ONE NORMAL LIFE / TWO EXTRAORDINARY LIVES

CHAPTER 189 – FAKING IT

6:00PM

Before leaving, Giles received a call asking if he could pick up one of the slayers.
He asked the girls if it would be alright if he detoured slightly, assuring them it would only cause a slight delay of about twenty minutes or so in their getting to the party. Buffy knew this was said more for her benefit than Willow's.

"I believe you know her," Giles said to Willow. "Her name is Nancy Ferguson."

Willow looked at him blankly.

“I believe you may know her as Fergie?”

Willow nodded enthusiastically. “Fergie, yeah; she was in the first training classes with Kennedy when you opened the school. It’s been a long time since I've heard Kennedy mention her. How is she?"

"Not terribly well at the moment. She broke her leg fighting a group of Felkner demons in Morocco a couple of months ago, and despite slayer healing, she still claims not to be up to resuming her duties."

"Morocco? Isn't that where...?" Willow drifted off.

"Where what?" Buffy asked, looking from Willow to Giles.

"The other two slayers Nancy was on the mission with were killed during the fight," Giles explained.

"Oh," Buffy said. For the second time in as many days, she once again felt a sense of guilt over, yet, more slayer deaths.

"We suspect that has more to do with her unwillingness to come back than her broken leg does, although she declined to see our therapist afterwards. We haven't seen much of her lately, so the girls were very glad to have persuaded her into coming out for the party."

“You have a therapist now? Wow.”

Giles nodded. “Yes, it was long overdue, wouldn’t you agree? Many workplaces have them, and I’d say that in our line of business, it’s all the more necessary.
Actually, we were quite lucky that she was one of our own. When the girls got called up, one of them, Marjorie Thompson, had already been a practicing therapist for a couple of years. She was something of a wunderkind, graduating from the university at quite a young age. In short, she came to us, trained and became an active slayer. I’m not sure the impetus, but after a few years she decided she could better serve the cause by doing what she’d been originally trained to do, so she went back into private practice, but on retainer to The Council.”

“Again, wow.”

"Before I forget, I didn't want to assume you hadn't already made other plans," Giles said, clearing his throat, "but if not, you're both more than welcome to stay here."

Willow looked at Buffy, expectantly.

"Thanks, Giles. That would be fine."

"There are two spare bedrooms on the second floor, if you'd like me to get your luggage before we leave?"

"No, we can do that when we get back," Buffy said, eager to get going.

"Then we'll be on our way."

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

6:00PM

Still stunned by Elizabeth’s sudden appearance, and his escorts coming to drag him to the party, he’d numbly climbed into the back seat of the small sedan they’d come to collect him in. For as long as he could, he watched Elizabeth, standing at Giles’ door until he could no longer see her, as the car had sped away.

Now, as they drove to the party, William listened to the chatter of the girls. He even responded appropriately, though for the very life of him, he couldn’t remember what it was that he said, or was said to him. Vaguely, he was aware that Rose was sitting closer to him than even the small back seat space demanded, and kept discreetly inching as close to the door as possible.

“William, you never told us Buffy was coming,” Rose commented, off-handedly.

“I...I didn’t know.”

“She just showed up, huh? Rather inconsiderate of her not to give you fair warning, wasn’t it?”

All William could do was nod.

“Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you,” she said, then bent over to whisper in his ear, “I’ll take care of you.”

Shocked, he pulled away, at least as far as the six inches of space Rose had between them would allow. Before he could respond to her, they arrived at the party. Getting out of the car posthaste, William hurried towards the door, but they easily caught up to him. Once again, he felt Rose and Mary loop their arms through his.

Inside, the party was just getting underway. Mary soon left his side to talk with others, but Rose still had her arm through his. His head still reeling, he none-the-less went through the motions of saying hello to those who came up to greet him, noticing that some of them gave Rose a knowing look that he couldn’t help but miss. In fact, suddenly, all the little signals he’d been missing or ignoring previously, now became crystal clear to him.

Oh, dear God.

He couldn’t believe this was happening to him now of all times. Now!

