A/N: This is my first fan fiction so bare with me here. It is a total AU
where everyone is human. Spike is a lawyer who was fired from his job and
now works for his brother-in-law. Buffy is a woman going through a divorce.
The two meet and some stuff happens. You have to read to find out what.
Please R&R. I swear it will be good.
Chapter 1: The Meeting
Buffy hung the last picture and stepped back to see if it looked good on the wall. She wanted everything to look perfect even though she knew that there was no such thing as perfection. This picture was one of her and her daughter, Dawn. Riley wasn't in the picture. In fact Riley wasn't in any of the pictures she just finished hanging up. She couldn't look at him anymore. After all the things he put her through she had a right to be angry, no furious at him. No one blamed her for trying to get out of her marriage to Riley. In fact, people asked her why it took her this long to realize he was a piece of shit. Buffy herself couldn't image why she had ever been that stupid. Her father, before he died, had warned her about men like Riley. Buffy felt the tears in her eyes as she thought about her father mixed in with all the hurt and the pain of the last four years of her life, but quickly wiped them away. She would shed no more tears of pity for herself. That time had come and now it was time to get on with her life.
Her ex-husband was a terrible man who hurt her and she would let the same fate fall on her daughter. In the beginning he was a joy to be around; he was always happy and carefree. That was what made Buffy fall hard for him. Now he was mean and cruel. Buffy wouldn't let him near her or their daughter. She would fight as long as it took to keep him away from Dawn, even if it meant spending all she had. She would no longer be Mrs. Riley Finn. She would be Buffy Summers again.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
William Flannery hated working family law. He had lost his corporate because he yelled at his older then dirt boss. When he was fired he was already on the edge of losing his job. Now he was working for his crappy brother-in-law and proving his dad's theory correct. William's life had taken wrong turns, not to mention the fact that he barely got into law school.
That was what turned his life around: Law. In his youth, William was arrest numerous times. Each time his father's attorney, Rupert Giles, would expunge his record. Will would spend countless hours in Rupert's office looking at law files. His father wanted Will to go into the family business, which was being a cop. Will's older brother, Liam or Angel as he was called by family members, was a detective for Sunnnydale police department. Will had defied his dad and became an ambulance chaser as his father and brother would put it.
Now the dream was over. He was working for a guy he hated and a section of law he wasn't all that qualified for. He couldn't let his father have the last laugh. He would get out of this job and open his own practice. He just had to wait awhile.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Alexander Harris was listening to a new client talk. A sob story that women use when they were going through a divorce. This one was no exception. Trying to get half of everything, custody of the kid, and keep away the ex-husband in the process. It would be another slam-dunk, Alexander thought. He, personally, could not take the case, but he could give it to one of his underlings with no experience. Wives always got everything. He could give it to someone. Someone being his brother-in-law Will.
Xander hated Will or Spike as he was called throughout the office. Spike was his street name from the time when he was a hoodlum. Worthless son of a bitch in Xander's opinion. Spike was a screw-up who didn't deserve to practice law. Xander only hired him because his wife, Anya, begged him mercilessly for weeks. After she realized begging wasn't going to work she withheld sex until Xander finally caved. Xander knew that Spike would hate taking a case.
This lady seemed ready to cry at any moment. It would be the perfect stress pusher. Xander hated making his wife unhappy and a lot of that was because of Spike. Well not a lot, but it seemed to tie in with her family who hated lawyers. Anya herself was involved with the police department. She was a forensic examiner for the Sunny-D police department.
The woman seemed done with her story so Xander took this as the time to speak up. " Ms. Finn.." Xander started off, but didn't get finished because the petite blonde interrupted.
"It's Miss Summers. Finn is my ex-husband's name." She said with such pride and confidence that Xander couldn't help, but admire.
" Miss Summers, I myself can't take the case, but one of my associates can." Xander said with his usual sweet caring voice. He had been in the business to long.
"Is he or she qualified?" Buffy asked not wanting to seem too skeptical about the qualifications of the lawyers that worked for the man sitting in front of her. The problem was she wanted nothing but the best. Riley's lawyer was a cruel hearted bitch who worked for his family. She needed to fight fire with fire.
