__The Singing Slayer__
By GG the Slayer
Buffy Summers, 20, resident Slayer of vampires and demons...was heading to work.
She'd recently gotten a job, singing of all things, at The Espresso Pump. She
had taken the job, because she needed some extra money for school things, as
well as non-school things. And she'd gotten kind of tired of taking money from
her mom. So, here she was, 8PM on Tuesday night.
*****
Rupert Giles, was worried. The reason he was worried? His Slayer, Buffy, hadn't been around
very much the last few weeks. She was still patrolling and still checking in
with him before and after each patrol, but she never seemed to have any time for
any *non*-slaying get togethers. Normally, he wouldn't be so worried....oh who
was he kidding? He worried about her everytime she was late checking in after
patrols. Nevermind all that, he'd been more worried than usual lately, because
Buffy had just been dumped. That Iowan Pillock, Riley Finn, AKA Captain
Cardboard, AKA Fish Boy, had broken up with Buffy.
After that whole fiasco with Faith & Buffy switching bodies, Buffy had gone against her
better judgement and dated Riley anyway. They'd taken things super slow, and it
wasn't until they'd been a couple for four months, that they had had sex. But
anyways. Giles got his thoughts back on track, and began wondering where Buffy
was all the time. He'd thought about questioning Willow and the others, but
figured they would have told him, by now, if something bad was happening. Or would they?
Giles finally decided to ask Buffy what was taking up her
free time, the next time she checked in for patrol. Satisfied with that, he
turned back to what he'd been doing. Before he'd begun worrying about Buffy
again...he'd been trying to figure out how many licks it took to get to the
center of a Tootsie Pop. So far he was up to 20 licks, and counting.(AN: Okay,
who wants to be the Tootsie Pop? After me, that is. eg)
***************
Buffy sat down on the stage at The Pump, and
waited for her first song to start. She heard the music start, it was the song,
"What's Up Lonely?", by Kelly Clarkson. She closed her eyes and began singing,
putting her all in to the performance. She stood up a few seconds into the song
and began dancing slowly to it. The audience all grinned and cheered really loud after the song ended.
Five or six more songs, Buffy's set was finished
and she thanked the crowd, then said her goodnights to everyone and walked home.
She was beat. But unfortunately, she still had to patrol. When she got to the
dorm, she grabbed a change of clothes, then headed for the showers. Afterwards,
she finished getting ready for her night out. Then she left Willow a note and
grabbed her room key, along with some extra stakes. Buffy left the dorm and
headed towards Giles' place.
****************
Giles was now up to 40 licks and was beginning to think he'd *never* get to the blasted center of the
Tootsie Pop. Suddenly there was a knock on his door. He quickly got up from the couch and answered it.
"Hello, Buffy."
"Hiya, Giles. I'm here for my pre-patrol check-in."
"Ah yes, good. How many stakes do you have on you?"
"Hmm...10 or 12...and don't ask me where they're all hiding at either," she grinned.
He chuckled and then they said goodbye and she headed off to stake the un-dead.
******************
Three and a half hours, and 75 licks later(AN: My Musey is *now* the Tootsie Pop!) Buffy walked
up to Giles' door and knocked. A few seconds later, the door swung open and
Giles ushered her inside. She wondered why he wasn't saying anything, but the
truth was, he'd worn out his tongue from all the Tootsie Pop licking. So
instead of talking, he wrote down questions about how the patrolling had gone.
"I staked 14 vamps and then after a while, and after I'd been to 4
different cemetaries, I decided to call it a night. But I needed a snack, so that's why I just got here."
He nodded and wrote, "Ah, I trust everything went smoothly, then?"
She nodded, then asked him why he couldn't talk.
He blushed, then wrote, "I'm afraid I wore my tongue out."
Buffy gave him a strange look.
"Uh huh...and I probably shouldn't even bother asking, but Curiosity Girl wants to know how you
wore your tongue out."
"I was licking a Tootsie Pop", he wrote.
Again, she gave him a strange look.
"I wanted to see how many damn licks it would take to get to the center of the Tootsie Pop."
"Ahh...okay. So, how many did it take?"
"I don't know...I stopped after 75 licks, because my tongue was getting sore."
"Yeah, I can imagine. Well, I'm gonna head back to the dorm, so I can try and get some
shut-eye. I've got a lame test in Pop Culture tomorrow. I'll catch up with you
tomorrow night before patrol. Night Giles!"
He waved goodbye to her and then he went up to bed himself.
**********************
Three nights later, Giles had had enough. He needed and wanted to know where Buffy was going
every night. So he got changed into "spy" clothes and headed out to the dorm
where she was staying. At precisely 7:30PM, he watcher Buffy leave and head
toward The Espresso Pump. He stealthily followed her at a reasonable distance.
********************
At 8PM, he watched her approach the stage after being introduced as the new singer. Giles wondered why she had taken
up singing, and he also wondered how good she was. He was about to find out.
*********************
Buffy had a strange feeling that she was being watched. Obviously the audience was watching her, but she couldn't ignore
the sensation that someone other than the crowd was watching her. Shrugging, Buffy waited for the first song to start. And
while she waited, she did something kind of unusual for her....she dedicated the song.
