Title: Nothing Else Matters (#4 in the "Stolen" Series)
Author: GylzGirl
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: B/G, W/W
Disclaimer: Joss, Fox, UPN and lots of folks with nicer clothes than me own Buffy and her friends. But they're also meanies so the gang came over to play in my yard for awhile.
Distribution: buffygiles.com, Dee, Dword, My sites. If you had permission to post the first three stories in the series, go ahead and take this one. Anyone else, just ask.
For archiving purposes, this fic should be one part. It was broken up for size on the lists.
Timeline: This has been well and truly Jossed but I'm proceeding along my original plan anyway. This takes place late in Buffy's Freshman year. It splits off from the canon timeline probably after Wild at Heart (Oz is gone but Riley is a non-issue and I don't acknowledge the whole Initiative storyline because I didn't care for it.) for BtVS and post-Parting Gifts, Angel-wise.
Author's Notes: Thanks to Karen for the Beta. This is not the last part of this story :)
******************************
Buffy stood in the doorway, smiling at her wayward Watcher. Giles, for his part, simply grinned back. She put her hands on her hips. "I don't know whether to hit you or hug you."
His eyes flashed down in what seemed to be embarrassment before meeting hers again. "I know which one I'd rather."
Needing no further invitation, she launched herself into his arms. Giles held her so tight her feet were dangling above the ground.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
"I was so worried! God Giles, I was so afraid… so afraid I'd never see you again." Buffy could feel her throat beginning to constrict with emotion.
"I'm sorry," Giles repeated, also beginning to choke up.
"Ahem." The noise caused Buffy and Giles both to look toward the foyer. For the first time, Buffy noticed the elderly woman smiling at them from her wheelchair. "I don't wish to disturb the moment but I'd feel better if you both came away from that open door."
"She's right," Giles said, reluctantly letting her go to close the door. "This isn't safe." He gently put his hand on her shoulder and looked at her with regret. "You shouldn't be here."
"Nonsense," Juliana said before Buffy even had a chance to argue. "This is exactly where you need to be, the two of you. You'll not get anything accomplished pining away for each other, thousands of miles apart."
"Gran," Giles said through clenched teeth as he began to blush.
"This is your Grandmother? The one who was a Watcher?" Buffy asked, smiling.
"Yes. Sorry. Forgive me. Gran, this is Buffy Anne Summers, my Slayer. Buffy, this is my grandmother, Lady Juliana Eleanor Giles."
"Yes, well don't let him scare you with all the fancy names Dear. You feel free to just call me Gran as he does, won't you?" Buffy nodded in ascent. "Now, come over here a moment and let me get a proper look at you." Buffy walked closer and Juliana smiled, casting a look over to a nervous Rupert. "You're every bit as beautiful as my grandson claimed."
Buffy turned to him. "You said I was beautiful?"
Giles sighed in defeat as he looked between the two women watching him with knowing smiles. "Pay that horrible woman no mind, Buffy." He said smiling ruefully as he walked to his Grandmother's chair. He took hold of the handles at the back of the chair and prepared to wheel her along with them.
She shooed his hands away. "Now Rupert, take Buffy into the drawing room where she can rest while the two of you talk. I'm going to have Emma make her something nice to eat and have James prepare a room. She needs someplace safe to stay until this whole situation is resolved. And you two… you need some time together."
Juliana wheeled herself down the hallway while Giles and Buffy went to the drawing room and sat on the couch.
"I'm afraid my grandmother has rather romantic notions."
"I think she's adorable."
"Well yes… I wasn't arguing that. I just meant I-I'm afraid she's got the wrong impression about… well us… the two of us."
Buffy held his gaze. "Is it the wrong impression though?"
"Buffy…" he closed his eyes.
"Don't look away, Giles." He opened then again. "We've both looked away for so long… and there just isn't time for that anymore." She took a deep breath.
"Buffy, what exactly are you saying?"
She smiled. "I'm saying…I'm saying that I don't know what I'm saying and I'm not all that sure what I'm about to do here but…back in Sunnydale, before you left, something was happening with us, wasn't it? Something was changing." She looked to him, waiting for him to agree or deny it. He said nothing so she went on. "I sort of got the feeling that you had your own romantic notions about us." Again, he remained silent. "And at the time I thought maybe I was beginning to feel the same way toward you. And then you left. And until I figured out what happened, it felt like all the light… all the hope had gone out of my world" Her eyes met his. "Despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, even I'm not dense enough that I can't see the truth when it's jumping up and down in front of me."
"Since when?" he teased.
She grinned. "Giles, what I'm trying, apparently not so successfully, to say is…"
"I love you," he said.
"You took the words right out of my mouth."
"No I mean…" he sighed. "I mean I love you. That is I…I'm in love with you."
She licked suddenly dry lips. "Giles?" She smiled, pleasantly surprised at his admission.
"I have been for awhile now..." He rambled on, somewhat afraid of the inevitable 'Ewww' that had always awoken him from this particular fantasy.
"Giles."
"Yes?"
"Me too." He smiled. "I guess I didn't realize it until I thought I'd lost you." She grinned. "Well, that and I was just sort of enjoying the slow build-up. Freakin' Slayer just doesn't get to take anything slow, I guess."
"I suppose not."
She waited for him to say more, when he didn't, she exhaled loudly. "Well that's a kick in the pants, isn't it?"
"I don't think I follow you."
"You say you love me. I say I love you. You'd sort of expect the world to stop spinning or, hey, here's a thought, some show of affection? But not us. We sound like we're discussing an article in the paper. And not a very interesting one at that." She looked into his eyes. "Are we both so afraid of this? We who fight the vampires and werewolves and ghosts?"
"Well technically you don't *fight* a ghost, you…"
"Giles, for goodness sakes!"
Giles chuckled. "God, we're mad. The pair of us."
Buffy crossed her arms over her chest. "Why's that?"
Despite his smile, he looked sad. "Us together? It's insane."
"I happen to think it's the most sane thing in my life."
