Title: Love, Hellmouth Style 7-8
Author: Gileswench
Contact: gileswench@yahoo.com
Feedback: Constructive criticism always welcome. Praise abjectly sought.
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Joss, Mutant Enemy, etc., etc., etc. I just let them have all the fun Joss won't. I own nothing except my twisted mind which you really don't want. Please don't sue.



"What's this?"

Buffy looked dubiously at the outfit Giles had provided her to wear.

"I didn't know what you would like, so I just picked something at random."

"Yeah, but did you have to be so random?"

"What's wrong with it?"

Buffy sighed. "I don't know where to begin. The blouse doesn't go with the pants, the bra and the blouse don't work together, and you didn't bring any shoes."

"Can't you wear the shoes you wore yesterday?"

"Slingbacks with leather pants? Leather pants equals boots, Sweetie."

"Then why don't you wear what you wore yesterday?"

"And have everybody think I went partying and didn't get home all night? Forget it, I'll come up with something. Possibly involving a paper bag over my head."

"Would you like me to take you home so you can pick out something else? I believe we just have time."

Much to Giles' surprise, Buffy's chin began to wobble and she burst into tears.

"I'm sorry, Rupert. I'm being a total bitch and I don't know why."

"There, there, luv. It's alright. I'm afraid I've made a muddle of things. Don't worry yourself."

He continued to make comforting sounds as she cried herself out. Joyce appeared in the doorway.

"What seems to be the problem?"

"Bit of a fashion crisis. It appears I shall not be mistaken for Christian Dior any time in the near future."

"Probably just as well for Buffy's sake. Didn't I hear he was gay?"

"Yes, well, there goes the last possible hope of a resemblance."

"Rupert's not gay." came a muffled protest from the depths of Giles shirtfront.

"I believe your mother is aware of that, luv." He pressed a hand to Buffy's forehead. "Are you feeling better this morning? Do you think you ought to stay home from classes today?"

"I'm okay. Don't fuss. Anyway, I have a test today in English. Plus I promised to meet Will and Tara for lunch. They're feeling sorta out of the loopy."

"Give them my best, then. And if you start to feel unwell, just give me a call."

"Or you could always call your old Mom, if you want."

"Stop it, both of you. I'm fine. I think I was just stressed out yesterday. Too much stuff going on. Too many bad things at once."

"Too many, luv?"

"Well, Mom fainting, and...waiting at the hospital. And Spike was outside."

She didn't want to bring up her conversation with Professor Baird. Especially not in front of her mother.

Luckily both her mother and her husband decided to let the matter drop.

"Look, I'm gonna figure something out with this. I'll be ready to go in a few minutes."

"I'll wait for you downstairs, then." Giles kissed her brow as he left.

"And if you need to, feel free to borrow a scarf or something. If you think it'll help."

"Thanks Mom."

*****

"That's an interesting outfit, Buffy. New fashion I haven't heard about?"

"I'm not discussing it, Will. I'm just looking forward to going home and changing."

"Speaking of 'home', how's it going with Giles?"

"Pretty terrific. He says hi, by the way. And that makes me ask why haven't you guys been by the Magic Box lately? My man is there alone with Anya day in and day out. He needs defending."

"It's been a busy couple of weeks, Buff. All my professors have gone assignment happy at once. And we've been working on some new spells in our spare time."

"Nothing dangerous." Tara hastened to assure her. "But it requires a lot of concentration and energy."

"So why haven't I heard about this before?"

"Well, you've been kinda, y'know, with Giles all the time. Which is totally okay, 'cause you guys need time for the newlywed thing, but it means we don't really see you a lot."

"I know I haven't been around so much, but have I really been that MIA?"

"Well, you weren't home last night. And you weren't at The Bronze either. Did Giles take you someplace romantic?" Willow grinned unrepentantly.

"Oh yeah. He took me to the fabulously romantic childhood home of me. Mom fainted yesterday and we spent the night with her to make sure she was okay."

"She was, wasn't she? Okay, I mean."

"Yeah, Will. But we had to sleep in my old bed which is not built for Ruperts. It wasn't too bad while we were awake 'cause we had to snuggle pretty close so we could both stay on it. But he rolls around a lot in his sleep and he kept falling off. Not the most restful."

The two witches giggled at the idea of Giles falling off the bed all night long. After a moment, Buffy joined them.

