A/N : As always, thanx so much for the latest reviews; Decaf Love, Spuffy2008, u2fan2005, spuffy-monica, sPIKEaNDmE, funkydevil206, Brunettepet, Ember91, Amandamanda3, igore, wicked-angel-413, aej1085, what, Moluvsnumber17, spiked-gurl, souled-angel, KelleyTheSelfToastablePoptart, Sandra, Baby Girl Geller-Green, Freezyboncoolipants, Daniel Wesley Rydell, Spikez-babe91, A.A.J., cazey, velja, Anonona, Kez, bella-lover, SpuffyChiclet, littelwicca, Ape18, and Lifes-Slayer. I don't think I lost more than two regular readers with the previous chapter. Most of you seemed stunned but have faith in me to fix this situation.. okay so maybe Faith wasn't the best word to use! Oh and before anyone starts telling me the character called Angel is nothing like him, I've kind of gone with his Angelus persona for this story...
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 22 - The Old vs The New

"Er, Buffy" Giles said awkwardly as he glanced around the foyer at the five young people there, before facing the blonde, "I would assume you know these people" he gestured vaguely at Faith and Angel.

Though Buffy answered her God-fathers question her eyes never left Spike, who looked like he was about to cry.

"Er, yeah, this is my cousin Faith Wilkins" she introduced, "and this is Angel, he's my... y'know" she shrugged not really sure what to call him. She wouldn't exactly say boyfriend since that sounded a little silly and they weren't exactly faithful to each other or anything, they just had more time for each other than most other people that hung around with.

"So this must be the great Mr Giles" Faith grinned as she sauntered over, "Nice place you got here, lot of room for one guy though, ain't it?"

"I like my space" Giles told her politely, though he disliked the girl intensely already, "May one ask why you have suddenly... descended upon us" he asked as he looked her over as subtly as he could. She really did look ghastly in his own opinion, all black leather and over-zealous make-up that he saw no need for at all. She was much worse than Buffy had been even when she'd first arrived.

"Like I was tellin' B, it's kind of a long story" Faith shrugged, "I guess I could condense for the uninformed - I left home" she said simply.

"Faith, how can you have left home?" Buffy asked with a frown, her eyes only now shifting from Spike to her cousin, she couldn't bear to see the pain on his face any longer.

"Simple as, B" Faith told her, "The parents got all weird about me blowin' off steam at the Bronze, there might've been a situation with some cops" she admitted, "I waited til they hit the sack, swiped their platinum cards and headed out, figured I'm come and surprise you"

"You did that alright" Buffy sighed.

"And I was hardly gonna let Faithie travel alone, especially when she was coming to see my favourite girl" Angel leered as he put his arm around Buffy's shoulders and pulled her to him, his hand starting to wander over her body.

"Angel, stop it" she wriggled free of his grasp.

"What's the matter, Buff?" he laughed, "You embarrassed or something? Geez England's changing you" he told her, looking unimpressed, suddenly noticing she really did look different, though he couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was that had changed.

"All the better reason to get her out fast" Faith grinned, "We came to rescue you, B" she told her, slapping her on the back.

"Rescue?" Buffy echoed, not fully understanding it all yet, and still wondering what the hell was happening here. Her two worlds were colliding in possibly the most terrible way and she didn't know where to begin.

"No offence to your keepers here, but this place was kinda not where you wanted to be all Summer, right?" Faith said, giving her a look, "Me and Angel, we got plans to get a place in LA, but it don't happen without our other favourite girl" she grinned, "So what d'ya say, cuz?"

"I... I don't know" Buffy stammered, turning to Spike who glanced at the floor and then at her face.

"Looks like you're goin' home, luv" he said, swallowing hard just so he could get the short sentence out. Without another word he turned to the main staircase and hurried up it, without actually running away and making himself look like a total nancy boy. He wasn't sure why his appearance mattered to him where these people were concerned, but it did. Of course mostly he didn't want Buffy to see him be weak, didn't want her to know she'd hurt him like this. Clearly it was all a game to her, turn the local geek into something new and improved, maybe just bed the local virgin, either way she'd used him for her own entertainment and now she was heading home.

What killed Spike was how sincere she'd looked the whole time, this morning most especially as they lie together in her bed, speaking words of love to each other and enforcing them with the most beautiful of actions.

Tears ran down his cheeks as he stood on the other side of his bedroom door, realising what a fool he'd been for trusting Buffy Summers, for letting her come in and turn his life upside down, for allowing her to trick him into believing she might love him as much as he loved her, something he had believed to be impossible and saw now that it truly was.

Back down in the foyer, Giles advised Willow that perhaps Buffy would like to spend some time with her friends and the two of them vacated, leaving the blonde alone with her cousin and Angel.

"So what's the deal with the bleached blond hottie?" Faith asked immediately, "He looks like he knows a thing or two" she smirked in filthy fashion, making Buffy feel like screaming at her as well as crying like a child. Spike wasn't just another guy she'd slept with, he was special, what they had wasn't just sex it was love, he made love to her and that felt like nothing else in the world.

"I don't wanna talk about him" Buffy shrugged, trying to look nonchalant in front of her friends, "Tell me about this steam blow offage that involved cops?" she asked curiously.

