Title: Love Heals All
Author: Rari

(notes and disclaimer with part one)

Love Heals All: Part 4

They'd been here now for four days. They had a small house on a beach in Maui, surrounded by huge bushes with flowers the size of dinner plates that gave them a wonderful sense of privacy and made them feel as if they had the entire island to themselves. The wonderful sound of the surf was only yards from both their bedroom window and the living room. Giles couldn't ever remember being this rested in his life. Ever.

They'd made their escape with a minimum of fuss. Giles decided that everyone had been too busy looking forward to an entire week without Buffy's dreams to make a fuss about them leaving. The only tricky part had been letting Willow know that Spike knew how to get a hold of them if an emergency arose. Willow thought that she ought to have their number but Giles was adamant about it. He didn't want Buffy to answer the phone and have it be Willow, or any of the four of them. Not that he'd told Willow that, of course. He promised that they would call and check on Dawn. And he had. He'd called every night from a pay phone and made excuses as to why Buffy was unavailable.

And to a certain extent she was unavailable. Buffy had withdrawn. Not to an unhappy or despondent place. But rather, or so Giles thought, to a healing place. A place where she could start to find herself again and begin rebuilding. She'd sit on the beach for hours. She'd eat when food was placed in front of her and walk hand-in-hand with Giles down the beach or through the resorts. Buffy continued to crave his touch and that alone kept him reassured. If she had pulled away from him he might have feared for her. But instead, he trusted, and he just stayed beside her. And often hours would go by with only a few words being spoken.

They slept together every night after a brief futile effort on Giles' part of suggesting separate beds. The sleeping arrangement was still platonic in nature but there were more moments, moments thick with potential and need. But each time Giles pulled back and Buffy let him.

They were sitting out on their little beach now. Buffy looked down at Giles from her chair. He was lying on a lounge chair, wearing shorts and a t-shirt. He'd gotten tan so quickly. The tropical breeze was ruffling his hair and he was lost in a book. A fiction book. Some detective thriller by the look of it. She watched him and loved him. She couldn’t believe how much she loved him. And she couldn't believe that she was starting to feel alive again, and glad to be alive. She tried hard not to think of home. Home still felt bad. She spoke. "I have a new forever plan."

She'd spoken so rarely today that her words actually penetrated his concentration. Giles turned to look up at her. "What?"

"A new forever plan. We stay here. Forever."

Giles nodded. "All right."

Buffy leaned back in her chair. "Good, that's settled."

Giles bit back a smile. "Should we send for Dawn?"

Buffy shook her head. "No, not yet."

Giles watched as her eyes grew dark and pensive. He sat up and swung his legs around so he was facing her. "Buffy, are you ready to talk yet?"

Her eyes grew anxious. "About what?"

"About what Willow did, what the four of them did. How you plan to deal with that. It won't go away. It will still be there when we get back."

"I thought we weren't going back." Giles sent her one of his looks. She got off her chair and knelt in front of him. "Can we just pretend a little bit longer?" He opened his knees up so she could move in close enough to rest her head on his chest. "I know we need to talk, but not yet."

Giles ran his hand down her hair. "All right. We'll pretend a little longer." For some reason the fates were working in their favor. Spike had told them that the Hellmouth was relatively quiet. Not so quiet so as to make Spike nervous, but quiet enough that he felt more than equal to the task. And Dawn seemed fine. Giles was in no hurry to get back. He loved this time with Buffy. He loved sleeping with her and waking up with her, and engaging in the intimacies of sharing a house with her. Giles wanted to pass one thought on to her. "Just remember that you're not required to live with them, with Willow and Tara. We…you can ask them to leave, or you can sell the house and buy something smaller, for…for you and Dawn."

Buffy lifted her head smiling softly at his stuttering. At the words he wasn't saying. She said it instead. "For me and Dawn and you."

Giles laid the back of his fingers against one of her cheeks. He had to clear his throat. "If you'd like."

Their eyes caught again. Giles grew very still as Buffy lifted a hand and ran it through his hair. The sensation elicited a small moan from him and at the sound he jerked back a little as if to once again break the moment. Buffy shook her head. "Don't." She ran her hand through his hair again. Giles closed his eyes, surrendering to the sensation. His own hand moved to her neck, and he could feel her pulse beating rapidly under his fingers. He knew his own heartbeat could match hers. He opened his eyes again. Together they bridged the distance between them and their lips met.

At first it was inquisitive, a testing kiss, an opportunity to taste each other and see how they fit together. But it rapidly escalated to something that was so much more. A staking of territory, a physical claiming of what had already happened in their hearts and minds. Their tongues mated as their bodies moved closer together. Giles pressed fevered kisses down her face and neck eventually making his way back up and claiming her lips again.

Giles pulled Buffy up onto the lounge chair with him. The both reveled in the sensation of their bodies pressing fully together. They had been this way countless times over the past few days but now their skin was on fire, the sensation so different from what it had been. The safe haven had been replaced by a passion so rich it stunned them both.

