Chapter 1:


Buffy stared down at her own picture perfect smiling face. She never thought she would be so skeptical to see her own California state driver’s license.

“Let me see, let me see, let me see!!!” a squealing redhead zipped her way into the coffee shop carrying her school backpack and went straight to where Buffy was sitting.

The petite blonde turned the plastic card in her hand around and showed her friend with a small smile. The redhead gasped and dropped her bag on the ground and snatched the card out of Buffy’s hand.

“Awww….”

“I’m guessing you like it Wills…” Buffy said before taking a sip of her coffee. The little redhead looked as if she were admiring baby pictures or watching a kitten sleeping on a pillow. Buffy was sort of hoping for that reaction, but from her husband instead.

“Buffy…it’s—it’s perfect! Oh how I wish I was photogenic like you.” Willow muttered the last sentence with a pout as she held the card out for Buffy to take back.

“Thanks Wills.” Buffy said as she looked back down at her picture.

“Angel is going to flip when he see’s it.”

“I hope, I mean he should realize that this is a big step for me.”

“He will, don’t worry.” Willow reassured her friend.

“I mean, I’ve been Ms. Buffy Summers for thirty two years…my first preschool project was to write that name down about fifty times so I wouldn’t forget it. It’s going to be a big adjustment...it will take some time for me to remember who I am now.”

“He’ll love it Buffy, don’t worry.”

At times like these Willow always felt like a repeating parrot—reassuring her best friend over and over again that Angel always understood her and appreciated her. It was tiring playing the role of the marriage counselor to her friend, but then she remembered where her friend was coming from—a shaky childhood where ‘I love you’‘s from her father were as rare as flying pigs. Willow just wished that Angel would see that his wife had these insecurities for himself.

“So when are you giving him your new license ‘Mrs. Buffy O’Connor’?” Willow asked with a smile, hoping that by saying Buffy’s new name her friend would feel a little bit more cheery and gitty, and a little less worried and doubtful of the gift to her husband.

“Our anniversary is 2 months away, so I was thinking then. His birthday is not for another 7 months but I don’t think I can wait that long.” Buffy said with a frown.

She really hated having to wait to give this special present for another 60 days. It was already day 1 and she was already itching to call Angel’s cell and tell him what she got in the mail today.

“Do you want me to keep it for you for a while?” Willow too knew that Buffy and secrets were not a good combination.

“Nah… besides I need it to drive, remember?”

“When was the last time Angel let you drive the BMW let alone anything?” the redhead raised an eyebrow

Buffy rolled her eyes at the mention of the precious BMW that Angel was very much in love with. She wouldn’t be surprised if he was making out with it in the garage late at night while she slept. And as for the ‘drive anything else’ comment, well….Willow didn’t know about her lack of control in the driver’s seat in the bedroom.

“I’m still hanging on to it. This is one surprise I’m not going to bomb.” Buffy reached for her purse on the ground and unzipped it. She pulled out her wallet and slid the license securely in the front pocket where all her other credit cards were kept.

“Well, if you get tempted just call.”

“Thanks Wills.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Buffy was having trouble smoothing down her skirt as she walked with both of her hands full into Wolfram and Hart, the law firm where she and Angel worked. In one hand she had her cup of coffee and in the other she was carrying her purse and a bag containing a blueberry muffin for her husband. Buffy looked up at the lobby desk and smiled when she saw her workmate Winifred Burkle. They both nodded to each other before Buffy went straight to the elevator.

“Be back in ten.” Buffy called out across the empty lobby to Fred.

“Kay!” the brunette called back before reaching for a ringing phone and saying, “Wolfram and Hart, Fred speaking” with her obvious Texas accent.

Buffy pressed the button for the twentieth floor and leaned back against the wall as the lift started. She only reached the sixth floor when the doors opened and she was met with a familiar face that she loathed deeply.

‘Oh…I wasn’t aware that today was very slutty casual Thursday’s’ Buffy thought as she watched the blonde with a smirk gracefully enter the elevator with a vanilla folder in her hand.

“Hello Buffy.” The girl said without taking a glance at Buffy, pushing the elevator button to the ninth floor, and leaning over on the side wall.

“Hello Darla.”

“I like your shoes.” Darla still didn’t look up to make eye contact with Buffy but she sure didn’t have any trouble skimming over her clothes and shoes.

“Thanks…”

Nothing was left to say after that. Buffy wasn’t even going to mention the inappropriate skin tight dress that Darla was wearing, because anything that came out her mouth would turn into a insult that would land her in big trouble with her boss and with Angel.

“Bye Buffy.” Darla said as she strolled out of the elevator without a glance back.

“Bye bye Darla….” As soon as the elevator doors were completely shut she scoffed, “Please send my condolences to those on the ninth floor.”

Buffy looked up at the numbers starting to light up again. She let out a sigh of relief when she finally reached her destination without having to make anymore stops and encounters with people like Darla McDonald, and there were plenty of them to go around the firm. It didn’t seem to matter what gender you were too—the company seemed to like to hire snobby slutty men and women. Darla’s husband, for example, wasn’t any better than his wife when it came to being an ass to others and still thinking that people were labeled by who was the designer on the inside of your shirt.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Buffy gently knocked on the door once before entering Angel’s stylishly big office that had a nice view of the city of LA. For a moment she thought the office was empty, that possibly Angel was in a meeting or out on a late lunch. She placed the white paper bag with the muffin down on his desk and turned around to go back downstairs to her workspace beside Fred in the lobby when she saw a woman sitting at Angel’s small conference table alone.

“Hello…” the woman said as she too took her first look up at the intruder.

“Hi…umm…I was looking for Angel.”

“He’s at a lunch conference, but should be back in a few.”

The lady had a British accent, long dark shiny hair, and was wearing a black dress. Buffy never seen this lady in her life and was wondering if she was a customer or a new employee.

“I’m Buffy, Angel’s wife.” She said politely as she walked up to dark beauty and offered her hand.

“Drusilla…” she said with a small smile as he shook her hand, “I’m Angel’s boss.”

‘Okay…weird.’ Buffy thought instantly.

“Boss?” Buffy raised a brow, “Umm…I didn’t realize that---“

“It’s nothing new--I’ve been his boss for seven years, it’s just that I’ve been relocated over here by MY boss.” Drusilla explained.

“Oh…well….welcome.” Buffy smiled nervously.

“It’s nice to put a face to your name. Angel talked of you often when he was over in London.” Drusilla smiled.

“Oh well…I hope they were good comments.” Buffy didn’t really know what to say, she was out of the loop on this whole situation here.

“He hasn’t ever mentioned me has he?” Drusilla asked, but still with a smile as she got up from her seat and walked around the table.

“No…but he often forgets to mention things like this…” Buffy said as she took a peek in the hallway, hoping to spot her husband hovering around somewhere out there.

“Well we can get to know each other better…at the party.” Drusilla said as she walked closer to Buffy and reached out behind her onto Angel’s desk to retrieve a party invite.

“Party?” Buffy looked down at the invitation.

“Yes…didn’t Angel tell you about this?”

“Um…oh course he’s mentioned it.” She lied, “Just didn’t see the invite yet.”

Buffy guessed it was a meet and greet the new employees and their spouse kind of party, being that Drusilla had just moved to America. However, she was a bit skeptical about what she was going to attend when she saw ‘The Midnight Society’ written on the very top of the invite.




TBC...

Chapter 2:


“Hey Fred, can you read this and tell me what you think?” Buffy asked as she sat down in her chair behind the lobby desk.

Fred, who was reading a science magazine while taking her late lunch, glanced up at Buffy reaching out to hand over the party invite she got from Drusilla.

“The Midnight Society?” Fred read aloud the top of the invite with a cocked eyebrow.

“Ya, I’ve never heard of that before. Have you?”

“No, not really.” Fred shook her head but continued to keep reading on the rest of the invitation.

‘Starts at 11pm….’

‘Bring toiletries items…’

‘Provide your own protection…’

“Provide your own protection?” Fred repeated the last line on the bottom of the small designer square card.

“Ya…seems a bit weird, right?” Buffy asked while she opened a new internet terminal and began googling ‘Midnight Society’.

“This is a corporate party?” Fred asked as she put the invitation down and glanced over at Buffy’s computer screen to see what popped up.

“I’m not sure. Drusilla Pratt is hosting this thing; you would think it would be for her employees.” Buffy scrolled down with her mouse to check all the links of the ‘Midnight Society’, all she found was websites related to the show ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’, a kid show that was on during the 90s.

‘Hmmm…’ Buffy thought, ‘Maybe…’

“Do you think they tell ghost stories or…you know… something?” Buffy spun her chair around to look at her friend’s reaction. She knew it was a mistake asking the science queen like Fred when she saw how wide the girl’s eyes got at the idea, perhaps she was thinking a little bit too far out of the box.

“I don’t think so…” Fred shook her head and turned to her own computer screen to start researching the strange party theme. “Did you ask Angel what it was about?”

“He wasn’t upstairs at the time.”

“How about Drusilla? I mean, it is her party. She didn’t give you a clue?”

“No…I kind of told her I knew all about the party, sort of lied to her to make Angel look like a sharing husband kind of guy.” Buffy explained.

After rethinking about what she did and the way it sounded when it came out of her mouth, Buffy thought it was sort of stupid to be covering for how Angel really was when it came to work things. The truth was that he didn’t tell her jack about what happened up on the 20th floor. Whatever was going on up there seemed to stay up there, and Angel didn’t make any exception for his loving wife at all. Willow reassured her it was normal for him to exclude her on that part of his life—that if they started mixing work talk with dinner table talk that fights could start to break out. However, Buffy is starting to rethink that Willow was just saying that to humor her.

“Well you’re going to have to ask Angel, it may be code for something.”

“Code?” Buffy questioned.

“Ya…like it could be a pajama party but just called a different name.”

“A pajama party for a bunch of lawyers?” Buffy rolled her eyes to the side; it seemed that her ghost story party wasn’t looking to weird after all.

“Well it wouldn’t be that, but it could be code for some kind of other theme party. Costume party…Secret Santa, or black tie sort of thing.” Fred explained. “You know…like a formal or something.”

“Oh...well we can role out the Secret Santa one…being that it’s July…”

“Well what’s her personality like? Did that give you a clue to what kind of party she might throw?”

Buffy thought once again about how Drusilla was giving off a weird dark vibes while she was in the room with her. “To tell the truth, she seems like the kind of woman that would hold a vampire meeting in her basement.”

*~*~*~*~*

Later that night in bed, Buffy and Angel talked about Drusilla’s party that was being held that Sunday night.

“You’ll have fun baby, I promise.” Angel said as he kissed her neck. “Just go out and buy a new dress and do something with your hair.”

“But ‘The Midnight Society’?” Buffy once again scrunched up her face in confusion at the name. “I don’t understand that name still.”

“It’s Dru’s little title for her parties because she’s host so many of these….don’t worry about it, you’ll be fine. You’ve been to these kinds of parties before.”

‘I have?’ Buffy leaned away from Angel’s lips so she could have his full attention.

“I have?” she decided to not hold back anymore. Buffy was completely in the dark as to what was going on.

“You said you like swing parties when we were dating.” Angel pointed out.

“That’s what she calls swing parties?” Buffy thought it was it bit weird. ‘So the lady is holding a dance party and can’t actually call it what it sounds like?’ she thought to herself.

“She’s hosted a lot of them—her and her husband.” Angel explained.

“Huh…” Buffy nodded, “She really doesn’t seem like the type that would attend those kinds of parties let alone be hosting them.”

“Well people are just full of surprises you know…” Angel said with a smile as he leaned back in to kiss her, just talking about the party got his motor running.

*~*~~~*~~

All weekend Buffy was prepping for the party, calling Willow to help her go shopping for the perfect dancing dress and shoes, going to the hair salon Sunday morning to get her nails done, eyebrows waxed, and get her hair all fancy and shiny, and going downtown Sunday afternoon to go to the liquor store to get the perfect bottle of wine to present as a gift to Drusilla.

About an hour before the party Buffy pulled out the invitation that she had left in the kitchen and forgot about since Thursday. She felt confident that Angel already told her the jest of the party from their time in bed and that she didn’t need anymore instructions of what to do, but being the cautious person she was she had to double check.

‘Bring toiletries items…’

‘Provide your own protection…’

Buffy froze. Uh-oh, she forgot that little bit of information.

“Protection…protection for what?” Buffy whispered to herself as she went into her bathroom and grabbed her travel cosmetic bag that had all her emergency items if she ever needed to stay somewhere overnight.

‘Oh well, I’ll just borrow someone else’s if I need it.’ She thought to herself.


TBC....

Chapter 3:



“Sweetie?”

“Mmmm?” Angel put his arm around Buffy’s shoulder as they walked down the street toward Drusilla’s house.

Many of the guests had already arrived, parking in Drusilla’s driveway and filling in most of the cul-de-sac around the house. As the couple kept walking they could hear the sound of music and loud playful laughter coming from the party.

“How come you never wanted to dance before tonight?” Buffy asked.

“Dance?”

“I mean I know you’re busy a lot, having late conferences and business trips once a month, but we could have done this a while ago….”

“We could have?” Angel seemed a bit surprised.

“Sure…I mean I didn’t think you’d be interested in this kind of dancing.”

Angel chuckled, “Is that what you call it?”

“Ummm….” Buffy was a little perplexed what he meant by that, “Well ya…that’s what everyone calls it.”

“Okay…we’ll call it dancing…” Angel smiled and gave her shoulder a squeeze.

“I’m just trying to say that we can go out and do this without it being a work event…” Buffy explained.

In fact, Buffy was hoping to get Angel to go to less work social gathers all together, the people at this company shin-digs just made her uncomfortable. It seems that ever year at the company Christmas party she is the one begging to leave early because Lindsey McDonald was chasing after her to look down the front of her dress. Buffy just wished that Angel would make the effort to socialize with people she liked—not with woman named Darla McDonald and Harmony Kendall.

Buffy was putting out hope that she was wrong about Drusilla though, that she wasn’t a weird gothic chick and she was a nice lady that wasn’t trying to chase after her husband like all the other ladies were obviously doing.

“You mean like…go to a public party?”

“Why not?”

Buffy thought it would be fun to give Willow and her other good friend Xander and his wife Anya, a call so they could go out and do something together. Maybe bowling or go to Movies in the Park every weekend, things that were more of a family atmosphere. After taking a step forward and getting her drivers license changed, Buffy thought it would a nice time to start thinking about children.

