TITLE : SOLITUDE
PART : 6
AUTHOR : Catherine
EMAIL : catzen20@aol.com
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.

Yes, Final chapter!!! I hope you'll like it and enjoyed the story. And yes, feedbacks are welcome ;)

Buffy was still in Giles' arms. He didn't--no, he couldn't--let her go. If he allowed himself to do that, then it could mean that everything was over, that he had lost her definitively. He couldn't accept that. He was crying hard, holding her tightly, and mumbling constantly "Why?"

The rest of the gang wasn't in much better shape. Oz was trying in vain to calm his Willow, trying to forget his own tears.

Xander hadn't said a word; he was stoic, his eyes seemed lost, looking at Buffy, at the scene before him. He couldn't believe it, and prayed that it was only a horrible nightmare, that he would awake quickly by Anya and her questions about life that she seemed to have especially during the night.

"She…she can't." Willow turned to Oz, wishing he would agree, but…nothing. All they saw was Giles; he seemed broken, still holding her, rocking her. Between despair and anger, he felt entirely useless, guilty; he had the feeling that he had somehow failed her.

They were so lost in their own sadness, that nobody heard a soft and weak 'hmmm'.

Suddenly, Giles opened his eyes wildly; he had felt something under his chest. Was it possible that it was her, he wondered. He hadn't tried yet to look, afraid that it could be his imagination, which was playing with his mind. But he felt it, again, regularly, she was…breathing!

"Bu-Buffy?" He said tentatively, permitting some hope.

He raised his head to see her face. What he sawfilled him with so much joy, that he was sure he hadn't ever felt so happy before. Here, his slayer was looking at him with her so beautiful eyes. She was alive!

"You-You're alive?" he stammered, "How?"

"Buffy!" exclaimed Xander, letting his tears flow as Oz, Anya, and Willow looked at each other with smiles and tears in their eyes too.

"I thought…I thought that…" Giles stammered. "How?" He repeated, still under shock.

"You," she begun with a voice full of emotion, "I choose you. Always you." She said in a soft and tired voice, then added in a small voice, "Forgive me."

"For what Buffy?" Giles didn't understand why he would need to forgive her.

"For choosing you. For not letting you have your own life." She explained with emotion.

He hugged her with force, blinking powerfully, but some tears escaped. Buffy felt them, "Giles?" she asked with concern, "Are-Are you all right?"

She felt him nod, incapable of speech.

"Giles?" She asked again.

"I'm fine, Buffy. Believe me, I'm more than fine," he finished with a chuckle.

Letting his eyes make contact with her, he continued, "Now," he was caressing her cheek, "Now, I'm fine."

She understood what he meant, and could only nod.

"Us too!" exclaimed Xander and Willow happily.

Oz nodded with a big smile; Anya was also smiling, nodding her head quickly.

"So, everyone is okay. Good." Buffy smiled tiredly.

After a moment to recover from the shock, well, from all the previous shocks, Xander spoke.

"Hmm, guys, you know, nobody could say how happily I'm now." Then, looking around him, he saw several, 'Are you sure?' expressions. He cleared his throat, and raising his hand in the air in defence, said, "Okay, nobody, except all the persons present here. So what I’m trying to say is that we're in a cemetery and the night is coming quickly and our favourite slayer is a little out of it here." He finished looking in her direction.

"Xander's right." Giles agreed, "We should think to get away from here and go back-" He watched Buffy, not sure.

"-To your apartment." She finished the sentence for him with an extra-wide smile.

When Giles stood up, he helped Buffy to her feet. Then, by surprise, he took her in his arms.

"Giles!" she grinned.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"I-I can walk, y'a know."

"I know," were his only words, as he kissed her forehead.

At his words, everyone was grinning.

*************************

The return to Giles’ in Oz's van was less dangerous than the coming. Everyone, even Oz agreed with that.

When they arrived, Buffy wanted to take a shower; with everything that happened, she needed one. She wished that she still had some clothes at Giles'. But, unfortunately, the last time she used them, she hadn't replaced them. Giles went to his room and brought her one of his shirts and a pair of boxers. On her, it would be like she was wearing a short dress. He tried to not imagine how she would look in it. And when his imagination began, he stopped himself, especially when a little voice told him that he would have his answer soon.

Buffy was in the bathroom, when Giles brought her the clothes before returning to the living room where the others were. They were talking about the recent events. They had realized how much they missed each other deeply. They enjoyed their moments together like the old times.

They were laughing when Buffy left the bathroom and asked, "What's so funny?"

All looked at her, and Willow was the first to answer, "Nothing; we are just enjoying being together and laughing at Xander's lame joke."

"Hey!" Xander tried to be offended, without real success, resulting in of more laughter, except from Giles, who was staring at Buffy in those…no, his clothes.

