Title: My Family and Other Nightmares 5/5
Author: Gail Christison
Pairing: B/G Mostly subtext at first, gradually becoming text
Rating: PG-13
Timeline/Spoilers Not really much in the way of spoilers. Post Chosen
Summary: Luisa asked for a My Family X-over. Giles and Buffy go to meet the Harper side of Giles' family in England, and end up getting roped into helping with the arrangements for Richard's Stag night. A fun fic, not to be taken too seriously :-) Probably much more entertaining if you have seen Tony's episode of My Family, but should still be fun if you haven't. Those who have access to Lynsey's site should be able to get the ep if they haven't seen it.
Disclaimer: Not mine...so not fair <g> BTVS is owned by Mutant Enemy... My Family is probably owned by the BBC...
Feedback: Love to know how I did, especially with the Harpers <g> chriscln@ozemail.com.au
Distribution: Everyone who has permission, Riposte. Anyone else just ask :-)
Author's Note: I have been working on this on and off what must have been well over a year. Apologies to Luisa for taking so long finish it. Thankyous to Ruth and Karen for language and dialect tips, and Gileswench and Luisa for the morale support :D BIG thankyou to Karen for the beta. :-)
Dedication: To Gileswench ...Happy Late birthday, mate :-) And to Luisa. Thanks :-)
The air throbbed with tension. Even through her hangover, Buffy was aware that a line had been crossed; that things were never quite going to be the same again. She stepped back, just a little, and looked up at him, taking in the deeply flushed colour and the intense darkening of his normally bright green gaze.
She could smell his cologne, his breath: a vague mixture of mint, cigars and alcohol, and the remnants of earlier exertion, strong, male and...stimulating. She lifted her hand again, this time tracing his jaw very slowly. Then, tentatively, almost as though waiting for him to deny her permission, she moved her forefinger to his lips, tracing them even more slowly ...not least because her hand had begun to tremble.
His eyes continued to darken, but there was no disapproval, or distaste, in them.
"Buf..."
Shakily, she pressed a fingertip to the errant lips. "No. No talking. Talking always gets us into trouble. Actions are better. And it's past time I did the acting..." She frowned. "That's not what I meant...I -"
It was Giles' turn to touch a finger to her soft lips. "I know what you meant," he said softly, only too aware of the desire in her eyes, the question in her slender fingers. It was time.
Time he stopped pretending; time they both stopped running...from the truth.
When he bent his head it was with the knowledge that hers was automatically tilting back, her lips rising to meet his. They both trembled as he drew her into his arms, their mouths merging into one, seeking and finding that truth...and delighting in it.
Buffy's heart was pounding, her body alive with the pleasure of just touching him, and more, the excitement of feeling him respond, feeling him love her back...feeling it in a way none before him had ever made her feel. The wave of desire, so powerful it shook her; the sense of belonging, need, joy...
As confused as it all was, she recognised and embraced it. She knew what that crazy avalanche of sensations made when they were mixed together and baked at the right temperature...
Finally, Giles lifted his head, his cheeks flushed, eyes flashing as they searched for reassurance, confirmation...only to meet hers doing exactly the same thing.
They chuckled a little and flushed even more, before both speaking at the same moment.
"How long h-have you-?"
"How long-?"
They paused again, half smiling at each other.
Then Giles spoke first. "There's been...something...for a long time...but nothing I would have even admitted to myself until..."
"Until...?"
"Until you were taken from me...until I thought I'd lost you," he said quietly.
Buffy paled a little. She'd figured he had just discovered those feelings...here, in England, as she had. With some effort, she managed to hold his gaze and to tell him honestly:
"I didn't know until just the last little while...I wish..." She stopped and then started again, revelation in her eyes. "I've been stupid, and blind. This feeling...these feelings I have...they're not new...hence that first kiss...but I never understood. All that time back in Sunnydale, and in Rome, when I was so lonely...I realize now it was because I couldn't have you...wouldn't let myself even consider...not even when Spike put it into actual words. Not even after that, when everything felt a hundred times worse. Even then, I still didn't realize it *wasn't* just because you weren't there to be my Watcher, to take care of me. I didn't understand that the truth was that it was because you weren't *mine*... because I'd lost any chance... I was all alone, in every way possible...and it was my own fault. In the end it didn't matter what I let myself do, because the only thing I ever wanted was gone."
Giles' mouth tipped open a little. The revelation had been so long in coming, and he'd been so convinced that she would never get it, the fact that she'd tumbled it all out in just a few seconds, at once astonished and delighted and confused him. Then he pulled himself together, instinctively reverting to his infuriatingly practical self.
