"Nervous?" Giles asks.

"No."

"No?"

"Uh-uh."

"If you grip the wheel any harder, your fingers may snap off."

You smile. "Well, it is the Hellmouth. Anything could happen."

"Quite."

"And if I manage to pull this off, it certainly will be a night for miracles."

"Come on now. You know I haven't been driving stick-shift that long myself. And I had to learn it on top of driving on the wrong side of the road, so this should be a snap for you."

"And yet."

"Come on," his smile is gentle. "Start it up." You do, screwing your eyes tightly shut as you do so. "It's not going to explode you know."

"Course not. Couldn't get that lucky."

"Now none of that. Put it into gear and release the clutch slowly." You start out jerkily onto the road. You're only hoping it's dark enough that he can't see you blush. It's a Sunday night in Sunnydale. The streets are typically deserted. You turn a corner slowly, very slowly, snails on downers are passing you in the left lane. "All right, we've got a nice straight stretch of road along here. Build up some speed and shift up to second."

"Okay." As you pass the 15 mile an hour mark, the theme to Speed Racer begins running through your head. You reach down to shift and can feel that it didn't make it into gear. "Uh Rupert?"

"Sorry Love, damn thing sticks." His hand is warm and soft as it covers yours, coaxing the stick into position. You lick your suddenly dry lips, your eyes meeting his in the illumination from the dashboard. "Eyes on the road Dear."

"What?" You face front again and squeal around a turn you almost didn't make. "Sorry."

"That's okay." You look up at him again...briefly. He is almost giggling. "What? What?"

"Sorry."

"What? I'm incredibly cute when almost getting us killed?"

"Well, that too yes but..."

"Yes?"

"I was just thinking back to how confident you were showing me how to use the computer...and now the roles have reversed."

"Why Rupert Giles, are you gloating?"

"Well perhaps," he says, stretching his arm behind you, "just a little."

"That's terribly petty of you."

"I do realize, yes."

"But you're still enjoying it?"

"Oh yes."

"Okay, that does it." You slow your speed and downshift, coming to a stop at the side of a deserted road.

"What are you doing?"

"Turning your car back over to you. I'll pay for lessons instead."

"Look I'm sorry, don't get mad over it."

"I'm not," you say, turning off the car and facing him. "I just feel the need to preserve my one area of superiority over you. Besides, this is too dangerous."

"What is? Sunnydale at night?"

"No. I'm in a dark, confined space with you and I'm somehow supposed to concentrate on the road? I'm likely to get us both killed."

"You find me...distracting?" Rupert's face brightens at the notion.

"I'd say yes, but your ego is about as big as it needs to get tonight, so no comment." He grins and reaches to unlock his door. You touch his shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"I was going to come round and drive us back."

"Oh, but do you think you should risk getting out here? I mean, there could be vampires about."

"You're right." He wears a sly grin. "What should we do?"

"Well, we could switch over inside. I could crawl over to that side and you could crawl over to this side."

"All right." You unbuckle your seatbelt and climb up to stand on your knees on the seat. Rupert scoots over. You grab the back of the seat to steady yourself, your eyes meeting his as you carefully place your knee on the seat between his legs and then move it over the far side of him to straddle his lap. He pulls you down to sit there.

"What are you doing?" You say, smiling.

"I just thought of something else I could teach you in a car."

"Is that so? And what makes you think you'll be the one doing the teaching?"

"Oh vast experience. Years and years of training."

"Really? We'll have to ask Snyder to add a class to the curriculum."

He laughs. "Oh I can just see that, Shagging 101, your instructor Rupert Giles."

Now you laugh, "Oh, we're talking about shagging are we?"

"Weren't we?"

"You're pretty confident there aren't you."

"Well I was up until about five seconds ago."

"Rupert, I'm straddling your lap in a car in the middle of the night with no one around for miles, and you're worried you've been what? Indecorous?"

"I-I that is w-well..." You lean forward and kiss him, happy to feel him respond eagerly, his hands resting on your hips, pulling you closer to him. "I forgot to show you the most important part of the car."

"What's that?" you whisper, nibbling on his ear.

He sighs contentedly, leaning forward a bit, his hand reaching under the seat. "Reclining seats." He pulls a lever and winds up flat on his back with you laying on top of him. He grins up at you again as he kisses you once more and reverses your positions, yet again. This time, you're not complaining.