Roller Coaster(continues)
By: Tricia Stewart (GylzGirl) and Karen Jephson
and Gail Christison
Rated PG-14
Dawn sat between Willow and Tara across the table from Anya and Xander. "You know," the Birthday Girl said, "for someone who was about to lose his breakfast a half hour ago, he sure isn't missing a beat filling up on his lunch."
Xander was currently working on the leftover pieces of Dawn and Tara's large double cheese, having had more than his share of the extra large combination that Anya, Willow and he had ordered.
A shadow fell over the table and all eyes lifted. "So, who's up for some more rides?" Giles said, directly to Dawn.
She smiled giddily. "That would be me!"
The five of them got up and left the Pizza Shack with Giles leading the way. Once outside, Buffy came walking up. "Hey everybody. So you four are taking your turn with Dawnie, next?"
"Their turn?" Dawn asked.
"Yeah, you're the Birthday Girl so we all get some alone time with you. And then at the end of the day we'll all have to ride some stuff together. Giles had his turn already. It's their turn next." Buffy tucked Dawn's hair back behind her ear. "And I will meet you in 2 hours in front of the Eliminator for my turn."
Dawn smiled. "You sure you won't be too scared?"
Buffy shrugged. "Nah, I have you to protect me, don't I?" The sisters hugged, much to the delight of the two couples overlooking the scene.
"Come on, Dawnie," Willow said. "The merry-go-round is this way. We better start off Xander on something easy or we'll have to go on the water rides to rinse off his lunch."
Xander fixed the redhead with an evil look and put his arm around her shoulders. "And just for that, guess who I'm sitting right next to on the tea cups?"
"Oh great." The two couples started off toward the medium-range rides.
"Giles," Buffy said. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to go on some of the rides with you."
She didn't wait for him to answer. She simply walked away in the opposite direction from where the others had gone. He would either follow her or he wouldn't.
Dawn smacked him on the arm, which he cradled in mock-pain. "Go be nice to her, Giles."
He raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I'm always nice, Dawn." Her only response was the patented Summers' glare. "What?" he demanded.
"I'm the Birthday Girl, which means today I'm the boss of you. She's been crying, Giles, so I'm bossing. You be nice to her."
He saluted, though he couldn't keep a smile from quirking at the side of his mouth. "Yes, Ma'am. And how nice am I supposed to be?"
Dawn knew teasing when she heard it. "I'm saying if she tells you to put out, you put out." The look of shock on his face was the best present she would get that day. She smiled and jogged off after the others. "Hey guys, wait up!"
Fighting off a blush, Giles walked quickly until he caught up with Buffy. When he was even with her, she extended her hand to the side, not breaking stride. Tentatively, he took it. Her fingers curled around his and they walked toward a boat ride that proclaimed itself "The Tunnel of Love". Never one for subtlety was his Buffy. Though he may have found an obvious make out ride the absolute worst choice for a couple in their present predicament, he had learned long ago that Buffy had to do things in her own way. And if this was the way she chose, he would just have to go along with it. He only hoped that this way led into his arms. Of course, with a name like "Tunnel of Love", he had good reason to hope…
*******
On their way toward the more daring rides, Xander, Willow, Dawn, Tara and Anya stopped at a churro cart. After quickly downing the cinnamon-ny goodness, Anya and Tara decided to do some more souvenir hunting. The remaining brave 3 walked on until they came to a ride called "Twist of Fate".
"Come on, guys," Dawn said cheerily.
"Uh...I don't know about this." Willow's eyes were trained on the highest peak of the ride.
"Couldn't we start with the kiddie coaster and work our way up?" Xander added.
"Now, now." Dawn took Xander and Willow by the hand and began to lead them in. "You'll never be ready for the Eliminator later if you don't start with something just a little scary."
Willow and Xander looked to each other.
"Xander, don't you dare throw up on me."
"I'm too scared to throw up."
"Don't be such babies," Dawn said, dragging them on toward their fate.
*******
Anya and Tara walked among the booths gossiping about their respective partners and selecting from the range of tacky souvenirs. Anya interspersed the conversation with comments about which vendor was trying to rip the customers off, and which one was underselling. As her voice was fairly loud as she said this, several people moved from one booth to another, eliciting a glare from one of the sellers and a sigh of relief from the other.
