Title: Bad Moon Rising 4/? (NC-17)
Author: TweedEmpress
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Giles/Jenny
Genre: Action/Romance
Summary: Set during ‘Ted’ and beyond. Giles and Jenny are working on their relationship - but something is coming that threatens the future of the whole of Sunnydale.
Timeline: Season Two, spoilers up to ‘Passion’
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with BtVS (unfortunately). Some dialogue is lifted from ‘Passion’. Any original characters and ideas are mine.
Distribution: FanFiction.Net, ODD, Mystic Muse, Ms Calendar’s Group Site
Notes: Thank you so much, Riley and Katherine for doing such an amazing job at beta-ing.
Dedication: To Anne, for all her hard work on our site and giving us a beautiful new home for all our fic!

Jenny hesitated before knocking softly on the door. For most of the evening, she had expected to hear a small voice in her head telling her to run away, very far and very fast. However, it had not offered advice of any description and so Jenny was now standing uncertainly outside his door. She kept remembering his eyes - that glittering silver coldness - and the way his entire body had seemed so rigid as though fashioned from iron. So unlike the man she had come to care so passionately for. And in the end, that was what she always came back to. She knocked again, a little louder and heard a woman’s voice, slightly muffled, telling her to come in. With one final deep breath, she pushed the door open.

Giles’ sister was sitting upright in the armchair, her hands gripping the armrests as though they were the only things keeping her still in the middle of a maelstrom. There were scratches on her cheek and neck and a plaster across one temple. She was wrapped in Giles’ robe and had evidently been showered since she had arrived at her brother’s house.

‘H-hello. Er, Jenny, isn’t it?’

‘That’s right.’

Now that the layers of blood and dirt had been removed, Jenny was struck by the resemblance between Giles and Alexa: the same high chiselled cheekbones, the same soft jade-green eyes. Her hair, now washed, dried and pulled away from her face, was a few shades lighter than his and streaked with dark blonde highlights.

‘Jenny?’

Giles’ head appeared around the breakfast bar. Their eyes met and he smiled tentatively.

‘I was just making some tea. W-would you like any? Or something else?’

‘Oh, yeah, tea… Whatever.’

He disappeared back into the kitchen and Jenny dragged her eyes away from where he had been. She looked back at Alexa and found, rather disconcertingly, almost exactly the same tentative smile on her face.

‘I take it he’s initiating you into the mystical cult of a nice cup of tea?’

Jenny tried to bite back a laugh and failed.

‘He tries, but I’m a die-hard coffee freak.’

The two women shared a smile.

‘I brought you some clothes,’ Jenny added, holding up the bag she was carrying. ‘It’s not much, but they’re clean and reasonably comfortable.’

The green eyes widened slightly.

‘Thank you! You really didn’t have to go to so much trouble. But it is deeply appreciated.’ She spoke slowly, enunciating each word carefully and she seemed to have a little difficulty focussing her eyes.

Giles re-appeared bearing a tray and Alexa craned her head back to look at him.

‘Jenny brought me some clothes.’

His eyes flicked up to her and one of those fleeting, brilliant smiles curved his mouth.

‘Thank you,’ he said softly.

They held the gaze for a few moments and Alexa, from her viewpoint in the chair looked between them. This would be, she decided, a good time to change into Jenny’s clothes and so made a valiant attempt to stand up. Her smothered gasp of pain drew two pairs of eyes to her and Giles rushed to her side.

‘Lex, what are you doing?’

‘The Can-Can. I’m going to get changed.’

Giles sat back on his haunches and glared at her.

‘You’re barely capable of walking. Do you think you could possibly just sit still for five minutes?’

Jenny watched the unfolding scene and tried to suppress a smile: it was all too similar to the conversation she’d had with Giles outside the park only a few nights ago.

Alexa raised one eyebrow.

‘There’s no point in looking at me like that, Ripper, it simply doesn’t work.’

‘Typical of you to want to kill yourself just to prove a point,’ he retorted.

‘I am not trying to prove a point, I simply want to get changed.’

