Author's Chapter Notes:
So, I wasn't going to update 'til Wednesday, but someone has been really mean to me lately about a song fic I wrote and I know you all like LC, so to stop myself from feeling like crap and giving up on posting, you get an extra chatper :-)
Chapter 23: Birthday Party!



"Um…William? Sam?" Buffy asked. "What's all this?"



"Yeah, well….." William said, not sure what exactly to say, "It's a surprise birthday party!" he finished quickly.



"Isn't it pretty mommy?"



"It's gorgeous sweetie, but it's not my birthday," Buffy said carefully—not wanting to upset her daughter.



"Well, I know that, silly," Sam said with a grin, "But it wouldn't be a surprise if it were really your birthday."



Before Buffy could say anything else, William guessed he should ask what he'd been wondering since this whole thing started, "Buffy, luv, when exactly is your birthday?"



"In a few months—January 19th to be exact." Buffy couldn't help but laugh at the horrified look that came over William's face. "Don't worry, William, I think it was sweet."



"Well yeah, that was the intention, but I thought your birthday was like next week or something…not in a few months."



"It was my idea mommy! I told William that your birthday was soon. I'm sorry." Sam didn't like William being in trouble—or thinking he was—for something that she'd started. And she didn't want him mad at her.



"Sam, honey, we're not mad at you, I promise. And I'm not mad at William either. It was very, very sweet of you two to do this for me. What do you say we get these thing put away and then we have us a birthday party?" Buffy asked, smiling at how happy Sam was that her plan worked.



Instead of answering her mother, Sam took the biggest bag she could manage and slowly made her way into the kitchen.



"Sure you've got that?" William asked as he watched her teeter into the kitchen.



"Yup!" Sam said.



Buffy and William shared a smile at her daughter before they carefully picked the remaining bags and followed Sam into the kitchen.



William was glad that they'd found the cake cover—didn't want Buffy to see it now and ruin the surprise.



"You made me a cake?" Buffy asked in awe. No one had made her a cake for her birthday since he mother had made her one for her 21st birthday years before.



"'Course we made you a cake. It's your birthday, you get a cake. It's a law of nature or some such."



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



It only took them fifteen minutest to get everything put away, both Buffy and Sam—and William, though he would never admit it—were eager to get to the party.



"So, what's first?" Buffy asked. "Cake or presents?"



"I think presents!" Sam said.



"You agree, William?" Buffy asked, dragging it out.



"Well, this cake does look awfully good under there," William said looking at the cake. "But then again," he added when Sam looked like he'd betrayed her, "These presents look pretty good as well. Your pick, luv."



"Well," Buffy said slowly, "I think that maybe, well you see, I've decided that maybe, just maybe, we should, ummm, open the presents first."



"Really, mommy?"



"Yep. Now which one do you think I should open first?"



Carefully, Sam picked up a cylindrical shaped object, wrapped lightly in blue paper with a bright green bow on top, "I think this one."



"Alright, cookie, I'll open that one."



Buffy was watchful to not pull on the present at all when she took off the paper. She didn't want to knock off any of the glitter that was revealed as soon as she took the first bit of paper off.



Buffy had been a bit worried when she had seen all of the wrapped presents, knowing that Angel certainly hadn't contributed. But now, despite the great quality, she figured that William had helped Sam make them all.



"Sam, sweetie, did you make this?" No harm in being sure, she figured.



Sam nodded her head enthusiastically, "Uh huh! And William helped. Isn't it pretty? We also made you a-" But William had clapped a hand over her mouth. After a second he removed his hand and Sam continued, "And other stuff…but it's a secret, so I can't tell you."



Soon, Buffy was sharing in Sam's enthusiasm. This was, after all, the first real birthday party she'd had in years. And not only was she getting beautiful, heartfelt presents from her daughter—but William had helped her. And she was hard pressed to convince herself that he wasn't a better man—in a million ways—than Angel.



She knew that she wasn't going to put up with much more of this, but Buffy decided that for now, at least, she'd live comfortably in her plush house in the land of Denial.



Who knows, maybe William would come for a visit sometime.



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



He wasn't sure what made him come up with the idea of Sam making Buffy some bath salts. It had seemed perfectly innocent at the time he was sure. Now, though? Well now, he was having some thoughts that weren't so pure and innocent.



All he seemed to be able to think about was getting Buffy nice and dirty some how and using those bath salts to take a nice smelling bath with her. And that wasn't as far as his thoughts went. Noooo, of course it wasn't…even if his sanity needed him to just shut down the 'Buffy' part of his brain. Especially the 'naked Buffy' part of his brain.



He could just imagine carefully undressing her, he'd be gentle, delicate with her—show her that he cared. He'd slowly undress her and ease her into the warm water before getting in himself. He'd carefully clean all of the dirt and grime off of her, use some of that body wash he imagined she used before…….



And that was somewhere he didn't need to go, especially not with other people in the room. Other people who were Buffy and Sam.



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



After maybe twenty minutes all of the presents had been opened and William was seriously considering whether giving the two energetic girls sugar, would be dangerous in some way.



"Should we wait for the cake?" 'Maybe let you two run around outside for a bit?'



"Now why in the world would we do that? I want some chocolate!"



"Me too!" Sam smiled.



"Alright, alright, just let me get the plates and I'll cut us some cake. You two stay here."



"Can I have ice cream, too?" Sam asked joyfully, glad that this birthday part idea of hers was going over so well.



"You sure you want ice cream? Remember how you said you only wanted cake because it looked so good and ice cream filled you up?" William asked, not entirely sure why he was encouraging the child to eat more cake.



"Maybe just cake first," Sam decided. "I can have ice cream later."



"Sounds good, pixie. You want any?" he asked Buffy.



"Think I'll stick with just cake," she answered, still trying to take it all in.



"Alright, three plates of cake coming right up."



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



Once the cake was cut and served and they'd all had their fill—Sam more than William thought she should maybe have had—and the presents and cake decorations had been oohed and ahhed over a few more times, Buffy and Sam went outside to play while William did the dishes. No way he'd make her do the dishes for her own birthday party! What kind of gentleman would he have been if he did that….easy, he wouldn't be, he'd be Angel.



And no way was that ever going to happen.



But then, left alone with his thoughts and the dirty dishes, William began to have some not so desired thoughts.



Why hadn't he told Buffy about Angel yet? He knew he needed to, knew he couldn't keep it from her forever. But somehow, he just couldn't bring himself to do it yet. He wasn't sure what was holding him back, whether it was the prospect of hurting her or if he just didn't want to risk losing this near daily contact with her. All he knew was that he couldn't do it just yet—something was holding him back.



And he just might have a way of remedying that.



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





TBC…………Please (with a cherry on top) review--whether I post stories after this may actually rely on it


And I promise that William will tell her about Angel, some things just have to happen first...stick with me?





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