Roomies

Letting Willow into the house, the two girls padded softly up the stairs leaving a woebegone Spike watching as they disappeared from sight. He had hoped that tonight, Buffy would let him hold her as they slept, all rifts healed and all feelings out in the open. That was until the strange quiet kid was caught cheating on the red head and the accusations that flew from Buffy’s mouth were enough to confuse anyone so Spike had kept quiet, nodding and ‘um’ing when he felt it was appropriate. Buffy had been pleased with his attentiveness so he must have done that right.

It was strange for him to think that it was just hours ago that he and Buffy were still arguing, the trivial matters that had seemed like huge boulders in their way were now pebbles in their past, even what had happened with Dawn seemed so far away. Like it was something he had been trying to repress for weeks instead of hours. How he would face her in the morning he did not know.
This problem was solved by Dawn appearing on the stairs just as he finished the thought. Mentally cursing what he had thought, he steeled himself for anything she might say or do, keeping his eyes barely open, he watched her between the slits as she made her way stealthily into the kitchen, only to reappear less than a minute later with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s and bottle of water.
He waited until she was out of sight to breathe a sigh of relief. He had half been afraid that she would notice he was awake or try to take advantage of him being asleep.
Hearing a loud muffled cry, he turned his attention back to Buffy and her heartbroken friend.

Willow was lying across Buffy’s bed, her face buried in her best friends lap and she sniffed out exactly what had happened. Understanding that Willow had walked in on the remnants of Oz’s night with someone else, Buffy was more enraged than she had ever been in her life. How did he dare cheat on Willow? Willow had never hurt as much as a fly in her entire life. She cried when she got a A- in class!

Not pushing for anymore details, Buffy sat and stroked Willow’s long red hair until the violent hiccoughing sobs gradually subsided.
“He said it was a mistake,” Willow told Buffy, almost pleading with her, silently begging her to agree that it was all just a big mistake. One that she could definitely learn to forgive.

“Maybe it was.” Buffy said, her face unconvinced. “But it still happened didn’t it?”

This only served to make Willow dissolve into a fresh batch of tears, which Buffy hurried to dispel.
“Listen,” She said softly, “you need to speak to him, if you still want to be with him.” At Willows startled glance she quickly amended it to ‘because you still want to be with him.’

She knew that when she was in this position the very thought of being without him had seemed so much more heartbreaking than the idea that he had cheated on her. Shaking away the melancholy memories, she focused ion her best friend and her fresh grief.
Resolving to spend loads of quality girly time together, Willow finally drifted off into an exhausted, deep sleep, allowing Buffy a moment to send Spike a text message before succumbing to sleep herself.

Feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket, Spike rolled over onto his back to see better. Seeing ‘GOODNITE SEXY’ with SENDER: BUFFY written below made him feel strangely warm inside. Sending back ‘NITE BABY. SLEEP WELL.’ He settle down for the night, fully aware that tomorrow was Thanksgiving and he would have to face Dawn, and Joyce and his mother, and be able to get through a three course meal.

Awakening when his legs were unceremoniously shoved off the sofa, Spike blinked, his blurry vision focusing on Buffy and her redheaded friend. Greeting them blearily, he sat up, knocking the comforter to the floor.
“Hey.” Buffy chirped, feeling marginally guilty for being so happy when her best friend was so devastated. She was upset that Willow had declined her offer of staying for Thanksgiving but she supposed that if she wanted to sort out her relationship then it was probably best to do it while it was still fresh.

Seeing Willow off Buffy returned to Spike, settling herself next to him. Dawn still hadn’t put in an appearance, probably still embarrassed about the night before.

“Buffy!” Joyce called from the kitchen, she had been calling for five minutes and still received no reply, walking to the doorway, she took a minute to watch as William and Buffy sat, entwined, engrossed in the TV. “Buffy?” She called a little louder, this time attracting the attention she wanted. “Could you lend a hand please?” She asked, smiling apologetically at William and his childish pout as Buffy extracted herself from his arms and followed her mother into the kitchen to prepare the meal.

“So?” Anne and Joyce enquired as soon as Buffy had joined them.
“So what?” The young blonde smiled coyly.
“Are you both ok this morning?” Anne queried, her worry about her son dissipating when Buffy’s face lit up. It was nice to see her smile after the scowls and glares she had witnessed in the previous days.
“We’re good.” Buffy agreed, a smug grin on her face that said more to Joyce than the tenderness that she had observed. She would wait for now until Buffy was ready to tell her.

She trusted her daughter implicitly when it came to affairs of the heart, she had meddled before and it hadn’t worked and this time it hadn’t taken anything to get Buffy and Spike interested in each other.
It was simply chemistry that had overwhelmed the couple. And even Spike, hardened by past experiences, gazed on in awe as his mother and his girl gossiped.