Author's Chapter Notes:
See end notes.
She went back to the library the next day. She had a mission to search for a new book, seeing as she’d finished her other two last night; one of which she’d already read before anyway. The third she’d brought with her from San Francisco wasn’t a story Buffy felt like diving into at the moment.

Her Grams’ house was full of books. While Buffy could borrow any of them with no problem, she wanted to go back to the library anyhow. She really did like it there.

It was a comfortable fall day when she walked out into the sunshine late in the afternoon. Her Grams was busy with the garden, Buffy had asked if she wanted any help but fortunately the older woman had said no. Elizabeth wasn’t one with a green thumb.

She stayed up very late last night (or, early morning rather), so she’d gotten up late too.

Her sleep wasn’t the best, three nightmares from what she remembered. One of which that’d woken her up loudly enough for Grams to hear.

For someone to be so motherly, so calming and sweet, Buffy didn’t know how one acquired the talent. All she knew was that her grandma had it, and she applied it well. Truth be told Buffy didn’t like letting people know when she was in pain, but Grams was a little easier to let in than most.

Last night though was a fault. The girl usually tried to hide her tears as best she could.

Her mood today wasn’t cheerful, given it hardly ever was. But it wasn’t too despondent either. It was… well, it was rather bare.

Grams often made her happier in times of bleakness, but the pain was never completely quiet. And Buffy’s attitude today was just simply drab, and a little empty. For once, she was actually able to put names to her emotions. Unfortunately, they were negative ones that reminded her of bad things. Things she didn’t want to think about.

She put her headphones in as she walked, adjusting her book bag’s strap on her woolen dressed shoulder. Her coat was draped over the sack for when it got chilly out, and all Buffy wore now was a heavy sweater and jeans. Being September in Alabama, the leaves weren’t starting to change yet, but she still admired the trees as she walked along her path. Maybe it was because she always seemed to get cold easily, but she swore the temperatures were dropping earlier than normal. Given, she’d never been here during the fall, so she could be right.

Deciding to grab a cup of coffee, Buffy ran into a small café. She purchased her drink and quickly headed out again and continued on her way.

The door of the library barely made any sound when she entered. She saw the first floor had several occupants, but as she made her way up the stairs she found that the second was deserted.

She got off on that level, deciding to search for a book or two before going up to the third story.

Buffy discovered many categories during her quest. She rifled through mysteries, weeded through romances, and sifted through western classics.

Choosing something in between the two latter genres, she ended up with a romance. It was based in the old west during the 1800’s, and she found herself already enjoying it as she walked blindly ahead with her eyes glued to the first page.

Once she reached the third floor was when Buffy finally tore her eyes away from the book. She smiled when she didn’t see anyone, although she wasn’t sure whether to be happy or disappointed that the strange guy from yesterday wasn’t around. Maybe she didn’t care at all.

She found her little pink couch and settled in, putting her bag with the folded coat on the floor along with her shoes. Her coffee found a place on the table next to the glass shaded lamp, and she set the western themed hardcover in her lap.

Buffy pulled a bobby pin out of her ponytailed hair and began idly fiddling with it in her left hand, her right holding the book open as she started turning pages.

><

Spike exited his home, stomping all the way to his place of reprieve. Life today had been bloody awful; such a day shouldn’t have been allowed to see fruition.

First he’d found that sodding sketch that he’d drawn long ago and which drudged up way too many memories. Not painful ones really just ones that made you miss someone terribly- Well… yeah okay, painful.

Then there was that damn plumbing problem which he’d had to have fixed today, which was a shit ton of hassle and money spent; combined with having to let the plumber into his house (did he mention he hated company?).

He hadn’t eaten well today either, his stomach was all kinds of protesting and his mouth was bitter. Oh! And he’d gotten woken up out of a dead sleep because a fucking girl scout had tried selling him cookies.

She didn’t even have Caramel deLites!

Spike wasn’t able to get good rest after that, and he’d been in a foul mood ever since. He desperately needed some time at his place of refuge. His quiet book emporium where no one and nothing bothered him, where he could lose himself in literature and poetry, in stories he loved.

Christ, he hoped that girl wasn’t there today.

><

“Bloody fuckin hell!” Spike muttered angrily to himself as he approached the third floor of the library. Her scent was everywhere again.

