ONE NORMAL LIFE / TWO EXTRAORDINARY LIVES

CHAPTER 144 - WE WOULD HAVE BEEN EATING ICE CREAM

AUGUST 12, 2004
TUESDAY
8:00PM

Buffy stood in the kitchen warming up a can of noodle soup. John had been in with William for a little while, and had finally come out saying that he'd gotten him to agree to eat something.

Although Clem had brought a full selection of foods, Dawn had made them grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. It was easy and required no mental energy to perform the task.

"Think William might want a grilled cheese, too?" Dawn asked.

"I don't know, what do you think?" Buffy asked John.

"It probably wouldn't hurt him, but to be on the safe side, I'd just stick with bland foods until tomorrow. When something traumatic happens to a person, their body winds up putting out excessive amounts of hormones, such as adrenaline, to name one. That can mess with one’s stomach pretty bad for a day or so."

"Soup it is, then," Buffy said, stirring it in the pan.

"Think I could turn on the TV out there?" John asked.

"Sure, help yourself," Buffy said. " I think the remote is over on the desk."

"Thanks," he called.

"Probably looking for a baseball game," Dawn said, smiling after him fondly.

Buffy watched her watching him, and understood that look. "Dawn? I was thinking, why don't you and John go ahead with your plans to go to Michigan. I know you wanted to go, and you should. I'll even pay the penalty for you guys, since you didn't get to use your ticket today."

Dawn looked at Buffy, "No, Buffy. We wanted to go because of you guys, you know that."

"But Dawn, Xander and his family could still come and you'd have him all to yourself, then!"

Dawn laughed, "Um...Buffy, I think those days of wanting him to myself are over. Plus, can you see Xander comfortable with me sleeping with John in that cabin? I swear; he'd probably faint. Either that or try to make us sleep in separate rooms."

Buffy smiled, "Well, Xander has his own two rug rats to consider now, so you'd probably be in the clear."

Dawn snorted. "I doubt it. I'll always be Xander's virginal little sister."

"Mine, too."

"Yeah, but you can't say anything," she said, sticking out her tongue, "not with all the moaning and groaning you've subjected me to over the years."

Buffy started to snicker, but abruptly stopped, shaking her head, as though to clear it. Did any of that matter now, anyway?

"Buffy, do you think it's possible that you and William might still be able to go?” Dawn asked, wistfully. “Might do you guys some good now.”

Buffy shook her head, "No, it's not possible right now. He...we...have to talk, whenever that happens. It will be better if he's here with what he's most familiar with."

"Well, that would be you, Buffy. He's most familiar with you, and think; you're portable," Dawn said, with a small grin.

Bufft out out a little, humorless laugh, "Besides me. I think he'll be..." she turned to look at Dawn, "I don't know what's going to happen, Dawn. I'm so scared. Last night I was so scared when I found Clem in the road and I didn't know if I was too late or not...and now, I'm scared of how much he's going to..."

"No," Dawn said, coming around to hug Buffy, "he's not going to hate you! He'll see that you only wanted to protect him from knowing something that would hurt him."

"I don't think so, I really don't think so, Dawn,” Buffy said. She pulled away, and went out to the back porch, then into the yard, first checking to see if it was 'safe' and vamp free. Something, she'd never done in all the time she'd been there.

Dawn followed her.

"What time is it in Michigan Dawn?" Buffy asked, looking up at the darkening skies.

Dawn looked at her watch, "10:00."

Buffy nodded, "We'd have been eating our ice cream cones right about now, having just gotten there in time for last call. William and I would share the big swing, overlooking the lake...where would you be, Dawn?"

"Don't, Buffy!"

"Where would you be, Dawn?"

Dawn sighed, "I guess we'd either be on the deck, or I think John would've liked to sit on the picnic benches on the dock. That's where we'd be."

Buffy nodded, "You and John should be there."

"No, we should all be there, but we're not. Not because of something you did wrong, but because there's a rotten, evil bastard in the world named Angel, who just, excuse my language, fucked with your and William's life. And since I love you guys, then he fucked with me, too. And John."

"You guys should still go," Buffy intoned again, sitting down on the grass.

