Title: Friends and Lovers
Author: Rari

(notes and disclaimer with part one)

Friends and Lovers: Part 3

The next night Giles and Buffy were patrolling. During a lull Giles brought the subject up, as promised. "Buffy?"

"Hmm?"

"Would you rather I didn't patrol with you?"

She looked at him in surprise. "I thought you liked patrolling with me." She winced when she heard the pout in her voice.

Giles hurried to reassure her. "I do. I do like patrolling with you."

"So, why are you asking me?"

Giles let out a sigh. "I just wonder if I make it harder for you by being here. If I distract you. If I possibly put you in danger by insisting on accompanying you."

Buffy stopped and moved to sit on a tombstone. This required face-to-face communication. Giles leaned on the one opposite hers. For a long time Giles had felt that the easy way Buffy perched on tombstones, using them as her personal furniture was disrespectful. He'd finally decided that that if he were dead he would be more than happy to let a Slayer perch on his headstone and he'd moved on, letting it go. Giles just waited for Buffy to respond, wanting to give her time to answer honestly. A part of him scanned the darkness, looking for danger. Finally Buffy answered. "Merrick died when he was with me."

"I know."

"I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Nor do I." Giles clarified. "Want anything to happen to you."

Buffy tapped her stake against the headstone, thinking. "But you got hurt the other night and you weren't even with me."

"That's true. I've been hurt several times when I've not been with you."

"You even got hurt on campus that one time."

Giles nodded, remembering. After the high school was blown up, both he and Jenny went to teach at UC Sunnydale. One night, when he was working late, he had surprised a demon rifling through an office close to his. "This is a dangerous town."

"At least when you're with me, I can keep an eye on you."

Giles rolled his eyes. "I'm not completely helpless, you know."

"I didn't mean it like that. I just …" Buffy sighed. "Riley's offered to help me patrol. Him and his team. You know, with all the hi-tech gadgets they have."

Giles nodded, keeping his face clear of all expression. "Would you prefer that?" Giles was pleased that his voice sounded so calm, that none of his dismay showed up in it.

"No. Maybe." She saw it then, on his face, and she jumped off her tombstone and walked over to him. "Giles, the only reason I don't want you on patrol with me is that I don't want you to get hurt. I couldn't handle it."

"Aren't you afraid Riley could get hurt?"

"Yes, but it's different."

Giles scuffed at the grass with his shoe. "How so?"

"I really care about Riley, I do, and he's my boyfriend and everything but …"

"But?"

She looked up at him, her eyes huge and dark in the night, only the smallest sliver of moon casting any light. "If you died, if anything happened to you, I'd feel like a part of me had died. I need you, Giles. I need you alive to keep me going."

Giles looked down on his Slayer. "Ah."

Buffy frowned at him. "You're being Mr. Inscrutable. What does 'ah' mean?"

"Quite a few things, actually."

"So start listing them."

"It means that I feel the same way. It means that I want to do whatever I can to keep you alive as well. It means that perhaps I do distract you when I'm on patrol with you, because you know I'll take chances with my life to protect you. It means that perhaps you should take Riley patrolling with you."

"As long as you get it that it doesn't mean I don't want you around. And I still want to patrol with you every now and then." Suddenly Buffy felt a moment of panic at the thought of not patrolling with Giles, of not being with him. "Like every other night."

Giles smiled at that. "Every other night?"

"Yeah, like one night with Riley, one night with you. That cuts the danger in half. That's a good thing, right?"

Giles put his hand on her shoulder, lightly resting it there. "I don't want to make this harder on you, any harder than it already is. You needn't worry about my feelings in this."

"I'm not." Buffy grimaced. "I mean, I am, but I'm also thinking about my feelings. I like being with you. I don't want to not patrol with you but I also don't want you to get hurt." Her eyes pleaded with him. "So, every other night. We'll try that and see how it goes."

"All right. Just try not to let Riley get hurt. He seems like a nice chap."

Buffy grinned. "He is a nice chap. And he'll be okay. He's pretty good in a fight." She glanced at Giles again. "Not that you're not. I mean you're great in a fight. He's just, you know, kinda young, and you're, you know, kinda not."

"Ah." Giles nodded.

"There you go with the 'ah' again. What does this one mean?"

