Magic touch

MAGIC TOUCH

TITLE: Magic touch
AUTHOR: Anne
RATING: NC-17
PAIRING: Buffy/Giles
FEEDBACK: Oh yes please!
E-MAIL: bookmangal@yahoo.fr
SUMMARY: Giles and Buffy met 10 years in the future in San Francisco. Tissue part; love/sex part, angst part; happy-end part.
TIMELINE: set 10 years in the future after "Tabula Rasa."
DISTRIBUTION: Giles Rules Baby; Giles Naughty; A Slayer, a vampire a stevedore;BG fanfic adult; Together BG; The BG Zone; WatcherGirls; BuffyGiles Fanfiction Archive; Watching You, Watching Me. Anyone else please ask first.
DISCLAIMER: The characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Productions, Kuzui Enterprises, 20th Century Fox Television and the UPN Television Network. The story is written for the pleasure of the author and readers, and has no lucrative purpose whatsoever. Please do not reproduce this story anywhere without the author's consent.
WARNING: graphic violence.
SPOILERS: "Becoming II"; "Anne"
DEDICATION: To Aleta again with a grand merci.

***************


Buffy was coming out of a department store, when, she found herself face to face with Giles. Mouth and eyes wide open in total surprise she froze on the spot. Giles was leaning on a walking stick. He looked like a very old man: his hair was completely white, he was round-shouldered, he'd shrunken with age and he was scrawny. His fleshless face was pale and covered with wrinkles. He appeared to be 88 years old when he was only 58.

"Giles!"

"Buffy?" Giles breathed astonished.

Buffy launched herself against Giles. She wanted to hug him but decided not to do it. Giles was so frail that she would certainly have broken several ribs by doing it. She took his hands in hers.

"Giles! I'm so happy to see you again!"

"Me too, Buffy, me too." The old Englishman said in his raspy voice, strangled by emotion. < Oh God! She's so beautiful! And I so love her! Oh! My wonderful Buffy! >
Tears of joy ran down on his hollow cheeks. "It's been a long time… ten years! What are you doing in San Francisco? What have you become? < My God, what happened to you? > Tell me everything Giles! "

Giles smiled. "I'm in San Francisco because I accompanied Ethan to a Congress on witchcraft and three years ago I became the Chairman of the Council."

"Wow! You're the big boss then?"

Giles nodded. "Indeed." < But more for a long time. >

"But you're not my boss anymore."

Giles shook his head. "No, that's true. You're the only Slayer in the Council's history to have retired."

Buffy, radiantly showed him her left hand where shone an alliance. Giles did his best to hide his heartache. He would so much have wanted to pass this alliance to her finger. But it was impossible. She had to make her life without him, and had magnificently succeeded.

"I got married, Giles! To Paul Reed. He's one of the most famous architects in San Diego. He's gentle, intelligent, thoughtful, and in brief adorable < like you Giles > we love each other passionately." She smiled. "But you know that, I'm being stupid. You also know that I have a son. I called him Giles in honor of my gracious, smart, and brave Watcher < and so handsome! >. I would have loved for you to attend my wedding Giles, and Giles's baptism but you were very busy, I imagined. I understood." < And forgave you. >

Giles closed his eyes and fought to repress his tears. To learn of Buffy's wedding - the woman that he loved - had broken his heart and had delighted him at the same time. She had found happiness and it was what he'd always wanted for her. Yes, he wanted her to be happy, that `s why he'd left her and her friends 10 years earlier to go back to London. And it had been the beginning of the end for him.

He hadn't wanted to go to her wedding. He wouldn't have been able to bear seeing her marry another man other than him and he would have been so happy for her too. He had remained in his bedroom for two days; he didn't know whether to feel sad or happy. He had been unable to go to the baptism of her son; named Giles after him, because he was laid out on a bed of the private hospital of the Council, undergoing endless medical exams for more than a week only to hear that he was dying. He knew it very well! He knew perfectly that he was going to die as soon as he had gone away from Buffy, breaking the magical bond, which existed between them. The bloody pillocks! There existed a way to save him but he refused to think about it.

