Title: Fattening

Author: Cyberwulf

Rated R

Summary: Giles is putting on weight. I wonder why ;)

Spoilers: Set in season 3. If you know about Faith and Wesley, you're fine.

Disclaimer: Characters all belong to Joss Whedon. The plot belongs to the dark recesses of my twisted little mind.

Feedback: Feed the Wulf! [email protected]

Giles rolled over and swatted the alarm clock. Yawning, he squinted at the glowing red numbers, then rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and squinted at them again. Yes, it *was* time to get up. He put his head back on the pillow and moaned softly, then kicked off the covers and wandered into the bathroom.

Giles gazed at himself in the mirror as he brushed his teeth. He looked exhausted and no wonder – he'd only had half a night's sleep. And he'd promised himself last night that he'd go to bed early. Of course, he hadn't counted on having … company. Company that had clearly departed sometime earlier that morning. Good thing too, he thought with a smile. He'd never have made it out of bed otherwise…

He spat the last of the froth into the sink, washed his face, and then stepped onto the bathroom scales. He narrowed his eyes, willing the grey numbers to come into focus. Sighing, Giles reached for his glasses and looked down again. He frowned. That couldn't be right, could it?

He puzzled over the reading on the scales as he headed back into his bedroom. He'd been under the impression that he was quite a few pounds lighter. But then he hadn't weighed himself in a while… maybe it *was* possible that he'd gotten heavier. Giles paused and looked at himself in the full-length mirror in his bedroom. He sucked in his stomach, then let it out. Had he always been that shape?

Giles turned to his wardrobe and began to get dressed. He hissed as he buttoned his trousers. He paused for a moment and realised they *had* been getting a bit harder to fasten over the last couple of weeks. He put the rest of his clothes on and went downstairs. A glance at his watch told him he was running late. Giles picked up an apple in lieu of breakfast, got in his car and headed for Sunnydale High.

" Ah, Mr. Giles."

Wesley wore the smug, superior look of a man who'd been at work since early that morning and thus held the moral high ground over people arriving ten minutes late.

" So good of you to join us," the younger Watcher went on pompously. " I've planned a new training regime." He picked up a pointer and tapped a colour-coded chart he'd hung on the wall. " It should give the girls a proper workout."

Giles couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes.

" You look like you could do with one yourself."

Giles looked up sharply. " What?"

" Just because you're no longer a Watcher, that's no reason to let yourself go," Wesley elaborated. He prodded Giles' stomach with the pointer. " Starting to spread a bit there."

Angrily, Giles shoved the pointer away. Wesley leaned on it and looked up thoughtfully at the ceiling.

" But then at your age, I suppose it's inevitable. Metabolism not what it was…"

" I'll be in my office," Giles growled. He stalked into the room at the back of the library and slammed the door. He sighed and looked down at himself. Wesley's comments had banished any lingering doubts – his nightly activities were definitely taking a toll on his waistline. There was nothing else for it. Buffy and Faith would just have to stop smothering themselves in whipped cream and chocolate sauce. The vigorous sex just wasn't burning off the calories.

The End

-^)--)~