A/N: "Sure, I can do three stories at once" a little ambitious girl named Nikita, thought a while back. Boy, was she naïve.
Of course I can do 3 stories, the updates will just come a little further apart. Sorry for that you guys. Anyways thanks for the wonderful reviews and to Kella, Flames and Chex… You rock!
And don't laugh to hard at my pitiful excuse for a limerick.
An extra big thank you to JenniePennie who Beta'ed this chapter since my last beta has gone MIA
Thursday morning Cordelia Chase woke up to the most wonderful feeling. The bed shifted and the arms of her boyfriend, once again wrapped around her naked form. That wasn't the most wonderful thing about this morning, but the delicious smell of coffee, eggs and bacon were.
"Good morning, sleepyhead" Oz said to his girlfriend as she slowly fluttered her eyes open.
"Good morning" Cordelia murmured back, "Did you make me breakfast?" at his nod she squealed and threw her arms around him before placing soft kisses in the crook of his neck.
"Lectures will be a part of our schedule today won't it?" Oz asked trying to calm the sensations of what she was doing. When he felt her nod, he continued. "Because if you keep doing that, I think we might have to postpone it."
"Postpone it is then", Oz mumbled as he felt her smile against him before continuing to lick her way up to his ear. He shifted their bodies so that she was straddling his lap. He became worried as all the color left Cordelia's face. She bolted off of him and went straight to the bathroom.
He got up and followed. He knocked on the closed bathroom door and cringed inwardly as the unmistakable sound of nausea come from inside. "Baby? You all right?" he asked, as he heard the toilet flush.
"I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute." Cordelia said, wearily getting up from the tile floor. She faced the mirror with a frown. This was the second time she had been sick for no reason what so ever this week. And she still felt like she could eat a horse. She brushed her teeth before stepping out to the bedroom again.
"I'm starved!" the brunette announced perkily, before grabbing one of the plates at the nightstand. She dug into the food with eagerness, as if nothing had happened. Oz watched his girlfriend with a wary look.
"Baby you're not-"
"Pregnant! Gawd! No! I mean there's absolutely no way, that I could be… pregnant", Cordelia interrupted Oz before he got to finish.
"Actually, I was gonna go with bulimic, but now that you bring it up." Oz finished his earlier thought and looked at his lover.
"No! No way! I haven't had my period for a while, but that's nothing new. I always miss my period." Cordelia was having a hard time convincing her boyfriend, let alone herself (herself should be together, not separate). The two of them sat in silence, a million thoughts racing through both of their heads. After a few minutes had passed, Cordelia moved to get dressed.
"I'll go buy one of those test thingy's. I can tell you how it went later tonight when we meet up. Don't worry it's probably nothing", Cordelia called out from the bathroom, where she was finishing applying her make up.
"Actually I have somewhere else to be tonight, hence the bribe with food in bed." Oz said in an even calmer way than he usually did. It was actually because of shock, not indifference like Cordelia thought.
"What 'else'?" she asked wearily.
"My mom's"
"Oh. Well call me when you find time then." Cordelia moved for the door and before Oz could snap out of the astounded state he was in, she was out the door.
*******
By Thursday afternoon doors were being slammed practically off their hinges in the Wyndham-Pryce mansion. Wesley looked up from his desk when he heard the very furious, very shrill scream of his daughter. Seconds later, Drusilla was in his study pacing angrily.
"That little bitch!" She spat angrily.
"What's happened princess?" Wesley asked calmly. He was use to his daughter's fits.
"Buffy Summers happened, daddy. That little witch is always in my way. William turned me down for *her* today. He wouldn't say it was her, but I could tell. It's in his eyes. The way he was looking at her in class. Disgusting!" She continued fuming.
Drusilla told her father about when she had approached Spike earlier in the afternoon, in the campus quad. She had asked him to come to her tomorrow evening and he politely let her down, telling her there was someone else. Later in the lecture hall, Drusilla had put two and two together and figured out by the way Buffy and Spike were stealing glances at each other that she had been out ranked by Buffy, again. By the end of her tale, Drusilla replaced her anger with, bitterness in her voice.
