Strength

"Mommy can we have lasagne tonight?” Madison asked with a smile as Buffy set about starting dinner.
“We cant sweetie daddy wants pot roast…im sorry baby maybe you can ask daddy if we can have it tomorrow.” Buffy smiled sadly watching as Madison sighed and nodded before running to the TV to watch some Disney movie.
Buffy had no idea why she deserved any of this but there was nothing she could really do about it and she turned back to the stove. Riley would be home in an hour and if food wasn’t on the table in time…well she didn’t want to think about it.
As she worked her mind wandered back to the bleached blonde she had met at the supermarket. She had never seen him working there before and boy was she glad to see him. His chiselled features and startling blue eyes had almost bowled her over but when she had seen his smile and how cute he acted with Maddie she had melted. She hadn’t melted in five years and she smiled at the thought that she’d get to see the hottie again next week when she did the shopping.

An hour later she had just finished putting the dinner on the table when the front door opened and the hulking figure of Riley Finn entered. He immediately sat down not even bothering to say hello to either Buffy or Madison and instead took a large gulp of the beer Buffy always set out for him when he came home and started massacring the food Buffy had made.
“Daddy….can we have lasagne tomorrow?”
Buffy cringed at the fear in her own daughters voice and cast a quick glance at Riley hoping he was in a good mood and didn’t start yelling.
“Sure.” he grunted not even glancing at his daughter. She cast a bright smile to her mom before going back to eating. They ate in silence and once they were finished Riley went into the living room and sat down on the sofa immediately turning to football while Buffy picked up the plates and took them to the kitchen. Her and Maddie both made short work of them and then Buffy carried her already dozing angel up the stairs and into her very pink bedroom. This was Buffy’s favourite time of day. When she tucked Madison into bed and spent a full minute just staring at her sleeping soundly before placing a soft kiss on her baby’s head and shutting the door tightly behind her. She quickly made her way back downstairs and into the living room waiting for the worst part of her day to start. It was like a ritual to her. Same routine every day.

Six o’clock she would wake up with Riley, iron his clothes and lay them out for him, then, while he was in the shower she’d go down stairs and make him breakfast, endure half hour of his presence where he would do anything from hit her, insult her or do the things she never even let herself think about. He would then go to work and she’d make breakfast for herself and Maddie who would probably just then of woken up. She dropped her off at school and then did all the chores such as cleaning, doing the laundry, all her little errands before picking Maddie back up at three and taking her anywhere from grocery shopping to the park before coming home and making dinner. Depending on how drunk or pissed off Riley was he would either start screaming at her before or after dinner and she would find someway to get Madison to sleep before coming back downstairs to wait on his every whim.

Tonight he was sat there with a scowl on his face and she immediately moved forward doing what was expected of her and unlacing his boots and pulling them off along with his socks. She was about to put them away when he finally looked at her.
“What the fucks wrong with your hair?”
Her hand went up to her hair and she bit her lip nervously.
“I…I don’t…know.” She stammered fearfully.
“Make yourself useful and get me a beer.” He sighed as if she wasn’t even worth the time before throwing his empty can at her. She quickly retrieved him a cold one and handed it to him before sitting down on the couch as far away from him as possible. He told her to never leave in case he needed something so she sat there waiting for any sign he was upset or angry. She made it through the entire game with doing nothing but retrieving beer for him and when he finally turned off the TV and locked the front door she followed obediently upstairs. In the bedroom she changed into a night shirt in the bathroom before burrowing into the covers. He followed her out a few moments later and slid in next to her. When she felt his hot breath in her ear and his meaty, sweaty hand roll her over onto her stomach while he flipped up the end of her shirt and pulled down his boxers the only thought on her mind was she was grateful that he had kept his anger in check tonight.

One week later:

“So you coming to The Bronze tonight? Fun will be had.” Xander grinned waggling his eyebrows at Spike. Xander had been working at the supermarket for three years now and had been surrounded by women until Spike had come along which is why he was eternally grateful.
Willow, Tara and Anya were all great (he didn’t count Harmony as a female) but he had definitely needed another man around and not someone like Giles who owned the shop and only came in now and again to check up.
“Oh I dunno.” Spike sighed.
“Come on Spike it will be fun.” Willow pleaded.
“Fine….I’ll come…been dying to meet this Oz and Tara’s lady for awhile anyway.” Spike smiled giving Tara and Willow big grins.

