Title: Day Off
Author: Jacinta
Disclaimer: Joss and Co. owns everything. I own nothing but my warped mind.
Pairing: B/G
Rating: PG-13 (are you shocked J)
Spoilers: Season 5 - Set a few months after 'Spiral'
Distribution: Gabi if she wants it, theLIST too. Anyone else just ask.
Summary: Buffy goes down to the beach on her day off. and gets a nice surprise.
Dedication: To Savage. Happy birthday girl J
Feedback: Yes please. pretty please.don't make me beg...
Note: In this little universe of mine, they defeated Glory and everyone is still alive.
Big thanks to Milk (Sandy) for all her haras... uhm, encouragement with this (even if I was taunting her with only 2-4 lines at a time) and for betaing. One of the hazards of living down the beach is that you start seeing it as a setting for fic ;-) So I thought I'd get this one out, that way I could go back to concentrating on the next part of LiM with Tag.
Buffy sat on her bed, packing her shoulder bag with supplies for a trip down to the beach. With a lull in demon and vampire activity, Giles had given her a day off from training and told her to go enjoy herself. He himself had important plans for the day, so he wouldn't see her till later that night for patrol.
She had spent the morning sleeping in, not rising until after lunchtime. Since Dawn was spending the day with friends, she decided that she'd go down to the beach for some sun, sand, surf and, if she was lucky, to check out some cute guys.
"Okay, all packed, now to choose what to wear..."
Finally deciding on a little black bikini set, she changed, wrapped a sarong around her hips and, grabbing her bag, made her way outside to the car. When she arrived, Buffy headed slowly down the beach to find a nice spot to relax and soak up a few rays. If that spot included a nice guy, then so much the better.
There weren't that many other people around and the few guys there mostly seemed to be either of the standard 'jock' variety or already there with their significant other. However, one in particular caught her eye. He was sitting slightly away from the main group of people with his back towards her. From this distance all she could tell was that he had nice broad shoulders and brown, wind-tousled hair. He looked to be reading a book.
<Not bad... worth a little further investigation>she thought.
By the time she was halfway to him, her mystery man put down his book and stood up, stretching his arms and back before heading towards the ocean. He looked to be about six foot tall, had nice long legs and his stretch had revealed nicely toned muscles. The black shorts he wore came to about mid-thigh and hugged his very squeezable butt just right.
<Yum... can't wait to see what the view looks like from the front... too bad I'll have to wait now till he comes back in>
Settling for a spot not too close to where his towel lay, but still far enough away from the others, she spread out her beach blanket and sat down, pulling out her sunscreen and applying it to her skin. Just as she was about to apply some to her back, she noticed one of those 'jocks' heading towards her with a smug look on his face.
<Oh great, just what I need... Mr Jerk... and I just bet he's going to want to help me rub this on my back>
Not even bothering to try and hide her distain from her face, she glared at him as he approached her. Unfortunately for her, he seemed to be oblivious to it.
"Hey babe, want some help with that?" he asked as he reached for the bottle of sunscreen in her hand, not even bothering to wait for her answer.
"No thanks, I'm fine." Buffy replied through gritted teeth.
"Come on, you know you want me to."
"I said no," she answered, swatting away his hand.
"Come on Sugar, quit playing hard to get." Mr Jerk said as he stood back up.
"I'm not playing hard to get. I'm playing impossible to get."
"What's the matter Honey, you gay or something?"
For Buffy, that was the final straw.
Putting down the bottle and standing up, Buffy took a couple of steps towards him until she stood only a few inches away.
"Listen and listen good, because I'm only going tell you this once. I am not interested in you. I will never be interested in you or guys like you. I didn't come here to be annoyed or insulted by jerks like you. Now sod off and leave me the hell alone."
The quiet, menacing tone in which she said this to him---and the cold glare in her eyes---sent a chill down his spine.
"Um... okay... sorry..." he mumbled as he backed away and quickly turned, going back to where his friends stood, laughing and snickering at his defeat.
"Geez... great way to spoil my day" she huffed as she sat back down and finished applying the sunscreen to her back. Buffy glanced back out to the ocean to see where Mystery-guy was as she put the lid back on the bottle and placed it back in her bag.
She could just make out his form as he dove under the water, resurfacing a few meters away as he began to swim lazily about.
