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Chapter 3: Old Friends, New Enemies

Spike and Buffy finally made it over to Giles’ apartment, an hour later than they planned. Buffy tentatively knocked on Giles’ front door. It opened to reveal an unexpected older and ugly man. “Quentin.”

“Miss Summers,” the older man stepped aside to let her into the apartment.

“Where is Giles?” She turned around to face the man still standing at the door, blocking Spike’s entrance. He was not very tall and very pudgy. The years have not been kind to this man.

“Went on an errand. Please sit.” He gestured to the couch in the living room.

“Uh, pet?” Spike spoke up. He wasn’t sure if Giles revoked his invitation to his place, but he didn’t want to try. Spike always had a fear of rejection.

“Yeah, honey? Oh, yeah. You can come in.”

“Miss Summers, I am afraid, it doesn’t work that way.” Quentin Travers sneered. The creepy man smiled at the slayer as he stood in the doorway.

“Whatever,” she waved off the man as if he was nothing but a fly on the wall. “Giles told me he could come in, no new invitation needed.” Spike stepped in slowly, realizing Buffy was right. He stepped around the man Buffy obviously hated and curled his tongue around his front teeth and snickered.

“So, when did you say Giles would be back?” Buffy sat down on the couch. Spike came to stand between Quentin and her. He didn’t like the condescending tone he used towards Buffy.

“Momentarily, I was hoping we would have a little chat before he came back.” The man came around the couch and sat in a chair next to Buffy. Spike stood behind her, watching the man, like he was guarding a princess, his princess.

“About what, Quentin? Got another ubervamp to attack me while I am defenseless? Or another inquisition about my abilities?”

“Tsk, Tsk. Miss Summers, it still is Miss Summers?” He looked up at the vampire guarding the slayer. “You still have the attitude. Time hasn’t changed you all that much, has it? Now, I have been hearing rumors.”

“Really?” She looked at her nails, bored out of her mind. Quentin always droned on about protocol and such, she knew what he was getting at. The Council always put their noses in where they didn’t belong.

“Certainly, my dear.” Spike wanted to growl at the repulsive man and snap his neck. His blood wasn’t good enough to drink. “I’ve heard many interesting things about you. Care to guess what those may be?”

“Quentin, seriously… you have got to stop. Whatever I choose to do is none of your business.” Buffy wasn’t going to take the strong-arm tactics Quentin always used.

“See, I see things differently. You are the slayer. I am the head of the Council. Therefore you are my business.” His lips were turned up in a sadistic smile.

Buffy had the perfect speech for him; she practiced it almost everyday after she left Sunnydale. “No, when I died that first time, our business was over.” She pointed at the man in the chair. “Then Kendra was called. She was your business. I just stayed on because I thought it was what I was supposed to do.” She moved her arms around her body, motioning to the town of Sunnydale. “Then good ole Faith came. Still I stayed on and we slew together. A perfect team. Then oops!” She moved her hand over her mouth. “Your new slayer decided she liked being bad and I ended up being the Slayer again.” She looked up towards Spike, making sure he was behaving himself and not ready to attack Quentin. “For years after that, I stayed to slay. You fired Giles because he acted more like a father than a watcher. Well news to you, he is my dad. The only one I ever had. My biological father never would have stuck around like he did. In fact he didn’t. I needed Giles and you just kicked him out.” She shook her head as her volume grew. “You gave me a clueless watcher that had no field experience. Then you had the nerve not to help me save Angel, the one person that made it all worthwhile. And on top of that I quit your Council. But did I shirk my duties? No, I stayed put and slew the demons, the vampires, the ghosts. Every night. Every vacation I didn’t take. Every minute I lost sleep. Every wound I had. Even when Glory came to be and you wouldn’t tell me the information you knew about her. I stayed put to do what I thought was my duty. But you know what?” He shook his head. Buffy definitely hadn’t changed; she was a stubborn as ever. “My duty was over the minute I stopped breathing. The minute my heart stopped beating. The minute the next slayer was called. All those years I wasted. For you. For your Council. Not anymore. What I do, who I am, what I am interested in is not your business.” She dropped her voice dangerously low as the front door opened revealing Giles. “Do we have an understanding?”

