Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

By Nickeltaffy

Disclaimer: The characters used in this story are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I do not own them.

Synopsis: After Chosen, what if Anya and Spike were given a second chance, this time in Texas with new lives, new memories and new friends. What if Xander and Buffy find out and come to reclaim them, but discover that they're now the outsiders.

….

Chapter 6

As Buffy stepped back in surprise, her skinny expensive Italian heels stumbled over a odd scattered rocks sticking up in the uneven ground. Buffy felt herself falling. As she fell, she felt her body brush against the tailgate of the truck parked there. She twisted slightly in an attempt to grab the tailgate to stop her fall. Her hands grasped wildly while trying to gain purchase, bumbling over the objects sitting on the end of the tailgate. Still reeling from the shock of seeing Spike, Buffy could not get her hands to work correctly to stop her fall. She felt herself going past the edge of the tailgate as she managed to knock a few things over before she landed heavily on her rump on the hard ground. She made an 'Oomph' sound as her backside made impact. The momentum of the fall carried her back onto her elbows. Unfortunately, one of the items that she had managed to dislodge was an open container of oil for the compressor. The oil sloshed back and forth in the container before it fell over on its side. The open mouth of the container hanging over the edge of tailgate began pouring oil in great gulps over Buffy. Still in a state of shock, Buffy sat where she was and only put up a hand against the onslaught of oil pouring on her.

The young man over by the deer stand put down the tool and pulled off his goggles and ear protection as he raced over to her. He flipped the switch on the compressor as he momentarily stopped and then put the oil container upright stopping the flow of oil onto Buffy before he knelt down beside the young woman. His blue eyes were wide in a face of concern as he leaned over her.

"Are you okay, Miss?" Spike looked directly into Buffy's face, his eyes showing no sign of recognition. He worriedly looked at the woman sprawled on the ground.

"Spike! Spike!" Buffy kept saying, trying to get some small sign that it was him. She was blinking away the tears that suddenly filled her eyes. It was him. Those blue eyes, the scar on the eyebrow, it was all there. His platinum hair was gone, but it was cut short and it was such a nice soft color of dark blonde, she thought. His voice was a revelation. It cleared up any linger doubt that this might be a doppelganger. The accent in his voice rolled over her that it caused a physical reaction in her body. She started shaking slightly as she tried to move.

"Oh, Sweet Lord! There's a bleedin spike?" Spike's eyes danced around the ground looking for anything that the young woman might have hurt herself on. His hands were patting around the ground, looking for some odd piece of metal that might have stuck the woman.

Buffy sat back a moment and looked at the young man attending her. He did not recognize the name Spike. She remembered his other name and whispered it out loud.

"William? "

"Uh, yeah? I don't see where you fell on anything. Where are you hurt?" Spike answered as he eyes moved up from the ground back to Buffy, traveling all over her looking for an injury. All of a sudden, they flew open wide and Spike looked away ninety degrees. "Oh!" He pulled a rag that he d been using while constructing the deer stands out of his back pocket and offered it to Buffy. Buffy looked at the rag in Spike's hand with confusion then back over to the vampire kneeling in broad daylight.

"You may want this." Spike said, not daring to look at Buffy. Buffy again looked at the rag that was being held out to her. From there, her eyes traveled from his hand down to her body. She realized that the oil had soaked her white linen top but also that of the sheer pale pink silk camisole underneath. It seemed that she was putting on quite the show. She grabbed the rag and held it up against her chest.

Th…Thank you." She stuttered.

"My pleas..Uh..umm.. D..don't think nothin of it." An obviously embarrassed Spike determinedly kept his eyes averted. Then after a moment, he asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I am fine other than the bruise to my ego." Buffy said as a gentle joke. She wanted to get Spike to look at her. She wanted to touch him. She had to convince herself that he was real. "Help me get up?"

"Oh, Of course. I'm sorry. I am just sitting here, frozen like a bloody statue." Spike got to his feet and bent over to offer his arms.

Buffy slowly put her hand on in his right as his left arm traveled around her back. She closed her eyes as she felt his embrace tighten in order to assist her in standing. She felt the calluses on his hand in hers, should could see the blond hairs on the brown skin of his forearm. She noticed to her delight that there were even small freckles underneath the dark tan of his arms. She pulled herself up and slowly got to her feet. She found herself next to him in the circle of his arms, standing a bit unsteadily. Spike feeling her stagger, tightened his arms around her. With that little gesture, Buffy lost all control. She turned toward him and leaned herself against him as if all the power had been drained out of her. She put her head against his shoulder and began all out bawling. No, It was not the "Pretty cry", with the one tear slowly going down a cheek which didn't disturb your make up. To Buffy's horror, she realized she was in the midst of the most feared "Ugly cry", the all out gut wrenching ugly cry. The downturned gaping mouth, the face crumpled up and becoming red like a beet, copious amount of unending tears coming out her eyes, the hiccupping accompanying the unearthly blaring siren noise coming straight from her misery. The ugly cry was known to make men suddenly disappear and never be heard from again as if a tornado had come along and picked them up.

