Giles looked down at the pages Wesley had printed out for him. He shook his head and sighed before taking a bite of his food. “Bloody Council,” he muttered as he waved his hands at the papers. “They need to confirm everything we do. If one of the Slayers needs a new pair of trainers, we have to ask for the board’s advice.” He shook his head and looked around for a pen, and when he couldn’t find one, he pushed the papers away from him.
“I’ll sign them later,” he said, leaning back in his seat. His eyebrows rose when Wesley admitted to still having the braces. “I’ll have to use them on you then. Especially since you laughed at my e-mail troubles.” Leaning over, he softly kissed Wesley’s neck before going back to the food in front of him. Giles gave Wesley a look before trying to use the chopsticks that were in the bag. After a couple of attempts, he dropped them and went back to his fork.
“As Fred tried to do any sort of experiments on the amulet? I know she has quite a bit of information in the files she gave me but most of it looks like jibberish to me,” he said as he glanced at his lover.
As he opened his carton of food, Wesley glanced over at the pages Rupert had set aside, shaking his head when he saw how anal the Board was being about accountability. Obviously, for all the good Rupert and the others had done, some things never changed.
"The Board still likes to play politics to keep control over certain Chairmen, I see," he said, shaking his head. He knew they had been the same way with Richard Giles, based on the way he had heard his father speak. "Perhaps you should tell them you had computer troubles and not send it back for a few days. That ought to get their collective knickers in a twist."
As he dug into his food, he swallowed slightly when Rupert mentioned using the braces on him. The times he had used them on him before, they had ended up shagging quite...vigorously in the stacks of the library. Just the memory was enough to make Wesley twitch, and he had to take a deep breath. Christ, having Rupert there had certainly made him feel like a randy teenager.
So he was actually a bit thankful when he asked him about Fred's experiments. "She's done a few as well as taken readings on Spike. She says there's no ectoplasm matrix, so if he's a ghost, we shouldn't be able to see him. He's also warm, and - as impossible as it seems - there's detectable brain wave activity from him. As for the amulet, whatever metal it's made out of, it's very old, probably ancient and demonic in origin. It's impervious to X-rays, and however, the magic works, it's well hidden."
He sighed and shook his head. "Somehow, I have a feeling that it's going to be damn near impossible to figure that thing out through experiments and tests unless we do find something in the books."
Giles smirked at Wesley's idea. Perhaps he would tell the Council he had computer problems and make them wait for the signed documents. They were always making him wait for things. With an innocent look, he 'accidentally' knocked his glass of water over onto the papers. "Suppose I won't be signing those anytime soon," he said with a grin.
He stood from the table and went to the kitchen to retrieve a towel. When he came back out, Giles cleaned up the mess he'd made before sitting back down. He then listened to Wesley explain to him what Fred had found out about Spike. "So he really isn't a ghost then," he determined. Furrowing his brow, he shook his head. "It's almost as if he's existing on this plane when he shouldn't be. And it's obvious the amulet is mystical in nature, but the magic is either quite old and only known by certain people, or its new," he said, shaking his head.
"The books do look like our last hope. In the morning I'll call my contact here in Los Angeles. He might know of some books that might be helpful," Giles said as he finished off his food. After wiping his mouth off, he glanced over at Wesley. "Perhaps we should just tell Fred we need a bit more time and we couldn't finish our research tonight."
Raising his eyebrows in amusement, Wesley watched as the water Rupert had just knocked over spread across the papers. "Pity that," he said with a mock sigh. "And I do believe my printer is going to be out of commission for a few days. So sorry."
Once the papers and water had been cleared away and dumped in the rubbish bin, they forgot about the Council, as he was sure the Council would be glad to forget about Rupert if they could. They focused instead on the situation with Spike, trying to figure out what could be happening. It seemed they had plenty of theories, but no concrete proof or textual evidence to back any of it up.
"Given the age of the metal in the amulet, I would say it's very, very old. Seems that it would have to be in order to be a weapon that could be used against something like the First," Wesley remarked. He looked over at his bag, thinking about the source book inside. "I do wish that source book could call up an book in the world, not just the books in my vault at the office."
