Ethan walked quietly toward Buffy. She looked disinterested in him. He smiled at her. "Hello my dear, eternity agrees with you. You look stunning as always." Buffy lifted her hand to motion him forward into the garden and he caught it in a gentle grasp and kissed her knuckles in a courtiers greeting.

She stared at Ethan, not believing what her body told her. She could feel no malice in him.

Willow ducked beneath the honeysuckle and handed him a posy of blooms. "Welcome Ethan. I’m glad you made it in time."

"Willow, I’m so glad to be here." He accepted her gift and gave her a kiss. "Rupert sends his love. Your stew was delicious. Tell me love, what was in it?" Willow and Ethan strolled past the last rose bush and disappeared.

Buffy chose to dwell by her Watcher and watched him grieve for his friend. She gazed at Giles and her throat constricted seeing the scars and tattoos of numerous therapies and operations.

She watched as he finally gathered his clothes together and dressed. He stood before the body and summoned energy to levitate Ethan’s corpse. Buffy followed the solemn procession to the conservatories threshold because that was the limit of her haunting. She couldn’t enter the house until Rupert painted her portrait.

Rupert opened the door in the library and passed through the narrow opening with his burden. He laid Ethan’s body on the table in the centre of the room. He winced as his friend’s head thumped on the polished surface.

The perimeter of the room housed bookshelves and he realised he could put his secret demonic library in here, along with mementos of his Ripper past. He smiled gently down at Ethan’s gentle, strong features.

"Planned it all along didn’t you? You rascal…" He slowly walked the points of the pentagram, inviting a blessing at each house, then muttered an incantation that scattered his friend’s spent body to the elements. A fitting end to a Master of Chaos.

Giles closed the door on the sacred place and resumed his seat in the library. He’d just taken up Biggles when Jack came in with some tea.

"Dad, I’m sorry we argued." Jack apologised as he handed him his tea. "I brought some for Ethan…Where is he?" Jack glanced round the library his eyes finally lighting once more on his father. He caught the barest hint of sorrow in his father’s eyes.

"Ethan’s gone ahead…" Giles sipped from his teacup and swallowed the lump in his throat. He glanced up at Jack and offered no further explanation. He turned the page in his book and gave up reading, as the words swam before his eyes. He sighed. "I’m going into town this afternoon… Do you need anything?"

Jack shook his head and they sat in companionable silence whilst the library clock ticked away their lives.

The End. Sequel is Discovering Rage and Peace

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