EXPERIENCE
Laura Smith
Willow sank down onto the couch opposite Giles and smiled at him. "Hi. What are you doing here?"
"I thought I might come and visit with you and Buffy for a bit. I know that we've been out of touch lately, with all that's been going on, so I thought it might be good to touch base, as it were."
She smiled, tilting her head to the side. "Oh Giles. That's nice. But I can't."
"Oh. I see. And…and Buffy?"
"I'm not sure about Buffy. But I already have a lunch date."
"You do. I didn't realize that you'd started seeing anyone since…well, since Oz's departure."
"Willow?" Giles looked up as a deep voice came from over Willow's shoulder. She turned her head and smiled beatifically up at the man standing there.
"Noah. Hi. You're early."
"Well, I didn't want to keep you waiting. I run the risk of someone else noticing you and whisking you away to a life of leisure instead of academic pursuits. Can't have that, you know."
She stood up, taking his hand as he walked around the couch. When he reached her side, she slid easily under his arm, leaning into him. "Noah, I want you to meet Giles. Rupert Giles, this is Noah Baxter."
"Hello." Giles stood and extended his hand, focusing his attention on the man so that he wouldn't end up staring at his familiarity with Willow.
"I've heard a lot about you," Noah stated. "Willow is always talking about Buffy and the rest of you. It's nice to finally have a face to put with the name."
"You know… Buffy as well?"
"She's in my English 101 class." Noah's eyes met Giles'. "I'm one of Willow's professors. I take it she neglected to mention that part to you when she told you about me."
"That was one of the things." Giles refused to meet Willow's eyes. "Well, I would hate to interrupt a lunch date, so I'll just be…"
"Why don't you join us?"
"I've no intention of being a third wheel…"
"But there's Buffy!" Willow waved frantically. "Hey Buffy! Wanna have lunch? With Giles and me? And…and Noah."
"Noah?" Buffy looked around until she realized her best friend was in a not so scholarly touching place with their professor. "Oh. Noah. Right. Professor Baxter. Noah. That Noah. Sure. Lunch is good. Giles?"
"Of course." Giles nodded, dazedly. His eyes were locked on the casual arm Noah had draped around Willow's waist, guiding her toward the cafeteria. He followed behind them, Buffy falling into step with him. "You knew nothing about this?"
"Nope. This is new on the wig-o-meter."
"The school actually allows relationships between a student and a teacher? I find that…reprehensible."
"And if I knew what that meant, I would too. I can't believe Willow kept this from me. She's…she's gone sneaky."
"Indeed," he lowered his voice further. "We should check into any mystical elements that may be influencing this…" he trailed off as Noah and Willow stopped in front of them.
"Oxford?"
"Pardon?"
Noah smiled, "Oxford, right? Class of what? '77? '78?"
"'77, yes."
"I thought so. My alma mater as well. Although I was '76."
Giles' eyes widened and he swallowed hard. "I see. You know, on second thought, I'm afraid I'm going to have to skip lunch. I've just remembered some very important things that I have to do and so I must go. Buffy, Willow? I'll speak with you two later? Noah, very nice to meet you." He moved out of the way of the other man's reach and started off, his mind in overdrive.
Willow was dating a man *older* than himself.
That wouldn't do at all.
***
"Damn it!" Giles slammed down the phone and paced the room, free of the limited space allowed by the cord. "I can't believe that this smarmy, ill-educated, randy…bastard!" He collapsed onto the couch and slammed his head back hard against it. "Damn it!"
"Giles?" Willow poked her head around the front door and looked around. "Are you here?"
He raised a hand and waved. "Come in, Willow." He didn't want to see her. He had spent the entire afternoon analyzing his feelings and emotions and had come to a very surprising conclusion.
He was jealous.
Not only was he jealous, he was jealous of an ill-mannered, hypocritical, milquetoast, pompous, arrogant ass. The records at Oxford had clearly outlined all of Noah Baxter's plans and affiliations and Giles wanted Willow to have nothing to do with the man. He wanted her as far away from him as she could manage to get, and that had nothing to do with the jealousy.
No, the jealousy was strictly from the knowledge that Willow – the sweet, innocent, sexy woman he'd grown to love over the past few years – had found love…or at least some sort of a relationship with a man older than he was. Which meant the hours he'd spent torturing himself with the fact that she wouldn't look his way simply because he was more than twice her age were completely wasted.
He could have been loving her instead of denying himself.
"What are you doing?" She came around the couch and sat next to him. "In the dark?"
"Just thinking. I was doing research earlier, but I wasn't able to find out everything I needed."
"Can I help?"
"No, actually, it's a personal problem and as such…"
"I can help. I'm good at personal things. Well, I'm getting better. I've grown as a person. And now that I have Noah…"
"About Noah, Willow?"
Her face froze as she met his eyes. "What about him?"
"Are you sure that he's the right…" he closed his eyes for a moment. "I didn't know him back at Oxford, Willow, but I know the kind of person he was. He is. He's not…not the right man for you."
"And who is, Giles?" She stood up, her anger apparent. "Who is the right man for me? Oz? The guy who promised me that he'd never hurt me then left me feeling broken? Xander? The guy who never noticed me even though I was practically throwing myself at his feet? Those are my choices, Giles. Which one should I pick?"
"You're too young to have narrowed your choices down to two, or in this case, three."
"Giles, I didn't do any narrowing. That's all there is! There is no one else."
"What…what about me?"
Willow wasn't sure she'd heard him correctly, if at all. "What did you just say?"
He refused to look at her, refused to believe that he'd said the words that had lingered in his heart for so long. "I've been afraid, for so long, that I would be alone. I never thought, after Jenny, that there would be anyone who could make my heart feel that way again. But you…you've continued to surprise me, just as you did the first night I met you."
She sank down to her knees in front of him, her hand reaching up to tilt his chin so that she could see his eyes. "Giles?"
"I realized it was extremely foolish. You were just sixteen when we met. Practically a child. But you've grown so much, Willow. And each day, I've grown to…" He smiled weakly. "I'm a foolish old man. But I've noticed today that the only thing I might have to worry about, other than the fact that you might consider me a father figure, which would make the rest of my life mortally embarrassing, is the foolish part."
Willow blinked back tears. His voice was so wounded, as if he thought he knew her answer before she could even speak it. "Rupert?"
His body shook with the whispered word. "Yes, Willow?"
"You know how sometimes you want something so badly that it hurts?"
He closed his eyes once more. "I'm well acquainted with the feeling."
"Sometimes, when you feel that way? And you can't get what you want? Or…or you don't think you can. You take the next, best thing that comes along." Her hand trembled as she brushed his lips with her fingertips. "I don't want the next best thing…not if you're offering me what I really want."
"What do you want?"
A glib remark lingered on the tip of her tongue, but she held it back. She took a deep breath and leaned in even closer. "The same thing I've wanted for so long, the thing that makes my heart hurt when I realize that I can't have it."
"What?" He breathed.
"You."
"Love, you can have me. I'm yours for the taking." He kissed her fingertips, hope flooding through him like sunlight. "I never thought you'd want a lonely old man."
"I want you, Giles. So you won't be lonely for long."
He chuckled, the sound warm between them. "I notice you didn't modify the old part."
"Experienced?" She offered.
"We'll get to that later, love."
Willow got up from her knees, moving easily onto his lap and into his arms. "I'm counting on it."