p class="MsoNormal"Three short raps sound through the apartment as he closes the book in his hands. He's just finished rescinding Angel's invitation; the crosses and holy water have been spread around the perimeter of the apartment. Angelus shouldn't be able to cross any threshold./p
p class="MsoNormal"While he held little regard for his own safety, the spell brought Rupert peace of mind now that Buffy could feel secure in her own home. More importantly, Angelus wouldn't be able to harm Buffy when she was at her most vulnerable. Angelus's proclivity to torment the objects of his desire before he killed them was probably the only thing that saved Buffy from him killing her or her mother while she slept. /p
p class="MsoNormal"Rupert discards the book on his desk on his way to answer the door. Opening it, he finds Jenny on the other side, just as she had said when they saw each other less than an hour ago./p
p class="MsoNormal"He opens the door for her to enter, his hand reaching for hers automatically. He pauses when she hesitates. For all of their shy smiles exchanged an hour ago, they have barely spoken in weeks. Correction, he hasn't spoken to her or found an excuse when she tried to speak with him./p
p class="MsoNormal"That disconnection hurt him as much as it hurt Jenny. There were valid reasons, of course, which would need to be discussed and resolved, but the fact that Buffy intervened on his behalf went beyond his comprehension. He had yet to ask his charge about it because Angel had already intervened by causing mayhem with her mother this evening./p
p class="MsoNormal""Jenny," he breathes out. "I'm glad you could make it." He tries to sound as reassuring as possible./p
p class="MsoNormal"She flashes a smile at him as her fingers slip into his. Their palms meet as she crosses the threshold. They pause for him to close the door behind her. "I thought you had a project to work on."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I finished quicker than I thought," Jenny starts, huffing around a small smile. Her eyes dart around his hall nervously. "I was afraid you might have changed your mind about meeting me."/p
p class="MsoNormal""No, no," his voice is thick with emotion as he tries to convey his sincerity./p
p class="MsoNormal"Buffy was right, no matter how he tried to hide it, he'd felt Jenny's absence keenly. He had been foolish to think Buffy hadn't picked up on it; she's a perceptive, if meddlesome, girl./p
p class="MsoNormal""Would you like a drink?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Whatever you're having will be fine," she breathes out, taking a seat on the sofa. Her bag drops from her shoulder to the floor as she folds her hands in her lap. He feels her eyes on him as she watches him prepare tea. /p
p class="MsoNormal"A few minutes later, Rupert places their cups on the coffee table. He sits beside her and for a long time, just looking at her. Part of him thinks she's a figment of his imagination, a mirage. The other part of him flounders for something adequate to say about the way their relationship currently stands./p
p class="MsoNormal"He can't./p
p class="MsoNormal"Her eyes are wide, void of the teasing they held an hour ago. She's afraid and he realises he can't read her expression to pin down the reason. Of course, there are many possible choices for him to hypothesise but he's afraid to consider them because most of the prevalent ones have to do with himself and the way he's treated her for weeks and the atmosphere whenever they were in a room or passed each other in the hall. He has no idea how they managed to stay away under Snyder's radar when other faculty members were throwing him sympathetic looks and suggesting ways for him to win Jenny back as they assumed emshe /emleft emhim/em. Again./p
p class="MsoNormal""One of us needs to say something here," Jenny urges quietly, her usual impulsiveness replaced by trepidation./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm lost for words, actually," he replies, sputtering around a nervous laugh that falls from him./p
p class="MsoNormal"Jenny swallows as she nods./p
p class="MsoNormal""I guess I'll go first then," she starts. "I'm not asking you to forgive me, I know that would be too much to ask. I just, God, I don't know. Asking to start again would be too much to ask, not to mention impossible-."/p
p class="MsoNormal"His hand reaches to cover hers folded in her lap. "Jenny," he whispers when she quietens. The gesture bolsters his confidence and tempers his guilt enough for him to speak. "You're rambling," he says./p
p class="MsoNormal""You like it when I ramble," she responds earnestly, as though hoping it's still true. It is./p
p class="MsoNormal""I do, it calms my own ramble," he nods around a flash of a smile. Her cheeks flush as she sniffs lightly and shuffles forward./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm sorry," Jenny says simply and he knows it's meant to cover everything without voicing them. "Help me out here, Rupert, ask me whatever you want to know and I'll answer."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't understand," Rupert replies./p
p class="MsoNormal"For weeks, he's gone over it in his head. The initial antipathy between them changed to genuine regard for each other upon the discovery of shared knowledge and interests. Then, she took care of him while he was concussed at the infernal dance, where his head pounded in time with the music. She'd kissed his cheek before darting into her apartment as they parted in the early hours of the morning./p
