And I’ve won things at LSA! Squee!! Runners up for Best Claiming, Best Episode Rewrite, and a Judge’s Choice Award. ***bouncing*** Thank you all so, so much!!!
“Have I mentioned the many ways in which you owe me big time?” Willow asked as Buffy, shame-faced, slid into the seat next to her in the Sunnydale High cafeteria. “Because you owe me so much that…are you wearing Spike’s clothing?”
“‘Hello, Buffy,” Buffy mimed, opening up the lunch she’d brought with her. Right before she’d finally left Spike’s crypt, he’d slipped a twenty into her jean pocket and told her to pick up something on her way to school. It was amazing how she could feel like a little kid and an adult simultaneously. “‘How was your night? Are you feeling better? And happy birthday.’”
“Hello, Buffy,” Willow echoed, rolling her eyes. “How was your night? Are you feeling better? Happy birthday. And do you have any idea how very much you owe me big time?”
“No.”
“Your mother called me in a panic last night.”
Buffy’s eyes went wide, mirth vanishing instantly. “Oh God. Will, tell me you—”
“Lied my butt off? ‘Oh, Mrs. Summers. Buffy went patrolling with Faith. She’s coming here after to work on a science project.’” Willow’s eyes narrowed. “Are those Spike’s clothes?”
She swallowed hard. “Yes, but it’s not what you think.”
“So you two didn’t meet up last night and have a bunch of raunchy, naked sex?”
“Okay, so it’s exactly what you think.”
Willow crossed her arms, her stern expression finally melting into amusement. “Okay! Talk, missy! What happened to the plan?”
“The plan is still very much in effect.” Buffy nodded emphatically. “And when did you start saying things like ‘raunchy naked sex’?” A beat. “Oh my God! Have you and Oz—”
The redhead’s eyes widened comically. “No!” she all but screeched, shaking her head. “No. No. No, we really haven’t. I-I just like to see you…turn into Blushy Buffy, because that doesn’t happen very often a-and you know it.” She frowned. “Besides! We’re talking about you and your…stuff. Not me and the non-stuff that happens—or doesn’t happen—to me. So…stop trying to distract me!”
“Oh, but it’s so easy.”
Willow pouted. “You’re no fun. And you’re still totally in Spike’s clothes. So tell me why exactly I covered for you while you were having unscheduled raunchy naked sex that was, by the way, totally against the rules.”
“Hey! I made those rules!”
The redhead crossed her arms and perked her brows in jest. “So that means you can break them whenever you like?”
“Well…” Buffy frowned. “Yes.”
“In what crazy world does that work?”
“The world we live in. And besides, we totally didn’t break the rules.” She paused and caved under Willow’s incredulous stare. “Only, yes, we did break the rules, but now there’s an amendment.”
“An amendment?”
“To the rules,” Buffy concluded with a nod.
“An amendment that allows for raunchy naked sex?”
“N-not all the time, no. Just…ummm…just when we…fall off the wagon.”
Her friend’s brow furrowed and she squinted as though her brain hurt. “Fall off the wagon?” she repeated. “You’re now an addict?”
“Well, we obviously have some wiggy problem going on.”
Willow sighed and shook her head. “You’re crazier than any seven people I know.”
“You know seven people?”
“If you include my parents.” She glanced down pointedly at Buffy’s attire and arched a brow. “Why are you wearing Spike’s clothing?”
“How do you know it’s Spike’s clothing?” Buffy retorted, crossing her arms.
“It’s jeans and a black tee.”
“And I suppose Spike is the only one allowed to have jeans and a black tee?”
“No, but from the way you’re swimming in it…” Willow shook her head and waved a hand. “Stop with the avoidy. You already admitted that you’re wearing Spike’s clothing. And since we’ve already verified that you had raunchy naked sex, there’s nothing else that can surprise me.”
Buffy worried a lip between her teeth and exhaled slowly. “Faith came onto Spike last night.”
The shock on her friend’s face was almost funny. “She what?!”
