Chapter 12
Calvary is here !
Buffy's house (2.10 PM)
Buffy stood there, looking at Spike on the floor. Spike, who was knocked out by Angel. She turned to her former boyfriend.
'What the hell did you do that for ?'
His voice was harsh.
'Oh, sorry, I didn't know it was against the rules to hurt your lover...'
Buffy turned red, feeling ashamed about the fact that everybody seemed to know about her and Spike.
'Lorne !!! Did you tell him ?'
The demon looked a bit uneasy.
'I might have let it slip out...'
She sighed.
'That's just great. Just what I needed Lorne. Somebody else to yell at me.'
Angel interrupted.
'I'm not here to yell at you. Don't get me wrong, I think you're an idiot, but I'm not here to judge. I've done a lot of stupid things in my days too. It's just...seeing Spike was a whole other matter. I just wanted to wipe that smug expression of his face.'
Lorne laughed.
'That you did my man, that you did.'
At that moment Willow and Dawn came down the stairs. Wondering what all the noices were about. The witch looked around her.
'Buffy, what is Angel doing here ? Who is this green guy ? And why is Spike unconscious on the floor ?'
Dawn chipped in.
'Three excellent questions.'
Buffy cursed herself for having to go through this yet again.
'I don't know what Angel is doing here. That green guy is Lorne. A friend from Angel's. He's also the one who made my see that I love Xander and who can't keep his mouth shut about me sleeping with Spike. Which is why Spike is lying there. Angel decided that he was more fun when he wasn't talking or moving at all.'
Willow didn't know what to process first. It had been a while since she and Buffy really talked, but she didn't knew that she missed this much. Meanwhile Dawn had less time grasping all of it.
'You love Xander ? Cool ! About Spike, less cool. Jeezz sis.'
Willow was ready to have her say about all of this.
'You....you s-slept with Spike. As in sleeping together, having sex, slept with Spike ?'
Buffy nodded, Willow continued.
'And, and now you love Xander, as in ' I wanna have sex with him' love ?'
'No Will, as in ' I wanna make love to Xander' love.'
Willow smiled.
'Ahhh, that's so sweet... also very unexpected, amazing and earthshattering, but still...sweet. And..ehhh Buff, do you remember Anya ?'
'She not the only problem Will, Xan also knows about me and Spike. He only found out after I told him that I loved him. He's furious, he won't talk to me.'
At that moment there was a knock on the door. Lorne, who was still standing by the door, opened. Anya was there. She had been sitting home, crying about losing Xander. Eventually she had decided that she needed to see Buffy. Maybe talking to her would help a bit. She was suprised to see Lorne.
'Oh, it's you again...'
'Not to exicted to see you either, sweetie.'
Buffy motioned her to come in.
'What are you doing here Anya ?'
The ex-demon looked around the room.
'We broke up. It-it didn't work anymore.'
Buffy felt relieved and sad by the news at the same time.
'What happened ?'
'You happened.'
Angel, who had been quiet all this time, decided to let his presence known again.
'He's free Buff. You can take a change now. Fight for him, overcome his anger. I mean, you have to try.'
Anya turned to him.
'Hello ! I'm standing here ! Hurting !'
'I know, believe me, I know. But sometimes you gotta face that it wasn't meant to be.'
Anya started crying, trowing herself into Lorne's arms.
'I don't want to face that...'
Lorne patted her on the back, looking at Angel desperatly. Not knowing what to do. Eventually he just started to stroke her back and it seemed to calm her down a bit.
Buffy felt terrible looking at her. She decided that she needed to think about something else.
'Oke, I think there are to many people in my house in the middle of the night. And don't get me wrong, some of you have reasons to be here. I mean, there's the 'I live here' people, and the 'I'm always stalking you' unconscious vampire on the floor, and don't forget the 'You broke my relationship apart' crying girl. All people with valid reasons to be here. Of course there's also the 'We're from LA and still haven't told you why we're here' people. Who better explain fast...'
Angel decided that this was his cue to step in.
'Well, we're here to help you. We wanna see if we can get you and Xander together.'
Buffy couldn't believe it.
'So, if I get this straight, my ex-boyfriend is here to help me get together with a guy he doens't even like...'
Willow nodded.
'I'd say that about covers it completly Buff.'
'Thanks Will.'
Angel tried again.
'Look, I know it sounds stupid. And I wasn't cheering for it either when I first heard this idea from Lorne. But it makes sense. Only a little, but still, sense. I love you. You love Xander and being with him would take you out of the 'I'm so depressed I slept with Spike' fase. It would make you happy. So, that's why I'm here. I wanna know that you're happy.'
Willow smiled again.
'Ahh, that's kinda sweet too. But again unexpected.'
Dawn just shook her head.
'What a load of crap ! Buffy, you don't need other people to convince Xander that you love him. You gotta do it yourself sis. Show him what he means to you.'
Anya looked up from Lorne's embrace.
