”Buffy? Are you up yet, honey? I know it’s still early, but I made breakfast.” Joyce’s chipper voice sounded from the other side of the door, and Buffy’s eyes widened.
Spike rolled over, opened his eyes and blinked at her, sleepily. “What...?” He was cut off as Buffy quickly clapped her hand over his mouth, and he gave her a questioning look.
“I’m up, Mom!” Lowering her voice to a whisper, Buffy hurriedly explained; “Kinda told her you went home last night.”
Raising a brow in surprise, Spike lowered his voice as well, staring at her in disbelief; “Why’d you do that?!”
“I don’t know! Seemed like a good idea at the time.” Buffy casted a nervous look at the door, calling out to her mother; “All right, Mom! Sounds great. I’ll be right there!”
"Okay, sweetie!" Buffy sighed in relief – which turned out to be too soon, because Joyce wasn’t finished; “Oh, and Spike? I didn’t know if you liked pancakes, but there’s also toast and some cereal.”
Buffy stared at Spike, a horrified expression on her face. He just shrugged, helplessly. She let out a nervous laugh. “What are you talking about, Mom? Spike’s not here!” The sound of her voice was a little too shrill for her liking, and Buffy couldn’t help but cringe. God, this was so embarrassing!
”Oh, of course not." Buffy could practically hear her mother roll her eyes as she went on; “The two of you better be downstairs in five minutes, or your breakfast’s getting cold!”
Exactly five minutes later, Buffy slowly made her way downstairs and into the kitchen, Spike in tow. Joyce raised a brow when she saw them, but didn’t say anything. Beyond embarrassed for being caught deliberately lying to her mother, Buffy stubbornly avoided her eyes as they walked over to the table and sat down.
“Buffy, I...” Joyce started, only to be interrupted by the phone ringing. Seeing the relieved look on her daughter’s face, she crossed her arms over her chest. “Why don’t you get that?”
Buffy’s face fell, and she looked from her mother to Spike. “But...”
“Go,” Joyce insisted, then added; “Spike and I will keep each other company. I’m sure we’ll have a lot to talk about. Right?” She turned to Spike, expectantly. He gulped but nodded, forcing a smile. Joyce looked at Buffy, as if to say ‘see?’. Giving her boyfriend an apologetic look and mouthing a ‘sorry’, Buffy reluctantly slipped out of the room in search for the phone.
“So, um...” Spike hesitated, having absolutely no idea what to say.
“Look, Spike...” Joyce interrupted him. “I’m not stupid – I know you’ve spent the last couple of nights here.” Spike opened his mouth, but she raised a hand to stop him. “Believe it or not; I do remember what it’s like to be young and in love. I also trust my daughter. But from now on, I expect to be informed about these little sleep-overs. Have I made myself clear?”
Spike immediately nodded, although somewhat uncertainly. “Yeah. Perfectly.”
“Good!” Joyce smiled. “Now when that’s out of the way, I wanted to talk to you about Saturday.”
He frowned, looking at Joyce with a blank look on his face. “Saturday?”
“You know, Buffy’s birthday,” Joyce clarified, patiently. “I was thinking of throwing her a small surprise party, inviting her friends, but I wanted to check with you first to make sure...” Seeing his shocked expression, she stopped as realization hit her. “Oh. You didn’t know?”
Suddenly Spike felt like the worst boyfriend ever. He vaguely recalled Buffy mentioning her birthday coming up back when they first met, but he had no idea that it was this saturday. And he hadn’t even bothered to ask. Sure, the last couple of days had been crazy to say the least, but that was no excuse. He should still know the date of his girlfriend’s birthday, right? The thought just hadn’t occurred to him. Now he glanced at Joyce, the guilt evident on his face; “No, I didn’t.”
