Fic: Love and Loyalties 7/11
Apr. 11th, 2012 04:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crys_lochVampire Stories, story 4
BtVS / Buffy/Willow/Xander
NC- 17
Summery: Cordelia? There are many questions that arise. Some truths are revealed. And everyone has choices to make.
Love and Loyalties, part 7.
Disclaimers and warnings are listed in part 1 and still apply.
A state university was never really closed for summer. Grad students and interns worked on grant and research projects. The university hosted conventions, seminars and study programs. The lights were still on. But the immense population of the young and transient had already flown to their off season destinations and at night, the campus was much quieter. Xander and Willow wandered together along the main paths and in the courtyards waiting for the stray human to wander into sight.
“I wish I could see this place in the day,” Willow mused aloud. “Take classes here. It looks like a nice college. It looks like a college should.”
“I guess,” Xander shrugged. “They built it right into the hill though. Can you imagine running up and down with a heavy book bag? This whole city is up and down hills. I’m just glad we don’t tire easy.”
“Wimp,” Willow accused.
“Wimp?” Xander challenged. He looked around and spotted a granite sculpture of a man seated with some sort of animal on his lap. Xander wrapped his arms around the sculpture, bent his legs and pulled hard. The large heavy granite piece tipped and fell forward. He laid it to rest so that the man was now bent over the animal in a suggestive manner. He turned, smiled and walked back over to Willow. “The Mystery Vandal’s no wimp.”
“Xander!” Willow couldn’t help but laugh even as she slapped his shoulder when he came within reach. “That was a work of art. One of the university garden sculptures.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Xander acknowledged. “The place has plenty.” They started moving away from the scene of the crime. “And I didn’t break it, I just made it funny. Have you noticed the whole city tries to make everything artistic? I’m just doing my part.”
“Yeah well, then do your part with the cover up,” Willow suggested by nodding to the approaching security guard.
“Sure, but why not you?” Xander offered.
“I already flipped,” Willow shrugged as the guard deliberately headed for them.
“Okay.” Xander nodded to Willow and then turned to the guard just as the man arrived. Before he could even ask them any questions, Xander let the demon surface, grabbed the man and fed. He dumped the body behind some bushes just off the path. “Let’s keep going.”
After finding a couple more kills, Xander and Willow sat together beside a large fountain in a main courtyard. “Xander,” Willow started into the comfortable silence, “have you ever wondered why in a city next to the water where it rains all the time they also have so many fountains around?”
Xander gave the question a long moment of thought. It was that kind of night. “I guess they just like being wet. You feel better now?”
“Yeah,” Willow admitted. “You still stuck in memory lane?”
“Yeah,” Xander also admitted, “a little. A human Cordy this morning and then Buffy’s thing.”
“I’m not sure what got into Buffy.” Willow leaned against Xander and into his arms, but looked out across the campus and over to the lights of ships on the bay. “I mean, bringing up all that. Maybe her need for danger and a fight is rising.”
“I don’t think that’s it,” Xander tried to reassure. “I’ve been wondering a little too. We… we do this now, the sex. And there’s this freedom now. You can’t say we have many inhibitions. I think we just want to know. Everything.”
Willow thought about what he said until her thoughts began to wander. “So, did you?”
“Did I what?” Xander was holding her close. He could feel the bond and the memories were already so close but he still could not read her mind.
“Did you ever fantasize about me?” Willow stayed motionless and stared across to the Salish Sea as she waited for the answer.
Xander kissed her neck then whispered in her ear. “Yes.”
Willow turned around and faced him. “When? What fantasy?”
“Let me just say first that I did always notice you, it’s just you were the one thing I had in my crazy mixed up life that I couldn’t screw up. With my parents and everything… I needed you. And I was afraid, I was sure I would screw it up.” Xander stopped and kissed her. “I need you to understand that.”
“You always noticed me?” Willow smiled uncertainly.