He had a big and vivid imagination but compared at the reality before him, that had been nothing. He gulped.

"Giles?" Xander shouted at him, "Hey G-man! Are you still with us?"

"Pardon?"

"You know Giles, breathing could be a necessary thing." He winked at him.

Giles shrugged before added, "I don't see what you're talking about."

"Of course!" Xander giggled, as did the others-- all except Buffy who was smiling shyly at him.

"You should sit down, Buffy."

When she did, Giles got up; before she could protest he said gently, "I'm going to the kitchen. You need to eat something."

"Gi-"

"Yes, and you too, Xander! I’ll feed everyone."

"Thanks." Xander grinned.

"By the way, don't call me G-man!" Giles addressed him sharply, walking to the kitchen.

Suddenly, an imposing silence filled the room.

"So…" Willow began after a moment.

"Yes," Buffy sighed.

Nobody knew how to start the conversation. They were glad to be together--that wasn't the question; the problem was something else.

Questions were on everyone’s mind but no one knew how to ask them.

"Are you crazy!" Anya yelled at Buffy, who jumped as did everyone in the room.

"Sorry?"

"Anya-"

"Oh please," Anya pursued, "all of us think that!"

"I'm not sure it's the good way to-"

"To what?" she glared at Xander, "Like you haven't thought that!"

"This is not the question." He said shamefaced, looking away from Buffy.

Willow didn't meet her eyes either, and Oz was looking at the table with a rare intensity.

Anya was the only one to look straight in Buffy's eyes.

"So?" she crossed her arms over her chest, "Are you crazy?"

Buffy opened her mouth to talk, but couldn't say anything, Anya was the first to speak, "To go alone like that, to fight that demon…alone!"

"I mean there aren't big warnings on the first page, like 'Slayer and Watcher need to be together to perform the spell’ because if they’re not, major risk of death'! Or maybe you haven't you read them! Thinking it was not important!"

Giles had heard the argument from the kitchen; even if he wasn't in agreement with Anya's methods, he was curious to know what would be Buffy's answer to that.

"Anya!" Willow intervened, "What are you insinuating? That Buffy-"

"I read it." Buffy said in a whisper, but everyone, including Giles heard it.

"What? So, why?" Xander was lost.

Willow was more lost than Xander, but she saw Oz looking at Buffy with understanding.

"I…It's just that…" Buffy's words trailed off.

The implication of her lack of words hit each person in the house.

Giles stopped doing what he did and came out the kitchen with an undecipherable expression.

He sat beside Buffy without a word. She was watching him, not knowing what to say. She thought that he might scream at her, ask her how she could have done or thought such stupid thing; he would have been right to do that.

She was not prepared for what he did.

He took her in his arms, hold her tightly. Don't ever do that." He said her gently, "Ever." She felt him fight to not shake under the emotions, "I can't do this without you."

She closed her eyes, enveloped by memories of the day when she had taken him in her arms and pronounced the same words.

Then, lifting her chin to look in her eyes, he added, "I can't Live without you."

All she could see in his eyes was love and truth of his words. She could only nod, the emotions were too strong; but she found the force to say, "I promise."

Giles closed his eyes, drinking her words, letting his fears go away.

He put his forehead on hers, "Promise." This time his tone was light.

She smiled, "Yep."

"Sure," his eyes became darker, and he smiled when he heard Buffy gulp. She was hypnotized by him, she had never really seen him like that, so dangerous, sexy and gentle at the same time.

"Because, if you don't," he told slowly, and Buffy was lost in his voice; "I know some spells." He said in a pure Ripperish tone, dangerous, playfully and sexy, which let her imagination bloom. She shuddered at that.

Giles was going to kiss her sensuously when, "Umm, gu…guys" Xander stammered. Giles and Buffy raised their heads and realized that their friends were still there; they had been so lost in each other that they had completely forgotten about them.

"Why did you interrupt them?" Anya pinched Xander.

"Ouch! And?!?"

"We could have learnt something," was her explanation.

Willow put her hand over her face, and muttered an "I can't believe it!"

Even Oz had a shocked expression, but regained quickly his usual face, and said, "She's very strange."

"Yes, even for Sunnydale." Willow added.

Xander was about to say something but Anya's glare stopped him dead.

Buffy and Giles were speechless from her comment and…red.

"I don't see why you are so shocked. It would have been like porn, direct porn. No TV." Anya reiterated.

This time Giles was going to explode.

"Another subject, please. Whatever, but another subject quickly." Xander supplied, imploring Giles to be calm.

Then, Willow realized that she had the perfect subject.

She picked up the paper on the table.

Buffy was still red when Willow turned to her and with her resolve face, said "Can you explain this to me?" Willow asked, waving the paper in the air.