"So you came here accompanying Ethan to a congress on witchcraft?"

Giles nodded. "Yes."
"You became friends again?"

"Yes, several years ago. We're living together again, but in a big house this time. We each have our bedroom and our bathroom. < Ethan was transformed into a real mother hen. Brave Ethan… without him to help me, both physically and mentally I would have died sooner… I probably would have killed myself… Yes, brave Ethan. >

"Where are you going like this Giles?"

"Oh! I'm returning to my hotel I've been walking a little with my very old bones! I'm tired."

She finally noticed that his breathing was heavy and labored.

"Do you want me to accompany you Giles?" < Oh my God! Poor Giles! I feel so sorry for him. I wonder what he has. He won't say anything to me if I ask him, naturally, his sense of decency, but Ethan knows, and he'll tell me one way or another. "

"Of course Buffy."


*
* *


As soon as Giles had closed the door of his hotel room behind him, Buffy ran towards the elevator. She was going to find Ethan in the Lecture hall located in the basement.

Giles had hardly the necessary strength to reach his bed. He collapsed there and remained immobile, incapable of moving a single muscle. Sleep overtook him like a flash of lightning.


*
* *


Buffy sat down in the empty armchair situated next to the seat occupied by Ethan. The sorcerer slept with his head tilted on his chest. He was 60 and his hair was still black. She grinned amused. Naturally, he was dyeing it in order to look young.

She shook his shoulder. Ethan woke up with a start and blinked. The big room was still plunged in semi-darkness and Karios of Athens continued to produce his sleep-inducing speech on the most antique texts of witchcraft pertaining to Ancient Greece.

"Hey Ethan!" Buffy said.
Ethan had a violent start and carried his hand to his heart. Buffy smiled then giggled.

"Buffy? What are you doing here?"

"I saw Giles in the street a few minutes ago. He'd just taken a small walk. He said that he'd accompanied you to San Francisco where you were attending a witchcraft convention." She took his arm and looked him straight in his eyes. "Ethan, I want to know… Giles is seriously ill, isn't it? Does he suffer a lot? Is it… fatal?"

Ethan exhaled a long and sad sigh. "Ripper is struck down from a rare and fatal disease, and yes he suffers a lot. He's aging very quickly; for now only his body is affected by the disease, but his brain will be affected too some day. Ripper doesn't have more than 2 weeks to live. His doctors ignore it, of what they are sure, on the other hand, is that he' s going to die, soon."

Buffy could not move, hearing his words, feeling them frozen on her heart, chilled her soul.

Ethan frowned. "You said that he'd goor aor a small walk? Shit! I had formally forbidden him to move from the room. He had to rest!"

"Looks like he didn't listen to you."

Ethan got up, angry. "This time he will!"


*


Ethan sat down near Giles, shivering with fear. He was so white and so still that he thought maybe he had died. He checked his pulse and breathing, both were slow, but steady.

He sighed in relief then took off his tweed jacket. He loosened the knot of his tie and removed his shoes.

"Poor Giles. To see him in such a state… I can't bear it. Have you tried to use magic to save him?"

"Yes, but…. Nothing has worked." < There is only one way of saving him but he refuses it. >

"Then there's no hope?"

Buffy sat down at the edge of the bed, near Giles who slept profoundly and took his hand.

"I can't believe that he's going to die soon. Giles is… Giles. He's Super Watcher, Invincible Guy! He survived Angelus' tortures, vampires, demons; lots of head injuries and he even survived you and your vicious jokes!" Her lips trembled. "He's saved the world a lot and he's going to be killed by a disease! It's… It's not fair! He should have died… I don't know, like a hero! Like Giles! Not like this. Not like this."

Ethan nodded. "I know."

"When will you leave San Francisco?"

"Tomorrow morning, early. Rupert doesn't like being far from London." He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. "He wants to be able to die there."

