---

Prologue: Marriage

---

Joyce said to Buffy in a gentle tone while she sat at the dinner table, “Honey, Hank and I are getting married.”

Buffy jumped up from the table and said, “You can’t!”

Joyce stared at Buffy then rolled her eyes and stated, “He’s a good man, Buffy, and he’ll take good care of us. He offered for us to come live at his mansion, we will have housekeepers and maids and even a butler.”

Joyce was too caught up in her daydream to notice Buffy’s horrified look.

“Mom, I’ve tried to tell you, he touches me and kisses me and…” Buffy trailed off noticing her mother was barely even listening.

Joyce snapped out of her thoughts and said, “Don’t you dare talk badly about Hank. It’s bad enough you said you didn’t like Peter and Stanley but there is nothing wrong with Hank. Besides you told me Stanley did that as well and I left him. Now you are going to tell me that Hank does that too??”

Buffy’s eyes got wide realizing her mother really didn’t believe her. She was going to be stuck in this house forever with a man who insisted on looking at her like he wanted to have sex with her. Quickly losing her temper, Buffy yelled, “You pick losers!. Ever think of that?”

Joyce dropper her voice thinking that acting calm would help the situation. She was sure if she just gave Hank more of a chance then Buffy would like him.

Suddenly Joyce came up with an idea, “Buffy I’m gone this weekend. Why don’t you go and stay with Hank?”

Buffy sighed not thinking this is a good idea at all, “I’m 14. Shouldn’t I be able to stay alone yet?”

Joyce shook her head and said, “I’ll talk to Hank tonight when we go out. He should be here any minute. I’m sure he’ll agree. Then you can get settled in before the wedding. We can even move in when I get back.”

Buffy frowned but figured there was no getting out of it. She could only hope she was wrong at the way Hank looked at her. She had a really bad feeling about this weekend but she still had 3 days to find a way out of it.

---

Chapter 1: Moving In

---

The weekend came quickly and soon it was time for Buffy to go with the driver that Hank had sent to pick her up. Ever the helpful boyfriend he had also called movers to move Buffy’s things to the mansion. Buffy sighed as she was taken to her ‘new’ room by a housekeeper and asked if she wanted help unpacking.

“No thank you,” Buffy said politely. In her head adding “ What is want is my mother, and to get out of here”.. since no one seemed to understand this so Buffy started to unpack. Hank would be at work until 7, upon his arrival home he and Buffy would sit down to dinner according to the housekeeper.

Buffy had the fleeting thought that if she didn’t bother to unpack her stuff maybe her mother would change her mind and not marry Hank.

Sighing she realized that it wasn’t looking good on that front. Joyce had packed up her room and Hank had already hired the movers to go over to their ‘old’ house and pack up the remaining items to be moved over to the mansion.

Buffy sighed again, and decided that she had better make the most of it. Perhaps Hank wasn’t as bad as she thought. Her mother seemed to think he was ok.

She started to move her clothes into her closet and got to work on her dresser. She carefully laid new colored contact paper over the old that had been placed in her drawers to match the paint she had chosen for the room. It was silver with a touch of pink in it.

Ever the doting boyfriend Hank had allowed Buffy to choose her bedroom and bathroom wall color, which the painters had finished last week..

The house was really huge. The curtains in her room were going to be home-sewn once Buffy’s mother came home to measure the size of her window. Buffy’s old room had been blue so she was anxious to fix up this plain white-walled room.

She carefully placed the new light pink towels complete with lace that Buffy hand-sewn herself over the dresser top, nightstand and bookcase shelves to protect them. She even covered the shelves in her closet.

She started moving her items into her dresser drawers, arranging her little towels on top of the dresser, bookcase shelves, and even the shelves in her closet.

Buffy smiled at her work thinking it looked beautiful as she carefully started unpacking the boxes. She noticed it was lunch and wondered how to ask for food.

She noticed a little bell was placed on the wall and thought to herself, “Wow I feel like I’m Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters.”

She rang the bell and quickly the housekeeper, “You rang?”

Buffy nodded and asked politely, “Is it possible to have lunch?”

The housekeeper answered, “What would you like?”

Buffy shrugged and then said, “Just a simple sandwich of some kind would work. I’m not really picky.”

The housekeeper replied, “Certainly. Ham and cheese? Would you like water or soda?”

Buffy said, “Diet coke? If not water is fine.”

The housekeeper nodded and turned and left the room.

Buffy felt so weird ordering food as though she was in a restaurant but dismissed the thought lifting the television and placing it onto the dresser along with her makeup kit and hairbrush and barrettes.

She then went to work on her desk and bookcase filled each with her book collections and writing items.

She heard a knock at the door and opened to find the housekeeper holding out a tray for her of a ham and cheese sandwich with a soda.

Buffy smiled and said, “Thank you” as she sat down at her desk and devoured the sandwich within a few minutes.

Noticing her bookcase and desk were done, she looked around the walls that looked so bare and noticed one wall was completely empty. She frowned a bit before making a decision. It was only 2 pm.

She had plenty of time so she took the bulletin board off her desk and took out a tack from the drawer and hung up her bulletin board and took out her latest photos and proceeded to make a collage of her photos.

She sat back and took down the last box of items which was a few photos of her mother and dad together, her with her sister who had died at the age of 5, her best friend and her at the mall with prom dresses on for the spring fling and a picture of a her smiling at a piano recital taken by her dad a year before he died. Those were her precious pictures.

She placed them around the room on the pieces of furniture and finally used another tack to hang up the large picture frame containing 10 pictures of her as a baby.

She sighed looking around her room and saw that it was 4 pm. She took her shower items and went into the bathroom noticing someone had taken the time to buy her pink items.

She smiled feeling right at home thinking this life might not be as bad as she thought it would be as she settled down to take a bath for an hour.

---

Chapter 2: The New House and All That Is In It

---

Buffy felt great after her bath and sat down afterwards to do some homework for school for Monday. Although she was a straight A student she had to work hard to do well in her honors classes and stay near the top of her class.

Buffy was relieved when her mother had told her she wouldn’t have to switch schools as Hank’s driver could drive her to school anywhere she wanted to go.

After finishing her homework she decided she had some time to explore.

As she wandered down the hallway and the stairs, which lead down the lower floors’ hallway along the way she peeked into various rooms. There were so many beautiful rooms she could see herself being so lost for months.

There was a beautiful library and an amazing garden.

There was an indoor pool encased in a room that was made of glass as well as a spa complete with massage tables. She was offered a massage but knew she didn’t have time right now, she did however make a mental note to herself to come back tomorrow and see about getting one.

The next room Buffy wandered into was strange. It was completely padded in white leather: ceiling, floor as well as the walls. It was eerie and had a definite asylum vibe to it, but also it also made her curious.

She wandered further into the room and noticed chains and shackles hung from the ceiling. There were also handcuffs in various places around the room along with other equipment she had never seen before.

She heard a noise and ran out of the room quickly not wanting to get caught in there. She raced back to her room and closed the door behind her to catch her breath.

When she looked at the time, she realized it was 6:45 already. She knew she needed to have a bit of time to find the dining room.

She took a few minutes to pick out her outfit and then looked at herself in the mirror. She had dressed very conservatively in loosed khaki pants and a turtleneck hoping to detour any uneasiness around Hank.

She bent down to put on her tan boots that matched the pants perfectly. She looked nice but not enough to draw attention to herself. She left her hair down and put a bare minimum of make up.

She was so nervous. She really hoped she could make it through dinner with Hank without having any issues.

Just then she heard a knock at the door and the housekeeper entered the room and said, “Dinner will be served in just a minute. Would you like me to show you where to go?”

Buffy remembered her manners and smiled saying, “Yes ma’am.”

The housekeeper smiled at her manners but then frowned as she turned expecting Buffy to follow. Buffy hurried down the stairs and through the hallway, which eventually lead to a large dining room.

Buffy’s plate had been already placed next to Hank’s and Hank stood as she entered the room. She felt like a princess.

She sat in a seat that Hank had pulled out for her and watched as the first item was served.

---

Chapter 3: A Dinner With a Side of Trouble

---

She ate through the whole meal and refused dessert. It was during dessert Buffy began to feel very uncomfortable.

Buffy asked if she may be excused, Hank said yes, and she thought she was done for the night.

An hour later while Buffy was reading one of her books, there was a knock on the door.

The housekeeper entered and eyed Buffy suspiciously as she stated, “The master would like to see you in his chambers now. I’ll show you the way.”

Buffy stuttered, “Me? Why?”

The housekeeper didn’t answer and instead said, “Come on. Don’t dillydally.”

Buffy took a deep breath and tried to figure out what was going on. She didn’t know why she would be called to his chambers. Was that his bedroom? She didn’t want to go near his bedroom.

She looked down at her outfit making sure she didn’t look sexy or anything and knew the turtleneck alone should have been enough to turn him off.

By the time she got to the last room, the housekeeper knocked and he said, “Send her in.”

Buffy was then pushed into the room and the door was closed behind her.

She looked around his chambers and it was definitely his bedroom. She was nervous trying to figure out why she was asked here and where he was.

He came around the corner in just a pair of boxes as Buffy turned around as to not see.

He laughed an evil laugh and said, “Come on toots. Turn around so you can see what you will be getting as a treat tonight. I know you want me.”

Buffy wouldn’t turn around so Hank went over to her and forced her to turn around. She tried to focus on the wall behind him and he wouldn’t have it.

He hit her in the face saying, “Look at me, Buffy. You know you want me.”

Buffy shook her head now trying to portray the fact she didn’t want him. He was her mother’s boyfriend and way past her age. Definitely old enough to be her father and he was gross.

He demanded, “Kiss me on the cheek Buffy and I’ll leave you go back to your room.”

Buffy hesitated but wanted to go back to her room so badly so she leaned in to kiss him on the cheek and he turned his face forcing her to kiss him on the lips.

He pressed her body into her as she struggled to get away. He moved one hand to touch her breast and she gasped pulling away.

Not wanting her to get get away he instead tried to press her closer. Buffy finally figured out that he wanted much more than kiss and she lifted one of her legs and kicked him hard in the leg.

He released her grabbing his leg as she continued to punch at his face causing him to fall over. With that she ran out of the room as fast as she could.

Seeing the housekeeper run past her to see what the yelling was about, she rushed into her room and grabbed a suitcase from her closet and quickly put some items into it: a few changes of clothes, her makeup, brushes, the picture of her parents and sister.

She realized she had to be faster knowing they wouldn’t be too long in finding her and she grabbed her shampoo and soap out of the bathroom and after grabbing some money out of her top drawer as well as her beloved camera, she took one last look at the room and grabbed her jacket and left quickly.

She ran down the stairs still hearing the commotion behind her and raced out the door with someone following behind her. She didn’t even stop to see who it was and continued to run as fast as she could.

Silently breathing a sigh of relief that cheerleading had kept her in great shape she ran into some guy’s yard to hide.

Not hearing anyone behind her she hopped the fence and continued to run until she saw the Sunnydale bus station. She counted out her money seeing how much she grabbed.

It was all of her birthday money including the nice expensive necklace Hank had given her. It totaled about $1,000. She never spent anything on herself and therefore had been saving up for a trip with her friend to Europe.

She walked past the bus station and stopped at the ATM at the corner. There she withdrew the max amount of $500 dollars hoping that $1,500 would get her to L.A. and give her some spending money as well.

She walked back to the bus station and noticed a bus labeled L.A. in the front. She went to the ticket corner and bought a ticket to L.A.

“One-way or Round Trip sweetie?” the lady at the ticket counter asked.

Buffy looked sad as she answered, “One-way.”

The lady handed her a ticket and said, “Have a good trip!”

Buffy nodded not wanting to say anything as she walked over to the bus.

The driver asked, “Heading to L.A.?”

Buffy nodded and gave the driver her $30 dollar ticket and climbed up dragging her large suitcase behind her.

As she sat in the seat she took one last look at Sunnydale thinking she will never see the place again as long as she lived.

---

Chapter 4: What Do I Do Now?

---

Buffy was dropped off at the bus station in L.A. She looked around wasn’t sure where to go. She knew no one in L.A. and she was only 14.

She let out a sigh and decided to take one of the cabs at the front of the station. She climbed in dragging her suitcase behind her as she requested a hotel for the night, something cheap and clean.

The driver promised he knew what she needed and dropped her off at a motel 6.

The outside looked good enough so she handed the guy $10 dollars for the ride and walked up into the hotel.

She was nervous never having been anywhere herself but straightened up her shoulders to look like she belonged knowing this was how her life would be from now on. She couldn’t go back to her mother and Hank. She had to be brave.

She requested a room for the night. No questions were asked and she laid down on the bed to sleep knowing that already she had spent $200. Her money wasn’t going to last long at this rate.

---

@}-'--, --'--, --'--, -{@

---

Buffy knew she needed a job. She was only 14 years old though. What respectable place would hire a 14 year old.

She sighed and started to wander the streets after paying for the room another night to have a place to store her suitcase.

She saw a club which said, “Now Hiring!” in fancy pink letters. Perhaps this could be a place she could work.

She walked into the club and saw a lady in the front cleaning the place. It wasn’t open for business it appeared.

The lady in the front who’s name was Sandy said, “What do you need buttercup?”

Buffy tried to look a little taller to appear older and said, “I’m looking for a job.”

Sandy rolled her eyes and said, “How old are you?”

Buffy hesitated and decided to lie, “Just turned 16 ma’am.”

Sandy laughed and then said, “Go through the club to the back. Knock on the black door. They will help you there.” Sandy didn’t say anything more and turned around to arrange the bottles behind the bar.

Buffy looked down at her tan skirt and straightened it a bit and looked down at her pink tank top and thought it looked nice enough.

She knocked on the black door and tall man answered and ushered her inside, “So you here for a job?”

Buffy nodded.

The man walked over to a boom box and said, “Well let’s see you in action.”

Buffy looked confused and the man decided to elaborate a bit, “This is a strip joint. We pay $30 an hour to strippers, $20 for waitresses. You work 6 days a week, the 7th is optional and for extra pay. So you here to strip or waitress?”

He looked the tiny girl over and Buffy stuttered saying, “Waitress?”

He turned around turning the music off and opened a locker saying, “Size 5? 6?”

Buffy replied, “5” and the man turned around nodding handing Buffy an outfit, "Come back tonight at 5 sharp wearing this. Oh and get some comfortable black shoes. You will need them. You work until 2 am. That a problem?”

Buffy shook her head. He asked, “Need a place to stay?”

Buffy said, “Yes sir. I’m new to the area.”

The man smiled and said, “You can have free room and board, the pay will go down to $10 an hour. You can still keep your tips. You can move in whenever you want. It’s empty.”

Buffy nodded her head and said, “Thank you.”

The man said, “Don’t mention it.”

Buffy took her outfit and walked back to the hotel after stopping to get herself a pair of dressy black heeled boots, a pair of red tights to go under the black skirt she was holding and a pony-tail holder that was red before walking back to the hotel to check out.

---

Chapter 5: What It Means to Be a Waitress

---

Buffy dumped her suitcase in the center of her new apartment. It was simple, but what she needed.