With a sigh, he looked back at Rupert and nodded his head in agreement at his plan for the morning. "Fred knows how difficult this kind of research can be, so hopefully, she should understand." He took one last bite of his food and then stood, gathering up the empty cartons and tossing them in the bin before returning to Rupert. He held out his hand and drew him up from his chair. "It's been quite a day, hasn't it? Maybe we should head to bed. Get an early start and see where we can go with a fresh perspective on things."
Giles hoped Wesley was right. From what he'd seen of Fred, and how she'd told Knox off, he didn't want to get on her bad side. But Wesley knew her better than he did so he trusted what his lover had to say. "Perhaps in the morning we can have a quick meeting with her and see if she can maybe explain her research a bit better," he said with a small smile. "She reminds me a lot of Willow."
Taking Wesley's hand, Giles stood and nodded his head. He was still feeling a bit tired from his trip from England and thought sleeping was a good idea. "I'm feeling a bit knackered," he commented before Wesley started to kiss him. He returned it and slowly deepened it. When they parted, Giles grinned at him. "I'm going to have to start working out again just to keep up with you, love."
The two walked to the bedroom and Giles removed his clothes so all he had on were his boxers. He climbed into the bed and took his glasses off before snuggling against Wesley. "Goodnight, my love," he whispered before falling into a peaceful sleep.
"She is a bit like Willow," Wesley told Rupert with a grin. "Although more into science than magic. A meeting with her would probably be a very good idea, though. We'll go see her once we get into the office in the morning."
When they parted after their kiss, he chuckled at Rupert's comment that he'd need to start working out again. "You're more in shape than a lot of people I know, love," he told him. "Comes from working with Slayers, I would imagine. Never realized what hard work that was until I was sent to Sunnydale and tried to train Faith."
In the bedroom, he paused for a moment, appreciate the view as Rupert removed his clothes. His lover definitely had a very nice body, if he did say so himself. He knew, though, that he couldn't let his body run away with itself. They needed to get some sleep, especially Rupert, considering the day he had had. So he simply stripped off his own clothes, dumping them into his hamper, and then joined him on the bed, wrapping his arms around him.
It had been a while since he had shared a bed with anyone overnight. It felt nice, especially since it was Rupert. Closing his eyes, he smiled to himself, thinking how amazing well this day had turned out after having worried so much about it to begin with. Now, he wouldn't trade a moment of it for the world.
Giles didn't feel right in doing it. He was stepping off a Wolfram and Hart owned jet and was about to step into one of their limos. The firm was evil, something that had been imbedded in his head for as long as he could remember. But now he was practically working there. Part of him knew it was worth it though because he was able to be with Wesley, and there was a chance he could make a difference there.
Getting into the limo, he sighed as it started to move. He had finally decided to hand over his position to Peter, knowing he wanted to stay with Wesley. The board had been persistent about Giles coming to England to do it. He figured it was better that way since it meant he could pack up some of his things. But being away from Wesley for almost a week was hard.
Once his personal things were packed, they were sent to Wesley's flat in Los Angeles with help from the firm. Giles had his meeting with the board, transferred his position, and said goodbye to Buffy and the rest of them. And now the limo he was in was pulling into the parking garage at Wolfram and Hart.
He barely waited for it to stop before jumping out and going to the lift. He rode it up to Wesley's floor and hurried to his office. Not bothering with knocking he went in and smiled. "Hello, love," he said, closing the door behind him. Giles stepped forward and dropped a paper bag on Wesley's desk. "Jaffacakes and a few tins of that licorice you liked so much. I missed you."
Sighing, Wesley put aside another translation and rubbed the back of his neck, sitting back. It had been just a week since Rupert had gone back to England to take care of handing over chairmanship of the Council to Peter, but it seemed so much longer. Of course, quite a lot had happened in that time - werewolves, vengeful ghosts - but mainly, it was his lover's absence was making it seem so long.
