Chapter Eight – Unto the Breach

Brad stepped out into the shop and waved Drusilla back.

Spike stood and moved around the island, putting it between himself and the door. He leaned against the counter by the sink and took another bite of his sandwich as Dru stepped into the kitchen. She glared at him then snapped, "What the hell are you doing, William?"

He held up the sandwich. "Eatin' lunch."

"That's not what I mean, and you know it. What are you doing in this… this… place?"

He nodded at Tara. "Visitin' my cousin, Tara."

Dru blinked at Tara who smiled shyly then she looked at Spike. "You don't have any cousins."

"I do now, and that's the story if anyone asks. I'll explain it all to you later, but nobody can know why I'm really here."

"Are you sleeping with her?"

Spike laughed, "No. She's gay, pet." He nodded at the redhead standing next to him. "Willow here's her girl."

Drusilla backed up a step and looked out into the shop. "Well, I'm fairly certain you're not sleeping with the brunette since you're not gay, so it has to be the little blonde."

"Why do I have to be shaggin' someone? Why can't I just be visitin' friends?"

"Because Tara wouldn't suddenly be your 'cousin' if you were only here visiting friends. You're trying to keep your new girlfriend under wraps like Angel did with Cordy. Is she the one you've been talking to on the phone for the past month?"

"Yeah, she's the one. And I mean that literally. She's my girl and I hope to make her my wife, but she's skittish 'bout publicity, so I'm not broadcastin' that we're together, all right? Tara's my cousin and I'm here visitin' her and her girlfriend. That's the story. Write it down if you need to, but Buffy's name is not to be connected with mine in any way until it's put down on the marriage license. As far as anyone knows, she's my cousin's roommate and that's it. We clear?"

Willow and Tara were both grinning as Drusilla blinked at Spike. "You're getting married?"

Spike shook his head. "Not yet. Likely not for a while. I've not even asked her, but that's what I hope happens." He pushed off the counter and took a step toward the island. "And you will not balls this up for me, Dru. If it gets out that she's my girl and the hate she's afraid of starts pourin' in, I'll quit the bloody band 'fore I'll force her to endure that."

"You'd throw everything away for a girl you've known for a month? That you didn't even lay eyes on until yesterday?"

"You know better than anyone that I don't do things by halves, especially when it concerns someone I love."

Drusilla blinked at him again then said quietly, "You love her?"

Spike stepped around the island and gently grasped Dru's arms. "I do, pet." He pulled her into a quick hug then let her go. "You know I fall hard and fast, and once I've fallen, I'm a tenacious bastard."

Drusilla smiled up at him and nodded. "Yeah, I know, Will. Okay, we'll run with the cousin story and keep… Buffy, did you say?" Spike nodded. "We'll keep Buffy's name out of any press we do about this event." She leaned around Spike and looked out at the shop. "What have you been signing for them?"

Spike shrugged. "Whatever they handed me. Photos, concert tickets, t-shirts, those bobble-headed doll things, and one bird had me sign the cover of a story she'd written 'bout us."

"About the band?"

Spike smirked. "No. 'Bout you and me. Apparently, there's a whole section of fanfiction dedicated to our 'ship.' We're called Sprusilla. I read the first few pages, and the writing was actually quite good, in spite of the fact that the story opens with us shaggin' ourselves blind." He laughed. "Story Spike is quite the lover, and the descriptions of my anatomy were fairly accurate. One wonders how the author knows so much 'bout my todger." He motioned to the phone Dru held in her hand. "You haven't posted any of those snaps you took of me, have you?"

Drusilla shook her head. "No, but they may have leaked when that cloud storage service was hacked a few years ago. That's where they were stored."

Spike sighed. "Great." He scrubbed his hands over his face. "Nothin' to be done about it now, I suppose." He looked at Brad. "Is it time for me to head back out there?"

Brad checked his watch then shook his head. "You've got another twenty-five minutes."

Drusilla turned to Brad. "I brought a few boxes of photos. They're in the trunk of my car." She handed Brad her keys. "Would you go grab them, please?"

Spike scowled as Brad took the keys and walked out into the shop. "I'm not gonna charge these people for autographs, Dru. Wouldn't be cricket to suddenly demand dosh out of 'em when they've already been sittin' outside the shop for hours waitin' to talk to me. Most of 'em are skint college kids who likely couldn't afford to get VIP passes, so this'll be the only time they'll get to meet me."

"I know that, Will. I brought the photos so you'd have something to sign for them if they didn't have anything of their own. I'm aware that this is a free event, but if we get the good press out of it that I expect we will, it'll boost ticket and merch sales, and probably album sales, too."

