Title: Jealousy
Author: Rari

(notes and disclaimer with part one)

Jealousy: Part 2

After making sure that Anya had left and there was no one in the store, Spike entered the Magic Box, wanting to speak with Giles. Giles was making himself a cup of tea. He looked up as he heard Spike's footsteps. "Ah, good evening Spike."

"Giles."

Giles held out a teacup. "Tea?" He grinned as he envisioned Spike drinking a cup of tea.

Spike snorted. "Not bloody likely, mate."

Giles went back to his tea making. "Something I can do for you?"

A sardonic smile appeared on Spike's face. "Anything interesting happen last night?" He sat and put his feet up on the table.

Giles walked back to the table with his tea and pushed Spike's feet off the table. "Not particularly. Several new vampires, but nothing of earth shattering concern."

This wasn't the information Spike wanted. "And Buffy? How are the two of you getting along?"

Giles sat down and smiled. "She really is the most amazing girl." He leaned back, musing on last night's conversation.

Spike's eyes narrowed. "What does that mean?"

Giles was lost in his musing, so he actually answered Spike's question. "I know that Buffy and I have had our differences, and we certainly don't see eye to eye on, well, practically anything. But, underneath it all, I always hoped…" He shook his head. "I saw it last night, so clearly, that she and I, we really are…" Giles suddenly remembered whom he was talking to. He stopped immediately. "I'm sure you didn't come here to listen to me ramble on."

Spike had to work to unclench his jaw. "You have no idea how right you are." He stood and started to pace. "Don't you think you're a bit old for her?"

Giles' eyes widened. "Spike, what on earth are you talking about? Age is of no account in this sort of thing. Besides, I think the fact that I'm a little older is a good thing for Buffy."

"How do you figure that?"

"Well, I have a lot more experience. I've been around and can teach Buffy a few things. I'm older and therefore, hopefully wiser, and I think she needs that now. She needs someone who's stable, who can help keep her balanced. I think I'm just what she needs."

Spike barked out a laugh. "You think you’re just what Buffy needs?"

Giles started to look annoyed. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do." He stood as well. "And why is it any concern of yours?"

Spike put a hand up to placate Giles. "Hey, I'm not trying to rain on your parade, Watcher. I just find it a little hard to believe that you're all she needs."

"Well scoff all you want. Buffy made it quite clear to me last night that I do meet her needs." Giles sat down again, lost in his happy memory of that conversation with Buffy. He hoped every Watcher had the opportunity to hear their Slayer say those words. It made every moment of his life as a Watcher worthwhile.

Spike sneered at the satisfied look on Giles' face and he left without even saying goodbye. He headed right over to Willy's. Time for the second spell. Giles thought that he met Buffy’s needs? Time for Giles to get a first hand look at just what Buffy needed, and it for damn sure wasn’t going to be Giles.

***

It was dark. Giles and Buffy had just finished a lengthy training session. They decided to do an early patrol on the way home and they headed off planning to cover the part of town over by the Bronze. Since the night of their conversation things had been so easy between the two of them. The bond between them was stronger than it had ever been.

As they turned the corner, Buffy didn't know that she'd been hit by a spell, all she knew was that she saw a really, really cute boy and she wanted him, so she started following him. A few steps later Giles suddenly realized that Buffy wasn't walking by his side anymore. He turned around and saw her arguing with the man collecting the cover charge for the Bronze. As she stamped her foot on the ground in vexation Giles approached. "What seems to be the matter? And why are you over here?"

Buffy turned to him in relief. "Giles, thank goodness you're here. Can you loan me five bucks?"

"What do you mean thank goodness I'm here? Where else would I be? We were just…" Buffy rolled her eyes and held out her hand. Giles let out a sigh and pulled out his wallet. He paid for the both of them and he followed Buffy in. Buffy scanned the crowd for the guy she had seen. Her eyes lit up as she saw him.

She turned to Giles and gestured to the tables. "Hey, why don't you get a table?"

