CHAPTER NINE:
The car was quiet, neither of them felt the need to talk about the upcoming occasion. Though Joyce's attention was on the road ahead, a small part of her mind couldn't forget the vow she'd earlier given to Spike. She would not allow Buffy's friends to dictate what went on in her life any longer. Buffy had to find her own path to tread, and though she might stumble along it, it was her path, no-one else's.
'I won't let you down, Spike, I made you my promise, and I’ll hold to it.'
Buffy, meanwhile, watched the world flash past her window, people going about their lives, none of them any the wiser as to how close they'd been to being destroyed. And if it wasn't for Spike, they might have been. This brought a smile to her face. 'Nobody but us knows how much we owe him, and that's something even my friends can't deny.'
All too soon, they arrived at the Magic Box and Buffy once again tried to dip into that wellspring of courage that had served her for many years in her battles and trials. She knew it was there, but she'd never really had to consciously tap into it before. It came to her in her hour of need and had not run dry yet, but this was different. This would require a different kind of courage, for her battle today was not with any demon or force of evil... it was with her friends, and it was a battle she never thought she'd have to fight.
Joyce, having stopped the car and turned the ignition off, now sat with her daughter in silence, trying to prepare herself for the confrontation she knew was to come. She once again remembered her pledge to Spike and reached for Buffy's hand. Gripping it softly, she gave it a light squeeze to draw Buffy's gaze to her own.
“I'll be right there with you, Buffy. You can do this, I know you can. No matter what they say to you in there, you'll always have me and Dawn on your side. I promise. Do you understand me? No matter what, you'll have us with you.”
“Thanks, Mom.” She let out a short nervous laugh and squeezed her mother's hand back. “God, why is this so difficult? They're supposed to be my friends, but I feel like I’m about to be on trial!”
“It'll be OK, honey, I promise. We'll go in there together, you'll tell them what they need to hear, and we'll leave together.” She fixed a look of fierce determination of her features as she looked at her daughter. “It'll be OK,” Joyce assured her eldest emphatically.
Buffy smiled as Joyce leaned over and placed a kiss on her forehead, patted her hand, still in hers and blew out a breath. “Let's go.”
Joyce preceded Buffy in to the shop and immediately headed past the sales-floor and headed for Giles' office, aiming to be as inconspicuous as possible, taking in the fact that apart from Anya, the shop appeared deserted. Being a Sunday, this was no real surprise in terms of customers, as the 'Closed' sign was firmly fixed to the door, but Joyce had thought that Buffy's friends would already be here.
The tinkling of the bell had drawn Anya's attention briefly as she looked up from the sales records she was currently perusing, but seeing it was Joyce and Buffy, she quickly focused her attention back on something, in her view, more interesting.
Giles, it seemed, had also been attracted by the Summers women's entrance as he appeared at the door that led to the basement, glasses in hand as he absently cleaned them with his handkerchief. Spotting Buffy sitting at the research table, he gave her a restrained smile and ventured down the step to take up position opposite his charge.
“Hello, Buffy, how are you? It's been a few days now, hasn't it? How's Dawn fairing in the aftermath of... things?”
Trying to delay the inevitable confrontation that was to come, she tried to keep things light and conversational. “Hey, Giles, things are good I guess, no apocalypses to deal with, and Dawn's fine, she's dealing, maybe even dealt, so, y'know, I’m all of the good. You?”
“Yes, yes, all fine thank you. I’m taking advantage of the lull in things to finally get the basement arranged in a more orderly fashion as I would like, but other than that, nothing exciting to speak of, I’m afraid.”
The opportunity to share any more of the last few days, or for Giles to begin his own interrogation to ascertain the purpose of this meeting, escaped them as the bell once again jingled, signalling the arrival of Willow, Tara and Xander.
Once again Buffy found herself having to steel her nerves at the prospect of what was to come. 'Here we go... breathe... just breathe... I can do this.' Searching the shop, her eyes finally found her mother, tucked away in the back corner that led to Giles' office. She knew what her mom was doing: she as observing and biding her time until she thought that she was needed. Until that time came, she would be a silent pillar of support for Buffy, an unseen ally to bolster her courage.
