Later that evening, Buffy was standing in the midst of the aftermath of a clothing disaster when the doorbell chimed to let her know that her dinner guests had arrived, despite the fact that she had yet to decide on an outfit for the gathering. Poking her head out of the closet, fully prepared to scream at the top of her lungs to Spike, but found him coming out of the neighboring bathroom and toned down her verbal assault, “Can you get the door? I'm still not dressed.”
“It's just dinner with our mates, love. No need to fret this much over something to wear,” Spike replied with an amused lilt to his voice and shake of his head. Walking over to her, he grabbed her chin and brought her mouth to his before continuing, “But, yes, I'll even keep our guests occupied until your clothed. Or, better yet, we can tell them to sod off and do something that requires no clothing.”
“While that sounds very tempting, I shall remind you that this shindig was your idea and go back to trying on every bit of clothing that I brought with me to see if anything works,” Buffy retorted with a smile, knowing full well that he wouldn't turn away their guests in favor of returning to bed for the umpteenth time that day, or well, she was almost certain he would not. Given how often they had tumbled into one another's arms as of late, Buffy was beginning to think that they were both addicted to sex and might need to seek out counseling so that they could get other things accomplished. Things, like writing new material for her band or the self defense that Spike felt she needed to learn, but neither of those sounded as appealing to Buffy as climbing on top of Spike yet again. Blushing, she shooed him out of the bedroom and returned to the closet to sort through the explosion of clothes once more.
Settling on a simple scoop necked black tank top with sequins sprinkled along the neckline and a pair of jeans, Buffy wondered for the billionth time if she needed something fancier, but had to tell herself that despite the fact that Spike needed some time alone with the guys to discuss security matters, the festivities for the evening really was just a dinner with friends. One that she had set up after Spike had mentioned needing to get together with Angel, Wesley and Gunn to discuss the change in Buffy's case, which had caused Buffy to steamroll the meeting into a dinner party with friends. Slipping her feet into a pair of simple black flats, she hurried out the bedroom door and clamored down the stairs to greet the small group of friends that were just heading from the foyer towards the living room.
After greeting everyone, Buffy motioned Cordelia and Fred towards the back porch instead of the living room where the guys were setting up shop to discuss her ongoing security options, proclaiming a need for girl talk while the guys were busy. Thankful that Spike had mentioned this to her beforehand and had even taken the time to make sure there was wine ready and waiting for them, Buffy poured three glasses of the fruity red wine and motioned for her friends to have a seat. “I don't know why I'm playing the hostess tonight when this is your family's home, Cord. Feels a little weird to be offering you something to drink and a place to sit.”
Waving off Buffy comments with a nonchalant flick of the hand, Cordelia said, “You've now stayed in this house longer than I have, Buff. My parents bought this one a year or so a go and I've yet to really spend much time here. Plus, consider this place your home away from home until you get things with Riley dealt with.” Pausing to take a sip of wine, Cordelia asked, “Other than the obvious issues with Riley, how goes things with Spike?”
“Things are good. We are very much with the goodness,” Buffy replied, her cheeks reddening with a rosy hue as she took a gulp of wine; knowing full well what her nosy friend was implying. Trying to divert the topic of conversation, Buffy glanced at Fred and asked, “How's things in the world of physics?” But, before Fred could answer and then have to explain her answer, because lets face it, Buffy would never understand a thing in Fred's line of work, Cordelia butted in.
“No ma'am, you don't get to play all hush hush with me, Buff,” Cordelia chastised, interrupting Fred before she could even get out a syllable. “I'm an old married woman, remember? I live vicariously through you, my single friend. Now spill with all the juicy details that I know you're holding out on, because Angel already spilled the beans about no longer being officially employed by you because you were uncomfortable about it since you two were involved. So get to it, tell me all the yummy bits.”
“I cannot believe he told Angel! Color me embarrassed,” Buffy exclaimed, mortification rising up her neck to fully paint her cheeks a deep dark red. Taking a sip of wine, she waved a hand over her burning face as though that might help ease the flame of embarrassment, she swallowed and slyly asked, “Why are you so interested in any of Spike's yummy bits? You are married after all, not so much with the old, but still very married.”
“Yeah, married, not dead, my dear. And, I am very much not blind either and that man is deliciously hot. If I weren't married, I'd have tried to climb on that horse a long time ago.”
