She wakes in her bed early on Sunday morning to rain against her windows. She flops back against her pillows, flinging the covers over her head as she tries to ignore the pitter bouncing off the glass. Her valiant effort is for nought as the rain starts to pound outside. She folds the covers off of her face to glare at the blinds and windows beyond before glancing at her alarm clock. Ten past eight.
She isn't a morning person and Rupert is well aware of this fact.
Stretching to ease her muscles, Jenny rolls onto the side and finds the other half of her bed empty.
She listens to her apartment for a moment, discerning if she can hear movement in the living room. She's achey from ice skating and muscles long forgotten are making themselves known. She doesn't regret cajoling Rupert onto the ice though, he'd been more graceful than expected. Then, again, he spent the better part of the last decade training a slayer. They'd done a few laps of the rink holding hands before she'd decided to pull ahead to spin. And promptly fell on her ass.
He'd pulled her up with an adoring smile. He'd looked like he wanted to kiss but settled for tucking her coat around her. The rink was starting to fill up and they decided it was time to return their skates and get the requisite pictures in front of the tree. Rupert bought a postcard for Buffy.
They'd decided to head back towards the subway when they passed a photo booth and Jenny pulled him inside. She felt impulsive and heady for the first time in years and wanted to capture the moment. She'd pushed him onto the stool and sat on his lap as his arm wrapped around her waist to hold her in place. The flash had encased them once before Jenny shifted to one of his knees, bringing their faces level, her hands cupping the back of his head. The flash went off again as they stared at each other for a beat. He looked so happy and she couldn't help thinking it was because of her. They leant in and a third flash captured their lips touching. The fourth flash saw Jenny fall into the kiss, catching his lower lip between hers.
She has no idea how long they spent in the booth but by the time someone cleared their throat, their photos were dry and waiting for them in the dispenser. She and Rupert looked suitably chastised as the older man who interrupted them cocked an eyebrow as they made a hasty getaway towards the trains. The train was busier than the night before, with families travelling home from a day in the city or people on their way home from work, which meant Jenny leant against Rupert as he held on to the side rail.
By the time they reached her apartment, they were so keyed up she was already backing up against her hallway wall before the door shut behind him.
Are you sure?
I dare you to stop.
Jenny smiles as the memories come back to her of him pressing her into the mattress as they made love. The only time they parted was to eat dinner and that was with her sitting in his jumper and underwear on the sofa as they enjoyed the eggs on toast he made.
Well, it's not like her resolve was that strong when it comes to Rupert.
She runs her hand over the side of the bed he slept on. It's slightly warm, so recently vacated. She sits up and reaches for his jumper draped over the end of the bed before pulling on her pyjama shorts. She haphazardly pins her hair up with a clip while heading for the bathroom, where she brushes her teeth.
Exiting the bathroom, she finds Rupert re-entering her bedroom carrying two steaming cups. She beams at him as his eyes travel over her homely appearance and legs. She pads over to him and he holds out a cup. Her fingers brush his as she accepts it, absorbing its warmth on the cool morning and appreciatively smelling the rich coffee wafting up to her nose.
"Morning," he says, leaning down to peck her lips.
"Mmm, colegate kisses," Jenny murmurs when they pull back. She has no idea how she slept through him using the bathroom. He's wearing his bedclothes, too, a dark blue tee and pin-striped pyjama bottoms. She distinctly remembers he was naked when they finally succumbed to sleep. "Not so great with coffee."
"Not with tea either," Rupert grimaces. His eyes fall to her bare legs again. "Aren't you cold?"
"A little," she admits. She puts her coffee on the bedside table and climbs back into her recently vacated bed. "Thought I might get back into bed to stay warm. Are you joining me?"
"You had sex."
Jenny sputters around the sip of coffee she's just taken as Laura announces her love life to those within earshot. Jenny coughs as she holds her cup away from her so as not to spill down her jumper. Choking averted, Jenny aims her widened eyes at her friend who has very little control over her speaking volume.
"How the hell do you know that?" She asks in a hushed whisper. Yes, she and Rupert spent the better part of Sunday making love. Not that she would, but she hasn't told Laura that or had the chance to tell Laura that.
"Oh, please, that dreamy look in your eye. Either he's just that charming or he's that good between the sheets," Laura concludes. She steps up to the counter to pour herself a cup of coffee from the cafeteria that ticks over in the faculty room. Jenny leans her hip against the counter so they can have this conversation in relative privacy while their colleagues gather the mail from their pigeonholes before classes begin.
"He's both," Jenny reluctantly admits, feeling her face go bright red, internally chastising herself.
She never used to be like this. It's not like she's some blushing virgin; she's had sex. She's had sex with Rupert before. She doesn't know why yesterday felt different, more poignant. It was familiar yet new all at once. Rupert knew every inch of her body and it was clear he remembered just how to touch her. Her body certainly remembered him.
