This is an idea from the Idea Factory on Spuffyfantasy.com.
The idea was written:
By Lauren.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. They belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy,
and who ever else own BtVS. Please don't sue me.
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{September 1995)
Buffy was striding home from Willow's house when she crashed straight into something. She groaned as she lay there, sprawled across the grainy, cool sidewalk, lying completely still in a combination of surprise and momentary pain. Just as she resolved to suck it up and to stand up on her own, a shadow leaned over her and an outstretched hand appeared. As she struggled to her feet, she looked at the hand currently gripping hers with a gentle strength, and slowly looked into the owner, or the shadow. What she saw took what breath she had left away. In front of her stood a guy with a mop of dirty blond curls atop his head. He had chiseled cheek bones, and glasses propped on his nose. But what stood out more then anything elsewere his blue eyes. She watched him quickly drop her hand and cast his gaze to his shoes. His glasses slid to the tip of his nose and she couldn't help thinking he looked like a lost little boy. As she stepped forward to thank him and apologize for running into him she stepped on a book. That's when she realized her surroundings. She was standing next to a U-haul truck in front of the old Peterson place.

“I'm so sorry, I was in a hurry-wasn't watching where I was going. Here, I'll help you with this stuff.” Flashing him an apologetic smile, she bent down gracefully and quickly picked up the books and tablets that had fallen out of the box when it hit the ground. When she stood back up her companion was still raptly eyeing his shoes. “I think I got it all. I hope I didn't ruin anything in there.” She smiled again, cocking her head to the side as he merely looked at her for a moment before his eyes quickly flitted away. Little did he know, Buffy Summers was raised with enough social grace to put others at ease; She shrugged in the direction of the massive house, “Are you moving in here?”

He quickly took the box and only gave her a slight nod before scurrying into the house. As she watched the front door close she couldn't help the slight smile that crossed her face. She
couldn't wait to get home and call Willow about this whole incident. She just wished she could have gotten his name before he ran off.

******************************
William stood on the inside of the door breathing deeply, clutching at his box of poetry. He couldn't believe that had just happened. Not only had he acted mute but he had done it in
front of a pretty girl. He just wanted to curl up and die after that embarrassing encounter- what she must think of him

“How could you be such a pillock William?” He muttered as he ascended the worn stairs. He continued to berate himself as he unpacked. He hadn't wanted to move here, and he hated his stepfather for forcing the issue. If he had taken the time to analyze his feelings, though, he would have realized that he had hated his stepfather long before the impromptu move. Rupert Giles had been in his life for five years now. William had thought his mother's boyfriend was a nice fellow at first. Soon after they began dating, his mother found out that she had cancer. He had put up with Giles to make his mother happy, but the relationship between the two men was stretched taut. Two years ago she went into remission and yet another bombshell dropped. Rupert and Jenny were getting married and the sooner the better. William hadn't known what to say. In fact, he thought it was all a joke until he had heard his mother say “I do.” He couldn't stand seeing them together. He had locked himself in his room most of the time. Maybe he had been selfish, now that he looked back on it. Then he remembered the last straw that had brought him to be in Sunnydale, California. Three months ago, Giles had been taking his mother out on a date. Giles was driving through an intersection when out of nowhere a drunk driver came barreling straight into his mothers side of the car. So here he stood in a strange room, in a strange town. Maybe it wasn't all Giles fault but William didn't feel like he wanted to admit that yet. He wanted to be angry and Giles was his target. It didn't help either that Giles somewhat blamed himself anyway. It just made it easier for William to believe he was right to be angry with the man. Just then William was broken out of his hate mantra by a knock on the door.

“Who is it?” spat William angrily.

“Eep It's just me William.” Ah, the one and only reason why he didn't just give up.

“Yeah, come on in.” He smiled as he watched his younger sister bounce in. She was only thirteen but she had the wisdom of a woman twice that age. He guessed she got that from their mother. Tara was a sweetie and she loved everybody. She was small for her age, but William could tell already she would grow into a beautiful woman. Oh, and he'd make sure he was there to scare off any guy that came near her. She was one of the few things that could make him smile since his mother had died.

“Dinner is ready, you coming down?”

“No,” he said assertively. Tara just raised her eyebrows, a tactic familiar to him, “Stop looking at me like that I don't feel like eating.”

