Chapter 4: Foolish Games
He couldn’t stop pacing, couldn’t stand still. Why did he agree to this?
Because you haven’t seen her in five years and wanted to know why she never came back after she promised she would.
No. He was over this. Over her. What happened with them happened a long time ago. She had a family now, a daughter…a husband.
A husband that she’s flying to California, in the middle of the night, to get away from.
She probably just missed her mum. They were always close.
So she spur of the moment bought a plane ticket and decided to fly to L.A.?
It didn’t matter why she was coming as long as she was.
He sighed and sat down in a chair. She wasn’t expecting him to be the one to pick her up. Maybe this was a bad idea. He shouldn’t have agreed to this he knew he shouldn’t but he hadn’t seen her in so long
His leg wouldn’t stop moving and the lady sitting next to him was looking at him like he was crazy.
He was nervous! More bloody nervous than he had ever been in his entire life! He got back up and began to pace again, checking his watch for the millionth time.
Her plane had landed five minutes ago. Where was she? He was getting anxious.
***
Where was she? She was supposed to be here over an hour and a half ago and he was getting tired of waiting. Pacing back and forth and checking his watch, Spike was about to throw in the towel and go home. The rest of the band had already left, deciding that if she was going to take the night off so were they. It was Saturday so he let them go, knowing that Buffy’s ditching was going to have to come to an end. Whether that meant him sitting her down and having a serious talk or kicking her out.
Either way it wasn’t going to be good. You couldn’t very well kick your girlfriend out of your band and expect the same ‘perks’ you had been getting before.
“Sorry I took so long, Spike.” He whipped around toward the door at the sound of her voice, ready to give her a piece of his mind. Thats when he saw the hat pulled low on her forehead and the long sleeve turtle neck that covered her arms in the midst of the hottest summer in California had ever seen.
Something wasn’t right.
“Buffy?” He called as he jogged over to meet her
“Yeah?” She asked eyes downcast toward the floor.
“What happened?”
“I fell again.” Was her whispered answer and she began to cry when he took off her baseball cap to reveal the hand shaped bruise that covered half of her beautiful face.
Spike threw her hat to the ground and started toward the door. Buffy was hot on his heals and she threw herself in front of him knowing that his temper wasn't going to solve a damn thing. “Spike, don’t.” She pleaded.
“Stop it Buffy! Stop lying to me!” He yelled as he turned to face her. “Why do you lie when you know that I know he’s an abusive bastard? I know that hits you and your mum! I swear I’m gonna kill him!”
She could feel the anger and the hate radiating off of him. She was at a loss of what to do to calm him this time. She wasn’t sure she wanted too.
“He didn’t Spike, I just need to be more careful. He didn’t do any-”
“You’re a liar! Why are you lying for him? Protecting him?”
“I am not a liar!” She screamed.
“He doesn’t care about you! Why does he hit you if he cares?”
“He does care! Stop it!”
“He hates you Buffy. You and your mother and he gets drunk and hits you! I know it, you know it, hell the whole damn town knows it Buffy!”
“Shut up!”
“He doesn’t love you!”
“Yes he does! Shut up!”
“He doesn’t Buffy. You don’t hit someone you love!”
“Shut up!”
“You don’t hurt someone you care about!”
“Don’t say that!”
“You and your mum need to leave him.” He was still angry but he saw how his rant was affecting her. She was sobbing and screaming at him. They had never had a fight like this before.
But he had never in his life been this scared for her before.
“Shut up!”
“Buffy, I’m sorry. But I’m so scared. He hurt you.” He whispered as he moved closer to her.
“No.” She was crying. Not really listening to what he had to say and he knew that it was his fault alone. He shouldn’t have yelled. She had so many problems she needed him to be her rock. He wasn’t allowed to fall apart.
“Baby, come here.” He pleaded with her as he held out his arms to her.