They couldn't touch each other enough. Their pace was frantic as if they'd been enduring days of foreplay only to finally now quench their desire. Soon the lounge chair became too restrictive. As one, lips still welded together, they moved towards the house, divesting each other of clothes until they fell into bed naked. Giles' hands ran down the length of Buffy's body before returning to her breasts. His mouth soon followed the path his hands had made. Buffy arched, gasping, her breath leaving her body in fevered pants as he first took one breast and then the other in his mouth.

Buffy held his head to her breast with one hand while the other raked down his back. She reached between them to feel his erection that had been teasing her with its hardness against her thighs. Giles let out a cry of pleasure when her hand found her target. Giles moved up her body to recapture her lips. He couldn't control the movement of his hips thrusting as her hand moved slowly up and down the length of him. Giles went to nibble on an ear and his warm and rapid breathing sent shivers of desire down Buffy's spine.

Her legs opened under him and she guided him with her hand to her core. There was nothing she wanted more right now than to feel him inside of her. When he thrust into her for the first time Buffy began to cry, her emotions overpowering, as she felt truly alive for the first time since her resurrection. Giles kissed the tears off her face, one look at her reassuring him that they were good tears, healing tears.

Now that he was in her, now that they were truly joined, the frantic need began to recede. Giles watched Buffy, watched the passion and love on her face as he slowly pulled out and then entered her again. She grinned at him, at his teasing, at the joy she felt at feeling alive again. He grinned back at her. Giles kept on teasing her with his lovemaking until Buffy couldn't stand it any more. Using her strength she flipped them over.

She giggled at the surprised look on Giles' face but then watched as he began to take full advantage of this new vantage point by lifting his head up and suckling on her breasts again. Now she began to tease him, eliciting moans from him every time she plunged back down. Giles' hands moved up and down her back, down to her bottom, and then to her hips. He began to guide her movements, speeding her up, setting a steady pace. She leaned down and started kissing him again, their tongues mating in time with their bodies.

Giles felt her stiffen as she started to climax. He swallowed her cries with his kisses and then he flipped them over again. Buffy wrapped her legs around him as he continued the pace he had set and found his own release. They continued kissing, even as Giles rolled them until they were resting on their sides, facing each other. Their lips and tongues were far from sated and the exploration continued. Giles' lips trailed down her jaw and to her neck. He gently bit her and then softly laughed. Buffy pulled her head back so she could see his face. "What?"

"I was just thinking what a good thing it is that I'm not a vampire."

Buffy's eyes widened. "Why? I mean, besides the obvious reasons."

"Because if I were, I'd be biting you and drinking you down because I cannot get enough of you. It's as if you were a drug."

Buffy smiled. "We can stay here until you've had all the Buffy goodness you can stand."

Giles grinned. "A new version of the forever plan?"

Buffy nodded. "Well, we had a staying in bed forever plan, remember?" At his nod she continued. "But you said the bed was too small."

Giles looked at the bed they were on now. "Yes, but now we seem to have quite a respectably sized bed. We'll need to get one at least this big."

"We will, huh?"

"Yes, for our house, for our bedroom, which, by the way, will be very far away from Dawn's bedroom." He kissed her again for a long time and then he lay his head down on a pillow just looking at her. One hand was playing with one of her breasts, watching her skin pucker as he ran a finger lightly over her nipple. Giles shook his head, letting out a small silent chuckle.

Buffy got a crooked smile on her face. "What now?"

"I can't believe this happened." He shook his head again. "I can't believe you're alive, I can't believe you're lying here naked with me, I can't believe I just made love to you, I can't believe how much I love you." He laid a hand on his chest. "I mean, I've always loved you, but this, what I feel in here…" He shook his head one more time, words actually failing him.

Buffy's eyes grew bright. She cupped one of his cheeks with her hand. "Thank you, thank you for loving me so much. Thank you for showing me that I could love again, that I could want to live again." A single tear fell down her face. She whispered softly. "You saved me from a scary place, a place I didn't know how to get out of. But in you came, with all your love and you lit the place up so I could find my way out. To this, to us, to a reason to be alive."

At her words Giles moved to hold her tightly to him. Buffy returned the hug but then pulled back when she felt his body vibrate with another small laugh. She rolled her eyes. "What is it with you and the laughing?"

Giles bit his lip. "Just happy, I guess."

Buffy shook her head. "Nope, you were having another thought. I can tell."

Giles grinned. "It just seems fitting somehow. I've spent the last six years of my life doing everything I can to keep you alive and now…"

"And now you get to do it in a whole new way." Giles nodded and ran a hand down her body again, his eyes following, admiring her curves, and the softness of her skin. Buffy grinned. "Sort of gives a whole new meaning to the job of Watcher."

Giles let out a satisfied sigh. "I can't ever remember liking my job more."

Buffy giggled. "I hope you're going to do more than watch, though."

His eyes grew mischievous as he leaned over to kiss her again. "I've always believed that a Watcher should know his Slayer as intimately as possible."

Buffy smiled coyly at him. "So, lots of intimacy is recommended?"

Giles flicked his tongue over her lips. "Oh yes. I'm sure it’'s in the Slayer Handbook. Chapter six, I believe."

Buffy pulled him even closer. She smiled against his lips. "Well, you know what an obedient Slayer I am."

Giles snorted. But instead of answering her he just kissed her.

End of Part 4