Title: Protective Coloration 2/11
Author: Sweetdoggie (stirling_summer@yahoo.com)
Pairing: B/G
Rating: R
Summary: Buffy and Giles resolve some problems and Buffy gets a new chance at a normal life.
Spoilers: None: Willow didn’t bring Buffy back, the Powers did.
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.

Giles spent a long time thinking about what had happened on the couch. Consequently, he overslept and dashed off to his job as a Professor of Antiquities at UC Sunnydale without his lunch.

He didn’t realize his lack till eleven-thirty rolled around and he was starving. His stomach growled. He pulled out his wallet and groaned. He had five dollars. He’d meant to stop at the ATM, but had been too rushed this morning. Just as he resigned himself to going hungry he heard a familiar voice asking permission to enter his office.

“Buffy! What are you doing here?” He didn’t realize the secretary was watching their every move.

“You ran out of the house this morning without your lunch. I thought you might be getting a little peckish about now.” She held out a good-sized brown paper bag. “I brought enough to share if you’re in the mood.”

“My dear, I’m always in the mood when you’re around.” He joked. The secretary looked shocked. This girl was young enough to be his daughter and whatever relationship they shared, it certainly didn’t seem familial.

He got out from behind his desk and came towards her, drawing her into a deep kiss before closing his office door.

The secretary heard laughter and giggling from both of them and wondered exactly what was going on. She heard a rhythmic knocking shortly thereafter and was deeply shocked. She hadn’t thought Professor Giles was that sort of man!

Buffy had sat upon Giles desk while they ate lunch. He told her a couple of jokes he had heard and they had shared laughter. She had drummed her heel against the side of his desk as her leg swung back and forth till he told her to stop. They cleaned up the remains of their lunch and she got up to leave. He opened the door. “I’ll see you tonight, love.” He told her. “Don’t forget to dress up.”

She leaned up and kissed him quickly. “See you tonight, Giles.”

She nodded goodbye to the shocked secretary on her way out of the office.

Giles stood in his office doorway for a few minutes and watched her walk down the hall. He didn’t realize that his expression was doting. He sighed when she was out of sight and turned to the secretary. “Maria, could you get me the test questions from Professor James’s class last year?”

She blushed as she looked at him. He seemed so quiet and staid; she would never have suspected him of being the sort of man who would have sex on his lunch hour with a girl young enough to be his daughter. Wait till she got to take her own lunch. Boy, would she have a story to tell today! The Dean’s wife, Mrs. Jenks, was always going on about how poor Rupert needed to be with somebody and was deeply distressed by her inability to interest the man in any of her female acquaintances. It was a standing joke around the campus. Well, now she knew why he wasn’t interested! This blonde girl must be fifteen to twenty years younger than the women he was introduced to. No wonder all those potential relationships had fallen flat. Professor Giles wasn’t going to settle for meatloaf when he had filet mignon waiting for him at home.

“Your, uh, friend seems like a very nice person.” Maria commented. “Have you known her long?”

He gazed down at her absently. “Buffy and I have been together for seven years.”

Maria hid her surprise. Maybe this Buffy character was older than she looked. Sometimes it was hard to tell. How could se elicit this information from him? She settled for, “She looks good for her age.”

“Well, I hardly think twenty-two is over the hill, do you?” He asked somewhat sarcastically as he went back to his office.

‘Twenty-two! My God!’ The secretary did her math. That meant the girl had been only sixteen when she had gotten together with Professor Giles. He was a cradle robber! She considered a moment. Still, if they had been together that long, there must be something there. She had never seen him look so happy as when he was gazing at the tiny blonde. She knocked on his door before sticking her head in. “I’m going to lunch now, sir. I’ll be back in an hour.”

“Fine.” He told her without looking up from the book he was reading.

She raced down the stairs to the staff lounge and found a couple of other secretaries to share her story with. They passed it on to another couple and then to another. By the time lunch hour was over, half the campus knew about his tryst and the story had lost nothing in the retelling. Word came to the ear of Mrs. Jenks within an hour. She was outraged. If the man had already been dating, he should have said something. She didn’t like to think of all the potential candidates she had wasted upon him. Maybe the rumors of a romance she had heard were wrong, she thought. Such things happened all the time. She would see for herself.

At three o’clock she marched over to his office only to be told that he was teaching a class. She waited impatiently but by the time four-fifteen had rolled around, she resigned herself to the idea that he wasn’t coming back. “Tell me what you saw of this so-called girl-friend.” She demanded of Maria.

The secretary told all that had gone on and described Buffy right down to her clothing. “She sounds beautiful.” Mrs. Jenks said thoughtfully.

