Title: Tumblin' Down 10/?
Author: Elisabeth
Email: dragonydreams@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.dragonydreams.com/
Rating: NC-17 (eventually)
Pairing: Willow/Giles
Summary: What if Riley hadn't been there to pull Willow out of harm's way during "Wild at Heart"?
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over these characters. I am merely borrowing them from Joss et al.
Distribution: My site, the usual lists, anyone with previous permission. Anyone else - please ask.
Feedback: Yes please! It makes me happy and keeps me writing.
Author's Note: Thanks to my wonderful Betas for all of your help and encouragement.

"Willow, I told you that this isn't necessary," Giles stated for the fifth time in twice as many minutes.

"And I told you that I wanted to do it," the stubborn redhead repeated.

"I can live without out it, really," Giles once again protested.

"But why should you have to?" Willow countered.

"We don't even know if it would be acceptable," Giles admitted.

"It will be," Willow grinned. "You are the best researcher I know. Why wouldn't the Counsel want to publish a compendium of prophecies?"

"Because I put it together," Giles said with a frown. "It's no secret that the Counsel and I are not on the best of terms at the moment, what with them having fired me."

"Well then we can shop it around and once they see what a wonderful book you've put together they'll be crawling on their hands and knees to get you to come back," Willow excitedly said.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We haven't yet begun."

"There's no time like the present," Willow offered. She rubbed her hands together. "Let's see those prophecies."

"Very well," Giles sighed, inwardly thrilled that Willow wanted to work on this project with him. He unearthed a file box containing some of the last three years' worth of prophecies that won't come to fruition for many years to come. Even though he'd often toyed with the idea of compiling them into a book, he'd never given it serious consideration. This was only one of the many good things to come of his burgeoning relationship with Willow.

It had been a week since Buffy and Xander had discovered that he and Willow were now a couple. Seven long, tension filled days. The more time that passed, the more worried Willow grew. She knew that it would take her friends some time to adjust to her relationship with Giles, but she thought she would have heard from at least one of them by now.

She had suggested beginning working on the book as a means to distract herself. No matter how often Giles reassured her that they would come around, Willow couldn't help thinking about her friends' distance. Having a project to work on would, hopefully, keep her better distracted.

The box that Giles dragged over to the couch, which Willow had long ago claimed as hers, appeared to be packed to the brim. When the cover was lifted off her suspicions were confirmed.

"All of those files are for future prophecies," Willow asked in awe. There had to be at least 20 packed file folders in the box.

"This is only the first box, with the earliest prophecies," Giles sheepishly admitted.

"I take it back," Willow said, the tone of awe still slightly evident in her voice. "This book needs to be published like yesterday." She looked up at Giles. "You really set aside every possible future prophecy didn't you?"

Giles removed his glasses and began to clean them in his embarrassment. "I thought they might be useful one day," he sheepishly admitted. "It was silly of me, I know…"

"No, it wasn't," Willow reassured him. She wanted to stand and pull him into a hug, but instead pulled him down to sit with her, keeping a grip on his hand. Making him meet her eyes, she asked, "How many times did we stay up late searching high and low for the prophecy that would explain what was going on? How many different texts did we have to rifle through to find all the pieces of those prophecies? Just think how much time we could have saved if someone had thought to gather all of the information together when they first came across it and put it all together in one place."

"Far too many nights," Giles agreed. A wistful look passed over his face as his hand moved on its own to cup Willow's cheek. "Although I wouldn't trade a single one of those long nights where you and I would be the only ones doing the research."

Willow's eyes teared slightly at the expression on his face. She'd loved those nights too. Giles would be sitting surrounded by books, skimming the pages for that one pertinent bit of information as she sat at her computer scouring the web for that same bit of missing information. Xander would often be with them, but he usually passed out after only a couple hours of research. They'd never told Xander that they knew about his "naps" during research. It was their little secret.

"I loved those nights," she whispered, leaning into his caress. "I had such a crush on you. So it was great for me to be able to spend all that time basically alone with you. You always treated me like a grown-up, expecting me to be able to work on my own and find what was needed. Even if I didn't, you never made me feel like that was my fault."

