"Please don’t," Giles sighed. "Xander, I..." He gave Xander a long look and then rubbed his forehead wearily. "I know that you and Buffy, and even Willow, have me neatly sorted into a box labeled 'Librarian,' but I did have a life before all of this, before Sunnydale. I’m human, and thanks to Buffy and my own good luck, not yet dead. I realize that a large part of the reason you all see me in such a narrow fashion is due to my own choices in that matter. I distanced myself from you all, for several reasons, most importantly to protect myself and Buffy in the event that something should..."
Xander’s expression darkened at the thought of the many somethings that had and could still happen to Buffy. He met Giles’s gaze with an expression of implicit understanding.
"But for other reasons, as well," Giles continued. "Although the age difference you perceive is not quite as...Mesozoic as you all try to make it, it is there. I couldn’t allow myself as a Watcher, as a teacher, to blur those lines. Any…affection I felt, any attraction..." his voice became hurried, "anything beyond that of myself as, I suppose mentor will do as well as anything, was out of the question. And now, here we are: each of you adults, discovering your own interests and passions and boggling merrily at mine."
no subject
"Please don’t," Giles sighed. "Xander, I..." He gave Xander a long look and then rubbed his forehead wearily. "I know that you and Buffy, and even Willow, have me neatly sorted into a box labeled 'Librarian,' but I did have a life before all of this, before Sunnydale. I’m human, and thanks to Buffy and my own good luck, not yet dead. I realize that a large part of the reason you all see me in such a narrow fashion is due to my own choices in that matter. I distanced myself from you all, for several reasons, most importantly to protect myself and Buffy in the event that something should..."
Xander’s expression darkened at the thought of the many somethings that had and could still happen to Buffy. He met Giles’s gaze with an expression of implicit understanding.
"But for other reasons, as well," Giles continued. "Although the age difference you perceive is not quite as...Mesozoic as you all try to make it, it is there. I couldn’t allow myself as a Watcher, as a teacher, to blur those lines. Any…affection I felt, any attraction..." his voice became hurried, "anything beyond that of myself as, I suppose mentor will do as well as anything, was out of the question. And now, here we are: each of you adults, discovering your own interests and passions and boggling merrily at mine."
Love it!