~~~~~~~From the previous chapter
What mattered was that she was his and he was hers and it would always remain that way.
~~~~~*~~~~~
Buffy heard the door bell and mumbled ‘Spike can you get it?’ before the lack of body heat registered and she remembered Spike wasn’t in bed with her. A momentary sense of loss swept through her before she, for once, used her legendary resolve to hold on to a positive thought. *It’ll be okay, we love each other and it’ll be okay.* Still feeling a bit weird about having woken up dressed, she ran towards the stairs yelling, “I’m coming, I’m coming guys!” only to be intercepted at the top of them by a still sleep addled Spike and a big kiss.
“Mornin’ cutie.”
“Spike, morning. My folks are here.”
“I heard, pet, just wanted my last mornin’ kiss for now. Go get the door, the whelp an’ I will be right down.”
Giving him a quick peck on the lips, she nodded before yawning adorably and yelling one last ‘Coming!’ before rushing downstairs.
She flung the door open expecting a screeching Dawn – who still hadn’t realized she’d gotten too big to climb on people as a greeting – to be all over her.
Instead she was facing a politely smiling Anya.
“Anya?”
With a big grin, the other woman nodded and kissed her on the cheek. “Surprise!”
Buffy looked around the woman to see Rupert coming up the walkway, the top of his head barely visible over the huge gift-wrapped packet in his arms. “Giles?”
Anya seemed irritated their surprise wasn’t received with more fervor and motioned for Giles to hurry up. “We also brought you a present.” She took a step to the side, obviously waiting for the blonde to move and let her in. “Hello William.” Her grin widened.
Buffy was so shocked, she didn’t move from the doorway; she just stood there blinking and looking from one to the other until she heard a ‘Bloody HELL’ behind her.
Turning to a dumbfounded Spike who was trying to hide as much of his bleached blond hair with his hands as possible, she missed the shocked look on Giles’ face when he saw the changes in his son’s appearance. She snapped her attention back to the older man when he let out a ‘Dear Lord’ and forgetting about the package in his arms, brought his hands up to take his glasses off and begin cleaning them.
Anya, ever the practical one, grabbed the box before it hit the ground and exclaimed, “Oh, Rupert, he doesn’t look half bad with his new hair. He looks all grown up.”
“Yes, clearly, umm… indeed, all grown up.” In his shocked state, Giles didn’t notice how Buffy’s eyes lit up when he mumbled, “I guess he has to fit in with the colonial sense of fashion now that we will be living here”.
Anya, however, did.
She passed by Buffy - who still hadn’t wrapped her mind around their presence at her house – and stretched her neck up to give her stunned step-son a kiss on the cheek. Then, after setting the present on the living room coffee table, she proceeded to sprawl out on the couch with a huff.
Giles gave Buffy a distracted hug, shook hands with his son – complete with a ‘nice to see you’ along with a fatherly pat on the back – and also went inside, oblivious to the questioning looks exchanged by the two blonds behind his back. Buffy closed the door and they both followed him to where Anya was now fixing the crumpled bow on the present they’d brought.
“What are you… what are you guys doing here?” Buffy asked in a much cheerier tone than she intended. “Not that it’s not a-a pleasant surprise. So uhmm, how long are you here for?” She gestured for Giles to sit next to his wife as the man never forgot his British manners – even in a state of shock – and obviously awaited the invite before he took the proffered seat. Spike sat opposite the two while Buffy still stood in the center of the room with a hopeful look on her face. *If the Giles’ are here, then he’s not leaving yet… unless they’re only here for the ten extra days he was supposed to stay*. And if that was the case, it’d be even harder to see Spike with his folks around. If they’d only answer the ‘how long are you here for question she could breath again.
“William,” Rupert exclaimed in shock, finally having noticed his face. “Your brow… that scar… how did-”
“However it happened, Rupert, it’s obviously healed and he’s fine.” His wife was always the practical one and Giles didn’t mind a bit when she interrupted him. He loved her fire and straight forwardness… well, most of the time. “Buffy asked us a question. Are you going to answer or shall I?”
“Yes, quite… well-”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, I will.” Never one to talk in circles, Anya took it upon herself to explain. “Rupert was offered the position of Museum Curator here in Sunnydale. It pays much more than the librarian position he held in England-” she spotted Giles was about to add something but kept talking anyway. “-and of course it will put his enormous brain to much better use.” She smiled in her patented, self-satisfied way at having managed to stroke her husband’s ego by merely saying the truth. “So he took it. We’re moving into the house right behind yours.” She clapped her hands excitedly before changing the subject. “By the way, where’s Xander?”
“Huh?” Buffy’s brain was still playing ‘catch-up’. *Spike isn’t leaving. He’s not going back. He’ll be here. We can keep seeing each other…* She was doing an internal happy dance when she noticed Anya looking at her strangely. Buffy turned to Spike for help and he thankfully jumped in to answer the question.
