Title: Paycheck
Author: Rari

(notes and disclaimer in part one)

Paycheck: Part 2

Giles walked for a long time and by the time he found himself back in his neighborhood he was considerably calmer. They’d misinterpreted what they’d seen, that was the only explanation. After all they’d clearly drawn as wrong a conclusion as possible about he and Buffy, and about Jenny, so how could they possibly be considered reliable informants. It had to be a misunderstanding. Buffy would never have sex with Spike, and she’d certainly never have sex with him in public.

Thus reassured he finally made his way back to his flat. Looking cautiously to make sure the two girls were nowhere to be found he quickly put his key in his door and slipped inside.

***

Giles had erotic dreams about Buffy that night. The two of them were having sex everywhere, in the Bronze, in the old library, in the Magic Box, at a cricket match, at the park down the street. Giles woke up, disoriented. He’d never had dreams like that about Buffy. He’d had the occasional waking fantasy of her but never endless sex all night long in one public venue after another. Giles hadn’t had sex in public in a very long time and even though it had all been a dream, somehow he felt as if he’d been caught.

After taking a shower he decided to risk the café again. First he looked out his window to make sure the girls weren’t there, although the likelihood of actually running into them again was low. Seeing that the coast was clear he headed over and took his usual table. Grabbing a free newspaper he began to peruse the front page, sipping his tea, his scones sitting to the side.

An actual shiver ran down his spine when he heard the squeal. “Oh my God, he’s back.”

“We are so lucky.” Before he could protest, Michelle and Rhonda sat down again at his table. Rhonda continued. “We never thought we’d run into you again. It was such a drag that you had to leave yesterday before we got to finish gossiping. So…?” She looked at Giles expectedly.

Giles blew out a breath. “I thought I made myself clear, Buffy and I were simply friends…”

Michelle looked up. “Oh, look, there’s Buffy now.”

***

Buffy had been wandering down the street, holding the piece of paper with Giles’ address on it. Finally she was standing in front of his home; she confirmed it one more time. As she was about to climb the steps to ring the bell she heard a voice. “Buffy, yoo hoo, Buffy.”

***

Giles rolled his eyes. Would these girls never stop? Rhonda grinned at him. “You devil you. You said she wasn’t here. Friends… right.” She blew a raspberry at him.

Giles turned his head and his jaw dropped. “Good Lord, Buffy.”

Buffy had started towards the cafe when she’d heard her name being called. When she heard Giles’ voice she stopped and zeroed in on him, and his two female companions. Her eyes grew flinty as she stormed over to him. “This is what you’re doing? Hanging around with floozies?”

Rhonda and Michelle giggled, awestruck at their luck.

Giles sputtered. “Buffy…what…how…?” He looked at his watch as if it might have an answer for him.

Buffy was on a roll. “How dare you? How dare you abandon me like that? Did you just think you could write me that one check and that would make it all right? How am I supposed to make it with an extra mouth to feed? Don’t you feel any responsibility to us at all?”

Michelle and Rhonda’s mouths opened wide and both of them dropped their eyes to Buffy’s stomach.

Giles took his glasses off and ran his hand over his face. “Buffy…”

“No, I mean it Giles. I thought you loved me. I thought you cared about me. And here you are, with two women. You’ve probably been sleeping around ever since you got back. You probably haven’t even thought about me once.”

Giles put his glasses back on. “Buffy, stop.” He glanced at Michelle and Rhonda and rolled his eyes at their rapt attention. He was sure they had never listened to a single teacher with even a fraction of this devotion.

Buffy had no intention of stopping. “I came all the way here to get you back. But you know what? Maybe I don’t want you back. You and your women and your…” She waved her hand at his table, “…your scones.”

Giles became annoyed. “Whether I come back or not is hardly something that you will be deciding for me. And as long as we’re flinging accusations, what about you and Spike?”

Buffy’s eyes widened and she winced. “How did you find out about that?”

Giles’ eyebrows almost rose off his head. “You mean it’s true?” He stood and glared at her. “Did you have …" Giles swallowed and tried again. "Did you have sex with him at the Bronze?” Buffy winced again. Giles took off his glasses again, whipping out a handkerchief to clean them furiously. “And you have the audacity to stand there and accuse me of inappropriate behavior?” His movements still angry, he put his glasses back on.

Buffy stood for a moment, guilt racing across her face, searching for a response. She found it and spit it out, victorious. “Hey, you left me, remember?” Then she looked at Michelle and Rhonda and got a puzzled expression on her face. “Don’t I know you?”

