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Chapter Two


William “Spike” Giles sat at his desk in his office with his head on the desk. God, Cordelia’s constant prattling about how she hated working afternoons with the dirty old men, how she was above waitressing, and how she was going to make it one day was enough to make his head explode. She’s given him a headache of the migraine kind. Buffy was going to pay for this. The phone ringing made him wince and he reached for it quickly.

“’Ello?”

“William Giles?”

“Yeah?”

“This is Officer Finn. Do you know Buffy Summers?”

Spike snapped to attention, sitting ramrod straight. “Yeah, is she all right? Is there something wrong? Where is she?”

“She’s here at her sister’s home, Mr. Giles.”
“Get to the point, Officer. Is she all right?” Spike was nearly shouting into the phone. The thought of something happening to Buffy made his heart clench. “Is the little boy all right?”

“He’s fine, sir. Miss Summers is…she’s very upset right now, Mr. Giles. She has requested to see you.”

“Fucking tell me what’s happened for fuck’s sake!”

“Her sister, Mr. Giles. Her sister is dead and she’s just found out.”

“I’m on my way,” Spike put the phone down, in a daze and rushed out of the room. Stepping into the dark, smoky bar room, Spike searched around for Cordelia. When he spotted her, he pulled her by her arm and led her behind the bar.

“Get your hands off me, you’re going to give every dirty—“

“Shut up Cordelia,” he snapped.

Her eyes widened. “You can’t talk to me like that, I don’t care if you are my boss!”

“Listen to me or you’re out of a job. I have to go see Buffy, you have to hold down the fort. If there’s a problem, call Gunn.”

Cordelia rolled her eyes. “Buffy again? I swear Spike, you run after her more than you do your own girlfriend.”
“Buffy’s sister just died you twit. She needs me.”

Cordelia’s eyes widened and she took a step back, gathering herself. “Tell her…tell her I’m sorry.”

Spike nodded curtly and marched out the bar.







Spike and Buffy had been best friends since high school. Spike had been what most of his peers considered a nerd and Buffy had been the most popular girl at school. But, not the kind of popular like Cordelia had been—the queen bee of high school that only socialized with jocks and stuck up rich bitches. No, Buffy had been friends with everyone. She mingled with everyone from the chess club to the pep squad. She was part of the welcoming committee at Sunnydale High School and she was the first friendly face that Spike, then just William, had laid eyes on. She took him under her wing; introducing him to everyone they came in contact with—even the Cordelia Chases. The fact that she deemed him worthy enough to be friends with the likes of Cordelia and the jocks, and didn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to be friends with him, had secured a spot for Buffy in his heart. She’d even helped him change his look from the mousy brown, long-locked William with glasses that were constantly falling down his nose to short-haired, bleached blond, leather duster wearing bad ass Spike. She’d given him the name when they’d gone shopping for the proper accessories and he’d chosen a bracelet with spikes on it. She’d approved until he’d painfully sat down on said bracelet. She’d dubbed him Spike from then on, despite how the bracelet had ended up in the trash.

They had lost touch for a while when Spike had caught the eye of Drusilla, the rumored to be crazy, goth girl who carried dolls to her classes and spoke to them as if they were real people. Drusilla had consumed Spike, and even though he still considered Buffy his best friend, Dru had a way of taking over a person’s life. Spike had soon learned that it wasn’t just a rumor that Dru was crazy: She really was. She had gotten herself locked up in the middle of senior year for, having had a mental breakdown that caused her to cut herself—the stars had told her to do it. Buffy had been there the whole time for him. Then, when Buffy’s mother died shortly thereafter due to an aneurysm, Spike had been there for her.

Since then, they’d pretty much been inseparable. Spike had taken over his father’s restaurant/bar, The Watering Hole, and hired Buffy when she found herself unable to pay for college without the aid of her mother. Buffy took classes in between working at The Watering Hole. She had yet to declare a major, having been there for almost two years now. And, when she had the free time, she took care of Nate and Faith.

