Work Text:
Colorado Springs was a detour; Giles had borrowed a book from a scholar who worked in the area, and the scholar had borrowed another book from Giles. Since she would have to drive past on her way to pick up Dawn, she had been voluntold to go and make the switch.
She didn't really mind; it gave her the perfect excuse to stretch her legs after driving for hours.
Giles had written down the address, the name of his fellow dusty book lover, and when the man was expected to be home on a piece of expensive notebook paper. Willow had bought him a cellphone the year before, and had patiently taught him how to use it. How to call someone, how to send and read text messages, how to use GPS, and so on. Unfortunately, he would only use it for phone calls.
The core Scooby group- Buffy, Willow, Xander, Dawn, Faith, and Giles had a group chat just for them, but he, the Watcher, rarely read anything in it, and it was even rarer for him to type something. He could've posted the information there or sent it in a text message, but no, he had written it on paper with a pen. Which meant that Buffy had to carry the physical note with her and make sure she didn't lose it. (She had taken a picture of it just in case, but it wasn't the same.)
She didn't even know why, but she had found some tape and stuck the note to the middle of the steering wheel despite having entered the address into the GPS in her car. It made her smile.
When she finally reached the residential neighbourhood, it was still daylight, and there were several groups of teenagers hanging out outside several houses. Both the note and the GPS agreed that the house she was looking for was a green, one-story house with a well-kept lawn. She smiled to herself; it looked very normal.
She knocked on the door and waited several minutes, but got no response. Then she tried the doorbell; still no footsteps on the other side of the door. Despite wanting to test if the door was unlocked, she opted for some good old-fashioned eavesdropping and placed her ear to the front of the door. There was definitely someone in there, and they appeared to be moving something around.
Since Giles didn't give her a phone number, she opted to go around the side of the house to see if there was a chance of getting the man's attention that way. A few minutes later, she was standing on the terrace and trying not to laugh.
Giles' friend was balancing on a stool while holding three books in each hand and trying to hold yet another book between his chest and his chin. Given how close he was to the overfilled bookshelf, it was obvious he was attempting to find a place for the ones he was holding. She'd seen her Watcher attempt similar things many times over the years, except he normally used a small stepladder and didn't carry more books than he could safely hold with his hands.
Fully aware of how much Giles despised it when she startled him while he was holding something valuable, especially his beloved books, she waited for the man to find somewhere to place his books and get down from the stool he was standing on.
Once he was safely on the ground, she walked forward and knocked on the window. He was startled, and wide blue eyes stared at her from behind a pair of glasses. She smiled and gave a small wave.
He opened the sliding door just enough for him to be able to stand in the doorway. "I take it you saw my balancing act?" His voice and attitude were a mixture of friendly, suspicious, and sarcastic. Then added, "Also, hello. You're on the wrong side of the house." That last sentence came out more sarcastic than the first half.
She gave him an amused smile. "Yes, I did see. And yes, I know I'm on the wrong side. I tried both knocking and ringing the doorbell, but got no reply." He gave her a slight shrug as if not hearing someone at his front door was commonplace. It probably was. "I'm Buffy Summers. Rupert Giles sent me to exchange some books since I was sort of driving past Colorado Springs."
The man's eyes lit up as soon as she said Giles' name, and his eyes dropped to the messenger bag over her shoulder. "Right, he did call to tell me you were coming. Sorry, I've been trying to reorganize my bookshelves." He moved backward into the room again and motioned her inside at the same time. It gave her a much better view of his 'reorganizing'. It also gave her a good view of the good doctor's backside when he decided to move some of the stacks off a couple of chairs.
There were bookshelves along two of the walls; about half of them were full, and what appeared to be approximately the same amount of books were stacked in piles on the floor some distance from the shelves. There were also some on the table and the remaining chairs.
Belatedly, he turned around and lifted his hand and shook hers. "Dr. Daniel Jackson. Call me Daniel."
