#giles raises baby buffy au

[jennycalendar]

Hi! I'm new here (here being your blog, calendiles fandom, and also just...Buffyverse fandom in general? I haven't been here that long haha) and I finally got around to checking out your work on AO3 and uuuhhh you've written SO MUCH!!! So first of all, THAT'S AMAZING, GOOD JOB!! But second of all, I have no idea where to start reading... Can I maybe get like a rec from you of your top 5 faves? (Not fan faves, but YOUR faves, fics/series you're most proud of, etc.) Please and thank you :)

oh, wow, this is so sweet <333 hello! i have seen your fic in the buffyverse tag and lurked more than once there. expect some reviews at SOME point when my brain will allow me, because you are adding some excellent sapphic/nonbinary representation to the buffyverse in a very lovely way. i deeply appreciate your energy.

as for my top five faves -- i appreciate your specification that they have to be MY top five faves, because i really was about to just point to the braveryverse as smth that i think you personally might like. (not a single straight person, found family, etcetc). but my personal top five is a lil different than the stuff that's the most popular w/ fandom at large. (not by too much though.)

all of these range from "a little lengthy" to "novel-length" but i think they are worth it! and they are also all complete! (except for the first one on the list, which has a sequel in the works, but everything PUBLISHED is complete!)

1. never mind the years of wasted time

so this is my long-standing baby that i am blogging about all the time! it's so important to me! i cannot overemphasize how much this 'verse means to me. it's an improbable little everybody lives/nobody dies au set about three years after canon, and in my heart it does kind of stand as a spiritual follow-up to canon, in that the emotional place that giles starts the story is very much a continuation of the emotional place that he ends canon in. there are so many details within the main fic (what you make) that i cannot pack into a single summary (giles and jenny's eight-year-old son, who she left sunnydale to raise! giles and buffy trying to figure out how to reckon with the concept of giles being a parent to a kid that isn't her! jenny's adoring extended family! a subplot that is literally just all about how giles's parents met and fell in love! giles and jenny's individual baggage from their complicated parents and how that informed the decisions they made with each other and with/for the kids they were in charge of!) also it is impossible to read the fic and come away NOT loving art or alice or nora. nora is literally my url now because i tricked myself into loving her so hard by writing her all the time.

anyway yes! top of my list, this is the thing i am the most proudest of, it is literally novel-length and i have been considering learning book-binding just because i want the physical experience of making it into something that i can hold.

2. as day follows night

this is also long but um, less long? this is The Faith Fic. i don't really know how to talk about it without spoiling it (or if i've already talked about it and spoiled it, or if the tags will spoil it...) but suffice it to say that this fic is about faith right after killing the deputy mayor, and her decision to ally herself with an all-powerful witch. or more like "attach herself." like to the witch's skirts. and hang on while the witch drags her around trying to get her to let go. (this girl has some attachment issues). it's got fuffy it's got fairy tales it's got the force of platonic love being the most powerful force in the world <3 and i think it is the first long fic i ever wrote where i had an outline and a plot that made sense and consistent tone throughout!

3. the tale of princess imogen

FAIRYTALE CALENDILES WHAT MORE CAN I EVEN SAY??? also some background fuffy and tillow bc obviously! anyway this whole fic is about jenny the witch pining helplessly for giles the acting monarch and losing her mind a little when princess buffy lets it slip that he's in love with some dark-haired lady who's constantly hanging around the castle all the time. and then subsequently coming up with a Magic Plan to ruin his chances of ever being able to win this dark-haired lady over, because what if she's bad for the kingdom? what if she's just trying to grab at power? THIS IS FOR POLITICAL REASONS SHE IS VERY NORMAL.

4. illumination

this one is about giles and jenny both realizing that they share the experience of being closeted bisexual individuals in a het-passing relationship & subsequently figuring out how to process this. (so obviously chapter three is pegging. but it's THEMATICALLY IMPORTANT pegging. and if explicit stuff isn't your cup of tea, the first two chapters are totally sfw!)

5. private life

i am actually really proud of this one! this is set in season four and it's about xander walking in on giles kissing a man and having to reckon with a lot of complicated internalized biphobia. i love xander so much. of course he has to make this list. (and this is DEFINITELY the shortest fic on this list lmao.)

also honorable mentions to north star and it's the principle of the thing, which are the fics that i write when i'm not feeling like writing a Big Complicated Interlock-y project, so if you wanna read something of mine that will (uh, someday) be updated and is still in progress, that would be where to go right now until the what you make sequel shows up! north star is essentially a (mostly) scooby genfic that's set in season six where willow resurrects jenny to prove herself to giles, and it deals with the fallout of that. it's the principle of the thing is a super trope-y fic about giles and jenny getting green card married in the middle of season one because that's what you do when your workplace enemy might have to leave :) you propose marriage so he can't :) it's normal :) she's normal :) she's fine :) do not look her in the eye

#fic #calendiles #this list is constantly in flux re: what i am currently writing #but these are the projects i am the most proud of! #anyway this was fun and joyful and so sweet! hello! thank you for bringing some warm new positivity to this fandom <33

[larabiatasstuff]

The Buffy AU with TIG a a replacement of Giles, is still living rent free in my head. Am thinking about being another Vampire Slayer and having him as our support person and librarian. I would so much enjoy to read about such a scenario. Maybe about us being wore out, coming back from a long night of hunting and maybe even being hurt..would that be something you'd enjoy writing?

The way I just immediately knew which pictures you were talking about 😂But yeah your request is fun and I'll absolutely write something for you 🤗

"Y/N over here!" my friend Catherine shouted to get my attention. We went to school together but after we graduated our ways parted. "There you are, sorry I'm a little late. Work is terrible these days." "You still working night shifts?" she asked. "Yeah if night shift means running around cemeteries hunting vampires then yes." but of course I couldn't tell her that so I just said "Yes." we both ordered a coffee and then she started talking. "Alright you're probably wondering why I wanted to meet with you. Do you remember Mr. Isaacs our history professor?" "Umm yeah he was pretty cool what's up with him?" I asked and she held her hand out to show me the huge diamond ring on her finger. "He asked me to marry him. Isn't that exciting? The wedding is next year you have to come. So what about you? Married? Engaged? In a relationship?" that caught me off guard, I didn't really have time for relationships or dating. "No... there's nobody. I'm still single." "Really? That's a shame I mean look at you. Anyways..." she went on talking about marriage, moving to Rome, having babies and a lot of other stuff when suddenly my phone rang, it was T. "I'm sorry, I have to take this. Hey T what's up? Oh no I'm just around the corner I can come by. Alright see you. I'm sorry Catherine that was my boss I have to go. But I wish you all the best it was good to see you." with that I got up and left the café. It was a ten minute walk to the library. I opened the heavy wooden door and entered the building. T was sitting on his desk, his face buried in a book as usual." Hey I came as fast as I could. " I said putting my bag down. He looked up to me and then on his watch. "You were really just around the corner. I was worried I woke you up." I pulled a chair from the table and took a seat. "No I was in the Café near main street with a friend." he raised an eyebrow. "You have friends?" he asked and I gave him a death stare. "Nevermind, one of my contacts reached out to me and said he noticed vampire activities on the cemetery on the other side of the city. So it would be good if you could check that out. Y/N are you alright? You can have a break tonight if..."I didn't realize that I was zoned out "Oh no I'm good, I was just thinking. I'm fine. So I'd say I check my weapons and as soon as the sun sets I'm heading out." his gaze was still a little worried but after a minute he nodded. "Alright, let me know if you need something I'm upstairs putting the books back."

Part two🖤

#thomas ian griffith #sensei targaryen #vampire hunter au #platonic relationship

[sulietsexual]

For the character thing! Monica gellar, darla, Rupert Giles!

Monica Gellar

First impression

Oh man, it's been so long since the first time I watched Friends, I honestly cannot remember.

Impression now

Smart, scrappy, driven, high strung, amazing, strong, neurotic, deserves everything.

Favorite moment

Her proposal to Chandler, her breaking up with Richard because they want different things, The Routine

Idea for a story

I'd love Domestic Mondler stories, them raising the twins, living in the suburbs.

Unpopular opinion

Not sure I have one.

Favorite relationship

Monica/Chandler, Monica/Ross, Monica/Rachel, Monica/Rachel/Phoebe

Favorite headcanon

Don't have one.

Darla

First impression

Whoa, okay, she's the vampire, didn't see that coming!

Impression now

Amazing, fierce, terrifying, strong, love her so much, sexy vampire queen, your fave can't compare!

