Author's Chapter Notes:
I know it's been a while, and i'm sorry. But i've learned that when it comes to my updates I tend to be sporadic, but try not to let it go past a month in time. Hopefully i'll never get that far in between updates with this fic. Anyways, here's chapter 6, enjoy!
It happened without them knowing it. The moments of when they’d simply read together, enjoying personal solitude while also sharing time with each other. The time they both unknowingly came to think of as THEIR time together.

The weeks passed. A relationship grew and neither of them realized it. They had a connection taking hold, but weren’t aware. They shared more than either of them could have anticipated.

Things happened to bring them closer, little things. And some bigger things too.

Their routine continued, Spike would arrive after she did. They’d make eye contact a few times throughout the night, often one or both of them watched the other secretly as well. The rest of September found the two starting to anticipate the other’s arrival, to take their own respective places on the always quiet third floor.

October came quicker than expected for the both of them, though just before the first of that month, September ended with something simple, yet unforgettable.

Buffy had been late to the library. Of course, it wasn’t as though she could actually be LATE to something like that when she wasn’t meeting anybody there. Not really.

She’d been almost running up the steps to the third floor when she dropped her coffee cup. It had become a habit of hers to buy a hot beverage from the little café she passed on her walk every day, so despite her later than normal arrival, Buffy still hadn’t been able to pass up her regular coffee.

She might as well have though. The cardboard to-go cup lay open and sideways on the wooden floor, rolling around silently in the almost empty room.

Almost empty.

Her gaze found his immediately. Green eyes widened in embarrassment and frustration while blue stared inquisitively- And she must’ve been imagining that relieved glimmer in his eyes. What would he be relieved about anyhow?

Buffy groaned and went to pick up her fallen cup, dropping to her knees. Between the anger at herself and that final step she’d tripped over, she was at least able to appreciate the fact that her coffee hadn’t leaked onto the nearest area rug. It would be easier to clean it off of wood rather than a soft carpet which looked rather expensive for being in a public library.

With an agitated sigh, her cheeks burning red, and a muttered curse, Buffy walked ahead. She deposited her bag and coat on the lounge seat on her way over to the bathroom.

She tossed her coffee cup away and washed her hands. Gathering too many towels to be deemed environmentally conscious, she went to clean up her mess.

When she exited the restroom her feet froze and she was, to put it simply, struck.

There he was, the stranger whose presence she’d come to depend on as a constant in her library visits. He was sitting by the mess she’d made, paper towels waded up in his hand as he soaked up the spilt coffee.

She couldn’t help it when her jaw dropped, and had to take a deep breath before heading over by him and kneeling down again.

“T-Thank you.” She stuttered, and mentally slapped herself for doing so. “I- I- I’m a klutz. You didn’t have to.. have to um, bother with this.”

Then she’d ducked her head, not being able to figure out why he made her nervous in a way that wasn’t her customary feeling of anxiety.

He spoke next, and she had to intentionally stop her eyes from widening comically.

“It’s alright. Not a problem.”

Five simple little words, almost clipped in their tone, and yet they sounded so sweet with that British coating.

She wasn’t sure why he hadn’t just left her to clean up her own mess, and she also wasn’t sure where he’d gotten the paper towels from so fast. One of the bathrooms below probably. But as she used her own to finish wiping up the coffee, she found she didn’t really care. He was being kind, and it was wiggy considering he always used to stare at her with an unwelcome message in his eyes. At least that’s how it had felt.

Except he hadn’t been doing that for a couple of weeks, Buffy had to admit to herself. His attitude had changed towards her, and though she didn’t know when she’d realized it, she could now acknowledge the fact.

That was the first thing.

The first time that something really tangible had happened between them.

At the end of the first week of October, another unexpected occurrence had taken place during their daily routine. Spike came in through the library door, he approached the flight of steps as he always did, he made his way up and-

His mystery girl’s now familiar scent was tainted with the unsettling aroma of tears. Her tears. Spike’s pace quickened without him really realizing it, and he reached the final floor with fists tightened at his sides. A worried gaze- though for him to admit he was truly worried about her would take quite a bribe -landed on her immediately. She was crying, her body shaking the tiniest bit and teardrops streaming down her cheeks. She was silent, her misery tight and controlled and yet anything but. Her hand was curled against her chest almost instinctually as if she was trying to protect her already suffering heart. And there was an open book in her hands.

