Summary: Buffy is a rich princess type, brought up by millionaire parents who care more for their reputations than for her. She meets Spike, an artist who's happy to work different jobs just to make a few bucks here and there. Of course, Buffy's parents don't exactly approve of their daughter's budding romance...How far will they go to stop them being together? And how far are Buffy and Spike prepared to go to do just that?
Walking out into her dining room a few hours later, freshly showered and dressed, Buffy stopped dead in her tracks.
“Riley?”
***
“Ah, Buffy. Good. We’re all here now so we can sit down to eat.” Hank Summers clearly didn’t hear the panic in Buffy’s voice as she said his name, or if he did he ignored it.
“Buffy, you remember Patrick Finn? And this is his lovely wife Dianne.” He gestured at the woman dripping in gold sitting opposite Joyce. Buffy realized with a silent groan that she had been placed next to Riley. She should have known the Finn family would be over sooner or later. It always went like this when Hank was looking to strengthen his business dealings with a new partner.
Over the course of the meal, a lengthy affair involving an entrée, main course and dessert, Buffy tried to remain as silent as possible. Hank and Patrick did most of the talking, with Dianne and Joyce chirping in their opinions every so often. For once in her life Buffy was grateful that the dinner table was so large, leaving a big enough space between her seat and Riley’s to remain out of physical contact. She knew exactly what he was trying to do with his innocuous little comments and questions about school related topics, but feared quite rightly that both sets of parents would fall for his act that the two of them truly were friends. She prayed that the Finns would be leaving straight after dinner. Apparently her prayers weren’t being answered tonight.
Hank’s gruff voice let her fears loose. “Patrick and I are going into the study to discuss some business. Joyce, maybe you can take Dianne in to see the new renovations?”
“Of course darling. Oh Dianne, you really must see what we’ve done. So modern! And terribly well designed. I had a hand in it, you see. Buffy, would you mind entertaining Riley for a while?” Joyce glanced at her daughter.
“Yes Buffy, perhaps you can take Riley for a walk. Show him around, I’m not sure he’s seen the full grounds before.” Hank ignored Buffy’s large pleading eyes.
“No I haven’t Mr. Summers. Buffy, I’d love for you to show me.” His smarmy smile became cold as he turned away from the adults towards her.
“Maybe we should go with mom and Mrs. Finn to see the new renovations? They really are…something.”
“No darling, Dianne and I have things to discuss which aren’t for childrens’ ears! Go on, show Riley the pool house. Its lit up at night. Just fabulous.” By this time Hank and Patrick had already left and the two women followed their lead, chatting about who had recently been under the surgeon’s knife.
Buffy turned to Riley. There had to be a way out of this. It was her own house. He couldn’t do anything, right?
“So, Riley…are you sure you really want to see the pool house? Not much to see there, just a little house thing. Next to the pool. Seen one, seen ’em all I always say.” She trailed off with a nervous laugh.
“Your dad said we should go for a walk. So let’s walk.” How the hell did he always manage to sound so menacing? Especially when he looked like such a ‘poofter’ – Spike’s term, not hers.
“Okay…” She led him out of the room, heading towards the kitchen where she knew there’d at least be one person working. No matter what her parents said there was no way she was taking him outside in the dark to the pool house. They reached the kitchen within seconds and he looked around in confusion, while Buffy let out a relieved breath that one of the chefs was still cleaning up.
“What are we going here?”
“I’m still a bit hungry. Aren’t you hungry?”
“We just ate a three course meal. Of course I’m not hungry.”
“Oh, well just let me grab a snack and then I’ll show you round.” Did he think she was stupid? Of course she wasn’t going to take him traipsing round a large empty house after what he did only nights ago. Unfortunately, he was right about the meal. Buffy was absolutely stuffed but if a bit of indigestion was the worst thing that came out of tonight then she’d count herself lucky. She went to the large silver fridge and grabbed a yoghurt tub out.
“You sure you don’t want anything?” She asked innocently. And maybe he could choke on it.
“No. Hurry up. I want to see your house.” He glanced back towards the man wiping down a bench.
Buffy drew her yoghurt out as much as possible. How long could their moms talk for? Ages probably but it was already fairly late and it was a Sunday night after all. Scraping the last of it out and meticulously washing her spoon, she turned towards Riley.
“Okay, we can go now.” God, she really wanted to tell him to take a hike. But she knew if her dad found out that she had done anything to upset Patrick Finn’s son she’d never be allowed out of the house again. And that meant no Spike. Riley followed Buffy out of the kitchen and into a deserted hallway. Seeing no one around, he grabbed her shoulder and pushed her up against the wall, trying to kiss her. But Buffy was prepared for this – she hadn’t just sat around eating yoghurt for fifteen minutes and diddling her thumbs. She didn’t even try to struggle.
“Riley. Riley!” He noticed she was fairly calm and not trying to shove him away. Lifting his eyes to hers but keeping a firm hold on her arms he answered, “Yeah?”
“We’re in a hallway. Against the wall.”
“Yeah?”
Taking a deep breath and building up the courage not to vomit, she raised a hand as much as she could under his hold on her and trailed a finger down his chest.