Angel bit his lip and shook his head at the idea, “I don’t know if I’ve comfortable going to a public club and doing this Buffy…”

‘Okay then, maybe he is shy on the dance floor.’ Buffy thought to herself as they reached the front door and Angel pressed the button to ring the doorbell.

They waited there for a few seconds before Buffy’s eyes bugged out and said, “Oh no! I forgot the bottle of wine and my bag in the car.”

Before Angel got a chance to say anything, the door opened. Drusilla, with a cocktail in her hand, greeted the O’Connors with a smile.

“Angel….” Drusilla’s eyes sparkled when she smiled up at him first before turning to Buffy and giving her a slight ‘hello’ nod, “Buffy…so happy you could make it. Come in, come in.”

“Uh Buffy forgot something in the car Dru.”Angel said and started to back his way down the walk, “I’ll just be a minute; introduce Buffy around.”

Buffy frowned, she hated when he did that sometimes—leaving her in an awkward situation with a complete stranger. Plus, she thought it was bad manners on his part that he would ask his boss to introduce her to people.

“I’ll come with ya sweetie.” Buffy said as she backed away from Drusilla.

“Don’t be ridiculous” Angel waved, “Go and mingle with the others and I’ll be five minutes.”

Buffy couldn’t catch up to him even if she wanted to, not in her heels.

“Come in Buffy, I’ll introduce you around.”

Buffy thought it was seemed sort of funny that Drusilla would be introducing her around to employees—being since she too worked at Wolfram and Hart and that Dru was the one that was new to town.

The two ladies walked away from the foyer and into the main hallway.

“Let me take your coat, sunshine.” Drusilla smiled, “Your dress is very posh…Macy’s?”

Buffy didn’t know whether to be insulted or not. ‘Did Dru find Macy’s posh in a sarcastic way or was Drusilla like her, not caring about the label inside the dress and all about how it looked?’ Buffy thought to herself.

“Umm…Saks…” Buffy decided to not play the Macy’s card and just lie.

“Well it’s just divine…you must show it off to Darla and Harm….” Drusilla smiled a smile that seemed to let on that she knew how Buffy felt about the two ladies.

Buffy was lucky that she had her face turned away when Dru mention those two names, she cringed in disgust instantly. When she turned back around she pasted on a fake smile.

“Oh, I didn’t know they would be attending.”

“Really? Hmmm….well usually everyone guesses they would be the first to attend these sorts of parties, if you know what I mean.” Dru giggled and started to move down the hallway towards the living room where the guests were.

Buffy’s eyes instantly darter to Darla and Harmony as soon as she reached the doorframe. Luckily for her they were distracted by a few gentlemen that were flirting with them.

‘Knew Darla was the queen slut of the company…’ Buffy thought to herself as she narrowed her eyes in at the blonde. She now felt a little bit sorry for Mr. McDonald. I mean, here was Lindsey’s wife, cheating for the world to see while he was back at home on a Sunday night taking care of that new baby boy of theirs.’ If her precious Lindsey knew she was here, flirting with all these other guys he’d---‘

Buffy froze when she saw Lindsey sitting on the sofa. He was squeezed between a redhead and a girl she often saw in the ladies room.

“Everyone, everyone….” Drusilla announced over the party, “Angel and his wife, Buffy, are here….”

Most of the gentlemen around the room gave a leering smile and checked out Buffy’s dress. The petite blonde was very tempted to go back and fetch her coat.

‘What is taking Angel so long?’ she thought as she met eyes with an eye lingering man that looked like he was sixty years old.

“Drinks are over by the bar Buffy.” Drusilla pointed over to the corner where a small crowd was already huddled around. “Is this your first time to this type of party?”

“Umm…well, I haven’t done this in a while.” Buffy said softly as she strolled around the room with Drusilla by her side.

“Oh, well then, I’d advise you to start drinking to calm your nerves, sunshine.” Drusilla said as she held up her cocktail, “I can sympathize with you a little bit actually, for those first few years with William I was off limits to these little gathers, but with time I was back on the horse…” she giggled.

Buffy smiled and nodded, she wasn’t fully paying attention to anything Dru was saying. She was too busy staying clear of men that she saw as a threat to harassing her, which was a bit of a problem because they all looked guilty.

“You know Buffy, you don’t take me as being the swinger type when I first met you.” Drusilla ranted on.

Buffy did a double take at that. “How so?”

“Well, you seem all proper and innocent; having sex with lots of men doesn’t seem like it would be your style.”

There was a pause before Buffy said, “Say what?”



TBC…

Chapter 4:


After a few short words with Drusilla, Buffy was now getting the grand tour of the inside of Drusilla’s guest bathroom.

‘A swinger’s party, for real Buffy?’ she thought to herself, ‘Only your pea sized brain could think you’d be swing dancing…what is this, 1950?’

“Stupid, stupid, stupid…” she muttered to herself.

Things were starting to click from the party invite.

“Protection…” she rolled her eyes at herself when she finally got the full meaning of the word.

“Not protection from the weather if rains…or if you get hurt by someone maybe stepping on your foot during the dance…no, stupid…” she taunted herself aloud, “Protection for those pricks dicks!”

Buffy grabbed the side of the sink and squeezed until her knuckles turned white. When she looked up to see her reflection in the mirror, she couldn’t stop the tears even if she wanted to.

“I’m such a fool.”

A knock came from behind the door and then she heard Angel’s voice, “Buffy? You in there?”

“Yes…” she whispered.

“You okay?”

Buffy was far from okay. She didn’t know how to go out there and handle her husband. Does she go out there and start yelling at him for not being honest with her, tricking her into an evening of cheating without actually cheating because she was suppose to get her jollies too? But then again, how could she yell at him without it being revealed that she was completely stupid to think she was attending just a regular party.

“I’ll be right out.” She said softly.

*~*~*~*~*~

On the coffee table sat a glass fish bowl that contained what looked like earrings.

“Oh good, you’re back.” Drusilla said as she noticed Buffy walked into the room with wobbly legs and a slightly pale face. “We need one of your earrings Buffy.”

Buffy unclipped one of her mother’s pearl earrings and handed it over to Drusilla without a word. Angel came up behind her and whispered in her ear if she was alright. With a slight intake a breath, she shivered at the sound of his voice. Buffy took a step forward, away from his grasp, when he started to rub her lower back.

‘He wants to have sex with someone else.’ She reminded herself. ‘He’s GOING to have sex with someone else. That’s what we are here for….for sex….and in ten minutes it’s going to happen unless you say something.’

“Okay…who wants to go first?” Drusilla asked as she held up the bowl containing all of the dazzling earrings, “Fellas?”

“I’ll go.” Angel walked away from Buffy and up to Drusilla.

Buffy’s heart raced as his hand reached into the bowl and fished around through pearls, diamonds, and dangling earrings.

‘Stop him, stupid, stop him!!!’ her brain told her.

Angel picked out a black diamond stud earring. He turned around and looked from lady to lady until his eyes stopped on Dru.

“Well aren’t I the lucky one?” Dru smiled as she sat the bowl down on the table and linked her arm with Angel’s.

Buffy’s eye twitched and her manicured nails dug into the palms of her hands, looks like Drusilla Pratt was no different then Darla or Harmony, maybe even worse—she got her Angel without even trying.

“Excuse me.” She muttered and turned around on her heels as she went back to the bathroom.

*~~*~*~

“Your husband…is having sex with his boss right now.”

Saying the words out loud made the situation more real. Buffy tugged hard on the line of toilet paper, which was still connected to the scroll from across the bathroom, and started to blow her nose and dab her eyes. Her hair, which was clipped up in the beginning of the night, was now down and messy.

‘Poor Rosita…’ Buffy thought of her hairdresser, ‘She had done such a nice job too.’

Buffy felt that she needed a plan, some sort of idea of what to do now. She thought about setting up camp in the bathroom for the night and worrying about tomorrow when the time came.

‘Have everything I need…’ she thought, ‘Water…the basic necessities…’ she eyed the toilet, ‘And plenty of tissues.’

She tugged hard once again on the strand of toilet paper and bunched it up in her hands.

“All I need is some alcohol and I’ll be set.”

“Umm…hello?” there was a light knock on the door by a man with a British accent, “Miss…”

“Who is it?” her voice was shaky, weak, and broken.

“Are you alright love?” the man asked through the door.

“Just fine…perfect in fact…” she sobbed and laughed at the same time.

“Funny, you don’t seem that perfect at all.”

His voice was gentle and calm. Buffy would appreciate more if she were in a better mood. It was the kind of voice you listened to when bought those books on tape. However, she then remembered that he was one of ‘them’, a swinger from the party that is currently destroying her semi-nice life.

“Do you need anything?” he asked when he didn’t get a response.

‘Ya…’ she thought sarcastically, ‘I need my husband to not be having sex with that gothic chick…and some tequila.’

“I just want to be left alone...you can go, thanks though…” she said through the door.

“Umm…can you open the door for just a minute?”

“Why?” she sniffed.

“Just…just please open the door and I’ll leave you alone. I promise.”

With a sigh, Buffy got up off the cold tile floor that she was sitting on and unlocked the bathroom door.

“Hi…” he said with a shy smile.

He was dressed in black slacks and a red buttoned down shirt. His hair was brown and slightly curly. The cheekbones were to die for and so were his bright blue eyes. If Buffy were to guess his age she would have to say early to mid thirties, like her. She didn’t notice him at the party when she entered the house earlier when all the dickheads were drooling at her dress and long legs.

She decided not to answer his polite greeting; she was too numb and pissed off at everyone in this house to follow the rules of proper manners.

“I just wanted to return this.”

In his palm rested Buffy’s mother’s pearl earring for her to take. Buffy glanced down at it before looking up to meet his eyes.

‘That would mean…he’s my…’

“I’m William Pratt…”


TBC…….

Chapter 5:



Each one of them had a story to share.

‘He said it would make us closer…’

Everyone had their excuses.

‘We just needed a little more excitement, you know, a spark to keep us going…’

After a while the responses to William’s question of ‘Why are you here tonight?’ seemed to pretty much blend together with answer to the last swinger he met.

‘Are we going to do this or what?’

*~*~*~*~*~

“I’m William Pratt.”

She didn’t answer. She didn’t blink. She did nothing but stare at him.

“Uh…ya…look—“ he started.

“So you got me huh?” Buffy interrupted, “I’m your partner.”

William took note that her eyes were blood shot and that her hair was in disarray. As he looked over her shoulder he saw strands of toilet paper covering the bathroom floor.

“Miss…”

“Misses…” Buffy corrected harshly, “I’m Mrs. Buffy O’Connor, Mr. Pratt.”

William was sure she was going to hit him, that look in her eye and the way her body shook with rage made him pretty sure she was going to snap.

“Mrs. O’Connor…”

He didn’t get another word in edgewise after that. Buffy snatched her earring out of his hand and stepped back to slam the bathroom door.

*~*~*~*~

Her black leather high heels were neatly placed on top of the rim of the bathtub, lined up one behind the other. The plastic shower curtain was ripped from the rings from a spontaneous burst of rage. On the ground, on top of the white shaggy rug, Buffy’s pink painted toe nailed feet were sprawled out as she propped herself up against the locked door.

Her tired eyes shifted from the night time sky outside the small window to the small tiny clock that sat on the shelf next to the mirror.

‘2:42 am’

Ten minutes later than the last time she checked.
She groaned and closed her heavy eyes once again.

*~*~*~*~

A light tapping noise from the other side of the door where Buffy’s head leaned back against, jolted her out of her sleepy trace and crawl back away from the door in a bit of panic. She looked back over to clock to read the time; it had been two hours since she slammed the door in Mr. Pratt’s face and she hadn’t heard a peep out of him since then.

“Buffy?”

It was him again.

‘He’s still trying to get sex out of me…’ her eyes widen at the thought.

She figured he went off to bed in one of the vacated rooms in the house—giving up when he realized he had been paired with an unwilling partner.

‘That asshole…’ she thought, ‘He promised to leave.’

“Go away!” she called.

“I’m just checking in to see if you’re okay pet.”

‘Sure he is…’ she thought sarcastically.

“Get away from me…” she took one of her shoes and threw it at the white painted door and caused a little dent.

‘Good Buffy, show him you have no problem with violence…’ She told herself, ‘Show him no mercy…you took those kickboxing classes for a reason, for men like him.’

“Look love, I’m not going to hurt you…I promise…” he said calmly.

On the opposite side of the bathroom door, in the main hallway, William slid down the wall adjacent to the room she was hiding in. He was well determined to get his story straight with this girl.

“Don’t take this personal…but I don’t believe you.”

After a beat she whispered to herself, “I can’t even trust my own husband.”

William wanted to comment on that last statement, he heard very clearly through the door. However, he let it be…for now.

“Look, pet, I don’t force myself on girls…I’m not so desperate to have sex that I’d do that to you. I’m not that type of guy.”

Buffy bit her lip; the tears were starting up once again.

“Why won’t you leave?” She asked quietly as she wiped her streaming tears with the back of her hand before grabbing a bunch of toilet paper to dry her eyes.

William sighed and said, “I can’t, I sort of have this weakness for girls that cry…can’t bloody stand it.”

“Then you must be helpless as a newborn baby…” she joked as she yanked a black towel from the towel rack and covered her cold bare legs.

He laughed and smiled, “Ya…you pretty much hit the nail on the head there love…”

‘Good, progress…’ William thought to himself, ‘I can deal with baby steps…’

“Well I’m sorry if I’m such a nuisance to you Mr. Pratt…if I feel the need to get weepy I’ll make sure to turn on the shower or flush the toilet while doing so.” She said bitterly.

‘Okay…’ he thought, ‘…two steps forward resulted in five steps back…I'm going to get no where with her at this rate.’

“You’re not a nuisance Buffy…I know why you’re upset.”

“Oh do you now?” she scoffed out.

“Doesn’t take a bloody genius to know that you weren’t expecting to come here tonight.” William explained, “He-he tricked you into coming didn’t he?”

Buffy didn’t answer for a moment, she wanted to choose her words carefully, “I wouldn’t call it tricked…it’s more like...trapped. He trapped me.”

“I know the feeling…” William whispered.

“Stop that!” she yelled.

“What?”