Giles was actually grateful for the vampire who came out of nowhere. He hadn't wanted to answer Buffy's question, let her know that that particular 'ah' meant that Buffy's words had suddenly made him feel terribly old, and not very useful. Perhaps he truly was better suited to be behind a desk, communing with his books, a cup of tea in his hand.

Buffy dispatched the vampire fairly quickly, wanting to get back to the conversation. She had a feeling that 'ah' hadn't been a particularly good one. Giles just stood to the side and watched her, amazed anew at her skills. He loved to see her in action when he wasn't deathly afraid for her. His thoughts were interrupted when suddenly Buffy was standing in front of him, picking up the conversation as if a vampire hadn't just interrupted it. "What did it mean?"

"It doesn't matter, Buffy."

"Oh oh. Yes it does. Especially if you think it doesn't matter." Giles took off his glasses and started to clean them. Buffy looked even more nervous. "And even more especially if it makes you clean your glasses."

Giles flashed her a small grin at that. "It's silly, really, not even worth talking about." Giles put his glasses back on and gestured for her to move on. "Let's finish patrol. It's getting late."

Buffy didn't budge. "No way." At Giles' look she simply sat on the tombstone again. "Fine, I'll figure it out on my own." Buffy began reviewing the conversation. She screwed her mouth up, first on one side and then the other. Finally she looked up at him. "It's about Riley isn't it?"

Giles looked momentarily disconcerted. "What do you mean?"

"It's like how I felt when you sort of let me know that you'd rather research with Willow. I felt stupid, and like you didn't want me around."

Giles' eyebrows rose and he protested. "I never felt that way."

"Yes you did. You'd much rather have Willow help you research than me."

"That might be true but it never meant I didn't want you around or that you were stupid. Willow just …"

Buffy grinned, interrupting him. "I get it, Giles. I mean I already got it. She's total research girl and I'm not. But back then, it made me feel bad." She looked at him, her eyes worried. "Did I just do that to you with Riley? Make you feel bad?"

"Buffy, it wasn't you. You have the right to be with whomever you want."

Buffy frowned at him. "You always do that."

"What?"

"Make it about me when I want it to be about you."

Giles smiled a little. "You noticed that, did you?"

"Yes." She jumped off the tombstone and walked over to him again. "I didn't mean it, whatever I said. I mean, I probably meant it, but not in a way that means anything about you." Buffy scrunched her face up. "Did that make sense?"

"Surprisingly enough, yes it did." And even more surprisingly, Giles felt better after hearing her convoluted words.

Buffy grinned. "Cool." She scrunched her face up. "So, are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine." At the look on her face Giles smiled. "Really, I'm fine. Thank you for being so concerned."

"Hey, if there's one thing I've learned, boyfriends come and go, but I only have one Watcher." Buffy looked around nervously. "But don't tell Riley I said that."

Giles chuckled quietly. "He'll never hear of it from me, I promise you."

They both headed off, Giles matching his stride to Buffy's shorter one. Buffy could tell that Giles was a bit distracted. Finally she stopped walking and swung around to face him. "What? Spit it out."

Giles smiled wryly at her. "You really are getting very good at that."

"At what?"

"Reading my mind."

Buffy grinned, but then she shook her head. "Nah, I can't read your mind yet, I can only tell when there's something in there screaming to get out."

"It's hardly screaming, Buffy." Giles looked indignant that she might think any part of him would ever actually scream.

"Whatever. Spill."

Giles put his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground. "I just wanted to tell you that I feel much the same way."

Buffy frowned. "You lost me."

Giles struggled against his usual reticence. "I understood you to say that your relationship with me, as your Watcher, is significant to you. Quite significant."

"Did I say that?" At Giles' glare Buffy laughed. "Sorry, I'm ruining the mood. I know this mushy stuff is hard for you."

"Yes, well, I'll stop now."

"Oh, no you don't." Buffy grabbed hold of his arm when it looked as if he might start walking again. "Really, I'm sorry. I'll be good now. And if it helps, yes, I did say that, although in a much less British and stuffy way."

Giles rolled his eyes at her words. "I simply wanted to say that I feel the same way, about you, as my Slayer."

"You mean, like, girlfriends come and go but you only have one Slayer?"

"Something like that."

"I probably shouldn't tell Jenny you said that either."

"Probably not."

"Although actually you've had another Slayer, even if it didn't last very long."

"She was never really mine, Buffy."

Buffy grinned at him in delight. "Like I am?"

Giles nodded. "Yes, like you are."

