "Buffy tell you I called?"

 "She did, as a matter of fact."

 "Good. So?"

 He stayed silent, a tad confused. "So what?"

 "Can you come?"

 "Come where?"

 "To LA!" Cordelia said, sounding exasperated.  "To visit me! I talked Buffy into letting you come this week and she comes down next weekend."He sat up, suddenly grinning.

 "You want me to go down to Los Angeles?"

 "You think that funky car of yours can make it?  My parents have this thing, and I want you to come."

 His throat went dry. "Thing? With your parents?" Good Lord.  It was times like these when Giles realized how big a chasm their age difference was. He could have BEEN her parent, now he'd have to meet Sanford Chase, the man Sunnydale deemed "Bulldog?"

 There was a pause on the line, and suddenly Cordelia began heavily, "Giles.. You're not gonna freak out on me, are you?"

 He shuffled in his seat. "I'm thinking about it," he admitted.

 "Rupert, look it's not that big a deal. Dad's always been pretty cool with anyone I've dated. It's a love me, love my boyfriends, thing."

 He sat up straighter. "And how many of us have there been?" He asked a twinge of jealousy emerging in his voice.

  "Too many to count." Cordelia said dryly.   "Giles, please?" She suddenly began, a small whine emanating from her voice. "I haven't seen you in forever, okay?"

Giles felt a small smile emerge when she began to plead.  He wasn't going to be able to resist her when she had that voice, he knew that well enough.

 "Cordelia, I'd love to come down." He said, his tone slightly amused.

 "Good." She said quickly, sighing.  "Buffy will fill you in the details, okay?"

 "Fine." He said softly.

 "Kay, I gotta go, I have to finish studying for this thing, and if I keep talking to you, it's just not going to happen."

 "Good night, Cordelia." Giles said, suddenly feeling relaxed.

 "Night, Giles."

 "Cordelia?"

  "Hmm?"

 "I miss you."

 There was a pause on the phone, and then there was a chuckle. "I know you do, Bookworm." She joked. "I miss you, too."

 And with that, the phone clicked, and Cordelia hung up. Giles placed the phone in it's cradle and stared at it thoughtfully.  Cordelia's parents.  He sighed.  He remembered meeting Sanford Chase just once, at graduation. The man had practically plowed him over in an attempt to get to his little girl. It was quite clear he adored her. It was also quite clear that he was a very powerful, very busy man.  He got there the last two minutes of graduation, basically just gave his daughter a hug, the keys to a new car, and with that left, saying he had to be in Hong Kong in two days.  Giles remembered how Cordelia's face had fallen as she had watched her father walk away, and then smiled tightly when her mother pulled her away from Buffy and the group because she wanted Cordelia to meet some rich college boy.  How would they react to seeing Cordelia with an older, Sunnydale librarian of all people?  Rupert sighed, rubbing at his head.  Buffy had barely understood, what about the
others?

  But he loved Cordelia. And because of that fact, he knew he's stand up to one hundred Sanford Chases.  He sighed.  He just wished it didn't have to be so hard.