Chapter Text
"Alright everyone," Snyder walked into the staff lounge just in front of you, "introducing our new History teacher, Mr Reader."
Everyone was staring, you were quite a sight, scars on your face, still wearing your bike jacket, helmet tucked under one arm.
You put your hands into the pockets of your leather jacket, giving a small nod and smile, "Hello, nice to meet you all."
Your British accent seemed to put everyone at ease. Your voice was just a little bit too nice and posh sounding (it wasn't all that posh but.. Americans hear English accents and just love it) for them to be as intimidated. So, they went back to their conversations after saying a quick welcome.
Except one person.
A man stood in the corner, he had a small frown on his face. You could have sworn you'd seen him before. There was a look in his eyes-
"Mr Giles," someone was trying to get his attention, "didn't you say you had to meet a student this morning before first period?"
You noticed then that he had his bag over his shoulder, probably just about to leave when you walked into the room.
"Uh, right." He gave a quick flash of a strained smile to who he was talking to and then he rushed out of the room, ducking his head as he left.
"What-" you begin to ask Snyder but he cuts you off with a small sigh.
"That was Rupert Giles, our librarian. He's very… aloof." Snyder frowns at the doorway.
"Aloof?" You ask with a small smile, "its ok, you're aloud to say he's a little..English." Snyder huffs and you suppose that it sounded kind of like amusement.
Rupert Giles… man, he sure did look the part now. A far cry from the young trouble maker you knew. You couldn't think long on it as you were ushered to introduce yourself.
Once you got in class, you hang your suit jacket on the back of your chair, and let out a sigh before writing your name quickly on the board.
Class was going well enough when there was a knock on the door.
"Come on in." You call out, not looking up from where you were leaning over a student's shoulder helping her.
"Uh, I need to borrow Buffy Summers." You look up, seeing Rupert half leaning through the door looking way too nervous.
Glancing over at Summers you notice she looked a little worried and was already packing up her stuff.
"Of course," you smile, hoping to get one in return but he promptly avoided looking at you, "I'll drop by at lunch to hand over the homework." He muttered a very well, and hurried the student out.
You sigh as the door closes but go back to young Rosenberg's work. "I, uh- I could go give Buffy the work. We're friends, and I was going to the library at Lunch anyway."
You smile gratefully, "Thank you, Willow," you give another huff and stand back up straight, giving her shoulder a light pat, "Your work is perfect. Best I've seen in a while." She babbles a thanks, the compliment freaking her out a little, and you move on.
But all the rest of lesson you can't help thinking about how Ripper had avoided looking at you. It was fair enough since you had disappeared on him and he apparently went forward with the whole Watcher thing but still… You missed how he smiled.
Sat at the front of class, supposedly looking at work but your mind drifted. You took to concentrating on the slight cold of metal from a ring on a chain that you wore and kept hidden under your shirt.
~~~
It was late and the stars were out in full force, the English Autumn air was bloody freezing and the grass was slightly damp, but still, it was perfect.
You look to your side only to find your company already looking at you.
"What are you lookin' at?" You laugh, giving him a small nudge.
"The stars." He answered with the most stupid grin. God it made you crazy.
"Since when are you all sappy, eh Ripper?" You sit up, watching him watch you.
He sat up also, shifting closer to you, "how long 'ave I known you again?" H is hand runs up your arm and settles at the base of your neck, his thumb smoothing the skin on your jaw.
You roll your eyes and with a small laugh lean in, "And here I thought I was the romantic."
He smiles into the kiss as your hands move to play with the back of his hair. O nce you break he stands and pulls you up with him.
"I reckon I've been spending too much time with you then, all that romanticism is rubbing off on me."
"You do?" You raise and eyebrow at him as he sighs.
"Bloody defiantly." He mutters as he rummages through his jacket pocket quickly. In his hand is a ring, nothing fancy, it's a simple silver band with a twisting rope like pattern. "But," he looks at you with a small smile, "I'd like to spend a hell of a lot more time with you." He grabs your hand and puts the ring on your finger. Not your engagement finger, since no one could know but still. A ring.
"Holy shit." You gasp and he holds your hand so you could see his matching ring.
"I know getting hitched isn't an option for us… ever. But, I wanted you to know.." He takes a deep breath, "I love you."
You just grabbed him by the jacket and pulled him into a kiss. You fell to the ground, him on top of you and in the small silence of that moment you just stare at each other's eyes.
"The stars are amazing tonight." You grin at him and he does blush slightly. He can tell from your stupid grin that you were going to tease him a little.
"Oh sod off." He rolls his eyes at you before leaning back down to kiss you.
