Title: Nature Always Wins
Author: Sweetdoggie (stirling_summer@yahoo.com)
Pairing: B/G
Rating: FRT
Summary: Weird dreams bring on better things
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.

Running through the woods, the scent of the earth rising up to meet her nose, her paws digging into the springy turf, gripping then releasing and propelling her body forward. The smell of prey, the lingering odor of terror as it ran from her, was like ambrosia. She darted forward and flanked her victim, letting go with a howl of joy as she leapt upon it. A leap, a flash, a dart and then hot blood pouring into her mouth, staining her muzzle. The delicious flavor made her snake out her tongue and clean the dripping fluid from her chops. With a growl, she tore a chunk of flesh from her prey and swallowed it down, rejoicing in her prowess as a huntress. Her ears perked forward at an almost unheard sound. She raised her muzzle and laughed in the way of beasts. It was he, the male that would be her mate if he could catch her. He was older than her, Alpha male, the leader of the pack. He smelled the victory of her chase and slipped quietly into the clearing, circling her and the carcass she guarded. The large male watched while she ate her fill before moving in and nudging her away to indulge himself in a meal of the still warm flesh. She allowed it and when he had done with eating, she began to play with him, putting her paws and head down and pretending to lunge before jumping back out of his reach.

He recognized her playfulness and returned it, pretending to nip at her as he circled and jumped. They ran and played in the forest, he making overtures toward mating, she backing playfully away. Finally, he tired of the sport and bounded towards her, catching her neck in his deadly, but somehow tender jaws. She tried to pull away but he bit down slightly while growling and she settled, allowing his attentions. Before she could move again, he had mounted her, following the imperative of their kind to breed and produce young. When it was over, he released her neck and licked gently at the spot, nuzzling her affectionately. She returned his attentions with a lick to his muzzle. Wolves mated for life: this was their nature and how things should be.

~*~

Buffy woke up with sweat pouring off or her. She wasn’t terrified; it hadn’t been that sort of dream, but it had been intense. Her legs were trembling. This was the sixth time in as many days that she had dreamed this particular dream. Maybe it was time to talk to Giles.

~*~

Giles dragged himself downstairs and put the kettle on for a much-needed pot of tea. He scrubbed his hands over his face tiredly. He’d been having that damned dream for nearly a week. It seemed to get more intense with each repetition. The chase, the play, and the sex were all getting to him with the surprising effect of leaving him a very lonely man each morning. He just wished he could find a mate like that in his real life. He knew whom he wanted; the odds of her wanting him back, however, made that little more than a pleasant fantasy.

After puttering around in his kitchen for a few more minutes, he took his tea to the living room and sat on the sofa, brooding over the dream and his forlorn hope of love returned. The knock on his door startled him. A second later, Buffy opened the door and poked her head inside. Seeing him on the couch, she spoke.

“Giles? Can, can I talk to you? If you aren’t busy or anything?” Her voice sounded hesitant.

“Of course you can talk to me, Buffy. I’m here for you.” He made a show of patting the couch next to him.

She smiled and entered his home, slipping onto the couch softly.

When she didn’t start speaking, he leaned forward. “What’s the matter, Buffy?”

“Well, you’re going to think I’m nuts or something…”

“I can assure you that I won’t,” he smiled down at her.

“Ok, but this is really weird.” She paused and unconsciously wrung her hands. “For the past week, I’ve been having the weirdest dreams… I’m a wolf, running in the forest. Everything feels so good as if that’s just how it’s supposed to be. I find a deer and chase it and bring it down. I rip its throat out and drink its blood and that feels good too. Then, just as I’m getting ready to chow down, I hear something. Looking up, I see this older wolf enter my clearing. I know he’s powerful, an Alpha. I know he wants to be my mate.” She paused, unsure how to explain the next part. It turned out that she didn’t have to because her Watcher spoke.

“He lets you eat your fill of the kill then pushes you aside to eat himself. After they finish the deer, they begin to play in the woods, running and chasing each other. He lets you know that he wants you for his mate, but you are still skittish. Finally, he simply takes charge and, and mounts you, biting your neck when you try to move away. When it’s over, you two are mated and you know that wolves mate for life.”

She looked at him in surprise. “How did you know?”

“I’ve been having the same bloody dream for nearly a week, only from the male perspective.”

They sat in silence for almost ten minutes trying to figure out what had happened, what was happening between them.

“Uh, is this a Slayer/Watcher thing that you haven’t told me about?”

“Believe me, if I’d heard of something like this, I would have told you.”

“Well, are we going to turn into werewolves then? I really, really don’t want to do that.”

“Nor I.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Frankly, I’m unsure as to the proper interpretation to put on it.”

“I suppose we need to research then.”

He pulled off his glasses and bit the ear piece as he thought. “I suppose we could research shared dreams…” he said doubtfully.

“I know this is going to sound, um, kinda weird and everything, but, um, do you think it meant anything that the wolves were mated?”

“I suspect it does mean something, but as to what that might be…” he shrugged. “If you don’t mind my asking, when you woke in the mornings, how did you feel?”