"Hi everyone, thanks for coming tonight...I wanted to dedicate this first song,
"Thankful", by Kelly Clarkson, to the man who always watches my back."
Then the music started and Buffy began to sing.
//You know my soul
You know everything about me there’s to know
You know my heart
How to make me stop and how to make me go
You should know
I love everything about you
Don’t you know
That I’m thankful
For the blessings and the lessons
That I’ve learned with you by my side
That I’m thankful
For the love that you
Keep bringing in my life
In my life
You know my thoughts
Before I open up my mouth and try to speak
You know my dreams
Must be listening when I’m talking in my sleep
I hope you know
I love hating you around me
Don’t you know
Chorus
For the lessons that, that I’ve learned
From the troubles I’ve known
For the heartache and pain
Thrown in my way
When I didn’t think that I could go on but you made me feel strong
With you I am never alone//
When she finished singing, the crowd applauded. Giles applauded as well, and was simply stunned that she'd sung that
song for him. He wasn't sure what to make of it quite yet. So he decided to listen to the rest of her set, before trying to
reach a decision about anything.
****************
After six more songs, Buffy thanked the
crowd for being there, again. Then told everyone goodbye and goodnight. She left
the stage and got a bottled water from the manager of The Pump. Thanking him as
well, she left the coffee house and began the slow walk back to her dorm. Giles
was following her again. This time, she seemed to notice though. Because she
stopped walking and turned around.
"All right, whoever you are, come out and show yourself."
He stepped under a street light, and she gasped when she saw him.
"Giles! What are you...were you following me? You were! Why
were you...oh my god! *You* were the one I could feel watching me at The
Espresso Pump tonight! Weren't you?"
He nodded...then stepped closer to her.
"I was, but only because I wanted to know where you were going every night."
She paused, briefly, and then she resumed her walk.
He wasn't sure what to do, but decided he might as well follow her. She did her
best to ignore him...but invited him up to her room after all.
****************
They sat facing each other on her bed.
"Buffy, I wanted to know when you started singing at The Pump?"
"Five weeks ago...I needed some way to express myself, other than
slaying. So, I got the singing job. It's actually helped me deal with the whole
getting dumped thing, again."
"I see...well, then might I ask you why you dedicated that song to me, tonight?"
She blushed, then thought for a few seconds about her words.
"I dedicated that song to you, because I'm so
very thankful that you're in my life. As my Watcher. My friend. My backup. I
also dedicated the song to you, because I was hoping that you and I might be
able to spend more quality time together. Um, there is one other song that I
almost sang tonight...but at the last second, took it off my song list. Would you like to hear it?"
He nodded and gave her an encouraging grin. She
grinned back, then went over to the stack of CDs to find the right one. After a
few minutes, she grinned at him again, shyly this time. Then she put a CD in and
put it on the song she wanted. Buffy then turned to face Giles and patiently
waited for the song to start. "A Moment Like This", by Kelly Clarkson.
//What if I told you it was all meant to be
Would you believe me, would you believe
It’s almost that feelin’ we met before
So tell me that you don’t think I’m crazy
When I tell you love has come here and now
Chorus: A moment like this
Some people wait a lifetime
For a moment like this
Some people search forever
For that one special kiss
Oh I can’t believe it’s happening to me
Some people wait a lifetime
For a moment like this
Everything changes but beauty remains
Some things so tender I can’t explain
Well I may be dreamin’ but until I awake
Can we make this dream last forever
And I’ll try to show the love we share
Chorus
Could this be the greatest love of all
I wanna know that you will catch me when I fall
So let me tell you this
Some people wait a lifetime
For a moment like this
Chorus//
When she finished singing, he stood up and pulled her into his arms. He looked into her
eyes and was stunned at what he saw in their depths. Love, confusion, a little
bit of lust, and everything in her eyes, was reflected in his. Buffy never knew
she could fall in love with Giles...but she knew that she *had*. She also knew
that he'd fallen in love with her. And did it really matter *when* they'd fallen
in love? He leaned down and kissed her for the first time. She gasped in
pleasure, and he slipped his tongue into her mouth. Her tongue met his and began
a sensual game of tonsel hockey.
After a few more passion filled kisses, the two of them seperated and then sat down on her bed. Buffy sat in
Giles' lap and they whispered declarations of their new found love. Around an hour later, they were on patrol together.
Six vamps later, they headed towards his place. When she started giggling. He gave her a silly look, then
asked why she was giggling.
"I was just (giggle) wondering something...."
"Oh and what might that be?"
"Do you have any more Tootsie Pops at your house?"
"I don't believe I do, no. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I was gonna see if you wanted to have a Tootsie Pop licking
contest...but since you don't have any Tootsie Pops, never mind."
He grinned at her, Ripperishly, then said, "Why don't we have a licking contest anyway?"
She got a confused look on her face, and then suddenly turned 10 shades of red.
"We could... but whoever comes with the least amount of licks, has to reward the winner with a surprise of some kind. Of a
non-sexual manner," she finally said.
He pouted, but quickly agreed.
"Fair enough, oh and Buffy? You're going down."
She smirked and then replied, "Of course I am... but so are you, Giles."
*******************
Brief Epilogue:
Giles lost....four licks and he was coming like crazy. So Buffy's reward? Why a bouquet of 12 Tootsie
Pops, of course. :D
* * *