His Worth

Buffy came home that night to find Spike and Xander sitting on the couch, eating chips, drinking beer and watching….huh? Passions? Guess not so typical guys after all she revised her original thought.
She flopped down on the couch between the two. “How are my two favorite guys?” she said.
“Dunno, pet, they must’ve left before you got home. It’s just us here now” Spike grinned.
Buffy punched him playfully in the shoulder and pinched his cheek, “Aren’t you so clever?” she said rhetorically.
“ ‘ey! Stop that!” Spike replied.
Xander smiled at the both of them. “How was work, Buffster? Cut any corporate red tape today?” Xander joked.
“Nope, I’m afraid there are no scissors big enough for that job” Buffy answered.
“How are you feeling?” she asked Xander. “You look better”
“I feel better. Amazing what a shower does too” he kept joking.
“Luv, I was wondering if we could talk privately for a minute.” Spike looked at her intently.
“Sure, come on.” She stood up and grabbed his hand to pull him up as well and they headed for the bedroom.
Buffy turned around on the way and called back to Xander, “Hey, Xander, why don’t you call and order us some pizza for dinner? Get whatever you want. My treat.”
“Sure thing, Buffster” Xander called back.

Spike closed the bedroom door and sat Buffy don ton the end of the bed.
“Buffy, I need to ask you something very important” Spike began.
“O.K….you sound so serious Spike. You’re making me nervous” Buffy replied.
“Sorry…look, here’s the deal. Xander has no place else to go and I’m not letting him go back to Angel’s. ay iay in hell. I thought maybe...err…since you have that 2nd bedroom here…maybe we could let him stay here for awhile. He promises he won’t bring any tricks here or anything like that if that’s what you’re worriboutbout and he promised to help around the house with chores and stuff and..”
“Spike…Spike…SPIKE” Buffy had to raise her voice to get him to stop and breathe.
“That’s fine, Spike. I actually was going to suggest the same thing to you tonight. I did a lot of thinking at work today and well, I thought maybe there is a way around my father finding out about you…about us. We can pretend that you are just my roommate, hence the guy stuff in the 2nd bedroom and when or if Dad stops by unexpected and Xander is here, we can just say he is your friend hanging out with you. Once my dad knows that your dad is the respected librarian at UCS, he won’t even have to know about you and Xander being…well…you know…we’ll just say you recently moved here from London and Willow knows your dad and you were looking for a roommate and…” Buffy stopped babbling as she saw Spike’s face falling.
“Yeah, fine. Wouldn’t want to embarrass you in front of Daddy.” Spike sulked.
“Spike…I didn’t mean…damn…please honey…I just…you don’t understand how he is…besides you helped me with Willow before so why not now? And besides you purposely lied to your own father just to piss him off” Buffy stated.
“How many lies are we gonna have to tell before all is said and done, pet?” Spike sighed.
“Just for now, Spike. Until I can figure this all out in my head. I’m taking a big risk letting not only you but Xander live here” Buffy told him.
“Didn’t realize I was a hazard to your health” Spike pouted.
“My dad called me today and is going to call back tonight. He wants to meet with me and “make amends” Spike air quoted. “I told him I couldn’t invite him over without checking with you. He had called here hoping to get my number from you and I answered so he assumed Xan and I are already living here anyway.” Spike explained his earlier phone conversation.
“You can tell Mr. Giles the truth, Spike. Twe’rwe’re together but you must make sure he doesn’t say anything to my father.” Buffy demanded.
“Besides, he needs to know you’re not really Xander’s gay boyfriend. If he let that slip and my father was around he would freak. He would not approve of me living with a gay guy. He is kinda prejudiced that way.
“Bloody ‘ell. I can’t be YOUR boyfriend. I can’t be Xander’s boyfriend. I might as well tell everyone I’m a eunuch.” Spike bellowed.
“Spike…I’m sorry…please baby…just do this for me” Buffy started to tear up.
Spike sighed then nodded his head.
“Right then, but I don’t like it” Spike reluctantly agreed.
“Thank you thank you” Buffy hugged and kissed him.
“Suppose we should go tell Xander the good news?” Buffy smiled.
The phone rang and Buffy reached over to the bedside table to grab it.
“Hello!”
“Uhh...Buffy? This is Rupert Giles. Is William…err…Spike there?”
“Yes, he is. Hold on” Buffy handed Spike the phone.
“I’ll go tell Xander” Buffy mouthed out and left Spike alone to talk with his father.

Xander was like a little boy happily stuffing pizza into his mouth. He was practically beaming after Buffy informed him he could stay with her and Spike.
After Spike got off the phone with Giles he informed them that he had invited him to dinner the following Friday evening.
Buffy decided she would call Hank and invite him and inevitably Anya as well to dinner too. She decided it was better to let Hank know the created situation as soon as possible so he bought their story and didn’t think she was hiding things from him.
Spike told Buffy he would call and inform Giles of the situation before Friday’s dinner so there were no slip up’s.
Throughout the week Buffy went out and bought Xander new clothes and toiletries. She told him it wasn’t safe o bao back to Angel’s to get anything. Xander was dumbfounded at all she wasng fng for him. No one in his life before had ever done so much for him.
Spike and him went out and found a bed and dresser for him to move into the 2nd bedroom. Xander was happy for the first time in his life. Little did he know how much happier he was going to be.

