Buffy opened the door to the apartment and stormed in with a scowl on her face, and Spike standing behind her. Liam had his head down and Willow was berating him with a vengeance as they entered the small room.
"Of all the brain dead things, Angel. You need to mellow out. She's just fine! He's not going to hurt her!" Willow went on with her tirade without even noticing that Buffy and Spike had entered. "I don't know what you were thinking, but here's a clue. Knock it off, because until you do, I'm not going to be around."
Willow grabbed her coat, and turned quickly to leave, bumping into Spike as she did. Spike groaned as his head was jarred, and stumbled back a step.
"Oh no! Spike, I didn't mean to do that!" Willow fussed over Spike as Spike shrugged her off.
"S'no worry, pet. S'fine." He eyed Liam cautiously, and sat himself down in the beanbag chair.
"Well, I'm booking. I gotta spend some time at home before my mom sends out the search party. Liam, I meant what I said. Chill out." Willow sternly pointed at Liam, and then gave Buffy a quick wave, and headed out the door. Buffy watched the redhead leave, then turned back to look at Liam and Spike, both men eyeing each other as if measuring the other up.
"Lee, can I talk to you in my bedroom for a moment?" Buffy asked him, her voice stern though quiet. Without waiting for an answer, she walked into her room, and sat on the bed. Liam stood and with a final look at Spike, followed her back into the small room. He shut the door behind him, but rather than sit, he leaned against it.
"Bethie, I don't ant to see you getting hurt. I know you don't have any experience around guys, and Spike's not exactly innocent."
"Lee, I am an adult, though. I am out of school, and I can judge for myself whether or not someone might hurt me. Besides, how am I ever supposed to get 'experience' if I'm always worried about the guy hurting me?" She looked up at him with an expression that stated she wanted little argument from him. "Just promise me you'll leave him alone? I don't want you snooping around, and trying to scare him off every time he looks at me, or gets close to me."
"Bethie-" he started, only to be cut off.
"No, Lee. I want your promise." Buffy looked at him and crossed her arms over her chest. Liam scowled as he looked down at her.
"Yeah, fine. You have my promise. Just be careful around him, all right?"
"I planned to, Lee. I'm not going to suddenly go all crazy on you, and lose myself. Got it?"
"I hear that. Can I go out and face him now, or do you want Willow to come spank me first?" Liam tried hard not to let the wicked grin creep onto his face, but it did anyway.
"Oh, ew. I really didn't want to know that much about the two of you."
Liam chuckled deeply, and turned to leave the room. He paused as the door opened, and turned back to Buffy. "I care about you a lot, Bethie. You know that, right?"
Buffy nodded and smiled up at him. "Yeah, I do."
Buffy came out a few
moments later, just as Spike and Liam were getting ready to leave the
apartment. She frowned at the two of them in confusion.
"S'ok, pet. Big brother and I are just going to go take a quick walk to talk. I
promise, no blood." He held his hands up in surrender to her with a cocky
smile; despite the black swelling that was already beginning around his nose.
"I'm not going to hurt him, Buffy. Hey, here's some bread, order a pizza, will ya?" Liam dug out some bills, and handed them to Buffy. She took the money with a nod, and remained silent as the two left the apartment. After the door was closed, Buffy went over to the window, and watched the two disappear slowly down the road, talking the entire way. With a deep sigh, she walked over towards the phone, and just as she was about to pick it up, it rang. Buffy picked it up, and held the receiver to her ear, before plopping down on the beanbag chair.
"Hello?"
"Elizabeth? This is mother.
How are you, dear?" Buffy heard the familiar voice, and was silent. She
swallowed a lump in her throat before answering.
"Hello, mother. I am doing well. And you?" She asked quietly, mindful of being
polite.
"I am well. Thank you for asking. I thought I would call and check on you, as you neglected to let us know of your arrival into Sunnydale. Liam was there to meet you?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't think Grandmother would want me ringing the house so late in the evening. Liam couldn't meet me, but Spi- I mean, William did. He was a friend of ours before we moved, Mother."
"Oh, yes, that shy little boy with the glasses. That's nice, dear." After her mother stopped talking, there was an awkward silence. Finally, her mother said her good-byes, and the two hung up.
After the conversation, it took a few minutes before Buffy was able to pick up the phone again, this time to call and order a pizza. Just as she was hanging the phone back up, Spike and Liam walked back in, laughing like old chums again. Spike smiled and came over to Buffy. He sat on the ground next to her, and laid his head against her side.
"Food on its way?" Liam asked her.
"Yeah, should be here in about 20 minutes. Um… Mom called." Liam arched his eyebrows as he looked at her. "She wanted to make sure I had gotten here, and that someone had met me off the bus." Liam simply nodded, and refrained from making any comments about how long it had taken their mother to worry over her daughter.
Spike arched his head back and looked at Buffy for a moment. She glanced down at him with a small smile.
"You ok, love?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. So, what're we doing tonight?"
"I'm going to teach you the fine art of poker, ducks." He replied, shifting topics away from the mother neither Liam nor Buffy seemed to want to talk about.
"Good, I can't wait to leave you in my dust." Buffy responded with a teasing grin. She leaned down and placed a soft kiss on the tip of his bruised nose.
TBC
AN: As always, hope you enjoyed it so far, and reviews are always a bonus. ;)