CHAPTER ELEVEN: DREAMS
(Dream is in italics. Set just before 'Checkpoint'. This is more a flashback than a dream if you want to be technical.)
Training began as usual, warm-ups followed by a light sparring session between the Watcher and Slayer. Riley had been gone for two weeks now, and part of Buffy was glad that he was gone. The other part of her missed having someone beside her with an ache she hadn't felt since Angel had left.
It was a Saturday, late in the afternoon. Things were unusually quiet on the hellmouth, and after a research party that had been entirely unsuccessful in finding out anything on Glory, Giles had sent the Scoobies home. Buffy had asked to stay and train, and Giles was more than happy to comply to her wishes.
Buffy grinned as she managed to bring Giles to his knees.
"Good," Giles commented, a smile on his face. He was inordinately proud of his Slayer. She had come so far in the last year, focusing on her training with an attentiveness he hadn't previously seen in the girl.
Buffy helped him to stand, clasping his wrist and pulling him upwards. He accepted the gesture and regained his footing on the mats in the training room.
"Go again?" she asked.
He nodded and they circled each other. Buffy faked left and dove towards him with a swift left-hook. Giles anticipated the move and caught her fist, using her momentum to swing her past him, making her lose balance. She quickly regrouped and spun towards him in a round-house kick. He ducked and quickly shot out a leg to bring her crashing to the floor. She lay on her back, stunned and breathless. With a laugh, she got up.
"Nice move," she commented.
He smiled his thanks and they began their dance again. He moved to attack her, but she dodged each punch, catching several and letting others pass her by without touching her. He saw her begin to duck into a flip and kicked towards her to prevent it. In a tangle of limbs they both fell to the floor, Giles on top of his Slayer.
Buffy giggled at Giles' shocked expression. He couldn't quite work out how he had ended up on the floor with her. He tried to move, but found he didn't particularly want to.
He'd been having more and more inappropriate thoughts about his Slayer lately, especially now that Riley was out of the picture. He was glad to see the commando go, and after he had heard about what Riley had been up to in his free time, he was definitely thrilled to hear that the boy wasn't coming back. To try and demand so much from Buffy while her mother was so sick was plain wrong, and if Riley couldn't handle not being needed, he definitely shouldn't have become involved with the most independent woman that Giles had ever met.
Their eyes met, both of their faces flushed, their breathing ragged. The sexual overtones of this were not lost on either one of them. Buffy went even more red. This wasn't the first time she had had 'lusty wrong feelings' about her Watcher. They had been there since when she was about seventeen and a half. Even when she had been with Angel, she had been attracted to Giles. She knew that nothing would ever happen there, so she had admired him from afar.
Buffy swallowed hard, a gesture that wasn't lost on Giles. The Watcher breathed in sharply and before he could think better of it, he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her gently.
Buffy's mind went into overload for a moment before it just completely shut down, leaving Buffy thoughtless and breathless as her Watcher kissed her senseless.
After endless seconds, they both pulled back as though by some unspoken agreement. Giles finally realised exactly what he had just done and pulled away from her sharply. He scooted back, making a space between them. Buffy sat up and looked at him cautiously. She swallowed nervously and turned away, unable to meet his eyes.
"I'm sorry." Her voice was so soft that Giles wasn't sure that she had even spoken.
"Sorry? You s-shouldn't be the one to a-apologise," he said. "I…you're just…upset over losing Riley and about Dawn and your mum. I should be the one apologising. I shouldn't be taking advantage of you like this."
Buffy smiled gently at him, thankful that he hadn't completely shot her down as she had expected him to do.
"You're not taking advantage Giles," she said.
Giles dared a look at her and saw his Slayer looking at him with love written clearly in her eyes. If this was a dream, he definitely didn't wish to wake up any time soon.
"Are…are you saying that you…that you wanted to kiss me?" he asked nervously.
She nodded sheepishly, hoping that her honest answer wouldn't make him lose all respect for her. She loved him, even though she knew she wasn't supposed to. She couldn't have explained it if anyone had asked, but she knew that the man in front of her was extremely special, not just to the world, but to her too.
"Not to sound all slutty or whatever, but…I've kinda wanted to do that for a while," she confessed.
Giles felt himself slowly going into shock. His Slayer was telling him that she wanted to kiss him, that she had wanted to do so for quite some time.
"So you uh…you wouldn't mind if I were to do so again, then?" he asked hesitantly.
She smiled and bit her lower lip, shaking her head. "Definitely don't mind."
He shifted forward on the mats, his sweaty palms sticking to the material of the training equipment, leaving a small hand print. He hesitated a moment before lowering his lips to hers, looking deeply into her eyes for any sign of hesitance. When he found none, he closed the gap between them, his lips meeting hers.
She sighed happily and brought a hand to his back, gently tracing the muscular curves that were there. The other hand came to his front, touching his stomach through one of his training shirts. She shifted her position a little, and Giles took advantage of her movements to pull her towards him, shifting her so that she was on his lap.
One of his hands went to her hair, tangling it gently in her golden locks, the other hand gently touching the skin of her back underneath her cropped top.
Slowly, their clothes came off, hands taking in the newness of the bare skin, exploring leisurely. Buffy had always imagined their first time to be either a frantic coupling of two desperate people, or a slow and sensual love-making. She was somehow unsurprised that Giles managed to fulfil both fantasies by taking it to both extremes at times, and taking it through the middle ground as well.
