Characters: Joss Story: Mine Giles cleans up the council. Buffy admits just how deep her feelings are, but has she doomed them both?
He held her all the way back to the hotel room. She had stopped crying and now lay in his arms pale and quiet. He undressed her quickly then pulled one of his warm sweaters over her head. He raided the mini bar, pouring whisky down her throat until she started coughing. "Get some sleep I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Where are you going?"
"To finish things." He kissed her forehead, "sleep." With that he strode from the room.
Several hours later he returned. Well a vampire nearly taking over the council seemed to change a lot of minds. Already he'd formed an oversight committee and had made sure that Xander was on it. He had dealt with bureaucrats for hours when all he wanted to do was crawl into bed next to Buffy and hold her until she felt better. So it was with a heavy sigh of relief that he shut the hotel door behind him.
Buffy was still asleep as he shucked his pants and sweater an climbed into bed. As soon as he touched her she turned to him, nestling against him. He stroked her hair and murmured reassurances in her ear. He let a tear fall down his cheek as he thought about everything they'd lost and sacrificed. Not again; starting tomorrow he was going to live his life.
Buffy woke up with his arms wrapped around her. It was dark outside but she was ready to be awake. She watched Giles as he slept, examining every crease and line, scar and bruise, most of which she was certain she'd been the cause of.
"It's not polite to stare."
She blushed. "I didn't know you were awake."
He kept his eyes closed, a smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. "So you thought you'd take this opportunity to examine me."
"Yup."
"And what did you find? A tweedy librarian, a swordsman, a tired old man?"
"None of those."
He opened his eyes and regarded her carefully. "Are you sure? I have been all of those in my lifetime."
"That's not what I see. Wait, when have you been a 'tired old man'?"
"When Sunnydale was destroyed. When I was sitting in my empty London flat twiddling my thumbs because I thought you didn't need me. And when you died."
Buffy might not have heard that whispered last sentence if it hadn't been for her slayer hearing. She put her head on his chest. "I'm sorry."
For a moment he stroked her hair, trying to push back all the nightmares that closed in around him. "You didn't tell me what you saw."
She pressed herself up and looked at him. "I saw you." She frowned, that had sounded more poetic in her head. "I mean I saw Giles, my Giles, the man I..."
"What Buffy, the man you what?" He knew what she was going to say, or rather what he hoped she'd say, but he wanted to hear it from her own lips.
"The man I love," she whispered. She put her head back on his chest, letting tears dampen his white t-shirt.
Gently he lifted her head up with his hand. "Why are you crying dearest?"
She tried to smile at him. "Because I've probably just doomed us and I don't know what to do."
He laughed then and she pouted, "Come on Buffy, I haven't had the best luck either when it comes to the opposite sex. I mean, better than Xander-"
"That's not hard."
"-but I think we'll be able to manage." She was still pouting. "Fine, if you don't believe me, I guess i'll just have to take care of that face with something other than words." He leaned forward and kissed her.
Buffy was surprised but she didn't let that stop her from reciprocating. She fisted her hand in his t-shirt as their kisses grew more passionate and their tongues tangled with each other. Buffy hooked her leg over him and he pulled her flush against him, letting his hand slip under her sweater. She moaned into his mouth as his hand grazed the underside of her breast but then she pulled back. "Giles?"
"Hmmm?" He was dazed, barely aware that she was talking only noticing that she had ceased her kisses.
"I'm hungry."
He smirked at her, one eyebrow raised, a wicked suggestion on the tip of his tongue. She held up her hand, "not for that you perv."
He sat up, "room service? What time is it?"
"Almost midnight. I wanna go out. Besides you owe me a date still."
"Right." He stood up and reached for his pants. "I know just the place."