"Don't worry about it, dear. I'll take care of it. No one hurts my princess and gets away with it." Wesley reassured her.
When Drusilla left his study to go sulk in her own bedroom, Wesley sat tapping his fingers to the desk, contemplating just how he was going to let his plans make little Buffy Summers pay in this evil plot he was already scheming. A few minutes passed before he picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number.
"There's been a slight change of plans. I want a new target." He said into the receiver when he heard Lilah pick up on the other line. The pair exchanged a few more hushed words before hanging up. Wesley's wicked smile remained intact.
******
Friday night had arrived all to fast for Buffy. She had showered and put on a peasants top, light blue jeans and light makeup when the doorbell rang. She plastered on a smile as she opened the door and greeted Angel.
Angel looked at the beautiful girl that greeted him. He had never seen a girl look so beautiful in casual clothes. He took her arm and guided her to his car. Like a perfect gentleman he opened the door for her.
Half an hour later the pair sat seated in a booth at Sunnydale's very own gourmet restaurant, Chez Pierre. Buffy felt ridiculous. All around her women were sitting in cocktail dresses and she now knew why Angel had told her to wear something nice. He was wearing something really nice and if all her lusty thoughts recently had not been reserved for a certain peroxide blonde Brit, she would probably be drooling over the blue silk shirt, black slacks clad brunette across the table.
"I feel absolutely ridiculous," Buffy spoke her thoughts out loud.
"Why?" Angel couldn't help but chuckle at the look on Buffy's face. It was a cross between utter humiliation and eyes wide with panic.
"Look at me. Compared to you and these other women, I look like a little girl in rags." she huffed slightly and flung her arm, gesturing to the other diners.
"I think you look absolutely stunning. The thing about you Buffy is that you don't need a fancy dress and a ton of make up to look beautiful. In fact, if the ladies in here put on the most beautiful dress and best makeup in the world, they still couldn't compare to you," he said in a serious tone of voice and there was a hint of shyness Buffy picked up in his voice.
Buffy felt awkward. There was something about his choice of words that made it sound sincere and not some line he simply coughed up. She guiltily looked away when his chocolate brown eyes probed into her blue green.
"And you are a student, just like me. How can you afford to take me to a place like this?" The blonde changed the subject none to subtle.
"I'm tempted to simply say; 'I've saved up the money waiting to impress the prettiest girl I've seen', but that would be sort of lying," He smiled before growing serious. "Truth be told, money isn't a big issue for me. When my father died, he left Connor and me a very fat trust fund. I got access to it when I turned twenty-one. I wasn't lying about the prettiest girl part though."
"Oh." Buffy didn't know what to say. It was awkward enough that she was on a date with Angel when she really wanted it to be his stepbrother and Angel kept showering her with compliments. It was even more awkward when she had opted to place him in the box with the rest of the world's insensitive jocks and he became vulnerable and mentioned his father's death.
"You miss him, huh?" Buffy more stated than asked when she looked into his sad eyes.
"Yeah" Angel smiled and let out a short, soft chuckle. "It's not so bad anymore. When he was first killed, I sort of had to grow up immediately and my main concern became Mom and Connor. Seeing that Mom has found happiness with a new man actually relieves me. Weird huh? Maybe not, 'cause Giles really is a great guy. It's the stepbrother that came with the package that annoys me."
'You just had to bring him up' Buffy thought and shifted uncomfortably in her seat as hot flashes of Spike's soft lips raced through her mind at the mention of him. Looking past the fact that Buffy felt really guilty about being on the date in the first place, because of what she felt about Spike, she was actually enjoying the date. They passed through dinner making easy small talk and she found out that there was more to Angel than what she had pegged him for.
Angel was being nice, not sleazy like she thought he would be and time had actually passed quickly when the time came to pay the bill and leave.
"So where to now?" Angel asked holding Buffy's jacket for her to put on.