Finally, he extricated himself from her, telling her he had to use the loo. Luckily, she didn't follow. He took the lift up to Giles office, and tried the door, hoping that Giles somehow had forgotten to lock it. No such luck. Another door, leading to a storage room was open however, and he let himself in, sinking down against the inside of it.

“She’s here. Here. Elizabeth’s here,” William repeated to himself, as he tried to wrap his brain around the fact. His pulse quickened, as he recalled how lovely she’d looked in his mind’s eye. She was really here.

The more he examined it, the more he realized that only a part of him was truly shocked. Though it wasn’t as if he’d actually been expecting her; quite the contrary. In fact, he’d never expected to set eyes on her again, in this, or any other world. And yet, she always seemed to have a knack of showing up, just in time to try to save him...

“Bloody hell! Who asked you to?” he cursed aloud to the four walls. Didn’t she get it? There was nothing inside him left to save. How dare she just show up, bolloxing up his plans? Inconsiderate, indeed! Damn right, it was!

He knew he had to get back to the party soon or Rose and the other slayers would send out a search party.

Rose.

He groaned. Of all the lousy timing in the world, he had to have the absolute worst. What the hell was he going to do about this unfortunate situation?
Then it dawned on him; it was the perfect ruse. William felt a pang of guilt for the deception he was about to set into motion involving an unwitting Rose, but aimed at Elizabeth. The words to an old song his mother sang to him came to mind, “How could you use a poor maiden so?” and made him feel strangely uneasy.

Still, worse than having Elizabeth believe him interested in another, and walk out, would be for her to find out firsthand exactly what that darkness still inside him was capable of.

“Time for Plan B,” William said, as he rose to rejoin the Christmas party.

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

6:15PM
THE OUTSKIRTS OF BLACKHEATH

Giles rode up front with Willow, while she took the backseat, mulling over the events of the past hour. During the long hours of the flight, the one thing that she’d replayed a hundred times over in her head was what it would be like, in those first moments they saw each other again. Out of all those scenarios, not one of them had even come close. The only clear emotion that she seemed to get from him was...fear.

Why fear? It didn’t make any sense.

“What’s William been doing with his days?” Buffy suddenly blurted out.

The talking up front ceased.

“Sorry guys, that was rude.”

Giles turned around to face her.

“It’s alright, Buffy. That’s a very good question.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, it is a very good question. I didn’t want you to get the impression that William has been sitting around the flat moping all of the time. He’s actually been quite helpful to me and the girls.”

“How? Fighting demons?” Buffy asked, a tinge of bitterness creeping into her voice, especially since William had denied doing that in his email.

“No, of course not. Do you think I would encourage him to do that while he was here? Give me some credit, Buffy.”

“I’m sorry, Giles. I’m just...rattled, I guess.”

“Quite understandable.”

“So, how’s he been helping?”

“Actually, he’s quite good at translating. William has an excellent mind for languages, and I’ve been very pleased with everything he’s helped me with so far. As for the girls, he’s been helping them train; much like Spike used to with you.”

“I see,” Buffy said, feeling a pang of jealousy, as well as longing for her old slayer days, and Spike.

“He still has quite the knack for sparring, and his fencing skills are the kind one only sees from classical training, although he’s not above using street fighting skills along with those either,” Giles said, not bothering to mention the exception to that statement that was yesterday’s debacle.

“Well...that’s good. I’m glad he’s been able to help out,” Buffy said. It now seemed that all her worrying about William had been for nothing. William had obviously found something meaningful to keep himself busy, when he wasn’t searching for answers about his past. She knew she should be happy for him, and she was, but she also felt...left out.

“Yes, I’d have to say that William has been very helpful; that is, when he’s been there,” Giles said, just as they pulled up to the flat of Nancy Ferguson, aka, Fergie.

“I’ll go get her,” Willow volunteered, getting out of the car.

“What do you mean, when?” Buffy asked.

