DECEMBER 28, 2008

SATURDAY

3:00PM

"What time did you say we had to leave?" William asked again, sticking his head into the bathroom.

"Around 4:00pm," Buffy called from the shower, "that will give us at least 2 hours to get there, which should be more than enough time."

"Okay," he sighed. He went over and stood in front of Buffy's new mirror adjusting his tie. He and Clem had hung it two days after Christmas, even installing a couple of hinges, so that it could be pulled forward a few inches. He'd told Clem it was so that Elizabeth could sit in front of the dresser if she wished to, but actually, the reasons were of a much more personal nature.

He heard the water turn off and a few minutes later; Elizabeth came out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel. She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Hey, you're wet!"

"Hey, you're warm and dry," she said, grinning.

"Come on, you'll make my shirt all wet," he said, turning around.

"So? Take it off, then," she said, giving him 'the look.'

"Now? We have to leave, you have to get ready..."

"Not for another hour. Besides, it'll help you relax."

"Before we're to meet with your father? I highly doubt that!"

"Okay, then. It'll help me relax," she said, putting her arms around him again and letting the towel puddle to her feet.

"In that case," he said, sweeping her off her feet in one quick movement, causing her to giggle and gasp all at once, "I'd better do my duty, but only in the name of relaxation, of course," he said, plopping her down on the bed.

"Of course," she agreed, "in the name of relaxation, then."

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

4:15PM

"I'll be right there!" Buffy called from the bathroom, exasperated. "We still have plenty of time."

"Says you!" he called back. "Didn't you say that Saturday night traffic in L.A. is pretty horrible?"

She shook her head, wishing she hadn't let Dawn influence her to having dinner with her father.

"I’m ready, okay?" she said, walking out of the bedroom. She was dressed in a soft woolen, two-piece, wine colored sweater-skirt set. Around her waist was tied a soft multi-toned gold sash. She wore nylons and a plain, but tasteful pair of black high heels. Her only jewelry, besides a small pair of gold hoop earrings, were the necklace and ring that he’d given her. She wore her hair loose, save for a single gold clip in the back.

William stared at her, his eyes slowly moving over her appreciatively. "Worth the wait, luv," he said, softly.

Buffy felt herself blush at the attention and compliment.

"You look pretty yourself," she said, smiling at him.

"Pretty?" he scoffed.

"Okay, beautiful!"

He rolled his eyes, "Thanks ever so."

Buffy looked at him in the gray suit and wine colored dress shirt, accented with a gray and black tie and a simple gold tie clip. Black shoes completed the outfit. They’d picked this out together a few weeks before, but just picked it up from altering a few days ago.

"You look very handsome," Buffy said, as she walked over to him.

The words lovely, cute, and sexy, also tumbled through her mind, but she knew they’d only embarrass him, so she kept them to herself.

"Do we match?" he asked suddenly.

"Sort of," she said, then cleared her throat, "but not in a matching ski-sweater sort of way…more of a going to the prom sort of way."

He gave her a funny look.

"It’s a formal high school dance, where the boys buy the girls wrist gays to match their dresses, and sometimes wear a shirt that color coordinates with their girlfriend’s dress. But not always. Especially, not in the case of a pink dress…"

William rolled his eyes, "Never mind. I don’t think I want to know." He already had been embarrassed when they’d gone to Edna’s on Christmas Day for dinner and more than one person had remarked that his and Elizabeth’s sweaters seemed almost matching.

"Did I say you look handsome?"

"I think you may have," he grinned, "Thanks, I just don’t want to look like some poncy git to your father."

"Number one, you don’t! Number two, I don’t care what he thinks about you, me, or anybody else, much."

William took her hand, "I know you don’t luv, but it’s still your father. I can’t help wanting to make a good impression on him."

"I know. You will; don’t worry William," she said, softening the angry thoughts that started to loop in her brain, as they often did when confronted with her father. She often had to make herself stop, just in order to deal with him and pretend that their history didn’t include abandonment and years of pain brought on by that. Heck, she still had issues that she didn’t like to think about that had to do with, and thanks to Hank’s treatment of her mother, her, and Dawn. Nothing a few dozen years of therapy probably couldn’t correct, she thought.

"Let’s go," she said, grabbing the car keys he held out to her, as he grabbed their overnight bags.

About half way there, Buffy was forced to concede that she should’ve left earlier. She called Dawn on the cell phone, and after apologizing, asked if Dawn could call Hank and make the reservation for an hour later.

They arrived at Le Cirque, a little French restaurant about half way between her dad’s and Dawn’s about 6:30pm.

"Well, we got here early after all," Buffy said, as she parked in the lot alongside the restaurant.

"Yes, but still late for the original reservation," William pointed out, as he got out of the car and came around to open her door.

They walked in and Buffy told the maitre de her dad’s name.

"Mr. Summers hasn’t arrived yet, however, I believe other members of your party are in the bar, if you’d like to follow me," he said.

"Sure," Buffy said.

They spotted Dawn and John sitting at a round booth and came over to join them.

"Hey guys!" Dawn said.

John stood up and extended his hand, "William, Buffy; nice to see you again. Here, sit down," he said, moving closer to Dawn and making room for them.

"We couldn’t get reservations until 7:30, but we came now, in case you got here early. Which you did," Dawn said.

"Sorry about that," Buffy said.

"That’s okay. John was running a bit late anyway."

"What did dad say?"

"Not much. Did a bit of grumbling, as he feels is his fatherly right."

Buffy bit her tongue, but William intuitively patted her hand under the table none-the-less.

