Chapter 15.
Buffy and Faith finally strolled into work at 9.45am. It had taken a lot longer than they had imagined to get Willow and Tara organised and out of the apartment, leaving Buffy having to work on her 'apology' speech. As they walked into the reception area it was deserted, and the telephone was ringing.
"Where the hell's Harmony?" Faith wondered.
Buffy wandered over to the desk and picked up the ringing phone.
"WP Publishing, Elizabeth Summers speaking, how may I direct your call?" She spoke politely.
"Save it Summers!" Came the voice on the other end. "You and Faith get your pretty little asses in my office now!" He hung up.
Buffy screwed her face into a frown and stared at the receiver before placing it back.
"Oh happy day!" Buffy sighed. "Spike wants to see us now, he sounds kinda pissed!"
Faith shrugged her shoulders. She was hardly surprised. Buffy seemed to have it in her head, that all it would take would be a quick apology and everything would be fine. In fact she was already acting as if everything was fine and she hadn't even got round to the whole apology bit yet!
They pushed open the door to the office and as they did so Spike spun around in his chair to face them. Buffy stifled a giggle and tried not to look at Faith, who was doing the same. 'Who does he think he is? Dr Evil or something?' she thought. It was true, he did look rather comical, and in fact all that was missing was a white fluffy cat on his lap.
"Nice of you two ladies to decide to join us today!" He started, looking at each of them in turn. The girls quickly realised that he wasn't putting this on, he was seriously mad. "Wes may have been all liberal with the time keeping, but whilst he's left me in charge I expect you to be here on time, every day, no excuses!" He slammed the pen he had been waving around down hard onto the desk, making Buffy jump.
She approached the desk. "See there was this thing this morning, with Willow and Tara, and then another Dawn thing and."
"No excuses Summers! I thought I just made that pretty clear."
"We're really sorry sir," Faith said in possibly the least genuine tone of voice she could find Buffy shot her a glare. 'Oh nice one Faith, that's so not going to help,' she thought.
Buffy decided in this case, the best form of defence was a counter attack. "I hope you are going to roast Harmony's ass when she gets in Spike! I mean it's a pretty poor show having an unmanned reception." She smiled smugly.
"My thoughts exactly!" He replied as he stood up from his desk and walked to the filing cabinet, picking up a huge pile of paperwork. "However it wouldn't have been unmanned if you had been here on time. I have sent Harmony out with Tracy for the day."
Buffy raised her eyebrows and moved to sit on the edge of the desk. "You sent our only receptionist out for the day?" She said in an accusing tone. "And you think my management skills are rusty!" She snorted.
Spike crossed the room to Faith, enormous pile of paperwork in hand. He dropped it in her lap and smirked. "This should keep you going for the day pet!" Faith looked at the paperwork, then back to her boss confused.
"It's filing, you file it! Bleedin hell woman what do you actually do here? Go file!"
Faith couldn't even speak, all she could think of was the lecture Buffy had been giving her the last 24hrs. 'Be nice, be polite, and under no circumstances punch him!'
"Fantastic!" she groaned, and made her way back to her desk.
"I don't believe you, Faith does not file!" Buffy snapped at the man before her. "She is a trained negotiator, she has a team below her, and she tells them to file asshole!" She stood up and stomped towards the door.
"Summers! Where the hell do you think you are going?" He shouted as the tiny fuming blonde reached the door.
She spun around trying to hide the anger in her face, but failed miserably. "I don't have time for power games today Spike! I have a meeting with James Devere in 20mins about his sequel. Some of us actually have jobs to do you know."
He beat her to the door and pushed it closed. Leaning in close he whispered, "Actually I sent Harm and Tracy to do your wining and dining. Tracy is, as far as I can see very competent, and James has a thing for Harmony. I thought we would get a better deal with a change of tactics."
"I need you covering on reception today." He continued trying hard to contain his enjoyment of the situation.
'I will not punch him, I will not punch him' Buffy repeated the phrase over and over again in her head.
"I'll get an agency receptionist to cover, it's no big." She recovered, flashing him a winning smile as she reached for the door handle.
He leant forward and grabbed her by the wrist.
"No actually you won't pet. You see, I think it's a valuable exercise for higher members of staff to reacquaint themselves, with the basics that make a company work. No one else on the team is causing a problem." Buffy could do nothing but stare at him, horrified.
