“Liam!” He jumped at the sound of her voice before casting a nervous look her way. Obviously deciding to ignore her, he just kept walking. Furiously, Buffy hurried after him, refusing to let him get away. “Hey! Don’t you dare walk away from me!”
He stopped then, sighing as she came closer. “What do you want?”
Buffy glared at him. “If you think for one second that I’m following you because I want to, you better think again. I wanna know what just happened between you and Spike.”
Angel rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you just ask him? I’m sure he’d be happy to tell you.” About to snap at him, Buffy suddenly noticed the now dried blood on his face, and her eyes widened. Angel let out a bitter laugh. “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.”
“I wasn’t asking.” Buffy crossed her arms over her chest. “I wanna know what the hell…”
“Angel! Where have you been?!” Cordelia came up behind them, Kathy clinging to her hand. She looked upset. “We had an appointment with the principal, thanks a lot for letting me deal with that all by myself!” Then she glared at Buffy. “And why the hell are you talking to her?!” She turned back to Angel, and let out a gasp. “Oh my God, you’re bleeding, what happened?”
Angel ignored her question. “Let’s just get out of here.”
“Wait!” Buffy turned to Kathy, kneeling down next to the girl. “Kathy, I know you haven’t been very nice to Hannah. That has to stop.” She was about go on, but was interrupted by Cordelia.
“How dare you accuse…?!”
“Cordy.” Angel gave his wife a warning look before turning to his daughter. “You’ll be good from now on, right Kathryn?” The girl stared at her father in disbelief, then turned her eyes away. Finally, she nodded. Angel smiled at her, but his smile faltered when he looked at Buffy. “See? It won’t happen again, are you happy now?”
Buffy was stunned, but managed to mumble a response. Cordelia stared at her husband, mouth open. “Angel, what…?”
“We’re leaving.” With that, Angel spun around and headed toward his car, not bothering to look at Buffy again, nor did he turn around to see if his wife and daughter would follow. Cordelia glared at Buffy for a brief moment, then grabbed Kathy by the hand and hurried after Angel.
Less than an hour later, Buffy had dropped Hannah off at Willow’s, and was now standing outside Spike’s apartment, taking a deep breath before knocking on the door. For a second, she feared that he wouldn’t be home, but let out the breath she’d been holding when the door swung open. Spike looked surprised to see her. “Buffy? What are you doing here?” Seeing the hurt look on her face, he hurried to apologize. “Sorry, luv, didn’t mean for it to sound like I’m not happy to see you. But I thought you were going to call me tonight.”
“Yeah, well…” Buffy hesitated. “Do you mind if I…?”
“Oh, sorry.” He took a step back, gesturing for her to come in.
She gave him a grateful smile before entering the apartment. Once inside, her eyes wandered quickly over his face and body, checking for any sign that Angel had managed to do some damage to him. “Are you okay?”
He gave her a surprised look. “Sure. Why?”
“I…” Buffy sighed. “I ran into Liam... Angel. He looked a little…” She swallowed. “Cordy said… Why didn’t you tell me you knew him?” She followed Spike over to the couch and sat down.
“Didn’t know it was him.” Spike shrugged. “Don’t worry; I’m pretty sure he won’t bother you again.”
“What do you mean?” Buffy glanced at him a little warily. “Look, it’s not like I’m defending him or anything, but…” She paused, not sure of how to go on. “Did you really have to hit him? What if he’ll… I don’t know, call the police or something. I thought I told you to act civil; besides, I can take care of myself. I don’t need you to go all caveman on me. And what if Hannah had seen you? You can’t just go around and hit people whenever…”
Spike interrupted her, starting to get annoyed. “Wasn’t like that. If you’d just let me explain, instead of…”
“What happened, then? Did he hit you first?” Buffy crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for him to speak.
He sighed, rolling his eyes. “No. But…”
“So, you started it? That’s really great, Spike, now what?” Buffy threw her hands in the air, jumped up and started pacing the room. Then she stopped, glaring at him. “Is that the way you’re usually solving the problems, with your fists? Dammit, Spike, I needed you to support me, I never asked you to…”
He let out a frustrated sigh. “You think I’d just walk up to a guy and punch him in the face, unprovoked? Then you don’t know me at all.”
Buffy looked taken aback. “All right, tell me what happened.”
Spike snorted. “Right, now you wanna hear my side of the story? What’s the bloody point? You’ve already decided that I’m the bad guy here.” Buffy opened her mouth to object, but he ignored her and went on; “Yeah, I know Angel, we go way back. Used to shag Dru behind my back, and was probably the one who got her pregnant. God knows he got to fuck her more than I did.” He let out a bitter laugh. “Day she died? He was there. Saw what happened, and then took off, left her on the fucking road to die.”
Buffy stared at him in shock, and her face softened. “Oh, God, I had no idea…”
He glared at her. “Cause you didn’t want to listen to me. You actually think I’d start fighting a guy for no other reason than because he happens to be your ex? Sorry to disappoint you, pet, not everything’s about you.”
She looked hurt. “That wasn't fair.”
“Yeah? Neither is accusing me of things before knowing the whole story.” Spike walked over to the front door and opened it, giving her a cold look. “Think you should go now.”
Buffy stared at him in disbelief. “What?! You can’t just… We have to talk about this!”
“Really don’t feel like talking right now.” What he did feel like doing at the moment was getting drunk, but he didn’t have to tell her that. He gestured for her to get out. “Just go.” She looked at him, a miserable expression on her face, silently begging him to let her stay. But he looked away, knowing that if he didn’t, he’d give in, and he wanted to stay angry at her. Finally, she seemed to realize that he wasn’t going to change his mind, sighed, and left the apartment without looking back. He closed the door behind her, and headed for the liquor cabinet.
TBC