" Mr. Flannery is more than qualified to take this case." Xander said. He could sense that tone in a woman's voice any day. It was doubt. She wanted the best.
"So you know which lawyer you are assigning the case to?" Buffy asked. She was amazed that he had even given it any thought. He seemed like he was zoning out during the meeting.
" Yes, Mr. Flannery is a very good colleague. He is very dedicated to his work." Xander said without hinting that some parts weren't true. Spike was dedicated to his work, but not this work.
" May I meet with him? I would really like to get the ball rolling on the case so I can hurry up and put all this behind my daughter and me." Buffy said. She really needed all this to end. She was maxed-out on her sick days at work and couldn't afford to lose her job. " Let me show you to his office."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Spike sat at his desk working through all the paper work. He had firmly stated to his baby sister that he would not take a case. Anya had discussed it with Xander and told Spike that he would just be filing paper work unless he felt like taking a case. That was Anya for you. She could have been a lawyer but decided to become a doctor instead. Spike knew Anya looked up to him and he hated exploiting it. He hadn't asked for a job but she knew he needed one so she took it upon herself to get him one at Xander's office. Now all Spike had to do was wait until he rode this out for about a year than he could start his own practice. That was all it was about. His practice.
There was a knock at the door and Spike wondered who it might be. No one every knocked on Spike's door. They all came in and handed him paper work. " Come in." he said with a little too much curiosity that he couldn't keep back. Also his accent leaked out. It had been a long time since that happened last. Spike's accent all came out when he was extremely nervous or curious nowadays.
Xander entered the room with a pretty blonde close behind him. She must have been a new worker who was there to help Spike with the paper work.
"Oh, hello Xand." Spike said trying to hide the British accent that was making its way through. Spike hated that accent. It represented something that he was no longer a part of.
"Will this is Miss Summers. She is a new client at this firm." Xander said. He has smiling in spite of himself. He could see the curiosity that played in those blue eyes of his. Add that and the accent and Spike could have just said that it was killing him not knowing why Xander was there.
Spike didn't know what Xander was playing at and wasn't sure if he wanted to know. Xander had on that stupid grin he wore when he was bursting with glee.
"So why are you showing the bird to my neck of the woods?" It was a slip, but one he didn't care about. He was dying to know what Xander was playing at.
Buffy wasn't sure she liked what was going on. The two men seemed to needed to communicate more with each other. She felt it was time to speak up because like Spike the suspense was killing her.
"Mr. Harris said that you would be able to take my case. He said that you were one of his best associates." There now everything was out in the open. Xander didn't like that she ruined the surprise but knew that she must be going through a lot and didn't want games to be played.
Spike could have killed Xander right there and then. He had to be clinically insane to think that Spike would want anything to do with all these said women. He knew that the best thing to do was not to lose his cool in front of this women who seemed to be very impatient. She didn't need their bickering.
"Well, Xander is terrible wrong to make an assumption like that. I have piles of work to do and there is just no way I could take on one more case. Sorry, luv." Spike said with a very soft voice. His accent was almost gone as he said that except for the luv part. Xander didn't get mad or huffy. He simply reiterated this.
"Will I know that you have important cases to work on, but I would really like it if you took this one. Miss Summers has been through quiet an ordeal. She needs a very good lawyer to defend her case. I can get other people to cover your cases. Just please except this one." Xander said this in his lawyer voice. Xander had a very convincing voice that would make anyone agree.
As much as Spike hated it he always fell for it as well. He wanted to get angry, but he felt like he couldn't. Maybe it was because of Xander's charming personality or maybe it was because of the woman standing in front of him. Spike knew he had to get back in the game whether it be family law or business law he needed to be in a courtroom.
"Alright all take the case but you really are going to have to pawn of some of this work to all the other people at this place. I'm not the only working here you know." Spike said playing into the game that Xander presented.
Xander sighed internally. He knew that he had actually just helped Spike more than punish him, but at least this case would go to someone who would treat it with some respect. That was all Xander could hope for. He said good-bye and left the room still wondering what really happened right now.
