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Author's Chapter Notes:
Buffyverse=Joss's, Chapter title: Fall Out Boy's.

Thanks for the lovely reviews from these first few chapters, I really do appreciate it! Posting may be a little slower from here on out, as I only have chapters 1-8 pre written, although I am currently working on 9!

Anyhow, this chapter picks off directly from the last one, and we're still with Spike...
I was glad that I'd had the extra time to keep everything fairly neat as Buffy wandered through the door. Her eyes immediately surveyed the room. "Wow, you have a really nice apartment" she said, sounding surprised.

"It's not much, but its home" I shut the front door and stood next to her. "I've got a bedroom come living room, a small kitchen through the door on the right," I gestured to the door in question, "And this way," I walked to the bathroom door and pushed it open, "Is the bathroom. There should be everything you'd need to clean up."

Buffy began to walk towards the bathroom door, before she turned and gave me a half smile. "What about my shirt? I can't exactly put it back on!" I cursed my own stupidity, before having a sudden brainwave.

I opened my chest of drawers and pulled out a yellow and blue short sleeved checked shirt that had been given to me as a present, but had never been worn, partly because it was a bit small, but mostly because I didn't want to wear checks.

I held it up. "Will this do?" Her half smile became a full grin, and her eyes sparkled.

"That'll do nicely." She practically skipped towards me, plucked the shirt from my grasp and disappeared in a whirlwind through the bathroom door.

As I sat on my bed and waited for Buffy's return, my eyes fell upon my childhood cuddly toy, a pig called Fred, resting on my chest of drawers. She had been a present from my parents, and was one of the few non-clothes items that had made the transition from England to America with me.

Buffy cleared her throat. I looked up to see her posed against the doorway, wearing my checked shirt with the ends tied around her waist to form a crop top. She quirked her eyebrow at me. "Nice to know where I stand in terms of your interest, you were staring at that pig for aggggges!" she said , teasingly.

She sat down on the bed next to me. "What's the story behind it anyway?" I smiled as I let myself remember the day in more detail.

"It was the day my sister Dawn was born. My mum was recovering from giving birth, while I waited with my dad. We had a wander around the hospital, and were discussing baby names, now that we knew it was a girl. I was maybe five or six at the time, and became convinced we should call the baby Winifred." Buffy laughed, quickly recovering and encouraging me to continue.

"My father objected to having a girl who could be nicknamed Fred, but I wouldn't let it go. Eventually we ended up at the hospital shop, and he bought me Fred, on the condition that I would let the baby name go. "

I turned and looked straight into Buffy's green pools. "And that's the story behind the pig. Anyway, we better get going, Anya will not be happy if I'm too late." Buffy hopped off the bed.

"Okay, but have you got maybe a carrier bag or something for the soaked shirt?" she asked. I quickly found one, and soon we were heading back out the door and into the street.

The walk to the shop was enjoyable, with Buffy laughing and smiling all the way at the bits of conversation we were having. She laughed until she was coughing when I told her about Anya's rabbit phobia, and again when I finally admitted my birth name was William John Hart. I responded by pointing out that my name wasn't nearly as bad as being called Angel.

This led to a debate over names, and I found out her birth name was Elizabeth Anne Summers, and that she also had a sister ,called Faith who worked as a stunt double in LA.

We arrived at my bookstore and I introduced her to Anya and Xander Jenkins-Harris, some of the first friends I made after moving to Sunnydale. Xander's first comment of "You look way more normal than Dru." broke the ice, and while he kept Buffy amused, I pulled Anya aside to talk about shop matters, and the possibility of hiring Buffy on a part time contract.

By the time I caught up with Buffy and Xander, they were sat in beanbags chatting in the 'reading area' I had set up at the back of the store. A small surge of jealousy erupted, even though I knew it was unnecessary when it came to Xander. He and Anya were inseparable except when it came to their jobs, and even then, he would usually drop in on his breaks from the construction site he was working on.

Eventually, Xander went to work, and I introduced Buffy to the other workers in the store. Wesley Wyndham-Pryce was a Brit like me, and had originally come to LA with dreams of becoming an actor. When that idea failed, he moved down to Sunnydale. His love of literature had brought him to my bookstore when Anya and I were the only ones running it, and I had hired him on the spot when he asked if there were any job openings.

Tara Maclay had been a barmaid one of the nights I decided to get drunk over Dru. I had immediately liked her when she put me in my place for flirting with her. She wasted no time informing me she was lesbian, and had no time for players like me.

Nevertheless, she was the one who saw me home that night, as I was barely able to stand up. I returned to the bar the next night with some flowers and apologised for my actions. We had been friends ever since, and once the store was up and running, I offered her a job so she was no longer dealing with drunks like me, which she had accepted on the condition that I never hit on her again.

And that left the last member of my small group of employees, the pain of my otherwise heavenly job, Andrew Wells. I hired him as a favour to Xander, who was the geek's cousin, and while he annoyed the hell out of me, he was a good worker, so I had no reason to fire him.

Buffy shook hands with each of them in turn, asking how much of a tyrant I was to work for. They all laughed, and said a brief goodbye before getting back to work. Buffy continued to follow me around the store, occasionally making comments on the books we passed.

She especially perked up as we came to the poetry section, and she rambled on about her favourite poets and poems, which I couldn't help but find adorable. I responded by pointing out some of my own favourites, from the classics such as Wordsworth, to the more contemporary.

After a particularly heated debate over Emily Dickinson vs John Keats, we went for an enjoyable lunch at a small Italian near the store. She continued to fascinate me with her life, and I continued to reveal facts about myself that under usual circumstances I would never tell, such as the fact I wrote poetry.

The afternoon passed far more quickly than I would have liked, but by the time I closed the doors, it felt like I had known Buffy forever. Just as we were about to part ways, I plucked up the courage to ask what I had been planning all day.

"Would you like a part time job here?" I tentatively asked. Buffy looked stunned.

"You do remember I was kicked out of my family home because I gave up my job to focus on singing?" she questioned.

"I remember, but it wouldn't be the hours you used to work at that greasy hell-hole. Just a secure part time job to back up your earnings from performing," I gave her a grin. "If it makes you feel any better, I've thinking about hiring another worker for a while." This was true. With six people on the team, it would be a lot easier to spread hours, and Anya had agreed it would be economically worthwhile.

Buffy appeared to relax. "Do you mind if I think about it?"

I shook my head. "Not at all. When you decide, just give me a call, here's my number," I passed her a business card, "Or you could come in and see me, or just have a chat with me after you perform next."

She smiled. "Okay, I'll let you know."

After I apologised for ruining her shirt once again, and telling her to keep the replacement, we said our goodbyes and each headed our separate ways. I couldn't wait to see that girl again.


Chapter End Notes:
Hope you liked it! :)



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