In emphasis, she stuck her tongue out at the door and the flopped back on her bed with a disgruntled sigh. Of course the fact that she had acted like a child first didn’t bother to cross her mind. Okay, it had, but she’d quickly ignored it and shrugged it off. Sense had no place in her thought process at present. Her plan had been foiled and she was stung from that.
All right, so maybe it wasn’t the best plan she’d ever come up with. She’d taken one variable out of that precarious situation: William. Did she really think he was going to just let her go? Did she really think she’d be able to get away with that whole plan for very long? And, yes, maybe she did “run away”. And yes, maybe avoiding his calls and avoiding seeing him hadn’t exactly been “mature” either. But hey, that was her. That’s what she did. She was the Queen of Denial and Avoidance. If she wanted to high tail it out there when things got a little too sticky then it was her prerogative to do so. Avoid and Ignore until Problem went away. That was her motto. It was apparently not William’s. Maybe she needed to teach him a bit of that.
“Are you hungry?” he asked through her door.
Sitting up, she glared at the door.
“You know, you’re being a child right now,” he said again.
“I’m aware, thank you!” she retorted.
“Oh well, at least you answered. I was wondering how long I was going to get the silent treatment for.”
“Watch it or it could be a lot longer.”
“But you’re still talking.”
Storming to the door, she flung it open. “You know, I’m really glad that I didn’t have to grow up with you. If I did, I think I might have found a way to get rid of you.”
William smirked, “Was that a threat, Buffy?”
Regarding him thoughtfully, she asked, “Are you enjoying yourself?”
“Immensely.”
“You like seeing me angry?”
He nodded, “Yeah, pretty much.”
“Why?”
“Cause it’s kind of cute,” he told with a slight chuckle, smiling at her smugly.
Crossing her arms across her chest she regarded him huffily, “Anyone ever tell you what a smug bastard you can be?”
William laughed. “All the time, Princess.”
Raising a brow she said, “Princess? That’s a new one.”
“Well, you’re acting like one right now.”
“Somehow I don’t think you mean that in the good way.”
“Take it as you like.”
“I’ll take it in the bad way.”
He shrugged, “Your problem, not mine. See, I was going to let you sit in there and stew for a while. I was going to just give you some time to get over being a child, but I decided there wasn’t any fun in that. I much rather have you yelling at me than giving me the silent treatment.”
“You’re sick.”
“Pretty much, yeah. So, are you hungry?”
“No.” And then as if on cue her stomach growled.
He grinned, “I think you are.”
“How did you find me?”
“I have eyes and ears all over, Buffy. Part of the perk, and the curse, of working at Wolfram and Hart.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she told him abruptly.
He blinked. “About…how I found you?”
“No. The other thing.”
He sighed, running a hand through his locks. “I know.”
“I just want to forget it happened.”
“Can you do that?”
“I want to try.”
“Why?”
She gave him a look that clearly meant she thought he was crazy. “What do you mean ‘why’? You know why.”
“Pretend I don’t and explain it to me.”
“Cause it was wrong!”
“How was it wrong?”
“Are you being serious right now?” she asked incredulously.
He had to chuckle at that. “Yes, Buffy, I am being serious right now.”
“You promised me no postmortem”
“Well, I’m an attorney and I lie for a living so why don’t you go ahead and tell me.”
“How bout I don’t?”
All right. He had to stop now. If he pushed too hard, she’d close down. So much for being patient on waiting and hashing it out. His need to know of her reasoning suddenly became the most important piece of information he could ever have, and the fact that she was finally at least talking to him, gave him some kind of hope. Some, but not a lot.
He held up his hands in surrender. “All right. I’m backing off.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll ask again: Are you hungry?”
Heaving a cleansing sigh, she nodded. “Yes.”
“Would you like some pasta?”
“You’re gonna make it?” she asked, surprised, pointing at him.
He smiled. “Yes, I was going to. That okay?”
A smile was tugging at the corner of her mouth, and William could see she was struggling not to give into it. “Yeah, that’s fine.”
“Do you want to help?”
“Yeah,” she said, breezing past him. “I think I’ll open a bottle of wine. I could so use some wine.”
Looking over at her, William found Buffy fast asleep on the couch. They’d had dinner, which was quiet and a bit strained, and then she’d flicked on the TV and curled up on the couch to watch some comedy and William joined her. Unless it had to do with the program they were watching, she said not a word to him.
He told himself over and over that it would take time, but that things would be okay. He repeated it like a constant mantra in his head, willing himself to really feel that things would be okay.
He smiled tenderly as he watched her slumbering next to him, her head on the arm rest. She looked just so peaceful; as if the day’s stresses hadn’t happened – as if ‘that night’ hadn’t happened.
If he had the chance to do it all over again, he would have taken her home and told her that he loved her and then let her decide what she wanted to do with the information. He was gathering that she didn’t have a lot of say in her past relationships and he wanted to give her that. If he gave her the chance to make some choices and take the lead now and again, it would probably make for a happier and more centered Buffy. That was of course barring her decision to avoid him and hide from him. If there was one thing William knew with complete certainty, it was that now that Buffy had swept back in his life, she was not going to leave it again. He could simply not abide that. He’d whither away if that happened.
Standing, he came over to her and tapped her gently. “Princess Buffy,” he murmured huskily.
“Mmmm,” she moaned and stirred.
“Come on, Princess, let me get you here,” he urged gently and pulled her to him carefully.
Her mossy green eyes opened and his heart constricted in his chest. My, but she was beautiful, so open and bare for him in that moment. Instinctively, she held up her arms and he swept her up into his own. Her head fell onto his shoulder and she promptly shut her eyes again as he carried her to her bedroom.
Despite how she was not pleased with him, the fundamental part of her trusted him and willingly put her well-being in his hands. That fact filled William with the utmost pride and encouraged him further to do right by her.
Laying her gently on the bed, he pulled the covers up and around her. Immediately, she curled over on her side and William knelt by her on the plush carpet, moving some hair from her face almost reverently. “I love you, Buffy,” he said softly, kissing her forehead.
Letting out a little sigh, Buffy murmured back to him, “I love you too,” and then rolled over away from him, falling into a deep slumber.