Chapter 35
“I missed you. Oh God, how much I missed you,” Spike said fervently as he kissed along Buffy’s jaw on his way to her earlobe, which he captured between his teeth, giving it a little nip before following the shell of her ear with his tongue, relishing in the shivers he could feel going through her small frame.
“I missed you, too.” Buffy sighed tremulously, threading her hands in his hair. “More than you can ever imagine. Promise me you won’t leave again? I couldn’t bear to be separated like this again. It was torture to think you might not come back.”
“As if I could ever do that, love. I can’t live without you, not now, not ever, that’s the reason I came to Campo Real even when I thought that you might have married my…Angel,” he interrupted himself just in time; he’d almost said ‘my brother’, he should be more careful. Although considering that Mr. Giles said his resemblance with his father was uncanny and María’s reaction when she saw him, it might be better to let Buffy know who his father was now and not wait until she discovered it in any other way.
Plus he had promised himself not to go over the wedding issue again. He had no idea where Mr. Giles could have gotten the idea that Buffy was his brother’s bride, but he’d chalk it up to a misunderstanding, a strange one at that, but nothing else. Buffy was his and he wouldn’t let anyone else take her away from him. He put some distance between them to see her face while he spoke, taking her hands in his as he gazed adoringly into her green eyes. “I want us to marry as soon as possible, when can I ask your mother for your hand in marriage?”
“As soon as you want,” she answered, smiling brightly at him.
“Right then, Mr. Giles said that everything was ready to give me his last name and that we just needed to sign some paperwork at the City Council. I’ll go to Galveston tomorrow and when I return I’ll be William Giles and then we’ll talk to your mother.”
Buffy’s smile disappeared and she frowned, saying, “William Giles, hmm, no, that’s not right.”
“Why not? I don’t think your mother will be too keen on you marrying a pirate called William the Bloody, love.”
“Because that’s not your rightful last name,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Buffy,” he sighed heavily, “we’ve been through this once before. Remember I told you my father died before giving me his last name?”
“I’m aware of that, darling, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t have his last name.”
“I don’t see how.”
“I’m sure that if you tell Angel that you’re his brother, he’ll happily give the De Alcazar name to you. Just look how pleased he was to receive you in Campo Real.”
“The De Alcazar name? Why would I want that?” He forced a laugh. How the hell did she find out about that?
“Because I’m sure that’s what Uncle Rodrigo would have wanted and please don’t try to deny it. Anyone that knew my uncle and sees you now, will notice the resemblance immediately.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, María recognized you immediately, didn’t she? That’s why she was so pale when she found us in my room. So, I’m sure everyone else will recognize you as easily.”
“You and Angel didn’t recognize me.”
“So what? I was barely five years old when my Uncle Rodrigo died and well, I hadn’t seen his portrait in a while until I found an album a few weeks ago, so forgive me if my memory is a tad sketchy about what he looked like. And about Angel, well, maybe he hasn’t seen a portrait of his father in a while either? How will I know anyway? The point is that you are a De Alcazar and deserve to have your father’s last name.”
So that was how she had found out; for a minute there he’d thought it had been María, even if she had promised not to tell Buffy until he came back. “Oh, love, this will probably come as a shock to you, but I am pretty sure that even if Angel agreed to that, your dear Aunt Darla won’t.”
“Aunt Darla? Well, I have to accept that she’s a little…”
“Prejudiced?” he interjected.
“Intense,” she continued as if he hadn’t interrupted her, “but I’m sure that when she sees you…”
“When she sees me I’ll consider myself lucky if she doesn’t shoot me.”
She threw him a dark look. “She wouldn’t do that.”
“You can’t be sure of that, sweetheart. She didn’t care that much for me when I was a child, she definitely won’t care for me now.”
“Of course I can be sure and I’ll be there right by your side; you’re my future husband after all, even it they don’t know it yet. But they will know soon, won’t they?” She looked at him uncertain if she had pushed him a little too far with the whole last name issue. It wasn’t that she cared what his last name was, because truthfully she didn’t care if she was Elizabeth De Alcazar or Elizabeth The Bloody, as long as she was his wife, but he had the right to be William De Alcazar and she was going to make sure he got what he deserved.
