Title: The Assistant 8/?
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 decided running just wasn’t doing enough for her anymore. If she could hold out for six lousy more months she wouldn’t be a child bride. She’d been dating Giles steadily since her birthday in January and it was getting very difficult to keep her hands off him. They were very circumspect in their embraces because they knew they couldn’t be trusted alone with each other. Most of the time, they arranged a double date with Merrick and Joyce or Willow and Xander or some other combination of Scoobies and family.

They spent hours gazing into each other’s eyes and sighing soulfully. After Buffy was nearly killed protecting a distracted Giles on patrol, Merrick wouldn’t let the younger Watcher go with her any more. Giles could barely sleep without her at least being in his house. Sometimes he begged he to sleep in his bed so her scent would be on his pillows.

Merrick told the Council that Buffy’s mother had accepted the information she had been given and had even approved, with reservations, the marriage. He did remind them that Buffy’s father was out of the loop and they might want to keep their spell handy.

As the semester drew to a close, Buffy decided that she couldn’t stand it any longer. She went to Giles during her free period instead of her normal run. “Giles?”

He stuck his head out of the office. “Buffy! What a wonderful surprise! I hope there’s no trouble?” He took her hands and led her to the library table. Even though they sat on opposite sides the sexual tension was so great Buffy thought she might pop.

“School is out in two weeks.” She told him.

“Yes.” He nodded. “I’ve been getting rather a lot of first time library users in. Apparently, many teachers allow emergency papers in lieu of actually studying enough to pass a test.”

Buffy frowned. Probably this wasn’t the best time to tell him she needed help on a paper so she could pass English. Oh well, that wasn’t what she was here for anyway. “No trouble, really. I was just wondering if you wanted to get married when school lets out?”

He sat back, shell-shocked. He had waited so terribly long for her that he despaired of her ever coming to him. Then, for her to come so casually and announce that she was ready…he could barely form a coherent thought. “Are you sure?” He gasped.

She nodded.

“Then, God, yes! I want that more than I want to breath.”

“OK. I’ll tell mom. You tell Merrick. We’ll both tell the Scoobies.” She smiled at him shyly. “How about June tenth? Work for you?”

“Whenever you say, Buffy. Just remember that sooner is definitely better in this case.” He wanted to do handsprings. He wanted to take Buffy in his arms and kiss her until they both were faint. He wanted to do things that he wouldn’t even let himself think about while he was at work. Giles noticed absently that his hands were shaking. “Perhaps you should go. I doubt if I will be able to contain myself much longer.” He gripped the table tightly.

She leaned over and kissed him full on the lips just as four senior girls walked into the room. They saw the kiss and squealed like injured bunnies. Giles winced at the shrill whinnies and looked at Buffy. “Oh dear.”

Buffy looked over at the girls and shrugged. “So what. We’re going to be married in two weeks. Word’s going to get out.”

The tallest girl looked at Buffy with wide eyes. “Oh. My. God! You were kissing the gay librarian! Eeeeuw! And he’s wicked old too.”

“Oh man, you are going to be in so much trouble when the principal hears about this.” The second girl chimed in.

“This is majorly gross.” The third threw up her hands. “I am not getting involved. Oh God! Have you guys really been having sex on the library table like everybody says? Eeeeuw. I am never going to study in here again!”

“Well, he is kinda hot.” The fourth girl speculated. They turned en masse and left the room, stopping in the hallway to tell everyone they knew what they had just witnessed.

“We have maybe ten minutes before that new Principal finds out.” Buffy told him. “Do you want to cover or be open?”

“As you say, we’ll be married in two weeks. We have your mother’s permission and we really haven’t been doing anything wrong. I suggest you get your book out and study and I will help you on that English paper you don’t want to ask me about.” He took off his glasses and polished them with a smile.

“I’m not even going to ask how you knew about the paper.” She grumbled as she pulled out her book. “I have to write about the poems of some guy called Yeaps or something. I forget.”

He rubbed his head in mock agony. “It’s Yeats, William Butler; A rather famous 19^th and early 20^th century poet from Ireland.”

