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TITLE: Things
aren’t always what they seem
AUTHOR: Winnie
Kruger (gillians_gal)
CATEGORY:
Giles/Scully, BTVS/X-files Crossover, Comedy, Romance, Story
RATING: NC-17
SPOILERS:
"The End" (X-Files)
EMAIL:
winniek1@HotPOP.com
COMMENTS/CREDITS:
Thanks to the ABH
archive – without all those Giles-fics I never would’ve written this. Also to
the other Scully/Giles writers out there – there are hardly any of us but we do
great work!
All quotes
from "The Quote Cache" website
"Ships
that pass in the night, and speak to each other in passing, Only a signal
shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life, we pass
and speak to one another, Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a
silence." - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
"My night
has become a sunny dawn because of you." - Inb Abbad
"No my
friend, darkness is not everywhere, for here and there I find faces illuminated
from within; paper lanterns among the dark trees."
- Carole
Borges
"It's
never over, a kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder..." - Jeff Buckley
SUNNYDALE HIGH
LIBRARY
"How strange"
He tore open the envelope and wrangled the letter out. "Dear Mr.
Giles" he read aloud "You have been selected to attend the National
Librarians'
compulsory and
if you don't go it's a breach of your duty to the students and your
employer."
Giles began to
clean his glasses "How is Buffy ever going to manage?"
"Just
fine" said the perky blonde, placing her bag on the counter "Besides,
you could do with a break."
Giles replaced
his glasses "Being locked in a room with a bunch of stuffy librarians for
hours on end isn't my idea of a break."
Buffy and
people more
like you" forced
Giles glanced
over with more-than-mild distaste. "Ill have you know that I very much
doubt that any of the fools that have been drafted with me hunt demons, they
are in fact much more likely to be demons."
"The
book-loving, cross-referencing kind?" Asked
"Wait"
said Buffy "You were drafted to go there? It was a lottery?"
"Well
they didn't pick me for my rugged good looks."
NATIONAL
LIBRARIAN'S
ONE WEEK LATER
Giles pushed
his way through the rows of seats in the function room, jugging a Styrofoam cup
of coffee and a leather-bound copy of Dante's Inferno.
Finally, he
found his seat. To his right was a shrew-faced woman in horn-rimmed glasses and
to his left was a chubby man with black hair, whose size forced Giles to sit
far to on left of his seat.
By the time
the first speaker stepped up to the podium, Giles was halfway through the first
chapter. She began speaking about the Dewey Decimal system, and sometime soon
after Giles dozed off for just a second. He was woken by a scream. He found his
hand and the contents of his cup in the lap of the woman beside him.
"Help!
Help!" She yelped. He thought she sounded like a shrew too. One of the
security guards rushed over. The whole room was staring by this point. The
woman stood up "This man tried to molest me!" She screeched, pointing
at Giles.
The guard
hustled Giles over to the door and snatched his book off him.
"Watch
that" snapped Giles "It's limited edition."
"Whatever"
said the guard, pushing the volume back into Giles' hands "Just get out
and don't come back."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Giles decided
to take a walk to the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial library a few blocks
away.
He settled
himself in the Philosophy, Psychology & Religion section on the 2nd floor
and began doing some background reading in the Encyclopedia of Parapsychology.
He became quite engrossed with an entry on the demonic dangers of astral
travel.
"Excuse
me" a woman's voice said "Excuse me" this time there was a tap
on his shoulder. He finally registered the contact. "I need that
book" said the woman.
"Yes, of
course" he said, closing the heavy volume and turning as he passed it. The
woman was short, a redhead, with impeccable dress sense and piercing blue eyes.
"Dana?" he said simply. She nodded. Giles sat frozen, "Well, fuck
me" he whispered, openmouthed at the unbelievebility of their meeting.
"Do you
mean that?" Dana smiled wickedly, knowing very well that he didn't, but
tempting and tempted by him all the same.
"No. Yes.
Perhaps you should do your research first. I can help, of course." He
pulled out the seat beside him and slid the book over.
"It's not
really my research" Dana explained "But I promised my partner I'd
look into it over the weekend. I forgot, so I decided to come here first so I
didn't betray my reliable image.
"You're
married then? Why didn't you tell me?" Giles said disappointedly.
Dana smiled
and sat down. "No, I'm not married. At least not in the traditional sense.
I'm married to my job."
"Oh"
Giles said, still a little confused, "And why is your boyfriend reading
pornography instead of taking care of you?"
