Chapter 6 – Rememberance
Spike stood in the doorway to Buffy’s bedroom. It was funny how quickly it had become her bedroom and not the ‘guest room’ any more. He watched her lying on the bed. He’d taken her shoes off and pulled the covers up and over her to get her warm after her time out on the porch. As he stood looking over her, he remembered when she’d first introduced Drusilla into their lives, and what’d happened.
*”Spike, I’d like for you to meet Drusilla Andrews,” Buffy said, waving her hand from Spike’s direction towards the dark haired woman standing to her left. “She’s just started working at mom’s gallery, and she came from England, London to be exact. I figured you might be able to take her to the Bronze tonight. Mom asked me, but Angel and I have plans. We’re going to the point, and we’d go to the Bronze instead, but it’s out one month anniversary…”
Spike didn’t want to hear any more, and so instead took Dru’s small hand in his and brought it to his lips, placing a small kiss on the back of it before slowly placing it down by her side in a move to show Buffy it was ok and get her to drop the subject. “Pleasure would be all mine love” he said, staring into Dru’s eyes before looking back over at Buffy. He tried to not let the fact that all he wanted to do was shove this ‘Dru’ out of the way and sweep the blond up into his arms instead. She seemed so pleased that he was willing to go along with her plan, that he didn’t have the heart to say no to her. The smile she had on her face was enough for him to put up with the new girl, and maybe he’d be able to get all nostalgic and remember his childhood by hearing a British accent other than one from his father.
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Later that night, Dru was sat on his lap in the Bronze. They were getting on extremely well. They were having fun, and had had a little to drink, just enough to make them more relaxed. They’d danced a bit, which was highly unusual for Spike, and had been talking about growing up in London. It had turned out that they had once lived round the corner from each other in North London. Dru had been talking quieter for a while, meaning she’d had to sidle closer for Spike to be able to hear what she was saying. He’d stroked the side of her arm, and she’d taken that as a cue that he liked her as much as she seemed to him, and she’d come back from the bathroom 5 minutes later and moved straight to his lap.
She was nibbling on his neck, and whispering into his ear. She was almost doing a good job of distracting him from thinking about Buffy every 3 seconds. He was starting to think she’d be good for him, he could start seeing her, and he might even forget his feelings for his best friend. As she began to pull his earlobe into his mouth, he spotted a familiar dark head of hair heading back towards the toilets.
He couldn’t understand why Angel seemed to be there, heading towards the toilets in the back of the club, but there he was. He turned to Dru, who had her hand under his shirt stroking his abdomen, and stopped her hand from wandering down south; he took hold of her wrist, gently but firmly. “Listen Dru, I’m gonna go use the bathroom, I’ll be back in a minute”.
He moved to stand, Dru taking the hint and getting up off of his lap. Spike was too busy worrying about why Angel was there, and if Buffy was ok to notice Drusilla’s “hurry back love”, whispered into his ear. He moved through the throng of dancers, passed the stairs that led up to the balcony, and out into the hallway that the toilets were located in. he barged into the men’s room, and noticed the sound of grunting coming from the third stall. He pushed open the door, and as he did, it opened easily. *Stupid wanker didn’t even think to lock the door* he thought to himself, as the scene was presented to him.
Angel was sat on the toilet lid, trousers at his ankles, a dark female head between his legs. He suddenly realized he and his female ‘companion’ had an audience, and pushed at her head, forcing her to stop what she was doing, and scramble to her feet when she noticed the blonde’s presence. The girl then pushed past Spike, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, and running out the door. “Spike, this isn’t what it looks like”, Angel began.
Spike’s face was a picture of anger as he asked “where’s Buffy, you prat? You’re actual girlfriend that is.” He cocked his head in the direction of the door the brunette woman had just left through. “Does that bird matter that much to you that you’d ruin what you and Buffy have, over a crap fuck in a club bathroom?!” from the look on Angel’s face, he seemed to be regretting it already. *at least he knows he’s don’t wrong here* Spike thought to himself as he waited for the other guy to answer.