Faith. Crazy in her own right. She had gone off the deep end when their mother had died. While Buffy had been even more persistent at being responsible, Faith had gone to the wild side. During that time, she’d started hanging out with Spike’s crowd—or rather, Drusilla’s wild crowd. Spike hadn’t wanted anything to do with her and told her time and again not to do Buffy wrong. Faith had repeatedly told him to ‘fuck off’. He wasn’t at all surprised to learn that she’d gotten pregnant and didn’t know who the father was. Of course Buffy had been there to help her wayward sister out, despite how Faith used and abused her. Buffy always tried to see the good in people though, that’s what made her so special.

Now she needed him and he wasn’t going to let her down.

Pulling into the driveway, Spike noted that the cops were still there. He strolled up to the door and was about to knock when he heard Nate crying. He pushed the door open and found Buffy sitting on the couch with Nate in her lap, hugging him to her as he cried and sucked on his binky. Buffy was stroking his back and saying ‘ssshhh” over and over with a far-gone look in her eyes. Spike knew that look. She was retreating inside herself to a place where no one could reach her. That wouldn’t do for Nate and Spike knew Buffy wouldn’t want that for him. The police officers were trying to talk to her about what, he didn’t know.

“Leave her alone,” Spike growled at them. They looked up, wide-eyed at him.

“You must be Mr. Giles,” The man, who must have been Officer Finn stated as he stood and held out his hand.

“Listen, do you need to badger her about whatever you’re badgering her about right now? Do you see her? She’s not there right now. Leave a message and she’ll get back to you.”

“We’ll need her to identify the body—“

“And she’ll do that, White bread. But not. Right. Now.”

The woman cop tugged on Finn’s arm and started to lead him toward the door. “I’m sorry, Mr. Giles. You’re right; this can wait. Thank you for coming on such short notice. If you or Miss Summers have any questions, feel free to call me. Just ask for Fred.”

Spike nodded, “thanks, Fred.”

Turning to Buffy, Spike noticed that Nate was exhausted. He had dark circles under his hazel eyes and he kept rubbing at them.

“Buffy, it’s Spike. I’m going to put Nate down for a nap, all right luv?”

Buffy nodded absently and Spike tried to lift Nate out of her arms. She held on.

“Buffy, baby, it’s Spike. Let the tot go, I’ve got him.”

Buffy slowly turned her head toward Spike, a blank expression on her face. “Spike?”

“I’m here, luv.”

“I asked for you,” she said blankly.

“I know, pet.” Spike was having a hard time keeping himself together. Seeing Buffy like this was enough to drive him over the edge. He felt the sting of his tears prick behind his eyes and he willed them away.

“Can you put Nate down please? He’s tired. He lost his mother today.”

Spike’s eyes were leaking. He wiped at them furiously and he took Nate in his arms, the little boy looking up at him. Spike smiled at the boy, and Nate cuddled into him, resting his little head on his shoulder and yawning through sucks on his bink. Spike carried him to his room and laid him down in his crib, covering him up with a blanket and turning on his monitor. Nate immediately closed his eyes and fell asleep. Poor kid, Spike thought as he made his way back to the living room where Buffy was. She sat there, head tilted to the side, staring off, expressionless.

Spike sat down next to her. “Buffy? You here with me, luv?”

She looked at him and he noticed how tired she looked as well. She turned away again and Spike closed his eyes. Why did this have to happen to her and Nate? Why? All the girl had left to call family was Faith and Nate. Now, just Nate.

“We’re gonna go to bed all right, pet?” He grabbed the monitor on the coffee stand and tucked it in his back pocket.

She didn’t respond, but merely allowed herself to be lifted in Spike’s arms and carried to Faith’s queen-sized bed. He lay her down and she rolled to her side, staring at the wall. Setting down the monitor on the nightstand in order to hear Nate if he awoke, Spike spooned up behind her and lay an arm across her stomach, pulling her against him.

“I’m here, pet. Spike’s here and he’s going to take care of you. You and Nate, okay?” He combed her hair away from her face and neck and rested his chin on her shoulder. “Close your eyes, Buffy. Get some sleep.”

She closed her eyes and Spike watched her for a long time before falling asleep himself.





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