A/N I combined two chapters for you today. This story only has two chapters to go, so please review!
Chapter 16 – Closure
Spike knocked on the door of the mansion, not wanting to use his key since
he didn’t consider it his home. Wesley answered, surprised when he saw his
boss standing on the other side.
“Mr. Atherton. It’s so good to see you home, sir.”
“I’m not home, Wes,” Spike replied, walking into the foyer and looking at
the cold surroundings. “Is Drusilla here?”
“I believe she’s in the bedroom, sir.”
“Thanks, Wes.”
Spike turned, feeling as if he was walking in slow motion as he made his way
toward the bedroom. Taking a deep breath, he raised a fist to the door a
second before it opened.
“My Spike,” she cooed in a voice that was really grating on Spike’s nerves.
“I’m not yours,” he said in a cold tone.
“Only because that little slut took you away from me.”
It took every ounce of willpower that Spike possessed not to hit the woman
in front of him. “Don’t you ever talk about her that way,” he said, taking
a menacing step closer to her.
His imposing stance did nothing to the look in Drusilla’s eyes.
‘That’s the one and only thing that she and Buffy have in common,’ Spike
thought. ‘They both know how to stand up to me.’
“I’m so glad you’ve come home to be with your princess.”
“I haven’t come home, and if I did, it sure as hell wouldn’t be for you.
This isn’t my home, Dru. My home is with Buffy…it has been for a long
time.”
“That’s not true, Spike,” she said softly, swaying in front of him.
‘How did I put up with this for so long? I’ve known that she was a psycho, but I just ignored it.’
“You always come back to my bed,” Drusilla continued. “I’ve always been
first in your life.”
“No, you haven’t,” Spike growled. “You were just someone I settled on. You
made me think that I was in love with you so we could get married and you
would have an ‘in’ with all the rich people you wanted.”
Spike was mildly surprised when she did nothing to deny this. He was mildly
hurt that his marriage was for nothing until he looked into the future and
saw Buffy’s smiling face.
“It worked out well for both of us,” Drusilla said with an uncaring
expression.
“Until I met the woman I was meant to be with.”
“So you’re not staying?” she asked in a tone that implied she’d known that
he wouldn’t from the beginning.
“No. I want the photographs and the negatives. NOW!”
Drusilla began cackling as she looked at her husband. “You really thought
it would be that easy? That you could just walk in and demand something
without any type of payment?”
“You want money?” Spike asked. “Take it. Take everything. The house, the
cars, the country club membership- I don’t give a damn about any of it. I
have what I want. I have the only thing I need.”
“Yes, your one true love,” Dru said sardonically. “But I don’t want money,
precious William.”
“What do you want?” Spike growled.
“You. Once more, for old times sake. You do this for me, and I will give
you every copy of every picture and their negatives. No one will ever have
to know, and you can go back to your new little toy, knowing that she’s safe
from any scandals.”
* * * * *
Buffy sat at her desk, nervously chewing on her thumbnail. School had been
over for twenty minutes and she was so nervous, she didn’t want to go home.
She looked up with hope in her eyes when she heard a knock on the door. Her
heart fell when she saw Lindsey standing there instead of Spike.
“I thought I’d come and check on you. Are you okay?”
“I’ve been better,” Buffy murmured, drumming her nails along the surface of
the desk in aggravation.
“What’s wrong?” Lindsey asked, sitting on the edge of her desk as Buffy
worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “Is it your boyfriend?”
Buffy raised her eyes to his, slightly surprised at the question. “I never
told you I was seeing anybody.”
“I know,” Lindsey replied in quiet voice as he avoided her eyes.
“Lindsey-“
“Buffy, I have something that I need to tell you.”
Buffy looked at him with uncertainty clouding her features. “What is it?”
Lindsey sighed, reaching into his back pocket and extracting a small
envelope from his back pocket. “I think these belong to you.”
