Title: Core Four Fic 1/3
Author: Katy Hart
Rating: FRAO (eventually)
Pairing: B/G, W/X, B/W, W/G, B/X and a hint of G/X
Summary: A smutty romp with the Core Four
Spoilers: Post Chosen
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my perverted mind and a flighty muse.
Distribution: you want it? Just ask.
Dedication: To Antenna, who wanted a Core Four fic, preferably with smut. Her pervy ship became my pervy reality. And to Gilesbabe for cheering me on throughout the writing process. Thanks for making me smile, laugh and keep going despite my fickle muse.
A/N: Unbetaed, any mistakes are mine. Previewed at my Live Journal.

Buffy glanced around at all the travelers pushing past her. She’d never find her way out of this damned airport. Why did she come here in the first place? Oh yeah, to get away from the continuing badness that was her love life by indulging in some Watcher/Slayer bonding. Of course Giles was one of the few Watchers left in the world, but he was still her Watcher.

She’d abandoned Rome because the Immortal had turned into a huge dud. Because he lived forever, he didn’t care about certain things, he just wanted to party. Buffy had tired of that after several weeks. She’d left Dawn in the private school she had been enrolled in after extracting promises to call. And now she was in merry old England with no idea on how to leave the airport. She was about to ask someone when she spied a familiar figure.

“Willow? Will!”

The red headed Wicca turned at the sound of her name only to find herself surrounded by Slayer.

“Buffy? What are you doing here?”

“Came to do some bonding with my Watcher. What about you? I thought you were in Rio with Kennedy. She with you?”

Willow ducked her head with a sad smile. “We broke up. Guess we just took it kinda fast what with impending doom an all. I don’t think I mourned Tara properly. Kennedy was all about Slaying and partying. I just wanted to stay at home. Big fight, so I came here to see if Giles needed some help with the Council. I thought you were in Rome with some Immortal guy.”

Buffy scoffed. “Big bust. Living forever equals major boredom. All party, all the time. He never wanted to just talk or veg, so I left Dawnie in school and came to see Giles.”

Both women stood there contemplating the uber suck that was love. As they were about to pick up their bags another familiar voice echoed across the concourse.

“Buffster! Will!”

They turned to see Xander pushing his way through the crowd. Looking at each other, they shrugged and turned to embrace their best friend. He’d lost some of the weight he had carried and sported a more muscular look. He’d forgone the plain black eye patch for one with a Hawaiian print not unlike the shirts he used to wear.

“So what brings the two loveliest ladies in all the world to London, England?”

Buffy and Willow smiled at each other. Same old Xander, pouring on the charm. They winked and replied as one, “Giles.”

There was a beat of silence before they all broke down laughing. It felt like the old days. Xander embraced his two best friends knowing they had other reasons for being there. But he wouldn’t push.

Buffy stepped back before giving him one of her megawatt smiles.

“So why are you here Xand?”

“Yeah, I thought you were in Africa seeking out Slayers. What gives?” Willow asked.

“Africa, not so much with the Slayers. Looks like a lot of the Potentials had already been brought to the Council. Those that weren’t were either killed by their families for being looked at as demons or killed themselves cause they couldn’t handle the pressure.”

“Oh, Xand, I’m so sorry,” Buffy placed a hand on his shoulder.

“So you came here to get a new assignment?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Not looking forward to giving G-man the news. So whadda ya say we ditch this place and hook up with crusty old Watcher man?”

“Giles isn’t old,” Buffy protested.

“This from the woman who made the ‘raise your hand if ewww’ comment,” Xander sighed.

“Hey, I was in deep denial land then. I was only seventeen, not supposed to be thinking of my Watcher like that.”

“I think someone wants to carpe Giles,” Will sang, mischief twinkling in her eyes.

Buffy blushed. She had been thinking about Giles differently since leaving the States, but she had still been angry at him and wasn’t sure they could go down that road. She just gathered up her bags and pushed her friends along.

