Title: For All You Do
Author: Gileswench
Contact: gileswench@yahoo.com
Date: 8/21/06
Spoilers: Through Restless. Set sometime over the summer between S4 and S5.
Summary: When Riley gives Buffy a piece of advice, she actually listens...but it doesn't turn out the way he'd hoped.
Rating: FRT for a couple mild sexual references
Pairing: Buffy/Giles
Category: Romance
Distribution: If you've had my permission in the past, you have it now. All others, ask and ye shall receive.
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.
Notes: This one goes out to Karesia in thanks for all the incredible work she does keeping I’d Like To Test That Theory, Riposte, and Wench’s Tavern up and running smoothly. Thanks to all the listmommies, coders, webmistresses, and readers without whom we writers would just be typing to ourselves. Karesia? Girlfriend, you rock!

They'd been acting oddly for days. Giles felt sure they were up to something. Buffy's excuses were getting more and more desperate, Willow's blushes left her face nearly the same color as her hair, Xander kept grinning in a dangerous way, and Anya had said bluntly several times that nothing unusual was going on. The last alone proved something was going on.

Well if they were all determined to shut him out again, fine, he thought. He'd managed the better part of a year without their company and he would manage again. He would have thought after the binding spell that at least one of them might want to talk a bit, but if they were all so determined to be rid of him, that was their lookout.

Giles sighed. It might be that they were all pulling away from him again, but he couldn't lie to himself anymore. It hurt. He could accept not being thanked for helping to save the world once more; he'd long ago realized that world saving was a remarkably thankless job.

No, what bothered him was that even the people who worked with him and saw precisely what he did never seemed to value it much. Oh, Buffy might make an occasional offhand remark about his impressive talents - usually coupled with a stinging jab about his lack of a social life or his unfashionable wardrobe. Willow might mention that his books had saved the day. In some ways that was worse because it sounded as though the books did the work on their own with nobody to read them or glean what was useful from the jumble of words. He knew she didn't mean it that way any more than Buffy was trying to be cruel by pointing out how much time he had on his hands since he didn't have a social life outside of the random attentions of a group of people less than half his age. Still, it hurt.

Then, of course, there was Spike. Spike meant it when he said something hurtful, but it was oddly less painful coming from him. He said the same things as the Scoobies, in a far blunter way, but since Giles knew they were intended purely to hurt he was able to shake them off far more easily than the unintended whips and stings his young friends inflicted. Still, there were days - weeks even - when all Giles longed to do was stake Spike over and over again to be rid of the constant parade of half-truths and painful complete-truths the vampire was so fond of trotting out at the least provocation.

He poured himself a cup of tea and settled down to read prophecy alone. The others had all claimed other plans prevented them from joining him, so he was left to fend off the next apocalypse on his own, should it befall the world sometime in the next few hours.

A timid knock at the door interrupted Giles' morose musings. He gave up pretending to read and went to answer the door. No doubt it was one of the neighbor children trying to sell him candy to support a summer camp or magazine subscriptions toward a school trip. Those were the only people who knocked that politely on his door.

He was surprised and confused to find Tara on his doorstep.

"H-hello, Mr. Giles," she said nervously. She ducked her head and blushed. "It's me. T-Tara."

"Yes, yes, of course," he said. "I remember you. Um...what brings you here? I mean, is there something I can do for you?"

"W-w-well...y-you...I m-mean...it's W-Willow."

"Is she hurt? In danger?" Giles was already putting on his jacket and reaching for the nearest weapon, which happened to be his trusty baseball bat. "Just speak slowly and tell me what's happened. Have you found Buffy?"

"Sh-she's at The B-Bronze. Please come qu-quickly."

Tara turned and started down the path. Giles only paused long enough to make sure the door was properly closed before hurrying after her.

It didn't take long to get to The Bronze. Despite the fact that it had an army base and a university, Sunnydale wasn't a large town. These facts never ceased to puzzle Giles, but he put them aside. If one of his friends was in danger, he had to save her.

