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Been Here Too Few Years	By : addielogan Category: > Buffy/Spike(William) > Buffy/Spike(William) Views: 18659 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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When Buffy first arrived
at the house on Revello Drive, everything seemed to be going smoothly. Both her
mother and Giles appeared to like Robin, and Buffy was glad she'd decided to
bring him. This was just the sort of thing she needed to get on with her life.
She settled into the party going on in the backyard, comfortable around the mix
of relatives and old family friends.
Then
Spike arrived.
Buffy
knew he was there even before she saw him, some long-forgotten sense prickling
at her as soon as he was near. She turned, her breath stilling in her lungs for
a moment as she saw him in person for the first time in three years. He was
still stunningly gorgeous, perhaps even more so than she'd remembered. Even
from a distance, his eyes still seemed to sparkle, and Buffy had to fight her
initial instinct to run to him.
It did,
however, become somewhat easier to fight when she realized he wasn't alone.
She had
to keep from actually staggering backwards when she saw Eve Hart step forward
and hug Joyce. It was clear from the gesture the two women were already
acquainted, and Buffy couldn't help her feelings of betrayal, even as she knew
her mother was doing nothing truly wrong in accepting her step-son's new
girlfriend. The unspoken rule around the house had become to never mention
Spike around Buffy�and most likely, as far as Buffy knew, to never mention her
around Spike�so if Joyce and Eve had any sort of bonding time, Joyce wouldn't
have said anything for fear of upsetting Buffy.
Yet
watching them talking now still made Buffy want to grab Eve away and scream at
her to stay the hell away from her mother.
"Is
that Eve Hart and the lead singer of Dingoes Ate My Baby?"
Robin's
question reminded Buffy she wasn't there alone, and she looked up, startled.
"Oh, yeah. He's my step-father's son."
"The
lead singer of Dingoes Ate My Baby is your step-brother?" Robin asked.
"Spike
isn't my step-brother," Buffy insisted quickly, old habit kicking in.
"I mean, yeah, in the technical sense of the word, but we didn't
grow up together or anything. We don't even talk. Like ever. He's a complete
stranger to me."
The
pain inside of her grew as she realized how true those words had become.
Robin's
eyebrow arched, but he decided not to press the subject. He could tell from
Buffy's tone and the crushed look on her face there was more to the story than
she was telling, but he didn't want to push�for one thing, he didn't think he'd
like the answers he got.
Buffy
tugged on Robin's hand. "Let's go�over there," she said, pausing for
a moment before pointing to the opposite side of the backyard. "I want to
catch up with Great Uncle Maury."
If
Robin hadn't been really suspecting there was more to this thing than met the
eye, he was now. The five seconds he'd spent with Great Uncle Maury earlier had
told him no one would want to be in the man's presence unless they were trying
to assure no one else came around. Still, he wasn't going to push. The handful
of dates he and Buffy had been on hadn't given him the right to pry into her
life just yet.
Robin
smiled down at her. "Let's go catch up with Great Uncle Maury then."

*** *** ***
Buffy had thought avoiding Spike was going to be
difficult. As it turned out, it wasn't. She didn't have to hide, didn't have to
strike up conversations with annoying relatives to deter him from approaching
her. He wasn't trying to approach her at all. As a matter of fact, he was
acting like she didn't even exist.
Which was fine with her. Really, it was. Completely
and totally fine in every way that it could possibly be fine.
She wasn't sneaking glances at him every time she
thought she could get away with it. She wasn't fighting the urge to pry Eve's
claws off of him every time she saw the overpaid, under-talented hussy touching
him. Nope, she wasn't doing that at all�because she was perfectly fine.
Buffy
jumped in her seat when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but quickly relaxed
when she realized it was Joyce. "Yeah, Mom?"
"Would
you do me a favor and run in to get some more napkins? Your Great Uncle Maury
has used enough to wipe down an army."
"Sure,"
Buffy said, standing up. "Where are they?"
