Willow was as good as her word. The next morning, after an uneventful patrol, Willow handed them to her before their first class. Rather than listening to the boring professor, Buffy scanned the words hungrily. On a clean piece of paper, she quickly began outlining her plan, listing everything she’d need off to the side.

<Hmm, a broken arrow. Well, duh, easy enough to get../../gt; Buffy thought as she wrote. <A bottle of rain. Yeah, in California. Ok, that might be a little tougher, but it did rain here, so possible../../gt; Buffy continued through the lyrics. <"I will meet you by the witness tree" What the hell was a witness tree?">

"Willow" Buffy hissed softly. Willow tore her eyes away from the professor to look at Buffy. "What’s a witness tree?" she asked.

"They were used by surveyors to mark areas and stuff" Willow whispered back. She returned her attention to the lecture. Buffy tugged on her sleeve.

"What?" she asked.

"Is there a witness tree in Sunnydale?" Buffy asked. Willow nodded.

"In Breaker’s Woods. I’ll show you after classes. Now leave me alone, one of us needs to take notes here" Willow returned to scribbling furiously as the professor droned on. Buffy returned to her check list.

<Ok, witness tree, check../../gt;

******

Giles sighed heavily. Anya had insisted on creating a Valentine’s display for the store. It was barely even February, and yet the Magic Box was decked out in pinks and reds, books on love spells and potions in the window.

Personally, Giles was planning on dressing in all black on Valentine’s Day, just as a quiet protest. Valentine’s Day was one of the worst holidays to be single for, and he refused to put on a happy face. Not that he’d tell anyone. No, if anyone asked why he hadn’t worn red or pink, he’d point out that he was a grown man and grown men did not wear pink for a holiday. The gang would chalk it up to his stuffy English persona, and everyone would be happy.

Giles had to admit, the thought had crossed his mind to invite Buffy out for the evening. Riley’s leaving had been difficult on her. Valentine’s Day almost directly after wasn’t going to be easy. He thought maybe if he took her to dinner or something, it would ease the blow.

<Keep telling yourself that, old man. Maybe eventually, you’ll believe it../../gt;

Privately, Giles knew that the real reason he wanted to ask Buffy to dinner was that for a short time, he could imagine it was more than it really was. Disgusted with himself, Giles grabbed his jacket and told Anya that she was in charge for the rest of the day.

The bright sunshine did nothing to improve Giles’ mood. He even managed to remain cranky during the short drive to his apartment. He was still brooding as he strode to his door, so wrapped up in his dark thoughts, that he almost missed the package sitting on his doorstep.

Giles frowned as he picked it up. It was a relatively small box, wrapped in heavy brown paper and tied with a burgundy ribbon. Giles shook it gently. It rattled slightly. Cautiously, he pulled the ribbon and unwrapped it. Inside was an arrow snapped into 2 pieces. Giles pulled out the card in hopes of discovering the sender. Instead he found the words "Who else is going to bring you a broken arrow?" painstakingly written in calligraphy. After checking the box thoroughly for any traps, spells or clues, he stepped into his apartment, still staring at the contents.

<A broken arrow? What the hell does a broken arrow mean?> he wondered. He examined the arrow. It wasn’t one he’d seen before. Sighing, he found himself disappointed that it wasn’t one of Buffy’s crossbow bolts. <Of course it wasn’t one of hers, old man../../gt; he thought to himself. Giles gave a passing thought to the song he’d sung in the Espresso Pump the other night, and smiled. Maybe he had a secret admirer.

Still, Giles put the arrow on a shelf where it couldn’t be bumped or broken even more. A shelf that made it unlikely that any of the gang would notice it. There was nothing wrong with indulging in a little harmless fantasy. But Giles had no desire to explain it to anyone else.

******

"Please, Willow, please" Buffy begged. Willow shook her head.

"Buffy, causing a rain storm could be construed as an abuse of power" Willow told her loftily. Buffy put her hands on her hips and looked at her.

"I seem to remember you making a fire the day at the beach" Buffy pointed out. "I don’t see how this is different"

"Buffy, I can’t…"

"Please, Willow, please. Just a small one. I just need to collect some rain" Buffy held up a small crystal bottle. "Just enough to fill this" Buffy pleaded. Something clicked in Willow’s brain, and she cocked her head.

"This is about this song, isn’t it?" she asked. Buffy blushed but nodded. She scuffed her shoe at the ground.

"I have this crush" she whispered. Willow’s eyes lit up with glee.

"Who? Is it someone I know? Where did you meet them?" Questions fell rapidly from Willow’s mouth. Buffy suddenly found the ground fascinating. She knew she’d have to tell the Scoobies eventually. But she was hoping that it would’ve been later rather than sooner.

Buffy cleared her throat.

"It’s Giles" she whispered. Willow’s eyes grew large.

"I’m sorry? Did you say that you had a crush on Giles?" Buffy nodded. Willow stared at her for a moment then said in a resigned tone of voice. "Ok, but only a small storm"

With a few chosen words, Willow conjured a small cloud that rained enough for Buffy to fill her bottle. Afterwards, Buffy gave her a quick hug and a "Thanks, Will" before bounding off.

"Finally!" Willow sighed, watching as Buffy ran from sight. "I didn’t think it would ever happen" she muttered to herself. Turning, Willow headed to the dorm to call Xander. If she remembered correctly, this meant that Tara had won the pool.