“Yes,” Xander confirmed. “I just couldn’t take the chance, so I shoved the feelings away and only let them out when I was alone. You could say I always fantasized about you. Just in secret. Starting in about sixth grade.”
“In sixth grade you were crushing on Harmony,” Willow reminded him none too gently.
“Hey, we agreed never to bring that up!” Xander playfully argued. “She did get boobs before everyone else…” He drifted off in mock remembrance with a smile. He returned his gaze to Willow, smile still in place. “You. I kept thinking of you. After we practiced dancing that night in your room so we would know what to do if we were ever asked…”
“I kept thinking about that, too!” Willow interrupted. “If you were thinking it and I was thinking it, why didn’t we just…”
“Because I couldn’t risk it,” Xander gently reminded her. “You were my only family, Willow. Well, the only one that wasn’t drunk and didn’t hit me.” He quickly tried to move the conversation to better thoughts. “You know what really got me? That Halloween night with the costume spell. I thought of that for a long time. And of course who could forget the first vampire Willow?” Xander grinned in what he hoped was an impish and roguish manner. “I think you need to buy that leather outfit.”
Willow laughed, letting go for the moment the harsh realities of their childhoods and what might have been. Instead, she focused as Buffy had done, as Xander was suggesting, on the fantasies. “I’m not buying or wearing that outfit. I’m not that vampire anymore.” Willow ran her hand through Xander’s hair and kissed him deeply. “I imagined me and you at night all those years as well. So, in a way, I guess it was like it was really happening.”
Xander kissed her again. “Just in secret. Well, I guess the fluke brought it out in the open for a time. You know now, without the guilt bugging me, I like thinking back on that.”
“You’re so bad,” Willow admonished as she unbuttoned his shirt a little and ran her hand over his chest. “You know what I kept remembering tonight? All those times we would just walk at night in the summer, sort of patrolling. I kept wishing something would happen.”
“Something like what?” Xander asked as he slipped his hand under Willow’s shirt to cup her breast. He kissed her, his other hand tangled gently in her hair. As he pulled away from the kiss, his hand dropped from her hair to the front of his jeans and started undoing them. “Something like this?”
Willow looked around. “Here?”
Xander gave her a short reassuring kiss. Both his hands were now undoing her pants and lowering them. “Why not? My fantasy too. Patrolling, kissing, we can’t wait and there’s no place to go so we find a secluded place outside…”
Willow cut him off with another kiss as she let him undress her. She reached gently into his jeans and started to stroke his cock. He was ready, hard, and she straddled his lap with his help and guided his cock inside. Her knees scraped on the cement of the fountains edge on either side of him and she didn’t think to wonder why she liked the pain. His thrusts forced his cock deep. She bounced, impaling herself, compelling the most sensation. She pulled his shirt off him and dug her nails into his back. Her head rested on his shoulder as she clung to him. Willow felt Xander start to stroke her clit and she knew he was nearing climax. She tangled her hands in his hair and kissed him hard, her tongue stroking his own, playing freely around blunt teeth. Enjoying the fact they didn’t need to breathe, they both climaxed, first one then the other, as they kissed. As they calmed down, a stray thought wandered into Willow’s mind. “Xander, your fantasy, weren’t you worried about a vampire interrupting us if we were having sex outside in Sunnydale?”
Xander just laughed and held Willow a little tighter. “That’s the great thing about fantasies. You can edit.”
“Oh, right.” Willow thought about it a moment. “I always stopped at the kissing part outside and brought it back to my house for the rest.”
“Well,” Xander reasoned, “you always were the more sensible one.”
“Speaking of…” Willow got up off Xander’s lap and looked at her torn up knees. The scrapes were already healing. She smiled and started to get dressed. “You want to head back down? Maybe go to The Hungry Ghost?”
Xander’s jeans were closed and he was doing up the buttons on his shirt. “Sounds good.”
