Chapter 12 – Making Up
“Rise and shine, sleepyhead!” Spike called with a smile, throwing a pillow
at Buffy’s sleeping form.
Buffy moaned, saying something unrecognizable while curling into a ball.
Spike walked over to her window, throwing the curtains back and letting the
sunlight stream in. Buffy burrowed under her covers, throwing muffled
insults his way as she tried to get back to sleep.
“Oh, don’t be like that,” Spike said, falling onto the bed and waiting for
any sign of life from her small body. When none came, a wicked grin spread
over his face before his fingers mercilessly tickled her ribs. Buffy
screeched, practically leaping out of the bed as she tried to get away from
the assault.
“Stop!” she screamed, her plea not as effective through all the giggles that
were erupting from her. “Spike, please stop!” she begged, writhing on the
bed as Spike pinned her down and laughed with her.
Buffy pouted, breathing heavily when he finally stopped. Looking into his
cobalt eyes, she gave him a pout as he chuckled at her. “That wasn’t a very
nice way to wake up.”
“I tried to do it the nice way…you made me result to drastic measures,”
Spike replied, resisting the urge to kiss her pouty lip as he climbed off of
her. “Besides, you seemed to enjoy it.”
“Why are you waking me up so early, anyway?” Buffy asked, throwing a glare
his way as she began rubbing her eyes.
“I’m taking you shopping,” Spike announced.
Buffy’s eyes widened. “You’re serious? You have been shopping with me,
right?”
“Yes.”
“So, you do know what that entails?”
“Yes,” Spike answered again with a smile. “I felt bad for making you worry
last night. This is my peace offering. Take it or leave it.”
“Oooh, peace offering most definitely accepted,” Buffy replied, crawling out
of bed and running to her closet. Spike watched as she gave an excited
little hop, her blonde hair shimmering in the sunlight.
“I’ll let you get ready, pet,” Spike said, heading for the stairs.
“Okay,” Buffy replied. “Give me an hour.”
* * * * *
Two hours later, Spike and Buffy walked into the mall as Spike was debating
just what he’d gotten himself into.
‘Maybe I should have made a different peace offering,’ he thought. ‘Ice
cream and flowers probably would have worked just as well…too late now. On
the plus side, maybe she’ll make another trip to Victoria’s Secret.’
Spike had to shake his head to clear himself of that vision. He knew he
wouldn’t be able to take advantage of that situation again. Although, it
would be very hard to walk away from, but things were different now. The
consequences would be much higher.
“Where to first, pet?”
“I feel like doing something fun,” Buffy replied, grabbing his hand in hers.
“What about the pet store? I love looking at all the cute little
puppies.”
“Off to the pet store, then,” Spike said, dropping her hand. He saw the
confused look on her face, but it quickly disappeared when he wrapped his
arm around her waist.
They stopped outside the pet store, looking at the little bunny rabbits that
were hopping around in the window display. Buffy moved in front of him
slowly so as not to dislodge his hand from her waist. Spike smiled,
wrapping both arms around her waist and letting his chin drop to the top of
her head as she cooed over the little fluffballs.
“Excuse me.”
Buffy and Spike both turned at the soft voice and smiled at the elderly
woman who was standing beside them.
“I just wanted to tell you that you two make such an attractive couple,”
she said with a sweet smile.
Spike felt his stomach clench, wanting that to be a fact and not just an
observation. He was about to tell her that they weren’t together when
Buffy jumped in.
“Thank you,” she said warmly as the woman walked into the shop.
Spike let his chin fall to her shoulder. “What was that, pet?”
Buffy shrugged, effectively jostling Spike, but he stayed where he was.
“Why disappoint her when she went out of her way to give us a compliment?”
“You’re wonderful, you know that?”
“So I’ve been told,” she said with a giggle as Spike lightly tickled her
stomach for a moment.
“You want to go in there, or are we going to look through the window all
day?”
