The Snowman
Title: The Snowman
Author: Froxyn
Rating: FRAO
Pairing: Buffy/Giles
Timeline: S5’ish. No Dawn, no Riley. AU.
Synopsis: There’s snow, there’s alcohol.
Author’s Note: Written for the Drunk!Giles Ficathon, fic specs given by antennapedia. Special thanks to wyvernwolf for everything!
“What the 'ell is a ‘champagne supernova’?”
Buffy raised an eyebrow as she looked up at him. “How am I supposed to know?”
“You were the one singin’ it.” Giles answered, his words slurred as he concentrated on staying upright.
“Yeah, because I like the song. Doesn’t mean I know what it means.”
He stopped suddenly and stared at her. “Songs should make sense.”
“Not all of them do.” She replied with a shrug as she tugged on his arm to get him moving again. “Besides, I figured that a ‘champagne supernova’ was some English thing.”
He snorted, grabbing a handful of snow from the top of a bush as they passed it. “If it were an ‘English thing’, I’d understand it.”
“Uh-huh…because you’re so good like that. And we didn’t come out here to play music trivia, you know.” She ducked quickly, laughing as the sloppily made snowball flew harmlessly over her head. “Great shot, Giles.”
Giles stumbled as he walked along the path in the woods. Buffy grabbed him before he fell, giggling as he glared at her.
“You’re so drunk.”
“And sober, you are.” He replied, his glare softening slightly.
Buffy snorted. “A Jedi Master, you’re not. So don’t talk like one.”
“Didn’t mean to.” He answered sincerely, snow crunching under his feet as he stumbled again. “Bloody 'ell. Need to have words with that boy.”
Buffy smiled as she slipped her arm around his waist. “He was just trying to help, Giles.”
Giles stopped walking and glanced back towards the camp before meeting her eyes. “By getting me drunk? Me being drunk helps no one, Buffy.”
“Giles…”
He shook his head and looked around. The trees here were covered in snow and they were nearly half a mile from the campsite.
“How much snow did she give you?”
Buffy tilted her head, placing her left hand on his chest. “Us. She gave it to us, all of us. You know it doesn’t snow here. And she overheard you saying how much you love the snow.”
“An’ the alcohol?”
She offered him a smile as her eyes darted to his lips. “Lowers inhibitions.”
“Don’ need alcohol for that, Buffy. Have you.”
Her hand slid up his chest to the back of his neck, slowly drawing him down to her lips as she looked into his eyes and lowered her voice to a whisper.
“But they don’t know that, Giles.”
“Should tell ‘em.” He whispered back, half a second before she captured his lips with hers.
He felt himself moving as her tongue probed his mouth, and knew she was pushing him backwards. Where she was pushing him to, he had no idea. But, he trusted her not to let him fall.
He grunted as his back hit a tree. He groaned as he felt her fingers unbuckle his belt before unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans. He pulled from the kiss, resting the back of his head against the rough bark of the tree as her hand curled around his erection.
“Christ, Buffy…” He slurred as her thumb rubbed over the glistening head.
“I love how hard you get for me.” She whispered lustfully as she fell to her knees in the snow in front of him.
He shook his head and stared drunkenly at her. “No, Buffy…”
She looked up, raising an eyebrow at him as her hand continued to slowly stroke his hard flesh. “We’ve done this before, Giles.”
“I’m drunk. There’s snow.” His fingertips lightly brushed her cheek. “Warm snow, which is…odd.”
“We’re in California, Giles. And…it’s magic snow, not real snow.”
“Is still snow…you’ll get wet.” He breathed as he closed his eyes, allowing himself to enjoy her touch for just a few more moments.
“I’m already wet…have been all day thinking about tonight.”
His eyes snapped open. “T’night?”
