“Rocks,” she told him simply, breezing out the door.
“So funny.”
“I know. Geez Will, I didn’t have this much trouble lugging them over here from Sunnydale.”
“Buffy,” he said opening his car door and setting about tossing the suitcases in, “That’s because you were on a bus over here and no doubt had men helping you. Am I right?”
She looked up and away, humming to herself. Sure sign of guilt. Not that she’d admit it.
He grinned at her. God, she was adorable.
Smiling brightly, she opened the car door and slid in. “So, what’s with the ‘Spike’ thing? Lorne didn’t know who I was talking about at first and then he was calling you ‘Spike.’”
Grinning smugly, Spike slid into the car. “It’s what they call me at the firm. There was a client we had that was impossible to work with. He did everything we told him not to do and was basically shooting himself in the foot. I tore into him one day when he was whining about how we weren’t doing our jobs. Lorne started calling me ‘Spike’, said I reminded him of a rabid dog.”
Buffy laughed, “Is that a good thing?”
“I guess it was that day,” Spike shrugged, “but you can call me whatever you want, luv.”
“So, you need to teach me this driving thing,” she told him as he sped out of the parking lot and onto the freeway.
“Come again?”
“You have to teach me to drive.”
“Who said?”
“Me.”
“No way.”
“Okay, fine then. Mom said so.”
“No, she didn’t.”
“You’re right, it was Dad.”
“No, he didn’t. I explicitly remember Dad saying you were to never go near another car for as long as you lived.”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “You have one accident…”
“Buffy, you smashed his car into a tree.”
“It was in the way! I didn’t see it.”
“Pet, it was at the end of our driveway. You lived in that house, with that yard, and that tree for how long?”
She looked at him sidelong, “You suck.”
He chuckled. “Look, I’ll teach you. Only cause I’m not going to have you taking public transportation all the time.”
Buffy giggled. “You sounded like such a snob just then.”
“What?” he asked indignantly.
Making her voice deep, she imitated him. “’I’m not going to have you taking public transportation all the time.’ It’s not so bad.”
“Then why do you want to learn to drive?” he countered.
“Because I’m … how old?”
“Twenty-nine, same as me. And that doesn’t bode well that you can’t even remember how old you are. What if you ‘forget’ where the brake is?”
She slugged him on the arm, and he was loath to admit it actually hurt. “I want to learn how to drive,” she told him, “Because like you said, I’m twenty-nine and it’s time. I can even get one of these!”
He chuckled. “A Mercedes?”
“A car. A regular car. Maybe a Volkswagon bug. The new ones. In yellow.” She sounded positively ecstatic by the prospect.
Spike shook his head, “And that would be why you’re not my blood.”
Buffy laughed and the sound was akin to angels singing in Spike’s opinion.
Pulling into his penthouse parking lot, he shut the car off and turned to her. “Ready?”
She stared wide-eyed at the high-rise building. “Yeah…” she said absently.
Spike chucked her under the chin, making her look at him. The urge to kiss her was overwhelming as he beheld her, staring at him so trustingly and gratefully. “You can say as long as you want, okay?” he said huskily.
“Okay. Thank you.”
“Come on, luv. Time to lug your rocks up.”
His penthouse was huge. Buffy was sure it could fit at least two football fields with room to spare. His apartment, much like his office, had a spectacular view of the city. She was drawn to it immediately, and was tickled pink to realize a balcony was attached so that she could walk out and see the view and catch some fresh air while she was at it.
It was furnished sparsely, with dark colors and Buffy could tell he didn’t spend much time in his home. Sad that his life existed around work more than a life. Well, she’d just have to work on that then, wouldn’t she?
Turning, she found him watching her intently. Funny, he’d had that goofy grin on his face since she’d arrived. He must have really missed her. She smiled, taking him in for the first time.
“You’re handsome, you know that?” she told him honestly.
He blushed and she thought, cute.
He pushed his persistently-in-his-face brown locks from his face and rested his blue eyes on her. “No, I’m not.”
She nodded profusely. “Yes, you are. Will, do you have a girlfriend?”
He cleared his throat. “No.”
“Why not?”
“No time.”
“Shame,” she murmured, and meant it. Though the idea of him dating did make her feel somewhat jealous. Even though they hadn’t seen each other in quite a long time, she still liked to think of herself as the only woman in William’s life. And an important one at that. Well, aside from the mother (hers) they shared.
“Do…do you have a boyfriend?”
She shook her head, not wanting to get into that topic. Relationships, especially the ones she engaged in were more than just complicated. They were an utter mess. She didn’t want to sully their reunion by telling him why she’d left Sunnydale to start over in L.A. with him. Best to leave the past in Sunnydale and start her present and future in L.A. With William there to help her. Then once she got the hang of city living, she’d be out there making it on her own.
“You here with me?” he asked her.
“Sort of. I checked out for a bit. I’m starving. You got food in this place?”
He smiled. “Good to see I don’t have to tell you to make yourself at home.”
She started for where she thought the kitchen might be. “Nope. After all, we are family, right? In a sense, I’m already home.”
In the end, Spike opted to take her out for dinner since he had next to nothing in his kitchen for food. Buffy asked him if he ever ate at home and she sounded like such a mother hen that he scolded her for sounding like her mother. She’d stuck her tongue out at him and told him “Fine then. Starve. See if I care.”
The thing he realized about Buffy, her draw as it was, was in how engaging she was. It was the little things, really. One couldn’t help but be drawn in to her thirst for life. Within ten minutes of their arrival at Spike's favorite Italian restaurant, Buffy had chatted up the hostess on her highlights and engaged the waiter in a discussion on Frank Sinatra (it was the background music). She was not afraid to talk to anyone, and her smile and laugh were completely infectious. It made him want to bask in her warmth and vitality for as long as he could. Made him want to slay dragons for her so she’d always have that smile on her lovely face.
After dinner, they’d gone for a walk around the city for a bit, just chatting and catching up. When he asked her why she left Sunnydale, she just said it was time for a change and that was it.
Spike was gathering the impression something had happened back in Sunnydale that had upset her quite a bit. He pondered calling Joyce, his stepmother, to find out why since he had a feeling she knew, but he also didn’t want to overstep his bounds should Buffy find out. The one thing Spike wanted more than anything was Buffy’s trust. She’d always confided in him when she was ready, or at least she had when they were younger and in the same house, so he would wait now for her to do so.
And, Spike couldn’t deny what her presence was doing for him already. He felt lighter, happier, more at peace. He even considered blowing off work to spend the day with her.
When they departed to their bedrooms that evening, Buffy had given him a peck on the cheek and thanked him for letting her stay with him. At that moment, he would have done anything to make her happy and make her kiss him again. Instead, Spike watched her retreat to her bedroom, his cheek tingling from her kiss, and stood there for quite some time after her door had been closed and she was no longer in sight.