“What? No, she,” William shook his head, “No, she can’t do that.”
“She will.”
“Buffy said you weren’t that great at telling futures, how do you know for sure—“
“William, do you honestly think I’d make something like this up? Do you think I would make up my sister’s suicide for the simple reason that I want you two together?”
William shook his head, feeling numb. “No, I don’t.”
“I didn’t want to tell you –“
“Why? You’d think you’d tell me something that serious, Dru!”
“I didn’t want you to get crazy about it. I was going to let things develop as they will. I was only going to tell you how serious it was later.”
William shook his head, “You told me she was in danger, but God…” he ran a hand through his hair. “I had no idea.”
“She’s lonely. She’s scared. I told you loneliness can drive you to do crazy things –“
“Has she ever – Has she ever tried anything like that before?”
Dru shook her head, “No, not that I know of anyway. I know she went through bouts when she was younger—“
“Bouts of…depression?”
Dru nodded.
William felt the energy leave his body. He slumped to the floor feeling hopeless, helpless, lost.
“Don’t change what you’ve been doing, Willam. Please. She’ll know something is up. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”
“Can you give me something? A crumb of hope here? Tell me that you see things are looking up at least a little bit. Please,” William said, nearly begging.
“I can’t. I can’t because things are still as I saw them before. I can see her opening up to you. I can see that she does like you. In her own unique Buffy way. You’ve got to be as you have been William. How could she not fall for you?” Dru smiled brilliantly. “If I hadn’t been so in love with my husband, I might have fallen for you myself.”
William smiled grimly, “Thanks Dru. He was, you know, dead at the time we met.”
Dru nodded, “I know. But he was still there, if you know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I do and I’m all set with …” William shut his eyes. “I can’t let anything happen to her.”
“I know.”
“Her life is literally in my hands, Dru.”
“Well, not completely.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that it’s still her choice in the end. It’s not like you’d be the one to make her do it.”
“Do you—do you know how?”
“Gun.”
William shut his eyes. “Just like that girl,” he whispered.
“So you see how you have to get her to stay. Here, with you, she’s happy. I don’t care if she wants to talk to the dead. I don’t care if she wants to shut us all out and close up shop in that department. I just don’t want her to die, William. Not like that. That’s not the way for her to go. She needs to fall in love, get married and have a brood of children. Which, she’ll name her firstborn girl after me, naturally. It’s what I’d always wanted for her, and I can’t let her end up nothing more than a spirit.”
“Like you?” William said wistfully.
“Like me.”
“Dru, I—“
“I have to go William. I’ve used up most of my energy now. I’ll see you in a bit.”
William watched her dissipate into thin air and then finished his thought, “I am falling for her.”
Buffy was almost bouncing as she made her way into the kitchen the next morning. She could smell the bacon and pancakes wafting into her room, and it had roused her from bed with a smile on her face. Showering and dressing quickly, she rushed to help William.
She smiled at him as she entered, and then stopped dead. She pointed to the waffle maker. “You’re making waffles?”
He grinned, “I am. You like?”
“Waffles have always been my favorite. Dru and I would make them for dinner all the time. We’d have syrup and all kinds of jelly to try…and then we’d curl up on the couch and pig out while watching a movie.”
“Well, you’re in luck little girl because I happen to have not only syrup, but all kinds of jams for you to try. I’ve got them all in the fridge, mind taking them out?”
“Not at all,” Buffy said and started for the fridge.
William grabbed her arm, halting her. “Buffy – I – are you all right with . . . everything?”
She felt herself blush and she looked down, nodding. “I just want to not talk about it right now. Okay?”
William nodded, “Can I just – one thing, I have to –“ and he hauled her in his arms, hugging her so tight, she almost couldn’t breathe.
“William, I can’t breathe.”
He released her quickly. “Sorry. I just...had to do that. As you were.”
She giggled at that, and it was music to William’s ears. He’d noticed the spring in her step when she came bouncing in the kitchen, and first, his heart swelled when he recalled what Dru had told him the night before, and second, he had to wonder if that bounce in her step – if that giggle had anything to do with him.
God, he hoped so. He had barely slept the night before; images of Buffy’s lifeless body had infiltrated his mind and the idea had chilled him to the bone. He’d had to fight off the urge to barrel into her room and lay down with her. Just to feel her life, just to fend off the loneliness, the dark, the fear, the unknown – anything that might upset her and drive her to such an extreme.
He’d made up his mind that if he failed to convince her to stay, and she went back, well, he’d just go with her. He’d stalk her if he had to just to make sure she was never alone. Dru was confident in his powers of persuasion, and usually he was too. He was an attorney after all. But, matters of the heart were a different thing altogether. He didn’t have so much confidence in that department. Until the night before, he’d known he felt things for Buffy, but had made no such plans as to what to do with them. Hell, he hadn’t even defined those feelings until Dru had disappeared. He knew though, he knew it wasn’t because of the news Dru had dropped on him. Though, the thought of losing her had lit the fire under his ass to at least admit to it; to put a name to those feelings.
Now he felt an urgency. An urgency to not just let himself fall deeper, but an urgency to make her fall for him. Watching her hum as she opened up the jam bottles and tested each one with a spoon, he smiled. Inside was a little girl still that was clawing to get out, and by God, he’d get her out.
And make her fall for him in the process.