Both girls stopped as they neared a ride, noticing a certain couple holding hands in line. "So they're finally gonna do it?"
"Yeah." Tara sighed. "I thought she'd never see."
Anya waved her hand. "She would have seen sooner or later. I thought he'd be gone before she did though. I suppose I'll have to let him back into the store."
Tara smiled at the other girl. "Doesn't he own half of it already?"
"Well, yeah." Anya frowned. "But he was meant to be a silent partner." She waved her hand toward the ride. "I want Xander to take me on that one. That is if he can stop barfing long enough to let me actually enjoy it."
Tara giggled. "They've probably had enough of Dawn scaring them anyway. Let's go rescue them." The two girls began to walk away. Tara paused, turned back to the couple just entering the boat, waved her fingers and spoke a few words of Latin. She turned back to an accusing look from Anya.
"I thought you were upset at Willow for doing unnecessary magic?"
Tara pouted for a moment. Then she smiled. "But this was very necessary magic."
*-*-*-*
Giles shifted uncomfortably in the smallish seats of the little 'boat'. He had long legs and there wasn't a lot of room for them. As it moved forward it jolted, like the cars on most rides, on the mechanical chain that drew it through the water. He braced himself by laying an arm along the back of it.
Then they plunged into the darkened tunnel forcing both to blink to adjust to the change in light. When Giles focused again he realized that they had both somehow shifted so that Buffy was now curled up against his chest, inside the crook of his arm.
Not entirely sure what happened, but suspicious of at least two young ladies he knew, he succumbed to temptation, drew his arm a little tighter and kissed the top of the blonde head.
Buffy sighed and nuzzled in even more, then, inevitably, stiffened and sat up straight. "Um, what just happened?" she asked warily.
"I think someone was trying to help," he told her, amused. "I rather liked it, myself."
After a beat to digest that, she silently curled back up against him. "So did I," she said very softly. "But I thought you didn't like me leaning on you."
Giles frowned, his fingers halting their idle toying with the long strands of her hair. "I don't think I have to tell you the difference," he said a little gruffly.
She sighed. "I haven't been able to feel anything real for a long time. God, I even thought…Spike…I mean he's always at least stirred violent emotions in me…bad emotions…but still…something. I knew I didn't have any real feelings for him, but anything was better than the emptiness…and even worse, the void... When I came back and you weren't here I..."
Giles swallowed. "Buffy, I won't take the blame for that. Not this time. I had to go. How could I have stayed without you? How was I to know the others would be so foolish as to bring you back? And now..." he paused before deciding to bring into the open the one thing that frightened him. "And now you're back, you're different. Since I've returned, you've managed to almost entirely abdicate every responsibility: within the home, your relationships with us, even with Dawn. I'm starting to feel as if you'll never learn to stand on your own two feet if...."
She was very rigid, more than silent against him, but she did not withdraw.
Finally her forlorn voice broke the silence. "You're going to leave again?"
He sighed, choking back the emotion that constricted his throat. "I...I don't want to. But I don't know what else to do."
She looked up to him, the tears in her eyes evident by their near-shimmering in the dark. "Don't leave me. Please? I'm sorry Giles. I don't mean... You don't understand. Being here isn't the same. I'm not the same."
Giles drew a protective arm around her as his heart constricted. "I know," he whispered. "But you are here, and you…we all have been given a second chance."
"You told Willow you would have stopped her."
Giles closed his eyes. "You heard?"
The silky head moved a little against his chest, enough for him to recognize a nod.
His heart constricted a little more.
"Of course I'd have bloody well stopped her," he confirmed angrily. "Even you must realize how wrong what she did was. She had no business meddling with forces she can never hope to control or understand."
"S-she was trying to help."
"She was bloody well trying to make herself feel better, the same as that bloody 'do my will' spell a couple of years ago," he growled. "And with pretty much the same outcome. You and bloody Spike, for a start."
"That's a lot of Bloodies," Buffy couldn't help teasing, and after a beat felt his chest shake in a silent chuckle.
"Not nearly enough to satisfactorily express the either the gravity of the situation or the depth of my feelings on the issue," he pointed out huffily, despite his amusement.
"Yeah, well, this is the Tunnel of *Love*, so no potty-mouth in here, okay? I get the picture."
