Buffy sat on the couch, watching an old movie, her legs curled up to her
chest with a sheared velvet blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She was
enjoying a night to herself for the first time in a long time. Just being
alone with her thoughts was enough to keep her occupied for the entire
night, and considering her mother was working, Buffy had no other
distractions.
Letting her head fall back against the couch, her eyes drifted shut as her
brain ran over her conversation with Drusilla earlier that day. Spike
wasn’t hers, but he wasn’t Drusilla’s either, and the thought of the two of
them getting back together sickened her. On the other hand, the idea of
being tied to Angelus now that she knew the truth about him was enough to
send her running for the bathroom.
Buffy didn’t care what kind of idle threats Dru was making- there was no way
in hell she would subject herself to being with an abusive cheater who
didn’t even care about her. She was merely a prize to be won. Another
trophy for his shelf, or more accurately, another notch on his bed post.
Even if the notch was slightly more highly regarded than his other
conquests, Buffy could do without it, considering his treatment of her.
Her hand drifted up to her cheek, gently brushing along the skin. It was no
longer marked, but the effects were still there. She would never forget the
feeling of a man who needed to declare his superiority by hitting her, and
she never planned on having that feeling again.
Standing up and stretching her aching muscles, Buffy straightened her soft
cotton pants and headed for the kitchen, preparing to make herself a cup of
hot chocolate. She stopped when a soft knock sounded against the door,
directing her attention toward it. Frowning as she approached, Buffy
worried her bottom lip before unlocking the deadbolt and opening it, her
eyes widening when she saw Angelus standing there.
Throwing her weight against the door to close it, she gritted her teeth when
he wedged his foot between the door and the frame.
“Aren’t you going to invite me in, Buffy?” he asked, shoving his weight
against it and causing her to lose her balance. Taking a few steps back to
regain her footing, Buffy glared at the intruder, self-consciously crossing
her arms over her chest to conceal the camisole that was doing a poor job of
making her feel covered.
“I wasn’t planning on it, but since you feel the need to barge into my
house- what the hell do you want, Angelus?”
“I told you, baby. I want you back.”
“Keep dreaming,” she said with a scoff. “How many times do I have to tell
you to stay the hell away from me?! I don’t want to see you, I don’t want
to even remember I know you, so why can’t you just leave me alone?”
“Remember how good it was, Buff?” he asked, taking a step toward her.
“I remember I was delusional enough to think that I loved you. I’ve come to
my senses since then, so don’t plan on history repeating itself.”
“You know you love me,” he said with a smirk that suddenly seemed menacing
to Buffy.
“Get out of my house, Angelus,” she said through clenched teeth.
“I know you want to have some fun.”
The look in his eyes suddenly began to scare her. Steadily backing away
from him, her eyes scanned the area, looking for anything that she might
need to use to defend herself.
“Leave,” she said in a surprisingly strong voice.
Running a hand over her bare arm, Angelus dipped his head low and left a
kiss on her forehead. Buffy shuddered at the combination of the touch and
the kiss and continued to back away. The tenderness was scarier than the
menacing looks and threats. At least with the looks, she knew where she
stood.
“I’ll see you soon, baby,” he said in a husky whisper before turning and
walking out the door.
Slamming the door when he walked through it, Buffy quickly locked it.
Turning around and letting her back fall against the hard surface, she
slowly slid down to the floor, curling her legs up to her chest and letting
her chin fall to her knees. Trying to regulate her breathing, she let the
shaking take over her body. She had no idea what Angelus was capable of,
but she really didn’t want to find out on a night when she was alone in her
house.
Running her trembling hands through her hair, Buffy fought the tears in her
eyes. She wasn’t weak. She prided herself on not being weak and she
refused to let a simple encounter with her ex-boyfriend get her emotional.
Even if her stomach did feel as if it was tied in knots and she still
couldn’t control her breathing.
“God, why do I let him do this to me?” she muttered, banging her head
against the door. Between Drusilla’s threats and Angelus’
disappearing/reappearing act, Buffy was beginning to feel emotionally
drained from the turmoil she was subjected to. For being a senior in high
school, she sure wasn’t getting any breaks.
When the phone rang, breaking her out of her reverie, Buffy hastily climbed
to her feet and ran for the cordless, taking a calming breath before
answering.
“Hello?”
“Hi, luv.”
Smiling her first genuine smile of the night, Buffy curled up on the couch
with the phone pressed to her ear.
“Is this a ‘special occasion’ call or a ‘just because’ call?”
“This is an ‘I miss you’ call,” Spike replied with a smile.
“You just saw me a few hours ago,” Buffy said in a teasing tone.
“What’s your point?” he asked playfully. “What are you doing tonight?”
“Um…I was watching some old movie on cable.”
“Was? Meaning you’re not anymore?”
Not wanting to get into the Angelus situation…or the Drusilla situation for
that matter, Buffy bit her lip and looked around the house. “I-I stopped to
make some hot chocolate.”
‘Not a lie,’ she thought. ‘I just got interrupted.’
“Is something wrong?” Spike asked, his tone immediately changing from
playful to serious.
“N-no…why do you ask?”
“Because I know your different voices, pet. I’m close. Now tell me what’s
going on.”
“Spike, it’s really nothing to worry about…”
“Alright, I’m coming over.”
“Spike-“
“I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Buffy opened her mouth to speak again, but was immediately cut off by the
click of him hanging up the phone. “Damn it,” she muttered under her
breath. She was never able to lie to Spike, and with one look at her face,
he would be able to read her like a book. “Now what the hell am I supposed
to do?”