Favorite moment

"You know what they say ... life's full of surprises", staking herself to save/give birth to Connor, her and Angel realising the baby has a soul, her and Dru wiping out the lawyers, her turning Liam.

Idea for a story

Anything centered around her and Angelus during their relationship or AU where she and Angel raise Connor.

Unpopular opinion

Not sure I have one.

Favorite relationship

Darla/Angel(/us), Darla/Drusilla

Favorite headcanon

She was a Slayer when she was human.

Ruper Giles

First impression

Stuffy, needs some fun, smart

Impression now

Smart, stuffy, needs some fun, obviously loves Buffy but could have done better by her, knows how to do the hard jobs

Favorite moment

Killing Ben, Giles WITH A CHAINSAW, Teen Ripper!Giles

Idea for a story

Would love more on his magic background.

Unpopular opinion

Not sure I have one.

Favorite relationship

Giles/Buffy, Giles/Jenny, Giles/Joyce

Favorite headcanon

He and Ethan were definitely more than friends.

#answered #anonymous

[lestatslestits]

Random AUs and Crossovers I Keep Meaning to Write or Finish

Howl’s Moving Castle AU where they live in a refurbished RV and Howl has a Beauty Guru YouTube channel

Phantom of the Opera/Sherlock Holmes crossover where Irene Adler goes to the Paris opera house, solves the mystery of the Phantom, and tries to teach Christine the art of blackmailing noblemen who don’t believe in marrying opera singers.

Good Omens/Welcome to Night Vale crossover where Aziraphale and Crowley end up in Night Vale and Cecil can’t figure out why the weather is always Queen, and why Aziraphale insists that his name isn’t Erika

Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU where everything is the same except that Buffy is the lead singer in a pop punk band called Buffy and the Slayers. All of the Scoobies are in the band and Giles manages it

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency/ Wooden Overcoats crossover where Eric Chapman was a former Blackwing Project

Community AU where Annie Edison is a Vampire Slayer

Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU where everything is the same except Drusilla is captured by the Initiative instead of Spike

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency/Pushing Daisies crossover where Ned and Dirk have to solve a case together

Les Miserables AU where Valjean asks what’s up with the screaming baby at the Thenardier inn and ends up taking both Cosette and Gavroche away with him and raising them as siblings.

#howl’s moving castle #buffy the vampire slayer #good omens #dghda #les miserables #welcome to night vale #wooden overcoats #pushing daisies #community #fanfiction #au where #writing #phantom of the opera #poto #sherlock holmes

[elanorjane]

Fanfic Masterlist: Rumbelle, Fosterson, L&O:CI, Spuffy

Thanks @jackabelle73 for declaring this masterlist day! 

Rumbelle

California Soulmates - Pop princess Belle wants to write her own music and get out from under her father’s thumb. Single father Gold wants to put his failed music career behind him and get the hell out of L.A. When inspiration strikes, there’s only one problem…the songs they’re writing aren’t their own. They’re each other’s. “Telepathic soulmates” RCIJ for @beastlycheese

Picture of Beauty - Fashion house Jefferson-Mills needs inspiration. Photographer Gold believes a librarian he photographed by accident has what it takes. Now it’s up to Gold to turn Belle into a model worthy of Paris Fashion Week. Based on the movie Funny Face.

Teacup Redux - Rumpelstiltskin trains half-sisters Regina and Zelena in order to cast the curse that will reunite him with his son. In the meantime, he gains a young maid. When he and Belle fall in love and have a son, Rumple calls off the curse. But the two sisters, feeling betrayed, cast the curse anyway, separating true love and raising Gideon themselves. In Storybrooke, a ten-year-old Gideon gets a book from a pretty librarian and he begins to suspect there’s something magical about his town.

Alias Series:

*WInner of the 2018 Rumbelle Prompt Showdown* Written under the pen name Deshelved. Story entries for Rounds 1-5, plus sequels.

His Favorite Criminal - Weaver is killing time at the station on a rainy night when his favorite criminal saunters in. 

His Favorite Woman - Weaver juggles the many women in his life.

Minor Charges - Weaver takes a young punk into custody. 

Community Stakeholders -  Lacey knew that most people thought she was a screw up. Despite people’s doubts, she could give every single one of them the finger with confidence. 

We Could Be Heroes -  Weaver breaks up a fight. 

Love on Ice series:

Belle is an up and coming pairs figure skater. Gold is a disgraced ex-pairs Olympic medalist coerced out of hiding to coach her and her partner, Gaston, to Olympic gold. They go roughly in chronological order from Not Right For Anybody Else on.

Love on Ice - Figure skater Belle and coach Gold. At the Olympics. Over Valentine’s Day. For the February @a-monthly-rumbelling prompt: Love Letter, Candy Hearts, Chocolate, Roses, Blind Date

Not Right For Anybody Else - How Gold became Belle’s skating coach.

First Positions - The first few months of Gold being Belle’s skating coach.

What Was the Last Book You Read? - Written in the final hours of March for A Monthly Rumbelleing’s March Smut Prompt: Having a wet dream and calling the other’s name during it.

Silver Buttons All Down Her Back - Belle had secured Gold’s attendance her 21st birthday party. She’d made the request under the guise of improving their skater-coach relationship. But what she really wants to do is test the boundaries. Written for the @a-monthly-rumbelling prompt: “You’re the most annoying person I know but I think I’m in love with you anyway.”

A Little Flip -  Gold tries to transfer Belle's feelings for him to Gaston. Let's all take a guess on how that's going to go.

Naked Male Insecurity -  Belle and Gaston grow closer. Gold has a reasonable and mature reaction. Ha! Not.

Foreplay - Gold puts his skates back on for the first time in over a decade. Will Belle be there to help him get his groove back?

Fosterson (Thor/Jane Foster)

Thrown -  Mafia AU. The story of two sisters who chose each other ... and two brothers that didn't. Jane Foster is a doctor on the straight and narrow. Thor Odinson doesn't know right from wrong. Darcy Lewis has always lived her life on the fringe. Expelled from his own family, Loki Odinson has never needed an ally more. *Based on philyra-dreamhouse's gifset and prompt: http://philyra-dreamhouse.tumblr.com/post/79058549231

About Time -  “Heimdall witnessed a disturbance, beings appearing from seemingly nowhere, altered in some way.” “An Einstein-Rosen Bridge?” Thor shook his head, “He’s unsure.” “But it could be an Einstein-Rosen Bridge,” Jane suggested brightly. “Jane, I thought we agreed,” Thor began, glancing over to where Leika played on the floor. She threw up her hands, “I know, I know, whoever’s race discovers it gets to go check it out first.” She continued throwing items into her bag, now with a little more force than necessary. “But Asgardians seems to find all the good stuff,” she lamented.

The North Star -  Jane and Thor’s first Christmas/Hanukkah together. Holiday fluff. Post-TDW

Law & Order: Criminal Intent 

Take Me Anywhere - Alexandra Eames never wanted to be a princess. She wanted to play and climb and jump and throw with the boys and for thirty-two years she had. Now a country which she had never really identified with as her own, have risen up to demand her as their figurehead.    

A Woman Scorned - Best read after a viewing of Untethered.

Out of It - Begins with Eames and Ross busting Bobby out of the Psych Ward. Post-Untethered

Moments -  Various Moments in the lives of Bobby, Alex, Emma, and co.

Telling the Fam' -  “Isn’t he the crazy guy that throws himself off of buildings and slices his hand open in interrogation rooms?”

A Labor Story or Hard Labor Emma Jane Goren-Eames enters the world. Alex gets annoyed. Bobby panics.

Overprotected - Future Fic. Emma Jane Goren-Eames recounts how everyone found out about her, with a little help from her parents’ favorite psychopath

Bullpen or Playpen?  - Circumstances out of her control force Alex to bring her and Bobby’s daughter, Emma, to the precinct. “Let’s go play ‘terr’gation!”

zoion logia - Future Fic. A series of shorts I have planned – snippets of Emma Jane GorenEames’ life so far.

Spuffy

Back Together- At sixteen they got pregnant and hitched. They regretted it two years later and split, separating their twin babies. Now, thirteen years later the siblings are bringing their parents back together. *Based on The Parent Trap*

Before Today - AU Buffy and Spike are assassins hired by their bosses, Angel and Cordelia, to kill each other. What happens when their passion for killing turns into a passion for each other? (Think rebel Buffy in “The Wish”)

Comedown -AU Buffy Summers has been asked to move in with her boyfriend Angel Giles, heir to the law firm of Wolfram and Hart. But when Angel’s rebel younger brother, Spike, returns to claim what is rightfully his, Buffy sees Angel in a new light as sparks fly between Spike and herself. Angel continues to plow ahead in the relationship, and Spike brings her to question her choices in life. Will she follow her current path or follow her heart?

