Buffy walked into the library with a coffee in hand, sighing thankfully when she entered. The place was warm, and though the outside world only lived with a slight chill in the wind, it was enough to make her pleased that the few clothes she owned were sweaters. Comfortable baggy ones that engulfed her, and while they probably weren’t the most in-style… styles, they made her feel covered and safe.
She passed the second floor on her way up to the third, not needing to stop and search for a book. She’d gotten to reading one of her Grams’ last night and still hadn’t finished it, so today she had it tucked safely away in her bag.
“Do you mind if I bring this with me tomorrow to the library?” She had asked her grandmother the night before.
“No, ‘course not. Yer planning on headin out there ‘gain tomorrow?”
Buffy nodded. “Mhm. I like it there, it’s… cozy I guess is the right word.” She looked at Grams’ smiling face. “Oh great. Now you think I’m some freak who does nothing but hang out alone all the time until they eventually go crazy.”
Anne laughed. “Not at all.”
“Sure. But I know you’re just waitin for the day when I start talking to myself.” Buffy shook her head and quirked her lips.
A raised eyebrow. “Are you warnin me for what’s to come? ‘Cause, gotta tell ya sugarplum I don’ know how I feel ‘bout livin with a crazy person.”
Buffy laughed. “I’m just kidding Grams. Promise, I’ll stay sane.” She took the book in her hands to her room, her grandparent following close behind.
“Thank you.”
“For?” The old woman asked.
“Letting me take the book with me.”
“Not somethin I need thankin for, dear. Though m’not quite sure why ya need ta bring a book to a library of all places.”
The teenager shrugged. “I just like this one. I’m on chapter three and probably won’t finish it tonight.”
Grams answered her in a light tone. “Thought ya might just be havin trouble findin somethin interestin to read over there.”
“Nah.” Buffy turned around and went to her chest of drawers, rifling through them for pajamas. “I can read almost anything. Haven’t had any problems finding stuff I like.”
“Alright then. Just was gonna say f’you were then you could always ask him to help you find a story you enjoy.”
“Well, I don’t know about that. He usually keeps to himself and-” She finished her sentence off with a gasp and swung around to face her grandma. “You-!”
The woman laughed. “I knew yous was interested in somebody. Ya’ve just had that look about ya for the past couple a days. C’mon now, who is he?”
Buffy eyes bulged as she stood there gaping like a fish, her cheeks turning red.
She had answered before without thinking, and her mind automatically filled in the ‘him’ her Grams was referring to without realizing that she should’ve asked WHO the ‘him’ was supposed to be.
Ugh, she actually wanted to slap herself.
Instead, she just sent accusatory eyes in her smiling grandmother’s direction and walked into the bathroom as she ignored the warm chuckling on the other side of the door.
Anne hadn’t gotten an answer out of Buffy that night, but the teenager didn’t know that her grandma had a pretty good hunch as to who the mystery man was.
><
Spike knew she was there the second she reached the top of the first flight. He heard her footsteps, the rustling of a plastic bag, and caught the woman’s unique scent. He’d memorized her sound after awhile, could tell when it was her heading up the old staircase rather than some random library dweller he could care less about.
Except this time as she walked, she didn’t stop off on the second floor like she often tended to do. Spike frowned at this and finally raised his eyes from the notebook in his lap to take her in as she approached. His mystery girl glanced at him, and when their eyes met small smiles were exchanged.
They’d been doing that for a couple of weeks now. Spike knew he was the one who’d started it, though he couldn’t find it within himself to care. She made him comfortable now, her presence, and he found his smiles couldn’t really be helped.
She sat down on her cherished chaise lounge and removed her shoes, as always, before getting all settled in and retrieving a book from her bag. He always found it odd she wasn’t one of those birds to carry a large flashy purse. What she had was a shoulder bag which looked used and old, but certainly not in bad condition. It was probably a backpack, but he knew it wasn’t used as such. Her coat looked like it matched the worn knapsack in a way, though it also obviously didn’t.
He watched her read, she started doing that thing where she nibbled her lip and he always found it tantalizing. Her blonde hair was in its usual ponytail and he often wondered what it would look like down. Her locks weren’t extremely long, but they shined and looked soft to the touch. Her slender fingers flipped a page and he zeroed in on the bobby pin she twisted and played with. Her habits distracted him, she hypnotized him. And whenever he wanted he could look over and catch a glimpse of her.
