Chapter 8

Buffy slammed around in the kitchen as she prepared the makings of a meal. Spike seemed to think he was a real smart ass. Well she would soon show him she thought angrily. He may have to live under her roof for the time being, but no one said she had to like it.

She could hear him moving about upstairs. The sounds of drawers and closets being opened and closed were easy to hear as his room was directly above the kitchen. He'd better not be getting too comfortable She frowned. Buffy thumped the egg carton down on the counter, wincing as she heard them crack under the pressure.

"Shit!"

"Looks like it's omelettes for lunch," Dawn whispered in her ear.

Buffy turned to face her sister, the scowl still on her face.

Dawn's eyebrows rose in surprise, "If looks could kill. What's got you all worked up?" she asked.

Buffy looked hard at her sister, she was sure she could detect a little smirk playing at the corners of Dawn's mouth. Deciding she was being over sensitive, she ignored it.

"Oh, you know me, I haven't had my caffeine fix yet…what with all the excitement of the new arrival," Buffy lied.

"Yeah I could see you were pretty excited, especially when I found you two together on the floor. Don't blame you. That hair, those eyes…" said Dawn, pulling a dreamy expression.

Buffy felt annoyed at her sister's admiration of Spike's attributes. She didn't want her sister talking about him like that, she didn't want anyone talking about him like that.

"He's married," Buffy blurted out.

"Really? Shame…he's quite the hottie. So if he is married, where is his wife now?" Dawn asked.

"Er…England, they split up," Buffy answered, why did she feel like she was digging herself a deeper pit with every word that she uttered? "Why don't you call up the stairs to see if Mr Sutton, er Spike wants a drink or something?"

"Ok," Dawn replied, a big grin spreading across her face, getting the answers she needed for now. Buffy liked Spike, all she needed to find out was how he felt about her. She got the distinct feeling that her stubborn sister would rather die than admit to any feelings for their newest member of the household. She had also just pulled what Dawn liked to term her liar face. There were secrets here in need of airing, she decided.

Dawn crept up the stairs and knocked on Spike's door.

"Hello?" called a voice from within.

Dawn slowly opened the door. "Er hi again, it's me as you can see," she finished awkwardly.

"And?" asked Spike, waiting to find out the purpose of her visit.

"Buffy said she needs some help in the kitchen,"

He arched an eyebrow at her doubtfully.

"She must be desperate to want my help then," said Spike as he stowed his bags away under the bed and followed Dawn downstairs.

Dawn sat down on the sofa and made herself comfortable and switched on the movie.

"You're not coming in too?" he asked her.

Dawn shook her head, "I really shouldn't be let near food, all kinds of bad happens,"

Spike shrugged and walked into the kitchen.

"Dawn could you pass me the frying pan off the hook there?" asked Buffy, she didn't bother turning around, as she was busily beating the eggs in a bowl.

Spike looked around the kitchen until he spied what she wanted, he walked over and took it down and passed it to her.

"Thanks," she replied. "Oh, did you ask Spike if he'd like a drink of any kind?"

"Nope, but I was told you needed some help," Spike replied.

Buffy spun around at the sound of his voice. "Oh, it's you,"

"And it's so very nice too see you too my darling wife," he replied mockingly.

"I told you to quit that, and what are you doing here?" she returned waspishly.

"Dawn said you needed help," Spike answered her.

"She lied,"

"I guessed as much,"

Spike just smiled at her, she put the bowl down on the counter, her eyes widening in alarm as he walked towards her. Time seemed to slow down as he stood so close to her that she could feel the heat from his body. She closed her eyes as she felt his hands reach up to circle her neck. She knew she should stop him, but she didn't want to. She had been thinking of that wonderful kiss he had given her on their wedding day and had compared it to every other kiss she had ever experienced and had found the others wanting.

His fingertips brushed across her neck and she sucked in a breath, waiting for his kiss, which never came. Buffy opened her eyes, feeling very foolish as she saw him holding her gold chain in his hand, her wedding band dangling from it.

"What are you doing with that?" she asked, trying to snatch it from him, but he held it out of her reach.

"While I was upstairs, I had time to think," he replied as he took the ring off the chain.

"In between breaking my no smoking policy you mean?" she asked.

"Yeah," he replied, offering no apology.

"And what did that so obviously super intelligent brain come up with that involves my ring?" she asked.

She had called it her ring, not the ring, but her ring. He liked that she had called ownership to it. If he were honest with himself, he was glad that Faith's mistake had given him an excuse to be allowed to wear his own still.

"If we are really going to make this work then we have to tell Dawn about us,"

"What us? There is no us," said Buffy heatedly.

"Whatever you say Buffy there is an us. You have to wear your ring and we have to tell Dawn and your friends no matter what they think or say. I know there is going to be some hurt feelings among them, but you don't have to do it alone. I will be right there to back you up, we are gonna have to tell them that we are hopelessly in love and make them believe it," Spike answered.

Buffy leaned against the kitchen counter for support.

"Why do you always have to be right?" she asked, her bottom lip trembling.

Tears began to fall down her face and Spike groaned inwardly. There was nothing he hated more than seeing a woman cry. Unthinkingly he walked over to her and took her in his arms. Buffy leaned against him and he stroked her hair to soothe her tears. Buffy lifted her tear stained face to look at him and he smiled down at her.

"Better?" he asked.

Buffy nodded, hating her momentary weakness as she turned away from him, located a piece of kitchen roll, and noisily blew her nose.

"Surely you see it's for the best?" he asked.

"Yeah, and while we are getting things out in the open, I think you deserve to know what's up with Dawn…she has leukaemia," Buffy said quietly, studying a crumb on the floor.

"Oh God, she is gonna be okay right?" asked Spike in concern.

Buffy continued looking at the floor; he touched her chin to raise her face to meet his.

