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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews so far for this story. It means so much to me.
Chapter 2: ‘Why Put Off Until Tomorrow…..’


Summary: Spike insists on a formal indtroduction to Buffy, but his friend is reluctant. Tara gives Spike a little more insight to Buffy’s personal life.

A/N: I want to thank you all, so much, for the lovely reviews you have given me for this story.

Chapter 2:


“Introduce us,” Spike repeated, his forehead still pressed against the glass window.

“No,” Tara replied, simply.

“What?” Spike turned around and stared at his friend, a little stunned. “I thought…..”

“You thought,” Tara interjected coolly, “that I’d hand Buffy Summers over to you, just like that. Especially if you took the bait and saw what a truly beautiful human being she is, right?”

Before he could respond, Tara answered her own question for him:

“Well, my friend, you thought wrong. I know you, Spike and I read you, like a book. You’ve been struck, hard, instantly, by Buffy’s powerful personality and her beauty. That’s just dandy, but I believe I told you that Willow and I don’t want her hurt anymore.”

“I would not hurt that wonderful girl,” Spike rasped staring back into the window. It was not in Spike’s nature to hurt someone, intentionally, and especially not someone as completely beautiful as Buffy Summers.

“No, not intentionally, I know that,” Tara scowled impatiently. “You are not the cruel type, of course you're not. However, Buffy has been hurt, dreadfully, by her ex. Riley Finn devastated her, less then a year ago and even if ‘you’ have recovered from your romantic fiasco? Buffy has not.”

“What did the fuck do to her?” Spike asked hoarsely, turning once again to face Tara.

“It’s not my place to say,” Tara shrugged in reply. “I will tell you that Buffy and you have more in common then the loss of your mothers, however.”

Also,” she continued, her brows scrunched together in thought, “aren’t you a little afraid of Buffy being on the rebound, emotionally that is? I can also assure you, she’s not a love em’ and leave em’ kind of woman and even though she’s dated, once or twice since Riley? Well….” She stopped mid sentence.

" That’s all they were, friendly dates that is. One was with Xander Harris, I believe, an old friend of hers and my Willow’s. I suppose she felt he’d be ‘safe’ to date, as a friend,” Tara frowned, slightly.

“I know she went out with Parker Abrams, he’s a tech on the 6th floor here, but nothing really came of any of her attempts to move one with them. Buffy has put walls up, around her heart, Spike, and I’m not sure you should even try to knock them down. Not tonight that is anyway.”

Tara shook her blond head and sighed, “I’m not sure if Buffy is ‘ready’ for someone like you Spike. You know what you want and you’ll go after her, though, won’t you? Okay,” Tara sighed in defeat, “I have a feeling this is useless, for me to try and dissuade you, though, right?” She looked at Spike out of the corner of her left eye, seemingly studying him, somehow.

Spike felt a little more then a stab of jealousy when he’d heard about these two wankers that Buffy had tried to move on with. He was much more then a little scared that he cared so much, so fast, about this young woman that he’d not even said a simple ‘hello’ to, face-to-face.

“You’re right Glinda,” Spike whispered, still gazing at the blond woman behind the glass. “You’re not going to dissuade me, so just introduce me to her, yeah?”

He watched Buffy lay the baby boy down in the little crib, gently. His heart beat even faster and his throat constricted slightly, when she immediately picked up another little boy and cuddled him.

“Okay,” Tara sighed again, “despite my misgivings, for Buffy’s sake? I’ll introduce you to her, but, not tonight, not here.”

“Oh bloody hell, Glinda,” Spike hissed, facing Tara again. “Why won't you just introduce us and..." I won’t sweep the girl off her feet, literally, and carry her off to ravish her!”

‘At least not tonight,’ Spike thought to himself, getting a pleasant visual of doing just that with the golden Buffy Summers.

“Oh for God’s sake, Spike,” Tara muttered, finally joining him at the window. “I’m not going to introduce you tonight and that’s that. Let’s just say that I have my reasons. However,” she brightened up a bit, “I will introduce you to her tomorrow, at Buffy’s Bistro. Willow and I go there, every Tuesday morning to have coffee and bagels with Buffy. You can join my Wills and me, there at the Bistro. I’ll introduce you then, on Buffy’s turf so to speak. It might be a little less overwhelming for her and all.”

“It would be less overwhelming for her?” Spike asked with a raised brow. “I’m a little confused here, Glinda,” he shook his bleached blond head. “Why would Buffy be overwhelmed by me and why…..”

“All right, quite down and I’ll give you a little head’s up,” Tara whispered again.

“The fact of the matter is? Buffy Summers is exactly what ‘you’ need in your life, Spike Giles. The reverse is true, also,” the blond woman continued matter-of-factly.

“Buffy needs a man like you, someone aggressive; with a ‘knows what he wants’ attitude. She is going to need persuading, our Buffy is,” Tara chuckled lightly, “to come back and join the human race that is. Since you need to finally join the human race? I can’t think of two people that are more suited for each other.”

“You planned this!” Spike gasped in delighted shock at his friend’s admission.