He let go of her wrist and as she left the office, he called after her.
"Oh Buffy, make us a pot of coffee there's a sweetheart." He shut the door and returned to his chair, trying to keep the sound of his laughter down.
Buffy stamped across the office towards reception, steam coming out of her ears. She stopped by Faith who was sitting on the floor by the filing cabinets surrounded by paper.
"This is all muddled up, the bastard probably did it on purpose!" She complained. "I am just gonna file it all under E and go for coffee, you up for that B!" She grinned.
"E?" Buffy questioned raising her eyebrows.
"Yeah E for 'Eat shit asshole!' " She stood up sending papers flying everywhere, "Caffeine fix now!!"
Buffy sighed and leant back against one of the cabinets. "I'd love to, but 'Mr I know everything' in his infinite wisdom, has decided I am to be 'reception girl' for the day."
Faith looked at her friend mouth agape. "Oh please let me hurt him Buff!"
"Hold that thought Faith, I gotta go make his Lordship coffee!" With that she headed towards the kitchen, Faith following on her heels.
"Can I at least spit in it?"
The two friends put a brave face on the situation for the rest of the morning. Buffy delivered Spike his coffee, resisting the temptation to throw it over him, and Faith ploughed through her filing. Finally it was time for lunch. As soon as the hands hit twelve on the office clock they were out the door, and down the street.
"Aaaargh!" Buffy screamed in frustration. "I am so gonna kick his arrogant, conceited, pig headed ass I swear! I mean, reception, fucking reception! Who does he think he is? Sitting in my god damn chair, in my god damn office, dishing out orders like he's the.the boss or something! Asshole!"
Faith held open the coffee shop door for the blonde, not daring to interrupt her mid flow.
"You know what he said to me before lunch? He said it was character building! Fucking character building! Build this Spikey!" Buffy made an obscene gesture out of the window towards the office block.
Faith couldn't help but fall about laughing. It had been a long time since she had seen Buffy this wound up about anything.
"Well you know B, you just jump in there whenever you feel like giving him your big apology speech won't you!" She mocked.
Buffy rolled her eyes sat in a chair by the window.
"Humph!" She snorted. "Apologise to that. that bastard! I think not. I must have been mad," she fumed.
Faith took a bite from her pastry, dropping crumbs all down her front.
"Changing the subject slightly Buff, what's he been doing in that office all morning?" Faith asked.
Buffy took a big sip of her latte.
"I have no idea," she replied. "He has been getting calls from some guy called Gunn, whoever that is? He is being all shifty about it, so I guess he is one more cog in the 'piss off Buffy' machine." She shrugged her shoulders. "To be honest I don't care. I just want today to be over!!" She put her head into her hands and sighed deeply.
"I really thought I could do this Faith," she whispered, "but it keeps getting harder. I just don't know if I can make it through the day. Why is he making this so hard?" She sat up and wiped a tear from eye.
Across the road Spike was snacking on a sandwich from the deli. He was really getting under her skin, he knew that. He had thought that it would make him feel a little better, a little happier to cause her some distress, to get her back for her hurtful comments, but Gunn'd had no news. He was now back somewhere between despair and torment.
The day didn't get much better from then on.
Buffy thought Faith was going to knock Spike out, when he deposited another unfeasible amount of filing on her desk. She had been busy sharpening some pencils at the time.
"B, If I stab him through the heart with this pencil do you think we can pass it off a some freak office accident?" She asked, touching the sharpened point with the tip of her finger.
"Yeah I can just see the headline Faith. 'Man trips over paperclip and impales himself on sharpened pencil' shocker! You never know, we may just get away with it! " She smiled evilly.
She continued on her way to his office, with a pot of coffee in hand. As she entered the phone was ringing. Spike was on another call so she reached over and picked it up.
"William Giles office. Can I help you?" She answered shooting a sickly sweet smile in Spike direction.
"William, It's Mr Gunn...again! He say's he won't hold." Buffy waved the phone in his direction.
He grabbed the phone out of her hand without so much as a thank you. "Charles, what have you got? Tell me its good news!"
Buffy stood rearranging the flowers in the vase on the table. Spike put his hand over the receiver. "This is a private conversation! Get out!" He snapped, motioning for her to leave the room.
She didn't even bother to reply. She turned and ran out, not even stopping to pick up her coat as she left the building.
