Buffy was just about to excuse herself and go look for Spike in the kitchen – definitely not because she felt the need to check up on him and Faith; she just happened to miss him, at least that was what she firmly told herself – when the front door opened. She spun around at the sound of a very familiar voice. “Dad?” Her face lit up and she rushed over to her father, only to stop in her tracks when she noticed that he hadn’t showed up alone.
“Hi, pumpkin.” Hank Summers smiled and gave his daughter a hug. “You didn’t think I’d miss your birthday this year, did you?”
Instead of answering, Buffy gestured towards the tall, pretty brunette standing next to her father. “Who’s that?”
“Oh.” Her father suddenly looked a little uncomfortable. “This is Amy. Amy – my daughter Buffy. Amy was nice enough to give me a ride here. Can you believe my car broke down, just when I was...”
Buffy interrupted him, a disbelieving expression on her face. “You brought your secretary?! She practically spat the word out, not missing the fact that the girl clearly was closer to her age than to her father’s.
Hank had the decency to look ashamed for a moment, but then he gave her a somewhat annoyed look. “Buffy, you don’t have to be rude. I told you about my car. What was I supposed to have done – walked from LA to here?”
Amy let out a nervous giggle and took a step forward, tossing her long, shiny, shampoo commercial hair over her shoulder. “So, you’re Buffy? Hank has told me so much about you...”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure he has.” Buffy rolled her eyes, not bothering to be polite. This was a nightmare.
“So...” Faith raised a brow, suggestively. “I was just thinking; we don’t have to go to The Bronze. We can just have our own private little party out here. I’m sure nobody’ll even miss us.”
She took a sip from her bottle, her eyes wandering over his body in a way that made Spike’s skin crawl. It was the same way she had been looking at him all night, and although he had found her behavior most annoying, he had done his best to simply ignore her. At least she had just been watching him from afar. But now, when it was just the two of them in the room, she was flirting with him shamelessly.
“I’d say, that’s not likely to happen.” Spike let out a snort, taking a few steps back to put some distance between them. “Look, Faith, whatever game you’re playing here, s’not gonna work, so just drop it, all right?”
For a moment, her eyes turned cold. Obviously not used to being rejected, her jaw clenched. However, she quickly recovered, the confident smile back on her face. “Just who are you trying to convince? Me, or yourself?” Faith took a step closer, tilting her head to the side.
Spike sighed, wishing Xander hadn’t left. He really didn’t want to cause a scene, with Buffy and her friends in the next room, but it was obvious that Faith wasn’t about to back down. Why she kept making her pathetic attempts of coming on to him when he had made it perfectly clear, over and over again, that he wasn’t interested was beyond him. He sure as hell hadn’t done anything to encourage her, quite the opposite.
Faith kept approaching him, slowly, and Spike found himself starting to back away. When he realized what he was doing, he stopped and rolled his eyes. Not wanting her to know how uncomfortable she actually made him feel, he gave her a cold look. “All right, that’s it. Tried to be nice, but you’re obviously too stupid to take a hint. Just sod off!”
Strangely, his hostile words seemed to have the opposite effect on Faith, seeing how her grin only widened. “Ooh, testy! Lucky for you, I have the perfect way to help you relax.” They were suddenly standing face to face, and she ran her tongue over her teeth. “I’ll let you in on a secret, blondie. I don’t want you to be nice.”
Spike jerked back when she made a motion to touch him. “Get the fuck away from me!” She was getting way too close for his liking, and he felt himself starting to panic. Shoving her aside, he tried to step past her, feeling a desperate need to put as much space between them as possible.
Unfortunately, his obvious reluctance only seemed to turn her on even more, and she quickly jumped in front of him, blocking his way. “Come on, Spike, you know you want me. Don’t worry about Buffy. I won’t tell if you won’t.” Before he realized what was happening, she slid her arms around his waist and pushed him up against the wall, pressing her lips fiercely against his.
“Hello, Hank.” Joyce’s voice was cold when she addressed her husband. “I’m so glad you could make it. Must have been difficult to tear yourself away from your...” Her eyes narrowed as she eyed Amy. ”...work.”
Hank put on a strained smile. “Well, our little girl’s turning eighteen. Wouldn’t wanna miss that.”
