Title: Tomorrow 5/?
Author: Madsdog
Disclaimer: If I just owned Willow's body, Dawn's hair and Giles' voice to sing me to sleep... okay... none of it's mine- those bits belong to the actors and the rest is Joss' and Marti's (Tara-killers) and Love Letter #1 belongs to Red
SPOILERS: UP UNTIL THE END OF 'TWO TO GO'
***
SEASON 3
***
"Willow, you coming?” She looked up from the library table at her friends by the swing doors
“No, y’all go patrol, I’m happy here with the books.”
“You sure Will?” She looked up to meet her best friend’s gaze. Buffy was trying so hard since she came back, and after her initial anger, Willow had forgiven her, but it was obvious she was still worried about rejection from the hacker.
“I’m sure. Giles could use the company and I’m not big on the action girl.”
“Well, if you’re sure.”
“I’ll meet you for breakfast, okay?”
“Okay. Make sure Giles takes you home. I don’t want you getting eaten on your way.” Willow looked down at her hands, trying to stop her mind going to places it shouldn’t
“Okay. Bye.” Buffy, Xander and Cordelia left as Giles came out of his office
“You’re not going with them?”
“No, I thought I’d look through some more stuff, find another prophecy to defeat, check my email… spend some time with you.” Her voice trailed off
“Willow.” Although his tone was almost warning, the very fact that she was in the same room, alone, with him, made him not only hyper-aware of everything, but also strangely pleased
“You don’t want me to spend time with you?”
“I love you spending time with me. I just- don’t know if you should.” She sighed
“Willow, it’s not-”
“I know, it’s the school, The Council.” Shutting down her laptop, she stood and began to pack her things away.
“What are you doing?”
“If you don’t want me here, I’ll see if I can catch up with the others.”
“No, don’t go.”
“Giles, if you want this relationship, act like it, if you don’t, tell me.”
“I want it.”
“Then Rupert, be happy for us. What’s the worse that can come of us?” Giles stared at her, unable to quite believe she’d just said that. Realising the possible Hellmouth ramifications of her words, Willow had the good grace to look guilty.
“I believe that’s called tempting fate.”
“Ooops?” The two stood facing each other for a moment before Giles smiled
“Y’know-” he stopped and Willow distinctly heard him mutter something about American youths, before he re-started “Do you know what I’d really like to learn?”
“What?” she answered cautiously.
“How to use one of those damn machines.” He nodded to the computer sat on the library table. Surprised, her eyebrows shot through the roof
“Really?” Guiltily, Giles nodded, “Miss Calendar and I decide you were a lost cause.” Willow watched a cloud cover his face and realized how casually she’d mentioned the ex-teacher.
“Did you?”
“Oh Rupert, I’m sorry.” He smiled awkwardly.
“It’s quite alright, really. So how do I turn this thing on?” After a moment’s pause, Willow put down her things and began booting up the library PC
“What’s your username?”
“My what?”
“Username. The thing that lets you into your part of the network.”
“The what?”
“Did you get a piece of paper with your name, a number and a password on this week?”
“That said ‘network ID’ across the top?”
“That’s the one.”
“Er- it’s somewhere here…” Shuffling through a pile, he turned, triumphant, when he found the A5 sheet.
“That’s it,” she took it from him, “’R T Giles.’ What’s the ‘T’ for?”
“Er- it’s kind of embarrassing…”
“Cummon Rupert. You know if you don’t tell me I’ll only hack into the school records and find out.”
“Tracy.” He watched her fingers type in the information from the paper, marvelling at the agility. He looked up at her squeal.
“You’re kidding me? Really?” He nodded, “Me too!”
“You- huh?”
“WTR- Willow Tracy Rosenburg.” Her excitement, even at something such as a shared middle name was infectious, and for the first time in his life he didn’t curse his mother for naming him after her aunt.
“So what do you want to learn?” He looked at her blankly
“How to use it.” She smiled
“Rupert, you can’t just learn everything straight off. What do you want to use it for?”
