The Assistant
Part 9
by: Sweetdoggie
Rated R
Email: Sweetdoggie
Pairing: B/G
Summary: Merrick didn't die. A/U
Spoilers: Up to mid-season 2
Disclaimer: No permission has been granted to use the characters. They are owned by their creator, Joss Whedon, Twentieth Century Fox, UPN, WB, and Mutant Enemy. This story is non-profit and is intended solely as entertainment. No copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: Pretty much A/U right from the start. I don't know how many parts this will be but I'm not going to leave you hanging. The rating is me being ultra-conservative. 99% of all the sex takes place off scene. B/A fans-it never happened.
Buffy awoke the next morning feeling like something in her life was different. A soft snore from off to her right jogged her memory. Oh, yeah. She was a married woman sleeping next to her wonderful and loving husband. She felt so great that she rolled over and hugged him. His eyes opened sleepily and he smiled at her, contentment registering in every bone in his body.
"My little wife." He murmured as he rolled her over onto her back and placed kisses all over her face. "How are you feeling this morning?" He felt suddenly very shy.
"I feel great." Buffy told him. "No more excess energy making my hair stand up either."
"I, uh, I meant, from last night." He said, blushing. "You were a virgin and I know it hurt you."
"That little bit of pain was nothing, Rupert. And you made it all better anyway." She said with a smile, "I was wondering when we could do that again."
He leaned over and kissed her deeply. "Any time you wish, my love."
They spent the greater part of that day in bed. Giles reluctantly let her dress long enough to contact Willow and Xander. The Scoobies raced over to Giles' house to see their long lost friend.
"Oh Buffy, it's so good to see you." Willow said as she hugged her best friend.
"Yeah, Buff. Sunnydale isn't the same without you!" Xander told her, as excited as Willow to have her back.
Giles had explained about Angel and that if anybody saw him to act as if nothing were wrong. The librarian had a deep grudge against the former ally and wanted to introduce him to the business end of a stake himself.
The Scoobies could hardly believe that Buffy had already married Giles. "It was a safety precaution." Buffy explained. "Not my fault if it was totally great."
Giles smiled and kissed the top of her head as he came up behind her and enveloped her in a hug. Willow and Xander had never seen such open affection from the Watcher. It surprised them because they had long ago learned to think of him as very self-contained.
"We've been patrolling every night." Xander told her with a grin. "We may not be superheroes, but we make a hell of a gang."
Buffy returned his look. "Never doubted it for a minute, Xand."
Willow asked her if she were planning on going back to high school?
She sighed. "Giles and Merrick say I have to."
Giles chucked her under the chin. "Yes, you still have to go back and finish school. What's more, I intend to see you graduate from college as well."
Buffy let her head fall forward as she groaned in pain. "Not four more years after I finish Hellmouth High! Giles, there's a limit!"
"And when you reach it, I will let you know." Giles spoke with certainty.
She glowered at him. "Boy, it wasn't bad enough when you were just my Watcher, oh no! I had to go and make you my husband!"
He squeezed her again. "A wise decision that was indeed." He told her with a grin.
Buffy rolled her eyes but allowed him to win the argument, for now. "Hey! You know what! I really need to talk to my mom and Merrick! Why don't we all go over to her place and I'll tell everybody about my summer."
It was Giles turn to groan. He looked quite put out. "I thought we could spend a quiet evening at home."
"Mom first." She told her new husband.
Everybody piled into Giles' car and he drove to Mrs. Summers' residence. Buffy hopped out of the car first and ran to hug her mother who greeted her at the door. Merrick came from somewhere behind the woman and greeted his Slayer with a smile. The Scoobies and Giles caught up with Buffy and everyone exchanged greetings as they vied for comfy spots on the living room furniture.
Giles had picked the comfortable-looking chair facing the couch and pulled a startled Buffy onto his lap. Once she got used to the idea, she snuggled contentedly on his lap. Joyce and Merrick exchanged looks and rolled their eyes at the two lovebirds.
"So, Buff, tell all." Xander said excitedly.
"Yeah, I want to hear this!" Willow said with a firm nod.
Joyce brought sodas for the teens and tea for the two Watchers and everyone settled down for a good story.
