Chapter Twenty-Two
“Buffy Anne Summers!”
Buffy jumped as soon as her name was screeched at her from inside Giles’ place, the sudden appearance of her mother on top of her disturbing confrontation with nude Harmony just one more fright she wasn’t ready for. And her full name? Oh boy, this sounded bad.
“Mom? What are you doing back so soon?” It was a brave attempt to brazen it out, to conveniently let slip from her own mind what exactly she’d been doing the last time she was talking to her mother. And whoa, she got back from her trip fast!
“Don’t you take that tone with me, young lady. What on earth were you thinking, leaving my granddaughter with these two…well, maybe not idiots exactly but neither of them really have experience with babies. They could have done major damage while you were out killing vampires and such. No, you’re a mother now. Spike will have to take over the slaying while you look after this gorgeous little angel.” Joyce was beaming at the babe in her arms, then swiftly transferred an overjoyed acceptance to her daughter and the vampire that had whipped her up in more knots that Angel had rope.
Joyce couldn’t help but appear stunned at how good they looked together. Buffy with her windswept hair and grass covered jeans—the stain’s origin something that Joyce was turning a very blind eye to—and the punk looking rocker vamp that couldn’t keep a gentle smile on his lips if he could favour the world with a smirk. Joyce could admit that even that horrible night of the apocalypse years ago, the one where this pair had tried to convince her they played in a band together, she’d noticed something between them. A little awkward in the beginning stages perhaps, but there was already some kind of zing that could have implicated them for this.
It had always felt like a shock that Spike had been out to kill Buffy. Joyce had found that side of Spike hard to believe, a little like he was trying too hard. She could see for sure now that it was a bit of a joke—even if he hadn’t known it at the time.
“Um, sorry? We had to…patrol, and I thought it would be a good opportunity for Giles to play grandpa. He did think Lia was his baby. We just didn’t want him to go getting jealous about her being ours now.” Buffy tried hard to control the hint of teen whine that wanted her to give in to immaturity…but focusing on her new job of motherhood came in handy for all sorts of situatuions.
“Jealous? Why I…suppose I do feel a little bit left out. It’s not every day a man gets lied to and thinks he has a…a…baby to be responsible for.” Giles hung his head, the weight of dejection hanging heavily upon his shoulders.
“Awwww, don’t worry, Giles. Spike and I will make sure you get loads of Lia time, and all the stuff we bought for her, well…I can’t really see us being able to pay that back. But that’s the pleasure of being a Grandpappa.” Buffy patted her Watcher comfortingly on the shoulder, her mother looking on in steadfast approval.
Joyce spied the other family member as he shot a self-satisfied smile at the only human male in the room and her lips tightened in annoyance. She had no idea what it was about that vampire, but he rubbed her well and truly up the wrong way. But then she saw a way to wipe that smug look off his face and she charged in, plans flying through her mind at a dizzying rate.
“And I’m sure Uncle Angel has lots to offer the new family.” Her eyes glinted with menace as she stared him down, waiting for the one little attempt to argue himself out of it.
Angel looked at her determination and wondered why the hell he thought he could ever take on either Summers women and win? That Spike had and apparently came out with both of them admiring him just highlighted how clueless he’d been.
“Fine,” he huffed gloomily. “What if I sell the mansion and you guys can have the proceeds to buy something close by?”
He was heartened slightly by Buffy’s excited hug, but the very real danger to his parts came from the ferally abrasive vamp trying to say in terms both Angel and Angelus could recognise: ‘Spike’s’. Angel had lost all right to even the most meaningless acts of affection with the woman he loved. If that wasn’t a curse worse than his soul, he didn’t know what was.
“Thanks, Pops. Right decent and generous of you,” Spike grudgingly admitted through gritted teeth.
Angel nodded; any good mood he might have had on the entrance to Sunnydale was dealt an awful blow almost every single minute he remained. He shoved his hands in his pockets, almost crowing in unaccustomed enthusiasm when his fingers curled around his car keys.
“Oh look, must be time I started back to LA. I’m sure you guys have lots to talk about.”
And before Joyce could clap her favourable response to that decision, he was gone, the door clicking shut behind him.
Lia chose to make her presence known then, screaming out loud for her parents and didn’t stop until her daddy took her into his arms and began to sing the baby some soft blues, morphing quickly into muted punk as soon as he caught the amused gaze of his mate.
Joyce watched as Buffy grinned indulgently before seemingly being magnetically drawn to the side of her family. Despite her concerns about Buffy’s age and her schooling, Joyce couldn’t help but be taken in by the pure beauty of the sight.
Buffy’s hand settled around Spike’s waist, her head resting on his shoulder as he entertained their daughter. A bare flickering of awareness that her mother was still in the room, and that her Watcher had seen way too much of her this past night, didn’t even concern Buffy as she allowed them to see her cosied up to her vampire mate. The man she was going to spend eternity with. She waited for the drop in her stomach that would prove her reluctance to grasp that idea—but it never came. The thought of spending even a second away from Spike now was painful. And Lia was fast becoming the pure light of her life.
Now that some of the stresses of finances seemed taken care of, in the long term at least, Buffy could feel the stress flow out of her body—worries disappearing that she hadn’t really been aware of being burdened with. Not surprising really, as thoughts of enthusiastic marathon sex with her vampire lover had taken over much of her mind.
Having Giles back caused a bit of a dilemma for the night, though. She and Spike had made themselves pretty well at home in his room, in his bed, and Buffy couldn’t see how they could move everything to her mother’s at this time of night.
“Oh, hey. Giles, you won’t mind sleeping on the couch tonight, right? And Mom, is it okay for us to move in for a while until Angel comes through about selling the mansion?”
