Chapter 17: Going Out
The following Wednesday Buffy decided to ‘work’ on her marriage. She’d been having fun with William again, but she was married to Angel and she couldn’t ignore that fact.
“Angel,” she said that morning while Angel was getting ready for work.
“Yeah, Buf?” Angel asked, surprised that Buffy had gotten up this early—usually she was in bed until well after he’d left for work.
“I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute,” she began carefully.
“Yeah, sure. But can you be quick, I have to get ready for work,” Angel said while looking at the clock. The truth was, he had enough time, more than enough actually—but he was wary of where Buffy was going with this, none of the signs boded well for him.
“It won’t take five minutes,” Buffy said understandingly—she knew he had to get to work, but she needed to talk to him about it now….before she changed her mind. “What I was thinking about, is well…..you see, it’s been a long time since we went out on the weekends.”
“We went to that party a few Saturdays ago,” he reminded her.
“I’m talking about something that’s not for work Angel….just us, you know.”
”So, you want to go out on either Friday or Saturdays?”
“Yeah, I do.” Buffy was glad that he seemed to be understanding her.
“Give me some time and I’ll see what I can do,” Angel said, smiling sweetly.
“Thanks,” Buffy said before hugging him and giving him a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll let you get ready for work now.” That had gone much better than she’d expected.
*(*(*(*I*)*)*)*
“William,” Angel said the following evening when he came home from work—earlier than usual so that he could talk to William before he left for the evening. “Can you come into my office for a minute?”
“Sure, I’ll be right there,” William answered, looking at Buffy for a minute, worried about just why it was Angel wanted to talk to him, before he followed Angel into his office.
As Angel closed the door, William swallowed nearly audibly. “William, sit down, please,” Angel motioned to the chair across from his desk. “Before we start, I need to know something.”
“Sure,” William said unsurely.
“I’m going to tell you some things and I need to know that they’ll stay just between us. I’m sure,” he said coldly, “That if I find out you’ve told Buffy any of this, that I could find a legitimate reason to fire you. So don’t even think about it.”
William just nodded silently, more than worried now about what it was Angel had called him into the office for.
“Good. Now, here’s the deal. Yesterday morning Buffy asked me about why we’re not going out anymore. Apparently she thinks that the work things we’ve been going to don’t count, though I have no idea why. She gets to get all dressed up for them…isn’t that what every woman wants?” But it was a rhetorical question and he kept going, “She wants us to start going out on the weekends, but I can’t do that.
And not for the reason she thinks. I know that Buffy thinks that I haven’t been doing stuff with her on the weekends because I’m working….And I guess you could say that I have been working,” Angel said with a leer. “The thing is, I’ve got a girl.”
William tried to control his reaction upon hearing that, but obviously didn’t do a great job since Angel just looked at him, “What you think I’m crazy…trust me, Buffy’s not all she seems to be…She’s a bit…uh, frigid I guess is the word. So, I’m a man, I have to get it somewhere. And that’s where I’ve been on Friday and Saturday nights…and a few week nights as well….I’ve been with Darla while Buffy thinks I’m at the office. Well, actually,” Angel said with a smirk, “Sometimes it is at the the office, if you know what I mean—the advantages to your girl working for you. ”
There was an endless possibility of things that William could say to that, but he chose to go the diplomatic route, “So why did you want to talk to me?”
“You don’t have a girlfriend do you?”
“Nooo,” William replied carefully.
“Good, then, let’s go.”
”Let’s go what?” William asked anxiously.
“Just go with me on this,” Angel said as he opened the door. “Buffy, hun, could you come in here for a minute?”
William honestly had no idea what was going on, and to tell the truth, he was more than just a little scared.
As Buffy came into the room, she gave William a questioning glance, but he just shrugged and turned his attention back to Angel.
“Buffy’ I’ve come up with a solution to what you asked me about yesterday.” The bad feeling in the pit of William’s stomach grew. “I haven’t been able to figure out a way to get out of work…I’ve got some really big cases coming up and it’s just not an option.”
“So, what do you mean you’ve found a solution,” Buffy asked, trying to figure out what in the world was going on in her husband’s head.
“Well, seeing as how William’s new to town and he hasn’t had anyone to show him around town and you want to go out….I figured we could kill two birds with one stone.”
“So, what are you suggesting?” Buffy thought she knew what he was suggesting, but at the same time she knew there was no way that he was saying what she though he was saying.
“Simple, I’m suggesting that you and William go out on Friday nights, that way you can have fun and William can find out all about Sunnydale. It’s perfect really.”
“Except,” Buffy started before looking at William, “Could you excuse us for a second?” she asked apologetically.
“Sure, luv. I’ll just go check on Sam or something,” he got up and left the room.
“Except,” Buffy started again, turning to her husband, “You’re telling me to go out with another man. Doesn’t that seem a little, I don’t know, weird to you.”
”Don’t be silly. I trust you and William’s not going to try anything, he needs this job too much. It really is a win-win situation.”
Apparently, Angel had missed the whole point of her bringing the entire thing up—time for them to be together. “Yeah, okay, I’ll just have to talk with my mom to make sure that she’s okay with babysitting…And, I guess, I’ll go tell William the news.”
“You do that babe, I’ve got some cases to work on,” Angel said distractedly.
*(*(*(*I*)*)*)*
“Well, looks like you’re my date for this weekend,” Buffy said when she saw William sitting on the sofa, Sam nowhere in sight.
”Yeah, about that Buffy,” William never quite made eye contact with her, “I think that we should just do it to appease Angel.”
“Oh, okay,” Buffy wasn’t sure why, but she was hurt to think that he didn’t like the idea of spending time alone with her; never mind that she should be the one uncomfortable with it.
“I need to go, luv, I’ll talk to you tomorrow about tomorrow night, yeah?”
“Um, okay,” he sure was trying to get out of there fast. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” but he was already out the door.
TBC……
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Author's Chapter Notes:
ummm...don't hate me? and sorry this has taken so long......and I've also posted a new short story "Something Crazy" about Spike rescuing Buffy...it's (gasp!) AU