CHAPTER 51 – WILLINGNESS TO LEARN

His world was small.

William didn’t really wander from the cabin, except to the deck for meals, to the swing for ice cream, and even once to the little store, in the company of Buffy, of course.

Putting aside the Victorian mind-set of cleaning and cooking is women’s work; he would help clean up the cabin, when it was needed. It actually wasn’t so difficult, since after his mother had become mostly disabled, and help dismissed when money had grown tight, he had taken on that responsibility, much to his brother’s merciless teasing.

Dawn had shown him how to cook hamburgers and steaks on the deck’s grill, which he took to, saying it was much like cooking over old coal fueled stoves if one had only lifted the cover off of the burners and replaced it with a grill.

During the day, he would voraciously read the books that Willow had brought him on inventions. When he had further inquiries about a particular subject that they didn’t know the answer to, Dawn showed him how to use the Internet to research the subject.

Buffy was amazed by his willingness to learn the computer. He seemed to have less fear of it than she initially had. Fear of the real world outside the cabin, yes. Fear of the world as to be found on the Internet, no.

But Buffy feared it, feared the Internet and all that unbridled knowledge would present more questions for William than it would answer, than she could, or was willing to. She was afraid that he would find out things, without her explanation, that he’d be scared or hurt by what he found. Her head hurt with the loop her brain had taken. She’d wished that were the one thing that he hadn’t been introduced to. Not yet. Privately, she warned Dawn not to tell him too much about the capabilities of the Internet. Not now. Let him just think it was one giant encyclopedia, a giant library, but not the rest.

William found television spellbinding. At a distance he’d seen it in the common room at the hospital, but had been too depressed and too scared to give it much thought. But now, after learning all about it, he couldn’t get enough, to Buffy’s consternation.

He especially liked watching The History Channel, Animal Planet, Discovery, and Disney cartoons.

"Have we warned you that television is addictive?" Elizabeth asked him, as she flopped next to him on the couch one afternoon.

"Huh? What?" he asked her, still staring at the idiot box.

She sighed, "Liked you better before you discovered this, " she muttered.

He picked up the remote and turned it off, "I’m sorry, it’s just all so…fascinating to me. Guess I can see why it’s addictive. It’s so…entertaining and educational!"

"Yeah, Passions, real educational," she snorted.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing," she sighed. He hadn’t been re-introduced to that, yet. She wondered if he’d still go for it. She half-smiled, remembering Spike and her mom discussing the finer points of the show.

"Elizabeth, nothing on these channels can even come close to how I feel when I look at you, talk to you," he said, facing her and taking her hands, "you know that, don’t you?" he asked her with all sincerity in the depths of his blue eyes.

"I do now," she told him softly.

She leaned over to kiss him. "I didn’t ask," she said, pulling back and looking at him with a sly grin.

"I’m glad," he said, smiling at their private joke.

Later that day, Willow and Dawn came back from town with rolls full of coins and bills. "Time to learn about money, William," Dawn had told him.

It was very frustrating for him, trying to convert in his head the money of the realm that he’d been used to. Then hearing Willow tell him that almost most of that money he’d commonly remembered using, farthings, ha’pennies, thruppence half crowns, guineas (for special occasions and payments), shillings, sovereigns, florins, and a score of other coins and paper money didn’t even exist anymore.

Willow explained that in 1971, so she’d heard, Great Britain had gone to the decimal system, which is why there was a new money system. She didn’t ask why he would only remember the old system, which, when stopped to think about it, would have rather proved that he was more than just an expert in ‘all things Victorian,’ but rather had been a living, breathing member of it, too. But she didn’t ask, and William didn’t question her not asking.

Then there was the amount of money that things cost that really shocked him. For example, a cup of coffee at Starbuck’s for $2.50 USD, equal to 1.63GBP

"A day’s pay," he muttered.

"What’s that?" Willow asked.

"Um, nothing. Just that I, I mean those back in the late 1870’s, early 1880’s who worked as law clerks or English professors might only make that much a day," he said, "based on a six day work week."

She nodded. "They make a heck of a lot more now. Lawyers, or solicitors as you know them by, make probably $200 an hour in this country. Some a little less. Probably less in England. Professors always made a lot less than lawyers did.

He just looked at her, his mouth hanging open.

"But things cost so much more now, too, William," said Dawn, trying to explain, "so it’s probably proportional to the extra amount of money one makes."

"I don’t think so Dawn, some costs of things are hugely disproportionate to what their real value is. There’s been times that even though bread should have been 5 cents in the old days," she said, glancing toward William, "it would be the equivalent of half a week’s pay. It happened like that with lots of things, depending on weird things like politics, wars, weather, I don’t know all of it, just weird economics!"

"In any case, William," said Buffy, "it’s a good thing for you to have knowledge of, even if you only ‘remember’ an archaic system of money, weights and measures."

"They’ve changed weights and measures, too?" he asked alarmed.

Buffy shrugged, looking at Willow.

"Well, it’s the same here as it was there with pounds, ounces, etc. In England they’ve finally converted over to Kilos, Grams, etc. in keeping with the rest of Europe. The rest of Europe, well about 9 countries all converted to the Euro as their money in the late 1990’s, or early 2000, somewhere around there."

"You mean there’s no more Francs? Lira? Deutchmarks?" William asked.

"Nope, only Euros. Guess it was to have a stronger, united currency against the dollar and the Yen. Japanese."

"Japanese? Japan?"

"Yeah, they’ve kind of westernized a lot since after World War II, when the US bombed the crap out of them. Well, after they bombed Hawaii. Oh, but back to what I was saying, the British love their pounds, so they’re not on the Euro. Yet."

William thought his head was possibly going to implode.

Buffy looked over at him, "Why don’t you try this money stuff later? You’ll probably just have to get used to handling it and using it, and not thinking in terms of conversions. Just take it for what it’s worth. In 2008."

He looked at her with a lost expression and she felt bad for him.

William took her advice and went to take a nap. Afterward, he had recuperated from the onslaught of T.M.I. (too much information) and practiced playing store with Dawn, using paper and coins for his pretend transactions.

Buffy and Willow tried not to laugh, when Dawn, in all seriousness, told him that a roll of toilet paper would cost him $300.00.

"You should have seen your face," Dawn said, teasing, afterward.

"Well, it’s expensive enough as it is! But wouldn’t surprise me if you Yanks thought $300.00 was a fair price to have soft paper in which to wipe your bums!" he said with as much dignity as he could.

The girls all were wiping their eyes, and eventually, William laughed, too.

Elizabeth would have stopped the silliness in a heartbeat, if she felt that he was taking the joke too personally, if it was hurting his feelings. Luckily that wasn’t the case.

That evening, before it closed, and with Elizabeth at his side, he went into the little store, ordered ice cream for them all, and used the correct amount of money, $7.00 to pay for their 4, single-dip cones.

"More than a week’s pay," he grumbled, as he licked his Mackinaw Island Fudge ice cream cone.

"You have to get over it," Elizabeth said.

He just grumbled some more, somewhat curmudgeon-like, and she had to grin, while patting him on the back.

"I’ll never understand these prices, even if I understand how to use the money."

"You’re probably not alone in that William, you’re probably not alone."

If the days were for learning, being with Dawn and Willow, then the nights and mornings were theirs alone.

Lying together, kissing, holding, passions enflamed, but not yet quenched. This was when Buffy wished that time would stand still for them, when there was no loneliness, no worries. And it was the time when William didn’t care what century he thought he was from, or was from, what century he was now in, as long as it included Elizabeth with him, in his arms. Keeping the nightmares at bay.