And starting to grate if the small tiff he had had in the lab over the neural-intercept grenade was anything to go by. He hadn't been in the mood to deal with Fred's over-enthusiastic git of an assistant, so he hadn't minced his words when Knox had tried to lay the blame on him for the payload not working. Luckily, Lorne had come in and broken things up, but then again, what he had to say hadn't been quite what Wesley wanted to deal with either.
He had just looked at the clock, trying to remember when Rupert was supposed to be arriving back when suddenly the door opened, and his lover walked in. A big smile crossed his face as Rupert dropped a bag in front of him.
"My three favorite things - jaffa cakes, licorice and Rupert," he said, standing up and pulling Rupert closer, not caring if anyone saw them. He had been dealing with enough taunting from Spike to even care anymore. "God, are you a sight for sore eyes, love."
Pressing closer, he gave him a long kiss, feeling himself humming happily against Rupert's lips.
"Feel good too. After dealing with werewolves, ghosts and shifted-existence vampires, I definitely needed to be able touch you again," he told him.
Giles groaned into the kiss, his arms wrapping around the other man. He wanted nothing more than to knock everything off Wesley's desk and shag his senseless. Just the thought made his stir and he broke the kiss so he wouldn't be tempted to. He didn't think Wesley would want to be caught having sex on his desk.
"I missed you terribly," he whispered as he traced his fingers over Wesley's neck. He then realized what Wesley had said before they started to snog. "Werewolves? What have you been getting yourself into, love?" He stepped back and leaned against Wesley's desk and waited for the other man to tell him.
Suddenly, Wesley's door opened again and Lorne rushed in. "You two have to help me! I'm having a Halloween party and I need you to show up! It's dying out there!" the demon said.
"Oh, I don't know...I was hoping to spend some time with Wesley and--"
"Wes?" Lorne said, looking at him. "Be a friend and get your stuffy boyfriend to come to the party with you!"
Moving to hitch himself on the edge of the desk besides Rupert, Wesley shook his head at his question. "Not so much what I've been getting myself into as what's been finding us. Angel was protecting a young woman named Nina, who was attacked by a werewolf. She was then targeted by one of those gourmet delicacy groups they told up about during the Watchers Academy because they wanted werewolf for this month's meal."
Wesley shook his head, realizing how ridiculous and silly what he was talking must have sounded. "Managed to save her although she'll still have to deal with the monthly transformation. Then Spike was--."
He didn't get a chance to finish, though, thanks to Lorne's rather ill-timed entrance. Sighing, he looked at his friend, wanting to tell him to just bugger off.
"Lorne, for one, my boyfriend is not stuffy, and for two, we wouldn't be any fun at your party. Rupert just got home from England, and I've been translating all day."
"All the more reason to have some fun!" Lorne insisted. "Come on, guys!"
"Lorne, we--."
But Lorne was already heading for the door. "Get your tuchises out there! And get some costumes. I can't let this party be ruined, not with the archduke attending."
With that, he left, and Wesley looked over at Rupert for a moment. "I think Lorne has a costume closet next to his office for when they film in the studio."
Giles didn't want to go to some bloody party. He wanted to take his boyfriend home and shag him senseless on every surface of the flat. Turning, he looked at Wesley, hoping he could take some sense into Lorne. But the demon suggested they get costumes and he felt a smile lift on his face.
"Really? Well, lead the way then," Giles said. He followed Wesley out of his office and down to where Lorne stored his costumes. He looked through the selection and smiled when he found a purple suit, complete with a hat and cane. "I think I'll wear this one. I can be a pimp."
Giles then looked through the closet some more and found a red dress. Holding it up to Wesley, he grinned. "And you can be my, um, lady friend," he said with a grin.
“I’ll sign them later,” he said, leaning back in his seat. His eyebrows rose when Wesley admitted to still having the braces. “I’ll have to use them on you then. Especially since you laughed at my e-mail troubles.” Leaning over, he softly kissed Wesley’s neck before going back to the food in front of him. Giles gave Wesley a look before trying to use the chopsticks that were in the bag. After a couple of attempts, he dropped them and went back to his fork.
“As Fred tried to do any sort of experiments on the amulet? I know she has quite a bit of information in the files she gave me but most of it looks like jibberish to me,” he said as he glanced at his lover.
