Chapter Notes: Okay, for the sake of simplicity, let's pretend that Sunnydale is a small city very close to Los Angeles. I want William and Buffy together a lot, and I don't want him to have to go a country mile to visit her.
Part seven...
"Did I hear you tell Anya that you have a date tonight?"
Buffy looked up from the front window where she was redoing
the displays for Easter. Willow Rosenberg was the first employee
she'd hired after Melanie's Garden began turning a profit.
Buffy had liked her immediately after talking with her on the
phone to set up a job interview. Meeting her had only cemented
the feeling. Willow was about her same age, with a short mop of
red hair that framed a sweet face. Her eyes were bright and
friendly, and she was a natural when it came to sales.
She was, however, a bit too focused on her employer's private
life. Willow felt it was her duty to make sure that everybody she
liked was as happy as she was with her own boyfriend. She had
already been successful at setting Anya up with a man who worked
for the company that had built and managed the Sunnydale Mall,
and was now training her sights on Buffy.
"It's not really a date" Buffy demurred, pulling out puffy wads of
pastel easter grass and scattering it around. "It's just...well, I guess
it IS sort of a date, but it's not just me...it's Melanie, too."
Willow blocked the window, preventing Buffy from escaping the
questions she still had. "So, tell. This is good, right? I mean...he
knows you have a daughter and he wants to get to know her. Most
guys take off like scared rabbits when they find out a woman has a
kid. At least that's what MY mom always said."
Buffy smiled, unconsciously shredding the easter grass she
still held. "He definitely wants to get to know her. In fact, he seems
crazy about her. You should see them together, Wils...it's like they
belong that way."
Willow's smile widened. "Really? And what about Melanie? Does she
like him, too? Does she open up to him?"
"Oh, yeah," Buffy nodded. "She's like a different child when he's
around. And he's so good with her. So patient and low key." She
shook her head in bemusement. "It's amazing."
"Well, who is he?" Willow asked eagerly. "What's his name?"
Buffy was saved from having to fess up when something in the
back storage room fell to the floor with a loud clatter of smashing
glass, punctuated by a vile curse word from Anya.
Jumping to her feet, she followed behind Willow to see what
the girl had broken now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy parked her car in the school lot and stepped out into the
warm afternoon sun. She was running a little late, so she broke
into a trot across the asphalt lot and headed for the block of
buildings where Melanie's class assembled every day.
Weaving through the crowd of parents and children, she walked
into the room and saw her daughter standing by her desk. She
had her pink 'Cinderella' backpack on, and Buffy could see the
traces of tears on her face all the way across the room.
She gathered the little girl up in her arms and kissed her
damp cheeks. "You're not upset because I'm late...are you,
baby? I'm sorry."
Melanie just shook her head. "I want to go home," she whis-
pered, burying her face against Buffy's shoulder.
Buffy stroked her daughter's soft curls as she turned to
give Miss Ashton a questioning look.
The teacher looked upset, too. She reached into a small
cooler next to her desk and extracted a box of apple juice.
Popping the straw in, she stood up and walked around her
desk. "Melanie...I need to talk to your mother," she said
quietly. "Can you please sit at your desk for a minute and
have some juice?"
The child sighed and nodded, sliding down Buffy's body
and seating herself.
Trying to mentally prepare for whatever was coming, Buffy
walked a few feet away with Miss Ashton. "What happened?"
"Remember what I told you about 'Share Time' yesterday?"
the woman asked, then sighed when Buffy nodded. "I guess
that someone passed the word about what Melanie said
regarding William St. James. Some of the older kids found
out about it and...well, you know how they can be. They
cornered her on the playground and they teased her about it.
Said she was...a liar. That she didn't even know him and was
just making up stories."
Although she was trying not to get angry, Buffy was finding it a
difficult task. Someone hurting her baby always brought out the "Mama
Bear" in her, even another child just doing what children do.
