Title: A Loving Heart is the Beginning of all Knowledge 3/13
Author: Adele
Pairing: Buffy/Giles
Rating: NC17
Feedback: Yes please!
Misc: The title is a quote from Thomas Carlyle
Thanks: To Kate, my beta
Disclaimer: The characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Productions, Kuzui Enterprises, 20th Century Fox Television, the WB Television Network, and whoever else may have a hold on them. I do not mean to infringe upon any copyrights.
Here's one more thanks to my wonderful speedy beta Kate!
(Oh and I should probably mention that I had a question regarding when this story takes place. It is basically an AU - but Buffy is around 19/20)
Giles drove Willow and Tara home, thinking of Buffy the entire drive. His heart had almost shattered into pieces when he saw her desolate face as Joyce closed the door to her room. He seriously doubted that Buffy needed to be alone, and had decided to return to her side as soon as he had dropped the girls off.
When he returned to the hospital one of the night nurses recognised him immediately. Since she had seen Buffy with him on any number of his numerous hospital visits, she sent him to her room without pointing out that visiting hours were over. Giles carefully opened the door and saw Buffy's curled up form on the bed facing the window.
As he approached he saw her shoulders shaking and realised she was crying. He lowered himself on the bed at her back and placed a hand on her shoulder as he gently spoke her name. Buffy started and rolled over to face him, but when she recognised him she immediately sat up and threw her arms around him and started crying in earnest.
Giles just held her close and waited patiently for her crying to subside. She was obviously more distressed than he had thought, and he chided himself for not following his first instinct when Joyce had ushered them out.
He almost jumped when Buffy proceeded to crawl onto his lap, but said nothing and only continued to hold her. Slowly her crying stopped, but she seemed reluctant to let him go when he moved to look at her, so he lifted her and propped himself against her pillows while she draped herself around him.
He lifted his hand to stroke her hair, and after several minutes he realised that she had fallen asleep. He contemplated moving, but at the risk of waking her he decided against it. He pulled the sheet over them both and closed his eyes.
*****
Buffy woke panting with her heart beating furiously. The nightmare had scared the living daylights out of her, and she took a deep breath to calm herself.
"Ssshhh. I'm right here" Giles whispered, and suddenly it all came back to her. He'd come back to her last night. He'd comforted her while she had been crying. Now he was half propped against the pillows and shewas lying between his legs.
"Did you have a nightmare?" he asked, stroking her back. She nodded but didn't say anything.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Once again she said nothing, and only shook her head no.
"Are you giving me the silent treatment?" She couldn't help but laugh, and she felt his body shake with laughter in return.
"No, I was just thinking how safe you make me feel, and that I don't want you to leave." The hand stroking her back paused, and for a second she was worried that she had said the wrong thing, but then he continued his ministrations.
"I'll never leave you, Buffy. I've promised you that several times. It will never change."
"Rupert? Tell me about us? How long have we known each other?"
When he didn't answer right away she leaned up to see him facing at her with a slightly startled look. "What? What's wrong?"
He slowly shook his head while watching her so intently that it made butterflies appear in her stomach.
"Nothing. It's just that you surprised me when you called me by my first name. You call me Giles. Almost everyone I know here in Sunnydale calls me that. Well, except your mother who calls me Mr. Giles or 'that man', depending on her mood" he said with a slight grin.
Buffy chuckled and dropped her head to his chest again.
"Giles huh? You do have an interesting first name, that's for sure." After a beat she continued, "Although, who am I to talk? I apparently chose to be called Buffy over Elizabeth." Giles laughed again, and Buffy was surprised how much she enjoyed making him laugh.
"So Giles, come on explain to me how that this got started."
For the next hour Giles gave Buffy a carefully edited version of how they met and what they had shared. Monsters, watchers and slayers weren't mentioned. Instead he focused smaller things. She laughed when he told her about her relentless teasing, her mind-boggling fashion sense (that earned him a pinch that made him yelp), and other stories he remembered about her friendship with Xander and Willow.
When he noticed her responses growing shorter and shorter he cuddled her closer and eased her into a dreamless sleep.