Brassed off. That’s what Spike was at the onset of filming for episode five, which would last all week. Through his camera lens, he glared at the nine bachelorettes relaxing in the sitting room as they waited for Chris, the host, to arrive and give them details about what to expect for the week. The room looked empty now that they were down to only nine contestants.
Spike fixed his glare on Buffy, who sat on the couch between Faith and Fred, but she refused to look at him. He hadn’t talked to her since the last rose ceremony a couple of days ago. Spike had been so angry after the ceremony that he had stormed out as soon as he could and spent his days off getting very drunk and moaning his woes to Clem and Gunn. Gunn had rolled his eyes and said that his complaining was worse than when Dru had broken up with Spike last year, but Clem had been sympathetic.
“Ladies,” Chris said as he walked into the room, smiling at them. “So, you’ve made it this far. I have to say, Angel has amazing taste in women.
A little too good, Spike thought. It would be so much easier if Angel had a thing for brunettes only, but the group of women on the couches proved that he wasn’t that picky about hair color.
“This week,” Chris continued, “There will be one group date, with a rose up for grabs. There will also be a two-on-one date, with a single rose only. Only the woman who gets that rose will be coming back to the house after that date.” Chris paused and let the murmurs of the bachelorettes die down before saying, “And there will be one more date. A one-on-one with a rose possible. As with all one-on-one dates, if Angel chooses not to give you the rose, then you won’t be coming back.” Chris smiled at the girls and then added, “Invitations will come to the house like normal for the group date and the two-on-one, but the for the one-on-one date, you will have to earn it.”
“What?” Darla said.
“Earn it? How?” Cordelia asked.
Chris waved the production assistant that had a crush on Spike into the room. Andrew smiled into the camera as Chris said, “There will be a talent competition and Angel will decide who the winner is. The winner goes on the date.”
The bachelorettes talked excitedly until Chris shushed them. “You have one day to practice the talent you want to perform for Angel. Almost anything goes and if you need supplies, give Andrew here your list. He will be leaving in two hours to go shopping for you.”
Andrew passed paper and a pencil to each of the girls and they were encouraged to talk about what they were going to do. Spike watched Buffy as she immediately wrote down a list and handed it to Andrew. Spike followed her out of the room and turned the camera off, though he kept it on his shoulder, just in case someone should come upon them.
She stepped outside and waited for him to step out too before closing the sliding glass door. She walked to the side of the house and then turned on him.
“That’s off, right?” she said, pointing at his camera. He nodded. “Are there cameras in this area?”
Spike glanced around. “Don’t see any and can’t see why they’d put them in this dark side of the house.”
Buffy scanned the area carefully. Spike waited patiently, hoping maybe she would kiss him again or tell him that she was going to walk out on the show.
“I was mad at you all weekend,” Buffy said quietly, emphasizing her words with pokes at his chest.
“Me? What the—”
“The look you gave me at the rose ceremony ticked me off. We don’t even know each other all that well. You don’t own me and I’d appreciate it if you stop glaring at me and making all this so unpleasant for me.”
So many retorts came to Spike’s mind. None of them nice. He groaned in frustration and wondered why he always fell for the bints who liked to torture him like this. Or why the angry flare of her nostrils and the glint in her eye turned him on as much as they did. I’m sick. That’s why. Sick!
He finally found his voice and said, “So, I guess you make it a habit of jamming your tongue down a bloke’s throat just for the hell of it then? Makes you perfect for this damned show. No wonder why you got the part; you play it so well.”
He didn’t see the slap coming until it was too late. The loud smack echoed off into the distance and he stumbled back, trying to keep the camera upright. He wiped at the corner of his mouth and smirked as she stood her ground, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she tried to catch her breath.
“Stay away from me from now on,” Buffy said.
And then she spun on her heels with her head held high and walked away from him. Spike turned to watch her, unsure of what he was more stunned by: desperately wanting her and having that only be intensified when she rejected him, or the still stinging slap that she’d dished out. He grinned. That Buffy was one hell of a woman.