He arched an eyebrow. "The sanest thing in a life of vampires and werewolves and ghosts."
"Okay, so comparatively it doesn't have a lot of competition but it's only as impossible as we make it."
"Perhaps that was the case before but… not now. You've got to get home to Sunnydale before Travers knows you came here."
"That doesn't sound like you, Giles. Just to give up like that?"
"I don't have a choice. He could kill you."
She laughed. "Um, so could every vampire I meet any night of my life." She moved next to him and took his hand in hers. "Together, we can beat anything. We have to fight back. It's what we do."
"It's what we did."
"It's who we are. We fight together and we win. Together. And now that I know we have a chance for something, I'm not about to let you go."
******
Willow blinked her eyes open. She could see the ceiling of Giles' apartment and felt a wonderfully cold cloth on her forehead. Soon Wesley's worried face loomed into view.
"Feeling Better?"
She blinked twice, then laughed and tried to sit up. Wes removed the cold compress and helped her. "I'm great. I just cut my expected lifespan short by about 60 or 70 years but other than that everything's going swimmingly."
He sat beside her on the sofa and covered her hands with his own. "Being a Slayer suddenly not such an attractive idea?"
"You could say that." She met his eyes and attempted a half-hearted smile. "You don't have to stay Wes. I-I mean, after Buffy gets back. You have a life in LA, friends, a place there. I don't expect you to give up all of that because of my mistake."
He moved closer and put his arm around her shoulders. "Willow, if you want me to go I shall, and it's true that you made a rash decision and that's entirely what got you into this…"
"Yup. Rash Willow really dug her own grave with this one."
"But you asked me to be your Watcher and I said yes. And just as you undertook something awesome when you borrowed Faith's power, so did I when I agreed to guide and train you. The fact that you yourself asked for me is far more binding than any Council assignment could ever be. If you're stuck, Willow, then so am I. You've honored me greatly with your trust. I promise, you won't have to go through this alone." Her eyes filled with tears of gratitude. He smiled gently and hugged her to his chest. "Whatever comes, we'll meet it together. And the Watcher's Council, and anyone else foolish enough to go up against us, be damned."
******
"Oh Buffy," Giles sighed and put his arm around her. She leaned her head against his chest, placing her palm flat over his heart. "There's just no time for this. We have to get you home and safe before Travers knows you're…"
She pushed away from him, anger flashing in her eyes. "Screw Travers! I don't care! Let him come after me! I'd like to see him try…"
Giles sat forward suddenly, taking her face in his hands. She met his eyes and he looked panicked. "He doesn't have to try! He CAN do it. He can do it and from a distance and you wouldn't have even had a chance. He doesn't care about a fair and honorable fight. He will simply remove the problem."
"Giles…"
"Don't you think I'd love nothing more than to just be happy with this incredible miracle? Knowing that you feel for me as I do for you? That I want nothing more than to sweep you into my arms and up the stairs and make love to you all night. To whisk you onto a plane and have us go home together? Truly together?" His thumb gently began to stroke her cheek. "But we can't. We can't have this. We can't win this fight. And I can't lose you." He pressed his lips to her forehead. "Not like that. You will find someone else. I'm sure of it." He smiled sadly. "There will never be a shortage of people who could find their heart stolen by the sight of your smile."
"I don't want someone else. I want you! God Giles, fight for me. Fight for us."
He blinked back tears. "I'm sorry. You'll rest here tonight. Then tomorrow, you'll have to go."
"The only place she's going is to the dinning room to eat her supper," Juliana said as she wheeled herself around the corner.
Giles stood with an irritated expression. "Gran…"
"Don't even start Rupert." Buffy's eyes widened. The few times she had seen her Watcher in extremely pissed off mode, it'd made her take a few steps back. His grandmother's version made her feel like backing into the next town. "The last time I checked, it was I who had the authority to say who was welcome to stay in my house and for how long. Now, it's true this house will be yours when I go, but right now I'm here and as long as I am here Buffy is perfectly welcome to stay, indefinitely, despite what you say."
"Gran!"
"Sit down this instant Rupert and not another word or so help me…" Buffy looked to Giles. He was steaming but he sat down, quietly. Juliana's expression softened slightly. "Buffy love, go down the hall to the dinning room, won't you? There's a lovely warm meal waiting."
Buffy nodded, then quickly slipped out of the room.
As soon as she left, Giles stood again. "Gran…"
"I said to sit down, boy." He did. She took a deep breath. "I have never been so irritated with you in all my life. And that includes the hell you put Oliver and Sarah through when you ran off to London all those years ago." He scoffed. Her eyes narrowed. "Yes Rupert. The hell you put your father through. He cried for you, did you know that?"
Giles looked like he'd just been slapped. "I've never heard that before."
"Course not. Because you and your father are almost exactly the same kind of idiot. He swore me to secrecy. I was to tell no one. Just as I wasn't to tell him that you were here now."
Giles looked away. "He came to me and cried. He wanted to know if he was really such a horrible tyrant. He wanted to know why his own son didn't feel he loved him enough to be worried for his safety. That's why you never called them, isn't it? Because you didn't think he cared anyway?"
"I-I called you."
"Yes, you called me. And you told me to let your mum know you were all right. That you just had to figure some things out for yourself. But you never mentioned Oliver. Not once."
"I didn't… realize."
"And this Travers… you've let him defeat you without even raising a finger. Buffy knows the risk now. She came halfway across the world anyway just to be with you and she's willing to fight for your chance at happiness together. And if you aren't willing to do at least that much then..." She took another deep breath and looked at him sadly. "Then you don't deserve her. And you're not the man I knew you to be."
"Gran," he said, tears coming to his eyes.
"You have a choice Rupert. Fight, and risk losing your love. Or do nothing and lose it for certain. I know that you're frightened for Buffy. But you've been frightened before, and you've never let it make a coward of you." She rolled her chair to the entryway. "And for pity's sake grow up and call your bloody father! Let him help you. Just this once, ask for help when you need it." She continued down the hall.
Giles put his hands over his face and cried quietly.
