Title: Masked desire – part 6 (Why have you brought me here - POTO)

Author: Rippertish

A/N: Hi guys! This chapter is entirely dedicated to those Phantom of the Opera (POTO) fans.

A/N2: Special thanks to mischiefmagnet for the AMAZING beta. Do not miss out on her new Buffy/Giles fic. It's bound to be priceless! :P

Buffy kept her back to him. She closed her eyes and the words seemed to come flowing to her mouth, the lines were not hers but from Phantom of the Opera.

"You have come here in pursuit of your deepest urge, in pursuit of that wish, which 'til now has been silent..."

Giles gave a step back in awe. Those words were so true. His dreams and his hidden desire... Were they so transparent to her?

Buffy turned sideways so he could see her profile but she didn't look at him and continued - her words startling him for their intensity. "I have brought you, that our passions may fuse and merge. In your mind you've already succumbed to me. Dropped all defenses, completely succumbed to me."

The penny dropped and now Giles understood, she was declaiming the words from one of the Phantom's songs.

She continued, quietly but firmly and sure of her words: "Now you are here with me, no second thoughts, you've decided…"

She turned her back to him once again, in an almost dramatic way. "Past the point of no return, no backward glances. Our games of make believe are at an end. Past all thought of 'if' and 'when', no use resisting."

Indeed, the time for 'if' and 'when' was long past. Buffy was resolved. The truth was about to be unveiled, breaking their magical spell and ending this treacherous game of make believe.

Everything seemed so surreal, so dramatic and theatrical. So peculiarly beautiful. Giles felt completely overwhelmed. Could this woman be the one to carry and give his soul the peace it searched for? It had been such a long time since he last felt this longing for someone. Was it possible to feel empty but at the same time so complete?

His heart ached for Buffy as it hadn't ever before; but his soul, his entire being, was lured to Bianca. He was no fool, this feeling was mature, deep and undeniable.

What mysteries would this night disclose to him?

Giles gave a few steps forward almost completely closing the distance between them but he didn't touch her. Her back was mere inches from his chest and she heard the voice coming from him above her. It was soft and his words took the song where she had left. "Abandon thoughts, and let the dream descend."

She hesitated. "What raging fire shall flood the soul?" She dropped her head in despair.

"What rich desire unlock its door?" he replied on cue, lowering his mouth over her ear while nearly whispering the words. His heat radiated towards her like never before.

Buffy's voice came out shakily, uncertain, pleading. "What sweet seduction lies before us?"

His hands found the back of hers but only the tip of his fingers grazed her skin. He trailed them slowly, very slowly, up her arms. Goosebumps awakened on their path, causing pleasurable shudders.

He continued his low murmurs, making Buffy's resolve weaker with each passing second. "Past the point of no return, the final threshold. What warm, unspoken secrets will we learn?"

Her words came as her own whisper into the charged air of the room. "Beyond the point of no return..."

His hands kept traveling their pathway up her arms. "You have brought me to that moment where words run dry..."

His fingers found her neck and sensuously caressed her skin. "To that moment where speech disappears into silence..."

His head lowered and his breath warmed and teased the sensitive skin between her shoulder and neck. "I have come here, hardly knowing the reason why."

Buffy shivered as his caress sent a electrifying shot down her spine to the most intimate part of her. "In my mind, I've already imagined our bodies entwining," she confessed.

"Defenseless and silent," he completed over her neck. The tip of his fingers ran lightly over her collarbone and inched lower to draw indecipherable patterns on her chest, which now rose and fell quickly due to her uneven breathing. He traced the curves of her cleavage causing her to gasp quietly. "And now I am here with you. No second thoughts, I've decided..."

His hands came to rest on her waist gently and he slowly turned her to face him. "Past the point of no return, no going back now." He held her hands and took steps backwards bringing them closer to the large and smartly decorated bed.

Her head remained lowered, eyes trained nervously toward the floor.

"Our passion play has now, at last, begun," he said, lifting her face to him with a tender touch. He traced her lips with his fingers as if in a daze. Her lips were full and they parted in awe. "Past all thought of right or wrong..." he whispered, finally taking hold of the lace knot that held her mask in place.

His actions seemed to break the seductive spell, bringing Buffy crashing back into reality.

"No!" she blurted, interrupting him. She spun away from him violently, putting the distance of half the room's length between them. She lowered her head once again, gripping the edge of the table in front of her for reassurance.

Giles stood, still and silent. He watched her, not understanding the change in her behaviour. What had he done to cause such a reaction? Was Bianca so afraid to show him her face?

xxx

A/N: The entire dialogue was extracted from POTO's "Point of no return". I changed the name of the previous chapter for "Wishing you were somehow here again" and adopted "Why have you brought me here" as title of this chapter, hence I thing "Point of no return" title should be saved for one of the chapters to come. Gutter feeling, that's all. :)

A/N2: Hi again guys! This chapter was a bit of a stretchy just to add some more fantasy, Phantom fantasy to be more specific and to start spicing the things up... However, I did promise to write this fic under T-rating and I'll keep my promise. Otherwise I'll have not a single non-M-rated fic in my CV. hihi But... it doesn't mean that they won't share some breathtaking smuts either. After all... It's Buffy and Giles goodness that we are talking about. hihihi And my keyboard, obviously! hihihi

xoxo,

Rippertish