This Kind of Lonely

Disclaimer

I own NOTHING (except for the plot*smile*)! Anything in this story that falls under existing copyrights belongs to their respective owners.

A/N
As everybody wanted a soon update due to the nice cliffhanger in the last chapter I wrote this one as fast as possible and I tell you, I don't like it. It was no fun to write at all except for some small passages, but that's just my personal opinion, you get to decide ;). I wanted to thank everybody who took the time to write me a few lines and I take it from them that you really don't like Riley. I wonder why that is… *laughs*. Okay I stop now, go on enjoy it and oh, before I forget I got you a new nice little cliffhanger.
Hugs to all!

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Previously on "This Kind of Lonely":

Buffy wakes up and finds Spike in her bed. She falls out of it and Spike feels guilty. She tells him that it was okay and from that point the day only got better. He returns with dinner for her and himself and finds her and Riley kissing.

This Kind of Lonely


Chapter 8: Rewind

"Hmpf…stop…Riley…no…" Buffy tried to stop her physiotherapist from keeping on kissing her. When he finally stopped she looked at him, a death glare in her eyes.

"Who do you think you are? What gives you the right to do that?" she queried and her voice held no place for any kind of crap.

"I am sorry Buffy, I just couldn't stop myself..." Riley started to defend his actions but was interrupted by an even angrier Buffy.

"And so what? You think you can break into my personal space only because you can't control yourself" she nearly yelled.

Riley inhaled deeply to answer her but was interrupted by a loud crash from the hallway and the sounds of several pieces of porcelain shattering into a million pieces.

Both of them turned their heads the same moment to see who was responsible for the sounds but found nobody near the door. The only thing they recognised was the loud thud of the front door being slammed close.

Buffy instantly knew who had been responsible for the crashing of the porcelain and the nearly ripping the door from its hinges. Spike. He must have seen the whole ridiculous incident and must have drawn his own conclusions.

"Son of a bitch" Buffy muttered under her breath. "Just when we were getting along kind of well" she thought to herself "just my damn luck, every time I meet somebody nice even if it takes some time for me to like him somebody else steps in fucks my life up." It had been the same with her long-time boyfriend Angel. They had been together since college. They were deeply in love, or better she had been deeply in love with him but when she lost her firm and job in L.A. he had left her without so much as a goodbye. Somehow the thought that he couldn't have loved her all that much crossed her mind when she thought again after a long time about the way they had broke up. She first had tried to blame it on Spike and his firm but now with that stupid situation and her brain finally able to focus on the important things due to that damn incident she came to the realisation that it wasn't entirely Spike's fault. Even more it seemed like it wasn't his fault at all. She was brought out of her musings by Riley saying something.

"What did you say?" Buffy asked in an exasperated voice not even looking at him.

"I said I am sorry and I hope that my actions won't disturb our professional relationship" Riley spoke to her real slowly as if he was talking to a deaf child.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Buffy finally exploded "Our professional relationship? You can be more than glad that I am not calling the police because you molested me. And for you working with me, I will see to it that Giles gets me another physiotherapist as soon as I see him again, which will be tomorrow" she finished her speech.

"Are you sure?" he took a step towards Buffy still lying in the bed "I think that you are just happy with my actions but aren't woman enough to admit to yourself. Be honest, I think you like me more than you care to share. And I really think you don't want me to stop the therapy. I am the best, you won't find anybody else as good as me. And I also think you will need me to get walking again, who would want a disabled chick as stubborn as you around…"

"Get out of my face you son of a bitch" Buffy yelled from the top of her lungs.

"Make me…oh I forgot you can't. I think we will continue with the exercises now and forget that incident ever happened. And when you're ready and have finally got over your momentarily state you call me and tell me you want me and we proceed with what we started" his always present smile back on his face. Buffy would have wanted nothing more than to kick him into the next millennium but he was right, she couldn't, not in her state. And only God knows what he was capable of.