One wall held a single bed with a small dresser that had a nice mirror over it. There was a small closet that gave her some space for some new clothes when she could afford it. The third wall had a small fridge and microwave. There was a tiny bathroom that had a small shower, a sink and toilet. The fourth wall had a tiny television that was put on top of a nightstand.

She sighed and laid back on her bed flipping through the 13 channels she got on the television to waste the time until 5.

---

@}-'--, --'--, --'--, -{@

---

Buffy was eager to start her first day. She stood downstairs in her red tank that barely covered her top and her short black skirt that barely covered her bottom and watched the other waitresses get ready.

One of the waitresses named Anne, walked up to her and placed a marker in Buffy’s hand and a tacky pink lettered name plate that she explained while smacking on her gum, “Write your name on the white part and wear this everyday.”

She looked at Buffy’s hair and frowned and disappeared for a moment taking the black marker from Buffy and took out a red ribbon and tied the ribbon around Buffy’s hair.

She said, “If you insist on putting your hair up, wear a ribbon in it at least to make it look sexy. Actually come here, I’ll help you. You need some work.”

Buffy followed behind Anne dutifully watched as she appeared some more makeup to Buffy’s face asking her to blot the lip stick which was bright red.

She then showed Buffy a mirror and Buffy gasped. She barely recognized the girl looking back at her, which was a more sophisticated looking lady. She had put black eyeliner around Buffy’s green eyes and green eye shadow to really make her eyes appear larger. Her cheeks were decorated with a bright pink rouge that made her appear to be blushing even though she wasn’t. On her lips, they were painted bright red.

She looked at Anne when she realized she was talking to her, “You should see about piercing your ears doll. Guys go for long dangling earrings on a girl but besides that, I think you look hot.”

Buffy smiled and the doors opened and Buffy was sent to work. She was given a notepad and a fancy pink pen that was as bright as the tacky sign on the door outside.

She was taught how to make basic drinks and how to place food orders which basically were snack items. She learned how to place the tips in her breasts to keep the guys’ coming back for more.

She learned to smile at them even when they were oogling at her. She barely took the time to notice the strippers on the stage but sometimes the guys would point one out to her and she would blush even more and make an appropriate comment and still bring them their orders.

By the end of the night, she was tired and so ready for bed. And this became the story of her life.

---

Chapter 6: A New Position

---

The day after Buffy really turned 16, she was approached one night by a frantic Faith who said, “Buffy we have to strip at a party.”
Buffy stared at her friend in shock, thinking, ‘Me, Buffy, Strip?’

Faith noticed her shock and replied, “We’ve been requested by a good client of the boss. He wants us to go to the son’s 18th party and strip for the guys. It’s awesome money. $1,000 a piece for the night I heard. I’m going to do it and I want you to say yes too. We get to keep any tips!! Just imagine. Plus this guy is really rich. I imagine the tips would be awesome. Veruca says she usually leaves with $3,000 in her pocket when she goes to visit the father. Please say you will do it.”

Buffy asked in a nervous tone, “When?”

Faith took Buffy back to the bar and said, “Tomorrow night at 5. We wouldn’t be working here that shift. It would be considered your day off. You’d get paid for the party though. The boss wants us to take lessons from Veruca tonight. I’m sure you will be a natural. I did it once before when someone was out sick.”

Buffy still looked hesitate but looked into Faith’s eyes to decide which way to go. She never wanted to strip and in fact she had been thinking of giving in her notice here. She was waitressed out. With about $5,000 saved up she figured she had enough money to move to a new place and find a new job. She had done this long enough. She wanted somewhere she was appreciated more. This job would give her at least $1,000 before tips. That would definitely make it easier to leave.

Buffy let out a sigh saying, “I’ll do it. I just hope I don’t regret it.”

Faith took her by the hand leading her upstairs to where Veruca would give them a quick lesson. Buffy had watched the strippers on stage before so she thought she had a pretty good idea but every little bit helps.

---

@}-'--, --'--, --'--, -{@

---

Buffy was dressed in a blue of pink and white. Her pink shirt had been tied in the front and covered a pink fuzzy bra that matched her fuzzy pink underwear. She had white knee-highs with a short white skirt on. The knee-highs that were held up by a white garter belt which peeked out under her skirt. She reached down to adjust the garter belt using the cute little pink rose on the front that matched the color of her skirt as a guide.

Her makeup was natural and Veruca had sprinkled glitter in her curled hair. In face, Veruca had sprinkled glitter everywhere.

She arrived with Faith who was in a similar outfit with a blue accent and Veruca arrived in her famous red décor. Buffy thought they all looked sexy.

She was nervous but Veruca had made it look like a piece of cake. But for Faith and Veruca who slept around, they probably did strip dancing for their boyfriends all the time.

Buffy had never had a boyfriend and was still a virgin in fact she had experienced two kisses in her life other than the one Hank had forced on her. The boys thought she was skittish but only she knew she was waiting for the perfect guy to erase the memory of Hank.

She rolled her shoulders once and took in a deep breath as Faith rang the doorbell. Buffy put on a fake smile and walked inside.

---

Chapter 7: Let the Fun Begin

---

The three of them were led to a room filled where three guys sat side by side. Buffy looked over at the hesitantly but didn’t say anything following Veruca's instructions to let her do the talking.

Just then the guy who was the father, that Buffy had recognized from the club, walked into the room, smiling hugely at the three of them, “Don’t you girls look hot tonight. This isn’t for me though. This is for my son and his two friends. A little 18th birthday surprise. Since his friends are all 18, this is all legal so no worries about that. So guys, pick out your girls.”


A guy with brown hair that appeared a little unruly who apparently was Xander, the birthday boy, chose Faith first. Taking Faith's hand in his, he rushed out of the room and his father yelled after him, “Enjoy Xander, my son. You only turn 18 once.”

Buffy nervously looked from the blond to the red head. The red head whose name was Daniel, chose Veruca. Xander’s dad laughed and said, “I would have chosen her for you as well. Pretty girl that one.”

He then looked from William to Buffy and grinned, “And sweet Buffy is left for you William. Be gentle on her.” William looked nervously at Buffy and led her from room.

He whispered to her, “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. We can just go back to my place and talk. Only agreed to get because Xander’s dad wouldn’t leave me alone until I agreed. That ok with you pet?”

Buffy nodded nervously. not knowing what to say. She climbed in the opened door of the Desoto and watched as William gunned the car and drove for a quick minute before pulling in quickly into a driveway and into the garage.

He went around to open the door for her and Buffy stepped out seeing before her a simple house. He took her hand and pulled her into his front door and sat down on the living room sofa patting the place next to him.

She looked at William and sat down. She was so nervous. She knew she was hired to strip for this guy but he didn’t seem interested in that.

Instead he said, “Can I get you anything to drink?”

Buffy nodded hoping the drink would help calm her fears, “Anything please.”

He smirked and said, “Two waters coming right up then ducks.”

He left the room only to return a minute later with two cold water bottles.

He handed one to her as he opened his up and took a drink then turned to Buffy asking, “So why are you in this job?”

Buffy bit her bottom lip wondering how much to tell him, “Well um...the truth?”

William nodded so Buffy continued, “I don’t strip for a living. I’m just a waitress but Xander’s dad requested me for you I guess so I’m here. I’ve never stripped before.”

William looked intrigued and was suddenly very turned on. This was her first time, and it was just for him.

Buffy looked really nervous as he said, “Why did you get a job at the club in the first place? You seem like a nice girl, Buffy. Shouldn’t you be in school somewhere or working in a nice restaurant and not a strip joint?”

Buffy again bit her lower lip and then stuttered, “I needed a job really bad. I had no where to go.”

William nodded figuring that was the case. She looked young, much younger than the supposed 18 that was required to be a stripper. He thought what the hell I’ll ask, “How old are you really Buffy?”

Buffy looked nervous before answering, “You won't tell anyone will you?”

When he shook his head she replied, “16, last week.”

William nodded and said, “I just turned 18 last month.”

Buffy wondered to herself why she was being so honest with him. She had become very adept at lying especially in the last 2 years. She lied about her age, where she came from, when her birthday was as well as everything else about her. No one knew her at all and here she couldn’t wait to divulge all her secrets to him.

When William asked her where she was from, she replied with the truth of Sunnydale. She explained about her mom getting remarried and how she ran away after her soon to be step father had touched her inappropriately.

William listened as she told him about running away and how she had found the first job she could which happened to be the strip club.

In turn, he told her about his mother who had died a few years ago. He lived on his own and had since 16. He was wealthy so he was able to take care of the up-keep on the already paid for house. He graduated from high school a few months ago and was accepted into UC Sunnydale which was Buffy’s hometown.

He grinned at her saying, “You leave Sunnydale, I am heading there. Who would have guessed it.”

Buffy smiled feeling very comfortable with him. He made a frozen pizza for them to eat as they continued to talk. When they wre finished they both sat back staring at each other, amazed at how much they had divulged to each other in such short hours.

---

Chapter 8: The Perfect Moment

---

William slowly leaned over towards Buffy not wanting to completely disturb the moment and slowly brushed his lips over hers.

Buffy felt her breath catch in her throat as she leaned in amazed as how good the kiss felt.

She felt William’s hands reach around her neck to pull her close and for once, she didn't resist, it just felt right.

William rubbed his hands up and down her back to get her to relax. Buffy wrapped her arms around his neck and just let herself feel. Slowly she started to unbutton his shirt so she could feel his skin against hers.

Her shirt quickly followed as well as her bra and Buffy wrapped her legs around William as he walked up the stairs to his bedroom laying her gently on the bed. William looked at her in amazement.

Buffy noticed the way William was looking at her felt slightly nervous. She covered her arms over her chest but William pulled them away looking at her as though she were the most beautiful girl in the world.

She felt beautiful as he exclaimed, “Buffy luv, you are amazing. So perfect. So special. So beautiful.”

With each adjective he moved lower down her neck until he reached her breast. He continued to move his lips down to suckle her nipple causing her to arch her back off the bed.

William looked at her hesitantly then noticed she was enjoying his actions so he continued slightly tweaking her other nipple as he caressed her breast.

She gasped as she felt him switch to give the other breast and nipple the same treatment. Buffy had never felt so turned on in her life and her pussy was aching like she couldn’t believe.

Then she felt William kiss down her stomach to the part that ached. He kissed her lips first, then opened them slightly and grinned. “So beautiful Buffy. My first look at a quim and it’s so beautiful. I’m so glad my first time is with you” and with that he licked from her forbidden hole to her clit causing her to moan outloud before she could help herself.

William smirked realizing she must like that and did it again and again causing her to moan and run her fingers through his hair since she was eager to touch some part of him.

As he inched one of his fingers into her quim as he called it, he felt her barrier but didn’t break it and instead kissed and sucked on her clit realizing she liked that as well.

He continued kissing and teasing her clit as he inched a second finger into her and feeling still how tight she was but also how wet. He moved them both in and out and felt for the g-spot he had read about before, quickly finding it and slowly stroking it, which caused her to orgasm after touching it just two times.

He pulled out his fingers gently and smiled at her as he whispered, “Your first time?”

Buffy nodded and he whispered, “Mine too. We will be perfect together. Are you sure, luv?”

Buffy nodded her head as he crawled up her body to position himself. He put his erection at her entrance and gently pushed feeling just the tip slide in.

Buffy bit her lip trying not to cry out in pain as he entered her. William stayed very still, the need to move very very strong.

He kept his eyes locked with Buffy’s until she nodded and he inched his way a little further in but this time felt her barrier.

She moaned at the feeling and he whispered, “This will hurt a bit I think or so I’ve been told but only for a second. Supposed to feel really good after that. There’s no going back, you sure luv?”

Buffy nodded and whispered, “Very sure William I want you.”

William took that as a perfect answer and gave her a kiss as he plunged fully into her feeling Buffy arch and cry out under him.

He smothered her face with kisses not moving until he noticed her calmer and felt her move her hips to try to move him, “You ok pet?”

Buffy smiled up at him and said, “I think so. Can we move and try it?”

William smiled at her eagerness and moved in and out of her once noticing she was moaning in pleasure not pain and took it as the cue to start moving quicker. He knew with her tightness he wasn’t going to last long, wanting Buffy to enjoy her first time, he moved his hand down to where they joined together and teased her clit, rubbing it fast.

Buffy arched her back up and then quickly orgasmed, clamping down her muscles around him pushing him into his own orgasm. Gasping Buffy's name, William's arm gave out and he fell down gently on Buffy.

Rolling off her, he pulled his now soft erection out with a pop and pulled Buffy close to him so he could hold her snuggly against his chest.

---

Chapter 9: Morning After

---

He whispered, “How was it pet?”

Buffy grinned, “You were amazing William.”

Buffy laughing to herself at the irony of her being so nervous about stripping for him and had instead just jumped into bed with him.

He asked cocking his head to one side, “What’s so funny pet?”

She shared it with him and he laughed too whispering, “Do you have anywhere you have to be tonight pet?”

Buffy shook her head knowing the other two girls were planning to go home when they were finished and weren’t planning to meet up with her until tomorrow.

She snuggled up close to him as she whispered, “I’ll stay the night.”

Buffy had no idea that William had vowed to her as she lay sleeping that he would find a way to save her from the club and have her stay with him forever.

---

@}-'--, --'--, --'--, -{@

---

Buffy and William made love several times through the night and while Buffy slept in the morning William went out to get her breakfast.

When Buffy woke up to a kiss from William she stared in front of her at the tray that was made. On the corner of the tray was a tiny pink stuffed pig.

She grinned at it and whispered, “For me?”

William nodded and said, “Something to always remember me by.”

Buffy frowned as she thought he meant to never see her again, ‘For the best probably. He could never fall in love with someone he had a one night stand with. Oh god I had a one night stand!’

William watched her emotions and said, “Let’s eat shall we?”

Buffy nodded and felt William crawl in bed beside her and picked up the second fork on the tray pulling his plate a little closer and took a bit of an omelette. Buffy looked down and took a bit of her omelette realizing it was the best omelette she had ever had and told William as much.

He smiled at her and explained how he hoped to be a chef someday, that or a writer.

Buffy smiled and said, “I’m sure you will great at either. The poems you recited to me while we made love were beautiful and this food is perfect.”

William smiled at her and they continued to eat their breakfast.

---

@}-'--, --'--, --'--, -{@

---

After breakfast they made love again and Buffy slept knowing that she had some time before she would have to leave.

She woke up before William did and snuck out of bed to get dressed.

William rubbed his eyes sleepily before whispering, “Have to work tonight pet?”

Buffy nodded knowing she was not going to be working tonight. She was planning to head back to the bar, take her belongings with her since last night had been paid in advance and leave with only a note behind.

Last night had been so unbelievably perfect, it made her long for something better than she had. She didn’t deserve William but she vowed someday she would deserve someone like him. She would find a legit job somewhere and she would make enough money to leave this lifestyle behind. Surely there was more out there than this and Buffy was determined to find it.

