Title: How’s That Again?

Author: Gillian Silverlight

Distribution: My site, those that already have permission to post my fic, all others please ask. (If you post my fic. Please do not rearrange the sentence groupings. It can alter the flow of the story. Thanks.)

Disclaimer: They belong to Joss and the WB, UPN, FX; just about everybody except me. I just play with them.

Summary: Giles is back and encounters Anya at the ruins of the Magick Box.

Rating: NC-17

How’s That Again?

Anya picked through the ruins of the Magic Box for the hundredth time, it seemed, looking for anything that might still be salvageable.

The former vengeance demon, now cast out for asking the demon D’Hofferyn to undo a careless wish by a college student, continued to prowl one of the few places she’d been truly happy over the last few centuries.

Sighing, she shook her head, gathering the few pitiful items still in one piece, into her arms to take home.

“Anya?”

Almost dropping everything she held, Anya turned as quickly as possible at the sound of her name on that voice.

“Giles? I thought you were in England.”

“Yes. I just got back today. I was, ah, heading to Buffy’s when I saw you there in the wreckage. Can I offer you a lift home?”

“Sure. It’s better than walking. I’d kinda like to keep these things in the one piece I found them in, but they are somewhat difficult to hold.”

“I can see that. Let me help…”

Giles carefully took the most awkward of the items, laying them in the back floorboard of the car before he hurried to open the passenger door of the rental, letting Anya slide inside.

Closing both doors, he put the small car into gear and eased down the street toward the apartment building where Anya directed.

“Anya, I’m sorry that the insurance wouldn’t cover enough to rebuild the shop.”

“So am I. It seems that someone told the agent about the fight with Willow and since she wasn’t a God, they said they couldn’t call it an ‘act of God’ and that they didn’t cover against ‘acts of Willow’ in that policy. I think they were simply trying to get out of paying back all that money they’d forced us to give them.”

“Quite likely. I received a copy of that letter as well. It’s one of the things I hope to straighten out while here. I’ve hired an attorney to look into the matter for us.

Ah, here we are. Let me help you get those things upstairs. It’d be a shame to drop them so close to safety now.”

“Yes. I keep looking every so often, hoping to find more of the inventory, but the rain ruined the books Willow didn’t suck blank. Then all the falling building parts seemed to have broken almost everything else that you, Willow or Buffy didn’t smash.”

Giles followed her up the stairs, waiting as she unlocked the door and entered. She motioned him in and toward the small table.

Setting the few articles she’d carried onto the counter, she turned to look at her former employer, business partner and friend.

“Would you like a cup of tea? I can make one really quickly. It’d be nice to share a cup with someone besides myself.”

“Ah, yes. Of course. Thank you, Anya. Do you not see the others very often?”

“It’s been strained, what with the whole ‘left at the altar’ thing and then going back to being a vengeance demon and all.”

“I can see where that could certainly put a damper on things.”

“I mean it wasn’t like I was trying to really hurt anyone… At least not until that last spell, but Hal… I mean they said I was going soft. I used to have a reputation and I was getting flack about not doing enough…”

While she prepared a pot of tea, Anya explained the recent events to Giles, who stood, elbows propped on the counter.

“… but of course sticking a sword or stake in Spike’s chest wasn’t an idea she’d consider. It was fine for her to shish-ka-bob me but not him.”

“I’m sure she had a good reason for not staking him, Anya. Perhaps the time they’d spent together previously….”

“Oh sure! Just because she slept with him. Never mind what had been between me and Xander or that he left me like that or that none of them come over to see me except when they want something. Never mind that I’m here alone, the store is gone, Xander is gone and I’m just so… lonely.”

Her voice broke with a strangled sob on the last word as she finally admitted much of what had been driving her over the last few months.

Giles stepped around the counter to stand behind the crying woman, amazed to find that she was so petite. He realized it was something he’d never paid attention to regarding her before, but as he awkwardly wrapped his arms around her, attempting to offer some measure of comfort; her stature wasn’t something he could ignore. It made him feel oddly protective.

Anya turned in his arms, laying the side of her face against his chest as she sobbed, her arms around him, hands clinging to the back of his shirt.

He let her cry, thinking it might help to calm her if she ‘got it all out’ as he’d heard friends say in the past. The older man offered murmured reassurances as he tried to sooth the crying woman. Giles had never seen her like this before. Anya had always seemed so strong, if a bit out of step from the rest of the world, but now she simply clung to him as though he were the only lifeline in her world, while she cried as though she’d break something inside.

He suspected the problem was that too many things had already broken in the now all too human ex-demon.

Minutes passed before the sobbing tapered into sniffles, the clutching hands relaxed their iron grip and her hands rested against his back instead.

“I enjoyed that… you know, when we all lost our memories from Willow’s spell.”