* * *
Buffy walked down Cornwall toward the lower part of town. Instead of turning onto Holly to reach Railroad, she skipped the busier part of the night life and kept on to the smaller side roads and the back way to The Hungry Ghost. There were two of them: some drunken college boys, assholes, who were looking for trouble or someone to pick on. They got in her way. It felt good to pound them before she fed. And their blood went down smooth and easy. She was reassured a little but still wanted some answers. She was almost there, had just turned down a small side street that led to Railroad right beside The Hungry Ghost. A vampire approached purposely. They both stopped; a respectful distance between them.
“Do you know who I am?” the vampire ordered rather than asked.
Buffy just calmly looked at the man. Middle aged, Latin, well dressed and highly decorated with men’s jewelry; it was all for show and somehow looked awkward on him. He gave the effect of having something to prove and always having to prove it. Buffy was fairly sure she had no idea who this guy was. “You know, it’s the strangest de je, I was just saying that same thing earlier tonight. No. I don’t know who you are. Should I?” Buffy appeared nonchalant as she glanced around for any others.
He wasn’t fooled by her bored look. He knew she was seeing if they were truly alone. They were. This was something he had to do himself. And he was sure, fairly sure, he could do it. “I’m Reyes. I’m the master vampire in this city. I am the master here. And I know who you are.”
“Oh for crying out loud,” Buffy uttered to herself. “This is what passes for a master here?” She steadied her stance and called out a little louder. “You know who I am? Look, I’m having kinda a night. And I gotta tell ya, I don’t care. If you know who I am, you know it’s not my job to worry about masters anymore. Leave me and my friends alone and we won’t have a problem.”
“You come into my town, you have to go by my rules,” Reyes began.
“I gotta stop ya right there,” Buffy interrupted. She was not going to live by some wanna be master vampire’s rules.
“That’s what I thought.” Reyes moved forward a little. “I control this town. And after I’ve killed the famous Buffy slayer, even if she is now a vampire, no-one will dare think of trying to oppose me again.”
“There’s a problem with that,” Buffy smiled as she pointed out.
“What’s that?” Reyes looked around to see if any of her friends had come to her rescue. None had.
“You have to kill me, stupid.” Buffy leapt into the fight. Faster than he was expecting, she landed blows and kicks while skirting his lumbering attempts. She hadn’t even changed to her vampire visage yet, instead letting the slayer have her fun. She didn’t have a stake though, and didn’t see any weapon of convenience in the street. As a series of punches to the face and a kick to the legs brought him to his knees, a thought occurred to her. She quickly got behind him and put both her feet on his calves. She grabbed his head with both hands and twisted it to the side and up as hard as she could. He screamed. Buffy heard the crack of the spine as his head was pulled from his body. Then it all turned to dust. She smiled. She honestly smiled and jumped up and down a little, shaking the fight and the dust from her body. She stretched herself out and relaxed. She didn’t feel the ‘buzz’, the feedback of the calling. But some part of her just felt good. She turned to continue on to the bar, needing a drink now more than ever, when she was stopped again.
Jack stepped out of the shadows well away from Buffy. “That was impressive.”
Buffy stopped up short, defensive. She lowered her guard when she recognized who was standing before her now. “Thanks. How much did you see?”
“Just the end. One of my men came to tell me there was trouble.” Jack came a little closer knowing now he wouldn’t be attacked. “Are you injured?”
“Me? No,” Buffy scoffed. “He didn’t even lay a hand on me.” She paused for a moment and motioned to the dust on the street. “Look, I’m sorry about that. He came looking for me. He knew who I was and thought he’d score some points. I know you don’t like violence.”
Jack smiled and walked slowly even closer until he was a conversational distance away. “I think you know I don’t necessarily run from it either. I understand. Reyes was an idiot. The kind who trusts no-one, so I’m sure he told no-one.”
“Well, that’s good I guess.” Buffy wasn’t sure what to say now.
