Your Surrender: Chapter 11
Aug. 10th, 2011 02:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_huffsterTitle: Your Surrender
Author: the_huffster
Pairing: Buffy/Giles
Rating: R for language and violence
Timeline: Season 4 AU
Synopsis: Giles has landed a job teaching at UC Sunnydale after defeating the Mayor and Buffy ends up, unknowingly, taking Giles' class. Surely all this extra time together won't affect their relationship, right?
Giles looked up from the papers he was reading at the sound of knock on his office a door, a puzzled expression falling over him when he saw Riley Finn enter the office.
“Hi, Mr. Giles.” The young man said as he sat in the empty chair on the other side of the desk.
“Riley, this is…um…” Giles started, not even sure what to say. “You don’t take my class, so I’m wondering why you’re here.”
“It’s about Buffy,” he explained, tilting his head slightly at the flash of panic in the professor’s eyes. “How exactly do you know her outside of class?”
“I was the librarian at her high school,”
“Yeah, but that makes it weirder.” Riley sifted in the seat so he was leaning forward slightly “How did you become friends?”
“It just…happened.” Giles shrugged as he shook his head at the look in Riley’s eyes. “There was nothing inappropriate between us, Riley. Her, Willow and Xander hung around in the library most of the time and a friendship with the three of them was the result of getting to know them after three years.”
The young man leaned back in the chair as he thought over what he had been told. Giles knew he didn’t completely accept the explanation- hell, Giles didn’t even accept what he had said as a valid explanation- but it looked as if Riley was going to let that subject go. Silence fell over them when Riley shift slightly in the chair, running his fingers through his hair.
“What else is on your mind?” the older man asked, wanting to wrap this conversation up as soon as possible. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about Buffy with the man who was casually dating her.
“Is there something going on between you and Buffy?” he asked.
“What, uh…why…why would you ask that?” he stuttered, resisting the urge to start cleaning his glasses.
“It’s just that I saw how you two acted at the Espresso Pump before Thanksgiving break,” Riley picked up on the slightly nervous behavior of the professor. “And I’ve seen you guys around campus.”
“I can assure you, that there is nothing between myself and Buffy.”
“Oh, okay.” He sighed before he decided to ask his other question. “Then do you know who the guy she’s in love with is?”
“No, I don’t.” Giles dropped his gaze to his desk as his fingers began playing with the corner of a paper. “She won’t tell me his name, in fear that I come after him for treating her the way he has been. Why do you ask?”
“Because this guy is keeping her from dating me. I thought you were the guy, just with the way that you two interacted.” Riley said as he got to his feet, shrugging a shoulder as he grabbed a strap on his backpack. “But after seeing you hitting on students at the Bronze, I figured you would have noticed if Buffy was falling at your feet.”
“I beg your pardon?” his eyes snapped to look at the young man.
“C’mon, I saw you trying to pick up someone a few weeks ago. She’s a few older than Buffy, and I have her in one of my classes.” Riley explained. “I think it’s pretty sleazy to try and sleep with people who are young enough to be your daughter, but Buffy jumped right to your defense when I said that. After seeing you guys together, I thought maybe you were sleeping with her and somehow tricking her to think she’s in love with you. I mean, if you’re gonna be a sleazebag might as well go for gold. Right?”
He took a step back when Giles shot to his feet, a dangerous look in his eyes as he stared at the young man. A smug smirk appeared on Riley’s face when he saw the professor ball his hands into fists.
“You can’t hit me,” he pointed out. “I’ll call assault, and then you lose your job. Think Buffy’ll hang around you if you’re just some jobless guy? She might have if I had been right in thinking that you’re sleeping with her, but I believe you when you say you aren’t. If you were, I think you’d be a hell of a lot more smug when talking about her. And she’d probably have an A instead of a C…”
“Get out.” Giles growled as he glared at him, trying to control the urge lunge over his desk and throttle Riley.
