Chapter 3: Wild Child
"You are very fortunate to turn out like me you ungrateful whelp." Giles said. He was on edge. Thinking back, the memory came to him. He had only kissed her. But he had been intending to . . . . He gestured impatiently for Ripper to come further into the apartment and have a seat.
Ripper took in his surroundings with disdain and disappointment. He was hoping that he would be a wizard, maybe live in nice digs. Nope. He was old, acted like his mother, and dressed funny.
"Why aren't you tweedy?" Spike demanded again. He looked from Giles to Ripper with a confused sort of fascination. It was like watching a Firebird turn into a serviceable mini-van.
"I have never worn tweed, mate." Ripper sounded offended. He looked at Spike's leather duster with an appraising eye. "Nice coat. Where'd you get it?"
Spike smiled, ready to launch into another bout of bragging. It's not like many other vampires had the audacity to hunt down and kill a slayer. Let alone steal her bloody coat and wear it on a nightly basis.
Ripper's eyes narrowed. "You're a vampire." His head whipped to Giles. "So, you still like vampires, eh? Maybe you aren't so bad after all." He gave his older self a knowing smile. "Though the switch to male is a change . . .sort of."
"You liked vampires?" Willow said in tone that suggested Giles might want to have a mental tune-up. "As in blood-sucking fiends from beyond the grave?" She sat down on the couch and clasped her hands, waiting for his reply. It never came.
"Hey!" Spike shouted.
"Shut up, Spike." Giles said wearily. "What are you doing here, young man?" Giles sat down in his arm chair.
"Why should I tell you?" Ripper sat down on the couch with a huff.
"What ARE you doing here?" He repeated, anger seeping into his tone.
"Well, I was about to tell you when you so rudely inter-"
"No, you weren't. But you are going to tell me. NOW."
Spike came to sit on the arm of the couch next to Red. He leaned over to whisper in a deceptively blasé voice. "What's this about shagging?" She gave him an icy glare.
"It's not like I planned this, Rupert." Ripper said with a self-satisfied smile. He emphasized his much hated given name. The man who sat in front of him, was no longer the Ripper.
"You expect me to believe you just fell into a hole that transported you here?"
"Well, no." Rupert wasn't going to give this line of questioning up. "Alright. I found this book on time travel magick. I was kicking back with Ethan, draining a few pints and smoking a little grass when I thought it seemed like a good idea. Been going through a bit of a rough patch lately. But I guess you know that." Giles eyes clouded with remembered pain. " Ethan suggested I take a little look-see at my future. Y'know, find out if it all works out for me? "
"Ethan Rayne. Bane of my existence. Do yourself a favor and get rid of him when you get back."
"He's my best mate!" Ripper shouted. "And you can't tell me what to do!" Then he closed his mouth, embarrassed by his display. It was like having a row with his father again. Oh no, he'd turned into his father. The glasses, all these bleedin' books in piles, that studious expression. . .
"Well, you are going to undue the spell this minute and go home." Giles said.
"That might be hard to do."
"Why?" A terrible thought occurred to him. "This spell didn't involve a sacrifice, did it? Did you have to kill someone?"
"Are you daft? You and I both know I would never kill someone." Giles raised his eyebrow. "For the sake of a spell." Ripper snapped. "I was high, and I don't remember the rest of the bleedin' spell."
Spike laughed and reached over to slap Ripper on the back. "I've been on some benders, mate, but at least I never sent myself into the future when I was drunk."
Giles shook his head. "Fine. We'll hit the magick shops in town first of all and then we'll go from there. Can you at least remember the title of the book?"
"It was about this thick." He indicated the width by pinching his thumb and index finger. "And. . .dusty. . .and I think it was red."
Giles winced. He had been a librarian long enough to get patrons asking for a book by its physical description or saying "its about this guy who went fishing. . .". "Thank God, I'm a librarian and I know where to look. Do you think if you saw it again you might recognize it?"
"I'm a LIBRARIAN?" He gasped in despair.
Spike chuckled "Nope. Not anymore. You are a retired librarian and an ex- Watcher."