Giles frowned. "I don't want to get a…" But he stopped because she wasn't listening to him. In fact she was gone. Giles blew out an annoyed breath and found a table. When a waitress stopped to get his order he asked for a scotch. He winced as the guitarist hit a bad note. Giles' eyes perused the room and he saw Buffy talking to a tall good-looking young man over by the telephones. Giles smiled when he saw her.

For the first time he felt that he really had a proprietary right to her. After all she'd told him he was like a second mother to her. Giles grinned. True, he'd told her he'd rather be an uncle, but just being claimed as family felt like quite an honor. Giles paid for his drink and took a sip. He shook his head. He never had and he still didn't understand how Hank Summers could just absent himself from Buffy's life. Dawn's life as well, but then Dawn hadn't really existed until this year. Why any man wouldn't be proud to claim Buffy as his daughter and want to spend as much time with her as he could was beyond Giles.

He looked up and saw that Buffy was no longer standing by the phones. His brow furrowed as he began scouting for her, taking another swallow of his scotch. It was all he could do not to spit it out when he saw her. As it was he started coughing as a good bit of it went down the wrong way. Gasping for breath he could barely believe what he was seeing. Buffy was dancing, although that was a fairly loose term for the way she was moving. It was really more as if she was having sex with her clothes on.

Giles averted his eyes, feeling that he was intruding, as if he'd come home and found Buffy in a compromising position. And as her father figure, Giles would have immediately thrown the young man out the front door, harder than necessary, perhaps without opening it first. Against his volition his eyes strayed towards her again and once they were there, he couldn't seem to pull them away. He ordered another scotch and when it arrived he drank it down in one long swallow and ordered another before the waiter had even left.

Her head was thrown back, her hands running through her hair and upper torso was swaying from side to side. Her nipples were hard, pushing through her shirt. She was grinding her pelvis against that of the young man and he had his hands on her butt, holding her tight against him. She licked her lips, her eyes heavy with desire. Giles thought he'd never seen anything more provocative, at least not in a long time. He was seeing a whole new side to his slayer and it wasn't one he particularly wanted to see. Nothing felt safe anymore and he wanted to crawl under the table. Instead he ordered another drink. And stared some more. Buffy was beautiful, and she was sexy, and he never felt less like a father than he did right now.

He had never in their time together, other than an objective observation that she looked quite lovely in this outfit, or with her hair done that certain way, he had never seen her like this. Like someone he could want. Badly. Giles groaned and downed another drink.

***

When the spell hit Spike was arguing with Frank at Willy's. Spike had his game face on and Frank was trying very hard not to wet his pants. "Look, it's not my fault. It's on the contract." He snapped it open in front of him and pointed at some really small print. "See, his spells only last for 30 minutes."

"That's not long enough. She'll barely get started. Make it longer."

"I can't. He already cast the spell, and then he left, some sort of family reunion."

"So have someone else recast it."

"It was his specialty. He registered it. No one else can do it. Union rules."

Spike let out a growl. He shoved Frank away. "Then I want another spell."

Frank nodded. "Sure, sure, another spell. I can do that. Just let me know what you want. I mean you still got two left in your contract."

"Yeah, well now I have three." He leaned past Frank and picked up the contract, scratching out the number four and changing it to five spells. He flung the paper at Frank. "Sign it."

Frank picked up a pen with a shaking hand and he signed his initials by the correction. "Sure, five spells. No problem."

Spike growled again and then picking up the contract he shoved it in his pocket. After one more disgusted look at Frank he left the bar planning to get in some serious sulking before the night was through. One perfectly good spell, down the damn drain.

***

Giles was well on his way to being completely plastered when Buffy suddenly stepped back from the young man she'd been accosting out on the floor for close to half an hour. She sent him a confused look, shrugged her shoulders and looked around for Giles. When she found him she raced over to him. He looked ill. "Giles, are you all right?"

Giles shook his head and had to hold onto the table to keep from falling off his chair. He tried once again to not look at her. Buffy looked like she had just finished having sex. Her lips were wet, there were beads of sweat on her forehead, her skin was flushed, and her nipples were still hard. And Giles had a raging hardon. He covered his face and groaned. Buffy reached out and touched his arm. "I'm serious, are you okay? You look awful."

