Chapter 10 - Captain Cardboard
It had been a week since her father's visit and her first date with
Riley. She had hated every minute of it. She found Riley to be
incredibly boring, with no real personality to speak of. She thought
of Spike for the whole date in order to get through it. And now she
was getting ready for date number two. He was taking her out
somewhere fancy, courtesy of her father. She wished that she could
call the whole thing off, but knew she had to seem for a while as if
she had been making the effort. She thought about the previous weeks
date, as she got dressed. He had picked her up and taken her to a
movie, she had no say which movie, and she ended up sitting through
two hours of car crashes and people shooting each other, by the time
it was over she wanted to rip her hair out. And then it was out to
dinner. He took her to a little pizza parlor and he talked about
himself the entire time. She had been completely bored. Spike had
dubbed him 'Captain Cardboard' and Buffy couldn't say she disagreed with that observation. Her favorite part of the date was the end of it. Giles had begun taking Anthony with him every Saturday, to who they now knew was his girlfriend's, Jenny Calendar's house. He had decided that she needed the night to herself, but he seen it from the point of view as a mother needing a break from looking after her baby son. After she got home, she climbed in to bed beside Spike. They shared a few kisses and then fell into a peaceful sleep, lying
spooned against each other. And now she had to go through it all
again. She had chosen a simple pair of black boot cut trousers and a
dark blue top, with a pair of pointy toe boots. Her hair was pinned
back. She wore this because it made it look like she had made an
effort without making any. As she finished putting the final touches
on her make up, she heard a knock on her door and Spike walked in.
"Hey love." he said.
"Hi." she smiled back.
"You look great..." he looked at her for a minute "don't go."
"I have to go Spike. God knows I wish I didn't, but I do." she sighed.
"I know, but I wish you could stay here with me." he pouted jutting
out his lower lip.
"Me too, but you'll have me all to yourself when I get back.".
"Ok, I need to know. Has he kissed you yet?" he asked.
"No, I didn't let him. But it's going to have to happen at some
point." she did not look happy about this and Spike looked even less
happy.
"Can't I just rip his lips off. He can't kiss you then." he said
completely serious.
Buffy giggled at this.
"As much as I like the sound of that I don't think it's such a great
idea. I'll tell you what you can kiss me now, before I go and that
way he doesn't get to kiss me directly."
He raised an eyebrow at her logic.
"Luv, I don't think it works that way."
"I know," she said "I just wanted an excuse to get you to kiss me."
"All you had to do was ask" he said flirtatiously as he leaned in and
captured her lips in a searing kiss. Just as they broke the kiss, the
doorbell rang.
"Oh well, I have to go. Wait up for me?" she called as she left the
room.
"Try and stop me." he yelled back.
Buffy greeted Riley at the door with a false smile.
"Let's go." she said as she closed the door behind her.
Spike watched her leave with a sad look on his face. He knew that she
cared about him, he knew that she was only seeing Captain Cardboard
because she had no other choice, but it hurt watching her leave with
him. He didn't even have Anthony to keep him company until she got
home. He concluded that it was just him and his guitar, he may as
well write about how much he loved her.
30 minutes later Buffy and Riley were seated in the fancy Italian
restaurant that her father had picked out for their date. Riley was
already talking about himself and his intern work at her father's
firm and she was ready to fall asleep. The waiter came to take their
order and Riley ordered for her before she even had the chance to
open her mouth. After the waiter walked away he simply smiled at her
like he was God's gift and she really wanted to hit her. For the
first time though he decided to involve her in the conversation.
"So Buffy, you're dad tells me you want to be a lawyer too once you go back to school."
"I'm not going back to school, I already have a job, and if I did I
wouldn't want to become a lawyer." she told him.
"You can't honestly be saying that you want to keep being a nanny
after the baby turns a year old. Why would you want to keep looking
after someone else's brat?" he said with a smirk.
Buffy saw red. No one would talk about her son that way. And then she remembered that he didn't know he was hers. But that didn't matter. At that moment, she was so angry she had to say something.
"You know Riley, Anthony is not a brat. He is a great child. And
personally, I don't see what business it is of yours what I do with
my life." she spat.
