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Chapter 3

Later that night, Buffy walked downstairs and headed to the kitchen, where she found her mother and step-father. She smiled at the man.

“Hey, Giles. It seems like I haven’t seen you in a while.”

Joyce gave him a look and Giles just ignored it and turned his attention on Buffy.

“Yes, I’m sorry about that. I have something for you,” he said, indicating the big, white box that sat on the counter.

Buffy smiled and grabbed it. “Cool! I like presents.” She tore into the box and gasped when she saw what was inside. She looked up. “This is the blouse that I wanted. Thank you,” she said and gave him a hug.

He smiled at her excitement.

“I’m gonna try it on now,” she commented before running upstairs.

Joyce gave Giles another look when Buffy was gone. “You shouldn’t be spoiling her.”

Giles turned to his wife. “I’m not spoiling her, Joyce. Is it a crime to want to buy my daughter something nice?”

Joyce shook her head. “No, it’s not. I just think that you bought her that because you feel guilty about something.”

Giles took his glasses off to clean them and then placed them back on. “I do feel guilty. I feel guilty that I haven’t been around much. I also bought you this,” he said, and handed Joyce a smaller box.

She took it and sighed as she opened it. A beautiful, heart shaped locket rested inside. She glanced back to Giles. “It’s lovely, but you didn’t have to.”

He nodded. “I know I didn’t have to, I wanted to.” He fastened the necklace around her neck, letting it fall against her skin. “You look beautiful,” he told her.

She blushed. “Thank you, Rupert.”

He smiled. “There’s also a little surprise inside.”

She gave him a look and then opened the locket to find a picture of the four of them that had been taken a few years ago. It was one of her favorite pictures; though it did little more than remind Joyce how grown up her children were now. She looked at Giles with tears in her eyes. She moved closer to him and planted a kiss on his mouth, then pulled away and smiled. “This means a lot to me, but I don’t want you to think that you have to buy us gifts whenever you feel guilty. I know you love us, honey.”

Giles returned her smile and gave her a kiss of his own. “This family is very important to me, Joyce. I don’t want you to think that it isn’t.”

Joyce nodded, then thought of something else. “I know it is, but I think you need to talk to your son. He’s feeling more neglected than I am; more than Buffy is. I have a feeling he has for a while now; he just doesn’t know how to talk to you about it.”

Giles agreed. “Is he upstairs?”

Joyce nodded again. “Yes, he wanted to stay over tonight. He’s probably sleeping right now, so maybe you could talk to him tomorrow.”

Giles nodded as well and grabbed a Scotch from the cabinet.

Joyce watched him. She couldn’t help but wonder if everything was okay.

They didn’t know that Spike was standing at the top of the stairs and heard most of their conversation. He just turned around and walked back to his room.


* * * * *


Buffy was talking with her friends at the Bronze the next day. After a bit of persuasion, she was able to talk her mother into letting her go. This time, Tara, Willow’s girlfriend, was present and Buffy was really getting close to the shy girl. They were in their own world, chatting away, when these three Goth girls suddenly walked into the club. Buffy rolled her eyes when she recognized one of them and turned back to her friends.

The three girls continued to walk in their direction, the one in the lead had a twisted smile on her face. She turned to address the two other girls that were with her, speaking loudly to be heard over the music. “He was so pathetic. My own personal lapdog. He would do whatever I said and practically worshipped the ground I walked on. It was just sad, really.”

Buffy tried to ignore the girl as her voice got closer.

The intrusive brunette stopped when she was right by Buffy and turned back to her friends, making sure that Buffy was listening. “He was such a loser. He’s only cool now because of me. I made him who he is.”

Buffy clenched her fists at her side and tried to control her temper. It was obvious who the girl was talking about.

“I mean, without me, Spike would still be William the Bloody. Have you heard his poetry? It’s bloody awful. No wonder he got that name. If you ask me, he should just go back to being my dog.”