Dark City - The future of Sunnydale is dark. Buffy Summers is one of the few left to fight the good fight. When she has to make a deal with one of the darkest there is, will she be able to keep to the calling she was assigned so long ago, or will she submerge herself in his Dark City?

Game of Love - Buffy, Xander, Willow, Anya, and Spike are friends from college. After the graduation The Gang, except Spike, opens a now famous wedding boutique Fairytale. While Spike is happy and getting great projects working for a very popular bridal magazine as a photographer. Now, Spike's boss Liliah wants the famous Buffy in her magazine. Who'll take the great, big project? Spike of course. But Buffy refuses to do the spread, so Spike makes a proposition: he'll find her a guy in exchange for the project. What happens when Spike realizes he is The Guy and falls for her big time? Buffy's already found a man -- a guy that Spike set her up with! Much Spuffiness ensues.

Havilon - S6 Glory is still out in search of the key. A gold poison arrow now in her possession. It hits someone. But who? How is the poison cured? This is a story I started back in 2002 on fanfiction.net under the penname bondgirl0018. I’m revising and continuing the entire thing. This is my first go at a long non-AU Spuffy. Spuffy eventually, Spike/Dawn friendship.

It's the Great Slayer, Buffy Summers - Spike and Buffy are together celebrating Halloween. No angst, just happy Halloween-ing with a little homage It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

Out of the Rubble - Buffy Summers is living out every parent’s worst nightmare and it’s up to Special Agent William “Spike” Giles to find the person who kidnapped her daughter and bring her back (hopefully) alive. But as these two will learn, the closer they get to the truth, the closer tragedy will bring them together.

Return To You - Years after leaving Sunnydale, he comes back to claim his childhood love. But she’s not so easily convinced. Can he come to terms with the boy he once was and get back the girl he left behind?

Someday, Much More - Spike Giles’s brother, Angel, skips town, leaving him with a little girl and a big responsibility. Forced to give up his big-city L.A. life, he meets a small-town girl who could be his saving grace.

What You're Waiting For - Buffy Summers is a jaded writer. Spike Giles is her editor. When Buffy is summoned home for a family affair in the midst of her latest novel, she drags New York back home with her to little ol’ Sunnydale. Her two worlds are going to collide. And nothing will ever be the same.

#all the fanfic #masterlist #rumbelle fic #fosterson fic #law and order: criminal intent #spuffy

[zephyrvos]

Buffy AU Question: If Miss Kitty Fantastico had lived and sooner or later gave birth to kittens, specifically six, of her own when she turns four years old, would Willow & Tara help Miss Kitty raise her babies?

I think so. They’d have time to prepare, and they’d love having adorable baby kittens running around. I could see them giving one or two away (I’m thinking two, to Jenny and Giles) and then they’re left with five. Dawn and Buffy (and some of the activated potentials who are around) help take care of the kittens, and they all end up with the cat they’ve ‘bonded’ with the most. It means there’s always a cat to trip over, or knock over a candle, but there’s also always a cat to cuddle when you’re sad, so it’s a pretty good life.

#a wholesome ask <3 #btvs #tillow #frostbite883 #asks #reply

[51kas81]

Some of my favorite Buffy/Giles fics (in no particular order)

The Ties That Bind by thisiszircon

A 'Ripper' in Time by endlessmuse

Ripper is transported into Buffy's first year at College. Suffice it to say, his reckless and violent behavior shake things up in Sunnydale. Adam, King Arthur and Hell. Just another adventure for the Scooby Gang. A mix of Canon and AU. Ripper POV.

Autumnal Equinox by A. Manley Haight (via Wayback Machine)

Buffy has lived much longer than the average slayer and thus has reached a crossroads that not many have been forced to face. She must come of age and there is only one who can help her do this.

A Mile in His Moccasins by Gileswench

When Buffy and Giles switch bodies, they both learn to see things from a different perspective.

Bookends by il-mio-capitano

AU Buffy and Giles set about 5 years after Chosen (No comics happened). Giles is trying to build a new life.

Breathing by Antennapedia  

Power and life. Mages and Slayers. And what Giles did during his months away.

Baby Love by ReniB

Giles returns from England--and just in the nick of time, as the Trio's latest Evil Plan goes awry, returning four of the Scoobies to the little hellions they once were. Can Buffy and Giles--with a little help from Dawn--manage to care for four three-year. 

Everything She Ever Wanted by uwmuggle

A strange amulet, a mumbled wish, and Buffy gets a glimpse into a life she never thought she could have. 

Family Fun by goodolrupes (KrisB)

Xander & Willow are turned into little kids and it is up to Buffy and Giles to take care of them until they can change them back.

Lost by Gail Christison

Buffy and Giles are lost in another dimension and Giles goes into survival mode in their primitive envionment and their relationship undergoes an evolution leading to love and passion.

Monster by il-mio-capitano

Set after Chosen. Giles has disappeared from the group and could be a threat. Buffy isn't sure how much she wants to deal with that problem.

One Mistake Changes Everything by T. Dunn

Buffy is pregnant; Riley has left for South America. Who will step in to help her get through it all? As the title states, mistakes can be a life changing event. What starts as friendship can become something more.

Relativity Series Just Want To Feel Something & Relativity: Don't Lie by Gatergirl79

In the aftermath of sending Angel to hell, Buffy makes a decision that's going to change her and Giles' lives forever.

Uncertain Ground by Littleotter73

Giles and Buffy have not been able to put the events of the past behind them and have chosen not to associate with each other beyond Slayer matters. Can they set their aside their differences and the pain of the past to work together to save Dawn from an evil plot?

Until We Meet Again by A. Heiden

After the demise of Sunnydale, Buffy is free to do as she pleases. She decides to go find Giles, who was deported two years earlier.

The Death Brings Clarity Trilogy by JK Philips (774 pages)

The Slayer is dead.

She leaves behind her friends, her sister, and her Watcher.

He should not be so surprised. He has read the Watchers Diaries, whose pages all end so abruptly. He has been raised and guided towards this destiny since the age of ten. And so he should have known that this moment was inevitable.

But she was not like the others. And in the end, she did not die like the others. Not cut down by her foe in battle, his Slayer sacrificed herself to save her sister and the world. And he is left alone, empty, a lifetimes purpose lying dead atop the rubble before him.

But there is another who can understand his pain, a dark power who will not let this Slayer rest in her grave. And though he believes he has already lost everything with her death, he will learn that he still has more to lose.

The Unbreakable Series by Koala (via Wayback Machine)

What would Season 5 have been like if Buffy had fallen in love with Giles? This series explores that question with an AU retelling of the last half of the season.

and here are some still working (or not) archives

Froxyn's Buffy/Giles Fanfiction

Antennapedia's fanfiction Buffy/Giles

Gileswench - Wench's Tavern (via Wayback Machine)

Koala - KoalasPlace (via Wayback Machine)

Gail Christison - Once More With Feeling

Pythia (mythichistorian) - Warriors and Watchers

WickedFox - Unrequited ~ BtVS Fan Fiction

Archive of Our Own

Buffygiles.com eFiction

Gileszone Archive

Summer of Giles

VLC's Virtual Season Eight by Various Authors

fanfiction.net

The Buffy/Giles Fanfiction Archive (via Wayback Machine)

should be missing something please complete

#fanfiction #buffy/giles #fanfiction archiv #buffy/giles fics

[buffyanon]

giles raises buffy AU?

-Before Buffy even got there, Giles had to decide how he was going to decorate a nursery and the woman working at the baby store fawns over him because he’s such a obviously clueless single dad and he’s trying so hard. At this point, Giles still has every intention of raising Buffy as a slayer and not a daughter, but he can’t resist picking up the adorable pink elephant stuffed animal. 

-Buffy never dates vampires in this AU. She was raised with full knowledge of what they are and what her role might be with them, so Angel doesn’t have the mysterious sexy allure. He’s an ally to the scoobies but that’ it. Good news- that means Jenny and Kendra never die and Buffy never runs away. It’s a lot happier for everyone. 

-Buffy does date Willow, in large part because she figures out her sexuality early in life. Having an openly bi dad is nice like that. Having grown up in Sunnydale, Willow and Buffy have been close since they were kids, which means Giles knows Willow very well and he’s so happy for them. 

-Speaking of, raising a kid made Giles a lot more sensitive. So he notices that Willow and Xander both have shit parents. For Willow, that means that he’s constantly having her over, throwing her birthday parties, and generally being a father figure. For Xander…that probably means calling CPS? I haven’t really thought about it. (It would also mean he dealt with Faith better but because Kendra never dies, Faith never comes.)

