Buffy could feel the stake in her hands, the wood warm and slightly damp from sweat. Her grip was firm and sure, muscles tensed and at the ready. Behind her, she heard her Watcher's familiar voice droning on about something demon-y. She half minded his recitation as her eyes scanned the graveyard.

Quiet tonight.

"Timeo quod amo," he announced, closing the Vampyr book shut with a snap that made her turn her head. "You see, the Latin root is -"

"Will knowing the Latin help me kill it?" she interrupted, hoisting her stake.

He pulled a face and began cleaning his glasses. "You never know when the right conjugation might save a life." The book must have gone somewhere but she couldn't see it anymore.

Something struck her as funny and she sang back to him, "Conjunction junction what's your function?"

He was by her side now, a weapon in his own hand. Maybe an axe, she couldn't quite see the edge of it since his arm was by his side.

"No that's all wrong," he corrected, sounding extra English, like tea and crumpets might spontaneously appear any moment. He touched her shoulder. "They hold the words together."

"Which words?" She was distracted. Something was out there tonight and she could feel it.

"Yes. Those too."

She didn't reply but she could feel him standing close and it was nice. They'd been walking a long time in the graveyard, it seemed. She shook her head. No, nevermind. It was still early.

"Words have power," she said, the night air carrying the statement further than she had intended. She knew he wouldn't mind. Giles always liked it when she was clever.

"The right words can sometimes have too much power." His voice was low and quiet, like he was speaking right in her ear. His mouth hadn't moved, though. Which was odd.

Buffy nodded in understanding but she wasn't sure she really understood at all. That's ok. Giles would explain.

She took another couple steps ahead and the ground seemed to slant beneath her foot. A sound of surprise escaped her as she stumbled forward, hands braced for impact. A pair of arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her back onto her feet. Her back was against a broad chest and she could smell his cologne. She felt safe.

He released her too soon and she spun to face him. The look on his face was strange, like he saw too much all at once. An epiphany kind of face.

"Hey," she said, laying a hand on his chest, over his heart, "it's okay. I think it's supposed to be like this."

Their eyes locked and an unexpected flutter started deep in her belly. Her face was hot and his eyes were so, so deep. She would fall into them if she lost her balance again. They were so close now she could feel his breath across her face. She leaned in, her eyes half closing.

"No," he whispered, sounding frightened. "No!" he repeated, his head turning toward the darkness. He shifted jerkily away from her.

Buffy shook her head, confused. "You can't do that!" she shouted to the Presence she could feel but not see.

Giles backed away further, his hands out in front of him.

Buffy closed the distance in a few swift strides, interlacing her fingers with his. "I'm not letting it happen. Not again."

Giles trembled, shaking his head faster and faster. He pulled back again, too smoothly to be walking anymore. Buffy kept apace, not releasing his hands.

"Can't. Buffy. We can't."

"I can!" she insisted, though her fingers were starting to ache from the clawlike grip she was keeping as she ran to keep up with Giles's increasingly swift retreat.

"Can't. Buffy. Sorry. Buffy." His voice was a dull echo, his hands going limp in hers. "I'm sorry."

There was a stitch in her side as she fought to run harder, feeling his fingers pulling from between her own. Her legs felt so weak, muscles strained to the breaking point.

"No! No, no, no, no, no!"

She didn't even recognize the voice as her own until she was shaken awake with the force of the air escaping her lungs.

"It's alright," Giles was already murmuring, running soothing hands along her forehead, her jaw, shoulders and arms.

She reached blindly toward him and hauled him fully onto the bed with her. With only a mild sound of surprise, he wrapped himself around her from atop the cover, letting her cling to him like a limpet until the shuddering subsided. They lay there for what felt like a very long time, him occasionally smoothing a hand over her hair and down her back.

"I can't keep losing you." Her voice sounded small and far away to her ears, muffled against his chest.

"I'm here. I'm right here." He tightened his arms around her.

He was so close now and yet not nearly close enough. She needed more of him. She needed all of him. And she needed it now.

She tilted her head and captured his mouth, kissing him soundly but with little finesse.

"Buffy," he whispered against her lips, her name both question and plea.

"Please." She kissed him again, pulling the covers out from between them. "Please Giles." She rolled him onto his back and straddled him, his hands coming up to shape her hips. "I need you right now." This time, she noted, he had worn a tshirt and pajama bottoms - that did nothing to hide the fact he was becoming aroused. "Stay with me. Be with me." She pressed herself against him, rolling her hips.

Giles groaned and clutched her even tighter. "Fucking hell, you may be the death of me after all."

He rolled them over so he was on top, her legs hooking around his thighs automatically. Then he was kissing her again and it was glorious. Their tongues stroked and teased before she allowed him full entrance and he licked into her mouth with a rumbling sound of satisfaction. He shifted to one side and slid a hand between them, cupping her breasts and pinching her nipples as his tongue slid against hers. The same hand travelled down to her sex, cupping her through her sleep shorts.

"Clothing off," she muttered. "All of it this time."

He made a sound of agreement then reclaimed her mouth.

They pulled sloppily at layers of clothing until they managed to divest one another of every stitch. His chest hair tickled her breasts just slightly but it only seemed to add another layer of stimulation. She could feel the velvety heat of his cock, resting along her inner thigh and just beginning to leak at the tip. She snaked a hand down to stroke him and he moaned into her mouth. She gathered fluid from the tip with a swipe of her thumb and used it it glide her hand along his shaft. He was thick and incredibly hard, pulsing in her hand. She sucked on his tongue as her hand descended again.

"Not to impugn my stamina further," Giles pulled back, breathing shakily, "but if you keep doing that, this may not be my most, ehm, impressive moment."

