Next Chapter
|
Chapter 10: Confrontations Buffy called the scooby gang to gather at the mansion while Angel cooked her a large meal. She hung up the phone and placed it on the table. “Giles will pick up the others on the way here”, she told him and with a nod, he placed a full plate in front of her. She turned to look at him with a frown. “There is no way I can eat all that”, she stated. “Yes, you can. You haven't eaten anything in 24 hours”, he insisted. “I had couple of sandwiches while you were poisoned”, she defended herself with a pout but Angel just gave her a pointed look that it wasn't enough. “Fine. But you have to eat too, you're still weak”, she said even though he was far from weak, he had just fed from a Slayer and he could still feel the power rushing through him. But not wanting to get into an argument, he took a glass from the cabinet and heated some blood before sitting next to her. “Happy?” he questioned and she flashed him a quick smile. “Ecstatic”, she answered before digging into the food in front of her. Angel was still self-conscious while drinking in front of her but she didn't seem to care, she never really had. He drank down the blood, rinsed it with water and turned to watch as Buffy ate. “What? Is there something hanging from my chin?” Buffy asked raising her eyebrow as she noticed him staring. He shook his head with a smile. “No. You're perfect”, he answered sincerely, trying not to think about how corny it sounded. She blushed and looked away, she still wasn't used to compliments, not even coming from him. “You're just saying that because you're afraid of a hormonal slayer”, she said but he shook his head and sat next to her. “To me you are perfect. And I was so scared when he took you. I was so close to loosing control that I'm ashamed of myself. I don't know what I would do if something bad happened to you or the baby”, he said and Buffy could see how he was struggling inside. She cupped his cheek and looked straight into his eyes. “Nothing bad is going to happen. We're gonna deal with this like with everything else”, she assured him and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him, nearly lifting her to his lap. She buried her face to his neck and held on tightly, sniffing back the tears. She pulled back wiping the tears with the back of her hand. “I really hate these mood swings”, she sighed. Thankfully the moment was interrupted when Cordelia stormed in, not looking happy. “Your loser friends are here and if someone doesn't come out there, I just might punch that cheating fashion retard.” ”Cordy, please don't call them that”, Buffy sighed shaking her head but only received a incredulous look. “Why? They are”, she answered like it was obvious. “Well, we better face the music”, Buffy said and got up from the table. They made their way to the main room where the scooby gang was waiting with Wesley and Gunn. “Oh dear, what happened?” Giles asked as soon as he noticed the fading scars on her wrists. Buffy had told him very little of why they were coming but she had stated it was important. “Buffy”, Willow let out a painful sound as she too noticed them. “That's part of what I wanted to talk to you about”, she answered and signed for them to take a seat. Unconsciously she grabbed a hold of Angel's hand for support. She looked around her nervously. “Umm... you guys already know Cordy and Wesley. And this is Gunn”, Buffy said clearly stalling. “Gunn, these are Giles, Willow, Xander and Anya”, she introduced her friends. “So this is Gunn”, Xander stated saying his name pointedly and looked him up and down. “You gotta problem with that?” Gunn asked defensively not liking the scrutiny he was given. “Oh great, this is all we need”, Cordelia griped rolling her eyes. “Lay off, Gunn. It wouldn't be a fair fight, all Xander can do in a fight is scream like a woman”, she added. “Hey! I do not scream like a woman!” Xander defended himself jumping to his feet and pointing at Cordelia accusingly. “Oh please!” Cordelia sighed rolling her eyes. “Just for your information, I have developed very good fighting skills since we stopped dating.” Anya looked at the ex-couple with a frown and wrapped her hands around Xander's arm possessively. “You can't have him back”, she stated vehemently. “Oh please, like I'd ever want him back. I am dating a film director now”, Cordelia answered, throwing her long hair back. “And what kind of films would that be”, Xander taunted and it looked like Cordelia was ready to jump him and claw his eyes out. “Okay, back to your corners”, Buffy commanded stepping in the middle. “She started it”, Xander defended grudgingly. “Could you act any more like a five year old?” Cordelia shot from behind Buffy who turned to her with a pleading