[Reviews - 269]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 3389 times

- Text Size +




13 years ago, Sunnydale:

A seven year old William and the newly turned six year old Buffy sat quietly on the couch in the Giles’s living room, watching cartoons. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, and the warm summer air that drifted in from the open window to the right gave the young best friends’ cheeks a slightly flushed appearance. Buffy’s head rested on William’s shoulder as they continued to be absorbed into the fantasy world of Pokeman.

Mr. Giles was out for the day and the children were left in the care of Jenny. This was their normal weekend ritual, watching cartoons, eating lunch, playing in Will’s room, and trying to con one of the adults into baking them some kind of cookies. This weekend was different, though. Buffy had spent the previous night at the Giles’s house. Her mother was at the hospital, and today was the day that Buffy would finally get her new baby sister.

The older of the two friends busied himself with trying to wrap one of the braids that hung from the girl’s head around his slender fingers. Not paying attention to what he was doing, but rather focusing on the TV, the boy’s fingers slipped and he ended up tugging on the braid, hard.

"Ow!" Buffy yelped, jumping up. She moved away from her best friend, and reached up to touch the braid. "Whatcha do that for?"

"I dinna mean to. I did it on accident!" William said.

"That’s not true, you did it on purpose." The blonde girl shouted, TV forgotten for the moment.

"No I dinna!" Willaim sneered at her, turning back to watching his favorite show. "Why would I wanna pull your stupid hair anyway?"

Buffy made a face at him. "My hair’s not stupid, your’s is! And Angel was right, you do talk funny!"

His eyes popped open wide. "Take that back! I don’t talk funny, you stupid bint!"

"I don’t even know what that means, and you do so talk funny." She frowned, wondering what he meant.

"I do not!" He shouted, narrowing his icy blue orbs at her.

"Do to!" She yelled back, narrowing her hazel eyes at him.

"Do not!"

"Do to!"

"Do not!"

"Do to!"

"Shut up, Buffy!" William screamed, reaching out and yanking on the braid on the other side of her head. She yelped, surprised.

"You shut up, Willy-yum!" She growled and grabbed his glasses of his face and threw them on the floor.

"Hey, give ‘em back, I can’ see!" He bellowed, reaching his arms out, searching blindly for the thick tan frames.

"Not ‘til you say sorry!" She said, indignantly.

"No!"

"William Giles and Buffy Summers, what is going on here!" Jenny chided, standing in the doorway, hands on her hips.

The children immediately settled down, and silence filled the room. They knew they were in trouble when Jenny used their whole names. They remained quiet for fear of getting in trouble.

Jenny walked over to where William’s glasses lay, on the floor in front of his feet, picked them up and placed them on his face. He smiled at her, but she only gave him a stern look in return. Buffy snickered at this, but stopped abruptly when Jenny gave her the same look.

"You two know better than this. If I hear one more word come out of either one of you before Joyce and Hank return, I cancel the cookies and TV time for the rest of the day. Is that clear?"

"Yes, mum."

"Yes, Jenny."

The dark haired woman stood up once more and gave them another warning glance before turning to leave.

William looked at Buffy and grinned cockily. He then stuck his tongue out at her. Buffy gasped, but said nothing else for fear of getting into anymore trouble then they were already in.

~*~*~*~

A few hours later, there was a knock at the door. Jenny hurriedly raced to get there before the two devils in the living room beat her to it. She opened the door to find Joyce and Hank there, beaming like the proud parents they were. Joyce held a little bundle wrapped tightly in a pink blanket, cooing softly. Hank stood behind her carrying a bag full of various baby items. Jenny greeted them and ushered them inside.

"Mommy! Daddy! You’re back, you’re back!" Buffy cheered, running into the room, smiling brightly.

"Hello, Buffy." Joyce replied, steeping over the threshold, smiling at Jenny as she neared her older daughter.

Hank followed closely behind. "How’s my girl?" Buffy beamed at him.

"Are you ready to meet your new baby sister?" Her mother asked her, expectedly.

"Can I hold her?" Buffy asked excitedly. She held out her arm, waiting.

"Of course, honey." Joyce replied, kneeling slightly in front of her. She moved the pink bundle, with now had a tiny hand poking out from it, into Buffy’s open arms. "Like this. Support the head. There you go. We’re calling her ‘Dawn.’"

Buffy concentrated on the baby that she held. She had never seen anything so small. Dawn looked up at her with her big sparkling blue eyes and giggled quietly. Buffy kind of liked her. She was cute. Just like one of her baby dolls. She had no hair on her little head, but the skin there was soft and tender. Her mouth hung open a little, and Buffy noticed that there was no teeth there. Drool glistened on the corners of her lips.