"Tara, before we go in I need to know what we're facing. Vampires? Demons? What are we up against? Do we have any allies in there?"

"Y-you'll see."

Tara hurried in the door. Giles was curious to note that the usual burly fee-taker cum bouncer was absent. Had he been killed in the onslaught? Giles rushed after Tara, baseball bat raised and a mighty cry on his lips.

"Die, bastards!"

He came to a dead stop in the middle of the room. There were no vampires, no zombies, no legion of otherworldly fiends. A rush of laughter filled Giles' ears as he uncertainly lowered his weapon. The next thing he knew, Buffy had removed it from his suddenly nerveless fingers. Willow brought out a cake and set it on the table nearest him. Xander pressed a glass into his hand while Anya reached up to put a party hat on his head.

"What...what is all this?" he demanded. "Willow, I thought you were in danger."

"I was. We all were, Giles."

"What she means," Buffy said, "is that we were all in danger of taking you for granted. Okay, honesty time here, we did take you for granted. Every one of us. We just sort of expected a bunch of stuff out of you, but we didn't ever think about how hard you work or how many times you've saved our collective butts."

"Face it, man, Buffy kicks ass, Willow makes with the mojo, and I spend a lot of time being hurt and pale and poor baby-worthy," Xander said. "You...okay, you get hit in the head, but you always seem fine pretty quickly after that, and the books they are not glamorous."

"And so I officially declared Giles appreciation day," Buffy concluded.

"'Cause we do appreciate you," Willow said. "We just forget to tell you sometimes...or all the times, really, but we think it a lot more than we say it."

"Except me," Anya said. "I'm here to support Xander as a good mortal girlfriend ought to do. And eat cake."

"W-Willow cares about you a l-lot," Tara added.

"You will, too, once you get to know him," Willow assured her girlfriend.

"Well...this is...unexpected," Giles said. He ducked his head suspiciously and wiped his glasses. "And quite unnecessary, you know."

"Unnecessary?" Buffy asked. "I think it's way past necessary. Come on, cut the cake and let's boogie."

"Boogie?"

Xander hit the switch on a boombox in the corner. The next thing Giles knew, the sounds of Fleetwood Mac filled the air. Buffy shrugged.

"We weren't sure what you really liked, but our parents all had music from the Seventies," Buffy said. "We brought whatever we thought might be Gilesy. Classical just didn't seem like party music. Is it okay?"

"Okay?" Giles laughed breathily. "It's bloody marvelous." He pulled Buffy into a bear hug. "Thank you."

"No. Thank you. You're sure the tunes are okay? Because we've got some other bands."

"Come on," Giles said as he led Buffy to the dance floor. "I like this song, and I'd like to dance with you, if I may."

"Alright. This is unexpected."

"So was all this."

Giles took Buffy in his arms. The music was slow and sexy. When she wrapped her arms around his neck, Giles smiled and gave her back a familiar caress.

"I notice Riley isn't here," he said. "Is he still in Washington?"

Buffy shook her head.

"He got back yesterday. And he's leaving again tomorrow. Going home to Iowa."

"When will he be back?"

"He won't." Buffy nestled a bit closer. "We broke up. I don't want to talk about it right now. I just want to dance, okay?"

"Okay."

"Tonight's about you, Giles. You do so much and nobody ever notices."

"It's not so much," Giles said. "And there are dozens who could easily take my place."

Buffy came to a halt and looked Giles in the eye.

"Nobody could ever replace you. Nobody. There could be a million Watchers, maybe there are, for all I know, but not one of them would be you. Not one of them would do as much or put up with as much as you do. Not one of them would care about me the way you do. They just wouldn't understand stuff. You get me. You get my friends. They wouldn't. And they wouldn't try so hard just because they couldn't care as much. Without you, I'd be toast about a million times over. Do you really think Wesley would have saved me from Amy's mom? You're the reason I'm still here. You've saved every single person in this room. Any glory there is to be had from this gig goes to me or to Will, because we're the ones with the superpowers. But without you and Xander, what would we be? Dead."

