‘Something is off’ Spike thought as he stared at he monitors in front of him and then it occurred to him, “Gunn we need someone new” William ‘Spike’ Tabors, owner of the Montecito Casino and Hotel told his head of security Charles Gunn. Charles cocked an eyebrow in confusion.

“And why is that boss?” he asked.

“Come on Gunn look at the monitors,” Spike said pointing to about a dozen monitors in front of his desk.

“Poor Red and Anya can’t take it any more; the casino floor is just too large for two people to cover.”

“What about Faith?” Gunn asked. Spike threw him a disbelieving glance and clenched his jaw,

“She doesn’t count” Spike deadpanned, Gunn just smiled, it was true Faith was more gone than she was here as a matter of fact they had not seen her in a couple of months.

“Just find me someone Gunn. Someone I can use”Spike said as he left his office.

Gunn shook his head in the negative and picked up the desk phone and started to make some calls, when his cell rang.

“Hello?”

“Gunn”

“Boss?”

“Yeah it’s me, oh and make sure she’s hot.”

---

“What does he mean he needs new people? What’s wrong with us?” Anya asked Willow from the bathroom stall. Willow rolled her eyes at her dramatics and corrected in a calm voice,

“Person”

“What?”

“Gunn said a person, as in singular and you have to admit we could use some help. Ever since the casino floor expanded it has been rather hectic.”
Willow explained. Willow herself had been working at the Casino since it opened four years ago and so had Anya so the addition of a new worker having Anya paranoid was understandable.

“What about Faith?” Anya asked coming out of the stall.

“What about her, Anya?”

Willow asked sarcastically as she tucked a lock of curly red hair be hind her ear. Anya continued to stare at her reflection, carefully musing up her now chocolate brown locks, which had been dirty blonde the other day.

“Well I guess it’s ok… but only if we get to meet her first.” Anya harrumphed. Willow rolled her eyes at her friend,

“Come on breaks over”

---

“Bye Mom!” Buffy yelled as she walked down the stairs

“Buffy honey is their anything I can do to make you stay.” Joyce Summers muttered to her rebellious daughter.

“No mom I have to do this” Buffy said slowly the edge leaving her voice. In truth she was fighting back tears, she hated the fact that she was leaving her mom and Dawn, but she needed to get out on her own. She needed to prove to everyone that she did not need to babied.

“I am sorry but I just have to go” Buffy continued. She walked over and gave her mom a long hug pouring all of the emotion and worries that went unsaid into it. Joyce closed her eyes and smiled sadly as she held her baby close.

“Buffy, baby please your only a chil-” Joyce whispered brokenly she too fighting the tears that threatened to spill.

“Please mom I’m twenty one!” She shot back. Buffy then picked up her purse and duffle bag and made her way to the door.

“What about school” her mother stated calmly, she turned to her mother and said,

“It's not going any where. Oh and give Dad and Dawn especially DAD my regards”

Buffy finished as she slammed the door shut behind her.

---

Buffy was down to her last dollar quiet literally, she had spent almost all her money at a casino called MGM and thought she might try her luck at the
Montecito.

---

Gunn was in his boss’s office going over résumés with Willow.

“I don’t know Wills, none of them seem right” They had been looking for a new floor assistant for days and no one screamed I’m perfect for this job. So far they had encountered idiotic women who thought their idea of a résumé was their measurements or those who just didn’t click.

Willow looked down at Gunn from her position of sitting cross-legged on the desk.

“Yeah I know what you mean- listen to this one.” Willow said as she cleared her throat to continue,

“Hi I think I should have this job because my hair goes with everything… name Harmony Kendal.”

Willow finished, giving Gunn a pointed look. Gunn nodded and started staring at the monitors in front of him. Just when he was going to call the search a day he saw someone walk through the Montecito doors, she was…

“Perfect”

“What?” Willow asked.

“The blonde one with the big bag. Well what do you think? I wonder who she is?” Gunn asked not tearing his eyes from the Casino entrance screen. Willow looked up from a résumé she was reading and to the screen Gunn was staring down. She saw a petite blonde with long hair and a duffle bag.

“Hmm, she looks like a drifter”

“A whater?”

“You know a drifter, teenagers who leave home and drift through Los Vegas. I was one, you see-”

“Hold that thought”, Gunn said cutting her off as he left the office, leaving a confused Willow in his wake.A few moments later Gunn found himself approaching the little blonde at the chip exchange booth.

“Hello miss” Gunn said extending his hand. Buffy spun around to see a tall attractive African American man in an expensive suit with his hand out stretched to her.

“Hello” Buffy replied politely accepting his hand.

“So I assume you are here to gamble” Gunn said trying to strike up a conversation with the cute blonde.

“Umm yeah haven’t had much luck, I’m down to my last dollar…”
Buffy said trailing of wondering if she had revealed to much to information to the man she already told him she was flat out broke and she didn’t even know his name. As if reading her mind he introduced himself.

“Oh I’m sorry; my name is Gunn, Charles Gunn.” Gunn said with a genuine smile.

“My drivers license says Elizabeth Summers, But most people call me Buffy” Buffy said returning the smile, she couldn’t help it Charles had one of those smiles that was just so infectious.

“Well Ms. Summers I have a gamble for you. You give me that dollar and I’ll give you a job.” Buffy stared at Gunn suspiciously,

“Yeah but where’s the gamble in that?” She asked crossing her arms and cocking her hip .Gunn smiled she was going to be a spitfire, he could tell right away.