“Snore.” Buffy said deliberately to be irritating.

“Oh, well if you aren’t interested, perhaps I should take my boring old knowledge elsewhere. I’m sure there are plenty of people who are willing to help you write a paper.” He said sternly.

“Sorry. I’m sorry, Giles. I’ll be good. Just help me get through this paper.” She leaned towards him. “I can make it worth your while.”

He sat up, looking suddenly very interested. “Oh, really? What did you have in mind?”

She was going to answer when the library doors burst open and the principal strode into the room. “What is going on in here? Half the students on campus claim to have seen you two having sex on the library table. I want an explanation and I want it right now!”

Giles looked at him coolly, not the least disturbed by the man’s presence. “Buffy and I were definitely not having sex on the library table, principal Snyder.” He looked at Buffy and she could clearly see the thought in his eyes that he might like to give that a try some time in the future. She frowned at him to keep his mind on business.

“I thought you were gay!” The principal blurted out. “Not that that is either here or there.” He caught himself. “Tell me exactly what was going on!”

Giles smiled. “Buffy finally agreed to set the date for our wedding.” He picked up a stack of books and put them on the book truck.

The principal stood there, shock written all over his face. “What! You can’t marry her! She’s a minor.”

Giles turned to look at him, unconcerned. “Her mother has already given her consent.”

Snyder turned to Buffy. “Is this true?”

She propped her book open with her hand. “Well, yeah.”

They both watched him watch them, interest in their faces, disbelief on his. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this. I will not have carryings-on in my school.”

Giles tried to look surprised and innocent. He was not noticeably convincing. “Nothing has been going on here that would cause anyone any concern. As a matter of fact, Buffy and I were just going to work on her English paper. Yeats.” He sighed. “Really, Principal Snyder, a man with your experience shouldn’t believe every bit of teen gossip that comes his way.”

“So you’re saying nothing was going on here?” Snyder demanded.

“Nothing of the least concern to you.” Giles explained gently.

“I don’t want to see you in here unaccompanied again, young lady.” He said to Buffy. “You are a disruptive element and I want you out of my school. I’m giving you fair warning that I will expel you the minute I see any infraction of the rules. Don’t forget because you won’t be getting a second chance.” He turned and stomped out of the room.

Buffy looked at Giles. “Well, that wasn’t too bad.” She glanced at the door when it burst open to reveal Willow and Xander.

“Oh man! You should hear the rumor mill churn!” Xander laughed. “From the stuff going around, I figured you guys would at least be naked or something. This looks pretty tame to me.”

Giles sighed. “Buffy agreed to set our wedding date. We were kissing—totally separated by the table, I might add. Some girls came in and saw us and proceeded to generate rumors.”

Willow squeaked. “You set the date? When?”

“June tenth.” Buffy said calmly accepting the hugs and good wishes from their friends.

It was an hour before the group settled down. People kept coming in all afternoon and looking at them. Mostly, nobody spoke; they just looked, shrugged and walked away. A few shook their heads as if they couldn’t understand anything. Cordelia walked in after the last class. “I so don’t know you!” She yipped. “I can’t believe you’re having sex with him.” She told Buffy in disgust.

Buffy looked up, frowning. She was trying to squeeze out a few more words about Yeats and really didn’t give a rat’s patooti about what Cordelia thought, knew, or believed. She sighed. The sooner this confrontation was over, the sooner she could get back on track with her paper. “I’m not having sex with Giles.” Buffy looked at her and before Cordelia could get the words out of her mouth, she added: “and not with Merrick either.”

“Eeeeuw! I wasn’t even going to go there! God, you are such a skank, how do you stand yourself?” Cordelia chimed.

Giles looked up. “My fiancée is not a skank, Cordelia. I have no idea what that word means, nor do I wish to be enlightened. Buffy and I love each other and we are going to be married. I fail to see how this impacts on you at all.” He picked his book back up.

“It impacts on me because people know I’ve spoken with her. You are just bound and determined to ruin my reputation!” She turned and stormed out of the library.

