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Trying to update quickly. Please keep telling me what you like and don't like. Thanx.
One Week Later...

Buffy was still in the hospital. Everyone had agreed that it would be the best option for her to receive that electronic device. The doctor had scheduled Buffy for surgery a few days after they had agreed to do it. Buffy had finally convinced Spike to go home and get some rest the day she woke up. Spike and Joyce both came and visited Buffy everyday, staying as long as possible. Willow and Tara had shown up a few times. One day Xander and Anya showed up.

“I gave all of Riley’s information to the police officer. I also interviewed Spike’s friend, Fred. She is a really sweet girl. I also put out an ad for a bouncer. We had a lot of well built, good looking men interview, but I have two that would be good for the job.” Anya rambled.

“Thanks, Anya. You’ve done so much for me. I trust your judgement.” Buffy said sitting up in the bed slightly. “God, I can’t wait to get home. The doctor told me I can go home on tomorrow can’t move around too much, because of my ankle but at least I will be out of this hospital.” she said.

“I can have the guys show up on Tuesday so you can interview them. You could also meet Fred.” Anya said excitedly.

“Good idea.” Buffy said. “The doctor said I can’t start working again until after Thanksgiving. I would like to discuss that with Fred.”

“Okay. I guess I should be getting back to the coffeeshop, just wanted to give you an update.” Anya said giving Buffy a hug.

“Thanks again. See ya later Xander.” Buffy called as they closed the door. “I seriously don’t know what I would do without her. She has taken on a lot on such short notice. I should really do something for her.” Buffy said to Joyce and Spike.

“Right now you should rest, luv.” Spike said. “I wanted to talk to you about Thanksgiving. I talked to my mum about you and Joyce driving up to LA and having dinner with my Da and Viv. We usually have dinner on our own but I thought it might be nice to have everyone together this year.”

“Spike, that’s so great. I would be happy to meet all of your family.” Joyce said. “Not to mention I received a call from Vivian about opening another gallery. We talked for quite a long time. She seemed so nice.”

“I would love that. It’s been so long since we’ve attended a big Thanksgiving dinner.” Buffy said happily.

“I’ve already asked Da and Viv. They said that we can stay at their house, if you wanted to go the day or two early. We could get some Christmas shopping done then.” Spike said looking at Joyce and Buffy. Both nodded with big smiles on their faces. Spike was happy to see both the Summers women happy. Spike and Joyce had become close friends since Buffy had been in the hospital. “Great. I’ll call them and tell them your coming. Knowing Viv she’ll want to get started on fixing up the guest rooms.” he said with a smile.

“Will you ask Vivian if she wants me to help with dinner?” Joyce asked.

“Yeah, I’ll call her now. I’m go have a smoke anyway.” he said leaving the room.

As soon as Spike left the room Joyce turned to Buffy. “I’m glad you found him. He’s such a sweet man and he loves you so much.” she said.

“Yeah. I’m glad I found him too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day just before Buffy was due to check out of the hospital the police officer paid her a visit.

“Hello, Ms. Summers. I wanted to come by and thank you for all of the information you gave me. We’ve caught Mr. Finn. We found him living on a farm in Iowa. I looked up his background and apparently he was a suspect in another robbery in LA. He gave you his parents information, so I called them and they led me right to him. I don’t think he thought things through.” the officer said.

“Thank you so much. That takes so much off of my mind. Will I have to do anything else?” Buffy asked.

“No. You already identified him. We’ll call you if we need you to testify or anything. I know you’re supposed to check out now, so I’ll be leaving.” he said

“Thanks again.” Buffy said before he closed the door. “Thank goodness that’s over with. I really need to make sure I do a criminal background from now on.”

“Let’s worry about that later. Right now I think it’s time to go. Spike went to go get you a wheelchair. He should...” Joyce said. Just then Spike walked through the door with a wheelchair. ‘I’m having another case of deja vu.’ she thought.

“Okay, pet. Let’s get you out of here.”Spike said helping Buffy into the chair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, Anya.” Buffy said slowly walking over to one of the tables in the coffeeshop.

