CHAPTER TWELVE
i We come into this world alone
From the heart of darkness
The infinite unknown
We're only here a little while
And I feel safe and warm
When I see you smile
Baby don't move away from me
Baby don't pull away
The Corrs - Intimacy /i
"Are you sure you don't need help? Willow asked as Giles shooed her out of the Magic Box, along with Tara and Anya.
"Ceara and I can close up here," Giles insisted. Aidan and Dawn shouldn't be alone at the house. You and Tara can continue the research there with Cordy, Anya and Xander. Wesley, Buffy and Angel are examining the movie theatre those three kids disappeared from this afternoon."
Tara took hold of Willow's hand. "B-B-Buffy doesn't want Dawn to be alone."
"Of course, but I think you and I should join Buffy. Anya, Cordy and Xander can do research...or Cordy and Anya can snipe at each other." Willow shot Anya a warning look seeing the hostile look in Any's eyes at the mention of Cordy.
"Giles and Ceara can join them. I think Spike is probably looking out for Dawn," Tara added and Giles nodded his agreement.
Willow glanced over at Anya who had circled back to the cash register. "Let's go, Anya."
"But I haven't finished counting the money," Anya said crossly.
"I can handle the day's receipts," Giles said. "While Ceara does some research here."
"But."
"No buts," Giles said, and Tara and Willow managed to drag Anya out of the store. Giles turned to Ceara with an apologetic look. "Thought they'd never leave."
"Nerves a bit frayed, Roo?" Ceara looked up from the display of essential oils she was perusing.
He sighed. "Not without reason."
"No." She put the clary sage bottle back. "Would you like me to go, too, or do you really need me to do research?"
"I would like it if you stay," Giles said. "If you want."
"Of course. Where are the books?"
Giles beckoned with a finger, and led her up to the second level. Giles scanned the titles, a listless look in his pale blue eyes.
"What's wrong, Rupert?" Ceara touched his shoulder. "Beyond the obvious."
"Just thinking about the might-have-beens." He turned from the books to look at her. "If only I had know."
Ceara interrupted him with a light kiss on his cheek. "I know that I hurt you, that I took something from you I'll never be able to give back."
Giles put a finger to her lips. "I know why you didn't tell me, and I know better than to waste time with what-might-have-beens."
"But it's hard not to. I know that. I do it all the time, wondering what it would have been like if we had been together. I missed you," she whispered, touching his face.
He leaned closer, brushing his lips against her. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as her lips parted. Giles' tongue eased into her mouth as he pulled her close. The kiss, long and warm, ended and another began. Ceara pulled Giles shirt out of his pants and ran a hand over his belly.
Giles' hand slipped under her shirt, fumbling with her bra closure. Didn't I used to be better at this? Ceara pushed him back against the book shelves. The old wood creaked ominously. She plucked his glasses off, setting them on the shelving. Giles sighed, giving himself over to passion too long denied.
Two broken book shelves and one set of nearly crushed glasses later, Giles found himself stretched out, perfectly sated, on one of the exercise mats in the work out area of the shop. He wondered why he hadn't thought of going there directly. Still, the sexual odyssey through the store had been fun, too. He squinted at his lover, barely able to make out the fine details of her face, having left his glasses where they had fallen.
Ceara trailed a finger through his sweat-soaked chest hair. "Was that my imagination or did the front door just open?"
Giles' eyes opened wide and only got wider when he heard Buffy calling his name. "Bloody hell! What is she doing back?"
"She sensed you were having fun." Ceara grinned.
"Giles!" Buffy's voice became more quizzical.
"Buffy, look, the bookshelf is broken," Willow's voice joined in.
"Giles! Are you hurt?"
"Damn it." Giles thrashed around trying to find his pants. "Do you see my clothing, Ceara? I can't see a bloody thing."
"His glasses are here, Buffy," Tara said.
"I think we were naked by the time we got here." Ceara's grin widened. She was enjoying this far too much for Giles' taste.
Giles saw she was right. He cracked the door open to the main part of the shop. "Um, Buffy, I'm here and I'm all right. What are you doing back?"
"Two more kids have gone missing," Buffy said. "Angel and Wes are on the trail, seeing if Angel can sniff something out. why are you hiding back there?"
"I'm...busy. Could you, Willow, and Tara give me a few minutes and wait outside, please?" Giles asked, plaintively.
"Giles, are you naked?" Buffy finally spotted boxers hanging over the railing.
"Uh...well."
"Oh, my god! I exercise in there!" the Slayer cried.
"I touched the bookshelf!" Willow backed away from the broken shelf like the books were suddenly going to eat her.
"Please, just go wait outside," Giles said exasperated. It didn't help that Ceara was giggling at him.
"Oh, just go out there," Ceara said. "You don't have anything the girls haven't seen before. If more kids are gone, we don't have time to waste." She tried to push him out the door and Giles held onto the doorframe for all he was worth.
They heard the teens' hurried exit. Giles tried his best to not be seen in the glass store fronts as he hunted the store for his clothing. Funny, how those huge windows hadn't even crossed his mind during the Bacchalian-like journey to the exercise room. He dressed, rescued his glasses and wished he didn't feel so guilty about wasting research time like this. But more over, he felt mortified, just like the time his mom walked in on him and his friends in their swinger years, and he had been too dumb to be clandestine. Thankfully, that was pre-Eyghon or who knew what would have happened.
Ceara spared him the embarrassment of signaling Buffy to return to the shop.
"Can't we talk out here?" Buffy whined.
"Rain's on the way," Ceara replied, looking at the sky. "Just tell us quick what's going on."
Giles heard the 'grow-up' in Ceara's voice. "Yes, please, Buffy, let's get to the point."