Spike was taken aback by the display, the frown on his face deepening to one of shock and confusion. It was the story. Whatever her chosen tale of the day was, it was making her cry. He knew it was the book for the way she stared at it and he caught her gaze moving beneath the blur in her eyes. Then she flipped a page. She flipped another.

He stood there for God knew how long, just watching her. The emotions he felt within himself scared him. He was torn, completely. He wanted to go and comfort her yet at the same time knew he had no place, and another part of him felt like disturbing her would not in any way help matters. She needed to finish the book.

Someone passed by him in a moment as they headed to the bathroom. It was enough. Spike shook his head hard and as expected, his mystery girl hadn’t moved a muscle as she sat there reading and crying. She was delved in her book and it was the most beautiful and miserable display of feeling he’d ever seen.

The pain Spike had witnessed throughout his time was a different sort of anguish than the type he saw now, on her face. This was empathy, empathy for the characters in her book, for the tale she was reading and yet also living. Which meant it was her own pain too, her own sadness and frustration, yet it wasn’t all hers at the same time. Spike knew how one could be affected by a book, how the story’s victims of peril and death and heartbreak could feel close to your own if the book fit the reader.

Watching the emotional display on her face, it tore at him and sent a wide shining crack into the armor around the heart he had inside. The heart that didn’t beat and sat cold in his chest. The heart that as much as he liked to believe otherwise, had never stopped working.

As he gathered his usual notebooks and tomes from his not-so-secret shelf, and sat in his dark green chair, Spike stared on at her. She’d yet to notice him which wasn’t a surprise at this point, and he squinted just enough to read the title of the novel in her hands.

The end of that night came quickly for him, in contrast to how long it took for her to finish the book and for her sniffles to finally subside. In reality it had taken no more than an hour for her to flip the last page, and an extra fifteen minutes for her tears to truly stop.

It had felt so much longer to Spike. Yet the remainder of that night passed quicker than he could ever remember time passing.

When the girl left a sudden empty feeling had engulfed him.

The next day Spike would find himself checking out the book he knew she had returned to its rightful shelf. The same book that had moved her to tears, the book which he knew she must have loved and possibly hated at the same time.

He read it, and tears had come unbidden to his eyes.

><

The beginning of the third week of October arrived, and with it one night of strangeness and warmth. A night which had made Buffy see the man she had come to think of as her library pal, an albeit rough and closed off sort, in a new light.

She had seen him cry before, maybe twice in front of her. Once while looking at a slip of paper so long ago back in September, and another time when he’d cried because of a book (and oh she understood doing THAT just all too well).

Stranger-guy wasn’t a softy, and although the day had gone by normally for them, the ending of it couldn’t have been more unusual had Buffy seen him crying violently. Which she still wasn’t sure he would ever do such a thing. He cried, she’d watched him, but he didn’t blubber or sob, at least not that she had witnessed. No, he wasn’t the sensitive sort. But that was something that had been proven wrong the night she’d left after him.

Buffy was always the first one to leave, it was part of their routine. Except she’d gotten hooked on a spectacularly long novel and swore to finish it before she walked back to Grams’.

Stranger-guy had put his things away and she caught him out of the corner of her eye looking at her quizzically, but that wasn’t really a surprise. He’d ended up leaving after a moment or two of just watching her, probably wondering why she hadn’t finished her story yet or why she wasn’t leaving it for tomorrow.

It didn’t matter. She was on the last three pages when he walked down the stairs and out of the building. By the time she’d put the novel back and gotten outside, she’d expected him to be gone.

He wasn’t.

Nope. He was across the street, the area completely devoid of people asides from the two of them. MayBell’s library stayed open until midnight for some reason, one Buffy was too grateful for to think too much about, and the town was pretty much dead late at night.

And the sight which greeted her had Buffy ducking around the side of the building to continue watching stranger-guy as he walked and tried hard to ignore a little ball of fur meowing at his feet.

It was a kitten. A tiny multicolored fluffball, meeping and pawing at his ankles as he groaned at the sky and stomped away.