Tara gave him a glare and spoke steadily. “You will not sit up here and sulk all night. I expect you at dinner...understood?” She started to turn to leave but instead looked back at him and finished her demand. “Oh, that was an order in case you misinterpreted it as a question.”



William just stared after her. Tara's increased backbone surprised him more every day. When he came to his senses, he replied. “Bossy chit.”

“You betcha William, and you know you wouldn't have it any other way.”

William just shook his head and reasoned with himself that he wouldn't win this fight. Then he chuckled when he realized he had just let a tween boss him into eating dinner. What was the world coming to?

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


Buffy sat at the table as she listened to her older sister, Faith, drone on about her day. The only thing Buffy could think about was the new guy. She had realized thinking back to him that most would just write him off as another shy nerd. But she had seen something in his eyes...only a flicker, before they had filled with sadness. She knew there was more to him. And she was going to find out what it was about him that caused her stomach to do that yummy little flip-flop.

“Buffy, sweetie you ok? You've hardly touched your dinner.”

“Yeah, mom... I'm fine, just thinking.”

“Don't strain yourself,” came a snarky reply from her sister as she laughed. Faith got up from the table. “I'm going to the Bronze with a couple friends. I'll be home later.”

“Can I come to?” Buffy asked enthusiastically.

“No, I'm going with friends. Don't need you tagging.”

Joyce spoke up before it could turn into a full-fledge fight. “Maybe this weekend, Buffy, but you have school tomorrow.”

Buffy knew she had lost so she just got up from the table and went to her room. She hated how Faith always got what she wanted. Even when dad had been around it was Faith he paid attention to. Buffy had always been the invisible child to her father. She just wondered

when she would be noticed. She stood in front of her full length mirror and looked critically at herself. Her straight brown hair fell just below her shoulders and hazel eyes shone back at her.
She just couldn't figure out why everyone ignored her. She took one last look at herself and slammed the door closed on her closet. Joyce had heard and poked her head into her youngest daughters room.

“What's wrong? At dinner you were somewhere else and now you’re slamming doors. You wanna talk?”

“Not really. Mom, why doesn't anyone notice me?” Like any normal teen she had denied wanting to talk and then opened up anyway.

“Sweet heart, what do you mean?”

“Well, Dad never noticed me, and neither does Faith. I just wonder why sometimes?”

“Oh honey, your father was always busy, you know that. As for Faith, she's just going through a phase. She'll grow out of it, you'll see.”

Buffy gave her mom an incredulous look and decided just to drop the subject. “Whatever, if Faith grows out of this phase it will snow here in good ol’ Sunnydale.”

Joyce just shook her head at her daughter and kissed her goodnight.

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


(June 1999)
Buffy stood on the front porch of her home juggling mail, book bag, purse, and still trying to get the key in the door. This had been the week from hell and she never wanted to see another like it. Early in the week her car had broke down, the mechanic said it would be seven hundred dollars to fix. Which meant she wouldn't have a car till next Wednesday when the Double Meat Palace paid her. She would have asked Willow to pick her up but she was away visiting a college campus. Things just couldn't get worse, or maybe they could. She had just stuck the key in the door and realized it was already unlocked. Everyone knew to lock the door, not even Faith during one of her highs had ever forgotten to lock it. Buffy dropped her stuff by the door and grabbed her stun gun from her purse. She slowly crept through the door and kept her senses open. Trying to pick up on who was there and where. She came around the doorway

into the living room and her arm was grabbed by someone. Next thing she knew the person had twisted her body away and her arm was pinned behind her. She was about to scream when she heard
a familiar voice come from behind her.

“I wouldn't do that, pet.”

Instead of screaming she squealed and launched herself at the person behind her when she was let go. “William When did you get back? What are you doing here? How did you get
here? How long are you staying? Please, please, please say you're staying a while ”

“Well, I see some things still stay the same.”

“What are you talking about? And you're not answering my questions.”

“I'm talking 'bout your babbling. As for the answers, let's see if I'm still good at this... I got back today, I came for your graduation, by plane, probably a week or two, and finally yes, I'm staying a little while. Did I pass?”