<Oh well... doesn't look like he'll be out any time soon. May as well rest for a bit>
After removing her sarong, Buffy lay down on her back and closed her eyes.
<Now this is the life. I could really get used to this>
After a while she decided to turn over so that she could warm her back as well.
Feeling a little daring, she moved to unclasp her bikini top, but didn't remove it totally. Buffy placed her arms on the ground in front of her to pillow her head as she lay it down and closed her eyes again. It wasn't long before she was blissfully unaware of anything other than the fresh sea air, warm sunshine and the rhythmic sound of breaking waves.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Giles took a few more leisurely strokes before heading back to the shore. He loved being able to spend some quiet time to himself without having to worry about the next prophecy or demon uprising. As much as he loved the company of the others, he sometimes needed to get away from it all to really relax. Knowing that Buffy was spending the day enjoying herself also made it so much more rewarding.
<We've all been through so much recently, Buffy especially. I just hope she's having as pleasant a day as I am>
He body-surfed a few waves till he was only a couple of meters from the shore, then stood and made his way back up to where his towel lay. It was then that he noticed that someone had located themselves near to where he had been.
"So much for being by myself," he muttered as he left the water and continued up the beach. By the time he reached his towel, his eyes had appraised the new arrival thoroughly. He couldn't see her face as it was turned away from him and half buried in her arms.
<From what I can see so far, she doesn't look half bad. Nice legs, curves in all the right places, smooth skin especially on that bare back of hers, long blonde hair... very nice. Knowing my luck she's probably another one of those brainless bimbos that tried to hit on me the second I got here> he thought while he grabbed his towel, firstly drying off his chest and arms, then moving the towel to cover his head as he dried his face and hair.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy was roused by the sound of moment next to her.
<Oooh... sounds like my mystery hunk is back>
Turning her head, she was greeted by the sight of his longs legs.
<Even nicer up close>
She allowed her eyes to slowly rake up his body, taking in his finely haired legs, well-toned thighs and those yummy black shorts, which hung low enough on his hips to allow her to see his belly button and the line of hair that trailed down below the edge of the material.
<Wow... very snug shorts and boy do they leave nothing to the imagination>
After pausing there for a while, her eyes continued up his flat stomach and broad chest with its light sprinkling of hair. Buffy couldn't believe how turned on she was getting from just looking at this complete stranger. Unfortunately his face was hidden underneath his towel as he dried his hair.
<If his face and eyes are anything like the rest of him, I'm in heaven>
Right at the moment he finished drying and moved it down off his head.
Buffy couldn't decide if she was in heaven or hell. In shear shock she raised herself up on her elbows as she exclaimed.
"G-Giles!"
<Oh my god! I've just been ogling Giles! And liking it! , a lot! >
"Buffy!"
<Oh dear god! I've been staring at Buffy's half naked body. Her half naked body... and totally bare back... which means her top...> Giles thought as his eyes lowered from her face down to her chest.
He could tell the moment Buffy remembered she had unfastened her top, as she blushed profusely and lowered herself back down, bringing her arms in close to her chest.
"W-What on earth are you doing here?" asked Giles, finally able to get his brain and mouth working again.
"Relaxing on my day off." replied Buffy as she tried desperately to get a hold of the ends of her top and reclasp it again.
"I thought you had plans for today?" she asked.
"I do. I-I'm doing them now."
Finally managing to get her top done up, Buffy sat up and stared at Giles with a small smile playing on her lips.
"So your important plans included playing hooky from work so you can come down to the beach and play?" she asked.
"Um... well... essentially, yes." he replied with a grin of his own.
Buffy giggled, then her smile turned to an evil grin and she asked with a twinkle in her eye,
"So... how much is it worth to you for me to not tell the others that you're being a very naughty boy?"
Giles swallowed nervously and then after a moment, with his own wicked grin answered,
"About as much as what it is worth to you for me to not tell them that you were sunbathing topless."
She regarded him for a moment, weighing up whether or not her embarrassment was worth watching him squirm in front of the others.
"Okay... fine. I won't tell if you won't."
"Deal," he replied with an infectious smile.
"So tell me, what exciting things have you been up to this morning?" asked Buffy as she patted on the blanket next to her, inviting him to sit down.