" Miss Summers why don't you take a seat?" Spike said trying to get the ball rolling. He knew she was anxious. Buffy sat down. All her nerves were frazzled and she needed to sit. "so why don't you tell me about your case." Buffy sighed. She had been doing a lot of that lately, but it was like a reflex. She set her hands on her lap and began to talk.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Buffy had just finished explaining the details of her marriage. She had a daughter and her husband had been abusive. Spike wondered how good people ended up in terrible situations like this. She seemed like such a good person. Her green eyes were full of sadness and hurt. The only time they even showed the slightest signs of happiness was at the mentioning of her daughter Dawn. She loved her daughter a lot. Spike took in a deep breath and prepared to talk.
" Can you prove any signs of the abuse?"
Buffy thought it was an odd question to ask. It didn't seem to have anything to do with the relevance of the case. She knew he must have had a reason.
" A few of my friends were witnesses to some of his violence and I have emergency room reports, plus a few pictures. Still I don't see how it is relevant to the case?" She had to ask.
Damn, he had some how managed to sound like a defense attorney. He just couldn't hide that. His accent he could hide, but his annoying habit of having to know every detail was just something he had to wear on his sleeve. "Oh it was just some background information. I just thought that if there was any need to back up your request that I should know ahead of time." Good you saved your ass from an unwanted inquiry Spike thought.
"Oh I see what you're saying. I don't know if it would be a problem though. Riley never denied that he hit me. It was the one thing he told the truth about."
"Well if you say that the lawyer he has is pretty good than she will try to say that there was no abuse and that your claims are unjustified."
Buffy hadn't thought about that. What if Riley tried to say that he never laid a hand on her or never tried to hurt Dawn. Buffy couldn't let that happen. She needed Mr. Flannery to beat her ex-husband. "You don't really think that Riley would pull something like that?"
" It is a definite possibility. If he really loves your child like you says he does than he will do anything to be able to see her. No matter what the price." Spike said in a calm but matter-of-fact voice. He knew that she needed to know all that went along with a trial.
"Mr. Flannery do you think you are up to the challenge of going to trial with my case? I know that you are a good lawyer and that this is probably an everyday run of the mill divorce cases. I just feel that I will need someone who is fully prepared to through himself into this case. My case. It is very important that Dawn doesn't ever have to see her father unless it is a supervised visit." It was a long speech that Buffy thought was unnecessary, but she needed to say it.
Spike could see that she was suffering from all this and thought the best way to approach the situation was to tell her what was the closest to the truth as he could get. He was a lawyer after all.
"Miss Summers, I'm fully prepared to dive into this case head first. I really feel that what you went through was very difficult and stress worthy. More than that I don't think your daughter who is so young needs to go through that. And its Will. I don't think that you should bother with Mr. Flannery. If you want Mr. Flannery you can find him at the 22nd precinct." Spike said.
Buffy thought that his answer was genuine. His good manners and his sense of humor floored her. He had lost the accent though. She couldn't understand for the life of her why he hid it. It was a nice accent that added to his over all charm. Buffy hadn't spent the whole time looking at him, but she wouldn't deny that he was very handsome.
"Thank you for excepting the challenge. I really wish that you will live up to my expectations." Buffy said. She moved out of her chair and was walking to the door when he spoke again.
Spike couldn't let her leave yet. There were a few minor details to work out. Basically shop talk, but it would need to be done now to avoid messy pick-ups later.
"Miss Summers there is still the minor detail of how much money you actually want from Mr. Finn?" he said in the nicest voice possible. He didn't want to overwhelm her. Buffy quietly came back to her seat and sat down. The number hadn't really popped into her head. She was content with no money at all. She didn't need his money, but still she had Dawn to think about. Dawn might need the money later on in life for college or something.
"I suppose the usual amount of money a person would pay for child support. I really don't want nor need his money. Dawn and I will be just fine after this whole thing is put behind us." Buffy was a little shaky when she said this and Spike could tell. She didn't want his money, but need might be a different story.
