TITLE: Second Chances 7/7
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.
Willow was having lunch with Ethan. They had been having lunch regularly and they both enjoyed the companionship. They easily chatted about magic, and about their lives. Willow trusted Giles enough to trust Ethan, and Ethan was touched by it. Up until now, Ripper was the only one who trusted him that way, and Ethan had come to value Willow's friendship. Willow was sitting across from Ethan, playing with her food.
"Willow, what's on your mind?"
"Ethan, is there a spell where you can tell what a person is feeling about something, like whether they love someone?"
Ethan grinned, "Worried that Tara is straying?"
Willow grinned back, "No." She paused, not wanting to divulge any confidences. "But, suppose someone loved somebody but was afraid to say anything because that person didn't have any idea how the other person felt. I mean, that would be hard, right? So, suppose you could do a spell and just find out something about how that other person felt, and that you could let the other person know and then they could do something about it without worrying about getting their heart broken."
She sat back, waiting for him to respond. He sat there for a moment, letting her words sort themselves out in his brain. He enjoyed the challenge of trying to interpret her ramblings without having to ask for help. "Ah." He nodded his head, guessing. "Are you talking about Buffy and Ripper?"
Willow's eyes got very wide. "How did you know?"
Ethan grinned, a glint in his eye, raising his eyebrows dramatically. "Magic." He loved teasing her; she was still so innocent.
Her eyes got even wider, and then she looked suspiciously at him. "What kind of magic?"
He laughed. "I'm kidding. Call it good old fashioned inductive reasoning. I'm guessing Buffy let it spill that she was in love with Ripper, am I right?"
Willow nodded. "But, you can't say anything. She would die if she knew I was talking about this with you."
Ethan could only imagine. He snickered. "Well, Ripper told me the same thing last night."
"He told you that Buffy was in love with him? He knows?"
Ethan rolled his eyes. "No, luv, he told me that he's in love with her."
Willow's eyes got wide again, and then she grinned, "He did?" Ethan nodded. "Really?" Ethan nodded again. "Wow." She looked at him, "So, now what do we do?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, how do we get them together?"
This was asking too much. He was willing to get out of the way and let destiny take its course but he drew the line at matchmaking. "Nothing, they'll figure it out eventually."
Willow wasn't satisfied. "No, we have to do something, Buffy is so unhappy. She's feeling very smoochie deprived."
Ethan smiled at her turn of phrase but shook his head. "Sorry Willow."
"I guess I could tell her that he loves her. Then maybe she'd just go talk to him."
"Don't Willow, you're taking all the fun out of it. They need to figure it out on their own."
She sat back in her chair, discouraged at his lack of willingness to participate. He could see her brain working feverishly. "Willow."
She looked up, "Ethan, she's so unhappy. She's been so unhappy for so long. I can't stand it."
Ethan sighed. He didn't know what god was looking after Ripper these days but he was going to have his god go slap him upside the head. He looked up seeing the hope in Willow's eyes. He sighed again. "Well, there is this one spell.." Willow grinned, leaning in.
Buffy and Ripper had gone out patrolling by themselves as it had been pretty quiet lately. They had finished early and Buffy had talked him into ice cream. If she hadn't been so in love with him, and depressed about that, everything would be perfect. He had been spending more and more time with her, and she was enjoying his attention, even if it made her miserable because she wanted more. She was obsessed with him, on so many levels. First she was seeing more and more of the old Giles. Not the tweedy part, but the caring part, the taking care of her, and making sure she was okay part. Throw that together with how smart he was, and how dangerous in a fight, and what an amazing teacher he was. Then toss in how gorgeous and sexy he'd become, and how he dressed, and that rakish smile, and the teasing and flirting and hints of skill in the bedroom arena, and she almost fell, her knees getting weak. She stumbled.
He caught her arm. "Are you okay?" She blushed.
"Just call me clumsy."
He laughed and once he saw she was steady on her feet, let go of her arm. She sighed. Willow and Ethan watched them, out of sight, as they approached the ice cream parlor. When they opened the door to go in Willow looked at Ethan and he nodded. She made a symbol in the air and spoke an incantation. They both ducked back out of sight.