"Don't say that, Buffy."

"It's true and you know it. And good friends aren't replaceable. You can get more, but they don't replace anyone."

"Are we friends?"

Buffy looked at the floor.

"I guess I earned that," she said. "But I think we are. I think we always have been. I love Willow and Xander, but you're the one I can't do without." She looked up again. "If you're not in my life, everything is wrong. Let's not ever let us drift apart so far again, okay? 'Cause I think we kind of need each other."

Giles found he couldn't quite speak around the lump in his throat, so he just pulled Buffy closer, hoping his actions would tell her what his words couldn't. Part of him wished the song would never end. When he looked up, he saw that Willow was dancing with Tara and Xander with Anya.

"Should I prepare the ice cream?" Giles asked suddenly.

Buffy looked up, mildly confused. A second later, she understood his meaning and smiled, shaking her head.

"This one really isn't an ice cream breakup," she said. "It's more of a mutual recognition that we don't fit and just aren't going to."

"Really? I thought you two seemed...to have quite a bit in common."

"Too much and not enough. We both want to be in charge, but we've got totally different ideas of what needs doing. Plus he wants me to be strong and kick demon ass, but then he wants me to need him to protect little me, too. It doesn't work that way. Besides, he started talking about settling down, getting married, having kids. Giles, I don't know if that's something I can ever have, but I know I'm not ready for it right now. I just wanted to have some fun, have someone to hold me when the slaying's done for the night."

"So you're not ready to settle down with anyone?"

Buffy tilted her head, her eyes dancing.

"I know what you're asking," she said. "You're thinking I'm still waiting to find a way around Angel's curse. Actually, I'd love for that to happen, but I'm not holding my breath, anymore. Now that I've actually dated the living, I think I'd like to spend more time in the sun. It's not like I can expect a long life, but I can at least try to have some fun while I'm here. So no, no vampire lust. I've decided if I'm going to make another mistake, I'd at least like it to be a new one. But there is a guy I've kind of had my eye on for a while."

"Oh? Who might that be?"

"Unfortunately, he's got a girlfriend. My plan is to keep my mouth shut until she's very, very gone. I may play fast and loose with some stuff, but I've seen what happens when people start cheating on their honeys. I don't want to hurt anybody - myself included - that much. It's not worth it."

"Well, that's certainly an admirable attitude," Giles said.

Buffy chuckled against his chest.

"You're dying to know, aren't you?"

"Can you blame me?"

"Nah, but I can't tell you, either. You'll just have to be all curious and frustrated."

"I thought you were going to let me know what's going on in your life from now on."

"Hey, I let you know more than anybody else just now. You're officially the first to know about the breakup, and the first to know I'm interested in someone else. Nobody knows who he is other than me."

The song came to an end and all three couples left the dance floor.

"So," said Xander as he rubbed his hands, "any chance of cutting that cake, Big Guy? Some of us have worked up an appetite."

"He has to blow out the candles first," said Willow.

"Candles?" Giles asked.

"You never told us when your birthday is," Buffy said with a shrug. "I figure we have at least three to make up for missing, so we decided to make this a Watcher appreciation and multiple birthday cake. Make a wish, Giles, only you can't tell us what it is or it won't come true."

"Is the cake chocolate?" he asked.

"Yes it is, sweet-tooth guy," Buffy laughed.

"Then I have nothing left to wish for."

"Sure you do, Giles," Xander said. "You could wish for chocolate ice cream to go with it."

"Or he could wish for a year off from the yearly apocalypse," Willow added.

"He could wish Olivia would die of a horrible wasting disease for leaving him."

Everybody looked horrified at Anya.

"Honey, that's not the sort of wish you make to a cake," Xander explained patiently. "Cake wishes are for good things; not vengeance."

