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William stood in Buffy's living room, looking around, surveying the home she had made for herself. He'd never seen the place before, but it still seemed familiar, little touches reminding him of her.

Buffy walked in, stopping just past the doorframe and watching William. He looked up, smiling at her. "Nice home you have here, pet."

"Thank you," Buffy looked down, her good mood shifting to nervousness. "It could be your home, too. If…if you wanted."

William stared at her for a moment, unsure if he'd actually heard her right. "You want me to move in with you?"

"Uh huh."

"Are you sure? I mean, with our past…"

Buffy looked up sharply. "Don't you want to live with me?"

"Of course I do. I just want to be sure it's what you really want, too."

"It is. I love you. I want us to make a real life together, starting right now."

"I want that, too, Buffy—so bloody much."

Buffy went to him, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his chest. William's arms immediately went around her as he breathed in her scent. After a few minutes, Buffy looked up at him, her eyes shining. "Take me to our bed."

William smiled at her last two words. He'd never thought the day would come with Buffy would truly share anything with him, especially her bed. He picked her up, cradling her in his arms. "Which way, pet?"

"It's the room at the end of the hall, to the left," Buffy replied, nuzzling her face against him.

William carried Buffy into the bedroom, lying her down on top of the bed. She looked up at him, her green eyes hooded by heavy eyelids, and William didn't think he could possibly want her anymore than he did at that moment. Then she spoke.

"Make love to me, William."

William knelt beside her on the bed, gazing down at her. He couldn't believe that this was real, that he wouldn't wake up any moment to find himself alone. "I love you, Buffy."

"I love you, too."

Buffy's words filled him with emotion, and for a moment he felt like he would weep. He ran his hands down her body, then back up, stopping at the buttons of her blouse. He knelt down, placing a kiss on each bit of skin he revealed with every undone button. Buffy sighed, running her fingers through his hair. He sat up a little, slipping the blouse off her arms and pulling it from behind her before going down to remove her jeans, stopping only to take off her shoes before leaving her lying before him nothing but an emerald green silk bra and panties set. William stared at her, his gaze raising the temperature of her already overheated body.

"What are you looking at?" Buffy asked, her voice pertaining a husky tone.

"You. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

"You're just now figuring that out?" Buffy teased with a wink.

William chuckled. "I've always known. Just reminding myself, is all."

"So do I get to see you, or are you gonna have all the fun?"

William smirked, pulling back up to his knees again. "I'm right here, luv. You wanna see me…" He trailed off, wagging his eye brows.

Buffy sat up, kneeling in front of him. She pulled his t-shirt over his head, then kissed her way down his chest, mimicking what he'd done earlier when he'd unbuttoned her blouse. William trembled, the heat he'd felt the last time he'd been with Buffy rising in his body once more. She then pushed him back down on the bed, taking off his shoes and socks before slowly pulling off his jeans. She smiled at him. "Still not big on the underwear, I see."

William looked down at her, the desire Buffy saw in his eyes making her tremble. "Guess old habits die hard. Touch me, Buffy."

Buffy reached out, her hand shaking. Her fingers closed around him, and she heard William's sharp intake of breath. He was hot and pulsing against her palm, and Buffy found it strange to associate those sensations with him in her mind. But she'd have to now. He was alive now.

Heart beating…breathing…warm…

"Buffy…please…" William thrust his hips slightly, and Buffy realized that she become lost in her own thoughts for a moment. She leaned down and licked him lightly. His taste had changed too. Slightly, but enough for her brain to register he wasn't the same as before. She watched him as she slid her mouth on to him, his whole body tensing to keep from thrusting up the way he wanted to.

It had been years since Buffy had done this for him, yet she remembered everything he liked vividly. It wasn't long until his hips were moving, his hands tangled in her hair. With him, that had never upset her. She liked how easily she could make him lose control.

Suddenly, William was pushing her away. She looked up, confused. She could tell he'd been close, and she was more than willing to have taken things to their conclusion. "I don't recover like I used to, pet," William said, his words rough with passion. "Need to be inside you."

Buffy nodded. She needed that, too. "Want you, William," she whispered, lying back on the pillows. "Want you so bad."

William slipped off her panties, leaning down to kiss her softly between her legs. He moved back up her body, pausing to remove her bra as well. Buffy moaned as he pressed his lips once gently against each of her nipples. "William…please…" she begged.