Buffy and Ripper walked into the shop, getting in line. A little girl yelled out, "Look granpa." She pointed at the two of them. Ripper looked down at himself and over at Buffy with a confused look on her face. The little girl's grandfather hushed her but he got a dreamy look on his face when he looked at them.
The woman in front of them turned slightly, seeing them, and her eyes widened. "Oh my God, you two are so cute!" She reached for Buffy's left hand. "I was sure I'd see a ring here. What are you waiting for?" She directed this to Ripper, "Ask her already." She giggled and turned back around to order her cone. Buffy and Ripper just stared at each other flummoxed. Buffy felt her ring finger with her thumb.
It was their turn to get waited on. The girl behind the counter beamed at them. "God, you guys just make the best looking couple. I wish I could be in love like that." She sighed. The other girl working behind the counter prodded her to snap her out of her reverie. She turned at the prod. "C'mon, look at them, aren't they perfect together?" The second girl looked up, coming closer. "Wow, they are." Both of the girls sighed. The first one spoke, "I wish some guy would look at me that way." The other girl nodded, "Me too." They both sighed again.
Buffy cleared her throat, "Our cones?"
"Oh, right, sorry." The girl made them their cones and handed them off with another happy sigh, looking back and forth at the two of them. Buffy and Ripper looked at each other, and headed for the door. The grandfather of the little girl stopped them. "You remind me of me and my wife when we first got engaged. God, we were so in love." He smiled, patting Ripper on the arm. "Good luck you two. I hope your love lasts as long as ours has."
Ripper looked around the shop, suspicion in his eyes. Everyone in there was looking at him and Buffy with the same dreamy look in their eyes. He grabbed Buffy's hand. "Let's get out of here." Buffy nodded and they bolted for the door.
Once outside they tensed as a few people passed them by, waiting for further comments, but none were made. They relaxed and made their way over to the bench, both sitting on opposite ends. Buffy licked her cone, "Well, that was one of the weirder things that's happened to me lately." Ripper just nodded, looking around, trying to figure out what just happened. "I mean, that wasn't quite normal, was it?" She looked at Giles and saw him looking around. "Hey, Giles, I'm trying to have a conversation here."
"Oh, sorry, what did you say?"
"I said that wasn't quite normal, was it?"
"No, not quite. Someone did a little magic."
"What kind of magic was that? I mean what was the point of it? Other than totally embarrassing me and that doesn't sound particularly Hellmouthy."
He hesitated before answering. "I'm not sure."
Buffy looked at him her eyes narrowing. "Sorry buster, not good enough. What was that spell supposed to do and will it keep happening?"
Ripper looked around again, and suddenly, there in the shadows he caught a glimpse of red hair. Willow. He licked his cone, thinking. "Buffy?"
"Hmm?" She was concentrating on her cone, the ice cream trying to melt faster than she could lick it.
"Why would Willow do a spell on us?"
"What?"
"Willow, I just saw her, and I think she did this spell."
Buffy choked on her ice cream. I'll kill her, she thought. She spoke carefully. "That brings me around to my original question. Just what kind of magic was it?" She really was going to kill Willow.
Ripper hesitated again. "Well, it's hard to know exactly, but obviously it made the people in that shop see something when they looked at us."
Buffy kept her tone even, "You mean like we were gaga over each other?"
"Yes, quite."
"That seems like a stupid spell."
"I would agree, unless someone was trying to make a point." He looked at Buffy. She flinched.
"What kind of point?"
"Well it would depend on the kind of spell, whether the spell just manufactured how we appeared or if it made visible real feelings."
Oh God, Willow you are so dead. Buffy just sat there, paying attention to her cone. She could feel Giles' eyes on her. She looked at his cone. "Hey, you're melting." He looked at his cone and swore. He got up and threw it away, wiping his hand off with a napkin. He sat down again, closer to Buffy. She really paid attention to her cone. He watched her tongue as it swiped at the ice cream and felt his body respond. She flicked her eyes over to him and then back to the cone.
"So, Buffy, why do you think Willow would do a spell like that?"
"I have no idea."
