Chapter 30: Back to Basics
“Duck!” Buffy yelled at Spike before sending a stake flying through the air. He hit the ground in plenty of time to avoid the wrath of Mr. Pointy. The vampire behind him wasn’t so lucky. The sharp piece of wood clattered to the grass with a muffled thump, and Spike took the weapon in his hands. He hoisted himself off the ground and tossed it back to Buffy, who lodged it into the chest of a now-exploding vampire.
“Tough tonight, weren’t they?”
“Nothing we can’t handle.” She smiled when she saw the way hearing her say ‘we’ made his eyes sparkle. They started walking together, side by side, hand in hand. It was silent now, but Buffy knew better than to assume all was peace and quiet now.
They’d gotten home just before sunup, and the rest of the day had been spent sleeping and recovering from the road trip. It was nice to be home and in familiar territory now.
“Think your Dad’s got over the shock of you being Slayer yet?”
“Yeah, the freak out’s probably starting right about now,” she admitted. “He’s seen vampires for himself now. It’s not like he can choose not to believe it. He can’t say I’m crazy, right?”
“Come back here!” Buffy and Spike stopped at the sound of a male voice followed by a female’s frantic yell. With a glance back at each other, they took off running toward the noise. They practically flew through the cemetery, jumping over headstones in their path. But when they saw a shower of dust explode just a few yards ahead, they stopped in their tracks to find Anya lying on the ground, panting heavily while Xander stood with a stake in his hand.
“You got him. You saved my life,” Anya pointed out, as Xander helped her up. “I want you to know that I find that very sexy. We should go home now.” Xander pulled an arm around his future bride, but she stiffened. “Not another one!” And with that, a vampire barreled into the two of them, separating them and throwing them to the ground. With that, both Buffy and Spike ran in to intervene, and within moments, that vamp was dust too.
Xander saw a hand outstretch to him, and it was only after he grabbed it that he realized that hand was attached to a bleach-blonde vampire. Spike hoisted him up while Buffy tended to Anya.
“What the hell are you two doing out here?” Buffy asked, putting her stake in her coat pocket. Xander brushed himself off, and Anya opened her mouth to answer.
“We were patrolling.”
“And the question would be ‘why?’”
“When the Slayer decided to take a holiday, we figured somebody had to take over population control of the vampire world,” Xander said a little bitterly, getting a nudge in the ribs from Anya. Right. On with the making things better. “How was your trip?” Buffy eyed him cautiously.
“You actually care?”
“Sure I do,” Xander said quietly. “I mean, we are still friends, aren’t we?” Buffy and Spike glanced at each other.
“Gee, I don’t know,” Buffy thought. “You didn’t seem to keen on my relationship with Spike before my trip. In fact, you seemed pretty dead set on expressing your hatred of the situation every chance you got. What kind of friend does that?”
“I was just…making conversation.”
“Well, you can do a lot better,” Buffy replied, turning on her heel.
“Buffy,” Anya called out, “please wait.” Buffy turned again. “I know things haven’t been easy between you and Xander lately, but…but he means well. He cares about you, and…” Buffy glanced at Anya and then at Xander.
“Xander,” she began, “I don’t expect you to automatically like Spike because I’m dating him. I just expect you to show him some common courtesy and show us a little respect. This isn’t going away Xander. This isn’t some…fling that needs to be….flung.”
“You’re talking like you’re married to the guy, Buff.” Buffy looked at Spike, and Xander’s face went white.
“You married him? Oh God. That’s what your vacation was. You didn’t go to L.A. You went to Vegas and married Spike!” Buffy rolled her eyes.
“First of all, no. Second of all, how could I have married Spike? He doesn’t have any legal documents. Nobody would have married us.” She realized that her arm was now linked with Spike’s.
“You’re being awfully quiet. No witty British remark that makes absolutely no sense?”
“Actually, just thinking about how bloody stupid you sound, getting your feathers all ruffled about the Slayer, when the bird you’re supposed to marry is standing right beside you.”
“I’m not getting anything ruffled,” Xander defended. “Not anymore. Buffy’s a big girl, and she made a choice. That choice happened to be a walking corpse with bad hair, but who am I to judge, right?”
“Right. You expect me to believe you changed your mind?” Buffy asked skeptically. Xander threw up his hands.
“You know what? I’m not doing this. I’m not gonna make nice just to…”
“Xander,” Anya urged.
