Title: Roadtrip Retreat Pt. 3
Authors: Eaglewolf & Milk
Feedback: Well, Betsy needs feed to keep living. We need it to keep writing. No feed = Dead cow. See what we are getting at?? *eg*
Disclaimer: Betsy belongs to US and no one else, but we will rent her out for Country fairs .. if held at night and Joss and his mates own everything else.. apart from the space vampire - that's Dee's <G>
Buffy took a deep breath and slowly reversed out of the parking lot something told her it was going to be a long day, and as she glance over her shoulder she noticed the beer, and a long night.
Giles was humming softly under his breath, until with great gusto he began to sing out loud "Waltzing Matilda Waltzing Matilda you'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me, and he sang as he watched and waited for his billy to boil, you'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me."
"Giles?" Buffy said trying to keep the irritation out of her voice.
"Yes, dear?" he replied. "Which way are we meant to be going?" she questioned.
Giles looked out the window and down the street, his alcohol fuddled mind trying to make sense of where they were. "Ahh," he said, "That way." pointing to the left.
Buffy had a great sense of direction in Sunnydale, but out here she was clueless. She chewed her bottom lip as she considered for a few seconds if Giles was in a fit state to be directing anyone anywhere.
"Buffy! I'm telling you it's thish way!" Giles said as he indicated left again as he took a swig off his beer. He grinned, Rex had managed to score him another carton that Buffy hadn't seen as Rex helped her load the car.
Buffy sighed shook her head and drove off in the direction Giles had indicated. All the while her woman's intuition telling her something was wrong. 'I'll bet something's wrong, she thought. Giles doesn't react to me naked, then it turns out he lived in the outback for ages, then he gets drunk and breaks his nuts.'
"You know Buffy, Danielle never liked to listen to me either. Just like us, she never believed me, and I was usually right. You remind me of her." he said with a wistful look on his face. He started to hum under his breath again.
Buffy gripped the steering wheel tighter, and her face as set in a stony expression. "Oh really?" she said with ice in her voice.
"Yeah. She was young and stubborn just like you." Giles smiled quietly to himself, he knew he was drunk but he was so drunk he didn't care about protocol anymore. "Of course at the time I was young and stubborn just like you."
Buffy allowed herself a small smile at that. "You're still stubborn, you old goat."
Giles turned to give Buffy a huge cheesy grin before turning his attention back to the road and humming softly again. Buffy couldn't help chuckling as she pictured her ex-librarian acting this way when he was dressed in tweed and talking to Snyder in the library. All the tension she was feeling left, as she imagined Snyder sitting next to her dressed as Giles was, and singing Aussie folk songs. Whoever this 'Danielle' was, she was in the past. It was Buffy who was here with him now. Now if she could only get him to notice her as a woman, not as just his slayer.
The jeep ate up the miles of road, and they lapsed into a companionable silence, until Giles suddenly sat up and yelled "Buffy! Stop.. I'm gonna... Oh god.. Buffy!!!!"
"What?" Buffy said as she slammed on the brakes, causing Giles to drop the beer he was holding, as he reached down to grab it before it spilt everywhere, he banged his head against the dashboard.
"Shit, now I got piss all over my jeanshhhh." Giles moaned, as he reached to tentatively feel his forehead.
"GILES!! EWWWW. Now that is gross."
Giles just looked at her, and scrambled out of the car, heading straight for the bushes, muttering about his wet patch all the way.
Buffy shook her head and jumped out of the jeep, looking for the bags with Giles shopping. She opened the side doors, and opened up the bags finding shirts, and the other various prizes they'd won when she remembered throwing the bag with the jeans in the back.
"Aha!" She cried, as she pulled her prize from the shopping bag. "Giles, I found you some clean jeans! Where are you?" She followed the muffled sounds and snickered at the sight she was presented with.