With a slight snarl he stormed on ahead, flashing a glare in the female’s direction.

Spike still found himself inhaling her aroma greedily, and he gritted his teeth in annoyance at that.

Why the HELL did he have to deal with her tonight? She wasn’t noisy, and she wasn’t a nuisance really, but just the bird’s presence put him a tad more on edge than he usually was.

She hadn’t noticed him yet, and he’d made no attempts so far at being quiet. Going for his things Spike quickly found his treasured books, stomping all the way. It wasn’t like he was TRYING to get her to notice him, he just couldn’t hold his irritation at bay.

He huffed over to his seat, setting his things down. He went to remove his duster, and when the sleeves were partially down his arms and he looked up, his gaze was caught in hers. She stared at him, almost curiously for a moment. Her hair was tied back behind her ears in a ponytail like before, and her clothes looked much too warm for the current Alabama weather. Though Spike couldn’t really say anything about proper attire, he was dressed rather warmly himself. Except it didn’t affect him; HER it should.

The Brit sat down with a gruff sigh, and he got to work. Feeling her eyes on him all the while.

Buffy frowned upon the aggravated flicker she received from stranger-guy. He looked at her, and she felt like she was trapped, she couldn’t look away. He had to budge first.

Which he did, but that didn’t stop her from staring. He had seemed to give her an almost accusatory glare before, like she’d done something wrong.

Buffy squirmed in her seat. What was this man’s deal? He had a frown on his face as he studied his books, just as he’d had the night before. Except the frown he wore now wasn’t one of contemplation, no it was one of irritation. Annoyance.

*Well what crawled up his butt and died?* Buffy wondered. He looked tense, and his body language was screaming ‘Don’t come near me or I’ll bite your head off.’

Well actually, his attitude yesterday hadn’t exactly been any friendlier, but still this was just… different. Something was bothering him.

The woman shook her head. Why was she still staring at the guy?

She groaned. She didn’t usually gawk at people, especially not when she had a book in her hands. His attitude was just off, and Buffy found herself wondering why. Though, she had absolutely no idea WHY she was wondering why.

She went back to her story, immersing herself inside it, idly thinking about the man sitting not twenty feet away from her.

It was better to just ignore him.

><

A little bit later on was when her bladder tugged her from the imagery of a smoky saloon. Her western romance was getting good, and it made it easy to forget that she was in a public library. She’d forget that there were stairs leading down to the more communal areas of this building she was hidden inside, she’d forget about the occasional passerby that ventured to the third floor to use the bathroom. She’d forget even about him, the rude stranger with blue eyes who was her only company.

Her only company who was currently smoking a cigarette.

Buffy’s brow wrinkled when she caught him.

Then her hazel eyes moved smoothly to and locked on a ‘No Smoking’ sign not far away from the bleached mute. She made a disgusted face before heading to the bathroom.

How arrogant could you be? I mean, he was in a LIBRARY. Hello! Public place that isn’t a restaurant or a bar! People trying to read and study and contemplate in peace! And HE was smoking.

She rolled her eyes and muttered to herself. “Ass.”

Buffy made it to the lavatory door, and that’s when she looked in his direction once more, meeting his icy challenge of a stare with a slightly surprised one of her own. Had he heard her?

No. She’d been quiet. He wasn’t too close by, he couldn’t of… but those eyes said something different. His legs were splayed open lewdly with a split book in his lap, a fuck-all attitude plastered on his features. His body seemed quite relaxed, while his face looked peeved. Her hand stilled over the doorknob and she narrowed her stare when he twitched an eyebrow before taking a deep lungful of cigarette, and exhaling it. She swore the smoke was aimed at her.

Without even thinking twice, Buffy made an unimpressed, put-off facial expression and threw it at him. Stranger-guy scoffed irritatingly before dipping his head to look within the pages of his book again. Buffy felt herself fume slightly beneath her skin. He was just so arrogant it almost made her-

Wait.

Why was she letting him get to her? Better yet, HOW was he even getting to her? This complete outsider was managing to actually make her angry. Why did she care so much about his conceit? She shouldn’t. She really, really shouldn’t.

It was just wrong, the getting angry.

And annoying!