Spike stood there perplexed. The young woman was having some kind of breakdown in his arms. He wasn't sure what the right move was, but from the sound of her crying, it was obvious she was in a lot of pain. Spike resolved to let her cry it out. Sometimes, you just need a shoulder to cry on and that she had chosen him, a total stranger was a little flattering. Since he didn't know what to say, he remained quiet, but put his hand gently on her back and left it there till she was done.

After a solid five minutes of bawling, and another three trying to control the sniffles and hiccups, Buffy pulled her head away from Spike's shoulder. She was grateful for the blessing that her head was turned away from Spike while she tried to control the damage to her person. She pulled up a corner of the rag that was not soaked with oil and wiped at her face. It took several tries, but she think she got the worst of it. Still not daring to look at Spike's face, she looked back at his shoulder where her head had been. 'Oh God, was her nose running too?' She took the rag and wiped at the fluids she had left on his shoulder.

"Sorry." She said as she closed her eyes in mortification.

"Not a problem. Feel better?"

"You know I mentioned that bruise to my ego a few minutes ago- Well, now it should be on life support."

Spike chuckled. Buffy turned to look at Spike's face as the grin faded and he was looking at her. She studied his face, looking for any sign of recognition on his part. There was none. Spike didn't remember her. Without thinking, she put her hand alongside his cheek and used her thumb to brush the cheekbone. His expression was one of honesty and gentleness. A smile twitched in the corner of his mouth. Suddenly the reality of situation hit her. He must think her some deranged mental institution escapee she realized. She self consciously pulled her hand back and looked down, while feeling a blush travel all the way up to her hairline.

"Thank you for letting me….you know. I've had a lot on my mind recently." Buffy murmured.

"You're welcome." Spike whispered to her and patted her back. After a moment, he took a big sigh and looked away. "So, uh…Let's get you cleaned up."

The pair moved as one as they returned back to the store. Spike never removed his arms around apparently soul weary Buffy the entire way. Even when they got to the back porch, Spike pulled one arm away only to open the door but quickly returned it to usher Buffy inside.

'Funny,' Spike thought as they walked together, 'In a normal instance, you would think there would be some unease or clumsiness between the two people, but there was none. It was like they fit together. Having this young woman in his arms was like…what was the word that best described it? HOME.'

….

It was almost seventeen minutes later, that Buffy found herself in an "English Feed and Farm Supply" T shirt. The oil soaked top and camisole were wrapped up tightly in a plastic bag beside her. Jewel Ann had taken over caring for the young woman almost immediately when she saw the young couple enter the back of the store. Bill had had his arms wrapped protectively around the young woman, Buffy who had obviously had some sort of accident out back. Of course, Jewel Ann being a mother with grown sons and no grandchildren yet, also noticed what a nice looking couple the pair made together

Jewel Ann dismissed Bill to go get his brother and for the two of them to attend to the young woman's car down the road. Bill said something to Buffy who nodded. Bill took a moment where it looked like he didn't want to let go of the young woman, but looking over at his mother's face, turned and left. Jewel Ann took Buffy back to the restroom where they kept an orange based cleanser to remove the oil. The older woman left to get some clean towels and a new shirt for Buffy. Buffy was alone in the bathroom when she turned to look at herself in the mirror. It was worse than she could ever imagine. Aside from the walk from the car leaving her dirty and hair tangled, the bleary red eyes and swollen nose didn't help matters. It also was apparent that the corner of the rag was not oil free that she used to wipe her face. There were large swipes of dark oil that mixed with the dust on her face. 'I look like some kind of sewer dweller. Eight years and the first time Spike sees me, I look like this!' she screamed in her mind. She put her head in her hands as she leaned over the sink.

There was a soft knock on the door. Jewel Ann had returned with a promotional T shirt, towels and a hairbrush. Jewel Ann made a little joke about the T shirt about not letting her forget her visit as she handed them to Buffy. Buffy smiled and thanked the woman before Jewel Ann closed the door. She turned back to the mirror and began to task of bringing herself back to humanity.

Now ensconced in her new T shirt and smelling to high heaven of oranges, Buffy closed her cell phone with a sound of disgust as she waited for news on her car. There were absolutely zero bars on the phone. She needed to talk to Xander. It was his voice mail that had led her here to Delbrock. She had left several voice messages since last night, but he had not returned one of them. Her frustration began to think of what she was going to say to him when she did contact him. Her thoughts bounced between wanting to throttle him for leaving such a cryptic message and wrapping him in a giant hug for the best gift of her lifetime. Buffy noticed the old phone sitting on the counter. She stood up and pulled it over. She dialed Xander's cell phone number. It rang and rang and just before it was about to go to voice mail, someone picked up.

"Hello" said a voice on the other end

"About time you picked up!" Buffy declared vehemently.