| Breaking Down the Walls by araedhel |
| Chapter #18 - Chapter 18 |
| Spike and Angel cornered Hank in the front hallway. “Listen, Hank, not that it wasn’t great to see you, but we think you should be going now,” Angel said. Conner joined them. Dawn was crying in her room and that automatically made Conner not like the guy. “We don’t like when people make our girls upset and you have made them very, very upset,” Conner said. “You’re either going to have to leave the house or we’ll make you leave,” Spike said. “This is my house,” Hank said, “You should leave.” “Actually,” Spike said dryly, “This is Buffy’s house and she happens to want me here very much.” “Fine!” he yelled. After a moment he said, “I’m actually trying to leave.” Spike tried to and found that he couldn’t either. “Should we tell Buffy?” Angel asked. “Not yet.” “What are we going to do with him?” Conner asked with disgust, “He’s already hurt them enough.” “I have an idea,” Spike said, “We need to talk to Tara and Wesley.” ~*~ “So…you want us to do WHAT?” Tara said. She started giggling. If they actually did as Spike asked the outcome would be…well…interesting to say the least. “I’m in,” Wesley said. “Good. Could you cast it now?” “Sure.” ~*~ Hank walked into the family room. Buffy and Dawn were sitting at the table. Clem and Spike were teaching them how to play poker. As he walked nearer, Buffy and Dawn visibly stiffened. He opened his mouth and began to sing, “I’m a little teapot, short and stout, here is my handle. Here is my spout.” Then he closed his mouth. He looked angrily at Spike and said, “When I get all steamed up, hear me shout. Tip me over and pour me out.” Everyone doubled over laughing. Buffy looked perplexed. “What did you do?” she asked Spike. “I hated that he was upsetting you, love,” Spike said, “So I had Glinda and watcher boy do some mojo. Every time he tries to say something mean, he sings that little ditty.” Spike doubled over in laughter again. Then he watched anxiously as Buffy bit her lip, then grinned, then joined him in all out laughter. Hank, meanwhile, started another chorus of "I’m a little teapot” “I love you,” she said. “I love you, too” Conner sidled over to Dawn. “I helped,” he said eagerly. “Really?” She asked. He nodded energetically. She grabbed him and kissed him. Conner felt like his insides were melting. When they broke apart, all they could do was smile at each other. The only one who was unhappy was Gunn. Fred had broken up with him moments before and no number of renditions of “I’m a little Teapot” would cheer him up. Fred, for her part, felt much better about life in general. She kept darting nervous glances at Wesley. Finally, Wesley noticed and smiled at her. She smiled back. Suddenly Buffy scowled at Spike and said, “What’s wrong?” “Nothing, kitten,” he said nervously. “What?” she said. “We’re stuck in the house because for some damned magical reason,” he said. He flinched. Buffy was going to be enraged. Buffy surprised him. She simply grinned and said, “We’ll have to get out by Thursday, I guess. Otherwise, Anya and Xander are going to have a lot of disappointed wedding guests.” Spike grinned back at her. “So you’re not mad?” he asked rather timidly. “God, you thought I was going to be mad at you, for that?!” She was mortified. “I promise, Bitchy Buffy is gone for good…unless it’s that time of the month and then, well, it’s really not my fault.” “I like that time of the month,” Spike whispered in her ear. She blushed. His comment echoed all the way down to her pleasure center and to her embarrassment, she felt her panties growing wet. “I love that I have that effect on you,” he whispered. “Do you think anyone would notice if we…” “Unfortunately, yes,” he said, “But I’ll make it up to you later.” “Promises, promises,” she said. ~*~ “Any progress?” Buffy asked Wesley. He and Tara were working on the problem in shifts so that each could still have some fun at the party. Wesley was spending al his off time dancing with and chatting with Fred. Tara spent both her on and off time with Willow. “Even if I can’t do magic,” Willow said, “I can still help with research.” Hank timidly began the process of getting to know his youngest daughter. Conner stayed with her the entire time she was talking to her father. He still didn’t trust Hank. “Does anyone know how this happened?” Xander asked, “Not that spending time with everyone isn’t great, but…” “OH,” Dawn said, “Wait a sec, I’ remembering something…I was in the store. There was only one other customer. Um…I was chatting with the shopkeeper and I wished everyone would spend more time with me. Ops, I guess I momentarily forgot that I lived in Sunnydale and said the ‘W’ word.” “I don’t mind,” Anya said cheerfully, “now everyone is forced to play Monopoly with me until I bankrupt someone. What did the other customer look like?” “She had brown wavy hair and a necklace,” Dawn said scrunching her face in concentration. She looks so cute when she does that Conner thought. “Halfrek,” Anya said suddenly. She stood up, dice still in hand and said, “Hallie get down here.” Hallie appeared. “I’m not reversing the wish,” she said, “This girl was in horrible pain.” “What are you talking about?” Dawn said, “I wasn’t in any pain! Maybe you’re talking about the kid next door.” “Really?” Hallie said, “You’re sure you’re not in pain.” Dawn nodded. “Oops, my mistake. Sorry, curse lifted. See you at the wedding.” Hallie disappeared. “So the curse is lifted,” Buffy said. She grabbed Spike’s hand and said, “Come on! I want to try out my new sword.” “As you wish,” he said. “Did Dawn make you watch the Princess Bride again?” Buffy asked. He grinned at her in response. Fred timidly took Wesley’s hand and said, “We need to talk.” “Okay,” he said. They walked out the door. Conner and Angel grabbed Hank by the arms and propelled him out the door. “Have a nice night,” they said. ~*~ Wesley and Fred walked in silence for a while. When they found a bench in the park, Fred sat down. “Do you love me?” she asked abruptly. He blinked at her for a moment before he timidly said, “Yes.” “That’s good because I love you, too, I think and I broke up with Gunn because of it,” Fred said relieved, “Could you kiss me now.” Wesley felt like his heart was about to explode with joy. She loved him! Her last comment finally registered. He slipped one arm around her waist and one behind her head and kissed her passionately. |