First chapter = disclaimer.

Okey dokey. FIRST this chapter tips the upper end of PG-13 for some people. This is your warning. I've been told it isn't quite R, so I'm leaving it be, but I'm warning you here so you know.

Secondly, this chapter includes that unmentionable Buffy/Giles-ness that some of you don't like. I'm really warning you not to read this chapter if you don't like the shipping.

Otherwise, go ahead.

Buffy stared at the darkness. She had found and staked one vampire all night. One pathetic vampire that could not even quip well or fight well for that matter, the rest of patrol had been walking. She had not even seen Spike, which was actually kind of bad for him because she might have thanked him for mugging Giles' relatives. Of course, that might have been bad too as then Spike would have known that Giles actually had relatives and ones that were in town, so maybe that would not have been good.

Buffy sighed. At least seeing Spike would have made patrol less boring and more patrol-y. Instead, all she could think about was Giles. Which did not help as the entire point of going out had been to lose herself in mindless violence, so she did not ponder him.

His lips danced in her vision for a moment. She could see them move as he formed those three little words uttered earlier in the night, and if she concentrated hard enough, she could feel them press against her own mouth again as they had back at the vineyard.

Her eyes started leaking. Leaking, that was the word, because Buffy refused to think she was crying. Why did Giles have to complicate everything like that? She had been very happy to simply have him around, never to examine the entirely too complicated relationship that they had. Adding another layer to their bond seemed like both the simplest and hardest thing ever to be combined, and the problem was that she had to decide if she even wanted to combine it.

Giles obviously did. He had made that fact abundantly clear earlier that night. He had also made it exceedingly clear that he was not going to give her an out in this matter as he had so often done for her at other times. Buffy was to give him a distinct answer one way or the other. She was not going to be able to just pretend nothing ever happened.

She hated him for doing that to her. Of course, she was also challenged by the new version of Giles. Intrigue had crept in; she wanted to see just how far this new resolve went. And part of her, if she was honest, was excited by the fact that he was challenging her. He knew he could not compete with her physically, so he had gone after the part of her he knew was vulnerable. All of her previous suitors had sought to really prove their affections by physical displays. Giles had tried making out, but when the honest confessions came, he had not even tried to kiss her. He just made her listen. He knew that she preferred to be "action girl," but Giles had also realized that where her other relationships had failed was that she had acted too much on instinct and not enough on thought until something bad happened.

That was why he had kissed her the first time, she realized. Giles had thought that the light bulb had gone on over her head because she had been thinking about them, so he moved straight on to the happy land of smoochies. Then, when he realized his mistake, he had retreated. Apparently, he had decided that he did not like the retreat.

All of that realization was just peachy, but it still left her with the question of how she really felt towards Giles. She loved him. There was no doubt about that. She did not really love him like a father, but she did not really love him as a friend or a brother, and there really was not a burning passion for him like she had for Angel. It was all very snarled.

The question was: how did she untangle it?

Love Giles? Check. Think he was old? Check. Think he was sexy? Buffy paused at that one. He certainly kissed well. His eyes were dreamy and could definitely convince a girl to go into a bedroom. He had great shoulders and long legs. His voice was all shudder worthy even when he was droning on about some impossibly boring subject, and there was that rumor that he could sing… He did not have six pack abs, but he was not paunchy. So, overall he was of the sexy. Now, did she like old sexy guys? Buffy snorted. Even Riley had been older than her, and Angel was not even born in the same century.

Was she in love with Giles? She knew that she could not live without him. Even when she had ignored him during her freshman year of college, she had known that she could not really live without him. And really, that answered the question more than anything didn't it?

An insane warm fuzzy feeling swept over Buffy at her realization. She needed to tell Giles. She needed to go to his place and tell him right away, but it was late, and his parents were there. Buffy pouted that she'd have to wait as waiting was not her strong point. Then her mind wandered to thinking about telling Giles and the warm fuzzy feeling came back. Emitting a little squeal at her happy dilemma she danced around a tombstone. Then she stopped and glanced around to make sure nothing had seen her do that.

