Giles did this thing in his sleep. It was not a particularly annoying thing; it was hardly noticeable. As far as Wesley could tell, he only did it when he was not feeling well or when he was hurt. Either that or he did it all the time and Wesley never noticed because he himself was sleeping soundly. It was much harder to sleep through the night when he thought Giles might wake up and need something. Every small movement, every quiet sigh would jerk Wesley out of the half-asleep state he had fallen into. After resting a hand on Giles� chest he would watch his lover for a few moments, then try and relax again. Unless Giles did that thing, then Wesley would stay awake longer, as long as he had to.Which sometimes, like tonight, meant all night. He had waited well past midnight for Giles to return from patrol, lingered in the background while Giles spent another hour discussing the night�s events with Buffy, and made sure Giles was warm, dry and at ease before he let himself get into bed. The past few nights had been uncharacteristic for summer in Sunnydale, at least as far as Wesley could tell. The residents of the Hellmouth seemed distressed by the atypical weather � too damp and too cold for early summer in southern California � and were giving the Slayer more trouble than they usually did during June. More trouble for the Slayer meant more trouble for her Watcher and Giles went out on patrol every night that week with Buffy. And every night he came home cold, wet and sore.
Maybe it was because he went out every night and fought demons in the rain, or maybe it was because he came home every night and found a new host of demons inside his own mind, that Giles would fall into bed and after having fallen asleep, would make the smallest of whimpering noises and move closer to Wesley. Despite its ability to pull Wesley from sleep, it really was a hardly noticeable thing. Tonight Giles had slipped into Wesley�s arms so easily, without waking, that neither of them seemed to notice. It only became more noticeable when Giles woke up to find himself curled around Wesley, who lay awake lost in his own thoughts.
Giles stirred a bit first, pressing himself more tightly to Wesley and sighing when Wesley stroked his hair. His body felt warm and heavy, and it seemed as if it ought to be easy to persuade Giles to go back to sleep. He leaned into the stroking with another small, sighing sound, and then pulled away as he coughed. Another hoarse cough had Giles moving away from Wesley.
"You�re awake," he mumbled between coughs and blinked his eyes open to look up at Wesley. Giles turned his head into his shoulder, clearing his throat and rubbing his nose.
"As are you." Wesley shifted and drew back slightly to get a closer look at Giles in the darkness. "Which you shouldn�t be� is everything all right, Rupert?" He frowned when Giles tried to sit up, winced, and eased back against Wesley.
"Yes yes, fine... j-just, oh..." Next to Wesley, Giles stiffened. Without sitting up, he turned his head away as his breath caught sharply in his throat. "eh! Eh-tChh! hetCHhuh! ah. oh, god," he groaned and stiffened a bit more.
"Bless you." Still frowning, Wesley touched Giles� hair lightly and slid his fingers down the back of Giles� neck. The groan after the sneezes had been one of pain, not exasperation or relief. He could only imagine how sore Giles� muscles had gotten over the past few hours and that a sneezing fit could not in any way serve to make it better. "You have to relax," Wesley murmured and rubbed Giles� neck, "do you think you can try and get more sleep?"
Giles made a noncommittal noise, sniffling and pressing his face into Wesley�s shoulder. "I suppose I could try," he muttered, sniffled again and again. A final wet sniffle led to a hesitating breath and Giles raised his head. "Ehh.. CHsh! TCHah! eh..." The last breath stuck. A look of desperate annoyance remained on Giles' face as he tried to slowly move away from Wesley. Mid-move his eyelids flittered and he became still. A few tense seconds passed and then he turned away with a loud, strong "EISHhoo!"
"Bless you! Oh, Rupert." Wesley followed Giles as he sat up in the bed. A small knot of worry had begun to form in Wesley's stomach. If Giles were injured, he could figure out a way to tend to that. He had been trained as a Watcher, being to take care of a variety of injuries was part of the job description. Illness was a bit more worrying. Put the both together and Wesley found himself wondering what good he would be. Not much was the reply that came to his mind and remained there until he finally leaned closer to his shivering lover. "Shall we reevaluate just how fine you're feeling?"
"I said I was fine," Giles answered in annoyed voice between sniffles. He leaned away when Wesley's arms came around his waist, sniffling repeatedly. Once he located the tissues and pulled out a handful, he leaned back into the touch. "I suppose I could have been mistaken," he mumbled, blew his nose, and groaned. "N-not again... hetCH! Cheh! Ehhh-CHshh!"
