Getting Off The Griefmobile
By Annakovsky
See part 1 for all relevant info and disclaimer.
***********
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
***********
They had been kissing for awhile, very good kissing, and now Giles had moved to Faith's jaw line, trailing his lips lightly along her skin. It was, like, tender and loving and shit, and Faith was wigging right the hell out.
She put her hands on his chest and pushed, gently, until he moved back, looking at her quizzically.
She gave him her patented, sexy, lips slowly drawing back, eyes lidded, Hang-on-there-just-a-second-tiger-I'll-be-right-with-you look. But he blinked and looked at her weirdly, like he didn't know why she was looking at him like that and like he found the fake sexy look kind of amusing. So she felt stupid and dropped it.
"Uh, sorry to stop the party and all, but we should probably get back to the States with the tablet soon, right?" She tried to sound casual, but her heart was still beating a mile a minute and she wanted badly to run back into her own hotel room.
Giles looked like he was coming back to himself and not liking it much. "Right, yes."
"And boy, do I need a shower."
He nodded. "Of course." He looked over her head, out the window. "You go shower. I'll make the other arrangements."
"Thanks," she said, and leaned up to kiss him quickly, trying to reassure him. He tried not to smile at that, but couldn't quite repress it, with a ridiculously happy looking grin coming out as he ducked his head. Faith hadn't seen him smile like that for awhile, if she ever had. It made her nervous - a little happy, but mostly nervous. This whole thing was way too weird.
Things were awkward when they reconvened post-shower, both of them acting a little oddly. But everything was all set for the trip back. Giles had gotten plane tickets home, as well as set up an appointment with the Watcher in Jerusalem to have the counter-spell done, since he wasn't thrilled with the plan of having wet gauze on his back for the whole long trip back to the States.
They discussed the arrangements over lunch, but their conversation was stilted. Seemed like neither of them knew how they were supposed to act, and they watched each other out of the corners of their eyes, in sideways glances and awkward pauses. Faith's feet brushed his under the table and they both jerked backwards as if they'd gotten an electrical shock.
They headed off to meet the other Watcher after their meal. Faith was glad that Giles wasn't a touchy person in general; if he'd tried to, like, put his arm around her or something she would've freaked. As it was, both of them kept their hands to themselves, jammed into pockets with two feet of distance between them.
It was completely ridiculous.
The Jerusalem Watcher's compound was just outside the Old City, on the edge of the Hinnom Valley. It was walled in, with an iron gate through which they could see a dusty courtyard with a basketball hoop hanging on one stone wall. Watchers playing basketball - the mind boggled. Giles rang the bell, which clanged loudly, though no one appeared. Giles and Faith waited a few minutes, then glanced at each other. Giles was reaching to ring it again when they heard a distinctly American voice call out from behind them.
"Hey! Sorry I'm late." The pair of them turned to see a young, blond guy walking quickly towards them, a messenger bag slung across his chest. "Mr. Giles, right? I talked to you earlier."
"Er, yes, that's right," Giles said, shaking hands with the guy. "This is Faith."
"Jasper Murray," he said, shaking her hand too. "You're a Slayer, right?"
"Yeah. You're a Watcher?" she asked skeptically. Because he was maybe twenty-five, tops, and American, and looked like he belonged in a commercial. Clean cut, with his light blond hair short and sticking up stylishly, wiry but muscular build. If it weren't for the fact that he was on the short side and looked quick and alert instead of like a gyrating Ken doll, he would've fit perfectly in an Old Navy ad, right down to his cargo shorts.
"Well, mostly," he said, turning to unlock the gate and let them in. "I'm in the middle of my thesis, I guess. If any of the old qualification rules even still apply." He pulled the gate open and held it for them, adjusting the strap of his messenger bag with his other hand in an unconscious, habitual motion.
Once into the courtyard, Jasper led them through a door into the building, which was dim and cool, due mostly to the incredibly thick walls, maybe three or four feet deep. The complex appeared to have been a number of different old buildings that had been connected together, since the levels of the stories didn't exactly match up. He led them up a short staircase, around an area that seemed to be a mailroom, up more steps, through a library, out into an open courtyard, then up still more steps, talking all the way.
"Have you ever been here before, Mr. Giles? It's great. Hezekiah's wall actually went right through the library, from what the excavations indicate. This compound was built right over it." Okay, so definitely a Watcher, Faith added mentally, shaking her head as she followed behind the two men.
"You're the only Watcher here?" Faith asked, when he paused for breath.
"Yeah," he said, subdued suddenly. "Some students from the university rent rooms, though. It's a big place." They passed a student on the stairs a minute later, and he said something to her in what Faith assumed was Hebrew.
