ONE NORMAL LIFE / TWO EXTRAORDINARY LIVES
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BtVS AU/AR › Het - Male/Female › Buffy/Spike(William)
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Adult ++
Chapters:
210
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11,804
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Category:
BtVS AU/AR › Het - Male/Female › Buffy/Spike(William)
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
210
Views:
11,804
Reviews:
182
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
LIFE GOES ON
CHAPTER 106 - LIFE GOES ON
November 27, 2008
Wednesday
11:00am
Buffy walked by the window in her claom, om, just in time to catch a glimpse of William in Spike’s old army jacket, walking into the shed, carrying a rake.
“Where did this come from?” he’d asked of the jacket, a few weeks ago, when the weather had gotten cool and she’d suggested he wear it.
“I don’t know, just something you had here.”
He made a face, but put it on, to see how it fit. He put his hands inside the pockets and pulled out a handful of tree bark.
“Why do you think these are in here?”
“I don’t know,” she answered, looking at them. Then it dawned on her, “Yes I do, they’re from when you carved our initials in our tree.”
He turned them over in his hands, examining them, then put them back in his pocket and stepped over to her and put his hand on her cheek, “S’all connected, isn’t it?”
She nodded, looking him in the eyes, “Yes, it is.”
He’d been working now, for over 2 months, and they’d settled into a comfortable routine.
William worked in the mornings, then waited for Buffy to get finished with w usu usually an hour after the children had gone, at the library. He passed the time by reading or using the Internet for the first couple of weeks, but eventually, started helping the librarian catalogue some of the books and periodicals that came in. About a month later, with the library board’s agreement, she offered him a part-time job from 1:00pm – 3:30pm. He was quite pleased with this development, as it he now waskingking almost full-time, and he only had to wait another half-hour or less for Buffy to get out of work, so they could go home.
Tomorrow was Thanksgiving Day. They planned on a small dinner with just Clem as their guest.
Dawn had called to say that their father was going out-of-town with his new girlfriend, and she herself had been invited to Dr. John’s parent’s home in Sacramento.
Buffy was sorry about Dawn, but relieved that she didn’t have to make her own excuses to Hank.
The following day, her and William’s main goal was to get a Christmas tree. It would be the first time; in all the years she’d lived there, she’d never once celebrated a holiday. She’d decorated her classroom last year for the students, and in past years, had gone to her father’s apartment to celebrate the holidays with Dawn. But when she returned to Julian, to ‘their’ house, it was like she drew a curtain, separating her outside life with that of the memories she’d shared with Spike.
The only thing she did religiously every year was to build another ‘Snowman Spike,’ around Valentine’s Day.
This year was different though, this year she had something to celebrate!
They walked through the tree lot in Julian, looking for the best tree and feeling bad for the trees that had given their lives for the holiday, as well.
“How about this one, Elizabeth?” William asked, showing her a Scotch pine tree, whose bottom was covered in burlap.
“That’s nice, we could plant it afterwards, too. But what would we put it in?”
They went to search for the man who worked there. When they found him, he showed them a huge 10-gallon red plastic tub, which could be used to keep the bottom of the tree moist, over the holiday season.
“What a racket!” Buffy said, grinning, half-hour later, as she and William paid the $50.00 for the tree and $10.00 for the tub.
They got the tree into the car’s trunk somehow, tied it down with twine, and brought it home. They moved the coffee table, which sat next to the desk against the wall, and set up the tree there.
Next, they went shopping for decorations. They went to a ‘Christmas Store,’ which had opened up for the holidays. William had never seen so many decorations in his life, and had to stop at every display to look and make his choices. They wound up with an eclectic selection. William wanted silver and gold glass bulbs; Buffy wanted multi-colored ones, so they bought some of each. Same with lights, garland, tinsel, and ornaments. All in all, they spent a couple of hours and a couple of hundred dollars getting a little of everything.
The one thing they both agreed on were the bird ornaments that he’d found. Love birds, doves, cardinals, blue birds, and others, made of feather, ceramic, and glass. They bought some of each kind.
Snowmen, Santas, reindeer, and a glass star for the top, rounded out their selection of ornaments.
Buffy looked at William, enjoying his childlike happiness at picking out ornaments and looking at the decorated trees. The proverbial kid in a candy store. Truth be told, she felt like that, too.
She even talked him out of grumbling over the cost of it all by explaining that they would have these decorations and ornaments for years and wouldn’t have to spend this much again.
They picked up a couple of Christmas CD’s and went home with their spoils.
That evening, after dinner, to the sounds of Christmas music and hot apple cider, they decorated their first tree.
Buffy got out the stepstool, and William stood on it, arranging the lights on top, while she directed from about 10 feet away. Thttomttom lights they both put on. Then it was time to put on the ornaments, which took them over an hour, just to decide where each one looked the best.
Lastly, she handed him the star and he stood on the stepstool again to reach the top of the tree.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“It’s perfect.”
He got down and stood back, admiring it. She went over and turned out the lamps and stood next to him, putting her arm around him, as they basked in the glow of the tree lights.
“It is, isn’t it?” he asked, in wonder.
“It really is,” she agreed, and reached up to kiss him, “it really is.”
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November 30, 2008
Saturday
10:00am
“There they are!” Buffy said, waving at Dawn and the young man whose arm she had.
“Dawn! Over here!” she yelled, loud enough to be heard over the throng of Christmas shoppers.
