Fic - Knight in a Red Mustang

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Knight in a Red Mustang
Author – cornerofmadness
Disclaimer – Mr. Whedon owns all, no profit made, just some fun had.
Rating – FRT
Time Line – Set somewhere between the first and second season
Pairing – Giles/Jenny
Summary – All they wanted was a quiet vacation alone
Word Count – 3,785
Warnings - none, work safe
Author’s Note – wow, I was so swamped this month that this barely got done. I wanted to have more polish on it. I'm posting really early on my day since today is the first day of the summer semester and that is going to keep me away from the computer all day. I figured better early than late.


X X X


“I can’t believe you convinced me to come here,” Giles said as Jenny drove their rental car, a red Mustang that he wanted to drive first but he lost the coin toss.

“You wanted to take your summer vacation away from Sunnydale. This is away,” she replied, glancing up at the green highway signs. “This is my turn, isn’t it?”

Giles’s eyes flicked toward the map. “Yes, but Ohio?”

“You agreed to it.”

“I did hope to pop over to Athens,” Giles admitted. “It’s supposed to be a center of power with its five cemeteries in the form of a pentagram. The cemetery at the old insane asylum has been reported to be highly haunted.”

Jenny shot him a vinegar look. “This is not a working holiday, Rupert.”

He allowed himself a little pout. “I suppose relaxation would be a good idea.”

“You’ll like Ravenwood Castle. We can hike in the Hocking Hills and yes, we can go to Athens. It’s supposed to have a lot of really good indy musicians. You’ll like that.”

Giles nodded. Naturally, they had already had this conversation before he had agreed to buy the plane ticket east. He had never had a pressing need to come to Ohio, but Jenny was excited about the bucolic getaway and making Jenny happy, made him happy in turn.

Giles settled back, took another look at the map then concentrated on the view passing by. The flatness of central Ohio had given away to gentle hills. Thick woods led up to farms before reappearing off and on all the way from Columbus where they had flown in. Away from the city, small hamlets cropped up every so often but most signs of civilization slipped away the closer they got to their destination.

When Ravenwood came into view, Giles was impressed with the renaissance setting. Their rental car rumbled past a few painted cottages toward the castle. He spotted a couple of ‘gypsy’ wagons parked in the woods. Giles pointed them out. “We’re not staying there, are we?” he asked nervously. There might be a certain intimacy he’d enjoy, but after some of the training exercises he’d gone through as a young watcher, he was uncomfortable in tight spaces.

“They were tempting but pricey and no air conditioning. If it were earlier in the year….” She shrugged. “Cute, aren’t they?”

“Yes.” Giles shifted his gaze to Ravenwood Castle as the grey stone estate came into view. Ivy veiled some of the walls. Flags fluttered from the turrets. “Hmmm. It is a rather passable rendition of a castle.”

“Told you it would be an adventure,” Jenny said, parking the car.

She had also told Giles that the place was actually new. They were among the first to stay there. The gardens on the estate were in various states of planting, bearing up Jenny’s statement of newness. The bed and breakfast owners directed them to a cottage, surprising Giles. He had assumed Jenny would want to be in the castle. The cottage, painted a lively fuchsia, was definitely what Jenny would call cute.

“You didn’t want to stay in the castle?”

“We tend to attract the wrong kind of attention.” The bitterness leaked into her tone. “And this is much more private. We can be noisy.” The look Jenny bestowed on him made Giles want to get noisy right now. He leaned across the car and kissed her. Jenny pushed him back. “You behave until later.”

Sighing, he got the luggage out and hustled it in. Jenny was already exploring. To his surprise, not only was the cottage two stories, it had a bedroom on either floor.

“I know it’s larger than we need, but I figured what the heck,” Jenny said, flinging herself on the king-sized bed in the tower room.

“There’s a hot tub shaped liked a heart in here!” Giles peeked out of the bathroom at her.

Jenny just smirked. “Don’t I know it!” She patted the bed beside her. He needed no other invitation.

* * *

“Mystery theatre dinner?” Giles gave Jenny another of his ‘are you crazy looks.’ “You never mentioned this one.”

