Well, this one was spewed out at 9:30 last night after a rewatching of "Halloween." At least Jenny's *somewhat* less traumatized than she was after "The Dark Age" and is now letting me write non-coping fic. Many thanks to Julie Skelly for betareading comments, and all blame on everyone in Chicago that weekend, because when there are multiple NatPack/SunS people around, I get trapped by fic. It's all your fault!

"Rupert, you haven't even put up a sign." I looked around the library as I walked in, and just as I'd thought, it was the same dull place as it had been all year.

"Jenny, ah, after everything that I've seen, I don't generally get into the, ehm, Halloween spirit." That was Rupert Giles for you; utterly unaware of the fun inherent in the so-called scary holiday. Not that I could really blame him, but I really did need to try and get that man to smile more often. Rupert picked up a book and started leafing through it. Apparently he thought our little discussion was over, the more fool he.

"Well, don't blame me if the Great Pumpkin doesn't visit you on All Hallow's Eve." I snagged one of the cards out of the drawer of the card catalog he was trying to organize and took a look at it. "You should really put these on that nice little computer system I set up for you, you know," I said, smiling to let Rupert know I was teasing. When it came to the computer/book argument, I don't think he was ever sure whether or not I was serious.

Rupert was looking at me with that half-puzzled smile he used so often when I was around. As usual, it made me go a little weak in the knees. "The, uh, Great Pumpkin?" He put his book down and looked at me, mildly confused. "I don't believe I've ever come across any mention of a Great Pumpkin in any of my research. Is he an avatar of the Pumpkin King?" I couldn't help it; I laughed. Rupert was just so cute in a clueless sort of way when confronted with American pop culture.

"Only in the funny pages," I said, pulling out today's Sunnydale Press.

"I believe I'll pass, thank you," he said, looking at me like I was insane. He was getting good at resisting assimilation into even the fringe of mainstream American culture I inhabited. I figured I'd give him this victory. It'd lull him into complacency when I tried to throw something bigger at him.

"Your loss," I said, tossing the paper oh-so-deliberately-casually on top of the pile of cards. Point for me. I'd gotten Rupert to give me the over-the-glasses Look that I thought was so cute, in, well, a British sort of way. "You're in luck, though." I started rummaging through my purse and pulled out a roll of Scotch Tape and two black cats cut out of construction paper. "I'm here to help you get in the mood."

"In the mood?" I had to wonder if that one had passed right over his head.

"For Halloween." The poor dear. One of these days I was just going to have to seduce him.

"Ah." Rupert nodded, attempting to look sage and Watcherly, and succeeding in also looking very, very sexy. "I see."

"Of course, Rupert," I said, walking over to the doors and propping them open. A quick smile in his direction and he got all flustered and grinned back. It was a good thing I had the door to hold onto so I could stay upright. My knees about gave out at that look.

"I've just never liked Halloween all that much." He was trying to resort the cards I'd messed up. Ok, I probably shouldn't have done it, but I couldn't resist. There was a reason I always empathized with Eris, after all, though the _Principia Discordia_* didn't do much for me except as a damn hilarious thing to read.

"We'll have to see if we can change that," I said in a suggestive voice. This one didn't go over his head, and Rupert blushed.

I closed the doors; cats taped to the window, and saw Willow grinning at me. I winked at her. She'd been subtly hinting for relationship updates all week long, and I figured that was enough of a news flash for now--and turned back to Giles. Yes, I was definitely going to have such fun with Rupert Giles.

THE END

*The Principia Discordia is located at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~tilt/principia/," and is a really hilarious book online. I only recommend it if you're fond of satirization of many major world religions (and some not-so-major ones). If something like that upsets you, then by all means, just don't go there. *g*

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