“That girl…” Giles began, then stopped. He wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted to say about her, but since it was definitely not complementary, he decided to be silent.

Buffy looked up at him. “Don’t worry about Cordelia. You should know by now that everything in the universe revolves around how it affects her. She’ll come around and then we’ll find out that the whole thing was her idea.” She snorted and went back to her paper.

Night had fallen before Buffy straightened up and pushed her paper towards Giles. “See what you think.”

He read it, offered several salient points that needed to be changed, but overall pronounced it good. She stood. “I guess I need to get home so I can patrol. Give me a ride?”

He stood and shrugged back into his jacket. “Of course. Will you stop by the house after patrol?”

Stretching, she popped the kinks out of her back. “Sure. Will you give Merrick our news?”

He grinned. “Oh yes indeed. He will be happy when we are finally married and not mooning around anymore.”

There was a rustle of paper and then a voice spoke from the darkened stacks. “So you’ve set a date then?” Angel asked her.

“Yeah. June tenth.” Buffy told him. She still thought having a vampire as a pseudo-Scooby was weird. Not that Angel wasn’t handsome, but, hello, Undead much?

“Ah. Are you going to patrol? Because I wouldn’t mind doing a little bit of that tonight if you want company.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. The vampire’s crush on her was wiggy. She knew he resented her relationship with Giles and he always took a great deal of trouble to point out how much older the Librarian was than Buffy. Finally, she had gotten tired of this and pointed out that people who were over two centuries old had a lot of nerve complaining about anybody’s age.

“Later.” She told him. “I’m heading home first.”

“Oh. Uh, OK. I’ll find you later then.” He turned and did his disappearing act.

Buffy waited a few minutes then turned to Giles. “Do you know how wiggy it is to have a vampire love you?”

Giles shuddered. “No, but I can use my imagination. I’m only a bystander and it, ah, rather wigs me.”

Buffy grinned and enveloped him in a quick hug before dancing out of his reach. “Let’s go. The sooner this is over, the sooner it’s over.”

Giles smiled. “Well, there’s no arguing with logic like that.”

She frowned at him but let it go.

Patrol was uneventful except for the presence of the friendly vampire. He kept trying to talk Buffy into dating him. “Look, I’m engaged and I’m going to be married in two weeks. I love Rupert and I don’t want to date you. No offense, but you are dead and you need to start acting like it.” Buffy had said finally pushed to the limits of her patience. Angel had backed away from her, hands raised in a gesture of surrender.

“Sorry. I just thought you might be interested in trading up.” He said in a sneering reference to Giles.

“There is no such thing as trading up when you already have the absolute best.” Buffy informed him curtly.

The vampire shrugged and melted away into the stygian darkness of the park. There must be some way to win Buffy for himself, even if he needed to use magic. Hmmm. That was an idea. He decided to investigate a few spells.

Buffy’s wedding date drew closer and she grew more nervous. She felt like something big was coming, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. She kept having prophetic visions of herself in a waitress outfit and told Merrick about them. He was stymied.

“I have no idea what that means. Are you sure they are prophecy dreams?” He asked her, deeply concerned.

“Yes. No doubt about it.” She told him worriedly.

“We must tell Rupert and then start researching. This is very disturbing.” Merrick told her.

They spent the next three nights looking up assorted Slayer prophecies and couldn’t find a single one relating to waitressing. Buffy decided to ignore the dream for the evening and set out on her routine patrol alone. She had just scaled the wall of Restview Cemetery when she sensed a vampire. Turning around, she saw Angel lounging against a Mausoleum. “Hi, Buffy! Nice night for a little patrol, huh?” He was trying to make casual conversation and failing pretty dismally.

“Angel. What’s up?” Buffy greeted him warily. She had never gotten used to the idea of a ‘good’ vampire.

“Uh, up? Nothing.” He answered and walked towards her.

She continued her patrol, the handsome vampire at her side. “So, how long till you marry the Librarian?” He asked casually.

She looked at him. He knew very well the date. “Two days.”