"Oh lots... I've done some reading, then I went for a swim, had a bit of a nap, read some more... oh, and just for a change, I went swimming," he smirked as he sat down next to her, mindful not to sit too close lest she discover exactly what his body's reaction to her was. It was a good thing his towel was still covering that particular part of his body.
"Very funny," Buffy said as she playfully swatted his arm.
"I'll let you get back to that exciting reading of yours while I go for a swim to cool off. Just don't hog too much of the blanket while I'm gone, cause I intend to do more sunbathing when I get back."
"Of course not. Perish the thought."
As soon as she had reached the water, Giles grabbed his book and spread out on his stomach, right across the middle of the blanket.
By the time Buffy had finished her swim and returned, Giles was sound asleep with his head pillowed in his arms much like hers had earlier. She let her eyes wander over his body again, stopping to watch his face as he slept. Buffy had never seen him look quite this relaxed before and found that it made him look even more handsome.
<Well regardless of how cute he is, he's still hogging the blanket>
Moving to stand next to him, she pulled her wet hair over her shoulder and, leaning slightly over him, twisted her hair around, causing a small amount of water to trickle down onto his back. The shock of the cold water hitting his warm back woke him instantaneously.
"Bloody hell!" Giles exclaimed as he flipped over onto his side, to glare up at whoever had disturbed him. What he found was his slayer in a fit of giggles, trying hard to remain standing.
"You think that was funny do you?"
The only answer he received was a nod of her head as she momentarily stopped giggling, only to start back up again.
"I'll show you funny..."
Giles moved so fast that she didn't have time to react. Before she knew it, he had thrown he over his shoulder, fireman style, and was heading back down to the water.
"Oh don't you dare Giles... put me down, right now."
No matter how much she squirmed, she couldn't get free of his hold. Not that she was trying too hard though. Part of her was too caught up in warm feeling caused by the contact of her skin on his.
"Don't do what?" he asked in fake innocence.
"I mean it Mister. Put me down or else!"
"Or else what?"
"Or else I'll kick your arse."
<And a mighty cute arse at that> she thought.
"And that would be different from any other day how?"
By now, Giles had reached the waters edge and had started to wade out.
When it reached his thighs, he moved his hands to her waist and, using his shoulder also, threw her towards the water. What he wasn't expecting was for Buffy to grab his arms as he did so, pulling him into the water with her.
They resurfaced in a tangle of arms and bodies, with Buffy's hands now holding onto Giles's shoulders, as his arms had moved to encircle her waist.
"I'm gonna make you SO sorry you did that."
Somehow her threat didn't quite sound as effective as she had hope, because Giles just smiled at her with a boyish grin.
"Of course you will."
Buffy playfully shoved him, catching him unaware and causing him to fall backwards into the water. Buffy's smile started to fade the longer he remained under the water. After a few moments, she began to panic.
"Giles? Giles!"
She shrieked when he came back up right underneath her, pushing her up and out across the water, making a huge splash when she landed.
Buffy glared at him as she stood back up and walked towards him.
"Don't ever do that again! You had me really worried."
"I'm sorry," he replied, but she could see it in his eyes that he was anything but sorry.
Her glare turned into a feral grin, as she gave his butt a quick smack when she walked past him, heading back to the shore. When she didn't hear him following her in, she called to him over her shoulder.
"You coming?"
"Not yet," he whispered huskily to himself.
"What was that?"
"Uh... I-I said yes, r-right behind you."
They both slowly walked back up the beach and grabbed their towels, drying off thoroughly before sitting back down on the blanket.
"I'll do you if you do me." Buffy said as she turned and reached into her bag.
"I b-beg your pardon?"
Retrieving her sunscreen, she turned back and handed it to Giles.
"I'll do your back if you'll you mine?"
"Oh... o-of course," he replied, calling himself several kinds of fools for even thinking what he had, as he took the bottle and squirted some sunscreen into his hand.
Buffy turned around again and then her eyes went wide as she realized the double meaning of what she had said.
<Oh my god! Giles thought I meant... but if he thought that, then he can't be thinking of me as a daughter... he doesn't think of me as a daughter... >
Her last thought brought a smile to her lips.
<Well I guess I'll just have to see how he really feels about me then> she thought as she moved her hands back to unclasp her top again, holding the front to her chest with her arms.