Tears ran down on Buffy's pale cheeks. "You will contact me when… when he…when…?"

"Yes I will." He sighed. "I would have wanted that you didn't see him again, that you didn't know about his horrible disease … I would have told you he'd died bravely fighting vampires or a group of demons alone, with hisrd, rd, but not of a-of a rapid and complete physical degeneracy." He began crying and quickly wiped his tears. "I'm sorry."

Buffy smiled to him. "I'm really delighted to discover that Ethan Rayne is finally a human being."

He smirked from ear to ear. "Thank you."

"Ethan I've always wanted to know why Giles hated you so much? What did you do to him?"

Ethan exhaled a sigh. He closed eyes and images from the past returned to his mind. His eyes got a far away expression.


***


Ripper ran. He ran like the wind, for long minutes. The Council's men who pursued him got closer. He knew that they would eventually catch up to him. Except if he managed to reach his hiding place in the sewers protected by magic. He turned on the corner of Crawford Street and rushed next to the manhole situated in the middle of the street. He used almost his last forces to lift it then pushed it on the side. He slid along the ladder and ran along the dark and malodorous tunnel invaded by rats. He noticed shouts behind him then lapping. They weren't very far anymore. He then took another tunnel some yards farther and opened a door. He entered a small room, which formerly had been used as a workshop to the workers who had built the sewers. He was surprised to discover that Ethan, who sat on the couch, occupied it. He was drinking a beer.

"Hello Ripper!" The sorcerer said smiling roguishly. "You can enter guys! Welcome!"
"What?"

Ripper turned around to see four men in tweed entering the former workshop. The magic force field, which should have prevented every foreigner from entering, was not there anymore. He moved back and glanced at Ethan unbelieving. He had deactivated it.

"Why did you do that?" He asked, while two brutes apprehended him rather brutally.

"To stay alive. They threatened to kill me if I didn't deliver you to them, old mate." Ethan said.

"Don't let them take me! Please!"

"Sorry."

"I believed that you were my best friend, Ethan, almost my brother. And you betray me!" He glared at Ethan. "You're a fucking bastard!"

Ethan swallowed a mouthful of beer. "It's true."

"I'll kill you Ethan!"

Ripper shrieked a shout of surprise and pain when one of the tweed men gave him an injection. A bit further, he collapsed, sound asleep.

"What are you going to do to him?" Ethan asked to the leader of the detachment of the Council's Special Operations Unit.

"Return him to the straight and narrow." He answered.

"Good luck!"


***


He looked at Buffy and told her: "it's quite a long story, that he and I henceforth forgot. The past is the past. You know today it's the anniversary of our meeting. 50 years!"

Buffy blinked, surprised. "50 years? You mean that the two of you met when you were 8?"

Ethan nodded. "We've known each other for a very long time. We were playing together when we were children."

"I believed that he'd met you in London having left Oxford University?"

Ethan shook his head. "We met in London, accidentally."
"How was Giles when he was a child?"

Ethan smiled, nostalgic. "He was a boy full of energy, cheerful, that had a lot of humor. He was strong, fearless and very intelligent." His smile grew. "He always wanted to have the role of the villain when we played together. In addition, of course I was the good chap. For example, he was the gangster and I the police officer. Or he was an Apache leader who had kidnapped someone and I was a cavalry officer to the rescue. He died all the time at the end of the story. His deaths were very realistic. He was a good comedian." His face darkened and he sighed. "He completely changed after his father announced to him that he would be a Watcher. He dreamt of being a fighter pilot or even a grocer… I don't know why."

"And you? Did you want to become a sorcerer?"

He laughed. "No, a magician, who takes rabbits out of his hat having struck it with his magic wand."

"Hmm. You said that Giles had changed?"