“You see you can give me your last dollar and I give you a job you may like or hate, but mind you it pays good money or you can bet your last dollar on the craps table. You may or may not get lucky on the craps table. You choose” Gunn explained a smirk appearing on his lips as he finished.

Buffy blinked what a choice she thought as she reached into her purse and pulled out her last dollar.

Right after Gunn took her offered dollar he lead her out of the casino and through the lavish halls of the hotel. In truth Buffy did nit know why she had easily gave Gunn the money, perhaps it was because she had no luck at gambling in casinos and his proposition was enticing.

“So whom will I be working for? You?” Gunn stopped in front of a door so abruptly that Buffy al most ran into him.

“No you’ll be working for my boss”, he answered turning to face her. Just then a group of giggling women passed by wearing sequined bra and tasseled skirts. They all looked the same, tall with hair ranging from blonde to dark brown, attractive faces and perfect bodies, show girls Buffy thought and then the proverbial light bulb went on in her head. Buffy stared at Gunn with wide eyes and hissed,

“Wait what exactly is this job because if I’m a show girl you can forget about it.”

Gunn who was looking for his keys smirked at her reaction to the girls and not knowing her job. Spike would love her, she was such a spitfire someone who would keep him, meaning Spike, on his toes.

“No, your are not a showgirl you’re a floor assistant” Gunn replied still looking for his key.

“A what?” Gunn sighed in relief when he pulled out the key and turned to look at Buffy. He thought about explaining the stipulations of the job to he, but decided against it,

“You’ll see, come on lets go see the man who owns this place”
Buffys gaze flicked from the door they were standing in front of and to Gunn, she looked at him as if he were crazy,

“Um Charles we are standing in front of a door that says ‘Main Breaker’, where exactly are we going”.

Buffy crossed her arms and glared at him ‘He had better not try anything funny’ was the one thought that ran through her mind. Gunn just smiled and started to unlock the door revealing a small yet comfortable hidden elevator.
Buffy’s eyes widened as they both entered.

“Wow” she breathed.

“Um where are we going?” She asked absently still taken back by the elevator.

“This elevator takes us directly to the office.”

“Oh” was her only response.

After a few moments of silence the elevator stopped and the doors opened into the large office.

“Alright Ms. Summers I’ll go get him, sit”

Gunn stated pointing to a plush leather chair facing the large ornately carved cherry finish oak desk. While Buffy sat and waited she took a moment to study the office. From what she could tell it was a corner office, because of the large perpendicular windows that faced the mountains rather than the Las Vegas strip. The room had hues of black, crimson and cream, Buffy wondered how the plush cream carpet looked so immaculately clean, but decided not to dwell on it. She also noticed that there was a set of monitors behind her showing her various places of the casino. After surveying them for a moment she proceeded to bite her nails in nervous frustration.

---

“Boss” Gunn called as he stepped out onto the terrace where Spike was having a smoke.

Eyeing his head of security wearily Spike took a deep drag of his cigarette before extinguishing it,

“Gunn” Spike drawled.

Gunn took a good look at Spike, he looked like he was worrying about something, and he wanted to ask what was the matter but decided not to push the subject.

“I found her.” Spike immediately perked up at the news for a brief moment relieved but then remembered the task he had given Gunn, a small smile quirking on his lips.

“What makes her different from Red and Cosmo” Spike asked not wanting to waste his or this woman’s time. Gunn chuckled to himself after hearing Anya’s new nickname.

“Well as we all know Anya’s openly sexy and tactless, or forthright as you sometimes like to describe her,” Spike smirked at that “Willow’s cute and could mother anyone out of something and she is witty too smart for her own good, but this girl is sexy, cute and looks innocent in every single way. But her attitude, boy does she have one! Spike she’s perfect she is just what you need”, Gunn finished.

Spike cocked his head to the side thinking about what Gunn just said and asked.

“Where is she?”

“She is in your office” Gunn replied.

“All right I’ll go see what’s so great about her. And she had better be good cause if your bull shitting me …”, and Spike let it hang there as he went back inside.

---

Buffy was getting board; she had never been one for waiting. Patience was not one of her fortes, so being the busy body that she was she decided to take an even better look around. Which was how she ended up sitting in the desk chair. It was black with cream stitching and was made of the softest leather she had ever felt, and she had her share of leathers. After she finished marveling at the chair she then started to look at the pictures on the desk the one she picked up was one of a very beautiful woman. She had long blonde hair and had deep blue gray eyes. The smile on the woman’s face screamed ‘I know something you don’t know’, it made her eyes crinkle slightly, which were dancing in hidden mirth. The sun shun in the background lighting up her hair and making it look like spun gold, from what Buffy could tell it was probably taken at a beach as the sun was setting.

“Is it really necessary for you to go through my things let alone sit at my desk”, Spike drawled.

Buffy let out a surprised squeal and shot up from the chair, she was to embarrass to look at him. Realizing she was still holding the picture she paced back on the desk, after a moment she finally did look at him. Buffy’s eyes bugged, in her opinion she was staring at the most handsome man she had ever seen. He was leaning casually against the doorframe in a charcoal grey suit and French blue shirt the top 2 buttons unbuttoned showing some of his chest. He had the bluest of eyes that seemed to twinkle much like the lady in the picture, his hair was a natural white blonde with golden highlights and he was chuckling.
Buffy quickly composed her self, she then snapped.