He finally stopped to unlock an intimidating looking wooden door, ushering them ahead of him into a well-furnished office, with dim lighting, wood paneling and the musty smell of books.
"You guys want anything to drink?" He rubbed the back of his head, looking sheepish. "Uh, tea?"
"Tea would be lovely," Giles said. Jasper looked at Faith.
"No thanks, I'm cool," she said.
He smiled at her, shrugged self-deprecatingly and turned to make the tea. "Take a seat, guys," he said over his shoulder.
"So where're you from, anyway?" Faith asked. "I thought Giles knew your dad."
"Oh yeah, well, Dad's English, the whole Watcher heritage thing. But the WC didn't like him much, so they sent him to Cleveland, where he met my mom. That's where I grew up."
"The WC?" Faith asked. Jasper, leaning against the table waiting for the water to boil, looked embarrassed.
"Watcher's Council. Stupid habit - I started calling it the WC to annoy my dad and now I can't stop." He looked far away for a moment.
"I was terribly sorry to hear about your father," Giles said gently.
Jasper's face was very still, removed. "Thank you," he said. The silence stood for a moment until the tea kettle whistled and Jasper moved to pour it.
"So the Council would send everybody they didn't like to America?" Faith asked, grinning at Giles, who smiled wryly at her.
Jasper shrugged, giving Giles a slightly nervous look as he handed him a cup of tea. "Something like that." Giles smiled at him, but he still looked wary.
"Anyway, uh, so you need the Anzu counter spell performed, right?" Jasper asked, pulling a book off the shelf and beginning to flip through the pages as Giles nodded. "I was looking it over this morning. Here's the thing, though. The spell's tied into the tablet you stole. So if the tablet was in Sumerian, the spell was in Sumerian and the counter spell has to be too. But if the tablet was in Akkadian, then we use the Akkadian version. Which would be much better. My Akkadian's okay, but my Sumerian really blows."
"It was in Akkadian," Giles said, smiling slightly.
"Cool, I already started working on that one. But I think you better check me. No one's ever published a transliteration of this one, and I might've read 'ur' when I should've read 'lik' or something like that. And I don't think you want to have boils all over your face." Faith gave him a dubious look. "Not that that's ever happened before," he added.
Giles bent over the text, looking between Jasper's spiral notebook and the manuscript. The two of them were quickly absorbed, talking about conjugations and shin stems or some such thing. Faith stopped listening pretty quickly and sat back to watch them.
She liked looking at Giles this way, when he wasn't looking back at her. When she could just watch from a distance, enjoy the way he ran his hand over his hair, how he cleaned his glasses. The slight stubble on his chin, the line of his jaw, the crinkles around his eyes. She liked watching him intent on the page, arguing with Jasper over a reading of the complicated triangles and lines, animated and intent in a different sort of way than he was with her.
He glanced up at her in the middle with a slightly apologetic smile, a private sort of smile, before looking back down at the text. She was immediately uncomfortable. Giles always looked at her like she was someone who mattered, a person, not just a sex object or a fighting machine. It was unnerving. After all, what were her boobs *for* if not distracting people? Besides, she knew she'd let him down pretty damn soon.
Her mouth was dry, so she reached over to pick up Giles's cup, sipping at the tea. Jasper looked up at her at that moment, his eyes moving from her to the teacup to Giles, obviously putting pieces together quickly. His eyebrows rose slightly and Faith realized that she'd just indicated that she and Giles were awfully intimate without even thinking about it. Jasper didn't look shocked or anything, though. He held her gaze for a second, inquisitive, then looked at Giles thoughtfully before returning his eyes to the text. Faith could feel herself getting red.
Jesus, what would happen when the Scoobs found out about this? Obviously it couldn't be a secret for very long, if this guy'd already figured it out. It might take the Sunnydale crew a little longer to catch on, since they seemed to think of Giles as neutered and all, but they weren't complete idiots.
Buffy was going to have an aneurysm. There was no way this could work.
"Okay then," Jasper was saying. "Guess we're all set. Except for the hokey candle lighting and chanting. I'll run down to the kitchen and grab some salt for the circle. Give me a sec." And he was out the door, loping down the stairs. Giles looked at her and smiled. She couldn't help smiling back, but looked down, hating to say it.
"I don't think this is going to work."
"Why not? I'm quite sure the transliteration is correct and..."
"Not the spell," she interrupted. "This." She was staring at the carpet, working at a loose thread with the toe of her boot.
