Another Time, Another Place

by banduraqueen

Buffy and Giles spend time together, but it's not until a supernatural encounter that they have to face up to the feelings they've developed for each other. A bit of fluff, a bit of angst, a bit of slow-burn friends to lovers. The main storyline mostly takes place between "The Replacement" and "Out of My Mind," but there are lots of flashbacks.

8. Chapter 8

October, 2000

The night air was surprisingly cold. It was making Giles' ears hurt as he drove back to the apartment. He pushed the button to raise the roof of his convertible. It started to go up and then got stuck.

"God damn it."

Giles pulled over under a streetlight and got out to investigate what was going wrong.

Not that it would be a bad thing if his car just broke down altogether. Then he could just stay where he was all night.

What am I going to do?

The last thing he wanted was for anyone to know he hadn't been possessed when he let Buffy kiss him. Though he felt like he hadn't fully been in control either, not when Buffy looked at him like that, like he never dreamed she would, her face alight, her eyes sparkling—

No. He wasn't going to think like that.

Ever since he first realized he was attracted to Buffy, Giles had tried to tamp down those feelings.

But he could have tried harder, if he was being honest with himself. If he could just cut those feelings out of him and throw them away it would make everything easier... but a part of him wanted to hang on to them. A part of him liked being in love with Buffy.

He wasn't just attracted to Buffy, Giles was in love.

He pulled on the frame of the roof and it came unjammed from its casing. He lost his grip and slammed his hand into the car.

"Bloody hell," he swore through gritted teeth. That was going to leave a bruise.

He sat back down in the driver's seat and finished closing the roof, but he didn't start the car.

He could just refuse to go back.

But Buffy wanted to help the ghost. She felt for her. Of course she did. Helping her move on was the right thing to do. That's what mattered.

There was nothing else for it. He had to tell Buffy there was no second ghost. Giles felt sick with nerves about it. Though telling her about the ghost — or lack of ghost — didn't necessarily mean she had to find out about his feelings, he reassured himself.

But how could he go on lying to her?

If he told her then she would hate him, he was sure. If he didn't tell her then he would deserve to be hated. It was that simple, really.

Giles started his car and drove into the darkness.