He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. ‘Alexa…’

‘I’m feeling much better.’ She ducked her head, fiddling with the sleeve of the robe. ‘I-I just want to feel a little more normal.’ Her eyes were raised back to his face. ‘Please don’t fuss.’

‘I couldn’t actually stop you, could I?’

Alexa gave him a lop-sided smile.

‘No, but I was trying to let you think you could. Now help me up.’

There was a stifled groan as Giles pulled her, carefully, to her feet. She refused his attempts to help her down the hall to the bathroom.

‘And this time, just so you know, I will be closing the bathroom door. He made me leave it open earlier,’ she informed Jenny. ‘I think he was afraid I’d accidentally drown myself in the shower.’

They watched her make her way slowly down the passage, Giles only turning to face Jenny when his sister had vanished. He took his glasses off again, polishing them, staring at his hands with an absorbed intensity.

‘I-I, er, d-didn’t really thank you properly for what you did tonight. F-for Alexa.’

Jenny wrapped her arms around herself.

‘Wasn’t anything else I could do.’

Giles nodded. ‘I know. A-and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to start ordering everyone around like that, w-with no, er, explanation, but there was so little time.’

She gave him a small smile, her dark, soulful eyes fixed on his face.

‘It was a little…scary, really. I felt like I didn’t know you.’

‘I was terrified,’ he said softly, not quite looking at her. ‘A few more minutes and Alexa…sh-she would have died, Jenny.’

She nodded. ‘I know. I’m guessing you’ve done that spell before, huh?’

‘Too many times,’ he replied wearily, pinching the bridge of his nose. ‘A-and it can only be performed by a blood relative. If she hadn’t arrived where she did, I…I can’t bear to think about that.’

The memory of the glittering steel blade flashed through her mind.

‘Is your hand all right?’

Giles looked at her, confused and then his expression cleared. ‘Oh, ah, yes. Absolutely fine.’

He held out his hand, palm up. There was a fine white scar running across it - she noticed there were numerous others criss-crossing the flesh - but that was all that was left of his wound. Jenny traced the line with one finger.

‘That’s incredible,’ she murmured.

‘The magic is part of me, Jenny. Whether I want it or not, whether I choose to use it or not, it’s part of me. And it’s part of Alexa. I-it’s one of the things that binds us so closely together.’ He gazed at her, willing her to understand. ‘The spell I performed tonight isn’t dark magic - I was giving her part of myself to heal her.’

Jenny looked at him searchingly - everything in his expression now was open and soft, but she could still see the lines of steel beneath it all. He looked away from her, his gaze dropping to the floor.

‘You’d do anything for her, wouldn’t you?’

‘For Alexa? Yes. Yes, I would. A-and for the people I-I … I l-love,’ he raised his eyes, looking deeply into hers, ‘I would do anything.’

She felt her chest tighten and then, taking a step forward, pressed her lips to his. His hands moved to cup her face, his thumbs gently caressing her cheeks. Jenny wound her arms loosely around his neck, feeling the familiar contours of his body pressed against hers. They were lost in each other until a creak and a faint shuffling from the corridor brought them back to reality and they moved apart.

Alexa moved gingerly into the room, smiling a little sheepishly at them by way of apology. Giles took hold of her hands, helping her to sit. She winced slightly, but didn’t appear to be in too much pain. Jenny remembered the crumpled figure Giles had carried into the library only a few hours ago and suddenly felt slightly light-headed: Giles had brought his sister back from the brink of death through magic and it was just starting to sink in exactly how powerful he was in his own right. She sat beside him on the sofa, grateful to feel his human warmth next to her. Without looking at her, Giles took hold of Jenny’s hand and squeezed it gently.

Alexa watched the couple, a faint smile playing over her lips.

‘Are you going to tell me what happened?’ Giles asked finally.

She sighed, taking a moment to collect her thoughts. ‘I was in the Czech Republic, tiny village in the North of the country. At least, what’s left of a tiny village: it was destroyed a couple of hundred years ago, no-one’s ever known exactly what happened.’ Alexa was speaking more fluidly now, evidently not needing to concentrate on pronouncing her words and her eyes had lost the slightly glassy look they had held earlier. Her gaze flicked between the pair on the sofa, accepting Jenny, without question, into her strange, secret world. ‘A colleague sent word that a Vahlraxa demon had been seen in the area, so I was sent to find out what it was doing there.’