~ * ~ * ~
Buffy sat back on the couch and crossed her arms over her chest as Fred set up to show Angel her talent. They had pulled numbers out of a hat to see in what order they would perform. Looking down at her paper, Buffy shrugged. She was last. It didn’t matter. It took all her energy just to ignore Spike who was filming off the side, behind her. Angel sat in a chair by himself, smiling at Fred as she poured water into a glass pitcher and set out four empty, clear glass beakers.
Fred adjusted her white lab coat, pushed up her glasses and then nodded shyly when asked by the director if she was ready. She smiled warmly at Angel and looked down at her display.
“I’m going to do a magic trick for you all. I’m going to turn water into pink lemonade.” She picked up the full water pitcher. “You can see that this is just plain water.” She filled the four beakers in front of her with the clear water. One by one she poured them back into the pitcher and water turned pink. Fred bowed as the other women cheered and Faith whistled through her fingers. Cordelia stood and glared at Faith. Dressed in a cheerleading uniform, she bounded over to the makeshift stage just as the production crew cleared Fred’s display.
Buffy and Faith rolled their eyes when Cordelia started with, “Give me and ‘A’!”
Even though she’d tuned the routine out, Buffy clapped politely when Cordelia finished, glad that it was over. Lily got up next and sat at the piano in the corner.
“This is Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.”
Buffy was impressed at Lily’s beautiful playing, though the music went on a little too long for her taste. Lilah got up next, her brows furrowed.
“My talents are mostly in areas which are hard to display in front of an audience.” Angel chuckled when she winked at him. “But, I do pick up languages very quickly. I can speak about twenty different ones. Pick a language, Angel, and I’ll say something.”
Angel seemed very impressed with Lilah’s language skills and he went through a long list of languages before Lilah’s time was up. Lilah sat back down, a smug look on her face and her arms crossed over her chest. Darla smirked at her and stood up. She took the cherry from her drink and sat in Angel’s lap.
“I can do my talent while sitting in your lap,” she said.
Spike moved and got behind Angel, slightly to the right to get a good view of her. She popped the cherry in her mouth, stem and all. She contorted her mouth for a few seconds and then stuck out her tongue. After wiggling in his lap for a few seconds while Angel clapped, she got up and showed the other girls that the stem was tied in a knot. Out of the corner of her eye, Buffy saw Spike roll his eyes and make a face, and even though she was mad at him, she couldn’t help but laugh at his antics.
It started out as a tiny giggle, upgraded to a chuckle and then went to a full-scale laugh. Spike was laughing so hard that his camera shook on his shoulder. Faith laughed, slapping her knees and then the others joined in. Within minutes, the entire set was laughing uncontrollably, with the exception of Darla who stayed perched on Angel’s lap. The bachelor had held out as long as he could but now his shoulders were shaking. When he threw his head back and laughed out loud, Darla got up and glared at everyone, turning in a slow circle until her death stare landed on Buffy.
“S…sor…sorry, Darla,” Buffy managed to get out, before she burst into another round of laughter.
After a fifteen-minute break, the bachelorettes, the bachelor, and the crew slowly trickled back into the sitting room. It was Kate’s turn and she got up and did an impressive juggling routine. Everyone but Darla clapped for her, and Buffy had to force herself not to look at the miffed woman for fear of laughing again.
Gwen got up next and handed Angel a Rubik’s Cube. She got Angel to mixed the colors up and then with Lily timing her, Gwen’s hands flew.
“Done!” she shouted and held the solved puzzle for all to see.
“Wow, fifty-eight seconds,” Lily reported.
While the others clapped, Faith got up and pulled an easel and a white dry erase board to the middle of the room. She picked up a black marker. “I don’t have many talents, but back in the day, I created some dope graffiti. I’ll just do something on the board here.”
As Faith worked with the markers, Buffy got up and slipped out of the room to prepare for her talent segment. Spike followed with his camera and she turned to face him.
