Title: Buffy, Giles and the Manchild Boys
Author: Sweetdoggie (stirling_summer@yahoo.com)
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.

She finally got back to his apartment feeling grubby and footsore. Wanting only a hot bath and a long sleep, she opened the door, failing to notice the stretch limo parked in the back lot of the building.

“Giles, I’m back!” she called as she stepped into the living room.

Instantly five pairs of eyes focused on her. Giles took in her slightly battered look with an experienced glance. He noted her bare feet. “Trouble?”

“Nothing I couldn’t handle. Who's the company?” she said indicating the four men setting around his living room.

“Ah, my cousin and his friends arrived early to surprise me,” he said somewhat acerbically.

Buffy waved at the four men. “Hi, guys. If you’ll give me a few minutes, I’ll clean up and we can get introduced.” God, the one guy looked just like a slightly older Giles. Not too bad, really. It seemed a shame that such a good-looking guy was a hound.

A smarmy blond guy, also not bad looking stood up and after looking her over like a piece of meat, said his name was Terry and he was charmed to make her acquaintance. Buffy smirked inwardly. This guy obviously thought his money was a door that would open anything, including her legs. She decided to be extra-American and blonde tonight.

She pulled Rupert down with a tug and proceeded to kiss him with a carnality that left the other men gaping. Giles, never slow on the uptake, put his arms around her and picked her up. Her legs curled around his waist and her bare feet locked behind his back. When they finally pulled away from each other, Buffy leaned back. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” Giles said with a smile. He put her down. “Go get cleaned up and we’ll get the intro’s over.”

Buffy dashed upstairs and took a quick shower. She washed and dried her hair, but left the ends slightly damp so they would curl under.

She could hear the men talking as she picked out a pair of shorts and a camisole top. Shoes wouldn’t be needed, she decided.

“I know you said you had a girl friend, Rupert, but I never thought for an instant she’d be so, so…” James tapered off not really knowing how to end that sentence and not look like a total berk.

Terry sat up. “Yes, old boy. How old is she anyway?”

“Buffy is eighteen.” He smiled fondly, hiding his smirk. This was absolutely great, he thought. For once he was coming out the better from these womanizing scoundrels.

“And you’ve known her, how long?” queried Patrick.

“Since she was sixteen. I was the librarian in the school she attended,” Giles said, implying everything, but not actually saying it out loud.

“Bit of all right, that,” said Gary wistfully.

“A bit too all right, if you want my opinion,” James said. “I’m having trouble believing that you took up with a school girl, especially in light of how you feel about me dating younger women.”

“Well, I didn’t set out to seduce her,” Giles told him coolly. “We developed a relationship gradually.”

“Do I hear wedding bells, Rupert?” smirked Terry.

“We haven’t discussed that yet, but if Buffy married me, I'd be the happiest man alive.” He smiled softly.

Buffy decided that they had put him on the spot long enough and bounced downstairs. She went straight to Rupert and let him pull her onto his lap. “Would you care for a cup of tea, love?”

She leaned against him. “Tea. Mmmmm. Do we have any of those little cracker things? And maybe some cheese? Suddenly, I’m starving.”

He hugged her and stood up. “Let me fix you a bite.” He sat her gently back down in the seat he had vacated and went off toward the kitchen. “Can I get anyone else some tea?”

The visitors hid grimaces as they declined the offer. Tea, for God’s sake. Didn’t the man have any malt whiskey or even beer about the place? Really, living in America for several years had corrupted the younger man.

While Giles puttered around in the kitchen preparing a small feast for his love, the men spent some time questioning Buffy. Terry especially had a hard time believing that she was really poor soppy Giles’ girlfriend.

“So, how exactly did you meet Rupert?” Terry purred, thinking he might be onto something.

“I transferred to Sunnydale High from my school in LA in mid-semester. I needed a book from the library and somebody showed me how to find the place. I’m not very booky,” she deprecated herself. “Anyhow, I walked in and there he was.”

“When did you begin dating him?” Terry oozed.

“We started hanging out that very night, as a matter of fact. We had to be very careful though because, well, it’s illegal for a teacher to date a student, plus I was a minor till six months ago. The state of California is kinda strict about that and my mom didn’t even know till last summer.”

“Ah, your mum. How did she take the news that you were seeing a much older man?” Patrick asked curiously.

“She threw me out.” Buffy told him with a shrug and a smile. “I ran away for a couple of months last year. Giles found me and brought me home and she pretty much thinks he walks on water now.”

“So, she has accepted your relationship?” James wondered.

“Sort of.” Buffy shrugged. “I’m not saying that she’s totally happy or anything but she understands that Giles is the most important person in my life and always will be.”

They didn’t have any rejoinder for that sort of a declaration so she was able to ask a few questions of her own. “So, where are you guys staying? It’s not really safe to be out after dark in this town. I’d hate for one of you to be killed.”

“Killed?” Patrick said, setting up. “It’s that violent here?”

“Highest murder rate in the country. Makes DC look like a nice quiet farm. We have gang violence.” Leaning forward she told them very carefully to never, ever invite anyone into their home, apartment or hotel room. “It’s the leading cause of death around here.”