Ethan nodded his head. "Yes. After his father told him that he would be a Watcher as he and as his grandmother, he forced him to study all day long. He hadn't the right to go play with me anymore. His father took away all of his toys and gave him books instead. Rupert became bit-by-bit uncommunicative, solitary, taciturn. As he didn't work enough to his father's taste, his father sent him to a boarding school far from home, and didn't authorize his return for the holidays. He spent them at a particular professor's. Once a teenager, he rebelled and made several attempts to run away. He became rough, violent, a thug. The police arrested him several times, and he even spent some nights in jail. To make him a reasonable and obedient son again, his father sent him to the Council's training center. There, people handcuffed him then locked him into a cell, in total darkness, and cold, for more than a month. He slept on the floor among spiders and his pee and… well you know. They gave him something to eat and drink but only every three days and they washed him, at the same time as his cell at the end of every week with a fire hose. They treated him worse than an animal. At the end of his "treatment" the Watcher who had responsibility of Rupert, attached him to a post in the center of the yard so that future Watchers could laugh at him. He stayed there, naked in the rain, in the wind, in the snow. When they untied him, he was half dead from cold and from exhaustion. The doctors looked after him, and after, completely worn out, he underwent the military preparation of a commando. When he left this center, he'd become once again the sweet, kind, and hard-working Rupert. He entered Oxford and he was quickly fed up with his classes, with the supplementary program imposed by the Council, and he just couldn't take it anymore. He left for London and met me there. You know what happened after."

"You spoke to me only about his father … did his mother die when he was small?"

Ethan nodded. "She died in a car accident when he was only two years. He has no recollection of her. His father brought him up alone. Well, that's not really true because he didn't see Rupert between 10 years and 24, when he finally accepted his fate."

Buffy looked at her watch and got up. "I have to leave. I have to find my husband and my son at the station in half an hour." She gave Ethan her card. "Here, this has my phone number on it."

Ethan accompanied her up to the door. She threw a glance to Giles asleep on the bed then went away. Once in the corridor, alone, she fell to her knees, starting to cry.


*
* *


Giles woke up at sunset. He noticed Ethan sat near him. He looked at him fixedly, his face lugubrious.

"I know what you're thinking Ethan and the answer is no!" He said to him. "No, no, no."

Ethan took his hand, the left hand, the hand Buffy had touched while he slept and showed it to him. It was not thin, blue with sinuous veins and wrinkled any more. But younger.

"Buffy took your hand while you slepthe che can cure you, Ripper. She can save you."

Giles sat down with difficulty. "To return me my "youth" she should caress me then we should make love and finally so that I age normally, I should stay with her, to touch her from time to time… Ethan, she's married, she has a child, she's finally happy. The answer is no. NO! Let me die in peace."

He got up and limped up to the bathroom into which he locked himself. Ethan picked up the telephone receiver.


*
* *


When Giles left the bathroom about one hour later (he had vomited in the toilet, taken a long hot shower, vomited again in the washbasin when he was shaving himself, re-taken a shower, short and cold this time) he froze on the spot seeing Buffy in front of him.

He immediately felt the blush work its way up his neck to his face. He was completely naked. He hurried to hide his penis and testicles with his trembling hands.

"Buffy!"

Buffy shivered. Giles was nothing but skin and bone. She noticed all the scars lacing his white, very fine, wrinkled skin. She was horrified.

He was on his way back to the bathroom when Buffy grabbed his arm and pulled him to her.

"Don't move, Giles!"

He didn't move. She gently traced the long scar he had starting on his left shoulder ending above his right nipple.

"Oh my God!"

Ethan sighed. "Your ex-boyfriend Angelus did this to him. After your departure, he spent two weeks at the hospital. Angelus had horribly tortured him! He broke his fingers, his ribs, and his arms. He hit his body with his fists and with a baseball bat. He cut him with a knife and even with a chainsaw. He burned him with a poker and he whipped him. I visited him each day, and I stayed near him every night during these terrible two weeks. I saw him suffering, crying, having horrible nightmares, and roaring your name. He was so sad that you ran away, you left him without a word while he needed you. When he left the hospital, he began drinking. He became a real wreck some days. I believed I saw Ripper again turning to self-destruction, himself, to escape his fate. Fortunately thanks to my friendship and to a little magic, I managed to recreate Rupert Giles. He then began looking for you everywhere through the country, worrying about you. He practically stopped eating and sleeping he was so worried about you. Then you came back and… well you know what happened then."

