Title: Mrs. Rupert Giles 2/4
Author: Holly
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Joss Whedon, WB and ME (Mutant Enemy). <I really do just like to say that. If they belonged to ME, things would be a whole lot different. Well for Giles and Buffy, anyway ;)>

The funny part was that Wesley and Xander seemed to be in complete agreement as to the complete unacceptability of such a marriage. They’d gone on for a good twenty minutes about what a bad plan it was. But neither had been able to come up with anything better. When Wesley had said something about telling the Council, Giles had the same expression that Buffy had when she had been "forbidden" to marry Giles by Wesley. Wesley, who was not stupid, let it drop right there. It was up to him to talk them out of it. He needed to talk to Giles, appeal to his common sense. Although Wesley wasn’t convinced such a thing existed where Buffy was concerned. If it had, Giles would still be a Watcher in good standing, not the outcast rebel he now was. Of course, the way he’d heard the story from Cordelia, Buffy would most likely be dead. Wesley looked at Buffy, sitting there, quietly letting the chatter go on around her. That would be a waste. She may be difficult, and contrary, but she really was an excellent Slayer. Or she would be long dead by now, being on the Hellmouth.

Giles spoke. "Let it go for today. Everyone, go on and enjoy the day. Buffy, if you’d stay?" She nodded. Wesley breathed a sigh of relief. He could tell by the tone that Giles was going to try to nip this in the bud. Although, having gotten to know Buffy, he wasn’t sure even Giles could convince her of the inadvisability of this marriage.

After everyone had left, Giles moved to sit next to Buffy. "As much as I’m loath to admit it, Wesley is right. You are far too young to be tied to an old man. However temporary. Have you really thought about the consequences?

"Giles, school’s out, you don’t plan to work here come fall anyway. I’m eighteen. The friends I care about will be…if not supportive, then at least they understand. Even Xander will come around. He doesn’t want you to leave either. If you can say that you have a better idea, then we can let this drop. No offense, but I don’t want to get married, not to anyone. But you’re my Watcher. Also, I couldn’t ask Willow to do it. She has Oz. It wouldn’t be right to ask them to be on hold. Cordelia, even if she hadn’t stated firmly that she wouldn’t marry you, has Wesley. Wouldn’t be right. Anya has Xander. Sort of. And Amy has Michael. I have no one." She shrugged. There was no self-pity, just a plain stating of facts. Giles felt the familiar tightening in his chest.

"Buffy, you may be alone right now, but that won’t be always. You’ll find some nice young chap, and be quite happy."

"Promise?"

"Cross my heart. You’ll find someone. But they may be put off if you’re married to an old man."

"One- you are not old. You’re not young, but that doesn’t make you old. Well- seasoned, maybe." He smiled. "Two-I’m not ready right now for ‘someone’. Three-if I’m ‘with’ you; I won’t really be alone. Four-who else is there? We know each other well enough to fool those Immigration guys like they do on TV." At his puzzled look she continued, "you know. That we actually live together, and know each other. Are really married." She was starting to get upset. She didn’t know how she had come to be talking him into this. He saw this, and every argument he might have had went right out the window. He didn’t know what to say to make it right. He didn’t want her hurt.

"Ah. ‘Actually live together’," he asked. She nodded. Then she got an odd look.

"Have you ever lived with someone?" She was surprised to see him blush.

"Well…umm…yes. Back in my Ripper days…." He trailed off, not really wanting to say anything more. That was a situation that he really did not want to explain to Buffy. "Are you quite certain that you understand what that would entail? We’d share a bathroom, a kitchen, there’s only the one bedroom." He stopped, shocked at how that sounded. "You’d have the bed, of course. But that is where the closet is. And the dresser, and such. It would be fairly…intimate." He hesitated over the word. He didn’t want to scare her, but he did not want to mislead her either. This would be no game.

She nodded. "It will be awkward. But, Giles. It’s us. We’ve faced the worst that the Hellmouth has thrown at us. I’ve been dead. Living with you would be a piece of cake. Of course, if you ask my mom, living with me won’t be."

"That’s another consideration, Buffy. Your mother. What will you tell her?"

"The truth. It’ll be loud. But…she’ll come around. Eventually."

"I’m not so certain of that. You talk to her. If you can bring her around, then you and I will talk again. If not…it’s not an option."

"Giles, I’m eighteen."

"It wouldn’t matter if you were twenty-five. A rift between you and Joyce is out of the question." She nodded. He always tried to look out for her. Couldn’t he let her look out for him, for once?

"Yes dear," she said demurely, but with her eyes twinkling wickedly.

"Excellent. Now you’re getting the idea. Keep that up and this might work."

She couldn’t help but laugh at him. He had said it with such a straight face. "Boy, you’re in trouble, if that’s the kind of wife you’re looking for. I don’t think they make those anymore." She bit her lip. "What kind of wife are you looking for?"

"I’m not. That is, looking for a wife. Buffy, I never expected to marry and have a family. I was a Watcher. Families get hurt." She nodded her understanding.

"Well, I’d better go. You know Willow and the others are waiting outside for me." He smiled in rueful agreement.

Later that night, Buffy tried to find a way to talk to her mother, but it was difficult. <Mom, I’m moving in with Giles, but it’s okay ‘cause we’ll be married. It’s just so that he can stay in this country though. And we won’t be really married. Oh, yeah. Mom’ll go for that one. Am I too old to be grounded? > As she ran through some possible ways to convince her Mom, she realized that she actually wanted to do this. Not because she wanted to marry Giles. But the whole idea of being able to something for Giles, after all that he had done, and given up for her, gave her a warm glow. She didn’t have to be a brain surgeon to pull this off. She only had to convince her Mom. And Giles. And Immigration. Scary that Immigration would be the easy part.