“Go away. I need to get dressed.”
“Oh, see, now, there’s no way I’m leaving.”
She could feel her blood pressure rise with her frustration. She pointed towards the sitting room. “Go!”
As soon as he turned around, she rushed to get changed and came out just in time to see her props getting set up. Buffy felt self-conscious with all eyes on her. She tightened the black belt around her white dobok and then made sure the props were secure.
“I’ve asked Andrew to come and help me. So, Andrew…” Buffy waved him over. The short man came waddling out of a room completely covered in padding and stood on the large cushioned mat that the crew had brought out for her. Buffy smiled when the others snickered at poor Andrew. “Now, stand right there and don’t move.”
“I’ve been studying and practicing Taekwondo since I was a little girl,” she told Angel.
Buffy couldn’t hide her grin when Spike reached up and rubbed his cheek where she’d slapped him the night before. She could have done a lot more damage to him if she’d wanted to. She turned to Andrew and began her demonstration, using her hands and a flurry of kicks to show the various techniques. Unfortunately, Andrew could not take much punishment, even with the padding on him. Since she had no intention of hurting anyone, Buffy took mercy on him and let him go. He waddled away, sighing in relief.
Buffy turned to the set of wooden boards held up with cinder blocks. She took a deep breath, centered herself and jabbed the side of her palm at the wood. All three layers cracked beautifully in the middle and caved in. Two crewmembers came up, each holding the end of another thick wood plank. Buffy walked over to them and helped to place the board at just the right level for her. She knocked on the wood to give them all an idea of how sturdy and thick it was.
She glanced at Angel and then caught Spike’s eye behind him. They were both looking on with interest. She turned in a blink of an eye, and kicked the board. It split with a loud crack. They clapped for her and heard Faith recommend to Darla that she not mess with Buffy.
Angel stood up and kicked his shoes off, a gleam of lust in his eyes.
“I’m proficient in Taekwondo too. Do you want to spar?” Angel asked her while he took off his jacket.
“Sure.”
Angel stepped on to the mat and hitched his slacks up before going on the offensive. Buffy easily blocked every one of his moves, but she was sure he was going easy on her. She lightened up as well and soon they were both laughing. He gave her a bear hug and put her down. When she saw Faith’s crestfallen face, Buffy cleared her throat and took a step back from him.
Angel left the room to decide who would get the one-on-one date and Buffy went back to where she’d left her shoes and top. She dressed quickly and turned back, only to bump into Spike.
“Stop following me,” she said peevishly.
Buffy gave him a little shove, but he held on to her arm.
“I just wanted to tell you that I thought that was very impressive. Though we all could have done without the hug at the end.” He smiled. “I would love to spar with you sometime.”
“You know Taekwondo?”
“Yep, third degree black belt.”
Impressed, she said, “Me too.”
They gazed at each other until Buffy heard Angel talking in the other room. She rushed in and sat on the couch.
Angel smiled at Buffy and said, “You are all very talented and I enjoyed all of your performances very much. Unfortunately, I can only choose one of you for the date, and I’ve decided to take Buffy.”
As soon as Spike heard Angel tell them his choice for the one-on-one date, he left the room and set his camera down. He found a quiet corner and pulled his cell phone out to call his boss.
“Matt? This is Spike.”
“Hi, Spike. Everything all right on set?”
“Yeah, things are running smoothly. Look, I’m calling to request that I do the filming for the next date for the bachelor. I’d like that gig.”
Spike could hear papers rustling and then his boss said, “Are you sure you want it?”
“Yeah.”
“They’re going to Las Vegas and back. By private jet.”
Spike moved the phone away from him and said, “Oh, balls.” Then he put the phone back to his ear. He hated to fly, but Buffy was worth it. “Yes, I want it.”
“It’s yours. I’ll fax the itinerary to your trailer.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
I am now back at home and updates should keep coming regularly for this fic. I have only half a page left to write and this fic will be complete at twenty-one chapters long. :) Thanks to all who have left reviews.