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"How can you leave?" Buffy asked, her eyes fixed on Giles in a way that made him feel as of removing his glasses was perhaps the only way that he could ensure that she didn't burn a hole in his face. Increasingly he found himself being grateful that Buffy did not have any magical inclination whatsoever.
"Buffy…" He let out a sigh. He didn't know how to make her see that he needed to go back to England for her sake. He didn't know how to make her understand that his being there was stifling her. She would never learn to stand on her own two feet while he was there.
"Forget it." She muttered under her breath as she turned back to the mannequin that was sure to get a good thrashing now.
Giles' heart ached and he found himself wondering if he should just go for a few months, if that would be enough time for Buffy to learn how to juggle all of her responsibilities without him having to hold her hand every step of the way. He also wanted to prove to her that he could be literally anywhere in the world and he would still be there for her, but that wasn't something that he could do while he was still there with her in Sunnydale.
"You might not know it yet, Buffy, but you can do this." He tried to reassure her, but even to his own ears, his words sounded fake and forced. He wanted to comfort her, but somehow he thought that touching her person was not going to be appreciated at all, especially not when she was in battle mode.
Instead Giles watched her, stopping himself from promising her that he wouldn't be gone for long. For some reason he didn't think that that would be appreciated either. She had made it clear that him going for any length of time was not going to be appreciated. He couldn't promise that he would be back either because neither of them knew what the future held.
Giles let out a sigh before he decided to head on through to the shop itself. He figured that the best thing that he could do for her just then was to give her some space - even if the problem was that he was going to be giving her space on a rather more permanent basis.
He gave a slight nod to Anya who was busy doing what Anya did best and counting the money. That was another thing that he was rather grateful for, that his business would be in good hands when he wasn't here. She had managed to keep it floating before and he knew that she wouldn't let him down again.
The only thing that he was going to worry about when he was no longer here was Buffy, and of course Dawn, but that - he reminded himself - was exactly the reason that he had decided to go in the first place.
Indefinitely. It had to be indefinitely. For Buffy's sake, for Dawn's sake, and also for his sake. And everything, he told himself once again, would be okay.