Spike went back to his notebook and continued his writing, knowing that his mystery girl wasn’t too far away should he feel a need to see her. Just watch her. At home he had no such privilege, he couldn’t look to her in person when the desire to see her face asides from in his mind’s eye nagged at him. Though now with his new pet as company, Spike was often able to distract himself, as well as feel something asides from completely alone. Yeah, he still had that bloody kitten, and he ashamedly found that he was beginning to spoil her.
He was such a nancy boy.
><
It had been a couple of hours and she was twisting that locket which always adorned her neck around in her hand. Her uncolored nails framing the heart shaped mental in her fingers. She was wrapped up in her story, and Spike found himself mesmerized by her for a few moments before he turned back to the poem in his lap.
The distant sound of a stranger approaching their floor whispered in Spike’s ears, though he was used to people coming up here occasionally, usually to use the bathroom. They were far and few between so he didn’t even bother raising his eyes to look at the newcomer.
Then he spoke.
><
“Elizabeth.”
She didn’t hear him, or the almost chipper tone he used when addressing her. How could she when she was immersed in her story and, for the most part, oblivious to the world around her.
“Elizabeth?”
Then her head jerked up as she finished the page, her green eyes widening comically at the face in front of her. “John.”
“Don’t worry, m’not stalkin you.” He said with his soft country accent. “But you said you were gonna be at the library all day an I realized you left somethin at Pretty Penny’s.”
He sat down on the chair beside her lounge seat, and the man didn’t seem to notice her tensing.
No one was supposed to bother her here. She was in book land, realm of absolute reprieve, and freedom from all threats the outside world threw at her. Threats like kind guys who asked her out on dates. Yes, she was being a complete hermit and this man was very nice, very friendly, but they weren’t just in town right now or outside chatting. She was in the library, HER library, and on her floor. She wasn’t supposed to be bothered here.
They weren’t supposed to be bothered here.
Before she could overanalyze that thought, John spoke again. “I’ve got your wallet.” He held up said object and smiled at her. “You probly hadn’t even realized it was gone yet did ya?”
The comment could’ve been looked at as condescending had he said it with anything less than warm understanding. Buffy blinked a few times and took a breath, silently willing herself to just talk like a normal human being for once and focus. “Thank you.” She said stiffly as she put her feet down on the ground. Then she realized she was barefoot, and the embarrassing knowledge couldn’t have been more interesting to her nervous mind. Of course she would latch onto that.
Trying for an easy grin as best she could, Buffy reached out and went to take the wallet from John. He pulled it a little bit away from her, a teasing smile creeping onto his lips. “Now now wait just a minute. I think since I’m returnin yer wallet to you I deserve a lil somethin in return don’tchya think?”
And just like that her frazzled nerves returned. Maybe he just wanted a cash reward (She could hope right?). Buffy thought she was going to be able to talk to this man without getting into a long conversation or losing her train of thought, but now she knew she was screwed.
She chewed on her bottom lip, erasing any point of having applied ChapStick earlier. She couldn’t recall putting her wallet back in her bag now that she thought about it, and the eye roll worthy stupidity she felt at herself was plentiful. God she was such a scatterbrain.
Biting back a sigh, her eyes landed on where they’d been itching to turn since the first moment John had entered her peaceful not-so-alone alone time.
Green eyes met stormy blue. She only glanced, couldn’t have looked at stranger-guy for more than a second, but it had been one hell of a second. The expression on his face and in his gaze sent a chill down Buffy’s spine and she actually had to tell herself to breathe after a moment of staring holes into the floor.
God he’d looked ANGRY, and she had no idea why. But he’d been staring RIGHT at her and where she sat talking to-
Shoot. Her eyes shot up, and the time must’ve seemed much longer to her than it actually had been in between sentences because John just sat there normally, awaiting her response.
Wait, response to what? She’d completely blanked on what they were talking about. *As usual.* Of course this time stranger-guy had helped with her mind travelling a bit.
“U-Um, what? I-”
“Come have lunch with me. If today doesn’ work for ya then sometime this week.”
“Oh.” So that’s where he was bringing this.
“I’ll take it as a thank you for returnin your wallet.” He smiled, and somehow the man managed to sound sweet and not pushy at all when asking her out for the second time in one day while also using the fact that’d he’d found her wallet as leverage over her.
He didn’t SOUND threatening or anything of the like, but it didn’t stop Buffy from grinding her teeth together in anxiety. She so didn’t want to turn him down again, but she even more so didn’t want to agree to the date. She just- No. It was a no, and though this man had returned her wallet to her and bought her shampoo-…
Damn it. Why was he interested in her anyway? Buffy knew she didn’t owe John anything, not really, though she could offer him some cash for bringing her wallet back to her. Hell she’d give him back what he’d spent on the shampoo too, she just didn’t want to go out to dinner with the guy.