“Well is it really necessary for you to scare people” ‘Oh shit! Why did I say that?’ Buffy asked herself, this was to be her employer and because she didn’t think before she spoke she may have well ruined it. Much to her dismay Spike’s chuckle grew to a healthy laugh, Gunn was so right about her he thought, such a hellion.

“Now miss…?” Noticing his British accent for the first time her mind hazed but she quickly shook it off.

“Summers, Buffy Summers and you are?” Buffy stated plainly, Spike rose a scared eyebrow at that, ‘Well then, wonder what got this chit ticked off…’

“William Tabors but everybody calls me Spike.” Spike answered evenly. He eyed her up and down all honey blonde hair, petite, sparkling green eyes, she was …decent oh who was he kidding she was bloody gorgeous. Buffy was getting a little peeved at the way Spike was surveying her, but luckily was interrupted from having to say anything when Anya burst through the doors.

“Spike Charles tells me you found the help” Anya said walking up to him. Buffy looked at him and mouthed ‘help?’

“Don’t mind her she’s a tad bit blunt” Spike said defending Anya’s behavior. Anya smiled brightly then turned to introduce herself.

“Hi my name is Anya Jenkins and we will be working together very soon. Right Spike? I mean she looks pleasant enough I suppose—” Spike hastily cut her off,

“Uh Anya why don’t you get back to work so I could talk to Miss Summers.”

“Sure, I’ll just be going now” Anya said leaving. Buffy noticing she was still behind his desk and walked towards him.

“Aren’t you a little too young to be owning a casino?” Would this girl never cese to surprise him, Spike contemplated.

“How old to you think I am pet?” Buffy thought about it for a minute hid fid look quite young, but then there were those who never really looked their age

“Twenty-three?”

“Close I’m twenty-four.”

Spike answered as he went to reclaim his desk picking up the same picture Buffy was looking at and putting it in its right spot

“Oh your wife is very lovely by the way,” Buffy said wanting to sound polite.

Spike looked at her as if she had grown three heads and then threw his head back and laughed.

“What?” Buffy asked wanting to know what as so funny

“My wife? You thought she was my wife?” He said gasping for air.

“Aw luv she’s my sister, her names Darla” Spike explained.

“Oh. Well um ok… so Mister Tabors-” But she was cut of by Spike.

“Spike”, He corrected.

“What?”

“Call me Spike” ‘What kind of name is Spike’ Buffy thought but eyeing him up and down she realized that the moniker suited him.

“Ok so Spike what exactly is a floor assistant ?” Buffy asked wanting to know what she had gotten her self into.

“Well your going to have to be charming, manipulative, witty, sly and smart. You know what Willow and Anya will teach you”

“Okay” Buffy said

“So as my official employee you have to fill out theses forms and here is your room key, just give me a second and I will show you to your room.”

“Room?” Buffy questioned

“Oh my immediate staff has the option of living in the hotel. Do you not want to?” Spike asked

“No its perfect!” Buffy said happy she wouldn’t have to find somewhere to stay on such short notice.

“Okay so tonight sleep tomorrow I’ll give you the tour,” Spike said picking up her duffle and leading her out of the office.

She really was a spit fire the way he eyes changed color, going from jade to deep emerald, when she was pissed. He loved it! She was perfect for the job she would keep anybody inline. Also she would be underestimated, with her small frame nobody would expect her to be so forward, and that was putting it lightly. Spike smiled to himself as he walked down the hall to his employee’s quarters. Still smiling as he went to knock on her door. ‘This is going to be fun he.’

---

Buffy was rereading the contracts and forms he had given her. She couldn’t even say his name in her head for it would have run shivers down her spine. Just thinking about him drew out more of a reaction than kissing her last boyfriend. He was beautiful no other words could describe him. She had never really thought a guy could be beautiful, normally it was cute, yeah, hot, sure, major hottie, maybe but he was…well…beautiful. He was almost God like, his presence demanded authority, screamed that he was a leader, cool, calm, collected. He was absolute perfection in Buffy’s opinion, the way he walked, talked, smirked hell even the way he breathed, ‘Oh god how dumb am I, I am already falling for him and it hasn’t been a day yet’. But what really brought her to her knees was his accent. What girl could resist an accent? And a British one at that! All in all he was sex on legs.

Buffy was giving her self a once over in the mirror indigo blue camisole with off white lace trim. A pair of low-rise gray skinny jeans adorned her hips, strappy yellow sandals and her hair was up in a messy bun, that was carefully tease to look perfect, completed her look. . She was applying her lip-gloss when a knock sounded at the door.

She opened the door to see Spike standing there, his demeanor the complete opposite of the thoughts that were running through her head. He was wearing black sweat pants with an equally black wife beater that broadcasted the sinewy muscles of his arms.

“Good morning. You ready?”

Spike asked with a pleasant smile on his face. Buffy nodded noticing his hair wasn’t slicked back but was brushed back curling at the back of his neck. His transformation from business attire to casual made her mouth water.

“Yeah”, she squeaked ‘What the fuck? Get a grip on yourself Summers’

“Okay let’s go”, he responded giving her a discreet once over, and humming in appreciation, before turning around to lead her out into the hall.
Buffy groaned inwardly, ‘Damn! And he had an ass you could bounce coins off of.’

---

“She’s blonde”, Anya said to Willow as they walked over to the are that was home to the craps tables.

