Title: The Coat
Author: Reetinkerbell
Fandom: BtVS
Pairing: Giles/Joyce implied
Rating: PG
Spoilers: 'Band Candy' and 'Forever'
Summary: What happened with the coat?
A/N: Thanks to Angela {Spikesbint}

About a week after the Candy incident, everything seemed to go back to normal. There were still some uncomfortable thoughts and memories around Mr. Giles, but things had improved greatly and now Joyce was able to talk to him without blushing.

She had never, not even as a teenager, acted like that and a part of her missed feeling that liberated. When she was younger, her parents had looked after her, with rules and curfews and then she had met Hank. Things had evolved from there, never letting her discover her true self, never letting her just be Joyce. These days, she was always Mom or Ms Summers.

It wasn't that she wanted Rupert per se, she just wanted to be free again. Being able to let go and even if it was due to the Candy that she did, she couldn't help but mourn the moment the effects of the candy had worn off. She loved her daughter and her job, but it was something about being able to let go and not worrying about bills and Buffy's slaying for awhile had made her feel alive again.

She still had the coat, hidden in her closet along with her wedding dress, and there it would stay. A constant reminder of what could've been. She smiles faintly whenever she thinks of it, how 'Ripper' had stolen it for her, and what happened after, a sad smile and thoughts of 'what if' floating through her mind, despite knowing it could never be.

Years later, when Buffy and Dawn went through Joyce's things, trying to find something suitable for her to wear while being lowered into the ground, they came across the coat. Dawn, not knowing what the coat meant, wanted to keep it and wear it herself, but Buffy said no; that coat was only meant for one other person.

The next day, Rupert Giles found a box outside his door, no address or note attached to it. When he opened it and saw the coat, he couldn't stop the tears that fell from his eyes or the sad smile that graced his features as he thought back on that night years ago when he was free again and the wonderful and amazing woman he had spent it with.

      The End.

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