"Who was it?" she asked sharply. "I want to know what was done
about it?"
Teasing and bullying was strictly against school policy, and
was not tolerated. The board of education sent home reams of
flyers on the subject every time a new school year began.
Miss Ashton shrugged. "Nothing yet," she explained. "Melanie
won't name names. And no one else saw it. One of the kids
found her crying over by the back fence, and came to get me.
It took me a little while to get the story out of her, but she won't
tell me who was involved."
Buffy glanced over at her daughter. She was sitting quietly in her
seat, watching them talk.
"Believe me, Ms. Summers," the teacher said, "I'm no happier about
this than you are. Melanie is...very special. I hate the thought of
someone hurting her this way." She lowered her voice a bit more. "We'll
keep trying to find out who was involved, and I promise you they'll be
punished."
Buffy was silent for a moment. Folding her arms across her chest,
she finally said, "She's telling the truth, you know. Not about him being
her daddy, but she DOES know him. And he's...he's very fond of her."
Maybe she was overstepping by saying that, but she really didn't
think so. William had seemed quite clear about his feelings for the
child.
"I believe you," Miss Ashton said. "How could anyone not be fond of
her?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was nearly five thirty when they left the school parking lot. Melanie
hadn't said a word about the playground incident, and Buffy had learned
not to push her to talk. She would get around to it when she wanted to.
As they sat and waited for a green light, Buffy looked into the rear
view mirror and saw her little one looking back at her. She made a
face that usually made the child giggle. "What's up, cookie?"
Melanie wiped her nose on the sleeve of her sweater. "I guess I
shouldn't tell anyone about him."
Buffy shrugged. "That's up to you, honey. You can tell or not tell...if
someone doesn't believe you, then that's their problem. It doesn't
give them a right to be mean to you. And you know what? When you get
your picture in the mail, you can take it to school and show all
those little....kids who didn't believe you."
She turned the car onto Revello Drive. "How does that sound, baby?"
"Okay," Melanie said, staring out the window.
Peering straight ahead, Buffy saw an unfamiliar car parked in front
of her house. She smiled as she recognized the man leaning casually
against it.
"Melanie...look who's here," she said, swinging the car into the driveway.
William strolled across the lawn as she set the parking brake and
opened the door. "Hey, you two," he greeted them, reaching to
open the rear door for a little girl who had already wriggled out of her
booster seat. "I was starting to think I was going to be stood up by
the two prettiest girls in town."
Before Buffy could say a word, Melanie launched herself straight
at William, clinging to him like a barnacle to the hull of a boat.
He was surprised at such an abandoned greeting, but he scooped
her up and returned her embrace. "Everything okay, pixie?" he asked,
meeting Buffy's eyes over the riot of light brown curls.
She mouthed "problem at school" silently, closing the car doors
and rooting around for her house keys.
William followed her up the sidewalk and inside the small house.
"I'm glad to see you again," he said, patting Melanie's back and
looking at Buffy to include her in the sentiment. "I've missed you."
Melanie leaned back in his arms. "We missed you, too," she
announced frankly.
"Well, that's good to know," he said, placing her back on her
feet.
"Sorry we're late," Buffy murmured, trying to kick away a bit of
the clutter into a handy corner.
"Don't worry about it, luv," he said, smiling down at Melanie
as she held on to his hand. "Are you hungry?" he asked.
The little girl nodded silently in reply.
"Well, I've got an idea where to go for dinner. It's someplace
fun, and the food is pretty good. D'ya trust me?"
Melanie looked up at her mother, and Buffy smiled. "We trust
you," she said, smoothing her skirt. "Do I need to change?"
"No...you're gorgeous," he said softly. His eyes moved up and
down her small frame admiringly, then he remembered they
weren't alone. "Both of you," he added, fondling Melanie's curls
affectionately.
