Authors Note: Nothing belongs to me. Everything belongs to either Joss Wherdon or the Who.
Not my usually fandom but I've been doing some reading and the idea of a Buffy/Giles fic appealed to me. Then I suddenly started thinking about what would happen if Giles somehow reverted back to his Ripper persona. How would that affect his relationship with Buffy. Throw in the Fountain of Youth and you've got yourself a story.
Happy Reading
Accident with a Fountain
Buffy Summers looked up at the sound of knocking at her door "come in" she called closing her book and pushing her chair away from the desk.
The ancient door creaked open and in walked Xander Harris a bundle of papers under his arm. "Hey Buffy" he said looking at the papers scattered haphazardly over the old wooden desk "been busy?"
The slayer nodded "lots of paper work to catch up on. Organising this many new slayers isn't easy."
"I can go if it would help." Xander said reaching behind him for the door handle.
"No" Buffy said "I need a break anyway. What did you want to talk about?"
Xander dumped his papers onto the desk "status reports mainly" he said "but they can wait. The big thing was this" he looked through his papers before passing a file "we've been getting reports of vampire and demon movement in the Bahamas specifically in the Exuma region"
"Any idea why" Buffy queered her brow furrowed.
"Well we went and had a look in the archives and found this" her one-eyed friend said passing her another file.
She opened it and quickly scanned over it "the Fountain of Youth" she said eventually. Xander nodded "you think the bad guys are going after the Fountain of Youth."
Her friend nodded again "We think so."
"But what need would vampires and demons have for the Fountain of Youth, their already immortal" Buffy exclaimed leaning back in her chair.
He shrugged "No clue" he said pausing before continuing "we were hoping Giles could give us some advice."
Buffy smiled at the memory of her Watcher "that's a good idea" she said spinning round to place the new files on her desk.
"Do you want me to ring him" Xander asked standing up and turning towards the door.
Buffy shook her head "no I'll go see him" she said "It's been a while. We've got some catching up to do."
While this was going on Rupert Giles himself was taking part in a very bloody fight at the Roman Bath's in Bath. "Sarah" he called watching one of his team flip a particularly large demon into a pillar "careful with the architecture."
Spinning around the Watcher casually stabbed a demon through the chest before kicking it into the baths. Running towards the entrance he sliced the head off another
demon before setting after the one that had headed into town.
It was times like this that Giles loved his job. Sure it could be stressful but the thrill of chasing down rogue demons, vampires and anything else hell could throw at him was something he could never give up. It gave him a purpose and it could also be quite exciting.
Spotting the demon entering one of the shopping centres Giles swerved to the left and entered through another door. Running through the shop he spotted his quarry in the distance and vaulting over a succession of benches he leap froged over the demon and spinning on his heels swiped off its head in one quick stroke. Then looking at the shocked crowds surrounding him he sheathed his sword and rushed back to his team.
Returning to the baths he found his group of slayers sitting on the steps outside mopping up minor injuries and packing weapons away. "How'd it go" he asked packing his own sword into its bag.
"We managed to get all of them" Sarah said "though we caused a bit of damage. You?"
Giles nodded "Dead. Though I managed to attract some unwanted attention."
Sarah slapped him on the back "nice work Watcher-mine"
Giles smiled sadly the memories of the first person to call him that leaping to the forefront of his mind.
Meanwhile that same person was sitting on a train from Edinburgh to central London. From there she intended to catch a train to Bath where Giles was basing himself.
Buffy had decided against taking a car as she wanted time to think. Snuggling back into her seat the blonde slayer remembered the first time she had met Rupert Giles. Back then she had been a young girl still not sure of her destiny while he had simply been the school librarian. However as time went by they had developed a bond which went beyond that of slayer and watcher and had become firm friends helping each other through both heartbreak and apocalypse.
However with the recent activation of all potential slayers and the expansion of the Watcher's council to compensate the pair had been unable to spend much time with each other. Buffy promised herself the affair with the Fountain of Youth was over she and Giles would have dinner and catch up.
Looking out at the passing countryside Buffy began to realise why Giles loved England so much. It was so much more beautiful than California, Buffy decided with green hills and miles and miles of woodland and fields. There was so much empty space yet so much life. It was absolutely captivating.
Looking at her watch the slayer realised that she still had about three hours till she reached London. Reaching into her bag she pulled out her MP3 player and flicking through her song list eventually settled on Behind Blue Eyes by the Who. She had put it on there after hearing Giles play it which was incidentally the first time she had found out her Watcher could sing.
No one knows what it's like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes
No one knows what it's like
To be hated
To be fated
To telling only lies
But my dreamsThey aren't as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
That's never free
No one knows what it's like
To feel these feelings
Like I do
And I blame you
No one bites back as hardOn their anger
None of my pain and woe
Can show through
But my dreams
They aren't as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonelyMy love is vengeance
That's never free
When my fist clenches, crack it openBefore I use it and lose my cool
When I smile, tell me some bad news
Before I laugh and act like a fool
If I swallow anything evilPut your finger down my throat
If I shiver, please give me a blanket
Keep me warm, let me wear your coat
No one knows what it's like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes
Back at his house Giles was just emerging from the shower where he had been removing the extremely sticky demon gunk. Changing into a fresh sweater and a clean pair of trousers he picked up his copy of The History of Magic in the British Isles and pouring himself out a measure of scotch settled down in his arm chair. A few minutes later just as he had reached the chapter on druids he heard a knocking on his door. Opening it he was surprised to find Buffy standing on his doorstep clutching a holdall.
