Chapter 9:
Saffron had stayed at Joyce's house that night, Joyce set up a movie night and Saff was allowed to pick the movie. Buffy was in the bathroom for a long time and Saffron thought she could hear her talking to herself. Buffy seemed off. Saffron knew something was up, she had been acting differently ever since Faith had left in the ambulance. She didn't want to stay for the movie night, which was unusual, Buffy usually loved popcorn and staying in with her mom and Saff. Saffron had also observed that Buffy had been using phrases that she wouldn't usually as well as saying some things that she would never mention in front of Joyce usually and even Saff's eyes had widened in shock.
Buffy left to go out while the movie was playing, she had on a low-cut top that Saffron had never seen her wear before, but she complimented it anyway because she though she looked nice in her outfit. Saffron tried to put her concerns out of her mind as she enjoyed a rare moment to just relax and watch a film. Unexpectedly, Saffron dropped her bowl of popcorn on the floor. Joyce looked at her with a look of worry, and Saff could feel her concern but it was as if Joyce was very far away. She had been hit with this incapacitating feeling she would usually get when she was around someone who was being deceptive. Her bones felt like they weighed a tonne and she felt very tired suddenly as she apologised to Joyce for dropping the bowl. They finished the movie and said their goodnights but Saff stayed behind saying she needed a glass of water. Instead she went straight for the phone.
"Yeah, hi, something's wrong in a big way. I need your help" Saffron stayed on the line for a few minutes, filling the other person in before putting the phone down and padding down the stairs to the converted basement room that Saffron had called her own since they had moved in. Joyce had had it professionally converted and it had been done up specially for her to give her some space while she got used to living with her new family. Saffron loved her room at Joyce's and she managed to sleep soundly, despite knowing that Buffy wasn't who she seemed to be.
xoxoxo
That morning Joyce had made a special birthday breakfast of veggie bacon and eggs, sunny side up. Saffron struggled eating it, as the feeling had returned when she knew that Buffy was in the house since she had returned from her night out. Joyce had given Saffron her gift and hugged her as she had left for her classes without seeing Buffy properly. She planned to confront Buffy tonight at the Bronze where everyone would be meeting for her party. The day went quickly and she had a few people in her classes wish her a happy birthday, which she appreciated. She had briefly been back to her dorm to get ready for her meal with Buffy and Joyce. Hayley had hugged her and wished her a happy birthday and she was grateful to have her as a friend, despite their appearance being opposite to each other. Hayley had given her a silver charm bracelet, which she said she had bought at an antique fair which made Saff beam even wider. She loved reclaimed jewellery that had a history to it. The girls hugged and Saff said she would see Hayley at the Bronze later, giving her directions to it before going to meet Joyce and Buffy at the restaurant. Buffy didn't show at the restaurant, as Saffron had expected. Buffy would never have missed her birthday meal, Saffron was convinced that something very Sunnydale was going on. She said goodbye to Joyce after they had eaten and left for the Bronze.
Saffron had arrived at the Bronze to see Buffy dancing seductively with a group of men. She rolled her eyes as she went and sat at the table with the others, giving Willow a look. Saffron had decided to wear her fake leather skirt and a borrowed pink long-sleeved peasant top from Hayley which she was actually enjoying wearing. They all sang happy birthday embarrassingly loudly to Saffron and passed her the gifts they had bought her. Xander and Anya had jointly given her a gift certificate for the pizza place Xander had been working at. She knew Xander didn't have much money and appreciated the gesture and thanked them both warmly. Willow had given her a new pack of Tarot cards that had black background with intricate, silver designs on them, some clear crystals and lavender incense sticks. She hugged Willow to thank her and whispered something to her before she pulled away. Tara had been sat next to Willow and shyly passed saffron a card and wouldn't meet her eyes. The card had a kitten on it and said Happy Birthday, from Tara. This made Saff smile and thank her, trying to make sure she knew she was welcome. She had specifically asked Willow to bring her along. Graham walked over then, with a box wrapped up and handed it to her. She ripped the paper off to reveal a shoe box, she flipped the lid to reveal a pair of black heels. She smiled politely at Graham and thanked him by kissing him on the cheek.
"They're, uh, black. You like black" He said with a smile, proud of the present he had bought her.
"Yep, I definitely do" She replied as she removed her combat boots and put on the very high heels he had bought for her to prove that she liked them.
She got up from the table and stumbled in her heels to the bar to order herself a drink, she'd need one for courage for later on. She flashed the bartender her fake-id, wishing she was in England where she would have been able to legally drink last year. Instead it would be another two years to the day until she could drink legally. She started to walk back to the table, rolling on her ankle in her new shoes and almost falling to the ground, however a leather-clad arm grabbed her before she could fall.
"My bloody hero" She said checking to see if the contents of her glass were safe.
"One day I won't be here to catch you, honeysuckle" He purred, Spike still had a hold of her arm and there was not much space between them. With his other hand he took the id she had just used from her and inspected it closely. "Cleopatra?" He asked doubtfully but there was a hint of a smile on his face.