She was edgy. Partly, it was because she was in Los Angeles. With William. Waiting to introduce them to each other. The man she cared the most about in the world, with the man she once had cared the most about in the world. One had left her voluntarily, with not as much as a look backwards, when she still needed him. The other never left her. At least not voluntarily, but still…"

"What would you like to drink, Miss?" the waitress interrupted her thoughts.

"Me? Oh, white wine? Do you have Merlot?"

The waitress left with their orders.

"Did I mention that you clean up real nice, William?" Dawn asked, teasingly.

For a moment he was confused, then he relaxed, remembering how Elizabeth had said those same words to him in Michigan.

"Don’t mind Dawn, William," John said, beating Buffy to the punch, "it’s just her way of telling you she thinks you look nice."

"Thank you. You make quite the picture yourself, Dawn," he said.

"Picture of what? That’s the question," she said, teasingly.

"Picture of loveliness, just like your sister," he said, turning to look at Buffy, who blushed again.

"I think I need lessons from this guy," John said, "what do you think, Dawn?"

"Most definitely, though you do all right, too," she said, snuggling up into his arm.

The drinks came and they toasted the holiday season and each other. They chatted amiably for about half an hour, until Dawn spotted Hank.

"There he is," Dawn said, pointing to the entryway into the bar. She caught his eye and he waved and came over.

"Hi dad," Dawn said.

"Hi Dawn, hi Buffy. You gals look lovely tonight. John, nice to see you again. He looked over at the other man at the table.

"Dad, this is William," Buffy said.

"Nice to meet you, sir," William said, partly standing, as best as he could from a booth seat, and extending his hand to Elizabeth’s father.

"You, too, William. Call me Hank, though."

John pulled up from another chair from a nearby table to their booth and Hank took a seat.

"Been here long?" Hank asked.

"About half an hour," Dawn answered.

"I’m sorry about having to change your reservation," Buffy said.

"It’s okay. We’re all here now, that’s what counts, right?"

The waitress came by and Hank ordered a gin and tonic, with a twist. He also asked her to check on their table.

She brought the drink and asked if they’d like to take it to their table, which was ready.

They followed the waitress into the much larger dining room, which was soft-lit by candlelight. After they were seated and appetizers ordered, they made small talk for a few minutes as they looked at their menus.

Buffy tried to read the French only version of hers, but was hopelessly lost, her high school French having long been forgotten. She’d taken the more practical Spanish in college.

However, William, although claiming not to be very fluent, was in fact, surprisingly adept at it, both translating and ordering for her in French when the waiter came for their choices.

Once Dawn, currently in her fourth semester of French, got the picture, she started happily chatting with William.

"Hey now," Buffy said, "no fair talking when we can’t understand you."

"Americans!" Dawn said, in a pseudo-French accent.

"I understood that, doofus!" Buffy said.

"Who’s the doofus?"

"Now girls!" Hank said, half-serious, half-playing along.

"She started it," they both said at once.

Hank shook his head, laughing; "Some things never change."

"So," Hank said, turning his attention to William, "what is it that you do?"

William cleared his throat; "I work at the same school Buffy works at, and at the library across the street, too, at present."

"Are you a teacher, also?"

"No, I’m afraid not. I’m doing some maintenance for the school right now and some filing for the library."

"I see," Hank said, looking puzzled. By his speech and the way he carried himself, it was obvious to him that William was a refined young man, probably had a good education under his belt, as well.

"And how long have you known my daughter?"

William looked over at Buffy.

"We’ve known each other since Sunnydale. So about 10 years maybe," Buffy answered for him.

"I see," Hank said, again.

"So, how do you like your new apartment, dad?" Buffy said, changing the subject.

She’d put her hand on William’s leg when Hank had started to question him and he had wrapped his fingers around hers, gratefully.

After dinner, Buffy excused herself to use the restroom, William got up to pull out her chair and let her get past him. She kissed him lightly on the cheek as she did and he smiled at her, letting her know he was fine.

Some soft dance music was playing and John asked Dawn to dance, leaving Hank and William at the table alone.

"So, William," Hank began, taking a chance on his hunch, "what’s an educated fellow like yourself doing working in maintenance?"

William cleared his throat, "Well, you see sir, something happened to my memory after Sunnydale collapsed. I don’t rightly know what happened to me, only that when Elizabeth found me this past summer, I had no memory of anything. So, I’ve had to learn everything again. And I am planning on returning to school to update my education this next semester."

"I’m sorry William, I didn’t know anything about that. I do know that a lot of lives were destroyed in more than one way when Sunnydale collapsed. Terrible tragedy. Did you lose any family there?"

"I…my family’s all gone sir, but before Sunnydale."

"You said Buffy found you this past summer?"

"Yes sir. In Chicago."

"Chicago? What were you doing there?"

"Apparently, being lost," William said, and smiled a bit ruefully.

Hank laughed, "Apparently. Um…tell me, what is your relationship with Buffy, if I can ask."

"Do you mean my intentions?"

"If you’d like."

William looked Hank in the eyes; "I love her with all my heart. I’ve never loved another person in my whole life like I love your daughter. And my intentions are to marry her someday. Sooner, rather than later, I hope. If she’ll have me."

Hank looked William over, appraisingly and saw only sincerity.

"William, I don’t know what Buffy’s told you about me. I imagine if anything, that it’s none too favorable," he said, shrugging. "Unfortunately, she has good reasons. I left her mother when Buffy was about 15, and for a long while, I didn’t have much contact with her or Dawn. I’d like to say it was because it was too painful to only see them once in a while, or that their mother was to blame. I’d like to say it, but I won’t."