p class="MsoNormal"He'd been caught up in the flirting and her help. Maybe he misconstrued everything, maybe it was all a ruse. She was a woman ten years his junior, vivacious, spirited, and beautiful, why on Earth would she be interested in him. A repressed man whose wardrobe consisted of more tweed than anything else. Why else would she give him the time of day following their encounter with Eyghon?/p
p class="MsoNormal"So, he asks her just that./p
p class="MsoNormal"And the look she gives him almost makes him ashamed for asking. That wounded look is quickly replaced by the hot, indignation she used to pin him with when they exchanged barbs over books and computers./p
p class="MsoNormal"She shakes her head. "Eyghon revealed a couple of home truths about me. About you," she sighs. "It felt like the weirdest trip I've ever had. And it lingered! I felt like he was still with me even after Angel saved me. He took over me and knew emeverything/em. He used that knowledge to use me to hurt you."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Eyghon hurt you," Rupert asserts. Jenny nods./p
p class="MsoNormal""I needed time to heal. I don't deal with pain well, and hate being coddled, so I lashed out. What made it worse was knowing that you were hurting and knowing you wanted to fix it, and would, if I let you. We were in a good place, before." Jenny slips a hand out from under his to reach up and cup his face, her thumb brushing the top of his cheek./p
p class="MsoNormal"He leans into her caress, his eyes fluttering closed briefly. Their relationship and open affection were growing; physical consummation would have been a formality for how they felt./p
p class="MsoNormal""You could have left after Eyghon," Rupert says./p
p class="MsoNormal""I almost did," Jenny admits. "I tried to walk away from you and I couldn't." She looks up at the ceiling, steadying herself to admit her feelings. "It scared the shit out of me when I realised it was because I was falling in love with you."/p
p class="MsoNormal"The admission rolls off her tongue as an afterthought. While he returns her feelings, he still can't bring himself to utter the sentiment./p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't understand that, either." His self-depreciation falls flat./p
p class="MsoNormal""I never meant for you to be caught in the middle or become collateral damage in any of the stuff with Angel. I thought I could have both," she explains, unbothered by the absence of his own confession. Though she'd been visibly disappointed in her classroom yesterday, she wasn't baiting him to share like for like. "I met a guy who was smart, charming and who could be as snarky and bitchy as I am. There was only one way that was going to go, Rupert."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Our relationship had nothing to do with Angel?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Even if you weren't Buffy's Watcher, I would have asked you out," Jenny confirms. "Or at least our arguments probably would have ended with us screwing it out in your office if the kids weren't around."/p
p class="MsoNormal"His heart buoys at her admission while his face flushes at it. Her smile blossoms into teasing and hopeful./p
p class="MsoNormal""Eyghon made me realise we had more in common than I thought. He showed me a side of you I never knew existed and I thought," she pauses meaningfully. "I hoped," she amends. "If the truth ever came out, you'd listen, maybe understand why I kept it to myself."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I do understand, Jenny," Rupert assures her. He does understand the rationale for preserving personal secrets to protect others. He also understands the ramifications of doing so, inevitably with the people he sought to protect being placed in grave danger because he kept his secrets to himself. "But it wasn't just me who got hurt."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I know and I'm going to try to fix that, too, if Buffy will give me a chance."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm not sure how far her understanding will go on this matter," Rupert cautions. In the time it took Rupert to leave the school and make a stop at the Summer's residence, Angelus had already caused mayhem this evening./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm working on it, regardless," she answers with a shrug, looking at him with wide hopeful eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal""What do you mean?" There's an edge of caution in his tone, he realises, and it might be sharper than he intended. They've been hurt by too many lies; he refuses to let another rip into his charge given the continuous torment Buffy is experiencing from Angelus./p
p class="MsoNormal"He doesn't want to push Buffy. Her feelings are raw and exposed and, if pushed upon, she could potentially reject any overture on Jenny's part. He doesn't her to feel pressured to be forced to accept any act of contrition from Jenny. That could backfire./p
p class="MsoNormal""My project," Jenny starts, reaching for her bag. She pulls out a floppy disk and a wooden box. She cradles the box in her lap and holds the disk up to show him. "I've been working on translating the original curse."/p
p class="MsoNormal"He takes the disk when she hands it to him like a peace offering. He stares at the yellow square of plastic. "You said it couldn't be done."/p
p class="MsoNormal""That's never stopped us before," she counters, struggling not to be defensive. "I think it's going to work."/p
p class="MsoNormal"He blinks at her, the enormity of her words and the task she's surmounted without the rest of them. Despite being frozen out, Jenny worked on her own to make things right. She found a solution, a cure for Angel. She'd been all alone, in the school, after dark./p