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"The Board still likes to play politics to keep control over certain Chairmen, I see," he said, shaking his head. He knew they had been the same way with Richard Giles, based on the way he had heard his father speak. "Perhaps you should tell them you had computer troubles and not send it back for a few days. That ought to get their collective knickers in a twist."
As he dug into his food, he swallowed slightly when Rupert mentioned using the braces on him. The times he had used them on him before, they had ended up shagging quite...vigorously in the stacks of the library. Just the memory was enough to make Wesley twitch, and he had to take a deep breath. Christ, having Rupert there had certainly made him feel like a randy teenager.
So he was actually a bit thankful when he asked him about Fred's experiments. "She's done a few as well as taken readings on Spike. She says there's no ectoplasm matrix, so if he's a ghost, we shouldn't be able to see him. He's also warm, and - as impossible as it seems - there's detectable brain wave activity from him. As for the amulet, whatever metal it's made out of, it's very old, probably ancient and demonic in origin. It's impervious to X-rays, and however, the magic works, it's well hidden."
He sighed and shook his head. "Somehow, I have a feeling that it's going to be damn near impossible to figure that thing out through experiments and tests unless we do find something in the books."
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He stood from the table and went to the kitchen to retrieve a towel. When he came back out, Giles cleaned up the mess he'd made before sitting back down. He then listened to Wesley explain to him what Fred had found out about Spike. "So he really isn't a ghost then," he determined. Furrowing his brow, he shook his head. "It's almost as if he's existing on this plane when he shouldn't be. And it's obvious the amulet is mystical in nature, but the magic is either quite old and only known by certain people, or its new," he said, shaking his head.
"The books do look like our last hope. In the morning I'll call my contact here in Los Angeles. He might know of some books that might be helpful," Giles said as he finished off his food. After wiping his mouth off, he glanced over at Wesley. "Perhaps we should just tell Fred we need a bit more time and we couldn't finish our research tonight."
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Once the papers and water had been cleared away and dumped in the rubbish bin, they forgot about the Council, as he was sure the Council would be glad to forget about Rupert if they could. They focused instead on the situation with Spike, trying to figure out what could be happening. It seemed they had plenty of theories, but no concrete proof or textual evidence to back any of it up.
"Given the age of the metal in the amulet, I would say it's very, very old. Seems that it would have to be in order to be a weapon that could be used against something like the First," Wesley remarked. He looked over at his bag, thinking about the source book inside. "I do wish that source book could call up an book in the world, not just the books in my vault at the office."
With a sigh, he looked back at Rupert and nodded his head in agreement at his plan for the morning. "Fred knows how difficult this kind of research can be, so hopefully, she should understand." He took one last bite of his food and then stood, gathering up the empty cartons and tossing them in the bin before returning to Rupert. He held out his hand and drew him up from his chair. "It's been quite a day, hasn't it? Maybe we should head to bed. Get an early start and see where we can go with a fresh perspective on things."
Giving him a smile, he then gave him a kiss.
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Taking Wesley's hand, Giles stood and nodded his head. He was still feeling a bit tired from his trip from England and thought sleeping was a good idea. "I'm feeling a bit knackered," he commented before Wesley started to kiss him. He returned it and slowly deepened it. When they parted, Giles grinned at him. "I'm going to have to start working out again just to keep up with you, love."
The two walked to the bedroom and Giles removed his clothes so all he had on were his boxers. He climbed into the bed and took his glasses off before snuggling against Wesley. "Goodnight, my love," he whispered before falling into a peaceful sleep.
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When they parted after their kiss, he chuckled at Rupert's comment that he'd need to start working out again. "You're more in shape than a lot of people I know, love," he told him. "Comes from working with Slayers, I would imagine. Never realized what hard work that was until I was sent to Sunnydale and tried to train Faith."
In the bedroom, he paused for a moment, appreciate the view as Rupert removed his clothes. His lover definitely had a very nice body, if he did say so himself. He knew, though, that he couldn't let his body run away with itself. They needed to get some sleep, especially Rupert, considering the day he had had. So he simply stripped off his own clothes, dumping them into his hamper, and then joined him on the bed, wrapping his arms around him.