“I wouldn't say he's a horse, but he's definitely not small,” Buffy blurted out, the small amount of wine in her system bringing out the bold statement. While she drank from time to time, she was very much a light weight and it did not take much more than a few sips of any alcoholic beverage to have her tongue looser than it normally would be. Laughing at Fred's wide eyed expression and the choked gurgle that escaped Cordelia's mouth, Buffy shrugged and stated, “What? You asked about his bits, didn't you?”
“So you two are seeing each other? Officially, I mean?” Fred asked as she took a very ladylike sip of wine, not gulping down half the glass in one fail swoop like Cordelia had done. “You guys definitely have chemistry, you can feel it even though we were barely in the room with the two of you for more than a few minutes.”
“Officially, I guess? It's not like we proclaimed boyfriend and girlfriend status, but we are having the sex and he's not on the payroll anymore, so I guess so?” Buffy shrugged, not knowing how to clearly define the relationship between herself and Spike. It was all so new and after everything that happened with Riley, she was not eager to declare official roles and move too quickly. “We're together to an extent, I guess. I'm happy with how we're going now and it's not like I'm looking to jump into anything too serious right away.”
Reaching for her glass of wine, only to find it empty, Buffy reached for the bottle on the table and poured what was left of it into her glass. Realizing Cordelia's glass was also on the dry side, she got up and grabbed a second bottle from the bar across the patio and an opener, handing both to her friend to open. “I'm not great with the wine opener. It hates me.”
“No worries, I'm a professional,” Cordelia assured her as she deftly opened the bottle and refilled her glass without bothering to allow the wine to breathe. Holding out the bottle towards Fred, Cordelia noticed there was barely a dent in the contents and said, “Lady, you'd better hurry up if you want any of this bottle before dinner is ready.”
“I'm good, you know it doesn't take much to have me sloshed and I've got to work tomorrow,” Fred assured Cordelia. “We just started a new contract and I don't want to be hungover when we start our team meeting tomorrow.”
“Suit yourself,” Cordelia said as she put the bottle back on the table. Taking a sip, she wiggled her red tipped fingers in Buffy's direction and said, “You there, start spilling the details. I want to hear everything about you and Spike. How'd it start? Who made the first move? All the good stuff.”
“Fine, you win,” Buffy said, pretending to relent under pressure, when in reality she was eager to tell her friends everything from the first time she and Spike had kissed all the way to the way he had made her toes curl earlier that afternoon before they had started getting ready for dinner. After giving them the quick rundown, knowing they did not have all that much time before the guys would be done and ready to eat, Buffy sighed and smiled dreamily, “So, that's it. The quick version, obviously, but you get the gist.”
“Wow, it's like the two of you were totally destined for one another,” Fred said with a smile when Buffy was finished. Placing her now empty glass on the table by the equally as empty bottle, she drawled, “Do you ever wonder what would have been had you two not been interrupted that first night at Caritas? Things could have went so differently for you.”
“I have and honestly, I don't want to really think about all that,” Buffy admitted, letting her now empty glass join Fred's on the table. Glancing towards the windows that looked into the living room, to where the guys were still sitting and presumably discussing Buffy's security needs and said, “What if we'd hit it off and I that somehow that made me miss out on other things like the band, maybe not touring or something? I don't know if stuff like that really happens, like fate or something? What matters is that we did find our way back to one another, in spite of all the shit that happened with Riley. I'm going to be happy and with Spike even though all that happened, so it worked out, right?”
“Okay, somehow this discussion of Spike's yummy bits took a turn towards the serious and it's killing my buzz. We need more wine!” Cordelia announced as she pushed herself up off the blue and white stripped couch, making sure she was stable before carrying out her goal of finding more wine. “And probably we need to find something to eat, because I have to close one eye or Buffy is a little fuzzy.”
“Let's go see if dinner is ready yet,” Buffy proclaimed, agreeing with Cordelia on the need to find something to soak up some of the alcohol in her otherwise empty stomach. Thinking back, she could not recall if she'd even eaten lunch that day or if she and Spike had skipped right over it in favor of having sex in the pool; which honestly seemed more likely as of late.