"Buffy you are MY girlfriend, so I should have some say. I don't want
a girlfriend with no future." He told her.
"Riley we have been on two dates, hardly makes me your girlfriend.
Besides that, even if I were your girlfriend it still wouldn't
concern you whether or not I chose to continue being a nanny. It is
up to me and nobody else. Get used to it." she told him angrily with
wide eyes.
Riley seemed completely unphased by this, there was silence as the
waiter returned with their meals. Once he was gone, Riley resumed
talking.
"Buffy, I am in this relationship for the long haul. We are perfect
for one another. Once we spend some time together, you'll realize
that. And we will work together to get you through school and in to
your career." he told her, seemingly oblivious to everything she had
just said. She just sighed and the rest of the dinner was spent with
Buffy listening to Riley speak.
Yes. MY career NOT yours. You bastard. She thought silently.
After their date, Riley drove Buffy home and walked her to the door.
Standing there, Buffy felt very awkward, especially knowing Spike was inside waiting for her. She turned to face Riley and gave him a false smile.
"Well, thank you for a nice time, Riley." she said.
"It was my pleasure." he told her "I'll pick you up tomorrow about
eleven and we'll spend the day together. Have a picnic in the park."
"Ok" she said, knowing she had to go.
"Great, see you then."
He then leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. She had no choice
but to respond, but made sure it was only a small kiss. She pulled
away after a few seconds.
"Night Riley." she said turning away from him and going into the
house. Leaving Riley standing on the doorstep.
Spike heard Buffy entering the house and put his guitar and sheet
music away, just in time to hear her knock gently on the door before
walking in to the room. He looked up and smiled at her. So glad that
she was home, she smiled back as she sat on the bed and waited for
him to join her. She had already changed in to her PJ's so Spike sat
down beside her, both sitting cross-legged facing the center of the
bed.
"How was your date?" he started.
Buffy let out a sarcastic laugh before answering.
"Great, if you think hearing nails on a chalk board is fun."
"That bad, huh?" he questioned.
"You have no idea." suddenly she remembered what he had said earlier that evening and her anger came rushing back.
Spike noticed the look on her face and wondered if he should ask what was wrong, he didn't have to because she told him.
"That asshole called Anthony a brat. I have never been so angry in my
life. Nobody calls my chi- arge a brat" luckily, she caught her slip
before Spike noticed.
Spike himself looked like he wanted to rip Riley's head off.
"Who the hell does that bastard think he is?" he yelled "I swear if
he ever talks about him like that again I'll hit him."
Buffy placed a hand over his to calm him..
"Don't worry I told him off for it" she told him soothingly.
This got a small smile from the handsome blonde
"But there's more that I doubt you're going to like."
Spike didn't look like he wanted to hear but waited patiently for her
to continue anyway.
"He told me that he was in this relationship for the long haul, that
we were perfect for one another and he would help me see that."
Spike was seething, Riley seemed to be taking everything from him,
because Buffy was his everything,
"What did you say?" he asked, afraid of the answer.
"Nothing," she told him "like I said I need to make it look like I'm
making the effort, but I will end it as soon as possible, a few
months at most."
"MONTHS?" he said "That's too long. I can't watch you with him for
months."
"I'm sorry Spike, but as soon as I can find an excuse to end it I
will, prom is next month, let's just look forward to that."
He nodded his agreement as she leaned in and kissed him, softly at
first but soon becoming increasingly urgent. It was becoming harder
for both of them to stick to kissing, but both also knew that they
shouldn't get do anything else, for both their sakes, at that point
in time. Both pulled away at the same time.
"I think we should just go to sleep." she suggested.
"Yeah, might be a good idea." he agreed.
He laid down and opened his arms for her so that he could hold her.
She lay beside him and it wasn't long before they were both fast
asleep.
The next day Buffy did as much as she could for Anthony before having to leave. She had explained the situation to Spike and Giles that morning and Spike had offered to take him out for the day. Buffy had no idea that an idea had been forming in his mind since he had made the offer.
