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Chapter Fourteen

Buffy's mouth was opening and closing in barely concealed shock. She was making like a guppy, but she wasn't quite sure what to make of Spike's outburst. She'd seen Spike angry before, but she'd never been on the receiving end of that anger. That, with the accusation, rendered her speechless.

"Well?" he demanded.

She jumped up from the bed. "Am I CHEATING on you? That'd be really hard to do considering we're not really TOGETHER!"

"According to a room full of people down there we are."

"So the room full of people can bite me for talking to an old friend, and my BEST friend can ask me what's going on nicely instead of YELLING at me."

"I did ask earlier, and you blew me off to come up here and call Willow!"

"I don't like this."

"What?"

"You; yelling at me. Being all testy with me. I don't like it."

Spike ran a hand through his hair, his jaw clenching. "All right. I'll ask nicely then. Please Buffy, tell me what's going on. Obviously you know Jonathan. How do you know him?" His voice was even, bordering on almost too calm and it gave Buffy a chill.

"He's my ex."

Spike threw up his hands.

"Sort of," she added.

"Sort of? How is one ‘sort of' an ex?"

"Well, we were together a lot and we held hands and kissed a few times but—"

"Was he your first?"

Her eyebrows knitted, "My first boyfriend? I guess you could say he was unless you
count Danny in the third—"

"No, I mean was he your FIRST?"

"What are you—Oh." She put her hands on her hips. "That's none of your business!"

"Do you—do you still love him?"

Buffy studied him. Odd but he looked almost afraid of her answer. Interesting.

"I never loved him. Not in that way."

"How long did you date him?"

"For about a year. We were mostly friends more than anything. Couple of misfits drawn
together you could say."

Spike's anger seemed to be dissolving slowly. He was smiling now and his body
seemed less tense. "I have a hard time thinking of you as a misfit."

Buffy sat back down. "Well believe it. I was the nerd in high school. I was the one that
got all the A's and the one that everyone wanted me to have tutor them. Of course by tutoring I
mean having me do their homework for them. I became increasingly unpopular when I
wouldn't. Jonathan on the other hand did. He let others bully him."

Spike sat down next to her. "And you stopped them?"

She nodded. "I did. Told him he had to stick up for himself. The poor guy had a long
history of being picked on and bullied."

"Oh?"

"His family. The biggest bullies of them all. They never paid him much attention and
when they did it was to put him down or tell him everything he was doing wrong. He wasn't
the ‘star' of the family, the high school football jock that his brother was. So, he didn't get the
love and the support. He didn't feel he was worth it."

"That's harsh."

"I know," Buffy stared off across the room, remembering. "I took him under my wing I
guess you could say. It seemed only natural that the two misfits, the two ‘geeks', became
friends."

"More friends than boyfriend, girlfriend you say?"

"Yeah. Romance was . . . it never really clicked you know? I think it was more of a
comfort thing the rare times we ever kissed or even held hands.

Anyway, his family essentially wanted him to take over the family carpet cleaning
business so that they could live off it and do nothing. Jonathan was brilliant though, a real
brilliant mind. He wanted to go into computer technology, engineering and all that stuff. I rode
him—"

"Not literally though, right?"

Buffy looked at him. "Are you getting enough oxygen?"

"Sorry. Continue."

Buffy looked away with a ‘okay, you psycho' look and continued. "I kept on him, which
I guess in a way could have been considered bullying, but the idea that such a brilliant mind
would be wasted on carpet cleaning was beyond me. I knew what it was like to have your rents
want you to go into something else than the path you chose. I, however, knew I still had the
freedom to do what I wanted and not be disowned. Jonathan on the other hand. . . he was
afraid he would be. Finally though, he did it. In the end he went off to school in California. He
changed his name—which is why I didn't recognize his name on the invitation. He finally
‘separated' from his parents." She sighed, "I'm just sorry I wasn't around to see it."

"Buffy—"

"And now he's marrying Harmony. Who never once paid attention to him. It doesn't make sense. He's not exactly her type."

"What are you thinking?"

"Something's up. It doesn't make sense to me."

"So you think that Harmony couldn't really be in love with him?"

"I don't think that. I pretty much know it. Jonathan isn't the ‘pretty boy' that Harmony
usually goes for." She gave him a sideways look. "No offense."

Spike looked confused. "For?"

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed the looks she's been giving you."

"Me?" His eyes widened.

"You had to have noticed!"

Spike shook his head, "Honestly, I haven't. You know, that's a little insulting. Not only
to Jonathan, but to us as well."

Buffy let out a little laugh. "Us?"

"Well, yeah. We're engaged for Christ's Sake. Well, as far as she knows anyway. She's
not supposed to be looking at me like that." He sounded so seriously offended by it that Buffy
couldn't help but think how cute it was. She leaned into him, wrapping an arm around him.

"Thank you."

"Don't have to thank me, pet."

"So I think something's amiss."

"What are you thinking of doing, Buffy?"

"Well, I'm going to do some investigating."

"Oh crap. Then what?"

"And if I don't like what I find, I'm going to stop the wedding."

"Buffy," Spike sighed. "You've got enough on your plate right now. Let them take care
of their own issues."

Buffy jumped up. "Since when do I let anyone take care of their own problems?
Jonathan is a good person and we might have dropped out of each others lives for a while, but
if my instincts are right and Harmony is up to something –using him in some way—then I
intend to get to the bottom of it and help him. He's come too far to let that sniveling little twit
ruin him."

"You think so highly of her," Spike said sarcastically, grinning.

"She's been a thorn in my side since I can remember. And, she's been eyeing my fiancé.
She's going down. And you're going to help."

"How did I know that was coming," Spike sighed.

"Because you're my sidekick. Come on, it'll be fun. I'll be Starsky, and you can be
Hutch. Oh! Or you could be Beau and I could be Luke from Dukes of Hazzard."

"You're having way too much fun with this."

"Or I could be Kit and you could be—"

"I'm not bloody well being David Hasslehoff!"

Buffy started to laugh. "Okay, how bout—"

Spike stood and smiled tenderly down at her. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders
he led her to the door. "How about you be Buffy and I'll be Spike? So far that's been working
for me."

She smiled up at him. "That works for me too."





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