A couple of mornings later, William sat in the living room reading a book, as Buffy finished up the breakfast dishes. She looked in on him now and then, making sure he was alright. He seemed to be more himself that morning, both his hand, and his disposition, being better.

He’d been strangely withdrawn for the past couple of days, gently rebuffing her advances, complaining of headaches, and his hand had strangely, still been bothering him, even though she hadn’t see any evidence of redness since the first evening.

She walked into the living room, "So, how would you like to do some more driving later?" she asked, hopefully.

He looked up at her, and shook his head, "I don't think I want to drive today, if you don't mind, Elizabeth."

"No, that's alright," she said, trying to hide her disappointment; not so much about the driving itself, but of his reluctance to pursue what he’d been so gung-ho to do at first. Even Clem had called a couple of times asking if William would like to work on the car or go out driving, but he'd refused him as well.

"So, what do you want to do then?"

He shrugged, "Actually, I think I'd rather enjoy just finishing some of these books today," he said, motioning to the stack from the library, "plus I haven't written anything in quite a while. Used to spend a couple of hours a day at least doing some composing, some writing."

"Oh, then…composing? What? Music?"

He shook his head, "Just a fancy way of saying writing down my thoughts, and in some cases, composing poetry," he cleared his throat, "not that it’s any good, mind you; just something I rather like to do."

She flashed back on those poems he had left for her inside of the box that Clem had brought up to Julian, tucked into her boot, "You gave me some poems once, they were nice…they meant a lot to me."

He looked at her surprised, "I did? And you…liked them? Really?"

She nodded, "Yes. Very much."

He didn’t say anything, just stared at her, sort of a look of wonder on his face.

"Anyway," she said, shaking herself out of her reverie, "If that’s what you’re going to do, then maybe I should get out of your hair then."

A host of different emotions played through his eyes in a matter of a second, "No, I don’t want…I mean, you don’t have to do that; leave that is, not because of me in any case. But if you have somewhere to be…then I’ll understand. Then you should go."

She stood there wondering what to do, she had almost thought for a minute he wanted to say something to her, but the moment seemed to have passed. "I think I’ll go take a walk for now, get some air," she said, hesitating, "you wanna come with? Just for a while? Might be nice to get some air…"

He shook his head, "No thank you, you go though."

She quickly turned her head to hide her disappointment. She put on her shoes, grabbed a bottle of water, her iPod, and after telling William she was leaving, headed up the trail.

She walked fast, spurred on by the music in her ears, but moreso, by the frustration she felt inside.

William had finished the last chapter of the book he’d been reading, then turned his attention to writing in his notebook. He hadn’t written much since they’d been back to Julian, and he had a lot of catching up to do. The hardest had been trying to capture on paper, the despair he’d felt the last few days. He might hide it from Elizabeth, but he couldn’t hide it from himself.

He got up and checked the clock; it had been a couple of hours since Elizabeth had left. He looked outside, and saw her car was still there. Maybe she’d gone over to Clem’s. As if on cue, he saw Clem drive up, he waved, disappointed that Elizabeth wasn’t with him.

"Hey William, want to go into town with me? I need to get a few things at the store and if you want, you can practice your driving."

"Um, er, no thank you. Not today, I don’t feel up to it."

Clem looked at him, shaking his head, "You know, whatever is bothering you, you shouldn’t let it interfere with your real life, with trying to make all this," he said, pointing to the house and surrounding area, "work for you and Buffy. You deserve it, honestly, you do. So does she, after all she’s been through, after all you’ve been through."

William was quiet, thinking about what Clem had said. He had so many questions he wanted answered, but he wasn’t sure if Clem would answer them, even if he could.

He cleared his throat, "Have you seen Elizabeth today?"

Clem shook his head, "Nope, thought she was here," he answered, looking at her car.

"She went for a walk, but that was quite a while ago, so I thought she might have stopped by to talk to you."

He shook his head again, "Nope, didn’t stop by. Why don’t you go hike up the trail and look for her? I was out on the one to my house a while ago and she wasn’t there, so she’s probably on that one," he said pointing. It was the trail that had ‘their tree.’

He looked hesitant, "I don’t know. She probably just wants some time alone," he said, even though he recalled she had invited him, recalled seeing her disappointment when he didn’t accept her offer to come along, though she’d tried to hide it.

Clem looked at him evenly, "Well, maybe. But the way I see it, is that she spent the last 5 years here all by herself, making a go of it. All by herself. Alone. I’d say that if she’s up there, staying away from here, then it’s not by her own choice, exactly. Well, gotta go! Give me a call when you’re up for some more driving lessons," he said, and put the car into gear, driving off before William could challenge his statement.

William stood there trying to digest what Clem had told him. Not by her own choice exactly? What did that mean? That he’d forced her to leave? No, he hadn’t done that…hadn’t driven her away, had he? His heart felt like it was in a vise all of a sudden.

Clem drove off, but stopped when he came to the gate. He should’ve been a psychologist, with all the Spike/Buffy turmoil he’d been a confidant to over the past…what? 7 or more years. He sighed. He really ought to charge for his services; at least enough to keep him in poker kittens. He backed up the car along the road all the way to the house.

As Clem suspected, William was still standing there where he’d left him.

William looked up as Clem’s car came driving up, in reverse. Clem looked over at him, "What are you waiting for? Go get her William, go find Buffy!" he said, pointing to the trail.

William snapped out of his reverie and nodded, "I will. Thanks, mate."

Clem smiled and drove off, while William went inside to put some shoes on. He grabbed some food and a couple of cans of some drink she liked, and shoved them into his backpack, then headed over to the trail.

He didn’t think about what he was doing, until he was a few hundred yards onto the trail. Maybe he should’ve left a note of some sort; what if she came home and found him missing? She always seemed so worried about him. He thought about the nature of their relationship as he walked along. For all his talk about wanting to take care of her, it seemed it was certainly the other way around, for the most part.

He berated himself and his perceived weaknesses, as he walked along the trail.

What kind of a man was he? The kind, who has a nightmare, then turns away from the one person in the world who has ever loved him? The worst sort of man, that’s who! No not man, a bleedin’ wanker! What if she was angry with him? What if she grew tired of his weaknesses one day?

"Nightmares be damned," he vowed to himself, "Won’t let them stop me from being with her, right and proper. Won’t have them making me act all the nancy boy, instead of a man, won’t let them stop me from…" he stopped talking to himself as he found himself in front of what he was pretty sure was, ‘The Tree.’