Buffy and Riley had been sitting in the park with the picnic he had
mad for about an hour, he was being his usual boring self and Buffy
did what she always did. She smiled and pretended to be interested,
she had no idea what Riley was droning on about this time, something
to do with cars or something. However, her mood changed when she saw a black clad figure pushing a pram coming towards them. She was genuinely surprised to see them, but not surprised that Spike would come up with the idea. He smiled as he pushed the pram up to where they were sitting on the grass, Riley had yet to notice they were
there. Buffy smiled back at him and called.
"Hey."
"Hey there pet, didn't know this is where you were coming on your
picnic, sorry." he lied and very happy to do so.
His arrival had drawn Riley's attention and he was not happy to see
the young man. He disliked that Buffy had anything to do with him at
all, but he was angry that he showed up to their date. He had a
suspicion that Spike had a thing for Buffy, he had no idea how right
he was.
"Spike, why don't you join us for a while?" Buffy offered much to
Riley's displeasure. However, he merely smiled stiffly and allowed
Spike to sit.
Buffy got up and removed Anthony from his pram, he was now four
months old and Buffy was amazed by how much he had grown since he had been born. She sat with him, bouncing him on her knee and talking to him, Spike watched on with a smile while Riley watched with resentment. Resentment that she was paying more attention to the baby that she looked after than to him. Spike decided to have some fun while he was there.
"So, Ri, what's it like to suck up Buffy's father's ass for a living?"
"It's Riley and that's not what I do Spike." he spat.
"Oh really, so sorry." Spike replied sarcastically "So what is it
that you do then?"
"I intern at the office watching and learning from the best." he said
obnoxiously.
"So you get their coffee and deliver their mail." Spike interpreted.
Buffy couldn't help the snigger that escaped her lips, especially
when she saw the smirk on Spike's face. Riley looked up angrily.
"Why are you still here, why don't you take the brat and leave us
alone?" Riley spat.
Spike's face reddened and he yelled.
"Now you listen here Captain Cardboard, don't ever call Anthony that
again, or trust me you pompous, obnoxious bastard you will regret
it," Spike threatened "and I'm not going anywhere, Buffy and I are
friends, she invited us to join you so I'm staying." he finished
still fuming.
"Whatever." Riley replied annoyed "Buffy don't make any plans for the weekend of the 12th next month. We're going to visit your parents." he told her.
Spike bristled at this, that was the weekend of the prom, he had
already bought the tickets and he was really looking forward to
spending time with her.
"Um, Riley, I can't I already have plans that weekend" she told him,
annoyed that he had told her what to do.
"Well unplan them," he told her "and what plans could you possibly
have?"
This really annoyed Buffy but Spike answered before the chance, if
Buffy was angry he was furious.
"She has a thing." he told Riley.
"Look bleach boy, this has nothing to do with you. I was speaking to
MY girlfriend." turning to Buffy he repeated "What do you have
planned."
"Riley, it isn't really any of your business. I had it planned before
you and I were dating. More importantly it's something I want to do."
she told him as she put a sleeping Anthony back in his pram.
"Buffy you're my girlfriend I made plans. If you're doing something
else I want to know what." his voice was slowly rising.
"Fine, I'll tell you." she said "I'm going to Prom with Spike."
"Over my dead body." he shouted.
"That can be arranged." Spike said snidely.
Riley reached over grabbing a hold of Spike by the collar and shoving
him up against a tree. Buffy watched on horrified at Riley's actions
"Temper, temper." Spike taunted "All this because you think I have
the hots for your girl."
"Trying to say that you don't?" he asked.
"Nope, never denied it," Spike admitted "but there's nothing you can
do about it captain, so you'll just get your hands off me." he said
pushing Riley away from him.
He walked over to the pram and turned to Buffy.
"I'll see you later Luv."
"No wait," she turned to Riley "I'm going to walk back with Spike,
I'm too angry to talk to you right now. I'll speak to you later."
She turned and walked away with Spike without waiting for a reply.
After a few minutes of walking in silence Buffy spoke.
"Thank you, for standing up for me back there."
He gave her a smile.
"Don't mention it. Nobody talks to you like that while I'm around and gets away with it." he said cockily "Bloody pillock, he's lucky I
didn't hit him."
Buffy couldn't help but laugh at this, she leaned over and kissed him
on the cheek and the two friends walked the rest of the way home
talking and laughing. Anyone who passed couldn't help but think the
two teens belonged together.