His Worth

Buffy had been listening intently to Spike for the last couple of hours as he spilled his guts grudgingly about his past. He started by explaining with great sorrow and difficulty about his mother Jenny’s death.

Jenny, Giles and William had been coming home from dinner at friends of the family. It was dark and raining and Giles and William started arguing over his new friend, Drusilla. Giles didn’t like the girl and thought she was nothing but trouble. Tempers were flared, visibility was bad and no one saw the truck pull out in front of them from a side road. Giles tried to avoid hitting it at the last minute but was too late.
When William had woken in the hospital it was to find his father sobbing over his bedside, only then to find out that Jenny had been killed in the accident.
William was 15 years old and had just lost the most important woman in his life.
Both men would blame the other for Jenny’s death. It was a wound that had never healed completely.
After Jenny’s death, William became more and more rebellious. He dyed his hair, starting wearing all black, listened to punk rock music, started smoking and told Giles that he had changed his name to Spike.
His relationship with Drusilla also changed from friends who hung out to a romantic nature. He lost his virginity to her at 16. He was in love with Drusilla. Drusilla was in love with men, alcohol and drugs, not necessarily in that order.
Dru would end up getting Spike involved in vandalism, theft and alcohol, his drug of choice.
Giles had to bail his son out of jail several times for petty theft and drunken and lewd behavior. He was at the ef hif his rope. One day he came home and announced to Spike that they were moving to America. Giles had been offered a lucrative job as Head Librarian/Media Specialist at the University of California, Sunnydale.
He felt that was just the change they both needed. A new place to start over again. Also, Giles was relieved to know he would be getting Spike away from Drusilla.
Spike went kicking and screaming the entire trip to the States.
Giles purchased a nice home in a nice suburb and enrolled Spike in Sunnydale High. Spike was determined to make Giles life a living hell, dragging him all the way across the ocean and taking him from the love of his life.
He managed to piss Principal Snyder off on the very first day of class and received a 5 day suspension.
For the next few months, it was push and pull with them. Spike kept skipping class and acting badly while Giles tried to adjust to their new home and his new job.
Then one day the doorbell rang. When Giles opened the door, the last person he expected to see stood there, Drusilla.
Turns out she had stolen a credit card, booked an airline ticket and followed Spike to California. Giles was devastated. He knew that he would never be able to make his relationship with his son work as long as Dru was in the picture.
Spike was in heaven! His best girl was back and he was the Big Bad with his Black Princess.
By now Spike was 17. He should have been in his senior year at high school, instead he was frequenting sleazy sections of town with Dru, drinking and taking drugs and fucking and stealing. He really didn’t like some of the things they did but he went along with whatever his princess wanted.
One night as Spike stumbled in the door of his house after an all night booze and drug marathon, Giles was waiting for him and they proceeded to have a knock down drag out fist fight. Spike was punching Giles in the face and screaming at him, “You killed my mother! You killed my mother, you bloody bastard” Every emotion just poured out of him and he started convulsing into sobs. He made to leave and Giles coughed out, “William, if you leave this house now, don’t you ever come back. I’ve done all I can do for you, son”
Spike’s back tensed with his hand on the doorknob. Without looking at Giles, he opened the door and walked out, never looking back.
Giles lay there on the floor, bloody and beaten. He berated himself. William was right. He HAD killed his wife. Now he had lost his son too. He figured he would be back in a few days after things cooled down. Days turned into months and months into years. He cursed himself for telling William not to come back. He hadn’t really meant it. He was angry and hurt.