Buffy stepped back, under the shock, feeling a pain shoot through her heart. She looked at Giles. His face was ashen and his look was haunted. He moaned and wobbled.

Buffy caught Giles up before he fell and lay him down on the bed. Giles fought to remain conscious and murmured: "Leave me alone."

Buffy shook her head. "No, I shan't leave. Ethan called me and explained everything to me. I'm going to save you, Giles."

Giles glared at Ethan. "If I was in better shape and had a knife I'd give you a real reason to call me Ripper."

"That's enough, Giles!" Buffy said with a dry tone. "Why dit yot you say anything to me?"

"Buffy, you're married, happy… "

She sighed. " I'm divorced and I'm not happy Giles… far from you."

Giles blinked twice. "What?"
"I lied to you, because I knew that you wanted my happiness, and I didn't want to make you suffer again."

She tenderly stroked his left cheek and the flesh swelled; the skin became again firm, sweet and fresh under her fingers.

"It's magic!" She exclaimed amazed.

"Indeed."

She sighed. "Paul left me one year ago. He couldn't bear that Rupert Giles obsessed his wife anymore. So obsessed to have named his son Giles. For 9 years I spoke to him about you, Giles is this, Giles is that, Giles did this, Giles would do this, etc. I didn't know there was a magic bond between us. I couldn't live without you. I tried, but I failed. Paul took my son with him, because he didn't want that he should grow up with a mother who fantasized over the former librarian of her High school and who believed that vampires and demons existed." She began to cry. "Giles so misses me, and I miss him. I don't even have the right to see him… Paul's lawyers declared me a lunatic, and did everything to try to lock me into an asylum, but fortunately, I had a good lawyer."

"I'm sorry, Buffy."

She bent towards Giles and kissed him, at first on his lips, which she felt revitalize, revive.

"I love you Giles."

He smiled. "I love you too, Buffy."

She plunged then her tongue into his mouth when he opened it, inviting her to deepen her kiss. She tightened Giles against her and heard him moaning with pain. She parted from him. He was biting his lower lip, tears welling up in his eyes.

"What is it?"

"When you touch me it burns me, and it hurts a lot. Ethan? Give me a painkiller, quickly."

Ethan opened the small suitcase, which contained all of Giles' medicines and took out a small box of painkillers. He opened it, took out two pills then brought them to his old mate. Buffy who had poured a glass of water gave it to Giles. Giles swallowed the two pills then waited until they took effect. < It shouldn't be long. > A blissful smile appeared on his lips five minutes later. He was completely relaxed.

"Oooooooh! It's magnificent." He murmured. "Wooooo…I feel so goooood! It's fantastic."

Buffy glanced at Ethan, surprised.

Ethan smiled widely. "Morphine. It's very effective. He was so suffering his doctors prescribed these special painkillers."

"I can see."

She began to caress his face to find after his Giles' features. He took advantage of it to suck her palm and her fingers. She giggled then ran her fingers in his white hair. They became brown again, gray at his temples. Buffy then roamed her hands on his neck, on his shoulders, on his arms, on his chest, feeling his skin going smooth, his muscles swelling, toning up, beginning to firm again. She bent to lick and suck his erect nipples. Giles purred. Buffy nipped at his throat, sucking hard enough to bruise.

Strongly aroused Ethan sighed. "I'm going. I shall be in the bar < or in the street to find a call girl. >

Buffy caressed every inch of his body with her hands and her tongue sometimes (she had plunged her tongue into his navel, making him arch then completely licked his stomach). She discovered all the places that caused him to make pleased sounds. She kept his penis and his testicles for the end. Giles hissed when Buffy trailed her fingers across his erect penis from tip to base then back again. He pushed a long growl of pleasure when she encircled his member and began to stroke him. She felt him getting even hard and began to press a little harder.