******

Buffy crept towards Giles door. It had taken her longer than expected to convince Willow to help with the rain. Giles was home from the Magic Box already.

Light shone from his window as Buffy sidled up against the wall to look in. She watched as Giles paged through a book. Buffy wondered if it was her imagination that made her think he looked lonely.

Buffy waited until Giles went into the kitchen to get a cup of tea. Silently, she set the bottle and card on his doorstep, pounded on his door, and ran like hell. When she thought she was safely out of sight, Buffy turned back towards Giles’ door.

One of the great things about Slayer speed was is that she could be safely away before Giles opened the door. Hiding in some bushes, she watched as he came out and looked around. She was pleased to see that he didn’t step out of the doorway, just in case it was a vampire trap.

Finally, he looked down and saw the bottle. Slowly, he bent down and picked it up. He stared at the card for a moment before closing the door slowly.

Inside, Giles stared at the words written on the card in fancy calligraphy. "Who else is going to bring you a bottle of rain?"

Giles ran his thumb over the elegant crystal bottle. Carefully, he removed the stopper. For a second, he could smell storm clouds and wet grass. Gingerly, he replaced the stopper and set the bottle on the shelf next to the arrow.

As he stood there and stared at the items, he wondered briefly who had sent these tokens, then decided he preferred to imagine that they were from Buffy.

****

As Valentine’s Day dawned, Giles found himself torn between depression and hope. Various cards with lyrics on them had been left on his doorstep almost every morning for the past week. But there had been nothing this morning.

All day, he jumped every time the bell on the door rang, never sure what to expect. He was deathly afraid that his secret admirer was going to appear in a large public display. The large bouquet of roses that Xander had sent Anya had nearly made his heart stop.

Finally, as closing time neared, Giles began to relax with a mixture of relief and disappointment. He had just begun preparations to close when the bell rang. Looking up, it was a uniformed messenger. Giles nodded at the man.

"I’m looking for Rupert Giles" the brown clad man inquired. Giles nodded.

"I’m he" The messenger held out a clipboard.

"Sign here, please" Giles signed in the appropriate place and was handed a small envelope. Giles nodded his thanks and ripped it open as the messenger left.

"I will meet you by the Witness Tree"

Giles read the message over and over. It was on the same card material, and written in the same calligraphy. No doubt about it, it was from his secret admirer.

And they wanted to meet him.

Giles turned over the card. There was no other information on it. Whoever it was, they knew him well enough to know that he’d know what a witness tree was, and where it was.

Now the question was, did he want to go?

******

Buffy paced the small clearing nervously. The long silk dress she wore flowed silently behind her as she moved. <God, what if he didn’t come!> Buffy thought in horror as she checked her watch. Buffy looked around at the scene she had set up. Or had Willow help her set up.

The clearing was ringed by candles that lit the area with a romantic glow. It had the added benefit of acting as a barrier charm, which meant that Giles and Buffy would be safe from the things that went bump in the night within it’s confines. There was a bottle of wine chilling next to a picnic dinner.

<What if he didn’t know where the witness tree was?> Buffy squinted into the darkness around her. <Oh God, what if something had attacked him and he was lying unconscious somewhere?>

Buffy was on the verge of going out to search for Giles when she heard the crack of a branch snapping. She whirled to face the noise and found…

*****

Giles couldn’t believe he was doing this. He’d almost turned the car around several times, but somehow couldn’t actually do it. So now, Giles found himself tramping through the woods, a meager cross and stake his only weapon from any vampires wandering the area.

Suddenly, Giles saw a glow ahead. Ducking branches, Giles made his way toward it. His heart thudded in his chest as he crept closer, but it came skidding to a halt as he reached the edge of the clearing.

Inside a ring of trees, illuminated by candlelight, was Buffy.

Buffy was his secret admirer. The thought left him breathless.

She was pacing back and forth. She wore an ankle length white silk dress which billowed behind her as she moved. She was agitated. She was worried.

She was beautiful.

Giles took a deep breath, and gathering all his courage took a step forward. A twig snapped beneath his foot. At the small sound, Buffy whirled to face him.

******

Giles! He had come! Buffy smiled as they stared at each other. She held out her hand to him. After a seconds hesitation, Giles took it and stepped into the circle of light. He barely noticed how the candles flared, invoking the protection spell around them.

Giles stared at Buffy’s faces, brushing her cheek with the back of his hand. Buffy covered it with her own.

"Do you feel what I feel?" she whispered. Giles smiled.

"Can we make it so it’s part of the deal?" he quoted back, pulling her into his arms. Buffy’s lips twitched.

"Oh, I think so" she whispered, raising her face in invitation. Giles leaned down and covered his lips with his own.

For Buffy, the kiss was the discovery of everything she’d been searching for in Angel and Riley.

For Giles, the kiss was the realization of a dream he’d never thought would come true.

After a few moments they pulled apart. Buffy stared at Giles.

"Wow" she whispered.

"There you go, turning my whole world around" Giles quoted softly. Buffy smiled.

"Happy Valentine’s Day, Giles" she whispered. "These arms of steel aren’t planning on letting you go anytime soon" Giles grinned.

"I can live with that" he assured her, just before his lips covered hers once more. <I can definitely live with that../../gt;

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