Anya was just about to say something when a loud squeal cracked the air and they all turned to stare at the little ball of pink that was running at them.
“Auntie Willow! Uncle Xander!”
Madison jumped up into Xander’s waiting arms and he grinned down at the tiny blonde girl before handing her to Willow to hug. Spike smiled when the little girl graced him with a big smile and a wave to but his attention was stolen when he saw Buffy following behind with a small unsure smile on her face.
“Hey Will…Hey Xand.”
Spike could feel the tension in the air and could tell by Buffy’s body language she wasn’t sure how her former friends were going to greet her and his heart went out to the poor girl. Willow had filled him in on how she Buffy and Xander had been best friends but they had barely spoken in weeks and Spike could tell that Buffy was probably feeling guilty about it despite it not being her fault.
“Hey Buffster! Good to see you.” Xander grinned wrapping her up in a big hug. Everyone but Xander noticed that she flinched when his arms went around her but they let it go without a comment while Willow moved forward for her hug which interestingly Buffy didn’t flinch from.
“Nice to see you guys too…hey Tara hey An.” Buffy greeted the other two women as well giving them a wave which they reciprocated.

“Spike right? The guy who helped me last week.” Buffy said with a smile. She phrased it like she was unsure but really he had been all she had thought about all week.
“Yep that’s me pet…nice to see you again and you to princess.” He grinned down at the beaming girl at his feet.
“Mommy can I stay with Spike while you go shopping pleeeaasseee?” The little girl begged. Buffy cast an unsure look at Spike but he simply smiled and nodded. It was dead in the shop right now and they had all the employees there so they were no way understaffed. He could spend and hour with the kid.
“Sure you can sweetie.” Buffy smiled.
“Okay then me and you can catch up while you shop...come on there’s a great deal on chickens.” Willow urged walking alongside her friend as they disappeared around the edge of the aisle.

While Buffy and Willow caught up talking about anything but what they really wanted to talk about, Spike and Xander were playing tag with a giggling Madison while Tara and Anya watched in amusement. When it came for Buffy to pay and leave however the laughing stop and Madison pouted at her mother who was making her go home.
“I don’t wanna go home! I wanna stay with uncle Spike and Xander and Auntie Tara, Willow and Anya!” Maddie listed.
“Honey we have to go home for dinner…daddy will be home soon.” She sighed wincing when she saw all the smile’s drop off all her friends faces. She knew exactly what people said abut her and talked about behind her back and she hated the fact she couldn’t hide her private life better.
“Please?” She pleaded some more.
“Tell you what kiddo what time you finish school tomorrow?” Spike asked dropping down to his knees.
“three.” Maddie said curtly.
“Okay and what time do you have to start dinner?” Spike asked looking up at Buffy softly.
“about six…” Buffy said quietly.
“There ya go me and Xander are working tomorrow till five why don’t you call in and see us tomorrow? If that’s okay with you of course?” Spike said quickly looking back at Buffy.
She thought for a minute before smiling slightly and nodding.
“Okay there you go sweetheart we’ll see them tomorrow okay…come on.”

Later that night:

“Well this place isn’t actually that bad.” Spike smiled as he looked around The Bronze. It was almost ten thirty and Spike was having a rather fun time taking some time out of his depressed loning to actually come out with his friends and have some fun.
“Told you its great.” Xander beamed.
The only thing putting a dampener on it for Spike really was the fact he was surrounded by couples. Anya and Xander were sat close together with their arms around each other, Willow was sat in Oz’s lap happily and Tara and her girlfriend Kennedy were happily swaying to the music out on the dance floor. He didn’t exactly want a relationship after Drusilla.
He had thrown everything away for her. Pissed off his family, moved in with her and for three years that’s all she did was cheat on him. Their time together had been wild with drug fuelled party’s and loads of fights but he had always remained faithful to her but the last straw had come when he caught her fucking his cousin in his damn bed! That was when he had finally had enough and moved over here to America and proceeded to screw anything with a pulse, trying to convince himself that feelings didn’t matter and women didn’t matter. It was kind of working until recently.
“Oh fucking great!”
Spike’s eyes widened when he heard Willow curse. She never swore but right now she had a murderous look on her face and Spike went to make a joke of it until he saw that everyone else was sporting the same expression and staring at the same thing.

A huge bloke had just walked in, easily six foot four and just as wide and if it wasn’t for the dark evil look in his eyes Spike would have thought of him as a good old farm boy.
“Who is that?” Spike asked wondering who could bring out such a violent reaction from this usually placid group.
“That would be Riley.”
The silence that followed spoke volumes and they all watched silently as he made his way to the bar and immediately barked an order at the bar man. Gulping down a shot of amber liquid he quickly requested another and the gang watched him with un disguised disgust as a tacky looking red head sidled up to him. She was obviously not from around here because otherwise she would surely have known to stay away and that he was married to a girl he beat up on a regular basis. He smiled at her and less than three drinks later she was sitting in his lap with his tongue buried down her throat.
“I hate him…physically every fibre of my being is saying to hit him.” Xander growled under his breath tearing his eyes away from the cheating scumbag that was one of his best friends husbands.
“Its not enough he abuses her he got to cheat on her as well….bastard.” Anya added shooting daggers at the tall Iowa boy.
None of them tore their eyes away until they saw both Riley and the red head stumble out the door.