Buffy, Willow and Anya stared open-mouth at the suddenly human, extremely naked Giles lying on his right side on Buffy's bed. Willow and Buffy pretended not to look, in direct contrast to Anya's frank curiosity.

"Wow, that's impressive," Anya said conversationally. Willow and Buffy gave up all pretense of disinterest and gaped.

Buffy's eyes roamed his hair-covered chest, down to his groin, over his long, well-formed legs then back to his groin. She swallowed convulsively, her mouth suddenly dry.

Willow, meanwhile, had moved to the other side of the bed, where she could see his backside. "Buffy," she whispered. "Come here and look." She gestured wildly.

Buffy hesitated. Staring at what was presented for view was quite a bit different than actively seeking a view. She finally gave in to her desire to look and moved to stand beside Willow.

Willow spoke again. "I knew it would be nice," she gestured at his butt. "I had *no* idea." Her voice was filled with awe.

Buffy could only nod in agreement, and Anya, who had joined them said, "He wears too many clothes."

Willow and Buffy agreed whole-heartedly. The three girls went to sit on Willow's bed and just stared.

"We should wake him," Willow offered half-heartedly.

"We should," Buffy and Anya chorused, not moving to do so.

After a few more minutes of staring, Buffy went on. "We should at least cover him." There was no conviction in her voice.

"Are you crazy?" Anya demanded.

"Sometimes I wonder," Buffy replied quietly.

"Well, if you cover him, you can stop wondering."

They settled back down to watching. Suddenly Willow giggled. When they looked at her, she replied with a gesture at Giles, "We're watching the Watcher." She grinned impishly.

Giles stirred and they all held their breath as he rolled onto his back. They stared, transfixed, at his slowly hardening penis. Anya whimpered, Buffy's breath was coming in short gasps and Willow had stopped breathing all together.

Suddenly Xander sat up behind the girls. "Hey, what're we looking a- oh my God, Giles, you're naked! Why is Giles- and oh my *God* that's hu.." He stopped as all three girls glared at him.

Giles stirred again, his arm reaching for someone.

Giles slowly became aware that he was not in his bed. He inhaled, recognizing Buffy's scent. Suddenly he was completely awake; eyes wide open, staring in confusion around him. He saw the kids sitting on the other bed, gaping at him.

Xander spoke conversationally. "Hi, Giles. Did you know you're naked?"

As Giles looked down at his exposed body, the girls all whacked Xander. Giles scrambled for the covers with a hoarse "Jesus!"

Giles sat on Buffy's bed, with her covers pulled haphazardly over his groin and a blush spreading from his chest, up his neck and over his face.

Buffy decided to break the awkward silence. "Uh, Giles, how much do you remember about last night?"

He looked perplexed. "I wasn't drinking, if that's.."

"No," Buffy said. "I know you weren't."

"I-I don't really remember anything. Dreams, mostly. Vivid dreams." His eyes widened as all the pieces fell into place. "W-was I a werewolf?" He asked looking a little scared.

"Tiger," said Buffy, matter-of-factly.

His eyebrows shot up. "I beg your pardon?"

"You were a tiger, not a wolf. A tiger."

"I-I see. Did I, er, harm anyone?" He tried to be very casual about being naked in Buffy's bed, discussing being a were-tiger. The whole situation had the same surreal quality as his rather vague memories of the night before. He had an insane urge to giggle.

"Well, not while you were with us, which was from about midnight on," Buffy admitted.

"Unless you count growling at the Initiative guys. Oh and a roar," Xander added.

Willow decided to stir Giles up a little. "You spent most of the night with your head on Buffy's lap, purring."

"Purring?" Giles exclaimed, his tone incredulous.

Anya saw what Willow was up to, and decided to add fuel to the fire. "Definitely purring. Except when you stuck your nose in her.."

"Anya!" Xander interrupted, shocked.

"What?"

"Just stop right there. Scary visual place."

"Whatever."

"B-Buffy," Giles began. "I-I'm not quite certain *what* I did, nor, frankly, do I wish to be, but I feel certain that I owe you an apology."

"It's okay, Giles. Animal instinct. I understand." But she didn't meet his eyes, afraid of what he might read there.

"Nevertheless.."

"No, Giles, really, let it drop." Her eyes did meet his, and he acquiesced with a nervous smile. Her smile was just embarrassed.

Giles, being torn between the strong desire for clothes, and an equally strong desire *not* to know if Riley had left clothes there, finally asked, "I suppose that's it's too much to hope that you'd have anything that I could wear?"

All of the girl's eyes immediately focused on his groin. Then Willow and Anya turned to Buffy. Anya's earlier words rang in Buffy's head, "Well if you cover him, you can stop wondering."

"No," Buffy said. "I don't have anything that would fit you," she finished in complete denial of Riley's sweatpants currently living in her second drawer.

Willow's voice was perky. "Xander could go to your place and get you something. Right, Xander?" She turned wide hopeful eyes to Xander.

He sighed. "Right. Come on Anya."

"But I want to stay."

"What?!" Xander and Giles asked in unison. Xander's brown puppy-dog eyes were hurt.

Anya gave up. "Never mind." She sighed. As she moved to join Xander at the door, Willow and Buffy each grabbed an arm.

"Jeans, bring jeans. Tight ones," Willow hissed.

"If you happen to forget a shirt, we wouldn't hate that," Buffy added quietly.

Anya grinned and left with Xander.

Willow and Buffy returned to sit on Willow's bed, making Giles even more uncomfortable than he already was. Before anyone could say anything, there was a knock at the door.