"Hmmm." He kept watching her tongue, watched as she licked ice cream off her lips. He groaned, turning away.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Instead of responding he stood up quickly, racing over to the shadows where he had seen Willow. He heard a squeal, quickly muffled, and heard two sets of feet running away. Willow and accomplice. He tried to think of who Willow could have roped into doing a spell on him and Buffy. It didn't take him long. Ethan. He shook his head. What had they been trying to do? He stood half way in the shadows, thinking. Buffy watched him standing there, drinking him in.
Ripper thought hard. Ethan knew how he felt about Buffy. Suppose Buffy had told Willow.. He lifted his eyes then and looked at Buffy, and he saw it in her eyes. He walked over to her quickly. He took the unfinished cone out of her hand and threw it away. She watched him, saw his eyes. She started to breath fast, her eyes glued to his. She went to lick the ice cream off her lips with her tongue and he shook his head. "Let me." He put his own tongue on her lips and tasted the ice cream there. He licked it off, with his lips and his tongue, from her chin, and above her mouth, and then pressing his lips to hers, he claimed her mouth. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back.
They parted for air. Buffy smiled uncertainly. "Is this part of the spell too?"
Ripper shook his head, "No, this is real." He leant down to kiss her again, capturing her sigh. Her arms tightened pulling him in closer.
They heard applause and looked up, both confused. They turned around and everyone in the ice cream shop was in the doorway, clapping and hooting appreciatively. Ripper rolled his eyes. He stood up and bowed. They clapped more. He laughed. He reached for Buffy's hand and pulled her up. "Let's go."
She let him pull her up, still feeling dazed. Her other hand reached up to touch her lips. She stumbled behind him. He pulled her up and put his arm around her smiling down at her. "C'mon, let's go some place a little more private, hmm?"
They walked heading back to her place. Once they got there she looked up at him, suddenly fearful, not knowing what this meant to him. He looked down at her, a question in his eyes. She spoke, "Giles, I can't." She couldn't finish.
He put his hand out for her keys. She shook her head. He waited, his hand still out. He wasn't having this conversation on the street. She sighed and handed them to him. He opened the door and they both went in.
He sat in her new recliner and pulled her down into his lap, just holding her. He wondered how to begin. He decided on the direct approach. "I told Ethan last night that I was in love with you." She tried to sit up to look at him, but he held her head down against his chest. "I'm thinking maybe you said something like that to Willow, yes?" He waited, and then felt her nod. He rocked the chair a little.
"I think it was both Ethan and Willow there, tonight. I think they were doing some magical matchmaking." He squeezed her a little. "I think that spell let people see how we felt about each other." He rocked a little more. He added, "So we'd talk about it, maybe figure it out." He saw her touch her ring ringer again with her thumb. He smiled. "Do you want a ring Buffy? I'd give you one in a minute if I thought you wanted one, if I thought you'd wear it."
She tried to sit up again, and he let her this time. She smiled. "Do you know how long the old Giles would have taken to say all of that?"
Ripper laughed. "He'd be in his grave first." He realized what he'd said, saw her eyes fill with shadows. "I'm sorry Buffy, poor choice of words."
She drew in a shaky breath. "Did he love me too?"
Ripper nodded.
She touched his face, "I never knew, I never even guessed."
"My point exactly."
"Is it him or you saying the words now?" She pulled her hand back. She needed so desperately to be sure.
"Both of us. Me. I'm saying it. I'm saying that I love you."
"For real?"
He nodded. "I fought it for so long. Before and now. But, I think even Ethan figured it out."
"What?"
"That we belong together. That nothing can keep us apart."
She reached a hand out and touched his face again, reverently. "I love you so much." He closed his eyes. "And just in case you were wondering." He opened them back up. "I love both of you, both parts, all of it, all of you." He smiled. He had been wondering, but he wasn't going to ask. He felt renewed at the unexpected gift of her words. He kissed her, holding her tight. She broke away, laughing, her heart full. "I'll even let Ethan be your best man." He laughed out loud, squeezing her tightly.
"You'd better, he's the reason I'm here. He gave us this second chance." She shuddered, remembering that she had stood at Giles' gravesite, watching his coffin be lowered into the ground, not so very long ago. She shook that thought off, rejoicing at the feeling of his arms, strong and solid around her.
She deliberated for a moment. "Okay, we can name our first son after him, but that's my final offer." He laughed again.
"I'll take it." He kissed her again. Then he stood, holding her in his arms and carried her upstairs.
The End