FIC - Recovery - (Giles/Fred) - PG-13

[deviantfantasy.livejournal.com]

This is my second, and final day. Thanks to katekat1010 for hosting this! And I do believe this is the longest one-shot I've ever written.

Title: Recovery
Pairing Giles/Fred
Word Count: Around 1490
Rating: PG-13
Summary: AU S4 of Buffy. After opening a portal in his living room, Giles finds the most unexpected thing.
Author's Note: This fic is for larakailyn. She encouraged me to write it, and listened to me whine about it on IM. She also beta it and helped me make it stronger.



Giles hadn’t expected this. It wasn’t part of the plan he had laid out for her. All he was going to do was nurse her back to health and then send her home to Texas so she could lead what he hoped was a normal life. It was simple, but as Giles often learnt, things were never simple in his life.

Fred had come to him by mistake. Buffy had been battling a dangerous Bot’eke demon all summer, and they needed help. It was in his research that Giles discovered there was an ancient text, which contained a spell that would destroy the demon. The only obstacle was where the text was located - a dimension named Pylea.

There wasn’t much information about Pylea, but Giles learnt enough to send Buffy, and Willow, there to retrieve the book. He would’ve gone himself, but someone had to stay behind to make sure the girls got back safely. And they lucked out when Giles discovered they could open a portal in his flat.

For two long days, he sat and waited for them to return. When they did, they had the book and million stories to tell. Giles listened as Willow explained the way Pylea worked and their views on humans. It disgusted him, and he pondered if they could possibly go back and change the way their society was ran. He never got the chance.

Instead, he and Willow put the spell together and sent Buffy out to defeat the demon. Once it was gone, Buffy called and told him she wouldn’t be around for the next few days since she still had to move into her college dorm and attend freshman orientation. He felt a pang in his heart, wishing things were different, knowing he was about to become less of a use to Buffy and her friends.

After Buffy’s call, Giles found himself pacing his living room, trying to find something to occupy his time. He figured he could rearrange his bookshelves again - it’d been a few weeks since he’d done that - but stopped short when he heard a whimpering coming from one of the corners.

Giles knew the dangers of opening portals and how there were times things would escape from other dimensions into theirs. He picked up a weapon and followed the sound, almost dropping the sword when he saw what was there. It wasn’t a demon, but a young woman huddled in the corner. She was extremely dirty with matted hair. And she looked frightened, which broke Giles’ heart.

He tried to speak to her, but all she could mutter was things about string theorems and equations he’d never heard of before. Within her jumbled speech, Giles did hear the word Pylea, and it became obvious to him - she had been a slave in the other dimension, and he knew he had to take care of her.

It started with the simple things, such as food and a long bath. Since he didn’t have any women’s clothing around, he gave her one of his t-shirts, and she seemed to bond with it, refusing to take it off, even after Buffy and Willow had brought her her own clothes. Instead, she would sit in the corner, his shirt hanging off her, and scribble on his walls, writing out math equations that Willow didn’t even seem to understand.

The woman made small references to Pylea, but nothing ever more than a few words at a time. Giles gathered from their snippets of conversation that she had seen Buffy and Willow walking near her cave, and out of curiosity, she followed them. When the portal opened up, she had tried to run but had somehow gotten caught in it, hence ending up in his living room.

It took Willow a day to find out the woman’s name was Winifred Burkle, and she had gone missing from a Los Angeles library. When he asked if that was her name, the woman nodded and then asked him to simply call her Fred. He agreed, thinking that the name seemed to fit her better than Winifred.

When they found out her parents were looking for her, Giles offered to take her home to Texas, but Fred declined, saying she wasn’t ready. He didn’t want to push her, so he dropped the subject and concentrated on taking care of her and her needs.

As the weeks went by, Fred began to heal. She no longer needed him around all the time but still looked happy when he would come back from running a quick errand. She eventually started to wear the clothes she’d been given but still insisted on wearing his t-shirt at night, saying it made her feel safe. Fred was finally healing, and the more she healed, the more Giles fell for her.

