Title: The Assistant 5/?
Author: Sweetdoggie
Disclaimer: No permission has been granted to use the characters. They are owned by their creator, Joss Whedon, Twentieth Century Fox, UPN, WB, and Mutant Enemy. This story is non-profit and is intended solely as entertainment. No copyright infringement is intended.

Buffy settled down into a routine of training, school, and slaying. She tried not to be alone with Giles if she could help it. Luckily, this was easy to engineer, as he seemed to have an even greater desire to avoid her than she did him. The Scoobies were drawn unknowingly into the fray as both Buffy and Giles clung to them for protection. Merrick was careful to always be around when Buffy was training and he actually took over some of her sessions again.

Willow mentioned that she and Giles seemed tense lately and what was that all about? Buffy denied knowing anything and felt secure that Willow would not approach Giles for more information.

For his part, Giles tried to keep a professional distance between them. Sometimes he was successful, sometimes his desire shown from his eyes. It was during the latter times that he would pull his glasses off and rub his eyes till they blurred. It became a sort of trademark to the Scoobies. When Giles was feeling tense he rubbed his eyes and then spent many minutes cleaning his glasses.

There was a new evil on the Hellmouth. A very nasty descendant of the Master named Spike and his skanky girlfriend, Drucilla were wreaking havoc in the small population of Sunnydale. Buffy had encountered him several times. He was very handsome in a terrifying, undead sort of way and she made the mistake of mentioning this to Giles as they were training.

“Handsome! You think that undead monster is attractive?” He sounded outraged.

“Well, yeah.” She told him. “I’m speaking objectively here. I’m not personally attracted.”

“And what, precisely, is so eye-catching about this particular monster?” He asked her, voice low.

She shrugged. “He’s got a nice face. If he were a man, he would be a total babe. His hair is kinda funky though and the black fingernails are so over.” She paused for a few seconds. “It could be the coat. It’s very cool.”

“I see. So, you believe wardrobe makes a man more attractive?” He purred.

“Duh! Look at you. You’re a good-looking guy, but you hide behind about twenty layers of tweed. I’ll bet you’re wearing an undershirt, a dress shirt, a vest, and a suit jacket, aren’t you?”

His mind was still stuck on the fact that she thought that he was good-looking. “Uh, yes, I am wearing all that. It’s called dressing in a professional manner.”

She rolled her eyes. “You need to dress down a little. This is California, not Oxbow or whatever.”

“It’s Oxford, actually. And believe me, I am dressing down.” He informed her.

“No, you’re not. Trust me on this.” She looked at him. “Come on.” She stopped sparing with him, grabbed his staff and put it away.

“What are you doing?” He asked, bewildered.

“We are going shopping. You need some normal people clothes. If you weren’t so starchy, you might actually be attractive to women.”

“I assure you, I have never had a problem along those lines, regardless of my manner in dress.” He ground out.

“Uh huh.” She said, clearly not believing him. “Well, maybe in England where they’re used to everybody wearing forty layers of clothes. But this is Southern California and nobody wears any more than they have to.”

She took him to a clothing shop downtown and made him try on several pairs of pants that, while stylish, were no where near the stateliness of his normal tweed. Next, she picked out five shirts, mainly pullover types that clung nicely to his muscular chest. He felt naked with his arms all exposed, especially when her eyes fell on his tattoo.

“Oh, My, God! You have a tattoo?” Her eyes were as big as saucers.

“Since it is rather obvious that I do, why do you bother asking?” He said testily.

“You. You have a tattoo. Mr. I’m-so-proper-my-clothes-fold-themselves has a tattoo. And it’s awesome! Tell me it’s not some totally lame Watcher thing, please.” She begged him with teasing eyes.

“It is certainly not a Watcher thing.” He told her huffily. “I do not wish to discuss it with you. The mark is personal.”

“’S’ OK. I’ll ask Merrick.” She told him casually. “He’ll tell me.”

