“Hello,” Buffy said easily, breezing into the kitchen and smiling brightly at the two officers.
“Hello, Buffy, how are you?” Riley asked, gently touching her arm.
She didn’t know why he felt he always had to do that. She was looking right at him; she didn’t need a cue that he was talking to her.
“We’re going to start watching the house, and we’ve come to install a new alarm system and fix the cameras for you,” he explained.
“Oh, thank—“
“I can do that,” Spike interrupted handing Buffy her plate and narrowing his eyes at Riley. “You guys can just sit out in your cars and do the job you’re supposed to do. I can take care of the rest.”
“He’s right, Finn,” Gunn jumped in, eyeing the plate Buffy held in her hand. “We should keep a watch out in case anything looks suspicious.”
“Both of us don’t need to do that,” Riley said. Buffy could tell he was becoming slightly annoyed. His body language reeked of it.
“I said I’d take care of it,” Spike said. “Now why don’t you shove off, eh? Don’t need you eyeing our food like a couple of vulchers. I’m sure you had your fill of donuts this morning—“
“Oh, I’m sure I could make something for you if you’re hungry,” Buffy offered.
“Wouldn’t think of imposing, Buffy. Spike’s right. We’ve got work to do,” Riley said, smiling at her warmly. “He treating you right? If he’s too much for you, I can always ask—“
“Finn, shut the hell up and get the hell out,” Spike barked at him.
Even Buffy recoiled at the anger and demand she could see written clearly across his face. His whole body was tense; and he looked poised for attack.
Riley and Spike shared a glaring match while Gunn reluctantly got up from his seat and pulled Riley’s arm until Riley willingly followed him.
“You really don’t like him at all, do you?” Buffy said once they were out of the room.
“No, I don’t,” Spike replied, cracking his neck. He muttered something that Buffy couldn’t make out since he turned his head away from her and sat down at the table, tucking into his breakfast.
They ate their meal in silence, each wanting to say something, but not knowing what to say. Things were now strained and Buffy longed for the easy camaraderie that they seemed to have had. She’d never taken so easily to another person before.
Then she remembered how he’d marched off to the bathroom that morning, his body tense with frustration, and she shut the need to talk to him off. He probably felt he overstepped a boundary last night and was angry at himself, and possibly her, for doing it. She should have told him not to sleep with her; clearly he hadn’t really wanted to and was kicking himself for it now. He probably thought she was all dependent on him now…the poor deaf girl whose home had gotten broken into needed the big strong cop to assuage her fears.
Well, she was not that poor deaf girl and she didn’t need him to assuage anything. All she needed was some protection, and of course for the killer and the intruders to be caught, and when that was done, they could each go their separate ways and live their separate lives.
She looked at him from the corner of her eye as she ate. She would sure wonder about him though.
“You’re going to what?” Spike asked, looking up at her from where he was fiddling with the new alarm system. He was never that good with things like this, wiring and all that, but he’d be damned if he was going to ask Finn for help. Then he’d have to hear Buffy tell him how thankful she was for him helping. Yeah, he was all set with that.
“I’m going grocery shopping. I just need to pick up a few things.
He stared at her. “How are you going grocery shopping?”
“Cab.”
He shook his head. “I’ll go with you.”
“Spike, you don’t have to do that.”
“You know,” he said, annoyed, “If I had a dime for every time you told me ‘thank you’ and ‘you don’t have to do that’, I’d be a rich man by now.”
She glared at him, the fire rising in her eyes, and he felt rooted to the spot. She was glorious when she was angry.
“Fine, then let me put it this way: I don’t want you to go!”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because you’re acting like an ass, that’s why!”
“How am I acting like an ass, what the hell have I done?”
“Good bye, Spike!” And she stalked off, muttering under breath.
“Oh, no, no, no,” he muttered and went after her. Catching up to her near the Mercedes, he grabbed her arm and spun her around to look at him. “I’m. Going. With. You.”
“No. You’re. Not.”
“Look, I’m sorry if I’ve been tense all right? Just got a lot on my mind. Let me just go with you, Buffy. I’ll pick up a few things for myself. You’re under my care right now and I don’t think you should go alone.”
“They wouldn’t do anything in broad daylight like that would they?” she asked, surprised. Clearly, she hadn’t thought it through.
“You never know. Depends on how desperate they are.”
“Fine,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Great, let me grab my wallet.”
Buffy Summers had a sweet tooth and, he was finding more and more, an infectious giggle. He’d been floored that her routine of grocery shopping included first visiting the candy aisle and picking up a big bag of whatever struck her fancy and then snacking on it all the way around the store. Toward the end of their shopping, he found he was sticking his own hand in the bag of Reese’s Pieces she’d chosen and mowing down himself. He wondered what other odd little quirks she had. All those things that made her uniquely Buffy-- as if she wasn’t unique enough.
They slid back into easy conversation, though there was a strained undercurrent. He hated it, and he didn’t know what to do to change it.
By the time they’d made it back to her place, Spike admitted to himself one fact that had been glaringly obvious to him from the start: He was wildly attracted to Buffy. And it wasn’t that she was gorgeous with a killer body, what he imagined was silky hair and skin, no, it was just her. The more he learned, the more he liked. The more he liked, the more he wanted to learn. The more he learned, the more he liked, and then the more he wanted to learn… It was a vicious cycle that was not befitting a cop with a job to do.
Though he’d be damned if Finn was going to do it. Or anyone else for that matter. Even if the longer he spent in her presence, the more he wanted her and fantasized about having her.
He was going to have to find a way to relieve that tension. Perhaps for just a couple hours he could have Finn stay with her and he could make up with Anya long enough to relieve some of that tension. . .