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Previously: At the exact same moment, in a remarkable coincidence, two people across the town from each-other opened their doors and asked in shock, “What are you doing here?”

“I mean, how do you even know where I live? That’s just gross.” Cordelia Chase sneered, but Xander just rolled his eyes, not bothered by the insult.

“Yeah, whatever, you’re a bitch; got it. Now that we both understand that, let’s get down to business.” He crossed his arms and glared at Cordelia. “You’re Buffy’s best friend, everybody knows you and Angel are practically dating, and, let’s face it, you’re really nosey. So I’m guessing you know what’s going on with Angel and Riley and Spike. And I want you to tell me.”

Cordelia blinked, surprised; but then she recovered, crossing her own arms and leaning against the door. “Oh look, the Zeppo has a spine! Face it Xander, you’re a first-rate loser, and you aren’t ever going to be at the same level as me. And because of that,” she stepped back inside the house, “I really can’t be seen talking to you. Hey, as long as you’re here, the shrubs could use a clipping. I always knew you’d end up as my gardener someday.”

She flashed him a bright smile, and slammed the front door in his face – only to jump when it slammed right back open and Xander stormed inside. “No, you listen to me, Cordelia! I want to know what’s going on and I want to know now! This is my best friend that’s involved, and I will do anything to help her out! Now, what do Angel, Spike, and Riley know that I don’t? What happened to Willow?!”

At the mention of Willow, Cordelia’s face instantly closed off, and she glared ferociously at Xander. “Get out of my house now, or I swear I will call the cops, you little freak!”

Xander glared right back, refusing to move, but despite the anger in his eyes, his voice was oddly calm when he spoke – so calm that it was actually scary. “Tell me, Cordelia.”

***

Giles raised his eyebrows high upon seeing Buffy standing at his door once more, recovering from his shock. “I mean, uh – you certainly are brave, Ms. Summers – returning to the scene of the crime.”

For a moment, Buffy flashed back to the last time she’d seen the librarian, him watching as Spike roughly shoved her out of the house, and blushed. “Um, I – well…”

Giles smiled warmly at her, “It’s all right, Ms. Summers. I understand what happened was an accident. I presume you’re here about the fight?”

She nodded briefly. “Riley wouldn’t tell me why.”

Giles nodded, stepping aside and ushering her in as he did so. “Well… I’m afraid William isn’t really going to be able to help you in that manner, either.”

Buffy blinked in surprise. “What, you’re actually on his side? He just tried to beat up my boyfriend for no reason!”

Giles nodded, and took his glasses off, wiping them clean with a handkerchief from his pocket. “B-be that as it may, Ms. Summers – ”

“Buffy.”

He blinked. “Pardon?”

Buffy shrugged, “Buffy – my name’s Buffy. It makes me feel like I should be wearing a hoopskirt or something when you call me Ms. Summers.”

Giles chuckled, “Buffy it is then. Er, Buffy… I’ll let William tell you what he can, but let me just say now; he takes his promises very seriously, and it won’t be wise for you to try to force him to break one.” He grinned suddenly, replacing his glasses on his face. “Of course you’re already well acquainted with his temper.”

Buffy frowned, somewhat confused, but nodded. “Okay… Thanks for the tip, Mr. Giles.”

He nodded again, “He’s in his room.”

***

Spike opened his bedroom door with a small smile on his face; it disappeared the moment he saw who was standing in front of him. “Oh, bloody hell.”

He turned and, leaving the door open, walked farther back into his room, heading for the desk where he picked up several pieces of drawing paper and slid them into a drawer, before sitting backwards on his desk chair, raising an eyebrow at her.

Buffy took the not-slammed door as an invitation and walked further into his room, awkwardly perching on the corner of his bed. “Um… hi.” She smiled weakly at him, but Spike just rolled his eyes.

“Relax Barbie, all valuables are safely stored away. Here to defend your boy-toy, I’m guessing?”

Buffy blinked. “What – no! And he’s not my boy-toy. And, uh, I’m still sorry about…” She trailed off upon seeing that Spike was, once again, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, um, I’m here about the fight – and earlier today when Riley dragged you off to that weird pow-wow. I want to know what’s going on.”

Spike grinned mirthlessly, and leaned forward on the back of his chair. “Yeah, right… Well sorry luv, but frankly I don’t care what you want. Is that all? Great – buh-bye!”