Buffy and William had come down to San Diego to go Christmas shopping and to meet up with Dawn and Dr. John, who were spending the night with his cousin.
“Buffy! William!” Dawn said, making her way through the crowd with Dr. John in tow.
The sisters hugged and kissed, then Dawn and William hugged.
“This is John,” Dawn said, smiling proudly at him.
Buffy looked over at him, John was tall, about 6’2”, with curly, dark brown hair and eyes, a rather round face, and full lips that easily gave up a warm smile.
“Hi John, I’m Buffy and this is William. It’s nice to finally meet you. We’ve heard a lot about you for quite a while now.”
“You, too.”
“William,” John said, holding out his hand, which William shook, “nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you, too.”
“Well, why don’t we go to Starbucks and get tanked up on caffeine as we plot our strategy,” Buffy suggested.
“Always the slayer,” Dawn whispered to Buffy as they walked ahead of the guys, toward Starbucks.”
“Huh?”
“Tanked up? Strategy?” Dawn rolled her eyes.
“That would’ve been ‘suited up,’ or ‘geared up,’ not ‘tanked up.’ That would’ve been the government…”
“What do you want?” William asked, “I’ll buy for everyone.”
Buffy gave him her order, as did Dawn and John. She felt bad knowing he was going to be down over $10 already, and they hadn’t even bought a single present yet.
They chit-chatted over coffee, then decided that for the first two hours the couples would shop together, then they would meet for lunch and decide how to proceed from there.
The first stop was the mall’s Radio Shack. Xander was first on Buffy and William’s list of friends to shop for. William picked up a copy of Typing Tutor for him. They also found a child’s version for Alex, geared for the 4-6 year olds. It had dozens of games, all played while teaching keyboarding skills. William also got Xander something called, ‘Let’s Fish!’ on CD-ROM that was like the Gideon’s Bible of fishing information. From lures to tackle, bait, poles, reels, line, types of fish, and what’s more, had a website where Xander could connect to, for up-to-date reports on the conditions of any watering hole he could think of wanting to visit.
Buffy spotted and couldn’t resist a little remote control racecar for Xander and Alex. In it’s seat sat a little character from the latest Disney movie she was sure they were probably familiar with.
“Great little car and a good price,” said the sales clerk as he walked up to them.
“It’s adorable,” Buffy agreed, “but I think when one purchases a car, they should be allowed to test drive it first, don’t you, um…Doug?” Buffy asked, using his the name on his tag.
“Uh…sure you can,” he said looking around for somewhere that they could play with it, where it wouldn’t trip someone.
“Follow me,” he said, leading them through the store, two cars and two remotes in his hand, “I probably shouldn’t let you do this, but…” he opened up the back door of the store and took them into a hall that only store personnel entered by. The hall was empty.
“You can play with it here, just don’t let anybody know I let you, okay? Oh, and don’t run the cars into each other’s, don’t want them looking all banged up,” Doug said, handing Buffy and William the remotes. He put the cars on the ground in front of them.
“Have fun!”
“Thanks, Doug,” said Buffy.
“Yeah, thanks!”
“What color do you car do you want? Blue or green?”
“Ladies first.”
“Blue.”
“Then green it is,” he said, switching the cars so that the green one was now in front of him.
They practiced a bit, getting used to the remotes, laughing when their car would run backwards in circles, when the wrong lever was used.
Finally, they got the hang of it and raced their cars up and down the 20 or so feet down the hallway.
“WOO-HOO! I won, I won,” William yelled with glee, as his car smacked into his foot.
“No fair! Your car was in the way, when I tried to turn around!” Buffy said, pretending to sulk.
“Aw…poor Elizabeth! Okay, let’s go again, I’ll even let you start off first.”
“Oh, don’t think I can win? Let’s go!”
They raced their cars for another 5 minutes, laughing and trying to block each other’s car, as to get the advantage.
“Okay, last race,” Buffy said.
“On your mark, get set…hey, that’s cheating!”
The green car took off, straight down the middle, then veered from side to side, as it blocked the blue car’s advance. Buffy faked to the left, then took off in front of the green car. At the end of the hallway, she tried to make a turn, only to be pushed out of the way, as William’s green car came full speed into the side of hers. He quickly reversed and got straightened out and started coming back in the home stretch. Buffy righted her car and raced after his, staying on his tail, but he anticipated her every move to overtake him, and raced to the finish.
“I think you cheat!” she said.
“Yeah, well, what are you going to do about it?” he asked, smirking at her in a very Spike-like way, that made her weak in the knees.
She grabbed him and kissed him hard, and wrapped her leg around his thigh until she had maximum contact with his body. They stumbled back up against the door to the Radio Shack, and as they did, she fingered the remote, advancing her car, which had been stopped at their feet, to the wall a few feet away, unit bit banged up against it.
They stopped to look, “Oops, looks like I won after all!” she said, trying to look innocent.
“That’s because you cheated,” he said, panting. “and you’ll pay for that, missy!”
“Promise?”
“Oh, I promise alright!” William said, wagging an eyebrow at her in a suggestive manner.
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There was a long line at the counter when they went up to pay for their purchases.
“Look, they ship!” Buffy said, pointing to the sign, “think I’ll just have them ship these from here, that way I won’t have to go to the Post-Office later. Just wish I had some cards to enclose,” she said wistfully.