******
Oliver Giles sat in his den, reading over some papers. The sound of footsteps alerted him to the fact that his guest had arrived.
"Mr. Travers, Your Lordship."
"Thank you Charles, that will be all. Please close the doors," he said, not looking up.
"Yes Sir." The Butler retreated leaving a bemused Quentin Travers smiling at Oliver.
Finally turning the chair to face Travers, Oliver gestured with his reading glasses in his hand. "Please sit down, Quentin."
"Thank you, Oliver," he said jovially. "I must say, I was more than a little worried. Being summoned here is rare enough, let alone when I've already been by to see you once today. Half expected to come back and find the place under siege by vampires or some such."
Oliver placed the tip of his glasses in his mouth. "That really would have been odd. What with the conspicuous daylight."
Travers smiled humorlessly and leaned back against the chair with his arms crossed over his chest. "You're in an uncharacteristically sour mood. What's happened?"
"I was just going over the injunction signed by my grandfather. The one banning the Cruciamentum."
"Oh, yes?" He casually picked a piece of lint from his pants.
"Yes. You can imagine my shock then when I read over another paper I managed to get hold of. The paper where I, apparently, retracted my grandfather's injunction. Where I state that the idea of the Slayer being a person first was quaint but emotional. That a Slayer is a weapon. Trained to fight and follow orders until she dies and another is called. That the role of Watcher must not include protector as has long been the tradition… some garbage about merely recording events to better aid the training of the next Chosen One."
Travers raised an eyebrow. "Is there something you wish to ask?"
"No. It's all very obvious to me. Starting immediately, you're expelled from the Council."
"Without even an investigation? You've no right!"
"What right did you have to remove my son from his post?"
"I had every right! He loves that girl. His Slayer. It impairs his…"
"Just because he wouldn't stand by and allow you to murder her? That's not impairment, that's sanity."
"I tell you he's in love with her!"
"Why does that bother you so? It's happened many times. Yes there would have had to have been inquiries to ensure the Slayer was not being forced or coerced, but these are common procedures; long established and oft carried out. No, I feel there was much more to this than concern for the honor of a girl you blatantly tried to have walk blindly into her own gruesome death."
"Such as?"
"Such as another blemish on Rupert's record, one that seemingly went unpunished. Something you could use in your attempt to usurp the position of Head Chancellor?"
"What rubbish!" He stood up. "I cannot believe that you're go…"
Oliver rose to his full height as well and closed on the shorter man. "I wish that I had the time to list the things about you I can't believe. I trusted you. Implicitly. Your severance will be sent to you. Consider all of your Council privileges revoked and your permission to trespass on any Council property rescinded pending the final result of the investigation. That includes your permission to visit this house. Now get out."
Again, Travers smiled. "You need me too much Oliver. You like the position you've got but you don't like to get in there and get your hands dirty. You don't like to be involved. Your son could tell you that, if he were speaking to you."
"You're an ass. The only reason I gave you so much free reign is so that you would have a full grasp of the job. I was going to name you my successor at the next Retreat. One more month and I'd have delivered the Council into thorough corruption. The fates truly are kind."
"I'm to believe you'd have chosen me over your son?"
"My son is too young. But it seems you've given me good reason to hang onto what I've got until he is old enough to offer the Chancellorship to."
Travers narrowed his eyes. "One last thing before I go Oliver. I'm just curious. If you haven't spoken to your son, who was it that brought to your attention something that happened so long ago?"
Oliver looked away and went back to his desk. "You are mistaken. My son phoned me."
"A simple phone call and you believed him?"
Mr. Giles faced him again. "He is my son. And it wasn't difficult to dig up the paperwork to back up his claims."
"Ah, I see. Well, good-day then Oliver. I'm sorry things had to come to this."
Quentin opened the doors and began to walk through.
"Oh and Quentin?" He turned at the sound of Oliver's voice. "If you go anywhere near my son, I'll have you eliminated." Quentin nodded and strode from the room.
******
Willow entered Giles' apartment to find Wesley on the phone. "That should be fine. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Bye." She moved to the recliner and sat on one of the arms. Wesley moved from the desk to sit in the chair. "Faith's funeral has been arranged."
"You're going to have her buried under the last name of Giles?"
"No. I found the copies of her birth certificate that were provided to Giles by the Council when he was given interim Watchership over Faith. I've explained to the funeral home that there was a mix-up with the name on the hospital records. They'll take care of the paperwork."
"So what was Faith's real name? Out of curiosity."
"Faith Angelina Goode."
Willow grinned. "You're kidding."
"Afraid it's all here in print."
"Maybe you should bury her with the name Giles. She'd probably have preferred it. By the way, I meant to ask you. Why did Giles have her admitted under his name?" She leaned back against the chair, staring at his hair as he spoke.
"Oh that. Long held Council policy. A Watcher needs access to his Slayer. And as far as hospitals or asylums are concerned, the only way to achieve that inconspicuously is to establish a relation with the girl in the eyes of the bureaucrats."
"Asylums?"
"Not surprisingly, the horrors a Slayer must face have proved simply too much for more than a few of them."
"Oh, yeah. I can understand that. Sorry. Go on?"
"Well as I was saying, depending on the Slayer's personal situation, you fit yourself in wherever you can. Brother, Sister, Husband, Father, Mother, Uncle, Aunt. Whatever seems most logical. Whatever you can get away with."
"You know your hair really does look a lot nicer now than the way you used to wear it when you were a Watcher." She noticed his bemused expression and blushed a little. "Um why did Giles say he was her uncle and not her big brother or her dad?"
"I would assume because Giles has such an extensive record with the hospital himself, they'd know that he didn't have a daughter. Not to mention the whole 'wanted murderer' thing. Much easier to live with if she is the child of some fictional older brother."
"And that makes you the baby of the family as far as the hospital and funeral home are concerned?"
"Indeed."
"If um… if something happened to me?"
"Yes?"
"Who would you say you were?"
