Buffy turned sharply as the door to the breakroom swung open and two of her co-workers came in. She raised her eyebrow, settled her gaze on the one who had spoken. “Anya, you dyed your hair again.”
“No changing the subject, missy,” Anya replied, wagging her finger. “You were supposed to help me on that presentation, and you totally bailed.”
“Oh god, Anya, I’m so sorry. I completely forgot about that. I caught Riley cheating on me this weekend, and…”
“You bailed for that?” Anya replied. “I’m sorry, Buffy, but your husband is boring and not pleasingly-shaped. You should be grateful he cheated on you. It’ll give you an excuse to get away from him and find someone with a personality that doesn’t resemble cardboard.”
The redhead who had followed Anya into the breakroom gasped. “Anya! How can you say that? Buffy had her heart crushed this weekend! You need to…”
“She’s right, Willow,” Buffy said quickly, making the woman stop in mid lecture to drop her jaw. “And that’s actually exactly what I did, which is why I bailed on the project. I met this really hot guy and spent all day yesterday having amazing sex.” Even as the words were leaving her mouth, Buffy was wondering how she was having such an easy time saying them. Usually announcing something like that at work, even if there were only two other people around, would have been something she wouldn’t have as much as considered doing, but right now, she didn’t care. She felt fantastic.
“Oh.” Anya crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, I’m incredibly jealous, but I would’ve done the same thing, so…”
Buffy smirked. “I know you would have.”
Willow eyed the two blondes with her warily. “Buffy, are you sure you’re okay, because you really don’t sound like yourself. You don’t do things like sleep with guys you just met.” She lowered her voice and asked the next part in a near-whisper, “Did…did finding out Riley was cheating make you snap or something?”
“Yeah, maybe a little,” Buffy replied with a frown. “Well, at first. I went out to find someone just to get revenge, you know? But then I met this guy, and he was gorgeous, and he…”
“Wait, wait,” Anya said holding up her hands. She sat down at one of the tables then gestured to the chair beside her. “Take a seat and continue. I haven’t had sex in two weeks. You have to make up for bailing on me by easing the pain of my dry spell with details of your sexy new friend.”
“Two weeks is a dry spell?” Willow asked, her voice squeaking slightly.
“It is when you’re trampy.” Anya replied offhandedly before she turned back to Buffy. “Now sit. Share.”
Normally the idea of sex talk with Anya Jenkins would have Buffy running for the exit, although now she could admit to herself that a lot of that was jealousy. It had been difficult to hear Anya go on and on about her multiple orgasms when Buffy still wasn’t sure her husband knew a clitoris existed.
Now, however, she was anxious to spill. She eagerly pulled up the proffered chair.
Willow worried her lip between her teeth for a moment, her eyes darting between her coworkers and the door before she gave in and joined them.
“Okay, first off, I want a name. You can tell a lot about a guy from his name.” Anya’s brow wrinkled. “Although some of the best sex I ever had was with a guy named Wilbur. I mean, you’d never hear ‘Wilbur’ and think mind-blowing orgasms, but this Wilbur…” Anya fanned herself with her hand. “Wow. But anyway – your guy.”
Buffy thought for a second about what answer to give. He’d only called himself “William” the one time, and for the rest of the weekend, he’d been Spike. For some reason, she got the feeling that “William” was something he kept hidden from most people, something private. “His name is Spike.”
Willow choked. “Spike? You…you went off and had sex with some strange guy named Spike? Geez, Buffy, he could’ve been like a serial killer!”
Buffy’s eyes widened slightly, but she kept her own musings from before to herself.
Anya waved her hand dismissively. “Oh come on, Willow. Serial killers don’t have names like Spike. That would be too obvious. They have names like Ted and Gary.” She frowned. “Now that I think about it, Wilbur could be a good serial killer name, too.”
Willow stared at Anya for a moment. “You should really, really try therapy.”
Anya responded to Willow with no more than a roll of her eyes before her attention was back on Buffy. “So was he hung? I mean, with a name like Spike, he’s either hung or someone’s being ironic, and from that grin that was plastered on your face earlier, I’m guessing it wasn’t the irony route.”
“Huge,” Buffy confirmed. “And oh god, the man has stamina. He was like the Energizer Bunny of Erections.”
“That thing creeps me out, with its freakishly pink fur and little drum.” Anya shivered. “But do continue.” She leaned forward, a conspiratorial grin on her face. “Did you do anything kinky?”
“Yes.”
“Well? I had to stand in there and face Snyder all by myself. You better provide something juicy.”
On her side of the table, Willow was quickly turning the same color of her hair. “I’m not sure this is really a work-appropriate conversation.”
“Oh, stop being such a prude,” Anya said with a snort. “Now kinky details. Gimme.”
“Well, he, um, chained me to the bed.”
Anya’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”
“Uh huh,” Buffy said, nodding her head. “And then he blindfolded me.”
“Go on,” Anya said as she leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table.
“You…you let a stranger chain you down and blindfold you?” Willow asked quickly before Buffy could respond. “That doesn’t sound very safe…”
“He’s not a stranger,” Buffy replied, her voice small. “He’s…Spike.”
“I still can’t believe you’d actually get involved with a guy with a name like that,” Willow said. “Buffy, what are you thinking?”
Anya snorted. “I know what she’s thinking, and I’m right there with her. I mean, if a man can get away with calling himself ‘Spike,’ he’s got to have something to show for it.”
“Boy does he ever,” Buffy said, the words seeming to tumble out. “I mean really. It’s huge.”