But it wasn't just a paper, and Buffy recognized it.

"Hmmm…it's my last homework."

"Okay," Xander shook his head, "when I asked for another subject, I didn't ask for another crisis!"

Oz raised an eyebrow at Buffy, he wouldn't have admitted it to the others but he was intrigued since they learnt about Buffy's grades.

Anya was curious about that too; after all, curiosity was an important human trait.

Giles was smiling, he was proud of Buffy.

"So, what do you want to know?" Buffy asked simply, as she tried to sound sure of herself.

"What I want to know…" Willow stared at her, "Well, why haven't you told me?" She pouted.

"Hmm,…well," by her expression, it was clear that she was searching for a good explanation which would allow her to avoid suffering Willow's angry glare.

"Well, it's not like I didn't want to tell you, it's just that…that at first, I thought it was a mistake. I mean, 'Duh, I have what?!?' You should have seen me with the prof!" She smiled lightly, "I think the fact that I spent a lot of time, to not say all the time at the library," she avoided Giles' eyes, but didn't stop him when he took her hand as she finished, "helped me too."

"Willow, you need to believe me when I say that I didn't want to hide something from you or hurt you. It's just that…that I didn't know how to tell you afterward." She finished shyly, then added, "And, it was too funny to see you." Buffy grinned.

"Buffy," Willow glared at her but soon smiled at her best friend, "at least I'm glad that I amused you." She poked out her tongue.

"That's very, very mature, Will." Xander shook his head seriously, which caused a general laugh.

"I miss the library too." Willow sighed.

"Yeah, all those nights with pizza, searching for the way to avoid prophecies and kill demons."

"Hey!" Anya protested.

"I mean bad demons, Anya, not you honey." Xander added quickly, then kissed his girlfriend on her cheek.

"Good, ‘cause you know, I could be evil and not to have sex with you later." Anya replied with satisfaction.

"If only," Oz murmured, still looking at the table.

Anya glared at him, but that didn't impress him in any way.

Giles was still holding Buffy's hand. With his thumb, he was lightly massaging the top on her hand, a thing that was already making Buffy have a real hard time concentrating on the conversation; she couldn't believe how turned she was with just that action. She couldn't think that could be so erotic; in fact, at that moment, she couldn't think something more erotic could even exist. Giles taught her soon how wrong she was. He stopped his actions with his thumb and, with his other fingers, began massaging the inside of her palm. It was like magic--all his fingers were caressing her palm slowly, especially the sensitive line in the centre. Sometimes he massaged her; sometimes, he thrust in 'her', which freed her vivid imagination. When she looked at him, he was stoic, as if everything was normal, but she could see that his eyes were playful and beginning to become darker with desire.

"I think we should go now. "Oz said naturally, watching them discretely. His werewolf's sense had alerted him to their amorous feelings for a long time, but he felt that things were becoming more and more intense between Buffy and Giles, and they really need to go now.

"Now? I don't see why, and we haven't even eaten something yet. I'm starving," Xander complained.

Willow was looking at Oz with the same curiosity.

"Ah, okay." Anya shared a knowing eye with Oz as she gave an exaggerate wink.

Oz shook his head at her subtlety. Decidedly, discretion wasn't her strong point. He had suspected that she would add something like "We need to go and let them have sex." Anya was pleased with herself.

Oz sighed.

"What?!?" Xander split, as Willow turned her attention to Buffy and Giles who were suddenly totally red, hands still joined.

"You and…you want to…arghh, bad bad images." Xander grimaced, then got up after Anya.

"You-"

"No need, Giles, we're on our way." Xander cut him off, and went to hug Buffy.

"I'm glad that you're okay. You terrified us, you know. Don't do that." He released her.

"I'm sorry. Thanks Xander."

"Take care of her, G-man." Before Giles could reprimand him, he added "I know, don't call me that!" Xander imitated him.

"I'm glad that you're okay," Anya told Buffy.

"Thanks Anya."

"Because I'm not sure Xander would have wanted to have sex tonight if you weren’t."

"Of course."

Giles was looking at her with an amused expression.

"We're going." Xander pushed her to the door.

Oz took Willow’s hand, and said, "I'm glad too."

Willow and Buffy hugged each other, "I want to know everything tomorrow." She whispered in Buffy's ear.

When they were apart, Giles saw their knowing glance but didn't comment. Too dangerous.

Willow and Oz were going to the door, when she added "And this time, I will be better than you. I'm already done with our next homework, and it's extraordinary good." She winked at Buffy.

"We'll see Will." Buffy grinned.

"It's already decided," Willow smiled.

They were at the door, when Buffy and Giles heard Xander, "That thing with the pendulum. Does it work for locating keys?"

