Heart's Unlatched


Charge version 1.2
BuffyFic by the BuffyOtaku

Disclaimer: “Willow,” “Giles,” “Buffy,” and “Xander” are all owned by the actors, writers, and other people who work on the show Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. I am not one of those people. I’m a wanna-be and I write fanfiction. Don’t sue.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: A Willow/Giles companion piece to versions 1.0 and 1.1. Call it variations on a theme.

For Saffy...notice how I worked in a subtle B/X angle?

(read v1.0)
(read v1.1) 

got a list tatooed on my memory
of how our tryst should unfold

“I’m sorry, Willow,” he said, and slumped to the packed earth. “There’s no way out of here.”
“There has to be. No one knows we’re here.” She looked around frantically. “We can’t be stuck here!”
“Willow. Buffy will figure out that we’re here. It might take awhile --”
“Yeah, while we’re dead!“
“ -- but she knows you’ve been helping me research this cavern and its connection with the Hellmouth. And she knows that cave-ins this close to the old high school are not impossible; once we’re gone for a few hours she’ll worry and come looking. Don’t panic.”
The redhead sighed, her shaggy hair swiveling around her head. “Giles, we’re gonna suffocate.”
“Look down there,” he pointed. “That shaft of light is an airhole. There’s two more over here. It might get hot in here, but we’ll have enough air.”
“Are you sure?” Willow asked, annoyed that she hadn’t noticed.
“Positive.” He replied, and turned away to inspect the faint carvings on the walls. They’d been taking rubbings of the walls and reminiscing about past enemies when the minor earthquake had hit. It was just a short rumble, but it was enough to bring down fresh rock from above and trap the pair in the cave. They were lucky to be alive, for the time being, but Willow had been right. If the wind shifted a bit, they would get no oxygen at all. And if the wind shifted and no one noticed they were gone, they were going to die.
Willow sat down on the opposite side of the small airpocket and arranged her skirt in a loose pile of lace-trimmed denim, then leaned back against the wall. “I don’t want to die.”
“Nor do I, at least not now. Try to rest, save your strength.” He turned to face the carvings again.
Half an hour passed, and Willow was now laying on the floor, staring at the flame in the gas lamp and humming under her breath.
Giles looked up from the notes he’d been writing -- some of these renderings were fascinating -- and mumbled, “Willow?” around the pencil between his teeth.
“Hm?” she replied liltingly, raising her hands over her head and moving them in snakelike patterns in the air.
Setting down his pad and taking the pencil out of his mouth, he asked, “Willow? What are you doing?”
She half-murmured, half-sang an old ballad he’d shown her in one of his books:

When flowers come to winter’s grove
And mighty ocean’s foam
Is set between the moon and me
And blossoms grow from eye to knee

I’ll follow you home.

If you should follow me my dear
Out under blue nature’s sky
I know that not a one will hear
Our sweetly said goodbyes

If I follow you home

But do not fret and dry your eyes
Put your fear aside
Because I won’t go go wi’ye, my dear
Your house or there inside.

I won’t follow you home.

When flowers come to winter’s grove
And mighty ocean’s foam
Is set between the moon and me
And blossoms grow from eye to knee

I’ll follow you home.

“I always liked that one.” She said softly. Her eyes were loosely focussed and she sounded dreamy and relaxed.
“Where did you learn that?”
“Your book on the courts of Diarmait.” She turned to him and smiled. “It sounds prettier with a tambourine and a guitar.”
“No rejection is pretty.” Giles said, smiling. “But you have a lovely voice.”
“You think so?” She sat up and smiled more widely. “You were in a band, once, right?”
“I was.”
“Cool. You think I could be in a band?”
“I’m sure you could. I wouldn’t think you’d want to.” he closed his notebook and crawled over to her side of the cavern.
“Veruca was in a band.” She said. “Veruca knew about music.”
“Veruca?” Giles asked. Willow opened her mouth to explain, but he held a hand up. “Werewolf Veruca.”
“Werewolf Veruca,” she echoed. “Voice like an albatross Veruca. Boyfriend-fucking Veruca.”
He was speechless; anything he said would have either sounded pompous or corny.
They were silent again. 

