Title: Your Cheating Heart


Chapter Title: All You Wanted


Author: Chad


E-mail: chad_m_@hotmail.com


Rated: R


Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, but the story is.


Summary: After all the heartache and four years of marriage, Buffy and Angel’s relationship finally comes to and end when he cheats on her. B/A, B/S, and A/C.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


*All You Wanted*
~Michelle Branch~


//I wanted to be like you
I wanted everything
So I tried to be like you
And I got swept away//



Buffy entered her home, emotionally and physically tired as she placed her bag and keys on the kitchen table. She rubbed her sore neck, yawning as she made her way through the beach house with a large brown paper bag in her arms.



“Anyone home?” she called out.



“In the kitchen,” she heard Spike's gruff reply.



She walked in through the kitchen entrance and watched with a small smile as her men sat around the breakfast table playing cards.



They had gone so far as to wear old beaten up cowboy hats with bandanas around their necks. Spike wore his usual black duster while the other two wore Western jackets that hung from their small bodies. G.I. Joe sat curled at their feet with a red bandana tied securely around his neck. He looked up at her and whimpered slightly.



The three gazed at each other suspiciously as they bet in M&M‘s, marshmallows, and every other candy that she had secretly stored up at the very top of the pantry, behind all her health bars and cereals. They even had long stick pretzels dangling from between their lips as mock cigars.



It was a sight to behold.



“Hayden,” Spike smirked, biting at his pretzel, “Ya got any . . . fives?”



Buffy couldn’t hold in her laughter any longer and burst out giggling. Two young boys and an old half human/vampire looked up at her from their game and gave her a glare.



“Well, I see there’s a lady within our midst, gentlemen,” Spike grinned and sat casually back against his chair, chewing on his pretzel, “What ever are we gonna do with her?”




//I didn't know that it was so cold
And you needed someone to show you the way
So I took your hand and we figured out
That when the tide comes I'd take you away//




Austin jumped up and stood on his seat, taking out a neon green plastic water gun. “We should kidnap her, tie her to the train tracks, and hold her for ransom,” he said enthusiastically in a surprisingly good Cowboy accent.



Hayden took out his own neon orange water gun and held it up towards Austin. “This here lady is mine,” he drawled, “No one touches her unless you wanna die.”



“Ma hero,” Buffy added, playing along as she waltz into the kitchen.



“I bet you a trip to my office for your lady there,” Spike said.



Hayden’s eyes widened in delight. He loved going to Spike’s office. There was always something going on in there, people and every type of demons just walking around, playing cards, drinking coffee. And sometimes, he would even take him and Austin riding in his black convertible with the roof down.



“Hey, how about me?” Austin piped in.



“You too, mate,” Spike smiled, nudging down Austin’s hat so it covered his face.



Hayden looked up at his mother sadly, “I love ya, Mom, but this here world ain’t always fair. Tha’s what you told me last year when you wouldn’t get me a new bike for Christmas.”



Buffy frowned at her son‘s excessive knowledge at such a young age. “How old are you again?”




//If you want to
I can save you
I can take you away from here
So lonely inside
So busy out there
And all you wanted was somebody who cares//




Hayden smiled and looked at Spike. “You have yourself a deal, Mister.”



Buffy rolled her eyes. So much for motherly love, she thought as she made her towards the kitchen counter and started preparing their dinner.



“I won,” Hayden announced, giving his brother a high five.



“This isn’t possible,” Spike said, staring at his cards in bewilderment. “If this had been poker, I would’ve taken you down, little man,” Spike growled grumpily.



Hayden grinned at him.



“Alright, gentlemen, clear the table, it’s time to eat,” Buffy said, “Got you guys your McDonalds and Japanese.”



“Cool!” Austin exclaimed excitedly, “You rock, Mom.”



“I know, sweety,” she said and kissed his cheek.




//I'm sinking slowly
So hurry hold me
Your hand is all I have to keep me hanging on
Please can you tell me
So I can finally see
Where you go when you're gone//




“So, you gonna bloody tell me what happened with Peaches, or am I gonna have to beat it out ‘o you?” Spike asked as he sat next to Buffy on the back steps of the beach house.



“You wish,“ she smirked and stared up at the velvet black sky with glittering star jewels sewn into it. She sighed and hugged the blanket closer to her body when the cool breeze of the ocean surrounded her.