"Well, I was out on patrol…" Buffy told them in detail what had happened to her in the last two months. When she had finished her recital there was a moment of silence.
"So, can we stake him now?" Xander asked plaintively.
Giles looked at Merrick who stroked his mustache thoughtfully. "By now, he will most certainly know that she is gone, though he shouldn't have any idea that she returned home. I imagine he will spend a good deal of time trying to track her down in Las Vegas. It could be several weeks before he thinks to try here again." He was silent for a few moments as he thought things through. "We could spread the word that a new slayer has been called. Word would get to him and he would think she was dead."
"How would we explain the fact that she isn't?" Giles asked. "Most of the vampires recognize her now."
"Do they? Or do they simply see a small blond girl?" Merrick countered. "If Buffy reverted to her natural brown hair color and changed her name a bit, we could pass her off as her own cousin, since Slaying often runs in families."
"It seems needlessly elaborate to me." Joyce told them. "We should just stake that bastard and call it a day."
Xander nodded firmly. "I'm with Mrs. Summers on this one." Nobody looked surprised.
"We could keep up the deception for a while, but it would be bound to get out sooner or later." Willow said.
Buffy nodded at her. "If he got close to me, he could tell that I was me and not my cousin anyhow."
"How so?" Giles wanted to know.
She looked at him. "He could smell me. Vampires have a very keen sense of smell. It helps them track prey. He would certainly be able to tell me apart from another person, no question. I could do it blindfolded and my sense of smell isn't quite as sharp as a vampire's would be."
Giles and Merrick looked interested. "You can really tell people apart by their scent?" Merrick asked her.
"Well, sure." Seeing their skeptical looks she came up with an idea. "Why don't you blindfold me and then every body sit in a circle without speaking. I'll walk around the circle and, without touching any one, identify you all."
Since this sounded fun to the Scoobies and the Watcher's were intrigued, they pushed the coffee table out of the way and set up the area as Buffy requested. Working carefully, Giles tied a tight blindfold across her eyes. She sent out her senses until she could feel the presence of every person in the room. They had all rearranged themselves and sat quietly on the floor. Buffy walked around them and picked them out in seconds, never faltering or hesitating in any way.
She pulled the blindfold off and grinned at her family. "So, how'd I do?"
"Wow!" Willow exclaimed. "I had no idea!"
"Me either!" Xander said. "This is great. What else can your super senses detect?"
Buffy blushed suddenly. "Uh, I can generally tell when somebody has been, uh, close to another person recently."
Merrick looked up frowning. "Close? Be explicit, if you please."
She glared at him. "I can tell if somebody has had sex lately. I can tell what you ate for dinner. I can smell who has been associating with you, especially if that person has touched you in any way."
Joyce looked disturbed. "Even if somebody bathes?"
Buffy nodded. "Some stuff will wash off, like casual touches, but food and sex stick with you. Plus, everybody smells different. Families…you can smell relationships, if that doesn't sound too weird. I smell like mom. Any vamp would know instantly we were related. In fact, all of us together smell like a family. Partially it's from being together so much, but even if we were apart for a year, I would be able to identify you all as part of my pack." She shrugged. "It's just a thing, no big."
Giles wondered if he should be disturbed by this new and fascinating development with his Slayer. He looked at Merrick who shrugged. "Well, at any rate, there would be no point in trying to impersonate someone else, is what you're saying."
"Right." Buffy nodded grateful to be back on topic.
Xander raised his hand. "I'd just like to go on record as saying, eeeeuw! Just to, you know, get it out of the way!"
Everybody chuckled. They got up and replaced the furniture. Joyce offered to cook for everyone, but Buffy said that she and Giles had already eaten. Merrick made his excuses. "I really do need to head home and pack a bag, Joyce. I was supposed to go visit my sister over two months ago and I really am looking forward to it. Besides, Giles and Buffy need to spend a bit of time alone to bond."
The newly married couple blushed and looked at each other shyly. "Remember when we first met and you kept watching me all the time?" Buffy said with a grin. "I never thought I'd end up married to you."
Giles shuddered in mock anguish at the memory. "I thought you were the most atrocious girl! I certainly never thought about marriage either."
