CHAPTER 103 - MRS. CARPELLO MAKES AN OFFER

August 7, 2008

Thursday

9:00am

Buffy came out to the living room wearing a towel after her morning shower, "William?"

"I'm on the porch," he called.

She wrapped the towel again, as she walked toward the door separating the kitchen to the back porch.

"Who is it?" she mouthed, seeing him on the phone.

"Dawn," he answered.

"Your sis is here, want to say hello?"

"In a while, tell her to go dry off first," Dawn said, laughing, "no, tell her she's all wet!"

"Dawn says you should dry off first while she talks with me, so you don't catch cold," he said diplomatically.

"Chicken!" Dawn said, laughing into the phone.

"Okay, I'll be back in a few," Buffy said, smiling.

She was glad that him and Dawn had been talking on the phone and emailing on a frequent basis, since they'd gotten home. Dawn and Spike had always seemed to have a connection in the past, and it appeared now her and William did as well. And the benefit was that it always seemed to put him in a positive, hopeful mood afterwards.

"I think that’s a great idea William!" Dawn said.

"Really?" William asked. They’d been talking about the flyers he’d picked up at the library from a local college.

"Really. I think it’s great that you want to take some classes."

"I don’t know about classes, maybe just a class in something. Just don’t know what yet."

"Well, just look at the schedule of classes and get some idea. You can probably also find it on their website."

"Oh, that’s right. I keep forgetting that everything on paper is also on the Internet," he said, shaking his head.

"What’s more, if you don’t actually need it for credit, because you already have a degree and just want to learn a new subject, or catch up with some stuff, you can audit the class."

"What does that mean?"

"Means you can pay a whole lot less, and you can sit in, do the work and all that, it just doesn’t count for an actual grade."

"That sounds good…except, well…I rather liked getting grades."

"Then you’ll have to actually enroll in some sort of degree program, which you can do, also. You can always start working on a second degree or a Master’s degree."

"Well, I haven’t even decided…"

"Have you talked to Buffy about it yet?"

"Um…no. See, that’s just it, I don’t have my license yet, and with Elizabeth going back to work…if the classes are during the day, I wouldn’t be able to get there."

"There’s usually night courses, too. Or online courses. You could start with those, then after you get your license, take day courses that start during the winter semester."

"I don’t know. I don’t want to just be going to college; I need to find a job somewhere, Dawn. Last thing I want is your sister supporting me. I just wanted to…oh the whole thing is stupid!"

"Why? Lot’s of people work and go to school, William."

"It’s not that."

"What then?"

He didn’t say anything.

"What?" she repeated.

"Most people turn in all their papers typed up, right? Do ‘em on their computers?"

"Of course, why? You have a computer."

"I don’t know how to type. I mean, I know where the keys are, but all I do is one key at a time, using two fingers. I could never write papers in a timely manner! It takes me 10 minutes just to write an email!"

"Don’t get yourself excited, you can learn to use a keyboard. Children learn to use it properly before they’re even in middle school anymore. There are classes, software…"

"I guess so. Dawn, Elizabeth is back from drying off, so I’m going to let you talk to her now, okay?"

"Okay, just remember what I said, William. Learning how to keyboard isn’t such a big obstacle that you can’t overcome it. You’ve overcome lots of stuff. Heck, driving is harder than that, and you’re doing okay there, aren’t you?"

"I suppose you’re right. Thanks, Dawn. Talk to you soon. Here’s Elizabeth."

William handed her the phone. She took it from him, kissing him on the cheek, "Thanks."

"Hey Dawnie, what lies have you been filling William’s head with?" she asked laughing.

"No lies, just telling him what an evil shrew you are and that he should escape as soon as he can, before you undoubtedly warp him for life."

"Too late for that!" Buffy laughed, as did Dawn.

"Buffy? Can William hear you right now," she asked, after they’d stopped the game.

"No, why?"

"I was wondering what you’re planning for William’s birthday next week."