“I wasn’t trying to upset you, Mr. Giles.” Riley began as he prepared to defend himself, just in case. “I was just telling you what I thought of you based off of what I’ve seen.”
Giles just stared at him, wanting nothing more than to knock the smug smirk off his face. Riley shrugged and made his way to the door, stopping once his hand was on the doorknob.
“I’m sorry I wasted your time, Professor.” He turned around to look at the older man. “I should have known that you weren’t sleeping together, because then that would mean that Parker Abrams was right. If Buffy were as easy as he said, then I wouldn’t have had to talk to you.”
Giles took a few steps towards Riley, stopping when the young man quickly left the office. The door shut behind him and Giles just continued to glare at the door for a few minutes before forcing himself to go back to his desk.
“Stupid twat,” he grumbled before he went back to looking over papers.
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It was the Friday before semester finals, and Buffy found herself leaning against Giles’ side as they watched She’s All That. It was just the two of them for that week’s movie night- Xander was recovering from the flu while Willow was taking care of Oz after three particularly nasty nights of transformation. So that meant the Slayer was spending movie night with her ex-Watcher and, if she had to be honest, the whole night felt more like a date than anything else.
The only down part of the night had been when they ran into Riley, who had just given Giles a look before making a comment about “going for the gold”. Buffy hadn’t understood it until Giles explained the conversation he had with Riley a few days earlier, and she would have tracked him down if Giles hadn’t stopped her. Although he didn’t really stop her, he just ranted in a way Buffy had never seen that she was too shocked to go after the psychology T.A.
“Explain to me again, why are we watching this?” Giles’ voice brought her out of her thoughts and back to the movie.
“Because this whole semester no one has picked a chick flick,” Buffy giggled at his eye roll as she turned back to the television, poking him in his side. “Now be quiet and watch, this is my favorite part.”
The ex-Watcher sighed and went back to watching the movie, his arm moving to rest along Buffy’s shoulders. A grin made its way on his face at the groan Buffy gave at the scene.
“That is a such bullshit!” Buffy complained as she turned to face Giles. “I mean, he was going to kiss her and he doesn’t follow through. Sure, she asked a question at the worst possible moment but he could’ve been like ‘screw it’ and kissed her anyways!”
Giles just watched Buffy in amusement as she went on a small rant, a small smile on his face. She paused when she noticed his expression.
“What?” she asked, frowning slightly when he looked even more amused. “Why are you smiling like that?”
“Just…you, Buffy.” Was all he said.
“What the hell does that mean, Giles?” she sighed in frustration.
He debated with himself for a brief moment before he leaned forward and claimed her lips with his, his hands moving to cradle her face. He smiled inwardly when he felt her kiss him back. When her hands moved to the back of his head, he gently pushed her down on the couch until his body was covering hers. He moved his kisses down her neck as one of his hands trailed down her side, his fingertips barely skimming the side of her breast. Buffy let out a soft moan when he nipped at her neck as his hand slow inched under her shirt.
Buffy allowed herself to enjoy the feelings Giles was creating as she worked up the will to stop him. The minute she felt him rock against her, she moved her hand to his chest and carefully pushed him away.
“Giles, stop.” She whispered, moving to sit up when he got off of her. “I can’t do this,”
Giles just stared at her, not entirely sure what she meant. He couldn’t quite understand how she went from encouraging him to stopping him in a matter of seconds.
“I’m sorry, Giles.” Buffy sighed as she ran a hand through her hair, her eyes focused on the couch cushion. “I can’t knowingly let myself be another notch in your bedpost again,”
“Buffy…” he began, trailing off at the look she gave him.
“It’s okay, Giles. I don’t blame you,” she gave him a small smile. “I never blamed you.”
“What do you mean you never blamed me? We were both drunk,” Giles’s eyes widened when Buffy gently shook her head. “Buffy, what didn’t you tell me?”
“I wasn’t that drunk, Giles. I could’ve stopped you,” she whispered before getting to her feet.