"We sure got lucky!" Buffy said happily.
"That we did, love." Giles remarked.
Life settled down to a simple routine for the rest of the summer, though when Buffy tried to register for fall classes at Sunnydale High, principal Snyder attempted to stop her citing her missing the last two days of school the year before as his excuse. Giles put a hasty stop to such a ridiculous excuse and she was admitted on the provision that she make up her class work.
Giles and Merrick when he returned from his family visit both spent many hours tutoring Buffy. She tolerated this with a fair good will since she loved both men, but after three solid months of it was definitely ready for a change. She asked Giles to take her to the Bronze but he was reluctant, feeling ill at ease amongst its teenaged clientele.
"But Giles, I want to dance and listen to music and we can make it a working vacation too since the place is always crawling with vamps." She pleaded.
"Really, Buffy, it's not that I don't wish to take you out, I simply feel that the Bronze isn't suitable." Giles told her.
"It's not suitable because I might actually have fun instead of having endless studying, patrolling, or training, you mean." Buffy crossed her arms over her chest.
"You know we've been circumspect about our relationship. Nobody knows we are married. If I start taking you dancing, people will talk."
Buffy growled. "Do you think everybody has forgotten you kissing me last spring? They know we're involved."
"At this point, it's pure conjecture." He insisted.
Buffy looked at him incensed with his intractability. Deciding that he needed to be taught a lesson, she stretched and casually mentioned that a boy had asked her out on a date and since Giles wouldn't take her, would he mind terribly if she went to the Bronze with Scott?
"What? You have the audacity to actually ask your husband if he minds you dating other men? For your information, yes, I do bloody mind!" He was so outraged he wanted to handcuff her to his side.
"Oh? How was I to know you'd object? I just want to have a little harmless fun. You're being totally unreasonable. You wont take me out; you won't let me date, Gee! Why don't I just curl up with a book and pretend I'm fifty!"
"Buffy, you're being unreasonable!" Giles was getting angry.
"What is so damn unreasonable about not wanting my entire life to revolve around either Slaying or studying? God! I can't even talk to you about this!" She grabbed her textbook and stomped of to their bedroom, slamming the door behind her for good measure.
Merrick came in from the back porch where he had gone to avoid being drawn into their argument. "All done, my boy?" He asked the tired librarian.
"Why won't she understand, John? We need to keep our relationship under wraps till she turns eighteen." He ran his hand through his hair. "I'm at my wit's end. She's not happy and it's driving me mad. Did I wrong her by marrying her so young?"
"Rupert, neither of you had the least choice about the timing, you know that. Plus, you know Buffy is madly in live with you. She's simply being young. You need a solution that will solve both your problems; you to keep the relationship hidden, she to attempt to live a semi-normal life. Why don't you start taking her out once a week to a neighboring town? Someplace close enough not to be a major trip, but far enough away so that you are unlikely to be spotted."
"I say, John, that's a capital idea. I'll go talk to Buffy right now." He ran up the stairs to their bedroom. Knocking softly on the door, he called her name. "Buffy?"
When there was no answer, he pushed the door open to find the window open and Buffy gone. He tore down the stairs. Merrick looked up in surprise. "She's gone! The window is open and she's gone."
Both men hurried to the car. "Do you think she went to the Bronze?" Merrick asked.
Rupert was furious. "She said some boy at school asked her out. I don't know what else to think."
Merrick could see that his protégé was terribly angry. He almost hoped they didn't find Buffy at the club. The resulting fuss was going to be horrific and he was seriously debating calling Joyce and asking if he could stay the night in her guest room. He decided to try and talk the younger man into a semblance of calm. "Rupert, she is very young. Don't do something you'll regret later."
"So, I'm just supposed to accept it when my wife sneaks out of our home to dance with other men?" Giles was almost shaking in rage and jealousy.
"No, of course not. I'm merely pointing out that a calm head might cover more ground than an angry tirade will." Merrick used his most soothing voice. He could see it wasn't helping. They arrived at the Bronze and Rupert entered like a man on a mission. Merrick followed along behind, hoping to salvage something from this disastrous evening. They searched the club for thirty minutes before conceding that Buffy was not present.
