APRIL 9, 2009

WEDNESDAY

2:00PM

Giles sat across from Willow at his desk in the new office of the Council of Watchers. He’d called her in for a meeting a few days after he had returned, to discuss Buffy and William with her, and though she didn’t feel completely comfortable doing this, she was also glad that it was now out in the open.

His brow was wrinkled in concentration as he read from a copy of the Prophecy, which Willow had been able to hack from Wolfram & Hart's computers, back when Buffy had first told her of the dreams she was having about Spike, last winter, before he Shanshu’d.

"Buffy doesn't know about this, does she?" he asked, pointing the last page.

Willow shook her head, "No. She can't know. You mustn't tell her either."

"I know," Giles said, sighing. "Well, it doesn't look as though we have anything to worry about."

"I don't think so either, but that's not what Angel thinks," she said, going on to explain, how she had warned him about the retribution of the coven, should he try to further harm William, and what Angel’s response had been.

"I don't understand Angel," Giles said, taking off his glasses to polish them. "I understand he was in love with Buffy and, according to Wesley, thought the prophecy would naturally go to him, but how on earth did he think that killing William would help his cause?"

"I don't think he planned on killing him, really. I just think he might have wanted to keep him from Buffy for the next 2 years, that way...well, you know what that means, now that you've read it."

"I still don't understand his logic," Giles insisted.

"I don’t think it is logic. And as for Angel loving Buffy, he claimed he doesn't anymore, nor does he care if he becomes human or not. I think it's just the idea of Spike getting Buffy, getting to be human, fulfilling the prophecy...that's what goads him."

"That and the fact that he's no longer working for the good of...well, anything, makes him dangerous, I should think."

"I agree, but hopefully, if things can just go on like they are right now, then we won't have to worry. Right?"

"I hope so, Willow. I really do. Still, it wouldn't hurt to keep a sharp eye out for doings at Wolfram & Hart, just in case..."

"Yeah, just in case..."

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

OFFICES OF WOLFRAM & HART

APRIL 11, 2009

FRIDAY

8:30AM

"How old did you say these were?" Angel roared at Lilah.

"Well," she said, picking up her note pad, "one is from February 9th - that's one from the mall again. Another is from March 22nd - that's over at Dana Point, and..."

"Where?"

"Near San Juan Capistrano, and the last one is from April 6th at LAX."

Angel looked at her."

"That's one of Wes and Rupert Giles. The others are of Buffy and William. Oh, and her sister and her boyfriend are in the second one."

"You didn't tell me why I'm only seeing these now, Lilah," he said, menacingly.

"Well, you're the one who fired the whole department a few months ago, Angel. Things got backed up. Right after that, a virus sent by one of our clients got into the computer, wiping out the its hard drive. It took a while to update the data base again."

"Get out!"

"Whatever you want, Angel," Lilah said, leaving him.

Angel put in the first tape and watched as Buffy and William once again were having coffee at a mall in San Diego. Nothing remarkable there, but since they'd been identified as 'persons of interest' to Wolfram & Hart, the rest of the mall's security tapes were automatically scanned for that day, as well. As he watched he saw Buffy and William, going into the movies, sitting on a bench, and then going into a jewelry store. He looked down on the sheet and fast-forwarded to the corresponding number, which showed the tape of the jewelry store. Gritting his teeth, he watched as Buffy tried on engagement rings and as William took the sales clerk aside to ask her something.

"Excuse me, Angel?" interrupted his secretary, coming into his office.

He growled at her.

"Oh, oops, I'll come back," she beat a hasty retreat, seeing him in vamp face.

He put on the second tape and watched as his suspicions were confirmed when Buffy, William, Dawn, and someone named John talked about Buffy and William's engagement on the feed captured by the Starbuck's at Dana Point.

Lastly, he tried unsuccessfully to hear the feed on the conversation between Giles and Wesley at LAX, but couldn't make it out.

"Lilah, come in here!" he said, into the intercom.

A few minutes later, she was in his office, "What did you need, Angel?"

"I need the voices on this one redone, I can't make them out. If he can't make it clear on the tape, just have him send me the manuscript."

"Sure, no problem. So, if I may ask, what are your former friends and lovers up to these days?"

Angel glared at her, "Getting married it would appear."

"Isn't that sweet? Should I start looking into shower or wedding gifts for the happy couple?"

"That and a permanent coffin for yourself, Lilah," he returned.

She smirked at him.

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

"Here’s the manuscripts you wanted," Lilah said, as she came into Angel’s office two hours later, "but I don’t think there’s anything of interest here."

"I’ll be the judge of that," he said, picking them up and scanning them.

He looked up at Lilah, "Something else you need?"

"Nope, nothing at all," she said, nodding to him, before letting herself back out.

"Hmm, looks like my old pal Wesley is being reinstated as a Watcher by Giles to some new slayers in LA. Mentions me a few times," he said to himself, as he threw them on his desk.

He sat back in his chair, his face a cold mask of dispassionate resolve as he contemplated an idea that had been forming for some time.

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

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

APRIL 12, 2009

SUNDAY

2:00AM

After seeing a play at Teatro Colon, the slender, dark-haired woman took a walk through the city, past the superb old manisons along the Avenida Alvear, then into the Cementario de la Recoleta, where the richest of the city were laid to rest. Sitting on a bench, she looked up at the starlit South American spring sky and waited. It wasn't long before a well-groomed man approached her, drawn by her beauty.

She knew he would come, for she had willed it so.

"Why is one as lovely as you, here all alone?" he asked her.

"I'm not alone, you're here," she replied. "What's your name?"

"Guillermo," he answered.

She nodded. She already knew, it was foretold.

3:30AM

The woman looked lazily over at the man in the bed next to her and smiled at him. She rolled over and nuzzled up to his warm neck. For all intents and purposes they looked like any other two lovers, until one looked closer.

The man's eyes were staring straight ahead in terror, as the woman's fangs once again, pierced the skin on his neck. She moved on top of him, roughly taking his cock in her hand and guiding him inside her. She rode him, taking the life force from his loins, as well as his neck. His heart slowed, as she finished with him. She rolled off him, and looked into his now, nearly dead eyes.

"You say your name is William," she purred at him, her voice deceptively soft and sweet at first, then rising into an unearthly wail, "but you aren't my William! You lie to me, like they all do!"

She pulled the chain on the lamp, illuminating the small bedroom in a soft red glow. She roughly turned his head, so that for the first time, and the last, he became aware of the pile of bodies, which had been hidden in the shadows of the night.

She heard the death rattle coming from him, and then he was no more. She sighed, picked up his body and gently lay him down on top of the other Williams' bodies.

She sniffed daintily.

Although she hated to leave the little, comfortable apartment near Plaza Dorrego, above the jewelry shop, she knew that it would be only a matter of time before someone came looking into why the shop's owner, Guillermo Ramos had not been open for business in nearly a week.

She walked out onto the balcony, wearing a thin, long, white nightgown; little splotches of red down the front of it, and looked up at the stars.

"What's that?" she asked, looking skyward, bursting out in a fit of manic giggles.

"You're telling me that my pretty William lives once more? Resurrected like the Easter bunny? Wait! What? He died and saved the world again, because of her?"

"You are a bad daddy! A very bad daddy! This won't do at all, not at all," she keened, as she hurried back into the bedroom.

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

APRIL 13, 2009

MONDAY

9:45AM

"You’re late!" Angel said, as Lilah entered his office.

"I don’t think you’re going to mind," she said, giving him a folder and a box.

He opened the box and took out a little sphere-like object, with many pointy protrusions sticking out all around it, "What is it?"

"It's a satellite."

"A satellite? What the hell is this for?"

A small grin started at the corners of Lilah's red lips, spreading until she looked like the cat who’d ate the canary.

"Well?"

"This, my dear Angel, is to talk to a certain someone with. A certain someone who we located for you."

"You found her? Really? How?"

Lilah shrugged, "Wasn't too hard. She never was the subtle type was she? Just did a basic search, following her careless m.o., and found her within a day. Seems that she's been living in South America for a while."

"Old habits die hard," he mumbled.

"Here’s where I think you’ll really enjoy the story?"

"How’s that, Lilah? Not that I’m likely to enjoy any story you tell me."

Lilah laughed, "Well, we contacted our associates down there, especially the ones with the same name; the matching name in question. Then we had them placed, where they were likely to come into contact with her. In other words, we assembled the disposable cannon fodder."

"Did it work?"

"Oh yeah. She took the bait all right. Or baits, I should say. They've all turned up missing."

"And the satellite?"

"Satellites, you mean. We just watch the feed from the satellites, and when we notice that she's watching them, we just flash her a message or two or ten."

"How the hell do you do that? Is it like skywriting or something? Surely, she can't hear sounds from space now can she? She may have had the gift of sight, but I don’t recall her having a gift of hearing."

