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Author's Chapter Notes:
I know some of you aren't too happy with me right now but I swear it will get better soon, you'll just have to stick with me and find out! Kuddos!
**Discalimer in full effect**





Buffy folded the last of her things in her bag for her trip to Los Angeles. “No Mom, I’ll be fine,” she sighed into the phone, grabbing her shoes from her closet.


“Are you sure honey? I could always drive down to give you a little support,” Joyce offered.


Buffy knew her mom was just trying to be helpful, but she needed to do this on her own, show William once and for all that she didn’t need anyone’s help.


“Mom I know you just want to help, but I need to do this alone, you know?” Buffy explained.


“Will you be coming to Sunnydale?” Joyce asked hopefully.


“No, I’m only in LA for the weekend and then I have to fly back to get things going with my new album.”


“Alright well call me as soon as you get in and if you need anything, anything at all, I’m just a two hour drive away,” Joyce assured her daughter.


“Thanks Mom,” Buffy replied gratefully.


“You’re welcome honey.”


Buffy talked with her mother for a few more minutes before it was time for her to leave for the airport.


“Well I have to get going Mom; I’ll call you in a few hours okay?”


“All right sweetie, I love you.”


“Love you too Mom, bye.”


Buffy looked around her apartment one last time to make sure everything was in order before she walked out the door.


As she rode in the cab to the airport, she was already filled with a sense of dread. She was so not looking forward to this weekend and the more she thought about it, the more she just wanted to call William, tell him to forget everything, and do what he wanted. The only thing that stopped her from doing just that was she couldn’t bring herself to let go of the last thing she had with him.



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



William paced back and forth across the large office, raking his fingers through his now tousled hair. “Dru I can’t do this,” he said, shaking his head adamantly.


Drusilla sat behind her desk, watching her client pace the floor. “William sit,” she demanded.


William stopped his pacing and took a seat across from her desk. Puling out his cigarettes, he looked up for permission and then proceeded to light up.


Drusilla pulled out an ashtray and studied the man before her. He didn’t look like a man that was ready to cut all ties with his wife. He looked like a man who was hiding behind a façade to protect his heart.


“William tell me something,” she asked in a calm even tone.


“What?” William replied as he expelled a puff of smoke.


“Do you still love her?”


William didn’t even have to think twice. “Yes, more than anything,” he admitted in a quiet voice.


That was the answer Drusilla had hoped for. She knew that William loved his wife; she just had to make sure he knew that too. Scribbling down some notes, she looked back up to the man she could only hope to find someday.


“William if Buffy won’t sign the papers we’ll have to contest and that means that we will have to do this in front of a judge,” she informed him.


William dropped his head in his hands and let out a growl of frustration. “Why in the bloody hell does she insist on torturing me? The only reason I did any of this bullshit was to give her what she wanted, and now she has to go and make things harder by putting stipulations on me,” he vented.


Drusilla sat back with a small smile on her face. This was going to be too easy. She knew Buffy’s issue wasn’t the house, it was the fact she couldn’t let go completely. As long as she had a small part of him, then she would still be connected.


“William you need to calm down and focus.” Dru tried to sound serious, but couldn’t hide her amusement.


William looked up at her and scowled. “What are you sodding grinning about?”


“My sweet William, can’t you see?” Drusilla asked taking on her normal eerie tone.


“See what?” he asked irritably.


Drusilla got a far off look in her eyes. “The rain won’t last forever. Once the clouds part, you’ll stand in the sunshine again,” she answered cryptically.


William was in no mood for Drusilla’s mind games. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he clinched his jaw in frustration. “Dru, I have to go. Call me first thing in the morning after you talk to Buffy’s attorney,” he said before he got up to get ready to leave.


Drusilla snapped out of her little world where only she understood the rhyme and reason. “Yes William, first thing,” she agreed as if she hadn’t ventured off.


William was beginning to wonder if asking Dru to help him was such a good idea. All he needed was for her to go off on one of her little spells while they were in court.


With a quick nod, he walked out of her office and the sinking feeling that had been in his gut since this whole mess started returned. He could see already that the next few days were going to be hell.



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



Buffy sat in the lobby of the large law firm with her attorney nervously chewing at her nails. In the next ten minutes she would be meeting with her soon to be ex husband and his lawyer to try and negotiate their assets.


“Buffy everything will be fine,” Lilah Morgan assured her. “William’s name isn’t solely on the deed and the house is paid for in full, so you have a good chance in just settling with him.”


“You mean pay for his half of the house?” Buffy asked confused.


“Exactly. You give him half of what the house is worth then he can’t say anything,” Lilah reasoned.