“You didn’t even change to the vampire. Am I to guess that the slayer did that? You looked pleased.” Jack was hoping, maybe, he could gain some insight.
“She is I guess. This time. It’s been a strange night,” Buffy hedged, then remembered she hoped for some information. It was always give a little and receive a little between them. “It felt good. But I don’t have the buzz from the calling I guess. Willow called it feedback. I used to get all juiced up. For healing or whatever. I don’t feel the connection now. But it didn’t suck. Jack…” Buffy got his attention and looked him in the eyes. “Earlier tonight, I killed and fed off a slayer. Just some young girl called up by Willow’s spell. Anyway, after I fed, I threw it all back up. Do you know why? Ever hear of that happening?”
Jack didn’t try to hide his shock. They had talked a few times since Buffy had found his bar, and in those few times he had learned a little. Probably more than most, yet still only a little but this most of all: close yourself off, don’t share, and there will be no trust. He wanted trust. He trusted her. Those few times and already he could say he trusted her. She knew a little and more than most about him. He too gave that trust to almost no-one. “Buffy, I wasn’t aware there was a slayer. And no, I have never heard of that happening. I can only guess… the Slayer… I don’t know why. You have never happened.”
“Yeah, I was afraid of that,” Buffy relented and diverted her eyes. “You know, I don’t get that. I mean for centuries, there’s been vampires and there’s been Slayers, you’d think…”
“But none who would let a vampire get that close.” When Buffy looked over to him, Jack continued. “There’s never been a Slayer who’s been so close to a vampire that even at death she clung so dearly that she drank. Even if a loved one is turned, they seek vengeance. You…”
“Always had a soft spot for vampires as Xander would say,” Buffy interrupted.
“Really?” Jack again didn’t bother to hide his surprise.
Buffy laughed. “Long stories. Other times. Maybe that’s why my karma’s so messed up it came to this though.”
Jack’s voice dropped calm and serious. “This wasn’t Karma, Buffy. You were the world’s protector and paid a great price while doing it. You saved this world, many times. The things that happened before. This now. It isn’t Karma.” He remembered to lighten up a little, that she was using the word as the common ‘this for that’ that it had become. “I’m sorry. My monk training from too long ago still bursts out I’m afraid. Still, please understand this, Karma is not that simple. You did this so now that happened. It’s more complicated.”
Buffy smiled and nodded to let him know it was alright. She started walking again and lead them down the street toward the entrance of the bar. “I gotta tell ya, the things I’ve seen, what’s happened to me now… There is nothing complicated enough to explain this.”
Jack laughed. “Just please know you did not bring this on yourself. Even if, as you say, you always had the hots for vampires.”
Buffy slapped Jack across the chest. “I said Xander said I had a soft spot for vampires.” She looked over at him playfully. He was well dressed as usual in black slacks and this night it was a purple silk shirt with red threads randomly running through. He wore it right and was dressed to impress no-one. It just impressed. “You wish.” She smiled at his unapologetic grin. “Well, one thing can be said for all this. At least now I get to really see behind the curtain of death and remember it.”
“True,” Jack conceded. “Though life always felt like a big curiosity as well. I guess that’s why I’ve spent the centuries a part of it where I could.”
“Talk to Xander for us,” Buffy asked of him as they rounded the corner onto Railroad and approached the entrance to the bar. “I still think he doesn’t understand why we don’t just live in a sewer.”
“Well, for one thing, they stink,” Jack observed as he opened the door to his club and gestured Buffy in.
“Exactly.” Buffy headed straight for the bar and that much wanted and deserved drink.
* * *
Willow and Xander walked into The Hungry Ghost and found Buffy at the bar talking with the bartender. Tonight the bar was kept by a Drudloc demon. He appeared to be an older gentleman with graying blue spiky hair and wrinkles around his violet eyes and natural red lips. The kind of age lines you get from smiling all your life. He was quick to joke, laugh and tease; projecting a warmth and humor that could diffuse most situations. This ability combined with a innate radar for trouble and danger made him a natural for this job. He had finally got Buffy truly laughing as Willow and Xander joined her.
