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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks to Franchesca for helping me with this chapter!!

This story has been nominated at the Blood Ties awards!!!

Would anyone be willing to make a banner for this story for me? Please!!
Studying had definitely taken a backseat to being with William. After dinner, he'd kept true to his word on making love to her. Twice. He'd then told her she could stay the night with him, but she declined. She didn't have a change of clothes and didn't really feel like going home early or doing the ‘Walk of Shame' the next day. He drove her home, following the same drill as the night before and Buffy nearly passed out by the time she made it up the stairs to her room. She forced herself to do some work only to fall asleep with her face in her book.

So, needless to say, she was, as she told Willow ‘dragging ass'. She loved being with William, but she also needed to do her work. She was going to have to be firm and tell him that there was no way she could see him tonight. She had to be strong.

No matter how adorable he was or how he made her heart race and her panties wet. No matter how she loved to hear his laugh and make him smile.

Strong Buffy, strong.
**********************************************************************
"Buffy, why didn't you come to see me when you came in?" William asked, coming into her office.

She looked up at him, "Drusilla told me all that I needed to do was on
my desk. Plus, Wesley flagged me and asked me if I could do a couple
things for him since his secretary was out today."

"Are you upset with me?"

She stared at him, "What?"

"Are you upset with me," he repeated.

"Will, no, I'm not—can you shut the door?"

He shut the door and stood before her, arms folded. "Buffy—"

"Will, we can't make like a . . . whatever we are here."

His eyebrows shot off his head and the look he gave her could only be
described as disbelief mixed with hurt. "Whatever we are? What the hell is
that supposed to mean?"

"Will—"

He stalked over to her, "You're my girl, Buffy."

"Yeah, except I don't know what that means exactly."

"What are you on about?"

She sighed heavily, "Will, I don't want to talk about this right now. I
have work to do, remember? Work FOR you."

His eyes darkened and his jaw clenched. "Fine. I expect it done in an
hour and before Wesley's stack."

"Will, Wesley asked me to put a rush on—"

"I don't care. You want me to be your boss here? I'm being your boss."

She wanted to scream at him and it was on the tip of her tongue to call
him an asshole, but she held herself back. She had to be the bigger person
here. She wanted to be able to separate work and her relationship with him
and he was the one that was making it difficult for her to do that. He was
blurring the lines he'd told her he hadn't been willing to do with Dru—even
if he had truly not been interested in dating her. She would not give in by
yelling at him. Instead she simply nodded and turned away from him. He
stalked to the door and she braced herself, waiting for him to slam it shut
after he'd walked out, but he didn't.

Good to know he had some boundaries. Resisting the urge to cry in part
because she was overtired and her emotions felt out of whack, and mainly
because she really hated seeing such a dark side to Will. That wasn't the
William she'd known thus far. Though, she had to expect it would come out
sooner or later. She'd heard the stories and hadn't Harmony said he'd been
a bear the day before? Just three days and they'd had their first row. It
seemed the ‘all else' he'd wanted to put off was creeping in and Buffy had a
feeling there was still more hurdles to come.

**********************************************************************************************

William regretted the way he'd acted as soon as he entered his office. He
took pause, trying to decide whether he should go back and apologize or let
it be for now. He decided that perhaps what they both needed was some
time to cool off.

Why did he have to be such a bloody git to her? Because, he thought, the
relationship is still new and what I feel for her is already so intense. It's
probably not normal to feel this strongly over someone he barely knew, but
then, he'd always been an intense sort of man. He was also insecure when it
came to relationships and when you couple that with dating a twenty year
old --- Well; it wasn't fair for Buffy to bear the brunt of his insecurities.

"William?"

William looked up to see Drusilla standing before him all in her customary
black and watching him with unconcealed concern.

"Yes?"

"Are you all right?"

He nodded, "I'm fine, Dru. Just a little under the weather today."

"If I might be so bold, Will . . . "

He sighed inwardly, knowing he was not going to like what was going to
come out of her mouth.

"Yes, Dru?" he prompted.

"I think you should fire Miss Summers."

He sat back, "And why is that?" he asked casually.

"Because she is not good for you."

William narrowed his eyes at her, that comment could go either way and
William was beginning to wonder just what Dru knew; and meant exactly.

"How so?"

"She's fresh, she barely knows what she's doing and –"

"Stop right there," William said, holding up his hand. This was perfect
actually. He could defend Buffy now and stop Dru's harassing her in one fell
swoop. He'd promised Buffy he would keep out of it, but now he was in the
perfect position to put a stop to Dru and her meddling.

"Dru, Buffy is bright, diligent, willing to learn and efficient. She comes to
work on time, she does what she's supposed to do and she does it in the
time frame allotted to her and most often with time to spare. I have not
once witnessed her being ‘fresh'." Even when she should have been, he
thought remorsefully.

Dru openly glared at him. "Just because she is Hank's daughter—"

"It's NOT just because she is Hank's daughter, Drusilla. You should know I
would not keep anyone on if they were not a good asset to this firm just
because I happen to be friends with someone they know or are related to."