-Buffy begs Giles for a puppy and he keeps saying no, they’re too messy, they’re too loud, we have to go to England sometimes who will take care of it, etc etc etc, but his resistance slowly dwindles down to nothing because Buffy’s big eyes are impossible to say no to. They get a golden retriever. 

#this is definitely one of two people #either way I Love You #giles raises buffy au #Anonymous #ask meme

[princesses-and-bitchcraft]

Buffy AU Question: If Miss Kitty Fantastico had lived and sooner or later gave birth to kittens, specifically six, of her own when she turns four years old, would Willow & Tara help Miss Kitty raise her babies?

You just sendin’ this out everywhere? (Not that that’s a bad thing, it’s a cute question!!!)

This is a little bit strange for me to answer, because I don’t really see Willow and Tara as being a long-term together forever kind of couple to be honest. But I think that even if they weren’t in a relationship I think Miss Kitty having kittens would certainly bring them closer again. Six kittens is a lot of kittens, (I don’t know if it’s a lot of kittens for one cat to birth or not, but it is a lot of cats to OWN.) I think once the kittens were ready to leave their mother they’d be dispersed. Dawn gets one. Anya gets one. Giles gets one too, despite his own protests. Willow keeps one for herself, assuming that Miss Kitty was staying with Tara. 

This probably isn’t quite what you were looking for, but here you have it anyway. 

[jennycalendar]

Kingcup,preferably for Buffyverse.

kingcup- youth, innocence, dawn

“Why?”

“Because it’s very delicate,” Giles explains with some worry, “and because that’s its home. You wouldn’t like it if someone picked you up out of your home and–” He stops for a second, then says, “Just leave it there, Buffy, all right?”

“You look sad,” Buffy observes, and places a small hand on his face. “Is it b’cause I tried to pick up the snail?”

Giles exhales and tries to smile. “I’m all right, Buffy,” he says gently, “really, I just–worry, sometimes.”

“You worry a lot,” says Buffy. “Too much. Willow from school says you have more worry lines than her dad and Willow from school’s dad is like a hundred years younger than you–”

“How old do you think I am?” Giles inquires, amused.

Buffy, who has just recently learned to count to fifty in kindergarten, announces, “A zillion years old!” and then starts cackling at Giles’s expression.

Giles rather suspects that Xander from school taught her to say that. Gently, he picks Buffy up, feeling a small smile begin when she cuddles into his shoulder. “Let’s go home,” he says.

“I still wanna snail,” says Buffy into his shoulder. “Cordelia has two dogs and I don’t even have a snail.”

“You have me,” Giles reminds her.

Buffy seems to seriously consider this, then says, “You count as half a snail, Giles, I want a real snail.”

#asks #fic #giles raises baby buffy au #sdfjlsljk i need 2 get back to this au... i have such a soft spot for it #buffy and giles #rupert giles #buffy summers #cordeliataras

[jennycalendar]

adapting

ao3

He should place some sort of advertisement in the paper. Wanted: Childcare for Potential Vampire Slayer; Emotional Support for Watcher.

(in which giles and buffy adjust to living on a hellmouth. well. mostly just giles)

lmao remember when i was talking about how this fic was going to be angsty? that fell tf apart. it has angsty parts but it’s a short fluff piece; one more of these & then i think we might get to some Actual Plot Things!

tagging @theforestlesbian as always <3

Giles had been in Sunnydale for two days when he nearly got jumped by a vampire on his way back from the grocery store, and it was then that he started considering that he'd made a pretty serious mistake coming to an active Hellmouth just to get away from the Council monitor. Keeping Buffy in his care was definitely not as important as keeping Buffy alive, and living here alone with no one to take care of Buffy if anything happened to him was most certainly a bad idea, which was why Giles was panicking at two in the morning and couldn't go to sleep.

Buffy was awake, but not because she'd been crying. Giles, wanting to remind himself of the one certainty in his life, had picked her up and out of her crib while he paced around her bedroom. She seemed somewhat upset by his anxiety, and kept on making concerned little whimpering noises that didn't really alleviate Giles's stress. He should place some sort of advertisement in the paper. Wanted: Childcare for Potential Vampire Slayer; Emotional Support for Watcher.

"You," he said to Buffy with some exhaustion, "need some sort of reliable care that isn’t me, because sooner or later I'll probably get murdered by some sun-resistant vampire. It's California, after all. I expect these people can withstand five thousand bloody degrees of heat even after they’re dead." He bounced Buffy in his arms, trying to distract himself. "I'd give you back to the Council if they weren't likely to just lock you in a room and set up a few magical wards to make sure you don't die before you get Called—"

Buffy began to cry.

Giles felt more than just a little bit horrible for passing his worry to Buffy. Part of him wished he'd just stayed at his desk job in the Council, never mind the shame he'd have brought on his family for not accepting a Potential when offered one. Maybe then Buffy would at least be with someone who could keep her safe, if not happy.

But Giles hated the thought of Buffy being alone—that was why he wanted her to have the chance to meet other children. She was such a social butterfly, always smiling and laughing at complete strangers, and Giles knew that the Council didn't approve of Potentials as mischievous and charismatic as Buffy, and who better to take care of her than someone who had dealt with mischievous, charismatic people on a daily basis back in college—lord, was that only seven years ago? It felt like so much longer.

"Shh," Giles murmured, bouncing Buffy in his arms. "Hush now, dear, everything's all right."

It wasn't, really, but he certainly shouldn't be worrying Buffy. Giles did wish there was a manual for rogue Watchers trying to secretly raise a child instead of prepare a Potential, something with affordable resources and self-help tips. It would be a niche sort of book, certainly, but it'd be better than whatever the hell seemed to be going on with him right now.

Buffy had stopped crying, but she still looked upset. Giles took her tightly curled fist in his hand and hummed an old song his mother might have sung to him, once.

 There were two daycares within Sunnydale city limits, and both were absolutely out of the question when it came to finding safe and affordable care for Buffy. One was two blocks away from a location where new vampires seemed to enjoy going to spend time, and the other had a two-hundred-dollar entrance fee and was located in the distastefully wealthy section of Sunnydale that Giles was trying his hardest to avoid.

Putting an advertisement in the paper did next to nothing except make Giles panic even more about the possibility of the Council finding it and asking questions he wouldn't be able to answer without incriminating himself and losing Buffy. Adding to Giles's panic was his worry that he was creating a negative home environment for Buffy anyway with all this worrying. He couldn't believe he was even thinking this, but he very much missed Los Angeles.

Growing more and more desperate, Giles decided to check out the two-hundred-dollar daycare. He could always dip into his emergency funds, if need be. Perhaps just a little time, enough for him to figure out something more permanent and definite.

"Hgb," said Buffy from her car seat. She'd started to vocalize a bit more precisely as of late, though nothing amounted to an actual word just yet. Currently, she was chewing on the arm of the small cloth doll Giles had bought her back in Los Angeles. She had grown incredibly attached to that doll, even more so than her old baby blanket.

"Right," said Giles with nervous determination, and pulled into the parking lot of Bright Smiles Daycare. In Giles's opinion, that name better suited a dentist's office, not some ridiculously overpriced daycare full of tiny children with extremely wealthy parents.

After getting out of the car, unbuckling Buffy from her car seat, and picking her (and the doll) up, Giles locked the car and surveyed the daycare from outside. It looked quite nice, it was in the part of town that seemed to have quite a lot of mansions, and it was well protected by a solid brick wall with a mural featuring many eerily smiling children painted near the gate. Giles wondered how desperate for childcare parents had to be in order to walk their children past these small painted goblins every day.

Then again, he thought, I seem to be rather desperate myself at this juncture.

"Welcome to Bright Smiles Daycare!" gushed a young woman standing at the door. She was holding a small child in her arms that looked perhaps Buffy's age, if a bit smaller. "You must be Rupert Giles! It's always a pleasure to meet a new member of the Bright Smiles family!"

Stepping into the perfectly symmetrical hallway and neatly organized artwork, Giles was very vividly reminded of the cult he'd had to join as part of an intelligence-gathering mission for the Council. He held Buffy protectively to his chest (Buffy, of course, was at this point very involved with babbling to her doll and didn't really notice) and stepped closer to the woman, inquiring, “Do you, um, have anything to eat?”

“Oh, of course!” said the woman warmly. "We have snacks for you, applesauce for your daughter—"

"Oh, she's not my—" Giles began reflexively, before remembering that he was trying to seem relatively normal to this perfectly nice young woman. "allergic to applesauce," he finished awkwardly. "Which is perhaps very good if that is what you have."