"Um… The Bronze?" Buffy suggested.
"Sure, but why don't we stop by my place first? I kind of feel a bit overdressed for Bronzing." He said gesturing to his slacks. They drove back to Revello Drive and once inside his house, Buffy happily noted that it was empty. She wouldn't know what to do, if she ran into Spike. It was strange though. She had not seen him since he ran out of her house and she found herself missing his cocky comments and innuendo she had grown used to ever since he came to Sunnydale.
Buffy and Angel made their way upstairs to Angel's bedroom. Angel pulled out a pair of jeans of his closet and left Buffy in his room, to go change in the bathroom. Buffy went around the room looking at his stuff. There were the expected football trophies and also the maybe not so typical drawing equipment. Buffy peeked down the hall, to make sure Angel wasn't on his way back before opening one of his sketch pads.
She gasped as she came face to face with images of herself. She flipped the pages and found one close up of her smiling, one of her in deep concentration. She traced his pencil strokes with the tips of her fingers. Angel really was a magnificent drawer. She was really flattered that he had drawn her so beautifully.
Buffy felt her face redden as one of the pages she flipped held a less clothed picture of her. 'Oh my! Is that what he thinks I look like?' Flipping further, the sketchbook had drawings of Giles and Jenny, Connor and even a few of Spike. She lingered a bit longer at one of the pictures of Spike. She flipped the last page and came face to face with eerily familiar, brown eyes.
No face. Just eyes. Buffy could see that it was a pair of girl's eyes and also got the feeling that this must have been a girl that Angel had had a crush on. She admired the picture while trying to remember where she had seen those eyes before.
Buffy quickly put the pad back where she had found it when she heard footsteps coming down the hall.
"Ready to go?" Angel asked. Buffy nodded and the two of them left for the Bronze. The Bronze was packed with both teenagers and people their own age. A band on stage was playing a cover of Incubus' Drive. Buffy loved that song. It sort of spoke to her.
Sometimes I feel the fear ofbr
Uncertainty stinging clearbr
And I
Can help but ask myself
How much I let the fear
Take the wheel and steer
It's driven me before
And it's seems to have a vague
Haunting mass appeal
Lately I'm beginning to find that I
Should be the one behind the wheel
Oh yeah. That's me. Guided by my fears I really need to take control of my life and learn to not accept dates I don't really want to go on, she thought as she searched the club for her friends.
She spotted Dawn and Connor the duo dancing at an even slower pace than the song. She smiled and nudged Angel with her elbow. They both chuckled a little bit of how caught up with each other the teen pair was. Buffy continued to search the room and could see Cordelia, Willow, Xander and Tara seated in one of the booths.
Whatever tomorrow brings
I'll be there
With open arms and open eyes yeah
Whatever tomorrow brings
I'll be there
I'll be there
Humming to the feel-good refrain of the song, Buffy dragged Angel by the hand, over to her friends, jumping slightly, when she noticed that seated where the booth had hid him, sat Spike and Devon. Buffy immediately let go of Angel's hand when she met Spike's sad eyes.
When Spike first saw Buffy come up to the table his heart rate immediately increased. She looked beautiful as ever. His heart sank however, when he let his gaze travel down to where her hand was linked to Angel's. Spike couldn't bear to sit around and watch the two of them, so he quickly excused himself to go to the bar. Angel and Buffy greeted them all and sat down joining them.
"I take it Spike's still a little bit sore that I got the girl?" Angel grinned and Buffy cringed' Oh look. The insensitive self-absorbed prick is back' Angel got looks from all around the table and quickly changed back to the more likeable Angel, Buffy had gotten to know earlier in the evening. Conversations went easy and Buffy was relieved that she had met up with her friends, taking a little bit of the tension out of her evening.
"So where's little miss blunt and mister stoic guy, tonight?" Buffy asked and couldn't help but notice how Cordelia's face fell at the mention of her boyfriend.
