Title: Odd Couples 7/16
Author: Gileswench
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.

The next two days passed in a blur for Buffy and those around her. In the end, they bought disposable cameras instead of getting a photographer. Anybody reputable was already booked up for the day. Anya volunteered to make the food, and Willow assured them she'd had the ex-demon's cooking and could vouch for how good it was. Xander agreed with his friend's assessment, so Buffy decided to sit back and accept the strangeness. As long as it didn't upset her mother, she didn't care who made the food.

When Daphne had to deliver the sad news that the gown was beyond hope, Buffy was inconsolable at first. Then, miraculously, the next day she found a package outside her bedroom door. When she opened it, she found exactly the gown of her dreams inside. The satin bodice was fitted close to her form from a wide, low neckline down to her slender hips. A froth of layered tulle made up the skirt and short train. The sleeves were long and tight, coming to points over her hands. When she looked closer, Buffy realized that the skirt was dotted with literally hundreds of tiny iridescent beads. Under this glorious confection, she found a matching veil decorated with the same tiny, sparkling beads.

With trembling hands, Buffy tried the gown on. It fit as if it had been made for her.

"And just in the nick of time," she said to herself. "I only hope it's not cursed or something."

"Not cursed, dear," Daphne said from the doorway. "I never curse the things I make."

Buffy turned, startled.

"You made this? Really? But when did you find the time? I mean, it was incredible enough that you made that nightgown set, but this...this had to have taken months to make with all these tiny beads. Unless...are you a witch?"

"Not exactly. I really thought Rupert would have told you by now."

"Told me what?"

"I think I'll let him be the one, Buffy. I'm not sure how you'll react to the idea, but just keep in mind I mean you nothing but good. Tell him...tell him I want him to tell you." She started to leave, but turned back with a smile. "You'd best put that away until tomorrow, dear. I'd rather not have to make another at this late date."

"Thanks, Mrs. Giles, I will."

"And less of that Mrs. Giles nonsense, please. I'm Daphne. Or Mother Giles, if you really must."

"Daphne's good. Thanks, Daphne."

*****

Half an hour later, Buffy stood at Giles' door. After the wedding, she supposed it would be her door, too. For this last day, though, it was his home and not hers. Of course, that had never stopped her from just walking in anytime she liked. Today was no different. She pushed the door open and walked in.

He sat at his desk engrossed in a book. The corners of her mouth insisted on bending into a smile at the sight. His tousled hair and rumpled shirt gave evidence to the fact he hadn't slept all night. She moved forward and plucked the book from his hands.

"What's the big?" she asked, scanning the book in pretended interest. "New prophecy?"

He looked up, startled, but quickly regained his composure.

"No, I'm afraid it was simple insomnia." He tossed his glasses on the desk and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "I was reading that book because it always puts me to sleep. Three pages, and I'm usually out like the proverbial light." He reached out and drew her close. "Of course, now you're here, I'm in no mood to sleep."

"Well, you'd better get at least a nap before tomorrow, because I have it on good authority that you're going to be up very, very late and working very, very hard." She bent to kiss him. "Oh, and I'm totally in love with your mother. She says she's not, but she has to be a witch or something, 'cause there is no way any ordinary person could have done what she did last night. So what's her secret?"

Giles stopped in his efforts at nibbling Buffy's neck until she lost all coherent thought. He drew slightly back and looked at her seriously.

"I can't say, Buffy. It isn't my secret to tell."

"She seemed to think it was. In fact, she told me to ask you. So spill. What is it? Is she Jeannie? As in 'I Dream Of'? Does she live in a fancy bottle or something?"

"She really wanted me to tell you? Are you certain?"

"She said - and I quote - 'tell him I want him to tell you'. So, are you ever gonna let me in on the family secret? After all, tomorrow night It'll be my family, too. If there's something big to know, now's when I ought to know it."

He looked hard at her for a long moment. At last, he nodded as if he'd made up his mind.

"All right. I'll tell you. But I think I'd better make some tea for this. You might find it a bit...disconcerting." He stood, his hand caressing her cheek. Then he turned and headed for the kitchen. "Make yourself comfortable," he called over his shoulder. "I won't be long."

Buffy sauntered to the sofa and flopped onto it.

"Is she a demon?"

Giles poked his head out the pass through.

"What did you say?"

"I asked if your mom's a demon. After all, she already said she's not a witch, but there's definitely big magic around her. Pretty much the only other idea I had. Unless you count the I Dream Of Jeannie thing."

