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Author's Chapter Notes:
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Chapter 21:

 
Dawn woke Buffy up at 8:30, and she was clearly eager to get the gift opening process underway. William was already awake since he was still so used to waking up with the sun, and he was already busy working on unpacking and setting up his new laptop on the kitchen table when the girls walked into the living room.

"Good morning," William greeted, when he saw a giddy Dawn and his listless girlfriend, who looked as if she needed several more hours of sleep.

"Morning, William," Dawn said cheerfully.

Dawn passed William and kept walking towards the Christmas tree. She bent down to look at the gifts around the tree and mentally counted how many were hers. Buffy, on the other hand, walked up to William and didn't stop walking until she was pressed up against his chest.

"G'morning," Buffy grumbled, closing her eyes and wishing she could sleep in for a few more hours. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek against him.

William chuckled at her grumpy tone of voice. "Good morning, Buffy," he said, hugging her gently and looking down at her. "Did you rest well, for the few hours you were able to sleep, that is?"

She wrinkled her forehead and tried not to think. "I think I'm a bit hung-over from all of the egg nog I had," she admitted.

"My poor dear," he said, running his hands up and down her back in a soothing manner. "Shall I start a pot of coffee? I have read that is the best way to relieve the after effects of alcohol."

"That would be lovely," she said. "Thank you so much."

"Of course." William looked down at her once more, smoothed back an errant strand of hair behind her ear, and turned towards the kitchen. Buffy sat down on the couch, hoping that she could just sit here while Dawn passed out the rest of the presents. Since Buffy and William had exchanged presents the night before, most of the gifts were for Dawn.

Not that Dawn was complaining about it, or anything. She was already picking up presents and setting them down in a chair by the tree. Dawn placed a few beside Buffy - gifts that were from distant relatives who only kept sending presents at the memory of their mother, and a few that were to herself to give the illusion of more presents under the tree.

William walked back into the living room with a steaming cup of coffee, and Buffy could feel herself perk up a bit at just smelling the delicious aroma. Of course, that could have also been because of William’s smile and how closely he sat next to her.

"Better?" William asked after she had taken a few sips.

"Much." And she didn't mean just because of the coffee.

 
~~~

 
On Sunday, Dawn left with her friends for her week long skiing trip. William and Buffy settled down to watch a couple movies for the rest of the afternoon. They also finished setting up William's laptop and spent several hours together figuring out everything they could about his new gift.

Although both of them had enjoyed having Dawn and their friends around to spend the holiday together, once everyone was gone and the two had the apartment to themselves, things just seemed to click and time stopped. Truthfully, both Buffy and William had become used to having the place to themselves and it was nice to get back to that feeling of closeness. Although they only had a week together before Dawn came back for the final two weeks of her winter vacation, Buffy promised to make the most of it.

 
~~~

 
When Monday morning rolled around, Buffy regrettably dragged herself out of bed to prepare for a full day of work. Spending the entire weekend at home with Dawn and William had been just what she needed - some relaxing time with the two people that meant the most to her. Nevertheless, it was time to get back to real world and continue to make a living. Although Buffy didn't hate her job by any means, she would have loved to take another few days off from work and spend them with William.

They were becoming closer each day, and she always delighted in watching William become more comfortable with innocent public displays of affection. He was even beginning to instigate them himself. Buffy wished that they'd had more time to explore where their relationship was headed and not have her work interfere.

In keeping to her daily routine, Buffy showered, dressed, and prepared herself for a day at the gallery. When she walked out, she was greeted to breakfast, a morning tradition that she was beginning to rely on having every day.

"Morning," she said when she sat down at the table.

"Good morning," William said. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, and you?"

"As usual, yes."

Buffy still had trouble getting used to the fact that he was such an early riser and clearly a morning person. "We're going to have to break this nasty habit of yours, waking up at sunrise," she said. "I just don't know how you can do it every day."

"Well, considering that I have done this ever since I was born, I have become quite accustomed to it," William explained.

"Well, don't worry...spend enough time with me and I will break that bad habit of yours," Buffy teased.

William flushed a bit, yet surprisingly, not as much as he thought he might, and definitely not as much as he would have if he had heard her say this two weeks ago. "I will be looking forward to it then," he said, with a sly look on his face.

