Honest and Crude
Part Two
When the clock past half ten and began to approach eleven Buffy had had enough. She was tempted to just leave but she knew that he was right, if they didn't fix this now, they would pretend it never happened and never fix it. It would become just one more rift between them. Snoring could still be heard from above, that had made her chuckle. Giles was always so reserved that him snoring like a bear was extremely funny to her.
As it reached quarter to eleven she summoned all her courage and headed upstairs. She paused at the entry to his bedroom, entranced by the mostly undressed man in front of her. Glancing anywhere but his broad naked chest she looked down only to find his t-shirt from last night flung at her feet, scanning the room she saw his sweat pants in a ball at the foot of the bed as if he had wriggled and kicked them off in his sleep. She was grateful that the covers hid him from just above his belly button, she didn't know how she would react if she had appeared to find him completely naked, as the foot sticking out the bottom of the covers with his boxers hanging off it would suggest that he was.
Taking a deep breath she moved forward and placed the tray she had brought with her as a peace offering on the bedside table.
"Giles?" she called, nudging his shoulder. "Come on Giles wake up."
The snoring stopped but the only response that she got was him yanking the covers up and burying himself further into the bed.
"Wake up you stubborn sleepy head you!" she insisted shaking him.
"Sod off." came a muffled response.
"If that's what you want then fine but you asked me to stay." she huffed.
"Buffy?" he enquired, his voice still rough from sleep. He moved his head a bit to look at her but instead screwed up his eyes at the light. "God why is it so bloody light?"
"Something to do with it being eleven o'clock." she replied evenly.
"How long have you been up?" he asked, finally opening his eyes to look at her.
"A couple of hours." she replied. "I brought peace offerings". She gestured to the tray holding two mugs, two glasses and some aspirin. "I didn't know what would help so I brought everything."
He sat up slowly and rubbed his face. She smiled at his ruffled hair before her eyes strayed briefly to the ones on his chest and stomach again. He shifted the covers up a bit awkwardly.
"Sorry, I seem to be a bit uh..."
"Naked?" she grinned. "I noticed, not that I saw anything but you know...the clothes on the floor..."
"When the world stops spinning I will rectify that problem." he apologised.
"Tea? Coffee? Aspirin?" she offered.
"Coffee please." he said gratefully. "Thank you."
She hovered by the bed for a moment uncertainly before he tilted his head towards the bed. She looked uncertain.
"I don't mind, you shouldn't stand there making the room look a mess." he told her. "Or if you're uncomfortable give me a moment and I'll be downstairs."
She moved to sit on the bed next to him. She was nervous but decided that being this close to him wasn't something she could pass up. She shuffled around until she sat next to him with her back against the headboard.
"You're horrifyingly awake this morning." he commented.
"Slayer healing and metabolism." she grinned. "Has its perks."
"How fortunate for you." he muttered taking another sip of his coffee.
"Sooo...we're good?" she asked after a few moments of silence. He closed his eyes for a moment and remembered some of the things he had said to her.
"I'm sorry Buffy, I should never have been so crude. I assure you that I am sufficiently appalled with myself." he told her. "My slayer having to order me to bed because I can't handle my drink...I shall never live that down."
She let out a sigh. He was sorry. He didn't truly want her, he was appalled...just as she suspected that he would be.
"Hey it's no big." she shrugged with as much cheer as she could force up.
"You do know you can't fool me for a second don't you?" he asked looking sideways at her. "That wouldn't have fooled even Anya."
"No, it's all good. Really." she assured him.
"Buffy, if we're going to have that talk you need to be honest with me." he sighed.
"That talk?" she squeaked out.
"If you don't want to discuss it then all you need do is say that it isn't what you want." he told her honestly.
"What isn't what I want?" she asked not entirely following where he was going. Did he mean he wanted to talk about them? As in...them a couple them?
"You mentioned that that kind of relationship between us had crossed your mind before, is that true?" he asked.
"Well...yes but that doesn't mean you have to do anything about it. I never expected that either of us would ever..." she spoke so quietly, he knew that it was dangerous ground for both of them.
"Buffy...the relationship we have is very important to me, changing it is a big risk to that...if something should go wrong it could ruin our friendship permanently. It's an extremely big risk but I fear that after last night, if what both of us said was true then it may be more damaging not to do anything." he said honestly. Buffy's gaze shifted from her own hands gradually across the covers and then his chest until she reached his face. It was there, the longing she had seen for the first time last night.
"I..." she froze up. She wasn't sure what to say. She was sure that knowing her as well as he did, he could see in her eyes what she saw in his. After all, she was sat on his bed with him, he was naked under those covers and she was still in yesterday's clothes. There was an intimacy in this morning that couldn't be taken back. She could tell him that she loved him, but he knew that. She had loved him for a long time, the love she felt had simply changed into a similar but different love. She could tell him that she wanted him but he could see that, he had seen it last night as drunk as he was, so he could certainly tell now. Instead they seemed to come to some silent agreement that things had changed between them and there was no changing back.
