Obeying Nature

CHAPTER 5
The morning passed quickly, and before they knew it, Buffy and Giles found themselves alonTheiTheir intended run had quickly turned into a leisurely stroll with their hands tightly clasped together. Not many words had been spoken. Both seemed content with the silence as they made their way through the woods. Suddenly they found themselves at a clearing, and Buffy gasped in delight when she saw a small lake with glorious rays gracine sue surface.

“Wow!” Buffy said, breathless with awe as she looked at the beautiful scenery in front of them.

“Quite,” was all Giles managed to reply, also taken by the same serene view.

“You know what this means, right Giles?” Buffy asked with a smile. He turned his head to reply and found himself suddenly speechless when he saw Buffy pealing off her t-shirt, leaving her in a sports-bra.

“W-what do you m-mean?” he managed to stutter out.

With a playfully exasperated expression, Buffy responded as she kicked off her sneakers and running shorts, “Come on, let loose Watcher-mine, we’re going for a dip!”

Before he had a chance to answer, she took off running and dove into the water.

She re-emerged and found Giles rooted to the spot. She gave him a disapproving glare. “Come on Giles, the water isn’t getting any warmer.”

With a slight grumble, Giles removed his t-shirt and shorts to stand clad only in his boxers. He aimed his just as powerful glare at her, although it quickly turned playful when he saw her shining smile. Mumbling under his breath he walked towards the lake, and had to hold back a shriek to maintain his manliness when he wadded into the water.

Buffy laughed, and quickly dove under the water. When she came back up again, Giles was nowhere to be found. She started to worry. “Giles?” she asked as she looked around for him.

She let out a piercing scream when she felt two powerful hands grab her waist to drag her under. She came back up spluttering, and jumped on the man standing in front of her with a smug smile.

“Oh, you are going to pay for that one!” lau laughed as she tried her damndest to dunk him under, a feat that her light weight was unable to do while she was in the water. Soon both were involved in a massive water fight, mingled with laughs and playful threats.

Buffy was hanging on to Giles’ back, planning to somehow knock his feet from under him, when she suddenly stilled. She circled his chest with her arms, wrapped her legs around his waist, and placed her chin on his shoulder.

“Giles?” she asked softly, and placed a soft kiss on his shoulder.

“Mmmm” he said as he wiped the water from his eyes, before placing his hands underneath her knees so he could hold her closer against his back.

“Thank you for this. I can’t remember the last time I felt like a regular girl hanging out with a regular guy, doing a regular thing, you know? It’s extra special when it’s a guy who gives me some very nice tingles.”

Giles felt his heart beating a little faster, and let his thumbs stroke her skin softly. “I know. I feel the same way.”

“Oh yeah?” she asked playfully, “You feel like a regular girl hanging out with a regular guy, doing a regular thing too?”

“Ha bloody ha” he growled back at her. He let her legs go so he could pull her around to face him. “You know what I meant.”

With a loving voice that had no trace of her previous playful tone she said, “Yeah, I did.”
She placed her arms around his shoulders again and held him tightly. She pressed her face into his neck. Giles immediately tightened his hold on her, and closed his eyes in utter bliss at the feel of her skin against his. Several minutes passed without a word spoken, as they embraced while the sun shone down on them.

When Giles felt Buffy shiver from the cool water, he lifted her a little higher so he had a more secure hold on her and slowly walked out of the lake. He gently deposited her on the ground by their discarded clothes, with a kiss to the top of her head.

“Let’s get out of our wet clothes and warm up. I’ll be right back.”

Buffy watched him pick up his dry clothes and disappear further into the woods to give her the privacy to change her own.

Chapter 6
“A bicycle”

“What do you mean it’s a bicycle? It looks nothing like it.” Buffy furrowed her brow in concentration as she squinted up at the sky.

