Finding Strength

Please see disclaimers in Chapter 1

Chapter 7

Buffy, still laying on the ground where Mike had jumped her, looked up at Giles in shock. Was it really him? Was he really here? Or did she bang her head when Mike surprised her?

Giles ran over and stood above Mike, glowering at him. Mike, flat on his back, looked up at the man. “Ripper?” he asked. Giles hissed at him, and began kicking Mike over and over again in his gut. Mike curled into a fetal position to try and block the kicks as best he could, but he was no match for Ripper.

Buffy jumped up and tried to pull Giles off of Mike. “Giles! Giles! Stop, you’ll kill him. Giles!” But Giles was in a fury, and continued to kick at the fallen creep. Buffy grabbed Giles with all her strength around his upper arm, and shouted at him again. “Ripper! Stop!” That got Giles’ attention. He stopped his violent kicking, and turned towards Buffy, immediately grabbing her into a fierce hug. “Buffy, oh my Buffy.”

The world stopped, and no one else existed in that moment, as they held each other close.

After their heartbeats slowed, Giles relaxed his arms around Buffy, but did not let her go. “Are you okay?” he whispered in her ear. She pulled back out of his arms slightly, gazed into his beautiful green eyes, and smiled. She lifted her right hand up and gently caressed his left cheek. “I am now.”

Finally she stepped out of his embrace, and glowered at Mike, still writhing on the floor. “He just surprised me, Giles. I’d have handled him.”

Giles chuckled beside her, but sobered quickly. “If he had hurt you Buffy….”

She smiled at him again. “He didn’t. I’m fine.” Then she bent down and grabbed Mike by his elbow, pulling him up. He moaned in pain. Giles went to help her, but she nodded him off. “No. Let me.” Then she kicked open the door to the street, and ceremoniously threw him out. She wiped her hands off on her jeans, as if to dispel his stink off of her. Then she turned back to Giles. “What do you say we get out of this place?”

“Yes, let’s.” He held the door open for her, and then followed her down the street, walking over the fallen Mike without a glance back.

Reality washed over her as they walked towards her apartment. “Giles, what are you doing here? I thought you were in England?”

“I never left.”

The sun had set, pooling them both in shadows, so she couldn’t see his features as ttalktalked.

“Oh.” Her mind was spinning.

“Buffy…” But before he could say more, she cut him off. “Not yet, Giles. We’ll talk, but not yet.”

He looked at her profile. Her head was turned down, but she didn’t look broken anymore. He knew his Buffy had begun to resurface. He was very glad about that. He kept reliving the bone crushing hug they had just shared. He had never wanted to let her go. And the look in her eyes as she had touched his face….his stomach had butterflies still.

Buffy led him into an older looking apartment complex. The place had seen better days, but it looked well kept for the most part. She unlocked her front door and he followed her into the single room apartment. To his left stood a closed door which he assumed to be the only bathroom. They had entered into a kind of sitting area, and an old mattress was on the floor on his right. It was a well made bed with quite a few blankets tucked in around it, but the mattress was just on the floor. Absent was a frame or box springs. To the rear of the apartment was a kitchenette of sorts. This place made Giles’ apartment in Sunnydale seem like a mansion.

Buffy shrugged at his expression. “It’s not much, but it’s all I’ve really needed. And it was cheap.”

There was a desk chair and table pushed against the wall next to the mattress, and Giles lowered himself into it. “How did you find it?” he asked.

Buffy threw her boots down by her bed, and was rummaging in her suitcase that she had been living out of. “Bill, my boss at the cannery…or at least he was my boss until he hears about Mike…” Giles looked sheepish, but Buffy just smiled at hier her her shoulder. “It’s okay. Really. Seeing Ripper beating the crap out of that creep was worth it.” She didn’t see Giles’ surprised and pleased expression as she continued to root around in her suitcase. “Anyway,” she continued, “Bill’s uncle owns this place, so he helped me get it when I got the job at the cannery. It came furnished, so I was lucky.”

Furnished? Lucky? Giles kept his expression blank, but his emotions were in a turmoil. Buffy preferred this place to home? To him? The butterflies subsided some in his gut, but the fear that she would reject him and that she’d never be able to truly forgive him began to worry him again. He couldn’t bear to leave her. He’d promised himself he would not leave this blasted town without her. He just hoped Buffy wouldn’t make it difficult on him. He’d promise her anything to bring her home, even if it meant he’d never be with her…even if it meant she wanted him to go back to England now. But he would not leave her in this hole.

“Are you hungry?” She had finished getting a change of clothes out of her bag and was standing and looking at him now. Before he could answer, she walked towards the bathroom. “I need to shower, and try and get some of this wonderful fish smell off of me. There’s some stuff in the fridge for sandwiches. While I’m freshening up, why don’t you make us a little picnic and when I’m done we can go eat on the beach?”

“Alright.” She smiled at him again, then entered the bathroom, closing the door behind her. He sat for a moment, listening to the sound of her turn the water on. He heard the shower curtain move as she got in, and the butterflies returned as he imagined her taking that hot shower. He was glad she couldn’t see his body react. He jumped up and into the kitchenette, pulling open the fridge. It was pretty empty, but there was a loaf of bread, a head of lettuce, some cheese, turkey and mayo. He made them each a sandwich, and grabbed a couple of apples that sat in the windowsill in a bowl. It wasn’t much, but it would do. He didn’t think he could really eat much now anyway. But putting the meal together gave him something to do while he waited for her to reappear.

Finally, she emerged from the bathroom. She had washed and dried her hair, and changed into gray sweatpants and a black sweatshirt. She had her dirty work clothes in a plastic garbage bag. “Helps keep the smell out of the room,” she said to Giles at his quizzical look. He nodded in understanding, and held up the sandwiches. “Dinner?” He smiled gently at her.

“Thanks.” She placed both sandwiches and apples in a brown paper bag. “Ready?”

“Um, yes. My rental car is still back at the cannery however.” In all the commotion and excitement of seeing Buffy again, he had completely forgotten it.

“That’s okay. It will be fine there until tomorrow. Everything is in walking distance here.”

“Oh. Alright then. I guess I can grab my luggage later. I’m ready.”

They headed out into the evening, walking a brisk pace. They walked in silence, but it wasn’t oppressive. Giles was nervous of the conversation to come, but relished being close to her again. He didn’t sense that she was angry towards him, and for that he was grateful. He knew she would talk when she was ready.

Buffy made her way down the beach to her favorite log. She sat, and patted the log on her right, indicating for Giles to join her. As he sat, she opened the paper bag and handed him one of the sandwiches.

They ate with only the sounds of the waves keeping them company. It was oddly peaceful. Again, it felt like they were the only two on the planet.

“We should have visited the beach more often, Giles.”

He inhaled the smells around him. Buffy’s strawberry shampoo, and the salty tang of the sea made a wonderful combination. “I think you’re right.”

They smiled at each other. Then Buffy took the paper bag that had held their dinner, and wadded it up. She removed her shoes and socks, and placed the bag far down insidr ter tennis shoe.

“Shoes, Giles. And socks. Take them off.”

He frowned down at his feet. “What?” He turned his frown towards her.

“If you want to talk, first you must remove your shoes and socks. We are going to walk down by the waves, and I want you to feel the sand in your toes. It’s marvelous, really. We’ll walk, and talk. But no talk until you are barefoot.”

She hopped up off the log and jogged down to where the waves met the sand. He watched her fondly for a moment, and then removed his shoes and socks. He had promised himself he’d do anything for her, hadn’t he?

TBC