He walked around it to make sure. There it was, the inscription he’d long ago carved, but like everything else from his life, couldn’t remember. He touched his fingertips lightly to the initials, tracing their pattern in the bark. But he did remember it from a couple of weeks ago; he smiled at the memory of what followed.

He looked next to the tree and saw a small, overgrown foot trail. If he remembered correctly, it led out to the overlook. He stopped as he emerged from it; there she was, sitting with her knees up, back towards him, headphones on her ears.

He came up behind her and knelt down, and gently put his arms around her.

When she’d first come to live here, after he was gone, when the house would get to be too much, she would come up here to this spot sometimes. She’d sit here for hours, crying, laughing, ranting, more crying. Mostly though, to talk to him, about how she felt, how much he’d meant being in her life, through good times and bad. About how she loved him, how she would never forget him, what he’d done for her, how he’d saved her and the world.

And if she closed her eyes and meditated hard enough, she would almost feel his arms around her, hear him whisper in her ear about how much he loved her, was proud of her, that she was The One. She’d imagine him urging her to go on, to not spend her time mourning him, that he’d had a long life, and that she’d made it all worthwhile.

Buffy was in this type of deep meditation when William put his arms around her.

She sighed, smiling. So, there he was again, Spike.

"I’ve missed you."

"I missed you, too Elizabeth," William whispered, kissing her hair.

It felt so real; it had been so long since she’d seen Spike, talked to him. She opened her eyes and looked back, saw his gentle smile, his light brown hair, his full lips, his…?

Wait! This was here and now, not 5 years ago.

She reached up and touched his face, "Are you real?"

He nodded solemnly, then bent over to kiss her. She turned in his arms, so that he had better access to her mouth.

She stopped looking up at him, "I really did miss you, miss this, miss us," she said, and she meant it, even though it wasn’t the Spike that she missed talking to in her mind, it was still very much a part of him that she loved.

"I know. I’m sorry, I just let things get to me, make me feel…unsure of who I am, of what I’m…I’m sorry," he said, kissing her again, "I missed this too, so much…you have no idea..."

"Yes. Yes I do. I do."

She sat sideways between his legs, curled up against him, as he held her, whispered his love and devotion into her hair.

Buffy opened her eyes and took a quick look up into the sky, "Thank you," she mouthed to whatever deity would accept her benediction, "thank you."

He let her nap a while against him, as he looked out the hundred plus miles into the desert he could see in the distance. It was a peaceful spot, but lonely, too. There was something familiar about this place, beautiful and forlorn, all at the same time. Before she’d fallen asleep, she’d murmured that she’d always felt closest to him, when he was gone, when she was up here; that she could imagine his voice comforting her. All he knew, was that if it had been him that had thought she were dead, he wouldn’t have been so strong, wouldn’t have been sitting on the overlook, he’d have thrown himself off it into the abyss, a long time ago.

He looked down at her; secure in his arms, with her golden hair against his chest, a look of peace on her face, which had been missing for the past couple of days, because of him and once more, felt guilty for what he’d put her through.

Sunshine and the warmth of his arms was the first thing she felt making her aware that she’d been napping. She smiled at the irony of those two things linked together.

"Luv? You awake?"

"Um-hmm," she said, bringing her head up to look at him.

"Been out here a good long while bet you could do with a bit of food. I brought some for you," he said, smiling down at her.

"I am feeling a bit hungry for food, but feeling hungrier for this," she said, pulling his head down to hers, "you’re my sustenance."

William groaned, kissing her back hard, and then their hands were on each other, rediscovering each other.

Clothes were quickly discarded and made into a makeshift bed on top of the rock’s hard surface.

She pulled him on top of her, and without any further waiting, he slid into her; she closed her eyes at the bliss of it for a moment, before opening them back up to stare into his blue ones.

"I missed you," she whispered to him.

"I’m right here, luv."

She shook her head, "I don’t just mean this," she said, as she arched upward, wrapping her legs around his calves, "I mean here," she said, kissing his mouth, his head, his chest, "and here."

"I know, Elizabeth, I’m so sorry, ‘fraid to hurt you, ‘fraid…love you so much, so much, with every breath, every…" he groaned, forgetting the lingering remnants of the nightmare, as he was enveloped in the sensation of her warmth, her heat, her love, their coupling.

"William," Buffy gasped, kissing him back, fiercely, possessively, "love you, missed you, don’t cut me out, alone with you…same room…love you…my…heart."

"Won’t love, promise, promise you," he whispered to her, as he took her, there under the sky, under the heavens, silently promising her and himself, once again to never leave her, never hurt her, even if it meant hiding the truth from himself.

END CHAPTER 100

August 1, 2008

Friday

10:00am

"Hey, you’ve got an email! And there’s an attachment, too!"

It had been a little over a week since things had more or less gone back to normal. William hadn’t had any more nightmares or headaches since that time, at least none that Buffy had been aware of, and he’d resumed learning to drive. Almost every day since then, either her or Clem took him out for at least an hour, so he would get comfortable with it, though it would still be almost 90 days before he could get his license.

"I do?" he asked, coming up behind her to look at the computer screen, "who’s it from?"

"I don’t know, it says it’s from an ALH@ hotmail.com, I guess you’re going to have to open it and find out. Unless it’s some secret girlfriend of yours, sending you some dirty pictures, huh?" she joked.

"What? Of course not!" he said, looking flustered.

"I’m kidding, go on, open it."

"Maybe it’s that spam stuff you told me about. Do you think I should just delete it?"

"Only if there’s a sales pitch after you open it, just don’t open the attachment until we find out who it’s from," she said, standing up to give him the seat at the desk.

"Just double click the left button on the mouse," she reminded him.

"I know."

The email read:

Dear William,

How are you? I miss you. Do you like your house? Do you have a dog? I have a dog. Her name is Bear. She looked like a bear when she was a puppy. Thank you for my present. I like The Count. I like you and Elizabeth, I like you best.

Write Back,

Alex

P.S. My daddy helped me send the picture; it’s of my dog Bear and me. My mommy helped me type this.

William turned to Buffy, "Well, what do you know!"

"Neat! Let’s see the picture," she said, showing him how to click on the attachment. The picture came up a few minutes later, it was of Alex holding The Count, standing next to the his dog, which they assumed was Bear.

They laughed together seeing Xander’s cute little boy, hamming it up for the camera.

"I’d better write back to him, don’t you think?"

Buffy nodded, "I think so, you don’t want to be outdone by a 4 year old, do you?"

"No, I shouldn’t think so, but I’m afraid that’s not saying much with my computer skills being what they are," he said, grinning, "or rather, what they aren’t."

