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gain unbeta'd. I know, what can I say.
Chapter 28

By mutual consent, the subject was dropped, although Spike caught each and every heated glare good ole Hank sent his way. He wanted nothing more than to shift into game face in the wake of an attempted covert dirty look and scare the piss of the man, but self-preservation held strong.

Buffy would be right brassed at him if he gave into that evil impulse, and that is not something he wanted to experience. Ever.

He had to work hard to feign indifference as he watched Hank stomp out to his car to retrieve his overnight bag, then disappear up the stairs to take a shower as if he owned the place. Another fact which grated on Spike's tightly woven nerves.

Spike had followed Buffy into their bedroom while she put away a basket of folded laundry, throwing himself dramatically on the bed, stomach first. His demon was pissed and the acute need to introduce himself to Hank in a highly up-close and personal manner was growing stronger by the second. Especially when he saw the sad, distracted manner in which Buffy was behaving.

Nobody made his family sad. Especially not the supposed head of said family.

Finally, he couldn't keep his mouth shut any longer.

"Tell me again why I can't eat your dad?"

Buffy stopped mid-stride and looked at him, rolling her eyes at the absurdity of the question. "Because you can't, that's why."

"Nope," Spike pretended to think, "don't think that answer is going to cut it."

"Because we're just not going there, ok?" Buffy informed him pointedly.

"Why not?" Spike allowed his lower lip to settle in a pout, a look he'd adopted from Blake once he saw how highly effective it was.

"Because we're just not," Buffy replied primly, not able to keep her lips from twitching when Spike threw himself over onto his back dramatically. "Trust me, Spike. My dad and all this Hell-mouthy stuff? So very unmixy. If we're lucky, he'll just leave and we won't have to see him again for a very long time. Because trying to tell him that you're a vampire and Blake is the product of a conception that should never have taken place?" She shuddered at the thought of that conversation.

Spike just grunted benignly, keeping his eyes closed. He heard a car pull up into the driveway and sat up. "Your mum is home."

"She is?" Buffy looked confused. "I thought you said she was working all day today."

"S'what she said." Spike got up and went to open the bedroom door, trying to keep from gnashing his teeth when Hank chose that moment to exit the bathroom.

"Well, well. All nice and puke-free, I see," Spike announced irreverently, his lip curling back slightly into a sneer.

Hank chose to shoot a dirty look that wasn't aimed behind his back this time, and Spike answered it with a smirk.

"Spike!" Buffy hissed from inside the room and he turned his head in her direction. "Knock it off," Buffy informed him, pointing an accusatory finger at him.

Before Spike could reply, the front door slammed open and the sound of determined heels was heard marching across the threshold.


"Spike!!! Get down here!"

"Oops, I do believe I'm in trouble," Spike announced with mock exaggeration, snickering when Buffy rolled her eyes at him. When Joyce's voice once more called his name, Spike hustled down the stairs to greet her.

"Bloody hell, Joyce. Think maybe you could call for me a little louder? The boy is only trying to sleep and all," he greeted her with as he reached the bottom.

Joyce whirled on him. "You? You are in some serious trouble, do you know that?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Spike asked, his face the very picture of innocence.

Joyce smacked him with the papers she had gripped in her hand. "This is what you did," she accused, waving them in his face.

"What did he do, mom?" Buffy asked, poised at the top of the stairs as she watched her mom smack Spike around.

Joyce whirled in Buffy's direction, gesturing wildly with the papers in her hand. "This is what he did. He paid off the mortgage on the house," she announced to Buffy in an outraged tone, still unaware that her ex-husband was in the house.

"And that's bad.....why?" Buffy finally asked, not sure what was with her mom's major freakage and Spike's generous gesture.

"It's bad because....," she paused momentarily to think up a good reason, "well, because it just is! You don't just go around paying off people's mortgages, that's why!"

"You paid off the house?" Buffy asked Spike with confusion, peering down at the obvious discomfiture that plagued her vampire lover.

Spike shrugged uncomfortably. "Well, yeah. I live here, don't I?"

"You're so sweet," Buffy teased, knowing how much Spike disliked recognition for his good deeds.

Spike merely glared into his girl's laughing face before scowling at the looming presence of Hank behind her shoulder. "What are you staring at, you git?"

It was then that Joyce noticed Hank at the top of the stairs behind Buffy. "Hank?"

He stepped forward and leisurely descended the stairs, briefly offering his ex-wife a quick embrace. "You're looking good, Joyce."

Her face had hardened into a questioning mask and Hank could feel her disapproval practically sizzle through the air.

