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. 

***

“Oh, come on, Buffy!”

“No,” the slayer told her sister firmly.

“This is ridiculous.  I’m *fifteen*!  I don’t need a babysitter,” Dawn ranted, “Besides, for the last week I have been alone when you were at work, and I haven’t gotten in any trouble.”

“That’s during the daytime, nighttime in Sunnydale is dangerous.”

Dawn sighed and collapsed dramatically on the couch, “Look, I promise not to invite any vampires in.  Would you just go on patrol?”

Buffy looked at her suspiciously, “Why do you care if I stay home with you?  What are you up to?”

“Nothing, I’m just annoyed that just because all your friends are busy, you aren’t going to go on your patrol because you refuse to leave me home alone like I am some baby.”

“I’m sorry, you don’t have the best track record.  Even with Xander and Anya here, you invited Harmony in.”

“Will you ever let me forget that?  You invited Angel in!”

“He had a soul!”

“But then he didn’t and he did all this creepy stuff!”

“Why am I even arguing with you about this?”  Buffy rolled her eyes.

“You know what?  On second thought, don’t patrol.  Go to bed, you’ve been so cranky lately, you must need more rest.”

The older girl sighed and rubbed her forehead.  “Look… I’m sorry.  I *am* tired and stressed and I am still adjusting to the freaky hours at work and trying to deal with everything else.  I know I have been short with you… but I feel uneasy leaving you all alone at night.  I know you have been good so far and I appreciate that.  It’s just going to take time for us to work up to that point.”

“Fine,” Dawn said quietly, standing up.  “I’m going up to my room.”

“Okay,” Buffy replied, picking up the remote and sitting down on the couch to watch some TV.  Even if she was tired, it was only eight so if she went to bed this early, she’d be up at three in the morning.

***

“She drives me crazy!  Where does she get the idea that I can’t be left alone?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?” Lisa asked on the other end of the phone.

Dawn frowned, “Yeah… maybe you should.”

“Okay, but don’t get mad at me… there was that time when your mom let you stay home alone for half an hour when you were thirteen and you tried to make eggs and you started the fire-”

“It was little and didn’t do any damage-”

“And then there was the time they let you stay home after we saw ‘Scream’ at Jeannie’s slumber party and you called the police because you thought someone was in the backyard-”

“I *still* think there was someone there!”

“And when your mom got home she found three police cruisers out front,” Lisa continued, “The last thing, I believe, was when your mom let you stay home from school because your stomach hurt and you locked yourself out, then broke a window to get back in.”

“That was last *October*!  Almost a year ago,” Dawn protested.

“Dawn, I think you gotta understand where Buffy’s coming from.”

“I know… but I really am better now.”

“Yeah, and she’s leaving you alone in the mornings.  She’s right, you just have to give her time,” Lisa replied.  “Plus, the whole Graham thing may distract her.  They still haven’t told you?”

“No, and it’s been over three weeks.  I don’t think they’re ever going to tell me.”

“I don’t get it.  Buffy has nothing to be ashamed of, she could do much worse.”

“Knowing my sister, she feels guilty.  She’s all about guilt.  Graham is Riley’s friend and it’s wrong for her to date him.”

“So why *is* she dating him and just not telling you?”

“I have *no* idea.  Grown-ups are so screwy.”

“Ooh, I have an idea!  Why don’t you spend the night here?” Lisa asked.

Dawn grinned, “That’d be fun.  Of course, I have to get the warden’s approval….”

***

“You’re sure I don’t need me to give you a ride?” Buffy asked as Dawn came into the living room with her backpack stuffed with everything she’d need while sleeping over at Lisa’s.

“Positive,” she replied, “Lisa and her dad are picking me up.”

“Well, make sure you thank him, and her mom.  Be polite and behave.”

Dawn suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and point out that Buffy sounded *exactly* like Mom used to.  “I will be a model teenager.”

At last, the doorbell rang and Dawn hopped up to answer it, dragging the backpack along with her.  “That’s probably Lisa.”

Buffy trailed behind her sister as Dawn opened the door and found that Lisa was indeed standing on their porch.  “Hi Lisa.”

“Hey Buffy, how’s it going?”

“Great!  You’re taking the brat off my hands for the night,” she joked, getting a grin from Lisa.