Buffy, taking advantage of her close proximity to the first child her age she’d ever met, threw the cloth doll at the other baby as hard as she could.

"Buffy," said Giles, mortified.

The doll bounced off the other baby’s face, and the other baby began to cry. The woman, whose expression had suddenly changed, said awkwardly, “Cordelia’s parents make very generous donations that help finance most of this daycare. I’m terribly sorry, but if your Buffy doesn’t get along with her, Bright Smiles might not be the best fit for you.”

“No, this is just her way of saying hello,” said Giles helplessly. “I think.”

Buffy was watching Cordelia with a sort of scientific interest. Cordelia seemed wholly unaware of the fact that she was being observed, too focused on crying as loudly as possible.

“I’m so sorry,” said the woman again, “but Bright Smiles can only afford to take on well-behaved and well-mannered children.”

Giles had accounted for the fact that he might not be all that good at finding Buffy a daycare. He hadn’t considered that Buffy might not be all that good at daycare in the first place, and it was very difficult to understand, particularly after spending so much time with Buffy. Buffy was excitable and sweet and, well, perhaps a bit rambunctious, but she was most certainly a lovely young girl that any daycare would be lucky to have, and—and he was still just standing here, not saying anything. “Well,” he said finally. “I’ll just search elsewhere, then. Good day to you.”

“Mr. Giles, we can perhaps discuss—” the woman began, but Giles was already turning and hurrying out of the daycare.

As soon as they were outside of Bright Smiles, Buffy began to wail. Giles turned and saw the woman, struggling with a still-sobbing Cordelia in her arms and Buffy’s doll in one hand. “I really am sorry,” she said apologetically. “We’re just a very exclusive place. We can’t afford—”

“Yes, thank you,” said Giles exhaustedly, and took the doll, handing it to Buffy. Buffy sniffled and stopped crying, going back to her usual pastime of chewing on the doll’s arm. “I expect we’ll need to look elsewhere, at any rate.” Turning, he hurried to the car, unlocking the door and placing Buffy into her car seat before climbing into the backseat himself.

“You’ve made my life very complicated, you know that?” he said softly to Buffy. “It’s rather impressive. You’re quite small, and yet you’ve caused nearly as much upheaval as Eyghon.” This was quite a exaggeration, but Giles just liked talking to Buffy. As of late, she rarely ever paid any attention to him while he talked, and it was strangely endearing. She lived in her own very happy little world.

Giles leaned back into the seat, thinking. It wasn’t just that Buffy had made a bad first impression, it was that he didn’t want Buffy to be in a place where he constantly felt like he was walking on eggshells. He didn’t want Buffy’s daycare to be dependent on how much money he could shell out to cover any misbehaviors, and he got the distinct sense that this was the sort of place that catered to the rich part of Sunnydale. All the parents who wanted an exclusive experience with only the most well-behaved children.

“I feel a bit bad for that Cordelia girl you threw your doll at,” he said to Buffy. “That sort of place seems as though it might not be the kindest.”

“Pshhh,” said Buffy happily.

Really, Giles thought, he needed some guidance, and there was only one resource in which he’d nearly always found consistently good advice.

 Buffy, sitting on the sofa with her beloved cloth doll, watched Giles with a large smile as he entered the room with the third box of books. Giles smiled back, feeling more than a bit reassured by the fact that someone seemed to have steadfast faith in him, even if that someone was a six-month-old who wasn’t well-behaved enough for daycare. “Daycare is rubbish anyway,” he informed her. “I didn’t go to daycare, and look how well I turned out.” He considered this, then winced. “Well. There are plenty of other people who didn’t go to daycare and turned out just fine.”

Buffy held out the cloth doll to Giles.

“Oh—” Giles placed down the box, crossing the room to take the doll from Buffy. “Thank you,” he said very seriously. He knew it was a bit early to start on good manners, but there was a parenting book he’d read recently that said encouragement was extremely beneficial to a growing child. Besides which, he did appreciate the gesture; Buffy didn’t give her doll to just anyone. Buffy did throw her doll at just about anyone, but giving her doll willingly was reserved for only Giles.

Tucking the doll into his front pocket where Buffy could still see it and know it was being taken care of, Giles turned back to the books. He’d brought along a few copies of Watcher journals that the Council had gifted to him, as infant Potentials weren’t generally all that common and the Council seemed to think Giles could use some frames of reference. Giles had been mostly ignoring them out of spite, but quite frankly, he was getting desperate. Perhaps among one of these books he might find some kind of a solution, some Watcher who softened to their Potential and wanted a better life for them.

But after a good two hours spent researching (or, more accurately, one hour spent researching, half an hour spent playing with Buffy—she was such a sweet child, and Giles didn’t want her to feel neglected—and half an hour preparing dinner for the both of them), Giles really hadn’t found anything of use. The Watchers’ diaries were dispassionate and disinterested in their charges, and Giles had the strong sense that these had been specifically selected to encourage a similar mindset for him.

It did make him very aware of one thing, though. These Watchers never really seemed to mention any sort of community or resources, instead putting a specific emphasis on how solitary their lives had become. One Watcher boasted that his Potential’s first encounter with another child didn’t take place until she was eight years old, and even then it was under incredibly controlled circumstances.

“The system is broken,” Giles informed Buffy, and was unexpectedly reminded of Ethan, both of them sprawled in the grass talking lazily about burning the world down. Giles had been frightened, he realized, by what had happened with Eyghon, stumbling to distance himself from rebellion so that no one would ever get hurt again. Choosing to raise Buffy the way he thought would be best was a sideways way of rebelling against the Council without really rebelling against the Council, and it still didn’t really address the actual problems he was creating with his careful approach. He had no real way to make sure Buffy wouldn’t go to another Council operative in the event of his death, no contacts he trusted, no community to fall back on, and he still felt as though impulsive, rebellious behavior was the absolute wrong way to go.

Buffy made a small whining noise and stretched a tiny hand toward the doll in Giles’s pocket. Turning, he absently handed it back to her, but she grabbed plaintively at his hand instead.

“Hello,” said Giles tiredly, managing a smile. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long day.” He sat down next to her on the couch, thinking. He couldn’t at all handle the idea of hosting some neighborhood get-together to meet people; pretending to be a single father for a long period of time would be difficult when faced with cheerful Americans eating his food. All he really wanted was someone he could reliably count on to take care of Buffy if anything happened to him—

The solution to his problems occurred to him quite abruptly. “Idiot,” said Giles to himself, picking up Buffy and making sure to add for her benefit, “Not you, dear, you’re very smart and let no one tell you otherwise.” Carrying Buffy down the hall to her bedroom, he placed her gently down in her crib before hurrying back to the living room to find a pen and paper.

 “You’re not serious.”

“I assume you received my letter?” said Giles cheerfully.

“We did. We’re calling to inquire what on earth would make you think legally adopting the Potential would be a good idea.” Travers’s voice was clipped and irritable. “That sort of thing makes placing her with another Watcher extremely difficult in the event of your demise. It would be significantly different were she British, but there is only so much we can do in regards to the American legal system.”

“Oh, I’m aware,” said Giles, who was feeling thoroughly proud of himself at the moment. “I simply feel that—well,” here he dropped his voice a bit dramatically, “I’m of the mind that it also makes things more difficult for any family member to step in. You don’t want just anyone swooping in and claiming guardianship of a Potential, Travers, do you?”

On the other side of the room, Buffy noticed a dog outside and started shrieking with delight.

“What on earth is that racket on your end?” Travers demanded.

“Television,” lied Giles, making a shh motion to Buffy (who, as usual, happily ignored him and pressed her hands up against the window while she stared at the dog). “Listen, Travers, I’ve been doing a bit of digging,” this part actually wasn’t a lie, “and this particular Potential has quite a few relatives in this area. I’d move, but I’m taking my research responsibilities quite seriously.”

“Mr. Giles,” said Travers, “tread carefully.”

Giles winced. That didn’t bode well. “I’m sorry?”

“These constant changes in your approach to training your Potential are giving me doubts,” said Travers. “I will support your request to adopt the child and pull a few legal strings, but only because you claim that there is danger of a relative ‘swooping in.’ I hope you understand that you make any more requests and we will conduct a very thorough investigation.”

Giles felt almost dizzy with delight. He did feel awful about using Buffy’s relatives as though they were pieces in some horrible game of chess. But he’d be able to make legal arrangements that would keep Buffy out of the hands of the Council in the event of his death, and that was truly comforting to him.

Buffy, meanwhile, was still very distracted by the dog, which was chasing a squirrel. “Go!” she shouted suddenly, and Giles nearly dropped the phone. “Go go go!”

