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CHAPTER 1

Sunnydale, April 2003


“You’ll have to talk to you parents about your brother’s problem, Melissa.”

The young student sitting in front of Buffy made a face. “But he’s going to hate me,” she whined.

“He won’t hate you. He’ll probably be angry for a while, but he will realize sooner or later that you did it for his own good. Believe me. It’s too serious to be hidden from your parents.”

The young girl sighed and got up. “All right. I’ll think about it. Thank you, Miss Giles.”

Buffy smiled. “Anytime. Don’t hesitate to come and see me if there’s anything else.”

Melissa nodded, seemed to take her leave then came back.

“Yes?” Buffy asked.

“Some people say you are Spike Atherton’s sister. Is it true?”

“Yes, it’s true. I’m his stepsister, to be correct.”

“My friends and I adore him, you know, we never miss the show. Do you watch it?”

“I’m not a fan, but my boyfriend is. So I watch with him sometimes.”

“Do you think you could get me an autograph?” the girl asked boldly.

“I can ask him the next time I see him.”

Melissa beamed. “Thanks! You’re so cool! Bye, Miss Giles.”

The phone rang and Buffy waited for Melissa to leave the room before picking it up. “Sunnydale High, Buffy Giles speaking,” she said automatically.
“Hello, pet.”

Her heart leaped in her throat but she quickly controlled herself. “Speak of the devil…hi Spike.”

After his mom’s death, he had taken up the habit of calling her or her dad several times a week, and coming as often as he could. The weeks following the funeral had been very hard for all of them. Buffy and Spike had never spoke again about what had happened between them that night, and their relationship hadn’t suffered from it. Mostly because Buffy had done everything to repress her feelings and tried to see him as her big brother only. And she had managed that rather well lately. Well, most of the time.

“I knew you were talking about me. My nose was itching.”

“In fact it was one of my students. I start to wonder how many of them really come to my office for counseling. They probably hope I’ll spill juicy gossip about you.”

His warm laugh filled her ear through the receiver. “They will be really disappointed then. There’s really nothing juicy going on in my life.”

“It’s not what the tabloids say,” she teased him.

“If you’re talking about that orgy that took place in that hotel room where I trashed everything, it wasn’t really my fault,” he joked.

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. How’s the show going?”

“Pretty good. We are 90% sure to be picked up for a third season. Now we are shooting the last episodes.”

In two years, Spike’s show had become a big hit. They had never expected it to have so much success, and it was partly due to the charisma and the charms of its lead actor.

“I’m glad for you. You really deserve it.”

“Now, that’s not why I’m calling. I have next week-end off, and I was thinking about coming back home for two days.”

“Sure, that’ s a good idea,” Buffy said.

She was always happy to see him, even if it was a little bit harder then. When he was around, the butterflies were never leaving her stomach.

“Is Darla coming?” she asked, referring to Spike’s fiancée.

“No. She’s shooting a movie in Vancouver.”

“Oh. Ok. Well, you’ll see Riley then. He’s coming Saturday night.”

“Didn’t you tell me he had asked you to move in with him?”

“Yeah…I’m still thinking about it.”

“How long have you been together now?”

“About 6 months.”

“And you love him?”

She hesitated just a few seconds, but enough for him to notice it. “Sure. Yes, I do. I love him.”

“If you say so...There’s no need to rush things, eh pet?”

“Of course not…dad.”

He chuckled. “I miss you, sweetheart.”

She melted. “I miss you too…even when you’re insufferable. I’ll see you on Saturday then.”

“Alright. Bye.”

She slowly put the receiver back and sighed. There were times where she wondered if she really had succeeded in putting her feelings behind her. She had a nice job as counselor at the high school. She had been lucky to get that job considering she was only 21, but the principal had thought it would be nice for the students to have someone closer to their age to listen to them. And the fact that her dad was the school librarian had helped a little bit as well.
And then there was Riley. The nicest guy a girl could dream of having. He was also the first guy Buffy had kissed without imagining it was Spike. Ok, maybe except that one time…but it was at the beginning and she hadn’t done it afterwards.

She was lucky to have found a charming and loving guy like Riley.

Prince Boring. Willow’s voice resounded in her head. Her best friend had never hid the fact that she found Buffy’s boyfriend less than exciting. Ok, so maybe he was not terribly exciting, Buffy thought, but at least he’s…nice.