Whispered words of affection and love flowed between them throughout, the tenderness of the experience making it a completion of both their fantasies. They lay tangled in each others arms for over an hour after they had finally stopped, though their hands and lips still explored slowly.
"What do we tell the others?" she whispered.
He smiled and kissed her neck, a place he had found to be particularly sensitive.
"The truth."
She smiled, liking his answer. She hadn't wanted their relationship to be secretive, like the relationship she had had with Angel so many years ago.
The phone rang, startling them both. Reluctantly, Giles stood up and pulled on his sweats and t-shirt quickly, not feeling comfortable about walking into the front portion of the shop naked, just in case anyone decided to do some late afternoon window shopping.
"Magic Box," he greeted.
"Rupert," came a British voice. "Travers here."
Giles nearly groaned aloud, but held it in. He had only just got back from England three days ago. He hadn't wanted to hear from Travers so soon.
"Quentin," Giles greeted.
"We have some information that you might be interested in hearing," Travers stated.
"Oh?"
"About this Glory character."
"Yes?"
"It's not something that we can simply say over the phone Rupert," Travers said, a small laugh in his voice.
Giles swallowed hard, knowing what was coming next.
"We'll be in Sunnydale tomorrow evening."
"Is that really necessary?"
"I think you'll understand when you hear what we have to say," Travers assured him.
Giles closed her eyes, wondering why the Council would wish to visit Sunnydale. Why now, when he had finally got the one thing he had desperately wanted since just before he had been fired? Buffy, in his life in a capacity that he had always thought would never happen.
"Alright then," Giles agreed.
"Good man," Travers stated. "I'm looking forward to seeing your Slayer again Rupert. It's too bad that she was becoming like a daughter figure to you. You were a good Watcher."
"I still am a good Watcher," Giles replied tersely. He felt like laughing at the reminder of the father's love that he was supposed to have for Buffy. He was, in no way, like a father to her. And if he was, then his Slayer truly needed psychiatric help.
"Be that as it may, Rupert, you were too close to her. Mr Wyndham-Price was convinced that the two of you had a romantic relationship," Travers said.
Giles swallowed hard and fought to keep his voice from showing that Mr Wyndham-Price wouldn't have been too far off.
"Why would he presume that?" Giles asked.
"Oh, who knows what goes through his head. I just told him that if it were true, you would have been shipped back here in seconds flat," Travers said.
Giles suddenly understood the implications of this conversation. Travers wasn't saying this to show how stupid Wesley had been, he was saying it to show that the Council was still in charge. If Travers came to Sunnydale and found Buffy and Giles in a romantic entanglement, they would be separated. And that separation right now could possibly kill his Slayer because she would no longer have access to the resources that Giles could get hold of.
"Well, as much as the Council wanted me out of her life, I'm afraid that you would be wrong on that account."
"Good to hear," Travers said.
Giles scowled, thankful that Travers was on the other side of the globe. That is, until he remembered that Travers was coming to Sunnydale the next day.
"Well, we'll be seeing you tomorrow," Travers finally said. The older Watcher hung up before Giles could even give a parting farewell.
"Yes. Tomorrow," Giles said quietly, hanging up the phone.
He walked back into the training room, surprised that such a wonderful evening had turned into something so devastating. Buffy was dressed once more and sitting curled up on the couch on the other side of the room. He approached slowly and saw her chewing on her thumbnail. She looked up at him and stood. He could see tears in her eyes, and he knew that she had caught at least part, if not all, of the conversation he had just had.
She gave him a small smile that he managed to return.
"This can't happen again, can it?" she asked sadly.
Giles shook his head, fearing his voice would shake were he to try and use it.
Buffy just nodded and stepped forward and embraced him, letting herself enjoy the feel of his arms around her. He sighed softly and kissed the top of her head.
"I wish things could be different," he whispered.
She smiled into his chest and burrowed herself deeper, the two of them swaying to music that they couldn't hear.
"Me too."
"The age difference for one," he said, a self-deprecating smile on his face.
"You're hardly decrepit Giles. You're in good shape," she complimented.
"You're just saying that," he teased.
She poked his ribs, making him jump slightly. They still kept their arms around each other.
"You can keep up with me, so you're doing pretty well there," she said seriously.
He smiled and let himself take comfort in her arms. He sighed and gently brought one hand to her chin, tilting it up. He kissed her again, not letting them get carried away, even though he desperately wanted to. He knew, however, that if they made love again, they would never be able to stop.
He ended the kiss and stepped back, trying to ignore the single tear that fell from his Slayer's face.
"I don't wish for this to affect us," he whispered.
She grinned a little and wiped away the errant tear.
"We'll be fine," she said confidently. She paused to consider something, frowning slightly. "I guess this means we aren't breaking this to the group."
He shook his head sadly. He had so wanted to tell the others, to begin a relationship with Buffy. But the Council had once again ruined things between them.
"So…training tomorrow?" she asked.
He managed a small grin at her and nodded.
"We'll have to have a Scooby meeting come tomorrow as well," he said.
"I'll rally the troops," she offered.
He nodded and took one more glance at her. Sucking in a deep breath he finally turned, and gestured for her to head out of the store with him. She nodded and left with him, wondering how she could continue on day by day without being completely obvious about her love for him now that she knew exactly what they could have between them. She didn't know how she would manage, but she knew it would be interesting trying.