“Well, let’s just say I ‘thought it up’ to try,” Tara giggled happily. “I’m always so smugly pleased when my plots turn out,” she added with a sly wink.

“We should go,” Tara whispered up at him, “Buffy doesn’t need to be distracted, okay?”

“Okay Tara,” Spike replied with a tender smile at Buffy.

Suddenly, Buffy looked up and seemed to notice Tara and Spike for the first time. Spike could see her huge green eyes widen even more in surprise, but he just knew she was smiling under that little mouth mask of hers.

Buffy waved, at Tara presumably, but Spike couldn’t help but wave back at her, almost boyishly.

‘Is she laughing under there?’ He wondered as he noticed her beautiful eyes light up even more. Spike smiled widely, directly at Buffy and started to wave again.

“Time to go,” Tara grabbed Spike with one hand and waved at Buffy with the other. “You’ll meet the ‘girl wonder’ tomorrow, I promise,” she laughed, pulling her reluctant male friend away from the nursery and down the hall.

Spike allowed Tara to drag him away from the nursery, but he continued to stare back at it, longingly, all the way to the elevator. Now, all’s he had to do was be able to sleep tonight, anticipating meeting the mysterious beauty behind the little face mask tomorrow.

Buffy Summers sat on the little chair next to baby Quentin’s crib. She had just picked her little ‘charge’ up and began to sing his favorite song to him. That is when she noticed her friend Tara and a strange blond man standing next to her, outside the looking glass of the nursery.

Before Buffy could think too much about ‘it’ she waved at Tara and was a little surprised when the blond man waved back at her. This man, obviously some kind of hospital staff member, waved at her almost shyly and this made Buffy giggle for some reason. She, Buffy, had not giggled, fully, in so long and it felt so good.

After Tara acknowledged her, Buffy noticed her friend pull the man away from the window and head off down the hall. Buffy could have sworn the handsome blond man was reluctant to leave and this made her feel almost giddy or light-headed. She had a feeling Buffy did, that this mysterious man might be that hot shot surgeon from back east. Tara’s best friend from college wasn’t it?

‘What’s his name again?’ Buffy wondered briefly, rocking Quentin in her arms. ‘I know his real name is William Giles,’ she reasoned, ‘but he goes by some ridiculous nickname, right?’

Right then, Willow Rosenberg, Buffy’s like best friend in the entire universe, entered the nursery and took a chair beside her.

“Hey, Buff,” Willow whispered, eyeing Quentin thoughtfully.

“Hey Wills,” Buffy replied softly, her eyes never leaving the tiny bundle in her arms.

“How’s are little guy tonight?” Willow asked carefully, gazing into Quentin’s brown eyes.

“He’s better, Wills,” Buffy whispered excitedly. “His color is much better tonight, don’t you think?” The blond volunteer glanced at the red-headed nurse, searching her friend’s gray eyes for the right answer. Buffy tried not to notice the painful expression of sympathy in Willow’s pretty face.

“Sure, honey,” Willow sighed heavily, “he does ‘seem’ brighter-eyed today and…..” she tried not to look Buffy in the eyes as her voice trailed off slowly.

“He smiled at me,” Buffy whispered, determined to find some ray of hope in the eyes of little Quentin. “He smiled at me, just a moment ago, Wills,” she repeated stubbornly.

“I know, sweetie,” Willow sighed and rested her hand on Buffy’s arm. “That’s something, Buff, it is,” the red-haired young woman murmured with a nod of her head.

“Willow,” Buffy paused, deciding to change the subject. “Who was that blond man, with the intense blue eyes that was with Tara at the nursery window, just a moment ago?”

“Oh,” Willow smiled, seemingly relieved that her best friend had changed the unhappy subject of little Quentin’s health.

“That’s Spike Giles, surgeon extraordinaire, from back east. You know about him; the one that my Tara went to college with? He’s an incredibly brilliant surgeon, Buff,” Willow rambled on and on, noticing her little friend’s bright red blush on her pretty face.

“You like him, don’t you?” Willow muttered giddily, hugging Buffy around her shoulders.

“Willow I don’t even know the man, how could I like him as you call it?” Buffy quipped in exasperation. She tried to scowl at her friend’s silliness, but ended up grinning instead.

“Because,” Willow replied smugly, “I can tell when you really ‘notice’ a guy Buffy Summers. You ‘noticed’ Dr. Giles, big time,” Willow giggled in delight. “Ooohhh, I can’t wait to tell Tara tonight that you ‘noticed’ her friend! This is gonna’ be great!”

Willow actually clapped her hands together in obvious excitement. This caused Buffy to wonder if her best friend had temporarily lost her freakin' mind.


A/N: I typed this out to post this morning because I’m in a rut and wanted to do something a little more fun. Of course, the angst is in there, because of the poor little baby, Quentin, who will be appearing in the story off and on.

Buffy may have ‘noticed’ Spike, big time, but he’s perusal of her, romantically, is not going to go smoothly, at first. Yes, Spike is smitten with Buffy, but, this ‘is’ Buffy we’re talking about here and she does have the Great Wall of China built up around her heart.

Thanks for reading and please review, spufette.





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