"Yeah, it's pretty" She shrugged. He fought the urge to tell her that her own name was prettier as he continued to smile slightly.
"Happy Birthday" He said sheepishly, letting go of her arm and putting his hands in the pockets of his duster. He seemed to want to say something else, but Graham walked up behind them and his smile vanished.
"Thanks, Spike" She said as Graham came and put a protective arm around her waist and asked her for a dance, moving her as far away from Spike as possible. Graham would have liked to take Hostile 17 to the Initiative right there, but it was Saffron's birthday, so he kept his mouth shut on the matter.
xoxoxo
Saffron had been enjoying herself despite Buffy's attitude. She had seen her all over Spike, which had really annoyed her, but she had been quickly distracted by the others celebrating her. She had spoken to Willow again, who she had called up the other night and planned on cornering Buffy after Tara confirmed that something was up. She didn't ask how she knew, but she trusted both girls' judgement. She was outside having a cigarette by herself, thinking about her friends and how lucky she was to have the people she cherished so much in her life. She saw a blonde girl laughing arm in arm with a guy leaving the club. She noticed the blonde was her cousin. Crap. Buffy was leaving early and Saffron panicked as this meant that they couldn't do the truth spell that they had planned in the girl's bathroom of the Bronze.
"Hey, Faith!" Saffron took a chance and shouted loudly towards Buffy's back. Buffy swung round and made eye contact with Saffron. Now what?
"Bad habit, might kill you" She tutted as she took the cigarette from Saff and took a drag, before flicking it away, "If I don't first that is" Buffy started to punch Saffron successively in the head before kicking her legs from under her, she stumbled in her heels and fell to the ground with a sickening thud. Saffron wheezed and tried to get up, clutching her side desperately.
"Stop" She managed to rasp, holding onto Buffy's leg to try to appeal to Faith who was mercilessly taking her frustration out on her. The kicking didn't stop long after Saffron was knocked unconscious. Faith had run off into the night and Saff was too gone to see the tears in her eyes.
Graham had walked outside to find Saff where he knew she had gone for a smoke. She had been too long and he wanted to make sure the Hostile wasn't hanging around her again. He looked around for her with no luck, until he turned and found her in the fetal position on the floor of the deserted alley that was adjacent to the Bronze. She was badly beaten and her face had swelled and made her features almost unrecognisable to what she usually looked like. He had rushed over to her, but she was unresponsive. He called 911 and went to find her friends to tell them the news, his military training made him the perfect man in a crisis.
Saffron woke up in a bed that wasn't her own. The walls were white, and she could hear a faint beeping as she came to. Her eyesight was blurry, and she moved her hand to rub her eyes but felt a small pinch as there was a needle inserted into the back of her hand. Hospital. She mentally groaned as she realised where she was and what had happened with Faith. A kind nurse had entered the room to check on her and was pleased to see that she as awake. The nurse insisted she was recovering better than would be expected and told her that she would need to talk to the police. Saffron, however, refused as she didn't trust organisations like the police. Saffron was informed that she had several cracked ribs, a fractured arm and a badly cut and bruised face. They insisted it could have been a lot worse, and she knew that this must be true considering the amount of force Faith had at her disposal. The nurse left and must have told Joyce that she was awake because almost as soon as the door had closed, Joyce had rushed in with Buffy closely behind her.
"Oh, honey" Joyce sobbed when she saw Saffron's still swollen face as she had tried to give her aunt a reassuring smile. She held her hand and sat next to her on the chair next to the bed.
"I'm so sorry, Saff" Buffy said with tears in her eyes.
"Wasn't your fault, Buff. It is Buffy I'm talking to, right?" Saffron joked. She could tell that it was her cousin. The women sat together for a long time, Buffy informed her of everything that went down and Joyce listened in shock as well. Both of them needed to leave eventually and they all said a teary goodbye as Saff could still feel that Buffy felt responsible for what had happened. Saffron would have to stay in the hospital for a while longer while she had tests and was observed for a possible head injury due to the amount of swelling and they both promised to visit her every day.
Saffron didn't like hospitals. They smelled awful and she had spent a long time in rooms exactly like this one after her parents had been injured. Buffy had brought her a magazine to read to keep her occupied and she had noticed a bunch of flowers that had been left by Graham on her bedside table. She took a sip of water, her arm shaking as she brought it to her lips. The door to her room swung open, and a white-blonde haired man waltzed in, but he stopped in the doorway when he saw her face. He tried to play it off casually and continued to walk in. She smiled at him, but it was hard to tell with the swelling. She felt like she was one big bruise.
"You look like crap" He said simply, but he couldn't hide the concern in his voice as he launched himself into the chair next to her hospital bed.
"Faith gave me a makeover, don't you like it?"
