Title: Wanna Dance?
Author: Steph
Email: stvslayer@yahoo.com
Rating: PG
Pairing: W/G
Summary: Answer to Monique's V-Day challenge. Remember, you asked for
it, so don't blame me if it sucks.
Spoilers: Minor from Blood Ties
Timeline: One year in the future, I really don't wanna deal with the
current heavy stuff.
Feedback: Gimme. Gimme. That's not greedy, is it? *g*
Distribution: If you want it, it's yours. Please tell me though, I
wanna visit the new residence.
Disclaimer: Okay, I didn't create the characters (Joss); I don't own
them (Joss again); and I'm certainly not getting any money out of this
(Gee, Joss sure gets around).
Notes: "'" Denotes internal dialogue.
Dedication: For David. For everything that he's put up with me. For
making me laugh. For supporting me through troubled times. For trusting
me with the "Tiger". For just being my friend. Thank you.


Wanna Dance?


"Giles, go ask Willow to dance," Buffy casually ordered her
Watcher.

"Pardon?" Giles asked distantly, forcing his thoughts and his gaze
away from a certain red-headed hacker and onto his Slayer.

"Willow. Go ask her to dance with you," Buffy repeated.

"Wha- Why?" Giles asked, a thread of unease weaving it's way into
his voice. 'Buffy didn't see me staring, did she?'

"Look at her. She's been renting a room at Mopage City Motel since
Tara left last month. I mean here we are at the Bronze, on Valentine's
Day no less, with tons of cute guys, and the only thing her eyes have
spent more than two seconds on is the spoon she's been stirring her tea
with for the last hour. Ask her to dance," Buffy pressed.

Returning his gaze to Willow (Buffy *did* tell him to he reasoned)
he noticed how terribly incongruous she seemed compared with the
current festivity of the Bronze. The whole place had been transformed.
All of the lights were covered with soft pink and red filters while
shimmering cut-out hearts hung from the ceiling, gently reflecting the
light in subtle patterns. Each table had a white linen tablecloth and
it's own small spray of red and pink carnations, complete with burning
votive candles nestled in the middle. If not for what passed as music
these days being flooded into the club speakers it would have been
perfectly romantic.

And then there was Willow. Sitting in amongst the
over-enthusiastic teens idly stirring her tea, a frown creasing her
pixie-like features. Barely looking up, allowing her soft locks to fall
across her face, concealing the fact that she wore no makeup and that
her eyes held a depth of pain most people would never be able to
comprehend. The utter despair seemed to cloak her in it's vile
darkness, only the most stalwart of young men able to penetrate it's
murk, just to be brushed off with a sad shake of her head.

His heart ached for her. Still, he couldn't find the courage to go
to her, to take the pain away. He didn't think he was capable of that
Herculean feat. Instead, he tried to downplay her misery, so that he
could stay at that comfortable, safe distance, where his heart would be
spared the torture of her rebuff.

"I know that Willow's been a bit melancholy lately, but where does
my asking her to dance fit in?" he tried.

"Because, it will cheer her up. Exercise is good for broken
hearts. It will increase her blood pressure and other good
cardiovascular things which I know nothing about," Buffy finished
lamely. At Giles' look of skepticism, Buffy gave in. "All right, I
can't dance like this. One, I feel too guilty to have fun while Wills
is so depressed."

When Buffy didn't continue, Giles prodded. "And two?"

Sighing, Buffy admitted, "And two, standing next to you all night,
guys are taking to me like a vamp takes to the sun."

"How very altruistic of you. Killing two birds with one stone...
or maybe that was three?" Giles questioned to himself.

"Okay, so my motives are sorta self-centered, but good results all
the same." Buffy defended.

"Buffy, I really don't think that-"

"I'm not asking you to think Giles. I'm asking you to do," Buffy
interrupted matter of factly.

"Asking does imply, well asking. I do believe that was an order,"
Giles said, trying to deflect the subject.

"Semantics. Come on Giles. Please?" Buffy whined.

"Buffy, she's already had three boys ask her to dance, and she's
turned each of them down. Why would she say yes to me?" Giles asked,
genuine curiosity hinting in his voice.

"You're her friend. No pressure with that, just good, clean
all-American fun." When Giles gave her a suspicious look, Buffy
relented. "And plus with the sympathy. She may be depressed, but she's
still Willow, she won't want to hurt your feelings. Especially since
she knows that there's no way any woman in here would actually dance
with you."