William not knowing what was going through her mind said, “Last night and this was the most perfect night of my life. Can I call you sometime and we can do this again? I’ll stop by the club tonight and see you if you don’t mind.”

Buffy replied, “Sounds good. I”ll be there, 5 pm. to 2 am.” Knowing she wouldn’t really be there.

William stood up and got out of the bed still naked and leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss handing her the stuffed pig saying, “Don’t forget him nor me.”

Buffy bit her lip to fight back the tears promising, “I won’t William. I promise.”

As Buffy slipped out of the room, William dreamed of how he would see her again tonight and hopefully convince her that she didn’t need such a job and that he could pay for both of them to survive. Perhaps he could open a restaurant where she could work at and would be paid well and never again have to work at a place like this. William was still thinking of the future as he drifted off to sleep.

---

Chapter 10: Leaving Her Life Behind Again

---

Buffy sighed sitting in a taxi again leaving her life behind. She stuffed all her favorite items into the only suitcase she owned, leaving the extra clothes in a box in the bar with a note saying, “Thank you for everything. I’ll miss you –Buffy”.

She took all the money she had with her and hailed a taxi to head somewhere new. She knew she couldn’t stay in L.A. and Sunnydale was out of the picture.

She told the driver to take her somewhere she could start over. Not too far away but far enough so she could never have to step foot in L.A. again.

He took her to a small town between Sunnydale and L.A. He explained that he grew up here and the people were nice. He missed it at times and was sure she could start over new here.

She thanked the driver and handed him a $20 and lifted her suitcase out and went about walking down the main street looking for a place to live and a job.

She saw a sign for a motel on the first street she took and wandered inside thinking that she could afford to stay a night or two. She pulled her suitcase behind her and a sweet old lady answered Buffy’s bell ringing.

She said, “Need a room for the night? Are you planning to stay?”

Buffy nodded and said, “I’m new around here but looking to settle. I need a job and a place to live.”

The old lady yelled to her husband who appeared from the back room, “This young lady needs a place to stay and a job. Think Cassie would hire her? She’s always complaining she can never find good help and she has that cute little apartment above the diner.”

Buffy spoke up eager to meet this Cassie and thinking a diner would be way better to work in than a strip joint, “I have been a waitress for the past 2 years. It sounds perfect.”

The old lady smiled at her husband and said, “Mind driving her to Cassie’s diner?”

The husband said, “Nope don’t mind. Come on young lady. Lets see if we can’t get you settled in.”

Buffy followed eagerly ready to get settled into this new friendly town.

---

Chapter 11: Smile, it’s Smile Town

---

Buffy was hired for $7 dollars an hour at Cassie’s Diner in Smile Town and she was told the rent of the apartment was $100 a month plus utilities which averaged about $150 a month.

Buffy figured it out that it wouldn’t be even close to what she was making at the strip joint but she could get by.

It was a respectable job and she needed that after her time at the strip joint. She thought briefly of her one night stand and silently vowed she would never get involved with another man.

Her heart ached as she thought of William and how perfect he had been. She wished she was worthy of him but knew deep down inside she might never be. It was a depressing realization but she decided not to think of him too often.

Although she cried herself to sleep every night missing him like crazy, she always put on a bright smile while she served the people of the town.

The residents immediately took to her and invited her to different happenings. She attended lawn parties, picnics, barbeques, block parties, open houses at the school, and dinners as people’s houses. She felt like she really belonged although a part of her was missing.

She made tons of friends, her closest being Cassie, Sineya and Lucy. Lucy who was married to Parker, had two children who were simply adorable. Sineya was married to Percy. Buffy stayed single and was often the third or sometimes fifth wheel but she didn’t mind.

Her heart still ached for William and she couldn’t look at anyone the same again. Sometimes Cassie and her husband, Scott would tag along which helped Buffy to feel as though she belonged because then it was more of a crowd then a date.

She spent her days at the diner and soon Cassie being 9 months pregnant trusted her running the diner. Cassie would often say, “You’re a life saver Buffy” while she was rubbing her stomach while holding her sore back.

Buffy would get up at 5 am, shower quickly to run downstairs and open the place by 6. She served breakfast until 10. Cassie had hired a high school named Bill to help serve and she had a cook named Pike that handled the kitchen with ease. Lunch was always a busy time with people wanting lunches to go. Buffy would go the extra mile and fix up a few sandwiches for delivery to those who couldn't leave work to get to the diner. Lunch was served until 3 and the dinner was served until 9.

It was a quiet town so they never got any complaints about closing up at 9. Buffy worked long days and was dead on her feet by 9 but never complained.

They opened up everyday but Sunday. On Saturday, Buffy spent sleeping or catching up with friends.

Cassie had her first baby, girl, and followed that almost immediately with a bouncing baby boy.

After 18 months of being busy with babies, she returned to work at the diner giving Buffy some breaks. Buffy started getting restless again.

Cassie didn’t really seem to need her anymore and had hired on another girl to take a few more hours from Buffy.

Buffy spent a lot of time in the library reading, wishing she could go back to school but there were no colleges in Smile Town. Even the books she was reading were pretty basic stuff.

She longed for something more, something better; little did she know, fate was about to step in for her again.

---

Chapter 12: Surprise Guest

---

Buffy was washing down a table when a group of visitors came in. It was close to closing but she was sure these visitors didn’t realize they closed at 9.

She heard a conversation and recognized the voice. She dropped the tray she was holding and it crashed to the floor.

Luckily it only had silverware in it and she caught deep blue eyes looking up at her as he picked up the silverware. She was in shock.

She had never expected to see William again after that night and here he was in Smile Town.

William smiled at her and said, “Buffy.”

William’s friend, Daniel said, “Holy shit. Where did you go girl? William here spent a full year looking for you before he gave up finally.”

Buffy blushed and took the tray from William not answering their question.

William followed Buffy up to the counter where he met her eyes again and whispered, “Where did you go Buffy?”

Buffy sighed still mostly in shock over seeing him again but resigned herself to answer, “I came here. I hated my job, hated what I had to do, hated working in a strip joint. You were right, I could do better, and you deserved better.”

William shook his head and his friends yelled, “Can we order a few sandwiches to go?”

Buffy nodded and went behind the kitchen door to pick up two ham sandwiches and two coke cans they requested and they quickly paid her and left leaving William behind.

William looked up at her and said, “You closing now pet?”

Buffy nodded and he said, “Can I walk you home?”

Buffy shrugged saying, “I live upstairs but you can come up for a minute if you want.”

William nodded and watched as she finished closing up the joint, locked the door after flipping over the closed sign and turned off the lights then she motioned for him to follow as she climbed the tiny stairs to her apartment.

As she opened the door, he noticed it was a tiny apartment. Just one big room with a bathroom but there was an island in the middle to separate the kitchenette to the living room.

She whispered, “There’s a back room too which is my bedroom but this is pretty much it.”

He smiled looking around at the tiny home touches she had done to make this place her home over the past 2 years. A small television on a small tv stand sat in front of a tiny sofa with a small table in the middle that was covered with a towel with lace sewn around it. There was a simple clock in the corner but the clock had been covered by lace that had roses glued on it but it appeared nice. There were only two pictures on the wall. One of Buffy in front of the diner with another lady, that he figured was the owner and the second was of her with a family.

He asked, “Who are they?” gesturing to the pictures.

“Cassie and me are in front of the diner. She owns it. The family is Lucy and her kids with her husband. My best friends here.” Buffy answered.

William nodded and said, “You like it here?”

Buffy shrugged and said, “The taxi driver took me here after I left the club. It works. I have a job, a place to life and a few friends. The people are nice here. Why are you here William?”

William turned towards Buffy and frowned at her bluntness and stated, “Was headed back to Sunnydale from a drive when the car broke down in this town. Was told there was a diner we could eat at and we could stay at the motel for the night until the mechanic could look at it tomorrow.”

William looked at Buffy and Buffy said, “Would you like something to eat? You didn’t eat downstairs.”

William motioned to the kitchen, “May I?”

Buffy nodded remembering how good his omelette was and she was so hungry. Usually she just grabbed a leftover sandwich from the back but she had sold those to Xander and Daniel already.

---

Chapter 13: More Surprises

---

Buffy watched as William whipped up a spinach and cheese quiche. She had never seen the ingredients in her apartment be used for such a great dish.

While it baked, she found herself talking to William again. She explained how in her old job she felt worthless. After talking to William that night, she said she had changed her outlook on things and wanted something more.

William asked, “Did you find something more?”

Buffy shook her head and said, “Still looking but I’ll know it when I see it.”

William frowned but said no more. He was just out of college at UC Sunnydale and wasn’t sure how seeing her again was going to work out. He wanted to sweep her off her feet and take her back home with him but she wouldn’t be happy in Sunnydale with her mom and now stepdad there.

He had checked into where she used to live. Sure enough Joyce and Hank Price had gotten married and there was no sign of the fact Buffy was missing. He searched the library and had found one little newspaper article but that was it. It contained their marriage and a single plea for Buffy’s whereabouts. But he couldn’t find a real police report, no missing child on a milk cartoon, and no real search. He was gravely disappointed by the lack of effort on her mother’s part but didn’t say a word to her when he had seen her for the first time. It wasn’t his battle and he didn’t want to upset her since he had no idea where Buffy really was at that given time.

William talked about college and how different it was for him. He talked about his classes, his dreams, his hopes and find himself over dinner telling her things he had never told anyone, not even his girlfriend Drusilla.

Buffy told William she had hoped to one day find the perfect place to settle down, have a great job and have children after getting married of course and William said he had the same dream.

Before they knew it, dinner was done and William’s lips had found Buffy’s.

Once again Buffy was swept away by his kiss and found herself helpless in his arms.

He carried her to the back room and laid her on her bed admiring her pink silk sheets for a minute and smiled at the pink pig that he had given her years ago on her pillow before peeling away her simple sweater and khaki pants and pink set of matching bra and panty set before finally settling his eyes on the beautiful Buffy in front of him.

She had filled out a bit more, had more womanly curves on her. She was 18 now so of course she was more womanly curves on her than she did at 16.

He looked on in awe at her as she blushed up and pulled him down to kiss her as she quickly removed his shirt eager to renew herself with the way he smelt, looked and felt.

She gasped seeing how tight his abs had gotten. No longer did he had the slightest bit of muscle but instead she could tell he had been working out. He looked amazing.

Tight abs, tight thighs, tight chest. Tight everything. ‘Oh my my my’, Buffy thought but instead she said,, “You’re beautiful.”

William smirked at her and said, “You are too pet, you are too.” With that he kissed his way down her cheek to suck on her ear lobe earning a gasp from her, then he kissed down her neck pausing here and there to suck gently on her skin leaving behind love bites that would still be there by morning.

He continued to kiss down her chest to her breasts where he sucked them into his mouth teasing the tips with his tongue and moved his other hand over her other breast where he teased and pulled on her nipples making her arch her back and moan loudly.

He smirked remembering how receptive she was. How could he have forgotten that? He frowned knowing how he could have forgotten that. Drusilla his girlfriend, could care less as long as she got off once. You had to work really hard on getting her off too. Pleasure mixed with more pain than he liked but she had filled the place of Buffy. Or had tried to and mostly failed.

No one was like his beautiful Buffy. He kissed his way down her stomach stopping to plunge his tongue into her belly button gasping Buffy to gasp and arch her back even more off the bed.

William grinned before kissing his way down her leg and then removing her socks and boots to allow him to suck on each toe making Buffy squirm with sensations she had never thought possible and some she had long forgotten.

She whispered, “William please.” William smirked and then kissed his way back up her legs until he reached his goal and licked her lips and then blew air over them making Buffy jumped off the bed in shock.

William smirked at her reaction and lifted her legs up and over his shoulder to open her up to his gaze. He used one finger to lightly trace over her clit and two trace over the entrance of her quim and the backdoor entrance before leaning down and licking her in one giant lick causing Buffy to orgasm.

William eased a finger into her making her quiver and shake as he began to ease in and out with his finger while sucking on her clit.

Buffy shook as mini orgasms after orgasms coursed through her body until she screamed, “William, please no more no more.”

William crawled up her body and kissed her gently letting her taste herself on his lips as he gave her body a slight break.

After a few minutes he slid his legs over hers and pulled her legs ot wrap around him allowing him to position himself at her entrance.

She pleaded with him to take her and William wasn’t one to not listen to his lover so he plunged into Buffy in one motion as Buffy yelled out as pain mixed with pleasure.

She felt so full and so complete. She felt like she had been missing out on what should have been hers all along.

She weeped tears of joy as he moved in and out and as he hugged her tight whispering sweet nothings in her ears against her lips, “Oh Buffy, you feel so good. I’ve missed you so much. Missed this, missed you. Promise me you won’t leave me this time. Want you forever.”

Buffy frowned for a minute thinking about his words but dismissed it deciding she would just give him what he wanted if only for a night.

The longer he plunged into her, the longer she realized this wouldn’t just be another one night stand. She wanted his forever. The more he spoke sweetly to her, the more she fell in love.

She hugged him tight whispering his name as she started to shake again ready for another orgasm. She pulled him closer and kissed him deeply feeling herself go over the edge and then she yelled out his name, “WILLIAM!” as she experienced a deep and hard orgasm which sent William over the top with his as well.

As they both laid there spent Buffy promised herself she would try this with William this time. She had a better job, he had a future. They could easily have one together since she wasn’t working in a strip club anymore.

She sighed and snuggled against him happily and experienced the best night’s sleep in her life.

---

Chapter 14: Escapes

---

Since it was summer time, and since Spike had finished college he pretty much stayed with Buffy all summer. He had things to do in the fall but that seemed like light years away.

His friends understood and was so happy to see him finally happy.

Before they left, Spike had assured them that Drusilla was away in Prague all summer and wouldn’t even realized his absence. That also meant that nothing could be done about her one way or another.

So Spike had settled into a nice relationship with Buffy. With Buffy working lesser hours, they got to go for walks in the parks, went to see the special community movie shown on the wall in the high school, got to go to parties and dances and anything else they could. A local bowling alley had opened up the last month he was there and Buffy and Spike had joined a league and got really good at bowling spending every other day there having fun.

Buffy was in heaven while Spike worried about what would happen in 2 weeks when he had to go back to Sunnydale.

Buffy didn’t seem to think about that at all and seemed to talk as though they would be together forever. She hummed as she worked, she danced as she walked, she dreamed in the quiet and planned in the noise. She was so in love and things were perfect.

William loved her too and it showed. He showered her with presents and made love to her every night no fail. He took her to every special place he could and made love to her everywhere.

People thought they were the best in love couple they have ever seen and called them The Love Duo. Things were great but soon Xander and Daniel showed up at the diner.

Buffy took their order and William slid in next to Daniel to talk to them both.

She couldn’t help over hearing part of the conversation as she wiped the tables. All she was able to hear was Xander saying, “What will you do when you have to return to Sunnydale in a few weeks. You have to be there when it is set up to open. It’s important!”

She heard William mutter a reply and then heard Daniel answer, “Have you told her yet?”