“William has only been there...let me think...perhaps half the time since he’s arrived; probably less. I believe I’ve been able to discern a pattern to it. I started to notice that after we’d speak of his past, William withdraws for a while; seemingly to be alone in order to digest what he’s just found out.”

“What does he do during that time?” Buffy asked, doing a quick calculation in her head.

“I’m not sure, Buffy. William generally doesn’t share that with me. I know he’s spent some time at one of the libraries on the Greenwich University campus, and I believe he’s even ventured into London. Other than that, I really can’t say. I will tell you this; he doesn’t sleep very regularly, if at all.”

“I know,” Buffy answered, tersely.

“However, under the circumstances, I’d say William’s doing as well as can be expected. It’s been a hard few months for him; wouldn’t you say?”

The sure-to-agitate-Giles expression, ‘Duh,’ sprang to mind, but before she could invoke it, Willow had come back to the car with Fergie. Quick introductions were made, and they got under way. Despite Giles and Willow’s best efforts to draw her into conversation, it was clear she wasn’t very happy to be there. Coupled with Buffy’s preoccupation with seeing William, conversation attempts soon died and they drove along in uncomfortable silence. Twenty minutes later they pulled up in front of the modest brick building, which was now Council headquarters.

Nervously, Buffy followed Giles, Willow, and Fergie up the walkway to the door. If she had any illusions of having a chance to talk privately with William, they were soon shattered. As soon as she walked in, a murmur went up amongst the dozen or so people who were in the entry hall. Buffy quickly found herself surrounded by fellow slayers; both those she knew, and ones she’d never seen. Except for a few that she’d known as potentials, she couldn’t help but be shocked by how young they appeared to her.

Fortunately, Giles and Willow extricated her a few minutes later to take her downstairs to the party proper.

Buffy leaned against the wall of the lift as soon as the doors slid closed.

“Take a deep breath, Buffy,” Willow said, gently.

“I’m okay. I just didn’t expect...”

“Yeah, I know.”

“When the time is right, you and William can go upstairs to the offices to talk,” Giles said, as the doors opened and act two began.

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

6:45PM
THE COUNCIL

The last half-hour had been agony for William. Not only had Rose not left his side since he’d returned from the upper floor, but every time he heard or saw the lift doors open, he expected Elizabeth to come through them. Every time she didn’t, he was flooded with equal amounts of relief and disappointment. This time, though, there was no mistaking who had arrived. An excited chatter immediately rose in crescendo, as all eyes fell on her as she entered the main room, accompanied by Willow and Giles. The crowd wasted no time in surrounding her.

Through it, her eyes sought him out from across the room and he saw his name beginning to form on her lips, silently calling out to him. His heart simultaneously responded and broke, as he forced himself to turn his eyes away from Elizabeth's longing gaze; hoping his own hadn’t given him away.

Steeling himself, he turned to listen to the self-absorbed and immature prattling of Rose and a few of the other girls. Not that he could blame them. They were young and free from their responsibilities for the night, and in a good mood, enhanced by spirits, both liquid and holiday. Guiltily, he made himself smile and laugh at something Rose, his unwitting partner in his farce; his Plan B, had just said to him. This served to encourage her to move closer still, resulting in William having to fight the urge to flee.

~~~~~~~~~~

As the party went on, they surreptitiously watched each other from across the room. Buffy kept telling herself it was only a matter of time until the others would tire of the novelty that was her, and she’d be able to talk to William.

Without trying to appear too obvious, he’d watched as both slayers and watchers alike took turns talking to Elizabeth. He couldn’t blame them for wanting to be in her orbit; she was...glorious. He watched, but he stuck with his plan. Even when a dark haired, handsome watcher from France engaged her in conversation, he fought the urge to go to her. And even when jealousy coursed through him, when the sound of her warm laughter reached his ears, knowing another man was the source for it, he stayed his course.

~~~~~~~~~~

It had taken nearly an hour, but she’d finally been left alone for the first time since arriving. Gratefully, she saw that William was as well, and started to make her way to him.

Twenty feet...keep walking, fifteen...almost there, only ten more...

“Buffy! It’s so nice to see you!”

