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Chapter 9- Forget the World

If I lay here,
If I just lay here,
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world?
-Snow Patrol
-Chasing Cars


Buffy awakened slowly and tried to remember why she was lying on her left side on an unfamiliar sleeping surface. There was a weight across her waist. There was another across her legs. Then she remembered. She was lying on the couch in William's cottage.

She opened her eyes all the way. His arm was wrapped around her with his leg across hers. They were spooned together tightly on the narrow couch. She quietly inched over so she could study the man beside her. His tousled blond curls had fallen across his eyes. Buffy felt that his incredible blue eyes were probably one of his best features. She loved how expressive they were, how they darkened when he kissed her.

She watched the early morning light play across the angular planes of his face and couldn't resist tracing her finger lightly across his sharp cheekbones, following the sunlight's path. He was still asleep; his deep, even breathing caused his bare chest to rise and fall steadily. With her eyes, she followed the light sprinkling of sun bleached hair until it disappeared into his faded shorts.

He's a beautiful man. Not just his body, but his soul. No one has made me feel like this, not even Angel.

She probed experimentally at the place in her heart that usually ached whenever she thought about New York. The usual sharp edged pain had dulled.

She realized last night's cathartic crying had eased the horror and grief. Coupled with the passing of time, the bitter hurt had diminished and been relegated to the past. It had been pushed aside by the kind and sensitive comfort given by the man sleeping at her side.

Now, she could finally look at the future again with a sense of hope, a future that she wanted to share with William. She suddenly realized she had fallen in love with him.

Her revelation caused her to sit up abruptly. She stared down at Spike. She suddenly needed to memorize the features of the man she now knew she could love with her entire heart.

Spike awoke slowly; a sleepy and confused look crossed his face. He noticed Buffy watching him and smiled tenderly. “Good morning luv.”

His eyes searched her face. “Are you alright? Did you get enough rest?” He reached up to gently stroke her cheek.

Buffy lowered her eyes. “I'm sure I look horrible. There's nothing like a crying binge to make a girl feel ugly, but I actually do feel much better.”

Spike shook his head and said softly, “It's impossible for you to look horrible. You could never be anything but beautiful.” Sitting up, he continued. “I'm glad that you're feeling better, although I'm sorry we slept on the couch. That was never my intention but I guess we were both so exhausted.”

Buffy smiled softly and searched Spike's eyes. “I feel like a huge weight has finally been lifted. I can breathe again. I confided my worse fears and you listened without judging me. William, you've helped me to understand myself. I've had a lot of pain in my life but I can finally move past it. Thank you for being here and for caring about me.”

She hugged him tightly. “I'm ready to spend as much time together as we can. I've realized that I want to be with you, and that I care deeply about you, too.”

Delighted with her response, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into his lap for a kiss. “Buffy, I know we haven't known each other very long at all, but there is already such a strong connection between us. I'm sure it will only get stronger. I want to spend as much time as possible with you, too. I want to get to know you even better and there are things I need you to know about me, too. Things I need to tell you about my past.” He grimaced. “And some of them are neither nice nor pretty.”

She agreed. “I want to know all about you. Anything you want to tell me. We can't have any secrets between us. We'll make the time to do just that as soon as possible.”

She stood up. “Although right now I've got to go home and change clothes. Then I need to finish Willow's cottage. She emailed that she's arriving later this morning instead of tomorrow. I can't wait for my best friend to meet my boyfriend.”

He stood up and grinned. “I love hearing that I'm boyfriend material.” He raised an eyebrow and then suggestively looked her up and down. “Hmmm. That means that some day I might get the chance to execute my special plan.”

She looked amused. “And what type of plan might that be?”

He leered openly at her. “Oh, it's a plan of epic proportions.”

Buffy glanced down. “Epic proportions, huh?”

“Definitely.”

Her lips quirked. “Then I can't wait.”

******

By 11:00 Buffy sat in the office with Dawn. She glanced at the clock again. Something was wrong because time was standing absolutely still. Certain that it had been 11:00 o'clock for at least 20 minutes, she sighed. .

Buffy's best friend Willow was attending UC Los Angeles after being admitted to their prestigious graduate honors mathematics program. A talented theoretical mathematician she was already making a name for herself in the department. Buffy was very proud of her friend but missed her. Now she'd have a week to spend with her and Willow's girlfriend Tara.

