Chapter 28 - Responsibilities
Spike was used to wake up early. He usually did and he enjoyed it quite much. The earlier he woke up the more he’d get out of the day. As he woke up this very morning fairly early, he still felt that he wouldn’t mind to sleep a bit more though.
He groaned slightly as he tried to hide from the sunshine that kept hitting him in the eyes. Where is that bloody blanket when you need it… Frustrated, he put an arm over his face to keep the irritating sunshine out. That was when it hit him.
This wasn’t his bed, or his house for that matter. And was that water he heard in the background?
Frowning he lifted away his arm from his face and opened his eyes to meet a bright blue sky. Not being used to the bright light, he blinked a few times and turned his head to the side, away from the intense rays of sun.
“Bloody hell…” He mumbled. “What am I doing – “
He trailed off at the sight in front of him. On his left was Buffy, clearly in a deep sleep with a content little smile on her lips – naked. It took his brain a few moments to work everything out before his eyes widened in understanding. Right, it was her I was doing last night…
A smile kept tugging at his lips at the beautiful sight. Her hair was a mess of curls and her mouth was left slightly open as she softly breathed. Spike couldn’t help himself, he had to touch her.
Leaning on his left elbow he reached his other hand out to her hair and gently traced the soft curls. His hand went down to her face and he stroked her cheek as he admired the view. Bloody hell, she’s gorgeous.
Buffy let out a soft moan and snuggled closer to him, making Spike wrap an arm around her small form. Her eyes began to flicker and slowly she opened them, step by step getting used to the bright light. Spike smiled at her reaction, so similar to his and chuckled slightly.
Buffy almost jumped at the unexpected voice before she saw Spike’s smiling face in front of her. She let out a content sigh before lying down again. “You scared me.”
“Gee, Buffy, that’s really what a guy wants to hear the morning after,” Spike replied jokingly, trying to keep the sarcasm in his voice. Buffy smiled sheepishly.
“It’s the truth though,” she told him with a smirk, but then she became serious. “So…”
Her eyes wandered down from his soft eyes and she closed them for a moment. “So…” Spike repeated, watching her and trying to understand the different emotions running over her face. “What are you thinking?”
Slowly she opened her hazel eyes again and lifted her head a little to meet his gaze. With a smile she mumbled; “I had a good night.”
“Me too,” Spike said softly, tucking away a strand of hair from her face. He bit his lip and studied her for a few moments. “Are you okay with this?”
Her face tilted a bit. “With what?”
“This,” he said, gesturing between them. “You don’t regret what happened, do you? Please don’t…”
Buffy reached out a hand and softly put a finger to his mouth to silence him. Shaking her head with a small smile. “No,” she whispered. “Of course I don’t.”
A surprised look appeared on Spike’s face. “You don’t?”
“Did you expect me to?”
“Well, I… I don’t know, honestly. Never really gave it that much of a thought…”
“Although, I think I’ll need to sleep in my own bed tonight,” Buffy said, grimacing when she felt her back hurt. Spike waggled his eyebrows and smirked.
“Does it have to be your bed?”
“Pig,” Buffy pouted and slapped him across the chest.
“You love it,” Spike replied before realizing what he said. He froze for a moment, watching Buffy’s face mimic his own actions. Why do I always stick my foot in my mouth? I can’t tell her that now, it’s too early… I swear to god, I freaked her out…
Buffy saw how his eyes changed and he seemed to panic. She had heard the words, alright, and he knew she had heard it. It was no point in lying, but why bring it up again when he obviously was that nervous about? Buffy thought.
Much to Spike’s surprise, Buffy interrupted his thoughts by covering his mouth with hers for the first kiss that morning – or… Well, if you didn’t count the ones they shared after midnight…
The way their bodies fitted so well together made them both loose control, soon; Buffy was on her back with Spike hovering over her as he kissed his way down her chest. Buffy moaned in pleasure and threw her head back, her eyes fluttering open as she started right up into the burning sun. She smiled as she felt his kisses working magic’s on her body and closed her eyes. She could lay herr all day long, with this man beside her, the water so close and the hot sun…
Wait. Was it supposed to be this warm in the morning?
“Shit,” Buffy let out and sat up, shocking Spike with her motions.
“What?” He asked, confused. Buffy reached for her bag and rummaged through the pockets until she found was she was looking for. Quickly looking at the clock on her cell phone, her eyes widened.