“Mm-hm.” She murmured, dragging her tongue along the underside of his erection. “You, me, one tent, two sleeping bags joined together…”
“Xander…Willow…” He swallowed as his eyes glazed with desire. “Anya…Tara…”
“Two other tents…pretty sure they’ll be busy themselves.” Buffy stated softly, looking up at him as his fingers combed through her hair. “Now…you gonna let me finish this?”
Seeing something out of the corner of his eye, Giles turned his head and furrowed his brow. “We’re bein’ watched…by…um…a snowman?”
Buffy rolled her eyes, but turned her head in the direction that he was looking anyway. Her eyes narrowed as she searched the area, quickly shoving his erection back into his jeans as she stood.
“I don’t see anything.”
He grunted softly at the unintentional roughness of her touch. She looked up at him quickly, regret showing in her hazel eyes.
“God, I’m sorry, Giles! Are you okay?”
Giving her a quick nod, he carefully readjusted himself and buttoned and zipped his jeans. “Snowman’s gone.”
Buffy sighed heavily and took his hand, pulling him forward. “And took the moment with him.”
His feet shuffled forward, the toe of his hiking boot hitting an exposed tree root and sending him off balance. Buffy grabbed at him, but his momentum knocked them both to the ground. She could smell the whiskey on his breath as he supported himself above her, his hands buried in the warm snow on either side of her head.
“Sure about that, love?”
She shivered as she felt his erection press against her thigh. “Giles…”
His eyes darted to her chest, swallowing thickly as he watched her nipples tighten under her shirt. “Cold?”
“It’s not cold, Giles.” She whispered, slipping her hands underneath the sweater he was wearing.
Shifting his weight onto his left hand, he slid his right under her shirt to cup a satin-covered breast. “This is odd.”
She arched against his touch, lightly scraping her nails across his back. “What?”
“Snow shouldn’t be warm. It’s…everything about it is right. Consistency, texture…it’s just not cold. And that’s odd. Lying here, jeans wet from melting snow…you should be shivering from cold, not from my touch.”
Dropping her left hand to the ground, she grabbed a handful of the snow in question. She let it slip through her fingers when she realized that rubbing warm snow over his chest would not have the same effect as normal, non-magic snow would.
“You seem to be sobering up…”
He grinned at her as he lightly shook his head. “I feel like I’m becoming more inbre…intosk…drunk.”
She moaned softly as she wrapped her legs over his hips, delighting in his involuntary reaction of thrusting against her. “Most drunk people aren’t coordinated enough to do that.”
He gently pinched her nipple before slipping his hand out from under her shirt. “Concentratin’.”
She raised an eyebrow at him, her fingers dancing along his sides. “On what?”
“You.” He licked his lips as he lowered his mouth to hers, his voice dropping to an urgent whisper. “Christ, I want you.”
Just before his lips touched hers, his head snapped towards the left, eyes narrowing. “What the…”
Buffy followed his gaze, whimpering as he pushed himself up and knelt between her thighs. “Giles, what is it?”
“I…I can’t do this here. Not with him watching.”
Buffy lifted her head and scanned their surroundings, but still didn't see anything out of the ordinary, not counting the snow of course. “Him, who?”
“The snowman. ‘e’s back.” Giles slurred, grabbing Buffy’s hand and pulling her up to sit next to him.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the snowman disappeared. Giles could’ve sworn that the snowman had winked at him before it vanished.
“An’…now ‘e’s gone.”
“Uh-huh…I think we should get you back to camp.” Buffy stated, amusement in her tone. “I think the pink elephants have arrived.”
Giles looked at her quickly, arching an eyebrow at her. “El’phants?”
Buffy chuckled as she stood, carefully helping him up to stand beside of her. He stumbled drunkenly, smiling gratefully when she kept him from falling back onto the snow-covered ground.
“I s’pose it does sound silly. Phantom snowman watchin’ us…perhaps I did ‘ave too much to drink.”
Buffy nodded, steadying him before leading him back towards the camp. “It’s not just the phantom snowman that makes me think you’ve had too much.”
“Hm?” He wanted to look down at her, but was too busy concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other without losing his balance.