“Stop trying to relate to me…you don’t know a damn thing about what I’m going through!” She took her other shoe and threw it at the door.

‘Okay…no more Mr. Nice Guy…if she gets to be pissed off and direct all her anger towards me then I can do the same to her.’ he thought.

“I think we can relate pretty well pet since our partners are down the hall fucking each other.” He retorted harshly.

It was a low shot and he knew it. Plus, it didn’t help him feel better at all; if anything it made matters worse.

“Oh good, we found common ground between us….lets be best buds, or better yet, lets go have sex on the couch in the living room…after all, that is what everyone expects us to be doing now since you’re my stupid partner.” She said sarcastically.

He let out a long tired sigh, “I’m not going to have sex with you, Buffy.”

“That’s what you want me to think…then as soon as you get on my good side you’ll slip me something in my drink and away to happy land you’ll go!”

Buffy waited for a nasty remark back, but when she didn’t get one…

“William?”

She tried again.

“William?”

Buffy listened for a moment before she got to her feet and leaned her ear against the door to see if she could hear him.

Nothing….

He left.



TBC....

Chapter 6:



The Pratt family living room looked awfully big when only one lone man was there. From the main hallway leading into the room, his frame looked small by the way his body was hunched over the coffee table as he sat on the black leather couch. He was smoking silently and keeping an eye on the melting ice in his empty drink. Buffy’s eyes were fixated on his hands tapping out the ashes from his cigarette into an ashtray before going back for another puff.

“You know those things will kill you.” Buffy said quietly from the doorway.

William looked up across the room and saw her shying away.

“I know…” he muttered, “…and I’ve made my peace with that about ten years ago.”

“Is that when you started smoking?”

“Hardly…” he crunched the bud out in the crystal glass disk, “Started when I was thirteen, quit after my very first cigarette. I was twenty nine when I was reunited with the habit…I didn’t seem to notice the bad taste. I was at my very first swingers party… and that was ten years ago.”

“You’re thirty nine?” Buffy asked after she did a little bit of elementary math.

“Next month I will be…” he nodded and got up to his feet.

“You don’t look it…you look younger” she muttered truthfully.

‘Angel was thirty when I saw him starting to sport his gray hair….’ She noted to herself, ‘And after tonight I will not be surprised if I find a few grays of my own.’

“Thanks…” he replied to her compliment, “It has to be genetic, my dad is hitting seventy and he still looks like he’s fifty.”

“I’m sorry…”

Buffy knew she had to apologize to this man before leaving the house. She knew she was wrong to judge him and act nasty to him when all he was trying to do was make her feel less crappy about the situation; make her feel less uncomfortable. He failed doing so in the process, but she appreciated the effort.

“It’s okay.” He said quietly.

“No, I was out of line back there…”

William shrugged, “Just a bit…but you have a reason to be.”

“Bet this wasn’t what you were expecting tonight huh?”

“What did you think I was expecting Buffy?”

‘Please don’t make me say it…’ she wished.

“Well…you-you know…” she stammered

“Look, Buffy, I think you—“

“No.” she raised her hand and shook her head to stop him before he could start, “Let’s just leave it…please…”

“But—“

“I just want to go home and…and…” ‘Cry.’ She automatically thought.

“So you’re just going to leave without your husband?”

“Yes…”

Buffy didn’t need to ponder that issue for a second.

“You know it’s kind of a rule to stay the night and leave with your partner in the morning after.” William informed her.

“Oh…I see, this is a swinger party rule huh? So I have to stay here until he’s finished? Hmmm…” Buffy put her finger to her lip to act like she was thinking for about three seconds, “No…” she started to shake her head, “….I don’t think I’ll be doing that.”

‘Like he could keep it up all night anyway…’ the little voice criticized her husband’s sexual skills.

Buffy walked over to a seat nearest to her and started to slip on her shoes that had been dangling from her fingers.

“So you want me to leave a message for him in the morning or…?” William shrugged.

“You don’t have to tell him anything…”

‘But if you want, you can punch him in the gut a few times…’ she thought to herself. Buffy looked up at William’s biceps and rose an eyebrow at how fit he was, ‘And I also suggest to not hold anything back, use all those muscles….flex every single one of them…’

“How you going to get home?” he asked.

Buffy froze as she slipped on her left shoe. ‘Oh crap…’

“Shoot!” she yelped, “He has the car keys.”

William bit his lip, he didn’t know if he should do this our not.

"Here."

William reached into his casual pants and pulled out a hundred dollar bill and sat it on the arm rest of her seat.

“What’s this?”

“I’m figuring you don’t want me to drive you…so its cab fare.”

Buffy picked up the bill carefully and examined it in her hand.

“And you just happen to walk around with a hundred dollar bill everyday in your pocket?”

“It’s for you regardless…so take it.”

Buffy quickly rose from her chair so she could look him straight in the eye, which was sort of hard considering she only had one shoe on.

“What do you mean it’s for me…’regardless’…?”

“I was trying to tell you before, pet”

“Tell me what?”

“That I wasn’t going to have sex with you.” William explained.

Buffy looked down at Mr. Ben Franklin for a moment before looking back at William with confusion.

“I’m not following.” She admitted.

“You’re not the only one that believes that a marriage is loving and making love to one person…” William started, “Dru may give herself away easily…but for me, I can’t. That’s just not me…and it never will be me.”

To say that Buffy was shocked would be an understatement.

“So the money is for?” she whispered.

“My partner…guess you can say it’s a little payoff to keep quiet.” William explained as he reached into his black pants and revealed two more hundred dollar bills, “Well, I guess a big payoff.”

Buffy stared at the twin Ben Franklin's in awe. ‘He really does this…’ she thought to herself.

“So… you give three hundred dollars to ever girl you get, you don’t sleep with them, and Drusilla doesn’t know?”

“She never brought it up.”

“I still don’t understand.” Buffy shook her head.

William bounded his head, “Didn't think you would.”

“Why would you—“

“Why would I go along with these swinger parties if I didn’t want to sleep with someone?” he finished for her.

Buffy nodded sadly.

“Guess I was like you… sort of trapped.”

“Trapped for ten years?” Buffy cried.

She was starting to get upset again, but this time it was for him…for what he was doing to himself.

‘Why didn’t he go?’ she asked herself, ‘Why is he still here?’ 'If he couldn't leave was there any hope for me to get out?'

“No” he disagreed, “Trapped only applied to the first year…the last nine, I was just...lost…”

Buffy continued to frown and let tears hit her cheek, “Then maybe you should start looking for a way out now?”

“It’s not that simple…”

“It never is…but you need to get out of here.” Buffy looked around the house and started to feel very cold again
.
‘We both do…’ she thought to herself.


TBC....

Chapter 7:



Buffy hung up the phone after she made a quick call to a cab service. With her coat in one hand and her cosmetic bag in the other, she walked back into the living room.

“William?” she called out when she realized he was no where in sight.

Buffy’s eye caught the movement of the red curtains across the room; they moved a bit after a summer breeze got caught drifting inside. She ventured closer and noticed that there were two French doors leading out onto a small balcony.

“William?” she pushed one of the doors opened and saw him leaning his arms on the iron rail.

“You call your cab?” he asked.

“It will be here in twenty minutes.”

“That’s good…I’d offer to take you home myself but my car is sort of blocked in.”

Buffy remembered the number of cars piled up in the Pratt driveway. ‘Poor man, he couldn’t leave even if he wanted…’ she thought to herself.

“It’s okay…”

She moved up beside him and looked out into the backyard. After a small hill that scaled downward, Buffy saw that there was a pool and playground set.

“You and Dru…you don’t have children, do you?”

William looked at her with confusion before looking out to see that she must have saw the little slide and swing set in the corner of the yard.

“No, we don’t….that was here when we bought the house a month ago…” William explained, “Not sure what to do with it now…”

“You don’t want kids?”

“I…I don’t think we are going to have any.” William whispered as he moved back from the rail and sat down in one of the two cushioned chairs that were set on the balcony.

“That’s not what I asked…” Buffy said as she frowned down at him.

“I think we should wait inside so you don’t miss your cab.” He started to get up and make an exit back into the living room, but Buffy blocked his path.

“We can hear the doorbell from here.” She argued, “Besides…I think you should talk to someone about your…well…” Buffy searched through her mind for the right words, “…your—“

“Unwillingness to leave my wife when I should?”

‘Man, it sounds like I have a disease…’ William thought to himself when he heard what he just said.

“…your words, not mine.” Buffy pointed out.

“It’s not like I haven’t tried to leave, Buffy…because I have, I tried many times and only got half way out the door.”

“What stopped you?”

“Would it sound lame if I were to say…me?”

Buffy paused and though about it, she gave him a small ‘I’m-sorry-but-I’m-going-to-say-something-you-don’t-like smile’ and muttered, “Kind of…”

Despite of what she said, he too gave her a small smile, “Not going to hold it against you, love.”

“Care to explain?”

“Well…when I met Drusilla, I kind of wasn’t what I am today…”

“Meaning?”

‘Was he geeky?’

“I kind of was a punk.”

“Punk? Like a punk rapper like LL Cool Jay?” Buffy needed him to narrow this down a bit, because it was kind of hard for her to visualize him as some sort of rap artist.

He laughed, “No, pet; less LL Cool Jay and more Billy Idol wannabe.”

“Oh…”

It didn’t take long for Buffy to magically convert William’s hair into bleach blonde and give him an earring on his earlobe inside her mind. ‘Hmm…I can see it…’ she thought to herself, ‘I can see it and I don’t think it would look ridiculous.’

“You’re imagining the hair, aren’t you?” William smiled when he saw Buffy’s eyes drift off like she was in some sort of daydream.

Buffy blushed and turned away from him for a moment.

“No…” she lied.

“Come on, you’re mildly curious aren’t you?”

Buffy looked back at him, she still couldn’t shake her visualization of him dressed as the 1980s rock star.

“Just a bit.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell.” He smiled.

‘Wouldn’t matter if you did…’ Buffy thought to herself sadly, ‘Angel doesn’t care what I’m doing now. At the moment I have no macho jealous husband that is suppose to kick a guy’s ass for flirting with her…’ Buffy’s eyes widen a bit— not that she was flirting with William at all or vice versa. ‘Blushing did not equal flirting…’ she argued with her subconscious.

“Anyway…” she breathed out and started to change the subject, “You were saying…”

“Ya well…I was a punk and played music in a band back in England.”

“Really?” Buffy sounded impressed and fascinated.

“Ya, but not long, just for two years.”

“Two years more than most musicians get.” She pointed out.

William shrugged shyly; he wasn’t use to compliments. Drusilla never seemed to be big on the support wagon when it came to his music.

“What instrument did you play?” she asked.

Buffy knew she kept drawing him away from the point of his story, but she couldn’t help herself. Conversations at home were becoming dry and boring with Angel, too much about work, and none of Buffy’s friends were doing anything exciting at the moment, so she needed this kind of person to relieve her of the dullness she was stuck in.

“Guitar…and I sang.”

‘A British singer, for real? What the hell is wrong with Dru?’ Buffy now thought the dark haired vampire girl named Mrs. Pratt was clearly crazy, ‘Why do you need a swinger party when you’re married to a singer in a band? ‘

“Oh…” Buffy smiled and tried to act as cool as she could.

“I wasn’t that good…just…” he stopped himself before he could embarrass himself further, “Anyway…”

‘If his voice was as calm and gentle as I’m hearing now I would beg to differ.’ Buffy thought as she once again noted his blue eyes and sharp cheekbones. The handsomeness that is this man seemed to be flooding out of his body as he kept talking about his hobbies and about himself. The only thing that could make her frown was his lack of confidence that he had with himself.

The doorbell rang before William could continue any further.

They both turned toward the inside of the house in surprise.

“That’s my cab.” Buffy muttered.

“Right…” William said with a frown when he watched her walk way from him.

William heard the front door open and close as he turned away and leaned his arms back on the iron rail. He could hear the silence screaming inside the house now for a brief moment...

His head snapped up and he straightened his slumped over state when he heard her.

“Sorry…just had to tell him to go.” Buffy gestured to the cab driver that rang the bell.

“Tell him to…? I mean, you’re—you’re not going to go?” he stammered.

“Even though I’m not too fond of your home at the moment, for obvious reasons, I don’t want to leave you here alone—alone with THEM in the morning.”

Buffy nodded up to the second floor, where all the partiers were, when she muttered the word ‘them’.

“You don’t have to love…really, I’m used to—“

Buffy stepped up and brought her finger to his lips, “Shhh…that’s the problem, your use to this treatment that she's giving you and it’s wrong. I want to be your friend William…and I want to help you…but this can’t be a one sided thing, I’ll need you to want to help yourself. I mean…do you want out of this?”

William’s eyes followed her finger as she lifted it from his lips.

“Yes…” he breathed out.

“But what about you love?” William asked when he looked up to meet her eyes, “What about your husband?”

Buffy didn’t want to think about Angel at the moment. She didn’t know if things could be pieced back together and fixed with her husband, or if he was a lost cause from the get go. She knew that William would call her a hypocrite if she were to say that she wanted to try and fix things and play veterinarian for a while, to see if there was a cure yet for changing a leopards spots.

So, instead of settling for being called a fool and a chicken, she lied. “Angel and I are over.”

William’s lips lifted up into a genuine smile. He felt this wave of relief wash over him when he knew he wasn’t going to go through this alone.



TBC…

Chapter 8:



Buffy was anxious, too anxious, and she only hoped William didn’t notice as he searched carefully through his desk for something. They both were currently in William’s work study; Buffy was admiring his Shakespeare collection on his bookcase and trying hard not to think about what was going on upstairs. Up until now, all the petite blonde felt for her husband was rage and betrayal. It was only until William brought up the subject of her actually leaving Angel, that she started to feel a little panicked.

‘I’ve been with Angel for nine years…nearly a decade…that’s not something I can just get over in a single weekend.’ Buffy thought to herself and then glanced at the clock hanging on the wall.

‘3:55am…in less than 6 hours he’ll be down here…with HER… and wanting to go home…home, expecting them to get on with our lives…probably asking me if he wanted to attended another party, oh god!’

Buffy felt started to feel a little light headed, her heart started to speed up. She spared a glance behind her shoulder to see if William could hear her pounding heart and smell her fear. She was afraid. She was afraid of what’s going to happen tomorrow and next week and next month. ‘Can I leave him?’ she asked herself, ‘Can I really be that brave to walk away from him and be alone…not lean on him like as if he was a security blanket?’ Buffy thought of her mother for a brief moment, and remembered a conversation she had while back when she was dating Angel.