“She came onto Spike. And stuff happened from there. I don’t really wanna get into it, but Spike ended up knocking her unconscious. And I think it was because of that that he…lost it a bit.” She smiled weakly. “Anyway, we went back to his place and amended the plan. He didn’t want me to leave, so I stayed.”
“Worrying your mom to death.”
“Yes, well, Spike wanted me to stay.” Buffy swallowed hard. “And…I love him, so I stayed.”
“And wore his clothes to school today.”
She nodded. “Yes.”
Willow licked her lips. “Did you…did you tell Spike?”
“Tell him what?”
“That you love him?”
Buffy’s eyes went wide. “What? No! No. God, you think I’d bring that on myself now? It’s my birthday. I’m already weakened and worried about what’s gonna happen when this spell is over. Plus, my not-quite-boyfriend is being approached by Faith, who’s had every man on the planet in her pants at one point…yeah, throwing in that I love him? I don’t wanna jinx myself.”
“What are you gonna do about the slayer strength thing?” Willow asked.
She sighed again and glanced down. “Talk to Giles, I guess. I mean, what else is there to do? I’ll talk to him, and then I gotta get home. I’m gonna want a nap before you and Xander come over.”
“You know, if we want to disinvite Xander, you could always have Spike come over instead.” Willow smiled prettily. “I really wouldn’t mind that.”
“Will, you should really see Giles about getting the delusting spell…fixed.”
The redhead blinked and straightened. “Fixed? Fixed implies there’s something wrong with what I did. There’s nothing wrong. There’s—”
“He’s sitting across the room with Cordelia.”
“I wonder if he’ll mind if I hit him over the head several times with this big lunch tray.”
“I think he’ll mind, yeah.”
“Okay, but at this point, I gotta tell you that the world in which I care is running right smack into the world in which I don’t.”
Buffy offered an amused smirk and rose to her feet. “I’m gonna go see Giles.”
“You didn’t eat anything!”
“Yes. I’m going to go see Giles, and then go home.” She shrugged at Willow’s questioning glance and stifled a yawn. “I woke up all rested, but I gotta tell you, I’m all kinds of tired right now.”
“So you’re gonna skip the rest of the day, since you skipped the first part?”
Buffy nodded. “That’s right.”
“Okay. I’m still seeing you tonight, though, right?”
“Oh, definitely. And we’ll do the party thing.”
Willow grinned. “I still say you disinvite Xander.”
“I’ll think about it.” Buffy reached into her bag and withdrew a fry, popping it into her mouth. “Okay. I’m off.”
“Buffy?” When she turned, Willow was smiling softly. “Happy birthday.”
She warmed. “Thanks,” she replied.
It was. It was, perhaps, the first happy birthday she’d had since she’d arrived in Sunnydale. At least, it was looking better thus far than her others.
Perhaps Spike was going to help her start a new tradition.
It was a nice thought, if nothing else.
Any hopes of a calm day died the second she stepped into the library.
“Oh, look,” Faith remarked snidely, planting her hands on her hips and arching her brows. “She shows.”
Her veins flushed cold, and she was consumed with the fiercest wave of loathing she’d ever known. Faith was in the room. Faith was standing in the middle of the library, between Giles and Angel, looking particularly smug. Looking particularly satisfied with herself, which she supposed was a feat, since parts of Faith’s face were black and blue.
It was just a second, but Buffy had to flex her hands and tighten her jaw, and remind herself that Spike hated the girl almost as much as she did. That Spike had beat the girl unconscious for trying to touch him. And while Buffy knew that violence against slayers was something she should discourage, the thought was enough to ease her rage.
“Buffy,” Giles said, his eyes trained on the floor.
Oh God. His glasses were already being polished. This was so not a good.
“Are you…” Angel sniffed, his eyes blazing. “Are you wearing Spike’s clothes?”
Buffy flushed and crossed her arms, fidgeting. She hadn’t minded the strange stares she’d received since she arrived—not even those from Xander, that were less curious and more pointed. But now, with Angel glaring at her, with Giles’s look of disappointment and the pleased, smug grin on Faith’s face, she might as well have been naked.