"Oh," he said. She didn't look at him, and didn't say anything. He got up and paced around the room a bit. When she looked up, he was cleaning his glasses thoughtfully. "Eight hours isn't really much of a try," he said mildly, settling his glasses back on his nose. For some reason this answer made her feel a little better.
"Point," she admitted.
"Say we give it at least twenty-four?" he asked, sounding like he was teasing her a little bit. A smile was playing around his lips.
She smiled sheepishly and nodded. "Okay, but just for the record, I'm kind of wigging out."
"I'm not precisely calm myself."
She grinned at him and he looked like he was about to come over and kiss her again, when Jasper came through the door, oblivious.
"Okay, salt, check. Weird herbal candles, check. Hopefully correctly transliterated manuscript, check. Let's get started."
Faith went over to one corner of the room and watched the little ritual. Pretty standard magic, nothing too exciting. Not even any weird lights or glowing colors or anything. They just lit the candles, Giles stood in the circle, Jasper chanted some stuff, and...
"That was it?" Faith asked. Jasper shrugged and nodded. Giles was peeling the gauze off his back, looking more relaxed than he'd been since they'd stolen the stupid thing.
"That's much better," he said to Jasper. "The temporary cure wasn't nearly as effective. I hadn't even realized there was still residual pain until it lifted."
"Glad I could help," Jasper replied. "Especially glad I didn't accidentally set you on fire or anything." They all started walking downstairs, Faith trailing behind the two men, who were talking about Watcher business.
"You'll of course be coming to the States when the remnants of the Council reconvene in September?" Giles asked.
"Definitely. I'm excited to start rebuilding everything, I have a few ideas about how to make better use of some of our resources...."
They were still talking when they made it down to the gate.
"Pleasure meeting you," Giles said, shaking Jasper's hand. "Send my regards to your mother."
"Sure," he said. He turned to Faith and shook hands with her too. "Good luck," he said meaningfully, motioning his head a bit towards Giles and smiling faintly.
"You too," Faith said, ignoring his implication. He grinned at her.
She and Giles headed up the sandy cobblestone road towards the Old City, still two feet apart, but comfortably so, somehow. The iron gate of the Watcher's compound clanged shut behind them.
*****
TBC...
*****
Notes: I have an unfortunate tendency to write my homework into my fanfic. Damn that one sign - why do you have to stand for 'ur' AND 'lik' AND 'tas' AND like fifty other things? Make up your friggin' mind!
By Annakovsky
See part 1 for all relevant info and disclaimer.
***********
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
***********
They had been kissing for awhile, very good kissing, and now Giles had moved to Faith's jaw line, trailing his lips lightly along her skin. It was, like, tender and loving and shit, and Faith was wigging right the hell out.
She put her hands on his chest and pushed, gently, until he moved back, looking at her quizzically.
She gave him her patented, sexy, lips slowly drawing back, eyes lidded, Hang-on-there-just-a-second-tiger-I'll-be-right-with-you look. But he blinked and looked at her weirdly, like he didn't know why she was looking at him like that and like he found the fake sexy look kind of amusing. So she felt stupid and dropped it.
"Uh, sorry to stop the party and all, but we should probably get back to the States with the tablet soon, right?" She tried to sound casual, but her heart was still beating a mile a minute and she wanted badly to run back into her own hotel room.
Giles looked like he was coming back to himself and not liking it much. "Right, yes."
"And boy, do I need a shower."
He nodded. "Of course." He looked over her head, out the window. "You go shower. I'll make the other arrangements."
"Thanks," she said, and leaned up to kiss him quickly, trying to reassure him. He tried not to smile at that, but couldn't quite repress it, with a ridiculously happy looking grin coming out as he ducked his head. Faith hadn't seen him smile like that for awhile, if she ever had. It made her nervous - a little happy, but mostly nervous. This whole thing was way too weird.
Things were awkward when they reconvened post-shower, both of them acting a little oddly. But everything was all set for the trip back. Giles had gotten plane tickets home, as well as set up an appointment with the Watcher in Jerusalem to have the counter-spell done, since he wasn't thrilled with the plan of having wet gauze on his back for the whole long trip back to the States.
They discussed the arrangements over lunch, but their conversation was stilted. Seemed like neither of them knew how they were supposed to act, and they watched each other out of the corners of their eyes, in sideways glances and awkward pauses. Faith's feet brushed his under the table and they both jerked backwards as if they'd gotten an electrical shock.
They headed off to meet the other Watcher after their meal. Faith was glad that Giles wasn't a touchy person in general; if he'd tried to, like, put his arm around her or something she would've freaked. As it was, both of them kept their hands to themselves, jammed into pockets with two feet of distance between them.
It was completely ridiculous.