"Don't break your cute little skull with thoughts Buffy, I won't do anything to you, I really like you. I wouldn't let anything happen to you" somehow Buffy found his words convincing and so she relaxed a little bit although she still wanted him to go and never come back. Why did Spike leave her with him, she needed him so badly right now, not only for getting her out of the situation but also for comfort. She wanted to bury herself deep into his strong arms and forget everything that just happened. As the realisation hit her that for the first time she thought about Spike in the way of needing and longing she was pushed even deeper in her own stream of thoughts and it took her a full minute to recognise that Riley had continued with the exercises on her legs. She stared at him unbelievingly.

"I said GET OUT" she tried again to make it clear that she didn't want to have him around anymore or ever again.

"And again I say, you can't make me" Riley still smiled at her.

"She might not, but I can" somebody called from the door.

Riley turned around lightning fast while Buffy lifted her head to see who had come to rescue her from the man not letting go of her.

"Right now, I got 911 dialling on my cell phone so that will give you about twenty seconds to run off and never show up here again" they found Cordelia standing in the doorframe holding her cell phone to her ear.

"And what do you want to tell them?" Riley asked, the nervousness clearly showing in his voice.

"Well, let's say after I watched and listened to your conversation with my friend I guess I have enough to tell" Cordelia smiled her falsest smile at him "I'd say you better move."

"Are you sure you want me to leave" Riley turned around and asked Buffy who simply nodded her face a mask of stone.

"Okay, I'll leave" Riley's voice showed traces of anger "but I'll be back."

"I don't think so" Cordelia called after him while she switched of her cell phone before she hurried over to the bed where Buffy now started to cry silently.

"Now, now Buffy, it's over the prick is gone, no need to worry anymore" Cordelia tried to soothe her.

"Oh my god" Buffy muttered between small sobs "I was so scared. When Spike left…"

"What? He left? Why?" Cordelia asked a bit startled.

Buffy's next words were spoken so fast that Cordy didn't understand a single one of them. The only thing she recognised was Buffy's question how it came that she was back again.

"Whow, not so fast missy, I didn't understand a word you just said. And to why I am here, Spike just called me minutes ago and told me that I had to return immediately" Cordy explained "now why don't you rewind the story and tell it again a bit slower this time so somebody can actually understand what you say" she finished smiling at her.

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As the burning sensation flowed down his throat again for the sixth or seventh time, he didn't count, Spike welcomed it again before he motioned for the dirty old man behind the bar to refill his glass.

He just couldn't understand what had happened about forty-five minutes ago. One moment he was on the way to a friendship and perhaps even more with his houseguest and the next he finds her sucking face with Captain Cardboard. He wanted nothing more than just go back and wipe his expensive wooden floors with the farm boy's ass. But he couldn't, he just couldn't go back and see her right now. It would shatter him into pieces. He had really started to have feelings for the perky little blonde, that he would admit to himself now but after the show off in her room earlier he wasn't sure that this was still the case. They always say there's a thin line between love and hate and Spike was seriously close to cross that line.

His brain started to tune into the conversation he had with himself and tried to inform him that he was still engaged. He already had a woman he should love and worship. At that thought Spike's only reaction was a loud snort and to empty the refilled shot glass again. Seriously who was he kidding, he just was with Harmony because she was a decent lay and the whole engagement thing was just done so that she would keep quiet and not drive him insane with her whining. He again motioned for the bartender and made it clear that this time he wanted the bottle and not only a refill. He took two more shots before he pulled out his cell phone and tried to call Cordelia. He disconnected the call after her mailbox had picked up and continued his task on emptying the bottle of scotch in front of him.

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After Buffy had finally finished telling the events that led to the incident with Riley and after Cordelia had her own five minutes of swearing and cursing the man, they were sitting next to each other on Buffy's bed a bowl of chocolate ice between them watching TV.

"So…where do you think Spike has gone?" Buffy asked Cordelia in a small voice.

"As I know him he's probably out drinking himself into the next century only to be able to complain about it in the morning and to swear that he will never drink again" Cordelia had to laugh a bit.

"Why...why do you think he left in the first place?" she stuttered a bit.

"Isn't that obvious?" when Buffy didn't respond Cordelia continued "well - duh - he has a thing for you."

