Title: Green Raven Shantey 2/6
Author: Elisabeth
Email: dragonydreams@yahoo.com
Rating: G - this part (NC-17 eventually)
Pairing: Willow/Giles, Buffy/Riley, Xander/Anya, slight Willow/Tara
Summary: Giles receives a mysterious brochure to a resort and takes the gang on vacation.
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over these characters. I am merely borrowing them from Joss et al.
Spoilers/Timeline: Day after the episode 'Restless' (end of season 4).
Distribution: WLS, WWW, ODD, anyone else - please ask.
Author's Note: Thanks to my wonderful Betas for all of your help.

The microphones and cameras hidden throughout the main building easily picked up Willow and Giles' conversation.

Ethan sat back in his chair with a satisfied grin. "Well, well, Ripper old man," he said to the screen, "It looks like I was wrong, for a change. But this is much more interesting. Then again, you always did enjoy a challenge. I thought for sure you'd have paired off with the Slayer by now, but it looks like you fancy the witch, and a gay one at that. This will be fun."

Ethan brought up the resort's room assignments on the computer to double check on Willow's cabin's name. He then instructed the kitchen staff that any food that was ordered from that cabin was to have a special ingredient added to all of the items.

As he had already observed, the spell surrounding the resort was definitely having the desired effect upon his guests, but there was nothing wrong with helping things along.

He chuckled to himself as he switched on the cameras and microphones in Willow's cabin. For good measure he activated the ones in Giles' room as well. May as well get the pre-show entertainment as well as the show, seeing as he already had the technology installed.

*****

Willow phoned Tara when she got back to her cabin. It had been over two days since they had last spoken and she really missed her.

The phone rang several times before the machine picked up. 'That's strange,' Willow thought. 'I told her that I'd give her a call this evening, no matter what. Where is she?' She listed to Tara's sweet voice on the recording, "H-hi. You've re-reached Tara's room. I-I'm not here right now, so please l-leave a message, i-if you want t-to that is." Beep. "Hi Tara, it's me, Willow. I'm having a good time on the retreat. I really wish that you were here, because it's all couples except for me and Giles, so he and I have been spending a lot of time together. In fact, I need to go and shower because we're going to order room service in my room tonight. I'll try to call again before he gets here if there's time. Bye."

*****

Tara sat staring at the machine as she listened to Willow's message. When she first heard Willow's voice she had almost picked up the phone, but she didn't, for the same reason that she hadn't gone on the trip. Willow had sounded so sad at first, until she mentioned Giles, then she sounded completely content. It pained her to admit it, but Tara could feel the bond between Willow and the ex-watcher. The energy between them was so strong that it scared her sometimes. Tara knew it was only a matter of time before Willow realized that Giles was in love with her and dropped her like a hot potato. She knew that she was only a means for Willow to hide her feelings towards Giles, regardless of the fact that Tara really liked her, was falling in love with her. Tara hadn't wanted to be trapped in the middle of nowhere in case this was the weekend that Willow realized her mistake. And she had a very strong feeling that this was it. She decided that if Willow called back that evening that she would break up with her. At least Giles would arrive soon afterwards to help ease her pain. She lay on her bed, cuddling Miss Kitty Fantastico close to her and quietly wept.

*****

Willow showered, letting the hot water and the scent of her shampoo try to relax her. Anxious thoughts swirled through her head regarding Tara's whereabouts. 'Could she be out with another woman? Don't be ridiculous. Tara would never cheat on you like Oz did. Maybe she was just at the magic store or in the cafeteria. She could be any number of places instead of here with you.'

She dried herself off and went into the bedroom to figure out what to wear. When she had packed she wasn't sure what to bring, so she brought a little bit of everything, including a nice dress. She opted to wear this, but stay barefoot, as she wasn't going anywhere. She dried her hair and finished her makeup with time to spare. Good, she'd be able to try Tara again.

This time Tara picked up on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Hi, it's me again. Did you get my message?" Willow anxiously asked.

"Y-yes, I did. I-I was just grabbing something to eat in the cafeteria."

"That's what I hoped, figured. So what have you been doing while I've been gone? Meet up with anyone interesting?"