"I ... I could be the one to look after her sometimes, if you need a helper." Buffy said looking down at the fidgeting baby in her tiny arms. "Mom? Can I take care of her?"

Joyce smiled affectionately. "Yes, Buffy. You can take care of her."

"Wow, she’s the cutest baby I’ve ever seen." Exclaimed William from behind Buffy. He stepped closer to her to get a closer look at Dawn. His shoulder brushed Buffy’s as he moved.

Buffy frowned at his words, but said nothing. 'He thought Dawn was the cutest?!' She thought. Joyce then decided that it was time to put Dawn down for her nap. Too much excitement at one time could scare the newborn.

As soon as her mother took Dawn back, Buffy ran out the front door. William frowned and followed. She ran around the side of the house all the way around. The scrawny boy had to run to catch up with her. She was climbing up into the tree house that they shared in William’s back yard. He climbed as fast as his skinny legs would take him.

He found Buffy sitting up against the wall, hugging her knees as tightly as she could. He was confused and worried about her. "What’s wrong, Buffy."

When she wouldn’t talk or even look at him, he moved closer and took a seat next to her. "Please tell me what’s wrong, pet."

She finally looked with unshed tears in her eyes. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and began to speak. "Everybody thinks that Dawn’s so cute."

"Well, she is." William said to her gently. At this, Buffy tears came forth.

"You like her more than you like me." She sniffled, rubbing the tears that fell on her rosy cheeks away, hastily, leaving red marks on her face. Her eyes were all puffy and red and she looked so sad, that William’s heart broke for her.

"That’s not true." He said.

"Yuh-huh. You think that she’s cuter than me." She blubbered in between sobs.

"Buffy, I don’t think that Dawn’s cuter than you." He tried once again. He hoped she would believe him this time.

She looked up at him through tearful eyes, hopefully. "Really?" She asked tentatively.

"‘Course, luv. I think you’re very pretty." He reassured her, smiling.

Buffy returned his smile and lunged for him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him the biggest hug he ever had. "You’re my very bestest friend, Willy-yum, know that?"

William hugged her back, and smiled. "I know."

~*~*~*~


"So, Spike, I’ve been meaning to ask you," Xander began, taking a swig of his beer before continuing. "Why’d you do it, man?"

"Do what, whelp?" Spike asked, curiously.

"Pop the question. To Cordelia." Xander clarified. He reach over and stole one of the platinum blonde’s beer nuts. Spike immediately smacked his hand away, causing a few of the bowls contents to scatter onto the tabletop.

The two men who had become good friends since their days at Sunnydale High, were sitting at a table in the local club, The Bronze, enjoying a cold pint. Music blared loudly in their ears, from some unheard of local band that occupied the stage. They really couldn’t play worth shit, but living in a one Starbucks town like Sunnyhell, Spike couldn’t complain. At least it was music. Sort of.

"Seemed like the right thing to do at the time, is all." Spike shrugged, taking a sip of his own beer.

"And now? Does it still seem like the right thing?" Xander rattled off one question after another.

Spike gave him a piercing glare. He really wish that people would stop pestering him about the whole wedding thing. They all seemed to think that he was crazy for asking Cordy to marry him, but hey, he could marry whomever he wanted to-okay, so asking Cordy to marry him was quite a stretch, but it was better than nothing, right?

He and Cordy had been dating for over a year and a half now. Spike figured that if you were in a relationship for this long, people just started to expect you to get married. So he did it, he asked Cordy to be his wife. He knew deep down inside that it was probably wrong to marry someone that you don’t truly love, but hey, how did that old saying go? If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with. And since the woman he loved lived on the other side of the country, he figured it was time to move on. Why should he wait around forever? Buffy had obviously gotten over him a long time ago. She made that quite clear by dating that poncy soldier boy. He could move on too. Even if it was with Cordelia Chase...

"Xander." He warned.

"What? Don’t get me wrong, I mean, Cordy’s...well, she’s Cordy, but what happened to ‘Buffy-Summers-is-my-one-and-only-and-I’ll-never-love-again-guy?"

"Things Change." Spike replied, trying not to let Xander get any reaction out of him by saying her name.

"Yeah, right." The dark haired man of the two chuckled. Xander knew everything there was to know about the Buffy and Spike's relationship. He had known Buffy since they were in diapers and knew Spike for almost as long. He still remembered when they were introduced by the one friend they both have in common, Buffy. Xander knew Spike before he was Spike, when he was still the skinny little boy with thick glasses, who wrote sappy love poems and went by the name William. So needless to say, Xander knew Spike better than anyone. Well, almost anyone...