She tried to come up with other epithets to describe her boyfriend, but couldn’t find any. Irritated, she pushed the thoughts away. She had to stop comparing him – and all the other men – to Spike. It was not Riley’s fault if he didn’t have those gorgeous blue eyes, beautiful cheekbones and a body to die for…

“Gah!” she exclaimed, putting her forehead on her desk. What had she done to deserve this? Would the day finally come when she would stop pining about a guy who saw her like a sister, and worst, who was engaged to another woman?
A big, fat NO appeared in her head and she sighed again.

“Hey, honey. Ready to go home?”

She raised her head, surprised. Right in front of her desk was standing Prince Bo…Riley. Damn you, Willow.

“Hey,” she said, before frowning. “Were you supposed to pick me up?”

“No, but it’s raining. So I thought you would like a ride home.”

She smiled. When he was so sweet like that, she had no trouble remembering why she loved him. “Thank you, that would be great. It’s really…uh, nice of you,” she said, wincing at her choice of words.

“Anything for my Buffy,” he said, leaning in to kiss her. She kissed him back. Because she loved him. Not because she wanted to get rid of that image of Spike in her head. And it didn’t work anyway.

“Rough day?” he asked, noting her slight lack of enthusiasm and blaming it on tiredness.

“The usual,” she shrugged.

She grabbed her stuff and they ran to the car, which was parked close to the entrance. Once inside, Buffy told him casually, “I got a phone call from Spike. He’s coming home this week-end.”

Riley smiled. “That’s great! The first and only time we met, we barely had time to talk. I would love to get to know him a little better.”

“I knew you were dating me only for my famous stepbrother,” she joked.

“Oh, you have your assets too,” he joked back, giving her a brief kiss.

“Riley, watch out!”

His attention was quickly brought back to the road, where a car was coming out of their right side. The brake screamed and the two cars screeched to a halt, a few inches from each other.

“Thank God,” Buffy exhaled, her heart pounding in her chest.

Riley turned to her and unfastened his seatbelt. “Are you alright? That stupid jerk!”

Before Buffy could stop him, he was out of the car. “Hey! Who did you suck to get your driving license?” he asked aggressively.

“What? I was coming from your right side! You were the one not paying attention, you idiot!”

With wide eyes, Buffy saw Riley rolling up his sleeves and marching towards the other car. He grabbed the other driver by his collar and almost pulled him out of the window.

“What did you just call me?”

Buffy got out of the car. What the hell was going on with him? “Riley, stop it. Let’s go home.”

“That jerk called me an idiot. I can’t let that pass, Buffy.”

She rolled her eyes. “What are you, five? It’s not worth it, Riley. Just drop it, please. Besides, he was in his right.”

She was getting scared now, because her boyfriend was holding the guy so tightly he seemed to have trouble breathing and was slightly turning red.

“RILEY!” she snapped angrily, and that seemed to do the trick. He let the guy go.

“Don’t cross my path again, understood?”

He walked back to the car and started the engine quickly, barely allowing Buffy to get back inside herself.

They stopped in front of her house a few minutes later. Buffy took her bag, trying to control her shaking. Riley put his hand on her shoulder and she almost shrieked.

“I’m sorry. But that guy was driving like a cretin.”

She gave him an incredulous look. “He was in his right, Riley. It was your fault.”

“Well he should have seen me coming,” he said stubbornly.

“Riley, you scared me. You almost strangled the guy.”

He watched her and finally noticed her shaking and pale face. “I’m sorry, baby. I got a little upset, I admit. But you could have been hurt!”

Yeah, because * you* didn’t watch what you were doing, she thought. But she didn’t dare to say it out loud. She certainly didn’t want to ‘upset’ him more…

“Thanks for bringing me home,” she said, opening the door. She had to get out. She couldn’t stand being near him right now.

“You’re welcome,” he said with a big smile, oblivious to her distress. “Do you want me to come over tonight?”

“Uh…no. I’m going to Willow’s tonight,” she lied.

“OK. Have fun Sweetie. See you tomorrow.”

She closed the door and walked to her front porch on shaky legs. She managed to give him a little wave goodbye before entering the house. He waited for her to get inside before leaving.

Buffy walked into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water that she drank in one gulp. The scene that had just occurred was replaying in her head. What had suddenly happened to sweet, boring Riley? It was like some demon had possessed him for a minute. She let a nervous laugh escape. To think she had just wished Riley would be a little bit more exciting…that was definitely too much excitement for her.

She was not supposed to go to Willow’s tonight, but now she really hoped her friend was at home.





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