The grin on
Dana's face widened and she shook her head. "You thought Mulder was my
boyfriend?" she chuckled "I don't have a boyfriend. Mulder is my FBI
partner."
Relief flooded
Giles' face and he smiled a little "Well thank bloody hell for that then.
Now, what was it he sent you to find?"
"You
know, I can't remember" she shrugged.
"Wasn't
something on Tantra was it" Giles joked.
"Oh,
Rupert. I can't believe how good it is to see you again." Dana pulled him
into a hug. She sniffled a little then began to speak. "Ships that pass in
the night, and speak to each other in passing, Only a signal shown, and a
distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak to
one another, Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence."
"No my
friend, darkness is not everywhere, for here and there I find faces illuminated
from within; paper lanterns among the dark trees." Giles
replied.
Dana smiled
through her tears "My night has become a sunny dawn because of you."
She finished, drawing Giles in for a quick kiss.
"Inb
Abbad" said Giles, impressed. He held Dana by the shoulders, pushing her
away from him a little so he could see her face. "I love you Dana, and even
though you have something of a life here in
"Please
don't do this. God knows I love you, and it's so tempting just to disappear
with you." she shook her head, struggling with her emotions "My
mother is here. And my job. As much as Mulder can be an insensitive bastard I
care about him, and I've seen things in my work that I need to
investigate."
Giles took one
of Dana's hands and massaged it "But it was Mulder's work, surely he can
do it."
"You
don't understand. We've found out things about me. Things I need to know more
about." She choked up, unwilling to divulge anything further.
"Dana,
tell me! For god’s sake, I want to know what's left you so upset."
Scully
collapsed against Giles' chest, and began to sob out her story. "I was
abducted, missing for 3 months; they took my ova, left me for dead,
infertile."
"Who
would do such a thing?" Giles scowled angrily.
"I don't
know Rupert. Mulder thinks it's aliens. He thinks they took his sister too,
only she never came back." sobbed Scully "But that's not all.
They put a
chip in my neck, a tracking device, and after they took it out I got
cancer."
"How do
you know it wasn't a coincidence?" Giles asked, tenderly stroking Scully's
hair.
"There
were others, women all over the country. The same thing happened to them too.
They're all dead now. I expected to be dead by now too, but somehow, as I lay
on my deathbed, Mulder found me a cure. I need to find out who took me, for
myself and for Mulder."
"Dear
Lord, Dana, are you sure it's safe for you to go after someone with that kind
of power?"
"I know
it isn't, but I've come close to death so many times I'm numb to it."
Scully's cell
phone interrupted their conversation. "Dana Scully. Calm down Mulder, what
is it? I'll be right there."
"I'm sorry
Rupert, something has happened, Mulder wouldn't tell me what."
Giles pushed a
business card into her hand "I'm in
"Thanks
Rupert." Dana gave him a kiss goodbye, and hurried out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Scully
arrived at her office, she was horrified. The place had been burnt to a crisp,
and Mulder struggled to retrieve anything that remained of his room. She pulled
Mulder back from burning his hands further on the hot metal of the filing
cabinet, letting him hold her as they came to terms with the destruction of
their work.
She resigned
the next day, advising Mulder to do the same for his own safety. Scully
loitered around in her apartment for a few days. She kept the TV blaring,
fearful of the silence. It was Friday morning when she heard, via the
unemotional tones of the newsreader's voice, that an FBI agent had been found
murdered in an
Scully stopped
briefly to withdraw as much cash as she could, then drove to the airport.
"I want to get on your next flight to Sunnydale" she said
breathlessly
to the woman behind the ticket counter.
"I'm
sorry miss, but we don't fly direct to Sunnydale, you'll have to change in
LA"
"Whatever,
I don't care, just hurry." Urged Scully.
The woman eyed
her suspiciously "Is everything okay Miss?"
Scully
realized what it must have looked like and tried to calm down a little.
"I'm sorry, I'm just a little stressed."
The clerk
continued to stare.
"I slept
through my flight before. They said it wasn't transferable, and I really don't
want to miss my brother's wedding" Scully lied.
The clerk
bought it, and handed Scully her ticket.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was early
afternoon when Scully arrived in Sunnydale. She took a cab to the local high
school, where she knew Giles worked. She easily found the library, with
directions from the students.
"Rupert?"
she called, pushing open the swinging doors. "Rupert?" she tried
again, the growing silence making her expect to see his body when she looked
behind the counter. Nothing. She breathed a sigh of relief.