James narrowed his eyes as a thought came and went through his head. Something from childhood, long forgotten, danced just out of reach.

“So, where are you guys staying?”

“We had thought to cadge a room from Rupert, but we had no idea he was living in such, um, Spartan quarters.” James said with a shudder as he looked around the tiny apartment that would barely count as a closet in his home.

“It’s small but it’s cozy.” Buffy told them as Giles returned with her food and tea. She got up so she could set back on his lap. Once he was settled he began feeding her bites of crackers and cheese from his fingers as he stroked her hair with his free hand. As soon as she was full, she playfully nipped at his fingers. He dropped a kiss on top of her head and encouraged her to lie back against him. He continued stroking her and she was asleep in seconds.

The others were deeply surprised to see her fall asleep. They watched Rupert hold her as if she were precious china and had to admit to envy. They talked well into the night, telling stories, laughing and joking softly to not disturb the beautiful blonde. Finally, Giles looked at his watch. “Good lord! It’s six in the morning! We need to get you a place to stay and rest up.”

He shook Buffy awake gently. “Wake up, dearest.”

She moaned and slipped her arms around his neck. “I have a better idea, Giles. Why don’t you come to bed? I’m sure we can find something interesting to do.” She stretched like a leopard on his lap.

The other men gulped visibly at her lithe form undulating on Giles’ lap. James moved a couch pillow to his stomach to disguise his arousal.

“Buffy, love. If you wake up, we can go have breakfast,” Rupert tempted her.

She opened her eyes. “Well, OK. Why didn’t you just say so?” She stood up and stretched popping the vertebrae in her back. All five of the men noticed that her camisole top rode up to expose her navel when she raised her arms. She looked out the window. “Sun’s up. It’s safe to go out now.”

She went upstairs and changed her clothes. Switching from shorts to jeans, and changing the camisole for a crop top. She found a pair of sandals and put them on thinking again of the demon that dissolved her shoes.

They went to a family diner that served breakfast. Once again, the four visitors wanted to turn their noses up at the homespun simplicity of the food, but Buffy and Giles’ obvious enjoyment was hard to resist. They had barely started eating when Willow and Oz walked in and saw them. They waved the two over and the Englishmen moved to make room for the lovely girl and her odd-looking companion.

Terry loved redheads and hit on Willow within thirty seconds of meeting her. She just looked at him, rolled her eyes at his line of bullshit and laughed rather heartlessly. “Thanks so much, but Oz and I are an item.”

Terry looked again at the strange boy with his multi-colored hair and dismissed him as a challenge. “I could show you a very nice time, love. How would you like to see England? Or Spain and France?”

“I think that would be pretty neat, but it would have to be with the right guy.” Dismissing him with her glance, she looked at Buffy for some help.

“Guess who I got a letter from yesterday?” Willow asked Buffy.

“Who?”

“Wesley!”

“Wesley!” Buffy echoed.

“Wesley.” Giles repeated with much less enthusiasm. “What’s that pillock up to these days?”

“He’s in LA working with Angel and Cordelia, if you can believe it. They have a detective agency. He says if I want a summer job to come on down.”

“A little late in the year for that, surely,” Giles commented acidly. “Doesn’t college start next month?”

“Yes. I’m debating whether I should go to UC Sunnydale or take up one of the out-of-town offers I’ve received,” she sighed. “I’d really like to go to MIT, but that’s so far away.”

“You should do it, babe,” Oz told her. “I could go with you.”

“What about the Dingoes?”

“I can find a new band, no big.” He looked significantly to Giles. “Full moon tonight.”

“Ah. Quite right. Do you, er, have everything you need?” Rupert asked trying to be cryptic around his guests.

“Should be OK,” the boy said laconically.

“You’re in a band, then, Oz?” asked Gary quietly.

“Yeah. Started in high school. Graduated a year late so I could be with my Willow.” He put his hand on hers.

“Are you going to college, Buffy?” Terry asked her.

“Mom and Giles want me to. I don’t have a lot of interest in it though,” she said with a frown.

“What do you want to be?” he asked.

“Be?” Buffy said with a wry look he couldn’t interpret. “I guess I wouldn’t mind teaching self-defense, martial arts, that sort of thing.”

Terry looked surprised. “Are you interested in that?”

“It’s a good skill to have.” Buffy countered. “About the only other thing I know how to do is ice-skate.”

“Buffy was in line to go to the Olympics,” Willow said happily.

“What happened?” Terry asked smoothly.

Buffy looked at him. “Oh, same old, same old. I met a guy who led me astray.”

Giles choked on her description of Merrick. “John Merrick would turn you over his knee to hear you talk like that, young lady.”

She smiled at Giles. “I loved him a lot, Rupert, but there’s no saying he didn’t totally change my life.”

“You knew this Merrick, Rupert?” Patrick said casually.

“Oh, yes. Knew him back in England. He was a good deal older than me, but was a real terror,” Giles smiled sadly.

