Family Portrait: Chapter 5
Title: Family Portrait
Author: the_huffster
Pairing: Buffy/Giles
Rating: R for language and violence
Timeline: Post-Chosen, AU (slightly)
Synopsis: After the events of Chosen, Giles and Buffy have finally become a functioning family. But when Giles' past catches up with him, will Giles and Buffy rise above it or will their family be damaged beyond repair?
Giles had just reached the kitchen when Buffy finally caught up with him, her fingers wrapping around his wrist and pulling him to face her. Even though he was using all of his strength to get her to release him, it paled in comparison to Slayer strength.
"Your dad has an ex-wife?"
"Let me go, Buffy." He continued to try and get her let go.
"You can't just say things like that and expect me to let it slide, Rupert." Buffy pointed out, unknowingly tightening her hold on him. "Even if you did let it slip, it's out in the open now and you better explain."
"Buffy." He growled, taking a few steps towards her to try to relieve the pain encircling his wrist.
"Rupert, please." She begged him as her grip relaxed slightly. "I know you as a Watcher, a husband and a father, but I know nothing about you as a person. You know everything about me, inside and out, so I think I deserve to know about you. Just a little background info would be great,"
The pleading in her eyes forced Giles to rein in his emotions, the more logical part of him knew she had a point. It was only fair that he allow her to know more about him than she did. And he did bring this conversation on himself by letting that small detail slip.
"My father had three children with Natalie; Rachel was the oldest, David was two years younger than her and Stephen was three years younger than David." Giles began, absently rubbing his already bruising wrist when his wife let go. "Father had been having an affair for some time, which resulted in him divorcing Natalie when she was three months pregnant with Stephen in order to marry his pregnant mistress. I was born nearly three months after Stephen and I was hated for it.
"My mother resented me because she felt as if her being pregnant with me was the only reason Father married her, David hated me because he was no longer the 'star potential Watcher' and Stephen loathed me because Father neglected him when I was born." He began pacing in front of Buffy, willing himself to continue. "Father only ever saw me as a Watcher, knowing I was going to be one of the best. And that fact alone irked David and Stephen to no end. Growing up, Stephen wanted nothing to do with me and constantly picked fights with me if we were in the same room. Once I turned ten, David only ever spoke to me if it had anything to do with the Council, Watchers, Slayers, the occult and things of that nature."
Buffy watched her husband walk back and forth, listening as he opened up for a brief period of time. She refused to interrupt him, afraid that he would go back to being the private and closed off man he was.
"Both my half-brothers couldn't fathom what made our father so certain that I was worthy of being a Watcher, especially when I began rebelling when I turned fourteen." The Watcher stopped his pacing, opting to lean again one of the counters as he looked at the tile of the kitchen. "By the time I had decided to come back to the Council after my Ripper days, David knew I wasn't Watcher material and Stephen's hatred for me grew when I was let back into the organization. Needless to say, both of them never cared for me nor I them."
"What about their sister, your sister? And Natalie?" Buffy timidly asked, gently taking one of his hands in hers. "What did they think of you?"
"They thought the world of me," Giles sighed, a slight smile on his face. "Rachel was everything an older sister should be, and Natalie was the mother I never had. To them, it wasn't my fault that my father was a cheating bastard and that I was an innocent brought into a horrible circumstance."
"They were right, Giles. You can't be blamed for their family breaking up," her free hand rested against his cheek, making him look at her.
"Be that as it may, it would have been much easier if I hadn't been born." He whispered, his gaze looking at a point over her shoulder. "At least not to them. I can't tell you how many times I laid in bed wishing that..."
"Don't. However that sentence ends, don't finish it Giles." She cut him off, shifting to be in his line of vision. "I don't want to think about how things would've turned out if you hadn't been born or born to a different family. Sure, you're insanely jealous half-brother is out to get you but we'll get through it."
Giles looked at her, realizing that whatever reality where he hadn't been born into that family was not worth thinking about. No matter how awful his childhood and family may have been, being able to have Buffy was well worth it. Without saying another word, he pulled her to him and held her close.
"Thank you, I know that wasn't easy for you." She muttered, placing a kiss in the middle of his shirt covered chest.
