So there really wasn't anyone to pin the blame on, because all of this wouldn't have happened if they had just communicated better. If he’d have picked up the phone to call Buffy instead of pining for Liz, he'd be with her right now.
When he pulled up to the Chase mansion, he didn't even bother to turn the engine off, he just put the car in park and ran to the door. He didn't want to waste any more time on the little things. He knocked on the door, hoping Buffy would be the one to open it, but nothing happened. He looked down at his watch, noting that it was almost eleven o'clock, and lucky for him Cordy's parents weren't in town, otherwise he would probably be in big trouble for disrupting Mrs. Chase's beauty sleep.
But he hadn't even thought about Cordy. He went to knock again when the door was wrenched open, a scowling, messy haired Cordelia on the other side. “Hi,” he said sheepishly. “Can I speak with Buffy?”
Cordy's face immediately softened and she stepped to the side to let him in. “Oh, William. I'm so sorry! I should have told Buffy that you were... you know, you. Then both of you wouldn't be hurting right now.”
William smiled sadly and pulled Cordy into a hug. “Its okay, pet. Its not your fault. I don't blame you... Wait... Buffy is hurting? Where is she? Can I talk to her?”
She shook her head, and William just stared at her. “If she isn't here, where is she?” he asked, fear that she had already moved on gripping his bones. She wouldn't, would she?
“I, uh...” Cordy started, fighting for the words to say. “I kinda got mad at her after she went to see you. She didn't tell me anything about what happened, she just wanted to leave. So she came home, packed up and left with her mother about an hour ago. What did you say to her?”
William shook his head, trying to take everything in. He hadn't seen Buffy since he'd come to pick her up for their date, so he hadn't done or said anything to her. Why did she just up and leave without saying goodbye?
“Uh... I didn't... say anything to her. I haven't seen her since the last time I was here, earlier today. Why would she leave?” William asked. When Cordy just shrugged, he sighed and ran a hand through his already mussed hair. “Okay, I'm going to go to my dorm and have a shower. Where does she live?”
Cordy wrote down Buffy's address for him, said goodbye and he left. He didn't have any more time to lose, but he definitely needed a shower. He didn't want to go see her smelling like booze and Faith's perfume.
Quickly pulling his keys out of his pocket, he opened the door to his dorm and walked in. All he needed was a towel and a change of clothes, then he could quickly shower, dry off, dress and leave the towel in the bathroom to pick up later.
With that plan in mind, he got what he needed and went to leave the room, but a piece of white paper with his name scrawled on it caught his attention. “What the hell?” he said into the empty room and picked it up.
A piece of paper wasn't going to stop him though, so he decided to read it when he was in the car.
He set his stuff down on a bench outside of the shower, undressed and got into the stall.
After he was done showering, he dried off and got dressed, stuffing the piece of paper into his pocket as he left the bathroom.
He knew he had a long drive ahead of him.
“It's dark,” Joyce said, stating the obvious to her unusually quiet daughter in the passenger seat. “Are you tired?” When Buffy didn't say anything, Joyce sighed and placed a hand over her daughter's. “Buffy? If I asked you what was wrong, is there any chance that you would tell me?”
Buffy remained silent, holding her tears in until she was alone in her room. She didn't want to concern her mother, though she knew that her mom knew that she was upset.
What would Buffy tell her mom anyway? ”I went to a party with Cordy and met this incredible guy and he fucked my brains out, but then I went to go out on a blind date with another guy and found out that the guy from the party and the guy I was going on a date with were one and the same. But I didn't know, so I said some nasty things to him and messed everything up.”
Yeah, that would go over well. She could omit the sex part, and the party part, but it was still all twisted and confusing. So Buffy just took what little comfort she could get from her mother's hand and said nothing.
“I didn't think so.” Joyce said then put all of her attention into driving. There was a diner up ahead, she would pull over and get her daughter to talk over a plate full of carbohydrates.
About an hour into the drive, William was relived that he was closer to seeing Buffy again and making everything better. He didn't understand why Buffy had just left without trying to fix things, and he couldn't help but think she didn't want whatever was between them as badly as he did. He wasn't going to give up though. If Buffy told him to leave when he got to her house, then at least he would feel better, and that he had tried. He would still be hurt, but at least he would have tried.
But what could have made her leave so suddenly? What was it that Cordy told him? Something about Buffy going to see him at the dorm, then coming back upset. William hadn’t been there at the dorm though, he hadn't been back there since before he left for the date. He knew Xander hadn't told Buffy about Faith, he wouldn't do that to William. So what...