"Thank you so much. If that's your reasoning, why don't *you* ask
her to dance. She is after all interested in your gender." Giles
countered sourly.

"Okay, ewwww. The only thing more repellant to cute guys than
standing next to you all night, is gonna be dancing with Wills. Not the
image I wanna project."

Taking in Buffy's rather revealing and absolutely skin tight
attire, Giles had to agree. The problem still remained that he was
completely terrified to dance with Willow, and it had nothing to do
with the techno sounds that were dubiously called music. Almost
nothing anyway. It was the fact that being so close to Willow, holding
her hand, perhaps placing his arm snugly about her waist, would not
only turn his knees to jello, but his mind would inevitably wander to
places that it should not be strolling through. Especially with the
object of his desires so near. He wasn't sure that he could control
himself in that situation.

"Come on Giles. For Willow," Buffy begged, in a rather pathetic
tone.

With those two words Buffy successfully trampled upon on all his
sane and logical reasons why he shouldn't ask her. "For Willow" It
seemed to sum up his entire being. He'd do anything for her, including
putting his dignity, and more importantly , his heart on the chopping
block. With a sigh, Giles squared his shoulders and said, "All right,
I'll ask her."

"Yay me! I just won-"

"On one condition. You come for extra training tomorrow morning, 7
am," Giles said in a concise tone.

"But-"

"No buts. You come, or no dancing," Giles hoped that she would buy
his threat, as it was a complete lie. He had every intention to ask
Willow now, even if Buffy refused the extra training.

"Fine. It's for Will. I guess I can make a sacrifice for her. A
really big one," Buffy finished with a pout. Considerably less chipper
than a moment before, she sulked over to the bar for another
mochacchino, leaving Giles to his own devices.

"All right old man, just try not to stutter when you ask her. Or
trip. That wouldn't look to attractive either," Giles muttered to
himself as he narrowly avoided a collision while making his way to
Willow through the throng of gyrating teens.

Gathering his courage, Giles stepped over to her. "Hello Willow,"
he said, nervously smoothing a hand over the lapel of his brown leather
jacket.

Looking up, a weak smile played at the edges of Willow's delicate
mouth. "Hey Giles. How are you?"

Seeing the sadness in her emerald eyes, Giles winced internally
and sat down next to her. "I'm fine. Actually, I was wondering if you
might help me with something."

"Oh?" Willow asked, a spark of interest lighting her eyes.
"Magic?"

"Um, no. More personal. This is... Well... There's someone I'd
like to ask to dance, but I'm not quite sure how to broach the
subject," Giles finished, watching her closely for her reaction.

"Oh." With that, the tiny spark abruptly blinked out, and her eyes
were once more consumed by a blanket of depression. 'Damn' Giles
thought. 'Said the wrong thing.'

"If it's not too much trouble that is," he quickly added, trying
to salvage the situation.

"No, it's fine. Uh... why don't you just ask her," Willow
suggested morosely.

"Ask her how?" He pressed.

"You know. "Hey, I'm Giles. Wanna dance?" Maybe compliment her
shoes or something," Willow replied with an total lack of creativity.

"Ah. Yes. Um, all right, I'll try that I suppose. If you'll excuse
me?" Giles asked as he stood up.

"Sure," she replied forlornly, already focusing her attention back
to her tea, her eyes misting slightly.

Giles stepped a pace away from the table, cleared his throat, and
lightly tapped Willow's shoulder. When she looked up, he smiled shyly
and said, "Hey, I'm Giles. Wanna dance?" After bowing before her, he
added, "By the way, nice shoes."

Then it happened. Willow smiled. The first genuine smile he'd seen
on her face in weeks, her eyes sparkling. She nearly glowed. His breath
caught at the sight and he thought that his heart was going to burst
from his chest. When she giggled shyly and said yes, he thanked the
gods that his knees held out.

Extending his hand to her, he said, "Thank you, kind lady, for
bestowing upon me such an honor this fair night."

Still smiling, soft color slowly flooding her cheeks, Willow took
his hand. "And I thank you kind sir, for offering me such a great
honor." When Giles just stood there, staring at their interlocked
hands, Willow got a little nervous. "Um, Giles? Is everything okay?"

The soft touch of her hand in his was distracting to say the
least. The second their skin had met he'd felt as though an electric
current had shot straight up his arm and into his heart, and other...
lower places. Snapping back to reality with a jolt from her fearful
tone, he smiled and squeezed her hand. "Yes, yes. I'm fine. Sorry.
Shall we?"