“Like these?” William said, as he picked up a box off of an end cap that he’d been standing by.
“Great, we can do these while we’re waiting!”
“What about Clem?”
“Crap, that’s right, why don’t you go look around, while I keep our place in mind, if you find something, let me know, then you can hold my place.”
“Can we do that?”
“Why not? If we both get out of line, by the time we get back to the line, we’ll have to wait another half-hour.”
He looke the the line that had formed behind her. There were at least another 20 people.
“Good point,” he said, nodding and heading off in search of more presents.
He came back a few minutes later.
“Find anything?”
“I think so. Wasn’t Clem talking about wanting to be able to put his old tapes on DVD’s?”
She thought about it for a minute, “Yeah, I think he was. I think he has a DVD-VCR player, but not a DVD recorder.”
William nodded, “Right. There’s one on sale for about $65.00, what do you think?”
“That’s perfect, bring it over.”
He came back a few minutes later, “It was the last one,” he said, dejectedly.
“Crap!” Buffy said.
Just then Doug walked by, “Doug, we wanted to buy that DVD recorder that you have on sale for $65.00, but it’s the last one. Do you think you have any more in the back?”
“No, I know we don’t,” he answered, “it sold out early yesterday.”
“Damn!” Buffy said, “what about other Radio Shacks?”
“Same thing, but you can probably order one online, I’ll go check.”
He returned in a few minutes, “Sorry, it’s out of stock, too. If you’d like though, I can sell you the floor model.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I asked the manger already, just let me find the box, then I’ll have it at the counter for you. The manager knocked 10% off too, since it was the floor model.”
“Great!”
Buffy hugged William, “I’m glad you spotted that! Clem will love it!”
“Anyone else?”
“Willow and Dawn, but I don’t think I’m going to buy them anything from . Th. The Science Store has something that Dawn wants, and I’m thinking of a coat for Willow. Last time I talked to Kennedy, when Willow was out, she told me that Willow had been looking around for a new one, but hadn’t been able to afford the one she wanted.”
Buffy knew she probably shouldn’t be spending so much money either, but especially this year, with all the help that they’d given her, she was definitely so spog heg her friends!
“What about you? You see anything here that you like?”
“Me? No. You don’t have to buy me anything. Got everything I need,” he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
She shook her head, laughing.
“What about you?” he asked.
“Same thing,” she said, taking his hand, “got everything I need.”
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“You don’t have to wait with me, if you don’t want to. There’s a bookstore across the way somesome other shops, or you could sit down on a bench out there, if you can find one,” she said, about ten minutes later, while they were still behind at least another half-dopeoppeople.
“Trying to get rid of me?” he asked.
“Not at all, just thought you might be bored. Know I am.”
“I can wait in line for you,” he suggested.
“No, I’ve got Xander’s address, so I’d better do this.”
“Well, maybe I will step outside then. How long do you think it’ll be?”
“Another 15 minutes, maybe. Want to meet me in front of the store then, by the benches?”
“Okay,” he said, and giving her a parting kiss, made his way through to the exit.
He breathed in a sigh of relief, momentarily, as he realized it was about 20 degrees cooler outside of the store.
He stood there looking at the different stores, until the sight of a jewelry store caught his eye.
Walking over to it, he stood in front the display window looking at a variety of rings, nacesaces, watches, bracelets, earrings, and chains. Drawing up his courage, he stepped inside, squeezing between the throngs of customers lined up against the display cases, some talking with sales associates, some to their partners, some alone.
William felt a yearning as he watched as a happy couple looked at engagement and wedding rings. The woman’s face was aglow, as she looked at her partner and then the ring on her finger.
“May I help you?” a woman asked, interrupting his reverie.
He cleared his throat, “Um…I’m looking for a Christmas present.”
“For a woman?”
“Yes, my…” the word wife stuck in his throat and he faltered.
“Someone very special?” the salesclerk asked, perceptively.
He nodded, grateful, “Very special.”
“Are you looking for a ring?”
“I…I’m not sure.”
“Why don’t I show you some of the rings and let you get some idea of what we have?”
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Buffy finally left the store, happy that she’d managed a big portion of her holiday shopping, even if she was going to be paying for it until February. Xander and Alex’s gifts would be shipped tomorrow and would be there next week, and Clem’s and William’s gifts were being shipped to the school, where she would find some way to sneak them into the car after they arrived. She smiled when she thought of her brainstorm she’d had and how she’d gotten William to leave for a while.
She looked at her watch; he should be waiting for her right about now. Only he wasn’t.
Gratefully, she saw someone get up from one of the benches and took their seat, hoping he’d finish whatever he was doing soon.
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William walked out of the jewelry store discouraged; the ring he thought Elizabeth would really like was way out of his price range.
With what he was earning after taxes; which had been a rude shock, he’d only managed to save a small bit of it over the past couple of months. Elizabeth had tried to explain to him that there was a household budget fund for things such as groceries, fuel, etc. Still, it didn’t feel right to just pocket his money, while he knew that the ‘fund’ was mostly being supported by her earnings, and so, when Clem would take him driving, they’d stop at the nearby grocery store and he’d pick up what they needed, using his own money.
He saw Elizabeth sitting on the bench, her eyes scanning the crowds looking for him. She spotted him and he waved to her as he approached.
“Hi,” he said, squeezed in between her and a heavyset woman a seat away, “been waiting long?”