She heard silence and then saw William shake his head and answer, “Well I’ll just have to break up with her and she’ll have to understand. We are two different people with two different goals. I’m a college graduate now. Have to be serious about my future. Can’t be giving her presents every other day that she will never appreciate now can I?”

Buffy ran into the kitchen not hearing the next statement that Spike made, “Besides I love Buffy now, Drusilla will just have to understand that.” Both guys nodded their heads while Buffy planned her get away.

Based on what Spike had said, he would be leaving in two days to return back to Sunnydale but would return over the holidays if not sooner to see her.

He apologized he didn’t tell her before but he said he couldn’t bring himself to do so since they were having such a great time and didn’t want her to feel bad or hurt while they were spending as much time as possible together.

Buffy’s heart was broken but she would be strong for William’s sake.

William kissed her goodbye and gave her his cell phone number telling her to call it tonight so he could tell her he got home okay.

After Buffy promised she would knowing she wouldn’t, she watched him get into his car with his friends and Xander drove him away and out of her life for good.

---

Chapter 15: Two Weeks Notice

---

Buffy gave Cassie her two weeks notice lying to the girl and saying she was moving in with William to LA.

Cassie assured her two weeks was not necessary and since she was so excited for her and instead of two weeks, Buffy got her stuff together and pretended to be happy that she was leaving.

In reality, she was crushed and heart broken. She had returned to crying herself to bed every night and barely even smiling at the diner.

Her friends noticed it but they figured she was on the phone with William all the time and was busy making plans for a wedding and a place to live. Little did they know she was falling apart inside.

In under two days, the day came for Buffy to leave Smile Town.

As the taxi she had called drove her out of town, she blew a kiss to the town whispering softly so the driver wouldn’t hear, “You gave me what I needed and even what I didn’t. I can’t stay anymore but I’m thankful for the time we had together.”

It was as much to William as it had been for Smile Town.

She just couldn’t take living in a town where everything reminded her of William so she had decided to head back to L.A. and try her luck there again.

Being 19, she would have better luck finding a job this time around that was respectable and after having Cassie for a reference as well as a few other peoples’ numbers in that town, she was sure her references would be high and with 4 years experience under her belt, things would go better. She was sure of it.

After staying in a hotel for a week, things looked bad. She had been searching and searching for a job but finding none. Her money was getting lower and her heart was heavy and she was half starving herself only eating one meal a day if she was lucky. Something had to change.

That day she bumped into someone she thought would change her life forever.

She looked up at the guy and noticed he had gentle brown eyes and an angelic face. She said, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

The man said, “No I’m sorry. Where are you headed? Can I get you something? It’s the least I can do for almost running you over.”

Buffy shrugged and said, “I’m just heading back to the hotel. You can get me a drink if you want in the bar on the lower floor.”

The man followed Buffy into the little hotel and wasn’t impressed. He shook his head taking her elbow and said, “You are staying here?’

Buffy nodded, “I was looking for a job and a place to stay but I haven’t had any luck. Everyone else is doing the same I guess.”

The man said, “I’m Angel and I run a club down the end of the street. Nothing fancy but a nice dance club. I’m looking for a bartender. Can you handle it?”

Buffy thought for a minute trying to remember her limited experience and said, “I can try. I need to be shown the heavy drinks. I can do the normal ones. I worked as a waitress and had to pull the easier drinks. The one using hard liquor I couldn’t.”

Angel nodded and said, “Get your stuff, check out of this dump and meet me here.” He handed her his card, “You can stay with me until we find you a place. I have a second bedroom.” Buffy nodded very grateful and did just as he told her.

---

Chapter 16: Guardian Angel

---

Buffy took the job as a bartender at Angel’s club and found herself learning all sorts of new things.

She learned how to mix every drink in the club which was well over 150 drinks.

She was amazed and just how many types of drinks you could make with just a bottle of whiskey.

But she was eager to learn and the second bartender Tara, was eager to show her. Together they would whip up drinks, talk to the patrons, watch others dance, as well as having fun.

She still felt like something was missing in her life but it wasn’t something she thought about much.

She spent five nights a week working at the club. People got to know her by name and by face. She was very popular, even more so than Tara but Tara didn’t begrudge her even though she had been there longer.

Buffy got to keep all tips and she was making a great $25 dollars an hour.

She thought part of that was because she was servicing Angel.

Part of the living arrangements was she could stay in her own room at night, alone, as long as she gave Angel a blow job each night to ensure he went to bed satisfied.

The most she let him do to her was to kiss her and sometimes fondle her breasts as he liked to do while she got him off.

He was kind of a rough man so she was thankful he didn’t push for sex. She couldn’t imagine it feeling nice.

He was always pulling on her breasts, biting them and creating big bruises that would sometimes last for days even one lasted a week.

She never complained because after all she was getting free room and board and she was able to save up a lot of money to have a better future someday.

She spent her time on the two nights she was required to sit at Angel’s table and pretend to listen to him, dreaming of a time where she could settle down.

William was always playing the part of the husband and the children always looked like a mix of William and her. Their house was always cute but adequate, and their life was always easier.

She would spend her nights alone, getting herself off remembering the feel of William’s hands and mouth on her before crying herself to sleep due to the loneliness of missing him.

This continued for another 2 long years. It became a part of her daily life but she was dying inside. Slowly but surely it was killing her from the inside out to be apart from William

---

Chapter 17: A Visit to the ER

---

Buffy was shopping after getting her paycheck.

She enjoyed shopping since Angel had changed the room next to her into a walk-in closet.

She didn’t like staying with Angel but really had no choice.

Last night, Buffy was really tired. She had been fighting a cold and was so exhausted that she had come home from the club and fell asleep.

She didn’t even hear Angel come up into her room and yell at her to get up. She was dizzy and sick and couldn’t make sense of his words until she had felt his hand hit her face.

That had woken her up and she felt his cock being slammed into her face.

He roughly pulled her shirt off her in order to get to her breasts and was mauling them and hurting her so she quickly got him off the best she could so he would leave her alone.

He did leave her alone within minutes after he had gotten off and closed the door behind him leaving her to wonder if it really happened or if it was just a figment of her fever-induced mind but the bruises on her eye and breast assured her it was real.

But now she was carrying her bags to the car and didn’t see the car swing around the corner until it slammed into her.

Her bags flew into the air and she lay face up on the pavement appearing as though she was dead. She briefly heard someone yell, “Call 911. She’s been hit.”

Then a man with a deep voice sobbing saying, “I didn’t see her. I really didn’t’ see her.”

Then another lady saying, “Is she dead?”

And another saying, “Isn’t she the girl with Angel O’Connor?”

Buffy felt herself slip into darkness not hearing anything else that was said nor feeling anything as she was lifted into an ambulance and taken away to the hospital.

Angel was pacing in the ER listening to doctors and nurses buzz around caring for Buffy.

He didn’t really care for the girl but he had hit the papers and sitting in the room was a reporter and he had to appear to be distraught.

He just hoped her bills weren’t too expensive or that they didn’t notice the shiner he had put on her the night before or the bruises over her breasts.

He shrugged thinking they would just think the accident did it. Angel had a great rep, nothing could ruin it.

As Angel was lost in his thoughts, a doctor came through the door saying, “Mr. O’Connor?”

Angel nodded ready to hear what the doctor would say hoping it was good news so he could get out of here before the club opened in a few minutes thinking that Tara would just have to work alone for a few days.

Instead he heard the words, “It’s not promising. She had lots of internal bleeding. We stopped it we think but there was still damage. It’s possible the brain could clear out some of the damaged part. Sometimes the brain works miracles. One of her lungs collapsed but we were able to re-inflate it and her stomach suffered some damage but surgery should be able to repair it to almost as good as new. There were strange bruising on her body but we think it’s just from the accident. Sometimes people in accidents experience bruising in the oddest of places. There shouldn’t be any scarring but she’s in a coma right now. We aren’t exactly sure why. Sometimes the body puts us into comas to allow us to repair ourselves better than we can while we are awake.She was also fighting a cold so that could also be the cause of the coma. Her immune system is weakened.” Angel said, “Can I see her? I have to get back to club before it opens.”

The doctor nodded leaving Angel in to see his girlfriend.

---

Chapter 18: A Gentle Sleep

---

Angel looked in on Buffy and she looked peaceful, almost as though she was merely napping.

She was really banged up and Angel couldn’t help but frown knowing that would mean she would be stuck in the hospital until those at least healed.

He let out a deep breath as she watched all the expensive machines Buffy was hooked up to work.

He whispered to her, “Wake up Buffy dear. The doctors say you will get better and we need you at the club.”

Angel hesitated not knowing what else to say then came up with another idea, “I need you too Buffy. I’m aching for you.”

He paused for a moment wondering if that was the right words to say to someone who was possibly dying but figured it was true and they always say talking helps the person.

Thinking he did his duty, he borrowed a cup of water near the bed and gentle made tears appear on his eyes using droplets of water so that the press would think this was hard for him.

He did that a few times letting it dry on his face and added a few fresh ones which he willed himself not to wipe them away until the press gets to see them. As he wandered back out of the hospital room, he mumbled loudly about how hard it was to see Buffy in such a state.

---

@}-'--, --'--, --'--, -{@

---

The press snapped a picture of Angel and placed it next to a picture of Buffy in the hospital bed and it made front page news with the headlines, “Guardian Angel O’Connor latest charge, Buffy Summers, lay between life and death.”

Under the headlines, an article carefully planned by Angel described how Buffy needed a place to stay and how she had been staying in some crappy motel and how she seemed to have been abused at one point based on how skittish she was.

It explained how he had given her a job, a life, and his love.

It showed a picture taken of the two of them at his club just a few weeks prior where Buffy was laughing at something Angel had said.

Finally it finished saying how heartbroken Angel was over his sweet Buffy’s condition and he hoped to have her back to work real soon.

---

@}-'--, --'--, --'--, -{@

---

Xander was sitting with Anya in their new little house on the outskirts of L.A.

Anya picked up the paper and sighed, “Poor Angel. I grew up with him you know.”

Xander jumped up taking the picture from Anya who had just recently married him and looked at the headline mentioning Buffy.

He then skimmed the article before rushing over to his phone and making a phone call.

Anya sat in shock wondering what was going through her new husband’s head but shrugged it off picking up the paper to think about poor Angel.

---

@}-'--, --'--, --'--, -{@

---

William’s phone rang and he rolled over reluctantly to get it. He noticed it said Xander so he gave in and picked it up answering, “Xanman you know it’s 8 am right on a Saturday?”

Xander’s voice rushed over the phone in a really quick and almost confusing manner, “Spike, it’s your girl. She’s in the hospital man. It looks really bad. She got hit by a moving car!! And it’s saying they aren’t sure she will even wake up or if she will have brain damage.”

William rolled over and said, “Which hospital Xan?”

Xander rambled off L.A. Memorial on the east side as William threw down the phone barely hanging it up not listening to Xander as he talked about Angel, and slipped on a pair of pants, grabbed a red tight shirt and his leather duster running out the door in a rush.

---

Chapter 19: To See You Again!

---

William rushed into the hospital after getting a speeding ticket for speeding through two red lights that he had been not even paying attention to. He was mostly surprised he didn't get more seeing how the trip took 2 hours instead of 3.

When the cop had heard him rambling on about Buffy, he gave him a weird look not understanding how this blond guy could have anything to do with Angel’s girl but told him he would end up in the hospital in the bed next to her if he didn’t slow down and start listening to the traffic laws.

William had thrown the ticket on the seat to deal with it at a later date and now was asking the receptionist which room Buffy Summers was in.

She asked if he was a relative, but William didn’t answer as he heard the nurse who had been walking by him with a fellow nurse that she was about to go check on the poor girl and she hoped that she eventually woke up for everyone’s sake.

The receptionist tried to stop him but gave up being unable to leave her post. She just hoped for the best seeing how distraught the man was.

William watched from the opened door as they adjusted her IVs.

Checked her blood pressure and temperature and walked back out of the room.

He snuck in after her gently opening the door and then closing it as he walked over to her bed side noticing how bad she really looked.

Her face was pale and marred with bruises.

She had a black eye and her arms were black and blue.

Her hands were cut up, probably from falling on the ground or something after being hit.

Or perhaps she used them to stop the car, who knows but he took the one that was in better shape and gentle held it saying, Buffy luv, tis me Spike or as you know him William. Xander told me the news and I rushed here to see you. God why do you insist on leaving me all the time? Love you so bloody much Buffy and always have and you always insist on leaving me. Would have returned to you. Was going to visit the first weekend I got with a three day weekend which was only two weeks away. But you never called. Tried to call the diner and they said you left. God you stupid bint, you really know how to break a guy’s heart. So finally found you again only to have you laying on this bed, so cold and sleeping and you might never wake up again. What is a wanker supposed to do? Oh Buffy luv wake up please.”

Still Buffy slept on so William curled up next to her in the chair resting his head on her arm as the tears flowed freely and before he knew it, he was asleep exhausted from the tears and emotions.

When the nurses returned in an hour to check on their patient, they found him in that very position with his hand still wrapped in Buffy and seeing his face coated with tears, they covered him with a blanket and left him knowing that Angel wouldn’t be back until morning since that was the instructions he gave, which was over 14 hours away.

---

Chapter 20: Sleeping Beauty

---

William woke up next to Buffy and realized there was a blanket over him as well as her.

During the night he must have climbed up on the bed next to her and was holding her tight.

He walked into her bathroom as he noticed his face felt horrible and was covered still in his tears and his eyes hurt so badly.

He used a provided wash cloth and wiped his face and eyes before heading back up to Buffy’s side.

Just then a nurse walked in and said, “Ahh you’re awake. I found you in here last night but you looked so upset and distraught we left you stay even though it wasn’t visiting hours. They start in an hour so I suggest you go to a diner down the street, get some food into you, perhaps change your clothes depending on where you are from and return back here in about 2 hours unless you care to run into Angel.”

William looked at the nurse confused, “Who’s Angel?”

The nurse looked at him shocked, “You don’t know Angel? Angel runs a club here in L.A. The most famous one in fact. Everyone knows who Angel is. Buffy is his girl. Honestly I would have figured it would be him who was in here crying over her last night but I haven’t seen him. The receptionist said he would probably stop by in an hour. I guess being so famously busy and all, you can’t really spend time sitting in a hospital. I’m sure he is heartbroken over the whole thing though. So we will be seeing you in a few hours?”

Numbly William nodded and grabbed his duster and gave Buffy a gentle kiss which did not go unnoticed by the nurse and brushed her hair gently back from her face as he whispered so softly, “Promise, I’ll be back in just a few hours, right after your wanker guy leaves. The big poof. Don’t know who Angel is but I don’t want to meet him just yet. See you soon luv.”

With that he wandered out of the room.

---

@}-'--, --'--, --'--, -{@

---

William did go to the diner and quickly ate his food.

He listened to some gossip from the locals who were enjoying their breakfast and picked up some interesting tidbit’s about Angel.

He was known as Guardian Angel because he picked up strays and gave them a job, a place to live and income.

Then when they were settled, the girls would just disappear and supposedly get better lives.