After gaining mastery over the mouse, whose icon seemed to zip all over the screen at first, William finally got it under a semblance of control, enough to hit the reply button.

"What should I say?" he asked.

"He’s your little buddy, I’m sure you’ll figure it out, "Buffy said, "when you’re done, let me know, we’ll take a picture of you with my digital camera and send it to him, if you’d like."

"Okay, that’ll be great."

She gave him a quick hug and kiss, before leaving the room.

He waited until she had left, then got up and got his glasses off the coffee table.

Fifteen minutes later, when she came back, he had just finished. It read:

Dear Alex,

I am fine and so is Elizabeth. I hope you and your family are, too.

It is nice to be home and I like my house very much. The outside is made of logs, but the inside has everything most houses have.

There are two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen. There is also a wrap-around porch in the front, and an enclosed porch in the back, right off the kitchen. There is a big barn outside, too.

In the living room there is a fireplace that Elizabeth and I like to sit in front of in the evenings.

Our house is in the woods. There are many tall trees. We like to walk on the trails and see the pretty scenery.

One day, if you come and visit, I will take you hiking on them, too.

I don’t have a dog, but Bear sounds nice.

I’m happy you still like The Count.

You are a nice boy, Alex, and I’m glad to have met you.

Best regards.

Your friend,

William

P.S. Attached are a couple of pictures for you to see. Elizabeth helped me attach them, since like you, I am just learning about computers.

"What do you think?" he asked.

She’d been watching him hunt and peck the keyboard from the dining area for about 5 minutes.

"I think you need some keyboarding lessons," she replied, laughing.

"Besides that," he said, grimacing.

She read it over his shoulder.

"It’s good. Just enough to keep his interest, nice short sentences without talking down to him."

"Of course not, he’s a smart boy!"

They took a couple of pictures to send, one with William standing outside the front of the house, the other with him standing in front of the fireplace, with the Indian pots from Mesa Verde seen in the background.

After the pictures were downloaded and attached, William hit the send button.

"How long does it take to get there?" he asked.

"Seconds, probably."

He shook his head, "I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand that."

She came up and wrapped her arms around him; "I don’t either, not really. I mean, I know how to use technology and what it does, but I only have a rudimentary understanding of it. But you know what? Most people are like that, except for the techno-geeks," she said, thinking Andrew, because she refused to think of Warren, "doesn’t matter as long as you can use it as a tool. I don’t have to know how to use a wash machine to appreciate that I don’t have to go stand at a stream beating my clothes on a stone, or use an old-fashioned washboard. Just a tool, see?"

He shook his head, "Replacing manual labor with a labor saving device, such as a wash machine is different than replacing one’s intellect with a machine. I mean, when I think of writing something, it’s with a pen and paper. When I read something, it’s out of a book, something I can feel, something that has a smell to it, a texture, if you will. On a computer…it’s just different."

"I know, but it doesn’t make it bad, I know my mom pretty much did all her college papers in longhand. Then she’d type them out on an old manual typewriter, where if she made only a small mistake, she’d have to redo the whole paper or it would look sloppy. I know! She told me how easy I had it all the time! But I know what you mean. I did a lot of papers by longhand in high school; it wasn’t until college that I had my own computer. Sure, it was different to write that way, but I adapted. And it’s great, really. Especially when you make a mistake and you can just erase it without redoing the whole paper. Of course, if you lose your whole report or delete it…well, then you wish you had a paper copy or were smart enough to have backed it up... Nevermind. Off topic. Do you get what I’m saying?"

"I guess."

"And for research, I still used a library and books, but lots of research was easy to do online, where I’ve got access to thousands, hundreds of thousands of resources. I couldn’t possibly visit enough libraries to find all those."

"I still like books and libraries better," he said, stubbornly.

"No reason why you can’t. I’m just saying, you can still use the Internet and not feel like you’re betraying your preferred way, right?"

He nodded, "Yes, you’re right, and I do like it…it’s just that it seems rather cold to me. And speaking of libraries, aren’t we going to town soon?"

"Oops, you’re right, better go get ready," Buffy said. She had decided she’d go to the first meeting at Montessori, despite feeling it was a waste of time, and that her fellow teachers would be upset with her when they found she wasn’t returning to teach in September.

"Okay, see you in a couple of hours," she said to William, who had just deposited about 10 books to the return desk.

She’d let him drive them to town and park behind the library.

"See you then," he said, kissing her goodbye.

She walked to the door and looked back, he smiled at her, happily in his element. She smiled back and waved. Sometimes he reminded her of Giles. Well, in the book sense, but nothing else. She mentally slapped herself, hard, for having just made that comparison. Best not to even go there.

Buffy sat through the meeting rather quietly, feeling more than a bit of a traitor, to her fellow teachers. No one asked her about William, so she knew that Mrs. Carpello most likely, hadn’t brought him up to anyone.

Mostly the meeting was about new state rules and regulations for the coming year 2008-2009, and testing.

Marilyn got up next and started talking about Kindergartners and First Grader immunization records. Suddenly Buffy startled.

"What is it Elizabeth?" Marilyn asked.

"Um… oh, sorry, I thought I felt a bug on my leg," she said, thus having the effect of now all the women looking under the table, "guess it’s gone," she said sheepishly, motioning for Marilyn to go on.

"Oh shit!" she thought to herself, "William was born before immunizations! Crap, I’m going to have to get him to a doctor before he gets every childhood disease under the sun!"

A couple of hours later, William was siting at the same table he’d occupied the first time he’d come here. He was looking over some of the flyers he’d picked up in the entryway when he saw Buffy come in, he quickly folded them up and put them inside one of the larger books.

"Ah, I see you got a library card," she said, seeing it on top of the stack of about a dozen or so books.

"Yes, I’m now the proud owner of my own library card, as well as a Driver’s Permit," he said, grinning, "quite an accomplishment for a 27, almost 28 year old man, wouldn’t you say?"

She nodded, relieved that he was saying this in fun and not despair, "I would, especially for one who’s had to start over from scratch, I’d have to say it’s not a bad start."

He smiled at her, "Not too bad," he agreed.

END CHAPTER 101

"Pull over in front of the store here. You don’t have to parallel park, per se if you just coast up to the curb," Buffy said.

"Okay."

"We need a few things, and you need some more things," she said making a specifically telling face at him.

He looked at her confused, "What do you mean? What things do I need?"

She was feeling playful, so she pulled his head towards her and kissed him deeply until she was sure he’d gotten aroused. Didn’t take long.

"Certain things," she said, lightly putting her hand on the bulge in his pants.

