Chapter 5
“Is George looking a little green around the gills to you, Will?” Xander shouted, smirking, making sure his voice was loud enough to be heard over the phone. Willow shot daggers at him, turning her attention back to her conversation.
“No, Buffy! There’s nothing wrong with George, Xander’s just being an ass. A very unfunny ass.”
“I thought it was funny…” The boy snickered, dumping the fish food into the bowl. “Get it George, ‘green around the gills’.”
“Buffy, that’s amazing! You’ll call and tell me everything tomorrow, right? Okay…talk to you tomorrow, we miss you too…bye.”
“You know, I don’t think George likes me very much, his little fishy eyes are always glaring at me.” Xander said, staring rather intensely at the tiny goldfish. “What was so amazing?”
“Oh, it seems Angel and Buffy had a small smoochie session by the oak tree in her backyard.”
A low grunt escaped his lips as he straightened up, turning to face the redhead, a scowl plastered on his face. “I swear I heard that guy was getting married.”
Will shrugged her shoulders, tucking her cell phone in her pocket.
“I really don’t like that Angel guy…”
“You don’t like any guy Buffy likes.” She smiled at him.
“What, I’m the ex-boyfriend, it’s my job to hate any guy Buffy likes.”
“Xander, you only went out for a week…in the eighth grade!”
“True, but we did make out twice, which qualifies me as an ex.” He smiled proudly, earning a very loud snicker from Willow.
“Okay…we only made out once…”
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Spike sighed heavily, removing a cigarette from his pack and lighting it. Why the hell did he bother coming to this thing?! He absolutely hated parties like this, especially when they had anything to do with his brother. He fought his way through the crowd of people in the house, and out into the crowd of people on the balcony, managing to find a person-free spot by the railing.
He removed the tie from his tuxedo, stuffing it in his pocket, and unbuttoned the collar, finally letting his neck breathe. Hated these damn monkey suits, it was bad enough he had to be suit and tie man at the office, but at a party…he’d much rather wear his favorite pair of black jeans and his combat boots…
Spike took a moment to study the sight before him, he had to hand it to Cordy, the little planning Nazi had put together a rather decent looking shindig. A nice summer feel to it, complete with a live band and an open bar, two of his favorite things. He spotted his brother and sister-in-law to be, dancing out on the floor Cordy had installed for the occasion. He snorted a bit as he watched Angel stumble, the big lummox had never been a great dancer, to clumsy on his feet…
He was about to work on his second smoke when he saw it, the way the soft glow of the fading sunlight radiated off of the soft blonde hair, the woman attached to it, breathtakingly beautiful…it felt like his heart had skipped several beats, and suddenly being in this tux was making him extremely hot, great he was going to start sweating now. She was on the arm of Hank, probably another one of his child-brides…but so was Tammy…
Something inside of him tweaked painfully at the realization…Christ, it couldn’t be…!
“Ow, bloody hell!” He shouted, quickly dropping the lighter to the ground, bringing the searing finger to his lips. Shit! He had forgotten that he was trying to light that fucking cigarette.
It had to be her, only Buffy Summers could make him into a clumsy ponce all over again…
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Angel had spotted her out of the corner of his eye, god, if he had known Buffy was going to turn out to be this hot when he was younger, he might not have made her clean his room as much. Cordelia clung tightly to him, making him extremely uncomfortable. He had to get rid of this girl…
Perfect. A smile broke out on his face as he danced he and Cordy right into a woman holding a wineglass, effectively spilling the alcohol all over his bride-to-be.
“Oh god, Cordy I’m so sorry!”
“Angel! This is Prada, what the hell is wrong with you!” She fumed, her anger coming off of her in waves. Angel flashed her a smile, pushing her towards the woman. “I am so sorry baby, I wasn’t looking where I was going. Nancy, please take Cordy to get cleaned up. I wouldn’t want that beautiful dress to be ruined.”
“Sure thing, come on sweetie.” Nancy smiled sympathetically, slipping her arm around Cordelia, leading her away.
