Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

Chp.14

The Whelp in All His Glory

Info: First chapter

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Tara enters the hospital staffs break room, her head bowed, and her hair falling in soft waves around her face. Buffy and Spike follow behind her hands clasped tightly together.They were nervous about meeting her friends, and not knowing how two of the patients would be percieved by them.

Looking up from the gooey, cheesy mess on his plate, "hey Tare! What'cha doin' letting a couple of patients follow you around for?" Alex asks, around the glob of pizza in his mouth. He almost chokes on the crust, as he recognizes the girl, holding on for dear life to the guys hand. "Wait a minute, that's Buffy Summers, isn't it?" He continues, shoving nearly a whole other piece in his mouth, and chewing with the gaping mawl wide open.

Standing by the door, Buffy has a stunned look on her face, and is crushing Spikes hand in hers. She doesn't know what to say. The whole Scooby gang is in the room. There are only a few differences, Dawn, Andrew, and Faith were missing, but there is Anya, and probably the most missed person from the gang, Tara. Xander and Anya are looking at Spike and her as if they are strangers. Well, they are. She knows them, but they don't know her. Xander remembers her from her freshman year, he doesn't know her like her Xander does. She has to hold back the tears that want to stream down her face, at the picture being painted in front of her.

"Oh, now my day is just perfect. The whelp in all his glory, shoving pizza in his mouth, and chewing with it wide open." She hears Spike whisper sarcastically, and just knows that his eyes are rolling. She can't help but roll her own eyes, as she watches Xander roll the gooey mess around in his mouth. She flinches and looks away from the nasty site.

She throws a disgusted look his way, as she looks back over at the brunette still happily trying not to gag on the soggy crusty mass of pizza. There's sauce dripping from his chin, and eww, Spike is telling the truth, you can see the food being all chewed up. "Disgusting." She whispers back.

"You got that right, Pet." She hears him snort, and chuckles.

"Xander?" Buffy says, the disgusted look still apparent on her face; and in her voice. She finally decides to walk over to the brunette man and study his features. "Xander!" She nearly shouts, as she throws her arms around the stout man, nearly making him choke on the glob of pizza in his mouth.

She quickly pulls away, when she hears a low, threatening growl coming from the direction of Spike. Okay, she didn't think he'd get so possessive over a tiny liitle hug.

Alex looks up at the crazy blonde that keeps calling him Xander, "whose Xander?" He asks, wiping the sauce from his chin onto his shirt's sleeve, and dropping the slice of pizza that he'd just picked up back on his plate.

Buffy looks at the man in front of her, gazing into his eyes, and tilting her head slightly. "You're Xander." She states, sure he should be who she thinks he is. He acts, looks, and sounds like Xander. 'And hey he has two good eyes' she shakes her head, trying to figure out why that thought had popped into her mind.

"Uh, no. My names Alex." He smiles, and little pieces of pizza are stuck in his teeth.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just. . ." She leaves the explanation, unexplained, as she notices the gunk between his front teeth.

'Everyone else here has the same name', she thinks. 'Why does Xander have to be different? Wait a minute. He's always been that way.'

Looking over to the only other man in the room. "So, who's the psycho, following you guys around?" Alex asks, picking the piece of pizza back up from where it had fallen, and taking a huge bite.

Buffy looks away with a quickness, not wanting to see the boy chewing his latest disaster victim up.

"Listen, Monkey Boy." Spike growls, angrily, as he stalks around to the side of the table that his girlfriend had just been embracing with a near stranger. He was damned jealous, and he didn't care if everyone knew it.

The boy stands up, as the patient comes face to face with him.

Trying to avert an all out fight, Buffy steps in between them. "Xan. . . Alex, this is Spike, and he's not psycho." She places a hand on each of their chests.

Spike growls menacingly, as he sees her hand touch the prats' chest.

Buffy rolls her eyes at him, as she looks over her shoulder, at the sound.

"Well not psycho in the way you mean. Right now he's just being Mr. Jealous." Her matter of fact tone, registering with Spike, he quits growling. She pats his chest reassuringly.

"Well, he sure is acting like a freakin' looney, Buffy, and looks like one too." Alex retorts, looking the shorter man up and down. "Plus, wearing what he is, you sure you don't want me to restrain him."

Buffy gets a far away look in her eyes, as she remembers the one time he let her handcuff him. A smile spreads over her face. 'Oh good times, well not really but, damn that man could do some amazing things with his assets.' Her mind keeps on a wandering, eyes all glazed over.

"Buffy?"

Even if his name is Alex, he's still the ever over- protective Xander, and he breaks her train of thought as he says her name. 'Damned over-protectiveness.'

"He's always like that, Alex. He's aggressive and jealous, especially when it comes to people he loves." She explains, shaking her head, trying to dispel the image that keeps flashing before her eyes. She slowly turns to face her man. Making a connection with his eyes, she smiles and rubs her hand in a slow circle over his chest.

"Please be nice." She pleads with voice, and eyes. "They don't know what we've been through, and I really don't want to go into that right now. We'll sit down, have some pizza, and get to know them. If and only if they ask a specific question." She points her finger into his chest, and smiles. "We'll answer as best as we can." Her hand lies flat on his chest, again. "Then we can go back to one of the rooms, and relax together." She finishes sincerely. Rising up on her toes she plants a swift kiss on his lips.

Spike looks from Buffy to Alex and back again, shrugs his shoulders, grabs her hand, and inches his way around the poofter. "I'll be nice, alright Luv?" He lifts her hand to his lips, brushing them over the back of it, "but only for a little while. If he says anything untoward, all bets are off." Lifting his head back up, and catching her eye, he smirks smugly.

Shaking her head at him, she lets him drag her over to the pile of pizza boxes, and he hands her a plate.

Looking in his eyes, she thanks him, and grabs a piece of triple cheese. "So, what do you guys do? I already know that Tara's Spike's nurse, Willow is a receptionist, and Anya helps my mom out when she isn't working here." She starts the conversation with an unassuming question, plus she wants to know what all of her friends that aren't really friends yet, are doing working in a mental hospital. Taking a bite of her pizza she smiles at all of them, and prepares for the onslaught of everyone trying to talk at the same time.