‘No!’ Buffy inwardly screamed, while her feet reluctantly came to a halt of their own accord.

“Hello, Vi,” Buffy said, smiling between gritted teeth, “How are you?”

“I’m doing really good, Buffy.”

No sooner had Buffy told her that she was glad to hear it, that Vi launched into talking about old times in Sunnydale, and the school here in London. All the while, Buffy desperately tried to find an opening so she could excuse herself. As she waited for that opening, she saw that the chance had alluded her. That girl, Rose, had come back and was once more hanging all over William, and to her deepening despair, he didn’t seem to mind.

It didn’t take long for Vi to realize that while Buffy was nothing but pleasant, her focus was on a certain person across the room. Seeing her eyes narrow suddenly, Vi turned to look at the cause.

“He’s not with her, you know.”

Buffy turned and looked at her; really looked at her, for the first time since they’d been standing there talking. She suddenly understood that of all the people there, besides Willow and Giles, Vi seemed to be the only one aware of the strange dynamics taking place between her and William.

“How can you be sure? He looks pretty...cozy with her,” Buffy said, her gut twisting at giving words to what she’d been thinking.

“Because, Buffy, I’ve seen the look he gets on his face whenever your name has been mentioned. I’m not saying that Rose isn’t interested in William, but until tonight, I’ve never even seen him even speak more than a couple of words to her outside of when they’ve trained together.”

“Thanks,” Buffy said, though she wasn’t sure she was convinced from the look of things.

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

8:00PM

“Hey Giles, good party,” Willow said, as she joined him in front of the desert table.

“Thank you, Willow, but I’m afraid all the credit goes to the girls. They planned and executed it all on their own.”

“Still, good party. Well, at least for some of us.”

Giles followed Willow’s gaze to where Buffy stood on one side of the room, and William on the other. He shook his head sadly.

“Do you think you could take Buffy on a tour or something? I’d like to try to talk to William, but I’m not sure how Buffy would take it.”

“What will you say to him?”

“Besides telling him that he’s being a poophead? I don’t know, I guess I’ll just wing it. Something meaningful, of course.”

“Of course,” Giles said, with a wry grin. He finished the last of his pudding, and threw his plate into the garbage receptacle.

“Good luck,” he said with a nod to Willow, and headed off in Buffy’s direction.

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

“Hello Vi, good party. You girls did a marvelous job,” Giles said, as he came up to the two girls.

“Thanks, Giles.”

“And you, Buffy?” he asked, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Are you enjoying yourself?”

“Yeah, I’m great. Just peachy keen,” she said, darting a glance in William’s direction.

“Actually, Buffy, I was wondering if you’d like to see my office upstairs,” adding when he didn’t get a response, “where William also works.”

“Oh...yeah, sure. Why not?”

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

8:15PM
SECOND FLOOR WATCHER’S OFFICE

“So, this is Council headquarters,” Buffy commented, as she looked around the office.

“Yes, yes it is. It’s modest, but it serves our purposes. This, however, is a bit more hi-tech,” Giles said, pulling open a set of sliding cabinet doors to reveal the monitors inside. He selected the training room where the party was taking place and she was immediately offered six different views of the room.

“Impressive. Guess that makes you Big Brother, eh, Giles?” Buffy teased, making herself turn back towards the rest of the office.

“Very funny. I thought it was practical, not Big Brotherish.”

“Sure you did...”

“Is this William’s desk?” Buffy asked, already knowing the answer when she’d spotted the neatly arrayed binders, books, and pens; as well as seeing his peculiarly old-fashioned script when she’d flipped open a notepad.

“Yes, this is where William works. In fact, he was just here earlier today. I must admit that I was quite heartened that after last weekend, he decided to come back so soon. Then again, I’m not sure at all what, if anything, did happen to him.”

“What do you mean happen to him? What happened last weekend?”

“I’m sorry, Buffy. I didn’t mean to alarm you.”

“Too late, Giles. What happened?”

Giles sighed. “The girls gave me two tickets to a football match...what you call soccer in The States; Chelsea versus Manchester United.”