“You enjoyed it? Losing your memory? I assume you don’t mean all the magick and the, ah, furred invaders.”

He was perplexed about what the woman in his arms meant or how she’d gotten to such a subject, whatever it might be.

“No, that part wasn’t fun at all. I meant, you know... when we, ah, kissed.”

Giles was amazed not only at her words but that she seemed to be embarrassed about what she was saying. He knew he certainly was!

“Oh! Well, it goes without saying that it was very nice, Anya.”

“I think I’d like you to say it, please?”

“Yes, Anya. It was very enjoyable kissing you.”

Giles tried to reassure her, hoping it would help the obviously low self-esteem she was experiencing. He remembered quite well just how pliant she’d felt in his arms and how soft her lips had felt against his own. He’d tried to push that particular moment to the far back of his memory because it had been all too enjoyable.

Anya pushed away slightly so she could look up into his face, all the while keeping him in the circle of her arms, “Rupert?”

“Yes, Anya?”

Her answer was to rise up on tiptoe and gently lay her lips on his.

He returned the kiss before he caught himself moments later, reluctantly breaking the pleasurable contact.

“Anya…”

“Rupert, I know you don’t…”

“That’s the thing, you see. I’m not in love with you. I’m sorry, dear.”

“You don’t need to be. Buffy says she’s not in love with Spike, but she was with him a lot. It’s alright, just… Please.”

Giles tried to hold her at arms length, startled at what she was asking of him.

“It wouldn’t be right, Anya. I would only be using you.”

“You cared for me when we didn’t know who we were. I know what it would be, but is it really using me or unfair if I’m asking you to?”

“Anya…”

“Rupert, I’m standing here holding you, in your arms… Can’t you at least just kiss me again?”

He could tell she was trying not to plead with him, but it still edged her words. Struggling against his better judgment and the rising… feeling in himself, Giles lowered his head, kissing her as he pulled her close in his arms.

*****************

Giles nuzzled Anya’s neck, as she lay nude next to him, her arms wrapped firmly around him. Her breath caught in a gasp as his tongue stroked a particularly sensitive spot and she pressed closer to him, her hand closing around the hard length that pressed against her.

He wasn’t quite sure how they had gotten into her bedroom or removed all their clothing, but it was obvious to him that his mind was not the portion of his anatomy that was in control at the moment. Seconds later it was his turn to gasp as she unfairly used tricks she’d probably learned over the centuries and the remainder of his coherent thought deserted him.

She repeated the movement and he quickly grabbed her hand, stopping her, yet not breaking the contact.

“Dear, if… you do that… again, I’ll be of no use to you… at all.”

Anya looked into his eyes moments before she covered his mouth with hers, pulling at him to roll his body above hers. As he gave himself completely to the biting, nibbling pressure at his mouth, he felt the tip of himself dip into the wet warmth of her body.

She moaned into his mouth at the sensation, as he eased deeper until he was surrounded completely by her.

Giles withdrew slightly before plunging quickly back into the delicious warmth and with his first movement, the small woman beneath him wrapped her legs around his own as she suddenly transformed into a writhing bundle of energy he’d never expected.

He felt her nails bite sharply, but not at all unpleasantly, into his buttocks. His earlobe was sucked between blunt teeth that alternately bit and licked at it, sending incredible sensation down his spine to fan the heat in his groin.

All the while, her movements matched his with a ferocity he’d never had with any woman before and found himself wanting to mirror it with his own.

That desire filled him even as he filled her until there was the sensation of some extra… weight, care, inhibition… falling away from him until only Ripper was left.

Anya felt a shudder run through Giles only moments before she sensed something much more vital, vibrant, dangerous, rise up inside of him. It was exciting in a way she’d forgotten over the years, as older memories surfaced along with their own desires.

************************

Dusk had fallen sometime before Giles and Anya, finally exhausted, amazed and sated, crawled from her bed to head for the shower.

The thought of sharing the bath seemed more than normal after the hidden desires they’d brought to the surface and then satisfied, over the last few hours.

Adjusting the water, Anya asked over her shoulder as Giles continued to caress her back and hips, “Do you like it hot or cooler?”

“I’d have thought you’d figured out by now that hot is much better.”

His voice held a suggestive weight that he knew neither of them was physically capable of right now.

“Oh, I know that! I meant the water in the shower, Rupert.”

Giles ran his hands around and then up her body, to cup the weight of a breast in each hand as he urged her back to a standing position before snuggling his body tight against her back.

With a light laugh, the ex-demon wiggled her hips, wedging him more firmly between her cheeks. “Don’t make offers you aren’t going to do, Rupert. That probably is the only part of you that’s ‘up to it’ right now and I don’t see how ‘he’ is after all that.”