He wanted to blame his feelings on the fact he didn’t feel needed. Buffy didn’t need him as a Watcher anymore, and no one seemed to want to employ him. He was as lost as Fred, and he didn’t want to bring her into his sub-par life. She deserved better than that. Better than an unemployed Watcher could give her.

Yet Giles couldn’t stop himself. He liked Fred, maybe a bit too much. He liked everything about her, from her intelligence to her infectious giggle. She had to be the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on, and with each passing day, Giles found it harder to deny himself what he really wanted.

So he continued to tell himself Fred didn’t need nor want him.

***

“Rupert?”

It had been close to five months since Fred had arrived into his life. The internal struggle Giles faced with his feelings for her still remained, and nothing he did could stop them. He was sitting at his desk, pouring over a book, when he heard her voice. Giles looked up and saw her standing there, dressed in a blue sundress, her dark hair pulled back in a loose braid.

“Morning, Fred. Did you sleep well?” he asked, his eyes ticking toward the book again.

“Yes,” Fred nodded before going to the couch. She sat down, and Giles noted how nervous she looked.

“Is something bothering you?” he asked as he closed the book so he could give her all of his attention.

Fred nervously chewed on her bottom lip and folded her hands on her lap. “I-I wanted to ask you something, but I’m afraid you’ll say no, and then I’ll be embarrassed, and then you’ll be embarrassed, and it won’t be good if the both of us are embarrassed. It’d just be really, really awkward, and I don’t like awkward, and I don’t really want things to be awkward between us,” she pushed out with one breath.

“Fred,” Giles quietly said before rising from his desk. “You can ask me anything. You know that, yes?”

“I do, but I can’t even remember the last time I asked someone this!” she exclaimed as she seemed to become more nervous.

Giles carefully moved over to the couch and sat on the opposite end from her. He wanted to move closer and take her hands into his but stopped himself. He was afraid of touching her, fearing it would push her away, and that was the last thing he wanted.

“Whatever it is you want to ask me, Fred, then please do it. You can trust me,” he quietly said. He looked at her and watched as her hands started to flutter about. She then took a couple deep breaths and looked at him.

“Do you…I was wondering if…would you like to…Do you want to go on a date with me?” Fred asked, giving him a hopeful look.

“No,” he quickly answered.

Fred blinked her eyes. “Oh. I…I see. I shouldn’t have asked,” she whispered before standing from the couch.

She started for the stairs, and Giles felt himself scramble from the couch in order to cut her off. He quickly stood in front of her and sighed. “It’s not that I don’t like you, Fred. You can do better than me,” he said, looking down at her. “Much better than me. You don’t need to tie yourself down with a middle-aged, unemployed librarian, who can’t even get a job reading stories to pre-school children at the public library.”

“Maybe that’s how you see yourself but I see more, Rupert!” She placed her hand on his arm, and he closed his eyes, feeling a surge of warmth run through him. “I see a handsome man, who takes care of the people around him, even if they don’t want him to. I see a wonderful man, who is so bright and intelligent and caring. I don’t see how I could do better than you.”

Giles allowed her words to sink for a moment before pushing them aside. She was still healing from her time in Pylea and didn’t know what she was talking about. Whatever Fred thought she felt for him was nothing more than hero worship. He had been the first person she’d seen after coming through the portal, and she had attached herself to him.

“You think all of those things because you want to fall in love with the person who rescued you, Fred,” Giles said before he pulled his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.

“That was probably the most condescending thing you’ve ever said to me, Rupert,” Fred said, fixing her gaze on him. “I want to date you because I like you and want to see what develops. It’s one date, Rupert. I’m not asking you for an eternity together.”

Giles placed his glasses back on and looked toward the ceiling. He had wanted this for the past month or so, and now Fred was willing to give him a chance. Not many people were willing to give him much these days, and knowing the woman before him was willing to give him a chance made Giles rethink his answer from before.

“Is it possible to change my answer?” he asked, a small smile gracing his lips.

Fred smiled back. “Depends on what your answer is going to be,” she answered.

“Yes. I would rather like going on a date with you,” Giles said.

