The next morning, Spike had just poured himself some coffee and was sitting at the kitchen table reading the morning paper when Billy entered the room. The boy headed straight for the fridge, ignoring Spike completely. Spike rolled his eyes. “You know, sooner or later, you’re gonna have to talk to me.”
“Why?” Billy glared at him. “S’not like you’re really gonna listen to me, anyway.”
Spike took a deep breath, not wanting to start the morning with a fight. God knew he’d had enough of that last night. “I’ll listen. Just tell me what happened last night.”
Billy got a doubtful look on his face, then shrugged. “Wasn’t my fault.” Waiting for him to continue, Spike remained silent. “Josh was the one who started it. I just...” His voice trailed off and he became quiet.
Raising a brow, Spike nodded patiently. “You punched him in the face. I already know that. What I wanna know is, why?” He paused. “He hit you first?”
“Yeah.” Billy nodded. When Spike didn’t say anything, just kept looking at him, he let out an annoyed sigh. “No. He...” He hesitated for a moment. “He said something. I got mad.”
“I see.” Spike sighed, well aware of the fact that Billy had gotten his short temper from him. “What did he say?” The boy didn’t answer, just kept his eyes stubbornly on the floor. “Fine. You’re grounded.” He frowned. “Again.”
“What?!” Billy stared at him in disbelief. “I told you; it wasn’t my fault!”
“So you say.” Spike got up from the chair and walked over to the kitchen sink with his empty cup. “But so far, all I know is that you hit that kid, just ‘cause he said something you didn’t like. And that’s not acceptable.” He paused for a moment. “You say you want me to listen to you, but you don’t really tell me anything. How the hell am I supposed to know...?”
“He said some stuff about Mum.” Billy interrupted him, angrily. “People are talking. At school. The older kids. Josh heard them, and...”
“All right, all right, I get it.” Spike let out a sigh, realizing that it had just been a matter of time before it would come to this. Opening his mouth, he was about to tell Billy that he shouldn’t let some bloody kids get to him like that, then stopped himself, knowing perfectly well that he probably would have reacted exactly the same way, had he been in the boy’s situation.
Suddenly he had to struggle against the fury welling up inside him. He and Billy had lived in Sunnydale for less than two weeks, and there were already rumors going around. Didn’t the people here have anything better to do? Maybe moving to this sleepy little town hadn’t been such a good idea after all. Maybe he had been a fool for thinking that they would ever be able to start over. Suddenly he felt very tired.
Then he froze in his tracks, realizing that it was probably just a matter of time before Buffy would hear the rumors as well, if she hadn’t already. Maybe he should have explained some things to her last night after all. Completely unaware of his father’s inner struggles, Billy watched him suspiciously, obviously having expected to get an earful. When that didn’t happen, he crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not going to school on Monday. You can’t make me.”
Snapping out of his thoughts, Spike looked at him, incredulously. “Yes, I bloody well can! Not gonna let you use some bleedin’ gossip as an excuse to get out of school. Doesn’t work that way.”
“Fine!” Glaring at him, Billy pulled up his sleeve to reveal the large, fading bruise on his arm. “Wait until this happens again, not that you’d care.”
Closing his eyes for a moment, Spike suddenly felt like an idiot for not putting two and two together sooner. “Kids at school did that to you? Who was it?”
Billy pulled the sleeve back down, not meeting his father’s eyes. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Like hell it doesn’t!” Spike snorted. “Tell me who it was; I’m gonna have a word with their parents. Anyone as much as lays a hand on you again and I’ll...”
“What?” Billy rolled his eyes. “We’ll pretend nothing happened and just move again?”
Spike was quiet for a moment. “Thought you didn’t want to stay in LA.”
The boy shrugged. “Didn’t. But at least I had friends there.”
“Could have here, too, if you’d stop running around punching them in the face!” Spike regretted his words as soon as he saw the hurt look on Billy’s face. “I’m sorry, all right? That wasn’t fair; shouldn’t have said that.”
“I hate you!” Billy rushed past his father out of the room. A moment later, Spike heard the front door slam, loudly. Sighing, he slumped back down on the chair, wondering why he always had to screw things up.
Having almost expected his father to follow, Billy didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed when he didn’t. Of course, that would only lead to more fighting and yelling, he was well aware of that, but at the moment, he was too angry to care. It was just typical, how his dad would always automatically assume the worst of him. Not that Billy really had given him a reason not to, lately, but that was not the point.
A soft ‘meow’ snapped him out of his thoughts and he looked down at the white cat, peeking out from the bushes. Not in the mood, he simply ignored her and sat down on the grass, a few feet away. But, obviously, Princess Leia had other ideas. A moment later, she had left the safety of the bushes and approached him, a little hesitantly. Billy sighed as the cat started poking at him with her little paw, trying to get his attention, all the while meowing in a demanding manner.
“Go home, will ya?” He rolled his eyes when the small animal tried to climb up in his lap, gently pushing her away. “I don’t wanna play right now. Just get out of here.” But the cat wasn’t about to give up just yet, clearly still hoping for some scratching behind the ear. When Billy refused to give in, just kept pushing her away, she suddenly hissed, obviously not pleased with such a rude treatment. Not the least bit impressed, Billy snorted. “That supposed to scare me?”
He jumped to his feet and reached for the cat, intending to pick her up and take her back to Buffy’s house, only to cry out in pain when she quickly lashed out and scratched him, having been startled by his sudden movement. Billy’s eyes widened when he saw the blood trickling down his arm, and he glared at the cat in accusation. “Why’d you do that for?! I wasn’t going to hurt you!”
Suddenly furious at the cat, not only for hurting him, but for being there in the first place, Billy reacted without thinking and picked up a small rock from the ground. Not aiming directly at the animal, just intending to scare her, he threw away the rock in the cat’s direction. Clearly startled, Princess Leia finally took the hint and ran off, heading for the bushes and quickly disappeared. The next thing Billy heard was the sound of screaming brakes, coming from the street on the other side of the hedges.
TBC