“What?”

Willow asked her mind elsewhere. She was focusing on how she could make this man walk. For the past 45 minutes since he was there he was winning every hand. He had accumulated a total of 1.2 million dollars. Willow’s job was to try to get him to leave before he would cost the casino more money.

“Are you even listening?”

Anya whined. Willow rolled her eyes and turned to face her friend and hissed quietly,

“No not really”, watching the man intently to see if he was cheating.

“Willow”

Anya whined again, annoyed that Willow was not paying attention to her.

“What!” Willow snapped, agitation lacing her voice. “Listen Anya we can talk after we do our jobs. As you can see mister Get Rich Quick over there,” Willow said pointing to craps table 12, “has been wining every hand since nine a.m. and now its almost ten I think something’s going on.” Willow finished as she signaled a security guard.

“Make sure he doesn’t leave this table”, Willow whispered in his ear, she then turned and spoke into the hidden communication device.

“Gunn we have a code 10 on C12”

---

“So over here we have one of our six bars ”

Spike explained walking her to the bar called Caritas.

“It’s run by our very own Lorne Mitchells”

“What are you saying about me cupcake?” A flamboyantly dressed man interrupted. Buffy wasn’t sure if any body could pull of a lemon yellow suit with a orange accents, but if she had to choose some one it would be Lorne.

“Hello”, Spike said turning around to look at Lorne, “Buffy this is–”, but Spike was cut off by Lorne extending a perfectly manicured hand to Buffy and introducing himself.

“Lorne. What’s your name sunshine?”

Buffy smiled and looked at Spike, giving a little laugh she took his hand and introduced her self.

“Well isn’t she just grand.”

Lorne said to Spike as Buffy decided to look around the almost empty bar.

“Yeah she’s something all right. Gonna give me a run for my money, she is”

Spike said to Lorne while gazing at Buffy who was smiling with a patron.

“Well honey it does look like you have your work cut out for you. Listen I have to go Mike will spaz if I don’t show him he board for the new design plans for Caritas by noon and I haven’t completed them yet , see you tonight sweet cheeks”

Lorne said while walking to the elevator. Spike nodded his head and turned to see Buffy looking at him.

“So when do I meet the rest of the staff?”

“Soon luv, soon” Spike answered.

“So that woman last night you know the blatant one um-”

“You mean Cosmo”

“Who?”

“Oh her name is Anya, Cosmo is just her nickname”

“Oh”, Buffy said still not understanding, “Why is um …her nickname Cosmo?”

She was absolutely adorable he found it cute how she could back talk her would be boss but blush at the simple question.

“ Well pet, Anya seems to have sex on the brain allot so naturally I gave her the nickname of a women’s magazine that is centered around people sex lives ”

Buffy smiled and shook her head, “So do you have nicknames for everybody” Buffy asked coyly kind of hoping he had one for her. Spike smirked,

“No, not everybody. But Willow, the bird I told you about her nicknames Red, cause if her red hair. My sister, Cordelia, call her Cheerleader or Queen C sometimes I call her Delia. Um Darla’s Belle, Gunn is muscle and that’s about it”

“Oh that’s cool” Buffy said a little disappointed.

“No worries Goldilocks and here we have the casino floor.”

---

“Okay Willow how long has this guy been here?” Gunn asked approaching Willow who was discretely pretending to play a hand at the black jack table.

“A little less than an hour” She replied

“Has he lost any hands?”

“No”

“Shit!’’ Gunn exclaimed then he pulled out his walkie-talkie and paged Tucker

“Pull up video record for the last hour on craps 12.”

Gunn stared at Willow for a few moments she got the message and began to position her self for the other signal.

“Charles man that’s not our dice.” Tuckers voice sounded through the walkie-talkie.

Willow then turned and made another signal. In less than a minute the game was interrupted and a guard took the dice another guard then took the guy to a holding room, oddly enough the guy did not give much of a protest.

“What the bloody hell is going on here” Spike stated calmly as he and Buffy made their way to the hectic lot.

Gunn then explained to Spike what had happened in the last twenty minutes.

“Alright I’m going to have a little chat with our thief. Um Buffy this is Willow and you have already met Gunn and was briefly acquainted with Anya. I’ll see you later luv” and with that he was gone.

“So your the blonde” Willow said tactlessly.

---

Spike was furious, he was here, his own blood tried to steal money from him. That was so typical of him to waltz into his sanctuary and disrupt what little peace of mind he possessed. ‘Bloody git’, Spike let out a sigh, he had not seen his older brother in 2 years and when he did see him it was when he was in England to make an appearance at the court and he only did that out of respect of his fathers’ memory. Shit! He really could not deal with this right now. He then took another breath to compose him self and walked into the holding room. And in a deadly calm voice he spoke.

“Hello Liam”

~FLASHBACK~
“Darla” A four-year-old William called as he ran to his sister’s study, he stopped before the door because he knew that he was not allowed in unless he had his sisters expressed permission.

Darla was seated at her desk reading a Latin text when she heard her youngest brother call for her, and from the sounds of it he was crying. Darla sighed and put the text away; her studies would have to wait she thought. She then got up and went to open her door. The moment her door was open a sobbing William threw himself at his sister and sobbed into her knees. Darla looked down at her youngest brother and gave a sad little smile picking him up she brought him over to her chair. It was a lovely little window seat that over looked d the gardens, William adored it so much. Often he would lie there and doze off while his sister studied.

