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Author's Chapter Notes:
for those waiting for an update of Black Knight...its coming, I've been poorly and not able to concentrate, and now my beta is away for a week.

this is for Katkin...thanks for all your help when i needed it
Buffy couldn’t believe what had happened; what had happened, she asked herself?? ‘Wha? How? Wha?’ she managed to stammer out, looking up at William.

‘You going to say anything that resembles English any time soon, pet?’ He looked down at her; Buffy seemed a little white and William stopped walking.

‘You OK luv?’ he asked worriedly. He hadn’t wanted to frighten Buffy off but he needed to protect her, though he wasn’t sure where that urge had come from. As young as she was, something in her soul called to him.

Buffy nodded. ‘Angel?’ She managed to ask.

‘Well I couldn’t let him hurt you, and you didn’t seem to want his hands all over you, so I persuaded him to let go, that’s all. Didn’t mean to scare you…’

‘You didn’t, he did.’ She took a deep breath. ‘But I just don’t understand how you could do that.’

‘Do that physically or mentally?’ he asked, he really wanted to make sure there was no misunderstanding her questions.

‘Either,’ she asked, ‘both?’ Totally confused, she didn’t understand how someone so lithe as William could take down the hulk that was Angel, and how come he wasn’t scared of the overgrown idiot.

‘I’ve done martial arts for years, since I was a kid. So both physically and mentally I was trained to deal with bullies: Dad knew that I would have to defend myself at times when I was a child, so I learned and I loved it, the control over the body, the self discipline… I’ve let it go for the last few years but I still remember stuff, and anyway I used a simple hold-breaking manoeuvre on the big lug.’ William shrugged his shoulders.

‘Thank you, I don’t think I said it before, but thank you,’ Buffy said quietly.

‘You are more than welcome my lady, it’s not often I get to play white knight to a damsel in distress.’ William bowed and offered his arm again.

Buffy looked up and smiled at him before something caught her eye. She squealed loudly enough to melt earwax and waved at a couple of girls that were headed their way, accompanied by a very strangely dressed gangly youth who seemed to be in pain from the way he was jiggling from foot to foot; either that or he desperately needed the bathroom. William sniggered to himself.

They hugged and squealed; William grinned at the sight, trying to catch the other man’s eye, but the man just turned his head away. He seemed to have eyes only for Buffy. William felt a hint of jealousy, and he hoped he wasn’t treading on anyone else’s toes. Buffy had said there was no boyfriend, but from the looks he was getting from the other man William guessed there was at least one applicant for the job.

Buffy hadn’t noticed any of the silent conversation. She stopped squealing long enough to make the introductions.
‘William, this is Willow and Tara and Xander, my friends: and this is William. He’s moved in across from us and I’m showing him around,’ she explained, still holding onto William’s hand. Xander made some stupid noise and the shorter red-headed woman hit him on the arm, gently.

‘Stop it: Xander, you behave! Just because Cordelia Chase was rude to you, you shouldn’t take it out on Buffy or her friend. I’m Willow,’ she turned towards William, ‘and this is my girlfriend Tara.’ She looked William directly in the eye as if challenging him to make a comment. But he didn’t, he just said hello to the women; Willow obviously relaxed when he didn’t make any judgemental comments. He just smiled and looked happy to be meeting them all.

‘So: William, is it? What do you do for a living? Cause you seem a little old for college…’ Xander asked, not really looking at the women he was with but busy watching some female walk past wearing a far too short skirt and too small top.
‘Hiya,’ he said with a grin as she walked by them.

‘Drop dead, freak!’ was the only reply he got in response.

William felt a little sympathy for Xander, he knew what it was like to feel uncomfortable with the opposite sex and wished he could help, but the dirty look he had received earlier made him wary. Instead he answered the questions as if they had been asked politely.

‘I’m 25, between jobs, love fixing up old cars, just haven’t found one to play with yet.’ He had answered all the questions without seeming to take a breath, only too aware that these people were just trying to be friendly.

‘Do you, fix cars I mean?’ asked Tara brightly, joining the conversation for the first time, ‘cause we have an old Desoto 1957, it’s on its last legs but we’d be real grateful if you’d come and have a look…’ she used her hair as a protective veil, this woman was so insecure she seemed hardly able to face William. He watched the woman who had spoken to him very carefully: the eyes looking at him were filled with kindness and compassion. A good soul lived beind those eyes.

‘What’s it need doing?’ He asked.

‘Everything,’ Tara answered, ‘it’s cluttering up the garage at the moment.’

‘I can show you where they live if you like,’ Buffy offered, glad of the excuse to spend more time with her new neighbour.

‘That would be great, luv: how about tomorrow?’

Everyone seemed to agree, except Xander who had been ignoring the whole conversation as it had little to do with him. William wondered what Buffy saw in the whelp, but something told him there had to be more to the man than met the eye.

‘So, William, what sort of music are you into?’ Willow stared at him; behind the glasses he had the most beautiful ice blue eyes that seemed to sparkle.

‘All sorts really, a lot of bands you might not have heard of, everything from Punk to classical… Mozart was the Sid Vicious of his age, and the waltz was banned for being indecent for years. I really like the Ramones, Jerry Lee Lewis, anything with a good back beat; it was Chuck Berry that said ‘It has to be Rock and Roll music if you want to dance with me.’

The girls laughed at the few notes he’d sung. Buffy noticed they had been in tune, but William had said he played guitar.

‘I like imported stuff as well,’ Willow told him, ‘there is a great band from the UK called Vampire’s Kiss. Their album was on the internet and I managed to download it before the site pulled it: I couldn’t get a genuine copy in the US, but the lead singer was hot…and so was the girl on bass.’

‘Lead singer male or lead singer female?’ Xander joined in, he had to know. The thought of a little girl on girl action always made him hot.

‘Male,’ Willow smiled at the memory.

‘But you’re gay…’ Xander looked confused.

‘Yes Xander, that’s Gay, not blind.’ Willow answered with a grin. Neither noticed the look William had given them. The laughter between them lasted all afternoon; Xander loved hearing the story of how William had taken down Angel.

‘Angel used to beat him up and steal from him in High School,’ Buffy said quietly, ‘he’s always been a bully.’

Xander noticed Buffy and Williams’ heads close together and wondered what they were talking about, but any guy who put Angel in his place was OK with him, and he knew he’d have to make more of a try to be friends if he wanted to stay on the right side of his girls.





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