Giles was hopping around on one foot trying to pull his jeans off, but he was still wearing his boots. Buffy shook her head and walked over to him. "Giles?" she said trying to keep a straight face. It was at this moment Giles completely lost his balance and went crashing into Buffy. He landed on top of her with an oomph, causing her to fall backwards and land on the ground with him on top. She hadn't been expecting that to happen, and her mind was still focused on his well shaped butt.
"Shhoorrrry 'bout dat." he giggled, he tried to move off of her, but found his giggles escalating so much that he wasn't able to move. His body was shaking with laughter, causing pleasant vibrations to course through Buffy's body. She closed her eyes for a moment and allowed herself to indulge in a small fantasy where Giles was drunk on desire, not beer. When she opened them again his green eyes were boring into hers, and at that moment his guard was down, she could see everything in his eyes, but then he blinked and it was gone.
"Giles, get off me you big oaf." Buffy laughed and pushed him to the side as she sat up. She looked at him lying on the ground next to her, on his back looking up at the sky and smiled. He was so cute at times. His knees were bent and his jeans were around his ankles. She shook her head and moved to pull his jeans off. Once again, she zoned before she shook her head to clear it.
"You know Giles, first I get you into some decent clothes, and now I have to get you out of your clothes. I hope it's not going to become a habit."
Giles just grinned drunkenly at her before he sat up suddenly, grabbed her and pulled her back to lie down with him. He kept his arm around her, and before she knew it her head was pillowed on his chest. Buffy closed her eyes and just listened to his heart beat. This was what she loved, this was what her heart had ached for when she was with Angel. She allowed herself a small indulgent smile at the thought of her former lover, he had represented her childhood. Now, after having gone through so many things, she knew he could never make her happy, he was her childhood fantasy. He was her dark prince, it wasn't what she needed anymore. She needed a white knight in shining armor. It was at that point she realized Giles was pointing at the clouds with his free arm.
"That looksh like a doggie, and that one looksh like Mr Gordo. Good Lord!" Giles exclaimed causing Buffy to jump.
"What Giles?" She asked trepidly.
"That one.. there.. you shee it?" he asked as he pointed, he looked down at her as she looked up at him after she had found the cloud he was talking about and nodded. "That one.. looks like Prinshiipal Shhnyder!"
Buffy whacked him in the chest playfully, "Oh you idiot." she muttered, and rolled over so she was leaning on his chest and could look down into his eyes. Something she'd seen there had made her a little bit bolder, somehow she knew he didn't mind the physical contact anymore. The reasons he'd distanced himself in the past were gone, he was no longer the librarian at her school and he no longer had reason to believe her mother would suspect anything of him. He needed to be touched, he needed to be touched by her, and often she decided. There was something else she'd seen in his eyes, something she couldn't quite put her finger on. She knew he had secrets, everybody did. Her heart jumped into her mouth as Giles looked up at her, smiled, and raised his hand to brush a lock of hair out of her eyes. His eyes darkened with his love for his slayer, and suddenly he pulled her to him in a fierce hug.
"I love my lay." he whispered.
Buffy's eyes shone with emotion, and she murmured, "and I love my Watcher." against his chest. They lay there for a moment, Buffy lying on Giles ' chest facing him with his arms wrapped around her, and then he suddenly called out, "Hey! That one looks like Dan!" Buffy felt her throat constrict, why did that name make her feel this way? Buffy took a deep breath, Danielle was from the past. She sat up, and grabbed Giles by the hand pulling him into a sitting position.
"Now, let me get these jeans off you." Giles looked at her, his eyes shining bright with humor and snickered. Buffy smiled at him and shook her head. "If only the gang could see you now." She laughed as she saw Giles frown.
Pulling his jeans off over his boots, she then decided to pull his boots off before trying to help him get into the clean jeans. Giles put his hands behind his head and snickered as he watched Buffy help him. Never in a million years would he have expected to end up here, like this. But here they were, and he was enjoying every drunken moment of it.