Angel smiled to himself, effectively slipping away once his fiancée’ was completely out of sight
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“That bastard…” Spike gritted his teeth, the sudden need for his inhaler becoming overwhelming as he watched Angel lead Buffy by the hand out onto the floor, pulling her in close to him.
“Well, now that doesn’t look a thing like Cordelia…” Giles quipped, slipping in next to his son.
“That would be the little girl next door…all growed up.”
“Buffy has, uh, certainly turned into a beautiful young woman.”
“Yeah.” Spike grunted. “But, dad, you do see how dangerous she is, don’t you?!”
“What do you mean…?”
“I mean, well look at Peaches! He’s completely taken with her, you know him dad, he’ll call off his wedding to Cordy, and we need that wedding to happen! A merger with the Chases would make Slayer Games practically untouchable!”
Giles studied William’s tightly drawn face carefully, noting the little flecks his cheek muscle made, always a sign of anger. He was right about the company, a Chase merger had been the only reason he encouraged Angel to pursue Cordelia, he truly couldn’t stand the vapid girl.
“Well, Will, you’ll just have to come up with a way to keep him from Buffy.”
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“I was thinking…maybe we should go someplace private.” Angel smiled, pulling her as close to him as he possibly could.
“The tennis court?” She beamed, looking up at him. God, being in his arms was amazing, although her neck was kinda sore from having to look up at him so much.
“You know me well, don’t you?”
Buffy chuckled softly in response, pulling away from him.
“Give me five minutes.” Angel smiled, taking a rather longing look at her before dashing off to the bar.
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“Where’s Angel?” Cordelia asked loudly, stepping out onto the balcony. Giles and Spike shot each other simultaneous helpless looks, the elder man the first one to act.
“Cordelia!” Giles said, over cheeriness in his voice, and grabbed her by the hand. “How’s about a spin around the floor with dear old dad, eh?”
“Giles, did you get into the scotch again?”
“Nonsense.” He smiled brightly, a little too brightly, dragging her down the steps. “Just want to have a dance with my daughter, you know I always wanted a daughter…”
Spike smiled as he watched his dad work Cordy over, he had to hand it to the old man sometimes, always knew when to come through in a pinch. His blue eyes darkened once he spotted Angel at the bar, smiling like a moron as he stealthily stuffed two wineglasses into the back pockets of his trousers.
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“Angel!” Spike slapped him on the back hard, badly startling him, making Angel nearly drop the champagne bottle he was holding.
“Spike, what do you want…”
“Dad’s inside of the house, looking for you, says the two of you have some important business to discuss.”
“Can it wait…” Angel sighed loudly. “I really should be mingling with my guests…”
“I know, and my heart bleeds for you, really, but you know how dad is. It’s important to the old man that he sees you now.”
Angel grumbled, reluctantly following Spike up the stairs and into the crowded house.
“Where is he?” He growled, impatiently clinging to the bottle of wine.
“Well, gosh, he was just bloody standing right here. Why don’t you just have a seat, Angel and I’ll see if I can’t find him.” Spike rattled off quickly, pushing his brother down into a chair, relishing in the sound of glass breaking and the scream of utter pain that came from his lips.
Heads turned, all rushing over to see if Angel was all right. He writhed in pain, lifting up off of the chair to keep the glass from digging into his skin.
“What happened Angel?! Spike asked innocent as ever, trying his best to look concerned…he should get a sodding Emmy for this performance.
“Glasses…champagne glasses…Buffy…” The words came out of his mouth in disconnected bursts, filled in between with gasps of pain.
“Buffy? Oh, don’t worry about Buffy, I’ll take care it.” Spike smiled, causally walking out of the room.
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Okay, now she was beginning to make her own self sick…Buffy just couldn’t stop smiling. This whole thing was so unbelievable and it had all happened so fast…
Angel wanted her with the exact same passion and ferocity she had wanted him for all of these years, if she had known this would happen so quickly, she would have accepted her father’s invitation to come visit much, much sooner. She smiled wistfully as she slid off her heels, loving the way the pavement felt under her bare feet. She casually glanced at the oak tree near the fence, being sublimely happy to be the girl looking at things from this end.
