Six Inches Between Us

Giles had to fight the desire to slamming the door shut and throttle someone – either Greg for flirting or Buffy for responding – he wasn’t sure.

He took a deep breath and turned towards Greg. He’d reclaimed the couch and was looking at Giles with such as satisfied smile that Giles decided that if anyone deserved a throttle it was Greg.

“So that was the famous Buffy Summers. . . I imagine she’s quite the handful, Rupert.” Giles ignored Greg’s comment and went to the kitchen to put the kettle on.

“Tea Greg?” he asked through clenched teeth. Greg bit back a grin, got up and moved towards the kitchen.

“Yes please.” As Giles prepared a tray he steeled himself for what he knew was inevitably coming from Greg.

“So Rupert, Buffy seemed adorable. Is she seeing anyone?” Greg asked with poorly hidden interest in his voice.

Greg wasn’t blind. It would have been impossible to miss the sparks and tension evident between Rupert and Buffy. If they were just too timid to act on them, he’d just have to help. It didn’t mean he couldn’t have fun while he did, and he alw always enjoyed making Rupert squirm.

“Not that I know of, no” Giles responded, trying as hard as he could to clench the flare of jealousy that threatened to rise to vast proportions. Damn that man, why the bloody hell did he have to lay his eyes on Buffy?

“Good to hear! It would be lovely to have someone to keep me warm during the lonely nights at Sunnydale Motel.”

Giles spun around in anger and was about to give Greg a piece of his mind when he saw Greg’s knowing grin. That bastard! He knew exactly what he was doing. His anger disappeared as he walked up to Greg.

“Gregory, I beg of you, please leave this alone.” Greg’s grin relaxed into a soft smile as he saw Giles’ obvious distress.

“Gregory huh? You only call me that when you mean business.” When he saw that Giles wasn’t amused, he continued. “Rupert, it’s obvious that you care about Buffy. Clearly those feelings are more than just friendly. Why don’t you do anything about it?”

Giles immediately shook his head and turned back to the kettle that whistled.

“Greg, Buffy doesn’t return my feelings. There is no way I would destroy our relationship for my own selfish reasons.”

“But Giles…”

Giles cut him off immediately. “This matter is closed, Greg.” He took a deep breath and continued with a cajoling smile. “Come on, let’s go back into the living room and put down some ground rules about what you are allowed to share about my misspent youth tonight.”

Greg recognised Giles’ stubborn streak and reluctantly followed. Silently he promised himself this matter wasn’t closed at all. Merely postponed.
*****
Seven o’clock found Giles and Greg outside Buffy’s door with a couple bottles of wine. Greg had decided to use this evening to observe Buffy and Giles, then make up his mind whether or not he’d make Giles do something. Surely he couldn’t have misunderstood Buffy’s response to Giles earlier that same afternoon?

Just as Giles was about to knock, the door flew open to reveal Buffy wearing an apron and a shining smile. A smile aimed directly at Giles.

“Hi”, she said breathlessly. “I saw you walking up the lawn and decided to beat you to it.” Then she stepped forward and gave Giles a hug. He couldn’t help but happily reciprocate. The feeling of her in his arms was indescrle, le, and, just as he thought, with his arms around her it just left him wanting more. The fact that Greg had held up a mirror to his feelings made it even more difficult for him to ignore them.

Buffy released him. What the hell she was thinking, touching and hugging him like she had today? It was just so hard to stop!

She slipped back into her role as hostess and said hello to Greg as she ushered them inside and took their coats. Greg smilingly handed her the bottles of wine and said hello to Willow. He followed Buffy into the kitchen as Giles and Willow talked in the living room. While Buffy placed the bottles of wine on the counter and moved to the stove, Greg decided to use this opportunity.

“So Buffy tell me, how is it having Rupert as your watcher. Does he keep you busy? Or should I ask if you keep him busy?” Buffy smiled as she kept stirring the sauce.

“You could say that. The man schedules more training session than I thought was humanly possible. Or should I say is possible for him. Being a full-time shopkeeper and watcher must be time-consuming. He probably spends more time at the Magic Box than in his own house.”