“Mr. Giles?”

“Go!” Buffy crowed, and hit the window as though watching a high-speed chase.

Giles stared, eyes wide, and a slow, proud smile spread across his face. “Yes, of course,” he said. “Good day, Travers.”

“Good day.”

Giles waited for the click of the receiver before crossing the room to scoop Buffy up. She uttered a whine of protest, peering over his shoulder at the dog and the squirrel. “Go,” she informed Giles sulkily, which did make it a bit unclear as to whether she knew what she was saying was an actual word.

Giles chose to believe that she was just trying to be mysterious. “Yes, it did go,” he agreed. “But you can’t hit the window.”

 To celebrate their small victory, Giles decided to take Buffy on a walk to the nearby park. She’d been mostly cooped up since the daycare incident a few days ago, and he thought they could both do with a bit of fresh air. Besides which, he was more than a little bit proud of the high-quality stroller he’d gotten for Buffy, and he wanted to see if it worked as well as advertised.

Buffy was always very happy about getting dressed and going outside; she was a very sweetly cheerful little thing. Carefully buttoning Buffy’s tiny sweater, Giles lifted her up and into the stroller, tucking her doll in with her. “Now, if we meet any new children, kindly try not to throw things,” he instructed her.

Buffy smiled. It was very clear that she had no qualms about throwing things.

They lived in a refreshingly shady part of Sunnydale. Giles was not at all fond of the sun that the town’s name advertised, and very much missed the chill of England. Buffy very clearly loved the sun, but was willing to settle for the breeze and shade that the many trees in their neighborhood allowed. It was pleasant, Giles had to admit, and very lovely to walk with an excitable Buffy in her stroller (who had just seen a pigeon and was babbling happily in its direction) without all that many plans for the day. It felt like the sort of break he needed after the panic of their first week in Sunnydale.

“Do you suppose things will settle down?” Giles asked Buffy, stopping the stroller to peer down at her.

Buffy gave him a very irritated look, crossed her arms, and said, “Go.”

“You’re quite a demanding little girl, aren’t you,” said Giles affectionately, and went back to pushing the stroller.

#fic #giles raises baby buffy au #buffy and giles #you'd better believe i'm going to reblog the hell out of this later today #i'm feeling that midnight anxiety so i have 2 crash now #but appreciate this please!!

[jennycalendar]

i have been nonstop thinking for two days about shy single dad giles & soft student teacher jenny falling in love during field trips & parent teacher conferences & bb buffy's birthday party and it is actually at this point impeding my ability to write anything at all

#musings #calendiles #giles raises baby buffy au #this fic is legit going to happen tho. like it will exist

[jennycalendar]

pint-size potential (2/3)

read it here on ao3!

for @theforestlesbian​!! happy birthday alex!! i love u so much that i went back and legit stopped procrastinating on writing this fic.

your birthday present is as follows:

-two new chapters of giles & baby buffy, concluding this fic

-the heartfelt promise that i will continue this story (which was always intended to be a prequel) with a series of fics centering around giles & his small daughter buffy (and probably also willow and xander and jenny. like that’s definitely on the table)

anyway. i very much love you and i shall post the last chapter in a few hours probably but i wanted to start off w this one...it’s been hidden on my computer for literal months lmao

Buffy Anne Summers, aged five-and-a-half months, was sitting on the floor, banging on a pot with her rattle. Giles had propped her up against the wall while he made them both breakfast, figuring that she couldn’t make too much noise with just a rattle, but Buffy had somehow acquired the pot and seemed hell-bent on making as much of a ruckus as possible.

“How did you get that, I put it in a cabinet you can’t reach,” Giles said with mild exasperation, turning to remove the rattle from Buffy’s hand. She uttered an indignant shriek of protest, but let go, smiling widely.

At him.

That was—well.

Giles smiled back, very shyly, and removed the pot from Buffy’s reach, handing her back the rattle. She shook it at him, still smiling as he turned to heat up her formula.

His life wasn’t as quiet as it had been back in England, which was strange to think about when considering the fact that Buffy was the only new person in it. But Giles was learning rapidly that Buffy was a rather bubbly child, very social and playful and incredibly unaware that he wasn’t any of those things. She took up a lot of space in his life with barely any effort.

Turning away from the microwave, Giles lifted Buffy and her rattle up into the new high chair. “There we are,” he said, smoothing down Buffy’s soft, downy hair. Just enough of it had grown for Giles to see clearly that it was coming in blonde. “Now. Are you ready for breakfast?”

This was when the doorbell rang. Buffy squeaked, surprised, and grabbed at Giles’s hand.

Giles, who was learning very fast that Buffy left alone could and would start trying to figure out some most-likely-unsafe way to entertain herself, carefully removed Buffy from her high chair, bouncing her in his arms. She beamed at him. “Yes, hello,” he said, smiling back. “Come on, let’s answer the door, see who it is.”

It was a catalogue. More accurately, it was their mail, but on top of all the mail, there was a family catalogue. Buffy saw the girl in the pink dress on the front of the catalogue and reached for it, very nearly managing to fall out of Giles’s arms. Giles held her very tightly and picked up the catalogue, mostly because he was worried that Buffy might try and figure out how to get to it if he left it outside.

They returned to the kitchen, Buffy squirming in Giles’s arms to try and get a good look at the catalogue. Giles set her back down in the high chair, placing the catalogue on the kitchen counter where Buffy could see it. “Not even a year old and she’s already trying to get me to go shopping,” he said, mouth quirking up in an amused little grin as he handed Buffy her baby formula.

Buffy barely even looked at the bottle, reaching for the catalogue.

“Absolutely not,” said Giles, gentle but firm. “Do you think I don’t know why yesterday’s newspaper is in shreds on the floor in my room?” Nevertheless, he opened the catalogue, flipping absently through the pages. They could do with a changing table, he thought, and a better crib, and perhaps a new stroller, one that didn’t belong to the Council, and—a new high chair, of course, because this one was barely functional.

Buffy grabbed at a page, tearing it.

“Oh, lord,” said Giles, an unpleasant thought occurring to him, “I’m going to have to baby-proof the bookshelves, aren’t I?”

Seemingly unconcerned by Giles’s newfound fear for his rarer volumes, Buffy decided to forgo the catalogue and instead focus in on her bottle, surveying Giles as though trying to figure out why he wasn’t having breakfast himself.

Giles took this as a sign that he should eat, and quickly prepared some cereal. He hadn’t had as much time to cook, lately, but he also hadn’t had as much time to miss it. As he ate, he made a mental list of the day’s activities, which made him feel a bit lighter. Taking Buffy out shopping—that was stressful, but quite fun. Everything was new to her. He was still looking into job applications (there was a position as a museum curator that looked promising), and trying to figure out how to balance said job with raising a child.

He’d heard that other Watchers merely placed protective wards around the house, cast a spell that would take care of all of the baby’s physical needs, and went on with their day, but he couldn’t leave Buffy alone for that long. She thrived on attention and affection, and gave as good as she got. He didn’t think he could leave her isolated, even if he knew she was physically safe.

Buffy cut off Giles’s train of thought by dropping her now-empty bottle from her high chair and laughing as though watching the bottle fall was the height of comedy. Giles finished the last of his cereal, picked up the bottle, and rinsed it out.

Buffy made a small, cross noise and hit her rattle against the tray of the high chair.

“I am not playing that game where you drop your bottle and I give it back,” Giles informed her. “Those were fifteen very frustrating minutes.”

There was silence, and then Buffy made a noise that sounded endearingly like hmph! before going back to shaking her rattle.

Giles was generally a quick shopper, but shopping with Buffy was a thoroughly different experience than shopping by himself. She kept on trying to grab things off the rack, most of which weren’t geared towards children, and ended up grabbing one solitary shoe off one of the shelves while Giles was trying to figure out where the baby section was. This led to a good three minutes of Giles trying to tug the shoe from Buffy, and then five minutes of trying to figure out where she had gotten the shoe from in the first place, at which point Buffy took advantage of his distraction and snatched a set of bright pink flip-flops.

Giving in, Giles decided to just let her hold onto the damn things and try to reach the baby section.

Apparently, there were a lot of things one could buy for an infant. This was a little confusing to Giles, who got the sense that Buffy herself wouldn’t really appreciate most of these items. He suspected that some of it was for the aesthetic sensibilities of the parents. “Anything here suit you?” he inquired gently of Buffy.

Buffy was chewing on the edge of her baby blanket again. Giles was breaking five to seven rules in the Council Handbook by letting Buffy have a comfort object and letting her take it outside the house, but Buffy didn’t do all that well being parted with her baby blanket, and he figured that a baby who had been thrown into a completely new situation deserved as many small comforts as he could give her. She looked impassively at the various outfits and toys, then sneezed.