"I’ve been thinking about that myself, Dawn. I’m not sure. Sort of thought about maybe having you come up and we could go to dinner at Edna’s, but last time he was there…well, Edna and her grandson Wallace just brought up some things that gave him nightmares, so I’ve been sort of avoid-y."

"What kind of nightmares? You didn’t tell me about that."

"I don’t know exactly," Buffy said, not wanting to go into all of it right then, "he was freaked out for a few days, but it’s over. I just don’t want to risk that on his birthday."

"Of course not," Dawn agreed.

They talked a few more minutes, Buffy assuring her that she’d let her know in a couple of days what she was planning.

The second meeting at Montessori was scheduled for 1:00pm that afternoon. Mrs. Carpello had asked that Buffy and William come by around 12:30pm to talk to her first.

Buffy tried not to be nervous; she had no idea what Mrs. Carpello was going to say, only hoped that she wouldn’t yet mention to William that she didn’t actually plan on going back to work.

"Why do you think she wants to talk to me again?" William asked, on the drive over.

"I’m really not sure, guess we’ll just have to find out," she said, as she sat there twisting and untwisting her purse strap between her fingers.

Mrs. Carpello was seated at her desk when they walked into her office.

"Hello, Elizabeth. Hello, William. Thank you for coming. Have a seat."

William waited until Buffy had taken a seat, before taking his.

"The reason I’ve asked you to come today is because I have an offer for you. For both of you, really," she said.

Both William and Buffy waited for her to continue.

"William," she said addressing him, "you’ve been through quite an ordeal these past couple of months, and over the last 5 years, to say the least. Elizabeth has expressed concern over her returning to work and leaving you alone all day at this point."

William turned to look at Buffy and shook his head, "No! Elizabeth! I told you I wouldn’t be the reason for your not…"

Buffy looked at Mrs. Carpello angrily; she had no right to break her confidence in this manner, before she’d had the opportunity to tell him herself. She’d gone along with the meetings, but this was too much. She rose to her feet, "We’re leaving!"

"William! Elizabeth! You haven’t let me finish at all. Please allow me to tell you why I asked you to come in today."

They stopped talking and looked at her, Buffy slowly sat back down.

"Thank you," she said, relieved, "the reason I brought that up, William, Elizabeth, was that I wanted to tell you that I understand how you feel,’ she said, directing her comments to Buffy.

"I lost someone, too. A long, long time ago, except the person I lost never came home."

"What happened," Buffy asked, chagrined.

Mrs. Carpello shook her head; "Maybe some other time. The point I was trying to make is, had this person come back to me, after being missing, I too, would have made him my priority over everything else. I would have done what I could to help him get his bearings again…" she said, fading off.

She cleared her throat, "That’s why I think I have a solution for both of you. William first let me ask you this. You do want to work, am I correct?"

"Of course, what man doesn’t want to support himself, his…wife?" he said, looking over at Buffy.

"Good," Mrs. Carpello said, "I assumed as much. Now, here’s my solution for both of you. William, I want to offer you a part-time job here. It would be about 4 hours a day. Now, it isn’t much, and certainly you’ll be over qualified for it, but it’s still honest work. You would be responsible for all the maintenance around here, inside and out. Mowing, raking, planting, etc. Inside, there’s cleaning, stocking supplies, general gopher work. Whatever needs to be done, you pitch in and help. I know it’s not much, neither does it pay much, but this way, until you get on your feet and find a job better suited to your education, you can still be useful. And Elizabeth will be able to come here and do her job without worrying that you’re alone all day. How does that sound?"

Buffy was flabbergasted. Never in her wildest dreams had she considered that Mrs. Carpello would be offering William a job. She didn’t have any idea what to expect, really.

William spoke first, "That’s very generous of you to make me this offer," he said, hesitating, "the problem is I have no memory of how to use a lawn mower or if it broke down, how to repair it. Or any other machine," he said, sadly shaking his head.