"You do know that this won't be in any way easy...for either of us?"
She smiled slowly at him. Giles couldn't help being...Giles. "Easy? Us? Oxymoron, Rupert. We don't get to do easy, ever, remember? Mm...'Rupert'...I like the way that sounds when I say it. I don't know why I ever thought I wouldn't."
"I like that you like it, but don't feel too badly. The name 'Rupert' has been terribly 'uncool' for far longer than you've been alive. It made school life more...interesting."
"Yeah, I guess. Funny though, how it sounds fine...just because it's your name. 'Rupert Giles...'" she said, just to hear it again. "Do you have a middle name?"
"Thomas, after my father," he confided, amused.
"'Rupert T. Giles.' That works." She sobered a little. "Is he...?"
Giles shook his head. "Thankfully he's been retired for several years. Lives in Somerset...a place called Shepton Mallet. You'd like it, I think."
"Is it far from Bath?"
He shook his head. "Not far at all. I'll take you to see him, once this wedding business is over."
"I take it he wouldn't be very interested in going to his nephew's fifth wedding?"
Giles grinned, relaxing at last. "Father isn't interested in anything Richard does...not since Ricky was sent up for receiving stolen goods for the third time, a few years ago, anyway. Richard looks too much like a Giles and behaves too much like a Harper...it's a poor state of affairs, as far as father is concerned."
Buffy smirked. "Understandable." She wanted nothing more than to be back in his arms again, but she wanted him to set the pace, to be as sure as she was, about what he wanted. After a short silence, she spoke again, because she had to say something.
"So...we're good?"
Giles, however, simply held her gaze. "I don't know. Are we?"
Buffy blinked, then grew serious. "If you feel the same way I do, then...yeah, I think so."
"And how exactly do you feel?" he asked, deceptively softly.
Buffy wasn't sure what he wanted, but tried gamely. "Like my life finally doesn't suck. Like nothing will ever compare to that feeling a few minutes ago, when we both knew...and we both knew we knew." She coloured and looked sheepish for a moment, then pressed on. "I love you...I think maybe I've always loved you. I guess it just had to be defined in different ways for a long time...for obvious reasons...but it's always been you."
Giles was silent for a long few moments before he spoke, with careful consideration. "Angel?"
Buffy looked away. "Angel was my first real love...my first desire, but he wasn't the love of my life...else there couldn't have been Parker, or Riley...or Spike. All of them...*All* of them were about me not wanting to be alone, or lonely or hurting. Deep down I thought it all was about missing Angel...not being able to be with him. I was so stupid."
"On the contrary," Giles said softly. "I think there was a great deal between you and Angel; that given different circumstances-"
"Oh, yeah. Like him having a pulse, for one," she interrupted ruefully.
He nodded. "Given different circumstances you might have had a good life with him. But ultimately there can be no 'other circumstances'. He is what he is...and what he once was, neither of which was ever right for you. He knew that, and, ultimately, after much mourning and pining, I think you came to understand it, too."
She blinked back moisture and nodded. "When he brought the amulet...at first I was so...but I knew. By the time he left, I knew it wasn't him anymore. But I also knew it wasn't Spike. I cared for him...I did...for what he tried to be for me...but it wasn't him, either. That's why...well, that other stuff in Rome...playing with fire again. At least this time I got out before I got burned...or got anyone else burned."
"I'm glad you did," Giles said softly. "In more ways than one. That path was more dangerous than you can imagine. I was afraid for you."
"But you didn't say anything."
"I learned back in Sunnydale that it wasn't my place any more, to say anything at all," he pointed out, though not without some sting in the words.
Buffy winced, but held his gaze. Finally, she nodded.
The light in his eyes acknowledged her admission, before he moved on. "I did, however, send Andrew to keep an eye on things," he confessed.
Her eyes widened. "I thought you were just trying to get him out of your hair. You sent him to spy on me?"
Giles raised a rather intimidating eyebrow.
Buffy subsided. "Okay, so yeah, I needed a minder...I still can't believe that's why you sent him to annoy the crap out of me for all those months. You do know that he's telling everyone you were training him to be a Watcher, right?"
It was Giles' turn to look startled. "He what...?!" He cleared his throat. "Never mind. If he wants to pretend that running errands and delivering messages is tantamount to being trained as a Watcher, let him have his little fantasy. As things stand he's going to be far too busy to be doing much fantasizing for a very long time."
"Yeah? What did you do with him?"