“I can’t.”
His eyebrows drew together, a small frown coming out to play. “Oh. Well, can I ask why?”
Before she could even come up with a somewhat polite and non-hurtful answer to that, a third voice joined in on the conversation.
“Darling I finally found that book you wanted.”
Her green eyes locked immediately onto the frame of the man dressed from head to toe in black. Well, neck to toe if you included his hair in the equation. Stranger-guy stood there, a small paperback displayed in his outstretched hand. Buffy frowned hard as her heart began pounding, her confused gaze landing on his unreadable one. Then she looked at the book, and back to his face again. Had he just called her darling?
*What the fu-*
Her thought was stopped mid-word when the platinum blonde sat down, invading Buffy’s personal bubble and placing an arm around her. He didn’t really touch her, just grazed her while setting his arm down where it now encircled her hips and rested on the pink seat.
He put the book in her lap and then met the other man’s eyes with an almost challenging stare in his own. Before saying anything he looked back to Buffy. “Sorry it took me so long to find sweetheart, it was hidin behind some others.”
Did he really expect a reply? When she was so confused? Because the expression on his face almost looked like he wanted a response, and if he did then he was shit out of luck. And ‘sweetheart?’ Buffy was becoming so frustrated she was all set to whimper simply out of not knowing what to do.
Then he was speaking again, but not to her this time. “‘Ello mate.” He said to John. “Been keepin my girl company while I’s away?”
John’s reaction to that comment would’ve almost been funny had Buffy not been so abundantly lost. The man sputtered (yes, actually sputtered), and shook his head the slightest bit. “Oh u-um…” Buffy didn’t catch the little smile forming on stranger-guy’s face. “I was just returning her wallet. She uh.. I found it.”
John’s gaze went to Buffy’s and she suddenly felt how big her own eyes had gotten. She tried to smile easily, and surprisingly, actually succeeded. However, she had suddenly lost the ability to blink. Maybe it was a shock thing.
“Well then,” Stranger-guy said with a disarming grin. “that’s awfully good f’you to return it to her. Isn’t it, pet?”
Buffy turned her again startled expression to the man who’d caused it, but the look he had on told her to play along and she found herself slipping into a role. “U-um.. Y-yes it was.” She faced the brunette again, speaking genuinely even if her words were a bit too pronounced. “Thank you, John. I really, really appreciate it.”
Then, with all her might, Buffy forced a bright smile and could tell that John was ready to back off. He awkwardly set the wallet down on the corner table and nodded at the two people he thought were a couple.
“Um, sure. No problem. Anytime.” He nodded and smiled tightly at the both of them. “You guys uh, have a good day now.”
“You too, mate.”
They watched the visitor leave, neither Spike nor Buffy moving until he was completely out of their sights.
She’d apparently leaned into stranger-guy at some point, and their shoulders were now touching. Her hand itched to just place itself on his thigh but she tugged the urge back. What was wrong with her? And what the HELL had just happened?
Suddenly pulling away from him, Buffy scowled into his bright blue eyes. “What on EARTH were you doing?”
He smirked, and it really shouldn’t have been sexy to her at that moment, but damn him it was. “Helpin you. Could tell you were jus’ burstin at the seams to get rid a that bloke.”
Buffy looked on incredulous. How did HE know that? Though it was true, it still hadn’t given him the right to-
Wait. Why was she fighting this? He had saved her from having to go on a date with a guy she didn’t like. He’d set up a quick scheme to get rid of John and-
But. He didn’t know for SURE she hadn’t wanted that date. What if she had? Then he would’ve caused all sorts of problem and-
*Ugh he’s messing with my head!*
“Who says I didn’t want to talk to him?” She asked annoyed. “You couldn’t have been sure. And yeah, I’ll admit I didn’t. But still, what if I had?!”
Spike gazed into her vibrant green eyes sparkling with irritation and fire. She looked completely unsure of his gesture, whether she should care or not, be grateful or spit in his face. Her brows were furrowed into the most adorable little frown and the Brit tilted his head in study. While his eyes flitted across her face and gleamed at this new sight, words left his lips with a calm and knowing evenness. “You wouldn’t ‘ave gone along with our little game.”