'He won't believe it from anybody else but you. You see, in his mind you can't love him and the only one to help him get rid of that idea are you.'
Buffy was impressed.
'You've come a long way since you first became human.'
'Yeah, well, that doesn't make it hurt any less.'
'I know An, I'm sorry.'
Anya didn't say anything and pulled herself away from Lorne. The demon looked relieved. She made her way to the door.
'If you want him, you gotta fight for him. But don't expect me to cheer you on, I can't.'
She wanted to go, but stopped and turned to Buffy one more time.
'If you hurt him I will kill you.'
Buffy knew she had no reason to feel treatened by Anya, but something told her the ex-demon wasn't lying here. So she nodded to let her know that she had understood the message, and Anya left.
The sound of the door closing was the first thing that entered Spike's brain again. He also remembered seeing Angel coming at him, and everything going black afterwards. He started to move, trying to sit up while touching his head that still hurt a little. Seeing Angel he quickly got up, fully intenting to get his revenge.
'You wanker, you think you can hit me and get away with it ?'
The group faced Spike. Obviously not impresssed, in fact Angel looked bored.
' Look, little Spikey is awake and treatening me...I'm really shaking in my boots.'
He looked down at his feet.
'If I had any.'
Buffy rolled her eyes, not wanting yet another fight between them.
'Spike, leave !'
'I'm not leaving. That bloody soul freak hit me !!'
She started to get angry.
'I don't care if he hit you. I want you to go.'
'But...'
'No buts Spike, you can voluntary leave or I'll kick your butt out of my house.'
The bleached vampire realised she wasn't joking, so he decided to do the smart thing. But not before he gave Angel one more angry look. Buffy turned to the remaining people in the livingroom.
'Guys, if you don't mind, I'm kinda tired. So, Angel, Lorne, why don't you guys crash on the couch. We'll talk in the morning.'
Angel didn't really feel like sleeping, but he obliged anyway. It was obvious that Buffy wasn't going to listen to anything more tonight. Willow wanted to go upstairs until she remembered something.
'Angel, you better close the curtains. We don't wanna be sweeping you up in the morning.'
He smiled at her as a thanks and she and Dawn went back to their bedrooms. With Buffy following right behind them. Angel and Lorne were left standing there. The green demon looked at his partner.
'Well, I think that went well.'
'Yeah, we were a big hit. Just go to sleep Lorne.'
'Ehhh...Angel...tiny problem, there's only one couch... We could share... if you want.'
'I think I'll pass, thanks. Take the couch, I don't mind a chair.'
Meanwhile, Buffy was getting ready for bed, smiling somewhat at her weird night and all the people that had dropped by in the middle of the night. Except for the most important one, and he was the only one that she really needed to see...
Xander's appartment (2.30 PM)
Xander had big trouble sleeping. He kept playing the conversation with Anya over and over in his head. He was sorry that he hurt her so bad. She didn't deserve that. Nobody deserved that. But that wasn't the only thing he had been thinking about.
No matter how much he tried not too, somehow his thoughts kept wandering to Buffy. He hated fighting with her, he always had. But this time it was worse, cause she had never looked at him like that before during a fight. She had never looked at him like he was breaking her heart. And he loaded the look, he had seen it to many times the last couple of days. It seemed like all he could do nowadays was hurt people.
And, if he was honest with himself, he missed her. It had been only a day since their fight and he already missed her. Maybe he had been too harsh on her, but the thought of her and Spike together just made him lose it. It still did, but he was beginning to understand why she did it. She had been so unhappy, and she just saw no other way out. And he kinda blamed himself for that. He had seen that she wasn't the Buffy they all knew and loved and he had done nothing. Not enough anyway. So, in the end, he kinda understood why she turned to Spike. He just wished he could tell her that. But that meant getting over his fear, not the fear of her going back to Spike again. No, the fear that she would leave him someday.
It just couldn't be possible that she loved him. He dreaded himself for thinking that. Because it meant that he didn't have enough fate in himself, it meant that he didn't trust her enough. And that just ripped him apart, the fact that he was letting fear take over his life.
The sound of a knock on the door, made him jump out of bed. Scared, thinking that maybe something had happened to her. When he opened the door he blinked. Not sure of what he saw.
'Angel ?'
'Yeah, it's me. I need to talk to you. Can I come in ?'
'That depends, are you with or without soul ?'
Angel smiled.
'Angelus wouldn't bother coming to you. You don't mean that much to him.'
Xander knew that he was right about that.
'Come in.'
Angel stepped into the appartment. Amazed at the beauty of it. The boy really had become a man.
'Nice place.'
'Thanks.'
'You're probably wondering why I'm here ?'
'Not really, I've been getting strange visits in the night a lot lately. Let me guess, it's about Buffy.'
Angel nodded.
'But she doesn't know I'm here. She would kill me if she knew.'
'So, what is it you wannna tell me ?'
'I'm not here to tell you something. I'm hear to show you something...'
tbc...