"I don't keep my past from you because I don't trust you, love." His voice was muffled as he buried his face in the crook of her neck, ignoring the twinge in his neck and upper back at the position of his spine. "There are just certain things that I'm so ashamed of, things that I want to forget ever happened. I don't want to lose you for my past,"
Buffy wanted to tell him that wasn't true, that she wouldn't leave him because of things that happened long before he knew her. But she couldn't promise him that. So instead of replying, she merely turned her head and kissed him with all the passion she could muster. She was effortlessly picked up and placed on the countertop, her legs wrapped around his hips and pulled him towards her.
Giles eyes flicked to the digital clock on the microwave. It was only 6:30 am, almost four hours before the boys woke up. Deciding that was plenty of time, Giles allowed his hands to travel under his wife's shirt and gently rocked against her to make his intentions clear. Buffy began to lift his shirt over his head to let him know they were on the same page.
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The sight that greeted Brennan when he entered the living room was of his father lying on the couch with his mother stretched out on top of him. Buffy was watching their DVD copy of Stephen King's IT while Giles had his face hidden in the crook of her neck, his voice muttering something.
"Why is Dad hiding from the movie?" he asked, plopping down in the recliner.
"Your father's afraid of clowns," Buffy answered as she continued to watch the television.
"She knows this and yet she refuses to turn off the damned thing." He still refused to remove his face from the comfort of his wife's neck.
"He kills demons and helps slays vampires," Dakota waltzed into the living room before he sat on the floor, his back against the bottom of the recliner. "And he's reduced to a little boy at the mere mention of clowns."
"Not mention he has also stopped numerous apocalypses." Evan added, lying on the floor as he began to watch the movie as well. "Or is it apocalypi?"
No one bothered to answer Evan as they were all absorbed into the movie, with the exception of Giles as he refused to move his head away from his wife.
"Giles." Buffy warned when her husband began nipping at her neck.
All three boys turned their heads to look at their parents, their eyebrows raised in question. It was one thing for them to know that their father was affectionate towards their mother, but it was another thing for them to be in the same room while their father was behaving like a hormonal teenager. When Buffy gave them a smile, their attention went back to the movie.
"Rupert Bradley, knock it off!" Buffy slapped her husband's shoulder as he moved on to kiss the sensitive spot behind her ear.
"Minors are in the room, Dad" Brennan reminded, not wanting to look over at his parents.
"Not doing anything." Came Giles' muffled reply as he held his wife closer to him, his lips travelling down to her neck.
"Rupert, stop it." The Slayer pulled her back and looked down at him, rolling her eyes at the darken shade of his eyes. "Go make pancakes and waffles for your hungry family,"
"Yeah, we don't need to hear or see a baby being made." Dakota snickered as Evan and Brennan chuckled.
None of the boys needed to look at their father to know they were all receiving the patented Giles glare, which made them laugh even harder. Buffy carefully shifted to give Giles room to get off the couch, glaring at him when he tried to keep her from moving.
"Get up, big guy." She nudged him as he finally started to get to his feet.
"Oh I will, love." The Watcher smirked, letting his hand gently squeeze her hip.
"Whoa! Dad! We are right here!" the statements seemed to come from all three of his sons, Buffy and Giles laughing at the horrified looks on their faces.
"We'll continue this discussion tonight, honey." Buffy said as Giles made his way to the kitchen, not being able to resist embarrass her children even more.
The responding groans of disgust only made the two adults laugh harder.
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Giles looked at the kitchen table in horror; Brennan has smothered his pancakes with chocolate sauce and powdered sugar, Dakota's pancakes were covered with chocolate sauce and marshmallow cream and Evan had covered his waffles with peanut butter. He could feel his teeth rotting just looking at the plates.
"It's a miracle none of you have diabetes," he commented as he sat down.
"You should be used to this by now, Giles." Buffy pointed out as she poured some chocolate sauce on her peanut butter topped pancakes. "And you're one to talk, mister."
"Hmmm?" he looked over at his wife before looking down at his waffles, noting the powdered sugar mixing with the syrup as chocolate chips melted. "I blame your sister for this,"
Evan giggled as his father shoved a forkful of his breakfast into his mouth to avoid further conversation. The 13 year old looked at the table and realized the only passable healthy item at the table was the two glasses of orange juice, one glass of milk and two glasses of apple juice.
"Do you any plans today?" Buffy asked as she swallowed a bite of her pancakes, quickly followed by a sip of orange juice.
"No, why?" all three teenagers answered, Dakota getting a glare from his father since he still had food in his mouth.
