Chapter 12:
“Can I ask you a question?”
Xander rolled out from under the car he was currently working on; with grease smeared all over his chin he asked, “Hey, what are you doing here? Thought you were taking the day off because Buffy’s sick…”
“She’s better now…”
The truth was William needed a little time away from Buffy to clear his head after conversing with her.
”Well….depends…”
“Depends?”
”Depends on what you want to ask….if it’s a parenting question you are going to the wrong guy…if it’s a question that deals with women ….well, you’re still going to the wrong guy.”
”It’s a ‘will you shut up and let me talk you nit’ question.” William said as he kicked over a tire and sat on it so he could make himself comfortable.
Xander rolled completely out from under the car and sat up, “Okay…shoot…I’m all ears.”
“Have…have you noticed—“
William felt stupid asking a guy a question like this. It was almost like he was asking his father to tell him about the birds and the bees.
“Noticed…” Xander waved his hand, motioning for his friend to keep going.
William swallowed his pride, if he was ever going to fix this problem with Buffy and understand where she was coming from he needed some advice. He needed to know if other people noticed a difference too.
“Have I turned into a wanker over the years?”
”Huh?”
”Well…not an actually wanker…but, have I…changed a lot over the years?”
Xander looked William up and down, “You asking appearance wise or…?”
With a groan, William stood up and started to walk around the garage, rubbing his neck and contemplating on how to get through this.
“Will, of course you changed…we all changed over the years…you’re a dad and a married man.”
”Ya…but has that changed ME…me as a person…me as…”
”Where is this coming from? Your almost look like you need a self esteem boost.” Xander joked.
‘That’s EXACTLY what I need’ William thought to himself. It feels weird now between him and Buffy now that he knew her secret, that she preferred Spike to William when they were having sex; that his own wife was having an affair with a ghost…a ghost that was him.
“Will, you are who you are…who’s to say that you turned into someone else? We all evolve man…we all mature.”
”Maturing is one thing…but…but…” William trailed off when he spotted his reflection in the right side mirrors of the car Xander was working on. He ran his hand through his brown hair and tried to remember when the last time he bleached it.
“But what? You’re zoning out on me man…” Xander raised an eyebrow.
“I got to go…” William muttered quietly before quickly moving off to his car outside.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Buffy unfolded the flaps of the big brown box as she sat on the edge of her bed. After eyeing the box that contented her husband’s old positions all afternoon while she was loading and unloading laundry in the basement, Buffy decided it was time to do a little more snooping.
‘So soft…’ Buffy thought to herself as she brought out Spike’s leather duster and sat it on the bed next to her.
She poked her head back in the box and wrinkled her face up in confusion when she eyed something that was not so familiar to her.
‘Dingoes Ate My Baby: Wolves at Night’ she read the piece of paper that was taped to the CD cover.
When Buffy looked up from the label her eyes went directly to the old picture of Spike surrounded with his band mates.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
As soon as Buffy hung up the phone she heard the front door click shut.
“William?” she called out from the kitchen.
“Ya love, it’s me…I’m going to take a shower…”
When Buffy made it into the foyer and glanced up the stairs, she saw William’s shadow going down the hallway with a bag in his hand. “Umm…Will?!” she called up after him.
“Ya?!”
“Are you okay?” Buffy asked as she bit her lip. She wanted to ask ‘Are we okay?’ but she was afraid of how he would answer.
“Ya…”
“I’m going to make dinner…” she called out.
”Okay…”
Buffy stood there at the bottom of the stairs and listened as he went into the bathroom and shut the door. As she walked back into the kitchen and started pulling out things from the refrigerator she heard the sound of cabinets being opened and the shower running in the bathroom above.
A few minutes later she heard him curse up a storm for about twenty seconds before going silent.
“William?!” she called as she looked up at the ceiling.
However, it was no use; he couldn’t hear her over the sound of the shower running.
*~*~*~*~*~*~
“William?” Buffy knocked on the bathroom door, worried and anxious.
“I’m alright…” He was sharp with her, the tone in his voice basically said ‘go away and leave me alone.’
“Umm…are you sure?”
”Yes…I’ll be down soon.” He muttered.
Buffy was about ready to cry, the way he just left her earlier made her think that he still was upset with the whole ‘Spike’ incident.
“Okay…” she whispered and went down the stairs.
*~*~*~*~*~*~
Buffy didn’t hear the sound of the water shutting off, the bathroom door opening, and the sound of boots shuffling down the stairs and into the kitchen. She was concentrating on stirring the spaghetti sauce and the speech she worked out in her head for last ten minutes about what happened earlier.
“What’s cooking?”
”I made spaghetti…” she whispered as she kept her eyes inside the pot.
“Spaghetti and MEATBALLS?” his voice said huskily as he came a little bit closer behind her.
“No…” she sighed, “Just the noodles and sauce…”
“Hmm…you bought dessert right?”
“I bought a—AHH!“ Buffy turned around slowly and then jumped up at the sight of him.
Spike smirked as he reached around her waist to turn off the burner on the stove, if all went according to play they wouldn’t be eating dinner tonight…well, not the usual salad and spaghetti. Whip cream may make an appearance with some hot fudge.
“Willia—“
”Spike…” he corrected.
“Your--your hair…” she was so memorized by the bleached blonde locks that she didn’t notice the coat and the rest of his getup.
“What of it?” he asked innocently, even though he still had that little smirk on his face.
“What…what…?”
“You speechless love?”
“What—what did you do?” she asked as she looked down at the rest of his clothes, it felt like she was in the Twilight Zone at the moment.
Usually William would stop the playfulness and say, ‘You it hate don’t you? Should I go back upstairs and change it back?’ but tonight he wasn’t ‘William’.
“Do? Nothing yet…what am I GOING to do?” Spike moved his eyes up and down her figure, “Well…I think I’m going to do you…”
TBC…