"No, I don't want to go without you,” Dawn said, plopping down next to her, “iuld uld only remind me of why you're not there. We'll go again sometime, when we can all go and enjoy it. Okay? John and I will just do something else.
I guess..." she , he, her voice trailing off.

Buffy turned to look at her, "What is it, Dawn?"

Dawn sighed, "John. He asked me if you and William had ever been in a cult."

"A cult?" Buffy asked, "why would he ever think...?"

"Buffy, he saw the bite marks on both your necks; God only knows what he thought! I think he just concluded that you guys must have been in some sort of cult a long time ago. Maybe he thinks you pissed off someone back then, and they came to pay you back."

Buffy half-snorted, half-laughed, "Not so far from the truth, is it? Oh God, Dawn. I shouldn't have called and got you guys involved. I didn't think, I just..."

"Of course you should have! You did exactly the right thing by calling us! We're family, Buffy. And John is terribly fond of both of you."

Buffy smiled, thinking how Dawn had just sounded like Giles.

"I'm glad you came, both of you, I 't k't know what I would've done. I would have had to take him to the hospital, and that would...he’s afraid of them, since the other hospital. Not to mention, they would've wanted to call the police..."

“...which probably would have made headlines in this sleepy town," Dawn added.

Buffy shuddered.

"What are you going to tell him? You know,” Buffy said, thinking, “you actually could tell him that we were in a cult. I mean, there are those weird people that act like they’re vampires. I’ve even heard some of them get pointy teeth implants.”

“And drink blood, for fun,” Dawn said, “and worship the devil, while they’re at it.”

“Idiots! Stupid, risk-taking idiots!” Buffy said, shaking her head. “If they only knew the truth they wouldn’t...oh hell forget about them. But seriously Dawn, you could just tell John that William and I were in a cult when we were younger. Make that much younger! That way he won’t have to know about us, about all of it. He won’t have to deal.”

Dawn shook her head, “No, Buffy. Listen to yourself, I can’t do that; I'm going to tell him the truth, and if he can't accept it, well he can just...”

"No Dawn, don’t say it! John loves you, I can tell. And you love him just as much. I just wanted to let you know that it would be alright with me, if you didn’t want to tell him, that I’d certainly understand.”

“I just don’t want to lie,” Dawn said, her voice pensive.

“You mean like meuffyuffy asked, sadly.

“You didn’t lie Buffy, you just didn’t tell the whole truth.”

“Want to explain the difference to William right now?”

Dawn didn’t answer, just put her head on Buffy’s shoulder, as they sat there watching the stars come out in the night sky.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8:15PM

“Hey,” Buffy said, as she walked into the bedroom, carrying a bowl of soup, some oyster crackers, and more Sprite.

She walked over to the bed and waited. Finally he looked at her without expression. Nodding, she handed him the bowl of soup, setting a smaller bowl filled with crackers on the blanket next to him, and setting the drink down next to the clock radio on the bedside table.

“You hungry?” she asked.

He shrugged, but his left hand searched around for the cracker bowl.

“Here,” she said, pushing it over to where he could feel it. She’d set it down to the left of him, and he couldn’t see it without turning his head, due to his eye being covered.

The bowl of soup wobbled, and she steadied it, until he had put the crackers into it. He ate the soup in silence, as she sat on the edge of the bed.

“Good?” She asked, when he’d finished it. He nodded, handing her back the bowl. She handed him his drink and then put it back for him, when he was finished.

William had only glanced at her briefly as she had watched him eat, and now that he was finished; it was the same, except that the silence between them seemed more pronounced.

He had his head partially down, as if there were something of interest to him on the bed covers. Buffy swallowed a few times, as she tried to think of something to say to him, or wait for him to speak to her.

He didn’t.

Finally, she got up. “Guess I’ll go take care of these,” she said. “Do you want anything else?”

He looked up at her then, “Tell them to go home.”

“What? John and Dawn? I think they’re going to spend the night; they’ll probably leave in the morning.”

“I want them to go now!” William said, raising his voice. He took a deep breath, and fought for control. “I’m...better. John’s done all he can and...They should just go home now,” he said quietly, then added, “they shouldn’t be here.”

Buffy stared at him for a minute, trying to fathom his reasons; reasons other than what he’d stated, but he gave no indication, and she was afraid to push for them.

