London, England 2008
William closed his eyes and simply let the memories wash over him. He remembered everything; his mind was a vault of Buffy memories. But nowhere in the vast collection was a definitive answer to the question he most needed answered. More importantly, though he was widely acknowledged to be brilliant in many ways, William quite honestly didn’t even know how to ask the question.
Noting an airport employee heading towards the gate door, William stood up in anticipation. He fairly hummed with excitement as the first couple of passengers came out the door, and then she was there. He saw her pause briefly, framed in the doorway, and watched as she quickly slid her eyes over the crowd. She was, he thought, even more beautiful than he remembered.
He smiled when she spotted him and laughed out loud when she ran towards him. Oblivious to the crowd, Buffy dropped her bag and launched herself into William’s arms.
With her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, Buffy gave a squeal of delight. “I’ve missed you so much.”
William laughed softly. He’d normally have been uncomfortable with the very public emotional display, but at that moment, he could feel nothing but the extreme rightness of having her in his arms. He squeezed back. “I missed you too kitten.”
Buffy’s eyes widened. When exactly, she wondered, had his voice gotten so deep. Reluctantly unlatching herself from his lean frame, Buffy stepped back slightly to take a closer look at her best friend. His voice, she soon realized, wasn’t the only thing that had changed. She gasped “Your hair.”
Ducking his head slightly in a bashful manner, William brought his hand up to muss the shockingly blonde hair on the back of his head. “Yeah, Dru did it.” He shrugged. “I rather liked it so…”
“I like it to.”
His head came up, blues eyes startled. “You do?”
“Yep,” she admitted, nodding. “It was almost that light when you were little.”
William reached over and gave her ponytail a gentle tug. “Yours seems to have lightened up a bit as well.”
Buffy shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about; I’m a natural blonde.” Her pretty green eyes twinkled impishly.
Laughing, he pulled her back up against him for another quick hug. “Oh yes; I remember that now.” He walked over to where Buffy had dropped her bag and picked it up. “Let’s go collect the rest of your baggage, shall we? Then we can visit all proper like.”
Sunnydale, California 1993
“You need another “F”, see?” William placed his hand over Buffy’s and guided her through the letters in her name. “There,” he said. “Like that.”
“Why?” Buffy scrunched her nose as she studied the paper.
“Because that’s the name your mum picked.”
Buffy considered this and nodded. “I like Buffy.”
“I do too.”
“It needs a flower.”
“Flowers aren’t letters. You can’t put a flower in your name.”
“But I wanna put a flower.” She looked devastated.
William looked at her sad expression thoughtfully; he was pretty sure she couldn’t really have a flower in her name, but he didn’t want her to be upset. He grinned as an idea came to him. “Maybe you can just put a flower next to your name, like here.” He touched a spot on her paper that was slightly to the right of where they’d written her name.
Her face lit up and she smiled at him. “That’s a good idea.”
William shrugged, happy to see her smiling again. “I guess it’s because I’m so clever.”
Buffy nodded and proceeded to add her flower.
London, England 2008
“And then Cordelia was bragging about how she was going to be staying with her Aunt in LA for a few weeks and I was all, oh, you’ll have to give me the address so I can send you a postcard while I’m in Europe. You should have seen her face. Her jaw dropped so low we could have fit in her entire designer shoe collection.”
William chuckled and pretended to be insulted. “I knew it. You’re just using me for a place to stay. You didn’t miss me at all.”
Buffy swatted him playfully. “You know that I did.” She grinned mischievously “For one thing, I barely survived Chemistry without your help.”
Catching on quickly, William played along. “See? Tutoring and housing, that’s all I am to you.”
“And also you can drive.”
Laughing, he nodded. “And that” he agreed. “I did try to teach you.”
“Please don’t remind me.” She pointed suddenly at the luggage carousel. “Oh there’s mine.”
William scanned the seemingly endless parade of suitcases. There amidst the basic black, blue and brown bags was a bright pink and white floral printed one. Without even asking, he stepped forward and pulled it off.
“It’s cute, right? My Aunt Jenny gave it to me as a graduation gift. She let me pick it out for myself.”
“I never would have guessed.”
Buffy gave him another swat. “Give me back my little bag.”
