Chapter
3.02
Saturday, May 18th, 2002
Spike pressed the keypad sequence that would
open up the lock on the apartment block's main door and then held
the door open for the others to precede him. A firm but gentle
hand at Wes's back prevented him from hesitating as he reached
the threshold. "Just give in and enjoy the ride," the vampire whispered
at the watcher's ear making the other man startle slightly.
Spike scanned the room for familiar faces and
had almost given up when he recognised the small woman with the
bob. Even then, with her newly cropped hair, it was the black,
vintage fifties dress with its fitted bodice and flared skirt
and the impossibly high stilettos that gave her away.
"Hoi, Titch. Where are the people in charge of
this here shindig, then?"
Bee turned at the voice, a smile on her face.
"Less of the titch, Short Ass. And Marie went upstairs to get
changed twenty minutes ago, but apparently Rosa waited till the
first guests arrived to spill juice all down herself. Lily's out
in the yard."
"There's something different, but I can't quite
place it," the vampire teased as he pulled her into a hug before
looking down. "Nope, got it. You're wearing a wonder bra. Very
Jessica Rabbit, pet."
Bee gave him a gentle slap on the arm. "You don't
have to broadcast it, Bitch. And engaged men aren't meant to go
looking at other women's cleavages."
"Hey, if it's on display men are goin' to look.
There's something else, though. Got it. I know you said the paintings
weren't shiftin', love, but selling your hair went out back in
my day." He gave her a big grin. "You look gorgeous, pet. Fancy
meetin' the future missus?"
"That depends. Is she just incredibly brave and
forbearing or is she certifiable?"
"Come judge for yourself, and you can meet the
rest of her crew."
"Wow! Her crew? That almost sounds like
humility coming from a vampire. If it meant anything I'd be checking
your temperature. So, where do you fit in with this crew?"
"Wherever she wants me," Spike admitted.
"Okay, this is a woman I have to meet."
Spike held out his arm in an old-fashioned courtly
gesture, lending his support as Bee teetered across the room to
where the group were still hovering.
"Buffy, meet the Cat Lady, otherwise known as
Bee to her friends. Bee, this is my fiancée, Buffy, her sister,
Dawn, her boyfriend, Brandon, Tara, who's one of the family
in all but blood, and their new neighbour, Wes, the guest of honour
at this here event."
Buffy was caught off-guard by the name and found
herself becoming defensive for no good reason. "B as in the letter
B?"
"Bee as in bumble, flitting from one thing to
the next and always busy. Actually, Marie says it's short for
Beelzebub, but my parents named me Bianca."
"Sorry, it's just someone used to call me B...
Bad memories."
"Well, Lily and the drinks are all out in the
yard. Food's in here." Her gaze travelled to Wes as she continued.
"And Marie and Rosa will be down in a few minutes." She took Wes's
hand and shook it politely. "I'm sure we'll be seeing more of
you 'round here."
As she returned to the group she had been chatting
with before Spike's arrival, Dawn berated her sister. "Way to
go, Buffy, so every time Spike introduces one of his friends,
are you going to act like a total bitch, or is it just if they're
prettier than you?"
"It's— I didn't mean— I just."
Spike slid his arm around his fiancée's shoulders.
"Just the shock of meeting an adult who's actually
shorter than you... I know." Buffy's expression changed to one of
exasperation as he teased her. "Don't worry, you'll get to chatting
later an' it'll be fine. Bee's not the type to hold grudges. Just
so long as you don't say anything nasty about her cat, you'll
be okay. In fact, tell her that her cat's gorgeous an' she'll
be your friend for life. Come on, let's go pass over the booze
to Lily an' get the mutt away from anywhere with carpets and then
we can start to enjoy ourselves an' Wes can network."
"I don't get to enjoy myself?" Wes asked.
"Well, I'm guessin' that Marie's boss is here
so that you can meet him. Whether you can make it fun is up to
you."
Before the group had even all made it out into
the yard, Lily came bustling toward them. For once, she almost
ignored Spike, uttering no more than a brief greeting and an indication
of where the drinks and the food were and issuing instructions
for them to help themselves. Her attention was almost fully focused
on Tara. She drew the girl into a motherly hug and then towed
her off to a bench in the corner of the yard, shooing away the
young couple who had been sitting there as if they were unwelcome
pigeons, so that she could chat to Tara in privacy.
Looking round the yard, Dawn picked a spot where
Rogue could have some freedom to move on her lead, but not enough
to let her near any of the drinks or anywhere else where she could
cause too much mayhem. Then, she tied off her lead to one of the
many hooks along the high wall that supported hanging baskets
after testing it to make sure it was strong enough to hold the
large puppy in check. Kneeling to fuss over the dog, she turned
to Brandon. "Mine's anything they have in diet, and food would
be good too." She gave him an appealing smile and looked across
at Rogue, as if to say she couldn't leave the pooch.
