Title: Tiny Purple Fishes

Author: Gillian Silverlight
E-mail: gilliansl@sbcglobal.net
Summary: Post 'The Body' Giles remembers a certain summer night.
Notes: Lyrics: 'Tales of Brave Ulysses' By Cream. Winner of the week 6 StarCrossed Summer of Love.

Disclaimer: They belong to Joss and the WB, UPN, FX; just about everybody except me. I just play with them.

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'You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever,
But you rode upon a steamer to the violence of the sun.'

Rupert Giles sat in his living room, a glass of scotch at hand on the table. The only light came from several candles placed about the room. The stereo played one of his precious vinyl albums.

When the song ended, the Watcher simply reset it to play again. For the first time, he wished he had one of those new CD players so he could record the song and just let it run by itself. Resetting the record was interrupting the process of drinking and remembering, then drinking more as he tried to forget.

It had been some time back... the school was selling candy to raise money for the band, but his old 'friend', Ethan Rayne had been working for the mayor. The mayor was now dead, Ethan was who knows where, and she....

She was gone too.

Sometimes Giles wished it had been different, that they hadn't given in to the comments made by his Slayer. She had been the Slayer's mother. His Slayer... the girl he loved like a daughter, and Joyce had been her mother. It could have been .. well, happy.

But it hadn't worked like that.

Giles had never told Joyce what that night had meant to him. He'd never told anyone. He couldn't make it through another incident like Jenny.

So as Joyce lay in the funeral home, Giles sat in his candle-lit apartment, glass in hand, music playing over and over as his mind wandered back to that night...

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'And the colours of the sea bind your eyes with trembling mermaids,
And you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses,'

Giles and Joyce walked down the street, arms wrapped around each other as they discussed his being from England.

Joyce saw a coat and hat in the store window that she really liked. They talked about it for a moment or two then Giles broke the window and handled the garments out to her. Jumping back to the ground, he helped her into the coat, the back of his hand grazing her skin. It sent a rush to his loins, causing things to tighten, tense.

She's bleedin' beautiful. Coat suits her.

Joyce giggled and complimented him, praising his bravery.

They were suddenly interrupted as a police office startled them from behind. "Hold it!"

Giles turned slowly to face the uniformed man, undaunted by the gun pointed his direction. He grinned at the cop and took the hat from his head, tossing it aside trying to distract the man. The cop kept his eyes on the tee-shirted man instead.

Giles took a step closer to the cop and waved his arms around a bit, teasing the man.

"Ooo... Copper's got a gun!

You'll never use it, though, man."

The officer tried to stand his ground.

"Will so.."

Giles saw the candy bar in the officer's pocket and reached for it as Joyce shouted for him to be careful. He'd told her the nickname earlier and she used it now, calling him 'Ripper'.

He smiled to himself and the memory of touching her skin moments before flashed through his head again.

Seeing that the cop had glanced toward Joyce at her words, Giles took advantage of the distraction and knocked the cop's gun hand to one side, twisting his own hand to grasp the man's wrist to keep control of the gun. He quickly took further control of the situation by hitting the cop hard in the head with his own.

Pain shot through his skull, but he blocked it, ignoring the sensation through sheer force of will, instead swiftly kneed the cop in the groin and gut.

The Sunnydale police force hadn't had the training or discipline 'Ripper' had mastered and immediately folded over from the pain.

Never one to lose an advantage, Ripper snatched the officer's arm higher in the air, taking the gun as the man's hand relaxed around it, then brought his knee up with stunning force into the man's face.

It had the desired results and the police office fell slowly to the ground, completely unconscious.

Satisfied with the outcome, Ripper tucked the gun into the back of his jeans as he grinned at Joyce. M

"Told 'im 'e'd never use it."

He moved toward Joyce as she leaned against the police car, laughing and telling him how cool he is...