“It’s almost eleven!”
Spike arched an eyebrow. “So?”
Buffy nearly rolled her eyes at that. “So… It’s eleven, and it’s a Saturday morning! People will come here soon, if they’re not already coming and they can’t find us like this because that would just be… bad and – why are you laughing at me?”
Spike couldn’t help but chuckle at her obvious worry but truth was, there was nothing to be worried about since people barley never visited this place at the beach. Most of the citizens were hanging out at the much more swim and surf – friendlier beach. At this one you had to crawl over a couple of cliffs to reach the end of it and get into the water.
But of course – Buffy didn’t know that.
“It’s okay, pet,” he said, trying hard not to laugh again. “No one’s coming here.”
Buffy glared at him. “How can you know that?”
“Because,” he started, “I came here almost every night and day after mum died. I have never met a living soul on this side except one or two times in two years Buffy.”
“Oh…” Buffy mumbled, biting her bottom lip. “Well…” She gave him a devilish grin. “So, when do you have to get back?”
“Hm.. I’d say, not for a few hours.”
“Really?” Buffy giggled. “What do you suggest we do meanwhile?”
“Oh, I have a few options…”
* * * * *
“You really mean it?”
Buffy tilted her head to the side and watched the soft expression on his face as they continued to walk. The vulnerable almost boyish face made her heart clench, Drusilla had really scarred him. Squeezing his hand tightly and knowing exactly what he was asking about, she shook her head.
“Of course I don’t regret it. You know that.”
Spike smiled at her let his eyes fall on the road in front of them as they made their way back to town a few hours later. It was a beautiful day, the warm air making the small icy breezes only nice on their heated skins.
They had decided to go and get some brunch at the Wicca since neither of them really wanted to go home to their houses. Of course they both knew that Willow would watch them and make small statements about how she and Tara got them together but they really didn’t care. Willow could have her laugh, it didn’t matter.
“So what are you going to do today?” Buffy said, feeling like she had to ask something to break the silence. She was never one for those silent walks, she was a talking person.
“Well, I do have practice later,” Spike told her, “and for the first time in years I really don’t feel like going.”
Buffy raised an eyebrow in question. “Really?”
“I don’t know why, I think it has to do with a person but I just can’t remember who…”
Buffy smiled and looked down at the ground. “I can come, you know.”
“It’s not too boring is it?” Spike asked and Buffy shook her head with a satisfied smile.
“I enjoy it. And isn’t Lily going to be there?"
“Yeah, she might. I don’t know if she’ll surf though but she’ll probably be there and watch. I talked to her yesterday and she said she was feeling a lot better.”
A frown appeared on Buffy’s face as she studied him for a short moment, disbelief written on her face. “But she’s not telling you everything, is she?”
Spike sighed and nodded, as much as he wanted everything to be okay now when her wounds almost had healed perfectly, he knew she was far from all right. When he talked to Lily on the phone he was relieved to hear that she actually sounded a lot happier than before – but after knowing her for a year, Spike knew she was hiding her true feelings of the attack.
Lily had seemed like she didn’t want to bring it up and Spike hadn’t forced it. She’d be okay, eventually, but it would take time. He just hoped Lily would be better soon, especially now when her father was going to trial in a few days.
“I’m afraid not,” Spike mumbled, glancing at Buffy who looked at him with sad eyes. “But I didn’t expect her to say anything either. She’s been through hell; she doesn’t need to be reminded of what she went through.”
“You’re probably right…”
* * * *
A few days later Spike was sitting on the couch in his apartment with Buffy in his arms, watching some lame chick flick Buffy had insisted on watching. But truth to be told, he was actually enjoying the movie quite much, of course he’d never tell Buffy that…
Buffy giggled softly at the screen and Spike couldn’t help but wrap his arms tighter around her, afraid of letting her go. It had been days since the day at the beach, days they’d spent together, sometimes even days and nights – and yet, none of them had mentioned her going home. Spike knew she still had weeks left but the thought of being here without her was just unbearable.
Running a hand through her soft hair he smiled down at her. He could think about that later – right now, they were living in the moment as Buffy had told him.
Suddenly, the sound of his cell phone woke both of them up from the calm atmosphere. Spike’s eyes wandered in the direction of the sound and let out a sigh but he didn’t make any attempt to go and get it.