"We shall," Willow replied, the smile apparent in her voice as she
allowed Giles to lead her to the dance floor.

Thankfully a suitably slow song was just starting. Coupled with
the dimmed lighting and the soft-scented flowers it made for quite the
romantic atmosphere. A bit hazy round the edges, but lovely all the
same.

As they stepped out onto the dance floor, Giles carefully pulled
Willow to him as he placed his right hand lightly above her hip and
tightened his grip of her hand with his left. When he heard her giggle
softly, he raised a questioning eyebrow in her direction.

"Sorry, it's just that I've never danced like this before. In fact
I've never even *seen* anyone dance this way outside of old-fashioned
movies," Willow explained, trying to cover the mirth in her voice.

Seeing the mischevious gleam in her eyes, Giles knew she was
nowhere close to sorry. Still, the pleasure on her face was worth the
embarrassment of being old-fashioned. "Um, if you like, we-we could
dance another way, or-or wait for a different song," he offered a bit
nervously.

"Oh no. I like this. It's comfortable, like you." Willow's eyes
widened suddenly and darted to his face, her own face flushing a red to
rival her fiery locks. "Not that you're comfortable. Or not
comfortable. I just mean I wouldn't know if you were. Well except for
that time after the Translocation spell and you let me rest on you,
that was comfy. Oh! but I wasn't really paying attention to that, you,
I mean I wa-" Willow abruptly stopped when she heard a rumble of
laughter emanate from somewhere deep within Giles' chest.

"I'm sorry to interrupt. It's just... Willow, how do you manage to
be smart, beautiful, and utterly charming all at the same time?" Giles
asked, humour coloring his voice and face.

After a stunned pause, Willow asked in a small, serious voice,
"You think I'm all those things?"

Hearing her tone of voice sobered him completely. He couldn't
believe what he'd just said. Looking down into the drowning depths of
her eyes, he wanted to brush off what he'd said and take them back to
the safe, easy conversation they'd been enjoying. But he couldn't. The
hope and fear in her eyes were too much for his defenses to combat.

Drawing her close into his body and lowering his voice to a tone
to match the seriousness of her own, he said, "No, Willow. I *know*
that you're those things, and so much more. I wish that you could see
just how wonderful and special a person you are," he finished. His jade
eyes piercing into her, willing her to believe his words.

Willow's face held surprise and joy as she blinked back the tears
that were fast filling her eyes, threatening to spill over like a
broken dam. "You really? I mean I never thought that you... I mean
you're so, and I'm so not... Wow."

Reaching up with his left hand, Giles gently brushed a stray tear
from her porcelain skin with the pad of his thumb. Smiling warmly he
said, "You're very much "so". Don't ever think otherwise."

Willow smiled with such radiance, Giles thought that he might be
blinded, the power of her was that bright. Then she did something he
never would have thought she'd do. She slid her right hand up his arm
and into the soft hair curling above his collar at the base of his
neck, while with her left, she pulled herself flush against him and
started to rise on her toes to capture his lips. Her eyes already half
closed in anticipation.

Not thinking about duty, or age, or really anything except the
beautiful woman in his arms, he slid his hand into her titian tresses,
leaned forward, and met her soft lips with his own. At the contact, the
world fell away and it was simply himself, Willow and the most
passionate, loving kiss of his life.

***

"Hey, Buffster, wanna join An and me? We're heading to the Ice
Cream Parlor for some sundaes then moviefest at the apartment?" Xander
asked, as he bumped and grinded nearby, creating a neat little circle
where other revelers had fled for their lives in his wake.

Shaking her head at Xander's brand of "dancing" Buffy answered.
"Thanks Xand, but I've got early training with Herr Giles. You think
he'd let me sleep in a little, but no, it's train 24/7 for the Slayer,"
Buffy said with a self indulgent pout.

"Bummer," Xander replied as he motioned Anya over from where she'd
taken refuge from his dance floor antics at the sofas.

"Yeah, it's of the uber-suck," Buffy said as she scanned the dance
floor for possible hotties. Stopping suddenly on a familiar couple, her
jaw dropped open. After a minute, she lifted her right hand and shut
her mouth as a large smile spread across her face. "On second thought,
Xander, sundaes sound perfect right about now."

"I thought you said you had early training with the G-Man
tomorrow?" Xander asked, obviously confused.

"Nah. I think Giles is gonna have his hands full tonight. And from
the look of things on the dance floor, the rest of his life."

-40-