To say that her mother, Joyce, was thrown off guard by the announcement of their engagement would be an understatement. As soon as there was a chance to pull Buffy into the kitchen for a moment of privacy, she did and instantly asked, “Buffy, are you pregnant? Is that why the two of you are getting married so quickly?”
“Mom!” Buffy exclaimed as she tried to stifle the laughter that bubbled up inside her chest. However, by doing so, she managed to dribble soda down her chin and had to hold her hand up to her mother, motioning to her to hold on for a moment, while she located a dish towel to mop up the mess she’d made. Once her chin and the kitchen counter, which had caught residual droplets of soda, were cleaned up, she said, “So not pregnant, Mom. I swear! We’re just in love and ready to start the next chapter of our lives together.”
Still skeptical, despite her daughter’s reassurance that the sudden engagement had nothing to do with being pregnant, Joyce simply stared at Buffy with a look that she had used many times over the course of her daughter’s adolescence. The expression on her face clearly stated her level of disbelief to her daughter. “Buffy Anne, you’re telling me that after only six months together with only the second guy you’ve dated, the only one of which you’ve dated since high school, you’ve decided that you’re ready to get married?”
“I mean, sure…I’m not all experienced in the dating department and it’s a little quick, but when you know, you just know, right?” Buffy idly wiped at the counter top, cleaning a dirty spot that was no longer there, and avoided her mother’s knowing glare. Sure, she had some doubts, but that was normal, right? Everyone got cold feet at some point, or was that only in the movies? “We aren’t running down the aisle right this second anyway. We haven’t even set a date, Mom. So, there’s no reason to get all Momabout it.”
“Alright, honey, if you’re sure and you love Riley, then who am I to question it? And, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with having a nice long engagement either. Take your time.” Joyce smiled at her eldest daughter and reached out to take the dishtowel out of her hand before Buffy rubbed a hole in the counter top. “You’ve always been my levelheaded daughter, I should know you’d have thought this through.”
“Right. Exactly!” Buffy responded, a little too eagerly and way too quickly. She watched silently while her mother turned back to the stove and started preparing dinner and smothered the urge to ask for some motherly advice in regards to the lingering feelings she was having for a perfect stranger and how that might be affecting her current relationship. There was no need to get her mother all riled up and have her fire up the inquisition segment of the visit once more.
Nope. There was no reason at all to bother her mother with the thoughts that continued to plague her, despite months having passed since the night she’d flung herself at a complete stranger in the bathroom of a club. Nope, no reason at all, because there wasn’t any doubt in her mind about marrying Riley…she just had to keep reminding herself that everything was going to be perfectly okay and that the sexual fantasies that plagued her nightly, and didn’t involve her fiancé, would eventually go away.
The remainder of the Christmas holidays passed quickly and before long, it was time for Buffy and Riley to fly back to the States. Tears and hugs were exchanged at the gate, and Buffy hated to leave her family yet again. Wiping at her eyes, once she managed to untangle herself from her little sister’s grasp, Buffy said her tearful goodbyes and was thankful that her sister’s visit in June wasn’t that far off. Waving one final goodbye over their shoulders, Riley and Buffy boarded the plane and settled in for the long journey back to California.
Buffy snored lightly as she dozed against Riley’s shoulder, leaving a small puddle of drool on his sleeve. She slept soundly until the pilot’s voice filled the cabin announcing their arrival into the JFK airport in New York. Yawning loudly, she stretched like a cat and reached for her purse so that she could assess the damage to her makeup. After the plane had come to a stop, and they were given clearance to exit, they emerged from their seats, they grabbed their carry-on bags from the compartment above. Buffy received a glare from her fiancé because she snickered when he bumped his head against the overhead storage compartment and had the decency to appear somewhat apologetic, while thinking, ‘He is so not designed for small places!’
Unfortunately, the unladylike snort that followed Riley’s ungraceful maneuvering down the narrow aisle of the plane didn’t help matters. Buffy blushed at the sharp tone of Riley’s voice as he cut off her apology, embarrassed that her fiancé had spoken to her like an out of control child instead of the woman he would be marrying in the near future.
Sufficiently chagrined, she silently gathered her bags and shuffled along behind her hulking partner. Half an hour later, they made it out of the gate and headed towards the baggage claim without any further incidents. Although, Riley had yet to speak to Buffy, instead he stalked towards the rotating carousel of baggage with long, annoyance filled strides that had Buffy nearly running to keep up with him. As they neared the baggage claim area, Buffy gave up in her pursuit of her fiancé and fell back to a speed that her short legs were comfortable with. She rounded the corner, having no problem keeping Riley in her sights since he was a solid head taller than most of the people bustling around them. Coming to a halt beside Riley, she started to scan the bags on the carousel in search of her suitcase, when her line of sight landed on a shock of platinum blonde hair working its way through the crowd across the room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Spike was pissed. There was simply no other way to describe his current mood, other than downright pissed off. The day had started out badly and had proceeded to careen downhill from there. As if he needed extra icing on top of the cake, he had missed his flight and had the extreme pleasure of finding out that there wasn’t another one available until well after midnight. “Damn the bloody holidays!” He muttered, his voice a deep growl of frustration.