Although far less than they had been in the beginning, Buffy would still awake to hear William crying out in his sleep. She would shake him awake, or hug him tighter, kiss him. Anything to bring him out of his nightmares. She couldn’t take having him suffer anymore than she could take all the suffering Spike had been through. She wondered did he ever dream Spike’s nightmares? Did some part of his subconscious still hold Spike’s memories and horrors, or were these just William’s own? Sometimes she thought they might be one and the same, as she thought she’d hear a word here, a word or phrase there that would seem hauntingly familiar to her. Or almost stop her heart.

"Burning, burning, the fire….burns…kinda stings," were the words that had almost stopped her heart last night as he called them out.

William wasn’t the only one who still had nightmares. He would also awaken sometimes to look at her, only to be dismayed by tears streaming down her face in her sleep, the look on her face one of pure grief, as if she had just lost her world. And he would feel an enormous sense of guilt. Her pain was palpable, and he knew that somehow, he had been the cause of it. He had left her and it had caused her pain. How could I have ever left you? He’d ask himself.

"It’s alright, Elizabeth," he would murmur to her, in her sleep, as he would gently wipe and kiss her tears away, "I’m here, I won’t ever leave you again," he would promise her, soothing her back to sleep.

On the morning of the 16^{th of June, Buffy’s cell phone rang. She had awoken in William’s arms, to the sound of it coming from the living room. Quietly untangling herself from him, she went out to answer it. She opened it up, as she walked toward the kitchen.}

"Hello?"

"Elizabeth? This is Dr. Turner."

"Oh, hi! How are you?"

"I’m fine. Listen, the reason I’m calling you is to tell you that Dr. Polydefkis was found dead in an elevator shaft yesterday. He’d apparently been trying to leave the building after the electricity had gone out, during the storm, right after you and William left. Guess they’d shut down all the elevators and he didn’t know."

Buffy’s heart was pounding, but she was glad. She hated herself, but she was glad, glad he was dead, glad he wouldn’t be able to ever get anywhere near William again.

"I see," she said.

"There’s more…"

"The plane crash?" Buffy asked, interrupting.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"The newspaper carried a UP press release. Willow saw it yesterday.

"Do you remember how I had switched the rooms of William and Mark Mason, so that if Dr. Polydefkis came by, he wouldn’t know where to find him? Well, strangely enough, they took Mark Mason, anyway. I don’t understand why they did that."

"Maybe they also wanted him," she said, not wanting to explain that Willow was a witch who cast a spell, so that anybody seeing him would think it was William. Sure, that would work.

"Not likely," he said. "How’s William doing? And you?" he asked, changing the subject.

"William is doing much better, he’s been reading some books on inventions that Willow bought him. Believe it or not, he’s even been using the Internet, and he’s discovered the television."

"Really? That’s great! I knew that in the right atmosphere he’d come around. Just don’t want to let him overdo it all. It might overwhelm him and make him withdraw, again. What about his memory? Has he started to get that back?"

"No…not yet."

"I see. But he’s coping?"

"I guess so…it’s just that, well, he doesn’t seem to want to leave the cabin. Guess he feels safe inside. I mean, he’s been out on the deck, but hasn’t even gone down to the beach. I think he’s scared. He sticks very close to me. Not that I mind. Not at all!" she emphasized.

Dr. Turner who had been taking some notes, nodded, "I think that’s to be expected. He’s probably very dependent right now on you, on all of you. He’s been through a lot."

If only he knew!

"I’m encouraged though, by his interest in the books and the world around him, that’s a very good sign. You may just have to push him to walk out into the world a bit. Encourage him to be as independent from you as possible."

"What do you mean?" she asked, bristling, a bit.

"It’s a common occurrence, when somebody has lost their memory, or has become incapacitated in one way or another, for that person to become very, very dependent on their caretaker."

"I’m not his caretaker! I’m his…wife," she said, once again falling into the comfortable lie.

"Well, you’re still his caretaker. And while that’s probably a role you’re enjoying, especially since he’s been gone from you for so long, in the long run, it’s not very healthy for either of you."

"So, what? I should just push him away, then?" she asked, a bit icily. She’d done that for too many years in the past, until finally, it had been too late. She’d be damned if she’d do that again, no matter what any doctor said.

"Of course not. Just give him gentle little prods in the right direction. Make him do some things by himself. Let him stand on his own two feet."

She was silent, thinking about what he’d said, but also about the threat that was also still present.

"What about you?" he asked.

"Me?"

"How are YOU doing?"

"I’m fine. Really, I’m just so…happy that he’s here. With me," she wanted to say ‘safe,’ but didn’t know if that was accurate.

"Good, just give it all time, and don’t forget to get back to your own life, too, by the way. When are you going back to California?"

"I…I’m not sure. In a couple of weeks, I guess."

"Well, let me know. And don’t forget you can call me anytime or email. So can William. In fact, have him do that. I’d like to hear from him, okay?"

"Sure, I will. Thanks for calling and letting me know about Dr. Polydefkis."

"You’re welcome. I figured you’d be relieved to hear that."

"I am."

"Good-bye, Elizabeth," he said, hanging up. He scratched his head pondering all the very strange occurrences that had happened around William Worthington.

Willow came out of her bedroom, "Who was that?" she asked, stretching her arms above her head.

"Dr. Turner. He called to tell me that Dr. Polydefkis is dead. He fell down the elevator shaft after we left that evening. Guess the power was out and...I hate to say this, but I'm glad. From what I know of him, I'm...just glad is all. Glad he won't be able to hurt anybody else."

Willow shuddered thinking of the gross things he had talked to her about, all the while trying to hit on her.

"I can't generate much sympathy for him, either, I'm afraid."

Buffy poured her and Willow a cup of coffee.

"Hold that coffee, I'll be right back," she said, slipping into the bathroom.

"Hey, that's not fair," Buffy said, "I was up first."

She heard Willow laugh behind the closed door.

After they'd both used the restroom, they took their coffees outside to the deck.

"Pretty here. Peaceful," Buffy said, looking at the lake.

"Yeah, I really am enjoying this. Especially after the other night!"

"Yeah."

"Listen, Buffy, there's a couple of things I need to talk to you about. First thing is that I need you to get William out of the house for a couple of hours, so I can concentrate on some spells I need to do."

"Okay, I was thinking of taking him to the beach. I think he can handle that now. He seems to be coming out of his shell quite a bit. He was sort of on a roll there yesterday, wasn't he?"

"He was. Had me in stitches with the toilet paper comment," she laughed.

"Yeah, pretty good sense of humor for an 'uptight Victorian,' wouldn't you say?"

"Well, a long time ago you said it would be, 'Nice to go out with someone who didn't remember the Industrial Revolution,' didn't you?"

Buffy rolled her eyes, "I remember, and boy is this a classic case of be careful what you wish for, if I ever heard one."

Willow laughed, "You're not kidding."

They looked at each other and cracked up.

"Besides, he's not that uptight," Buffy said, with a bit of a smirk that reminded Willow of Spike.

"I'll leave that for you to decide. Not going to touch that with a ten foot pole," Willow answered, suddenly aware of the possible double entendre.

Buffy just grinned.

"Okay, new subject. The second thing is have you thought how we're going to get William across the country? Back to California?"

