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This chapter contains some threats of non consensual sex

Chapter 14

Buffy entered the Bronze with the subtle feeling of apprehension, like something vitally important was missing, but she worked hard to shrug it off so that she could offer a happy front to her friends. Because she did know what they had accused her of, she had been the major Miss. Avoido Girl lately, and she knew it. She quickly caught sight of Willow waving her down from their "usual" table. The Bronze was crowded, as it usually was on a weekend night, and the influx of people just added to her unease.

Willow got up and hugged her friend, and a flood of guilt went through Buffy at the obvious excitement her being here was causing her friend. And she realized in one big swoop just how much she had really missed Willow, and she returned the hug with a genuine smile on her face. Xander stood up to offer his own hug, and the hug she offered him was a pale mockery of the one she had just given Willow, but found herself happy to see him also. At least away from school and what that usually represented. She suddenly realized in a moment of blinding clarity as she stood looking into their excited faces how much both of them really had been there for her the last few years. They'd dealt with her slayer stuff without blinking an eye, then there had been Blake. She hadn't really given much thought to how weird that must have been for them, suddenly having a best friend with a baby, but they'd been nothing but supportive. Buffy found herself desperately wanting that easy friendship back.

They all sat down and Xander went to go get drinks. Buffy turned to Willow and said , "Willow, thank you for making me come tonight. I'm really sorry I've been all avoidy and everything."

Willow smiled happily. "No problem, Buffy! How come Spike didn't come?"

Buffy looked surprised. "You were expecting him to come?"

"Hello, he's just, uh, I don't know, your boyfriend now, isn't he?"

Buffy snorted at that comment. "Yeah, I guess you could call him that."

"So how come he didn't come?" Willow asked, then a paranoid look came over her face. "It's me, isn't it? He doesn't like me, that why, isn't it?"

Buffy shook her head. "No, Wills, nothing like that. He's watching Blake tonight."

"But I thought your mom was home now?" Willow asked, confused.

"Yeah, she is home now. But Spike noticed that she looked tired, so he stayed home to watch him."

Willow looked pensive. "Oh. Well, that was nice of him."

Buffy gave her friend a wry smile. "Yeah, he's like that a lot."

"So, uh.. you two are good?"

A small grin stole over Buffy's face. "Oh, we're WAY good, Wills."

"Good. I'm glad. Cos I was you know, kind of worrying, with him being a vampire and all. I read some of Giles books, the Spike on those pages doesn't seem like the Spike who's been taking care of Blake and stuff."

"Yeah, I get that. I think he's even shocking himself these days. But I'm trusting him more and more. I mean, he hasn't even bitten me again."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Willow joked.

Buffy chose not to reply rather than risk shocking her friend, admitting to her that sometimes she wanted him to do it, to mark her again, to feel that connection between them again. But she kept her mouth shut, barely keeping the secretive smile from playing across her face.

Xander returned with their beverages, and conversation started a bit on the stilted side, but gradually progressed to their usual banter and friendliness. Buffy still feel like something was missing, but she found herself having a good time with her friends.

Oz's band finally started up, halting the ability to carry on a normal conversation due to extreme volume issues. Willow and Buffy hit the dance floor again leaving Xander to watch the table and drinks, and Buffy's sense of deja vu grew stronger, thinking back to the night Spike came back into her life. Willow must have sensed her thoughts because she commented loudly in her ear, "Seems kinda weird how the last time you were here turned out, huh?"

"Oh my god, I was JUST thinking that. We're talking way weird."

Buffy enjoyed watching Willow make googly eyes at Oz up on stage, they were really a cute couple. She found her thoughts wandering to ideas of double dates, then snorted. Please. William the Bloody going on a double date with a bunch of high school kids? But then realized that it wasn't as crazy as it sounded, Spike really seemed to be trying to integrate himself into her life, so maybe he would be receptive. Maybe Buffy had been a bit selfish, keeping him away from the part of her life that included her friends, her Watcher, training. She made a sudden decision to feel him out and see if he wanted to be included in that part of her life.

