TITLE: “One Thing Leads to Another”

AUTHOR: Alessandra “Pamela”

EMAIL: destructo-girl@...

RATING: NC17 overall

DISTRIBUTION:  My sites… anyone else, just ask.

PREVIOUS PARTS: Can be found at my site - http://destructo-girl.com

FEEDBACK:  I would love it if you were so inclined. :)

SPOILERS:  This takes place after “The Gift” except Buffy didn’t die.

SUMMARY:  Buffy and Graham run into each other and find out they get along *really* well.  But will their loyalty to Riley keep them apart?

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” characters or situations (I will even give my story ideas to Joss in exchange for a day on the set).  I am borrowing them, without permission, and I mean no harm to them.  They all belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox, and Warner Brothers.  I wrote this purely for entertainment and not at all for profit.

NOTE: This has not been beta read, so please excuse any mistakes.  As soon as I can get a beta'd version, I will post it on my site.  I just wanted to be able to post this fic regularly, so people wouldn't forget about it!

***

“Graham says I should probably get a used car, maybe from a rental place.  He knows people who have done that and gotten some really great deals,” Buffy told Giles as she helped him carry books to the front of the store from the stockroom.

“Yes, that is an idea.  Graham is knowledgeable about cars?”

She nodded, “He has this old Mustang… cool old, you know?  Anyway, he rebuilt the engine or something.  And he fixed the jeep before, remember?”

“That’s right, he did,” Giles replied.  “Now, the check that the insurance company sent you, it won’t cover the cost of another car, will it?”

“No… unless I get a crappy one, and that doesn’t sound smart.  Graham says for just about five thousand more, I can get a really good car.  You know, one that’s reliable so I won’t have to pour money into it’s repairs and stuff.”

“That sounds like a good idea to me,” he told her as he began shelving books.  “The reason I ask is that you will need to get a loan since you can’t pay for a new car outright.”

“I know, that’s a big part of why I’m getting a job,” she replied. 

Xander had taken her to the doctor the previous morning to have her ankle checked out.  The doctor had been pleasantly surprised to find her ankle completely healed, deciding it mustn’t have been as bad as he had originally thought.  After that, she had gotten Xander to take her to a few stores and restaurants to fill out an application.  She had an interview on Monday, so she would hopefully be gainfully employed within a few days.

“Yes, but when you ask for a loan, they like for you to have had your job for quite some time.  At least several months.”

Buffy sighed, “So you’re saying they won’t give me one?  Just great… so either I keep bumming rides off others or I get a crappy car.”

“There is another option,” Giles said, halting his stocking to turn and face her.  “If you have someone co-sign for you, someone who has had steady employment and the lender feels confident that they *can* pay if you don’t… they will give you the loan.  That person will be liable should you back out, but I don’t think it would be hard for you to find someone who has faith in you.”

Buffy smiled, “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“I would be happy to co-sign for you.”

Her smiled turned into a grin and she hugged him, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!  You are a life saver!”

Giles chuckled, “It’s my pleasure.”

And he wasn’t lying… he knew Buffy wasn’t his real daughter, but the fact that they didn’t share blood seemed so unimportant.  Being able to do this, to help her out with something that didn’t have to do with the Hellmouth… it felt wonderful.

“Now, this means I need to be with you to purchase the car.  However, I know that you had planned to go with Graham.”

Buffy shrugged, trying to play it cool, completely unaware of the fact that for the past twenty minutes Giles had heard her spout ‘Graham says’ countless times and already had his own ideas about her feelings for the young man.  “I’m sure Graham wasn’t looking forward to spending the day looking for a car for me.  He’ll probably be relieved.”

“Actually, I was thinking that since Graham does know so much about cars, the three of us should go together,” he explained, not adding that he really wanted to spend some time with Graham and get to know the fellow… if he was spending so much time with Buffy and Dawn, he wanted to be sure that Graham was of the good sort.

“Oh,” she said, a small smile on her face.  “Okay.”

***

“So, Buffy… it says here that you are willing to work the early shift.  You do realize that you have to be here at five o’clock in the morning for that, right?” the older man doing the interview asked.

Buffy nodded, “It actually works out best for me.  I’m the sole guardian of my little sister.  She’s fifteen, but I still don’t like to leave her alone much.  At least this way I will only not be around for her in the mornings… I think it’s better than having her be on her own afternoons or evenings.”

“Oh, you take care of your sister?  Well, that requires a lot of responsibility,” Douglas Markerson replied, impressed.

She gave him a sad smile, “Well, I’m very responsible.”

He decided in that moment that she was definitely worthy of being hired.  She obviously wasn’t just working for money to buy clothes, and that meant she would work hard to keep the job.

