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Banner by Alissa.


Author's Chapter Notes:
So a bunch of folks are giving poor Buffy a hard time for her misunderstanding-ease up on her a little please. She's young and Giles said lots of confusing things and William is clearly hiding something.
Also-it's funny yeah?
Anyway thanks to my lovely beta Deanna!!!
Don't forget to review. :D I have another chapter ready-so I'll be posting again very soon.
Oxford, England 2008

Buffy smiled and threw her arms around William’s neck.

He quickly hugged back. “Oi! I’m not complaining, luv, but what did I do to deserve this?”

She shrugged as she pulled away. “Since when do I need a reason to hug my favorite person in the whole wide world?”

He adopted a serious expression, and nodded. “Fair enough.” He grinned suddenly. “Of course, in that case…” he turned quickly, scooping her up into his arms for a bear hug, “… it works both ways.”

Buffy giggled when he placed her back on the ground. Though her mind was still racing a bit to process her earlier discovery, she’d wasted no time in putting her plan to work.

During dinner she’d made sure to mention how happy she was that they were getting a chance to spend time together and to catch up, and she’d even thought to tell him that he looked good and happy. “Oxford suits you, I guess,” she’d said.

Remembering his delighted expression, Buffy was certain that her plan was working. He’ll tell me soon, she thought and wondered why the thought left her both happy and sad.

William couldn’t stop grinning. All afternoon Buffy had been hugging him and telling him how great he was and how much she liked spending time with him. She hadn’t even asked about Liam. He knew it was a lot to hope for, but he was starting to think that maybe she had reconsidered her big plan, or even that she had reconsidered him.

It was in this euphoric state, that William made his next decision. “So, how would you like to try out a little Oxford nightlife tonight? There’s a club. It’s not much, but there’s usually someone spinning records, a bit of dancing, some drinks. It draws a decent crowd on Thursdays.”

Her eyes lit up. “I love dancing.”

“Then it’s a plan.”

She linked arms with him and grinned. “Know what I else I love?”

William’s mouth went dry. He gave his head a little shake. “What’s that pet?”

“I’m totally legal here. I am so getting my drink on.”

He chuckled. “I’ll call a few people and see if anyone wants to join us.”

Buffy beamed. “Cool. I really want to meet all your Oxford people.”

“I bet I can get Fred and Wesley to venture out of their cozy little cocoon for a night on the town in honor of your visit. You’ll like them. They’re good people.”

“What about that friend that your professor mentioned?
Liam? Do you think he’ll join us?”

William barely held back his sigh. “Yeah, I’ll give him a call.”

Sunnydale, California 2004

“But you can’t go. You’re only sixteen. You can’t go to college until you’re eighteen.” Buffy shook her head vehemently.

“That’s not really how it works, Buffy. I’ve already finished all the high school stuff,” he said, shrugging. “I finished it months ago. I took the exams, I got my diploma… I’m done. Now I have to go to college.”

“But… but… there are colleges in California, you can go here. You don’t have to go to stupid Oxford in stupid England.”

“My dad went to Oxford and my grandfather before him. My mum says it would have been important to him and…” He didn’t know how to explain that going to his father’s alma mater would make him feel a little closer to the man who had died before he’d even been born. “And they want me to go there. They offered me a full scholarship.” They also hadn’t tried pressuring him away from literature studies and towards a more monetarily valued field, as several schools had.

Buffy couldn’t hold back her tears, her face reddened and she fisted her hands. “But it’s so far away.”

William nodded, his own eyes glistening. “I know. But it won’t be forever and I’ll come home for visits, and we can write and e-mail, and you can come visit me, too.”

Buffy shook her head. “You’re leaving and you don’t even care.” She ran out of her room.

He wanted to follow her, but his legs wouldn’t move. He collapsed on to her desk chair and buried his face in his hands. He had to do this. He had to go. For all the reasons he’d told her and for some he could barely even admit to himself, William knew he had to leave for a while.

She was only a couple of years younger than he was, but lately those years seemed very important. She was barely fourteen. William knew that she was still too young for the things that he wanted.

Hell, he thought,he was still too young for the things he wanted.

But it didn’t make the feelings go away.

Lately, he couldn’t visit Buffy without ending up hiding in the bathroom disgusted with himself and his urges. He needed some space. He needed to give her a little time to grow up.
But now, he thought,she hates me. He didn’t fight back his tears any longer. His thin shoulders shook with silent sobs as tears streaked their way down his face.

Joyce wasn’t surprised to find Buffy crying in the yard. She and Anne had already discussed how difficult William’s going to school overseas was going to be on both of their children. She knelt beside her daughter and opened her arms. “Come here, sweetie.” She rubbed soothing circles on her child’s back. “I know, sweetie. It’s hard. But it’s not forever. You guys can still talk and he’ll be home for visits.”

