A/N: Thanx muchly to those who reviewed - SpIkEs AnGeL, fictionfreak2, theoneandonlygurl (twice!), SweetBitter, Me, VaderJM (you're entitled to your opinions), tinkerbell42, courtney, Buffy Fan (you are also entitled to your opinions), ladymiss, WickedWiccan1. You are all super-nice people :-) For those who don't know, the second authors note at the end of all my chapters is for the people that are reading all 3 of my fics, so that you are aware of what I am updating next, I think I was confusing some people who aren't reading all my fics. Now, here comes the next chapter...I think you're gonna like it ;-)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 10 - How It Should Be
It was an hour or so later that Spike and Doyle decided to venture downstairs. They'd had a serious man-to-man about the women in their lives and had both decided that if anything was going to get fixed, they were going to have to fix it themselves. The plan was to go straight round to the Summers house and speak to the ladies in question. Doyle wanted to know exactly what was going on with regard to Cordelia and her seemingly on-and-off attraction to him, whilst Spike needed Buffy to understand both the fact that he didn't blame her for the kissing and also that she and him should definitely be together, Angel be damned. He obviously wouldn't phrase it exactly like that when he told her, but that was the main gist of it.
Unfortunately the two Romeos were not destined to make it to their Juliets this right now. They knew the chances of crossing the short distance from 1628 to 1630 Revello Drive were very slim as soon as they reached the bottom on the stairs.
The view that greeted them was an elderly man pacing the living room, his wife completely passed out on the sofa and their daughter looking like she might cry despite the best efforts of her fiance to comfort her.
"What the bloody hell's happened here?" Spike wondered aloud, glancing at Doyle who just shrugged in response as they moved into the living room.
"Spike" Giles greeted his son, still trying to calm Jessica, "erm...it seems your grandparents were a little, shall we say, surprised by the revelations about Buffy and myself and so forth"
"Oh, so you told them?" Spike grimaced, "That must have been a barrel of laughs" he said sarcastically just as his grandmother started to come to.
"What revelations are these?" Doyle frowned, not understanding at all.
"Well, you see" Giles began as Spike helped his Nana Caroline to sit up on the sofa, "To every generation..."
"Oh please, spare us" his son groaned, "Let me explain" he begged, "Doyle, demons and vamps and stuff, it's all real. Buffy's this special girl called the Slayer and she kills them. Dad here is her Watcher which is fancy talk for trainer..oh, and SunnyD's sitting on the mouth to hell" he condensed the entire complex subject into just a few words and Giles was astounded at how abruptly he phrased everything. Doyle looked understandably shocked.
"Buffy is the Slayer?" he gasped and Giles frowned as he turned to his nephew.
"You know of the Slayer?" he asked, confused. The old Mr Giles had been a Watcher and Rupert had followed in his footsteps, but his sister, Doyle's mother, had always despised that choice of career and would not have anything of the sort mentioned within her hearing, and especially not in front of her beloved Allen.
"Oh, er, just a little bit" the young man mumbled, "not much"
"What is the big deal?" Johnny asked from the armchair, shaking his head, "So she fights demons or whatever, and you help her? I think it's cool" he shrugged, and Spike couldn't help but smile. It was typical of his Uncle Johnny to take it all in his stride, to almost make a joke out of it, nothing was a big deal to him, "And hey" he continued with a grin, "who'd a thought one day I'd be dating Supergirl's Mom?"
Spike would've laughed if it weren't for the facts that a) Giles shot him that warning look that said ' if you so much as snigger, no allowance for a month at least' and b) he was trying to get his Nana Caroline to sit up straight and be as calm as possible.
"I can't take all this in" the old lady mumbled, putting a hand to her head.
"I know it's surprising" Spike told her, "but it's really not so bad, Nana. We fight the big evil, and thats a good thing, you see?"