"Miss Summers what do you do for a living?" There it was again. That ability to turn everything into an investigation.
Buffy answered his question with ease. "I'm a nurse at a hospital." No further explanation than that. Spike wanted to inquiry, but he knew that would be too much for her. "Okay so you are seeking the minimum amount that a child can receive for child support? That would be about three hundred dollars a month, I believe." Spike finished saying this, but knew that he should have consulted with Xander before saying exact amounts. Buffy didn't know what to say. Three hundred dollars a month seemed reasonable, but she didn't know for sure.
It would be so much easier if Willow were there with her, she thought.
"It sounds like a good amount but I would like to discuss it further. I'm not quiet sure if that is too much or too little and I don't want Riley to feel that he owns something of mine. He needs to realize that he blew his chance with me when he first started taking his angry out on not only me, but on Dawn as well. He never hurt Dawn too bad but the scars are there." Buffy said this and then started to make her way to the door. She knew that it was almost time to start work and she couldn't be late.
Spike saw her do a dash to the door. He knew that she needed to get out of there and was happy to oblige her request.
"Miss Summers you can go now although I don't think I have much say on whether you leave right now or if you leave four days from now. We will however need to discuss the case more in a couple of days. When is your day off?" Spike asked.
"Thursday."
"That is two days from now that should be fine."
"No I meant two Thursdays from now. I used up all my sick days and now I don't have another day off until then."
"That is perfectly fine. You will need to come back though." Spike said to tell her that this wasn't the end but only the beginning.
"I know." She reached for the doorknob and was slowly turning it when he said
"Remember that you will win. I will personally make sure of that, Miss Summers." Buffy turned to face him.
"Thank you, and its Buffy." She said as she turned back and walked through the door.
A/N: I hope you like this first chapter. It was kinda the test chapter to see if I was any good at this fan fiction stuff. I know you are all wondering where the Spuffy goodness is but if you are patient it will come. I know this is supposed to be rated R but I promise it will pick up soon. This chapter and maybe the next will be mainly introduction chapters. Wait and see how it evolves please. Also review this chapter if you can and tell me if you find anything wrong. I want to hear from you about the good and the bad. I'm also open to any ideas people might have.
Chapter 1: The Meeting
Buffy hung the last picture and stepped back to see if it looked good on the wall. She wanted everything to look perfect even though she knew that there was no such thing as perfection. This picture was one of her and her daughter, Dawn. Riley wasn't in the picture. In fact Riley wasn't in any of the pictures she just finished hanging up. She couldn't look at him anymore. After all the things he put her through she had a right to be angry, no furious at him. No one blamed her for trying to get out of her marriage to Riley. In fact, people asked her why it took her this long to realize he was a piece of shit. Buffy herself couldn't image why she had ever been that stupid. Her father, before he died, had warned her about men like Riley. Buffy felt the tears in her eyes as she thought about her father mixed in with all the hurt and the pain of the last four years of her life, but quickly wiped them away. She would shed no more tears of pity for herself. That time had come and now it was time to get on with her life.
Her ex-husband was a terrible man who hurt her and she would let the same fate fall on her daughter. In the beginning he was a joy to be around; he was always happy and carefree. That was what made Buffy fall hard for him. Now he was mean and cruel. Buffy wouldn't let him near her or their daughter. She would fight as long as it took to keep him away from Dawn, even if it meant spending all she had. She would no longer be Mrs. Riley Finn. She would be Buffy Summers again.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
William Flannery hated working family law. He had lost his corporate because he yelled at his older then dirt boss. When he was fired he was already on the edge of losing his job. Now he was working for his crappy brother-in-law and proving his dad's theory correct. William's life had taken wrong turns, not to mention the fact that he barely got into law school.
That was what turned his life around: Law. In his youth, William was arrest numerous times. Each time his father's attorney, Rupert Giles, would expunge his record. Will would spend countless hours in Rupert's office looking at law files. His father wanted Will to go into the family business, which was being a cop. Will's older brother, Liam or Angel as he was called by family members, was a detective for Sunnnydale police department. Will had defied his dad and became an ambulance chaser as his father and brother would put it.