“Not too long.”
“Did you decide against the DVD recorder for Clem?”
“No, I bought it, they’re going to ship it to the school for me next week, so I don’t have to carry it around the rest of the day. How about you? You find anything interesting?”
He shook his head, then leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Not until this very minute.”
She laughed, “Flattery will get you everywhere.”
“That’s my plan,” he said, laughing along with her.
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“I see her,” William said, waving at Dawn, who was standing next to a table in the middle of the practically overflowing food court.
“I hope you don’t mind the location, it took us about 15 minutes to spot an empty table,” Dawn said, when Buffy and William had made their way to the table.
“No, it’s great. Hey, you got pizza and everything!”
“Yeah, John stayed with the table and I took the liberty to order food and pop for everyone, so you guys didn’t have to wait in line. Figured everyone likes pizza. Right?” Dawn looked at William, who nodded.
“Thanks, that was really thoughtful, Dawn,” Buffy said, sitting down. She would’ve rather just had some sort of salad, but looking over at the long lines, she’d go with the pizza, gladly.
They ate lunch, and got to know John better. He was very intelligent and soon, William and him were discussing the classics, among other things.
“I agree, A Midsummer Night’s Dream may ‘read’ the funniest, but if you ever see them performed live, you’ll have to agree that Taming of the Shrew is funnier, still,” John had argued.
“Yes, well, you may have a point, but I still think that A Midsummer Night’s Dream has the funniest plot. Come now, you’ve got…”
Dawn and Buffy looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Dawn leaned over and whispered to Buffy, “If they were our spouses, I’d say they’re espousing!”
They both cracked up.
The men stopped to look at them, “What?” William asked.
“Nothing,” Buffy said, innocently.
Dawn looked at John, also shaking her head and batting her eyelashes at him.
“William, I’d say we’ve just been made the brunt of a cruel joke, if I know this one,”saidsaid, nodding over to Dawn.
“Wouldn’t surprise me a bit,” he agreed, looking at Elizabeth.
Buffy and Dawn giggled.
“What do you say we get back to shopping. Now, how are we going to do this?” Buffy asked.
After some discussion, they broke into two groups again, Dawn with William, and Buffy with John.
“Two hours enough?” Buffy asked Dawn.
“Probably. I’ll call you on the cell, if it gets reception here. If not, we’ll meet you in front of Starbucks around 2:00pm.”
Dawn and William went off to find something for Buffy. William complained about the jewelry store prices and not knowing what he should get.
“Were you looking for a certain kind of ring, in particular?” Dawn asked, hinting.
He turned to face her, “You know I would in a heartbeat, but I…I don’t think…I don’t want to rush Elizabeth, if she doesn’t want…”
Dawn put her hand on his arm, “Relax William, I was teasing you. I think she really does want to, deep down. I can’t tell you when the right time will be; hopefully you’ll know that. So…what about a different kind of ring?”
They discussed his options for a few minutes.
“William, how would you like to blow this pop stand for a little while?”
“What do you mean?”
“I noticed a nice little antique shop about 2 blocks away on our way here. What do you say we get the car and go over there and see if there’s anything nice that’s in your budget as well?”
He nodded gratefully and they took off for the exit.
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It was just after 2:00pm, as Buffy stood talking to John at the Starbuck’s counter, having just ordered a Café Mochachino for herself and Dawn and two regular coffees for the guys. Three large shopping bags full of presents were on the floor next to her. Her and John had stayed together part of the time, like when he enlisted her help in picking out a pretty cashmere scarf for Dawn and a matching sweater. Mostly though, they just shopped by themselves, meeting up before going on to the next store.
“There they are,” she said, noticing Dawn and William walking up, arms linked and looking mighty pleased with themselves.
“So, did you find anything? Did ya? Did ya?” Buffy teasingly asked them.
“Nope, not a thing,” William answered, a bit too quickly.
“But we had a good time getting ideas,” Dawn added, winking.
Neither had any packages, so Buffy had no reason to doubt them, although William seemed to be trying a bit too hard to act nonchalant.
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“So, you didn’t find anything today, huh?” Buffy asked, later that night, as they sat curled up in front of the fireplace, enjoying the warmth of that, each other, and the twinkling of the Christmas tree lights.
“Um, not really, just looked at a million things,” he said, chuckling, “never understand the attraction to these malls.”
“You didn’t have a good time?” she asked, hurt.
“Didn’t say that, luv,” he said, pulling her in tighter and kissing the top of her head, “had a lovely time with you, seeing Dawn, meeting her boyfriend. Just malls in general,” he said, shaking his head.
“Yeah, they’re kinda crazy sometimes, especially a couple of days after Thanksgiving Day,” she said, looking at their intertwined fingers.
He brought their hands to his mouth, kissing hers, “Actually, it was pretty fun. You did good though; got that coat for Willow, some clothes for Dawn, and that thing from the Science Store, right?”
“Yeah, I did okay,” she said, smiling at him, as she thought of what she’d bought him, too.
For the first time in longer than she could remember, she was really loving this season.
END CHAPTER 106
A/N Sorry this took so long, what with the holidays and such.
I’m getting to some ‘interesting’ parts of the story, in fact, I tem tempted to post the next chapter as well, but I have to make 100% sure about it first, so it will have to wait. Darn…there’s something about the last line of this that would flow right into the next one…but you guys have waited a long time for these chapters, so at least you’ll have these for now. Just remember to go back and read the last line before starting the next one…unless I totally change it between now and then.
