Home is Where the Heart Is, Part 2
By *~Rachel*~
For disclaimers, summary, notes, etc. please see the first chapter.
Remember: scenes in bold are flashbacks.
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"Hey Buffster!" Xander Harris yelled out down the hallway.
"Xander! Hi!" Buffy replied, walking up to her friend and giving him a quick hug. "Have you heard the news? We've got a new transfer student this year," she added, motioning him to walk with her. They were in their senior year at Sunnydale High School, and getting new students unexpectedly was rare for Sunnyhell, as the students jokingly called their school, since it was such a bore.
"Really? Who?"
"I don't know...his father is the new librarian. That's all I've heard so far," Buffy explained. "Come on, we've got to find Willow."
The two wandered down a hallway with their books in hand, searching for their shy, redheaded friend. "Willow!" Buffy called when she finally saw her, waving her hand in the air. "Hey!"
"Hi, guys," Willow greeted.
"Willow, my bestest bud," Xander said enthusiastically, giving her a tight hug.
"Have you met the new kid yet?" Buffy quickly asked, curious to find out anything about him that she could.
"No, but I met his father," Willow reported. "His name is Rupert Giles. He hails from somewhere in England...I think Bath? I don't know, but anyway...he's got all these neat books and artifacts in there from his personal collection, and-"
"Wow, Willow. Unfortunately, I guess that summer hasn't changed you," Cordelia said smugly, walking up to the trio with the Cordettes right behind her. "But I guess it's nice to know that you still are the same bookworm and nerd...or...book-nerd."
"Cordelia Chase," Xander drawled, "Boy, did I miss you over the summer." His tone was dripping with sarcasm.
"Yeah?" Cordelia questioned, raising her eyebrows. "Let me think...do I care? Do I care? No, I really don't." Cordelia, satisfied with her insults, turned around to face her companions. "Come on, ladies, let's go." Cordelia led her friends away from the small group as Buffy and Willow rolled their eyes.
"Well, she hasn't changed a bit," Buffy stated.
"Did we honestly think she would?" Willow asked at her friends.
The three looked at each other for a second before collectively saying, "No!" and bursting into laughter that echoed down the hallway.
~~~
Xander trudged into history class and sat down in a seat in the back row. Neither Willow or Buffy had this class, so the entire year in World History was sure to be boring. Oh well...at least he would have plenty of time to take a nap.
He silently watched the students walk through the doorway when he suddenly saw a somewhat tall, lean man walk through the doorway. He carried a couple binders in his hand and was dressed in all black with a long black, leather duster that completed the outfit. His hair was bleached a light blonde, almost white, and there was a smug expression on his face.
Xander straightened up as the man walked across the room, choosing the seat that was next to him. "Hey," Xander greeted.
"Hey," he replied, looking him over.
"I'm Xander...Xander Harris," he added.
"The name's Spike." His voice had a thick accent that was unmistakably British.
"Ohh, so you're the new student!" Xander slowly said.
"I guess so...my dad is the librarian here," Spike explained before sighing loudly. "Although, it beats me why anyone in their right mind would want to move to Sunnydale, California."
"Yeah, and I won't be the last one to tell you that this one-Starbucks-town is pretty boring," Xander admitted. "The only thing we've really got going on around here is The Bronze."
"The Bronze?"
"A club for people our age. They've got some good bands that play there occasionally," Xander clarified. "Will's boyfriend plays there sometime."
"Will, huh?" Spike asked, raising a scarred eyebrow in question. "Does he have this class now too?"
"Willow!" he corrected, placing emphasis on the last part of her name. "Willow Rosenberg, she's my best friend. Oz plays with the Dingoes, and sometimes they have some gigs at the Bronze."
The teacher walked into the room, lifting her hands to signal the class to quiet down. "Okay class, we're going to get started as soon as I call out the roll." She looked down at her list and called out names. "Ah, I see we have our new student in this class. William? William Giles?"
Spike loudly groaned and raised his hand in the air before quickly dropping it back in his lap. "The name is Spike...be sure you remember that for next time, you got that?" The teacher gave him a serious "warning" look before continuing with the roll.
Xander chuckled and glanced at the British man beside him.
Suddenly, this class didn't look so boring after all.
~~~
After history, Spike and Xander strode into the cafeteria for lunch. Immediately, Xander turned and started towards Buffy, Willow, and Oz who were all sitting together at a table. Spike followed behind him, unsure of where they were going. "Hey guys!" Xander called out. "Look what I found." The three stopped eating and looked up at Spike with eyebrows raised. "Everyone, this is Spike Giles."