Greg saw the perfect opening and decided to test the waters.

“So he likes his shop huh? Well who can blame the man? I assume no man could resist an environment where he can meet women on a daily basis. Especially when they fawn over him. Giles used to be quite the ladies man in London, a trait I assume he did not leave behind when he came here.”

Buffy abruptly turned to him with a poorly hidden scowl and grumbled as she grabbed a wine bottle to open it.

“Women don’t fawn over Giles. Well ok, they do, but, who can blame them?”
Immediately realising what she’d just said she raced to distract Greg. “I mean, at least Giles doesn’t notice and even if he did why would he throw himself at those, those desperate women? He doesn’t need to meet other women, he has us. I mean, those women at the magic shop, he doesn’t need. . . he’s content with us!” Her mouth snapped shut. God job Buffy, why don’t you rent a billboard that announces how much Giles dating women bothers you?

Blushing she turned to get some wine glasses and pour the wine. She handed a glass to Greg, who was trying his damndest to hide a smile. Deep in though she didn’t notice that Giles and Willow entered the room. She jumped at Giles’ voice.

“Buffy, you should see what Willow did. She started an internet page for the shop! We’ll get so many new customers because of this. Isn’t that wonderful? Is that wine?”

Buffy looked at him with barely concealed anger. She picked up a glass of wine, slammed it down in front of him and stomped out of the kitchen.

Giles turned to Willow and then Greg with a questioning look. Something dawned on him when he saw Greg’s innocent eyes – too innocent – looking back at him. With an irritated sigh he left the kitchen to find his slayer.

“What the hell was that?” Willow asked.

Greg grinned at her. “Hopefully a lovers’ quarrel.”
*****
Giles found Buffy pretending to tidy up the living room. She seemed more than tense. He wasn’t at all sure how to approach this.

“Buffy? What’s wrong? Are you mad at me?” Buffy stopped straightening the magazines on the coffee table, and slowly turned around. When she saw his worried look, she felt awful. She had no right to take her jealous anger out on him. It’s not like he’d done anything wrong. He couldn’t help that he was so damn attractive, and that women would have crawled all over him if he let them. She just wanted to be the only one doing the crawling.

“No Giles, I, I. . . It was just something Greg said. Something about you and your skilful abilities as a ladies man.” As soon as the words were out, she blushed and looked down to study her shoes. Damn, could this be anymore embarrassing?

Giles was shocked. What was this about being a ladies man? As soon as he came close to any women he liked he stuttered like crazy. Greg had teased him mercilessly about it the entire time they’d known each other. The only reason he managed to contain his stutter around Buffy was that he’d never deluded himself to believing he actually had a chance with her. Knowing he had no chance relaxed him a little bit, although it wouldn’t take much for Buffy to make him lose control. What shocked him was that she’d actually looked jealous when she had talked about his way with women.

Against his better judgement, he approached her and slowly placed his fingers beneath her chin. He raised her head so he could look into her eyes.

“Buffy…”

Buffy’s breath caught in her throat as she looked into his eyes, thinking she could lose herself in them. He was staring at her with awe in his own. He could not believe what he was seeing.

“Giles…” she breathed and then stepped closer to him, revelling in the heat that seemed to radiate from his body.

His eyes strayed to her lips and back again. To hell with it, he thought, it was worth a shot.

He slowly lowered his face to hers, giving her ample opportunity to withdraw if she wanted to. Instead she placed a hand on his shoulder and lifter her mouth towards his. Mere inches were between them. Giles’ heart beat furiously in his chest as he moved to close the remaining distance.

“Dinner’s ready!”

Both jumped apart as Willow’s cheerful voice sounded from the kitchen.

Buffy looked worriedly at Giles, afraid that moment was lost. Worried that it would never happen again. Giles seemed to understand, and smiled reassuringly at her as he stepped closer and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.

“Until la” H” He took her hand and brushed his thumb over the back as they headed towards the dining room.

TBC