Six Inches Between Us

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.

BAM!

Willow jumped a mile up into the air when the door of Revello Drive slammed shut and a furious Slayer skidded into the living room. At the look of things, best-friend duty was on the agenda.

Buffy was pacing back and forth while muttering under her voice, her anger punctuated by erratic hand gestures.

"Something wrong, Buffy?", Ww inw innocently asked, knowing quite well that Buffy need some moments to dramatically act out her frustration before she was ready to talk. Willow knew only one person who was able to stir up Buffy like this, and her thoughts were confirmed by Buffy's exclamation.

"Giles!"

Buffy then blew out a frustrated breath and plopped down into the lazyboy across from Willow.

She put her head in her hands and surprised Willow by suddenly wiping a tear that had spilled dher her cheek.

Willow immediately grew concerned and swiftly moved to sit in front of Buffy on the floor, placing her hand on Buffy's knee.

"Buffy? What's wrong?"

Buffy and Giles were rather famous for getting each other frustrated and agitated, but she couldn’t ever remember seeing Buffy reduced to tears before.

Buffy raised her head and looked at Willow with such sadness that she felt her chest tighten.

Another tear spilled and Buffy angrily wiped it away before she took a deep breath to calm her self.

"I just don't understand him, Willow. I mean, I thought we were friends. Sure there has been much crappiness between us before, but I actually thought that we had moved passed that and we were friends now”, Buffy said, her voice tinged with misery. “Am I really that repulsive Willow?"

Huh, Willow's mind asked. What the hell was she talking about?

She patted Buffy's knee and said, "What do you mean Buffy? You have got to break this down for me should I be able to answer that question."

At Buffy's raised eyebrow and displeased frown, Willow quickly amended. "No of course you are not repulsive, but I don't understand what that has to do with Giles."

Buffy took another deep breath and continued in a sad voice, "He never touches me Willow. Anytime I get even remotely close to him, he shies away like I have the beluga virus."

Willow needed a couple of seconds before she managed to decipher that one.

"Oh you mean the ebola virus!"

At Buffy's exasperated look, Willow shook her head. "Right, so not important. Ok, so Giles is not touching you. But Buffy, you touch all the time, I mean, you workout together everyday. Sure there must be touching then?"

Buffy nodded her head, "But that is kind of inevitable. What I mean is that he never touches me apart from when we are training. He hugs you guys. Sure, not all the time, and come tonk onk of it, not that very often, but he is English so that is understandable."

They both shared a grin, before Buffy sobered and continued.

"It's just that I feel like he is actually physically avoiding me when we are together. Like he can't stand to touch me more than he has to. Am I really that untouchable?"

Willow had to bite back a grin threatening to erupt from that question, figuring Buffy would not appreciate her best friend laughing at her.

"Buffy no, ofrse rse not. Perhaps there is another reason, maybe."

Willow stopped, suddenly remembering something.

"What is it Willow? What's wrong?"

Something clicked in Willow's mind and she rose and went over to her computer.

"Hold on Buffy", she said. "I think I know what is making Giles act the way he does."

She turned on her computer as she continued talking.

"You see when Giles came to be your watcher at Sunnydale High I had kind of a crush on him."

While clicking away through her folders, Willow completely missed the wide eyed stare of Buffy and the jealous glare that followed. Realising how completely ridiculous it was of her to be jealous of something that her friend had felt about Giles years ago, Buffy shook her head as to clear her thoughts and moved to stand behind Willow to look at the screen.

With a blush Willow continued, "So I sort of hacked into the Council to find out more about him."

"Willow!" Buffy exclaimed with a smile. "You little criminal you."

Willow ducked her head and giggled. "Yes well, that sort of behaviour is behind me."

Yeah right, Buffy thought with a smile.

"Anyway, I found Giles's watcher manual and as far as I remember I read something that might be able to solve you worries of Giles thinking of you as being untouchable."

Buffy stepped closer as Willow printed out a piece of paper.

Willow quickly read it, and then handed it to Buffy.

"Yep, I was right. In the watcher manual it clearly says that the watcher needs to have at least six inches between himself and his charge, except when circumstance such as training requires it."

As Buffy scanned the page, Willow contemplated her fingernails and continued.

"I guess the Council is worried about some kind of an emotional bond developing between them, a bond that can render them incapable of clear and impartial judgment."

Buffy's head shot up as she hed hed an oblivious Willow. The words rang in her ears, reminding her of another place in time that had become one of her most painful memories. She swallowed hard, trying to get rid of the egg size ball that had formed in her throat. Tears once again threatened to spill, so she took a deep breath and then suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of anger seeping into her body.
"Yes well, we will see about that", she said and stormed out the door, leaving a flummoxed Willow behind.
*****
Without knocking, Buffy tore Giles’ door open. She marched straight up to him, where he was standing with a surprised look on his face in the middle of the living room, and thrust the piece of paper at his chest.