“No.” She had her arms wrapped around herself she refused to look at him. He picked her up in his arms as she began sobbing in earnest. “I’m gonna take you home baby. It’ll be okay. Home with me. You’re stayin with me tonight, no arguments.”
She nodded her head and whispered. “No complaints.”
***
He stood frozen in place as he watched her struggle with a baby carrier and three rather large suitcases. She looked so different and still the same, long blonde hair was tied back behind her in a pony tail, and her slender body was incased in blue jeans and a black Rolling Stones t-shirt. Movie star sunglasses couldn’t hide the big purple and yellow bruise on the side of her face and he sighed as the weight of the real reason why she'd return settled upon his shoulders. He wanted to be sick. Wanted to collapse and cry and yell at her all at the same time. How could she let this happen? What were the chances that she'd end up with a dead beat like her father.
He walked toward her, she was so focused on trying not to drop anything she didn’t even notice him as he came up beside her.
“I could help you with that ma’am.” He said quietly as she turned to look at him. She set everything aside and the next instant she was in his arms. It was like the last five years had never happened.
“You’re here.” She whispered against his shoulders and all he could do was nod. He wanted to cry and scream and hate her all at the same time but knew that he couldn’t. He was her rock, always had been and always would be. She needed him now more than ever, so here he was. Needing her back.
The baby started to cry and she was immediately pulled to her daughter’s side. He gathered up her suitcases and she grabbed the baby carrier. “You’re gonna stay at my place tonight and your mum will come get you tomorrow.”
She nodded. She was used to him stepping in and taking control. Five years hadn’t changed anything at all.
***
He closed the door behind them and set her bags down by the couch. She hadn’t spoken a word to him since they left the airport and to be honest he didn’t know what to say to her. What did you say to someone you had so much history with, someone you used to know better than yourself?
“Thank you for this. I really didn’t mean to intrude.” She was facing him, her hands stuck in her pockets, looking like anything but the woman she was.
“You know that if you ever need anything…I’m here.” He took a seat on the sofa and motioned for her to take a seat next to him. “So… how have you been?”
She looked at him and smiled. “Alright I guess. Life has been a little bit more hectic since Emma but I have no complaints. What about you, Mr. Rockstar? Looks like you haven’t done half bad for yourself.” She said while gesturing around his place.
He found himself smiling at her. “Life is life. I could ask for more but try not too.”
“You haven’t changed a bit.”
“You have.”
She looked away from him and busied herself with getting the baby out of her carrier. “Well Spike people grow up in the real world.”
He scoffed. “So what are you trying to say Buffy?”
“Just that I moved on.”
“Oh, and you think that I haven’t?” He asked dreading her answer. He thought he was hiding his feelings well but she had always been able to see through him.
“That’s not what I said.” The baby started to fuss.
“No but it’s what you implied.”
“Look Spike I don’t want to fight with you. I just want to make it through tonight and leave with my mother tomorrow.”
“Okay. Alright. I’m sorry.” He stood up and ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll go get the guest room ready.” He muttered as he left, starting down the hallway.
She leaned back against the couch and heaved a sigh of relief. Why did he have to look so damn gorgeous? Why did her mother have to ask him, out of all people, to pick her up?
No. Scratch that. Her mother had always hated Angel and had made it no secret. If this was her mother’s poor attempt at getting her and Spike back together it was nothing more than just that-- a poor attempt.
She was married and would remain married. Spike was a memory. A ghost from her past and yes she loved him and probably always would love him but that did not mean that this was some damned romance novel where they get thrown back together after 5 years apart and realize how young and stupid and naive they were. That they never should have parted and they fall back into each others arms after having waited for the other all these years.
No. This was real life and real life was never that exciting. In real life there were no such things as happy endings, much to her dismay.
Emma continued to fuss, hungry after going hours without anything to eat. Buffy looked behind her to see if Spike was coming back. He wasn’t. So she took out Emma’s baby blanket and put it over her shoulder. She pulled up her shirt and unhooked her bra, letting her head rest against the back of the couch as she fed her daughter.