But Anya hadn’t missed ‘that look’…or what it meant, either.
“The Whelp… er, Xander is still asleep. I tried to get him out of bed but he wouldn’t budge and inch. Do you want me to try again?”
“No, that’s fine, let him sleep. I was just getting to the part of the story where his parents helped us contact a realtor to find a home and noticed he wasn’t here.”
“So, William,” Giles seemed almost shy as he cleared his throat and once more wiped his squeaky clean glasses. “I know we did not ask how you would feel about moving. I only pray that you’re not too averse to the idea. I was hoping that by spending the summer here, it would make the transition easier.”
“Fuck-I mean, yes, father, of course I am perfectly alright with it.” *Great job, mate, start sayin’ ‘fuck yeah’ in front of them. Why not, you already said, ‘bloody hell’.* He was hoping his dad wouldn’t notice the slip of tongue. The last thing he wanted when things were finally starting to look up was for the old man to think Buffy had been a bad influence on him.
Although Spike only used his polished British accent in Buffy’s presence when they were out in public, *and on our one month anniversary… yummy*, it never failed to impress her. Or turn her on! Her eyes glazed over and she barely caught herself before wetting her lips. Her panties, however, didn’t fair too well in the ‘getting wet’ department, *yeah, well, at least they’ll never find out about that*.
The doorbell suddenly rang, bringing Buffy out of her musings. “Oh, that must be my folks and Xan’s. How did you guys get here before them?” she asked as she walked to the door.
Again, Anya answered before Rupert even had the chance. “Well, they had to wait for their luggage. We had none, so we took a cab. Everything was sent here yesterday. Surely you must have seen the movers?”
Spike made a funny face just a split second before he burst out laughing. He brushed off the puzzled looks aimed his way managing to sputter ‘private joke’ when he finally caught his breath, but quickly relapsed into uncontrollable laughter. “The movers… The neighbors… I guess I was right!”
Buffy was just opening the door when she realized the cause of his mirth. *I guess the new neighbors do have a seventeen year old son I can shag, squeeeeeeee!!!* She was still giggling when Dawn made her own verbal squee and tackled her to the floor.
~~~~~*~~~~~
Both Buffy and Xander’s folks had always been a touchy-feely family, so hugs were shared all around, even to Anya and a very distraught, proper Giles who’d already spent a large portion of the summer with them, and, were on the same flight back to the States.
To his credit, old Rupes managed not to have a stroke at the physical display of affection, but he was obviously relieved when Hank suggested the guys should go out for a beer while the women caught up with ‘the kids’. He didn’t mention, ‘and unpack’, but Joyce knew her husband and she jokingly raised an eyebrow, teasing him about never lifting a finger to help with the housework.
Xander’s mom offered to stay and help, and Joyce thanked her, promising to return the favor right after they finished. Buffy half heartedly protested that the house didn’t need any work, as she’d kept everything in ‘impeccable order’. Her choice of words made Dawn and Xander – who had finally dragged his body downstairs and received several compliments about having lost so much weight – exchange pointed looks then giggles. Tara and Oz looked at their son with pride. The chubby, ungainly boy that had been so unsure of himself at the beginning of summer now seemed to have grown up and certainly looked much better as well as more confident. Soon, the men were out of the door, having asked the two male teens to join them but received negative answers.
“I’ll go make some coffee,” Spike offered and was followed into the kitchen by Dawn who did nothing to conceal the admiration in her eyes.
“I’ll help,” she said louder than she had to before adding in a much lower voice, “are you guys pissed I didn’t tell you about the move? And by the way, nice dye job!”
“Oi, not dye, bleach.”
“Same difference! So are you okay with the move?”
“Okay? It’s bloody marvelous!” Spike couldn’t resist hugging the girl and despite her being about his height, picked her up and twirled her in the air. “Never been happier, li’l bit.”
And of course, that was when Buffy and Anya came to the kitchen to put away the Bohemian crystal glasses the Giles’ had brought back as a gift.
Buffy froze.
Spike put Dawn down and shook his head slightly at Buffy.
Dawn’s smile faded at her sister’s frown.
Anya noticed everything... and intervened.
“William, Dawny, why don’t you go help Joyce with the luggage? Buffy and I can take care of making the coffee.” Her grin was about to split her face in half. “Tara offered but you know your mother, she never wants to impose on anyone, not even her sister in law-” she looked at Dawn, “-and Xander is a sweet boy, but such a klutz.”
Spike began to propose that the girls help their mother and Anya could stay with him, but she cut him off. “Now, William. The two of them won’t be able to carry all those heavy suitcases upstairs by themselves.”
