Title: Castaway
Author: Sweetdoggie (stirling_summer@yahoo.com)
Pairing: B/G
Rating: FRAO
Summary: Buffy falls through Glory's portal and doesn't die.
Spoilers: None
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.
“Would you mind if I had a quick shower?” Giles asked her tenderly.
“No, go ahead.” While she waited for him, her hands played with the contents of her dresser top. She looked at trinkets she hadn’t seen in over five years and marveled that her younger self had bothered to keep them. Her clothing seemed a little juvenile for a twenty-five year old so she made plans to buy some more as soon as she could stand to be around people again.
Giles came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and nothing else. She let her eyes roam his body appreciatively.
“Very nice,” she told him with a smile.
“I want to sleep with you in my arms tonight,” he told her softly.
“And every night from now on,” she added.
“For tonight, just sleep. I don’t want to push you into a decision that could be based on your gratitude in being back.”
“Whatever. Come to bed. Which side do you want?”
“Can I have the left? It’s more convenient for me.”
“I don’t mind.”
He released the towel and hung it over the back of a chair. She pretended not to notice, but managed to catch a tantalizing glimpse out of the corner of her eye. Wow!
Giles wasn’t self-conscious about his nudity. He wanted to be unclothed with Buffy—had wanted it for a very long time. While he kept a close eye on her reactions, he didn’t let himself become flustered or embarrassed. He watched while she stepped out of her own clothing and did a very breathtaking stretch before climbing into the bed. He couldn’t help the erection that sprang to life as he viewed her, but it didn’t mean he was going to act on it. She needed time and he was determined to give it to her.
He joined her in the bed. It was only a double and not all that wide. He could feel the heat of her body against his own. Soon, he resolved, he would move her to his own king-size bed, but for now, this had definite possibilities. Rolling to face her, he propped his head up on his arm. “Are you doing all right?”
“I’m doing fine, I think. I don’t know how long before I can stand to be around people again though. Even just being with my friends…it’s scary.”
“I’d like to train with you tomorrow. Make sure your reflexes haven’t suffered. After all, it’s been five years for you.”
“OK. Good idea, in fact. Hey! Doesn’t this mean I’m one of the oldest Slayers on record?”
He looked struck. “Why, yes, it does mean that. How extraordinary.”
Buffy furrowed her brow. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but according to my math, one day in our world equals twenty in that other, right?”
He did some calculations in his head. “That is approximately correct.”
“Wow. I’ll bet my camp is already overrun with vegetation. All my skins have rotted. All the work that I put in to make that place habitable is just gone.”
“Does it matter? You are home now.”
“I guess not except it was my home for five years. It wasn’t the greatest and I don’t ever want to go back, but I was used to it.”
He nodded. “Very understandable. But look at it this way, it served its purpose and kept you sane till you got back to us. Really, I feel like the place should be made into a shrine.”
She chuckled and then looked at his face closely. “You’re serious!”
“I worship you, Buffy. You should be honored above all others for the sacrifices you have made, the deeds you have done.”
“Pooh, Giles. I’m just a young woman with a gift I didn’t want. Anybody would do the stuff I’ve done and lots of people would do it a lot smarter than I did.”
He shook his head slowly and smiled at her. “You underestimate your contribution, love. But that’s all right. As long as I am here, I shall appreciate you as you deserve.”
She leaned forward and cupped his face with her free hand. “Have I thanked you for taking care of my family for me while I was gone?”
“No need. They are my family too.”
“I love you, Giles.”
“I love you too, dearest.”
She snuggled closer to him and his arms slipped around her. It had been an emotional roller coaster for both of them all day long and in seconds, they had fallen asleep, each comforted by the presence of the other.
Xander decided he wanted to stay until morning so opted to sleep on the couch and Anya, grumbling, joined him. Willow moved upstairs to the bedroom Joyce had once used, and Dawn followed her, intending to go to her own room.
The younger girl looked at the witch. “Do you think they’re like, doing it?”
“I don’t hear anything…”
“Me either and Buffy was always noisy with Riley,” Dawn didn’t bother to hide a grimace.
“They’re probably just sleeping.”
“Yeah. That’s all.”