"W-What are you doing?" Giles asked nervously.
"I'm just moving it out of the way."
"O-Okay."
<Good lord man, get a grip on yourself!>
It took him a few moments to calm down enough to start rubbing it onto her back.
He started out lightly at first, slowly increasing the pressure as he spread it evenly over her back and shoulders.
"Hhhmmm... that feels good. How come you never told me you were so good at massaging?"
"Y-You never asked."
"Well consider it part of the official Watcher/Slayer manual now. 'Watcher must give Slayer a massage whenever she wants or needs one'."
Giles chuckled and then asked, "And what if he refuses?"
Buffy turned her face to him and replied, with mischief in her eyes,
"There is no refusing the Slayer... old jungle saying."
They both laughed and then Buffy refastened her top before grabbing the bottle off Giles and moving to kneel behind him.
"Okay, your turn now."
Giles couldn't help but swallow nervously in anticipation of her hands on his skin.
He almost jumped at the first contact of her hands.
Buffy ran her hands all over his back in long strokes from his shoulders down to the base of his spine, working her way from the centre of his back the sides.
As she ran her hands up his sides, her fingernails lightly scraped along his skin, cause him to jerk suddenly when they passed his ribs.
"Ticklish hey?" she smirked.
"No, of course not."
She repeated the action, again causing him to jerk, this time eliciting a small laugh from him.
"Liar," she said as she leaned in close to his ear.
Giles turned his head to look at her, only to find her face change from a smile to a frown.
"Buffy, what's..."
"Damn, I thought he'd gone for good."
"Sorry?"
Buffy indicated what she meant by gesturing with her head in the direction of the guy walking towards them. He felt Buffy's hands tighten on his shoulders as their guest approached.
"I can see now why you weren't interested in young, good looking guys like me. I wouldn't have bothered trying to talk to you if I knew that you were into old guys."
Buffy practically growled out her response.
"I'm not. I'm into warm, caring, sexy, intelligent mature guys. And as far as you're concerned, I'm afraid you're totally whipped on all counts."
Mr Jerk just snorted.
"Speaking of whipped, we were wondering if you guys were up for a game of volleyball? We promise we'll take it easy on you, seeing as you're just a girl and an old timer" he said, pointing to his friend.
Buffy leaned in a little closer to Giles, pressing up against his back.
"So Giles, are you up for it?"
He just smiled at her as he said,
"I'm sure I could manage it."
They followed Mr Jerk down to where they had set up a net.
"Here, I'll even let you go first."
He tossed them the ball and joined his friend on the other side of the net.
"You wanna serve first Giles?"
"Uh... alright, I'll give it a go. What do I do?" he asked, but Buffy could tell he was just acting ignorant. She decided to play along.
"You go stand there on the line, throw up the ball and hit it across to their side without hitting the net or going outside the lines."
"Hmmm... sounds easy enough."
As he made his way to the line, Buffy moved nearer the net and leant down with her hands on her knees, waiting for Giles to serve. Unfortunately Mr Jerk took this as an opportunity to perve at her cleavage, which Giles immediate noticed him doing when he turned back around.
<Why that bleedin poncy little bugger.>
Giles threw the ball up and gave it an almighty wallop, sending it flying over the net and right at Mr Jerk's head, hitting him with so much force that he was knocked down to the ground. Buffy spun around to look at Giles with a shocked look on her face, which quickly turned into a grin.
"Sorry. I guess I must have underestimated my own strength."
"You just caught me when I wasn't ready that's all," huffed Mr Jerk as he got back up and dusted himself off. He threw the ball back over to Buffy, who moved to serve next. As she passed Giles, she gave him a radiant smile and mouthed 'Thank you'.
He smiled back and then took his place near the net, putting on his best Ripper glare as he looked at Mr Jerk, who in turn took a step back under the force of it.
"You ready this time?" asked Buffy.
"Yeah."
Buffy took it easy on them for a moment, hardly putting any force behind her serve, but enough to send it over the net. They returned it easily and soon the ball was flying too and fro, with neither side seeming to have an advantage. Buffy decided it was now time to put them well and truly in their place.
This time when Giles set her up for a drive, she hit it with all her strength, causing it to explode from the impact.
"Oops, sorry. Guess the game's over then huh?"