"I reassigned him to our office in Minsk, which was having a dreadful time getting office staff. When he's not freezing his...well, anyway, he'll be largely in charge of running the office in the absence of the two Watchers there, who are flat out recruiting and training whichever eastern bloc Slayers ask for our help."
"Phones, files and paperwork...not too mention snow..." she grinned. "That should keep him out of trouble for a while." A moment later, her eyes grew very warm. "Hey..." she said softly. "Thanks...for worrying about me. For Andrew, even. Believe it or not, he helped a lot, especially with Dawn, and he did make me think a lot about what I was doing... Your work again, I guess, huh?"
Giles nodded, eyes twinkling. "You have no idea how relieved I was when you said it was over... almost as relieved as I was to see your face again after you landed at Heathrow. I missed you so terribly, you see..."
Buffy nodded, eyes wide with trying to hold back her feelings. Their embrace was spontaneous and emotional...and then they found each other again, their kiss demanding and passionate, claiming each other in a way words never could...
*******
Buffy turned the little grey mare to follow the big pinto down the embankment, winding through May bush and field maples until Giles stopped Otto and allowed him to drink from the cool, babbling stream. The mare moved up alongside and Buffy allowed her to put her own head down.
"You know, I think I like the farm better than the apart...flat. It's so beautiful and peaceful here. I feel like someone filtered the air...and the sound...even the sunshine...just for me. I bet even the water tastes like it's never been touched by anything."
Giles understood what she meant but his expression was a little rueful. "It certainly should be, but in this day and age of dumping and irresponsible farm practises one can never be entirely certain. Still, Otto is enjoying himself and has never seemed any the worse for his visits here."
"How did you ever leave all this? Compared to Sunnydale this is so..." There was sorrow in her eyes, and regret. "When we were kids we never really thought about what it was like for you. I mean... you were there, so you must've wanted to be there, right? And you were an adult...free to do what you want...not being told what to do by anyone..." Her expression grew incredulous as she absorbed those memories. "God we were dumb," she said, shaking her head.
Giles smiled. "I always said you were all idiots. A fact which you all continued to impress upon me right up until I left. You were also the bravest, most wonderful group of young people I've ever met...or am ever likely to meet. The world would have been a far poorer place without the three of you...and Cordelia, Oz, even Anya and Tara...dear Tara, and young Dawn."
Buffy smiled back. "Is it bad that I don't really want to go back to Ben and Susan's again? I know we have to, because of the wedding and how excited Ben is about how well things are going, but I'd much rather stay here...just the two of us. I know you want to take things slowly and I've loved every minute of all the things we've been doing together...include these rides, but I'm greedy, Giles. I want more of you to myself. I don't even want to share you with Otto and Molly, here."
The tender eyes grew in intensity until they were burning smudges of forest green. It didn't need words for Buffy to know what he was thinking and feeling . She shifted in the soft English saddle, aware that she was thinking and feeling exactly the same things.
"Trust me," he said softly, his voice as seductive as those eyes.
Buffy nodded. She always would. Then a bird began to pipe at a ridiculous volume. The moment had passed. "So," she grinned mischievously, "does this mean we still have to go to Ben and Susan's?"
*******
"He's late."
"Only about an hour...and forty minutes or so..." Nick shrugged.
"If I was Cousin Richard I could think of a lot better things to do than listen to dad waffle on while mum shoots death's daggers at me every five minutes," Michael muttered, still pretending he was paying attention to the geography text book in front of him.
Giles sipped quietly on his cup of tea, staying right out of the Harper family sniping, and looking down occasionally to watch Buffy doze against the point of his shoulder.
"He could have at least called," Susan snarled, aware that her painstakingly prepared Osso-bucco was in peril of either going the way of the corner roast or congealing into a dried out mess if they didn't eat soon.
"I have to admit I was actually looking forward to meeting this Gina Beresford person, if only to see what kind of girl would be stupid enough to fall for Richard's line of guff," Ben added, bending to cuff the back of Michael's head as he came back into the room. "Where's Abi? Not interested in meeting her new stepmother? I thought Richard said Gina wanted her to be a bridesmaid."
"She said she'd rather run naked through a herd of Elephants," Susan informed them, not noticing everyone's mildly perplexed looks.
"And the elephants are probably very glad that she's here and they're...there...wherever they are. So where is she, then?"
Susan looked annoyed. "Upstairs in her room."
Ben rolled his eyes. "Booking her safari, no doubt."
"The question," Giles said quietly, "is where are Richard and Gina?"
"If there's a God, they've eloped to bloody Majorca," Ben muttered.
"Bristol, more like," Nick sniggered, just as the doorbell rang.
Everyone looked at each other, until eventually Ben, with a long-suffering look, got up just as Buffy roused.