It had been a while since he had shared a bed with anyone overnight. It felt nice, especially since it was Rupert. Closing his eyes, he smiled to himself, thinking how amazing well this day had turned out after having worried so much about it to begin with. Now, he wouldn't trade a moment of it for the world.
"Goodnight, Rupert."
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Getting into the limo, he sighed as it started to move. He had finally decided to hand over his position to Peter, knowing he wanted to stay with Wesley. The board had been persistent about Giles coming to England to do it. He figured it was better that way since it meant he could pack up some of his things. But being away from Wesley for almost a week was hard.
Once his personal things were packed, they were sent to Wesley's flat in Los Angeles with help from the firm. Giles had his meeting with the board, transferred his position, and said goodbye to Buffy and the rest of them. And now the limo he was in was pulling into the parking garage at Wolfram and Hart.
He barely waited for it to stop before jumping out and going to the lift. He rode it up to Wesley's floor and hurried to his office. Not bothering with knocking he went in and smiled. "Hello, love," he said, closing the door behind him. Giles stepped forward and dropped a paper bag on Wesley's desk. "Jaffacakes and a few tins of that licorice you liked so much. I missed you."
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And starting to grate if the small tiff he had had in the lab over the neural-intercept grenade was anything to go by. He hadn't been in the mood to deal with Fred's over-enthusiastic git of an assistant, so he hadn't minced his words when Knox had tried to lay the blame on him for the payload not working. Luckily, Lorne had come in and broken things up, but then again, what he had to say hadn't been quite what Wesley wanted to deal with either.
He had just looked at the clock, trying to remember when Rupert was supposed to be arriving back when suddenly the door opened, and his lover walked in. A big smile crossed his face as Rupert dropped a bag in front of him.
"My three favorite things - jaffa cakes, licorice and Rupert," he said, standing up and pulling Rupert closer, not caring if anyone saw them. He had been dealing with enough taunting from Spike to even care anymore. "God, are you a sight for sore eyes, love."
Pressing closer, he gave him a long kiss, feeling himself humming happily against Rupert's lips.
"Feel good too. After dealing with werewolves, ghosts and shifted-existence vampires, I definitely needed to be able touch you again," he told him.
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"I missed you terribly," he whispered as he traced his fingers over Wesley's neck. He then realized what Wesley had said before they started to snog. "Werewolves? What have you been getting yourself into, love?" He stepped back and leaned against Wesley's desk and waited for the other man to tell him.
Suddenly, Wesley's door opened again and Lorne rushed in. "You two have to help me! I'm having a Halloween party and I need you to show up! It's dying out there!" the demon said.
"Oh, I don't know...I was hoping to spend some time with Wesley and--"
"Wes?" Lorne said, looking at him. "Be a friend and get your stuffy boyfriend to come to the party with you!"
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Wesley shook his head, realizing how ridiculous and silly what he was talking must have sounded. "Managed to save her although she'll still have to deal with the monthly transformation. Then Spike was--."
He didn't get a chance to finish, though, thanks to Lorne's rather ill-timed entrance. Sighing, he looked at his friend, wanting to tell him to just bugger off.
"Lorne, for one, my boyfriend is not stuffy, and for two, we wouldn't be any fun at your party. Rupert just got home from England, and I've been translating all day."
"All the more reason to have some fun!" Lorne insisted. "Come on, guys!"
"Lorne, we--."
But Lorne was already heading for the door. "Get your tuchises out there! And get some costumes. I can't let this party be ruined, not with the archduke attending."
With that, he left, and Wesley looked over at Rupert for a moment. "I think Lorne has a costume closet next to his office for when they film in the studio."
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"Really? Well, lead the way then," Giles said. He followed Wesley out of his office and down to where Lorne stored his costumes. He looked through the selection and smiled when he found a purple suit, complete with a hat and cane. "I think I'll wear this one. I can be a pimp."
Giles then looked through the closet some more and found a red dress. Holding it up to Wesley, he grinned. "And you can be my, um, lady friend," he said with a grin.
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