William had spent the rest of the afternoon visiting with Joyce and just reminiscing about the past. It was nice to be able to look back and talk about all the good times they had all shared together. So maybe that’s why on his way to his father’s house he found himself at his and Buffy’s old home.
Getting out of the car, he went to the secret spot he and Buffy had always kept the extra key and found the old can that was still under the bush. Giving it a shake, he was surprised to hear the clatter of a single key in the old coffee can.
Opening it, he pulled out the dirty key and grinned. Tossing the can back under the bush, he put the key in the door and gave it a good turn. When the lock opened with a “snap” he clamped down his excitement and walked in the front door.
The house was now dank and musty but if you tried hard enough you could still smell the faint smell of vanilla in the air. Walking through the tiny living room he came to the door of the spare room. Opening the door, he walked in and couldn’t help but drift back to the time of when he and Buffy had shared this house together.
**Flash back**
“Will where are you taking me?” Buffy asked curiously as she sat next to him in the car blindfolded.
“It’s a surprise,” William replied with a big grin on his face.
“You do remember I hate surprises,” she sighed exasperatedly.
“Well I promise you’ll love this one,” he assured her as he came around the corner and pulled into the driveway.
Buffy furrowed her brow. “Okay that was fast.”
William rolled his eyes even though she couldn’t see him. “Just sit tight for a sec and I’ll come around and get you,” he instructed her.
Buffy squirmed in her seat but did as she was told. William had been acting strange for the last few days what with the jumping up and answering the phone every time it rang and constantly checking his e-mail. She had teased him that maybe he had a secret girlfriend on the side.
William opened her door and took her hands in his. “No peeking,” he warned.
“How can I peek if you have both my hands,” she groused.
“Alright take a step, another, one more… okay now stand here and wait for me to tell you to open your eyes.”
When William let go of her hands she began to wring them excitedly as she waited for her cue to open her eyes. When William hadn’t said anything she bounced in her spot anxiously. “Now; can I open them now,” she pleaded.
William removed her blindfold and stood back so he could see her face when she opened her eyes. “Okay, now!”
Buffy snapped her eyes open and gasped. Covering her mouth with her hands she felt tears well in her eyes at the sight before her. This was the house she and William had been wanting to buy since they had gotten married.
“Is it?” she asked in a hopeful voice.
“It’s all ours kitten,” he assured her with a big grin on his face.
Buffy jumped in his arms and covered his face in kisses. “Oh Will I can’t believe it, it’s really ours,” she gushed.
William captured her lips and wrapped her legs around his waist. “Well believe it luv. No more living at your mum’s house and having to put a pillow behind the headboard,” he teased.
Buffy smacked him playfully on the arm and jumped out of his arms. “I want to go inside,” she insisted.
William pulled the key from his pocket and opened the door with ease. Buffy was about to run inside but he grabbed her above her waist to stop her.
“Oi! Gotta carry you over the thresh hold,” he scolded.
Buffy giggled and jumped into her husband’s arms. “There, is this better?”
“Much,” he nodded approvingly and carried his bride into their new home. Putting her on her feet, he rubbed the back of his head nervously. “So what do you think?”
Buffy took in the small living room that was connected to a tiny kitchen off to the right hand side. Yes it was a small house but for them it was just perfect. Looking up at him with tear filled eyes she placed a tender kiss to his lips and beamed at him. “It’s perfect.”
“Come on, let me show you the rest of the house,” William insisted excitedly and grabbed her hand pulling her to the back of the house.
“This is the bathroom,” he said opening the door to the decent sized room that consisted of a pedestal sink and claw footed tub.
“Wow,” Buffy gushed in awe. The sink and tub were obviously antiques and still in very good condition.
“The owner was an antique collector so you’ll notice all the fixtures and what not throughout the house will be old but we can change them out if you’d like.”
“No, they’re perfect,” Buffy insisted.
“Well on to the rest of the house,” William continued on with his tour. Coming to the master bedroom, he opened the door and walked her in. “Now this will be our room. You can see it has plenty of room for our nice big king sized bed and the dressers your mum gave us.” Going over to the closet he opened the door to show a huge walk in closet. “Now this is the part you will like best about the house. This was once a small bedroom that they converted into a closet so the wife had more space to keep all her crap.”
Buffy squealed in delight. She had never had a walk in closet before and now she had one the size of a small bedroom. “Will I love it!”
He placed a peck on her forehead and pulled her from the closet to show her the master bath. “Now I know it’s small but it’s our own bathroom so we don’t have to share with guests,” he pointed out before he let her go in.