Buffy was glad to hear the word; 'we're,' instead of, 'you.' "I don't know. I probably should have been giving more thought to it, but I've just wanted to make sure William was alright, you know? Then I've been just sort of enjoying being here. With him. With you guys. Guess I haven't really put too much thought into it."

"Well, we could fly, but that probably won't work."

"I don't think so. I just can't see him being able to not freak out."

"Train?"

"That's a thought. Is there one that goes all the way?"

"Think there's one that goes all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles."

"I don't know if I can subject him to going into Chicago. For one thing, it's way too large for him to handle, and second thing, the memories. I mean, Chicago is a wonderful city, and I'll always remember it for having found Spike there," she put her hand, unconsciously up to her heart, "but it's also where it almost took him away from me. Where he was lost and afraid."

"There's probably other cities that a cross-country train goes across-country from."

"Yeah, but I bet anything that is from anywhere near here, still feeds into the Chicago station. Seems my mom was once looking up this stuff, when she thought that maybe I'd live with a relative in the Chicago suburbs while attending Northwestern University," she said, laughing at the impossibility that scenario had presented. "Never even thought to look them up, when I was there with Dawn."

"You were kind of busy," Willow said.

"Yeah, looking and talking to every homeless person, every shelter for 5 days. Going through boxes at a museum, visiting dead professor's apartments. Though we did manage to do a little shopping. At Marshall Field's no less. And some other places."

"Cool."

"Very. Just have a wicked shoe craving I have to satisfy sometimes."

"Try the gum, in case the patch doesn't work."

"Neither worked. I tried."

"I see."

They sat quietly drinking their coffee for a while.

"We can drive," Willow suggested.

"Don't have a car."

"Rent one?"

"Maybe. Sort of confined for such a long trip, though."

"What about a camper?"

"What? Like a Winnebago?"

"That name cracks me up. Yeah, one of those. They have bedrooms, stereo and TV’s, music, showers, kitchens, all the comforts of home. All we have to do is to find a campground every night! It could be fun."

"Yeah, it just might be. Give William a chance to see the country. Heck, give us a chance to see the country," Buffy said.

"Road trip, then?"

"Yeah, road trip!" Buffy agreed.

"Wait. Who's going to drive it?" Buffy asked, "I'm not the best driver in the world, but what I do drive is a small Subaru. I can't see driving a Winnebago."

"Me either. Dawn?"

"I don't think so."

"We could all take a turn, couldn't we?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, Buffy, Dawn, you, and William, too."

"Might be interesting."

"Might be dead."

"Probably you and William wouldn't have to worry about that. Dawn neither. Probably you'd all come back. Hmm, I should worry, though."

"Yeah," Buffy agreed, "you probably would be the one who'd be dead-dead."

"So, if we're not comfortable with driving a honkin' big RV, who can we call? Um, ask to drive for us?"

"Rent-a-driver?"

"Really?"

"I don't think so. Maybe," Buffy said, pondering the possibility.

"Hey, hey! What about Bernie? He is a driver! Maybe he'd be able to take some time off and drive the thing!"

Buffy thought about that for a while, "That's not too bad an idea, Will. Except for one thing, I don't know if he'd really want to leave home and drive cross country with us, and the second thing is that I don't know if it's fair to mix him up in all that is us, if you know what I mean."

"I know what you mean, but he was already mixed up with it, when he started taking you and Dawn around looking for Spike, being the get-a-way car, etc."

"Yeah, but that was different. And he was a blessing to us, but our lives, even if momentarily they're not being overrun by the supernatural, there's always that chance. I've never wanted to involve innocent people more than I've had to. Let me think about it for a few days, okay?"

"Okay, but that's what I wanted to tell you. You don't have to worry about protecting William from supernatural interference. I've already cast the supernatural protection spell over you and William. Over Dawn, too. Now all I have to do is take care of the forgetting spell, so that non-supernatural beings can't find you, either. And erasing the paper trail; that stuff."

"When did you do the protection spell?"

"The other night, after you and William were asleep, I came in, sprinkled sand around you both, making sure you were within a circle and cast the protection spell. Easy. Same with Dawn. She’s a bonus."

"Really? That's great," she said, but glad that Willow hadn't come in when her and very un-uptight William had been 'engaged.'

"I knew you guys were asleep, don't worry. I'm not a peeping Tom or Tamara." she said, reading Buffy's mind.

"I know. I’d wondered where the sand had come from, since the only sand either of us could have brought into the bedroom, was on our shoes."

"Now you know," Willow said, smiling. "I know I said I wasn't a peeping Tom or Tamara, but I did notice how happy you guys seemed, even as you were sleeping. You both seemed happy and content, snug as a bugs..."

"I am. Spike, um, William seems like he is, too. When we're together like that, and I don't even mean that I feel so, I can't even put it into words, only that I never again want to spend another night without his arms around me. Ever."

Willow smiled, "That's great, Buffy. That's really great. I'm so happy for you. And you deserve it, you both do."

"I agree," she said.

Buffy sipped her coffee, lost in thought for a few minutes.

"How long will the protection spell last?" Buffy asked, finally.

"As long as..." she stopped, catching herself, "I'd say it's good for a couple of years, at least."

"Oh. Like an expiration date or something?"

"Sort of."

"Then you can do another one?" she asked hopefully.

"I don't know. Probably. Sure. I don't know why not, though I'll have to get the coven's permission again."

Buffy thought for a moment. "Why didn't they just allow you to put a permanent protection spell on Spike, knowing what they know about how he saved the world? Doesn't that seem a fair trade?"

Willow knew she couldn't give the true answer, without revealing what she was sworn not to reveal. Instead she said, "It does, when you put it that way, seem like a fair trade. Remember, it's because of Spike's special sacrifice that they've allowed me to do this at all. It's a very special and strong magic that will protect him, and you, from all things supernatural. Maybe it does have to be renewed every couple of years. Or maybe it's a 'let's reevaluate this again in two years,' kind of thing. I'm not sure."

Buffy digested this for a while.

"Hey, does this mean that I can kick some demon ass, and they can't kick mine? Like I have an invisible shield or something?" Buffy asked with a wicked grin.

"Um, not sure about that, Buffy. Besides, thought you were out of the demon ass-kicking business."

"Yeah, just wondering."

"In case you got into a wicked argument with Clem, perhaps?"

"You got it!"

After breakfast, Buffy and William were cleaning up when she suggested that he join her on the beach.

"Um, I don't know. I..." he stammered, red faced.

"What?"

He didn't reply.

"William," Buffy said, coming up close and putting her arm around him, "I know that you're not used to seeing so many women and younger women wearing so little..."

"Well, I've seen that enough for the last few days, Elizabeth, to be rather used to it," he countered. Heck, he’d almost stopped gawking with his mouth open.

"What then?"

"It's just that I've...I've never worn so little in public before. At least I don't remember doing so. You know, me and my false memories," he said with a wry smile.

"I know that Dawn and Willow bought me some swimming trunks," he continued. That's what they're called, right?"

Buffy nodded.

"But I don't know how I'll feel walking to the beach in them. I think I'll feel quite naked. And I don't really know how to swim," he quickly added.

"Well," Buffy said, lightly kissing his ear, before she whispered into it, "we'll both be almost naked, but socially acceptable for 2008, together. And that was a mouthful, I hope you appreciated it."

"Not to mention, a really poor grammatical sentence," he joked, as part of him was definitely appreciating both the ear kissing, coupled with the word naked, "Oh, alright. If we must!"

"Woohoo!" she rather squealed, causing his eardrum to vibrate a bit painfully, "I mean, thank you, William."