Now the dream was over. He was working for a guy he hated and a section of law he wasn't all that qualified for. He couldn't let his father have the last laugh. He would get out of this job and open his own practice. He just had to wait awhile.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Alexander Harris was listening to a new client talk. A sob story that women use when they were going through a divorce. This one was no exception. Trying to get half of everything, custody of the kid, and keep away the ex-husband in the process. It would be another slam-dunk, Alexander thought. He, personally, could not take the case, but he could give it to one of his underlings with no experience. Wives always got everything. He could give it to someone. Someone being his brother-in-law Will.
Xander hated Will or Spike as he was called throughout the office. Spike was his street name from the time when he was a hoodlum. Worthless son of a bitch in Xander's opinion. Spike was a screw-up who didn't deserve to practice law. Xander only hired him because his wife, Anya, begged him mercilessly for weeks. After she realized begging wasn't going to work she withheld sex until Xander finally caved. Xander knew that Spike would hate taking a case.
This lady seemed ready to cry at any moment. It would be the perfect stress pusher. Xander hated making his wife unhappy and a lot of that was because of Spike. Well not a lot, but it seemed to tie in with her family who hated lawyers. Anya herself was involved with the police department. She was a forensic examiner for the Sunny-D police department.
The woman seemed done with her story so Xander took this as the time to speak up. " Ms. Finn.." Xander started off, but didn't get finished because the petite blonde interrupted.
"It's Miss Summers. Finn is my ex-husband's name." She said with such pride and confidence that Xander couldn't help, but admire.
" Miss Summers, I myself can't take the case, but one of my associates can." Xander said with his usual sweet caring voice. He had been in the business to long.
"Is he or she qualified?" Buffy asked not wanting to seem too skeptical about the qualifications of the lawyers that worked for the man sitting in front of her. The problem was she wanted nothing but the best. Riley's lawyer was a cruel hearted bitch who worked for his family. She needed to fight fire with fire.
" Mr. Flannery is more than qualified to take this case." Xander said. He could sense that tone in a woman's voice any day. It was doubt. She wanted the best.
"So you know which lawyer you are assigning the case to?" Buffy asked. She was amazed that he had even given it any thought. He seemed like he was zoning out during the meeting.
" Yes, Mr. Flannery is a very good colleague. He is very dedicated to his work." Xander said without hinting that some parts weren't true. Spike was dedicated to his work, but not this work.
" May I meet with him? I would really like to get the ball rolling on the case so I can hurry up and put all this behind my daughter and me." Buffy said. She really needed all this to end. She was maxed-out on her sick days at work and couldn't afford to lose her job. " Let me show you to his office."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Spike sat at his desk working through all the paper work. He had firmly stated to his baby sister that he would not take a case. Anya had discussed it with Xander and told Spike that he would just be filing paper work unless he felt like taking a case. That was Anya for you. She could have been a lawyer but decided to become a doctor instead. Spike knew Anya looked up to him and he hated exploiting it. He hadn't asked for a job but she knew he needed one so she took it upon herself to get him one at Xander's office. Now all Spike had to do was wait until he rode this out for about a year than he could start his own practice. That was all it was about. His practice.
There was a knock at the door and Spike wondered who it might be. No one every knocked on Spike's door. They all came in and handed him paper work. " Come in." he said with a little too much curiosity that he couldn't keep back. Also his accent leaked out. It had been a long time since that happened last. Spike's accent all came out when he was extremely nervous or curious nowadays.
Xander entered the room with a pretty blonde close behind him. She must have been a new worker who was there to help Spike with the paper work.
"Oh, hello Xand." Spike said trying to hide the British accent that was making its way through. Spike hated that accent. It represented something that he was no longer a part of.
"Will this is Miss Summers. She is a new client at this firm." Xander said. He has smiling in spite of himself. He could see the curiosity that played in those blue eyes of his. Add that and the accent and Spike could have just said that it was killing him not knowing why Xander was there.
Spike didn't know what Xander was playing at and wasn't sure if he wanted to know. Xander had on that stupid grin he wore when he was bursting with glee.