"Hello Giles" the young blonde said her collar turned up against the night.
"Buffy" he said managing to sound only slightly surprised "what are you doing here."
"Can I come in?"
Giles moved aside and gestured for his friend to come inside. Once she was standing in the lobby he closed the door before leading her into the living room. Propping her bag against the foot of the stairs he gestured to a chair. "So" he said once she was sitting down with a drink in hand "to what do I owe this unexpected pleasure."
Buffy pulled a sheaf of papers out of her handbag and passed them to the man opposite her "we hoped you could help us with this."
Giles pulled his glasses out of his pocket and gave them a quick polish before slipping them on his nose and excepting the proffered file. He scanned it before looking up "the Fountain of Youth" he muttered leaning back in his chair.
"That's what I said" the slayer replied "we were hoping you might know some more about it."
The older man stood up and walking to one of the nearer bookshelves pulled down a tome and began to flick through it. Eventually he returned to his seat and passed the open book over to Buffy "this should tell you everything."
Buffy took the book from her Watcher and scanned the pages "so the Fountain of Youth exists" she said quietly.
Giles nodded "the Watchers Council sent always had at least one Watcher and one potential guarding it just in case of attack."
"But what need would demons or vampires have for the fountain."
"I don't know" Giles said returning the book to the shelf "but I would recommend sending someone there immediately."
"I was thinking of going myself" Buffy mused "I haven't been out in a while."
"Well make sure to take someone with you" Giles said "you don't know what you could find there."
Buffy looked pensive "I was wondering if you wanted to come."
Giles looked surprised "well I appreciate the offer but I've got a lot of work to do here with all the new slayers and the" he tailed off as he caught the blonde glaring at him.
"Don't try to kid me Giles" Buffy muttered "I know how well your teams doing and if your concerned what they'll get up to without you here I can always have Xander come down and keep an eye on them."
"Fine" Giles said finally "I'll come. When do you want to leave?"
His young friends face burst into a huge "Tomorrow if possible"
He nodded "Fine I'll get ready. Do you wish to stay here tonight?"
"Yeah thanks"
"I'll show you to the guest room then."
That night Giles lay thinking about the woman in the next room. Giles was proud to say that Buffy had matured from when he had first met her. She was now a confident young woman ready to do what was needed of her. However over recent years other thoughts had been creeping into the older man's brain. Thoughts that a Watcher most defiantly should not be having about their slayer. He rolled over and put his hands behind his head. "Stop it" he thought to himself "nothing is going to happen. For starters you're too old for her." With that comfortless thought rolling around his brain he closed his eyes and went to sleep.
The next day the pair climbed onto a plane and flew to the Bahamas chatting easily as if they had seen each other every day instead of once every six months. After landing on Exuma international airport. Once there they met up with the areas resident slayer who took them by boat to the place where the Fountain was supposed to be.
"So what's the plan" Giles said as the boat glided through the water.
Buffy looked up from where she had been going through her weapons bag "We get there find demons make demons go poof go home" she smiled "simple."
Giles nodded then turned to the other slayer "and you say there will already be someone on the island if we need assistance."
The young girl nodded "there should be. Though I haven't head from them in a while."
The Watcher grimaced "that could be bad news."
Buffy came up and put a hand on his arm "nothing we can't handle though watcher-mine."
"Your right" Giles smiled "nothing we can't handle."
The boat docked and the two slayers and watcher climbed off and headed further inland. As they reached what they assumed to be the guardians headquarters they realised why no news had been received. The windows had been broken and the door was lying several feet away from its intended position.
Creeping inside the Giles spotted a body and rushing over knelt by it. "George" he said recognising his old friend "what happened."
"Hello Rupert" the man said "demons came charging through here headed for the fountain. You should still be able to catch them."
The second slayer knelt down by Giles "go" she said "I'll look after him."
Giles stood up and pulled a sword from his weapons bag, "come on" he growled as Buffy grabbed her own equipment "we've got no time to lose."
The pair bolted out of the building and ran up the hill. Rounding a corner they spotted a pool underneath a flowing waterfall. "The Fountain" Buffy said looking around for any demons.
Giles nodded also looking around. Suddenly he spotted one coming up from behind a rock; quickly the pair were surrounded by green skinned demons. Buffy nimbly jumped over one and stabbed it through the chest while Giles spin kicked another in what he assumed to be the groin.
The battle was a long one. For every demon they killed another five seemed to appear from no where. Eventually however they got down to the last two. Giles jumped over a rock and quickly got one of them into an arm lock. However to his surprise the demon was able to break it and quickly flipped the man through the air where he landed with a splash in the fountain.
"GILES" Buffy cried hitting her demon over the head before running over and stabbing the other one through the chest. As it fell to the floor she held out her hand to help Giles out of the water. As he climbed out she gasped in amazement. This was not the Giles that had gone into the pool, the clothes were the same but the man wearing them was almost twenty years younger. In fact Buffy would almost say he was the same age as her. "Giles" she said uncertainly. When he didn't reply she tried again "Rupert."
He looked up with a grin "that's me" he said taking her hand and kissing it "but a beautiful girl like you can call me Ripper."
Not sure when the next chapter will be up cause I'm going away in a few days and I've got another story to finish first but I promise I will continue this.
Please Review. It helps me improve.