"I was a selfish bastard and that’s really all there is to it. The poor, or should I say almost non-existent relationship I have with Buffy is because of it. I think I have a somewhat closer relationship with Dawn, but that’s only because she lived with me after Sunnydale collapsed. She finished her last couple of years of high school here, you know."

William nodded, and not only to the information about Dawn. Hank had unwittingly provided another piece of the puzzle about the woman he loved. No small wonder she was so afraid to commit to marriage. Men had been leaving her all her life, starting with the self-described selfish bastard who sat in front of him now, trying to ease his own conscience. He himself had left her for 5 years, and although Elizabeth said it was only due to circumstances beyond his control, he still felt a terrible sense of guilt for the grief he had caused her.

Hank went on, oblivious to the low regard William now held him in, "My point is, that Buffy would never ask for my blessing for anything she does in her life. Hell, I don’t even know much about her life. She’s kept it that way and I have to respect her wishes. But, I’d like you to know, for what it’s worth, that if you want to marry my daughter William, you have my blessing. From the short amount of time I’ve seen you with her, you seem to make her very happy and vice-versa."

William nodded, as he regarded this statement. Once upon a time, having a father’s blessing would have made him delirious with happiness; would have made him feel like he’d been given the much-needed approval in the eyes of his beloved. But knowing what he knew about this man, the history of his betrayal, and what it must have done to Elizabeth, changed the picture considerably in his eyes. Hank had been right, she would never ask for his blessing, nor would he. None-the-less, it had been given, and he would be gracious about it.

"Thank you Mr. Summers, that means a lot to me, and I’m sure it will to Elizabeth, too." he said, putting out his hand.

"It’s Hank, and you’re quite welcome," he said, shaking William’s hand. "Just one more thing. Why do you call her Elizabeth?"

"It’s a long story, dad," Buffy said, as she returned to her seat.

"So, what were you two chatting about?" she asked, as William pushed in her chair.

"Just you, pumpkin," Hank answered.

Buffy rolled her eyes at the nickname.

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

Dinner was over, and Hank insisted on paying, over everyone’s protests.

Hank grabbed onto Buffy’s arm as they walked to the parking lot.

"I like your William a lot, Buffy," he said in a low voice.

"Me, too," she replied.

"He loves you and I think he’s good for you. You seem happier than I’ve seen you in a long time. Ever maybe. Not that I see you very often, but you seem…I don’t know if this is the right word, but at peace with yourself."

She turned to look at her father. Funny for him to say something so personal, as if he actually saw her, the few and far times between visits.

Hank caught her look. "You look surprised. Buffy…I know that I haven’t been what I should have been in the father department for a long time, but that doesn’t mean I ever stopped loving you or noticing how sad you were when you’d come to visit me, or more aptly, Dawn, these past years. Despite my many shortcomings, I do love you and only want you to be happy."

Buffy nodded, grateful tears welling in her eyes, "I am, dad. I really am. I…I love William, and he does make me very happy."

Hank put his arms around Buffy, drawing her near, "You should marry him, then," he whispered to her.

"What?"

"You heard me. Marry him, become a family. It’s time…it’s your time."

"We’re already a family," she protested, also letting him know their living status, which he’d suspected anyway.

"It’s not the same."

Buffy didn’t say anything as she regarded this statement coming from her dad.

"I wish mom was here," she finally said.

"I wish she was, too. Joyce was always able to communicate about these things much better than I ever could, but I think she’d tell you the same thing," he finished and with that, he gave her a kiss on the cheek and let her go. They finished walking to their cars in silence, while the others chatted up ahead.

"Well, goodnight everyone," Hank said, getting into his Jaguar.

"Goodnight," everyone replied.

"Gentlemen, you take good care of my girls, hear?"

"We will," John and William both said at the same time.

"Very well. I’m off then," Hank said, and with a wave, he drove off.

"Well, that was very Little Women of him, wasn’t it?" Dawn said, amused.

Buffy nodded.

"In fact, it was very Little Women of all of you," she said, looking accusingly at John and William.

John smiled placatingly at her, while William shrugged, since he wasn’t familiar with the book, but could only guess from the title.

"I’m what they call it, Pleading the Fifth," William replied.

"Well, let’s get our Little Women out of the parking lot, what do you say, William?" John asked, teasingly putting his arm around both Buffy and Dawn.

"Ouch!" John said, as he got pinched from both sides.

"You guys can follow us," Dawn suggested.

"Sure, but turn on your cell phone, so in case we lose you…"

"Okay. Or, if you prefer, I can ride with you and William can ride with John, that way, we won’t have to worry. Oh, and we can chat. You know, us Little Women kind of chat things that we do," Dawn said.

Buffy nodded, "Okay, that’ll work."

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

Once back at Dawn’s apartment, they listened to music, played board games, and drank wine until the early hours of morning.

Dawn wanted to give up her bed to her guests, but they insisted that they’d be fine on the couch.

Dawn had asked Buffy if it was alright with her that John also stayed, and although she assured her it was, it was a strange none-the-less. Not like she hadn’t known, but …well, little sister thing and all that. Proof positive that Dawn was all grown up and having her own love affair.

Buffy was laying in William’s arms when she turned to him.

"So, what did my dad and you talk about when I was in the bathroom?"

He turned to look at her, and stroked her hair, "He asked me what my intentions were towards his daughter and I told him that I loved you and wanted to marry you."