"Oh Buffy! Buffy! Buffyyyyyyyyy! Aaaaah … Awww … It's so good. It's magnificent."

He let out a small shout and gasped when with her other hand Buffy began to massage his testicles.

"Giles are you okay?"

He grinned and laughed. "I'm in heaven!"

Buffy wore a wicked grin. "Not yet!"

She knelt down between his legs, bent a little more and teased the tip of his length and thick penis with her tongue.

"Aaah!"

Small shudders raced through Giles. His brain was this time totally numbed by the pleasure when Buffy took him in her mouth. A hand tightened at the base of his penis, she began, alternately to suck and lick the hard and thick member. Giles began to pant.

"My God! My God! Ahhhaaaahhaahh…"
Buffy growled feeling the sex beating of desire between her lips. Soon, it would be in her. With this idea, she abruptly stopped her fellatio then took all her clothes off like a flash of lightning. Seeing her, naked - so beautiful, so perfect - Giles almost ejaculated and had a heart attack.

Buffy and Giles ran their hands and mouths over each others bodies making grunts, groans and moans.

"Be still, Giles."

Buffy impaled herself on his fully erect penis and uttered a brief strangled cry immediately followed by a hoarse groan when she felt herself completely invaded. She was suddenly shaken by a violent orgasm. She lay still to become accustomed to his size then hands put on Giles' chest; she began moving backward and forward, hollowing her back, loudly shouting her pleasure. When Giles caressed her buttocks, she increased the speed of her thrusts. Giles' breath came in tiny pants and he began to move restlessly beneath her. He could feel his heart pound so violently in his chest that he believed that it might stop any minute now.

Feeling that she was going to come Buffy hung on Giles's shoulders. Giles didn't move, an ecstatic smile on his lips. Suddenly she arched and was shaken by spasms. Her eyes turned over and she cried out her climax. His shout was transformed into a long hoarse complaint. fellfell on Giles's stomach delighted.
She pulled him out of her when she heard him snoring weakly. She lay down next to him and propped up on her elbow she examined every inch of his athlete's body. 10 years had passed since his departure for London and he didn't seem to have changed. She snuggled up to him and some moments later fell asleep.

When Buffy opened her eyes, the sun was high and its golden light flooded the room. She turned to Giles lying on his stomach and caressed his round, firm and muscular buttocks. She heard a light snore and turned to the other bed on which Ethan was sprawled one arm flung out off the side of the bed, the other resting on his stomach. He was still dressed and she perceived a bottle of scotch on the carpet. She got up and went to the bathroom. Giles joined her there fifteen minutes later when she got out of the shower stall. He spent a long moment observing his reflection in the big mirror placed behind the door. He had to become used to it again.

Buffy came to nest behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, kissing the warm skin between his shoulder blades.

"You're so beautiful, Giles!"

Giles turned around and tightened Buffy against him. He kissed her then cupped her face, < So beautiful. >

"You've saved my life Buffy… and I don't know how to thank you… except perhaps to make love to you."
Buffy smiled then her face darkened. "You're a powerful man Giles. I would like to get my son back. Can you help me to do it?"

He nodded. " Yes, we'll find Giles, I promise. I'm going to call the lawyers of the Council.

She hugged him. "Thank you so much!"

"When you have your son with you again, dear, would you want to come to London, with Ethan and me? Our house is big. Giles would be happy over there, and we'd be happy too."

She nodded. "Yes, yes I would."

They kissed each other. When Ethan entered the bathroom with a pressing urge to urinate, he wasn't surprised at all to see Giles and Buffy embraced on the bathroom carpet, making love.

"Very well!" He grumbled. " I'm going to go to the hotel's public toilet."

He left them alone.


*
* *


Ethan was in his room (he was forced to move into another room to let Giles and Buffy be together) when someone knocked at the door. He didn't answer. One knocked at the door again.

He roared: "Go away!"

The door opened and Giles entered. He was alone.

"Oh! You're alone? You lost your shadow?" Ethan immediately said to Giles, bitterly.

