Title: A New Slayer 1/9
Author: Jadedragon177
Rating: PG 13
Paring: B/G
Disclaimer: Not mine, Buffy and company belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy and the WB and UPN. Can I keep Giles, please?
Summary: Buffy retires as Slayer on her 25th birthday and Giles leaves to be the Watcher to the new Slayer.

Thanks: To Sandra for a quick beta.
Notes: < > denotes thoughts

Buffy looked around the dojo.

It was quiet; students wouldn't be arriving for another hour. It was strange to now have her life ahead of her again. Her 25th birthday was in a few days and she would be free, no longer the Slayer. Giles had explained it to her last week when a letter had come to her from the Council, explaining that she was the first Slayer in this new century to reach the age of retirement. Another Slayer had been called, but she would keep her strength, only as she aged it would decrease.

Giles had kept her alive and stayed with her throughout her time in Sunnydale as the Slayer. She knew that she would never have made it through all the trying times without him, his guidance, his help, even his love. His love, if only he loved her as a woman. She loved him with all her heart and it was breaking. Giles would be leaving for London next Tuesday to become the new Slayer's Watcher, her's had been killed and the Council had asked Giles fill the vacancy. It would be strange not to be able to go to him with her problems, not to see him whenever she wanted to.

She and Wang had started the dojo three years ago. He had come upon her one night while she was patrolling and in battle with 5 vampires. He thought the young woman was being attacked by a gang and had jumped in to help her. He couldn't believe the strength and form of this young girl. He had seen Grand Masters who didn't have the finesse that she did. He had been in shock when he realized that she had been fighting vampires and not gang members after he had seen her stake the first one and it had disintegrated in front of him.

"Who are you and what were those?" Wang had asked as she dusted the last one.

Buffy looked at the young man of oriental descent, "I'm Buffy and those were vampires."

"They're real?" he asked with a look of disbelief on his face.

"As real as I am. Thanks for the help. Are you alright?" Buffy asked the young man who appeared to be a little shaky.

"Yes. Where did you learn to fight like that? My grandfather is a Grand Master, and you put him to shame," the young man told her in awe of her fighting abilities.

"Thanks, I think, Giles trained me. I think I need to take you to him."

"Please, I must meet him," the young man told her.

"What is your name?" Buffy asked the young man who was so entranced with her fighting.

"I'm Wang Fong," he told her as she led him from the cemetery.

Buffy had taken him to meet Giles and that was the beginning of a long friendship and business partnership. Grandfather, as Wang's grandfather insisted on being called had been amazed at the skill and power of the young woman. He had taken it upon himself to further train her in martial arts styles that Giles didn't know, styles that had never been shown to a Westerner. Buffy quickly pick up the complicated new moves and it was not long before she could also best Grandfather. Buffy and Wang soon opened the dojo together with Giles and Grandfather backing them. Buffy never realized just how much she had learned and how much she enjoyed teaching others her skills until they opened the dojo. She had found a career that she truly loved.

It had taken Wang and his grandfather two years but they had finally persuaded Buffy to enter the Grand Master Championship last year. She had felt very out of place with all of the other competitors, being only the second woman and by far the youngest. All of the Scooby gang were there to cheer her on as most of the other competitors looked down on her, until her first match. As Wang had told her, she had beaten all the competition without even trying very hard; she had been proclaimed the youngest Grand Master in the history of the Competition and the first woman ever to gain the title. It had been the making of their small dojo. Now even some of the other competitors from the tournament were taking her advanced classes.

Buffy and Wang had become good friends and briefly had been lovers, but he knew of her love for her Watcher and knew that he could never take Giles' place in Buffy's heart. Wang had told her to let Giles know how she felt many times and when he found her in the dojo a few days before her birthday, approached Buffy again, knowing that Giles was leaving for London soon.

"Hi, Buffy," Wang called as he entered and walked over to warm up himself.

"Wang," she acknowledged as she jumped rope.

"How's Giles?" he asked.

"He's fine, getting ready to leave for London." she told him as she quit warming up and faced him, knowing what he was going to say.

"Buffy, why don't you tell him how you feel. You need to get on with your life and until you resolve your feelings for him, you never will. You're 25 going on 100. You need to live a little," he told her concerned that she always seemed to have the weight of the world on her shoulders.

"Wang, I know that, but I can't imagine not loving him. But, he only sees me as a daughter and if I tell him how I feel, he'll get all embarrassed and tell me so. I don't want to ruin our friendship."

"But what if he loves you?"

"He does…as a daughter."

"Buffy you need to live, you're just holding back. You need to find someone to love. You need to be loved; to be cherished. You're such a loving, giving woman, you need someone to give that love to and someone who will return it."

