Restive Nature
Rated NC-17 (Eventually)
Chapter Five
A Talk With The Boy
Spike watched carefully for the moment when he could approach Connor. He found it odd that in all the years he’d known Buffy and Dawn, they’d never once mentioned Connor. Sure, there were names they said, family members, old friends, but not once had his name been among them. Yet Buffy claimed to have known him since he was a baby. And given that Connor was here now and a part of Angel’s wedding party, had to indicate that she’d introduced them. It grated a little on Spike’s nerves that he didn’t rate as high as Angel did on the friend’s meter.
So he watched and studied. And couldn’t come up with much beside the obvious. Connor was a moderately handsome kid and seemingly devoted to his own girlfriend. They were hugging right now. That was all Spike could deduce. He still didn’t even know the kid’s last name. When he’d asked Buffy the evening before, she’d paused, as if lost in thought and then they’d been interrupted and she’d never answered him. Perhaps now was the time to remedy that. Spike made his way to the corner the couple was in, pasting a charming, cocky grin on his face. He wasn’t jealous. Oh no, not by a long shot. He already knew that he had Buffy’s love and affection. And if watching her ex-lover wed only reinforced it, then he knew he had nothing to worry about from the kid. So he wasn’t jealous. Curious, that was the word. Never mind that it killed the cat.
There wasn’t much about Buffy’s life that he didn’t know about by now. They’d done the sharing thing. Although Buffy had shared a lot more than he had, for the simple fact that her childhood years were a lot more recent than his had been. He even knew about things from Red’s and the Whelp’s past. More than he’d like to sometimes, but when Buffy got to chatting about things, sometimes you couldn’t shut her up. And Dawn wasn’t one to undershare either. Sometimes he shuddered to think what they might share about him when he wasn’t around.
Connor glanced up from Alyssa as he heard someone approach. They’d just been discussing their summer vacation plans. Alyssa was going home to visit her family in North Dakota. Connor was making similar plans, though he didn’t have to travel so far. But aside from that and work, he had nothing pressing on him. He smiled when he realized it was Buffy’s boyfriend sauntering over. He glanced past the man, but didn’t see her behind him. A quick look off to the side revealed his friend to be talking to Angel. He was still a little stunned that Angel and Buffy knew each other, until Max had explained that Angel used to live in that little town, Sunnydale for a few years. Connor straightened up in his seat.
"Hey man," he greeted casually, thrusting out his hand. "You’re Spike, right?"
Spike took the proffered hand and shook it politely. "Yeah, Spike Worthington," he almost cringed as he’d said it. Dawn had chosen it for his surname after she caught him meeting with an ID fence. She’d then told everyone and it had been a little bit of a joke between the group.
"Spike huh?" Alyssa smiled. "Let me guess, high school nickname of the intriguing sort?" Spike grinned.
"Something like that," he chuckled. "M’first name’s really William." There was a mild snort from Connor’s part.
"Well nice to meet you at last William Worthington," Alyssa giggled, shaking his hand as well. "That’s almost poetic sounding. I’m Alyssa Richards by the way." He nodded and gave her his best little boy look.
"I didn’t know, Buffy never tells me anything," he said with a slight whine. He kept Connor’s reaction in the corner of his eye.
"Yeah," the young man chuckled. "There’s something else we have in common. Alyssa never tells me anything either.
"Something else," Spike asked, "aside from Buffy."
"I’ll bet she never mentioned me at all," Connor shrugged. "Connor William O’Keefe. Hence the in common things," he grinned, referring to the name. Spike nodded.
"Actually, all she told me was that she’d known you since you were in diapers," he explained. "I was kind of surprised that you were here. I’ve known Buffy for a few years, thought I knew all her friends."
"I was surprised to see Buffy," Connor nodded. "I didn’t realize that she knew Angel and Max."
"So she didn’t introduce you then?" Spike was even more puzzled now. He listened closely as Connor launched into the explanation of how he had met Max through work and then Angel. Neither Spike nor Alyssa realized that he left out a bit when describing the "mugging" that had taken place. For it was a demon that had attacked them, not a human.
"It sure is a small world, isn’t it honey," Alyssa grinned. She turned to Spike. "So how did you meet Buffy?" Spike was a little stunned, but thought quickly on his feet. No reason not to tell the truth, the edited version that was.
