by Debris4spike
ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS
"What are you doing here?" Buffy frowned at the person in front of her. She had intended to do a bit of training, alone, when she realised that her wish was not going to be fulfilled. "I can't find any time to myself these days," she continued her moans.
"I was waiting to speak to you or the Niblet to find out how Joyce is."
"And you couldn't just ask me?" she sneered.
"No, luv, I hoped to see one of you this morning, but your soldier boy didn't leave in time, so I couldn’t come and ask and then get back to my crypt without being trapped by the sun. So thought I would wait here and ask when I saw either of you." Spike slowly ran out of explanation. "So, how is she?"
"What?" She stared at him, cluelessly.
"Joyce. How is she?" He re-asked, looked quietly at Buffy, waiting for her answer. From his look she could tell that it was a genuine question; for no other reason but that he liked her mom. Joyce, she knew, liked him as well; which she always found hard to understand as her mom had never really got on with Angel, and even seemed to find Riley hard to accept.
Realising that he was still waiting for her answer, she quietly uttered -
"She is not well. In fact she may have to have surgery for the tumour."
She was pleased with herself in that she had managed to get the straight facts out without showing any of the emotions that were bubbling so close to the surface.
"Are they sure?" In some ways Spike was a bit lost as, he hadn't had to think about the frailties of humans for years, unless he was trying to kill them.
"We don't know yet. She is having more tests tomorrow, so at the moment I am trying to live normally - well as normally as a Slayer with a sister can!"
"Is there anything I can do?" he inquired softly.
Buffy looked shocked at the quiet request. He had been there to support her the first night that she had heard the news and was still trying to come to terms with that fact. "No, I'm fine. If I need anything, I can ask Riley" she eventually replied. She pretended not to hear the quiet growl that her boyfriend's name caused, but managed to thank him for the offer.
He decided to wait out the day in the basement rather than rushing for the sewers. That excuse was what he used to her, but it also meant that he didn't have to focus on the real reason - being in her house, and surrounded by the scent of the girl he loved.
###
Joyce needed the operation. The night before, Riley had proved that he still had his Initiative links, which was something that Buffy knew she would have to deal with at some point. However the important fact was that the demon had been stopped and Buffy was able to see her Mom safely to the hospital in the morning.
While the others were waiting for the news, Spike returned to the house to sit and think - well maybe to go to Buffy's room and immerse himself in his fantasies again. Wandering through the rest of the house, he realised that all the Summer’s women were special to him. He hated the thought that his surrogate Mum was ill and that the girls were suffering - the girl he adored as well as his "sister". The more he focused, the more he realised that he was brooding and wishing that he could help ease the pain. The wishes he could rationalise, but the brooding - no way was he wanting to turn into his Grandsire!
###
As the days passed and Buffy got ready to welcome her Mom home, she sorted and tidied the house. When she started on the garden she realised that without help she would never get it done in time, so she asked Riley for help. He assured her that he would come down for a few hours between lectures and get on with things. This left Buffy free to spend as much time as she could at the hospital.
Sadly for Buffy, Riley never made the effort. Any free time he had, he spent with his friends - playing basketball and generally relaxing.
Luckily for Buffy, Spike's habit of stalking paid off. He had heard the girl’s request to “Captain Cardboard”, and as he watched over the next few nights he realised that nothing had been done. Knowing that his girls liked spending time in the garden he set about acquiring tools and each evening, once Buffy had gone on patrol, he set about steadily sorting out the wilderness that the garden was trying to turn into.
###
Joyce finally was discharged - at long last! Everybody hoped was that all was OK, the danger was over and that she could get her life back on track.
The day after her release, she was sitting with Buffy and Riley in the garden and commented on how neat everything was looking.
"Yes, thanks Riley," enthused Buffy. "Mom, I asked Riley to do some when he had the time to help out"
"Thanks, then, Riley. The garden looks beautiful!"
Riley sat smugly taking in the praise. As he knew that he hadn't so much as pulled up one weed, he had taken a guess as to who the Good Samaritan was. However there was no way he was going to say anything!
###
"Just to let you know I have had a really special time today - a very special Thank You present from a very special lady in the form her doing whatever I wanted - in very special ways," Riley gloated at a quiet Spike.
Spike had been sitting watching Passions on TV before getting something to eat and then heading off to his gardening project, when his least favourite person crashed through the door.
"Yes - she thinks that I have been gardening - and has rewarded me for all the hard work," Riley continued.
Sadly for Riley, Spike refused to rise to the bait – just continued to watch the TV and pretend that he was alone in the crypt.
###
Spike continued his self-imposed task. He was glad to be able to help “his ladies”. They may not realise who was doing the work and continue to thank Riley, but to Spike it was more important that the garden was cared for so that the family could have a place where they could relax.
As Spike had always spent many hours standing under “his tree”, just being close to Buffy, this gave him the opportunity to be near her, but also to help. He also realised that he was getting a huge satisfaction of seeing the garden come back to life. After a century of causing mayhem and destruction, this became a small way in which he could begin to atone for his faults. So, whether or not, the family discovered the identity of their midnight gardener, he realised that he was getting a lot of fulfillment out of the creation he was now achieving.
###
Spike hated the nights that Riley stayed over. He found it hard to concentrate on the gardening; mostly his mind was in one of the upper rooms, split between hating and envying “Captain Cardboard”. On those nights the cigarette-breaks were more frequent and Spike knew that if he had blood flow then his blood pressure would be off the scale! But still he continued to torture himself with dreams of what he knew would never occur.