“Shoo! Bugger off ya little- Ugh…”

Buffy bit her lip to stop from smiling. She couldn’t decide whether to pout for the kitten’s sake or to laugh at the way stranger-guy was handling this.

“Will you leave me alone?!” He shouted at the animal, looking down at his feet where the tiny kitten blinked up at him.

He ran a hand through his hair and groaned loudly. “Wha? What do you want? Food? Sorry fluffy m’out, an I paid up all my debts a long time ago so I’m in no need of any kittens.”

She frowned at that. Debts? Maybe he had a sister or something who he’d promised to get a kitten for…?

Buffy shook her head. Couldn’t figure that one out no matter how long she thought about it.

“Will you jus’- I- Bloody hell.” He turned and stormed away from the feline, but it followed quickly, mewing still and begging for something stranger-guy didn’t seem ready to give.

“I said sod off!” He pointed in his opposite direction. “Go on now. Find your mum or somethin an leave me alone. M’sure she’s got some yummy milk jus’ waitin for you.”

Buffy couldn’t help it. She laughed, and had to cover her mouth to stop it from bursting out of her chest.

He walked away again. Feline followed.

“For the love of- WHAT?!” He yelled at the animal, and then when it mewled pathetically at him stranger-guy’s face finally softened.

He sighed. “Only fucking me.” With a shake of his head he kneeled down and scooped the young kitty into his arms. Buffy watched a tiny reluctant smile appear on his lips.

“Oh sure now ya start purrin’. Ya know, you’ve got a strange choice in owners. Can’t say m’gonna be any good at takin care of a bloody cat.”

Buffy almost ‘awed’ aloud when she saw the tiny kitten sit upright in the man’s hand and lean up to lick his cheek. She (or he?) had taken a liking to stranger-guy for whatever reason, and he was bringing the animal home. Begrudgingly.

“Alright, alright. Now what will you need to eat, oh hell I’m gonna havta Google shite aren’ I?”

The kitten meowed in response. The man nodded. “Lovely. Well Spike, you’ve got yourself a tiny tabby.” He turned away and scoffed at himself, furry creature still in hand. “This is gonna be a bloody riot.”

And that was the last thing she heard him say as he walked out of earshot. Buffy’s heart warmed and she was so unaccustomed to the sensation that she almost felt surprise directly follow.

She knew that if he hadn’t taken the poor thing home then she would’ve ended up with a new roommate- and thank goodness Grams loved animals -but seeing stranger-guy reluctantly take in the tiny stray had warmed Buffy thoroughly whole.

She knew, don’t ask her how, that he wasn’t one to let things affect him. He didn’t like it. And yet, that bleach haired, leather wearing Brit had picked up a baby kitty cat and decided to take it home. Because it had affected him, even when he’d tried not to let it.

Oh God this one had a heart. A heart he wanted badly to ignore when the situation called for it, when something touched it, but similarly couldn’t always disregard.

Sometimes something just got too far in.

Buffy knew that feeling. Maybe they both didn’t want to really care for the same reasons, and maybe he was better at it than she was. Maybe he didn’t have to hide from letting people in, maybe he could talk to others without finding himself wandering mentally and remembering painful facts, but all the same destination right?

He didn’t like getting close to anybody, and neither did she.

So why did it feel like she was already close to him?

><

Halloween was approaching. The festive decorations all over MayBell could’ve told Buffy that if she didn’t have a calendar. There were black paper cats in windows, carved pumpkins on doorsteps, and life sized replicas of famous movie monsters in several stores. The Frankenstein in Pretty Penny’s almost gave her a heart attack when she’d first walked into the place on Monday afternoon.

She was there to buy a new shampoo, and then she planned on heading to the library as always. It was nice to have a routine, something that was solid and something she could stick to. Something that couldn’t be pulled out from under her.

Setting her chosen item down on the checkout counter, Buffy removed one of her headphones and pulled out her wallet. Then a hand appeared in front of her, a twenty dollar bill flattened between the countertop and skin.

Startled was an understatement. She almost choked on air and had to close her eyes and count to three before turning to look at the man to her right.

“Liz, I’m paying for the lady’s purchases today.” The brunette smiled at the checkout girl he presumably knew and then sent his friendly grin in Buffy’s direction. “If she doesn’t mind that is.”