"If I ever see that bint, I'll-" He seemed angry and she looked over at him, shocked at his outburst. Could he really care about her that much? A soulless vampire who constantly admitted to being bad and hating the Slayer and her pals cared about her?
"How did you find me, Spike?"
"Followed the sound of your Northern squawking, love" He paused as she stared, waiting for the real answer, "Just threatened every receptionist until I found the right room" He shrugged. They stayed sat together for a while, Saffron was thinking about Spike. How could she be friends with the vampire after their history? Why did she want to spend time with him?
Spike started to fidget in his seat, he looked almost embarrassed as he started reaching in his pocket. Saffron frowned as he pulled out a badly wrapped square in brown paper that had tape awkwardly stuck around it. He handed it to her without looking in her eyes and she slowly took the wrapped, flat square from him, frowning as she couldn't tell why he was handing this to her. She stared at it in her hand as if it was an alien object, flipping it over and looking at it closely.
"What is it?"
"Birthday present, love. Meant to give it you on the day but you were too busy getting yourself beat up" She got excited when she heard this and started to tear the paper off quickly to reveal a Cd case. She flipped it over and saw a handwritten track list in scrawled handwriting that she decided must be Spike's. She gasped, and then wheezed as she had shifted her broken ribs that still needed setting.
"This is the best! Thanks, Spike!" She gushed as she re-read the track list of the Punk mix that he had made her. He just shrugged as if it wouldn't matter to him if she had liked it or if she hadn't, but secretly he was pleased that she had. He stayed with her through the night, reading the girly magazine that Buffy had left for her while she had slept. She hadn't managed to sleep very well at the hospital, she couldn't escape knowing that she was in there and had started to get the nightmares like she had had when she first arrived in Sunnydale. Spike didn't know what to do to, he hated seeing her like that. A big part of him wanted to lie in the hospital bed next to her and hold her as she slept, whispering sweet things in her ear to calm her down but he knew that he couldn't. He told himself not to be such a pansy. The sun was going to rise soon, and he left her sleeping reluctantly as he made his way to his empty crypt.
xoxoxo
You spurn my natural emotions, you make me feel I'm dirt and I'm hurt, and if I start a commotion, I run the risk of losing you and that's worse.
Saffron was sat behind the counter at Page Turners, the second-hand bookstore that she worked in, humming along to the song that was playing on the CD player in the corner. She had brought the mixed CD that Spike had made for her and it was loudly playing in the deserted bookshop. She hadn't stopped playing it since Spike had given it to her, much to Hayley's exasperation. She had a rare moment of looking after the store by herself. The manager was usually breathing down her neck when she was there as he seemed to have a problem with every move that she made in the shop. She had finally recovered from the incident with Faith and this was her first shift back at the bookshop since she had been in the hospital although her wrist was still in a cast while her bone was healing. Her boss had never asked how she was after her mysterious accident and merely sighed angrily when she told him she would need to take breaks to do breathing exercises to avoid infection as her ribs healed.
Ever fallen in love with someone, ever fallen in love, in love with someone, ever fallen in love, in love with someone, you shouldn't have fallen in love with?
Saffron was filing her nails while she started to sing loudly to the chorus of the song, she loved it and was pleased when she had heard it on the CD. She had painted her nails blood red that morning and was trying to make them look presentable while she had the chance. It was almost closing time and she was finally going to a party she had promised to go to with Hayley that evening and she had been excited all day. She sighed as she looked at the clock on the wall, time always seemed to be slower when she was at work. She had tried to get Giles to check for a portal or magics or something that could possibly explain how slow the rate of time went when she was in there. Saffron had 45 minutes left, and she knew it was going to feel like 45 hours. Plus, the manager would probably be back to tell her how useless she was at her job any minute.
Ever fallen in love with someone, ever fallen in love, in love with someone, ever fallen in love, in love with someone, you shouldn't have fallen in love with?
"What the crap are you listening to, Missy?" Mr Turner shouted as he took the plug of the Cd player out of the wall to silence the music. Saffron rolled her eyes and started to get up from her spot behind the counter and do something that looked like she was being busy. "Do you think I pay you to listen to this head banging nonsense?" She didn't answer him, only because she wanted to keep the job she had and she started to struggle with some books and put them in the back room. She went to the Cd player and swapped the Cd back to the acoustic music that usually played in the store and put her own precious Cd in her bag that she kept behind the counter. She continued to look busy and avoided her boss until it was time to leave.
A/N: I have made the playlist that Spike gave to Saff if anyone's interested, I'll put it in here. Hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it! xoxo
Thanks to Demona Evernight for asking! These are the tracks from the mix:
Ever fallen in love - Buzzcocks/My way - Sex pistols/London calling - The Clash/I wanna be Sedated - Ramones/Teenage Kicks - Undertones/Anarchy in the UK - Sex Pistols/No more Heroes - The Stranglers/ Sheena is a punk Rocker - Ramones/Pretty Vacant - Sex Pistols/Should I stay or should I go - The Clash