The night he ended up taking Buffy to see where Riley had disappeared to brought a vast spectrum of emotions to Spike. To begin with he couldn’t believe that it was possible that anyone would willingly leave Buffy’s bed (after all he knew he wouldn’t); but then to go to a vamp whorehouse was just mind-blowing! He wanted to break up that relationship (well if she was single she may look to him); but also didn’t want to hurt her.
However he decided that the old proverbs were true – and in this case he could hear his mother saying “Truth will out!” So even though he knew his golden girl would be hurt, he decided that she had to know what was happening – for her own safety if nothing else.
###
Riley left and Buffy suffered.
She had the whole situation with Glory to help her through the heartbreak of the relationship breakdown. In her spare time she managed to spend time relaxing with her Mom and Dawn in the garden.
As the days passed, Joyce realised that her suspicions were correct - as the garden continued to prosper, even though the supposed gardener was in South America.
“The garden looks good.”
“Yes, Mom. It is a lovely place to relax in my one spare minute of the week” replied Buffy jokingly.
“Amazing how neat it still looks,” continued Joyce.
“And your point is?”
“Well, we all thanked Riley for the work, but he is now miles away. So unless he flies back to Sunnydale every day I was wondering why he is continuing to get the praise for something that he probably never did in the first place!”
“So who is it?”
“Oh, Buffy, use your head for once in your life,” butted in Dawn. “Who is the only person mad enough to work so that you will be happy?”
As no answer came, she added, “Who has the hots for you? Who follows you round?”
“Enough. I shall speak to our local resident vampire and see what he has to say. You never know he may have spotted one of Riley’s friends helping out!” Buffy mumbled as Dawn shook her head in astonishment that her sister couldn’t see what was in front of her.
###
That night Buffy headed out for patrol as normal; while Spike headed into her back yard – as normal!
Only this time Buffy doubled back on herself to approach her garden by climbing over the neighbours’ fence. As she carefully landed in front of her gardener it was hard to say who was the most surprised. Buffy knew that the chances were that it was Spike who was caring for them, but it was still a shock to see “the scourge of Europe” on his hands and knees fighting with some weeds, rather than killing the general population. Spike, on the other hand, was annoyed with himself for not keeping his “slayer-sense” on alert while he worked on his labour of love.
The silence stretched to an unbearable length, until the ever-vocal vampire spoke.
“Hi, short patrol tonight? No baddies to slay? How is your Mum doing? Is Dawn coping with school? Have you heard from …?”
“Spike. Enough!” Buffy decided it was time to interrupt this flow of questions. “I wanted to speak to you as Mom has pointed out that the garden is still looking as beautiful as ever, so the thanks that I had given Riley were wrong. So I came back tonight to thank you personally. Thank You, Spike. You have done an amazing job”
“Well I did it for you all while your Mum was ill and in all honestly I have enjoyed having the challenge of battling weeds when I can’t fight humans any more”
“That is about the poorest excuse I have ever heard, Spike. I reckon all that bleach has got to your brains at long last.”
The silence again stretched out while Spike wondered how much he could say without betraying his love for the goddess standing in front of him.
“So, are you going to tell me the truth, or not? Why aren’t you at Willy’s with other demons? You must have friends you could spend time with?” Buffy continued to push for an answer and Spike continued to keep his silence. He knew that if he wasn’t careful he would get himself evicted from her life, or even worse he would be staked.
As she stood there waiting for an answer, Buffy realised that she knew very little about his everyday life. What did he do with his 24 hours? What had Angel done when he wasn’t with her? She acknowledged that she was so used to Spike’s presence that she had never thought to question what else was in his life. While she had her family, the Scooby’s and college, what did Spike do with his day? While she was lost in thought she realised that he was trying to sneak away. Now that was something she knew about vampires. As Angel before him, Spike was adept at stealthy movement; but both reckoned without her slayer “tingles”!
“Oh no, you don’t. I am still waiting for an answer.”
“It needed to be done,” was the only answer he could manage to mumble.
Buffy got tired of waiting for him to answer. Short of punching him on the nose she didn’t know what to do, so decided to try to bait him to reply.
“Oh, Riley asked you to help him and his mates?”
At this, Spike finally lost it.
“No. NO. NO.” He yelled. “I did it because I could see that it needed doing and that you didn’t have the time for it and to look after your mum at the same time. She was ill and it was something I could do to show you how much I …” At this he petered out again.
“How much you …?” Came the gentle hint.
“How much you mean to me.” With this statement Spike was able to compromise. Not telling the girl in front of him that she was the girl of his dreams enabled him to maintain his friendly contact – he hoped at least!
At this Buffy gently took one of his wrists in her hand and resting the other hand on his cheek she lent forward to give him a gentle kiss on the opposite cheek.
“Thank you, Spike. Your help has been much appreciated during these really tough days. I will not forget that you have been there for us all. Thank you.” She paused before finishing her small speech “Would you like to come and have a cup of cocoa?”
She turned and headed back towards the house before Spike could answer, although he would have found it very hard to say anything at all. One gentle kiss and he felt that he was being led into Paradise. As he slowly followed his love across to the kitchen he realised that all the old mottos he had to learn when a kid must be true, as in this case both of them had proved that, in truth,
“Actions do speak louder than words.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks, as ever, to my great beta, Cryssie for all her help.
Disclaimer - I don't own anything ... however if Spike was for sale ... !
Disclaimer - I don't own anything ... however if Spike was for sale ... !