“Where is he now, then?” Terry wanted to know. “Is he pining away waiting for Buffy to come back to him?” He was secretly pleased to learn she had a thing for older men. It meant he wasn’t totally out of the running.

“He died,” Buffy said quietly. “We were out walking one night, back in LA. We were attacked and he was stabbed to death protecting me. His death was basically why I learned martial arts. He was a good man. I miss him.”

After that conversation stopper, they settled down to breakfast quietly taking turns eyeing the small girl and wondering what her story really was. Giles fussed when Buffy didn’t eat very much of her breakfast. He all but cut up her food and fed it to her bite by bite. It gave Terry chills to see a grown man behaving like a nursemaid.

When everybody had finished eating, Giles gave them directions to the condo he thought they might rent for the time they were going to be in town. They looked it over. Terry sighed. “I suppose it will have to do. It will be like camping.” He looked disgusted at having to live in such a middle class house.

Buffy wanted to roll her eyes and to tell him to get over himself. James must have caught a hint of her mood because he stepped up. “I, I, I’m sure this will be fine.” Buffy looked surprised at his stammering. It was the first remotely attractive thing she had found out about any of these guys. Of course, she probably only found it endearing because it reminded her of Giles.

They made arrangements with the landlord to use the condo for an unspecified length of time. They were paying enough that he let them have it without a lease at their convenience. They ordered furniture and beds and had them delivered within the hour. Even Terry was yawning. “I’m afraid I need a bit of a lie down,” he told Buffy with a wicked smile. “Care to join me?”

She did roll her eyes at that. “Sorry, I have all the man I can handle right now.”

Terry slithered over closer to her. He made her flesh creep. “Rupert isn’t nearly man enough for a beauty like you, love. I could make your body writhe in ecstasy.”

Buffy regarded him, hands on her hips. “Look, I’ll spell this out for you so there won’t be any mistakes. I love Giles. He’s my life. You’re just passing through and getting on my nerves at that, so if I were you, I wouldn’t push it. Now, are we clear here?”

He got a sneery, sort of surprised look on his face. “Well, I’m sorry, certainly. I thought you might be the type of girl who wanted fulfilling sex. But if you’re willing to settle for that doddering bookworm, then that’s your loss.”

Buffy looked at him and wanted to slap his stupid sly-looking face, but suddenly laughed instead. “Rupert’s more of a man than you can ever even imagine.” She walked away snickering.

Giles watched her rebuff his cousin’s friend with deep enjoyment. He had never liked Terry and had always felt that he had led James down a path his cousin might never have taken if they hadn’t been friends.

James came over and shook Rupert’s hand. “Good to see you again, Rupert. We’ll stop over this evening after we’ve had a bit of a rest.”

“I’ll be at the shop until five tonight,” Giles told him. “Buffy and I work there together most days.”

“Good lord, man. You have enough money to buy out this horrible little town. Why do you persist in slaving away in a shop of all things?” James wondered.

Giles smiled. “I need something to occupy my time, James. Besides, it’s quite interesting.”

“But there is a world of fun and excitement out there. You could travel the world; buy anything you took a fancy to, have any woman you wanted. I don’t understand.”

“I have the only woman I want. I’m where I need to be, doing something that interests me. I’m happy and I need to be here for Buffy.”

“Well, for God’s s, s, sake man, take her with you!” James stuttered.

“Buffy needs to be here, James. Maybe someday we’ll be free to travel, but for now, Sunnydale is our home.”

James lowered his voice. “There’s something odd about that girl, Rupert. Something I can’t quite put my finger on. She reminds me of our grandmother and for the life of me, I can’t think why.”

“James, I swear, you can be as thick as a log. Don’t worry about Buffy and I. We are fine together. Oh, and incidentally, don’t go out after dark unless Buffy or I are with you, all right?”

James snapped his fingers. “That’s it. That after dark business. It reminds me of all those boring stories Grandmother used to tell about—what was it called? The Lookers and the Killer? Something like that.”

Giles gave him a look that should have frozen the older man in his tracks. “For pity’s sake, James. It’s Watchers and Slayers. I’d think you heard the stories enough when we were children that you wouldn’t forget something that basic.”

“Well, it’s not like I was all that interested, Rupert. What a stupid, bloody idea, anyway. One girl in all the world to defend it from monsters,” he snorted. “Next thing you’ll be telling me is that your charming little bird is the Slayer.”

Giles said nothing but gave his cousin a very speaking glance.

“What! I don’t believe it. You actually believe that load of swill?” James said astonished to read the truth in Giles’ glance.

“Of course I believe it, James. I’m a Watcher, trained since I was ten years old for one purpose—to train and protect that little girl over there.”

“That child couldn’t hurt me, Rupert, much less a creature of darkness like our Gran told us about.”

“James, she could kill all of us in this room before you could scream.” Giles said in some satisfaction.

“Bloody hell. Prove it,” James said challengingly.

“When your friends aren’t around. It wouldn’t do for them to know. Just keep them indoors after dark and Buffy and I will show you a few of the attractions of Sunnydale.”

“You’re on,” James told him.

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