On Saturday night Joyce was surprised to find herself home before William brought Buffy back from their evening at the Ice Capades. She was relieved to see them pull into the driveway only a short time later.
“Mom?”
“In here sweetie. Is William still with you? Tell him to stay and I’ll make Hot Chocolate.”
William and Buffy made their way into the kitchen and sat on the stools next to the island counter.
Joyce noticed the large smile on her daughter’s face and smiled gratefully at William. “So…” she said looking from one to the other “tell me all about it.”
“Oh Mom, it was sooo good. I think it was the best ever. This one girl was like flying….”
Joyce listened to her daughter rave about everything from the costumes to the music before turning to William. “And what did you think?” She smiled at his thoughtful expression.
“The skaters all seemed very athletic” he started carefully “and there was certainly an element of…”
Buffy laughed. “I think it was all a bit too sparkly for William, but he was a really good sport.”
Joyce laughed. “Well it certainly sounds like you’ve earned yourself some hot chocolate. Do you like marshmallows?”
He nodded agreeably.
Buffy made a face. “I don’t like anything messing up my chocolate.”
William shook his head. “But the contrast…the marshmallows help show the true depth of the chocolate. Sometimes things are more themselves in the presence of that which is other.”
Buffy’s eyes widened comically. “Really thought about this haven’t you?”
“It’s important to be able to make informed decisions.”
Buffy laughed and reached out to take her hot chocolate from her mother. “Thanks Mom.”
Joyce turned to William. “So did your mom tell you that we’re going to have the silent auction for the Institute at the gallery?”
He nodded. “She did mention it; she’s really pleased that you agreed to donate the space. The Institute is…it’s really important to her.”
Joyce nodded sympathetically. “She told me.”
William looked distant for a moment but recovered before Buffy asked what was upsetting him. “Then she told me I had to get a new suit.”
“Ooh shopping. You wanna go Tuesday after school?”
William looked surprised. “You’ll help?”
She laughed. “Well duh. We have covered that shopping is my thing right?”
Laughing, William nodded.
As Joyce watched Buffy say goodnight to William a short time later, she felt a touch of frustration with her daughter. She couldn’t help but wonder exactly how long Buffy was going to date William before she realized that she was doing just that. She hoped that it happened before he lost patience and she hoped that her daughter didn’t hurt him when she did.
*************************************************
Anne put the last of the paperwork into her folder and nodded. “Well I think that’s everything. Things have really come together well. I think this is going to be a very successful evening for us.” She smiled warmly. “Really Joyce, I cannot thank you enough for all your help.”
“Oh no; I’ve been glad to. I really want this to be wonderful.”
“It will be. I think…”
Anne was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing. She glanced down to see that William was the caller. “Ah…William.” She smiled at the other woman. “Excuse me for just a second.” She answered and spoke with her son for a couple of moments before pressing the button to end the call. She turned back to Joyce. “It would seem that William and Buffy will be at the mall for a bit longer yet. He called to tell me that he wouldn’t be home for dinner.”
Joyce laughed. “I’m surprised that he ever expected to. Buffy told me this morning that she’d probably be late. It is certainly nice that he calls though, you’ve raised a considerate young man.”
Anne smiled her thanks before sighing. “I do worry though that I let him worry about me a bit too much. It would be…well, a relief if he forgot about me and was just a tad irresponsible now and then.” At Joyce’s confused look, she continued. “I just want him to be young and to enjoy it.”
Joyce nodded and took a seat. She gestured for Anne to take one next to her. She sensed that Anne needed to share.
“I told you that I’ve had my own fight with Cancer.”
Joyce nodded again.
“I don’t know if I mentioned that it came the year after my husband passed away.”
“Oh Anne, I’m so sorry.” Joyce reached over to place a comforting hand on her new friends arm.