“Willy what's wrong?”

She asked as he finally started to calm. William was sitting on his sister lap with his face buried in her shoulder. Darla then brought his face to meet hers the first thing she saw shocked her. Her youngest brother had a rather deep gash in his left eyebrow; she wiped his tears away and asked him again. William looked at her sheepishly and started to fumble with something in his hands, Darla, noticed that it was his glasses which were broken.

“Wells Liam said he would play with me a-a-and he didn’t and I asked why and he says it’s ‘acause …. He punched me and my gwasses bwoked and I hurt. Seeeeee” William finished pointing to his left eyebrow.

Darla saw red. How dare Liam, but then again Liam being nine was rather rambunctious, and hated his little brother. Darla was the oldest she had just turned fourteen and she made it her job to protect her youngest brother at all times, but sometimes Liam would let something like… this happen. It really tore at her the way Liam treated their baby brother, and she really did not know what brought on the sudden vehemence in the last two years, because despite William and all his sweetness little Liam hated his brother. Sighing, Darla looked at her baby brother and started biting her lip in agitation on how she was going to fix this mess.

“Oh Willy does it hurt much?”

He nodded solemnly. Darla sighed again as she began to clean his wound. A few moments later when she was finished she took a look at her brother. William was always described as adorable and was given Liam’s nickname angel, which seemed fitting since Liam was no angel; although his middle name Angelus meant angel. Liam had always been a troublesome child and was prone to tantrums but got away with most anything because all he had to do was bat those soulful chocolate brown eyes your way and you would crumble. William looked like an angel their mother would often say. Her little angel, that’s why his middle name was Gabriel, if Darla remembered correctly he was not a fussy baby at least not as fussy as Liam was. Oh yes Darla thought she definitely remembered sleeping more when William came. William was a sweet heart, a charmer and was gorgeous even as a baby. With his almost white blonde hair with natural golden highlights that was oh so curly, but not to the point of being a fro, his hair was also medium length and brushed right on his shoulders. His eyes were similar to hers but changed with his various moods bright blue when happy and grayish when sad. Every young lady in the court loved William and often Liam got jealous.

Their father was duke Tabors-Aurelius; a proud yet loving man who was often accused of dotting and over indulging his children. Despite his title he was very much a family man, he was know to put some privy matters on hold for family engagements, for instance when Darla had received the lead in her schools small portrayal of Giselle, despite the fact her father had attended the show numerous times before, he cancelled his meeting to attend her last show. Liam looked a lot like their father with his brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, and Darla had to admit that he would indeed be a looker when he grew up William and Darla looked so much alike; they both took after their mother who had fair hair not quite as light as William’s but a suppler golden blonde like Darla’s. Their mother too had blue eyes, but just like William’s they changed color with her moods.

Darla knew that his eyebrow would scar. She also new that her mother would be quite cross with Liam when she found out somebody hurt her angel. Thinking of their mother Darla realized her parent’s marriage might be in jeopardy. They fought more often than ever. There would be prolonged moments of silence between them that lasted for weeks and put a strain on both Liam and William, because to the two of them their parents were their world. Their parents had been foolish to think that none of them noticed, William knew something was up, he was less happy and Liam would do such deviant things for scraps of attention. What Darla failed to realize was that their mother was secretly divorcing her father, and moving to the states.

~ENDFLASHBACK~


“Who was that?” Buffy asked as Spike left in hot pursuit of the cheater.

Both Willow and Anya shrugged their shoulders, Buffy then glanced at Gunn who was looking uneasy.

“You know something don’t you?” Buffy asked. Gunn turned to face the direction in which Spike had disappeared and answered,

“That’s his brother”
________________________________________________________________________

“Hello little brother” Liam stated calmly. Spike clenched his jaw it was just like his older brother to be so condescending. This was his fucking casino, that he built without any investors or anybody’s help and here was his pain in the ass brother trying to make him feel small in his place. ‘Not bloody likely, you pillock.’

“What the hell are you doing here?” Spike hissed.

“What? I can’t visit my little brother whom I love so much” Liam said smirking.

“Please, save the bloody bull crap. You never loved me.” Spike spat vehemently.

“Believe what you want to little brother but I loved you very much, even if I did not show it in the most conventional of ways.” Spike just looked at his older brother.

“Listen you dolt, stealing from a casino is a serious offence. But since you are family,” on family Spike eyed his brother up and down “I will not press charges. However I will be taking the money you stole and asking you to kindly leave and not come back…ever.”

Liam nodded in agreement he then said,
“Listen William, you are needed in England.” Spike continued to stare at his brother; he was not going to England anytime soon, not after…

“Will?” on that Spike shot him a glare. Liam did not have permission to call him that,“ Sorry”, Liam said holding his arms up in surrender, “the court needs you to make an appearance and well …”

“Get on with it”, Spike prompted

“ Darla… she’s pregnant.” Liam finished. Spikes eyebrows roused at that, a myriad of emotions fluttered through him, surprise, happiness, pride, anger and finally disappointment, ‘Why did she not tell me herself?’ Spike asked himself.

Spike nodded in understanding he knew his sister wanted to have a baby but had no husband or boyfriend. She proclaimed her self to be too busy to have either and that being a marchioness she would not be able to know if they were with her for love or the wealth and power that came with her title. Spike smiled to himself, busy all right but not too busy to take care of a child.

