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Chapter 7: Dusty's Buffy stormed into the locker room and once seeing Nikki, tried to calm herself. Nikki turned to look at her. “Are you okay? I saw the group coming to your place and I can tell it wasn’t a happy meeting”, she asked and looked at Buffy with compassion. Buffy took a deep breathe, trying to pull herself together, she was feeling angry, hurt and regretting some things she said. “I’m okay. You remember I left to start a new life. Well, they were in the old one. They hurt me, emotionally and they feel like they are the victim. They just want me to return back there and continue like nothing happened”, Buffy sighed and leaned into her locker with her forehead. Nikki put her hand on her shoulder and asked with a soft understanding voice: “But what do you want?” “What I want, I can’t have”, Buffy said with a sad barely there voice. What she wanted was Angel and he was the only thing she could never have. “Let me guess, Mr Hunky”, she said grinning widely. Buffy smiled and slapped her playfully in the arm. “Would you please stop calling him that?” “Not gonna happen. Come on, let’s get some drunks drunk”, Nikki answered and pulled Buffy with her to the bar.
“I can’t believe she did that to us”, Xander repeated again while walking down the street. “Could you please stop repeating that. We know already”, Anya said getting annoyed. Faith rolled her eyes and sped up her speed, she wanted to be as far from them as she could. “Could the ho of the year stop running”, Xander snapped and Faith stopped. Slowly she turned to look at Xander giving him a murderous glare. “You didn’t seem to mind it a year and a half back”, she said to him and seeing Anya’s very unhappy face, she continued walking. “What did she mean by that?!” Anya screamed at Xander who looked like he was having a heart attack. “Nothing, sweetheart. She’s just trying to mess things up”, he covered. Anya didn’t seem to believe him but she let it slide, for now. The gang continued walking till they saw where Angel and Faith had stopped, in front of a door that said Dusty’s. “What place is this?” Willow asked innocently grabbing Tara’s hand for support. “I would presume this is a pub”, Giles said and after seeing the Scooby gang look at him oddly, he corrected: “A bar.” He couldn’t help but roll his eyes and think ‘Americans’. They stepped in side and found a table. Buffy had known they were coming before they stepped through the door, it was because she could feel Angel’s presence and knew that the others would follow him. One of the other waiters walked to the table and asked what they would like to order. “We want Anne”, Xander said, he was too annoyed to be polite. The waitress looked insulted. “Please, don’t take this the wrong way, but we would like to talk to Anne”, Angel said with a soft voice that seemed to comfort the woman's hurt feelings. “I’ll ask her”, the waitress smiled at Angel but glared at Xander before leaving. “Some group wants to talk to you”, the waitress told Buffy and went to other table. Buffy glanced at her friends and with a sigh went to them. “What?” she asked but immediately felt guilty for her bluntness. “Buffy, we just want to talk to you”, Willow said and looked pleadingly at her. Buffy nodded and waited for someone to say something. It was obvious that they didn’t feel in place, only Angel and Faith looked like they didn’t have to check behind them every minute. Giles looked around himself, he certainly was not pleased. “I can’t believe you would work at a establishment like this”, he said frowning. “Yeah, Buff! You’re working in a filthy bar. It’s something that Faith would do, not you”, Xander piped up. “You worked in Bronze”, Buffy reminded him, Dusty’s wasn’t filthy and it was a okay place to work. “That’s different”, Xander defended immediately. Faith snorted and said sarcastically: “Sure it is.” Giles didn’t want another fight so he shook his head and said: “It’s not that this is a pub. It’s just not up to your potential.” Buffy crossed her arms on her chest and looked at her friends sharply. “And what is up to my potential? Doublemeat Palace?” It took a little too long for Giles to answer an ‘of course not’ to sound sincere. Buffy was about to say something but stopped herself when there was a familiar voice. “OY! What does man have to do to get a drink around here!?” Spike yelled and everyone turned to look the vampire that had been standing in the shadows without them knowing. “You’re not a man Spike. And what are you doing here?” Buffy shot in return. “Oh great, it’s the Dead boy Jr”, Xander quipped and Spike