So they were alone. After the gang's speedy exit, Willow and Giles were alone for the first time since the incident had began. Willow knew Giles was still angry with her for the havoc her witchcraft had caused (again), but she also knew that she wanted to confront the former Watcher and apologize while she had the chance. She felt childish and silly for her actions, even if she had meant every word. Willow figured that as long as they were forced to tell the truth, she might as well apologize. At least the Watcher would know she meant it. Fifteen minutes later, Giles came down the stairs holding a shirt to replace the one Willow had stained earlier. When Willow turned and caught sight of him, she took in a sharp breath.
"Willow," Giles said, clearly surprised to see her still there. "I thought you had left." Willow's brain seemed to freeze in mid-thought and she couldn't form a response as she openly stared at the shirtless man in front of her. "Willow, are you okay…" It was then that Giles suddenly realized his state of undress and that Willow had been staring at him and began to turn a bright shade of red as he quickly tugged the shirt on. The hacker only blushed more furiously as she realized that she had been staring at Giles, of all people. "Bad Willow," she chided herself.
"I stayed to apologize, for the shirt," Willow finally managed to squeak out after a few moments to gain her composure. "And to see if you're still mad at me."
"I am upset that you didn't consult me before trying such a powerful spell, again. As for the shirt, I really didn't like it anyway. I'll get over it. I always do."
"So we're okay," Willow asked softly. Giles smiled and gently placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as he sat down next to her.
"Of course we are, Willow. I could never stay mad at you for too long." Giles felt like a jabbering fool, but the truth spell was in full swing.
"Well, that's good to hear. I was afraid it was touch and go there for awhile."
"Why does it matter in the first place, Willow? We have fought before, remember?"
"Because you're special," she blurted out. "Damn spell!"
"What do you mean by that?" Now Giles knew what was meant by the phrase 'honest curiosity.
"Just that I think very highly of you." Giles was intrigued by this response.
"Like you would a father?" He had no real idea what had possessed him to even ask.
"Not always," Willow admitted. "I can't believe I'm saying this," her inner voice screamed.
"Not always? What do you mean?" By this time, he had taken his hand off her shoulder and was looking intently into her green eyes, waiting for the truth. He knew he shouldn't ask, but he did.
"I mean that I haven't seen you as a father figure for some time," Willow told him. "Is this possibly going where I think it's going? Oh, goddess," she thought.
"What do you see me as then?"
"I see you as an equal, I guess. You're the only one who treats me like I'm on your level." The spell had caused her to lose all restraint by this time. "This is GILES," she chided herself. "What am I doing?"
"When did this start," he asked, breaking her train of thought.
"I guess it's kind of always been there," she admitted. "You're the only one who treats me like I'm special, well besides Oz, and I don't feel like going into that badness again right now, thank you very much." She grinned wickedly. "Hey, mister! I believe it's my turn to ask the questions. Do you see me as a daughter?" Willow wondered where on Earth did that come from.
"No," he admitted. Now he had seriously done it. They were both going out of their minds. They were saying and asking things of each other that weren't supposed to be allowed. Honesty can be that way. Willow could stop herself from what she asked next.
"Like when?"
"Such as the time you were talked into wearing a certain, rather revealing leather outfit and such as this morning when I saw you in that skirt." Willow blushed furiously at the comment and tried to tug one the short skirt in an effort to make it more modest. "Oh, good Lord! She'll never forgive me for this," Giles thought.
"Oh, really," she finally said after forgetting the skirt, too intrigued to care about her modesty. It only made Giles more self-conscious.
"You know I can't lie, Willow." Giles was turning a serious shade of red by this time. "As much as I try, I can't think of you the same way I think of the others." The spell had done its damage by then. They were on a roll. They were too far-gone revealing previously forbidden thoughts to go back. "What about you, Willow?"
"Well, I have to admit that I was pretty impressed by what I saw earlier. I never expected you to be so built. Not that that was of the bad, actually…"
"Yeah, right," Giles muttered.
"I was! Jenny was right to call you a sexy fuddy-duddy!" Willow nearly groaned at what she had said. "I just called Giles sexy. I have so lost it," she told herself.
"And Oz was correct to think of you as a sexy witch," Giles replied, breaking her train of thought once again. "Now I've lost it. Congratulations, Rupert. You are now officially a dirty old man. You are going to have some serious explaining to do in the morning," Giles chided himself.
"You think I'm sexy," Willow whispered. Giles nodded. "What about Olivia?" Giles was nearly floored by the sudden reference to Olivia, but he also knew he had to answer Willow. It was only fair.
