Obeying Nature

Chapter 16
The moment between them was shattered as the door to the room opened, and Dr. Bocho rushed in with a nurse. Giles reluctantly slid from the bed as the doctor checked on Buffy, but kept her hand in his.
“Glad to see you back among us Miss Summers” Dr. Bocho said as he checked on her wound. “Your friends have been very worried about you.” He took a quick look at her face, and smiled as he saw that she wasn’t paying attention to a word he was saying or what he was doing. Her eyes were glued to the man holding her hand.
When he had first seen them, he thought the older man was probably her father. But when he saw the loving look between them he realised he was very mistaken. Father-daughter love wasn’t even close to the thing radiating out from them.
Turning his attention back to her wound he continued to talk. “You were very lucky Miss Summers. The knife in your side did quite some damage, and the broken piece from the knife almost pierced your lung. I have to say I am rather amazed at the state of your wound. It looks like you were stabbed days ago.”
When she said nothing, he only shook his head in disbelief and prodded her skin a little harder. Buffy suddenly cried out in pain and her eyes snapped shut as if she was trying to block out the pain. Giles’ eyes welled up with tears at her distress. The doctor immediately let up, and apologized, before picking up her file to make some notes.
When Buffy’s eyes opened she saw a tear spill down Giles’ cheek, and she tugged on his shirt so he leaned down towards her. She brushed the tear away and left her hand on his cheek. “I’m ok.”
All he could do was nod and place a kiss on her forehead.
The doctor finished with his file, then took a look at the small crowd surrounding her bed, before turning back to his patient.
“Ms. Summers, you need to get as much rest as possible. I will be back tomorrow morning before my shift ends, but until then you must sleep. We can get a couple of cots in here for your friends, but we won’t be able to fit them all.
Buffy looked at him with a stubborn look in her eyes before responding. “Xander and Anya can share one, and Willow can take the other. Two are all we need.”
He merely nodded and then turned to look at the man by her side.
“I can find you a better place than a chair for you if you would like sir?”
“He stays with me” Buffy said in a soft voice, and Giles squeezed her hand in response, feeling just as strongly about the matter.
“Miss Summers, you need your rest, and I highly doubt you would be comfortable enough to sleep while sharing your bed.”
Buffy answered with a voice that left no chance of dismissal. “I won’t be comfortable, or even able to rest, unless he’s lying here right next to me.”
A short staring match ensued. The doctor quickly lost, and they all laughed when they heard his grumble. “There used to be a time when doctors were the ones who ran this hospital, not the patients or their visitors.”
Buffy gave him a happy smile that he couldn’t help but answer. With some last minute instructions to the nurse he went on his way. An orderly came in with the cots, and they all helped to set them up. Grateful that now Buffy seemed to be out of the woods, so to speak, the entire gang couldn’t wait to get more restful sleep.

Chapter 17
After the light had been turned off and the others settled down, Giles was about to climb back into Buffy’s bed, but stopped when she shook her head at him. He kept his voice low and leaned down to avoid disturbing the others as much as possible.
“What’s wrong, luv?” She lifted her sheets and responded in a whispered voice.
“Under the covers, not over.” He gave the others on the cots a quick glance, but the room was too dark to see their reaction. The next moment he decided to hell with all of it, and climbed in to pull her gently into his arms. Some things were much more important than their friends’ reaction to a relationship between them.
“Are you alright?” he asked while closing his eyes and burying his nose in her hair.
“Mmmm, perfect.” She turned her head slightly so she could rest the side of her face against his chest and took a deep breath.
“Giles?”
“Mmm?”
“Why do you smell like Xander?” Her question caused both Giles’ and Xander’s eyes to snap open.
Not wanting to relieve the emotional hell he had been through, Giles decided to keep his explanation short and trivial.
“I wasn’t my usual impeccable self when we came in here, and tmademade me change before I came in to your room. Xander had a change of clothes in his car and lent it to me.” She tugged on him to make him scoot down a little so they were face to face.
“Covered in dirt were you?” she asked with a cheeky smile that lost its power as she saw his face go sombre.
“Not quite. I was rather covered in your, ah, blood.” Immediately she felt bad, not realising until now the pain he must have been going through. The sound of his voice and look at his face made her understand.
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” He only shook his head as if had been nothing and pulled her close again.
“Giles?”
“Mmm?”
“Take it off.”
This time Xander’s eyes grew even bigger and his mouth formed a silent ‘what?’ as well.
“The t-t-shirt?” Giles managed to stutter out. Buffy gave a little giggle as she heard Giles’ famous trait.
“As much as I love Xander, I don’t love him like that, and I would like to fall asleep to your scent, not his.” Xander waited for an embarrassed answer, or any answer at all, but all he heard was the rustling of fabric, and then Giles’ quiet whisper as they settled down.
“Better?”
“Much better.” She let one hand stroke his chest and took a deep breath. A little too deep, apparently: her injured side screamed in protest. She couldn’t help but let out a whim and and Giles immediately raised his head to looked at her.
“Buffy?”
“It’s alright, I just got a little overambitious for a second. See what your body does to me?”
Her comment didn’t sink in until he’d checked her over twice to make sure she was ok. Then his face suddenly sported a grin.
“Is that so? Well, the feeling is entirely mutual. But we are not acting on it until you are one hundred percent better.” Her own grin turned into a pout.
“Not even a kiss? You know, you haven’t kissed me once since I woke up. I am feeling rather insecure you know. As a matter of fact . . ” To end her whispered tirade, knowing she wouldn’t go to sleep until he had obliged her, Giles covered her lips with his. Not that kissing Buffy would ever be something he had to oblige, he thought, as he let his tongue gently brush hers.
He kept the kiss soft and undemanding, making sure to raise as little passion as possible. At least for her, he thought, as he felt the familiar tightening in his lower stomach. A mere touch from her could raise him in no time. When he felt her fingers tighten in his hair and her breath quicken, he eased himself out of the kiss and leaned his forehead on hers with a rueful smile.
“God, what you do to me Buffy.” She smiled before letting her lips brush his briefly and then rested her head back against his now naked chest.
“I love you, Giles.”
Xander’s initially shocked expression had turned into one of acceptance as he had listened to their whispered conversation. His eyes closed with a smile just as he heard Giles’ shaky response.
“And I love you, Buffy.”