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and returned to the living room.

"How did you guess?" he asked.

"Really? You mean I'm right? Woah. I guess that means you're part demon, too. Like half demon, right? And you didn't think that was important to tell me?"

"One-eighth demon, Buffy. I'm one-eighth. My mother is only a quarter demon. Skloath, to be precise. Really, they're - we're - quite benign."

"Benign, but super-speedy, I'm guessing."

"It's...well, it's rather complicated...what did she do that tipped you off?"

"Only made the most perfect wedding gown in the world in one night. It's incredible. Nobody could have done it that fast. Can you do things mega-quick, too?"

He sat beside her and gave a small, relieved chuckle.

"I take it this hasn't canceled the wedding?"

"No, though I'm still not thrilled with the secret-keeping bit. This is a little important, Rupert. I mean, Slayer marries Watcher is weird enough. Slayer marries demon Watcher is KFC extra-freaky." She leaned over and kissed him to take away the potential sting of her words. "So, hyperdrive, yes or no?"

"No. Skloaths have the ability to...to work outside of time, as it were. I didn't inherit the trait. Probably not enough demon blood in me, and it's always stronger in the female line than the male. Mum does it now and again, though she can't keep it up nearly as long as a full-blooded...." He looked at Buffy's rapidly glazing eyes and decided any further explanation could wait. "I don't have the abilities my mother does, no."

"What if...what if we have a kid, though?"

Giles looked a bit startled.

"Did you want one?" he asked.

"I...I never really thought that hard about it, but, yeah. Maybe. I mean, isn't that what people do? They get married, they have kids. Or, I guess they do if they're not Slayers."

"Having a child isn't the easiest thing under the best of circumstances. Slayers rarely attempt it. The um, the calling isn't very helpful in the matter. Most of the Slayers who have tried have been killed during pregnancy, or miscarried due to abdominal injuries. But a few have managed to have children, yes. I suppose I just assumed...you're the Slayer and I'm nearer fifty than forty. And you never mentioned the idea. It never occurred to me that this was even an issue."

"So...you don't want kids? At all?"

"Buffy, I didn't say that. It wouldn't be easy. We'd have to plan very carefully, and all our friends would have to help us. We can't leave the world vulnerable to vampires and evil demons while you take a year off to breastfeed a baby. But if you want this, and if we can get enough support...I believe I could be prevailed upon to do my part."

"Okay. So, if we do this, what happens? With the demony stuff, I mean. Will it...will it look funny? Will there be scales or a tail or anything like that?"

"Skloaths look almost entirely human. Full-blooded ones have very slight brow ridges and kaleidoscopic eyes. In me, it's so diluted that I've just got an odd patch in one eye. I doubt there would even be a visible sign in our child. If we had a son, it's unlikely that he would ever manifest any sort of demon ability, either. Of course, if we had a daughter, there's a slight chance she might learn to work outside of time for brief periods when she reaches adulthood. Probably all it will mean is that someone at the Council will fume that we never ought to have been allowed to meet, let alone marry and have a child."

Buffy laughed and snuggled up to Giles.

"Okay, that's almost enough reason right there to do it," she joked. "Giving Council guys headaches is my second favorite thing to do in the whole world."

"Oh? And what's your favorite thing to do?"

"You."

She climbed into his lap and kissed him. As they teased and tasted one another, he ran his hands over her flanks, then up to her waist to hold her close. Reaching up, he brushed her hair aside and nibbled his way up her neck until he reached her ear.

"I can't wait until tomorrow," he whispered.

"Then don't."

"Don't we have a wedding rehearsal in about three hours?"

"So, it'll be a quickie." She nipped at his throat. "I need this, Rupert."

He turned them until she lay beneath him on the sofa. he smiled and kissed her gently.

"You're so beautiful," he murmured.

She looked up at him, wanting to kiss him and forget everything she'd just learned. She put a hand to his chest.

"Rupert?"

"Yes?"

"Why didn't you tell me about being a demon years ago?"

He sighed and sat up, bringing her with him.

"I couldn't," he said at last. "When I first came here, it was my duty to impress upon you the need to kill demons. If you'd known about me...well, would you have trusted me?"

"Probably not," she admitted. "I totally wigged the first time I realized Angel was a vamp. If I hadn't already been so gone on him, I probably would have staked him right then. If the first thing you'd done after shoving that book in my face was tell me 'by the way, I'm probably listed somewhere in this reference of demon spawn', you'd never have gotten a chance to convince me to trust you. But later, Rupert. Later on when I knew you, and I'd dealt with Angel and Oz and even Anya...couldn't you have told me then?"

