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STAKE YOUR CLAIM


Chapter 7: Part II ‘Tea and Testosterone!’


Buffy hummed as she wondered around her new house, straightening pillows that really didn’t need straightening, but, gosh, that’s what you did when you had a house to yourself, right? When she had been married to Parker, before he died, Buffy and he had lived in the rather overwhelming back part of the Abrams house. Although they had their own space, Buffy found it difficult and quite confining to share a home with Parker’s parents and after her young husband had died? Well, Buffy had escaped that gloomy prison as fast as she could, which was one of the many reasons Mrs. Sally Abrams, Parker’s Mother, resented her. One of the very many reasons the old battle axe dissaproved of Buffy, but that was the past, this was now and Miss Summers had a new life in Wyoming.

Riley Finn was to call on her today and Buffy went about setting up her beloved tea set. Sadly, during the train robbery that she had experienced while coming to Cheyenne, when the train stopped abruptly, the tea pot itself was broken beyond repair. Buffy loved that teaset, it had belonged to Mammy Buffy herself and she had given it to her when she married Parker.

It was the one thing that Mammy Buffy really owned and she had wanted her darling nick name sake to have it, even though the older woman did not approve of the marriage between Parker and her ‘Baby Lizzy.

Right up until the wedding ceremony, Mammy Buffy scolded and advized Buffy not to marry Parker Abrams, “he’s not the one for my baby girl, Lizzy.” Mammy Buffy never called Buffy anything but ‘Lizzy’ considering it a more proper name for her fair-haired charge.

“Your Grandmother was a fine woman, a bit odd at times, almost cold as ice, but fine all the same and smart as a whip! Poor lady had the female innards of cast iron skillet. How could she not? Eleven babies and still going until her fifties! That was my Elizabeth, nothing to be ashamed of, she was just a bit of a old crank now and then, but it’s a proud name. Mammy always told little ‘Lizzy’ that, from day one, “you should go by Elizabeth or Lizzy, nothing else. I don’t care what your folks say and for that matter, you should ‘not’ be marrying that listless little weakling you’re being sent off to!”

For some reason, Mammy Buffy had never wanted Buffy to marry Parker, not because he was a bad man, or ‘mere boy’ as Mammy had claimed, but because the old woman seemed to ‘know’ that her Lizzy would not be happily wed if she did.

“Honey,” Mammy Buffy would go on and on for hours, “he’s a mere child, not near spirited enough for my Baby girl. I can’t see anything but sorrow and trouble ahead for you. I’ll just die if you’re unhappy Baby.”

Coming back from her Tennessee memories, Buffy set out two of the four little tea cups that remained from her set.

“I’ll never be able to replace the teapot,” she sighed sadly, “good thing Willow convinced me to buy a new tea kettle.”

Willow had been adamant, “you’ll be receiving so many gentlemen callers, Buffy. You just have to have a kettle close by to serve them their tea. Or coffee,” Willow winked with a mischivious grin, “Spike Giles, according to my husband, loves coffee, not tea.”

Buffy had blushed, even before that forward Spike Giles had kissed her in her own new kitchen.

‘What a brazen man he is,’ Buffy grumbled as she boiled the water for tea, but set another kettle to seep some coffee grounds. ‘I hope Spike shows up when Riley is here,’ she giggled as she glanced in the mirror that hung over her iron stove, ‘serves the nasty old thing right! Thinks he owns me, he does!’

As much as Buffy tried to put Spike Giles out of her mind, she failed miserably. The sad truth was, Mammy Buffy would not only approve of William ‘Spike’ Giles as a worthy suitor for her ‘Baby Girl’ but the old woman would have pushed them together.

Buffy could just hear her beloved Mammy Buffy now, “now that’s a ‘man’ my Baby Lizzy. He’s just the kind of man that your Mammy Buffy wants for you. Spirited, stubborn, just like you, honey, and so very handsome. A real gentleman, with a bit of the devil himself underneath! That’s the man for my girl!”

Except, there was just one problem, Buffy still harbored guilt over her lack of love for poor Parker, who really had been so loyal to her. It was Riley that reminded her of poor Parker, not Spike, and a part of Buffy still felt regret that her young husband had died unloved, at least like a man should be.

