Title: Lost 13/14
Author: Gail Christison
Rating: PG-13 for now
Pairing: B/G
Summary: Giles and Buffy a lost in a primitive environment in a dimensional rip, for what is a couple of weeks for them. Survival brings with it a lot of lessons and when they arrive back not long before Valentine's Day Buffy has to make some choices.
Timeline: This is kind of a semi-AU story set in season 7. There are no S-I-Ts. Giles is Giles. There's no Andrew, Wood is not relevent, and the First has not appeared yet. The main characters are otherwise unchanged.  Phew. I think that's a record for me for a summary LOL. Can you tell I really don't like a lot of things about season 7? ...I knew you could <vbg>

Disclaimer: Joss is the destroyer...I mean owner...I'm just doin' a little building ;-)
Feedback: Always love to hear what you think chriscln@ozemail.com.au
Distribution: All those who have my general permission and at my site  http://wickedsky.com/oncemore as soon as I get it finished. :-)
Author's notes: This one is big and not done yet, so I don't know how many parts there'll be  ultimately but thanks to Headrush and Gileswench these first ones are ready to post for Valentine's Day. Good thing there's technically 2 Valentine's Days for me to post over <g>

Dedication: To everyone who helps me to make a fic happen, either just by reading when I'm not impartial enough to know how it's going myself, or by beta-ing for me. Thank you!

Only my beta-ing from here on in. All mistakes are owned solely by me <g>

Cindy, I hope this makes you feel better, mate :-)

Buffy was aware that the heads of several women of various ages turned as they left, but was surprised to note that all but the elderly ladies in the last booth and some fourteen year olds hanging around the jukebox, were looking green jealous rather than disapproving. She was also surprised to discover that she was enjoying it. She looked up at Giles as they stepped out into the sunshine.

His hair was sexily rumpled from running his hands through it. The tan from their previous adventure was making his eyes even more gorgeously green than usual and accentuating the prominent planes and angles of his strong features.

She'd always loved that face, even though she'd never thought about it much before. Until now it had simply been a part of the entity known as 'Giles', like tweed and dusty books, tea and specs. Not that it was always easy to notice, hidden as it was most of the time, behind his glasses. There were also too many other things to think about or do, to spend time daydreaming about how interesting her Watcher's bone structure was. She was surprised to realize that she had done it anyway...mostly when he would whip off the specs and lecture or yell at her about something. He always was kinda sexy when he was angry...even back when she didn't think of him that way at all...

Only when Giles eased the Jeep to a halt again, did Buffy realize that she'd spent the last ten minutes daydreaming about him: drifting from her musings about his looks, to the times when they were lost when she'd held him in her arms, or slept in his...trying to recall every detail, and wondering how they could go from such intimacy back to the doubt and hesitation of any new relationship. She suddenly realized just how much she was missing what they had before, and how much she wanted it back...

And then they were out of the car and Giles was holding out a hand again. This time Buffy leaned into him and slid her arm around his waist, instead. After a bemused beat, he smiled and curled an arm around her shoulders.

She looked out at the vista of ocean, sand and rocks. "Have you ever been to a beach before?"

"Not for a good many years," he admitted. "And never in the middle of winter."

"At least it's winter in sunny Sunnydale."

"Well there is that," he agreed cheerfully as they made their way down the sand track to the foreshore. It was deserted, but for a lone fisherman sitting alongside a surf rod stuck in the sand.

"Think he's a demon?"

"Probably."

Buffy giggled again.

Giles liked the sound...and he liked the feel of her pressed up against him, relaxed and happy...something neither of them had known very much about for a very long time...

They followed the line of the tide, walking just where the high water mark met the soft sand, so that they were mostly on firm ground.

They'd wandered about halfway down the beach when the tide rose far enough so that the next wave just kept coming, the cold water making Buffy, in sandals, shriek as it washed over them, and hop back out of it's path, hauling an unsuspecting Giles, snug in his leather boots, along with her. It all happened so quickly that they both overbalanced and went tumbling into the sand.

When they stopped laughing, Buffy shifted so that she was leaning on his chest looking down at him.

"Oops," she said ruefully.

Giles' fingers caressed her cheek, pushing the ever-present strand of errant hair behind her ear.

"It's been too long since I've seen you like this. I want to make you laugh as often as possible from now on."

Buffy swallowed, emotion catching in her throat. "And I've never heard you so...you've never let me see you before...not the real you."

The gentle smile spread from his eyes to his mouth, then faded slowly. "I came to this Hellmouth to send a sixteen year old girl out to get killed every night, without fail, knowing that she would likely have no life, no happiness of her own and that I would have to bury her well before she reached her majority, and then walk away...in all likelihood simply to be assigned another girl, and to start the cycle all over again. I'm afraid I lost the 'real me' years ago, Buffy."

Buffy's brows came together. "But I've seen you now, haven't I?"

Giles thought about that for a moment. "I suppose it's true. You have. In the other dimension I didn't have a role to perform, a part to play..."

