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"So, does anyone think we should probably go after him?" Xander asked no one in particular. After a brief second to contemplate that idea, they all scrambled into the hall and out the door. They had practically fallen down the steps together, and charged down the sidewalk, only to find William staring up at the trees with a strange expression.

"William?" Buffy called, approaching him slowly. She wasn't sure why, but it seemed like the thing to do.

"Phoenix canariensis."

"No, Sunnydale. Phoenix is a few hours that way," Xander responded.

William gave him a withering look. It was such a purely Spike look, that she almost had to laugh. Which made her think. Maybe it hadn't been a purely Spike look. Maybe it had always been a purely William look. Boy, this existential stuff was going to be a big pain in the…

"These trees should be thousands of miles from here, how ever did you get them to grow?" He was looking at her with that look again. Like he'd just seen a miracle of some sort.

"What? The palm trees? I don't know; came with the house. They're all over the place here."

He was looking around again. Staring at things like he was studying a bug under a microscope. Kind of went along with the squinting. Which made her wonder…

"Spi, uh, William, out of curiosity, you don't happen to wear glasses, do you?"

He looked at her again, looking a little caught off guard for a moment, and then ducked his head. He was embarrassed!

"I do require them for certain activities. My eyes tend to become quite fatigued from time to time," He confessed. "Regrettably, it would appear they were lost during my incident earlier this evening. But I am quite certain these are Phoenix canariensis." He was looking back up at the palm trees again.

"Well, that would be because this is California and they grow all over the place here."

At that moment, an SUV came cruising down the quiet street, drawing William's rapt attention.

"I say… a horseless carriage?" He glanced back around to her, his face a question.

She thought about it a moment, then shrugged, "Yeah, we'll go with that."

"Fascinating!" That couldn't have sounded more like Giles if he'd tried. "Now, if you would be so kind as to hail one so that I may return to my home?" And there was that authoritative air that Giles was so good at.

"First, there will be no hailing," she pointedly glared at him, "and second, you can't go home."

"Yeah man, there *is* no home for you to go to."

Now he was looking frustrated, bordering on angry. After a few seconds of what looked like internal waffling to her, he finally spoke again.

"See here, sir. This jest has gone on long enough. I am Lord Pratt, and I will not be trifled with."

That got him a whole bunch of blank stares from everyone. Which for some reason caused him to sigh and roll his eyes at them all.

"Lord Pratt?" Xander repeated the name.

"Pratt?" Anya also repeated, and then kept mumbling it to herself. "Pratt, Pratt, Pratt, why do I know that name?"

"My young cousin is Lord Camden." She couldn't quite tell, but that almost sounded more like a question than a statement. Either way, she still wasn't sure what he was going on about.

"My uncle's only living child? The Marquise…"

"Oh my god!" Anya exclaimed, then quickly covered her mouth. "William, are you a presumptive?"

"A whative?" Xander asked.

"I am." He held his chin just a little higher.

Anya started to giggle, which turned into laughter, which lead to great big snorting guffaws. They were contagious, and soon had both her and Xander, though curiously not William, laughing as well. She couldn't help it. The events of the entire evening had just been so crazy and overwhelming, and she wasn't quite sure what she was laughing about, but she was glad that she was.

"You… you were… you were a member of the peerage?" Anya snorted out. "Oh god, of course you were! This is too funny, Spike was a presumptive!" She snorted some more. "Of course! Hallie was pretending to be an Underwood that season so she could run her little vengeance thing. Oh god, no wonder you were so set on her, you thought everyone else was beneath you!" Anya dissolved into laughter again. Completely missing William's not so insignificant flinch.

But Buffy didn't. Particularly when it suddenly started looking like he was going to explode, then spun on his heal and started blindly stalking off. He didn't even seem to see where he was going. His long strides took him straight into the street, right into the path of an oncoming car. Buffy had to put on an extra burst of speed to get to him and push him out of the way, putting herself right into the spot he had been.

It was over before you could blink. She had rolled right up onto the hood of the car and bounce back off into the street as the driver slammed on his breaks. She laid there a moment, considering that this wasn't the first time she'd been hit by a car, and it really did seem to be getting any easier. Although, it wasn't getting worse either.

"Buffy!" Xander and Anya's voices cut through her thoughts. She sat up, as the driver came running up. She glanced around to see if she had pushed William clear. He was sitting in the middle of the street, giving her that look. Huh, who knew? Turned out that the head tilt was a totally William thing, too. And suddenly, she really had to wonder just how much of Spike was really William? And if Spike was really William, then was Spike really gone?

Putting those thoughts away, she quickly reassured the driver and her friends that she was fine, and wouldn't be calling the police or the ambulance. She marched over to William and looked down. That was when Anya's words clicked in her brain, and she remembered shoving him to the ground, in roughly the same position he was now, and telling him that he was beneath her. He'd looked hurt then, and angry. But then, that was why she'd said it, to wound him. Judging by what had happened a moment ago, she'd simply ripped open an old wound instead of creating a new one. And it had been a pretty big one. Big enough to send him charging into the street and right into almost certain death. This was all sounding a little familiar, but not quite. Like some of the details were a little off. Wait a minute…

"Oh my god…" Now it was her turn to stand there stunned, and looking down at him while she did it.

After a moment of looking at her in such hope, William looked away dejectedly. He stood up and turned to continue walking wherever the heck he thought he was going. She caught his arm, and he momentarily froze.

"William?" He wouldn't turn and look at her, but she could tell she had his attention.

"Is that what happened that night? This… night? She said you were beneath her, didn't she? And you ran out into the street and right into Drusilla."

He was trembling a little, but still hadn't turned around.
"I will not be made sport of," He almost whispered.

Buffy decided that rather than making him turn around, she would meet him on his own terms. She walked around him until she was face to face with him, but he still wouldn't look at her.

"Is that what happened?" She asked.

He didn't look at her, but he did give her a brief nod.

Despite the serious warning bells going off in her head, she pulled him into a firm hug, and surprisingly he let her. But, this wasn't Spike, it was William. Who apparently had been in love with a woman whose words had unknowingly gotten him killed.

Funny how history repeats itself.





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