Greetings and pleasantries were exchanged as the new arrivals took their seats around the research table. Finally, once everyone had managed to find a chair and were seated at the table, except for Anya and Joyce, all eyes turned expectantly towards Buffy to see what had necessitated the meeting.
Surprisingly, it was actually Tara that broke the silence and set the ball rolling.
“B-b-before we start, c-c-can I quickly ask, Buffy, h-how's Spike doing? I-is there any change?”
Buffy's heart warmed slightly and the beginnings of a smile came to her lips, but were quickly banished by Xander's scoffing and disapproving tone.
“Seriously? We haven't seen Buffy in three days, longer in my case, and you're asking about the evil undead and his little boo-boo from his swan dive off the tower? Who cares? He's not dust, right? I wouldn't be that lucky! Can we actually move on to something that matters, like why we're here in the first place? What gives, Buff? Why the sudden call to action? There can't be another big bad in town already, right?”
Tara drew back from the table, pressing herself against the back of her chair, almost trying to get as far away from the table as possible following Xander's tirade. This, however, didn't go unnoticed by either Willow or Giles, and while Willow reached for and took Tara's hand under the table, Giles took it upon himself to speak up in defence of the timid witch.
“Xander! That's quite enough, thank you. That was totally uncalled for. Tara has as much right to speak as you do, and if she wants to enquire after Spike, then you will damn well let her, do you understand?” While Giles himself didn't particularly care as to the condition of said vampire, he would not stand idly by and let Xander run roughshod over Tara. He knew that she had trouble with speaking in public and that it stemmed from self-confidence issues, something he would not allow Xander to exploit, deliberately or not.
Looking appropriately chagrined, Xander mumbled a vague apology and proceeded to sulk, visibly unhappy at the subject of the conversation.
Buffy, meanwhile, looked over to Tara and graced her with a smile, trying to encourage her to once again be part of the group at large, rather than trying to disappear into her chair.
“He's doing much better, thanks for asking, Tara. I’ll be sure to tell him you were asking after him. He's awake now, has been for the last couple of days and he's definitely healing. Hopefully, he'll be back on his feet soon.”
Tara nodded, smiling lightly at the encouraging news about Spike. Tara knew that Spike liked her, certainly more than he liked the other Scoobies. He had told on a number of occasions that she was the 'only one of those bloody idiots' he could stand.
Buffy tried in vain to clamp down on the nervousness she was feeling and willed her voice to be strong and even when she spoke. “Well, that's kinda what I called you all here for in the first place.” 'OK, here we go. Get ready for hell!' “I’ve done some thinking over the last few days, come to some decisions that I hope you'll be able to support me in.”
She was greeted with expectant and curious faces, except for Tara, who was smiling thinly, and trying her best to cover it. She'd obviously figured out some of what Buffy wanted to tell them.
“Like I said, I’ve been all introspection-girl over the last few days and decided on a couple of things, things that I wanted you to know about.
“First up, once he's back on his feet, Spike's gonna be patrolling with me. It'll make things a little easier for me, and hopefully, we'll be able to really crack down on the demons and vamps 'round town. This means you're gonna be seeing him a lot more, and I want you to be a little nicer to him; he doesn't have to help me, but he's going to. The least we can do is give him a little respect.”
Xander scoffed at this, his expression turning more sour than it already was. “You're kidding right? Respect captain peroxide? And for what, hanging around you every night? C'mon, Buff, you know he's only doing it to try and get in your pants! The guy's evil, no two ways about it! He's just lucky you haven't staked him yet!”
Buffy rolled her eyes towards the ceiling, asking the heavens for patience and strength. “Have your last brain cells decided to abandon the sinking ship?!Do I have to remind you that he saved my sister, Xander? And the world, with what he did that night against Glory? GOD! What does he have to do, huh? All I’m asking for is for you to be civil to him, considering all he's done for me, for us, for the whole world over the last few weeks!”
Xander wouldn't be dissuaded in his vitriol, although the rest of them seemed to be open to the suggestion, at least that's what Buffy thought, judging by their expressions and lack of protests. Even Giles had managed to keep his mouth shut. But then, maybe Giles was just being practical. As far as he was concerned, Spike was harmless when it came to the human population of Sunnydale. The demonic population however... ...