Luckily, by the time the trio picked up their empty glasses and bottles, they entered the back door at about the same time the guys were standing up from the overstuffed couches in the living room and the kitchen timer dinged shortly after the back door was closed, signaling that dinner was ready. Ushering their guests to towards the formal dining room, instead of the kitchen table, Buffy set about getting drinks for everyone while Spike headed towards the kitchen to get the food dishes. When he returned with a large covered dish and set it on the center of the glass table, Buffy couldn't help but catch the look that Angel and Cordelia shared and said, “I didn't cook it, guys. It was one time, a very long time ago and you're still not going to let me live that night down, are you?”
“It's a hard night to forget, don't you think?” Angel asked with a chuckle that earned him a steely glare from Buffy, so he covered up the rest of his amused snickering by taking a sip of the whiskey and cola he had brought to the table with him from the living room. “Come on, Buff, even you have to admit that it was pretty funny.”
“What was pretty funny?” Spike asked as he returned with the last tray of food, a dish of sauteed mushrooms that would compliment the rack of lamb, roasted asparagus and creamy garlic mashed potatoes that were already on the table with a basket of piping hot rolls. Buffy's mouth watered at the sight of all the deliciously smelling food and wondered how Spike had managed to whip it all up as though it was the easiest thing in the world.
“Nothing, just Angel and Cordy refusing to forget embarrassing moments in Buffy history,” Buffy replied with only the faintest hint of actual embarrassment tinging her cheeks. While the incident in question was years ago and she had mostly forgotten about the fiasco, she couldn't help but be upset that her friends were choosing to make fun of her for it yet again and doing so in front of Spike.
“Hey, lesson learned that night though, am I right?” Angel asked, either oblivious to how much Buffy didn't want to discuss the matter in front of Wesley and Fred and especially, Spike, or he didn't care that he was embarrassing her by talking about it. Buffy chose to believe that Angel didn't realize how much her lack of culinary skills bothered her, because he barreled into the story without a thought to her red tinged cheeks and glare that she shot in his direction. “It was for Dawn's birthday, right? That seems right, it's been a while, but Buffy wanted to have this big celebratory dinner for her little sis for getting her drivers license and everyone was there; Joyce, Rupert, Willow and Tara, me and Cordelia, and a couple of Dawn's friends over with explicit instructions to show up promptly for dinner at seven on the dot. So, we're all gathered around the living room waiting for the okay to come to the table and all of the sudden there was this loud explosion from the kitchen!”
“And that's where we found Buffy, covered in the dinner she had been working so hard on,” Cordelia chimed in, giggling as she took over the story from her husband. “Chicken and rice covered the ceiling, the floor, the cabinets and our Buffy! You see, she didn't realize that you had to release the pressure build up on the pressure cooker!”
Thoroughly laughing now, Cordelia paused to take a sip of her water while Angel took over the story once more, “You should have seen the dumbfounded look on Buffy's face. I really wish I'd had a camera to capture it, would've have made a great photo to laugh over later. But, really, while we didn't get to eat the chicken and rice, it at least smelled good. I can't say the same for the garlic bread! Burnt to a crisp to the point that the smoke alarm started going off thanks to the smoke coming from the oven. Man, thank goodness for pizza delivery, am I right?”
“And that concludes that embarrassing moment in my life,” Buffy murmured as she plunked a roll on her plate before passing the basket to Wesley. Sliding a glance towards Spike, she asked only slightly jokingly, “Guess you won't be asking me to play the role of Domestic Goddess any time soon, huh?”
“Actually, love, it sounds like you were trying your best to do something sweet for your kid sister and had a slight, albeit messy, mishap. Could happen to anyone, really,” Spike said earnestly, as he sliced off a section of roasted lamb for her and placed it on her plate. “And, should you ever decided to go through all the trouble for me, then I will gladly eat whatever is on my plate and keep my grateful, bleeding gob shut.”
After Spike's very pointed comment, all discussion of what Buffy could or could not do in regards to cooking, Fred thankfully moved the conversation towards something Buffy could do quite well and that was sing. “So, Buffy, have you been able to get much work done lately? Or has that been put on the back burner while you deal with everything else?”
“Um, well, as a whole we've not been able to practice,” Buffy replied before putting a delectable forkful of lamb and potatoes in her mouth, chewing and swallowing before continuing. “Oz has been backpacking through Europe for over a month. Xander took Anya away to some island in the Caribbean for an extended vacation. And, while Faith has been the only one on this side of the world, we've barely seen one another. I think she's managed to squeeze in a couple visits between the two guys she's currently seeing.”
