Fic: Bunches of Books Buffy/Giles FRT (1/1)

“Achoo!”

“Bless you!” Giles called from the other room.

“Thanks,” Buffy replied. “If I’d known you’d packed the dust with these I’d have worn a mask or something.”

Buffy heard Giles before she saw him standing in the doorway.

“They’ve been in storage for quite a while now; a little dust is to be expected.”

Buffy put the last book on the shelf and gestured to the floor and her clothes.

“A little? These are full blown bunnies, Giles. Bunnies! Anya would….”

Her throat closed abruptly remembering Anya was gone. As was the rest of Sunnydale. Tears welled up, threatening to spill over. They’d been gone for a year now. Giles was just now getting around to unpacking everything. Buffy got emotional at least once a day, uncovering something that reminded her of her old home. Yesterday it had been a yearbook from senior year she hadn’t known Giles had kept.

Giles stepped into the room and wrapped her in a hug. She laid her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. The unpacking had been somewhat emotional for him too. He’d unpacked a few pictures of Miss Calendar, Buffy had handed him one of his many handkerchiefs. Giles rubbed her back gently, making soothing sounds.

“It’s okay, love, she’d want to be remembered like this. Anya would find all of this quite hilarious.”

“She would, I kinda miss her, and everyone else.”

“We all do,” Giles said. “Why don’t we take a break? Tea?”

Buffy laughed. “That’s your solution to everything, isn’t it?”

Giles let her go and glared. “No, sometimes scotch is an acceptable alternative, but for comfort, tea is the preferred beverage.”

He left the room, heading for the kitchen. Buffy followed, brushing off the worst of the dust. They passed endless boxes of books, some of which Buffy knew were Giles’ personal collection. But she wasn’t sure where the others came from. She sat on a stool at the counter, watching as Giles got the tea ready. There were even boxes scattered on the floor here. Buffy shook her head in disbelief.

“Giles? Where did all of these come from? I remember packing up the library and there wasn’t this many.”

Giles set the kettle on the stove, turning the knob slowly before moving to sit across from her.

“Well, that’s a…rather long story.”

Buffy looked from left to right. “No one else here, not going anywhere, spill.”

Giles adjusted his glasses and took a deep breath. Buffy recognized the gesture as him getting into ‘Watcher’ mode.

“When I came back here, with Willow, I had a chance to talk with the coven’s Seers. They told me of a looming bad time, for both Watchers and Slayers.”

“The First,” Buffy said.

“Yes, though at the time they couldn’t be more specific. I consulted a few of the books and prophecies and they were equally as vague.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. “Aren’t they always?”

Giles laughed. “It just seems that way sometimes, Buffy. But I knew that I had to prepare for the worst, even if the Council wouldn’t.”

“Don’t they have Seers too? Telling them the same things?”

Giles got up at the whistle of the kettle, pouring the water into a waiting pot. Proper tea needed to steep as Buffy had learned. She watched as he also got out their cups, setting them on the counter. He returned to his stool, knowing full well she was waiting for an answer.

“Just because they have the same information, it doesn’t mean they will act on it immediately or at all. The Council tended to rely on books and other texts rather than on Seers.”

“More fool them,” Buffy answered.

“Indeed. So I contacted a few people inside the Council I could trust. We began smuggling out books from the vaults, starting with the Watcher diaries.”

“Giles, you rebel, you,” Buffy teased with a mock gasp.

Giles smiled wickedly. “I do admit to feeling some sense of, ah, justice in doing it. I set up a warehouse to house them all. I even went as far as contacting Wesley.”

Buffy raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“His connection with Wolfram and Hart gives him access to some volumes we thought lost. He refused at first, but just last week I got a shipment from Los Angeles. Everything in the law firm’s collection. I’m looking into why.”

“So this, all of this.” Buffy indicated the boxes surrounding them, “Comes from the Council?”

“Yes,” Giles answered. “The last shipment arrived at the warehouse the day before the bombing.”

“Did you get everything? Did your friends survive?”

“No, and most of them. Michael and Andrea didn’t make it.”

Buffy put her hand on Giles’. He turned his hand over and gently squeezed hers.

“I’m sorry. Do you know how?” she asked.

“Not definitively, but I like to think that they were trying to get the last of the books out,” Giles replied.

He stood again and gathered the makings for the tea. He scooped two spoonfuls of sugar into Buffy’s cup. Then he poured milk into both cups, followed by the tea. Then a quick stir before handing Buffy her cup and sitting down with his own.

“But we did get the most important books. We saved all of the Watcher diaries. The more important codices and indices are here as are some of the more obscure demonologies.”

“Even the one that said I’d die?” Buffy asked, making a face.

“Even the Pergamum Codex,” Giles said. “And it’s Watcher counterpart, the Pergamum Index.”

Buffy perked up. “There’s one for Watchers?”

“Yes, but I recently checked them both, nothing that directly refers to us,” he assured her.

Buffy could see he was holding something back. She was going to find out what if it killed her. If she had to resort to tears and pouting she would.

“Not directly? So anything indirect that a Slayer might need to know?”

“Nothing that can’t wait.”

Buffy pouted. There was a look in Giles’ eyes that said otherwise.

“Come on, not even a hint? I’m dying of curiosity here, Giles.”

Giles sipped his tea and just looked at her. Buffy squirmed and pouted some more.

“I thought you always hated anything that dictated your future.”

Buffy nodded. “I just wanna know if I, if we, get the happily ever after.”

Giles took her left hand, fingers caressing the band of gold that sat there. Then he turned it over, kissed her palm and squeezed it gently.

“I don’t need a book or a prophecy to tell me that. I love you, Buffy.”

“I love you too, Giles.”

She leaned forward over the counter to kiss him properly. He met her halfway, kissing her gently before pulling back.

“If you’re feeling better, we really should get back to shelving all of the books.”

“I’m a much better Buffy,” she said.

She stood and helped him put everything away. Dishes went into the sink to be washed later, tea and sugar went back into the cupboard. Buffy gave Giles another kiss before heading back towards the room she’d been working in.

“Buffy?” Giles called.

“Yes?” she asked, turning around.

Giles was smiling rather smugly, his eyes twinkling mischievously. Was he finally going to tell her what he’d read in the prophecies?

“Just one thing. When were you going to tell me you’re pregnant?”