Buffy blanked. Completely and totally blanked. Years before she would’ve smiled charmingly at the handsome man and flirted, maybe tossed in a hair flip, but now she was just praying she would be able to get out of the store without the guy following her. And also, how the hell did she respond to his offering? “U-Um. You don’t h-have to do that. I-”

“Nonsense. Consider it a welcome gift.” He pointedly handed his money over to the cashier girl and she gathered his change for him. The man hadn’t taken his eyes off of Buffy once yet and she was already wishing to be somewhere that was else.

“A what?”

“You’re new in town. This…” He swiftly picked up the shampoo bottle and read its label. “Honey & Apple Shampoo is a gift from me to you. Welcome to MayBell.” He smiled again. “I’m John by the way. But you can call me Johnny, everybody else does.”

She nodded softly. “Nice to meet you. A-And thank you for- for um, the shampoo.” Buffy smiled with tight lips as she picked up the bag which now held her- er, HIS purchase. One deep breath and then she allowed a warm, thankful grin to come forth. Turning to leave she didn’t even hear the footsteps behind her until the door to the shop opened seemingly by magic.

Then she realized John had raised his arm above her head to open it. How kind.

And cornering.

She uttered a thank you again before heading down the sidewalk.

John followed.

“So what’s your name?”

She mentally groaned. “Elizabeth. Elizabeth Summers.” Buffy reluctantly pulled out her other earphone as he started talking to her.

“Oh you’re Anne Summers’ granddaughter aren’t ya?”

She nodded.

“Well I gotta tell ya, your Grams is a terrific lady, everybody here loves her.”

“Yeah.” Buffy smiled genuinely that time, thinking of her grandma brought comfort to her heart. “She’s pretty great.”

“I actually heard about you movin into town I think, word travels fast 'round here. You’re from California right?”

With a small sigh she answered him in the affirmative, but he didn’t beg off on this conversation he seemed so adamant to have with her. She needed to get to the library and she wasn’t interested in talking with a complete stranger. He was nice enough but-

“Have you eaten yet?”
“Huh?” She asked ineloquently.

He laughed a little. “I know, it’s a strange question. I’m just askin cause if you hadn’t I was wonderin if maybe you’d like to grab a bite. We could go over to Bobby’s place? Ya know, the grill joint?”

Buffy stopped dead in her tracks, though the truly desired move was to run. THAT. That thing right there! She’d guessed this conversation was leading up to this, a date. He was asking her out on a date and she knew it simply from the way he talked with her and smiled charmingly.

“Um. I already ate. I- I-”

“Oh. Well that’s okay. Do you uh, have plans for dinner?” He asked with more than a little hope in between the words.

Wow people moved fast in this town. Buffy pursed her lips and frowned apologetically. “I-I um. I’ve got plans to be at the library all day so, no not really but I have stuff.” Her sentence stopped there, and Buffy could’ve lopped off her own tongue for being so unhelpful.

“You have stuff?” He asked her with an almost amused countenance.

“I… I-” Oh god this rapid blinking thing was aggravating. She couldn’t think. She was blindsided and she couldn’t find a way out. Her mind clouded and her gaze focused on an area behind him. Closing her eyes Buffy took a deep breath and swallowed. “I- I have stuff to do. And I guess I just planned on.. on um, grabbing a sandwich or something when I got hungry. Until then I was going to be at the library.”

This seemed to appease him, and she couldn’t have been more grateful. With a grin Buffy assumed he meant to be disarming, John nodded. “Okay. Well, maybe I’ll see you later then.”

She nodded and smiled, trying to hide the relief she felt and probably failing. “Sure. Maybe later. I’ll just. I’ll get going I guess.”

“Okay. It was nice talking to you Elizabeth.”

Oh she doubted that. “Bye John.”

And she turned and walked hurriedly to her destination, to her place of reprieve. Her place where no one bothered her and there weren’t any shocking changes, there weren’t any frightening occurrences to shake her foundation, or people talking. There were no questions or loud voices. Just books, a bathroom when needed, and silence.

And him.


Chapter End Notes:
Please review!

And for any of you reading Opposites Attract please know that I am planning on getting it updated before the end of the week. I've just been really busy lately, the October holiday is important at my house.

Happy Halloween everyone! *huggles*



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