“OK, so he helped us with Glory...once. Have you forgotten all the times he's tried to kill us? Have you forgotten Adam, or the Gem of Amarra? Have you forgotten the two Slayers he's killed? What about the order of Taraka and what a picnic that was? 'Cos I sure as hell remember that!
“And what about all the death and destruction he's dished out that we don't even know about? I mean... c'mon, Buffy. The guy's evil, and helping out every now and again to save his own skin doesn't mean anything!”
Buffy grit her teeth in an attempt to stop herself telling Xander to shut up and fuck off. Taking a calming breath, she locked eyes with her so-called friend and continued, trying to control herself. “Doesn't mean anything?! He withstood torture at the hands of a god, to protect Dawn and me!! That isn't supposed to mean anything?! He didn't have to do that, Xander, but he did. Could YOU have done it? Taken whatever Glory dished out and not talked, not said anything about Dawn being the key? HUH? Could you?”
Xander's expression hardened slightly, clearly not impressed with being compared to the vampire.
“He's a Vampire, Buffy! You can't expect me to be able to take the kind of punishment that he did! That's not fair!”
“EXACTLY, XANDER!” Leaning forward, her resolve strengthened, she continued on, trying to get through to him. “He is a vampire, but he still did what he could to protect me and my sister. What loyalty did he owe us? Who wouldn't have been surprised if he'd blabbed to Glory? You say that he's evil, well he had a perfect opportunity to BE evil right there! He could've sold us out to save his own skin, hell, he could've probably had Glory try and get his chip out in exchange for telling her who the key was, but he didn't! He stood up to her, and suffered through things that would have killed you and had you begging for mercy ten times over, so don't you sit there and judge him, and tell me that what he did isn't worth our respect!
“Did you know that he was prepared to die that night on the tower? He was ready to sacrifice himself to save Dawn, and that he had taken steps to look after my family even after he died?”
Before Xander could reply to Buffy's tirade, Giles' curiosity was piqued. “Steps? What steps, Buffy? Please elaborate for me?”
Buffy sighed, she hadn't meant to let that slip, that piece of info was for her family to know, and no-one else. Trying some quick mental gymnastics, she ran through some ideas in her head to try and explain away her inadvertent revelation. Coming up decidedly short, she settled for the truth.
“He left me and Mom some money, for us to use to, y'know, do things with.”
Giles took in Buffy's body language, and sudden inability to meet everyone's eyes. Clearly this was something she thought she had to hide, and pressed the matter further. “Things?”
“OH, for the love of--,” Buffy began, exasperated. “He left us enough money to pay off the house and put Dawn through college and even have enough left over for us to live on comfortably for a very long time! There, are you happy now? He left us a LOT of money! Like a real lot.”
Giles sat back, slightly stunned at this admission. Spike had made arrangements to look after Buffy and her family financially. This from the vampire that used to hit him up for money to buy booze and cigarettes with! 'Maybe, just maybe, I have misjudged Spike somewhat. He's still beneath Buffy, but can I really begrudge him for leaving her and her family money?'
Giles was in something of a conundrum as to how to feel about this, and was just about to ask Buffy where Spike had acquired this money, but Xander, vitriolic as ever, beat him to it.
Shocked expressions seemed to be the order of the day after this bit of information had landed. Xander was the first to shake himself back into his default setting when things concerning Spike came up.
“You're not gonna take it are you? I mean... who knows what he did to get it, who he killed and stole it from! Money like that, there's no way he came by that legally! It's just blood money from an evil thing ...a monster! He's trying to buy his way into your life. You can't let--”
“I cant what, Xander?!” Buffy bristled with indignation, feeling her temper flare. “How dare you sit there and tell me what I can and can't do! I know how he got it, he told my mom and me, and we believe him. He didn't do anything bad to get it... he didn't kill anybody for it, it's not from a Ponzi scheme... he didn't even sell Amway! He's had it a long time, and wanted us to have it.”