Buffy hugged and kissed each of them in greeting. “You guys have a good night?”
Xander nodded as Willow sat down beside Buffy and he settled in, standing close beside Willow and facing both women. “It was good and interesting. The docks, the college. You?”
“Together?” Buffy continued on when all she got for an answer was a confirmation shrug and smile from Willow. “I went bar hunting. It turned out to be a strange one. But, we can talk about our nights later. When we don’t have to shout over the music. Right now, I just want to relax with my best buds.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Willow readily raised her newly arrived drink and toasted.
Xander took a long draught of his regular order of beer before asking, “Where’s Jack?”
“He had to go to the back rooms,” Buffy answered then finished her own beer and signaled for another.
Jack stood at the end of the balcony near the door to his office and watched the three young vampires from Sunnydale below. Whether it was from his presence near them and obvious interest in them when they visited his establishment or just a natural aura they projected, it was already generally understood they were to be left alone. The seats beside Buffy were empty until Willow and Xander came in. No-one attempted to pick them up or ask them to dance. Alone or together, they were left unmolested in the club. Jack smiled as he watched them laughing over something and Buffy playfully slapped Willow’s thigh as Xander leaned forward seemingly in her defense, probably trying to explain.
Jack gripped the top of the balcony railing and leaned forward himself. He couldn’t hear the conversation over the deep bass and pulsing beat of the European dance music that he preferred. He wasn’t trying to hear them. He was caught suddenly by the dynamics of it all. Jack had learned a bit over the conversations they shared the times they had been in. He had heard the stories and had sought more since knowing they had some truth to them. A Slayer, a Witch and just… just a human friend. Yet this just human had saved the world from the witch when even the Slayer could not, and he had saved the Slayer before as well. So here it was- Willow sired Buffy who sired Xander who had once stood up and saved the world from Willow. Jack watched them closely as they laughed, joked and teased each other; the touches and shifts in coupling body language moving around the three, effortlessly tossing the upper hand about with negligent whims.
A feeling so long forgotten, so foreign to him washed through him that it shocked him out of his revelry. It took Jack a long moment to place it, so unfamiliar was this shaking heat: envy. He closed his eyes and calmed his mind, gently dispelling the sudden wave and finding his balance once more. He shook his head and smiled again. It was just another law broken. He shouldn’t have been surprised. It was obvious now watching them that the rules of Sire/childe didn’t strictly apply. Their bonds from before their turning must somehow transcend the childe is submissive to the Sire roles. It wasn’t completely unheard of, just rare. He had needed to negotiate and ask for his freedom. And still, even now, if his Sire asked something of him…
Jack let that go and watched the three young vampires again. Buffy was stealing a sip of Willow’s Bloody Mary as Willow was distracted by something his bartender was saying and Xander looked for all the world, standing there between them, sipping his beer and looking around the club, like he was here with his ladies and the one in control. Jack smiled and bowed. He realized he learned much tonight of them and of himself. He turned away from the scene and entered his office.
* * *
Giles sat content at the end of the sofa. The night was late, the lights were low; a decanter of good scotch and a newly refreshed glass were on the end table beside him. Jenny lay curled up on the sofa with her head resting on his lap. He had been absently stroking her hair for so long and she had stayed so still, he wondered now if she was asleep. His mind had been drifting about the last hour or so, from the mundane decision to let the dirty dishes from dinner go until tomorrow, to the stronger translation of Marcus he had just received and the possibilities he could foresee from the entries he had read so far, back to wondering if he would ever get used to folding Jenny’s under things when doing the laundry. He took a sip of his scotch just as Jenny stretched and repositioned a little. Maybe she was awake.