On Thursday, Spike called Giles as promised and to a much relieved Giles told him he wasn’t really gay and explained about Buffy’s father and the charade they were planning. He carefully avoided talking about why they needed the charade, leaving out all mention of his prostitution or Xander’s for that matter but Giles, while gullible before, was not a stupid man. He knew Spike was avoiding telling him where he had been and what he had been doing all these years but obviously it wasn’t something he was too proud of. Giles decided not to press his son. He had just gotten him back and didn’t want to lose him again so soon so he informed Spike he would play along for Buffy’s sake.

Angel was livid when Xander never came back. He ranted and raved and broke things and smacked his other hookers around, taking out his frustration and anger on anything or anyone in sight.
He walked around for days in a rage never noticing the tail he had picked up.

Charles Gunn was Wesley Wyndham Pryce’s best undercover man. He had information for Hank Summers within a matter of days.
Wes met with Hank again and turned over the information about Xander and Angel thunn unn had brought him.
Hank thanked the P.I. and handed him a check for a large sum of money.
Hank had played along when Buffy called him to invite him to dinner and he accepted readily, playing the doting father. As soon as he met with Buffy and found out exactly what kind of game she was playing, he would make his next move and contact Angel.

Friday eveninge soe sooner than expected. Buffy had left work early and stopped at the market.
She came in the door hands ladwithwith grocery bags. Xander hopped up to help her carry them to the kitchen.
It turns out that Spike could cook. Jenny had taught him and he had cooked when he took care of Drusilla. It had been awhile but there was no denying he was a hundred times better than Buffy.
Buffy had gotten all the ingredients he requested. A grin broke out on her face when she and Xander entered the kitchen to find Spike standing in front of the stove wearing her “Kiss the Cook” apron. She walked over and planted a big one on him. He looked adorable.
“Don’t you be expecting this everyday now, pet?” Spike warned with a chuckle.
Buffy went to shower and change clothes while Spike prepared dinner. When she was done and dinner was almost finished, Spike turned everything down to keep it warm and went to change himself. He promised Buffy he would wear something other than black jeans and t-shirt. Xander changed into a nice pair of khaki’s and button down as well.
Giles was the first to arrive, bringing a bottle of wine.
“How thoughtful of you” Buffy thanked him for bringing the wine.
“Please, have a seat. Dinner is almost ready and as soon as my father gets here we can go ahead. Would you like me to open the wine and we can start out with a glass of that. I think Spike made some horduerves too. Let me check.” Buffy smiled am.
m.
Buffy came back carrying a tray filled with bacon wrapped mushrooms, chunks of cheese and little cocktail wis. Ss. She laid it on the coffee table then moved to get some wine glasses as Giles opened the bottle. He poured them each a glass then popped a bit of cheese into his mouth.
“Something smells delicious. Reminds me of my wife” Giles stated.
“I think Spike is making one of her recipes. I’m sorry about what happened to Mrs. Giles” Buffy offered her condolences.
“Thank you dear.” Giles smiled back.
Spike and Xander came out to join them and Giles poured them each a glass of wine as well.
Xander’s cheeks were tinged pink as Giles regarded him knowing Spike had told him their coupleness status was all a hoax.
A few minutes later Hank and Anya arrived. They too had brought a bottle of wine.
After some introductions, 20 minutes later everyone was sitting at the table enjoying Spike’s Chicken Florentine and Rice Pilaf. The meal, one of Jenny’s favorites was not lost on Giles and he teared up as it was served.
Xander was stupefied. Anya was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and the most blunt he thought. She said exactly what was on her mind no matteat iat it was. It made for some rather awkward moments but Xander found her intriguing. She had bluntly asked why his face looked like a truck ran over it. Spike stepped in to explain Xander has been mugged recently and the mugger beat him up.
“Oh you poor thing” Anya coddled Xander.
Xander wasn’t the only one intrigued. Anya had been watching him all night. What a hunk he was. Even with the bruised face and bn non nose. He was funny and sweet too and he actually listened to her and didn’t treat her like her opinions meant nothing, like Hank did.
Anya took her shoe off under the table and ran her foot up Xander’s leg. He started to choke on his food and cough.
“Sorry” he said to the others. “Something must’ve gone down the wrway”way” Anya smiled brightly at him.
Hank played along all night, acting like he believed what Buffy told him about Spike and Xander. Inside he was seething knowing his little girl was willingly living with two prostitutes and sleeping with at least one of them.
Everything went off without a hitch, Buffy thought as she said her goodbyes to Giles, her father and Anya.
Unbeknownst to anyone else, Anya slipped a piece of paper with her number on it into Xander’s hand as she was leaving.
Finally the three of them were alone and exhausted. Lying was a tiring business.
They decided to leave the cleanup for the next day and instead all plopped down on the living room with a beer and popcorn to watch some late night television.
Within minutes all three had drifted off to sleep.

A/N: Coming Soon: Chapter 13- Stones in the Road