The Winning Hand

Chapter 7 - Family

Buffy spent most of the afternoon in her room; the one-sided
conversation she had overhead running through her mind. So - Will
liked Showgirls, huh? It figured. He probably had his pick too. It
wasn't as if Vegas wasn't over flowing with beautiful busty women he uld uld seduce.

She looked down at her own body categorizing the flaws she saw
there; small breasts, skinny figure. She certainly didn't have an
hourglass appearance. She stared at herself in the mirror. She did
have nice hair though, she smiled softly, especially after Henry had
gotten through with her.

After several hours of brooding she finally decided to get out. So what
if Will didn't want her? This was the start of her new life, dammit! And
she wasn't going to let one rejection ruin it for her. Going through her
suitcase she found one of the few 'nice' things she'd brought with her.
It wasn't as sexy as the cocktail dress she'd worn to dinner the other
night, but it would do.

Buffy twirled in front of the mirror. She loved this skirt. It was slips of
overlapping silk so that the hem was an uneven line of triangles at the
bottom. It was cut so that when she twirled the skirt rose up and
flapped around her. To go on top she had on a glittering halter just
this side of gold. The shade of the halter made the red highlights in
her hair stand out even more. Satisfied, Buffy took a deep breath
grabbed her small gold clutch purse and headed out the door.

***

Spike was scowling at the monitors when Joyce walked into the room.
She stepped close to look over his shoulder and see what had him in
such a foul mood.

"Crazy bint." Spike mumbled. "She's playing all wrong. Playone one
coin at a time, holding a pair of twos and discarding a king and jack?
What does she think she's doing out there alone?"

Spike jumped when he felt the hand land on his shoulder. "Bloody
hell!" He turned around ready to curse out the intruder.

"Mum!" Spike's cheeks flooded with color. His mum was the only
woman still able to make him blush with embarrassment. "How long
have you been standing there?" He asked, hugging her at the same
time.

"Just a few minutes." She answered hugging him back. "What's got
you so upset this time? Card counter?" She peered over his shoulder
once more.

"'S nothing." He shrugged it off, though she noticed he kept one eye
on the screens. "You're early, is da with you?"

"Yes, well Dru was getting a bit tired of our visit, I think." Joyce's eyes
were smiling brightly. "So we cut it short. Your da stopped in Los
Angeles to talk with Xander about some contract or other he's setting
up. They should both be here sometime tomorrow afternoon."

"Xan's coming too?" Spike smiled widely. It had been almost a year
since the last time he'd seen his old friend.

"Yes, he said he had some business with the new winner ffy ffy was
it?" Joyce watched the expressions flit across her son's face.

At the mention of her name, Spike turned back to the monitors.
"Right, Buffy. Buffy Summers. There she is now." He pointed out her
black and white image on the screen.

'Fetching', Joyce thought as she watched the young woman sitting at
the video poker machine. "She doesn't seem to know what she's
doing, does she?" Joyce laughed. "She's the one who took you for 2
million?"

Spike scowled and turned back to his mother. "She's lucky. That's all
you need in this town."

"Hmm...well it seems as if she could use a few lessons as well. Oh
good! There's someone come to help her." Joyce pointed out.

Spike spun around again. The frown marring his face deepened.
Joyce watched her son with interest. She'd never seen Will's attention
so focused before. And she'd definitely never seen it focused on a
single woman. Before she could query him, he pushed past her with a
mumbled, "I've got to go."

'Curiouser and curiouser', Joyce thought as follfollowed her son out
the door.

***

Buffy had wandered the casino floor trying to find something that
didn't look too complicated. She watched a woman play for a few
minutes before finding an empty machine herself. It didn't look too
hard. Just poker, and since there were no other players she wouldn't
get as nervous.

She read all the rules on the front of the machine before pulling out a
crisp twenty dollar bill and inserting it in the slot. She watched er er
credits increased until they topped out at 80. She hit the 'bet' button
once and then pressed 'deal'.

She had a pair of twos, a king, a jack, and an eight. She pressed the
'hold' buttons under the twos and then hit 'deal again. She frowned
when she saw that she had lost. Shrugging her shoulders she played
another hand.

Now after having played for about half an hour she was up to 82
credits. This time she had a pair of tens, a jack, a queen, and a
seven. She hit the 'hold' buttons for the tens but before she could hit
'deal' she felt a movement to her right. A handsome young man slid
into the seat next to her, giving her a wide smile.

