A/N : As this chapter will prove I do love to write Buffy and Spike just bitching at each other - almost always of the fun from my perspective. Here's hoping you guys like it too... oh, and make way for another character!
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 3
It was three days since Buffy Summers had burst into the Bronze and announced she was ruler of all she surveyed. The club had been closed since then and was due re-open again on Saturday, complete with a few new barstaff and a slightly different layout.
Doyle had commented what a great boss Miss Summers should make, being both a beautiful young woman and willing to pay the whole staff despite the fact they hadn't worked for her yet. Spike of course disagreed but didn't really have any valid reasons why. There was just something about Buffy bleedin' Summers that got under his skin.
Though he assumed that even Spike hadn't realised it yet, Doyle could see what was happening between his friend and the new lady-boss. No two people could sustain the level of sexual tension between them for very long, and it was due to explode in two weeks at a maximum the Irishman guessed. There was either going to be one major-ass fight scene or some kind of marathon shagging session.
He dare not tell Spike exactly what he thought would happen, for fear of flying fists, but he'd hinted at it. Even now as they walked towards the Bronze to help with the interviewing of new staff, he wouldn't let it go.
"Come on, man, give it up already" the Irishman whined, "You want her"
"I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than date that bitch" came Spike's firm reply, "and if you don't shut up going on about it, I'm gonna... rip your throat out!" he threatened with exaggerated venom. Doyle just laughed as they entered the building.
They found Buffy sitting at one of the tables with a folder in front of her and a glass of wine.
"Good mornin' Miss Summers" Doyle smiled politely, "Well, here we are, ready to help you with your interviewing" he grinned, knowing he was really here for the parade of pretty young girls, their bar skills be damned.
"Doyle, please, I told you to call me Buffy" smiled as he came to sit beside her, "Spike" she greeted coolly as he took a seat on her other side. He merely nodded in response and made no effort to look interested in what was going on as he lounged in the chair.
"Okay so we have ten candidates and two places to fill" Buffy informed them, trying to ignore the lazy-looking bleached blond to her right, "The names and copies of their resumes are all there for you so I guess we should get started..."
The morning went fairly well, though Buffy felt that Spike was a little hard on a couple of the less attractive girls. She couldn't really say anything since they were also lacking bar experience and she herself didn't have a whole lot of skill in that field either.
Doyle smiled and winked at every girl from averagely pretty upwards, Buffy noticed with some amusement, but after nine girls it was fairly clear to them all that only one would be properly suitable. That meant it all rested on number ten, or they'd have to go with the best of the bad bunch. Spike moved to fetch himself a second beer and one for Doyle too. He had manners enough to offer Buffy another glass of wine and she was a little surprised but said thank you like she should when he handed it to her.
They all waited for the last girl to come in but when she did, the new owner of the Bronze got a surprise.
"Cordy!" she squealed, a sound that Spike equated to some sort of parrot in distress as she shoved him aside and ran round the table to hug the brunette who'd just walked in.
"Hey Buffy" the girl replied awkwardly, barely returning the embrace. When the blonde pulled away she was frowning a little.
"What's with the outfit?" she asked, seeming to slip back a few years to the time they spent in High School at the sight of her old friend, "Are you auditioning for a play or something?" she guessed.
It was never any secret that Cordelia Chase planned on being a big time Hollywood star when she left High School. Whilst her friends had gone to college to study, Cordy had disappeared to LA to make her fortune and her friends had barely heard from her from that day to this.
"Kind of an audition, yeah" she nodded, looking anywhere except at her old friend as Doyle and Spike shared a confused look.
"It's so great to see you" Buffy grinned once again, "How did you know I'd be here?" she asked.
Spike soon got bored of watching the two young women and their mindless chatter and looked down at the papers in front of him. He caught sight of the name on the final candidates resume and frowned.
"I was told you ran this place now, by the employment agency" Cordy said uneasily and Spike knew why.
"Er, you here for a job, pet?" he guessed, assuming Cordy was short for Cordelia Chase, the name on the paper he held in his hand.
"Shut up, Spike!" Buffy snapped, "Cordy wouldn't be here for..." she trailed off when she noticed the look on her friends face, "You're here for an interview?" she gasped, "Why?"