"Okay, it was kinda funny, but only because he didn't knock himself out or something. But please don't tell him I told you guys."

"Our lips are sealed. Not literally, but we won't say a word." Tara's lopsided grin grew even bigger.

*****

Giles looked up in surprise to see Xander entering the shop with Anya.

"Xander, what are you doing here?"

"See, Honey, I told you. I walk in here and I just feel the love."

Giles couldn't hold back a slightly sheepish smile.

"I'm sorry. It's not that I'm not monumentally happy to see you, I just thought you'd be working today."

"Ah, that's the funny thing in the construction business. When it rains, we're out of a job."

"And it's raining today." Anya supplied in her usual helpful manner. "Does that mean I get the day off, too?"

"Certainly not. We are not in the construction business."

Anya kissed her boyfriend and took up her post behind the counter, grumbling slightly under her breath as she went. Xander moved to the tarot table where Giles was thumbing through a book.

"So, anything I can help with?"

"Yes, actually, if you'd like. I caught Spike hanging around Joyce's house last night."

"You think he's got some big evil brewing for her?"

"Either her or Buffy. He seemed...unaware of the change in our relationship."

"So does he know now?"

"I'm not sure. He may well have seen something, or he may not. At any rate, we should know if he starts hanging round our flat."

"You could always just chain him up in the bathtub again."

"Yes, Anya, I suppose I could, but I don't want him there. I want to know what he's up to, and which member of my family he's targeted for his schemes. Besides which, I imagine it would be difficult to explain to our caseworker what we're doing with a Billy Idol clone held captive in our bath."

*****

That evening after Buffy patrolled, she and Giles sat quietly snuggled together on the sofa.

"So what was Spike doing outside Mom's last night?"

"I'm not really sure. Xander and I did some research today, but we didn't come up with any explanation. He may simply be trying to annoy you for all we know to the contrary."

Buffy shook her head. "It's more than that. When Spike just wants to piss me off he talks to me. This has got to be something else."

"I'll keep looking, luv, but I want you to be careful in the meantime. Don't take him on without backup."

"I'm always careful."

Giles glared at his love. "I mean it, Buffy. Spike is still dangerous."

"I know he is. I remember how he pulled that cute little stunt to get us not talking so he could sell me out to Adam. I won't let him put us in that kind of danger again. But I won't let him near my Mom either. If he does anything to her, I'll stake him."

"Of course your Mum needs to be protected, too. But I won't let you put yourself in danger. Not now." He placed a protective hand over her belly.

"We don't even know if I'm pregnant yet."

"And until we know you aren't, I want you to act as if you are. No unnecessary risks, Buffy."

"Okay, caution guy. Now, what's wrong with this picture?"

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"Here we are, all alone, late at night, and we're talking about Spike. That's so not right."

"If you'll recall, luv, you were the one who raised that subject."

"Well now I'm putting it down." She began to softly nuzzle his throat, her deft fingers unbuttoning the first few buttons of his shirt.

"And what subject would you like raise now?" His voice was laced with amusement and the first stirrings of arousal.

"Funny you should put it like that." She straddled his lap. "I would like to raise the subject of making sure I have that baby as soon as possible." Her lips met his in a fiery kiss.

"I believe I could be induced to help you with that project." He wrapped her tightly in his arms and pulled her flush against his growing arousal. "Has it been raised enough to meet with your approval?"

"I think so, but I'll need to inspect it a little closer to make sure." Her tongue snaked out to play with his earring.

Giles growled low in his throat as he rose, taking Buffy into his arms to carry her up to the loft. Neither noticed a pair of devastated blue eyes watching outside the window through a haze of cigarette smoke.

Once in their bedroom, the two lost no time in undressing one another and laying back on the bed. Hands and lips and tongues roamed at will. When Giles brought his fingers to Buffy's core, he found her more than ready.

"So wet, luv, I could drown in you" he groaned and brought his lips to her nether lips. He drank her greedily, hungrily, until she climaxed against his tongue.

Before she could come down from the high, he'd moved up her body and brought the tip of his cock to her entrance. Buffy moved one hand between them to guide him home.

As the two joined to become one in the most primal of ways, a figure dressed in black stubbed out his cigarette, and headed home to his crypt.

PART 8

Another Friday night, and Buffy sat at a table at The Bronze with her friends. She was telling them of her first meeting with Ms. Pennington.

