Spike stared at the closed door, suddenly feeling like the biggest jerk in the world. Obviously he’d been wrong, and now Buffy was mad at him for not trusting her. Sighing, he walked over to the door and knocked, softly. “Buffy?” No response. He tried again. “Buffy? I’m coming in, luv.” Still nothing. Oh well, this was his apartment after all; he had the right to go into his own bedroom if he wanted to.
Taking a deep breath, he finally opened the door. Buffy was sitting on the bed, looking miserable. She looked up when he entered the room, and he could see that she’d been crying. He wanted nothing more than to just rush over there and take her in his arms, but for some reason, he was afraid to approach her. So he remained where he was, keeping his eyes on the floor. “I’m sorry, pet.”
Buffy sighed, wiping away some tears that had escaped down her cheek. “I know. It’s just…” She bit her lip. “Spike, this is not going to work.” Seeing the look of fear on his face, she immediately regretted her choice of words. “Wait, I didn’t mean it like that. We need to talk, okay? Come here?” She gestured for him to come over to the bed.
Spike hesitated for a moment before nodding and went to sit down next to her. Buffy opened her mouth to speak, but he beat her to it. “Buffy, I’m so sorry. I do trust you, really, I do. Just don’t leave me, please. I…” His desperate ramblings were interrupted by Buffy, who leaned over and kissed him, softly, on the lips. When she pulled back, he looked at her in surprise. “You’re not mad at me?”
Buffy gave him a stern look. “I didn’t say that. I just figured that was the only way to shut you up. Now, are you going to listen to me or not?” He nodded, much to her relief. “Good. Okay, when I said this wouldn’t work, I meant you freaking out on me without even listening to what I have to say. I don’t want this relationship to end any more than you do, okay?”
Spike looked relieved, but remained silent. Buffy went on; “I understand you got worried, I really do, but you have to believe me when I’m saying this: I’m. Not. Going. Anywhere.”
He glanced down at his hands, ashamed. “I believe you. Look, Buffy, I know I have some issues that I need to work on, and I will, I promise. Just have patience with me. Please?”
Buffy sighed, not able to keep being upset with him. In a way, she couldn’t really blame him for reacting like he had. “Of course I will.” She reached out for him, and he immediately pulled her into his arms.
They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, then Spike reluctantly pulled back a little. “Wanna tell me ‘bout Riley now, pet?”
She let out a groan. “Ugh, Riley! Right. You mean what happened today, or do you want the whole story?” She really didn’t want to talk about Riley at all, but also knew that she would have to tell Spike sooner or later, anyway. Might as well get it over with, she thought.
“Why don’t you start from the beginning, luv? Just don’t…” He hesitated a little, grimacing. “Let’s just say you don’t have to be too specific with the details, yeah?”
Buffy smiled a little. “I won’t. Okay, here we go...” She took a deep breath, and started telling him everything. How she had first met Riley in the school library when she was a junior in high school and he was a senior. She’d accidentally knocked a pile of books down from the top shelf and they had hit Riley on the head. Buffy had been horrified, stuttering apologies, but much to her relief, Riley hadn’t been angry with her. They had started talking after that and he’d ended up asking her out.
Everything had been great at first, and Buffy had been extremely happy for almost two years. But then things had started to change. Suddenly Riley started to spend more and more time at work, or at least that’s what he’d told her, anyway. She never suspected that he might be seeing someone else as well, though.
Strange women started calling every now and then, asking for Riley, and when Buffy had questioned him about it, he’d always claimed it to be work-related. Now she cringed at how gullible she’d been, but back then, she’d just accepted all of his lame explanations. Or maybe she just didn’t want to see the truth, because that would’ve meant admitting that her loving boyfriend wasn’t so nice after all.
Instead of leaving him, like she now wished she would have done, she’d just tried harder and harder to be the perfect girlfriend, hoping that it would make Riley change and spend more time with her. He hadn’t, though. Instead he started going out a lot, late at night. Sometimes he didn’t come back until the next day.
One day when Buffy had gone home to visit her mother, she had found her lifeless body on the couch. It took a couple of days before she realized that her mother was really gone. When she finally fell apart, Riley had been wonderful, comforting her and telling her that everything would be okay. And Buffy had believed him.
Then, two days after promising that he’d be there for her whenever she needed him, Riley had dumped her. He’d told her that his feelings for her had changed, but he hoped that they could still be friends. In a state of shock, Buffy had left the apartment without a word. He’d called her a couple of times after that, telling her that he was sorry and that he still cared about her.
A week later, Riley had called again and asked her to meet up with him, telling her that he wanted to see her. Buffy had simply refused, and that was when she made up her mind about leaving town.
Spike had been quiet the whole time she’d been talking, but when he realized she was done, he reached out and gently wiped away her tears. “I’m sorry, luv.”
Buffy gave him a shaky smile before burying her face against his chest. “Can we just stay like this forever?”
Chuckling a little, Spike gently kissed the top of her head. “Love to, pet. But I’m afraid we’ll have to get up eventually.” She pulled back, pouting a little, then couldn’t help but giggle as he started nibbling at her bottom lip. “Look at that lip, gonna get it!” Then he became serious again. “Buffy, about today…”
Buffy groaned. “Oh God, I can’t believe I forgot. The nerve of that asshole!”
Spike gave her a concerned look. “What happened? Buffy, what did he do?”
Feeling anger welling up inside her again as she remembered the conversation with Riley, Buffy got up and started pacing back and forth in the room. “Spike, I’m so mad at him! No, wait, mad’s not enough. Try furious. The jerk actually had someone checking up on you, can you believe it?”
Spike frowned, about to say something, but Buffy went on; “I guess he couldn’t find anything, so he came up with this awful lie... He said that you’ve been reported to the police, for… for rape.” There, she’d said it. She held her breath, waiting for his reaction.
Spike froze in his tracks, swallowing hard. “Buffy, I…”
Buffy hurried over to him, taking both his hands in hers. “Don’t worry; I know it’s not true. I know you would never do something so horrible.”
“Buffy…”
Too upset to stop and listen to him, Buffy started pacing again. “I got so angry, I just left. He was all ‘I can prove it…’ but of course I wouldn’t listen. Of all the nerve…”
“Buffy!” Spike grabbed her arms to stop her.
Buffy stopped rambling and gave him a confused look. “What?”
Taking a deep breath, he looked her straight in the eyes. “It’s true.”
TBC