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A/N: I know I promised a spuffy chapter, but this one was already too long so it's going to be in the next one. Also, I know New Year is pretty much over, but real life has been a bitch to me lately and I missed my dead lines. But it's still January, right? I'll try to have the big spuffy New Year's eve ready by monday. And I've been nominated in a few categories at Vampire Kisses award!! Thanks for showing me some love guys, I appreciate it :D



Chapter 27
New Year conspiracy




Buffy felt groggy and nasty. Her head was pounding, the soft light filtering through the curtains was hurting her sensitive eyes, and her tongue felt twice its normal size. Everything was wrong. It was New Year’s eve, she had no celebration planned and felt sick as a dog. The antibiotics Dr. Burkle had prescribed her would probably take a few days to make her feel better and meanwhile, she was still waiting for Giles’ phone call. Wait. Phone call? The phone ringing… wasn’t that what woke her up in the first place? Suddenly completely awake, she pushed herself up on one elbow and hurriedly picked up the phone, dropping it to the floor in her haste. She leaned over the edge of the bed and fumbled to grab the receiver.

“Hello?” She mumbled, her voice still thick with sleep.

“Buffy? It’s…”

“Giles! Hi!” Her enthusiasm was interrupted by a fit of coughing.

“Buffy, are you all right?”

“Right as rain. Don’t worry about me, I’m tough She took a deep breath. “I’ve--I’ve been waiting for your call.”

“I know. I’m terribly sorry, but I needed to think things over before making a decision.”

“Oh.” Buffy tried keeping the hope out of her voice. She didn’t know what to say.

“Don’t you want to find out what that decision might be?”

“Well yeah. But I didn’t want to sound pushy. What did you decide?” She asked, almost afraid of his answer.

She could hear Giles on the other end of the line taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “I’ve decided… To be completely idiotic. I guess I’m just an old romantic fool, but after seeing you so broken over this ordeal, I couldn’t just stand back. I would lie by saying that I’m happy with the situation, Buffy. I’m acutely aware that it could have dire consequences for both of us. But I’ll stand by your side and pray to God that it doesn’t end too horribly.”

Buffy let out a sigh of relief that sounded more like a choked sob. “I was really scared. I don’t know what to say, Giles. You have no idea what this means to me.”

“I’m sorry I gave you reasons to doubt I would help you. Look, it’s New Year’s eve tonight. Why don’t stop by your office if you don’t have anything else planned?”

Buffy sat with her back against the headboard and played nervously with the edge of her comforter. “I don’t know, Giles. There’s nothing I want more, but it is New Year’s eve you know? Don’t you think it would look a little suspicious if I showed up at work tonight?”

“Don’t worry about that. Be ready and I’ll call you from the prison around ten o’clock tonight. I’ll find a good excuse to justify it.”

She could feel her heart beating as if it was trying to break out of her chest. “Ok, I’ll be ready and waiting.”

“Good. I’ll talk to you later then.”

“Later. And Giles?… Thank you.”

He paused before finally answering in a soft voice. “You’re welcome, Buffy.”

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Twisting another strand of her long blonde hair around the curling iron, Buffy swore under her breath when it tangled in it. She was so nervous that her hands were shaking. She managed to untangle it from her now wavy mane, and slammed the iron angrily on her dresser. Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she finally calmed down. It was 7pm, and she was beyond nervous.

Clad in nothing but a red lace trimmed black satin underwear set, she crossed her bedroom. She turned on the light in her walk-in closet and went straight to the dress that hung there still covered by the protective plastic they had put over it at the store. After she hung up with Giles this morning, she had taken a quick shower and run to the mall, hoping it was open. Luckily enough, it was open for business until 5pm. In a nervous frenzy, she had gone through every store to find the perfect outfit. Her first stop had been Victoria’s Secret. The racy red and black number had caught her eye instantly. She didn’t even look at the price tag. She tried it on and knew that it was what she wanted. Spike had told her during one of their conversations that red and black were his favorite colors. After two more hours of desperate shopping, she finally found the dress. The red flowing silk skirt fell to her knees in soft waves while the bodice of the dress clung to her curves seductively. The v neck was cut just low enough to showcase her pendant necklace and the back revealed quite a bit of skin. It was love at first sight.