"Nothing really," Tara picked up on the panic in Willow's voice at the thought that she could be with someone else. As much as it would pain her to do this, she knew it had to be done. "Actually, I met up with this girl from the Wicca group. I thought I'd give it another chance and there was this really pretty girl who wasn't there before. We went out for coffee and a bite to eat afterwards."

"That's nice," Willow tried to be supportive, but memories of betrayal loomed just beneath the surface. "So you were just trying to show her that there are some of us who actually practice magick and don't just bake and dance?"

"Not exactly," she lied. "I'm sorry Willow, but things got a little carried away."

"How do you mean?"

"It's over Willow. I want to be able to explore this new relationship and I can't do that if I'm tied down to you."

"What?" Willow yelled. "You can't be serious. I've only been gone for a couple of days! You can't have moved on already."

Tara winced at the anger and denial in Willow's voice, but she continued, "I have. I-I guess that there wasn't as much between us as we thought. Magick can do that sometimes; create an illusion of feelings. That's all we really had in common anyway."

"It's not, there was other stuff."

"You know deep down I'm right." Tara knocked on her desk to make is sound like someone was at the door. "Look, she's at the door, I've gotta go. I'm sorry Willow. Good-bye."

Willow stared blankly at the phone as she replaced it on the base. "No," she said in disbelief. "No," she said in denial. "No," she yelled in anger. She repeated the word over and over again until she could no longer speak through her tears. She curled up on the floor, bawling her eyes out.

*****

Giles knocked on Willow's door right on time. He had dressed in khakis and a nice shirt for the evening. He had been ready for half an hour, but wanted to give her the agreed upon amount of time. He didn't want to appear to be too eager to be without her company.

He began to worry when she didn't open the door after a minute or two had passed. He knocked again, calling out to her. His breath caught at the sight that greeted him when the door finally opened. Tears were streaming down Willow's beautiful face and she was shivering in her sleeveless dress.

"Willow, dear, what happened?" he asked, stepping into the room and closing the door.

Willow immediately burrowed her face into his chest and sobbed, "Tara. Broke. Up. With." Sob, sob. "Me."

Giles stroked her hair in complete disbelief. "When did this happen?"

"Ten minutes ago. On the phone." She pointed at the offending object. She still had her face buried in Giles' chest. She was still sniffling, but she could at least speak again.

Giles, regretfully, pried the dejected girl away from his body and looked into her eyes, still wet with unshed tears. "Come and sit on the couch with me and tell me what happened."

Willow shook her head no, but allowed Giles to lead her by the hand to the small couch in the living room part of the room. She curled up on the couch as Giles went to fetch a glass of water from the bathroom. While he was there he grabbed her robe. When he returned he busied himself with lighting a fire in the fireplace.

He allowed Willow to collect her thoughts some more as he went to the phone and ordered dinner for them. He knew that she wouldn't want to eat much, but figured that she should be able to keep down some pasta. He knew how much she loved Ziti. He also ordered a bottle of wine as well as all of the chocolate items on the menu.

He returned to Willow, sitting beside her on the couch. Immediately she moved over to lean against him and he put his arm around her shoulders.

Gently he asked, "Do you think you can tell me what happened now?"

Willow sighed and nodded against his chest. She took another deep breath and related her conversation with Tara.

Giles couldn't believe what he was hearing. He never got to know Tara very well, but she certainly didn't appear to be the type to cheat. In fact, he had thought that she was completely head-over-heels in love with Willow. And he knew that Willow cared very much for Tara as well, although he suspected not nearly as deeply. He also remembered how devastated Willow was when Oz had cheated on her. If the wolf hadn't skipped town Giles would have given the boy a severe beating for hurting Willow.

"It just doesn't make any sense," Willow stated. "Tara knew that Oz had cheated and what it did to me. How could she do the same thing? I never would have suspected that it was even in her to do such a thing."

"Nor I. I'm afraid I have no answers for you. Could she have had another reason for the break up and said the one thing that she knew would hurt you most?"

"You mean you think she lied?" Willow sat up to look into his face, disbelief clearly written on hers.

"Perhaps. As I said, I didn't know her very well. She was always a bit distant around me."