"An old girlfriend of mine was ill," he shrugged. "We ended up in Sunnydale, heard there was a guy that could help us. Ran into Buffy outside a nightclub and the rest was fate."
"Love at first sight?" Alyssa sighed.
"No, pure, unadulterated, mortal enemy kind of despisement at first sight," Spike grinned broadly. The others laughed. His eyes grew thoughtful. "But bloody hell could she dance." He reminisced about their first fight a few moments, pushing down the little knot of pain he still felt when he thought of Joyce. She’d been gone more than a few years now, but every once in a while, it felt as if it had happened yesterday. That’s what love did for you. Made you carry around the people closest to you whether they were there or not. He shook off the melancholy. "So you and Buffy have known each other a long time?"
"All my life," Connor confirmed. He glanced in the petite blonde’s direction again, noticing her moving off to the stairs, somewhat excited. "God, she hasn’t changed a bit." His eyes grew wide as his own statement impacted on his ears. Blood rushed through his ears as he stared at her retreating form. He realized that Spike was speaking again, but couldn’t focus on the words. His entire body tingled, as if his mind were trying to yank his consciousness into paying attention to a long held secret. "Excuse me," he mumbled, staggering to his feet. "Need some air."
Spike watched with a modicum of concern as Connor rushed out of the hotel. He turned back to the girl, but she was sitting calmly, taking a sip of her beverage. "Is he gonna be okay?" he asked, perplexed at the young man’s behavior. He’d suspected that something was off with the kid and this just seemed to confirm it.
"Deep thought moment," Alyssa shrugged, unconcerned. "He gets like this once in a while. He does his best thinking when he’s alone. He’ll be back in a few." Spike nodded. He debated following after the young man, but wasn’t sure exactly where he’d went. So he stayed and engaged Alyssa in conversation, managing to worm out of her the strange fact that Connor had never lived in LA before he started college. It was another strange fact to add to the growing pile. They continued to chat until Spike heard his lover calling her name.
"Excuse me," he smiled and she nodded. He stood and caught an armful of his very excited girlfriend. "What’s up luv?" he smiled at her squealing. Non-verbal meant it was humungous news. But he couldn’t discern anything with her jumping up and down in the circle of his arms so very enticingly. Nor with the sheaf of papers flapping in his face. He tightened one arm around her waist and grabbed at the papers. "What’s this then?"
"It’s ours!" she crowed, not explaining anything at all. Spike glanced over the papers, recognizing them immediately for what they were.
"Where’d this come from?" he demanded softly.
"Giles," she exclaimed giddily.
"Giles bought us a house?" he asked dubiously.
"No, no, no!" she laughed. "It’s from the old watcher’s council. The new watcher’s decided that it was more than fair to give it to us so we’d have a base of operation. It’s ours to do with as we please."
"I don’t know," Spike sighed. He hated to rain on her parade. "This seems kind of… suspicious don’t you think? They’ve had this house laying around for how long and they just decide to give it to us now?" He let her think about it for a moment. "Why not a few years ago?"
"Lawyers," she rolled her eyes. She lowered her voice so people wouldn’t overhear. "Apparently with so many Watcher’s being killed in such a short time, there was a lot for them to sort out. But they’re done now and this was one of the pieces of property they retained. And now it’s ours."
"One of the pieces?" he raised a solitary brow.
"Yep," she grinned. "Faith is getting a house too."
"Well good for us then," Spike grinned as well. "Score one for the Slayers!" They hugged again, Spike staring down over Buffy’s back at the deed still clutched in his hand. How was it possible that in less than twenty-four hours everything had just started falling into place? Maybe the Powers had just decided it was their turn at last. He pulled back to stare into Buffy’s shimmering eyes. "I love you," he whispered thickly as his lips descended to meet hers. He caressed her softly, his free hand moving up to cup the back of her head as the kiss deepened.
Connor returned to the hotel to see this. He watched from the doorway, his mind still puzzled. As he’d rushed from the building, his mind whirling, he’d tried to make sense of what he’d thought. He knew Buffy his whole life. She knew him most of hers. So why didn’t he have memories of her as a child? She was only four years older than he was. She hadn’t been an adult like she was now her whole life. It made no sense. If it had just been the last few years, he could understand no change in her appearance. But he definitely had memories of being a baby in her adult arms. That just wasn’t possible. And the further he’d looked for answers within himself, the less he found. For when closely examined, the memories wisped away like fog in the sunlight.