"Wang, I will, remember the party Saturday, I'll mingle, I promise," she sadly tried to reassure him.

"And then go home alone. You need to find someone, you shouldn't be alone. I worry about you," he told her, the emotion in his voice very clear to his partner.

"Wang, thanks for caring, but my heart's already taken," she told him sadly. With that she turned from him and continued her warm-up and not talking to him again that night as she left earlier than he did, her classes through before his.

When she got home, to the house she shared with Willow and Tara, she had gone to Willow's magick work room, to again look through the spell books Willow had collected over the years. Buffy had been looking for the last month, not knowing exactly what she was looking for but knowing that she would recognize it when she found it. That night she hit pay dirt. She found a spell, which could be cast by anyone. She had read and copied it with all the instructions and ingredients needed. The next day she had gone to talk with the owner of a magick shop in LA. Buffy had been told that it was an ancient spell, which had been used by the aristocracy to ensure marriages of reluctant suitors in the middle ages and earlier. Allie, the owner of the shop told Buffy it had led to many a marriage. Someone from the family of the woman who wanted her to marry a particular man performed the spell. The man would then fall into a dreamstate in which he would dream of making love to the woman he would later be forced to marry, not knowing that they actually made love and she had conceived his child. He would remember only a dream unless confronted by the woman carrying his child, and then he would remember clearly the events that had taken place and that the child was his own. Buffy only thought, I will be with Giles for one night, and I will have his child. She had thought of nothing else since. She had everything she needed and would follow Giles home soon after the party.

**********

Buffy looked around the room at all of her friends celebrating her 25th birthday and her retirement as the Slayer. She had made it, the first Slayer in this century to reach retirement. She knew she would never have reached 17, much less 25 without Giles. She looked across the room to where he stood with Xander and Willow. He might have a few more gray hairs, but he was still the strong handsome man she first met in the library when she had been just 16. He had become her life. She couldn't place a day and time when she had fallen in love with him, but she knew that she had begun to realize just how important he was to her when Travers had fired him as her Watcher on her 18th birthday. The next years had been hard, especially her first year at college, when she had tried to push Giles and her feelings for him away. She wanted him to be happy, but had been so jealous of his relationship with Olivia, that she had rushed into a relationship with Riley. She had never loved Riley and had hurt him more than she had realized. He resented that she never loved him and they had broken up soon after the Initiative had disbanded.

After Buffy had broken up with Riley, she wanted nothing more than to go to Giles and tell him of her love, but knew that he still only thought of her as a daughter. She'd had several lovers since, but had never found anyone to make her forget the only man she truly loved. Now that she was no longer his Slayer they would still be friends, but she found it hard to be around him and not let him know how she truly felt. He would be leaving for England in the next few days to meet his new Slayer. The Council had finally acknowledged Giles, for all he had done to help her and he would be the new Watcher for Nikki, the current Slayer. Buffy was lost in her thoughts as Giles approached her.

"Buffy, how does it feel to retire?" Giles asked bringing her out of her reverie, as he handed her a glass of white wine.

"Giles, I never would have seen this day without you. I haven't said it enough, but I do truly appreciate everything you've done for me."

"Buffy, I was just doing what I was trained to do," he told her.

"No, you did more than that, you cared. You took a scared young girl who wanted nothing to do with her destiny, helped her not only to accept it, but also to do the best she could. I don't think any other Watcher could have done what you have. I know I'm a different woman, a better woman, than I would have been without your influence. I wouldn't even be here if not for you."

"I don't believe that."

"I do, Giles. You're a very special man, and Nikki is a very lucky Slayer, just like I have been," she told him with love and tears in her eyes.

"B..buffy, don't cry, you now have your whole life ahead of you, now. I'm so very proud of you and the way you've grown up. You're a very beautiful young woman, who I am glad to have known," Giles told her, holding his own emotions in check.

"Where will you and Nikki be assigned?" she asked, changing the subject, hoping they would be assigned to the Hellmouth.

"I don't know yet, there is still so much activity here on the Hellmouth, that I would think they would assign us here, but with the Council, you never can tell. As you know, I'll be leaving Tuesday for London to meet Nikki and begin training with her. The Council wants us to get to know each other before they decide where to send us on assignment. I'll keep my condo until then. I would appreciate it if you, Willow and Xander would keep an eye on the place for me."

"I'll be glad to, and I'm sure that Willow and Xander will be glad to help, too. Can we take you to the Airport Tuesday?"

"I'd love for you to." He told her as Willow came up to ask him to dance. Buffy watched her Watcher and her best friend. She had danced with him earlier and was looking forward to what she had planned for later that night.

