Title: Stalking
Author: Rari

(notes and disclaimer with part one)

Stalking: Part 4

Giles looked at the clock. He sighed. It was three minutes after the last time he'd looked. It was still early although not so early that Buffy couldn't be arriving any time. He felt a moment of commiseration for all the vampires that Buffy had stalked throughout her career as a slayer.

The phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Giles, it's Xander. You have to come to the Bronze, now."

"What on earth for?"

"It's Buffy."

"I don't understand."

"She's being stupid."

"Xander, could you please be a little clearer."

"I think she's had too much to drink but Anya says she's in heat." There was a pause. "Do slayers go into heat?"

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Well it would certainly explain the way she was acting today."

"Oh, well thank you very much."

"Hey, I'm the guy who said it made sense, remember?"

"I really don't understand why you want me to come down there."

All of a sudden Giles could hear an argument coming over the phone. "Hey, Anya, don't grab the phone from me when I'm talking." "Well, you're not saying it right." "What do you mean? I just told him to come down here." "Tell him she's acting like a skanky ho and then pretending she knows us and it's embarrassing." "I'm not gonna tell him that." "Xander, look what she's doing now." "God is that even legal? Hey, hey buddy get your hands off her a…"

Giles stood up. "Get his hands off her what?"

"Just get down here now!" Xander hung up.

Giles moved. He ran, actually. The music was pounding and the dance floor was filled with people throwing themselves around. He started looking for Buffy. He found Xander and Anya first. They were sitting at a table, both of them covering their eyes with their hands. He followed where their eyes would have been looking and saw Buffy. He was sure that there were at least five states where you could be arrested for that. Giles saw green, and then he saw red.

He started making his way to Buffy and when people got a look at his eyes they dove out of his way. Two of the young men around Buffy were more interested in her and how she was gyrating against them to notice Giles. One of them had his hands on her hips and he was starting to raise his hands up her sides. As his thumbs reached the underside of her breasts the young man felt himself being lifted off the floor by his collar. He turned his head to find himself looking into some very angry green eyes.

He was placed back on the floor only to find his face covered by a large hand and the sensation of flying as Giles pushed him away from Buffy hard. He turned around to take care of the other young man only to see him dragging Buffy off the dance floor towards the hallway that led to the bathrooms and an exit.

Anya and Xander had peeked through their fingers at the commotion. They saw Giles send one man flying and start off after the other one.

Anya moaned. "If he comes over here and acts like he knows us too I will never be able to come back here."

"Why? He's being all manly, I thought you liked all manly."

"Everyone's just going to think he's Buffy's pimp."

Giles caught up to Buffy and bachelor number two. He grabbed Buffy's arm.

"Buffy. What the hell do you think you are doing?"

She spun around at his voice. "Giles!" She threw herself in his arms. Giles' arms closed around her.

The young man came up. "Hey, she's with me, get lost."

Giles glared at him. The young man took a step back. Giles looked down at Buffy holding onto him. He snarled. "It would appear she doesn't want to be with you."

"Yeah, well who the hell are you?"

"I'm her….I'm her…. Giles searched for the right word. "I'm her guardian."

Buffy walloped him in the stomach. He almost doubled over.

"You are so not my guardian. That is so eeww."

"Then what exactly am I then?" He gasped the words out.

"You're my….you're my…."

"Exactly." He turned and glared at the young man again and stepped towards him. At this second glare the man's courage fled and he ran out the back door.

"Why on earth did you hit me?" He pushed Buffy away from him.

"You said you were my guardian."

"I was rescuing you from that Neanderthal." He glared at Buffy. "From the entire Cro-Magnon nation actually."

"I didn't need rescuing. No one asked you to rescue me."

"Yes, actually someone did exactly that. Xander called me at home to come and rescue you before you did something stupid."

She gasped. "Something stupid? Me, stupid? There is only one stupid person standing here and it is for sure not me."

Giles pinched the bridge of his nose pushing his glasses up as he did so. "Buffy, what in the hell are you talking about? And why did you punch me? I am your guardian in a certain sort of way." His eyes darkened. "And what is, as you so succinctly put it, so eeww about that? You didn't seem to think it was so eeww yesterday, or…or today for that matter." Giles could feel himself blushing.

Buffy stared at him. She stepped very close to him and she was too short to give him the glare she wanted. She looked around looking for something to stand on. She found something. She stalked over, got it, placed it in front of Giles, and stood on it. Now eye-to-eye she glared at him. Someone brushed by them and knocked into Buffy. She started to stumble off her perch when Giles put his hands on her hips to steady her.

Buffy's body shivered at the feel of his hands on her body. She lost all train of thought and wrapping her arms around him, one behind his head she pulled his face closer to hers placing her lips upon his. She used her tongue to try and tease his lips open. She pulled him in closer. He started back, putting up his hands to gently push her away. He couldn't, she used her slayer strength to stay put and kept kissing him. He tried to move his head back but her hand behind his head prevented him from moving.