On the wall above them, Rupert the Siamese commando-crawled until he was looking down on this strange new beast in
his territory and gave a warning hiss that went totally unheard
amidst the music that was playing, before settling in to keep
a close eye on the four-legged competition.
"So, did I come across as a total bitch?" Buffy
asked apologetically, her head tilted down slightly so that Spike
got the full benefit of the through the lashes stare.
The vampire's fingers drifted across her jaw
in a soft caress that somehow seemed warm rather than cool. "Just
a tad on the defensive side."
"I'm sorry. She's your friend. I should go and
apologise."
Spike dropped the bottles that they had picked
up at a liquor store en route into the cooler alongside the beers
and poured two glasses of margarita, passing one to Buffy.
"Relax, Buffy. It's a party. You can chat when
you meet up again. An' I've met the bird about twice when she's
been visitin' Marie an' I've popped in. I'd rate that at more
of an acquaintance. You've pretty much already met everyone I'd
call friend. Speakin' of which, I'd have thought Clem would have
shown 'is ugly mug by now."
"I'm guessing where there's a buffet he'll show
up sooner rather than later." Buffy gave him a half-teasing smile.
She slipped her free hand around his waist. "Now, I need you to
escort me to somewhere where my stilettos aren't going to disappear
into the lawn."
"As you wish, love."
"I'll get it!" Rosa dashed downstairs ahead of
her mother as the intercom sounded.
"Check who it is first, Baby. Remember."
"Uh-huh."
Marie followed more slowly, half expecting Lily
to tell her to go get more dressed up when she did get downstairs.
The old demon was in for a fight though. Marie reckoned Wes had
seen her in her office clothes, with all the formality that entailed.
She wasn't going to pretend to be something she
wasn't. When she had the choice she was a jeans and t-shirt kind
of girl. So... the jeans might sit low on her hips and hug her figure
to the knee like a second skin before flaring out to go over her
Cuban heeled boots and the T-shirt might be one that she'd bought
because Rosa had liked it and then she'd never worn it because
it showed a couple of inches of trim golden stomach, reminding
her of the skimpy tops she'd worn when she waitressed her way
through college, but that was as much as she was prepared to concede.
"Mommy, it's an old man. He talks like Unker
Will and the new man that's Auntie Buffy's friend."
"Hold on, baby. I'll be there in a second." Marie
made her way down to the front door, just in time to hear Anya's
impatient voice.
"Rosa, honey, it's Anyanka. The strange man is
with us. It's okay. You can let us in."
"Go on, honey. You can open it."
"Hi, sorry to keep you waiting," Marie told her
guests as she joined her daughter. "It's just we spend too much
time telling her not to open the door for strangers to start making
exceptions. I'm Marie and this is my daughter Rosa."
"Giles, Rupert Giles, but everyone just calls
me Giles."
"Or G-man," Xander added. "That's a favourite
of mine. Xander Harris, I think we saw you at Buffy's engagement
party, but we didn't actually get to speak."
"That was because you spent half the night with
your foot in your mouth, Sweetie, and the other half falling on
your butt when you tried to catch up and apologise," his wife
pointed out.
"Rosa, why don't you take everyone's coats and
put them on the bed in your grandma's room, while I show them
through to the yard?" Marie prompted, leading the group towards
the door off the stairwell. "I'm guessing this is the new husband?"
she asked Anya.
The former demon nodded. "Yes, but I'm afraid
he's not very well trained, yet, so I'll just apologise to everyone
in advance as we go 'round before he insults them."
"And you must be the friend of Wes and Buffy
who's just arrived from England?"
"Yes, that's right," Giles told her.
"Well, I can see Dawn and her boyfriend, and
it looks like Lily has got hold of... I think it's Tara. The others
must be inside. Anyway, drinks and loud music out here, but if
you go through that door there, it'll take you into the kitchen
and the other side of the kitchen is the living room with the
food and without the loud music."
Rosa came running out the kitchen door as Marie
explained the layout to her guests. "Mommy, Uncle Clem's back
with the extra ice but he doesn't know where to put it."
"Okay, honey, I'll come sort it out. Excuse me.
Just help yourself."
"Gi-iles!" The watcher looked up to see Dawn
beckoning him. "Come meet my boyfriend and my new dog."
'Oh, no-o-o-o,' he thought sarcastically.
'I'm not going to go to a party and chaperone Buffy's friends.
This time I get to hang out with her younger sister and her
boyfriend, instead.'
"Well, I thought by six it would be safe to head
back and get first dibs on the chilli," Clem explained, as he
shifted a large sack of ice cubes from shoulder to shoulder to
prevent freezer burn. "But I guess I was wrong."
"They were waitin' for you?" Spike asked, before
taking the sack from the demon and resting it on his own shoulder.
"Mom had taped a list of chores to the door of
my apartment... with duct tape, just in case I thought about saying
it fell off."
Spike couldn't help but smirk and Buffy had to
cover her mouth with her hand.
