Chapter 22
Neither Buffy nor Spike looked at each other as Joyce left, him going back into his room once the door had closed and her turning back to her movie.
And that's how Giles found them two hours later when, after a slightly worrisome and possibly disturbing conversation with his wife, he came to see the two of them.
"Good afternoon Buffy," He greeted pleasantly. "Are you enjoying your movie?"
Buffy had started another movie--thanking her Cinemax channel for a whole other reason now.
"I am, there are some really great ones on today. It's nice to have just a calm, relaxing day every once in a while."
"That's wonderful, dear. Now please do stay here while I speak with William."
Buffy was worried with that last statement. She didn't know why he'd want her to stay there…while he spoke with William.
"Sure," she said, though she knew it wasn't exactly so much of a question as an order.
"William," Rupert wouldn't have knocked if he was sure how exactly William would be...uh, dressed. "I would like to speak with you please."
"Come in," William called and Giles did in fact go into his room, shutting the door behind him, which prevented Buffy from hearing what was said.
"William, I'd like it if you would join me in my study for a drink," Giles said as soon as he'd closed the door behind him.
"Yes, of course." Spike knew something was up based on the look on his brother's face. This wasn't an optional thing, nor was it anything lighthearted. He was more than a little worried.
"Good, good. Would you mind going now?"
Again he knew it wasn't a question, "That's fine."
Spike followed him out of the room, surprised when he stopped to ask Buffy if she would like to join them.
"She's not even legal, Rupes. You can't be offering the girl alcohol," Spike objected before Buffy even had the chance to answer.
"I," Giles explained heatedly, "May offer her whatever I so choose. She is my daughter." And with that Spike knew he was in trouble.
"Of course, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it."
"You better not have. Now, Buffy, would you care to join us?"
For once Buffy was glad to be having lunch with her mother. "I can't, sorry. Mom and I have that lunch," she explained.
"Yes, yes, don't know how I forgot. William, if you'll come with me."
'Good,' Buffy thought as she watched them go. 'William's finally going to get what he deserves.'
"What would you like to drink?"
"Anything is fine," William answered, wanting to keep things as pleasant as possible.
"Anything?" Rupert questioned, "Really? Shouldn't you be a bit more discriminate, William? You must have a preference...or do you just take whatever is offered you and decide later on whether or not you liked it?"
William knew that the question had to do with a lot more than what drink he wanted, but wasn't sure just what exactly that 'more' was. "A bit of soda would be nice," he finally answered.
"Worried about handling your alcohol? Guess it takes a true man to drink this early in the day."
"Um, sure," Spike answered, really not knowing what was going on now.
Giles poured them both drinks—William wasn't sure what it was the older man was having—and they walked over towards the leather chairs in the corner of the room--but neither of them sat down; they just stood against the backs of the chairs.
William sipped his drink and watched his brother as Giles sipped his own drink and stared back at William. After a few very tense moments, the elder of the two brothers broke the silence.
"Is there anything you would like to tell me, William?" he asked sharply in a clipped tone.
"I don't believe so." Spike didn't know what he'd done wrong, but he had obviously done something.
"Did you know that my wife came to speak with me after inviting you to lunch?" Rupert tried a different angle, still beyond angry with his half-brother.
'Okay,' Spike thought, 'So this is supposed to give me some idea what's wrong, but...'
"I wasn't aware of that. I hadn't realized that the lunch was such an important thing--I can try calling in to work--"
"It has nothing to do with the bloody lunch!" Giles interrupted. "It has," he explained, his voice lower now, frighteningly calm in fact, "To do with Buffy."
"With Buffy?" Spike asked nervously.
"Yes, you pillock, with Buffy. What did you do to her?"
"What do you mean?" William asked carefully.
"You know full well what I mean, but for some reason I'll tell you anyway. Joyce came back to tell me that Buffy wouldn't ask you about lunch and that after she knocked on your door she asked you herself--which she just saw as Buffy being obstinate. But she also told me that Buffy said you were ignoring her...Joyce may not believe that," he paused for a minute, sure to look William in the eye, "But I do."
"Oh," William said as realization dawned on him. 'Rupert knows that I was ignoring Buffy....he wasn't supposed to know that.'
"Yes, 'oh'," he mocked him. "Joyce, if she believed Buffy, would just think it was some sort of disagreement and that you'll get over it..." He didn't finish the thought.
"But that's not what you think?" Spike didn't like getting yelled at--or almost yelled at--for something where he wasn't really the one in the wrong, but there wasn't much he could say to defend himself.
"I know there was something more there between Buffy and you. I don't know for sure what it was or what's happened to disrupt things so, but I know it's not good."
"No," William agreed, "But in all fairness, Rupert, you don't know the situation, so..."
"I believe that I know enough. And I want you to know that Buffy really is my daughter. She might not be my blood but I love her as if she were; you may be my blood, but I'm not gong to stand for you hurting her," Giles lectured. "You need to realize that there are feelings here that need to be taken into consideration."
He'd planned on being nice, staying diplomatic and letting Rupert say whatever he wanted to him, William had. But now? He had spent time trying to show Buffy that he wanted her--all of her--only to have her not believe him...Or perhaps believe him all too well. Regardless, she'd truly broken his heart and now here he was....here he was being told to be careful of her heart.
In any other situation he would have laughed at the irony but right now he wasn't at the point where he could.
"I know full well that feelings need to be taken into consideration--" He, for some unknown reason, couldn't bring himself to make them see Buffy badly. "I'm going to be moving out," he decided.
It was the first truly split second decision he'd ever made. He was an incredibly impulsive person sure, but he always thought about things for at least a second or two. But not this; with this it had been the saying it that alerted him to the decision.
"Excuse me?" Giles questioned. This wasn't what he'd been expecting; he'd been in no way prepared for this. Joyce was going to kill him.
"I'm going to be moving out, back to where I was before probably. I'll go pack now and be gone by the end of the day."
TBC.............please review...that and don't hate me ;-)
and I realise MBB says it's not finished and that's because it is going to have an epilogue...it just hasn't been written yet :-)
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Author's Chapter Notes:
I know I'm way late today but my router slowly died over three days and today we had no internet till just now....okay, so it didnt' die, just decided to change it's IP address and not tell us...but I'm here now...and hopefully you'll still be willing to read (and review). Thank you two million and ninety four times over for all of the reviews I've been getting...I love you all so much...even the people who don't like me anymore...and I'll stop rambling now....