“Buffy,” his hand grabbed her wrist as he looked up at her, confusion showing in his eyes. “Please.”
“It doesn’t matter, Giles.” She said before pulling her hand back and turning to leave.
“It does matter, Buffy.” He told her as he got to his feet, grabbing her shoulder and turning her to face him. “Did I…Buffy, did I…?”
He swallowed as he looked at her, afraid of the answer to the question he couldn’t even finish. Buffy’s eyes went wide when she realized what he was asking, quickly shaking her head.
“No! No, you didn’t. What happened between us was completely consensual, Giles.” The Slayer sighed when she read the question in his eyes, her mind quickly coming up with an answer that wasn’t the truth. “Look, it’s over Giles. I let it happen, okay? Don’t try to figure out why,”
“Then why can’t you let it happen again?” he asked softly, running his fingers through his hair when he saw the brief flash of hurt in her eyes.
“Because it’s you,” Buffy answered as she slowly took a few steps back. “If you were anyone else, then maybe I’d have another one night stand with you. But you aren’t someone else, you’re you.”
“What does that even mean, Buffy?” he sighed.
“Giles, don’t. Please.” She begged him as she inched closer to the door. “It’s hard enough stopping you when I did, don’t make this harder by making me explain.”
“Buffy…” he began, stopping when she turned and ran out of his apartment.
Giles stood next to the couch as he thought over everything she had, and hadn’t, said to him. He didn’t understand it, and that bothered him. Buffy had managed to leave out enough information to keep him in the dark, but one thing had been made clear before she took off. He had hurt her somehow.
“Great. Just…wonderful.” He muttered as he sat on the coffee table, trying to sort through his thoughts. “You’re a bloody idiot, Giles.”
After deciding on a course of action, the ex-Watcher pushed to his feet and walked over to his phone.
Author: the_huffster
Pairing: Buffy/Giles
Rating: R for language and violence
Timeline: Season 4 AU
Synopsis: Giles has landed a job teaching at UC Sunnydale after defeating the Mayor and Buffy ends up, unknowingly, taking Giles' class. Surely all this extra time together won't affect their relationship, right?
Giles looked up from the papers he was reading at the sound of knock on his office a door, a puzzled expression falling over him when he saw Riley Finn enter the office.
“Hi, Mr. Giles.” The young man said as he sat in the empty chair on the other side of the desk.
“Riley, this is…um…” Giles started, not even sure what to say. “You don’t take my class, so I’m wondering why you’re here.”
“It’s about Buffy,” he explained, tilting his head slightly at the flash of panic in the professor’s eyes. “How exactly do you know her outside of class?”
“I was the librarian at her high school,”
“Yeah, but that makes it weirder.” Riley sifted in the seat so he was leaning forward slightly “How did you become friends?”
“It just…happened.” Giles shrugged as he shook his head at the look in Riley’s eyes. “There was nothing inappropriate between us, Riley. Her, Willow and Xander hung around in the library most of the time and a friendship with the three of them was the result of getting to know them after three years.”
The young man leaned back in the chair as he thought over what he had been told. Giles knew he didn’t completely accept the explanation- hell, Giles didn’t even accept what he had said as a valid explanation- but it looked as if Riley was going to let that subject go. Silence fell over them when Riley shift slightly in the chair, running his fingers through his hair.
“What else is on your mind?” the older man asked, wanting to wrap this conversation up as soon as possible. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about Buffy with the man who was casually dating her.
“Is there something going on between you and Buffy?” he asked.
“What, uh…why…why would you ask that?” he stuttered, resisting the urge to start cleaning his glasses.
“It’s just that I saw how you two acted at the Espresso Pump before Thanksgiving break,” Riley picked up on the slightly nervous behavior of the professor. “And I’ve seen you guys around campus.”
“I can assure you, that there is nothing between myself and Buffy.”
“Oh, okay.” He sighed before he decided to ask his other question. “Then do you know who the guy she’s in love with is?”
