Bienvenue à paris.
Welcome to Paris. Buffy was finally there. She made it to Paris, the city of lights and love. She came here to start anew. She couldn't let what happened back in good ole Sunnydale happen here. This break was sorely needed.

Buffy got off the plane and quickly made her way over to the baggage claim. She grabbed her bags then made her way over to Customs. She always hated going through Customs but thankfully she only needed to do it once this time. She made her way through the line rather quickly and her Customs officer was nice. She showed her passport and her visa allowing her to live and work in France. "Bon chance!" the officer finally said then waved her through.

After leaving the terminal, Buffy grabbed a cab and told the driver the address to her new apartment and her new life. When the cab pulled up, she paid the man and ran inside to find her door. Once she got into there she dropped off her bags and went out again to find some food. Her stomach was rather angry with her for neglecting it all day.

Lucky for her stomach she lived right across the street from a restaurant. "Je voudrais un croque-monsieur et du lait s'il vous plaît. " Buffy asked the waiter. He stifled a laugh. Her French accent wasn't that great. Alright it was down right awful. But that didn't stop her. She was determined to learn and eventually get it right.

Once her food came she quickly downed it and paid her tab. She said thanks to her waiter and made her way back to the apartment. While walking up the stairs she started to look for her keys in the black hole known as her purse. She wasn't paying any attention when she turned the corner and ran into something. Something hard. "I could swear there wasn't a wall here before..." Buffy thought.

Buffy looked up at what she ran into and saw a whole bunch of blue. They were the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen. Buffy took a step back at the intensity of those eyes but hard hands grabbed onto her firmly. "faîtes attention. Je ne vuex pas que vous tombez." She couldn't help but smile, "Thank you I must not have been watching where I was going. Oh shit I should say that in French. Umm"

"No worries kitten I'm English I should know the language by now. Next time, keep your eyes up. You never know when you might run into something hard." Spike winked at her. The innuendo laced in that sentence was almost suffocating.

Buffy looked him straight in the eye,"I'll be sure to do that. Cuz you never know when something big and hard might just pop up." She then skirted around him and headed for her door.

"Hold up kitten. I didn't even get your name. I'm Spike."

"I'm tempted to make you work to find out my name, Spike. But since it's my first night in town I'll be nice. Buffy Summers."

---

Ah now the firecracker had a name. She sure was a lively one. One that Spike was sure he was going to get to know. He watched her go into the apartment across the hall from. She was his new quest. One that he would be sure to succeed at.

---

Buffy was going to kill her neighbor if they didn't turn down their music soon. And it wasn't even good music. It was the stupid Sex Pistols. God it was awful.

While she was putting her dishes away when the noise started. The walls were paper thin and she could hear that racket like she was front row in a concert. "God, how can anyone listen to something so awful?"

Buffy grabbed her iPod and her earphones and started to listen to some real music but she still could hear the crap from next door. Finally she had enough Buffy put down the dish she was holding grabbed her keys and stormed next door.

Spike heard loud banging at the door and smiled. His plan worked. He wanted to get her to come over. So he blasted his music knowing the walls were paper thin.

With a quick look in the mirror he opened the door. He was greeted with her back. Buffy turned around and started saying "Excusez moi mais pourrais vous...." By then she saw it was Spike. "So you are the one blasting that horrible stuff?"
"Oi what do you mean that horrible stuff. That stuff is genius."
"Hah. Well do you think you can keep it down? Some of us here are trying to live our lives like normal people"

Spike scoffed "You callin' me abnormal?"

Buffy grinned cheekily "You said it not me"

"You wanna come in and have a cuppa?"

"A cuppa? A cuppa what?"

"Tea, coffee, gin, whiskey, whatever floats your boat."

"Alright just so long as you turn off that garbage music."

Buffy walked through the door and couldn't help but laugh. His living room and connecting dining room were pink. And not even a nice pale pink it was fuchsia. "Yeah never mind the walls. My old roommate just moved out and I haven't had time to paint yet." Spike explained. Buffy just shrugged. "So what's your poison?"

"Tea sounds fantastic." Spike shuffled around in the kitchen for a little bit then came out into the living room with two large mugs of tea.