“I’m sorry, baby,” he offered, “but this is wrong. Yeah, he’s got a soul, and yeah, you’ve done some bad things too. But the thing is…the thing is, I didn’t see you do those things. I saw Spike rip the throats out of innocent people. He tried to kill us who knows how many times. I can’t just overlook that.” Anya sighed, shaking her head.
“Xander,” Buffy interrupted. “You’ve been one of my best friends for a long time now. I don’t know how to fix things between us, but cutting Spike out of my life…that’s not gonna happen. I love him, ok? If you can’t accept that, then I don’t know how we’re ever gonna make things right. Call me when you’ve made your decision.” Buffy tugged on Spike’s arm, and off they went, leaving Xander and Anya alone in the graveyard.
He turned to his future wife, and he saw the tears in her eyes.
“You aren’t over her, are you?”
“An…that’s crazy talk.”
“No. I don’t think it is.” She wiped a tear from her eyes and took off her engagement ring, placing it in his hand.
“I love you. I want to marry you. But, Buffy’s right. You need to grow up. I can’t marry you when clearly you still have feelings for her.”
“An, I don’t,” he insisted. “How can I prove it to you?”
“Stop acting like such ajackass. She’s dating Spike. Get over it! It’s not like you have to date the guy.” She took a deep breath. “Make things right with her before it’s too late and she decides not to forgive you.” She turned and walked off, leaving him alone with his thoughts and her ring.
***
“Uch, I’m so sick of this,” Buffy grumbled, peeling off her patrol clothes and standing in nothing but her bra and underwear in front of the bed. She put her hands on her hips and stared at Spike who was lounging on the bed. “Aren’t friends supposed to be supportive? I mean, I thought he’d get over it. I really thought he would. He must enjoy being a jackass.”
“Don’t let the wanker get to you, luv,” Spike assured her. “Or better yet, let him. I’d like a good reason to beat him to a bloody pulp.” He got off the bed and started for the door. Her arm darted out, thwacking him in the chest to prevent him from getting by.
“There’ll be no beating my friends to bloody pulps,” she warned.
“What kind of a friend is he, Buffy? I mean, really. I see the way he looks at you. There’s something there, you know? He’s got his own girl, so why can’t he leave mine the hell alone?”
“Possessive much? I mean, why don’t you just pee on me and mark your territory?” Seeing the look in his eyes, she held a hand up. “Ok. That’s enough with the putting ideas in your head.”
“We have a claim, Buffy,” Spike pointed out. “Can’t help the possessive thing.” Buffy sighed. He had a point.
“Well, what does that tell you? It tells you that we belong to each other. Right? And besides, never since I met Xander have I even remotely thought about him that way.” She frowned. “Well, there was that one time, but I was under the influence of a love spell gone way wrong.” This didn’t seem to satisfy Spike one bit. But he didn’t have time to comment, because the phone rang. After one quick ring, Dawn’s voice carried up from downstairs.
“It’s Xander!” she called. “Says it’s important!” Buffy braced herself, shot Spike a ‘behave yourself’ look, and picked up the receiver.
“What do you want, Xander?”
“Look,” he said quietly. “Can we talk? You know…in private?”
“It’s late, Xander.”
“Please? Buffy, I just want to fix things between us. Can you meet me at the Magic Box in an hour?” Buffy looked at the clock and then at Spike.
“I guess so. Yeah. I’ll be there.”
“Thanks, Buff.” With that, he hung up, and Buffy did the same.
“What’d the pillock want?”
“He wants to meet me.”
“Alright, well, let’s…”
“Alone, Spike.”
“Oh. Well,” he said quietly, “you should go then.”
“Look,” Buffy said quietly, pulling her arms around his neck. “I love you. You know that. And no matter how much of a jerk Xander is, he’s…well, he’s still my friend. We’ve been through a lot together, and I know he’s just worried about me.”
“Or wants to get into your pants.” His hand brushed against her ass. Buffy swatted it away, and Spike looked hurt.
“Aw,” she whispered against his lips, “I’ll make it up to you when I get home. Promise.”
“You better,” he said with a little chuckle, as she opened her mouth against his, inviting him inside. But, soon, the moment was over, and she was pulling away to get dressed.
“The sooner Xander and I fix this, the sooner we can move on.”
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Chapter End Notes:
Thanks for all of your feedback and support! This was just a short update. I'm still not feeling well, and I may have to go to the hospital. So, I'm not sure when I'll have another chapter posted. If I feel better later today, I'll write some more. Anyway, just leave me some feedback, because I'd love to hear what you think!