ONE NORMAL LIFE / TWO EXTRAORDINARY LIVES

CHAPTER 185 - WITH A WHISPER, RATHER THAN A BANG

DECEMBER 20, 2009
SATURDAY
LOS ANGELES
6:00AM

Last night, determination had seemed easy after talking to Dawn, even if she didn't have a concrete plan. Today, however was another matter.

After awaking in the middle of the night, with more questions than answers, Buffy wrote a short note for Dawn and John, and left. She decided at the last minute to head up the coast, instead of taking the most direct route, giving her more time to think.

Her mind couldn't help but reminisce about the first time she and William had gone this way; finally heading home to Julian after the long drive cross-country.

The sky was just beginning to turn from black to a light gray, as she neared San Juan Capistrano. Pulling the car over, she turned it off. Grabbing the coffee travel cup she'd snatched from Dawn's, Buffy walked down the sand to the water's edge.

The memories were bittersweet, as she recalled the times they had been here before. The first time, to show William the ocean, before continuing on to Julian and their new life together. The second time, it had been a celebration, as they'd announced their engagement to Dawn and John. Absently, Buffy stroked the finger where the ring once was.

Standing there where they’d shared kisses and hopes together, she recalled how she’d finally trusted him. No, strike that; she’d finally trusted herself enough to be fully committed to him, and to the next level of their relationship. At that point, she believed that even if she told William the truth, he was so happy with her; they were so happy, that he’d be able to deal. They would deal with it together. Except, she hadn’t told him, and she never saw the storm coming directly at them, until it was too late.

One thing that she’d always been able to count on, as surely as the sun would rise, or that another vampire would - depending on your worldview - was that Spike, and William, the man he’d been inside, would never give up on her. He hadn’t given up back in Sunnydale, even when she’d given him no reason to believe that they would ever have a future. And then, when he’d almost done the unthinkable; although for a demon it shouldn’t have been, he’d gone to the ends of the earth to change his very being.

For her.

The way Buffy figured it she had two options. One, she could accept that after all that had happened between them, it was too much to sustain a relationship, no matter if William came to terms with his past or not. Or two, she could fight for him.

For them.

Feeling better than she had in a while, Buffy turned and headed back to the car. Giving the bell tower of San Juan Capistrano a final glance, she pulled out onto the highway towards home, and what she hoped to be, a way back to William.

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

When Buffy finally found out where William was, it wasn’t by shaking down people or demons, (okay, a little perhaps) or by a locator spell. Rather, it was in the most mundane of ways. With a whisper, rather than a bang.

The first stop she made was at Clem's, deciding that she would shake him down (nicely, mind you) to see if he knew anything. Buffy couldn't help feel that William might have inadvertently told him something, or given him a clue that last night when they'd been outside together.

Unfortunately, Clem wasn't home, and when she called his cell phone, all she got was his voice mail. She left a message for him to call her.

The phone rang just as she was walking into her house. She quickly answered, thinking it was Clem calling her back.

“Hello. This is a courtesy call from Verizon Wireless, letting you know you have a new bill. Now you can pay it three ways: by check, by phone, or visit us on line at www.verizonwireless...”

“Great, just what I needed,” Buffy said, flipping the phone shut.

After putting her things away, including tossing the dress she’d worn last night for her ‘date with Riley’ into the trash, she made herself some tea, and brought it over to her desk.

She wanted to email Willow to let her know that she might just might, need her to do a locator spell if all other avenues failed.

As usual, Buffy checked her email first, hoping against hope, that William would’ve sent any news. He hadn’t. Reminding her of her phone call, however, was the link to her phone bill.

“Okay, okay,” she mumbled as she logged on.

Buffy was just about to click the Pay Now button as usual, when she glanced up at the two phone numbers. Slowly, she moved the mouse over to the link to William’s, and clicked.

The bill she was paying now, was from Mid-October, through Mid-November. Some phone numbers she recognized, such as Lawrence and Professor Wittman’s. There were also a number she didn’t recognize, which had been called later. She picked up her cell phone, and dialed one in particular that turned up more than a few times. After at least half a dozen rings, it was finally answered.

“We’re closed right now,” answered an irate female voice.

“Who is this?” Buffy asked, with a sneaking suspicion.

“Sounds like you have the wrong number, if you don’t know who you’re calling.”

“Wait! Miranda?” Buffy said, before the line went dead, “Is Wi...Spike there?”

There was a pause. “Elizabeth?”

“Yes, it’s Elizabeth,” Buffy said. “Is he there?”

“No, he’s not. I haven’t seen Spike for over a month. Not since he left me a note telling me he was quitting. I thought he was going back home to you. He didn’t, huh?” Miranda asked, her voice softening.

Buffy bristled; she didn’t want this woman’s sympathy, didn’t want to like her, but she couldn’t help her eyes from tearing up.

“I...I saw him for a couple of days, then he took off again. I just wondered if you’d seen him after that.”

“Uh-uh, that was the last I’ve seen or heard from him.”

“The note didn’t happen to say where he was planning on going, did it?” Buffy asked, grasping at straws.

“Nah, just a generic Dear Jane letter, telling me thanks, blah-blah, but got to go and find myself, yadda-yadda.”

Buffy didn’t say anything.

“Elizabeth?”

“I’m here,” Buffy said, curtly.