A pause filled the air as the two looked at each other. Giles began to wonder if this was one of those ‘moments’ he always heard the girls chatting about. Was he to bend down and kiss her now? Or would it be too soon? It’d been so long since he had done something like this.

“How about coffee? Something simple,” Fred suddenly said. “Coffee is a no pressure date. We could just go and have a cup of coffee or a cup of tea. Do you even drink coffee?”

Giles chuckled. “I drink coffee sometimes,” he said, feeling more at ease with agreeing to go out with her. “I suppose you’ll pick the time and place?” Fred nodded, and he smiled.

“How about tonight? Around 7-ish?”

“That would be perfect,” he said. He continued to stand there, wanting to bend down and press his lips to her, but he held back. It wasn’t proper to kiss a woman before the first date - at least that’s what his mother had always told him.

“Seven it is. Guess we really don’t need to discuss who should pick who up, huh?” she said with a grin. “You know, since we both live in the same place.”

“The coffee shop is close by actually. Perhaps we could walk?” Giles suggested. He knew it would do them both good to get some fresh air instead of being crammed into his small vehicle.

“Walking there sounds nice.” Fred smiled and motioned toward the stairs. “I should go…I have some things I want to do before tonight.”

“Oh, of course,” he said, stepping out of her way. “I suppose I’ll see you later then?”

“Yes, later,” she quietly said before she walked pass him and went up to the loft.

***

The night had turned out better than Giles had expected. The rain, which had been promised by the local weatherman, had stayed away, leaving a clear and starry night. Fred and he had spent almost two hours at the coffee shop, talking. It amazed him how open she became once he got her away from his flat. He had learned more about her in two hours than he had in the five months she’d been staying with him.

After they had finished their second cup of tea, they decided to head back to the flat. Giles could honestly say he had enjoyed himself, was glad he’d agreed to the date and was hoping Fred was thinking the same.

As they were passing by a young family that was out for a walk also, Giles turned and glanced at Fred. “May I ask you something?” She smiled and nodded at him. “Why don’t you want to go home and see your parents? I know you wrote to them, and they have rung a few times, but you never want to chat with them. Did they…have they hurt you in the past?”

“No!” Fred quickly said as she shook her head. “They were wonderful to me.”

“Then why won’t you speak to them?” He watched as Fred became visibly nervous, her hands fluttering about like they did when she first came back from Pylea. Giles silently chastised himself for pushing her when it was obvious it made her uncomfortable. “If you don’t want to answer--”

“I don’t want to tell them about what happened to me,” she answered in a quiet voice. “They…demons and vampires aren’t something they know about, and I wouldn’t know how to explain it to them. Plus, I’m embarrassed because I didn’t fight harder. I should’ve fought them off more so I could have came home sooner.”

Giles frowned at Fred’s words. They were walking through a local park, so he gently led her over to a bench. Once they were seated, he turned and looked at her. “You are strong, Fred. You survived for four years in another dimension. Not many people can do that,” he said. He reached out his hand to take hers but pulled it back, not knowing if she’d be comfortable with him touching her. “Per-perhaps I could speak with your parents? They wouldn’t be the first people I had to explain demons and vampires to.”

“That’s sweet of you, Rupert, but no. When I speak to them, I want to be the one who tells them, not someone else. Besides, you’ve done a lot for me already,” Fred said with a small smile.

“I like doing things for you.” A small breeze blew around them, and he watched as a strand of Fred’s hair fell into her eyes. Giles reached over and carefully pushed it behind her ear. “Whenever you’re ready to speak with them, I’ll be there for you.”

“Thank you, Rupert,” she whispered.

Giles moved his fingers over her cheek and down over her lips. He wanted to lean over and kiss her, but when he saw her stiffen, he pulled back. “Sorry, I--”

“Rupert,” Fred said, gripping his arms. He could see her looking over his shoulder, so he turned his head to see a vampire standing there.

“Bloody hell,” Giles muttered before reaching into the pocket of his jeans to retrieve his stake. He quickly stood from the bench in order to engage the vampire. The vampire was ready, however, and before Giles could react, he found himself falling to the ground.