Buffy was so caught up in the music and her thoughts that she didn't see the Scott, a jock from her high school slide up next to her. Her slayer sense would have screamed at his close proximity, but his being human kept him off of her radar, but still Buffy was cursing her sense of personal space for not alerting her that he was so close. He had the reputation for thinking himself God's gift and Buffy just tended to ignore him. At her old school in her old life, Scott probably would have been one of her best friends, if not her boyfriend. But here in Sunnydale? Things were way different.

"Let's dance."

Buffy looked at him and smiled, but shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, I'm dancing with my friend."

She saw the hard look cross his face and spared a glance over to Willow, who was watching with a curious look on her face. Buffy looked back at Scott, who she had hardly ever talked to before and saw the hard look turn into what he thought probably passed for smooth charm. The band took a break at that moment, and the speakers filled the club with a rocking beat.

"Come on, Buffy, just one dance." He cajoled. Physically, he had her by at least a foot and about 100 pounds, but Buffy knew a little something he didn't know, and that little edge gave her attitude.

"Sorry Skip. I'm really don't want to dance with anyone."

His face darkened with anger. "It's Scott." He ground out.

"Oops, my bad." Grabbing Willow's arm, Buffy started to lead her friend off the dance floor, dancing suddenly having lost its appeal.

Xander saw the exchange and stood up, seeing his friends heading off the dance floor and the tight rigid posture of the meathead football player. Then he remember his friend had superhuman strength, so he just waited for them to come back to the table to see what happened. Yep, the Buffsters could take care of herself, he thought with anticipation, hoping he would get to see her knock Scott on his ass. He had been tormented by the jock since preschool, and a little bit retribution would be of the good here.

Buffy forced her way through the throngs of people in her haste to get back to the table, her sense of not wanting to be here had slammed back in her with alarming force. Just as she was reaching the table, she felt a hand grab her arm, and she swung herself around and glared at the offender.

"Let go of my arm." She announced coldly.

"What's your problem? All I did was ask you to dance." The football star asked, his friends coming up to flank him. Xander's sense of apprehension just blasted right off the scale at that sight. Scott plus friends equals bad.

Buffy crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at him. "Yeah, and I remember saying no."

"You don't have to be such a bitch about it."

Suddenly, Buffy just wanted to get this over so she could cut out on her friends and get home to her family. Relaxing her stance, she managed an apologetic look on her face and said, "Look, I'm sorry, ok? Just not in the mood."

One of Scott's friends laughed nastily. "Yeah, well, guess you should have used that line a few years ago, huh? Maybe then you wouldn't have found yourself knocked up." His friends burst out into hysterical laughter at that comment, and they all high fived the idiot who said it.

Buffy's temper flared, they so went over the line with that little statement, and she had to bite back the urge to retaliate in a highly physical manner. God, high school boys were so stupid, she thought, as she looked at the group of howling meatheads around her. They had no idea.. This right here represented some of the most popular boys in school, and they just made her sick.

She turned to Willow and Xander while the self congratulations was underway and told them quietly she was leaving. They nodded with understanding, Willow obviously upset that the evening had ended the way it did. Buffy gave her a hug and told her to come over the next day. Willow looked at her in surprise, then smiled happily and nodded. With a quick wave, she turned around and headed out. She didn't look to see if her exit was noticed, because she just didn't care. As she stepped out of the Bronze and began walking down the street, she tried to imagine what her reaction would have been to being asked to dance by one of the most popular guys at school before Spike showed up. And she came to the conclusion that she still would have said no, but she would have been flattered by the attention. Ugh, she thought. How lame is that?

She was halfway home when she got that tingling in the back of her neck that signaled vampire. Getting a firmer grip on the stake she held in her hand, she allowed her eyes to search the area. She was in a part of Sunnydale that while busy during the day, was pretty much deserted at night. Not that it really bothered her, being the Slayer and all, but she'd still be happy to get home.

Suddenly she heard giggling coming from an alley and whispered hushes and she knew who it was. What idiots, following her from the Bronze. Walking purposefully, she stepped into the dark alley, rolling her eyes at how cliché this was. She tucked the stake she was carrying into her pocket where she still had easy access to it. The moon cast distorted shadows all throughout the length of the alley, and when she heard more muted hysteria, she realized that they were drunk. Great. Just what she needed. Drunk jocks. But she was curious to see how far they would go, and she was willing to teach them a lesson they would not soon forget. And hopefully the next time a girl said no to one of them, they would remember the lesson she was about to impart, and back away respectfully. Like they should have done tonight, Buffy thought bitterly. Instead of making snide comments about me getting pregnant. Pregnant with the best thing that ever happened to me, she added.