“Look right there. There’s the steering, right below is the wheel, and a little to the righu seu see the pedals and the seat,” Giles explained while pointing his finger. Dressed in their dry clothes while their wet ones were hanging on a tree, Giles and Buffy laid on their backs in the grass, heads close together, cloud watching.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t bikes supposed to have two wheels?” Buffy said with a smothered giggle.

“Yes, well, I can’t help it if the wheel was stolen. I just call them as I see them.” Giles huffed humorously.

“Ok, I give. What about this one then?” Buffy’s hand indicated a small cloud to their left. It took a few seconds before Giles responded, and Buffy waited in anticipation.

“The most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen,” came his soft-spoken response.

“Huh?” Buffy turned her to him with a confused look.

Her breath caught as she saw Giles’ green eyes looking directly at her. Before she had the chance to say another word, his hand gently caressed her cheek. He turned towards her and covered her mouth with his. A million butterflies fluttered in Buffy’s stomach as his lips gently moved over hers.

She almost mewled in protest when she felt his lips release hers, but he only raised himself to lean on his elbow, cover half of her body with his, and lower his mouth to hers again. Their lips met and clung together as passion exploded between them. Buffy wasn’t able to hold back a moan when Giles’ tongue stroked against hers.

Before he lost all restraint, Giles ended the kiss and raised his head so he could look into her eyes.

“Buffy, I’m sorry, but I need to ask. What . . . I mean, when, ah. . . ”

Buffy placed a finger on his lips. She knew what he was trying to ask. Letting her fingers run down his cheek slowly, she gave him an understanding smile before she started speaking.

“Giles, before I died, we were closer than we’d ever been before. There was a connection that I couldn’t explain. I knew I cared deeply about you. I felt you cared about me, too.” His nod made her smile. “But there was too much going on at the time for me to really explore it. I couldn’t really think about what those feelings were. I wanted to, because I felt that something had shifted. But, well, we both know what happened next: the Swan Dive of the Century.” Giles only looked her seriously in the eyes as his hand came up to stroke her cheek.

“You died.” he whispered. Seeing the pain in his eyes, she wanted to hit herself for being so flip about it. She hadn’t meant to hurt him. She should have realised how much her death must have pained him.

“Yeah” she whispered in return and used a hand to stroke his back soothingly. “And we don’t need to go through everything that happened after that. I am dealing with it. Willow is better. And I’m actually happy to be back now, despite the whole heaven thing.”

She took a deep breath before she continued.

“But it was the day that you came back from England that I finally understood those feelings I had before I died. When you hugged me everything became clear as glass. I realised that I was in love with you.”

That last admission came out as a whisper, and for a second she was worried about how he would take it. When she saw his eyes mist, she felt her own tear up. He said nothing, only lowered his mouth to hers again, and kissed her senseless until they had to stop for air. With closed eyes he leaned his forehead against hers as he drew in a shaky breath.

“Oh god, Buffy. I have been in love with you for so long.” He gave her a brief kiss before giving her such a wonderful happy smile that Buffy reciprocated tenfold.

“You have? I had no idea. When I first realised my own feelings it terrified me. I knew you cared, but I thought it was like I was your daughter. That’s why I’ve been pulling away from you so much lately, Giles. I was worried you’d find out, and everything would be ruined between us.”

Giles shook his head adamantly, “Buffy, even if I hadn’t returned your feelings, I would never have let them come between us. I hope you know you can tell me anything.”

Buffy gave him a loving smile, “Well, I don’t have to worry about that now, do I?”

Giles chuckled, “No, you don’t.”

“There were times”, she continued, “that I thought I saw something in your eyes. But it was gone so quickly that I never found out for sure.”

“Well”, Giles said wi rue rueful smile, “I’ve had bit of practice.” That made her laugh, and Buffy couldn’t stop from giving him another kiss. She had never been as happy as she was at this moment. When she released his lips, she pulled him into a tight embrace, marvelling over the fact that he was now hers. And she was his.

Her smile sobered when she heard a small voice in the back of her head trying to remind her it wouldn’t last. She only tightened her hold on Giles and pushed the voice away.

TBC