Buffy turned her head back to the bleached pest just in time to see him drop a free slip of paper out of a seemingly old journal. His eyes widened when he picked it up, and by the man’s countenance and the quick absence of poise in the hand that held his cancer stick, Buffy felt abruptly cold for watching him.

She whipped her gaze away and down. Finding her hand still placed on the doorknob, she blinked a couple of times before her brain registered the command to turn it and she entered the bathroom.

><

Spike gulped, and he couldn’t have noticed the tears leaking from his eyes if they’d burned him. The letter in his hands was old, a century or so, and brought too many emotions to the surface. Ones he didn’t like, ones he avoided with every passing day but similarly found himself never capable of forgetting.

The words scribbled there in ink blinded him, as did the droplets escaping his blue eyes. Spike’s hands trembled from the weight of the letter, and the words made him shiver as they were read. His sadness was suddenly constricting around his neck like a python as the smell of the stale perfumed paper wafted around his head.

He released a ragged breath just before loud voices permeated his quiet turmoil.

><

Buffy was drying her hands when she heard unfamiliar sounds outside, and before she could think of who might be creating such disturbance in a library there was a hard knocking on the bathroom door.

Startled, Buffy took a breath and opened the entryway, blinking at the group of four who greeted her. They were teenagers, the boys wearing baggy pants and the girls dressed in skirts too short and too tight to let Buffy believe they’d been allowed out of the house that way. The female’s faces were smiling with bright lipstick and the entire group smelled of cheap beer. The couples both looked around fifteen or sixteen years old, and their laughter never ceased even after the girls barged their way through to the single restroom, pushing Buffy aside.

If it weren’t school time or these kids looked older, Buffy would’ve sworn they had to be tourists. She hadn’t seen ANY of the younger groups in town looking like these four.

They were arrogant too, could probably give stranger-guy a run for his money.

She jumped a little at the slamming of the restroom door, and turned her face to the two males who now leaned against the mahogany banisters, carrying an air about them. One she’d seen before on many boys who’d sweetly been dubbed ‘D-bags’ in her book back in San Francisco.

For some insane reason, the first move Buffy made after initial disbelief wore off, was to look in stranger-guy’s direction.

He didn’t seem any more comfortable than she did with the boisterous intruders.

His face was hidden by a free hand, his cigarette still dangling in the other. He was hunched over and it looked as if a headache had angrily captured all of his thoughts.

Then she looked closer. He was shaking. She wasn’t very close to him and yet she could tell. Without warning, the face she’d seen him make just before her retreat into the bathroom flashed in her mind’s eye and Buffy felt almost instinctually protective.

No wait, protective wasn’t the right word; but for whatever reason she felt a need to get rid of these chattering kids who normally she would have simply ignored until they went away. She frowned at stranger-guy’s form and internally berated herself for caring about his comfort at all.

With a sigh, Buffy turned around to face the noisy males who were waiting for their (presumably) girlfriends to come out of the bathroom. The Summers lady approached them and pushed away the slight ache she could feel poking at her brain. All she had to do was ask them to keep it down and leave, even though she had no right to do so asides from the fact that they were almost yelling in a place where whispers were honored.

“Excuse me,” She asked softly, and they either didn’t hear her or chose to pretend as much.

Clearing her throat. “Excuse me.” She repeated loudly, this time immediately gaining their attention. “Could you please keep it down. I’m assuming you’re just in here for a minute or two so your friends can use the bathroom, but you have to be quiet until you leave.” The last word was stressed against her will.

They looked at her like she’d just asked for a huge favor. Better yet, they looked almost offended that she dare speak to them at all. And not that she personally cared, but Buffy found herself wishing for their respect. If she didn’t get at least a little of it then she might as well give up hope that they’d go away.

One of the boys looked her up and down, smiling condescendingly before meeting her eyes again. “Sure. Sorry.” Although he sounded anything but, Buffy heard herself responding thankfully. When she turned to leave she heard them mutter something to each other, and by the laughter following she figured it was an insult about her, but she didn’t care.

All she gave a damn about was that by the time she’d placed herself back on the chaise lounge, the giggling, stumbling girls had exited the restroom and were now looped in the arms of their companions. The four cackled loudly when they headed for the stairs, and one of the boys let out a piercing whistle for no apparent reason, signaling a Buffy eye-roll.