There was a strong knock at the door of her new home and Buffy checked her appearance in the front room mirror. She looked good, she thought anyway, bright and cheery, even eager but not too much so. If she expected Riley to be standing at her front door, she would be dissapointed, but she wasn’t, even though it was Spike who stood there.

‘Wonder why he always wears black?’ she asked herself, still believing that it was the bad guys in the West that wore that color only. Too many dime novels and stereotype lore had shadowed Buffy’s perception of the western areas of the United States. Actually, black was definitely Spike Gile’s color for some reason. He was a formidable figure in his black clothing, on his all black horse, Demon.

For a man who was not necessarily as tall as other men around him, the dark clothing and his firm, intimidating build served it’s purpose Buffy supposed. No matter, with his fair hair, blue eyes and black clothing, and obvious strength, Spike Giles certainly impressed her, Buffy, much to her dismay. Of course, Spike stood on her front porch, cigarette in hand and that cocky look on his face, so Buffy immediately went on the defensive, put her walls up. Loosely put them up that is.

Buffy caught sight of Cloud, tied to the white picket fence that surrounded her little house and yard, the devoted Demon tied close by. Her breath caught in her throat as Buffy noticed how the two horses nuzzled each other lovingly and again she wondered if it was right to separate the animals from each other.

“Hello, Spike,” she greeted almost shyly as she eyed the horses wistfully, “I see that your horse has come to say good bye to his love. I don’t know,” she sighed, “I still wonder if it’s right to separate them.”

Spike smiled lazily, “they’ll be fine, Buffy,” he assured her, glancing back at the two animals, “like I said, I’ll be bringing Demon by ‘often’ to see Cloud. Of course when it’s time for them to mate….”

Buffy blushed and quickly changed the subject, “come in,” she ordered gently, “I’ve made tea. Of course if you’d rather have coffee, I have that too.”

The fair head man before her smiled in delight, “I prefer coffee, Buffy,” he said warmly, “glad to know that ‘you’ know that too.”

Again, she blushed and led him into her front room, wondering if it was even proper to have a man in her house ‘unchaperoned’ and all. ‘Oh for Pete’s sake, Buffy,’ she chided herself immediately, ‘this is a new time and a new place. Who cares if Papa or another relative is about to ‘watch’ us!’

“Finn isn’t around yet, huh?” Spike chuckled as he looked about the small room. Buffy blushed again, ‘not so uppity as before are you Missy?’ he thought smugly. ‘I’ll have to kiss you more often when we’re alone, makes you a bit less tough and obstinant, doesn’t it?’

“Did you purposely come when you thought Riley would be here, or when you thought he wouldn’t,” Buffy asked under half closed lashes as she motioned for him to sit down on her rather comfortable sofa.

“I came when I chose to, Buffy,” Spike muttered as he plopped down on the sofa, even though he grinned widely. “I don’t set my time to Riley Finn, he’s not that important in ‘my’ life. At least he wasn’t that important until you came along, Princess,” he smirked at her.

“Now I’ll probably have to shoot the poor idiot, that is if he proves to be a real rival for you.”

She shot him a look of confusion, rolled her beautiful green eyes and then hurried into her kitchen to presumably get the coffee, at least he hoped.

‘Too bad I can’t have a whiskey,’ Spike mused as he looked about the room again. He’d been there just a couple of days before, but now, alone here with Buffy, it seemed more inviting then when filled with his parents and brothers, that and the other townspeople that had helped Buffy move in.

‘I want our home, Buffy’s and mine to look just like this when it’s time,’ he grinned as he settled into the sofa cushions, ‘warm, comfortable. It’s exactly what I want, just like I want her.’

While he waited for Buffy to come back with his coffee, Spike decided that he would definitely have to kick his courtship of her up a notch or two. All of the other men in the Territory, the single ones anyway, would bow to his claim on Buffy Summers, no question, but Riley Finn was another matter. Oh, Spike knew he was a better man then Finn, and certainly better suited to Buffy then that dense oaf.