Hope everyone had a nice holiday like I did.
November 27, 2008
Wednesday
11:00am
Buffy walked by the window in her claom, om, just in time to catch a glimpse of William in Spike’s old army jacket, walking into the shed, carrying a rake.
“Where did this come from?” he’d asked of the jacket, a few weeks ago, when the weather had gotten cool and she’d suggested he wear it.
“I don’t know, just something you had here.”
He made a face, but put it on, to see how it fit. He put his hands inside the pockets and pulled out a handful of tree bark.
“Why do you think these are in here?”
“I don’t know,” she answered, looking at them. Then it dawned on her, “Yes I do, they’re from when you carved our initials in our tree.”
He turned them over in his hands, examining them, then put them back in his pocket and stepped over to her and put his hand on her cheek, “S’all connected, isn’t it?”
She nodded, looking him in the eyes, “Yes, it is.”
He’d been working now, for over 2 months, and they’d settled into a comfortable routine.
William worked in the mornings, then waited for Buffy to get finished with w usu usually an hour after the children had gone, at the library. He passed the time by reading or using the Internet for the first couple of weeks, but eventually, started helping the librarian catalogue some of the books and periodicals that came in. About a month later, with the library board’s agreement, she offered him a part-time job from 1:00pm – 3:30pm. He was quite pleased with this development, as it he now waskingking almost full-time, and he only had to wait another half-hour or less for Buffy to get out of work, so they could go home.
Tomorrow was Thanksgiving Day. They planned on a small dinner with just Clem as their guest.
Dawn had called to say that their father was going out-of-town with his new girlfriend, and she herself had been invited to Dr. John’s parent’s home in Sacramento.
Buffy was sorry about Dawn, but relieved that she didn’t have to make her own excuses to Hank.
The following day, her and William’s main goal was to get a Christmas tree. It would be the first time; in all the years she’d lived there, she’d never once celebrated a holiday. She’d decorated her classroom last year for the students, and in past years, had gone to her father’s apartment to celebrate the holidays with Dawn. But when she returned to Julian, to ‘their’ house, it was like she drew a curtain, separating her outside life with that of the memories she’d shared with Spike.
The only thing she did religiously every year was to build another ‘Snowman Spike,’ around Valentine’s Day.
This year was different though, this year she had something to celebrate!
They walked through the tree lot in Julian, looking for the best tree and feeling bad for the trees that had given their lives for the holiday, as well.
“How about this one, Elizabeth?” William asked, showing her a Scotch pine tree, whose bottom was covered in burlap.
“That’s nice, we could plant it afterwards, too. But what would we put it in?”
They went to search for the man who worked there. When they found him, he showed them a huge 10-gallon red plastic tub, which could be used to keep the bottom of the tree moist, over the holiday season.
“What a racket!” Buffy said, grinning, half-hour later, as she and William paid the $50.00 for the tree and $10.00 for the tub.
They got the tree into the car’s trunk somehow, tied it down with twine, and brought it home. They moved the coffee table, which sat next to the desk against the wall, and set up the tree there.
Next, they went shopping for decorations. They went to a ‘Christmas Store,’ which had opened up for the holidays. William had never seen so many decorations in his life, and had to stop at every display to look and make his choices. They wound up with an eclectic selection. William wanted silver and gold glass bulbs; Buffy wanted multi-colored ones, so they bought some of each. Same with lights, garland, tinsel, and ornaments. All in all, they spent a couple of hours and a couple of hundred dollars getting a little of everything.
The one thing they both agreed on were the bird ornaments that he’d found. Love birds, doves, cardinals, blue birds, and others, made of feather, ceramic, and glass. They bought some of each kind.
Snowmen, Santas, reindeer, and a glass star for the top, rounded out their selection of ornaments.
Buffy looked at William, enjoying his childlike happiness at picking out ornaments and looking at the decorated trees. The proverbial kid in a candy store. Truth be told, she felt like that, too.
She even talked him out of grumbling over the cost of it all by explaining that they would have these decorations and ornaments for years and wouldn’t have to spend this much again.
They picked up a couple of Christmas CD’s and went home with their spoils.
That evening, after dinner, to the sounds of Christmas music and hot apple cider, they decorated their first tree.
Buffy got out the stepstool, and William stood on it, arranging the lights on top, while she directed from about 10 feet away. Thttomttom lights they both put on. Then it was time to put on the ornaments, which took them over an hour, just to decide where each one looked the best.
Lastly, she handed him the star and he stood on the stepstool again to reach the top of the tree.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“It’s perfect.”
He got down and stood back, admiring it. She went over and turned out the lamps and stood next to him, putting her arm around him, as they basked in the glow of the tree lights.
“It is, isn’t it?” he asked, in wonder.
“It really is,” she agreed, and reached up to kiss him, “it really is.”
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November 30, 2008
Saturday
10:00am
“There they are!” Buffy said, waving at Dawn and the young man whose arm she had.
“Dawn! Over here!” she yelled, loud enough to be heard over the throng of Christmas shoppers.
Buffy and William had come down to San Diego to go Christmas shopping and to meet up with Dawn and Dr. John, who were spending the night with his cousin.