"It was raining yesterday, so we spent the day in the apartment," Jenny explains. "One thing led to another."
Jenny tries to look as innocent as possible. After spending the morning in her bed, they lay entwined on the sofa bed watching old movies in between discussing recent research they'd both been doing. They barely stopped touching each other, refamiliarizing themselves with each other after so long apart.
"Uh-huh," Laura laughs, not believing Jenny's coyness for a second. "Am I ever going to meet him?"
"When does your last class finish?" Jenny asks. "Rupert is meeting me here and we're having an early dinner if you want to join us."
"I am free from five," Laura tells her, her tone broking no argument. "My last class practically teaches itself, letting the students debate Dickens around the holidays is always a good way to end the day." She stirs creamer and sugar into her coffee.
"What is he doing after you've left him to his own devices?" Her colleague asks when Jenny remains silent.
"He's got some work to do this morning, but I think he plans to head over to the Morgan Library this afternoon."
After her shower this morning, Jenny found him looking at printouts he bought with him from Sunnydale. Willow had gotten the information for him while he was planning his trip. There was also the small matter of demon activity in the city or lack thereof, that Buffy asked him to look into. She was determined to get it resolved before she and Dawn went another round on why Dawn couldn't move to New York on her own.
"You know Buffy has a list of pros and cons about New York," Rupert tells her over tea and toast.
"Which side am I on?"
"You're definitely one of the pros," Rupert says in that throw-away charming way of his when he doesn't realise he's being charming. Which is what Jenny finds charming in a whole other way. "She seems to think with you here, means I'll be here more, too."
"So am I a pro by association or a pro by myself?"
"What does he do? You said he used to be a librarian, the Morgan library will be like heaven to him, but what's he doing in England?"
"Oh, research mainly," Jenny answers as she heads over to her pigeonhole. "He consults quite a lot and splits his time between Bath and Sunnydale."
She glances at Laura as she sorts through her mail, a slight frown on her face as though she's not listening. "You okay?"
Laura blinks and looks up at Jenny, realising her slip. "Of course, just thinking."
She pockets one of the letters she separated from her pile. "I've just remembered I promised to go through thesis proposals with a couple of students before class this morning, I've got to run. I'll see you this evening, my dear."
Laura bundles up her books, mail and coffee before bustling out of the staff room. Jenny watches her go, absolutely confused by her friend's behaviour.
"Summer's residence," Buffy answers the phone.
"Buffy," Rupert chirps.
"Hey, Giles, how's the big apple?"
"Very nice, feels a bit like London on a larger scale," he comments. "I'm on my way to a library museum."
"You know how to live it up, you know that?" Buffy grouses at him.
"You can take the librarian out of the library but not the other way around, I'm afraid," Giles jokes to her.
Buffy rolls her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, how's Miss Calendar?"
"Jenny's good," he breathes out. "She's, um, very good."
"Oh my god, you guys kissed," Buffy pulls a face, feeling like she's back in high school. She figures they've done more than a kiss, only she doesn't want to focus on Giles's sex life, so she takes his silence for admission. Giles deserves this, someone for himself. "I'm happy for you."
"Thank you," her watcher responds after a moment. "We haven't worked everything out. We will have what we can when we can and figure it out as we go."
Buffy smiles into the receiver. She's never known anyone to love or understand Giles like Miss Calendar does. Or anyone who makes him as happy as Miss Calendar does. She brought a side of Giles with such ease, intuitively knowing what he needed even if he didn't.
"So, is this your call to tell me you're extending your stay?"
"What?" For a man so brilliant, he can get confused. "Oh, no, well, Jenny and I haven't discussed that but, um, well, we haven't discussed it."
Buffy shakes her head. Utterly clueless and adorkable, she guesses the only reason they haven't discussed extending his stay is because they're both too scared of posing the question, not because it isn't something they don't want. Especially if their reunion is going as well as Buffy suspects it is.
"I'm actually calling as I think I've finally found something about why New York is so quiet, demon and vampire-wise." His voice sounds distant as though he's reading something as he's on the phone.
Buffy, however, perks up. "I am all ears, give me something to throw at Dawn the next time she starts expounding the virtues of NYC."
"Well, I'm not sure it's something you can use. But, apparently, demon activity was rife about five years ago then it started declining to next to nothing."
"You mean they all moved out of the city?"
"There was nothing significant, not in New York. I met with some of the Watchers here this morning; they weren't entirely helpful but said they've been tracking the activity for some time. Demons started migrating away from New York nearly five years ago, no one knows why and none of their sources are particularly forthcoming."
"So, they all upped and left for no reason?" Buffy frowned. "You don't think anyone started chipping demons and vampires in New York as the military did in Sunnydale, do you?"