Angel looked down at himself, realizing for the first time he still had his trousers at his ankles, and stood to pull them up as he begun his explanation. “That girl was Amy, she’s my ex…we were together two years. She was here with her friends, having a leaving party. She’s moving away for college. Doesn’t want to go to USC, not like me, wants to move away from here. I haven’t seen her in 6 months, it was a goodbye thing. I swear, please, don’t tell Buffy, it didn’t mean anything. I…I think I love Buffy. I’ve never felt this strongly before. I just, I haven’t had sex in 2 months, Buffy wants to wait, and then, I walked in here and saw Amy tonight and I lost control. It will NEVER happen again, I swear”. He finally stopped to take a breath. His cheeks had drained of colour, and Spike would have felt sorry for him if he didn’t hate him quite so much.
“Where is she…?” Spike asked, his eyes not giving away as to his decision. When Angel didn’t appear to be about to reply, he continued “Buffy, where is Buffy?” He slowed his words down as though he were speaking to a young child, and punched his fist against the wall separating the toilet from the next stall over.
Angel blinked, realising the man in front of him meant business. He was bigger than the blond, as well as two years older, but he’d heard stories from Buffy about the way he was in gym class, lifting his own weight, and fighting one of the football jocks that’d tried it on with her once. “I, I took her home. We were at The Point, and she got a phone call. Someone from the gallery or something, saying her mom was going home. I dropped her back at her place and came straight here. I saw Amy at the bar, you know the rest”. He had the decency to look down at the floor in shame for his earlier actions.
Spike had left the stall during the explanation of the evening’s activities, and was currently pacing up and down in front of the sinks. He turned to Angel, more worried about Buffy and her mum than of the idiot watching him. “Right, if this won’t happen again…” Angel interrupted him with an ‘I swear, it was a one time only thing’, and Spike just carried on as if he’d never uttered a word. “…then I’m going home. I don’t want to hear any more of your talking. My date’s outside, I’ll take her home, then go see if Joyce is alright”. He turned and left the bathroom after one more look at the other man. He wasn’t yet sure if he’d tell Buffy of what he’d seen.
He went back out into the club, telling Dru he had to leave. She told him she’d stay a little longer and make her own way home. He left the club, climbing into his beloved Desoto parked out front, and hightailed it to his place. When he got there, he noticed Buffy sat on the porch, and went over to her. It broke his heart to see the tears on her cheeks, she looked exhausted. “Hey, love, what’s wrong?”
She looked up, startled as she hadn’t seen him approaching, and gave him a watery smile. “Hi. I’m ok, it’s just mom, she had another headache and came home from the gallery early. She blacked out, so they told her to come home and rest. She told me she made an appointment with the Dr for tomorrow, so hopefully they’ll be able to see what’s wrong with her. I’m worried Spike. She’s all Dawn and I have.”
He gave her a sympathetic look that told her he was there for her, and told her “It’s alright love, I’m sure everything will be fine. Your mum’s a strong one, it’s where you get your strength from after all, yeah?” she nodded at him, and got up from the step, about to head inside, but bent her head down and kissed him on the cheek. He was startled, and as she left to go inside to retire for the night, he missed her “goodnight Spike”. He sat there for a long time after that, with his hand against his cheek.*
Spike was brought out of his memories as her heard Buffy turning over. He looked towards the bed, where she was waking up, and looking around in confusion. He moved over to the bed and sat on the edge, his hand moving to smooth her hair down. “It’s alright love, I brought you inside. You fell asleep out the front. It’s late, you go back to sleep now, yeah?” she nuzzled into his hand, still sleepy, reached up, and laced their fingers together, pulling him to lay beside her. She drifted back to sleep, Spike not having the willpower to leave just yet, so he place a kiss into her hair and closed his own eyes, drifting off into dreams of his own.