‘A Val…’

‘Vahlraxa,’ Alexa supplied.

‘Was that the thing we saw at the school?’ Jenny asked.

Alexa nodded.

‘And I guess it’s stating the obvious to say that these guys are bad news?’

‘Very bad news,’ Giles answered. ‘The Vahlraxa are incredibly brutal, b-but they are merely mercenaries. They appear only rarely in our reality, so when they do-’

‘It usually means something even uglier and nastier is on its way,’ Alexa finished grimly.

After the huge, shadowy monster that had filled the school corridor, it was difficult to imagine anything more terrifying. Jenny dwelt, briefly, on the image of the hulking form and the sickly, flickering light, when another thought struck her.

‘If you were in the Czech Republic, how did you end up in Sunnydale?’

‘Ah, well, the Vahlraxa use a form of teleportation,’ Alexa explained. ‘They create openings in … well, in space and time, I suppose, that allows them to travel from one point to wherever they want to go in a matter of seconds. Loads of flashy lights and whooshy noises. Looks a bit like something out of Star Trek. But without the stars. Or the spaceships, obviously. Anyway, the portal opened up, the demons jumped in and I jumped after them.’

‘Demons?’ Giles looked at her sharply.

‘There were two of them, Ripper.’ For the first time, a note of genuine concern came into her voice. ‘And it wasn’t an accident or any of my doing that we ended up in Sunnydale - they were heading to the Hellmouth for a reason.’

‘What happened to the other one?’

Alexa winced slightly.

‘Do you want to hear that it’s probably loose somewhere in Sunnydale?’

’Not particularly.’

‘O-okay. In that case, it’s enjoying the surf in Barbados.’ She smiled brightly at her brother, who gave her a withering look in return.

‘The one that got away, it took something from the ruins. A-a talisman, I think. I didn’t see it properly.’ Alexa frowned, willing herself to call up the mental image, but then shook her head, frustrated. ‘Whatever it was, I need to get it back.’

‘Yes, but not tonight, Lex,’ Giles informed her sternly.

She grinned at Jenny.

‘He knows me too well.’

‘We have a few contacts in Sunnydale who’ll know if there’s a Vahlraxa in town,’ Giles continued. ‘They may be able to help us.’

‘Great.’ Alexa yawned suddenly and stretched out her arms. She smiled sleepily at Jenny. ‘Here’s me rabbiting on, and I’ve hardly spoken to you properly. I really am delighted to meet you - getting Ripper and computers together in the same sentence without bringing him out in a rash is quite a feat. Although, I must warn you,’ she leaned forward slightly, her face becoming serious. ‘I only value Ripper’s girlfriend’s in terms of what they can do for me.’

Jenny heard a suppressed groan and glanced at Giles. He had covered his eyes with one hand.

‘Ignore him, he’s only doing it for attention,’ Alexa said. ‘Now, one of his exes is a model and she used to keep me in a very nice line of designer shoes from her shoots.’

‘Alexa…’ Giles murmured plaintively.

Her green eyes sparkled mischievously. ‘However, much as I adore my Manolos, helping to save my life really does rank higher than that, so, you have my life-long devotion.’

The two women looked at each other and an unspoken understanding seemed to pass between them. Jenny smiled back at her, liking Alexa enormously. Alexa smothered another huge yawn and blinked.

‘Bed, now,’ Giles said, standing up and finally relinquishing Jenny’s hand.

‘Didn’t know you’d served time as a Sergeant Major, Ripper. Really must tell me about it sometime.’ She gazed up at her brother and her expression softened. ‘Thank-you, for looking after me. For saving me’

He ducked his head.

‘Yes, well, someone has to.’

Jenny, feeling that the time had come to leave the pair alone again, stood and picked up her bag. ‘I should probably get going.’

Two pairs of green eyes turned to her.

‘Please don’t go on my account,’ Alexa said.

‘Really, I have to. All of my stuff is at my place, and, well … it’s a school night. And I can’t believe I just said that.’