Giles looked into his apartment to see Quentin’s pale white face. He overheard Buffy’s speech and was very proud. She never did like Quentin or the Council, but this took the cake. She was kicking them out of her life, once and for all.

“No, we do not, Madam. Just because you think sleeping with a vampire is all right, doesn’t mean it is.” Spike snarled at the man as he started to berate his love. Quentin looked up, but ignored the dangerous vampire. “It is my business that you left here to follow whatever dream you were. The powers we gave you were not a gift; they are a responsibility that you have over looked way to long.” Giles and Spike simultaneously moved towards Quentin but Buffy held her hand up for them to stop.

“Look, Quentin, I am not playing your little game. You may think you know what is going on, but you have no idea. Yes, the powers I have also give me a responsibility, but you did not give them to me. You have no control over who is called, so get off your high horse.” She got up to great Giles. She knew he was listening at the door and when he came in, but she didn’t want to move her attention away from the repulsive man sitting in the chair. They hugged and she let go looking in his eyes conveying a silent message. She turned back around to face Quentin. “Like I said, my obligation to you was over the minute I drowned at the master’s hands. You have had your slayers over the years to replace me. I am here only to protect the hellmouth until we can train the next slayer. I am not here to work for the council, I am not here as the slayer, and I am not here on your behalf. The sooner you understand that, the better. I will not put up with your bullshit. I will not abide your mocking my relationship with anyone. Man, woman, child, or demon. My personal life is none of your concern and if I find out you are trying to make it your concern, I will not be happy.” She turned away again to sit on the couch, this time motioning for Spike to sit next to her. “So, Quentin what brings a yellowbellied chickenshit (the word combination has become a noun.) like you to the big bad woods of Sunnydale?”

“Excuse me, Miss Summer, I can be any where, any time I want.”

“Yes, but you don’t usually put yourself in danger. Always throw your weight around and then leave before the consequences can be felt.”

“It doesn’t matter why I am here, girl. You are going to work under me and that is it.”

“Is that so?” Buffy got up from the couch and walked over to Giles. “Sorry, Giles. You know where to find me.” Spike got up and walked to the door and held it open for her. The nerve of the man to suggest he was going to tell her what to do. “What a fucking prick!” He walked beside her in silence. He kept himself in control long enough to see that Buffy could stand her ground. She didn’t even flinch. If it was possible, he loved her more than ever. Her inner strength now equals her outer strength.

“Hungry, pet?” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders when she nodded. “Not many choices here, but what about the Bronze? Got those spicy Buffalo wings... not as good as yours, but they could do.”

“Nay, I want to go some place quiet. I kinda don’t want to run into anyone I know, baby.” She shivered despite the warm weather. “I can’t believe Giles didn’t tell me Quentin would be slithering around. He makes me so mad.” Spike wrapped his arm around her tighter and she snuggled deep into his embrace. “I never thought I would hate someone as much as I hate him. I don’t even think my hate for Glory comes even close to that man. What nerve!” She was practically screaming with emotion as they walked down the road. “Him to think he can tell me what to do and not do. Grrr, he makes me so angry.”

“Do we need to go find something to kill?” Spike remembered when she got frustrated a good hunt and kill made her feel better.

“Oh, Spike, I’m sorry. He just makes me mad! I can deal with constructive criticism, but he doesn’t even know the definition.”

“Pet, maybe you should go visit the Scoobies. I’ll wait for you back at the room.” He shrugged. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to show up together, in the together sense.

“What? No. Scratch that. Hell no! We are together. No meeting in secret, OK?” She stopped walking and grabbed his arm. “I really can’t care less what they think of us together. I’ve spent too much time worrying about others not to live my life in happiness. I am not slaying either. This is the Council’s problem and until they, including that prick Quentin, respect me as a woman and slayer, they can forget it. I’ll make sure the world isn’t going to end, but that’s it.”

“Gonna make them beg, baby?” He wound his hands around her waist and brought his hips towards her so she could feel his erection. “Gonna make me beg?” He licked his lips at her nod.

“Hmmm, make you beg? Sounds good. Let’s eat first?” He nodded and stepped away. She wasn’t going to patrol to kill something, but she was going to work her energy out back at the hotel. Spike was flying high.

a/n: Feedback is appreciated





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