Buffy put her stockings on, careful not to ruin them with her freshly manicured nails, then slipped the dress on. She went to stand in front of her full length mirror to admire the result. She looked great, but the look on her face could only be described as miserable. Half an hour ago, she had checked for the hundred and fiftieth time to see if she got an answer from Spike to the three emails she left him in the past three days, but with no luck. She knew there could be many explanations to this. Maybe he got himself in trouble again and was stuck in isolation. Maybe he didn’t get a chance to check his emails… Or maybe he was mad at her. She didn’t like the third option, but it was a possibility. What if he didn’t want to see her tonight?

She sighed again, and went to sit in front of her dresser to start applying her make up. She really had to stop imagining the worst case scenarios or she’d go insane.

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Spike was one of the lucky guys on cafeteria cleaning duty. They would be having a New Year’s eve diner tonight so they had to decorate on top of the usual gruesome job of making the place presentable again after 215 inmates had their lunch. He was busy moping the disgustingly filthy floor, when Giles walked in. The prisoner automatically looked down. It was the first time he'd seen the guard in three days and didn’t know what to expect. The last three days had been hell for Spike. He hadn’t seen Buffy, hadn’t been able to talk to Giles, and had no way of finding out what was going on. He couldn’t email Buffy or call her in fear of making it worst for her. So all he could do was go on with his usual daily routine and wait. Spike was starting to think that maybe he’d never know. In his nightmarish daydreams, he could almost see himself twenty years from now, laying on his cot at night and wondering what happened to the woman he loved. But right now, he was just surprised that no one had come to take him away yet.

There was such a thing as a prison inside the prison and he had been sure that’s where he’d end up after Buffy lost her job. But no one came for him. Nothing had happened and it had been days. He was worrying himself sick over this and almost wished that something would happen. Anything would be better than being kept in the dark.

Spike tensed when he noticed Giles walking towards him. It looked like his wish was finally granted; something was going to happen. He tried to read the other British man’s face but it was impossible. Bracing himself, Spike stopped mopping the floor and waited for the guard to be close enough to talk.

“Spike.” Giles greeted the prisoner with a slight nod of his head. He lowered his voice so no one else would hear. “Pretend to be sick.”

Spike looked genuinely puzzled. “Pardon?”

“Complain all day that you’re not feeling well and make sure everybody knows.”

“… why?”

Giles frowned, very close to losing his patience. He was nervous and didn’t want to draw attention to himself by spending too much time with one of the guys. “Don’t question me, just do it. And try to make it convincing. Unless of course you never want to see her again.”

He turned and left without another word.

Spike stared at his retreating form, frozen in shock. That was definitely not what he’d expected.

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Looking pretty, Buffy was sitting in the kitchen, nervous as hell. The cordless phone was on the table in front of her and she was staring at it, as if that would make it ring. She turned it on to check if it was working for the hundredth time and turned it off quickly, worried that Giles might have chosen this exact time to call and would get a busy signal. It was 9:51 p.m. and she was sick of waiting. The last three hours had felt like a life time to her.

When it finally rang, two minutes later, she answered on the first ring, not caring if she looked like an eager teenager.

“Giles?”

“Hi Buffy. I’m sorry to bother you on New Year’s eve, but I fear we might have a situation here tonight and I thought it would be best to call you.”

“Are there people around you? Is that part of your plan?”

Giles chuckled lightly. “Yes, and yes. One of the inmates came to me saying that a riot has been planned for tonight. I don’t know how reliable he is, but I thought it would be better to be safe than sorry.”

“Won’t they all wonder why I didn’t take measures over the phone instead of showing up?”

“I’m doing the best I can, Buffy.” Giles whispered harshly into the phone. “I don’t know if it’s worth ruining your plans for the night just because of rumors,” He continued louder obviously for the benefit of people listening in on their conversation. “but it being New Year’s eve, I tend to want to take it more seriously.”

