Part 2

Patrol was uneventful for the most part. They only found one vampire at Shady Hill Cemetery, two at Restview Cemetery and one more in the middle of Hammersmith Park. It was certainly nothing the Slayer couldn’t handle, and with Riley helping her it was a piece of cake. But it was enough to clear her head and allow her finely honed powers of denial to fully engage. All was right in her world again by the end of the patrol and they walked back to the campus around midnight, hand in hand.

What Buffy thought would be a long and happy excursion in the land of denial turned out to be only a short detour. She had gone with Riley to his dorm after patrol. They kissed and cuddled for long minutes and everything had been fine and normal. But when Riley lifted her shirt and kissed her stomach, thoughts of Giles returned. She could not believe how hot the thought of Giles made her. It lit a fire in her much hotter than Riley normally did. She tried to focus on Riley as he made love to her, but barely caught herself in time when she realized Giles’ name was on her lips as she vocalized her release - loudly. ‘Thank god Riley didn’t notice,’ she thought. But how was she supposed to face Giles again? Because she really wished that it had been Giles, not Riley, making love to her.

Long after Riley fell asleep, Buffy lay in bed awake, totally wigged again. ‘Wow, I just had the best, um… yeah. And I was thinking about Giles? I wonder how much better it would have been if it really was Giles?’ That thought stopped her cold. ‘What is wrong with me? I have a normal, college type boyfriend who loves me and I’m thinking about someone else? Oh, god, I am such a slut! This is all Giles’ fault. I was happy with Riley – well, mostly happy with Riley – and then Giles has to go and stick his tongue into things. Hmmm… speaking of Giles sticking his tongue into things… Quit it!!! I need to concentrate here.’ Buffy gave herself a mental shake to get herself back on track. ‘Okay, I need to decide what I want. I can’t keep thinking about Giles if I’m going to be with Riley. And I can’t be with Riley if I really want to be with Giles. Huh, I think I just found my answer.’ With small smile playing about her lips, she closed her eyes and finally fell asleep.

In the morning, Buffy felt better than she had in a long time, even though she’d only slept for a few hours. Conclusions had been reached, decisions made, and a weight she had not even realized was there seemed to slip from her shoulders. She was ready to face the situation.

"Riley," she said, "I need to talk with you."

"Does this have anything to do with you calling out Giles’ name last night?" he asked, the accusation clear in his tone. "Having your girlfriend calling out someone else’s name like that usually means the relationship is over. Not to mention what it does for a guy’s ego."

‘Oh, crap, I guess he did notice.’ "Uh, yeah, it does," she answered sheepishly. "I’m sorry Riley, I never meant to hurt you."

"I can’t understand why you would choose that old man over me," Riley whined.

"Because, not only is he my Watcher, Giles is ten times the man you’ll ever be. And for the record, he may be ‘older’ but he is definitely not ‘old’." Then Buffy turned her back on him and left before he could say anything else.

Late that afternoon, when Buffy arrived at the Magic Box, Giles was sitting at the research table, a book in his hand, a cold cup of tea at his elbow. The familiar sight made her smile. ‘It’s a good thing there’s a bell on the door, otherwise it might be have been hours before he looked up,’ she thought with fondness.

"Hello Buffy," he said, surprise evident in his voice. "I wasn’t sure if you’d show today."

"Yep, I’m here," she said brightly. "Why wouldn’t I be here?"

"Oh, no reason, I suppose. I just thought that maybe you would want to skip training today to go out with Riley." Sometimes her powers of denial astounded him.

"Well, then, you were wrong. I want to spend some time with you. Or did you have other plans?"

"No, no other plans," he said as he stood. As he tidied up the table, he asked, "So are you up for a spot of training then?"

"Sure," she replied with a mischievous grin, "we could do that. Or we could skip the pretenses and you could just stick your tongue in my belly button again."

"W-what?" Giles sputtered as he spun around to face her, nearly dropping the teacup. "I, I did not stick my tongue in your, um, navel."

How he was able to blush so deeply was a mystery to him. He would have sworn all his blood had just rushed in the opposite direction from his face.

Buffy walked over to him, took the teacup out of his hands and set it back on the table. Then she grabbed his hand and, with a beaming smile, started leading him toward the back of the store.

‘"OK, so you missed last time. Wanna try again?"

His reply of "Oh, Good Lord, yes!" followed by Buffy’s laugh was heard throughout the store as the door to the training room closed behind them.

 The End