"Well let's see… You've lived in Sunnydale all your life. That means there's a good chance that someone in the hospital would know you a bit. Know your name, family, that you have no siblings. It looks like I'd have to be your husband." She smiled and he quickly pulled her from the arm of the chair to sit across his lap. "After all, you never know what kind of riff-raff a girl's going to wind up with for a husband." He smiled wickedly.
Acting on the moment, Willow leaned forward suddenly and kissed him on the lips, winding her arms around his neck. He didn't resist but he didn't seem to be kissing back either. Willow released him, looking to his face. He blinked his eyes open, looking at her with total surprise. Now certain she had read more into things than what was intended, the embarrassment was too much for her. She leapt from his lap and backed away a few steps.
"I-I'm sorry." She turned and ran for the door. "God, I'm sorry!"
"Willow!" Wesley jumped up and ran to catch her. "Willow wait!" It was too late, she was running out of the apartment complex before he even reached the open door. He slammed his fist against the doorframe. "Damn."
******
Buffy slowly turned the corner into the drawing room. Giles stood across the room facing out the window. She could tell by his posture that all was not well.
"I thought I heard your Grandmother chewing your butt off, but it's still there so things can't be that bad, can they?" He turned to her, his face wet with tears. All other thoughts flew out of her mind as she swiftly closed the distance between them. "Talk to me Giles? Please?"
He threw his arms around her, embracing her so tightly it would have hurt anyone who wasn't the Slayer.
"I just want you safe Buffy."
She smiled sadly. "I'm the Slayer, Giles. I'll never be safe."
"All right, relatively safe then."
She pulled back to look into his eyes. "And for that, I need you. I need you with me. I need to know that the person I'm back to back in a fight with isn't going to turn around and put a knife in mine. You're the only person I count on as much as I count on myself, Giles. Because I know from experience that no matter how much I've hurt you, or how incredibly pissed off you are at me, you will be there to back me up with just as much passion as you would if everything was great between us. You, Rupert Giles, are all the security I get." She touched his cheek with her fingertips. "And you're all I need."
He smiled and took her face in his hands. "What did I do to deserve you?"
"To deserve me? I don't know, run over a family of five in a past life? I'm not exactly a prize, Giles."
He stroked her hair. "No, you're not. You're so much more than that."
She smiled, leaning into his touch. "So does this mean we're in this together."
Giles nodded. "We are. As always. For better or worse. But I'm warning you. If you die on me, I'm going to kill you."
Buffy's hand came up and curled around the back of his own. "What do we do first?"
He arched his eyebrow. "This." Leaning forward, he took her mouth in a tender kiss. She closed her eyes and slid her arms around his neck.
******
"Well?" Sarah Giles said, standing in the doorway of her husband's den.
Oliver turned his desk chair to face her. "Well what? I fired him. He is expulsed from the Council."
"Good. About time too. I meant what about your son."
"He daren't touch Rupert now. What do you mean about time too? Quentin was always a good worker."
"The only thing he ever worked for was his own best interests. And he was never a good man. I've never liked him and you know it."
"So you've told me after every visit he's ever made here. You were right and I was wrong. Are you happy now?"
"Ecstatic," she said flatly, crossing her arms over her chest. "Now, what about your son?"
"I told you, Travers won't touch him."
"I'm not talking about bloody Travers! I'm talking about you picking up the phone and ringing your mother's and putting an end to all this nonsense."
Oliver crossed his arms over his chest. "And why would I want to do that?"
Sarah threw up her hands. "Honestly! Sometimes it's as though I had two children." She strode determinedly to the phone and turned to him. "It's all really quite simple Oliver. You pick up that contraption by your hand and press the numbers that will
connect you to your mother's home. Then talk to your son."
He turned his back to her and pretended to read some of the papers on his desk. "Why should I? He hasn't bothered to call me. He's the one behaving like a child."
"He is a child! He's our child."
"Who is a grown man now. He's over forty years old. Why is it all right that he act the way he does?"
"Perhaps because his father is nearly 70 and can't be bothered to set an example! Honestly! The pair of you! I sometimes wonder what crimes I must have committed in my last life to have been saddled with being the eternal referee between you both." She went to his chair and forcefully spun him to face the phone.
"Sarah, I'm trying to work."
"Call. Your. Son. And don't bother speaking to me until you do." She stormed out of the room.
Oliver took a few deep breaths, then walked to the door and closed it. He paced for several minutes before making his way over to the phone and placing his hand on it. He then took his hand away from it and began to pace near it.
******
"Reginald Merriweather please." Quentin Travers held the car phone against his ear, as he looked out the window trying to judge how close they were to his home. "Merriweather? It's Travers. I thought you said no calls had been placed to either Sunnydale or the Head Chancellor's estate from Darkbrook." Travers looked to the front of the limousine to make sure the driver wasn't listening in. "Well something got through to him. No never you mind that. I want the operative nearest to Sunnydale to go there at once and take a look around, make sure the Slayer is where she is supposed to be. I want you to have Ashe from Special Operations come to my home. No. Nothing through official channels. Everything needs to be kept as quiet as possible for now."
******
Buffy smiled as she pulled away from the kiss. "Wow. I have to say that I think that was the best first thing ever."
Giles gently ran his hands through her hair. "I shouldn't have done that," he said, sighing.
Her smile faded. "Why's that?"
His eyes were sparkling. "Because now that I've started, I don't ever want to stop."
The smile that greeted him was nearly blinding. "Who says you have to?"
"We both do for now. There's this whole Travers mess to contend with."
"Right." She took a deep breath. "Duty first. Smoochies later."
"I'm seriously beginning to hate the word duty," Giles said.
She pouted as she curled her fingers around the material of his sweater. "It's getting pretty late Giles. Don't you think just this once there might be smoochies before duty? After all, what else can we do about Travers today?"
The phone rang. Giles touched his finger to the end of her nose. "Hold that pout. Won't be a moment." He walked across the room and picked up the receiver. "Darkbrook Hall, Rupert Giles speaking." He turned to look at Buffy with a strange expression on his face. Just as she had started to worry, he spoke again. "Yes. Yes it's good to hear your voice too, Dad."
