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Nobody's Hero by ginar369
 
Suspicion and Distrust (Ch 10)
 
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Buffy had thought things would be better here in Sunnydale. She had promised her mother that the ‘behavior’ that had got her expelled from Hemery would not happen in Sunnydale.

She was really starting to hate hanging out with Cordelia. She was so cruel and vicious to the other students, for no reason other than she thought they were all beneath her. The rest of the Cordettes just went along with her, adding their snide comments to Cordelia’s cutting ones. Buffy found herself being shunned from the group when she would stand up to Cordelia. To make matters worse, Cordy had been putting the moves on Angel. Okay it’s not like we’re dating or anything, but still! We were sitting together at the Bronze and Cordy just walked right over and asked him to dance! Angel had rebuffed her advances which had made Queen C turn on Buffy even more.

Plus this whole Angel and Spike situation was really starting to bug her. Angel kept pushing her to patrol. And Giles refused to talk about Spike with Buffy or Angel. To make matters worse, each night when she went to sleep she was barraged with dreams of the vampire. Over and over they looped like a movie stuck on repeat. Some of the dreams made her wake up panting, with a desire that she had never felt before.


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“Giles I need to talk to you about Spike.” Angel prodded the other man.

“Angel I have told you repeatedly that Spike is not your concern. Leave him be.” Giles was beginning to get tired of his constant harassing. It was no wonder that Spike had such resentment towards this man, the Great Forehead indeed.

“How can you trust him?” he continued unaware.

“I do not need to explain myself to you, nor to Buffy. She might have the attributes of a slayer but since she is not actively using those powers, others volunteered to take up the fight. Spike has done an exemplary job of keeping the hellmouth under control,” Giles stated with finality.

“I seriously doubt that. He’s planning something, I know it.”

“Who’s planning something?” Buffy asked as she entered the library.

“No one Buffy, Angel is being paranoid.” Giles sagged inwardly. This was beginning to be quite trying and he found himself longing for a scotch.

“Giles can I talk to you?” she asked him.

“If this is about Spike, then I’m sorry Buffy but I have said everything I plan to say on that subject.”

“No it’s not about Spike.” She was getting so tired of her so called Watcher constantly protecting the vampire. Aren’t vampires supposed to be evil? “Grrr” vampire and then with the staking, right? I just don’t get it, she thought, her brows knitting together.

“We can talk in my office.” Giles conceded, leading the girl into his office and closing the door.

 Buffy kept her voice low to prevent Angel from overhearing. “Giles, I’m still having those dreams. Is there a powers hotline or something you can call and tell them to leave me alone?” Buffy sat on the small couch in Giles’ office. “It’s the same guy and this time we were fighting. It looked like we were in a basement or something. There were a bunch of other kids there. I grabbed this girl and suddenly he let me and the rest of the kids go.” While Buffy had been talking, Giles was making a cup of tea on his hotplate.

“Buffy the dreams must mean something if you keep receiving them.”

“Yeah, the powers didn’t get my resignation yet.” Buffy quipped. “Oh! The other thing I wanted to talk to you about. Can you tell Angel to lay off the slayer stuff? I caught him trying to tell my mom about me being the slayer! He keeps pushing me to ‘Do my duty’” Buffy accented her words with air quotes.

Oh Dear Lord. “Ah, yes well Buffy you see….”

“Spit it out Giles. My life can’t get anymore sucktastic.”

“I thought it prudent, well you see you are the slayer, the demonic forces in Sunnydale knew of your arrival.”

“Giles? Do you plan on making sense anytime this year?” she sighed impatiently.

“Your mother and sister are aware of your calling.” Giles said in a rush.

“WHAT?” she yelled, jumping up from the couch.

At Buffy’s yell, Angel burst into the office, startling Giles so much that he spilled tea on his lap.

“Bloody hell!” He grabbed a tissue from his desk and started dabbing at his pants.

“Buffy are you okay?”

“What did you do?” Buffy seethed at the older man. Who did he think was? How dare Giles tell her mother? Well that would explain the weird looks mom has been giving me, she thought,plus the shopping trip with the credit card the other week.

“As I was saying, you are the slayer. Your arrival in town was a topic of importance on the demon grapevine within days of your arrival. I felt it prudent to inform your mother. While you may have retired, that wouldn’t stop the more nefarious demons from trying to use your mother or sister against you, or as pawns to get to you. They needed to know for their own protection.”

“Buffy, that’s great.” Angel smiled at the news. “Your mother knows what’s going on so you won’t get into trouble any more. That means you can start patrolling again. It’s your sacred calling. Skipped classes and fights are just part of it and now your mother understands that.”

 “No! I told you I’m done with all of that!” She yelled, turning her back on him. Tears were in her eyes as she looked pleadingly at Giles.

Giles laid a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Buffy, no one will force you to do anything you are uncomfortable with.” He shot an irritated glance at the vampire in his office before turning back to the upset girl standing next to him, “We are getting along just fine right now.”