However, something about the Deputy seemed to intrigue his little golden haired angel, Buffy, and he, Spike, would have to work a little harder to either run Riley off or turn Buffy away from him completely. Either way, Riley would have to go, Buffy was destined for him, Spike, no other man.

Buffy brought the coffee in and Spike noticed that she had chosen the American drink for herself as well.

“I prefer coffee,” she explained briefly without being asked, “of course at home, in Tennessee, the coffee is good, black and strong. Tea is just a bit to weak for me.”

Spike grinned as he sipped the hot liquid and eyed her above the little tea cup in his hand.

“Is this Wedgewood china, Buffy?” he asked as he studied the delicate cup with interest.

“Yes,” Buffy gasped, surprised at his recognition of the fine china. “It was my Mother’s Mammy’s set, the tea pot broke on the way out here and I….”

Spike saw the shot of sorrow that flashed on Buffy’s face, the pain in her eyes. “It’s beautiful, luv,” Spike interejected with a sympathetic smile, “delicate but beautiful. Just like you.”

She glanced away from him with a bright red blush, the one he just loved to see on her, “thankyou,” she stammered. A knock at the door broke the embarrassed silence between them.

“That would be Riley,” Buffy squeaked as she jumped up to answere the front door. “Oh, bloody hurrah!” Spike grumbled sarcastically.

“Hello Riley,” Buffy greeted the tall goodlooking man at the door, “please come in.”

She could feel the tension, thick as gravy, in the room when Riley walked in. Of course Riley knew Spike was there, he would have seen Demon tied outside in the yard. Spike didn’t even get up when Riley strode into the front room and sat in the twin of the chair Buffy had been sitting in.

“Hello, Spike,” Riley mumbled, barely looking at the smaller man.

“Finn,” Spike growled back harshly.

‘Oh this is going to be just lovely,’ Buffy mused as she went in to get Riley some tea. ‘I’m so glad I set this little meeting up,’ she thought sarcastically as she went about getting another cup, cream and sugar for Riley’s tea. ‘Serves me right,’ Buffy reasoned as she plastered on a dazzling smile and handed Riley his drink, ‘I’m the one wanted them to face off. Thought it would be ‘cute’ as Riley says of my name. Geez, I’m an idiot.’

Riley sat pouting in the chair while Spike just grinned at Buffy, never taking his eyes off of her.

Finally, Buffy couldn’t take the tense silence anymore so she asked innocently enough, “how long have you two ‘boys’ known each other?”

Spike broke his stare from Buffy and glared over at Riley, who glared right back at him. If looks could have killed, one of the two men in the room would definitely had been dead by now, fortunately ‘looks’ couldn’t kill, but guns could.

Buffy remembered what Spike had jokingly (?) told her more then once, ‘now I’ll have to shoot the poor idiot,’ he’d said just earlier. ‘Surely he ‘is’ joking,’ she wondered, a little frightened that maybe the Brit wasn’t kidding at all.

She glanced over at Spike who was still shooting death glares at Riley, then she glanced over at Riley who was still staring back at Spike, hatefully.

“Well, I’ve been here for about ten years, Miss Buffy,” Riley finally answered through gritted teeth, “You came out here about eight years ago, didn’t you Spike?”

Buffy dared a glance at Spike who just nodded sourly at Riley, but smiled warmly at her.

“Guess that makes me the guy that ‘got here’ first, huh?” Riley chuckled smugly as he watched Spike out of the corner of his eye.

“Not hardly, Finn,” Spike muttered back, apparently aware of the innuendo that Riley had meant, that Buffy had certainly caught too.

The rest of the afternoon went downhill after that. Buffy tried to get the two men to converse in some civil way, but the hatred they felt for each other was just too strong and her presence was not making it any better. She got the feeling that neither one of the men would leave as long as the other one was there and frankly, Buffy wasn’t sure which one she wanted gone first.

“My,” she finally gasped looking at the little clock on the mantel, “it’s almost 3:00 PM! I didn’t know time could fly so fast!”

Riley glared at Spike, again, who just sat smiling with the look of an angel on his handsome face.

With a sigh, the dark haired Riley stood up and extended his hand to Buffy, “I really must be going, Miss Buffy, my duty calls,” he offerred reluctantly.