"Let's just say that for a long time, we've known that truly crazy people, like her, have their own perceptions, their own language that they understand. All we do is just put out some of those different 'languages,' call it beeps and blips, if you will, and sooner or later, we see which she's responding to. Then we make all of them 'talk' to her that way."

"So, the satellites have been giving her messages?"

"Every night, all about a certain someone."

Angel nodded, impressed by the vast technology of the Wolfram & Hart empire.

"Very Big Brother," he said. "So, what’s her status?"

"She followed ‘the stars’ and came by the office last night. She’s now under our protection, which brings me to this point; what do you want to do with her, now that we have her?"

"Just leave her there for now, just make her comfortable, give her all that she needs, oh, and keep up with the satellites or whatever subliminal messages you can feed her. I want her biting at the bit when the rest is in place."

Angel put his arms behind his head, as he sat back in his chair, "Know what Lilah? This may be have been a good Easter after all," he said, smiling.

END CHAPTER 125

APRIL 14, 2009

TUESDAY

9:30PM

One evening a couple of weeks later, as they drove home from their classes, the question of training came up in an unexpected way.

William had been quiet during the ride home, seemingly lost in his own thoughts.

"Elizabeth? Um, I hate to bring this up, but did you hear about what happened on campus last weekend?"

"That girl?" she asked, referring to hearing that a freshman had been assaulted on the way to her car after leaving the library Friday evening.

"Yes, and on Good Friday even," he said, shaking his head.

It had been Easter the weekend before. Buffy had thought that William might want to go to church again, and so she'd asked him. He'd thought that would be a good thing to do. She didn't mind, figuring if anyone should be grateful for resurrections, it ought to be her, in lieu of William knowing, and so they went. Like Christmas, there was something very special about the services, though this time served up at sunrise, rather than at midnight.

"I was thinking, maybe you should take a self-defense course or something," he said, "Wendy says they’re starting one over at the "Y" a few blocks from here before classes on Thursday nights, and also on Fridays."

Ever since Giles had mentioned training, she had been thinking about it, and trying to figure the best way to approach it. She had started talking about their getting fit and mentioned some different types of exercises she used to do, but he’d only seemed mildly interested and she hadn’t pushed it.

"Wasn’t that girl with her boyfriend, too?" she asked, innocently.

"I think so," William said.

"I heard he got beat up pretty badly, as well, trying to defend her."

He nodded, lips tightly drawn. He’d heard about that as well, and it had made him sick to think, that despite this fellow’s best attempts, his girl still got hurt. If that happened to Elizabeth... "Suppose it wouldn’t hurt if I went with you, would it?"

"Would you?" she asked.

He nodded solemnly.

And so, they started going to self-defense classes twice a week. Soon it was apparent to the members of the class, that Buffy had training before. For William’s sake, she tried to hold back the first couple of weeks, even biting her tongue some of the time, when she knew a better way to do something. However, when she’d been assigned to role-play victim to the largest male member of the class, she quickly used his weight to her advantage, and tossed him over onto his back in nothing flat, to the speechless stares of the rest of the class.

William, like the rest of the class, just stared at her. He caught her eye and looked at her with an expression she couldn’t read.

Buffy extended her hand to the man she’d just tossed onto the mat, as if he were a rag doll.

"You okay?"

He grunted and ignoring her hand, got up on his own, embarrassed.

"Elizabeth, where did you ever learn that move?" her instructor asked her when class had ended.

"Just got lucky," she said, lightly.

"You never took classes before?" the instructor pressed.

"A long time ago," Buffy said, looking around for William, and seeing him talking to a giggling Wendy, who much to Buffy’s displeasure, was also taking the class,

"Wow, that was something, Elizabeth," Wendy said, seeing her as she walked up to them, "doesn’t look like you need any protecting like the rest of us."

Whether intentional or not, Buffy felt the sting of the careless remark.

"I wouldn’t say that," Buffy said, sweetly, but her eyes looked at the girl coldly.

"Bet she could take you out, huh, William?" Wendy teased.

"You know, looks like she probably could," he said looking at Buffy, who looked down, feeling her face flame.

William put his hand on her chin, lifting her face up so that she was looking into his questioning eyes, "But somehow, I think I find that very sexy in a woman," he said, in a low voice that reminded her of Spike.

The other woman was totally forgotten as she looked at him gratefully.

"You ready?" he asked, taking her gym bag from her.

She nodded and after saying goodnight to Wendy, followed him out to the car.

As soon as they got to the car, Buffy put her arms around him kissed him.

"What’s that for?" he asked, gently holding her back.

"Thank you," she said, quietly, "for what you said in there."

He didn’t say anything, just opened the door for her.

They drove home in silence. Buffy stealing sidelong glances at him, wondering why he wasn't talking. Right after they’d left she felt everything was fine, but now she wasn’t sure. She didn’t know what to think. Was he upset? Confused? Angry? She didn’t know, but she was beginning to feel all those things, herself.

"Why didn’t you tell me?" he asked finally.

"What?"

"That you knew self-defense?"

"I did, when I was telling you about getting fit again," she said, slightly defensive.

He shook his head, "I don’t think you mentioned that," he said, looking over at her.

She didn’t say anything.

"I’m glad," he said.

"You are?"

"Of course, why wouldn’t I be?"

"I thought...nevermind."

"No, tell me. You thought what?"

"You know...what she said."

He thought about it and then laughed, "What? About you being able to take me?"

"Um-hmm."

He laughed again, "First off, if you can take me, then I know you could take on someone at least as strong as me; which at this point isn’t saying much, is it? Seeing you throw that big guy in class, makes me glad that isn’t the only case."

They had pulled up in front of the house and he turned off the car, and took her hands before continuing.

"Second thing, is that I already know your strength, Elizabeth. I see it in you every day. And wasn’t it you who came all the way to Chicago and broke me out of that god-awful hospital? It may have not been physical strength, but I daresay, if that had been needed..."

Buffy felt her eyes grow moist and a weight lifted off her. She’d been so worried how he would take knowing about this aspect of her, this physical strength she possessed as part of her slayer package, though not what it once had been, it was still much more than the average girl.

She cleared her throat, "You know, you were the only one who could almost best me."

"How’s that?"

"Back in Sunnydale, we used to spar, for fun. Sort of like what we were doing in class tonight. You were the only one who I could actually have a decent fight...er, match with."

"Really?" he asked, surprised, and a bit proud. "I could beat you, huh?"

She smiled, "Sometimes," she said, not adding, ‘if I wanted you to.’

"Huh," he said, thoughtfully, getting out of the car and coming around and opening her side, before she did. "Maybe you could teach me again, then?"

"If you don’t mind going down," she teased.

"Luv, when have I ever minded going down for you?" he said, as his eyebrows arched suggestively.

She looked at him disbelieving before cracking up, "William! You really do think it’s sexy, don’t you?"

He shrugged, grinning, "Guess I do."

"Oh thank God!" she said kissing him, as she pulled him in the door and shut it behind them.

END CHAPTER 126

MAY 5, 2009

MONDAY

7:00PM

William sat at the computer doing an assignment online for his computer class when the funny chirp of Dawn's IM sounded, letting him know she had sent him a message.

DSCG: Hi William!

WSW: Hi yourself!

DSCG: What's new and exciting?

WSW: Not much, really. Just doing an assignment for my computer class.

DSCG: I won't keep you long, then.

WSW: Didn't mean it that way. I'm always glad to hear from you.

DSCG: That's sweet of you to say.

WSW: LOL - but I do mean it.

DSCG: Just wanted to remind you and Buffy that the play John gave you tickets for is this next Saturday night, so don't make any other plans.

WSW: Really? I'm glad you reminded me! Which one is it?

DSCG: A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

WSW: Great! Looking forward to it. Thank him again for me, for both of us.

DSCG: I will. :)

WSW: Why don't you guys come and spend the night here afterwards.

DSCG: I'll ask him. If he doesn't have rounds in the morning, we'll probably do that.

WSW: Looking forward to it. Oh, and tell John he's going to see that A Midsummer Night's Dream is the funniest! :)

DSCG: I'll be sure to tell him that. Okay, I'll call you guys Thursday evening.

WSW: Good. Just remember we don't get home from school until almost 11pm.

DSCG: Thought it was around 9.

WSW: It was, but taking a self-defense course after school on Thursday. It starts rather late that evening.

DSCG: Buffy told me you guys about that, but I forgot when it was. Do you like it?

WSW: I do. I didn't so much at first. I felt...uncomfortable with all the throwing about and such, but now I'm as they say, into it.

DSCG: Having fun?

WSW: Yeah, I am. I'm rather better at it than I thought I would be, but that's probably due to the private tutoring I'm getting.

DSCG: Private tutoring? Oh, you mean Buffy, don't you?

WSW: Of course. Don't think she'd let em get tutored by someone else, do you?

DSCG: ROTFLMAO

WSW: Wait, have to look that expression up. Oh, now I see it...ha! Anyway, back to the question of time, if you can call us around 5pm, we'll be home from work then, and before we go to classes. Or Wednesday’s we’re home and on Friday we have an earlier class in self-defense class from 6 - 7. In any case, we'll leave Saturday evening open!