look. “Cordelia, please.” “Fine. I'll just ignore his existence. But if I hear any more of his comments, I will retaliate. And you know I can beat him in a fight”, Cordelia threatened and Buffy shot Xander a quieting look as she noticed he was ready to protest. “Children, please, I do believe Buffy invited us here for something other than discussing your former relationship”, Giles chided, he did realize they no longer were children but sometimes it was very difficult to remember. “That wasn't a relationship, it was temporary insanity”, Cordelia said with a huff and crossed her arms in front of herself while glaring at Xander. “Everyone shut up. Why I invited everyone here is because we have a major problem. I was kidnapped. By Riley”, Buffy said and got a chorus of What from the scooby gang. “What you mean kidnapped?” Xander asked. “What do you think?!” Cordelia sniped at him. “He's dangerous, he's delusional and unstable. I was chained up, hence the scars”, Buffy started, showing the fading scars on her wrists. “And when Angel came to save me, he shot him. The bullets had poison in them, the same one Faith used.” “So he bit you! Again!” Xander yelped and everyone shot him a angry glare. “Not the way you put it!” Buffy said angrily, she knew where this conversation could lead and she wasn't willing to go there. “Anyway, I want you guys to be careful, try to avoid being alone and stay on public places, somewhere you can't be snatched without notice. You need to be careful, he's unpredictable”, she warned. “Is there a requirement to be criminally insane to date you? Does every guy you give the big happy turn into a psycho?” Xander quipped but no one found it funny. “Xander!” Willow yelped surprised from the joke. Xander noticed that the others were looking at him like he had said something bad. “What? It was a joke”, he said innocently not understanding why everyone had turned against him. “It was a bad one, even I think it's crude”, Anya said from next to him. “Come on. Buffy, you know I didn't mean it in the bad way”, Xander said directing to Buffy who was once again hating her new unstable hormones, she quickly wiped the forming tears away and tried to compose herself. “Yeah, we know. And if it was anyone else saying those things, he'd be flying across the room from my right hook. But just because you're my friend doesn't give you the right to say hurtful things to me”, she said calmly and gave Angel a small smile as he took a hold of her hand and gave it a light squeeze. “Have you told your mother?” Giles asked, going back to the original topic to steer their attention away from Xander. “We're going to do that this evening, she's at the gallery till seven, so I doubt there's any danger. I just wanted you guys to know, just in case you might come across him. You better watch out for the Initiative guys too, they didn't look happy when I didn't let them have Angel”, Buffy answered and the others seemed satisfied with it.
After sundown Buffy and Angel made their way to the Summers house and immediately they both tensed as they felt someone near. “Spike”, Angel bit out as the blond walked into the light and just casually strolled towards the door. “What are you doing here?” Buffy asked with a sigh and crossed her arms over her belly. “Sweet Jesus! It is true then, you knocked up the Slayer! Man, you'd be my hero if I didn't hate you so bleeding much”, Spike said with a tinge of wonderment as his eyes fixated on her round stomach. “Spike!” Angel said commandingly but the younger vampire didn't seem to pay attention to him as his eyes were glued to Buffy. Soon he noticed where his grand-childes eyes were fixed and a jealous growl escaped his throat. “Eyes up, William”, he growled and finally got the blonds attention. “Were you checking out my boobs?!” Buffy asked accusingly after noticing the jealousy radiating from Angel. “Why do you sound so shocked, luv? I'm a guy ain't I and you've filled out nicely”, Spike defended himself and got another growl from Angel. “You're a pig, Spike”, Buffy said and self-consciously pulled her neckline up to cover more skin but Spike just smirked. “What are you doing here anyway?” she asked with a frown. “Met Joyce yesterday while buying some smokes, she invited me for some hot cocoa.” Spike looked at Angel smugly. “Must eat you up that her mother likes me more than you.” Angel took a menacing step towards Spike but Buffy stepped in between them and gave both stopping glares. “Enough with the macho act, we have more important things than debate who my mother likes best”, she said and Angel gave her a repentant look while Spike just smirked. Angel nodded as a sign he had cooled off and together they headed to the house ignoring Spike who followed them. As soon as