He jerked his head toward the door, but Buffy just crossed her arms. “I want to know, Spike. He’s been my boyfriend for a year tomorrow, and he still won’t tell me. Mr. Giles told me you could tell me something – even if he kinda changed the subject – and I want to know what that something is. This affects me just as much as anybody – I deserve to know.”

Spike remained silent for a moment, thinking it over. Much as he hated to admit it, even to himself – Buffy had a point. Sure, she wasn’t nearly as affected as Willow or the three other people involved in threatening her – but she was affected, and probably deserved to know. And it wasn’t like he’d be telling her anything she didn’t know already. She probably just didn’t know that Spike knew – which was why she was confused about the fight.

It didn’t cross his mind to wonder if that was so, why Riley didn’t just tell her. He would never have considered that Buffy didn’t already know what was going on with Willow – after all, her entire group of close friends was involved, including her boyfriend. Why wouldn’t she know?

Spike sighed. “Fine. Bloody hell,” he groaned and wiped his hands across his face, closing his eyes for a moment, before he opened them and looked back at the expectant Buffy. “Right. So… what’s going on with me and your lot of idiots,” He frowned.

“Basically, I found them doin’ that thing you love to do with Willow the other day, and stopped them; I’m sure they told you all about that.” Spike didn’t notice Buffy shaking her head; he was looking at the floor as he spoke. “So today your Ken blowup was apparently feeling guilty – probably why he didn’t tell you – and warned me about that other wanker planning on beatin’ me up. Not a big problem – but he also trashed my car, the direct consequences of which were what happened in the cafeteria. Happy now?” There. Spike thought he’d phrased it perfectly; he hadn’t actually told Buffy what was going on with Willow, and therefore didn’t break his promise – but at the same time, he had let her know what was going on.

Or so he thought.

“Huh? No, I’m not happy – I’m totally confused! What ‘thing we love to do with Willow’? I think I’ve only ever talked to her like, twice! What exactly did Riley do that he had to feel so guilty about? Angel trashed your car? But if it was Angel, why’d you attack Riley too? And… just what exactly is going on?”

Spike blinked, and lifted his gaze, staring at Buffy in shock. “You… don’t know.”

She nodded, “Well duh, that’s what I’ve been saying!”

“No,” Spike was still staring at her, eyes wide. “You don’t know. Nothing. Nothing at all?”

Buffy looked affronted, “Well, by now I’d say I know some things… But what’s going on right now? No. Why?”

Spike cocked his head to the side, studying her intently. “Oh, no reason. It just completely changes my opinion of you, that’s all.” He frowned, speaking almost to himself. “But… why wouldn’t they tell you? Did they think you’d rat them out?”

Buffy raised her eyebrows, but didn’t say anything. Spike stared at her a moment longer before snapping out of his daze and clearing his throat. “Right… Well… Sorry if you don’t understand, but I’ve told you all I can.”

Buffy groaned. “Oh, great. You were a big help.”

Spike glared at her. “Yeah well, at least I tried to tell you something, which is more than your boyfriend did – and I don’t even like you.”

Buffy huffed, but didn’t respond. “Well… This was nice… Not at all helpful and really confusing, but nice – even if you won’t tell me anything actually useful… But I’ve got to go.”

She stood from Spike’s bed, and he quickly stood up too, walking over to her. “Listen, Bar- Buffy.” He looked very uncomfortable, which in turn made Buffy feel nervous. She swallowed when he stepped closer and lowered his voice, even though there was no danger of anyone overhearing them.

“Buffy,” he said, very seriously, “I would like to tell you what’s going on; I really would – but I can’t. I’m sorry, because I know that this affects you a lot and if Riley won’t tell you anything then it’s not likely anyone else will. But I really can’t tell you, no matter how much I want to. I… promised not to tell anyone.”

Buffy had already opened her mouth to speak, but at that she paused, remembering Giles’ earlier statement: “…he takes his promises very seriously, and it won’t be wise for you to try to force him to break one.” Suddenly understanding the warning and why he’d given it to her, she stopped herself from acting on her first impulse, which was to encourage him to break his promise if he obviously wanted to that much, and tell her anyway. Instead, she bit her lip and sighed, but nodded.

“…Okay. Thanks for, you know, making the effort anyway.”