“You already did. That was last year.” Joyce was fuming now. “Buffy’s turning nineteen today, Hank. Not that I expected you to remember” She glared at him.
“Please, just stop.” Buffy gave her mother a pleading look, hit by the painful realization that with her parents already fighting, this birthday would clearly not be any different from the previous years. She should have known it was too good to be true.
“I’m sorry, honey.” Joyce suddenly looked tired. She then turned back to Hank. “I guess it’s too much to ask for you to start acting like a father all of the sudden.”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” Hank was starting to look annoyed. Amy was standing next to him, looking like she wished the floor would open up and swallow her. Buffy couldn’t blame her.
“And what the hell were you thinking, bringing her here?” Joyce went on, furiously, nodding towards Amy. “I realize our marriage don’t mean much to you anymore, but I didn’t expect you to come here and rub it in, and tonight of all nights. For God’s sake, Hank, have you no decency left at all?” Hank opened his mouth, but she raised a hand to stop him. “I don’t wanna hear your lame excuses. You’re here now. I suggest you take the opportunity to spend some time with your daughter. I need a drink, excuse me.” With that, she turned around abruptly and headed for the kitchen.
Finding himself trapped in the corner with no place to go, Spike was unprepared for the sudden wave of nausea that welled up inside him, threatening to consume him. The feeling of Faith’s breath against his face – not to mention the way her hands were touching him – was sickening and he felt the walls closing in on him.
Lashing out in blind panic, he pushed her away from him and – before his mind had even registered what he was doing – punched her right in the face. “Don’t touch me, you fucking bitch!”
Gasping in pain and surprise, Faith stumbled back, her hand flying up to cover her bleeding nose. “You hit me!” She stared at him in shock, blood trickling down between her fingers. “You – you freak!”
He was shaking violently, his fists clenching hard. “Told you to get away from me,” he hissed, suddenly horrified by his violent action. He had reacted instinctively, and the shame and humiliation was now starting to overwhelm him.
“What’s going on here?” Joyce was suddenly standing in the doorway, her eyes widening when she saw Faith’s bloody nose. “Oh God, what happened?”
“He hit me.” Faith spoke up, grimacing as she carefully removed her hand and stared at the blood in what seemed to be confusion, or possibly disbelief. She went on, her eyes stubbornly locked on Spike; “He tried to come on to me, and when I told him to stop, he hit me.” Wiping her hands on her jeans, she glared at him in fury.
“You’re off your bleedin’ rocker! I...” Spike stopped as he saw the expression on Joyce’s face. Shock, turning into disbelief, and finally into disappointment. And it was directed at him. He swallowed, hard. “Wasn’t like that,” he mumbled. “I was...”
Joyce interrupted him. “You didn’t hit her?”
Spike closed his eyes, realizing that he had screwed up for real this time. “Yeah, I did.” He let out a bitter laugh. “Don’t suppose you’d let me explain.” Glancing at Faith, his eyes narrowed when he saw the smug look on her face. She was enjoying this, no question about that.
“Explain? I don’t see how...” Joyce stopped, shaking her head. “This is just...” She hesitated. “I think you’d better leave.”
He opened his mouth, then closed it again, staring at Joyce as her words started to sink in. “But...”
“Please.” Joyce raised a hand to stop him. “I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you, but I’m not tolerating any kind of violence in my house. I’m disappointed in you, Spike. I didn’t think you were the kind of person who would do something like this.”
“Right.” Spike nodded in defeat. “Guess there’s a lot of things you don’t know ‘bout me, then.” Casting a final look at Faith, he let out a snort of disgust and walked out the door without another word.
Joyce stared after him for a moment, then seemed to snap out of it and rushed into action, grabbing a towel. She handed it to Faith, who had yet to speak up again. “Here you go. Let’s get you cleaned up.” Faith pressed the towel against her nose without a word, allowing Joyce to lead her over to the kitchen sink. “I can’t believe...” She stopped as the door from the living room suddenly swung open. “Buffy?”
Buffy looked from her mother to Faith before crossing her arms over her chest. “Okay, care to explain just what the hell’s going on in here? And where’s Spike?”
TBC