She pursed her mouth as she tried to think of the right word. “Bereft. Like something very precious was just out of my reach. It felt so right in the dream, that they, we, were mates.”

He nodded. “Yes, that’s exactly how I felt. As if something I had waited my entire life for had finally happened and then to wake up and find out that it was merely a dream…”

She leaned against him slightly, seeking his remembered warmth from the dream. “D, do you think that we should be together…that way?”

He froze beside her. “Is that what you think?”

“I dunno. That’s why I’m asking.”

“I don’t know either. W, would you be willing to try an experiment?”

“Like what?”

“Perhaps if we were to exchange a, a kiss, it might give us a better indication of, of where we need to go with this.”

“OK.”

She sat up slightly and faced him with the courage of a Slayer. He met her eyes and reached out with one hand to brush a strand of hair back from her face. Brushing her cheek gently with his fingers, he let his hand slip around behind her head to cradle her while he leaned forward and tenderly let his lips meet hers.

The first touch was tentative, he tasted her, letting her become accustomed to him. Buffy thought his lips felt like the softest velvet. She couldn’t help herself and gave in to the need to run her tongue along them. He opened his mouth to her and she tasted him completely. It was addictive. Pushing him back against the sofa, she laid her body against his while their mouths continued to explore.

Giles let his tongue duel with hers for a few moments before he began exploring her mouth. He felt her teeth and the arch of her palate and licked at her gently. His hands found their way under her shirt and stroked the bare skin of her back while he adjusted her small body on top of him. Soon enough, the kissing and stroking was no longer enough.

He gripped her to him and rolled slightly onto his side, tucking her under his much larger frame. Somehow, his shirt had come open and her slender hands were stroking his bare chest. As her fingers caressed his nipples, he growled and thrust his hips against her.

It was her responsive moan that caused a glimmer of sanity to creep into his brain. He broke the kiss and rested his face in the hollow between her neck and shoulder while he waited for his heart rate to approach something under a gallop. Eventually, he was able to sit up. He stared down at Buffy with something very close to dismay written on his features.

Buffy sat up and ran a trembling hand through her hair. “I wasn’t expecting that!”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened. It just felt so right…”

She waved her hand at him. “No apologies needed, Giles. It did feel right. In fact, it felt fated, perfect. As good as it felt in the dream.”

He nodded. “I agree.”

“Do you think this means we are true mates?”

“I have a strong suspicion that it might.”

“What are we going to do?”

“What do you want to do?”

“You can’t make this my decision, Giles. This involves both of us.”

“Perhaps I should rephrase. How does this make you feel?”

“Scared. Trembly. Wanting more.”

“Are you scared of me? Of what I might do?”

“No. That isn’t it. It’s just, this is a big life-step. I’m not even nineteen. I know Slayers don’t live normal lengths of time, but any way you cut it, that’s pretty young to settle down. Also, well…”

“Go on,” he urged when she hesitated.

“You’ve had lots of lovers and lots of experience. I’ve had one lover, fifteen minutes of experience, and two years of regrets. What if I can’t please you? Angel said, Angelus said I was no good…”

“Buffy, the fact that he tried to hurt you that way simply proves how deeply Angel was affected by you. He lost his soul for his love of you, dear. He achieved perfect happiness… how many beings can say that and really know it to be true?”

Buffy just shrugged and looked down at her hands. Giles put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his chest, holding her and giving her what comfort he could. “It will be all right, love. I promise you, it will be all right.”

She exhaled and her breath puffed against him feeling warm and moist against his bare skin. He felt a surge of desire sweep through him and had to fight it off. Now was not the time. He cast his mind about for a diversion.

“Ah, Buffy?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t have that much experience, you know. I’ve had six lovers in twenty-five years. That’s not exactly a world record.”

“Really? Only six? I thought Ripper was, well, more uninhibited than that.”

“Well, yes and no. He was less about sex than about power, you see. I was addicted to magic, the rush, the wild thrill of it: sex was nice, but compared to the power of magic, it seemed tame.”

“Oh. Are you and Olivia an item?”

“We are friends of long standing and we care about each other… This has, on occasion, translated into being lovers.”

“Oh. I didn’t mean to pry, but she’s the only one of your girlfriends I’ve ever met—unless I count Jenny. Should I count her?”

“No, we were never lovers. I think, that night, we would have been, had she not been murdered.”

“Oh, Giles…I’m so terribly sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t know he would become a monster.”

“I could have killed him sooner.”

“At the cost of your sanity, perhaps, even your soul.”

“I should have made that choice.”

“I don’t hold it against you, love. I understood, even then. You loved him.”

“I did. I was stupid.”

“The heart goes where the heart goes, Buffy.”

“Giles?” She tipped her head up to look him in the face.

“Yes?”

“Do you think it would be OK if my heart wanted to go to you now?”

“I think it would be fine, dear. Very fine indeed.” He stroked her hair gently. “Would you mind terribly if my heart went to you?”

“I think that would be perfect, Rupert.”

END