"So where are you from pet?"

"Sunnydale California. And you?"

"Sheffield. It's near London. What brings you to Paris?"

"I needed a new start. Too many bad memories. " Buffy just waved her hand around showing she didn't want to talk about it. "So what about you? Why are you here?"

Spike could only shrug "My family has a business here and they sent me here to manage it."

"Cool. I need to find a job soon. My savings will only last me so long." They continued chatting just making small talk while they drank their tea. Time was going by so quickly that dinner time was knocking at the door and Buffy's stomach was starting to growl.

"So kitten do you want to go out for dinner with me?"

"I don't know. Not that I don't want to it's just I still have my kitchen to finish unpacking and I've already spent a lot of time procrastinating."

"Well how about this. I'll go get something and bring it over and I'll help you unpack your stuff."

"Sounds good to me." So Buffy left and went back next door to her apartment and Spike grabbed some money and his car keys and went out to get some food.

Knock knock

"So pet, how does chow mien and broccoli beef sound?" Spike yelled through the door to Buffy's apartment.

Buffy grinned and went to the door, "I'll let you in only if you brought me chopsticks and my fortune cookie!"

"Aw come on, luv. Do you not trust me?"

Buffy opened the door, "Well seeing as how I've only known you for a day or so..."

Spike pouted, "I have your chopsticks and fortune cookie."

"Oh I didn't mean it that way it was just a joke. Oh now I've done it.
You probably don't even want to talk to me anymore now that I've been this rude..."

Buffy carried on with her rambling and Spike just watched her carry on. He couldn't help but chuckle. She looked so cute when she was acting like this.

"...and see now you're laughing. Wait why are you laughing? Oh crap I was rambling again wasn't I? I tend to do that when I’m nervous. Oh crap, I just told you I’m nervous. I’m going to stop now." Buffy stopped talking and pursed her lips together as if to make a point.

“Oh please don’t stop, maybe I’ll find out somethin’ interestin’”

Buffy just glared at him and stole the bags of food from him. Spike followed her into the apartment and closed the door. Her place was nice. It was clean and simple. The walls were a nice pale blue and a lot of the furnishings were white. It kind of reminded him of one of those houses on the eastern coast of the States near Maine or something.

Buffy lead Spike into the kitchen, where she grabbed bowls and plates for the food. She pointed to a cupboard where Spike could find glasses. “There’s milk, water, or Diet Coke. Have whatever you want. Can you pour me a Diet Coke please?” Spike got the drinks and Buffy set up the table.

They sat down and started to dish out their food. Once they started eating an awkward silence came down on the table. Finally Buffy couldn’t take it anymore.

“So, you said you’re here because your family sent you here for their work?”

Spike tensed a little but when he looked at her, he saw she was intently working on her fried rice. “Yeah, they own a publishing company and they’re hoping to get business here. So they sent me to hopefully get it.”

“What type of publishing?”
“Magazines, News papers and such.”

Buffy nodded her head and went back to working on her food. Spike watched her for a minute before asking,

“So what is a pretty California girl such as yourself getting caught up here in France, land of love, cheese and bread?”

Buffy visibly stiffened once he asked that question. She was trying so hard to avoid it. Her past wasn’t something she wanted to talk about. God I came here to get away from it not to be asked about it everywhere that I go!

While all this was going through her head, Spike was patiently watching her. Her emotions and thoughts were easily shown on her face. “You know, kitten, you don’t have to tell me if it’s too hard to talk about.” Spike said softly, as if talking to a deer you don’t want to run away quite yet.

Buffy looked up, “Thanks. I’m not quite there yet. But I promise one day I will tell you.”

Spike nodded. “Well, pet, are you done with your din? I’ll help you clean up.”

“Thanks, Spike.”

They both started washing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen. After that Spike said good night and went back to his apartment.

Once Spike left, Buffy made herself some hot chocolate, curled up on her couch and started to think. Could she trust this guy? She had only met him the day before. What about what happened at home? Will she ever get away from it? Buffy finally fell asleep on the couch with turbulent dreams that night.