just glared at him. “Looking for you blondie. I didn’t know it was a reunion in full motion here. This is more entertaining than Passions. Well, almost”, he said and then glanced at Angel. “And I see an old friend here too.” Angel looked at him clearly not happy of him being there and said with a low voice: “We are not friends, Spike.” Spike just smirked, he loved when Angel got mad because of him, especially now that he wasn’t Angelus he could get away with it. “When did you get here?” asked Faith, she had been wondering where Spike was, he was the one that was supposed to find Buffy and get her body back. “Some time ago. Something just pulled me here. Well, what can I say, I love New York. It has a lot of happy memories for me”, he said and Buffy knew all too well what he meant by the happy memories. Spike just smiled at her. “You are one tough chick to find”, he said to Buffy and tried to put his hand around her shoulder but was stopped by Buffy slapping his hand and Angel growling from the table. ‘Possessive bastard’ Spike thought to himself. Buffy sighed and looked at her friends. “I know we have to talk, but I have to work. So we’ll talk tomorrow”, she said but got a lot of disgruntled sounds from the table. “I am serious. We’ll talk tomorrow, I can’t right now”, she said, gave them a look that said she was serious and left. “Again with the walking away!” Xander yelled and Buffy heard him but didn’t stop.
Angel had been in her thoughts all night. He looked at Buffy working and he didn’t even see the fact that she was in Faith’s body. Every time some drunk tried to make a pass at her or cup a feel, he was ready to jump up and rip that hand off his body but he suppressed that urge. He also couldn’t get his mind off what Buffy had said when they arrived. Liam. Who was Liam? Did she have a boyfriend? He could suppress the urge to beat up a guy that was making moves on Buffy but he couldn’t get over the growing jealousy because of some Liam guy. Angel had had enough, he couldn’t take it anymore. He got up from the table and went to Buffy. He grabbed her by both arms and turned her around to face him. The closeness of her was making him feel breathless, and he didn’t know that Buffy felt the same way. Only unlike him, she needed to breathe. “Buffy”, he whispered but was stopped by a big hulk of man towering over him. “Is this man bothering you, Anne?” he asked with a deep voice that caused fear in most men's heart, but not in Angel’s, even though the man made Angel look like a feather compared to him. Buffy smiled at Mac and said reassuringly: “It’s okay.” “Are you sure, Anne?” Mac asked and Buffy nodded. Reluctantly Mac left glaring at Angel. Angel was glaring right back at him and he turned to look at Buffy feeling the jealousy in a whole new level. “Is he Liam?” he asked her and she looked at him in confusion for a split second till it all clicked. He was jealous, she couldn’t believe it. “No, he’s not”, she answered and seeing the small relief on his face, she decided to torture him a little. ”Liam's this sweet guy I know. He even proposed to me”, she said playing innocent and smiling inside when she saw his face darken. “But I had to say no, his mother would never approve”, she said letting out a hint of playfulness in her voice but Angel didn’t notice it, he was too jealous. Seeing his face she decided to give him a break. “Angel. You can stop being a cave man. Liam is eight years old”, she said and Angel just looked at her dumbly. Buffy giggled, he was just so cute. She took his hand in hers and looked at him right into the eyes. “Angel, Liam is a eight year old boy. I work in a daycare center during the day”, she said to him like she was talking to a five year old. Relief flooded through him. “I didn’t know you like kids”, he said with a small voice. Buffy smiled. “I didn’t know either.”
Angel walked Buffy home after her shift was over. They were standing in her door, not knowing what to do and not wanting to let the other go. “It will be light in few hours”, Buffy said feeling a little nervous. “Maybe I should go”, Angel suggested but didn’t make a move to leave. “Or maybe you could stay here?” Angel looked at her oddly and she covered: “I mean, spend the night. No, not the way it was supposed to come out. I mean, stay with me, we could talk and you could crash on the couch.” She looked at him hopefully and after a long fight with himself, he nodded. “Okay”, was all he said and Buffy gave him a nervous little smile. They went inside without noticing Nikki standing in the hallway with a wide grin on her face.
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