Giles flinched away from her and he started to fall off his stool. Only Buffy's hold on his arm kept him from hitting the floor. Buffy's jaw dropped. "You’re drunk." She let out a disgusted noise. "Sheesh, I only danced a couple of dances. How'd you get drunk so fast?"

Giles barked out a laugh. "A couple of dances? Is that what they're calling it these days?" He focused on Buffy, a pained expression on his face. "Do you always dance like that?" He looked around for the boy she had been dancing with. There was no sign of him. Giles figured he was probably jerking off in the bathroom.

"Dance like what?"

Giles' inebriated state loosened his tongue. "Like you're having sex." He flung a hand out towards the dance floor. "Right there, in front of everybody. Do you always dance like that?"

Buffy blushed. She had been pretty close to that guy. "No. I just…" She shook her head, she didn't get what was going on. Putting an arm around Giles she helped him stand. "Hey, over eighteen, remember? Come on, dad, let me get you home." She stressed the word dad, to remind him that he wasn't her father.

Giles glared at her. "I am not your father."

She mocked him with her smile. "I know. Oh, that's right. You're that rakish uncle of mine."

He wasn't done glaring. "I am not related to you in any way whatsoever."

Buffy felt a little hurt. "Okay, okay." She paused, not sure what to make of this Giles. "Are you still my Watcher? Can I call you that?"

With as much dignity as Giles could muster, he nodded. "I'll always be your Watcher." Suddenly he snorted.

Buffy looked at him, suspicion in her eyes. "What?"

Giles snorted again. "Well, I can't say I ever expected to watch you doing that."

Buffy blushed and started heading them out. "Look, whatever happened in there, just forget it, okay?"

Giles shook his head. "Can't. It's like it's seared into my brain." He stumbled and Buffy kept him from falling once again. He wrapped his arm loosely around her shoulder. "You know what happened to me the last time I got this drunk?" He clarified. "I mean, before you died?" He’d gotten drunk several times since he'd buried her.

"No, what happened?"

"Ethan turned me into that demon."

Buffy's eyes widened. She'd swear that was Giles' hand on her butt. She reached down and pulled it back up to her shoulder. "Well, you seem to be doing that all on your own this time." His hand started drifting again and she pushed away from him. "Giles, what's going on? You're totally freaking me out."

Something in the tone of her voice penetrated Giles' brain and part of him sobered up. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's been…" He ran a hand through his hair and let out a brief bitter laugh. "Never mind. Just help me get home. All I need is some sleep."

Buffy eyed him, her face full of concern. She glanced around, wondering if Ethan was lurking in the shadows. Maybe he'd come back and put another spell on Giles. "No more wandering hands?"

Giles shook his head, mortified. "I'm so sorry, Buffy. I…" He had no words.

Buffy grinned. "Hey, you’re not the first drunk guy with frisky hands I've ever had to deal with. Just remind me not to leave you alone for so long next time we come here." She pointed at him. "You need a Watcher."

Giles got his hand over his mouth just in time to keep from replying to her comment. He was going to say that she could watch him anytime she wanted to. Buffy backed away, afraid he was going to throw up. When she realized he wasn't she rolled her eyes and moved back to his side, arm around his waist again. "Come on, let's get you home."

Spike watched from the shadows as he saw Giles and Buffy arrive home, arms tight around each other, their bodies so close he didn't think he could get a dollar bill between them. Spike cursed. Clearly he needed a new strategy. The first two spells had been directed at Buffy in hopes that she'd do something that would make Giles want to leave her but both had failed miserably. So, it was time to work some mojo on Giles and make Buffy leave him instead. All he needed to do was to pay attention, probe for a little information, then he'd rip that relationship apart and be around to pick up the pieces.