The next day was New Year’s Eve and the airport was jammed full of last minute travelers who seemed just as irritable as he was, but most were also laden with fussy children and loads of baggage, which only added to his delight. ‘What the sodding hell was I thinking trying travel this weekend?!’ He followed up his mental rant with a string of curses that had a mother within earshot covering the ears of her impressionable child and glaring at him with icy annoyance. Turning from the woman’s distasteful stare, Spike audibly sighed with relief when he spotted an exit near the baggage claim.
Fed up with traveling for the day, Spike angrily pushed his way through the double doors and stepped out in to the frigid New York weather with the intentions of just finding a hotel nearby for the night.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Eager to chase her proverbial white rabbit, which made sense due to his hair color, Buffy tripped over someone’s badly misplaced suitcase and nearly fell to the floor; managing to catch her balance a split second before face planting directly in to the carousel. Eyes wide, Buffy immediately scanned the area the moment her feet were firmly in place and spotted his bright white hair once more over near the exit on the other side of the baggage claim area. Just as she was on the verge of making a beeline for the exit, Riley grabbed her arm and halted her progress. Wincing slightly from the sudden jab of pain unintentionally caused by his massive hand grasping her tiny arm, she turned towards him with a look of confusion on her face.
“Where are you going?” Riley asked with a concerned look on his face, while he motioned with his other hand towards the parade of seemingly never ending suitcases. “We need to get our luggage.”
“Um…I have to go to the bathroom?” Her response clearly had a question mark at the end, but Riley didn’t seem to notice that she was simply trying to find some reason to continue her search for the platinum blonde man that haunted her fantasies nightly. Adding some realism to her excuse, Buffy bounced slightly on her toes and imitated the tinkle dance that children often resort to when they’ve held off going to the bathroom for too long.
“I told you not to drink two sodas on the plane, didn’t I? Can’t you wait?” He huffed, seeming exasperated with Buffy, and ground his jaw together in aggravation. When Buffy shook her head from side to side and bit her lip, as if she was totally incapable of waiting until after they stood in line to get their suitcases, Riley rolled his eyes and sighed. “Go ahead. I’ll wait here and find the bags.”
Nodding quickly, Buffy sprinted in the direction of the bathroom and ducked inside the doorway, and discretely peeked around the tiled wall to see if Riley was watching her. After a few seconds, satisfied that he wasn’t watching her, she hotfooted it towards the nearest exit to see if the man she saw was really who she thought it was. Bursting through the door out onto the sidewalk, she glanced from side to side in hopes of spotting his trademark blonde hair. Her face crumbled and her smile vanished. She was too late, he was already gone. Disappointed, more so than she should be, Buffy’s shoulders slumped in defeat as she turned to go back inside the airport; completely unaware that the man she was searching for was in the backseat of the cab just across the way from her.
When she opened the door, she ran straight into Riley’s massive chest, causing her to stumble backwards. He reached out and grabbed her by the arm too tightly, causing a pain to shoot through her arm once again. Buffy winced and realized she’d be lucky to not have a black and blue arm by the time morning officially rolled around, and tried to wriggle her arm out of his meaty grasp. “I wasn’t aware that stepping outside for some fresh air was against the rules! Geesh!” She informed him with a heated glare as her voice raised a few octaves. “Riley, let go of my arm, please. You’re hurting me.”
Riley’s demeanor instantly changed at her words, as though he completely unaware of the pain he was inflicting on her arm. Smiling sheepishly, he quickly apologized. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I just got worried when I couldn’t find you. Thought maybe you had decided to run off and leave me. Is your arm okay? Sometimes I forget how tiny you are. Please forgive me.” He begged, seemingly honest in his sincerity. For a moment, Buffy felt a tiny twinge of guilt for making him worry about her, but a switch had been flipped inside and made her look at Riley in a different way. Had he always been that physically controlling or was this a solitary incident that wouldn’t happen again? Either way, her mother’s words came rushing back to her about rushing in to a marriage with a man she barely knew and Buffy wondered if maybe they were taking things too fast. Rubbing her aching bicep, her body was stiff when Riley slipped his arm around her shoulder and steered her in the direction of the parking lot.
Since their connecting flight from New York to Los Angeles had been delayed due to bad weather, they didn’t get home until after midnight. Exhausted, Buffy threw her coat and purse onto the couch and marched straight up the stairs to her bedroom. She was thankful that Riley had decided to go back to his place since she was still quite upset with him over the scene at the airport. After a quick shower, Buffy crawled in to her bed and snuggled with her stuffed pig, Mr. Gordo. Suddenly awake, she stared at the ceiling and replayed the events of the evening in her busy mind. Despite the fact that Riley had apologized ad nauseam for the remainder of the trip for reacting the way he had, Buffy still had a sick, uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach about their relationship. Eventually she drifted into a fitful slumber, plagued with thoughts of never finding out the identity of her mystery man in leather.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
All the way back in New York, Spike realized that with the holidays and the weather, he wasn’t the only one to have the idea to get a hotel room nearby since they all appeared to be filled to capacity. Eventually, he rendered his search useless and ended up waiting in the airport on standby for a flight. After spending the majority of his evening in the airport bar, he managed to score a seat on a red eye flight, thanks in part to the cash he forked out for first class. Exhausted from the events of the day, as well as half lit on the whiskey he’d consumed at the bar, Spike leaned his head against the window once he was settled on the plane, and slept peacefully for the entire flight, with images of tousled blonde hair, passionate kisses and supple breasts pushed against his chest floating through his dreams.
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**Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews! Please be patient with the Riley situation. I promise SPUFFY will be here soon!**