"Well, isn't
this an interesting turn of events?" Giles purposely avoided looking at Buffy
out of disappointment. Instead, he focused on Spike, giving new meaning to the
phrase, 'if looks could kill'. Spike received his first taste of old
Ripper, which made him wonder what darkness really lied underneath the 'mild
mannered librarian' routine. Then, without warning, the Watcher turned
on his heels and left. The front door swung partly open as the sound of
angry footsteps echoed down the driveway.
Buffy couldn't
believe the intensity of her friends' reactions. It was very reminiscent
of the day they found out she had been harboring Angel upon his return from
Hell. She supposed she couldn't blame them…at least completely.
The Slayer wasn't certain herself what she was doing. It almost seemed
as if this was her destiny, to love that which she was supposed to hate.
Unfortunately, she was correct in her assessment earlier…they would never
understand her darkness. They couldn't possibly fathom the depths it
touched and the pain it caused as she fought to deny it, then later control
it. To them, she was their pal Buffy: superhero, fashion expert,
trustworthy adversary and friend. The draw to succumb to the pull of that
Evil was greater than even Buffy would admit. The only one who could even
begin to understand her core essence was Giles, but he was obviously in no mood
to reminisce on his Ripper days and convey understanding. That brought her back
to where she had started before Giles so forcefully declared his disapproval of
her decision. Spike.
Despite what was
happening in front of her, she found no desire to change her mind. Buffy knew
now that she couldn't possibly deny how right it felt to finally admit her
attraction to Spike. But it was certainly beyond mere attraction.
She needed his perception. She needed his unconditional acceptance.
She needed his company. She needed him…all of him. The light, the
dark , the annoying, the sexy. Yes. Now she could finally admit it
all, to herself and to her gang of evil fighters. And despite the ripples…tidal
waves…it was causing, this was right. They would either have to
get over it, or get out.
Amidst all her
contemplation, she did not notice Xander and Anya's heated argument over in
the corner. Spike looked on with some amusement as Anya fervently imparted
her point of view upon the Xander whelp, giving him little room to display his
own opinion. But then again no one needed to hear what he had to say. They
all knew that he hated this thing Buffy had for vampires, as he would call
it. And it didn't take a rocket scientist to see that the boy still had
a thing for the golden Slayer. The way Spike figured it, no one but a man
more bland than himself would be good enough for Buffy. 'No wonder he
liked Fish-boy.'
Buffy glanced over at
Spike, giving him a dirty look for his smirk. He just shrugged his
shoulders.
"And another thing,
you are not above Buffy, Willow or anyone else in this room, Alexander."
He hated when she called him that. "You had sex with that Faith Slayer,
you know. I'm sure none of your friends were any too happy about that
one. But they didn't treat you like you want to treat Buffy right
now. You better examine yourself, there, before you cast stones into glass
houses, or something like that."
"This is
ridiculous. You cannot compare Faith to some soulless killer. She
was a human, and also a Slayer."
Buffy responded before
Anya could. "Yeah, she has a soul and she's still a
killer. What does that say to you Xander?"
He remained silent,
unsure of what to say.
"I'll tell you
what that says. You can't define something by the group they happen to
fall in. Oh, and look! That's the definition of prejudice!"
She folded her arms across her chest, determined to win this argument.
Ignoring the sneer
across her boyfriend's face, Anya stepped toward Buffy and Spike. "You were
never nasty to me, like some people in this room, Buffy. I want to thank
you for that and I want to wish you all the luck in your relationship with
Spike, the vampire. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some clothes of Xander's
I need to shred into hundreds of tiny pieces." On her way out of the
house, she glared at a shocked Xander.
"This is far from
over, Buffy." He pointed his index finger at her.
Spike descended the
stairs before Xander could even take his next breath. "No, this is
over. Now. She's told you her intentions. She's explained
herself. She's made it quite clear that she's not letting you bully
her out of her decisions any more. She is her own person and she knows
what the bloody hell she is doing. Stop," Spike poked the boy's
shoulder with restrained power. "Pushing. Her. She has enough to
deal with without having to worry if she is going to hurt your delicate
sensitivities."
"Yeah, like you
really give a damn about her. All you're doing…all you've ever tried
to do, is get into her pants."
Buffy ran down the
stairs to hopefully prevent some unfortunate occurrence that was sure to happen
between the two posturing men. "Xander! That is enough." Buffy couldn't
believe he was being so stubborn and just plain mean.
"Harris. You're
making an ass of yourself here." Spike leaned in, breathing his cool
breath at his ear. "If I wanted to simply get into her pants, as you so
delicately put it, I could have pulled some 'Dracula mojo' by now and had
myself a right good shag. You have to ask yourself why I haven't taken
one of the many opportunities to do just that. I love the girl. I need
her. And now, she needs me. Admit it. Get over it. Move on."
Spike immediately
backed out of Xander's personal space to inspect what affect his words had
had. "I'll believe it when I see it."
Spike sighed and shook
his head, turning to leave the room. Willow grabbed his arm on the way
past. "We have a zero tolerance policy for anyone who messes with Buffy. Got
it? You hurt her, we hurt you."
"Got it."
"You so much as look
at her the wrong way, I'll personally see to it that you don't dissolve into
dust, but that you suffer torment for the rest of eternity. We sent Angel
to Hell and we can do worse to you."
They all knew that she
had nothing to do with sending Angel to Hell, but the point was certainly
taken. "If I hurt Buffy, I'd kill myself before you could get the
chance."
"Good. As long as we're
cleared on that." Willow gave him a small smile and squeezed his arm
approvingly. Then she turned to Tara, giving her a wordless message that
it was time to go. On their way out the door, they grabbed Xander against
his protests and dragged him out of the house.
"Well that went
well, don't you think." The teenage voice lofted from the kitchen and
they looked around to see Dawn sitting on the floor.
"All right, Dawn.
Your turn." Buffy just sighed and resigned herself to one more barrage
of self-righteousness.
"What? I don't
have anything to say."
"Why not? You might
as well make it unanimous. 'Buffy's gone insane and taken Spike with
her.'"
"Nope."
Spike smiled knowingly
as he crossed over to her and mussed up her hair. "See, Buffy? We have
one supporter."
"Woopty freakin'
doo." Buffy collapsed on the couch. "This sucks."
"They'll get over
it, Buff. They always do. They know better than to try and control your
feelings. I mean, I gave up years ago."
"You really don't
hate the idea of me and Spike?"
"Are you
kidding? I've been watching you deny your attraction to him for years."
"WHAT?!"
"I'm a teenager,
not a blind man."
Buffy looked over at
Spike, who just shrugged his shoulders again. "The kid's got a point."
"I'm not listening
to this. I'm going up stairs to clean up my bedroom," at this she gave
the vampire a pointed look. On her way up the stairs, she looked over her
shoulder and nonchalantly shout out to Dawn, "Oh, and Spike will be staying
with us from now on."
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