He found this strange that the girls never did surface again.

While he paid his bill, he asked where the local library was to do some research to see what he could learn.

He noticed a paper on the table containing a new article with the headlines, “The Great Guardian Angel and his Sleeping Beauty.”

William rolled his eyes and took the paper with him as he headed off to the library.

---

Chapter 21: Research

---

For two hours, William spent time looking through old newspaper articles, and what records he could find of Angel’s clubs habit’s.

He also had hacked into the police departments files for a list of missing females.

There were thirteen girls that William could find listed in various headlines over the past 25 years that Angel had had his club open.

Every single girl was in the headlines for anywhere from 6 months to 3 years before mysteriously disappearing.

The police appeared to have kept records but under each record was listed, “Angel’s girl was relocated to unknown location. See Angel’s file for details.”

For the life of William though, he couldn’t hack into Angel’s file.

He was sure Angel had some serious walls around his stuff that prevented hackers.

William sighed and tried to internet searches on the females that were listed. None of them came up. He frowned not understanding what he found about the girls and turned his focus on Angel himself.

After another hour of research, he found out what he could about Angel not based on that protected file.

He was raised with two other sisters, both died in a mysterious fire along with his mother. His father was unknown and the articles showed Angel in complete grief.

William could have sworn the grief statements and pictures looked like a movie scene instead of the real thing but dismissed it until he continued his research.

Angel inherited all the money of his Grandma’s family since no living relatives were found.

He had barely finished high school before he moved to L.A. (William was unsure of the two years between high school and the showing up in L.A.) to open his new club Angel’s. It was a popular dance club.

He took in his first ‘charge’ as the locals liked to call them named Rowena. They stayed together for two years and she disappeared.

Angel claimed she left to go to college overseas feeling she finally had a chance to make something of herself.

After that came Amanda, Lucy, Caridad, Chao-Ahn, Chloe, Vi, Leah, Molly, Renee, Rona, Shannon, and Simone.

All the same results.

William made copies of all the articles with each girl, printed off the police reports, as well as copies about the fire his family had died in and took them with him.

He also took copies of the articles that had been done about Buffy over the last two years while with Angel.

In them, Buffy was always portrayed as poor Cinderalla and Angel has the knight in shining armor.

‘This town really eats Angel up with all his publicy stunts.’ William thought.

He walked out of the library looking at his watch realizing he had been three hours, almost four instead of two.

He stopped by the diner on his way back carrying tons of paper which he placed in the bag carrying a deli sandwich, a big bag of Doritos and a cola before heading back to the hospital.

---

Chapter 22: Sweet Awakenings

---

William went to go up to the receptionist but instead found the nurse on duty last night leaving.

He stopped her and inquired if Angel was in the room with Buffy and she shook her head saying he called but said he wouldn’t be able to come by until at least tomorrow and that whoever was on duty was supposed to call if there were any changes.

She then sniffled saying, “Poor Angel. He’s so heartbroken but his club keeps him so busy that he can’t even see Buffy. It must be killing him.”

William thanked her for her time and rolled his eyes when she was out of sight. ‘Bunch of stupid bints and wankers in this town who don’t know trouble when they seen it. Bloody idiots!’ William thought to himself.

William didn’t even stop by the desk and instead snuck up to Buffy’s room which was quiet except for the monitors and sat next to her bed to hold her hand, “Buffy luv, you need to wake up. I think you are in danger as long as you are with Angel. Bad things seem to happen to those who are with him. Girls just disappear. Wake up luv, wake up!”

To William’s surprise, Buffy opened her eyes and whispered, “Will? Is that you?”

William smiled happily as his bag dropped to the floor as he took both of her hands into his and said, “Yeah Buffy tis me. How do you feel? Are you ok?”

Buffy smiled and said, “You found me again…”

Then she frowned remembering the reason she had left him and asked, “Why are you here?”

William shook his head thinking he had heard this conversation before last time he met up with her. ‘Was this girl always going to run away?’ William thought to himself but instead to Buffy he answered, “I’ll always find you my love. Always.”

Buffy smiled at this statement and said, “I’m tired and my head is killing me. Will you be here when I wake up?”

William gave her a kiss on the forehead and promised he would unless someone dragged him away.

Buffy drifited off to sleep as William went into the bathroom to make a call back home to ensure the opening to his new restaurant was going as expected.

Buffy awoke a few hours later and found William resting next to her.

He had curled up on the bed next to her and was holding her close to him.

Her whole body felt like it was on fire and hurt all over.

A nurse walked in and saw she was awake and said, “Buffy dear, you are awake.”

Buffy groaned a little careful not to disturb the sleeping William and said, “I feel like I got run over.”

The nurse giggled and said, “Well that’s because you were.”

Buffy looked in shock and she sat up so quickly she moaned loudly waking William from his sleep.

He immediately opened his eyes and saw Buffy trying to lay with her eyes closed and her face in pain as he without thinking helped her to lay back onto the bed and fluffed her pillow and then crawled off the bed and back onto the seat.

The nurse smiled seeing Buffy so well taken care of and asked Buffy, “Whose your friend?”

Buffy looked at William not sure how to answer but William answered for her, “An old friend, William is the name Knew her but lost track of her. So thankful to have found her.”

The nurse felt a bit uneasy seeing the man’s obvious affection towards Buffy and seeing Buffy’s obvious return of the affection.

In all the times she had seen Buffy, she had never seen any pictures that showered her smiling so brightly.

The nurse left out of the room leaving the two of them alone to ‘catch up’ still not knowing what to make of the change.

---

Chapter 23: Information Overload

---

Buffy watched as William carefully picked up his bag and asked the nurse if it was okay for Buffy to share the sandwich he had brought with her.

The nurse nodded leaving the room again and brought Buffy a diet coke.

The nurse was easy going and since Buffy’s injuries were mostly bruising with head trauma and since she was awake, her food diet didn’t really matter.

Besides the diner is what provided the food for the hospital anyway.

So William opened her diet coke and opened his cola setting them both on the tray the nurse had brought for them.

William took his sandwich that had already been cut into two 6-inch pieces and placed one in front of Buffy knowing they both liked the same things on their sandwiches. He took out the bag of
chips thankful he had bought a bigger bag and divided it carefully between them placing it as well on the plates.

He hid the papers and kept his big piece of chocolate cake in the bag for later.

In comfortable silence, Buffy and William ate their lunch together.

Buffy couldn’t help but smile even though she was in pain at the fact William had once again found her. She still wondered how but decided to finish eating first.

William finished before her and sat back in his chair rubbing his mouth absently with a napkin before he broke the silence with, “Saw an article about you in the newspaper from when you were hit by a car. Well actually Xander saw it first, he called me, I rushed here to see you. Did some research while you were sleeping this morning. Found some interesting information. Have you ever looked at the articles done about you in the town about you and Angel?”

Buffy shook her head taking another bite of food and William asked, “Do you know much about Angel?”

Buffy again shook her head, “I work at his club and stay in the guest room at his house. Other than that, I don’t know a whole lot about him."

William nodded and waited for her to eat her last few bites before continuing not wanting to risk her not eating because of his information that he found.

William lifted the papers from the bag and handed her the article that announced her accident.

She was amazed at the fact Angel was called Guardian Angel and his portrayal of her life. She asked, “Are there more?”

William nodded and looked through his papers and handed her the one from the morning and then the ones that had been created over the last two years of her stay.

She was on the front page a lot and always discussed as the little lost girl that Angel saved. Sometimes it was even downgrading the way he painted her as pitiful, pathetic and unable to care for herself.

This was making Buffy more and more upset but determined to learn all that William had learned, she asked, “What else do you have there?”

William hesitated knowing she was in a coma the last two days but decided he had never lied to her before so wouldn’t start now.

She had a right to know so he didn’t say a word and handed her the first article about Rowena. Then an article about Amanda. Buffy looked confused and looked at William, “Are they all like this?”

William nodded and she said, “How many?”

He whispered gently, “13 not counting you.” Buffy took the papers from William’s hands looking at all the articles and noticed in them were missing articles.

William had arranged them so that every girl’s articles were paper clipped together with the dates in order and at the end was the date she went missing along with the police reports.

She went through all 13 in silence before looking at William asking with tears in her eyes, “What does this mean?”

William hesitated and said, “I’m not sure Buffy. But there’s more.”

He then handed her the article about his childhood and the fire as well as the opening of his club. He also handed her the last information he had found which was about Angel being questioned about the death of two club owners in L.A. but no evidence had been found to convict him.

Buffy gasped in horror at the last police report and shook her head saying, “No, it can’t be. He’s loved by the town.”

William nodded unsure of what to say but Buffy continued, “His club makes him rich. It’s packed every night. He wasn’t so bad towards me. Gave me a place to live, income, clothing, and he seemed to care sometimes. He only asked for blowjobs in return but he wasn’t that bad of a guy.”

William’s eyes turned dark blue as he repeated Buffy’s statements, “Blowjobs in return?”

Buffy tried to crawl deeper into the covers as she nodded as tears spilled over her face, “He wanted more but I could make him satisfied with just a blow job. I’m sure most people wouldn’t give free room and board in exchange for just a blow job.”

William looked in horror at her words and found she really believed that. He was shocked at how Buffy’s mind worked but more importantly he was pissed at Angel for putting Buffy in such a spot.

The wonderful Angel is appeared wasn’t so wonderful after all.

William’s hands turned white from anger and he leaned over and kissed Buffy on the head giving her a gentle hug which made the last of his strength break as he said, “Get some rest luv. I’ll be back soon. Have something to take care of.”

Buffy not understanding where he was going but accepting he had to go whispered softly yawning, “Will you be here when I wake up?”

William nodded saying, “Rest now luv. It will be better soon.”

With that William went out of her room on a mission.

---

Chapter 24: A Mission

---

Finding out where Angel’s club was in this town was really easy. Everyone knew it. Everyone loved it and everyone was very helpful in finding its exact location.

He busted through the door looking for this so-called wonderful man named Angel who had been making his Buffy give him blow jobs to keep her off the street.

He was pissed. So pissed he could have sworn the world was red.

He went to the bar and asked for Angel just as he spotted Angel, himself, coming around the corner whistling happily.

William rounded the corner of the bar and slammed his fist right into Angel’s jaw.

Angel moved his hand instantly to his chin rubbing it yelling loudly, “What the hell is wrong with you? Why did you do that?”

Angel wasn’t used to fighting people and was used to his bodyguards doing it for him but since the club wasn’t open yet they weren’t in the room with him.

William threw another fist at Angel this time hitting him in the stomach causing Angel to tumble over onto the ground as William slammed his foot into his groin as he heard a commotion behind him.

William saw two large bodyguards who quickly grabbed him on each side and a third came into the middle and started whamming him on with all he had.

After a minute of the bodyguard hitting him with no restraint, he was picked up and thrown out of the club told, “Stay the Hell away from Angel or next time we will press charges.”

William tried to stand up by found it extremely difficult but knew he had to get back to Buffy to ensure her safety.

The nurse in duty the night before, started her shift and walked into Buffy’s room to check on her.

What she found shocked her. Buffy was sleeping peaceful and a very beat up William sat by her side holding her head whispering that he was going to make sure she was safe.

The nurse looked down at William and whispered his name followed by, “What the hell happened to you? Did you get hit by a car as well?”

William shook his head not wanting to explain and she said, “You really should see someone about the cut over your eye at least. It’s bleeding badly and looks like it could use stitches.”

William sighed and muttered, “Can someone up here do something so I don’t have to leave her side yet?”

The nurse nodded knowing that the doctor on duty to this floor could probably glue the cut up easy enough and wouldn’t ask too many questions.

He was a sweet doctor and Doctor Ben always took the time to help others even when they didn’t help themselves.

After a few minutes of Doctor Ben looking over William’s injuries and gluing up two cuts on his body to stop the bleeding he asked, “Want to tell me who beat you up?”

William shook his head so Doctor Ben continued, “We get a few people in here beat up from time to time. Only place that I’ve seen that has such a banged up job comes from Angel’s bodyguards.”

William looked up at Doctor Ben but didn’t say anything. Doctor Ben nodded at the acknowledgment.

He then continued, “Been trying to get people to press charges for years but no one listens. There’s more to that place than meets the eye but no one seems to notice.”

William’s attention was gotten again and he decided to take a chance and said, “Know anything about 13 missing girls?”

Doctor Ben looked shocked and said, “No can’t say that I do. Know anything about various missing policemen, reporters and club owners?”

William shook his head and decided to befriend this guy and took out his papers to show him all he had found out.

The Doctor was shocked but made a phone call to a detective who the Doctor swore would help.

The detective said he would be by in a few hours and Ben gave Spike some pain killers to help with his relaxation, injected some into Buffy’s IV to help her stay sleeping knowing sleep would help her heal, leaving the two curled up on the bed in each other’s arms to be woken when the Detective came.

---

Chapter 25: Actions Speak Louder Than Words

---

Buffy woke up first and smiled down at William who was sleeping then gasped in horror noticing how badly beat up William was.

She rung for the nurse who ran into the room to see what was the matter and Buffy demanded to know what had happened to William.

The nurse didn’t know and was a new nurse that Buffy had never seen before but she offered to send in the Doctor on call.

It was Doctor Ben who gently shook William awake and said, “The Detective will be here in a few minutes and Buffy’s upset."

William looked up at Buffy and realized she was following noticing his injuries. He ran a hand through his hair and winced explaining, “Um had a run in at Angel’s club.”

Buffy looked horrified and said, “You got beat up by Angel’s bodyguards? Why? For being here?”

William shook his head as the Doctor and Detective listened from the doorway as William hesitantly said, “No I um, well you see, I heard you say he wanted you to give him blow jobs and I kind of blew up and punched Angel in the first and then in the stomach and I probably should have gotten out of there but he was on the ground rolling around so I kicked him in the groin too. Then his bodyguards arrived and beat me up a bit and threw me out of the club. So I came here. The nurse fixed me up a tad and the Doctor helped tons and aww don’t cry Buffy. It’s ok, luv. See I’m fine.”

Buffy cried as she held William close to her thankful they didn’t do much to him than just beat him up.

She had heard a few rumors about people being almost killed if not killed in that club by those guards.

She noticed a Doctor and Policeman at the door and nudged William away to notice them as well.

William cleared his throat and turned to Buffy gently wiping the tears from her eyes to make her presentable. He then gestured to the Doctor who brought in two chairs to sit down next to the couple.

The Detective said, “I understand you did some background work and were able to tie together some interesting information on some missing people cases?”

William shook his head looking a bit nervous and said, “Well actually sir, I only found information that said they were missing. I was able to found 13 girls all that Angel had played the part of Hero to and they all were listed as missing. I found out about a fire that had killed his family and that two club owners had been killed in the town of L.A. and Angel was questioned about them.”

The Detective took the copies from William and looked towards the Doctor who had cleared his throat to say what he had found.

He showed the Doctors a few records of men who had died in the hospital due to injuries received in Angel’s club.

The Doctor explained, “There were dozens of cases a year like this. But I could only go back 5 years without really raising suspicions.”