“Your accent changes when you’re drunk. I think you forget that the letter h is actually in the alphabet.”
He snorted, this time he did look at her. And this time he did stumble and fall.
Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes as she bent to help him back up.
When they got back to camp, she was going to kill Xander Harris…maybe not literally, but he was definitely going to know that she wasn’t exactly thrilled that her Watcher was too drunk to walk. And seemingly too drunk to do anything else.
* * *
“It could be a demon.” Anya stated as she glanced at Willow. “I mean, this isn’t natural snow. Maybe something evil came with it.”
Willow narrowed her eyes. “You’re saying that I created an evil snowman?”
Anya shrugged. “Who knows? We should probably go check for footprints.”
When Giles snorted a laugh, a cup of black coffee in his hands, everyone turned to look at him. Tara tilted her head slightly.
“You don’t think we should track it?”
Giles gestured vaguely towards the path. “ ‘ave at it. But, you’re not gonna find any footprints.”
Xander furrowed his brow, leaning forward slightly. “Why not?”
Giles took a sip of the coffee and spoke in a tone that stated his reasoning should be perfectly obvious.
“Snowmen ‘ave no feet.”
Buffy sighed and took the mug from Giles’ hands. “Come on, you need to go to bed and sleep it off.”
“Or…work it off.” He mumbled as she pulled him up from the log he was sitting on.
Buffy quickly glanced at the others, breathing a sigh of relief when she realized that they hadn’t heard him. She spoke in a barely audible tone, slipping her arm around him as she led him towards the tent.
“Watch your tongue, Giles.”
He looked down at her, his eyes darkening as he kept his voice a low murmur. “Would much rather watch yours.”
Xander looked up as Buffy stumbled. “Hey, you guys okay?”
Buffy turned and met his eyes, annoyance showing in hers. “Yeah. Why don’t you try to pretty much carry a six foot one drunk man through the snow.”
Xander blushed lightly. “I didn’t realize he had as much as he did, Buffy. I really am sorry.”
“We’ll discuss this later. Right now, I have to get him to bed.”
“Yes, you do.” Giles whispered, his fingers flexing against her shoulder.
Her eyes darted to his. “Giles…”
“We…should tell ‘em.”
Buffy’s eyes widened as she shook her head, quickly pushing him towards the tent and leaving four fairly confused people sitting around the campfire. Though it was warm, Xander had insisted on a campfire. Something about it being a compulsory part of camping.
“No, we shouldn’t tell them. Not right now, not like this.” She stated quietly as she zipped the door flap of the tent shut.
“Buffy…”
She pushed him down onto the sleeping bags and shook her head again as she knelt at his feet and untied his boot laces. “No, you’re drunk and we haven’t - ”
“I love you.” He whispered.
She looked up at him as she dropped his left boot onto the tent floor. “And I love you. We can tell them tomorrow…when you’re sober…if you want.”
“I want.” He replied, closing his eyes briefly to stop the tent from spinning. “I want so much.”
Removing his other boot, she gently pushed him onto his back and moved to sit next to him, running her fingers through his hair. “Tell me what you want, Giles.”
“I want everyone to know how much I love you. I want to stop hiding our relationship. I want my bed to be our bed…and I want you in it every night. But, more than anything…I want…”
She looked at him curiously when he trailed off and closed his eyes. “Giles? What do you want more than anything?”
He swallowed and forced his eyes open slightly. “For this bloody tent to stop spinning.”
Buffy chuckled softly and lovingly rubbed her thumb over his brow. “Close your eyes, honey. Get some sleep…I’ll go keep the others company.”
He licked his dry lips and looked into her eyes. “You’ll be back? Tonight, I mean?”
Leaning over him, she pressed her lips to his warm forehead. “I’ll be back, I promise.”
“Love you.” He mumbled sleepily, the alcohol quickly pushing him towards slumber.
“I love you too. Rest now.”
