Title: A Rush of Blood
to the Head
Author: Froxyn
Rating: FRT
Pairing: Buffy/Giles
Timeline: AU, but around
the S7 timeframe.
Synopsis: Giles wants to
rid Buffy of her painful memories.
Author’s Note: Album
fic. Songs and lyrics can be found here.
Giles felt himself losing
control, felt his anger starting to envelop him, as he held a sobbing Buffy in
his arms. He took a deep breath and did
his best to push his fury back, Buffy needed him right now…not an irrational
man hellbent on revenge.
“Tell me what happened.”
She held on to him tighter. Even through her despair she could hear the
cold tone underlying his softly spoken words.
“He…he held me down. Said he was going to make me love him.” She mumbled into the front of his
shirt.
She pulled back slightly, but
didn’t meet his eyes. “How did you
know?”
“Xander called.” He whispered, lifting his hand to wipe the
tears from her face.
She flinched for a brief moment,
and then leaned into his touch. “And
you came…”
“How could I not?” He answered emotionally, placing a warm kiss
on her forehead.
Another wave of tears broke free
and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
He held her, his hands gently stroking her back as he whispered soft,
comforting words.
Now was not the time for him to
let his anger loose. Now was the time
to let her know…make her believe…that she was not the one to blame. And that might take a while.
But, he was fully prepared to
spend as much time as was needed. And
he’d stay until she truly did believe.
* * *
A year had passed since his
return to Sunnydale. He had returned to
England once…just long enough to tie up some loose ends before relocating to
the States. Again. He glanced over at the passenger in his car
and smiled as he carefully navigated the streets.
She grinned in return and placed
her hand on his thigh. He sighed as her
fingers traced the inner seam of the jeans he was wearing.
Tonight was an anniversary. Technically, it was two…one happy, one not
so much.
It had been a year since Spike
had attempted to force himself upon her.
It had taken a while, but Giles had broken through most of the hastily built,
yet strong, walls she had constructed around her heart. It had taken him nearly three months, but he
regretted not one second of it…especially when she had met his eyes with fierce
determination and stated that it wasn’t her fault.
Finally, she had believed…truly
believed.
He had been reluctant to leave
after her breakthrough regarding her attack.
He wasn’t exactly sure why at first.
And then she had kissed him.
It wasn’t a passionate
kiss. It was more of a ‘thank you for
bringing me back from that really dark place’ kiss. But, it had ignited something within him. And from there, his feelings for her began
to snowball.
When Buffy began spending more
and more time at the Magic Box, consistently falling asleep on the couch in the
training room, he realized that she was having a hard time actually dealing
with the thought of going home. It
didn’t surprise him, considering that the house now held so many bad memories
for her.
And so he had planted an idea in
her head. The idea quickly grew into a
plan…and the house on Revello was put on the market. It sold quickly and they had used part of the money, along with a
contribution from Giles, to buy a four bedroom brick home together.
A little over three months after
that innocent kiss and after just a month of sharing a home, he kissed
her. Unlike the kiss she had given him,
this one held all of the passion he was experiencing…all of the love he was
feeling for her. And to his surprise,
she had responded.
Not only had she responded, she
had returned his kiss with an equal amount of passion. And less than a week later, she asked him to
move into her room. Dawn had pretended
to be shocked and a little squicked, but had grinned brightly when Giles began
to stammer an explanation.
Their friends hadn’t been
surprised at all at the development of their relationship. And that had made Giles wonder just how
perceptive their friends really were.
After all they’d been through,
tonight marked their six-month anniversary of being a couple in love. He had intended to propose to her on this
night, but knew there was one more door that needed to be closed first.
“Where are we going?”
He placed his hand over hers and
lifted it from his thigh, bringing it to his lips for a gentle kiss. “There’s something I need to do.”
“What?” She questioned softly.
He glanced at her and smiled
nervously. “There are a few things that
need to be put to rest. And I can put
them to rest for you.”
She furrowed her brow in
confusion. Before she could question
him further, her eyes widened as he turned onto Revello Drive.
“Giles?”
He pulled to a stop, directly
across the street from the house that her mother had bought…and had left to her
when she died. As he killed the engine,
he squeezed her hand and looked into her eyes.
“I, uh…I bought it.”
Her eyes narrowed as she shook
her head. “You bought it? Why?”
He swallowed and took a deep
breath. “I…I want to burn it down.”
Buffy stared at him. “What?”
“I can’t make the bad memories
go away. But…I can take away the
physical reminder of some of the things that have caused you pain.” He explained carefully.
She saw the flash of his own
pain and anger in his eyes, and suddenly understood. “This is as much for you as it is for me, isn’t it?”
“It’s for us.” He admitted, lifting his hand to cradle her
cheek. “I love you so very much,
Buffy…but, this…the memories that this house holds…it’s still between us.”
Buffy thought for a moment and
then turned her head just enough to kiss his palm. “This is very Forrest Gump, you know…”
He furrowed his brow in
confusion, causing her to smile.
“Forrest burning down Jenny’s
childhood home because of what she’d been through?” At his perplexed look, she smiled. “You’ve never seen Forrest Gump?”
“I…no. It seemed a little too bizarre for my taste.”
Buffy chuckled and leaned across
the seat to kiss him. “I’m the Slayer
and you’re my Watcher…and my soulmate…and you find Forrest Gump bizarre?”
He smiled softly and shrugged a
shoulder. “I suppose ‘bizarre’ is relative.”
As their lips met, a flame
flickered in the upstairs bathroom of the house. As the kiss deepened, an orange glow enveloped the house. They ended the kiss slowly and Buffy looked
towards the house, opening the car door and stepping out onto the road. Giles followed, and walked around the car,
leaning against the front fender and pulling her back against his chest.
As he wrapped his arms around
her, she placed her hands on his forearms and watched the house burn. She could smell the magick in the air and
intuitively knew that he had cast the spell that caused the fire.
“You know what’s really
bizarre?”
“What’s that, love?” He asked, dropping a kiss onto the crown of
her head.
“I think this is probably the
best anniversary present I’ve ever gotten.”
He chuckled softly, feeling the
tension leave her body…and then sighed happily as he felt the last of the walls
between them crumble into nothing. He
remembered the small box hiding in his bedside table and smiled.
Hopefully, his present to her
later would top this one.
~ End