Giles made a harrumphing noise.
Buffy decided it was time. She sat up as the boat continued to cut through the water on the longest leg and looked at him in the semi-darkness.
"Be there for me now."
A divot of confusion appeared in Giles' brow. "I don't understand."
She touched his cheek. "You said you wanted to be there for me. You said I had to tell you how. I want…I want you to kiss me again. I…I want you to love me." She bit back a surge of emotion. Now was not the time for tears, despite the pressing of them behind her eyes. "You deserve way better than an emotionally retarded, and let's face it…*recycled* Slayer, but this Slayer loves you. For the first time since…since I died, I *feel*. You did that. I mean, all of it, even the pain, the being scared…the wanting…no one else could do that, no matter how hard they…how hard I tried."
She caressed his hair back from his temple. "I love you so much…and I had to die to realize that I could."
He touched her face wonderingly. "Could what?" he managed.
"That I could really love you."
He looked shocked. "Why would you think you couldn't?"
She looked away, to the dark canal the boat was slipping through. "If I love someone they leave. They all leave. Even mom left."
Giles took her face in his hands. "If I love you, it will be forever," he told her in a voice that reached the very marrow of her bones, bent his head and caught her tender mouth in a kiss that refused to end.
Buffy wound her arms around his neck, and he drew her back against his body, almost cradling her in the confines of their small craft.
Soon the light at the end of the long, slow ride was visible in the near distance and the soft music was fading. They lifted their heads reluctantly and looked at each other again.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly.
His brow furrowed. "For kissing me?"
She looked confused, then smiled. "No. Not that. It's... I know I've been leaving you holding the bag with Dawn. It's just, being back you know? I needed to sort through this mess inside me and I just couldn't take on anything else."
He blinked, confusion and amusement warring for dominance. "And now?"
"Knowing that I can feel. Knowing that you'll be here for me to talk to, to support me, to love me." She smiled. "Knowing that you'll let me love you back. It makes the mess much less messy. I don't promise to be the bad guy for Dawn every time. But I do promise that you won't have to be it all the time either."
He ran his hand through her hair. "You know something, love?"
"What?"
He rested her forehead against his own. "You have the most insanely deprived sense of timing in the entire world! My God! I thought you'd changed your mind!" They both laughed. His thumb remained, gently petting her cheek.
Her face turned toward his palm, where she placed a sweet kiss. She met his eyes again. "Can we really do this?"
Giles looked deep into the frightened, but desire blurred eyes. "Tell me," he demanded softly.
"I love you," she whispered vehemently, without flickering a lid.
His green eyes grew very bright. "Then we can do anything," he told her simply, and bent his head again.
Any vestiges of doubt that Buffy might simply be telling him what he wanted to hear to convince him to stay were erased by the power of her kiss. Like her, it was soft and loving yet strong and forceful. His hands came to her cheeks, gently holding her to him as though he was afraid she might let him go. He needn't have worried. Her arms slid up the back of his neck, entangling in his short soft hair. He leaned back, pulling her with him. She hooked one leg over both of his, her thigh suggestively rubbing against his hip. Neither of them ever wanted it to end. But, of course, it had to. And it did, in the form of a tap on Giles' shoulder.
Annoyed, Giles broke the kiss to give whoever had intruded upon them a piece of his mind. His expression softened when he saw a nervous looking blonde teen-age boy in a Coaster Dominion uniform. "Excuse me, Mister.? You guys are gonna have to get off the ride now. I let you go through an extra time but we're starting to get a line."
Giles cleared his throat. "Of course... very sorry." He could feel himself blushing down to his toenails. He looked down at a head of blond hair buried against his chest, the hint of bright pink skin showing.
He stepped out of the boat, proffering his hand to Buffy. She took it, not daring to look up yet, instead trusting him to guide her as he had always done. He put his arm around her waist. She copied this gesture. As they walked, entwined, Buffy finally braved a look up at the people waiting in line. She found most of the men looking at Giles like they couldn't believe his luck. She found most of the women looking at Giles like he was on the cover of Playgirl. And then she noticed two very smug looking witches smiling at her.
Buffy arched an eyebrow at them. She raised her chin proudly, and just as they passed the couple, she slid her hand into Giles' back pocket. She didn't need to look back to recognize the sounds of her friends' giggling.
