Safe Call

Disclaimer: The characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Productions, Kuzui Enterprises, 20th Century Fox Television, the WB Television Network, and whoever else may have a hold on them. I do not mean to infringe upon any copyrights.


Chapter One

Giles anxiously checked his watch for what felt like the millionth time the past hour. In frustration he threw his book down on the coffee table and got up to check his phone again. Why had she not called? He felt his chest tighten when he imagined the possibilities of what might have happened to her. The past three months Buffy he he had experienced a growing closeness between them, and as a result they hreatreated a tacit agreement that Buffy would call him after patrol to let him know that she was alright. The routine had playfully been baptised “the safe call” by her. He had laughed with her when she mentioned it, but he did not think she fully realised how important that phone call was to him. He slept better knowing she had made it home ok, but the downside was that anytime she slightly deviated from when she usually finished her patrols and called him, he would worry like he did now.

Giles was no fool. He knew why he worried so much about her. For several months now he had realised that he had fallen in love with her. He did not know how it happened and could not really remember when, but he had suddenly found himself fully aware one day that he was head over heals in love with his slayer. He had no illusions that he would ever be able to express that love for her, nor that she would ever feel the same way, so he made sure to keep a tight rein on his emotions. Keeping them all bottled up however made moments like these almost unbearable. In addition, there was also the fact that Buffy was dating Riley.

Giles really could not stand him. Oh he was sure a part of his dislike for Riley was the fact that he was jealous of him. Still, there were sides of Riley that he very much resented. He was sick of the macho attitude he always pulled around Buffy, making her feel guilty for her strength and power. Buffy deserved one who thought of her as an equal and Riley certainly did not want to treat her like one.

He was suddenly torn out of his musings by the sound of his phone and he quickly picked it up.
“Buffy?”
“No Giles, it’s me, Willow.”
Suddenly he felt like his heart would stop beating. Why is she calling and not Buffy?
“Is Buffy ok?”
“Well, kind of, but you don’t need to….” And that was as far as she got before Giles slammed the phone down and rushed out the door to his car.

Chapter two

As Willow hung up the phone in the hallway she could still hear the argument going on in the living room. A few minutes earlier, Riley had entered the house carrying Buffy and placed her on the couch in the living room. It was nothing serious, a slightly sprained ankle and a cut on her foot, but Buffy wanted to avoid pressure on her foot, so she had asked Willow to call Giles and tell him she was alright. Her request was what had lead to the argument playing out as Willow joined Xander, Tara and Anya in the living room, who had come over for a video night. The video however was forgotten as they watched the argument unfold before them.

“I can’t believe you Riley, I am getting so sick and tired of your jealousy issues, and especially the timing of them. Need I remind you that those were what lead me to where I am right now?” Buffy said as she was trying to peal her sock away from her bruised foot.
“Issue! Not issues. I only have a problem with one guy, not many. And the reason why I brought it up while patrolling is because it is the only time I get to spend some time with you, because as I have said many times before, you are spending all your time with HIM.”
“Riley, you know that is not true” she said as she grimaced when pain shot through her foot.
“Oh please how stupid do you think I am?”
Xander went to open his mouth, but kept quiet when Buffy shot him a glare, knowing full well that Xander could not resist such an opportunity.
It was no secret that her friends did not care much for Riley, and as of lately Buffy had started to question her own feelings for him.
Buffy let out a long breath and then looked back up at Riley who was towering over her, making no indica tha that he would back off, nor help her with her cut. It was slightly hard to reach because her foot hurt when she tried to turn it to inspect her cut.
“Please Riley, can we not do this right now. My foot throbs and I kind of want to clean this cut up before I bleed any more on this carpet.”
Just as Riley was about to respond, and not very favourably based on the scowl on his face, the door flew open and Giles rushed into the living room and instantly went to Buffy’s side and pulled her into a hug.
“Are you alright?”
Riley rolled his eyes and threw is arms up into to the air as he stepped away from them.

Buffy revelled in the unprecedented display of affection from her watcher and beamed a smile at him when he released her.
“Not to worry Giles, just a sprained ankle and a small cut that should be right as rain in a few hours.”
“True, but is still hurts now doesn’t it” he asked while carefully placing her foot in his lap, letting his fingers run over it, checking to see how big the swelling was.
Buffy carefully covered his hand with one of hers and almost whispered, “Yeah, it does.”

Riley’s eyes narrowed as he watched the other man’s fingers stroke her foot, and he couldn’t contain his anger anymore when he saw Buffy’s hand touch Giles’.
“See! This is what I am talking about!” he almost shouted out.
Buffy’s soft eyes that were focused on Giles’ face, immediately hardened and she turned to look at Riley.
“You know what Riley, I am sick and tired of this, and in case you have failed to notice I am still bleeding. So right now I plan to take care of that and not worry about your bruised ego.” After a short pause she said, “I think you should leave.”
For a second it looked like Riley was about to protest, but then he turned away from her and said through clenched teeth “fine!”, and walked out the door.