Spike blinked – then grinned, shaking his head. “Gotta say, Summers, you haven’t ceased to surprise me yet. Rupes tell you ‘bout me and promises?”

Buffy correctly guessed that ‘Rupes’ was the school librarian and nodded, blushing sheepishly. Spike just grinned, chuckling a little, and suddenly Buffy noticed how close they were standing. And that, really, Spike had a very nice laugh, all deep and throaty, and his eyes looked really blue from this angle – she was pretty sure she’d never seen eyes that blue before – and he wasn’t really laughing anymore, instead just looking down at her with a slightly confused face. And – they were actually standing even closer now, though she wasn’t sure how that happened, but his lips were really, really close now, and…

Buffy snapped out of her daze, jolting back, face blushing bright red as she realized what had just almost happened. She looked down at the floor, refusing to meet Spike’s gaze as she quickly shuffled around him to the door. He almost let her go – but at the last second, his hand shot out and caught her arm, gripping it tightly and stopping her from escaping.

Buffy cast the door one last desperate glance before Spike spun her back around to face him, one eyebrow raised questioningly as he took in the blush staining her cheeks. And it certainly wasn’t helping said blush to have him still holding her arm – his grip felt hot against her bare skin, and Buffy had to swallow repeatedly before she managed to ask defensively, “What?”

Spike’s eyebrow rose higher, but at a glare and pointed jerk from Buffy, he let go of her arm. He wasn’t quite sure why he’d stopped her from leaving – all he knew was that he could’ve sworn she was about to kiss him earlier.

“Uh… nothing,” he muttered, realizing he really didn’t have a good reason for stopping her. She’d come here for information, and gotten it; or as much of it as he was willing and able to give, anyway. Why should he want her to stay any longer? He didn’t like her anyway. He just felt sympathetic about this whole deal. That was all.

“Just…” he hesitated, but it wasn’t really breaking his promise, so he went ahead and said, “Look, if you really want answers, I’d suggest Willow Rosenberg – but you better be damn nice to her, and if she doesn’t want to talk, you leave her alone, got it?”

Buffy nodded silently, a small smile on her face – and then she was gone, leaving only a very confused Spike behind her.

He sighed, and flopped back on his bed, arms crossed behind his head. He didn’t like Buffy Summers one bit. She was the classic stuck-up, rich bitch, with no qualms about using anyone to get what she wanted, him and Willow included.

…Except she’d apologized pretty sincerely for breaking his locket, and her house wasn’t exactly a mansion from what he’d seen, and he hadn’t actually seen her do anything that really qualified as very bitchy, and she hadn’t even known about the Willow thing, and she’d backed off when he told her he’d made a promise…

Spike groaned, letting his eyes fall closed and kneading his fists into the sockets so hard that little purple and red lines shone against the black of his eyelids. Face it, Spike, he thought, you are well and truly screwed.

***

Buffy had decided to follow Spike’s advice, and as a result headed directly to Willow’s house after leaving his. She only even knew the girl’s address because Faith was friends with her, but luckily, it wasn’t too far away, and so she had reached the house in a matter of minutes.

And stopped to stare in shock.

The Rosenberg’s ‘house’ could more accurately be called a mansion – something that took Buffy completely by surprise. She hadn’t ever really thought about it, but now she realized she’d always sort of assumed that Willow, along with the rest of her sister’s friends (also known as the reject table in the cafeteria) were, if not poor, then at best middle-class.

Realizing her unconscious prejudice now, she blushed, feeling ashamed. Not all rich people were popular. Most of the people who were popular had earned it in some way; by being a star on the football team, or a cheerleader, or having really good taste in clothes, or being rich…

Buffy suddenly realized how shallow her thoughts were turning and flushed even more – then groaned, annoyed at how much she seemed to be blushing today. Which, of course, made her think of the last thing that had made her blush, which was Spike and how she’d nearly –

Okay, she was not doing this right now. Buffy literally shook the thoughts out of her head, then, with a determined nod to herself, strode forward and pressed the doorbell.

Then, because she felt a little fidgety, and the Rosenbergs had some sort of chime rather than a traditional doorbell which sounded somewhat hypnotic, she pressed it again.

And again.

And again.

And – “Aah!” Buffy jumped back when the door suddenly swung open to reveal an annoyed-looking Willow Rosenberg, already speaking.