Buffy looked around curiously. Yes it was smaller than she would have liked but it was absolutely breath taking. The sink and tub were exactly like the ones in the guest bath but there was also a small standing shower tucked in the corner out of the way. The walls were painted a soft powder blue with white tiles. The thing that intrigued her the most was the sky light directly above the tub that lit up the room with a soft glow.
“Will I think it’s perfect,” she assured him with a big smile.
“Well there’s one last room to show you,” he told her and waved her to follow him. He opened the door and walked in. “I figured we could use this as like a study of sorts. I can use it part time as an office and you can use it the rest of the time to work on your music.”
Buffy looked around the small room and took in the light yellow colored walls. This room had obviously belonged to a young child. With a little grin she walked over to her husband and wrapped her arms around his slender waist. “Or we could use it someday as a nursery,” she suggested.
William let a wide eye look cross his face. “Buffy are you tryin’ to tell me somethin’?” he asked cautiously.
“No Will I’m not pregnant,” she quickly assured him. “All I’m saying is that someday in the future, you know.”
William couldn’t hide the slight disappointment from his face. Yes they weren’t ready for a baby just yet but the idea of Buffy carrying his child invoked feelings he didn’t even know existed.
“Will are you disappointed?” Buffy asked hesitantly.
“Buffy I’m not gonna lie, if you had said you were pregnant I would have been happy as hell, but I know we’re not ready for that just yet,” he assured her.
“Really?” she said in a surprised tone.
“Well of course I would have been happy. I love you Buffy and I want us to have fat grandchildren together,” he confessed lovingly and nuzzled her nose with his own.
“Well how about we start practicing,” she suggested coyly.
William let a low growl rumble from his chest before he captured her lips in a fiery kiss. Lowering them both to the floor, they made love right there in the spare room ‘til they were both shaking from the intensity of their coupling.
Buffy snuggled into William’s chest and sighed. “Well I think we have officially christened this as our house,” she joked lightly as she stroked his sweat slick chest.
“Not quite luv, have to make love in every room to make it official,” he corrected her.
Buffy gave him a saucy grin. “Well then what are we waiting for.”
** **
William let a small grin play at his lips. He and Buffy had shared so many great memories in this house, and yet so much heartache as well.
Letting out a sigh, William shook himself of the not so pleasant times and went to what was once their bedroom. Everything was just as he had left it minus the few things Buffy had packed to take with her.
Looking around the room he decided that there was still good times to be had in this house. Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed the familiar number and waited for an answer. When the familiar voice came over the phone, William let a grin form on his face.
“Dad I need a favor.”
************************************************************************
Buffy worried her bottom lip and knocked on the door. She knew she needed to talk to him now or she would find some excuse to chicken out later.
“Buffy?” Lindsey greeted her slightly confused at her showing up at his door at almost eleven thirty at night.
“Did I wake you up?”
“No, I was just watching some TV,” he assured her and held open his door. “Come on in.”
Buffy took in Lindsey’s state of dress and wondered if this was really a good idea. He was wearing only a pair of faded blue jeans that were unbuttoned and resting dangerously low on his hips.
“Maybe we could go out and talk,” Buffy suggested.
“Sure,” Lindsey agreed felling slightly hurt that Buffy didn’t trust him to be alone with her. “Just let me grab a shirt and some shoes and we can go and get a drink,” he replied and waved her in.
Buffy stepped inside his room but stayed close to the door. She didn’t want Lindsey getting the wrong idea as to why she was there.
“So what’s on your mind?” Lindsey asked curiously as he pulled on his t-shirt and tied his shoes.
“Well I wanted to talk to you about my plans after the tour,” Buffy supplied hesitantly.
Lindsey stood up and eyed her wearily. “This doesn’t sound good.”
“I think we should wait to talk about this,” Buffy suggested, opening the door to Lindsey’s room.
Lindsey grabbed his wallet and room key from the table and followed Buffy out the door. Yeah this didn’t sound good at all.
************************************************************************
Lindsey took a swig of his beer and looked at Buffy expectantly. “Okay Buffy, spill.”
“Right,’ she agreed wiping her sweaty palms on her jeans. “Well I think maybe I should take a break after this tour is over,” she blurted out.
“What?” Lindsey gasped and looked at her as if she had lost her mind.
“I said-,” But Lindsey cut her off holding up his hand. “I heard what you said Buffy. What I don’t get is why,” he replied a bit flabbergasted. Buffy was going to be huge now that she was well known across not only the states but now most of Europe.
“I know it sounds crazy, but I have more important things in my life right now that I need to take care of,” Buffy stated resolutely.