"Well I like vengeance," Anya said with a frown. "Sometimes vengeance is important. And how does a cake know what you want, anyway? Mortal customs are bizarre and unfathomable. Sweetened flour with wax set on fire on top has no power to grant or deny wishes of any kind."

"Yes, yes, yes, it's all right, Anya," said Giles. "There's no need to upset yourself. I know you meant well, but really, there's no need to wreak vengeance on Olivia. She's really quite a nice person."

"You and Olivia broke up?"

Giles spun around to face Buffy. Her voice had sounded so small and quavery he barely recognized it.

"W-w-well...yes, actually."

"She's gone? For good?"

"We came to the conclusion that, while we're quite fond of one another, we don't...suit." He wished he could read Buffy's expression, but she was inscrutable as the sphinx. "I'm afraid you and I were somewhat...distant when it happened and I didn't think to mention it."

Buffy nodded slowly. A moment later, she seemed to pull herself together and strode to the cake table. She leaned over and blew out the candles in one breath. Straightening, she smiled an apology at her friends.

"While we were talking all the candles were burning down," she explained. "They were almost melted. Wait for wishes too long and they go away."

She pressed the knife into Giles' hand. Their eyes met briefly. Giles sucked in a surprised breath at what he saw there.

"Come on, multiple birthday boy," Xander said. "Some of us are waiting for cake!"

"Xander," Willow scolded, "don't push. It's not nice. Though I'll say, while we're waiting that I'd like that big frosting rose...if Giles doesn't want it."

"There are plenty of frosting roses to go around," Giles said.

"Yeah, sorry about those," Buffy said. "When we went to get cake, they all seemed to have roses. But these are yellow, at least. No red."

"Does Giles not like r-roses?" Tara whispered to Willow.

"I'll explain later," Willow said. "It's not a happy, party thing."

Giles sliced into the cake and began serving up pieces. Buffy handed the plates around to all her friends before she accepted one for herself. The little party sat down at one of the tables and started to eat.

For a while, the conversation stayed light and inconsequential. Old jokes were explained to the newcomers, and new ones invented. In the end, though, Giles had to ask one question.

"Why The Bronze? And how did you manage to get sole use of the building?"

"Because this is where it started - where we started," Buffy said. "We were standing on that balcony up there when Willow went off with that vampire and we had to go save her. Xander staked his first vamp here. We all met at school, but this is where it got serious. That's why."

"As for how...well, I haven't completely given up hacking in a good cause," Willow said with a twinkle in her eye. "And...the less you think about what I just said, probably the better."

"Yes...well...you're probably right about that," Giles said as he wiped his glasses furiously. "I wasn't there, didn't see it, couldn't have stopped you if I'd tried."

"He's so cute when he's all ignoring potentially felonious stuff we do," Buffy laughed.

"It wasn't potentially anything," Anya said. "It's an actual felony. Or at least a pretty big misdemeanor."

"Whatever," said Xander. "I just think it's neat my bestest bud can pull off stuff like that without us getting into massive, massive trouble. Yay, Will!"

Tara looked mildly troubled, but said nothing. She just squeezed her girlfriend's hand. Willow smiled at her and stood.

"I hate to be a great big party pooper," she said, "but I've got my last final in the morning and Tara's helping me study. We'd better go. Wish me A plusses!"

"Go on, GPA girl," Buffy laughed. "We'll see you later."

As the two witches left, Anya also stood.

"Xander and I are also leaving to have sex," she announced.

"An, Honey, I've told you we don't say that out loud," Xander said with a weary sigh.

"But it's the truth. You told me being honest is important."

"Well, yeah, it is...but there's honest and then there's honest."

"I don't understand."

"Come with me and I'll try to explain it again."

"But every time you explain that, we just have sex."

Xander shrugged apologetically at Buffy and Giles, then lead Anya out. Buffy tried not to laugh, but failed. Giles grimaced and finally removed the party hat from his head.

"At least Will knows how to be discreet," Buffy said.

"Dis...? She said she had a final."

