Tales of Giles and Anya

Anya returned the electronic notepad to the courier, her signature stripped down to a series of 0s and 1s and stored in its memory. The time had swept by her with the swiftness of a summer storm; six nights and five and a half days since Giles' return to Sunnydale, six nights of passion and contentment, five ephemeral days of interwoven joy and sadness that had flown in the seeming blink of an eye.

She turned over the packet she held in her hands. The English return address seemed a portent of loneliness. This was it. This was the packet from the council of watchers, the documents that Joyce needed to pick up her life once more... and with its arrival there was no further need for Giles to remain.

She wrapped her arms around the parcel, cradling it to her chest. She understood the concept of property. She approved wholeheartedly of it in principle. She knew that she had no claim on the contents of the padded envelope. Even Giles was only a caretaker for the documents, and yet, she didn't want to let the packet go. She wanted to hold it tight or hide it away in the drawer where she kept her emergency tampons and her cosmetics, the drawer that Giles would never think to search.

A gentle whine sounded from near her ankles and Anya stooped to fondle a pair of extravagantly floppy ears, straightening when the puppy's greeting was answered by his mother's bark, only slightly muffled by distance. Giles must be nearly back. If she wanted to hide the packet, even for a day... just one extra day with him, she needed to do it now.

She actually found herself beside the cash register, her hand searching for the latch that would open the hidden drawer, but with a sigh she set the envelope down on the counter instead. She turned her back to it and walked away before she could reconsider. She had made Giles a promise that she wouldn't lie to him. It didn't matter that she wanted the watcher to stay. It would be better for Giles to leave... if she could still speak to him every day and she still had the dogs he had found for her and she knew that in a few long months he would hold her in his arms again... than for her to keep him here by breaking her word to him. She couldn't accept his kindness... and more, only to betray his trust.

She opened the door just before Giles could reach it, and when his hug of greeting became a deeper embrace, she fumbled blindly to bolt it against intrusion and turn the sign there to say that they were closed. She lifted the padded silk of Giles' tasteful tie and held it loosely as he let her lead him deeper into the store.

If their time together must end soon, she intended to make the most of the little they had remaining. Sometimes that meant the sound of his voice, reading or singing. Sometimes it was just watching his face illuminated by candlelight on the other side of the small but sturdy table they had chosen for her new apartment. Now, it was the strength of his arms, holding her to him, the blue grey of his eyes meeting hers and the deep certainty of his body claiming hers with desperate ardour. It seemed as if she wasn't the only one who knew how soon they would be parted again.