Just as she unzipped the door, she heard him whisper her name. She turned around to find his unfocused eyes staring in her direction.
“Yeah?”
“There was a snowman watchin’ us. Wasn’t ‘maginin’ it.”
“We’ll keep an eye out for it. But, you rest.”
“Mm-hm.” He sighed softly and closed his eyes again. “Restin’…”
A smile played over her lips as she stepped out of the tent and zipped the door flap shut before making her way back over to the others.
Xander looked up as Buffy approached them. “Is he okay?”
Her smile faded just long enough for Xander to be worried…and then she chuckled. “Yeah, he’s okay. He’s probably going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning, though.”
“He should have an orgasm before he goes to sleep.”
Xander closed his eyes. Tara blushed heavily. Willow’s mouth dropped open. Buffy merely raised an eyebrow at Anya.
“Excuse me?”
“Well, we’ve found that if Xander gets really drunk, he feels much better the next morning if - ”
“Anya! For God’s sake, please do not finish that statement!” Xander spoke quickly, his dark eyes pleading with his girlfriend.
Anya shrugged a shoulder and smiled. Willow closed her mouth and regarded Buffy carefully.
“Um…you don’t really seem all that bothered by that idea.” Willow stated softly.
“Huh?” Buffy looked at her quickly, her mind scrambling to come up with anything. “Oh, I was just thinking about this snowman that Giles said he saw.”
Willow and Tara exchanged a knowing look and a grin. Xander couldn’t stop himself from looking around their campsite as he spoke.
“You didn’t see it, huh?”
“No. No, I didn’t.” Buffy bit her lip, hoping that Anya wouldn’t ask why she didn’t see it. “But, he’s pretty adamant about the fact that it really was out there. Maybe I should go have a look around.”
“Probably not alone.” Xander added, standing up and brushing the snow from his jeans. “I’ll go with you.”
Buffy chuckled softly. “Xander, it’s a snowman. If there is even anything out there. He’s so drunk, he probably imagined it.”
Xander shoved his left hand into his pocket. “Haven’t you ever seen Jack Frost?”
“The ‘nipping at your nose’ guy?” Buffy asked with a smile on her face.
Xander rolled his eyes. “No, the serial killer who was mutated into a snowman and started killing people to get his revenge.”
Buffy’s stared at him incredulously. “Where do you see these movies? And…you do realize how completely ridiculous that sounds, right?”
“Yeah. About as ridiculous as a vampire with a soul helping the people of Los Angeles and a professor building a soldier out of a man and demon pieces parts and a demon being scanned into the internet and encouraging people to kill for him. But, you know what? Ridiculous things can happen sometimes.”
“Fine, you can come with me.” Buffy exhaled slowly. “Willow, can you and Tara put up some kind of magic barrier or something to keep you guys safe while we’re gone? You know…just in case.”
Anya’s eyes were wide. “Yeah, can you? I don’t like the idea of a serial killer snowman running loose in these woods. Especially with Giles too drunk to do anything.”
Willow rolled her eyes at Anya’s melodramatics. “And who do we have to thank for Giles’ condition?”
Tara smiled warmly and nodded as she placed her hand on Willow’s arm. “We can do it, Buffy. And we’ll keep an eye on Mr. Giles while you’re gone.”
Buffy thought that Tara’s comment about keeping an eye on Giles was a little odd, but didn’t mention it. “Okay, thanks. We won’t be long.”
She looked at Xander and fought back the urge to smile when he walked over to his car and opened the trunk, pulling out a large bottle filled with green liquid. “Antifreeze?”
Xander raised an eyebrow, pointing a finger at her. “Laugh now, but it was the only thing that killed Jack in the movie.”
At that, she did laugh. “Come on. The quicker we get this done, the quicker we can be back.”
Tara glanced at Willow, whispering as Buffy walked off down the path with Xander.
“And the quicker she can get back to Mr. Giles.”
Willow smiled brightly, taking Tara’s hand and setting to work on the barrier around the camp.