Buffy and Faith finally strolled into work at 9.45am. It had taken a lot longer than they had imagined to get Willow and Tara organised and out of the apartment, leaving Buffy having to work on her 'apology' speech. As they walked into the reception area it was deserted, and the telephone was ringing.
"Where the hell's Harmony?" Faith wondered.
Buffy wandered over to the desk and picked up the ringing phone.
"WP Publishing, Elizabeth Summers speaking, how may I direct your call?" She spoke politely.
"Save it Summers!" Came the voice on the other end. "You and Faith get your pretty little asses in my office now!" He hung up.
Buffy screwed her face into a frown and stared at the receiver before placing it back.
"Oh happy day!" Buffy sighed. "Spike wants to see us now, he sounds kinda pissed!"
Faith shrugged her shoulders. She was hardly surprised. Buffy seemed to have it in her head, that all it would take would be a quick apology and everything would be fine. In fact she was already acting as if everything was fine and she hadn't even got round to the whole apology bit yet!
They pushed open the door to the office and as they did so Spike spun around in his chair to face them. Buffy stifled a giggle and tried not to look at Faith, who was doing the same. 'Who does he think he is? Dr Evil or something?' she thought. It was true, he did look rather comical, and in fact all that was missing was a white fluffy cat on his lap.
"Nice of you two ladies to decide to join us today!" He started, looking at each of them in turn. The girls quickly realised that he wasn't putting this on, he was seriously mad. "Wes may have been all liberal with the time keeping, but whilst he's left me in charge I expect you to be here on time, every day, no excuses!" He slammed the pen he had been waving around down hard onto the desk, making Buffy jump.
She approached the desk. "See there was this thing this morning, with Willow and Tara, and then another Dawn thing and."
"No excuses Summers! I thought I just made that pretty clear."
"We're really sorry sir," Faith said in possibly the least genuine tone of voice she could find Buffy shot her a glare. 'Oh nice one Faith, that's so not going to help,' she thought.
Buffy decided in this case, the best form of defence was a counter attack. "I hope you are going to roast Harmony's ass when she gets in Spike! I mean it's a pretty poor show having an unmanned reception." She smiled smugly.
"My thoughts exactly!" He replied as he stood up from his desk and walked to the filing cabinet, picking up a huge pile of paperwork. "However it wouldn't have been unmanned if you had been here on time. I have sent Harmony out with Tracy for the day."
Buffy raised her eyebrows and moved to sit on the edge of the desk. "You sent our only receptionist out for the day?" She said in an accusing tone. "And you think my management skills are rusty!" She snorted.
Spike crossed the room to Faith, enormous pile of paperwork in hand. He dropped it in her lap and smirked. "This should keep you going for the day pet!" Faith looked at the paperwork, then back to her boss confused.
"It's filing, you file it! Bleedin hell woman what do you actually do here? Go file!"
Faith couldn't even speak, all she could think of was the lecture Buffy had been giving her the last 24hrs. 'Be nice, be polite, and under no circumstances punch him!'
"Fantastic!" she groaned, and made her way back to her desk.
"I don't believe you, Faith does not file!" Buffy snapped at the man before her. "She is a trained negotiator, she has a team below her, and she tells them to file asshole!" She stood up and stomped towards the door.
"Summers! Where the hell do you think you are going?" He shouted as the tiny fuming blonde reached the door.
She spun around trying to hide the anger in her face, but failed miserably. "I don't have time for power games today Spike! I have a meeting with James Devere in 20mins about his sequel. Some of us actually have jobs to do you know."
He beat her to the door and pushed it closed. Leaning in close he whispered, "Actually I sent Harm and Tracy to do your wining and dining. Tracy is, as far as I can see very competent, and James has a thing for Harmony. I thought we would get a better deal with a change of tactics."
"I need you covering on reception today." He continued trying hard to contain his enjoyment of the situation.
'I will not punch him, I will not punch him' Buffy repeated the phrase over and over again in her head.
"I'll get an agency receptionist to cover, it's no big." She recovered, flashing him a winning smile as she reached for the door handle.
He leant forward and grabbed her by the wrist.
"No actually you won't pet. You see, I think it's a valuable exercise for higher members of staff to reacquaint themselves, with the basics that make a company work. No one else on the team is causing a problem." Buffy could do nothing but stare at him, horrified.
