Title: Acting The Part
Author: Pattyanne
snapkik@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: None of the BtVS
characters belong to me.
Feedback: Love some, thanks.
Rating: Up to NC-17
Summary: AU. William St. James is
an actor in a hit television show. While
appearing at a fan convention, he meets
Buffy and her six year old daughter, Melanie.
Part Seventeen...
When the phone rang on Saturday morning, Buffy was
standing at the kitchen sink with a cereal bowl in her
hand, trying to chip off hardening bits of oatmeal from
Melanie's breakfast.
As it always did these days, her heart rate kicked up
a notch. Drying her hands on a dishtowel, she picked
up on the second ring.
"Hello."
"Hi. Did I wake you up?" William asked.
She smiled. "No. We've just had breakfast."
"Damn. I wanted to catch you still in bed."
"Why?"
"So I could picture you there, all soft and warm,
with your hair spread out over the pillow, your
eyes sleepy and a little smile on your pretty face,
because you were dreaming about me."
He was painting a very appealing picture with his
words and the husky tone of his voice, and she felt
a pleasant shiver chase up and down her spine.
"Sorry," she replied. "But you'd have to call a lot
earlier to do that. Melanie's up with the birds."
"Are you busy today?"
Surprisingly, she wasn't. Both Willow and Anya would
be opening the store, and she had no pressing errands
to run.
"Because I was thinking," he went on, "I have to take the
dogs in for their rabies shots around noon, but after that
I'm free. How about if I come and get you two and take
you out to lunch?"
Buffy was agreeable, so they made their plans and
said goodbye. After finishing the breakfast dishes,
she went upstairs to tell Melanie that William was
coming over.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It was almost one o'clock when she came down and
found Melanie kneeling on the couch. She was facing
backwards, staring out the window and watching for
William's car to pull into the driveway.
Just for something to do, Buffy picked up Melanie's
pink backpack and began to empty out the previous
weeks worth of corrected homework papers, a wadded
up sweatshirt with a grape juice stain she'd never seen
before, a Cinderella lunch box, and notices from the
school about upcoming events that required either her
participation or a hefty donation to the cause.
Smoothing out a piece of slightly crumpled blue paper,
she sighed when she read the heading, remembering
when this same notice had come home last year to
inform her of the upcoming breakfast banquet the
school was having for the children and their fathers.
Melanie had been very excited about it a year ago. The
pizza lunch for the kids and their mothers had been a
great success, and she hadn't quite lost all her faith in
her father's promises at that point. Angel had agreed to
attend, had even marked the day down on his calendar
while Melanie had him on the phone.
Then, the night before the event, his firm had sent him to
Spain to handle an emergency for one of their wealthier
clients. He'd called on his way to the airport, after Melanie
had gone to bed, leaving Buffy to break the news in the
morning. Not wanting Melanie to be the only child in her
class whose father wasn't there, she kept the little girl
home from school that day and took her to the park
instead.
"Hey...I see they're having another breakfast party," she
said brightly.
"Uh-huh," Melanie replied, leaning forward to see if the
car turning the corner belonged to William.
Trying to keep an encouraging smile on her face, Buffy
asked, "Do you want to call your dad and invite him?"
The little girl just shrugged. "Maybe later."
Buffy set the flyer down on the coffee table. Without
her meaning it to, her mind drifted back to the
other night when she and William had made love, after
which he'd made that startling declaration about
wanting to be Melanie's father.
Although she didn't remember planning it that way, her
facial expression must have been somewhere between
disbelieving and totally flabbergasted. He'd apparently felt
as though he'd said too much, too soon, and had offered up
a stumbling explanation of what he'd meant; that he would
be happy to assume any kind of 'fatherly' type role Melanie
might need him to play. He'd been so pleased that he'd been
able to rescue her from the unkind taunts of her school mates
that he wanted to be there for her if she should need him
for anything else.
Buffy had almost laughed at his nervous backpedaling,
assuring him that she knew exactly what he'd meant by
his words. When she'd thought it over later, she'd
come to the conclusion that it had been an impulsive
remark on his part, no doubt prompted by his obvious
dislike...sight unseen...of Melanie's biological father.
But he was far too sensitive and intuitive to consciously
try to shove Angel out of his daughter's life at this point
in what was still a very new relationship.
Still, he HAD offered, she mused, eying the paper
she'd placed on the table. Certainly, Melanie would be
thrilled.
On the other hand, maybe it WAS pushing things along
too quickly. If William volunteered to attend this function
with Melanie, it was liable to give rise to all sorts of wrong
impressions, especially to Melanie herself.
Her rambling thought patterns were terminated when
Melanie suddenly jumped off the couch. "He's here!" the
little girl announced, flinging open the front door.
Deciding to think about it later, Buffy followed Melanie out
onto the porch just in time to see her streak past William,
who was halfway up the sidewalk, and head straight for
his car instead.
Since he'd parked by the curb and not in the driveway,
the child was able to see in the windows of the SUV.
After trying hard to peer through the dark tinted glass, she
finally turned and looked at William. "No doggies?" she
asked, clearly disappointed to find that he hadn't brought
his canine pals along with him.
William glanced at Buffy helplessly, then walked
back to his car and ruffled Melanie's curls. "I'm sorry,
Pixie," he said sincerely. "I took them home before I
came."
"Oh. Did they go to their doctor?" she asked, taking
the hand he held out for her and walking back up the
sidewalk with him.
"Yes. For their booster shots."