"So why are you showing the bird to my neck of the woods?" It was a slip, but one he didn't care about. He was dying to know what Xander was playing at.
Buffy wasn't sure she liked what was going on. The two men seemed to needed to communicate more with each other. She felt it was time to speak up because like Spike the suspense was killing her.
"Mr. Harris said that you would be able to take my case. He said that you were one of his best associates." There now everything was out in the open. Xander didn't like that she ruined the surprise but knew that she must be going through a lot and didn't want games to be played.
Spike could have killed Xander right there and then. He had to be clinically insane to think that Spike would want anything to do with all these said women. He knew that the best thing to do was not to lose his cool in front of this women who seemed to be very impatient. She didn't need their bickering.
"Well, Xander is terrible wrong to make an assumption like that. I have piles of work to do and there is just no way I could take on one more case. Sorry, luv." Spike said with a very soft voice. His accent was almost gone as he said that except for the luv part. Xander didn't get mad or huffy. He simply reiterated this.
"Will I know that you have important cases to work on, but I would really like it if you took this one. Miss Summers has been through quiet an ordeal. She needs a very good lawyer to defend her case. I can get other people to cover your cases. Just please except this one." Xander said this in his lawyer voice. Xander had a very convincing voice that would make anyone agree.
As much as Spike hated it he always fell for it as well. He wanted to get angry, but he felt like he couldn't. Maybe it was because of Xander's charming personality or maybe it was because of the woman standing in front of him. Spike knew he had to get back in the game whether it be family law or business law he needed to be in a courtroom.
"Alright all take the case but you really are going to have to pawn of some of this work to all the other people at this place. I'm not the only working here you know." Spike said playing into the game that Xander presented.
Xander sighed internally. He knew that he had actually just helped Spike more than punish him, but at least this case would go to someone who would treat it with some respect. That was all Xander could hope for. He said good-bye and left the room still wondering what really happened right now.
" Miss Summers why don't you take a seat?" Spike said trying to get the ball rolling. He knew she was anxious. Buffy sat down. All her nerves were frazzled and she needed to sit. "so why don't you tell me about your case." Buffy sighed. She had been doing a lot of that lately, but it was like a reflex. She set her hands on her lap and began to talk.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Buffy had just finished explaining the details of her marriage. She had a daughter and her husband had been abusive. Spike wondered how good people ended up in terrible situations like this. She seemed like such a good person. Her green eyes were full of sadness and hurt. The only time they even showed the slightest signs of happiness was at the mentioning of her daughter Dawn. She loved her daughter a lot. Spike took in a deep breath and prepared to talk.
" Can you prove any signs of the abuse?"
Buffy thought it was an odd question to ask. It didn't seem to have anything to do with the relevance of the case. She knew he must have had a reason.
" A few of my friends were witnesses to some of his violence and I have emergency room reports, plus a few pictures. Still I don't see how it is relevant to the case?" She had to ask.
Damn, he had some how managed to sound like a defense attorney. He just couldn't hide that. His accent he could hide, but his annoying habit of having to know every detail was just something he had to wear on his sleeve. "Oh it was just some background information. I just thought that if there was any need to back up your request that I should know ahead of time." Good you saved your ass from an unwanted inquiry Spike thought.
"Oh I see what you're saying. I don't know if it would be a problem though. Riley never denied that he hit me. It was the one thing he told the truth about."
"Well if you say that the lawyer he has is pretty good than she will try to say that there was no abuse and that your claims are unjustified."
Buffy hadn't thought about that. What if Riley tried to say that he never laid a hand on her or never tried to hurt Dawn. Buffy couldn't let that happen. She needed Mr. Flannery to beat her ex-husband. "You don't really think that Riley would pull something like that?"
" It is a definite possibility. If he really loves your child like you says he does than he will do anything to be able to see her. No matter what the price." Spike said in a calm but matter-of-fact voice. He knew that she needed to know all that went along with a trial.