Besides, one look at her face and he could tell that the reason behind her being her sister’s guardian wasn’t a happy one.

“Could you start next Monday?  This is Elaine’s last week… she’s the one you’ll be replacing.”

She nodded quickly, “That would be fine, thank you!”

“You’re welcome,” he smiled gently.  “Now, I have to go get some paperwork for you to fill out and then we’ll get you a uniform ordered so you will be all ready to go next Monday.  You already have waitressing experience, so it shouldn’t be too difficult for you.”

As Mr. Markerson left her alone at the table in the diner, Buffy breathed a sigh of relief.  She had a job… granted, she was a waitress… but she had income!

***

“I can’t believe you’re just going to be a waitress.”

“Dawn!” Willow scolded the younger girl, “Being a waitress is fine!”

“I know, but it’s an icky job.  You should have held out for something better.”

“I’ll look for something better in a few months.  For now, I have a job so we have money to make car payments and I am happy,” Buffy replied, “Besides, the great thing about waitressing is that you get tips so you don’t have to starve until your next paycheck.”

Dawn’s eyes widened, “We may starve?”

“It was a figure of speech,” Buffy sighed.  “I told you not to worry, we’re fine.  It’s just that getting a new car makes a new job necessary.”

“You know, you can sue the guy who hit you,” Anya piped in as she carried some books over to a shelf near them.  “Then you wouldn’t have to get a degrading job hauling food to people and cleaning messes.”

“I can’t afford a lawyer,” Buffy replied.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter, I’m sure you will win and then you can pay the lawyer with your settlement money!” Anya explained.

The slayer quirked her eyebrow.  “Hmm… maybe.”

“Hello ladies!” Xander greeted everyone as he walked into the Magic Shop.

“Good, you’re here… I was worried you had forgotten,” Dawn said, gathering her bag and jacket.

“Forget Dawn’s ultra important skating party?  Never,” Xander grinned.

Buffy smiled at him, “I appreciate this, thank you.”

“No prob, Buffy.”

“See you guys later,” Willow said.

“Yes, and Buffy don’t forget to stay away from my boyfriend.  I still remember many torturous things that I can do to you from my demon days,” Anya reminded her.

Buffy rolled her eyes, “Bye guys.”

“So, how did the interview go?” Xander asked as they followed Dawn out of the store and to his car.

“Great, I got the job,” she informed him.

“Well, that’s good news!  Now you don’t have to worry about that at least.”

“Yeah… I’m a little leery about being gone in the mornings, but I think I can trust Dawn to get herself up and ready for her drama class on the days she has it… and on the days she won’t, I am going to allow her to be alone until I get home.  I get off at one, so she won’t be left to her own devices for all that long a time.  I figure she has less a chance of getting into trouble than if I worked a later shift.”

“It sounds good to me.  Dawn’s got to have a chance at staying home alone sometime,” Xander nodded, “Hey, how’s she going to get to her class?  I can drive her if you want.”

“That’s sweet,” she smiled, “but it’s okay.  I talked to Mary’s mother this afternoon and she agreed to drive Dawn every morning and I will pick the girls up every afternoon.”

“Aww, you’re driving in a carpool!  When’s your first PTA meeting?” Xander teased.

“Ha. Ha.  Just get in the car so Dawn won’t be late.”

***

“Hey,” Graham greeted, walking in the front door of the Summers’ home.

“Hi,” Buffy smiled, shutting the door behind him.

“So, how’d it go?  I’ve been wondering all day.  I even tried to call when I got home from work, but the phone was busy, so I changed and… that’s why I came over,” Graham babbled uncharacteristically.  After he had started going, he had felt rather self-conscious.  Unfortunately, it had never occurred to him on the drive over that being so anxious to hear if she got the job made his true feelings rather transparent.

Buffy tried not to allow herself to be too encouraged by that little omission.  She was just… misinterpreting friendly interest as more.  It was probably wishful thinking.

“I got the job.”

“That’s great!”  He hugged her tightly without thinking, then pulled back as it hit him that this wasn’t exactly appropriate.  Giving her an awkward smile, he added, “I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks… it’s just a waitressing job, which as Dawn says, is ‘icky’, but it’s a start.”

“Hey, you could do a lot worse.  Sure, if you could go get a job as a CEO of a company and sit behind a desk while collecting a massive paycheck, I would recommend it… but for right now, this is good.”

“I know… it’s money… which I need.  Granted, it’s not the money I will deserve for all the hard work and crap I will get from customers, but without a college education, I’m not going to do much better,” Buffy said, leading him into the living room.

“Well, maybe you’ll find an opening working in an office as a receptionist or something,” he said optimistically as they sat next to each other on the couch.

“Yeah… but those are usually nine-to-five and then Dawn will be left alone all afternoon once she goes back to school.”

