Rating: PG
Disclaimer: All things BtVS and AtS belong to Joss Whedon (my god), Mutant Enemy, etc. I own nothing, so please don't sue me. I just want to play with the yummy beings that Joss created.
Spoilers: Season 5 of Angel up to episode "Damage".
Distribution: Shara Nesu's Place, Red's Soulmates, The Inspiration and list archives. Everyone else, just ask. I'm generous.
Website: http://www.geocities.com/stricken_girl/FortheFaithfulEntrance.htm
Author's Notes: This is in response to Inspiration Challenge #43
Summery: Giles is lonely.
A huge thanks to my sis Stephanie who is betaing for me. You rock babe!
Thoughts indicated by <>
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The Englishman lounged in the sitting room in the large, overstuffed leather chair staring at the amber liquid in the crystal glass resting in his hand. The sounds of the fire roaring before him did little to calm his thoughts or keep the tears from his eyes.
He looked down at the phone he had dropped earlier. He wanted to pick it up and call that annoying boy back and make him repeat everything he had said a fourth time. It was so unbelievable he had demanded that Andrew repeat the story twice before Giles forced himself to believe. Spike was back.
Not that that fact in and of itself should be completely unbelievable. After all, he was not the first Giles knew of to come back from the dead. Darla came back after being dusted, according to Wesley and Buffy was resurrected by that damned spell Willow performed. So why was it so hard for him to comprehend that Spike could do the same?
Maybe it was because Spike was believed to be buried under all the rubble that had once been Sunnydale. Or maybe it was because he wanted to believe that Spike had found his redemption. Either way, he didn't want to give himself over to the hope only to be heartbroken once again.
When Andrew had first called him, rambling and practically yelling about the blonde warrior returned and more beautiful than ever, the watcher thought the young man had hit his head, or some other horrible disaster. But then the meaning of the words settled into the older man's brain and he knew. Spike was back.
He never truly understood the pull of the blonde vampire. When he first came to Sunnydale, he was a feared foe. He knew that he was a worthy opponent for his slayer and had she not had the support she had developed with her friends and family, he surely would have prevailed.
And even though Buffy had defeated the blonde vampire, he always came back for more. Giles had to admire him for that. Annoying little sod.
It wasn't until their forced cohabitation that he began to understand the vampire better. He liked his tea the same way as the watcher and they made similar comments to the idiots on that bloody soap the blonde insisted on watching daily.
He saw little bits of each of his children in the blue eyed vampire. He was a beauty to behold and deceptively strong, much like his Slayer. He had an amazing intelligence like Willow that he unfortunately kept hidden most of the time. Every once in a while, Giles would discover a text that Spike had written an obscure note in or pieces of a translation that the Englishman knew he would never have figured out on his own. He also had the biting, sardonic wit that Xander had also possessed. Unfortunately, he also had the ill fated timing as well. He was a hopeless romantic like Dawn and had the casual attitude that fit Oz so well. He had Tara's honesty with Anya's tact. A very scary combination indeed.
Of course, Spike was a creature unique unto himself. He loved and lived with his entire being, even though he was dead.
Giles couldn't say exactly when he began to look forward to the blonde's presence, but he noticed one day when he found himself waiting for a comment that never came because the vampire was staying in the boy's basement.
They had had their differences, it's true, but now that his life was filled with acres of slayers and no sarcastic, rude vampire to share it with, it just didn't seem as much fun. There was no one who understood his jokes or to watch the damned soaps with him. He was surrounded by people who could not truly appreciate real music. At least Spike knew who The Beatles and Led Zeppelin were instead of listening to the canned crap the girls insisted was popular music. Giles was a man alone in a sea of estrogen, Andrew aside.or not.
The Englishman went to take another sip of the drink in his hand and realized it was empty. He relished the cool liquid in his mouth that transformed into a hard, hot burn down his throat. That too reminded him of the blonde vampire. They shared many a drink in his small apartment, talking or not, it didn't really matter.
He considered reaching for the bottle and refilling his glass, but decided against it. He didn't want to scare his charges again. He sat his glass down on the coffee table next to the phone and considered calling Andrew back. Maybe he knew where Spike was.no, there was no need to go there. Giles had moved on and so had Spike. If he had wanted to talk to the watcher, he could have found, couldn't he?
Giles looked at the phone one last time. No, he wouldn't call Andrew. The boy would be back in the Motherland soon enough and he could fill in all the details then.
The Englishman mentally calculated the time difference in his head before picking up the phone. Surely Wesley would have some pertinent information for the watcher. For purely research purposes of course. Because Giles wasn't nearly as lonely as that, was he? He simply missed his blue eyed boy.
~~The End~~