End
Author: GylzGirl
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: B/G, W/W
Disclaimer: Joss, Fox, UPN and lots of folks with nicer clothes than me own Buffy and her friends. But they're also meanies so the gang came over to play in my yard for awhile.
Distribution: buffygiles.com, Dee, Dword, My sites. If you had permission to post the first three stories in the series, go ahead and take this one. Anyone else, just ask.
For archiving purposes, this fic should be one part. It was broken up for size on the lists.
Timeline: This has been well and truly Jossed but I'm proceeding along my original plan anyway. This takes place late in Buffy's Freshman year. It splits off from the canon timeline probably after Wild at Heart (Oz is gone but Riley is a non-issue and I don't acknowledge the whole Initiative storyline because I didn't care for it.) for BtVS and post-Parting Gifts, Angel-wise.
Author's Notes: Thanks to Karen for the Beta. This is not the last part of this story :)
******************************
Buffy stood in the doorway, smiling at her wayward Watcher. Giles, for his part, simply grinned back. She put her hands on her hips. "I don't know whether to hit you or hug you."
His eyes flashed down in what seemed to be embarrassment before meeting hers again. "I know which one I'd rather."
Needing no further invitation, she launched herself into his arms. Giles held her so tight her feet were dangling above the ground.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
"I was so worried! God Giles, I was so afraid… so afraid I'd never see you again." Buffy could feel her throat beginning to constrict with emotion.
"I'm sorry," Giles repeated, also beginning to choke up.
"Ahem." The noise caused Buffy and Giles both to look toward the foyer. For the first time, Buffy noticed the elderly woman smiling at them from her wheelchair. "I don't wish to disturb the moment but I'd feel better if you both came away from that open door."
"She's right," Giles said, reluctantly letting her go to close the door. "This isn't safe." He gently put his hand on her shoulder and looked at her with regret. "You shouldn't be here."
"Nonsense," Juliana said before Buffy even had a chance to argue. "This is exactly where you need to be, the two of you. You'll not get anything accomplished pining away for each other, thousands of miles apart."
"Gran," Giles said through clenched teeth as he began to blush.
"This is your Grandmother? The one who was a Watcher?" Buffy asked, smiling.
"Yes. Sorry. Forgive me. Gran, this is Buffy Anne Summers, my Slayer. Buffy, this is my grandmother, Lady Juliana Eleanor Giles."
"Yes, well don't let him scare you with all the fancy names Dear. You feel free to just call me Gran as he does, won't you?" Buffy nodded in ascent. "Now, come over here a moment and let me get a proper look at you." Buffy walked closer and Juliana smiled, casting a look over to a nervous Rupert. "You're every bit as beautiful as my grandson claimed."
Buffy turned to him. "You said I was beautiful?"
Giles sighed in defeat as he looked between the two women watching him with knowing smiles. "Pay that horrible woman no mind, Buffy." He said smiling ruefully as he walked to his Grandmother's chair. He took hold of the handles at the back of the chair and prepared to wheel her along with them.
She shooed his hands away. "Now Rupert, take Buffy into the drawing room where she can rest while the two of you talk. I'm going to have Emma make her something nice to eat and have James prepare a room. She needs someplace safe to stay until this whole situation is resolved. And you two… you need some time together."
Juliana wheeled herself down the hallway while Giles and Buffy went to the drawing room and sat on the couch.
"I'm afraid my grandmother has rather romantic notions."
"I think she's adorable."
"Well yes… I wasn't arguing that. I just meant I-I'm afraid she's got the wrong impression about… well us… the two of us."
Buffy held his gaze. "Is it the wrong impression though?"
"Buffy…" he closed his eyes.
"Don't look away, Giles." He opened then again. "We've both looked away for so long… and there just isn't time for that anymore." She took a deep breath.
"Buffy, what exactly are you saying?"
She smiled. "I'm saying…I'm saying that I don't know what I'm saying and I'm not all that sure what I'm about to do here but…back in Sunnydale, before you left, something was happening with us, wasn't it? Something was changing." She looked to him, waiting for him to agree or deny it. He said nothing so she went on. "I sort of got the feeling that you had your own romantic notions about us." Again, he remained silent. "And at the time I thought maybe I was beginning to feel the same way toward you. And then you left. And until I figured out what happened, it felt like all the light… all the hope had gone out of my world" Her eyes met his. "Despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, even I'm not dense enough that I can't see the truth when it's jumping up and down in front of me."
"Since when?" he teased.
She grinned. "Giles, what I'm trying, apparently not so successfully, to say is…"
"I love you," he said.
"You took the words right out of my mouth."
"No I mean…" he sighed. "I mean I love you. That is I…I'm in love with you."
She licked suddenly dry lips. "Giles?" She smiled, pleasantly surprised at his admission.
"I have been for awhile now..." He rambled on, somewhat afraid of the inevitable 'Ewww' that had always awoken him from this particular fantasy.
"Giles."
"Yes?"
"Me too." He smiled. "I guess I didn't realize it until I thought I'd lost you." She grinned. "Well, that and I was just sort of enjoying the slow build-up. Freakin' Slayer just doesn't get to take anything slow, I guess."
"I suppose not."
She waited for him to say more, when he didn't, she exhaled loudly. "Well that's a kick in the pants, isn't it?"
"I don't think I follow you."
"You say you love me. I say I love you. You'd sort of expect the world to stop spinning or, hey, here's a thought, some show of affection? But not us. We sound like we're discussing an article in the paper. And not a very interesting one at that." She looked into his eyes. "Are we both so afraid of this? We who fight the vampires and werewolves and ghosts?"
"Well technically you don't *fight* a ghost, you…"
"Giles, for goodness sakes!"
Giles chuckled. "God, we're mad. The pair of us."
Buffy crossed her arms over her chest. "Why's that?"
Despite his smile, he looked sad. "Us together? It's insane."
"I happen to think it's the most sane thing in my life."
He arched an eyebrow. "The sanest thing in a life of vampires and werewolves and ghosts."