"Hey man," Oz greeted in his usual taciturn way as he raised his hand in a short wave.
"Spike's in my history class," Xander explained, sliding into a chair beside Buffy. "Man, you should have seen the look on Mrs. Wilson's face when Spike corrected her about his name."
Spike gazed around the table, his eyes automatically landing on the small blonde that was sipping her canned drink. Bloody hell, he thought, his stomach doing flips. "You must be Buffy," he acknowledged. Spike had never seen a more beautiful girl than the one that was sitting in front of him. He managed to take his eyes off her long enough to look at the redhead who sat beside her. "And I'm guessing that you're Willow?"
"You guessed right, mister!" Willow replied, beaming happily. "I met your father today. He's very nice."
"My father is all right. He's just bloody mad for dragging me halfway across the world to this hell-hole," Spike complained.
Spike pulled up a chair and sat between Xander and Buffy. Buffy stared across at Spike with an unreadable expression on her face. "Ever heard of living in the now?" she asked, her eyes running up and down Spike's outfit. "The Billy Idol look is *so* over."
"Aww, pet, I'm hurt," Spike sarcastically moaned, placing his hand over his heart before smirking across at her. "How about you, love? Ever heard of proper hair maintenance?"
Buffy ran her fingers through her hair and frowned. "My hair is fine. It's perfect, in fact." Immediately, she disliked the peroxide blonde. "Anyway, you're one to talk about hair maintenance. What did you do? Dump a quart of bleach on your head?"
Spike scowled and rolled his eyes, but inwardly he was jumping up and down. This girl's got spunk, he thought. Oh yeah, this is going to be a bloody great year.
Meanwhile, halfway across the cafeteria, Cordelia Chase stood with her lunch tray in her hands and a look of awe on her face. Careful Cordy, she warned herself, let's not drool in public, now.
Anya, Harmony, and Thalia stood beside her, and they were obviously gazing at the same thing -- Spike. "Ohh...hello salty goodness," Cordelia said, licking her dry lips. "Now, I don't normally go for the whole 'bad boy' look but *that* one...good god."
"Oh, I know," Harmony added. "He's in my algebra class, and -"
"Hey," Cordelia interrupted. She narrowed her eyes at Harmony before continuing. "Was it just me, or was I *not* talking?" When no one replied, she turned her head back towards Spike. Very quickly, Cordelia frowned as she fully realized whom he was sitting with, especially who sat at his left and right. "Now, all we have to do is get him away from that circle of freaks."
~~~
Two days had passed since Angel proposed and she accepted. The ring Buffy had chosen had been sized down to fit her hand and now rested on her ring finger. However, Buffy still continued to wear the ruby and gold ring; it had just been placed on the opposite hand. For some reason, she just couldn't bring herself to throw it away.
Buffy groaned, massaging her forehead with her fingers. Already, she could feel a headache quickly approaching. Damn, of all the crazy things she had never gotten around to doing or held off until the last moment, this had to be one of them!
Buffy's problem was that her divorce with Spike had never been legally settled. No, she had left him without any legalities being settled between the two of them. Besides, the two wouldn't have been able to afford a legal divorce anyway since neither of them was very financially secure two years ago. *Now* Buffy could afford the costs of a lawyer just fine; in fact, she had the divorce papers already made up. All she needed was Spike's signature to make the forms complete.
But in order to get his signature, . . .
I'd have to see him face to face, Buffy thought to herself, inwardly groaning.
Call her a coward, but that was just something that Buffy never brought herself to do. That would mean reopening those wounds...all those wounds that she had tightly closed and carefully hidden away from Angel and anyone else that saw her today. Willow was the only one who actually knew what had happened between Spike and she, which was the main reason Willow didn't like Angel and why she kept asking about Buffy's old ring.
Sure, Angel was the complete opposite of Spike...tall and bulky as opposed to being closer to her height and lean. He was a brunette while Spike had been bleached blonde. Spike would have never been caught dead wearing a thousand dollar Gucci tuxedo where as Angel had twenty of them in his closet. Spike chose sarcasm, while Angel chose wit and class. Buffy wanted to be with Angel now; she was sure of that.
The two had been dating for many months now, and she was positive that she was madly in love with him. If she viewed her situation that way, Buffy knew that she should have no problem marching down to Sunnydale and asking Spike to sign the papers.
So what did that mean?
"Damn," she cursed under her breath. "I guess that means I'm headed back to ol' Sunnyhell."
~~~
TBC...