“Ha.  Ha.  You’re very funny,” Dawn retorted, hugging her sister, “Don’t sit around all night.  Go out and have fun like young people do.”

“Maybe you can call Graham?” Lisa suggested, before Dawn grabbed her arm and dragged her away.

As Buffy watched the two girls get in the car and waved at Mr. Pearson, she wondered about that little comment.  They drove away and she sighed and shook her head, deciding she was just paranoid.

***

“Never figured you for the stalker type,” Buffy said wryly as she walked up the steps of her front porch.

Graham jumped in surprise and turned around, giving her a self-conscious smile, “I was worried about you.  I tried calling and got no answer, so then I came over and when nobody came to the door, I started trying to look through the window.”

“That’s your story, huh?” she teased.  “Wanna come in?”

“Sure,” Graham said, following her after she had unlocked and opened the front door.  “I’m sorry, it’s just that neither you nor Dawn said anything about going out and so when nobody answered the phone, I started to worry.  Normally, even when you patrol, she’s still here.”

“Dawn’s spending the night at Lisa’s,” Buffy explained, “So I went and did a quick sweep of the cemeteries.”

“Ahhh… and I’ve just become completely paranoid.”

“That’s okay, I think it was sweet,” she admitted, leading him into the living room.  “Want something to drink?”

“No, I’m fine,” he replied.

Buffy sat down on the couch, “Have a seat.”

Graham sat beside her, “So, what’s up?”

“Oh, I’m just… becoming impossible to be around.  Poor Dawn had to flee tonight because I’m making her insane,” she sighed.

“I’m pretty sure that as her sister, it’s your job to push her buttons every so often,” he smiled.

“It’s more than that.  I don’t give her freedom, I’m on her case too much and we have a lack of trust.”

“Sounds like normal teenage stuff.  Don’t tell me you can’t remember being in the same situation with your mother.”

“I know, but that was different.  I was burning things down and sneaking out and getting bad grades, which is worse than Dawn by any standards… but I was a slayer.  It was like a whole other situation,” she explained, “Besides… I know I am too hard on her and I should let her stay home alone when I patrol, but I’m just so scared of messing up.  What if something happens when she’s all alone?  What if I trust her when I really shouldn’t?  She’s a good kid, but we all have bad judgment sometimes.  And then you add in my being tired from work and stressing about all the other responsibilities I have… and I don’t think I can do this, Graham.”

“Hey, don’t worry,” he said, putting his arm around her comfortingly, “I keep telling you, you’re doing great.  And you know what?  If you make the wrong decision and screw up, it’s not the end of the world.  Nobody expects you to have all the answers, especially since you’re still learning how to play the game.  You’re human, Buffy, don’t forget that.  Humans make mistakes.”

Buffy smiled up at him, amazed at how easily he could reassure her and make her feel confident that she *could* do this.  As usual, all the feelings she had of guilt over what she had been doing with him for the past two and a half months seemed to disappear as she looked into his eyes and felt that tingle in her womb.

Their lips found each other and they began to kiss.  Buffy’s hands came up to his head and she began to run her fingers through his short hair.  Graham tenderly stroked her back as he leaned into her, overcome with desire.  A little voice deep inside his head began to nag at him, though, reminding him that Buffy was upset and needy right now.

Breaking the kiss, he panted, “We shouldn’t… I’d be taking advantage of you.”

Buffy chuckled, “Taking advantage of me?  How do you figure?”

“Buffy, you’re upset and it’s natural for you to… if I slept with you right now, I would feel like I was using your misfortune as a way to get sexual pleasure.”

Perhaps it was sleep deprivation, or maybe stress, or she was just too tired of keeping up the act of not wanting anything more than sex, Buffy didn’t know… but she didn’t really care.  “Tell you what.  Yes, I’m upset and it *is* natural for me to want to be with someone right now.  But if that’s all I wanted, you know I could go to the Bronze or something and find a guy just for that with relative ease.  That’s not all I want.  I want *you*.  You’re…. you’re Graham… you’re not just anyone.  I want you to…. make love to me?”

Graham was stunned, but slowly nodded, unable to deny her anything, but especially not something he wanted so badly himself.  He allowed her to lead him to her bedroom, where they took their time, kissing and pulling each other’s clothes off until they were both nude, their arms wrapped around each other, standing in the middle of her room.