Alexa smiled at her again. ‘It really was lovely meeting you. Hopefully I should get to see a bit more of you in the next few days.’

Jenny nodded. ‘Cool.’

She felt Giles’ hand on her elbow.

‘I’ll walk you to your car.’

They walked slowly across the courtyard and up to the street, not speaking until they reached Jenny’s Beetle.

‘I’m sorry our evening was spoiled.’

Jenny rolled her eyes. ‘Stop apologising, England. Besides, at least I got to meet the family. Hey, does this mean you’re gonna present me with a ring next? Oh, just so you know: when it comes to diamonds, size definitely matters.’

‘Don’t push it, Calendar.’

She grinned at him and he gently brushed the hair away from her face before reaching out to her with both hands. Jenny closed her eyes briefly as he cradled her face.

‘I really do have to go,’ she murmured.

‘Hmm.’

He caught her lips in his, kissing her tenderly and deeply before releasing her.

‘Take care driving home,’ he said softly.

Jenny smiled blissfully and slid into the drivers seat. She checked the mirror as she pulled away and noticed, happily, that his tall figure stayed on the pavement watching her go until her car turned the corner.

The library doors banged open and Buffy bounced in, to be met by a slightly disapproving look from her Watcher.

‘What?’

‘Must you make your presence felt quite so, er, decisively?’

‘Huh? Oh … well, I don’t know my own strength sometimes,’ she replied defensively. Buffy slid into the seat opposite Giles and eyed him as though weighing something up.

‘So-o,’ she said slowly. ‘You’re sister - she’s, like, Watcher S.A.S or something?’

Giles looked at her incredulously.

‘S-S.A.S?’

‘Yeah. That’s the right name, isn’t it?’ She frowned. ‘Those really tough British guys who make the Army look like the Chess Club? You’ve heard of them, right?’

‘Yes. I’m just amazed that you have.’

‘Hey!’ Buffy’s eyes widened indignantly. ‘I know what goes on in the world - I watch television!’

Giles winced slightly. ‘I hope that you will take notice of my admirable restraint in not responding to that.’

‘Wow, Giles, you can insult someone without actually really doing it. That’s a kinda neat trick, but you didn’t answer my question.’

He sighed and removed his glasses.

‘No, Alexa isn’t “Watcher S.A.S” - in fact, she isn’t anything to do with the Council.’

‘Wow, really? I’d kinda imagined your whole family as uber-Watchers and swaddled in tweed from the word go.’ She noticed his pained expression and wrinkled her nose. ‘Sorry. Got a bit carried away there.’

‘Indeed.’ Giles replaced his glasses.

‘So, if she’s not a Watcher, what is she?’

He eyed his Slayer and realised that she wasn’t going to be satisfied until he had answered some of her questions - and considering what had happened in the library the night before, he owed her something.

‘Alexa is a witch.’

‘Like Amy’s mom type witch? Buffy asked apprehensively.

‘No, i-it’s a very different sort of magic. Alexa’s power is something she was born with, not something that was acquired. And I’m quite sure that she doesn’t use it to infiltrate the cheerleading squad. She’s a…’ Giles frowned slightly, choosing his words with care, ‘a demon-hunter, of sorts.’

‘Uh-huh. Oh, speaking of demons, that’s sorta what I wanted to talk to you about.’

He looked at her enquiringly.

‘Y’know, last night when I paged you ‘cos of big ol’ demon badness in the park?’

‘Oh good Lord, Buffy, I am so sorry! I had completely forgotten.’

Buffy waved her hand. ‘It’s no big, Giles. Family emergency, I got it. But I do need to talk to you.’

Giles nodded and leaned back in his chair. ‘Of course. What sort of demon was it?’

She shrugged slightly. ‘I don’t know, I mean I felt it before I saw it, and even then I didn’t really see it, I…’ Buffy trailed off, remembering the pair of eyes that had held her, mesmerised. She looked down at her lap, fiddling with the hem of her skirt and could feel her cheeks growing hot. What would Giles think of her when she told him? It was embarrassing enough thinking about it without having to talk about it. And to her very proper Watcher, of all people…

Buffy raised her eyes back to his face. He was watching her with a slight expression of concern, but in the depths of his patient eyes there was nothing judgemental and Buffy began to feel a little more confident.