"I know," she replied softly.

"When you’re ready," he added, and kissed her gently on the lips.

She snuggled down and closed her eyes without replying. She knew she didn’t need to, knew that he understood and accepted her, that he wasn’t saying this to pressure her. It felt good, safe…

He held her for a few minutes, then whispered; "I’ll never leave you, you know…like he did. Never would be the kind of man to leave his wife, his children. Never."

"I love you, too," she answered, and hugged him tighter, her eyes moist as she fell asleep.

END CHAPTER 113

January 22, 2009

Wednesday

7:00pm

Buffy was seated on the floor in front of the fireplace the following evening, grading papers, when William came in, carrying hot chocolate.

She took the mug from his hand and thanked him, taking a couple of sips.

"I was thinking," she began, "maybe we could wait to go to San Juan Capistrano until March. That’s when the swallows come back, and it’s usually warmer that time of year, too."

"Oh," he said, slightly frowning.

"Unless you really want to go this weekend. That’s okay, we can go..."

"No, it was for you to decide, that’s why I said that to you. We can go in March."

"You sure?"

"Unless you want to go twice?" he half joked.

"Nah...think there’s other places we should go away to also, don’t you? Places we’ve never been to? Well, guess that’s just about everywhere, huh?"

William didn’t say anything. This would put his plans on hold a bit, but he’d think of something else. Maybe this was a good thing, let him have some more time to do it right. Maybe afterwards they could go there, maybe...

"Maybe Dawn and John could stay the weekend if they had some more time to plan on it," she said, interrupting his thoughts.

"Yeah, maybe," he replied.

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

FEBRURARY 8, 2009

Saturday

10:00am

"Here, I’ll get that, luv," William said, getting up to pour some more tea for Edna.

They were seated in the dining room of the restaurant, talking over tea. William had come by early that morning to do some chores for Edna, and lunch hadn’t started yet.

As had become their habit, he would come by on Saturday mornings to do whatever she wanted done, but after a while, she always insisted he take a break and have some tea and whatever else he wanted to eat, while sitting and talking to her.

It was during these talks, that William came to find out how his ‘grandfather,‘ his ‘father,’ and he had been connected to the McKennitt family and this place over the years.

He learned of her coming over from Ireland as the young bride of Lawrence McKennitt. They'd moved west to settle in this area and make a go of it, opening a hotel and restaurant here in Julian, during the secondary gold rush started by his grandfather. His grandfather, who had hung onto 1000 acres of land during the primary gold rush, until the 1930’s, when he divided and sold the land in 10 - 100 acre parcels.

She told him how her husband, Lawrence, had been saved by his grandfather during a fight. After being thrown out of the establishment for lewd behavior, the drunken patron had come back with a knife. Lucky for them, she told William, that his grandfather just happened to be walking by that night.

It was through this chance meeting, that they got to know the reclusive gold mine owner a bit, and it wound up being Lawrence, who had talked his grandfather into building the house, that him and Elizabeth now resided in.

His grandfather had given Lawrence the money to pay the workers to build the house while he was away.

With tears in her eyes, she told William how while she was pregnant, Lawrence had been murdered by a man who had been staying at their hotel. When his grandfather came back a couple of years later, he had found the restaurant closed, the hotel boarded up, and Edna with an 18-month old, she could barely feed.

"Your grandfather was stunned that the money was still in an account for him, that I hadn’t used it to keep out of debt, even though I didn’t know when he was coming back, or if he ever would. But I just could never do that. It wasn’t mine to use, no matter what," Edna said.

"What happened, then?" William asked.

"Your grandfather paid off the debtors, bought back my lease, and helped me get back on my feet, so I could reopen this restaurant is what he did," Edna said, smiling fondly at the memory.

"I never really saw him again, but he set up a college fund for my son Lawrence. Then about 20 years later, after your grandfather had passed, I met your father. He was as kind to me as your grandfather had been. Looked just like him, too. In fact, you do, too. You’re all the spitting images of each other."

"And me? When did you meet me?" William asked.

"Hmmm...I’d say about the mid 90’s or so. Maybe a little earlier, maybe a little later. My memory isn’t what it used to be," she answered, smiling.

He smiled at her wryly, "Preachin' to the choir, luv. Preachin' to the choir," he said softly.

"Tell me about the first time I brought Elizabeth here."

"Let’s see. It was Valentine’s Day 2003. You and her had just come up to Julian. It was the first time that you had brought anybody here with you or to your house, that I ever knew of. You stopped here first, for a bite to eat. I think you were so excited to be bringing Elizabeth with you, that you forgot what night it was," she said, winking at him.

"Anyway, I was so surprised when I saw you, I didn’t want to turn you away, so I made up the little room next to my office for you and her to eat your dinner in."

"Could I...?" William paused.

"Can you what, dear?"

"Could I please see it?"

"The room?"

William nodded.

"Of course you can," she said, rising.

He got up from the table and she took his arm, as she led the way through the kitchen.

"Right here," she said, opening the door, to a small room, about 8’ x 10’ and packed quite tight with extra kitchen and restaurant supplies, "not much to see now."

"Oh," he said, disappointed.

"What is it, dear? You look upset."

"No, no, I’m not upset, just wanted to see it. Guess I thought maybe if I saw it looking like you described, maybe I might remember something," he fibbed. Sort of.

"Oh, I’m sorry," she said patting his hand.

He looked wistfully at the room, thinking how his plan wouldn’t quite work out like he hoped.