Buffy ran her hand over Graham’s well-muscled arms appreciatively, effectively ignoring the nagging voice inside her own head that demanded to know what the Hell she was doing.  This was far more dangerous than anything they had done previously.  When… if…. Graham left her in bed all alone again, to pretend that this night hadn’t happened; she was going to be nursing a seriously broken heart.

But right then, she didn’t give a damn.

They found themselves on the bed, limbs entangled as their mouths mated desperately, the desire to take their time quickly being overruled by their need to be intimately joined.  And then he was inside her, but instead of them both working towards finding release, they just moved, their bodies sliding against each other in an almost primal way.  As he slowly thrust in and out of her welcoming body, Graham rested his forehead against Buffy’s occasionally placing a hot kiss on her mouth.  Neither said a word, just expressed all their feelings with looks and actions.

Eventually, nature took its course and Graham’s thrusts sped up as he spilled his seed deep inside her womb.  He collapsed on top of Buffy, who gently stroked her fingernails in invisible patterns over his back while Graham calmed down.

As he came back to himself, Graham lifted his head and looked down at her, “Oh God, I’m sorry… you didn’t-”

“Shhh…” she replied, putting her finger over his lips to silence him, “It’s okay.”

“No, Buffy I never… I’m not the type of guy to just not care if a woman-”

“I know you’re not.  You *know* that I know that you are a considerate lover.  But that’s not what I wanted or needed from this, remember?  I needed the intimacy, not the orgasm.”

“But I don’t feel right.  I feel like a lout.”

“Don’t. Just stay were you are.”

“I’m pretty sure I am crushing you,” he smiled, stroking the back of his hand lovingly down her cheek.

She returned the smile, “I like it.  You’re like a muscle-bound, gorgeous, Graham blanket.”

He laughed aloud at that, giving her another kiss, “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure,” she promised, then averted her eyes, “Do you want to stay the night?”

He lifted her chin and forced her to look him in the eye, “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away.”

She smiled again and lifted her head.  They shared several more long, lazy kisses before exhaustion took over and they feel asleep, still nestled together.

***

Buffy awoke the next morning to the sound of the telephone ringing.  Opening her eyes, she realized she was resting her head on Graham’s chest.  As the surprise of that wore off, she reached over and picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Sheesh, are you still asleep?” Dawn asked on the other end.

“Not anymore,” Buffy yawned.

“Sorry… you need your rest, I just figured you would have woken up hours ago.”

Buffy glanced at the clock on her nightstand, “It’s only eight, Dawn.”

“But you’re used to getting up at three.”

“Well, like you said, I needed my rest,” she replied, “Do you need me to pick you up?”

“Actually, no, I was calling to check in and ask if it was okay for me to spend tonight here again.  Lisa and I were talking to some friends and we wanted to have a sleepover.”

“I don’t know, what did her parents say?”

“Lisa’s parents don’t care.  In fact, Mrs. Pearson says she is very happy that Lisa has me for a friend.  See, I’m being very polite and well-behaved here.”

Buffy smiled, “Okay… you can stay again tonight.”

“Great!” Dawn grinned, “Oh, and I’ll need to get some more clothes, but after we get dressed, Lisa and I are going to the mall so I’ll drop by after to get some stuff.  I’ll probably get there at about four, okay?”

“Okay, I’ll make a point to be here,” Buffy promised, “You be good… I love you.”

“Love you too, bye!”

Buffy hung up the phone and found Graham had awakened as well.  “I’m hoping that was Dawn.  The whole ‘I love you’ thing could be a problem, otherwise.”

“Nah, it was my insanely jealous and sometimes homicidal husband,” she joked.  “He’s on his way home and could pop in at any moment.”

“Oh really?  Well, maybe we should be sure to give him an eyeful.  I’d love to go out with a bang.”

Buffy giggled as Graham rolled on top of her and began kissing her tenderly.  This was nice… very normal… just what she had wanted all these months when she had pretended she liked having a purely sexual relationship with him.

Just as she was getting into it, Graham pulled back and smiled down at her.  “You know what I would like?”

Buffy quirked her eyebrow, “I have a few ideas.”

“Want to take a shower?”

