Chapter Ten: New Beginnings
Willow, Xander, Tara, Anya and Giles each stepped into the Summers’ household, their mindless chatter stopping cold when the sight in the living room met their eyes.
Dawn. Clem. Spike. Buffy. Playing Halo. On a fucking X-Box 360.
What. The. *Fuck*.
They watched as the two couples- two?! -bantered shamelessly throughout their game play, expressions of silly joy on their faces as they virtually battled each other.
“You’re so going down!” Buffy giggled as her fingers struggled to keep up with the game’s fast pace. It was curious that she, the Slayer, could never seem to win a damn video game. Up until last night, life had been too much of a game and she was surprised she didn’t know how to play them all now. Hers was possibly the hardest; surely the creators of Halo didn’t think they could defeat her in that sense?
Spike laughed, elbowing her in the ribs and causing her to lose her focus as she was then hit mercilessly by Dawn, who cheered loudly at her defeat. Her dead, virtual character’s blood filled the screen and she growled at Spike with a playful grin on her face.
“Jerk,” she said affectionately.
“Don’t you know it.” He winked at her momentarily, before returning his attention back to the game.
“Gross!” Dawn teased them.
Clem laughed with her. “I think they’re trying to get even from what happened yesterday.”
Blushing bright red, Dawn fixed her eyes on the TV as she continued to dominate the winner’s spot for the game, determined to not let Spike or Clem win.
It was then that Buffy noticed they had an audience. A few days ago, Spike would have heavily doubted if Buffy would defend him as she said she would but now, he had absolutely none. Not after the events of last night.
Buffy stood up and Spike, Clem and Dawn followed suit hesitantly. The four faced off against the other three outsiders with cold stares, with the exception of Tara and Anya who had quietly backed away from their respective partners, onto the sidelines where safety was relatively guaranteed.
“Oh. You guys are here,” Buffy said, willing herself to sound as bored and dull as she possibly could.
Her three friends blinked. Then Xander spoke, which was never a good thing. “What the heck are you doing, Buffster?” he asked, his voice low with deadly intent as they glued themselves nastily on Buffy.
Buffy flipped her hair over her shoulder and exposed the claim mark haughtily. Her friends’ jaws dropped. “I feel I have better things to do nowadays. Like claims during sex.” She grinned. “*Great* orgasms!” She winked teasingly at Anya who grinned back encouragingly. Well, at least she knew where *they* stood in this fight.
Xander’s jaw dropped, Willow turned as red as her ugly colored hair and Giles simply gaped.
“You should add that to your textbooks, Giles,” Buffy suggested, her obvious casualness of the situation enraging the four.
“She must be under a thrall,” Willow muttered, turning to Giles for confirmation. He nodded agreeably and stared at Buffy with fearful eyes, his eyes occasionally straying to the marks on her neck.
Then Buffy stopped them cold with the deadly killer voice she took over. “I’m not gonna make some big speech about how you’ve dictated my life and made me miserable. It would never make it through your thick skulls. But I’m fucking sick of your bullshit and the way you think you can just waltz around like you own me. So I’m just gonna say one thing and one thing only. And if you don’t listen to me, I think I’ll let my inner Slayer side out for a bit of fun. Get. The. Fuck. Out. Of. My. House,” Her deadly tone then became overly cheerfully as she finished, “So I can fuck Spike as much as I want and make love to him like there’s no tomorrow!”
Anya cheered loudly at this and Buffy threw a grin at her before settling with a cold expression for the three people standing unwelcome in her home. They stared at her, openmouthed before Xander spoke. Again, a bad idea.
“We’re sick of trying to help you anyways. We’re so outta here! You’ll find us in Cleveland when you need us to rescue you from him!” With that, Xander stormed out and his “posse” followed suit with glowering looks at Buffy. She returned them with bright smiles and encouraging waves.
“Remind me not to go to Cleveland if I ever want to keep those IQ points of mine,” she said loudly enough for them to hear before slamming the door shut and turning to her friends and her love with a wide smile.
“Well, that went well!” Anya grinned.
Buffy turned to them with a strained expression. “I’m sorry you had to listen to that. You can go after them.” She was about to open the front door before Tara’s soft voice halted her actions.
