Then Spike arrived.
Buffy knew he was there even before she saw him, some long-forgotten sense prickling at her as soon as he was near. She turned, her breath stilling in her lungs for a moment as she saw him in person for the first time in three years. He was still stunningly gorgeous, perhaps even more so than she'd remembered. Even from a distance, his eyes still seemed to sparkle, and Buffy had to fight her initial instinct to run to him.
It did, however, become somewhat easier to fight when she realized he wasn't alone.
She had to keep from actually staggering backwards when she saw Eve Hart step forward and hug Joyce. It was clear from the gesture the two women were already acquainted, and Buffy couldn't help her feelings of betrayal, even as she knew her mother was doing nothing truly wrong in accepting her step-son's new girlfriend. The unspoken rule around the house had become to never mention Spike around Buffy—and most likely, as far as Buffy knew, to never mention her around Spike—so if Joyce and Eve had any sort of bonding time, Joyce wouldn't have said anything for fear of upsetting Buffy.
Yet watching them talking now still made Buffy want to grab Eve away and scream at her to stay the hell away from her mother.
"Is that Eve Hart and the lead singer of Dingoes Ate My Baby?"
Robin's question reminded Buffy she wasn't there alone, and she looked up, startled. "Oh, yeah. He's my step-father's son."
"The lead singer of Dingoes Ate My Baby is your step-brother?" Robin asked.
"Spike isn't my step-brother," Buffy insisted quickly, old habit kicking in. "I mean, yeah, in the technical sense of the word, but we didn't grow up together or anything. We don't even talk. Like ever. He's a complete stranger to me."
The pain inside of her grew as she realized how true those words had become.
Robin's eyebrow arched, but he decided not to press the subject. He could tell from Buffy's tone and the crushed look on her face there was more to the story than she was telling, but he didn't want to push—for one thing, he didn't think he'd like the answers he got.
Buffy tugged on Robin's hand. "Let's go—over there," she said, pausing for a moment before pointing to the opposite side of the backyard. "I want to catch up with Great Uncle Maury."
If Robin hadn't been really suspecting there was more to this thing than met the eye, he was now. The five seconds he'd spent with Great Uncle Maury earlier had told him no one would want to be in the man's presence unless they were trying to assure no one else came around. Still, he wasn't going to push. The handful of dates he and Buffy had been on hadn't given him the right to pry into her life just yet.
Robin smiled down at her. "Let's go catch up with Great Uncle Maury then."
Buffy had thought avoiding Spike was going to be difficult. As it turned out, it wasn't. She didn't have to hide, didn't have to strike up conversations with annoying relatives to deter him from approaching her. He wasn't trying to approach her at all. As a matter of fact, he was acting like she didn't even exist.
Which was fine with her. Really, it was. Completely and totally fine in every way that it could possibly be fine.
She wasn't sneaking glances at him every time she thought she could get away with it. She wasn't fighting the urge to pry Eve's claws off of him every time she saw the overpaid, under-talented hussy touching him. Nope, she wasn't doing that at all—because she was perfectly fine.
Buffy jumped in her seat when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but quickly relaxed when she realized it was Joyce. "Yeah, Mom?"
"Would you do me a favor and run in to get some more napkins? Your Great Uncle Maury has used enough to wipe down an army."
"Sure," Buffy said, standing up. "Where are they?"
"There should be a pack of them sitting on the island in the kitchen."
"Okay." Buffy glanced over at Robin. "I'll be right back."
Robin gave her a nod in response, and Buffy headed into the kitchen. She'd almost made it out the backdoor again with the napkins when she heard Spike call her name. She froze, her heart skipping a beat before she turned around slowly to face him.
He stood in the doorway of the kitchen, his face an uncharacteristically emotionless mask. "Hello, Spike," Buffy said softly, surprised she could even find her voice at all.
"Hello, Buffy. Long time no see."
It was easy to detect the bitterness in his tone, and Buffy couldn't stop her wince. She tried to think of something to say now, but before she could, Spike was speaking again.
"I see you brought a date. Looks like a right stable bloke, too. Bet he's an upstanding member of society and everything."
"He's the principal of the high school where I work," Buffy replied. "He's a very nice man."
"Yeah, I bet he is."
Buffy sighed. "So what, did you stop me just to comment on my current taste in men, or did you actually have something important to say, because I should really be getting back to Robin now."
The pain in his eyes before the mask fell into place again was fleeting, but Buffy didn't miss it. "No, I have nothing to say to you," Spike said sharply.
"Good." Buffy turned around, ready to walk out the door, when something compelled her to face him again. It didn't seem enough somehow, after three years of not seeing him at all, to simply leave it there.
"Why are you even here today?" she asked.
Spike blinked. "Excuse me?"
"You've avoided all family functions for the past three years, Spike. Why suddenly decide to show up to one—and bring your little actress friend, too?"
Spike's sharp bark of laughter caught Buffy by surprise. "Oh, so you can bring your bulky principal, but I can't show up with Eve?" Spike shook his head. "You're still a hypocrite."
Buffy opened her mouth to protest that, but before she had a chance, Spike was answering her first question. "I came today because my father asked me to. They aren't just your family, Buffy, and I'm bloody sick of staying away all the time because of you. If anyone shouldn't be here today, it's you."
"Me?! I have every right to be here, Spike! And you were the one who chose to stay away, not me."