“My God, Buffy! Can't you hear yourself, defending him? Defending Spike! It's just wrong! The way you're talking about him! It's...it's...” Words seemed to fail the brunette as he stammered to a halt, his mind whirling with righteous rage and resentment.
The rest of the gang seemed to come back to themselves, shaken out of their shocked stupor, and from the looks being given Xander from the rest of them, they were not happy. Giles was the first to speak his mind, and directed his comments to the seething carpenter.
“That's quite enough, Xander! Buffy's right. Whether she decides to take the money or not, it is still none of your concern. That decision lies with Buffy and Joyce. While I may not agree with them taking money from Spike, I have enough respect for them to stay out of their business. I suggest you do the same... Is that clear?”
Xander turned his angry gaze to the watcher and, taking in the expressions of everyone else at the table, spoke through clenched teeth.
“Am I the only one that has a problem with this? With Spike trying to buy his way into Buffy's good graces, and listening to her talk about him like...like...like she cares about the bleached prick!”
Xander couldn't believe it. Spike wasn't supposed to be the one that came to Buffy's rescue in times of crisis, or any time for that matter, it was supposed to be him. Something from deep inside him reared it's head and screamed in rage! 'THAT'S MY PLACE, NOT HIS! SHE'S MINE TO HAVE!' To say that Xander was surprised at the sudden, all-consuming rage and jealousy he felt would be an understatement, but that didn't lessen their effects. Something within Xander had been awoken at the prospect of Buffy having any kind of feeling for Spike, and that something was not happy in the least.
Willow couldn't contain herself any longer, sitting, listening to Xander rant and rave about the evilness that was Spike. Willow knew of the respect that Spike had for Joyce, and if he'd told her about this money, and Joyce believed him, that was good enough for her. If Spike wanted to give the Summers girls some money, as Giles said, it was no-one's business but theirs, and it certainly wasn't Xander's place to tell them that they couldn't accept it.
“Well, you're the only one shouting and attacking Buffy because of it, so I’d have to say yes, you are the only one with a problem, Xander. It's nothing to do with you, and it's actually gonna help them so I don't see a problem with it. NOW. LEAVE. HER. ALONE!”
Anya decided now would be an excellent time to interject on the matter, seeing as how this had clearly degenerated into a free-for-all. Speaking from behind the counter, she voiced her opinion. “Absolutely, Xander! How is Buffy supposed to survive in America, the land of capitalism, without a source of income? I think it's long overdue that she doesn't have to worry about money. The council should really pay Slayers, Giles! Now she doesn't need to worry about anything but being killed in battle! That's good!”
Clearly sensing that he was outnumbered, Xander held his hands up in surrender and once gain leaned back in his chair, looking sullen. He couldn't believe that everyone else seemed to have been suckered in by the peroxide pest. That he would find himself alone against all his friends didn't for one minute cause Xander to wonder whether he was maybe in the wrong here. He was totally convinced that all this was somehow Spike's fault, he just hadn't figured out how to link him into it all. The recently awakened creature growled inside him. Spike would not get away with this. Once again it reaffirmed it's belief that Xander was the one that Buffy should turn to in a time of need.
Tara took the sudden calm to interject. “Buffy? If you want to take the money, if you think it'll help, and you're happy with how Spike got it, then... I...” She spared a glance at the sulking teen across the table from her and then returned her gaze to the Slayer “.... I think you should take it.”
Willow smiled at her girlfriend and once again reached for her hand, pulling it onto the table for all of them to see. “Yep! Totally with Tara on this, Buffy. Besides, shopping! Hello! Major excuse for a shopping trip to end all shopping trips!”
Anya nodded her head sagely, sharing a smile with the girls who were all giggling lightly, the mention of shopping having opened up various possibilities in Buffy's mind.
Giles, sensing that if he didn't take control rather quickly, the conversation could spiral even more out of control, what with the mention of shopping.
“Was there anything else that you wished to discuss with us Buffy, or was the subject of Spike's generosity the sole purpose of this meeting? You said you made a number of decisions?”
Brought out of her little mental tour of the Sunnydale mall, complete with limitless credit card, Buffy came crashing back to reality. She had to tell her friends, that, after everything he'd done for her, and all the thinking that she'd done over the last few days, she wanted to try at a relationship with Spike. The wasps returned with a sudden vengeance, causing her stomach to lurch sharply.
