The new day arose quietly. The sun shone with brilliance through the curtains of the balcony, lazily reminding William of all that had transpired the day before. He wished for more but the sleep he did get was fruitful. William hadn’t dreamt anymore after he had gotten into his motel bed a few hours before dawn. Andrew had slept soundlessly on the other side and William was grateful not to be disturbed for those few hours of hard sleep.
The morning brought chaos to their room though. Mr. Giles had woken everybody up early, even though it was obvious everyone wanted and needed more sleep, even Mr. Giles. Andrew was pacing about, trying to find his other sock and Mr. Harris, who fervently asked with an annoyed tone to be called Xander, was taking a long time in the washing room. William sat on the edge of the bed, looking at an odd black box that sat pleasantly on the bureau in front of him. He was staring at it, trying to figure out its function when Andrew stopped his fevered search and grabbed a small black cylinder from the bedside table. When William looked at Andrew he was standing next to him staring at the black box as well.
“Oh, that’s a T.V. err, Television, one of the greatest inventions in the last century. Here, check it out.”
Andrew then took the cylinder, pointed it at the black box and pressed a button. As soon as Andrew did, the black box came to life.
“Oh, my!” William nearly fell off the bed.
It showed moving images of real life. At first William was captivated, but a second later utterly appalled and embarrassed. The images on the T.V. were that of intimate relations, moaning and groaning savage desires. Andrew gapped like a fish, curling in on himself, obviously embarrassed as well.
“Ye-ah, that wasn’t what I meant to show you. Porn isn’t something your Victorian eyes might want to see just yet.”
“Is-is this normal, acceptable, for carnal relations to be displayed so openly like this?” William was doing his best to not look at the T.V.; instead he kept his eyes on Andrew. But he couldn’t shut off his hearing.
“Well, yeah. The porn industry is like super rich. Gay porn alone – I mean yeah, it’s totally normal!” Andrew then tried to press another button, “How do you turn this thing off!?” The volume grew louder.
Xander came out of the wash room at that moment and stood in the door way looking at them incredulously. “I thought Victorian sensibilities wouldn’t care for that?”
“Of – of course. I was only interested in the – the T.V. when…”
“Yeah, I figured it was Andrew.” Xander came into the room then, grabbing his eye patch from the counter near the closet. “I think they charge for that per minute, you should probably turn it off.”
“I’m trying,” cried Andrew, his distress on being unable to turn off the T.V. was clear.
“Let me see that,” Xander grabbed the cylinder from Andrew’s hands. After pressing more buttons, the images changed to another set of carnal relations, but with louder and more frequent moaning. “Huh, I guess the remote is broken.”
William watched in horror as Andrew and Xander fiddled with the T.V. as they tried to turn it off. The images were shocking to him, but again, William felt curious, among other things, and caught himself glancing from the two striving to fix the problem to the problem itself. After a few minutes his embarrassment was starting to pass.
“Ooh, I don’t think I saw this one.” Xander had paused to look at the images.
“Um, I think we shouldn’t get distracted.” Andrew was looking sheepish.
“Wait, wait, this is getting good.”
William just sat in silence, not sure if he was traumatized or fascinated.
Andrew continued his efforts while William sat in shocked silence and Xander watched in deep interest. After what seemed like an age, Mr. Giles came into the room with breakfast, followed closely by Buffy, Dawn, Willow, and a few other slayers. The new comers stood in the doorway, obviously none of them anticipated the three to be watching what they were watching. William, Xander and Andrew froze and looked at their company. William wanted to crawl under the bed, but instead hid his face in his hands.
Andrew was the first to speak, “It was accident, totally not my fault all the channels are Porn.”
“And may I ask why you haven’t turned it off?” Mr. Giles sounded bashful yet upset.
Buffy looked at them pointedly. “Yeah, not what I expected to see,” and then turned to her younger sister, “Dawn cover your eyes.”
“I’m not a baby; I know what they are watching, not like I haven’t seen worse.”
“Excuse me?” Buffy folded her arms and glared at her sister, but Willow stepped further in to the room.
“So why haven’t you turned it off?”
Xander scratched the back of his head as he looked down, “Remote’s broke, and no ‘off’ button on the T.V.”
“Nonstop porn.” Andrew chimed in.
“Oh for the love of…” Mr. Giles stormed into the room and pulled the wire out of the wall that connected it to the T.V. The images went black and the sound was cut off. William sighed in relief, but knew he wouldn’t be able to forget this so easily.
“Oh, yeah, the plug. Should’ve thought of that.” Xander gave a breathless laugh as he put on his eye patch and turned away from the T.V.
“I hope that doesn’t eat too much into our bill.” One of the slayers behind Buffy was smiling as she spoke the phrase, and William couldn’t help but feel embarrassed all over again. He hoped Buffy wouldn’t think too badly of him.
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The rest of the morning went by fast, Buffy counted the girls that would be coming with them. Giles had taken care of the girls who were still in the hospital, who would be following them once they were discharged. So far about nine girls plus the rest would be packed into two cars, luckily one was a large SUV that fit six and with careful planning, could fit ten or more. Buffy, Xander and Giles planned out the rest, while William spoke with Willow. Buffy was too busy to hear their conversation, but it didn’t look pleasant. Right before noon the two cars were packed and ready for Los Angeles, everyone sat almost on top of each other. The drive was only an hour, so the passengers didn’t have to put up with the uncomfortable seating for long.