* * * * *
When Spike showed up at her house moments later, he was genuinely worried. He knew something was off with her, and the thought alone that something had happened was scaring him more than anything else ever had before. Knocking on her front door, he studied her when she opened it, obviously pasting a smile on her face. He frowned and walked inside, right past her as she closed the door.
“Nice try, luv, but I know when your smiles are fake, too,” he said, crossing his arms. She locked the door, and he raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” she answered, shrugging. “I just get a little paranoid when I’m home alone.”
“You’re not alone anymore,” he replied. “And I don’t think that’s why you look so startled.”
“What? I’m not startled,” she said, looking down. He walked closer to her and tilted her chin up to look at her.
“Tell me what’s wrong, Buffy,” he said quietly. She sighed and looked away.
“Dru confronted me this morning,” she answered. “And Angelus stopped by a few minutes ago.” He felt anger coursing through him as he clenched his fists.
“Did you invite him over?” he asked, upset enough just by the thought of it. She looked at him sadly.
“Are you kidding?” she asked. “You really think I would purposely endanger myself? Especially when I’m the only one here?” He clenched his jaw. “He came by on his own. I tried to keep him from coming in, but…”
“Did he touch you?” he asked, sheer fury filling him suddenly. “Are you okay? What’d he do?”
“He just talked,” she replied. “He made some possessive comments, told me he wants me back, and said he’d see me soon. That’s all.”
“’That’s all’, she says,” he replied sternly, staring at her. “Buffy, who knows what he could’ve done to you. He could’ve-“
“But he didn’t,” she said firmly, cutting him off. “I’m fine. He may make all kinds of threats, but he doesn’t follow through with them. He just likes to hear himself speak.” She walked into her living room and sat on her sofa. He followed her and sat beside her.
“He could’ve hurt you, pet,” he said, looking at her. “You’ve got to keep yourself better protected when I’m not around.”
“I can handle myself,” she replied sharply. “I got along just fine without you for a year, didn’t I?”
“And you started dating an abusive bastard who was just using you for shagging,” he said, clenching his jaw, pausing when she seemed to visibly shut down. “I didn’t mean…I just-“
“I just don’t have the best of luck when choosing guys…I know what you meant,” she said sadly.
“I want to protect you, Buffy, but you have to watch out for yourself when I’m not around. I don’t want to see you get hurt again.” She took a deep breath and looked down.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” she said quietly. “I was having a good night somewhat until I was interrupted.” She stood up. “Want some hot chocolate?”
“Sure,” he answered, resting his head on the back of the couch. “Can we talk about what happened with Drusilla when you come back?”
Buffy hesitantly nodded and headed into the kitchen.
‘They’re both going to wreak havoc now, aren’t they?’ Spike thought, still angry. ‘How can I kill two evil birds with one very large stone?’
* * * * *
After coming back with two mugs of hot chocolate, Buffy calmly explained what had happened earlier with Drusilla at school. He looked at her arm and saw five red half-moon marks. He gently grabbed her forearm and brought it to his mouth, kissing each individual mark, almost as if it was an apology.
“I’m sorry, kitten,” he said quietly. “If I had stayed around for a couple of minutes more, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“It was bound to happen,” she replied, pulling her arm back. “I knew she’d do something eventually- I just didn’t know what it would be or when. But it’s fine. She didn’t do any lasting damage to me.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said sadly, looking at her. Gently cupping her cheeks in his hands, he leaned forward to kiss her. She broke away after a moment and looked at him. “I’m still sorry.”
“Stop apologizing for something you didn’t do,” she said, stretching out and turning on another old movie. “Now, let’s stop talking about such negative things.”
“What do you want to talk about then?” he asked, finally sipping his hot chocolate. “A walk down memory lane, perhaps?”
“Even those become sad after awhile,” she replied, shrugging. He frowned.
“None of our memories should be sad,” he said before pausing. “Well, yeah, most of the last year wasn’t that great for us, so how about we just omit that part?”
“Sounds good in theory, but it was a long period of time- you can’t just erase a year from your memory,” she said. “Although, I’d be able to erase Angelus, Faith, and my lack of decent clothing, so maybe that’s a plus.” He chuckled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, allowing her to rest her head on his chest.
“Maybe it’s time we start making more happy memories,” he suggested. “You know, to combat the bad ones.” She smiled softly and sighed.
“Maybe you’re right,” she said. “It’s time to start living the way I want to again.”
“Does that include me at all?” he asked, smirking. She looked at him and giggled at his hopeful expression.
“If it didn’t, you wouldn’t be sitting here right now,” she said. “Right now will eventually be a memory, Spike.”
“A good one?” he asked, running his hand over her hair.
“Yes, it’ll be a good one,” she said before curling up against his side. “One where we’re both content and we aren’t worried about anything.”
“But you are worried, aren’t you?” he asked quietly, and she nodded. “I’m not going to let him come near you. Dru, either, for that matter. I’m going to protect you, luv. Until the end of the world.”
“Even if that happens to be tonight?” she asked jokingly. He chuckled and kissed the top of her head.
“Even if it’s tonight,” he affirmed. “Even if a fire-breathing dragon shows up, I’ll protect you.”
“Oh, like a noble knight?” she asked, her eyes wide with excitement. “My knight in shining armor?”
“Sounds good to me,” he replied. “Me thinks my lady doth need a knight in close proximity.” She giggled and kissed him softly. “I love you, Buffy.”
“I love you, too, Spike,” she said, briefly shutting her eyes as she listened to his heartbeat.
“Forever and for always still?” he asked, looking down at her. She smiled and nodded. “Then I guess my future plans are set. Take care of my lady and love her unconditionally.” She looked at him as he leaned down once more to kiss her.
[Reviews - 505]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 3902 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +