A/N : Hey! I am so smiley right now cos I got so many reviews :). SweetBitter, Rachel, SouthernRain, luvin-echo16, SpIkEs AnGeL, Spuffy101, aphelant, buffspike, Jenny, Ahna the Bloody, courtney, spikezbaybee, ms trick, katie, sam, Aleesha, mary. You guys are the best, thanks muchly for all the nice things you said. Here is the next chapter, and if anyone felt even slightly sorry for angel last chapter, you won't in a minute...
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 17 - Broken

The night of Buffy Summers engagement party, and where was she? Not in the ballroom with her future husband and her guests, but out in the hall between the front doors and the main staircase, locked in the arms of another man - the man she was in love with.

Buffy gripped onto Spike like her life depended on it, as she asked the question she desperately wished she had an answer to.

"What are we gonna do now?"

"I don't know, pet" Spike admitted, hugging her equally as close, "Right now you should go back to your party" he said finally letting up his hold on her a little and looking into her face with a frown "they'll all be wondering where you are"

"But...I have to see you again" she replied desperately, her hands still clinging to his arms as she forced back tears "I never should have said goodbye" she told him, feeling so guilty that she had.

Seeing such pain in her eyes made Spike feel more wretched than anything else ever had and he dealt with it the only way he knew how to. He leaned in and kissed her again, trying to show her just how much he loved her, and not having time to explain all that he was feeling.

"We'll work something out" he said as he pulled away from her again "I promise" he tried to smile and encourage her to do the same but it was too hard. They both knew her mother could easily stop her from being with this man and there'd be a social scandal if Buffy broke off her recent engagement to Liam.

Reluctantly the girl pulled herself out of Spike's arms and glanced back towards the ballroom where the party was being held. She took two steps towards it before turning back, with a look that said she really didn't want to walk away, not this time. He nodded, telling her without words that she had to leave him, at least for a while, but there was no way he was going to lose her. He'd fallen for her not knowing what she really was, but knowing who she was and that was far more important.

Spike watched Buffy pause outside the door, check herself in the mirror on the wall and take a deep breath before re-joining the party. He sighed as he planned to hang around a while before going back in there himself, telling his father he felt ill and hoping they could go home as soon as possible. There was no way he could watch Buffy from across the room and not want to be near her, to hold her, and kiss her, and...

"So that's why Lizzy's been acting so weird around me" a voice interrupted the bleached blonds thoughts and he turned sharply, only to find a fist that struck him across the nose. The surprise made him stagger but not quite fall as he held his face in his hands and felt blood trickle down his fingers "All this is because of you" Angel sneered, circling the other young man like a predator.

"Don't know what you're on about" Spike lied blatantly. In any normal circumstance he'd have been fighting back in an instant, pummelling the bloke that dared to lay a hand on him into the ground, but this was Buffy's house or her mothers at least, and this guy had a right to be hacked off if he'd just caught the visual of what his 'fiancee' had been doing with Spike.

"Funny...I'm sure I just saw you with your tongue down my girl's throat" Angel said, menacingly, stopping his movement right in front of his 'enemy' "I should really make you pay for that"

"You just try it, mate" Spike replied, in a voice just as low, wiping the blood from his nose with the back of his hand before putting both arms into a more fight-ready stance "I'll have you on the ground before you even move" he promised, the violent part of his personality over-riding his earlier rational thoughts about keeping calm.

"Oh, so that's what it is" Angel almost laughed as he looked his rival up and down "Lizzy think I'm too nice or something? Needs a little action from some wannabe bad-ass?" he smirked, as Spike got more and more annoyed, his jaw clenched as his anger got ready to explode like Vesuvius inside of him "But hey, you probably did me a favour" Angel shrugged "I mean if I get myself a wife I don't want to be sharing with half the town"

With that he turned to walk away but he'd gone one step too far for Spike. The bleached blond spun the brunette around by his arm, smacking him clean across the face with his fist. Angel brought his hands up to defend himself but Spike knew if he started fighting he'd end up killing this scum. He didn't care for himself, but he didn't know how it would affect Buffy's opinion of him, and that was what mattered the most to him right now.

"You bastard!" he shot at the second man to get a bloody nose today as he turned and stormed away in frustration, as Xander watched the whole thing from behind a pillar on the other side of the foyer. As soon as he saw Angel head back to the party, blood dripping down his shirt, Buffy's twin knew there was going to be trouble and that his sister was going to be on the receiving end of another of Lady Joyce's drunken fits. It had gone on too long, and their mother had gone too far. Buffy had a chance to be truly happy and Xander was going to make sure she was, whatever it took.

