Obeying Nature

Chapter 18
After fighting the morning sun (that shone right in his face) and the cramps left from lying next to Anya on the small cot for several minutes, Xander finally decided to get up. He stretched lazily as he rose. His face sported a grin as his eyes fell on the couple in the hospital bed. Deep down he admitted that he was slightly confused about what actually was going on. No, that wasn’t right. He had a pretty good idea what was going on, but when it had happened was beyond him.

“Tell me I’m not seeing things?’

Xander’s grin widened as he heard Willow’s surprised voice coming over his shoulder. He turned to find her standing next to him.

“Nope, you are not seeing things. But had you been awake last night, you would have been a lot more prepared for it.” As he looked at Willow, her face got even more confused, and he had to hold back his laughter.

“Come on, let’s wake Anya and get some breakfast, and then we can put whatever this is under the microscope later.”

Willow merely nodded as she continued to watch Buffy and Giles on the bed, while Xander dragged a cranky Anya up from the cot. A couple of groans and whines later, Xander had successfully managed to push his girlfriend and best friend out the door, and closed it silently behind him.
*****
Giles woke to the sounds of the others leaving the room, but resisted the pull of wakefulness as long as he could. He revelled in the smell of Buffy’s hair; where his nose was buried.
Suddenly he remembered that the doctor had promised to come by early this morning and regretfully opened his eyes to look at his watch. It was nearly eight, and he suspected the doctor would be around shortly.

He carefully raised himself up on his elbow, and let his eyes roam her sleeping face. He was glad to note that her colour had come back, and he lifted her shirt so he could look at her wound. It was nearly closed, but it was surrounded by dark bruises, and he suspected it would take several days until she was fully healed. He covered her wound, and lowered his lips to place soft butterfly kisses on her cheek. He could feel her waken, and decided to wake her up with a proper improper morning kiss.

In a matter of seconds their tongues were mating, and both managed to pull several moans from each other.

After several minutes of exploring every nook and cranny of Giles’ mouth, Buffy pulled away from the kiss. Giles let his lips continue over her cheek and nipped down her neck.
Her mind was still sleep muddled, and without thinking she said exactly what she was thinking with a slight hitch in her voice, “What a wonderful way to wake up, I wish I could wake up with you every morning.”

His body froze, and his kisses stopped, but he didn’t raise his head from her neck. Buffy’s eyes shot open as she realised what she had said. Her face got a panicked look. Oh god, oh, god, oh god, was all she could think, as she braced herself for his reaction.

After what seemed like and endless moment, he finally lifted his head and looked at her with an unreadable expression. BuffBuffy held her breath as she prepared herself to be let down. Worst case scenario: Giles would run screaming out of her room. Clearly her revelation was too soon for him. She’d lost him.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to speak, the door to her room opened, and Dr. Bocho walked in.
“Miss Summers, good morning, you are looking much better this morning. How are you feeling?”

Buffy tore her worried eyes from Giles, relieved by the distraction, and plastered on a smile. “Ah, much better thanks.”

She ignored her body’ cries for Giles’ as she felt him stand and pull on the t-shirt he had discarded the night before. She saw Dr. Bocho raise his eyebrows, but thankfully he did not comment.

“Good to hear. Now, let me take a look at your wound.”

Giles didn’t say a word while the doctor examined her, and although Buffy could hear the doctor making comments, all she could think about what would inevitably come when the doctor left the room. She avoided looking at Giles to prevent her eyes from spilling, and tried her best to calm her nervous breathing. She finally realised the doctor was addressing her directly, and forced herself to listen to whe whe was saying.

“…so with that said, I would say that we should keep you one more day, but then you should be more than well enough to go home. However I strongly suggest that you get someone to help you out. You will need a couple of days rest before you resume normal activities.”
With a quick glance at Giles he continued. “Do you have someone you can ask?”

Before Buffy had a chance to reply, Giles shot in. “She does. Several as a matter of fact.”
Buffy looked at Giles for the first time since Dr. Bocho had come in, but he was still wearing his unreadable expression, and he was looking at the doctor.

“Good” the doctor replied, and gave Buffy’s shoulder a quick squeeze. “I will stop by tomorrow morning for a last check-up. Make sure you rest as much as possible today.”

Buffy was only able to give him a weak smile, before he gave Giles a short wave and walked out the door, leaving the two of them behind in a deathly silence.

Buffy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, while she struggled to come up with something to say. Her heartbeat increased when she felt Giles sit next to her on the bed. She opened her eyes and mouth to say something, but he lifted his hand and let two of his fingers cover her mouth to prevent her from talking. His expression was deadly serious as he spoke.

“Did you mean what you said?”

She thought about making a joke, anything to ease the tension that was threatening to suffocate her, but as she looked into his eyes she decided against it.

She gave a small nod.

His fingers still covered her mouth. “Are you absolutely positive?”

Once again she nodded, and this time he removed his fingers and let his hand cup her cheek.
When he didn’t say anything, she figured she should say something.

“Giles, I know this might be too soon, but I love you. . . and. . . and we both know our time is precious.” His eyes got a pained look, but he didn’t say anything. This is it Buffy, it’s now or never, she thought as she prepared herself to put it all on the line.