She danced off to put on her new bikini and he grudgingly went to put on his new beach attire.

Not since he could remember being a boy had he worn short pants, and these were worse still. Way short pants. Well, shorts, except some weird material that were lighter than the pants he'd been wearing lately.

"Hummppfff," he said, looking over at what were referred to as water shoes. He put them on. They felt funny over his toes. Next, he pulled a towel with a bunch of penguins on an iceberg out of the bag. He tried to drape it over his shoulders as much as he could. Wished he had another one for his waist. Wished he just hadn't agreed to this.

Buffy knocked on the door.

"Come in," William said.

She came in, towel in hand, and he was blindsided by her beauty. And he might add her almost naked beauty.

"You...you look," he whispered, almost breathless.

She smiled, innocently, "Hey, take it easy there, William. It's only a bikini."

"Uh huh," he said, nodding, not having taken his eyes from her.

Finally, he said, "It's nice. Quite fetching."

She smiled, broadly then, "I'm glad you like it," she said, walking toward him. She took the towel away from him and throwing it onto the bed, she came up and pressed herself to him, and put her face up to his, she kissed him. His arms went around her and as he hungrily touched her bare back, pressing himself into her, moaning her name.

"You want to make out?"

"Oh, God, yes!" he answered.

"Good, then let's go," she laughed and grabbing his towel, put it around his waist, and pulled a shocked and aroused William toward the door to the deck.

Hell, he'd follow her anywhere, he thought to himself.

She stopped to grab a couple of folding lounge chairs, some floating things, and the NoAd SunBlock #45, before they went down to the sand.

"Help me set up the chairs."

"Okay," William replied as he unfolded hers.

She put the towel over his and he followed suit.

She sat in front of him between his legs, "Can you put some on my back?" she asked, giving him the bright blue bottle.

"Alright," he answered, as he squirted some out and started applying it, rubbing it into her shoulders and arms, and finally her back. He took his time, enjoying touching her.

"Thanks," she said when he was finished, "okay, trade places."

She sat on her chair, and motioned him to sit on the end. He did, and she rubbed sunblock on his pale skin. Not as pale as Spike had been, not as hard and sinewy, but still, very nice. She couldn't believe that she was sitting outside, in the sun, with Spike. Well, William, to be exact. She felt moved and scooted up, kissing his back, forgetting that she had just applied sunblock, "Ick," she said, wiping her lips, and proceeded to get more sunblock on her mouth, "Ick, ick!"

"What's wrong?"

"All your fault!"

"What's the matter," William said, in a concerned voice.

"What the matter is, is that you're so darn kissable, you made me get sunblock on my lips."

"Oh, I see. That's my fault?"

She nodded.

"Well, only fair, I should take some of the blame then," he said, and kissed her lips, right there in the sun and in front of God and the beach populace, "Ick, indeed," he said, smiling at her.

Dawn had gone to the store, while inside, Willow had drawn a circle in sand in the living room. She put into the circle an article of clothing from each William, Buffy, and Dawn. It was hard to find something that wouldn't be missed, since they each had so little with them, but grudgingly rummaging through the dirty laundry. For Buffy and Dawn, it would have to be underwear, for William a sock. Pants would have been missed, and nobody, except William was wearing socks. Didn't really want to touch anybody's underwear, least of all William's. She was grateful for the sock. At the last minute, she had added Dawn, since she was also someone who could be harmed in an attempt to get at either William or Buffy. She hoped the coven wouldn't mind and that she had enough power for her, too.

"Renenutet, Goddess of Suckling, Goddess of the Name, Goddess of Protection...I call on thee to protect thy name of William Worthington, also known as Spike, also known as William the Bloody, from all those who seek it to harm him. Let his name disappear from all those memories and sources, so that he may live in safety and peace. Renenutet, Goddess of Suckling, Goddess of the Name, Goddess of Protection...I call on thee to protect thy name of Elizabeth Anne Worthington, also known as Buffy Anne Summers, from all those who seek it to harm her. Let her name disappear from all those memories and sources, so that she may live in safety and peace. Renenutet, Goddess of Suckling, Goddess of the Name, Goddess of Protection...I call on thee to protect Dawn Summers, also known as The Key, from all those who seek it to harm her. Let her name disappear from all those memories and sources, so that she may live in safety and peace. I beseech thee, I your humble servant, Willow Rosenberg."

She finished the spell, by sprinkling a powdery looking pink sand inside the circle. A plume of smoke, pink at first, then turning to golden yellow, hovered above the circle, before hurtling through the screened windows.

Satisfied, Willow broke the circle with her toe, and vacuumed up the sand.

She then went to lie down on her bed in order to regain her strength. She'd need it for the next thing she had to do!

Buffy had gone up to the air pump, which was near the store and filled up two rafts. After she came back down, she pulled William to his feet, "Time to swim."

"I can't swim," he told her.

She smiled, remembering how she'd gotten Spike to almost float, well, couldn't exactly do that here, could she?

"Come on, play in the water with me, then," she said, holding up a small, colorful, foam football.

He hesitated

"Thought you wanted to make out," she said, teasingly. She walked away from him, her hips swaying in a sexy suggestive way.

Follow her anywhere, might as well be here. He got up and raced past her into the water.

She was surprised as he sprinted past her and jumped in after him, diving under the water and coming up next to him.

"Gotta get wet," she said, splashing him.

He splashed her back, then holding his nose, went under.

"Try just holding your breath," she said to him.

He tried, and came up sputtering.

"Okay, both of us together. On the count of three," she said, holding his hands, "one, two, three!"

They went under water, facing each other. She could barely make him out in the water, which was murky from the sand being all kicked up, but she found his lips and kissed him quickly.

He came up and took a breath, "I like making out, on land better," he said.

"Oh, yeah, come 'ere you," she said, pulling him to slightly deeper water.

She wrapped her now, almost weightless legs around him, as he stood and kissed him.

Um, now this was nice! He kissed her back, as she gently bounced up and down on him.

"Could drown like this," he whispered.

"Would that be so bad?"

"Not as long as you're with me. I'm already drowning in you, Elizabeth," he said, kissing her lips again, as they pressed against each other. Her thighs tightening around him.

Want her so much!

"Better stop, before children get ideas," she said, staring guiltily at some kids who'd come floating by, staring at the couple.

Reluctantly, she put her legs down and swam to the shore. She ran up on the beach, leaving him in the water, looking after her. She came back a few seconds later, carrying the foam football.

"Can you catch?"

"Of course," he said, huffily, "can you?"

"Of course!" she swam about 20 yards away from him and threw the ball at him. It came in short and splashed in front of him, "You throw like a girl," he yelled to her.

He picked it up, examined the strange material, light, sturdy, buoyant and threw it at her. She missed, as well, "You do, too!" she teased.

The next few throws and catches were better and they got into the groove of the game. After about 15 minutes, they came and sat on their beach chairs again and sunned themselves, reapplying lotion.

Inside, Willow steeled herself for the next and much harder incantation she would attempt. Once again she made a circle, this time using black sand the coven had given her. She used chalk to draw a snake like symbol in the inside of the circle, then she got inside and sat on top of it. "Wadjet, also known as Maat-Neferu, Justice is Perfection, grant me this, oh brave one, send me to the one who wishes to destroy the happiness of those who have sacrificed to save this world, I implore thee!"