“So what is the house worth?” Buffy asked curiously. Money wasn’t exactly an issue, but she didn’t exactly have thousands of dollars sitting around either.


Lilah pulled out Buffy’s file and browsed over it. “Well it was appraised for one hundred eighty-thousand, so you would have to pay ninety.”


Buffy worried her bottom lip. She did have the money, but if she settled with Will, then she would have absolutely no savings left. She knew that it would be worth every penny, but once she got the house what was she going to do with it?


Buffy was pulled from her thoughts by the familiar sound of a voice she knew all too well and a voice she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Standing up, Buffy smoothed out her skirt and looked at a man that once was her world.


“Buffy,” William greeted coolly.


Buffy gave a curt nod and then turned to her attorney. “This is my attorney Lilah Morgan,” she introduced.


Lilah stuck out her hand. “We’ve met once before at the law convention a few years back,” she recalled.


William recognized the woman and gave a nod in greeting.


Drusilla let her eyes drift to Buffy as she smiled and tilted her head taking the young woman in. She had to admit she was an attractive woman and she could definitely see what William had seen in her.


Buffy felt the intense gaze directed at her and turned to look at the exotic looking woman. “And you are?” Buffy asked coolly.


Drusilla offered her frail hand and smiled. “I’m Drusilla Childes, William’s attorney,” she informed the petite blond.


Buffy felt her cheeks burn with anger. This was the woman who had answered the phone. Buffy stared at the offered hand as if it was covered in some type of infectious germ and then turned her gaze to William who had an expressionless look on his face.


When Drusilla realized Buffy wasn’t going to take the offered hand, she smiled and retracted her hand.


William turned to Drusilla and leaned in so only she could hear. “Can I speak to you for a moment?”


Drusilla smiled sweetly as she leaned back and nodded her head. Turning to Lilah and a very pissed off Buffy she excused them. “We’ll be just a moment.”


Buffy was seething. She wanted nothing more than to gouge Drusilla’s eyes out. Who the hell did this woman think she was? As Buffy watched William talk to the infuriating woman, she felt her anger turn to jealousy. She was stroking his arm in a way that was supposed to be comforting, but to Buffy just looked like she was just trying to seduce him.


“Dru, how long is this going to take? I don’t know how much of this I’m going to be able to handle,” William confessed letting his hard ass demeanor crumble to be replaced with the hurt and pain he was really feeling at seeing the woman who still and forever would hold his heart.


“William would you rather settle?” Dru asked gently.


“How? Buffy doesn’t want to sell and I do.”


“Well I spoke with Lilah this morning and she said that we could suggest that Buffy give you half of what the house is worth.”


William let a surprised look cross his face. “What? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”


“I assumed you didn’t want that, you made it very clear that you wanted to sell,” Drusilla pointed out.


William felt his anger begin to surface. “Dru you should have told me this,” he hissed.


“Why, would it have made a difference? Are you really going to take her money?” Drusilla challenged. She knew that William wasn’t about to take a penny from Buffy.


William ran a hand through his gelled locks, loosening it to spike up in a disheveled mess. He couldn’t take Buffy’s money. For some reason it just felt wrong, but what bothered him more was why she was so adamant about keeping the damn house. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a simple two bedroom house that they had found dirt cheap. Looking over his shoulder he watched as Buffy stood there with her hands firmly on her slender hips, tapping her pointy-toed heel and couldn’t help the small smile that curved at his lips.


Buffy looked absolutely gorgeous in her knee length grey skirt and fitted black button down shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a tight knot in the back of her head to give her a business-like appearance. Even in her grown up clothes she still looked so young and innocent. With a sigh, he looked over to Drusilla with a determined look on his face.


“Let’s get this done and over with.”



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



“Bloody hell! Why can’t you just let it go?!” William yelled across the table.


“Why can’t you just take the damn money and be done with it?!” Buffy yelled back.


They had been going back and forth for the last hour and everyone in the room was at their breaking point.


Lilah tried to run interference, but both blonds simply ignored her as if she wasn’t even in the room. With a frustrated sigh, she got Drusilla’s attention. “Dru can I talk to you outside for a minute?”


Drusilla agreed and placed a hand on William’s arm. “William, I’ll be just a minute. Don’t agree to anything until I come back, understood?” she asked looking him in the eyes to make sure she had his attention.


William turned his attention to Drusilla and nodded. Once both women were out the door, William turned his attention back to Buffy. “Why do you insist on making this harder?” he asked irritably.


Buffy crossed her arms over her chest defiantly. “Why do you insist on having things your way?”


