Title: Two Vampire Hunters Walk Into a Bar
Author: Elisabeth
Rating: PG
Fandom: BtVS/Vampire Diaries crossover
Pairing/Characters: Rupert Giles, Alaric Saltzman (mentions Giles/Willow and Alaric/Elena)
Word Count: 1,111
Summary: Two men walk into a bar… and find out they have more in common than they thought.
Warnings: none
Spoilers: BtVS – Post-series, ignores comics; Vampire Diaries – Through early season 3.
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over these characters. I am merely borrowing them from L. J. Smith, Kevin Williamson, Julie Plec et al and/or Joss Whedon et al.
Feedback: Yes please! It makes me happy and keeps me writing.
Betas: <lj user=" angelskuuipo">, <lj user="shakensilence">, <lj user="snogged">. Thanks so much for helping me bridge these two fandoms.
Author's Note: I started thinking about my fondness for May/December pairings (Giles/Willow in BtVS and my new obsession of Alaric/Elena in The Vampire Diaries) and fic ensued.
Two Vampire Hunters Walk Into a Bar
Rupert Giles sighed as he parked the rental car in front of the restaurant. He tried not to scoff at the unoriginality of the establishment's name: Mystic Grill (in Mystic Falls, VA). He could only hope that the place had a well-stocked bar.
He slipped a stake into his jacket's inner pocket as he stepped out of the car and headed inside. One never knew when vampires might be about.
The interior of the restaurant wasn't as bad as he feared and he immediately headed for the bar and ordered whiskey. All he wanted to do was have a couple of drinks before finding a motel for the night so that he could continue on his way back to Cleveland in the morning. He hated when he was too late finding the new slayer Willow had sensed.
Normally he would have flown back, but he sometimes enjoyed the long drives. Even though he hated being away from Willow for so long, he knew that she understood. Sometimes they needed some time alone to grieve for what they could not save.
Giles was brought out of somber musings when a man dropped down onto the stool beside him. Slightly annoyed, he looked around to see if there wasn't a place farther away from him this stranger could have sat, but apparently there wasn't. Glancing at the man's face, he recognized that expression far too well.
When the bartender asked if the man wanted the usual, Giles asked for a refill. The men exchanged knowing glances.
"You look about how I feel," Giles couldn't help commenting. "If you don't mind me saying."
"I just needed a bit of a break, you know."
Giles grunted in understanding. When their drinks arrived, he raised his glass. "To escaping reality."
The other man huffed out a laugh. "I second that."
They each took a healthy drink and the other man held out his hand. "Alaric."
Giles shook his hand and was relieved to find his new acquaintance felt human. "Giles."
Giles was aware that the other man was studying him just as attentively and tried not to be offended. He was a stranger in this town after all. He shifted in his seat, unconsciously, causing his jacket to move, revealing his stake for a moment.
"You know, I think you may know a bit of what I'm going through." Alaric leaned forward, coming a bit too close to invading Giles' personal space than he was comfortable with and whispered, "If I'm not mistaken, that's a stake in your pocket." He pulled back and looked at Giles knowingly.
Giles stiffened, pulling his jacket closer to his body. "What would you know of it?" he hissed.
"More than I'd like to," Alaric admitted. He asked the bartender for the rest of the bottle of bourbon and invited Giles to move with him to a booth in the back corner of the restaurant. Giles shrugged and followed, his curiosity piqued.
"So there are vampires in this town," Giles guessed, not really asking, once they were seated.
"More and more every day," Alaric confirmed.
"And no slayer," Giles muttered. "I'll see what I can do about that."
"What's a slayer?" Alaric asked.
"She is the one girl…uh, I mean a girl, who slays vampires."
Alaric laughed. "I'm sorry, pal, but I'm not about to send some girl in to fight the monsters in this town."
Giles tried not to let this man's ignorance get to him. "I know that it may be hard for you to believe, but there are scores of girls who were born to kill vampires. They are stronger and faster than you or I and it is their destiny to destroy these demons."
"And you know these…slayers?" Alaric doubtfully asked. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted some super strong girl coming to town and killing the vampires. As much as he hated to admit it, Damon was becoming a good friend and Caroline was becoming stronger (and safer) every day.
"I train them," Giles confessed.
"Look, I appreciate the offer, but I've got the situation here under control. The vampires here are really just more of a nuisance than anything. They usually don't feed on the general public."
Just then Giles' mobile began to ring. Alaric caught the image of a pretty young redhead as Giles answered. He did his best to ignore the conversation, trying not to think about the young woman he shouldn't be thinking about.
"I miss you, too. I'll be home soon, darling." Giles disconnected. To Alaric, he said, "My apologies."
"No problem. Your daughter?"
Giles flushed a bit and brought up the photo of the girl. "Um, no. My wife, actually."
Alaric nearly spit out the drink he'd just taken. "I'm sorry, she just looks so young."
"I'm afraid we get that quite a lot. She's as young as she looks. I first met her when she was a student of mine," Giles' alcohol-loosened tongue admitted. "Of course, we didn't get together until after she finished University."
Alaric couldn't believe what he's hearing. Here he was, sitting and drinking with a man who knew about vampires and was married to a former student. Although he hated the thought of having to wait five more years before being with the girl he was in love with.
He threw back the rest of his drink and refilled his glass. "We have more in common than I thought." Almost ashamed, he brought up a photo of Elena on his phone. He held it out to Giles. "This is Elena."
Giles raised an eyebrow, but held his tongue. "She's beautiful," he said, instead.
Alaric smiled at the photo as he took his phone back. "Yeah, she is." He took a drink. "She's also my student – I teach history at the high school – and to make matters worse, she's the daughter of my vamped wife and the niece of my dead girlfriend."
"You poor man." Giles took a drink, an image of Jenny lying dead on his bed flashed before his eyes. "Does she know how you feel?"
"We kissed, once. It was the most perfect, torturous moment of my life. And I'd do almost anything for it to happen again."
"I know exactly how you feel. I'm in no place to judge you. Your circumstances are very different from mine, but I will advise you to be careful."
"Thank you. You have no idea how good it feels to be able to tell someone. There's no one in this town I could have confided in."
"To May/December romances," Giles toasted, raising his glass.
Alaric clinked his glass against Giles' and they both took a drink.
The End