Chapter 13:
Buffy didn't let go of William's hand until they walked into Lens Crafters. Holding his hand had simply felt so...so good, Buffy thought, as she looked at his dazed expression as he took in his new surroundings.
Having William here with her was like an absolute dream come true. Here he was, standing right beside her, and the embodiment of the perfect man with his polite manners and his kindness. It was hard to not give in and let herself simply be with him, but Buffy knew that as easily as he had been brought to 2004, it was just as easy to take him back to 1882.
"Can I help you?" A red haired woman asked as she approached Buffy and William.
"Oh, yes," Buffy answered, pushing away her worries and hopes all connected to William's presence. She looked at the tall redhead, whose nametag read "Lisa."
"My, uh, friend here needs a pair of glasses," Buffy explained.
"Yes, I've seemed to have lost mine on my trip over here," William added. He looked over at Buffy and sent her a look that clearly said, "See? I can get my way through this just as well as you can."
Buffy smiled, amazed that William had caught on to covering his real story so quickly. "I think he's a bit nearsighted."
"Okay, well, why don't I just take a reading of your eyes and we'll go from there," Lisa suggested.
William looked over at Buffy once again, this time with a slight look of worry in his expression. Having never had a 21st century eye exam, he had no clue what to expect. When Buffy nodded, trying to silently tell him everything was all right, William nodded as well. "Very well, that sounds fine to me."
The couple followed Lisa to the back of the room, where she motioned William to sit down in one of the chairs. Buffy sat down in the chair to his left to keep a close eye on what he said and did. "Now, just sit here and let me grab my machine."
As Lisa walked to the other side of the store, Buffy leaned closer to William. "Are you okay?"
"I believe so, yes," William answered. "This is incredible, Buffy. Indoor shopping, all of the bright lights, and and everything so convenient. I never would have imagined it looking like this, even though you have spoken much of it."
There was a smile of pure enjoyment on William's features, and Buffy found the smile infectious. How could she not smile at seeing William having so much fun? "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself here."
William turned to look at her, that look of excitement changing to one of adoration. "And I am glad you are here to experience this with me."
Buffy never got to answer as Lisa came back, with a small black box in her hands. "Here we are. Okay, just look straight ahead and stay still. Try to blink as few times as possible while I take a reading on your eyes."
William nodded, after warily glancing at her contraption. He wasn't sure if that looked very professional, but since Buffy seemed to think that it was all right, he did as the young woman asked. He saw a bright light in the box, and kept waiting for something to happen.
"Alright, you're all done," Lisa announced, sitting back in her own chair to read the results.
"That was it?"
"Yes, completely painless, see?" Buffy asked. "It's when you have to get your eyes dilated that it's not so much fun. We might have to do that at an optometrist's office depending on what she tells us."
William looked at her, half of those words sounding like an alien language to his ears.
"Good news, sir, it looks like you really aren't nearsighted or farsighted at all," Lisa said. "You just need a good pair of reading glasses."
"Is that good?" He asked Buffy.
Buffy shrugged. Since neither she nor her sister had ever had glasses, she wasn't too sure how these things worked out. "I hope so."
Lisa stood and walked over to a spinning rack of reading glasses. She picked out a couple different frame sizes that were William's correct prescription. "Here you go, try this one on," she said when she walked back to the two.
William slid the frames on, immediately amazed at how light they felt resting against his nose. However, even more importantly, all of the words around him cleared up at once. He smiled at Lisa as he said, "Yes, these are spectacular." William turned to look at Buffy. "What do you think?"
Buffy's breath caught in her throat at seeing him wearing the silver, thin framed glasses. Damn, she cursed in her mind. And I thought he looked good when I first saw him this morning? Yeah...wow...
"They - they, uh, look great," Buffy finally managed to stammer.
"Great," Lisa said. "That should solve all of your problems." She opened one of the drawers behind the desk and pulled out a blue eyeglasses case. "Here you are. Blue, to match your eyes," she said to William, smiling as she handed him the case.
"Thank you, miss."
