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Chapter 3


“This is nice!” Willow said, looking around her room

“Yes well, I’ll leave you to unpack, I’m expecting Wesley to – (KNOCK, KNOCK) oh, that could be him now………Wesley, my dear chap, how are you?”

“Hello Giles! Don’t ask, shattered would be the word, haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in ages!”

“Never mind – we reinforcements are here!”

“Yes, Willow, it’s very good to see you, VERY good! – Are Spike and Buffy here too? – What room number are they in?”

“They um, they’re here…but Spike, or rather William, as we must now call him has taken it upon himself to er, how shall I put it…”

“He’s gone to take Buffy to meet his mother!” Willow said with a grin

Wesley’s brows rose and he blinked

“His-oh god! I forgot he would have been around here then! – I mean now, I mean I know he’s here now, I meant now in the sense of him being here in the past – and I think I’ll shut up now…”

Willow grinned at him and Wesley’s cheeks tinged red.

“There you are! Hi Giles, Xander…Willow. Where’s Buffy and Spike?” Gunn asked.

Willow took out the most gorgeous of Victorian lace nightdresses out of her case and held it up and said,

“This is beautiful! - By the way, where is Cordelia?”

“Ah, now we’ve been very clever – she’s got a job in a milliner’s shop in Sloane Street- she has a clear view right up to the cemetery, she can see anybody coming and going than looks more than normal” She nodded, then added

“You know, I don’t really think that a good and chaste woman of my character would have so many men in her room – especially when she’s unpacking intimate apparel, so, if you don’t mind!”

Giles, Wesley, and Gunn apologised and went to the door to go talk in Giles’ room

Willow looked at Xander, giving him her ‘Well?’ look

“That includes you too!”

“But Will, I’ve seen you in less at the Bronze, and it’s not like we haven’t even been in the same bed together before, and why is Wesley looking at you the way he’s looking at you?” This last sentence made Willow look up

“What? Xander, the last time we shared a bed we were wearing baby-grow’s, and I don’t know what you mean about Wesley”

“I’m going to keep my eye on him – don’t want him thinking he can just be all ‘hello and I’m so glad to see you’ eyes and what’s with this cravat thing – can I take it off now?”

“No, now will you just go – and don’t you DARE say anything to Wesley”

Xander stood in the doorway

“GO!”

“I won’t say anything, but I’m going to be watching him!”

Xander closed the door before the pillow could hit him.


*****************

“Ready Kitten?” William pulled the metal handle and heard the bell jangle in the hallway

After about thirty seconds, the door opened

“Yes – oh, OH! MASTER WILLIAM!”

“Tilly! Is my mother home?”

“Oh master William – yes she’s home, the mistress is entertaining the Harcourt’s to bridge – they always play bridge on Wednesday afternoons”

“Of course – be a good girl and run along, don’t say anything to her, I want to surprise her!”

“Oh master William!”

“Shush…run along now – get some tea made!”

“Tilly….Tilly, who is calling at this time of oh, OH WILL – WILLIAM, is it…it’s really you – you should have written!” Buffy saw a teary-eyed lady, whom once would have been strikingly beautiful, take in her son.

“Mother!” Buffy watched the touching scene as William’s mother hugged him

“Mother – I have excellent news…I have a surprise for you – I didn’t come back from America empty handed…ma-ma – meet Buffy – my bride isn’t she beautiful!”

William’s mother held her lace handkerchief to her eyes, and caught happy tears

“Your BRIDE? – Oh William! She’s, I mean, forgive me my dear you are very beautiful!”

“What is it, what’s going on – what’s all this commotion, are we playing this rubber or – good lord, William my boy!”

William looked up and saw his late father’s best friend, Colonel Charles Harcourt coming down the hallway towards him

“Hello, I’m Buffy” Buffy stood there, holding William’s mother’s hand.

“Buffy…William should have written to tell me such joyous news – I’m very pleased to meet you my dear, you may call me ma-ma…my you are a pretty one” Buffy smiled and looked own, feeling slightly embarrassed at all the compliments, she could see William’s blue eyes and soft lips were from his mother

“I um, I think he did write – you didn’t get the letter?”

“No…but never mind, you are here and now I’ve met you…let me look at you” she studied Buffy with her soft blue eyes and smiled

“My son has an eye for a pretty one – come and sit I’ll order tea!”

“It’s okay ma, I’ve done it!”

“It’s what William?”

“Sorry, I’ve already ordered tea”

She nodded and gently took Buffy by the arm and sat her down on a sofa next to her

“So, how long have you been married my dear?”

Buffy wasn’t sure what to say so she called William over

“William…it’s three months since we’ve been married now, isn’t it!”

“Three blissful months ma-ma – what can I tell you, I’m the happiest man on earth!”

Anne stroked a tray curl from Buffy’s face and she smiled

“You look very young, how old are you my dear?”