Giles rubbed his eyes tiredly, looking up at his friend almost in tears. "Has she left me, John? Where could she be?"
Merrick stroked his mustache. "Why don't we try her mother's? Buffy was rather upset; maybe she wanted to talk to Joyce. Rupert nodded and they got back into the car. Even in the old clunker it only took them a few minutes to get to the house on Revello drive. Rupert pounded up the stairs and rapped hard on the door.
A surprised Joyce answered it. "Rupert, is there a problem?"
"Have you seen Buffy tonight?" He asked, not bothering with diplomacy.
"No, I saw her yesterday for lunch, but that was the last time. Has something happened? Is Angel back?" The woman was terrified.
Merrick stepped forward. "No, no, Joyce. It's nothing like that. Rupert and Buffy had a little tiff and, um, she seems to have stepped out of the house for a while."
Joyce led the worried men into the living room and had them sit on the couch. She had relaxed somewhat at the older Watcher's explanation. "Oh. Is this the, the dating thing?"
Rupert looked up. "She told you?"
"She told me that some boy at school had been unusually persistent." Joyce sighed. Poor Rupert looked so worried. "I really don't think you have anything to worry about, Rupert. Buffy is very much in love with you."
"She actually wanted to know if I'd mind if she went to the Bronze with the young pup. My wife wants to date other men." He put his head in his hands.
"I'm absolutely certain that she doesn't, Rupert. Buffy might be young, but she isn't stupid or one to cheat. She's probably just walking off her mad-maybe she went out to do a little slaying to work off her anger." Joyce was smart enough not to mention the possibility that she might have gone to see the boy somewhere other than the club. "Why don't you head home? She's probably back already and I'll bet she's worried about you."
Giles nodded like a man clinging to straws. He stood. Merrick rose as well, but only to ask Joyce for the loan of her spare room for the night. "The children need to be alone to work things out, Joyce."
Joyce smiled to think of Rupert as childlike, but instantly agreed with the older man. Rupert, tired, heart sore, and burdened with a truly massive headache drove home. He was surprised to see Buffy doing a load of laundry when he came in.
"Hi. Where'd you guys go?" She said stuffing a load of whites into the machine.
He ran up to her, grabbed her by the arms, shook her soundly, and then kissed her as if his life depended on it. When they both ran out of air he pulled back and shook her again. "Where the hell did you go?"
Buffy looked at him as if he had sprouted another head. "I think I'm going with a big huh? What are you talking about?"
He shook her for a third time. "Tell me where you went, damnit!"
"I don't know what your talking about, Rupert. I haven't been anywhere all night."
"Don't lie to me, Buffy! I went upstairs to talk to you after our argument earlier and you were gone! The bedroom window was open and you were gone!" He held her arms in an uncomfortably tight grasp.
Using her Slayer strength, she broke his grasp. "Are you nuts or what? I broke a bottle of rosewater in our bedroom and opened the window to air the room out. It was too stinky to study so I went to the guest room to finish the chapter. When I came out, everybody was gone."
Giles couldn't take it in. She hadn't been going off to see another man. He put his arms around her and fell to his knees pressing his sobbing head into her belly. "I thought you'd left me." He admitted. "I thought you'd gone to him."
Buffy stroked his hair, but at his words pulled back with a frown. "Him who?"
"Th. That boy who wants you." His chest still heaved from suppressed sobs.
She grabbed his hair and pulled his head back, forcing him to meet her gaze. "You tell me one thing, Rupert. Tell me what the hell you think I'd want with a boy, when I've got a man at home? Yes, I do want to go out. I want to have some fun. I want to listen to music and dance. But I want to do it with my husband, not some boy I could care less about." She pulled him to his feet. "I love you, Rupert."
He swept her into his arms in a bone-crushing hug. "God, Buffy! I love you so much. Never leave me. Never leave me."
She returned his hug. "I will always be yours, Rupert. I'm your Slayer, your friend, your lover and your wife. We may have tiffs; we may get wildly angry, but I will always love you. I think you better have a T-shirt made up with 'Buffy Loves Me' printed on it to help you remember." She grinned softly at him.
He looked down at the tiny girl in his arms. "I will remember it till the day I die, my love."
End of Part 9