Giles decided to try and choose some things himself. Picking up a small set of pink footie pajamas, he inquired, “How’s this?”

“Aa,” said Buffy, holding the flip-flops out to him.

“No, it’s—it’s not a trade-off,” Giles began, then considered what he was saying. “Actually—yes. It is a trade-off. Here, you give me those—” He took the flip-flops from Buffy, who took the footie pajamas and seemed very satisfied with herself.

Turning back to the clothing, he found Buffy a few more outfits (well, twelve, but she did need clothing with a splash of color in it, and he certainly wasn’t having her dressed in that Council-approved rubbish when they were the reason he had to go shopping in the first place) and then put them in the shopping cart, along with the pink flip-flops. By a surprising coincidence, the flip-flops were exactly his size, and Buffy had picked them out.

“Mr. Giles?”

Still holding the pink flip-flops, Giles turned, heart catching in his chest. “Yes?”

Ms. Smythe was surveying him with a thin-lipped expression, eyes narrowed. Without a word, she looked towards the baby blanket in Buffy’s arms.

“Ah,” said Giles.

Ms. Smythe looked pointedly at the brightly colored clothing in Giles’s shopping cart.

“Well—” began Giles.

“Regardless of the importance of your charge to the Council, Mr. Giles,” said Ms. Smythe, yanking the baby blanket away from a startled Buffy, who began to cry (Giles’s heart caught horribly, but he didn’t dare reach out to comfort her in front of Ms. Smythe), “you would do well not to forget that you are not raising a child.”

Giles felt a rush of anger. How on earth any individual could look at an infant and deem them a weapon was beyond him, but—but he’d be damned if he lost control in front of Ms. Smythe. “I understand that completely,” he said coolly, taking the baby blanket back from Ms. Smythe as casually as he could manage. “The blanket was a reward for good behavior, and it is thoroughly unprofessional of you to impede the development of my charge.”

He took an incredibly unprofessional amount of delight in watching Ms. Smythe flush an embarrassed red. “My apologies,” she said thinly. “I merely assumed—”

“Much of the Council clothing doesn’t fit Buffy,” good lord, Giles had forgotten how easy it was to lie to these people, “and it was more than necessary to take her shopping with me, as the protective wards I have set up don’t seem to be working as well as I would like. Kindly do not jump to unwarranted conclusions without inquiry, Ms. Smythe.”

“Thank you, yes,” Ms. Smythe managed.

Giles knelt down, gently handing the blanket back to Buffy. She hiccupped, looking tearfully up at him, and he very quietly brushed a hand over hers. “It’s all right,” he said, too quietly for Ms. Smythe to hear.

Buffy held tightly to his hand for a moment, then let go. Giles took this as a sign to turn back to Ms. Smythe. “Why are you here?” he asked, too focused on holding back anger to remember how to be cordial and casual. “I’d have thought that your duties in Los Angeles are over.”

“Oh, hardly.” Ms. Smythe looked startled by the notion. “For the first year of a Potential’s development, if they are living in a large city, it’s Council policy for their Watcher to be monitored. Were it a smaller town, it might be a bit different, but—”

“But this is Los Angeles,” Giles finished. “Too many opportunities for vampires to strike.”

“Too many opportunities for a Watcher to disregard his duties,” corrected Ms. Smythe. “And mark my words, Mr. Giles, I am more than certain that you are on the path to doing just that.” She gave him a thin, unpleasant smile. “I’ll see you soon, I expect,” she said, and turned on her heel, exiting the aisle and leaving Giles with a sniffling Buffy.

Giles picked Buffy up out of her stroller and hugged her very tightly. “I will not let them take you,” he said, pulling back to look at Buffy. “Do you understand me?”

Buffy handed him the footie pajamas and the baby blanket, then took his glasses out of his shirt pocket, examining them very seriously. Deciding that his glasses were a small price to pay for an occupied baby, Giles placed Buffy back in the stroller and resumed his shopping.

The shaken feeling didn’t subside, and hung over him for the rest of the outing. Giles hadn’t considered the fact that he might be monitored for at least a year, and certainly not that his monitor would be so clearly biased against him. He wasn’t sure if he could make it a year in Los Angeles without somehow slipping up, especially if Ms. Smythe continued to be so cruel and callous to a still-adjusting Buffy.

Currently, Buffy had occupied herself with the small cloth doll Giles had bought her, trying to put Giles’s glasses on its face. Something about that made Giles feel very happy, which was most certainly going to be considered a problem in the eyes of the Council. And—at some point there would be a home investigation, most likely, and Giles wouldn’t be that good at hiding the baby blanket or explaining away the cloth doll—

He breathed out, trying to calm himself. There had to be a simpler way of doing things. He just needed to figure that way out.

That night, Giles researched while Buffy (now clad in a purple shirt and a pair of tiny overalls) sat next to him on the sofa and played a game with her doll that seemed to consist of trying to pull out its yarn hair. She didn’t seem to be doing all that well at it, which was more than a relief to Giles. He could only handle one crisis at a time, really.

According to the handbook, the Council wouldn’t look kindly on Giles if he just up and moved to a smaller town in the middle of a monitoring session. There had been cases in the early seventies where Watchers had done such a thing and been investigated even more thoroughly, just to prove that they weren’t avoiding the prospect of being found an unfit guardian to a Potential.

So moving away was out of the question. Avoiding the monitor was out of the question, because Ms. Smythe was already out to get him in the first place, and avoiding her wouldn’t make Giles look all that good in her eyes.

“There has to be some way to handle this,” said Giles, frustrated.

Buffy placed her baby blanket in the middle of Giles’s handbook, looking seriously up at him as though she’d entrusted him with something very precious.

“Oh—” Giles blinked, touched. “Thank you,” he said softly, picking up the baby blanket. “I appreciate it.”

Buffy looked at him for a few more seconds, then went back to trying to yank the doll’s hair out. Smiling, Giles went back to reading the handbook. He rather understood why Buffy liked this blanket; it was rather comforting.

Looking back down at the handbook, Giles noticed that Buffy had inadvertently turned the page; the book was now open to the chapter on Active Hellmouths. Giles was about to try and find his section again when he noticed something rather interesting in the second paragraph.

Any Watcher choosing to relocate to an active Hellmouth in order to further research its capabilities will be fully funded and fully supported, whether or not they have a Potential in their charge. For Watchers with infant Potentials, no monitor will follow them to the active Hellmouth, as more than one Watcher may be seen as a threat by the demons residing there.

Giles looked at the handbook, eyes wide. A Hellmouth? He’d lived on one before, briefly, for similar research purposes, and it hadn’t actually been a place of danger as long as one stayed in at night and kept a level head. It would certainly be difficult to hide from the Council, but filing paperwork to claim he’d be a live-in researcher might actually make him look more useful in their eyes.

This could work. This could reasonably, actually work. He just had to find the closest possible Hellmouth. Scanning the small map of various United States Hellmouths (there weren’t many), Giles’s eyes landed on the one in California.

“A small town,” he said, soft and thoughtful.

Next to him, Buffy really did pull out a few of the doll’s yarn hairs and began to wail. “Shh, come here,” Giles murmured, picking up Buffy and the doll and bouncing them both in his arms.

The rest of the night was spent trying to fix Buffy’s doll while simultaneously fill out the paperwork needed for a transfer to Sunnydale. Buffy sat on the kitchen counter and pressed random buttons on Giles’s portable radio, changing the stations with neither rhyme nor reason.

Strange, how accustomed Giles was becoming to nights like these. Strange and wonderful.

#fic #giles raises baby buffy au #ahhh i'm so nervous abt this fic!!! i love it so much!! #anyway HAPPY BDAY ALEX #consider this my gift to you for all the amazing headcanons & asks you send me #also a birthday gift. bc that's literally what it is

[jennycalendar]

pint-size potential (3/3)

tagging @theforestlesbian in this last chapter bc she’s the whole damn reason this thing got finished. i love u alex and i am so so happy to know someone who also has All The Feels about buffy & giles’s father-daughter connection

ao3

The doorbell rang at three in the morning. This wasn’t what woke Giles up, though; he was woken up when Buffy, startled by the doorbell, began to wail loudly. Trying to figure out what might have upset Buffy at this ungodly hour, Giles sat up in bed, at which point he heard the doorbell ring and thought he might understand.