"Like you really gave me a choice?" Spike yelled, making Buffy take a step back. "Do you really think I could be around you after you callously ripped my heart out? Do you have any idea what you did to me, Buffy?"
"I did it for you!"
Buffy didn't realize what she'd yelled back at him until she saw Spike's eyes widen and his mouth open for a moment. "You did it for… What do you mean by that?" he asked her.
"I can't," Buffy said softly, trying to retreat. "I just need to…"
Spike grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "You need to tell me what you meant by that."
The mask he'd tried to wear since this confrontation had begun was completely gone now, and the torrent of emotions Buffy saw in his eyes made her tremble. His hand was tight around her arm, but the feel of him touching her again was still electric, and she didn't mind the slight pain from the squeeze. "It was a long time ago," she told him after a breathless moment. "It doesn't matter anymore."
"It bloody well does matter!" Spike yelled, the ticking muscle in his jaw a familiar sight for Buffy. "You crushed my heart three years ago. The least you owe me is an explanation."
No matter how hard she tried to fight them, Buffy couldn't stop her tears. The whole of the damage she'd done to Spike's heart was in his eyes now, and it was cutting her so deeply she didn't think she'd still be standing if his hand weren't gripping her arm. "I didn't want to hurt your career," she told him.
Spike frowned in confusion, her answer so far from any one he'd expected. "Buffy, how in the world would you have hurt my career?"
"Our parents are married, Spike. That's just a scandal waiting to happen."
"What? We could have dealt with that! Why would you even think…" Spike stopped, releasing his hold on her and taking a step backwards as Buffy's hand shot out to grip the kitchen island. An almost-forgotten conversation from years before came back to him, and Spike knew exactly where Buffy would've gotten such an idea in her head.
"Quentin Travers. He talked to you, didn't he?" Spike asked, though he already knew the answer.
Buffy nodded. "That day, while you were in the studio. He came by the apartment."
Spike slammed his fist against the wall, welcoming the bit of pain. "Son of a bitch! That sodding tosser!"
"No, Spike, he was right," Buffy said, shaking her head. "Besides, we had too many other problems to work through."
"Bollocks," Spike snapped. "We could've worked through them, given the time. I loved you, Buffy. I would've been willing to do anything to keep you."
Suddenly, Buffy was acutely aware of two things: He had only called her by her given name since the start of this conversation—something he'd rarely done before—and he'd spoken of his love for her in the past tense. He loved her. Loved.
"I have to go," Buffy said, her hand tightening around the bag of napkins as she remembered why she was in the kitchen in the first place. "I can't do this."
"Buffy, wait…"
"I have to go," Buffy repeated before fleeing out the back door, ignoring Spike as he called after her one more time. She kept her head down, afraid if she looked up, she'd end up looking back.
However, with her eyes towards the grass, she missed where she was going, and ended up running smack into someone else.
"God, could you possibly watch where you're going?! You just made me spill wine all over my dress that probably cost more than you could make in a month."
Buffy started to apologize sincerely. Then she realized who she bumped into and offered a phony, "Gee, sorry, Eve," instead.
"You should be," Eve said, wiping at her dress. "This is dry-clean only!"
"Gee, I'll be sure to cry about it later," Buffy snapped. Her confrontation with Spike had her emotions everywhere, and the last thing she needed was a showdown with his new girlfriend.
Suddenly, Eve's hand shot out to grab Buffy, the actress's perfectly manicured nails digging into Buffy's skin. "Don't think I don't know who you are, or what you meant to him. But he's over you, sweetie. Spike is mine. And if you think for a second that you'll ever be able to sink your claws back into him, well…"
"The only claws here are those talons you're currently digging into me," Buffy snapped, wrenching her arm away from Eve. "Spike's all yours now."
Buffy felt bile rising in her throat as she spoke, and she stopped herself from spilling her lunch all over Eve's Manolo Blahniks.
"You're right, he is," Eve replied. "Just see that you remember it. Spike's moved up in the world since he was with you, and he'll never lower himself to be with some high school guidance counselor after he's seen how well he can do. Trust me, sweetie, he forgot all about you the moment I touched him for the first time and showed him what a real woman was like. He tells me all the time how glad he is to have me in his arms these days and not you."
For a second, Buffy almost crumbled. The thought of Spike being close to another woman was bad enough without the other woman actually rubbing it in. But then, she came to a realization, and a slow smile spread across her face.
"Eve, sweetie, if you really believed that, you wouldn't be standing here having a textbook moment of insecurity, now would you? You know Spike and I were just both in the house, and it's killing you right now because you don't know what—if anything—went on in there. If you truly know what I meant to Spike, then I bet you've worried about what I could mean to him again, haven't you? And here it is, the moment you've dreaded, and all you can do is hiss at me. It's pretty pathetic when you get right down to it. The big movie star, the woman every man is supposed to fantasize about, and you're afraid of losing the man you do have to a high school guidance counselor." Buffy chuckled. "Really, it's pretty funny."
Eve gaped for a moment, Buffy's response taking her completely off-guard. Soon, however, her anger came back, and her face reddened as she prepared to fire off a retort.
Buffy didn't give her the satisfaction. Instead, she patted Eve on the shoulder and said with a smile. "Why don't you go see if you can find something to take out that stain? Really, it makes your dress look horrible."
With just enough satisfaction to manage a small smile, Buffy walked away, leaving Eve silent and fuming.
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