He thought a second, then his eyes went big, "Oh, OH, Oh…NO, you want me to go and…oh no," he said turning a couple of shades of red.

"Oh yes! Hey, you know who had to buy these things before in Michigan? And since we’ve been back? Me, that’s who! And I don’t exactly like the feeling of everyone knowing I’m going to be getting lu…um…making love," she amended out of respect for his sensibilities," so it’s your turn, mister."

"Furthermore, it’s usually the guy who buy these things, anyway. Shows you’re responsible for our love life, so we don’t have any little…shows you’re responsible," she ended lamely.

They got back to the car about half an hour later, bursting out laughing as soon as they practically fell into their seats.

"Oh my God William, you were so bad!"

"Me? I was bad? I don’t think so missy, I was just standing there reading the packages and you come up and act like you don’t know me and are trying to, um…get to know me. Dear God! Did you see the looks we got? I’m never going to be able to show my face in there again!"

"You were so cute William. I’m sorry, but you were. I knew you didn’t know what was up with me at first, but with that other guy standing there, I just had to play with you," Buffy said cracking up.

"Bet that he thought I was the luckiest fellow alive, having some beautiful, ‘strange,’ woman, and I mean that in the nicest way, of course," he said, winking at her, "come up to me and start asking about what the difference in feel was between the condoms. And there’s more than three dozen varieties, how would I even know?"

"I’m just glad you played along, you have a natural talent," she said, laughing appreciatively. "So you think he was jealous when I suggested to you that we buy a few boxes and I go back to your place to try them out?"

"Quite a bit, I should say," he said, laughing, then grew a bit serious, "but really, perhaps you should be a bit more careful, fun aside, it sounded a bit like you were…"

"What? Easy? A working girl?" Buffy asked, grinning.

Before he could answer there was a wrap on the passenger window. They looked out and saw a policeman standing there.

Buffy rolled the window down, "Good afternoon officer, is there a problem?"

"Good afternoon. Could I please see some identification? You too, sir."

"Of course, but why?" Buffy said, reaching for her wallet, "William, give him your Driver’s Permit."

"Registration, too," the officer said.

"Stay in the car," he said, taking their ID’s and registration back to his squad car.

"What do you think this is about?" William asked Buffy.

"I have no idea," she said.

The officer came back in a few minutes, "I’m sorry about this folks, but we

received a call from one of the customers about a possible solicitation taking place here," he said, pointing to the store, "but I see by your names that you’re married, right?"

Buffy nodded. William followed suit.

"Okay then, must have been a mistake," he said chuckling; "have a nice day folks. Sorry to have bothered you."

"No problem," Buffy said.

"Are you okay to drive?" Buffy asked William who looked rather shaken, when the officer had left.

He nodded, "I think so," he said, starting the car.

After they had gone a few blocks Buffy started to snicker, "Oh my God, I can’t believe that little weasel standing next to us called the cops! Of all the nerve."

She looked over at William. He wasn’t laughing. She sobered up, "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you take a walk on the wild side honey."

He swallowed, "That was quite humiliating, him thinking that I was…that you were. I really don’t think I shall ever be able to show my face in there again, maybe not anywhere in town. Everyone will think I go home with…" he bit his tongue.

"With your wife, silly, with me. Everyone sees us around together, most people in Julian know me, so don’t worry, okay?"

He was silent for a minute, "But you’re not that either, really, are you?"

"Not what?"

He paused, "My wife. You’re not my wife and I’m not really your husband."

A lump formed in her throat, half-pain, half-anger. She didn’t respond and they drove home the rest of the way in silence.

He pulled up in front of the house and turned to her, "I’m sorry, Elizabeth," he said, reaching out for her hand. He brought it up to his lips and kissed it.

She looked at him, the lump in her throat threatening to spill over.

"It’s just I love you so much, I don’t want anybody to think badly of you, think that I don’t love you enough to…"

"Marry me?" she asked quietly.

He nodded, "I know that we have the same name and that you’ve told people we’re married, and that for all intents and purposes it’s like we already are…"

"But?"

He took her chin in his other hand and looked into her eyes, "I want the world to know that I love you enough to marry you, that you’re mine, that I’m yours. I want your friends here, our friends, want to really see you in your pretty wedding dress under that canopy with me standing at your side, like the one I drew," he stopped seeing the tears in her eyes. They were in his, too. "Someday," he finished.

"I know," she whispered, feeling unable to breathe or say anymore. She sighed inwardly, relieved that he had stopped. Yet, she didn’t feel like running away this time, so that must mean something, right?

He kissed her and then went around to her side of the car and opened the door when she hadn’t gotten out yet on her own.

William gave him her hand and she took it and they walked into the house. He didn’t stop at the kitchen or the dining area, or the living room, but pulled her right along with him to their bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

He let go of her hand when they got to the side of the bed. He didn’t say anything to her, didn’t kiss her, but started undressing her; didn’t let her do the same to him. His hands unbuttoned her blouse and pulled it over her shoulders, then unhooked her bra, letting it fall to the floor. Next he undid the button on her pants and helped her out of them, as he knelt down, reached up her legs, until his hands went up under her panties alongside her outer thighs, where he pulled the material outward and then down until they were off.

He rose looking at her, at the rise and fall of her chest, the blush of her cheeks, the peaks of her nipples, her eyes wide and expectant, as they looked into his.

Trembling with desire and emotion, under the intensity of his gaze, she stood naked before him, body and soul. How he did this to her was a mystery. Opened her up, wrenched warring emotions from her all the time, just as Spike had. They were different, yet just as strong. It was always about the love, his unfaltering love, his belief and trust in her, in the rightness of it all.

It was so easy for him to love so wholeheartedly. It had always been so much more difficult for her, though maybe, just maybe she was finally learning.

"William, please William, "her voice came out, a mere wisp on the air.

And then she was in his arms and he was kissing hard, holding her tight, as he lay her down on the bed and covered her with his body, the roughness of his clothes exciting her, as did the feeling of being vulnerable; his dressed state versus her naked one.

Buffy’s legs wrapped around William’s, all the while trying to pull his T-shirt from the waistband of his jeans, which was harder considering.

William rolled off of her, to pull his clothes off, causing her to moan at the loss of contact. As soon as he was finished, she pulled him back, only pausing to let him grab the box of ‘things’ they’d made their little foray to the drug store for.

Without a word, without a joke about it, he came back down to her, caressing her body with his eyes, his hands, his mouth, until there was no him, no her, only them as he slid inside her.

Her breath hitched and she heard them both gasp with pleasure at the contact. She kneaded the flesh of the shapely contours of his back, as her legs slid down his calves, and upwards, wrapping themselves around his thighs, as he thrust into her.