“She was.” Maria told her. “A real knockout!”

Mrs. Jenks nodded. “Tell Professor Giles that I’d like him to call me tomorrow.” She swept out of the room.

Giles got home just after five and went to take a quick shower. He ran an experienced hand over his chin and decided that he needed to shave again. As soon as he was finished with that tedious chore, he dressed in a pair of gray dress pants and a white button down shirt. He got out his favorite suit coat and a red necktie that he had always liked. After combing his hair carefully, he pursed his lips and pulled open his dresser drawer. After a moment of fishing around, he pulled out a small jewelry box and pulled out a tiny gold hoop earring that he popped into his left ear. He smiled knowing Buffy would like the result.

At ten after six, he heard her knock on his door. “I’m all dressed up, Giles. Where are we going?”

He opened the door and looked down. “There’s a tiny café near campus. One of the other professors was telling me it’s the place to go if you wish to be seen socially.” He smirked at her groan. “I also understand the food is excellent.”

“Well, OK. You twisted my arm.” She grinned. She turned and knocked on her sister’s door. “Dawn we’re leaving. Don’t invite anybody in. We’ll be back in a couple of hours. I expect to see finished homework when I get back!”

“Geez, what a slave driver you are.” Dawn complained with a grin as she opened the door. “Don’t try to tell me that you were a good student when you were my age either, cause I found a box of your old report cards. The only thing you ever got an A in was Library Use.”

Buffy returned her grin. “Yeah, and it got me a boyfriend of my very own!” She turned to a smirking Giles. “You know, I wish we could have made out a little in the Library. Everybody thought we were anyhow.”

He looked stunned. “What! Everybody thought we were doing what?”

She turned around and gave him a look. Butter wouldn’t have melted in her mouth, thought Dawn. “Everybody thought we were in the library catching smoochies. I thought you knew.”

“But, but how, why?” He raised his hands helplessly. “You bloody awful Americans!” He finally ground out.

“Ooooo.” Buffy cooed. “Well that’s putting me in my place!” She went down the hall laughing.

Dawn watched them go rolling her eyes the entire time. Buffy and her men folk. At least Giles was intelligent. Sometimes, when Buffy had been seeing Angel she had wondered if he were bright enough to tie his own shoes. Dawn had often thought that Angelus was much smarter than Angel—of course, there was that whole evil undead thing going on, but still. She chuckled and headed back to her bedroom where her math homework was crying out to be finished.

Buffy was always impressed with Giles’ old-fashioned manners. He opened her car door, held doors of buildings open for her, took her arm when she walked, and generally made himself useful and attentive. She killed things for a living and he made her feel all girly and tiny. She liked it a lot. You didn’t have to be a psychologist to know that was why her preferred type of boyfriend was easily a foot taller than her as a rule. She liked the illusion that her man could protect her. In Giles case, she mused, it happened to actually be true.

The drive to the café was full of jokes and laughter. She commented upon his earring and told him he looked hot. He chuckled. “Not as hot as you, my dear girl. I swear, seeing you in that dress probably took ten years off my life. I nearly swallowed my tongue.”

She grinned. “Thanks, it’s nice to be appreciated.”

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye as he was still trying to drive. “Buffy, you are a beautiful young woman. You were a gorgeous teenager, and I have no doubt that you were a knockout as a child. When have you ever not been appreciated?”

“Well, it’s not like I was hideous or anything, but looks are very surfacey things. I mean, I could have been injured in a disfiguring way at any time during the last seven years of fighting the good fight. Slayers heal, but still…what if a demon had knocked all my teeth out or something? Eeeeuw!”

“You’d have still been beautiful even if you had to gum your food.” He said gallantly, fighting hard not to laugh. “Besides, you would have probably grown new teeth.”

“Get out! Really?” She asked him.

“Out of all the super abilities you have, that one surprises you?” He asked her, slightly astonished.

“Well, yeah,” she said. “Generally, you get two sets of teeth, baby and adult. I’ve never heard of anybody getting more.”

“I dare say it’s a survival mechanism.” He told her. “A Slayer needs to eat to keep her strength up. If her teeth were bad, she wouldn’t be able to do that. Hence, extra teeth when necessary.”

“Huh,” was her comment.

The restaurant was busy even for a weekday night. Faculty came here to eat because the food was good and the atmosphere congenial. Students came because it was plentiful and cheap. As soon as they walked in the door, Giles spotted several faculty members he knew. The volume level dropped several decibels as he and Buffy entered the room then rose again as the gossip engine cranked into high. They took a seat at the bar and Giles ordered himself a Scotch and Buffy a glass of white wine. Nursing the glass along carefully, she took a sip about every ten minutes wanting to give the alcohol time to metabolize in her system. A drunken Slayer wasn’t an attractive thing, she mused.