"Anything for you, kitten," he whispered, lowering himself over her. He positioned himself against her entrance, looking down at her until her eyes opened. When her gaze was locked with hers, he thrust inside as he told her, "I love you, Buffy."

Buffy cried out, her hips rising up instinctually to meet his. "I love you, too," she whispered.

William made love to her slowly, wanting to express his feelings for her in a way she'd never really let him before. In the past, this act between them had almost always been just about the sex, but this time there was more. He smiled at her gentle touches and her soft words of love. This is what he'd always wanted, want he'd needed. For the first time since he'd become human, he was genuinely happy about it. Nothing could come between them now, he knew. They were in love, and now he could give her the one thing he never could have before. Something not even Angel could give her. He was someone she could grow old with.

Buffy smiled as she lay wrapped in William's arms. "This feels nice," she said, snuggling closer. "Nice and warm."

William kissed her brow softly. "My pensive Buffy! thy soft cheek reclined, Thus on mine arm, most soothing sweet it is."

Buffy looked up at him. "Did you write that?"

"I wish. It's Coleridge. And it's actually to Sara, but I figured now wasn't the time to be calling you someone else's name."

Buffy laughed. "No. It isn't."

William absent-mindedly stroked her hair. "Are we for real this time, Buffy?"

"Yeah. This time we're for real."

*** *** ***

"Buffy! I was wondering when you were going to come out and face the light of day." Dawn stood in front of her sister, giving her a knowing smile.

"Don't look at me like that," Buffy said, trying unsuccessfully not to blush. "William and I just had…some things to sort out."

"Uh huh. So you wanna gush?"

Buffy broke out in a grin. "Oh Dawnie, I don't think I've ever been so happy! Being with William makes me happier than I've been in so long. I love him so much."

"You know, you could've figured that out years ago and saved yourself a lot of heartache."

Buffy blinked. "Dawn…"

Dawn held up her hands. "Not trying to be a bitch. I'm just saying…"

"The past is, well, the past," Buffy said. "I can't undo anything I did before. Besides, William's not the same as he was before. I mean, he's human. I don't know how happy I would've been before—especially when he didn't have a soul."

"Buffy, you and I both know how much he loved you, even then."

Buffy looked down. "I don't want to think about any of that." She looked back up, smiling again. "I just want to be happy about now. Things are perfect."

"Perfect, huh?"

"Yep. It's been such a wonderful couple of days. I feel like I'm living some sort of wonderful dream, and I don't ever want to wake up."

Dawn smirked. "Sounds great."

"It is. And like I said, everything is perfect. So perfect in fact, that I think, just this once, nothing could ruin my happiness."

"Buffy?"

Buffy froze. That was a voice she'd never forget, but… Her smile faltered for a moment, then she forced it back, turning around. "Angel."

*** *** ***

"Hey, Spike, you in here?"

William looked up sharply. "Andrew? What do you want? And for the record, it's William now."

"Yeah, uh huh. Look, I just figured I better warn you."

"Warn me? Of what?"

"There's a certain old, um, friend of ours that's just arrived. Word is he's looking for Buffy."

William felt his stomach flip. "This 'friend' wouldn't happen to have a rather prominent brow, would he?"

"I take it you know of whom I speak," Andrew said with a nod.

"Yeah. Why is he here?"

"I don't know," Andrew shrugged. "It could be nothing. He's stopped by a few times over the years—y'know, to check in on things, make sure the Slayer Army doesn't need his help with anything. I just figured I should give you a heads up, so Buffy doesn't come in all 'I talked to Angel' and throw you off guard, cause that could get nasty, and I'd hate to see you two crazy kids get all messed up now."

William shoved his hands in his pockets. "Thanks for coming to tell me, but I'm sure it's no big deal. Buffy and I—we're happy now."

Andrew could see the nervousness in William's expression and body language, despite his self-assured words. "All right. Like I said—just wanted to give you a heads up. Look out for you and all. I mean, if you and Buffy are getting serious, then, well, we're practically brothers."

"What?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess with the whole you running off thing, followed by the fact you and Buffy haven't left her house in like two days, no one filled you in. Dawn and I are getting married."

Andrew would've laughed at the expression William got on his face if he wasn't sure that, vampire or no, he could still kill him with his bare hands. "You're the guy Dawn's marrying? No wonder I'm human, and Buffy loves me. This is Bizzaro World."

"You can give me a big-brother style 'if you hurt her' speech if you want, but you don't have to. If I ever did anything to hurt Dawn, I'd kill myself, so you wouldn't have to worry about it."