“Either of you know where I can get a decent cup of coffee?”

They’d arrived at Council Headquarters and were treated like royalty. Buffy, as the longest lived and most successful Slayer, was mobbed by Watchers. Willow, as a powerful Wicca who’d unleashed the power of the Slayer, was confronted by various sorcerers and witches. Xander, well being Xander and a valuable member of the famous Scooby gang, was latched onto by everyone else.

They were hustled into a conference room and were plied with tea and biscuits until they were ready to drown. When they could finally talk to someone about Giles they were disappointed to find out he wasn’t there. Apparently things were going so smoothly everyone had pestered him into taking a long and well earned vacation. He was the next three months at his home in Bath. All this left our brave heroes with one problem. How to get there?

None of them had much money and what little they did have was not in British currency. They’d spent the last of that getting here. Of course everyone at the Council jumped at the chance to spend some quality time with the trio. That was out to a halt when Willow asked for a map and a detailed description of Giles’ house. While someone was scrounging that up, she asked that all their bags be brought to them and could someone supply them with certain herbs. Various suck ups ran to do her bidding.

Buffy gave her a questioning look, but she put on her ‘resolve’ face and waited imperiously for her orders to be carried out. She had the luggage placed in a small space in the middle of the room. She had Buffy and Xander stand next to the pile as she mixed the herbs and made a circle around her friends. Willow memorized the map and the picture someone had provided of Giles’ house. She stepped inside the circle and asked the crowd to move back.

Closing her eyes and chanting softly, she felt the magic flow through her. Buffy and Xander just stared as soft white patch started to appear in her hair. Then all of a sudden the Council room disappeared and they were standing in the front yard of a house somewhere in the English countryside.

“What was that Will?”

“Yeah, and what’s with the white hair? You’re not gonna go all evil again are you?”

“It was a simple translocation spell. That’s why I needed the map and description of the house. And no Xander, no evil, just good. Apparently it went all white when I did the Slayer spell. It’s something I want to ask Giles about. So, let’s go say hi,” she pointed to the door.

They picked up their luggage and trudged up the walk. Buffy pressed the buzzer, excited and scared all at once. When the door opened, Giles’ eyes went wide. All three took in his expression, smiled at each other and said to him, “Hi Giles, surprise.”

Giles had actually been going slowly out of his mind. His secretary and all the others had pushed so forcefully for him to take this vacation that he’d capitulated without thinking of the consequences. He actually missed the hustle and bustle, the everyday minutiae that went on at Headquarters. He’d caught up on all his reading and was bored shitless. He’d not been allowed to bring any files or research, they’d strictly forbidden it saying he needed to forget about those kinds of things and just relax. Almost two weeks of ‘relaxing’ made him miss the Hellmouth and the sense of never ending impending doom. It was pitiful.

And given the remoteness of his home the vampire population was nonexistent. So Giles couldn’t even break up his ‘relaxation’ with random acts of violence. So when he heard the doorbell, he sent a silent prayer to various deities that it was someone from the Council announcing another apocalypse he could help with. Instead he got the Scoobies.

Not that he didn’t mind, in fact he welcomed the interruption and the company. Only he wondered what all three of them were doing on his doorstep. But before he could ask, Buffy spoke.

“Sorry Giles, no apocalypse. We just came for a social visit.”

“I thought you were in Rome with that Immortal chap. And Willow, you were watching Rio with Kennedy and Xander, what did you find in Africa?”

All of them answered in turn.

“Broke up.”

“Same here.”

“Nada G-man.”

“Don’t call me that. Well, do come in. I’ll make tea. There’s plenty of room, just find a place to put your bags.”

Buffy yawned. “Actually, can we put a hold on tea, I think the jet lag is getting to me.”

Willow and Xander followed suit. It had been a long day and all were desperately in need of a nap.

“Of course, how rude of me. Let me help with the luggage. We can catch up over dinner.”

“Thanks.”

“Yeah thanks Giles.”