“I’ll be right there.” She said before they both hung up.

The young woman stood up and grabbed the oversize purse she had left by the door, packed with goodies for her and Spike. If, of course, he wanted to talk to her. She just hoped his silence of the past few days didn’t mean it was the end for them, because losing the man you love on New Year’s eve… not the best memory to create.

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Buffy walked into the prison, and was quickly greeted by Giles who had been waiting for her at the security check. She went through security and followed him to her office.

“Wait here, I’ll be right back.” He said, ready to walk out of her office. But she stopped him.

“Giles. How are you gonna get Spike here? You’re not gonna blame the possible riot on him, are you? And… you didn’t REALLY hear of a possible riot, did you?”

“No, Buffy. I didn’t hear of any possible riot planned for tonight. And I wouldn’t make Spike look bad by bringing him here for questioning. Don’t worry, I have a perfectly good excuse. I won’t be long, I promise”

He left her there to wait.

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Giles walked up to Spike’s cell. The blonde man was sitting on the floor, his back against the wall and his forehead resting on his knees. Snyder was sitting stiffly on his cot, arms cross over his chest and casting his cellmate annoyed glares.

“Rayne.” Giles called out loudly. “Are you getting any better?”

“No he’s not!” Snyder exclaimed before Spike could open his mouth. “Please get him out of here before he vomits in the sink again. That’s absolutely disgusting and I might be a prisoner, but I’m still a human being, and you have no right to subject me to something so vile. I will not tolerate this. I will…”

“Oh do shut up. No one is talking to you.” Giles addressed Spike again who was now looking at him. “Come on. Get up, I’ll take you to the infirmary. Anya will examine you and you can spend the night there. You’ll be more quiet than here with that troll.”

“Hey! Who gave you the right to insult me? And who is the moron at immigration who let so many psychotic British guys with God complexes into our beautiful country, huh? Who? It’s outrageous! It’s…”

“Do you want to spend the night in isolation, Snyder? All you have to do is ask.”

The little man shut his mouth, but narrowed his already small, beady eyes at him. Spike stood up from his position on the floor and came to the cell’s door so Giles could put his handcuffs on. The guard opened the door and Spike walked out of the cell. They stopped briefly so Giles could tell another guard where he was taking the prisoner.

“Rayne has been sick all day. I’m taking him to the infirmary. God know what he has and it could be contagious.”

They walked through corridors until they were out of earshot. Then, Spike finally spoke.

“Will you tell me what the bloody hell this is all about?”

“Didn’t you suss it out on your own already? I thought it was clear. I’m taking you to Buffy.”

Spike chuckled humorlessly. “Oh, that makes it so much clearer. Last time I saw you, you wanted to kill me, then I don’t hear anything from anybody for days, and now, you want to take me to Buffy? And you think I’m thick for not understanding what’s going on?”

Giles stopped in his tracks and turned to face Spike. “She didn’t tell you?”

“I haven’t talked to her since you found out about us. It’s not like I could call her or write to her. Didn’t want to get her in more trouble than she already is. What did I miss? Buffy is not losing her job?”

“Of course not! I would never do such a thing. We… talked. For some reason, Buffy is quite taken with you and she refused to stop seeing you. I can’t say I approve and I did try to make her see how insane this is, but she wouldn’t budge.”

“So you just said, bugger this, what Buffy wants, Buffy gets, even if it’s an evil prisoner? Excuse me if I’m a somewhat shocked.”

“No matter how idiotic I think it is to take these kinds of risks Buffy is very dear to me and I’ll stand by her side no matter what. She said she loves you, and I‘m not going to stand in the way of that, even if it doesn‘t make me happy and I do think she deserves better.”

Spike looked down without saying anything.

“I will say one thing though. Hurt her, and I will kill you. Do we understand each other?”

“If I ever hurt her, I’ll let you. But it won’t happen.”

They resumed walking towards Buffy’s office in silence.

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