“Buffy! William!” Dawn said, making her way through the crowd with Dr. John in tow.
The sisters hugged and kissed, then Dawn and William hugged.
“This is John,” Dawn said, smiling proudly at him.
Buffy looked over at him, John was tall, about 6’2”, with curly, dark brown hair and eyes, a rather round face, and full lips that easily gave up a warm smile.
“Hi John, I’m Buffy and this is William. It’s nice to finally meet you. We’ve heard a lot about you for quite a while now.”
“You, too.”
“William,” John said, holding out his hand, which William shook, “nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you, too.”
“Well, why don’t we go to Starbucks and get tanked up on caffeine as we plot our strategy,” Buffy suggested.
“Always the slayer,” Dawn whispered to Buffy as they walked ahead of the guys, toward Starbucks.”
“Huh?”
“Tanked up? Strategy?” Dawn rolled her eyes.
“That would’ve been ‘suited up,’ or ‘geared up,’ not ‘tanked up.’ That would’ve been the government…”
“What do you want?” William asked, “I’ll buy for everyone.”
Buffy gave him her order, as did Dawn and John. She felt bad knowing he was going to be down over $10 already, and they hadn’t even bought a single present yet.
They chit-chatted over coffee, then decided that for the first two hours the couples would shop together, then they would meet for lunch and decide how to proceed from there.
The first stop was the mall’s Radio Shack. Xander was first on Buffy and William’s list of friends to shop for. William picked up a copy of Typing Tutor for him. They also found a child’s version for Alex, geared for the 4-6 year olds. It had dozens of games, all played while teaching keyboarding skills. William also got Xander something called, ‘Let’s Fish!’ on CD-ROM that was like the Gideon’s Bible of fishing information. From lures to tackle, bait, poles, reels, line, types of fish, and what’s more, had a website where Xander could connect to, for up-to-date reports on the conditions of any watering hole he could think of wanting to visit.
Buffy spotted and couldn’t resist a little remote control racecar for Xander and Alex. In it’s seat sat a little character from the latest Disney movie she was sure they were probably familiar with.
“Great little car and a good price,” said the sales clerk as he walked up to them.
“It’s adorable,” Buffy agreed, “but I think when one purchases a car, they should be allowed to test drive it first, don’t you, um…Doug?” Buffy asked, using his the name on his tag.
“Uh…sure you can,” he said looking around for somewhere that they could play with it, where it wouldn’t trip someone.
“Follow me,” he said, leading them through the store, two cars and two remotes in his hand, “I probably shouldn’t let you do this, but…” he opened up the back door of the store and took them into a hall that only store personnel entered by. The hall was empty.
“You can play with it here, just don’t let anybody know I let you, okay? Oh, and don’t run the cars into each other’s, don’t want them looking all banged up,” Doug said, handing Buffy and William the remotes. He put the cars on the ground in front of them.
“Have fun!”
“Thanks, Doug,” said Buffy.
“Yeah, thanks!”
“What color do you car do you want? Blue or green?”
“Ladies first.”
“Blue.”
“Then green it is,” he said, switching the cars so that the green one was now in front of him.
They practiced a bit, getting used to the remotes, laughing when their car would run backwards in circles, when the wrong lever was used.
Finally, they got the hang of it and raced their cars up and down the 20 or so feet down the hallway.
“WOO-HOO! I won, I won,” William yelled with glee, as his car smacked into his foot.
“No fair! Your car was in the way, when I tried to turn around!” Buffy said, pretending to sulk.
“Aw…poor Elizabeth! Okay, let’s go again, I’ll even let you start off first.”
“Oh, don’t think I can win? Let’s go!”
They raced their cars for another 5 minutes, laughing and trying to block each other’s car, as to get the advantage.
“Okay, last race,” Buffy said.
“On your mark, get set…hey, that’s cheating!”
The green car took off, straight down the middle, then veered from side to side, as it blocked the blue car’s advance. Buffy faked to the left, then took off in front of the green car. At the end of the hallway, she tried to make a turn, only to be pushed out of the way, as William’s green car came full speed into the side of hers. He quickly reversed and got straightened out and started coming back in the home stretch. Buffy righted her car and raced after his, staying on his tail, but he anticipated her every move to overtake him, and raced to the finish.
“I think you cheat!” she said.
“Yeah, well, what are you going to do about it?” he asked, smirking at her in a very Spike-like way, that made her weak in the knees.
She grabbed him and kissed him hard, and wrapped her leg around his thigh until she had maximum contact with his body. They stumbled back up against the door to the Radio Shack, and as they did, she fingered the remote, advancing her car, which had been stopped at their feet, to the wall a few feet away, unit bit banged up against it.
They stopped to look, “Oops, looks like I won after all!” she said, trying to look innocent.
“That’s because you cheated,” he said, panting. “and you’ll pay for that, missy!”
“Promise?”
“Oh, I promise alright!” William said, wagging an eyebrow at her in a suggestive manner.
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There was a long line at the counter when they went up to pay for their purchases.
“Look, they ship!” Buffy said, pointing to the sign, “think I’ll just have them ship these from here, that way I won’t have to go to the Post-Office later. Just wish I had some cards to enclose,” she said wistfully.
“Like these?” William said, as he picked up a box off of an end cap that he’d been standing by.
“Great, we can do these while we’re waiting!”
“What about Clem?”