“With flying colors.” Buffy squealed again. She was so glad that William had come home to see her graduate. As she stared into his eyes she was suddenly stuck in freeze frame. Her stomach started.. flippity, flop... and she quickly jumped back a step or so from him. She couldn't let her body start that again. She had been so excited to have him back she hadn't thought through her actions. She had sworn to herself after he had started dating Faith that she would keep her feelings hidden. She and Faith had slowly grew closer over the years and she didn't want to hurt that relationship. She also didn't want to jeopardize her friendship with William. Now as she thought about it she felt that black shadow creeping over her again. She realized once again that no matter how bad this week had been nothing compared to the worst day of her life, a little over three years ago.

*Flashback*(December 1996)

The Winter formal was coming up at the end of the week. Buffy had been holding out for William, but Friday had seen to the end of that. When he had moved into town last year he had become friends with Xander. She and Willow had had many a gigglefest over Buffy's crush
on him. Buffy had been laying hints while in William's presence that she would have like to go to the dance. So when she had opened the door on Friday to see him standing there she had
jumped to the conclusion he was there to ask her. Then he had burst her bubble by asking her if Faith was there. Her smile had immediately disappeared, and she had gone and gotten Faith from her room. She had eavesdropped on the whole conversation. It had been like someone had stuck a knife in her gut and just. Kept. Twisting. When her sister had said yes, Buffy knew that was
the end of her dreams. She had run upstairs and had cried herself to sleep.

She woke up Saturday morning bound and determined to go on with her life. She was heartbroken but she figured she’d get over it. She had to William had made his choice and once again her sister had been seen, when she had not. She had decided she was going to make some changes. She was sick of being ignored and it was going to end. She had gone to the bank and took out all her babysitting savings. There hadn't been much but she would get what she could. She had then got her mom to drop her off at the mall. Her first stop had been to the hair salon. Then she had gone shopping for clothes and shoes. By the end of the day she had used up her whole savings and her allowance from that week. When her mom had pulled up Buffy knew her mother wasn't happy.

Joyce just stared at who she thought was her daughter. She wasn't sure if it was Buffy at first but then she saw the vibrant hazel eyes and knew that it was indeed Buffy. She wasn't sure
what had driven her daughter to do it, but her once straight chestnut brown hair was now curly blond. She couldn't deny that her daughter looked gorgeous, but she had always thought that. Joyce took one more close look at her daughter and realized she must have given a good glare at one point as her daughter stood outside the car fidgeting. Joyce popped the trunk so Buffy could stow her bags. Buffy came to the front of the car then and hopped in. Joyce wasn't sure how she should handle this. She finally just broke the silence.

“Buffy, what is this all about?”

“I wanted a change, mom. Please don't be angry. I know I probably should have said something to you but I wanted to do this.” Buffy's face was looking hopefully at her mother. Joyce realized she couldn't say much about it either. Her daughter was growing up and making
some of her own choices.

“I do wish you would have talked to me about it, or at least asked my opinion. It is your decision, though, so I don't have much say.”

Buffy squealed and wrapped her mother in a hug. “Thank you for not being angry mom.”

“Your welcome. Oh and by the way...I think it looks good.” Joyce couldn't help the smile that spread over her face. She knew it sounded almost cliche, but she could swear her daughter had gone into the mall that day a child and came out a woman.

Now as Buffy stood in front of her mirror primping she couldn't stop smiling. She was very happy with the change, and even Faith had complimented her about it. She had ran the brush through her hair one more time and left for school. When she arrived Willow had squealed and told her how good it looked. Buffy had noticed a few people's admiration, and she felt like she was on cloud nine. She had gotten to her locker at the end of the day and found someone leaning against it. When she looked closer she realized it was Parker. He was one of
the cutest guys in her grade and pre-William, he had been her crush. Buffy walked the rest of the way to her locker. Parker turned and gave one of his bright smiles and Buffy almost turned into a puddle right there.

“Hey Parker, can I help you with something?”


“Yeah, I was wondering do you have a date for the formal?”

“No, I don't.”

“Well, would you like to go with me?”

Buffy wanted to squeal but she held it in and simply answered, “I'd love to.” Someone had finally noticed her and she couldn't have been more happier.

*End Flashback*

Now as she stood in front of William she realized no matter how hard she tried she would never stop loving him. She also knew he'd never see her as more then his friend.


A/N: Hi this is my first Buffy Fanfiction, so if you could review I’d appreciate it. Even if you hate it let me know why. I also wanna send thanks to my beta Lana she’s great.





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