Buffy lifted her head and looked up at him with raised eyebrows. “You’re not gonna get that?”
“Not if I don’t have to,” Spike replied and tried to concentrate on the movie instead. The phone soon stopped its ringing for a few moments, but it didn’t take long until it once again started to play the same tune again.
Spike let out a groan and Buffy chuckled. “I think you should get that, whoever it is obviously wants to get in touch with you.”
“You’re right,” Spike sighed and stepped up from the comfort on the couch and half ran into the kitchen were he had put his phone on the table. “Bloody hell, I’m coming…”
Picking it up, Spike frowned at the hidden ID the number on his cell was displaying before answering.
“William Giles,” he answered, just to be one the safe side and was more than surprised to hear the voice at the other end.
“Hello, mister Giles,” the woman greeted. “It’s Maggie Evans, Lily’s aunt.”
Spike’s frown deepened and he opened and closed his mouth before really getting a word out of it. “Hello, Mrs. Evans. What can I do for you?”
“I know this is probably not the right time to call you,” Maggie said and Spike noticed for the first time that she sounded pretty stressed. “Did I disturb you?”
“No, it’s fine. Is everything all right?”
Maggie let out a deep sigh and it only made Spike even more worried. “I’m afraid not.”
“What?” Spike let out.
Maggie seemed to be gathering her thoughts before answering with a low voice; “It’s about Lily.”
He’d hoped it was not about the little girl, knowing it could be nothing else the aunt wanted from him but he still didn’t want to think that anything had happened to her. Spike felt his heart beat a little faster as he swallowed.
“What about her?”
“Mr. Giles, you really have to understand that I don’t know what to do,” the aunt continued, desperately trying to make him understand her problems, to not be seen as the bad one in the show. Spike didn’t answer; he just waited for her to go on.
“Lily and her cousins have never been good friends,” she continued. “In the beginning, it went well but my children has come to me lately and complained about the girl’s staying. They think she’s taking too much of our small space since they had to move into the same room when she came here and as much as it hurt me to say this – they’re right. We live in a small apartment, William, my husband and I can’t afford a bigger house and now when Lily is living with us it’s only making our economy even worse. It’s terrible of me to say this but I’m afraid I can’t let Lily stay here with us any longer.”
Spike sighed and sat down at the table, running a hand through his hair as he let the information sink in. “What’s gonna happen with her?”
“I was thinking of calling social services,” Maggie went on with a sad voice, “but leaving Lily to another family she doesn’t know right now is just plain evil.”
“What are you saying?” Spike frowned, glancing towards the living room where Buffy was currently seated as he heard Maggie moving at the other end of the phone, clearly not wanting anyone in her home to hear her.
“I want her to stay with you for a while,” Maggie said.
Spike swore that if he had been drinking anything while hearing Maggie’s suggestion, he would’ve been spluttering it all out. Now, he was staring at a point in front of him in shock.
“William? Are you still there?”
Spike shook out of it and tried to find his voice again. “Uh, yeah… Sorry, I just… What?”
Maggie heaved a sigh. “I know that this is too much to ask of you, after all you’re her teacher and not family. But then again, I know that you’re the only person I could ask that Lily would feel safe to live with. I don’t want her to live in a foster-home after what happened to her. You know her and she’s told me a lot about you and that girl who found her and I just know you’re the right persons for it.”
“But… Buffy and I are not living together,” Spike stammered.
“I know, but it doesn’t matter. William, please. This does make me a horrible person, but I only want what’s best for my niece. I don’t want her to live with a family she doesn’t know,” Maggie pleaded and Spike rested his head in his hands.
He couldn’t believe Maggie would be asking him this, even though it warmed his heart that Lily really did feel safe with him and Buffy. But wouldn’t this make him Lily’s legal guardian? There was so much responsibility he didn’t know if he could deal with.
But on the other hand, I can’t let her live with someone she doesn’t know. Maggie is right, I can’t let her stay with some strangers.
Feeling more sure now, Spike raised his head and asked the aunt with a much securer voice; “When can I pick her up?”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Sorry that you had to wait, just didn't have a chance to update this week, it's been pretty hectic. Anyway, I hope you will enjoy this chapter and thank you all so much for reviewing!
And, I've added a new story, check it out if you got time :) It's called Everlasting Love.
And, I've added a new story, check it out if you got time :) It's called Everlasting Love.