Her body grew rigid as her eyes went black, along with her hair, then to white. Her eyes returned to blue. She stared straight ahead, looking at something only she could see. Her aura swirled around her body for a few minutes, then turning into millions of points of light; it swirled up and exploded into yet more points of light, until there were billions and billions of them. Then, suddenly, like the plume of smoke from her last spell, the points of light hurtled themselves through the window, her aura along with them.

June 16, 2008

City Desk, Sun-Times

2:30pm CST

Hey, Rogers, didn't you have a story on some nutcase who was found in The Field Museum, then wound up in the nuthouse at The University of Chicago? Why don't you follow that up?"

"Sure," Rogers said, as he dialed up the hospital's press releases number, while looking at his file in the computer.

They claimed to have never heard of any such patient.

"Hmm," he mused, dialing the psych department number itself. Gretchen Froesch, RN, answered the phone, "10 North," she said.

Rogers explained who he was and what information he was looking for, "Boy, do I ever have a story for you," she whispered, as she thought back on William Worthington, and all the meetings, policy changes, and downright scary events this patient had left in his wake. As she spoke, an invisible-to-the-eye cloud of pink smoke made it's way to her desk, hovering over and above her.

"Who are you again?" she asked.

"Rogers, David. Sun-Times."

"Oh, I think you have the wrong department. We've never had anybody like that as a patient. I'll let you know, if I hear of anything," she said, as she hung up. She scratched her head, then went back to work.

"What the...?" Rogers said, looking up, he saw the screen saver logo for the Sun-Times bouncing around his computer screen. He tapped the mouse a couple of times and only saw his desktop's wallpaper.

"What was I just doing?" he asked himself.

2:30pm

Dr. Turner's residence.

"Did you talk to...?"

"Who, did I talk to who, Catherine?"

"I forgot who I was going to ask you about? Did you talk to anybody today?"

"Dr. Turner thought about it, "I don't believe I did," he said, just as the number he had dialed, disappeared forever from his phone's record log.

June 16, 2008

Los Angeles

1:00pm PST

Angel had just finished making numerous calls to all his outside contacts, trying to come up with some new on William's where-a-bouts.

He had only this morning learned of the doctor's death, which didn't bother him in the slightest. He'd been a toady from the beginning. Just a tool to use. But having found out that the plane, not only had crashed, but also had been carrying the wrong 'mental patient' to begin with. How could Dr. Polydefkis have made that sort of mistake?

An hour ago he had called some of his contacts in Chicago, trying to trace what had happened in and around the hospital that night. All he could find out was that the next morning, the laundry department had come in to find dozens of pairs of new, brand name shoes, lined up on the floor.

Now, he had once again, put in a call to one of his best agents, "So, what did you find out about William...?" he tapped on the desk with a pencil, impatiently willing his brain to provide the last name, he'd learned of a few weeks ago. He never forgot a name.

"What was that, Angel?"

"What did you find out about W...?" What the hell? Finally, he yelled, "About W...Spike?"

"Spike, sir? Didn't you just call him, Wi...?

"Are you playing with me, you know, the person I was looking for, the one who...?"

Angel furrowed his brow in rage. What was going on?

"I'm sorry, Angel, you must not have given me a name, I have nothing written down."

"I know I did, His name is....he used to go by Sp...?," he finally said.

"Who?"

Angel slammed the phone down. Help these days. He pressed the button on the intercom. Bring me all files beginning with Sp," he yelled.

"That's right, Sp. S. and p. Sp!"

A few minutes later, he spotted what he was looking for, Spike, William, William the Bloody. Still, the last name didn't appear anywhere.

All of a sudden the building began to tremble. At least his office did. He stood up, and as he did, billions of points of light surrounded him, coming up underneath his door. He tried to move, but found they burned him like sunlight, if he got anywhere near them. He waited until the presence made itself known.

Willow's aura now coalesced into a whole, at least that's what it felt like.

"Angel," she said, using her other worldly voice.

"What do you want?"

"I'm here to bring you an order from The Highest Order of the United Coven of Bath," she said.

"Willow? How you doing?"

"I'm fine, Angel," she said, "how you doing?"

"Not bad at all," she answered.

"That's good. Always did like you," he lied.

"You, too," she lied, as well.

"Back to business. I'm here to order you to stop trying to interfere in the life of William Worthington, formerly known as Spike, formerly known as William the Bloody!"

"Yeah, yeah, formerly known as Big Bad, now known as Soul-boy, what else you got?"

"That's about it, Angel," she replied.

"And why should I quit trying to find William, Willow? Him and I are pals, besides, just wanted to see how that shanshu thing is going for him, protect him, that's all."

"Liar!"

"Well, now that you mention it," he said, grinning.

"William and all his names, are protected, as is Buffy. From you and anything human or supernatural, you may try to throw their way. It is the wish of the coven for the prophecy to play out in the way it was intended."

"Hell, Willow, have you seen William? Wouldn't matter if I keep him under my protection for two years or if Buffy does. The prophecy will play out, but not the warm-willy sort of way you seem to hope it will. I've got all the time in the world, Willow. I'll have a chance at the shanshu again."

"Why do you want that anyway, Angel? You seem to be enjoying the power of Wolfram & Hart at your fingertips. Why want to become human anyway?"

"I don't really care about that, I just don't want it to happen to be William."

"Buffy loves him, Angel. She really does. Don't you want her to be happy? Isn't that why you went away?"

"Buffy loved Spike. Maybe she loved him, I was never quite clear on that, what with her kissing me and telling me that she was going to go bake for a while."

"She's baked, Angel, and her cookies are all for William. Sorry."

"Willow, there's just some things you don't understand. I don't care if Buffy doesn't love me anymore. Hell, I don't even like her, let alone love her, but I sure as hell don't want...no wait. This is a stupid argument. Like I said, I've got all the time in the world to wait and see. But heck, it will only take two years to find out."

"I'll make you a bet, Willow. In two years time, William the Bloody, Spike, or whatever name he chooses to go by will cease to be, no more, nada. I mean, come on, Willow. I know he called me a poof, but WILLIAM? Biggest Nancy-boy and bad poet, ever."

Willow sighed, at least her aura did, "Just remember what I told you. Try to interfere, which by the way, have I mentioned that you can't? Try to interfere and the Coven will destroy all this and you, too."

"Whatever. I've got time. Give the happy couple my best wishes, will you?"

"Good-bye Angel. You've been warned."

"Bye Willow. Thanks for dropping in. See you in a couple of years."

And with that, she was gone.

The billions of points of light came flooding back across space, across time, back into the cabin, back into Willow, putting her aura back into place. She collapsed over onto her side, spent.

Half an hour later, she finally was able to sit up, then stand. Wearily, she vacuumed up the circle, then lay down on her bed, falling into a deep and dreamless sleep.

END CHAPTER 54

TBC

Sorry it took so long for an update. I had most of this written, but things just didn't fit. Until today. I'll try to post more of this in the next week, as soon as I get them on to the road trip. Yeah, road trip. Now R & R!

"Come on, let's float," Buffy said, grabbing a floating raft she'd brought down.

William picked up the other one and followed her into the water. She was already on hers, when he tried to get on his, and wound up flipping off it. Coughing, and trying to maintain his dignity, he tried again with the same results.

Trying not to laugh aloud, since he seemed to be taking this enterprise rather seriously, she hopped off of hers. "Here, I'll hold it still for you," she said, as he, this time, successfully got on and adjusted to it.

Buffy pulled him over to her raft as she got on, and using a plastic cord that was at the ends, tied the rafts together.

