author: Lucinda

rating: pg 13

main characters: Rupert Giles, Grandpa Munster

disclaimer: you know they aren't mine.

distribution: Twisting & Mental Wanderings

notes: Twisting's FfA pairing # 755.

Rupert Giles shivered as he walked back towards the parking lot. He'd had to meet one of his contacts here, at the beach because Adam Peirson had become convinced that some of his colleagues had flipped their wigs and were looking for boogey-men inside their organization. Considering that, the last thing that he'd wanted was to be overheard talking about Mesopotamian demons. Come to think of it, Adam never had explained where he'd learned some of what he knew...

Unfortunately, their discussion had taken rather longer than he'd expected. The sun had already set, and while he wasn't aware of anything particularly dangerous dwelling on this little strip of beach, it couldn't hurt to be cautious. In fact, if he wasn't careful enough, it could hurt quite a lot.

As if his worry had summoned something, there was a loud roar, and a large shape loomed over him. It smelled of smoke, and lizard, and one taloned foot struck at his head before everything went black.

Chasing after Spot, Grandpa growled rude sounding things under his breath. "Didn't we tell you to keep him on his leash if you brought him out of the house? Who knows what Spot's up to now?"

"Sorry, Grandpa." Eddie offered, running over the sand. "We're getting closer. I can smell him up ahead."

"And blood... stupid dragon..." Putting on a bit more speed, he raced over the sand dune. "Spot!"

The dragon froze, hanging his head guiltily over the fallen man on the sand. The scent of blood was thick in the air, but not heavy enough to indicate a fatal wound.

Eddie moved over, scolding the dragon even as he fastened the chain back onto the heavy leather collar. "Now look what you've done, Spot. How many times have we told you not to attack people? What if he'd had a gun and shot you? What if you catch some sort of disease from him? Bad Spot."

Bending closer, Grandpa discovered that the injuries weren't too bad, considering. The man's arm was broken, and cut, and there was a small scrape on his temple, but it wasn't too bad. But there was something else. "I know who this is. He's that shop keeper from the Hellmouth."

"Is that good, Grandpa?" Eddie asked, pulling Spot closer.

"Mmmm. Depends on if there's going to be an angry Slayer searching for him. This does look a bit incriminating." Slowly, he murmured a few words, and the bones of the man's arm reset with an audible click. "I think we'd best take him home and make sure nothing else happens to him."

It took much longer to get back to the car than it had to catch Spot. Herman and Lily were loading the picnic baskets back into the car, and Marylin was shaking the sand out of the blankets.

Lily looked over at him, frowning. "Dad, you know that you're not supposed to go catch your own dinner, we brought plenty."

"Spot tried to catch him. Grandpa said he's from the Hellmouth!" Eddie exclaimed, tugging at Spot.

"Uh oh. Now what?" Herman asked, looking uneasy.

"We take him home, bandage him up, and hope that we can explain before he panics." Grandpa shrugged, and then smiled. "Maybe I can place a special order for a few things while he's here..."

"Let's hope everything works out then." Herman muttered as they climbed into the car. The retired hearse sputtered a few times and then they were on their way home.

To his surprise, Rupert Giles woke up. Considering that the last thing he remembered was being charged by a dragon, even if it had been a rather small one, this was unexpected. His arm ached, and his head throbbed, and there was sand in his mouth.

Carefully, he opened his eyes, trying to figure out what had happened. There was a stone wall to his left, and solid beams of wood supporting a stone ceiling. A skeleton hung on the wall across from him, and there were cobwebs in the corners. Carefully, he turned his head to look around. A table full of beakers, glass tubes and a small Bunsen burner bubbled with something pale green, and wisped steam into the air. A figure with gray hair and a long black cloak bent over the end of the table.

It all looked rather like something from an overdone horror movie.

Blinking, he glanced at his arm, noticing the splint and the bandages. So, someone had tried to patch him up after the dragon had attacked him. He just wasn't certain what had happened to the dragon. Or how he'd gotten here, or quite where here was. "Bloody hell."

"Ah, you're awake." The figure turned around, every bit as classic vampire as the room seemed classic dungeon-laboratory. "How's your head?"

For a moment, he tried to sort out his thoughts, including the conflict of vampire equals bad and the feeling that the vampire in question looked familiar. "A bit painful. It doesn't feel like a concussion, but still..."

"Fourteen stitches." The vampire nodded, and tapped the table beside him. "Much easier to get those in while you were still out, by the way. And I do apologize about Spot."

Blinking, Rupert tried to make that last sentence make sense. He did remember where he'd encountered the vampire before - shopping in the Magic Box with his lovely, normal seeming granddaughter Marylin. "The dragon?"

"We've told Eddie that he needs to keep Spot on a leash any time he takes him out, but he slipped the chain." There was a small shrug, and he poured a few strange liquids into a beaker, and dropped in a pinch of powder. There was a puff of pale smoke, and the resulting orange fluid bubbled slightly. "Here, this should help with the headache. I figured that it would be easier to patch you up myself rather than trying to find a hospital."

Gingerly, he accepted the beaker. It smelled faintly like oranges and the aftermath of a lightning strike. Closing his eyes, he took a swallow, and it felt like every cell of his body gasped and sputtered. "That's powerful stuff."

"Come on upstairs, you might want a bite to eat. And there's a phone if you need to call someone and let them know you've been delayed." With that, Sam Dracula moved towards a stone stairway that covered the wall to the right.

"Yes, that does sound good." To his surprise, he didn't wobble at all as he stood up. Maybe he should ask just what had been in that potion? As he contemplated the ingredients of some of the potions he'd mixed, he decided that he'd rather not know. "You and your granddaughter?"

"And Eddie who owes you an apology about his pet, and my charming daughter Lily and her husband, the big lug."

As Rupert walked up to more strangeness, he reflected that this was better than being eaten by a dragon, and warmer than the beach had been. Things could have been much worse.

end Beaches Aren't Safe.