Melanie, who normally would withdraw instantly from such
contact, just smiled up at him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I never saw a fish pond in a restaurant before," Melanie
said, staring at the pool of plump orange and white koi that
ran under the small bridge she was hanging over.
"Come on, honey," Buffy encouraged her to catch up and
follow the hostess. "You can see it again later."
Melanie hopped across the bridge, nearly stepping on the
trailing red silk of the kimono worn by the young lady
seating them. She climbed up onto one of the chairs
surrounding a large teppanyaki table, perching there on
her knees.
William made sure that they were at the end of the table,
keeping Melanie between her mother and himself.
The hostess handed everyone a warm, moist
hand towel, which Melanie used to scrub her face. She asked
William to read the hard words on the menu for her, and
agreed with his suggestion that she order chicken for her meal.
A small salad was served, followed by a bowl of broth that she
didn't touch. While they ate, he asked her how school had been
that day, and glanced at Buffy when a small frown clouded her
babyish features.
The subject was dropped when the chef arrived, pushing
a cart filled with all the ingredients for the meals ordered by the
occupants of the tables.
When the man began cooking right there on the table, Melanie's
eyes became hugely round. She watched everything he did in
utter fascination, bouncing up and down on her chair when his
knives flashed, and giggling when he literally tossed food around in
the air, including overloaded bowls of rice, without dropping a grain
of it.
The hostess brought her a special pair of chopsticks and showed
her how to use them. She tried gamely to pick up the pieces of
chicken on her plate, but they kept popping out of the chopsticks,
so she solved the problem by separating them and using one of the
sticks to stab the bite of food.
Since the chef was keeping her so well entertained, William leaned
back in his chair and looked over at Buffy. She met his gaze, and
he smiled in a way that made her short of breath.
Before she could stop it, her dream of him came flooding back and
her face turned scarlet. He noticed it, and his eyes questioned her.
"What are you thinking about?" he whispered, leaning closer. "Are you
blushing?"
Buffy shook her head. "It's the heat from the table," she claimed,
picking up a glass of ice water and draining it.
"Buffy?" he said softly. "Look at me, darling."
She did, and immediately wished she hadn't. It was like he could
see right through her, and knew what was really going on in her
head, because his smile became even more intimate.
William tilted his head a little, making her lean closer. "Do I
get my kiss?"
Sitting back in her chair, Buffy slowly returned his smile. "You just
might."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Melanie protested vehemently when Buffy ordered her into
the ladies room to have the chocolate ice cream washed off her
face. She fidgeted and squirmed, firmly denying her mother's
suggestion that she use the facilities as long as she was there.
Throwing her hands up in defeat, Buffy allowed the little girl
to return to where William was waiting while she went to the
bathroom and freshened her makeup.
Rejoining them, she saw that they had followed the meandering
koi pond into the sushi bar.
Melanie watched the chefs preparing the food, and looked up at
William, obviously asking him something about it. He visibly hesitated,
and Buffy knew he was remembering the child's fondness for fish, and
her insistence that they were to be regarded as playmates and not
entrees.
Seeing his extreme reluctance to explain to Melanie just what was
going on in there, Buffy went in and rescued him by announcing that
it was very close to a certain girl's bedtime.
The child was agreeable, and she skipped across the parking lot
between them, clinging to both their hands.
When they reached William's car, a late model Lexus SUV, Buffy
and Melanie waited for him to unlock it. An elderly woman climbed
out of the car that had just parked next to them, and she smiled
at all three of them.
"What a nice little family," she said kindly. "Your little girl is
adorable.
Instead of correcting her, William returned her smile and said, "Thank
you. I think so, too."
Buffy's heart thumped loudly in her chest. She was surprised he
couldn't hear it!
He buckled Melanie into the booster seat he'd taken out of her
car, then closed the door and came around to the passenger side.
Gently pushing her up against the door, he pinned her there by
leaning against her. "I can't stand it another second," he whispered.
"Kiss me....please."
And there went her heart again!
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