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Thanks again, for reading and reviews.
Luv, Spuf
Chapter 35: ‘Who Else Could It Be?’

A/N: This is another one of my ‘connector chapters’ one that
might seem a bit unnecessary at this time, but might be important later. Actually, I’m winding this fic down, believe it or not; only a few more chapters left. Thanks luv Spuf


Buffy walked into Olivia’s office, fully aware of just ‘who’ awaited her in there. Sure enough, Will sat in the visitor’s chair, his left leg, nervously slung across his right one.

Olivia led Buffy into her office, happy to introduce the two young people and all over the original ‘Christina’s World’ print that this fellow Brit had brought into the Gallery.

“Mr. Giles,” Olivia gushed, “this is Buffy Travers, she is my assistant and I am sure her own Mother, Joyce owned this print…..”

Olivia must have seen the ‘look’ that passed between Buffy and Will because she stopped mid-sentence and glanced first at her, then at him.

“I think introductions are unnecessary,” Olivia murmered, wisely, “I’m going out into the showroom, I’ve work to do. Good day Mr. Giles.” With a nod to William and Buffy, Olivia left her own office quickly.

Buffy could not look at Will, she averted her green eyes from his blue ones and asked softly, “why are you here?”

William stood up and closed the gap between them, trying not to be too intimidating to her, “I have to be here, Buffy,” he responded evenly, “I have to see you.”

She walked over to the office door and closed it then faced the man she loved, “I asked you not to try and see me, Will,” she murmered. “You shouldn’t be here, you shouldn’t be anywhere near here.”

Although Buffy tried to be stern and brave, tried not to show her inner feelings, she just knew that she was a ‘neon sign’ of her emotions. It made her feel weak.

Again, Will came closer to her and his nearness caused her to tremble a little, but she stared at him in the eyes, determined to make him understand.

“I don’t want you here, Will,” she repeated her previous lie, “I just can’t have you here. Please go away now.”

“Liar!” Spike hissed at her, his eyes narrowed into two blue slits of fire.

“What?” she gasped with wide green eyes.

“I said,” he growled deeply, “you are a liar!” He had closed the gap between them until he was just inches from her face, he could feel her hot breath on his skin.

Buffy began to shake her head in denial, “I told you, I can’t have you here, Will…..”

Before she could utter another lie, Spike pulled her to him roughly, crushing his lips against hers. They seemed to melt together, molding their bodies together in their embrace and kisses.

Suddenly, Buffy pushed him away abruptly, “Stop it!” she cried, stepping far back from him, rasping, “you need to leave now Will. Please, just go, take the painting with you and don’t ever come back here!”

Spike stood, shell shocked for a moment or two then shook it off, “I’m leaving Buffy,” he announced gruffly, staring her down. “I came here to tell you I’m going home, to England. I’m going to help my Mum with Drusilla and little Guinevere. I won’t bother you anymore, Princess.”

As an afterthought, he added, “I can’t bother you from almost five thousand miles away, right? But, I’m giving this damn Gallery the painting; it’s my right and my choice to do so. You have no say in it.”

Somehow, Spike felt smugly righteous in his declaration, especially the leaving part, it somewhat put salve on his wounds. ‘Hope she’s fuckin’ miserable,’ he thought viciously, then immediately felt remorse for his evil thought.

Buffy digested his words slowly, her mind numb with confusion and instant pain.

“You’re leaving?” she asked in disbelief.

William nodded, his silence alone broke her heart a hundred times over again; but, what could she have expected? She sat down in Olivia’s plush desk chair, as pale as a ghost, she was sure. All of her energy and fire, even her words abandoned her in a moment’s time.

Gazing, unfocused at her boss’s desk, Buffy felt Will’s intense blue eyes on her, watching her. He seemed to clock her reaction to his announcement.

“Buffy,” he whispered harshly, leaning over the chair she sat in, “Buffy!” he cried out this time.

“Huh?” she snapped to attention, nearly falling backwards out of the chair, causing Will to grab and steady her.

“Baby,” he murmered tenderly, stroking her arm gently, “I really only came to say goodbye. Thought I owed it to you, okay, to both of us. Please believe me, Buffy darling, I would never hurt you or try and cause you any more pain then I already have. I love you Buffy, always.”

Spike gazed at his love, the one woman in the world that could bring him to his knees in a second’s time, as always, she was lovely, even if she’d definitely lost too much weight. She wore those little black pants she’d worn the night they’d danced at Clem’s Bar together, something he’d always remember and cherish.

Later, at ‘their’ pond, they had made love together, her hot little breaths gusting on his bare chest, murmering their lover’s words to each other.

“It was ‘always’ making love for me, Buffy,” he stated suddenly, “it was always love on my part, for you. I love you, always have and always will.”

Buffy stared up at him with those huge green eyes of hers, he saw tears in them.

“I know,” she whispered softly, “I…..”Before she finished the sentence, Buffy wriggled out of Spike’s embrace and said simply, “I’ll miss you in Sunnydale Will. I’ll miss you.”

She didn’t even look at him. “Bye Princess,” he murmered, backing away from her, “take care, baby. I love you.” He turned and walked out of the office.

Buffy sat back down in her boss’s chair, so stunned that she could barely think clearly. Will was leaving, going thousands of miles away and he was leaving her; no, he was leaving because of her.

She was so deep in thoughts of her own private pain, that she had not even noticed Olivia had returned to the office and was now watching her from just a few feet away.

When Buffy heard Olivia clear her throat, she looked up at her, knowing that she must have looked at least a bit deranged, like a deer looks when it’s caught in headlights.

“Buffy?” Olivia called to her softly, her melodic voice just dripped with concern.