Buffy hesitated before trying to put him in the clean jeans she had brought along with her. How was she going to just reach up and just like nothing, pull his boxers down, to change them? This was Giles. As curious as she was, she knew deep down that things would be strained between them if she did. What other choices were there? Let him soak in them, or maybe reach up and pat and caress the boxers he wore, to see if they needed to be changed?? Finally she came to a decision and slowly pulled the boxers from the tangle of the new jeans beside her, nervously holding them up for him to see—hoping he would understand what she was silently asking.
Several minutes passed as she awaited his answer. But nothing. No response, or movement, came from Giles. Finally finding it in herself to look at his face, she found him staring back at her. Taking a deep breath, Buffy took the plunge. " Um...do you need help changing your boxers? Cause I can, help that is, if you need help, if you need them.... I won't look, I promise..." She trailed off, at a loss for words.
"Why woulds I need them? I alreadys have a pair on, what you not like them? You did pick them out, you know. " Giles gave Buffy a confused look and turned his head back and forth, going from looking at Buffy, to looking at the boxers she held.
He wasn't making this easy for her. Sighing, Buffy lowered her outstretched hand containing the new black boxers. "Giles, you did have a 'accident' didn't you? Remember why we are out here, changing your jeans?" Still receiving a confused look from her Watcher, Buffy decided tactfulness was not a option with him at this stage. "You pissed your pants, remember?"
Watching as understanding came to his eyes, she raised her eyebrows, and waved the boxers in a silent question to him. Almost instantly, he was in an all out laugh.
"Buffy, shweet Buffy. Piss, is another word for beer. When I shaid that, I meant I shpilled beer all over me-not the way you lot abuse the word." He tried to hold his laughter back, but couldn't quite achieve it.
"Oh. Did it soak all the way through? "
Reaching down, Giles began to run his hand over the material of his boxers. Lightly at first, then as he went back over them the second time—he began to rub harder as his eyes slid closed. Buffy watched, mesmerized, by the display Giles was exhibiting in front of her. Feeling her breath begin to quicken, and the impulse to assist him, she knew something had to be done.
"Giles? Um....Giles? Are you wet, or not? " Buffy slapped her hands over her mouth as soon as the words escaped her.
Giles chuckled, the laughter having died after he began caressing himself. "No, I'm not wet. Not yet anyhow." With that, he opened his eyes and bore right into Buffy's, both knowing the innuendo was building on something between them.
"Okay, we need to get moving then." The moment between them broken and gone, Buffy tore her gaze from Giles and began to gather his boots.
"Yeah, I need another beer."
Eventually with Giles in clean jeans they made their way back to the jeep.
They both noticed the strange man a bit further down the road, dressed in black jeans and a red and black checked jacket.. He had a white box tucked under his arm, it looked to be rather heavy. As they watched, the guy stopped, put it down, and picked it back up carrying it in both arms instead of under the one arm as before. Giles tilted his head to one side, then looked at the open jeep.
"Hey!! YOU!!!! OI!! Come back wif my Coopeeeeeeeeerrrrsssssssshhhhhhhh!!!" Giles began running after him, well the best he could anyways. They heard the strange man swear turn around and start walking back towards them.
"Damn, I was really looking forward to this too. So damn hard to find decent beer around here," he muttered. As the strange man drew closer, they could see he wasn't actually human, although apart from the amber coloured skin he could have passed quite easily. Well that, and the two small horns protruding from his forehead. He had blonde hair, and a goatee.
Instantly Buffy was in battle stance, ready to fight for Giles' beer. She relaxed a little when she realized the demon had come back as soon as Giles had called him, and he obviously understood English. The demon finally reached them and smiled sheepishly.
"Ya know, I really gotta think about getting a car. My getaway's would be much quicker. Before you ask, yes, I'm a demon. Yes, I used to be human, and yes I was born in Australia, many years ago. The names Spiked," Spiked put out a hand for Giles to shake, before he turned to shake Buffy's hand. "Wow. The Slayer." he said softly.
Buffy looked at him quizzically.
Spiked smiled, "There are two things I make it my business to know. One is beer, and two is who to be nice to."