"Yes, thanks so much," Buffy said, noticing that gleam of interest in the woman's eye as she stared at William. Despite her attempts to brush off Lisa's flirtatious smile, Buffy could feel the jealousy surge through her. "Now, where do I pay?" Lisa pointed to the counter on the right side of the store and both Buffy and William stood up. "Thanks again."
"Yes, thank you very much," William spoke.
Buffy paid for William's glasses and walked out of the store a few minutes later.
"Now, this is incredible," William remarked as he opened and closed the glasses case several times in a row.
"What?" Buffy turned back to the department store they had come from, making sure that William kept up with her fairly easily.
"This...rough material here," he said, unable to find any other appropriate words to describe it.
Buffy looked over at what he was talking about and smiled as he continued to uncover and then reseal the case. "It's called velcro," she explained. "Pretty amazing stuff. I'll look it up on the Internet for you and you can read about it."
Hearing that, William perked up. "Ah yes, the Internet and computers," he began, "Do you think that you could teach me how to work one of those?"
Buffy paused, thinking about all of the possible scenarios of how difficult that might go. "Let's just get back home and get you settled in before you tackle the most important invention of the 20th century, okay?"
William nodded in agreement, "That is fine with me, Buffy. After all, this has been quite a lot to absorb all in one day."
"You're telling me," she muttered.
He could hear the change of tone in her voice and was instantly worried. Was she not happy as he was that he was here? Did he not want her to be here? "Buffy?"
"Yes, William?" She stopped walking and turned to look up at him with a solemn expression of her face.
"Never mind," he said, changing his mind about confronting her at the last second. "Returning to your flat seems like the most sensible plan."
"Great, glad we agree." With that, Buffy turned and continued walking.
William followed several paces behind her, his head still moving back and forth as he tried to take all the new sights, sounds, and energy in. This shopping center was truly incredible and he hoped that Buffy would bring him back here one day soon when they had more time.
However, more than anything else, William just wished that she would reach out and hold his hand once again.
~~~
Buffy and William arrived back at her apartment without any other problems, and Buffy first showed him to the guestroom.
"It's pretty small," Buffy said, "but it's the best I can do."
"It, uh, is fine," William answered. Truthfully, he was a bit nervous about staying in a woman's home considering the fact that the only house he had ever lived in was with his mother and sister. But he kept telling himself that this was Buffy, so it had to be all right.
The two took some time to unpack the bags that they had bought at Macy's and either hang his clothes in the closet or fold them to place in the dresser.
"Thank you again for the clothing," William spoke after they finished.
"No problem," Buffy answered. "I mean, what was I supposed to do? Let you run around naked for as long as you're here?"
I so shouldn't have said that, Buffy thought when she saw William begin to blush. Buffy could feel heat rising to her cheeks as well and cleared her throat to change the subject. "C'mon," she said, walking back out to the living room. "Just wait here a second."
Buffy walked down the hallway and into her bedroom. A few seconds later, she walked back out with the journal in one hand, and his pocket watch in the other.
"Ah, there is my pocketwatch," William said, as he sat down on the couch.
"I thought it might be time to sit down and talk about this a bit," Buffy said, joining him on the sofa. "I actually think that this is what brought you here."
"How so?"
Buffy explained how she had found the pocket watch last night and worn it to bed. When she had woken up to discover William at the end of her bed, she could still feel the chain of the watch wrapped around her wrist. "It's the only somewhat rational explanation I could come up with," she finished with.
William had taken the journal from her when she sat down and was not looking through the pages. "Isn't it amazing?"
"What?"
"That all of this is happening," he replied. "I mean, with all of our writing, I never thought that it might actually bring us together in person."
Buffy froze, unsure of what to say. In all honestly, she too wanted to be as thrilled as he, but another part of her—and again she felt as if she had Warren to thank for this mindset—had to look at the negative side first. Sure he was here, but what would trigger his trip back to 1882? And when?
She had made a promise to herself that she would not get too attached to William, and that was when they were just writing to one another. How on earth was she suppose to resist this man when he was sitting less than a couple feet from her on her couch? But resist she must, because Buffy couldn't take the risk that he might be here for only a short amount of time.