Buffy was glad when the party broke up about midnight. She had slipped a sleeping potion in Giles' last drink so he would not be making a late night of it. She went back to her apartment, changed, gathered what she needed and left for Giles' on foot. She lived only two blocks away from him and knew that she could take care of anything that would try to bother her on the walk. As she approached his condo the light in the loft was the only one on. She went to the back door and set up the diagram needed for the spell. Once Buffy had drawn the circle, she cast the spell and then entered the apartment silently. When she found Giles in bed seemingly asleep, she took off her sweats and touched his face in a loving caress. His eyes opened, he looked at her and reached out his hand to bring her to his bed. He was as gentle as she knew he would be and as loving. She felt like a thief in the night, stealing a child, which he would never know about. Buffy almost stopped the spell, but he brought her to such a shattering orgasm that all thought left her mind. They made love until she saw the light of dawn breaking and knew that she had to leave. She gathered her clothes, quickly got dressed and left again by the backdoor wiping away all evidence of the spell. When she got home she fell into bed and cried herself to sleep, knowing that she would never again experience such love as she had with Giles. He had even called her name as he made love to her.

**********

Giles slept late, waking up at noon, much later than he usually awoke. < Bloody hell, I'm too old for this to be happening! > he said to himself as cleaned up what he thought was the evidence of a 'wet dream'. He remembered his dreams; they were so vivid. If only they had really happened, he even thought he smelled Buffy on his sheets. He loved her so much, but she would never think of him as a man and a lover. As he went downstairs to put the sheets in the laundry, he sensed magick; it was very weak, like someone who was not well versed had tried a spell that hadn't worked. He looked around his home, finding nothing, he forgot about it. He had a lot to do before he left for London in three days. Anya would be managing the Magic Box while he was gone. She had become quite the shopkeeper since he had purchased it when Buffy was a sophomore at UC Sunnydale. Giles hoped that Buffy would find someone to love her as much as he did. She deserved to be happy, and he wanted that for her. He also wondered what Nikki would be like? She could never take Buffy's place in his heart, no matter how special she might turn out to be. Giles also suspected that the Council hadn't told him everything about his new Slayer.

*********

Watching Giles get on the plane to England was the hardest thing Buffy had ever done. It took all of her strength not to breakdown in the airport, especially as Giles hugged her goodbye. He promised to keep in touch, hoping that he would be bringing his new Slayer to Sunnydale in the near future. Buffy cried on the way home, Willow comforting her friend as Xander drove.

**********

February

Three weeks later, Willow was in Buffy's room. Buffy had asked her friend to look for her gym bag. As Willow searched, she found the bag that Buffy had used to store the items she had needed for the spell on Giles. When Willow read the spell and she realized what had happened. No wonder Buffy was such a wreck. She did love Giles and had not told him, only stolen a night with him. Willow knew there was something else about the spell but she couldn't quite remember what it was. She was worried about Buffy; she had suspected that Buffy loved Giles as more than a friend for a long time.

Willow discussed her concerns about Buffy with Tara. They decided that they would keep a close eye on her and try to get her to get out more and meet people, men especially. A couple of weeks later, Willow invited James over, a programmer she had met at work, to introduce him to Buffy. She had planned a spaghetti dinner for herself, Tara, Buffy and James. It was on Tuesday, Buffy's early night at the dojo and she would be home about 7:00.

"Willow," Buffy called as she entered the house, excitement in her voice.

"Buffy, what is it?" Willow asked her friend.

"I have wonderful news!" Buffy said as she entered the living room, seeing that Willow and Tara had company.

"Buffy, this is James Anthony. I told you that he would be coming to dinner tonight. James, this is Buffy Summers, our roommate."

"Buffy, it's nice to meet you finally, Willow has told me a lot about you."

"James, it's nice to meet you, too," she told him in a distracted voice as she turned to Willow. "I want to see you in the kitchen. Now!"

Willow followed Buffy wondering what had her upset. She had hardly spoken to James, barely acknowledging his presence.

"Willow, are you matchmaking?" Buffy asked her friend as soon as the kitchen door was closed.

"Well, Buffy, you need to get out and meet people."

"By that you mean men?"

"Yes! Damn it. You stay here alone, not going out. All you do is work. You need someone in your life. Buffy aren't you lonely?"

"Yes, Willow, I'm lonely. But the man I want isn't here."

"Giles." Willow stated.

"How did you know?" she asked in amazement.

"Buffy, as long as I have known you and Giles, you think I wouldn't see how you truly feel about him?"

"I thought I was discreet with my feelings."

"You were, but he's gone. You need to get on with your life!" Willow tried to reason with her friend.