"I came for Buffy's graduation," he informed her quickly.

"Without letting us know first," Buffy added unnecessarily.

Hank had the nerve to look abashed. "I just wanted to surprise Buffy. I thought just dropping in would be the best way to handle it. Apparently, I thought wrong."

"Apparently," Joyce commented, giving her ex a sharp look before redirecting a quizzical gaze to her daughter, just realizing that she wasn't supposed to be home either. "Buffy, why aren't you in school?"

"Blake's sick. Giles sent a note to me in class after Spike called him, so I came home." Buffy turned to Spike, her eyes widening with sudden realization. "Wait, you called GILES?"

"Well, yeah. You were in class, Joyce had just left for the Gallery. Who else was I supposed to call?"

"Is Blake all right?" Joyce asked concerned.

"Yeah, I think so. He's sleeping right now. He threw up all over dad though. I didn't see it happen, but I saw the not so lovely results."

"Well. Sorry I missed that sight," Joyce commented before breezing into the kitchen, Hank hot on her heels. She turned around sharply and gave Spike one more accusatory look. "And don't think we've finished this little discussion either, Spike."

"Yes, mum."

*****

Once in the kitchen, Hank couldn't help but ask, "So you know about this?"

Joyce threw him a cool, accessing look. "All of what?"

Hank gestured wildly into the living room. "That! That little punk that hurt our daughter and got her pregnant!"

At the accusation that heavily tinged his voice, Joyce bristled. "You have no idea what has gone on here, Hank. Why? Because you weren't here, were you?"

When she saw the look of guilt enter his eyes, Joyce refused to relent. "No, you weren't. You chose to deal with it by turning your back on your daughter and grandson. It's been a YEAR, Hank. Sending late birthday cards just doesn't cut it, I'm sorry. So don't you come in here and use that tone on me, understand?"

"But he lives here. YOU didn't see Buffy that night. She was panic stricken, scared out of her mind. He DID something to her that traumatized her so badly, she could hardly even talk. And yet? Here he is, living in this house." He shook his head. "I'm just having trouble understanding this."

Joyce crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the kitchen island, the burden of clueing in her typically clueless ex-husband weighing her down. She thought about how she should proceed before realizing it wasn't her explanation to tell. "I can't talk about this... I just can't."

Hank looked at her with barely concealed contempt. "Well, nice to see that some things haven't changed, Joyce. You've always been so good at denying when there is a problem. THIS is a problem. I can't believe you can't see that. I mean... you've got our daughter's rapist freeloading off of you and your response? 'I can't talk about it'" Hank began to pace the length of the kitchen.

"He's not freeloading," Joyce informed him in a steely voice.

"Oh. Sorry. Right. He just paid off the mortgage, didn't he? Probably money made doing god knows what. Drugs. Robbery. Why stop at rape when there are so many other lucrative crimes?"

"Hank, just stop."

"No. I don't think I will. And do you know why? Because this is disturbing. I can see Buffy getting lulled into believing that she is in love with the father with her child-she's young and impressionable, but you?" Hank shook his head in disgust. "You should know better. You're her mother, for christssake. You are supposed to be setting an example."

"You'd be wise to bloody well shut your gob right about now," a low and quietly lethal voice spoke from the doorway.

Both heads swiveled around in that direction, neither having been aware of Spike's presence.

Hank took a step in his direction belligerently. "Well, aren't you just the chivalrous one. What did you do....brown nose your way into Joyce's good graces?"

Before Hank could process a hint of movement, he found himself slammed back against the refrigerator, kitchen magnets dropping off to litter at his feet. An unrelenting arm across his chest had him pinned; just shy of being painful.

"Apologize, you git," Spike snarled.

"Spike," Joyce commanded quietly. "Let him go."

With an annoyed look in Joyce's direction, Spike fought back his urge to rip Hank's head off and released him, but refused to move out of Hank's personal space.

His lip curled up into a sneer when Hank drew himself up to his full height in a failed attempt to intimidate the shorter man.

"Joyce, could you call your boy off, please?" Hank finally ground out rudely.

And suddenly found his breath caught in his throat when the turbulent blue of Spike's eyes bled into an angry amber.

tbc.

Many thanks to tam,karbear, vicki, dawn, reciprocity, elanor, buffyandspikeforever, brat, ariel dawn, gypsy-jin, crystal pegasus, franchesca, anne, buffyrat, jessica, lucy, txjmfan, cordykitten, kimber, jessi and sarah g for the fabulous reviews!

Please don't hesitate to keep them coming, I'm kind of unsure how this is going so any imput would be helpful!!





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