‘You have the chance to break the curse of bad marriages, Buffy…your grandmother was treated like crap by my father—she didn’t have the opportunity to even run away from him because she didn’t know how to drive a car. And I admit that I crumbled when your father left and you were my solid rock that I held onto, even though you were 15 years old. But now…now, you have a chance to change that. Give your children a happy childhood by showing them you love your husband and he loves and respects you. Give them the childhood that we never got. Get the love that you deserve.’

It felt like a weight was forever put on Buffy’s shoulders after that little heart to heart with her mom.

Buffy jumped when she felt a hand on her bare shoulder.

“You alright?” William asked when she turned around to face him.

“Ya…just….ya, I am.” Buffy shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts of her anxiety.

“You sure? You look a little flushed love.” William said with concern, “You need some water?”

“Water would be good.” She said quietly with a nod. Buffy thought it was best that he step out of the room for a moment so she could collect herself, make sure she doesn’t break down in front of him.

“I’ll go get you some…umm…here.” William awkward handed over a book to Buffy. “You can look at it if you like while I’m gone.”

“What’s this?”

Buffy read the golden words curved on the leather material outside the book, ‘Photo Album’. She looked up at him with a quizzical brow.

“Thought that would cheer you up…you were wondering about my hair before....well, take a peek and have a laugh.” He shrugged as he exited out of the room to fetch her water.

Buffy watched William’s backside as he left her alone in his study. She thought he was an odd sort of man. He seemed to have good social skills when he was with her but there was still something about him that was didn’t seem to fit. Like showing her a photo album to a person he just met tonight?

‘God Buffy, give the guy a break…for ten years he’s been mistreated by his wife. That’s bound to leave a person a bit damaged.’ Buffy thought as she sat down on a black leather chair next to the bookcase. ‘Besides, all he’s trying to do is make me feel better…make me smile…what’s wrong with that?’

*~*~*~*~*~*

Buffy’s fingers slid over William smiling face in the photo, standing with a few of his band mates at what looked like a night club. Her lips curled into a smile when she recalled her daydream of him with bleached blonde hair.

“Whatever possessed you to do that?” Buffy laughed as she looked up at William sitting beside her, on the armrest, looking over her shoulder as she flipped through the pictures.

“The hair? I don’t know…just felt right…” he shrugged.

“So you were a punk…in a band…” Buffy summarized, “Lead singer…so, how did this man.” She tapped on the picture in the book, “Turn into this guy here?” Buffy looked back up at William’s brown curly hair with a smile.

William frowned, “Not a very wonderful transformation huh?”

He got up off the armrest and walked around his study, looking over his hundreds of books on his shelves. His eyes darted up to his poetry collection on the top shelf, where no one could reach them.

“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that at all…” Buffy argued as she shut the album and sat it next to her.

‘Why does he keep putting himself down?’ Buffy thought to herself, ‘Doesn’t he have any confidence left inside of him, or did Drusilla take that away as well?’

“Are you going to tell me why it’s so hard for you to leave her now?” Buffy whispered.

“I don’t even know if I have a legitimate reason why I’m staying with her…it’s just…I’m almost 40 and I feel like I never really accomplished anything. My music never got a jump start, never made it out of little gigs at clubs…my writing probably would never get as far as I’d like it to be…” he sighed.

“You write?”

Buffy wasn’t too surprised, with William’s collection of books surrounding him and inspiring him, she could definitely see him pick up a pen and scribble out his own ideas.

“Nothing too exciting…just stories…thoughts…”

‘Okay, this is ridiculous…this man needs to a support mechanism, now!’ she thought as she got up off the couch and moved closer to him.

“Has anyone read it?”

“Drusilla read a bit…nothing recent.”

‘I wouldn’t blame you…’ Buffy thought, she could easily see now that there could be a nasty side to that dark gothic chick.

“Well…maybe you need a second opinion.”

William turned around fully to look at her.

“I-I...I-I don’t know…I wouldn’t want you to waste your time with something that-that probably isn’t even internet worthy…”

‘Internet worthy?’ Buffy thought that was a little bit weird, a little bit nerdy... but it only captivated her more to read something he wrote. Maybe it would help him rediscover himself; help him move forward, help her move forward.

“Is it that or are you scared of what I’ll think?”

“I’m terrified of what you’ll think.” He admitted quickly.

‘Terrified? Of little old me, that dropped out of college, settled for a man like Angel O’Conner, and thought she was actually going to a dance party tonight?’

“You don’t have to be afraid of me…”

William begged to differ, this woman was frightening. The way she was gentle with his feelings and was encouraging him, William couldn’t remember the last time he had someone like that in his life.

“Please…” Buffy smiled sweetly for him.

William pondered the thought for a moment before looking up at her and nodding. “But…don’t read it here…take it with you…”

Buffy agreed. She watched him go around his desk and open up his bottom draw to retrieve a blue folder. With a little hesitation, William handed over his most personal position to Buffy.




TBC…

Chapter 9:



“You alright Buffy?” Willow asked when she saw her friend’s tired and worried face, “You haven’t touched your pancakes.”

“I’m not that hungry anymore.”

Buffy’s appetite has been scarce for the last few days. After the party, she and Angel went home to discuss their late night activities they had.

*~*~*~*~*

“What’s wrong baby?” Angel asked when he spotted Buffy’s frustrated face. “Didn’t you have any fun last night?”

“No…not really…” she bit the inside of her cheek, restraining herself from going off and yelling at him.

“Who were you partnered with?”

“William Pratt.”

”Dru’s husband?”

“Yes…what do you think about that?” she asked as she eyed his every movement. Angel was on thin ice, and if he slipped up just once he was bound to be in deep deep trouble.

Buffy deep down hoped that he was angry at the situation, mad that someone other than him was touching her intimately.

“I’m thinking…I’m sorry you didn’t get a good pick.”

“What?”

Buffy was fuming when she heard Angel insult William.

“Dru and him have been having problems…you know, in the bedroom department.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, were these words actually coming out of his mouth?

“So what, she’s been open about these types of things with you—discussing her personal marriage with her employee?” Buffy argued, “Seems a little bit unprofessional, don’t you think?”

“She needed someone to talk to Buffy.” He sighed.

“OH I’m sure she did…” Buffy scoffed out bitterly, “That woman has no respect for William at all.”

“Oh, so he’s talked with you and you think that’s appropriate?”

Buffy narrowed her eyes at him, ‘Careful Angel, careful…’ she thought to herself, ‘You turn this thing around on me and I’ll bring you down.’ She would have been happy any day of the week if Angel fought for her on the subject of her conversing personally with another man, but now…now, his response only got her fired up.

“I didn’t need to speak with him. I can just take one look at him and could see that your boss doesn’t appreciate what she has.”

“Buffy, the man is a wounded puppy.”

Buffy shook her head at Angel and left the room without uttered another word to him. “Ya, and I wonder who ran him over” she muttered to herself as she went up the stairs.

*~*~*~*~*

It had been 2 long nights since then. The first night Buffy didn’t even sleep in the same room with him. The next night she was hesitant, but she still somehow managed to get under the covers with him. She didn’t know why she did it, perhaps she just felt stressed knowing that things were broken in her home. Buffy only got into that bed because she wanted to see if there was an ounce of normality left in their master bedroom—if things could ever be the same again. She didn’t let him touch her at all, they calmly conversed but that was it.

“Are you and Angel having problems?” Willow took a guess.

Buffy wanted to come clean and flat out say ‘yes’, but decided to hold back a bit.

“Let’s just say the party wasn’t too grand.” Buffy sadly said as she dumped cream into her coffee and started to stir with a spoon.

“What happened?”

Sparing a glance at an elderly couple behind Willow’s shoulder, eating their breakfast in the next booth, and spying to see a young family at the table across from them, Buffy refused to discuss this in public.

“Umm…not here.” Buffy said as she shot Willow a look that said that this was neither the place nor the time.

“Oh, got it.” Willow said with a nod, understanding completely the situation.

“How are you and Oz doing?” Buffy changed the subject.

Willow smiled dreamily, one that Buffy would kill to be doing at this moment.

“Great…he’s playing in Seattle next week and San Francisco the week after. After that, he’s all mine for 3 months. “Willow smiled.

“I’m happy for you Wills…” Buffy said truthly.

‘Everyone deserves some happiness…’

*~*~*~*~

Buffy didn’t feel like going home straight after work. Driving home to an empty house and waiting a few hours for Angel to come stumbling in asking for dinner wasn’t what she needed tonight. She drove around the city for a while, finding herself down near Santa Monica and down near the beach. When Buffy got out of her car and started to walk, she carried William’s writing folder with her.

After that night with William she didn’t go home and automatically read his work. Her mind was still preoccupied with leaving Angel and trying to find the courage to tell Willow what happened at the party so she could have a shoulder to lean on. For the time being Buffy placed William’s folder in a place that Angel couldn’t ever find it and promised to read it soon as she was in a relax state of mind. Before she left the Pratt house, before even the partiers were away and coming down the stairs, William told her to give him a call when she was finished if she liked it. And if she didn’t like it…well, he asked her to mail it to him.

The sun was slowly setting over the Pacific Ocean when Buffy glanced up from her spot on a bench adjacent to the beach. She slipped off her shoes and brought her feet up to tuck under her legs. Buffy reached for William’s folder beside her and started to read.

*~*~*~*~*

The lights of the boardwalk were starting to flicker on as the sun went down. Buffy sat inside her car and watched the people on the beach walk by. A bunch of kids were having a small bonfire about ¼ of a mile away, pet owners were walking their dogs, and a few late night joggers were sprinting parallel to the shore.

Buffy’s phone vibrated in her hand. She took a quick look at the ID before answering.

“You here?” she asked instantly as soon as she picked up.

“Good…” she muttered softly, “I’m in a red Pacifica near the Pier…okay…I’ll be waiting…”

*~*~*~*~

Buffy watched through her rear view mirror as a car pull up behind her, the headlights on the black Mustang were blinding. With a deep sigh Buffy got out of the car and turned to her guest.

“Hello Buffy…”

“Hello Dru…”



TBC…

Chapter 10:



Buffy shut the front door to her house and secured the lock with a snap. It was late, near midnight as she walked through the door. Her palm rested on the middle of the door as she leaned against it, trying to compose herself. She couldn’t believe what she just did. Was she crazy for calling that witch to converse with her, trying to find out the truth from someone that was a complete stranger to her—someone like Drusilla, Angel’s once in a while random lover and William’s abuser?

*******

Buffy thought it was unnecessary to beat around the bush when Drusilla stepped closer to her. ‘That’s far enough you bitch...’ Buffy thought as she eyed the earrings Angel picked out of the jar clipped into the black witch’s ears.

“Do you know how your husband feels about your party’s?”

“Mmmm…here because of your concern for him or are you mad because he didn’t sleep with you, that he wouldn’t touch you?” Drusilla smiled, “My William is a loyal fool, a fool in love with me.”

‘So she does know about the payoff....damn it William, she knows, she knows and doesn’t seem to care!’

”And I see you have taken that to your advantage.”

”Naughty naughty Buffy, you don’t get to judge me…you’ve known me for how long?”

”I don’t need time to spot out a dark haired she devil like you.” Buffy forgot all about Drusilla’s title at the company, this was personal, if this turned into fighting cavewoman style then so be it.

Drusilla narrowed her eyes, “Your husband seems to think differently. He calls me his ‘Dark Queen’.”

Buffy took in a steady breath, she wasn’t ready for that. She should have known better to be prepared for these types of comebacks when she called Drusilla here.

“Do you know that he made me come 5 times the other night?”

‘The way he moves I could barely get out one.’ Buffy thought to herself as she eyed Drusilla up and down, ‘Did this girl get fucked so many times by men that she doesn’t know what a real orgasm is anymore?’

“No snappy come back?” Drusilla asked after Buffy hadn’t said anything for a minute.

“You can’t hurt me Dru…I willing went to the party, remember?”

‘She couldn’t hurt me anymore than already am’ she remembered herself.

“I knew what I was getting into”, Buffy lied.

“You did?” Drusilla asked with a smirked and took a step closer to the blonde. “Funny…you seemed a bit upset when Angel picked my earring.”

“It was mere luck…” Buffy muttered, “He picked you, nothing I could do but accept it…” ‘Even though I know that wasn’t true.’ she admitted to herself, ‘You had your chance to stop him and you didn’t take it.’

“Buffy, Buffy, Buffy…you don’t have to put on your sunshine happy face for me…I know a bit more than you do at this moment in fact…no use hiding anything from me…”

Buffy let out a shaky breath, she didn’t like where this was going.

“What do you know?” Buffy muttered.

“I know more than you—“

“What?!!! ...do....you...know.” Buffy snapped at first, but managed to cool herself down after she took a few seconds to compose her anger.

Drusilla smiled, “You know, I’ve been vice president of the firm for 11 years…8 years over your husband Angel…8 years…OVER Angel, and a few times under him if he got lucky.”

It was like a freight train raced by, pounded through Buffy’s scull, and taking every thought out of her head completely. The only sound left inside her head was her subconscious screaming.

Buffy still could hear a buzzing sound in her ear from the shock she endured by just being told a simple statement. She wondered when the pain in her head would stop, when she would be able to think clearly again. Buffy knew for a fact that she wasn’t thinking clearly when she was with Drusilla, because no one in their stable state of mind would do what she did…

“I—I—“

Buffy couldn’t breathe evenly; it became hard all of a sudden to focus on the witch standing before her.

“It comes as a shock to you dear?” Drusilla smiled. Smiling evilly, looking at Buffy as if she was a desperate choking person that needed help and wasn’t receiving it. “He’s a naughty naught boy…best correct him…best—“

“I—I—I knew.” She blurted out.

“…pardon?” Drusilla narrowed her eyes in on Buffy.

“You think I’m stupid, of course I knew he was sleeping around…” she lied, and let out a sarcastic snort, trying to be convincing—trying her hardest to not let Drusilla get the satisfaction from the disbelief that she was experiencing.

“You knew?”

“Of course!! I knew all along! He goes and has his fun on the side while I go and have mine! You think I’m that stupid to not know what has been going on under my own roof?!"