"You were just you: take-charge, sexy you." She kissed his chin. "The you I happen to be madly in love with."

"In that case," he said mischievously, and rolled them over so quickly Buffy found herself in his arms, his playful green eyes dancing above her. "Now, where were we? Oh yes..."

The kiss was long and languorous, both of them lost in the pleasure and the joy of each other.

And then Buffy shrieked.

And then Giles swore.

A second later they were both on their feet, caught between being annoyed and not being able to stop giggling.

Buffy watched the culprit wave withdraw down the gentle slope of the beach to the safety of the ocean's bosom. "My dress is wet." She rolled her eyes and squirmed. "My butt is wet...do we have a thing about getting wet, or what?"

Giles shook a soggy pants leg. "So it would seem," he chuckled. "Which, since we don't have a campfire, puts rather a dent in my plans. We shall just have to improvise."

*******

Buffy decided she liked Giles' idea of improvisation when they stopped at the mall. The first stop inside was a lingerie boutique to buy new underwear for her, then an evening wear store where they could rent clothes for the night.

They looked at dresses for Buffy first, among racks and racks of beautiful gowns, Giles shaking his head more often than Buffy, until, finally, she pulled out a simple, pale grey-blue crepe sheath cut to fall from an elegantly embroidered, heart shaped bodice. When Buffy held it up, against herself, Giles looked into her eyes, now a soft blue-grey, above it, and knew it was the right one.

Buffy found silver high-heeled sandals to go with it then went with Giles to look at the suits.

"Waistcoat or no waistcoat?"

Giles looked at the various colours of the selections she was perusing, including a number bedecked with cartoon characters, without enthusiasm.

"Perhaps not," he murmured, staring at a Mickey Mouse print set against bright scarlet on one of the mannequins. *At least not from this section...* "Buffy, why don't you go out into the mall and look for a purse to go with your shoes, while I find something?" He suggested. "You may take it out of the money you owe me. Your first gift for the day..."

That worked.

When Buffy returned, twenty minutes later, Giles was dressed in an immaculately cut classic tuxedo Buffy knew would have cost the earth, with a form-fitting black waistcoat over an equally immaculately fitting white linen shirt, and a small, elegant, black bowtie.

She looked him up and down from evening shoes to his now combed hair.

"Whoa."

He tilted his head to one side. "I take it you approve?"

"Oh, yeah," she agreed fervently. "How did you get it to fit so perfectly? Xander usually has to take his back at least three times..."

Giles tried not to smile. "Something to do with being the right shape, according to our friend over there," he told her, still trying to keep a straight face. He did not tell her about the fifty dollars extra it had cost him to convince the assistant to coerce the tailor into doing the minor alterations needed, immediately.

"I thought you looked good the last time I saw you in a tux, but, wow, Giles!"

He looked pleased. "I seem to be getting that rather a lot lately."

Buffy knew a flash of jealousy, but grinned back. "Yeah, well, I'm the only one who's allowed to touch the wow-ness, okay...?"

*******

Once Buffy had dressed and redone her hair in the change-room mirror, they headed for the Jeep, Giles halting only feet from the exit and handing Buffy the keys and his bag of clothes. "I'll meet you at the car. I've left something back at the store."

Nonplussed, Buffy did as he asked, thrilled with her new purse and amused that he still had his absent-minded moments, even though he looked anything but the absent-minded professor type right then.

A surprisingly amount of time later, Giles returned. The trip across town didn't take long. He manoeuvred the car into a reverse park not far from the most exclusive restaurant in town.

"Giles, we're never going to get in there. It's booked, like, months in advance," she whispered when he handed her out of the passenger side of the vehicle.

He leaned down close to her ear. "Trust me," he whispered back, his breath grazing her sensitive lobe and making her shiver

As good as his word, Buffy found herself being seated at a secluded table for two a short time later and watching her gorgeous companion thank the waiter before sitting down, himself.

"Okay, who do you know?"

He looked a little sheepish. "Nobody," he admitted. "I called Cordelia."

"Cordelia has connections with this place?"

The sheepishness was complimented by a slight flush of colour. "I had hoped...but no. She was...unavailable, however there was a chap named Lorne there. He, being an entertainer, apparently has the connections..."

"Go, Lorne," she grinned, looking around the room at the elegantly attired patrons, the live musicians and the waiters in their little jackets. It was the kind of place she could only dream about...until now.

At Giles prompting a short time later, Buffy wandered dreamily through the menu.

By the time the waiter returned, they were ready to order. She listened just as dreamily to Giles relaying their selections and ordering wine. When the menus were taken away she sat back, looking at him.

He stared back at her quizzically. His expression, with one eyebrow slightly lifted, was adorable. "Is my tie askew?"

She smiled contentedly and shook her head. "I'm just making sure I don't miss a single moment of this...or of you."

A wave of love washed over him. She looked radiant...and beautiful in the dress...and that light in her eyes, astonishingly, was for him. For a moment sudden emotion caught in his throat, preventing him from responding.