Buffy heard enough and stomped over to the woman. She pulled back her fist and punched her right in the face.

The brunette never saw it coming and held her nose, which was now bleeding. “You stupid bitch!” she yelled.

Buffy raised her fist again. “It takes one to know one. You ever talk about him like that again and you’ll lose that pretty hair of yours, Drusilla,” she spat harshly.

Drusilla growled and attacked the blonde. She pulled on Buffy’s hair and pushed her to the floor.

Buffy fought back, with all that she had in her. They rolled on the floor while a group of people gathered around them and cheered them on. Buffy’s friends were worried about her, but they were afraid to interfere.

Spike left the restroom at that moment. He was already at the Bronze with a few of his friends. He then ran to see what the commotion was all about. When he saw Buffy and Drusilla fighting, he ran over to them and grabbed his step-sister, pulling her off of Drusilla. The blonde struggled in his arms.

“Buffy, calm down,” he told her softly and she relaxed a little. Spike kept a hold of her.

Drusilla fought to her feet and glared at both of them. “You’re a freak!” she spat out, then turned and ran in the other direction, her friends lagging behind.

“Fuck you, slut!” Buffy yelled after her retreating form.

Spike placed his hand over her mouth to stop her from saying anything else. He then grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the club, so they could talk in a more private and quiet area. When they got outside, he turned to look at her and he didn’t seem happy. “What the hell did you think you were doing? You know better than to get into a fight, Buffy.”

“I don’t care, the bitch had it coming. She was talking shit about you right in front of me and I just wanted to shut her up.”

Spike’s expression softened at what she said.

“I appreciate that, but fighting still doesn’t solve anything. You should have just ignored her.”

Buffy nodded and tried to calm down. “I know that, I just lost it. I didn’t like what she was saying.”

Spike grinned and took a step forward. “So, you were sticking up for me? You like me, you really like me,” he teased playfully.

Buffy hit him on the arm. “Don’t get used to it. I only did it so we could be even.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Even for what?” he wondered.

“You know, that time you stuck up for me with Parker. You hit him when he said I was like a toilet seat. I was just returning the favor.”

Spike nodded when he realized what she was talking about.

Buffy then thought about something else. “Spike, could you not tell mom about this? I really don’t think she would like to hear that I got into another fight. This would be the third time, but she doesn’t need to know that.”

Spike sighed and decided to give her a break. “I won’t tell her, but no more fighting.”

Buffy smiled and gave him a big hug. “Thank you, I so love you right now.”

Spike also graced her with a smile when she pulled away. He really liked the feel of her in his arms, but quickly shook that thought away. “Love you, too. Now, get back to your friends. You shouldn’t leave them alone for too long.”

Buffy nodded and after giving him one more smile, walked back into the Bronze.

Spike watched her go and decided to wait a little before he went inside. He thought Drusilla was done talking shit about him, but it looked like she wasn’t. He had a feeling that she only said what she did to make Buffy angry. The two had never liked each other. Spike and Buffy always got along even though they would fight a lot, but Buffy didn’t like the fact that he was dating Drusilla and that made them drift apart. Spike would always stick up for Dru, but Buffy would never listen. Then, he’d realize that all the things Buffy had told him about Drusilla were true when he found out that she was cheating on him. He’d broken up with her after that even though she told people that she was the one that dumped him. He didn’t care. She could say whatever she wanted as long as he never had to see her again. He was good avoiding her, until now. Seeing Buffy fighting with Dru brought all of the bad memories back and he tried to forget about them, but it wasn’t easy.

He pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He put the fag in his mouth and blew the smoke out. He stood there a while longer and thought about things. He tried to quit smoking, but seeing Drusilla again made him want to smoke a whole pack. He knew he wouldn’t though, he promised Buffy he would stop smoking as long as she did and he was going to keep that promise. Spike sighed and threw the cigarette on the ground and stomped it out. He then turned around and walked back inside the club. He really needed a drink.





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