“Thank you.” She nodded once and took a deep breath before continuing. “Well you can imagine; I was barely holding things together before I started to get sick. I was trying to for William’s sake. But things were already hard…then…I was just so sick and the treatment just makes you feel even sicker... I had a few friends around but mostly William took care of things. He was always such a little grown up. He just started taking things over, the house chores, my medicine. He was only fourteen, but he was so serious and so smart, I think that the doctors forgot that he was just a child and they talked to him, told him what to do so that I could come home.” She let out a small laugh to hold back the tears. “William had missed almost a month of school before I even noticed he wasn’t going. He was just so determined to take care of me…I just let him.” She looked up at Joyce. “It’s awful, right? Letting him leave school to take care of his mum.”
Joyce shook her head. “No. Anne. No. You were sick and he wanted to be with you. It’s not awful.”
Anne smiled gratefully. “I really did think for a while that I wouldn’t make it and then it just seemed like I needed every moment I could get with him, just to make sure he never forgot that his mum loved him.”
“Oh Anne, he couldn’t…”
“I know, but at the time…”
Joyce nodded.
“He’s been protective really ever since and it’s lovely, but I want him to let go a little. He focuses so much on the bad that can happen; it’s not normal for a man his age. He should be rebelling a bit and doing all those foolish things young men do because they’re sure that they are invincible.”
Laughing Joyce shook her head. “First I’m sure that the parents of those young men would rather it were otherwise. Second, I’m not so sure William was likely to do that stuff either way.”
Anne grinned. “You’re right, of course. If things had gone according to plan he would have graduated early and be at Oxford by now.” She shook her head. “Sometimes I don’t where that child comes from; his father and I were certainly not so…well, academically focused.”
“Anne Pratt; are you acknowledging a bit of a wild past?”
She giggled a bit like a teenager. “Married the lead singer of a punk band didn’t I.”
********************************************************
Buffy stood with Cordelia and Faith, the newest member of their squad, as their couch finished giving them a pep talk for the next game. As soon as she had finished, Buffy turned to see if William was waiting for her; they had plans to get an early start on their homework. She smiled as she spotted him standing next to the bleachers.
“Damn. Now that’s ride-able. What’s his story?”
Buffy’s eyes widened at both Faith’s language and at the realization that she was talking about William.
Cordy laughed and gave Buffy an expectant look. When Buffy didn’t respond she turned to Faith herself. “That would be Buffy’s other boyfriend.”
“Wow B. didn’t know you had it in you.”
“Cordy! He’s not…” She turned to Faith. “We’re just friends”.
Faith gave her a skeptical look and then glanced back towards William. “So he’s available?”
Buffy swallowed but nodded, telling herself that she just didn’t think that Faith was William’s type.
Cordy shook her head. “Yeah, good luck with that. He’s turned down every girl who’s made a play.”
Buffy turned to her surprised. “He has?” She knew that he had declined her matchmaking help when they’d first started hanging out, but she hadn’t really thought about it since. He never mentioned any girls.
Cordy nodded. “Man you really are out of the loop.”
“Who?”
“Well you know about the whole thing with Cecily Adams right?” At Buffy’s shake, she went into full gossip mode. “Well Cecily’s been trying to say that she turned him down and that he’s all in love with her. Only everyone knows that she asked him out and he wasn’t interested. And Harmony Kendall totally threw herself at him, and he didn’t even notice.” She leaned closer. “He’s gay right?”
“No! He’s just…just kind of shy.”
Faith grinned. “Shy huh? So introduce me.”
Buffy nodded helplessly and walked with Faith over to where William was waiting. “Hi.” She gestured towards Faith. “This is Faith, she just moved here and joined the squad. Faith: William, William: Faith.”
William nodded once in the pretty brunette’s direction. “It’s nice to meet you Faith.” He looked back to Buffy and waited.
“So Will huh? No cool nicknames to go with the hair.” Faith slide closer to him and reached up to play with the aforementioned hair.
He jumped back as though he’d been burnt. “No. No nicknames. It’s just William.” He shot Buffy a confused and almost frightened glance.
She stepped in. “Umm yeah, William and I really need to get started on our history paper. So, we’ll see you later ‘kay Faith.”
Faith grinned as she watched the two of them head towards the parking lot and shook her head.
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Thank you to all reviewers and sorry for the long delay in posting-I was out of town and the hotel internet was dodgy at best. That said, I got to see a certain Mr Marsters live for the first time. Squee!