"Why
didn't you tell me?" yelled Giles dramatically, causing Dana to faint in
shock.
Giles caught
her from behind and laid her on the sofa in his office. She came to a few
seconds later, his green eyes beacons of concern.
"Dana I'm
so sorry, it was only meant to be a joke."
"It's
okay" she said "I just haven't been having an easy time. I had to
come here. I'm sorry if I've brought danger with me."
"Don't be
ridiculous. You're welcome and I am here to protect you. Has something else
happened?" He searched her face.
"Last
week, in
"Yes"
said Giles, pouring Dana a cup of tea and passing it to her.
"It
turned out someone had torched our office. All the files were gone, and any
evidence that would've survived the fire was taken before it was lit.
There's
nothing left, they even closed down the X-Files. I resigned because I feared
for my life, then this morning I heard an FBI agent had been found dead in
"My
god." Giles tried to comprehend "How do you know it was him?"
"I don't.
But I didn't feel safe. You were the one I thought to go to, because I always
felt safe with you. And
"It's
never over, a kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder..." Giles kissed her
then, slowly but with great passion. His fingers were tangled in her red hair;
hers tugged at the collar of his shirt. "We don't have long before
Buffy...oooah" Dana had deftly undone Giles' pants, and her ministrations
were the reason for his lack of coherence.
"Doesn't
matter" she panted between kisses "She deserves to know what a hot
girlfriend you have."
Dana yanked
Giles' pants so they were around his ankles, then kicked off her shoes and shed
her own bottoms. As she returned to Rupert's lap, he pulled open her shirt and
slipped his hands up under her bra. Dana moaned into his mouth as he caressed
her nipples, eventually forcing him to stop long enough for her to lower
herself onto his erection.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy entered
the library, dumping her books on the big table. "Giles?" she called.
She shrugged. He should be back soon she thought.
She settled at
the table and tried to make a start on her biology homework.
"Human
Reproduction. Yay." she said to herself sarcastically. She opened the
textbook to the relevant page. It began to moan obscenely.
At that
moment,
"I think
there's some kind of curse on the textbooks. Listen, my biology textbook is
moaning."
A thought formed
in Buffy's mind. "Hey Will, come into the stacks with me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Xander entered
the library only seconds later. The moaning was still echoing through the open
space.
"Is
someone watching a porno?" he asked no one in particular. Xander began to
look a little flushed. He didn't know how long he could listen to this without
embarrassing himself.
Thankfully,
the sound reached a crescendo, then faded to nothing. Xander walked over to the
table and closed the textbooks. The little cartoon naked people were too much
for him to handle right now.
Buffy and
"Oh my
god. Am I dreaming" he wondered aloud "I didn't know you guys were
that close. I wasn't eavesdropping or anything, I just came in here
and...Never
mind. But if you ever want to let me watch, I'd be happy to" Xander
smiled.
Buffy and
"Gotcha"
grinned Buffy, punching him gently on the arm.
"Ow"
he said "Slayer strength, remember?"
"Sorry"
said Buffy. She saw Giles leaving his office.
"Anything
new on the hellmouth front?" He asked, dabbing his face with a
handkerchief.
"Well,
the Biology textbooks have started moaning." Said Buffy.
"On the
page about human reproduction specifically." Added
"I don't
think it's dangerous, but it's kind of sick, I mean it sounded-"
Xander cut Buffy
off "Like a porn movie."
Giles began
cleaning his glasses. Buffy let about a minute pass before she spoke again.
"Sooo"
she said "what do you think it is?"
A husky voice
strange to all of them but Giles spoke. It was Scully. "Well it's
certainly not ordinary, but it's not supernatural." Dana stepped out
from behind
the counter. She took a good long appreciative look at Giles.
Buffy looked
at the strange red-haired woman. She didn't look so strange. There were
pictures of her in Giles' apartment. "You're Dana." She realized,
smiling at her.
"Rupert,
is there a bathroom where I could clean up a little?" Dana asked.
He gave her
directions.
The minute the
door closed they began to talk.
"That was
you!" said Buffy, slapping Giles on the arm. "Giles, you stud!"
"She's so
open and direct. And uber-cute." Mused
"And
she's not afraid to make lewd compliments in front of other people. Of course,
that probably means she's not afraid to make lewd insults either. But I concur
with the previous statements. Thumbs up." Xander smiled.
The trio
exited the library, collecting Dana on their way, and headed out for ice-cream.