William chuckled a little, trying to force his brain to accept the fact that Dawn and Andrew were actually a couple. It wasn't easy. "There's something about those Summers women. Once they've captured your heart, that's it for you, mate."

"So I've noticed." Andrew smiled. "But I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't know what I did to get so lucky, but I'm certainly not going to turn my back on it. Dawn makes me feel like no other person I've ever been with ever has."

William ruffled Andrew's hair. "Well, I guess as long as you promise to never ever give me any sort of details that would disturb me, you two have my blessing. Oh, and consider that 'big-brother style' speech given." William punctuated his last sentence with a warning glare.

Andrew nodded. "Thanks. And you might want to tell Dawn that, too. She's been nervous about telling you—afraid you'd go all wookiee on me and rip my arms from the sockets."

"Tempting as that may be at times, I promise your arms are safe."

"That's nice to know," Andrew said with a tiny grin. His expression sobered again. "Hey, I should get going. I'm supposed to be helping Giles catalog Watcher files."

"Sounds fun."

"Yeah. The kind of fun that makes you want to kill yourself. See you around, Spike. Or William. Or whatever."

"See you, Andrew. And thanks for telling me about Angel."

Andrew nodded, then left.

*** *** ***

"Hello, Buffy."

Buffy stood, staring at her former lover in shock. After spending the last couple of days in William's arms, Angel was the last person she expected to see. "Angel! What are you doing here?"

"You don't seem happy to see me."

"It's not that, it's just…" Buffy let out a deep breath. "I wasn't expecting you."

"Seems like quite a few 'unexpected' things have been going on around here," Angel replied. Dawn cleared her throat, and both Angel and Buffy whipped around, making it obvious that they'd forgotten Dawn was even there. Angel gave her a small smile. "Uh, hi, Dawn."

"Hello. I would say it's nice to see you again, but honestly, it's not."

"Dawn!" Buffy said, looking at her sister in surprise.

Angel held up a hand. "No, Buffy, it's all right. I know I've never really given Dawn a reason to like me."

"There's the understatement of the year," Dawn muttered.

"Dawn, could you maybe let Angel and I talk in private?" Buffy asked.

Dawn looked at her sister, skeptically. "Buffy…"

"Dawn, please." Buffy said, rubbing her forehead.

"Fine," Dawn replied. "I'll see you later, Buffy." Dawn gave a warning glare to Angel before walking off.

"I don't think she ever got over the betrayal of me becoming Angelus," Angel said quietly.

"I don't think a lot of people did."

Angel looked up sharply at Buffy. "Buffy, I…"

"Look, you didn't come here to drag that up," Buffy said, cutting him off. "What's the deal, Angel?"

"Spike. I hear he's human."

"Wow, news travels fast."

"How'd it happen?" Angel asked. "Was it the…"

"Shanshu Prophecy?" Buffy finished. "I don't know. You know how vague those prophecies can be. But it wasn't some mystical whammy from the Powers that Be if that's what you're asking. He had most of his demon sucked out by some other demons, and it made him human—more or less."

"Most of? More or less?"

Buffy sighed. She wasn't in the mood to have this conversation with Angel, but she knew he wouldn't just let it go. "He still has some remnants of his vampiric abilities. Strength, speed, agility, heightened senses. Not to the degree he once did, but still better than the average human. But he also has a reflection, doesn't drink blood, can touch a cross, and is perfectly free to get a tan if he wanted. We haven't tested the holy water, but I'm pretty sure he's good there, too."

"And you're all just accepting this?"

Buffy blinked. "What?"

"He's not a vampire, but he's still something more than human. How do you know these demons didn't replace his old demon with something new? He could pose a threat, Buffy."

"William isn't a threat to me, or to anyone else here."

"You can't know that for certain. And 'William?'"

"Yes I can." Buffy crossed her arms in front of her. "And it's his name."

"I don't like this, Buffy. If there's one thing I've learned in over two centuries of existence, it's never take anything at face value. For all you know, there could be some sort of horrible demon getting ready to take him over, or hatch, or something."

"Angel, that's ridiculous. We were held captive by Vrognash demons, who happen to ritualistically suck power out of other demons. They started doing it to Spike, and I stopped it before it killed him, but after he had too little demon in him to be a vampire. End of story."

"That's too simple, Buffy."