“We’ll go,” Buffy replied. “But you do know I’ll want to buy every puppy
and kitten in there, right?”
“I think I’ll be able to live with that.”
* * * * *
Forty-five minutes later, Spike was practically dragging a very reluctant
Buffy from the store. “They’re so cute,” Buffy said with a sad face. “I
wish we could take them all home.”
“I know,” Spike said softly, holding her hand as they walked toward the
center of the mall. “Chin up, luv, and I’ll buy you a milkshake.”
“Okay,” Buffy said with a sigh.
“Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for.”
Buffy shot Spike a sheepish smile. “Sorry, a milkshake would be great.”
Five minutes later, both sat down at one of the tables in the food-court,
sipping their drinks. “What about him?” Buffy asked, tilting her head as
she made casual conversation.
“What about…who?”
“That guy,” Buffy said, discreetly gesturing to a man walking down one of
the corridors. “Hotness factor on a scale of one to ten…what do you give
him?”
Spike restrained himself from banging his head against the table as he
looked at the man. ‘Is this really happening? It’s gotten to the point
where I’m checking out other blokes with her?’
“I’m really not good with the rating system, pet.”
“Oh, come on. You have eyes,” she said, her own eyes following the man as
he walked. “Okay, forget the ratings system…would you do him?”
“Oh dear God,” Spike mumbled under his breath, nervously licking his lips.
Buffy turned her attention back to Spike. “What did you say?”
“Seven,” Spike replied, feeling his masculinity draining out of him. “I’d
give him a seven.”
* * * * *
Buffy let them into the apartment after a productive day of shopping. Spike followed her in, trudging under the weight of her purchases he was carrying.
“Thanks for taking me out shopping,” she smiled at him, taking everything out of his hands with ease.
“You’re welcome,” he replied, amazed at how strong she really was.
‘Does she work out or something?’ he asked himself. ‘I mean, between helping me move in my furniture and carrying all of that stuff, she’s got to be a tough cookie.’ He smiled. ‘I love it.’
“So, what are the plans for the rest of the day?” she asked, her tone hopeful. “Cooking for me? Groveling?”
“Aren’t I already forgiven?” he asked, pouting. She smiled brightly at him and took everything upstairs to her room. He smiled and checked his voicemail messages on his cell phone, getting one from Xander. He listened to it and called his friend back.
“Hey, Spike,” Xander said. “Anya’s working all day, and I was wondering if you wanted to come over. Maybe watch a game, drink a few beers, pack in some food that’s not healthy in the slightest?” Spike laughed.
“Yeah, I should be able to spare a couple of hours,” he answered. “I’ll be over soon.” He hung up and smirked.
“You’re leaving?” Buffy asked, descending the stairs, looking at him. He frowned and looked back at her.
“Yeah,” he shrugged. “Xander invited me over, so I figured I’d go over there for a bit. Is that okay?” She nodded sadly, looking down. He walked over to her and kissed her forehead lightly. “Then I’ll come back and make you dinner. Deal?” She looked at him and smiled.
“Sounds good,” she replied. “Have a good time. Say hi to him for me.” He nodded and grabbed his keys, walking out the door.
She sighed and sat on the couch.
‘What to do now?’
* * * * *
Not even twenty minutes passed, and Buffy was bored out of her mind. She even resorted to finding a small rubber ball and bouncing it around in the kitchen while reading through a magazine. She came across a picture of an overly thin model in next to nothing and narrowed her eyes.
‘Do they enjoy looking like flesh-colored bones?’ she thought, getting angry and putting more impact into bouncing the ball. She frowned as she watched it ricochet off the walls in the hallway before disappearing in Spike’s room. She mumbled a swear and went to track it down, not spotting it anywhere on the floor of his bedroom.
‘Maybe it rolled under his bed.’
She lay down on her stomach and pushed the covers that were hanging over the edge away to see if she could find it.
‘Jackpot.’