So when he passed her his empty mug to put on the bedside table she did so without a word and then turned back to him, shuffling across the bed until she leant against his side comfortably and he lifted his arm to allowed her that.
"You have a spare set on clothes in the cupboard next to the bathroom." he told her after a while gesturing to the clothes she still wore.
"I knew they were somewhere but they used to be in a bag by the coat stand so I didn't know where they'd gone." she said rolling her eyes. "If I'd have known that I'd have had a shower ages ago."
"You still can." he assured her. "Did you find anything to eat?"
"Nope, fridge was pretty bare." she told him. "That was one of my main reasons for waking you. As much as I don't feel like eating, being the slayer means my stomach overrules me."
"Well that won't do." he said decisively. "We'd better go have a rather large and unhealthy lunch then. After showering of course."
"And clothes might be a good idea." she nodded towards the covers.
"Well yes of course." he agreed before lifting his arm from her shoulders and shuffling around in the bed. He tugged his boxers on under the covers and looked over at his slayer. "Come on then, best get to it or we'll never get around to lunch before someone tracks us down."
With that they both headed downstairs. Buffy went to the cupboard to dig out some spare clothes and he went to grab an extra towel for her from the other cupboard.
She eagerly headed into the bathroom and made haste in stripping off yesterday's clothes and throwing them into the hamper.
After a bit of thought on his part Giles decided that instead of waiting, he would simply join her. She looked a bit surprised when he shifted the shower curtain and stepped into the shower behind her but said nothing to protest. He didn't miss the blush that stained her cheeks before she turned away from him to soap herself.
"I thought I'd save us some time." he told her, placing his hands on her hips and drawing her back to him and lowering his head to kiss her shoulder.
"You need a better shower." she said after a moment of silence. "This one is over a bathtub and it's not powerful at all. How can I wash my hair when the water is just dribbling on me?"
"The one in the wet room upstairs is better." he chuckled.
"Then why are we down here?" she frowned.
"Because you didn't ask." he replied. The couple washed themselves and got dressed with little conversation. If this were a movie he'd have kissed her breathless under the water and they'd have made love against the wall or on the bathroom floor. In reality, the bathroom wall would've been slippery and the bathroom floor was too small to comfortably do anything on. Besides which they weren't in a hurry. He kissed her before they left his house, not locking the door behind him despite her protests.
He took her hand and they walked to a diner two blocks over, she revelled in the warmth that his touch brought her. So simple but it meant everything to her.
Giles was equally delighted with the new development, thanking every higher power he could think of for the gift he'd been given.
"Buffy that burger is positively enormous." he commented when their food arrived. "You can't possibly fit all that in."
"Watch me, Watcher." she grinned before tucking in. He followed her lead and took a bite of his own lunch. He'd ordered a big breakfast plate as it was as close to a good old fry up as he would get.
Sure enough Buffy polished off every bite of her food before the two left the diner.
"What happens now?" she asked as they headed back to his hand in hand.
"That very much depends on what you want to happen now." he replied evenly. "And Dawn of course."
"I...I'm not sure exactly. I mean this isn't something I want to keep from anyone so I'll obviously tell her but...I want you to be there with us all the time and I'm not sure that she's ready for that kind of change right now." she sighed.
"Buffy, we can spend plenty of time together without making any permanent arrangements right now. Perhaps get your sister's opinion? Let her feel like she is being involved." he suggested. "What time is Dawn coming home?"
"Not really sure, Xander just said he'd take her for the night and she seems to be better with him than me." she replied following him inside. "I...I can't replace mom for her. I'm not her favourite person right now, she practically hates me and I don't know why..."
"Have you tried asking her?" he suggested.
"You mean like a grown up? Now why would I think to do that?" she asked sarcastically. They stepped back inside his front door and she sighed deeply. "How am I going to do this Giles?"
"One day at a time." he said gently, before sliding his arms around her and kissing her thoroughly. His mouth possessed hers, thrusting his tongue into her mouth as he held her tighter. His mouth's actions providing her with a delicious image of what his body could do to hers.
"Make it better" she panted as he pulled back. "You said you can't make it go away but you can make me forget for a minute."
"I rather hope more than a minute." he murmured, his tongue trailing down her throat to her collar bone. He groaned as her body pressed against him involuntarily.
Buffy felt slightly guilty that barely more than a week after her mother's death she was finding such pleasure. Only twenty four hours after burying her Mother she was letting someone undress her. But she had wanted him for so long, thought of him this way for nearly two years. She knew that her mother wouldn't want her to be miserable. Her mother would want happiness for her, even if it was Giles that made her happy.
Her mother had never truly seen eye to eye with him but she had known that Giles always put her first and protected her life above all others. She wouldn't be thrilled to learn of this twist in their relationship but she would at least understand. With that thought the worst of her guilt left her and allowed her to focus on the strong hands sliding across her hips and stomach and lifting her top.
"Hey Giles have you seen-Buffy! Giles...and Buffy, Buffy and Giles...oh God my eyes!" Xander's voice burst out as the door swung open.
"Xander you're blocking the door!" Anya's voice followed.
"What happened to your eyes?" Dawn asked.