“She’s fifteen, Buffy,” Graham reminded her, “It’s pretty common for kids her age to be left alone.”

She sighed, “I know… and when I was her age, I was already babysitting her… but Dawn’s not like other kids.  I loved my mother more than anything, but she screwed up with Dawn.  She babied her too much, didn’t give her responsibilities… so she couldn’t be left alone.  Seriously, it wasn’t fun for me to not be able to go out so that I could watch Dawn, but if I hadn’t, she would have gotten into trouble in some way.”

“Really?  She doesn’t seem that bad to me.”

“Well… she actually has matured a lot since Mom died.  I don’t know, maybe leaving her home alone won’t be a huge disaster after all.”

“Well, she’s going to be left alone a little with you working now, right?”

Buffy nodded, “In the mornings, before her drama class three days a week, and twice a week she is on her own until I get home from work.”

“Well, that’s perfect, because it’s the daytime and not any long stretches of time all alone.  It can be a test to see how she’ll do if you get a better job.”

Putting her face in her hands as the stress got to her, she replied, “And what if she fails?  What if Dawn totally screws up without supervision?”

Graham pulled her hands away and lifted her chin to make her look at him.  “First of all, I really believe she won’t screw up.  But if she does… you have me, and Giles and Willow, Xander… all your friends.  Between all of us, I am sure an arrangement can be made so that Dawn is always with one of us.”

“I want to believe you.  You make it sound so easy.”

“It’s not easy… but it’s not a catastrophe, either.  You’re going to have to work hard.  You’re going to be tired and have to deal with bills and stress and all that not-so-fun stuff, but you will do it.  You’ll get through it all just fine.”

“I don’t know how Mom did it.  I know that she would spend hours going through bills, but she did it.  She ran our house and made sure Dawn and I always had food and clothes and went to school and at the same time she ran a gallery.”

“Your mother didn’t just wake up and start doing all that at when she was twenty.  She got married and she and your dad dealt with bills and careers.  She got to get used to it, while having someone to share the load with, before you and Dawn came along.  You’re overwhelmed, understandably, but you aren’t alone.  You know that, right?”

Buffy smiled and nodded, “I’m very lucky… I have great friends.”

Her stomach growling interrupted the touching conversation.

Smiling sheepishly, she explained, “I was too nervous about my interview to eat breakfast and after Xander took Dawn to her party, he took me to the grocery store so I just got home a little while ago.  I was planning on making dinner soon… want to join me?”

“I have a better idea.  Let me take you out for a celebratory dinner,” Graham offered.

“Oh, you don’t have to…”

“I know I don’t… I want to,” he answered honestly.  He really did feel like celebrating… plus, as much as he liked Dawn, it would be nice to take her sister to a restaurant all alone.  It wouldn’t be a date, but did it hurt to pretend?

“Okay,” she answered, giving him a small smile.

***

“What time is the party supposed to be over?” Graham asked as they left the parking lot of the restaurant.

“Lauren’s mother said I should pick her up at the skating rink at about eight.”

“Oh… it’s only just past seven.  If we were to pick her up now, it would be too early.”

“Yeah… I suppose we could go to my house,” Buffy replied, wondering if he was alluding to what she thought he might be alluding to.  “But that would be kind of inconvenient.  For the time it would take us to go there and then to drive to the rink… once we got to the house, we’d just have to turn around and leave.”

“Maybe we should do something else instead?”

Buffy smiled wickedly, “Make the next left.”

***

“Mmmm…” Graham moaned, reluctantly breaking their kiss as the being in the front seat grew too uncomfortable.  “Let’s move to the back.”

“Okay,” she replied, still breathing heavily.

Once in the backseat, Buffy sat sideways in Graham’s lap and they resumed their steamy make-out session.  Slowly, he began inching his hand up her thigh, happy that she was wearing a skirt.  Not only because she had great legs… but it made things easier.

When they broke apart to breathe, Buffy panted, “I don’t think we have room to have sex.”

“We do,” he smirked, “but it wouldn’t be very comfortable.  There’s other stuff we can do though.”

With that, Graham’s hand slipped under her skirt and moved between her legs to her mound, covered by her damp panties.  Buffy gasped and closed her eyes, clenching his shoulders as his fingers applied delicious friction to all the right spots.  He moved them underneath the material, sliding one finger inside her and another began to mercilessly tease her clit.

He tenderly nipped at her earlobe and whispered, “Come for me.”

Buffy groaned and bit her bottom lip, throwing her head back as she grew closer to orgasm.

The hand that had previously been resting on her hip while he helped support her with his arm moved up to cup her breast through the thin material of her blouse.  The dim light prevented Graham from seeing how hard her nipples were, but he could feel them and began to stroke his hand back and forth, teasing her for a few moments before he took one breast in his hand and gently squeezed it while rubbing his thumb over her pebbled peak.