“I can’t believe you’re talking like this!” Willow hissed.
“I talk like this all the time,” Anya said with a shrug.
“Not you. Buffy.” Willow turned towards the blonde. “I understand that you’re upset about Riley. And…and you’re probably feeling all liberated or something now, but it isn’t safe to start having a fling with some strange guy who’s probably all dangerous and stuff. There’s other ways to cope with finding yourself suddenly single. There’s support groups, and…”
“This isn’t about Riley,” Buffy said, cutting Willow off. “I mean yeah, it was at first. I wanted revenge and I wanted to get a little of my own back in the process. But then, after what happened, that changed. It’s not about losing Riley. It’s about finding Spike. I…I think I could really fall for this guy.”
“You’re just saying that because you’re all lusty about him!” Willow exclaimed, blushing slightly when she realized she was shouting. She lowered her voice, then spoke again. “Buffy, this isn’t like you. I’ve known you since high school. You…well, you’re a good girl. You’re just all mixed up because of what Riley did and now this Spike guy has you turned around even more. But he’s not falling for you. He’s taking advantage of a girl who just got her heart stomped on. If he’s making you think he cares, then it’s just because he wants in to your pants.”
Buffy sucked in a deep breath. “He didn’t have to care to get that. You don’t know anything about him, Willow. And honestly, I’m not sure how much you even know about me right now.”
Willow was quiet for a moment, hurt surprise in her eyes, before her expression hardened. “I’m not sure how much I know about you either. But right now, I have work to do.” She pushed past Willow and Anya and out of the breakroom.
“Well, isn’t she a mood killer,” Anya huffed as the door swung shut behind Willow.
Buffy sighed, her good spirits seeming to be fading away. “I don’t know, maybe she’s right. I mean, I don’t really know Spike. And can’t amazing sex sometimes make people think there’s more of a connection than there really is? Because of pheromones or whatever?”
Anya rolled her eyes. “Buffy, don’t listen to Willow. I know she’s your friend and all, but seriously – that stick is so far up her ass she probably craps splinters.”
“But…”
“No. None of that. You deserve this, okay? I saw what that jackass put you through long before now. You’re young, you’re free – there is no reason in the world for you to not do what you want. Don’t listen to Willow. She’s just jealous ‘cause she’s not having hot nasty sex.”
Buffy chuckled. “You think so?”
“I know so. Hell, I’m incredibly jealous, and I’ve gotten some recently.”
“I’ve just never felt like this with anyone. And I know it’s crazy, and I know that every bit of common sense says that this is a bad, bad road to go down, but you know what? I don’t think I care. I mean, so what if things with Spike aren’t long term? Why does every relationship have to be about till death do you part? I’m enjoying now.”
“So enjoy now,” Anya said with a shrug. “Don’t let yourself get dragged down by someone else’s idea of how you should behave.”
“You sure are being supportive.”
“Yeah, well…honestly?” Anya cleared her throat. “I’m sorta hoping if I’m nice to you, you’ll ask him if he has a brother.”
“I have a flower delivery for Buffy Finn.”
Buffy turned sharply, eyes widening at the sight of a dozen red roses filling the entrance to her cubicle. She didn’t have to read the tag to know who they were from. There were only two men in her life, and she knew one of them wasn’t going to call her “Buffy Finn” or send roses to her work. She struggled for a moment to find her voice even as bile pushed up in her throat. “Set them on the desk,” she managed to croak out.
The delivery man did as she asked and thrust a clipboard at her. She signed mechanically, her mind reeling.
He didn’t honestly think he could win her back with something as trite as flowers?
Hand shaking, she reached for the card, read his message. Apparently, he actually did.
Buffy balled up the card and threw it in the garbage. For a moment, she sat there, staring at the roses, the sickness inside her rapidly being replaced by pure anger. How dare he? He screwed around on her and now he thought that he could get himself back in her good graces with a gift – and one with no thought or originality at that. Was she no more to him than one of his whores?
It wasn’t until the vase shattered on the ground and the roses spilled out that Buffy realized she’d knocked it off her desk.
“Buffy? Are you all right?”
She looked up from her desk, grateful to see it was the boss she actually liked and not the one she loathed. Snyder probably would’ve found some reason to fire her right then and there. Rupert Giles, however, was looking at her with concern.
“They were from Riley,” Buffy explained, her emotions morphing again, making her want to cry. “I didn’t mean to knock them over. It…it just sort of happened.”
Giles nodded. He had been who Buffy had called when she’d first found out about Riley, and it appeared that his sympathy hadn’t run out yet. “Don’t worry yourself over it. I’ll call someone from janitorial to clean it up. Are you all right enough to be here, Buffy? If you need more time…”
Buffy shook her head, wiping away the few tears that had escaped her attempts to push them back. “No, I’m fine. I just wasn’t expecting that, and it threw me for a loop. But I want to be back at work. If I was at home, I’d just be alone with my thoughts, and I don’t really want that right now.”
“I can understand that.” Giles started to walk away, but then turned and stepped back into her cube. “Oh, and Buffy – if he keeps harassing you, well, I used to be quite a formidable bloke back in my day, and I doubt I’d have any trouble scaring your pillock husband now. Just, you know, in case it’s needed.”
He winked at her, and Buffy could feel her spirits lifting back to where they’d been earlier already. “Thanks, Giles. I’ll keep that in mind.”
With a nod, Giles headed off.
Buffy took a deep breath and turned her focus to her work.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far. I didn’t expect such a huge response to this fic, and it means a lot to know it’s being enjoyed so much.