Buffy, however, didn't seem to mind. She was watching the various expressions cross his features and looking more and more pleased.

"It's...it's all to your liking?" He asked, finally, frustrated by his sudden lack of articulation.

"Oh, yeah. Totally like," she replied with her usual frank honesty about such things, immediately making him feel better, particularly when her gaze once again raked his form, seemingly inspiring yet another dazzling grin. "Everything is perfect," she sighed.

"Almost perfect," he said softly, surprising her, and pulled a small package from the inside pocket of his jacket.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Buffy."

She couldn't stop them. They weren't sentimental. They weren't out of pain, or rage or frustration, but nothing could stop the tears that leaped into her eyes as she accepted the tiny gift-wrapped package and opened it with trembling hands.

They were beautiful.

"How did you...?"

"You don't remember?"

She shook her head.

"We were training for the fight against Glory. You broke the training dummy...again, and whilst sparring, you tore the pocket off my best shirt."

"...And I made you take me to the mall so I could buy you a new one," she remembered, then frowned, trying to recall the rest of the outing. "We argued about the shirt. I wanted to buy you something cool and you wanted a stuffy business shirt with no style whatsoever-"

"Amazing the trivia she can remember," he teased, taking her jibes about his taste in stride, "without retaining a single shred of useful information. And it was a tasteful, practical garment."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "If you say so. Anyway, after that we went looking for somewhere with good coffee, oh and tea...and biscuits."

"Scones," he corrected long sufferingly.

"...Scones," she dutifully repeated. "So what...oh..." Her eyes lit up. "Now I remember." Her gaze flicked up to his, genuinely surprised. "You actually remembered that?" She smiled, distinctly remembering how disinterested he'd been in her exclamations of delight at the featured tray of earrings in the display window of the jewellery store...or more particularly one pair of earrings, in the centre of that tray...

She touched them with the tip of one finger. "They're beautiful. Thank you...but I don't have anything for you...I-I mean I had plans, but...well, you know..."

He covered her hand and the box with both of his. "It doesn't matter," he said gently. "All I ever wanted is right in front of me at this moment. You couldn't give me anything that would make me happier than I am right now."

"I can think of one thing," Buffy teased in a sultry voice, when she could speak again, and enjoyed seeing his bark of laughter. She loved his giggle, and how easily they giggled together, but that unselfconscious laugh was special to her. A tiny bit of Giles that was all hers...

At that point the entrees arrived. Buffy divided her time between savouring her own melon sorbet, and watching Giles work his way through a dozen Oysters Florentine. It was funny, but apart from jelly donuts and snacks, and the rare, occasional slice of pizza while they were researching, the only times she ever saw Giles eat were her near-apocalyptic attempt at Thanksgiving and that one Christmas where they were all together before her mother died...

By the end of his filet mignon and her 'quenelles du something' and most of the bottle of expensive chardonnay, Buffy was glowing and Giles was oozing contentment.

After a small introduction, the band finally started a number and various couples wandered onto the dance floor in ones and twos. The two of them watched the gyrations to the modern, upbeat number with amusement...and the next, and the next.

It made Buffy remember when they went to the Bronze after defeating the Master, and Giles' steadfast refusal to dance despite endless cajoling from Jenny Calendar... even Willow had got into the act...

Then the music slowed and many of the couples drifted away, new ones gradually taking their places.

Moments later, she found Giles at her elbow, holding out a hand.

Buffy smiled and slid hers into it. She found it the most wonderful, amazing feeling to be led out onto the dance floor and folded in the arms of the man she loved, then to glide, effortlessly, around it to the low, sweet strains of the music. Giles was an amazing dancer. They weren't just shuffling or drifting around in a mobile embrace...they were really dancing, Buffy glad of Slayer reflexes as she matched his steps artlessly, until she was able to rest her cheek against his breast and mirror unconsciously his rhythm and grace.

They stayed for the whole bracket...slow was obviously the tempo of choice there, the floor packed by the end of the third number. By then, they had also, finally, slowed to a 'mobile embrace' more by design than poor dancing skills.

Buffy wanted it to last forever, and she had a feeling Giles did too. After the fourth number, however, the band paused for a long moment, then launched into a seventies disco number that inspired a low, collective groan from many, while others popped up from their tables to make their way to floor.

They looked at each other, and at the gyrations already going on around them, Giles' face a picture of discomfort and disapproval.

"If you really want..." He began.

Buffy touched his lips with her fingertips and shook her head.

He smiled at her gratefully, circled her shoulders with a protective arm and ushered her back to their table.

As they approached it, Buffy's breath caught. The centrepiece of the table had been replaced by a basket of roses--that was the only way it could be described. Dozens of the darkest red roses, just opening, interspersed with snow-white baby's breath and the finest of ferns in a white cane basket. The closer they got, the stronger the perfume.

When they came to a halt, Buffy reached out and touched a velvety bloom. "They're so beautiful. I've never seen any that looked so velvety before--and the scent. Is it real?"

NEXT