Something had.

A group of somethings had.

A group of big, green, ugly somethings with greasy, bumpy skin, and short, yellow tusks coming out of their mouths, at least she hoped that they were mouths…

Buffy pulled her stake out and prepared for a fight. One attacked her. As she began to fight with it, the others ran away. Then, the one she was fighting shoved her over a bench that was in the graveyard. When Buffy popped back up to her feet, it too was gone.

Frustration boiled up in Buffy. All night had been quiet, and when she finally got to being happy, she got attacked. Then she did not even win her fight. Angrily, she began stomping her way towards home. It was at that pint that a nasty little thought entered her mind.

Giles needed to know about the strange monsters. He would want to know. It was her duty to mankind to tell him as soon as possible. And if he just happened to be all late night rumpled when they talked, she would not mind that. Because, saving the world took priority over propriety.

She turned and began the jaunt to Giles apartment.

Rupert Giles fell off of his couch when there was a loud knocking at his door. His first thought was, 'Who on earth could be knocking? And why weren't they just letting themselves in?' Then his sleep fogged brain got the message through that he had actually locked the door on his mother's insistence.

Groggily, he shoved his glasses on his face and stumbled to the door ignoring the grumpy sounds issuing from his parents upstairs.

He yanked the door open to see a very awake and suspiciously happy Buffy on the other side.

"You locked your door," she stated in a half approving and half pouting tone.

"Yes, I did. I hope you didn't wake me up at four in the morning to tell me that."

"It's four?" Buffy sounded surprised.

"Yes, it is. Buffy what are you doing here?" Giles whispered.

"I need to talk to you," Buffy said in her best 'duh' tone.

"Can't it wait?" Giles snipped at her.

Buffy glared at him before she started smiling again. "Can I come in?"

"Can you come in?" Giles asked suddenly suspicious.

Buffy stuck her tongue out at him and flounced through his door. "I saw something strange when I was out on patrol tonight."

The 'solemnity of duty' look instantly came down over Giles' face. "I suppose that you should tell me then, but why don't we talk outside? I think my parents have been disturbed enough, and I don't wish to have them come down in the middle of this discussion."

Buffy nodded and slipped back out. Giles followed her, wrapped in his robe and shuffling in his slippers. Buffy told him in record time about the demons. Giles was fairly certain she did not even breathe while she was talking.

He stared at her for a couple of seconds before responding, "Yes, well I'll have to consult my books about this, but you really needn't have bothered to come by tonight. I'm fairly certain that they don't pose an immediate threat to us."

"Well, duh, Giles. Even I knew that."

Buffy started to grin again at the befuddled look that came across Rupert Giles' face. It was oddly charming when mixed with the rumpled hair and rumpled robe. And speaking of the rumpled robe, it was gaping most becomingly. Buffy's eyes had started to trace the pale skin downwards to where the robe closed together when Giles' voice broke her train of thought.

"Pardon?"

"The ugly green demons, not an immediate threat," Buffy responded.

"Then why the bloody hell did you wake me up at sodding four in the morning?" Giles whispered fiercely at her.

"Because I wanted to see you, and it was a good excuse?" Buffy said with a teasing tone.

"Buffy, I don't know what is wrong with you, but this is very uncalled for," Giles said in a stern tone.

Buffy simply grinned at him. "You're grumpy."

Giles, to his credit, was about to give a scathing reply, but found himself unable to as Buffy bounced up on her tiptoes and kissed him. He instinctively crushed her closer and opened his mouth before he roughly pushed her away.

"You've been drugged or, or spelled or something," he said in fear, "I need to call Willow, perhaps she or Tara will have an idea what has happened. Don't worry, Buffy, you'll be fine soon."

Buffy's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "What? Giles, I'm fine now."

"Yes, yes I'm sure you are," he said placatingly, "Now why don't you come inside and have a cup of tea while I do a little research?"

"Because it'll wake your folks up?"