"Well, the lawn mower is really the only machine that you’d probably be operating, everything else, is manual. Shears for pruning bushes, rakes, hoes, brooms. Inside there’s a copying machine, but if that breaks down, we just call the company to come in and service it. Do you think that in three weeks time you might be able to learn from someone how to use and maintain a lawn mower?" she asked.

William nodded, "There’s someone I think that could help. And the library has books on small engines, too. It is a small engine, right?"

"Yes, it’s a small one," Mrs. Carpello said, smiling, "and I think we have a manual from when we purchased it. If you need anything else, we can order one for you on maintaining it. Really, William, it’s quite simple! Even I use a mower at home and give it gas, fix little things on it when needed. If I can do it, I’m sure you can, too."

"So, what do you say then?" she asked looking at William.

He looked over at Buffy, questioningly.

"Could we have a minute to discuss this?" Buffy asked.

"Sure, just come on out to the outer office when you’re done talking and let me know your decision," Mrs. Carpello said. She nodded to them, as she closed the door on her way out.

"What do you think?" William said, turning to Buffy. "It’s not a bad idea, is it?"

"No, no, of course not, if you don’t mind this type of work…for now. I don’t want you to take it, if you think you’ll hate it or something just because of me."

"I don’t mind, really. I’m not too qualified for anything at the moment, and she was right, it’s honest work and I could be contributing in some small way, instead of sitting home, not contributing. You wouldn’t have to worry about me, and by the way, when were you going to tell me about you not going back to work?"

"I’m sorry, William," Buffy said, sheepishly, "I was going to, I felt like I was in limbo not knowing what Mrs. C. was going to tell us. I just didn’t want you to worry about it."

"And I don’t want you to worry about me all the time," William said, taking her hands, "this way you won’t have to, I’ll be here, you’ll be here…"

"Yeah, I could always meet you in the broom closet during breaks," she said winking.

He looked at her a second before it sunk in, "Want me to lose my job before I even have it?" he asked, grinning.

They found Mrs. Carpello at the file cabinet when they came out of her office.

"Well? What have you both decided?" she asked.

"We think it’s a very generous offer and we, I accept," William said.

"Good then," she said, handing him a pile of papers, "just get these back to me a week before school starts."

"All these papers," William said, shaking his head. Buffy stood over him, as he settled in at the library table, before she went to her meeting.

"We’ll work on them at home, okay? Don’t worry about them now, or you’ll drive yourself crazy."

"Okay," he nodded, "guess I’ll start looking for some books on small engine repairs or something like that. Small machine repair, perhaps."

"Maybe they have a ‘Lawn Mower Repair for Dummies,’ book."

He looked up at her hurt.

"Oh William, I didn’t mean that," she said, kissing him, "there’s a whole series of ‘How To,’ books that all have that title, ‘Computers for Dummies,’ ‘Cooking for Dummies,’ ‘Gardening for Dummies,’ it’s just a name, not an insult."

"Well, it is rather insulting," he said, rather stiffly.

"Just supposed to be a catchy title to make people laugh, it’s a hook, know what I mean?"

"Hmmppphhh!" he said, rolling his eyes.

She grinned, "See you in a couple of hours."

After the meeting, Mrs. Carpello asked Buffy to bring William back over. She found he’d checked out a half dozen of the ‘Dummy’ books. She laughed.

"They really are pretty good. Easy to understand," he said, shrugging.

"You don’t have to know how to repair every machine in the world you know, just the stupid lawn mower, if it needs it."

"I know," he said, patting her hand, "I just want to catch up with the world of machines, if you know what I mean. Besides, there’s also a book on computers and cars," he said, grinning.

She grinned back; it was just contagious when he became excited about something.

They threw the books into the back seat of the car, then went across the street. She took his hand and they walked into the conference room.

Before the meeting had started, Buffy had agreed with Mrs. Carpello that it would be best to tell her associates about William, the shortened version, in any case, before he started to work there. So, at the end of the meeting, she had made the announcement, answered some questions, and asked them to please not ask William about it, as he was sensitive regarding the subject and trying to become adjusted.