William stopped, looking down at her, "Do you know how beautiful you are? What you do to me?" he asked, voice thick with emotion.

She nodded, her own voice unsure.

"I love you Elizabeth, you know that, don’t you? Feel like I’ve loved you forever. Mine," he said, kissing her hard, possessively.

If her heart hadn’t just been pried open, a little bit wider than before by him, she might have ventured a joke about his caveman-like sentiments, but all she could do was return his kiss in kind, murmuring back, "Yours, yours," into his hair, into his mouth, into his heart.

And at that moment, she’d never meant it more, felt it more. She was his; she belonged to him, him to her.

An hour later, as she lay there napping, sated and exhausted, against his chest he looked down at her, "Someday," he said softly.

And he meant it, too.

END CHAPTER 102

August 7, 2008

Thursday

9:00am

Buffy came out to the living room wearing a towel after her morning shower, "William?"

"I'm on the porch," he called.

She wrapped the towel again, as she walked toward the door separating the kitchen to the back porch.

"Who is it?" she mouthed, seeing him on the phone.

"Dawn," he answered.

"Your sis is here, want to say hello?"

"In a while, tell her to go dry off first," Dawn said, laughing, "no, tell her she's all wet!"

"Dawn says you should dry off first while she talks with me, so you don't catch cold," he said diplomatically.

"Chicken!" Dawn said, laughing into the phone.

"Okay, I'll be back in a few," Buffy said, smiling.

She was glad that him and Dawn had been talking on the phone and emailing on a frequent basis, since they'd gotten home. Dawn and Spike had always seemed to have a connection in the past, and it appeared now her and William did as well. And the benefit was that it always seemed to put him in a positive, hopeful mood afterwards.

"I think that’s a great idea William!" Dawn said.

"Really?" William asked. They’d been talking about the flyers he’d picked up at the library from a local college.

"Really. I think it’s great that you want to take some classes."

"I don’t know about classes, maybe just a class in something. Just don’t know what yet."

"Well, just look at the schedule of classes and get some idea. You can probably also find it on their website."

"Oh, that’s right. I keep forgetting that everything on paper is also on the Internet," he said, shaking his head.

"What’s more, if you don’t actually need it for credit, because you already have a degree and just want to learn a new subject, or catch up with some stuff, you can audit the class."

"What does that mean?"

"Means you can pay a whole lot less, and you can sit in, do the work and all that, it just doesn’t count for an actual grade."

"That sounds good…except, well…I rather liked getting grades."

"Then you’ll have to actually enroll in some sort of degree program, which you can do, also. You can always start working on a second degree or a Master’s degree."

"Well, I haven’t even decided…"

"Have you talked to Buffy about it yet?"

"Um…no. See, that’s just it, I don’t have my license yet, and with Elizabeth going back to work…if the classes are during the day, I wouldn’t be able to get there."

"There’s usually night courses, too. Or online courses. You could start with those, then after you get your license, take day courses that start during the winter semester."

"I don’t know. I don’t want to just be going to college; I need to find a job somewhere, Dawn. Last thing I want is your sister supporting me. I just wanted to…oh the whole thing is stupid!"

"Why? Lot’s of people work and go to school, William."

"It’s not that."

"What then?"

He didn’t say anything.

"What?" she repeated.

"Most people turn in all their papers typed up, right? Do ‘em on their computers?"

"Of course, why? You have a computer."

"I don’t know how to type. I mean, I know where the keys are, but all I do is one key at a time, using two fingers. I could never write papers in a timely manner! It takes me 10 minutes just to write an email!"

"Don’t get yourself excited, you can learn to use a keyboard. Children learn to use it properly before they’re even in middle school anymore. There are classes, software…"

"I guess so. Dawn, Elizabeth is back from drying off, so I’m going to let you talk to her now, okay?"

"Okay, just remember what I said, William. Learning how to keyboard isn’t such a big obstacle that you can’t overcome it. You’ve overcome lots of stuff. Heck, driving is harder than that, and you’re doing okay there, aren’t you?"

"I suppose you’re right. Thanks, Dawn. Talk to you soon. Here’s Elizabeth."

William handed her the phone. She took it from him, kissing him on the cheek, "Thanks."

"Hey Dawnie, what lies have you been filling William’s head with?" she asked laughing.

"No lies, just telling him what an evil shrew you are and that he should escape as soon as he can, before you undoubtedly warp him for life."

"Too late for that!" Buffy laughed, as did Dawn.

"Buffy? Can William hear you right now," she asked, after they’d stopped the game.

"No, why?"

"I was wondering what you’re planning for William’s birthday next week."

"I’ve been thinking about that myself, Dawn. I’m not sure. Sort of thought about maybe having you come up and we could go to dinner at Edna’s, but last time he was there…well, Edna and her grandson Wallace just brought up some things that gave him nightmares, so I’ve been sort of avoid-y."

"What kind of nightmares? You didn’t tell me about that."

"I don’t know exactly," Buffy said, not wanting to go into all of it right then, "he was freaked out for a few days, but it’s over. I just don’t want to risk that on his birthday."

"Of course not," Dawn agreed.

They talked a few more minutes, Buffy assuring her that she’d let her know in a couple of days what she was planning.

The second meeting at Montessori was scheduled for 1:00pm that afternoon. Mrs. Carpello had asked that Buffy and William come by around 12:30pm to talk to her first.

Buffy tried not to be nervous; she had no idea what Mrs. Carpello was going to say, only hoped that she wouldn’t yet mention to William that she didn’t actually plan on going back to work.

"Why do you think she wants to talk to me again?" William asked, on the drive over.

"I’m really not sure, guess we’ll just have to find out," she said, as she sat there twisting and untwisting her purse strap between her fingers.

Mrs. Carpello was seated at her desk when they walked into her office.

"Hello, Elizabeth. Hello, William. Thank you for coming. Have a seat."

William waited until Buffy had taken a seat, before taking his.

"The reason I’ve asked you to come today is because I have an offer for you. For both of you, really," she said.

Both William and Buffy waited for her to continue.

"William," she said addressing him, "you’ve been through quite an ordeal these past couple of months, and over the last 5 years, to say the least. Elizabeth has expressed concern over her returning to work and leaving you alone all day at this point."

William turned to look at Buffy and shook his head, "No! Elizabeth! I told you I wouldn’t be the reason for your not…"

Buffy looked at Mrs. Carpello angrily; she had no right to break her confidence in this manner, before she’d had the opportunity to tell him herself. She’d gone along with the meetings, but this was too much. She rose to her feet, "We’re leaving!"

