Chapter 3: Future Plans
Buffy turned at the knock on her bedroom door and looked up from the piles of clothes and other paraphernalia stacked around her room to see Jenny.
“Hey Jenny, come on in. I was just trying to sort through my stuff and decide what to take to campus and what to leave here.”
Jenny entered and sat on the bed, absently picking up various trinkets and souvenirs that Buffy had laid out.
“Go ahead and pick something. I just bought a variety of things for gifts and figured I’d let you guys pick what you liked best. I knew you and Cordy would both enjoy some of those perfumes, so take the one you like best.”
Jenny picked up a few different bottles and sniffed the fragrance, making small talk with Buffy about some of her favorite spots she visited while traveling, that Jenny had also seen.
Jenny finally settled on a bottle and then turned to the reason for her visit.
“Buffy, I was wondering if you had decided what you were going to do yet, with college and all.”
Buffy paused and sat down on the bed beside Jenny.
“I’m not totally sure, and I actually had wanted to come and talk with you about that. The one thing I really enjoyed as we traveled was the various art museums. I started some classes in art history last year and I think that’s what I want to focus on. But I don’t just want a degree, I want to be able to put it to good use. So I was thinking of working on a business degree as well, even if it takes an extra year to finish. I wanted to ask you if I could hang out at your shop some, maybe help as an intern of sorts, so I could see more about an art gallery in action.”
Jenny smiled. “Buffy, I think great minds think alike. I was actually going to ask you if you wanted a part-time weekend job with me. Rupert told me you had developed an interest in art, and William is just going to be too busy this year to help me anymore. Would you be interested in a job?”
Buffy grabbed the woman who’d helped raise her and gave her a hug. “I’d be delighted! When can I start?”
Jenny laughed at her enthusiasm. “How about we give you a couple of weeks to settle in at school and you start the weekend after Labor Day, ok? Now that we got that out of the way, give me the dish, what’s been up with you lately? Meet any British hotties you didn’t write home about?”
Buffy blushed a little at Jenny’s comment, but shrugged it off.
“No, not really. I mean there were several guys who were cool and we’d hang out, but I just haven’t found someone who really made me sit up and go wow yet. Besides, aside from last year, which was way hard and a lot of study time, I didn’t have a lot of chances to meet guys. The all girls school wasn’t exactly prime hunting ground and traveling with Giles was fun, but you know what he’s like. Any guy got close, Giles would growl and scare him off. He was as bad as William was in high school!”
Jenny eyed the girl before her, wondering how to bring up what was in the back of her mind. She’d been pretty sure William was in love with Buffy for some time, though he’d always evaded any of her probes in that direction. She wondered if the feeling might be mutual. The fact that Buffy and William, other than that insane fling with the crazy Drusilla, had both stayed single all this time seemed to indicate they were both hung up on someone. She had almost started to say something when Buffy spoke again.
“I just wonder if maybe I was meant to be with someone here at home, you know? I mean, Angel seems to be single too still, so maybe now that I’m older he’ll notice me,”
Jenny’s heart sank. She knew Buffy had had a schoolgirl crush on the young man across the street, but she’d hoped she’d outgrown it. Apparently not. She wasn’t sure if Angel was the right man for Buffy. He’d been friends with Spike for a long time, but he’d never shown the kind of character she thought a man would need to really be a good match for the outspoken and fairly independent Buffy. She’d also heard some rumors that he could hit the bottle pretty hard at times, and had racked up a couple of DUIs and even more warnings. But she didn’t want to step on Buffy’s toes. She decided to let it go with some general words of advice.
“Buffy, sweetie, he’d be crazy not to notice you. You are a beautiful and intelligent young woman, with loads of potential. But, maybe you need to think about what you’re really looking for in a relationship.”
She paused, trying to find the right words.
“The first time you fall in love is life-altering. I know it was for me. But you have to be true to yourself above all else. My first love was someone I was sure would stay with me and I built my life around him for awhile. When he walked away, I thought I couldn’t go on. I realized afterwards that my mistake wasn’t in loving him, it was in not loving myself enough to be my own person. So, my advice, don’t rush to be in a relationship for the sake of being in a relationship, and don’t be with someone you don’t respect and who doesn’t respect you, OK?”
She hugged Buffy to her and the serious talk devolved into a discussion of fashion as Jenny had helped Buffy sort out more of her packing.
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Jenny slowed walked back downstairs, wanting a few minutes with Rupert in private if she could find him. For all her relationship advice to Buffy, she wasn’t sure where her own love life stood at this point in time.