"I suppose" his grandmother nodded uncertainly and Spike as only to eager to have the subject be dropped so he and Doyle could get back the original plan they'd made...speaking of whom, where had the bloke wandered off to?
Doyle had actually wandered through to the dining room, landing with a thump on a chair as he went pale. Buffy was the Slayer, and that might prove a problem for him, though he was the only one who knew it. Seated at the table, Doyle's worried eyes fell on a piece of paper covered in very neat handwriting.
"'Not of evil, yet devil made, hybrid creature, his part to be played...'" he mumbled to himself, just as Spike appeared in the doorway.
"Hey mate, you alright?" the bleach blond frowned slightly when he saw how pale and troubled his cousin looked.
"I'm fine" Doyle lied, standing up and pocketing the piece of paper from the table when Spike wasn't looking, "What's happening now?" he asked casually as he could.
"Well, grandparents are calming down, reckon Mum'll be okay with Dad, and never occurs to Johnny to be bothered by anything anyway" he grinned, "I reckon they'll all be laughing again within the hour...so are we going to see the girls or what?"
"Er, I dunno" Doyle shook his head and Spike wondered what had made him behave so strangely all of a sudden.
"Buffy being the Slayer, it bothers you somehow, doesn't it?" he guessed, but his assumption was denied.
"No, why would it bother me?" Doyle shrugged, before walking right past Spike and heading back up the stairs the way he'd come before. His cousin watched him go with a confused expression. Almost as soon as he'd told Doyle the truth the man had paled and looked, not so much shocked as panicked by it, as if he had something to fear.
It was something Spike decided to figure out later. Right now he had to go and talk to Buffy about Angel and her feelings for both the vampire and himself. She said she loved him but she didn't know how she felt about her ex, and as much as Spike wanted to give her space and time and all that rot, more than that he wanted her to just hurry up and make a bloody decision!
Before Sunnydale, back in England, Spike had a girlfriend called Drusilla. Their 'relationship' and only lasted a few months, though they were friends both before and after that time. He thought he loved her, was convinced he was in love with her, but they were too different, in too many ways. As soon as Spike met Buffy it was like a bolt of lightening hit him, telling him without a doubt that this girl was special and that he had to be with her. When they'd first kissed it was fireworks and electric currents and everything it should be when you're in love, it was still like that when he kissed her now, it was never like that with Dru.
Spike came hurtling back from the past to the present as he knocked on the front door of 1630 Revello Drive and it was opened by Joyce.
"Hello, Spike" she greeted with a smile, "Come on in"
"Thanks" he nodded and smiled as he came into the house, glad that Joyce seemed so cheery. It meant she didn't know about his 'fight' with Buffy, if you could really call it that, "Is Buffy upstairs?" he checked.
"Yes, she and Cordelia are in her room, you can go on up if you want to" she smiled warmly and Spike couldn't help but think she wouldn't be so forthcoming if she knew what had happened at his house and how Buffy had come home in tears.
Through Buffy's bedroom door, Spike could here the voices of his girlfriend and Cordelia. The words were muffled so he couldn't make them out, but it did appear that Buffy wasn't crying anymore and that was at least one thing to be thankful for. It almost broke his heart in two when he saw her tears, there was no way he'd be able to think straight if she was still sobbing.
With a deep breath he brought his fist up to tap on the wood before calling Buffy's name, telling her it was him and asking if he could come in. After a few seconds Cordelia opened the door and Spike looked at her with uncertainty. If Buffy was upset, Cordy was probably angry and he'd seen one or two of her rage-filled moments before, he really didn't fancy being on the receiving end of one.
"I'm not taking sides in this one" she told a surprised Spike, "Cos honestly, I don't see that there are sides. You love her and she loves you" she whispered so Buffy did not hear, "and as nice a guy as Angel is, I'm hoping she sees sense and sends him packing real soon" she smiled as she put a hand on Spike's arm, giving him at least a little confidence. If Cordelia thought he was better than Angel, and he knew for a fact that he was, maybe Buffy would see it too.