Now, it was Buffy's turn to blush.

 
~~~

 
Anya had requested the day off to spend some extra time with Xander while he was on his holiday vacation, so Willow and Buffy were the only two working at the gallery that morning. Neither was expecting any major rushes, since the day after Christmas was over was probably one of the slowest days for major paintings and commissions.

As 12:30 was beginning to roll around and not a single person had walked into the gallery, Buffy was beginning to think that it might be best if they simply closed early for the day. After all, there was no reason for both of them to be sitting around waiting for nothing to happen. She walked back to Willow's office room to suggest that very idea to her.

"Hey, Willow, do you think we should just go ahead and close up early for the day?" Buffy asked.

Willow looked up at her friend and tried to pull off a thoughtful expression. "I don't know...I'm sure people will start showing up eventually," she replied.

"I doubt it. I was thinking about closing at either 1:00 or 1:30," she explained. "I mean, no one has even come inside yet."

Just then, the bell over the front door rang out and Buffy jumped, wondering who it might be. Willow followed her out to the main room of the gallery and both girls stopped in their tracks when they saw who was standing in the doorway.

"William!" Buffy cried out in joy, walking up to him and giving him a quick, but tight, hug. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

William smiled down at her and then quickly glanced at Willow with a gleam in his eyes. "I...uh, simply found directions and phoned a cab to come pick me up."

Buffy looked back at Willow, who had suddenly found something on her shoes very interesting to look at. "Oh really, huh?"

"Yes."

"Well, whatever reason you're here, I'm so glad you are," Buffy said, hugging him once more. "Since you've never been here before, I'll give you the official tour of my gallery and studio."

Willow smiled at the two blondes standing in front of her. Yes, she had definitely done the right thing to call William and tell him to come visit the gallery today. It looked like just the pick-me-up that Buffy needed.

"Well, I have a lot of, um...paperwork to get through," Willow lamely spoke. "So, I'll see you two later. William, it was so great of you to stop by."

When Willow left, Buffy turned to face him with a beaming smile on her face. "I'm so glad you came here today," she said. "It was incredibly boring, but now...it's just great."

"Well, I insist that you thank Willow then," William said. "She called your apartment and suggested that I visit."

"I will have to thank her, you can make sure of that," she said, although Buffy also made a note to make sure and yell at her first for meddling with her love life.

"Come on," she said, taking his hand and leading him towards the gallery. "I want to give you the full tour."

She led him through the three gallery rooms, which were all pretty bare at the moment. "These are where the gallery openings are held, and my paintings, along with other artists', are displayed," Buffy explained. "I do things a bit differently than other independent artists. I like to have a mix of my paintings along with the other local artists so that the potential customers and clients can see a mixture of compositions, techniques, styles, and things like that. That way if they purchase another artist’s work, I will at least get a percentage."

William listened to Buffy explain how she ran her business as he gazed at the few beautiful portraits that were hung on the walls. She had clearly captured a wide range of emotions in every portrait she had painted, from anger and despair, to joy and surprise.

"These are incredible," William said.

"Well, they're not all mine," Buffy said. "But a few left are. I'm getting ready for my new gallery design and my new series of paintings," she continued on. "I've been keeping it a big secret from everyone else until the opening night."

"Do you have any idea when that may be?"

"Hopefully in a couple of weeks. I'm about done with my share of the work and the paintings from other artists and museum galleries are almost settled," Buffy told him. "I'm really looking forward to this one. You'll have to attend on my opening night."

"But of course," he agreed.

"Now, I want to show you my studio," Buffy said, pulling him in a new direction.

The two walked into a brightly lit, large studio space. Both blank and partially painted canvases lined the walls, and easels were also scattered here and there. The studio was lined with floor to ceiling windows, allowing plenty of natural light into the room for Buffy to paint by.

"It's not exactly the tidiest place on earth," Buffy said as she dropped his hand to let him walk around on his own. "But this is where I come to get away from everything. I can just pick up my paintbrush and...I'm centered, back to basics, and where I can freely paint however and whatever I want to."

"It must be wonderful," William said. "To have your dream job and be such a success with it."

"Thank you," she said, blushing at his compliment. "It can be tough at times...it was tough getting this place started up, but it's been worth it, every single minute of it."

It went unspoken that the exact same thing could be said about their relationship.

"Now, if you promise to keep it a secret, I'll let you know what my theme for the next opening is going to be," Buffy said. "Willow knows, but she has sworn upon penalty of death to not say a word until opening night."

"I would love to see what you have been working on," William said. "And I will not tell a soul."

"I know you won't," Buffy said. "I just like to tease you as often as I can."

She walked over to the other side of the room and pulled back several drapes hiding the few canvases that were completed.

What William saw were paintings with rich, vibrant colors, loose and somewhat choppy brush strokes, and a blurriness that was predominantly found in -

"Impressionism!" he gasped. "Why, this is your take on impressionism."

"Bingo!" She said, stepping back to stand beside him and squeezing his arm. Buffy stepped closer towards William and wrapped his arm around her waist, hungry for contact between the two of them. "I know impressionism was just up and coming in 1882. Manet, Monet, Renoir...oh gosh, I get chills thinking that they were actually alive and painting these incredible things that were considered radical in your time. I mean, you all had the Salons back then, something I would just absolutely die to see, and it was new, original for it's time, while also being scandalous and risqué-"

"Buffy, are you saying that you decided upon this series with myself in mind?"