“Yeah,” Spike piped up in good naturedly, finally warming up to Riley now that he was leaving, “the dreaded Snyder boys might be tipping over outhouses again. Better get over to the Sheriff’s office stake out the Snyder home.”

Riley actually growled at Spike and stepped closer to him in a menacing manner, “you know Giles,” the Deputy began, his jaw clenched tightly….Buffy jumped up and literally stood between the two men, shooting Spike a warning look, she smiled warmly at Riley.

“Thank you for coming by, Riley,” she patted his arm gently as she steered him to the front door.

“I’ll call again soon, Miss Buffy,” Riley stammered as he smirked at Spike.

Spike sat on the sofa, watching Buffy parade around that bloody moron, Riley Finn. ‘Good God,’ he hissed inwardly, even as he wore a grin for Buffy, ‘what the fuck does she see in that wooden, make believe hero, Riley Finn?’

Buffy turned around and glared at Spike, her arms folded in front of her. ‘Oh, oh,’ Spike sighed, realizing that he had really pissed off the little Princess.

“How dare you!” Buffy cried at him angrily, “how dare you come into my home and insult my guest!”

He stood up and approached Buffy quickly, “okay,” he sighed, “in my defense…”

She stomped her tiny booted foot, “you have no defense in this matter, Spike Giles!” she cried again and flounced over to the little table to clear the cups and serving tray.

Spike followed her into the kitchen and right up to the little sink, “Buffy,” he whined, manly like he hoped, “I’m sorry. But Riley Finn is a bloody ponce who hates my guts, sorry, and isn’t good enough to kiss your feet.”

She turned to glare at him again and he was surprised to see tiny tears in her beautiful emerald colored eyes, but he realized right off that they were tears of anger, at him.

“Don’t cry, luv,” he said softly as he tucked her hair behind her ear, something that was becoming a habit for him. He smiled tenderly at her then slowly leaned in to kiss her, right up against the kitchen counter she was backed up to.

When their lips met, Spike half expected Buffy to slap him, or at least push him away from her, but she didn’t. In fact, she actually kissed him back, kind of anyway. Spike would have just as soon kept kissing Buffy, but she finally broke away from him, dropping her eyes and blushing bright pink. With a grin, Spike leaned in again to pursue Buffy’s lush lips, but this time she broke our of his grasp and slipped past him, hurrying into the front room.

‘Bloody hell,’ he sighed and shook his head, following her back out into the front area again.

“Buffy,” he called to her back as she scurried to the front door. That’s when Spike heard the timid knocking and realized Buffy must have heard it before, he hadn’t.

‘So that’s why she left me standing, huh,’ he chuckled, ‘good to know she may not have wanted to stop, hmmm.’

Buffy threw the door open eagerly and found all three of the Rayne children standing on her front porch.

“Mama said we could come visit Cloud now, Miss Summers!” Ethan Jr. chortled excitedly while little Alise just nodded happily. Samuel Rayne just stared wide-eyed up at Buffy and then at Spike who had joined her and now stood behind her.

“Of course you can visit Cloud now,” Buffy grinned warmly, glancing back at Spike. He looked a tad dissapointed at the intrusion of the three tiny Rayne terrors, but he quickly smiled at the children too.

“You wanna’ pet Demon, Jr. “Spike asked the oldest Rayne boy, even as he reached around Buffy and tousled young Samuel’s blond curly hair. Ethan Jr. nodded with eagerness and ran over to where the two horses were tied, dragging Alise and Sammy with him.

“Look how big Demon is!” Buffy heard Ethan Jr. crow as the boy petted the black stallion.

She turned to look at a grinning Spike and all thoughts of her earlier anger at him left her, “thank you,” she said softly.

Spike rewarded her with a most charming smile and she felt her heart skip a beat, ‘oh no,’ she thought with alarm. ‘I think I’m in big trouble.’


A/N: Okay, long chapter, wanted to have Spike and Riley face each other in front of Buffy. I hope I captured some of the animosity these two men felt for each other, like in the show itself. The tea set seems trivial at this time, I know, but later in the plot it is important. Thanks for reading, please review.
Luv, Spuf





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