“You will NOT ask Merrick.” Giles commanded her.

“Then you better spill, big guy.” She answered.

He sighed. “If you must know, when I was considerably younger I ran with a rather, er, rough crowd. We indulged in practices that I’m quite ashamed of now. One of those indulgences resulted in this tattoo.”

Buffy knew he was leaving a great deal out of his explanation, but chose not to push him. She was having trouble picturing him doing anything really bad since he was such a stick now, but he also wasn’t given to lying so…She let her gaze roam him speculatively before she turned away.

“Whatever.” She finally said.

He realized that she was going to let the topic go and he sighed with relief. He was so happy to not have to explain the mark of the demon on his arm that he allowed her to purchase the clothing she had picked out for him.

As he told Merrick later, the girl was like a bulldozer. “I had to give in on the clothing. God knows what I’ll do with it.”

Merrick was still chuckling over Giles account of the afternoon’s shopping adventure. “Wear it to court her. She obviously picked out things she likes and that she thinks look good on you. You might be able to further your suit if she starts noticing you as an attractive man.”

“She said I was good-looking.” Giles mentioned for about the tenth time, feeling warm from the thought. He fingered the sport jacket she had picked out. ‘’Cause she knew he needed to withdraw from the layers gradually.’ It was all right, he allowed, and it would look presentable over one of the pull over shirts she had insisted he purchase. He put it on and decided that he looked a good deal younger. Since that was not his goal, he frowned. He didn’t want to look too young because then people might start putting him together with Buffy or the other children in a romantic light and he wasn’t ready for the consequences of that revelation.

“I’ve invited her over to dinner this evening. She said she would come after patrol.” Giles mentioned casually.

Merrick grinned. “Should I make myself scarce?”

Giles looked at him. “Good lord, no! I’m counting on you as a chaperone.”

The men grinned at each other and began preparing dinner. It was nearly seven forty-five before a disheveled-looking Buffy appeared on their doorstep. “Hi! Sorry I’m running late. Four vamps in Restview. I think I got cut on the back of my arm.”

Both men expressed concern but Merrick let Giles clean and bandage the wound. Buffy’s eyes widened when he placed a soft kiss on it and told her it was all better. She was quiet during dinner, talking only about business and carefully not meeting Giles gaze.

“How is school, Buffy?” Merrick asked, hoping to draw her out. He had seen the small gesture of affection from Giles and was deeply amused that such a little thing had almost completely tongue-tied the girl.

“It’s OK, I guess. Too much homework, not enough interesting stuff. I’ll be really glad when I graduate.” She told him.

“Have you given any thought to college?” He asked her.

“Yuk! More school. I’m just not the type, I think, Merrick. It’s too boring to sit there trapped for hours and hours with nothing to do.”

“You might try paying attention for a change.” Giles chided.

“Easy for you, book guy. I get all tingly if I have to be still for too long. It feels like my skin is going to crawl right off my body. It’s too hard to pay attention, you know?”

Giles and Merrick looked at each other. The excess energy was one of the first signs that the Slayer was reaching sexual maturity. “How long have you been experiencing these tingly feelings, Buffy?” Merrick asked casually.

“I don’t know. It’s been there since I was called but really noticeable since the Master, I guess.” The battle with the vampire had left a deep impression on her. The Watcher’s knew that it was a likely catalyst for her new feelings.

“Have you experienced any other, er, unusual, ah, symptoms?” Giles floundered a bit at asking such a personal question.

“Symptoms?” Buffy looked at him with narrowed eyes. “OK, you guys know something. Spill.”

The two men glanced at each other with some dismay. Neither of them wanted to explain Slayer sexuality to this girl. When a potential Slayer was raised in the Council, this was part of the training so the girls knew about it well before reaching puberty. It was generally explained by one of the female Watchers. Buffy watched them with eagle eyes and they realized that they were both blushing.