At last, their table was called. Giles helped her up and she noticed that she had better slow down even more on the wine consumption if she were going to last the evening. They had placed their orders and were settling down to some dinner conversation when a large, bald man approached their table. He was carrying a glass of booze with ice in it. Buffy couldn’t tell what kind.

“So, Rupert. This is the little friend I’ve heard about, eh? You old dog!” The man nudged the Watcher and gave him a sly look.

Giles’ glance would have frozen water at ten paces but the inebriated co-worker didn’t notice. He didn’t want to introduce this boor to his darling Buffy but he didn’t see any way out of it. “Buffy this is Professor Calloway. He teaches mathematics.”

Buffy looked unimpressed. “How do you do?” She finally acknowledged.

“Where has our Rupert been keeping you, sweet pea?” The man wanted to know.

Buffy’s foot ached to stomp a little professorial butt, but she refrained out of respect for her escort. Smiling sweetly up at the drunken teacher, she replied; “What does it matter where he keeps me, as long as he keeps me satisfied?”

She watched him nearly choke on his drink at her words.

“And how does he do that?” Calloway wanted to know.

Buffy took another sip of her drink before answering. “Amply and with great attention to detail.” She finally responded.

Giles decided that she was getting rather too well lit to be responsible for her words and calmly but firmly told the mathematics professor that they wanted to be alone, if he didn’t mind. The tiresome old bore took himself off, replete with gossip to spread.

Her Watcher regarded her with amusement. “Amply and with great attention to detail?”

“Well, I had to speculate a little.” She admitted. “Are you saying it’s not true?” She asked, stirred to curiosity by the wine and by feelings that she was beginning to recognize as sexual hunger for this man.

He put his hand out and stroked hers softly. “I didn’t say that.”

They gazed deeply into each other’s eyes, each searching for something that they easily found. The waitress brought their food and they were forced to break contact. Giles ate his dinner thoughtfully. He was definitely building some sort of sexual rapport with his Slayer. The kisses last night, her greeting at lunch, the innuendos she had planted in the mind of the math professor…it all added up if you looked at it in a certain light. The trouble was, how much of her affection for him was feigned for the purpose of throwing off the Dean’s wife and how much was real? It felt real, he admitted, but he didn’t want to make a pass at her and be rebuffed with her saying he totally misinterpreted the situation. Did he even want a romantic liaison with this girl? Yes, he admitted, he very much would like that.

Buffy was glad he was quiet. It gave her a chance to think things over. She was definitely feeling attracted to Giles of all people. Those kisses the other night had been hot and she admitted how much she liked the feel of his large hands on her body. Could she, after all these years, be having a thing for her Watcher? She was stunned to realize that it wasn’t a sudden thing at all. She had been having feelings for him for years when she thought about it. The problem was, how did he see her? Was she just the means to get the Dean’s wife off his back? She didn’t want to make a pass and have it be rebuffed because she misinterpreted the situation. There was only one thing for it, she mentally groaned. They were going to have to talk.

They looked up at the same time and met each other’s eyes. Both smiled, hands automatically stretching across the table to touch each other. “I’ve been thinking…” began Buffy.

“I as well.” Rupert acknowledged. “You go first.”

“Well, it occurs to me that what we have is more than what we talked about the other night,” she said, mindful of eavesdroppers. “That is, I think it could be much more than that, and if you feel the same, I’d like to try it for real.”

He was amazed. “That’s exactly what I was thinking! I’d very much like to try this for real.”

“Cool. Then I guess we’re going steady.” She smiled at him.

“Very steady.” He acknowledged with a happy grin. He pulled her hand up to his mouth and kissed her fingers before smoothing them over his cheek.

His caress started a tingle that went from her hand directly to her groin. Buffy nearly moaned at the sensual pleasure he wrought with his simple touch. They finished dinner in a much better frame of mind than when they had started it. For the rest of the evening, assorted faculty members casually strolled along past their table and just happened to notice them. Each “accidental” meeting required an introduction. By the time they had finished their dinner, Buffy felt like she had met half the staff at the college.

Just as they were getting ready to leave, a teacher came up and was introduced as Dr. Williams. Buffy nodded to acknowledge the man but was frankly getting tired of all the extra company. “So this is your young lady,” he began conversationally. “Why haven’t we heard about her before?”