It was sitting right in front of a stack of notebooks. Buffy raised an eyebrow, surprised that the notebooks were the only thing he’d stored under there. She retrieved the ball and looked at the notebooks.
‘I can’t look at them. I mean, if he hid them here, they must be important.’ She paused. ‘Or full of juicy information. Okay, that’s probably wishful thinking. But I can’t look. It would be wrong.’
Her hands moved of their own volition, bringing the stack out from under the bed. ‘Bad Buffy. Since when are you so nosy?’
She shrugged and sat on top of his bed, looking at them, trying to decide whether she should look or not. ‘Well, maybe just take a peek. That won’t hurt anything.’
She took a deep breath and opened up the top notebook, looking at the first page. ‘It’s a poem.’ She read through it and raised an eyebrow. ‘It’s beautifully written. And it’s about a girl.’ She flipped through more pages, reading them. ‘Still about a girl.’ She found herself going through every poem, finding that each one was always about some girl that he admired. ‘What the hell?’ She moved on to the next notebook, diligent to figure out what was going on.
An hour passed, and the notebooks were scattered around her, her looking at the fourth one from the pile. After reading the last page, she laid back on a pillow, staring at the notebooks all around her. ‘He must’ve been in love with a girl before he decided he was gay. Maybe she broke his heart, and he chose men over women.’ She frowned sadly. ‘If I ever meet her, I’ll kill her myself.’
* * * * *
When Spike came home from Xander’s, he didn’t see Buffy downstairs. He wandered up the stairs and frowned when he didn’t see her there either, but he figured maybe she’d gone out for a bit. He slowly walked toward his room and saw her on his bed, his private collection of notebooks surrounding her. His heart seized in his chest, and he felt his face paling.
‘How did she find those?’ he thought, panicking. ‘What…how…did she read them?’
“Buffy?” he asked, looking at her. She looked at him, the guilt clearly evident in her eyes. “What’re you doing?”
She got off the bed quickly and looked down, not wanting to look at his eyes.
“I…you’re not going to believe me,” she said quietly, realizing how stupid her alibi really was.
‘Sad part is, it’s completely true. And if you were smart, you wouldn’t have even touched the notebooks in the first place.’
“Why don’t you try explaining it to me?” he asked, trying not to sound too angry and failing miserably.
“Well, I was playing with a rubber ball,” she said, holding it in the palm of her hand as her proof. “And I wasn’t paying attention to where I was throwing it, and it kind of…got away from me.”
“And how does that lead to you looking at my personal belongings?” he asked, crossing his arms, his eyes narrowed.
“It rolled under your bed, and I went to get it back, and that’s when I came across them,” she said, shutting her eyes.
‘There’s no way you can explain the rest of the story. You won’t get away with it.’
“And you just decided to whip them out and read through them?” he asked, not bothering to mask how disappointed he was.
“Yes,” she admitted, feeling incredibly stupid. “I’m so sorry, Spike. I should never have brought them out. You had them hidden away, and they weren’t for my eyes to see.” He nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. “I am really sorry though.” She finally looked at him, and he saw the tears forming in her eyes. His anger dissipated almost instantly, and he came forward to hug her.
“It’s okay,” he said, enjoying the feel of her face burying itself against his chest. “I forgive you.”
“You do?” she asked, surprised, looking at him again. He nodded and ran his hand over her hair.
“But just this once,” he replied, winking at her. She managed a smile and watched as he grabbed the notebooks.
She walked away preparing to leave the room, but turned back when she got to the doorway.
“Spike?” she asked, waiting until he looked at her. “They’re really quite good.” She turned, leaving the room as Spike smiled.
'I can't say I believe she likes my witless prattle. But there's no way she knows who they are about.'
A/N Spike’s ‘going in’ (is that the right term?) would have been this chapter, but let’s face it- Buffy had to have him check out guys with her :-) We also really wanted her to find his poetry, so a lot was covered in the chapter to tie up some loose ends. I think a lot of people will be very happy with the next chapter- but that’s all I’m saying :-)
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