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Author's Chapter Notes:
Still posting as many chapters at one time as iI can so as not to drag the story out too long, but could only get one on this time.
Chapter Seven

The whole time Buffy and William were dancing, in addition to trying to watch them, Riley was grilling Willow about how well she knew her friend and if she had noticed anything “unusual” about her. Willow, never a good liar, was doing her best to field his questions with more questions of her own.

“Gee, Riley, that’s a funny thing to ask about someone you’re dating. If you though she was strange, why would you ask her out?”

“I didn’t mean strange in a bad way, Willow. I just meant…is she stronger than normal? Maybe she runs faster? Does she believe in vampires?”

“Well, she runs faster than I do!” Willow responded brightly. “But then, my five year old cousin runs faster than I do, so…” She tried to ignore the vampire comment, and Riley wisely didn’t pursue it.

“William seems to have discovered his dancing gene,” he commented dryly, watching the two blonds moving gracefully around the floor.

“Yeah, well, Buffy can do that to a guy. She’s a really, really good dancer and she makes the guy look good. Even somebody like William can look good if he’s dancing with Buffy,” she said cheerfully, not having noticed what a terrible dancer Riley was when he was with Buffy.

“Apparently so,” he grumbled, leading Willow back to the table. “I don’t dance like that with MY cousins, “ he muttered as he yanked a chair out for Willow.

As Buffy approached the table, he watched her work her way gracefully across the crowded dance floor and wondered what it was about the tiny blond that attracted him so. Yes, she was pretty, and obviously very athletic if her actions the other night were to be considered; and, despite her lack of attention sometimes in class, he thought she was very bright; but there was something about her…something almost otherworldly, that drew him.

(She can’t be a demon. She’s just too…pure…too full of light. But, something’s not quite right, there. I’ve got to find out what it is before Maggie goes into “Let’s cut it up and see what it is” mode.)I

Buffy gave Riley a plastered-on smile and sat down beside him with a sigh. She looked back toward the dance floor, but there was no sign of William and she briefly worried before she remembered he wasn’t actually a timid bookworm who was unfamiliar with Sunnydale. (Although, he IS still kinda helpless if somebody picks a fight with him.)

Shoving worry about William to the back of her mind, she turned to her date and tried to answer his implied question.

“William seemed to pick up some pretty amazing dancing skills when he left Willow for you…” the jealousy and suspicion were palpable.

Buffy shot a panicked look at Willow before replying, “Uh, yeah. See, the thing is, William isn’t really as clumsy as he seems to be. He’s just really, really…lacking in self-confidence around girls.” She ignored Willows attempt to muffle a snort of laughter. “But since I’m related to him, and we’ve danced together before, he doesn’t get all left-footed and tongue-tied around me. It’s a family thing, I guess.” She blushed prettily. “I get sort of tongue-tied and clumsy around guys I…like.”

Riley fixed her with an intense, but hopeful stare. “I’d like to think that explains some of things you say and do around me,” he said carefully.

Deciding she’d lied quite enough for one evening, Buffy settled for ducking her head and looking embarrassed, hoping he would take that for an answer. It must have worked, as he beamed at her and put his big arm across the back of her chair.

Sticking to safe subjects like Sunnydale U. and the various courses available there, they were able to manage several minutes of actual, non-probing conversation before Xander and Anya returned to the table. Xander tried to catch Buffy’s eye as he said carefully, “Buff? Think you might want to check on William. He’s having a bit of a problem.”

Her head flew up and she sat up straight. “Problem? What kind of problem?”

“Four problems, actually. Four, large, muscular problems.”

“Somebody’s picking on…William?” She rose to her feet, only to be stopped by Riley’s hand on her arm.

In a deceptively mild tone he asked, “Why didn’t you stop it, Xander? Why come and get Buffy? Surely you don’t expect a small girl to intervene?”

Xander’s “deer in headlights” look lasted until, with a disgusted snort, Anya said, “Of course, he came to get Buffy. It’s her cousin, after all. And she can-“

Recovering himself quickly, the boy interrupted, “Yeah, the thing is? The Buffster? She’s got this real knack of…calming people down, you know? They just kind of…back off…when she gets involved.”

Standing up to loom over her, Riley said, “Well, you aren’t going off alone to break up a fight on my watch. Where are they, Xander?”