"Because I was thinking that maybe we could do something as a family. Like going to the movies or bowling,"
"I say we go bowling!" Evan chirped, nearly knocking over both his and his father's glasses of apple juice.
"Bowling sounds good," the twins agreed as they both tried getting the excess chocolate sauce with their last pieces of pancakes.
"Bowling it is," Buffy smiled as she looked over at her husband. "Right, Giles?"
Giles gave a small smile to his wife before looking at his sons. He hated bowling, and it was no secret that he hated the activity. So when it was decided that they would go bowling whenever they went out as a family, the Watcher normally stayed at home and missed out the bonding experience. But considering how things had been tense between not only him and Buffy, but also between him and the boys, Giles couldn't bring himself to stay behind.
"After we clear the table, we'll all go upstairs to get ready and head out." He answered, not missing the grateful look on his Slayer's face.
The rest of the family's breakfast was filled with jokes and laughter as each member finished up their plate. Just as Brennan was getting ready to put his plate in the sink, his gaze was brought to the state of his father's knuckles and the massive bruise around his wrist.
"What happened, Dad?" he motioned his head to his father's hands.
"Oh, um...I didn't taped my hands when I was using the punching bag last night." He explained.
"But what about your wrist?" Evan added, his attention also on his father's hands.
"Your mother uh..." he trailed off, not sure how to explain that she had forgotten her strength while they argued that morning.
"So didn't need to know that you guys are into bondage, Dad." Dakota interrupted, misunderstanding his father's hesitant explanation.
"What me and your father do is none of your business," Buffy answered, not wanting the boys to know the real reason of the bruise in case they got the wrong idea about why Giles had gotten a bruise in an argument.
There was a collective sound of scrambling as all three teenagers ran out of the kitchen, gagging sounds echoing throughout the house as they ran to their room. Buffy and Giles looked at each other with matching grins as they cleaned up the table.
"I love you," Giles put his arms around Buffy and looked at her.
"I love you too," Buffy leaned up and placed a gentle kiss on his lips, breaking it before it spiraled out of control and led them to a repeat of their actions earlier that morning. "Now come on, we have family memories to make today."
He chuckled as he followed her to their bedroom, preparing himself for the day's activities.
Author: the_huffster
Pairing: Buffy/Giles
Rating: R for language and violence
Timeline: Post-Chosen, AU (slightly)
Synopsis: After the events of Chosen, Giles and Buffy have finally become a functioning family. But when Giles' past catches up with him, will Giles and Buffy rise above it or will their family be damaged beyond repair?
Giles had just reached the kitchen when Buffy finally caught up with him, her fingers wrapping around his wrist and pulling him to face her. Even though he was using all of his strength to get her to release him, it paled in comparison to Slayer strength.
"Your dad has an ex-wife?"
"Let me go, Buffy." He continued to try and get her let go.
"You can't just say things like that and expect me to let it slide, Rupert." Buffy pointed out, unknowingly tightening her hold on him. "Even if you did let it slip, it's out in the open now and you better explain."
"Buffy." He growled, taking a few steps towards her to try to relieve the pain encircling his wrist.
"Rupert, please." She begged him as her grip relaxed slightly. "I know you as a Watcher, a husband and a father, but I know nothing about you as a person. You know everything about me, inside and out, so I think I deserve to know about you. Just a little background info would be great,"
The pleading in her eyes forced Giles to rein in his emotions, the more logical part of him knew she had a point. It was only fair that he allow her to know more about him than she did. And he did bring this conversation on himself by letting that small detail slip.
"My father had three children with Natalie; Rachel was the oldest, David was two years younger than her and Stephen was three years younger than David." Giles began, absently rubbing his already bruising wrist when his wife let go. "Father had been having an affair for some time, which resulted in him divorcing Natalie when she was three months pregnant with Stephen in order to marry his pregnant mistress. I was born nearly three months after Stephen and I was hated for it.
"My mother resented me because she felt as if her being pregnant with me was the only reason Father married her, David hated me because he was no longer the 'star potential Watcher' and Stephen loathed me because Father neglected him when I was born." He began pacing in front of Buffy, willing himself to continue. "Father only ever saw me as a Watcher, knowing I was going to be one of the best. And that fact alone irked David and Stephen to no end. Growing up, Stephen wanted nothing to do with me and constantly picked fights with me if we were in the same room. Once I turned ten, David only ever spoke to me if it had anything to do with the Council, Watchers, Slayers, the occult and things of that nature."