"Okay, lets head over to the rope out there," she said, motioning to the deeper end, marked by a rope, kept afloat by floating jugs, and other stuff.

"Um, I can't swim, you know," William said hesitantly.

"I won't let you drown, promise," she said.

"Use your hands to paddle," she said, showing him how.

Once they were out there, she twisted her foot around the rough rope, so that she would stay in one place. William did the same. They were facing towards the rest of the lake. She took his hand, so that his raft would stay right next to hers.

A speedboat with a water-skier came racing across the lake, causing rolling waves to come toward them, bouncing them up and down.

"Ug," William said.

"What's wrong?"

"Makes my stomach feel...queasy."

"Poor William. Well, it's only every once in a while."

Personally, she liked the feel, having grown up going to the ocean; this was nothing in the waves department. This lake didn't even have it's own waves, just little ripples.

Every time the boat came by, William groaned, but Buffy enjoyed the sensation, her mind drifting other things that went up and down, like waterbeds. Not that she had any experience in one of those, only from laying on one in a waterbed store.

The next time the boat came by, he reached out to steady himself by putting his hand over on her stomach. The feeling of the waves making the raft undulate, plus his hand on her stomach, somewhat south of her belly button was now giving her the most sensual-like feeling. She moaned as his hand pressed down.

"See, I told you. Making you queasy now, too?"

"No, it's your hand."

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, moving it.

"No," she said, pulling it back, "good groan, good hand, feels nice."

"Oh," he said, bewildered. He had so much to learn about women!

The boat came back, and again William pressed his hand down on her stomach to steady his raft. Once again she felt like she was in some sort of sensual heaven.

He glanced over at her, watching her chest rise and fall, as she smiled to herself, with her eyes closed. William forgot about his queasiness, and now hoped the boat would hurry back.

Dawn came back from shopping. Willow was still asleep and she didn’t see William and Buffy. Glancing out at the beach, she saw the chairs they’d bought sitting empty. Smiling, she put on her bathing suit and went down to the beach.

"This is nice," Buffy murmured.

"Yeah, it is," William agreed, "I wish, ahhhhh!" he yelled.

"Hey guys, what’s ya doin?" Dawn said, coming up from underneath them. She’d pushed up a little on William’s raft, startling him.

"Hi Dawn, just waiting for our ship to come in," Buffy said, giggling, "be careful, okay? William can’t swim."

"Can’t swim? Sheesh!" Dawn said, grabbing onto Buffy’s raft, instead of his.

"Well, nobody ever taught me to when I was a boy."

"I’ll teach you, William," Dawn offered.

"Um…I don’t know."

"Well, think about it."

"I will," he said, glad she didn’t mean right now.

"How was town?" Buffy asked.

"Small, doesn’t take long to find everything. Grocery store, gas station, drug store, a Subway, McDonalds, old-fashioned barbershop. That’s about it.

Buffy had been thinking about offering to give William a haircut, this gave her an idea.

"William," Buffy began, "how would you like to go into town this week and get a haircut at the barbershop?"

"Um…I don’t know. I…" he mumbled.

"Come on William, Buffy, I mean Elizabeth and I will take you. Your hair is pretty long and the sideburns…"

"What about the sideburns?"

"Well, they’re…"

"Dawn!"

"Elizabeth, let Dawn talk. What about them?" he asked.

"It’s just that they look a little bit…" she thought how to say it without hurting his feelings. She couldn’t just say that they looked like they belonged back in the 1880’s or 1960’s, for that matter. "They make you look older than you are. I think you’d look younger without them. And hotter."

"Dawn!"

"Hotter?" William asked.

"Cuter, more handsome."

He smiled. He liked Dawn, she was funny.

"What do you think, Elizabeth? Would I look ‘hotter’ with a haircut and shorter…" he looked at Dawn, who shook her head back and forth, "no sideburns?"

"You’re already hot, William," Buffy said, putting her hand on her stomach over his, "but a haircut would be nice for you," she said, diplomatically.

"Alright, then. I’ll do it. For you, Dawn, and you Elizabeth, and for the sake of being hotter," he said, grinning.

Dawn giggled and Buffy let out a sigh of relief that he hadn’t taken the idea the wrong way and also, that he was willing to go into town.

"When shall we go?" William asked.

"How about tomorrow? After breakfast?" Buffy suggested.

"Tomorrow?" he asked, gulping.

"Okay, how about the end of the week? Friday?"

"Alright, Friday, then," he agreed, and closed his eyes against the sun.

Dawn gave Buffy a thumbs-up and swam off.

The rest of the week Buffy slowly worked on just having William be able to be comfortable with his immediate surroundings, inside and out. She got him to go to the beach everyday, and take walks around the campground.

A couple of evenings later, they all even rented a rowboat and took turns rowing around the lake, admiring the houses on the other side, imagining what it would be like to have a house with it's own beach and boat on this lake.

One evening, right before dusk, Elizabeth and William rented their own rowboat and went around the lake.

"Thank you, Elizabeth," he said, abruptly, as they were resting near some lily pads and trees.

"For what?"

"For everything you've done for me, getting me out of the hospital, bringing me here...everything."

"You're welcome," she said, "I...sometimes I can't believe that you're here, with me...you're welcome," she finished unable to go on.

"I wish..."

"What do you wish, William?"

"I wish we could stay here. Live here. It's so...I don't know, peaceful."

"I know. I like it, too," Buffy said, "but my life, I mean our lives, our house is back in California. When you see how beautiful it is there, you'll love it like I do, too."

"I wish I could. See it, I mean," William said, "tell me about it again."

And so she did, she told him of the house, and the rooms, the kitchen, their bedroom, the fireplace, furnishings, the way it was nestled back in the forest and away from everyone. Told him of the beauty of the surrounding area and of the trails, and secret hot springs, of how it snowed there only for a short time every winter, and of the snowman they'd built, less the part about the fangs. Told him of how you could see the desert off in a distance from a lookout point on the trails. Told him of a special tree, where he'd carved their initials, but didn't mention what the tree had been used for. She told him of Clem's place down the road from theirs, that they had been friends for a long time. Told him about Edna, The Rittenhouse Restaurant, and her son, Lawrence.

William sat still, listening to this, transfixed, as they floated near the lily pads.

"What’s the name of it?"

"Huh?"

"The name of the town? All you’ve said is California."

"Oh, sorry," she said, she had been so with the keeping it a secret, she didn’t even realize that she hadn’t even told William yet. "It’s Julian. It’s about an hour from San Diego and about an hour and a half from where we used to live in Sunnydale."

"Pretty name. Sounds familiar, somehow," he said.

She hoped that William didn’t recall the source of that memory right now. His brother. She sighed quietly in relief when he didn’t.

"William?"

"Hmm?"

"I know this is going to sound strange, but nobody but you, me, and Clem know the where the house is, and I’d sort of like to keep it that way."

"What do you mean? That even your friends don’t know where you live? Willow? Dawn?" he asked.

"No. Nobody."

"But why? Why didn’t you want them to know where you lived?"

"It’s hard to explain. You had kept it secret and when you…went away, I came up there to live and I just couldn’t bear to…"

"To what, Elizabeth?"

"To share it…your house, our house, with anyone else. It was all I had," she said in a small voice.

He scooted forward and lifted her face; her eyes had tears in them.

"And you changed your name?"

She nodded.

"I don’t understand," he said.

"I know and I’ll…I’ll explain it to you someday. I promise, but I can’t right now. Please. Just…please, let this still be only ours, okay? I just don’t want anyone to know…"

"Of course, Elizabeth. Whatever you want, you know I’ll do it for you!"