"She told me once that you two radiated similar energies. Maybe it acted as a repellant? She was always very attuned to the energies a person projects. Remember when she was able to tell that Faith had switched bodies with Buffy? She knew right away that it wasn't really Buffy."

'My God, she knew I am in love with Willow,' Giles thought. 'Could that be what this break up is about?' Out loud he asked, "Tell me again why Tara didn't come away this weekend."

"Oh, she said that she wasn't really comfortable enough with the group to spend a weekend in the middle of nowhere with us. I tried to reassure her that I would be there, but she was adamant about not coming, especially after I told her that you didn't have a girlfriend to bring. I thought that she just didn't want you to have to spend all of your time alone..."

"Please bear with me through a couple more questions, Willow." Giles interrupted. He needed to know if his suspicions were about to be confirmed. If Tara had broken up with Willow after her message saying that he and Willow had been spending a lot of time alone together, then maybe she suspected that Willow might reciprocate his feelings.

"Did Tara ever say, specifically, what it was that we shared in common?" he asked.

"Actually, she was pretty vague about it. I just assumed that it had to do with magick since she's been practicing for like ever. Why, do you know what she was talking about?"

"Perhaps." Luckily he didn't have to expand any further because there was a knock at the door. Willow jumped a bit at the noise, but recovered quickly as Giles went to answer the door. He directed the young man with the large tray of food to set it down on the table in front of the fireplace. He signed the bill, tipped the young man and ushered him out.

"Do you think that you can eat something Willow?" Giles asked as he uncovered the feast.

"I don't know," she started. "Ooh, Ziti," she exclaimed, picking up the plate and a fork. She took a bite and happily sighed. "Mmm. This is my favorite, thanks Giles."

"I thought it was. Now eat up." He filled the two wine glasses and handed one to Willow before starting on his own plate of pasta. They ate in silence for a time, enjoying the food, the fire and the company.

Before Willow finished off her plate Giles warned her, "Don't fill up on the pasta." He lifted the cover off of the desert plate, revealing an assortment of chocolate cakes, chocolate mousse, chocolate chip cookies, and just plain chocolate. "I understand from Buffy that this type of situation calls for chocolate."

Willow set her plate aside and hugged Giles fiercely. "Thank you Giles. It is perfect. How is it that you always know just what I need?" She lightly kissed his cheek before reaching for a piece of triple layer chocolate fudge cake.

After another hour of talking, eating and drinking Willow stretched and yawned.

"Sorry Giles," she apologized.

"It's quite alright," he chuckled. "I'd say that you deserve to be tired. Crying takes a lot out of you. I should be going then so that you may get some rest."

"Could…" she started. "Could you stay?"

"Of course," he smiled. "The couch is comfortable enough."

"No," she blushed. "I meant, could you stay with me, in my bed. Could you just hold me tonight?"

Giles' heart leapt. "Of course. Why don't you go and get ready for bed while I tidy up the room."

"Okay." Willow gathered the robe close to her and shuffled into the bedroom and closed the door.

Giles allowed himself a brief moment to imagine her changing for bed before going about the business of refilling the tray with dirty dishes and setting the tray outside. He knocked on the door to see if it was safe for him to enter.

"Come on in," he heard through the wood. Giles extinguished the lights in the room and made sure the door was locked before entering the room.

Willow was already in the bed, with the covers tucked up under her chin. She pulled back the bedclothes for Giles to join her. He sat on the bed and carefully removed his shoes and socks. He emptied his pockets and removed his shirt (he left on the undershirt), belt, watch and glasses. He quickly used the facilities and decided that he could no longer delay the sweet torture that awaited him.

He slid under the covers and Willow immediately molded her body to his, resting her head on his chest. Giles rested his hand at the small of her back and somehow managed to suppress the groan of desire when he felt the smooth satin of Willow's nightgown.

As she was drifting off to sleep Willow mumbled, "Thank you Giles. I love you."

"And I you," he quietly reciprocated as he joined her in slumber.

*****

"Damn," Ethan commented. "That's all! They exchange 'I love you's as they fall asleep. They should be going at it like rabbits like the rest of them by now. Granted the girl was just dumped, and Ripper does have that noble streak. Alright, never let it be said that Ethan Rayne can't show compassion. I'll ease off for tonight, but tomorrow all bets are off."

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