Spike looked at him suspiciously. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You know exactly what it means, Caption Peroxide." He told him. "You’re still in love with her."

"Who?" Spike pretended that he didn’t know who Xander was referring to.

"BUFFY!" Xander almost shouted at his friend, like it was the most obvious thing in the world...mostly because it was. "Duh!"

"Xander, I would rather not talk about this." Spike tried. He really didn’t think this was the time to reminisce about lost loves, especially to the whelp.

"When will you? Spike you’re gonna have to face this thing sooner or later and being that Buffy will arrive in LA tomorrow, I would suggest that it be sooner rater than later."

"What are babbling about, whelp?" Spike asked, confused.

"Buffy will be here tomorrow. Her dad‘s picking ‘er and Dawn up from LA." Xander informed him, with an expression that clearly read ‘Duh!.’

"Why? Why is she coming ‘ere?" Spike sounded a little panicked. Buffy, his Buffy was coming home?

"Well, Cordy invited her to the wedding."

"Why the hell would she do that? Cordy hates Buffy." Spike reminded him. In high school the two girls never got alone. This was probably due to the fact that Cordy was the most popular girl in school and disliked anyone who wasn’t in her social group. Buffy wasn’t a nerd, but she certainly wasn’t anywhere near the status of ‘prom queen.’ At least on to everyone else‘s standards. Spike had always thought that she was the most stunning young woman he had ever met.

"Ohhh, so she didn’t tell you, huh?" Xander asked, a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

"Out with it, already, Xander." The blonde man spat, knowing that Xander was stringing him along on purpose.

"Well, as you know, Mr. Summers got to keep the house after the divorce, and now he lives by himself." Xander started. Spike nodded. "Well, over spring break, Cordy’s aunt, who is like practically the same age as she is, came to visit her. You remember, don’tcha? She was the really tall one with dark hair and big boobs. Goes by the name of Cecily."

Spike chuckled. "Yeah, I remember. Crazy bint wouldn’t leave me the bloody ‘ell alone."

"That’s the one." Xander agreed, letting a chuckle escape past his own lips. "Anyway, guess who hooked up with Mrs. I-think-I can-get-any-guy-I want-to?"

"You’re shittin’ me!" Spike exclaimed, incredulously. He almost spat his drink right in the whelp’s face.

"I shit you not." Xander replied, popping a beer nut into his mouth, enjoying the salty trail it left on his moist tongue. "Hank asked her to marry him about three weeks ago. So when you think about it, Cordy and Buffy are almost cousins."

"Well, why didn’t she mention this to me before?" Spike asked, running his fingers through his bleached locks in an attempt to calm his nerves.

"She probably knew if she told you that she was inviting Buffy that you would wigg out." Xander informed him, seriously, knowing full well that’s exactly what Spike would do.

"But she had me fill out all the envelopes, I would have known if she invited Buffy." Spike said confused. His mind was reeling with this sudden development.

"You didn’t by any chance address one to New York, didcha?"

"Well, yeah." Spike sighed. "But Cordy has a lot of friends who live in New York. It could have been anybody. I never would have guessed it was B-Her."

He couldn’t even say the name. 'Yes I can. I just said it a bleedin’ moment ago. I can say B-Oh bloody hell! Now I can’t even think it!'

Xander just shrugged and took a large gulp of his beer, finishing off what was left in his bottle.

Spike’s mind was in overdrive. Buffy, his Buffy was coming to the wedding. How could he see her after all this time? What would he say? She had been his best friend back in high school. She was his everything. And she would be arriving in Sunnydale tomorrow to watch him marry another woman in two weeks. When did things get to be so bloody complicated? Spike asked himself. Hell, if you would have asked him two years ago who he was going to marry, he would have said... 'I would have said Buffy. '

"Bloody hell!" He exclaimed, downing the rest of his own beer now. That’s what he’d do, drink himself into oblivion. That would make him forget about those big beautiful hazel eyes and those soft lips. That shiny shampoo commercial hair that bounced whenever she walked. Oh, and the way she looked in the heat of passion, all covered in sweat and panting, her beautiful face flushed, eyes darkened with uncontrollable lust. Oh, Bloody hell...

"Come on, mate. I’ll buy you another pint." He said to Xander.

Yep, getting real good and sloshed would make him forget about her. If only for a few hours...

So, whatcha think? Still with me?





You must login (register) to review.