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Author's Chapter Notes:
How's the UST doing? Getting good?
Chapter Five

William walked Buffy to the door, apologizing for keeping her out so late on a school night.

"Would you stop saying that?" she scolded him. "It makes me feel as if I'm
in high school and you're my sugar daddy. I am an adult now, William, it's
okay."

He stepped back from her and nodded, looking guilty about something she
wasn't quite sure what. Then he looked back up at her. "Thanks for keeping
me company tonight, Buffy."

I'll keep you company every night William if you want me to, she thought
but instead she nodded. "Thank you for dinner."

"Sure you don't want me to talk to Dru?" he teased.

She smiled, "I'm sure."

He stared at her for a long moment before bidding her goodnight and
leaving her there on her doorstep feeling things she probably had no right
feeling about William. Lust to name but one. Waving to him as he drove
away, she sighed heavily and unlocked the door, entering her dark and
quiet house.

She held her breath and flicked on the lights, glancing up at the clock on
the wall that was in her line of vision in the dining room. Eleven. Her
parents were in bed by now. And my God, she'd been out with William
since they left at five-thirty? How was that possible? Oh yes, she smiled at
the memory. After dinner they'd gone to a nearby book store, Buffy
determined to find the book she needed for her class before it came in on
order. She just felt unprepared despite her classmate's kindness and the
bookstore assuring her it would be in soon.

The both of them had gotten caught up chatting and browsing the large
bookstore, having earned their share of glares from fellow browsers.

"Why does it feel like a library when you come to one of these bookstores?"
William whispered to her as he followed her through the New Age section.
She'd stopped abruptly and burst into a fit of giggles when he collided with
her back. She reached for a book on signs, and turned to him. He was
smiling down at her, his eyes sparkling with amusement and something
tender that made her warm all over.

"Sit with me," he said then, descending to the floor and making himself
comfortable, his long legs stretched out. He patted the spot next to him and
she plunked herself down with a shrug and they'd perused through the
book on signs, dissecting themselves and the people they knew. They'd
laughed and poked fun at each other and others and Buffy knew by the end
of the evening what was happening to her.

She was crushing big time on William.

And why not? He was smart, funny, gorgeous, direct, sweet, chivalrous,
kind and –oh God, she had it bad. She wanted more adjectives to add to
that list. She wanted to know what he wore when he sat alone in his living
room watching crap TV. She wanted to know what it would feel like
receiving a hug from him; she wanted to know what his apartment looked
like.

She wanted to know everything.

There had been definite moments when she thought he might want to
know the same about her, but then she dismissed it. He was her father's
best friend and he was doing her a favor – really her father a favor—by
giving her a job. He was just looking out for her. That was all it was.

That was all it could be.

Dru popped in her mind then. Dru wanting him; Dru laughing with him the
way she had; Dru seducing him. Nope, she couldn't see it. William was fun,
Dru –from the short time she'd known the woman—was too serious.
William loved to laugh, he needed a woman that could make him laugh and
that he could make laugh in return.

But it couldn't be her. No, it couldn't be. And she was loathe to make a fool
out of herself the way Dru had. Not that she could anyway. She was not
exactly the great seducer of men. Intimacy tended to make her nervous
only because she was grossly inexperienced and never knew what to DO.

And William definitely knew what to do which was why he wouldn't want to
waste his time on her.

Not that he could.

She shook her head. Talking herself in circles had just tuckered her out and
Buffy tried to firmly shove William out of her mind as she made her way up
the stairs to bed. Instead, she pondered what her parents had done that
night and hoped that instead of spending the night apart, they'd spent the
night together and at least had half the fun she'd had.

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


The next afternoon, Buffy found herself having a better day. However, she was slightly nervous about facing Dru. She was hoping that William had kept his promise and hadn't said anything to her. She was also wondering if anything had changed between her and William. Did he regret spending so much time with her the night before? Did he feel that maybe he'd been leading her on and maybe he was afraid now that she'd developed a wildly inappropriate crush on him?

Or, she was just paranoid.

So, she entered the office with her head held high. She did learn from her
father that if you at least appeared confident, then the world saw you as
confident. Even if you were trembling inside.

"Hi, Harmony," Buffy said to the flaky receptionist who again stared at
disapprovingly. Making her way down the hall to her office, she kept a
lookout for William and saw neither hide nor hair of him.

Entering her office she found Dru placing some files on her desk. She
looked up at Buffy, expressionless. "William asked me to put some files on
your desk. He has some notes inside of what he wishes you to do with
them."

"Thank you, Drusilla," Buffy said.

"Were you able to get the letter done in time yesterday?" Dru asked as she
started on her way out the door.

"Yes, I was. I know what you were trying to do, Dru."