~~~
The bell rang.
"Alright guys," you smile as everyone started to pack, "on your way out, come grab a worksheet from my desk. It's a short quiz. Nothing hard, and you can use the internet, as long as you state your source."
Everyone seemed to be glad about not being banned from just looking up the answers.
Willow was the last one to come up to your desk, and you handed her an extra.
"Does Buffy get called out of lessen a lot?" You ask, leaning on the wall next to the door.
"Only if she turns up." Willow answers with a small chuckle before backtracking, "not that she's a bad student just-"
"She's got a lot going on." You finish for her, "I was warned she was a problem but.. I think she's just got a lot going on, right? I can tell she's a good kid." You smile and Willow seems more than relieved that you wouldn't be hard on her friend.
"Yeah, she tries her best." Willow smiles and quickly leaves for next lesson.
Your next lesson was smooth sailing, and you used the quiet to mull over everything. You'd moved to Sunnydale because it was a small town and a fresh start. A lot of towns turned you away from a teaching job because it got out that you liked men… Plus! The high mortality rate was kind of good cover just in case you ever had a mishap on a full moon.. But you were starting to think it was a bad idea. I mean, if Ripper- sorry, Rupert, was here and he was taking Buffy (who you assume is the slayer) out of class that means that something is probably going on. You figured that the town was full of crazy murderers and probably a few vampires but the slayer was here. Apparently permanently! So there was bound to be some crazy shit.
Lunch comes around and you put your suit jacket back on and head out to get a little fresh air, after eating.
You see Giles and some kids all sat at a bench and for a moment you're shocked at just how many people seem to know about the whole vampire thing but you have no time to mull it over as one of the kids calls out to you.
"Hey kids, Mr Giles." You greet and sit as willow shifts over a little for you, "what's up?"
Rupert doesn't look up from his book but does say a small hello so… progress(?) from the morning.
"Nothing much." Buffy shrugs but gives you a small apologetic smile, "sorry about having to leave your lesson earlier."
"It's quite alright, I'm sure Mr Giles had a more than reasonable enough uh, reason." You give a small smile and Buffy is glad that you're not angry or anything.
"Sure, but still I feel bad since it was your first lesson here."
"According to other staff members, I should be greatfull that you turned up at all." You chuckle as she goes red. Out of the corner of your eye you can see Rupert's fisted hand clench a little tighter at the sound of your laugh and you just don't know what to make of it. Does he want you to talk or leave or- gods, you just wanted him to tell you what he was thinking.
As Buffy tries to rush out a defence you shrug, "it's alright, I know you've got a lot on your plate. Being a teenager takes up a lot of time on its own, let alone anything else you need to do."
"Thanks." She smiles.
You notice a kid you hadn't seen in class, he had an arm around Willow's waist so you guessed they were together.
"Hi, I'm the new History teacher, Mr Reader." You give the guy a nod in greeting and he does the same.
"Oz." He replies simply, "nice to meet you."
You study him for a second and frown a little there's something off about him…
"You're a werewolf." You didn't really mean to say it outloud but you did. Everyone tenses and looks at you weird. Even Rupert looks up and you, eyebrows raised. Willow and Xander try to scramble together a denial but Oz just looks at you a little longer and tilts his head to the side.
"You're a werewolf." He says back, the smallest inclination of surprise in his voice.
"Oh.." Willow relaxes a little, glad Oz isn't in any immediate trouble but she's still very on edge, "how'd you know?"
You give her a smile, trying to put her at ease, "it's just getting very close to the full moon and I just… sensed him."
Giles takes his glasses off for a second to wipe them but once they are back on his face he looks at you, opens his mouth to talk, closes it again to swallow thickly then continues on. "H-how long have you.." He trails off, eyebrows furrowed and frowning.
You give him a small smile, it was strained and sad but you tried, "well, I don't remember how many years exactly but I was young."
"Were you living with your parents still?" He prompted.
"Oh," you got it, he was trying to ask if it was while you were with him, "funnily enough.." You pause, not sure if you should carry on with the truth but one look at the sad searching look in Rupert's eyes and you sighed, " Funnily enough my parents kicked me out the night it happened." You just about heard Willow say her sympathies but you were focused on the shocked look of Rupert. You couldn't look him in the eye as you carried on, but you needed to get the truth out there. "They uh… found out I was, uh, dating someone and kicked me out. Drove me to the edge of our town and told me to never come back. That night…"
"You were bitten." Giles finished for you, his voice had a small shake to it. "You were bitten because-" his voice was soft and you could tell he was blaming himself for it, so you had to interrupt.