They shared a look that belied their conversation before heading off to separate bedrooms.
Dawn woke early and was unable to resist the temptation to look at her sister. She quietly opened Buffy’s door and just about fell over in shock. Giles, clearly naked, was entangled with her sister, also clearly naked. Both were deeply asleep, but it was still mind scarring, she thought.
“Therapy. Years of therapy,” Dawn muttered as she staggered back down the hall.
Willow peeked out her door as the younger Summers girl went past. “What’s up, Dawn?”
“Naked Giles…I saw naked Giles. Giles’ Butt! Oh my God! Him and Buffy, naked and sleeping in her bed. Eeeeuw! Eeeeuw! Eeeeuw!”
Willow perked up. “You got to see Giles’ Butt? How was it?”
“It was old and furry. Do you know how much hair he has on his legs? Geez, you could braid it. No wonder he never wears shorts.”
Willow looked concerned. “He didn’t have back hair did he?”
“No. I was spared that sight.”
“Whew! Leg fur is OK. It’s going to be Buffy’s problem to clean it out of the tub drains, after all, not ours. But back hair is gross.”
Dawn shuddered her agreement.
“Buffy was naked too.”
“Oh. So you think?”
“I am not going to speculate on this! I already need years of psychiatric counseling. I don’t want to up the ante.”
The commotion in the hallway woke Buffy. She opened her eyes to meet a pair of jade green orbs staring straight down at her.
“Good morning!” She leaned up and planted a kiss on his lips.
He smiled down at her, contentment written pure across his features. “Good morning, my love. Did you sleep well?”
“My first sleep in a bed in five years? You bet! It didn’t hurt that I could feel you with me all night. I never want to sleep without you again.”
“I think that could be arranged.”
“We have to live together. I can’t do this with you living in your apartment and me living here.”
“I shall move the rest of my things here immediately. I have already spent many nights here since you were gone; Dawn needed an adult with her.”
“Thank you for that.”
“We’ve been having a bit of a problem with Social Services. Dawn has been moody and withdrawn and those last few weeks of school after you disappeared were terrible for her. She could barely function. Her grades plummeted. I went to the school and told them that you had been hospitalized in LA and had the Council fake some records for you, but of course, Dawn knew the truth. She’s been in trouble several times over the summer.”
“Tell me about the Social Services thing first.”
“They think Dawn needs to be put into foster care, at least until you get well. They don’t particularly like the idea of an unrelated forty-year-old bachelor taking care of a young teen either.”
“Well, I’m back now, so that shouldn’t present much of a problem anymore. What else?”
“She’s been shoplifting, I’m afraid. I’ve made her return the merchandise and paid the shop owners for their trouble, but she is no longer welcome at the mall. She vandalized a couple of classrooms at the school as well. She’s been put into forced psychiatric counseling as a condition for remaining out of foster care. I’m afraid one more incident could put her over the edge.”
Buffy ran her hands through her hair. “Wow. Bad stuff.”
“Yes, very bad. What will you do?”
“Well, I dunno just off the top of my head. I guess I’ll need to talk to her and probably I should meet with her counselor?”
He nodded.
“After that, I’ll have to play it by ear. I just don’t have any experience for this sort of situation.”
“You have a good head on your shoulders and I’m here to help you. Not all decisions need to be made right now.”
She smiled her thanks. “Now, about this shoplifting thing…is she grounded?”
“Yes. Willow told me that was a standard practice for this sort of thing. I’ve also been making her do yard work to earn enough money to pay back some of the items that the stores wouldn’t accept back.”
“Good. We’ll stick with that right now. I’ve had some time to think while I was away. We all need to train more. Not just you and me, but all the Scoobies. I should never have let any of them patrol with me without more self-defense training. We can include Dawn in this too. Plus, I think she needs to be brought into the research aspects of things. We spend way too much time doing that to exclude her. It may keep her occupied enough to actually stay out of trouble.”
He looked very struck with her observations. “Very astute, Buffy. We should have tried that years ago.”
She shrugged. “Watchers are just mortal people. If you can learn to fight like you do, there’s no good reason why Will and Xand and eventually Dawn can’t too.”