****************************************************************

The next few weeks went by smoothly. Spike and Buffy would meet up occasionally for dinner or lunch and hang out like old friends. They had gotten past the uncomfortable-ness of new friendships.

Buffy had finally found a job. She was working as a teacher at a school for businessmen. She taught older people how to speak English and how to handle themselves in professional situations. It was the perfect job. She didn’t need to speak French and she got to boss older people around. Who wouldn’t love it?

One day, Buffy came home to find a vase on her doorstep. In the vase there were four flowers. Buffy’s mother had loved everything about the culture of Victorian times and made Buffy learn what flowers meant seeing as how that was a popular thing back then. The flowers that were resting in the vase were a sprig of lavender, a yellow rose, a rhododendron, and a lilac. Buffy racked her brain to figure out what the flowers meant. Maybe she had a secret admirer. Maybe Spike was the secret admirer. Maybe he’d ask her out and she’d finally get to kiss those beautiful lips. Whoa, where did that come from?

Buffy finally found the file in her brain where she stored all of her useless information and screamed when she figured out what they meant.

A rhododendron saying beware.

A sprig of lavender telling her of distrust.

A yellow rose showing zeal.

And a lilac embodying her first love.

No, no, no, no, NO!!! This can’t happen. He can’t be here. No, not anymore. Please, oh please, don’t be here.

Spike heard a scream in the hallway and quickly went out to see what happened. There he found Buffy hiding in the corner of the hallway staring at the flowers on her doorstep muttering, “No, please no. Can’t be him. No, no, no.”

“Buffy?” Spike waved a hand in front of her face.

She looked up to him and latched on to him. Spike gathered her up in his arms and guided her back into his place. After setting her down on the couch, he left to go put a pot of tea on when she grabbed him, hard.

“Please don’t leave me alone.”

Spike’s heart nearly broke at this. “I’m not leavin’, pet. Just going to put a pot on for us, yeah?”

Buffy deftly nodded her head and curled up into herself.

Spike went into the kitchen and put the brown betty on the stovetop. What happened to that girl out there? I only saw flowers out there. It must be connected with whatever happened back in California. I need to find out what happened back there.

Spike was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn’t hear the teapot whistling at him. He poured two cups of tea and brought them back into the living room.

Buffy had somewhat come back to herself. Her eyes were puffy from holding back tears and her face was white from fear. Accepting the mug from Spike, she meekly said thanks to him.

Spike let her take a few sips before diving in.

“Buffy? Luv?”

She looked up.

“I think it’s time for you to tell me what happened back in California.”

Buffy shuddered.

Buffy took a big gulp of tea before saying, “Ok, once I get started don’t interrupt me because I don’t know if I would be able to continue.”

Spike nodded his head then got himself comfortable. Once that was done, his attention was solely on her.

It took Buffy a few minutes before she could start.

“When I was in high school my mom owned a gallery. She loved art. She always said, ‘Art is a way to express what you can’t with words.’ And I always believed her. Anyways, when she owned the gallery, she always met interesting people. Most of them were artsy-fartsy people but they were always nice to me.

One day she met this woman named Pat. The two became fast friends. Pat would come over for dinner occasionally or stop by to chat with my mom. I was glad my mom found someone who was nice to her and treated her like a person and not a walking charity case.

Oh I should probably let you know, my mom had cancer while I was in high school. It was hard for me and Dawn, my sister, but mom made it through and everything is great now.

Alright back to the story. Whenever Pat came over I always felt a little awkward around her. She was a very touchy-feely person. A touch here, a rub there or a hug while she was leaving. I always just thought it was just how she was but it was a bit strange seeing as how I was the only one she did it too. But I just ignored it.

Since mom owned the gallery, she occasionally had to go into Los Angeles to buy new art. On those days, Pat would stop by and check up on us. One weekend when mom was gone, Dawn went to her friend Janice’s house for a sleepover. I had the house to myself. And thank god too, I had a lot of homework to catch up on. It was finals the next week.

That weekend Pat came over as usual to check up on us. Mom had given her a key, so she just let herself in. I heard her coming up the stairs to my room. When she came in she looked slightly different from before. Her eyes were a little darker than usual. I said hi to her and told her that Dawnie was over at Janice’s house.