Drusilla tilted her head, studying the petite. She still didn’t believe her.

“So, you knew that he brought random girls to my parties in London just so he could have a partner to switch with?” Drusilla pushed and eyed Buffy carefully.

Buffy didn’t blink; she was too empty now to show anymore emotions. “Sure, we sometimes split a box of condoms together. One for his fling, one for mine…”

‘Okay, going too far…she never would buy that.’ Buffy’s screaming subconscious finally stopped and decided to speak up.

“So, you wouldn’t mind if we had another party? This weekend?” Drusilla knew how to play hardball, the black haired swinger was now excited to throw Buffy a curve ball just to make her life a little bit more interesting.

“This weekend?”

“Why not Friday night?” Drusilla’s doe eyes narrowed. She was challenging the Buffy and Buffy knew it. “Unless…you have a reason—“

”Why not do it at my house?” the words were too quick for Buffy to stop them.

‘Stop, stop talking! Take it back! What, are you crazy?!’ her mind was screaming. But it was too late, Buffy’s mouth had a brain of its own.

“That would be…” Dru smirked, “delightful…”


******

Buffy climbed the steps with William’s folder clenched in her hand. ‘What did I get myself into? What did I get William into?’ she asked herself multiple times since she parted ways with Drusilla. Once she was on the top of the stairs she looked down the hallway and toward the master bedroom door. It was open and she could see Angel snoring away in there.

‘Bastard....you piece of shit…you scum bucket….’ Her mind started drilling up insults that she couldn’t say aloud.

She walked toward their bedroom slowly, looked at him one more time, and then turned into the guest bedroom and shut the door.



TBC....

Chapter 11:



Buffy was lying under the covers in the guest bedroom bed, wondering how she got this far, how did she manage to screw herself over.

‘This is my fault…ALL my fault…’ she thought to herself.

“But how could that be if Angel was the one who cheated?” she asked herself out loud.

‘Duhhhh, because he thought you had casual sex before and you didn’t tell him the truth, you didn’t speak up and tell him—‘

“Shut up!” she yelled at herself. “He cheated! Angel cheated!” Buffy beat her hands over the covers in frustration, “He is more at fault here! He was into this for years…sleeping around for years!” She let out a sigh, “Stupid brain…”

‘But it’s your fault that you got into this mess with Drusilla.’ Her brain pointed out.

“I thought I told you to shut up.” Buffy mumbled.

‘It’s not my fault that you’re going crazy, having a conversation with your subconscious.’

“Ya…” Buffy let out a sigh. “But I need someone to talk to…I certainly can’t talk to anyone else about this…”

‘How about William?’

“William…”

Buffy turned on her side and looked over at the nightstand, over at William’s folder. Her memory of his writings made her ache inside. Ache for him. Everything inside that folder seemed to sadden her, make her feel for the man that was living in a world where he didn’t have much to look forward to. Living in a world where he never was given the love he deserved.

‘He needs you Buffy…’ the little voice inside her head that was pestering her a few seconds ago said. ‘And you need him…’

“You’re right…”

*~*~*~*~*~*

In the light of day, William looked like any other ordinary guy. He really didn’t stand out from anyone else at the library, except for the fact that he was working behind the main desk and checking out books. He seemed less tense around the college students that came up and talked to him, asking for his help. William even displayed a little smile when a female student came up to him and asked him to look up something on the computer for her. Not one of these students probably knew that a man like him could be married to a woman like Drusilla, and that underneath his spectacles he was suffering. Probably most students thought he was unmarried and had no sex life at all; Buffy had to admit that he looked a little bit nerdy in his glasses. However, nerdy wasn’t necessary at turn off for her…

She stared at him from the side entrance, watching him move about behind the library desk and sort through books on a cart. For a minute Buffy thought she could just watch him, observe him from a far, and then leave—be sneaky enough to stay for a few minutes and then go. However, her skills of spying must be as good as her knowledge on the subject of swing parties.

As soon as William got the feeling that he was being watched he looked up and saw Buffy standing there. The book William was holding hit the floor with a thud when he saw her. A group of students studying at a nearby table, their heads snapped up when they heard the sudden noise throughout the silence of the library. They looked around before going back to work.

Buffy was unsure if she should go up to him or if she should wait for him to come to her. Thankful her feet had a mind of there own and made the decision for her to venture forward.

“Hi…” she said quietly once she reached his desk.

“Buffy…” his voice was much quieter than hers, it was barely audible.

She was not sure if he was more surprised that she was actually there to see him or that she had found him.

“How did you—“

”I went to your house first…” she kept her voice low, trying not to disturb other students, “Your maid said you work here.”

“Oh…” he nodded, still looking a little stunned and now a bit nervous.

“I can go if you want…”

”No!” his yelp was a little too loud. Both Buffy and William looked over when they noticed a bunch of students gave them the look that said ‘do you mind?!’

“Umm…”

William speed walked from behind his desk to stand in front of her, “Let’s go….go into the stacks.”

’Stacks?’ Buffy thought.

William grabbed Buffy’s hand without hesitation and dragged her off towards rows and rows of bookcases. Once they were deep within stacks of literature, William made a sharp turn down a narrow row and stopped near an empty study table that was hidden by all the bookcases.

“I was going to ask you what the stacks were but I guess I sort of got my answer.” Buffy said quietly.

William smiled, “You could easily get lost in this maze.” He nodded towards the bookcases.

“Seemed to go on forever…”

”Ya…”

William glanced down at his folder hugged between Buffy’s arms. She too looked down and then up at him.

“You didn’t need to mail it?” he whispered.

“No….”

“I told you to call me…”

”I know…but I felt like this was a face to face kind of thing…seems sort of impersonal over the phone.” She let out deep breath before going on, “I only read one page…”

“One…” he let his voice drift off. He frowned and looked a bit upset.

“William—“

”I knew I should have given them to you. They’re no good. Everything I do is never good enough and—“

Buffy dropped the folder down on the empty study table and grabbed a hold of his shoulders to make him stop rambling off.

“No….William…no….” she could barely get a word out.

“They should be burned to ashes….Dru was right I’m a failure at---“

Buffy grabbed a hold of his cheeks to make him listen to her, “Will you listen to me?!” she yelled in a desperate whisper.

Tears were gathered on the bottom of his eye lids, if he blinked Buffy was sure they were bound to give way.

“Listen to me…okay?” she asked gentle. “Okay?”

With Buffy’s hands still on his sharp cheekbones, William nodded.

“I only got through one page because I couldn’t take anymore…you’re work is amazing…but yet it still breaks my heart…”

“It—it broke your—“

“Yes…but not because it was bad or wasn’t any good. It just hurt to see someone write such mournful words…”

“I---I’m sorry?”

Even though Buffy was now getting a little teary eyed, laughed anyway. “Sorry for what? This isn’t your fault.”

“I didn’t want you to—“

“You don’t have to make up excuses…”

She let go of his face gently and stepped away from him.

“…don’t make up excuses for her.”

“I…I’m not—I won’t.” he corrected.

“Good…”

‘Tell him Buffy; you can’t keep thinking you’re the strong one here…tell him what you did.’

William picked up his folder from the table and tucked it under his arm. Buffy froze when he took it.

”Wait! I—I-you’re you’re taking it back?” she asked.

William took the folder out from under his arm and held it in front of him, “I thought you—“

”I want to read more…but I just need some time…I just didn’t want you to think they were no good because I didn’t call you…I just want more time.”

“Oh…” he handed her the folder back over. Buffy hugged to her chest and bit her lip.

“There is another reason I came here…” she started.

When William looked up at her he looked a little hopeful.

“It’s not good…”

His hope turned to fear.

“I…I spoke with your wife…”

“What?”

“I...I…I had to talk to her about Angel and…I’m sorry I didn’t mean for—“

”What about Angel, you said were done with him? That you were leaving him that--”

”Well I’m not, okay?!” she snapped.

There was a brief pause; Buffy couldn’t even look at him. She didn’t want to see him looking at her with shame, with disgust, and view her as a weak person.

“William I—“, when she glanced up she saw he was gone. Buffy turned her head down one of the narrow rows of the stacks and saw him moving quickly away from her.

“William!” she called, not caring that she was not using her library voice. “William!”

She raced after him, running desperately to get him. William turned and started down the main pathway toward the study lounge and his desk. When Buffy finally caught up with him, she raced in front of him and put her hands on his chest, trying to keep him from leaving.

“William please, please listen.” She pleaded when she saw he wasn’t looking at her and trying to walk around her.

Buffy fisted his shirt and tugged at it till he was looking at her, “Listen!!”

“Shhhh!!” an orchestra of students sang out from a group of tables.

Buffy turned around and glared at them. ‘What?!’ she thought

William yanked Buffy in between some bookcases and covered her mouth with his hand. “You want me to get in trouble?!” he yelled in a whisper.

Buffy shook her head.

“Then be quiet and go.” He said harshly. William took his hand off her mouth and started out; he got two steps away before he was being grabbed again by Buffy.

”No!” she yelled in a whisper. “Please listen to me…please…!”

“Why should I?” he turned around and snapped at her, “You lied to me…you said you—“

“Ya William, I said….I say a lot of things, but following through with them is a bit harder…”

He nodded, “Welcome to my world pet.”

William started off again but Buffy tugged him back, “No…please Will you need to listen to me…please…just—“ she cried.

When he stopped struggling to get away from her and noticed that she was crying, his heart broke on the spot.

“Please…” she sobbed, “I—I don’t know what to do…I—I have no one to talk to…I want to leave him---I do! I just don’t know how…I need help…I need someone to help me…because it’s too hard to do it alone…”

William knew exactly what she meant; he had been where she was now before. It seemed so long ago. He too had no one there for him, going to his friends and family seemed to be never an option for him. How could he explain this to his mother and father?

William reached out, pulled head gently into his chest, and hugged Buffy close to his body, petting her hair and rubbing her back. “Shhh…”

“Wh—why did he do this to me….?” Buffy cried into his shirt, “Why? Why did he lie to me?”

“Because he had the power to do so love…they knew we were weak…they seek out the weak, they feed off the weak to make themselves stronger.”

Buffy sniffed and looked up at William, “What about love?”

”They’re not like us Buffy…they take what they’ve been given for granted…”

Buffy didn’t want to believe that, but what other choice did she have? She got her facts straight, Drusilla told her who Angel really was…and yet, she still wanted him? How could this be? Was she that pitiful and clingy?

“We have to do something.” Buffy sniffed.

“What?”

‘Runaway?’ was the first thing that popped into her head, ‘Runaway and—oh god,’ then she remembered, ‘The party!!’

Chapter 12:



“I’m sorry…”
.
Buffy must have said those words a million times in the last hour. It seemed that each time she said them to William it still wasn’t good enough—that her apology didn’t seem to hold much weight.

“Love, I already told you that it’s alright…”

“Have I mentioned that I told your wife that I was hosting?”

“Yes.” He nodded.

They sat in silence for a moment. Buffy took another sip of her ice coffee that she got from the library lobby café.

“Have I told you that I was the one that brought it up out of the blue?” she pointed out.

“Yes.”

”Then why aren’t you mad?!” Buffy whined.

The two of them were seated on top of the stoop outside the Powell Library on the UCLA campus. William glanced away from the passing summer students on their way to class to look at Buffy. He smiled when he noticed that she had a childish pout on her face and that she was fiddled with straw inside her cup.

‘Hard to get mad at someone like you pet…so lovely…so kind…so…’ William stopped his mind from wondering too far, he reminded himself that Buffy was only here because the situation they were in.

“I guess I don’t get mad easily.” He muttered as he turned to look back at the pedestrians.

“How come?”

William looked back at her to see she had a quizzical expression painted on her face.

“You think I have a temper?” he raised a brow.

“Well…just being in the situation you’re in, I would think you have a lot of anger buried deep down inside of you.” Buffy remarked as she looked down at her drink and started to swirl the ice around with her straw, “I know I would.”

He continued to watch her shy her eyes away from him. “Well…I guess if I let out all my rage because of everything I went through with Drusilla, well, I don’t think I’d be a very nice person to hang around.”

Buffy thought about that for a moment. ‘Guess he’s right…besides, at the end of a temper tantrum you don’t feel better. You feel worse and tired. You end up having to apologizing to innocent bystanders too. And sometimes, the person your mad at doesn’t even care what your feeling at all. ’

“So you let out your anger by writing?” Buffy asked, “Writing it out in your folder?”

“Write out…used to play it out on my guitar but that seemed a little bit more painful.” William said as he turned the palms of his hands face up to look at them.

“How come?”

“I’d played till my fingers bleed…” he whispered and then let his hands fall back to his lap.

Buffy studied the side of William’s face that was turned away from her. She noted that his chin was stubby from being unshaved and that he had a tint of grey in his hair around his sideburns that she never noticed before. She remembered his face back in the photo album, how young and energized he appeared to be. Where was that man now? What did Drusilla do him? She had to know.

“You know, you never really told me why you didn’t leave her…you said the other night that you stopped yourself… and I’m having a hard time trying to understand what that means…”

”Buffy—“

”Because you seemed like you were a strong person once upon a time ago.”

“Ya…well…ya…”

“That’s hardly an answer.”

“How about you?” he shot out at her, “What’s standing in your way?”

“It’s different for me…I love Angel and—“

”And I love Dru…”

“But she doesn’t love you.”

”And you think Angel loves you?” he shot out at her again.

There was a brief moment of silence.

“Buffy, my music career was all I had back then…it was everything to me…I used my life savings trying to get my career going and it just never happened.”

“So you turned to her huh?” she whispered.

’So Dru was his safety net …just like Angel’s mine…’

“I didn’t have a choice…my father was taking care of my dying mother…my friends were all my bandmates—they had no money and were trying to make ends meet themselves, I couldn’t ask them for help. Drusilla was the only one that would help me…she cared about me…well, I thought she would care about.”

“So to make a long story short, you married her because she was the safe haven at the time?” Buffy asked.

William looked over at her, “I did love her…”

‘Did…not ‘do’…did…’ Buffy noted.

“But you never tried music again?”

“No…I promised myself I’d stay away from that…I promised Dru I’d stay away from that…”

‘What does that mean?’ Buffy asked herself, ‘He promised Dru…’

“She wanted you to stay away from something you loved to do?”

William didn’t answer; Buffy could see that he was depressed enough.

“Sorry…” she whispered as she gathered her purse, William’s folder, and her cup quickly.