"Buffy." She replied automatically out of politeness. She was certain her Watcher would've loved to spend some extended alone time with Daniel's library. After she glimpsed quite a few books with either hieroglyphs or runes on them, she amended it to Giles and Dawn would've loved to spend some extended time in this library.
"Have a seat," and he waved one of his hands in the direction of one of the chairs he had just cleared. "I'll get Rupert's book and the ones he wanted to borrow."
"Sure thing," and she gave him a small smile. As Daniel left the room, she took the messenger bag off her shoulder and placed it on the table. It wasn't the first time she had played carrier pigeon, and after the fourth time, Giles had bought her the dark brown bag to carry the books in since she was usually the one he trusted to do it. It also gave her an excuse to get out of meetings and to spend time Slaying her way through a lot of vampires.
All the books she had with her were old and careworn after over a century of use, or in the case of one of the books Daniel had requested, more than eight hundred years old. It was kept in a specialized protective box. Buffy had also been informed that the book would not leave her sight at any point. It would be leaving with her that same day.
Daniel returned shortly after, carrying a stack of five books in his hands. "The top book is the one I borrowed from Rupert, and the other four are the ones he wanted to borrow." Then he saw the special box and almost drooled.
"Is that...?"
"The really old book Giles made it crystal clear never leaves my sight? Yes, it is. If you want to read it, then you need to go and wash your hands properly."
She could see the thoughts running through his mind, but he didn't verbalize anything. Instead, he placed the books on the table and left the room again. It was followed by running water and the sound of him washing his hands and face before changing his clothes, and then washing his hands again.
When he returned, he was wearing plain clothes and an eager expression.
While Dr. Jackson changed, Buffy used the time to switch the books. Daniel's book was placed carefully on the table while she took the five books the scholar had brought and deposited them in the bag. They were copies of copies, or so she had been told, but they were old. Giles specifically wanted them because they were photocopies of older books and not just transcribed.
"Let me see your hands." He clearly wanted to say something, probably something sarcastic, but he held his tongue. "Good, you dried them completely. Giles was very, very specific about that." She had expected her old mentor to demand cloth gloves, but he gave other instructions instead.
"Happy?" When she gave her approval, he moved to the table and specifically the box. He offered her the use of his kitchen, but she declined. He opened it carefully and was even more gentle when he transferred the book out of the box and onto the table. She watched him for the first ten minutes, but it quickly became obvious that the rest of the world had ceased to exist for him. All that mattered to him was that book.
According to Giles, it was an old retelling of Atlantis. Not Timaeus or Critias by Plato, but a collection of stories told by people who had supposedly survived the sinking of the Lost City. It spoke of large, permanent portals to other dimensions, although her Watcher said the book claimed they led to other planets.
It also spoke of a magical ability to control their environment, one that was passed down through the generations, but fewer and fewer were able to use it. Again, the book didn't call it magic, but Giles had said it was to get it past the religious prosecution at the time. All in all, he had called it an odd book that didn't make much sense, and he found it troubling that a scholar connected to the Military specifically requested to borrow it.
Apparently, it wasn't troubling enough to not allow it, but despite everything, he wanted Buffy to make sure the book made it back safely to Cleveland. Hence, Buffy babysitting the book.
Every now and then, Buffy would glance at the piles of books. From what she could see of the covers, they contained information about Ancient Egypt, Hieroglyphs, the Viking Age, Runes, and other dead languages. Was this done to pacify her and make sure she didn't ask questions, or was Daniel just specifically interested in those two time periods?
Giles had said five hours, so when the alarm on her phone beeped, she made him stop. "Time's up, and I need to go." Daniel was surrounded by paper. He had made a whole lot of notes, and from what she could see upside down, he had also made a few copies of the drawings.
"Come on. One more hour," he wheedled.
"Sorry, but I'm on the clock. I have somewhere to be, and that book is going with me. Place it carefully back in the box, and maybe Giles will allow you to borrow it another time."
He grumbled a little, but did as he was told. They spoke shortly before saying their goodbyes.
A few minutes later, Buffy left through the front door.