Continue
Author: Froxyn
Rating: FRAO
Pairing: Buffy/Giles
Timeline: S5’ish. No Dawn, no Riley. AU.
Synopsis: There’s snow, there’s alcohol.
Author’s Note: Written for the Drunk!Giles Ficathon, fic specs given by antennapedia. Special thanks to wyvernwolf for everything!
“What the 'ell is a ‘champagne supernova’?”
Buffy raised an eyebrow as she looked up at him. “How am I supposed to know?”
“You were the one singin’ it.” Giles answered, his words slurred as he concentrated on staying upright.
“Yeah, because I like the song. Doesn’t mean I know what it means.”
He stopped suddenly and stared at her. “Songs should make sense.”
“Not all of them do.” She replied with a shrug as she tugged on his arm to get him moving again. “Besides, I figured that a ‘champagne supernova’ was some English thing.”
He snorted, grabbing a handful of snow from the top of a bush as they passed it. “If it were an ‘English thing’, I’d understand it.”
“Uh-huh…because you’re so good like that. And we didn’t come out here to play music trivia, you know.” She ducked quickly, laughing as the sloppily made snowball flew harmlessly over her head. “Great shot, Giles.”
Giles stumbled as he walked along the path in the woods. Buffy grabbed him before he fell, giggling as he glared at her.
“You’re so drunk.”
“And sober, you are.” He replied, his glare softening slightly.
Buffy snorted. “A Jedi Master, you’re not. So don’t talk like one.”
“Didn’t mean to.” He answered sincerely, snow crunching under his feet as he stumbled again. “Bloody 'ell. Need to have words with that boy.”
Buffy smiled as she slipped her arm around his waist. “He was just trying to help, Giles.”
Giles stopped walking and glanced back towards the camp before meeting her eyes. “By getting me drunk? Me being drunk helps no one, Buffy.”
“Giles…”
He shook his head and looked around. The trees here were covered in snow and they were nearly half a mile from the campsite.
“How much snow did she give you?”
Buffy tilted her head, placing her left hand on his chest. “Us. She gave it to us, all of us. You know it doesn’t snow here. And she overheard you saying how much you love the snow.”
“An’ the alcohol?”
She offered him a smile as her eyes darted to his lips. “Lowers inhibitions.”
“Don’ need alcohol for that, Buffy. Have you.”
Her hand slid up his chest to the back of his neck, slowly drawing him down to her lips as she looked into his eyes and lowered her voice to a whisper.
“But they don’t know that, Giles.”
“Should tell ‘em.” He whispered back, half a second before she captured his lips with hers.
He felt himself moving as her tongue probed his mouth, and knew she was pushing him backwards. Where she was pushing him to, he had no idea. But, he trusted her not to let him fall.
He grunted as his back hit a tree. He groaned as he felt her fingers unbuckle his belt before unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans. He pulled from the kiss, resting the back of his head against the rough bark of the tree as her hand curled around his erection.
“Christ, Buffy…” He slurred as her thumb rubbed over the glistening head.
“I love how hard you get for me.” She whispered lustfully as she fell to her knees in the snow in front of him.
He shook his head and stared drunkenly at her. “No, Buffy…”
She looked up, raising an eyebrow at him as her hand continued to slowly stroke his hard flesh. “We’ve done this before, Giles.”
“I’m drunk. There’s snow.” His fingertips lightly brushed her cheek. “Warm snow, which is…odd.”
“We’re in California, Giles. And…it’s magic snow, not real snow.”
“Is still snow…you’ll get wet.” He breathed as he closed his eyes, allowing himself to enjoy her touch for just a few more moments.
“I’m already wet…have been all day thinking about tonight.”
His eyes snapped open. “T’night?”
“Mm-hm.” She murmured, dragging her tongue along the underside of his erection. “You, me, one tent, two sleeping bags joined together…”
“Xander…Willow…” He swallowed as his eyes glazed with desire. “Anya…Tara…”
“Two other tents…pretty sure they’ll be busy themselves.” Buffy stated softly, looking up at him as his fingers combed through her hair. “Now…you gonna let me finish this?”