“Buffy what could possibly be more important than living out your dreams?” Lindsey asked exasperatedly.
“I want to have a family and kids someday and I can’t do that if I’m off on the road all the time.”
Lindsey couldn’t help but feel the stab of pain that went straight to his heart. He had wanted all those things with Buffy and she had told him that she didn’t think she would ever want those things in life. I guess the truth was she just didn’t want them with him.
“I see,” he commented unable to mask the hurt in his voice.
Buffy knew the second the words left her mouth that it would hurt Lindsey but she had to be honest. “Lindsey I’m sorry if it hurts you to hear this but it’s the truth,” she said gently.
Lindsey looked up at her with sad blue eyes. “You’re right it does hurt but I always knew it would never be me,” he shrugged.
“Then why did you stay with me?”
Lindsey let out a mirthless chuckle. “Gluten for punishment I guess,” he tried to joke.
“You know you deserve better right,” Buffy pointed out.
“In my head I know this, it’s just tryin’ to get my heart to listen that’s the problem,” Lindsey confessed honestly.
“Well maybe me taking a break is a good idea as far as us working together too. Give you a chance to move on without me being around all the time,” she suggested with a sympathetic look.
“Maybe,” Lindsey agreed.
“I really am sorry about all this Lindsey.”
Lindsey took a long swig of his beer and offered her a small smile. “I know.”
“So you have any unsuspecting up and comers that you can sink your claws into?” Buffy teased trying to lighten the mood.
“I have a few,” Lindsey chuckled.
They sat in awkward silence ‘til Buffy decided to say something. “Well I should probably head back to my room,” she suggested getting up from her seat.
“Just let me get our tab and I’ll walk you back.” Lindsey offered.
“You don’t have to do that, I can get a cab,” she insisted.
“It’s no problem, really,” Lindsey replied with a hopeful look on his face.
“Okay,” she agreed hesitantly.
Lindsey gave her a true smile and headed to the bar to take care of the tab. Yes it was a lame attempt to spend time with the woman he was still very much in love with, but it was all he had left.
“Ready to go?” Lindsey asked helping her put on her jacket.
Buffy nodded her head and gave him a forced smile. “Yep, all ready.”
“Maybe we should walk, give us some time to talk about what we want to tell the rest of the band,” Lindsey suggested as he held open the door for her.
“I don’t know Lindsey, it’s kinda late and we should really be getting back,” Buffy replied timidly. Something about this whole situation just didn’t feel right to her.
“We’ll be fine, and besides you have me here to protect you,” Lindsey assured her with a grin.
Buffy just managed a weak smile and started in the direction of their hotel. Looking over at Lindsey she noticed he had one of those happy puppy looks on his face and in that instant she knew that this was definitely not of the good. “So what are we going to tell the rest of the band?” she asked trying to make this as work oriented as possible.
“I guess the truth,” Lindsey shrugged and shifted a bit closer to her.
Buffy noticed his not so subtle attempt to get closer to her and stopped. “Lindsey what are you doing?”
“What are you talking about?” Lindsey asked confused.
“This,” she gestured to them walking. “Did you want to walk back to the hotel to spend more time with me?” she asked hesitantly.
“What? No of course not,” he lied through his teeth, looking at her as if she was crazy.
Buffy was having a hard time believing him but decided to drop it. “Sorry, just checking,” she replied putting the distance back between them.
“Why would you think that?” Lindsey asked pretending that it was some absurd notion.
“Well you were just all, you know,” Buffy said feeling slightly embarrassed now.
“Buffy I know you’re with Will now,” he assured her trying to keep the jealousy out of his voice.
“I know you do Lindsey and I’m sorry for accusing you of trying to spend time with me.”
“I’m okay with it Buffy and I just hope we can still talk and be friends,” Lindsey replied even tough he knew it was a lie the second it left his mouth.
“Me too Lindsey,” Buffy agreed feeling a bit more comfortable.
Lindsey gave her a forced smile and thought to himself, Yeah, friends.
Huge thanks to Opal, DaniD, willowmouse, SarahandJamesFanatic, Renee', daisy, spikeshunny, Laura, vitalis, MidnightGirl, spufette, Suzee, cordykitten, PhotographyNut, Phantom reviewer ...., Brunettepet, greg, and slayercaro for the amazing reviews! I can't thank y'all enough for stickin' it out with me. I promise to try and post more often from now on 'cause y'all truly deserve it! Kuddos!
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Sorry it has taken me so long to post this chap but things have been absolutely CRAZY!!!!!! Well I hope this is worth the wait. Kuddos!