That did it for Buffy, she broke down and began to sob uncontrollably, past caring if her own boss saw her behave in this manner. Buffy hung her head down and covered her face with her hands as she continued to weep desperately, ignoring Olivia’s pleas to tell her what was wrong.

When she got no verbal response from Buffy, just her desperate sobs, Olivia hurried up to the chair she sat in and threw her arms about her, pleading again, “Buffy, please dear, tell me what is wrong? What can I do to help you?”

Buffy just shook her head, still in her hands, the pain wracked her body causing her to shake violently and causing Olivia to really panic.

“Buffy, I’m going to call your husband for you, is he at work now?” Olivia asked with concern.

“No!” Buffy cried, clutching at her boss frantically, “don’t call him, Olivia, please! I don’t want him, I don’t want him here!” She began to sob even louder, especially when Olivia began to stroke her long golden hair softly, much as she would do to comfort one of her own small children.

“All right Buffy,” she cooed to her, “but I’m going to call Tara and her Willow, someone you are close to, must come here and help you, at least talk to you. Now, I’m going to step right over here to my desk and ring them, okay?”

Buffy nodded her head against Olivia’s shoulder, just a little bit calmer in the knowledge that her beloved best friend Willow and her love Tara might soon be there for her.

Not thirty minutes had passed before Buffy heard both Tara and Willow’s voices through Olivia’s office door. By the time they got there, Buffy had calmed down a little bit, she was just sniffling now instead of the wailing she’d been doing earlier.

When Willow saw Buffy, she grew even paler then she usually was, worry was etched all over the red head’s face and Tara didn’t look much better.

“Buffy, honey!” Willow rushed over to her friend and embraced her tightly, “what’s wrong sweetie? What happened?”

Buffy looked up at her dear friend, then up at Tara and on to Olivia who took that opportunity to excuse herself and leave her own office, closing the door behind her.

“He was here Wills,” Buffy began to cry again, her voice cracked from pain and tears, “he came by to tell me he’s leaving Sunnydale and……” she couldn’t finish, she just snuggled deeper into Willow’s embrace and cryed softly again.

“Who was here Buffy? Spike?” Willow asked quietly.

Buffy gasped and looked at her friend, stunned that Willow knew just who her lover really was.

“I’ve known it was Spike since day one, Buff,” Willow explained, gently stroking her honey blond hair.

“Who else could it be? I can read you like a book Buffy Summers and when you even alluded to a lover, I guessed it was Spike. No one could ever affect you the way Spike does and you were so affected that way in our apartment, from the start.”

The red head smiled, tenderly at her best friend, “the look on your face, in your eyes; a mixture of aggravation, frustration and ‘I can’t wait to see him again’ was a sure sign. At least a sure sign that for ‘you’ it was Spike Giles. We’ve all seen it for years, honey, well, that and the fact that you must have said ‘bloody’ three times during the course of the conversation. You may not have realized it, but I heard it and put two and two together.”

Willow had to chuckle, evoking a slight smile from Buffy. “So honey,” Willow sighed, glancing up at Tara and then back at Buffy. “I think you better start from the beginning and tell us everything. If you do, maybe we can help you somehow and I am sure you’ll feel much better. In fact, I know you will.”

Through her tears and sporadic soft laughter, Buffy told both Tara and Willow what had happened between William and herself over the past couple of months. She even confessed to them about Xander, but said nothing of Riley, Connor or just who Angel was having the affair with, it would have served no purpose.

Of coure, she didn’t share her most intimate moments with William to them, but just talking about their short time together did make her feel better, even if they would never have that again.

This is when she would start to cry, her sense of loss caused Buffy so much inner pain, although deep down, she knew she deserved some of it.

When she told them about Xander’s part in her and Will’s break up, Buffy felt Willow tense up against her, “I’m so going to kick his ass!” Willow hissed.

“No Willow!” Buffy cried, burying her head into her friend’s shoulder again, “if Xander finds out about this, he’ll go straight to Angel. So many lives will be ruined, please don’t go there, please!”

Willow said nothing more, just nodded for Buffy to continue her story. When she had finished, Tara came around the desk and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, “d’do you love him, B’Buffy? D’do you love Sp’Spike?” she stuttered softly.

“Yes,” Buffy responded without a moment’s hesitation, “I love him more then anything in the world.”

Tara picked up the intercom on Olivia’s desk and called over it to Buffy’s boss. Olivia suddenly reappeared in her office and joined the three young women by her desk, visibly relieved to see Buffy doing better anyway.

“We’re going to take Buffy home, now Olivia,” Tara informed her quietly, but Buffy broke in with a cry of denial.

“No! I don’t want to go home! Angel might be there, like a bloody spider waiting in his web to entrap me! I can’t go home, Tara, Willow please don’t take me…..”she broke off from her frantic pleading to gaze desperately at the three women.

“No, no honey,” Tara comforted her and patted her arm. Willow and I will take you to ‘our’ place for the night. Willow, will you call Angel and tell him that Buffy is terribly ill and can’t make it home tonight? Tell him we tried to get a hold of him earlier and couldn’t.”

Willow nodded and helped Buffy up from the chair, leading her out of Olivia’s office.

“You take the next few days off, Buffy,” Olivia ordered gently, “get some rest and for Heaven’s sake eat something! You’re skin and bones, girl.”

Tara opened the door and watched Willow and Buffy start through it, “you can spend the night at our place, Buffy,” she explained, “you won’t have to face Angel tonight. This way you can get yourself together a little more, face him tomorrow. I think that might help, don’t you?”

Buffy nodded and smiled ‘yes’ allowing Willow to lead her out of the office. “Thank you Olivia,” she told her boss in passing. “Thank you guys too,” she whispered to Tara and Willow.”



A/N: In the next chapter, three friends will band together to reunite our Spuffy couple! Thanks for reading, please review. Luv, Spuf





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