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Home is Where the Heart Is, Part 5



Home is Where the Heart Is, Part 5
By *~Rachel*~
For disclaimers, summary, notes, etc. please see the first chapter. Also, I actually haven't seen "Sweet Home Alabama" yet, so I don't know exactly how off I am from the original plot.
Sorry for the delay in getting this part out, but THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the amazing reviews :) I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story -- let me know what you think of this part also.
 
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Buffy shifted her backpack on her shoulder and increased her pace as she neared the school library. Not only did she need to read a collection of poems written by Emily Dickinson for English class by next Thursday, she was also interested in seeing what Rupert Giles, Spike's father, was like.
"Hello?" she timidly asked as she pushed open the library doors. Buffy took a small step inside, looking around at the deserted room. "Hel-lo?" she repeated with a more forceful tone.
"Is someone there?" a British voice called out.
"Yeah...I'm looking for Mr. Giles?"
A tall, middle-aged man who was dressed in tweed and who wore a pair of glasses on the rim of his nose appeared from behind a bookcase. "So sorry," he apologized, looking down at the blonde. "I just...just needed to rearrange a few things in the stacks."
"Mr. Giles?" Buffy questioned, a look of disbelief on her features. *This* is Spike's father?! Buffy stifled a laugh. If the two of them were standing side by side, Buffy would have never been able to guess that Spike and Rupert Giles were related.
"Yes, I'm Mr. Giles, the librarian," he introduced himself, repositioning his glasses higher on his nose. "And you are?"
"Buffy Summers," she said, smiling up at him.
"Buffy...that name sounds familiar," Giles began, thinking back to when he may have heard the name. "Oh! I believe that my son was speaking about you."
"Spike?" Buffy snorted, sarcastically adding, "And I'm sure that he just had so many lovely things to say about me."
"Actually..." Giles began, as if he were getting ready to disagree with her. No, Spike would have a heart attack if I told her what he said about her the other night, Giles reflected. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"Yes, actually. I was wondering if you had a collection of Emily Dickinson's poetry," Buffy explained. "I'd like to *not* fail English this year, and we're supposed to read some poetry by an author. I heard that Dickinson wasn't too bad."
"Emily Dickinson? She's a wonderful poet," Giles insisted, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. "Let me go see what we have. I'm not entirely used to the layout at this library yet." With that, Mr. Giles headed back into the stacks to find a book for Buffy.
Buffy sat down at one of the tables in the center of the room to wait while Giles searched around. I can't believe that's Spike's father, Buffy told herself. Spike's just so...so *not* Giles!
"Dad!"
Speaking of Spike, Buffy groaned to herself before turning around and staring at the bleached-blonde man. "What are you doing here?" she asked defensively.
"What, love? I'm not allowed to visit my own father now?" Spike shot back at her.
Buffy rolled her eyes before facing away from him. "Whatever."
"William?" Giles called out, coming back out of the stacks with two books in his hands. "Is there a problem?"
"No, I was just wondering. Can I go over to Xander's flat after school?" Spike asked, following his father to the front desk.
Giles scanned the books' ID number into the computer before stamping a due date on the back cover. "Xander? Do I know him?"
"C'mon Dad, I told you all about him the other day...Xander Harris?" Spike spoke slowly, trying to refresh his father's memory. "We were planning on going to the Bronze tonight, and then, I could just crash at his place afterwards."
"Will you call and check in with me at least once tonight?"
Spike sighed impatiently at his father's question. "Yes, Dad. I will call you."
"Well, as long as you're home tomorrow by noon, and I don't get a call from the police or anything like that, you may go out with Xander tonight," Giles told him, closing the stamp book as he finished checking out the books for Buffy.
"Thanks, Dad."
"Miss Summers?" Giles called out, raising the books in the air.
"Thank you, Mr. Giles," Buffy said, hurrying to take the books out of his hand. "This will be a big help."
"You're very welcome," Giles answered her before Buffy spun around and started heading towards the door. Spike also turned and left, striding through the swinging doors a second before Buffy did.
"So, planning on meeting up with Cordelia tonight?" Buffy asked him casually as they walked down the hallway together.
Spike's eyes widened, and he gawked at Buffy as if she had grown a second head. "What?!"
"Oh c'mon, Spike! I saw you two at the Bronze the other night!" Buffy cried out. "God, you two don't even know each other, and you were just going at it right there in the middle of the dance floor."
Spike's jaw tightened at what Buffy was saying when she didn't even know what had really happened. "Look, *she* kissed me, love," he insisted. "If you had been watching a second longer, you would have seen me pushing her away and walking off the bloody dance floor."
Buffy stopped and stared at him a second, wondering if he was telling the full truth. "Seriously?"
"Of course I'm serious about this, pet!" Spike cried, frustrated with the girl before him.
"Oh..." And suddenly there was that feeling again. For some unknown reason, Buffy felt relieved that Spike and Cordelia were never an item. Why should I care what he does? Buffy asked herself, pushing away her feelings. It's *Spike* for God's sake!
Spike smirked at her. "Why, love, I think you're jealous," Spike reported, phrasing it as a statement instead of a question. She is definitely jealous, he told himself when he saw her cheeks begin to redden.
"Jealous?!" Buffy gasped. "Of Cordelia and you? Oh puh-lease!"
"Oh yeah, you just can't believe that Cordelia got some Spike-action," he continued, trying to get some type of a reaction from her that wasn't denial.
Buffy shook her head, a look of disgust crossing her face. "Get it through your thick skull, *William*; I am *not* jealous!" she practically screamed at him. Buffy turned and ran up a flight of stairs, refusing to look back at the black-clad figure standing at the bottom.
When she turned the corner, Buffy leaned against the wall, taking in a deep breath and loudly exhaling. Oh God! she thought to herself. I *am* jealous!
Spike smiled to himself as he watched Buffy storm away from him. Oh yeah...not jealous, my ass.
 
~~~
 
Thoughts of her first meeting with Giles trailed through Buffy's mind as she walked down the hallway of her old high school, slowly approaching the double library doors. It's been nearly ten years and this place still hasn't changed a bit, Buffy pondered in awe as she looked around at the school.
"Giles?" her voice rang out as she entered the library. "Are you in here?" She smiled when she saw that the library looked the same as well. "I hope you're still working here," she mumbled to herself.
Giles appeared out of his office when he heard his name being shouted. "Is there something I can..." He stared at the young woman standing before him and grinned. "Miss Summers, what a pleasant surprise."
"C'mon Giles; it's Buffy; you can call me Buffy," she told him. "I can still call you just Giles, right?" While she had attended high school and throughout the majority of college when she was dating Spike, she and Giles had grown very close. Giles had become Buffy's father-figure, and before long, Buffy had dropped the "Mr." from his title, simply referring to him as "Giles."
Giles approached her, saying, "I wouldn't want it any other way, dear." He drew her into a firm hug.
"It's so good to see you," Buffy admitted, tightly returning the embrace. "How are you?"
"As well as can be expected, I suppose," Giles replied. "And you?" He paused before nervously adding, "Spike...uh, Spike told me about your engagement to Angel O'Connor."
"I see he wasted no time spreading the good news," Buffy grumbled. "Yes, I am engaged."
"Then, a congratulations is in order," Giles announced.
A confused look crossed Buffy's face. "I thought you'd be upset. I was so nervous about coming here today since I thought that...that after what Spike and I went through, you wouldn't want to see me."
"Let's sit down," Giles suggested. As he led her over to the center table, Giles added, "I know that things didn't go well with my son, and I wish that you two could have worked everything out-"
"Great, here comes the fatherly guilt trip," Buffy muttered under her breath.
"Buffy, are you happy?"
Buffy's eyes jerked up to make contact with his. "What? Of -- of course I'm happy," she insisted, almost too strongly.
"Well, then that's all that matters," Giles replied, reaching over and lightly squeezing her shoulder.
Buffy smiled at him gratefully, glad that even though he was Spike's father and should be taking his side, he was so understanding about her situation. "Thank you," she whispered.
"Bloody hell," a voice drawled from behind the two of them.
Buffy and Giles turned to stare at Spike who was standing in the doorway. "Good afternoon, William," Giles said, giving his son a slight smile. "How are you?"
Spike ignored his father's question completely. "How come every time I have to talk to someone about my damn restaurant, you're always around?" Spike questioned, glaring at Buffy. He sighed and pivoted on his heel, quickly exiting through the library doors.
Buffy gave Giles a sympathetic smile. "Sorry, I'd better go talk to him." She reached over and lightly hugged Giles. "It really was great to finally see you again."
"Stop by again before you leave if you wish," Giles suggested. "But you'd better go talk to my son before he winds up at Willy's, drinking himself into oblivion."
 