The Chase family had almost as much cash as the Summers', there was no possible reason Buffy could think of for Cordy to want to be a bartender or a waitress or anything in the realms of manual labour.
"Daddy made a little... mistake, on his taxes" she said softly, looking at the floor, "for the past twelve years" she added and Buffy looked shocked.
"How much did he lose?"
"Everything" was Cordelia's feint reply, "Everything he and Mom had, everything I had... if I don't get a job pretty fast, Buffy, I won't even be able to pay the rent on my scabby apartment" she explained, almost in tears about it.
"Well, I'm sure we can have you work here" Doyle called out, having listened intently to the whole conversation, "Right, Buffy?" he checked with the boss who glanced between the two. Spike glanced at his mate and shook his head, could the guy be any more obvious in his attraction to this chit, he wondered, though right now the more pressing question was just how much of a bitch was Buffy Summers. Would she employ her old friend and get her out of a fix?
"I...I guess" she agreed, "It just seems so weird, I'm gonna be your boss and all"
"It's okay" Cordy nodded, "I can deal. At least I know you'll be a good person to work for, not like the guy in LA that wanted to give me a job" she sighed, rolling her eyes "Total pervert"
"Well, that's settled then" Buffy smiled, "Welcome to Team Bronze"
'Team Bronze?' Doyle and Spike mouthed to each other, that was just disturbing.
It was Friday afternoon and everyone was working hard to get the Bronze ready for the next night's grand re-opening. Spike was bottling up at one end of the bar whilst Doyle followed Cordelia round like a bad smell, desperate for her attention which she didn't seem to keen to give. The bleached blond smiled and shook his head. His room-mates sole topic of conversation for the past two days had been Miss Cordelia Chase. There was only so many times Spike needed to hear a run down of the bints finer points, despite the fact she was decently sexy. Though everyone knew he could have any girl he wanted, Spike was not the long haul guy, not since he'd got burnt by Drusilla. The trouble this Cordelia had been through and the fact she was an old mate of Buffy's meant she probably wasn't the one night of fun type and besides it'd be a cold day in hell before Spike went after a girl he knew his friend had an interest in. You didn't screw over your mates, that's just the way it was.
"You gonna stand there all day or actually do some work?" Buffy snapped when she caught him staring off into space. His eyes re-focused and he saw her standing there, hands on her hips and eyes glaring.
"Actually I thought just standin' here might be fun" he told her sarcastically, before going back to his work. Buffy's eyes narrowed further at the back of his head.
"You really should do something about that attitude problem" she said, almost threatening him and Spike smirked as he turned back to glance at her.
"Don't have a problem with it, luv" he told her, "I happen to like my attitude"
"Well I don't appreciate it" Buffy said, voice rising a couple of decibels, "So learn to control your tongue" she said smartly before turning on her heel and walking away. She'd barely got two steps when Spike called after her.
"You want demonstrations on how well I control my tongue, you've only got to ask, pet" he replied a little too seriously. He was a little disappointed when she didn't turn back just stormed off across the club, probably to yell at some other poor git that'd put a circular table down the wrong way round or whatever.
"Silly bint" Spike muttered to himself, determined to hate the woman, although a few thoughts so far from hate ran through his mind right now. Where the hell had that line come from about showing off his tongue skills? Like he'd ever put any part of his anatomy anywhere near her by choice, and as if she'd let him if he wanted to, which he didn't, he told himself sternly. So lost in thoughts and counter-thoughts was Spike that he really didn't notice his friend arrive at the club, til he was standing right by the bar and said his name. The bleached blond had been crouching down to the shelves below the bar top and consequently smacked his head as he tried to get up too fast.
"Xander, you bloody moron!" he complained, rubbing the sore spot in his hair, "What the soddin' hell d'you think you're playin' at. Sneaking up on people like a bleedin' stalker"
"Okay first, I didn't sneak, I just walked" the brunette told him, counting points on his fingers, "Second, geez Spike could you get more British curse words in one sentence, and third, why on Gods green earth would I wanna stalk you, man?" he asked, wide-eyed and Spike smirked at that.
"Yeah, well" he rolled his eyes, "Just bloody startled me is all"
"I noticed" Xander tried not to laugh, "I came to see if you asked her yet?"