“Crap, that’s right, why don’t you go look around, while I keep our place in mind, if you find something, let me know, then you can hold my place.”
“Can we do that?”
“Why not? If we both get out of line, by the time we get back to the line, we’ll have to wait another half-hour.”
He looke the the line that had formed behind her. There were at least another 20 people.
“Good point,” he said, nodding and heading off in search of more presents.
He came back a few minutes later.
“Find anything?”
“I think so. Wasn’t Clem talking about wanting to be able to put his old tapes on DVD’s?”
She thought about it for a minute, “Yeah, I think he was. I think he has a DVD-VCR player, but not a DVD recorder.”
William nodded, “Right. There’s one on sale for about $65.00, what do you think?”
“That’s perfect, bring it over.”
He came back a few minutes later, “It was the last one,” he said, dejectedly.
“Crap!” Buffy said.
Just then Doug walked by, “Doug, we wanted to buy that DVD recorder that you have on sale for $65.00, but it’s the last one. Do you think you have any more in the back?”
“No, I know we don’t,” he answered, “it sold out early yesterday.”
“Damn!” Buffy said, “what about other Radio Shacks?”
“Same thing, but you can probably order one online, I’ll go check.”
He returned in a few minutes, “Sorry, it’s out of stock, too. If you’d like though, I can sell you the floor model.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I asked the manger already, just let me find the box, then I’ll have it at the counter for you. The manager knocked 10% off too, since it was the floor model.”
“Great!”
Buffy hugged William, “I’m glad you spotted that! Clem will love it!”
“Anyone else?”
“Willow and Dawn, but I don’t think I’m going to buy them anything from . Th. The Science Store has something that Dawn wants, and I’m thinking of a coat for Willow. Last time I talked to Kennedy, when Willow was out, she told me that Willow had been looking around for a new one, but hadn’t been able to afford the one she wanted.”
Buffy knew she probably shouldn’t be spending so much money either, but especially this year, with all the help that they’d given her, she was definitely so spog heg her friends!
“What about you? You see anything here that you like?”
“Me? No. You don’t have to buy me anything. Got everything I need,” he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
She shook her head, laughing.
“What about you?” he asked.
“Same thing,” she said, taking his hand, “got everything I need.”
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“You don’t have to wait with me, if you don’t want to. There’s a bookstore across the way somesome other shops, or you could sit down on a bench out there, if you can find one,” she said, about ten minutes later, while they were still behind at least another half-dopeoppeople.
“Trying to get rid of me?” he asked.
“Not at all, just thought you might be bored. Know I am.”
“I can wait in line for you,” he suggested.
“No, I’ve got Xander’s address, so I’d better do this.”
“Well, maybe I will step outside then. How long do you think it’ll be?”
“Another 15 minutes, maybe. Want to meet me in front of the store then, by the benches?”
“Okay,” he said, and giving her a parting kiss, made his way through to the exit.
He breathed in a sigh of relief, momentarily, as he realized it was about 20 degrees cooler outside of the store.
He stood there looking at the different stores, until the sight of a jewelry store caught his eye.
Walking over to it, he stood in front the display window looking at a variety of rings, nacesaces, watches, bracelets, earrings, and chains. Drawing up his courage, he stepped inside, squeezing between the throngs of customers lined up against the display cases, some talking with sales associates, some to their partners, some alone.
William felt a yearning as he watched as a happy couple looked at engagement and wedding rings. The woman’s face was aglow, as she looked at her partner and then the ring on her finger.
“May I help you?” a woman asked, interrupting his reverie.
He cleared his throat, “Um…I’m looking for a Christmas present.”
“For a woman?”
“Yes, my…” the word wife stuck in his throat and he faltered.
“Someone very special?” the salesclerk asked, perceptively.
He nodded, grateful, “Very special.”
“Are you looking for a ring?”
“I…I’m not sure.”
“Why don’t I show you some of the rings and let you get some idea of what we have?”
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Buffy finally left the store, happy that she’d managed a big portion of her holiday shopping, even if she was going to be paying for it until February. Xander and Alex’s gifts would be shipped tomorrow and would be there next week, and Clem’s and William’s gifts were being shipped to the school, where she would find some way to sneak them into the car after they arrived. She smiled when she thought of her brainstorm she’d had and how she’d gotten William to leave for a while.
She looked at her watch; he should be waiting for her right about now. Only he wasn’t.
Gratefully, she saw someone get up from one of the benches and took their seat, hoping he’d finish whatever he was doing soon.
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William walked out of the jewelry store discouraged; the ring he thought Elizabeth would really like was way out of his price range.
With what he was earning after taxes; which had been a rude shock, he’d only managed to save a small bit of it over the past couple of months. Elizabeth had tried to explain to him that there was a household budget fund for things such as groceries, fuel, etc. Still, it didn’t feel right to just pocket his money, while he knew that the ‘fund’ was mostly being supported by her earnings, and so, when Clem would take him driving, they’d stop at the nearby grocery store and he’d pick up what they needed, using his own money.
He saw Elizabeth sitting on the bench, her eyes scanning the crowds looking for him. She spotted him and he waved to her as he approached.
“Hi,” he said, squeezed in between her and a heavyset woman a seat away, “been waiting long?”
“Not too long.”
“Did you decide against the DVD recorder for Clem?”
“No, I bought it, they’re going to ship it to the school for me next week, so I don’t have to carry it around the rest of the day. How about you? You find anything interesting?”