"William! Elizabeth! You haven’t let me finish at all. Please allow me to tell you why I asked you to come in today."

They stopped talking and looked at her, Buffy slowly sat back down.

"Thank you," she said, relieved, "the reason I brought that up, William, Elizabeth, was that I wanted to tell you that I understand how you feel,’ she said, directing her comments to Buffy.

"I lost someone, too. A long, long time ago, except the person I lost never came home."

"What happened," Buffy asked, chagrined.

Mrs. Carpello shook her head; "Maybe some other time. The point I was trying to make is, had this person come back to me, after being missing, I too, would have made him my priority over everything else. I would have done what I could to help him get his bearings again…" she said, fading off.

She cleared her throat, "That’s why I think I have a solution for both of you. William first let me ask you this. You do want to work, am I correct?"

"Of course, what man doesn’t want to support himself, his…wife?" he said, looking over at Buffy.

"Good," Mrs. Carpello said, "I assumed as much. Now, here’s my solution for both of you. William, I want to offer you a part-time job here. It would be about 4 hours a day. Now, it isn’t much, and certainly you’ll be over qualified for it, but it’s still honest work. You would be responsible for all the maintenance around here, inside and out. Mowing, raking, planting, etc. Inside, there’s cleaning, stocking supplies, general gopher work. Whatever needs to be done, you pitch in and help. I know it’s not much, neither does it pay much, but this way, until you get on your feet and find a job better suited to your education, you can still be useful. And Elizabeth will be able to come here and do her job without worrying that you’re alone all day. How does that sound?"

Buffy was flabbergasted. Never in her wildest dreams had she considered that Mrs. Carpello would be offering William a job. She didn’t have any idea what to expect, really.

William spoke first, "That’s very generous of you to make me this offer," he said, hesitating, "the problem is I have no memory of how to use a lawn mower or if it broke down, how to repair it. Or any other machine," he said, sadly shaking his head.

"Well, the lawn mower is really the only machine that you’d probably be operating, everything else, is manual. Shears for pruning bushes, rakes, hoes, brooms. Inside there’s a copying machine, but if that breaks down, we just call the company to come in and service it. Do you think that in three weeks time you might be able to learn from someone how to use and maintain a lawn mower?" she asked.

William nodded, "There’s someone I think that could help. And the library has books on small engines, too. It is a small engine, right?"

"Yes, it’s a small one," Mrs. Carpello said, smiling, "and I think we have a manual from when we purchased it. If you need anything else, we can order one for you on maintaining it. Really, William, it’s quite simple! Even I use a mower at home and give it gas, fix little things on it when needed. If I can do it, I’m sure you can, too."

"So, what do you say then?" she asked looking at William.

He looked over at Buffy, questioningly.

"Could we have a minute to discuss this?" Buffy asked.

"Sure, just come on out to the outer office when you’re done talking and let me know your decision," Mrs. Carpello said. She nodded to them, as she closed the door on her way out.

"What do you think?" William said, turning to Buffy. "It’s not a bad idea, is it?"

"No, no, of course not, if you don’t mind this type of work…for now. I don’t want you to take it, if you think you’ll hate it or something just because of me."

"I don’t mind, really. I’m not too qualified for anything at the moment, and she was right, it’s honest work and I could be contributing in some small way, instead of sitting home, not contributing. You wouldn’t have to worry about me, and by the way, when were you going to tell me about you not going back to work?"

"I’m sorry, William," Buffy said, sheepishly, "I was going to, I felt like I was in limbo not knowing what Mrs. C. was going to tell us. I just didn’t want you to worry about it."

"And I don’t want you to worry about me all the time," William said, taking her hands, "this way you won’t have to, I’ll be here, you’ll be here…"

"Yeah, I could always meet you in the broom closet during breaks," she said winking.

He looked at her a second before it sunk in, "Want me to lose my job before I even have it?" he asked, grinning.

They found Mrs. Carpello at the file cabinet when they came out of her office.

"Well? What have you both decided?" she asked.

"We think it’s a very generous offer and we, I accept," William said.

"Good then," she said, handing him a pile of papers, "just get these back to me a week before school starts."

"All these papers," William said, shaking his head. Buffy stood over him, as he settled in at the library table, before she went to her meeting.

"We’ll work on them at home, okay? Don’t worry about them now, or you’ll drive yourself crazy."

"Okay," he nodded, "guess I’ll start looking for some books on small engine repairs or something like that. Small machine repair, perhaps."

"Maybe they have a ‘Lawn Mower Repair for Dummies,’ book."

He looked up at her hurt.

"Oh William, I didn’t mean that," she said, kissing him, "there’s a whole series of ‘How To,’ books that all have that title, ‘Computers for Dummies,’ ‘Cooking for Dummies,’ ‘Gardening for Dummies,’ it’s just a name, not an insult."

"Well, it is rather insulting," he said, rather stiffly.

"Just supposed to be a catchy title to make people laugh, it’s a hook, know what I mean?"

"Hmmppphhh!" he said, rolling his eyes.

She grinned, "See you in a couple of hours."

After the meeting, Mrs. Carpello asked Buffy to bring William back over. She found he’d checked out a half dozen of the ‘Dummy’ books. She laughed.

"They really are pretty good. Easy to understand," he said, shrugging.

"You don’t have to know how to repair every machine in the world you know, just the stupid lawn mower, if it needs it."

"I know," he said, patting her hand, "I just want to catch up with the world of machines, if you know what I mean. Besides, there’s also a book on computers and cars," he said, grinning.

She grinned back; it was just contagious when he became excited about something.

They threw the books into the back seat of the car, then went across the street. She took his hand and they walked into the conference room.

Before the meeting had started, Buffy had agreed with Mrs. Carpello that it would be best to tell her associates about William, the shortened version, in any case, before he started to work there. So, at the end of the meeting, she had made the announcement, answered some questions, and asked them to please not ask William about it, as he was sensitive regarding the subject and trying to become adjusted.

Now Mrs. Carpello made the introduction, "Everyone, I want you to meet William; Elizabeth’s husband. He’s going to be working part-time for us this coming fall, doing some of our maintenance and odd jobs."

"Hello, very nice to make your acquaintances," he said, nodding to the room of women who were trying not to gawk at the good looking, shy man, with the lovely English accent, standing before them.

Greetings were exchanged; then Mrs. Carpello took William on a tour of the building, including the shed, introducing him to the tools of his new, temporary trade, as it were.

