Title: Shiver 2/6
Author: Elle
Feedback: Please! Elle56200@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. If I did they would
spend a lot more time in the sack, and Riley would be dead…or
Jonathan's love slave.
Giles dozed lazily on his couch. Feet propped up and shirt undone, he sat sprawled and relaxed. A favorite album spun on the record player, and his best whiskey rested in a tumbler beside him. For the first time in a great while he was overcome by a feeling of utter… complacency.
The doorbell disturbed him from his quiet relaxation. Sighing, he rose, only to find Buffy shivering outside.
It was barely autumn, but already the weather was cold, and the girl was wearing one of her characteristically skimpy outfits. He could see lightning in the distance, and knew it would storm. For the past night they had been plagued by autumn storms that knocked out the power and pulled down tree branches.
"Is the world ending?" he asked, his tone almost bored.
Buffy raised an eyebrow. "I thought it was your job to keep track of that."
Giles grinned and let her in.
Buffy closed the door behind her and removed her light jacket. "It's a little warm in here," she remarked.
"I hadn't noticed." He poured out a second whiskey and offered it to her.
"Um…" Buffy stared at the glass as if it might attack her. "You, uh, never really approved of me drinking."
"You've saved the world on numerous occasions and come back from the dead twice," he drawled, "I imagine you can endure one bloody whiskey."
Hesitantly, Buffy took the glass. "Spike is with Dawn. I asked him to watch her so that I could come here—" She noticed his open Oxford shirt. "Giles, are you drunk?"
He sprawled back down on the couch and thought the question over. "No, I don't believe so," he concluded.
Buffy took in a breath. "Okay," she sighed. "Look, I came to check on you. You've been acting kinda funny since we killed the big popping demon."
"Funny? How so?" Giles asked, genuinely concerned.
Buffy sat down on the edge of the couch beside him; a little taken aback by his wide spread legs and slouched position. Hadn't Giles usually sat straight, legs crossed? She shook her head. "Well, for instance, in the training room you acted all… Well, like you had fiberglass insulation underpants on."
Giles just stared at her blankly. "As marvelously vivid as that picture was, I still don't follow you."
"You were fidgety, and awkward. And your face was all red and flushed," she explained. "Well, as much as I could see from behind the blue goop."
Understanding dawned on him. "Ah, yes. Well, you see, after watching you come out of the shower with water dripping down your body, and seeing the fabric of your pants mould itself to the curves of your ass, I was really not in the position to sit down for a cup of tea, if you follow me."
Buffy stared at him, her face expressionless.
He took it that she didn't understand. Taking a sip of his whiskey he said, "I had a rather enormous erection, you see."
Buffy fell off the couch.
Dawn held her breath as she slid her window open, wincing at the creaking sound it made. Checking to make sure that her door was still firmly locked, she swung her legs over the sill and onto the roof.
Following Buffy's old escape route she shimmied down the trellis, and dropped a few feet onto the lawn. Beaming that her plan had succeeded, she pulled her up coat to shield her from the rain, and began to walk away.
She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the amber tip of a cigarette bobbing in the darkness, beneath the shelter of the old oak tree near the driveway.
She winced as she heard loud, unenthusiastic clapping.
"Bravo, then. I really liked the bit where you dangle from the rain gutter. Very intense. Tom Cruise couldn't have done better."
Dawn groaned. "What, do you have like, sonar, or something? How did you know I was running away?"
Spike came out of the shadows. "Didn't luv. I came out for a smoke. Your sister doesn't approve of me lighting up inside."
"I suppose your not going to let me go, then," she sighed.
"Go where? Party? Boy's house? Ritual sacrifice?" he asked.
"After Buffy," Dawn said. "She's up to something, I can tell. She said she was going to Giles's, but I don't believe her. I'll bet there's a new demon in town, or a band of vampires or something and she doesn't want me to know."
Spike narrowed his eyes. "And you want to go, why?"
"Because I never get any fun!" she exclaimed.
Spike paused, as if contemplating her remark. "Well, seeing as it is Friday, and you've done your homework, and been exceptionally good…go back to your room!" he roared.
Dawn gave him a despairing sigh, and marched inside. "Why do I have to be the only fifteen year old with a vampire babysitter?"