She could hear his slow, but steady footsteps coming towards her, and she whirled around in anticipation…
“Hello, luv.” Buffy’s smile quickly faded at the sound of the voice, not Angel, where’s Angel?!
“Hello.” She called back, looking thoroughly confused as the man stepped into view. He was lean, yet muscular looking, his curly platinum blonde hair was tosseled, giving him a very boyish look, sculpted cheekbones that seemed to be a mile high…
He closed in on her, like a cat closing in on its prey, each of his movements fluid and confident. A smirk played across his pouty lips.
“Now, why do I get the feeling you don’t remember who I am?” He smiled, setting down the champagne bottle and glasses he was carrying.
“Should I remember you?” Buffy chuckled politely. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before in my life…”
He nodded, his grin getting wider. “Maybe this will jog your memory, pet.” Spike sniffed loudly and whipped the back of his hand across his nose.
Buffy’s smile quickly faded, and she suddenly looked very pale. No…it can’t be…
“Will-ie-um, I mean…William?!” She gasped, shaking her head.
“It’s nice to see you again, Buffy, you’ve changed.” He smiled, the low tone of his voice dipped in that accent sent small tingles down her spine that really shouldn’t be there…
“You’re one talk.” She snickered. “It’s amazing just to see outside without being encased in your bubble.”
Personality wise, she hadn’t changed a bit…still the same ol’ bitch who would take a dig at him any chance she got. “Grew out of the allergies, not as bad as they use to be.”
“Where’s Angel?” She asked impatiently, softly tapping her barefoot against the pavement.
“Angel got tied up at the moment, but he didn’t want you to think that he abandoned you, so he sent me in his place. Sorry, I’m such a poor substitute.”
“Good, at least we agree on something.” Buffy smiled snidely, cocking her head to the side. Spike rolled his eyes, stifling the urge to strangle the girl, he now remembered why he disliked her so very much back then.
“Look…we’re both adults now, right? Surely we can get along for the length of one dance, luv.”
Buffy looked at him as though he had grown a second head, and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“Don’t think of it as dancing with me, think of it as dancing with Angel. He’s the only reason why I’m here anyway…”
Buffy shrugged, sighing loudly and put one hand in his, the other on his shoulder. Spike drew her in closely, his heart stopping briefly at the scent of her, god he loved vanilla.
“So…William.” Buffy began. “Where’d you get that ridiculous nickname from?”
“My name ridiculous? This coming from a girl named Buffy?” He snickered.
Buffy scowled at that, bastard. “Just answer the question…”
“I earned the nickname ‘Spike’ through the job actually. When I first took over for dad, they would tell me that the competition was so scared of me, that they would rather drive railroad spikes through their heads than to deal with me…”
“I share their sentiments…” Buffy said, smiling smugly.
“I liked it, so the name stuck.” Spike finished, narrowing his eyes at her, bitch.
“Aren’t you a little young to be doing the CEO thing.” She asked, lazily resting her head on his shoulder, she was suddenly feeling very comfortable, relaxed in his arms…
Spike unconsciously tightened his arm around her waist. “Dad wanted to retire, someone had to take his place.”
“Why not Angel?”
“Why do you ask so many questions?” He smiled, and Buffy lifted her head up, laughing softly as she looked at him.
“I’m curious by nature.” Spike could feel his breath hitch in his chest as he looked into her eyes, swallowing the nasty lump that had formed in his throat, he slowly leaned in, brushing her lips with his. Buffy’s eyes went wide at the gesture, and she quickly broke the kiss, but remained in his arms.
“What?” Spike said, somewhat nervously, he could feel the sweat starting to break out on his forehead. “Think of that kiss as not coming from me, but from Angel.” He smiled. “It’s all in the family.”