"I know. Thank you," she said, her emotions all jumbled up.

They rowed back in silence to the shore; each lost in their own thoughts.

END CHAPTER 55

JUNE 20, 2008

FRIDAY

9:00am

That Friday morning, Buffy awoke to find William shivering and moaning against her.

"William," she said, gently shaking him.

"No, no, don't hurt the girl...save her, have to save her," he mumbled in his sleep.

"William!" she repeated when she didn't get a response. She shook him harder.

He opened his eyes, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

"What's the matter?" she said, stroking his face, as he tried to orient himself to his surroundings.

He just shook his head.

"Bad dream?"

"I...I don't remember," he said, not daring to close his eyes again.

"You can tell me, you know."

He shook his head.

She leaned over and kissed him, soft and long, until he started to respond to her lovely mouth.

He sighed, shivering one more time, as he pushed the nightmare aside.

She continued kissing him, until she was sure he was 'back.'

"You can tell me anything, you know. And it's alright if you don't want to. Just remember, William. You're here with me now and you're safe! And dreams aren't real, even if they're scary. You're real, I'm real," she said, taking his hand and holding it to her heart.

"I know," he said, his eyes looking at her with love and gratitude.

He knew he was here, with her. In a cabin, in Michigan, in 2008.

But still, he didn’t want to risk shocking or upsetting Elizabeth. The dream had started out innocently enough. He was at a party of a friend of his brother’s and there had been the usual, discussions, drinks, hor d’ourvres. Everything was normal. Then he had spotted Cecily across the room and he’d tried to make his way toward her. But just as he got there, she had turned into Elizabeth. As he started to tell her she looked beautiful, a man appeared behind her. The man looked somehow familiar and he looked at William as if he knew him. Then his face had changed into that of a monster. Looking at William still, he took hold of Elizabeth’s neck, and with a sickening sound, had twisted and broken it. She had looked at William as if to call for help, but then she had been dead. He could see the monster’s fangs, as all of a sudden he pulled the limp Elizabeth toward him and put his teeth to her neck and began to drink.

William had screamed at all the people at the party, but they only looked at the monster, then went back to what they were doing. Nobody would come to help her.

He still shivered, as he remembered the visage of the monster, the sound of her neck being broken, and worst of all, his helplessness.

She looked at him, questioningly.

"I'll be alright," he said, attempting a smile for her sake.

"I know you will! In fact, I insist that you be just fine," she said, smiling, as she once again, kissed him. He gave into it, into the sensations of their flesh, into the escape from his nightmare.

Everytime they kissed like this it was getting harder and harder not go to the next step. Her kisses, the feel of her, her touch, the way she made him feel so...wanted. He felt so much more like a man, than he had only days ago, he was still not sure he was man enough to risk more. Even though he felt she was there right with him, he was still afraid, to risk Elizabeth's possible displeasure.

Reluctantly, Buffy pulled away from him, eliciting a cute, lower lip pout, "Don't go yet!"

"We should get up."

He bit his tongue at what he was going to say was already up, instead, he groaned and put his hands under his head, willing himself and it, to calm back down.

She giggled. She felt she'd discovered new, sadistic and masochistic sides to her personality, because she was so loving him wanting her so much! Loving the wanting part, herself. Loving the fact that the sexual tension between them had been building for days and the only thing keeping them 'apart' was a thin layer of nylon pajamas on her end, and a pair of sweat pants on his. That and an incredible amount of willpower on her part, probably a bit of timidity on his. The old Spike and Buffy would have made short shrift of those in, well, the past.

They made plans after breakfast to go into town so William could get a haircut and then they would go into Niles, the next town over to do some shopping for food and other stuff at the local Super Wal-Mart.

William was quiet during breakfast. The thought of riding in a car, going out, getting a haircut, and shopping, no less filled him with dread.

He excused himself and went back into the bedroom, leaving Dawn, Willow, and Buffy alone.

"What’s up with William?" Dawn asked.

"I don’t know, guess I’d better find out," Buffy said, going into the cabin.

She knocked on the bedroom door, before entering.

William was sitting on the bed.

"What’s wrong?"

"Nothing. I don’t know. I just…" he shook his head.

"Not happy about going out?"

"Hard to be happy, as you put it, when I don’t know anything about what out is all about, now do I?" he said, in an exasperated voice.

"Well, I guess you’re just going to have to find out, then, aren’t you?" Buffy answered him, just as exasperated.

He looked up at her, frowning, "I don’t even know what kind of haircut to tell the barber that I want. I don’t like cars. I hate shopping."

She looked at him for a few seconds, then went over to the bag that she’d gotten from the 10 North nurse that contained his things. She pulled out the copy of the picture of her and him underneath the canopy that he’d drawn and handed it to him.

"You could go for something like this. Not the white hair, I just mean the cut. Or you could leave it a little longer. You can always ask the barber for suggestions," she said, running her hand through his long, unkempt hair.

He looked at the picture. His eyes softened as he saw how lovely she looked, how happy. He wished it were real, that it had really been a picture of their wedding.

"As for the car," she continued, "I’m afraid you may just have to get used to it. We’ll have to leave here in less than 2 weeks, and it’s a really long drive to California. Unless you want to fly in an airplane, which I don’t think you do. In any case, if you get car sickness again, you can take something for that."

"And, as for shopping, I don’t think most guys like to shop, unless it’s for weapons, or hunting stuff," she said, remembering a time, she’d rather enjoyed looking at weapons, herself. However, it’s a necessary evil, and well, I like it and if you’re going to be with me, it’s just one of those things you’ll have to do occasionally. For me. Okay, Mr. Shirty?" she asked, teasingly, as she ruffled his hair.

He grabbed her then and pulled her down on his lap, "Mr. Shirty, is it now?"

Buffy giggled.

"Okay, for you I’ll get a bleedin’," he stopped, looking mortified. "Excuse me, Elizabeth, I’m so sorry. I mean a darn haircut, ride in a car, and go shopping. Happy?"

She had been thrilled when he’d used the word, ‘bleedin.’

She kissed him on the top of the head, "Yes, happy. Thank you, William."

He smiled at her and just shook his head.

An hour later they were in front of the barbershop.

"Okay, this is where you get off," Buffy said.

He looked at her, frightened, "Alone?"

"Of course," she said, smiling, "you can do it. Just show him the picture, and tell him you want something like it. Then pay him. The sign says $10. Oh, and you should tip him a couple of dollars, too."

"Ten dollars? More than a weeks salary," he grumbled.

"Yeah, I know, just don’t mention it to him. It really is reasonable. Then again, men’s haircuts always are cheaper. Why I’ve paid $25 for a haircut, and if I want it dyed, not that I do, mind you, then it’s about $75."

"Good God!"

"Yeah, that’s what I said, too!"

"Just sit in the waiting area when you’re done. We’re going to walk over to the library next door. So, twenty, thirty minutes?"

He nodded, and taking a deep breath, walked into the barbershop.

"He’ll be okay, Buffy," Willow said, patting her on the back.

"Yeah, guess so." She’d wanted to go in with him, but Willow and Dawn had convinced her to let him do it on his own. That and she’d remembered Dr. Turner’s words about letting him be independent. "Guess it’s innocuous enough, isn’t it?"

"Yeah, it is, Buffy. It’s a good first step for him," Willow said.

They walked next door to the library and spent the next half-hour checking out the books that were for sale in the back corner.