He pointed silently toward the hallway where the restrooms were located and trailed behind as Buffy and Riley moved quickly in that direction. They arrived to find William crouched against the wall, holding his hands over his face defensively. Surrounding him were the four commandos that had been watching all night. One of them sported a swelling eye and another was nursing a bruised hand as they advanced on the cowering man.

“What the hell is going on here?” Buffy’s voice was not what you would expect from a frightened coed. There was no scream, no shout for the bouncers, not even, if appeared, any real concern for the welfare of her cousin. There was just cold steel that demanded an answer.

Riley looked angrily over her head at his men and added his, “An explanation would be really good right now.”

“We were just watching your back, Finn,” the one with the blackened eye grumbled. “We thought he was getting little too friendly with your girl friend there, so we decided to scare him. The asshole swung on me so we had to rough him up a little.”

“He’s her COUSIN, you morons,” Riley glared at the surprised men. “They’re supposed to be friendly.”

Buffy felt a stab of guilt at Riley’s defense of their deception, but then she looked at William, sliding fearfully along the wall in her direction and got over it.

“What did you do to him?” she asked, pulling the cringing man behind her.

(And why didn’t you tell me something was happening?)

(Didn’t want to blow your cover, pet. I had it under control.)

“Nothing,” Graham replied, nursing his hand. “We just pushed him around a little and said we were going to take him outside. Then he went nuts on us and tried to get away and when we stopped him, he hit Forrest in the eye.”

Buffy shot Spike a surprised look, wondering why he wasn’t on the ground in pain from his head, but he indicated the blood trickling from his split lip and she understood that the commandos had assumed his pain was from the retaliatory punch.

“So, he tried to get away from you, you manhandled him, he tried to fight back and you hit him? Do I have that quite right, guys?” Buffy’s expression belied the cheery tone of her voice and suddenly they all remembered what had happened to them the last time they’d tangled with her over someone she was protecting.

Behind her back, William was peering fearfully at the large angry men being faced down by a small girl. Spike was sorely tempted to stick his tongue out at them, but smothered the urge as something William would never do. He settled for getting as close to Buffy as he could and glaring at them over her head.

Riley stepped between the angry Slayer and his men, saying, “Buffy, why don’t you take William back to the table and get some ice on that lip while I talk to these guys? Obviously this was a misunderstanding of some sort and I think I can straighten it out.”

Giving the men one last glare, Buffy took William’s arm and began walking away with him. She didn’t let go of him until they got back to the table, where she fished some ice out of her glass and rubbed it gently on his rapidly swelling lip.

If the Scoobies were surprised at her solicitous behavior, they didn’t say anything. They attributed it to play acting for Riley’s sake as he made his way back to the table.

(What the hell were you doin, going off by yourself like that? They might have really hurt you.) Along with the residual anger, there was an edge of concern that she didn’t try to hide.

(They were just tryin’ to scare me, pet. If I hadn’t whacked one accidentally, they probably wouldn’t have touched me. You should have let it go. Thought for a minute there you were gonna go all Slayer on them in public.) The warmth, gratitude, and fear for her that accompanied his thought was strong enough to make her hand shake slightly.

(I guess that’s all I can do for that lip. You’ll be okay tomorrow.)

(I’ll be fine, love. It’s already startin’ to heal. ..unless you want to kiss it better…?)

(You wish!) She gave him a push on his shoulder and moved away quickly.

(You know I do, pet.)

Riley’s arrival back at the table put an end to the private conversation before she had to respond and Buffy quickly focused on the other man.

“So, what was that all about?” she demanded, hands on hips. “What will William think of Americans now?”

Riley blew out his breath and readied his explanation. “Those are some of my…fraternity brothers. They didn’t know who William was and they thought they’d try to discourage him from any thoughts of…They just thought they were helping me out, that’s all.” He turned to William. “I’m sorry, William. I hope they didn’t hurt you badly. Or frighten you too much,” he added, barely smothering a smile.

Buffy felt the surge of anger that went through Spike, but William replied meekly, “No, no. I’m quite used to being…bullied, actually. I’m usually better than that at getting myself out of such situations without harm. I’m grateful that you and Buffy stepped in, though. I’m afraid I may have made them very angry when I accidentally hit that unpleasant man. There’s no telling what they might have done to me.”

“Somehow, I think they would’ve been extremely sorry if they had,” he replied with a speculative look at Buffy. “Your cousin seems quite…protective of the defenseless.”