“Research and er- email?”
“Okay,” she stood up, “come and sit here.” He took the seat in front of the computer and breathed in the scent of Willow as she sat beside him. “Click there.”
“Click?”
“With the mouse. Move the arrow over that icon and click the button twice.” He did as he was told and a window opened in front of him. “Now who do you want to mail?”
“I don’t know- there’re some watchers I’d like to be able to contact.”
“Okay, I’ll show you what to do and then when you get the addresses you can do it. Okay… compose, type in the address and subject, then type your message…” she told him her own address, and he then typed ‘hello’ “… then click send. Got that?” He looked at her
“Compose, address, type, send.”
“Good… now research. If we start…” After an hour Giles had found, although both knew that Willow had been the main contributor, all the information he required on the demon he’d been researching and had discovered the advantages of chat rooms; an idea he had formerly abhorred, having found four different ‘watchers only’ rooms, and several with uses for research.
Willow leaned over and closed down the window they were using when Giles suddenly put a hand to the side of his head.
“Wha-”
“You’re getting a head ache. You shouldn’t really look at the screen for more than 20 minutes without a break. Here.” She turned her chair slightly and raised her hands to begin massaging his temples. After a few moments, his eyes shut and he leaned into her touch.
“Better?” He could feel her breath caress his lips and he opened his eyes the tiniest bit to see that her face was centimetres from his own. He leaned forward slightly and rested his forehead against hers.
“Always when you’re here.” He brushed his lips gently across hers and moved to deepen the kiss when he saw the time flash on the screen in front of him
“Good God, it’s almost 10:30, we should get you home.” Ten minutes later they were doing the Citroen version of speeding across town
“I could have made my own way home you know.”
“And have Buffy after me for anything that happened to you? I think not.” She laughed “Besides, I prefer knowing exactly where you are and that you have someone with you all the time.”
“I can take care of myself. Heck, I will be as soon as I walk through that door.” She pointed to 6305 Westminister Drive.
“What d’you mean?”
“I mean I’ll be on my own anyway. God knows where Mom and Dad are. They mentioned Chicago. And Tokyo.” Giles looked at the girl with a sort of stunned horror as he stopped the car
“What if- what if something happened?” She shrugged
“If they cared, they’d find out when they got back.”
“I’m sure they care Willow.”
“They were in Sunnydale when Dru and minions knocked me out. Did you see them at the hospital?” Giles had no idea what to say, although she spoke nonchalantly on the subject, it was obvious it hurt her to think about. Leaning over, he stroked her cheek and then kissed her
“You know you’re still loved though.” He didn’t phrase it as a question and she was glad: she didn’t want this man of all others to pity her. “And you’re not alone. Any time.” She smiled softly at him
“I know. Thank you.” They kissed again; a gentle exploration of each other, until Willow broke away and reached between them to unclip her seatbelt. Her hand paused on the clasp and she looked into Giles’ eyes, searching for something
“Tonight… I don’t want to be alone, Rupert,” he remained silent: unsure of what exactly she was asking, “will you take me home?” His heart jumped at her words, but he required no time to think.
“Of course.”
Fifteen minutes later they arrived at Giles’ apartment.
“Tea?”
“Not this late- if I have caffeine after eight pm I don’t sleep until about 3. So I avoid it.” As he attended to things in the kitchen, Willow took the opportunity to study the contents of his living room. Although she’d been here several times before, it had always been briefly and she’d never had a proper look around. She soon discovered her favourite thing about his main room was the shelves; most of them were full of books that included everything from demonology to ‘Teach Yourself Dutch,’ ‘Pride and Prejudice’ to ‘A View from the Bridge,’ but a lot of the shelves were dedicated to artefacts, records, videos and stones, among which was the rose-quartz she’d given to him on Jenny’s behalf.
The diversity exhibited by the books was also apparent in the other collections and Willow soon found herself absorbed in the wide selection.
“Find anything you like?” Giles had been watching her for a good ten minutes before he asked. Her fascination was almost childlike and her obvious thirst for knowledge insatiable. He remembered his own quest for facts at her age and the likeness between them pleased him.