‘It’s kinda embarrassing.’

Giles kept his expression carefully neutral.

‘Go on.’

‘Before I saw it the demon thing, I couldn’t breath properly. It was like the air was … heavy. And I felt really, really hot and my head went all weird. And then there was this pair of eyes.’

‘And the face?’ he asked gently.

She frowned, shaking her head. ‘I don’t remember - just the eyes. I couldn’t look away, I couldn’t even think, but I felt, I mean it was … I felt,’ Buffy searched miserably for the right word, looking everywhere but at Giles. ‘Excited. And not in a “Hey, I’ve won a trip to France” way, more…’

‘Aroused?’ Giles offered cautiously.

Buffy took a deep breath and forced herself to look at him before nodding.

‘But it was the demon, it must’ve done some spell type thing, because it wasn’t just me! Willow and Xander were there too and after the whatever-it-was had gone, they were looking at each other like … Well, if they had been alone, I can only imagine what would have happened. Not that I would want to imagine it, after all, you’re not supposed to think about your friends like that-’

‘Buffy,’ Giles interjected softly, stopping the girl’s babbling.

‘Right. Sorry.’

‘There are many demons that have that effect on humans. They use it to incapacitate. Now, was there anything else you can remember? A sound? O-or a smell?’

‘No-o, yes! There was a smell, sort of like, um, musk. Yeah, musk. Really sweet.’ Buffy looked at him hopefully. ‘Do you know what it was?’

He shook his head, frowning slightly. ‘Not yet, but I think I’ll be able to track it down from what you’ve told me.’

Giles smiled at her and Buffy felt a small wave of relief.

‘Leave it with me and I’ll do some, er, research…’

She could see his eyes slip past her, focusing on something slightly behind her and she knew he was already starting to make numerous, obscure connections before even opening a book.

‘I guess I’ll leave you to it,’ she said, standing up.’

‘Hmmm.’

Buffy was halfway to the door when she turned back.

‘Hey, Giles? Why did you lie to me?’

He looked at her, bewildered. ‘W-why di- lie… What?’

‘I mean last year, when you said that was your first casting.’

‘Oh, I-I see.’ Giles removed his glasses, polishing them slowly.

Buffy waited, fidgeting slightly on the spot.

He sighed, finally replacing his glasses. ‘I hadn’t used magic like that for a long time, Buffy. When I was assigned here, I w-wanted … I wanted to be the Watcher that a Slayer would deserve. I-I slipped back into the magic so easily then a-and I d-didn’t want you to think that I…’ he broke off, floundering helplessly.

‘It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Giles. It was totally awesome - you being like big mojo guy. It was cool.’

He still didn’t quite look at her. ‘I t-tried to be what, er, y-you needed. I didn’t want you to see me in a different light.’

Buffy smiled slightly. ‘What, you mean like superhuman or something?’

‘No.’ Giles finally raised his head and looked directly at her. ‘Less than human.’

She stared at him for a few moments, shock registering on her face, and then she took a step forward.

‘You could never be that to me. Not ever, Giles.’

They held each other’s gaze for a moment and Giles was suddenly aware of a painful tightening in his chest in the face of the girl’s loyalty. Buffy finally turned, but then paused again. A flush spread up her cheeks and she took a deep breath, her words coming out quickly.

‘You’re more than a Slayer deserves.’

With that she practically ran out of the library, leaving the Watcher feeling sandbagged yet elated. Giles sat for a few moments, mentally reviewing the end of their conversation and smiled slightly to himself. He picked up his tea and then paused, the mug halfway to his lips. There was something nagging at the back of his mind. Buffy’s description of her encounter in the park was playing over and over in his head, but his sister’s face kept floating before his eyes. Something she had told him the night before…

There was a connection between the two, a vague memory on the edges of his mind that he couldn’t quite pin down…

He sat, motionless, unconsciously gripping the mug so hard his knuckles turned white, staring sightlessly into the distance.

If only he could remember.

TBC...
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