DSCG: I'll catch her sometime. Or have her call me. Either way.

WSW: Will do. Bye for now.

DSCG: Bye almost brother-in-law :)

William smiled at her salutation, reminding him that she considered him as family. He didn't know why, but from the moment he'd met Dawn (again) he had felt a bond with her, just like he did with Elizabeth. She'd told him they'd been close before, and somehow that feeling had carried forward, just like his love for Elizabeth had, despite his not remembering the details.

He heard the front door open and saw Elizabeth coming in with groceries.

"Need some help?" he asked, getting up.

"That would be nice," she said, smiling.

He put on his shoes and went out to the car to get the rest of the bags.

"Dawn IM'd me," he told her as he walked into the kitchen, dropping the bags onto the counter.

He told her what Dawn had said about calling her, and about this coming Saturday night.

"Good thing she reminded you, I totally forgot."

"Me, too. Say, do you know where the tickets are?"

"Uh...not offhand, but I think they're on my dresser somewhere, maybe in the top drawer. I'll look later for them."

An hour later:

"Crap, crap, crap!" Buffy swore from the bedroom.

"Can't you find them?" William asked, worried, walking in.

"No!"

"What did you do with them?"

She looked up and gave him a dirty look, "Well, I wouldn't be in here looking for them if I knew that would I? And besides, why was it up to me to do anything with them? They were your present."

"I didn't ask you to do anything with them, you just did," he shot back.

She ignored him and went back to her search.

"Maybe they're with some of the other stuff we got for Christmas," he suggested.

She stopped to think about that for a minute, then pulled out a stack of cards that she had shoved into her drawer.

"Ta-da!" she said.

"You found 'em?"

"Yep, you were right! They were inside your Christmas card from John and Dawn," she said, getting up and handing them to him.

"Sorry I yelled at you, luv," he said, looking ashamed.

"You didn't really yell, so much as just accuse me of losing them," she said, grinning, as she put her arms around him. "You're forgiven. Or maybe I'll just make you make it up to me."

He looked down at her and kissed her, "Like this?" he whispered, as he moved down to her neck, making her shiver.

"It’s a start," she said, pulling him towards the bed.

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

OFFICES OF WOLFRAM & HART

MAY 8, 2009

THURSDAY

9:00AM

"Lilah’s here to see you," Angel’s secretary buzzed him from the outer office.

"Send her in."

"Hey boss man," Lilah greeted him.

"Did you do what I asked you to do?"

"Of course, that’s what I came to tell you."

"And all the employees were made aware of what protocol to use if a ‘person of interest’ is spotted at our Starbucks."

"Unequivocally. Plus the managers know that if protocol isn’t carried out it’s their heads, literally. That ought to give them plenty of incentive to get their employees to fall in line."

"Good. Now we wait."

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

MAY 10, 2009

SATURDAY

7:00PM

"Here they are," Dawn said, pointing to the fifth row, center seats that were reserved for them.

They had gone to a Mexican restaurant for dinner in Balboa Park and had walked over to The Olde Globe Theatre for this evening’s performance.

"So, you ready old man?" John asked William.

"Are you? Because you’re going to see that A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the funniest of the comedies..."

Buffy and Dawn looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"They’re at it again," Buffy said.

"Yeah, espousing," she deadpanned.

Buffy giggled.

Soon after they were seated, the lights went down and a man wearing a period costume came onstage and made some jokes as he announced the beginning of the play.

It was very good. Buffy had never seen it before, but had read through it, in the Complete Works of Shakespeare book she’d bought William. More recently, William had borrowed a book on CD from the library, and they had listened to it as they drove to and from their evening classes.

Back in Sunnydale, Buffy couldn’t have imagined herself being able to understand the language of Shakespeare, let alone be able to follow the story. However, now she found herself glued to the action and, like William, sometimes, silently mouthing the dialogue along with the actors.

She turned to look at him. He looked so in his element, watching with unbridled glee, understanding both the complexity and silliness of it. William turned to give her a big grin and a quick kiss on the cheek, happiness written on his features.

Buffy sometimes had to pinch herself that after so many years of hardness, heartache, and her heart being closed off from happiness, that she was fully enjoying both love and life, in as normal a way as possible. She stole a glance at him again, he was so thoroughly, innocently beautiful in his happiness, that it brought a lump to her throat.

As if sensing her emotion, he reached out and squeezed her hand, and the warmth of it reassured her, that indeed, this was real, more than anything else in this world could be.

After the play was over, William and John took up where they’d left off before.

"Well, the bet’s far from over, William," John said, "we still have Taming of the Shrew to see next month."

"And then you’ll agree that I win!" William said.

"We might have to have the girls decide," John said.

They stopped their discussion, just as they got to the counter of Starbucks. They’d decided on coffee, instead of ice cream, having already had a rich, chocolate dessert after dinner.

They ordered their drinks; an Iced Latte with skim milk for Buffy, Espresso for John, an Iced Mocha for William, and an Iced Vanilla Mocha for Dawn, and took their seats.

Behind the counter, a small bell went off. Shanna, who was one of the counter persons, looked over at Aaron. His lips tightened as he walked over to the buzzing machine, and turned a key."

"I’ll be right back," he said. Nervously, he knocked at the door of the small office behind the store. This new manager seemed to have it in for him and the last thing he needed tonight was to be dealing with this shit!

As it was, his job was on the line, just because, due to no fault of his own, he’d been late a couple of times. All Aaron wanted was to be able to make a few bucks over the spring and summer, so that he could pay for his college books the next fall, and take his girl out once in a while, before she dumped him.

"What the hell is it now?" barked Roger, the night manager.

Roger, once a special ops mercenary for Wolfram & Hart, until an unfortunate incident left him with a noticeable limp and partly blind in one eye, hated his new assignment; a downgraded position as a low level manager for a coffee chain!

"There's something you should see," Aaron said, and told him of the alarm. Roger switched over to the Wolfram & Hart screen, which showed him two faces that were listed under 'persons of immediate interest,' along with about a dozen others under the less immediate 'persons of interest' heading.

"Which ones?"

"These two," Aaron said, pointed to Buffy and William.

"They alone?"

"No, they’re with two other people."

Roger clicked the mouse, switching screens to view the inside of the restaurant.

There were only a few tables that had patrons at them.

"Where are they?" Roger said, scanning the faces.

"I...I don't see them!" Aaron mumbled.

"Fuck!"

Roger scrambled out of his chair, knocking it over, in his haste to get to the door.

He hurried out to the counter, "Where are they?" he hissed at Shanna.

"Where are who?"

"The people the alarm buzzed about!"

"Uh...they left. They sat down for a minute, but then just got up and left with their drinks."

"Shit, shit, shit!" Roger swore. "What the fuck is wrong with them? People don't just sit down, then leave in a minute! They either take their drinks to go, or they stay and drink them!"

"I...I'm sure Wolfram & Hart will understand that you had no chance to intercept them."

"You mean, we didn’t, don’t you?" Roger asked, staring down the younger man.

"Yeah, sure they will," Roger thought, turning away as he was already, mentally making plans to pack his bags as soon as he got home that night. He had a rich, older, second cousin that had retired to a condominium in Acapulco; maybe he could go there. Or, maybe they would understand, since it wasn't that he had failed, as much as the people had just basically got drinks to go.

No, they wouldn't. He’d been given one last chance, after screwing up the capture and disposal of a rogue band of do-gooders, trying to oust Wolfram & Hart from the nation’s capitol, and this was it. Finally and irrevocably fucked over by a trendy coffeehouse!

Acapulco it is then, he thought, as he walked back into the office.

The phone rang about 20 minutes later, "Hello? Yes, I'm aware it was them...No, I wasn't able to implement the protocol in time, because they left right after they got their drinks...yes, I was notified, but by the time...Yes, I see...yes, I'll see to it. I promise...I'm so sorry...yes, good-bye."

Roger wiped the sweat off of his forehead with his sleeve. He had to get out of here tonight. He let Aaron and Shanna leave a half-hour early and locked the doors after them. Back in his office, he opened up the safe and took out all the day's earnings, plus tonight’s take. It totaled $2319.43.

"That'll do," Roger said, pocketing the money.

Roger left by the rear exit, and briskly walked to his where his car was parked, a half block away. He looked around him, once more, before getting in; so far, so good. Destination: the border and a long drive down to Acapulco.

He crossed the border around 11:00pm and decided to find a cheap motel in Tijuana for the night, before continuing. The roads in Mexico sucked, especially trying to navigate them by night, with barely noticeable markers; haphazardly put wherever the hell the half-assed road crews decided to put them.

That and he was mentally exhausted from the fight or flight response his body had been put through. Well, he certainly didn't have the means or the balls he once had, to fight the likes of Wolfram & Hart, so flight it was.