"Buffy?" It was Riley, calling quietly from the hall. Willow and Buffy shot panicked looks at each other, Giles, then the door. Before Buffy could rise, Willow hopped up.

She cracked the door and slid into the hall. "Hi, Riley," she said with nervous cheer.

"Morning, Willow. Where's Buffy?"

"Still sleeping. She was up pretty much all night. Do you want me to wake her?"

"No, no, of course not. I was just going to take her out for coffee or something."

"Sounds nice," Willow said wistfully.

"Want to.?" He broke off, uncertain if it was a good idea or not, to take Willow out for coffee.

"I-I'd like that." She replied breathlessly. "Just let me see if Buffy woke up, and if not I'll leave her a note." She looked uncertain. "Okay?"

He nodded in reply.

Willow slipped back into the dorm room, and leaned over Buffy to whisper in her ear. She told her what had transpired in the hall, and asked her what she wanted to do. Buffy looked at Giles, trying to act unconcerned, licked her lips and pulled Willow down to whisper her reply. Willow's face lit with an elfin grin, and, eyes twinkling, she left.

Buffy and Giles watched her leave, then stared awkwardly at each other. Giles was all too aware of the danger of his current situation. Naked, on Buffy's bed, with her less than five feet away from him. He closed his eyes in silent prayer that he wouldn't betray himself any more than he already had. He felt the bed move under additional weight.

"What's wrong, Giles?" She blushed at the stupidity of the question. "I mean besides the obvious. Does your head hurt?" He flinched as she reached to touch his forehead. She pulled away. "I-I'm sorry."

He grabbed her hand, "No, Buffy, it's not.. *You* didn't do anything wrong. I just feel rather out of sorts. I'll be fine once we determine what has occurred."

"See, I knew that was the plan. Keep you out of trouble until morning, when you *should* turn back, then we research." Her tone was teasingly proud.

His smile was tender. "Buffy, I.." He broke off as his situation once more hit him full force. He blushed and gently disengaged his hand from hers.

She looked down so that he wouldn't see her smile. "Do you wanna' listen to a little music?" He rolled his eyes. "Come on, Giles. Don't you trust your Slayer?"

"With my life. Not my eardrums."

She pouted at him, which they both knew that he had no defense against. He sighed and nodded. She squealed in triumph, kissed his cheek, and hopped up.

She turned on the CD player and Giles recognized the opening bit of Eric Clapton's "Layla". He grinned. "I concede the point."

"Does that mean I win?"

"Don't you always?"

"Yay, me." She sat back on Willow's bed. Then she got a puzzled frown. "Giles? Not to get personal, but, um, has anyone bitten you lately?"

"Not recently, no," he said dryly.

"I-Is that the only way to.? 'Cause we were thinking that Ethan had managed to weasel free, and had somehow done this."

"It's very possible. You know how very clever he can be."

"For a weasel."

"Yes," Giles agreed with a grin. Then his smile faded and he got a peculiar expression.

"What's wrong, Giles?"

"I need to, er,.."

She frowned, puzzled, then she realized. "Oh! It's across the.." She stopped and looked at the blanket that he had covering him.

He carefully inched his way to the edge of the bed, rearranged the blanket around his waist, and stood.

"What are you doing?" She demanded. "You can't go out like that." She didn't notice his expression darken; he thought that this was a variation of the "you're very, very old, and it's gross" conversation. Then she went on, and he was stunned speechless. "Don't you care about my reputation? There is no way anyone could see you, looking like *that*, and not think we had sex. And everyone knows that Riley is... and you just can't"

He blinked at her, utterly unable to form a coherent thought, his brain caught on her words, "we had sex". He sat back on the bed with a thump. Finally he got his brain working above the waist and asked gently, " What would you suggest, then?"

"Can't you wait?" She all but whined.

"Bloody hell, Buffy, I'm trying. Do you think that walking out of here wearing this blanket is something that I *want* to do?" He asked, in defiance of his very primal urge to do just that, and mark her somehow as his.

"No," she said, her voice sulky.

"All right, then, I-I'll try to wait."

She looked over at him and smiled. "Nah, that's not fair. If you have to, you have to. Just let me scout it out," she said as she stood.

He lightly clasped her hand. "Why don't we give Xander and Anya a few more minutes, hmm?"

"If you're sure?" He nodded and she sat down next to him. "Okay." She was just close enough to feel the warmth coming from his body.

They sat in an uncomfortable silence for several minutes, until the door suddenly opened and Anya and Xander walked in carrying a small bag.

"Hey Giles, we're back."

Anya had gone directly to Buffy, and whispered "Boxers," in her ear. They shared a grin.

Giles opened the bag, shook out his clothes, then looked at Buffy and Anya. He continued to stare at them until Buffy said, "Oh, right, of course." And she tugged on Anya, leading her out the door.

They stood quietly in the hall, waiting for the all-clear from Xander.

Inside the room, Giles had turned away from Xander and dropped the blanket. He pulled on the black silk boxers that Anya had thoughtfully packed for him.

"Giles?"

"Yes, Xander?"

"I just want you to know something. The girls, and I mean *all* the girls, were ogling you, when I woke up. They got mad when I woke you up, and madder when I told you that you were naked."

Giles turned to face him. "What are you trying to tell me, Xander?" Asked a very confused Giles.

"I'm not sure, but it seems kinda' important. Or maybe significant would be the word. And, another thing, they weren't looking so that they could mock you, G-man."

"Don't call me that." Giles sighed. "Then why.?"

"You're gonna' have to work that one out on your own."