He let go of her wrist and as she left the office, he called after her.
"Oh Buffy, make us a pot of coffee there's a sweetheart." He shut the door and returned to his chair, trying to keep the sound of his laughter down.
Buffy stamped across the office towards reception, steam coming out of her ears. She stopped by Faith who was sitting on the floor by the filing cabinets surrounded by paper.
"This is all muddled up, the bastard probably did it on purpose!" She complained. "I am just gonna file it all under E and go for coffee, you up for that B!" She grinned.
"E?" Buffy questioned raising her eyebrows.
"Yeah E for 'Eat shit asshole!' " She stood up sending papers flying everywhere, "Caffeine fix now!!"
Buffy sighed and leant back against one of the cabinets. "I'd love to, but 'Mr I know everything' in his infinite wisdom, has decided I am to be 'reception girl' for the day."
Faith looked at her friend mouth agape. "Oh please let me hurt him Buff!"
"Hold that thought Faith, I gotta go make his Lordship coffee!" With that she headed towards the kitchen, Faith following on her heels.
"Can I at least spit in it?"
The two friends put a brave face on the situation for the rest of the morning. Buffy delivered Spike his coffee, resisting the temptation to throw it over him, and Faith ploughed through her filing. Finally it was time for lunch. As soon as the hands hit twelve on the office clock they were out the door, and down the street.
"Aaaargh!" Buffy screamed in frustration. "I am so gonna kick his arrogant, conceited, pig headed ass I swear! I mean, reception, fucking reception! Who does he think he is? Sitting in my god damn chair, in my god damn office, dishing out orders like he's the.the boss or something! Asshole!"
Faith held open the coffee shop door for the blonde, not daring to interrupt her mid flow.
"You know what he said to me before lunch? He said it was character building! Fucking character building! Build this Spikey!" Buffy made an obscene gesture out of the window towards the office block.
Faith couldn't help but fall about laughing. It had been a long time since she had seen Buffy this wound up about anything.
"Well you know B, you just jump in there whenever you feel like giving him your big apology speech won't you!" She mocked.
Buffy rolled her eyes sat in a chair by the window.
"Humph!" She snorted. "Apologise to that. that bastard! I think not. I must have been mad," she fumed.
Faith took a bite from her pastry, dropping crumbs all down her front.
"Changing the subject slightly Buff, what's he been doing in that office all morning?" Faith asked.
Buffy took a big sip of her latte.
"I have no idea," she replied. "He has been getting calls from some guy called Gunn, whoever that is? He is being all shifty about it, so I guess he is one more cog in the 'piss off Buffy' machine." She shrugged her shoulders. "To be honest I don't care. I just want today to be over!!" She put her head into her hands and sighed deeply.
"I really thought I could do this Faith," she whispered, "but it keeps getting harder. I just don't know if I can make it through the day. Why is he making this so hard?" She sat up and wiped a tear from eye.
Across the road Spike was snacking on a sandwich from the deli. He was really getting under her skin, he knew that. He had thought that it would make him feel a little better, a little happier to cause her some distress, to get her back for her hurtful comments, but Gunn'd had no news. He was now back somewhere between despair and torment.
The day didn't get much better from then on.
Buffy thought Faith was going to knock Spike out, when he deposited another unfeasible amount of filing on her desk. She had been busy sharpening some pencils at the time.
"B, If I stab him through the heart with this pencil do you think we can pass it off a some freak office accident?" She asked, touching the sharpened point with the tip of her finger.
"Yeah I can just see the headline Faith. 'Man trips over paperclip and impales himself on sharpened pencil' shocker! You never know, we may just get away with it! " She smiled evilly.
She continued on her way to his office, with a pot of coffee in hand. As she entered the phone was ringing. Spike was on another call so she reached over and picked it up.
"William Giles office. Can I help you?" She answered shooting a sickly sweet smile in Spike direction.
"William, It's Mr Gunn...again! He say's he won't hold." Buffy waved the phone in his direction.
He grabbed the phone out of her hand without so much as a thank you. "Charles, what have you got? Tell me its good news!"
Buffy stood rearranging the flowers in the vase on the table. Spike put his hand over the receiver. "This is a private conversation! Get out!" He snapped, motioning for her to leave the room.
She didn't even bother to reply. She turned and ran out, not even stopping to pick up her coat as she left the building.