Everyone tensed as Riley came so close to describing such a big part of a Slayer’s mission, but William snorted and said, “Well, yes, when we were children if she wasn’t pummeling me herself, she was taking up for me when someone else tried to.”

“Yep,” Buffy said with a glare in his direction, “Nobody hits William except for me. That’s the way it’s always been.”

“An interesting relationship.”

He smiled at Buffy to show he was kidding, so missed the flashes of amusement that went across the face of the Scoobies.

(Doesn’t know the half of it, does he, pet?)

Buffy didn’t answer him, but had to duck her head to hide her grin and he smirked in spite of himself. He was quickly back to being William as Willow stood up and said, “It’s getting late. I guess we’d better be getting back…”

“Back? Back too where?” Riley was genuinely puzzled. “Surely, you don’t all live with Buffy’s uncle? Willow, I know you live in the dorm. Won’t you want to be going there?”

As he spoke, it occurred to him she might have been planning to go home with William so as to give Buffy and him some privacy. The idea that anyone would want to spend time alone with the wimpy William was so ludicrous he didn’t even consider it. Even a bookworm like Willow could do better than Buffy’s cousin.

“But, I’ll be happy to take all of you back there before I take Buffy home, if that’s what you want.” He spoke up quickly before Willow could change her mind.

“No, I think Willow just meant we need to get William back to Giles’ before she comes back to the dorm with me. That’s what you meant, isn’t it, Willow?”

Buffy’s eyes were sending very clear signals, and remembering Giles’ admonishment that she wasn’t to be left alone with Riley, Willow quickly corrected herself.

“Oh, yes! That’s what I meant. We’ll take William home, and then you’ll take me back to the dorm, and since that’s where Buffy lives too, we’ll all be where we need to be…” she trailed off when she realized she was starting to babble.

Trying to hide his disappointment, Riley sighed and began to herd them toward the door.

“All right. We’ll drop William off at his uncle’s and Xander and Anya at his house, and then I’ll take you girls back to the dorm.”

The ride to Giles’ apartment was made in silence as everyone was afraid to say what they were really thinking. If Riley seriously wanted to take Buffy away, there wasn’t going to be much Willow could do about it.

(If he does anything to make you at all nervous, pet, you holler. Got it?)

(So you can do what? Scold him to death?)

He tried to smother the hurt her words caused, but the apologetic look she sent toward him told him she’d felt it.

(Jus’ sayin’, pet. We’ve got this thing, might as well use it. Consider me your 911.)

(Yeah, I can’t wait to hear you explain to Giles why you know what’s going on with me when I’m not there. I don’t think you’ll be real helpful with that stake in your chest.)

The wave of gratitude she sent him took the sting out of her words and he agreed ruefully.

(Good point. Pun not intended. Not saying I’m gonna tell him how I know. I’ll think of something if I need to. Somethin’ that won’t get me dusted.)

They pulled up in front of the apartment complex and Buffy sat in the passenger seat while Xander and Anya and William got out. Xander thanked Riley for the ride and said he lived close enough for them to walk home. He and Anya waved and began the short walk to the Harris’s house.

“Will they be all right?” Riley inquired. “Walking home at night like that?”

“Oh yes. Xander grew up in Sunnydale. He knows how to avoid the…bad neighborhoods.”

William stood outside the big vehicle, shuffling his feet and looking around apprehensively.

“Uncle Rupert was quite clear that I was to avoid being by myself in the dark,” he said nervously.

“You want me to walk you to the door?” Riley asked incredulously.

“What? Oh, no! No, my goodness, of course not. I just thought…no, that’s quite all right. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“Well, good night then,” Riley was clearly impatient and anxious to get going. “You’d best get in and take care of that lip.”

“Good night, William,” Buffy said softly. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Good night, Buffy, Ms Rosenberg. Thank you for a lovely evening. And thank you, Mr. Finn, for helping to rescue me from your overzealous…fraternity brothers.”

“No problem,” he replied, climbing back into the car. “I’m sorry they misunderstood the situation like that.”

As they pulled away, Buffy asked in a mild tone, “So, if William weren’t my cousin, you would have been okay with that behavior?”

Riley was not a stupid man. He thought long and hard before he answered her. Buffy waited, tapping her fingers impatiently as the man clearly struggled to find the right thing to say.

“Well, of course, I don’t approve of their bullying anyone. But they thought they were looking out for my interests,” he gave Buffy what was meant to be a flirty smile. “I’m sure if he hadn’t panicked and hit Forrest when then said they were talking him outside, they wouldn’t have actually punched him. They’ve been trai- I mean, you know how guys are. Someone hits us, we hit back. It’s a guy thing.”

