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Chapter 10: Chapter 9: His Name is William
Chapter 9: His Name is William

She jumped at the knock on the door and shoved the journal that she had been reading back under the pillows. Smoothing back her hair she walked to the door and cracked it open, relieved to see it was Giles and not the angsty bad news bearer she was expecting.

She was so angry. Angry at the situation-- angry at him. She didn’t want to feel like she owed him anything. She didn’t want to feel like she owed him something for sparing her life. He shouldn’t have agreed to take it in the first place but she felt this undeniable pull, this tug toward him.

It had been two weeks since they left the docks in London and she hadn’t seen him since their fight. He’d come into the room after she fell asleep and leave before she woke, the only evidence he had been there at all was the warm rumpled sheets and askew pillows. Maybe that’s what had frustrated her more than anything.

He was avoiding her.

“Good morning Giles, and how does the day find you?” She asked while ushering him into the room. Glad for a little bit of company.

“The day fares me well, kind lady, and how does it find you?” Giles was smitten that was for certain. He set Buffy’s lunch tray down on Williams desk and smiled as he wondered how such a tiny girl could invade his heart so completely in such a short amount of time.

“I’m bored out of my mind and just about to go crazy!” She exclaimed while picking at the food on her tray. “I have been stuck in here for weeks, I don’t know how I’ll survive the entire voyage.” She sighed and plopped down in a chair.

Giles chuckled remembering that William had strictly forbade him from letting her leave the room. “How about I take you on a stroll around the deck? Give you a chance to stretch those legs of yours.” The thing was-- he didn’t give a blast what William said.

Her smile brightened the room and he knew that he would go to the ends of the earth if it meant being on the receiving end of a smile like that one. He was hopeless. “Giles! I would love to! You have no idea…” She stood up and before he knew it she was in his arms, squeezing him tight. She looked up at him and nodded her head in thanks. “Give me two seconds to freshen up and then we'll go.”

Sighing Giles sat himself down in Williams leather, hand crafted desk chair. William would not be happy about this but he felt sorry for the poor girl. Thrust into a new world, alone, with no one to care for her or her well being. To top it all off the only man she had really grown to rely upon was ignoring her. Jenny would take a belt to her son if she were here.

He smiled. He missed her desperately.

He and Jenny had met in an odd fashion. William had stolen something from his store ‘The Mercantile’ and instead of taking the young boy to the police he turned him into his mother, which was just as bad if not worse.

The first time he laid eyes on Jenny Rayne he knew that he had to have her. Raven black hair and eyes so blue they rivaled the sky, he was enraptured. Of course she was spitting mad when they met and hadn’t hesitated to take a strap to her boy with him standing right there. Jenny had two roles to play-- the mother and the father of her child. She played both remarkably well balancing the roles of a strong disciplinarian and a nurturing care taker.

He had asked her out to dinner right then. Smitten from the start. Bonding over Williams unfortunate spanking.

He smiled remembering her shock at his request. He gave her no choice but to say yes and she continued saying yes. Not two weeks later they were married. William was seven and Giles had fallen in love with the both of them.

He still was utterly devoted. Which is why he was spending his days with his stepson sailing around acting like pirates in the God forsaken ocean instead of retiring and spending his morning, noons, and nights with his love.

He had made a promise to Jenny, to look after their son. His place was beside William even if his heart stayed in Jamaica with the boys mother.

He had always felt this magnetic pull toward William. They were everything and nothing alike. William had a tendency of pulling people into his world without realizing it. He oozed excitement and charisma it was a refreshing thing to be apart of. He hoped that that some of that zest for life might rub off on him.

“That was delicious!” Buffy smiled as she cleaned up her supper mess and wiped her mouth. “You must tell Cook I said thank you for another brilliant meal.”

Giles smiled. There was nothing delicious or brilliant about anything Alexander Harris cooked but it was food and so they ate it. “You ready m’dear?”

She linked her arm through his and smiled. “Away we go!”

Out on the dock Elizabeth breathed in her first breath of fresh air in weeks. Savoring everything about it, she closed her eyes and found bliss in the smell of the ocean and the taste of the salty sea air.

She had always loved sailing. Being out in the midst of the water. It was so calming-- so spiritual.

So perfect.

That’s when she saw him. He was awash in a sheen of sweat, his muscles rippling with every move he made as he played at sword fighting with a man twice his size. Her heart stopped and her breath caught, everything else forgotten but the sight of him. No longer did she walk or breath or think-- she was reduced to a puddle on the floor.

He was so graceful, so beautiful. She had never seen anyone move with such power and fierce determination. It looked as if he were dancing, instead of flirting with death and for the first time in her life she wanted a man. She wanted him.

“What is his name?” She asked so quietly Giles wasn’t certain if she was even speaking to him but he answered her anyway.

Giles wasn't surprised at the question. He had known William had never given her his name. He had known she had never asked. “William.”

She sighed and closed her eyes. William. She could have sworn she already knew, almost like his name had been written on her heart this whole time.

William. It sounded so familiar to her like she had been saying it all her life. Like she had been saying it for lifetimes.

William. So much strength and so much power. So sinfully beautiful and breathtaking.

Before she knew what she was doing she was walking toward him, determination in her step. Men started tripping over themselves to get out of her way, men who had tried to brutalize and hurt her took off their hats and bandanas and bowed their heads as she made her way through the crowd, Giles hot on her heals.

She didn’t stop until she was in the middle of the two men in the center of the group, both of them halting with surprise.

Williams face was awash with a million different emotions. Anger, fear, puzzlement. “What in the-” he started to speak.

She walked toward him until she was standing toe to toe with him. Looking at him with nothing short of adoration she touched his sweat soaked face and whispered one word.

“William.”





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