research hookup
i wrote the beginning of this a few months ago & never bothered to finish it...why??? who knows.
anyway. it’s finished now!
“Sugar,” Jenny sang, “honey, honey,” her hands went to Gil’s waist, “you are my candy girl—”
“Shh,” said Gil, but she had a smile in her voice.
“Honey—”
“Ms. Calendar,” Gil turned around and kissed Jenny’s nose, “I am trying to research, and you are making it exceedingly difficult.”
Jenny beamed. “That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day.”
Gil was making an effort to look like an austere and forbidding Watcher, but all she was doing was smiling, and Jenny was halfway to kissing her when they heard the doors spring open. Hastily, they stepped back from each other, trying their best not to look suspicious. Not that the kids would have noticed if they did; no one seemed to have figured anything out even with Gil’s incredibly conspicuous heart eyes.
“Hey, guys,” said Jenny brightly, exiting the office with Gil behind her. “How’d patrol go?”
“Well, you know what they say.” Buffy sat down at the library table. “You see one vamp, you’ve seen ‘em all.”
“I’ve actually never heard anyone say that,” Xander commented, sitting down next to Buffy. “Is it a Slayer thing?”
Gil coughed delicately.
“You okay, Gil?” Willow asked curiously. “Cough drop?”
“If there is nothing of consequence,” said Gil pointedly, “then shouldn’t you all be getting home? It’s a school night.”
Jenny turned inquisitive eyes to Gil, who didn’t look at her. Then she felt Gil’s hand move quietly to the small of her back, completely unnoticeable from the Scoobies’ vantage point, and got the message loud and clear. “Yeah, Gil’s got a point,” she said, and hoped it didn’t sound unnaturally loud. “You guys should get going and get some sleep in.”
Gil nodded. She was doing an even worse job of looking authoritative; Jenny could see the smile still bright in her eyes. “Sleep is—” Jenny gently moved away from Gil’s hand so that she could tangle their fingers together, and Gil seemed to completely forget what she’s saying. “Yes,” she said. A big, ridiculous grin stretched over her face.
“She’s just excited about all the researching we’ll be doing,” Jenny said smoothly. “Nerd.”
“Says the woman who got so lost in research that she didn’t hear me calling for her in the stacks,” Gil shot back fondly, squeezing her hand. Jenny rolled her eyes.
“You two are disturbing,” Buffy informed them seriously. “This excited over research? You’re pretty much made for each other.”
Jenny beamed, rubbing her thumb affectionately against the back of a flustered Gil’s hand. “I can’t say I disagree,” she replied.
“Well, we’ll leave you to it!” Xander said cheerfully. “Sorry to interrupt your research hookup—” Gil dissolved into a coughing fit, which the kids seemed to ignore, “—and good luck with your research.”
“Thanks,” said Jenny, and smirked at Gil, who looked utterly mortified.
Buffy and Willow both waved as they left. Jenny watched them go, and then turned back to Gil, who was mumbling something about needing to make tea. “Smooth,” she teased.
“Xander,” said Gil a little hoarsely, “should not be allowed to use hook-up in a platonic context.”
“You’re such a dork,” Jenny informed her, stepping closer and winding her arms around Gil’s neck. “It’s kind of sexy.”
Gil gave her a little half-smile and started stammering something about how she didn’t hear that a lot, at which point Jenny stood on tiptoe to kiss her.
They weren’t sure how to tell the kids they were dating, but they were definitely working up to it. It wasn’t a stumbling stone Jenny was expecting to come across; she wasn’t anticipating any real emotional connections at all in this town, and if she was dating anyone, it would have a) not been that serious and b) been between her and that person and no one else. But the problem was that a) Gil was the sweetest, smartest, most ridiculous woman Jenny had ever met and b) the kids’ opinion of Gil meant a lot to her, and by extension, to Jenny.
But Jenny was choosing to ignore all this for now. Dating in secret was kind of sweet in its own way, and it was almost amusing how little anyone picked up on their flirtation. She was sure that, had Gil been a guy, everyone would have noticed by now.
Not that they were all that good at being subtle. Making out in the middle of the library was definitely not subtle.
Gil’s arm wrapped around Jenny’s waist as she kissed her back, one hand reaching up to tuck some hair behind Jenny’s ear. Funny, how the smallest things she did made Jenny go all gooey inside. This sort of thing could be bad for the whole vengeance-driven mission in the long run, but Jenny couldn’t bring herself to care, and—
There was a loud gasp as the library doors swung open.
Gil pulled away from Jenny very fast, looking at a stunned Buffy and Willow with wide eyes. “Oh,” she said weakly.
“We, we just came back to get Buffy’s jacket,” said Willow in a high voice. “We didn’t know—I mean—are you—if that’s—”
Jenny was afraid for a moment. She was halfway expecting Gil to deny everything, and she couldn’t imagine respecting someone who did that. But then Gil tucked her arm into Jenny’s and said simply, “Yes.”
“Well—” Willow began.
“Okay,” said Buffy. All eyes went to her, and she responded with a little smile and a nod towards Gil. Gil grinned back. “If it makes her happy, it makes me happy,” she informed Jenny, “but it goes without saying that you break my Watcher’s heart and I definitely break a few of your bones.”
“Oh, that’s not nice,” said Willow, who still sounded a little squeaky. She’d turned bright red, but she was smiling very widely. “Um—congratulations?”
“Thank you,” said Gil, taking Jenny’s hand and giving her this sappy little smile. “Buffy, I apologize for-for not telling you, I merely—felt it rather hypocritical of me to enter into an intense personal relationship while having told you all of last year that it was impossible for you to have the same.”
“Wait.” Jenny stared at Gil. “That’s why we’ve been running around in secret? I thought you were just—you know—not used to the whole sapphic thing!”
Gil looked a mixture of surprised and mortified. “Oh dear,” she said finally. “I do see how that might have looked to you. My apologies.”
“You two are such nerds,” said Buffy with a laugh. “Okay. We’ll leave you to your little rendezvous, and we’ll vous on over to—”
“Buffy, vous means you in French, and therefore cannot possibly be used as a verb,” said Gil very long-sufferingly. “That sentence is completely—”
Jenny kissed Gil on the cheek. Gil very abruptly stopped talking, turning a soft shade of pink and hastening to polish her glasses.
“Oh my god, you’re magic,” said Buffy in awe. “Do you know how hard it is to get Gil to stop talking about bad grammar?”
“Really?” Jenny tugged playfully on Gil’s hand. “I can get her to stop talking, period. Any time I want.”
“Yeah, that’s our cue.” Buffy grabbed Willow’s arm, pulling her away. “We’ll just—I’m happy, but—Gil’s old, and it’s gross, and we’re definitely one hundred percent leaving now.” She hurried out of the library, half-dragging a widely smiling Willow.
“I’m happy for you guys!” Willow called over her shoulder.
Something finally registered with Jenny. “Intense personal relationship?” she said, and her usual Commitment-Issues panic had been replaced by something strangely—well. Smitten.
“Mmm.” Gil kissed Jenny, pulling her up and off her feet. “I am your candy girl, after all.”
“Please. Never say that again.”