At that point, Graham had two fingers inside her and was still expertly manipulating her clitoris.  Between that and the way he was fondling her breasts, she reached her climax and cried out as she came on top of him, violently.

Graham continued his ministrations until she began to calm, gently extracting his hand from her panties and releasing her breast.  After licking his fingers clean, he captured her lips in a steamy kiss, allowing her to taste herself.

It was then that Buffy became aware of what all their making out and her wriggling in his lap had done to him.  She moved off of him, despite his protests, and sat next to him in the backseat.

“It’s your turn,” she said, planting a kiss on his lips as her hands worked on freeing him from the confines of his pants.

When at long last she had his erection in her hand, Buffy gave him a few slow strokes before dipping her head down.  She swirled her tongue around the head of his penis, licking up all the pre-cum he had already secreted.  Taking him in her mouth, Buffy then began to work the hand that was still forming a tube around his thickness and moved in unison, sliding up and down as her other hand occupied itself by caressing his balls.

It was Graham’s turn to groan as he leaned back in the seat and helped hold Buffy’s hair back, both to aid her and to make it easier for him to watch as her hand and mouth moved up and down his cock.

Abruptly, she stopped and he immediately began to plead with her to keep going.  She ignored him and instead she began to lick his length, alternately using the top and bottom of her tongue.  Graham felt himself grow closer and closer to release as she gave him a mind-numbing blow job.

“I’m gonna…” he stammered, gritting his teeth.

Buffy moved her mouth back up to the tip of his erection, sucking hard as her hand stroked him at a furious pace.

With a shout, Graham came, spilling his seed inside Buffy’s mouth.  She eagerly swallowed every last drop before sitting back up and giving him an evil smile.

“That was fun.”

They spent the next few minutes kissing each other languidly until they had to leave or they would be late picking up Dawn.  Reluctantly, they separated, Buffy crawling back up to the front seat and giving Graham quite a pleasant view.  He carefully rearranged himself in his boxers before zipping his pants up and following.

As they headed back down the dark road that had led to the secluded area Buffy had directed him to, Graham couldn’t help but grin.  He’d never experienced anything like this before.  It wasn’t just the sex – not that the sex wasn’t great – but he’d never felt the way he did about Buffy for anyone else.  Looking over at her, he saw she was relaxing against the back of the seat, a lazy smile on her face.

“You know, most girls prefer a bed to a car,” he teased.

Buffy chuckled, “I do too… it’s just that, I don’t know… that was fun.  Kinda dangerous and sordid and forbidden.  I’ve never done that before.”

“Really?” he asked, surprised.

She nodded, “I mean, I’ve kissed while in a car before, but all the guys I went out with before I was a slayer didn’t have cars.  I was called a few months after my fifteenth birthday.  And pretty soon after that, I was a social leper.  My next boyfriend was Angel, and he didn’t have a car either… and then Riley.  You know, Riley defile me in a car?  No way.”

“Yeah…” he said quietly, suddenly wishing this conversation hadn’t taken the turn it did.

The next few minutes were silent as Graham got back on a main road and started heading out to the skating rink.  They were stopped at a light when he felt Buffy’s hand on his thigh.  He looked over at her and found she was giving him a serene smile, obviously not feeling depressed about Riley like he figured she would be.

“Thank you,” she said, “for giving me one of those high school experiences I never had in high school.”

“Well, it really put me out, but you’re welcome,” he joked.

Buffy gave him a mock dirty look before leaning over and planting a kiss on his lips.  Feeling quite pleased again, Graham drove the rest of the way to the rink and pulled to a stop at the curb in front of the rink, as were several other cars, and Buffy opened her door.

“I’ll go get Dawn.”

Before she could even get out of the car, Dawn came out of the doors.  She walked over to the car, a bright smile on her face.

“Hi!  I had so much fun.”

“That’s good,” Buffy said, standing up, “Did you thank Mrs. Scott and Lauren for inviting you?”

“Yeah….” Dawn replied, looking at her strangely, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, why?”

“Your hair is all messed up… and your skirt’s twisted.”

Buffy flushed and quickly righted her skirt before running her hands over her hair.  “Um… well, I’ve had a long day… didn’t pay attention.”

“Okay…” the younger girl said slowly before climbing in the backseat of the car, “Hi Graham.”

“Hey Dawn, how was the party?”

“Great,” she told him as Buffy got back in the car and shut the door, “You guys should have come.  Especially you, Buffy.  You love to skate.”

“Maybe we can go skating sometime soon,” she replied, giving Graham a murderous look.  He should have told her!

TBC...