Strength

“Can William please come to aisle four…aisle four calling William.”

Spike sighed and grumbled under his breath as he heard the obnoxious voice sound over the tanoy. Working at this damn store was painful enough never mind having to deal with Harmony Kendal’s annoying voice calling out that wimpy name all the time.

Three years ago he had been top of his class studying law in Oxford university. Now he was a shop assistant at a crummy supermarket in a crummy town. He had only moved here a few weeks ago but things had gone from bad to worse right away. He hadn’t finished his degree and had no job prospects at all so here he was stuck in this shit hole.Not that he really needed the money, his father Ethan Rayne although a bastard was a filthy rich bastard and had left him a very rich man when he had had a heart attack last year.

He made his way towards aisle four anyway and his annoyance only grew when he saw an entire display of mayonnaise jars smashed all over the floor. He hated cleaning up messes like this. Really pissed him off but before he could go completely insane and start ranting he spotted a woman standing just besides it her face screwed up in worry. As soon as he saw her his anger dissipated and he stared at her in disbelief. He had never seen someone so beautiful in his life. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a green jumper, nice and casual but the colour of the sweater really brought out the dazzling emerald of her eyes and despite her furrowed forehead her face was flawless. Perfect little pout, big beautiful eyes, golden skin and a nose with a little bump on the end that looked adorable. All in all she looked pretty damn good and he hadn’t even gotten to her hair yet. Blonde wavy locks fell to just below her shoulders framing her face perfectly and complimenting her pixie shaped face.

Now three years ago he would probably have gone over and flirted a little before asking her out but Drusilla fucking Prescott had changed all that and the only thing he would even consider doing was going over there flirting and then taking her out back and fucking her brains out. Women weren’t to be trusted. It had taken him three years and a complete relocation to Sunnydale, California to see that but he had finally got there so the only thing he thought about was how to get this tiny beauty in bed…that was until he saw the child clinging to her leg of course.
The blonde must have spotted him at that moment because her frown suddenly disappeared and she lifted her luminous eyes to look at him.

“Oh…um hey…look im really sorry about this.” She said right away biting her lip nervously.
“No problem.” he replied looking down at the kid to see if it was hers or not and coming to the conclusion she definitely was. The small girl had the exact same colour hair and eyes and was the spitting image of the older woman. No way was she not her daughter…that was backed up by the wedding band he spotted on the woman’s finger to… Oh well no quick shag here then.
“She got away from me and ran right into them.” Buffy sighed looking down at her almost crying daughter.

“Hey little one…no need to cry im gunna clean this right up.” He said soothingly crouching down so he was eye level with the little girl. He had no idea why he was doing this. He hated kids.
“Im sorry mister.” The little girl warbled out and Spike couldn’t help but smile at her cuteness.
“No problem sweetie…what’s your name?” He asked.
“Madison….but my mom calls me Maddie.” The girl said, the earlier shyness completely gone.
“Well that’s a beautiful name pet now why don’t you and mommy carry on shopping while I clean this mess up huh?” He smiled standing back up and nodding at the woman.
“Uhh thank you so much for being nice about this.” She said sheepishly.
“No worries luv…what kind of gentleman would I be if I didn’t help a beautiful lady such as yourself and the adorable princess.” He grinned gesturing at Madison.

The light blush that crept up the young woman’s face made Spike smile and he wondered if he was in with a shot. After all he had been known for getting his way a lot.
“Well um thanks…my names Buffy by the way…I come here a lot so I know everyone else but i’ve never met you before.” She said shyly tilting her head at the very handsome man.
“My names Spike…im new from England. Nice to meet ya Buffy.” He smiled.
“Well I better carry on…umm thanks again.” She said stupidly before taking a hold of Madison’s hand and pushing the cart forward and down into aisle five not once turning to look back at the handsome blonde and missing the fact he was staring right at her ass.

By the time he had finished up cleaning the mayonnaise it was almost noon and Spike was five minutes into his break. Taking off his apron he headed for the front of the shop and took a deep breath as he approached Harmony at the checkout counter.
The supermarket he worked for was only small and it was a very small town anyway so there was only three tills and since today was a Tuesday only Harmony’s till was open.

“Hello Spike.”
Spike rolled his eyes but nodded at her anyway. The first day he had started work here he had screwed Harmony in the employee toilets on their break and she hadn’t given up since, making moon eyes at him and flirting trying to get him to have another bloody go.
“Did that Buffy woman leave?” He asked curious for some reason.
“Oh Buffy Summers….I mean Finn? Yeah…what a surprise it was her that caused the problem huh? God im amazed she doesn’t trip over her own feet.” Harmony said with a lot of venom. Spike’s eyebrows rose and he looked at Harmony in surprise. Buffy had seemed like a very sweet girl and he couldn’t understand how someone could have so much hate for such a innocent seeming woman.
“You know her?” Spike said casually.
“Yeah I had high school with her sad to say.” Harmony scoffed.
“Why do you hate her so much?” Spike asked.
“Because she’s a total tramp! In high school she stole my boyfriend Angel off me even though she denies it because she was with Riley at the time.” Harmony laughed.