When the force of his impact caused the stake to pop out of his hand, the vampire saw his chanced and jumped on Giles. He tried to fight the creature off, but the vampire clearly had the upper hand. Giles turned his head to check on Fred -- she was no longer on the bench.

Just then he heard someone grunt, and the vampire exploded above him. Before Giles could react, Fred tripped and fell on top of him, his stake barely missing his shoulder. “Did you?” he asked, looking up at her.

Fred adjusted herself on him and nodded her head while giving him an impish smile. “I couldn’t let you get killed on our first date. I really don’t wanna take a corpse on a our second date,” she murmured.

He smiled at that. “Second date? Even after all of this?”

“Yes. Unless you don’t want to--”

Giles placed his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her face down to his. No longer was he afraid to kiss her. And before she could say another word, his lips were pressed softly against hers.

The moment was perfect; at least in Giles’ mind, it was. If he had his way, he would’ve continued to kiss her there. He hadn’t felt this way about someone else since Jenny, and he thought it felt quite nice. When he heard a loud car drive by, though, he broke the kiss, remembering where they were.

“That was quite nice,” he whispered as he cupped her face. When Fred leaned over for another kiss, he stopped her. “Perhaps we should go back to my flat in case there’s more vampires lurking about.”

Fred nodded her head and stood up. She held out a hand for him, and Giles gratefully took it. Once he was standing, he brushed himself off and smiled at her. “Thank you for saving my life.”

“You’re welcome,” Fred said, slipping her hand into his. “Since I picked the first date, you get to pick the second. Any requests?”

“Someplace where there isn’t any vampires,” Giles said as he intertwined their fingers together.

“Deal,” Fred said, grinning up at him.

“Let’s go home, love,” he quietly said before leading her out of the park.

***

“It’s still raining.”

Giles looked over at Fred, who was standing in front of the living room window. She was right -- the rain was still falling, but they were in England, and it was to be expected. “It’ll quit soon,” he said before he looked above him again at the loft hatch he was working on. It’d been years since anyone had opened it, and the wood had swollen.

“What are you trying to get from up there anyway?” Fred asked. She stepped out into the foyer and grabbed onto the handle of the step stool he was using. Giles figured she was doing it to steady him so he wouldn’t fall. Something she had become good at.

Six months had passed since their first date, and Giles was thankful he’d agreed to go. Their relationship had bloomed over the months, giving him something to hold on to, even though he had moments where he was sure Fred would leave him like all of the others.

But Fred had stayed, and he was grateful she did.

It was in the middle of the night when Giles had decided to bring Fred to England on holiday. They had been lying in the dark, holding each other after making love, when Giles had started to tell Fred about where he’d grown up. She seemed quite interested in it, and after a few phone calls, he had got plane tickets for them. The Hellmouth could wait. He wanted to spend time with the woman he loved.

“Something of my grandmother’s is up there,” he said, answering her question as he continued to jiggle the hatch. There was a loud pop, and he grinned down at her. “It think it’s opened.”

“About time,” Fred said with a dramatic sigh. “Was starting to think you’d gone off the deep end, and there really wasn’t an attic.”

Giles raised an eyebrow and looked down at her. “Stop being so cheeky,” he said with a grin, stepping off the step stool and placing it to the side. “Ready?” Fred nodded, and he reached up, tugging on the rope. Once the hatch creaked open, Giles carefully pulled it down, revealing a set of steps. “Do you want to come up with me?”

“Yes,” Fred answered.

He started up the steps, being careful as Fred followed him up. When they got to the top, Giles reached for a slim string and clicked the light on. The loft was dusty and filled with thick cobwebs. There were boxes laying about, and he frowned, hoping he remembered where he’d put what he was looking for.

“What’s up here?” Fred curiously asked as she wiped the dust off a box.

“Family things. When my parents gave me this house, I inherited all the things in it. Some of the things belong to me while some of it once belonged to my grandparents and parents,” he explained as he continued to look around the room.

“Oh my god! Rupert! You were such a cute baby!” Fred exclaimed.