"Valentine’s Day is next week," Edna said, looking at him, as he stared at the room.

"Um-hmm," he answered.

"I’ll make sure you have a table this time," she said.

He nodded, but didn’t say anything.

"But it wouldn’t quite be the same, would it?" she asked perceptively.

"No, not the same. I was sort of hoping...ah, nevermind," he said, turning to her and giving her cheek a kiss.

"Tell me, William. What were you hoping."

He looked down at his feet, getting his courage up, then back up at her, "I was sort of hoping that we could have dinner in this room on Valentine’s Day, just like we did the first time. I wanted it to be special, I wanted to ask...to ask Elizabeth..."

Edna gasped, "You mean...?"

William nodded, blushing.

"And you wanted to do it here, where you first brought her?"

"Yeah, but that’s all right, I’ll..." William started.

"Well what are you waiting for then?" Edna asked, forcefully, "let’s get this room cleaned out!"

William looked at her and shook his head; "You don’t have to..."

"Not another word, William. I’m an old lady, and I don’t do anything anymore that I don’t want to, and I want to do this for you, for both of you. I'm so happy you're both," she stopped, her voice choking, "it's so wonderful!"

He patted her arm.

"Ack, look at me, going on like an old fool..."

"You're not a fool, anything but."

She wiped at her eyes with her sleeve and pulled herself together, "The bad thing is, I'm afraid you’ll have to do most the moving yourself, Wally isn't around, and..."

"That's not a problem, I'll be happy to," he said, then looked around at the quite crowded room, "but where will I put it all?"

"There’s a little room upstairs that some of these paper goods can be stored in for now, and if you’ll help clean up some of the kitchen cabinets that haven’t been used for a while, then some of foodstuff can go into them, like they should’ve been. I think we’ll be leaving some of the stuff here anyway, but it will at least be cleared enough for a table for two," she said, winking.

William grinned, "Can I borrow your phone? I’d better tell Elizabeth I’m going to be late."

He looked back over at her, smiling; "Can you keep this our secret?"

Edna smiled back at him and crossed her heart, and pretend zipped her lips, then pointed to her office, "Just press #9 first, then your numbers, after you get a dialtone."

She smiled as she looked at him going into her office.

"It’s about time, wouldn’t you agree?" she said, looking up at Lawrence’s picture which hung in the small hallway.

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

"Hello!" William called as he came in the door.

There was no answer as he walked through the rooms of the house. Finally, he opened up the door to their bedroom and saw her laying on top the covers, asleep.

He smiled and walked over to the bed, then lay down next to her, spooning up against her back. He pushed the hair away from her neck and kissed it, as his arm pulled her against him.

"Umm," she mumbled, stirring, her arm pulling his closer, "what time ‘s it?"

"A little past 3:30, luv."

She moaned, "Can’t believe I slept so long! I went to the store, did laundry, cleaned, all those fun things...then I was going to do something in here, and decided to lay down for a minute, and boom!"

He chuckled, "Yeah, it happens. What time was that?"

"I think about 1:00 or 1:30. How about you? You just get home?"

He nodded against her neck, "Yeah, stayed a bit longer than I thought I was going to."

She made a sympathetic sound and pushed up against him, her one leg, going between his two, "Edna working you hard? I hope she’s not going to keep you this late every Saturday, or I’ll hardly get to spend a day off with you."

"I don’t think she will. Besides, we have Sundays."

"Homework on Sundays. Blech!"

He almost reminded her that she hadn’t had to take a class that semester, but decided that could lead to a fight. Plus, he still would have had to study.

"I’ve an idea."

"What’s that?"

"We could just spend the rest of the evening doing homework, that way we’ll have all of tomorrow just for the two of us."

She rolled over and faced him, putting her hand up to his face, "So what would we do tomorrow then?"

He smiled at her, his eyebrows arching, as his face neared hers, "Maybe some of this," he said, kissing her; his tongue tracing her lips languidly, before slipping inside her mouth to explore it, "and some of that," he said, his hand cupping her breast.

"Um, think I’m liking your idea more and more," she said, as she pulled his head in further.

"Or," he said pulling back, "maybe we could even go to that movie you’ve been wanting to see, the one that was playing in that theater in the mall," he said, as he kissed her neck.

"The one we went Christmas shopping at with Dawn and John in San Diego?" she asked, surprised.

He nodded.

She turned her head to look at him, then put her hand on his forehead, then felt his head.

"What?"

"Just making sure you’re not running a fever, or didn’t bump your head," she said, grinning.

He grinned back, "A man can’t take his best girl out to the movies without being thought to be ill?" he asked, feigning hurt.

"Of course he can," she said, kissing him happily, "shutting up now."

"Good," he said, seeing to her in a way that made sure that she did.

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

FEBRUARY 9, 2009

SUNDAY

2:45PM

Buffy looked over at William, as he watched the movie, enthralled. Of course, he was more or less use to television, though theirs didn’t come in too well, despite the satellite system that Clem had tried to rig up. However, they’d only been to a couple of actual movies at the theater since he’d come back home and each time she had to remind herself how new and enchanting the whole thing must be for him.

William had his own agenda when he’d suggested going to the movies at the mall. After he’d left Edna’s yesterday, he’d gone to a jewelry store in town, but hadn’t found what he was looking for. Today, he hoped to casually get some ideas while they were at the mall. He thought he’d pulled it off pretty smoothly, too. They’d stopped for coffee at Starbucks first.

"Let’s take it with us," he’d said. As they strolled through the mall, when they’d gotten near Radio Shack and the jewelry store, he suggested they sit on one of the benches and finish their drinks.

