Willow watched as Rupert left the library, wondering where he was heading to, then went back to her research. An hour had passed before he returned, Willow glanced up from the terminal to see him coming in with a grocery bag in his hands.
Feeling an impending sense of doom, she continued to down load several articles she believed he could use on disk.
Nodding her head, Willow stepped closer still, there in the middle of his desk were a large bouquet of roses. Leaning over she inhaled the intoxicating fragrance coming from them.
"No, you're right," Willow replied.
"I was wondering if you wouldn't consider it, I believe you might say Bogus?" he started saying before Willow interrupted him.
"Giles! Just say it..." Willow demanded of him.
"Ah yes, I was wondering, could I take you out to dinner... or perhaps a movie, if you'd like?"
"Are you asking me on a DATE?" she asked, hoping that's what she heard him say. Although she was very intelligent, dating had always been a mystery to her.
CHAPTER 7
Giles walked around his desk to where Willow was standing, taking her hands in his, he raised them to his lips and kissed them. Looking deeply into her eyes, he said, "Yes, Willow... Miss Rosenberg, would you do me the great pleasure of accepting my invitation."
Without a moment's hesitation the shy young woman nodded her head, "Yes Giles, I'd love to go out with you," she beamed.
A smile formed on the librarian's face. "Thank you, you don't know how happy you've made me," he said, the smile was quickly replaced with a frown.
"What's wrong?" she asked. 'He hasn't changed his mind, already, has he?' she wondered.
"We'll have to be very careful, there are many people who would look down upon this. Your parents for one, and the school board for another..."
"You aren't having second thoughts are you?" she said.
"Of course not. I hadn't given this much thought before, I had never intended to tell you how I felt about you," he told her.
"Why now?" she asked.
"Last nights' events allowed me to come to the conclusion that I would have most assuredly been killed or worse. I didn't want another day to go by without telling you, no matter how you might have reacted. And the fact that you kissed me, why did you kiss me?" he asked.
"The truth is, I don't know. It just felt like the right thing to do," she shrugged.
"I see..."
"Wait, you don't understand. I kept thinking about it and I wished... " she faltered.
"What?" longing to hear the answer. Willow couldn't face him, Giles reached over his thumb caressing her face. "What did you wish?" he whispered.
"That I hadn't run into the house," she responded quietly.
"Oh... my dear sweet Willow. I wished for the same thing," he replied.
"Really?" she couldn't believe that he might have wanted to kiss her in return.
Smiling, he said, "Yes... really."
"I don't suppose?" she asked, a shy grin appearing on her face.
"No... not that I don't want to, but, um, we're still on school grounds. It would be far to dangerous to attempt anything like that," he told her.
"You're right, um... I guess I had better get back to work," she said.
"That's a very good idea. I'll just keep the flowers here for you, until you're ready to leave," he told her.
"Okay, there are still a few things I need to check out before I head home anyway," Willow replied as they walked out of his office.
CHAPTER 8
The hours flew by, they both had accomplished a vast amount in the short time they had worked together.
"Giles..."
"Yes," he replied, while looking up from his books.
"Buffy isn't in any kind of danger from this is she?" the young woman asked.
Taking his glasses off, the Watcher rubbed his eyes before answering. "I'm not quite sure, I don't have all the information I need right now. Those books I sent Xander for should help tremendously."
The redhead hung on each word, her gaze settling on his mouth, 'His kissable mouth' she thought to herself.
Giles noticed that she seemed distracted. "Um... Willow... I... ah... I think it's time you went home. I told Buffy that I would meet her tonight," he said glancing at his watch.
"What?" she asked, coming back to reality.
"I have to meet Buffy shortly..."
"Oh sure, let me just get my things, I'll call my dad, he'll pick me up."
"There's no need to do that, I'll drive you," Giles said.
"I don't want to be a burden... " she started to say.
"You could NEVER be a burden," he replied.
They left the library and headed for Giles' car. The librarian opened the car door for her, holding the flowers until she was ready, then handed them to her, closing the door. Taking his keys, he unlocked his side and stepped in, starting the engine he backed out and left the school grounds.
On the way, they talked about subjects that held an interest to them. It surprised Rupert how much they had in common.
"Why are we stopping?" Willow asked, when Giles had parked his car around the block from her house.
"Do you remember our conversation, in my office?" he asked as he turned to face her.
"Which part?" she replied.
"The one where you wished..."
"We hadn't stopped?" she asked, her heart rate picked up when it dawned on her why they hadn't gone straight to her house.
"Yes, that's the one," he said.
"I remember," she answered.
"Would you mind if I kissed you goodnight?" he asked.
"Gosh no!"
He smiled at her response, leaning across, he ran smack into the flowers. "That wasn't exactly what I had in mind," he said.
CHAPTER 9
"Oh... Giles, I'm sorry, let me put these down," she said as she placed them on the floorboard, when she looked back, she was staring into his face. She could smell the cologne he wore, it was spicy with a hint of musk, it suited him nicely she thought. Closing her eyes, she waited, it wasn't long.
Rupert leaned in once more, placing his lips on hers, he couldn't believe how incredibly soft and warm they were. He felt his hand reach up and caress her face, wanting to memorize the contours of it. He let Willow control the intensity of the kiss as he didn't want to frighten the young woman.
