Blue
Chapter Five
Buffy took the day off work. She was too anxious about Spike's arrival to even think about work. She got Lily breakfast and out of the door to her college classes for the day. Lily didn't want to go to class either, but Buffy insisted.
Buffy got cleaned up after breakfast and she heard him coming up the steps from the basement. Quickly she closed the blinds in the kitchen blocking out the sun.
He opened the basement door just as she closed the last blind "Thank you luv" he smiled gratefully
"Can't have you setting fire in my kitchen can I?" she laughed
"I guess not…"
Buffy got a mug out of the cupboard and set it on the counter. She retrieved a bag of blood out of the freezer and placed it in the mug and put it in the microwave.
"Did you sleep good?" She asked him
"Yeah… I've slept in worse places" he told her
"Good…" said Buffy
There was an awkward silence between them. The microwave pinged, signaling that the blood was ready. Buffy took it out and placed it in front of Spike.
"It's otter" said Buffy
"Peaches always had the more expensive taste" he laughed, bringing the mug up to his lips. "Thank you"
"You're welcome"
"This is awkward…" said Spike
"Yeah…" Buffy sighed
"I'll go" he said
"No, stay. I mean Lily likes you" said Buffy
"She does?" He asked
"Yeah, I think she enjoys embarrassing the heck out of me but she thinks you're cool" said Buffy
"I suppose it would be rude to leave without saying goodbye" said Spike
Buffy nodded "So where have you been hiding for the last twenty years?"
"Here and there, look I'm..."
"Don't you dare say you're sorry" she warned.
"What else do you expect me to say?" He asked.
"Anything!... anything but you're sorry. You have no idea how hard it's been without you! Not even a phone call to let me know you were okay!"
"I wanted to, I just didn't have the words Buffy" he said sadly
"I just wish you would've told me, I mourned you for a long time…" she told him
"It just got harder to make contact, I mean what was I supposed to say?" He asked "Hello Buffy, I'm not dead like you thought how about a spot of tea?" He said mimicking a phone call
"It would've sucked a lot less" she said sadly
"Listen slayer, you were better off without me in your life. Sure you probably had a couple of hiccups along the way but look at you now, a mum to a beautiful, all be it a little head strong young woman" he smiled
"I don't know where she gets it from" sniffled Buffy
"I do it's you Buffy, when I look at her I see you. You've done a brilliant job considerin' her dad wasn't around. I'm proud of you pet"
"Now I know you're just trying to weasel your way out of being gone for twenty years" she smiled with watery eyes
"Is it working?" He asked tilting his head slightly
Buffy smiled genuinely "a little"
"Mom? Spike? You home?" Lily called out as she walked through the front door
"In here" Buffy called back
Lily entered the kitchen and placed her books on the kitchen counter. She then sat down on the stool. She let out a huge sigh
"How was class?" asked Buffy
"Ugh fine, I guess… we're studying Lord Byron" she shrugged
"You study Poetry?" asked Spike
"Yeah… I got into it when I was twelve and I just love it" said Lily
"Spike was a bit of a poet himself" said Buffy
"Not quite Luv" said Spike "But Byron was one of the greats"
"I love his work" Lily gushed
"Ooh Faith called she'll be here Thursday" said Buffy breaking up the conversation
"Aww great! I haven't seen Aunt Faith in like forever! Maybe she'll teach me some new moves" smiled Lily "You're staying right Spike?"
"What's that?" He asked
"My twenty first birthday bash? The whole gang is coming, I'm sure they'd be glad to see you" said Lily
"That's nice of you to ask love but I really should be off" said Spike
"You're leaving?" Asked Lily
"I was heading for Vegas"
"Aww c'mon Spike you can't leave now, can he Mom?"
"If Spike needs to leave I don't think we should keep him" said Buffy
"What's Vegas got that we haven't?" Asked Lily mischievously
"Uh well, it's just been a long time pet" said Spike
"Yeah but Mom would really like it if you stayed. Right Mom?" Ava elbowed her mother slightly
"Sure it'd be nice to have you around for a few more days, I know Dawn wants to catch up with you" smiled Buffy
"If you're sure? I don't wanna out stay my welcome" said Spike
"Don't be silly" smiled Buffy
"Well that's settled, hey let's do family dinner tonight? Just the three of us? And you guys can tell me everything like how you met" said Lily excitedly rushing out of the room
"She's rather excitable isn't she?" Chuckled Spike
"Uh no not usually, You're having a positive effect on her, you keep it up I might ask you to stay till she gets married" giggled Buffy
"Really?" Asked Spike
"Sure she likes you" said Buffy
XXXXXX
Buffy had spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen, her cooking skills leaving a lot to be desired but she could throw together a great chicken Alfredo. With the cooking aspect taking up much of her time, she barely had any time to make herself look presentable for dinner. A stained T-shirt wasn't going to cut it.
She changed into some black jeans and a red knit sweater. She wore her hair in loose curls, remembering how Spike loved it when she wore it this way; she went into the kitchen to grab the plates and started setting the table
Spike walked into the dining room and was blown away "you look nice" he smiled
"Oh thanks" said Buffy smoothing down her sweater "so you do, is that a new shirt?" She asked
Spike looked down at the light blue button down shirt he wore "uh not recent new but yeah" he smiled
'Damn, that shirt brings out his eyes I never noticed how blue they actually were until now or maybe I just forgot' Buffy thought to herself
"Do you need me to do anything?" He asked
"Nope just sit your butt down" she smiled
Lily joined them not long after.
"So, how did you guys meet?" asked Lily
"Long story" said Spike
"I've got time" said Lily, taking a bite of her food
"You ruined parent-teacher night at my school" said Buffy
"Did not" Spike protested
"You totally did! Oh and grandma Joyce hit him with an axe" Buffy laughed
"Ah Joyce" Spike remembered her fondly
"Go Grandma!" Lily laughed
"That wasn't the first time we met" said Spike
"Oh yeah… outside of the Bronze" she remembered
"Saturday" he smiled
"What happened on Saturday?" Asked Lily
"Nothing, Mr Impatient over there couldn't wait… hence the ruining of parent-teacher night" said Buffy
"Wait so you were evil?" asked Lily
"For a bit…" Spike shifted uncomfortably
"Over a hundred years isn't a 'bit'" Buffy teased
"I didn't know any better" Spike pouted
"But then you started fighting the good fight?" asked Lily
"Thanks to your mum yeah…" said Spike
Buffy smiled.
"And you guys fell in love?" asked Lily
Buffy shifted uncomfortably "No… not exactly"
"We fought for years… and then…" Spike trailed off
"Then what? C'mon guys don't leave me hanging!" said Lily
"It's complicated…" said Buffy
"So you guys fought and then eventually you just like stopped?" asked Lily
"The chip…" said Spike
"Oh that's right, Uncle Xander told me about that. Those Initiative guys were major weirdos" said Lily
"They were" Spike agreed "Ask your mum, she dated one of their tin soldiers"
"Hey! Riley was sweet" said Buffy
"Yeah, a real catch… when he wasn't getting himself bitten by vampires" said Spike
"Wow…" said Lily
"I don't have a great track record when it comes to guys, I'll admit that" said Buffy
"I don't know, Jason was pretty cool… and my dad too" said Lily
"Yeah… your dad was special" said Buffy sadly
"What happened to him?" asked Spike
"Oh totally romantic, he died saving my mom's life" said Lily "Like you have to love somebody a whole lot to give up your life for them"
Buffy and Spike shared a moment.
"He sounds like a great man" said Spike softly
"He was" said Buffy