Now Mrs. Carpello made the introduction, "Everyone, I want you to meet William; Elizabeth’s husband. He’s going to be working part-time for us this coming fall, doing some of our maintenance and odd jobs."

"Hello, very nice to make your acquaintances," he said, nodding to the room of women who were trying not to gawk at the good looking, shy man, with the lovely English accent, standing before them.

Greetings were exchanged; then Mrs. Carpello took William on a tour of the building, including the shed, introducing him to the tools of his new, temporary trade, as it were.

Later that evening, they were going over the papers, when it came to education, Buffy stopped and went into the bedroom to get the doctored up papers Willow had sent. She’d had to change the names of a few courses, so if checked, they would agree with those taken 100+ years after the fact, and the names of professors.

"Here," she said, handing him the manila envelope which had his Oxford diploma, and transcripts. She held her breath as he looked them over.

William looked at his Diploma and smiled. At first. Then he frowned, grumbling something. Looking over the transcripts he shook his head.

"This doesn’t seem right," he said, pointing to the name of the teacher for Classical Greek, "fellow had an amusing name like Appledown or Applegate, certainly not Psimos," he said.

He looked at her, "I don’t understand how I can remember taking these classes, well, all but a few of these that I don’t recall at all, but the names of the professors seem all wrong. ‘Cept for this one," he said pointing to a Maximillion Warring IV, "think I had him, but not for this mathematics class, but for science."

He sat back and rubbed his head.

Buffy looked at him sympathetically. She felt worse than awful for messing with his known memory in this way, but there was really no other choice, she told herself. He couldn’t exactly use a transcript that had classes from back in the late 1860’s, early 1870’s now could he?

"Headache?" she asked, as she gently replaced his hand with her own on top his head, and massaged it gently.

He nodded, "I hate this," he said through gritted teeth, "hate that I remember only bits and pieces, but altogether, it doesn’t make for much of anything. It’s bleedin’ pathetic."

She waited for the apology for him saying bleedin’ but it didn’t come.

"I’m sorry," she said softly, knowing he was really upset.

"Why? Not your fault my memory is like Swiss cheese, is it? You have nothing to be sorry about. I, on the other hand, need you to help me fill out the simplest paperwork, I’m the one who should be sorry," he laughed bitterly, "I’m sorry alright."

"Stop it right now! Paperwork sucks for everyone, and it’s worse for you right now, but that’s no reason to be getting all in a snit about it, to start feeling…"

"Sorry for myself?"

"I wasn’t going to say that," she answered, then shrugged, "well, maybe you are a bit."

"Not very productive, is it?"

"Nah, but you deserve a good wallow in the lake of self-pity once in a while. We all do."

He sighed, "Okay, I’m over it, let’s just get this bloody…sorry, Elizabeth… thing done, alright?"

"Alright by me," she said, and picked up the pen and employee paperwork.

A few minutes later, she handed him the completed application to sign. He looked it over, stopping when it came to previous job experience.

"Two years at the Magic Box shop, Sunnydale, CA? That’s it? The sum of my experience? That can’t be right!" he said, agitated all over again.

"It probably isn’t, but I don’t know where else you worked, before you moved there, so it’s going to have to do," Buffy said, trying to be patient.

"Well, that’s just great. Almost 28 years old, and I’ve got 2 years work experience selling books at a store that no longer exists. That’s just…great!"

"Mrs. C. knows that you lost your memory, so she won’t be expecting anything else, this is just…a formality is all."

"Well, what about if I want to find another job sometime? What will I have to put down? Two years at the Magic Shop, followed by being the lawn boy at Montessori?"

Buffy stood up, "Damnit, William! I told you that you don’t have to take this job if you don’t want to!"

"No, but if I don’t, then you’re going to quit teaching, right? Great, we’ll both be sitting home then!"

She looked at him, "Would that be so horrible?"

William leaned forward and grabbed her, pulling her onto his lap, "If you’re asking if it would be horrible to be at home with you everyday, of course not. I love being here with you, you know that," he said, earnestly. He pulled her head to his and kissed her. "I’m just frustrated is all. I want the job, honest I do. Get to learn some practical things that I probably wouldn’t otherwise. Just…can’t believe this is the sum of what we know about my job experience." He shook his head.