“Oh, boy. This must be mondo bad.” Buffy said mournfully. “You’re starting to worry me. One of you tell me what’s going on, right now!”

Merrick cleared his throat. “Uhm, Buffy.” He began then paused to marshal his thoughts. “When Slayers reach a certain age they, they begin to experience certain, uhm, urges. These are completely normal and they shouldn’t worry you, as long as you realize that there is only one outlet for these new feelings. Only your Watcher can, uhm, help you during this difficult time.”

Buffy looked at him, brow furrowed and arms crossed over her chest. “You are so wigging me out, Merrick. What exactly are we talking about?”

Giles looked at his plate. Merrick cleared his throat. “We are talking about Slayer sexuality.”

Buffy looked at him and at the furiously blushing Giles and began to put two and two together. “Slayer sexuality. My skin tingles and extra energy mean I’m what, hitting puberty? ‘Cause like I did that when I was ten and I’m not looking forward to the Slayer version which probably has all kinds of extra-icky things I don’t want to know about, right?”

Merrick himself was sporting red flags on both cheeks. “As it happens, there are certain…factors that need to be dealt with.”

“Like?” She said, looking very stern and not a little frightened.

“Slayers experience an increased sex drive. We believe it’s a side-effect of your accelerated healing. Your body responds to injuries with life-affirming energy; the tingles you feel. Sexual activity is designed to continue life and as time passes you will need to, uhm, relieve the tension this creates in your body. Unfortunately, there is only one person who can ease the Slayer’s need and that is her Watcher. You won’t simply be able to go out and pick any boy. It has to be your Watcher.” He looked at Giles. “Actually, in your case, it almost certainly has to be Rupert.”

Buffy sat back trying to take in this flow of information. “Let me see if I understand what you’ve told me.” She began. “When a Slayer gets to be a certain age, she starts having hormone rushes that make her want sex, right?”

Both men nodded attentively.

“And for some funky Slayer reason, it’s got to be done with the Watcher. Is that right so far?”

They nodded again.

“And because Giles has pretty much taken over the Watcher stuff, it’s got to be him?”

Merrick nodded and Giles simply sat there and blushed.

“Uh huh. Well, damn.” She sighed. “What if I don’t want to do it with Giles?” She looked at him. “No offense or anything, but I figured my first lover would be somebody closer to my own age.”

“None taken, Buffy. I understand how difficult this must be for you.” Giles said unable to make eye contact.

“Difficult? Yeah, there’s that.” She sighed. “How long before we have to, you know?” She made a vague hand gesture that managed to convey her meaning clearly to both men.

“Th, that would be entirely up to you.” Giles told her. “It depends upon how long you can resist the urge to mate and still function on a daily basis. The longer you wait the more intense the need will become. Also,” He looked down briefly then met her gaze, cheeks aflame, “you will develop a growing desire to be with me. This isn’t meant to be a horrible experience for the Slayer, Buffy. When she takes her mate, it is for life. The pair is bonded and when the bond is sealed in their flesh, it is a glorious experience.”

Buffy was blushing herself by this time. “S, so it’s not just once and then its over?” She asked them.

“No, when you and Giles seal your bond, it is the mystical equivalent of a wedding. You’ll have to move in with him.” Merrick explained.

“Uh, guys? I’m a minor. If Giles and I,” she flopped her hand back and forth, “do it, he could go to jail. And no way would my mom let me live with him.”

Merrick nodded. “We’ve taken that into consideration, Buffy. If you can hold out till your seventeenth birthday, you can marry with parental consent. The Council will obtain the necessary permission from your mother. Can you wait?”

“Yes. No problem waiting. Nope, none, nada, no siree.” She stood up. “Well, I really need to be, uh, somewhere else. “ I’ll see you tomorrow.” She raced to the door before they could move and they heard it slam behind her.

Giles looked at Merrick. “Well, that could have gone better.”

“She’ll grow into the idea, Rupert. It was a rather large revelation for her, after all.” Merrick soothed.