When William noticed she looked like she was leaving he got up quickly, “You’re going?”

“I…I should…” Buffy said as she searched through her purse for her car keys, “I didn’t mean to bother you at work and—“

“You didn’t.” he interrupted.

Buffy smiled to herself when she picked up a sense of longing for her to stay in the tone of his voice, “Good…” It made her feel special knowing that she would be missed if she left.

“I…I don’t know a lot of people in LA so I enjoy the company.” William said.

Buffy recalled moving from Sunnydale to LA for Angel’s job years ago. The transition from little town to big city was certainly overwhelm at first, but for William this was completely different—she couldn’t image having to move across the globe. No friends. No family, except for Drusilla. To Buffy, it seemed that having Dru as a companion in a foreign country was worse than having no one at all.

“Well…maybe I’ll come by more often.” She smiled as she slid her sunglasses from the top of her head to her face.

‘I’d like that.’ He thought to himself. “Wait…weren’t you suppose to be at work today?” he asked.

Buffy rolled her eyes under her shades when she thought about Wolfram and Hart, swinger headquarters, “My friend covered for me…”

‘Besides…if I see Darla, Dru, Angel, or Harmony I think I might scream.’ She thought to herself.

“Oh…good…” he nodded.

“Well I better go…got to clean the house for this stupid….party.” she spat out in disgust, “What was I thinking?”

“So I guess I’ll see you then.” He shoved his hands in his pants pockets.

“I’m sorry William…” she whispered, “I didn’t mean for this—“

”I told you Buffy, I’m not mad. Don’t worry about it.”

Buffy nodded and turned to go down the stairs, she got a few steps down before looking back at him. “I think you should give it a try” she called back.

“What?”

“The music…your music…you should give it another go.” she explained.

William stood there awestruck, not able to blink or utter a single word. Buffy noticed by the look on his face that she caught him off guard, so she decided not to say anything else; she turned around and continued down the stairs.

*~*~*~*~*~

Friday Night…


For the first time in her life, Buffy was breaking all the rules of fashion on purpose.

She turned to the left, she turned to the right. Buffy made a face of disgust at what she was wearing; in response she stuck her tongue out at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

‘Take it off!’ the little voice inside her head yelled, ‘The color is all wrong!’

If this was any other event, Buffy would probably be hyperventilating and racing to find something else in her closet. But since this party was on the bottom of her list of something she should care about, she ignore her fashion instincts.

‘Doesn’t matter if it’s a little bit big and the color is crappy, it was $2,400’ Buffy smiled when she remembered buying the hideous dress in Beverly Hills the other day. She could have sworn she got a magical tingling sensation that ran up her body when she passed the cashier Angel’s American Express card.

“Buffy?!!!” Angel called from down the hallway.

She rolled her eyes, “What?!”

“The guests are starting to arrive!” he yelled.

Angel’s enthusiasm for this party seemed to carry throughout the week when she told him they were playing hostesses. The man had been giddy and smiles, walking around with a hard on all week long it seemed.

“I’m coming!” she yelled and then whispered softly, “You needledick”

*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Buffy, your dress…it’s…it’s…” Darla stuttered, trying to find the words to describe the ugly dress.

‘It was $2,400’, Buffy wanted to come right out and say, ‘The shoes were $600…and probably after this party I’ll use the dress as a towel and give the shoes to charity.’

“It’s glamorous, right Lindsey?” Darla turned to her husband.

“Right…” he bobbed his head, his eyes skimmed down Buffy’s smooth tan legs for a moment.

‘Hello…eyes up here scumbag’ Buffy wanted to snap when she saw the way Lindsey was leering at her.

“So, where are the drinks?” Lindsey asked as he slapped his hands together.

*~*~*~*~*~

2 hours later…

Buffy eyed the clock that sat on the mantle above the fireplace over the rim of her glass as she downed her third glass of wine in one gulp. She let out a refreshing “Ahhh” when she finally came up for air and then muttered, “This stuff is good.”

She turned to the nearest person and said again, “You know, this stuff is good.”

The guest though it was rather amusing—the drunken state that Buffy seemed to be in. With a snicker, the guest left Buffy’s side and went over to Darla and Harmony.

“Hey Buffy…” Angel came up from behind his wife and directed her over to the sofa to sit down, “Take it easy on the drinks…” he muttered as he kissed the top of her head and left her side once again to talk with some other guests.

“He’s not the boss of me…” she muttered softly to herself, “Angel’s not the boss of me everyone!” she yelled.

The room was silent for a few minutes; all eyes were directed on Mrs. O’Connor, wondering what she was going to do next.

“I got to pee…” she announced and stumbled down the hallway alone.

“Don’t worry Angel...” Darla laughed, “In about ten minutes she’ll be someone else’s problem for the night. That is if Drusilla and her lamebrain husband show up anytime soon.”

And with that said, the doorbell rang.



TBC…

Chapter 13:



William had one ear focused on Darla describing Buffy’s apparently hideous dress to Drusilla, while he had the other on Angel talking to Buffy through the hallway bathroom door. If he could just tilt his head backwards just a little bit he could catch a glimpse of Angel, who he liked to refer to in his head lately as ‘Captain Forehead Who Wears Lifts’.

“Honey, you alright?” William heard Angel ask Buffy through the door.

Concern for his new friend, William tried to block out what everyone was saying to try and hear Buffy’s response.

“Oh Dru, you should have seen her!” Unfortunately for William, the loud obnoxious Harmony Kendall walked over towards the small group that was gathered around him and his wife. The petite blonde started chirping her big mouth off and causing whatever was being said between Angel and Buffy to be muffled. William flashed a glare in the direction of the blonde as he took a sip out of his wine glass.

“Buffy was acting like a complete fool. Poor Angel, oh and her dress—my god I had to turn my eyes away from that crappy thing…she must have gotten it off the rack at JCPenny’s.” Harmony continued to gossip.

“Girl doesn’t know how to hold her liquor either.” Darla rolled her eyes and took another sip from her fourth glass of wine.

“She’s drunk?” William spoke up.

“Yes and not a well dressed one at that.” Darla giggled and walked away with Harmony trailing behind her.

Drusilla raised an eyebrow at William’s look of distress; she found it interesting that her husband kept peeking over in the direction where Buffy locked herself in the bathroom.

“She’s a rather cute drunk if you ask me.” Lindsey smiled and walked off to go stand with his wife.

William whipped his head up and watched Lindsey stroll away, he caught the brief smile that Mr. McDonald had, and in response William clenched his jaw.

“You alright my William?” Drusilla asked innocently.

“Ya…just maybe we should all leave if Buffy isn’t feeling well.”

Even though William had been looking forward to seeing Buffy and longed to speak with her, he couldn’t accept the continuation of this party with her being drunk. ‘Something could go wrong’ he thought to himself, ‘She may…’ William started to get sick and scared at the thought of Buffy being partnered with another guy that she had no way of fighting off, another man that would take advantage of her.

“I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Drusilla patted her husband’s shoulder and turned around to see Angel enter the living room. “How’s Buffy, Angel?” she asked.

“Uh…she’s just…she’s just composing herself. She’ll be out soon.” Angel smiled nervously.

“Well in that case, why don’t we just get straight to swapping partners?”

William’s eyes widened and his palms began to sweat, he hadn’t felt like this since his very first swing party that he attended.

“Are you sure she’s okay?” William asked, trying to hold off the inevitable as long as he could, “Maybe…maybe—“

”I’m sure it will pass my darling…” Drusilla whispered as she glided her fingers down the side of his cheek, “Don’t be concerned about the Sunshine.”

”Shall we write down names and pick out a hat or what do you suggest Dru?” Angel asked.

“How about watches this time?” Drusilla shrugged innocently while eyeing Angel’s Rolex watch on his wrist.

“I’ll get a bowl from the kitchen.” Angel smiled and let his hand skim Dru’s bare shoulder as he went by her and left the room.

”Pet, I’m not really comfortable doing this with Buffy so—“

“When are you comfortable William?” Drusilla raised an eyebrow and glared at him, “Is there something you feel the need to say to me?”

William paused; she was giving him the chance to speak his mind, whatever he wanted to say should be said at this moment.

“No…”

“That’s what I thought.” Drusilla nodded and raised her hand out, “Give me your watch.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, William unhooked his watch from his wrist and let it drop into his wife’s palm.

“That’s my good boy.” She muttered and walked over toward Angel, who returned from the kitchen with a green salad bowl. William stood alone for a moment before turning around to glance back down the hallway where Buffy was.

“Alright everyone, time to play” Drusilla announced.

Like every other party, William couldn’t stand to watch this part. After taking a quick look around the room he slipped down the hallway.

“Buffy?” he said softly, as he approached the door Angel was standing by earlier. “Buffy, pet?”

He pressed his ear to the wooden frame.

Nothing.

“Love, its William.” He whispered, “Please answer me…”

William even tried rapping his knuckles on the door to see if maybe she would be startled by the sound and respond. “Pet?” he tried again.

Down the hallway, in the living room, William heard a loud whine echo down towards him.

‘Oh great, I got her again.’ William thought when he recognized Harmony’s trademark moan of disapproval.

He forgot about the airhead blonde for a moment and directed his attention back to his drunken friend. “Pet, do—do you need anything? Are you sick?”

“William, what are you doing?” Lindsey McDonald laughed as he strolled down the hallway. Near the entrance leading into the living room, William could see Harmony pouting and had her arms crossed, waiting for him.

“Just—just uh…” William bowed his head down and rubbed his neck, trying to think up something quick.

“Trying to steal my date for the evening huh?”

William’s head slowly glanced up at Lindsey, dread written all over his face. “Your date?”

”Ya…Mrs. O’Connor gets me for the night.” Lindsey smiled.

“Come on William; let’s get this pathetic night of no sex for me over with.” Harmony interrupted.

William checked behind the blonde’s shoulder and noticed that everyone was gone and hadn’t heard her.

“I’m raising my rates too…you need to give me $400 this time…I’m going to Paris next month and I need a new pair of boots.”

”Go ahead William; I’ll take care of Buffy.” Lindsey smiled as he took another sip from his nearly empty glass of scotch and moved closer to the bathroom door. However, William blocked the man’s path.

“Harm, go wait in the living room….I’ll be with you in a minute.”

Harmony threw up her hands in frustration and went off and out of sight.

“Look, McDonald, I’ll switch with you.” William offered, “You get Harmony and I’ll take Buffy.”

”Again?” Lindsey smirked, “You have a little something for that girl don’t you Pratt? Are you finally deciding to join the rest of us and play the game?”

“Do we have a deal or what?”

After a moment of silence between the two men, Lindsey answered. “No…I had Harmony two months ago and I don’t like tasting the same flavor over and over again if you know what I mean…”

”Tough, Buffy’s in no condition to sleep with you!” William exclaimed, “She’s drunk.”

”Ya…” Lindsey laughed, “I however find those girls are the best kind, reminds me when I was in college… living with my frat brothers.”

William knew that Lindsey was scum, but he didn’t realize what degree of scum he really was until now.

“I don’t think Angel would appreciate you taking advantage of his wife.” William narrowed his eyes at the little pervert.

Lindsey rolled his eyes, “If you haven’t noticed by now, Angel is the king of taking advantage of his wife. Now if you don’t mind—“

”I mind.” William said, his voice stronger and much more demanding. “I’m not going to let you touch her.”

“What the hell Pratt, you finally grow some balls overnight?”

William didn’t say another word; he just continued to stand firmly in front of the door, protecting Buffy, protecting his friend, protecting this small angel that just by chance found him in the nick of time.

“Don’t make me bust your nose Pratt.”

”I’d like to see you try.”

Lindsey shrugged casually, let his empty glass rest on a tiny hallway table, and took a swing. The fist only got half way when it was grabbed by William. Lindsey was taken off guard when he found himself pinned to the wall and Will’s hand clenched his polo collar.

“Don’t underestimate me; don’t think for a minute I won’t break you apart McDonald.” William warned in a whisper. “A guy like you should never even speak to let alone touch a girl like Buffy, so you’re going to switch with me…understand?”

“I’ll tell Dru.” Lindsey threatened.

Before William met Buffy, Drusilla was always the one holding him back. Holding him back from saying things he wanted to say, doing things he wanted to do, being the man he use to be. Before, William would have caved at Lindsey’s threat, but now that he got a glimpse of the light…

“Go ahead and tell her…then I’ll tell Darla about you and your secretary.” William said, deciding too to play the game of ‘let’s tattle on one another’.

“How do you know about—“

”Drusilla talks” William said with a smirk, “Unfortunately for you, maybe a little bit too much.”

William knew that even though Darla swung, she wouldn’t tolerate her husband sleeping with someone when she didn’t know about it.

”Fine”

“We have a deal?”

”Ya, ya, ya…I’ll take Harmony.” Lindsey said as he moved back from William’s now limp fists. “Bet the girl wasn’t that good anyway.” Lindsey nodded toward the bathroom door.

William punched McDonald in the gut.

“Ohhh…” Lindsey groaned in pain.


TBC....

Chapter 14:



William felt like a punk kid again as he tried to slide his credit card through the groves of the bathroom door to unlock it. Well, more like a rusty old punk since he was having trouble with the task. He could remember on one such occasion that he was able to unlock a door in ten seconds flat so he could beat up a dude on the other side for keying his car back in London. Picking locks back then was like reading the newspaper to him, he could have been a scholar at it if it was legal.

“Come on you damn thing.” William cursed his American Express card.

After pleading through the door with Buffy to let him in after Lindsey left and still getting no response, William decided he couldn’t wait any longer—he needed to know if she was hurt.

“Bugger…” he muttered when he realized his twentieth try had failed.

William stepped back from the door, his anger from Lindsey and his frustration with the door was taking a toll on him. He was ready to bust something, to hit something again. Earlier it felt so good to hit Lindsey that he wished the scum was still around so he could do it again…numerous times.

“Buffy…” he said loudly, “If you’re near the door get away from it…” he warned her. After listening for a moment and getting no response yet again, William took a deep breath and charged his right shoulder into the middle of the door, popping it open with ease.

He stumbled in and accidentally ran into the towel rack across the bathroom. After rubbing his shoulder in pain, William looked up to see that no one was there. A tiny window that even for a small child would have been hard to escape from was the only other exit he could see. As he glanced to the side he could see that the shower curtain was pulled forward to hide whatever was inside the tub.

