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Author's Chapter Notes:
Just catching up the lost updates....and I had the reviews saved..so I'll be sticking those back up (in case it confuses anyone)
Chapter 15: Familial People

Part I: At Home

“I can’t help it Angel if Meri, can’t baby-sit, it’s not my fault she has a huge test tomorrow, you did kind of spring this no me last minute you know.” Buffy told her husband who was quickly getting on her last nerve.

“Well, it’s not like I could have told you sooner, I just found out for sure myself. It wasn’t a definite thing until just a few hours ago, so don’t blame this on me. It’s not like I could have done anything differently.”

“You don’t have to be yelling at me!” Buffy exclaimed.

“I’m not yelling at you, I’m just trying to figure out why it is you’re not capable of finding a babysitter for our daughter so that you can come to this party with me!”

“Because I’ve called Meri and she’s busy and my mom’s out of town, so that’s really all I know to try. Do you have any other suggestions?”

“I don’t know! It’s not my job oto know this kind of stuff; it’s yours.”

After several minutes of intense staring Buffy came up with something, “What if I called William?”

“Really funny, Buff, like that’s a good idea,” Angel huffed.

“Well do you have a better one?”

“No.”

“Then it’s worth a try isn’t it?”

“I guess,” he admitted reluctantly.

“Then I’ll go call him,” Buffy said as she walked over to the chair and table where the phone in their room was, “William?” Buffy asked when his voice came over the other end of the line, “Yes, this is Buffy….no everything’s fine with Sam…no, school’s the same tomorrow….I just, um, I was wondering, well, you see, Angel and I have a sort of dinner party to go to and Meri, you remember Meri, right?....She apparently has a test or something tomorrow and my mom’s out of town, and well,” she paused for several seconds prompting William to question if she was still there, “Yeah, I’m here. What I was wondering, was…could you baby-sit Sam tonight, I totally understand if you can’t, it’s just- Oh really you can?...Wonderful!”

Angel watched as Buffy firmed up the plans with William, too busy deciding if this was a good idea or not to notice the small smile playing on his wife’s face the entire time.

“Is everything set?” he asked once she’d hung up the phone.

“Yep! He’ll be here in about forty five minutes and he can stay as long as we need him to, but we can’t stay out too long because he does have to teach Sam tomorrow,” Buffy warned her husband.

“I really wish you wouldn’t say ‘Yep’,” Angel told her, “It makes you sound like a teenager. And if he’s going to be here in forty five minutes, then you best start getting ready, you know how long it can take you to get ready.”

‘You know how long it can take you to get ready,’ Buffy grumbled silently to herself, ‘makes you sound like a teenager. At least I don’t sound like some stupid git!’ Okay, so she didn’t know what ‘git’ meant per se but she’d heard William call Angel it (when he thought she wasn’t listening of course) and it just seemed to fit.

“Fine, I’ll hurry and get ready so that I can be done by the time William gets here. Are you going to need the bathroom?”

“Well, I do need to work on my hair a bit,” Angel told her, not really seeing why it was she even bothered asking.

“Alright, I’m going to go get ready in the bathroom by Sam’s room then,” Buffy said as she went to get the necessary make-up out of the bathroom. “I promise I’ll be ready on time,” and she left the bedroom, leaving Angel there, wondering just how it was all of this happened in just ten or so minutes.

Going into the closet, Angel got out his best suit and hung it up on the door. Walking into the bathroom, he took off is shirt and set to work on his hair. It did after all require a great deal of hair gel to get it to stick straight up, the way he liked it.

*(*(*(*I*)*)*)*

Buffy had finished her make-up and hair and was making her way, in her bra and skirt, into the bedroom to put her dress on. She didn’t normally walk around in just a bra and skirt, mind you, but she hadn’t wanted to mess up her hair and make-up by taking her shirt once it was already done.

*(*(*(*I*)*)*)*

“Oooh! William, you’re here! Why are you here?” Sam questioned as she opened the door before he’d even had a chance to knock.

“Well, hi to you too, bit,” William said with an enormous smile. “Didn’t your mum or dad tell you, I’m going to baby-sit you while they go to some work thing I think.”

“Really?” Sam asked, literally bouncing.

“Really; is your mum around by any chance?” William didn’t want to interrupt Sam’s happiness, but he wanted to make sure that he was still needed.

“Yeah, she upstairs, come on!” Sam said as she grabbed his hand and began heading upstairs.

As they made their way upstairs, William got a bad feeling in his gut, “You know, bit, maybe this isn’t a good idea; I’ll just wait for her downstairs, yeah?”

But he didn’t have time to turn around before they ran into Buffy, quite literally. And, William noticed, she didn’t have a shirt on.

Catching her before she could fall, William quickly apologized, “God I’m sorry, I should have waited downstairs. I just didn’t think, I’m sorry. I’ll go now,” he rambled until Buffy interrupted him.

“William,” she held her hands up, trying to cover herself even just a little bit, “I’ll, um, be downstairs in a few minutes.”

William tried to concentrate on what she was saying—really he did—but all he could think was, ‘Buffy in a bra, Buffy in a bra, Buffy in bra’ and it wasn’t one of those matronly types either. No, this was one of those bras that pushed stuff up and hardly covered any of her breasts. And it was black too. Made him wish she were his wife so that he could- ‘No, not going there, not when I have to watch the bit, can’t be thinking dirty thoughts. But, Buffy. In. A. Bra. A dead sexy one—makes it so easy.