“Actually, Giles, there was something else, it's also about... Spike.”
Buffy spotted Tara move closer to Willow, lean in and whisper something in her ear. Willow's eyes bugged for a moment and she turned to look at Tara. Tara nodded in reply to Willow's unspoken question. Giving Tara's hand a reassuring squeeze and gracing her with a smile, the red witch turned her full attention back to Buffy.
Smiling at Buffy, Willow nodded her head, and Buffy guessed that Tara had just spilled her secret to Willow and this was Willow's way of showing her support for her friend. Tara too was smiling, and Buffy drew some strength from the fact that both the witches were doing what they could to show her there would be no recriminations coming from them when she gave voice to her decision.
“You see, Spike's not only gonna be helping me patrol, he's.... well... he's.... we're....after some thought, he's...”
Willow spoke up, seeing Buffy was struggling with what she obviously wanted to tell them.
“C'mon Buffy, you can tell us. We're all friends here,” the witch assured her, fixing Xander with a stony glare, before turning back to Buffy with a supportive, comforting smile.
Taking a deep breath, looking at Willow and Tara smiling at her from across the table and taking a quick glance at her as-yet-unseen mother, Buffy spoke firmly and with deliberate determination.
“Spike and I are going to start dating.”
Silence.
Pin-drop silence.
“WHAT!” Xander's exclamation shattered the silence and seemed to echo off the walls of the shop. He was furious. He couldn't believe it. Buffy had the hots for another vampire! What was wrong with her? Did she not see how wrong this was? What was wrong with human guys? If she kept on dating the undead, then she'd never be able to see the good things that came from dating normal guys, and if she never saw that, then she'd never see him! The creature inside him raged, and, it seemed, released it's hold on his unconscious desires. It came to him in a moment of perfect, crystallizing clarity. He wanted Buffy, he always had.
He knew if he hung around and helped her, forced himself into her life, then she couldn't ignore him forever, and eventually, she'd come to her senses. He was her best option for happiness it told him, he was a nice, normal guy, but he knew of her world, had lived in it for years and so it was something that they could deal with together, until he could convince her to give up the slaying gig, let Faith take over and he and Buffy could be happy. But once again, a filthy, disgusting, vampire would get in his way, would get to have what he had wanted since their first meeting. Spike would get to have Buffy. This was simply unacceptable.
He could see now, Anya was a place-holder for what his heart truly desired, and he would not be denied it.
“Buffy, you can't be serious!! I mean this is a joke, right? RIGHT? You and Spike? Have you lost your mind?”
“It's no joke, Xander! I want to be with Spike... he's done a lot for us, a lot for me, because he loves me. I want to give him a chance.”
Xander's chair scraped back across the floor as he leapt to his feet. “A CHANCE?! A CHANCE AT WHAT, KILLING US ALL? Let's not forget what happened the last time you gave a vampire a chance with you! He turned all evil-psycho-murderer and Miss Calendar ended up dead!!”
Buffy's head dropped at this reminder of her past love affair with Angel. She knew that something like this would come up, but she wasn't prepared for the anger and spite behind Xander's words. Luckily for her, or maybe luckily for Xander, it was Giles that chose to respond, rather than Buffy.
Something inside Giles snapped at the mention of Jenny. He would NOT allow Xander to use Jenny to justify his assault on his Slayer. That horrific episode of his life had long since passed into the painful memory part of his mind, but even at it's most raw, Giles had never blamed Buffy for what Angel had done. Ripper came forth without hesitation. “XANDER! THAT'S QUITE ENOUGH! YOU WILL CONTROL YOURSELF, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!”
Xander turned his angry eyes on the watcher, fury flashing over his face. “NO, GILES! This is wrong, it's just wrong. God, it's so disgusting... I don't even want to think about it. If you think I’m just gonna smile and congratulate her on hooking up with the evil dead, you can forget about it! He's an evil, disgusting, demon thing! I’m not just gonna stand here and watch the two of them play at being a happy couple, I’ll stake him first!”