William shook his head, instantly kicking himself for not thinking about it before. No one had ever slipped a note under the door before, so who else could it be? Buffy was the only one he knew of that had been by the dorm, so the note must be from her. Using one hand to drive the car, he used the other to dig the note out of his pocket. Once he had it out, he carefully flipped it open and read it while he drove.
William,
I know I messed things up, its pretty obvious now, you with another girl and all. But I wanted to say that I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say such rude things to you, but it’s to late to take it back. I really am sorry that things didn't work out the way I'd hoped.
I hope you find what you are looking for.
Love,
Buffy
William read the note two times before he believed what she was saying. How in the world had she found out about Faith so soon? At least he could feel better knowing that she had tried to make things right, it wasn't just him working on this problem. Now that he knew it wasn't lopsided, how was he going to fix this? If she knew about Faith, it was definitely going to be harder to convince Buffy that he hadn’t done anything with the other girl.
He stepped on the gas pedal, making the car accelerate. He wanted to fix this now.
“I hate the graveyard shift.” Hank said into the empty police car. All he had was a newspaper and the police scanner to keep him entertained, but you can only read the newspaper so many times before you lose interest.
He was about to pick up his phone to call his wife to see how her trip was going when he saw a car coming up behind him. “Oh, that might be them now.”
He stepped out of his vehicle and waited for the other car to come closer. He knew almost immediately that the approaching car was too small, too black and way too fast for it to be Joyce. She drove with caution, whereas this driver had none.
Pulling over a car would be immensely better than doing nothing. After all, it was his job to uphold the law.
All William could do was groan and promise to kick himself when he saw the flash of blue and red lights behind him. He didn't have time for this, and he was only doing... twenty over the speed limit, this cop had to be a jerk.
He slowed down and pulled over to the side, putting his best fake smile on as the cop walked up the length of his car. “Good evening, officer,” William said as he rolled down his window, trying to hold back his annoyance.
“License and registration, please. Do you know why you're being pulled over?” the cop asked, shining his little flashlight in the car.
“You wanted to get in on the last round of 'Kick the William'?” he replied and handed his papers over. When he got a stern 'don't sass me, boy. I'll take your car away' kind of look from the officer, William sighed. “Look, I've had a really bad day. I don't mean to get annoyed with you, but there's this girl, you see. I met her at a party and we had a lot of fun, I mean... lots of fun. But then it got all fucked up, with her being Buffy and not Liz, and me being William and not Spike and I just... I just want to get to her and make sure everything is fine. I usually never speed, but I had to so I can get to her faster and...” William looked at the officer and noticed a bored look on his face. “And you don't really care, do you?”
Hank chuckled and shook his head. “No son, I really don't. But I can listen to you if you want me to. I have all night.”
William groaned and banged his head on the steering wheel. “No, no, its fine. Go... run my plates or whatever.”
Hank laughed as he walked away from the car, remembering a time when he was that age, pining after Joyce. The exact same thing had happened, too; Hank met Joyce at a frat party, had loads of fun, problem was created which led to Hank speeding down the highway to get to Joyce before it was too late. Then he got married and had Buffy and...
'Did that boy say Buffy? As in... my Buffy?' Hank thought to himself, then shook his head in the negative. It couldn't be. Even though Buffy is a highly unusual name, he doubted it would be his little girl.
Just as Hank was about to get into his car to run William's license plates, he saw headlights coming toward him and leaned against the cruiser instead. 'Ah, this is Joyce now, I'll bet...'
“Oh look, it's your dad.” Joyce said as she slowed down and pulled over to talk to her husband for a bit. Maybe getting a hug from her father would cheer Buffy up a bit, they always did have a good father-daughter bond.
When Buffy perked up a bit in her seat and reach for her seatbelt, Joyce smiled. “You miss your dad, hon?”
“Huh?” Buffy said, her attention focused on the car in front of her father's cruiser than on her mother's voice. “Oh, yeah, I uh... missed you both muchly. Whose car is that in front of dad's?”
“Why don't you ask him?” Joyce said as she watched her husband approach the car.
Joyce rolled down the window and leaned up as Hank leaned forward for a kiss. “Hi, honey. How was the ride?” he asked, then looked over at Buffy. “And how are you sweetie? You didn't sound to happy on the phone earlier.”
“Yeah, dad. I'm fine. Who is that?” she pointed to the car, swearing that she had seen it before. She just couldn't place it...
Hank sighed and looked down at the papers in his hand. “Oh, some speeder. His name is William. He was doing twenty over the limit then tried to talk me out of giving him a ticket. Something about a girl and party and... Buffy? Where are you going...?”