Dru stopped and turned to her, "And just what was I trying to do?"

"I'm not stupid Drusilla so don't treat me like I am. I'm not here to step on
your toes all right? I'm here to do my job and in actuality, I end up helping
you out more than I do William. I'd really like it if we could get along. I
know that my father had a hand in getting me this job, but I am going to
school; studying to be an attorney so it's not like I'm just playing a game
here. Do you think we could possibly try to get along and work together
instead of against each other?"

Dru pursed her lips together, "Very well then." And with that, she was
gone.

Buffy stared at the open door Dru had just retreated from. That was it?
That was all she had to say? Buffy shook her head and opened the files left
on her desk. Well fine, she thought. "Maybe she expected me to yell at
her," Buffy muttered to herself. "I think I handled that quite professionally.
Dad would have been proud. Maybe she wanted a catfight—"

"Do you usually talk to yourself?"

Buffy's head jerked up and felt her face turning twenty shades of red.
William was leaning against the doorjamb looking out of this world gorgeous
–again with the sexy suit!—and smiling at her.

She smiled shyly, "Yeah, I do it all the time."

"Do you answer yourself too?"

"Of course."

He chuckled. "I do it too." He came into the room fully and shut the door
behind him. "I just saw Dru leave. You talk to her?"

Buffy nodded, "I did. I told her basically that I wanted us to work together
instead of against each other. I tried to point out that I was helping her out
in the long run and that I wasn't trying to take her job."

"Well done, Buffy."

"I also told her that I would never get in her way of trying to have hot
monkey sex with you."

William burst out laughing. "No you didn't."

She smiled, "No, I didn't."

He came closer, walking around her desk and perching next to her. He
tapped the files on her desk. "I see she gave them to you."

Buffy nodded, her mouth again going dry with his proximity. It didn't help
that his eyes were boring into hers and she was having a damn hard time
turning away.

"Let me make sure she didn't fudge with anything here," William
murmured and grabbed them, perusing through them. He placed them
back down on her desk. "Pretty straight-forward stuff. A couple letters, a
couple faxes. Let me know if you need help all right?"

She nodded.

"Was your day better today?"

She nodded again.

He grinned, "Don't have anything to say to me? Am I not as good a
conversationalist as you are with yourself?"

She laughed quietly, "Sorry."

"Come see me before you leave," and he got up, walking toward the door.

"Sure thing," she said lightly. Sure thing? She thought to herself. Who says
that?

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

A light rap on her door jarred Buffy from her task and she looked over to
see Angel standing in the doorway grinning at her. "Hey, got a minute?"

"Yes, yes I do. What's up?" she asked, swiveling her chair towards him.

"Just wanted to see how you were doing. How are you doing?"

She giggled, "I'm doing well, thanks."

"William not scaring you?"

"No, but with all this talk about how scary he is, I might get nervous."

Angel shook his head, "Nah, he's not all that scary. Well, he can be, but only
when necessary. He's really just a teddy bear inside. You've known him a
while huh?"

"Sort of. He and my Dad are friends, but I never really knew him much. He
was just …"

"Your dad's weird friend?" Angel joked, sitting down on the chair across
from her desk.

She laughed, "Exactly. How's your wife?"

Angel's smile grew tender, his eyes softening even more. "She's doing
great. We're having a boy."

"Awww, congratulations."

"Thanks. She took the pictures to work today –she's an elementary school
teacher –I'm bringing them in tomorrow."

"I'd love to see them."

"How is Dru treating you?" Angel asked, his voice dropping to an almost
whisper.

"She's uh –okay, "Buffy said slowly.

"Don't let her get to you. She's intense."

"No kidding, really?"

Angel laughed.

"Don't you have some work to do O'Connor?" William said, coming in the
door.

Angel looked over his shoulder. "Actually heading on my way out. Just
wanted to say hello to Elizabeth." He jumped up and shot Buffy a grin. "See
ya. I'll bring the pictures round tomorrow."

"Can't wait. Bye Angel."

William raised a brow, "Pictures?"

"She wanted to see me in my Speedo," Angel said seriously. He shrugged,
"Too cold to wear that alone, but I have pictures."

William glared at him and Angel broke up laughing as he walked out the
door.

William drew his gaze to hers.

"Pictures from the ultrasound," Buffy clarified.

William nodded. "How's it going?"

"Good. Just have to fax this," she whipped out a paper from the printer,
"And I'm done."

"So you got my email?"

"Yep, got your email and ordered the files you need for tomorrow."

"Have dinner with me again."

The sudden shift and the demand in which that request was made caused
Buffy to become slightly disoriented. "What?"

"Sorry, I meant that to come out as a question. Will you have dinner with
me again?"

I should say no . . . "Yes, William. I'll have dinner with you again."





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