Roger was lucky, in that he found a not half bad hotel, which actually provided room service. He picked up the phone and ordered a couple of cold ones, and a grilled steak, before taking off his shoes and calling directory assistance. It took all of his patience, more Spanish than he knew, and at least 5 different phone operators and directory assistance workers, to finally locate a number for his cousin in Acapulco.

He dialed the number, hoping he wasn't waking her up.

"Hello? Is this Blanche?"

"Si, who is this?"

"It's me, Roger."

"Roger! How lovely to hear from you! Is anything wrong?"

"No. Yes. Sort of...listen Blanche, I'm in Tijuana, I need to come and...Oh, hold on, room service is at the door."

He put the phone on the bed and walked over to the door, "Come on in," he said, as he opened it.

Roger barely had time to register surprise and shock on his face, as two black robed figures powered their way into his room, scythes drawn. Neither would Roger have had the chance to utter his dismay and horror, as within the first second, his larynx was sliced clean through, the second cut, totally separating his head from his body.

"Roger! Roger! Are you there?" Blanche spoke loudly into the phone.

The only response was the phone being gently replaced on its cradle.

One of the men picked up Roger's head and put it into a heavy, black, plastic bag. As soon as they reached their van, they would put it into the cooler, then take it to the airport for transport back to Wolfram & Hart. The other man gathered up all of Roger's belongings, which weren't many, including the clothes he wore, and took those as well. The body was devoid of any telling tattoos or birthmarks, and so that made their job easier and less messy, not that they would have minded, one way or the other.

They left the headless corpse on the floor of the hotel room.

Two days later, the Tijuana paper would devote about 1" of newsprint to the story on page 37. It wouldn't be picked up by any other press agencies.

Starbucks in Balboa Park would be closed for 'renovations' over the next two weeks.

Surprisingly, Aaron took over Roger’s position, and with it, the promise of a much bigger paycheck. He put school on permanent hold, and dropped his girlfriend for a newer, faster one.

Shanna was transferred to another of Wolfram & Hart’s extensive chains, Baskin- Robbins Ice Cream.

END CHAPTER 127

MAY 10, 2009

SATURDAY

10:30PM

William looked down at Elizabeth worriedly, her head resting on his shoulder, as he drove back to Julian, Dawn and John in the car behind them.

Just as they'd started to drink their coffees, she'd suddenly insisted that they should leave for home right then, saying that she had the beginnings of a headache. After they'd gotten to the car, she waited until they'd gotten on the highway, and once she felt that he knew how to get them home, she had fallen asleep.

As he pulled in front of the house, she woke up, smiled at him and apologized for possibly making his arm fall asleep.

"Nah, it was fine, luv. Don't think you're heavy enough to do that to my arm."

She reached up and touched his face affectionately, before getting out of the car.

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

1:00AM

"You guys are so funny! Hardee-har-har," Dawn said, as her and Buffy walked into the kitchen, having just been trumped in cards by William and John, for the second time, as they played Canasta partners.

"We're just better at the game, dear. Admit it!" John called to her.

"Never!"

"Sore loser!"

"Cheater!"

The bantering went on for another few minutes, before dying down. Buffy knew she had sucked badly at the game, which they'd just learned tonight. William had picked it up so much better than she had.

Dawn and John had come prepared, with a box full of different games. She’d felt badly for both William and Dawn, when her sister had pulled out Trivial Pursuit, and then realized when William asked how to play it, that he wouldn’t be able to.

Not unless they had a Victorian Era version, which knowing Trivial Pursuit, it was entirely possible. If not, she’d send them an email suggesting it.

"How much longer you want to play?"

"Maybe we should turn in after this next game," Buffy said.

She sliced some tomatoes and some low fat, low sodium salami and put them on some wheat crackers, topped with a bit of cheese, then put them on a cookie sheet and under the oven's grill for a minute, before transferring them to a plate.

Dawn made up a pitcher of mostly virgin daiquiris, seeing that there was only a little bit of gin to put in them, while Buffy was making the snacks. "Yeah, it's getting pretty late, but I think the boys are all energized by the winning."

Buffy snorted, "Yeah, well, they can stay up and play all night then, but I'm really getting tired."

"Even with that coffee?" Dawn laughed, then stopped when she saw Buffy’s face.

"Hey, Buff?"

"Huh?"

"Something wrong?"

"No, just...I don’t know. When we were at Starbucks tonight, I just got a funny feeling."

"Funny how?"

"I don’t know. Just kind of got wigged out or something. I’m not even sure what I mean."

"Is that why you wanted to leave so suddenly?"

Buffy nodded, "Yeah, I just really wanted to get out of there all of a sudden."

She shook her head again and laughed at her own paranoia, "What did Xander use to say? Sometimes when you see elephants, it’s just elephants. No, it wasn’t elephants. Oh hell, I don’t remember, I’m too tired to remember anything right now."

"I know what it was." Dawn said.

"What?"

"Sometimes you see evil coffee, when all it really is, is coffee."

"Ha-ha! Very funny," Buffy said, slapping Dawn lightly with a dishtowel.

"By the way, William told me he’s enjoying the self-defense course you guys are taking."

"Yeah, he is," Buffy said, a funny expression on her face.

"But?"

"No but."

"I know that look Buffy, and you have but face."

"Who has but face?"

"You has but face," Dawn echoed, replaying an old running joke of theirs.

"Hold on a minute," Buffy said, and took the snacks out to the guys.

She set them down on the coffee table, which had been dragged out of the spare room, and started to leave.

"Aren’t you girls coming back in to play another game?"

Buffy sighed, "I don’t know, I’m getting pretty tired," she said, yawning for emphasis.

John turned to William; "I think they’re chicken."

"Are not!" Dawn yelled from the kitchen.

"Bawk, bawk, bawk," John retorted.

Buffy rolled her eyes, "We’ll be back in a few minutes, then I’ll let you know, okay?"

"We don’t have to play another game," William said, looking at her sympathetically.

"William, don’t tell me you’re going to poop out on me, too!"

"John, I just think that everyone’s tired right now," William said, helping himself to a snack.

"See, some of us have sense John," Dawn said, coming to stand beside him.

"I was just having fun," he protested.

"I know, sweetie, but our hosts are tired."

"John, if you want, I’ll play a card game with you," William said.

"You wouldn’t just say that to make me feel all better now, would you William?" John said, in a put-on pouting voice.

William laughed, "Nope, just another chance to beat you at something, since I suck at video games."

"You’re on," John said, know how to play Scrabble?"

William’s face lit up, "Know how to play and how to win!"

"You wish! You’re going down!"

"We’ll see about that," William retorted.

Buffy and Dawn walked back to the kitchen.

"John’s really on tonight, isn’t he?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, he is. Sometimes he gets like that, all excited like. I think it’s because he works so hard. Sometimes he works 80 hours a week, so when he actually gets some time off, he just wants to cram all that he can into it. If he could totally go without sleep, I think he would."

"Not me. I love my sleep."

"Me, too," Dawn agreed, "though being a student isn’t the most conducive to that. I figure, once I’m in my late 20’s I’ll catch up with the sleep thing.

Buffy guffawed, "Don’t hold your breath. I’m lucky if I get 6 hours."

"Yeah, well, I’ll take your 6 over my 4.5 any day."

"And yet, here we stand, talking about sleep, instead of sleeping."

"Sort of like dieting and exercise. At least that’s what I hear. Which brings us back to the self-defense thing."

"Good segue."

"I thought so...so, what’s the deal?"

"Well, you know, we’re taking a class. No big."

"Oh..."

"Okay...here’s the thing, it’s like when William is really into it, when we’re doing stuff here, out in the barn loft, it’s like all of a sudden it doesn’t seem like it’s him anymore, but more like Spike."

"And that’s a bad thing?"

Buffy shook her head, "No, not at all, it’s just a confusing thing. All of a sudden, I’m seeing Spike, when really it’s William standing there, sparring with me. I have to remember to hold back a bit, even when he’s really acting like he wants me to let loose on him. I...I don’t know. Sometimes I don’t like it."

"Why?"

"Because it gets me angry, that he likes it, the way his eyes laugh at me, when he’s all worked up, when he’s coming at me; that he wants to do this with me. He almost acts like Spike, but he’s not Spike...Oh, hell! I don’t know how to explain it."

She decided not to go into the Spike-like sexcapades, which also stemmed from the after bouts of their sparring, that was at once exciting, but also confusing. Not that it wasn’t still sweet and passionate, but there was just a little something left over from the rush of having just thrown each other about, that seemed to make it just a little rougher, a little more urgent...

"Innocence lost," Dawn said, a self-satisfied, Psych 101 look on her face.

"What?" Buffy asked.

"You’ve fallen in love with William, Buffy."

"I...I don’t understand. I mean, yeah, I have. Duh! But I still don’t understand."

"Yes, you do," Dawn insisted.

"No, I don’t, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me," Buffy said, part exasperation, part exhaustion.