Spike wasn’t as sure as she was of the whole thing or even Angel’s reaction to him being his brother or doña Darla’s to his reappearance, but it was endearing to see her make her point so passionately. He hadn’t thought he could love her any more than he already did, but his heart had swelled with love when he realized how much she cared for him. So he rushed to reassure her, replying, “Sure, my love, they will know as soon as possible.” ‘Although I’m not sure if they’ll be too happy about your choice,’ he added for himself as he kissed her again. Not that he cared about what anyone might say, other than to the extent of whether or not it might hurt Buffy in any way, but there was no way he’d give her up even if he had to steal her away so they could marry and be together.
* ~ * ~ *
“Oh God, what happened?” Joyce asked getting up from a chair as soon as Angel entered the house with his bride in his arms.
“She fainted. I imagine it was the heat, Aunt Joyce,” Angel responded, carefully setting Aimée over a sofa and looking over to where Cordelia stood at his mother’s side. “Can you bring me the smelling salts, please?”
“Of course, don Angel,” she said, curtsying before leaving the room.
“Hmm, that’s strange. Has she ever fainted before, Joyce?” Darla asked.
“N-no, not that I know.” She laughed nervously. “If it weren’t because it’s practically impossible, I’d have said that maybe she fainted because she’s expecting already.”
Darla frowned at her sister-in-law’s words. What if the little trollop was pregnant? For Aimée’s sake, that better not be the case, otherwise she’ll have to expose the girl’s deception earlier than she expected.
Cordelia came back into the living room followed by María. “Here they are, don Angel,” she said, handing the smelling salts to Angel and blushing when her fingers touched his.
María glanced around the room looking for Elizabeth. “Where’s mi niña Elizabeth, doña Joyce? I thought she was here with you.”
“Oh, no, she’s outside entertaining our new Administrator, María,” Angel replied as he opened the smelling salts and put them under Aimée’s nose. Immediately the girl began to ‘recover’ from her fainting spell.
“New Administrator?” Darla asked.
“Yes, Mother, I told you about him, remember? William, my childhood friend.”
’William is here? Oh, God, all hell is going to break loose when doña Darla and doña Joyce see him. What should I do?’ María thought.
’William is here? So soon? Oh, God, what am I going to do now?’ Darla paled; she’d hoped she would have time to convince Angel that it was unwise to hire someone else and to leave Snyder in his post. But that was not all, she was truly afraid that everything she’d fought so hard to keep buried would resurface now that her husband’s bastard was back in Campo Real.
“Elizabeth is alone with that man?” Joyce questioned, getting alarmed.
“Yes, but don’t worry, Aunt Joyce, William is a very trustworthy person.”
“It’s just that it’s not proper for a young lady…” she began, only to be interrupted by María.
“Maybe I could go and get her, doña Joyce?”
“Oh, that’d be great, thank you, María,” she answered, returning her attention to Aimée, who was doing a big show of waking up at that moment. “Darling, how are you feeling?”
“W-what happened?”
“You fainted, sweetheart,” Angel said hovering over her. “Do you think we need to call the doctor, Mother?”
“No!” Aimée exclaimed, lowering her voice after seeing the looks she was receiving. “No, there’s no need of that, Angel. I’m pretty sure it was the heat and all the excitement of the wedding.”
“All right, if you think so…”
“Yes, I think so, don’t worry.” With a little help from Angel she sat on the sofa and glanced around the room, frowning when she didn’t see Elizabeth or William there. “Where’s Elizabeth?”
“Oh, she stayed outside with my friend William. You remember I introduced him to you before you fainted, don’t you?” Angel asked, still worried that his wife could be sick.
Aimée nodded, beginning to get nervous. ‘Oh, God, that’s not good. Elizabeth knows something happened between William and me and after finding us in the garden like that…oh, no, what if she tells Angel or even worse, what if she tells my darling mother-in-law. I have to talk to her; I need to convince her to not say anything, but how?’
tbc
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you: spikestheman, Kimber, Vette, Amelia-Jane, jt, SpaceLord, DaniD, teasha, Devin, and Klai for reviewing. And a special thank you and welcome back to MarzBar, who was über-fast betaing this chapter.
I’m so sorry for the lack of updates, but it seems RL and my muse are conspiring against my desire to write. Hopefully that’s over now and we’ll go back to our scheduled chapter per week.
I’m so sorry for the lack of updates, but it seems RL and my muse are conspiring against my desire to write. Hopefully that’s over now and we’ll go back to our scheduled chapter per week.