Later that evening, they were going over the papers, when it came to education, Buffy stopped and went into the bedroom to get the doctored up papers Willow had sent. She’d had to change the names of a few courses, so if checked, they would agree with those taken 100+ years after the fact, and the names of professors.

"Here," she said, handing him the manila envelope which had his Oxford diploma, and transcripts. She held her breath as he looked them over.

William looked at his Diploma and smiled. At first. Then he frowned, grumbling something. Looking over the transcripts he shook his head.

"This doesn’t seem right," he said, pointing to the name of the teacher for Classical Greek, "fellow had an amusing name like Appledown or Applegate, certainly not Psimos," he said.

He looked at her, "I don’t understand how I can remember taking these classes, well, all but a few of these that I don’t recall at all, but the names of the professors seem all wrong. ‘Cept for this one," he said pointing to a Maximillion Warring IV, "think I had him, but not for this mathematics class, but for science."

He sat back and rubbed his head.

Buffy looked at him sympathetically. She felt worse than awful for messing with his known memory in this way, but there was really no other choice, she told herself. He couldn’t exactly use a transcript that had classes from back in the late 1860’s, early 1870’s now could he?

"Headache?" she asked, as she gently replaced his hand with her own on top his head, and massaged it gently.

He nodded, "I hate this," he said through gritted teeth, "hate that I remember only bits and pieces, but altogether, it doesn’t make for much of anything. It’s bleedin’ pathetic."

She waited for the apology for him saying bleedin’ but it didn’t come.

"I’m sorry," she said softly, knowing he was really upset.

"Why? Not your fault my memory is like Swiss cheese, is it? You have nothing to be sorry about. I, on the other hand, need you to help me fill out the simplest paperwork, I’m the one who should be sorry," he laughed bitterly, "I’m sorry alright."

"Stop it right now! Paperwork sucks for everyone, and it’s worse for you right now, but that’s no reason to be getting all in a snit about it, to start feeling…"

"Sorry for myself?"

"I wasn’t going to say that," she answered, then shrugged, "well, maybe you are a bit."

"Not very productive, is it?"

"Nah, but you deserve a good wallow in the lake of self-pity once in a while. We all do."

He sighed, "Okay, I’m over it, let’s just get this bloody…sorry, Elizabeth… thing done, alright?"

"Alright by me," she said, and picked up the pen and employee paperwork.

A few minutes later, she handed him the completed application to sign. He looked it over, stopping when it came to previous job experience.

"Two years at the Magic Box shop, Sunnydale, CA? That’s it? The sum of my experience? That can’t be right!" he said, agitated all over again.

"It probably isn’t, but I don’t know where else you worked, before you moved there, so it’s going to have to do," Buffy said, trying to be patient.

"Well, that’s just great. Almost 28 years old, and I’ve got 2 years work experience selling books at a store that no longer exists. That’s just…great!"

"Mrs. C. knows that you lost your memory, so she won’t be expecting anything else, this is just…a formality is all."

"Well, what about if I want to find another job sometime? What will I have to put down? Two years at the Magic Shop, followed by being the lawn boy at Montessori?"

Buffy stood up, "Damnit, William! I told you that you don’t have to take this job if you don’t want to!"

"No, but if I don’t, then you’re going to quit teaching, right? Great, we’ll both be sitting home then!"

She looked at him, "Would that be so horrible?"

William leaned forward and grabbed her, pulling her onto his lap, "If you’re asking if it would be horrible to be at home with you everyday, of course not. I love being here with you, you know that," he said, earnestly. He pulled her head to his and kissed her. "I’m just frustrated is all. I want the job, honest I do. Get to learn some practical things that I probably wouldn’t otherwise. Just…can’t believe this is the sum of what we know about my job experience." He shook his head.

"William," Buffy said softly, "when the time comes, when you find something else you want to do, we can sort of mess around with the resume."

"What do you mean?"

"Um…I mean, we can say you worked somewhere other than the Magic Box in Sunnydale."

"You mean lie about it?" he asked, shaking his head. "No, that’s not right. And what if they contact someone who says they never heard of me?"

"In Sunnydale?"

He looked at her, "Oh. Well, still. Guess I don’t have many options here do I? Either go with what little we know, or lie about it. I’ll just leave it at this for now."

She nodded, "Besides, you were in school most years before this time anyway."

"Yeah, but what about the past 5 years? Supposed to say I was just wandering around in a daze? Sleepin’ under a bridge?"

"I don’t know," she said, "before I started this job, I didn’t have much of anything to put on my resume either," she said. Obviously not, since being the slayer for 7 years was something that she couldn’t claim.

"How about we cross that bridge when we get to it…somewhere down the line?"

He kissed her again, "What else can I do?

END CHAPTER 103

August 10, 2008

Sunday

11:45am

"William?"

"Hmm?" he asked, still reading the paper, oblivious to her.

William had been practicing his driving all week and yesterday Buffy had taken a chance and let him drive around the much larger San Diego, although she’d driven them there on the highway. They’d stopped at a little street corner vendor for a hotdog and next to it, there had been a newspaper stand, which sold international papers. William had been very excited when he’d spotted the London Times; Sunday Edition, but Buffy had stopped him from reading it then.

"In keeping with quaint, old-fashioned, time honored traditions, one must only read big, thick, Sunday papers like the London or New York Times," she’d said, pointing to the paper she’d bought as well, "on Sunday mornings, in bed, with coffee, O.J., and bagels. "

"Very well, "William had sighed, though he was itching to read something of his homeland and took every opportunity he could find, when she was preoccupied to surreptitiously sneak glances at the front page.

"William!" she said again, louder.

He looked up from his paper, and took off his reading glasses, "Sorry luv, was just engrossed in this story on the Royals. Tawdry bunch, aren’t they?"

Buffy guffawed and rolled her eyes.

He almost said something about when Queen Victoria ruled, she would have never allowed such a mockery of the House of Windsor, but he held his tongue, instead of sounding like he belonged back in the mental ward.

"This is nice," he said, turning his attention to her, "a good Sunday morning tradition. Bagels, coffee, food, you and me."

"I have a confession to make," she said.

"What’s that?"

"I’ve never really done this before, I mean, I’ve read papers in bed, but never the whole traditional New York Times and all the trimmings."

He leaned over the papers, causing them to scatter and kissed her, "Then we should make it ours, don’t you think? Every Sunday morning?"

"Sounds good to me," she said, kissing him back.

Soon the papers from both sides of the pond were forgotten and another Sunday morning tradition was instituted.

Afterwards, Buffy stroked Williams back in imaginary designs as he rested his head against her breast, "William?"

"What?"