"Because my parents dumped me on the street." You said firmly, looking up to meet his eyes. "Never for a second did I blame y- my partner."
There was a pause of you looking at each other and before you could say any more the bell rang.
It snapped you out of the moment and you stood hurriedly, "I gotta go." You straightened your clothes and gave everyone a quick smile, "great seeing you all." You mutter and practically bolt away.
"That was weird." Xander comments quietly.
The rest of the day was easy, you tried not to think too much about what happened at lunch, so you made yourself busy helping students, getting way more planning than you needed in, did a bit of reading. Overall you were very productive, but defiantly tired.
For a while you sit there, one hand over your heart, eyes closed, focusing on your breathing.
~~~
Everything was too much. Too much sound and light and smell and-
"Relax, love." Ripper's voice is soft and close, a whisper as he guides you out of the busy club and to his car. You try and focus in his hand on your shoulder, a grounding point. You're there, he's there, everything is ok.
You had your eyes screwed shut the whole time until you feel the leather of his seats and the click of the door.
He sat you in the back of the car, him next you you, half on the seat, half kneeling, so that he can be slightly in front of you.
It was a routine you had for when you freaked out. It didn't happen all the time but enough that you felt pretty stupid every time it happened.
"Going to touch you now." He mutters, undoing the top few buttons on your shirt and putting his chilled hand on the burning skin of your chest.
Ripper always has it so it's the hand with the ring on he touches you with. With your hand on top of his, he counts quietly and you breathe deep.
After a while he let's you do the counting in your head, only stepping back in with corrections if you speed up and start to get panicky again.
"Deep breaths." He speaks softly and just so full of understanding and love.
Once everything calms down and you can see the world properly again, you mutter a small sorry. Always feeling guilty for making Ripper put his fun on pause for you.
And like always he shakes his head softly and leans forward to kiss your forehead, "I love you."
~~~
As you let out a particularly long breath, you open your eyes back up and become aware of someone else in the room.
"Rough first day?" It was Rupert, leaning against the wall, his voice soft, like it always was when you needed a moment, and a tiny half smile tugged at his lips but you could see he was a little.. Apprehensive.
You give him a similar smile, "Just a long day, I think. Gotta get used to the energy of this place."
He let out a small amused huff, moving to perch at the edge of your desk. "Are you alright?"
You nod and stretch your arms forward, "Yes, just haven't been in a teaching position for a while, I forgot how much energy it took."
He chuckles softly before clearing his throat and frowning a little, "I uh, I'm sorry, a-about lunch, I didn't mean to pry-"
"It's alright," taking a deep breath in, you stand up, "I didn't mean to.. Well mention anything." The both of you give small strained chuckles, "Still," you continue, "I'm glad I got the chance to let you know.." Putting on your leather jacket, you shrug, "although it didn't happen like I had practiced in my head."
"Really?" Rupert raised an eyebrow at you.
"No, I imagined some kind of… chance meet in a dark alley, and a shouting battle. Someone cries," you laugh at yourself for a moment, "and it would be raining."
Rupert smiles unguarded for a moment and rolls his eyes at you, "You always have been one for the dramatics."
"What can I say, some things about a man will never change." You think about all that has changed, about both you and Rupert. For starters, you both looked a far cry from your younger rebellious selves. Hair neat, less toned (although still broad. Still strong.. Maybe you more so than Rupert, its a wolf thing probably), the wrinkles from years of laughing, crying, living… gods, you had missed everyone of those years, but hopefully he'd let you be back in his life, even just at a friendly work capacity. Sure it would kill you a little everyday but you had just missed him so much.
Rupert stands up and follows you out the classroom, waiting for you as you lock the door.
"Buffy has gone home to get some homework in before going on patrol, a-and the others have gone home to get some well earned rest. I was just about to head home myself, but, uh, i-if you prefer we could go get drinks and catch up?" He busies his hands with his glasses as he spoke, putting them back on after finishing to gauge your reaction well.
He was glad to find a smile and you could see the relief on his face, a smile forming to match yours.
"If by drinks you mean that lovely café a block over, I'd be delighted to." You pat his shoulder, deciding that any amount of alcohol might be a bit much for now, even at low amounts, and again you notice muted relief.
"I've been meaning to ask, why do so many people know about Buffy being the slayer? Aren't they supposed to be all… the chosen one and solo?"
Rupert couldn't even try to hold in the small burst of laughter, "Yes, well, I did try that approach. Needless to say, it didn't work out."
The pair of you exit the school together and get in Rupert's car, your motorbike left in the parking lot, you'd need a lift to work in the morning.