“I told you to stop with the doorbell, Xander, just because it –” Willow froze mid-sentence, jaw dropping at the sight of one of the most popular people in the school standing in front of her, with a determined glint in her hazel eyes.

Willow’s award-winning brain immediately jumped to several conclusions:

a) Buffy had come on behalf of her boyfriend, and ex-boyfriend, and best friend, and was here to exact revenge for the fight Spike had gotten into with them – even though it wasn’t really Willow’s fault, as he’d told her when she’d called him in tears earlier, saying, “Red, the buggers went after my car. And they did it ‘cause I stood up to them – which would’ve happened anyway. At most you just sped the whole process up; no, they did. They were the ones doin’ the harassin’, after all. None of this was your fault, so stop obsessin’ about it.”

b) Buffy had come on Faith’s behalf, most likely because her mother was within earshot when the question was posed, which meant she most likely had something to give Willow, and didn’t mean any harm but was just annoyed at running her twin’s mail service.

And, because she was Willow and hung out with Xander too much, she thought of a third possibility, c) Buffy had found out about her frog fear and had come to unleash a horde of the evil little slimy monsters into her house.

Luckily, Willow was smart enough to realize just how unlikely this last possibility was, but the images alone made her face tighten with fear as she stepped back into the house – something that Buffy noticed and apparently thought she caused, because she instantly lost her warrior-like stance, instead attempting a placating smile.

“No! No! I-It’s not what you… Wait, what do you think?”

Willow mouthed silently for a few moments, then magically regained her smile and swallowed hard. If Buffy was trying to be semi-nice, then maybe options a and c were out of the question…

“Come on in.”

***

Willow had just gotten Buffy into the living room, when the phone rang and she dashed out of the room, thanking God for the excuse to leave the tense, awkward silence behind. Especially the look Buffy got whenever she looked at Willow – a slightly sick, worried expression that didn’t really bode well for anyone.

“Hello?” Willow pressed her back against the wall, breathing deeply on air that had no scary popular twins-of-really-good-in-fact-best-female-friend’s sisters in its vicinity.

“Red, it’s Spike.” Willow’s brows knit; she wasn’t sure why Spike would be calling, especially sounding so worried, but she remained silent as he continued, “I told Faith’s sis to go talk to you. I’m sorry pet, but I thought she knew what was going on and then apparently she had no idea and I thought that maybe she might not actually be as big of a – I mean, I thought that – she actually… What I’m saying is, she’ll probably be there soon, but I didn’t give her any details, I swear, and I told her to leave if it even looked like you didn’t want to talk to her, but if you want me to come back you up, I can be right there –”

It wasn’t often that Willow heard other people babbling, especially not people that were normally as cool and calm as Spike, so for a while she just listened in fascination, but upon hearing that he was considering driving over, she finally interrupted him. “Spike… Spike!”

He paused, then there was a long moment of embarrassed silence before he cleared his throat. “Yeah.”

Willow couldn’t contain a little giggle at his obvious humiliation, but she quickly sobered, asking, “She really didn’t know? I always thought she just didn’t like, you know… doing the dirty work, or something.”

Spike made a negative sound. “Nn-nnh. She didn’t know a bloody thing, and gotta say – right now she’s incredibly confused. Enough so that she came to ask me what was going on, ‘cause her boy wouldn’t tell her.”

Willow sucked in a sympathetic breath, “Ouch… that had to hurt. They’ve been dating for…”

“…A year tomorrow, yeah I heard. Look Red, I’m sorry luv, I just thought she should know – but it’s your secret, I got that.”

Willow shook here head, even though Spike couldn’t see. “No. No, it’s not really mine anymore. I dragged you into this, and now it’s just spreading everywhere. I mean, they attacked your car and then you got in a huge fight and Buffy’s asking all these questions…”

“You still don’t have to tell her, pet.”

Willow bit her lip, determinedly. “No, I… I think I do. Which means that I should probably tell other people. Like maybe report it. And tell Oz and Xander and Faith. But…” She sighed, “I really don’t want any more fights.”