To say that Giles was a little cautious about relationships was to put it mildly. She’d felt sparks between them from the first day they’d met, but no opportunity had arisen to act on that attraction before William had arrived and changed her life. After Giles had begun to help her with William, they’d become good friends, sharing meals, talking frequently, the three of them going on outings together. The relationship had been a comfortable friendship, and neither had pushed things as they focused on helping William adjust.
As thing had improved and life had settled down again, Jenny had become Giles’ steady “date” at faculty functions. He’d been busy settling in and doing research on a potential book when he’d first moved to Sunnydale, so combined with his time spent with William and her, he’d failed to get into the dating scene. They’d joked about their dates, but had remained completely platonic in their interactions for a while, enjoying their friendship.
Then one night, the summer before Buffy had come, something had changed.
They’d gone for a walk around campus after a faculty dinner, enjoying the balmy early summer air and moonlight. The conversation had been light and Jenny had felt content. As they’d walked, he taken her hand in his, a relatively innocent gesture. But that light contact, coupled with the romantic setting had seemed to ignite the fire that had been simmering between them for some time.
As they’d paused beneath the shadow of a large tree that shielded them from view, Giles had taken her face in her hands and softly kissed her for the first time. After the initial touch, they had exploded, suddenly groping and fondling each other like two teenagers alone for the first time. The passionate makeout session had continued for some time, until at last they’d pulled apart from their clinch. Jenny remembered leaning her head against Rupert’s chest and feeling the rapid beat of his heart mirroring the racing of her own. He laughed lightly and murmured that that had been a long time coming, and she’d agreed.
They’d walked back to the car then, silent. As they’d driven home, the silence had lengthened, but Jenny hadn’t been sure how to break it, where to start. Had the kiss meant he had feelings for her? Was it a product of the moonlight and the earlier wine at dinner? Had they both just been alone for so long they were just looking for some touch? The silence grew heavier between them, until Giles pulled into his driveway and walked her to her door. He’d briefly dropped a kiss against her cheek, his standard goodbye on their little “dates,” murmured he was sorry, then quickly walked away before she had a chance to say a word.
The next day, he’d been over to take William to a game and they’d both pretended as though nothing had happened. Somehow, the passage of a night and the light of day, with William staring at their strangeness, made discussion impossible and the subject was dropped. Only a few days later, the call about Buffy’s parents had come, and Giles had left town.
Then Buffy had come and somehow the reality of, in effect, having two teenagers had dampened any potential relationship that might or might not have been beginning. Jenny sensed that Giles was reluctant to pursue a relationship with her partially because of the roles they played in their respective charges life. If they began something serious and things fell apart between then, it would be awkward for Buffy and William, two children who needed them both.
She understood and agreed with that reasoning, but sometimes, she felt like she would scream from being so close to him, playing mommy in their unusual version of a nuclear family, without the perks of actually having daddy to curl up with at night. She thought he might feel the same way, because she’d occasionally catch him looking at her with a predatory gaze that would make her flush and wish for a cold shower.
Things had finally changed when William had left for college and Buffy had gone to England. With the kids finally out of the nest, the passion that had simmered between them for years exploded and she was soon frequenting his bed and he hers. It had been an almost idyllic year. They had been so close for so long she wasn’t sure who knew they were now truly a couple. She’d sometimes wondered if William had picked up on the vibes, but he’d been pretty distracted his first year of college, so she didn’t know if he saw the difference.
But then, Giles had begun to pull away again. She’d known he had a book coming out soon, he’d let her read some of his chapters as he’d written, to get her impression, but she hadn’t realized the magnitude of what this would mean for his academic career. The book had made a quite a stir and the tour and lecture post had opened up, wonderful opportunities for his career and a perfect chance for him to tour Europe with Buffy.
As time grew closer for him to leave, he’d grown more distant from her. He’d insisted he didn’t want her to wait around on him, that she shouldn’t feel tied to him while he was gone. She’d been stoic about it in the midst of her confusion. She’d thought they’d had something special, but his insistence that they be free from each other while he was gone gave her pause, so she’d let him go without protest.
She’d tried dating a few other men, but she’d soon realized that her heart was already gone by that point. She just hoped that now that he was back, she could convince him that what they had was real and that she wasn’t going to play games anymore. She’d done a lot of soul-searching while he was gone and she intended to put the advice she’d given Buffy to use. She wanted the whole thing this time, not a relationship for the sake of a relationship, not just a friend, not just a lover, but an equal life partner and she was determined to get it.
She knocked on his study, hoping to find him.
“Come in.”
She swung open the door to find Giles unpacking a box of books he collected.
“You and Buffy both made quite a haul over there from the looks of it,” she smiled.