As they exited the outgoing ramp for the Tunnel of Love, they found Xander and Anya standing by a booth that proclaimed: Your Ride Captured. Buffy and Giles themselves seemed to be the stars of every single monitor in the booth.
They exchanged a look before noticing a smiling Dawn handing them a thick clasp envelope.
"Don't worry," Xander said. "We bought every picture of the two of you." He gestured at the envelope. "It was either that or wait for them to turn up on a website."
"Ha ha," Giles said.
"Well I think it's sweet," Anya stated. "How many couples get to have a permanent record of their very first kiss?"
Buffy looked up at Giles and smiled. "I never thought of that."
"I mean, Xander and I didn't start recording until the sixth or seventh time we had s..."
Xander clamped his hand over his fiancée's mouth. "Would you like to go to the animal show, An? They have bunnies, I hear."
She slapped his arm away and pouted. "Well you don't have to get mean about it!"
Giles tucked the envelope inside his jacket. Dawn insinuated herself between her sister and Giles, and took each of their hands. "So, time for the Eliminator?"
"I thought that was just going to be you and me?"
"But, I want Giles to come too," Dawn said.
Buffy and Giles' eyes met. "Well okay," the Slayer said. "I guess we can all go."
Dawn swung their arms gently. She looked up at Giles with a mischievous grin. "Do I have to start calling you Dad?"
He smiled back. "Do you want to make it to age 16?"
She laughed and leaned her head against his arm.
*-*-*-*
At one in the morning, Buffy returned from patrol. She opened the door and saw Giles sitting in the living room. She smiled. "Hi Honey, I'm home."
He smiled and put his finger to his lips. "Shh."
As she entered the living room, she noticed Dawn fast asleep on the couch. She was surrounded by her birthday gifts and the discarded wrapping paper that they had come in. She had a cone shaped party hat strapped to her head at a gravity-defying angle. Chocolate icing was smeared all over her cheeks.
Buffy grinned, sitting on the arm of the couch and brushing back a strand of her little sister's hair.
"I'll take her upstairs," Giles whispered.
He stood and scooped Dawn into his arms. Buffy halted him a moment, removing the party hat from her sister, and cleaning her face with a clean napkin left on the table from the party. "Good enough," Buffy said. "I'll get things cleaned up down here."
Giles carried Dawn away while Buffy collected papers off of the floor and started putting them in a bag.
By the time Giles got back downstairs, the living room was more or less in order and Buffy was stacking Dawn's presents on the floor at the end of the coffee table. Giles helped her, then sat down on the couch. Buffy sat across his lap.
"It was a good day," he noted.
"It really was," she said, leaning her head back to gain access to his lips. They kissed, long and slow.
"I better go and get the bedding from the hall closet." He moved to rise but Buffy didn't leave his lap.
She lightly caressed his ear with her finger. "You carried one Summers woman up to bed tonight. Care to make it two?"
He smiled. "Buffy, we don't have to rush. We have time. I... I'm not going anywhere." They kissed again.
When they broke apart, she touched his face reverently. "We have time. And I say we make the most of that time."
"Buffy..."
"What do you say I show you a good use for all that leftover chocolate icing?"
He gulped, all of his remaining reservation burning up with his desire for her. "I... I say please."
She smiled. "Wait here." She went to the kitchen and rummaged in the refrigerator. When she'd found the icing container, she returned to the living room to find it empty. Concern crept in around her as she peeked around the corner. "Giles?"
He appeared behind her, eliciting a surprised gasp as he swept her up into his arms. Buffy dipped her finger into the chocolate and smeared it on his earlobe.
"Hey! That's cold!"
She reclaimed the chocolate with the wet heat of her mouth, licking him clean. Giles struggled to maintain his hold on her. "We'll warm it up, somehow, Giles," she whispered. Suckling one last time on his earlobe, she used her usual perfect timing to almost ruin the evening. Thinking he wouldn't be listening properly, she decided to test her power over him. "Can I drive your car tomorrow?"
Giles paused, closing his eyes in defeat. Already at the first hurdle and he faltered. What chance did they have if he couldn't even handle this moment? He warred with what he knew he was right and protecting his love. Sighing, he finally opened his eyes and looked at Buffy's eager face. He smiled lopsidedly.
"No."
The End