He shook his head, then leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Not until this very minute.”
She laughed, “Flattery will get you everywhere.”
“That’s my plan,” he said, laughing along with her.
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“I see her,” William said, waving at Dawn, who was standing next to a table in the middle of the practically overflowing food court.
“I hope you don’t mind the location, it took us about 15 minutes to spot an empty table,” Dawn said, when Buffy and William had made their way to the table.
“No, it’s great. Hey, you got pizza and everything!”
“Yeah, John stayed with the table and I took the liberty to order food and pop for everyone, so you guys didn’t have to wait in line. Figured everyone likes pizza. Right?” Dawn looked at William, who nodded.
“Thanks, that was really thoughtful, Dawn,” Buffy said, sitting down. She would’ve rather just had some sort of salad, but looking over at the long lines, she’d go with the pizza, gladly.
They ate lunch, and got to know John better. He was very intelligent and soon, William and him were discussing the classics, among other things.
“I agree, A Midsummer Night’s Dream may ‘read’ the funniest, but if you ever see them performed live, you’ll have to agree that Taming of the Shrew is funnier, still,” John had argued.
“Yes, well, you may have a point, but I still think that A Midsummer Night’s Dream has the funniest plot. Come now, you’ve got…”
Dawn and Buffy looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Dawn leaned over and whispered to Buffy, “If they were our spouses, I’d say they’re espousing!”
They both cracked up.
The men stopped to look at them, “What?” William asked.
“Nothing,” Buffy said, innocently.
Dawn looked at John, also shaking her head and batting her eyelashes at him.
“William, I’d say we’ve just been made the brunt of a cruel joke, if I know this one,”saidsaid, nodding over to Dawn.
“Wouldn’t surprise me a bit,” he agreed, looking at Elizabeth.
Buffy and Dawn giggled.
“What do you say we get back to shopping. Now, how are we going to do this?” Buffy asked.
After some discussion, they broke into two groups again, Dawn with William, and Buffy with John.
“Two hours enough?” Buffy asked Dawn.
“Probably. I’ll call you on the cell, if it gets reception here. If not, we’ll meet you in front of Starbucks around 2:00pm.”
Dawn and William went off to find something for Buffy. William complained about the jewelry store prices and not knowing what he should get.
“Were you looking for a certain kind of ring, in particular?” Dawn asked, hinting.
He turned to face her, “You know I would in a heartbeat, but I…I don’t think…I don’t want to rush Elizabeth, if she doesn’t want…”
Dawn put her hand on his arm, “Relax William, I was teasing you. I think she really does want to, deep down. I can’t tell you when the right time will be; hopefully you’ll know that. So…what about a different kind of ring?”
They discussed his options for a few minutes.
“William, how would you like to blow this pop stand for a little while?”
“What do you mean?”
“I noticed a nice little antique shop about 2 blocks away on our way here. What do you say we get the car and go over there and see if there’s anything nice that’s in your budget as well?”
He nodded gratefully and they took off for the exit.
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It was just after 2:00pm, as Buffy stood talking to John at the Starbuck’s counter, having just ordered a Café Mochachino for herself and Dawn and two regular coffees for the guys. Three large shopping bags full of presents were on the floor next to her. Her and John had stayed together part of the time, like when he enlisted her help in picking out a pretty cashmere scarf for Dawn and a matching sweater. Mostly though, they just shopped by themselves, meeting up before going on to the next store.
“There they are,” she said, noticing Dawn and William walking up, arms linked and looking mighty pleased with themselves.
“So, did you find anything? Did ya? Did ya?” Buffy teasingly asked them.
“Nope, not a thing,” William answered, a bit too quickly.
“But we had a good time getting ideas,” Dawn added, winking.
Neither had any packages, so Buffy had no reason to doubt them, although William seemed to be trying a bit too hard to act nonchalant.
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“So, you didn’t find anything today, huh?” Buffy asked, later that night, as they sat curled up in front of the fireplace, enjoying the warmth of that, each other, and the twinkling of the Christmas tree lights.
“Um, not really, just looked at a million things,” he said, chuckling, “never understand the attraction to these malls.”
“You didn’t have a good time?” she asked, hurt.
“Didn’t say that, luv,” he said, pulling her in tighter and kissing the top of her head, “had a lovely time with you, seeing Dawn, meeting her boyfriend. Just malls in general,” he said, shaking his head.
“Yeah, they’re kinda crazy sometimes, especially a couple of days after Thanksgiving Day,” she said, looking at their intertwined fingers.
He brought their hands to his mouth, kissing hers, “Actually, it was pretty fun. You did good though; got that coat for Willow, some clothes for Dawn, and that thing from the Science Store, right?”
“Yeah, I did okay,” she said, smiling at him, as she thought of what she’d bought him, too.
For the first time in longer than she could remember, she was really loving this season.
END CHAPTER 106
A/N Sorry this took so long, what with the holidays and such.
I’m getting to some ‘interesting’ parts of the story, in fact, I tem tempted to post the next chapter as well, but I have to make 100% sure about it first, so it will have to wait. Darn…there’s something about the last line of this that would flow right into the next one…but you guys have waited a long time for these chapters, so at least you’ll have these for now. Just remember to go back and read the last line before starting the next one…unless I totally change it between now and then.
Hope everyone had a nice holiday like I did.