"Nice greeting, Giles. Hey, I missed you too." Buffy seemed confused by the shock on her Watcher's face.
"I'm sorry, Buffy. I'm just surprised to see you. Very surprised. Excuse me."
Buffy stood in stunned silence as he dashed back into his office. She heard him talking to someone within, and a moment later he returned.
"Giles, what's wrong with you?"
"I'm sorry Buffy. How was your trip?"
"Oh, it was terrific, thanks for asking. I had to go waste my time with the Watcher's Council, all of whom make you look like the life of the party. I had to eat British 'food', and I use the term loosely. I couldn't get four words out at a time without someone correcting my grammar. They all thought it was so much fun to quiz me on the Handbook, the same Handbook that you've never actually showed to me. These people had stake-whittling contests, Giles.
They made me sleep in a lumpy bed in a freezing room with no hot water, get up at six every morning to go to boring meetings and ceremonies where they told me I had done them proud in spite of my watcher and I never had a chance to tell them to piss off and explain that you are the only reason I'm still alive. They kept telling these anecdotes about Slayers in the past, and they couldn't have made the job sound more boring.
'Ellen Sawyer, the only Slayer who only retained her post for less than thirty minutes due to a timber shortage...'
They tried to make me read history books, and they all explained that it was my duty to kill Angel," Giles winced as she said the name, "and 'though they couldn't force me to do it, I should certainly consider my duties as the Chosen One,' "
"Buffy,"
"They never let me go to the bathroom. They wouldn't even let me go outside, I was just stuck in these huge drafty rooms all day long. Then I got my period, and they were all men who wouldn't know what the word 'menstruate' meant unless it was some immortal demon,"
"Buffy,"
"So I had to find a maid, and of course she was past menopause, so she had to call her daughter.
And _then_ , they made me train in front of the entire gathered Council. All of them! In an arena! I was fighting a dummy in an arena, being watched by hundreds of men who aren't accustomed to spandex as an every day experience,"
"Buffy,"
"So all in all, it was a pretty humiliating experience when I was reduced to begging in order to get your job back,"
"Buffy," Giles sighed. Then he immediately did a double take. "What did you say?"
"Oh yeah. I tried threatening, I tried demanding, but nothing less than my finest begging was capable of achieving the desired effect. It was humiliating, and then I come back to discover that you seem put out by my return-" she was cut off by Giles crushing her in a hug.
"Buffy," he muttered into her shoulder, "you are the finest girl." When he pulled away, there were tears in her eyes.
"What can I say, Giles? I got used to having you around."
As they stood together, Giles effectively shielded Buffy from the view of anyone who might enter the library. So when Xander came in, he can be forgiven for blurting out something he might not have otherwise.
"Hey, Giles. Where's Willow and her not-so-secret admirer?"
Giles turned around slowly, and Xander's eyes widened as he saw Buffy standing there.
"Who do you mean? Oz?"
Xander's mouth opened and closed without any sound escaping for a few moments, much in the manner of a large fish. He was, however, spared from the necessity of responding as Willow and Angel entered the library hand in hand.