Joyce couldn’t wipe the dreamy look from her face, knowing that she was probably going to regret it soon enough but knowing nothing happier than being a grandmother and having her family all together under her roof.
“Of course. I can’t imagine anything could be better.”
She ignored Rupert’s spluttered warnings as he reefed off his glasses and practically dived up the stairs to retrieve his bag. “If it wouldn’t be too much of an imposition, Joyce, would you mind very much if I stayed at your house tonight? I suspect that, er, Buffy and Spike might have some…i-issues to sort through.”
Joyce shared with him a horrified look and quickly backed away to the door. Stories of almost uncontrollable urges between newly mated couples finally began to form pictures in her brain and as she watched Buffy’s hand disappear under Spike’s black tee, she felt the wisdom of getting out quick. She was only wishing that she could alter her invitation to the couple of earlier. Because better? That would be to remain in ignorance that her daughter was having sex.
“I’m not opening the gallery tomorrow, so how about Rupert and I look after Lia while you two bundle up everything and get started on moving house?”
Buffy enthusiastically agreed to the plan even as she hustled them toward the door. When the catch clicked shut, leaving Joyce and Giles staring at the closed door in surprise, Buffy almost ran back to her mate and started sucking on his neck.
“Is she asleep?” she took the time to ask even as a hand began to tug at his belt.
“That she is, pet. Stay here while I take her up to bed.” Spike stopped and looked at the flush of lust on Buffy’s face and felt his hardness press powerfully against the fabric of his jeans. “Might want to get comfortable, because I’m going to have you in all sorts of positions soon enough.”
Buffy shuddered at the promise in his voice, all her base needs to slow down and be a practical, responsible slayer and mother diving out the window as soon as Spike looked at her body and winked.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Despite not having seen her in class, one Riley Finn was convinced that Buffy Summers would show up at this frat party. Her friend was there after all. Seated on the couch, looking a little sad balanced with a hefty pinch of ho-hum, but there. And usually wherever the redhead went, the blonde was there too.
Buffy.
He felt King of Foolish and jittery around her, picking up just from the smallest contact that there was something very special about her. Something he really wanted to touch, and he didn’t just mean her body, though that would be a definite bonus. No, he felt a real, sincere attraction to her that he thought, given the chance to grow, could be love.
When the party had gotten into full swing and Willow still hadn’t left the couch she was wallowing on, Riley felt it time to make some inquiries, even if he was so nervous he wanted to swallow his tongue.
“Hey. Willow, right?” He held out his hand and flinched when she eyed it hesitantly before finally shaking it in a short, abrupt manner and then dropped it like a hot potato.
“Yup. Willow. Great party.”
Yeah, he could tell she was really digging it by the shimmering tears and the not moving all night. But he was a man on a mission, and he’d noticed the way she was watching the door.
“You waiting for someone?”
Willow jerked at the question, eyes suddenly wary as she studied him.
“Nope. Not really. All Alone Girl right now.”
“Oh.” And suddenly he felt guilty. Did she think he was interested in her? Carefully sitting beside her—but keeping just enough room so as to not give the wrong impression—he wondered if he was going to be upsetting her by asking about her friend. But these things had to start somewhere, and he was head over for the little blonde. If he could just find out where she was.
“So, that Buffy’s a funny girl, huh?”
Willow eyed him suspiciously before finally slumping against the back of the couch with a slow shake of her head. “Uhuh.”
Riley was momentarily stumped. The redhead wasn’t giving him much to spring from so all he had to work with was the obvious.
“Will she be coming tonight?”
The straightforward approach might have been a bit much—a bit of a miscalculation as Willow’s eyes bugged and she grinned at him.
“I’m really sorry, Riley. But you’ll get nowhere with Buffy. She’s kinda…busy these days, and in a really really serious relationship.” If nothing else, Willow seemed to perk up a little at the TA’s interest in Buffy. Even if she didn’t have eyes in her head, the knowledge that her friend was totally caught up in the lustiness of Spike—which she was in no way wigged about, really—would have been as obvious as the endiness that was her own relationship with Oz. Which kinda brought back the total suckiness of the evening and her wonder that she was even sitting there. Going and watching Spike coo at the baby would have been far more fun. Okay, calling that fun might have been a stretch…but ooh, watching Xander tie his tongue in knots while trying not to comment over Buffy’s new cleavage could have been a hysterical bit of light heartedness. It just might have taken her mind off the misery of being single in a couples world.
Caught up now in her own wave of depression, Riley watched as his presence receded totally from the redhead’s interest and wondered how he could be so unlucky as to fall for a girl who’d dived into a serious relationship. His timing was always way off.
His heart felt a piercing split and he sat back on the couch shocked. He had no chance and that just didn’t sit right—made him feel like all kinds of an idiot for putting so much energy into liking such a kooky girl.
The second another blonde walked through the frat house doors, his mind skidded to a sudden stop on his grief and his heart started to beat another interested rhythm. Sunnydale seemed to have quite its share of beautiful blonde’s and he was not the kind of guy who would lose out twice. This time he’d make an impact—and not be brained by a tower of falling textbooks in the process.
One swift move designed to look as graceful as he could be and he was standing across the room and in direct line of the buxom stunner. He was suddenly so enamoured that he didn’t even notice her flirty giggle or her inane chatter as her eyes rested on him in interest.
Buffy who?
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Many thanks to Schehrezade for betaing this chap and for the look through and enthusiasm that kept me going--Tami and Sue, I owe you muchly. I hope you are all still reding as we are entering the home stretch.