"You weren't there, Angel. Fighting those demons, saving Spike, it wasn't simple." Buffy looked down. "I spent a year being brainwashed by them, made to think I was part of this little town they had set up for themselves. There was nothing 'simple' about that at all."

"They're brainwashing demons? All the more reason not to trust what's happened to Spike, Buffy."

"Look, I've spent a lot of time with Spike—William—since the change, and…"

"Oh, have you?" Angel cut her off, looking down at her sternly. Buffy shifted uncomfortably.

"He felt really lost after, after what happened," Buffy said. "I wanted to be there for him." She winced inwardly, knowing she was avoiding telling Angel the truth. She wasn't sure she could look her first love on the eye and tell him she was with Spike now.

"There for him like you've been in the past?"

"It's none of your business, Angel," Buffy said softly.

Angel sighed. "Look, Buffy, I'm sorry I'm being so harsh about this. It's just—well, I worry about you. A vampire being turned human again isn't one of those things that happens every day. Sure, it could just be that Spike got lucky, but it could be something bad, too."

Buffy bit her bottom lip. "I know."

Angel reached up, cupping Buffy's cheek in his hand. "I'm going to stick around here for a bit, just in case…"

"Angel, that's not…"

Angel spoke louder, causing Buffy to grow silent again "Just in case things do get bad. Odds are they won't, but I want to be satisfied that everything's okay before I leave you in a potentially dangerous situation."

Buffy knew she should tell him that she didn't need his help; that she could handle things just fine, and there was nothing wrong with William. "Okay."

Angel smiled at her as he dropped his hand. "Thanks. I know I'm probably being overly paranoid, but I'll just feel a lot better seeing everything for myself."

"I understand."

Angel surprised Buffy by enveloping her in a tight embrace. "I've missed you, Buffy."

Buffy froze before returning the gesture. "I've missed you, too."

*** *** ***

William was sitting on the couch when Buffy came home. "So did you talk to Peaches?"

Buffy looked at him, startled. "How did you…"

"This place is full of gossips," William replied. He frowned. "Buffy, is everything all right? He didn't cause a scene about us, did he?"

"I, um, actually didn't tell him about that."

"Oh." William was silent for a moment before asking, "Didn't have a chance to?"

"No. I did, I just…"

"Didn't."

"Yeah."

"But you're going to?"

"Maybe. Probably. Later."

"Buffy…"

Buffy sighed, sitting down on the other end of the couch. "William, it's not that I'm ashamed of us, or anything like that. It's just, well, Angel's wigging on the whole you being human thing. He thinks that the Vrognash could have put something evil in you."

"Yeah, because replacing a demon with something evil, that makes sense," William snapped. "Please tell me you told him to sod off."

"Not exactly…"

William looked at her, wounded. "Do you think he's right?"

"No! God, William, I swear I don't. Please, don't think that. It's just, well, you know Angel and how stubborn he can be. He said he wants to stick around for a bit, make sure for himself that nothing bad has come from you being human again."

"And let me guess, you threw open the door to the guest room for him."

Buffy looked down at her hands. "Once he sees that everything's okay, he'll be satisfied and leave."

William took a deep breath, preparing to ask the question he needed the answer for, but didn't want to voice at the same time. "And while he's here, what about us?"

Buffy didn't look up. "I was thinking we'd play things down for a bit. Maybe you should, um, postpone officially moving in with me."

William said nothing, only standing and walking towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Buffy called after him.

"To go stay away from you like a good little boy until daddy goes home," William snapped.

"Dammit, Spike, don't do this."

William wheeled around at her use of his former nickname. "What do you want me to do, Buffy? Pretend I'm thrilled at the fact that you don't want to be with me while your precious Angel is around?"

"That isn't it! I just don't want any more complications with him than there are already."

"What about loving me, Buffy? 'Soulmate before you had a soul.' What was that? Just a something pretty to say to keep me from running off to find Drusilla?"

Buffy jumped up. "No! I love you! I just…" Buffy sighed. "Please, can you just do this for me?"

William closed his eyes, clenching and unclenching his fists once. "Fine."

"I'll make it up to you after he's gone, I promise."

"Whatever." William turned to walk out again.

"Are you mad at me?" Buffy asked softly.

"What do you think?"

"I don't want you to be mad at me."

"One of us is going to be mad at you, Slayer—either me or Angel. You made your choice of who you want it to be."

"William…"

The only response Buffy got was the slamming of the door. She went back to the couch, flopping down.

"Well, shit."

*** *** ***

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