Chapter 13: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Angel shrugged into his suit jacket, sighing loudly. He hated anything business related with a passion and his being extremely on the late side, merely added to that hatred.
He carefully checked his hair in the mirror, making sure he had the right amount of gel in it. He didn’t care about how pissed Spike would be he just couldn’t walk out of the house knowing that his gorgeous brown locks didn’t have the right amount of lift and volume.
His little brother had been a tad on the edgy side the past few days, snapping like mad at over every little thing. Spike was full of piss and vinegar and Angel had intended to steer clear of him until he got over whatever was bothering him, but that plan was officially blown to hell once the contracts for the merger arrived.
Deciding that his hair was just right, Angel slid on his sunglasses, heading down stairs.
“Buffy.” He smiled at her as he made his decent into the living room. Buffy stood at the bottom of the stairs, her hands shoved into her pockets. She gave him a half-hearted smile.
“Angel.”
“Haven’t seen you around in a few days, is everything okay?”
Buffy sniffed softly, taking a hand out of her pocket to brush a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Yeah.” She nodded solemnly. “Everything…everything’s fine. I just…” She began, her voice trailing off.
“Listen…” Angel said softly, taking her hand. “If I made you uncomfortable the other night…”
“No! No, it’s not that. You were, you were very sweet.” She smiled meekly. “I just, decided to cut my trip short and my dad’s at the office and Tammy scares me a bit…” She chuckled.
“She can have that affect on people.” He smiled.
“Can I, I mean, can you take me to the airport?” The words barely above a whisper as Buffy could feel another crying spell coming on. Not gonna cry, not gonna cry, not gonna cry…
Angel looked at her for a moment, drinking in the sight of her. She looked very tired, her eyes a bit red and looking on the verge of tears again. It didn’t take him long to put two and two together…
“Sure.” He smiled softly. Spike be damned, Angel thought as he walked Buffy out the door. That bastard can wait.
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“Where is he?!” Spike roared, furiously digging his cigarettes out of his pocket. Angel knew this meeting was important and yet that great poof was more than an hour late.
“He’ll be here, William, calm down and give him time.” Giles said soothingly, leaning back in his chair with a great sigh.
“He’s had all the bloody time in the world! He’s doing this on purpose you know!” He shouted, lighting his fag. “Probably checking the gel levels in his ruddy hair. You know that’s what you’re getting, right?” He asked, turning towards Cordelia. “A sodding fashion model…”
“Geez Spike, what is your deal?! You’re even more annoying than usual!” Cordelia rolled her eyes at him, turning to face her father. “Daddy, do I have to be here?”
“Of course not, pumpkin.” Mr. Chase said, smiling at his daughter. “Why don’t you go down to the cafeteria and get yourself a Latte`.”
“Sorry I’m late.” Angel breezed through the office doors, tucking his glasses in his pocket. “Hey, honey.” He smiled, giving Cordelia a quick kiss.
“And where the bloody hell have you been?!” Spike glared as he approached him.
“The airport.” Angel stated simply. “Buffy needed a lift.”
“Buffy?!” Cordelia squeaked. “Who the hell is Buffy?!”
“She’s no one, right Spike. Just the annoying girl next door.” He smiled. “The poor chick’s been in love with me since we were kids. I’d be nice to her and she’d think we were betrothed or something…” Angel shook his head. “It’s quite sad.”
“It sounds like it.”
Spike could feel his blood begin to boil, and his fists curl and uncurl at his side. He’d heard Angel talk about many a girl this way before, but never did it have this affect on him…
“The whole time she was here, she would just follow me around, throwing herself at me. I guess Buffy would be good for a role in the hay but I just never took the bait…”
That did it.
Spike’s fist connected with his jaw so quickly, that Angel didn’t even get the chance to get out the next syllable, let alone the next word. A collective gasp went up in the room, as the larger man crumpled to the floor in a heap, his hand quickly grabbing at his face.
“William! What the bloody hell….!!” Giles roared, rushing over to his sons.
Cordelia flew by his side at once, asking if he were all right and sending the appropriate dirty glances at Spike.
Angel looked up at his brother, his smile now painfully tugging at the corners of his mouth, and began to laugh louder than he had ever in his life.
“What are laughing at you fucking prick…”
“I knew it!” Angel laughed. “You’re in love with her!”
He opened up his jacket, removing a plane ticket from the inner pocket.
“There were a few open seats on the plane, so I bought a ticket. Figured you could use a vacation.” He grinned, climbing to his feet, handing the ticket to Spike.
“Her flight was delayed, so I’d say you’ve got about an hour to get your ass out the door and to the airport.”
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“Is there anything I can get you, miss?”
Buffy shook her head at the flight attendant. “No, I’m fine, thank you.”
She sighed heavily as the woman left her side, slumping down in the chair. This was officially the worst vacation ever. She never wanted to hear the name ‘Giles’ again all she wanted to do was get back to Ithaca. Back to her mom, and her friends, and maybe that Riley Finn guy who’d been asking her out all quarter. He wasn’t a bad guy, kinda good-looking in the no-necked jock sense. Kinda boring also, but that’s okay, his last name wasn’t Giles and that fact alone made him gold.
Buffy could feel the unmistakable lump take form in her throat and she climbed from her seat, heading towards the flying outhouse that was the airplane toilet. She couldn’t understand why she was crying every five minutes. It wasn’t, like a guy had never used her before, there was the huge mistake that was Parker Abrams, but Spike…
It hurt so badly she felt like she could scarcely breathe. She thought he cared about her, respected her, she thought she had gotten to know him…
The William Giles she knew was a big lie and he was still the little bastard he was when they were growing up, even if the damn allergies had cleared.
Buffy sniffed loudly, dabbing her eyes dry, so glad she decided to skip the mascara this morning. She took in a deep breath, feeling the tears subside for now and opened the bathroom door.
She could feel her heart stop for a moment as she made it to her seat, and quickly shook off the feeling, sitting down.
“You’re in my seat.” She said coolly, making sure to stare straight ahead.
“I’m sorry, luv. We can switch if you want…”
“No. It’s fine, I like the isle.”
“Really, Buffy, I’ll switch…”
“I said it was fine.” Buffy snapped, her foot tapping nervously on the floor. “What are you doing here?”
“Well…” Spike began. “I wanted to see Ithaca, you know, spend some time with the cows and the Amish.” He smiled.
“Is this supposed to be some lame attempt at an apology? Did you expect me to say ‘I forgive you’ just like that and move on like nothing happened?”
“That was the plan, pet, yes.”
“I don’t, you know, forgive you. And we are so not on this trip together.” Buffy said, continuing to stare straight ahead, the bluish pattern on the back of the seat quickly becoming emblazoned in her mind.
“I know.” Spike sighed, trying hard to fight the smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth, as Buffy’s fingers laced with his own.
“As soon as this plane lands, Spike, you go your way and I’ll go mine. Do I make myself clear?” Buffy finally turned to face him, a small smile, slowly breaking her resolve face.
Spike lifted her hand to his lips, his stormy blue eyes locking with her own as he placed a gentle kiss on her hand.
“Crystal.”