"Bless you." Again, Wesley could feel Giles tense up and hold his body still until after the sneezes passed. He brushed a kiss over Giles' shoulder, resting his lips there until the muscles beneath them eased. "You spent too much time in the rain. Sore muscles and a head cold aren't a very good combination."
"Didn't expect to catch cold," Giles' words were muffled by a tissues and followed by a long, wet nose blow. "I'm used to the aches." He sniffled, and then sighed. "I must be getting too old for all this."
"No. Don't. Don't even start that." Wesley tightened his arms around Giles' waist, his lips pressing to Giles' bare shoulder again. "You're too good, too good at all this to be too old for it."
"I daresay if it were you.. ow." Giles stopped turning his head with the small sound of pain. "Damnit."
"It wouldn't have been me," Wesley said softly, kissed Giles on the back of his neck, and slipped off the bed. "I'm going to get you aspirin and tea."
"I don't need tea."
"Perhaps not. Get back under the covers, I shan't be a minute."
Wesley waited until Giles pulled the covers back up over himself. Once he saw his lover settled comfortable in bed, Wesley pulled on a pair of pajama pants, flicked a light on to find his glasses, and padded downstairs into the kitchen. There was this chain of events that always ran through his mind each time someone suggested it could have been him, that he could have been the one going on patrol each night with the Slayer. Growing up in his father's house, being sent away to school, getting trained, all with the idea that he would be a Watcher always present. But the events after that, they all proved that it could not have been him. He would never have gotten the job done the right way. He could not even Watch the right way, despite all that training. Watching the steam pour from the kettle and set it whistling, Wesley watched the thoughts and memories stream though his mind. There had been no chain of events that warned him he would be standing here, in Giles' kitchen, wearing Giles' pajama pants, in the middle of the night, making tea for his lover, who had become Watcher.
Of course, Giles had lost his position as Watcher. Wesley poured the water into a mug and watched the steam rise from there, too. Not that Giles had deserved that; at least he had been useful in the capacity of Watcher and still was after his position had been terminated. The stream of thoughts stopped and Wesley closed his eyes. Leaning against the cabinet he let out a long sigh. This was useful. This small thing he could do for Giles was useful.
"Tea." Wesley placed the mug down carefully on the bedside table. "Aspirin. I think two should be all right?" He kept the bottle in his hand and shook out two tablets, not waiting for Giles to stop sniffling into a tissue and answer him.
Giles wiped his nose in the tissue and gave Wesley a small nod. In the gentle light of the table lamp, Wesley could see the lines of fatigue surrounding his eyes and the red starting to rim them. The sniffling and sneezing had flushed his nostrils and every so often he would reach up, rub his nostrils a brighter pink, and give Wesley a half-hearted, shy smile. "That sounds good, thank you."
"Here." Wesley offered the tablets and urged Giles to take the mug of tea. The small reassurance Giles' smile and thank you had given him faded as Giles flinched. "Don't you want -"
Giles nodded, struggling to keep his eyes open against the onset of another sneeze. Wesley could see the tension he had only felt earlier as Giles sat perfectly still, both hands cupped over his face. His nostrils twitched slightly above his fingertips and he took a small, gasping breath.
"eh... heh! Het-Chahh! HahCHeh!" Giles stayed tense, a look of pain crossing his face that flickered and replaced by a fuzzier, pre-sneeze one. "ETCHOO!" The last sneeze was hard, loud and brought the pained look back to Giles' face. He lowered his hands slowly, sniffling wetly. "I'll take those painkillers now."
"Right. And bless you."
Giles took the tablets with a mouthful of tea and kept the mug close to him, although he had to stop to blow his nose every few sips. The pained look seemed to fade as Wesley lay down next to him and rubbed his palm up and down Giles' chest. He was still sniffling and sneezing and had begun to cough at some point, but he no longer looked as if every one of his muscles protested with each breath he took. Slowly, that small feeling of warm reassurance crept back. Wesley leaned up from his pillow, pressed a kiss to Giles' hair, and smiled against his temple.
"Does this help?"
"Oh, yes." Giles turned to kiss Wesley on the cheek. "Very much so. You're quite useful to have around." He kissed him again, after having turning away with a light cough and sniffling sound.
"Good."
Wesley continued to rub Giles's chest after the lights had been turned off and both of them had settled back down into bed. This closeness felt good to him. This ability to do something, no matter how small.
"Wesley?"
"Mmm? Go to sleep."
"Wesley� You do know that it could have been you. You'd have been insufferable as a Watcher." Giles paused. "But it could have been you if things had been just a little different."
"Well. Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Slipping in closer to Giles, Wesley smiled. Useful. That felt good, too.