!fanfic! BtVS Giles/Xander fic: Bio-Study

Muses strike at weird times. My mum got a fish bone lodged in her throat and we had to go to A&E. In the 90 minutes that I sat in the emergency waiting room, this fic got written mentally. I made notes at 2 a.m., went to sleep, and wrote the whole fic this morning. Hope it's a good one :D

Title: Bio-Study
Author: MadDogs
Rating: PG-13 for tortur reference and smoochies :)
Setting: Season 2, after Xander rescues Giles from Angel
Inspired By: I was at the emergency room with my mother at 2 a.m. today. Call it inspired writing.
Summary: "Xander…" Giles actually sounds happy. He even smiles, which totally throws Xander
Genre: Romance/Fluff/Slight-Angst


Bio-Study

Sitting in a hospital always makes people tense. Xander knows this, but it doesn't reassure him at all. Giles is through the doors in front of him, the doors that lead from the dank, off-white hallway to a room filled with doctor and nurses, blood and bandages, life and death... So Xander decides to let his mind wander. He tries to think of something to do, anything that will stop his brain from filling with Giles and Angel and torture.

So he studies the waiting room, studies the ambulances outside, studies the walls, the doors, the floors. He studies the people most of all. He decides it's a Biology study, because if he makes it into a boring Bio study, then it isn't about Giles living or dying. It's only when he lets the danger signs flash in his mind that Xander can't deal, especially when it comes to secretly-crushing-on-him-but-if-you-tell-anyone-I’ll-grind-your-bones-to-make-my-bread-because-I’m-so-not-gay Giles.

He shakes his head because somehow he got to thinking about Giles again, tries to rid himself of all those horrible thoughts. It's a long time before they go away, and a short time before they're back again. As visions of what Angel must have done to mangle Giles's poor fingers so badly enter his mind, the door of the room before him opens. Doctors and nurses file in and out, but no-one speaks to him.

Xander, back in Bio-study mode, soon discovers there are 3 types of people who've been working in the room. The first type ignores him and he's fine with that, used to it, even. But the other types cast him sly or quizzical looks – suspicious and sympathetic. Genus suspicious consists mostly of doctors, who give him the “Sick Homicidal Kinky Dominatrix-Man” look. The genus sympatheticus could be split into two species, easily recognizable by the type of smile accompanying the look they give him. There's “Adoring Son/Trusted Friend” and “Completely In Love With The Man Behind Those Doors”.

Thanks to the events of the evening, Xander has finally placed himself in the latter category. A year of uncertainty and all it took was Giles in serious torture to help him decide. Who knew it was so easy to fall in love? Xander puts his head in his hands. He's thinking about Giles again, and that won't help either of them.

By the time he's managed to shoo those thoughts away again, a nurse (genus sympatheticus, thank God) approaches him. He stands up immediately and asks if Giles is ok. The reassuring nod and smile (a “Completely In Love With The Man Behind Those Doors” smile) makes him breathe a sigh of relief. A doctor comes out of the room and stands behind the nurse. Other people leave the room, but Xander's mind is on other things.

“Can I see him?” He asks with a concerned look.

“Are you a relative or a… partner?”

Xander's learned from his time in hospitals that “No, I'm just a friend” is swiftly followed by “I'm sorry, but he needs to rest”. He knows how to answer this question. He amplifies the concerned look he's already wearing.

“Partner,” he says, his voice level and unwavering.

Sympathetic Nurse seems to need approval. She looks at the doctor, who eyes Xander carefully. Apparently he's of the genus suspicious. There's a pause when Xander feels like his heart's going to leap from his chest and beat the crap out of Suspicious Doctor, but (just in the nick of time) they let him enter the room.

Giles is in bad shape, though he's much better than when he was tied to the chair. His fingers are bandaged, the broken ones are supported. The cut on his head's stopped bleeding and there's bandages around his ribs where the blood had been seeping through his shirt. He's sitting up in the hospital bed, looking at his bruised arms. Then he looks up and for the first time Xander admits he's looking at the man he loves.

“Xander…” Giles actually sounds happy. He even smiles, which totally throws Xander.

He can't say what he wants to, because the doctor and nurse are watching him from the door. Under their observant eyes, Xander approaches Giles with a smile a mile wide. He touches his arm gently, praying to the heavens that Giles doesn't say “What on Earth are you doing, you foolish boy?” or something of the like.

Giles doesn't. He seems to know what's going on already. Man, he really is a genius.

“Hey,” Xander says gently.

Then, plucking up all the courage he's got, he leans in and plants the gentlest of kisses on Giles's swollen lips. And, to his total amazement, Giles responds. He reaches up to cup Xander's face, a manoeuvre which has got to be causing him pain. And, much as Xander's enjoying the contact, the danger signs flash in his mind. Torture. Pain. Injury. Blood. Angel.

So he breaks off the kiss and sits beside Giles, who takes hold of his hand. Sympathetic Nurse smiles warmly and leaves. Suspicious Doctor checks a chart, watching the two of them over it, then follows her out of the room.

“Nice to see you, too,” Giles says when the door shuts behind them.

“It's gonna sound weird,” Xander admits, “but you being in mortal peril's the best thing that's happened to me in a good long while.”

That earns him a raised eyebrow and a Watcher's glare. And, in the part of his brain still doing the Bio-study, Xander tells himself he should get used to that look.

“I shouldn't say words,” he concludes.


Reviews most welcome :D