“Okay, so when?” Spike asked needing to know how much time he had to set his affairs in order.

“In about four months there’s a ball in favor of Duke Sherrington’s fiancé.”

“I’ll be there”

“Thank you Will”, Spike cringed as he heard his pet name roll off of his most hated siblings lips again, but decided to say nothing since he was too emotionally drained.

“I’m not doing it for you, I'm doing it out of respect for my father. I don’t care if you are a shitty duke or not”

Liam sighed he guessed he did deserve the hostility that was being thrown at him from his younger sibling, growing up he did treat him like shit.

“Alright Will, I expect to hear from you.”

Spike nodded in agreement.

“I’ll send some one to show you out…and just for the record mate; we have this marvelous invention called a telephone, and if you can pull your head outta your arse for about ten seconds you might of noticed it. Yeah?” Spike said as he left the room.
________________________________________________________________________

Buffy made her way to Spikes office, it was made clear to her to let Spike cool off for a bit and by bit a half a day. Gunn explained to her, saying that anything concerning Spike’s brother would send him into a rage. Gunn went into a half an hour story about the two brothers, who couldn’t be more different than night and day, and not just by their appearances. Gunn had told Buffy not to judge Spike and that he had a good enough reason for hating his brother, and that it was Spike’s story to tell. Buffy almost laughed out loud at the sight that greeted her. Spike sat at his desk with his head buried in his arms, with an occasional muffled “Bloody hell” being said.

“Um, err…Spike may I come in?” Spike picked his head up from his desk to see Buffy standing in the doorway. He noticed she had a genuine look of concern on her face. Spike nodded and rested his head back on the desk. Buffy came in and sat down on one of the chairs that faced his desk. After a few moments of silence he began to speak, his words muffled by his arms.

“I haven’t seen him in about two years you know. He’s my older brother
and also my least favorite out of all my siblings. I love both my sisters to death really-” he was cut off by Buffy’s sudden question.
“Two sisters?”

“Oh yeah there’s Darla and Cordelia. You already know that Darla’s the eldest, but Delia’s is my baby sis.”

“Oh”

“But then there’s Liam, a proverbial pain in my arse. There is little love between us. We drive each other carrot top, but it’s his fault usually. He takes bloody sadistic pleasure in humiliating me in every way possible. It’s always been like that.” Spike explained, he continued,

“It’s probably because my family is not conventional. I guess it’s because we’re noble and all that rot. My dad was a duke and as tradition goes the title is passed on to the eldest son or if not male in the family. So that means my arse of a brother is duke. God, as if his ego needed any more stroking! But you know what the funny thing is, when my father passed away he gave my brother the title but me he fortune. That’s why I have this casino I wanted to invest the money my father gave me, that and get as far away from him as possible. I did not want to continue living under him, I had done that for most of my life anyway.”

Buffy nodded it seemed as though if you let Spike talk he would tell you every thing.

“Alright pet I am gonna call it an early night, your shift I believe starts at 10:00 am, perhaps you should get some rest, I like my hosts bright eyed and bushy tailed”, was his parting comment as he left his office.

Making his way to his private suite too exhausted to travel home, he laid on his bed fully clothed and closed his eyes. He tried to block the events that occurred that day and fall asleep, just as he was abandoning consciousness the shrill ringtone of “Fabulous” from High School Musical 2 assaulted his ears.

“Cordelia”, he groaned as he reached into his pants pocket to answer the call,
“Yes?” He hisses clearly annoyed of being robbed of his sleep,

“Will, Oh my god! Please come get me” Cordelia squealed frantically into the phone.

“Where are you?” He asked, Cordelia gulped as she answered, anticipating her brother’s reaction,

“At a police station, in Henderson-”

“WOT!!!” Spike bellowed, now he was fully awake, his baby sis in jail, he couldn’t think straight. Cordelia could hear his teeth grinding and winced, he only did that when he was extremely angry, ‘Oh God he is going to rip me a new one’, she thought. Closing his eyes and trying to compose himself, he had to remind himself that his baby sis was in trouble.

“What did you do?...You WHAT? Cordelia Regina Tabors how the- oh bloody hell I’ll be there as fast as I can, stay out of trouble.” Spike growled into the phone before shutting it closed. Sighing as he sprung up from his bed and desperately searched for his car keys, he had to wonder why stuff like this always happened to Cordy.

Five minutes later he was tearing out of the private parking lot in his custom red Aston Martin, keeping one hand on the steering wheel he expertly flicked a cigarette butt out of its window. The only thing on his mind was getting to his little sister so he could remove her from harm and then slowly kill her for making him worry…but then again that’s what big brothers are for.

“Just what the hell were you thinking? Driving another’s man motorcycle!”
Spike yelled as he swerved in front of a car on the freeway.

“How was I supposed to know it was stole- Will watch where you’re going you almost rear ended that dude’s car.” Cordelia reprimanded.

“Don’t you chastise me; you were the one who was just in the penitentiary. I should have left you there, perhaps it would have taught you a lesson”,

Spike said threw clenched teeth as he drove his car; his knuckles were white from gripping the staring wheel to hard he was desperately trying to regain controlled of his frayed nerves.

Cordelia’s eyes widened at that, Spike had always been a master at hiding his emotions, she bit her lip and looked down at her lap before asking in a small voice,
“Willy you wouldn’t have?”