She turned her sights to stranger-guy then, almost balking when she saw him directly looking at her with something that resembled… gratitude?

He twisted around to unlatch a small window behind his head. When he turned back he demonstratively brought the cigarette she thought should be dead by now, up to his lips. The man sucked on the white tip, leaning back in his chair so he could blow a thick stream of smoke through the window and out into the night air.

Then he found her eyes again, and nodded. No smile, no words, just a nod; his usually frozen eyes now almost warm.

And she could tell he was thanking her.

The window was open behind him, letting in the clean air and refreshing the smoke scented room. She wasn’t sure why he offered this kindness to her when not long ago he’d mocked her distaste at his filthy habit. The fact she’d gotten rid of those kids could have been a chore she’d taken on for herself and her alone, how did he know that she’d done it mostly to calm him?

Maybe he didn’t. Buffy wasn’t sure, but she was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. So after a quick questioning squint she couldn’t hold back, she started reading again.

><

He’d watched her. He’d watched her through red rimmed eyes as she’d caught him in her gaze before backpedaling and asking the lousy tykes to keep it down for the short stay she was sure to point out they were there for. He had stared at the floor but seen her taking what he distinguished as absentminded glances his way, and knew why she was asking the morons to be gracious instead of ignorant.

The annoyance Spike felt at the little prat who’d responded to her in his ‘could-give-a-fuck’ attitude seemed to swallow the Brit whole. While she just said thank you and went her own way, the next words he picked up from the pint sized berks about the woman had Spike swinging his head up and glaring angrily. If it weren’t for those chits exiting the loo just then and dragging the boys away, Spike would’ve probably gone over to make his displeasure of their presence known in a much less polite way.

But they were leaving, and Spike found his now dry eyes drawn towards the woman in the corner.

He knew she’d asked them to leave for him, if not completely then at least partially, and he appreciated it. She’d seen him upset; she’d known he was bad off, for some reason. Maybe she’d witnessed his breakdown after discovering the old letter, or perhaps she had just seen him hunched over and trying to cover his tears; but no matter.

Either way she’d done something for him even after he’d been a prick. True, his actions hadn’t been all that damaging, but they had been rude.

The mystery girl had called him an ass, albeit not directly to him or anyone besides herself, and she’d glared right back at him when he’d sent a puff of cigarette smoke in her direction. She’d made it clear she didn’t like his arrogant behavior, and frankly Spike hadn’t given a shit; until she’d gotten rid of those kids. Yes, they were sure to have left anyhow, but she’d asked them to be quiet until they did and made it obvious their presence wasn’t welcome. She’d done it for him. She didn’t know what was bothering him, or whether or not he was just tired, and Spike didn’t think she’d seen him crying; and yet, she’d tried to comfort him some.

He would’ve assumed that she’d done it for herself had he not noticed her look at him before changing course to go tell the kids off. Not to mention the looks he kept catching her send his way while she talked to the boys.

She was sweet, Spike realized. He probably would’ve figured it out sooner or later, from her lovely scent and quiet demeanor if nothing else, but she’d proven it to him early.

So that was why he’d opened the window to let out his cig smoke, therefore calling a truce and thanking her. Her questioning stare did nothing to diminish his belief that she’d gotten rid of the noisy teenagers more for him rather than for her, but instead amused him. When she went back to her reading he smiled a little, not being able to help himself. Maybe sharing his library with her wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

Spike looked down at the letter still in his lap. It had been so long since he’d happily accepted, or appreciated for that matter, a nice gesture from anybody. When someone offered their kindness, as rare as the occurrence was, he usually brushed it off, not caring at all. But this girl…

Spike folded the letter back up and slipped it inside his duster’s pocket, shaking his head. Perhaps it was just the loneliness getting to him, he didn’t know, but the urge to get closer to someone hadn’t been this vibrant a want in a while. It was only a slight burn, a little nudge he felt within his being, but it was there nonetheless. The closest he ever got to anyone nowadays was bumping uglies with random bar-beauts if he had an itch, but he usually forgot their names two days afterwards.

There was just something special about the woman on the chaise lounge, and Spike found his curiosity growing, even if it was budding against reluctance.


Chapter End Notes:
So basically all i have to say is please pretty please review! I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter! *huggles*



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