My 5 favorite fics from Summer of Giles

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Here are my five favorite fics from 2008's edition of summer_of_giles, my favorite of the seasonal fests.

twilightofmagic: "And No Birds Sing" - Giles/Spike, FRT
You can read this as friendship or as pre-slash: the vampire and the Watcher, sharing a flat and not getting on so well. That is, until Giles starts to explore some clues dropped about who Spike is, beneath the leather duster and the braggadocio, and softens a little.

sahiya: "Till Time Shall Cease" - Giles/Buffy friendship, with Angel, FRT
Picks up where "Flooded" leaves off, only here Buffy has told Angel where she was when Willow dragged her back. Angel's angry and thinks something has to be done. He tells Giles, who proposes taking Buffy back to England and the coven. But Giles isn't doing too well himself. This story is comfort for the hurts of canon as well as a ghost story set in a neat location.

drsquidlove: "Reckless" part 1, part 2, part 3 - Buffy/Giles/Willow/Xander, adult all the way
Instead of sharing dreams after "Primeval", the magic-high Scoobies share something else. We follow the encounters among the four from Giles's point of view. Like everything Dr Squidlove gives us, this is scorching hot and yet a fascinating exploration of character by means of sex.

firefly_124: "Almost a New Friend" - Giles & Snape, FRT
Two encounters between Giles and Snape, post-Bargaining and post-Grave. Snape is wonderfully in character here, just as prickly and snarky as you could want him to be, doing the right thing while sneering at it all the way. Plus you can enjoy Firefly's wonderful writing.

merrilily: "When I Was Three, I Watched The Salem Fire" - gen, FRT
Giles has a younger sister. She's a witch. And that, eventually, is how he knew that a dark force was rising in Sunnydale.