“I didn’t mean that I was his Dear Jane, ya know? I never was, if that’s what you’re thinking. I was interested, he wasn’t; he still loved you. I got over it. Satisfied?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Spike is a great guy and quite the hottie, even if he is a mess, but then that always seems to be the way with great, hot guys. They just have to be all deep and mysterious; like they’re carrying the whole weight of the world on their shoulders, right?”

“I guess,” Buffy said, lightly.

“Anyway, I wish I could be of more help.”

“It’s alright, it was a long shot.”

“Good luck, Elizabeth. I hope things work out for you two. I really do.”

“I know; me, too. Thanks, Miranda.”

Buffy called the other numbers, but they were also dead ends. It was the last number at the end of the bill that gave her pause. For one thing, it had one too many numbers: ten instead of nine. Still, it looked vaguely familiar and...English? Her eyes confirmed what her brain was just gripping. She was looking at Giles’ phone number, but on William’s bill.

The time period had been while she was sick, wasn’t it? She flipped the calendar back a page to November, and the date of the first call he’d made. It had been the day he’d come over. Perhaps William had thought to call Giles and let him know that she’d been ill. Then again, there were also calls to William right around then, too. Okay, again, perhaps Giles was calling to find out how she was; but if that was the case, why didn’t he call her himself, either during or afterwards? In fact, come to think of it, she hadn’t heard anything from him for a while. Of course, it had been years since they’d been in the habit of speaking regularly; but after what had happened to William, it seemed Giles had called her at least once a week, if only to let her do some ranting.

Hmm...

That left one last incoming phone call on the bill, which she called.

“You have reached the voice mail of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. Please leave a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you.”

Buffy stared at the phone in her hand.

“What the fu..?”

The message prompt beeped. Buffy cleared her throat. Oh, she had a whole lot of things she’d just love to say to both Wesley and Giles, if her hunches were proven correct. However, she settled on a firm, but vague message.

“Wesley, this is Buffy. Call me when you get this message; as soon as you get this message.”

She was still pondering the phone calls when she heard Clem pull up in front of the house. Buffy got up and went out to the porch.

“Howdy, neighbor!” Clem said, as he walked up the steps, giving her a quick hug, and peck on the cheek.

“Hey, Clem.”

“I got your message just as I was on my way home. What’s up?”

“That’s what I wanted to ask you,” Buffy said, as mild as she could, as she led the way into the living room. She pointed to the computer screen.

“What am I looking at?”

“William’s phone calls from last month.”

Clem looked at them, then at her, questioningly.

“These calls here, they’re to and from England. Giles, actually. Did William mention anything about him to you?”

Clem shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, as he nervously looked down at the floor.

“Clem! You do know something don’t you?”

“I promised I wouldn’t...”

“Look at me Clem. I know he’s your friend...”

“My best friend.”

“Your best friend,” Buffy echoed. “That’s why I never asked you anything before; I didn’t want to know if you did or didn’t know anything and have to put you in this position to either lie to me or feel like you’re betraying a confidence.”

Clem winced. “I told him that I didn’t like the idea of keeping secrets from you, Buffy, but he made me promise,” Clem said, his wrinkly skin quivering in agitation.

“I understand,” Buffy said, sympathetically. “I’m also sure William wasn’t happy to have to put you in that position either. He just needed someone to talk to that night, right?”

Clem nodded vigorously.

“I know William has things to work out on his own, and I’ve tried to be patient. Really, I have. It’s just that I’ve got a very strong feeling that he really needs me right now, and I need to go to him.”

“What kind of strong feeling?” Clem asked, worry lines furrowing his brow.

“Not exactly a feeling; it's more like a slayer sense; like when I knew he was alive and needed me, right before I found him in Chicago. All I know is that this sense isn't going to be satisfied, until I see him and find out what’s going on for myself. That’s why I’m asking you to break the promise you made to him.”

Clem slowly nodded, “Alright, Buffy. I’ll tell you.”

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

An hour later, Buffy stood outside next to Clem after walking him to his car.

“So, when will you leave?” Clem asked.

“As soon as I can find a flight. Not sure that’s going to be easy right before the holidays, but I’ll fly cargo if I have to. It’s either that or I supposed I could ask Willow to zap me over, but I really don’t want to do that. Sort of feels like an icky hangover,” Buffy said, with a wry grin.

Clem nodded vigorously in agreement.

“What about you? What will you do for the holidays?” Buffy asked, suddenly feeling guilty. It would be the first time that she wouldn’t be seeing Clem at Christmastime since she’d moved up to the house.

“Oh, don’t you worry about me. I’ll be at Edna’s for Christmas Eve, and on Christmas Day I’ll be going over to my cousin Marlong’s in San Diego. I’ll be fine, Buffy,” Clem said, giving her a reassuring pat on the arm.

“I’ll miss you,” Buffy said, giving him a hard hug.

“I’ll...can’t breath,” Clem gasped, “miss you, too,”

“Sorry, about that,” Buffy said, quickly releasing her hold on him. “I forget I’m still slayer strong, sometimes.”

“That’s okay, Buffy. I forget I’m a demon sometimes,” Clem said.

“I do, too,” Buffy said, smiling. “I just wanted to say, I’ll try not to let William know that you told me. After all, I would’ve probably just called Giles, or gone and beaten up Wesley and found out anyway.”

“That’s okay, Buffy. If you have to, I’ll deal. Just give William my best when you see him, okay? Tell him...” Clem just shook his head, embarrassed.

“I’ll tell him, Clem.”

Buffy waved to him as he drove off then turned to go back into the house. She had a flight to book, and an overseas call to make.

END CHAPTER 185