Time For An Explanation

[capj_harkness]

Who: Captain Jack Harkness, Buffy Summers and, at some point, Spike.
Where: Buffy's room.
When: A couple days or so after Owen came to Jack about his deaths.
What: Jack found out from Kaylee that Owen learned his fate from Spike. Jack didn't tell Spike the details of his friends' recent deaths, but Spike spends an awful lot of time with Buffy.

Comments

[first_summers]

Buffy was actually in her room for once, which was a strange occurrence in itself. Most of the time these days, she was in Spike's room, which had sort of become their room after she'd just neglected to sleep in her own for months. But the hotel hadn't helped her move everything over, so she'd taken a little bit at a time, when she actually remembered... So now she was determined to get the last of it, because she couldn't find a certain left shoe and she desperately needed it

[capj_harkness]

"Yeah," he agreed. "Yeah. I have a problem." He gestured towards the room behind her. "Can I come in?"

[first_summers]

Buffy just nodded, stepping back to let him in. She looked back at the room and very quickly hurried over to the couch to scoop up the pile of clothes and mismatched shoes to deposit them on the floor. Jack needed someplace to sit if this was serious.

[capj_harkness]

Jack stepped into the room, but didn't sit. He slid his hands into his pockets and glanced around.

"Moving out?" he asked, though the answer was obviously yes. He smiled a little, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Tell me you found a way out," he told her.

[first_summers]

"Because he hasn't drawn a really bad picture of Owen and tied it to a punching bag," she said in a firm tone. She wasn't backing down on this. Spike wasn't like that.

[capj_harkness]

Jack nodded, acknowledging that this argument was never going to go anywhere productive.

"Where is he?"

[first_summers]

Buffy shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe back in the room, the gym, the library... I didn't get him an ankle bracelet for Christmas, so you'll just have to take a guess," she said with more than a hint of acidity in her tone. She liked Jack, she really did, but this was too much for her to take lying down.

[capj_harkness]

"I'm sorry," he said, and he was.

He turned and walked out of her room, heading next door. It was the most logical first place to look. Also? Buffy was getting her things. Spike was probably there waiting for her to show up with them.

[capj_harkness]

Jack didn't react outwardly to being spat at in the face and he didn't give any ground when Spike moved closer.

"So you get to decide what's best for Owen because you don't think I shouldn't decide what's best for him, is that it?" Jack said coldly. "At least I know Owen. Just because your people aren't here for you to fuck with, doesn't mean you get to start fucking with mine."

He gave Spike a rough shove into the door behind him. "You may be happy resigning yourself to staying here until you 'wither away of old age and boredom in this hellhole', but we aren't. We're still trying to get out, and he didn't need that to look forward to when he gets back." He leveled his gaze at Spike. "So don't go mistaking a kindness for a lack of balls. I don't know what kind of world you're from, but the whole reason I fight to save that planet is because sometimes mercy still has a place on it."

[william_tbloody]

Okay, that was it.

Conversation over.

Spike launched himself at Jack, not pulling any punches. And since he had spent so much time lately sparring with Buffy, he knew all the limits of his humanized body, and was in more than fighting shape. Jack had clearly come over spoiling for a fight, and Spike all to happy to give him one.

[capj_harkness]

Finally.

Jack didn't tend to come across to people are being much of a fighter, personality-wise, but he'd been a soldier for a long time and fighting was almost second nature to him. He knew how to handle himself when he needed to. He didn't hold back either. He could tell that Spike was prepared to do as much damage as possible and he responded in kind.

[first_summers]

When the might-as-well-be-twelve-year-olds launched themselves at each other, Buffy figured it was probably time to step in and do something. If she didn't, they might actually manage to break each other, and she refused to listen to Spike whining about his aches and pains again.

Dashing forward, she threw herself into the middle of them, trying to at least keep them from getting at each other. "Stop it!" She didn't know if they'd even pay attention to her, but someone didn't have the best reflexes anymore, her or the boys, because something hit her hard enough on the shoulder to leave a nice big bruise and almost knock her over.

[first_summers]

Buffy took a deep breath and nodded, trying to be as confident about it as he was... but she couldn't manage. Her jaw trembled and she sniffled as she tried to keep from openly crying.

She didn't see how things could possibly be okay again. It was a dramatic stance to hold, but it had been that kind of day.

[william_tbloody]

"Oh kitten," Spike sighed as soon Buffy's breath hitched. "None of that now. It's not worth your tears."

[first_summers]

That only brought the tears out in a strong wave. Spike didn't understand. He couldn't possibly comprehend how much it was hurting her now that things had settled, how many bad memories it had stirred up.

[william_tbloody]

It was true that Spike didn't really understand why she was taking this as hard as she was. But what he did understand was that Harkness had needlessly upset his girl, and that was just brassing him off. He was actually getting angrier and angrier even while he was holding Buffy and making meaningless soothing noises. It was taking everything he had not to get up out that bed and go find the captain for a round two.

This is why they hadn't been socializing with the other hotel inhabitants lately. When they involved others, it always seemed to either end with fighting or tears lately.

[first_summers]

Buffy reached up around to the back of his head so she could slip her fingers through his hair and give a gentle sort of massage to the back of his neck. "I'm so glad you're here," she said, her tone serious again. And that they were together. If she hadn't had him to lean off after the events of the day... things would not have been good.

[william_tbloody]

"No where else I'd rather be," he said as a matter of fact, if not a bit distractedly as he was focusing on sculpting a bubble pompadour on top of Buffy's head.

[first_summers]

She could feel something moving around the top of her head, and his distracted tone was just an even bigger clue that he was up to something. "What're you doing up there?" she asked suspiciously, but without any accusation. She trusted Spike.

[william_tbloody]

"Nothin' to worry your pretty blonde head about," Spike replied with faux innocence, even while his chest shook with silent chuckles. "Now where's a camera when you need one?" he asked rehtorically, taking in his handywork.