“Way to go Watcher dude.”

As they lugged suitcases to bedrooms, Giles found himself eager to find out how they were all doing, especially Buffy. Should he be so happy that she was single again? As he put her case on the floor, they found themselves alone.

“Thanks, Giles.”

“You are quite welcome. Have a good nap.”

“I will.” As he turned to leave she said, “Giles?”

“Yes, Buffy?”

“It’s good to be here. I’m happy to see you again.”

“Me too, Buffy, me too.”

The dinner had gone well, everyone had a chance to play catch up. They indulged in several glasses of wine and now the mood was quite relaxed. After clearing away the dishes they’d adjourned to the living room Giles had started a fire because the nights had started to turn chilly. Willow and Xander took the two chairs, leaving the couch for Buffy and Giles. Watcher and Slayer seemed slightly uncomfortable with the sudden closeness. The silence was broken by Xander, of course. He knew it was his duty to fill these awkward moments with a joke or something.

“So, G-man, how you been coping with unlimited free time? How long was it before you started missing the Hellmouth?”

Giles started to blush furiously and whipped his glassed off to clean them.

“You mean I was right?”

“Giles you didn’t? You don’t? You do?” Buffy asked.

Willow just started to smile, a giggle threatening to burst forth.

“You actually miss the Hellmouth? Are you nuts?”

“Well, Buffy, for the past seven years, I’ve always, well almost always, had something to occupy my time.”

All of them pretended to ignore the reference to the year after high school.

“So you actually miss the vampires, the demons, and the threat of impending death….”

“Yes…well…tea anyone?”

Giles stood up quickly and headed for the kitchen. Buffy smiled, she made him stutter. Then she realized she missed stuttering Giles.

“I haven’t heard him stutter like that since, well that first year,” Willow commented.

“I was just thinking that. God, we were so young, so innocent. I remember my first day at Sunnydale. I bumped into you Xand, and you asked….”

“If I could have you. Yeah, I know, my first rejection from the Buffster. And I never did, not even when you did the sexy dance.”

“Oh, God. Please don’t remind me of that,” Buffy blushed as she put her head in her hands.

“He’s right though. He kissed everyone but you, Buffy. He kissed Cordy and Anya and even me, though that was a fluke and will probably never happen again, but he never kissed you.”

Xander and Buffy looked at Willow, she hadn’t babbled like that in ages. But what she said was true. Xander had always wished he’d taken a chance that first day and kissed Buffy. For her part Buffy had heard often enough from Anya what a good kisser Xander was that she wondered if any of it was true. She was mellowed out enough by the wine that the idea of kissing Xander didn’t totally wig her. She figured what the heck, they’d still be friends after, it was only a kiss, wasn’t it?

Xander was so focused on the thought of kissing Buffy that nothing else mattered to him in that moment. His brain managed to register the shrug Buffy gave, and next thing he knew she was on his lap and was kissing him. Buffy was kissing him, something he’s dreamed about for a very long time. He pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her. He closed his eye and let instinct take over.

She was kissing Xander. A small part of her knew she should be wigged, this was Xander, someone safely put in the friend column. But as he pulled her closer, all coherent thought fled. Neither of them noticed Willow who was lost in her own memories of kissing Xander. What had started out as something innocent and chaste was slowly turning into something more.

“Dear Lord! What is going on here?”

The couple broke apart and Willow shook herself aware. All eyes turned to Giles who was about to drop the tea tray. Willow jumped up to help him, allowing her friends to disentangle themselves.

“It’s nothing Giles, just well, we were reminiscing and I pointed out that Xander had kissed all the Scooby girls but Buffy and ….”

“They took the opportunity to perform tonsillectomies on one another?”

“Now G-man, it wasn’t like that, really, we’re still friends…”

Buffy took those moments to think for a moment and walk over to stand next to her best friend.

“Y’know Will, Anya gushed for ages about how well Giles kissed. Don’t you think we need to see if she was bragging?”

NEXT