"Hi" he said quietly as he came into the room, and they both head Cordy's footsteps going down the stairs.
"Hi" came Buffy's own shaky reply as she looked up at him. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, looking over at the man in the doorway through misty eyes, more tears threatening to fall any second and Spike knew it. Unable to just stand there and watch her suffer, he crossed the room, sat down beside her and pulled her into his arms.
"Don't cry, sweetheart" he soothed as she did just that into his shoulder, "I'm sorry I was an idiot back there, just running off without explanation. It's one of my more annoying habits" he smirked as Buffy brought her head up from his shoulder.
"It's not your fault" she sniffed, "I just wish I could make sense of everything. I love you so much but Angel..." she knew what she wanted to say but the words just weren't coming out right, and most of them got stuck between her brain and her mouth.
"I know it's confused things" Spike said with a much more understanding tone than he actually felt, "but just because he's here now, it doesn't change anything, luv" he explained, "We were happy before he came back and he'll leave again soon..."
"I know" Buffy interrupted, moving out of his arms and reaching toward her bedside table. On it was a pile of envelopes, six or seven, Spike thought he counted as Buffy picked them up and placed them down between the two of them. Immediately Spike knew what they were, from the familiar handwriting that spelled out his girlfriends name.
"From Angel" he said softly, his eyes locked onto the letters.
"Yes" Buffy whispered, "I was reading them...remembering...things were so different back then..." she trailed off and Spike looked over at her, slight confusion on his face. He didn't quite understand why he was being shown these letters, why Buffy was telling him about her reminiscing. Without a word, the girl reached her arm toward him, putting her hand inside his jacket, to the pocket where she knew he kept his lighter. Spike didn't move, just watched as she produced the item and flicked it so an orange flame shot out.
"I'm not the girl Angel loved anymore" she said, picking up the letter on top of the pile, "and he's not the man I'm in love with anymore"
Spike watched as the flame fed on the paper, curling the edges and dropping tiny pieces of glowing ash into the waste paper basket Buffy moved to put the former letter into. Clicking off the lighter, she tossed the remaining letters into the basket and let them all burn. It hadn't been what she'd planned to do, but as she'd been explaining to Cordy what had been going on, everything seemed to slot into place in her own mind. This huge revelation like the sun breaking through the clouds on a dull day. She knew now, without a doubt, that Spike was who she belonged with, always.
The man himself was a little surprised to say the least. Of course he was thrilled that Buffy had said, in a round about way, that she'd chosen him over that ponce, Angel, but he was stunned she'd made that decision so fast and so suddenly. Without even realising why, Spike began to cough as did Buffy and it occurred to the pair that the room had both windows and the door closed and was slowly filling with smoke. Whilst she moved to take the basket of smouldering paper to the bathroom to put out the flames, Spike moved toward the window to let in some fresh air. They arrived back where they'd started, sitting next to each other on the bed, after a few moments, and nervously Buffy looked over at him. Picking up his lighter she handed it back to him without a word.
"Thanks" she thought she heard him say as he moved to take the item from her. She put the lighter into his hand but didn't retract her arm straight away. Spike took the opportunity to wrap his fingers around hers. Both her gaze and his shifted from their joined hands to each others eyes, and he pulled on her hand to bring her closer to him, leaning forward himself until their lips met.
Against her better judgement, Buffy found herself comparing this kiss to that she'd shared with Angel the night before. As comfortable and nice as it had felt, it was nothing like this. Spike made her whole body tingle like a hundred electric shocks under her skin. He pulled her close as he could get her and she revelled in the feeling of being in his arms, almost as glad she had come to her senses as he was, because this was where she truly belonged and who she belonged with, forever. If only everything in her life could be so certain.
To Be Continued...
[Coming Soon : Oh Brother - Chapter 10 - Truth Time (1993)]