He mentioned to Elizabeth that he’d been looking for a ring for her there, but hadn’t found anything until him and Dawn had gone over to the antique store.

"Show me," she said, curious to see what he was talking about,

He watched her reaction to some of the various rings, even had the clerk show her some.

"Are you looking for an engagement or wedding ring?" the saleslady had inquired.

"Just looking," they’d both said.

After about the fifth or sixth ring she’d tried on the lady asked her which she liked best.

"I don’t know. They’re all nice, but I really like mine the best," Buffy said, shrugging and showing her the gold ring with the lovebirds William had given her for Christmas.

"Yes, I can see why you like it, it’s beautiful, very unique," the lady said, smiling as she examined it.

Buffy nodded, pleased by her statement.

"Oh, I just remembered! My watchband, I need a new pin for it and a buckle, I think. Can I get that here?"

"Of course, just take it over to the counter where the man is at, he’ll take care of it for you," she said, putting away the ring trays, disappointed there would be no sale.

"Thanks," Buffy said, walking away.

The woman was just about to go to the next customer she spotted, when William caught her eye.

She stopped and he whispered, "The ring that Elizabeth was wearing...do you think it would be an appropriate engagement ring?"

"The one she already has?" she asked, puzzled.

"Nevermind, that's not a very good idea, is it?" he asked, looking forlorn. I’d hoped she’d like something here, then I would’ve known what I could get her..."

"She really likes that one, doesn't she?" she asked, looking at William, while the commission wheels in her head turned.

"Hold on a minute, I may have an idea."

She walked over to the counter where Buffy was being taken care of, pretending to look for something, all the while, taking a closer look at the ring. She went into the back, and a minute later, a man followed her out, both then going to the counter that Buffy was standing at.

William could see them talking in low voices. The woman smiled and nodded, then walked back to where William was waiting.

"Here’s what the jeweler suggested..."

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

FEBRUARY 14, 2009

FRIDAY

11:30AM

The Montessori classes had gone to the library across the street this week looking for ideas for making Valentines. The older classes also had a one-page report due about the history of the day.

William had helped them while they were there, as he did nearly every week, and now he was in Elizabeth’s classroom, sitting at a low table with some of the students.

In the middle of the table lay a pile of ribbons, red and white paper, lace doilies and some old-fashioned Victorian cutouts, which had come in a package from one of the teacher’s magazines, which she had ordered for them.

William was working on a small Valentine at the moment. The children watched as he used a pen and lettered it in the best calligraphy script he could recall.

They started begging him to show them how, and so he asked one of the children to bring him a sheet of paper, and in calligraphy, he demonstrated both upper and lower case letters of the alphabet.

One of the children had taken it upon herself to go and look in the art supplies. She came back with a calligraphy pen and handed it to William.

"Excellent! I didn’t know if these were still around. This is just the sort of pen that was made to use with this type of writing. Not that you certainly can’t make calligraphy letters using a regular pen or pencil, even a paint brush," he added, seeing that there was only one pen and about six children sitting at the table, all anxious to give it a try.

They decided to share the pen for the front of their card, using regular ones for the inside, as to be fair.

Katie got up to see over William’s shoulder at another one he was making.

"Uh-uh. This one is private," he said with a wink, covering it up with his arm, causing the kids around him to giggle and make childlike noises of glee.

Elizabeth looked toward the noise, and saw William sitting there, holding court with the kids. He felt her eyes on him and looked up at her and smiled.

"Mr. W., Mr. W.," Katie whispered with urgency, "Mrs. W. is coming!"

"Thanks, Katie," he said, turning his card face down.

Buffy went around the table complimenting the children on their efforts.

"How about yours, William?"

"You can have this one now. The other's not done yet," he said, handing her the small card. It read:

Dearest Elizabeth,

Please do me the honor of having

Dinner with me at:

The Rittenhouse Restaurant

Tonight

Friday

14 February 2009

7:00PM

Love,

William

"I’d love to," she said, smiling as she looked at him, " but I think we need reservations, seeing that it’s..."

"Already taken care of, luv," he said, saying the last part so only she could hear, "did that last Saturday afternoon."

"Oh," she said, surprised in a way, and not at all in another.

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

They arrived at the restaurant at 7:00pm sharp.

The waiting area was full as they walked up to the maitre’d’s station.

"Name?" the man asked.

"William Worthington."

The man frowned as he looked up and down his list. "What time was your reservation for?"

"7:00PM, but I don’t suppose you’ll find it there."

The man and Buffy both looked at William. Just then, Edna walked up behind the maitre’ d and whispered something to him, he nodded, and she then turned her attention to them, "William, Elizabeth! You’re here! Good, follow me," she said, nodding to them.

They walked into the dining room. Buffy expected Edna to stop at one of the few empty tables that were left, but she kept walking. Buffy was confused; until they followed Edna into the kitchen and beyond, then it all made sense.

"And here you are, William and Elizabeth; your very own, private dining room."

Buffy gasped, as Edna opened the door. It was just as she’d remembered it, from the two, old-fashioned high back wooden chairs with cushioned red velvet seats, to the small table, set with a white linen table cloth and napkins. On the table sat crystal long stem glasses for wine, shorter ones for water, real silver utensils, and two lit, red candles in crystal candleholders.

William and Edna both smiled at Elizabeth’s pleasure.

"How did you...?" she asked, looking at William, then at Edna.