He grinned back. “Yes, though I must say our tastes differ considerably. If I saw one more leather shop, I’d have screamed. Sometimes I think that child is channeling a biker gang or something with her infatuation for leather garments.”
She moved around the desk, a little unsure of how to make the first move in this first time alone since he’d returned. She was preparing herself to give her little speech about relationships and not settling when he surprised her by meeting her halfway and throughly kissing her.
Jenny broke the kiss and looked up at him, pleasantly surprised but throughly confused. Giles pulled her to the sofa and sat down, tugging her with him.
“Jenny, I need to ask you a few things, and then I need to tell you a few things. Will you let me do that?”
She nodded, eyes wide.
“Are you seeing anyone right now? Is there anyone else in your life?”
“No, Rupert, there hasn’t been anyone serious since you left.”
“Good.” He smiled as she bristled a little at his smugness. “I haven’t seem anyone else either,” he said, to her relief.
He preceded to his next question. “Have your feelings changed about our relationship since I left, or do you feel much the same way?”
Bolstered by the assurance of his kiss, she admitted she still cared for him, then insisted he answer the question as well. His face lit up and he reached for her hand.
“I’ve though about us the whole time I’ve been gone, Jenny, and I’ve reached a conclusion.”
She stared at him, suddenly realizing her little speech was never going to get heard, but feeling all right with that.
“Jenny, I love you. I know we’ve been apart for two years, but we’ve been together for a long time now, in one form or another. I realized when I was away from you that a little piece of me was missing. I’m sorry I’ve kept you at arm’s length for so long, but I know now that I want you in my life permanently. I can only hope that you want that as well.”
He had barely finished his sentence when she threw her arms around him and launched herself into his lap. “Oh, Rupert, that’s exactly what I want. I’ve missed you so.”
His lips met hers and they settled in for a welcome home greeting that both were throughly enjoying when a brief knock on the door of the study was followed by Spike walking into the room, closely followed by Buffy on his heels. Both of their eyes grew large as they took in the sight of Giles and Jenny intertwined on the couch with tousled hair, swollen lips, disarranged garments and generally guilty expressions.
Buffy and Spike exchanged glances and then Buffy tapped Spike’s arm. “You owe me $20 and move-in help. I told you it’d be less than 24 hours.”
Spike reached into his pocket and shoved the bill at her as the pair on the couch continued to gape, before turning his attention to the couple, smirking slightly.
“Way to go old man, took you long enough. Just treat her right and we won’t have any problems, all right, mate?” Spike directed the question to Giles, who nodded silently. Buffy and Spike descended on the couple, hugging the pair they’d been betting would be together for years now, happy to see them united at last.
Before long, Spike and Buffy left, to “give them some time to catch up” with various winks and nudges about how they intended to be gone for the entire afternoon. Giles sighed contentedly as he pulled Jenny back onto his lap to cuddle as they simply enjoyed each other’s presence after the long separation. Between kisses, they discussed their children. Both were happy at their positive response, though a little chagrined because they’d assumed they had been quite stealthy in their feelings for one another. Gradually the talk shifted to what was coming up for Buffy and Spike in the next year.
Jenny filled Giles in on the particulars about Spike, and how his applications to medical school were progressing. She told him about her talk with Buffy upstairs and how he’d been right about her interest in the art gallery. She mentioned the discussion of Angel and her concerns about him and Buffy as a couple.
“I don’t know Rupert, I just had always hoped that William and Buffy would end up together. They’ve got the ground work for a wonderful relationship, we know they’re compatible and I’m sure he loves her. Do you remember the way he used to watch her when they were still in high school, when he didn’t think she knew he was watching? He was head over heels back then, and I saw that same look last night when we were all talking in the kitchen. He’d be good for her, and she for him.”
“I know, dear, I agree. William is a fine man, even if I did help raise him and he’s exactly what I want for Buffy. I worry about her. I don’t think she knows what danger she’ll be in once she’s comes into all that money. I wanted her to have a normal life, but sometimes I think I tried to shelter her too much. Maybe we all did. She doesn’t really comprehend that people will use her, I don’t think, because she’s had true friends who didn’t, especially Willow and William.”
Giles sighed and tugged Jenny closer. “I know we can’t force them together, but I hope maybe now that they’ll be around each other again, they’ll see each other in a new light. Maybe she’ll open up to William and see him as more than her big brother, and maybe he’ll let her.”
Jenny snuggled in and kissed up his jawline. “Mr. Giles, I’m fairly certain the house is empty now, how bout we check out your bedroom and I’ll welcome you back properly?”
He greeted her suggesti