"Hello, all," Richard greeted them with patently false cheer and no Miss Gina Beresford in tow. "Sorry I'm a little late. There's been a kind of a...well...setback, of sorts."
"Where's Gina?"
Everyone looked to Susan, never one to labour a point, when it was someone else's.
"Well, she's obviously not here, and my dinner is probably ruined," she shot back ill-temperedly.
"That's the thing, see...Gina's sort of, well...not coming."
"Is she ill?" Buffy asked, a little more sympathetically.
Richard coloured almost as much as Giles did when he was truly embarrassed. Enough to make Giles' eyes narrow.
"Something's wrong," he said, also without censure.
"What's the matter, then?" Nick cajoled cheerfully. "She do a scarper with some tosser who knew more about hairdressing than you?"
"She's gone back-packing on the continent, if you must know," Richard revealed petulantly. "With some prancing seven foot Icelander named Arne. 'Arne' for God's sake! Met the pillock on the train the night me car was repo...er...anyway, she decided after due consideration and numerous threats from her dad, that an 'oliday with 'Arne' was infinitely preferable to becoming Mrs Richard Harper."
Ben and Susan struggled to choke down giggles. Michael was rolling his eyes but Nick was subdued. Giles suspected that Nick had probably been stood up more times than he could count.
"Presumably Arne has some redeeming qualities?" Susan asked mischievously.
"How would I bleedin' know?" Richard snapped. "She was already gone when I went to collect her. Reg was all over it. Smarmy git. Said she was in good hands. How would he know? He could be an axe murderer for all they know. Just because Peg thinks he walks on water."
"Why would they be happy to let their daughter go on a back-packing holiday with a complete stranger on the eve of her wedding?" Buffy asked, confused.
"Well apparently it's perfectly fine if you're a student at Oxford, speak three languages, look like some movie star I ain't never heard of and invite the lady's parents to come and visit your parents in their summer house in Bordeaux," Richard nanced.
"Oh God, my dinner!" Nobody really took any notice of Susan sprinting for the kitchen.
"I'm terribly sorry, Richard," Giles told him.
"Yeah," Ben agreed grudgingly.
"Maybe it's better to find out now, than after...well, you know..." Buffy offered.
Richard almost smiled. "Yeah, well...thanks." Then he flicked a look toward the kitchen door and the smoke curling under it. His eyes widened. "You know, a few drinks down the local, with my family..."
The Harpers were all at the front door before Giles and Buffy had even blinked.
Then Giles sniffed and Buffy followed Richard's gaze, her eyes also widening. "Beer is good," she decided and pulled Giles by the hand, out his chair and over to the door.
Ten minutes later, Susan emerged to find the sitting room empty.
Abi, however, was now standing on the lowest stairs. "Is that dinner ready?"
The house reverberated with the sound of Susan's exasperation, followed closely by a door slamming and a plaintive voice.
"Shall I help, then?"
*******
"Do you think Richard's going to be okay?"
Giles closed the door and turned on the lights of the flat several hours later. "He'll survive. He has four times before. I don't see why he won't again."
Buffy shrugged. "I guess."
"Believe me, he will," Giles cajoled engagingly. "Besides, it would never have lasted. It never does with him. He likes the game too much."
Buffy moved closer and looked up at him. "We're going to last, aren't we?"
He stared searchingly into the grey-green pools. "You tell me," he said brusquely, surprising her again.
Buffy looked at him speculatively. "We've had seven years to do it wrong, and to get it right. And we're still together...still...us...after everything that's happened. Is it okay to tell you that I finally understand *why* and that I want to be a part of that 'us' until the day I die...that I love you so much it hurts...but that I can't answer that question? I can tell you how I feel...and I can tell you what I want. But I figure the rest we have to do together, and find out when we get there."
For a long moment he just continued to look at her, then smiled very slowly. "I think that will do just fine," he told her, and drew her into his arms.
When she emerged, rosy-faced and rumpled, from the kiss, she leaned back. "Then can we move on to the part where I get to appreciate a little more than just what a great kisser you are, and how cute your butt is?" she teased, sliding her fingers inside his shirt and immediately delighting in the sensation of stroking the soft hair sprinkled over the warm, solid contours of his chest.
Giles coloured a little, even though he didn't look in the least embarrassed. "I think perhaps something could be arranged," he murmured, and kissed her again, very thoroughly.
Then he raised his head and grinned rakishly, before sweeping her off her feet, and carrying her, giggling, upstairs, the last sound heard, that of his boot kicking the bedroom door closed behind them...
End