With one rapid movement, he had one hand behind her neck and the other around her back, pulling her toward him. She gasped, startled at his actions, but didn't struggle. Instead, a slow smile crossed her face and she reached up to take the gum from her mouth, tossing it to the ground.

His mouth covers hers as the tenseness in his groin rises, spreads through him and emerges in a passionate kiss that she returns just as fiercely.

Ripper leaned her back on the warm hood of the police car, sliding her upwards until he can fit his body over hers, his hand exploring the side of her body, finding the curves he'd been admiring all evening.

'How his naked ears were tortured by the sirens sweetly singing,
For the sparkling waves are calling you to kiss their white laced lips.
And you see a girl's brown body dancing through the turquoise,
And her footprints make you follow where the sky loves the sea.'

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Ripper remembered someone saying they wished they could be younger and remember what they knew now. He understood that statement now. It was how he felt, like he knew so much more than he should.

He put that knowledge to good use as he slid his hand under the short skirt Joyce wore, caressing the smooth flesh of her upper thigh, fingertips grazing the lace of her panties.

She moaned beneath him, but moments later it was his turn to groan as her fingers found the sensitive flat nipples on his chest and rolled them between her fingertips.

His fingers were more sure than he remembered, hers more daring than he'd expected from a teen-aged girl.

In a matter of minutes she had his tee-shirt off and his jeans unzipped. He had her shirt unfastened and had slipped her panties off to fall in a small lace-edged puddle on the ground at the front of the police car.

Giles nuzzled his lips across the erect tip of her breast as her warm hand grasped the hard, thick length of him, pulling him toward her.

He knew it had been forever since he'd been with a woman, so he was more than willing to give in to her gentle demand.

He lifted himself a bit more and moved completely over her as her hand guided him where he wanted to be. As the tip of his hardness touched the warm wet of her, they both gasped through the deep kiss they were sharing, then moments later he was buried deep inside of her, the warmth of her muscles clinging to him like a glove.

'And when your fingers find her, she drowns you in her body,
carving deep blue ripples in the tissues of your mind.'

Giles wanted to move slowly, making certain of her pleasure as well as his own, but she reached inside the back of his jeans to clasp his buttocks with fingernails, making indentions in his flesh, pulling him closer to her, while she wrapped her legs around his, below those same buttocks.

He thrust harder as she held him tightly, moaning into his ear now, having broken the kiss to try and catch her breath.

Giles ducked his head to capture a hard nipple between his teeth and tug gently as he felt her inner muscles clench once, twice, then explode into a spasm of pleasure around him.

It was more than he could stand and he felt his own release deep inside of her. His back arched slightly from the intensity, pushing his groin tighter into hers.

Minutes later, as they both tried to bring their breathing back under control, Giles relaxed slightly, resting his weight on his forearms on the still warm hood of the police car.

'The tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers,
And you want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter.'

"That was a surprise, Ripper. You were wonderful." Joyce's voice purred next to his ear.

"You were a bit of alright, yourself, love."

"Don't tell me that's all you've got.... I'll give you a few minutes and then I want another go."

"Ummmm, you're just a lil' sex fiend, aren't ya, love."

"Well, I haven't been for a long time.. No reason to.. But you! You're something else, Ripper. Big, strong, brave.... Hard!"

"So you like what I've got, do you? I'll give you all you want, love."

"Soooo, d'you think that cop might have some handcuffs on him?" She giggled at him, her inner muscles twitching around his half-hard member still inside of her warmth.

"Oooo! You wanna be a bad girl, don't you? 'ow about we save that for later back at my place? Give me a minute or two more and I'll have a bit of a treat for you again."

Joyce twisted slightly under him to reaching under her own leg and his to cup his scrotum in her hand, fingering the sticky, wrinkled skin, feeling it grow taunt, as he grew harder inside of her.

This time was slower. He took his time, found all the special places that made her gasp or moan under his fingers.

Joyce was no less busy and a great deal more inventive than he'd ever have thought.

