Title: Possession 3/4
Author: Saint Buffy
Feedback: is the self-raising flour in the cake mix of fic creation
Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue.
Distribution: Dee, Gabi, Dword, Dusty, anyone else just ask

It had worked. The minute his arms had closed around her, Buffy felt something pass through her she had never experienced before. Peace. The next second his arms tightened and the total calm she had felt turned to fire. He smelled good, felt good against her, his arms heavy, body sheltering, enclosing. It was like being drunk. She had laughed up at him and felt something dark and exciting in the look he had given her back- or had she imagined it? Shame he let go just then. One moment more, and Buffy would have- what would she have done?

Xander and Anya were just returning as they stepped back into the front of the shop. Xander was clutching at his arm.

"Definitely not just Giles," he reported as they settled down. "The thing started throwing stuff at us as soon as we walked in… Giles, you shouldn't keep weapons in your bedroom."

"Are you all right?" he asked worriedly, hovering around the table. Buffy sat down next to Willow as Xander nodded.

"Yeah. I mean I caught a dagger in my arm, but luckily it was the blunt end," he elaborated.

"I didn't like that job," Anya told Giles. "I think you should consider a pay rise if I'm going to have to investigate your evil furniture."

"At least we know it isn't targeting Giles," Tara said, as Giles began to protest. "That means a general dispossession should work."

"No house demons after all," Willow said, sounding surprised.

"We should try the spell during the day, when the presence is weaker," Giles said, sounding reluctant. "At night, it would just be too powerful."

"Is it a hard spell?" Buffy asked. "I mean, could you do it soon or will it take some prep?" She hoped it would take some time- gathering ingredients, looking up spells, while Giles stayed firmly within her own house. Where she knew he was safe, she told herself, knowing she was lying. Where she could keep touching him, keep seeing him in his underwear. That was more truthful.

"It's fairly standard," Willow replied to her disappointment. "We could probably do it tomorrow."

"Hopefully that'll do the trick," Giles said, standing. The others began to get their things together, recognising that the meeting was over. "If not, it means a more powerful force is present."

The group split up for the night, promising to meet the next morning for a final day of furniture based evil fighting. Buffy and Giles drove back to her house in his car- another benefit to him living at her house, she thought.

"Giles?" Buffy asked as they drove.

"Hm?"

"If the spell doesn't work, you could always… you know, get rid of the bed," she said, having only just thought of that idea. Giles sighed.

"I'd rather not," he said. "I've had it for years. It's the only piece of furniture that has survived from my parents' house."

"I always wondered why you didn't throw it out after… after…" She felt herself flounder and waved a hand.

"After Jenny?" Giles filled in softly. She nodded, keeping her eyes out of the window. "I thought about it, but in a way that would have meant that he had won, completely."

No need to ask who `he' was. Feelings came over her so quickly, Buffy felt that for a moment she was back in the past, living the nightmare of Angel's change over again.

"I'm sorry," she said after a while. Giles was quiet.

"I know."

After supper, Buffy headed out on patrol, planning to sweep the outer parts of town as she had concentrated on the centre of Sunnydale the night before. Halfway through the industrial district, she came across an over familiar sight- a man lying dead on the ground, his neck and chest slashed with claw marks. Buffy sighed and looked around, searching for a trace of the creature responsible. Soon she found a trail of claw marks in the dirt of an alley, and set off, following the demon's marks.

It was remarkably hard to catch, for a man-killing demon. The slayer searched for hours, coming across an ambulance dealing with another victim, thankfully still alive, and several frightened people before she eventually tracked the demon down to a park near her own house. It died fairly quickly, and Buffy decided that was more than enough for one night.

Giles was up and waiting for her when she got back. He jumped up as she came in.

"Buffy! Are you all right?" he asked, hurrying towards her. Buffy nodded and eased her jacket off her arm, where the demon had got in a lucky claw.

"I'm fine. This demon took a little finding, but I got it in the end," she reported. Giles's eyes widened as he saw the scratch on her arm.

"Let me see," he said, taking her arm almost roughly, guiding her with a hand on her hip so he could see the cut in the light. Buffy felt the hand on her arm trembling and her eyes widened. "You should have called me," he continued, eyes on her arm. "I could have picked you up in the car, or helped you track it, or-"

"Giles," she said, stopping him. "It's nothing," she said, speaking slowly to calm him down. "They'll be gone in the morning," she added, referring to the scratches. Giles looked down at her arm and then released her, stepping back.