Spike sighed as he turned on to an exit. He really couldn’t stay mad at his baby sis, really he couldn’t, she would pout and use that voice, the one that was all small and innocent that reminded him of when they were younger and all he wanted to do was shield her from the world; still did. But that did not mean he wasn’t angry or that there wouldn’t be hell to pay.

“Cordy I love you, you know this. I would do anything for you, but some times it is extremely difficult being your big brother” Spike said after about ten minutes of driving in silence,

Cordelia refused to look at him because in truth she was ashamed of her actions and she didn’t want to see the look on her brothers face; a pure mixture of guilt, love, loyalty, and displeasure, she hated that look. That look alone would have been her undoing, and right now she was fighting so hard to not cry and she knew she would loose that battle if she looked at him.
He then pulled up to an IHOP, Cordelia smiled slightly and stole a glance at her brother; it seemed as if he had calmed down a bit. Spike hummed in approval at the beginnings of excitement that was radiating off of Cordy. Spike knew she loved IHOP, and it was tradition to take her there when things got bad, that and he needed to be in a public place so he wouldn’t lose his cool.

After being seated and ordering their food, Cordelia remembered what her older brother had said in the car.

“Wait what do you mean its hard being my brother?” Cordelia asked crossing her arms. Spike knew that look, only three people in the world had perfected that stance; arms crossed, chin set jutting forward slightly, eyes narrowed, and still look incredibly beautiful as well as frighteningly intimidating. Cordelia for starters, Darla and his Mum, the no nonsense attitude was in place and he knew there was no backing out of this one.

“Delia all I meant was when you hang around all these guys, I go crazy ‘specially when most of them are not good enough for you.” Spike answered talking a sip of his coffee closing his eyes and relishing in its bitter taste and sweet aroma, one thing he had quickly grown accustom to while living in the states was a good cup of black coffee.

“Oh, I see” was all Cordelia could muster she had not known her past relationships or the men she was always with made her brother feel that way, but if she was truly honest with her self she should have noticed how tense Spike was when she would bring her latest fling around and he would always make himself scarce in an effort to not throttle them.

“Will, I didn’t know”, She began but was stopped by the comforting touch of her brother’s hand on hers.

“Its okay just try not to associate with them so much and I know that tonight’s events was not completely your fault not even close,” Cordelia smiled at that “But that boy better put his affairs in order because by the time I’m done ne with him there wont be-.” Cordelia cut him off afraid of what he might say,

“Okay Will, I’ll try. So, how is everything?”

“Every thing is fine, Darla is pregnant and I have to make an appearance at Court in a couple of months oh and the casino is doing good, just hired someone new you’ll like her.”

Spike finished as he thanked the waitress for the food.

“Oh my god!” Cordelia squealed, “Darla is pregnant?”

Spike nodded as he chewed on his pancakes drenched in syrup rolling his eyes at his little sisters antics. ‘Women’.

“That’s… wow, oh my… wow. She’s wow.”
Cordy gushed forgetting about her food for a moment. But then she remembered something, as far as she knew Darla was not seeing anyone Darla, so who was the baby’s father. Spying the look of confusion on his sisters face Spike asked,

“ Delia, what is it?”
“Um Will who’s the baby’s father?” Cordelia asked as she began eating her own food.

“Dunno” Spike answered truthfully. Between just finding out today that his older sister was expecting and that his younger sister was incarcerated he really did not have much time to call said older sister to find out specifics. That and the arrival of his older brother threw him off some. Finally taking in her brother’s appearance she notice that he looked worn out, his suit was crumpled his eyes red and puffy and hair askew, sure she knew he had rushed to come get her, but this was William. The same William that took pride in appearance no matter what he was doing, taking out trash, scooping cat litter, really he was the only person that could put grace in scooping cat litter. And here he was, she glanced at her wristwatch, at 10:13 pm looking as if he had not slept in weeks.

“Will, are you alright?” Cordy asked noticing that her brother’s eyes were grayish blue color.

“I’m okay” Spike lied. Cordelia rolled her eyes and replied

“No your not”, Spike saw that she was not going to let it go any time soon, so he decided to indulge her,

“Fine, just got a lot on my mind is all… ” He sighed, “Liam paid a visit” Spike answered.

‘Ohhhhh. So that’s why he is in such a shitty mood! Not just because of me but because of that ass also.’ Cordy personally wasn’t too fond of her eldest brother, the reason being because he never truly accepted her into the family.

Spike knew Cordelia didn’t like Liam too, but it was rather amusing because they looked a lot alike with their dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes they both looked like their father. But in some ways Cordelia was just like their mum; for one thing Cordy definitely had their mothers smile. The nice big one that would melt or calm anyone, even Liam who was known for his tantrums was calmed by one of their mothers warming smiles.

“What did that prick do?” She hissed

“He stole from me. Showed up to the casino with a loaded dice and all.” Cordelia narrowed her eyes in anger. “What an ass” she muttered.

Buffy was curled up on the comfortable bed in her new room, to surprised and anxious yesterday to notice anything about the room before, she now sat there and took in it’s details. The room although not overly large was rather spacious with a small sitting area that opened out into the bedroom, to the left of the suite door was a small kitchenette and to its right the bathroom. Buffy was so glad that she was not faced with the prospect of looking for a place to stay.

She had learned throughout the course of the day that not all the staff lived at the casino. Willow did an so did Anya, but Gunn did not and neither did Lorne. It was also made clear to her that Willow had worked here since the Casino opened and Anya not too long after, and they both confessed to her that since the expansion of the floor they had trouble catering to everyone and were feeling a bit overwhelmed. Sighing she picked up her now ringing cell phone.
“Hello?”