Giles knew this was wrong. He knew he needed to stop this. He…mmm. She bit his lips following the bite with her tongue. "Oh, God.." He crushed her to him. His tongue met hers and she moaned. He positioned his head to better capture her lips and she pushed her body against his. She felt his erection and lifted one of her legs up his thigh to push even closer against it. He reached down a hand and grabbed her leg by the knee, lifting it higher. He ran his hand up her thigh and caressed her butt. He thrust his tongue in her mouth imagining her underneath him, his cock thrusting into her.

Someone else brushed by them and laughed. "Hey c'mon buddy, get a room."

Giles' sanity returned. "Oh, dear God." He'd been about to….and he was in a bar….and oh God, Xander and Anya. He tore his mouth away from Buffy's lips and looked behind him. Xander and Anya were still at the same table except this time facing him and Buffy, their faces in their hands again.

He looked back at Buffy. She looked just like she had earlier today. Her lips were full and wet, her eyes clouded with passion. Not kissing her took more self-control he thought he possessed. He wanted to throw her down on the ground and show her just what a watcher was capable of. He pulled out of her embrace and pulled her down off her perch. He brought her over to the table where Anya and Xander were sitting and sat her down. He figured he had another 30 seconds before she snapped out of it. He moved Xander's hands from his face and pointed to Buffy.

"Take her home." He could see Buffy's eyes clearing, the passion being replaced with a less friendly emotion. He waited for Xander's nod and then he ran for the exit.

Buffy made as if to run after him but Xander grabbed her hand. She could have broken free but she stopped and looked at him.

"Buffy, what are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you just looking for a good time and Giles is a means to an end?"

Her eyes got even less friendly. "What exactly do you take me for?"

He tightened his lips. "I'm not sure after watching you tonight. What were you trying to prove?"

Anya chimed in. "Besides proving to the world that you're a.." Xander took his hand and put it over Anya's mouth.

"An, not helping." He turned back to Buffy. "If Giles hadn't shown up here tonight what would you have done?"

"I can take care of myself. I didn't need to be rescued."

"I didn't mean it that way. I mean what would you have done? Would you have gone off with that guy and done what you'd been hinting at out on the dance floor?"

"No."

"So, what were you doing?"

She scowled. "I just wanted to make sure that I…."

He waited. Then prompted. "That you…?"

"That men still thought I was sexy."

Xander's mouth fell open. "Excuse me?"

"Well, I've been trying for weeks to get Giles to notice me and I've been trying really, really hard over the last two days and all he does is not notice or he runs away. What's wrong with me?"

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. You are gorgeous." He forestalled Anya. "I mean not as gorgeous as Anya, but a close second." He grinned at Anya and she smiled back, satisfied.

"Well, then what's wrong with Giles? Why doesn't he even notice me?"

"From where I was sitting he looked like he was noticing you just fine."

"Yeah, but then he ran away. Again." She slumped, feeling defeated. "I don't know what to do about it."

"Which brings us full circle. What is the 'it' you are trying to do something about? Do you just want to have a good time? Because if that's what this is about I think you picked the wrong guy."

She shook her head frustrated. "No, I want to be with him."

"You mean like in the biblical sense of the word?"

"No, well, yes, but…. I want to be with him, all the time. I want to be around him, and hang with him, and wake up with him, and figure out all the things he likes and doesn't like."

"You love him."

She nodded her head, miserable.

He rolled his eyes. "Did it ever cross your mind to just tell him that instead of making with the Don Juanita routine?"

"Xander, I'm so bad at the talking stuff. I figured we could do all the talking after."

Anya nodded. "See, that's exactly what I thought. First Xander and I would have sex and then….well actually I thought then I'd get over him but it didn't work. I just wanted to have more sex." She looked at Xander. "In fact, I sort of feel like having sex now. Can we go?"

Xander took a deep breath. "Yes, just give me a minute." Anya nodded, looking at her watch.

"Buffy, I know that you think this is a good plan, but I gotta tell you, you need to rethink it. When it comes to you Giles is never going to be a sex first, talk later kind of guy. You're too important to him. You have to talk with him first."

A frustrated groan came from Buffy as she laid her head on the table. "I can't. Every time I realize I should just talk with him it is always after I have done something so stupid like tonight that I can't even think of facing him. God, he must think I'm a complete ho."

Anya nodded. "We all think that."

Buffy groaned again. Xander patted her on the hand. "Look, give it a rest tonight, then talk with him tomorrow."

Buffy's head shaking was clear even with her face lying on the table. "I can't. I can't ever look at him again."

Xander laughed. "C'mon, we'll drive you home. You can drown your sorrows in some ice cream."

Her voice was muffled. "I don't have any. I ate it all."

"Then we'll stop on the way home and get you some."

"Okay."

End of Part 4