p class="MsoNormal""You're an impossible, stubborn woman," he mutters, a flash of anger rippling through him. If Angelus ever found out, there's a very real probability she wouldn't be sitting here with him now. The fact that she placed herself in that kind of danger when she was ostracised was more than he could fathom at the moment./p
p class="MsoNormal"Misunderstanding his anger, she rears back. "It would've been a lot easier if we'd worked on it together," she says through clenched teeth. Hastily snatching the disc back from him dislodges the box from her lap. Opening to expose the fragile glass ball inside to gravity, it smashes as it hits the floor. "No!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""What was it?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"They both move into a crouch to pick up the shards of glass on his floor. She sighs, looking as though she's about to cry./p
p class="MsoNormal""An orb of Thesula, it's for the curse," she shudders, pulling a face to keep the tears from falling. "I'll have to get a new one."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Or we could use the one I have," he admits. "But it'll have to wait till the morning as it's in my office at the library. We can talk to Buffy and-what?" He asks when he notices the way she's staring at him./p
p class="MsoNormal""You're perfect."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Hardly."/p
p class="MsoNormal"She almost rolls her eyes at him. "You're perfect for me," she smiles softly at him instead./p
p class="MsoNormal""Funny," he starts with a huff. "I was thinking the same about you."/p
p class="MsoNormal"They stay there for a moment, crouched in the small space between his couch and coffee table, with a box of broken glass perched in her lap. Quite apt, really, he thinks. The moment lingers and he glances around, steadying himself on the cushions of the couch to lean over when she speaks./p
p class="MsoNormal""Can we sit on the couch? Or at least get up? I don't want to kiss you and kneel in stray glass."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Rupert chuckles, blinking out of his reverie. "Of course."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Jenny deposits the box on the table before gracefully rising to sit beside him on the couch, closer than before. His arm reaches around her waist she moves, her hand fisting the front of his shirt to pull him to her. Their noses bump as they lean in./p
p class="MsoNormal""I meant it," she promises before their lips meet. "I'm in love with you."/p
p class="MsoNormal"He pulls back a fraction so he can look into her eyes. "I wonder if you're harbouring under the misconception that I don't feel the same." She averts her eyes, ducking her chin. He lifts it with his index finger. "You're an impossible, stubborn, enchanting woman. There was only one way this was going to go, Jenny," Rupert confesses, closing the distance between them./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"While he held little regard for his own safety, the spell brought Rupert peace of mind now that Buffy could feel secure in her own home. More importantly, Angelus wouldn't be able to harm Buffy when she was at her most vulnerable. Angelus's proclivity to torment the objects of his desire before he killed them was probably the only thing that saved Buffy from him killing her or her mother while she slept. /p
p class="MsoNormal"Rupert discards the book on his desk on his way to answer the door. Opening it, he finds Jenny on the other side, just as she had said when they saw each other less than an hour ago./p
p class="MsoNormal"He opens the door for her to enter, his hand reaching for hers automatically. He pauses when she hesitates. For all of their shy smiles exchanged an hour ago, they have barely spoken in weeks. Correction, he hasn't spoken to her or found an excuse when she tried to speak with him./p
p class="MsoNormal"That disconnection hurt him as much as it hurt Jenny. There were valid reasons, of course, which would need to be discussed and resolved, but the fact that Buffy intervened on his behalf went beyond his comprehension. He had yet to ask his charge about it because Angel had already intervened by causing mayhem with her mother this evening./p
p class="MsoNormal""Jenny," he breathes out. "I'm glad you could make it." He tries to sound as reassuring as possible./p
p class="MsoNormal"She flashes a smile at him as her fingers slip into his. Their palms meet as she crosses the threshold. They pause for him to close the door behind her. "I thought you had a project to work on."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I finished quicker than I thought," Jenny starts, huffing around a small smile. Her eyes dart around his hall nervously. "I was afraid you might have changed your mind about meeting me."/p
p class="MsoNormal""No, no," his voice is thick with emotion as he tries to convey his sincerity./p
p class="MsoNormal"Buffy was right, no matter how he tried to hide it, he'd felt Jenny's absence keenly. He had been foolish to think Buffy hadn't picked up on it; she's a perceptive, if meddlesome, girl./p
p class="MsoNormal""Would you like a drink?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Whatever you're having will be fine," she breathes out, taking a seat on the sofa. Her bag drops from her shoulder to the floor as she folds her hands in her lap. He feels her eyes on him as she watches him prepare tea. /p
p class="MsoNormal"A few minutes later, Rupert places their cups on the coffee table. He sits beside her and for a long time, just looking at her. Part of him thinks she's a figment of his imagination, a mirage. The other part of him flounders for something adequate to say about the way their relationship currently stands./p
