Harmony, as far as Buffy could tell, paid no heed to the fact that Spike had company. Her eyes were firmly intent on Spike as she bee lined for him.
She also paid no heed to the fact that she had on a long sweater jacket that failed to do the diva-swirly move behind her and instead, got caught under her boot heels, causing her to trip not so gracefully and right into Spike's arms.
Buffy and Alicia started to giggle, the both of them with hands over their mouths. They looked at each other and giggled more. That was until Buffy noticed out of the corner of her eye Harmony glaring at them. Buffy just shrugged, not really caring if the moron and her entourage, who was now glaring daggers at her as well, thought she was impertinent for not bowing down to the unglory that was Harmony. Reaching out for Alicia, Buffy pulled her closer to her just in case daggers actually did fly from their eyes.
Spike, for his part, looked completely baffled and put out. "What?" he asked, pointedly, helping her stand erect once more.
She stared at him and put her hands on her hips. "What do you mean 'what?'? Haven't you missed me?"
Spike sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair, "Well, I did, but--"
Harmony broke out in a wide smile. "So you've been a shell of a man without me. Tell me how you've been a shell of a man without me," she pressed eagerly. It seemed to Buffy that Harmony almost wanted to clap her hands together in delight at that. Without realizing it, Buffy sucked in a breath and held it, wondering what the exchange between the two was going to result in.
Spike shook his head. "I rather think I've become a whole man since you left me."
Harmony blinked, looked around her, glanced at her entourage who just shrugged, and then blinked back at him, clearly lost. "Huh?"
"What do you want, Harmony?" Spike finally demanded.
Finally, Buffy thought, we get to it.
Harmony pouted petulantly, "I want to come back." Reaching out, she slid one perfectly manicured, pink polished nail down the middle of his clothed in a black t-shirt, chest. "Don't you want me to come back?"
Spike took a step back and shook his head, Buffy exhaled finally, and Alicia looked on with wide eyes.
Harmony didn’t appear as if she knew quite to do with her self. He eyes widened into saucers and she seemed rooted to where she was. Buffy had the distinct feeling the tart had never been rejected like this; she also surmised that she was going to blow. Buffy feared that blow. She’d heard the girl sing, she was a screecher, no good could come from Harmony blowing if she started to screech her disbelief and anger.
“What is it? Is it her?” Harmony spat, pointing at Buffy.
“Which ‘her’ are you referring to? You better not mean my daughter,” Spike said, warning in his voice.
“No, the other one,” Harmony spat, trying to bore a hole in Buffy’s head with her laser eyes.
“The ‘other one’? That’s real nice Harmony,” Buffy spoke up finally. “Alicia is someone, not the other half of the ‘other one’.”
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Harmony told her dismissively.
“I don’t really care if you were talking to me or not you little –“
“Shut up!” Harmony shouted.
“Harmony,” Spike said wearily, “Just go. Just take leave of us already. God, I never realized what an insipid little brat you are. Selfish, spoiled, conceited little—“
“That never seemed to bother you when you were fucking me!” Harmony screeched.
“Come on Leesha,” Buffy said softly, guiding Alicia away from the scene Harmony was about to cause. And, if she should cause the glass encasing the store to shatter from her shrill voice, then it was best to get Alicia out of Harmony’s way.
“No. Stay. Harmony can leave,” Spike said evenly. It was the kind of evenness that hinted that underneath that cool exterior was a storm of mass proportions. A tornado, an earthquake, a tsunami. It chilled to the bone. Which was why Harmony cowered. Wise on her part, Buffy decided and made a furtive wish that she never, ever was on the receiving end of that even calm.
He strode up to Harmony until he was in her face. “You will leave this place now so that I can shop with my daughter in peace. You will also apologize to her and to Buffy for using such language. Do it or I will get security over here and have them take you out by force. I don’t care who the hell you are, I’m crazy enough to do it. And don’t think you can get one of your little cronies to help you, Harmony. God alone can help you – and them-- if you don’t apologize and remove yourself from our presence.”