"She's a total bitch queen. I mean, if you took all the worst parts of all the worst bitches you can think of and put them all together, you probably would still need more bitch to make her up."

"Come on, Buffy, she can't be that bad."

"Tell me that again after you meet her, Will. And, by the way, you all probably will meet her soon. She was taking down names and addresses and blood types of all our friends and relatives. Okay, I made up the part about the blood types. And I guess Rupert is making some overseas calls in the next few days, 'cause he hasn't told any of his family about us yet."

"Giles has a family? Since when?"

"Stop that, Xand. Of course he has a family. I just didn't know that he had any that was, y'know, alive." Willow seemed to have at least considered the matter in general terms at some point.

"Well it seems my husband has been hiding a father he never talks to and a sister he hasn't seen in about fifteen years or so. But they write sometimes, at least. She lives somewhere in the Middle East on perpetual archeological digs apparently."

"I spent some time in the Middle East. Well, several times. Vengeance is very big in that part of the world. That and falafels." As the others stared, Xander patted his girlfriends' hand.

"Anyway, Ms. Pennington will probably be contacting all of you at some point trying to poke holes in our story of being an actual, happy, married couple. I just wanted to let you know so she doesn't catch you totally off guard."

"Speaking of happily married, Buff, where's Giles? I mean it's only been a couple weeks and you keep showing up at The Bronze sans a dance partner."

Buffy shrugged. "It's just not his thing, Will. Plus he thinks it's a good thing that I know he trusts me to go out without him, and it is. I just wish he got it that I want him along sometimes."

The girl ducked her head so her friends wouldn't see the tears standing in her hazel eyes. Willow, however noticed that all was not well with her friend.

"Hey, I'm headed to the little girls' room. Wanna go along, Buffy?"

The Slayer nodded and followed Willow. The others watched them go with concerned looks.

"I'm guessing all is not what it should be in Paradise."

With those words, Xander spoke for them all.

*****

"Okay, Buff, spill." The redheaded witch folded her arms across her chest as she eyed her best friend. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. Nothing about Rupert, really, anyway. Well, mostly not about him."

"Mostly? Buffy, you've only been married a couple weeks. It shouldn't be any about him. You guys should be spending all your time being gooey-eyed at each other and ignoring the rest of us, but you're here alone tonight crying in a bathroom and where is he? Don't make me have to call Giles a poophead."

"He's not a poophead. It's just...I never knew how different we were until we got married. I mean, I knew, but I didn't really get it."

"So you guys are different. But you're a lot alike too."

"Yeah, but he's lived alone a long time, and now he's not used to sharing with the class."

"You mean he doesn't talk to you?"

"Not that extreme. But sometimes he forgets to tell me stuff I kinda need to know. And sometimes he gets grouchy if I talk too much while he's trying to read or something. We'll work that out, though." She gave a heartfelt sniff.

"So if that's not the problem, what is?"

"I don't know! Well, yeah, there's stuff going on, but I'm on edge all the time now, it feels like. There's this stupid greencard thing. And I'm worried about my Mom. She's been getting headaches and sometimes the pills the doctor prescribed don't work. And Spike was hanging around her house and we don't know why. And the last couple mornings I've gone out and found cigarette butts in the bushes near our door."

"So you think Spike's moved on to your place?"

"Either that or Rupert's started smoking and is using the world's most amazing mouthwash to hide it."

"So it sounds like there's a bunch of stuff going on. And if your Mom's sick, why wouldn't you be edgy? I probably would be if it was my Mom, and I don't even like her as much as I like yours."

"But I'm the Slayer, Will. Stuff doesn't get to me like this. It never has."

"Do I have to remind you about Angel? And the brief mental illness that was Poophead Parker Abrams?"

"Okay, so I've had my not-so-shining moments, but nothing like this. Lately I seem to be always either mad over something stupid or crying my eyes out about nothing. I just wish I knew what was going on with me. And I'm tired all the time, too."

"Do you think it could be a spell or a curse of some kind? Not that I want to scare you, but that would be something I might be able to help with."

Buffy shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just stressed out, or getting the flu or something, too."

"Flu doesn't make you go all weepy, Buff."

"No, but it makes you heave, which is another thing I've been doing a lot of."

Willow regarded her friend sharply.

"Um...Buffy, have you considered another possibility?"