* * * * *

Angel staggered back into the party, immediately searching out his parents who were standing by the buffet table, drinking punch.

"Liam, whatever's happened?" his father asked, immediately concerned by the sight of his son covered in blood and clearly in pain.

"The engagement is off" he choked out too loudly, making other guests stare as he wiped blood from his nose up his sleeve "I am not marrying that slut!" he announced "She has some freak boyfriend and he hit me!" he raved, his mothers arms immediately going around him as she realised he was really suffering.

"Oh my darling boy" she soothed, taking out a handkerchief, fussing and trying to clean him up the way mothers do "We have to do something about this, Joseph" the little blonde woman told her husband with a stern look, and he knew better than to argue with her. Sometimes he thought she loved their son more than she loved him.

"And we will do something, Darla" the man assured his wife, who was several years younger than himself "Lady Summers!" he bellowed across the room, causing several of the nearby nobles to jump and spill drinks down their expensive outfits.

"Lord O'Connor, whatever is going on?" the more-than-slightly inebriated Lady asked with concern as she came over to the man that had called to her. She observed the fierce looks on both the O'Connors faces and then the state of their son with blood still dripping from his face, wondering what on earth could have occurred.

"Your daughter is a disgrace" Lord Joseph announced to half the room, whilst his wife fussed around Angel, angry tears in her eyes, disgusted that someone would hurt her sweet boy whom she loved so dearly.

"I beg your pardon?" Lady Joyce gasped, still reeling from her daughter being called a disgrace and in front of all the decent people from Sunnydale and beyond!

"I think you heard me!" the angry man told her "She had some delinquent boy assault my son!"

Lady Joyce breathed deeply determined not to faint from the shock of what was happening, part of her mind already whirring with the possible punishments Elizabeth would receive for this outrage. Lord and Lady O'Connor stood waiting for her reply and she was suddenly very aware that the whole room was also eager to hear what she had to say. Closing her eyes briefly, she breathed deeply once more, turning to the crowd with a fake smile on her face and speaking sweetly and politely.

"Excuse me everyone, due to some rather unfortunate circumstances this gathering must be cut short. I apologise for this and thankyou all for coming, I'm sure we'll see you again soon" she said, loud enough to be heard but far less drunken than her earlier speech had been. Your daughter being called a disgrace and getting the blame for mindless violence tended to sober a mother up rather quickly.

All the nobility in attendance spoke in animated whispers as they left the ballroom, collected their coats and exited the Summers abode. Lady Joyce had no doubt she'd be the talk of the town by morning just as she'd planned, but this was not the way she expected it to happen.

Elizabeth and Liam's engagement, their happiness and love, this match that was presumed to be made in heaven should have been the biggest social event in Sunnydale, or possibly in the whole state, but now the Summers name was the centre of a scandal, and that was not the kind of thing Lady Joyce wanted public attention for. Elizabeth would be in deep trouble when she caught up with her, but first she had to deal with the O'Connors.

Angel had by now managed to escape his mother and father. As much as he liked the idea of Spike and Lizzy getting what was coming to them, there was only so much of his parents fussing he could take, especially in public. He managed to slip away to a bathroom and clean himself up to a modest extent. As he exited the room he literally ran into a young brunette girl.

"Hey Angel" she smiled, but he just frowned.

"Now's really not a good time, Cordelia" he told her, moving to walk away, but she was determined. The O'Connor's were even richer than the Summers, and Angel was the most eligible bachelor in Sunnydale, and if Lizzy didn't want him...

"I'm sorry" she called behind him "It's just, I wanted to say, well I overheard some stuff and...Lizzy's a fool for letting you go" she told him, making him turn around and pay attention to her as she knew he would.

"I'm not so sure she'd agree with that" he replied, his hand absently going to his bruised face.

"Are you okay" Cordy asked taking a step toward him, and reaching her hand out to cover his "I mean, is it painful?"

"Not so much now..." he admitted, causing her to blush uncharacteristically and smile a little.

"Looks like your parents are a little occupied" Cordelia noticed as she moved her hand away again "You wanna go some place, and maybe talk a while?" she suggested, as they both looked over at Lord and Lady O'Connor having a severely nasty looking discussion with Lady Joyce.

"Yeah" Angel nodded that he'd like very much to spend some time with this girl. If Lizzy was too stupid to see what a great guy he was, it didn't matter, and spending time with Cordelia wouldn't hurt anyone, he could use an ego boost after all.

To Be Continued...