Chapter 5 – If Things Were Different…
Feeling sick to her stomach when the door opened, Buffy did what she could to shrink into the shadows, hating the fact that the man who made her skin crawl would be in the same room, alone with her.
“Here, kitty kitty.”
Closing her eyes in revulsion, she didn’t bother to open them when he turned on the overhead light, picturing the smile that must have been on his face when he saw her lying on one of the mattresses, feigning sleep.
Angel’s all talk…he’s not a bad guy.
Spike’s words echoed through her head, but it did little to dissuade the uneasy feeling that was making itself known.
“Now, now, sleeping is no fun,” he said with a smile in his voice.
Nearly shivering in revulsion when she felt his hand on her thigh, she immediately opened her eyes, sitting up and moving further away from him.
“Don’t touch me,” she said in a strong voice that didn’t sound like her own.
“Or what?” he asked with a cruel smile.
“Anything that touches me, you won’t get back,” Buffy replied, seeing the smile falter for a moment.
Cowering when he pulled back his hand, she lashed out, kicking him sharply in the leg and scrambling to get away, doing what she could with her bound hands.
“You bitch!” Angel yelled, leaping across the bed.
“Is there a problem?”
Breathing a sigh of relief when she heard Gunn’s voice, she didn’t dare take her eyes off of Angel. Gunn was quiet, but he seemed to be the sanest one in the bunch. Hesitantly walking toward the door, she tried to take in calming breaths as Angel and Gunn stared at each other.
“No problem,” Angel said, his voice sounding like a growl.
Seeing Gunn’s gaze redirected at her, she looked up at him, silently pleading with him not to leave.
“Why don’t you go back to your room, Angel,” he said after a moment.
“The hell I will,” he said, sending a shudder through Buffy when he looked at her through cold eyes.
“She’s not here for your amusement,” Gunn replied, not backing down. “Out.”
Apparently deciding that he didn’t want to get into a fight with the taller man, Angel glared at both of them before walking out of the room. Cringing when she heard his door slam a moment later, she turned toward Gunn, trying to offer him a grateful smile when he shut the door.
“Thanks for that.”
“Well, Angel can be a little forceful sometimes.”
“Yeah, noticed that,” she replied bitterly.
“Do you promise to be good?”
Looking up at him with a questioning gaze, her eyes briefly narrowed before she realized what he meant. “I won’t kick you in the shin, if that’s what you mean…unless you deserve it, that is.”
“Fair enough. Turn around.”
Eagerly obliging, she closed her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief when her hands were freed after a moment.
Rolling her shoulders to work the tension and soreness out of the muscles, she briefly closed her eyes, happy that she had mobility once again.
“Get some rest,” Gunn said, walking over to the bed and realigning the mattresses from her temper tantrum. Tossing her a blanket and pillow after a moment, he walked over to the recliner in the corner and sat down.
Curling up on the bed, she wasn’t entirely put at ease with having a strange man in the room, but anyone was better than Angel. And Gunn hadn’t done anything to hurt or demean her- he seemed to be the kind of guy who made his own rules when necessary but followed someone else if their plan seemed better.
“We’re not going to do anything to you. We’re not really bad guys.”
Hearing his voice, her eyes immediately snapped open. She didn’t bother to look at him as she spoke. “So all kidnappers are martyrs?”
“Did I say that? I know you must be nervous, and I’m trying to make it a little easier,” he replied.
“Then level with me,” she said, sitting up in the bed and clutching the comforter in white-knuckled hands, her nerves getting the better of her. “When my father doesn’t pay, because he won’t…what happens to me?”
Noticing the pensive look on his face as he looked at the floor, she bit her lip, waiting for his response. “Spike’s the brains of the operation,” he finally said, his voice low and soft in the silent house. “I’m sure he has some kind of plan B, but I haven’t been filled in.”
“So…plan B could be finding my broken and bleeding body in a ditch somewhere?” she asked, feeling her stomach twist itself into knots.
“We’re not going to kill you,” he said, putting her nerves slightly at ease with a kind smile. “I just don’t know what the next plan is.”
“Well, any ideas that might get a little too close on the ‘physical harm to Buffy chart’- can we just steer clear of those?” she asked nervously, relaxing a little bit when Gunn smiled.
“I think that can be arranged. Now, get some rest.”
Feeling moderately at ease for the first time since this awful experience began, she finally let her eyes close, realizing how exhausted she really was.
Buffy didn’t know how long she had been asleep. It was one of those weird feelings, as if she had just closed her eyes, but it could have been hours that had passed. Hearing the door click shut, her body went rigid, worrying that it was Angel coming back for more.
Slowly relaxing when she heard Spike talking to Gunn, she strained to listen, keeping her eyes closed.
“Why are you in here?” Spike asked softly.
“Angel got a little too overzealous…heard him when I was going to bed. Came in and she seemed pretty shook up, so I told Angel to take a hike and stayed.”
Listening to the silence fill the room, she could practically feel Spike’s eyes on her.
“What happened?”
“Not really sure,” Gunn replied. “Buffy apparently kicked him after he did something that she didn’t like.”
“Violent little chit.”
That nearly had her kicking the crap out of a second man that night. Regaining her composure, she kept her eyes closed, trying to keep her breathing even.
“Go on back to your room, mate. I’ll finish out the night.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah,” Spike said. “It’ll be fine.”