"Nah, we've got another one. That one must have had a break or something," replied Mr Jerk as he moved off and retrieved the spare ball and threw it to Giles.
"Great," drawled Buffy.
This time when they hit it back, Buffy jumped up as it came across the net, slamming the ball straight down and 2 feet into the sand, right in front of Mr Jerk.
They just stood there with there mouths open, looking at the hole that the ball had created. With a chuckle, Giles walked up to stand next to Buffy and draped an arm across her shoulders, looking from the hole and then up to Buffy's face.
"Buffy, look what you did. You broke both his balls."
She turned to face him with a look that said 'I can not believe you just said that', which quickly turned into a smile as she wrapped her arm around his waist and placed her hand on his hip.
"That's okay. I really didn't want to play with them anyway."
They turned and walked away from them, but only got two metres before they both erupted into laughter, which lasted all the way back to Buffy's blanket. By the time they got there, Buffy was laughing so hard that she turned and leaned into Giles, burying her face and placing her hands on his chest in an effort to remain standing. His other arm came up to hold her around the waist to help keep her upright.
After a few minutes, their laughter started to die down as they became aware of their positions. Buffy took a deep breath, inhaling his subtle scent before lifting her head and moving back just enough to look at his face. Giles moved to brush a few stay strands of hair away from her face before letting his hand glide back down to rest on her waist, a gentle smile gracing his lips.
"So when did I change from 'old and gross' to 'warm, caring, sexy, intelligent and mature'?"
Buffy blushed and averted her eyes and face, embarrassed by both what she had said in the past and what she had revealed before.
"You were never old and gross... and deep down I always thought you were all those other things..."
She let her right hand wander down to trace over the scar on his waist that had been caused by the spear a few months ago.
"I guess it just took a while for me to realise it."
Giles lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes, wiping away the solitary tear that ran down her cheek with his thumb.
"You're not going to start blaming yourself for that all over again are you?"
"Well..."
Giles hushed her by pressing a finger to her lips.
"No. I'm not going to let you start doing that again."
"And just how were you planning to stop me?" asked Buffy, after Giles had moved his finger back to her cheek.
"Like this..." he whispered huskily as he moved forward to place a gentle kiss on her lips, caressing her cheek with his thumb. Buffy gave a contented sigh and then whimpered when he ended the kiss, pulling back slightly to regard her face. Her eyes slowly fluttered open and he was rewarded with the most beautiful smile her had even seen grace her face.
"Giles... you know when I told you that I loved you and that it felt strange to say it. Well, it doesn't feel strange... it feels right."
She brought her hands up to hold his face, looking deep into his beautiful green eyes.
"I love you Giles."
"Oh Buffy..."
Giles pulled her flush against his body, wrapping his arms tightly around her as thought she were a dream that might escape if he didn't hold on for dear life.
"I love you too... so much."
Buffy hugged him back for a moment and then moved to kiss his chest, trailing her way upwards to his neck, jaw and finally his lips. Giles shuddered when he felt her tongue run along his lower lip, repeating the action to his upper lip, seeking entrance.
He gladly complied, threading his fingers in her hair as his tongue plundered her mouth in return. After several minutes of this sweet torture, they broke apart, their heads leaning against each other as they tried to regain their breath.
"Wow... I don't think today could get any better," sighed Buffy.
Giles grinned as the thought of how he could make it better came to him.
"Well, not in public anyway."
Buffy's head shot back as she looked at him in disbelief.
"Rupert Giles... I can not believe those words just came out of your mouth."
His only response was the widening of his grin, his eye's twinkling with mischief.
She chuckled and then sighed.
"And if I didn't need to go get ready for patrol tonight, I might just make you show me what you had in mind."
"You still need to report in to your Watcher afterwards though" replied Giles, his hands making small circles on her lower back.
"Only if my Watcher promises to give me a nice back massage when I get there."
"I think that could be arranged."
"Good" said Buffy as she pulled his head down for tender kiss, reluctantly pulling away to pack up her things.
They walked together hand in hand back to their cars, parting after another long tender kiss.
"See you tonight Luv."
"You betcha."
With a final quick kiss, they hopped in their cars and drove off to their respective homes, eagerly awaiting tonight's rendezvous. Both were glad to have had a very relaxing and rewarding day off down at the beach.
END