"You’ve fallen in love with William. Innocent, trusting, from a different century, William. But, when William spars with you, it reminds you of our not-so-innocent Spike, who you also were in love with. Ergo, William seems less like William, but not quite Spike. The William that you’re in love with, suddenly seems to have lost some of his innocence, ergo, confusion!"

Buffy leaned her elbows on the counter, and rested her head in her hands, "That almost seems to make a sort of sense," she said, looking up, "in a sort of insane troll logic kind of way!"

Dawn laughed, "That’s me, full of insane troll logic, for my over-tired, over-bearing sister."

"Hey, I’m not over-bearing."

"Nah, not anymore, I’m just messing with you. Look, don’t worry, he’s still William inside, even if he’s sparring with you, and didn’t you tell me that you ‘knew’ William, even when he was Spike?"

Buffy nodded, tiredly, "I’d also go as far as to say that when he took care of you, that it was Spike’s inner William that was at the heart of that."

Dawn shook her head; "It doesn’t matter to me, though. Spike, William, they’re both in my heart, I mean, they’re both different, but my heart doesn’t make that distinction."

Buffy looked up and smiled, "That’s a really sweet way to put it, I know what you mean, too. I just don’t know why my mind has to make me, as Spike would say, suss things out."

"Well, I’m not the one in love with him, or them, so it’s really a lot less complicated for me to feel about it like that."

"Yeah," Buffy said, smiling wryly as she stood up, "lucky me."

END CHAPTER 128

MAY 18, 2009

SUNDAY

11:00AM

"I can’t believe that it’s almost the end of the school year," Buffy said, as they sat in bed, having brunch and reading the Sunday paper.

"I know," William said, in a mumble, his mouth full of a bite of bagel.

"I’m just glad that our classes are over!"

"Me, too," he said, turning to her. "Are you sure you don’t mind my taking a couple of courses this summer?"

She shook her head, "No, I mean, it’s not like we were planning on doing anything much. And we’ll still have almost all of August, if we want to take a little trip, before the beginning of the school year."

"A trip, huh? Anyplace special you’d like to go to?"

"I don’t know. I haven’t given it much thought, but it would be nice to get out of here for a little while, wouldn’t it?"

"Yeah, that sounds nice," he said, thinking of the different places they’d been at, over the course of almost a year. Starting in Michigan, and followed by quite a few nights in quite a few states in the RV, a couple of nights at Dawn and John’s, and a weekend at San Juan Capistrano.

He could smell the scent of the shampoo she’d used still clinging to her damp hair, and the lotion she’d applied to her legs and arms, as he leaned in closer to her. Sensual by nature, he was comforted by such things, which he naturally associated with love and comfort, just as he had associated the smells of food being prepared or fresh bed linens of his boyhood home with warmth and safety; belonging. Now she stood for all those things within his heart, and as long as she was with him, it didn’t much matter to him where they went.

"Well, we’ve got plenty of time to decide where to go. There’s a travel agency in town; maybe I can get some brochures if we want to go somewhere far, or we could just drive all the way up the coast of California and let the wind carry us whichever way it wants to."

"Adventure in your heart...I like the sound of that, luv," he said, turning over on his side to snuggle up next to her.

She put her arm around his shoulders and rubbed his back. He closed his eyes; and sighed contentedly, his face nestled against the side of her soft breast. His left hand slowly rubbed up and down her thigh, through her light nightgown.

"William?"

"Huh?"

"Since you’re going to be taking classes this summer, I thought that I might as well work. The school is starting a pilot program, trying to get the students who are transferring to Montessori next year from public school, acclimated to the setting. It’s going to run from the middle of June until the first week in August. I figure we can use the extra money for our wedding, too."

He turned his head and his blue eyes looked up at her, smiling. He took hold of her left hand, and gently rubbed his fingers over the ring he’d given her, "Thought you’d forgotten about it almost."

She shook her head, "Just because I haven’t said much lately, doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about it," she said, her other hand coming up his back to play in the soft curls at the back of his neck.

"Me, too," he said, kissing her hand. "Think about it lots. Want to be a right and proper husband to you, Elizabeth; make you proud of me."

She shook her head that he could be so incredibly dense sometimes, "I am proud of you, William. Very proud."

"Haven’t done much for you to feel that way. Not yet, in any case."

"I disagree. A thousand gallons of disagree, you’re a good..."

"Shhh, I know how you feel, even if you have quite an odd way of saying it," he momentarily half-cocked his head at her, his eyebrow arched in amusement, before his face returned to looking so earnest, "but you’ll see..."

"I already do," she said, crushing her mouth to his and kissing him into silence.

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

MAY 20, 2009

TUESDAY

9:30PM

Buffy and William plopped down on the couch, having come back from Clem’s. Taking advantage of the fact that their classes for the semester, and their 5-week self-defense course had ended, they had started out the evening with a hike in the woods and had wound up surprising him with a visit.

Clem had insisted on feeding them dinner; then invited them to watch a comedy he’d rented on DVD. Afterwards, he’d offered to drive them home, but they declined, so he lent them a couple of flashlights and they walked home in the darkened woods, listening to the sounds of spring peepers and even an owl along their way.

"That was fun," Buffy said, lying her head down in his lap.

"Yeah, it was," he agreed, stroking her hair.

She looked up at him; and was surprised to see him looking very pensive.

"William?"

"Yeah? Shall we get ready for bed, then?"

"Sure, okay," she said, sitting up, "everything alright?"

He nodded and stood up, extending his hand to pull her up, as well.

As they undressed and washed up for bed, Buffy wondered why the evening had gone from them having so much fun, to all of a sudden, a pallor cast over it.

She finished in the bathroom after William had, and turned off the light. He was sitting on the side of the bed when she came out, staring off into space. She came and stood in between his legs.

"Been a year," he said quietly, looking up at her.

"What?"

"Today, ‘s been a year since I...since...I was taken to the hospital...after I was shot...at the museum," he said, looking down to the scar above his left knee. "Don’t really remember that at all, though. Only the fear."

She put her hands on his face, as she looked at him, her large eyes growing moist suddenly, "I’m so very, very sorry that happened to you. All of it."

"Nothing for you to be sorry about, Elizabeth. You came for me. You found me," he said, shaking his head in wonder, "June 11, that’s the first time I saw you. Walked into my hospital room and nearly fainted, you did."

She nodded, "I remember," she whispered.

"I...I dreamed of you, that you were calling out for me, for my help."

"When?" he asked, tilting his head, questioningly.

"Around this time, and a little before this."

"Before...but not in the 5 years, since I’d been ‘missing’?

She bit her bottom lip and shook her head.

"Funny how I can’t remember anything from those years at all. Think I’d recall living in a cardboard box or under a bridge or some such thing, wouldn’t you? ‘S like I only remember anything since about the time you found me again."

He scooted back on the bed and lay down, putting his arms out to her.

"I...don’t know what I would’ve done, hadn’t you come for me when you did, Elizabeth. Might still be at that awful place, drugged up and living like..." he shuddered.

She hugged him tight, raising up to look at him, "But you’re not, you’re here!"

"I know. Took you all of one day to get me out. Do you know how incredible that is?"

She shook her head; "I had a lot of help."

"But it was you behind it all. The last coherent thought I remember having was that you would come for me. It’s what I hung on to. The only thing," he said, as he brought her face to his and kissed her, and made her smile through her sniffles, when he licked an escaped tear, off of her nose.

"Why do I get the feeling that it wasn’t the first time that you came for me, that you saved me?"

She put her head on his chest, turning away from his questioning eyes. Tears ran down her cheeks, as dual horrible images tore at her heart; William drugged and in restraints at the hospital, and 5 years before, Spike looking so broken and disbelieving, when she'd finally been able to rescue him from The First's torture.

"I’ll always come for you," she whispered.

William hugged her tight, rubbing her back, soothingly, until she had stopped crying and he felt her breath become steady as sleep overtook her.

"Thank you, " he said, softly into her hair, "thank you for this life."

END CHAPTER 129

A/N Well, didn't quite get as far as I thought I might, but guess you can see that the story is about to take a turn from the normal life that William and Elizabeth have been building for themselves in the land of DeNile, to something neither expected, especially William.

CHAPTER 130 - FENCING

MAY 26, 2009
MONDAY - LABOR DAY
11:00AM

"Maybe I shouldn't take classes this summer," William mused, taking a sip of his lemonade.

They were sitting outside having lunch around the new, green, plastic table they'd just bought for the backyard that weekend. They’d also bought matching chairs, and a white umbrella with a green leaves print on it. They'd seen much nicer patio tables, with comfortable, cushioned chairs, and matching chaise lounges. Reluctantly though, they’d agreed it would be in the best interest of saving money for their wedding, to go for something simple for now.

"Why do you say that?" Buffy asked, taking a bite of her egg salad sandwich.

"Classes are during the day, I won't be able to work during that time, luv," he said looking worried.

"I thought Mrs. Carpello told you that she'd work around your schedule."