“How’d she take it? ‘Cause last time? Not so good.” The look on her face tugged at Giles’ heart. Here was this young girl who had already lost so much because of her calling. She was just trying to make her life as normal as it could be while living on an active hellmouth.

“At first she didn’t believe us. But eventually she accepted the truth. I explained your situation and your desire for a normal life. I also gave her information for surviving outdoors at night.”

“Yeah well, I think you might have made a mistake there. She’s been going out twice a week with Dawn at night like it’s nothing.”

“Ah yes, their training classes with Spike.”

Now it was Angel’s turn to yell. “WHAT?” His face was incredulous.

“Yeah, gotta say a ten on the freaky meter there, Giles.”

“Well how else would you suggest I prove to your mother that vampires were real? Spike demonstrated for us. He offered to teach her and your sister self defense and I believe that is where they have been going at night.”

Angeland Buffy spoke over each other in their outrage. “You let that bloodsucker near my mom and sister?”

“That bastard is playing with them, he’s a soulless demon. He’s trying to earn their trust before he strikes.”

“Quiet!” Giles yelled, stepping between the two. “First of all, Angel I seem to recall your history was to play with your victims. Secondly Spike is here to help and he has done an admirable job of it.”

“Oh Rupert, you do care.”

Buffy started at the voice coming from the main room. She could swear it sounded like the voice from her dreams. But that couldn’t be right. While Buffy was musing on her dreams Angel launched himself at Spike.

Taking a quick step to the right, Spike avoided Angel’s fist. “Tsk tsk, now Peaches no, fightin’ in school; ‘s against the rules.”

“I’ll kill you. I should have put you down the moment Dru brought you home.” Angel charged again, only to be met by air as Spike spun out of the way.

“I’d like to see you try.”

Giles hurried out of his office. He trusted Spike not to start a brawl in the middle of the library but he wasn’t so sure about Angel. “Stop that this instant!” Spike immediately stepped to the side and relaxed up against the counter. Angel was fuming, fists clenched standing in front of the cage where Giles kept the more dangerous books of his collection. “This insanity stops right now.”

Taking a moment to collect himself, Giles polished his glasses then after replacing them on his nose and tucking his handkerchief away, rested his hands on his hips.He stared pointedly at the larger vampire. “I will say this one last time. Angel, Spike is not your concern. If you attempt to harm him in any way I can guarantee the Powers That Be would be upset with you. He is their champion and has been sent here with a specific purpose. Your continued harassment of Buffy to resume her duties is also unwelcome. You cannot force someone into an action you feel is correct. You know nothing of the situation here and your opinion is not only unwelcome but irrelevant. If Buffy ever decides to take up her duties it will be because she has made the decision of her own free will and not because she was bullied into it, especially not by a vampire trying to atone for his own crimes. You cannot achieve redemption vicariously through Buffy; that path will only lead to pain and ruin.”

Turning to the slayer standing in the office doorway, Giles spoke directly to Buffy. “You, Buffy. You are the reason Spike was sent here. The Powers know how you feel about your calling. They sent Spike here to relieve you of those duties. To dust Spike would be paramount to the destruction of a Warrior of the Light and in doing so would mean that you would be required to become actively involved in the duties of a slayer. You have made it perfectly clear you do not wish to take up said duties therefore I insist you leave Spike alone. As far as the Slayer dreams you have been having, I don’t think they are showing portents of evil as such.”

Giles walked over to the checkout counter and retrieved a small journal from a lower shelf. “From now on, might I suggest that when you have more of these dreams, please write them down. You can bring this to me as often as you feel necessary. If there is anything that I feel we need to take action on, I assure you that it will be dealt with.”

“Giles, you can’t…” Angel started to speak but was quickly cut off by an increasingly irate watcher.

“Angel do not presume to tell me what I can and cannot do or think. While I believe that your reasons for being here are not as altruistic as you would like us to believe, I cannot stop Buffy from spending time with you. However, if you attempt to injure or interfere with Spike and his mission, you will find yourself at the end of my stake. Do I make myself clear?”

The large vampire stormed off without answering.

“Are we gonna have a problem, slayer?” Spike spoke for the first time since the aborted fight with Angel.

“As long as I don’t see you doing something that I need to stake you for, we’re fine.” She said as she put her hands on her hips.

“You could try, Goldilocks.”

Buffy was about to give a cutting remark when she saw the look on Giles face. The poor man looked as though he had a headache to end all headaches.

Poor Giles, I’ll have to get snarky with the bleached wonder later. She smiled a little at her own joke.  Saying goodnight to Giles, she took the journal and left the school.

The librarian pinched the bridge of his nose at her departure. “Let me take something for this headache then we can talk.”

Buffy got as far as the front door before she realized that she had left her bag in her locker. Making a quick about face she hurried back into the school.
Sorry for the delay in posting everyone. All4Spike has agreed to become a beta for this story so I wanted to give her time to read everything I had before posting. Also RL reared it's ugly head in new and vicious ways this past month. This story will be finished though. I have approximately 15 chapters or so in reserve and I will be posting more regularly from now on.
 
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