Buffy watched her husband walk back and forth, listening as he opened up for a brief period of time. She refused to interrupt him, afraid that he would go back to being the private and closed off man he was.
"Both my half-brothers couldn't fathom what made our father so certain that I was worthy of being a Watcher, especially when I began rebelling when I turned fourteen." The Watcher stopped his pacing, opting to lean again one of the counters as he looked at the tile of the kitchen. "By the time I had decided to come back to the Council after my Ripper days, David knew I wasn't Watcher material and Stephen's hatred for me grew when I was let back into the organization. Needless to say, both of them never cared for me nor I them."
"What about their sister, your sister? And Natalie?" Buffy timidly asked, gently taking one of his hands in hers. "What did they think of you?"
"They thought the world of me," Giles sighed, a slight smile on his face. "Rachel was everything an older sister should be, and Natalie was the mother I never had. To them, it wasn't my fault that my father was a cheating bastard and that I was an innocent brought into a horrible circumstance."
"They were right, Giles. You can't be blamed for their family breaking up," her free hand rested against his cheek, making him look at her.
"Be that as it may, it would have been much easier if I hadn't been born." He whispered, his gaze looking at a point over her shoulder. "At least not to them. I can't tell you how many times I laid in bed wishing that..."
"Don't. However that sentence ends, don't finish it Giles." She cut him off, shifting to be in his line of vision. "I don't want to think about how things would've turned out if you hadn't been born or born to a different family. Sure, you're insanely jealous half-brother is out to get you but we'll get through it."
Giles looked at her, realizing that whatever reality where he hadn't been born into that family was not worth thinking about. No matter how awful his childhood and family may have been, being able to have Buffy was well worth it. Without saying another word, he pulled her to him and held her close.
"Thank you, I know that wasn't easy for you." She muttered, placing a kiss in the middle of his shirt covered chest.
"I don't keep my past from you because I don't trust you, love." His voice was muffled as he buried his face in the crook of her neck, ignoring the twinge in his neck and upper back at the position of his spine. "There are just certain things that I'm so ashamed of, things that I want to forget ever happened. I don't want to lose you for my past,"
Buffy wanted to tell him that wasn't true, that she wouldn't leave him because of things that happened long before he knew her. But she couldn't promise him that. So instead of replying, she merely turned her head and kissed him with all the passion she could muster. She was effortlessly picked up and placed on the countertop, her legs wrapped around his hips and pulled him towards her.
Giles eyes flicked to the digital clock on the microwave. It was only 6:30 am, almost four hours before the boys woke up. Deciding that was plenty of time, Giles allowed his hands to travel under his wife's shirt and gently rocked against her to make his intentions clear. Buffy began to lift his shirt over his head to let him know they were on the same page.
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The sight that greeted Brennan when he entered the living room was of his father lying on the couch with his mother stretched out on top of him. Buffy was watching their DVD copy of Stephen King's IT while Giles had his face hidden in the crook of her neck, his voice muttering something.
"Why is Dad hiding from the movie?" he asked, plopping down in the recliner.
"Your father's afraid of clowns," Buffy answered as she continued to watch the television.
"She knows this and yet she refuses to turn off the damned thing." He still refused to remove his face from the comfort of his wife's neck.
"He kills demons and helps slays vampires," Dakota waltzed into the living room before he sat on the floor, his back against the bottom of the recliner. "And he's reduced to a little boy at the mere mention of clowns."
"Not mention he has also stopped numerous apocalypses." Evan added, lying on the floor as he began to watch the movie as well. "Or is it apocalypi?"
No one bothered to answer Evan as they were all absorbed into the movie, with the exception of Giles as he refused to move his head away from his wife.
"Giles." Buffy warned when her husband began nipping at her neck.
All three boys turned their heads to look at their parents, their eyebrows raised in question. It was one thing for them to know that their father was affectionate towards their mother, but it was another thing for them to be in the same room while their father was behaving like a hormonal teenager. When Buffy gave them a smile, their attention went back to the movie.
"Rupert Bradley, knock it off!" Buffy slapped her husband's shoulder as he moved on to kiss the sensitive spot behind her ear.
"Minors are in the room, Dad" Brennan reminded, not wanting to look over at his parents.