"This is the last one, though, so now I guess
I get to get some food." Clem looked longingly at the buffet table
which was already surrounded by people, human and demon alike.
"Go help yourself while there's still some left.
I'll take this through to the kitchen or wherever."
"Kitchen. Chest freezer. Good vamp." Marie gave
him a peck on the cheek, as she arrived to point him in the right
direction.
As he made his way to deposit the bag of ice
it wasn't hard for either of the women to hear him muttering,
"How often do I have to tell these bints that I'm bad?"
Xander looked over at the buffet table. There
seemed to be humans eating whatever it was that was available.
That didn't mean that he wanted to eat it, though. I mean, look
at the slime dripping off that guy, oops, gal. So it looked like
she'd been using the tongs and spoons and stuff but who knew what
else from whatever else could have dripped its way onto the plates?
His stomach vetoed his objections by grumbling loudly. It turned
out that Anya hadn't thought much of his KFC suggestion. Maybe,
if he checked the kitchen cupboards, he could bogart a packet
of Graham crackers or some unopened chips or something before
they were put out on the table.
Rogue bounced up and down, her paws scrabbling
against the wall's brickwork as she tried to reach the source
of that interesting scent. Rupert watched from his perch atop
the wall, content in his superiority. If the canine hadn't worked
out by the fifth try that she couldn't reach and that she was
irritating her humans, then she was never going to.
"Rogue, will you behave? You can't reach no matter
how hard you try or how loud you bark." Dawn admonished. "And
good dogs don't chase kitties."
Giles sighed. "I really don't think trying to
sit down and explain things to an over-excited cur is going to
work, somehow," he pointed out to the teenager. "Maybe you should
smack it on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper or something."
"Wow, Giles, look what I have in my pocket. Gee,
no, I thought it was a newspaper but turns out it's a dime."
"There's no need to be facetious. I was merely
trying to help."
Spike slid out the kitchen door unnoticed as
he watched Bee making her way over. A huge smirk settled on his
face as he waited for the inevitable.
"Rupie-Bear?"
"What?" Giles turned to stare at the woman as
if she were demented. "Do I know you?"
Bee continued to make her way toward the group,
somewhat hampered by trying to walk on her tip-toes so that her
heels didn't sink into the grass. "Rupert, Baby, come to Mommy."
"I'll have you know that I'm not in the habit
of answering to Rupie-Bear, or calling anyone half my age Mommy,
even if it weren't such a blatant Americanism!" Giles blustered,
by now quite upset at the offence to his dignity.
"And why should you?" she asked, catching the
cat as he leapt into her arms and draped himself so that he could
watch over her shoulder, whilst getting the maximum fuss made
over him. "You need to calm down a little." She turned to the
former watcher. "I recommend one of the brownies in the top kitchen
cupboard. Come on Rupie, Baby, we'll take you away from the nasty
doggy. Did it frighten you?"
As she walked away Giles could have sworn that
the beast with the sky-blue eyes was smirking at him just as much
as the vampire who had materialised from nowhere, a wreath of
smoke around his head.
"Glad you could make it, Rupie-Bear."
Anya came over from where she had been discussing
the possibility of a volume discount on bile with a regurgitating
demon. "I guess maybe someone should have mentioned what Bee's
cat's called. Apparently she read some newspaper article on Rupert
Murdoch just after she bought him."
"So not only do I share my name with a cat, but
with a cat named after an obese, uncouth Australian. Is that what
you're saying?"
"That pretty much sums it up from where I'm standing."
Spike smirked again.
Giles put down the can of beer he'd been drinking
from. "I don't suppose there are any spirits round here?"
Spike leant against the wall to finish his cigarette
before he returned to the main room, letting the wall take the
strain after what seemed like an incredibly long day.
"He's never going to accept that he's a white-hat
now, is he?" Buffy smiled at Marie.
"All it took was the right woman," Marie offered.
"Women," Buffy corrected. "Maybe I'm the
one he's marrying but there are a lot more who help him be who
he is. He does it for all of us. I mean who could let down a little
cutie like this one? Do I get a hug?" she asked as she swept Rosa
into her arms, taking care not to overdo the slayer strength.
"Mommy, the Cat Lady had to get Rupert down off
the wall 'cause Auntie Dawnie's puppy was barking at him and the
old man thought she was calling him Rupie-Bear and he got all
proper."
Buffy flinched on Giles' behalf, hearing him
described as the old man, but then she realised that if she hadn't
watched the grey creep into his hairline, and the pounds gradually
accumulate around his waist that she might think that way about
him herself.
Moving back to England
and Olivia really was his last chance at having a family of his
own. She'd wanted to think that she was his family, but she knew
it wasn't the same. Somehow, it seemed right that there should
be a whole new generation of rebel watchers, to polish their glasses
and tut disapprovingly at a whole new generation of slayers. Buffy
began to take the first few vital steps towards forgiving her
former watcher for leaving her... not quite alone.
|
