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summer_of_giles2017-06-18 10:52 pm
Fic: Parenthood, FRT, Buffy/Giles
Author: will_conqueror1
Rating: FRT
Pairing: Buffy/Giles
Summary: Mother’s and Father’s days in the Giles household
Warning: Character death
A/N: This year my posting day happened to fall on father’s day. Father’s day falls in the middle of SoG every year, however Mother’s day never does, so I decided to do a series of short ficlets of Mother’s and Father’s days throughout Giles’ life.
A/N 2: Got it done just in time. It's not quite 11 in my time zone, though I realize for most of you Father's Day came and went already. I would have posted it earlier, but I only started writing it four hours ago.
Word Count: ~1300
*****
Rupert Giles sat alone in his flat nursing a glass of scotch. It took just one night, almost three months ago, to unravel years of friendship and trust. He took a risk and made a pass. She responded in kind and they spent the night in a passionate embrace. The next morning he woke alone, the truth inescapable in the harsh light of day. He made a terrible error in judgment and it cost him dearly.
There was a knock on the door, timid, unsure. It couldn’t possibly be her... Could it?
He downed the last of his scotch and got up to answer the door, his breath hitching when he saw her on the other side. He stepped aside in silent invitation, holding a breath as he always did, then letting it out as she slipped inside without need for verbal confirmation.
The silence hung over them as they gathered their thoughts, both unsure of what to say.
“Giles I-”
“Buffy-”
They both blushed and Giles gestured for her to speak first.
“Do you know what today is?”
His brow furrowed in confusion, wondering where she could possibly be going with this. “Sunday?”
She gave him a half smile and pulled a rectangular box from her coat pocket. “Happy Father’s Day,” She held the box out to him nervously, her hand shaking as she handed it to him.
He opened the box and inside was a pregnancy test. A positive pregnancy test. He had never understood before why people used a urine soaked stick for this sort of announcement, but in that moment he understood. He understood what the significance and he picked it up without a second thought as he tried to wrap his head around this new reality.
He looked at Buffy and she had a nervous smile on her face, waiting for his reaction. He couldn’t contain his smile and he knew, even though they had so much still to figure out, things were going to be just fine.
*****
“Michael Rupert Giles, what do you think you’re doing?” Buffy asked as she stepped into the kitchen, seeing a mess of flour all over her pristine floors, cabinets, counters, and her three-year-old son. “Where is your father?”
“We’re cooking, Mama.”
“We?” She asked, but before her question could be answered her husband stepped sheepishly out of the pantry, also covered in flour.
“I’m afraid our breakfast attempts got rather out of hand.” He told her, blushing. “Happy Mother’s Day, Love.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at the scene in front of her. She walked across the kitchen and tugged on her husband’s collar until he leaned down, then she kissed him softly. “I love you.”
He smiled and watched her as she pulled away.
She grabbed a towel from a drawer near the sink and dampened it so she could clean her son’s face and hands. Then she picked him up and walked upstairs with a bounce in her step.
“Right… I’ll clean this up then.” He called after them.
*****
“Why do I have to wear a tie?” Michael complained, trying to figure out how the strip of cloth was supposed to work.
“Because this is the first time you’re meeting your grandfather, and it could very well be the last, you need to make a good impression.” Buffy told her son, looking in the mirror as she finished applying her makeup. At twelve, he was just starting to get to that age where he didn’t want to listen to anything she or Giles said.
“I can’t get this stupid thing to work.” He said, clearly getting frustrated as he tore the knotted cloth from around his neck and threw it on his bed.
“Mikey, don’t say stupid.” She chided, returning her mascara to her purse. She went over and picked up the tie, she didn’t know how it was supposed to work either Giles always tied his own. She handed it back to her son. “Go ask your dad to help you.”
Michael huffed and rolled his eyes, but did as his mom suggested. He found his dad in the bathroom shaving.
“Dad, I can’t figure this thing out.”
Giles looked at his son and gave him a small smile as he set down his razor and picked up a towel to wipe the rest of the shaving cream from his face. When he was done he had his son stand in front of him facing the mirror as he reached around to show him.
“Start with it like this, fold this half over and around, then up through the neck, and down through the knot.” He told his son as he demonstrated how it was to be done. He folded Michael’s collar up and adjusted the tie accordingly before smoothing the collar back down.
He placed his hands on his son’s shoulders as he looked at him in the mirror, very much reminding Giles of himself when he was that age. His own father taught him the same lesson when he wasn’t much younger than Michael. Giles’ father was getting on in years, do they made the trip to England to visit him, chances were this would be the last Father’s day they’d have together. He hoped he would never drift that far from his own son.
He bent his head placed a kiss on the top of his son’s head.
“Dad!” Michael whined. “You’re so embarrassing.” He grumbled before leaving the bathroom.
*****
Giles looked at his wife over their son as they sat on either side of him. Michael had been acting strange for the last few days, lashing out at them, spending all his time in his room, and refusing to do his chores. They knew something was wrong but didn’t want to push him right away.
Finally this morning, as they were getting ready to leave for Mother’s Day brunch, it all came out. The seventeen year old broke down crying as he told his parents that he might have gotten his girlfriend pregnant.
Buffy and Giles were stunned by their teenage son’s admission. And when the shock wore off they had a long talk. It hadn’t been easy, there were a lot of tears, and more than once their voices raised. Buffy and Giles did their best to make sure they didn’t say anything they’d regret or push their son away, they always told him he could come to them with anything.
Giles squeezed Michael’s shoulder comfortingly as the boy started weeping once more. He knew from experience how overwhelming the prospect of parenthood could be, and he’d been thirty years older than Michael when he went through it. He couldn’t imagine having to face the possibility as a teenager, though he knew it happened every day.
As they sat there, offering one another silent comfort, someone’s phone went off. Just a single ding. Buffy and Giles realized at the same time that it was Michael’s text message alert. Giles felt his son’s shoulders relax under his hand.
“She’s not pregnant.”
They each let out a sigh of relief
*****
Michael knelt down next to his mother, his infant daughter resting in his arms, as his mom placed fresh flowers in front of the headstone. His dad had been excited when he learned he was to be a grandfather, but the heart attack took them all by surprise, two months before Grace Giles was welcomed to the world..
At twenty-three, this was Michael’s first Father’s Day as a dad, and it was the first one without his own. He placed his hand on his mom’s back comfortingly. The months since his dad’s death had been especially hard on her. His whole life he would never meet a couple happier or more in love than his parents. Whenever he asked them the secret to their happiness he always got a different answer.
And while he was still learning the best way to change a diaper, he knew he would be okay because his dad taught him all the important things about what it truly means to be a dad.
*****
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Excellent piece (and all the more impressive knowing you wrote it in such a short time period!)
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Thanks for taking the time to comment :)
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Thanks for taking the time to comment :)
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There's just something in my eye...
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Thanks for taking the time to read and comment :)
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