Listening to Gunn leave the room, her brow furrowed when she heard Spike moving around in the bathroom, flipping on the light after a moment and casting a beam of light across the bed. Her curiosity almost got the better of her, but she managed to keep her eyes closed.
Hearing him walk out of the bathroom, she tensed when he took one of her hands in his. Unable to resist any longer, she opened her eyes, meeting his strong gaze with her own.
“What are you doing?” she asked in a soft whisper.
Seeing him hold up the bottle of peroxide and fresh bandages, a frown came over her face.
“I didn’t think you had noticed, considering you were too busy tying me up to pay attention.”
“You did this to yourself,” he said softly, his voice sounding almost paternal as he scolded her. “I never told you to tear up the bloody room.”
Not bothering to respond as he tore off her pathetic excuse for bandages, Buffy watched as he gently disinfected the cuts on her hands. Reapplying the gauze with such care, she studied him for a long moment. A crease formed between his eyebrows as he worked, his lip forming a slight pout in concentration. For the first time since this nightmare began, she actually noticed how handsome he was. If things had been different, she definitely would have noticed this guy in a bar or a club.
If things were different…
Was it really less than twenty-four hours ago that she was walking along campus, talking to Willow?
It felt like a lifetime.
No wonder she was starving.
Looking up at the sound of her stomach growling, Spike gave her a soft smile. “Not much in the way of cooking, but I guess I could find you something.”
“I guess that would be the only perk of being a hostage- getting waited on hand and foot.”
‘Bad Buffy! You will not flirt with your kidnapper…even if he is a hottie.’
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said with a soft smile, standing up and walking out of the room, locking the door behind him.
Sitting in silence for a moment, Buffy stared at her freshly bandaged hands before she slowly stood up and wandered around the room.
Coming to a decision, she lifted the bookshelf into an upright position and began re-shelving the books. If she was going to have to live in this hellhole, it might as well be a little more comfortable.
‘And I did kinda demolish it to begin with.’
Finishing the task at hand, she turned toward the door when the lock turned once again. Seeing Spike walk in with a few sandwiches and water bottles, her stomach growled in response.
“Turning into a happy little homemaker, I see,” he said with a smirk.
Snorting in response, she got to her feet, catching the water bottle he threw at her, hiding the wince as the pressure hit a bandaged cut on her hand. “You wish.”
“You do seem to have a knack for destruction,” he continued, looking around the room that was still on the demolished side.
Unable to stop the slight grin on my lips, she nodded. “I’m nothing if not productive.”
Spike smiled slightly as he set the food on the bed, gesturing toward the plate while he took a drink from his own water bottle.
Hesitantly picking up a sandwich from the tray, she took a bite, almost as if she was tasting it experimentally. Looking up and meeting his gaze a moment later, she tilted her head to study him. “What happened to you?”
“What do you mean, pet?” he asked, nervously avoiding her gaze.
“There had to be something that drove you to this. And I don’t just mean your best friend being murdered in front of your eyes because that would make anyone…a little nuts.”
“Still not sure I’m following you around that bend,” he said, looking down at his water.
“What happened to the guy who lost his job and wanted to pull a pretty harmless theft…and led him to be the guy who could hit women?”
Raising his eyes to hers, she was surprised to see the remorse in his gaze. Crossing the room, she half trembled/half shuddered when his hand came up to ghost over the slight bruise on her cheek.
“That was...”
Spike trailed off, clenching his jaw as he jerked his hand away from her. Buffy tilted her head to study him.
“Can’t make up excuses for it. For what it’s worth, I am sorry.”
‘To forgive or not to forgive?’
Bottom line- it was always better to have a friend than an enemy. Especially when this ‘friend’ holds the key to whether she ever saw the light of day.
“It’s okay,” she said softly, looking down at the bed with a sigh before narrowing her eyes as a thought occurred to her. “Don’t do it again.”
Spike nodded, sitting down in the chair, propping his arms up on his knees. Deciding to put all of her eggs in one basket, she hesitantly sat on the edge of the bed, looking over at him.
“I think it’s only fair that I should know…what happens when my father doesn’t pay?”
“He’ll pay,” Spike said, sounding as if he was convincing himself of that fact.
Turning her head slightly as she thought of what he said, her heart jumped into her throat. “You have no idea what happens next, do you? You just jumped into this little plan and didn’t take the time to think out all of the details.”
“What do you care?” he asked, his gaze snapping up to hers. “You want us to get the money now?”
“Let’s get one thing straight,” she said in a low voice. “I don’t give a shit about you, my father, or the money. I just want out of here. I want to go home.”
“It hasn’t even been a day,” he responded with a heavy sigh. “Give it a while…your dad will see that he should pay and he’ll…”
“Yeah,” she replied, jumping up from her position on the bed and walking across the room, looking through the slats in the boarded up window and staring at the moonlight that was streaming through. “Keep trying to convince yourself of that fact.”
Jumping when she felt his hand on her arm, she slowly turned toward him. Her eyes widened when she saw what looked like compassion in his eyes.
“Look…we never wanted to scare you. This was never about you. It was always about your dad…you understand that, right?”
“What difference does it make whether I understand it?” she asked quietly, looking up at him with glassy eyes. “I’m apparently not getting out of here until you get your precious money, meaning that I’m never getting out of here.”
Not wanting to see any expression on his face, no matter what it was, she turned away from him, hugging her arms around her body, wondering how she could make it through this.
The situation and conditions could definitely be worse, but she was still being held captive, against her will, and there was no telling what tomorrow would bring.
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