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Chapter 14

All Buffy could do was stare. She was in a complete state of shock and she was SURE she hadn't read that on the invitation! She would have remembered that, she would have had a reaction –much like the one she was having right now about it. Which prompted her to wonder what else was altered on that damn invitation. However, as she sat racking her brain, she realized she couldn't even remember what the name of Harmony's intended had been in the first place. Showed how much she had cared. She remembered looking at the invitation letting out a couple curses and a groan of annoyance that she'd be expected to attend the fiasco. Looking at Jonathan, his uncomfortableness at being displayed by Harmony and preened over, she realized how close her assumptions were.


"Baby, you all right?"



She looked up to see Spike kneeling next to her, gazing at her, concerned.



"Hi Buffy," Jonathan greeted her uncertainly.



She stood up and moved across the room giving him a friendly hug hello.

"Hi."



She stepped back and took him in. His outward appearance had changed,
but she could still see in him the insecure boy she remembered. The
expensive attire of pressed khaki Dockers and buttoned down white T with
a pink shirt underneath –pink?—had to be courtesy of Harmony,
hairdresser and fashion extraordinaire. Not to mention that his once shaggy
brown hair was now cropped short and stylish. Jonathan had never been
one to pay attention to fashion. Neither had she for that matter. It was one
of the things that had bonded them in high school.


Now what did she say to him? Offer her congratulations? If it was on the

invitation, she should have already known and then she'd look like an even

bigger ass than her mother was making her feel like.



"How've you been?" he asked conversationally.



She smiled, "Good. And you?"



He looked up at Harmony and then around the room. Everyone was

staring at them. "Good. I'm glad you were able to make it."



"Wouldn't have missed it for the world," Buffy lied, still smiling.



"Care to join us for breakfast Jonathan?" Joyce asked sweetly.

"Yes, please. Do you need any help there Joyce?" Jonathan asked politely
moving across the room toward her. Buffy stood and stared. The theme for
the Twilight Zone was playing in her mind.


She needed to make a phone call. She wanted to call Willow and find out
whose name was on that damned invitation.


"Buffy?" Spike was standing in front of her, a confused expression on his
face. Mixed with something else that she couldn't quite define.

"I'm fine," she assured him quickly. "I just uh, I need to call Willow."


He furrowed his brow. "Now?"


"Yeah, now. Excuse me."


"I can come with –"



"No, you stay here."

He grabbed her hand before she could get away. "Buffy, what's going on?"


"That's a good question," she let out a nervous chuckle.







"It doesn't say Levinson. It says Jonathan McCarthy," Willow informed
her.


"McCarthy? Could it be possible that that was changed too?" Buffy
wondered aloud in complete wonderment, sitting down on her bed.


"Why would they do that?"

"I don't know. It's not I've had contact with Jonathan since we graduated. I
don't even know what he's been up to. . . I just don't understand it. I mean
him and Harmony . . . she never even paid him any attention at all. Ever. I
don't think she even made notice of all the time we spent together. And
now they're getting married?"


"Seems the weekend is turning out to be more interesting than you figured
huh?" Willow said, ever the optimist.


"Yeah, you could say that," Buffy muttered.

"How's Spike making out?"

"He's making. For some sick reason he seems to want to get along with
them. Even seems to like them."


"Interesting."

"What? You've got that voice."


"What voice?"

"That cryptic voice that means you know something, but you're not saying
what it is. You want me to figure it out instead."


"I don't know what you're talking about," Willow chirped.

"I ever tell you how annoying that is?"


"Buffy?"

She looked up to see Jonathan standing in her doorway. "I gotta go Wills.
I'll talk to you later," and she clicked the phone shut. "Hi," she greeted him.


"Breakfast is ready. I uh, offered to come get you. Spike seemed a little put
out about it—nice guy by the way." So, William had been replaced by Spike
now. Interesting.


"Thanks. So, I haven't talked to you in forever."

"Yeah, I know. I really missed you Buffy."


She patted the spot next to her on the bed. "Sit and talk for a minute?"

He nodded and sat next to her.


"So, what's with the McCarthy?" she blurted out.


He smiled at her, "Never one for beating around the bush."


She shrugged and grinned sheepishly. "Some things never change."

"It was one of the things I liked most about you, Buffy."


"I like to think I'm responsible for getting you out of your shell."

"It was you that helped me stand up to my parents and go off to college
instead of taking over the family business."


"And then we lost touch," she said regrettably.

"I came back."


"You never contacted me."

"I've been busy. It wasn't your fault. You were busy too making a life for
yourself in the city."


She gazed at him, "So you've made good?"

He nodded. "I changed my last name shortly after leaving for college. I
didn't want to be a Levinson anymore. I was finally an adult and free of my
parents and their abuse. I figured changing my name would be the final act
of me becoming my own person. The person you always pushed me to be."


"That's so amazing Jonathan. Your parents –have you talked to them at
all? Are they coming?" He shook his head. "No. I cut all ties with them.
They didn't seem to mind too much. I wasn't doing what they wanted
anymore, I wasn't letting them dictate my life and push me around, so they
lost interest. It's amazing what happens when you stop becoming
someone's whipping boy and stand up for yourself."


"I'm so proud of you Jonathan, I really am. You never thought you were
going to get away. And you did." She hugged him tightly and he hugged her
back.


"I'm really glad you're here," Jonathan said softly.

Just as she was about to ask him about Harmony and what kind of job he held now, Spike was in the doorway.


"Breakfast is ready," he said tightly.

Jonathan and Buffy disengaged and Jonathan jumped up. "Thanks. We
were just catching up. You've got yourself a great girl there Spike."


"I know," Spike said, jaw clenching. "You've got yourself a great girl."

Jonathan nodded, "I know," and he left the room.


"He doesn't sound sure. Did he sound sure to you?" Buffy asked Spike once
Jonathan had departed the room. Spike's jaw was twitching and the look on
his face was thunderous.


"Why do you care?" he asked, bitterness barely concealed.

Buffy was stunned. "What happened?"


"What do you mean?"

She pointed at him. "You're angry."

"I am."


"Did something happen?"


"Why don't you tell me?"

"I'm drawing a blank. Honestly, I don't—"


"First you see him—"

"Jonathan?"

"And you turn white as a sheet at the sight of him. Then you're sprinting
across the room quicker than a bullet to give him a hug. You disappear to
call Willow and won't tell me why or let me come with you and then he
insists on getting you for breakfast –which is MY job as your fiancé to come
and get you—and then I come up here to find you ON THE BED and
HUGGING. What the fuck is going on Buffy? How do you know him? Are
you cheating on me with him?"




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