William let his head fall to the table. “What in the buggering hell did I do to deserve this?” he groaned miserably.


“Could you be a little more dramatic?” she asked sarcastically.


William snapped his head up and pointed an accusing finger at her. “This is all your bloody fault.”


Buffy scoffed and pointed a finger at herself. “My fault? You’re the one who started this whole mess.”


“What the hell did you want me to do Buffy?” he asked exasperatedly.


“Leave the house alone,” she retorted.


“Would you leave the fucking house alone for five bloody seconds,” he growled in frustration. He swore she could beat a dead horse until there was nothing left.


“Well what are you talking about then?” Buffy asked past the point of irritation.


William flung his hands wildly about the room. “This. All of this bullshit we are going through right now.”


“What the hell are you talking about?” Buffy hadn’t the foggiest clue what he was talking about.


“The divorce!” he barked at her.


“How is this my fault, you’re the one who asked for it dumbass,” Buffy snapped at him


“And why do you think that is Buffy?” he sneered at her as he stood up from his chair.


“Who knows why you do the things you do now a days William,” she spit back at him, getting up from her own chair to stand in from of him.


William got in her face so their noses were just a hair away. “For you, I did it for you,” he replied through clinched teeth.


Buffy couldn’t find her voice as William stood dangerously close to her. Instinctively her body reacted to his closeness. Before she lost all sense of control, she pushed him away, crossing her arms over her chest in an attempt to hide the effects he was having on her.


“Well thanks ever so much,” Buffy replied dryly.


“Buffy I’m not the one who up and moved in with the first available body,” William growled.


Buffy let out a chuckle. “So this is why you are being so damn stubborn? You’re pissed of with me about Lindsey so you get back at me by selling our house,” Buffy concluded.


“What is your hang up on the fucking house Buffy?” William asked exasperatedly. He wanted an honest answer and he wanted it now.


Buffy couldn’t take it anymore. Letting her hurt, her pain, and her anger get the better of her, she snapped.


“My hang up is that it is OUR HOUSE! Yours and mine. We bought that house together and put everything we had into making it the place we were going to start a family in!” she yelled as tears rolled down her cheeks.


William stood there in shock. He hadn’t expected Buffy to feel that way. All this time he thought she was just trying to have things her way when she was really just trying to hold on to what little bit of the past she could. Instinctively, he closed the distance between them and took Buffy in his arms as he whispered soothing words in her ear.


“Shhh luv, don’t cry.”


Buffy pushed aside all rational thought and let herself be comforted by William’s embrace. It had been so long since she had been in these strong arms and it was like coming home. She inhaled deeply, remembering his smell; cologne, detergent, a light hint of smoke, and something that was just purely William.


Buffy pulled back, looking up at William with big eyes. She felt all the walls she had built up crumbling down around her. All it would take is for her to lean forward a fraction of an inch and her lips would be on his.


William gazed down at the woman before him. As he looked in her eyes he saw the girl he had fallen in love with all those years ago. Throwing caution to the wind, he darted his tongue out to wet his lips and began to dip his head lower to capture the lips that he had dreamt about for the last eight years.


Just when their lips were about to meet, the door opened and Drusilla and Lilah walked in and William and Buffy jumped apart as if they had been burned.


Drusilla smiled knowingly. “I hope we didn’t interrupt anything.”


Buffy glanced over at William and quickly looked away when he tried to meet her gaze. They had almost kissed and it was something she wasn’t quite ready to analyze just yet.


When Buffy turned away from him, William took it as a sign of rejection. Unable to handle this anymore he looked up at the expectant lawyers before him. “Buffy can keep the house,” he murmured softly and went to walk out of the room, not giving Buffy another look.


Buffy stared at him in disbelief. He was just going to give her the house like that.


Drusilla caught him by the arm. “William are you sure about this?” she asked seriously.


William looked up at Drusilla with defeated eyes. “I’m sure; give her whatever she wants. I already signed so all she has to do is put her signature to make it official.” He replied mournfully and walked out of the room, head hung.


Lilah looked at William’s retreating form and then to Buffy. “Well I guess you got what you wanted, right?”


Buffy swallowed back her tears and replied absently. “Yeah, I guess I did.”




Thanks to spuffette, Debbie, aspikefan, cordykitten, Angi, Nicki, Raspy_Luv, SteelerGirl, Spikesluv, Laura, Meagan, vitalis, spikestheman, spuffette, willowmouse, Caro Mio, SarahandJamesFanatic, Kimber, Briana, and last but not least my phantom reviewer ......., LOL! Thanks guys for sticking it out with me and I promise to make it worth your wild! Kuddos!





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