“Because I know you’d get weird about it.” Jenny waved him off. “It’ll be fun.”

“And you didn’t want me to take a busman’s holiday by checking out the cemeteries in Athens. Solving mysteries isn’t much better.”

“In this case, we’re not actually in fear of our lives,” Jenny reminded him as their table began to fill up with other guests.

A middle-aged couple and their teenaged son sat across from them. The boy scribbled in a note book. Next to Jenny a couple sat down. The man was a bit older, painfully bored with it all, but his tiny blonde date seemed excited. Giles marveled that she seemed even tinier than Buffy and Willow, both of whom he considered petite.

“Hello, I’m Amanda Cole,” a woman said at the head of the room. “The Medieval Players will be presenting Murder in the Castle but we’d like you all to take some time getting to know each other as each table will be a detecting team.”

“This is going to be fun,” the middle-aged woman at their table said. “I’m Missie and this is my husband, Joel and our son, Dave.” She scowled at the teen. “Really, David, did you have to bring that notebook?”

“But, Mom, I’m almost done with this scene. The orcs have arrived,” Dave protested.

Missie shot the adults a long suffering smile. “My son thinks he’s an author.”

“Orcs can be interesting.” Jenny smiled at the boy. “I’m Jenny and he’s Rupert.”

“I’m Laidain and he’s Barry McLaine,” the petite blonde said.

Both Giles and Dave’s eyes lit up, turning to McLaine.

“Wow, you wrote the Highway man series,” Dave said. “That rocked.”

Barry’s eye slotted and he didn’t even mumble a thanks.

“I have to say I enjoyed that series,” Giles added.

The man rolled his eyes. “This is just taking time away from my writing and I’m on vacation. I don’t want bothered by fawning fans.”

“Barry,” Laidain hissed. “Be nice.”

“I should never have let you talk me into this,” he said, falling into a sulk so childish even Dave was too old for it.

“Wanker,” Giles mumbled under his breath.

Missie blinked a few times, then turned away from him to give Jenny and Giles her full attention. One sourpuss was obviously not going to destroy her good time. “How exciting, a real British accent.” Her fingers rapped the table in front of Giles.

“English,” Laidain said, giving Giles a hot look. “I’m Irish.”

“How exciting,” Missie said, sparing Giles the need to say anything.

“All right, we’re going to get started while the appetizers come out,” Amanda said, gathering their attention to her.

As they ate, the actors ran through their scenes, leaving little clues. Giles had to admit, this was rather fun. Working out who had killed the Duke of Hocking was helping him forget the worries that the Hellmouth never took vacations and that he shouldn’t be here in the first place.

Jenny rested her fingers on his hand as she whispered in his ear. “It’s not a race, Rupert.”

“Hmm?”

“Let someone else work out a clue or two.” Jenny inclined her head toward Missie. The woman sagged in her chair, obviously disappointed her mind couldn’t twist the clues around fast enough to compete with him.

“Oh sorry.” He nudged Jenny gently. “I was thinking about that hot tub and getting to it quickly.”

Giles let Missie have her moment. She had little competition. Laidain seemed more interested in hanging on Barry who had no interest in participating whatsoever. When they finally deduced that the chamberlain killed the duke, Giles whisked Jenny away. There was a heart-shaped hot tub with their name on it.

X X X

“Now, this is nice,” Giles said as he and Jenny hiked along the path to Cedar Falls. Even though it wasn’t a rugged hiking path per se, Giles was glad she had talked him into wearing jeans – she said she wanted to see his butt in denim and who was he to say no – and hiking boots.

The path was like being held in a verdant glove. Conifers thrust up out of the limestone rock formations. Much of the rock itself wore coats of moss and ferns. Along the path wended a creek, greenish and brownish in spots from the life within it and raining down from the trees over it.

Jenny pointed to a turtle sunning itself on a rock. “Get my picture with him in the background. He’s so cute.”

Giles wasn’t sure turtles qualified as cute but he took the picture anyhow. “I couldn’t believe what a wanker McLaine was last night,” he said once they started hiking again. “I think I’ve bought my last book from him. He doesn’t need any more of my money.”