“Is this true?” she yelled, not noticing the man sitting on Giles’ couch with a bemused look on his face. For a second Giles only looked at her, and then lowered his eyes to where a thin piece of paper separated her flattened hand from his chest. He slowly pulled the paper from underneath her hand and looked at it as her hand fell.

After a short while he looked at her again and sighed, “Buffy, how did you. . .”

She immediately cut him off, “Willow. That’s not important here. Is it true? Is this why you never touch me? Or does the thought of actually touching me apart from training really bother you?” Damn, she thought, that was not meant to come out.

Giles frantically searched for the right response. He knew why he wasn’t touching Buffy more than he had to. Every time he did it only left him wanting more. Still, there was no way in hell he would admit to that, so he decided to stick with a small lie.

“Yes, Buffy it’s true, the Council has clear guidelines on...”

His breath caught when Buffy suddenly buried herself in his arms and clasped hers around his waist.

“Screw the Council”, she mumbled into his chest. “Do you know how helpful some of these could have been once in awhile?”

Without conscious thought, ignoring the ramifications of his actions and the man on the couch, Giles put his arms around her and buried his face into her hair, as subtly as possible trying to capture her delicate smell. Buffy almost started purring when she felt his hands glide over her back. Her heart started beating faster. She couldn’t let go.

The spell was broken by a discrete cough. It made them come crashing back to reality. Giles went to move, but Buffy held him tightly and turned her head so her cheek was flat against his chest to look at the man on the couch.

“Who’s your friend Giles?”

Giles reluctantly stepped away from her, causing them both to miss the warmth of each other’s bodies immediately. A little flustered, he removed his glasses and started cleaning them as he introduced the man on the couch.

“Buffy, this is Gregory Harston. We went to Watcher school together. Gregory, this is Buffy Summers, my slayer.”

Buffy smiled at Giles as he introduced her as his slayer with evident pride in his voice. Then immediately a sense of fear made her hair stand on end. If Gregory was one of the Council’s men, she might have just made a monumental mistake by hugging Giles. Not only had she made him break one of his rules, she had made him do it in front of one of the Council! Without thinking she stepped closer to Giles, grabbed his arm and tried to ignore her rapidly beating heart.

“Giles?” she whispered as her gaze never left the man on the couch. At first, Giles could only think about her touch on his arm, but snapped out of it as soon as he heard Buffy’s worried voice.

“No, don’t worry Buffy, Greg is a friend. He’s as much of a fan of the Watcher’s Council as I am. Both Greg and Giles shared a grin. Buffy visibly relaxed and went to shake Greg’s hand.

“Hi. Nice to meet you. Sorry I freaked there for a second, it’s just past meetings with the Council’s men have left a lot to be desired”, she said with a smile. Gregory stood and took her hand and winked at her, “Don’t worry Miss Summers. I know that most of the Council’s men aren’t as pleasant as Rupert and I.” Greg had to hold back a chuckle when he saw Giles’ eyes narrow as he kept Buffy’s hand a little longer than necessary.

Buffy laughed as she let go of his hand and looked back at Giles, who had carefully masked his reaction to Greg’s blatant flirting before she could see it.

“So what are you doing in Sunnydale? Not Council business, I hope?” Greg shook his head with a smile. “No, I am actually scheduled for a seminar in LA in a couple of days, and decided to come and see my friend here. I don’t get to see Rupert much anymore since he moved here to be your watcher.”

Buffy immediately felt a little guilty. How much had Giles had to give up since he had become her watcher? Giles missed the emotion that was evident on Buffy’s face as he responded with a grin at Greg.

“Good riddance if you ask me. You always were a pain in the butt as far as I can remember.”

“Oh come on Rupert, it takes one to know one”, Greg immediately shot back. Buffy couldn’t help but laugh as she saw Giles’ mock scowl on his face.

“Ok, I’ll leave you guys to catch up. I have class in a little while and I need to get back home and pick up my books”, she said as she moved towards the door. Giles followed her and opened the door for her just as she turned around.

“Hey, why don’t you guys come over to dinner tonight at my house? It’s only me and my roommate Willow, since my sister is staying at a friend’s house. Willow is making a mountain of food. We’d be more than happy to share. Plus Greg, maybe you can tell us more about Giles. He’s so reluctant to share his past with us. . . you might even get three ice cream scoops for dessert, if you share some really saucy details.” Buffy grinned impishly at Giles as he looked at Greg with horror on his face.

“That will never happen!” Greg laugas Gas Giles turned back to Buffy.

At her crestfallen face, he immediately said, “I mean yes to dinner, no to sharing stories of my misspent youth.”

Buffy immediately beamed at him. “Great! How about you guys come over at seven?”

At Giles’ nod, she couldn’t help but run her hand in an approving gesture down his arm as she looked into his eyes. For a second everything seemed to fall away, and she had to remind herself to take a deep breath.

Greg interrupted tension thick enough to cut with a knife, “Sounds lovely Miss Summers, seven it is.”

Buffy removed her hand from Giles’ arm and walked out the door, throwing a cheeky smile back at Greg as she said, “Oh and Mr. Harston, it’s Buffy.”

TBC