Giles was sick of it too. These people were so incredibly nosy! They wanted a story and he was feeling pushed enough to give them one. “I’ve had a relationship with Buffy since she was sixteen. Do you really think we wanted to advertise that?” He told the other man coolly.

Dr. Williams mouth gaped open and he reminded Buffy of a fish out of water. “Sixteen?” He gasped. “How on earth did you get the jump on everyone that early, Rupert?”

“I was a librarian at Buffy’s high school.” He said shortly.

Buffy had mercy on him. “I walked into the library my first day of school in Sunnydale and there he was, my destiny. It didn’t take me long to fall totally in love,” she said truthfully.

Giles heard the truth in her voice. “Angel?” He asked, totally ignoring the presence of the other teacher.

“A last ditch effort to avoid my fate.”

“Riley?”

She waved her hand. “The expected thing, plus being total rebound guy. Jenny?”

“A very sweet young woman, but I was settling,” he admitted.

“Olivia?” Buffy frowned. She apparently still had burning Olivia issues.

“An old friend.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Nothing important.”

“Ethan?” Buffy guessed.

“Not like that, at least on my part.” Giles admitted. “Just a friendship that took a wrong turn.”

Buffy felt relieved. In a very few words they had managed to explain to each other an entire handful of bad, failed relationships. They were starting fresh. It was going to be fine.

Still ignoring the teacher who stood by, trying to make sense out of their conversation, they paid the bill and left. He took her home and they sat on the sofa side by side, both eager, but feeling very awkward.

Finally, he put his arm around her. She turned to him and slipped her arm around his waist from the front, pressing her firm breasts against his upper body. They fell into a kiss that was definitely leading to other things when Dawn came downstairs. “Oh, Gods! Are you guys at it again? Am I going to have to break out the fire hose or what?”

They pulled reluctantly apart. “I think you’re just going to have to get used to it, Dawn,” Buffy grinned. “Giles and I are going to be together.”

“Reeeechk!” Dawn made a gagging sound. “I don’t see how either of you guys could even be interested in sex. I mean you’re both like totally old!”

Buffy looked indignant. “I got news, kiddo. Twenty-two isn’t really over the hill—and for that matter, neither is forty-two.”

Dawn looked repulsed. “I so don’t want to know about that.”

Buffy stood up and stretched. “Don’t you have homework that I’m supposed to be looking over?”

Dawn rolled her eyes, shrugged and fetched the homework. Buffy spent ten minutes looking over the problems and questions. It was mostly for show because Dawn was much more academically inclined than she was. She mainly checked to see that everything was done with the occasional foray into essay reading. Luckily, Dawn usually knew what she was doing, so Buffy didn’t have to try to manufacture answers for her.

Giles stood and slipped his arm around Buffy’s shoulders. “Remember when I used to do this for you?” He asked quietly.

“Yes, and I deeply appreciated the help,” Buffy said. “Of course, you actually provided help and not just monitoring, so I got the better deal, but the point is the same. Both Summers’ girls got help from people who loved them.”

He smiled down at her. “Yes. That is the point. You’re getting much better at self-perception than you used to be.”

“Even Slayers sometimes get to grow up.” She told him with a smile.

He kissed her ear and Dawn quietly slipped back upstairs. She really wasn’t all that disgusted with her sister and Giles. They were two very lonely people who had finally found each other. That was good, she thought. Of course, it was going to take nerves of steel not to woof when she walked in on kissage. Still, for her sister and the Watcher, maybe she would make the effort.

Giles left Buffy rather reluctantly at her bedroom door. He knew that it was too soon for them to move on to a physical relationship, neither of them were ready for that, but still, he was a man and had been reminded of that fact almost continuously all evening.

That night they both slept like logs. It was a nice change from waking and worrying about the Hellmouth, or work, or Dawn or any of the thousand other things that raced into their lives long enough to cause trouble. Giles managed to get up on time and pack his lunch, while Buffy made sure that Dawn had a decent breakfast before driving her to school. She headed to the gym where she taught basic self-defense to frightened women and then moved on to aerobics training. In the afternoon she walked to the high school and taught another self-defense course. She would have liked to teach monster slaying, but, of course, that was out of the question. Her job wasn’t all that fantastic, but the pay was adequate when you factored in Giles paying for almost everything in their household. She was able to buy clothes for herself and her sister with occasional luxuries like new boots thrown in for fun.