“Yeah,” Faith drawled. “That’s what blondie was wearing last night. Right before he punched me in the face and then made with the incredibly loud fucking against a crypt wall with Slutty Summers here. Gotta say, B. He wears it a lot better than you do.”
Her face was on fire, but she refused to show any shame. She wasn’t ashamed. Not in the slightest, and if they wanted her to act it, they had another thing coming. “Well, I think he’d disagree.” If his wandering hands that morning were any indicator, anyway. “I take it you guys aren’t throwing me a surprise party. Just as well.” Her eyes landed on Angel. “We all know how well that turned out the last time.”
“Ouch, B. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were in need of a good lay.” Faith smirked. “But no, that’s not it…”
She flinched, but she wasn’t surprised. Somehow, even in the fog that had surrounded her head last night, she’d had enough foresight to predict that something like this might happen; she’d just left it to wishful thinking that it wouldn’t. So much for that. “I can’t help it if you’re jealous,” she retorted.
“Of the big blond stud?” Faith shrugged indifferently, though there was a flare in her eyes that one would only catch if they knew her really well. “Well, I suppose big is relative. He didn’t seem too impressive when I was chatting him up.”
Buffy shrugged. “Sorry, Faith, you just don’t do it for him.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “So, is that what this is? You guys are all here, taking advice from some chick who can’t keep her legs together long enough to go on a decent patrol—”
Faith just shook her head, shaking in mirth, her black eyes shining. “Ouch! Kitty’s got claws.”
“—to accost me about my private life?”
“Your private life that now consists of boinking Spike?” Angel demanded. “God, Buffy, what has he done to you?”
Buffy just glared at him. “I’d tell you, but I neglect to recall the part where any of this is your business.”
Giles sighed. “Buffy…”
“No. I’ll talk to you, maybe, but not with these two around.” She crossed her arms and cocked her head. “And even then, don’t press your luck.”
Her Watcher cleared his throat and placed his glasses on the bridge of his nose with a long sigh. “As it is, we don’t have time to discuss your rather horrendous choices right now.”
“Can I get a ‘Happy Birthday, Buffy’?”
“We have training with the vibratory stones—”
She sighed. “Again?”
“And then Angel is going to accompany you on patrol.”
Buffy froze and tossed her all-too-smug-looking ex-boyfriend a nasty glare. “No,” she said. “No. I’m not going anywhere with him.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Giles, it’s my birthday. And I thought you said that I didn’t have to patrol tonight.”
“Well, since you’re so keen on patrolling on the nights that I give you off anyway, I didn’t think you’d mind my penciling you in tonight.” Giles glanced down. “However, since your strength is still amiss, I think it better if Angel accompanies you.”
“Guess that’ll free blondie up,” Faith mused, stretching. “Wonder if I can find something to…occupy his time.”
Fury washed through her, but Buffy refused to flinch. Spike’s more-than-vocal disgust with the raven-haired slayer was more than enough reassurance that she had nothing to worry about. “If you’re looking to get your ass kicked, go ahead.”
“Oh, sounds kinky.”
“No, it’s a lot more like getting your ass kicked.” Buffy smirked nastily. “Gotta say, F. You sure know how to turn a man flaccid.”
Angel sighed. “Buffy—”
She whirled on her heels. “Oh. So it’s okay for her to be disgusting, but when I give her a dose of the truth, I get the disappointed sigh? You guys are such hypocrites.”
“We don’t have time for this argument,” Giles said stoically. “Sit down. We’re going to train with the stones.”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “I can barely contain my enthusiasm.”
“And then you will patrol with Angel.”
“And there we do not agree.”
Giles held up a hand. “Look, Buffy. This isn’t up for discussion. You’re my slayer. You’re my responsibility. And while you’re weakened, you will be patrolling with Angel. Is that understood?”
She really had the most unnerving urge to rip his head off. “Not in the slightest.”
“Excellent. I don’t care. Sit down.”
Buffy sucked in a deep breath and glared at him, but sat down nonetheless.
Maybe this wasn’t the year to start a new birthday tradition, after all.
To be continued…