They made their purchases, totaling the huge sum of $2.35 for 7 magazines, 9 paperbacks, and 3 older hardback copies of poetry, a novel about the Roman Empire, and a love story.

"I can hardly wait to see William’s haircut," Dawn said, looking at Buffy with a big grin, as they walked over to the barbershop.

"You ready?" Dawn asked.

Buffy nodded, as she opened the door to the barbershop. Her heart started pounding when she looked in the waiting room and didn’t see him.

"Where is he?" she yelled.

The barber stopped mid cut above his customer’s head. "Who?"

"William. The man whose hair you just cut!"

He motioned to the door marked bathroom.

"Oh, sorry," she said, red-faced.

The barber just shook his head and went back to his business.

Just then the door to the bathroom opened and William walked out.

Her heart caught in her throat as they made eye contact.

Her grin started out small, then widened into an all encompassing huge smile. William had been transformed into Spike! At least his hair had. Less the white, of course.

He smiled back shyly at her, as he ran his hand over his now smoothed down, brushed back hair. "You like it?"

"You look great, William," she said, admiringly, "what do you think?"

He walked up to her, and whispered in her ear, in a way that thrilled her, "I like how it’s making you look at me," he said, rather suggestively, "so yeah, I like it, too."

She smiled and took his hand, opening the door to the shop.

"Bye now," the barber said.

"Good-bye, thank you for the fine haircut, Mr. Duffy," William said.

The barber waved him off.

Dawn and Willow were standing on the sidewalk talking when Buffy and William approached.

Dawn turned around and saw him first, "Oh my God!" she squealed.

Willow shook her head, amazed.

"So, um, Dawn, do I look, ‘hotter,’ as you so succinctly put it yesterday?"

"Oh, yes, William. Definitely, hotter," she replied, grinning.

He grinned back.

"Well, good then," he said, looking at them all staring at him. "I say, isn’t it about time you ladies dragged me shopping? Or are you going to stand here staring at my new haircut all day?"

They all giggled.

"I don’t know if we should take you shopping now," Dawn teased, "you may be too hot for the shopping masses."

"Yes, William. You may cause the salesclerks and other customers to fall away in a dead swoon," Willow added.

"Well, that would have the benefit of having the store to ourselves," Buffy added.

William just shook his head. They could be so silly sometimes. Although, he secretly was enjoying the attention, "If you’re all quite done, I’d like to get this over with," he said, then added, with a slightly Spike-like smirk, "I’d like to try this new look out on the beach sometime today. See if the bikini set thinks I’m ‘hotter,’ too."

Buffy just looked at him and cracked up. As they got in the backseat together, she leaned over and whispered to him, "We’ll see about that. I’m not sharing!"

He smiled and took her hand, "Good, then. I’m all yours."

The new look seemed to give William a sense of confidence as they drove over to Niles, although a couple of times, he the motion of the car upset his stomach. However, as soon as he saw the huge parking lot, the huge store, he stiffened a bit.

"You okay?" Buffy asked.

"Sure," he replied.

"Remember, just a huge store. No biggy, okay?"

He nodded.

The inside was nothing that he had ever experienced before. He had never seen so much stuff, literally from soup to nuts, before in his life.

Paper goods, drug store items, toys, outdoor, lighting, paints, clothing, hardware, automobile, groceries, and everything else underneath the sun.

William held tightly onto Elizabeth’s hand as they went down the aisles, following Willow and Dawn.

"Aren’t there any small stores anymore?"

"Oh, sure, there’s plenty. In fact, where we live, there isn’t even a Wal-Mart. Lots of little stores that just have one thing, like stationary, paint, lumber, a pharmacy, grocery store."

"But why have these stores?"

"I don’t know who started the whole idea of the department store, but whomever did, just figured it would be a good idea for people to just come to one place for all their shopping, instead of lots of places. Oh, and they could sell things cheaper, because they’d buy so much of it from the manufacturers."

"So, what happens to the little stores, then?"

"Um…I guess lots of them went out of business. It’s sort of sad, because little stores do have unique, individual personalities."

"And Wal-Mart? There’s lots of them?"

"Yeah, hundreds. Or maybe thousands. Wal-Marts, K-Marts, and a lot of others like them. All over the country. Just like McDonald’s and Burger Kings."

"Oh, what you call the fast-food joints?"

"Exactly."

"London had some of the first department stores, but they weren’t this huge. And they didn’t sell groceries. Usually, just lots of clothing, shoes, jewelry."

"Ummm," Buffy said, remembering Marshall Field’s, among others in Chicago.

"It’s quite…overwhelming, you know?"

"Yeah, it’s not only you, William. Sometimes I feel like that too, when I’m at one of these mammoth places."

"Another thing you and I have in common, then, eh?"

Buffy stopped and stared at him, mouth open.

"What’s wrong?" William asked, as he tilted his head, looking at her quizzically.

"Nothing. It just…reminded me of something you said to me a long time ago. Almost word for word."

"Oh," he said, then thought about it, "why, do I sound different than I used to?"

"You do. But then again, sometimes not so much," she said smiling, realizing that what she’d thought were just Spike’s speech patterns, could actually have been some of William’s as well. Spike had just kept some of them, adding a ‘pet,’ or a ‘luv,’ or a ‘bloody this,’ and bleedin,’ that to the mix.

In any case, she’d never heard anybody speak quite like either Spike or William. Two sides, same coin. She was coming to this realization more and more with each day that passed. It was just that William hadn’t had much experience, women or otherwise, before he was turned.

"Shoes, anyone?" Dawn suggested.

"Of course," Buffy said, "I’d never say no to shoes."

William looked at her funny.

"What?" she asked him.

"Nothing, nothing," he assured her. Why the subject of shoes, in particular, her liking shoes seemed familiar to him, he didn’t know.

After they’d had their fun in shoes, including Buffy, making William buy a pair of sandals, much to his dismay, they got their groceries, a few other things, and then went to the pharmacy area.

"Um, I need to get something," Buffy said, going off to another aisle, as she gave Dawn and Willow a particular look. "Be right back."

"William, let’s go look at razors," Willow said, distracting him from following Buffy.

Buffy got what she wanted and was about to pay for it at the pharmacy, when all of a sudden she saw a row full of condoms. She stopped. Oh brother, she thought, should I even…? Okay. Maybe. She looked around to make sure nobody was watching, then clandestinely picked up a package and started reading. Large, check. Lubricated, probably don’t need that, but okay. Ribbed. Ribbed? Huh? She’d never in her life been in contact with one of these things before. Angel, didn’t think about it, same with Parker. When she’d been with Riley, she’d been on the pill. And with Spike? Didn’t really need those things.

She looked around again, and finally found a box that seemed ‘normal,’ if that’s what you could call it. Extra large? Large? She made her choice. Lubricated. K-Y Jelly, too. What the heck.

She went up to the pharmacy and tried to look disinterested as the pharmacist rang up her purchases.

She started walking away, then noticed the bag was see-through. Crap! She walked back over to the pharmacy.

"Um, excuse me."

"Yes?"

"Do you have any other bags?"

He took it from her and put it into another, darker bag.

"Thanks."

"No problem, have a nice day," he said.

Buffy hurried away. "Well, that was a ten on the embarrassment scale," she mumbled to herself, "have a nice day, I’ll show him… oh. Hi. William," she said, as she came around the corner, almost running into him.

"You finished, Buffy?" asked Willow.

"Yeah, let’s get out of here.

END CHAPTER 56

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