"Asked who what?" his friend checked, pretending not to know as he turned his back on him and checked the bottles on the shelves behind him.
"Er, your new boss lady Buffy?" Xander prompted like he was stupid, "About us playing here tomorrow for the big re-opening shindig?"
"No" Spike admitted, "I didn't"
"Spike, come on, man" came his friends whiney voice, "We've had a regular spot here for months, and first refusal on most of the major gigs" he reminded him, "I don't see why we should lose that just cos Ripper sold this place to some girl"
"She's some girl alright" Spike rolled his eyes as he leaned on the bar to talk to his friend, "Bloody pain in my ass too, I can't do anything right Xan... not that I'm trying all that hard" he admitted, "The chit just infuriates me, thinkin' she's so high and mighty, when in actual fact she knows squat about running a decent night-club"
"So tell her how" Xander urged, "Tell her us playing here means guaranteed success for her party, tell her anything, just get us the gig!" he said frantically.
"Alright mate, for God sake breathe" Spike smirked as the brunette started to turn colours, "I s'pose I can try having a word with Little Miss Tightly-Wound, no promises mind"
"That's the positive thinking that I'm looking for" Xander said sarcastically, "I'll come back in a couple of hours, see what she said" he added as he slapped Spike on the shoulder and went for the door.
The bleached blond looked across the room and saw Buffy gesturing emphatically at the guys lugging tables about. What was it with the woman and her design plans? It wouldn't make a blind bit of difference if the tables were on the left or the right, or whether they had four stools round them or five, and yet this was the sixth time since lunch she'd had the poor blokes shift it all around. He sighed and decided it was now or never if he was going to ask her about the band playing tomorrow night. They'd managed to sneak in for some practice time without the new boss even knowing, since Spike still had a key and he pretty much knew her schedule for when she would and wouldn't be there. Of course, he wouldn't mention that when he was trying to make her agree to his proposition.
Spike passed by Doyle and Cordy just as the Irishman was using his worst chat up line to date. The girl barely even looked at him and though his friend felt bad for him, he couldn't help but smirk at how pathetic it all really was.
"Why is it so hard for you people to follow simple instructions?" Buffy yelled as the men hurried to shift the tables around again.
"Maybe Bitch-English isn't their first language" Spike snapped behind her and she turned around, eyes full of fury.
"What did I say to you not a half hour ago?" she ground out the question, but the bleach blond wasn't the least bit afraid.
"Er, something suggestive about tongues, wasn't it, pet?" he said evenly, loving the way she tried to stay angry but was obviously a little embarrassed too. He wondered exactly what she'd say to that, but she seemed to ignore his main comment focusing on something else.
"I am not your pet" she told him in no uncertain terms, "Or your luv or any of your other quaint and entirely annoying little names you use for your many whores"
"Now listen here" Spike snapped, grabbing her wrist and pulling her back when she made to leave, "I dunno what sort of bloke you think I am, and frankly I don't much care, but I am not some sort of man-slut and I don't pick up desperate tramps" he told her, intense gaze unwavering as his eyes locked on hers. Buffy was too stunned at first to react, but soon got over it and pulled her arm free from his grasp.
"Don't touch me" she said in a low voice and Spike's anger dissipated as he stifled a chuckle.
"Believe me, pet" he said emphasising the name he now knew she hated and would use more often just to aggravate her, "Wouldn't touch you for all the bloody tea in China"
She didn't answer that. Despite the fact that was what she wanted, she was a little hurt to think that he didn't even think she was attractive enough to want her. His good opinion of her figure or any other part of her should be irrelevant, but no girl liked to be told by any man, no matter how undesirable, that they themselves were not even worth touching.
Buffy turned to walk away but stopped dead in her tracks when Spike spoke her name, her actual name not pet or luv this time.
"What?" she snapped, glancing back at him, fire in her eyes.
Spike stared for a moment, knowing he was supposed to ask her about the band, but finding he couldn't bear to take a favour from her. He'd sooner boil his own head than need her help, stupid cow.
"Forget it" he muttered as he turned to go back to the bar, leaving a slightly confused Buffy staring after him.
To Be Continued...