Giles closed the door behind him then came to sit down on the bed, near his old friend. Ethan was sprawled on the bedspread, in his boxers in the middle of plates containing the remains of his dinner.

"What is it Ethan? You've been sulky with me all day long and you didn't say a word to me. Are you sick?"

The sorcerer growled. "You've rejected me Ripper! I stayed with you for 10 years! I helped you, supported, morally and physically, and- and Buffy arrives, and then I'm nothing for you! I don't exist anymore!" Tears rose to his eyes. "I feel abandoned. And that hurts. I'm hurt."

Giles tightened Ethan against him. "Oh Ethan I'm sorry. Listen to me. You are my best friend, and you always will be. No, I'm, you're not my best friend, you're my brother. What you did for me these last 10 years is absolutely wonderful. You've helped me to live. Without you, I would've been dead for a long time. I don't know how to thank you." He raised Ethan's chin. Ethan leaned his head against his chest to cry there slowly. "You're as important to me as Buffy. Never shall I leave you alone, Ethan, ever. You are my brother, and I love you enormously."

Ethan dried his tears with his hands. "Thank you Ripper."

"Now, get dressed. We'll both go out; both. I want to go to the theatre with you. Like in our youth."

"And Buffy? She coming with us?"

"No, Buffy is at her home. She has things to do. You and I we're alone old mate. We'll theatre then beer!"

"Good idea. I haven't gotten drunk for a long time. And what about a good bar brawl after that?

"We're too old for this. Get up Ethan!"


*
* *


On their way to the hotel Giles and Ethan stopped in a grocer's shop to buy many bottles of beer. The sorcerer got ready to pay while; Giles somewhere in the back of the shop was choosing a bottle of scotch. A hooded man holding a revolver entered.

"Don't move otherwise I'll kill you!" He said pointing his gun at Ethan.

Ethan immediately froze. He didn't even blink. His stomach became one big knot. The hooded man then aimed at the trembling old man who was standing behind the counter.

"Give me the money, at once!"

Giles silent and supple as a cat (or a tiger when he was in Ripper mode, which he hadn't been for a long time) slipped discreetly behind the hooded man. He got ready to gently neutralize him when the old man smiled to him. He suppressed and oath.

"What?"

The hooded man turned round and faced Giles. Afraid, he fired at point-blank range. Giles screamed. The impact threw the Watcher against a candies display shelf three yards away. He collapsed like deadweight, his chest covered with blood.

"Rupert!" Roared Ethan horrified.

The hooded man swore and ran away. The old man standing behind the counter dialled 911.

Ethan who rushed next to Giles had both his hands stuck on his chest. He was pale and trembling. Blood was pouring between his fingers. He was barely conscious.

"It's going to be all right Rupert. Paramedics are on their way. You'll have to hang in there."

Giles opened his mouth to speak but only blood came out of it. He coughed and moaned.

Ethan put his head on his lap.

"Fight! Fight! Stay alive. Stay alive for Buffy, for me… Please! Don't die. Don't die!"

“Buf... fy." Whispered Giles.

He closed his eyes.


*
* *


When Giles opened his eyes, he perceived at first a white ceiling then he slowly looked around the room, confusion apparent in his expression. He saw many machines. He was connected to them wires and tubes.

< Ah! Hospital >

"Giles?"

He turned his head to the right-hand side.

"Buffy…"

Buffy smiled to him then took his hand.

"Hey Giles!"

He weakly smiled.

"I'm alive?"
Buffy laughed. "Excellent observation Giles. Yes, you're alive. You stayed in that coma for three days. You awoke this morning."

He looked around him then focused his glance on the monitors, surveying his vital signs.

"You're fine Giles." Buffy said to reassure him. "You should be released in about two weeks."

"I hate hospitals. Where is Ethan?"

"In the corridor with Giles."

Giles raised his eyebrows. "Ah! Your son."

"Yes, my son. I got him back Giles!" She began crying for joy. "Thanks to you. Thank you."

