[Reviews - 628]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 3923 times

- Text Size +




Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you guys so much for your support of this story and me.. I love you guys!
“Oh my God!”

“Don’t you knock?”

Buffy jerked awake and shot up, trying to gather her bearings. Faith. Faith was standing in the doorway, her mouth gaping open, eyes wide.

Looking down, Buffy noticed she was as naked as the day she was born – and so was Spike, well, except for the shirt he wore. Currently, he was trying to free the blanket from the back of the couch, which was proving difficult since he was laying half on it, and it was tucked into the cushion.

“I never knock!” Faith shouted at him.

“Well maybe you should start!” Spike snapped at her and finally succeeded in un-tucking the blanket and covering them.

Jerking into action, Buffy jumped up and took the blanket with her.

“Hey!” Spike exclaimed. “My dangly bits are all out for the world to see!”

Deftly, while trying to wrap herself in the blanket, Buffy reached to the floor and picked up his pants, tossing them at his “dangly bits” while Faith snorted at him.

Finally, wrapping the blanket around her with as much grace as she could muster, Buffy faced Faith. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

“How are you?”

“Not as well as you apparently.”

“Faith—“

Faith held up her hand. “It’s okay.”

“You’re not mad?”

“Stunned, right now. Possibly scarred for life – dude, you’re like my sister. I don’t want to think of you having sex. Ever. Not even when it was with my brother.”

Without warning, Buffy burst into tears.

“Buffy?” Spike said, concerned.

“Listen naked boy,” Faith said and Spike glared at her. “Can you give us a sex? I mean sec?”

Spike nodded dumbly from his spot on the couch, his pants covering his crotch. He was focused on Buffy, clearly worried.

Faith took Buffy’s arm and practically ran up the stairs, leading her to the bedroom.

Buffy wrenched back, shaking her head, horrified. “He’ll know!”

“Buffy—“

“Guest room,” Buffy declared and stumbled into the cream room, tripping over the blanket.

“B—what happened?” Faith asked softly.

“You don’t hate me do you?” Buffy asked through her tears.

“Buffy, no, I don’t – I knew it would happen sooner or later. I knew you liked him and he liked you.”

“B-but I didn’t know that this,” a deep shuddering breath, “was going to happen.” She shook her head emphatically, “I didn’t plan on it, I didn’t know. It just happened and – and—“

“Buffy, stop!”

“What?” Buffy asked, clearly trying to hold back more tears.

“Buffy, I’m not Doyle.”

A sob shuddered through Buffy and she nodded, “I know.”

“You don’t have to confess to me. I . . . I kind of knew it was going to happen. I knew I’d come over one day and he’d be here.”

“You did?” Buffy asked, her eyes widening.

Faith nodded, “I did.”

“H—how?”

Her surrogate sister shrugged. “Just a feeling I had. After that talk we had yesterday, I said to myself ‘Spike is gonna be here soon’. I just didn’t expect to see so so much of him.”

Through her tears, Buffy giggled. Sitting down on the guest room bed, she wiped at her tears with the edge of the blanket wrapped around her. “Somehow it’s like he knows now, you know?”

“Doyle?”

Buffy nodded.

“Because I know?” Faith asked, sitting next to her.

“Yeah. I’m not quite sure how that works, but that’s what it feels like.”

“Maybe you should have waited until you were, I don’t know, really ready to engage in a relationship before—“

“We’re not in a relationship,” Buffy said quickly. “We’re just . . . just—“

“Sleeping together naked?”

“--having sex."

“Buffy . . . that’s not you.”

“How do you know?” Buffy asked, indignantly.

“Because I just know. And with all the guilt you feel right now because of Doyle – well, Buffy, I think you feel something for this guy. I think that’s the reason why you’re so upset right now. You can almost justify ‘just having sex’. It’s quite another to justify having feelings for someone else.”

“What if he –What if he hates me?” Buffy asked mournfully, her eyes welling up in fresh tears.

“Doyle? Hate you?” Faith asked as if Buffy had lost her mind.

Buffy nodded.

“Never,” Faith assured her resolutely and wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her close, offering her comfort. “Buffy . . . Doyle would want you to be happy. He wouldn’t want you to live the rest of your life alone. Even when part of me feels I need to defend him against men sniffing around you, even I know he’d want you to find happiness.”

“Do you think he’d like Spike?”

Faith chuckled, “I think he’d make fun of that nickname of his. But yeah,” she nodded, “I think he’d like him. I think he’d like that he brought a smile to your face. You know how Doyle loved to see you smile.”

Buffy nodded, tears escaping her that she could not control. “Yeah, and he was always good at making me smile. I just – I wish there was a way to tell him, you know? A way to tell him, and a way to know that he was okay with it.”

“Well,” Faith began thoughtfully, “There is a way to tell him.”

“How?”

“We could go see him. Visit his grave and talk to him. I’ll come with you if you want.”

Buffy sniffed. “I’d like that.”

“Maybe you could introduce Spike to him?”

