TITLE: Second Chances 5/7
AUTHOR: Rari Coss
DISCLAIMER: It all belongs to Joss, the real king of the world, the
WB, UPN, Fox, Mutant Enemy and anybody else who feels they own it.
I'm just borrowing, and then giving it back, memories wiped clean.
Please, no one send me money, I don't wanna get in trouble.
FEEDBACK: Absolutely.
They settled into a routine. He'd show up at the Magic Shop every day at 3:00. Buffy was late the first couple of days but after a tongue blistering from Ripper she started being on time. She could see differences in him now clearly as they trained together. He almost won sometimes. Not because he was stronger, but because he fought dirty, and he was better at anticipating her moves than she was of him. He worked on that with her, and taught her his moves. He was violent and deadly and as the days went by she could feel her skills and response time improving.
He even used magic. He cast spells on her that affected her movement, or blocked one of her senses. Then he'd make her fight her way through it, adding to her repertoire of fighting skills.
He didn't stop with Buffy. He insisted they all learn. He started training with Xander in the evening after the shop was closed and Xander was done with work. He shook his head, wondering how on earth he had thought it was okay to have Xander go out and patrol with Buffy when he had no fighting skills other than amateur fisticuffs. Xander protested at first but quickly got into it and showed remarkable aptitude. Ripper taught him like he had taught Buffy. He used a mishmash of fighting techniques that accented Xander's strength and afforded the greatest defense of his weaknesses.
He taught street fighting to Anya. She loved it. He grinned when she would talk about her and Xander fighting as a prelude to sex. She loved this new Giles. He liked to talk about sex and money, her two favorite things, after Xander of course. Out of all of them, she was the most comfortable with him. He yelled at her regularly, but anger didn't faze her and she just yelled back. They'd end up grinning at each other, out of breath, as if they'd just physically had a go at each other. As far as she was concerned this Giles was an improvement on the old one.
Ripper trained with Willow and Tara as well. Ethan helped when invited to by Ripper. He loved doing magic, loved doing it with Ripper and Willow and Tara were easy on the eyes. Ripper taught them spells, taught them control, taught them how to sense magic, how to fight against it, how to use someone else's magic against them. He also worked alone with Willow honing her research skills. Teaching her methods passed on to him in his training as a watcher.
He turned them into a lethal fighting machine. He accompanied them on patrol and watched them, continuing to train them, looking for their weaknesses, improving how they could complement each other. Spike often watched them and was impressed at the changes. He had spoken to Giles.no Ripper, a couple of times since he'd been back and had even met him one night for a drink at his hotel. He wasn't quite sure what to make of him. Except that he knew that this Giles would stake him in a heartbeat if Spike pissed him off. And never look back.
The gang could feel the difference in themselves. They responded to his teaching, and his new way. He demanded respect, not only for him but also for each other. They all felt older, but in a good way, and they walked a little taller. They had discovered a newfound respect for each other and the talents they had. They still weren't completely comfortable with this new Giles. He had a temper, and he let them know when they had annoyed him. He also didn't hang around with them. When the training or patrol was done, he was gone. No more sitting around, shooting the breeze, watching him make tea, watching him blush as they talked about sex, or well, sex. He made them blush now. They had found him secretive before, but now, when he was with them he seemed perfectly willing to talk about his exploits. Xander was in the throes of deep hero worship.
Buffy could see the benefits to her slayer technique and had to admit that patrolling was much less stressful with a well-trained slayerette team behind her. She didn't have to expend quite so much energy keeping them alive while fighting the bad guys. But she missed the old Giles, more than anyone. She felt lonely, watching Tara and Willow go home together, watching Xander and Anya already with their hands all over each other as they walked to their car. Before, after everyone had left, this was when she and Giles would have some time to themselves, well, when she wanted it. She had been doing a lot of soul searching and realized that the relationship had been a little one-sided. Her-sided. But now it was no-sided. He'd just leave. No softly spoken comments, no gentle concerns expressed asking if she was all right, if she needed to talk.
She was still afraid he was going to leave. The team had discussed it on several occasions but never with Giles. They all wondered if he was training them so hard and so well so that they would be okay when he left. If that was his plan they felt it was sort of backfiring. They depended on him more than ever. They all had firmly placed him in the leader position, including Buffy and they were terrified he would leave, knowing none of them could take his place.
Ripper was thinking hard as he started home. He was getting less comfortable leaving after training or patrol. He had started doing it from the start because he wasn't ready to resume friendships with any of them. He needed to decide if he was staying or not. He knew they could survive without him. They were good. Buffy was the strongest she'd ever been. She was dazzling to watch and he had to fight to keep the proud smile off his face. And Willow took his breath away with her power. She would eventually be as strong as he was, and with Tara doing magic at her side they were a force to be reckoned with.
There was still a part of him that longed for an uncomplicated life, longed to just be hanging out with Ethan, doing magic, wooing women. There was a whole world out there to explore and here he was stuck in Sunnydale. He also had to listen to Ethan, who regularly pleaded a case for hightailing it out of there.
On the other hand, he felt the old friendships pulling on him. He wanted to stay, to chat, to laugh. He saw the look on Buffy's face when he left and he was tired of putting it there. He ran his hand over his face. She pulled on him too. The connection between them, it kept getting stronger. He stopped, stood for a minute shaking his head. He knew Ethan would be pissed at his choice but he knew what he needed to do, he'd known for a while. He turned around and headed to Buffy's.
She had finally, after merciless harrassment by Giles, started to redecorate. He had come over and taken some of his clothes telling her to send the rest to Goodwill. He had taken his weapons, the books Willow hadn't wanted, and his music collection. He didn't want anything else. She kept some and had been gradually getting rid of the rest. There were Buffy touches in all the rooms now and it actually looked like she lived there. She was sitting on the couch, flipping through channels on the TV when she heard a knock on the door.
She got up and seeing it was Giles opened the door letting him in. He walked in noticing the new changes she had made and grinned at her.
"Do you want something to drink?"
"Yes, what have you got?"
"Water, juice, milk, hot chocolate."
He grimaced at the selection. "Never mind. I'll pass."
"Well if I'd known you were coming I'd have stocked up." She sounded defensive.
"Well then, for the future have some beer in there okay?"
Her heart soared. "The future?"
He motioned her to the couch. "Yes, the future. Well, depending on you."
She raised her eyebrows as she sat, encouraging him to continue.
"Buffy, do you want me to be your watcher again?"
Her eyes filled with tears as she nodded. "Yes." She paused, a tear shaking loose and rolling down her cheek. "Will you stay and talk to me sometimes?"
His heart tightened in his chest, hearing the loneliness in her voice. He leaned towards her and wiped the tear off her cheek. "Yes." He settled back down, "in fact, what kind of juice did you say you had?"
She gave him a shaky grin. "Cranberry."
He tried to contain a grimace. "I'll take some water."
She grinned more fully and got up to get him some water. When she returned she said, "I'm not 21 for a few more weeks, you'll need to bring your own beer."
"I'll bring some tomorrow."
"Okay." She grinned, relieved beyond words that he was staying. He grinned back, relieved she had still wanted him.