“Hey Buff its me.”, Buffy smiled, glad it was her sister and not her parents.

“Hi Dawn, how are you?”

“Cool! No sister to fight over the bathroom with and who gets the last waffle,”

Buffy smiled remembering all the petty verbal battles she and Dawn used to engage in.

“Hey, I resent that I always let you have the last waffle”

“Whatever Buffy, but seriously what’s going on the parentals are like spazzing? I mean are you okay?”

“I’m fine Dawnie, I have a job and a place to live”, Buffy then went on to explain exactly what it was she did.

“Wait, back up! Job! Place! Wow Buffy! Exactly what have you been up to?”.

Buffy smirked at the suggestive tone in her sister’s voice and proceeded to recount all of her activities since leaving home.
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Buffy's second day at work went a bit more smoothly. The only thing remotely annoying about the job was that she had to work with Anya. For the next month or so she would either be shadowing Willow and when she was too busy or on break, Anya. Anya while sincere, was completely tactless. She knew how to do her job well, so well in fact she was voted best Las Vegas casino host three years running, and apparently and honorary fire woman, but put that aside and Anya was in one word, terrifying. Buffy had met a lot of people in her time, crass ones, bitchy ones, shallow, independent, smart, ignorant, loyal, cutthroat, and so on but never had she ever had the pleasure of meeting one so sexually charged. By the end of the day Buffy was a hop, skip, and a jump away from throttling Anya.

“So, how did your day go Miss Summers?” Spike asked, he had requested a brief meeting with Buffy, in order to gage her progress.

‘Miss Summers?’, questioned Buffy before answering, “Today was fine, long, but fine I enjoyed working with Willow,”

“And Anya?” Spike interrupted,

“Well she can be a little…um…much.” Spike smirked at her answer,

“I understand, but she is also one of the best casino hostesses in Las Vegas and you would do well to learn from her.”

It was no surprise to him that Buffy had found working with Anya not entirely pleasant, but he also knew that Anya was the best and because of her relationships were her clients, he had a steady stream of high rollers, who would loose an average collectively of 10.4 million dollars a year, inhabiting his casino, and it had became clear that a girl like her was not easy to come by.

Glancing at Buffy he finally took in her state of dress, a light yellow strapless sheath dress, gold slinky heals and hair pinned up of her shoulders with a few wisps framing her face.

“What?” Buffy asked feeling little exposed. Spike tore his eyes away from the ample amount of cleavage the dress offered and to her face only to drown in her eyes,

“Uh, yeah?” ‘Jesus her eyes are so green’. Buffy smirked slightly, ‘he really is quite adorable when he’s flustered.

“Is this dress new?” He swore he saw the dress before, perhaps in one of the many boutiques in the mall area,

“No! It belongs to Anya, she said and I quote that this dress would look better on my boney frame...and since I really have no clothes for this line of work I decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth, even if she insulted me.” But Spike had not been paying attention, instead he roved his eyes over said “boney frame” and found that he liked every thing he saw, from the slight swell of her breast and how a little seemed to peek out above the dress, her flat stomach and her round ass, her long unadorned neck, which just begged to be kissed and licked and-

“Will am I interrupting?” Cordelia asked with a barely contained smile she took in the close proximity of the two blondes.

“No Cordy, you’re not interrupting anything, Miss Summers and I were having a little chat,” he shook his head to clear his thoughts, and then turned to face his sister and asked,

“Did you need something?”

“No just wondering where you went,” Cordelia answered.

“Alright, well Delia this is Buffy Summers, the new girl I just hired and Buffy, this is my baby sis Cordelia.”

Buffy eyed Cordelia, she looked a lot like the sibling who was here the other day, Liam that’s right, but in some ways she did not, she then noticed she had the same smile as the picture of Darla on Spike’s desk.

“It is very nice to meet you Buffy” Cordelia tasted the name and let it roll over her tongue, in truth she thought the name awkward and silly but suited her perfectly. Buffy smiled and responded,

“Like wise Cordelia….wait are you Cordy Chase?”
Cordelia smiled and nodded, understanding Buffy’s confusion she explained,

“Cordy Chase or CeCe is my modeling name. I do it to keep some of the English tabloids uninterested and so that I am not tied with my brother in any of my affairs.”

“Wow that’s nice, do you like modeling?” Buffy asked. Cordelia was about to answer but was cut off by Spike telling her she should go to her room.

“Come Buffy, walk me to my room” Cordelia said as she grabbed the baffled blonde by the arm and lead her out side the office leaving a not so pleased Spike in their wake.

“God I hate it when he does that” Cordelia exclaimed once they were out of earshot.

“What?” Buffy said completely confused as to what Cordelia was talking about.

“When he tries to prevent me from talking about my career.”

“Huh?” Buffy said as she was pushed in to an elevator?

“He doesn’t like that I am a model and tries to get me to stop all the male attention I attract”, she explained rolling her eyes.

“Oh I see” Buffy said as they got of on her floor.

“So I guess I will be seeing you tomorrow” Cordelia said as she walked back into the elevator.

“Sure” Buffy responded

“Good so tomorrow I’ll ask you why you like my brother” With a smile and a quick wave the elevator doors closed leaving Buffy doing the perfect imitation of a fish out of water.