She giggled and released him, smoothing a hand up his body to ruffle the hair on his chest. "Sensitive, are we?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, eyebrows lifting. Licking the tip of his middle finger, he fit it along the length of her slit, palm pressing lightly on her hooded clit. The finger pressed inward just a little before darting back, he stroked her very lightly, making tiny, tight circles. She gasped at the new sensation. Little vibrations from his rapid movements were sending tendrils of pleasure curling up through her center and down her legs. She could feel her arousal spreading, dripping onto the tops of her thighs as his hand gathered speed, making lewd little sounds against her aching flesh. But it wasn't quite enough. Shunting her hips for more contact, she gave a whimper of frustration.

"Demanding, are we?" he echoed her previous tone.

"Oh god, don't gloat just fuck me."

He sucked in a sharp breath and plunged two fingers inside her. Buffy cried out as he began to do just as she asked, thrusting hard and fast, his thumb working her clit. She rode his hand hard, pulling his mouth back to her and kissing him deeply. Upon leaving her mouth, he kissed her cheeks, her forehead, her chin, everywhere he could reach, with wild abandon. He suckled her earlobe and bit his way down her neck, his hand never halting its punishing rhythm. By the time his mouth had reached her chest, Buffy was coming on his fingers, her hips jerking and legs shaking.

He gave each of her breasts a quick, open mouthed kiss, before sliding down between her legs. No sooner had he withdrawn his fingers than his tongue was inside her, his nose nudging her now almost too-sensitive clit. She whimpered as he sucked and licked and fucked her with his tongue.

"Stop," she finally called out, as he hit another spot that nearly made her eyes roll back in her head.

He lifted his head, disappointment evident on his half-glistening face. "Stop?" he repeated.

"Too," she took a breath. "Too much."

"Oh." Giles didn't bother to hide the smugness of his smile as he crawled back up her body.

"Besides, I want to come again with you inside me," she added, watching his jaw go slack and pupils blow wide.

"Um."

Yeah, he could make her writhe and scream but she still had a trick or two up her sleeve.

Buffy pushed him onto his back, letting him arrange himself, half sitting against the pillows. His hand went to his flushed cock, circling it at the base with thumb and middle finger. Her mouth watered at the sight.

Another time, she told herself, hoping that would prove to be true.

"Condoms," he blurted as she climbed into his lap.

"Pill. Tested clean. You?"

He nodded, eyes wide and fixed on her face.

"Okay then." Nerves suddenly twisted her stomach in a knot. She was still incredibly aroused and she couldn't imagine anything she wanted more in this moment. Except maybe to have him look at her again exactly the way he was now when she wasn't naked and on top of him.

To have him look at her always with that mix of tenderness, awe, and desire. And a gut wrenching rawness that made her heart race.

His hands smoothed up the tops of her thighs and rested at the crease of each. "Buffy, this is." He swallowed and tried again. "This can be whatever you want it to be. We don't have to—"

She stole the rest of his probably very practical and unnecessarily polite sentence with a searing kiss. Aligning him with her entrance, she sunk down a couple inches. And oh, there was the fullness she had been craving, the connection of body to body.

Giles groaned into the kiss, his hands now moving up to grasp her ass, squeezing and kneading. She slowly lowered herself, taking the rest of him inside inch by delicious inch, letting him spread her open. When she was fully seated, she gave a squeeze of her internal muscles and Giles swore loudly.

Buffy bit back a giggle, idly wondering what he would do if she trapped his hands above his head and just teased him like that until they both lost their minds.

Adjusting to the feeling of him inside her, Buffy rocked her hips experimentally. That was good. She swiveled from the waist, holding onto his shoulders for balance. Also good. Arching back slightly, she tilted forward and - oh! That was the spot! She moaned softly and repeated the motion.

Giles's hands gripped her waist, his head tilted back against the pillows but his eyes never leaving her face. He bent his knees, letting her sink even deeper than before.

"Take what you want, Buffy," he murmured, breathlessly. "Take what you need."

Grinding herself against him, feeling him fill her so completely, the intimacy of it was almost overwhelming. She felt a layer of sweat beginning to form across her top lip and at the small of her back. Putting her hands over his, she encouraged him to aid her movements as she lost herself to the primal rhythm between them, driving, pounding, and so relentlessly real.

He lifted her slightly, pulling halfway out only so he could thrust home again, digging his heels into the mattress for leverage. The slide of him slowly leaving and the sweet sharpness of his return, the creak of the mattress beneath them, the exquisite tension coiling tighter and tighter… until she felt it release in hot, rolling waves.

Giles said something she couldn't quite make out as she was coming.

"Huh?"

"Let me have you." His voice was a low, gravelly thing, half wrecked.

Buffy wrapped her arms around him tightly. "I'm yours."

Suddenly, she found herself being hauled up and then practically thrown back onto the bed, Giles covering her body immediately with his own. He nudged her legs back open with his knee, burying himself inside her with a single stroke. He kissed her hard and messy, tongue mimicking the movements of their lower bodies as he hitched her thigh higher and drove himself into her over and over again.

Buffy felt him getting close, the pistoning of his hips beginning to stutter as he groaned something rather sweetly obscene into her ear. She held him close as orgasm shuddered through him and he took a moment to breathe atop her. He moved as though to sit up but she made a sound of protest and kept him locked in place with arms and legs wrapped tight. Clearly knowing he could never break a hold she didn't want him to, he obeyed, planting soft little kisses along the side of her neck.

She could feel his heart racing against hers, their sweat mingling and soaking into the twisted bedclothes beneath them. They would need to move at some point, if only because they were facing the wrong end of the bed. And she was pretty sure half the pillows were on the floor.

But for now, she didn't feel like letting go just yet.