"What's that?"

"Well, it's just...mood swings, sleepiness, heaving...it kinda sounds like, y'know, you might be sorta...having a baby?"

Buffy grinned sheepishly. "Surprise?"

"You mean...you are?"

"We don't know yet and you can't say anything. Not even to Tara. I mean it Will."

"Is this why you and Giles got married?"

"No, but it's why it was in such a hurry. See, we went away just to have a weekend away from everything so we could figure out where we were going and then Cordy showed up and it turned out she'd had a vision - she gets visions now from the Powers That Be - and it was...kinda weird, but we figured out it meant that I'm gonna have a baby. With Rupert. And then when the condom exploded..."

"That's more than I needed to know, Buff."

"Okay, but I want you to know that we got engaged first. Then the con-"

"I get the picture! Blurry watercolors, please. I really don't need to go to a naked Buffy and Giles place. And that explains what Cordelia was doing at the wedding. What was Wesley doing there?"

"Cordy, mostly. They sorta worked some stuff out that weekend too."

Willow shook her head. "I never knew Wesley was such a masochist. But why didn't you tell me, Buff?"

"About Wes and Cordy? I didn't think you'd care."

"No, dummy! About the baby. The maybe baby. I'm your best friend; that gets me privileges like being the first to know about the firstborn."

"And as soon as there's a firstborn to know about, I guarantee you'll be the first to know after Rupert and my Mom. Now can we just drop this, Will? 'Cause I need to use this room for its intended purpose. Again."

It was the third time since she'd gotten to The Bronze that she'd needed the ladies' room. Buffy entered the stall and settled herself to use it. A moment later, there was a plaintive request from the stall.

"Will? Do you have an extra tampon with you?"

*****

The Scooby gang left The Bronze almost immediately after Buffy and Willow returned from the ladies' room. Both girls were subdued on the way home, and Buffy kept sniffling despite the fact she tried to tell the others she wasn't upset.

As soon as she had closed the front door behind her, the Slayer burst into tears. Giles practically leapt from his desk to take her in his arms. For some time, Buffy was too distraught to say anything, so Giles led her to the sofa and settled her on his lap, caressing her back and whispering soothing words in her ear. Finally, she ran out of tears, though she continued to cling to her husband's neck and hiccough slightly.

"Are you ready to tell me what's wrong, sweetheart? Did something happen? Are you all right?"

"Yeah. Something happened." Buffy swiped at the fat tears that were once again rolling down her cheeks. "My period happened. I'm not pregnant, Rupert."

Giles pulled his wife close again. When she felt him tug off his glasses, she pulled back to see a suspicious moisture forming in his eyes too.

"I'm sorry" she told him.

"Whatever for?"

"For - for...there's no baby. You didn't have to marry me or anything."

"Do you honestly think that was why I married you? I love you, Buffy. You are my life. I know I don't say it often enough, but it's true. If I didn't want to be with you, I wouldn't be. And as for the baby, I'm disappointed too. But it's early days yet; we can always try again."

"Really?"

"Really, which part?" He quirked a tiny smile at her.

"Any of it. All of it."

"Every single word, Buffy." He kissed her, stroking one hand through her hair. "Come on, let's get you to bed. It's been a long day for you."

"Only if you come with me. I think I need cuddling tonight."

"And I'm always happy to oblige."

*****

Willow and Tara lay in bed entwined in one anothers' arms.

"Where have you gone?"

The redhead started.

"Huh? Oh, I guess I was sorta zoning, wasn't I. Sorry."

"Is it about Buffy?"

"What makes you say that?"

"You guys spent a long time in the bathroom and when you came out you both looked upset. Is she okay?"

"I guess. But there's a lot of crappy stuff going on for her and Giles right now."

"You can't make it go away, y'know."

"No, but I worry about them."

"And that's good. You should care about your friends."

"Our friends, Tara."

"Yes, our friends. But you can't make their problems disappear, and you can't eat yourself up about it."

"But I want to help them."

"You will. When it's something you can help with. Right now, I don't think there's anything you can do for them, my Will O' The Wisp."

Despite herself, Willow smiled.

"That's a new one. I think I like it."

"Good. And there's something you can do for me."

"What's that?"

"Snuggle with me." The girl's sleepy-eyed smile grew wider as her lover took her in her arms for a passionate kiss.

"Always."


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