Why did he have to be so perfect? How after all these years did he still have the power to make her knees turn to mush and heart skip a beat. She felt like a teenager all over again. She remembered the first time she met him. She was only a freshman when he moved to Sunnydale and the day they met was one she’d never forget.
****
“How do I look Wills?” Buffy asked as she straightened the collar on her leather jacket and fluffed her hair, catching the attention of more than one student in the High School parking lot.
“I told you already Buffy…sexy… fierce… gorgeous. Take your pick, you are all of that and more.” Willow felt like rolling her eyes. Buffy had gotten some silly nonsense idea in her head once again ergo they were standing in the school parking lot on their first day of ninth grade looking like evil punk rockers that drove Harleys. She so wasn’t enjoying this.
She didn’t like high school already.
“Come on Wills lets go.” Buffy said as she dragged her best friend by the arm up to the front of the school. She was so busy conversing with her best friend that she didn't even notice the underclassmen busy not paying attention coming straight toward her.
Willow let go of Buffy just in time and saved herself from falling into the mess but Buffy didn’t have any such luck. She had landed right on top of the stranger.
“Bloody hell!”
“Ouchy!” Looking down into the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen Buffy rubbed her head.
“Watch where you’re going, you stupid bint!” The man who was currently underneath her grumbled but didn’t move.
“What the hell did you just call me?” Her temper flared.
He gave her a wicked grin and then asked as if talking to a child, “What didn’t you understand luv? The ‘watch where you’re going’ part or the part where I called you a ‘stupid bint’?”
She grabbed him by his collar and pulled him to her. “First off I am not and never will be your luv. Second nobody tells me what to do…ever. And last but not least you ever call me stupid again and I’ll castrate you.”
He chuckled. “Well aren’t you a feisty little chit.” He curled his tongue behind his teeth. “Bet you’re a kinky little one.”
She shoved him back to the ground and stood up. “To bad you’ll never know.”
He grinned. “You wanna bet?”
***
Spike walked out the guest bedroom and back down the hall way. This night sure wasn’t going as planned but then again when did things involving Buffy ever go as planned? For now he was just content with the fact that she was back. Nothing other than that really mattered.
He found her resting with her eyes closed, baby in her arms, obviously nursing underneath a pink frilly blanket. He had never envied a baby so much.
He cleared his throat and smiled when she jumped a little and started to blush. “Sorry luv didn’t mean to startle you, I just wanted to let you know that if you were ready to call it a night, the guest room is ready when you are. Can I get you anything? A drink perhaps?”
She smiled at him. “Thanks but that’s okay. Emma’s practically asleep again. I should really lay her down.”
He nodded. “Second door on your left, Willow left her playpen here last time she came to visit, so I set that up for you in there.”
“Thank you Spike. Looks like you thought of everything.” He glanced away as she put the baby back into the carrier and fixed her t-shirt.
“Yeah, everything.”
***
He couldn’t sleep. He had been lying here flat on his back for the last two hours and was just about ready to drug himself when he heard a slight knock on his bedroom door.
The door opened without him having to say a word and he wasn’t surprised to see Buffy standing there in his door way. In nothing but his t-shirt and a pair of panties. “Spike?”
“Yeah, luv?” He asked as he heard her tiny feet slap across the hard wood of his apartment floor.
“Why didn’t you ask me about the bruise?” He barely heard her question it was spoken so quietly and he felt the bed dip as she got under the covers next to him.
“I figured you’d tell me when you were ready.” He said as he scooted closer to her, seeking her body heat and the feel of her.
“He hit me.” She whispered. “He hits me.”
Spike shook his head and wondered how she always ended up with the wrong guy. He was to upset to speak and he went rigid when he felt her warm body press into his very obviously naked one.
“Spike?” She waited for a beat for his reply and than continued anyway. “Kiss me.”
Who was he to argue with a lady?
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Hey guys here is the much LONGER chapter promised. Enjoy! ;-)