"I did that for school." She looked up at him. "Won't
they be lonely?"
He smiled. "No, they'll be fine. They have each other."
Buffy leaned against the door jamb, her arms folded
across her chest, watching them.
It quickly became clear that William wasn't going to
be able to stand letting Melanie down. "I think you're
right," he finally said, contradicting his previous statement.
"They might get lonely. Maybe we should go back to my
house and keep them company. You know, I've told
them all about you, and they can't wait to meet you."
"Can we go do that, Mommy?" she asked her
mother happily.
Buffy smiled at her. "I don't see why not."
Melanie wasn't the sort of child who jumped up and
down clapping her hands in excitement when a treat
was promised, but she more than made up for it with
the sweetness of her smile.
William had no resistance whatsoever. "Great,"
he said, then asked, "Do you have a bathing suit?"
Melanie nodded.
"You run up and get it, then," he instructed her.
Without even pausing to ask why, she obeyed.
After she was up the stairs, he joined Buffy on the
front porch. Sliding one arm around her waist, he pulled
her against him and kissed her.
"What about YOU?" he murmured, biting gently on her
earlobe. "Have you got a bathing suit? Something
sexy?"
"I have one." Her smile was teasing. "I'm not sure it's
all that sexy."
"How about I be the judge of that?"
Disentangling herself before her legs stopped working,
she went upstairs after Melanie, only stopping to grab
the school flyer from the coffee table and slip it into the
back pocket of her jeans.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
His house was in the Hollywood Hills area of Los
Angeles. Alone, it sat nestled at the very end of a
long private driveway that was lined on both sides by
dense foliage and huge shade trees.
William pulled in to a three car garage, parking the
SUV alongside a silver Carrera, and cut the engine.
He escorted them through the double front doors,
and into a large foyer. Buffy's jaw dropped when she
looked straight ahead across the living room through
a large picture window, amazed at the panoramic view
of the surrounding hills and canyons.
"Oh, my gosh," she whispered, taking it all in. "What
a view!"
He nodded. "Part of the reason I bought it. Wait'll you
see it at night."
A sliding glass door next to the window opened out onto
the patio. There was a redwood deck with a built in jacuzzi
off to one side and, beyond that, a swimming pool's
turquoise blue water shimmered in the warm afternoon sun.
Melanie clung to Buffy's hand as William gave them a
quick tour of the house. There were four bedrooms, each
with their own private bath; the large living room with a
stone fireplace on the far wall; a family room; a formal
dining room; and the biggest kitchen Buffy had ever been
in, with a breakfast nook in one sunny little alcove.
"So, what do you think?" He seemed anxious to know
her opinion.
"I think it's beautiful," she said honestly.
"How about you, Pixie?" He knelt beside Melanie. "You
like it here?"
"Yes,"she nodded, looking around. "Where do the
doggies live?"
William chuckled. "Pretty much anywhere they want to."
he told her. "But right now, they're in the side yard.
Come on and meet them."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As Buffy had imagined, it was love at first sight
between Melanie and the dogs.
Belle, the labrador, was calm and good natured. She
sniffed the newcomers up one side and down the other,
then stood still and accepted the over abundant affection
Melanie lavished on her without complaint.
Sam, the poodle, was the antithesis of Belle. He was all
wriggling silliness and ran around them in circles, yapping
his tiny lungs out for attention.
It didn't take Melanie long to discover a couple of slobbery
tennis balls hidden in the grass. She threw them as far as
her small arms could propel them, and the dogs patiently
brought them back, time after time, dropping them at her
feet.
Buffy sat on a small retaining wall that surrounded a clump
of bushes that hadn't been pruned in what looked like years,
watching her daughter play with the dogs. William stood next
to her, one foot up on the wall, his thumbs stuck casually
through the belt loops of his jeans.
After fifteen minutes, Melanie announced that the dogs
were thirsty. She spotted two large silver water bowls on
the patio and dumped out the old water, refilling them with
a garden hose. Belle and Sam drank loudly, snuffling their
noses in the water as Melanie knelt beside them, patting
them gently on their backs.
When the animals had drunk their fill, they collapsed in
the shade of a tree close to the back wall. Melanie wiped
her hands on the grass and trotted back to her mother.
"Having fun?" Buffy asked her, smoothing down her hair.
"I like your dogs" she told William, squinting up at him
through the sun. "Is it time for their lunch?"
He sat on the wall next to Buffy, pulling Melanie onto
his knee. "I guess it could be," he said. "And I think it's
time for our lunch, too."
"Are you hungry?" she asked him, slinging one arm
around his neck as he stood up.
"I could eat. How about you?"
"I could eat, too."
They both looked down at Buffy. "Oh, I get it," she said,
standing up and brushing off the seat of her pants. "Some-
thing tells me that the 'out for lunch' plan is scuttled, right?
Is it time for old mom to see what's in the kitchen?"
"Well," William replied, "we could still go out...but it's so
hot.." He gave Melanie a little squeeze. "and I think
Melanie wants to try out the pool."
"Mommy is a really good cook," Melanie added.
Buffy smiled archly at her daughter. "Flattery will get
you everywhere, cookie," she said. "Let's go see what's
in the kitchen."
"Yay!" Melanie cheered.
"Yay!" William echoed. He tossed the child up
and caught her easily, then did it again when she
squealed with laughter.
Buffy stood there, watching them play, feeling that
notice from the school practically burning a hole in
her back pocket.
TBC.....
(Still with me on this one?)
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