For a few seconds nobody said anything, and Giles felt completely out of the loop.
He quickly realised he was still stroking Buffy’s foot, so he quickly stopped and then cleared his throat to break the silence in the room.
“So you are sure you are alright” he asked Buffy who was currently looking at her foot.
Her eyes rose to his and she gave him a small smile.
“Sure, slayer healing is one of the perks of the job” she quipped.
Then her face got a questioning look, “what are you doing here anyway? I mean, not that I mind, but did not Willow call you to tell you I was alright?”
“Yes I did”, Willow said as she positioned herself next to Tara on the floor, “but he hung up the phone and apparently rushed over here before I even got to finish my sentence.”

Giles felt like an utter prat. In the midst of his emotional rollercoaster and Willow’s call, the only though in his head was that he needed to get to her. Needed to do anything to keep her safe.
Now he braced himself for the inevitable teasing he was sure to come from Buffy. He almost jumped when he felt her fingers stroke his cheek, and he raised his eyes to hers, almost taken back at the emotions shining in her eyes.
“Thank you” she said as she continued to stroke his cheek.
“For what” he said, as he felt himself getting lost in her eyes.
“For caring.”
He smiled at her and said quietly, “I have always cared, Buffy.”

The rest of the gang who were now watching the second feature of the evening play out in front of them, all smiled knowingly at each other. While Buffy might be in denial, they sure weren’t. They all understood Riley’s jealousy as they watched the occupants of the couch being completely oblivious to their surroundings. They had rooted for the watcher and the slayer for some time now, thinking that their relationship should be taken to another level. They had all seen the longing looks when one of them thought the other wasn’t looking, and the lingering touches. Now it finally looked liked it would all come out in the open.

Oblivious to their audience, Giles had returned to stroking Buffy’s foot, but was quickly pulled back to reality as she winced when he accidentally touched her cut.
“Oh I am so sorry, let me help you with that, it must be quite awkward for you when your foot is sprained as well”, he as as he removed her foot from his lap and stood to get the medical kit.
“Where is your medical kit?”
“It’s upstairs, but I kind of feel like laying down, do yond hnd helping me upstairs to my room”, she said as she looked up at him.
He smiled gently at her, and then surprised her by simply picking her up in his arms and carried her towards the staircase.
“Not at all Buffy”, he murmured, as she snuggled into his chest, taking full opportunity of the brief moment of closeness she had been given.

Chapter 3

Giles gently deposited her in the middle of the bed and then quickly slipped into the bathroom and returned with the medical kit.
He carefully sat down next to her on the bed and placed her injured foot in his lap. While disinfecting her cut, he looked at her resting on her elbows watching him and asked what had been nagging him since he got the phone call from Willow.
“What happened tonight, Buffy?”
She blew out an exasperated breath while she watched him put a small bandage over her cut and then picked up a sports bandage to wrap her foot.
“Riley. With his impeccable timing of asking annoying qionsions – he distracted me, and I tripped on his sword. Resulting in an annoyed slayer with a cut on her foot and a twisted ankle.”
She saw Giles’ teeth clench as he finished wrapping her ankle. When he was done, he continued to sit with her foot in his lap, still looking down at her foot while his fingers stroked her bandage.
“You were lucky, you could have landed on it differently and done much more damage. Much more….”, he quietly trailed off.

His hands started to shake as halisalised the truth of his words, and his chest tightened once again as he felt his emotions getting the best of him.
Buffy watched his shaking hands and quickly sat up and pulled him into a hug, trying her best to comfort him.
She felt his arms tighten around her and he buried his head in her hair while his shoulders trembled. He once again surprised her by his unprecedented behaviour by pushing her down on the bed, and following her down engulfed in her arms with his face tucked into her neck.
As she tightened her arms around his trembling form, she realised that this was the first time that he had needed her for support. Not only that, this was also the first time that she could enjoy the wonderful feel of his body stretched out to hers and his hot breath on her neck.

Giles suddenly realised what he was doing and started to pull away, chiding himself for letting go of his emotions.
As he started to lift his head and body away from her he tried to express how sorry he was.
“B-Buffy, I am sorry, I never …”
She softly interrupted him by pulling him back into her arms.
“I think we both need this Giles.”
He immediately tightened his arms around her, savouring this once in a lifetime opportunity to be in the arms of the woman he loves more than life himself. He tried to stay awake while holding her and being held in return, but her soothing caresses that ran over his back inevitable lulled him to sleep. Not long after, Buffy’s breathing slowed and she joined him as well.

Willow and Xander quietly walked up the stairs, wanting to check on Buffy and Giles. Both walked over to her bedroom door and a smile played across their faces as they noticed the two curled up occupants on Buffy’s bed. Willow quietly padded into the room and turned of the lamp next to the bed, and then joined Xander in the door way and both smiled at each other as she closed the door behind her.
TBC