“Yes. I know.” He sighed. “I just wished she could know how much I love her. She never even asked about the Watcher’s feelings in all this.”

“It’s new to her. By tomorrow, I’m sure she will have more questions.” Merrick rose and began gathering the supper dishes. Giles eventually began to help him, but the older man could tell he was troubled.

The next day dawned cloudy and overcast, very unusual for that part of California. Buffy avoided the library as if it carried plague germs. She sat in her classes and determinedly concentrated on her schoolwork. When her free period came around, instead of adjourning to the library with Willow and Xander she headed outside and began running on the track. She ran tirelessly for an hour, never even breaking into a sweat and not noticing the looks she received from the gym teacher, William Blair, till he called her name.

“Uh, Buffy isn’t it?” The man asked her.

“Yeah.” She answered.

“Are you on the track team?”

“No.” She told him

“Would you like to be? I’ve never seen anybody run with such endurance.” He looked eager. “With a distance runner like you on our side we could become state champions.”

“Uh, don’t really have the time. Thanks for the offer though.” She told him and continued past him.

“I know you’ve been in trouble with school. If you came to work for the track team, we could get all that stuff waved from your record. Nobody would want anything like that on the record of a champion.” He tempted her.

“Uh, really, thanks, but I’m not interested. I’ve done the athlete thing and I know how much work it takes. I was an Olympic contender for the U.S. Ice-skating team a couple of years ago. I’m just not willing to go back to that.” She nodded and walked away not caring that he was watching her with speculation.

Buffy was able to finish her classes without feeling all tingly after her run. ‘Hmmm. So physical exercise helps this thing. Thank God! I’ll run till I drop before I have to marry a Watcher.’ It wasn’t that she didn’t like Giles. He was a good man and she knew it, but the thought of marrying him just gave her the wig. She was twenty years his junior and had no intentions of settling down at sixteen. He was tall. She liked that in a man. And his face was handsome enough. His hair was cute. There was no denying that, she thought. His hands were strong and powerful and when he touched her with them, even casually, she liked it. ‘Uh Oh, don’t go there,’ she thought mildly panicked.

She didn’t want to go to the library, but thought that she had better. She didn’t want him looking at her with those green eyes filled with hurt like he did after she returned from her dad’s this summer. It had taken weeks to get back to feeling comfortable with him again. Slowly opening the library door, she didn’t see anyone around. Good. She began doing warm up exercises and was nearly finished when Giles came up behind her.

“Buffy! I missed you today. Willow and Xander came by.” He told her anxiously. “Is everything all right?”

“Uh, yeah. Everything is fine. I just wanted to do something else.” She wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“Do, do you want to talk about…anything?” He offered.

“God, no! I mean, uhm, no thanks.” She finished her stretches. “Let’s just get on with the training. I want to do an early patrol tonight.”

He didn’t know what to make of her aversion to talking about their mutual dilemma. Finally, he decided that it was best if she broached the topic herself. He went to get the swords.

They sparred till his arms were ready to drop off. When Buffy noticed that his response time was getting too slow to block her, she called a halt. “Well, that’s it for today, I guess. I gotta go.” She helped him pick up the weapons and put them away and then ran out of the library without a backward glance.

He went home and told Merrick what had occurred. “What does it mean, John? Is the idea so repugnant that she can’t bring herself to talk about it with me?”

Merrick patted his lovesick friend on the back. “You know it’s not that, Rupert. She is growing up and fighting it with every fiber of her being. Just give her some space. She’ll come around.”

Giles tried to follow Merrick’s advice but it was brutally difficult. Every cell in his body ached to be with her and she avoided him as much as she possibly could. He knew that she had taken up running three times a day and supposed that as a way of burning off excess energy, it was as good a choice as any except the one he desperately wished her to make.

He was surprised when the Athletic coach came into the library to speak to him one afternoon. “To what do I owe this visit, Mr. Blair? It’s not often that our halls are graced with your presence.” Giles smiled.