"Well, with classes starting at 8:00 until noon, and 1:00 - 4:00, I'd have to go there at like 5:30am, which I don't much fancy at all, and leave by 7:30, or work there in the evening. Either way, I won't be able to work full-time like I was. Oh, and the library did say I could either work there from 5pm till 8pm, or just on Saturdays, but then I can't help out Edna. Or if I help her on Sundays instead, that means we practically won't have any time together at all this summer."

"You know you don't have to work, right? We've got enough money to get by for a few months, just from the interest on some of the investments and it's not like I won't be working, and..."

"No!" he said, shaking his head.

"William," Buffy said, putting her hand on top his, "I know it makes you uncomfortable doing it that way, but you're going to school so eventually you'll be able to get a job which will better suit your talents; something that’ll be rewarding, and with a good salary, right?"

He nodded his head, emphatically. There was no way that he wasn't going to be able to provide for himself and Elizabeth, plus any children they might have in the future.

"Then you have to, rather, we have to make some sacrifices along the way. For you, if you want to take both courses in Summer 1, you're going to either make yourself crazy trying to go to school, plus trying to go to work at the crack of dawn, then until sunset. And don't forget about homework, you're taking two, normally 18 week courses in about 4 weeks, and there's still going to be a lot of homework. Plus, even if I am working, which is only going to be about 4 hours a day, I do want to spend some of my summer with you," she said, looking at him.

William sighed, "Suppose I could just take one course each summer session. That way I could work and go to school, and still have time to smell the roses, as the saying goes. Or you," he said, smiling.

"Yeah."

"It's just I feel so behind in everything, since I've forgotten so much; want to get back that which I've lost as quickly as I can."

"I know, and you will. I have no doubts about it."

He smiled at her, glad that she was surer of him, than he was of himself. Her faith in him gave him more strength than he could ever express in words, at least ones he would dare read or say aloud.

"Suppose I could take a course online, too."

"Yeah, you could do that, and you certainly wouldn't have to finish it in 4 weeks time."

"Maybe I'll do that too, then."

"Oh, and as for Edna, I forgot to tell you, she mentioned that Wally would be staying up here again for the summer, so you probably won't have to worry about helping her on Saturdays, since he'll be there."

William nodded, "Ah, that's good. Be good for her to have him around all the time, still, she might need my help sometimes."

"Yeah, she probably will," she said, as her fingers played with his. William and Edna had a relationship, very much like family; both being concerned about each other's welfare. Well, it had spanned more than 50 years, even though neither of them knew it at present. Edna had been the only person outside of her circle of friends who knew how deeply she had mourned for Spike when she'd moved up here, how much she'd loved him. And at least with Edna, she'd never had to apologize or feel defensive about her feelings.

"We'll work something out," he said, "besides, saw another class that I thought we might take, but don't know if you'll like the idea of it at all."

"Really? What's that."

"Fencing," he said. ”Was a notice at the library the other day."

"Sounds like fun," she said.

"You're interested then? Good. They're holding it in the high school's gym on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 7 - 8. Think it starts next week, if you want to sign up. It costs $50 each person, but they provide all the equipment.”

"I actually had a class in it, back in school, then again at Oxford. All the young men took it, so it seemed. Very respectable in my..." he stopped, just short of making a fool of himself, by making it sound like he went to school in a different time. A different century even, the way his warped memory problems would have him believing.

"You got graded on it?"

"Not exactly like academic courses, but we were expected to take it or something like it," he said. "I think it's even in my transcripts, under extracurricular, or some such heading," he said.

"I know a little about it, too," Buffy said, holding her breath.

"You do?"

"Um, yeah. You sort of showed me some moves, back in Sunnydale," she lied, figuring it was the easiest of all possible ways to tell him that she knew how to use a sword. One of many sharp, pointy objects she was all too familiar with.

"I did?"

She nodded, "Well, not exactly with masks and all the en garde stuff, more like informal. Sometimes we used long sticks," she said, studying his face to gage his reaction.

"And other times?"

"The real thing...The Magic Box used to carry those things, along with new age-y stuff. And books,” she remembered to add.

He looked at her, "But without the masks and en gardes?"

"Uh-huh," she said, getting a bit worried.

"Hmm," he said, looking at her as he pondered this latest bit of information about her and himself. He couldn’t imagine teaching her to fence, let alone doing so without proper form and safety. Then again, from what he could gather, he was quite a bit different from what he remembered himself being like, or what he felt he was like now.

“That doesn’t seem to have been a very wise thing to do,” he said, looking at her seriously, “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“No, you were careful.”

“Good.”

She was so lost in her thought, that it came as a complete surprise to her, when she looked up and saw a half-smirk, half-grin vying for prominence on his lips.

“What?” she asked.

"Were you as good at fencing, as you are at sparring?"

"Guess I'll let you be the judge of that," she said grinning back, a bit relieved.

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

JUNE 5, 2009
THURSDAY
11:15AM

William walked into the bookstore happily, he checked his backpack into a free locker, then walked to the back of the store, giving the clerk the list of books he needed. After he’d gotten them, he went to get some notebooks, and other essentials.

As he was walking down one aisle, he saw a shelf full of art supplies. On a whim, remembering the picture Elizabeth had given him in the hospital of his ‘fantasy’ drawing of their getting married, he decided to purchase a medium sized drawing pad, some colored pencils, and charcoals. He smiled, satisfied as he went up to the counter to pay for his purchases, excited to get home and give in to some artistic expression, which he didn’t realize until just then, he’d been missing.

William collected his backpack from the locker, and put his new books and art supplies into it. As he was walking out, he saw a notice taped to the inside of the door. It read:

Theatre Department Fund Raiser

June 5 & 6th, Noon - 5:00PM

Come Ye! Come Ye! All those interested in period pieces, Halloween costumes, or dress-up!

Selling all costumes, props, and weaponry, used in last year’s theatrical productions in order to raise funds for the coming year.

Cash only.

William looked in his wallet. “Great,” he said, noting he only had about half of his meager paycheck left, after cashing it this morning and paying for books. Still...

He wandered over to the building where the arts and theatre classes were held and located the auditorium where the sale was being held. He tried the door, but it was locked. Glancing at his watch he realized he was a half-hour early. He decided it would be best to wait here, rather than to leave and return, so he sat down against the wall, and unzipped his backpack and began looking at one of his new books. Surprisingly, nobody else came while he was waiting, and he was beginning to think that perhaps he’d gotten the time wrong. Just as he was about to give run back over to the bookstore to double-check his information, the door was opened by a young woman wearing a white T-shirt, with black lettering, which said, ‘Theater Geek,’ on it. Smiling at him, she motioned him in. He rose and followed her inside the auditorium. There on the stage, were all the costumes and props. He looked around for a few moments, then finally spotted the swords, leaning up against the right wall, next to the rows of seats.

He walked over to them and whistled softly. Most were better than the ones they had at class, having much more detail and heft to them. He picked up a broadsword sabre, and seeing nobody about, did a couple of cuts and thrusts with it.

“You look like you know what you’re doing,” said an older man who appeared at William’s side.

“Ah...well, a bit,” William said, embarrassed. “Just started taking a fencing class.”

“Must be a quick study then, you seem to have the moves down.”

“Well, took one back in...before, so I suppose something stuck,” William said, humbly.

“In case you’re wondering, only the blunt edged epees were used on stage, the rest came from my own collection. I’m just donating these to help with the fundraising.”

William nodded.

“So, you’d like to have one of your own then?”

“Actually, need a couple of them, I’m taking the class with my...wife.”

“Well, that’s neat, not enough women in the sport; never could get my wife and girls interested...but better be careful arming the missus, though.”

It took William a couple of moments to realize what he meant, then he grinned a little, “I don’t think I have to worry about that, besides, if she wanted to hurt me, I doubt she’d need a sword.”

The man laughed sympathetically the way men do around each other, when no women are about.

“Could you please tell me the cost of these?”

“Well, today’s your lucky day, I’m selling them for $25.00 each, which is a real steal.”

William decided on 2 sabres, because one of them was for a left-handed person, then debated if he should get the 2 theatrical epées or 2 Italian longswords.

He chose the longswords.

He took out his wallet and paid the man $100.00.

That left him with just barely enough money to buy gas for the next 2 weeks.

As he was walking past the costumes though, his eye caught sight of one of the dresses that were for sale. He walked up the stairs to the stage, carrying his swords and walked over to examine it. It was a long yellow satin gown, with white lace at the bottom and up the middle of the sleeves. He wasn’t sure why it seemed so familiar to him, but all of a sudden he had an inexplicable urge to buy it for Elizabeth.

“How much is this?” he asked the girl who had opened the door for him.

“It’s $25.00,” she said.

He set down the swords and looked in his wallet again. He only had $15.00 left.

“Drats,” he swore.

“Not enough?”

William shook his head, “No, I’m $10 short, wait though, I can get it. Can you hold this for me?”

“Sure, how long?”

“Just for a few minutes. Can I keep the swords here, too? I just need to return something.”