"William," Buffy said softly, "when the time comes, when you find something else you want to do, we can sort of mess around with the resume."

"What do you mean?"

"Um…I mean, we can say you worked somewhere other than the Magic Box in Sunnydale."

"You mean lie about it?" he asked, shaking his head. "No, that’s not right. And what if they contact someone who says they never heard of me?"

"In Sunnydale?"

He looked at her, "Oh. Well, still. Guess I don’t have many options here do I? Either go with what little we know, or lie about it. I’ll just leave it at this for now."

She nodded, "Besides, you were in school most years before this time anyway."

"Yeah, but what about the past 5 years? Supposed to say I was just wandering around in a daze? Sleepin’ under a bridge?"

"I don’t know," she said, "before I started this job, I didn’t have much of anything to put on my resume either," she said. Obviously not, since being the slayer for 7 years was something that she couldn’t claim.

"How about we cross that bridge when we get to it…somewhere down the line?"

He kissed her again, "What else can I do?

END CHAPTER 103

August 10, 2008

Sunday

11:45am

"William?"

"Hmm?" he asked, still reading the paper, oblivious to her.

William had been practicing his driving all week and yesterday Buffy had taken a chance and let him drive around the much larger San Diego, although she’d driven them there on the highway. They’d stopped at a little street corner vendor for a hotdog and next to it, there had been a newspaper stand, which sold international papers. William had been very excited when he’d spotted the London Times; Sunday Edition, but Buffy had stopped him from reading it then.

"In keeping with quaint, old-fashioned, time honored traditions, one must only read big, thick, Sunday papers like the London or New York Times," she’d said, pointing to the paper she’d bought as well, "on Sunday mornings, in bed, with coffee, O.J., and bagels. "

"Very well, "William had sighed, though he was itching to read something of his homeland and took every opportunity he could find, when she was preoccupied to surreptitiously sneak glances at the front page.

"William!" she said again, louder.

He looked up from his paper, and took off his reading glasses, "Sorry luv, was just engrossed in this story on the Royals. Tawdry bunch, aren’t they?"

Buffy guffawed and rolled her eyes.

He almost said something about when Queen Victoria ruled, she would have never allowed such a mockery of the House of Windsor, but he held his tongue, instead of sounding like he belonged back in the mental ward.

"This is nice," he said, turning his attention to her, "a good Sunday morning tradition. Bagels, coffee, food, you and me."

"I have a confession to make," she said.

"What’s that?"

"I’ve never really done this before, I mean, I’ve read papers in bed, but never the whole traditional New York Times and all the trimmings."

He leaned over the papers, causing them to scatter and kissed her, "Then we should make it ours, don’t you think? Every Sunday morning?"

"Sounds good to me," she said, kissing him back.

Soon the papers from both sides of the pond were forgotten and another Sunday morning tradition was instituted.

Afterwards, Buffy stroked Williams back in imaginary designs as he rested his head against her breast, "William?"

"What?"

"How would you like to go to San Juan Capistrano next Friday? We could wander around the town, have lunch, see the mission there, even go to the beach; you want to, that is."

He lifted his head up to look at her, "That sounds nice, are the swallows…?"

"No, not until March. I just thought it might be nice to go do something before we have to start work in a few weeks."

"Sounds lovely," he said, as he settled his head back down on her.

Buffy smiled and closed her eyes, satisfied.

August 15, 2008

Friday

9:30am

"You ready?" Buffy called from the kitchen.

"Almost. Where did you say my beach stuff was?" William called to her from the bedroom.

"Bottom of the closet, right hand side."

"Okay, I see it."

"I’ll be getting the stuff into the car," she called, from the front door.

Once outside, she quickly flipped on her cell phone.

"Clem?"

"Hey Buffy, you guys heading out now?"

"In a few minutes. You remember where I told you everything was, right?"