Over the years, she’d grown accustomed to looking at the room, not without some pangs of nostalgia, as she’d gone into Edna’s office on many occasions and she knew that it hadn’t been used as anything other than a storage room for a very long time.

Edna started to open her mouth to explain, then thought better of it, "Why don’t you have a seat, Elizabeth and let William tell you all about it, while I go and get some menus for you both," she said.

William pulled out the chair for a still stunned Elizabeth and took the seat across the table. Her eyes were large as she looked around, coming to rest on his face.

He cleared his throat, "You remember you told me about my bringing you here the first time I brought you up here?" he asked, his hand covering hers.

She nodded.

"Well, I asked Edna to fill me in a bit. I wanted to make tonight special for you; for us," he said softly, as he held onto her hand, "that’s why I stayed so long last Saturday, I was helping sort this room out. ‘fraid I had nothing to do with the decor, though. Is it...? Do you like it?"

"It’s just like I remember it," she said nodding, looking around her in wonder.

Her eyes came back to him, marveling really, that he would’ve thought to do this for her, make it like when she and Spike had...

Oh.

Where had that thought come from? He was...Spike, wasn’t he? Come back to her, just all William, but still Spike had William inside him.

She shook herself mentally and focused on the man in front of her.

"Luv?"

"Huh?"

"Looked far away for a moment."

"Just remembering. This. You."

He nodded, "Wish that I could, too."

He let go of her hand and took the bottle of champagne that was on the table, opened it and poured it for them.

"To new memories, as well as old, then?" he said, raising his glass.

She nodded, and clinked her glass with his, and they drank.

A few minutes later Edna came back and took their order. William had wanted to know what he’d ordered that night. She remembered it had been Prime Rib, though she left out the part about very rare, reminding him to order it well done, if he was going to get the same. She had her favorite, Shrimp and Scallop Fettuccini.

"Tell me about that night," he said, after Edna had left.

"You already know about it," she answered.

"Know some of it, you mean."

"What do you want to know?" Buffy asked.

"Just tell me the story, luv. All of it. Please."

Buffy drew a breath, looking for the right words before she began.

"Things were bad in Sunnydale. They had been for a while. I’d gone out the night before and had gotten hurt, afterwards..."

"How do you mean, hurt? Did somebody hurt you?" he asked, tensing.

She couldn’t believe she’d walked into that! This was treading on dangerous ground.

She shook her head, "No, I...I fell down and hit my head, because I was...overtired."

He looked at her skeptically, wondering if he should ask her about the fight that Xander had told him about, the one where he’d lost his eye.

She continued, "I knocked myself out when I fell and you found me, brought me back home. You decided then that I needed a break from my...responsibilities, from everything. And lucky for me, I let you talk me into taking me away for an overnight," she said, smiling, trying to lighten the mood.

"Your responsibilities," he repeated, "caring for Dawn you mean?" he asked. She’d told him of her mother’s death.

She nodded, "Yeah, that and working, money problems..." she said.

Not adding, ‘Oh, and fighting The First and an impending apocalypse, having a soulfully depressed, sometimes insane, possibly lethal vampire, ex-lover, which I was just a tad confused about, sleeping in my basement, and housing about 30 other potential slayers...’

"Were we together then?" he asked, unsure of the length or duration or exact nature of their romance. From what he could ascertain, all he’d learned in their months together from her and others, or rather, what he had gleaned; was that theirs had not always been an easy relationship. Not like it was now. Yet, it had endured. Lost for five years, she’d found him, they’d found each other and their love had endured. Always would, he believed with all his heart, for he couldn’t imagine a life without her.

"Not exactly," she answered, trying to measure her words carefully, "I mean, you were living there in my basement. In fact, I had a lot of people living there then. At my house I mean, not all in the basement," she laughed nervously, aware of babbling.

"Your basement? Why? And why were there other people living in your house? Were you renting out to boarders?" William asked, looking puzzled.

She almost laughed. Would’ve, if it hadn’t been so tragic, really.

"Not exactly. Just a lot of my friends had lost their homes recently. Earthquake activity," she quickly made up, in a bit of inspired thinking-on-her-feet, or her seat, rather, as it was at the moment, "so they were staying with me. You, too."

"Oh," he said, remembering what he knew of Sunnydale collapsing. Made sense.

Buffy took a silent, grateful breath, that he’d accepted that.

"And us? I thought we were...?"

"We had. The year before, but then things got...difficult, so we weren’t together at that point, but it was around that time, when we really started to..." she paused, looking across the table at his trusting face. The face that she loved, into eyes that always seemed to hold nothing but love for her. A face that she never wanted to see crumple with pain again.

"...really become friends," she finished, then hurried to explain, when she saw him sadly mouth the word, "good friends, William. The very best, the kind that real love is built on. And you and I came to trust each other in a way we hadn’t before...I trusted you enough to let you bring me here, because you did it for me, because you knew I needed to get away, to...just be able to breathe, to be me. You did that," she said, taking his hand in hers again.

William didn't know why, but somewhere deep inside him, he knew that the the essence of what she, for that matter all of them, weren't telling him about his past had to do with trust. Her trusting him. Them trusting him. Otherwise, why mention it? Wouldn't trust among friends or in their relationship, have been implicit? The mere fact of her mentioning it; had shown it to be at the heart of the issue.

"Had I been...untrustworthy before?" he asked bravely, afraid to hear the truth, but unwilling to be a coward about it either, not if he was to be worthy of her now.

"William," she said, her voice catching at how far he was pulling them onto thin ice, farther than he even imagined. He’d taken hold of her and spun her in a dance around the big white elephant in the room they both inhabited. He was dancing with her again.