Dipping his head to lightly bite a line along her shoulder before answering, Giles heard her breath quicken. “Now who’s making offers they can’t handle?”

“Are you sure that you’ve never been a demon before? We need to shower and wash a few things, especially those bloody spots, before we bandage them.”

“Hmmm, you’re right, of course. You don’t mind the injury? I didn’t mean to get so rough. I’m not usually like that, you know. And no, I’ve never been a demon before, but I did have one inside of me occasionally.” He chuckled a bit wickedly, “Now I’ve been inside of one and it was wonderful.”

“No, I don’t mind the injury. It’s small and will heal quickly. Besides, I can cover it up. You’ll have to be careful to cover yours as well. I think I like you like that. Rough… you know. We’ll have to bring that out more often?”

The question was all too apparent in the tone of her words.

“I agree. We certainly will have to find that side of me more often. Now into the water with you, wench.” Giles stepped back and held the bright shower curtain to one side as he carefully and playfully slapped the bare buttock cheek before it disappeared behind the cloth.

A smile on his face, he stepped into the enclosure and steaming water, only to be ‘attacked’ by a large soapy sponge.

*******************

They sat at the table sipping the tea they’d not managed to drink earlier.

“So are they expecting you tonight, Giles?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so. I do have to show up, you know. We have to get to the bottom of this current crisis.”

“What happens afterwards?”

Giles knew the real question she was asking. He’d thought about that as he’d dressed and as she re-heated the tea for them. He’d finally decided on the right answer for the question. It hadn’t been a case of ‘if’ she’d ask. He knew Anya well enough to know she would, and now she had.

“After this current crisis is over, Anya. I have to go back to England.”

He watched her face fall when she heard his words. “However, it’s very lovely there and if you have no commitments here, what with the Magic Box being just so much rubble now, you might want to travel, see the English countryside.”

“I haven’t been to England in a long time. It might be nice to see it again. Of course, I’d probably have to find somewhere to stay there.”

Anya hadn’t tried to be coy in decades. She’d never been really good at it, but still, at least for appearance sake, she made the attempt.

“I’m certain we can find somewhere for you to stay. I happen to have a spare room, if you were interested. Unless you might prefer something a bit less private than your own room.”

Giles found himself enjoying this fascinating side of her that he’d never seen in all the time Anya had been in Sunnydale, yet he knew he had to tell her the truth.

“I can’t promise you anything other than room and board, company when I can manage to find some free time from the mess I’m certain I’ll have to lend a hand with, and possibly all the sex that either of us can tolerate and still manage to walk.”

“That’s… Rupert, that’s perfect. I won’t ask you for anything else. I think I’ve learned the hard way that arrangements don’t seem to be permanent. You’d think I would already have learned that much in my previous occupation, but I obviously never did.”

Anya thought for a moment before she continued, “Can we keep this to ourselves, please, Rupert?”

“Of course, Anya. That might be best, all things considered.”

“I mean, I know Xander… I don’t want to hurt him. Do you understand?”

Giles got up from the chair where he’d been sitting and stepped in front of her. Taking the ex-demon’s hand, he coaxed her to stand before wrapping his arms around her, pulling her close.

“I understand perfectly and find that an admirable quality you’ve managed to acquire, Anya. I wouldn’t wish to hurt Xander or anyone else.”

Kissing her thoroughly, they both came up for air somewhat shaken.

“I do think that we’ll have to refrain from this type of behavior in front of them, though. And you may wish to continue to call me ‘Giles’ as you’ve always done previously. Shall we go?”

*********************

As soon as Giles got out of the car at Buffy’s, he found himself shoulder deep in females, all attempting to hug him, exclaiming how glad they were to see him.

He hugged Willow, Dawn and Buffy, assuring them how much he had missed each one of them. The truth was, that he had missed them and was always glad to see each of them.

It was Buffy that spotted the edge of a bandage peeking from his shirt collar.

“Giles? Are you alright? You didn’t get bitten by a vampire or anything did you?”

“I’m fine, Buffy. I had a run-in with a small demon that bit me, but no damage was done at all.”

“Where? I’ll grab some weapons and go take care of it.”

The petite blonde Slayer started to turn in preparation for doing exactly that, when he interrupted her.

“It’s quite alright, Buffy. I simply ‘staked’ the demon and took care of it.”

“You staked a demon? Really? Since when does that work?”

Buffy was sarcastically incredulous.

“It wasn’t so much a stake exactly. I just grabbed whatever was handy and stuck something long and hard into it repeatedly. It’s taken care of. Trust me, Buffy.

Now perhaps if you might let Anya and I get inside so I can hear about this crisis…”

Giles looked at Anya with a twinkle in his eye as he watched her struggle to remain calm after his comments.

“And perhaps Anya might need a glass of something to drink.”

Gillian Silverlight 12/11/02