"Giles, finals ended last week. I think they're going to have a more private test." Buffy got up and started clearing up the plates and forks. "Not that it's any of our business. Just let me clean this stuff up and I'll go patrol."

"Is there some reason you were left with cleanup duty?"

"I volunteered. I have a lot of bad behavior to make up for."

Giles took the cake knife from Buffy's hand and set it back down on the table.

"Buffy, you aren't the only one who made mistakes over the last few months. You made your share, certainly, but we all did."

"Don't," she said. "Don't start apologizing to me. You'll say you're sorry for this, I'll say I'm sorry for that, and the next thing you know we'll be here until St. Swithin's Day groveling to each other because we've both screwed up so many times and never apologized for half of it."

"Do you even know when St. Swithin's Day is?"

Buffy grinned.

"No, but it sounds like a long time. Mostly I figure we've both got a lot of stupid moves behind us, so let's just call it even and move on. Goodness knows you've done more than enough to make up for the mistakes."

"You've saved the world repeatedly. In my book, that makes up for a multitude of sins."

"So we're even?"

"Not quite."

Buffy glared indignantly with her hands on her slender hips.

"What do you mean, 'not quite?'" she demanded.

"You stole my birthday wishes for three years by blowing out my candles before I was ready."

"That was a safety issue. If I'd let the candles burn any lower, we'd have had a huge sugar fire on our hands."

"Sugar burns, but it doesn't flame. It melts. All it would have left was a bad smell. As it is, I've been cheated out of my birthday wishes."

"Well, we could light three more candles and you can have all the wishes back again. Who says they have to be on the cake?"

"If I tell you what one of my wishes was going to be, do you think there's any chance you'll say yes and make it come true?"

Giles wished his heart wasn't beating so very loudly and that his palms weren't suddenly damp with nerves. He watched Buffy's expression carefully. She seemed to be considering his question seriously.

"I guess that depends on what the wish is," she said at last. "But if I have to say no, I'll at least try to be nice about it. And if I can say yes, I will."

His mouth went dry. Giles swallowed hard and forced himself to speak.

"Would you...could you put off patrolling for a little while and spend some time with me?"

Buffy's smile lit up the room.

"I was wishing you'd ask me something like that," she said.

"Is that what you wished for when you blew out my candles?"

"Well, there was a little more to it," she admitted with a blush. "But yes, that was part of it."

Emboldened by her sudden shyness, Giles cupped Buffy's cheek in his hand and bent to kiss her softly. Her eyes were wide when he pulled back.

"I wished for that, too," she said.

"Come on, then," Giles said. "I'll take you home."

"Will there be more kisses?"

"Did you wish for them?"

"Hey, you can't ask people what they wish for! If I told you now, it wouldn't come true."

"Oh, well, in that case...."

Giles took Buffy in his arms and kissed her again. Her eager response thrilled him to his very core. Again he pressed his lips to hers in an ardent, hungry salute. Buffy's arms wrapped tighter around his waist. When the kiss ended, Giles rested his forehead against hers.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "I was sort of wishing for that."

"All I've ever wished for is your happiness, Buffy."

"I know. I want you to be happy, too."

Giles frowned slightly.

"This isn't...Buffy...being with me...this is what you want, isn't it?"

"Hey, Giles, what's with the panic?" she asked with a matching frown. "When was the last time you knew me to do anything I didn't want to do? This has been coming a long time. I was afraid of it, so I fought it. Boy did I fight it! But I'm not fighting anymore. I officially cry uncle and give in. I'm all yours, if you want me."

"If I'd been allowed to blow out my own birthday candles, this is what all my wishes would have been; just to be able to hold you, to kiss you, for you to belong to me as thoroughly as I belong to you."

"Good. Then we're on the same page." Buffy reached up and ran her knuckles softly down his cheek. "Yay us."

Giles kissed her palm.

"Then I'll stop second-guessing this. At least I'll do my best. You know I can't seem to stop questioning happiness."