"I'm a WATCHER?"
"No, an ex-Watcher, mate. Aren't you paying attention? You still high?"
"Yeah, a little bit." He admitted and then he winked at Willow. She frowned.
"Do you think you'd recognize it?"
"What?"
"THE BOOK." Giles shouted.
"Probably."
"That's not good enough, you stupid boy."
"Well, it'll have to do."
"Alright. If worse comes to worse we will go to some of my more, uh, unethical sources for some information on a time travel spell. I only hope that your absence in the past won't effect my future."
"Like that would be such a bloody shame." *******
Spike watched in amusement as Ripper twisted his way out of the ropes that his elder self had used to tie him to the chair. Giles had insisted on restraining the lad as the new memory of showing up on his own doorstep formed in his head. He wasn't about to give the scamp he used to be the chance to take advantage of Willow. Consequently, he and the young Ripper had ended up tied to opposing chairs in the living area for the night. "Hey, mate. How about teaching me that trick?"
"Sorry, mate. I don't think so."
"Why not? You know I could call out and give your game away." Spike said.
"Well, for one, how do I know you won't bite me if I let you go?" Ripper tossed the ropes down onto the chair. "And for two, I didn't like the way you were looking at Red earlier."
"I can't." Spike muttered. He wasn't even going to respond to the comment about Willow. That was none of his business.
"What's that?" Ripper walked over to where the phone was and picked up a black book sitting beside it.
"I can't . . .y'know. Not anymore."
"You're kidding?" He found the name he was looking for in the book. "Healthy immortal like yourself can't enjoy any young girls?" Ripper was horrified. He wasn't sure what sex was like as a vampire, but it sounded like this bloke had exhausted himself. How awful.
"Nope. No young girls. Not even an old guy."
"You like old guys?" Ripper was beginning to worry about this vampire. How long had they been holding him captive? And for what purpose? "You need to get out, mate. Before it's too late. I couldn't even imagine not being able to shag . . ."
"Hey! Who said anything about shagging? I was talking about biting! I can shag just fine, thank you very little." Spike was outraged. He might not be much of a vampire anymore, but he was still a lady-killer, by Devil! Well, not literally. Not anymore.
"Oh!" Ripper shook his head. "That's good to hear. I was beginning to worry." Ripper headed for the back door. At the last minute, he turned around. "Tell you what, you don't give me away and I'll teach you that trick before I go back home. Deal?"
"Done. Say, where you goin', mate?"
"It's the future. I'm curious to see what its like." Ripper lied easily.
Spike grinned as he watched the younger version of Giles hasten out the door. Upstairs, Rupert was blissfully unaware. **********
Willow turned over and groaned. She just couldn't sleep. She kept thinking about dancing with "Ringo" at the Bronze. Then she kept thinking that he was really Giles. Then she would get really grossed out. Sure, she'd had a crush on Giles when she was younger. He was smart. And once when she had stayed late after school to do extra-credit work she had overheard him singing and practicing the guitar. Everybody knew she loved a guy in a band. It was kind of like the Slayer's thing for bad boys. It was just an innocent crush. Not something that anyone in their right mind would ever act on. Then she had met Ripper. And all he seemed to do was act.
Suddenly there was a soft knock at her door. It must be Buffy back from her late night patrol. She must have left her keys behind again. Buffy, the Chosen One, the one girl on the whole planet with the power to thwart the armies of darkness, managed to lock herself out of her dorm at least once a month. Too bad she wasn't chosen to thwart the armies of locks. She hopped out of bed, paying no attention to her flannel pajamas with the little witches on them. She opened the door without thinking.
It was at about the time that the handle left her hand, that she realized that she had made the same mistake when Spike had paid her a late night visit. At least she hadn't issued an invite. She blurted out, "If you're not Buffy, you're not invited in."
"Sorry, luv. That only works on vampires. I should know." *********
Giles sighed. Spike was tied up. Ripper was tied up. Willow was safe in her dorm room. There would be no more of those dreams to bother him. His problem was solved. Sighing once more in contentment, Giles nestled into his pillow and drifted off to sleep. . . .