"I haven't seen evidence to suggest that either," Giles muses. "There would be a sense of panic if there was. Curious, though."
"Curious? It means that there's something strong enough to spook everything else that goes bump in the night, Giles," Buffy's voice rises in pitch as she becomes more worked up.
"But it's not bringing attention to itself, there would be reports to support its presence if it was which makes me wonder if it's benign or unintentional."
"You mean whoever or whatever it is doesn't realise it's made that much of a difference? Or doesn't care?"
"Quite possibly," Rupert agrees. "The Council are flummoxed and is only investigating the anomaly to see if the effect can be replicated elsewhere. However, they have no idea or leads on the cause."
"There's a shocker, they didn't ask you to look into it," Buffy grumbles as she sits on the second step of her staircase. Buffy might be biased, but she lucked out in terms of Watchers. She can't imagine any of the others she's met who would've gone to the lengths Giles has for her. "So, essentially, New York is home to some mysterious force that makes vampires clear out but isn't taking out the human population."
"Essentially, yes," Giles sighs. "I'm not sure you can use the information as an argument against Dawn coming to New York if she gets the grades."
"Oh, Dawn isn't going to New York until we know what's scaring the vampires." Buffy knows Dawn can turn this argument into a plus side of New York, but if this force is powerful enough to shut down any resistance from vampires, she wants to know it's safe for Dawn in the long term before she agrees to anything.
"Right, I'll get right on that," he says in resignation. "It may take longer than a day, however," he hedges.
Buffy raises her eyebrows even though he can't see her. "You know, it's okay to say you want to stay."
"I'll need to talk to Jenny about it, of course, but, yes, I would like to stay a little longer."
"Keep me posted, but just so you know, I don't expect you back tomorrow," Buffy tells him. "Five days was nowhere near enough time after four years apart for you guys." She pauses. "I'm really glad this is going well for you."
Rupert slips into her classroom just as she's wrapping up with her students. She tries not to miss a beat or draw attention to him as he takes a seat in the back row of the seats. She lifts her chin and squares her shoulders almost imperceptively to her class as he watches her.
This was something they never indulged in, back in Sunnydale. They had to remain professional. Most of the time, they were the epitome of professionalism – no matter what Snyder thought, or the times the kids found them in the library – but there were rumours because he walked her to class and she spent a lot of time in the library before and after school. He would never be able to sit in the back of her class.
His eyes never leave her as Jenny finishes her class by opening up to the students for questions. When there aren't any, Jenny scans the crowd for any confused expressions. Finding none, Jenny smiles and dismisses them for the end of the day. They clear out quickly and Jenny starts to pack up as well while the crowd disperses. Once the stragglers are moving towards the rear exit, she follows up to meet Rupert as he rises.
"Hello," he greets.
"Hello," she repeats. Taking his outstretched hands in hers, she steps into his personal space, her face tilting in anticipation as they lean in to share a kiss.
Pulling back, his eyes meet hers. "I have no idea what you were talking about to your class, but you are enchanting."
"Charmer," Jenny deadpans. "How was your day?"
"Insightful, I'll tell you more when we're at yours as it's not a conversation to have here," Rupert informs her. "I spoke with Buffy."
"How is she?"
"She's good, she says hello," he continues. "I have some more research I need to do in the City."
"You found something?"
"I didn't," Rupert winces. "Nothing, actually, which is an anomaly of its own."
Jenny joins the dots and realises what he's trying to say. "Does this mean you're staying for longer?"
Rupert gives her a warm expression. "If you're amenable to letting me hang around for a few more days."
She cocks her head to the side as he rambles on. His words die on his lips as notices her shining up at him. "More than amenable, I could get used to waking up to you in the morning."
They might be delaying the inevitable, but she doesn't care. She's happy to have him here. Rupert tugs on her hands, pulling her back to him and kisses her again. Her arms wind around his neck as their embrace deepens.
"Well, I knew you were smitten, but this isn't what I expected," Laura exclaims as she finds them a few minutes later.
Jenny pulls back, stepping out of Rupert's arms as her friend approaches. "Laura, hi, I thought your class finished at five."
Laura cocks her head to the side and gestures at the clock on the wall. "It's quarter past." She looks from Jenny to Rupert. "I believe you got distracted, my dear."
Jenny ducks her head, gesturing from the literary professor to the former librarian. "Laura O'Shay meet Rupert Giles. Rupert this is Laura."
"Nice to meet you," Rupert manages to maintain contact with her as he reaches out a hand to shake Laura's.
"You, too," Laura returns easily. "I've not heard nearly enough about you."
"Why don't we save the interrogation for dinner conversation?" Jenny announces, disentangling herself to retreat to her desk to shut down her computer and collect her bag.
She returns to them quickly. Her hand slides into Rupert's easily as they fall into step with Laura.