Buffy shrugged, the names meaning nothing to her.

“Anyway, I asked William if he’d like to accompany me, and he accepted. We went, had a good time; at least I thought so, but before the end of the game, he upped and disappeared on me.”

“What do you mean, disappeared?”

“Just what I said. William got up from his seat, and simply never returned. Later that night, after I’d already launched an all-out slayer search party on his behalf; he turns up at the flat, drunk as hell. Vi was here, and as there was nothing else to be done at that point, we put him to bed.”

“Is William still drinking a lot?” Buffy asked, memories of Los Angeles forever seared into her brain.

“Not that I can tell, Buffy. That was the first time I actually saw him drunk since he’s arrived.”

Buffy let out a sigh of relief. It wasn’t much to hang any hope on, but small favors were small favors, and at this point, she’d take what she could get.

“Did you ask William what happened?”

“Of course I did; the very next day. Not that it did me any good. Not only didn’t he even remember the night before, but he also wasn’t at all forthcoming about his reasons for abruptly leaving the game. The only thing he said was that he'd felt claustrophobic; which I highly doubted."

"Were there a lot of people? When William first came back, he nearly freaked whenever we had to go anyplace that had a lot of people."

"Well, yes. There was a very large crowd; around forty thousand, I believe. I suppose that could've been the reason," Giles said, taking off his glasses in a familiar gesture. Then he shook his head. "No, it must've been more than that. If it was just the sheer number of the crowd, he could've either told me, or if not that, then I would've at least expected that he'd been waiting for me after the game had ended."

Buffy shrugged, not sure in the scheme of things how important his leaving the game and coming home drunk later mattered.

“Like I said, I was heartened that afterwards, he decided to get on with things, as it were,” Giles said, looking at the monitor, where William now stood alone. “Still...”

“What?” Buffy asked, joining him as he watched the screen.

Giles shook his head.

“Giles!”

“It’s just...do you see William there now?”

“Yeah, he’s just standing there, so?”

“I don’t know. Just watch.”

“He looks like he’s looking for someone,” Buffy said, dryly.

“That would be you, my dear.”

“I don’t think so. William seems perfectly happy without me.”

“Balderdash! That’s rubbish, and you know it,” he said, pointing her attention back to the monitor.

They watched together for a few more minutes; a feeling of unease beginning to grow. When someone was nearby, William looked up as though everything was fine; but as soon as he was alone momentarily, it all fell away and his face bore a look of anguish to it that was hard to mistake.

“He’s faking it all, isn’t he?” Buffy asked softly.

“I can’t be positive, Buffy, but I rather suspect so. I just had some concerns this week, despite his eagerness to come back to work, but I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. I’m glad to have you weigh in on it. You know, as Spike, I could almost always tell when he had some ulterior motive, or agenda. With William...well, I just wish I knew why he felt it necessary to put on an act,” Giles said, turning off the monitor, just as he saw Willow heading towards William.

“Thank you,” Buffy said, taking a deep breath. “I don’t know either, but I intend to find out.”

“Maybe we should go back to the party now. I think you’ve probably had enough of the tour. Besides, you’ll come back during a proper working day while you’re here.”

“Fair enough,” Buffy said, nodding.

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

8:20PM

After working out the logistics of it, Willow walked up to Vi and whispered something to her. A few minutes later, Vi had succeeded in getting Rose out of the room on a false pretext.

William stood alone, anxiously scanning the room, when Willow walked up.

“Hello, William. Enjoying the party?”

He jumped at the sound of his name, as he spun around. “Oh, Willow. Hello! How are you?”

“Don’t you ‘Willow, hello-how-are-you’ me,” she said, deciding on the Buffy method of pulling no punches approach from earlier that evening. “What the hell is the matter with you?”

William just stared at her.

“And don’t give me the woe-is-me story, either. I get that you had a big shock finding out that you were Spike and all that. It can’t be easy to accept. I get it. Still, Buffy, the woman who loves you, just flew across the ocean to see you; and what are you doing? Nothing! That’s what!”