Buffy put her hand on his face, "Let’s just say we both hurt each other, and let it go at that. Alright? Please?" her voice had a hint of fright in it, which he heard.

"Of course," he said, relieved himself, for reasons he didn’t care to examine right then.

The food came and they started to eat. They talked then about other things, their recent history, and the mood lightened.

"When you brought me here, it was the first time that I’d met Edna, or knew about this part of your life. You bought me this necklace that night," she said, looking down at it fondly. William’s hand reached across the table and she felt his delicate touch on it as he lifted it up off her chest to look at it. Her eyes caught his and they stared at each other for a very sensual moment.

"And you bought me the Shakespeare book," he said in a low voice, still staring at her.

She nodded, dumbly. He knew that part of the story already.

She cleared her throat, and pulled away from his hand to gain some coherence,

"We went back to your house. Clem had already come up ahead of time to start the fireplace and to open up the house, since you hadn’t been there in a while. Edna sent us home with lots of food. Like always," she said, smiling.

William nodded; knew it well he did.

"We sat in front of the fireplace and talked for a couple of hours, then we went to bed. You in your room which is now our room, and me in the guestroom. You didn’t want it to be about you that weekend, so you didn’t want to pressure me, if I didn’t want to be with you in that way."

"I see," William said, looking down at her hand, which had come across the table to hold his.

"But I did, you see..."

He looked up, expectantly.

"...want to be with you, in that way. Again. Still. Always."

His heart pounded, as he looked at her, gripping her hand tightly, "And I...I was so happy that you did, I thanked God, the saints, and everything else that I held sacred," he said, awe in his voice.

She stared at him, holding her breath for a few seconds. Had he realized what he’d said? Well, except for the thanking God and saints part, didn’t think Spike...

"What is it?" William asked, realizing that she’d become unnaturally still.

"What you said...do you know what you said? You don’t...do you?"

"What I said?" he asked, thinking about it for a moment.

"I said, I was happy that you came to me, that...oh," he said, looking at her, apologetically.

"It’s okay, really it is," she stammered, "you know it is...I just...when you..."

"Spoke as if I remembered, didn’t I?"

She nodded.

William got up and came over and knelt by her chair, his hands on either side of her legs, "It’s just I know how I would’ve felt. I don’t need to remember it to know how happy I would have been to have you back in my arms, to know that I would have thanked God that you’d come to me. I feel like that everyday, Elizabeth. Don’t you know that by now?"

The room had suddenly taken on a surreal quality, with everything else quiet, still, falling away, as she looked into his face.

"I know," she barely whispered, her hand automatically going to his face. He turned into it, kissing her palm.

"I brought you here tonight...wasn’t exactly how I planned it, think I even had a card," William said, laughing nervously, as his hands found hers and brought them both to her lap, as he looked into her eyes.

"Yes," Buffy whispered.

"Marry me, Elizabeth. I love you so much. Will you marry me?" he asked, his eyes on hers, hopeful, full of love.

"What?" he stammered, suddenly realizing she’d spoken.

"I said yes," she said, smiling.

"But I hadn’t even...yes?" he asked, then his face broke into a huge smile,

"Yes?"

"Yes. Yes!" Buffy repeated for them both, before smashing her mouth to his, silencing the need for any more words, as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her up out of her seat, as he rose, too.

Of course, he wouldn’t be silenced for long, "I love you, I love you, love you so much," he murmured into her mouth, as they stood kissing.

"I love you, too," she said back, overwhelmed. Her knees felt like jelly, and not just from the physical sensation of being kissed by him, which in and of itself was enough to do it to her quite often, but of having culminated this relationship in the promise of marriage, of ever after, of all the things she’d never thought she’d ever have.

"I think I...need to sit down a minute," Buffy said, feeling a bit shaky.

He nodded, and pulled the chair out for her and took his seat once more across the table.

Edna chose that moment to bring their desert. Like five years before, it was once again a chocolate cake, frosted in white, with their names, William and Elizabeth written in white in the of a blood-red heart. She also brought coffee and another bottle of champagne.

Edna could feel the heightened tension in the room, and wisely decided to make her stay brief, not wanting to hone in on the couple’s big night, although she was dying to know if William had popped the question yet.

They sat there staring at their cake, and each other, a bit speechless after the flurry of words and activity previous to this moment.

Finally William spoke, "Usually it’s the custom for the man to present the woman with a ring," he began.

She shook her head, "That’s alright."

"I wanted to get you something that you would love. That’s why I took you into the jewelry store the other day...to see if you liked anything."

She nodded, with a knowing look; "I kind of thought so. I didn’t help you any, did I?"

He shook his head, "No, well, not exactly, but I did get some ideas when I was there. About your ring," he said, taking her hand and tracing his fingers over the birds and heart. "If you would like to have this as your engagement ring, I found out that we could have a diamond put into the center of the heart, here. If not, then we can pick out something else, if you’d rather have a more traditional one," he said, looking at her, questioningly.

"No, I don’t want another ring. I love this one, just as it is, in fact. But, maybe if it could be done without hurting it, then that would be alright. That would be perfect," she said, smiling as she put her other hand on top of his.

He smiled back, relieved.

Edna returned a few minutes later and this time they invited her to join them in a toast to celebrate their news.

The champagne bubbled and so did Edna.

"I’m so happy for you two," she said, sniffling.

As expected, she sent them home with plenty of food, champagne, and well wishes and love.

END CHAPTER 117

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