An hour later a very sheepish watcher and slayer were back on the road and driving back to where they'd just come from. Spiked had been a very friendly demon, and he'd explained that they were driving in the wrong direction. They'd driven back to his lair, where Giles and Spiked had exchanged beer and even more Aussie stories. Buffy noticed the more Australian's Giles talked to, the more Aussie his accent became. And when Spiked had asked them what they were going to see in Colorado, Buffy's mouth had dropped open, and she'd slapped her hand over Giles' mouth before he could point out their stupid mistake.
At least they'd discovered one interesting fact, if you saw a beer demon taking off with your beer-- all you had to do was ask for it to come back, and it had to. They weren't violent creatures, it's just if they saw beer they had to have it. Spiked had seen the jeep open and full of beer. He'd missed Coopers even more than Giles had. They'd reached a compromise, so Spiked now had 24 cans of Coopers to savor.
"I knew I shouldn't have listened to you!" Buffy muttered as she drove them back towards Arizona again.
Giles was busy laughing, as he took a sip of one of the various beers he'd swapped one of his cartons of Coopers for. "I wouldn't have listened to me either, hehe I'm drunk! What do I know?"
Buffy grinned and said mock seriously, "But YOU'RE Giles! You know everything."
Giles sobered for a moment, he turned his head to look at Buffy, his voice was low, and his eyes were full of pain, "No, not everything Buffy." Then he smiled, and his eyes were clear again, "although I do know rather an awful lot." He started to giggle.
Buffy smiled, and said "You know Giles, I think you might have had enough for today. I'm going to need you to drive sometime."
Giles sighed, "Shyeah.. I know. I'll shtop drinking after dish can kay?"
"Thanks, Giles."
"No worriesh. I think we should shtop for the night tho, Buffy. I need to shleep dis off."
"Yeah, you're right. Okay, Let's keep an eye out for somewhere to sleep. I'll be right for another hour or so but after that I just wanna crawl into a nice soft bed and sleep for a while."
They drove on in silence, Giles humming softly to himself as the jeep ate up the miles. He finished the beer he was on and reached for another one.
"Giles! You said that was the last one!"
"It ish! It'sh the last carton for today. See only 6 left, if we are shtopping for the night, I might as well make the most of it." His accent took on darker Ripperish tones as he grinned at Buffy and said, "Why, it'll make it easier for you to take advantage of me, luv."
Buffy's face was bright red. Did he know? Was it that obvious? In a way she hoped it was, but she was so use to Giles being Giles... The silence loomed between them now, a comfortable companion.
Eventually Buffy felt herself beginning to tire, and she knew it was time to pull over for the night. She laughed as she noticed which motel they found themselves staying in, and laughed even more as she was handed the key to their room.
It had been a battle--but Buffy finally managed to get Giles out of the Jeep. After standing and arguing with him--she decided a compromise had to be made: If he came back into the motel with her for the night--he could bring the beer with him. And so it was that she was lugging in the partial case of beer won at the days competition as well as carrying their bags and steering her drunken Giles to the room they had just left that morning.
"This place looks familiar......" Giles said as he stumbled over the threshold to the cheesy motel room. "Alright, where's my beer?"
==
"I wanna set it up here."
Buffy threw her arms up into the air. With that action alone, Giles was coherent enough to know he had gotten his way. A smile crossed his face as Buffy turned on her heal and walked away.
"Fine, do what you want. What the hell do I care?!?! I'm getting changed and going to bed—you want it in here—you set it up by yourself." Buffy grabbed her bag as she walked off to the bathroom. Closing the door behind her, she leaned back against it, slowly sliding down the hardened surface. ' What is going on with him?!? He's acting like Xander would after so much beer.' Buffy thought as she contemplating the idea of never leaving that solitary room. Filled with the quiet she desperately wanted that night.
But hearing Giles break through the quietness with a wail of pain, brought Buffy to her senses and she bolted from the dingy bathroom. "Giles! What happened to you this time?" She asked as she made her way towards him.