"How would you like to go to San Juan Capistrano next Friday? We could wander around the town, have lunch, see the mission there, even go to the beach; you want to, that is."

He lifted his head up to look at her, "That sounds nice, are the swallows…?"

"No, not until March. I just thought it might be nice to go do something before we have to start work in a few weeks."

"Sounds lovely," he said, as he settled his head back down on her.

Buffy smiled and closed her eyes, satisfied.

August 15, 2008

Friday

9:30am

"You ready?" Buffy called from the kitchen.

"Almost. Where did you say my beach stuff was?" William called to her from the bedroom.

"Bottom of the closet, right hand side."

"Okay, I see it."

"I’ll be getting the stuff into the car," she called, from the front door.

Once outside, she quickly flipped on her cell phone.

"Clem?"

"Hey Buffy, you guys heading out now?"

"In a few minutes. You remember where I told you everything was, right?"

"I didn’t forget. In the barn, right? Big black bag?"

"No, blue bag."

"That’s right."

"Just please don’t let Dawn overdo it, okay? We don’t want William to freak, right?" she asked, hoping that by making Clem in charge, he would keep everything to a minimum on the excitement scale. Of course, she’d told Dawn the same thing.

"We won’t."

"You’ve got Dawn’s cell?"

"Yep, already talked to her, I’m going to meet her at Dudley’s in Santa Ysabel and she can follow me from there. It’s really going to be nice to see her again."

"That’s right, you haven’t seen her in…well, not since Sunnydale, have you?"

"No. Oh goodness," he said, suddenly excited, "will I even recognize her? What if I don’t recognize her?"

"You’ll recognize her, she still has the long hair. I guess she looks a little bit older, but not too much. I’d worry more about her not recognizing you. Oh, shit!"

"Um, well, I told her what car I’ll be driving and I could always send her a picture."

"Good idea, maybe you should…uh-oh, William’s coming, I gotta go. Remember, have Dawn park at your house."

"I will. Have a good day, you two!"

"We will. Thanks, Clem."

"Who was that?"

"Clem, he called wanting to know if I had an extra ladle, guess he broke his," she fibbed.

"Ready?"

"Ready!"

It took them a little more than an hour to get to San Juan Capistrano. Their first stop was at the mission, itself.

They could see walls towering 50 feet into the sky, only to be dwarfed by the 125 foot, native stone bell tower, as they neared the arched, stone entryway.

They wandered the cobbled quadrangle walkways, visiting the more famous adobe and stone buildings. The Great Stone Church, once representing the "Jewel of the Mission," which had been mostly destroyed by an earthquake in 1812. Almost 200 years later, scaffolding in the front of it belied the lack of money to restore it to its former glory.

Next they visited the Serra Chapel, named for Fr. Junipero Serra, founding father of the California Missions and saw the 300 year-old baroque altar, brought over from Barcelona, Spain.

Their last hour was spent wandering through some of the ten and a half acres of lush gardens; stopping here and there to admire the flowers, kiss under a tree or behind a bush, just enjoying the day, before finally coming to rest at the fountain in the central courtyard.

"Reminds me of the South of France," William said.

"You’ve been there?" Buffy said, enviously.

"Oh, no, luv, just what I’ve read, pictures I’ve seen," he answered. At least he didn’t think he had, but the look of these gardens reminded him of something. He shook it off.

"I should take you there sometime. Paris, Southern France, along the Mediterranean Sea," he said, picking a red bougainvillea flower and putting it behind her ear.

"That would be wonderful," she said, allowing herself to dream a little, "think I’m going to hold you to that."

"It’s a deal," he said, and reached over to kiss her gently.

"What?" William asked Buffy, who had been grinning at him from time to time, since they had sat down and ordered their lunch.

"Huh? Nothing, just having a good time," she said, reminding herself to not give anything away.

They had debated if they should eat either here at Café Mozart, which had slightly higher prices, or at The Fish Market & Grill. Café Mozart won out since they also had seafood, plus outdoor dining. They had the lunch special, Maryland Crab Cakes with a tarragon mustard sauce for her and grilled salmon for William.

After lunch, they went over to the beach. Since the waves were high, they decided just to sit on the beach and soak up some sun.

Buffy lay on her stomach, looking over at William, having just finished putting sun block on him.

"What?" he asked her.

"What, what?"

"You’re looking at me strangely again."

"I am? Maybe I’m just strange."

"Well, yes, but besides that."

She elbowed him in the side.

"Ow!"

"That’s for calling me strange, mister."

He just laughed and closed his eyes, though he could still feel her staring at him, could sense her.

Buffy was used to seeing him out in the daylight by now, but here on the beach, she was reminded again, of what a miracle it was, that he was.

When they went to the bathhouse to change their clothes, she called Clem to make sure everything was set.

"Clem? How’s everything? Did Dawn make it up there alright?"

"Dawn’s here and we’ve got everything set up. All we need is the guest of honor."

"It’s almost 6 now, we should be there a little after 7, I’d guess, unless we run into a traffic jam. Crap, why did I say that? Probably jinxed myself!"

"Don’t worry. We’ll be here, no matter when you guys get here."

"I know, I know, I just want it to be perfect. Or near perfect. Can I talk to Dawn?"

"DAWN!" Clem yelled, causing Buffy to hold the phone out from her ear.

"Buffy?" Dawn came on the phone; "this place is fantastic! I can’t believe it, you’ve been really holding out on me all these years!"

Buffy had a pang of guilt, "I didn’t mean to ‘hold out’ as you put it, I just…nevermind. Did you remember to pick up the cake?"

"Duh! It was right there where I met up with Clem. Sheesh, what do you think I am? A total space cadet?"

"I’m sorry, I forgot we’d decided to have Dudley’s make it. I thought you were still going to get it from the bakery near you."

"That’s okay. So, does William suspect anything?"

"I don’t think so, but he did catch me grinning at him stupidly a couple of times and ask me what that was about, but I blew it off, just attributed it to my being strange, which by the way, he so readily accepted," she said, laughing.

"Well, he’s getting to know you better all the time," Dawn laughed along with her.

"Hey!"

"See you guys when you get here."

"Yeah, I can’t wait! Bye, Dawn."

"Bye, Buffy."

Before leaving town, they bought ice cream cones at Baskin Robbins. William still claimed the ones at Fuller’s Resort were better, and Buffy tended to agree.

They pulled up in front of the house about 7:15pm.

"Smells like something’s cooking," William said, as they walked up to porch.

"Hmm, really? I don’t smell anything," Buffy said, although she did.

He opened the door and was greeted by a banner, proclaiming, "Happy 28^{th Birthday, William!"}

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