"No, thanks to you … you saved my life."

Buffy bent towards Giles and kissed him. He moaned with pleasure in her mouth and kissed her back.

"May we come in Buffy?" Ethan asked having opened the door. "Is Giles awake?"

Buffy moved back from Giles and grinned. "Yes, he's awake. You may enter you two." Ethan and Little Giles entered the room. The boy, shy, stayed behind the sorcerer's legs.

Buffy pushed him towards Giles and giggled. "Giles let me introduce you…to Giles."

Giles suddenly felt his heartbeat accelerate and he stared at the boy, totally astonished. Little Giles was he to a trait when he was that same age.

"Oh my God!" He breathed.

"Little Giles is your son Giles." Buffy told him. "I told him that you were his true father this morning." She smiled. "He took it well because somewhere in his heart he knew that he couldn't be Paul's son … He was totally different from him."

Giles glanced at Buffy incredulous. He never remembered having made love to her.

"He's my son? How?"

Buffy sat down at the edge of the bed. "Do you remember the dream you had before leaving for London? Where we were both on this desert island?"
"Mmmmmm yes, it was magnificent. We made love for a week Almost without breaks." He frowned. How do you know my dream?"

She grinned. "It wasn't a dream, Giles, but reality. I asked Willow to use her magic to transport us to a desert island… She succeeded. She's very powerful. I wanted to have you for me alone before you left me definitively … I admit that I didn't think the woe would reveal our love to each other and that we would make love … but it was fantastic, the best days of my life. And 9 months later Giles was born."

Giles looked again at the boy still very surprised. Little Giles observed him with huge curiosity.

"Paul very well accepted him and brought him up as if he was his own son. Giles is a gentle boy, adorable, very intelligent like his father. He has also inherited some interesting powers: yours Giles, for the magic and mine, those of the Slayer."

"A very promising boy!" Ethan said.

Giles took Buffy's hand. "Why didn't you say anything to me?"

She sighed. "I didn't want you to return to me when you had found your life again. I was happy with Giles and Paul at least at the beginning. Then, I missed you terribly. You wanted me to be happy Giles, and I wanted that for you too… because you weren't at Sunnydale."

Giles shook his head. "No, I was."

"No, you weren't happy there Giles. I know. You were far from your country, from your beloved British Museum, you were alone, and you had to take charge of a stupid Slayer who thought only of going to the Bronze and having fun with her friends… I made you suffer, I betrayed you, and I abandoned you… " She began crying. "I'm so sorry."

Giles cried in his turn and tenderly stroked Buffy's cheek. "Oh Buffy… I was happy near you. I didn't care about the rest. I loved you."

She kissed him on his forehead. "I loved you too."

Giles raised her chin. "Let`s forget all of this, alright?" He turned again to Giles. He too was crying. "Come here… Giles."

The boy slowly stepped to the old man, looking alternately at him and his mother.

"Are you going to marry my mom?" He asked Giles, who was very surprised.

Giles smiled broadly. "If she wishes it, I shall marry her, yes. I love your mom more than anything Giles, more than my own life."
Buffy waved her hand, grinned and declared: "The mother agrees to marry Giles!"

Ethan sighed. "I believe that I may also cry."

The boy climbed on the bed. "Uncle Ethan told me everything about you! Can I become a Watcher too?"

"Naturally, you're my son " < Yes, my son; my son. It is magnificent! He is my son! > However, you have time to think about it maybe later you will want to choose another profession. "

Little Giles shook his head. "No! I want to fight and to kill the demons and the vampires! I want to help the Slayer!"

Ethan nodded. "With all his powers, he will make a redoubtable Watcher. Quentin Travers is going to be delighted."

Giles glared at "Uncle" Ethan.

"He will have died, in the meantime. " < I hope! >

"I'm not so sure."

Little Giles came to sit down on his father's legs. "Can I have another first name? Giles, Giles it's ridiculous."

The three grown-ups burst out laughing.

"And a little sister too?"

END