"Xander!" Willow rolled her eyes.

******************************

"They're gone."

"Yes," Buffy nodded shyly.

Giles saw it, and, approaching her, he took her in his arms. "Xander's right. You terrified us…me."

"I'm sorry, Giles. I'm really, truly sorry. I didn't mean to, it's just that-"

"I know." He caressed her cheek.

"Have I told you how proud I am of you."

She shook her head.

"I am." He smiled, "not only for your achievement in college; things like that don't surprise me, really."

She raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Yes," he nodded, "your tests were very good in high school. I always suspected that you didn't give all your potential; but just the minimum."

"So what thing surprised you?" She asked, eyes still locked on his.

"You did a great job with the researching, and the fact that you could manage to do everything. Well, that you wanted to do them."

"I didn’t really have a choice." She said sadly, breaking their eye contact.

He took her chin and raised her head, meeting her gaze again, "I know, and I'm sorry for that." He said with emotion.

In his words and eyes, she saw sincerity and love.

"Buffy," he was bring his lips close to hers, "I love you." He was going to kiss her when she yawned.

"That's great," he chuckled, "tell a woman that you love her, and she yawns."

"I'm sorry, Giles." By the tone of her voice he could say that she was a little panicked.

"Shh, love." He wrapped her in his arms, "It's nothing. Just strange and unusual," She felt him chuckle.

"That's me, Buffy the strange slayer." She grinned.

He nodded.

"Hey, you're supposed to say that I'm not." She poked his chest softly.

"Why? I never said that I didn't like strange things." He winked at her.

It was good to see him like that, happy and…who knew that Giles could be so playful?

"I love you too, Giles. So much."

"My love," were his only words.

They were holding each other tightly, appreciating what it was like to be alone in the world, together, safe in each other’s arms.

After a moment, Giles remembered that Buffy really needed to eat something. She protested, feeling him pull them apart.

"Buffy, you need to eat something. After that, you need to go to bed."

"'But-" she pouted.

"No buts, and your pouts won't work." He seemed sure of himself, before adding "At least, for today."

"Okay, I'll eat something if you do too."

Giles agreed with that.

"And I'll go to bed if you go too, " he agreed again, "with me." He choked.

"Buffy, I'm not sure, you're too tired and-"

"Okay, can sleep together."

"Sure." Giles laughed.

"But tomorrow…" she grinned seductively, suggestively.

"Yes, tomorrow," he said with a predatory tone.

They went to the kitchen, "Giles, about the researching; from now on, it's all yours…"

Some weeks later

Giles was sitting in his living room, drinking tea while he was reading a book, waiting for Buffy. He knew that she would come soon.

"Hey baby." Buffy said, closing the door of the flat that was now theirs.

She went to sit on his laps, putting his book away, "I was reading!" Giles protested.

"Really?"

"Well, I was, but I stopped a quarter of an hour ago. What took you so long?" He asked petulantly.

"Sorry, but we got back our grades, and I talked with Willow and Oz."

"Seems that it was interesting and funny. Seeing your face." He replied, "So, how catastrophic is it?"

"Hey!"

"What? Is it not you who said that that will be a, and I quote, 'Horrible, hopeless homework, and if I have a Z I should be happy!' A grade, which, by the way, is not on the college scale."

"Okay, okay." She agreed, "I had a B+. Happy?"

"So, that was not the catastrophe you awaited." He grinned.

"And our dear Willow?"

"A-."

"So, I presume that she must be glad to have fought you and won this time." He chuckled.

"Yes, at least for a short time." She grinned.

Giles was looking at her with curiosity, "And that means?"

"Well, she was excited. And I mean, really, really. You know her," He nodded.

"So, she was all ecstatic about that the fact that she got a better grade than me until Oz told us his." She laughed, "He has an A+."

"Oh…poor Willow." Giles shook his head.

Then, both were laughing hard.

After they recomposed themselves and shared some major kisses, Buffy asked, "I have some new research for you. Not urgent. It's about a demon-" He stopped her by a sensuous kiss.

When they were apart, Buffy was still all dreaming about it.

"Buffy," he tried to have her attention.

"Hmm," was her only answer.

"Buffy," he tried again.

She opened her eyes, "Yes."

"I thought that we had an arrangement about the researching."

"But-"

"We are doing it together, at least when we can."

"Yes," she sighed more than necessary.

"Without talking about my own researching." His words and tone attired completely her attention.

She smiled at him, knowing exactly about which 'research' he was talking about.

"I've never you heard complained about it." She grinned seductively.

Taking her in his arms, he went to the stairs, and, with a devilish glint in his eyes and a Ripper-ish voice, he growled "Neither have you, my love."

Then they disappeared to their bedroom.

The End
June, 3rd 2006

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