Giles took a long cold shower. When he got out Buffy had already gone to bed for which Giles was inestimably grateful. He crawled onto the couch. He sincerely hoped that when morning came that he wouldn't remember anything that he'd done tonight but he knew it was a forlorn hope. Giles had never been one of those who was blessed with forgetfulness the morning after. He always remembered every foolish, humiliating thing he said or did. He covered his face with his hands and groaned. With his eyes closed, all he could see was Buffy, the way she had looked tonight, out on the dance floor. Giles groaned again. It was going to be a very long night.

***

Buffy pulled out the stake she'd just slammed into the vampire's chest. She turned away so she wouldn't breathe in any of the dust. Flipping around she started working on the next one. Spike was fighting his own way through a couple of vampires. Buffy spun and kicked the vamp in the face. She frowned. She was a little worried about Giles. She did a jump kick and felt a moment's satisfaction when the vamp went flying. Buffy ran to her before she could get up and rammed a stake in her chest.

The next morning after 'The Bronze Incident' as she was calling it in her mind, she had teased Giles about his hangover, and about his behavior, and once he'd gotten in a few sarcastic rejoinders she figured everything would go back to normal. But they hadn't. Not really. He was doing a lot of blushing, and a certain amount of avoiding. She didn't like it, at all. Buffy had been loving the closeness between them and she missed it now more than she could say.

She sat there crouched on the ground, in a blue funk. Spike yelled. "Slayer, behind you." Buffy ducked and rolled just in time to avoid having her neck snapped. Spike rushed forward and ended yet another vampire's reign. He looked at Buffy. "You seem distracted tonight. What's got you in such a twist? Something wrong with your Watcher?"

Buffy looked at him surprised. "Yeah, actually."

Spike's eyes gleamed with delight. Maybe he'd already done it. Maybe he wouldn't need to use any more spells. "Why, what's up with lover boy?"

Buffy stood, defensive. "Why do you ask it like that? Were you there? Did you see?"

Now Spike was confused. "Back up Slayer. I just want to know what's wrong."

"It's Giles. He's just being, I don't know, a little distant." She scowled. "Something happened at the Bronze the other night and things just haven't been the same."

Spike practically crowed. He was so close. One more little piece of straw and this camel was going down. He tried to sound sincere. "I'm sure you two will work it out." They both sat on tombstones, waiting to see if any more vamps might come strolling by. After a while Spike asked a question feeling the time had come for some information gathering. "So, if you had to name the one thing you liked about Giles best, what would it be?"

Buffy swung her legs. "Yikes, that's a tough question." She thought for a few minutes. A new vampire tried to rise, coincidentally out of the grave she was sitting on, and she staked him. She sat again. "Well, I guess, I guess it's the fact that I know he's mine."

"Yours?" Spike needed more to work with.

"Yeah, that he's here for me. That I'm the reason he came back from England. It's like I belong to him and he belongs to me." She grinned, holding up two fingers, crossed. "Like two peas in a pod. That's important to me, especially right now. Knowing that nothing can come between us. That he'll always pick me."

Spike heard the little bit of hesitation in her voice. Obviously he wasn't picking her quite enough right now. And with a little push from Spike, Giles wouldn't be picking her at all. Spike needed to get to Willy's. "Gotta go, luv."

Buffy pouted. "Fine, leave me out here all alone." She watched as he actually took off. Buffy let out her breath in a huff. "Great, he left me out here all alone." She sighed, wishing Giles was with her. She decided to head for home.

***

Spike was looking at the spell menu. He remembered seeing something, something that he thought was just the ticket. And he wouldn't even need to do anything to Giles. Just reintroduce a little of his past to him. And then watch him blow off Buffy just like that. He snapped his fingers.

Phone up to his ear, he spoke to Frank. "Okay, I want number 173." He listened for a minute. "Yeah, all right, this is the laundry list. I want you to get me the woman in England that Giles had the most mind numbing sex with. I'm talking down and dirty, every fantasy coming true kind of sex. And make it someone he really cared about too." He listened again. "How the hell do I know? He was quite the hoyden in his day. I'm sure there’s someone still around. Oh and Frank, she better be here within a week." Spike hung up. This was gonna be good.

End of Part 2