When Buffy's face was suddenly void of any colour Cordelia had to laugh again and just couldn't stop herself for a few minutes.

"You…you really think" Buffy somehow didn't dislike that thought "I mean he's all engaged and everything…"

"Are you deaf and blind?" Cordelia countered Buffy's question still laughing "if he isn't head over heels for you than I won't know the difference between GAP and Prada, and that is surely not going to happen."

Buffy was once again lost in her own thoughts after Cordy had made it clear that Spike was interested in her. She wouldn't deny it, if one person on the face of the earth would know Spike best it surely would be Cordelia Chase. She caught herself fantasizing a few moments about what a relationship with Spike would be like and she had to smile internally at that train of thoughts. She felt that she was blushing and stopped herself from revelling further into those thoughts. When she looked up again she found Cordelia looking at her, her face red from holding back her laughter. Buffy grabbed one of the cushions next to her and threw it at Cordelia who once again started to laugh hard and Buffy started to laugh as well.

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The pavement Spike fell onto after stumbling over his own feet due to his intoxicated state was hard and hurt like a bitch. He muttered some British curses under his breath and tried to get up on his feet again. Driving wasn't an option for him today anymore so he tried to pull out his cell phone to call for a taxi while still trying to get up from the ground. Because his brain still wasn't present, performing two tasks that difficult at the same time only led to him falling flat on the ground again. He again cursed the day as if there was no tomorrow until he felt two strong hands pulling him up from the dirty sidewalk.

"I told you man, you seriously have to stop doing that. It will kill you some day" Spike recognized Xander's joking voice.

"Glad you're here whelp" Spike muttered "although if you won't stop talking crap you can as well leave again."

"I think it will be best to take you home, buddy, there you can get a goodnight's sleep and tomorrow when everything hurts and is even more awful than now you can think about drinking in masses again" Xander couldn't stop himself from making fun of his friend while he steered him into the direction of his own car.

He placed the drunk Brit in the passenger seat and entered the driver's side afterwards before he fired up the engine and started for Spike's house.

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Harmony left the back of the cab and pulled her bag from the trunk. She went into the front to pay the driver who then left the parking lot in front of Spike's estate. She went up the stairs that led to the entrance and inserted her key in the lock. She opened the heavy door and stepped into the hallway letting the door fall into the lock behind her.

"Spike…blondie bear… I'm home, where are you?" Harmony called into the hallway. When she got no response she walked down the corridor until she reached the open door to her small bed chamber. She looked inside and nearly fainted when she found Cordelia and Buffy lying on her bed eating ice cream and talking while the TV was running.

"What the hell do you think you're doing in here" she demanded while she entered the room with huge steps.

"And now the fun starts" Cordelia whispered into Buffy's ear who had to giggle. She turned around to look at the "intruder". "We're watching TV, talking and eating ice cream. I thought you would know such things" Cordy now said to the blonde standing in the middle of the room.

"Yeah and everything on my bed" Harmony's had a whining tone.

"Oh come on" Cordy kept on "it's not like it's your only one. You still got six other ones so why don't you leave us ladies and do some girly stuff in one of your other play rooms."

Buffy got the slight impression that Cordelia didn't like Harmony one little bit while she had a hard time not to start laughing out loud at the comments Cordelia threw at the other blonde.

"You are mean" Harmony kept on whining "I'm going to tell Spike that…"

"That what?" Spike who suddenly leaned against the doorframe for support asked in a slurry voice.

"Blondie bear, there you are" Harmony's face lighted up "come on give your fiancée a hug and a kiss" she demanded.

Spike hugged her kinda awkwardly and made a face when she leaned upwards to kiss him.

"What you're doing here?" Spike asked the room still spinning "I thought you were with your mother?"

"I was and now I come back to find two girls lying in my bed and you drunk as hell" her voice was still demanding "tell me what's going on? What's the blonde bimbo doing here anyway?"

Spike decided to take that moment to faint due to his more than intoxicated state and so he hit the floor face first.

"Answer me" Harmony yelled at his passed out form.

To be continued…

Upcoming: Chapter 9: One blonde too much