“Uh, huh,” was Buffy’s only comment and they rode the rest of the way to the dorm in silence.

When they reached the campus, Riley parked and insisted on walking the girls to their room. Willow hastily said “good-night” and went inside, leaving Buffy standing in the hall while Riley obviously tried to think of a way to get close enough to kiss her. Finally growing impatient with the foot shuffling and throat clearing, she went up on her toes and quickly kissed his cheek, thanking him for the nice evening.

Clearly disappointed, he stopped her as she went to enter the room and asked, “Can I see you again? Maybe without all the friends and relatives?” He smiled anxiously and she was reminded that she had actually enjoyed his company earlier in the evening.

“Of course. I’d like that.” She gave him a smile and said warmly, “Maybe we can have another one of those picnics.”

Buffy went in the room and closed the door on Riley’s happy face. She walked over to her bed and threw herself down with a sigh.

“Why does life have to be so complicated?” she complained.

“Uh, cause you’re the Slayer,” Willow ventured from her bed.

When there was no answer, she went on, “He seems nice, in an I’m-not-telling-you-who-I-really-am kind of way. Do you like him?”

“Not as much as I did before his buddies tried to beat up William,” Buffy growled.

“Uh, Buffy? You do remember that William is really Spike, don’t you? You know, evil undead vampire, tried to kill us? Tried to kill me, right here in this room just a couple of weeks ago.”

She sighed and rolled her head over to look at Willow. “I know, Will. I know he is. But he’s just so…” she shook herself. “Must be something left over from the spell.”

“He’s sweet, isn’t he?” Willow surprised her by saying.

“William? Yeah. Yeah he is. I wonder if that’s what he was like before he was turned?”

“I think so,” Willow said quietly. “I’m pretty sure he was.”

Buffy looked over at her friend in astonishment. “You do? Why?”

Looking uncomfortable, the red-haired witch said, “Well, in the first place – it takes one to know one. I don’t think he could be that convincing if he hadn’t been like that at one time. And….”

“And?”

“And every time he tried to kill me? Or threatened to, anyway. He was really very sweet about it.”

“Spike was sweet? About killing you? Splainy, please.”

“Well, when he wanted me to do that spell for him. You know, to get him back together with Drusilla?”

Buffy smothered the pang of jealousy she felt at being reminded of Spike’s hundred-year love affair with the dark haired vampire.

“I don’t think he ever was actually planning to kill me. He just wanted me to do the spell. He was so unhappy. I really felt sorry for him. All he wanted was to get his girl friend back.”

“Hmph!” was the only response to that.

“And when he came here looking for you? I was so unhappy about…Oz…and I thought nobody wanted me and he, he tried to make me feel better. He told me I was pretty, and that he’d bite me in a minute, if he could…and…okay, maybe that’s not such a good example; but he was trying to make me feel better. Even when he was worried about what was causing him so much pain when he tried to bite me. He stopped and talked to me. He was a lot like William, only scarier.”

“And the complications go on,” Buffy muttered to herself as she turned over to go to sleep. She told Willow “good-night” and shut her eyes resolutely, vowing not to think about sweet vampires or nice secret commandos or anything except peaceful sleep.

(You alright, luv?)

(Yes, I’m fine. Safely in my bed.)

(By yourself?) The anxiety was palpable.

(Of course, by myself! What do you think I am, some kind of slut?) She made no attempt to hide the hurt and anger his question generated.

(I’m sorry, Buffy. That was William’s insecurity…or the demon’s possessiveness. Not sure which. I didn’t mean to suggest you-I’m sorry, love, truly, I am.) Spike sounded so much like William, Buffy smiled in spite of herself.

(Buffy? Slayer?)

(Relax, Spike. It’s okay.) She gave a mental sigh. (I didn’t even kiss him good-night.)

(Didn’t kiss me good-night, either.) Buffy had no idea how a person could send a pout telepathically, but there it was, and she had to smile.

(Good night…William) Buffy pictured herself pressing her lips to his cool soft ones and wasn’t surprised when she felt an answering pressure. Before the kiss could turn into anything that would lead to embarrassing movements and noises, Buffy broke it off and snuggled into her bed.

(Good night, love.) was the last thing she heard before she closed her eyes and allowed sleep to overtake her.





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