When she had just walked past an overflowing dumpster, she allowed herself to act surprised when a pair of beefy arms reached out and grabbed her.

"What are you doing?" She asked, allowing just a small hint of fear to be heard in her voice.

"Just want to talk." Scott said, grinning at his five friends.

"Did you follow me?"

"Maybe."

"I'm going home, so please just let go of my arm."

"Oh, I don't think so."

"Excuse me?" Buffy tried the haughty act to get the ball rolling.

"You heard me." Scott sneered, holding onto her arm tight enough to leave bruising. The knowledge that she could have him on his ass in seconds was comforting.

"So..what? What are you going to do? Oh my god, you think you're going to rape me?" She asked in disbelief. "I do believe that is against the law, you know, and will result in getting your stupid asses kicked off the football team."

"Now hold on, don't need to call it rape. Let's just think of it is as you giving up the same thing you've obviously already given to some other guy and we'll have a real nice time." Scott said in a leering way. It didn't even penetrate his drunken haze that Buffy showed no fear.

"Uh. let me think a minute, .. uh, no." Buffy announced.

"Well see, that's where we were hoping you'd be a little bit more cooperative."

"My god, where did you get these lines? Raping for Dummies?"

Scott's face turned red and his grip tightened. Throwing her up against the wall, he leaned against her hard and snarled, "Listen bitch, we're just going to take what you've already given away before. So you can either shut up and enjoy it, or fight and make it a lot harder on yourself. It's your choice."

Buffy nearly gagged at the smell of liquor on Scott's breath, and her vampire radar was stronger now. "My choice? I choose to go home."

"Sorry, that's not one of the options, bitch."

From behind the group, a voice asked "Did you just call my girl a bitch?"

Scott whipped around to see a man decked out in black with blonde hair that seemed to shine white. He had a dangerous look to him, but size wise he wasn't too impressive. With his five jock friends standing there, Scott was feeling pretty confident and not at all threatened.

"I asked you a question, boy." The man reached into his coat and pulled out a pack of smokes, putting one to his lips and with a flick of his lighter, inhaled the newly lit cigarette deeply before returning his penetrating gaze on the boy who held Buffy.

With a sneer, Scott tossed Buffy to the side, causing her to stumble at the unexpected maneuver. He missed the smirk she wore on her face. Scott strode up to the stranger and demanded, "What business is it of yours?"

"Oh, it's my business." Spike said calmly, locking eyes on Buffy, assuring himself that she was all right. She gave him a tiny nod and they communicated without words. He closed the distance to Scott, not seeming to be affected by the substantial height difference as he looked up into the idiot's face.

"So, what? You're going to beat us up for talking with your girlfriend?" Scott asked in amusement, looking around at his snickering friends.

"Nope." Spike said, dropping his cigarette to the ground and smashing it with the toe of his battered combat boot. He looked back up, a smirk drawing over his face. As Scott stood there trying to figure out what was up, Spike allowed his face to change. "I'm going to kill you."

Scott stared in mute horror at the monster that now stood in front of him, and quickly backed up to get away. Right into Buffy.

"Oh, who's the big man now, huh?" She mocked, giving him a hard shove which sent him to the ground. Buffy walked over next to Spike, pressing herself into his side as his arm snaked around her waist.

"Nice friends you have there, luv." Spike remarked in a rough voice, his amber eyes peering intently at her.

Buffy leaned up and pressed a careful kiss to his lips, avoiding his fangs. "Aren't they though?" She looked back at the teen frozen on the ground and at the boys standing in mute terror next to him. "So... why don't you boys tell my guy here some of the lovely things you were spouting at me?"

When that was met with a terrified silence, Buffy rolled her eyes. "Come on, you guys were so quick with the wit earlier."

"What... what is he?" one of them ventured to ask.

"Vampire." Buffy announced smugly. She knew she shouldn't be enjoying this, but well, she just couldn't help herself.

tbc..





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