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Chapter 5 – Choosing Battles


“I really don’t want to go in there,” Buffy said, looking at the hotel with trepidation.

“Preaching to the choir, love,” Spike replied. “But you’re usually the one who’s talking me into seeing the poofter.”

“Badness is on the other side of that door, Spike.”

“And finally, she sees the light!” he yelled to the sky, chuckling when Buffy hit him in the shoulder.

“I’m serious!” she said, crossing her arms over her chest and leveling him with a glare. “There’s something going on and he’s not telling us… well… he’s not telling me,” she clarified, trying to keep the sulking tone out of her voice.

Pulling her closer to him, Spike brushed a kiss to her temple, breathing in the scent of her hair. “Everything will be fine, Buffy.”

“Promise?” she murmured, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her head in his chest.

“I promise,” he said, guiding her toward the hotel. “Come on. No telling what the Almighty Hair Gel King has in store for us.”

“You’re one to talk,” Buffy said in amusement, running her hand over his perfectly slicked back hair.

“Hey, no touching!” he cried, moving to step away from her, trying to keep from smiling as she happily tousled his hair.

Stepping away from him with a sigh, Buffy turned to look at the imposing building. “Alright,” she said after a moment. “I guess we should get this over with.”

Walking toward the hotel, both could already see Angel pacing as they approached.

“You’re late,” Angel said irritably as he watched Spike walk into the lobby of his hotel with one arm securely wrapped around his daughter. Squashing down the familiar possessiveness, he reminded himself that he trusted Spike. To some extent, he always had and he knew Buffy wanted to be with him.

“Nice to see you, too, mate,” Spike said, seeing Angel’s expression darken when he watched Buffy nervously tuck a lock of hair behind her ear, slightly exposing the bite mark on her neck. “I think we’re found out,” Spike murmured with a smirk, leading Buffy further into the hotel. “Good thing those extra-heightened vamp senses aren’t there, huh, pet?”

Buffy tried to hide her smile, looking up when her father spoke.

“I don’t need enhanced senses to know what you two have been doing,” he said, glowering at Spike.

“Why did you want us to come over?” Buffy asked, trying to maneuver the conversation away from dangerous territory.

“I told you that you didn’t need to come, Buffy,” he said, trying to keep the irritation out of his tone. “Just need to talk to Spike,” he added, clearing his throat in a nervous gesture, hoping to be playing it off as casually as he could. “Cordelia was actually wondering if you could help her move some things around upstairs.”

Studying her father for a long moment, Buffy slowly turned toward Spike, hoping he would be on her side, fighting for her to stay. Seeing the intense looks that were passing between her father and her lover, Buffy sighed, knowing this would be fighting a losing battle.

“Evasive maneuver technique,” she muttered, walking toward the stairs. “Got it.”

Spike watched as Buffy walked up the stairs, waiting until he knew she would be out of hearing distance before speaking. “What’s wrong, Angel?”

Hearing the use of his name instead of a nickname, Angel took a deep breath, knowing that Spike could sense the seriousness of why he had called him. And hating the fact that his instincts were right.

* * * * *

“This is just so frustrating,” Buffy said, kicking an empty cardboard box as she paced around the room.

“I’m sure it’s just some male thing,” Cordelia said, moving boxes into the room.

“More like an alpha-male thing,” Buffy muttered, looking out the window to see the smoggy Los Angeles skyline. “They think that whatever they’re talking about, I can’t handle hearing.”

“And how do you feel about that?” Cordy asked in amusement, knowing exactly how the other woman felt about it.

“Aside from the need to shove a stake right up their… not good,” she corrected, clearing her throat when she saw Cordelia’s raised eyebrow. “Half the time I’m treated like a warrior… that’s who I am, after all. Or who I was prophesized to be, but then sometimes…” she trailed off, clenching her hand into a fist as she took a deep breath. “I thought we were past this,” she said, sitting in front of Cordelia. “The whole ‘let’s keep everything a secret and protect poor little Buffy’ thing? I thought we were over it.”

“They just want to keep you-”

“Safe,” Buffy filled in, rolling her eyes. “Do you know how old that line gets? I am safe. I’ve faced off with the worst vampire on record and lived. Killing him in the process, I might add, and don’t think that it helped since it was my father! That was no walk in the park. I mean, I’m destined to live forever – it’s gonna take a lot to kill me. I’ve known about vampires for as long as I can remember. I’ve been training to fight them since I was a kid, and they still feel the need to shelter me and coddle me. Well… Dad does,” she corrected, blushing slightly at the idea of Spike and coddling. There was definitely no coddling on his part, judging from their activities of a half hour earlier.

“How do you even know it’s about you?” Cordy replied, looking at her surrogate daughter.

Buffy gave her a look of disbelief. “Not to sound conceited or anything, but I’m the Daughter of Prophecy. Or, I was. Whenever there’s been something brewing, when has it not been about me?”

“Very true,” Cordelia said with a nod.

“Good or bad, although it’s usually bad, and they still feel like I can’t be mature about it.”

“Well, to be fair-”

Cordy began, only to stop when Buffy continued talking, never hearing her surrogate mother speaking.

“I mean, doesn’t it drive you crazy that he won’t tell you what’s the what?”

“Not really,” the older woman replied. “I know that there’s a reason he does what he does.”

“It’s killing you, isn’t it?” Buffy asked with an understanding smile.

“Oh yeah,” Cordy replied, letting her true feelings come out as she nodded. “But you have to choose your battles, Buffy. You just learn to do that.”

“Yeah?” she said in a questioning tone, staring at the door to the room. “Well, this is one that I feel the need to choose.”

Seeing Cordelia move to restrain her as she made her way out of the room, Buffy easily side-stepped her, intent on her destination – and the need to put two men in their place.






Thanks so much to: Whitelighter354, Melissa, Brunettepet, Furvus, Charlene, Cordykitten, jennybean, Missy, spikes sweety, baby spikes, BuffyandSpikeForever and Crystal Pegasus for reviewing!!





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