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Hold the Line by wattie76
Chapter 14 - Can you keep it down to three?

“Buffy, it’s Riley, just calling to see if you got your stuff ok. If you have the books can you call your lawyer and let him know? It’s not that I’m scared of him. It’s just that it’s your lawyer and you probably need to speak to him about stuff.”


Buffy woke up late the next morning. She had successfully avoided Spike since running out of the diner the day before. As she made her way to the kitchen for her morning heart starter coffee, something caught her eye that stopped her dead in her tracks.

Her books. Her design books that she needed for tomorrow’s interview. Books that had been at Riley’s house. Books that Spike must have gotten for her. The realization filled her with mixed emotions. She was grateful on the one hand that she had the books, making tomorrow’s interview with Lorne that much easier. Instead of talking about her designs, the designs could do the talking for her. It increased her chances of getting a job. She needed to work, she could only mooch of Angel for so long, moreover she wanted to work in the fashion industry because she loved it and because Riley never believed she had the talent to do so.

The best revenge was living well, after all.

But on the other hand, Spike sticking his nose in also pissed her off. Did he think she was unable to look after herself? Too weak to face up to or speak to Riley? Why else would he have taken the liberty of calling Riley and asking for the books back? She stormed towards his room not bothering to knock as she opened the door. She was surprised by what she found.

Spike was not in his bed and his room was not all painted black as she had imagined.

“He’s not here.” Angel’s voice sounded behind her

“Thanks Sherlock but I kinda figured that out from the empty bed,” Buffy replied as she left Spike’s room.

“He’s at the office today, catching up on some monthly reports,” Angel explained as he started to make the coffee. “He’ll be there all day.”

“Oh,”

“So we can all get some peace and quiet. Look I know the two of you have never seen eye to eye about anything, but can you at least be civil to each other?” Angel asked as he poured the milk into the coffee cups.

“He started it.”

“Ok, I would take that excuse if you were, I don’t know, twelve? But seriously, Buff, you need to tone the tension down a notch. Spike’s a good guy. I wouldn’t be friends with him if he was the asshole you think he is.” He sat the coffee down on the table in front of Buffy. She wrapped her hands around the cup warming her hands with it.

“You don’t know him like I do,” she replied.

“No, Buffy you don’t know him. You remember when you were graduating from High School and I couldn’t fly back because I had, like, zero money?” Angel asked as he sat down across from her.

“Yeah. But then you got some extra shifts at the sports store and you were able to come.” Buffy remembered feeling devastated when Angel had rung her to say he was unable to make her graduation.

“I didn’t get extra shifts Buffy. Spike gave me the money to fly to see you. The only condition was that I couldn’t tell you he had given me the money. He knew how pissed of you would be if you knew he helped me,” Buffy looked at her design books and her heart softened for a moment. He must have rung Riley and got the books back. She could only imagine how that conversation had played out. Now she had a real chance at this job interview, an interview that Spike had set up for her.

This would not do. Spike was an asshole, had always been one to her, and would always be one to her. He had to be because if he started being nice, even civil towards her, it opened a whole box of emotions she had closed a lid on a long time ago.

“Look I’m not asking you to be best friends or anything, it’s just if we are all going to be living together. Can I at least set the daily argument quota to three? Can you keep it down to three?”

“I think I can try,” Buffy replied as she sipped her coffee and tried not to think about Spike being nice to her.

****

Spike slammed down the phone for the twentieth time that morning. He was not going to call Buffy and apologize no. He just wanted to see if she had gotten the stuff she needed from Riley.

He had called the git from the diner yesterday. Sometimes having an English accent was a plus when attempting to convince someone that you were, say, a lawyer. Much easier when you sounded like one of the gentry.

He hadn’t done it for her. It was just he knew Lorne and he would not have been happy if Buffy didn’t have her books and that was part of his job. Keeping Lorne happy. Buffy would make a great addition to his team he knew it. Not that he had seen her designs but he knew her strength of character and no nonsense attitude towards things. Qualities that Lorne insisted his employees had. Not to mention smart. That idea about the silk factory, not that he would ever admit it to her ever, was pure genius. If Lorne had good people working around him then sales would increase and Lorne would be happy and his job would be easier to do. And that’s all it was about, keeping Lorne happy.

Not Buffy. This had nothing to do with her at all.

He sighed as he looked back over his reports. He just couldn’t grasp the numbers today for some reason. He wasn’t distracted. He had come in today, a Sunday no less, to get caught up on his work, free of the distractions of home. Like the X box or the TV.

Not Buffy. This had nothing to do with her at all.





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