TITLE: "Last Ties"
AUTHOR: Doctor Strangelove (strangelove317@hotmail.com)
RATING: PG, could probably get away with a G though.
PAIRINGS: Giles/Anya! Yay, my first Ganya fic!
SPOILERS: "Grave", takes maybe a few days up to a week after that.
FEEDBACK: I'd love it.
DISCLAIMER: Joss owns all the Buffy characters.
"Last Ties"
Written by: Doctor Strangelove
Anya pushed the rubble and broken pieces out of her way as she ventured into the remains of the Magic Box. Willow had destroyed the place far beyond recognition, and far beyond any hope that it could be rebuilt. No, the Magic Box was gone for good. It seemed to be a pattern with the magic shops in Sunnydale, they never last too long. Hey, two years was a pretty long run. And as the Magic Box was gone, so was Anya's last hold to this town.
Xander was gone, he had left her. The one man in over a millennium that she had actually loved had left her at the altar. And now the Magic Box had been destroyed when Willow went on her vengeance streak. Anya wasn't a big fan of vengeance if she was getting hurt in the process. But then, I don't suppose most people are. So what was there left here for Anya? Her job was gone, her boyfriend was gone, what did she have?
"Anya?" The vengeance demon turned around and immediately the frown on her face was washed away. It was Giles. She hadn't been in the mood to talk to anyone, but this was Giles and... And what? Why was Anya so eager to see Giles. "I wanted to come talk you. To see if you were doing all right." That was why. Because Giles cared about her. He didn't look down on her like the others did. He treated her as a person, even though she wasn't.
"Me? You're the one that nearly got yourself killed when you took on Willow When are you two leaving for England?" Anya seemed to shift uncomfortably at that last question.
"Tonight, probably." Anya's depressed demeanor now took a nosedive as it became even worse. "Are you sure you should so soon? I mean, she did rough you up pretty bad. Maybe you should stay a little longer, until you're not so broken anymore."
Giles, despite himself, smiled. And then he groaned, because Anya was quite right and he was still very soar from the showdown he had with the powerful. "I'm fine." Anya just glared. She was good at that. "Okay, I'm not fine physically, but that's not what I was talking about. How are you fairing, after all the things with Xander and now that the Magic Box is destroyed, it looks like beyond repair." As if on cue, a large beam fell from the ceiling and landed on the cash register, sending a wad of money flying up in the air.
"The money!" Anya rushed forward to grab her precious cash from the air. She happened to rush forward at the same time as Giles, her being a lot closer she got their first, and the ex-Watcher, in a close second, landed right on top of her. The two laughed at the collision, but their laughter soon gave way to a nervous chuckle as they realized how close their bodies were touching. They hadn't been this close, face to face, since...
Giles quickly stood up and reached out his hand for Anya. He smiled again when he saw that she was still holding on to her money for dear life, and was also plucking pieces of it the were still floating back down to the ground. "You've got a lot of money there," He commented, after noticing that several of the bills she was holding were 100's.
"Oh, yes," Anya muttered absently, still hell-bent on retrieving her money that was busy floating all around the room, "After you left for England I jacked up the prices."
Giles chuckled, not because of what she did, he had expected she would raise prices, that's why he lowered them before he left, but what made him laugh was how she said it. There was no embarrassment, no sheepishness, she just stated it bluntly, like it was just a fact. And in all reality, it was just that. That's what Giles always loved about Anya, she often saw things for what they really were, something that only comes with a thousand year's wisdom. What a minute, love? Where did that come from?
"So, what do you plan to do with all of it?" Giles stammered, changing the subject, unbeknownst to Anya, she had no idea what had been running through Giles's mind.
"Well, it'd be a waste to use it on the Magic Box, so I don't kn-" Anya was caught off guard as Giles suddenly pushed himself even closer to her, as if he were about to pull her into a tight lover's embrace. But that wasn't what happened. No, Giles had noticed a small $20 floating behind Anya's shoulder, and he was reaching out to grab it before it landed on the counter. He smiled and handed her the money, which she took without even looking at it. Anya's eyes were locked with Giles's.
They stood like that for a moment before they actually did combine in the lover's embrace I mentioned earlier. There lips pressed against each other firmly, but still gentle. There was passion in the kiss, oh yes, but there was also more. There was caring, there was tenderness, there was compassion. There was love.
But it ended almost as quickly as it began, and soon Giles had pulled away and was cleaning his glasses, more out of shame than of habit. "So," he asked, trying to change the subject once again, "What do you plan on doing with all that money?"
Anya, doing a very poor job of hiding the grin on her face, quickly leafed through the stack of bills, "Looks like there's enough money for a plan ticket." She looked deep into the younger man's eyes and her smile grew even larger, "How's England this time of year?"