The Detective nodded and said, “I did some research myself about those murder cases. Found out the reason no one is investigating them is because anyone who does, turns up dead by some accidental death. Things such as unsolved hit and runs or lost murder weapon cases or unexplained deaths or missing bodies or other things from cases to make them all come up as unsolved. I want to keep this hush hush you three, understand? I would like some time to do some research unofficially and to do that I need you guys all to keep your mouths shut. I’d like to take with me a copy of what you have doctor for cases especially those resulting in death and I’d like to take the information you dug up about Angel’s charges and see what I can find out. Meanwhile I want you all quiet and looking like normal citizens and you there, William is it? I want you not to go near Angel’s club for any reason. And I’d like to keep Buffy being awake a secret. Has Angel been called?”

The Doctor shook his head saying, “I never gave the orders. I was planning to today when I got sidetracked by William’s injuries.”

The Detective nodded and said, “Move Buffy to a quiet room where only nurses and doctors you trust visit her. I want her kept away from the public and the fact she has awaken kept secret for now. I want time to investigate this without alerting anyone and if Angel is around and in the hospital, it would only make things more difficult.”

With that the Detective took William’s stack of papers and followed the Doctor out of the room.

Within a few minutes, Buffy was rolled into an elevator by an old nurse and William followed as she was moved to the fourth floor to her own personal private room in a closed part of the hospital.

---

Chapter 26: The Escape

---

Buffy continued to get better and Angel continued to ignore the hospital not even calling to check up on her.

Buffy’s bruises started to fade as did William’s.

William had pretty much moved into Buffy’s hospital room leaving three times a day to collect food, make phone calls and to change his clothes. He barely left her side.

The two nurses, the old lady whose name was Genevieve and the nurse William had made the first day, Cecily, and Doctor Ben visited Buffy everyday excited about how well her recovery was going.

Buffy had CAT scans done of her brain which showed the blood had been perfectly absorbed and her body was well on it’s way to repair.

She had started to be allowed to walk the hallways of the closed ward and William had taken to reading poetry to her that he wrote as she rested.

They both started to watch Passions again which was William’s favorite soap opera.

After 5 days of being on the fourth floor, news arrived that Angel would have to be told of Buffy’s recovery because she was being released in 2 days. He had been calling a few times to be assured Buffy seemed fine but was still sleeping which was best for her recovery but it wouldn't be put off any longer.

Buffy begged them to wait for one more day and they agreed and Doctor Ben contacted the Detective to see how his investigation was turning out.

After the Detective said he needed more time, the Doctor reminded to Buffy and William that they leave now while the nurses switch duty.

They would have about an hour head start before anyone started to notice they were gone.

Buffy quickly got dressed in the outfit William had bought for her release date and together they snuck out of the hospital.

William had lent Buffy his duster in order to better hide who she was in case of prying eyes should spy her and within minutes she was tucked safe into William’s car and they were heading out of town.

---

@}-'--, --'--, --'--, -{@

---

Buffy tuned towards William and asked, “Where are we going?”

William replied, “You have a choice. Sunnyhell, Smile Town or Fresno.”

Fresno was new to Buffy so she replied, “Fresno but what’s in Fresno?”

William smiled happy she chose that place since that is where he was most needed, “You’ll see. Relax pet, takes about 3 hours to get there. I’ll wake you when we get there.”

Buffy nodded and curled up in William’s duster and rested her head on William’s shoulder and promptly fell asleep.

---

Chapter 27: Discoveries

---

Buffy awoke the next time with the feeling of being carried from the car and William placing kisses on her face.

She opened her eyes and smiled at him and asked, “Where are we?”

William whispered, “This is one of my two homes. I have one here in Fresno and one in Sunnyhell. I have been living here lately.”

Buffy felt William unlock the door carefully balancing her in his arms still and then entered the door moving in to set her down on the sofa.

She looked around the house and saw she was in the living room.

There was a sofa, with two chairs all facing a television stand with a nice size television inside and surrounded by books.

Along the walls held one picture which was of William and Buffy in Smile town in front of the diner where Buffy worked.

She stood up to wander into the kitchen and found a simple black and white style kitchen that had plenty of counter and cabinet space. It also had a nice size oven that looked very clean and lots of equipment which some she didn’t even recognize and along the back wall a large refridgator and freezer.

She felt William’s presence behind her and she took his hand and lead him into the next room which was the dining room.

It had an elegant oak table with 6 place settings and a roll away counter in the corner which she figured was used in the summer table if he used the barbeque grill which sat on the deck over looking a beautiful pool.

She smiled at him and he lead her through the dining room back through the living room and into the hallway.


There appeared to be four rooms but there was really five.

The first room was just a spare room. It had really nothing in it save a few empty boxes but the walls had been freshly painted to a light pink.

Buffy smiled remembering her light pink room with silver walls from when she was younger.

The second room had a blue base paint but again it was empty.

So he lead her further down the hallway and lead her into a larger bedroom which was definitely lived in.

Two dressers side by side, a tall bookcase filled with books, a large bed with a canopy that had been lined with red silk sheets that matched the red walls that were wallpapered and a closet full of clothes.

She found it odd that one dresser looked full of items and the other looked empty and the second side of the closet was empty as well.

There were pictures on both nightstands though, both of Buffy and William together.

She looked at William in confusion traced with a bit of fear as he whispered, “I set up the room for double in case I ever found you. I’ve been looking for the two years. Turning over every stone. I had no idea you’d be back in L.A. I didn’t have connections in L.A. until Xander moved there just two weeks ago with his new wife, Anya."

Buffy looked teary eyed and whispered, “The extra items in here are for me?”

William nodded and Buffy kissed him hard and William said, “You still have two more rooms to view.”

Buffy nodded letting him lead the way.

He lead her into the last room she could see. It was a study with two desks complete with computers. Again one was littered with papers of some sort and the second looked mostly empty minus a few writing utensils in a pink cup, a pink mouse pad, mouse and keyboard and pink wrist rests.

---

Chapter 28: Confessions

---

Buffy smiled at him and noticed a bar set up with a few books over it and walked over to notice the few pictures on it.

She was amazed by the fact they were again of her and William but there was two of Daniel and a new red headed girl with two children and Xander with a brown haired lady who appeared to be smothering Xander to death.

She chuckled and said, “Xander and Daniel’s families?”

William nodded and said, “Daniel is part of a band and goes by Oz now. He met Willow at a club where he was performing and they hit it off. Now married and have a sweet baby girl two years ago and a baby boy just two months ago. This picture was taken right when they were were married. The second was after the second child was born..”

Buffy nodded realizing she could have seen all that with William if she had just stayed then asked curiously, “Where’s the girl you were with while with me for those 3 months.”

William blinked and stepped back from her in shock. How did she know about Drusilla? He whispered softly, “Drusilla?”

Buffy shrugged not having a clue what the girl’s name was that he was going back to was.

William explained, “We broke up the day I returned back to Sunnyhell. She wasn’t right for me. She was just there to pass the time until I could find you. There was no one after her. Promise. Was planning to tell her about you when I returned and then was planning to tell you about her when you called or at least that first three day weekend we had together. She was just away in Prague for the summer so I had no way to contact her. As I said, she wasn’t right for me and we weren’t that close so I didn’t really care to keep in touch with her over the summer. My friends had partners and it was hard for me being the fifth wheel and she filled the spot to make the sixth.”

Buffy frowned and replied, “You weren’t going to break up with me?”

William shook his head gathering her into his arms as he whispered into her ear, “No, pet, never. I had plans to break up with her. I had mostly forgot about the time restraint I was on. I didn’t want to think about such things and then when Oz and Xan got back they cornered me in the diner and…”

He felt Buffy get stiff and he realized, “Oh luv, you overheard the conversation didn’t you?”

He swung her around to look at her face as she nodded and crumbled in tears and he held her close gentle rocking her in his arms as he explained, “Oz was talking about what I was going to do with Drusilla and if I had told her. Didn’t you hear me say I loved you and always had since I first saw you?”

Buffy sniffled and shook her head saying, “I left after hearing you say you had to break up with her because you couldn’t afford to buy presents for her anymore and that you were a graduate and had commitments…”

William hugged her even tighter and said, “That was all about Dru pet, not about you. Oh Buffy I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you about Dru. Was mostly scared and wanting our time to be totally perfect and not ruining by some bint I had met up with and basically had a long term fling with.”

---

Chapter 29: Hidden Desires

---

Buffy sniffled feeling the sense of relief wash over her. She whispered, “Do you still want me with you?”

William said, “Do I ever?” and with that they got lost in the world of smothering kisses, gentle teasing and nipping.

Clothes were taken off onto the floor, Buffy was carried to the bed to be placed gently down on it.

He kissed her deeply and kissed away her tears making her giggle at the urgently she felt radiating from him but the time he still took to kiss away each and every tear.

She arched her back towards him saying, “Please, I need you inside of me.”

William frowned worried that by giving into her, he would hurt her and instead brought two fingers to her entrance and felt how wet she was already and how eager.

He slowly entered her with one and she felt tight but figured after 2 years of not being with him, anyone would feel tight so he pushed the second finger into her and slowly moved in and out stretching her a bit.

She moaned and whispered, “William, I want you inside of me. Not just fingers.”

William chuckled and continued his actions a few more minutes until he was positive she was ready for him.

He then moved over her and rested his erection at her entrance and Buffy arched her back to make him plunge into her and both moaned at the feeling of joining together after all this time again.

William held her tight as Buffy smothered his face with kisses and the two moved in urgent motion eager to belong to each other once again.

Hands were everywhere, lips were everywhere, and movements were frantic as though trying to reach into the very souls of each other.

Buffy felt her orgasm getting closer and yelled, “William please.”

William knew what she needed and moved his fingers down to where they joined and rubbed her clit just a few times and it was enough to send her over the edge with her again yelling out his name.

The feeling of her squeezing him tight and yelling out his name sent him over the edge and he yelled out her name with, “I love you Buffy. Now and forever.”

Buffy smiled as she shook with aftershocks and pulled him tighter and whispered, “I love you too William. I always have and always will. I’m yours.”

William smiled and kissed the top of her head feeling her get sleepy so he wrapped his arms around her pulling her close to his side and watched as she fell asleep with him close behind content to be in each other’s arms finally.

Both made a silent vow before sleeping that they will never leave the other go.

---

Chapter 30: Mysteries

---

William and Buffy woke up to the sound of his cell phone going off.

William mumbled something and stumbled out of bed to go into the other room to get his cell phone from the pants thrown there.

Buffy could just make out muffled noises so she crawled out of bed to see what was the matter and if everything was ok.

She noticed his robe sitting on the closet door and pulled that around her before stopping at the doorway to watch William talk on the phone.

William saw Buffy standing in the doorway in his robe and motioned for her to come stand in front of him.

He wrapped his arms around her as she continued to talk on the phone.

Buffy smiled as she could feel his voice rumbling through his chest with each thing he said.

It was mostly little noises made when someone was listening carefully to what was said.

Then he smiled and said, “I’m going over with Buffy in a few. I want to see the progress you’ve been making and making sure you are following Xander’s plans perfectly even though he’s on his honeymoon with Anya.”

A pause occurred followed by, “He gets back tomorrow actually. Yeah hard to believe it’s been a week already.”

Then another pause followed by, “See you guys in about 20 minutes. If I’m late, don’t call or stop by the house.”

Then he gave out a laugh, “Well unless you want to see a show.”

Then he laughed again and said, “K. Bye.”

With that William turned towards Buffy and said, “Want to take a shower, pet? Then we can head over to…well let’s just say I have a surprise for you. I have a dress in the back of the car for you to wear if you would like.”

He smiled at her as she nodded her head and whispered, “I didn’t bring my stuff out of Angel’s house. Can we stop somewhere and get more clothes?”

William nodded and said, “Tomorrow we can go out shopping. There’s a new mall in Fresno that just opened and I’ve been dying to go into Macys and J. C. Pennys. And I think they even have a Sears we can try too plus Victoria Secrets.”

Buffy blushed at the last place mentioned and William chuckled and said, “Let me put my duster on and I’ll grab your dress out of the back.”

William returned with a beautiful red dress with spaghetti straps and a v-neck and an open back with criss-cross straps.

She was so amazed because it had been a while since she had anything that special.

She had things with Angel but they were usually simple skirts and mix matched shirts.

They were more practical than beautiful.

There were also red heeled boots that were her size.

Buffy whispered, “Is that all for me?”

William grinned and nodded pulling out of his pocket the best part and handed her a tiny velvet box.

Buffy was a little nervous but figured he was standing behind her so it couldn’t be an engagement ring but she gasped at what was inside.

Tiny red earrings that dangled just a little with tiny silver lines hanging down and a matching red necklace with the same tiny silver lines hanging down.

They were beautiful and Buffy’s eyes misted as she flung herself around him whispering, “Thank you thank you so much” as she smothered his face in kisses.

He grinned at her feeling proud she was so happy and he whispered slipping his hands into his robe that she was wearing to cup her breasts and said, “We got about 15 minutes to shower before we are officially late. Shall we?”

Buffy moaned at his touch and whispered, “What happens if we are late?”

William grinned, “Absolutely nothing. So let’s go shower.”

---

Chapter 31: Dinner for Two

---

William brought her to a restaurant that wasn’t even opened up yet.

The sign read, “Spike’s Exquisite Dining” and William ushered her in without even having to knock on the door.

As she looked around inside, she saw the beauty of the place.

Wonderful tones of black and white were splashed around the place.

White table cloths were over the tables. Black floors that sparkled with star dust contracted agains the dance floor with white and black tiles. White columns had been built to separate off the sections of the restaurant.

Lining the back wall were black booths surrounding white clothed tables with various pictures.

William said, “Want to see the pictures, pet?”

Buffy nodded and he brought her over to the back wall and she gasped.

There was one of William and her in front of the diner.

The same picture she carried with her always and would hold to cry over.

There was another of William carrying Buffy that Cassie had snapped when they weren’t looking.

There was another with William standing outside on the dirt with Xander dressed in a yellow helmet driving a cement truck to pour the foundation.

There was a picture of William holding a paint brush covered in white paint as he painted a wall white with him holding up one hand with the paint brush trying to block the view of the camera but he still looked amazing.

She smiled as she noticed the next picture was of Daniel trying to work a sign with Xander waving his hands to tell Daniel to stop or that is what it appeared.

She wondered if Daniel did end up driving the sign into the window that day or not.

The last picture was of the front of the building. There was one more empty frame.

A young man who had wandered in behind them and spoke up, “I put that frame up yesterday as you asked boss and if you and the missus would go stand in front of the booth over there, I’ll go ahead and snap it.”

William guided Buffy over to the location the young man requested and William pulled Buffy close to him, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Buffy leaned her head against his shoulder as the young man smiled and said, “Perfect” and snapped the picture.

He then walked away saying, “William always does take nice pictures and that young lady takes a nice one too. This picture will be perfect.”

Buffy looked up at William for an explanation.