“Can’t blame you. It’s not like either of you were asking for autographs or anything. He should remember where he’d be without fans,” she said. “Dave was really upset. I looked at his orc story for him over breakfast.”

“I noticed.”

“It’s not half bad.”

“Ah to be young and creative again. I feel like dragging out my guitar when we get home.” Giles paused at a tree whose roots grew down over a rock like the bars of a cell. “I like this.” He pointed to the roots.

“Get in front and I’ll take your picture.” Jenny maneuvered him against the rock. “And you absolutely have to play for me now.”

“I will,” he promised. It didn’t really take much to make him drag out his guitar. Giles loved music.

They started along the dappled path again. More people joined them on the trail as they got closer to the falls according to the wooden arrow signs. Finally, it dead ended a small pond, its tannin-laden water hemmed in by fat, flattish rocks. Above the pool, a rock wall rose high. Hemlocks adorned it, throwing shade onto the water. A slick, wet area sliced down the rocks near the cave opening but there was no water fall.

“Um, is this it?” Giles asked jenny.

“I think so.”

“Where’s the water fall?”

“I have no idea,” Jenny replied unhappily.

A woman with her hair sticking out from under her ball cap turned away from her white-haired companion as the woman took photographs of the cliff. “It’s more of a winter run-off water fall. We’re here too late to really see it,” she told them.

“Ah, well that’s disappointing.”

“I know. We teach at a local college.” She swept a hand toward her companion. “It would be nice to bring the ecology class here in the fall, but there’s not much of the falls to see. Still, the rest of the park makes for a nice hike.”

“We’re enjoying it,” Jenny said. “Can you take a picture of us?”

“Sure.”

As Jenny positioned them against the backdrop of the dry falls, Giles was sure he had never had his photo taken as much as he had on this trip.

X X X

After a long morning of hiking, they had returned to the castle for a decent attempt at high tea. They met up with Missie and her son again. Giles suspected the woman was purposely keeping him talking just to hear his accent. He was grateful when Jenny suggested escaping to the library for a little while. Dave tagged along as if oblivious to the idea the couple might be alone. If he was anything like Xander, the boy probably thought they were too old to be thinking romantically.

The boy scowled, seeing someone in one of the chairs by the window. “Looks like McLaine is sleeping. Think he’ll be a jerk like last night?” Dave whispered to Giles.

“You might get lucky,” Giles said, keeping his ‘but I wouldn’t hold my breath’ to himself. He took a better look at the man. Something didn’t seem right.

Jenny shot Giles look then turned to Dave. “Think I could see more of your story?”

“Sure, it’s in our cottage. I can go get.”

The boy darted out while Giles went to wake McLaine up. On closer inspection, he doubted that he needed to even try. The man was grey and when Giles felt the author’s neck, the man’s head lolled.

“No pulse. He’s cold,” Giles said.

“Is it to much to hope it was a heart attack?” Jenny asked.

Giles wished it was. That happened all the time, right? This wasn’t Sunnydale or a Hellmouth. Granted it was within throwing distance of a center of spiritual power in Athens. He sighed. “Probably, but it doesn’t look like a vampire attack.”

Jenny nodded. “We’d better tell the proprietors and call 911.”

Giles followed her, feeling a need to go do research on this. While he had liked the man’s work, if not the man himself, and while he was sorry McLaine was dead, Giles couldn’t help the uncharitable thought of ‘there goes the vacation.’

X X X

Giles and Jenny had decided to avoid an uncomfortable dinner at the castle and had snuck away for a late meal after talking briefly with the police. Even the hot tub – but not the king-sized bed – had lost its appeal when they got back.

The morning sun was deceptively cheery and Giles found his legs ached a little from all the activity of the day before. Breakfast was an isolated affair with just them in the dining hall. They walked it off in the knot garden only to stumble across Laidain and Dave on a garden bench. The young Irish woman didn’t seem particularly upset over the death of her lover. Instead, she seemed overly interested in the teenager, one arm wound around his waist possessively.