When he finally allowed himself to reach a second climax, she followed him over the abyss with her own.

The ensuing kiss lasted until both needed to break away to breathe.

'Her name is Aphrodite and she rides a crimson shell,
And you know you cannot leave her for you touched the distant sands'

They found a box of Kleenex in the back of the police car and cleaned up a bit, amid a great deal of laughing, kissing, the occasional nibble and sweet comment.

"I can't believe we managed to do that.. Twice and no one even noticed us on top of the cop car!"

"Too busy themselves, I'll guess, doing somethin' or tha' other. Let's look for those 'andcuffs, if you still want them, love?"

She was wonderful and he knew she'd enjoyed the evening, especially the last hour, but he didn't want to take for granted that she'd go back with him to his place later, so he made it a question.

"Don't be silly, Ripper, of course we'll want them later. I have plans for you!"

Joyce leaned against his chest as she draped her arms around his neck, pulling his head down for a kiss, just as the policeman groaned slightly.

"Better get them and leave, love. Don't guess he'll be thinkin' kindly of me when he wakes.. soddin' git!"

He knelt beside the cop and in seconds located the handcuffs in the man's belt hook. Giles had them freed in moments and held them up to Joyce, dangling them on one finger. She took the metal 'bracelets' and tucked them into the back of her skirt with a giggle, while Giles retrieved the gun from the crease of the car's windshield and put it into the back waist of his jeans again.

She grabbed his hand and pulled as they ran down the street.

When they were a block away from the cop and his wonderful car.. Joyce turned into Giles' arms again, kissing him deeply. Giles ran his hand under the back of her shirt and felt the goose-flesh creep up her spine.

"Got goose-bumps, love?"

"Umm, just thinking about what we've already done and what we're gonna do later. "

He pulled her back into a kiss as bright headlights swept them and passed on. The car stopped a short way from them, but he and Joyce ignored it, concentrating on the feel of the other's skin under fingertips, the touch of tongue on tongue.....

"Mom?" Someone grabbed Joyce's arm, pulling her from his grip....

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'With tales of brave Ulysses, how his naked ears were tortured
By the sirens sweetly singing.'

Giles took another sip of his drink and started the song over again. The rest of the evening had not gone as they had planned.

It was Buffy that had pulled her mother away from his embrace. The rest of the night they ran and fought. Buffy made sure they had no more of the 'enhanced' candy.

They'd defeated Ethan, the mayor's plot, killed the demon, and made Sunnydale safe once more for a short time.

Giles smiled into the near-darkness as he remembered Buffy's expression when while looking for something to secure Ethan, Joyce had reached behind her back and proffered the stolen handcuffs to her daughter, dangling them from her thumb.

He and Joyce had never gotten to use the cuffs, but the shock on his Slayer's face had almost been worth the loss.... Almost.

'The tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers,
And you want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter.'

The effects of the candy had worn off and they had shied away from each other initially. He and Joyce had been worried about Buffy's reaction, but Giles felt that his Slayer would have come around sooner rather than later.

Then he remembered how he'd felt when Jenny had been killed.... He didn't want to have Joyce become a 'hostage to fortune' as it were, so had avoided continuing the relationship. They'd talked about it and he'd given her all the logical reasons why they shouldn't... All of them except for the one that said he could care much more than she thought and feared that she'd suffer for that caring as Jenny had done.

But Joyce was dead anyway.

He tried not to think about the time they could have had between them and instead remembered the time they had shared together. It was one of his fondest memories.

Rising from his chair, Rupert Giles turned off the stereo at the end of the song, tossed off the last of his drink, blew out the candles and stretched out on the sofa under an afghan.

There had been too many thoughts tonight and his bed upstairs held even more of what had been and what hadn't... Some of it quite unpleasant indeed. He decided to curl up on the sofa just for tonight instead, with the much better memories it held for him.

Goodnight, Joyce. I'll miss you, love.