Spike and Dru moved into a roach infested skuzzy apartment in the low-income section of town. He quit school and tried doing odd jobs for money. Dru was always too drunk, stoned or just plain crazy to hold down a job.
Spike got fired again, one of many times and so came home early one day to find Drusilla being fucked by two guys. He was livid. He threw her out but she came back the next day and begged him to take her back. She lied and told him that she only did it for money so they could pay their bills and she could get her drugs which by now she was utterly addicted to. Little did Spike know that Dru had been fucking around on him since almost day one when they were back in England. But he was a fool for love and so he took her back.
As her drug habit increased to epic proportions and Spike’s inability to find or keep a job due to his lack of education, experience and his violent temper with authority figures, he made the decision that would alter his life forever.
The first time he did it he came home and cried in the shower until the water ran cold so Dru couldn’t hear him. He watched the blood tinged water swirl down the drain. The look on Dru’s face though when he was able to give her an injection of heroin kept him going back out and doing it some more.
She was in pain without it and he didn’t know what else to do. Life became routine. He walked the streets at night and with the money he earned he went and bought her the precious drugs she needed.
It was during this time that he met Xander and for both of them it was a first time of having a real male friend.
Several years passed and Dru got worse and worse. Spike drank more and more. Then 5 years ago, Spi Spike was 23 he found Dru lying on the bathroom floor, blue and cold. She had finally succumbed to her addiction.
Spike was numb. He didn’t know whether to be sad that she was gone or happy that he no longer carried the burden of responsibility for her.
Now, he had lost the only two women he ever loved. He sank into a deep depression and had it not been for Xander, he probably would be dead now too.
He was able to pull himself out of it but not pull himself out of his life situation. At 23, he had no high school diploma, no work experience, he had been selling his body for 5 years, was an alcoholic and there was no way in hell he was going home to his father. His pride wouldn’t allow him. So he continued on his way of life for the next 5 years just getting by day to day.
After Dru was gone, Spike began to learn of her activities with other men. She had been playing him the entire time. She had even been messing around with Xander’s pimp, Angel, that rat bastard. He took it up the ass and sucked cock for her and she never really loved him. Spike decided women weren’t worth the heartache and pain and so he stayed away from them. He would never let another bloody bitch do him that way again. He swore off women completely until one day some crazy bint in a pink jeep ran his ass over…

Buffy was in tears by the time Spike was finished. He curled into her arms and rested his head on her chest as she stroked his hair. He looked like a little boy lying there cuddled against her with tear stained cheeks.
“Ssshhh, my sweet baby. I love you, William” Buffy whispered to him as he drifted off to sleep. For the first night in years, he slept peacefully, finally getting all of that off his chest. It was like he relieved a huge burden from his shoulders.
Buffy continued stroking his hair and face until she too succumbed to sleep.

Meanwhile Xander had arrived at Angel’s place.
“Where did you get that car?” Angel asked him.
“It’s Spike’s. Just keeping it for him for tonight.” Xander answered.
Angel reached out and smacked him upside the head. “I thought I made it clear I don’t want you hanging around that idiot” Angel fumed.
“But, he’s my friend. We don’t do anything…not causing any trouble.” Xander squeaked out.
“Let me ask you, Xander, since you were too busy spending time with your “friend” he air quoted, did you even work at all tonight?” Angel demanded to know.
“I’ll stay out double time tomorrow night”
Angel slapped him again.
“See, the more time you are with him the less time you are making me money”ou nou need to be taught a lesson you’ll never forget, boy” Angel dragged him into the bedroom and slammed the door behind them.
All you could hear after that was a belt strap flying and Xander’s cries of pain.

After Willow dropped him off, Rupert dozed on the sofa for several hours before awakening. Shaking his fuzzy head he thought, “Great, you git. Finally find your son after all these years and you get so drunk you don’t even get to talk to him properly.”
He made his way up to his bedroom, passing the photograph of his wife hanging in the hall. He stopped and looked at Jenny’s smiling face.
“I promise you, Jenny, I’ll get our son back. I know I messed up bad with him. We messed up bad with each other but I won’t let it happen again. God, I miss you so much. I wish you were here to tell me what to do. I’m so sorry, Jenny. I’m so sorry” Giles said out loud to his dead wife’s photograph. He sighed and continued on his way to the bedroom where he tossed and turned with restless sleep.

Willow opened her arms and hugged her girlfriend, Tara tightly after she entered Tara’s apartment. She gave her a long sensuous kiss.
“Mmmm…what brought that on?”
“Can’t I just be happy to see my girl?”
“I am you know. Your girl” Tara smiled.
“I told Buffy about us today, Tara” Willow smiled feeling proud that she had outed herself.
“Oh honey...everything go alright?” Tara questioned.
“Perfect. She loves me and is still my best friend and happy for us” Willow smiled brightly.
“I’m happy for us too” Tara replied and then gently pulled Willow to their bedroom and proceeded to show her just how happy.

Hank Summers sat his whiskey glass down. He had been sitting at the dining room table drinking for hours, contemplating on how to punish his ungrateful daughter.
His girlfriend came down from upstairs and sat on his lap.
“Hank, I’ve been waiting in our room for the last 3 hours for you to come and give me orgasms and I’m tired of waiting” she said.
Hank stood up with her in his arms and carried her to their bedroom.
Buffy would have to wait until tomorrow he thought as he kicked the bedroom door closed with his foot.
“Oh Jesus, Anya, yes yes yes” was all that could be heard after that.