“Oh.” They walked some more and Buffy didn’t notice when Angel fell behind her by a step. Thus, she didn’t see him pull the billy club from his duster and thwack her on the back of the skull with it.

Angel caught her unconscious body and carried it to a deserted tomb. He laid her out on top of a stone sepulcher and carefully drew a chalk circle around her unconscious form. Lighting candles at each of the compass points of the circle he began a chant. He felt the magic catch hold of the young girl before him and smiled. When she woke, she wouldn’t remember anything about her life as the Slayer or her love for the Watcher. She would be starting fresh and he would see to it that, this time, she fell in love with him.

He picked her body up and carried her to a car he had stolen. They drove through the night. Sunrise found them pulling into a town near Las Vegas. Angel got a motel room and gave very specific instructions that they were not to be disturbed. Buffy had not yet awoken and he wanted to have everything set up before she did.

He called an acquaintance of his who owned a small diner. The man agreed to hire Buffy on as a waitress and to pretend that she’d been there for a while. Angel spent an hour telling Buffy her new life history, knowing she would be receptive from the spell. When he was sure he had covered everything, he allowed her to wake in the tiny apartment he had arranged for her to rent that day. He ducked out before she saw him.

Buffy woke and felt terrible. She had a killer headache. Where was she? Oh, yeah, her crappy little apartment. She looked at the clock. Damn. Her shift started in an hour. She would have to hurry to get to work.

That evening set the pace for the next six weeks. She raced to work where she waited on tables for ten hours before getting off to run home and get a couple hours sleep. She didn’t question why she was so inept at being a waitress the first couple of nights. She assumed it was from the terrible headache. As she started feeling better, her skills improved. She learned to joke with the customers and her tips improved tremendously. One night, she was getting ready to go off shift when a very handsome young man strolled into the café.

“Hey!” He said to her. “Can I get a cup of coffee?”

She smiled at him. “Sure. Hold on a sec.” She reached around behind her, pulled off a cup and saucer and the ever-brewing pot of coffee. She placed the cup on his table and poured the strong brew for him.

“So, I haven’t seen you in here before.” She said conversationally as she wiped down the tables near him for the evening.

“Oh, I’ve been around.” The vampire said with a smile. “What’s your name?”

“Elizabeth Anne, but my friends just call me Anne.” She told him.

“Well, Anne. I’d sure like to be your friend. They call me Angel.” He said.

“Pleased to meet you, Angel.” She moved efficiently on to the next chore.

“I’d like to get to know you better. Would you come share a cup of coffee with me?” He said happily.

“Sorry. No consorting with customers.” She grinned to soften her rejection.

“Well, what time do you get off shift? I could like walk you home or something?” Angel persisted.

“Ten minutes. But I don’t just let any guy walk me home. It’s not safe.” She said.

They flirted lightly but Buffy was insistent that he not walk her home. He came back the next night and the next and still she wouldn’t agree to date him. In fact, something very strange was happening to her. She started to have odd dreams about a small town and a different life. There was a man, well, two men actually. They loved her and she knew they missed her desperately. If she could just remember their names, everything would be OK.

The next night, Angel came into the café and spent his usual hour flirting with her. She didn’t really like being around him. Every time he got within ten feet of her, she got cramps. As a barrier to romance, it was pretty effective. The dreams were getting stronger anyway and they seemed to indicate that there was something very wrong about the young man.

Meanwhile, Angel was growing incredibly frustrated. He had hoped that erasing Buffy’s memories would allow her to fall into his arms, but it wasn’t happening. She seemed to like him, but she very carefully held him at arms length. He could only keep trying.

One night, after she had been missing for nearly eight weeks, Buffy remembered the man’s name in her dream. He was Giles. Rupert Giles. Suddenly, all her memories came flooding back, including Angel knocking her out and then spelling her. She was so mad she wanted to stake him on the spot, but decided that she would wait and let Giles do it. She went to a pay phone and called his familiar number. When he picked up, she could barely speak for missing him.

