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“So, Spike, who was that guy?” Buffy paused before finishing; “I didn’t like him.”

Spike glanced over at Hannah, seeing that she was too busy munching on her sandwich to hear what they were talking about. “Lindsey McDonald. Married to Darla and just about as annoying as she is.” He considered telling Buffy about the work incident, but decided against it, at least for now. Instead, he changed the subject. “Wanna tell me about…?” He gestured at Hannah, hoping that Buffy would remember what they’d talked about earlier, and that she’d promised to tell him more about Liam.

Buffy hesitated, then nodded. She turned to Hannah. “Sweetie, why don’t you go and play for a while? You don’t have to finish that.” She’d expected Hannah to jump up immediately, happy to finally get to play. But the girl remained where she was.

Hannah didn’t meet her mother’s eyes when she finally answered. “Maybe later.”

Buffy frowned. “But you’ve been talking about riding the swings ever since....“ She looked over to the playground and saw two little girls, about Hannah’s age, who she vaguely recognized from her daughter’s class. Sighing, she understood why Hannah suddenly was so reluctant; those girls were friends with Kathy O’Connor.

“That’s Mary and Alyssa,” Hannah pointed out, still not looking at her mother.

“I see.” Buffy sighed again. She really wanted to talk to Spike, alone, but couldn’t exactly make the girl leave against her will. Oh well, she guessed their talk would just have to wait. “Maybe we should just go home.”

Hannah nodded, a relieved look on her face, but Spike looked from the girl to Buffy in disbelief. “Hold on, we’re not going anywhere.” He turned to Hannah. “You wanted to ride the swing, right?”

“I guess…” Hannah looked at the other girls, swallowing. “I mean, I did, but I’ve changed my mind.”

“Bollocks!” Spike rolled his eyes. “Remember what I told you about letting the other kids win? If we leave now, that’s exactly what you’re doing.” She just looked at him, a blank expression on her face. “If you wanna ride the swing, that’s what we’ll do, all right? Come on.” He got up, holding his hand out for the girl to take. Holding his breath, he almost expected her to refuse, but she finally accepted his hand and got up as well.

Buffy smiled when Spike and Hannah headed for the swings, but at the same time she felt a little stupid. She would’ve never even suggested that they’d go over there anyway; she would’ve just taken her daughter away, anything to keep her from having to face her bullies. Maybe her solution had been easier for the girl, but it sure would’ve been a coward thing to do. Spike obviously wasn’t like that; if there was a problem, he did something about it. Sometimes she wished she could be more like that.

When Spike and Hannah came over to the swings, the other girls had left. Now they were standing by the sand box, sometimes whispering and casting curious looks in Hannah’s direction. Hannah was oblivious though, laughing as Spike kept pushing the swing higher. But when he finally claimed that he needed a break, Hannah jumped off the swing without objecting. The two little girls; Mary and Alyssa, who’d been looking at them for the last ten minutes, slowly made their way over to them.

“Hi, Hannah.” One of the girls; she had long blonde hair, tied up in pigtails and blue eyes, smiled a little warily.

“Hi,” Hannah mumbled, looking down at her feet.

The other girl spoke up; she had short brown hair. “Mary and I are gonna go climb the monkey bars. Wanna play with us?”

Hannah looked up, surprised. She glanced at Spike, then looked at the girls again, as if to see if they really meant it. “I don’t know…”

“Please? It’ll be fun!” The blonde girl; Mary, gave Hannah a pleading look.

Hesitating, Hannah turned to Spike again, obviously not knowing what to do. He just shrugged. “Go play if you want, bit. Your mum and I’ll be right over there.” Considering it for a moment, Hannah finally nodded and followed the girls over to the monkey bars. Spike looked after them, then went back to Buffy, who was still sitting on the blanket they had brought with them, and sat down next to her.

She looked at him in confusion. “Why did Hannah go with those girls? And what did they say?” She’d been watching how Mary and Alyssa had walked over to them and started talking to her daughter, and now she was both worried and curious.

“Wanted Hannah to come play with them.” Spike looked over to where the three girls were now playing together, laughing, and flung his arm around Buffy’s shoulders. “And we need to talk, so I guess that works out nicely then.”

Buffy still looked confused. “But Hannah never plays with other kids from school.” Seeing that her daughter actually looked happy, she decided to let it go for now. “All right, I guess she’ll come back here if they’re not being nice to her.” To tell the truth, a part of her feared that the girls were just playing with Hannah to get a chance to tease her.

Spike pulled her closer, giving her a peck on the cheek. “I don’t think you have to worry, they seemed like they really wanted Hannah to play with them. And I seriously doubt they would be mean to her now, knowing we’re sitting right over here.”

Smiling a little, Buffy leaned into his touch. “I guess you’re right. And we do need to talk.” She took a deep breath. “I suppose this is where I start telling you about Hannah’s father.”

“Only what you want to tell me, luv. It’s up to you.” Spike gave her an assuring smile, wrapping his arms around her.

Buffy sighed, enjoying the feeling of being in his arms, it felt safe. “I told you before, it’s no secret. I met Liam when I was still in college; we hit it off right away.” She swallowed as the memories came rushing back, suddenly feeling ashamed. “Only problem was, he was engaged to my best friend.”


TBC





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