Just as the clock crawled to 11:10, a tall, thin red haired woman stuck her head in the office. “Am I too late for lunch?”

Buffy and Dawn -who had been waiting a bit more patiently- both yelled “Willow!”

She grinned and came in for a hug. “I'm sorry, I'm kinda late, but Tara got held up.”

She put her arm around the shy, blonde woman waiting behind her. Tara smiled in greeting at the women behind the desk. “Hi, sorry I held everything up, but I got the chance to leave a couple days earlier, so, well, here we both are.”

Willow looked proudly at Buffy and Dawn. “Tara's being modest. Her project was so well received that out of the entire literature department, she was the only grad student allowed to skip finals.”

Buffy smiled widely. “That's okay, because, well, I've been busy actually meeting a guy.” She grabbed Willow excitedly by the arm. “I can't wait for you to meet William. He's wonderful.”

Willow smiled at her friend's enthusiasm. “Okay, so where is this boyfriendy guy? Who is he? What's he do for a living? Is he smart? Really cute? This best friend needs more information to formulate an opinion. Has there been any serious smoochies I should know about?”

Dawn, who had been listening smugly to the wonderful attributes of The New Boyfriend all morning, wagged her finger at Buffy. “She spent last night with him.”

Willow's mouth fell open. “You were going to say something about that exactly when?”

Buffy gave Dawn a look. “It's not like that. I told him the whole Angel story, got all weepy on his shoulder and we both fell asleep on the couch. He's incredibly thoughtful, caring, sweet, kind, smart and …”

Dawn interrupted. “Don't forget his hot body and that great car.”

Buffy looked askance at her again. “Yes, because those things are so much more important then his character.”

She looked thoughtful. “You know, I've never even asked him what he does for a living. I know he's good with tools. He helped me tile the floor here, but he's not in construction. He seems to have some money though; he's staying here for a month. He must have earned it some way, because his family isn't wealthy.”

Willow shrugged her shoulders. “It's all so new, but you'll have plenty of time to find out all of those details as your relationship progresses. That's half the fun, learning about each other.” She hugged her friend. “Oh Buffy, I'm just so happy for you. Why don't you show me to our cottage? You can tell me all about this great guy on the way.”

She picked up the luggage. “Then Dawnie can fill me in on what needs to be done while she's gone.”

Dawn looked at her watch. “Can I call Janice and see if she can come and pick me up a day earlier? Maybe Tara could stay here and watch for William. He called and offered to bring pizza for lunch.”

Tara spoke up. “Sure, I'll watch the desk until you guys get back.” She settled in the chair at the desk. She couldn't wait to meet the guy that had finally changed Buffy's outlook on life.

*****

The office door opened a few minutes later and a slim blond man balancing several pizza boxes entered, carefully placing the boxes on the counter. He straightened, noticed the pretty blonde stranger and smiled at her. “'Lo. I'm William Jamison. Which lovely lady are you, Tara or Willow?”

Tara's eyes widened and her mouth dropped, but she quickly recovered. “Hi. It's nice to meet you. I'm Tara, Willow's girlfriend. You must be Buffy's boyfriend?”

Tara couldn't believe it. She was sitting here in Buffy's office and Spike had just walked in and placed pizzas on the counter. William Jamison is Spike. He's Buffy's boyfriend? Wow. I wonder why he hasn't told her who he really is. Hmm, could be that whole constant drunken carousing thing or maybe the absolutely hundreds of girlfriends thing. Oh God, maybe he doesn't really care about her at all. There's just no way she could handle a fling right now.

Spike watched several different expressions flit across the blonde girl's face. After years in the public eye, he knew at least one of those expressions intimately. He realized instantly that Tara had recognized him. He made the decision to continue with the pretense, hoping that she really hadn't recognized him and that he was just mistaken.

He knew he needed to explain to Buffy before he 'outted' himself, especially to a complete stranger. Casually he replied, “Yeah, Buffy and I just started seeing each other.”

Hoping to change the subject quickly to a much more neutral topic, he pointed to the boxes on the counter. “I brought pizza for everybody's lunch.”

Dawn stepped back into the room and waved a hand in greeting. “Hi William. Oh good, I love Pepperoni.” She selected a slice, picked off a piece of the pepperoni and chewed it avidly.