p class="MsoNormal"He can't./p
p class="MsoNormal"Her eyes are wide, void of the teasing they held an hour ago. She's afraid and he realises he can't read her expression to pin down the reason. Of course, there are many possible choices for him to hypothesise but he's afraid to consider them because most of the prevalent ones have to do with himself and the way he's treated her for weeks and the atmosphere whenever they were in a room or passed each other in the hall. He has no idea how they managed to stay away under Snyder's radar when other faculty members were throwing him sympathetic looks and suggesting ways for him to win Jenny back as they assumed emshe /emleft emhim/em. Again./p
p class="MsoNormal""One of us needs to say something here," Jenny urges quietly, her usual impulsiveness replaced by trepidation./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm lost for words, actually," he replies, sputtering around a nervous laugh that falls from him./p
p class="MsoNormal"Jenny swallows as she nods./p
p class="MsoNormal""I guess I'll go first then," she starts. "I'm not asking you to forgive me, I know that would be too much to ask. I just, God, I don't know. Asking to start again would be too much to ask, not to mention impossible-."/p
p class="MsoNormal"His hand reaches to cover hers folded in her lap. "Jenny," he whispers when she quietens. The gesture bolsters his confidence and tempers his guilt enough for him to speak. "You're rambling," he says./p
p class="MsoNormal""You like it when I ramble," she responds earnestly, as though hoping it's still true. It is./p
p class="MsoNormal""I do, it calms my own ramble," he nods around a flash of a smile. Her cheeks flush as she sniffs lightly and shuffles forward./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm sorry," Jenny says simply and he knows it's meant to cover everything without voicing them. "Help me out here, Rupert, ask me whatever you want to know and I'll answer."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't understand," Rupert replies./p
p class="MsoNormal"For weeks, he's gone over it in his head. The initial antipathy between them changed to genuine regard for each other upon the discovery of shared knowledge and interests. Then, she took care of him while he was concussed at the infernal dance, where his head pounded in time with the music. She'd kissed his cheek before darting into her apartment as they parted in the early hours of the morning./p
p class="MsoNormal"He'd been caught up in the flirting and her help. Maybe he misconstrued everything, maybe it was all a ruse. She was a woman ten years his junior, vivacious, spirited, and beautiful, why on Earth would she be interested in him. A repressed man whose wardrobe consisted of more tweed than anything else. Why else would she give him the time of day following their encounter with Eyghon?/p
p class="MsoNormal"So, he asks her just that./p
p class="MsoNormal"And the look she gives him almost makes him ashamed for asking. That wounded look is quickly replaced by the hot, indignation she used to pin him with when they exchanged barbs over books and computers./p
p class="MsoNormal"She shakes her head. "Eyghon revealed a couple of home truths about me. About you," she sighs. "It felt like the weirdest trip I've ever had. And it lingered! I felt like he was still with me even after Angel saved me. He took over me and knew emeverything/em. He used that knowledge to use me to hurt you."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Eyghon hurt you," Rupert asserts. Jenny nods./p
p class="MsoNormal""I needed time to heal. I don't deal with pain well, and hate being coddled, so I lashed out. What made it worse was knowing that you were hurting and knowing you wanted to fix it, and would, if I let you. We were in a good place, before." Jenny slips a hand out from under his to reach up and cup his face, her thumb brushing the top of his cheek./p
p class="MsoNormal"He leans into her caress, his eyes fluttering closed briefly. Their relationship and open affection were growing; physical consummation would have been a formality for how they felt./p
p class="MsoNormal""You could have left after Eyghon," Rupert says./p
p class="MsoNormal""I almost did," Jenny admits. "I tried to walk away from you and I couldn't." She looks up at the ceiling, steadying herself to admit her feelings. "It scared the shit out of me when I realised it was because I was falling in love with you."/p
p class="MsoNormal"The admission rolls off her tongue as an afterthought. While he returns her feelings, he still can't bring himself to utter the sentiment./p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't understand that, either." His self-depreciation falls flat./p
p class="MsoNormal""I never meant for you to be caught in the middle or become collateral damage in any of the stuff with Angel. I thought I could have both," she explains, unbothered by the absence of his own confession. Though she'd been visibly disappointed in her classroom yesterday, she wasn't baiting him to share like for like. "I met a guy who was smart, charming and who could be as snarky and bitchy as I am. There was only one way that was going to go, Rupert."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Our relationship had nothing to do with Angel?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Even if you weren't Buffy's Watcher, I would have asked you out," Jenny confirms. "Or at least our arguments probably would have ended with us screwing it out in your office if the kids weren't around."/p