“Willow, it’s...it’s not that simple, there are things...”

“Things, shmings, William!” Willow said, hands on hips. “All I can say is that you’d better go over and get things straightened out with Buffy before it’s too late.”

William stood staring down at the ground.

“There’s only so much anyone can wait around for another person to get their, pardon the expression, shit together. She waited...well, not waited, because she didn’t know you were coming back at all, so that’s not correct,” Willow stammered. “Let’s just say she was sort of in a state of waiting... after you, rather Spike, died. That’s it; a state of waiting.”

“Bollocks!” William said, surprising Willow, and himself as well, with his outburst. “Elizabeth was living! She had her teaching, she had friends, she had a...a life!”

"I'm sorry to disagree, but Buffy wasn't doing much living; hiding out in your house in Julian and going through the motions is more like it. As for friends, she had Clem. Don't get me wrong, we all love Clem and he's a great person...er demon...um, you know what I mean. The point I'm trying to make is that Clem was the only person she was close to in all that time. You lived with her for a year. Who else is she close to? Okay, there's Edna, but that's different. She was hardly even in contact with any of us, except for Dawn, during all that time. Until you came back. Before that, Buffy was hiding from the world, hiding from ever being hurt again; of loving ever again."

"No!" William said, shaking his head vehemently. "She just hadn't found love again. She had a life--one without vampires and monsters; that's what she had!”

“Is that all you think she wanted? You don’t think you gave her anything in the past year that made her happy?”

William didn’t answer.

“You know, I used to have a better opinion of you; as a man and a vampire. At least Spike wouldn’t give up.”

William cringed at once more being compared to Spike and found wanting. Obviously, he wasn’t even as good a man as the killer inside had been. All the more reason to stick with the plan. He was nothing anymore.

“Well?” Willow asked, staring at him with the best resolve face she could muster.

“Where is she?” William asked softy, looking around the room.

“I think she went upstairs with Giles for a few minutes. But when she gets back...”

“Alright,” William said, nodding.

“Oh, and nice seeing you again,” Willow said, quickly hugging him before walking off.

At the refreshment table, William grabbed the bottle of rum used in the spiked punch, and poured himself a cup straight up. The more he thought of it, the angrier he got. Who the hell was Willow to come to him and tell him what Elizabeth needed and didn’t need?

One thing was clear to him; she didn’t need to be pulled back into the ugliness and the darkness that had been her lot as the slayer. Living with a former killer, or a monster masked as a man, would do nothing but draw her back into that darkness. Whatever Willow thought of him, be damned! He couldn't let that happen.

Just then he saw Elizabeth heading in his direction, a determined look on her face. Before he could decide what to do, the answer presented itself in the guise of the young, seductive slayer.

“Miss me?” Rose asked, as she sidled up to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Giles caught sight of Willow when he got off the lift and headed towards her.

“So, you spoke to William? How did it go?”

“I think it went very well,” Willow said, nodding. “You would’ve been proud of me, Giles. I was forceful, but fair. I basically told him he was being an asshole, and he’d better get his act together and go find Buffy before it was too late.”

“Well, good. As long as you got the message across.”

“I think he most certainly...oh, crap.”

Giles followed Willow’s wide-eyed gaze to where William stood with his arm around a slayer, but most definitely, not the right slayer. He turned to Willow.

“And what exactly did you say to him?”

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

Buffy had come back down to the party, fully intending to use her slayer strength if need be, in order to drag William off somewhere alone to talk to him. What she didn’t expect, and what stopped her dead in her tracks, was to see William languidly put his arm around Rose and smile at her in such an intimate way that it made her throat constrict. As if on cue, William had turned to look at her.
In contrast to earlier when he'd quickly looked away before she could fathom what he might be feeling; he now held her gaze directly, challengingly.

He held his breath and waited.

Rose instinctively tightened her grip on him, as she watched the interaction in silent triumph. No way did William still want Buffy-the-has-been-Slayer. After all, just whom did he have his arm around, at this very moment?