"Me, too. But in this case, I think we need to just relax and try to trust this. Now, let's go back to your place and we can get all cuddly on the couch for a while before I patrol."

"You know, everyone else is merrily having sex," Giles said. "Are you sure you just want to cuddle?"

"For now. Can't use up all the wishes in one night, can we?"

"Blast! You told me your wish. Now we'll just have to remain celibate forever."

"Hey! It's a wish I hadn't officially made, yet," Buffy giggled.

"But you've already told me what it is. No, I might as well resign myself to a life of cold showers and lonely nights," he sighed.

"You're a pain."

"You're a minx."

"What's a minx?"

"You are."

"Shut up!"

"Make me."

She kissed him soundly.

"There," she said. "I did it. Now let's go."

She picked up Giles' baseball bat from behind the table where she'd put it earlier and handed it back to him. He shouldered it, then wrapped an arm around Buffy's shoulders.

"You know," he said, "it is possible to make love on a sofa."

"Maybe sometime, stud guy," Buffy returned. "Tonight I just want to kiss you a lot."

"Your wish is my command." Giles suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Buffy, was this entire party some sort of set up to get me to admit my feelings for you?"

"Please! You really think I'm that devious? Okay, okay, I can be, but this time I wasn't. I just wanted to thank you. For all the stuff you do for us. It's just when I found out you were a free agent again, too, I really hoped things would work out like they did. But the whole reason I did this was because you work so hard and almost never get anything in return except great big headaches from being whacked on the head...and then more headaches from arguing with me."

"Oh! So you don't intend to argue with me, anymore?"

"Admit it, you'd hate it if I didn't argue with you. I'll argue, but at least when we kiss and make up, real kisses will be involved. Speaking of kisses...."

"And only kisses - for tonight."

The pair sauntered out of the room, basking in a comfortable silence. As they were about to cross through the doorway, Buffy stopped and turned to Giles.

"Could we...maybe...? Oh, forget it. We'll just go back to your place."

"Buffy, please, just tell me what it is you'd like."

Buffy blushed and looked down.

"You're going to think this is really silly," she said.

"Let me be the judge of that. What do you want?"

"Could we...go up to the balcony before we leave?"

"The balcony?" Giles puzzled. "Well, of course we can. Why are we doing that?"

"Because that night...I know it's stupid, but a little piece of me felt like we were on this really strange, twisted date. I know we weren't, and it would have been gross if we were what with me being just a kid and you working at the school and us hardly knowing each other. I just sort of felt...drawn to you somehow. Now I want to go back up there with you and kiss you." She rolled her eyes. "Stupid, huh?"

"Actually, I think it's rather romantic." Giles took Buffy's hand and lead her up the stairs. "I know what you mean about feeling drawn even then. It's a powerful bond, working as Watcher and Slayer. When that bond is strengthened by more personal feelings, it can be quite intense. I wasn't thinking about you in romantic or sexual terms, but I knew even then that you would be important to me beyond our calling. Tonight, I know I never want to be without you again."

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply. He delighted in her passion, her clear joy in the caress. When the kiss ended, he took further pride in the slightly dazed - but entirely happy - look on her face.

"Wow," she breathed. "I planned tonight to make you happy, and now...look at this! All my good intentions get turned on their heads."

"On the contrary, I'm happier than I've ever been, and it's all thanks to you."

"Nope, tonight is all about thanking you, Giles."

"Let's not argue about this, Buffy," he said. "Let's just agree that we're both very thankful and allow ourselves a bit of fun. Would that be all right?"

"I guess so," Buffy said. "In fact, I think maybe we've both earned it.”

“Oh, then are you up for something a little adventurous?”

“Depends on what it is.”

Giles leaned down and whispered in her ear. Buffy’s blush swept from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes by the time he’d finished. She reached up and pulled him into a hungry kiss.

“Not yet,” she said at last. “But definitely someday…after you’ve earned another really big thank you.”

With that, they headed down the stairs, out the door, and into a new life together.

THE END