Chapter 6

Training

Dawn was pacing. She just knew something was going to happen. And something did. The phone rang. She snatched it off the cradle before the second ring.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Dawn?"

"Ohmygod. Buffy! How's England? Is it fun? Did you beat any Watchers?"

In Bath, Buffy held the phone a foot from her ear and laughed.

"Dawn, slow down. England's fine so far, yes it's fun, and I scared a few Watchers. How's everything on the Hellmouth? No baddies yet?"

Dawn hesitated and looked around. Tara was waiting by the stove, and Willow hadn't heard Dawn's exclamation of "Buffy!", so she wasn't in the room. Yet.

"Everything is..." Dawn looked at Tara again.

"Dawn? What's wrong?" Buffy asked, tightening her grip on the receiver. Giles placed a hand on her shoulder and she leaned into him. She heard the phone change hands.

"Buffy?"

"Tara. What's the matter?"

"Nothing."

"Not according to Dawn. She clammed up. Spill."

Across the ocean, Tara looked around nervously and said quietly,

"It's Willow. She's...intense about you and Giles leaving."

"What did she do?" Buffy asked with a sigh. Giles squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. He could hear what Tara was saying.

"It's-it's not what she'd done per se..."

"Tara."

"She was blaming herself at first. Then she started saying you should b-be greatf-ful that sh-she brought you b-back." Buffy dropped the phone and squeezed her hands into fists so hard, blood came from her palms. Giles picked up the phone and grabbed a towel for her hands.

"Tara, is Willow near you?"

"N-no, why?"

"Listen very carefully..."

As he began telling Tara what was going to happen with Willow, Buffy was messing with the wounds on her hands. For ten little fingernail marks, they bled a lot. But her Slayer healing kicked in halfway through the phone discussion and slowed the blood while the skin began repairing itself under a quick forming scab

"-so we're doing this no the-Hey Willow." Tara said nervously. Giles sighed.

"Who ya talkin' to?" Willow asked as she went to the fridge.

"Just someone from school." Dawn said. "Marie called and wanted to know if I could spend the night at her house. Tara's talkin' to her mom."

"Cool. Have fun Dawnie." Tara and Dawn sighed in relief as Willow went out the front door.

"In two weeks?"

"Mabey a little longer."

"How are we going to keep that from Willow?"

"Shield it. She's a danger Tara." There was a silence in Sunnydale.

"All right," Tara said. "Call us the second you know more?"

"Of course."

"Bye Giles."

"No! I want to talk to Buffy!" Dawn ran around the island and grabbed the phone out of a startled Tara's hand. "Buffy?"

"Yeah mutchkin?"

"Um, since you've called, can I, you know, call tomorrow?" Buffy looked at Giles and he nodded, smiling.

"Sure squirt."

"I'm taller then you, you know."

"Shut up, do your work. Stay out of trouble and away from demons." Dawn rolled here eyes.

"Yes mom."

"I'm serious Dawn."

"I know."

"Later Dawnie," Buffy said before hanging up. She grabbed her Watcher's hand and held it to her chest, clenched in her own. Shocked, he didn't moved for a few moments. Then he stood next to her, and wrapped his other arm around her waist, pulling her to him.

"It'll be all right."

"Are you sure?"

"No."

A thought suddenly accord to her. "Giles?"

"Hmm?"

"What about the Hellmouth?"

"It'll be fine Buffy. The others are taking care of it, as we arranged before we left."

"But Willow..."

"Shan't do anything to attract demons."

"And that Council guy doesn't care that I'm here?"

"You need to be here." Buffy nodded and closed her eyes. Feeling the power of her Watcher comforted her. She didn't feel his magic per se, but the raw power he possessed, the power that made him a skilled fighter and sent her to him for healing or comfort, the power that helped him keep Ripper and Rupert apart, the same power that stemmed from her own.

She relaxed completely, the first time for a long while, and let her conscious mind drift away, leaving only the Slayer. Sensing the change, Giles said nothing. Buffy extended her senses and felt something insider her stir, but she didn't falter. Her "spider senses" sent a shiver down her spine as she reached farther. The Slayer locked onto the thing that had been bothering her since arriving in the outskirts of Bath.

"Demon," she growled.

"Are you sure?" he asked before flushing at the glare he received.

"How far are we from the main part of Bath?"

"About twenty minutes."

"There's a cluster of demons a few miles from here." She pulled away from him and headed for her room, working on autopilot. Buffy wasn't in the house, only the Slayer.