"Hello. You look like you might be able to use some help." He winked.
"My name's Riley." He held out his hand to her.

Shaking his hand she gave him a friendly smile. "Hi, I'm Buffy. Is it
that obvious? That I don't know how to play, I mean." Her smile
turned sheepish.

"Nah. You're doing okay, just thought you might like a pointer or two."
He leaned in close to her, their shoulders brushing as he pointed to
her cards. "You don't want to keep the tens. At least not both of them.
You want to keep the Jack, Queen, and ten of hearts." He pointed to
each in turn, causing their bodies to rub up against each other.

Buffy stared at the cards he indicated. "But why? Shouldn't I keep the
pair I have, what if I get another ten?"

"Well, sure a triple would be nice. But what you're really going for is
the jackpot. And to get that you need a royal flush. You already got
three of the five cards you need to make it. Why not go for it?" He
shrugged at her, showing a line of straight teeth with his grin. "But,
you won't get the jackpot even if you got the flush now because you
need to play 3 credits to win that."

"Oh." Buffy processed the information, even as she did as instructed.
She ended up winning one credit with a pair of Jacks and she
clapped her hands. "Well at least I didn't lose!" She threw her
thousand watt smile at.
.

They played a couple more hands, Riley instructing her on which
cards to hold for each. She was bouncing in her seat, having just one
with a full house, eights over threes, when Riley reached over and
took one of her hands in his.

"Great job Buffy!" He pulled her hand forward and kissed the palm.
"What do you say I buy you a drink and we can continue your lessons
in the bar?"

Before she could answer she felt the pressure of a firm grip on her
shoulder. Looking up she saw Will's angry glower. "The lady's with
me."

She turned back to Riley, who was quickly pulling his hand away from
hers. "Hey man." He put his hands up in the universal sign for
surrender. "Sorry. I didn't know she was taken." Then he was up and
walking away without even saying goodbye to her.

Buffy stood, anger infusing her whole body. "What do you think you're
doing?" Who was he to come barging in like that?

Spike was gritting his teeth, trying to calm the rage coursing through
his veins. He was surprised at the intensity of his feelings, but didn't
have time to question them now. "I told you not to come down here
alone."

"You're not my father, or my boyfriend. You can't tell me what to do.
It's none of your business!"

"My place. My business!" He answered, nostrils flaring. "There's good
reason for you not to wander around down here by yourself. Not ten
minutes and you're already getting hit on!"

"He wasn't hitting on me!" Buffy countered. "He was just helping me.
I've never played before - "

"You really are naïve aren't you?" He asked quietly, anger slowly
dissipating.

Buffy's face flared with humiliation. "Even if he was hitting on me,
what's it to you? Why do you care?"

"Why do I care?" Buffy backed up a step at the tone of his voice.
Before she could get any further he had her back pinned to the video
machine, his mouth descending towards hers. Buffy's eyes closed in
anticipation, her face tilted up.

"So this is Buffy Summers the lucky winner." Joyce stated quietly.
She'd watched the proceedings without interference, but decided it
was time to make her presence known.

Buffy and Spike jumped apart, both their faces scarlet. "Mum!" At
Will's startled exclamation, Buffy turned to study the woman watching
them. So this was Will's mom?

"Aren't you going to introduce us Will?" Joyce asked.

Buffy watched with amusement as Will stuttered out the introductions.
"Mum this is Buffy Summers. Buffy this is my Mum, Joyce Giles." He
pointed to each in turn.

Embarrassed beyond belief to have been caught in a compromising
position with her son, Buffy found she couldn't look Joyce in the face.
Instead she studied the carpet in front of her feet and said a quiet,
"Nice to meet you Mrs. Giles."

Buffy surpsurprised when a slender finger came up just below her
chin, lifting her face until she was eye to eye with Will's mom. "Call
me Joyce." Buffy felt an instant affinity to the woman before her.

"Thank you - Joyce." Buffy gave her a tentative smile. When Joyce
returned it, Buffy's smiled blossomed into its normal irresistible state.
"I was playing video poker." She pointed to the machine proudly.

Joyce chuckled. "Yes, I caught that. If you'd like some less I'd I'd be
happy to teach you." Joyce grabbed hold of Buffy's elbow, leading her
toward the lounge. "Why don't we have a seat and chat. I want to
hear your whole story. So far I've only gotten bits and pieces."

Spike sighed and shook his head as he watched the two ladies head
for the lounge arm in arm.