Buffy's eyes flew upwards at this statement, meeting Xander's hate-filled gaze, which was boring down on her now. She was just about to respond when, in her peripheral vision, she caught her mother finally making her presence known to all.
Xander's blood thundered in his ears, his heart thumping in his chest. There was no way on this Earth that he would allow Buffy to be with Spike. No way on this Earth, or Hell, for that matter. He knew if he let them be together he would lose his shot with her forever. There was no way he could compete with the blonde pest, and that wasn't a risk he was willing to take. It was obvious to him now that he'd spent too much time, been in too many dangerous situations, to give up his dream of being with Buffy, and if Spike had to dust so that dream could be kept alive, he was OK with that. The creature in his chest snarled and growled. Now that he knew his dream could be taken from him, it was fighting back with everything it could call upon.
To say Joyce was outraged at the young man's behaviour was like saying the Atlantic was a bit damp! She strode from her place in the back of the shop and, ignoring the surprised looks from Giles, Willow and Tara, planted herself smack in-front of Buffy's so-called friend.
“HOW DARE YOU, ALEXANDER HARRIS!! WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO SPEAK TO BUFFY LIKE THAT?”
Xander was shocked at the sudden appearance of Buffy's mom, and was unprepared for the venom in her tone, or the look of fire in her eyes. Looking at the other occupants of the room for any sign of support, he realised he was alone out on the precarious limb he'd placed himself on. Trying desperately to find some way out of the hole he'd just dug for himself, he quailed and stammered the first thing that came to mind, but no-one ever accused Xander of being all that smart.
“Mrs. Summers, I didn't know you were here, I--”
“That much is obvious! I assume you were expecting everyone to agree with you, or at the very least, not oppose you in your bigoted tirade at my daughter! I don't mean you, Tara, or you, Willow, but the rest of you? I’ve never been as ashamed of associating with someone as I am right now!”
Anya, who had been observing things from her place behind the sales counter, had the good graces to look at the floor, a mumbled apology spilling forth, while Giles blustered indignantly.
He had to confess, he was less than pleased with this latest revelation from Buffy, but he would be dammed if he would let Joyce think that he would have allowed Xander to continue talking to Buffy in that way! Xander had crossed so many lines, not the least of which being the incredible rudeness and aggression that he had displayed towards Buffy. Giles had never approved of rudeness, especially that directed at women. Something in his British upbringing railed against it, and he was going to make the point very clear to Joyce that he would not have sat idly by and given Xander seemingly free reign to continue to verbally flay his charge.
“Joyce, really! Do you believe that I would have allowed Xander to speak like that to Buffy and get away with it? That I would tolerate such behaviour toward my Slayer? I can assure you, I would have dealt with the matter in due course, without your interference. Do you have such little faith in me when it comes to Buffy's welfare?”
Joyce took a calming breath, trying to wrestle the lioness that roared inside her back into its cage. She softened her expression lightly and nodded to Giles in apology or at least recognition of his concern where Buffy was involved. Turning back to Xander, she fixed him with a deadly glare and spoke with a deceivingly calm and measured tone, despite the maternal rage boiling beneath the surface.
“I believe I’m still waiting for an answer, Xander. What exactly gives you the right to try and dictate to my daughter anything concerning her personal life?”
Xander once again struggled to find an answer that would be satisfactory to Joyce, or anyone else for that matter. He couldn't tell them the truth, that his deep-seated rage stemmed from a jealousy that he had just become aware of, that he was the one that deserved to be with Buffy. He instead reached for the default argument whenever the subject of Spike, or demons in general, was raised.
“Mrs. Summers, can't you see, he's evil. He's a filthy demon on a leash, something that Buffy should have dusted years ago. He's not good; he's not capable of good because he doesn't have a soul. Look what happened with Angel, he lost his soul and started killing people! Well Spike hasn't lost his, he never had one to begin with! All he has is the chip-- what happens if it stops working? It'll be the same thing all over again! He's just a thing, an evil thing, and I don't think Buffy should be giving evil, soulless, disgusting, demon things a chance at getting into her pants!”