William explained, “We needed one of you in the finished place. This is the second restaurant I have opened. I opened one in Sunnyhell after you left Smile Town and I couldn’t find you. Poured myself into creating the most perfect restaurant. After it was opened for a year, I was making tons of money so figured I’d open up a second one. First has pictures of us as well and someday I’ll have to take you there to have one taken of us dining in there to complete the set as we did this one.”

Buffy hugged him tight whispering, “You’re living your dream. This is so amazingly perfect.”

William grinned down at her and whispered softly, “Oh Buffy, don’t you see? I can take care of you and we can live together and live happily ever after. Just like in the fairy tales. Have plenty of money pouring in from the first place and I’m sure this place will take off as well.”

He sheepishly pulled out something from his duster and knelt down on one knee and whispered, “Buffy luv, will you marry me?”

Buffy hopped up and down and took the ring and didn’t even notice the camera snapping a picture of the two of them and she shouted, “Yes, yes” as she pulled up him and gave him a big kiss but this time she did notice the flash as it went off.

She turned towards the young man and William laughed and said, “You planning to add that to the collection too Gunn?”

Gunn grinned and said, “I think it will make the perfect addiction to Spike’s Dinning.”

Buffy then looked at William and said, “Why Spike?”

William smiled and lead her over to the table and said, “Lets eat and I’ll tell you about it over dinner.”

Buffy nodded feeling hungry and sat down in the booth near her eager to taste the food here.

---

Chapter 32: A Touch of Romance

---

Wine was brought to the table by a Lily and served to William and Buffy.

Buffy who was not a big drinker hesitated as William whispered, “Don’t worry pet, I won’t let you have too much.”

So she smiled and took a sip finding it surprisingly sweet and delicious.

It warmed her stomach and made her feel more happier than she had felt already.

She found herself talking as always with William explaining her last two years.

She told him about her first day on the job as a bartender and about Tara and how she learned all she knew from her.

She discussed the various drinks she learned to make, the people she met as well as fact she still would like to be able to go back to school but how she will never make enough to do that.

William resisted the urge to offer her money and instead found himself willing to just listen to her talk.

As the food was brought, Buffy stopped talking and smelt the delicious manicotti in front of her and she smiled saying, “You remembered from our first meeting how I had said I missed my mom’s manicotti?”

William nodded and said, “Don’t know if it’s like your mom’s but it’s my speciality now. I went to school for 2 years and graduated with high honors in cooking school. After that summer with you, I opened up Spike’s Exquisite Dinning in Sunnyhell. It was real popular. Didn’t think it would be. People flocked from all over just to taste my cooking. Was amazed at how fast we hit a $0.00 balance which I had been told never happens in the first year. Att the end of the first year, I had made over $300,000 and that was after hitting the zero balance for the costs of building the place. Xan had told me that would happen but didn’t believe him. Oz plays there sometimes when he isn’t on tour. He plans to play here the first week of it officially opening in two weeks. Xander returns next week from his honeymoon for last minute inspections. The real inspectors come next Wednesday and Friday. Then the following week is touch ups, advertisements, and publicity for the papers to get the word out and if all goes well, in exactly two weeks from tomorrow, we officially open for business.”

Buffy smiled obviously proud of him and still in shock at being here with him in his restaurant.

Then she was reminded of her earlier question, “Why Spike?”

William laughed and said, “Well that’s a funny story. Well ok not so funny. Kind of depressing actually. But you left and I couldn’t find you and Xander and Oz used to say I was walking around like I had been spiked in the heart. So when they saw me, they greeted me as Spike since you had spiked me in the heart. It seemed perfect to open up a restaurant about our lost love and call it Spike.”

Buffy smiled at the romantic gesture of calling the restaurant that and then William continued.”Have some news you might want to know. It’s about your mother Buffy.”

Willliam reached across the table to hold her hands in his as he wanted to make sure she didn’t run knowing her whole past.

“News travels in Sunnyhell as you can imagine. Hank died last year. Your mother had married him but all of his fortune was left to her and there was something in the paper looking for you because the will had mentioned you as well. Apparently Hank was very rich but also She remarried though two months ago. She married Giles. He’s a nice older man. He really enjoyed my restaurant. You might like him but if nothing else pet, you should at least claim your inheritance. Know you’d like to go back to school and while we can marry and my money will be your money, if it makes you feel any better, you might be able to use whatever money Hank left you, to go to college as well.”

Buffy whispered, “Would I have to see my mother?”

William shrugged and said, “Not sure. Can have a lawyer look into that for you if you would like pet. I’m thinking no. Might be wrong though. Would you like me to look into it for you?”

Buffy nodded and whispered, “Might be nice to have Hank pay for my college with all the trouble he caused me. It would give me closure.”

William nodded because that was exactly what he was thinking when he had heard the news.

---

Chapter 33: Settling In

---

It had been two weeks since Buffy had come to live with William.

He had asked his lawyers to check into Buffy’s inheritance but hadn’t heard back from them yet.

They hadn’t heard back from the Detective yet either but Xander had kept them posted on the headlines.

It appears that Buffy’s disappearance was listed by the locals as another mysterious leaving of Angel’s charges only this time rumors of a man sweeping the girl off her feet had swept through the papers.

Apparently some of the nurses in the hospital or someone in the club that day had talked but his name was never mentioned therefore no one knew where to find him.

William and Buffy settled into a beautiful schedule.

Buffy checked into colleges in the area and decided UC Sunnydale was the best place for her.

She was looking into taking business classes as well as some accounting classes in order to help William run his business.

William was all for it knowing how much it would help to not have to pay people to take care of those items for him.

William watched over both restaurants and had taken Buffy shopping many times.

Both houses were filled with her items and new pictures of them were taken.

In just under a week, they had settled into habit’s of waking up together, eating meals together, and Buffy had settled into being the perfect housewife.

The beautiful diamond ring on her hand made her dreams flood back and she began making plans for her future.

She was imagining kids and a house and being William’s wife.

She was excited about the idea of belonging to someone forever.

She spent her days doing laundry, vacuuming, as well as dusting.

Since they were spending two days at one house and two at the other, those activities kept her busy.

Xander had returned home and Anya had come over for the two days they had been in Fresno and they had talked girl talk.

It was so wonderful to have a friend to talk to about nervousness, how hot their guys were, their past and hopes for the future.

Anya had helped her shop for clothes and Anya had shown her new ways to fix her hair.

Buffy had shown Anya had to fix up her favorite drink without having to order it from a bar and how to balance trays of food without dropping them.

The two girls got along splendidly and Xander had to drag Anya away by promising her lots of orgasms in order to get her to leave Buffy and William’s place each night.

William came home as always for dinner bringing home a full plate of lasagna explaining it would enough for lunch the next day as well as dinner for tonight.

He also said they had four visitors coming in about 20 minutes so to fix the plate settings for six instead of two.

Buffy happily did so not even questioning William who thinking it was Daniel’s family coming over.

She hadn’t met the kids yet but remembered there was two children as well as him and his wife.

As William took the food out of the oven that had reheated for 20 minutes and began to cut up the bread, the doorbell rang.

William yelled, “Buffy honey, can you get that for me? Thanks pet.”

Buffy went to answer the door and saw Doctor Ben, the Detective as well as two other police officers.

Buffy backed away from the door allowing them to come in and William smiled and said, “I’m William and this is Buffy.”

And he shook hands with each of the men and the Detective said, “Detective Stein as you both know. This is Detective Clem and Detective Finch and we are here to update you on the case.”

William nodded and said, “Well I hope you are hungry. Bought home lasagna, fresh bread with butter and you can have red wine if you would like or if you are duty, we have soda or water as well.”

The four men all nodded their heads and gladly followed Buffy and William into the dining room and sat down eager to eat.

After everyone’s plates were filled, Detective Stein spoke saying, “We are here on business but we trust you won’t mention us eating on duty nor the fact we are all drinking but Clem while on duty.”

William smiled and looked to Buffy who nodded and replied, “Your secret is safe with me. After all I’m the one who suggested it in the first place.”

Detective Stein replied, “Excellent. After the meal, Buffy we need from you a statement about how Angel treated you. William mentioned he expected some repayment from you and I’d like to get it on record if I could. Also if he had hit you or done anything else by way of force to you, we’d let to get that on record too. And William we need a statement from you on the club visit you paid and how beat up you were. The Doctor already took care of writing up the injuries, we just need to hear from you your personal statement of what occurred. Oh and Buffy, since your accident was a hit from of a person walking by a car, we took images of some of the bruises we found on your body. Some appear more like bruises from something other than the accident. We need to know from you if they were made from Angel or not. But for now, let’s enjoy this wonderful dinner.”

---

Chapter 34: Official Business

---

Everyone ate every bit of food on their plate and Detective Clem even went back for seconds.

After everyone's stomachs were filled, they entered the living room. Everyone took a chair and got settled there to talk. (William had brought two dining room chairs into the living room so that all four men could sit in their own personal chairs)

Detective Stein asked, “Which of you would like to go first.”

William looked at Buffy and wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him since they were on the couch and said, “I think perhaps you should pet. I will chip in afterwards so they would know why I was heading towards the club that day. Can you handle this Buffy?”

Buffy nodded nervously and Doctor Ben spoke up, “Remember they are only here to help. The more information you give them, the more helpful they can be as well as the better chance of truly convicting Angel in his crimes."

Buffy nodded and explained how she had arrived in L.A. in the first place after leaving Smile Town.

She told them of staying in a hotel for the first week and how she had been running low on money because she couldn’t find any place to work. She even explained that she didn’t want to work at a strip joint again.

She was looking for honest and good work and she had literally bumped into Angel who offered her a job as well as free room and board in his guest room in his house. It seemed like a dream come true.

The guest room was set up perfectly as an apartment complete with a bed, dresser, closet space, a microwave, fridge and chair next to a desk.

After she moved in, Angel had brought a box to her with clothes size 6 in them and the clothes had fit her perfectly so she never thought to ask where the box had come from.

She assumed he had went to a second hand store and picked them up for her.

They were worn but in excellent condition.

Anyway, bartending was very easy once she learned and it was fun.

She then got quieter as she talked about her nights with Angel.

She had to deal with him every night but she had taken it to be part of the required room and board.

She talked about how would pressure her for sex and she would refuse and he would not gently touch her. She told how she quickly had learned that if she gave him a blow job, the only part he would roughly fondle was her breasts.

She described how some days he was more gentler than others depending on how much he had to drink.

She said that sometimes he would leave harsh bruises on her skin, but she needed the work and had no where to go so she stayed.

Since the bartender outfit would cover them, she thought nothing of them and figured he was just a harsh lover and was thankful he was satisfied with just that.

Then she mentioned the few times she was sleeping when he got home or was sick.

Luckily in the two years of being with him, that had only happened four times.

But one time was on the morning she was taken to the hospital.

He had hit her giving her a black eye.

Usually he was careful not to hit her eyes and usually did her stomach so that the bruises wouldn’t show but that morning he had hit her eye.

He had left horrible bruises on her breasts and arms which is what the pictures had showed.

She had described how she had been saving up in hopes to move on but knew that when moving to a new place, it was luck of the draw if you got a place to live as well as employment.

Everyone in the room listened quietly, not stopping her but not really comforting her either.

The only comfort she was feeling was William's arms around her hugging her tight and his gentle voice sometimes when she paused whispering, “It’s ok pet, keep going.”

This would make her continue even when she didn’t want to.

William then started talking after she had finished and said what had happened in the club.

The Detectives turned off the tape and looked at each other and Clem and Finch nodded to Stein who started to talk, “Well what we have are some bodies that were dug up on Angel’s property. He wanted to expand his club and had hired a crew to dig. Unfortunately for him but fortunately for us, they had dug in the wrong location and on the wrong side of the club unearthing the bodies and remains of the thirteen women that were missing as well as five police officers, and about fifteen other unidentified people. Angel plead innocence but with the statements we have received from both of you and some other people he had beaten up over the years, the accounts of the ladies being his charges, we think it’s enough to charge him with 25 counts of murder, sexual abuse as well as a few other charges would should give him the death penalty but if not, at least life in prison without the chance of parole. Do either of you two have anything to add?”

Both shook their heads and the Doctor then spoke up saying, “I need you to sign these papers stating it’s ok to use your medial records in the court case. You might be subpoenaed but this might be enough to have that not happen. Good luck to you and I hope to ever have to treat you again.”

Buffy and William chuckled at this and Detective Stein shoved three more pages in front of William and Buffy each saying, “I want you to sign that this is your personal statement and we have the right to use it in the court of law. Also that it is true and unaltered and that we have the right to subpoena you if needed.”

Both signed and then stood up to walk the men to the door.

Closing the door behind them after shaking their hands and thanking them for their time, Buffy slumped down against the door and cried as William caught her before she hit the floor.

He carried her to their bedroom to comfort her while she cried.

He whispered in her ear before she fell asleep, “It’s almost over luv. We will make it.”

---

Chapter 35: Court Appearance

---

Buffy and William were subpoenaed after all.

It had been three months and they were trying to get ready for their wedding and didn’t want to have to deal with Angel issues but they came as requested.

Each had to stand in front of the court after listening to their recorded messages and state that permission was given to use the recorded messages, it was indeed their voice as well as the whole truth.

Buffy tried not to look at Angel the whole time she was on the stand but at times had looked up when asked a question.

She shook in fear as she noticed Angel glaring at her.

It made her feel very uneasy and she kept praying that her time would be over soon.

But she did well and held her ground repeating what the judge asked her to repeat.

As she stepped down she almost collapsed from shaking so bad and William was allowed to carry her back to her seat in the audience where he quietly held her until she calmed down.

They still had one more part in the court case that they had to play.

They had to do the same with the statements about the injuries both had sustained by Angel and his men.

Buffy was so nervous as she went home that night knowing that she would be called back the next day to do the same thing with images of her back then battered body being plastered on the large screen.

She didn't want to stand in front of Angel again.

He still scared her so much. She couldn't seem to forget what might have happened to her if Anya hadn't of read the newspaper that day or if Xander hadn't of called William.

She cried in William’s arms the minute they hit their hotel room and William held her tight feeling helpless as he watched her cry herself into a fitful state of sleeping.

He watched her sleep as he continued to held her tight and fell asleep himself dreading the next day’s court appearance.

Buffy wore a beautiful red dress that William had picked out for her and her favorite earrings and necklace that she had often said made her feel special and like a princess.

He had hoped it would help her feel better and respond better to the appearance.

Buffy was called first this time.

As images of her bruised body was shown on the screen and his abuse was described, Buffy sank lower and lower into the chair.

She watched Angel glare more and more towards her.

Buffy whimpered out the responses, gripping the stand in front of her with all her strength turning her hands and knuckles white.

She silently prayed for strength before finally turning towards William who smiled at her and whispered, “You are doing just fine pet. Just keep going.”

Buffy felt a little braver and gave William a smile before turning to the judge and in a braver voice replied to his questions.

After a horrifying hour on the stand, Buffy was asked to step down and Doctor Ben took the stand.

Buffy clung to William knowing his turn would be next and wanting to settle down before he left her to go on the stand.