Her face softened as she gazed into his fathomless blue eyes. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you." She walked around the room and pulled off a few more covers. "These are all my impressionist takes on the surrounding area. The beach, which is just a few miles away. The park, where we have a small bridge and stream underneath. The Expresso Pump, although if that place has ever looked as nice as it does in my painting, I surely missed out on it. And the desert, several miles north of here."

"Buffy, these are incredible," William said in awe. "You're just so talented."

"Thank you," she spoke softly. "And other artists have their own renditions of the surrounding area. My only requirement was that it had to be in a European Impressionist style of the late 1800s."

William walked around the rest of the studio, taking in the entire atmosphere of the room. "This is simply...an incredible accomplishment, Buffy."

He looked in the other corner of the room and noticed a smaller canvas, which was also covered, behind a much larger one that she had shown him. The cover of the canvas appeared to have a layer of dust on it, telling him that it had been a while since Buffy had touched that painting.

"What is this one over here?" He asked, pointing towards the smaller covered canvas.

"Oh, nothing important," Buffy rushed to explain. "Just a painting that didn't go so well."

"May I see?"

Buffy silently groaned. Of all the paintings in her studio, why did he have to be so interested in the one that was of him?

"Sure thing," she finally answered. Buffy picked up the canvas and placed it on an easel. As she sheet fell to the floor, William's eyes widened when he saw almost an exact mirror image stare back at him.

"Buffy," he gasped. "This is...is this how you see me?"

Buffy looked at the painting, wondering what he saw. "What?"

"You've painted this with such...such emotion and caring," he finally said. "Did you paint this quite recently? Although my hair can be somewhat annoyingly long, I do not think it is quite that long."

Buffy paused, unsure of how to say that she had actually painted it weeks before they'd ever met face to face. But, then again, with everything else that was so bizarre in their lives, what more could this new information do to their relationship.

"I, uh, actually..."

"Yes?"

"This was actually painted back in mid November," she finished.

William thought on this for several long seconds, trying to figure out what that meant. "Then...then this was painted before we ever met?" he asked.

"That's right," Buffy said, slightly nodding.

"And all you had to go with was the description of myself that I wrote in our journal?"

"Right again." She looked up at him, hoping this wouldn't worry him too much. "You know the weirdest thing? I managed to get this incredible shade of blue for your eyes and after I finished painting, I couldn't recreate the color. It was just...like it was meant to happen only this one time, for my portrait of you." Buffy ran her hand down his cheek, as the realization that something bigger than just the two of them being able to stand in the same room together, was going on here.

"Then, you are saying that it is almost as if something mystical possessed you to paint this?" he asked.

"I don't know what I'm saying, William. All I know is that I painted almost an exact replica of your face without having actually ever seen it before."

William thought of what to say, of how he should react to this news. Finally, he reached out to touch her soft cheek, to run his fingertips down the column of her throat and then to rest on her shoulders. "Then I guess it is just another sign that we truly were meant to be together," he finally spoke. "It is almost as if this painting was a sign of things to come, our destiny."

"Our destiny?" she whispered back.

"Yes. Our destiny to...to be together," William ended.

Buffy found herself quickly blinking back tears at his moving words. "Thank you so much, William."

"For what?"

"For always knowing what to say."

Having said that, Buffy did what she had been dying to do for days now, especially ever since she'd read his entry in their new journal on the night before Christmas. She raised herself up onto her tiptoes and gently pressed her lips to his.

Buffy felt William tense and freeze underneath her palms, which were resting on his shoulders. But as she gently kissed him again, she could feel him relax into her embrace and begin to actually kiss her back. And as she ran her hands from his shoulders to his neck, she could feel any tension left quickly leave his body.

Oh God, I am dying. I must be dying, William thought, for he knew that he was nearing heaven as Buffy ran her fingers through his hair and gently massaged the back of his neck while she continued to show him with her own mouth how to respond. His hands came to rest on the small of her back as he lowered his head to deepen their kiss - his first kiss - and felt her press her entire body against his. Oh, Buffy. Buffy, Buffy, Buffy...

It was suddenly every stupid cliché in the book that had ever been written about a kiss - electricity running through her veins, lightening shocks wherever their skin made contact together, bright colors bursting before her eyes. But all of those clichés were pretty dead on for Buffy, and as she deepened their kiss by slightly opening her mouth to gently press her tongue against his lips for the first time, she knew that this is what a first kiss really should feel like.

Pure, unadulterated love.

Some time later - seconds, minutes, hours - neither one was too sure when they finally pulled back from each other, Buffy opened her eyes and sent him a shaky smile, clearly affected in the power of what they had just shared. She watched William's reaction, wondering what he would say - or what she should say - next.

"Buffy..." William whispered hoarsely, unsure of what to say after one was just doing something so intimate. Should he thank her? No, he quickly though, casting that idea away. He couldn't bear it if she laughed at his untrained words right now. "Buffy, my heart, I...I-"

Buffy silenced him with one more gentle kiss. "I know, William. Trust me, I know."

 
TBC

 



:) I hope this was what everyone has been waiting for!

And I hope all of my readers in the US have a fun, wonderful, and safe Thanksgiving - and have plenty of delicious food! Thank you for all of the reviews and support for my story, it means a lot to me. I'm just thrilled that all of you are still enjoying this story, there is still plenty to come!

Take care everyone, and please leave me a review letting me know what you thought!





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