William “Spike” Giles, the up and coming partner of the somewhat crooked law firm Wolfram & Hart was sweating bullets as he sat in his posh leather chair complete with massager in his spacious, with a view of L.A., office.
His stepsister Buffy was coming that day. She was coming to live with him. To ‘get back on her feet’ as she had put it. His darling stepsister that was the complete antithesis of him from the peasant skirts and shirts she wore to the music she listened to, and right down to the way she lived her life. She was a wild child. He was not. He was straight-laced and conformed to the rules. Buffy on the other hand…she walked to the beat of a different drummer. Her own personal drummer that he was sure was selected just for her.
Their parents had met and married quite suddenly when they’d both turned eighteen, so time under the same roof had been minimal. They’d known of each other in high school when they attended Sunnydale High, but they’d never talked. He was part of the chess club; she was part of the drama club. They were like ships passing in the night.
They spent a summer together before he took off to attend college at Harvard and she stayed in California, attending Sunnydale University. He majored in, obviously, law, and she majored in art.
And yet somehow, despite all their differences, Spike had managed to develop a serious crush on his stepsister that summer. An obsessive kind of crush too. He thought perhaps he was in love with her. However, having nothing to base it on in past experiences; he chalked it up to him being wildly fascinated by her.
He hadn’t seen in her in…well, at least three years. Being a junior partner for so long, he found it hard to get away to visit the family. He’d barely even talked to her on the phone and it was saddening really. They had grown close that one summer and now they led their lives and barely spoke.
Okay, so he was sweating bullets for various reasons: One – would he find he still had a crush on her? Two—how would she fit in this fast-paced world of L.A., and Three—what exactly had happened that she needed to get ‘on her feet’? Last he’d heard, she had been teaching art at some private school in Sunnydale, living in an apartment of her own. So, what had happened to her that she felt the need to leave?
Not that he should question the hippie too much on her sudden need to go. She was a free spirit after all. She went where the wind shifted; however, she had seemed rooted in staying in Sunnydale. She’d grown up there, and never seemed to have an inkling to leave.
The phone buzzing jarred him from his ponderings. “Hello?” he said snatching the phone up.
“Your sister is here,” the receptionist said dully.
“Send her up,” he said and felt his heart leap. She was there.
He sat casually, trying to appear calm and then said ‘fuck it’ and got up, striding to the door to greet her. As soon as the door opened, there she was.
His mouth went immediately dry at the loveliness before him. Her long blond hair flowed down past her shoulders in soft waves; she wore a mid-calf flowing pink skirt and a tight white tank with white flip-flops. Her makeup was light and fresh accentuating her mossy green eyes that Spike was sure any man could get lost in.
His blue eyes bore into hers and he felt his heart start to erratically beat within his chest. God, she was beautiful. And so grown up!
“Hey brother,” she greeted him with a glossy pink smile. “How the hell are ya?”
Unable to resist, he swept her up in a fierce hug and then, just as quickly, released her when he got a hold of himself. “Hi,” he breathed.
“Didja miss me?” she asked giggling, entering his office, carrying an army knapsack over her shoulder.
“Yes, of course.”
“Liar. I haven’t seen you in three years and haven’t talked to you in like six months.” She let out a whistle as she perused the room. “Damn. I can see why I haven’t seen you. Call Mom and Dad by the way.”
“Where are the rest of your things?”
“Lorne, the uh, office manager?”
“Right.”
“He’s holding my things in his office.”
“Oh.”
“I don’t have any furniture, obviously. Mom and Dad are holding them at the house. All I have is a few suitcases.”
“We could have sent for them, you know,” he told her relieving her of her knapsack.
“It builds character to travel with that much crap,” she smiled up at him. “So, shall I sit in the corner and be mum while you work? Or are we going?”
He grinned at her. “We can go.”
“Yay!” she said excitedly, clapping her hands. “I can’t wait to see your apartment.”
“Why?”
“Well, this is pretty posh, so I’m thinking your apartment must be even posher.”
“Is that a word?” Spike asked, grinning. “Posher?”
“It is now!” Buffy replied, beaming up at him.
God, he just wanted to…to kiss her! Instead, he took a step back and reopened his door. “Shall we, mi’lady?”
“We shall,” she said graciously and Spike fought the urge to close his eyes when she trailed behind her the scent of raspberries. He forgot how good she smelled all the time.
She’s your sister, okay, stepsister, but still. She’s off limits. Besides, she’s vastly different from you and it would never work. Though the sex would be mind-blowing. Shut the hell up and keep your eyes off her ass, Giles!
“So, Buffy, do you have any idea what you’re going to do for a job?”
She looked over her shoulder at him. “Trying to get rid of me already?”
He smiled at her. “Of course not, luv."
“That’s what I thought,” and she bounced off to Lorne who was standing in the reception area, beaming at her. Seemed his darling stepsister had already made quite an impression. Just wonderful. It’d be like it was in the old days – beating the men off her with a stick.