"Oh man, B, it was wicked-cool" she enthused, as they walked down the hall and sat down in the nearest living room, Faith on the back of a couch with her feet on the probably very expensive seat, "So there I am, middle of the dancefloor, surrounded by hunks, just doin' my thing y'know" she started to explain, making her usual Faith-type comments and jokes that Buffy couldn't help but giggle at, despite the fact she knew she probably shouldn't. It wasn't smart to yell at and assault police officers, nor was getting drunk to the point of near-collapse something to be proud of, she knew that. Still, sitting here with Faith and Angel, hearing semi-familar tales of life in Sunnydale, Buffy didn't feel much like the girl that had learnt a few lessons about life and love. She felt like her old self, the wild girl that had arrived in England a few weeks ago, complete with skimpy clothes and loud punk-girl music booming. That was who she really was after all, wasn't it?

Concentrating on Faith's story helped, but her mind was still constantly wandering to Spike how badly he must be hurting, though he'd seemed pretty unemotional about her possible plans to leave. It wasn't as if she was ever going to stay here permanently anyway, it was just a Summer vacation. In September she was going back to Sunnydale anyway for her Senior year of High School, and she'd probably never see William Rayne again, maybe it would be better to get out while she still could, while she still had the strength. Besides, what would Angel and Faith say if she told them she couldn't go back to America because she'd fallen in love? She laughed at herself, on the inside at least, as she pictured their reactions. They would laugh, say she was insane and pathetic. Love was for old married people, passion and lust were for the young. Relationships brought pain and heartache in the end, better to get what you need and get out, that had always been the philosophy of herself and her cousin and their various acquaintances.

"...so when my Mom was done yellin' her head off about honour and reputation and all that bull, I got my stuff, lifted their plastic and split with Angel-boy here" Faith grinned as she finished her story.

"Wow" was all Buffy could find to say, especially since she'd' really only listened to about half of what her cousin had said to her, "So what happens now?"

"Pretty much anything you want, baby" Angel told her as he walked across the room, eyeing various trinkets on the coffee table and mantle shelves with an unimpressed eye, "We got time and cash, thanks to Faithie" he smirked, "World's ours, for a while at least" he said as he grabbed Buffy's hand and pulled her to her feet and into his arms. The feel of his body against hers was familiar and not exactly bad, though he wasn't Spike, that much was obvious by the way he grabbed her so roughly and kissed her the same way.

"You guys want me to vacate or what?" Faith laughed as she watched Angel practically bend Buffy over backwards as he kissed her till her head swam from lack of oxygen. When their lips finally parted, he kept a tight hold of her as he smirked at Faith.

"I say we all vacate" he suggested, "Nothin' to stay here for and I don't think we're entirely welcome with the old guy" he rolled his eyes.

"Probably not" Faith agreed, "So what d'ya say B? We blow this joint or what?" she asked the blonde, "Cab's still outside and I can get us sweet rooms at the nearest hotel" she told her, waving a platinum card that she pulled from her cleavage.

Buffy looked uncertain for a just a moment before she nodded her head.

"Give me a sec to grab my stuff" she smiled, "Then we're out of here" she agreed as she kissed Angel once more and pulled out of his arms.

After she'd left the room Angel grabbed a couple of expensive looking knick-knacks from the mantle shelf and put them in his pockets.

"Gonna need somethin' when your card hits the limits" he shrugged to Faith who followed his example and grabbed something gold and flashy from the coffee table, pushing it into the pocket of her tight pants.

"You think B's okay?" she asked with a slight frown, "Seems a little off to me"

"She'll be okay when we get her home" Angel told her, "Don't worry so much" he smirked.

"I'm not worried" she laughed at the concept as she kicked him lightly on the ass, he turned and looked at her incredulously but she only smiled.

"Don't give me that look" she said as he stared at her, "You know you like it like that" she said as her tongue ran over her bottom lip.

"You know it, baby" Angel agreed as he leaned over her on the couch and kissed her hungrily.

Buffy stood in what had been her bedroom these last few weeks. Her eyes fixed on the bed where she'd spent such happy hours last night and this morning in Spike's arms, being loved by him unconditionally. Now she was leaving him, for the sake of Angel, and of course Faith too. It was the right thing to do she told herself, though a big part of her disagreed. She was going with the safe option, surely. She was getting out before she got hurt, doing the sensible thing. She got what she needed, all itches had been scratched on this occasion, she could move on now. There would be other guys, other nights just as good as last night, she told herself firmly as she stuffed her clothes into her bag.

A crash down the hall made her stop what she was doing immediately. The sound of shattering glass assaulted her ears and without a thought she dropped her bag and ran towards the sound, already guessing where it was coming from. Spike's bedroom door was open when she reached it but he wasn't there. What she did see was the full length mirror that stood in the corner was just an empty frame, a whole mass of broken glass shards scattered on the carpet at it's base.

To Be Continued...

A/N2 : Don't panic, this will eventualy be Spuffy again I swear! But hopefully now you're starting to see why Buffy is acting the way she is, she's comfortable with Angel and Faith, she's afraid of getting in too deep with Spike, and there will be more explanations later... Hope you're all still liking this!