“Buffy?” he whispered and gently pulled the yellow curtain back to reveal her.

William dropped down onto his knees to get a better look at her and notice that she was sleeping. Buffy had one of the fluffy towels draped over the lower half of her body like a blanket.

“Buffy wake up…” he reached inside the tub to shake her shoulder. When she didn’t stir he tried harder. Buffy’s head slumped to the side and her body started to slide down the side of the tub.

William quickly reached out and steadied her with of his hands. He glanced once outside the bathroom, checking to see if anyone had heard him bust open the door, before lifting her up out of the tub and shifting her in his arms.

‘Alright…’ he thought to himself as he looked down at her sleeping state, ‘What now?’

William just stood there in the brightly lit bathroom for a minute, thinking of what he should do next. When he looked down at her again he still didn’t have the answer, but instead he noticed how angelic she looked. He was sure if he had one of his hands free he would start petting her hair and caressing her cheeks.

‘O’Connor, you wanker, if I ever run into you alone you better watch out you son of a bitch…’ the little voice that sounded too much like his old self made that promise.

Buffy moaned and reached her one hand out to grasp William’s shirt.

“Alright love, looks like were going to hold up fort in one the rooms upstairs…preferably close to a bathroom.” He said, remembering that she consumed a large amount of alcohol and probably would be sick.

He briskly walked out of the bathroom, down the hallway, across the living room, and up the stairs of Buffy’s home. William listened to the first door he came to and heard moaning and heavy breathing coming from inside. After checking the next two he found that he running out of rooms to pick from.

‘Do they even have enough rooms to handle this party?’ William wondered as he came to the door at the end of the hallway. It was Buffy and Angel’s bedroom. When he noticed that no noises could be heard he didn’t hesitate to jiggle the handle and let himself and Buffy in.

Thankfully before his tired arms gave way, William sat Buffy on the king size bed. She let out a moan in protest as he laid her down and moved away from her.

“No…” she whimpered.

“Love, it’s me…William.” He reminded her.

“…don’t leave.” She said softly.

Even though William thought she didn’t sound drunk he remembered that she did in fact pass out in a bathtub and was in no condition to know what she was saying or doing.

“Do you need anything?”

”You…I need you…”

“Buffy, its William, remember? William Pratt?”

“William…William…” she kept muttering. “William Pur—pur…”

However, when it came to his last name she was having a bit of difficulty with the pronunciation.

“Pratt…”

”No, that’s not it.” She shook her head against the pillow.

William sighed and reached down to unbuckle Buffy’s shoes from her feet.

“Your—you’re you’re here…” she kept talking.

“Ya, love…for the party, remember?”

“You were late” she whined.

“Ya…Drusilla likes to dilly dally a bit when getting ready.” He muttered as he went for the other shoe.

“I thought you wouldn’t come.”

William paused and looked back at Buffy’s face, he could see through the darkness her lip was quivering.

“I said I was…” he told her, “I promised you …”

“You were late though…I—I was afraid you…”

“I wasn’t going to bail on you love…pet, I—I…” William stuttered; he was getting a little bit emotional from the fact that she was getting emotional with him. ‘How could she think I wouldn’t show up?’ He was practically pushing Drusilla out the door to go to the party. For days William worried that Buffy would change her mind about him, that she would be the one to bail on him and leave him behind. He prayed at night to the heavens to make her want to stay…to make her not forget him.

“I’m not going to leave you here with him…” he finally said, “We’re in this together…right?”

“Mmmm…” she moaned and shut her eyes, “Right.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~

Around three in the morning it started to rain. The silence inside the master bedroom was interrupted by the pitter patter of rain drops hitting the window ledge. William got up from his chair that he decided to call his bed and looked out one of the open windows. A flash of lightning lit up the dark sky and he was able to see everything outside Buffy’s house.

“Mmmm…”

William turned around and saw Buffy move onto her side to face him. As another flash of lightning erupted in the sky he could see her whole face and the pained expression that was painted on it. William walked over towards her and sat on the edge bed.

Buffy let out a sigh and her eyes fluttered open to find him staring at her.

“William?”

”Hi love.”

“What—what’s going…where am I?”

“In your room…”

She sat up and started to get a bit dizzy, “Oh…” she said as she noticed the familiar things around her.

“You okay?”

“My head hurts.” She mumbled as she lay back on the bed.

“Shouldn’t have drunk so much pet…”

“I know…” she whispered as she closed her eyes, “I guess I’m just lucky that you got me again as a partner.”

William let out a sigh, “Ya…”

When she reopened them she smiled up at him, “Sorry about my hideous dress…”

He looked down at her silver shiny dress for the first time.

“I tried to look as unattractive as possible to the men, but at the same time leave a dent on Angel’s credit card.” She explained.

When William looked up at her face he saw her messy hair and smudged makeup through the darkness.

“You look lovely pet…” he said softly.

“It’s alright William…I told you I was going for the ‘bad fashion victim’ appearance.” She said, telling him he didn’t have to lie to make her feel better.

“I see nothing wrong with it.” He said honestly.

“Whatever you say...” she muttered and then yawned, “Too tired to argue with you…”

”Sleep love…” he said as he got up from the edge of her bed.

”Wait…” she said, “Don’t go.”

William froze, this time Buffy wasn’t drunk when she said those words. “I’m just going to sit in the chair pet, let you sleep.”

”Don’t be ridiculous…” she shimmed over to make room for him, “You can stay here too.”

It would be the first time in a long time that he stayed in a bed with someone other than his wife. He had a policy with his past partners that he bunkered the night with—‘separate resting places’. It was the ground rule that he first laid out to all the girls and always stuck to it.

“I don’t know love…” he said with hesitation, he was tempted to throw his morals out the window and cave to her request.

“I won’t force you…but I don’t mind…I trust you.”

William looked back down at her for a moment before making a quick decision to climb over the covers and sit beside her. He was nearly a foot away from touching her as he rested his head back against the headboard.

“Shoes buddy…” she muttered as she took her bare feet and tapped the side of one of his black dress shoes.

With a smile, he let his toes press down on the heels of his shoes so they were off; he kicked them off the bed and heard them thump onto the floor.

“Better…” she said softly as she closed her eyes.

“Ya…better.”

*~*~*~*~*~

An hour later William had moved down away from the headboard so his face was right next to Buffy’s. He still hadn’t touched her but his hand kept lingering up, looking like it was going to reach out and caress her cheek. When Buffy let out a sigh and shifted closer to the warm body next her, William couldn’t take it anymore—he gave into his temptation and rested his hand on her arm. Pretty soon his thumb was rubbing her soft skin in gentle circles.

It was probably the most intimate moment he had in over a year.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The library had been unusually scarce of students that Monday afternoon. As the clocked hit the lunch hour, William went off into the stacks and sat at a study table by himself. He had been itching all weekend to write, and now that he was finally alone and away from Drusilla he let his creative mind free. He pulled out a pen and a notepad and started to write.

My soul is wrapped
in harsh repose,
midnight descends
in raven-colored clothes,
but soft...behold!
A sunlight beam cutting a swath of
glimmering gleam.
My heart expands,
'tis grown a bulge in it,
inspired by your beauty

William looked up from his notepad, something was missing. He closed his eyes and remembered the morning after the party as Buffy shared a little secret smile at him as he left with his wife.

His eyes flashed open and his pen placed down three dots and then wrote…

Effulgent.



TBC....of course the poem is not mind, belongs to William the Bloody Awful Poet :)

Chapter 15:

Leaving the Driver’s License Center wasn’t as joyous as it was the first time Buffy left a few weeks ago. As she looked at the new photograph on her card, she noted her perfect smile was replaced with a fake forced one. The dreary state on her face made her think she looked ten years older.

Buffy shook her head as she sat inside her car, looking at the new license with a frown. She glanced down and over to the passenger seat where her old (and soon to be destroyed) card sat. Picking it up and reading the old name ‘Buffy Anne O’Connor’ seemed like a joke—it was a name she had for one month only before going back to her original one. Her real name, the one she now made a vow to forever keep.

‘Reality sucks…husbands suck…’ she thought as she placed her new card in her wallet and shoved the old one in the glove compartment. She made a mental note to go back and get the dirty month old one and burn it as soon as possible—Buffy didn’t want any reminder of the gift she was going to give her husband.

After throwing the car into reverse, then putting it into to drive, and exiting the parking lot of the tiny strip mall, Buffy decided to not go straight home to her sleeping husband this Saturday morning. No, if she could get out of seeing that jerk for the rest of the day then she would be happy just driving nonstop.

However, her plans of driving up the California Coast were changed when she saw the exit to UCLA. With a quick flick of her wrist to turn on her right turn signal, she drove toward the University.


*~*~*~*~*~*
After much needed help from the library staff, Buffy finally found William in the stacks near the U.S and British History section putting away books on a step ladder. She smiled when she noticed he wasn’t completing his job at a quick pace. As William stood on the ladder, on the third shelf, he had a book open in hand and was reading away about WWI.

“I was never a fan of history…” Buffy spoke up quietly, hoping not to startle him and make him fall.

William’s head snapped down to look at her in surprise. After the shock wore off that Buffy was actually visiting him again, he smiled and shut his book, dropping it onto the cart with the rest of returned books he had to put away.
“Buffy…you came back…”

“Yeah…hope you don’t mind me dropping by…”

‘Mind?’ William wanted to laugh, ‘Was she kidding?’

“No…no…I don’t mind” he said as he continued to smile at her, “Is there something I can….”

When he noted her distress state he frowned and started to absorb her gloaming state, feeling her pain as well.

“What’s the matter?”

Buffy’s eyes skimmed over the books on the shelves, she knew if she met his eyes she would cry and make a scene. “Just tired…”

William didn’t response to her pathetic excuse; it didn’t take brains to see that being tired was just one thing on her list of problems. He glanced down at her clothes and saw she made little effort to looking neat and presentable.

“Just tired?”

Buffy eyed a book on the shelf and pulled it out to glance at the cover. When William didn’t get a response from her he looked down at what she extracted; it read ‘Dungeons and Torture’.

“Seems …intriguing…” Buffy muttered as she glanced at a guy bleeding from the mouth on the cover. “Think there is a ‘How to…?’ section?”

William knew exactly what she was thinking about. “Not sure…but we can stroll over to the medieval section if you like?”

Buffy smiled, put back the book, and looked back at William’s smirking face, “You want to get in on me disassembling my husband?”

“Could be fun…”

Buffy shrugged and peeked down at her and William’s shoes, “Ah who am I kidding, blood and me don’t mix…couldn’t even give him a paper cut.”

“I take it something happened?”

“Something is always happening…and lately it’s nothing good.”

William frowned and started to lift his hand up to place it on her shoulder to send her some comfort, he only got half way when he stopped. Buffy looked out of the corner of her eye at his hand paused in mid air; she looked up at him to see if he would follow through and touch her.

His blue eyes stared at his hand for a brief moment before drawing it back and running it threw his messy curls on the top of his head.

Buffy bit her lip and looked back down to the ground, it probably wasn’t a good idea to have him touching her anyway—she was vulnerable and they were alone in this part of the library. She didn’t want to take advantage of him and their friendship.

“Is…is there anything I could do?” he whispered as his hand came down from his head and into his pocket.

“Well…can I just shadow you around here for a while?”

William took a deep breath, a piece of his heart that was broken by Drusilla a long time ago was starting to come back to him. However, before he got too excited he warned her, “I’m just putting books back love…nothing glamorous or entertaining.”

“I don’t care…I just like your company.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~

Buffy giggled as she glanced at the library card inside the front flap of one the books on William’s cart.

“Something funny?” William asked as he looked up at her from his aching knees; it was never a good time to put books back on the bottom shelf while kneeling on the hard floor.

She nodded and laughed out, “This guy Harold Eddy checked out this book a lot in 2005.”

“So?”

Buffy flipped the cover over to show him the title was ‘The Complete Kama Sutra’. William stared at the book for a second, looked at Buffy’s smirking face, and then back at the book. He started to feel his cheeks heat up and his palms start to sweat.

“You’d think he would just buy the book after he checked it out 7 times.” Buffy shook her head as she started to poke through the book.

“Uh…ya…” William said as he directed his eyes downward at the less interesting book, a biography on William Henry Harrison, which he was putting away. He shoved the book in the shelf, got to his feet, and stacked a few more books into his arms from the cart. When he glanced at Buffy he noted that her tiny pink tongue was sticking out and gliding across her lips.

The spell that Buffy’s tongue casted on him was interrupted when she laughed, “Oh man…this is great…you got to read this.”

Buffy looked up at William and turned the book around so he could look too.

“Umm that’s okay…I’m good.” William insisted as he took a few steps back.

“Come on, it’s funny.” Buffy smiled.

William had no doubt that it was probably funny, but he also knew it was erotic. He reminded himself for the fiftieth time that he and Buffy were alone in the middle of the stacks.

“Why don’t you take that book back to where it belongs, the code is on the binding there.” William pointed out before retreating down to the opposite side of the stacks.

Buffy watched him leave her with a frown, ‘What did I do?’ she thought to herself.


TBC…

Chapter 16:

William didn’t know what it was, but he knew he couldn’t stand to be around Buffy and that book for one more minute. Of all the books she had to pick up on that cart, she had to choose the one that would make him blush like a school boy. It just goes to show how much a badass was truly left inside him—almost none.

“I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable.”

The sound of her voice was a whisper behind his shoulder. He placed the last book in his hand away on the shelf before turning to face her.

“It—it was inappropriate of me to be jutting out a book like that…we’re both married after all.”

However, the funny thing was that marriage wasn’t a factor in this situation. William knew that he at least wasn’t thinking about Drusilla.

“You don’t have to be sorry love.” He reassured, “That wasn’t the issue…I promise.”

“I’m sorry anyway…”

“Don’t be…you, you were smiling and laughing and-and it’s not your fault about me being—“

“It was stupid and inappropriate though.” She argued.

“No, it wasn’t. It’s just that…that…”

“Forget it, I’m an idiot and we’ll leave it at that.”

“You’re not an idiot.” He argued.

“We’ll I sure do know how to converse well with others” she sarcastically muttered and rolled her eyes.

“No, that’s the thing pet…you do know how…I don’t.”

Buffy scrunched up her face; she clearly wasn’t getting his point.