“No, I don’t.” Giles dropped his gaze to his desk as his fingers began playing with the corner of a paper. “She won’t tell me his name, in fear that I come after him for treating her the way he has been. Why do you ask?”
“Because this guy is keeping her from dating me. I thought you were the guy, just with the way that you two interacted.” Riley said as he got to his feet, shrugging a shoulder as he grabbed a strap on his backpack. “But after seeing you hitting on students at the Bronze, I figured you would have noticed if Buffy was falling at your feet.”
“I beg your pardon?” his eyes snapped to look at the young man.
“C’mon, I saw you trying to pick up someone a few weeks ago. She’s a few older than Buffy, and I have her in one of my classes.” Riley explained. “I think it’s pretty sleazy to try and sleep with people who are young enough to be your daughter, but Buffy jumped right to your defense when I said that. After seeing you guys together, I thought maybe you were sleeping with her and somehow tricking her to think she’s in love with you. I mean, if you’re gonna be a sleazebag might as well go for gold. Right?”
He took a step back when Giles shot to his feet, a dangerous look in his eyes as he stared at the young man. A smug smirk appeared on Riley’s face when he saw the professor ball his hands into fists.
“You can’t hit me,” he pointed out. “I’ll call assault, and then you lose your job. Think Buffy’ll hang around you if you’re just some jobless guy? She might have if I had been right in thinking that you’re sleeping with her, but I believe you when you say you aren’t. If you were, I think you’d be a hell of a lot more smug when talking about her. And she’d probably have an A instead of a C…”
“Get out.” Giles growled as he glared at him, trying to control the urge lunge over his desk and throttle Riley.
“I wasn’t trying to upset you, Mr. Giles.” Riley began as he prepared to defend himself, just in case. “I was just telling you what I thought of you based off of what I’ve seen.”
Giles just stared at him, wanting nothing more than to knock the smug smirk off his face. Riley shrugged and made his way to the door, stopping once his hand was on the doorknob.
“I’m sorry I wasted your time, Professor.” He turned around to look at the older man. “I should have known that you weren’t sleeping together, because then that would mean that Parker Abrams was right. If Buffy were as easy as he said, then I wouldn’t have had to talk to you.”
Giles took a few steps towards Riley, stopping when the young man quickly left the office. The door shut behind him and Giles just continued to glare at the door for a few minutes before forcing himself to go back to his desk.
“Stupid twat,” he grumbled before he went back to looking over papers.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It was the Friday before semester finals, and Buffy found herself leaning against Giles’ side as they watched She’s All That. It was just the two of them for that week’s movie night- Xander was recovering from the flu while Willow was taking care of Oz after three particularly nasty nights of transformation. So that meant the Slayer was spending movie night with her ex-Watcher and, if she had to be honest, the whole night felt more like a date than anything else.
The only down part of the night had been when they ran into Riley, who had just given Giles a look before making a comment about “going for the gold”. Buffy hadn’t understood it until Giles explained the conversation he had with Riley a few days earlier, and she would have tracked him down if Giles hadn’t stopped her. Although he didn’t really stop her, he just ranted in a way Buffy had never seen that she was too shocked to go after the psychology T.A.
“Explain to me again, why are we watching this?” Giles’ voice brought her out of her thoughts and back to the movie.
“Because this whole semester no one has picked a chick flick,” Buffy giggled at his eye roll as she turned back to the television, poking him in his side. “Now be quiet and watch, this is my favorite part.”
The ex-Watcher sighed and went back to watching the movie, his arm moving to rest along Buffy’s shoulders. A grin made its way on his face at the groan Buffy gave at the scene.
“That is a such bullshit!” Buffy complained as she turned to face Giles. “I mean, he was going to kiss her and he doesn’t follow through. Sure, she asked a question at the worst possible moment but he could’ve been like ‘screw it’ and kissed her anyways!”
Giles just watched Buffy in amusement as she went on a small rant, a small smile on his face. She paused when she noticed his expression.
