Safe Call

Chapter 4

Buffy came to the next morning to the wonderful sensation of waking up in Giles’ arms. They had both moved during the night and he was now behind her, holding her close to his chest, his hand on her stomach under her sweater and his head was buried in her neck. How he managed to breathe was beyond her, but she was not dumb enough to wake him to ask that question. She closed her eyes again, refusing to let the harshness of reality ruin this wonderful moment. As she unconsciously started trailing her fingers up and down Giles’ arm that was around her, she tried to pinpoint when her feelings for Giles had changed. She could not figure out when it had happened, it felt like he had made her heart skip faster for the longest time. Knowing that he would never look at her the same way, she had tried to make itk wik with Riley, but she knew now that it was impossible.

Xander’s loud bang on the bathroom door, telling Willow to hurry up made her jump and she knew that reality had just come knocking in the form of a waking Giles. Holding her breath in anticipation of how he would react made her stiffen in his arms, and Giles who was still not fully awake tightened his hold on her and tangled his legs with hers and started stroking her stomach as to ease the tension out of her body.
“Mmmm” was all that rumbled from his chest like a purr, and she had to bite her lip to prevent herself from moaning out loud from the wonderful sensation of the vibrations coming from his chest.

Giles suddenly froze when he realised that his very vivid dream of him being draped around Buffy’s body was actually a reality. However, he doubted that she appreciated his hand on her stomach and his growing arousal, so he quickly moved away from her before she noticed.
“Buffy, I am sorry…I”
She turned towards him and cut him off before he could finish what he was about to say.
“No Giles, I am the one who should apologize, I know you didn’t realize it was me, and I certainly know you don’t feel that way about me”, she said as pain showed in her eyes.
“Buffy, I..”
Before he had the chance to even start that sentence both heard Willow shout “Riley, don’t go in there”, and the bed room door flew open, and a very pissed off Riley loomed in the doorway.

Chapter 5

“I can not believe this!!” Riley yelled as he watched Buffy and Giles get more tangled up in the sheets as they jumped and tried to get away from each other – only resulting in Buffy falling smack into a Giles. And another part of him that he had tried to hide from her.

In the meantime, both Willow and Xander had followed Riley into Buffy’s room and a full blown shouting match started between them, distracting Riley from what was going on in the bed.
“Who the hell do you think you are, Riley, to come barging into this house without knocking”, Xander yelled at him.
“I am Buffy’s boyfriend, that’s who I am, and I would think that gives me the right to…”
“Rights?!”, Willow shouted. “There are other people living here to who does not appreciate your attitude around this house and frankly speaking Riley..”

The argument continued as background noise as Buffy raised her eyes to Giles’ blushing face. She could see the desire in his eyes and suddenly everything clicked. He did feel the same way about her as she did about him. All she had to do now was telling him before she knew his conscience would make him feel guilty about it.
“You feel this way about me?” she asked softly.
He ducked his head and stuttered out “I . I am so sorry Buffy. I never meant for you to find out. I ..”
He quieted when he felt her hand touch his chest and raised his eyes nervously to hers and was astonished by what he saw. Apparently he had been wrong.
He saw her eyes drops to his lips and he started to lean in towards her mouth the same time she moved towards him.

Across the room, Willow saw what was about to happen, and as much as she hated to break this up, she knew this was not the time for this moment of clarity for her friends to continue. She quickly put a couple of fingers in her mouth and gave a mind-blowing whistle that startled all the occupants in the room. Unfortunately, Buffy’s jumped so much that she flew of the bed and fell smack on the floor next to the bed.

Everyone became dead quiet and had the room not been carpeted you could have heard a pin drop. The absurdity of the situation hit both Buffy and Giles at the same time, and Giles had to bite his lip hard from laughing out loud when he heard a tiny snicker coming from the floor. He quickly looked up at Xander and Willow, and almost lost it again when he saw they were both trying to ksmilsmiles off their faces. The only thing that actually kept him from doing so was the proverbial dark cloud of anger that loomed over Riley. Willow took pity on Riley and motioned to Xander to help her bring Riley downstairs.
“Come on Riley, let’s Buffy find her dignity again and go downstairs”.
Surprisingly, he followed Xander out the door. As Willow leaved the room she turned around in the doorway and looked affy’ffy’s form which was still on the floor and said with a smile on her lips “come down as soon as you can Buffy.”
All she got was a thumbs up in the air, and once again Giles had to bite his lip and looked down to prevent from laughing again. The door closed and the room was once again draped in silence.

A few seconds passed, while Giles tried to prevent his laughter to come out. He knew it was a lost cause when he felt a pillow being thrown into his face. As he laughed he raised his eyes and found Buffy still sitting on the floor with her head barely above the mattress. “Enjoyed that did you, watcher mine?”
“Well, despite the circumstances I must say it has been quite amusing” he chuckled.
They both suddenly got serious and Buffy opened her mouth to talk.
He stopped her by bending down towards her and pressed his lips to hers.