Willow felt something stir inside of her, but wasn't sure what it was. She wasn't frightened of it. She would let it happen, wondering where it would lead her to.
She had only seen people kiss on television or in the movies, her parents didn't count, they were her parents. She had always looked away whenever she came across it in school, it made her feel as if she were intruding on something private.
Thinking back to the examples she had seen, Willow hesitantly parted her lips. Giles couldn't believe the sensations coursing through his body when he felt her tongue shyly explore his lips. He parted his as well, wondering what she would do.
'Oh... Wow!' she thought,'What do I do now?'
"Did I do something wrong?" she asked, when she felt the sudden departure of his lips on hers.
"No," he replied, "It just that..."
"What?" she wanted to know what had brought the kiss to an abrupt end.
"You haven't kissed many people have you Willow?" Looking down the young woman nodded her head. Alarmed that he might have offended her, Rupert quickly told her, "Willow, please look at me," he waited until she faced him.
"When you parted your lips, I thought you wanted me to do the same and when I did... well, nothing happened. I thought you might have changed your mind," he told her.
"No... I really liked it. I liked it better than last night, I didn't know what to do next. I mean I've seen movies," she offered.
"Oh... Willow. I wish I had more time, but I really must get to Buffy," he said.
"I understand, Buffy has to come first. She's the Slayer and you're the Watcher," she replied.
"Yes and right now more than ever, do I wish it wasn't true, but my duty to Buffy must come before anyone or anything else. That doesn't mean my feelings for you aren't important to me, you must believe that," he explained.
"I do, I guess you'd better drop me off before it gets any later. You don't want to keep her waiting," she said.
"I'll see you tomorrow then?" Giles asked after finally arriving in front of the Rosenberg residence.
"If I don't see you sooner," Willow replied, when they reached her front door.
"Goodnight Willow, sleep well," he said, looking around quickly as he placed a kiss on her cheek.
"You too, be careful," she said, going inside, she leaned against the door after closing it. Sighing, she pushed herself from the door and made her way upstairs to her bedroom, smelling the roses he had given her.
CHAPTER 10
"So what took you?" Buffy asked when Giles finally arrived.
"I'm sorry I'm late, I had to drop Willow off first. Shall we get going?" he said.
"What are we doing...?" she began, when she saw something that made her stop in her tracks. She walked over to him, and picked a rose petal from his jacket, she looked at him questioningly.
"Ah, yes, that must have come from the flowers Willow had with her in the car," he explained.
"Willow... our Willow?"
"Yes, Miss Rosenberg," he said.
"I wonder who gave her flowers," the Slayer thought out loud.
"As to your earlier question Buffy, we are here because this would make an excellent training ground for you," he said trying to distract the teenager.
"This dump?" she asked.
"Um, yes. This "dump" as you call it is the best place for you. It's deserted for starters, has been for years, I believe you'll find it very instructional. After you," he moved aside to let the Slayer get past him.
"Where, or how did you find this place Giles?" Buffy asked, as she entered the warehouse.
"I do have resources Buffy. I've had traps designed to suit your specific fighting style, which was no easy task, let me tell you. You have exactly one hour to get through, each time you train, the set-up will be changed. This way you won't become accustomed to it," he said as he walked her to the beginning of the course.
"So I get in and out without hurting myself, right?"
"Yes, that's correct. Buffy do be careful, there are some surprises built-in, and if you're not concentrating, it could be very dangerous."
"Thanks for the pep talk Giles," she said as she walked to the stairs that marked the starting point.
"If at anytime you wish to stop, let me know. I'll be monitoring you from that room there," he said pointing to a room upstairs in the back of the warehouse.
"That bad huh?" she asked, "Alright see you later," Buffy said as she started climbing the stairs.
"If you're not out in the time allowed, I'll shut everything down, and you'll be directed to the exit. Is that understood?" he asked her.
"I've got it, one hour," she replied.
"Good luck," he told her as he went to the monitoring room.
Switching on the hidden cameras located throughout the course, he was able to keep track of Buffys' progress.
There were times his hand hovered above the over-ride button, which would have shut the mechanisms down, each time he was about to push it, she surprised him.
"Giles... can you hear me?" Buffy asked.
"Yes, I can. Do you wish me to shut it down?" he asked her.
"No, I just wanted to see if you were there, that's all," she replied, as she barely managed to avoid the knife that came shooting at her. "You weren't kidding about the dangerous stuff were you?"
"No, I wasn't. I'm sorry to have to put you through this, but you must be prepared for any contingency," he explained.
"Got it," she said.
Buffy had managed to complete the course with time to spare, Giles was waiting for her at the exit when she finally came out.
"That was excellent Buffy," he said as he handed her a towel and a bottle of water.
"Thanks..." Buffy wiped the sweat from her face, and drank half of the bottle.
"That's enough for tonight, we'll do this twice a week," he told her walking back to the monitoring room. He wanted to get the tape he'd made of the exercise to study it. "Buffy, under no circumstances are you attempt the course by yourself, is that understood?"
"Alone, very bad. I understand," she replied.
They left the warehouse unaware that they were being photographed.
Part 3
Quick piece of information. I only added the counter to this page and the others last night, 02-24-99. So, although it may not seem as if anyone has read the rest of the story, they have. I don't know why I didn't think about adding the counter to the other parts until now...*shaking my head* Just thought I'd pass that along.