Giles went into his room and pulled on his slaying clothing, all black, strong and comfortable. Black pants, boots, t-shirt and a black leather jacket. Minutes later, Buffy, dressed in a similar way, stood in the hall as his door opened.

"Ready?" She nodded. He grabbed a bag of weapons from beside his bedroom door and lead her through the house and into the nearby forest.

An hour later, Buffy and Giles returned to the house, tired, filthy and content.

The Slayer was settled, the raging sense of demons having been lowered to awareness, and the Watcher was glad to have helped take care of some demons and work beside his Slayer once more. He could tell she was more relaxed then she had been since before her death.

"I can't believe I didn't notice them before!" Buffy groused as Giles shut the door. She dropped the weapon bag and shrugged out of her jacket.

"Buffy, if you must persist this self-punishment, I beg of you to go where I cannot hear," he said, having heard the grousing for nearly twenty minutes. While it was a good sign she was grousing, he knew that he didn't wish to hear it.

Buffy stared at him for a few moments before sniffing and giving him an indifferent look. She held the look for thirty seconds before laughing.

"I wish you could see the look on your face."

"Ha bloody ha." Giles hung his jacket and mock glared at her. She sniffed again in fake hurt before laughing and walking over to him.

"Giles," she said softly while placing a hand on his cheek. He sucked in a shocked breath but didn't move for fear of running her back into the dark place.

"My Giles," she whispered fiercely. "Mine."

"Always," he also whispered, knowing their relationship changed once more. But for better or worse, he wasn't sure. He hoped it was for the better.

"Love you," she said, barely touching the words before placing a feather light kiss on his lips.

Shocked yet happy, he loosely wrapped an arm around her waist and held her to him.

She moaned lightly and, carefully, placed a hand in his hair, at the back of his head.

"Buffy," he sighed, pulling away after a minute to breath.

"Rupert?" she asked, afraid of having done something wrong. Had she misread his returned actions? "Are you mad at me?" she asked in a frightened whisper.

"No dear heart, I'm not mad," he said, cupping her cheek. She looked up at him and willed away the tears.

"Then why-"

"Shh, we can talk about it in the morning. You need sleep now." She nodded and clutched his hand as he led her through the now familiar hallways. They both went into their separate rooms and changed before awkwardly meeting in the hall.

"Can...can I stay with you?" she asked coyly. He nodded and held out a hand. Clutching the hand once more, she followed him into the bedroom and softly closed the door behind them.

They both climbed into the bed and he spooned around her protectively. She turned and placed her cheek on his chest with a content sigh. The couple was asleep in minutes.

Training with the magical sword was hard and Buffy found out the next afternoon. The sword was drawn to both the Slayer's powers and Giles' magic, which meant even harder training with something that should only be attracted to Giles, which was what usually happened when she trained with magical weapons. Well, she'd only trained with them twice, but that was beside the point.

"Enough," Giles said. Buffy sighed in relief and sat the sword on the nearby bench and grabbed a bottle of water from beside her bag. She'd worked hard, following his directions as best as she could. It wasn't easy to do when the thing you wanted to slash at was you partner and not the dummy.

"You need to work on wielding the sword Buffy, not just gripping it." She slowly lowered her water bottle and glared at him, her temper controlled by threads.

"Do you want to try it for a while. It' not easy ya know," she growled. He sighed, knowing her temper stemmed from the night before.

"Mabey we should go inside to talk," he suggested. With a nod, he turned and went into the house. Giles looked at the sky and prayed he'd be able to survive the discussion.

Buffy sat in a armchair, arms crossed, waiting. He sat in the opposing armchair.

"Well?" she asked.

"Buffy, I don't know what you want." The blank expression feel from her face and she gave him a sad look.

"I though I made that clear last night." She caught something flicker in his eyes and shook her head. "You don't think I meant what I said. You think I just want sex."

"Buffy..."

"Don't Giles, it's written all over your face," she said quietly. He stood, took the few steps separating their chairs, and knelt before her.

"That is not it dear heart. I need to know if this-" he gestures between them. "-is just something that will last while we are here in England."

"NO! I couldn't do that!" she exclaimed, sliding off the chair in the process. "Please believe me Giles, it's not like that," she pleaded, her eyes glassing with tears.

"I believe you Buffy, I believe you." He rocked her shaking form for ten minutes before she sagged, nearly asleep. He placed her on the couch and covered her small frame before picking up the cordless and going back outside. It was time to call an old friend.

AN: Sorry for the wait. I'm going through writter's block at the moment. And just before school lets out too...sigh The evil muses must be laughing their heads off.