“I’m 23”

“You must have met very quickly, you say you’ve already been married for 3 months?”

“Yes! We actually met the day William arrived in America, didn’t we?”

William came towards them and reached for Buffy’s hand

“We did! Indeed ma-ma, I’d made friends with her uncle during my passage to America, and he very kindly put me up, and set me straight on one or two things – and now I have more good news – I am to leave my job with Mr Twelvetrees, and I am joining the National and Provincial Bank in Park Lane, where Buffy’s uncle Giles is the manager”

“My goodness William – but what of Mr Twelvetrees, what will you tell him?”

“He’s due to retire this year anyway ma-ma, and my new salary will be treble what I earned there!”

The door to the salon opened and Tilly wheeled in a trolley

“You may pour, Tilly” The maid dropped a little curtsey and poured tea

“Begging your pardon sir, madam, but cook wants to know if you’ll be partaking of dinner here tonight”

“You can tell cook no thankyou Tilly, not tonight, we don’t want to ruin cooks’ plans besides, we have a rendezvous with Giles at the Savoy, don’t we darling”

“Yes!”

“Going out? – But you’ve only just got home!”

“I have papers to sign, uncle says the sooner I get them signed, the easier it will be to get my funds from America transferred to here in England, isn’t that so William”

William smiled and nodded

Buffy then said how she loved the delicate bone china cups. They were painted with pink tea-roses, and the hand-painted gold line along the rim of the cups and saucers.

“They were a wedding present, from my own dear ma-ma when I married William’s dear, late father” Anne explained

“Ma-ma, I’m sorry to be a kill-joy, but we’ve been travelling and are a tad jaded, we need a rest before tonight”

“Well, not knowing when you were coming home, and not hearing anything in the post, it’s lucky for you that I make the maid turn down the bed every morning to air it – there’s a fire lit in your room too – to keep out the damp, that north facing wall always was damp”

“Come along then my darling, let’s leave ma-ma to her bridge, else Colonel Harcourt will have my guts for garters!”

Buffy smiled and left the room with he husband.

***************

Willow tucked the nightdress away under the covers of the bed, when there was a knock at her room door. She went to the door and opened it, expecting it to be Xander with some lame excuse or other – ‘what’s this for?’ – or ‘how do I do/use this?’ but to her surprise, it was Wesley

“Oh! Um, er hi, come in?” Willow stood back and opened the door wider, but Wesley refused

“N-no, I um, I won’t…it’s just, well I erm…” the way he pushed his glasses up his nose made Willow immediately think of Giles.

“Tea – yes tea, afternoon tea! They um, they’re serving afternoon tea downstairs in the salon, and I wondered if, well I don’t know if you even drink tea, but-“

“I’d love to – some I mean, I’d love some tea, thanks for telling me!” Wesley went to turn away and said in a rush,

“You um, you could allow me to escort you downstairs we could order together”

“Oh, um yes, great!” she stepped out of the room and they trotted down stairs together.

Xander came out of his room and knocked on Willow’s door

“Willow…Will…Willow are you in there?” he turned his head and listened, in case she was in the bath, but he couldn’t hear anything.

Giles’ door opened and Xander jumped away from Willow’s door guiltily.

“Wesley’s taken her down for afternoon tea,” Giles said, locking his door

“What?!” Xander said rather sharply, then measured his tone and gave Giles’ a little wan smile

“He just beat me to it”

“Well I suggest a light tea now, and a good rest, we’ll be up all night tonight”

“Good job there was no jet-lag with the ‘Blue Room express!” Xander quipped, annoyed that Wesley had got to Willow first, and Giles said

“Yes, very droll”

Once downstairs, they made their way to the tearooms…………………15 minutes later, Xander had picked up, and was closely examining one of three items on his tea-plate.

“So this is a scone is it…it’s what we call a biscuit…so what do I put on it?” Xander asked, cutting over Willow and Wesley’s conversation.

Wesley was trying to explain the energisation of reanimated matter through the time/space continuum to Willow, and having heard the last three words, Xander quipped

“Sounds JUST like Star Trek, doesn’t it!” Several conversations in the salon stopped, and all heads turned to look at Xander………

“Xander will you be quiet!” Giles took off his glasses and nervously began to clean them

“Sorry! But it DID! – Time/space continuum, where Jordy La Forge explains to Ensign thingie that – what?”

“Will you just pipe down and drink your tea!” Giles hissed

“I was only saying-“

“Xander! You’re drawing attention to us, we don’t know who we’re dealing with yet, could be ANYBODY – we need to blend in with everybody else, to remain as inconspicuous as possible!”

“Wasn’t ME talking about (he dropped his voice) time/space continuums!”

Moodily Xander sipped his tea, and Willow flashed him a cursory glance.

“Look, people…” Giles said about quickly eating their tea and going for a rest for they were in for a busy night, Wesley nodded and five minutes later, they all went upstairs again to rest.





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