"Mr. Flannery do you think you are up to the challenge of going to trial with my case? I know that you are a good lawyer and that this is probably an everyday run of the mill divorce cases. I just feel that I will need someone who is fully prepared to through himself into this case. My case. It is very important that Dawn doesn't ever have to see her father unless it is a supervised visit." It was a long speech that Buffy thought was unnecessary, but she needed to say it.
Spike could see that she was suffering from all this and thought the best way to approach the situation was to tell her what was the closest to the truth as he could get. He was a lawyer after all.
"Miss Summers, I'm fully prepared to dive into this case head first. I really feel that what you went through was very difficult and stress worthy. More than that I don't think your daughter who is so young needs to go through that. And its Will. I don't think that you should bother with Mr. Flannery. If you want Mr. Flannery you can find him at the 22nd precinct." Spike said.
Buffy thought that his answer was genuine. His good manners and his sense of humor floored her. He had lost the accent though. She couldn't understand for the life of her why he hid it. It was a nice accent that added to his over all charm. Buffy hadn't spent the whole time looking at him, but she wouldn't deny that he was very handsome.
"Thank you for excepting the challenge. I really wish that you will live up to my expectations." Buffy said. She moved out of her chair and was walking to the door when he spoke again.
Spike couldn't let her leave yet. There were a few minor details to work out. Basically shop talk, but it would need to be done now to avoid messy pick-ups later.
"Miss Summers there is still the minor detail of how much money you actually want from Mr. Finn?" he said in the nicest voice possible. He didn't want to overwhelm her. Buffy quietly came back to her seat and sat down. The number hadn't really popped into her head. She was content with no money at all. She didn't need his money, but still she had Dawn to think about. Dawn might need the money later on in life for college or something.
"I suppose the usual amount of money a person would pay for child support. I really don't want nor need his money. Dawn and I will be just fine after this whole thing is put behind us." Buffy was a little shaky when she said this and Spike could tell. She didn't want his money, but need might be a different story.
"Miss Summers what do you do for a living?" There it was again. That ability to turn everything into an investigation.
Buffy answered his question with ease. "I'm a nurse at a hospital." No further explanation than that. Spike wanted to inquiry, but he knew that would be too much for her. "Okay so you are seeking the minimum amount that a child can receive for child support? That would be about three hundred dollars a month, I believe." Spike finished saying this, but knew that he should have consulted with Xander before saying exact amounts. Buffy didn't know what to say. Three hundred dollars a month seemed reasonable, but she didn't know for sure.
It would be so much easier if Willow were there with her, she thought.
"It sounds like a good amount but I would like to discuss it further. I'm not quiet sure if that is too much or too little and I don't want Riley to feel that he owns something of mine. He needs to realize that he blew his chance with me when he first started taking his angry out on not only me, but on Dawn as well. He never hurt Dawn too bad but the scars are there." Buffy said this and then started to make her way to the door. She knew that it was almost time to start work and she couldn't be late.
Spike saw her do a dash to the door. He knew that she needed to get out of there and was happy to oblige her request.
"Miss Summers you can go now although I don't think I have much say on whether you leave right now or if you leave four days from now. We will however need to discuss the case more in a couple of days. When is your day off?" Spike asked.
"Thursday."
"That is two days from now that should be fine."
"No I meant two Thursdays from now. I used up all my sick days and now I don't have another day off until then."
"That is perfectly fine. You will need to come back though." Spike said to tell her that this wasn't the end but only the beginning.
"I know." She reached for the doorknob and was slowly turning it when he said
"Remember that you will win. I will personally make sure of that, Miss Summers." Buffy turned to face him.
"Thank you, and its Buffy." She said as she turned back and walked through the door.
A/N: I hope you like this first chapter. It was kinda the test chapter to see if I was any good at this fan fiction stuff. I know you are all wondering where the Spuffy goodness is but if you are patient it will come. I know this is supposed to be rated R but I promise it will pick up soon. This chapter and maybe the next will be mainly introduction chapters. Wait and see how it evolves please. Also review this chapter if you can and tell me if you find anything wrong. I want to hear from you about the good and the bad. I'm also open to any ideas people might have.