Joyce nodded in understanding. “Well, you shouldn’t feel bad about that. You see, Buffy really doesn’t like celebrating her birthdays, so I’m not all that surprised she hasn’t brought it up.” She hesitated for a moment. “Three years ago, Buffy’s father turned up at her party drunk, and embarrassed her in front of all her friends from school. The following two years, he didn’t show up at all. He claimed to be working, but Buffy and I both knew that was a lie. She never said anything, but I could just tell how disappointed she was.”
“Oh. That’s...” Spike really didn’t know how to respond to that. His heart went out to Buffy and he suddenly couldn’t blame her for wanting to forget all about her upcoming birthday. Still, he couldn’t help but wish she had said something.
But Joyce wasn’t finished. “I know she doesn’t wanna make a big deal about it, but I just can’t help it. A birthday should be special; a happy day to remember. Don’t you agree?”
Spike had to suppress a bitter laugh, remembering how his last birthday had passed unnoticed as usual. Then again, maybe next year would be different. He shrugged. “Yeah, sure.” Seeing how Joyce seemed to watch him – closely – for a moment, he quickly cleared his throat. “So, one birthday party coming up. Got it. Anything I can do to help?”
“I’m glad you asked.” Joyce casted a glance towards the door to make sure Buffy wouldn’t chose that moment to return. “Would you mind talking to her friends? Willow, Xander and...” She stopped with a frown, her mind clearly blank. “Actually, those two are the only friends she talks about.”
“No worries, I’ll take care of it.” Spike didn’t exactly look forward to contacting Xander, but he figured that he could do it for Buffy. He owed her as much. And as for Willow, well, the red-head seemed pretty okay. Besides, he knew how much it would mean to Buffy if he could get along with her friends. And after that little incident last night – with him screwing up, again, he was more than willing to make it up to her.
Joyce gave him a grateful smile. “That would be great, thank you.” She was about to say something more, but stopped herself as Buffy re-entered the kitchen. Instead she went over to the kitchen cabinet, grabbed three glasses and started some pouring fresh made orange juice into each of them.
Buffy glanced at Spike before turning to her mother. “Okay, what were you two just talking about?”
“Oh, nothing.” Joyce put on an innocent face. “Juice?” She offered one of the glasses to her daughter – who accepted it after a brief moment’s hesitation, a somewhat suspicious look on her face. “So,” Joyce continued after gesturing for Buffy and Spike to start eating. “Do you two have any special plans for today? This isn’t your day off, is it Buffy?”
“I wish.” Buffy grimaced, pouring a large amount of maple syrup on her pancakes. “Have to be at work at ten-thirty. Blah!”
Joyce nodded. “What about you, Spike. Buffy told me you’re working at the gas station.”
“Yeah, well...” Spike shrugged, reaching for a slice of toast and keeping his eyes on the food. “Kinda in between jobs at the moment.” He didn’t feel comfortable admitting that he in fact got fired.
“I see.” Joyce took a sip of her juice. “So what are you gonna do now?”
“I, um...” Spike hesitated. Truth to be told, he had absolutely no idea, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud. He didn’t want Joyce to worry about the fact that her daughter was dating a guy with no ambition. Even if it happened to be the truth.
Seeing his hesitation, Joyce quickly went on; “The reason I ask is because we could always use some extra help down at the gallery. If you wanna stop by tomorrow, I’d be happy to show you around. Then you can decide if you’re interested.”
Spike raised a brow, unable to hide his surprise. “Really? Thanks. I’ll be there.” Joyce looked pleased.
Buffy pouted. “Great! Then the two of you can talk about me all day and I won’t have a chance to defend myself.” However, her tone indicated that she wasn’t really serious. In fact, she didn’t seem unhappy at all.
Things definitely seemed to be looking up, but for some reason, Spike couldn’t help but think that suddenly, it all appeared to be a little too good to be true. He suspected that a part of him would never really get used to the idea of good things actually happening to him; he would always keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. In a way, going through life thinking like that was exhausting, but at the same time, it felt safer always being prepared for the worst to happen.
Like for instance, this afternoon, they were heading for their first therapy session...
TBC