The Jerusalem Watcher's compound was just outside the Old City, on the edge of the Hinnom Valley. It was walled in, with an iron gate through which they could see a dusty courtyard with a basketball hoop hanging on one stone wall. Watchers playing basketball - the mind boggled. Giles rang the bell, which clanged loudly, though no one appeared. Giles and Faith waited a few minutes, then glanced at each other. Giles was reaching to ring it again when they heard a distinctly American voice call out from behind them.
"Hey! Sorry I'm late." The pair of them turned to see a young, blond guy walking quickly towards them, a messenger bag slung across his chest. "Mr. Giles, right? I talked to you earlier."
"Er, yes, that's right," Giles said, shaking hands with the guy. "This is Faith."
"Jasper Murray," he said, shaking her hand too. "You're a Slayer, right?"
"Yeah. You're a Watcher?" she asked skeptically. Because he was maybe twenty-five, tops, and American, and looked like he belonged in a commercial. Clean cut, with his light blond hair short and sticking up stylishly, wiry but muscular build. If it weren't for the fact that he was on the short side and looked quick and alert instead of like a gyrating Ken doll, he would've fit perfectly in an Old Navy ad, right down to his cargo shorts.
"Well, mostly," he said, turning to unlock the gate and let them in. "I'm in the middle of my thesis, I guess. If any of the old qualification rules even still apply." He pulled the gate open and held it for them, adjusting the strap of his messenger bag with his other hand in an unconscious, habitual motion.
Once into the courtyard, Jasper led them through a door into the building, which was dim and cool, due mostly to the incredibly thick walls, maybe three or four feet deep. The complex appeared to have been a number of different old buildings that had been connected together, since the levels of the stories didn't exactly match up. He led them up a short staircase, around an area that seemed to be a mailroom, up more steps, through a library, out into an open courtyard, then up still more steps, talking all the way.
"Have you ever been here before, Mr. Giles? It's great. Hezekiah's wall actually went right through the library, from what the excavations indicate. This compound was built right over it." Okay, so definitely a Watcher, Faith added mentally, shaking her head as she followed behind the two men.
"You're the only Watcher here?" Faith asked, when he paused for breath.
"Yeah," he said, subdued suddenly. "Some students from the university rent rooms, though. It's a big place." They passed a student on the stairs a minute later, and he said something to her in what Faith assumed was Hebrew.
He finally stopped to unlock an intimidating looking wooden door, ushering them ahead of him into a well-furnished office, with dim lighting, wood paneling and the musty smell of books.
"You guys want anything to drink?" He rubbed the back of his head, looking sheepish. "Uh, tea?"
"Tea would be lovely," Giles said. Jasper looked at Faith.
"No thanks, I'm cool," she said.
He smiled at her, shrugged self-deprecatingly and turned to make the tea. "Take a seat, guys," he said over his shoulder.
"So where're you from, anyway?" Faith asked. "I thought Giles knew your dad."
"Oh yeah, well, Dad's English, the whole Watcher heritage thing. But the WC didn't like him much, so they sent him to Cleveland, where he met my mom. That's where I grew up."
"The WC?" Faith asked. Jasper, leaning against the table waiting for the water to boil, looked embarrassed.
"Watcher's Council. Stupid habit - I started calling it the WC to annoy my dad and now I can't stop." He looked far away for a moment.
"I was terribly sorry to hear about your father," Giles said gently.
Jasper's face was very still, removed. "Thank you," he said. The silence stood for a moment until the tea kettle whistled and Jasper moved to pour it.
"So the Council would send everybody they didn't like to America?" Faith asked, grinning at Giles, who smiled wryly at her.
Jasper shrugged, giving Giles a slightly nervous look as he handed him a cup of tea. "Something like that." Giles smiled at him, but he still looked wary.
"Anyway, uh, so you need the Anzu counter spell performed, right?" Jasper asked, pulling a book off the shelf and beginning to flip through the pages as Giles nodded. "I was looking it over this morning. Here's the thing, though. The spell's tied into the tablet you stole. So if the tablet was in Sumerian, the spell was in Sumerian and the counter spell has to be too. But if the tablet was in Akkadian, then we use the Akkadian version. Which would be much better. My Akkadian's okay, but my Sumerian really blows."
"It was in Akkadian," Giles said, smiling slightly.
"Cool, I already started working on that one. But I think you better check me. No one's ever published a transliteration of this one, and I might've read 'ur' when I should've read 'lik' or something like that. And I don't think you want to have boils all over your face." Faith gave him a dubious look. "Not that that's ever happened before," he added.