"I didn’t forget. In the barn, right? Big black bag?"

"No, blue bag."

"That’s right."

"Just please don’t let Dawn overdo it, okay? We don’t want William to freak, right?" she asked, hoping that by making Clem in charge, he would keep everything to a minimum on the excitement scale. Of course, she’d told Dawn the same thing.

"We won’t."

"You’ve got Dawn’s cell?"

"Yep, already talked to her, I’m going to meet her at Dudley’s in Santa Ysabel and she can follow me from there. It’s really going to be nice to see her again."

"That’s right, you haven’t seen her in…well, not since Sunnydale, have you?"

"No. Oh goodness," he said, suddenly excited, "will I even recognize her? What if I don’t recognize her?"

"You’ll recognize her, she still has the long hair. I guess she looks a little bit older, but not too much. I’d worry more about her not recognizing you. Oh, shit!"

"Um, well, I told her what car I’ll be driving and I could always send her a picture."

"Good idea, maybe you should…uh-oh, William’s coming, I gotta go. Remember, have Dawn park at your house."

"I will. Have a good day, you two!"

"We will. Thanks, Clem."

"Who was that?"

"Clem, he called wanting to know if I had an extra ladle, guess he broke his," she fibbed.

"Ready?"

"Ready!"

It took them a little more than an hour to get to San Juan Capistrano. Their first stop was at the mission, itself.

They could see walls towering 50 feet into the sky, only to be dwarfed by the 125 foot, native stone bell tower, as they neared the arched, stone entryway.

They wandered the cobbled quadrangle walkways, visiting the more famous adobe and stone buildings. The Great Stone Church, once representing the "Jewel of the Mission," which had been mostly destroyed by an earthquake in 1812. Almost 200 years later, scaffolding in the front of it belied the lack of money to restore it to its former glory.

Next they visited the Serra Chapel, named for Fr. Junipero Serra, founding father of the California Missions and saw the 300 year-old baroque altar, brought over from Barcelona, Spain.

Their last hour was spent wandering through some of the ten and a half acres of lush gardens; stopping here and there to admire the flowers, kiss under a tree or behind a bush, just enjoying the day, before finally coming to rest at the fountain in the central courtyard.

"Reminds me of the South of France," William said.

"You’ve been there?" Buffy said, enviously.

"Oh, no, luv, just what I’ve read, pictures I’ve seen," he answered. At least he didn’t think he had, but the look of these gardens reminded him of something. He shook it off.

"I should take you there sometime. Paris, Southern France, along the Mediterranean Sea," he said, picking a red bougainvillea flower and putting it behind her ear.

"That would be wonderful," she said, allowing herself to dream a little, "think I’m going to hold you to that."

"It’s a deal," he said, and reached over to kiss her gently.

"What?" William asked Buffy, who had been grinning at him from time to time, since they had sat down and ordered their lunch.

"Huh? Nothing, just having a good time," she said, reminding herself to not give anything away.

They had debated if they should eat either here at Café Mozart, which had slightly higher prices, or at The Fish Market & Grill. Café Mozart won out since they also had seafood, plus outdoor dining. They had the lunch special, Maryland Crab Cakes with a tarragon mustard sauce for her and grilled salmon for William.

After lunch, they went over to the beach. Since the waves were high, they decided just to sit on the beach and soak up some sun.

Buffy lay on her stomach, looking over at William, having just finished putting sun block on him.

"What?" he asked her.

"What, what?"

"You’re looking at me strangely again."

"I am? Maybe I’m just strange."

"Well, yes, but besides that."

She elbowed him in the side.

"Ow!"

"That’s for calling me strange, mister."

He just laughed and closed his eyes, though he could still feel her staring at him, could sense her.

Buffy was used to seeing him out in the daylight by now, but here on the beach, she was reminded again, of what a miracle it was, that he was.

When they went to the bathhouse to change their clothes, she called Clem to make sure everything was set.

"Clem? How’s everything? Did Dawn make it up there alright?"