p class="MsoNormal"His heart buoys at her admission while his face flushes at it. Her smile blossoms into teasing and hopeful./p
p class="MsoNormal""Eyghon made me realise we had more in common than I thought. He showed me a side of you I never knew existed and I thought," she pauses meaningfully. "I hoped," she amends. "If the truth ever came out, you'd listen, maybe understand why I kept it to myself."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I do understand, Jenny," Rupert assures her. He does understand the rationale for preserving personal secrets to protect others. He also understands the ramifications of doing so, inevitably with the people he sought to protect being placed in grave danger because he kept his secrets to himself. "But it wasn't just me who got hurt."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I know and I'm going to try to fix that, too, if Buffy will give me a chance."/p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm not sure how far her understanding will go on this matter," Rupert cautions. In the time it took Rupert to leave the school and make a stop at the Summer's residence, Angelus had already caused mayhem this evening./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm working on it, regardless," she answers with a shrug, looking at him with wide hopeful eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal""What do you mean?" There's an edge of caution in his tone, he realises, and it might be sharper than he intended. They've been hurt by too many lies; he refuses to let another rip into his charge given the continuous torment Buffy is experiencing from Angelus./p
p class="MsoNormal"He doesn't want to push Buffy. Her feelings are raw and exposed and, if pushed upon, she could potentially reject any overture on Jenny's part. He doesn't her to feel pressured to be forced to accept any act of contrition from Jenny. That could backfire./p
p class="MsoNormal""My project," Jenny starts, reaching for her bag. She pulls out a floppy disk and a wooden box. She cradles the box in her lap and holds the disk up to show him. "I've been working on translating the original curse."/p
p class="MsoNormal"He takes the disk when she hands it to him like a peace offering. He stares at the yellow square of plastic. "You said it couldn't be done."/p
p class="MsoNormal""That's never stopped us before," she counters, struggling not to be defensive. "I think it's going to work."/p
p class="MsoNormal"He blinks at her, the enormity of her words and the task she's surmounted without the rest of them. Despite being frozen out, Jenny worked on her own to make things right. She found a solution, a cure for Angel. She'd been all alone, in the school, after dark./p
p class="MsoNormal""You're an impossible, stubborn woman," he mutters, a flash of anger rippling through him. If Angelus ever found out, there's a very real probability she wouldn't be sitting here with him now. The fact that she placed herself in that kind of danger when she was ostracised was more than he could fathom at the moment./p
p class="MsoNormal"Misunderstanding his anger, she rears back. "It would've been a lot easier if we'd worked on it together," she says through clenched teeth. Hastily snatching the disc back from him dislodges the box from her lap. Opening to expose the fragile glass ball inside to gravity, it smashes as it hits the floor. "No!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""What was it?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"They both move into a crouch to pick up the shards of glass on his floor. She sighs, looking as though she's about to cry./p
p class="MsoNormal""An orb of Thesula, it's for the curse," she shudders, pulling a face to keep the tears from falling. "I'll have to get a new one."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Or we could use the one I have," he admits. "But it'll have to wait till the morning as it's in my office at the library. We can talk to Buffy and-what?" He asks when he notices the way she's staring at him./p
p class="MsoNormal""You're perfect."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Hardly."/p
p class="MsoNormal"She almost rolls her eyes at him. "You're perfect for me," she smiles softly at him instead./p
p class="MsoNormal""Funny," he starts with a huff. "I was thinking the same about you."/p
p class="MsoNormal"They stay there for a moment, crouched in the small space between his couch and coffee table, with a box of broken glass perched in her lap. Quite apt, really, he thinks. The moment lingers and he glances around, steadying himself on the cushions of the couch to lean over when she speaks./p
p class="MsoNormal""Can we sit on the couch? Or at least get up? I don't want to kiss you and kneel in stray glass."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Rupert chuckles, blinking out of his reverie. "Of course."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Jenny deposits the box on the table before gracefully rising to sit beside him on the couch, closer than before. His arm reaches around her waist she moves, her hand fisting the front of his shirt to pull him to her. Their noses bump as they lean in./p
p class="MsoNormal""I meant it," she promises before their lips meet. "I'm in love with you."/p
p class="MsoNormal"He pulls back a fraction so he can look into her eyes. "I wonder if you're harbouring under the misconception that I don't feel the same." She averts her eyes, ducking her chin. He lifts it with his index finger. "You're an impossible, stubborn, enchanting woman. There was only one way this was going to go, Jenny," Rupert confesses, closing the distance between them./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p