Buffy was lucky to have a seat in the front of Giles’ car. She got to hear Andrew trying to get William up to date with history and the modern world, but it was obvious William was tuning the boy out. Andrew was making so many obscure references Buffy doubted William understood half of anything coming out of Andrew’s mouth. Buffy couldn’t help but smile, after catching the boys watching porn and with William avoiding her all morning she knew William wasn’t having a good day. And the day was really just getting started. William was now going into a real modern city with all the trimmings and would have to deal with Angel, a vampire with a soul and jealous streak.
William was human; Spike had done what Angel had always wanted. Buffy’s mind wandered to the comment spoken by William during the previous night, on being normal. William said he always wanted to be normal, to fit in, but now he would never fit in, he would never be normal. That wasn’t right was it? He could be, he could catch up, get a career, and marry…somehow the thought of William marrying put a sour taste in her mouth. Who would he marry? Someone who he could never tell his real past to? The more she thought about the details, the more she realized it was true. William wouldn’t be normal, ever. Buffy felt for him, felt closer to him, but still, something was missing. Why couldn’t she just feel the same for William as she did for Spike?
“Oh, my – my goodness! Is what I am seeing real?” William’s breathless and amazed voice broke her from her thoughts and she glanced ahead, the city of Los Angeles just came into view. They were driving down a large hill and could see the whole the city.
“Los Angeles, home sweet home.” Buffy’s sarcastic voice went unheard as Giles explained about the city to William. It’s been years since Los Angeles was her home, but she grew up here, she was called as a Slayer here and she dusted her first vamp here. Good and bad memories collided and now with Sunnydale in the ground this was the only place to call home.
They continued on and reached Wolfram & Hart sooner than Buffy wanted. When she saw the building her first thoughts were on how she was entering evil’s lair, and then her previous night’s dream (which she knew was a Slayer’s Dream, something she didn’t want to share with William just yet) and what the vampire told her flooded her mind. She looked over to Giles as he descended the ramp into the underground parking lot.
“I have to talk to you and everyone, soon.”
“Is it a matter of importance?” Giles sounded wary.
“Very, more badness is coming our way.”
“I see, perhaps we’ll get a moment once we are inside, though I don’t particularly enjoy the idea of speaking about anything of importance in this place.”
“Me neither.”
Giles and Xander parked next to each other. Once everyone was outside the car and gathered, Buffy made sure everyone would follow her. Buffy drifted next to William as she walked to the entrance.
“Stay close to me, I don’t care about this morning, don’t leave my side.”
“How awful is this place?” William’s voice croaked a bit, he was obviously nervous.
“This place defends evil, but I have, I think I have, an ally here that will help us, all of us.”
“Is this ally someone we can rely on?”
“I used to think so.”
“But you don’t think so now?”
“I don’t know what I think now, I no longer trust him like I used to once he took over this place.”
“Well, that makes me feel right as nails.”
Buffy looked at him, annoyed but secretly fond of the sarcasm. “Wait until you meet Angel.”
“Yes, you mentioned him before.”
“He’s a vampire, but a good one and someone…Spike used to know. It won’t be pleasant.”
“Spike? My – my, dear me…”
“Just stay close.”
With that Buffy and the rest climbed the stairs and then entered the double glass doors of the law firm. Buffy was vaguely aware of William drinking in the sight of the modern business building. It was bright and clear, full of things Buffy was sure he had never seen before. The tall ceiling and people in business suits perhaps weren’t as unfamiliar as everything else was.
Buffy was unsure how things would go, or what exactly she would meet when she presented William to Angel or told him of the events of the battle the day before. Angel should have been prepared in case she lost yesterday, so she expected to find him ready for anything. What she wasn’t prepared for was Harmony at the reception desk.
“Welcome to Wolf…Slayer! You’re not here to kill me right? I’m trying to be good, OK?”
Buffy blinked a few times, “No, I’m not here to kill you-“
“Oh goodie, so how can I help you? And make it quick please I have appointments I need to keep.” Harmony’s attitude changed from pleading to contemptuous in record time, fast enough that Buffy wanted to take back what she said and slay her.
“I need to see Angel.”
“Right, let me see if he is available, which for you I’m sure he is.” Harmony rolled her eyes and took the phone in her hands before noticing William.
“Oh my god! Blondie bear!? Is that you?”
Buffy moaned, “Oh god.”
William merely looked stunned and unsure. “Are you referring to me?”
“That is you! You look like a complete dork now, what happened? Oh oh, you have a heartbeat now? You’re human? How did that awful thing happen?”
“Harmony! Angel! Now!” Buffy nearly shouted.
“Right! Calling now,” Buffy even caught the murmured, “gees, impatient much?” as Harmony dialed Angel.
Harmony didn’t have to wait long before the other end picked up, “Angel, Buffy the Slayer and what seems like her army are here to see you.”
Buffy couldn’t make out what Angel said, but whatever it was, it was short.
“OK, on our way.” Harmony put down the phone and looked back to Buffy. “Follow me and keep up; he wants to see you right away.”
Buffy sighed and took off after Harmony, not quite ready to meet Angel and deal with everything she knew what was to come. William and everyone else followed her. They had to work around small elevators and twisting hallways, but everyone was able to stay behind her. Just before they reached the double doors to Angel’s office, Buffy looked to William and wondered if her cookies were baked.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Beta'd by Sharon/Havena! Many, many thanks to her!
Chapter End Notes:
I thought Angel would be in this chapter, but alas, no. I'm not looking forward to writing him, since I really don't know his character as well. Hope you enjoy and thank you all for the wonderful reviews!