“Giles, Angel might have been my first love, but you are my one true love. Whatever time I have left in this world, I want to spend it with you.” The fear that had gripped her since her unintentional slip earlier finally released her as she saw his face soften, and mist gather in his eyes.

With a barely audible whisper he finally spoke. “Nothing would make me happier than moving in with you. You are everything that I have always looked for, but I never thought I would find.”

Her own face lit up with a thousand-watt smile, and she pulled him down into a toe-curling kiss. When they finally needed to breathe, he didn’t release her, only hugged her close.
Neither of them could tell how long their embrace lasted. Both were content to stay within each other’s arms as long as possible. Buffy let her hands stroke his back with long strokes, and once in a while she ran them through his hair. Despite her tender wound, she could never remember being as content as she was at that moment.

When Giles spoke, she should have realised it wouldn’t last for long.

“Buffy? I need to ask you something about last night.” As he raised himself so he could look at her he continued. “Yesterday was too confusing and unsettling for me to actually wrap my mind around it, but just now I remembered something.”

Buffy knew what was coming.

“When you got wounded in the woods, you said something very peculiar. You said there was something you should have told me, and you apologized for getting hurt. What was that all about?”

He silently watched her as he saw the proverbial wheels churn in her brain, without a doubt thinking up something to evade his question.

“Don’t you dare lie to me, Buffy!” he growled, and almost grinned in satisfaction as he saw hell-ell-tale blush. She had been planning on doing just that.

With a sigh she took his hand in hers. “A couple of weeks before we came up here I started having these dreams. Several, as a matter of fact. You were even witness to one this weekend.”

He nodded as he remembered the one he had woken her from. “Were they nightmares?”
She shook her head and waited a bit before she continued. “They were more of the prophetic kind.”

She could see his jaw tighten in anger. She’d expected it.

“You knew.” he stated in a fierce whisper. “You knew what would happen in the woods. You knew you were meant to die. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!” His voice rose along with his anger.

She nodded again, and continued in a rush. “But Giles, there was nothing you could have done, I had to do it my way.” By now he had risen from the bed and was pacing the floor. “And although it was close, I made it didn’t I?” she asked in a timid voice.

His eyes snapped to hers. “That’s not the point! You should have told me Buffy! I am your Watcher – we work together! And to make matters worse, we’re lovers! Buffy, how could you keep this from me!!”

Hearing the anger in his voice Buffy’s eyes welled with tears. “I couldn’t tell you Giles. You were so happy that I was back, and I knew that if I told you, you would have done anything to keep me away from the fight – you always do!” Her own voice had risen iustrustration, and now t wer were cursing down her cheeks. “And one of these days it will get you killed, and I can’t live without you. Don’t you get that by now?!”

Seeing her tears, his anger quickly deflated and he swiftly made his way to her bed and cradled her in his arms. He soothingly stroked her hair and back as tears made their way down on both their cheeks.

When her sobs quieted he spoke in a soft voice. “That applies to me as well, luv. But you need to tell me about these things. We are not two entities anymore, nor are we simply Watcher and Slayer any longer. We have something much more profound. We’re now two parts of a whole. Promise me you’ll never keep something like this from me again?” The last question was said in a pleading voice.

“I promise Giles. But you need to promise me you won’t go all gung-ho, as you have other times. From now on we discuss everything in a calm and rational manner without making any rash decisions.”

He had to hide a grin against her hair, because he knew without a doubt that he and Buffy would never talk about prophecies in a calm and rational matter. It simply wasn’t their way of working together. He was momentarily frightened that now that their emotions were running eve deeper than they had before, they would fight like cats and dogs about how things would be solved. But, as long as they fought out openly, it would have to do.

“I agree.” he murmured into her hair before raising his head.

“God, we are a pair, aren’t we?” Buffy laughed soggily as they brushed errant tears off each others’ faces.

“Are you reconsidering your earlier proposition of letting me move in with you?” he asked playfully. He’d intended the comment to make her smile, but she became more serious than before.

“Never!” she said fiercely before pulling him into a fervent kiss.

The couple was so wrapped up in each other that they both missed the opening of the door. A rather stunned Willow stood with her jaw dropped. Xander, who was standing right behind her, had a mixed expression of “ewww” and a smile, while Anya, who had seen it all before, merely yawned.
As the couple seemed completely oblivious of the fact that they were being watched, Xander decided to break them apart before they were introduced to a NC17 rated show right in front of them.

“Ahem! Does anybody care to tell us what is going on?”

Buffy and Giles jumped apart. “Ah. . . this isn’t what it looks like” Giles immediately said to his defence. “Oh, alright, it is” he quickly amended as Buffy swatted his chest. “But, let us explain.”

Anya immediately cut in. “Giles! I was the one who was going to tell this story remember?”

Ignoring both Buffy’s and Giles’ protest she turned towards Willow and Xander.

“Ok, it’s like this. It’s really thanks to me you know. Without me there would have been no happy orgasms for either one of them.”

Buffy buried her face in Giles’ chest in mortification to tune out Anya’s embarrassing chatter of Anya. She wasn’t terribly comforted since Giles was actually shaking with laughter. He immediately wrapped his arms around her and settled them both comfortably on the bed. They would have time to tell their much edited and more accurate version later. They were together and that was more than enough.

THE END