~~~
 
"You know, if you'd just sign the papers, I wouldn't even be in this town when you needed to talk to your father about your business," Buffy explained when she finally found Spike.
Buffy had caught up to him outside in the courtyard area. "I haven't had enough time to look everything over, pet," Spike reported as he continued walking. He slowed down to allow Buffy to catch up.
"C'mon, Spike...it's not that hard," Buffy complained, increasing her pace to match his. "I'll have my lawyer handle everything."
Spike didn't reply to Buffy's comments; instead, he kept walking through the courtyard until he stopped at a long, black bench. He sat down at the end of the seat, sighing loudly. "I can already tell we're just going to argue about this whenever we run into each other, aren't we?"
Well, if you weren't so damn stubborn and would just sign the papers, the arguments would be over, Buffy thought to herself, but she held her tongue because she knew that telling Spike he was being stubborn would only increase his anger. "I'm sorry," she finally spoke. "But I...I've got the gallery to get back to in LA. Willow and Tara are running it, but I don't want to stay away from it too long."
"How is the gallery?" Spike asked.
Buffy perched at the opposite end of the bench, crossing her arms against her chest. "It's going well...we're pretty busy all year round. Mom would have been so happy to see business going so well," she replied with a hint of sadness in her tone.
"Yeah, I imagine that Joyce would have be very proud of you right now. . . to see you running the gallery so professionally," Spike admitted.
Buffy glanced at Spike out of the corner of her eye, reading nothing but concern and care in his features. "I still miss her so much," Buffy finally whispered, the words spilling out of her mouth before she could stop them. But then again, she had always been able to speak freely around Spike; for some reason, she found talking with him easy. . . easier than talking with her friends.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought up your mum like that," Spike said, sending her an apologetic smile.
"It's okay," Buffy softly replied.
In order to change the subject, Spike scanned over his surroundings and patted the metallic bench with the palm of his hand. "We've had some good times here, pet, you know that?" he questioned, thinking back to their senior year in high school. Spike hadn't really formulated a plan to make Buffy fall in love with him all over again, but he figured that reminding Buffy of all the good times they had together wouldn't hurt.
"Oh yeah, the two of us walking from class to class yelling and arguing at each other so loudly that the students on the other end of the school could hear us?" Buffy asked sarcastically. "Good times, Spike."
Spike's voice was now tinged with excitement. "C'mon, love...don't you remember?"
After several seconds, Buffy broke into a smile as the memory of what Spike was thinking of filtered into her mind. That was the day when everything between the two of them had started to change. "Yeah," she murmured, a smile playing across her lips. "I remember, Spike."
 
~~~
 
TBC...
 
Coming up...flashbacks!
 
 
 





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