Buffy shook her head, “Telling him is one thing, introducing is quite another. I’m not ready for that yet. Spike might not even be here next week.”

“I think he will be. The bastard.”

“Yeah, well . . . nothing is certain in this life Faithy.”

“I think the one thing you can be certain of is Spike. In the short time I’ve known the guy, he doesn’t strike me as the love em’ and leave em’ type. If he were, well—“ she waggled her brows and smirked knowingly.

“Faith!”

Faith laughed, “Knew I could get a rise out of you.”

“And what exactly do you base it on, huh? The fact that he pursued me while he was still with Anya?”

“Wait. Is he still with her now? If he is, I’ll rip his fucking—“

“He’s not. And if he were, what does that say about me? Hell, I kissed him while he was dating her. ”

“Wow, I’m really out of the loop on this. He break up with her for you?”

“He did.”

“What does that tell you?”

“I’m afraid of what that tells me.”

“Does Anya know?”

“No, she doesn’t. Seems like there’s so much work involved . . . maybe it’s not right,” Buffy said on a sigh. “Should it be this much work?”

“That’s your fear talkin’.”

“Yeah, I guess it is.”

“You know, I forgot he was with her.”

“You did?” Buffy asked, incredulous. “How? You were here the whole day with him at the party. She was hanging all over him—“

“Exactly. She was hanging all over him. Not the other way around. You know what I saw? I saw him watching you.” She took a deep breath. “I have a confession to make.”

“You told him to back off?”

“How’d you know?”

“He pretty much told me. Well, he asked me if the reason I had you come with us that day we were running errands is because I felt uncomfortable with him. He mentioned you had said something to him, though I didn’t know exactly what.” Rubbing her head, Buffy sighed heavily, “God, everything has just . . . spiraled.”

“I think that’s what’s supposed to happen. Buffy, you remember when you started dating Doyle? You guys were married within a year—“

Buffy shook her head, “Not the same, Faith,” Buffy said sternly. “Doyle and Spike are completely different. It’s not the same.”

“Whoa, calm down there, killer.”

“I’m sorry, I’m just . . . I’m a mess.”

“But you like him a lot, don’t you?”

“I do. I just don’t know how to measure ‘a lot’.”

“You have time, Buffy. You don’t have to figure everything out right now.”

“I know. Spike said the same thing, pretty much.”

“He just gained a point.”

Buffy smiled, “So, you’d come with me? To talk to your brother?”

“As long as you need me, babe, I’m there.”

“Could you stay for dinner? Spike got us steak, but I could really go for –“

“Please say pizza.”

Buffy smiled, “Yeah, pizza. Maybe you could get to know him a little more? It’d mean a lot to me if you did.”

“Only if I can tease him about his ‘dangly bits’.”

Buffy laughed, “I’ll leave you to it then.”

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

Spike was pacing. Part of him thought maybe he should go and give Buffy and Faith some space. The other part of him thought he should stay and see it through. See what through though exactly? He asked himself.

Having Faith come in on them was some sort of turning point, he knew that much. The girl after all, was Doyle’s sister. Having her know was probably even bigger than Anya knowing. Spike knew that as much guilt Buffy felt over Anya, it was nothing compared to what she felt for Doyle.

This, he knew, was big. And if Faith was unsupportive in any way, well . . . he didn’t want to think about the ‘Well’. The ‘well’ could have him out on his ass and Buffyless.

“No, no, no,” he moaned.

“Spike?”

His head whipped around and he watched, breath held, as Faith walked in the kitchen and went for the glasses.

He stared at her, waiting. Was Faith down here to tell him to go? Was Buffy up there waiting for him to go because she couldn’t face him?

Faith turned the faucet on, the sound startling Spike. His mouth was going dry.

Faith turned, leaning her rump against the sink and took a long sip of her water. She smirked, “Buffy will be down in a minute. She’s getting dressed.”

A wave of relief flooded him for half a second and then he tensed again. “Is she --?”

“Republican? No, she’s a Democrat. That going to be a problem?”

He glared at her.

Faith laughed, “You are fun. She’s changing and she’s okay. You’re not getting the boot if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Spike was torn between heaving a sigh of relief and keeping his defenses up in case Faith had something to say about it.

“It’s all right, I know you’re relieved,” Faith said, smirking at him.

Spike heaved that sigh just as Buffy came strolling in – this time in pants. She smiled at Spike. “Did Faith tell you?”

“Tell me . . . what?”

“I invited her for dinner. You think we could put those steaks away for another day and maybe get a pizza?”

Spike smiled, there was going to be ‘another day’, and, this is no way felt as she were shielding herself from him with Faith. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

Reaching for the pizza menu on top of the fridge, Buffy plopped it down in the middle of the island counter. “So, what do we want?”

Faith and Spike stood on either side of her, and Spike resisted the urge to jump up and down for joy when Buffy casually wrapped an arm about his waist as the three of them studied the menu and chatted about what to get.





You must login (register) to review.