He sat facing away from her on the floor, holding his head in his hands. "I banged my head again, it hurts."
"Here, let me see." Buffy softly coaxed him to drop his hands. "Gee, Giles, that's quite the bump you got there. I don't think there's anything I can do for you though. But I do know you can't go to sleep for a while, guess we're going to be awake for a time. How'd you do it?"
Giles wobbled his head as he thought for a moment, "I ..uh...banged it. Banged it on the top of the nightstand. I caught the corner. It hurts, Buffy. Why do I always hit my head so much?"
The look on his face made Buffy forget all the frustration he had built up in her. " I don't know why you always get your head banged, Giles. Just bad luck, I guess. What do you want me to do? I can't give you anything for the pain—you've been drinking—and drinking and pills don't mix." She moved to pull him into a hug, when she realized he had the swag all set up and ready for bed. "I can't believe you are really going to sleep in that, in here. What? You didn't like sharing a bed with me?" Buffy realized as soon as it was said—how it sounded. It sounded like a snide remark, but that wasn't how she had intended it to be.
Not noticing a change in Buffy's demeanor, Giles began snickering. After a few minutes, he pulled away from her hold and hiccuped, which only made him drop into a full out laugh. Finally after several minutes of this, Giles seemed to calm enough to look at the confused look upon his Slayers' face. Catching on as to what she was waiting for, Giles answered. "It wasn't the sharing the bed or waking with you pressed against me that I didn't like, it was the bloody jostling about. Don't think I could handle that again."
An unexpected sigh of relief escaped Buffy. Glad that it wasn't her presence he didn't like in the bed, just the bad idea of playing with the magic fingers option. "Believe me, I wasn't planning on doing that again. I didn't enjoy that part of it much either. So you can share the bed again tonight."
"No. I'm gonna sleep in the swag, I like it there." Giles pointed to the contraption set up on the floor over to the side. "My head still hurts. I need to lie down, I need aspirin. Aspirin will help..."
"Giles! I told you no pills. You wanted to drink, you can suffer a little." She grabbed his hand as he tried to rise from the bed—"You can't sleep either, not yet. I told you that too. We're just going to have to find a way to keep you entertained and awake." Buffy held firmly to his hand as she contemplated what to do with a drunken Giles.
Giles looked fondly at the swag. It was like years ago in Australia, just him and Dan in the outback, sharing one. Only now, it was him and Buffy sharing one, but in a different way. They were co-owners of the tent like sleeping bag. But.....maybe....just , perhaps...he could change that. Giles laid back on the bed, his feet still flat on the floor. Taking his hand from Buffy's grasp, he laced his fingers together and placed them below his head and with a glint in his eye, he looked towards his slayer, and awaited her reaction, "So, entertain me."
Buffy sat, stunned a bit by the sudden change in Giles' attitude. Being drunk does that to a person, so she's witnessed many times at a college party in the past. Remembering back for a moment to her own extremely bad experience with the amber liquid, she shuddered and turned her attention back to the form splayed across the bed. He had moved fully up to the pillows now, watching her.
"I thought you said you weren't going to stay on the bed?"
" I said I wouldn't sleep in it, not rest on it. I'm awake, somewhat....I can keep an eye on you, and make sure you are far away from this here," Giles leaned over and patted the top of the control box for the 'magic fingers' on the bed. As he did so, he caught sight of the carton he had brought in with them. "I need another drink."
Buffy was quicker than he was though, and made it to the remaining beer before he could even roll off the bed. "Not so fast, there, Giles. You've had enough for one day. " She stood with her arms folded in front of her before the little box on the floor. Standing her ground, she watched as he gained his balance and took the few steps to get to her, a few inches between them--- stopped.
He had changed again. From the adorable, happy drunk-- to the drunken Giles she had seen in years past, a angry, miserable soul. Though this is the first time she had seen his eyes this clearly when he was like this—and she recognized what she saw. Ripper. Maybe not fully, but he was there, lurking under the surface, waiting to break free.