"There
should be a pack of them sitting on the island in the kitchen."
"Okay."
Buffy glanced over at Robin. "I'll be right back."
Robin
gave her a nod in response, and Buffy headed into the kitchen. She'd almost
made it out the backdoor again with the napkins when she heard Spike call her
name. She froze, her heart skipping a beat before she turned around slowly to
face him.
He
stood in the doorway of the kitchen, his face an uncharacteristically
emotionless mask. "Hello, Spike," Buffy said softly, surprised she
could even find her voice at all.
"Hello,
Buffy. Long time no see."
It was
easy to detect the bitterness in his tone, and Buffy couldn't stop her wince.
She tried to think of something to say now, but before she could, Spike was
speaking again.
"I
see you brought a date. Looks like a right stable bloke, too. Bet he's an
upstanding member of society and everything."
"He's
the principal of the high school where I work," Buffy replied. "He's
a very nice man."
"Yeah,
I bet he is."
Buffy
sighed. "So what, did you stop me just to comment on my current taste in
men, or did you actually have something important to say, because I should
really be getting back to Robin now."
The
pain in his eyes before the mask fell into place again was fleeting, but Buffy
didn't miss it. "No, I have nothing to say to you," Spike said
sharply.
"Good."
Buffy turned around, ready to walk out the door, when something compelled her
to face him again. It didn't seem enough somehow, after three years of not
seeing him at all, to simply leave it there.
"Why
are you even here today?" she asked.
Spike
blinked. "Excuse me?"
"You've
avoided all family functions for the past three years, Spike. Why suddenly
decide to show up to one�and bring your little actress friend, too?"
Spike's
sharp bark of laughter caught Buffy by surprise. "Oh, so you can bring
your bulky principal, but I can't show up with Eve?" Spike shook his head.
"You're still a hypocrite."
Buffy
opened her mouth to protest that, but before she had a chance, Spike was
answering her first question. "I came today because my father asked
me to. They aren't just your family, Buffy, and I'm bloody sick of staying away
all the time because of you. If anyone shouldn't be here today, it's you."
"Me?!
I have every right to be here, Spike! And you were the one who chose to stay
away, not me."
"Like
you really gave me a choice?" Spike yelled, making Buffy take a step
back. "Do you really think I could be around you after you callously
ripped my heart out? Do you have any idea what you did to me, Buffy?"
"I did it for you!"
Buffy didn't realize what she'd yelled back
at him until she saw Spike's eyes widen and his mouth open for a moment.
"You did it for� What do you mean by that?" he asked her.
"I can't," Buffy said softly,
trying to retreat. "I just need to�"
Spike grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"You need to tell me what you meant by that."
The mask he'd tried to wear since this
confrontation had begun was completely gone now, and the torrent of emotions
Buffy saw in his eyes made her tremble. His hand was tight around her arm, but
the feel of him touching her again was still electric, and she didn't mind the slight
pain from the squeeze. "It was a long time ago," she told him after a
breathless moment. "It doesn't matter anymore."
"It bloody well does matter!"
Spike yelled, the ticking muscle in his jaw a familiar sight for Buffy.
"You crushed my heart three years ago. The least you owe me is an
explanation."
No matter how hard she tried to fight them,
Buffy couldn't stop her tears. The whole of the damage she'd done to Spike's
heart was in his eyes now, and it was cutting her so deeply she didn't think
she'd still be standing if his hand weren't gripping her arm. "I didn't
want to hurt your career," she told him.
Spike frowned in confusion, her answer so
far from any one he'd expected. "Buffy, how in the world would you have
hurt my career?"
"Our parents are married, Spike. That's
just a scandal waiting to happen."
"What? We could have dealt with that!
Why would you even think�" Spike stopped, releasing his hold on her and
taking a step backwards as Buffy's hand shot out to grip the kitchen island. An
almost-forgotten conversation from years before came back to him, and Spike
knew exactly where Buffy would've gotten such an idea in her head.