There was really only one person who would be ringing his bell at this hour. Giles turned on the light, staring at his bedroom, which was strewn with Buffy’s toys. Not to mention that he was breaking at least seven rules, having Buffy’s crib in his bedroom— “I’m coming,” he shouted, running down to answer the doorbell.

“Not at all prompt, Mr. Giles,” said Ms. Smythe disapprovingly. “I would expect you to be already packed. Your flight leaves in three hours.”

“I’m sorry?” Giles managed, half-wheezing. “When you contacted me—yesterday—you said—”

“Times change,” Ms. Smythe replied. “A true Watcher is prepared for any and every possibility. Be in the car in ten minutes.” With that, she turned and hurried down the driveway.

Giles stood there, somewhat frozen by the sheer panic he was currently grappling with. He’d packed, of course, had made sure to do so the day after he decided to apply for his transfer to Sunnydale. But there was still the matter of the toys upstairs, as well as the possibility of Ms. Smythe or another Watcher seeing the crib in the bedroom when the Council showed up to pack up the house, and he had to figure out how to move a rather heavy crib from his room to the old bedroom in ten minutes without Ms. Smythe noticing.

By some miracle, Giles managed to find it in him to shut the door and hurry upstairs. Buffy was still sobbing in her crib, and as soon as he lifted her out, she grabbed onto his shirt with both hands.

“No, see, this is actually a bit counterintuitive,” Giles stammered, because sometimes his talking calmed them both down a bit, “seeing as if you hold on to me, you obstruct me from making sure these things are out of my room, which means you’ll be placed with another Watcher and I’m sure—that is, I hope that’s not something you’d prefer, I really have been trying—”

Buffy’s crying was beginning to stop, but it would still take about five minutes for her to fully calm down. Giles placed her carefully down on the bed and hurried to pick up the toys, trying to figure out a non-incriminating place to put them while also trying to not give in and comfort a still-whimpering Buffy. Really, all of this was a complete disaster. He felt rather certain that Ms. Smythe was trying to catch him in the act of being kind to a child, which wasn’t making him feel all that fond of the Council. He rather missed his demon-raising days at this point.

Giles gave up and just started throwing toys out the window into the backyard. They weren’t Buffy’s favorites, anyway, and they could be left behind; he’d made sure to pack her favorite toys first so as to hide them as best as possible from the Council. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been so overzealous with the toy-buying, but he’d been more than a bit touched by the whole they-were-both-useless-to-the-Council thing, and he liked thinking of taking care of Buffy as his purpose, and he’d never had all that much of a childhood what with a Watcher father and a tired, quiet mother and—

Outside, Ms. Smythe honked the car horn, even though it had only been about three minutes.

“I can make up some convincing story about the crib,” Giles told Buffy, and hastened to get dressed.

He didn’t have enough time to get Buffy properly dressed, but he did grab his carry-on luggage and wrap Buffy in a warm Council-approved blanket with two minutes to spare. Pausing on the stairs, Giles quietly bounced Buffy in his arms, trying to comfort her a bit before they entered Ms. Smythe’s car and were faced with a possible lecture.

Buffy exhaled softly; it sounded a bit like an exhausted sigh. “I quite agree,” said Giles, mouth twitching, and felt a little bit better.

Ms. Smythe started in on Giles as soon as he got into the car. “I’ll have you know,” she said, “that it is most unusual for an inexperienced Watcher with a low-relevance infant Potential to decide he would like to research a Hellmouth. Most unusual, especially with your background. I myself lobbied quite hard for your application to be denied.”

“Oh, I’m sure you did,” said Giles without really thinking about it. He ignored what he was sure was a very nasty look from Ms. Smythe, focusing on buckling Buffy (who was already drifting back to sleep) into the baby seat. “Will you be flying us to Sunnydale as well, or is your obvious distaste for everything I stand for limited only to Los Angeles?”

“You are a horribly unqualified Watcher,” said Ms. Smythe, which didn’t really answer the question.

Giles spent most of the car ride with one hand on the baby seat, steadying it as surreptitiously as possible. Ms. Smythe seemed almost determinedly focused on the road, which took a significant amount of pressure off of Giles. He even managed to tuck Buffy’s blanket around her a bit.

Truly, he thought, Eyghon was nothing compared to this sort of thing. It wasn’t true, but he felt like he was entitled to be a bit dramatic when he’d been woken at three in the bloody morning. Giles was not going to miss Ms. Smythe at all.

After what seemed like a very long car ride but what was probably about fifteen minutes of angry silence and driving, Ms. Smythe pulled into the airport parking lot, at which point she said very pointedly, “You can leave now, Mr. Giles. Get your bags from the trunk and take the Potential with you.”

“Thank you,” said Giles very sarcastically. “Goodness knows I would have forgotten her without your help.” To make a point, he picked up the entire car seat without unbuckling Buffy and staggered over to the back of the trunk.

“Mr. Giles, that car seat is Council property,” Ms. Smythe snapped from inside the car.

Giles was at this point much too tired to really consider how openly hostile he was being, and much too fed up to really care. He’d only been with the Council for a few years, and it had been a very long and very frustrating process of earning back their trust. He wasn’t all that fond of the organization, even if a few years ago he’d believed them to be his salvation; perhaps it’d be different if he’d spent longer than a few months behind his desk in the British Museum, but he supposed he’d never really find out. “I am not holding my Potential on my lap for an entire bloody plane ride, it is unsafe and you should know that,” he shouted back, placing Buffy’s car seat on the ground so that he could open the trunk. “And this is your fault for showing up at three in the damn morning just because you’re on some sort of godforsaken power trip—”

Buffy, waking up at the sound of Giles’s raised voice, started to screech.

Giles was suddenly beginning to understand very fast why parenting tended to be a two-person job. He’d dealt with the aftermath of raising a demon, he’d dealt with shame and distrust from nearly all his colleagues, but hearing Buffy upset in the middle of the parking lot and knowing he was the only person there to calm her was somehow one of the most isolating experiences he’d faced.

“This is going in my report!” Ms. Smythe shouted.

“Excellent!” Giles shouted back. “Let them know you’ve broken protocol by changing my flight plans the day of my departure!”

Interestingly enough, Ms. Smythe didn’t seem to have a response to that. Giles felt an exhausted sense of smugness, and celebrated his victory by unbuckling Buffy from her car seat and giving her a kiss on the top of her head. She still seemed quite upset, but settled down as Giles (struggling with the luggage a bit) entered the airport. He didn’t bother to look back.

Before checking his baggage, Giles donned a sort of front-facing baby backpack thing (he had no idea what it was called and was at this point afraid to ask), strapping Buffy to his front so as to keep his hands free. She fell asleep quite quickly. Giles was more than a bit jealous.

He hadn’t had time to feel lonely in the chaotic mess of adjusting to taking care of an infant, but suddenly the feeling was settling in and he felt awful. Sunnydale was a Hellmouth, certainly, but Giles was the only supernatural researcher there, and he was soon going to have to be doing extra work on top of managing whatever job the Council had found him and researching Sunnydale. He was going to be doing three times the work he’d signed up for as a Watcher, and he wasn’t going to have anyone else for company. Not that he ever had had a Watcher he’d been close to, but—it was still incredibly lonely, realizing something like this.

As Giles was mulling over this, Buffy stirred in the baby carrier and opened her eyes. They were a very soft gray color, those eyes, and she looked up at Giles with the same intent curiosity that she always did, as though he might have changed in the few minutes she’d been sleeping.

Giles thought about the first time he’d seen Buffy open her eyes, and about how much had changed in his life after that. He thought about Buffy’s independent spirit and how much of a challenge she seemed to love posing to him. He thought about finding out what kind of person Buffy might become.

“I’ll manage, I think,” he said softly. Then he headed towards the plane.

#fic #giles raises baby buffy au #already working on the second installment!! :)

[jennycalendar]

I just reread pint sized potential (again) and a happy thought occurred to me- Giles taking Buffy to mommy-and-me classes. He's usually the only dad there and he's just so proud of toddler Buffy for being able to do a somersault.

wow true??? god this is so wholesome. he considers it “slayer training” but really he just loves it when people call him “buffy’s dad.” he literally never corrects them. 

buffy does, though. she’ll listen with a frown and then say with authority, “no, he’s my GILES,” because she considers “giles” a higher rank than “dad”

#asks #giles raises baby buffy au #thank u for this alex. i gotta get to work on the next chapter #theforestlesbian

[jennycalendar]

I saw that shirt and was like “I should make a crappy Giles-Raises-Buffy moodboard" 

Ironically, the shirt didn’t end up being included

#submission #wow i'm crying thanks for that #giles raises baby buffy au #happy tag #this is so cute jlfsdlkjdfjfsjldkkjfd