"Olivia hasn't spoken to me since she left after the Gentlemen came," he admitted. "I'm not sure she wants to be a part of all the madness that seems to surround us. To tell the truth, I can't blame her. You see it differently, Willow. You've accepted all the horrors that surround us and have embraced them without losing your sense of goodness. It's one of the things I think is the most endearing about you." He tenderly placed his hand on her face. She smiled under his soft look.
"No, Giles. You've been the brave one. You have given up so much of your life to this. The rest of us have only begun, but you're the one with the dedication. Even if I haven't told you before, I think it's amazing. That's one of the most endearing things about you." The truth had come from a place neither of them had known before. It was something they had not been conscious of, never acknowledged, but had been there anyway, hidden under all the layers of propriety and friendship they had built up around each other. For some strange reason, the spell had dug it out of them and brought it forward.
"I did it because it was my calling, Willow. You did it because you cared."
"You cared too, Giles. You've cared and protected all of us, even though we never asked you too. Do you know what that means to me, what you mean to me," she whispered.
"Yes, I believe I do" he whispered back, finally acknowledging the long-hidden truth between the two. They had managed to find themselves sitting closer to each other the more they said, their bodies finally coming within inches of each other, and spent the next few moments silently staring into each other's eyes. They had known each other for several years before this moment. First as teacher-student, then father-daughter, and lastly as friends. This time was different, though. Thanks to the spell, the attributes they had previously given each other were shattered. They were somewhere different. Somewhere new. They had ceased to see each other as friends, which mean that that something new had come between them. The light they had seen each other in had unexpectedly changed.
Giles was the first to break. Something in him forgot all the propriety, doubt, and fear he had built around Willow and he impulsively reached out to catch the redhead's mouth in a kiss. It was tentative at first, a delicate thing, and Willow had been undoubtedly surprised by his sudden action, but she soon relented and began to kiss him back. Their bodies became more demanding, to the point where it seemed like they were on fire as the kiss grew. There was an urgency to what they were doing. They were doing to forbidden, the more they tasted, and touched, and smelled, the more they wanted. They had never believed that this could happen before that very moment and that only made the act sweeter. They lost themselves in the taste of the other's breath and the electric feel of their skin. Their hands roamed into places that had before been restricted and tongues teased…until they realized whom it was they were holding.
"Oh, God, Willow," Giles breathed. "I'm sorry!" Willow took a few moments to catch her breath and regain her composure.
"Giles that was…" The older man interrupted her.
"Uncalled for. I should never have taken advantage of you like that. Good Lord, what have I done," Giles said as he stood up.
"I was actually going for intense and incredible, and I do recall doing my fair share of kissing." Giles looked back at her.
"I have no doubt of your assessment, Willow, I'm simply saying that I expected myself to act with a little more restraint."
"The truth knows no restraint, Mr. Giles, or have you already forgotten your own sage advice?" Willow shut her eyes at her comment. "Now you're teasing him. You have gone over the edge, Rosenberg," she reminded herself.
"Willow, don't make light of this! We crossed some serious boundaries tonight."
"So what. You know I don't care what people say. We're both adults, Giles."
"Willow…"
"If it was so wrong, then tell me why I liked it?" Her eyes silently pleaded with him "Please believe me, Rupert," she prayed.
"Probably for the same reasons I did," he said finally. "Honesty can be such a bitch, can it not?"
"So was it really wrong?" Both knew at this moment what it meant to be honestly confused and conflicted at the same time.
"A part of me says yes, Willow," he admitted. "Another part of me says no."
"Which part should we listen to?" Giles tenderly looked at the now-trembling redhead and took her chin in his hand.
"I want very much to be able to wake up after this spell is over and be able to tell you the same things I did tonight, how special you really are to me, but I'm not sure I can. I'm not sure you can."
"We told each other the truth, Giles! That should count for something."
"Sometimes that's not enough, Willow. Even if we want it to be."
"And sometimes it is, Giles," the redhead insisted. She looked into his relenting eyes. "You can't just tell some one that you care for them, really truly care, and forget it!"
"Perhaps you're correct, Willow. Only time will tell."
"You bet your British ass I'm right." The two smiled at each other.
"It's still your fault, you know."
"Cheap shot. You don't have to be a smart-ass you know."
"I wouldn't have to be if you had done the spell correctly." Willow proceeded to punch Giles in the arm for that crack. "OW! That didn't call for being abusive, Willow!"
"Just shut up and kiss me, Giles."
The ex-Watcher chuckled and happily obliged her.