Unsettled by what she witnessed in his eyes, she took a step back and tumbled over the carton she had been guarding from Giles.
Bending down, Giles closed in on Buffy. "Let's get this straight, you may be the Slayer, but you are not my keeper. If anything, I am YOUR keeper. I am a adult and know my limits. Don't push me, you may not like the results. Now I'm going to have another beer, understand me?" With that said, Giles pushed himself off the floor, grabbed another can and moved back toward the bed.
Buffy had only heard that tone and coldness from him once, maybe twice before. He meant every word of what he had said to her, but that only made her blood boil all the more. She didn't like the position he had placed her in or the way he had made her feel like a helpless child.
Scrambling back to her feet, the shock of it all wearing off, Buffy was about to let him know a thing or two, when she looked and saw him. He had sprawled himself on the bed, leaning back against the headboard with a pillow propped up behind him. A sly smile crept across his face as he lay, amused by the reaction he received from her.
The anger rose, as Buffy realized what he had done to her. It was a matter of seconds before she made the dash to the bed, where he lay. Looming above him, she watched as he broke out into a fit of giggles. "You!! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME?!?!???" Buffy screamed at him, holding herself back from pummeling him a few times.
He knew what he had done to Buffy, and with the thought of that-- and her reaction—he began to giggle. Still holding that can of beer, Giles was in such a state of giggles, that he was rolled onto his stomach at this point, totally ignoring Buffy's outburst. Realizing this, Buffy reached down and poked him in the side with her finger. "HEY! Didn't you hear what I said? Giles!!!!" The poke only made Giles begin to curl into a ball, the hand holding the can tipping as he did so.
"OH NO!!! NONONO!!!!" Buffy used her Slayer speed to grab the can from him before too much of the amber liquid spilled out---onto her bed. Setting the beverage on the nightstand, she turned her attention back to the still giggling Watcher. "Giles! STOP IT!! It's not funny." At her words, Giles turned his head to look at her; and began to giggle in earnest again. Buffy bent, and grabbed his shoulder after the second attack of the giggles began.
Before she knew what was happening, she was down on the bed, pinned beneath a now quiet Giles. The maneuver was one she would have to ask him about, at another time. "You wanted my attention?" Giles glared down at the blonde, his green eyes piercing into hers. "You now have it."
Buffy gulped at the change yet again that had overtaken her Watcher. "That w as a mean thing to do," before she could utter another word, Giles broke in.
"It may have been 'mean'. But it was also a true and necessary thing to say. I meant every word, remember that in the future." Having said that, the sly smile reappeared on his handsome, rugged face. "Oh, yes, one more thing. It was also quite fun. You did, after all, agree to 'entertain' me---didn't you?"
His smile turned into a full grin, with a wickedness about it, as Buffy absorbed the information. Deciding to take a little more control, Buffy rolled and reversed their positions. She now straddled him, with her hands above his head, grasping his wrist. Buffy was in effect, sitting on his chest, her own chest, just hovering over his mouth and face.
Watching him as he slowly slid his tongue from his mouth to pass over his dry lips, Buffy gave a involuntary shudder and slowly glided her hands down the length of his arms, finally coming to rest upon his shoulders. Their faces now just inches apart. Giles lowered his arms and placed his hands on top of hers. Within seconds, they had laced their fingers together. Buffy lost herself in the feeling, closed her eyes, and let out the breath she had been holding out.
"It's been a while since we've taken up this position. Have to say—I much prefer this time over the last."
"So do I. "
Slowly this time, she could feel Giles begin to roll them back over. She let him take the lead and rolled below him, reopening her eyes in time to see Giles close his eyes and feel him fit between her legs.
Knowing she was watching him, Giles forced himself to open his eyes. "Buffy," His voice had dropped to a husky tone, "how will you entertain me now?"
Buffy pushed Giles off her so hard that he landed on the floor, alongside the bed. Rolling to the edge, she lay on her stomach, peering over the edge. "Was that entertaining enough, for ya?"
TBC...
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