Roomies

Standing up to greet Joyce, Hank and Cerise, Spike shook hands and smiled cheerily, seating himself proudly between his girls. He didn’t know when he started to think of them as his girls, it just seemed right. He would do anything for them, to protect them and to care for them the way they deserved.

Picking up the menus the group around the table engrossed themselves in idle chit chat about work and school before ordering.

“This is bullshit.” Dawn muttered earning herself a glare from Joyce. “It is!” She proclaimed, sitting bolt upright and glaring at Hank and Joyce. “We’re here to talk and no ones talking about anything I give a damn about.”

“Honey-” Joyce was cut off by both of her daughters at once.

“Don’t call me honey. Did you plan on telling me?” Dawn demanded, not caring that people at nearby tables were turning to watch the spectacle.

“Truthfully?” Buffy added, watching her parents struggle for answers.

“Dawn, honey, we didn’t want to hurt you.” Joyce found herself saying softly, wishing their audience would turn back to their dinners.

“We wanted to tell you when you were old enough to understand.” Hank added, ignoring Cerise’s sympathetic whimpers.

“So you thought that fourteen isn’t old enough to understand that I’ve been lied to for my entire life? Not old enough to be told that I was adopted from fuck knows who and fuck knows where and told that I belonged?” Her voice shook with her anger and for once no one thought to chastise her for the colourful language. “I don’t belong.” She half sobbed, closing her eyes and blocking everything out. Everything but Spike and Buffy and the way their arms wrapped around her body.

She wouldn’t cry and give anyone the satisfaction of knowing that she had been hurt.

And neither would Buffy.

“Dad?” Hank swivelled in his chair, turning from Cerise to Buffy.

“Elizabeth?”

“You can’t cut me out can you?” Her voice was as smug as the look on her face and she knew she had guessed right from the bimbo’s ramblings. Cerise may be a dumb blonde of the very highest order but she obviously knew her laws. She probably used to be his legal secretary.

Taking his time to formulate an answer, Hank knew he had been caught out. Buffy would be twenty after Christmas and he only had a year before she would claim half of his empire and take the legal standing he had been sure she would turn down.

If she took him up on the contract then she would have control over his companies, his entire future was balanced precariously in his hands and he knew that he needed to keep her close. Pushing her away at this stage could spell disaster and he didn’t work hard for the past 30 years building everything up to watch his flesh and blood come along and tear it all down.

“No, I cannot cut you out completely.” He said honestly, taking in the smug, cat got the canary dipped in cream look on her face and the triumph on Dawn and William’s faces. “But you still have a year to wait before you get your money.”

“And Riley?” She queried, intrigued to hear the reasoning behind his threats.

“Mr Finn came to me with a very interesting proposition, I felt it deserved exploration. What happened to your relationship with him?”

“Relationship?” She echoed, trying not to laugh when Spike’s hand tightened on hers. Squeezing back she smiled reassuringly at Spike. “There never was one. We went on a couple of dates. That was it.”

“Mr Finn was of the opinion that you were to be engaged.” Hank said simply. Either Buffy was lying or this Riley kid was delusional.

“Oh yeah,” Cerise butted in cheerily, “He asked your daddy’s permission to marry you.”

Buffy silenced her with a glare. Who was she calling daddy? She must have been only two or three years older than Buffy herself. Riley really needed a therapist by the sound of it. He was seriously not on this planet with everyone else. Things seemed to go over his head, in one ear and out the other.

“Well I definitely won’t be accepting that proposal.” Buffy spat, scaring the waitress that was placing her meal in front of her. “I love Spike.”

“I love you too.” Spike said softly, not caring who did or didn’t overhear. He had been sitting silently since everyone had arrived, just observing the conversation, and reassuring his girls that he was there for them when he felt it was needed.

Tucking into their meals, silence fell across the table. The hustle and bustle of the restaurant seeming to compensate for the lack of dialogue. Spike being the first to finish pushed his plate away from him and sat up.

“Right then.” He started, getting everyone’s attention. “Nobody meant to hurt Dawn, she needs to come to terms with things on her own, Buffy still stands to get whatever next year and the only thing not discussed is the reason Hank here wrote that lovely letter, so why don’t you discuss that with Joyce while we get our coats.” He stood up, pulling out Buffy and Dawn’s chairs and leading them away. “You know where we are when you sort things out. I think some people deserve apologies.”

Leading the way, Buffy was ecstatic to see that they had emerged triumphant. She had imagined everything going wrong, accusations and hurtful comments being slung back and forth and Dawn being hurt more than she already had.

Heading back to the hotel she slipped Dawn the second door key and dragged Spike back to the hotel leisure complex. Sneaking into the darkened complex she hoped Angel wasn’t working tonight. Even if the door was left open, she knew that as manager of the hotel he would not be amused by her actions.

Stripping off their clothes at rapid speeds and grabbing themselves large sheet towels she let Spike lead her to the hot tub.

Opening the steamed glass doors to the hot tub, their private time was cut short by none other than Angel, with Riley leaning into his near naked embrace.