Spike tugged at the blanket. “Move over, pet, I’m getting cold too. This whole human thing is bloody gettin’ on ma nerves,” he growled and shrugged it around the two of them as she smiled and leaned against his broad chest. “Ya mind if I smoke?” he asked.



“Yes,” she replied with a scowl. “You know, those things are going to kill you if you don‘t quit. And if you dare reply with ‘I’m already dead, pet’ I’ll slap you into reality.”



“You promise?” he smirked and hugged her warm body tighter to brush away the cold, “Really hard and rough? Just the way I like it?”



Buffy rolled her eyes. “Stop it with the horny talk, Spike, I’m getting turned on,” she said sarcastically. “I’m serious, Spike,” she said, “It’s only a matter of time before you’re completely human. You don’t want to get cancer just when you get your bloody humanity.”



He chuckled lightly. “I love it when you start talking like me, complete with the accent and all . . . no matter how bad it is.”



“Go to hell,” she laughed and nudged his ribs with her elbow.




//If you want to
I can save you
I can take you away from here
So lonely inside
So busy out there
And all you wanted was somebody who cares//




Spike sighed. “So what happened?” he asked.



“The usual. Angst, drama, me being in the brink of tears . . . did I also mention the angst and the drama?” she tried to laugh off.



“That bad, eh?”



“That . . . yeah,” Buffy nodded and sighed in defeated, “He lives just down the beach from us. It’s like . . . fate put him there to torture me. Being so close yet . . . so far away.”



“Fate sucks.”



“Here, here,” Buffy cheered. She looked up at the stars and closed her eyes when the cool wind blew against her cheeks. “I’ve grown bitter towards him, Spike, I hate him with everything inside me, with everything I am . . . but at the same time, I still love him like I always did. I still love him with my entire heart and soul . . . and I don’t know what to do. I want to live for him but then I‘d rather die than put myself in that miserable position again,” she confessed desperately.



“Love’s like that, pet. We live for it and we would die for it, and some of us sometimes do. It’s a bloody paradox . . . an irony that we can’t survive without.”




//All you wanted was somebody who cares
If you need me you know I'll be there
Oh, yeah//




Buffy smiled sadly. “What am I gonna do about the twins? What am I going to tell him? ‘Hey, guess what? When I left, I found out a few weeks later that I was pregnant. Sorry I didn‘t come back and tell you, but you were busy screwing Cordelia. Oh, I forgot to ask. Did you enjoy it? Oh . . . you STILL enjoy it! Okay. But hey, come by anytime and see the twins. After all, you’re the father. Yeah, anytime at all. By the ways, I’m living with Spike. Thought I’d tell you that with my rambling and all.’ ”



“Sarcasm fits you, ducks.”



Buffy sighed and rested her forehead against the side of his neck.



“Tell him when the time’s right and then . . . it‘ll come to you,” Spike replied.



“When’s that?”



“I don’t know, luv, I don’t know.”



“What if he hates me . . . even more so?”



“He doesn’t hate you.”



“What IF?”



Spike sighed. “It was never your fault, pet, you have to believe that. If there’s someone to blame, it’s him. And if he does end up hating you, which I bloody doubt, you have the twins . . . and you have me.”



Buffy was quiet. “I’m glad you’re here with me, Spike . . . so glad.”



“Me too, luv,” he smiled as they looked up at the stars together, “Me too.”




//If you want to
I can save you
I can take you away from here
So lonely inside
So busy out there
And all you wanted was somebody who cares//




Angel stood on the beach in shock.



He had decided to talk a quiet walk as Connor sulked in his room, still not wanting to talk about what happened that afternoon. And here he stood, with his sandals at hand, his khakis rolled up to his knees, and looking at Buffy and SPIKE cuddling in a baby blue blanket and looking up at the stars, smiling without a care in the world.



He gulped and turned on his heel, eyes wide, mouth still open wide. He tried to will away the image of the love of his life with a man, a demon, he loathed . . . and now hated with a passion, hated now more than ever.



He had lost her because of his utter stupidity . . . and to a demon.



And he had no idea what to do. What could he to do?




//Please can you tell me
So I can finally see
Where you go when you're gone//




Continue to Chapter 7: A Song For Mama
Back to Chapter 5: Hanging By A Moment