“Sure, that’ll be fine.”

“Great,” William said hurrying out.

He was back in a few minutes, having returned the colored pencils to the bookstore, and paid for the dress.

The girl found a long flat box and put the dress inside.

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

8:00PM

Yesterday, had not only been the last day of school for Montessori, but also their second fencing lesson.

After an early, celebratory dinner tonight at Edna’s, Buffy and William had spent the rest of the evening cleaning up the loft in the barn, so that they could practice up there.

William, on his hands and knees, carefully measured out their ‘fencing area.’ He used chalk to outline the dimensions, which were 10’ x 15’.

“That ought to do it,” he said, rising up and wiping the chalk dust on his jeans.

“Yep, looks good,” Buffy agreed.

“Now, I need you to close your eyes for a minute,” William said.

She looked at him, and saw that he was nearly hopping from foot to foot in excitement.

“Why? What are you up to?”

He walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders, “It’s a surprise, luv. Now, will you please close your eyes?”

“Okay, okay! Sheesh!” she said, but did as she was asked.

She heard him rustling around in the corner where they’d pushed all the stuff from the middle of the room last evening.

“No peeking!” he said, seeing her head turn his way, eyes squinting under lids that threatened to open any second.

“Okay!”

After hearing him rustling about a few more moments, she heard his footsteps coming towards her.

“Now you can open your eyes.”

Buffy opened her eyes and her jaw fell open as she looked at William standing there, holding the 2 sabres and the two longswords.

“Holy shit,” she swore softly, “how...?”

He smiled, please with her reaction, “Well, you know I went to campus to get my books and pay tuition today, while you were at Montessori, cleaning up your room and doing grades, right?”

She nodded.

“Well, on the way, I was thinking about what we would use for fencing. Remember when the instructor had mentioned old pool cues? Well, I remembered he’d said that the Goodwill Store might have some old ones, so I today when I passed it by, I stopped in and bought up all they had,” he said, pointing behind him.

She turned her head to look at the far wall, where she then noticed about half a dozen pool cues lined up, along with a couple of short ones.

“Wow, maybe you should’ve bought us a pool table to go with those,” she teased.

He grinned, “Thought of that, but unfortunately, they didn’t have one of those for $2.00 each.”

“And the swords? You get those there, too?”

“No, I’d never even thought about being able to get real swords.”

“How did you then?”

“I’m getting to it! As I said, I was on campus to pay for books and tuition, and I saw a notice for a fundraiser in the theatre department. When I read they had all sorts of weaponry, I went over there, and that’s where I got these.”

Buffy walked over to William and he handed her a sabre for her to inspect.

“It’s nice,” she said, holding it up and looking at the scrollwork on the handle.

“I got a left handed one, too.”

“That’s great,” Buffy said, smiling as she inspected the differences.

So, “Buffy said, looking up, “wanna do some fencing?”

His eyes grew large, “You don’t mean with these, do you?”

“Maybe just with those at first, until we get better,” she said, pointing to the pool cues. Although she was itching to use the real ones, she didn’t want to appear too eager, or have him get hurt by her.

He nodded, relieved. Although he knew she could probably handle herself, he didn’t want to take a chance on hurting her.

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

They practiced with the pool cues that evening, William reminding her of the terms they’d learned in their class.

“Remember what we our instructor said, it’s about control, rather than speed and power,” he said.

Buffy rolled her eyes, but slowed down, none-the-less. She’d never been one for learning fighting by the rules, and fencing this way just seemed almost useless to her. When she’d had to use a sword to fight for real, certainly control was an issue, but speed and power were certainly needed, too. After all, she’d been fighting super strong and super fast demons mostly, not humans.

William bested her in points that night, and they called it quits after about an hour.

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


JUNE 7, 2009
SATURDAY
6:30PM

“You almost ready?” William called from the living room. “Movie starts in about an hour.”

“I know, don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of time,” Buffy called back. They were going to grab a quick bite to eat in town, then go to second of the summer series of ‘free’ movies at the library, or rather the library sponsored outdoor movies at the adjacent park. Last week they’d showed Field of Dreams, which left all the men in the audience, with tears in their eyes. This week was sure to do the same to the women, as the movie was Gone with the Wind.

“I’m going to go put the lounge chairs and some blankets in the car,” he called.

“I don’t think it’s going to be cold.”

“Just in case,” he called out, as she heard the back door open and close.

She had just finished putting on the finishing touches to her makeup and was now looking for her other shoe.

“If you were my shoe, where would you be? Ah, you’d be under the bed out of sight, wouldn’t you?” she asked, getting down on her knees to look.

The shoe was there, but there was also a long box, almost the length of the bed she hadn’t seen before. Curious, she pulled it out and was just about to take off the lid, when she heard William calling to her.

“I’ll be out in the car.”

“Okay, be right there,” she said, reluctantly pushing the mystery box back underneath the bed.

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

10:30PM

“I’m going to go change,” Buffy told William, going into the bedroom, with the intention of putting on her nightgown.

They had been home for about half an hour, having stopped for soft serve ice cream, after the movie. Her treat, she’d insisted, finding out how William had spent all his money on their new, humble collection of swords and pool cues.
Now, after dinner, popcorn, candy, and ice cream, she was eager to get out of anything with a zipper.

She sat on the bed to pull off her socks and suddenly remembered the box under the bed. She quietly went to the door and closed it the inch or so it was still open, then came back, knelt down, and pulled it out. The box had flap inserts on three sides; she pulled them out and opened the lid, gasping, as she saw the yellow satin dress, all lacey and delicate. She took it out of the box and walked over to the mirror, holding it up to herself.

“I’m like Scarlett O’Hara!” she said, grinning as she looked at her reflection. “Well, more Victorian, than the Old South, I suppose.”

She went into the bathroom and slipped the dress on. As she was reaching around trying to do up the back, she heard the bedroom door open, the sounds of drawers being opened and shut, then the bedroom door being shut again.

Not hearing anything else, she opened the bathroom door a crack and looked out. William wasn’t there. She walked over to the mirror again, and admired her reflection. The back of the dress still needed to be pulled together properly. She struggled with it, and finally got most of it fastened. After brushing her hair back from her face, Buffy opened the top dresser drawer and took out a couple of long, pearlescent hair clips and affixed them to her hair. She pirouetted a couple of times in front of the mirror, before going out to the living room.

William was over at the desk, rather than the couch when she came out of the bedroom.

She looked at him, expectantly, waiting for him to notice her.

Finally he turned around, his jaw dropping open, as he saw her.

“Um...Iook what I found.”

He still stared at her, his mouth suddenly gone dry.

She was beginning to feel uncomfortable about the whole thing, “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have opened the box. See, I was looking for my shoe earlier and when I saw the box...”

“You look beautiful,” he said, standing up.

“I do? Do I look like...where did it come from?”

“Huh?”

“The dress?”

“Oh...I...” he cleared his throat, making eye contact, finally, “I got it the same time I got the swords. They were selling costumes and I saw this and...you like it? I was going to give it to you, but then I thought that maybe...” he stopped, shrugging.

“Maybe what?” she asked.

“I don’t know...that maybe it was just presumptuous of me to think to buy something like this for you.”

She smiled and walked over to him, “Why? Did you think I’d think you didn’t like the way I dress normally? You do, don’t you?” she asked, her face serious.

“Oh, God yes, Elizabeth. It has nothing to do with the way you dress now. I love the way you dress, the way...”

“Relax William! I’m just teasing you, okay?”

He let out a sigh. “You like it, then?”

“What’s not to like? It’s lovely; it’s the nicest, girliest thing I’ve had on in...Well, just about forever,” she said, discounting that episode at Halloween where she had rented a similar, although possessed dress, which actually turned her into a simpering, helpless little girl.

Come to think of it, Spike had tried to take advantage of that situation. Was it something about these dresses that inspired either chivalrousness or murder and mayhem? What a full circle they’d come!

She smiled slightly, wondering what it would inspire this time.

“What?” he asked, seeing her expression.

“Nothing, just remembering something. I couldn’t get the back of it all done up, would you?” she asked, turning around.

She felt his hands gently take hold of the drawstrings of the dress and pull them in.

“Can you breathe?”

“Yeah, a little.”

He let them out a bit, “Better?”

She nodded and he finished. She turned around and stepped back from him so he could see her better.

“Swords and girly dresses,” she said, “quite a gift combo.”

He nodded, practically rendered speechless by the vision that was her; “I guess so. Um...could I...wait here a minute,” he told her and went into the bedroom. He was back a few minutes later and showed her drawing pad of paper and charcoal he’d bought.

She smiled at him; “You want to draw me?”

“I would; very much. If you don’t mind, that is, don’t know if I’ll even be able to, I’m awfully rusty at it,” he rambled, nervously.

She beamed at him, “I have faith in your abilities, I do,” she said.