Spike suddenly laughed, “I sure as hell do! That was the most bloody fun I’ve had in a while.” That made Willow smile, and before it faded, Spike continued, “Besides, we could take ‘em, easy. Faith’s bloody good in a fight, and your boy looks like he’s got some wolf in him, just waiting to get out, and Harris…” Willow could hear the puzzled frown in his voice as he continued, “He could… Harris could…” Suddenly, Spike’s voice sounded triumphant. “Got it! Harris could deal with that blonde bubblehead. Faith and the cheerleader catfight, Oz can go after whichever rugby-wannabe asshole he prefers, I take the other one, and Harris gets the blonde idiot.”

Willow nearly choked. “Harmony? Oh my… I can actually picture that… It would be such a slap-fight…” She began giggling uncontrollably at the mental image, and it was several minutes before she could finally compose herself enough to say goodbye and hang up the phone.

Then her grin faded away as she realized just what she was about to do, and she took several deep breaths in preparation before walking into her living room.

***

Buffy stared. Then blinked, and stared some more.

“Y-you can’t be serious.” Disbelief was written all over her face – had been ever since Willow began to speak. “I mean, I thought maybe it was something bad, but… Riley wouldn’t ever threaten anyone! And Cordy can be… mean, but she would never just say stuff like that! And Angel – no, he wouldn’t do that either!”

Willow bit her lip, but didn’t say a thing.

Buffy was reeling. And yes, she was denying this now, but after the day’s events, she knew it had to be the truth. But… she just couldn’t believe her sweet, lovable boyfriend would actually threaten someone. It was just impossible!

But then, she’d already been wrong about so many things lately…

Buffy stood, clenching her hands so tightly that the knuckles turned white. “Excuse me,” she told Willow calmly, “I need to go think about this.”

Willow nodded, still looking worried. “Okay… but, B-Buffy – no one knows about this. Not even Faith. Please don’t tell her. I’m going to… but I want to do it myself.”

Buffy blinked in surprise. “But Spike knows.”

Willow smiled. “Yeah. He walked in on it. And… he’s kind of hard to keep a secret from.”

Buffy found herself smiling too, and nodding somewhat wistfully, before she knew what she was doing. “Yeah… Uh, I mean, I won’t tell anybody. I promise. Bye.”

She left quickly, before she could do something else entirely out of character, like telling Willow that she was sorry.

***

“What did you do to Willow?”

Cordelia gulped, looking nervously around her. Sure, she might not be afraid of Xander Harris normally, but just because he was a geek didn’t mean he couldn’t hit her. He might; after all, he had just come barging into her house, and he’d never done anything like that before.

Then she realized that she, Cordelia Chase, was actually cowering in front of the schools biggest geek, and straightened proudly. “What, you don’t know?”

Xander just glared, and Cordelia laughed. “You don’t know! That’s a laugh! You and Tree have been best friends since you were born, practically, but she doesn’t trust you enough to tell you when we’re bothering her! That’s gotta sting, huh?”

“Shut up, Cordy.” Xander was glaring at her, but doubt flickered in his eyes. Cordelia saw it and seized her chance.

“No, you shut up, Xander Harris. If your little friend doesn’t like you enough to tell you what’s going on, then don’t come and whine to me about it!”

“You – you did something to her.” Xander’s voice was suddenly less certain. Cordelia smirked.

“Yeah. That’s right. Me and my boys were just soo mean to poor little Leaf, so she ran off to cry in the corner and didn’t tell you about it. Poor Xander, all left out…” Cordelia advanced on Xander, and he retreated, all of his rage and determination suddenly leaving him.

“You know what, Xander, if you’re that upset about what you think happened, why don’t you go talk to your ‘friend’? I’m sure she’ll be willing to talk about it! I mean, it’s not like she’s keeping it a secret or anything, right?” Cordelia yanked the front door open and pointed out of it. “Go.”

Staring at her, Xander actually listened, his eyes wide and his head reeling. Everything Cordelia was saying was true… Willow hadn’t told him. But why? Did she think he wouldn’t care? Did she really not like him? Why couldn’t she tell him? They told each other everything.

He blinked when the door slammed in his face, and he heard Cordelia’s laughter behind it, but strangely, it failed to produce any kind of anger in him. Who cared if she was laughing at him? He had much bigger worries.

Like Willow, not trusting him.

Willow. His best friend since before he could remember. The person he was closest to in all the world. The only person who knew the full truth about his home life. The person who knew him better than he knew himself. The girl he’d always viewed as a sister. And she didn’t trust him.

Xander turned, and walked away, his heart sinking further with every step.





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