Meant To Be

Title: Meant To Be
Author: Natalia Vronsky
Part: 13/?
Notes: Wow. Talk about uber-delays on this, huh? I'm
so sorry it's been forever since I've done anything
with this. But... yea... new stuff.
A/Note: I'm not really using my "sputiehead@aol.com"
e-mail anymore, so for those who've archived this, or
any of my stuff, or if you wanna e-mail me for
whatever reason, the e-mail I'm using the now is
"blackqueenphoenix@yahoo.com"

"Hey Wills, what's wrong?" Xander plopped down on the
sofa next to Willow. They were at Cordy's house. Oz
was flipping through a mass of CD's on the other side
of the room. Cordy was in the kitchen being a good
hostess by getting her guest's drinks.

"Nothing." She replied absently. That was a lie, of
course. Something had been up between Buffy and Giles
earlier and she was a little more than worried that
that something was Spike. There was no way that their
relationship could be kept quite forever.

They were together too often nowadays. People must
know. Maybe someone had tipped Giles off. Or maybe
he'd just found out on his own.

Spike hadn't exactly been discreet in renting out the
Bronze for Buffy's birthday. She knew about it... and
she hadn't even been in the loop. His and Buffy's name
had been tossed around by the Bronze's employees when
people asked why it was going to be closed.

"Okay. Uh... how're things with Oz?"

She smiled at the thought of her boyfriend. "Good."
She looked over at him, and he looked at her at the
exact same moment. Her smile brightened and a faint
smile cracked over his usually stoic face. "Really
good."

"That's, uh, good." Xander squirmed a bit.

"And with you and Cordy?"

"Super." He answered a little too quickly.

"Xand, what is it?"

"I'm afraid she'll break up with me. Her friends have
been..."

"Making fun of her since you two started going out?"

"Yeah."

"I think you should give her more credit than what
you're thinking. Kinda wacky how much you two like
each other considering all of our childhood was spent
with the two of you hating each other."

"I think maybe it was just misplaced passion."

"When did you get all wise?"

"'Round the same time Buffy started boinking the
undead. Kinda opened my eyes to things."

Willow's eyes widened. "What?"

"Will, I'm not an idiot. She's been practically MIA
for months now. She and Angel must be back together."

Willow sighed in relief. Not that Xander was an
idiot... he was just very blissfully ignorant. "That's
not why she hasn't been around. We both know Angel's
with Drusilla."

"Well, he hasn't been around lately. Maybe he dumped
her and got back with Buffy."

"No. Trust me, that's not why."

"Then why hasn't seen been around?"

"Uh... her mom. She's been wanting major bonding time.
That's partly why. And, she's been doing all kinds of
extra school stuff to keep her grades up."

"Well, that's good. I really didn't like Angel. I
mean... he was a vampire for goodness sakes! Could she
pick a worse person to hook up with?"

Willows intended laugh came out as a snort. "I guess
not?"

"You guess not what?" Cordewalkwalked into the room,
carrying a tray full of drinks and snacks.

"Guess that Buffy couldn't go out with a worse person
than Angel."

"Well, Harm said she's seen Buffy with some complete
goth guy in the Bronze a few times. At least
Angel's..." She stopped mid sentence at the hurt look
Xander was giving her... knowing very well how that
sentence ended. "You know, I really hate that they
allow people to rent out the Bronze."

"Wait... Buffy's been going out with some guy?"

"That's what Harmony said. She said his name was
Sparky... Spanky... or maybe Sparkly. You never know
with those freaks. Whatever it was, it was something
lame."

"Willow, did you now this?"

"Know what?" She squeaked. "I don't know anything."

Oz walked over. "I wonder if that's the same guy that
talked to you that night?" Willow shook her head and
waved her hands frantically. "Wasn't his name Spike?"

Willow groaned and buried her face in her hands. She
knew she'd forgotten to tell Oz never to mention
Buffy's undead lover in front of anyone. She kinda
thought he would have gotten the whole not telling
anyone thing when Spike had confronted her.

Oz must have realized his slip and looked as shame
faced as he could possibly look. "Sorry."

"S-p-p-pike?" Xander's face contorted from surprise,
disbelief, then to shock and disgust.

"Isn't Spike a vampire... the one who wanted to kill
us? And almost killed Buffy when she was all weepy,
weak costume possessed girl on Halloween?" Cordelia
asked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was an hour or so later when Xander finally stopped
grilling Willow about what she knew. She stayed as
true to Buffy as she could. But she did tell Xander
that it was true. He was her best friend... they'd
grown up together. She couldn't completely lie to him.


She knew Buffy would be hurt because of that. She was
worried a little more about what Spike would do to
her.

"So why aren't we at the Bronze right now? You know...
staking his evil, undead butt for trapping Buffy."

"Because, Xander, she's in love with him."

"Maybe he has her in some thrall thinggy... like the
Master..."

"I don't think that's what it is. And, if it was some
evil trick, he'd of killed her by now. He's probably
had plenty of chances."

"I'm with Xander. We should go to the Bronze."
Cordelia said. "I mean, who are they to think they
should have the Bronze all to themselves on a Saturday
night?"