Secrets Revealed


A/N: I apologise for my ridiculously long break from updating. I just seem to have so much less time then I did... Anyway, hope you enjoy!


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It was Buffy’s birthday and, in an apparent attempt to avoid the sort of disasters that usually accompanied this day, she had decided to celebrate quietly by inviting their small circle to her house. This was where Riley was headed now, gift bag in one hand and a bottle of champagne in the other.

Just along the road from the Summers’ house, he bumped into Xander and Anya, heading in the same direction. With them was a stranger, who they quickly introduced as Xander’s friend Richard. Riley shook hands with the man and then they all turned towards Buffy’s house, Richard and Anya walking ahead as he dropped behind with Xander.

“I thought it was just going to be a few of us,” Riley spoke up, nodding towards the man in front.

“Yeah, but we convinced Buffy to invite Richard too.”

“Does she even know Richard?” he asked.

“Well, no,” Xander answered awkwardly, glancing at Riley out of the corner of his eye, “But we thought she might like to meet him.”

“So this is a blind date then?” he commented with a smile.

“Well, you know, we thought it might be a good thing… I mean, Buffy’s single and…”

Xander trailed off and looked at him nervously.

“You’re okay with this, right?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked incredulously.

“You and Buffy were together and, you know, we didn’t know if maybe you two might, well, get back together.”

He paused in his step and turned to the other man.

“I think it’s safe to say that whatever Buffy and me had, it’s in the past.”

Xander paused for a moment and then nodded and they moved on again.

“What did Buffy say when you suggested this?” Riley asked.

“She wasn’t quite sure,” Xander remarked, “But I guess it’s just because the Buffster’s been out of the game for a while.”

As they made their way up the path to the Summers’ house, he smiled to himself at this comment; he was betting that Buffy’s hesitance had more to do with a certain blonde vampire than anything else. Hiding his smile as they reached the door, he followed the group into the house.



He finally managed to catch Buffy alone some time later and she gave him a quick hug as he wished her ‘happy birthday’.

“Thanks for the present,” she said, pulling back with a smile.

“You’re welcome.”

“Oh, and the champagne,” she added, lifting her glass.

He smiled and nodded, raising his own glass to her.

“Are you having a good birthday?”

“Well, so far there hasn’t been a crisis so it’s going pretty well!” she exclaimed with a laugh.

She turned to look around the group, smiling and looking more cheerful than ever.

“And Giles is here, which is good,” she added.

Her Watcher was conversing with Willow in one corner and as he caught Buffy’s gaze, he looked up and smiled. Buffy then turned towards Riley, smiling softly.

“Thank you, by the way… for talking to Giles.”

“I didn’t really do much,” he admitted, “Spike was there first, making sure Giles knew just what he thought.”

He smiled and saw Buffy smile too, shaking her head ever so slightly.

“I can imagine.”

“Will he be here later?”

“Hmm?” she got out in confusion.

“Spike. I guess he’s coming later?”

“Oh, yeah,” she replied, turning back to the room with affected nonchalance, “I guess so.”

He frowned a little but before he could comment, Richard was making his way towards them and he made a quick exit.



He went out into the empty kitchen and made himself another drink, only to be joined by Buffy a few moments later. He raised an eyebrow but she held up her hand and shook her head as she moved to the worktop and set about making herself a drink.

“Escaping from Richard?” he asked, struggling to suppress his smile.

She rolled her eyes and smiled gently.

“He’s perfectly… nice,” she said, “I’m just not interested. Not that Xander and Anya would take that as an answer.”

“You should have just told them about Spike.”

She froze and turned to him with a frown.

“Told them what about Spike?”

He paused for a moment, his expression frozen somewhere between a smile and a frown before he spoke up.

“Buffy, I’m not blind. Or stupid,” he said quietly, “Or do you hang around in Spike’s bedroom quite a lot when he’s naked?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she laughed awkwardly, blushing as she ducked her head and moved around the worktop away from him.

“Buffy…” he started with a frown, “Are you ashamed of Spike?”

She whipped back round to face him and got out a startled ‘no!’, before calming herself.

“Me and Spike are just… friends.”

He remained silent, eyes fixed on hers, watching her waver. He took a step towards her and lowered his voice.

“You don’t need to lie to me, Buffy. I’ve seen the way you look at him…” he murmured, “The same way you used to look at me.”



She was still hesitating and he moved to stand next to her, resting a hand on her arm.

“You don’t need to hide, Buffy. Not from me anyway.”

She paused, eyes flicking behind him to the door worriedly.

“I, erm, I don’t –“

“Buffy.”

She threw another look at the doorway and returned her gaze to his.

“How do you know?” she asked somewhat shakily.

“Well, I had a few big clues,” he replied, smiling slightly, “One was seeing you kiss after Willow’s spell… And another was finding you in his bedroom the other week.”

“But I was invisible!”

“And you think it wasn’t obvious why you were there?” he asked with a wide smile.

She blushed and ducked her head.

“He’s a good man,” he said quietly.

She raised her head once more and nodded, smiling softly.

“He is.”

They shared a smile and a moment of silence and then she broke it.

“You, erm, you won’t tell anyone, will you? I mean, it’s not that I’m – we’re just keeping it quiet, you know?”

“Afraid of what your friends might say?”

Her eyes widened in surprise but then she nodded, smiling a sad half-smile.

“I’d like not to deal with that right now.”

“It doesn’t really matter though, does it? What they think.”

“Well… I guess not.”

“You like Spike, right?”

“Y-yeah.”

“So what else matters?”

She regarded him in silence for a long moment and then she smiled ever so slightly.

“Agony aunt Riley,” she murmured.

He laughed and shook his head.

“I just want you to be happy.”



There was a pause and then Buffy broke the silence once more.

“You’re really okay with this?”

“Buffy, I won’t lie to you… I still care about you. You were the reason I came back to Sunnydale.”

Her eyes widened ever so slightly but she stayed silent and he continued.

“But things were different and I guess somewhere along the line I realised that our time really was over.”

She was silent for a moment longer but then she laid a hand on his arm.

“It was good though, while it lasted,” she said with the tiniest uncertainty reflected in her eyes.

“It was.”

She smiled and moved to hug him.

“Thank you,” she whispered, tightening her grip around him momentarily.



“’M I interrupting something?”

Spike’s voice made them both jump with surprise and Buffy pulled away from him, sending Spike a soft smile.

“Hey.”

The vampire softened instantly, smirk replaced by a gentle smile and raised eyebrow falling.

“Hey.”

As if suddenly remembering that they were supposed to hide this kind of thing, Spike straightened quickly, his gentle expression disappearing in a flash as he turned to greet Riley.

“Alright,” he said with a curt nod.

“Spike,” he greeted with a laugh, shaking his head and reaching out a hand to squeeze Buffy’s shoulder, “Happy Birthday again. And remember what I said.”

She smiled and nodded and he moved towards the door, almost laughing at the vampire’s perplexed expression. As he moved into the corridor, he heard Spike speak up.

“What was that about?”

There came no answer from Buffy but as he glanced back just before turning into the lounge, he saw Buffy lean up and kiss the vampire. Smiling, he moved into the lounge and went to sit next to Richard. Maybe he would be able to distract Xander’s friend from thinking about a girl who had no interest in him whatsoever.