If she didn’t look so good in it, it might not have been as much of a problem, but she did. And it was fast becoming a problem.

“I’ll just go downstairs,” he said, finally turning his attention away from Buffy, “You, um, you get ready and I’ll see you before you go. Let’s go Sam,” he said not really waiting for her as he made his way downstairs.

“I’m sorry, mommy, I just wanted you to know William was here,” Sam apologized.

“It’s okay sweetie, I shouldn’t be walking around in my underwear when I knew that he was coming. Why don’t you go downstairs and keep him company until I’m ready?” Buffy wasn’t mad at her daughter, just incredibly embarrassed.

*(*(*(*I*)*)*)*

‘You’re definitely getting fired now.” William told himself, “Why exactly was it you chose a six-year-old’s judgment over your own?” But even is thoughts, couldn’t stay on track, “But you have to admit it’d be worth it. She did look bloody sexy in the whole thing, made you wonder what exactly she had under that skirt….and what was under what was under the skirt……No! No, it didn’t,’ William cut himself off, ‘Didn’t make me wonder any of that, nope, just made me sorry I’d embarrassed her.’

Before he had a chance to continue his inner debate, Sam came in the room, looking contrite. “I’m sorry William,” she said as she stood in the doorway and hung her head.

“Hey, now Sam, I know you didn’t mean anything by it, we’ll just have to be more careful about stuff, yeah?” he didn’t want her thinking he was mad at her, it was his own bad judgment that had caused the situation. “How about you come in here and tell me what I need to know about watching you.”

“Like what?” She said as she looked up and slowly made her way over to sit next to him on the sofa.

“Like,” William started, “What time you need to go to bed and if there’s any stuff you’re not allowed to eat before you go to bed and if I’m supposed to read you a story or anything?”

“|I have to go to bed at eight o’clock and I have to make sure to brush my teeth and I already had my snack….and,” she thought for a second, “Would you read me a story?”

“I suppose I could. Maybe you should go get your jammies on since it’s almost seven o’clock, that way you can be all ready when it is time for bed. And maybe we can play a game or something.”

“Okay! I’ll be right back,” Sam said as she ran out of the room and up the stairs to her room.

*(*(*(*I*)*)*)*

Several minutes later Buffy came into the room, looking…………resplendent was the word him mind came up with. She had put on an exquisite pale pink dress and though she looked breathtakingly beautiful, she also didn’t look like she’d tried too hard. But he didn’t dare compliment her on it, not after what had happened earlier.

Deciding to just get straight to the point and trying to avoid and further embarrassment, Buffy said, “I guess I should tell you when Sam needs to go to bed and stuff.”

“Oh, she already told me,” William supplied.

“Sure she did, “Buffy said with a laugh.

“In bed by eight, has to brush her teeth first, I’m gonna read her a story, and oh, yeah, she’s already had her snack so that’s it,” William ticked each thing off on his fingers.

“I guess she’s feeling worse than I thought,” Buffy mused.

“What?”

“Oh, I said I guess she’s feeling worse about what happened upstairs than I thought. She actually hasn’t had her snack tonight, so she can have some ice cream or something if she wants in a few minutes…maybe some cookies. And she actually told you the right bedtime; don’t think she’s done that before.”

“Has anyone ever asked?”

“What do you mean?” Buffy asked, confused.

“Well, have any of her other babysitters ever asked her when her bedtime is, you never know she might tell the truth if you just give her the chance.”

“William,” Buffy said sincerely, “I think you give her more credit than anyone ever has, possibly even more than I do, but you really don’t give her more than she deserves. Thank you for that, it’s really helping me see what a great person she is, not just a great kid because she’d my daughter, but she really is a good person.”

“Course she is, you’ve raised her to be.” He really wasn’t sucking up to Buffy, just telling the truth.

Before the moment could stretch on any longer or get any more emotional, Sam came bounding back into the room, carrying a case of doll clothes and several small dolls under her arm.

”Can I show you my dollies, William? Please? You never get to see them during school time.” Sam didn’t notice the way her mother and William were looking at each other, too distracted by the fact that William was there at all.

“Sure, cookie, but let’s see if your mum has anything she needs to tell us before she goes, don’t want to make her late.”

“I think we’ve covered most of it, or you did, honey,” she said to Sam, “Thank you for telling William everything, but you can have a snack, sweetie, you’re not in trouble I promise,” She really wanted Sam to know that she wasn’t mad at her, not in the least. Embarrassed sure, but not mad.

“Okay,” Sam said, “Maybe I can have some of those cookies we got.”

“I bet William would like them too,” Buffy added.

“Buffy,” Angel interrupted as he came down the stairs, “Are you going to finish getting ready? I don’t want us to be late?”

“I am ready,” Buffy responded, casting a quick glance to Sam and William, she really didn’t want to get into an argument with Angel in front of their daughter.

“Oh,” Angel said in surprise, “I guess I just thought that you’d look, I don’t know, a little dressier, this is an important night for me Buffy.”

“I’ll go put on that blue dress I bought last spring,” Buffy said.

”That’ll do. I’m going to go get my phone, let me know when you’re ready,” Angel replied as he left the room.

“I think you look pretty mommy,” Sam said before Buffy could leave the room. She’d noticed her mother was upset and didn’t like it, so she tried her best to fix it.

“Thank you sweetie, I think I’m going to go get changed now. You and William have fun.”

*(*(*(*I*)*)*)*

TBC……………





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