"It's all pretty crazy," Buffy finally said, forcing herself to keep herself emotionally separated from William. "But...but it's most likely only temporary."
"How can you say for certain?"
"Well, I can't obviously, I just...I, uh..." Buffy's voice died off as she gazed across into his cerulean eyes. God, no wonder I could never duplicate that color, it's just impossible. "So, this is your father's pocket watch?"
William looked down and took the pocket watch from her hand. "Yes, it is. It was very important to both him and myself. My mother gave it to him on their first anniversary together."
"Then why are you giving it to me?" Buffy asked again, wanting him to be absolutely sure he was willing to part with such an important object.
William shrugged slightly. "I wanted to give it to someone who meant a lot to me. Emmy wouldn't understand its significance since she was too young to remember Father, but I thought you might understand, what with your mother and father both gone."
"William, I-" I love it, I love that you're here. I love you, she thought. Tell him sometime good. "I can't accept this, but thank you for thinking of me."
"But Buffy, I-"
"How about some lunch, William?" Buffy quickly asked, rising from the couch and heading towards the front door. "Are you hungry?"
"Well, yes I am a bit," William answered with a look of dissatisfaction on his features. Why was she running from him?
"Good. Well, there is this great little sandwich shop a few blocks down," Buffy explained as she grabbed her purse and car keys. "Why don't I go down there and pick up a couple things for us?"
"Would you like me to come with you?"
"No, that's not necessary," Buffy answered. In all honestly, she needed some time away from him, some time to think everything through and figure out what she was going to do over the next few days. How was she going to handle William's presence twenty-four hours a day? "Remember us talking about the television? Well, here's your chance to finally see what it is."
William perked up at hearing he would finally have an opportunity to see what was so great about the thing called "television." "That would be lovely."
Buffy walked back to the couch and handed him a long, rectangular object with raised buttons everywhere. "This is the remote control, remember me explaining it to you back in September?"
William nodded, "Yes, I do."
Buffy quickly explained how to turn the TV on and off, change the channels, and adjust the volume. "Okay, have fun while I'm gone."
"Thank you, Buffy," William replied, looking up at her with a quick smile. He had taken off his reading glasses once they got back to Buffy's apartment, and Buffy could feel herself becoming trapped in his ocean blue eyes once again.
"No problem," she said, walking back to the front door. "Enjoy yourself, okay?" Having said that, Buffy walked out the door and closed it behind her. William heard her lock the door before heading down the steps.
As he sat in her living room on her very comfortable sofa, William couldn't help but feel out of place. He had never imagined that he would be brought to the year 2004, and now that he was here he had no clue what to do.
Several important questions still remained - how did he really get here? How long was he here for? What would he do if he was stuck in the year 2004 forever?
However, the question that bothered him the most was, why was Buffy acting so distant? William had noticed her attempts to keep herself distanced from him, both physically and emotionally. He wasn't an idiot, and he could tell that she was very skittish around him.
Could it be because she was afraid he would act like Warren? Well, William knew without a doubt that the answer to that was a strong "no," and would tell her just that when she got home. But if it wasn't that, what else could it be?
Could it be that she doesn't want me here? William asked himself. Why else would she be acting so strange?
William thought about the possible reasons why she might be acting so bizarre, but couldn't come up with anything definite. However, William was sure of one thing. After reading her inner thoughts and openness in their journal for over three months, he could tell that she wasn't acting like herself.
I will just have to ask her once she arrives, William thought to himself. "Now, let's see if I can get this television to work properly."
He hit the red button on the top right side of the remote control and instantly, the big, black box several feet in front of him, was filled with bright colors, people, and very loud sounds. William immediately turned down the sound until it was a comfortable level for his hearing, and then looked on in awe at the movements on the screen.
"This is absolutely incredible," he whispered, watching a pair of people drive a car that was very similar to Buffy's. "What an amazing invention."