That’s when it happened. All of a sudden I felt this blade at my neck and Pats voice whispering, ‘If you scream, I will kill you.’ She then had me undress her and myself. And then….”

Buffy trailed off for a moment and shuddered remembering the pain. She started again with a small voice that slowly got stronger.

“She raped me that weekend. When she finally left right before my mom got home, I called the cops and reported it. My mom was terrified for me and Dawn. We went through the whole process of everything and finally Pat was convicted. It actually turned out that Pat had a record.

So Pat was sent to jail and everything went back to normal. Well as normal as you can get after an experience like that. Mom wouldn’t let us leave the house at night and she would never invite people over for the longest time.

Finally by my senior year things had started to get back to some sort of normalcy. We were allowed to have company again, and I was allowed to go out at night again. My friends and I went to the Bronze, a local night club that allows the younger crowd. We went there to celebrate the end of our first term in our senior year. That’s where I met Riley.”

Spike felt the twinge of jealousy but quickly pushed it away to keep his focus on Buffy and her story.

“He was a nice guy. He seemed really down to earth and kind of a momma’s boy. He and I started to go out on dates and hang out a lot. It turned out he transferred here for his last semester of high school and he was going to Sunnydale High. So we told him he should hang out with us. And he did.

I would walk into class and sometime find a flower on my desk. It always made me smile and he’d give me a huge hug. He was good at hugs. He’d just envelop you. My mom would see me coming home with flowers in my hands and so she sent me to this class where you learned about the different meanings behind flowers. I actually liked the class because it gave me some insight to what Riley was thinking.

When I asked him if he knew what the meanings were behind the flowers, he said he had taken a class about it and hoped that I would know what they meant. So I told him about the class and he grinned, saying now they had a secret way of talking to each other through the use of flowers.

After he found out that I knew the meaning behind things, his gifts started to venture out of the flower range and into the range of gifts. I’d find little candy hearts in my locker or little teddy bears.

One day while Riley and I were hanging out in the park, he told me he wanted to take me away from Sunnydale. He grabbed my hand and roughly started to pull me towards his car. I thought at first he was just kidding, but when he started to get gruff with me, yanked my hand away and told him to stay away from me.

That’s when the scary gifts started to come. About a week after that incident, I found some feathers near my locker. I just thought that a pigeon had gotten into the hallway again and lost some feathers. But when I opened my locker I found a dove in there. It was dead and it chest had blood smeared on it in the shape of a heart. I screamed my head off.

I was taken to the office where one of the secretaries tried to calm me down while the other called the police. Once the cops got there, I had to answer questions about the dove, and anyone who would have wanted to scare me. Of course my first thought was who could have done this? But then I started to think that I had always gotten gifts from Riley and I had hoped that this wasn’t from him but I told the cops about it anyways.

After the investigation the cops did in fact find out that Riley was the one who sent me the dove. They took him into custody and set him up for trial. But he posted bail then ran for the hills. No one ever heard from him again.

But it turned out that Riley had come into town to spend time with his mother who had just been sent to jail. His mother was Pat. They cooked up the plan to scare me to death and make me pay for telling.

It terrified me to know that Riley was still somewhere in the States, so once I graduated I moved around a lot. At first I stayed in the States but even then I didn’t feel safe. So I finally decided to put an ocean between me and home and I move here. But now it doesn’t seem so safe anymore.

And that’s my story. Please don’t hate me and send me away. I can’t face the world out there alone anymore.”

Buffy shivered and curled up into a ball. She let the tears fall that she thought had all fallen the first time around.

Spike was stunned. How could something so horrible happen to someone so pure? He put his arms around her and let her cry. After a half hour or so of just holding her he got up from the couch and lifted a sleeping Buffy into his arms. He took her into his room and put her on the bed. Best let her sleep. But I don’t think I should be leavin’ her alone. So Spike set up camp next to the bed, in a chair, watching Buffy sleep. Spike made an addition to his quest for Buffy. He would find a way to protect her for forever, even if it meant giving up everything. Somehow he knew it would be worth it for her.