"Oz has been MIA the last couple of days. Some family thing and Xand's little vixen is right over there negotiating a way to get her nachos cheaper" Devon enlightened her.
"Speaking of milady. I better go save the bartender, before she curses him or something" Xander excused himself. What he really wanted, was to check on Spike. He had seen Spike's reaction to Buffy and Angel's entrance, so he wanted to make sure that Spike was all right.
At the bar he found Spike looking in his glass as if he was examining the amber liquid. Spike downed the rest of his drink before ordering up another one. He shot it down as soon as it was in his reach and ordered a third.
"Hey, Spike! Don't you think it might be smart to you know… SLOW DOWN!" Xander exclaimed and his voice increased when Spike guzzled down his third drink in the same manner as earlier.
"The way I see it, whelp, you can either join me, or you can shut your gob" Spike simply laid out Xander's options. Xander stood a couple of minutes evaluating them carefully. He wasn't much of a drinker. His father's habits had scared him off of alcohol. Thinking 'What the heck. One evening of alcoholic beverages isn't going to turn me into my father', he ordered up another round of scotch for himself and Spike.
"While we're at it. Think you might come up with a nickname for me with a bit more cool-ness factor than whelp?" Xander more begged than asked. All he got in response was a quirked eyebrow.
Over at the booth, Buffy tried to enjoy herself as she kept a weary eye on Spike and Xander over at the bar. She watched as the pair continued to drink and became slightly glassy eyed and flushed faced.
Xander and Spike looked like they were getting along really well when the bell signaling last call at the bar rang. Xander tried to get off his bar stool and fell flat on his ass, causing both him and Spike to laugh hysterically.
"Hey! Lischten to this verry cool limerick Schpike taught me," Xander slurred as he made his way back to the booth with Spike trying to walk behind him.
" A horny young sailor named Clark
picked up a slut in a park.
She was ugly and crude
and a horror when nude,
but she was good for a spell in the dark." Xander recited with a slight
slur while standing up straight. When he finished he toppled over laughing
hysterically along with Spike. Everyone else just eyed the pair sceptically.
"'Ey, you liked that one didn'ya? Well here's another one for ya.
There once was this chit named Buffy
Who brought out from me feelings all fluffy.
A few stolen kisses were all I got
Because with me she's not.
It turned out she liked her men stuffy." Spike finished staring deep into Buffy's eyes. Xander started laughing, but abruptly stopped.
"Hey! That wasn't funny" Xander concluded to himself. All eyes were on Buffy while she looked at a suddenly very fascinating spot on the table. Willow gave her best friend a sympathetic look, since she, Tara and Spike were the only ones who knew about Buffy's little secret.
"You guys kissed? When?" Angel voiced the question that was on every one out of the loop's mind. As on queue, Spike stumbled into a vacant seat and passed out, creating a perfect diversion for Buffy.
"Look we can talk about this later. Right now I think it's best to focus on getting our two drunks home." Buffy said in a hushed voice as she got up and gestured to Spike and Xander. She moved to lift Spike off the chair, putting one of his arms over her shoulder. "Angel, a little help here?"
Angel and Buffy said their goodbyes before supporting Spike's weight between them to Angel's car. They spotted Spike's DeSoto in the parking lot and wondered what to do.
"How about you drive my car and I'll take Spike's?" Angel asked. His voice was void of emotion and he didn't even look at Buffy.
"As I'm sure I've told you before… Buffy" she pointed to herself then to the vehicle, "Car… Very unmixy" she tried to lighten the mood.
"Right…" he trailed off, a very sullen look on his face. Buffy knew she had been caught and she dreaded the inevitable conversation she and Angel would have about the person being held up between them. She sat herself in the backseat of Angel's car trying to drag Spike inside.
She succeeded, but when she was about to open the door on the other side, to get out she yelped as Spike, put his head in her lap and held her back.
"Just… just stay there." Angel said as he got into the driver's seat. The ride back to Revello Drive was made in complete silence save for Spike murmuring Buffy's name a few times as he snuggled in her lap.