Nearby, Vi was also watching, with a concerned expression written on her face. Catching her eye, Rose smiled at her with smug satisfaction. Crow, anyone?

Buffy held William's stare for as long as she could, trying to find something, anything there, that would tell her what was in his heart; if she was still in his heart.

William didn’t flinch.

Finally, she gave a short nod, and turned away, but not before he’d seen the pain in her eyes; the pain he’d intentionally inflicted. The glass William had been holding finally gave way under the increasing pressure he’d been exerting on it, quietly shattering.

Rose startled as the glass shards fell down near her feet, and she saw his bloody hand.

“What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“Well something did. Poor baby, you’re bleeding. Come on, let’s get something for that,” she said, trying to pull him along with her.

For the first time all evening, William forcibly shook her off. She looked at him, confused.

”I'm sorry, Rose. I...I didn' t mean to mislead you; and I'm afraid that I have, but I can't do this," he said, as he stepped away from her.

“Can’t do what? Let me help you with your hand?”

“No, not that,” he said, waving his hand between them. “This; I can’t do this.”

Hurt, was quickly replaced by righteous indignation and anger, as she realized that he had played her.

“This was all about her, wasn't it? Letting me hang around you tonight, acting like you were interested, putting your arm around me; it was all about making her jealous, wasn't it?”

“Yes,” he answered simply, knowing he couldn't voice the real reasons for his deception. Even if he did, it likely wouldn't have made her feel any better.

"Well, you devious bastard," Rose said, her eyes narrowing.

"I'm sorry..."

"Save it! Just a word of warning; you may not want to have me as a fencing partner anymore. If you get careless again, and I hurt you, I won’t be sorry.”

William looked at Rose for a moment, then nodded. He understood. At the very least, he deserved her ire.


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

Having seen the goings on, Willow quickly headed towards Buffy, who at the moment was impatiently jabbing the up button on the panel next to the lift.

“Come on you piece of shit.”

“Hey, Buffy.”

Buffy turned and saw Willow’s eyes, full of questions and sympathy. She shook her head.

“Is your trunk locked?”

“My trunk? I don’t think so, why?”

“I’m leaving. I...I can’t stay here, I can’t stay at Giles’,” Buffy said, as she stepped into the lift. Willow followed behind her.

“Where will you go?” Willow asked, not bothering with why. She already knew the answer to that.

“I don’t know. I guess I’ll get a motel room for the night.”

“I think you’re going to have a hard time. Everything is probably all sold out for the holidays.”

“Then I guess I’ll just head back to the airport.”

“I don’t think you’ll be able to find a flight, either.”

“Then I’ll just sleep there until I do,” Buffy said, her voice rising. “I just can’t stay here!”

“I know. I saw. He’s being an asshole.”

“Maybe. Or maybe I was, for running after him.”

“Don’t, Buffy. I don’t know what his deal is, but whatever it is; it’s not your fault, it’s his.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter, does it? William doesn’t want me here, that much is clear.”

“Oh, Buffy...”

“Look, if there’s a motel room available, a cab driver will most likely know where there’s one, right?”

Willow nodded.

“In any case, I won’t leave without seeing you first. I can still visit with you, right?”

“Darn tootin’” Willow said, optimistically. “Besides, we haven’t even gone shopping yet.”

At the door, Buffy buttoned her jacket, then turned back around, “Just tell Giles...just tell him. He’ll understand. Oh, and I’m leaving that manuscript tube thing in the trunk. Make sure he gets it, okay?”

“I will. I’m so sorry, Buffy,” Willow said, hugging her.

“Don’t be; it’s not your fault.”

“I could go with you,” Willow offered, “we could buy lots and lots of pints of ice-cream; chocolate ice-cream, and we could...”

“I appreciate the offer, Willow. I really do, but right now, I just think I need to be alone.”

“You won’t be,” Willow said, putting her hand on her heart.

Buffy swallowed back her tears of gratitude. Then, hugging Willow quickly, she turned and walked out into the night.

END CHAPTER 189