Chapter 9
“Do you think my nose is hideous?”
Spike was surprised by her sudden question, clearly not expecting that. “Your nose is adorable. Where did that come from?”
She shrugged. “I was just wondering.”
Spike moved closer to her. “There isn’t anything about you that’s not adorable.” He was rewarded with another one of her blushes, which just proved his point. “I love that I can get you to do that.”
Buffy tucked a strand of her golden hair behind her ear, not knowing how to respond to that.
“God, Spike, give her some breathing room. He’s always invading personal space.”
He sent a glare in his sister’s direction. “Don’t you have an elsewhere to be?”
Dawn held her hands up and walked out of the kitchen, without bothering to say anything else.
Spike focused back on Buffy. “There’s something I’m still a bit confused about, love. Why did you ask me if I needed tutoring? Believe it or not, but I actually have a pretty good grade point average.”
Buffy looked ashamed at the thought that she could have offended him. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean any disrespect by it. I just figured that would be the only reason you would come up and talk to me. You never have before.”
It was Spike’s turn to feel ashamed. “There isn’t a day that I don’t regret not talking to you sooner. I was just bloody nervous, and that’s not something I would usually admit to. If I knew how you were being treated at school, I would have said something a lot earlier.”
“I’m a big girl, Spike. I don’t need you to fight my battles for me. I’ve handled a lot worse.” Buffy was shocked that she was able to be bold and say that, the look on Spike’s face proved that he was just as shocked.
“What could you have handled that was worse?” he wondered.
Buffy looked away from his gaze, not ready to talk about her dreaded past in LA. He would really want nothing to do with her then.
Spike could see that she was uncomfortable and decided to drop the subject, for now anyway. An older couple entering the kitchen put a stop to anything else that he would have said.
“Well, we’re off to the office party. We should be home late, and I expect for your homework to be done before then.”
Spike rolled his eyes. “Yes, Dad.”
“Oh, don’t embarrass him, Rupert. It was really great to meet you, Buffy. You’re the first girl that William has brought home to meet us. I didn’t think this day would ever come.”
Spike rubbed the back of his neck.
Buffy only nodded and gave the older woman a smile. “It was nice to meet you, too, Mr. and Mrs. Giles.”
“No need to be so formal with us, dear. You may just call me Giles, everyone else does. Come along now, Jenny. I think we’ve mortified the boy enough.”
She moved over to Spike and planted a kiss on his cheek, giving Buffy one more smile before leaving the house with her husband.
Spike wiped his cheek with the sleeve of his shirt. “Talk about him being embarrassing,” he mumbled.
Buffy smiled at him. “I think they’re sweet. It must be nice to have parents that care about you.” She stopped herself before she could reveal too much.
Spike tilted his head to study her better. “We’re friends now, Buffy. I want you to know that you can always talk to me if anything’s bothering you. It would just be between us, you don’t have to worry about me ever telling anyone your secrets.”
Buffy looked at him curiously. “What makes you think I have any secrets?”
He grinned and tapped the tip of her nose with his finger. “We all have secrets. Yours would be safe with me.”
She thought about it. “I’ll keep that in mind. It’s just hard to trust anyone these days.”
Spike agreed. “I can understand that, but every now and then, you have to let someone in. The world will be a pretty boring and lonely place if you don’t.”
Buffy felt herself tear up again and rubbed her eyes. “I don’t want to be lonely anymore.”
He got up and sat in the chair next to her, taking her in his arms. “You’ll never have to worry about that again, I promise.”
She clutched his shoulders, afraid to let go. Buffy really hoped that things would be different from now on.
* * * * *
Buffy decided to take Spike’s advice the next day. She was going to tell her father the truth, whether he listened to her or not. It was about time that she let him in on how she really felt. Buffy took a deep breath and entered the kitchen, relieved to see her father in there alone. He was sipping a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. She cleared her throat and prayed that she could get through this without crying.
“Daddy, could we talk?”
Hank glanced up at her and placed his paper down on the table. “Sure, about what?”
Buffy figured that was a good start and sat down across from him. She cut right to the chase. “I don’t want to go to Switzerland. I know I’ve had some problems, but I really think that I’m getting better. You don’t have to send me away again.”
“This isn’t a punishment, Buffy. It would be a great opportunity for you. Addie put a lot of hard work into booking this trip and getting you all registered at the school. You wouldn’t want to disappoint her, would you?”
Buffy bit her tongue from saying what she really wanted to about that horrible woman. “I just don’t think this is in my best interest. I…I think she just wants me out of the picture for a while. She hates me, Dad.”
Hank laughed. “That’s ridiculous; she loves you like her own daughter. She told me as much. She was asking me all kinds of questions about you, so she could get to know you better. All she wants is to bond with you, and this is the thanks she gets? It’s too late to back out of this trip. I’m sure you will love it if you give it a chance. You always wanted to see another country.”
Buffy was willing to do whatever she could to get him to change his mind. “I do want that, but I was hoping that we could have gone somewhere. I don’t want to go to a strange country by myself. I won’t know anyone there.”
“You’ll meet people that will help you adjust.”
She shook her head. “They’ll still be strangers to me. Can’t…Can’t the two of us go together?”
Hank let out a sigh. “Addie and I have hardly had anytime alone since we’ve been in Sunnydale. This trip is for you, not me. I can’t just skip out on work for a couple of months. You’ll have more fun without your old man around, anyway. This isn’t up for discussion, Buffy. I don’t want you bringing this up in front of Addie, it will only upset her. She’s really trying to be a good mother to you. It would be nice if you showed her a little respect,” he explained, then stood up and left the kitchen.
Buffy felt saddened at the conversation that took place, knowing that he would never understand. “She’s not my mother.”