Buffy could no longer restrain herself. Hearing Xander take that tone of voice with her mother, she would swear to her last day that it wasn't her that made the move but her Slayer side. She was upon him in an instant, delivering a vicious, if slightly pulled, open-handed slap to his face. Xander reeled back on his heels, everyone's eyes widening in shock at what had just happened.
Joyce managed to loop an arm round Buffy's middle, and hold her back, preventing her from pummelling her 'friend' into a bloody mess. Willow, Tara and Giles all leapt to their feet and came around the table to stand beside and behind the Summers women. Anya was noticeable in her lack of movement, but certainly made no move to go to Xander's side.
“You will NOT speak to my mother like that again, Xander, do you understand?” Buffy could barely believe what was happening. The chaos that had ensued at the mention of her and Spike's planned relationship was more than she'd imagined in her worst nightmare.
At Xander's tentative nod, Joyce altered her grip on Buffy, no longer restraining her, but now pulling her into an embrace, once again, trying to lend her some semblance of support.
“Is any of it starting to sink in yet, Xander? You've been hit by both my daughters now for speaking out of turn, and on matters that don't concern you. Who Buffy decides to date is none of your business, and I will not allow you to stand I the way of something that she wants to do. And I will certainly not stand by and let you threaten the life of the man that save both of my daughters. Do I make myself clear?”
Buffy turned her head into her mother's chest and took a calming breath; her Slayer side seemed to be content to allow Buffy to settle this matter herself. Turning back to face the carpenter, who now bore a bright red hand-print on the side of his face, she fired back with her own argument, trying desperately to batter her way through Xander's thick skull without resorting to her fists.
“Who are you to stand there and judge me, Xander? Have you forgotten some of the mistakes you've made along the way, just in the time that I've known you? Shall we go through them together? Let's see...”
Buffy held up a hand and began ticking off points on her fingers, one by one. “There was that Inca-mummy girl that killed people so she could stay alive. Not much different from a vampire, was she? Then there was the whole hyena possession episode that I really don't want to think about, you didn't exactly come out of that smelling like roses, did you? Oh, then there was Praying Mantis lady, she killed virgins, and if memory serves me right, didn't you tell me after that that you'd acted like an idiot?! And let's not even start on Cordelia, and that wonderful idea of yours to do a love spell to get her back! Then there was your wonderful decision to break up Willow and Oz by kissing her, 'cos you thought you were gonna be replaced and Willow wouldn't be crushing on you anymore!” Buffy held up one more finger on her right hand to add to the five she had ticked off on her left. “And now we have Anya, an 1100 year old ex-vengeance demon, who's probably killed more people than Angel, Spike, Darla and Drusilla combined!!”
Anya took this moment to raise her hand and interject in a quite cheerful voice, “Sorry to interrupt, please don't hit me, but there's no 'probably' about it. My body count is way more than the scourge of Europe, what with the whole Russian revolution thing! I think that might still be a record to this day,” she finished proudly.
Xander was looking at his girlfriend in horror as she carelessly laid out the achievements of her demon life. He could barely believe it, she was siding with the rest of them, against him, and rubbing her demon past in his face to do it!
Buffy dropped her hands to her hips, and cocked a brow at Xander, her body language screaming triumph. “There you go, she's happy with what she did, she had to, it was her life then, it was her job, but we don't hold it against her, do we? The same as I don't hold any of your gigantic screw-ups against you. Never have I tried to tell you what you couldn't do, who you couldn't date. Cordelia would have been top of the list if I had! But I didn't, and I don't use them to guilt you into doing what I want you to do, do I?
“For god's sake Xander, your whole argument is based on what Spike MIGHT do! It's all hypothetical! We don't punish people because of what they might do. Do you see us harassing Anya because she MIGHT return to her demon ways? No, you don't. That would be wrong. But according to you, it's fine to do that to Spike! And what about you?! Do you remember what you did to me while you were possessed by that Hyena spirit?! Not what you might have done to me, but what you actually did to me? Well, Spike's never done anything like that, even when we were enemies!
“Not once did I interfere with your personal life, because I had, and still have, enough respect for you to let you make your own decisions, and if they're mistakes, let you learn from them.”
