I wasn't sure exactly why Cordelia called me, uber early on a Sunday morning. She talked for like a whole ten minutes before I managed to get a word in edgewise to tell her I would call back in about 20 minutes. There's nothing worse than having to listen to someone talk when you're barely awake. It's even worse if they ask you question and you need to come up with the appropriate answer.
During the phone call, the first one, all I remember hearing was
"Hi…yeah, ok whatever…Oz…before lunch."
You can see where the confusion would have come from, right?
So when I called back half an hour later and she told me Oz had taken an
early flight in to Sunnydale and was against telling anyone, so no one would
feel obligated to pick him, every word she said screamed the fact that I
should be at the airport. For once in her life, she didn't come out and said
it. I guess Doyle has taught her a little bit about being tactful, which
mostly I appreciate, truly, but if she had told me to pick Oz up at such a
time, I wouldn't have had to call back. And in that vain I wouldn’t have had
to drive my ass of to get to the airport to make it before Oz got there, saw
no one, and took a cab home.
As it stood, I kind of had to steal Spike's blacked out car. Not so much of a problem since by the time he wakes up, the car will be back in its place, him not even noticing it gone.
Ok, so yeah, I live with Spike now. Weirdness abound, I know, but it's convenient, and other than the times he forgets to throw his empty blood jugs away and leaves them lying everywhere, it's not so bad.
I mean other than the whole vampire/slayer thing we're pretty much the same. We both like fighting, witty comments, stupid comedies, hate sappy love stories(both of us because most of the time love sucks, and we've had to part from the love of our lives.) Obviously there's the whole he drinks blood thing, but then again I mainline mochas, which isn't that different.
Enough about Spike. People talk about him way too much anyway. Especially himself.
Oz. He's coming home. Don't ask me why that brings a little flippy feeling to my heartbeat ‘cause I don't know. That's not entirely true. I know why. I've missed him. I've missed his…being here. Can't really explain it. He unknowingly brought me a kind of piece when he was here that I didn't know was there until he left.
The joy I felt when he called the first time after he left was…Wow…it was so wonderful to talk to him. And what made it better, was that he called to talk to me. I probably should have felt bad about that since I knew for a fact that Willow hadn't heard from him, but I didn't feel bad. Willow had just gotten out her "He left me" phase and was finally getting on with her life, so it was probably good that I was there and she wasn't.
But he called to talk to me!!!!
Yeah, Buffy get over it.
And he kept calling. Not every day, or even every week, but occasionally when he had something to say, or share with someone.
Then one day he called to ask if I would mind if he stayed in LA and helped Angel & Co. He asked for my permission, I couldn't exactly say "No, you can only help ME, could I?" Not that I wasn't tempted, you understand, but…
The good thing about that was he had a phone number then. So if I wanted to talk to him I didn't have to anxiously wait for him to call me. I could reach him if I needed to.
Which I did. Like when Riley found out I had one of his subjects living in my mother's basement, that didn't go over to well as you can imagine, so I just called Oz up to talk to him, and discuss it with him. That was nice.
Or when I told Riley I couldn't give up a friend who was more or less harmless due to his experiments, and he said that if I did that, I'd just as soon be on the other side. Harsh? Oz understood.
It probably helped that Riley didn't have a very good opinion of werewolves either. I mean what about the other 25-28 days a month?
So, it was Bye-Bye Riley, which was ok with me really. Oz helped with that too.
I guess you could say he became my best friend in the time he was away, which probably wouldn't have happened if he had stayed, so I'm glad he left.
Ofcourse, I couldn't be any happier that he's back.
~~~
After hefting the last bag off the carousel and onto trolley, Buffy turned back to Oz.
"Is that all? You only have a 50 odd pounds there." She teased.
"There's some books for Giles." He explained, "But yeah that’s it. You have a car now?"
Giving him a sheepish grin, she joined him behind the trolley as they made their way towards the exit. " I borrowed a car." She stated simply.
"Uh huh."
"It was in the garage doing nothing, not being used for several hours." She
expanded guardedly.
"You took Spike's car without asking." Oz said, reading between the vague lines.
Rolling her eyes, she wavered. "Maybe, but he won't mind." As his doubtful glance, she amended the statement. "He won't mind as long as no one tells him."
With a curt nod, Oz pretended to zip his lips. "I won't tell."
"Great." Stopping at the curb leading to the parking lot, she surveyed the
area, and motioned towards where the car was. "That way. Where are you
staying?"
"I don't know. Could go to the parent's house, or Devon's…" he said
maneuvering between parked cars.
"Or you could stay with us…" Buffy suggested as she popped the trunk and began putting the bags in.
Arching a brow, he looked at her skeptically. "Spike wouldn't mind?"
"Like he has much say. He's asleep most of the day, and there's a spare
bedroom as long as you’re not too particular on the state of the mattress on
the bed."
"I've slept on the floor of a cave…" he reminded her.
"Right. So you'll stay with us?"
"I'd like that." He replied, smiling warmly.
~~~
"Home sweet home." Buffy grinned as they got out of the car.
"That was interesting. Not seeing where we were going. Is this a secret hideaway?" Oz joked.
"Maybe…A love hut." She nodded enthusiastically, then gave whoop of laughter. "Not quite." Motioning for him to follow, she stepped into the house to find a glaring Spike waiting for her.
"Slayer, what have we said about taking the car?" he asked, expectantly.
"What you don’t know won’t hurt you?" she replied innocently. Before he could get in another word, she continued. "Look, we have our first stay-in guest." Grabbing Oz’s arm, she pulled him in front of her, a huge grin on her face as Spike rolled his eyes.
"Hey." Oz said to blond vampire.
"Welcome back, mate."