Rhonda nodded. “Yeah, we went to Sunnydale High with you. Same class.” She pointed to Giles. “We’ve been keeping Mr. Giles company while he waited for you.” She leaned towards Buffy. “Sorry, we kind of let the Bronze thing slip, we thought you guys had broken up.” She checked out Buffy. “You look really good. I didn’t even know you were pregnant.”

Buffy stared at her. “What? I’m not…” She shook her head and tried again with something that felt more easily tackled. “You thought who had broken up?”

Giles interrupted. “Don’t ask. It’s too ridiculous for words.”

“No, I want to know.” She turned to Rhonda. “Tell me.”

Rhonda obliged. “You and Mr. Giles. We knew you guys were doing it all through high school and then I’d see you hanging around at his store so we figured you were still together. But then we saw him here and he said that you guys had broken up.”

Giles protested. “I did not say we’d broken up.”

Buffy needed some clarification. “When you say doing it, you mean…”

Giles rolled his eyes. “Really, you don’t want to know.”

Rhonda insisted on being helpful. “You know, having sex. Everyone at school knew it.” She looked at Michelle, her eyes wide. “Maybe it was Buffy who had something on Snyder.”

Michelle snapped her fingers. “Good point.” She looked at Buffy. “Did you have the goods on Snyder? We never could figure out why Mr. Giles didn’t get fired or you get kicked out of school.”

Buffy smiled wryly. “I did get kicked out.”

Rhonda nodded. “Yeah, but it wasn’t for screwing, was it? Plus you got back in. How did you get back in?”

“My mom kept talking to people.” Giles was shaking his head. Buffy noticed it and she glared at him. “Then how did I get back in?”

Giles suddenly realized he was shaking his head. He nodded it instead. “Yes, that’s quite right. It was your mum.”

Buffy’s eyes narrowed. “Giles. How did I get back into school?”

Giles shook his head again. “It’s not important. The important thing is that you got back in and graduated.”

Michelle chimed in. “And got out alive.”

Rhonda nodded. “Yeah, that was a really weird day.”

“Totally.”

Buffy wasn’t ready to let it go. “Will you for once be honest with me?”

Giles’ jaw dropped. “Me, be honest with you? When all you’ve done since I’ve known you is prevaricate and misdirect?”

She snapped at him. “Just tell me. How did I get back in school?”

He snapped back. “I threatened Snyder. There. Are you satisfied?” Giles’ eyebrows rose as he realized what he’d just blurted out.

Rhonda let out a squeal. “See, I knew there was something.” She looked at Michelle. “He threatened him.”

“Well, he is a lot bigger than Snyder.”

“Way bigger.”

Buffy was feeling sort of glowy, like in the watching Giles skewer the Mayor on her behalf kind of way. “You threatened him? For me?”

Giles took his glasses off again. “It wasn’t right. He was being unreasonably vindictive.”

Buffy grinned at him, and then she grinned at Michelle and Rhonda. Then she frowned at them. “What exactly did you mean when you said you were keeping Giles company?”

Rhonda’s eyes opened wide. She’d seen Buffy throwing punches. “Nothing.” She gestured at the table. “Just gossiping, I swear.” She sent Giles a chiding look. “But, you know, Mr. Giles, Buffy has a point. You were sort of lying to us, too. Telling us that there was nothing between the two of you.” She shook her head sadly as if deeply disappointed by his behavior. “I mean this is so lover’s tiff stuff.” She looked at Michelle. “Don’t you think?”

Michelle nodded her head. “Oh, yeah, totally lover’s tiff stuff.”

“And leaving her with a baby.” Rhonda shook her head again and made little tsk tsk noises at him.

Giles had had enough again. He was appalled that he’d allowed any of this argument to air in public, not to mention in front of these two. They were clearly two of the biggest gossips in Sunnydale, with little care as to whether they were spewing the truth or not. He threw some money down on the table and started to make his escape.

Buffy was still on the argument and she glared at him. “You told them there was nothing between us? Nothing?” Her voice rose to quite a high volume.

Giles hissed at Buffy. “Buffy, can we continue this in private?”

Rhonda touched his arm. “Don’t mind us.”

Giles closed his eyes and counted to ten. “Ladies, it was lovely running into you. Enjoy the rest of your vacation.” He turned to Buffy. “Buffy, let’s go.” He picked up Buffy’s suitcase and left without another look at anyone. Realizing that he was unavoidably letting Michelle and Rhonda know where he lived, he opened his door and threw the suitcase inside. He called to Buffy again. “Buffy.”

Buffy gritted her teeth and followed him in.

Michelle and Rhonda grinned at each other, squealing. Rhonda spoke first. “They are so in love with each other.”

“Totally in love.”

They sat down at the table and began eating Giles’ scones.

End Part 2