Turning towards Willow, Buffy softened her tone and tried to smile gently at both her and Tara. It was time, unfortunately, to bring them into this. She didn't want to, but she needed everyone to understand her point of view, and understand that what she was asking of them was nothing that she hadn't already given them.
“Willow, did I say anything to you about dating Oz, once we found out he was a werewolf? Did any of us try and tell you that it was too dangerous for you to be around him?”
Willow smirked a little and shook her head.
A tight smile came to Willow's lips as she slowly shook her head. “No Buffy, you didn't, no one did. No one even thought about killing him... well, I don't think anybody did, at least. And no one tried to tells how to handle our relationship. We made that decision for ourselves, together.”
Turning to face a sullen looking Xander, the red witch hardened her expression as she spoke to him. “And let's not forget who was more dangerous. When Oz was transformed, he didn't know who he was, who any of us were. He would have bitten or killed us without a thought. Kinda dangerous, don't you think Xand? But it was OK wasn't it, 'cos he was our friend?”
Buffy looked at Tara as Willow spoke to Xander. She really didn't want to have to bring this up, but she felt like it would punctuate her point, and she needed Xander to understand the situation fully. Whether it was Tara's empathetic connection that she seemed to be able to forge with people, or just the fact that Tara could see where this was headed, the result was the same. A shy nod and smile from the witch was all the permission that Buffy need to hammer home her final point.
“What about Tara, Wills? Did I try and talk you out of starting a relationship with her? Did I ever try and tell you what was best for you, maybe that you weren't gay and were just confused about things. Or Tara? Did I ever tell you that maybe you weren't right for Willow and that I wanted you to stay away from her?”
Reaching out, Tara took Buffy's hand in hers and looked straight at Xander, with cold detachment in her eyes. Though she answered Buffy's question, it was clear that she was speaking to Xander.
“No, Buffy, you never once said anything like that to me, you have only ever tried to be supportive to both me and Willow. That's what friends do. They help and support, they don't judge and condemn.”
Xander's shoulders were slumped in total defeat. He could see what they were trying to say, but for the life of him, he couldn't let go of the fact that Spike would get to have Buffy and he wouldn't. He was going to finally miss out on his dream because of some filthy, disgusting, soulless vampire. She was choosing Spike over him.
Throughout the whole episode, Joyce had watched Xander, his defences crumbling slowly, but she could see that some were still in place. After all that, they'd only just managed to make a dent! She could barely believe her eyes.
“Well, after all that, I think it's time for me and Buffy to leave. Thank you for the hospitality, Rupert, and once again, I apologise for being so rash with you earlier, that was uncalled for and I’m sorry for it.”
“Quite alright, Joyce, I assure you. I would have to say, at the time, that you had every right to be angry. I can only apologise as well, for making it seem like I would not have stepped in to try and defuse the situation.”
Very quick hugs were exchanged between the females in the room and a number of assurances were made to Tara and Willow and Anya that they were welcome at the Summers' whenever the impulse took them to visit. A final quick arrangement confirming the plan for a celebratory meal to be had once Spike was back on his feet took place, with Joyce making it plain that she would notify everyone of the time and location, with the exception of Xander of course, and with that, Buffy and Joyce were escorted to the door by a rather haggard looking Giles.
Stepping out into the sunlight, Joyce turned to Buffy and tried her best to smile. “Well, that went well, don't you think?”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Hi guys, I know it's been a while, but real life has been giving me a bit of a kicking of late. Anyway, I got back into the swing of things and this is the result. Thanks everyone who's read and reviewed, I really appreciate each and every one of you. Finally, I don't own anything except the plot. Everything remotely related to BTVS is not mine, in any way shape or form, so please, don't sue me.
Chapter End Notes:
First, my thanks have to go to my wonderful beta, P4S, for helping me make this remotely readable. Thank you, P4S.X
Secondly, my thanks have to go to Paganbaby for her encouragement, and the beautiful banner she made for me, and setting me on this raod to begin with Thank you, PB X
Secondly, my thanks have to go to Paganbaby for her encouragement, and the beautiful banner she made for me, and setting me on this raod to begin with Thank you, PB X