"Actually I was hoping, before we get to the point, if I could ask Ceara if she'd go back to my house. Dawn will have a fit, but I need all of the Scoobies on this and if I do that, she'll be alone in the house with Aidan and I don't want...David's been taken along with one of his friends. That's two more kids Dawn knew who've gone missing." Buffy's face was white in the garish light of the storefront.
"Ceara and I will both go," Giles said, ignoring the looks on his 'children's faces. "We can continue the book work there and make sure Dawn and Aidan are safe."
"We can put the kids to work," Ceara added.
Buffy's face softened a bit. "Thanks. I know the main hunt thing isn't your strong point, Ceara, but if you get any more messages..."
"I'll let you know."
"I just don't get why we can't get a handle on who's taking the kids," Buffy grumbled
"I've started searches on hotels and the like to see if they're people from L.A. who've just come to town," Willow said. "But they couldn't be using a hotel to do this so I've expanded the search to house rentals, warehouses and stuff but if they're working with Sunnydale natives I might never find them via the computer."
"I've already sent Angel to Willie's to see if he can beat anything loose. Spike, Cordy, Xander and Anya are at my house with Dawn doing research but I could really use them out in the field and see if we can find these boys before they die," Buffy said grimly.
"Roo and I can take over their research roles," Ceara reiterated as thunder rolled. "The weather looks like its about to make it a bitch for you to search."
"Of course," Buffy groaned. "It never rains much here but I'm sure it's about to make a big exception."
"Naturally. Come on, Roo, let's get over to Buffy's place and see what we can scare up. Maybe the others have come up with something." Ceara's face took on a hopeful cast.
"Provided Giles has any energy left." Buffy gave him a scathing look.
"I have a good deal of energy, thank you," he replied sourly.
They fell silent as they headed for the Summers' residence. Spike was the first to notice them, having been banned to the outside to smoke.
"You look shagged out, Rupert." Spike smirked, his nostrils flaring, allowing him to read the aromatic messages.
Giles just took the vampire's cigarettes out of his pocket with a glare and lit up.
"Oh, that's nice." Buffy waved a hand in front of her nose as she passed him, going into the house.
"Really, Giles." Willow looked disappointed as she and Tara went inside.
"Ignore the kiddies," Spike said, seeming happy to have someone to smoke with.
Giles said nothing, just watching them go inside. He ignored Spike's non-verbal optic demands for details. He could tell the vampire was close to exploding with curiosity. Spike was a gossip and Giles knew it. The Watcher flung the butt away when he was done and went inside.
Anya popped up, shoving her hands against her hips. "You had sex in my shop."
"Whose shop?" Giles sank into a chair, taking up a tome. "Don't worry about it, Anya, I'll fix the shelf, too."
"You're the man, Giles." Xander grinned and Cordy rolled her eyes at him.
Giles pinched the bridge of his nose, glaring over at Ceara.
"Don't look at me like that, Roo. I didn't hear you protesting either time," she reminded him, throwing more fuel on the fire.
"Twice? I'm impressed old man," Spike said, coming in shaking water off his arms. "It's pissing down out there."
"Too bad, we're going. There's too much work to do." Buffy shoved him out and her friends followed in her wake.
Giles paged through one of the books on the coffee table, not really looking at the words. "What are we missing, Ceara? We are making no headway."
"What these people are really after, that's what's missing" Ceara replied. "And why their spell to bring the Moufyng demon here isn't working."
Giles chin came up. "You know, you're right. We only scratched the surface of what the human agents are getting from trying to bring the demon here. If we knew that, maybe we could find them."
"And figure out why they need so many kids." Ceara ticked the point off on her fingers. "This is a high risk venture, taking kids, keeping them alive for a time."
"That's a curious thing. Why are they keeping them alive? What are we missing?" he asked again.
"That could be in the books or maybe on the Net," Ceara said, "Something we haven't found yet."
"It's a place to start," Giles said as foot steps sounded on the stairs. They both looked up and saw Aidan and Dawn coming down.
"Where is everyone?" Dawn asked.
"Out looking for clues," Ceara said, noticing her son giving her a look. "I'm guessing you heard."
"Hard to miss Anya," Aidan said, with a shrug, trying unsuccessfully to look uninterested. "Can we help?"
"Absolutely," Giles said. "We could use all the help we can get." He couldn't help feel a little odd and embarrassed about having Dawn and his son know about his liaison with Ceara. He wished Buffy and her friends could have been a little quieter and mature about the whole thing. It felt a bit unseemly but there was no undoing it.
They scoured through the books for hours, the rain pelting down outside. Aidan eventually curled up with a pillow and a blanket on the floor and fell asleep after Dawn, unable to stay awake, went back upstairs. It was nearly day break by the time Buffy returned. Giles took one look of her face and knew something was wrong.
She slung back her saturated hair. "While we were out there, another girl was taken," Buffy said. "Dawn's not leaving this house unescorted until this is over."
"I don't blame you nor do I envy you telling her there'll be no snowball dance," Ceara said. "I'll make similar arrangements for Aidan while we're still here.
"You could probably sequester him with Dawn and reduce the number of um...babysitters required," Giles suggested.
Buffy nodded. "That's a good idea. He'll probably keep Dawn out of trouble. Aidan seems reasonable."
Ceara laughed. "He's putting on an act to impress Rupert. Trust me, Aidan has no more good sense than Dawn."
"We'll pretend he does," Buffy replied.
"We tried to put things together, to figure out what these people are after with the kidnaping but we're still missing something," Giles said, steering them back on track when what he really wanted to was talk more about protecting Dawn and Aidan.
"We'll figure it out, Giles. We always do." Buffy smiled softly.
"I just hope you're right," Giles said, his eyes resting on his sleeping son. Buffy noticed his gaze and gave his hand a squeeze. She knew his fear, understood it, shared it. This was far too close to home.