“Don’t you want to go somewhere more comfortable, like say, a bedroom? I have a huge bed.” Buffy tried to smile invitingly, hoping her desire to stake him in the heart wasn’t shining through.
Apparently it wasn’t. His goofy grin expanded. “Really? Finally come to your senses, huh? You know, it makes sense, you and me.”
“Sure it does. So let’s go, okay? Follow me.”
He nodded and released her. She just prayed they’d spent enough time in the kitchen. To make sure, she led him through several corridors, hoping he didn’t realize they were pretty much walking in circles. Luckily he was staring at her ass too much to care. Buffy eventually wound back to where she knew their mothers were and walked into the large entertainment room that had recently been renovated.
“Riley! Good, I was just about to come and find you. We really should head off, you’ve got school tomorrow, hmmm?”
He looked incredibly disappointed, and started to scowl. “Yeah. Sure thing mom.”
Joyce stood up from the couch. “I’ll take you through to Hank’s study so we can collect your husband Dianne.”
Riley stepped up to Buffy angrily as they followed the two women. He whispered harshly in her ear, “What was this Buffy? Another game?”
Buffy tried to wipe the incredulous look off her face before turning to him. Now was not the time to make him angry. She flashed him an apologetic look. “I’m sorry Riley, I didn’t think they’d be in here. My room is just a little way through there.”
He looked mollified. “Oh. Okay. Not your fault then. But maybe nex…”
“Oh, we better catch up to them! Such a big house this one. And its so late, I’m just so tired! Got an exciting day of school tomorrow! Actually, look, they’re just through that door. I need to run off to… get my beauty sleep! Haven’t been getting much lately! Everyone needs sleep… ah, yeah… see you!” Buffy literally jogged off before he could say anything, hoping her babbling had at least confused his pea sized brain for five minutes. She made it back to her bedroom and locked the door firmly. How did her perfect day turn into the night from hell? God she couldn’t wait to see Spike.
***
Buffy walked into the school library the next day at lunchtime. She hadn’t had any classes with Riley so far and was seriously trying to keep up her stay-out-of-his-way campaign. Unfortunately that involved staying out of the lunchroom. She spotted Giles pacing around his office and walked over, knocking on the door.
“Hi Giles! I was hoping…Spike!” The bleached blonde was sitting on Giles’ chair, legs stretched out languidly. He jumped up with a smile on his face when he saw her.
“Hey luv, was hopin’ ’d run into you here. How’s your day been?”
“Not too good, but its definitely looking up!”
Giles coughed and rubbed his glasses with a handkerchief. “Erm, if you two don’t mind, I do have a bit of work to do in here. Please feel free to use the whole rest of the library.”
Spike nodded and grabbed her hand, walking out and closing the office door behind them.
“I say we listen to ’im pet. We got the whole library. Look at all those stacks, huh? Those big, empty stacks.” His eyebrows waggled as he smirked.
“You big perv!” She glanced up at them. “Okay, lets go.”
They jogged up to the furthest bookshelf and ducked behind it, Spike immediately pulling Buffy into his arms and kissing her passionately while she grabbed hold of his shirt.
“God luv, missed you so much,” he groaned. “Only saw you yesterday.”
“Mmmm. I missed you too.”
“How’d your dinner go last night?” Buffy tensed in his arms and squeaked out, “Good! It went good. Never better. Good food.”
He pulled back and regarded her quizzically. “What is it pet? What happened?”
“Happened? Nothing happened. At all. We ate food. It was a dinner. That’s what you do.” She tried to kiss him again but he pushed her away gently.
“Uh, uh, uh. Not distractin’ me like that. Tell me really what happened or ’ll have to find out some other way.”
“Well, uh, the people that they had over to dinner were the, ah, Finns.”
“As in that ponce who tried to maul you?”
“Yes.” Buffy yelped as he slammed a fist into the bookshelf, probably doing more harm to himself than to it.
“What happened? Anything? Did the poofter try anything? I swear to God I’ll…”
“Spike!” Buffy was getting angry. “Listen to me. Nothing happened. But even if it did, its not up to you to do anything. I already told you that first night that there’s nothing that can be done. You’ve been here long enough now to understand how this place works. So please don’t do anything stupid. I’m handling it.”
“Oh, you’re ‘handling’ it!? Just like you were handling it when he was attacking you in an alley? What if he tries something when I’m not there, huh? Are you going to handle it then?”
She decided it was best to leave out the fact that he had tried something. “Spike, listen. I hate this just as much as you, actually, I hate it more. But I understand better than you. There really is nothing that can be done, nobody that can be told who can help. I’ll just stay smart. Not get into any more situations like I did before. I just really need you on my side though. I’ll feel a lot safer with you supporting me – I hate it when you’re angry like this.”
“ ’m sorry luv. I’m not angry at you. I’m angry at the idiot who thinks he can take what he wants because of who his da’ is and I’m angry at your father who doesn’t care enough about his own daughter. But I am here for you Buffy, I am. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to, I swear.”
She smiled, leaning up to brush a soft kiss across his mouth.