"Not doing anything." Came Giles' muffled reply as he held his wife closer to him, his lips travelling down to her neck.
"Rupert, stop it." The Slayer pulled her back and looked down at him, rolling her eyes at the darken shade of his eyes. "Go make pancakes and waffles for your hungry family,"
"Yeah, we don't need to hear or see a baby being made." Dakota snickered as Evan and Brennan chuckled.
None of the boys needed to look at their father to know they were all receiving the patented Giles glare, which made them laugh even harder. Buffy carefully shifted to give Giles room to get off the couch, glaring at him when he tried to keep her from moving.
"Get up, big guy." She nudged him as he finally started to get to his feet.
"Oh I will, love." The Watcher smirked, letting his hand gently squeeze her hip.
"Whoa! Dad! We are right here!" the statements seemed to come from all three of his sons, Buffy and Giles laughing at the horrified looks on their faces.
"We'll continue this discussion tonight, honey." Buffy said as Giles made his way to the kitchen, not being able to resist embarrass her children even more.
The responding groans of disgust only made the two adults laugh harder.
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Giles looked at the kitchen table in horror; Brennan has smothered his pancakes with chocolate sauce and powdered sugar, Dakota's pancakes were covered with chocolate sauce and marshmallow cream and Evan had covered his waffles with peanut butter. He could feel his teeth rotting just looking at the plates.
"It's a miracle none of you have diabetes," he commented as he sat down.
"You should be used to this by now, Giles." Buffy pointed out as she poured some chocolate sauce on her peanut butter topped pancakes. "And you're one to talk, mister."
"Hmmm?" he looked over at his wife before looking down at his waffles, noting the powdered sugar mixing with the syrup as chocolate chips melted. "I blame your sister for this,"
Evan giggled as his father shoved a forkful of his breakfast into his mouth to avoid further conversation. The 13 year old looked at the table and realized the only passable healthy item at the table was the two glasses of orange juice, one glass of milk and two glasses of apple juice.
"Do you any plans today?" Buffy asked as she swallowed a bite of her pancakes, quickly followed by a sip of orange juice.
"No, why?" all three teenagers answered, Dakota getting a glare from his father since he still had food in his mouth.
"Because I was thinking that maybe we could do something as a family. Like going to the movies or bowling,"
"I say we go bowling!" Evan chirped, nearly knocking over both his and his father's glasses of apple juice.
"Bowling sounds good," the twins agreed as they both tried getting the excess chocolate sauce with their last pieces of pancakes.
"Bowling it is," Buffy smiled as she looked over at her husband. "Right, Giles?"
Giles gave a small smile to his wife before looking at his sons. He hated bowling, and it was no secret that he hated the activity. So when it was decided that they would go bowling whenever they went out as a family, the Watcher normally stayed at home and missed out the bonding experience. But considering how things had been tense between not only him and Buffy, but also between him and the boys, Giles couldn't bring himself to stay behind.
"After we clear the table, we'll all go upstairs to get ready and head out." He answered, not missing the grateful look on his Slayer's face.
The rest of the family's breakfast was filled with jokes and laughter as each member finished up their plate. Just as Brennan was getting ready to put his plate in the sink, his gaze was brought to the state of his father's knuckles and the massive bruise around his wrist.
"What happened, Dad?" he motioned his head to his father's hands.
"Oh, um...I didn't taped my hands when I was using the punching bag last night." He explained.
"But what about your wrist?" Evan added, his attention also on his father's hands.
"Your mother uh..." he trailed off, not sure how to explain that she had forgotten her strength while they argued that morning.
"So didn't need to know that you guys are into bondage, Dad." Dakota interrupted, misunderstanding his father's hesitant explanation.
"What me and your father do is none of your business," Buffy answered, not wanting the boys to know the real reason of the bruise in case they got the wrong idea about why Giles had gotten a bruise in an argument.
There was a collective sound of scrambling as all three teenagers ran out of the kitchen, gagging sounds echoing throughout the house as they ran to their room. Buffy and Giles looked at each other with matching grins as they cleaned up the table.
"I love you," Giles put his arms around Buffy and looked at her.
"I love you too," Buffy leaned up and placed a gentle kiss on his lips, breaking it before it spiraled out of control and led them to a repeat of their actions earlier that morning. "Now come on, we have family memories to make today."
He chuckled as he followed her to their bedroom, preparing himself for the day's activities.