“It amazes me to no end that you watch The Office,” Buffy told Wes a few days after her dinner with William. Her and Wes were in the copy room, sipping on coffee and chatting when the discussion had turned to the previous night’s episode of The Office.
“Why?” Wesley asked curiously.
“It just doesn’t seem like your type of show I guess,” she shrugged.
“I have a sense of humor, Elizabeth.”
She smiled, “I know that. You have a wicked sense of humor. I just—“ she stopped because at that moment William and Fred made their way in and in deep conversation about something which sounded work related – Thank God, Buffy thought. Just because she trusted William did not mean she trusted Fred. She was keeping her on the girl and still looking to expose her severed-heads-in-the-fridge fetish at any moment.
The pair stopped as soon as they noticed Wesley and herself and Buffy smiled warmly at William. He grinned back at her, “Hello, luv.”
“Hi.” They stood there, William and Fred facing off with Wesley and Buffy. Buffy couldn’t help but snort at the looks of it. “Is this the Jets versus the Sharks? William, you gonna start snapping your fingers and doing a little dance?”
William burst out laughing. “What are you two doing? Slacking off?” he asked, nodding towards them.
“We were talking about last night’s episode of The Office. Did you know that Wes is a fan of that show too?” Buffy explained and turned to Wes. She opened her mouth to say something to him when she noticed the expression on his face. It was a look she’d never seen before – wait, scratch that. She’d seen that look before. On William. That unabashed tender expression mixed with awe and joy. And she’d seen it directed at her from William. She followed the trail of his gaze and found that it rested on Fred. She was amazed even more to discover Fred standing there, smiling sweetly, with a loving expression on her face, her eyes were positively twinkling.
Buffy cocked her head to the side thoughtfully and wondered if she’d ever looked at William that way. Her eyes traveled to William, looking to him in question. He smiled knowingly at her.
Clearing his throat, William reached out and grabbed Buffy’s arm lightly, “Buffy, there was a file I wanted to ask you about. Seems a letter’s gone missing and was wondering if you could help me locate it?”
She nodded quickly, adamantly, “Of course, yes, of course,” and allowed William to drag her from the room after she dumped her empty coffee cup in the trash.
They laughed like children down the hall and once inside his office, she shut the door behind her and exclaimed, “Oh my God, did you see the look on his face?”
“I’ve been seeing that look for quite a while now, kitten,” he said, amused, and leaned slightly on his desk and crossed his arms.
“How have I missed that?”
William shrugged, “Well, one reason comes to mind. . . “
She swatted him playfully on the arm and he chuckled, grabbing her arm and bringing her closer to him, wrapping an arm firmly about her waist.
“I want to play ‘Emma’,” Buffy announced.
He shook his head, “Buffy, I don’t know that that’s a good idea—“
“Oh come on! I know Wesley, I think fairly well by now, and he’s not going to do anything about it. He might be a lion when it comes to his work, but he’s a lamb when it comes to other –“
He cut her off with a kiss that left them panting and rested his forehead against hers.
“And – and I know,” Buffy tried to continue softly, “he won’t pursue it.”
“You never know. If he decides he wants it bad enough and is willing to damn everything else to get it, he might.”
She pulled back slightly. “Even his work ethic? The one you had too . . .”
William nodded, “Even that. And she works for me, not him.”
“I worked for you,” Buffy whispered.
“You did,” he leaned in and nuzzled the side of her face. “But God, I wanted you so bad I was willing to damn everything else to get you,” he said hoarsely.
“William,” she said on a breathy sigh and wrapped her arms around him, holding onto him tightly, burying her face in his neck.
His arms came around her and he held her tight. “Did I overwhelm you?” he asked softly.
She took pause, pondering that question before answering him. “No,” she said, the surprise in that answer evident in her voice. “No, you didn’t.” You made my heart soar, she thought.
The voice in her head berated her, Why don’t you tell him that?
*******************
Buffy and William climbed to the top of the mountain, and once there, he led her by the hand to the edge of the cliff at the top. They were both panting from the exertion of climbing as he waved his hand out, showing her the brilliant colors of the mountainside, and the valley down below with its vibrancy and life spread out before her.
“Wow,” she breathed. She looked up at him and he grinned down at her. Releasing her hand, he jumped. She opened her mouth to scream ‘No!’ to yell at him to come back. “Come back,” she managed on a whisper.
She watched in wonder as how William seemed to float, soar really, like a bird to the bottom where he landed softly, gently. She stared at him, able to see clearly the blue of his gaze, the love shining in those depths.
Lifting an arm he reached out his hand to her and she heard him, clear as a bell call to her, “Jump. Come with me. Join me.”
She stepped to the very edge of the cliff, the tops of her shoes just going over the edge. She looked down to William and he was waving his hand, encouraging her to jump.
Without warning, she burst into tears, sobs that racked her body and made her heart and soul ache. She shook her head and coiled back from the edge, sinking down the rocky terrain under her, and whimpered, “I want you with me.”
The sound of her own voice crying out woke Buffy from her slumber and she jerked up in bed and touched her face, feeling the tears track down. Her heart thundered in her chest and she glanced at the clock. Two a.m. She started to reach for the phone, feeling the sudden desperation to hear William’s voice. She snapped her hand back and lay down, shutting her eyes, she willed herself to calm and return to sleep.