"All right." He turned to Willow. "Could you go ask Buffy to come in here? Tell her my manager wants to meet the shop owner or something. Haven't spoken to her since I handed over her coffee at the bloody crack of dawn."

Willow nodded. "I'll be right back."

Tara followed her out. "I'll take over the register."

When the kitchen was empty of everyone except Spike and Dru, she asked quietly, "You're sure about her, Will?"

Spike looked at her and nodded. "Yeah, pet. I love her as much as I loved you."

Drusilla wrapped him in a hug, and he squeezed her back as she said, "Then I'm happy for you, and I'll do whatever I can to keep this under wraps."

Buffy stepped into the kitchen then stopped suddenly, "Oh, um… Sorry to intrude. I'll just leave you two alone." Her shoulders slumped and she whispered, "Knew it."

She turned and Spike's hand landed on her arm and tugged her further into the kitchen and out of sight of the shop then he cupped her face and said quietly, "I'm yours, Buffy, and I don't cheat, remember?" He nodded toward Drusilla. "We're still good friends, pet, but that's all. Okay?"

Buffy blinked the sudden sheen of tears away and nodded. "Okay."

He smiled then pressed a gentle kiss to her lips before wrapping his arm around her. "Buffy, this is Dru, my manager. Dru, this is Buffy, my girl."

Drusilla smiled and extended her hand. "Nice to meet you, Buffy."

Buffy shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, too. Did you want some coffee or something? We're out of a lot of the flavorings and stuff, but I can get you black or with cream and sugar or just sugar or whatever."

Drusilla shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Thank you for hosting this, although I don't suppose you had much choice in that."

"No, I really didn't, but it's gone okay, I guess." She laughed. "We were gonna do inventory after finals, but it would probably be easier to do it tonight before we unpack the freight, since the shop is pretty much stripped."

Drusilla said, "I'll stay and help with that if you want."

Buffy shook her head. "No, I couldn't ask you to do that. We'll handle it."

"I want to, Buffy." She smirked at Spike. "Besides, cleaning up after Will is part of my job."

Spike chuckled, "No, it's Cordy's job. Your job is to nag me into oblivion."

Drusilla shook her head with a smirk. "Cordy quit. She's four months pregnant, and by the time you boys will need full-time cleaning up after, she'll have a couple of infants to take care of, so adding four full-grown infants to her workload isn't feasible."

Spike goggled at her. "Couple of infants? She's havin' twins?" He frowned as a look of guilt settled onto his features. "Oh, bloody hell. That means she was up the duff for the whole tour, doesn't it? Why didn't she tell anyone? We could've kept after our own bits and pieces 'stead of havin' her workin' that hard."

"Angel and I picked up her slack, and between the two of us, we kept her from overexerting herself."

"The pair of you did a bang-up job at not lettin' the rest of us in on it. I didn't even notice anythin' was different."

Drusilla smirked. "That was the whole point. They didn't want to announce the pregnancy until the threat of miscarriage had passed, so Angel and I did the more strenuous jobs, like the washing and the cleaning. Cordy mostly just cooked for you boys."

Spike blinked. "I didn't even know Angel could identify a laundry machine, considerin' he grew up havin' staff to take care of all that."

Dru smiled. "He's taken to cleaning and everything like a duck to water. So much so that Cordy gets irritated with him because he won't let her do anything, but she and Angel are both over the moon about the pregnancy. Her baby shower is the day before the wedding."

Spike scowled slightly. "Am I not invited or somethin'? Since this is the first I'm hearin' of it?"

"Your invitation is at your place in LA. Angel dropped it off yesterday afternoon, but you'd already left."

Spike grinned. "Well, all right then." He squeezed Buffy. "It's a plus-one, I hope." Drusilla nodded and he looked at Buffy and asked, "Would you like to accompany me to a baby shower and wedding, pet?"

Buffy looked up at him with apprehension coloring her features. "Um… when is it?" She rose up on her toes and whispered into Spike's ear. "And where? Will there be a lot of people?"

He looked over at Drusilla. "How many people are comin' to this?" Brad stepped into the kitchen and held up his phone, tapping the clock on the screen. Spike nodded at him then looked back to Drusilla.

"Just the band, their plus-ones, Angel and Cordy's parents, me, and Brad. Oh, and the priest. Angel's parents are hosting at their estate, so we won't have to worry about fans or paparazzi getting anywhere near it, but they do have some staff and security people."

"Who are likely used to seein' famous people on the property, so they shouldn't be a problem. If Angel's parents have security staff, why does Brad have to be there? Are the other bloke's bodyguards going?"