He didn’t answer, but went to get the cherrywood chair, with maroon cushioned seats, which was in the spare bedroom. He placed it off center in front of the fireplace and motioned for her to sit, facing the couch.

He sat down, turning over the cover of the drawing pad. He took out a couple of the charcoal pencils, wishing he hadn’t had to take back the colored ones. Oh well, he could always purchase them later and add the color of her dress, he thought.

William looked up at her and studied the composition of the way she was sitting, then got up.

“I’d like to do this a bit differently, if you’re not too tired.”

“I’m okay,” she said, and got up when he motioned her to.

He moved the chair so that the back of it was to the side, but had her sit still facing him, only this time, he draped her arm over the low back of the chair.

He moved back and took a seat, still looking at her.

“Could you move your arm a little forward?”

“Like this?” she asked, moving her fingers closer to the front of her dress.

“A little farther back.”

Buffy moved her hand, so that it now was in front of her shoulder as it rested partly on the arm of the chair.

He got up and walked over to her, bending her elbow slightly outward and down, so that her hand was a bit higher and her thumb rested on her clavicle, her fingers spread slightly outward.

“Are you okay with this? It’s not too awkward, is it?”

“It’s okay,” she said, smiling. “I’ll let you know if anything starts going numb.”

He bent down as if he was going to kiss her, and she lifted her head to meet his lips.

“There, just like that,” he said, grinning.

“Hey, that’s cheating!”

William just winked at her and sat back down on the couch. “Stay just like that, luv,” he said to her.

He studied her for a long while, his fingers jiggling the charcoal back and forth between his fingers. Just when she was thinking he was going to reposition her again, he finally stilled his fingers and brought the charcoal to the page.

William took a deep breath, then put the charcoal pencil down on the spot he would start the drawing. Looking back and forth from Elizabeth to the paper, he began. First he made the outlines of her form and dress, then went back and filled in the details of her face, the most important thing. If he started on the details of the dress, but couldn’t capture her, then it would be for naught.

It took him almost 40 minutes to be satisfied by his portrait of her. He smiled when he was done.

“You can relax your face muscles now,” he told her.

“Whew!” she said, but still kept her pose, in keeping to the spirit of his concentration.

The details of the dress, background, and chair only took another 15 minutes.

He put down the pencil, now much shorter than when he started out, and studied it. He nodded slightly, hoping she’d be somewhat pleased at his attempts.

William looked at her, and saw her questioning glance towards the picture.

He nodded, “It’s done. You can relax now.”

She demurely stretched out, then rose to come over to the couch, but he met her half way.

He had the pad tipped towards him, almost protectively. She smiled up at him encouragingly, as she came to stand next to him. Slowly, he lowered it so that she could see, keeping his eyes on her face to see her initial, honest expression.

Buffy looked at it, then glanced at him, then back down to the drawing. She heard him let out a little breath. She was awe struck now, just like she had been over six years ago, that he could draw her so beautiful, with so much love. She told him so.

“It’s like it’s not me, it can’t be me...”

“Why not?”

“It’s...she’s, I mean I look too good and pure.”

“It’s the way I see you, when I look at you through my eyes.”

She shook her head, biting her lower lip, thinking of all the things in her life that she wasn’t particularly proud of, not the least of how she’d once treated him, of all her shortcomings. She wondered how he’d feel, if he knew the very vast ocean of omissions she had them living under.

He took her chin in her hand; so she was looking at him, “That doesn’t mean that I don’t ‘see’ you for you, Elizabeth. It doesn’t mean that I don’t love all the part of you, which aren’t perfect, or that I don’t know that they exist.”

She let out a little short laugh, “Thank goodness for that!”

“It’s because of all the little things, because and despite of them all that I love you, you know?

“I do,” she said, looking into his sincere blue eyes. “Thank you.”

“It’s like writing.”

“How? What is?”

“Drawing. Think of Shakespeare,” he said.

She rolled her eyes.

“No, seriously. Here’s a man who had a tumultuous personal life, with many failings of his own, yet in his writings, he transcended that. Mozart is another one, shunned by the royal court as a clown, yet he makes this perfect music. Art can be like that. Neither the artist or the subject has to really be perfect, but you strive to transcend your own status, and that of the subject’s with your work.”

“What about realism?” Buffy asked.

“Well, even in that, you’re looking to show a perfect realism, even if it’s portrait of pain and suffering.”

“It’s the dress, isn’t it?” she asked grinning.

“The dress? Piffle!”

“Piffle?”

“Yes, piffle! The dress doesn’t make you; you make the dress! Or for that matter, anything else you wear,” he said, and meant it.

Was a time, he thought, he could remember being so attracted to women in their lovely dresses, wondering what mysteries lay underneath them. Of course, now he doubted those memories. Still, he realized that as lovely as Elizabeth looked in such a fancy gown, it really wasn’t about the gown at all.

In fact, something about that dress had been bothering him, ever since he saw her in it tonight; something he tried to push away in order to do justice to drawing her.

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

She kissed him as they stood there in the living room, and it wasn’t long before they went into the bedroom.

Ever since she’d seen the dress and put it on, Buffy had thought that it must be some sort of fantasy for Victorian William to see her in it. Subsequently, how he’d enjoy taking his time divesting her of it. She was happily secure in what she felt, was her part in his fantasy. Truth be told, she was looking forward to enjoying it!

Shows what she knew about his fantasies, she thought ruefully. Once in the bedroom, he’d come up behind her and kissed her neck, making her feel all weak in the knees, all quivery, when suddenly she sensed him freeze up. He’d tried to cover, but after that he was almost brusque in his manner in getting the dress off of her. To make matters worse, as if a switch had been thrown, he stopped what they were doing in order to put the dress back into the box and shove it underneath the bed, as he mumbled something about it not getting wrinkled. It sure threw a damper on her libido!

She felt a pang of rejection, somehow tied to that dress, and it made her angry too, not knowing if she’d done something wrong or if it was something coming from him, but she was going to ask him what the deal was!

Buffy turned over on her side, away from him in order to hide her feelings.

However, as soon as he was finished with the box, like some Christmas commercial; clap on, clap off, his manner changed back and before she could stay hurt or act aloof, he took her in his arms and kissed her so sweetly, and so thoroughly, she melted into his embrace.

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

It was only a flicker of memory of the nightmare he’d had, but one that stopped him cold in his tracks, in this case, kissing Elizabeth’s neck. A yellow dress, a staircase, her neck, blood, savagery. He’d pulled back abruptly, and could feel her disappointment in response to his actions.

It was that bloody dress, dream metaphor aside.

He’d hurriedly taken it off her, knowing that he should have taken the opportunity to do so slowly and seductively. Now it only served to remind him of something he was desperately trying to swallow down before it swallowed him whole, causing him another mental breakdown. Neither seemed as good an option of just getting the damned thing away from his sight and anything to do with Elizabeth.

He could feel her hurt as he hurriedly shoved it back into it’s box and under the bed and once that was done, he took a few calming breaths and turned all of his attention to making this latest display of distress up to her.

Taking his time, he kissed her for a very long while, letting the sparks of their desire rekindle, until she was moaning against him. He pulled her atop him, continuing to kiss her as they ground against each other.

“I love you so very much,” he said, pulling her face up to look into her hazel green eyes, “you know that, don’t you? Know that I’d do anything for you? That I’d never hurt you?”

She looked down at him wondering where that had come from so suddenly, his voice having an almost desperate quality.

“I know William, I know,” she said, kissing him, “I love you, too.”

He made love to her slowly and tenderly many times that night, making her needs a priority before his own, until she almost had remind him to give in to the pleasure, too.

Buffy looked down at him as she sat on his cock. His glazed over eyes were partly shut; his dark eyelashes just fluttering open when he felt her still her movements. She reached behind them and caressed his balls, which were already hard and firm, but became more so by her touch. He moaned and tried to put his fingers between them to rub her clit, but she pushed his hand aside.

She straightened up and came down to kiss him, “I don’t need to be the multiple orgasm queen tonight, you know,” she said, her hands on his head, finger in his rumpled curls.

“Huh?”

“It’s your turn, William,” she said, then added in a low voice, “besides, you know how much I love to feel how hard you get inside me, right before you come.”

“Yeah?” he asked as he looked, smiling lazily, and at the same time starting to move in rhythm underneath her.

“Yeah,” her voice came out huskily, as her body responded to his, and she felt another orgasm of her own building. “Some...some....times, yours starts at the end of mine, and it feels....oh God...completes mine, me...oh....”

“Like now?” he asked, kissing her, his tongue hungry inside her mouth.

“Uh-huh,” she squeaked out, as his hands moved her hips to meet his thrusts.”

“Oh...oh...oh....” she gasped as she felt herself start to come, then felt him harden in intensity within her, and her pleasure increased for even longer, until she finally felt him shudder and heard him cry out. They went for a few seconds longer, until she collapsed onto him.

They turned over on their sides, still entwined.

“Love you,” he sighed, kissing her.

“Love you, too.”

END CHAPTER 130

Next