"Okay, so comparatively it doesn't have a lot of competition but it's only as impossible as we make it."
"Perhaps that was the case before but… not now. You've got to get home to Sunnydale before Travers knows you came here."
"That doesn't sound like you, Giles. Just to give up like that?"
"I don't have a choice. He could kill you."
She laughed. "Um, so could every vampire I meet any night of my life." She moved next to him and took his hand in hers. "Together, we can beat anything. We have to fight back. It's what we do."
"It's what we did."
"It's who we are. We fight together and we win. Together. And now that I know we have a chance for something, I'm not about to let you go."
******
Willow blinked her eyes open. She could see the ceiling of Giles' apartment and felt a wonderfully cold cloth on her forehead. Soon Wesley's worried face loomed into view.
"Feeling Better?"
She blinked twice, then laughed and tried to sit up. Wes removed the cold compress and helped her. "I'm great. I just cut my expected lifespan short by about 60 or 70 years but other than that everything's going swimmingly."
He sat beside her on the sofa and covered her hands with his own. "Being a Slayer suddenly not such an attractive idea?"
"You could say that." She met his eyes and attempted a half-hearted smile. "You don't have to stay Wes. I-I mean, after Buffy gets back. You have a life in LA, friends, a place there. I don't expect you to give up all of that because of my mistake."
He moved closer and put his arm around her shoulders. "Willow, if you want me to go I shall, and it's true that you made a rash decision and that's entirely what got you into this…"
"Yup. Rash Willow really dug her own grave with this one."
"But you asked me to be your Watcher and I said yes. And just as you undertook something awesome when you borrowed Faith's power, so did I when I agreed to guide and train you. The fact that you yourself asked for me is far more binding than any Council assignment could ever be. If you're stuck, Willow, then so am I. You've honored me greatly with your trust. I promise, you won't have to go through this alone." Her eyes filled with tears of gratitude. He smiled gently and hugged her to his chest. "Whatever comes, we'll meet it together. And the Watcher's Council, and anyone else foolish enough to go up against us, be damned."
******
"Oh Buffy," Giles sighed and put his arm around her. She leaned her head against his chest, placing her palm flat over his heart. "There's just no time for this. We have to get you home and safe before Travers knows you're…"
She pushed away from him, anger flashing in her eyes. "Screw Travers! I don't care! Let him come after me! I'd like to see him try…"
Giles sat forward suddenly, taking her face in his hands. She met his eyes and he looked panicked. "He doesn't have to try! He CAN do it. He can do it and from a distance and you wouldn't have even had a chance. He doesn't care about a fair and honorable fight. He will simply remove the problem."
"Giles…"
"Don't you think I'd love nothing more than to just be happy with this incredible miracle? Knowing that you feel for me as I do for you? That I want nothing more than to sweep you into my arms and up the stairs and make love to you all night. To whisk you onto a plane and have us go home together? Truly together?" His thumb gently began to stroke her cheek. "But we can't. We can't have this. We can't win this fight. And I can't lose you." He pressed his lips to her forehead. "Not like that. You will find someone else. I'm sure of it." He smiled sadly. "There will never be a shortage of people who could find their heart stolen by the sight of your smile."
"I don't want someone else. I want you! God Giles, fight for me. Fight for us."
He blinked back tears. "I'm sorry. You'll rest here tonight. Then tomorrow, you'll have to go."
"The only place she's going is to the dinning room to eat her supper," Juliana said as she wheeled herself around the corner.
Giles stood with an irritated expression. "Gran…"
"Don't even start Rupert." Buffy's eyes widened. The few times she had seen her Watcher in extremely pissed off mode, it'd made her take a few steps back. His grandmother's version made her feel like backing into the next town. "The last time I checked, it was I who had the authority to say who was welcome to stay in my house and for how long. Now, it's true this house will be yours when I go, but right now I'm here and as long as I am here Buffy is perfectly welcome to stay, indefinitely, despite what you say."
"Gran!"
"Sit down this instant Rupert and not another word or so help me…" Buffy looked to Giles. He was steaming but he sat down, quietly. Juliana's expression softened slightly. "Buffy love, go down the hall to the dinning room, won't you? There's a lovely warm meal waiting."
Buffy nodded, then quickly slipped out of the room.
As soon as she left, Giles stood again. "Gran…"
"I said to sit down, boy." He did. She took a deep breath. "I have never been so irritated with you in all my life. And that includes the hell you put Oliver and Sarah through when you ran off to London all those years ago." He scoffed. Her eyes narrowed. "Yes Rupert. The hell you put your father through. He cried for you, did you know that?"
Giles looked like he'd just been slapped. "I've never heard that before."
"Course not. Because you and your father are almost exactly the same kind of idiot. He swore me to secrecy. I was to tell no one. Just as I wasn't to tell him that you were here now."
Giles looked away. "He came to me and cried. He wanted to know if he was really such a horrible tyrant. He wanted to know why his own son didn't feel he loved him enough to be worried for his safety. That's why you never called them, isn't it? Because you didn't think he cared anyway?"
"I-I called you."
"Yes, you called me. And you told me to let your mum know you were all right. That you just had to figure some things out for yourself. But you never mentioned Oliver. Not once."
"I didn't… realize."
"And this Travers… you've let him defeat you without even raising a finger. Buffy knows the risk now. She came halfway across the world anyway just to be with you and she's willing to fight for your chance at happiness together. And if you aren't willing to do at least that much then..." She took another deep breath and looked at him sadly. "Then you don't deserve her. And you're not the man I knew you to be."
"Gran," he said, tears coming to his eyes.
"You have a choice Rupert. Fight, and risk losing your love. Or do nothing and lose it for certain. I know that you're frightened for Buffy. But you've been frightened before, and you've never let it make a coward of you." She rolled her chair to the entryway. "And for pity's sake grow up and call your bloody father! Let him help you. Just this once, ask for help when you need it." She continued down the hall.
Giles put his hands over his face and cried quietly.