"And admitted I'd lied to you all that time? You're right, of course, I ought to have said something long before this. It was cowardly of me to avoid it. I was frightened, Buffy. Frightened of losing you; of turning you against me. And, besides, I'd been sworn to secrecy years ago."

"Who swore you?"

"My parents."

"Why? I mean, it's not like it's the first question that springs to mind when you meet them."

"Perhaps I should make that tea, after all."

He moved to get up, but she stilled him with a hand on his knee.

"Don't. Please. Just sit here and tell me. I'm not going anywhere. I just want to understand. It has something to do with Ripper, doesn't it?"

"H-how did you know that?"

"Please! Do you remember the excuse you gave for running off with Ethan? You said the studying at Oxford was too much for you."

"And you don't believe that?"

"I didn't believe it then. There were just more important things to worry about. I could tell the rest of it was true - if a little Reader's Digesty in spots. Face it, Rupert, you're a bigger study geek than Willow, and Oxford is the natural home of study geeks. It had to be more."

"All right," he chuckled, "I admit I'm a study geek. The pressure was pretty appalling, though. I had lectures all day and Watcher studies all night, and no time at all to be...young. No time to mature, either. And then, in the middle of my worst, post-adolescent self-pitying period, my parents decide to break the news of my heritage. I didn't react well. The rest, you know."

"Do I?" she persisted.

"What do you mean?"

"Do I know the rest. I've never been sure I did, at least about Ethan."

"Why bring up Ethan now?"

"Because I want to know if you ever did. Bring Ethan up. In a triple-x kind of way."

"Why on Earth does it matter to you?"

"It...I guess it doesn't really, but if you didn't, why won't you just say so?"

"You may be surprised."

"At this point, it kinda takes a lot to shock me. Remember, I'm coping pretty well with suddenly discovering the day before my wedding that I've got another demon lover. Tell me."

"All right," he sighed. "No. We never did. Not, I might add, for lack of effort on his part. I let him kiss me a few times, and I did actually agree to go to bed with him once, but nothing happened."

"Why not?"

"Because we were both too bloody stoned to manage it. I think he's always felt cheated, but he was just as incapable as I was. That's why I stopped taking drugs."

"Not wanting to be...incapable?"

"That, and not wanting to find myself in bed with people I wasn't really attracted to."

"So, Eyghon was about...what, exactly?"

"Stupidity. Rebellion. Arrogance. Everything I said before. I told you the truth. I just edited out the most personal parts that didn't matter to the story and weren't really appropriate to discuss with a sixteen-year-old girl under my care. Are you okay with what I've told you today?"

She took his face in her hands and kissed him softly on the lips.

"I'm okay with you, your mom, and your sordid past with Ethan. I'm even learning to be okay with the fact you didn't tell me this stuff before. Let's just forget it, okay? Now, where were we before I so rudely interrupted us?"

He looked seriously at her.

"I know you wanted something ordinary, Buffy, but I'm never going to be ordinary. I'm always going to be a great deal older than you and I'm always going to be part demon. I want you to think about that carefully. If...if you can't accept it completely, well, now's the time to decide."

"You mean you want me to break your heart and get it over with?"

"I want you to be certain. I want you to do what will make you happy, even if that means hurting me. Don't make a snap decision. Of course, if you could let me know beforehand whether there's any point in my showing up at the church, I'd appreciate it."

Buffy shook her head.

"This isn't much time to make a non-snappy decision, y'know."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I couldn't tell you until I had permission, though. As I said before, I'd been sworn to secrecy."

"And that's why you never told me about them, isn't it? So this whole thing wouldn't accidentally come up and you wouldn't have to choose between breaking your word to them and lying to me."

"Yes, I'm afraid so." He reached out and stroked her hair softly. "If it makes any difference at all, I do love you very much."

"I know." She took his hand and kissed the palm. "I better go. Lots of thinking to do before the deal today."

"You want to go through with the rehearsal?"

"Yeah. I don't want to rock the boat unless I absolutely have to. Mom's not taking that sort of thing very well right now. It seems my little sis is gearing up to be the next Mia Hamm and hasn't heard of a thing called 'sleep' yet." She stood and headed for the door. At the last moment, she turned back to him. "I love you, too."

He watched as she let herself out. He continued to stare at the door for some time after she left.

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