Dru jutted out her chin and raised her head defiantly. "Fine," and she
started to leave.

"And Dru?"

Dru turned, "Yes?"

"Don't be giving Elizabeth a hard time, she's a hard worker and if you give
her a chance, I think you'll find she'll be beneficial to your own work load."

"I do not mind my work load, William. I rather enjoy it."

"Surely there have to be other things in your life that you'd like to get to.
Miss Summers can take some of that work load and enable you to do those
things. Would you like to be able to go home early some days?"

She looked truly appalled by the idea and William was starting to get
nervous. He couldn't fire her for having a crush on him or revolving her life
around her work, but he wished he could. She was starting to scare him
with her devotion. He was going to have to keep an eye on her with Buffy.

"I would not like that at all. May I return to work now, William?"

"Yes, Dru," he said wearily. All he wanted to do was right the wrong he'd
made with Buffy.

***************************************************************************************

William looked up from his computer screen and found Buffy standing
there, looking tired and yet ready for battle. He hated that.

"You said to come see you, I'm seeing you," she said tersely. "Everyone's
left already and I'm heading out."

"Why don't you have a seat?"

"I'd rather stand. If this is about my job performance, then just tell me
and get it over with. If not, I'd rather just go now, please."

He shook his head, "Buffy, I hate that you're upset with me."

She looked at him incredulously, "What did you expect?"

"I know, I was well, an ass—"

"Huge ass."

"I know and I'm sorry."

"Will, I come here to do my work, not to – and don't take this the wrong
way—see you."

He nodded, though it did hurt to hear her say that. " I know."

"And you're not making it easy on me. I don't like keeping this a secret,
and at the same time, I don't want to tell anyone because of what it could
do for my reputation and then there's Dru who is constantly hovering and
afraid I'm hording in on her territory, which since I'm sleeping with you, I
am."

He winced at that; it sounded so callous, so inconsequential, when it was
anything but.

"What would you like to do then?" he asked quietly.

"I don't think I should work in this office anymore."

"Buffy—"

"Don't talk me out of it. It's not FAIR William. If anyone finds out about us
sleeping together—"

"Would you stop saying that? It's more than just sex, Buffy and you know
it."

"That's all anyone will see it as Will! I'll be this giant cliché of the young
secretary making time with the Attorney. I'm a smart person Will—"

"I never said you weren't, Buffy. I think you're very intelligent—"

"Thank you, but that's not my point. I'm smart. If anyone caught us or
even if we were open about it it'd look bad for me. It'd look as if I was
sleeping my way through the big attorney's office to become successful."

"Buffy, you're going to school to become an attorney. I have nothing to do
with you making it on the bar. That is all you."

"That's not how anyone will see it. They'll just see me as the office whore.
I'm not going to be that. And if you cared about me as much as you say you
do, you wouldn't want that for me either."

That got his attention. His eyes widened, "Buffy, I'm sorry, I didn't realize
I was making you feel that way. I just . . . I'm impulsive when it comes to
my personal life. I don't think things through all the time—I get caught up
and—God, Buffy. I'm sorry."

"Then if you feel sorry enough, I want you to write me a letter of
recommendation."

He nodded. "Yes, I can do that for you."

"Thank you. Consider this my two weeks notice."

He sighed and got up, making his way to her. He cupped her face in his
hands. "I'm a bad, rude man."

"You're not bad, Will, although I will go with rude after earlier. Yet another
reason why to leave. I can't work for you and be in," she gestured between
them, "THIS. You blurred the lines today William. You lashed out on me
and became a colossal asshole because you were upset with me for not
coming to see you right away."

"Stop calling it ‘this'," he said and released her, running a hand through his
hair. "You cheapen it."

She gave him a pointed look.

"I got the point, Buffy. I understand and I said I was sorry."

She looked down, "Look, I'm sorry. I'm tired and cranky and I just need to
get some rest—"

"Let me take you out. I'll feed you and then I'll take you home and you can
study—"

"No, Will. Going out with you only leads to other things after. I can't do
that tonight."

"Buffy, I just want to feed you. You don't have to sleep with – Is that what
you think?"

She sighed and shook her head. "I don't know what I think, Will. I'm just
confused."

He reached for her, grabbing her arm and pulling her to him. "Tell me,
baby. Tell me what it is you're confused about and I'll make it better."

"Not now Will. I can't do this right now. I'm exhausted and I've got
studying to do. I've got to make up for last night plus do tonight's---"

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. It's just as much mine."

"You told me you had homework—"

"And I still wanted to be with you. I'm not blaming you for that, I'm just . .
. I need to focus tonight and I can't focus when you're wanting answers that
I'm not sure I even have the questions to right now. Can we do this another
time?"

The feeling he'd had earlier, the feeling of her slipping through his fingers
already, of the hand squeezing his heart took over and he fought every
instinct he had to demand it out of her what she was confused about. He
jammed his hands in his pockets balled them into fists and nodded, trying
to appear calm.

She leaned over and kissed him chastely. "Good night, Will."





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