“Rupert,” Jenny quietly broke the silence and both their thoughts. “Dinner really was great. Thank you.”
Giles smiled down at her head though she was facing the room and couldn’t see. “So you’ve already said. And you’re welcome. I’m glad you liked it.”
“I didn’t know you could cook Italian,” Jenny continued the benign conversation. She started stroking his leg absently and stared out into the dimly lit room.
“Italian is simple,” Giles confessed. He started stroking her hair again. “I can cook simple things. I was a bachelor for many years, remember.”
Jenny smiled. She almost turned over so he could see it but chose to remain facing away. “I was single myself, you know. Cooking for one… I just never saw the attraction. I’m glad one of us knows how. Should we get up to clean the mess?” The sudden opportunity for procrastination seemed a wonderful idea. She really didn’t want to have the conversation she was trying to bring up the courage for.
“They can wait.” Giles felt warm, sleepy and content. The only thing he wanted to move for was the bed and even that he felt was optional.
Thus defeated, Jenny knew it was time. She had been putting it off all night. Putting it off until now it was even too late. But she had to say this, had to tell him about what she’d done and what she’d learned. The last hours spent trying to figure out why it happened hadn’t led to any real answers, nor had she come up with any great way to bring it up. That left just bringing it up. “Rupert, I have to confess something. And you’re going to be angry with me. That’s alright, you should be angry with me.”
“Jenny?” Giles stopped stroking her hair and reached again for his glass of scotch.
Jenny decided to stay on his lap and continue to look out into the room, choosing to feel his reaction rather than see it at first. “Last night, after you were asleep, I went back out.” She felt him stiffen and squeezed his thigh briefly in acknowledgement. She started stroking the top and side of his leg again. “I don’t know why, I just had to. I saw Xander and Willow. They didn’t see me. I followed them to where they spend the day. I know where they stay now. It was… it was this damn bond I have with them. I’m sure of it.”
Giles was fully awake now and true; even angry. He tried not to just stand up, not to just lash out. He knew… he knew there was a bond, a spell, that she had been called back to a purpose bound to that role. Knowing these things didn’t lessen this initial feeling of betrayal. And worry. He was scared for her. And for them. He tried, but he couldn’t keep his voice from dropping lower or speaking in harsh clipped edges. “Jenny. You could have been hurt. Or worse. We don’t know what they would or can do to you. Why… why go back alone? Without me? Why sneak out?”
Jenny squeezed his leg again and snuggled even tighter to him. She could hear the anger in his voice, but overall it was going better than she feared and she began to hope. After that the confession just spilled. “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to figure that out all day and night.” She took a deep breath. “It happened again today as well. I went out to go to the computer store and I ended up at the building where they stay. Even though it was the day and they wouldn’t be out. But I was there, just in time to see Cordelia leave. She’s definitely not a vampire, by the way. I didn’t go out thinking I was going to check on them. I was just compelled. I ended up sitting in a diner, eating lunch and just watching the building until I came to my senses and could go on with my day the way I had planned. I didn’t mean to lie to you. I swore I would tell you tonight. I just… I didn’t know how to tell you. I don’t know what’s going on or why but I know I don’t want it to happen behind your back.” She finished the confession as well and as strongly as she could.
Giles felt her clinging to him. He listened to the words and let them filter all the way through to the reasoned part of his brain. Years of hearing bad news, of being told the story after the fact had given him some practice at emotional control and patience of mind. This hurt, yes. But it always hurt. He reminded himself that there were greater forces at play here than he or Jenny could control. There always seemed to be greater forces at work than could be controlled. What she learned could be dealt with tomorrow. What was important tonight was the two of them. What they could control. “Jenny,” he started in a much softer tone than he had used earlier. “I won’t say I’m not hurt or upset. I’m not sure I understand either, but I do believe that you didn’t willfully do this behind my back. I’m concerned for your safety. All of this, why it’s happening and what we can do about it can be put off for another time. Right now I want you to understand that I love you.”