“I want to talk to you about one of your students that hangs out here all the time. Buffy Summers?” The coach seemed ill at ease so far out of his element.

“Buffy? Yes, I know her, what seems to be the problem?” Giles studied the man more closely.

“I’ve never seen anybody who could run like her. She runs every morning before school and then mid-morning, and somebody told me that she’s taken to running after classes too. I want her on the track team but she says she doesn’t want to get involved. I was hoping you might use your influence on her to change her mind. I even offered to get all the black marks erased from her record if she’d join, but she’s not interested. I could understand if she was a real bookworm, but she’s not. Her grades are average to poor and she cuts as much class as she goes to.”

Giles began to dislike this man intensely. He didn’t want Buffy involved in sporting activities that would take her away from Sunnydale and her duties as the Slayer. “I’ll talk to Buffy, if you wish, but ultimately the decision must be hers.”

“She told me she’d been on the fast track to the Olympics—ice-skating, I think. I don’t know why she stopped, but it sure wasn’t lack of energy. I think she could run for hours and not even feel it. I know for a fact that she isn’t even sweating after an hour.”

Giles nodded. He would indeed speak to Buffy, but perhaps the tone would be different than what the coach was expecting. “I shall make an effort to speak to her today.”

“Thanks.” Blair said and exited the library. He had always hated the place. It was creepy and it smelled weird. Why anybody chose to be around books all the time when they could be sharpening the potential of their bodies was beyond him.

When Buffy came in after class to train, Giles began doing the stretching exercises with her. “Coach Blair came in today.” He mentioned casually.

“Oh?” She said, no real interest in her voice.

“He said he has approached you to run on the track team.”

“Yeah, but who wants to? Not me, that’s for sure.” Buffy finished her stretches and did a backward flip from a standing position.

“I have noticed that you’ve been running a great deal lately.”

“Uh huh.” She did a front roll, tuck and landed on her feet.

“Why?” He stopped beating about the bush.

“Gets rid of the tingly feeling.” She explained easily. “The more I run, the less I feel all funky and weird. I figured that’s good, right? ‘Cause you and Merrick said that the longer we are able to put this off, the better for legal purposes.”

“Yes, that’s correct. But I never wanted you to work yourself to death to avoid me.” He watched her cartwheel around the room at top speed. “Plus, it doesn’t seem to be helping all that much, does it? You seem to have a very great deal of energy and you’ve already run, what, twenty miles today?”

She stopped her gymnastics and turned to look at him. “Yeah. I know. I just…I’m having a little trouble dealing is all. Plus that vamp, Spike, is planning something. I don’t know what, but the rumor is he’s bringing in some help.”

Giles handed her a quarterstaff and they began sparring. “Would you like me to begin running with you again? Would that help?”

She faked dropping her guard and he moved in. She easily blocked his move and grinned at him. “Maybe we should spend more time together. My method isn’t working, obviously. I’ve upped the running till mom is starting to get concerned and let me tell you, it has to be extreme before she notices something like that. Merrick said the Council would make her give permission for us to, uh, get married. I turn seventeen in a week. Maybe you should contact them and tell them to do it.”

He nodded and instigated a series of thrusts designed to drive her backward. He tried to pin her in the corner but she slipped past him and got him from behind slightly harder than she had intended. He went down with a gasp. Throwing the staff down, she knelt by his side. “Giles? Are you OK? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you so hard.” She stroked his sweaty hair back from his face and yelped when his arms came up and around her. “Never assume your opponent is helpless, Buffy.” He kept his arms locked around her as she laughed down into his face. Her hand came up and seemingly of its own volition, stroked his cheek before she broke his hold and leaped to her feet, blushing.

“I have to go. Uh, do you want to run in the morning? I can stop by about seven if you want?” She sounded shy.

“Seven would be lovely. Thank you, Buffy.” He clearly meant for more than the invitation to run.

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