Buffy shot out of the car and ran towards the black one, half-hoping it would be her William, but also hoping it wouldn't be. She felt her palms get sweaty and she wiped them on her jeans. She could hear her parents calling for her, but she wasn't listening. All she wanted was to see who was in the car.
William still had his head against the steering wheel, awaiting the return of the police officer, and his ticket. “Bloody, buggering, sonofawanker... you had to get yourself pulled over didn't you?” he asked himself. He heard the soft footsteps coming up the length of his car and raised his head, preparing himself for the amount of money he would have to pay for the... “Buffy?”
He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again, confirming that she was really standing outside his car. He had a million thoughts running through his head, a million things that he wanted to say to her, but all he wanted was to have her in his arms. He quickly opened the door, careful not to hit her with it as she stepped to the side and tried to get out. He tried again, confused as to what was holding him back then he growled in frustration as he yanked the seatbelt off his body.
He heard Buffy's giggle, but ignored it in favor of pulling her into his arms and kissing her forehead. “I'm so sorry, luv.” Kiss on the cheek, “I didn't mean to hurt you,” kiss on the opposite cheek, “I was just upset,” kiss on the nose, “that you didn't like me when I was myself.”
He was about to kiss her lips when she turned her head, his kiss landing on her cheek once more. He looked at her in confusion then nodded his head, pulling away from her as his heart sank. He reached for the door and was about to get back into the car when Buffy stopped him.
“Where are you going?” she asked as she grabbed his hand. “I wanted to say something...”
“It's okay, Buffy. I get it. I don't feel like being rejected by you again tonight. So I'll just get back into the car and wait for your dad to...”
She sighed and pulled on his arm, effectively bringing him closer to her. “You silly, silly boy. Will you just listen to me?” she laughed and snaked her arms around his waist. He looked at her with confusion and she leaned up to kiss him softly on the lips. “You don't get to be sorry, okay? I'm the one who made a mess out of everything, so I'm the one who is sorry.”
“But if I...” he started, but was cut off by Buffy's finger on his lips.
“No. No buts. If I’d have just said something, or told you my real name, none of this would have happened. Now, I want you to kiss me.”
William looked at her like she was the only woman in the world and then captured her lips in a searing kiss. It made her heart swell and her knees weak. She was so ruined for any other guy, and she didn't even care. All she wanted was right there in her arms and she knew the feeling was mutual.
After a quick conversation with her parents, Buffy convinced her dad to let William off on the ticket and to let her go back to Cordy's with him. It was a hard thing to do, considering what William had told her father, but Buffy pulled her 'Daddy, pleeassee?' look on him and he caved. William just had to go to a family dinner next week for a better introduction to her parents.
He was totally fine with that. That meant that he was going to be with Buffy for at least a week, and if it was up to him, the rest of their lives. Now, he was sitting beside her, holding her hand as he drove her back to Cordy's place. Maybe he could talk Xander into staying the night at Anya's...
“So, what made you come after me? I thought you would hate me, or something.” Buffy asked, giving his hand a light squeeze.
“Nothing could make me hate you, Buffy. I was just upset. What made you leave?” he countered, really curious as to what happened at the dorm.
“Well...” she started, then felt her lip wobble at thoughts of him with another woman. “You're mine, right? Like... my boyfriend?”
“If you want me to be... I mean, I hope so... I mean... yes... I'd love that.” he stammered, looking back and forth between her and the road.
Buffy giggled, overcome by his cuteness and squeezed his hand again. “Well, I heard the message you left for Xander. The one about you and another girl and I kinda freaked. I didn't want to be around you with another woman so I just... left. You didn't...”
“No,” he said quickly, not wanting her to think those thoughts. “I couldn't, not with Faith. I thought that I could, but I kept talking about you and she was all 'go get your girl' then I dropped her off at her house and left for Cordy's to find you. Then I found your note and read it while I was driving, sped the car up to get to you faster and that’s when your dad pulled me over.”
Buffy winced. “Yeah, sorry 'bout that.” When William shrugged, she continued. “So, are we good now.? Like, problem solved? I don't want you to be mad at me or start this relationship off on the wrong foot. When I said those things to you, I didn't really mean it, you know?”
William sighed and pulled the car over, put the gear in park then turned to face her. Using the hand that held hers, he pulled her over to him and kissed her with all the pent up feelings he had for her. “Now that you’re mine, Buffy,” he said, when he pulled away. He placed a hand on her cheek, his thumb rubbing the soft skin he found there. “Now that you’re mine, I’m not letting you go.”
She leaned into his touch and let her eyes close as she smiled. “Good, because I'm never letting go of you, either.”
The End