“Don’t. We’re your friends, Buffy, not theirs. We won’t judge you and we’re more than sorry for letting it go on like it did. We were wrong to do what we did and Anya and I know that now.”
Buffy’s eyes watered as she stepped forward to hug them and in that moment, she had never felt better. She felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders and she could almost scream with joy at the wondrous feeling that overtook her mind, body and soul. She no longer had to worry about having people who loved her going away; the people who hadn’t really shown signs of true loyalty to Buffy had indeed shown their true sides, and were currently enveloping her in a warm hug.
And for some startling moment, when she glanced at Spike through her hug and their eyes locked in a passionate hold, blue against green, she wondered if even Heaven could compete with the happiness she felt now.
She didn’t think so.
The End
[Reviews - 49]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 1877 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
Wow, here I am at the end of my very first *completed* fic. There are so many people who deserve thanks and appreciation and I suppose this is the right time and place for them! =)
I would first and foremost like to thank my beta, Christine (also known as serendipity here in TSR) Honey, I could not have posted this without you and my writing would have utterly *failed* if not for your awesome skillz, homeskillet. =p Thank you SO much darling *hugs*
I could not have made it thus far if not for the absolutely wonderful support that all the readers and reviewers supported me with! To everyone who read and reviewed, I thank you immensely. A huge shout-out to all my reviewers: CallMeKitten, lindsay, cordykitten, PhotographyNut, AMI, Brett, Carol, LCF, Lou, spuffy, and to any anonymous reviewers! You guys are all my Spuffy soulmates and I love you all! *hugs and smooches*
And so, finally, I give you the final chapter of Clem the Matchmaker. I sincerely hope everything enjoyed this sort of-ish lighthearted fic. It was a pleasure to write and I also hope the ending appeals to everyone!
For anyone interested in the actual details of the challenge from SinisterChic (since I didn't want to give any details away) here are the challenge requirements:
Must Have: -Clem offering Dawn Cheetos -Clem seeks a spell to make him look hot (Human, or what he believes is hot) -Clem bonds with a kitty that Dawn gives him and Spike attempts to eat it
Could Have: -Clem beats Riley up, or tries to, with Dawn cheering him up -Spike getting a waterbed -Spike and Clem playing video-games with their lady loves -Spike and Clem watching Passions together
Can't Have: -Clem dying
So there you have it! The challenge specifics! :D
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
I would first and foremost like to thank my beta, Christine (also known as serendipity here in TSR) Honey, I could not have posted this without you and my writing would have utterly *failed* if not for your awesome skillz, homeskillet. =p Thank you SO much darling *hugs*
I could not have made it thus far if not for the absolutely wonderful support that all the readers and reviewers supported me with! To everyone who read and reviewed, I thank you immensely. A huge shout-out to all my reviewers: CallMeKitten, lindsay, cordykitten, PhotographyNut, AMI, Brett, Carol, LCF, Lou, spuffy, and to any anonymous reviewers! You guys are all my Spuffy soulmates and I love you all! *hugs and smooches*
And so, finally, I give you the final chapter of Clem the Matchmaker. I sincerely hope everything enjoyed this sort of-ish lighthearted fic. It was a pleasure to write and I also hope the ending appeals to everyone!
For anyone interested in the actual details of the challenge from SinisterChic (since I didn't want to give any details away) here are the challenge requirements:
Must Have: -Clem offering Dawn Cheetos -Clem seeks a spell to make him look hot (Human, or what he believes is hot) -Clem bonds with a kitty that Dawn gives him and Spike attempts to eat it
Could Have: -Clem beats Riley up, or tries to, with Dawn cheering him up -Spike getting a waterbed -Spike and Clem playing video-games with their lady loves -Spike and Clem watching Passions together
Can't Have: -Clem dying
So there you have it! The challenge specifics! :D
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter End Notes:
Thank you so much, everyone, again. It really was tons of fun writing this little fic and again, I hope everyone liked the ending! I tried to keep it simple and left it open for a choose-your-own-happy-ending. =)
*hugs* Thanks again everyone.
*hugs* Thanks again everyone.