"I saw no reason to treat you like a child when you didn't act like it. I knew, I do know, how smart you are. Why would I want to stifle that intelligence under reprimands and low-expectations?"

"You treated Xander like a child," Willow pointed out.

"Xander acted like a child," Giles countered. "If he were to demonstrate that he could handle more responsibility I would give it to him."

"Xander's good at self-fulfilling prophecies. He behaves as he thinks he's expected to. If you act like he's going to mess up and not follow through then that's what he'll do. Why do you think he did so poorly in school? His parents and teachers never expected him to succeed, so he didn't try to change their minds. I've always known that he could do better than he was. I've always encouraged him, but it wasn't always enough," Willow ended sadly.

"And here I thought you only encouraged him because of that crush you had on him for years," Giles chided, trying to lighten the mood.

Willow's cheeks flamed. "You knew about that?"

"It was obvious in everything you did. Every look you gave him. How he managed to miss it for so long is a mystery to me." Giles ducked his head as he admitted, "I sometimes used to wish that someday you'd look at me with that much longing."

"Mr. Giles," Willow mock-gasped, "you were lusting after a minor?"

"Only until you turned eighteen," he smirked.

"Lucky for you I'm nineteen now," Willow grinned.

"A fact I am constantly grateful for, and plan to take full advantage of."

Giles closed the remaining distance between them, which had shortened remarkably during their last exchange, to capture his temptress' mouth.

Willow wrapped her arms around Giles' neck, pulling him closer until he was seated between her legs. Her right leg, which had been hanging off the side of the couch, drew up until it was resting across Giles' lap, her foot hooked behind his hip. Giles had his right hand wrapped in Willow's fiery tresses as his left rested on the thigh on his lap. His thumb made small circles on the thigh under his hand in time with his tongue's plundering of her mouth.

Unconsciously, Giles' hand began to work its way up Willow's thigh, running along the crease between her hip and leg. Willow moaned at the contact.

Giles' mind tried to figure out what the body had done to draw such a wonderful sound from the woman in his arms. Unfortunately, when the mind realized where the hand was, it pulled not only the hand, but the entire body away.

Willow whimpered in protest as Giles scooted away from her as if he'd been shocked.

"What's wrong?" she panted.

"I don't… I'm sorry." Giles didn't know how to explain that he'd gone too far, touched her too intimately.

"What are you sorry for?" Willow asked, having no clue as to what had gone wrong. She'd been thoroughly enjoying herself. "Stopping?"

Giles gestured with the offensive left hand towards Willow's right leg, which was once again hanging off the side of the couch.

"You didn't like my leg being around you?"

"I didn't even notice it," he admitted.

"Then what?" Willow asked, exasperatedly.

"My hand," Giles practically yelled. "I shouldn't have been touching you like that."

"Did you hear me complaining?" Willow asked, a huskiness evident that wasn't there a minute before.

"Well, no," he admitted. "But you could have," he weakly explained.

"You're not being too forward," Willow assured him, taking Giles' right hand in both of hers. She brought it to her lips, kissing the back of it before licking and nipping at his fingertips. "Don't worry, I'll let you know if you've gone too far. But honestly, there's nothing that you could ever do or want that I won't be ready for."

Willow took Giles' thumb in her mouth, laving the pad with her tongue, keeping her eyes locked with Giles'. The look of lust in her eyes was matched and surpassed by the look in his. Giles felt his heart rate and breathing increase at the erotic act. His body ached for it to be another part of his anatomy being pleasured by that perfect mouth.

Willow withdrew Giles' thumb, smiling at his groan of disappointment, certain that she'd made her point. "No more pulling away?"

"No more pulling away," he conceded.

"Good. Now hand me that first folder."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

They had only been organizing the information in the first folder for an hour when there was a knock at the door. Giles looked up startled, not used to having people take the time to knock.

"Are you expecting anyone?" Willow asked.

"Not in particular," he answered, standing to see who was calling.

He was pleasantly surprised to see Xander standing outside his door with his hands in his pants pockets, looking nervously at his feet.

"Hey, G-man," the young man shyly greeted his friend and mentor.

"Xander," Giles welcomed him in with a gesture of his arm, closing the door behind them. "What brings you here?"