Buffy took the envelope, looking at is skeptically for a moment before
opening it. She pulled out several strips of negatives, becoming even more
confused as she held them up to the light. Her mouth dropped open as her
eyes widened, seeing the pictures that Spike had brought home the day
before.
“Where did you get these?”
Lindsey stood up, shoving his hands in his pockets as he began to pace
around the room. “I took them.”
“Took them as in ‘stole them’ or took them as in-“
“I photographed you.”
Buffy felt her mouth go dry as her stomach clenched. “Some of these
pictures were taken on the beach…months before I even met you.”
“I know,” Lindsey muttered. “Drusilla hired me to spy on her husband…that’s
what I came up with.”
Buffy looked at him with absolute shock on her features. “How could you do
this?”
“It was a job, Buffy,” he tried to explain. “I was hired to see what he was
doing and then to take you out of the picture.”
Buffy was out of her seat and backing away from him in less than a second.
“If you say you were hired to kill me, I swear-“
“No!” Lindsey cried, shaking his head. “I was supposed to get you away from
Spike. Start dating you and make you forget about him. But I made a
mistake.”
“What mistake?” Buffy asked skeptically.
“I got to know you. I couldn’t do that to someone like you-“
“Oh!” Buffy said sarcastically. “So you actually started seeing me as a
real person and decided to do the right thing? I feel so honored!”
“Something like that,” he muttered. “I also got to know Drusilla and
realized what a crazy bitch she really is…that’s where the pictures from the
school came from. She wanted me to take something that could ruin you. I
only gave her one set of pictures. Buffy, she’s planning on using them
no matter what. Whether she gets what she wants or not, they’re
going to get out.”
Buffy’s eyes narrowed as she looked at the man in front of her. “I need a
ride to the mansion,” she said, shoving the negatives in her pocket. “I
figure that’s the least you could do, considering what you’ve done.”
“You’re right. Let’s go.”
* * * * *
As Lindsey pulled up in front of the Atherton mansion, he barely had a
chance to stop the car before Buffy jumped out. He hurried after her as she
banged on the door, pushing past the butler as he opened it.
“Where is she?” Buffy asked.
“Who are you?”
“I’m the woman that’s getting screwed over by your boss, now where is she?”
Buffy asked more forcefully.
Wesley didn’t have a chance to answer as they heard a noise on the stairs.
Buffy gasped when she saw Spike, running up to meet him and throwing herself
into his arms as Wesley left the room, giving them some privacy.
“Buffy, what are you doing here?”
Buffy pulled back to look at him, her eyes widening when she saw blood
dripping down his face. “Oh my God! What did she do to you?”
Spike turned his head away as Buffy grabbed his chin, looking at the long
scratches that marred one side of his face.
“Spike! Answer me.”
“She wasn’t too happy that I kept my promise to you, luv.”
Buffy felt tears begin to shimmer in her eyes at the admission.
“Let’s get out of here,” Buffy said.
“I didn’t get the negatives,” Spike said wearily as they walked down the
remaining stairs.
“I did,” Buffy replied.
“What?” Spike asked in confusion.
“I knew the photographer.”
Spike was about to respond when he followed Buffy’s gaze to the door, his
cold gaze settling on the man he’d seen with Buffy. The man who had taken
her out on a date. Before Buffy could even comprehend what was happening,
Spike had crossed the foyer and thrown a punch at Lindsey, knocking him to
the floor.
“Spike! Now’s not the time!”
Spike didn’t listen, pulling Lindsey up by his collar to hit him again.
Buffy ran over, not feeling the need to defend Lindsey, but she knew Spike
would beat him to within an inch of his life if she didn’t do something.
Buffy caught Spike’s arm on a downfall, nearly getting knocked off her feet
with the momentum of it but still holding tight. Spike stopped when he
felt her small hand around his arm, turning to look at her with fury in his
eyes that Buffy knew was saved for Lindsey.
“Buffy, if you tell me he doesn’t deserve it-“
“No, he deserves it,” Buffy said, staring into his eyes. “But this isn’t
going to help anything right now.”