He turned to see what she was talking about and noticed she had his baby book in her hands. “Fred…” Giles walked over to her and tried to get the book from her, but she wouldn’t let go. “There are some embarrassing pictures in there! I don’t want you to see them!”

Fred moved away and continued to flip through the photo album while Giles groaned. He reached for it again, but she was too fast and moved away from him. “Don’t you have something you’re wanting to find,” she asked, looking up at him. “I can keep myself entertained with this.”

Giles knew he wasn’t going to win, so he stepped away and went back to searching. He rummaged through a few boxes, smiling when he found the small tin he was looking for. Carefully taking it out of the cardboard box, Giles wiped the top off before opening it. The hinges were a bit rusty, and they squeaked in protest.

Inside was a small velvet box, and he smiled. “Found it,” he said, mostly to himself, as he took the box out. He clasped his fist around it and continued to grin like a little boy on Christmas day.

“Found what?” Fred asked as she stepped beside of him.

“Uh, nothing,” he muttered, holding the box even tighter. He watched as Fred narrowed her eyes and looked at his clenched hand. Giles quickly placed it behind him and stepped back.

“What is it?” she asked, stepping toward him.

Giles continued to back away from her until the back of his legs bumped against a stack of boxes. Fred moved closer, close enough for him to feel the warmth of her body, and he had to stop a groan from escaping his mouth. “It’s…it’s a surprise,” he said, looking down at her, hoping she’d take it at that and drop the subject.

“I don’t like surprises,” she said with a serious look.

Of course she didn’t. You don’t surprise someone who had opened a book and ended up in another dimension. Besides, Giles knew she didn’t like surprises since he had tried to surprise her once with a trip to a local carnival. After that fiasco, she didn’t speak to him for almost a day.

His fingers traced over the box, and he stared down at her. Giles had wanted all of this to be romantic, with candles and wine and soft music. Not amongst a bunch of spiders and dusty boxes. Then it dawned on him. Fred and he weren’t one of those conventional couples. They fought vampires and demons and knew of other dimensions. And they had met because Fred had accidentally gotten sucked through a portal again.

“I wanted to take you out and give this to you, but, well, it’s this,” he said, holding the black box out for her. He watched as she gave it a curious look before taking it from his hand.

With her long fingers holding the bottom, she opened the top to reveal a ring. It had been in Giles’ family for almost a century, being passed down among the children. It was simple enough, with a gold band and a small diamond in the center. When his grandmother had given it to him, he had kept it in his dresser drawer for years, but when it seemed he would never find someone to love, he put it in the loft, thinking it would never happen for him.

Fred changed all of that.

“Rupert, it’s beautiful,” she said, taking it out of the box. “It almost looks like an engagement ring.”

Giles smiled. “It is.”

Fred’s eyes widened as she looked up at him. He watched as she looked down at the ring again, her eyes getting wet with tears. Giles hoped that meant she liked it. “I-I don’t know what to say. It’s beautiful and wonderful. You’re wonderful. Actually, all of this is wonderful,” she babbled.

“I wanted it to be more romantic. I even had all these things I wanted to tell you before I asked. I wanted you to know how much you meant to me and how having you in my life saved me from falling completely away from everything,” he quietly said as he looked at her. “And--”

“Yes!”

“Pardon?”

“Yes,” Fred repeated but this time more slowly. “I want to be your wife. You saved me too, Rupert.”

Giles swallowed against the lump in his throat. If someone had told him months ago that he would be in Bath, with Fred, giving her an old engagement ring, he would’ve laughed at them. He never imagined for a moment he would have someone to love as much as he loved her.

“Thank you,” he whispered before taking the ring for her. He slipped it on her finger, noting how it fit perfectly. It had to be kismet.

“I think I should be thanking you,” Fred said, her eyes ticking down at the ring. “Being with you has healed me and made me a better person - even if it does sound really cheesy.” She giggled a little, and he smiled.

Giles softly cupped her face and gave her a kiss. Things were finally going his way. The hole in his heart was finally healed, thanks to Fred. With one last look around the attic, he took her hand in his and walked her out of the loft, looking forward to their new life together.