Seeing something out of the corner of his eye, Giles turned his head and furrowed his brow. “We’re bein’ watched…by…um…a snowman?”
Buffy rolled her eyes, but turned her head in the direction that he was looking anyway. Her eyes narrowed as she searched the area, quickly shoving his erection back into his jeans as she stood.
“I don’t see anything.”
He grunted softly at the unintentional roughness of her touch. She looked up at him quickly, regret showing in her hazel eyes.
“God, I’m sorry, Giles! Are you okay?”
Giving her a quick nod, he carefully readjusted himself and buttoned and zipped his jeans. “Snowman’s gone.”
Buffy sighed heavily and took his hand, pulling him forward. “And took the moment with him.”
His feet shuffled forward, the toe of his hiking boot hitting an exposed tree root and sending him off balance. Buffy grabbed at him, but his momentum knocked them both to the ground. She could smell the whiskey on his breath as he supported himself above her, his hands buried in the warm snow on either side of her head.
“Sure about that, love?”
She shivered as she felt his erection press against her thigh. “Giles…”
His eyes darted to her chest, swallowing thickly as he watched her nipples tighten under her shirt. “Cold?”
“It’s not cold, Giles.” She whispered, slipping her hands underneath the sweater he was wearing.
Shifting his weight onto his left hand, he slid his right under her shirt to cup a satin-covered breast. “This is odd.”
She arched against his touch, lightly scraping her nails across his back. “What?”
“Snow shouldn’t be warm. It’s…everything about it is right. Consistency, texture…it’s just not cold. And that’s odd. Lying here, jeans wet from melting snow…you should be shivering from cold, not from my touch.”
Dropping her left hand to the ground, she grabbed a handful of the snow in question. She let it slip through her fingers when she realized that rubbing warm snow over his chest would not have the same effect as normal, non-magic snow would.
“You seem to be sobering up…”
He grinned at her as he lightly shook his head. “I feel like I’m becoming more inbre…intosk…drunk.”
She moaned softly as she wrapped her legs over his hips, delighting in his involuntary reaction of thrusting against her. “Most drunk people aren’t coordinated enough to do that.”
He gently pinched her nipple before slipping his hand out from under her shirt. “Concentratin’.”
She raised an eyebrow at him, her fingers dancing along his sides. “On what?”
“You.” He licked his lips as he lowered his mouth to hers, his voice dropping to an urgent whisper. “Christ, I want you.”
Just before his lips touched hers, his head snapped towards the left, eyes narrowing. “What the…”
Buffy followed his gaze, whimpering as he pushed himself up and knelt between her thighs. “Giles, what is it?”
“I…I can’t do this here. Not with him watching.”
Buffy lifted her head and scanned their surroundings, but still didn't see anything out of the ordinary, not counting the snow of course. “Him, who?”
“The snowman. ‘e’s back.” Giles slurred, grabbing Buffy’s hand and pulling her up to sit next to him.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the snowman disappeared. Giles could’ve sworn that the snowman had winked at him before it vanished.
“An’…now ‘e’s gone.”
“Uh-huh…I think we should get you back to camp.” Buffy stated, amusement in her tone. “I think the pink elephants have arrived.”
Giles looked at her quickly, arching an eyebrow at her. “El’phants?”
Buffy chuckled as she stood, carefully helping him up to stand beside of her. He stumbled drunkenly, smiling gratefully when she kept him from falling back onto the snow-covered ground.
“I s’pose it does sound silly. Phantom snowman watchin’ us…perhaps I did ‘ave too much to drink.”
Buffy nodded, steadying him before leading him back towards the camp. “It’s not just the phantom snowman that makes me think you’ve had too much.”
“Hm?” He wanted to look down at her, but was too busy concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other without losing his balance.