Buffy blinked a few times, her scowl deepening. “W-Well it still didn’t give you the right to just come over here and- and lay claim to me.” She scooted away from him. “I mean, ‘darling’? Really? You were layin it on pretty thick but throwing in the pet names was just the icing on the cake.”
“Made him leave didn’ it?” Spike raised a cocky eyebrow. “An besides, didn’t hear you complainin.”
That freaking smirk of his was becoming very agitating very quickly. She narrowed her eyes before letting out a sigh. “Well, since I really didn’t want to go out with him, I guess I owe you a ‘thank you’ of some sort.” His growing smile made her backtrack. “Even though I never asked for any help.”
Spike blinked a couple of times before looking at his mystery girl with slightly amused eyes. When he’d first seen that pillock trying to talk to her he’d almost walked right up and strangled the git, and when she had clearly been uninterested in talking Spike had become even angrier. The bloke was sniffing around something that wasn’t his, and not only did the girl seem anxious around the stranger, but she’d looked right over at Spike.
Though he was still mulling over the now acknowledged feelings inside of him with panic, Spike had realized fairly quickly that he didn’t care quite enough about how much these emotions set him on edge when some other man was talking to his mystery girl.
His. When she had become his the Brit had no idea, all that mattered was that she was.
“What’s your name?” He asked. She’d said she thought he deserved a thank you right? Well, this was plenty enough for him. He wanted to know her, and a name was always a good place to start.
The woman blinked, pulling her head back a little in surprise. “Um… Why do you care?” So she was being cautious. Give her a break the guy had only talked to her ONCE before randomly pretending to be her boyfriend.
He laughed a little. “I need a reason to ask your name? You in the witness protection program, love?”
She gulped in response to the pet name she was so not ready for. Couldn’t he stop doing that? Using the endearments? Even if she begrudgingly liked them… “No but.. I don’t know you. N-Not really.”
“You know me.” He said with a little too much confidence. “We see each other every bloody day.”
She was silent at that, and when she didn’t look like she was about to respond and just kept staring at him with an unreadable expression, he spoke again. “I’m Spike. If it makes you feel any better.”
She scoffed suddenly. “Yeah, telling me your name is SPIKE makes things real casual and chill.”
He smiled and clicked his tongue, regarding her. “A’right then, what’s YOUR name? C’mon, I gave you mine. S’only fair you tell me yours.”
She rolled her eyes before the answer finally spilled off of her tongue. “Buffy.”
She paused right after she said it. Buffy. She hadn’t told him Elizabeth. Maybe it was because she already felt weirdly comfortable in his presence, and oddly at ease talking to him? Like she knew him? It must be because of all the silent time they’d spent together, although truthfully Buffy felt it wasn’t so simple. She couldn’t feel this way with others who she sat in the same room with every night but never talked to- But could she feel this way at all then? What made him so special? It was all really weird, and she hadn’t told anyone her nickname in a long time. Stranger-guy- Spike rather, was just… there was something about him.
Those damn blue eyes, she swore it was their fault.
He smiled before repeating her name, the sound sweet like honey but tainted with mirth. He couldn’t get that teasing grin off of his face. “Well it looks like m’not the only one with a funny name now am I, pet?”
“My name isn’t funny!” The defense was automatic really, and she refused to admit to the blush creeping up her cheeks.
Spike grinned. “Oh, so that is your name then? I wasn’t so sure you weren’ jokin, love.”
“Will you stop calling me that!”
“What?”
“‘LOVE’ and ‘pet’, it’s.. it’s annoying.” She was lying, and she couldn’t understand why he was getting her so flustered.
God she was cute all blushing and mad. “Sorry LOVE, don’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
The woman sighed and finally took a moment to examine the situation. For once, in a very long time, she found herself not itching to get away from a conversation that didn’t include her Grams. It was…
Buffy frowned.
It was welcome. Weird too, but… nice. Even if her and stranger-guy were technically arguing, but it didn’t bother her. “You’re not making me uncomfortable.” She spoke before she could really think about it.
He titled his head. “Thought I was.”
“No.” Buffy smiled softly. “No. I- You’re not. I um, I’m sorry I snapped at you.” She felt the fire in her simmer down to a warm feeling in her stomach, and again she swore it was all because of those eyes. Of course, the man’s kind, albeit teasing manner helped in a way that surprised her. She should feel cornered but she didn’t.
She should want to get back to her book but found that this man interested her (well, he always had) and was unthreatening. He didn’t smile brightly at her like she was something fresh to a bored eye. He didn’t flirt with brashness, if he was flirting at all, and he wasn’t asking her a million questions asides from the one about her name.