you’ll find a magical key attatched
my heart’s unlatched
and I charge

A long time passed, and it had become stifling in the pocket. The wind had shifted three hours ago, and Giles looked ruefully down at his watch. They’d been in here for seven hours, and they had no more water. He’d long since turned the propane lamp down to its minimum. They could survive for maybe a few more hours, and then....
“Too hot in here.” She whispered, tugging off her jacket. “You must be hot too.”
He nodded and shrugged off his sweater, rolling it into a lump to use as a pillow. Willow nodded and followed his example, laying down to face him as he lay on his back.
“Giles?”
“Hm?”
“What did you want to be when you grew up? I mean, when you were little?”
“A fighter pilot.” He looked at her and smiled. “A grocer. Anything but a Watcher.”
“Do you regret having been a Watcher?”
“Sometimes.” He frowned. “Still, I feel regret and then I think of you, and Buffy and Xander and Jenny....”
“You think of me?” She sounded like she was smiling. Maybe she was even pleased. “Really?”
“I think about you very much. Almost more than Buffy.”
“Why?” Her eyes narrowed, not menacingly, but in concentration. “Why me?”
“I worry more about you.” He reached out and took her hand. “You remind me very much of myself at twenty. Without the demon raisings, of course.”
“I don’t know if I should be flattered or offended.” She squeezed his hand and inched closer to him to brush dirt off of his t-shirt.
“You choose.” He replied.
She giggled and sat up to look over at him. “I choose flattered.” She studied him further, then said quietly, “I worry about you, too.”
“Worry what about me?” He asked, sitting up as well.
Her expression turned serious and she said, “What you must think of me.”
“Why? What have you done?”
“The thing...with Oz...and... you know, me and him. Having sex.”
He looked down, trying not to laugh and hoping the shadows cast by the dim lantern were enough to hide his expression. “Why would I think anything?”
“Because....because, oh, I don’t know...”
“Because why, Willow?” He suddenly turned serious. “Because why?”
“Are we really going to die in here?”
He looked at her carefully. “We might.”
“Because, as much as I love Oz....I thought, maybe you would be....”
“Interested?” He broke in. “Attracted?”
Willow nodded.
“What if I am? Then what?” He moved closer to her. “This?”
He grabbed the back of her head and pulled her mouth to his. His tongue was invading, pulsing, warm and soft. It was the acceptance she needed from him and she pulled him closer, into her arms, cradling his body in her lap and holding on to him as if he were a lifeline.
They poured themselves into this kiss, this moment, each wondering what would happen if it went on, each worried that it might end. Willow’s arms were around his neck, clinging, and he was holding her so tightly it was a wonder she could breathe. Is she breathing? he wondered.
They stayed there for several minutes, kissing, until they heard a loud shuffling noise outside the walls of their trap. “Willlll? Gilllles?! Are you in there?”
The sound of Buffy’s voice snapped them apart. Willow reached a hand up to cover his mouth with a finger. “Giles...” she whispered.
“We’re here!” He called. “Buffy! In here!”
“Move as far away from this wall as you can! I’m gonna pull out this rock and see if....”
The pair sprang apart, and moved to the opposite side of the “room.” A thin stream of sunlight filtered in and suddenly Buffy’s head appeared. “Thank God. Are you guys okay?”
“We’re fine.” Giles answered. “Can we come out now?”
Buffy smiled and nodded, her blond curls-for-the-day bobbing up and down. “Please.”
The Slayer led them out of the caves, alternately hugging and scolding them, and they came out into the daytime to see Xander’s parked Volvo and Giles’ rusted Citroen side by side.
“Thank God you’re okay!” The young man shouted, and raced up to hug Willow. “Are you thirsty? Hungry? Can I drive you home?”
Willow nodded numbly and allowed him to steer her towards his car and usher her inside.
When Xander pulled away, Giles was still staring at her. 

you’ll find a magical key attatched
my heart’s unlatched

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