Just as she was about to feel better, William was requested up on the stand and he took off his duster and covered Buffy up with it and the judge smiled at what a sweet gesture that was and William took the stand.

He was clear and strong as he talked.

He explained where his injuries was, how he got them, identified three men on the screen that were his victims and clearly identified Angel as the person he hit.

He stated in a clear fashion when asked, that he was angry after hearing the abuse Angel had put Buffy through and was not thinking clearly.

He apologized for the results of his disorderly conduct but not for protecting his woman.

The juries started talking among themselves but the judge called for order again in her court and William was asked to step down.

He immediately picked up Buffy and set her in his lap to comfort her for a few minutes knowing it might be another day before they hear the results.

Again Doctor Ben was called to the stand and William cuddled Buffy close hoping to make her feel better.

As expected, the court was adjourned until the next morning when sentencing would take place.

---

Chapter 36: Court Rulings

---

William held Buffy in his arms when he got home and whispered, “Buffy pet, you don’t have to go in tomorrow if you don’t want to. We can just hear on the news or I’m sure Doctor Ben or Detective Stein will call us with the results.”

Buffy shook her head and said, “I want to see justice get done. I know we didn’t go in for the information about the girls before me or for the murders and I’m thankful but I’d like to be there for sentencing. I need to be there for sentencing.”

William nodded understanding and Buffy whispered, “Kiss me William. Make me feel like I belong to you.”

William never being one to refuse kissed Buffy and got lost in the touch and smell of her and quickly lost himself in making beautiful love to her.

He entered her swiftly after bringing her to orgasm with his mouth and realized that it still felt like the first time for him and whispered to Buffy, “You are always so perfect. Fit perfectly together. You are amazing.”

Buffy nodded in agreement whispering, “So perfect and beautiful. I’m yours.”

William nodded through hushed tones saying, “I’m yours Buffy and you’re mine. We belong to each other. I love you Buffy.”

And at those words, he brought his fingers down to where their bodies joined and rubbed her clit fast to bring her to an earth shattering orgasm.

Like always as she got off, he followed giving them both the release they needed.

Buffy whispered, “I love you too William” as William pulled her close allowing her to sleep knowing she will need it, not knowing what tomorrow’s court rulings will bring.

---

@}-'--, --'--, --'--, -{@

---

Well morning came and Buffy and William returned to the court room to watch the rulings Buffy curled into William’s side as his hand came up to run his fingers through her hair as though to protect her from the outside room and what this ruling might mean.

Buffy sat quietly as the judge said her peace about how the decision works and turned towards the set of juries that had been chosen and had followed the case.

There were thirteen jurors and they all had to agree for the decision to be upheld.

The judge asked the representative to stand up and an older lady stood up and when asked said, “We find the defendant, Angel O’Connor guity of the death of Rowena, guilty of first degree murder.”

Next was Amanda’s death, then Lucy’s, Caridad’s, Chao-Ahn’s, Chloe’s, Vi’s. Leah’s. Molly’s, Renee’s, Rona’s, Shannon’s and finally Simone’s.

He was found guilty of them all.

He was also found guilty for the policemen since in the digging ground they had apparently found the weapons buried as well along with gloves and some clothing used during the shootings.

The case of the two club owners was going to be brought to court if a death penalty ruling wasn’t given, since the gun that had shot them was also found with the remains of the women.

One the account of assault against Buffy Summers, he was found guilty as well and sentenced to 2 years in prison and another year in prison as well as a fine for the assault of William. William was told he was lucky that Angel had declined pressing charges at this point.

Angel got life in prison with no change of patrol overall and was dragged out of the room after giving Buffy serious death glares, in handcuffs never to see the light of day again unless they did decide to redo the club owner’s trial.

After the door closed where Angel had been taken away, Buffy let out a long deep breath and sobbed into William’s arms realizing it was over.

It was really over and she was the only girl lucky enough to have survived being with Angel.

The Judge walked up next to Buffy and laid her hand on Buffy’s shoulder whispering, “You are one lucky little girl to have such an amazing man to have taken you away in the nick of time.”

Buffy turned to her with tears in her eyes and nodded and whispered, “I know.”

The Judge removed her hand and walked out of the courtroom. Detective Stein walked up to William and handed in a box saying, “I wasn’t sure what all was Buffy’s but I took a few of her items especially pictures, a stuffed pig and her make-up and jewelry out of Angel’s spare room with a court order after you left the hospital that day. It’s not much but I hope it helps.”

William took the box and Buffy reached inside until she found her stuffed pig and hugged it tight.

William watched and gave her a kiss then kissed away her tears and whispered, “Ready to go home luv? We have a wedding to plan and only two more months to plan it.”

Buffy grinned and said, “I need to show you the cake ideas I had and Anya picked out the most beautiful flowers. I’d still like with pink roses that matched my outfit the first time I met you but can we add in Dahlias? They are so beautiful…”

William smiled happily listening to his Buffy make plans for what should be the most perfect wedding.

---

Chapter 37: The Perfect Wedding

---

Today was the big day everyone had been waiting for, William and Buffy’s wedding.

The wedding was to take place in a beautiful white chapel that had been decorated to Anya and Buffy’s directions.

It was amazing.

The chapel of course was white and had been decorated with pink roses and pink dalias to accent them.

Baby breaths and white and pink roses were placed around the room to really make it smell beautiful.

There were flowers strung from column to column.

Ivy decorated with white and pink roses were swung around every column to add color and the floor had been freshly waxed and glitter covered the floor making everywhere someone stepped sparkle especially from the beautiful stain-glass windows that the church had already.

The balcony was decorated with strings of ivy colored by pink and white dahlias and the pulpit area was also decorated by roses.

The room looked beautiful. Not too overly done but it smelled beautiful.

The guests had already arrived and the place was humming with noise.

William stood in his place beside Gunn, Scott, Oz and Xander who were his best men and Fred, Cassie, Willow and Anya were Buffy’s maids of honor.

Tara and Lucy were the ushers and Oz’s little girl was the flower girl.

Fred and Gunn’s little boy was the ring bearer.

Willow’s kids were away for the summer with their grand parents so they were not included in the wedding.

Since they were older, they didn't really have a place in the wedding and would have ended up fighting with Oz's for spaces.

The flower girl smiled happily walking with the ring bearer by her side.
Both of them walked happily throwing white and pink rose petals onto the solid white silk runner that had tiny pink flowers sewn onto it (Anya’s idea but sewn by Buffy) so it wasn’t slippery with their dress shoes.

Next came Fred and Cassie side by side who were happily walking down the aisle, each holding a tiny corsage on their wrist made of white and pink roses and a touch of baby breath.

In their hands, each held either a white or pink dahlia. After Fred and Cassie, came Willow and Anya.

Each of the ladies were dressed in pink dresses accented by white tiaras in their hair which had been sparkled with white glitter and laced with pink ribbon where tiny white baby breaths had been sewn by Buffy herself.

The ladies looked lovely. Finally Buffy walked down the aisle with Giles by her side.

Giles was not her father but after Buffy had met up with her mother to collect her money, she and William had been invited to their house and after many tears being shed, they had renewed their relationship.

Joyce had been told that Buffy had left to live with her real father who was living in Europe temporarily.

Joyce and Buffy’s real father had never been close and after placing a call to the number Hank had provided, Joyce was assured by a lady, who claimed to be her ex-husband’s new wife, that Buffy was safe and sound in their house just was out at the moment.

(This was actually a paid employee of Hank’s in order to cover up his advances made on Buffy. Hank needed Joyce’s expertise to run his gallery and therefore needed to make sure Joyce was never able to talk to Buffy again and would willingly stay with him.)

After being told that Buffy would travel with her real father and have the best tutors to ensure her finishing school, Joyce had unwilling given up her idea of searching.

In order to appease Joyce, Hank had set up a false email address on which fast and quick emails were sent from “Buffy” to her mother saying she was fine and happy but was still mad about her marrying Hank but would always wish her the best of luck.

Hank also constantly reminded her that she must abide by Buffy’s wishes to be with her real father.

Learning none of this was true, Joyce had willing took Buffy into her loving arms and apologized for the wrong she had done Buffy.

After months of repairing their relationship, Buffy had grown close to Giles and her mother again both playing perfect parent figures

They also accepted William willingly into the family, so Giles was therefore asked to walk Buffy down the aisle.

Giles gave Buffy a kiss on her cheek at the end of the aisle after answering the Pastor’s question of who gives her away and whispered in her ear, “You look dashing. Enjoy this special day.”

Buffy smiled and gave him a kiss on his cheek and walked up to William to hold his hand giving him a huge smile eager for this day.

Buffy did indeed look dashing. She had a wedding dress that was homemade by herself.

It was a simple A-line white silk dress but had been lace arms that had tiny pink roses sewn on it and the bottom of the dress had a lace middle that had the same pink roses sewn on it.

The dress elegantly showed off her curves.

Her veil was white lace that matched the design of the middle of the dress and the lace on her arms and had tiny pink roses sewn on as well.

Her hair was cascading down her back in ringlets thanks to Willow and Anya’s hard work and she had sparkling pink earrings that William had bought for her after learning pink was her theme.

Under her dress, William didn’t realize it yet but she had on the same garter as she had worn back when she was 14 and had gone to his house for the stripping episode and had ended up sleeping with him.

Anya had insisted this was a great idea when they had noticed it was still in the box that had been taken from Angel's place. Willow had said it matched her dress so that had decided it was perfect.

---

Chapter 38: Til Death Do Us Part

---

Buffy smiled up at William both said I do then the pastor paused giving them each time to say their personal vows that they had written.

Buffy spoke first knowing if she heard William’s first she might break down in tears and be unable to say hers after all.

William took her hands in his and smiled at her whispering, “Remember it’s only us here.”

Buffy nodded and spoke loud and clear thanks to the microphone above their heads being turned on, “William, we met in the most particular way but immediately I felt drawn to you. You were my hero then, and still are today. You have saved me from my horrible life and kept me sane throughout it. You were my first love and my only love and I promise to stay by your side no matter what even if your restaurants all close and we are suddenly broke.”

The congregation started laughing all knowing that wouldn’t happen and how rich the couple really were.

Buffy smiled and continued, “William we were meant to be since day one and no matter I ran away to, you found me. I was never really alone because you always came for me. Thank you William for loving me and protecting me even from myself and I look forward to spending the rest of my life trying to show you just how thankful I was and how much you really mean to me.”

She paused as she said in a softer voice but still heard, “Oh and I promise I won’t run away again. You’re stuck with me.”

The audience clapped at how beautiful her vows were.

When the clapping stopped William cleared his voice and wiped a tear from Buffy’s eyes before starting, “Buffy, you are my life and my soul mate. I always would find you no matter where you go but hopefully you have stopped running by now.”

A few laughs filled the audience as well as Buffy’s giggle and nod.

William replied, “Good because you are the one for me. I knew it from the first day I set eyes on you. Some people search their whole lives for that perfect person to spend their lives with. To find the person who understands them, brings out the best in them even when they themselves can’t see it, and the person who makes them feel complete and whole and above all loved. I promise Buffy to cherish and love you always. I will never leave your side, protect you from harm and always wipe away your tears which hopefully I never cause. Unless they are good ones. Buffy I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you and making babies with you and sharing my money with you and being to you the best husband there ever was.”

There was clapping that filled the church and when it stopped the pastor turned towards William and said repeat after me, “I, William Pratt, take you Buffy Summers, to be my wife and constant friend and my love from this day forward. In the presence of God, our family and friends, I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and the bad, and in joy as well as sorrow. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you, to cry with you and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live.”

Buffy felt the ring being pushed on her finger and she smiled at him and then took the ring from the ring bearer for William and pushed it partially on his finger repeating after the pastor, “I, Buffy Summers, take you William Pratt, to be my husband and constant friend and my love from this day forward. In the presence of God, our family and friends, I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and the bad, and in joy as well as sorrow. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you, to cry with you and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live.”

The pastor said a few more words then stated to Buffy and to William “By the power invested in me by the Lord Almighty and the state of California, I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride.”

All laughed as the pastor looked to see Buffy and William already joined in a passionate kiss and everyone in the church clapped.

Buffy and William were now married.

---

Chapter 39: Epilogue

---

“Mommy, daddy come quick. Watch me and Willie as we jump together. We can time it perfectly.”

William came out of the kitchen headed through the dining room where Buffy was setting the table watching the pool from the room.

Both of them walked out onto the deck overlooking the pool.

“Watch this! One, two, three!,” Dawn jumped into the pool at the same time as Willie making a huge splash.

William looked at Buffy and laughed saying, “Why don’t you kids see if you can perhaps keep some of the water into the pool today for once, yeah?”

Buffy laughed and William pulled her tight against his side wrapping his arm around her waist and leaned in to kiss the top of her head then shouted to the kids as well as Buffy, “K, half-pint and little bit, you got two minutes to get out of the pool to attempt to dry off so you can get changed to be allowed into the house before dinner will be ready.”

The kids yelled, “Do we have to? Can’t we eat on the deck again tonight?”

Buffy looked at William and shrugged and he said, “I guess so but you still have to be sort of dry so two minutes. Then you two can play in the sand box after dinner for at least 30 minutes before you can swim again, K?”

The kids nodded still swimming around.

They were like little fish during the summer time. Willie was 7 but as quiet as can be and preferred letting 5-year-old Dawn talk for him.

Just then the phone rang waking up sleeping Olivia who started to scream and Buffy went to get the baby while William went to get the phone.

Buffy returned to the room with William pulling the food out of the oven and grinned at Buffy as he leaned in and gave her a kiss that squished Olivia who squirmed.

She didn't cry but instead tapped on Buffy and William’s face when they stopped kissing, trying to re-push their faces together.

Buffy and William laughed and Buffy asked, “Who was on the phone sweetie?”

William grinned and said, “Joyce and Giles. They invited us and the kids over to their house and said to invite Anya and Xander and their lot as well as Oz and Willow.”

Buffy grinned and said, “Think Anya will come even though she’s pregnant again?”

William grinned and said, “I can be very persuasive besides, I’ll offer my sweet and sour meatballs and he’ll definitely drag Anya along with Maggie, Forrest and Cordy even with Anya pregnant.”

Buffy nodded and said, “The kids play with Rachel and Krista tomorrow so I’ll talk to Willow and Oz while they play ok? I have to go over the accounting again for the opening of the new restaurant in L.A.”

William nodded and gave Buffy another kiss and said, “Let’s make sure the kids are out of the pool before dinner gets cold.”

Buffy nodded as she helped William by carrying the bread outside and still holding Olivia that she put into the high chair.

She saw her two good children sitting at the table wrapped in their towels ready to eat. Life in Pratt land was sometimes just perfect.

---

@}-'--, --'--, --'--, -{@

---

Somewhere in a prison cell in L.A. max security prison, Angel was yelling at the bars, “Let me out. Let me out! I can’t take it anymore.”

When no one answered he turned around in his cell and sat down on his little make shift cot and sighed thinking life in prison is worse than the death sentence.

No one other outside the prison gave a second thought to Angel for the rest of his life, forgetting he even existed.


THE END!