******
Oliver Giles sat in his den, reading over some papers. The sound of footsteps alerted him to the fact that his guest had arrived.
"Mr. Travers, Your Lordship."
"Thank you Charles, that will be all. Please close the doors," he said, not looking up.
"Yes Sir." The Butler retreated leaving a bemused Quentin Travers smiling at Oliver.
Finally turning the chair to face Travers, Oliver gestured with his reading glasses in his hand. "Please sit down, Quentin."
"Thank you, Oliver," he said jovially. "I must say, I was more than a little worried. Being summoned here is rare enough, let alone when I've already been by to see you once today. Half expected to come back and find the place under siege by vampires or some such."
Oliver placed the tip of his glasses in his mouth. "That really would have been odd. What with the conspicuous daylight."
Travers smiled humorlessly and leaned back against the chair with his arms crossed over his chest. "You're in an uncharacteristically sour mood. What's happened?"
"I was just going over the injunction signed by my grandfather. The one banning the Cruciamentum."
"Oh, yes?" He casually picked a piece of lint from his pants.
"Yes. You can imagine my shock then when I read over another paper I managed to get hold of. The paper where I, apparently, retracted my grandfather's injunction. Where I state that the idea of the Slayer being a person first was quaint but emotional. That a Slayer is a weapon. Trained to fight and follow orders until she dies and another is called. That the role of Watcher must not include protector as has long been the tradition… some garbage about merely recording events to better aid the training of the next Chosen One."
Travers raised an eyebrow. "Is there something you wish to ask?"
"No. It's all very obvious to me. Starting immediately, you're expelled from the Council."
"Without even an investigation? You've no right!"
"What right did you have to remove my son from his post?"
"I had every right! He loves that girl. His Slayer. It impairs his…"
"Just because he wouldn't stand by and allow you to murder her? That's not impairment, that's sanity."
"I tell you he's in love with her!"
"Why does that bother you so? It's happened many times. Yes there would have had to have been inquiries to ensure the Slayer was not being forced or coerced, but these are common procedures; long established and oft carried out. No, I feel there was much more to this than concern for the honor of a girl you blatantly tried to have walk blindly into her own gruesome death."
"Such as?"
"Such as another blemish on Rupert's record, one that seemingly went unpunished. Something you could use in your attempt to usurp the position of Head Chancellor?"
"What rubbish!" He stood up. "I cannot believe that you're go…"
Oliver rose to his full height as well and closed on the shorter man. "I wish that I had the time to list the things about you I can't believe. I trusted you. Implicitly. Your severance will be sent to you. Consider all of your Council privileges revoked and your permission to trespass on any Council property rescinded pending the final result of the investigation. That includes your permission to visit this house. Now get out."
Again, Travers smiled. "You need me too much Oliver. You like the position you've got but you don't like to get in there and get your hands dirty. You don't like to be involved. Your son could tell you that, if he were speaking to you."
"You're an ass. The only reason I gave you so much free reign is so that you would have a full grasp of the job. I was going to name you my successor at the next Retreat. One more month and I'd have delivered the Council into thorough corruption. The fates truly are kind."
"I'm to believe you'd have chosen me over your son?"
"My son is too young. But it seems you've given me good reason to hang onto what I've got until he is old enough to offer the Chancellorship to."
Travers narrowed his eyes. "One last thing before I go Oliver. I'm just curious. If you haven't spoken to your son, who was it that brought to your attention something that happened so long ago?"
Oliver looked away and went back to his desk. "You are mistaken. My son phoned me."
"A simple phone call and you believed him?"
Mr. Giles faced him again. "He is my son. And it wasn't difficult to dig up the paperwork to back up his claims."
"Ah, I see. Well, good-day then Oliver. I'm sorry things had to come to this."
Quentin opened the doors and began to walk through.
"Oh and Quentin?" He turned at the sound of Oliver's voice. "If you go anywhere near my son, I'll have you eliminated." Quentin nodded and strode from the room.
******
Willow entered Giles' apartment to find Wesley on the phone. "That should be fine. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Bye." She moved to the recliner and sat on one of the arms. Wesley moved from the desk to sit in the chair. "Faith's funeral has been arranged."
"You're going to have her buried under the last name of Giles?"
"No. I found the copies of her birth certificate that were provided to Giles by the Council when he was given interim Watchership over Faith. I've explained to the funeral home that there was a mix-up with the name on the hospital records. They'll take care of the paperwork."
"So what was Faith's real name? Out of curiosity."
"Faith Angelina Goode."
Willow grinned. "You're kidding."
"Afraid it's all here in print."
"Maybe you should bury her with the name Giles. She'd probably have preferred it. By the way, I meant to ask you. Why did Giles have her admitted under his name?" She leaned back against the chair, staring at his hair as he spoke.
"Oh that. Long held Council policy. A Watcher needs access to his Slayer. And as far as hospitals or asylums are concerned, the only way to achieve that inconspicuously is to establish a relation with the girl in the eyes of the bureaucrats."
"Asylums?"
"Not surprisingly, the horrors a Slayer must face have proved simply too much for more than a few of them."
"Oh, yeah. I can understand that. Sorry. Go on?"
"Well as I was saying, depending on the Slayer's personal situation, you fit yourself in wherever you can. Brother, Sister, Husband, Father, Mother, Uncle, Aunt. Whatever seems most logical. Whatever you can get away with."
"You know your hair really does look a lot nicer now than the way you used to wear it when you were a Watcher." She noticed his bemused expression and blushed a little. "Um why did Giles say he was her uncle and not her big brother or her dad?"
"I would assume because Giles has such an extensive record with the hospital himself, they'd know that he didn't have a daughter. Not to mention the whole 'wanted murderer' thing. Much easier to live with if she is the child of some fictional older brother."
"And that makes you the baby of the family as far as the hospital and funeral home are concerned?"
"Indeed."
"If um… if something happened to me?"
"Yes?"
"Who would you say you were?"