Pretending to nurse the spot that she’d just hit, William shook his head. “I’ve got them.”
“Will, don’t be ridiculous. I’m perfectly capable of carrying my carry-on bag.”
She was the only person in the world who called him Will. Despite all of his efforts, three year old Buffy had simply been unable to say William correctly. He’d decided that she could just say the first part until she learned and she’d never completely stopped. It had been an issue of contention for him when they were kids, but he found now that he rather liked her having a special name for him. “I’ve got the bags Buffy. You’re my guest and I’m going to take care of you.”
Buffy rolled her eyes and held out her hand.
William relented and handed over the smaller bag. Courting Buffy, he decided, was even harder than he’d remembered.
When they got to his car, William quickly placed her bags in the trunk. “Are you hungry or anything? It’ll take an hour or so for us to get over to Oxford, but we could stop closer if you’d like.”
Buffy shook her head. “I snacked big time on the plane. Let’s just head straight there. I can’t wait to see your place.”
“Don’t get too excited pet. I’m a grad student still; it’s not much.”
“But it’s your own place, not your mom’s or a dorm room, yours. And that is cool.”
William nodded and grinned. “I suppose so.”
“I’ll bet that your place is very clean and that everything is put away and that everything is blue.”
He’d always been a bit preferential towards blue, he thought, but for awhile as a child, he’d taken that to an extreme. He liked knowing that Buffy knew him well enough to know that, but found that he also rather wished she would forget about a few of his more odd childhood traits. “I’m not telling you anything; you’ll see it when we get there.”
He grinned as he considered what her reaction would be when they got there. He really had changed quite a bit over the past couple of years. There were a few people that he genuinely considered friends, though he wasn’t as close with any of them as he was with Buffy, and he’d dated a number of girls. He’d been with one of those girls, Drusilla, for several months. He knew that his flat still bore her touch, but he’d grown quite comfortable with it and saw no reason to change things.
He frowned slightly as thoughts of Dru flitted through his mind. Most of his pleasant memories with her were tainted now by his knowledge of her apparently consistent infidelity and with his own feelings of guilt. He normally would’ve never gone out with her, but at the time he’d been heartbroken. It had been only a week after his last visit home.
Buffy’s voice startled him out of his memories. “Will? What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “Nothing’s wrong luv. I’m just thinking about the best route home. There’s traffic to consider and all.”
“Oh.” Buffy wasn’t convinced, but she didn’t push. William had always gotten lost in his own head from time to time; it didn’t bother her. She reached over and turned on the radio.
Sunnydale, California 2007
William followed the sound of Buffy’s voice. Her mother had told him that she was in the backyard with Willow and he could hardly wait to surprise her. He’d gotten his work done earlier than he’d expected to and had caught a flight to California two days sooner than he’d planned to. He paused by the door to watch her for a moment.
“…but who do you think you’ll go with?”
Buffy shrugged in response to Willow’s question. “I don’t know. Maybe Riley, he’s asked me a bunch of times and Parker’s been kind of flirty, you know?”
Willow nodded. “What about William? Isn’t he supposed to be here soon?”
“Will? Why would I go to junior prom with him?”
“He’s not bad looking and also you get cool points for his being a college guy.”
“Maybe, but it’s not like that with us. Will’s…he’s like…” Buffy trailed off trying to find the words that described their unusual relationship. She certainly thought of him as more than just a friend. “He’s like family.”
Willow nodded again. “Kind of like your big brother?”
Buffy frowned. That didn’t sound right either, but she went with it. “Yeah sort of.”
William stepped away from the door stunned. They’d never really discussed it, but he’d always thought that she was his girl or that she was going to be when she was old enough.
Her brother, he thought swaying slightly.
He clutched his stomach; it felt like he’d been kicked. The pain of it shocked him. Still holding his abdomen, William quickly told Joyce that he was feeling ill and likely had jet lag. He fled without even letting Buffy know that he’d been there.
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Thanks to Alissa for the adorable banner!!!!Author's Chapter Notes:
Wow. I guess people like the cuteness. Thanks for the reviews everyone and special thanks to Okdeanna for beta-reading for me. Of course any errors are undoubtedly my own.
As always I don't own anything except my words.
As always I don't own anything except my words.
Chapter End Notes:
Please review. :)