“Blondie bear?” Harmony tried, one last ditch effort.
“Do it!”
Turning slowly to Buffy and Alicia with big crocodile tears dropping, and her bottom lip quivering, Harmony issued them a quivering apology before running, yes running, from them, her entourage following behind.
Alicia and Buffy regarded Spike with wide eyes, wondering if there would be an explosive fallout following the chaotic storm that had been Harmony. Instead though, he took a deep breath, shook himself a bit as if shaking off the whole scene and turned to them with a grin. “So, Leesha, what had we decided on for this bed frame?”
After dropping Alicia off at home, and after telling her mother in a thoroughly exaggerated manner about her Daddy’s confrontation with Harmony, she’d kissed her father on the cheek with a giant bear hug attached and bounded off to call one of her friends and tell them how her Daddy got Harmony to cry.
Sam had seemed impressed, if her facial expressions were anything to go by, but she’d be damned to say anything remotely approving though. Buffy figured it’d take some time, but just her acknowledgment with a nod that Spike had handled it well, was a step in the right direction. She’d then politely excused herself and told Spike she’d see him soon.
Buffy flopped back in the car, exhausted. Her belly was full after having gotten dinner, and she was worn out. “I’ve shopped and I’m ready to drop,” she informed Spike.
He grinned over at her. “So, you don’t want to take a walk on the beach for a bit?”
Buffy broke into a smile, the beach being her favorite place. “I think I could muster up some energy for that.”
“I thought so.”
Strolling side by side under the fading sun, Buffy quietly contemplated how to tell Spike she was proud of him. Before she’d only managed to pat him on the back and give him a wide grin, trying to convey that he’d done well. He’d been mature, having not stooped to Harmony’s level and, most importantly, he’d defended Alicia and shown her that she was the most important thing to him and that a sniveling brat like Harmony had no place in his life if she could not accept her.
“You’re quiet. What are you thinking?” Spike asked, breaking her reverie.
She smiled a tiny smile of knowing and gave him a sideways glance. “I’m thinking of how to tell you how proud I am of you.”
“For?”
“For how you handled Harmony.”
“Well, she was out of line. She insulted Alicia and you, not to mention causing a scene. Alicia didn’t need to see that.”
“Had that never happened before when you were dating her?”
Spike shook his head, “Not with Alicia around us.” He took a deep breath and puffed out his chest. “I suppose the strain of losing yours truly has gotten to her.”
Buffy laughed and swatted him playfully on the arm. “Well, I thought it was great. You were so. . . “
“Mature?”
She grinned, “Yes, mature. Alicia considers you a hero, you realize.”
“Does she now?”
“The sheer fact that she wanted to tell all her friends how her Dad made Harmony cry, I’d say so.”
“Yeah, but was it for that alone or was it for why I did what I did.”
“She might not fully realize why you did what you did, that it was for her—“
“And you.”
“—But she will one day and that makes all the difference in the world. That’s going to be the first story she writes about in her memoir.”
Spike chuckled. “That so?”
Buffy nodded adamantly. “Yep. You’ll see.”
Reaching out, Spike took Buffy’s hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “Thank you, pet.”
Halting, Buffy took pause and looked up at an inquisitive Spike.
“Pet?” he asked her. “Something wrong?”
Taking a deep breath for courage while her heart was pounding in her ears, Buffy leaned up quickly and kissed him. She pulled back, finding she wanted more and looked up to gauge his reaction. His eyes were closed and he wore a goofy smile that spread from ear to ear.
“Hey, pet, you think you could do that—“
Knowing how he was going to finish that sentence, Buffy took it upon herself to reply with another kiss, this one longer, more passionate, holding the sides of his head in her hands. “Ssshh,” she warned, “Don’t tell anyone, but you’re in danger of getting that crumb you asked for.”