“Your accent changes when you’re drunk. I think you forget that the letter h is actually in the alphabet.”
He snorted, this time he did look at her. And this time he did stumble and fall.
Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes as she bent to help him back up.
When they got back to camp, she was going to kill Xander Harris…maybe not literally, but he was definitely going to know that she wasn’t exactly thrilled that her Watcher was too drunk to walk. And seemingly too drunk to do anything else.
* * *
“It could be a demon.” Anya stated as she glanced at Willow. “I mean, this isn’t natural snow. Maybe something evil came with it.”
Willow narrowed her eyes. “You’re saying that I created an evil snowman?”
Anya shrugged. “Who knows? We should probably go check for footprints.”
When Giles snorted a laugh, a cup of black coffee in his hands, everyone turned to look at him. Tara tilted her head slightly.
“You don’t think we should track it?”
Giles gestured vaguely towards the path. “ ‘ave at it. But, you’re not gonna find any footprints.”
Xander furrowed his brow, leaning forward slightly. “Why not?”
Giles took a sip of the coffee and spoke in a tone that stated his reasoning should be perfectly obvious.
“Snowmen ‘ave no feet.”
Buffy sighed and took the mug from Giles’ hands. “Come on, you need to go to bed and sleep it off.”
“Or…work it off.” He mumbled as she pulled him up from the log he was sitting on.
Buffy quickly glanced at the others, breathing a sigh of relief when she realized that they hadn’t heard him. She spoke in a barely audible tone, slipping her arm around him as she led him towards the tent.
“Watch your tongue, Giles.”
He looked down at her, his eyes darkening as he kept his voice a low murmur. “Would much rather watch yours.”
Xander looked up as Buffy stumbled. “Hey, you guys okay?”
Buffy turned and met his eyes, annoyance showing in hers. “Yeah. Why don’t you try to pretty much carry a six foot one drunk man through the snow.”
Xander blushed lightly. “I didn’t realize he had as much as he did, Buffy. I really am sorry.”
“We’ll discuss this later. Right now, I have to get him to bed.”
“Yes, you do.” Giles whispered, his fingers flexing against her shoulder.
Her eyes darted to his. “Giles…”
“We…should tell ‘em.”
Buffy’s eyes widened as she shook her head, quickly pushing him towards the tent and leaving four fairly confused people sitting around the campfire. Though it was warm, Xander had insisted on a campfire. Something about it being a compulsory part of camping.
“No, we shouldn’t tell them. Not right now, not like this.” She stated quietly as she zipped the door flap of the tent shut.
“Buffy…”
She pushed him down onto the sleeping bags and shook her head again as she knelt at his feet and untied his boot laces. “No, you’re drunk and we haven’t - ”
“I love you.” He whispered.
She looked up at him as she dropped his left boot onto the tent floor. “And I love you. We can tell them tomorrow…when you’re sober…if you want.”
“I want.” He replied, closing his eyes briefly to stop the tent from spinning. “I want so much.”
Removing his other boot, she gently pushed him onto his back and moved to sit next to him, running her fingers through his hair. “Tell me what you want, Giles.”
“I want everyone to know how much I love you. I want to stop hiding our relationship. I want my bed to be our bed…and I want you in it every night. But, more than anything…I want…”
She looked at him curiously when he trailed off and closed his eyes. “Giles? What do you want more than anything?”
He swallowed and forced his eyes open slightly. “For this bloody tent to stop spinning.”
Buffy chuckled softly and lovingly rubbed her thumb over his brow. “Close your eyes, honey. Get some sleep…I’ll go keep the others company.”
He licked his dry lips and looked into her eyes. “You’ll be back? Tonight, I mean?”
Leaning over him, she pressed her lips to his warm forehead. “I’ll be back, I promise.”
“Love you.” He mumbled sleepily, the alcohol quickly pushing him towards slumber.
“I love you too. Rest now.”