"You can go back to sleep, Spike. The car is all safe and sound. Didn’t a thing. Except that pe…I’m kidding." She said quickly as Spike’s glare returned to her. "See for yourself." She added dryly.
"Don’t think I won’t, pet." He warned.
Shrugging, Buffy pulled Oz into the middle of the living room.
"Welcome to our humble abode." Her arms outstretched, she circled in her place. "There’s a bathroom around that corner, my bedroom and the guest room are upstairs, Spike has a room down past the bathroom. The kitchen is right where you can see, and there’s another bathroom upstairs, between the two rooms." She concluded.
"Did the council start paying once you went renegade?" Oz inquired.
Shaking her head, Buffy sighed. "Nope. When my mother found out Spike was back in town, she took him in. When it came time to sell the house, she felt so bad about kicking him out that she helped him find a place. Then when she realized paying for part of this place would be just about the same amount as she was paying for my single at the dorm, she suggested it. This way when she come home, she can visit with both of us easily. Plus, she says she feels safer having me living with a man."
"That’s probably because she knows I’m the only one who can put you
back in your place when you acting like a bitch." Spike commented
coming back in from the garage. "You owe me gas, Slayer."
"As you can see, he’s a joy to live with." She murmured softly,
smirking. "Nope, luv, it’s because she was worried about when you lost
all your abilities to…well everything." she mocked.
"Yuck it up all you want, Slayer. We have training this aft. You’ll see how helpless I am then." He said pointedly. "Going back to bed." Then he disappeared down the hall.
They stood there for a few minutes, in the silence until Buffy spoke up.
"Do you want to take a nap? I’ll just go get your bags." She said, making a hasty retreat into the garage, leaving him standing there alone.
"That went ok." He said to himself, looking around the room. The living room had dark red walls, a blown up picture of Buffy, Willow, Xander, a small one of Giles, another one of the three friends plus Cordelia, and "Me?" he said in wonderment. Remembering the picture as an old one Willow had taken right after they graduated from high school
"Ofcourse." He heard from behind. "Just because you fucked up didn’t mean we wouldn’t like you anymore. Banished from our lives, not from our hearts."
Turning, he found Buffy with a shy smile on her face.
"Banished?"
"A self imposed exile then," she conceded.
"It was good for everyone." He countered. "Especially Willow."
"Maybe, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t miss you. That I didn’t miss you. Yeah, Wills gets to go off and live the normal life that I wanted, I’m still stuck here, with little or no hope of escaping for more than a vacation"
"Buffy, jealous of her friend? Hardly seems likely."
Buffy lifted her left shoulder in a half shrug. "She’s not my
sidekick."
"Nor are you hers." He pointed out. "Academically speaking, that is."
Giggling, her eyes grew round. "Who knew."
Cocking her head towards the stairs, her arms full of his bags. "I'll
show you the room."
"Sure, steal of my bags…But if you don’t give them back you aren’t getting
your present."
Her head napped back towards him as she reached the top of the stairs. "You bought me a present?" she asked softly.
"Maybe..," he said vaguely, a mischievous grin forming on his lips.
Sniffing, she raised her head in a ‘I-don’t-care-what-it-is’ gesture.
~~~
It’s weird the way my mother cares about Spike. And vice versa for that matter. Not that I don’t think Spike has feelings or anything, but the fact that he can care for the mother of someone who’s supposed to be his mortal enemy. And my mother, she loves him like a son, a vampire who’s repeatedly tried to kill her daughter.
You think that’s an exaggeration? When Spike escaped from the lab where they were going to use him as a rat, eventually, about a week or two later, he showed up on her doorstep and she let him in no questions asked. He could have attacked her, although both swear that never would have happened.
So she calls me up that night, asks me to come over dinner, and who do I
find sitting in my living room? Spike, looking all pale and shit. I went for
him, of course, threatening that if he ever hurt my mother I’d do all sorts
of nasty stuff to him. And you know what she asked me?
"What would it hurt if he just fed off of you a bit. He wouldn’t drain
you or anything, but since your blood is stronger than most
humans.."
My own mother wanted to feed me to a vampire who’s repeatedly tried to kill
me. Her own daughter.
What happened next was even weirder. Spike refused. Who would have thought? Granted, it wasn't an altruistic refusal. It was only because her couldn't bite me. He figured if he was going to feed from me he'd want it to be one of two ways. Either during sex, or if he were draining me completely. Thank the goddess he didn't tell my mother that. I only found out recently myself, one night on patrol. He just left it at "No thanks." And told her if she wanted to help, to get me to go see Willie for some bagged stuff.
They have a strange bond, my mother and Spike, one I don't bother to try to understand anymore. She wants me to treat him like a family member, and being an only child, only girl child to boot, having a big brother could be worse. Can't exactly treat him like a great-great-great grandfather, can I. If he were, he wouldn't be able to help me. Plus he'd be all old and wrinkly. I'd pay to see that.
Not that I haven't thought of him in non-brotherly fashion, mind you. I mean, look at him, how could any hormonal woman not lust after Spike. It wasn't only thinking either. After he started working with me, we spent a lot of time together on patrol and stuff, and got to know each other pretty well. A couple of times one thing led to another, but it was all uncomfortable afterwards, especially with the Riley factor. Like he said about Angel & I, that we could never be friends? It’s the opposite for us. More than friends just doesn't work.
But I've think we've slipped into the whole brother/sister thing pretty well. Hell, most brothers & sisters wouldn't live together. Then again, most probably wouldn't feel free to bitch at each other like we do.
Look at this, again all this talk about Spike. I think its great that Oz is back. Maybe I'll spend some time with someone other than the bleached annoying one. Couldn't hurt.
~~~