"I don't know, it's too early to tell," Buffy admitted.

"Yeah, but there is hope?"

"There's always hope," said Buffy unconvincingly.

"But you don't believe that?" he questioned.

"Well my life has hardly been sunshine and butterflies, but whose is?"

Spike chuckled wryly at the truth of her words, words that sounded far too cynical from the mouth of a twenty-0ne year old woman. He took Buffy's hand and slid the ring on her finger before she could protest.

"Okay, I concede that we need to go public on this, but not our reasons for marriage ok?" she asked.

"That makes sense, so this is going to be a love match then?" asked Spike.

"To all that world, that is what it must look like," Buffy agreed.

"So when do we tell the nibblet?" asked Spike.

"No time like the present," she sighed.

Spike set the table for the three of them. Dawn was just finishing up watching the movie when Buffy called her into the dining room for lunch. Spike squeezed Buffy's hand trying to give her strength for the task ahead. She looked at the ring on her left hand finding it strangely comforting sight.

"I love that movie," sighed Dawn.

"What movie was that?" asked Spike conversationally.

"The wedding planner," she replied.

"Ah, can't say I've seen that one,"

"I think I would be a bit surprised if you had," Dawn giggled

Buffy kicked Spike under the table to get his attention, "Ow,"

"What's the matter Spike?" asked Dawn.

"Nothin' ah er Dawn, you see the thing is Buffy and I have some news for you,"

Dawn interrupted them "Oh God, you are pregnant aren't you? I could see the heat between you two the moment you entered the house," said Dawn excitedly.

"Um no, I can safely say I am not pregnant," said Buffy blushing furiously.

"Well what is it then?" asked Dawn as she heartily tucked into her cheese omelette.

"Buffy and I are married," Spike blurted out quickly.

Buffy turned and gave him a scorching look for the bluntness of his statement; she looked back at her sister who had turned an alarming shade of grey.

"Dawnie are you okay, do you need some water?" asked Buffy.

"N-n-no. Just give me a moment," she stuttered

Dawn got her breathing under control as she looked at her sister and Spike, shock turned to anger as she rose from her seat at the table and ran off up the stairs.

"Way to go Spike," said Buffy as she got up to go after Dawn.

"There was no easy way to tell her love and if Dawn went upstairs she went because she needed some alone time," he said as he touched her arm.

"When did you become the expert on teenage angst?" asked Buffy scathingly as she shook off his hand.

Spike sighed as he watched her march up the stairs. Deciding not to let good food go to waste he began eating his lunch, soon clearing the plate. He could hear Buffy tapping on her sister's door, but to no avail. He got up from his chair and wandered around the room, familiarising himself with his new home.

There was a shelf of family photos of both Buffy and Dawn in varying stages of babyhood right up until their teens. One large picture of a woman with curly fair hair and a friendly smile caught his eye. It had to be their mother, he could see her likeness in both her children, she had kind eyes and it made him a little sad that he would never meet her.

"I'll take that, thank you," said Buffy as she replaced it back on the shelf.

"Was that your mum?" he asked.

"Yeah,"

"So Dawn didn't want to chat?" asked Spike.

There was an awkward moment's silence as the conversation briefly ran dry.

"Where is your dad?" he asked, relieved to find a subject to latch on to.

"Hank? Last, I heard he was living in Spain with his latest girlfriend. He hasn't been a part of this family since the day he walked out on mom," said Buffy, a hint of bitterness creeping into her voice.

"So he doesn't know about Dawn?" he asked.

"No, if he were interested in either of us then he would have kept in touch,"

Both heads turned to see Dawn slowly descending the stairs.

"Dawn," Buffy sighed in relief. She felt instant remorse as she could tell her sister had been crying.

"So how long you two been married?" asked Dawn.

"Six weeks today," Spike replied.

"That would have been the day Willow came over and sat with me," said Dawn "Where did you meet?"

"The diner," Buffy replied.

"Yeah, we sort of fell in love over a little spilt coffee, there I was minding my business when your sister spills cold coffee all over my manlies,"

"Er yeah Spike that's enough of that heart warming tale. I am so sorry that I didn't tell you Dawn, I should have, but we got the diagnosis for your illness and what with Chemo starting, I thought it would be a little too much for you,"

"And we couldn't put it off much longer as my time was nearly up here and I didn't want to leave your sister alone while all this was going on," Spike explained.

"But how long had you been seeing each other before?" asked Dawn.

"Before what?" asked Buffy

"Before you got married duh," said Dawn in irritation.

"Two weeks, we took one look at each other and we just knew," said Spike, walking over to Buffy and putting an arm around her for effect.

"A love at first sight deal?" sighed Dawn.

"Yeah, something like that," Spike smiled at his sister-in-law.

"Well now that's all settled you can move your stuff into Buffy's room. There is a big five foot bed in there, just perfect for newly weds," said Dawn mischievously.

"Oh bugger," Spike mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" asked Dawn.

"Perfect, absolutely perfect," smiled Buffy stiffly, first looking from her sister, and then to Spike.

Dawn then moved forward to hug the new couple.

"So you are okay with this?" asked Spike.

"Yeah, one thing I learnt since falling sick was that time is too short for arguments. Besides you obviously adore one another as I pointed out to Buffy in the kitchen earlier," said Dawn.

"Oh, you did, did you?" drawled Spike.

"This is so neat, having a guy about the house again and a big brother type figure. I just gotta tell all my friends," said Dawn as she bounded off into the lounge.

"And at some point you've got to tell all yours," said Spike as he looked at Buffy.

She had stopped listening to most of the conversation after the words…you can move your stuff into Buffy's room. There is a big five-foot bed in there. Well she had made her bed and it seemed she was gonna have to lie in it quite literally and not alone…

TBC