"I know you're right but I can't love anyone else. I know that he doesn't feel that way about me, but I love him so much I can't even look at another man," Buffy admitted to her friend with tears in her eyes.

"Oh Buffy, why don't you call him or better yet go to England and tell him?"

"Will, he thinks of me as a daughter, can you imagine how he would react if I told him I wanted to have his child?"

"The spell!" Willow exclaimed, the true outcome of it finally dawning on her.

"How did you know?" a shocked Buffy asked.

"Remember last week when you asked me to find your gym bag?"

"Yes."

"Well, I also found the bag with the remaining ingredients and the written spell. Buffy are you pregnant with Giles' baby?" she asked, astonishment on her face.

"Yes, Willow, I am. And you will not tell him. If he comes back here I'll tell him, but I don't think we will be seeing him again," she told her friend, the tears starting to spill down her face.

"Giles will be back. Buffy, you have to tell him. He will be a good father."

"Yeah, after he kills me."

"Do you regret doing the spell?" Willow asked her friend, concern clear on her face.

"At times I do, I almost stopped it that night, but he ...lets' just say that I have never had such an incredible sexual experience before and I don't think I ever will again. But then I think of the baby I'm carrying. Willow, I'm having a baby, Giles' baby," Buffy told her friend, the expression on her face one of joy and awe.

"What is your mother going to say?"

"I don't know. She'll be upset and want to know who the father is. How can I tell her?"

"You'll just have to be honest with her. Tell her how you feel."

"Willow, I'm scared," she told her friend as the reality of what she had done finally began to sink in.

"Buffy, I'm here for you. Tara and I will help you anyway we can." Willow told her as she took her friend into her arms to reassure her.

**********

Buffy looked into Wang's office expecting him to be in. She had to tell him about the baby because she had been so sick. Wang was very concerned and kept insisting she take time off to look after herself. Buffy knew better than to tell him who the baby's father was, he would tell Giles as soon as he could reach him and she was not ready to deal with that just yet. She sat down knowing that he was in the building, having seen his truck parked in the back. Buffy was deep in thought when he came in about five minutes later.

"Buffy, what are you doing here today? I told you to take some time off!"

"Wang, I needed to talk to you, to tell you what the doctor said yesterday," she told her partner.

"Buffy, what's wrong? I'll do anything I can to help, you know that," he assured her.

"I know, Wang. You're a good friend and I will need your support and help over the next several months. Wang, the week of my birthday, I was artificially inseminated. I'm pregnant, that's why I've been so sick."

"Buffy, why?" he asked, astonishment on his face.

"I wanted a baby. There's no man in my life and I don't expect to meet anyone anytime soon. So, I decided to have the family I've always wanted." Buffy told him, unable to keep the sadness out of her face.

"You didn't tell Rupert how you feel, did you?" he asked already knowing the answer. When she shook her head he continued. "Buffy, I think you made a mistake in not talking to him and rushing into this. Have you really thought this out? Do you realize how hard it is to raise a child, alone?"

"I have thought about this for a long time. Wang, the only man I will ever truly love is in England and I don't expect him back. The Hellmouth has been pretty quiet since he left. I don't want to wait, I need to start the rest of my life and this is how I've started it. I know that it'll be hard, but I've been through harder things than this."

Wang looked at the woman he had come to love. He knew that she was not telling the truth, he knew without her telling him that the child was Rupert's. He didn't know how she had accomplished it, but he knew that Giles was the baby's father.

"Buffy, I'll help any way I can, you know that. I just want you to be happy. I want your child to be happy. What if Rupert comes back? What will you tell him?"

"I don't think that he will and if he does we'll talk..."

"Will you ever tell him about your 'true' feelings? Buffy, you really should tell him how you feel. Give him a chance to tell you what his feelings are. He might just surprise you."

"I wish you were right, but I don't think so. Thanks for caring. I'm meeting Will for lunch so I'd better go. I'll be in tomorrow. I'm going to work as long as I can, probably through my seventh or eighth month."

"Buffy, if everything goes well I have no problem with that, I know how fit you are. But if there are any, and I mean any complications, you will not be allowed in the dojo. That is my final word. I want you and your baby to be healthy," he told her in no uncertain terms.

"I won't do anything to endanger my child," Buffy assured her partner. "If I have to stop work earlier, I will, you won't have to tell me to stop. I promise you that," she told him as she left his office.

Wang thought about what to do, he knew how to reach Rupert, but should he be the one to tell him Buffy was pregnant? If it was somehow his child, he would be hurt that Buffy didn't tell him. He didn't know what to do, usually he knew the right path to take, but this time he saw no one correct choice. I'll have to wait and hope that Buffy does the right thing, he thought to himself.

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