“Oh, God, Rupert,” Jenny cried over expelling her held breath. She quickly brushed away an errant tear, sat up and clinched him in a bear hug. She buried her face in his shoulder and hoped she could just stay that way not quite ready yet to look into his eyes.
Giles wrapped his arms around her back and held her close. He let his memories of the joy of having her back in his life, of his second chance, balm his hurt. He let the growing comfort of the physical connection, of feeling the warmth of her breath and the scent of her hair, ease his mind. Anything, everything was worth this. Finally, gently, he pushed her away just enough so he could see her face, look into her eyes. She avoided it at first, but then relented. Any lingering doubts of willful intent on her part to leave him out disappeared with the sorrow, regret and fear he found so clearly showing in those eyes. Giles cupped Jenny’s face and wiped a stray tear from her cheek with his thumb. He smiled and kissed her. As he pulled back and dropped his hands to her shoulders, Jenny smiled and ran her fingers across the back of his neck and pulled him in for another kiss. A deeper, longer kiss.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Jenny confessed her greatest fear.
“Love,” Giles began as he stroked her hair and smiled. “Having you here… Having this chance…” He wasn’t sure how to express these feelings. Not with words. He never could. “Come on, let’s go to bed. Tomorrow we’ll get around to washing the dishes as well as sorting all this out.”
Jenny laughed, the relief almost bringing tears again. She rose from the sofa and Giles’s embrace and extended a hand to help him up. Together they crossed to the bedroom and prepared for sleep. They lay a few moments under the covers and in each other’s arms, still uncertain. Jenny ran her hand over his bare chest, stroking her fingers through downy wisps of hair. She could feel his steady breathing, deep and measured, but not yet the calm of sleep. He reached up and over and ran his hand down her side from her shoulder over her hips and to the skin of her thighs. Jenny gasped and bent forward to kiss him as his fingers traveled back up her thigh under her night gown to caress her ass. Jenny rolled over onto her back and tried to pull Giles over on top of her. He at least would get the hint.
She pulled her night gown up and over her head and tossed it to the floor. Giles hovered above for a moment until she completed the undressing then bent down to caress and suck a nipple with his lips and tongue. She arched into it and then fell back onto the bed and clung onto his back as he continued relentlessly. She started to push at his pajama bottoms, trying to bunch them down over his hips. Giles moved to the other breast and rose up a little, centering himself over her and helping her in her pursuit to divest him of his clothing, even if he was distracted. Finally giving in, he took off the offending garment himself and tossed it aside. Jenny wrapped a hand around his erection; her foot started stroking his calf. He knelt before her between her legs. His hands stroked her thighs. He trailed one finger from the knee, up the inner thigh and to her center. He ran his finger between her lips and teased her clit, then down and entered her, stroking, watching her watch him, waiting and ready.
He wanted her. Like nothing else in his life, he wanted her. He bent forward and she guided his erection into herself. Their kiss was wild with abandon as he thrust deeply and paused. Then there was rhythm, driving force met with equal force, arched backs and rapid breaths, the incoherent sounds of pleas and pleasure. Jenny wrapped her arms around his back and her legs around his hips. Her feet ran up and down whatever part of the back of his legs they could find encouraging him before she just gave up, planted her feet on the bed and braced herself in the onslaught. Her nails raked his back and tangled in his hair. He sucked the skin of her neck, her collarbone, bent to suck her breast then gave up and kissed her hard, trying to steal her moans. It felt desperate, needy, alive. When Giles pitched over the edge before he even knew his climax was near, he reached down to stroke Jenny’s clit, frantic to see her climax with him.
After, as they lay again in each other’s arms, the mood was finally calm and assured. Jenny was running her hand through the hairs on his chest, but this time she could feel his breathing drifting off into to the shallower tempo of sleep. She was also beginning to fade, certain, for the moment, in life.
* * *