“Yeah. Everything. I’d love to have collections like this.”
“I’ve been going for a long time.”
“What’s this?” She held up a video case.
“That is the best film ever made.” She looked quizzically at him and then the case.
“The Italian Job?” He nodded, “What’s it about?”
“The greatness of being British. It’s a comedy.”
“They can make tea, scones and Oxford funny?” As he began to defend his country, he saw the teasing glint in the girl’s eyes and changed his expression to a mock glare
“Give me that and get over here. I’ll show you the funny side of England.”
***
NINETY-SIX MINUTES LATER
***
“That can’t be the end.” Giles grinned at the expression on Willow’s face “I mean- they can’t just… did you do something to your video? No, ‘cos credits. But…” She turned to face her partner on the couch and caught him as he tried to hide a wide smile “You’re mocking me, aren’t you?”
“Would I ever?”
“Okay, so explain it to me again… Michael Caine is given an idea to rob the Italian bank. The guy in jail gives him loads of money… why?”
“Because he doesn’t like the Italians as they’re taking money from the British- and the Chinese gold.”
“Oh! So that’s why his cell is full of pictures of the Queen- cos he loves England?”
“Right.”
“But he’s a criminal. So how can he love his queen and country so much?”
“That’s the joke.”
“Oh, right. So then they go over to Turin, hold up all the traffic be putting a dodgy programme into the computer that controls the lights, bypass the authorities by dressing as soccer supporters, as well as The Mafia, steal all Italy’s gold, then escape in three little multicoloured cars…”
“They’re Minis- homemade British genius… and they’re not multicoloured; there’s on red, one white, and one blue- the colours from the union jack.”
“Fine, anyway… and then they escape in a big bus… everything’s perfect… and then the bus half falls off a mountain.”
“That’s it.”
“But what happens at the end?”
“That is the end… it’s a cliff-hanger.”
“Ha ha…but it can’t be the end… I mean- who finds them? Or do they plunge to their deaths?”
“That bit’s up to you.” Willow looked up, puzzled.
“How d’you mean?”
“I mean you get to pick the end… in your own mind.” Tagging onto the idea she smiled.
“So if I watch it in a good mood, then the British come along and all’s well, if I’m mad, the mafia come along and crush the bus, first saving all the gold, and if I’m in an ‘all men are stupid and must die’ mood, then the driver gets a bright idea and steps out and is left to watch as everyone else plunges to their deaths?”
“That’s about it.”
“And you?”
“And me what?”
“What’s your opinion on the ending.”
“Well- Switzerland’s pretty treacherous up in the mountains- for more than one reason. I figure they all got eaten by a tribe of Tikaash demons. The gold would be like a magnet to them.”
“Giles!”
“I like it when you call me Rupert.”
“But you just sentenced those people to death. I’m not happy with you right now- why should I try to please you?”
“Because then there are so many ways that I can find to please you in return.” A thrill of excitement ran through Willow at his gently teasing words. She half turned in the loose embrace they’d shared during the film, lifted her hand to turn and lower his face, and pressed her lips to his. The tentative kiss increased in power as the couple increased the contact they had with one another; hands and lips caressing, fingers and tongues exploring.
The clunk as the VCR finished rewinding the tape caused Willow to pull back slightly and actual thoughts to penetrate her consciousness. As she suddenly realised the situation they were in, one thing pushed itself to the fore above all others.
“Rupert, I’m scared.” Pulling back further, Giles looked up at her face, worried.
“Of me?”
“Of what’s about to happen. I’m not exactly experienced, and-”
“Willow, we don’t have to do anything that-”
“I’m not saying I don’t want to, just that- this isn’t something I’ve done before and I’m gonna need you to guide me through it.” She moved forward, stopping as she brushed his lips with her own, “I love you.”
Hearing her quietly spoken declaration, Giles pressed his lips to hers, before standing an offering his hand to lead her upstairs.