This afternoon, she had talked to Willow, who was oddly supportive of the idea. Maybe she was just glad it wasn’t going to be her. And she knew that if Willow were cool with it, then Oz would be. Anya couldn’t care less. And Cordelia wasn’t agreeing with Wesley. She didn’t want Giles to leave. Which was kind of weird, but he had saved her life. And, apparently, visited her in the hospital after that whole Willow/Xander kissing incident. That had surprised Buffy, that Giles would visit Cordelia. Then she realized, Cordelia is still one of "his" children.

That thought led her back to the conversation with Giles. He had resigned himself to never having kids. And that was a shame, because she’d bet he be great with them. She kind of had a goofy grin imagining him with a small baby. Would he even know how to hold one properly? Knowing him, he’d read every baby book, and drive his wife crazy with it. But she knew that no father would love his child more.

That night, Buffy had the oddest dream. She could see Giles and he was walking across a room, holding a very small baby. Buffy knew instinctively that the baby was a girl. The expression on Giles’ face as he gazed at the baby was an amazing mixture of awe, joy and love. Buffy awoke, and was not surprised to find tears leaking from her eyes. She lay there for a moment, then rolled over and went back to sleep.

The next morning, Buffy walked into the kitchen. She got some juice and sat down across from her Mom. Joyce looked up from her paper. "Good morning, Honey. Did you sleep well?"

"Mostly. No bad dreams." Buffy took a drink of her juice, then took a deep breath. "Mom," she began. "We need to talk." Joyce looked at Buffy in trepidation. "No, nothing Hellmouthy. No prophecy of death and destruction." Joyce let out the breath she had been holding. "But, I… I don’t really know how to say this. They’re trying to make Giles leave."

"Honey, they’ve tried that before. Mr. Giles wouldn’t leave." Joyce felt pretty confident about that.

"Not by choice, no. But they’re the government, not the Council. They’re revoking his Green Card. He…he doesn’t have a lot of choices."

"Oh, my. What is he going to...? No." The usually oblivious Joyce had known intuitively where this conversation was headed. "That’s impossible."

"Why?"

"Buffy, you’re barely eighteen. He’s forty-something. It will never work. No."

"Mom. It’s only for Immigration. We can fool them."

"No."

Buffy looked at her mother, eyes sad. She didn’t want to play her trump card, but hadn’t been able to find another way. "All right, Mom. I’ll tell Giles to start packing. Of course, without him, I won’t last very long." She looked at her mother, completely serious.

Joyce could only gasp at the brutality of Buffy’s words. "That’s not…."

"Fair?" Buffy finished for her. "No, it’s not. But it’s true. If it weren’t for Giles, I’d be dead. Once he’s gone…." She stopped, and just looked at her mother. The ball was in her court.

Joyce shook her head. "Don’t do this."

"Mom, Giles said that causing a rift between you and I was not an option. He’d rather leave than for that to happen. Mom, can you imagine how much safer I’ll be? And you’ll be. I’m a target. Living here makes you a target. I have nightmares about that. And Giles will look out for me. His place isn’t far from here. I’d visit you a lot, so that you could see that everything is okay. I promise." She looked at her Mom, who was staring at her blankly. "Mom? Did you…?"

"I heard you, Honey. I was just thinking about… never mind. You really feel like you need to do this. Is he pressuring you?"

"God, Mom, no. He’s actually pretty opposed to the whole idea. But, like I said, there really aren’t any other…options. Who else does he know…? Just us. And I don’t see the two of you being able to…." Joyce gave an involuntary shudder, and shook her head emphatically ‘no’. "I really don’t…mind. He’s done so much for me. He’s staying for me. This is not too much for him to ask. Not that he asked." She finished ruefully.

"Buffy…." She stopped whatever she had been about to say. "I’m not happy about this. But, I understand why you think you need to do it. You do realize that if Immigration doesn’t go for this, he’ll be in real trouble." Buffy nodded slowly. "Well then, what do you want me to do?"

"Really?"

"Against my better judgement, yes, really."

"Mom!" Buffy threw her arms around her mother and hugged the stuffing out of her.

Later that morning, she walked into the Library. She was smiling brightly. Giles and Wesley exchanged long looks. Buffy spoke. "Giles, do you have a few minutes?"

"Of course." She followed him into his office, and shut the door behind her. Once they were both seated, she met his nervous gaze.

"Mom is on board." Giles couldn’t keep the surprise off of his face.

"How?"

"I just explained it to her calmly, rationally. She understands. Don’t misunderstand, she’s not thrilled. But she understands." She paused to let him absorb this.

"I never thought that she’d…." He trailed off.

"I know. She kind of surprised me, too. Who would have believed it?"

"Not I."

Buffy took a deep breath. "So, now what?"

"I…I’m not certain. We don’t have a great deal of time."

"Maybe we should go tell the guys?" He nodded reluctantly.

Their reactions were pretty much what one would have expected. They ranged from shocked disbelief to stunned relief. Willow was the first to speak. "So… you guys are going to get married?" They both nodded. "Wow. Um, when?"

"We really hadn’t got that far. Soon, or it won’t really matter." They all nodded.

Xander spoke up. "Hey! Let’s all go to Vegas." Complete silence. "Come on. It’ll be fun. You could be married by an Elvis impersonator." He really thought that this was a great idea.

Buffy and Giles exchanged looks. His clearly said that it was up to her. Since this was the first sign that Xander might be coming around, she decided that it might be a good idea to go along with it. Also, there was a weird logic to his idea. In Vegas they wouldn’t need to get blood samples and all the other red tape. "Okay, but I draw the line at an Elvis impersonator. Just a nice normal…what Justice of the Peace?"

With that it was settled.

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