"I'm sorry. It's just- you're back so late, I was worried," he said with a sheepish laugh.

"It was just a long patrol. Late nights are a slayer's whatever," she said, watching him, worried herself. Giles met her eyes, still looking red.

"I'm beginning to understand that," he said.

She wanted to hug him, to reassure him and herself. "I'm going to bed," she said instead, and gave him a light shove. "You should too. You look exhausted."

"I am quite tired," Giles admitted. Buffy glared at him, losing her temper slightly.

"Then you should have gone to bed, for God's sake," she snapped. He glared back at her.

"How could I, when-" he stopped himself. "I wanted to make sure you were all right."

"It was just a late patrol! God, Giles, you'll have to get used to it if-" Buffy realised what she was saying and choked on her words. "Get used to it. I have." She softened her tone. "You need to look after yourself, as well."

Giles met her eyes, seeming to wrestle with himself over something. "I'm sorry," he said eventually. "I didn't mean to scare you."

She looked away, feeling uncomfortable. It wasn't all about the way she felt when his arms were around her, she realised. There would be pain at some point, probably for both of them, and endless worry of the kind she had seen tonight. The question was not whether there would be more pain, but whether the pain would be worth it.

Buffy hesitated for a second longer, wanting to say something but she wasn't sure what.

"I shouldn't have yelled," she muttered in reply. "I just… I worry about you, too, you know."

Their eyes met for a long moment before Giles looked away, taking his glasses off and studying them in his hands.

Buffy turned towards the stairs, went up, and got ready for bed.

They stood in a line in front of the house, a strange sight. They were all wearing mountain climbing gear rented from a shop in town, all covered in arm and leg guards and pressed into helmets, staring at Giles's flat as if it was Kilimanjaro. Giles sighed.

"We'd better get on with it," he said. The others nodded reluctantly.

"You all know your jobs," Buffy said brusquely, moving closer to the door. "We get in, we lay the candles and get the hell out as fast as possible."

"No arguments about that part," Xander said nervously. They crept closer to the door. Inside, something fell and smashed noisily.

"My flat," Giles mourned.

"On three." Buffy grabbed hold of the door handle and everyone tensed. "One, two, three!"

They burst in and split apart. Buffy and Giles headed straight upstairs whilst the others ran to light candles at strategic points around the room below.

It was stronger. Heavy furniture picked itself up and rumbled, the presence almost lifting one stuffed bookcase off the ground before it thumped back down again as Giles and Buffy passed. They raced up to the loft. Giles set about lighting the candles as Buffy hovered, knocking the worst of the projectiles away from them both.

"Got it," Giles said eventually, and they turned to run back downstairs. Willow and Tara were already outside, and Xander and Anya followed a moment later, Anya nursing a long wound on her leg.

"Definitely a pay rise," she muttered.

"Candles all lit?" Giles asked. The others nodded. "Right."

Willow stepped forward and began the incantation. Giles watched the house as the witch spoke, feeling the menace inside bubble up in response to the mystical call. Tara joined in for the chant, speaking in precise unison with Willow. No wonder the spell partners were also lovers, Giles thought, feeling the correlation of the women's magic beneath their words.

Something was wrong. He felt it a moment before Willow faltered.

"Get down!" she yelled, suiting her own words by pulling her and Tara to the floor.

Buffy threw herself on top of Giles as a storm cloud of dark magic burst out of his apartment, shattering the windows and blowing the door off. Shards of glass whizzed over them and she felt something sticking into her, but already Giles was scrambling to get up.

"The other spell," he said urgently. "Quick!"

Tara threw a bag of ingredients over to Giles. This was a spell he had to perform himself, Buffy remembered. The watcher fumbled in the bag and withdrew a handful of herbs and small stones.

He began to speak in a language Buffy only vaguely recognised. This wasn't a exorcism rite, but a re-possessing spell, designed to assert the natural order of things. Giles barked a last phrase and hurled the mess he held through the open door.

The blast knocked them all off their feet again. Lying flat down, it took Buffy a moment to distinguish the ringing in her ears and the flashes in her sight from the calm outside. She lifted her head.

"We did it!" Willow said, getting to her feet. Everything was quiet.

"Go team," Buffy replied, standing up, feeling the odd anticlimax that followed a battle with no real kill. She gave a hand to help Giles up and turned towards the apartment. The gang gingerly stepped back inside, pulling off their climbing gear.

