Outed

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You’re having dinner with Riley and Sam?!” Buffy exploded, staring at her friend as if he had just announced he was going to the Arctic.

“Yeah…they invited us and Anya couldn’t resist. You know, she gets to talk with
another married woman and everything.”

Buffy frowned and slumped back in her chair, turning her head towards where the vampire was perched on the stairs just behind her.

“See? God does hate me. Not only does he move my ex here, but he gets him to take my friends away!”

Spike just laughed and she crossed her arms, in full pout mode.

“It’s just dinner, Buff.”

“It’s so old-married couplish.”

“Well, that’s us now, I guess.”

“Ugh,” was Buffy’s reply, “Not surprising for them…They’re so…whitebread. Sam even more than Riley.”

Spike laughed again at her words and, realising what she had said, she sat up and met her friend’s surprised look with a sheepish smile.

“I’ve definitely been spending too much time with him,” she exclaimed, nodding in Spike’s
direction.

“I hope you’re not really upset about it, Buff.”

“Course not, Xand. You go have fun playing happy couples.”

With a smile, he rose and went to find his wife and Buffy turned to Spike, making a gagging gesture that brought another laugh from him.

“Come on, Miss. Bitter. Let’s find you something to kill.”

She stuck her tongue out at him but stood nonetheless and followed him out the door.


~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, she made her way into the shop after finishing work- only to find Xander and Riley chatting away happily as Anya counted the money from the till.

“Oh, hi,” she got out, trying her best not to narrow her eyes at her ex-boyfriend.

“Hey, Buff.”

“Hey. How’d dinner go?” she asked politely, settling into a chair.

“Well, yeah-“

“You slept with Spike?!”

She was stunned by Riley’s outburst and looked to her friend, who gave her an apologetic look.

“That good, eh? Had to start talking about my love life?”

“It just kind of slipped out,” Xander explained sheepishly.

“You slept with Spike?!” Riley repeated.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but yes, I did.”

“Spike?!”

“Think we gathered that already, Riley.”

“How could you?”

“Well, once again, not your business. But I was going through a rough patch and Spike was there for me. End of story. I’m not going to explain myself to you.”

Before he could say anything, she got to her feet again.

“I need to get home to Dawnie. I’ll see you later, Xand.”

Without another word, she quickly left the shop again, desperately trying to suppress her anger as she marched home.


She let herself in the house and closed the door behind her, still seething with anger.

“Dawn? Are you here?”

“In here,” Dawn called out from the dining room.

"God, you would not believe…I swear I’m going to kill that stupid, whitebread…”

She trailed off as she rounded the corner to find her sister and Spike sat side by side, a large textbook between them.

“Soldier Boy pissing you off?” Spike asked with a smile, head tilted to one side as he studied her.

“Wish he’d never come back,” she sulked, dropping into a chair near the pair, “He’s totally ruined what was actually a good day.”

“Bit, how ‘bout you go get your sister a drink before steam starts coming out of her ears?”

Dawn got to her feet and with a worried look at Buffy, disappeared into the kitchen.

“You alright, love?” Spike questioned.

“Yeah,” she sighed, “Should’ve have known he’d find out sooner or later.”

“Find out what, love?”

“About us,” she admitted, biting her lip as she met his bright gaze, “He started trying to accuse me and I got mad. It’s not like it’s any of his business who I choose to sleep with. Stupid Farm Boy. He’s the one that up and left me.”

“True,” he murmured and she met his eyes again, “What d’you tell him?”

“That it was none of his business and even if it was, I was having a hard time and you…you were there for me.”

She saw him visibly relax then, obviously having expected her to say how wrong their relationship had been.


“It’s alright,” he commented, stretching back and resting his hands behind his head, “He’s just jealous.”

Buffy laughed and he smiled genuinely, his eyes shining as they met hers.

“You know, it’s probably true as well.”

“’Course it is. Who wouldn’t be jealous of this tight body?”

Dawn, just coming into the room at that point, spluttered out an ‘eww’ as she passed the vampire and handed Buffy a glass of water. Buffy smiled as the girl made a gagging gesture before slapping Spike round the back of the head and returning to her seat.

“Hey!” he protested, “No violence.”

“You deserved it,” Dawn commented with a smile, “I was stopping you from getting an even bigger head.”

Buffy laughed at that and he narrowed his eyes at her, trying his hardest to keep a straight face. Smiling still, Buffy stood and began to head for the kitchen.

“Guess I better get dinner started.”

She paused by Spike’s side and he looked up at her questioningly.

“Why don’t you stay for dinner? You can help Dawnie study after dinner.”

He smiled softly, his eyes shining as he looked up at her.

“Then I’ll have to suffer your attempt at cooking,” he teased.

“Just a good thing you’ve got dead taste buds then, isn’t it?!” she joked, poking him in the shoulder and heading through to the kitchen with a smile. Maybe this day wasn’t turning out to bad after all- funny how Spike could always turn her mood around.


They sat down to dinner and passed the meal laughing and joking and she found herself watching her sister and Spike with a tender smile as they bickered. This felt good- relaxing, spending time with the people who were important to her (and yes, that included Spike). It took something as simple as a meal with what was in effect her family- anyone looking at Dawn and Spike could not but peg them as siblings, the way they interacted with each other.

“Dozing off on us, love?”

She jolted back to the present as Spike spoke to her and shook her head with a little smile.

“No. I was just thinking, we should do this more often. With the Scoobies as well.”

“Erm, could someone else cook though?” Dawn asked with a grimace and Buffy laughed, nodding her agreement.

“Someone else can definitely have cooking responsibilities!”

“I don’t mind doing a bit of cooking,” Spike suggested.

“You can cook?” Buffy asked in disbelief.

“Can do a lot of things, love.”

“I think Buffy knows that already,” Dawn murmured under her breath and Buffy gaped.

“Dawn!”

Her sister gave her a sheepish smile and Spike smiled too, until finally she decided to let it pass.


After Spike left, the two sisters settled down in front of the television with a soppy film.

“Tonight was fun,” Dawn spoke up through a mouthful of popcorn.

“Yeah, it was nice.”

“Spike should come round more often.”

“He’s here almost every day anyway!” Buffy pointed out with a laugh.

“Wonder why?!” Dawn sing-songed with a pointed look at her.

“What?!” Buffy protested, “I didn’t do anything!”

“You two are so funny,” Dawn remarked, “You’re the coupliest non-couple I know.”

“No we’re not!”

“You so are. Whenever you’re around each other, you’re always smiling and you have all these little in-jokes and everything.”

“We’re friends.”

“He’s still totally in love with you,” Dawn commented.

“I know,” Buffy answered softly.

“So why won’t you give him another chance?”

“It’s not about that, Dawnie. It’s about me and getting myself sorted.”

“But things are already so much better! And I know you care about him!”

“It’s not that easy, Dawnie,” Buffy explained, surprised by just how vehemently her sister seemed to want her and Spike together, “I don’t know what I want right now…and that’s not fair on Spike. It’s taken a lot for us to just be friends and I don’t want to risk losing that.”

“You’re totally going to end up together,” Dawn commented glibly.

Buffy said nothing and her eyes drifted back to the television, even though her mind was elsewhere.