“She stole your boyfriend?” Spike chuckled in spite of himself.
“Well…yeah. He was like completely obsessed with her but technically she didn’t date him or anything.” She said heavily.
“So…you blame her for your boyfriend taking a fancy to her even though she did nothing about it?” Spike said with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh please…she so led him on with her stupid cheerleading outfit….anyway guess she got what she deserved now.” The fake blonde snorted.

Spike found it very hard to believe that the Buffy he met an hour ago would ever lead a guy on the way Harmony was making it out to be but he was so caught up trying to repel the image of Buffy in a cheerleading outfit he almost missed the last part.
“What do you mean got what she deserved?” Spike asked with a frown.
“Wait! You haven’t heard? Jesus Spike have you been a recluse since you’ve been in this town. I thought you moved here like two months ago! Everyone knows everything about everyone in this town how the hell haven’t you learnt anything yet.” Harmony sighed with her patented eye roll.
Spike kept silent and just leant in feeling very interested in this towns gossip for once.
“Okay so here’s the story…in highschool Buffy met this guy…Riley Finn she was so full of herself showing off that she had gotten him cause he was like three years older…than us and a total beefcake.” Harmony grinned.

“But then like a few months after she started dating she found out she was pregnant…little slut. Sixteen! just finished juniour high and pregnant. Should have seen the gossip back then. The whole town found out in a matter of days and scandalised that little miss goody two shoes had got herself knocked up apart from me of course it was so obvious. And anyway she moved in with Riley right away and they got married just after she turned eighteen.” Harmony said with an amused smile.
“Oh…well that’s not so bad….I mean she’s obviously looked after the kid well and im sure the rumours have died down since then right…I mean how olds the girl right.” Spike shrugged.
“Madison’s five and anyway that’s not what I was talking about…that’s just the back story…the reason everyone still talks about poor old Buffy Finn is because of the bruises she keeps showing up with.”
Spike didn’t understand for a second and when it did sink in his eyes widened and he stared at the door as if waiting to see the blonde back there before turning back to look at a grinning Harmony.
“See told you karmas a bitch…she stole my boyfriend and now the idiots shacked up with a wife beater!”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

After his very disturbing chat with Harmony, Spike finally managed to get away and sat down heavily on a crate outside for his cigarette. He couldn’t help but think back to the small blonde and a wave of pity went through him. Her and her daughter had seemed so sweet and the thought of someone hitting her made him physically sick. Sure he didn’t exactly treat women with much respect but he would never hit one. He was almost finished with his smoke when the back door opened again and out strolled Willow who also worked there. She gave him a beaming grin and sat down next to him settling in homily. Red was perhaps the only woman he had befriended since coming to Sunnydale and he gave her a smile in return. She must have seen it was strained however and frowned.

“Are you okay?” She asked curiously.
“What? Oh yeah im fine…just Harmony told me about this woman and made me a little angry.” Spike sighed.
“What woman?” Willow asked curiously.
“Just this woman who gets beaten up by her husband.”
As soon as the words came out he saw Willow’s eyes turn sad and her bottom lip wobble slightly.
“Oh…your talking about Buffy right?”
“You know? Does every one bloody know?” Spike asked in complete disbelief.
“Pretty much I know because Buffy used to be my best friend…no one talks about it or does anything. Riley is a police officer and his best friend is chief of police around here.” Willow sighed
“What a prick…why aren’t you best friends anymore then?” Spike asked.
“Well we are…she talks to me all the time when she can but Riley hates me and cut Buffy off from all her friends so we cant really see a lot of her.” Willow sighed.
“Why doesn’t she leave him?” Spike asked completely baffled why someone would stay with a creep like that.

“Because one he has more power around here than she does. Two he would probably kill her if she left. Three she has no where else to go and she relies completely on him for money and stuff cause he doesn’t let her work.” Willow sighed.
“She hasn’t got any family to go to?” Spike suggested.
“Her mom disowned her when she got pregnant and moved to Los Angeles and she hasn’t got any other family.” Willow informed him with a sad smile.
“So what…you just ignore it?” He sighed sadly.
“Have to.” The tears that filled her eyes made Spike cringe and he quickly stubbed out his cigarette and went back inside.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hope u all enjoyed this is my first story so be kind :p