they got to the porch, Buffy stopped dead on her tracks with fear seeping into her body, the door was slightly ajar. They stepped inside, everything looked normal except there was a old men's jacket draped over the stairs railing. Quickly Buffy looked into the living room that she found empty. “Spike, check the kitchen”, she ordered and for once Spike didn't question but headed to the kitchen while Buffy and Angel made their way upstairs. “Mrs. Summers, I really believe your daughters behavior is because she has lacked a male role model in her life. I don't believe in divorce, my parents have been married for 25 years and I believe me and Buffy will have just as happy marriage. You just didn't think enough about the consequences of your lack of effort in you marriage, Mrs. Summers, every married couple has a little tiff here and there but it's no reason to break up a family”, they could hear Riley's voice from the bedroom. With a grim look of determination, she stalked in to her mother's room with Angel following her. “I'm really considering breaking the Slayer-doesn't-kill-people-rule. I think I'll go with the excuse that rules are meant to be broken. And you went after my MOTHER!” Buffy said barely keeping her cool and restraining herself from leaping across the room and pummeling Riley through the wall. But the gun in his hand kept her from moving, it was pointed at her mother. “Buffy”, Riley said her name with a smile and then seemed to notice Angel and his face twisted in anger. “What is he doing here! That poison was supposed to kill him!” he bit out. “Well, obviously you missed the page where the antidote was mentioned.” “But only Slayers blood can cure it!” Buffy looked at him like he was stupid and even Angel had to keep himself from rolling his eyes. “He bit you!” Riley screamed, his voice breaking as he reached too high notes. “Give the boy a prize”, Spike said from the door smirking at the commando. “Hostile 17”, Riley bit out as he saw Spike. “Captain Cardboard”, Spike answered like in a B-movie, chuckling at the scene. Buffy noticed that her time had come, Riley was enough distracted that he had lowered his gun and Buffy used the opportunity to attack him. She punched him repeatedly, not giving him a chance to retaliate. She kicked him against the wall next to the window and kept hitting him, but he managed to get a grip from her shirt and loosing their balance, they crashed through the window. “Buffy!” Angel yelled as he saw them fall through the window and roll down the roof. He jumped through the window but they had already landed on the ground, thankfully Riley's body softening the blow. Riley grabbed a hold of her and threw her off of him, her head knocking against the tree. Angel let out a angry growl and jumped down the roof, not waisting any time as he attacked Riley. “You went after my mate and my child!” he growled in undisguised fury, his face in full demon form as he mercilessly hit him again and again. Angel didn't give Riley any chances to resist as his fist just kept on landing on his face. But then suddenly with a groan of pain, he stopped and spun around to look at the source of his pain. He growled in anger and was again shot with the electrical guns. He fell to the ground and the men pulled a badly bleeding Riley off the ground. Buffy had woken up just in time to see the men carry Riley's unconscious body and seeing the men surrounding Angel, she painfully got up to her feet. “If you don't back off, heads will roll”, she threatened with a deathly voice. “Miss Summers”, one of the men stated and continued after a dramatic pause. “We have no interest in the vampire. For now. All we wanted was agent Finn. He will be taken into a psychiatric evaluation and after that he will be rehabilitated to be a useful member of society once again.” “I don't care what you do with him but you better move away from my boyfriend right now”, Buffy ground out and went to Angel, kneeling beside him while glaring at the men. “Move out!” the commander ordered and soon the commandos had cleared from the yard. “You okay?” Buffy whispered the question and lifted his head into her lap. “I'm fine”, he answered suppressing the groan of pain that threatened to come. “You're a bad liar”, she said, fighting against the tears that were stinging in her eyes. “You could have helped him!” Buffy said accusingly and turned to look at Spike who was standing in the porch with a cigarette in hand, Joyce never let him smoke indoors. “And get captured by those poor Sylvester Stallone-clones. No way! Not for you or the poof, no matter how big your knockers have become, blondie”, Spike answered and threw the cigarette to the ground before going back in to check if Joyce would still make that coco.
|