Giles cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Nah, don’t worry. Hey, Jenny, read what I just wrote. It’s brill.” Dave popped up, dragging away from Laidain’s clutches. Giles wondered how a teenaged boy could be that impervious to a woman’s intentions.

The boy thrust the tablet at Jenny so there was no denying him. Jenny quickly scanned the few pages then smiled. “This is really good.”

The tone of Jenny’s voice caught Giles’s attention. She really meant that, a little surprised even. An echo whispered in Giles’s mind, something he ought to remember but honestly couldn’t pull forward into his brain. He studied Laidain, instinctively knowing the echo was about her. The look she shot back could have frozen the knot of hedges around them. Not everyone liked to be scrutinized but Giles got the idea it was something more.

“Thanks, Jenny,” Dave said, retreating back to the bench and to Laidain’s arms.

Giles deftly led Jenny away, heading back toward their car. He wasn’t sure what plans Jenny had for the day, but he thought for sure this encounter was going to seep into them. “That was odd,” he said.

“That hussy hitting on a schoolboy, yes it is,” Jenny said.

Giles refrained from mentioning that the age difference between the two of them was probably close to the apparent decade separating Laidain and Dave. The difference was neither Giles nor Jenny were teenagers any more. “It was more than that. His writing, you seemed shocked.”

“I was. It wasn’t bad before, typical teenaged Dungeons and Dragons stuff but those last few pages he just wrote, it’s like his skill level aged ten years or more. It was fantastic. I’d pay to read a story with that scene in it.” Jenny glanced back over her shoulder at the knot garden and the teenaged boy nestled inside. “It’s strange, isn’t it?”

Giles shoved his glasses up. “A little and I can’t escape thinking it means something.”

X X X

It was cool enough in the wooded compound to turn off the air conditioning and listen to the crickets singing in the brush. That’s how Giles and Jenny fell asleep in their spacious bed under its canopy. The open window conveyed a softer, less benign sound that brought Giles out of a sound sleep. Sitting upright, he tried to make his myopic eyes focus on the window. Jenny shifted on the bed next to him, murmuring.

Something flew off the sill faster than humanly possible. Giles grabbed Jenny and rolled with her out of bed and onto the floor just before the thing hit the bed. A decidedly feminine growl of disgust issued out of the creature.

“Laidain?” Jenny asked, rubbing her knee where she hit ground. “What the hell?”

“I think I remember what I was trying to do all day.” Giles hauled Jenny up, edging toward the door. “She’s a Leanan Sidhe.”

“I knew you’d figure it out,” Laidain said, her words slurring around a set of very pointy teeth. “That’s why I had to come and kill you. You were too interested in me.”

“What? I couldn’t be looking at you because you seemed to be an attractive young lady.” Giles said, fumbling the door open. Jenny fished up her purse next to the door.

The sidhe laughed. “I know that look and yours wasn’t that.”

“True. Jenny, run!” Giles pushed her through the door first. He slammed it in Laidain’s face as the sidhe charged.

The couple thundered down the stairs and out the front door. Jenny didn’t pause in her flight as she asked, “Rupert, we don’t have a Slayer here. Do you know how to kill a Leanan Sidhe?”

“Just like you kill all faeries, iron. You hide. There were fake swords in the dining hall. I’m going to get one,” Giles said, canting off toward the castle’s dining hall, hoping it would be open for those staying within the castle itself. “We stayed in the bloody silversmith’s cottage. Should have rented a blacksmith’s…” he muttered, pulling the door to the dining hall open.

The crossed swords on the wall were fused together, utterly useless for fencing, something Giles considered himself very good at. Still, all he needed to do was touch Laidain but first he needed to get back outside. A furious Laidain had followed him inside and Giles knew he’d have a disadvantage in an enclosed space. If he tripped and lost the swords, she’d finish him. Outside, he could at least keep her at bay since at this point, neither of them could touch each other so long as he had the decoration in hand.