"Bugger them. Just come inside where you'll be safe while I look over some texts."

"Giles, nothing you do is going to fix me," Buffy said in exasperation.

"Don't say that," Giles voice rose in pitch, "You're going to get better. Now, we've always found a solution before, and we will this time."

"Did anyone ever tell you that your big Watcher brain doesn't work well when it gets woken up at four in the morning? Giles, I love you, and I don't think that you're going to find a spell that is going to get me over that."

"You what?" Giles' face had reverted to the earlier befuddled look.

Buffy rolled her eyes and simply grabbed him for another kiss. This time, he didn't push her away. Soon, though, Buffy did out of her desperate need for oxygen.

"Okay, so things other than your brain still work," Buffy said a little unsteadily.

"Indeed?" was all Giles could manage around his panting.

"Not that you, oh well, I guess that works too. Umm, wow?"

Giles' lips twitched into a small smile, "You needn't humor me, Buffy. My ego isn't that easily shattered."

"No, seriously, I mean that is just, just, is that normal? 'Cause I'm pretty sure it took Riley a lot longer to get all, you know, frisky,"

"The woman I love just told me she loved me and proceeded to kiss me senseless while I'm standing here in nothing but my boxers and a bathrobe. What did you think my response would be? And, really, being compared to your previous boyfriend is somewhat insulting."

"You're grumpy and really blunt when you get woken up," Buffy grumbled then continued, "Did you say you were only wearing boxers under there?"

Giles' green eyes widened. "Buffy, no."

"You don't mean that," Buffy whispered as she started to trail a finger down the middle of his chest.

"Yes, yes, I do mean that. My courtyard is not the appropriate place for this type of activity. I, oh," Giles moaned slightly as Buffy started to nip at the base of his neck.

Her fingers traveled down and tugged at the belt for his robe. Her lips left their previous target as she backed up to look at him.

"White? You wear white cotton boxers?"

"Am I supposed to wear something else?"

"Well, it's just that you're Mr. Stuffy on the outside and Mr. Wild Secrets guy on the inside, I guess I kind of thought it would be the same for your clothes. You know Tweedy and Sweater Guy on the outside – Silk Boxers guy on the inside, maybe even patterned silk boxers instead of the colored kind."

"Yes, well why don't you stop your imagination before you start putting me in a spandex thong?"

"Hey, silk boxers are a long way from spandex thongs. Not that it matter a whole lot, they come off the same," Buffy said with a grin as she advanced once more towards her prey.

"Now stop right there. I am not going to make love to you outdoors on the ground for our first time. Especially as you should be getting back home or your mother will be worried," Giles said as he quickly retied his robe.

Buffy pouted.

"I'm quite serious, Buffy. Things are going too fast here. I'm tired, and you haven't slept all night, and I know how slayers are after they've been out fighting. I don't want to start our relationship out on a bad note."

Buffy frowned, "Fine, I'll go home, but only because I love you, and you're being really mean and thinking about consequences instead of ravishing me."

Giles laughed softly. "I must be insane."

"Because of the not ravishing me part? Because it isn't too late to fix that," Buffy said perkily.

"For falling in love with you," Giles said tenderly as he brushed her hair back behind her ear.

Buffy smiled. "Ditto. You do believe me, right? You don't think that I'm just all horny and saying stuff?"

"I think you're forgetting that I love you, and I know you better than anyone else. Did you really think that I would have told you I loved you yesterday if I did not already know that you loved me back?"

"Wait a second. You did so not know about that. I didn't know about that."

"Ah, but I did. The risk was only in how deep that love ran and whether or not you would ever acknowledge it."

Buffy punched him lightly in the shoulder. "You are going to pay for that smugness."

"Promise?" Giles retorted in a throaty voice.

Buffy just turned and started walking away. "My boyfriend says I need my beauty sleep, so I don't think I'm going to answer that. But if I were you, I'd make sure you wore your jeans and an earring tonight if you want to make your girlfriend happy."

Giles just stood and watched her go. His girlfriend. He could get used to that.