Just as she unzipped the door, she heard him whisper her name. She turned around to find his unfocused eyes staring in her direction.
“Yeah?”
“There was a snowman watchin’ us. Wasn’t ‘maginin’ it.”
“We’ll keep an eye out for it. But, you rest.”
“Mm-hm.” He sighed softly and closed his eyes again. “Restin’…”
A smile played over her lips as she stepped out of the tent and zipped the door flap shut before making her way back over to the others.
Xander looked up as Buffy approached them. “Is he okay?”
Her smile faded just long enough for Xander to be worried…and then she chuckled. “Yeah, he’s okay. He’s probably going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning, though.”
“He should have an orgasm before he goes to sleep.”
Xander closed his eyes. Tara blushed heavily. Willow’s mouth dropped open. Buffy merely raised an eyebrow at Anya.
“Excuse me?”
“Well, we’ve found that if Xander gets really drunk, he feels much better the next morning if - ”
“Anya! For God’s sake, please do not finish that statement!” Xander spoke quickly, his dark eyes pleading with his girlfriend.
Anya shrugged a shoulder and smiled. Willow closed her mouth and regarded Buffy carefully.
“Um…you don’t really seem all that bothered by that idea.” Willow stated softly.
“Huh?” Buffy looked at her quickly, her mind scrambling to come up with anything. “Oh, I was just thinking about this snowman that Giles said he saw.”
Willow and Tara exchanged a knowing look and a grin. Xander couldn’t stop himself from looking around their campsite as he spoke.
“You didn’t see it, huh?”
“No. No, I didn’t.” Buffy bit her lip, hoping that Anya wouldn’t ask why she didn’t see it. “But, he’s pretty adamant about the fact that it really was out there. Maybe I should go have a look around.”
“Probably not alone.” Xander added, standing up and brushing the snow from his jeans. “I’ll go with you.”
Buffy chuckled softly. “Xander, it’s a snowman. If there is even anything out there. He’s so drunk, he probably imagined it.”
Xander shoved his left hand into his pocket. “Haven’t you ever seen Jack Frost?”
“The ‘nipping at your nose’ guy?” Buffy asked with a smile on her face.
Xander rolled his eyes. “No, the serial killer who was mutated into a snowman and started killing people to get his revenge.”
Buffy’s stared at him incredulously. “Where do you see these movies? And…you do realize how completely ridiculous that sounds, right?”
“Yeah. About as ridiculous as a vampire with a soul helping the people of Los Angeles and a professor building a soldier out of a man and demon pieces parts and a demon being scanned into the internet and encouraging people to kill for him. But, you know what? Ridiculous things can happen sometimes.”
“Fine, you can come with me.” Buffy exhaled slowly. “Willow, can you and Tara put up some kind of magic barrier or something to keep you guys safe while we’re gone? You know…just in case.”
Anya’s eyes were wide. “Yeah, can you? I don’t like the idea of a serial killer snowman running loose in these woods. Especially with Giles too drunk to do anything.”
Willow rolled her eyes at Anya’s melodramatics. “And who do we have to thank for Giles’ condition?”
Tara smiled warmly and nodded as she placed her hand on Willow’s arm. “We can do it, Buffy. And we’ll keep an eye on Mr. Giles while you’re gone.”
Buffy thought that Tara’s comment about keeping an eye on Giles was a little odd, but didn’t mention it. “Okay, thanks. We won’t be long.”
She looked at Xander and fought back the urge to smile when he walked over to his car and opened the trunk, pulling out a large bottle filled with green liquid. “Antifreeze?”
Xander raised an eyebrow, pointing a finger at her. “Laugh now, but it was the only thing that killed Jack in the movie.”
At that, she did laugh. “Come on. The quicker we get this done, the quicker we can be back.”
Tara glanced at Willow, whispering as Buffy walked off down the path with Xander.
“And the quicker she can get back to Mr. Giles.”
Willow smiled brightly, taking Tara’s hand and setting to work on the barrier around the camp.
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