Of course, once he was back outside, Giles realized it would be harder for him to see her in the openness in the dark. He hadn’t time to get his glasses and all he could do was wave the decoration in front of him every time the blur that was Laidain got closer to him. Rocks and twigs bit into his bare feet. Maybe he should have stayed inside, but he couldn’t risk the sidhe giving up on him and going after Jenny.

Hearing something loud and large rumbling up, Giles jumped back. A car screeched to a halt, its back end fishtailing. The side panel caught Laidain and she stuck to it like a fly in amber. She barely had time to cry out before she fizzled into a pile of grey grit. Jenny got out of the car and looked at the crossed swords in Giles’s hands.

“What the hell did you think you were going to do with that, Rupert? Go hide!” She snorted at him. “Did you forget steel cars are made of mostly iron?”

“I was rudely awakened,” he sighed. “I’ll go put the swords back. You had your car keys with you?”

“Why do you think I grabbed my purse? Now just tell me what the hell was that thing besides a Leanan Sidhe.” Jenny leaned against the car. “And how did you know what it was?”

“When you said that Dave’s writing abilities suddenly spiked, it stirred something in my memory. The Leanan Sidhe are, for the lack of a better explanation, a life force vampire. They suck the life force of their prey and according to some legends, in return they boost creative powers. They are muses.”

“And when she saw she could trade a nasty older man for a young buck, she killed Barry and leeched onto Dave?” Jenny asked.

“That would be my guess.” Giles started back toward the dining hall. “So much for this not being a working vacation.”

X X X

What Athens lacked in decent parking, it made up for in interesting stores and eateries. Giles and Jenny, full of Moroccan inspired food, left the restaurant and went next door to the comic book shop. Jenny thought Giles was after a souvenir for Xander until they left the store with him clutching a copy of Hellblazer grinning like a little kid. She guided him into the coffeehouse next door.

“Hellblazer? Really?”

“I like Hellblazer,” Giles replied. “Just don’t tell Xander.”

Jenny grinned. “See yourself in John Constantine?”

Giles pulled a long face. “More than you know.”

Inside of the coffee house was surprisingly old and wooden, teeming with Ohio University college kids. One spark and it would probably all go up like a matchbox. While they waited in line, Giles was delighted to find that he could get loose leaf tea and brew it. Finally, he was free of that horrible Tazo tea most coffee houses passed off as tea. There was even milk for his tea.

He and Jenny found a spot deep inside the building, past the kids with laptops and stacks of games to play. They sat down under the local artist of the month’s work. Giles stared over at a group of people talking about writing. Luckily, the Leanan Sidhe hadn’t found them.

“What’s wrong, Rupert?”

“Hmm, just thought that woman over there might be the same one from Cedar Falls.”

“Forget about her. You’ve been distracted all day,” Jenny said.

Giles poured his tea, watching the amber liquid mix with the milk. “We’re staying in a Medieval Castle. We actually have a foe to vanquish and my attempts at playing the Knight in Shining Armor end up with you saving me.”

Her eyebrows arched. “This is about bruised male ego?”

“Not really.” He set aside the tea pot. “I’m a Watcher. I’m used to being saved by a girl. It’s just it would have been nice to be the one who did the saving.”

“I think I can safely speak for Buffy here when I say you’re integral in keeping us all alive, Rupert.” Jenny put her hand over his, leaning across to kiss him. “You’ll always be my Knight in Shining Armor.”


Author’s Note – I’ve wanted to go to Ravenwood Castle since it was first built in the 90’s and started popping in Renaissance faire magazines. By a quirk of fate, I now live within 50 miles of every place used in this story including the castle.

Now, when Giles and Jenny would have been there, it wouldn’t have been as complete as it is in the above website but we can pretend that it was. It probably wouldn’t have had the mystery theatre then either but it does now. Hey, that’s what fanfiction is for, a little twisting of the time lines.

In the last scene, I doubt the Moroccan restaurant or the comic book store were there (well the old buildings were but you know what I mean). The coffee house might have been. These are some of my favorite places in Athens, standing side by side in buildings from the turn of the 20th century, the Salaam, the Universe of Superheroes and Donkey Coffee and Espresso bar.

As for Cedar Falls, it’s just as I described it