Throwing Buffy a look to make sure she was ok with what Anya asked, Spike followed Dawn out of the kitchen.
The moment the two were out of earshot, Anya focused on Buffy’s back as the blonde was busying herself with placing a new filter in the coffee machine and asked in a level voice, “Have you and William been giving each other orgasms all summer?”
Buffy slowly turned to face her as she felt the blood drain from her head and had to clutch the bench behind her because her legs felt wobbly all of a sudden. And not in a good way.
“What? NOOO!” She cringed as her voice didn’t sound convincing even to her own ears.
Holding a hand up, Anya insisted like she hadn’t heard her reply. “How long?”
Buffy couldn’t deny it any more. “All summer,” she admitted with a sigh, hanging her head. “How—how did you know?” She couldn’t bring herself to meet the other woman’s eyes.
“It’s obvious, with the way you two are always looking at each other with those moon-eyes, and him asking your permission to go… not out loud, of-”
“It’s not just… not just sex, Anya.” Buffy whispered.
“I kind of figured that out, too. What exactly is it?”
The calmness of Anya’s voice chilled Buffy to the bone. The woman was a liberal spirit, and really into sex – though Buffy could remember countless times she, *probably Giles too*, wished Anya was less verbal about her appreciation of sexual acts – but this was about her underage step-son and Anya was well within her rights to even turn her in to the police. Still, she hoped the woman would see how much in love she and Spike were, and she had to try and make her understand. “I love him. A lot. And he loves me, too. I never meant for this to happen, Anya, you have to belie-”
“I can see that he loves you,” she interrupted. “But are you sure you love him just as much?” Anya’s eyes didn’t seem accusatory as she watched for Buffy’s reaction, challenging her for the truth.
Why did everyone just accept his love for her and fear she’d hurt him? *Oh, maybe cuz I’m the adult here, and cuz I already hurt him yesterday?* She refused to linger on the thought. “Of course I’m sure. Anya please don’t-” she paused, not knowing quite what she wanted to ask. *Don’t what? Don’t make us break up? Yeah, fat chance of that.* Taking a deep breath and steeling herself, she asked instead, “So, what do you want me to do now that you know?” Still unable to raise her head, she bit her lower lip, feeling the sting of tears forming in her eyes. *So close to happiness and now…* Even if Anya decided not to tell anyone else, she would more than likely insist they stop seeing each other. *Maybe we can still make it. We were ready for a year apart anyway.* Buffy was prepared to fight for him, for them, but she knew there wasn’t much that could be done until Spike was eighteen and she’d concede to anything Anya asked just so she could hold onto some hope for the future.
“Does Xander know?” The question seemed irrelevant.
Buffy nodded.
“And Dawn?”
Another nod.
“Well, if Rupert finds out, he will definitely have a stroke and be completely devastated, which of course make me just as unhappy, so he can never know. I’m not going to tell anyone else, Buffy, so don’t worry about that. But-” she held a finger up.
Buffy turned her back to the brunette and filled a glass with water, wanting something, anything to focus on other than the condemnation she knew Anya’s next words would bring. *Even if she doesn’t tell, she could use what she knows to keep me away from him.* Maybe if she could just, accidentally not hear those words, it would be as if they were never spoken.
“But-” Anya repeated, lowering her voice to a more serious tone. “-you’ll have to move away-”
Buffy never heard her finish the rest of that sentence as the glass she’d been holding slipped from her hand to hit the hard tiled floor, shattering into a million pieces just like her heart had the moment Anya said she had to move. A small piece of glass landed on her foot, the flip-flops she wore not offering much in the means of protection, but she never even registered the pain from the cut.
Spinning on her heel she looked straight into Anya’s eyes, her jaw slack with shock. Blinking rapidly in an effort to focus on the other woman through the tears now streaming down her cheeks she could only repeat the last thing she heard. “Move away?”
tbc.
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Thank you darlaslilgirl for the awesome banner!Author's Chapter Notes:
Only three chapters left for Quiet Summer to be over *sniffles* I'm so grateful to all of you for being with me so far, you all get cookies (those who review get hot chocolate with li'l marsh-mallows too)!A huge 'thank you' and a bear hug each for Tina (Im_bloody_English), who we have established is my goddess other than my beta, for Carrie (Darkrivertempest), who is funny even when I know she just wants to scream with frustration, and for Sarah (SpikesGoddess) whose cheeks I wanna pinch 24/7! I love you lots ladies, knowing you has made my life better.There was an UPDATE on Saturday, so if you've read nothing since the break-up you've MISSED chapter 34!
Chapter End Notes:
Okay... so I may be a liiiiittle evil, not much tho, I swear! *pinky swears* More on Saturday and for those that follow MBwF, it will be updated tomorrow! *hugs* Please take a moment to tell me what you thought about it!