“I don’t care. I’m never talking to him again.”

Joyce sighed and pulled her daughter up to look at her face. “No, Buffy. That’s not okay. I know that you’re upset, but you will not hurt your friend like this. You know that William is not going away to hurt your feelings. This is special. He has an amazing opportunity and a good friend would want him to take it.”

Buffy started to speak again, but Joyce held up her hand.
“You need to stop being selfish right now and think about his feelings. Think about how scary this must be for him. He’s the one that has to move far from home and you are only making it worse.”

“Do you think that he’s scared?” she asked in a small voice.

Joyce shook her head. “I don’t know, Buffy. Why don’t you ask him?”

Buffy nodded and gave her mom another hug.

Walking back to her room, Buffy wondered if he was mad at her. Lately, he seemed to be upset with her all the time, but he’d never admit it. He’d just say that he was tired, or that he must be coming down with a cold, and go home early.

She was shocked to find him crying. William was always so reserved. He smiled and laughed some with her, but otherwise, he kept his emotions to himself. He never cried. He hadn’t even cried when he’d broken his leg the year before. She didn’t know what to do.

“Will?”

Surprised by her reappearance, he looked up for a moment before quickly turning away in shame. He pulled his glasses off and wiped his face with his sleeve.

William stood up, his legs shaking, and walked over to stare dazedly out the window. He spoke in a trembling voice. “I won’t go. If you tell me not to, I won’t go.”

Buffy was stunned. She put her hand on his arm and waited for him to turn back and look at her. When he finally met her eyes, she spoke the hardest words she’d ever had to say. “But you have to go, right?”

Oxford, England 2008
William waited anxiously for Buffy to finish getting ready to go out. They were meeting Liam at the club and he’d left a message for Fred and Wesley, inviting them to join if they were free.

He debated whether or not he should tell Liam how he felt about Buffy. He recognized that ordinarily that would be the obvious route to take under the circumstance. Normal men would simply ask their friends to not try to steal the girl they wanted before they admitted to said girl that they wanted them.

Unfortunately, neither William nor Liam was the kind of man that people called normal, and their relationship was unique to say the least.

William was quiet and modest and, though he’d made great strides towards social normalcy, still generally shy. Liam was none of those things. He was a brash and loud Irishman who managed to both annoy and charm everyone he met, especially females. All women it seemed were drawn to Liam; young girls blushed when he spoke and older women clucked about him like mother hens who’d found their lost chick. Where other man would be called scum, he was simply a rogue and a rascal.

Early in their friendship, William had often felt guilty in Liam’s place. Someone, he’d thought, should be ashamed of themselves. But the girls involved never seemed to stay angry very long and so he’d felt silly doing so in their place.

Giles hadn’t been exaggerating. It was indeed surprising that they’d become friends at all. Especially, William thought, when you considered the circumstances in which they’d met. Very few people knew the truth of it, that their meeting in Giles’ office wasn’t really their first. Oh no, William and Liam had something other than a love of Irish writers in common. Liam was the man William had found in his bed that day he’d walked in on Drusilla.

He’d wanted to hate him. He had hated him. But he hadn’t been able to maintain it. The truth was, it simply hadn’t been Liam’s fault any more than it had been his own. Liam hadn’t known about William. He’d only just arrived in town a few days earlier to accept a post as assistant professor at the university. Drusilla had collected him at the pub and fed him a story about staying in her brother’s flat to explain William’s clothing. He’d been nearly as surprised as William was when he’d come home.

William had been horrified to discover their academic connection, but Liam had simply laughed. He’d thrown his arm over the younger man’s shoulders and said that clearly they should get along just fine as all man who appreciate great literature love both tragedy and irony and they already shared both.

So, in spite of all the reasons not to, Liam had taken the role of older brother and William had let him. They were currently working together to research the early influences of Oscar Wilde and would likely publish a series of co-authored articles on the subject. The men shared a competitive nature and working together spurred both to put forth their best work.

The competition tended to spill over into all aspects of their relationship. They competed at chess, trivia, athletics and even drinking. Liam won more than his share and William had no desire to let Buffy become the latest contest. He worried, however, that allowing his interest to be known might cause just that to occur. Even worse, he thought, Liam might just try to help him.

Liam had expressed his concerns many times. He worried that William was letting the business with Dru hold him back. He’d tried to fix his friend up on numerous occasions. William knew there was a chance that he’d pull some sort of stunt where Buffy was concerned, thinking that it was all for William’s own good. Liam tended to do what he thought best, regardless of William’s opinion.

And thus, William was stuck. If he didn’t say anything then Liam would almost inevitably try to pick up Buffy. If he did say something, the situation could be even worse.


Chapter End Notes:
Thoughts?



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