Brad walked over to Drusilla and wrapped his arm around her. "I'm her plus-one."

Spike blinked. "You're… you two are…"

Drusilla smiled. "Married." She held up her left hand and showed Spike her ring. "We got married yesterday."

Spike blinked at the two of them then sputtered at Drusilla, "Brad spent his weddin' night sleepin' on Buffy's sofa?" He looked at Brad. "What the bleedin' hell, mate? Why didn't you tell me? You should be off on your honeymoon, not babysittin' me."

"Babysitting you is my job, Will."

"Yeah, but you could've told me you'd gotten hitched, you big oaf. I could've taken a bloody Uber down here."

Brad waved at the shop. "And you'd be on your own with all this shit, and Buffy's shop would probably be destroyed. We're gonna have our honeymoon after Angel and Cordy's wedding, so stop worrying about it." He lifted his phone again. "You need to get back out there. I put the boxes of photos on the floor by the couch."

"Yeah, all right." He turned to Buffy and cupped her face again. "We'll talk 'bout the weddin' later, yeah?" She nodded and he leaned close, kissing her gently before pressing his forehead lightly to hers. "Miss you already, pet." He kissed her again then let her go and picked up his bottle of juice. "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more."

XXXX

Spike turned and flopped backwards onto the couch, propping one foot up on the arm and leaving his other foot on the floor. He draped his arm over his eyes and mumbled, "I'm just gonna kip right here, if that's all right with you lot."

Buffy finished locking the shop door and pulled the blind down over the window then tossed the keys at Willow. "No, it's not, but you can go upstairs to sleep. We need to clean up and do an inventory of the two or three things we have left before the stock truck gets here, so it's gonna be a little noisy down here for a while."

Spike sat up then yawned widely and said, "I should help with that."

Buffy walked over and took his hand then pulled him to his feet. "No, you shouldn't. You should go upstairs and go to bed."

Spike wrapped his arms around her and murmured into her hair. "I've barely seen you all day, luv, so I'll stay and help."

Buffy squeezed him in a hug. "You're dead on your feet, Spike. Go. To. Bed." She unwrapped his arms from around her and turned him to face the coffee bar then nodded at Brad. "Make him go to bed."

Brad chuckled as he started toward Spike. "You gonna walk or am I gonna carry you?"

Spike raised a hand with a laugh, "I'll walk, mate." He turned back to Buffy. "Tuck me in, kitten?"

She nodded with a quiet laugh. "Yeah, I'll come tuck you in. Dork."

He took Buffy's hand and started for the stairs. "How long do you think you'll be?"

"The inventory shouldn't take hardly any time, and unpacking the freight usually takes an hour or so if we're just getting the perishables into the coolers. We'll unpack the rest of the stock tomorrow so we can do some deep cleaning because of all the empty cases and shelves and everything, so maybe three or four hours, I guess."

They started up the stairs and Spike said, "All right. Wake me when you come up."

"Yeah, I'm not gonna do that, Spike. You've been awake for like two days, so I'm gonna let you sleep."

"You've been awake just as long as I have."

"Yeah, but I'm a college student. We pick up the ability to run on zero sleep and tons of caffeine along with our meal card and student ID." She shut the apartment door behind them and towed him to her room. "You want to shower first?"

He shook his head. "No, don't think I can stay awake that long." He started stripping out of his clothes as Buffy pulled the covers back on the bed.

Once he was settled on the pillow, she pulled the blankets over him then sat down beside him. "How do you do it?"

He blinked sleepily at her and spoke through a yawn, "Do what, pet?"

"You were wide awake and engaging and laughing and everything all day, but as soon as I shut the door behind the last fan, it was like somebody flipped a switch in you and you suddenly looked like you'd been hit by a bus."

"I was in show mode all day. I don't know how to explain it, but it's almost like I'm a completely different person. One that doesn't get tired or cross or what have you. And as soon as I don't need to perform any longer, all the built-up exhaustion crashes into me like a piano hittin' a sidewalk."

"That can't be healthy."

"It's likely not, but as long as this is how I make my livin', I suppose I'll have to deal with it." He smirked. "Your zero sleep and tons of caffeine regimen isn't exactly healthy either, kitten."

She laughed quietly, "No, it probably isn't, but as long as I'm a student, I suppose I'll have to deal with it." She leaned down and kissed him then cupped his cheek. "Get some sleep."

He smiled tiredly and said, "I will." Buffy stood up and he rolled onto his belly, clutching her pillow tightly as he murmured, "Love you, Buffy." He was asleep seconds later.

Buffy stood next to the bed with her mouth hanging open.