Regardless, she’d debated this herself. On the one hand, she wanted, even needed them here, but on the other, she wasn’t sure if there was going to be another attack tonight. If there were, she didn’t want Dawn or John getting hurt, or worse.

Finally, she nodded to him, “Alright, I’ll tell them.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8:45PM

“I’ll go check on him one more t the then we can be on our way,” John said to Dawn and Buffy, as he walked into the bedroom. She had only told them that she thought that they might as well leave, not what William had said.

“Are you sure about this?” Dawn asked.

Buffy nodded, “I’m sure. He’s feeling a bit better and you guys should get back home.”

Dawn looked at her, skeptically.

“Really, I’m fine. As fine as I can be, under the circumstances.”

“I’m telling you Buffy, I don’t feel right leaving you here alone right now. What if something happens?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what if he...relapses or something?”

Buffy let out a silent breath of relief that Dawn hadn’t thought about the possibility of further attacks. If she had, she’d never had agreed to leave, even if it put her into danger. She knew that much about her sister, and loved her for it.

“I don’t think he will. John did a good job with him today.”

“Thanks, I’ll tell him you said so,” Dawn said, smiling.

“If you need me to talk to John about any of this, I will,” Buffy said.

“I know. I’ll see what happens, okay?”

Buffy nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

9:00

“Well, that’s it. I changed the bandage on William’s eye, and put in another eyedrop, so he’s set for the evening. Remember to do that 3 times a day, for the next 4 or 5 days or so, even up to a week. If his eye is still bothering him after that time, you should take him to an opthamologist for a checkup.”

“I will.”

“Better give him some vitamins with some iron, too. He seems to be a little anemic right now. Probably due to the blood loss at the site of the neck wound,” John said pointedly.

Buffy nodded, as she looked into his eyes, which were curious, but not condemning.

“I think everything else should heal just fine,” he finished.

“Good. I can’t thank you enough John, I don’t know what I would’ve done...you’re a good person, and a good friend; to both of us. He may not have told you, but William really needed you today. Not just as someone to patch him up, but to be there for him, too. And I know he’s grateful.”

John smiled, embarrassed. “I was just glad to be able to help; to be there for you both.”

Dawn cleared her throat, “I want to go say good-bye to him.”

John turned to her, “Dawn, I don’t think he wants to see you right now.”

“Why?”

“I just don’t think he wants you to see him that way...hey, where are you going?”

“The hell with that,” Dawn said, as she marched determinedly towards the bedroom.

John started after her, but Buffy stopped him, with a hand on his arm, “You don’t know my sister very well, if you think that’s going to stop her.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dawn opened the door to the bedroom, just as William was coming out of the bathroom.

They both looked at each other with shock. She quickly crossed the distance, and threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly. “Stupid!” she cried into his shirt. He was taken aback, not to mention, she was hurting him by hugging him so hard.

“You think you can get rid of me this easily William? You think you have to hide from me, because you’re embarrassed? Stupid man!” she said, still crying.

William hugged her back, automatically, and felt his own eyes grow moist, as she woke up something in him that he had denied himself all day, “Stubborn bi...nt,” he whispered to her, stumbling over the word.

“Damn right! You should know that about me, as long as you’ve known me!”

He flinched, and she stood back a moment, looking at him. “That’s right, I’ve known you a long time William. Even when you were Spike.”

He sucked in his cheeks, his lips tight. Her words had made his heart start pounding, and his breath come faster, making him sway slightly.

“You listen to me, I may have been only 14 years old, but I always knew you were a good guy. You might have been a...a different person then, but you were still good! You may have tried to act like the Big Bad, but you never fooled me. Even mom liked you, and she had very good instincts. You hear what I’m saying?”

He didn’t reply, just lowered his head, as he bit his lower lip to keep it together.

Dawn stood there until he finally looked up at her. She could see the pain in his eyes and she felt her own eyes grow moist, “You’ll get through this. You and Buffy, both,” Dawn said, hugging him again.

She withdrew one last time, and took his hands, squeezing them, “I’ll see you soon, William,” Dawn said, with an encouraging smile, as she go wgo with a little nod, and walked to the door.

“Good-bye, Dawn,” he said softly, as the door closed behind her.

END CHAPTER 144


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