Giles almost cried when he heard her voice. He and Merrick had searched everywhere. All they knew was that her body had not been found. Giles swore she wasn’t dead. He said he would know. Merrick believed him, knowing the strength of the bond. “What happened? Oh Buffy, are you all right?” He said tremulously. Merrick, sitting morosely on the couch looked up at his words.

“I’m in Las Vegas, Giles. I was knocked out and put under a forget spell by Angel. He wants me for himself. I’ve been working as a waitress in a café. Can you please come and get me?” She told him her address and the rest of the story as much as she could over the phone. “I have to go to work and it will take you guys all night to get here. Meet me at my apartment after sunrise. I don’t want that bastard knowing you are here.” She held the phone close. “And Rupert? I love you.”

“God! I love you too sweetheart.” He hung up the phone and turned to Merrick. He told the older Watcher everything Buffy had said. The two men cried in relief. Giles looked up suddenly. “We had better call Joyce.”

They had gotten to know the Slayer’s mother much better during Buffy’s absence and she had come to terms with Rupert as her son-in-law. The men had been her rock when Buffy went missing. Late as it was, she answered the phone, hope in her voice.

“Joyce? It’s Rupert. We know where she is.” He explained the situation and told her they would pick her up in an hour. They quickly packed enough clothing for three days and went to pick up the elder Summers woman. She met them at the door, suitcase in hand.

“Let’s go get my baby.” She had also packed several very sharp stakes and intended to use them on the vampire that had taken her girl.

It took two hours to drive to LA, and another four to get to Las Vegas. They arrived at Buffy’s apartment just before dawn and let themselves in by the expedient method of lock picking. They looked around at the tiny room their beloved girl had called home for nearly two months. It was sparsely furnished but still had homey touches like the bouquet of flowers on the impossibly small table. There was only one chair so the men let Joyce have it while they sat on the bed. Just after sunrise, they heard the door unlock and a tired Slayer let herself into the apartment.

She saw them waiting for her and threw herself into Giles arms, raining kisses down on his face. “Oh God, Oh God. Thank you. Oh, I missed you so much and I didn’t even know you were alive.” He held her tightly and simply rocked her against his trembling body. At last they were able to separate long enough for her to greet her mother with a hug and Merrick with a kiss. She cried to see them all.

“We need to get you out of here.” Giles said decisively. “Do you know where Angel stays during the day? I’d like to pay him a visit.”

“No, I don’t know, but I have a much better idea.” Buffy told him happily. “Let’s just leave and not tell him. Let him wonder for weeks like you guys did. I think its poetic justice.”

The men nodded unhappily, hoping for a staking, but Joyce smiled to see the mental torment she had gone through put onto the monster. Buffy dug under the mattress and pulled out her tip money. “I worked like a dog for this. I’m not leaving it behind.” Looking around the apartment, she shrugged; the vampire had provided everything else. He could keep it, she thought. She took a can of spray air freshener and heavily hit the chair and bed with it, knowing it would confuse the vampire’s sense of smell. He wouldn’t be able to pick up Rupert and would thus worry even more about Buffy. She ushered everyone out of the room and as a last measure, set of a bug fogger. There would be no way the vampire could find out anything from the scents left in the room. She grinned happily.

They drove into Las Vegas proper and got a suite with three bedrooms. Joyce expected Buffy to stay with her but Buffy was not under any circumstances leaving Giles. They crawled into bed together and simply held each other. At last they fell asleep in each other’s arms. It was mid-afternoon when they woke, both starving. They got up and were soon joined by Joyce and Merrick in the living room. Buffy looked at them as they came in. “Rupert and I have a plan. We want to get married today, here in Las Vegas. It’s the only way I’ll ever be safe from Angel.”

Joyce didn’t even put up a token protest. There was no way she was leaving her daughter open to kidnapping again. They found a twenty-four hour wedding chapel and the ceremony was performed with little fuss. They decided that they wanted to get back to Sunnydale as soon as possible and set off immediately after stopping for a quick bite to eat. It took most of the night, but they arrived in Sunnydale at four the next morning. Everyone was exhausted. After dropping Joyce and Merrick, at his request, at the Summers’ residence, Giles and Buffy went home together.

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