Picking up a slice of mushroom pizza, Tara continued to study him. He's not going to explain? Hmmm, okay, I'll play along, but only because anyone who uses such beautiful imagery in their writing should get the benefit of the doubt. Besides, it's not my place to tell, at least right here and now.

With Dawn sitting there watching and listening to them, she said the only thing she could think of quickly. “It's really nice of you to buy lunch.” Standing up from the desk, she looked at him with an amused expression and held her pizza slice up. “I hope all of this wasn't too expensive.”

Spike looked down at the pizza boxes. “No it was fine. It gives me the chance to meet Buffy's friends.” He hesitated briefly. “Where is Buffy?”

“Buffy and Willow will be back soon. They took our luggage to the cottage.” I can't wait to see Willow's face when she sees you.

She watched Spike- William- lean against the counter and strive to appear nonchalant. When he nervously flipped the top of the pizza box open and then closed without taking anything out, Tara became even more amused. She decided to tweak him a tiny bit. “So, William, how long will you be here in Sunnydale?”

His mouth twitched at the emphasis placed on his real name. Now he knew Tara had recognized him. He already liked her, she was smart and it looked as though she really wasn't going to say anything. Yet. He continued the game.

Spike looked at the blonde, a small smile playing on his lips. “Well, my reservation's for one month. I love the beach. Now that I've met Buffy, I guess it all depends.” On what she says when I tell her who I really am and that I've fallen in love with her.

He shrugged. “I have a very flexible schedule.” Not wanting to wait for the inevitable question of why he had such a flexible schedule, he smoothly changed the subject. “Buffy mentioned you were both in graduate school. What's your major?”

“Literature. I'm specializing in contemporary western writers.” She smiled widely. “Maybe you've read at least one of them yourself?”

He caught himself before he groaned out loud. He replied dryly. “I've been known to read a few.” He shot her an amused look. “Is Willow also an English major?”

Tara grinned. “No, she's in the math department.”

He snapped the pizza box open and closed again. “That's a tough subject. She's probably way too busy to really read anything other than formulas.”

Tara's eyes twinkled. “Oh no, Willow's very well read. She likes pretty much the same stuff I do. In fact, we both enjoy the same writer- Spike.” Gotcha!

At this point, his blue eyes sparkling at her response, Spike could only shake his head in defeat.

Dawn, busy eating the pizza, tried to follow the conversation, but something puzzled her. Why were Tara and William both so amused? Personally, Dawn hated literature and didn't think it was at all funny, much less hysterical.

“Hey, either of you guys going to eat more pizza? There's still a lot. Buffy and Willow won't eat all of this.”

Spike's shoulders twitched. “I just remembered that I need to make a transatlantic phone call while the timing's right. Tell Buffy that I'll phone her before I leave for the airport tonight.” He mentally chastised himself. Coward, you're going to have to meet Willow at some point, but maybe you can still save this.

Picking up the key for Rupert's cottage that Buffy had left on the counter, Spike turned back to Tara. Flashing a wide smile he declared, “Pet, it's been a real treat meeting you.”

His eyes sparkled. “Thanks for the interesting conversation. I'd very much like to get together again for another discussion.”

His expression sobered and Tara watched a silent plea enter his eyes. “Maybe I can offer some insight into at least one of those more mysterious writers.” He turned abruptly, opened the office door and walked out into the noon sunshine.

Tara sat down and thoughtfully munched her mushroom pizza.

When Willow and Buffy returned they were both disappointed that Spike wasn't there.

Tara watched Buffy closely, trying to interpret her feelings. She saw that Buffy was worried about him and that she cared a lot more than she would say to any of them. Tara decided she had to find a way to talk to Spike again. She needed to know that he wasn't planning to hurt Buffy. She was so fragile.

Tara also knew that she needed to tell Willow. She turned to her girlfriend. “Willow, since we're going to be filling in for Dawnie starting tomorrow, why don't we take some time now and go for a walk on the beach? Buffy, you won't mind if I borrow my girlfriend will you? We'll all get together later for dinner.”

Buffy shook her head. “No, of course not, I need to do some laundry and stuff anyway. I'll see you both around six for dinner. Its girl's night and I'm making my world famous chili.”

As soon as they left the office, Willow stopped abruptly on the path. “O.k. now what is this really about? Because you know I don't do the beach at noon. Redhead, remember?”

Tara looked around. “Let's go to our cottage and I'll explain.”





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