Rupert Giles woke the next morning with his brain banging against his skull as if demanding to be released. He opened his eyes only to immediately snap them shut again when the bright light coming from the window assaulted him.

He groaned and rolled over to find he was not alone in his bed.

'What on earth?'

He peeked his eyes open again, carefully, and was met with the back of a female head. A head with a shock of red hair.

He propped himself up on his elbow, a movement his head objected to, and leaned over the sleeping woman.

Correction, child. That's what she was.

'Dear God, no. What have I done?'

Giles was horrified with himself, especially when the memories of exactly what he had done to the girl came flooding into his mind. All the places he touched her, the way he had ravaged her nubile body.

'No. Best not to think about that.'

Giles mad a move to get off of the bed and a small moan escaped from the sleeping girl's mouth.

He froze.

After an agonizing few moments he decided she was not waking and carefully removed himself from the bed.

He moved slowly, holding his breath as he bent and picked up last night's discarded clothing. He crept backward to the door, his steps light and cautious as he kept his eyes fixed to the lump under the sheets. He watched her the rhythmic rise and fall that was her breathing and moved his feet in sync with it.

He felt like he was escaping a tigress' lair and he knew if he disturbed the slumbering creature it would be the end of him.

Finally he made it to the door, he pulled it behind him careful not to close it all the way, afraid that the click would resound in the silence.

Once clear of the room he let out a quiet sigh of relief and headed downstairs, pulling on his shirt and trousers.

By the time he reached the landing his stomach was churning furiously, he clamped a hand over his mouth and dashed for the bathroom.

He fell to his knees in front of the porcelain god and purged his sin, until he felt he had turned his guts completely inside out.

He hope the awful sound of his heaving hadn't carried up the stairs.

After he was finished he stayed leaning over the bowl for a moment to be sure nothing more was coming.

Feeling he was empty, he clutched the sides of the toilet and on weak and shaking legs he got to his feet.

He twisted the taps on the sink and splashed his face with icy water. Then he raised his head and got a good look at his face in the mirror.

He wanted to vomit again. It was a horrid sight. His skin looked ashen and gray. He squinched his blood shot eyes at the man in the mirror. The evidence of a lifetime of worry etched into his forehead and between his eyes. He rubbed his hands over the leathery haggard face and wondered, Who the bloody hell is that old man?

'That's you old man.' A voice in his head answered.

He braced his hands on the sink and dropped his head miserably. He looked back up at his reflection, he couldn't stand it, he slapped a hand over the image and turned his head.

God, imagine what Willow's reaction would be when she woke up and realised she had spent the night with this horrible beast.

She would be horrified. Disgusted.

Of course the girl was much too kind to say any of these things out right to him, but Giles couldn't stand the thought of seeing them reflected in those big green eyes of hers.

God, no! He couldn't face it.

He quickly, brushed his teeth and chugged a bottle of mouth wash, then left the bathroom.

He crossed strait over to the front door and paused, he looked over his shoulder.

'I'm sorry, Willow.'

He twisted the knob and opened the door.

Feeling ashamed and wretched and worst of all, a coward, he walked out.

Willow had a moment of disorientation when she first woke up that morning, not to mention a hell of a migraine. But after her clouded memory came back of the events of the previous evening she smiled.

She was at Giles'.

She was in Giles' bed.

Because that's where she had slept last night.

Because she had sex with Giles'.

She had sex with GILES!

Her face warmed and she smiled even bigger.

Gosh, how many times had she fanastised about the watcher/librarian back in high school. They always happened whenever the pair were alone in the library researching, which had been a fair amount of the time.

She'd have visions of him grabbing her and throwing her down on a pile of books and well... you know.

Last night hadn't exactly been what she had imagined.

It was even better.

'Boy, was it ever.'

Then Willow realised she was lying in this bed alone.

She looked around the room.

"Giles?" she called out.

Nothing.

She scooted her body off the bed, keeping the sheet wrapped around her and went out of the room. She peered down from the top of the stairs.

"Giles?" she called down.

No answer.

'Maybe he's in the shower or something.'

She trotted down the steps to check the bathroom.

She didn't hear any water running or anything.

She rapped lightly on the door.

"Giles?"

Silence.

She pushed open the door.

Big surprise, he wasn't there.

But she did find a bottle of aspirin and tapped out two tablets. She went to the kitchen for a glass of water to take them with.

'Maybe he went out for coffee or something.' She tried to reason, but she wasn't really convinced.

But still she couldn't quite believe that Giles, the upstanding man she knew and admired, would give walk out on her like this. So she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and chose to believe he would come back soon.

She went back up the stairs to collect her clothes, then went back down to the bathroom to have a shower.

She desperately wanted to brush her teeth, but couldn't find an extra brush. She considered using Giles', after all the places her mouth had been on his body and his on hers, she didn't think the idea of sharing a toothbrush such a big deal. But she did feel weird about doing it without asking first.

'Well if he was here, I could ask him couldn't I? But since he's not.' She plucked up the red handled brush and squeezed out the white paste on it. Then furiously scrubbed away the fuzzies on her teeth.

'Ugh.' Her mouth felt like she spent the night sucking on cotton balls.

'No, those definitely weren't made of cotton.' She thought giddily, blushing red.

Then anger flared, she couldn't believe Giles had took off on her like that.

After about five minutes of brushing, she spit and rinsed, then gargled what was left of a near empty mouthwash bottle

She went into the living room sat on the sofa and waited.

And waited.

She took a look at the clock and realised she had a class in less than twenty minutes.

Willow couldn't cut a class. No matter how hung over she was, or that she was waiting for the much older man she had slept with to return so they could talk.

Huffing, she got to her feet and found her purse.

'That wiggly bookworm.' She thought. 'If he thinks I'm just going to go and forget about what happened he's got another thing coming.'

She did leave, but with the resolve to return as soon as her classes were over and then, whether Giles like it or not, they were going to have a little chat.

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