Buffy leaned forwards and kissed Giles on the cheek. "Thank you."

Giles touched his cheek in surprise. Then he smiled at her. "You are most welcome." He looked at her. "Although as regards me having another Slayer, you have also had another Watcher."

"Not like you."

Giles touched her arm. "Just so." They stared at one another for a moment and then a noise up ahead startled them both.

Buffy sighed. "Duty calls."

Giles pulled out a stake from his inner pocket. "Yes, it does." He gestured at her to go look. "I'll be right behind you."

At his words, Buffy felt an odd moment of peace. Smiling at him she turned and ran.

***

Four months later (late spring):

Giles was speaking on the phone to Jenny when he realized what time it was. "Jenny, I'm afraid I need to go. I need to meet Buffy for patrol."

There was a brief period of silence. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that."

"About what, dear."

"Patrolling."

"Is there something that needs to be discussed?" Giles' voice has grown tight.

Jenny ignored the warning tone. "I'm not sure I understand why you continue to patrol with Buffy when she has all those young Initiative men to patrol with her."

"I patrol with Buffy because she has asked me to."

"Are you sure she just didn't want to hurt your feelings?"

"Yes, I'm quite sure." Giles sighed. "Jenny, why are we even having this conversation again?"

"I just don't see why you should be risking yourself when she seems to have dozens of these young men more than capable of backing her up. Wouldn't it make more sense for you to be spending your time in ways that they can't? Using that extraordinary mind of yours?"

Giles smiled tightly. "Jenny."

"Besides, I miss you. I wanted to come over tonight. I want to make love to you, touch you."

Giles sighed. "As wonderful as that sounds, I really do have to go. I don't want to be late." He paused. "I can come over later."

Jenny's voice was rich with disappointment. "No, you always get home too late. I have an early class tomorrow."

"I'm sorry, Jenny."

"I know, Rupert. I just don't feel as if I see you enough."

"Shall we have dinner tomorrow night? Perhaps see a show?"

"As long as it's Mexican."

Giles' voice was teasing. "Which exactly? Dinner or the show?"

Jenny laughed. "I'll drop by your office later tomorrow."

"Lovely. See you then." Giles hung up and grabbing his jacket, checking the pockets for stakes, he headed out.

***

"I don't understand why you still patrol with him."

Buffy glanced at Riley. She was slipping on her boots. "He's my Watcher."

"You told me he got fired." Riley had been told most of the stories.

Buffy waved her hand. "That's just a technicality. I think he's my Watcher, he thinks he's my Watcher, that makes him my Watcher."

"That still doesn't explain why you have to patrol with him. I can patrol with you."

"I know you can, but I like to patrol with him."

"Buffy, he's an old man. He could get hurt."

Buffy looked at Riley, miffed at his words, feeling defensive of Giles, and then her jaw dropped as she recalled her conversation with him and connected the dots. She smacked herself on the head. "That's what I said." She shook her head, disgusted at herself.

"What?"

"I told …" Buffy waved off the comment. "Never mind. Yeah, he's older than you but he's in great shape and he's killed way more vampires than you."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Believe it."

"He still can't protect you like I can. I know he doesn't have all the equipment we have."

Buffy sighed and looked up at Riley. "Riley, why do you care so much? I want to patrol with you and I want to patrol with my Watcher. Deal, okay?" She got up to her knees and inched over to the bed where Riley was sitting. Buffy reached up and gave him a kiss. "It's no big."

Riley knew she was right, but he also knew she was wrong, and he wasn't quite sure why. Running his fingers through her hair he claimed her lips for a territorial kiss. When he paused for breath he spoke. "Will I see you later?"

Buffy shook her head. "Nah, not tonight."

"Why not?"

"Because Giles and I have some talking to do. There's some weirdness coming that he found in one of his books and we need to figure out how to deal with it."

"Maybe I should come along too, then, so I can help."

Buffy didn't want Riley there. "I'll let you know how you can help once we figure out what's going on. Hopefully it's just a false alarm." Buffy stood, looking down at him. "Have a night off, go hang with your guy friends, do guy things." She turned as if to go.

Riley grabbed her arm. "Just be careful, I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I'll be fine."

"I love you."

Buffy looked at Riley with some surprise. "You do?"

"So much."

Buffy ran her hand down Riley's face. "Wow." She kissed him softly and then she left the room. It didn't escape Riley's attention that she hadn't said it back.

End of Part 3