"Quentin Travers. He talked to you,
didn't he?" Spike asked, though he already knew the answer.
Buffy nodded. "That day, while you were
in the studio. He came by the apartment."
Spike slammed his fist against the wall,
welcoming the bit of pain. "Son of a bitch! That sodding tosser!"
"No, Spike, he was right," Buffy
said, shaking her head. "Besides, we had too many other problems to work
through."
"Bollocks," Spike snapped.
"We could've worked through them, given the time. I loved you, Buffy. I
would've been willing to do anything to keep you."
Suddenly, Buffy was acutely aware of two
things: He had only called her by her given name since the start of this
conversation�something he'd rarely done before�and he'd spoken of his love for
her in the past tense. He loved her. Loved.
"I have to go," Buffy said, her
hand tightening around the bag of napkins as she remembered why she was in the
kitchen in the first place. "I can't do this."
"Buffy, wait�"
"I have to go," Buffy repeated
before fleeing out the back door, ignoring Spike as he called after her one
more time. She kept her head down, afraid if she looked up, she'd end up
looking back.
However, with her eyes towards the grass,
she missed where she was going, and ended up running smack into someone else.
"God, could you possibly watch where
you're going?! You just made me spill wine all over my dress that probably cost
more than you could make in a month."
Buffy started to apologize sincerely. Then
she realized who she bumped into and offered a phony, "Gee, sorry,
Eve," instead.
"You should be," Eve said, wiping
at her dress. "This is dry-clean only!"
"Gee, I'll be sure to cry about it
later," Buffy snapped. Her confrontation with Spike had her emotions
everywhere, and the last thing she needed was a showdown with his new
girlfriend.
Suddenly, Eve's hand shot out to grab Buffy,
the actress's perfectly manicured nails digging into Buffy's skin. "Don't
think I don't know who you are, or what you meant to him. But he's over you,
sweetie. Spike is mine. And if you think for a second that you'll ever be able to
sink your claws back into him, well�"
"The only claws here are those
talons you're currently digging into me," Buffy snapped, wrenching her arm
away from Eve. "Spike's all yours now."
Buffy felt bile rising in her throat as she
spoke, and she stopped herself from spilling her lunch all over Eve's Manolo
Blahniks.
"You're right, he is," Eve
replied. "Just see that you remember it. Spike's moved up in the world
since he was with you, and he'll never lower himself to be with some high
school guidance counselor after he's seen how well he can do. Trust me,
sweetie, he forgot all about you the moment I touched him for the first time
and showed him what a real woman was like. He tells me all the time how glad he
is to have me in his arms these days and not you."
For a second, Buffy almost crumbled. The
thought of Spike being close to another woman was bad enough without the other
woman actually rubbing it in. But then, she came to a realization, and a slow
smile spread across her face.
"Eve, sweetie, if you really
believed that, you wouldn't be standing here having a textbook moment of
insecurity, now would you? You know Spike and I were just both in the house,
and it's killing you right now because you don't know what�if anything�went on
in there. If you truly know what I meant to Spike, then I bet you've worried
about what I could mean to him again, haven't you? And here it is, the moment
you've dreaded, and all you can do is hiss at me. It's pretty pathetic when you
get right down to it. The big movie star, the woman every man is supposed
to fantasize about, and you're afraid of losing the man you do have to a high
school guidance counselor." Buffy chuckled. "Really, it's pretty
funny."
Eve gaped for a moment, Buffy's response
taking her completely off-guard. Soon, however, her anger came back, and her
face reddened as she prepared to fire off a retort.
Buffy didn't give her the satisfaction.
Instead, she patted Eve on the shoulder and said with a smile. "Why don't
you go see if you can find something to take out that stain? Really, it makes
your dress look horrible."
With just enough satisfaction to manage a
small smile, Buffy walked away, leaving Eve silent and fuming.

***
*** ***
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Been Here Too Few Years