There was nothing in any of the memories he had of her to pinpoint times in his life, except for his size. There were no other people there. Not his family, not hers. No friends. Just he and Buffy. Somehow, none of it was adding up. He wondered as well if it was the same for Buffy. If he couldn’t see her now, he’d think her a figment of an overactive imagination. If she didn’t recognize him, he’d think she was a stranger that he had created a fantasy friendship with. But she was there and she did know him. He wanted to rush over to her and shake some answers out of her. And he just might have if it weren’t for the presence of the other people now gathering around her. So he approached cautiously, to sit with Alyssa. The first opportunity he had, he was going to sit Buffy down and tell her that something was wrong. He just couldn’t today. It wasn’t the right time.
"What’s going on?" he whispered to Alyssa. She turned a beaming smile on him.
"Spike and Buffy just got a house I think," she explained. "How are you?" she asked with the ease of long experience in handling her boyfriend.
"I’m fine," he lied just as easily. She watched him for a moment, then turned back to the celebration within the celebration.
"What’s with the squealing Buff?" Dawn demanded, approaching her sister and her boyfriend.
"I’d say that Giles gave her his surprise," Angel grinned, one arm wrapped around his wife. They smiled secretively at each other. Giles had already shared the rest of the council’s plans with them, sort of as a sounding board. Because of the nature of Angel’s resurrection, he could technically be considered a Slayer of the same class as Spike; the offer of a job was given. But Angel had made it clear that his focus was elsewhere. He already had enough jobs. He didn’t need official backing from the New Council.
"What is it Buffy?" Willow asked, trying to get a glimpse of the papers being waved around.
"We got a house!" Buffy exclaimed, bouncing up and down again.
"Cool!" Dawn clapped her hands quickly. "Where is it? How big? Is there room for me? Can we go see it?" She was easily as excited as her sister.
"Calm down Nibblet," Spike laughed, even as he grabbed her hand. It was the best thing in the world to him to see his girls happy. Dawn was every bit a sister to him as she was to Buffy. Maybe it was time to make it all official.
"Let’s see," Buffy murmured, running through Dawn’s questions in her mind. "Don’t know yet, three bedrooms, of course and as soon as possible." Dawn grinned again, the expression mirrored on the rest of the group’s faces. Buffy pulled her towards a table so they could look over the paperwork. But Spike snagged Max’s arm, a plan rapidly forming in his mind.
"Can I talk to you for a sec?" he asked quietly. He glanced up at Angel. "I won’t keep her long."
"Sure thing," Max answered. They moved away from the rest of the group. Spike eyed her warily, unsure how she’d take his words. For the entire length of time they had known each other, they hadn’t really gotten to know each other. Not that either minded. Again, there were just things between all four of them that prevented that. He jammed his hands into his jean pockets, suddenly nervous.
"I uh-, this was really unexpected," he began.
"Well don’t look at me," she spoke teasingly. "I had nothing to do with it."
"No, it’s not that," Spike protested quickly. "It’s just that, I always figured that when Buffy and I moved into a house, we’d be…"
"Married?" Max provided. He nodded. She rolled her eyes. "So marry her."
"Well, I want to do it up, proper like," he explained hastily. "Got a ring I’ve had my eye on. Even got some money saved up. I’m thinking I could make a down payment on the set." He glanced away. When had it gotten so hard for him to ask for monetary help? It had never bothered him in the past. But then, he’d been a soulless demon. He had his pride now. But luckily for him, Max was one step ahead of him.
"You know," she tilted her head to the side. "I never did pay you back that fifty you gave me when we first met. It’s been a while and I hate owing people money. I don’t suppose you would mind if I paid it back with interest, would you?" His eyes lit up with barely concealed mirth. He had a sneaking suspicion what she was offering.
"Not at all," he nodded solemnly.
"How about when I get back from my honeymoon, you and I head down to this little club I know and we’ll see how much interest I accrued?" she offered, waggling her eyebrows.
"If you’re sure," he hesitated. He knew Lorne had said that she excelled at gambling, but no one’s luck was perfect. "I mean, I don’t want you losing-!"
"Spike," she looked offended. "Heightened senses, genius IQ, and probabilities expert. I don’t lose. I’m the terror of the tables."
"All right then!" he accepted happily. Yes, everything was working out great.
"So, when I get back?"
"When you get back," he confirmed with a nod.
A Home Of Our Own
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