“So you've not been able to work at all? That's got to be frustrating,” Wesley inquired as he methodically cut his portion of lamb into manageable pieces.
“Actually, I have somehow found the time to do some work. I've gotten a few new songs written out, nothing put to actual music, but I think I've got the lyrics sorted out. I'm hoping everyone gets back to California soon, so we can get some music laid down and get into the studio.” Buffy paused long enough to take a sip of wine and grab another roll from the basket, plopping it directly into the gravy the sauteed mushrooms made when mixed with the juices from the lamb. Ravenous, deciding that she really did skip lunch after all, she tore off a portion of the gravy soaked roll and stuck it into her mouth, speaking around the food in a very unladylike manner, “We've got a two album contract, so we really need to get to work soon if we want to get the second one hashed out and recorded in time.”
“I sure hope everyone gets back soon then, because I can't wait to hear the new songs,” Fred said eagerly as she delicately put a small piece of asparagus in her mouth, chewing thoroughly before continuing; unlike Buffy, who was not only slightly inebriated, but had not been raised in Texas and had etiquette shoved down her throat from day one. “I remember the first time I saw your band play. It was at that club, oh what's it called, the Hellmouth? Oh, I was hooked during the first song, despite the music not being my typical cup of tea. But man, Spike was smitten from the get go. Poor thing was practically drooling on the table while you performed.”
Glancing to her right at Spike, Buffy said, “I can't believe you were there. That is so weird. Honestly, how many times did we just somehow manage to miss one another?”
“Probably more than you realize, pet,” Spike said cryptically, earning a questioning glance from Buffy that had him explaining further. “That night at Caritas, that wasn't the first time I'd seen you. That was actually back several months before when I was doing security for a band that you opened for, although I missed hearing you play. I did, however, spend the a big portion of my night watching you dance for the band I was supposed to be working for. Quite taken with you from then on out.”
“Guess that explains why you were so forward that night at Caritas,” Buffy pointed out with a smile that bordered on saucy as she thought back to that particular night and bathroom.
“Well, I have to say that it's a good thing you only saw her dance and not that magazine shoot the band did, because man, that was so not something Buffy would usually do, but she did it well,” Cordelia interjected with a low whistle as she reached for the closest bottle of wine. “Spike, you'd have humped her right then and there on the bar, instead of the bathroom, otherwise!”
“Cordelia!” Buffy exclaimed, shocked at the forwardness of her friend. While Cordelia was often overly opinionated, she at least tended to not be so salacious when doing so, especially not in a manner that might embarrass someone.
“You told them about that night, kitten?” Spike asked, genuinely sounding surprised that she would have ever mentioned the night in the bathroom at Caritas to anyone. When Buffy nodded and mentioned that of course she told her closest friends, he added, “I've got to agree with Cordelia on that one though. It was quite the photo shoot, love. Bloody sexy really.”
“So you saw it? And liked it?” Buffy asked, curious despite the flaming red embarrassment on her cheeks that seemed to refuse to go away that night. “Riley blew a gasket when he saw it and not in a good way. I should have realized he had anger issues after the fight we had when he saw it.”
“Yeah, well, Riley is a sodding tosser, so can't say I'd expect anything less from him,” Spike pointed out as he popped the last bite of lamb into his mouth and chewed. “You could say I liked it well enough. Had to buy a second copy, if you get what I'm saying.”
“Spike!” Buffy exclaimed, as embarrassed at having her friends hear what he'd said as she was turned on that he'd said it. Realizing that her cheeks were forever going to stay red with embarrassment, she chugged the remaining dregs of wine from her glass and considered having another while Cordelia laughed at Spike comment and the others at the table guffawed. “I cannot believe you just said that. I may die now.”
Spike simply shrugged his shoulders, either oblivious to her discomfort or pleased with it as he took a sip of wine. Leaning towards her, he brushed a kiss across her flamed cheek and said, “You asked, pet.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
**A/N** Chapter started running a bit long, Muse was working overtime on this one. Finally came to a good stopping point. Hope you guys like it. Thoguht it was time to bring in some interaction with friends. Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews, love hearing from you guys. Also, this is more plot but if all goes well I hope to have more smutty spuffy tomorrow!