It had bothered her at first that she had to depend on Giles’ largess to finance her life, but he had explained that was why Watchers received large salaries in the first place. “I should have been supporting you all these years. It’s money you earned, love. You fight to keep the world safe—I hardly think the pittance I spend on you is going to spoil you. Besides, if the Council weren’t quite so antiquated, the Slayer would have a salary, not because this is a job, but because the life you live more or less precludes anything but subsistence employment.”

So Buffy had let him move in and begin paying for stuff. She tried to repay him by being a better Slayer and was more diligent in her patrols and training. She also took a great deal better care of him than she had previously. She wouldn’t let him stay up for days at a time researching things anymore. When they had an emergency, all of them researched, including Dawn. It didn’t get shoved solely into his lap quite as often. Giles had seemed to appreciate it, but he was worried that he wasn’t important to her. If he wasn’t providing information, and he didn’t patrol or really train her any longer, what good was he?

She had put a stop to his worries by telling him that being a Watcher was more than being a pocket book for her to dip into, or being her punching bag, or her encyclopedia of bad things; he was her partner, her helpmeet, and her very best friend in all the world, and he’d damn well better not ever forget again or she’d kick his butt. He had laughed and they had grown a great deal closer in the past two years.

The battle with Glory and Buffy’s temporary second death had put a tremendous strain on them, but the Powers had opened a portal and sent her back saying it was not yet her time. Buffy had confided to Giles that she often felt like the Energizer Bunny—she just kept going and going. “Not that that’s a bad thing,” she told him with a grin. “Being dead and all, well, kind of a drag.”

He had pulled her into his arms and simply held her. His life without her had been miserable and dreary and he could foresee nothing but more of the same without her. Her return had signaled a new level of closeness between them that seemed to be culminating in this next step of a romance. It was fine with him, if that was what she wanted, but he didn’t think he could bear it when she finally tired of him and moved on. He knew that when that day dawned, it would be his last.

The drive to the campus didn’t take very long. He walked whistling into his office to be met with the message from the Dean’s wife to call her. He groaned. “Did she say what she wanted?” He asked the secretary.

“No, sir. Just for you to call her.” Maria didn’t volunteer any more information.

He entered his office and put his briefcase down on the floor. He fiddled with the papers on his desk, sharpened four pencils and untangled the cord on his phone. When he couldn’t put it off any longer he dialed the harpy’s number.

“Rupert Giles here. Mrs. Jenks. My secretary informs me that you wished to speak to me?” He looked out the window wishing he were almost anywhere else.

“Yes, I do want to speak with you, Rupert. I’m having a small dinner party this Friday and I’d like to invite you and a guest to come. Do say you’ll be there.” She said, steel in her voice.

“What time?” He asked, resigned.

“We’ll have drinks and canapés at seven and dine at eight.”

“Fine.” He sighed. Buffy wasn’t going to be happy, but he knew she would cooperate.

He got off the phone and looked at his watch. Buffy wouldn’t be home from work yet for several hours. He wondered if she’d let him patrol with her tonight. Maybe he could kill something evil and pretend it was Mrs. Jenks.

He got home at his usual time and felt tired. He decided a short nap before dinner might be appropriate. He lay down on the couch and within seconds was fast asleep. When Buffy came in she saw him sleeping like a baby. He was so cute. All his troubles were smoothed away when he slept. He looked about twenty. She went into the kitchen and popped a frozen pan of homemade lasagna into the oven. She pulled a loaf of crusty French bread out of the breadbox and sliced enough to make garlic toast for all three of them. Next, she chopped up an assortment of fresh vegetables for a salad, which she put back in the refrigerator till the lasagna was cooked. She glanced up as her sister let herself in the back door.

She watched Dawn pour herself a glass of juice. “I got home a while ago,” the younger girl offered, “but Giles was asleep on the couch and I didn’t want to wake him.”

“Thanks.” Buffy replied. “He doesn’t get enough rest.” She smiled. “Though I may have a plan to make sure he gets more from now on.”

Dawn caught the innuendo and shrugged. “Good. He’s a very good guy. He probably deserves somebody way better than you.”

Buffy frowned at her without much effect. “Yeah, I know. But we sort of belong to each other. I love him so much, I’d probably kill any other woman who tried to take him now.” She shook her head. “I’ve never felt like this about anybody, ever.”

“Not even Angel?” Dawn was curious. Angel had been her sister’s big love thing like forever. It could only be good news if the stupid vamp was replaced.

“Not even Angel. I never thought I would say this, but the world looks a whole lot different at twenty-two than it does at sixteen. Never tell anybody this, but I think Spike’s right.”

“About what?”

“Angel does have stupid hair.” Both girls laughed so hard Dawn choked on her sip of fruit juice and had to be pounded on the back.

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