“You’re forgiven.” He said with gentle delight in his tone. “Wasn’ mad anyhow. An I won’t ask you to repay me for savin you from that ninny.”
“Ninny?” Her brows drew together and her nose scrunched.
He didn’t think she could’ve been cuter if she tried. “Ninny, fool or simpleton. Look it up f’you must, love.”
She narrowed her eyes playfully. “Why would I when I have my own talking dictionary right here?”
He laughed and smiled. Buffy found she liked seeing that look on him. “Well, my own BRITISH dictionary. You’re English huh?”
A sarcastic tone was adapted. “Gee what gave it away, ducks?”
She smirked. “Well nicknames like THAT for one. ‘Ducks?’” Buffy raised an eyebrow.
He smiled bashfully. “S’just a thing we Brits do.”
“Am I supposed to go quack?”
He laughed outright at that. “Oh God I hope not.”
Buffy waited for his chuckles to die down before she spoke again. “What other nicknames are in your vocabulary Mr. Brit?”
His eyebrow quirked. “Did you just call me Mr. Brit?”
Buffy smiled again, and she was too caught up in talking to Spike to notice it. She hadn’t grinned this much in a while, even when talking with Grams- and ESPECIALLY not when talking to a stranger.
Why Spike got her to open up her shell and crawl out of it (Okay maybe she was only peeking, but still.) was an ability the Summers Girl wasn’t looking to figure out. If Buffy started wondering why she felt comfortable in this stranger’s company she would start over thinking and questioning stuff she really did not want to examine right now. So she sat and talked, without pausing to think of why she didn’t want to get away. Without pausing at all.
She didn’t blank out and her mind didn’t travel, her brain didn’t wander to painful thoughts or downhearted memories, and it was nice just to talk.
Spike teased her, when he made her blush for the third time in a row he pointed it out and told her that she was cute when she did that, which only succeeded in making Buffy redden more (much to Spike’s delight). He talked about light things with her, easy conversation topics that didn’t prod or ask for more than what she was willing to give. The only moment Spike seized to ask her when she had moved here was after Buffy mentioned she used to live in California.
“I just moved here a month ago. I um… I live with my grandmother now, Anne Summers.”
He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Oh, yeh I think I know who you’re talkin ‘bout. Lives over on James Street right?”
Buffy nodded, thankful Spike didn’t seem to be ready to ask her about WHY she’d moved. “Right.”
Spike chuckled suddenly. “Cute little old lady, your grandmum is. Tough one too, packs a hell of a punch she does.”
Buffy’s eye widened into saucers. “What?” She asked, slightly frightened over what Spike had just said.
Spike’s easy smile turned into a confused frown. “Wha? You don’t know?”
When she said nothing in response Spike laughed before catching himself. “Oh.” He covered his mouth to smother the grin and tried to force back his laughter.
“What?” Buffy asked suddenly, eager and apprehensive at the same time. “Why are you laughing? Wh- What do you mean by my grandmother ‘packs a hell of a punch’?”
He didn’t answer, but instead bit his lips together to fight back the smile that threatened to emerge. “Spike!”
“Alright, alright I’ll tell you.” He said, barely containing his mirth. “I saw your grandmum out late one evenin, walkin home I think she was. Passed by some folks she knew I suppose, started talkin to em. When I was just ‘bout to the corner I saw her turn and face this old bloke. Looked mightily brassed off, she did. ”
“Oh my God.” Buffy rolled her eyes closed. One part of her slightly in shock and another part not surprised in the least at where this was headed. Her Grams may be sweet and gentle, but Buffy knew she also didn’t put up with shit. “Grams what did you do,” she said to herself, head tilted towards the ceiling.
Spike smirked despite himself. “She decked him.”
Buffy’s eyes opened and stared in crazy cartoon style at the man in front of her. “I wasn’t expecting an answer to that!”
The smirk never moved. “Well, you asked.”
“It was rhetorical!”
“A minute ago it wasn’t. You were beggin to know that your Grams could be the next Mike Tyson.”
Buffy groaned. “Oh God, only Grams.” She put her head in her hands as a helpless smile crept up her features. Then the laughing started, and she couldn’t quite stop.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Okay dont hate me too much? I am updating even if it has been a while... PLEASE DONT LEAVE ME
Chapter End Notes:
Sooo if anyone's there I'd love reviews! They feed my muse :) Matter of fact, they're its favorite food