It was completely trashed. Not even the siege of the Chumash warriors could compete with the level of destruction they saw- books scattered everywhere, broken bottles, windows smashed, the couch ripped to shreds. Giles stood helplessly, poking around, lifting things and letting them drop. Buffy watched, wanting to reach out to him.

"It's like an earthquake's hit," Anya said, almost cheerfully. "Or worse."

"We'll all help you, you know, make it better," Willow said encouragingly.

"Definitely," Tara added. Giles smiled weakly at them.

"Thank you," he said. They looked round the mess in silence for a while, trying to assess the damage.

"I don't think it's too bad," Giles said eventually, sounding surprised. "Most of the books are still intact, and none of my favourite things are broken."

"It'll be fine once we tidy it up," Buffy decreed. "We'll get started on it tomorrow."

The other Scoobies began to file out of the condo, picking their way out. Buffy hesitated, watching Giles.

"Come on," she said. "Let's go home."

He turned to her with an odd expression on his face. Buffy blushed. "You know. My home."

"Of course," he said, and they headed towards the car in silence.

Buffy sat back beside him as they began to short journey back to Revello Drive. Giles's driving had improved in direct relation to the improvement in his transport, she thought absently, shifting slightly so she could look at him without being too obvious. He watched the road, a distant look on his face.

"I'm sorry we couldn't get the thing sooner," Buffy said eventually. Giles glanced round towards her.

"It couldn't be helped," he said calmly, but his eyes slid back to the road before she had a chance to read them.

They pulled up in front of Buffy's house, parking easily. Neither of them moved to get out of the car.

"Buffy…" Giles said eventually. Her heart rate picked up at the tone of his voice.

"Yes?" He looked at her.

"Last night," he began, and her heart sank. She didn't want to talk about it. How could she explain that she had realised that there was a downside to falling for him?

Falling for Giles? Where had that come from?

"What?" she said.

"I realise I overreacted when you were late back," he said. Buffy nodded silently, wondering where the conversation was going. "I'm sorry. Apart from anything else, it's really none of my business, waiting up for you to get in at night." His voice was closed. Buffy frowned.

"Oh. Okay," she said, and got out of the car.

Giles followed her towards the house as Buffy opened the door. He stopped her as they were going in.

"Dawn? Mom?" Buffy yelled. There was no reply. "They must still be shopping," she assumed.

"Er, yes," Giles said uncertainly. Buffy walked ahead of him, into the kitchen, avoiding eye contact. None of his business. What if she wanted it to be his business, she thought, brushing off a part of her that said she was being hypocritical. She wanted him to worry about her, but she didn't want to feel guilty that she made him worry.

"Buffy?" he followed her through the house.

"Yes?" She met his eyes. He was looking at her, a hurt, confused expression on his face, and the coldness she had been feeling towards him a moment ago melted at the sight. She sighed.

"I want it to be your business," she said. He frowned. "When I get in. I want- I want you to be there when I get in," she said. Giles stepped forward, closing the gap between them.

"What are you saying?" he asked, his gaze capturing hers.

"I want to worry about- about your sheets and breakfast and small things like that," Buffy continued, more for her own sake than his. "As well as whether you're going to get through the next big threat." It was all coming out, for better or worse, she thought, her heart racing. Blood was thundering through her so hard she couldn't see straight. She kept her eyes focused on his face. "I want you."

He gaped. "I'm sorry?"

He looked so comically shocked, Buffy couldn't help a quick laugh, the tension in her body momentarily relieved. "Want me?"

She took another step forward, calm now. The decision had been made. She knew he felt the same way- it was knowledge, not arrogance, she confirmed- his head leaning against her hand as she felt his temperature, the trembling worried hand on her arm, the warmth of his hug, the flash of something she had seen in his eyes. Their mutual co- ordination. She smiled up at him. He was beautiful.

One more step. His head bowed towards hers, even though his face was disbelieving. Buffy slid an arm around his neck, shut her eyes, and pressed her lips to his.

His arms folded around her, as they had in the training room, only he pulled her closer, held her tighter. Their lips searched, discovering corners and contrasts, caressing, learning each other. He tilted her head gently and Buffy responded, pushing herself up onto her toes to get closer. The kiss deepened as they began to lose themselves in it, mouths opening, hands roaming.

Buffy's eyes opened, sweeping blindly over the kitchen. She saw the clock on the wall as they stumbled backwards and closed them again as they crashed softly into the kitchen counter.

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