“Hey, Buffy. How ya doin’ today? You didn’t leave your room yesterday after you came home, and you looked really horrible so I decided not to bother you.” Anya said bringing Buffy a caffe mocha.

“I’m feeling a lot better since I got to sleep in my own bed, and thanks for the coffee.”

“Hey, Anya.” came a voice from behind Buffy.

“Hi, Fred. Fred, I’d like you to meet Buffy. Buffy, Fred.” Anya said motioning for Fred to join them at the table.

Buffy gave Fred a big smile and shook her hand. ‘She looks so innocent. Hard to believe that she’s a bartender. I wonder how Spike knows her?’ Buffy thought. “Nice to meet you, Fred.”

“Nice to meet you too. You have a great place here. I’m glad Spike suggested I come down here.” Fred said excitedly.

“Me too. So, how long have you been bartending?” Buffy asked getting down to business.

“Um..about two years. I was studying physics in college. I was completely obsessed with anything to do with science. I was always in the library, the science building or my apartment. I never went out. Then one day, something happened. Somebody led me into an alternate universe. I started going out all the time drinking , even did some drugs. My friends started worrying about me and did an intervention. I went out and got a job at an art gallery. That’s how I know Spike. It was his stepmother’s gallery. I really liked it but I was missing something. On one of Spike’s visits, we had a party at the gallery and he tended the bar. I watched him and knew that that was what I wanted to do. I continued to work at the gallery while I went to bartending school. So, I work bartending at parties now.” Fred said taking a deep breath.

“Wow. So.. I wanted to discuss...” Buffy started.

“Anya.” She heard two voices behind her. Buffy turned once again to see two men standing behind her.

“Hello, boys. This is Buffy, the owner of the bar, and this is Fred, our new bartender. Why don’t you join us?” Anya said gesturing to some extra chair by the wall. Both men nodded and went to go get their chairs.

“Don’t talk much, do they?” Buffy said watching them walk away.

“No, they do. Just gotta get ‘em in the right mood. The rough-looking white guy is British...” Anya said.

“Oh, I love accents.” Fred said looking at the man appreciatively.

“Me, too, but you already knew that.” Buffy said with a smile.

“Anyway,” Anya said huffily, irritated that she was interrupted. “The British one is Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, but he asked me to call him Wes. The black man is Charles Gunn, but he goes by just Gunn. Oddly appropriate don’t you think.” she whispered as the men sat down around the table.

“So, have either of you been bouncers before?” Buffy asked. Both men shook their head.

“I have taken martial arts since I was a child. Now it just comes naturally.” Wes said.

“Had it rough as a kid. Had to learn to protect myself. Now it just comes naturally.” Gunn said smirking at his sarcasticness.

“Well. Anya seems to think that your both qualified to do the job so I tell you what. I’ll hire you both. Wes,” Buffy said nodding at him. “You’ll be my watcher. You stay inside the building and watch for any potential trouble.”

“I think I can handle that.” Wes said.

“Gunn, you’ll be at the door. Checking ID’s and stopping troublemakers from entering the bar.”

“Sounds cool.” Gunn said.

“If something does happen in the bar, you two work as a team. All of my workers get along...well, except one. Anyway, we all get along. We’re all friends, we have three couples that work here, that’s how well we get along. If you can’t get along, I won’t hesitate to fire one or both of you. Got it.” Buffy said. Both men nodded slightly surprised at her authoritative tone. “Fred, I’ll be going back to work after Thanksgiving, so I was wondering if you would like to continue here as a waitress. Frankly, I think we could use another one, since the business is picking up fast, and if one of the bartenders can’t work you can fill in for them.”

“I...”Fred looked around the table until her eyes finally settled on Wes. “I think that’s a good idea.” she said not taking her eyes off of Wes. Both Buffy and Anya noticed this and glanced at each other, knowing they were about to up the number of couples that worked there.

“Well, you all start on Thursday. Can you all stay so we can chat? Have a coffee, on the house.” Buffy said calling over one of the waitresses. They all nodded and spent the rest of the day getting to know each other.



A/N: Please review. They help me so much. I love compliments and constructive criticism both. So tell me what you think.





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