At first their lips did not move, both just revelled in the feeling of having their lips touch for the first time. Then Giles let his lips move gently over hers and Buffy was pretty sure she felt her heart skip a beat. She raised her hands to tangle in his hair and he snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her up into the bed never breaking the kiss. As she felt his body press into her while his lips gently played with hers she couldn’t prevent a gasp.
When Giles felt her mouth open he softly deepened the kiss and next thing he knew their mouths were fused together – their tongues twisting and exploring. He knew he needed to end this before he lost all control and gently ended the kiss, reluctantly pulling his mouth away.

He looked into her desire filled eyes and gently whisperRileRiley is still downstairs, you should go talk to him.”
She stroked his cheek lovingly and nodded “I know.”
He gave her a final quick kiss then got of the bed and moved towards her door.
He turned to look at her and gave her a gentle smile.
“I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me”, and then he turned back around again and left her room.

Chr 6 r 6

Buffy gave herself a couple of more seconds to calm down her breathing, before she stood on shaky legs and proceeded to go downstairs after a quick check in the mirror. She had absolutely no idea what she would say to Riley. Well, she knew she had to end it, that was not even an issue. But breaking up was never easy – even if you were the one doing it.

She stepped into the living room and saw Riley pacing, while Xander was sitting on the couch reading a magazine. Riley turned when he heard her come in and looked at her with blazing anger in his eyes and fists clenched. Xander quickly jumped up and headed for the kitchen.

“Riley, I am sorry but it was not as bad as it looked.”
“Right, because finding your girlfriend in bed with another man is usually a good thing”, Riley scoffed.
Buffy crossed her arms across her chest and prepared herself to throw him a fast retort, but then realised that this was not the time for insensitive Buffy to come out. His anger was really justified.
“No, Riley, you are right, but what I mean to say is that nothing happened between Giles and me yesterday. He helped me with my cut and then we both fell asleep on the bed.”
Buffy almost winced when she realized how lame that sounded. Apparently, Riley agreed full heartedly because his face got flushed and his back and forth pacing increased in speed.
“Oh please, Buffy! At least have the decency to be honest with me. Something might not have happened last night, but that is not what this argument is about! The fact is that you are in love with a man who is not ME!!” his voice thundered throughout the house.
Painfully aware that Giles was in the kitchen, and without a doubt heard that, Buffy tried to stall an answer to that question.
“Riley, don’t….”, but she got cut off as Riley yelled at her.
“Don’t even try to deny it! I have seen the way you look at him! Tell me the god damn truth, Buffy!!”
“Yes!” she suddenly exploded.
As soon as she said it, all the anger seemed to evaporate from Riley’s body.
For what seemed like minutes, but in truth only was a few seconds, not a word was said, and all Buffy could hear was the thundering of her own heart.
Oh God, oh God, this was not how she meant to let Giles know.
Riley suddenly drew in a deep breath and slowly exhaled as he looked at her.
His voice sounded almost serene compared to the anger that had been laced in it when he yelled at her only a fomenoments ago.
“Was that so hard?”
He dropped his eyes to the floor, and then suddenly turned to grab his jacket that was on the coffee table and brushed past Buffy out into the hallway.
“Have a nice life, Buffy.”
Buffy turned just as he left the living room. “Riley”.
He stopped but did not turn around as he waited for what she was about to say.
“I am truly sorry, I never meant to hurt you” she said with a sincere voice.
“Yeah, I know”, he answered and then walked out of the house and her life.

In the meantime, not a word had been uttered in the kitchen since the argument had started. Xander, Willow and Tara’s eyes had all been glued on Giles, who had kept his eyes on the tea cup cradled in his hands where he was standing by the kitchen island. The only indication that he had even paid attention to the argument was the tightening of his hands and a brief closing of his eyes when Buffy had admitted to being in love with him.

And then Buffy was in the doorway, her eyes on Giles. He slowly raised his eyes to hers and the air grew thick with tension.
Xander suddenly needed to get out of there – fast! He tried to casually stroll towards the back door while as offhandedly as possible said “oh wow, look at the time, it’s…it’s time for me not to be here!”, and he bolted out the door.
Both Willow and Tara looked worriedly at each other, while Giles and Buffy took no notice hem,hem, and Willow decided that they would not even care if Tara and her left without an explanation – so they quickly followed Xander’s suit out the door.
“That was subtle”, Buffy murmured, as she tore her gaze away from Giles’ and started studying her foot instead.
“Indeed”, Giles replwhilwhile his hands tightened on the teacup in his hands.

Buffy felt her heart slam in her chest and the nervous flutter in her stomach increased as she pondered what to say. Doubt started to fill her. What if he was not in love with her? For all she knew it could purely be a physical thing for him. She needed to say something before the silence would kill her. She raised her eyes again and looked at him.
“Giles, I…”
“I am in love with you”, he interrupted.

TBC