“You’re my first woman friend that I’ve made since I got married” He explained before holding his breath. He was hoping that she didn’t care that he called her a friend.

“What happened to Spike the badass singer? No ladies came after him?”

“I—I wasn’t a badass singer…just-just a kid with weird hair that knew how to play a few notes on the guitar.”

“I find that hard to believe” Buffy muttered as she stepped closer to him, “You’re quite the catch…”

William glanced up at her through his long eyelashes and saw her admiring him were he stood, “Don’t make fun love because—“

“I’m not!” she exclaimed honestly, “Even if you didn’t have the badass attitude getup, you’re still handsome…and mysterious….and smart.”

“Don’t let my librarian title full you love…this isn’t my major.”

“Oh quit being humble and accept the compliment.” She waved her hand at his foolish act of being such a negative person.

“Not humble…”

“I’d ask you out if I met you somewhere…” she said out of the blue.

William’s heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t felt this way in a long time; it was scaring and exciting him at the same time.

“Mysterious?” he decided to not touch her comment and go back to her list of admirations that she had for him.

“Ya…” she smiled, “You never know what to expect…I like it.”

“I warn you, don’t expect a lot” he muttered.

Buffy took another step closer so that she was in arms length from him, “If you keep thinking that way about yourself I’ll be crowning you the king of being an idiot.”

“I’ve been crowned worse.”

Buffy thought enough was enough.

“Stop remembering what Drusilla said to you before and listen to me…you, you are good…” she insisted, “I’ve read your work and there is nothing I can’t imagine you failing so hard at…not with that talent. Not with that passion.”

“They are just words.”

“Words that I could never string together like that…perhaps I’m the failure here for not trying to be good at something, have talent like yours.”

William shook his head hard, “No, Buffy, no…you’re-you’re—“

“A dumb blonde that didn’t even try college because she thought following Angel around was more important” Buffy finished for him.

William sensed the sadness in her voice and somehow he felt he was to blame; maybe if he had been a more positive individual, had more self esteem, she wouldn’t be comparing her faults to try to make him feel better about his self doubts.

“Your pathway in life is never wrong pet…it leads you somewhere in the end…perhaps the scenery isn’t always beautiful and the gas is running low…but there is always a new road that is paved to venture.”

Buffy instantly smiled, “You talk like a fortune cookie…”

William blushed and looked down at his feet. It seemed that when he was around her he felt the sudden urge to speak freely—recite words of poetry without fear. “I talk like a poofter.”

Buffy frowned, “What’s a poofter?”

“Me evidently…”

He had been called a poofter hundreds of times by Drusilla and Drusilla’s colleagues back in England that he could learn to respond to the name without a second thought.

“Is that another let down on yourself?” Buffy narrowed her eyes.

“Umm…”

“That’s what I thought…”

Buffy, without hesitation, raised her hand and ran her fingers through his long curly hair, combing it back so she could see his dark blue eyes. William froze, not knowing how to respond to such a caress, he let her continue.

“Aren’t you wondering what I’m doing?” she whispered to him.

‘Playing with my heart to see how fast it goes?’he thought to himself.

“I’m looking for that man in that picture…the man with confidence…” she said before William had a chance to answer. “He’s in there…waiting…waiting to come out.”

William glanced down at her rosy lips and let out a deep sigh.

“You know how I can tell he’s not here?” she asked.

His blue eyes were still focused on her lips, how moist and plump they were. Buffy’s voice just acted as a backdrop for everything revolving around her mouth.

“Because I believe he would have kissed me instead of thinking about kissing me…”

It was like lightning came out of nowhere and zapped William—he moved ten feet away from her reach in an instant and was looking at her like a deer caught in front of headlights. Had she really just said that to him?

Without another word, Buffy backed out of the stacks of books that engulfed them and went back down the hallway toward the entrance of the library.


TBC....

Chapter 17:


Buffy concluded that William was right; the pathway of life wasn’t always picturesque when you’ve been driving down the same road for so long. It seemed that all it took for her to change directions was a stop at a college library.

“I can’t believe I said that to him…” Buffy muttered to herself as she continued pack on the miles between her and the UCLA library.

“What is wrong with me?!” she scolded herself while hitting steering wheel.

‘You’re an idiot, remember?’ the little voice inside her head whispered.

“Idiot, idiot, idiot!” Buffy continued to bang her hand on the wheel.

‘The one true friend you have that understands what you’re going through and you mess with his mind…good going.’

Buffy wiped the tears that started to run down her cheeks as drove back to her house.

“What he must think of me…”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

William’s hair flickered like a light switch—from brown and curly to bleached and slick, and then back again. It seemed that the change was in unison his state of mind—chaotic, never settling on how he should react to what he was watching.

They were alone again. The library was dark except for the lone spotlight that shined on her hair. Every once in a while she’d snap those wavy locks back over shoulder and glance over at him, but other than that she ignored his stares.

He groaned as if in pain when she turned her back to him and stepped down the small ladder with a book in her hand. The spotlight, which he still wasn’t sure where it was coming from, moved to highlight her tan calves.

“I’m afraid I don’t have a library card…”

William gulped, she must have been thirty feet away from him two seconds ago and now she was leaning across the check out desk.

“I—I—I—“

“Can I use the copy machine?”

William nodded without a word.

“Can you show me how it works?”

William was now pressing her book to the glass of the copy machine, watching as page after page of Kama Sutra came burning out of the machine. Buffy stood behind him, looking over his shoulder as he flipped to another page and pressed the Start button.

“Perhaps you can show me where to return this book when you’re through making copies…”

“I’ll…I’ll be happy to… “

Buffy placed her hand on his shoulder and spun him around.

“Buffy”

She hushed him with a single raise of her hand.
Her index finger came up and rested on his lips; it ran down and petted his bottom lip repeatable.

“You know what I’m doing?”

William’s eyes crossed as he looked at her finger playing with his lip. When she spoke he glanced up at the first thing that came to sight—her cleavage. The dress she had on was white and sexy, too sexy for the likes of going to the library.

“She’s playing with you…”

The voice broke the sweetness that was in the air. It broke the dream within the dream. Buffy’s fingers no longer lingered on his fragile self; she seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

All that was left was Dru dressed in black.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

William sat up in bed breathing heavily from the erotic images that his mind created. He glanced down and noticed that the part of his body that hasn’t been responsive to his wife much of late was up and ready for action.

He took a deep breath and muttered the first thing that came to mind, “Oh no…”

*~*~*~*~*~*~

The restless night that William had was clearly visible the next morning. Drusilla could easily spot it as she prepared for work and watched him nurse a cup of coffee.

“I see you are writing again…” Drusilla quipped as she poured the freshly brewed coffee into her travel mug to take to work.

William’s head slumped before jolting up to look at Drusilla.

“What?” he asked quietly.

“I said…it seems to me that you are writing again…” Drusilla said more slowly.

William stared at her for a moment, not breaking eye contact, “No I’m not.”

“Do I need to remind you of what everyone thinks of your writing…what I think of it?”

“Aren’t you late for work?” William brushed her off and looked out the window.

He heard the click of her heels across the tile before he felt her cold hand raise his chin to look at her.

“Tell me off like that again and I’ll tell daddy…”

It was a threat she used most of their marriage. It was her number one weapon and it always stirred something ugly in the pit of William’s stomach. Buffy may have slain a few demons for William to be able to stand being his wife, but when Mr. Laurence, Drusilla’s father, he was the devil wearing Armani.

“He’s coming for a visit Friday…” Drusilla smiled and let go of William’s face.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“You look like hell babe.” Angel muttered as he took a second look at his wife sitting at the breakfast table.

“I feel like—“

Buffy cringed as Angel pressed the Start button to the blender to make his morning protein shake.

“What?!” he yelled over the sound.

“Nothing…oh nothing…” she muttered in a tone that he couldn’t clearly hear her at, “Just that I hate you and that I’m going to leave you as soon as I get a plan…or a new job…or win the lottery…”

“What?!” Angel yelled again when he noticed her lips were moving but he couldn’t hear her.

Buffy put on a fake smile and mouthed to him ‘Nothing’ before getting up to leave him alone in the kitchen.

She only got halfway across the room when the blender shut off and Angel addressed her again, “Wait...I got something I wanted to tell you.”

With a roll of her eyes, Buffy turned around to hear this ‘big news’. She automatically wished she didn’t stop to listen to him when she saw him reach across the counter and pick up an envelope.

‘Please be a bill, please be a bill’ she chanted in her head.

“We got invited to another party.”


TBC…

Chapter 18:


She was ill prepared for the invitation. Her energy to fight her husband was not desperate enough. Before she could think up a well defined excuse for not attending, Angel was already inside his BMW and making early morning calls to his clients on his cell phone.

After he was gone, Buffy was left alone in her quiet house with the not-so-incident invitation on her kitchen counter. She felt like Angel left a mess for her to clean up when she glanced at the pink and white index card.

‘You are cordially invited…’

“ ’Cordially?’ ” Buffy muttered aloud in distaste.

‘This isn’t a wedding you stupid whore!’ Buffy screamed inside her head. ‘I used that word on my invitations for my wedding!’

“I hate her…” Buffy growled and shook her head, “I hate her!”

‘I can never use that word again …’ Buffy mournfully decided as she collapsed into one of the chairs at the kitchen table.

Her hair was now more tangled than when she first got up that morning. She felt ill when she realized that this invitation wouldn’t be the last…that they would keep coming as long as she stayed an O’Connor. Instead of magazines and bills every other day in her mailbox, it would be these little index cards from Darla or Harmony. Buffy realized now that she was in a cycle…an endless cycle that William had become accustom to so long ago. It scared her more than ever.

*****

Even though William wasn’t ready to see Buffy yet, he didn’t turn her away or hide when she walked into the library to see him. Before she even spoke he could see the distress on her face, and because of that he too felt uneasy.

“Buffy…” he whispered in his librarian voice that he had been using all day.

“Are you going to Darla’s party?” Buffy didn’t waste any time beating around the bush, she got down to business.

“Darla’s having a party?” William looked confused as he glanced down at the invitation that Buffy sat down in front of him.

“I take that as a no then.” Buffy cringed and shifted uncomfortably in her high heels. She had just come straight from Wolfram and Hart and didn’t bother chancing out of her work attire.

“The party is this Friday.”

“I know!! Thanks for the short notice bitch!” Buffy couldn’t get over the fact that this was happening again. She hadn’t had the time to take her ugly dress from the previous party to the cleaners and here she finds out that she had another shindig to go to?!

“I can’t go.”

Buffy stopped ranting inside her mind and actually heard his soft response.

“Can’t…as in…can’t?”

“Drusilla’s father is coming into town…Dru told Darla…that must be why she didn’t send out the invite.” William guessed.

“You can’t come?” she mumbled again.

William shook his head as he held her stare.

“You have to come.” Buffy blurted out.

“I can’t love…I…I can’t.” William didn’t know how he managed to get out those words. He didn’t know he had the will to deny her of anything.

“But…but you have to. You…you said before that you wouldn’t let me do this alone—that we’re in this together.”

“We’re still in this together…just…just not that night…” He was breaking his promise gently but yet painfully.

“What am I suppose to do?”

“Do what I do…pay them…pay whoever it is off.”

“I don’t want to go without you.” Buffy whispered. “Please come…please.”

William swallowed the lump in his throat; she was desperate and practically begging for his companionship. He was seconds to giving in…but then he thought of Drusilla and Mr. Laurence.

“I can’t…”


TBC….

Chapter 19:


The sun had already gone down when William got into his car at the library to venture home. He was in no real hurry to see Drusilla, his motivation came from the mere fact that he wanted the day to finally end—to forget that he had hurt Buffy.

“I can’t…” he whispered to her, unable to meet her eyes.

“Please Will…you have to find a way to go…even if it’s without Drusilla.”

“I’ll never live it down if I don’t go to dinner with her father.” William explained.

“Why? What’s so great about him?”

“He owns Wolfram and Hart…”

Buffy’s eyes widened in surprise, she never would have guessed.

“He’s control over things is more than you can imagine.” William continued, “More than just the firm…”

Buffy let it sink in for a moment, “He controls you?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“No, but what other way could you have meant it?”

William clenched his jaw and flared his nostrils, “I didn’t mean it that way.”

Buffy let out a deep breath, she couldn’t fight with him when she was trying so hard to convince him to go to this party with her. She reached out and grabbed the invitation off the counter and put it in her purse.

“Can’t you convince Drusilla to see him another night?”

“He’s flying in from Paris for only a day…I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

William’s eyes flashed up to meet hers, “What do you want me to do?”

“Stand the bloody hell up to her.” Buffy decided to use his choice of words, hoping it would get through to him somehow.

“I don’t see you doing the same.”

Buffy should have expected the hit; she was obviously not practicing what she preached.

“It’s different for me.”

“Why do you get to make excuses and I can’t?” he muttered harshly.

“I’m not making excuses…I’m—“

“Making excuses.” He finished for her, “It’s easy to give someone else advice, isn’t it? But God forbid you use it for yourself.”

He didn’t mean to be so harsh with her—to go on and flat out tell her the truth, but listening to her suggest to him on how to find peace while she drowned was ridiculous. It was more than ridiculous—it was impossible.

The silence between them seemed to stretch on forever. It was the interruption of a innocent college student that broke the tension.

“Can you tell me where I would find this?” a young brunette freshman asked as she slid a tiny piece of paper in front of William.

William held his stare with Buffy for a few more seconds, hoping she’d relax or maybe brush off his comment.

“I asked the guys on the fourth floor and they know jack about Greek Mythology…they said you know your way around here more.” The girl continued on without a care in the world.

“Buffy…”

“I got to go.” Buffy whispered as she turned around and slowly walked toward the exit.

“Buffy!” he said a little louder from behind the desk.

If he was ten years younger he would have ran after her, but the mere thought of him doing it now was asinine. In his eyes she was the hero and he was the weak damsel in distress. She had more fight inside her while he had a hollow heart. She couldn’t easily be broken while he already had missing pieces to himself. But now…now, he realized how much power he had over someone.

He hurt her. For over ten years he never hurt Drusilla, a woman that deserved more emotion and psychological pain than anyone, and he went out and hurt Buffy.

As William started his car and made his way out of the parking lot and towards home, he vowed one thing to himself—to somehow stop being what he thought he was…what Drusilla wanted him to be, and be the man Buffy was searching for—her hero.



TBC...