"And why'd you knock?" Willow asked from her position on the couch.

"I, um, figured that since you're a couple now you wouldn't want us just barging in all the time," he admitted.

Giles moved to stand next to Willow, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Then you're okay with us being a couple," Willow asked, trying to keep the hope out of her voice.

Xander was now standing next to the couch in front of Willow. He sat on the coffee table so that he could look into her face.

"Promise me that this is what you want. That you're not just trying to live out some fantasy like with me."

"It is," Willow told him without hesitation. "I want to be with him. He makes me happier than I can ever remember being. This has nothing to do with the crush I had on him in high school. How did you even know about that?"

"C'mon, Wills, I've known you forever. Who can read you better than me?" Willow raised an eyebrow as if to say 'What about my crush on you?' Xander read her expression correctly. "Except when it came to your feelings for me."

Willow smiled, a big toothy grin. "You and Giles were both so oblivious to how I felt about you for so long."

"Me and Giles?" Xander questioned.

Willow giggled. "He knew about my crush on you and you knew about my crush on him. No wonder I was dating Oz, he was the only one who knew how I felt about him."

Both men tensed slightly at the mention of Oz, both afraid that Willow would become upset at the mere mention of his name. They both breathed a sigh of relief when Willow giggled again at her own joke.

Speaking for the first time since the boy entered, Giles asked, "You've truly accepted us?"

Xander looked up at the man he'd considered a father and a friend. He made a mental note to try to change the father notion in his brain. "Willow is the smartest person I know, no offense, and if she says that you make her happy, then who am I to begrudge her that happiness."

Willow squealed in excitement, pulling Xander over into a hug. "Thank you."

"Okay, ow. Note to self, don't make Willow happy when sitting two feet away from her unless you want to go deaf."

"Sorry," Willow apologized, releasing her hold on her friend.

"No prob. A little hearing loss is worth it to see you smile."

"I couldn't agree more," Giles said affectionately. Willow turned her head to smile up at her boyfriend.

Xander watched the silent communication and knew that he'd made the right decision. They obviously had very real feelings for each other and he didn't know two people who deserved to be happier.

Xander cleared his throat when his friends hadn't looked away from each other after a minute.

"Sorry," Willow mumbled, returning her attention to her friend.

"S'okay."

"I'm glad it only took you a week to figure things out," Willow said. "I was starting to wonder if I'd lost both you and Buffy."

Xander sheepishly looked at his lap. "I don't know about Buffy, but I figured things out the next day. I've just been busy."

"If busy's name is Anya, then I don't want details," Willow grinned.

"Only at night. I got a job," he admitted. "One that's going to stick I think."

"Xander that's wonderful," Giles said, pride evident in his voice.

Xander looked at him gratefully, wishing his own father had reacted so supportively to the news. 'No, not fatherly,' Xander reminded himself. 'Uncle-y?'

"That's great, Xan. What is it?"

"Construction." Willow looked at him with disbelief. "I know, I've never been big on the whole manual labor thing, but this is different. For one thing, I'm getting paid and the money isn't half bad. And this isn't carting around heavy books and weapons, no offense Giles."

"None taken."

"I was hired to work on this crew to build the new Cultural Center at UC Sunnydale. It's hard work, but I like it. I never thought I'd say this, but there's something gratifying in knowing your using your body to help build something that people are going to use one day. That sounds silly, doesn't it?"

"No, it doesn't," Willow assured him, proud that her friend had finally found some direction in his life.

"And hey, just look at the muscles I'm growing with this job," Xander goofily grinned, flexing his arms.

"Anya must be in seventh heaven," Willow commented.

"Yeah," Xander agreed with a slight blush. Desperately wanting a change of subject, he asked, "So what were you guys doing when I got here?"

Willow got a wicked gleam in her eyes causing Xander to rush to add, "Unless it was kissing. I don't need to hear about kissing."

Willow taunted him with her silence for a little while longer. Giles took pity on Xander. "We were sorting through some old files I've been collecting."

"You sure know how to live it up," Xander dryly commented.

"Would you rather hear we were kissing? 'Cause we were doing that earlier," Willow teased.

Xander groaned, throwing his hands in the air. "I just can't win."

NEXT