“The hell it’s not,” Spike replied, turning his gaze back to Lindsey. “It’s
making me feel much better.”
Buffy gently tugged on Spike’s arm, moderately relieved when Spike backed
away. Lindsey climbed, painfully, to his feet, gripping the doorframe for
balance.
“My Spike always did have a temper.”
It was Buffy’s turn to want to attack someone as she watched Drusilla walk
down the stairs.
“He’s not yours,” Buffy said with a raised eyebrow.
“That’s right,” Drusilla said with a creepy smile. “He’s yours now, isn’t
he, Sunshine?”
“No,” Buffy said calmly, seeing Spike look at her out of the corner of her
eye. “He doesn’t belong to anyone, but if he did, you then would be last on
the list.”
Spike smirked at Buffy, wrapping his arm around her waist as he turned for
the door.
“I’m surprised he would pick someone like you, considering the breeding you
come from.”
Buffy slowly turned to face the woman she used to view as competition. Now
she viewed her as a nuisance. “Breeding?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Considering your trashy mother, it’s no surprise that she raised a whore of
a daughter.”
Spike watched in shock as Buffy took several slow steps toward his
soon-to-be ex-wife, throwing her tiny fist at Drusilla’s face and knocking
her off her feet.
Buffy took a step back as Drusilla screamed in over-dramatized agony. “Say
whatever you want to about me,” Buffy said in a low tone. “But you
disrespect my family, and you have to deal with the consequences. Besides…people who live
in glass whorehouses shouldn’t throw stones.” She smiled when Dru looked up
at her with a glare. “You think everyone in town doesn’t know that you
sleep around with anyone who will have you? You’ve done more to Spike than
he has EVER done to you.” Buffy turned, taking Spike’s hand in hers. “Let’s
go,” she murmured.
“You think he loves you?” Dru asked as they walked through the door. “You
think he’ll stay with you when the cheap thrill is over? No…he’ll come back
to me, just like he always has.”
Buffy was about to turn around when Spike gripped her hand firmly in his
own. “No,” he said, looking at Drusilla. “You were the cheap thrill-
Buffy’s the one I’m meant to be with.” Spike turned to Buffy, raising her
hand to his lips and leaving a gentle kiss on it. “Let’s get out of here.
I never want to see this place again.”
“Me neither,” Buffy agreed, following him outside.
Lindsey looked at the couple walking toward the driveway before turning
back to his former employer. As quickly as he could, he walked through the
house to the office, opening the top drawer of the desk and extracting the
envelope he’d seen her put there when he gave them to her.
“What are you doing?” Drusilla asked from the doorway, looking panicked as
Lindsey pushed past her, gripping the envelope.
“The right thing,” he replied. “I’m not going to let you ruin someone’s
life just because you’re bitter.”
“It’s a little bit late to be growing a conscience, isn’t it?”
"Better late than never,” Lindsey said, walking out the door as Drusilla
screamed. He could see Spike starting the car and waved at them to stop.
Buffy leaned over to say something to Spike as Lindsey approached. She
opened the door, stepping out and crossing her arms over her chest as he
offered her the envelope.
“What’s this?”
“I think they rightfully belong to you.”
Buffy looked at the pictures before tossing them in the car. “I trusted
you, Lindsey…you were my friend.”
“I know…and that’s why I’m trying to make it better.”
Buffy sighed, looking at Spike who was keeping a careful eye on the two of
them, before raising her eyes to Lindsey again. “I’m not ready to forgive
you.”
“I’m not asking you to. I just wanted to do something right for a change.”
“Thank you.”
Lindsey nodded as Buffy got back in the car.
“Everything okay, pet?”
“Everything’s fine,” Buffy replied with a small smile. “I’m just ready to
get out of here.”
“Yeah,” Spike agreed. “Let’s go home.”
Buffy smiled, realizing that he considered ‘home’ to be with her.
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