“What?” she asked, frowning slightly when he looked even more amused. “Why are you smiling like that?”
“Just…you, Buffy.” Was all he said.
“What the hell does that mean, Giles?” she sighed in frustration.
He debated with himself for a brief moment before he leaned forward and claimed her lips with his, his hands moving to cradle her face. He smiled inwardly when he felt her kiss him back. When her hands moved to the back of his head, he gently pushed her down on the couch until his body was covering hers. He moved his kisses down her neck as one of his hands trailed down her side, his fingertips barely skimming the side of her breast. Buffy let out a soft moan when he nipped at her neck as his hand slow inched under her shirt.
Buffy allowed herself to enjoy the feelings Giles was creating as she worked up the will to stop him. The minute she felt him rock against her, she moved her hand to his chest and carefully pushed him away.
“Giles, stop.” She whispered, moving to sit up when he got off of her. “I can’t do this,”
Giles just stared at her, not entirely sure what she meant. He couldn’t quite understand how she went from encouraging him to stopping him in a matter of seconds.
“I’m sorry, Giles.” Buffy sighed as she ran a hand through her hair, her eyes focused on the couch cushion. “I can’t knowingly let myself be another notch in your bedpost again,”
“Buffy…” he began, trailing off at the look she gave him.
“It’s okay, Giles. I don’t blame you,” she gave him a small smile. “I never blamed you.”
“What do you mean you never blamed me? We were both drunk,” Giles’s eyes widened when Buffy gently shook her head. “Buffy, what didn’t you tell me?”
“I wasn’t that drunk, Giles. I could’ve stopped you,” she whispered before getting to her feet.
“Buffy,” his hand grabbed her wrist as he looked up at her, confusion showing in his eyes. “Please.”
“It doesn’t matter, Giles.” She said before pulling her hand back and turning to leave.
“It does matter, Buffy.” He told her as he got to his feet, grabbing her shoulder and turning her to face him. “Did I…Buffy, did I…?”
He swallowed as he looked at her, afraid of the answer to the question he couldn’t even finish. Buffy’s eyes went wide when she realized what he was asking, quickly shaking her head.
“No! No, you didn’t. What happened between us was completely consensual, Giles.” The Slayer sighed when she read the question in his eyes, her mind quickly coming up with an answer that wasn’t the truth. “Look, it’s over Giles. I let it happen, okay? Don’t try to figure out why,”
“Then why can’t you let it happen again?” he asked softly, running his fingers through his hair when he saw the brief flash of hurt in her eyes.
“Because it’s you,” Buffy answered as she slowly took a few steps back. “If you were anyone else, then maybe I’d have another one night stand with you. But you aren’t someone else, you’re you.”
“What does that even mean, Buffy?” he sighed.
“Giles, don’t. Please.” She begged him as she inched closer to the door. “It’s hard enough stopping you when I did, don’t make this harder by making me explain.”
“Buffy…” he began, stopping when she turned and ran out of his apartment.
Giles stood next to the couch as he thought over everything she had, and hadn’t, said to him. He didn’t understand it, and that bothered him. Buffy had managed to leave out enough information to keep him in the dark, but one thing had been made clear before she took off. He had hurt her somehow.
“Great. Just…wonderful.” He muttered as he sat on the coffee table, trying to sort through his thoughts. “You’re a bloody idiot, Giles.”
After deciding on a course of action, the ex-Watcher pushed to his feet and walked over to his phone.
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no subject
Date: 2011-08-10 08:09 am (UTC)Another great chapter... Buffy, don't you realize he's in love with you? and for that matter, Giles, don't you realize she's in love with you?
I've come to the conclusion that they're either blind or profoundly stupid. anyway, loved it.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-10 08:12 am (UTC)I figured the same rule applies for people in love.
And as for the phone call....I'm gonna be well hated
no subject
Date: 2011-08-10 08:27 am (UTC)