Title: ln Your Eyes
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Pairing: Rupert Giles/Buffy Summers
Rating: Teen
Length: 741 words
Content notes: Spoilers up to 4x12 A New Man.
Author notes: Buffy has a really bad habit of deflecting her feelings with humour. I wanted to call her out on it. Also, I’m kind of falling in love with this pairing and I loved this moment so here we are.
Summary: The demon spell was reversed but there’s something still bothering Buffy. Alternate ending to A New Man.



“How did you know it was me?”

“Your eyes,” Buffy replied, “You're the only person in the world that can looked that annoyed with me.”

She was deflecting. Giles knew it but he wasn’t going to call her on it. Not with Ethan and Riley still in the room. So he gave her a small smile.

Some military police showed up then and grabbed Ethan, leading him out to their vehicle. Giles left the room to give Buffy and Riley a moment together, and to gather his thoughts.

His mind flashed back to Buffy’s determination. She had looked so angry and hurt as she’d stabbed his demon self. She had sworn to avenge his death, and it stirred some feelings in Giles that he tried hard to sublimate.

“Giles?”

He turned to the subject of his thoughts who had apparently exited the motel room. Riley was notably absent, which surprised him. Buffy looked uneasy and Giles knew that something was bothering her.

“Buffy,” he replied, “Is everything alright?”

She laughed then. Not one of her real laughs that Giles had heard far too few times for his liking. This was a sort of manic laughter and it added to Giles’s worries.

“Only you would ask if I’m okay after being turned into a demon and nearly dying,” She said, shaking her head.

“Well, I didn’t die,” he replied, “And the spell was reversed, so I’m quite human again.”

Buffy didn’t say anything and just fidgeted beside him. Giles placed a hand gently on her shoulder.

“I’m not upset,” he told her, thinking that he had discovered the root of her anxiety, “You were trying to avenge me. I was quite touched. I don’t think I had any annoyance in my expression whatsoever.”

He was alluding to her words from earlier. Buffy looked at him with a mixture of anger and sorrow.

“What was I supposed to say?” She asked him, “I was terrified. I had stabbed you. I thought I had condemned another person I care about to hell.”

It hit him then. Buffy had thought back to Angel and killing him to save the world from Acathla. She collapsed into tears and he pulled her towards him.

“Oh Buffy,” he sighed.

“Riley wasn’t going to let me come,” she choked out, “They wanted to capture the demon. I insisted though.“

“I’m very glad you did,” he mused.

“Me too.”

They stood there for a moment. Buffy cried into the awful silk shirt he was wearing, one of Ethan’s, and Giles was trying to soothe her.

“It was your eyes,” she admitted when she was a bit calmer, “They’re so green but there’s this really pretty spot of brown in them.”

He chuckled, though his heart thumped a bit faster at her choice of words. They pulled back from each other.

“You think they’re pretty huh?” he quipped.

Buffy blushed then. Giles didn’t think she could look more adorable if she tried.

“Yeah, uh, well -“ she stammered.

“Buffy, I’m teasing you,” he replied, “I’m flattered that you even noticed that.”

She looked up at him and Giles was blown away. The light of the moon outside was reflecting in her eyes in such a dazzling way. He felt as if time had stopped between them.

“Giles, I -“

She shook her head quickly, not able to finish her thought. Giles swallowed heavily, feeling the tension and half-hoping they would end up on the good side of it.

“Buffy?”

Buffy looked up at him again, eyes full of confidence.

“When I thought that demon killed you,” she told him, “It felt like the world fell out from under me. And when I recognized that the demon was you, I realized that it was more than that.”

Giles felt his heart hammering in his chest, not willing to believe that this was really happening.

“I broke it off with Riley,” she continued, “I couldn’t be with him when I’m in love with somebody else.”

“Buffy, I-“

“I know, I know,” she said, cutting him off, “You’re a lot older and I’m your Slayer and you don’t feel that way about me, but I had to tell you because -“

He cut her off with a solidly placed kiss. Giles could feel her shock at first, but then she responded by kissing him back with some impressive force.

“For the record,” Giles told her when they finally broke apart, “I love you too.”