She bit her lip and pretended to think about it for a moment before nodding.  Graham stood and tugged her by the hand, out of the bed and into the bathroom.  After turning the water on he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her again, then grimaced.

“Not to spoil the mood, but in order to avoid an extremely awkward situation… Dawn won’t be home for a while, right?”

“Not until four,” she smiled.

“Good,” he said, returning his lips to hers as they gave the water time to heat up.

When it had, they climbed into the shower and took their time, leisurely cleaning each other with the sweet scented soap and shampooing each other’s hair, sneaking kisses in as well.  Graham stood behind Buffy, massaging conditioner in her hair and kissing her shoulder.

“We could do it in here if you wanted and I’m sure it would be fun… but the downside is that it can be somewhat dangerous…” he whispered in her ear.

Buffy smirked, “The slippiness factor?”

“The slippiness factor.”

“Hmm…” she replied, stepping away and turning around so that she was in the direct spray of the water, rinsing the conditioner from her hair.  Not unintentionally, she arched her back, thrusting her supple breasts towards Graham, presenting quite the delectable picture for him.

He licked his lips and, unable to hold his desire at bay one moment longer, stepped forward and moved his hands to her hips.  Dipping his head down to place light kisses on the skin between her breasts, he then began a path over the rounded flesh, before capturing a hardened pink peak between his lips.  Buffy’s hands moved to his head, holding him to her breast as she moaned in pleasure.

His head moved back up and their lips met once again, this time under the steady stream of water.  Graham wrapped one arm around her back and used the other hand to tease her nipple.  As the feelings grew more intense and any semblance of a choice as to where their next mating would take place started to fade away, Buffy broke the kiss and leaned away from him, turning her upper body to reach and turn off the water.

Turning back to him, she smiled and said, “Shall we take it to the bedroom?”

***

Hours later, Buffy and Graham lay sated in her bed, lightly dozing after a morning of talking, love-making and just enjoying one another’s company.  Something had changed; both knew it… and neither minded.

But then Graham’s pager went off and brought them both back to complete consciousness immediately.  Groaning, he climbed out of bed and found his pants, digging the pager out of it and sighing when he saw that it was headquarters.

Then again, who else would call him?  The only people in Sunnydale that he knew were the ones at work and Buffy.

“It’s HQ,” he told Buffy, “I’m going to call and see what they want.”

“Okay,” she nodded, watching as Graham sat down on the edge of the bed and picked up the phone.

“This is Miller, I got a page,” he said, and Buffy couldn’t help but smile at the way his voice took on an authoritative tone as he went into ‘military mode’.

“Miller, yes, we need you to get down here now,” one of his officers replied.

“What’s going on?  It’s been dead for months and anyway, it’s only eleven in the morning,” he questioned.

“Sir, we have an urgent situation and your presence is required.  You’ll be briefed as soon as you arrive.”

Graham sighed, “Fine, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

He hung up the phone and reluctantly turned to face Buffy.  “It’s urgent… believe me, I don’t want to go.  I really want to just stay here with you all day.”

She smiled, “I know.  You go.  I should probably get some rest, anyway… you wore me out.”

He chuckled as he began pulling his clothes on, “Don’t relax *too* much… I’d drag you in there with me if I had a good reason.  If I have to go hunt something, I should make you do it too.  If I can find a way, I’m gonna call you.”

Buffy stuck her tongue out at him, “Hey, you get paid to do it!  I get paid to bring people greasy, fat laden food, be disrespected and get hit on by disgusting guys.”

“Stop calling my friends that,” he retorted.

She laughed aloud, “Get out of here.”

“Fine,” he said, fully dressed and leaning over to kiss her on the mouth.  “Can we meet later?  Maybe go out to dinner?  I think we need to talk.”

Buffy nodded, her heart fluttering, “Unless I do get stuck helping you guys catch whatever it is you’re after… I’d love to.”

“Great, I’ll give you a call,” he smiled, giving her one more kiss before heading towards her bedroom door, “See you later.”

“Bye,” Buffy called after him, then snuggled deeper under the covers, a serene smile on her face.

For the first time in a long time, Graham was gone, she was all alone… and she felt happy.  They were going to talk later and judging by the way Graham was acting, he wasn’t going to tell her that he didn’t have feelings for her.  Just maybe things might work out in her favor this time.

TBC...