Title: What's a Stevedore? 4/4
Author: Karen Jephson
Rating: R. Uber R.
Spoiler: Who Are You?
Disclaimer: Joss has his world with his characters, I have mine. The difference? My zero bank balance.
Distribution: Solo, Anya, anyone else just ask.
Summary: Answers the question everybody wants to know. B/G.
Feedback: Yes please. But I'm like a vampire. Flames hurt.
Dedication: To Gylzgirl who made sure I had to send it to the list. And to
Cindy Bowers who asked for a B/G fic.
They lay together as the afternoon sun shone its rays in his bedroom window. Buffy smiled and snuggled closer to the warmth against her back. She'd been awake for a while, thinking and coming to quite a few startling realizations. They weren't happy ones, but in a way they took a great load off her shoulders.
She'd been in such deep contemplation that she hadn't realized at first that Giles had woken up. She smiled as she felt his hand entwine in hers. Raising them both, she watched the play of light against their skin in fascination. "Hey."
"Hmm. Been awake long?"
"Not too." She shifted, wincing at the irritation between her legs. No naked stevedore sex for her for a while.
She should have known that even if her lover hadn't noticed, her ex Watcher would have. "Sore?"
She sniffed at the smug tone in his voice before turning to face him. Her reprimand died at the happy look in his eyes, and instead smiled brightly up at him. "You're lucky I'm a slayer mister," he kissed her gently on the lips, "anybody else would have given up ages ago. It's that time you took me on your dining table that's the fault."
He looked at her in mock aggreivance. "And has nothing to do with the time you seduced me on the kitchen benches? Or in the bathroom?"
She pouted. "You aren't gonna complain about that are you?"
"No," his voice gentled, "I don't think I'll look at that bathtub quite the same again." They smiled companionably before he asked, "What were you thinking about?"
"Just now? About how with my super Slayer healing we'll be able to try out the one spot in your apartment where we haven't done it yet."
He quirked an eyebrow. "The alcove between the kitchen and the living area?" She giggled. "I meant what were you thinking when I woke up?"
She shrugged before turning away. So he wouldn't think she was rejecting him, she snuggled deeper into his body, smiling when she felt his semi-erection against her bottom. "I was thinking about how you're different from my other lovers."
Anybody else would have pulled away in anger, or made some stupid joke to cover up their own insecurity. Not her Giles though. He simply squeezed the fingers between his own. "In what way?"
"Oh," if he'd seen her face he would have recognized the familiar pout, "all of the others I made the first move. Angel, Riley, even Parker," she interrupted before he could argue, "I know that was part of his game, make the girl responsible. But Angel and Riley too. As if I couldn't blame them if anything went wrong. Either that or they were afraid of me."
"Oh Buffy, no." He hugged her closer, comforting her with his caring.
"Don't get me wrong. The sex was." She turned round to face him then, "and you probably don't need to hear that." Her voice held that cute little laughing catch he so adored. "But none of them made the first move. I almost felt like I pushed them into something."
"You asked me."
"Yeah. But you didn't once treat me as this fragile thing you had to be wary of. As if either you'd break me or I'd break you. You treated me as an equal Giles. None of the others did."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm not." She flashed him a brilliant smile. "How else was I to know who my true partner was?"
"Oh Buffy." He let go of her hand to grip the back of her head. Pulling her closer, he seared her with a kiss of possession.
When she finally pulled back for air, Buffy gulped then smiled tremulously. "So that's what a Stevedore is."
END