William hit the channel button, and the picture immediately changed to one of lions, zebras, and elephants in what must be Africa, he assumed. A little box in the corner of the screen read "Animal Planet."
He changed channels a few more times, interested in seeing what other types of programs there were. He quickly changed channels from a woman selling jewelry and talking very quickly, to a fast-talking man standing on some device that was moving back and forth, and then again to a man who was cooking in front of a small crowd while he yelled "bam!" every other second.
These Americans are very weird, William couldn't help but think as he continued to change channels. Most of what he viewed seemed very unappealing to him. He did a double take when he came to a scene with a man and woman lying in bed together and couldn't help but look on in shock at what the scene implied.
How on earth can they show something so personal? William wondered. "Ah, this must be one of these 'soap operas' Buffy told me about," he realized as he began to change the channel once again.
Finally, he came to a channel that had a three-letter logo all in blocks - BBC. People were walking around in dress that was much more familiar to William than what he had seen earlier at the mall, and they were talking with the accent he was so accustomed to hearing.
"Oh! Yes. Mr. Darcy is uncommonly kind to Mr. Bingley, and takes a prodigious deal of care of him," a brunette woman spoke with much conviction.
"Care of him! Yes, Elizabeth, I really believe Darcy does take care of him in those points where he most wants care. From something that he told me in our journey hither, I have reason to think Bingley very much indebted to him," the man replied as he crossed the room.
William smiled, recognizing the scene that was playing before him at once. "This is lovely," he said. "A reenactment of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Perhaps these Americans do not have such strange tastes after all."
As William became more taken by the novel being brought to life before his eyes, he suddenly heard an unfamiliar sound. He realized that it was Buffy unlocking the door, and he rose to open the door for her.
"Wha-Oh, thanks William," Buffy said, struggling to keep the sandwich bags and purse in her hands without dropping anything.
"Of course. Here, let me take these bags from you," William said, reaching out and helping Buffy inside.
"Thank you," she said. She looked at the TV, wondering what he was watching. "I see you've figured out the television without too many problems. What are you watching?"
"It looks to be a reenactment of Pride and Prejudice, a novel written by Jane Austen," William explained. "My mother enjoys that novel very much, and I am pleased to see that this is quite similar to the actual novel."
Buffy nodded, having only heard of the book, but never read it. "That's great." She looked at what channel it was on and smiled. "I have a feeling you will be watching that channel again very soon."
"Why is that?" He asked as he walked to the kitchen and set the bags down on the table.
"It's a British entertainment channel," she explained. "All British programs, all the time."
"How fascinating," he said. He sat down at the table and began to open one of the bags. "Are you not going to sit down and eat with me?"
Buffy wistfully stared at him, wishing she could. "I'm sorry, William. But it looks like I need to head into work to deal with a situation. Willow just called me on her cell, and there is a client who needs a painting ready sometime next week rather than next month," she explained. "I need to go see if I can talk him out of it, since I can't have it ready that soon."
"Must you go now?" William asked, slightly disappointed that they would not be spending their first day together.
Buffy looked into the other bag to make sure she had the right one to take with her. "I'm so sorry, William. But I will try to be home as soon as possible. And I would bring you with me, but..."
"But you are not ready to introduce me to your co-workers?" William finished for her, understanding how awkward that might be. "Completely understandable, Buffy. I will be here waiting for your return."
"Thanks for understanding, William," she said. "And I'll run by Blockbuster on the way home and pick up a few movies we can watch tonight, okay?"
"Alright," he agreed, smiling towards her.
Buffy paused, trying to resist the urge to reach out and touch him, hug him, or even squeeze his hand - anything to simply touch him. How she wanted to so badly. At the last minute, she pulled back and started heading towards the front door. "I'll eat on the way there," she said. "And be back as soon as possible."
TBC...
Thank you ALL for the amazing reviews! I've just continued to be blown away by the response to this story - a story that I was somewhat thinking might not fit into the Spuffy world since it IS William. Anyway, I'm glad everyone is enjoying! Thank you again for the comments, feedback, and nomations. :)