Giles bent over the text, looking between Jasper's spiral notebook and the manuscript. The two of them were quickly absorbed, talking about conjugations and shin stems or some such thing. Faith stopped listening pretty quickly and sat back to watch them.
She liked looking at Giles this way, when he wasn't looking back at her. When she could just watch from a distance, enjoy the way he ran his hand over his hair, how he cleaned his glasses. The slight stubble on his chin, the line of his jaw, the crinkles around his eyes. She liked watching him intent on the page, arguing with Jasper over a reading of the complicated triangles and lines, animated and intent in a different sort of way than he was with her.
He glanced up at her in the middle with a slightly apologetic smile, a private sort of smile, before looking back down at the text. She was immediately uncomfortable. Giles always looked at her like she was someone who mattered, a person, not just a sex object or a fighting machine. It was unnerving. After all, what were her boobs *for* if not distracting people? Besides, she knew she'd let him down pretty damn soon.
Her mouth was dry, so she reached over to pick up Giles's cup, sipping at the tea. Jasper looked up at her at that moment, his eyes moving from her to the teacup to Giles, obviously putting pieces together quickly. His eyebrows rose slightly and Faith realized that she'd just indicated that she and Giles were awfully intimate without even thinking about it. Jasper didn't look shocked or anything, though. He held her gaze for a second, inquisitive, then looked at Giles thoughtfully before returning his eyes to the text. Faith could feel herself getting red.
Jesus, what would happen when the Scoobs found out about this? Obviously it couldn't be a secret for very long, if this guy'd already figured it out. It might take the Sunnydale crew a little longer to catch on, since they seemed to think of Giles as neutered and all, but they weren't complete idiots.
Buffy was going to have an aneurysm. There was no way this could work.
"Okay then," Jasper was saying. "Guess we're all set. Except for the hokey candle lighting and chanting. I'll run down to the kitchen and grab some salt for the circle. Give me a sec." And he was out the door, loping down the stairs. Giles looked at her and smiled. She couldn't help smiling back, but looked down, hating to say it.
"I don't think this is going to work."
"Why not? I'm quite sure the transliteration is correct and..."
"Not the spell," she interrupted. "This." She was staring at the carpet, working at a loose thread with the toe of her boot.
"Oh," he said. She didn't look at him, and didn't say anything. He got up and paced around the room a bit. When she looked up, he was cleaning his glasses thoughtfully. "Eight hours isn't really much of a try," he said mildly, settling his glasses back on his nose. For some reason this answer made her feel a little better.
"Point," she admitted.
"Say we give it at least twenty-four?" he asked, sounding like he was teasing her a little bit. A smile was playing around his lips.
She smiled sheepishly and nodded. "Okay, but just for the record, I'm kind of wigging out."
"I'm not precisely calm myself."
She grinned at him and he looked like he was about to come over and kiss her again, when Jasper came through the door, oblivious.
"Okay, salt, check. Weird herbal candles, check. Hopefully correctly transliterated manuscript, check. Let's get started."
Faith went over to one corner of the room and watched the little ritual. Pretty standard magic, nothing too exciting. Not even any weird lights or glowing colors or anything. They just lit the candles, Giles stood in the circle, Jasper chanted some stuff, and...
"That was it?" Faith asked. Jasper shrugged and nodded. Giles was peeling the gauze off his back, looking more relaxed than he'd been since they'd stolen the stupid thing.
"That's much better," he said to Jasper. "The temporary cure wasn't nearly as effective. I hadn't even realized there was still residual pain until it lifted."
"Glad I could help," Jasper replied. "Especially glad I didn't accidentally set you on fire or anything." They all started walking downstairs, Faith trailing behind the two men, who were talking about Watcher business.
"You'll of course be coming to the States when the remnants of the Council reconvene in September?" Giles asked.
"Definitely. I'm excited to start rebuilding everything, I have a few ideas about how to make better use of some of our resources...."
They were still talking when they made it down to the gate.
"Pleasure meeting you," Giles said, shaking Jasper's hand. "Send my regards to your mother."
"Sure," he said. He turned to Faith and shook hands with her too. "Good luck," he said meaningfully, motioning his head a bit towards Giles and smiling faintly.
"You too," Faith said, ignoring his implication. He grinned at her.
She and Giles headed up the sandy cobblestone road towards the Old City, still two feet apart, but comfortably so, somehow. The iron gate of the Watcher's compound clanged shut behind them.
*****
TBC...
*****
Notes: I have an unfortunate tendency to write my homework into my fanfic. Damn that one sign - why do you have to stand for 'ur' AND 'lik' AND 'tas' AND like fifty other things? Make up your friggin' mind!