"Well let's see… You've lived in Sunnydale all your life. That means there's a good chance that someone in the hospital would know you a bit. Know your name, family, that you have no siblings. It looks like I'd have to be your husband." She smiled and he quickly pulled her from the arm of the chair to sit across his lap. "After all, you never know what kind of riff-raff a girl's going to wind up with for a husband." He smiled wickedly.
Acting on the moment, Willow leaned forward suddenly and kissed him on the lips, winding her arms around his neck. He didn't resist but he didn't seem to be kissing back either. Willow released him, looking to his face. He blinked his eyes open, looking at her with total surprise. Now certain she had read more into things than what was intended, the embarrassment was too much for her. She leapt from his lap and backed away a few steps.
"I-I'm sorry." She turned and ran for the door. "God, I'm sorry!"
"Willow!" Wesley jumped up and ran to catch her. "Willow wait!" It was too late, she was running out of the apartment complex before he even reached the open door. He slammed his fist against the doorframe. "Damn."
******
Buffy slowly turned the corner into the drawing room. Giles stood across the room facing out the window. She could tell by his posture that all was not well.
"I thought I heard your Grandmother chewing your butt off, but it's still there so things can't be that bad, can they?" He turned to her, his face wet with tears. All other thoughts flew out of her mind as she swiftly closed the distance between them. "Talk to me Giles? Please?"
He threw his arms around her, embracing her so tightly it would have hurt anyone who wasn't the Slayer.
"I just want you safe Buffy."
She smiled sadly. "I'm the Slayer, Giles. I'll never be safe."
"All right, relatively safe then."
She pulled back to look into his eyes. "And for that, I need you. I need you with me. I need to know that the person I'm back to back in a fight with isn't going to turn around and put a knife in mine. You're the only person I count on as much as I count on myself, Giles. Because I know from experience that no matter how much I've hurt you, or how incredibly pissed off you are at me, you will be there to back me up with just as much passion as you would if everything was great between us. You, Rupert Giles, are all the security I get." She touched his cheek with her fingertips. "And you're all I need."
He smiled and took her face in his hands. "What did I do to deserve you?"
"To deserve me? I don't know, run over a family of five in a past life? I'm not exactly a prize, Giles."
He stroked her hair. "No, you're not. You're so much more than that."
She smiled, leaning into his touch. "So does this mean we're in this together."
Giles nodded. "We are. As always. For better or worse. But I'm warning you. If you die on me, I'm going to kill you."
Buffy's hand came up and curled around the back of his own. "What do we do first?"
He arched his eyebrow. "This." Leaning forward, he took her mouth in a tender kiss. She closed her eyes and slid her arms around his neck.
******
"Well?" Sarah Giles said, standing in the doorway of her husband's den.
Oliver turned his desk chair to face her. "Well what? I fired him. He is expulsed from the Council."
"Good. About time too. I meant what about your son."
"He daren't touch Rupert now. What do you mean about time too? Quentin was always a good worker."
"The only thing he ever worked for was his own best interests. And he was never a good man. I've never liked him and you know it."
"So you've told me after every visit he's ever made here. You were right and I was wrong. Are you happy now?"
"Ecstatic," she said flatly, crossing her arms over her chest. "Now, what about your son?"
"I told you, Travers won't touch him."
"I'm not talking about bloody Travers! I'm talking about you picking up the phone and ringing your mother's and putting an end to all this nonsense."
Oliver crossed his arms over his chest. "And why would I want to do that?"
Sarah threw up her hands. "Honestly! Sometimes it's as though I had two children." She strode determinedly to the phone and turned to him. "It's all really quite simple Oliver. You pick up that contraption by your hand and press the numbers that will
connect you to your mother's home. Then talk to your son."
He turned his back to her and pretended to read some of the papers on his desk. "Why should I? He hasn't bothered to call me. He's the one behaving like a child."
"He is a child! He's our child."
"Who is a grown man now. He's over forty years old. Why is it all right that he act the way he does?"
"Perhaps because his father is nearly 70 and can't be bothered to set an example! Honestly! The pair of you! I sometimes wonder what crimes I must have committed in my last life to have been saddled with being the eternal referee between you both." She went to his chair and forcefully spun him to face the phone.
"Sarah, I'm trying to work."
"Call. Your. Son. And don't bother speaking to me until you do." She stormed out of the room.
Oliver took a few deep breaths, then walked to the door and closed it. He paced for several minutes before making his way over to the phone and placing his hand on it. He then took his hand away from it and began to pace near it.
******
"Reginald Merriweather please." Quentin Travers held the car phone against his ear, as he looked out the window trying to judge how close they were to his home. "Merriweather? It's Travers. I thought you said no calls had been placed to either Sunnydale or the Head Chancellor's estate from Darkbrook." Travers looked to the front of the limousine to make sure the driver wasn't listening in. "Well something got through to him. No never you mind that. I want the operative nearest to Sunnydale to go there at once and take a look around, make sure the Slayer is where she is supposed to be. I want you to have Ashe from Special Operations come to my home. No. Nothing through official channels. Everything needs to be kept as quiet as possible for now."
******
Buffy smiled as she pulled away from the kiss. "Wow. I have to say that I think that was the best first thing ever."
Giles gently ran his hands through her hair. "I shouldn't have done that," he said, sighing.
Her smile faded. "Why's that?"
His eyes were sparkling. "Because now that I've started, I don't ever want to stop."
The smile that greeted him was nearly blinding. "Who says you have to?"
"We both do for now. There's this whole Travers mess to contend with."
"Right." She took a deep breath. "Duty first. Smoochies later."
"I'm seriously beginning to hate the word duty," Giles said.
She pouted as she curled her fingers around the material of his sweater. "It's getting pretty late Giles. Don't you think just this once there might be smoochies before duty? After all, what else can we do about Travers today?"
The phone rang. Giles touched his finger to the end of her nose. "Hold that pout. Won't be a moment." He walked across the room and picked up the receiver. "Darkbrook Hall, Rupert Giles speaking." He turned to look at Buffy with a strange expression on his face. Just as she had started to worry, he spoke again. "Yes. Yes it's good to hear your voice too, Dad."
End