"Dawn’s here and we’ve got everything set up. All we need is the guest of honor."

"It’s almost 6 now, we should be there a little after 7, I’d guess, unless we run into a traffic jam. Crap, why did I say that? Probably jinxed myself!"

"Don’t worry. We’ll be here, no matter when you guys get here."

"I know, I know, I just want it to be perfect. Or near perfect. Can I talk to Dawn?"

"DAWN!" Clem yelled, causing Buffy to hold the phone out from her ear.

"Buffy?" Dawn came on the phone; "this place is fantastic! I can’t believe it, you’ve been really holding out on me all these years!"

Buffy had a pang of guilt, "I didn’t mean to ‘hold out’ as you put it, I just…nevermind. Did you remember to pick up the cake?"

"Duh! It was right there where I met up with Clem. Sheesh, what do you think I am? A total space cadet?"

"I’m sorry, I forgot we’d decided to have Dudley’s make it. I thought you were still going to get it from the bakery near you."

"That’s okay. So, does William suspect anything?"

"I don’t think so, but he did catch me grinning at him stupidly a couple of times and ask me what that was about, but I blew it off, just attributed it to my being strange, which by the way, he so readily accepted," she said, laughing.

"Well, he’s getting to know you better all the time," Dawn laughed along with her.

"Hey!"

"See you guys when you get here."

"Yeah, I can’t wait! Bye, Dawn."

"Bye, Buffy."

Before leaving town, they bought ice cream cones at Baskin Robbins. William still claimed the ones at Fuller’s Resort were better, and Buffy tended to agree.

They pulled up in front of the house about 7:15pm.

"Smells like something’s cooking," William said, as they walked up to porch.

"Hmm, really? I don’t smell anything," Buffy said, although she did.

He opened the door and was greeted by a banner, proclaiming, "Happy 28^{th Birthday, William!"}

"What the…?" he looked over at Buffy, who smiled, just as Clem and Dawn came out of the kitchen to greet him.

"Happy Birthday, William," Dawn chirped.

"Dawn!" William said, smiling, as she came forward to give him a hug, "Dawn! Wow, you’re here. How did you…? Why did you…?"

Dawn smiled at him, "How do you think?"

William turned toward Buffy, "You…knew?" he shook his head, "I didn’t even remember, I…" he seemed at a loss for words.

"It’s okay. I did. I…"

"Happy Birthday, William!" Clem said.

"Thanks, Clem. I thought I smelled cooking when we were walking up to the house," he said, smiling at Buffy.

"That’s right, I’ve been slaving over a hot stove for hours, so let’s go and eat!"

They talked over dinner about the classes Dawn had signed up for and William’s new job. Clem assured him that he’d look over the lawn mower at Montessori, to make sure it was running correctly before his job started, and if necessary, they could take it home and work on it, as well as any other tools that needed tending to.

After dinner, they went back to the living room, where William started a fire. Dawn passed around some pictures she’d brought with, taken while they’d been together all those weeks in the summer, being careful to remove those from the Grand Canyon. She also had some of her and her boyfriend. Buffy brought her pictures out too, so they could compared them and trade each other for their doubles.

At a nod from her head, Clem asked William to come and look at his car for a couple of minutes. As soon as they were outside, Buffy and Dawn moved the coffee table to the center of the room, and brought the presents that had been stashed in the spare bedroom, out to the living room. There was a huge Mylar balloon and a few regular helium balloons. They put them in the center of the table.

Buffy took the birthday cake out to the kitchen and put the candles on top of it.

Hearing the front door open, she hurried back to the living room.

Once again, William was speechless, seeing the decorations, cards, and wrapped presents.

"Happy Birthday," she said.

He turned to look at her, shaking his head. She walked up to him and led him to the couch, where he took a seat.

"These are for me?" he asked, shocked.

"Of course they’re for you, silly," Dawn said.

"This is from me," Clem said, handing him a package.

William opened the card first and read it to himself, then he opened Clem’s gift.

"It’s a Socket Wrench Set, so you can work on your car and other stuff. Both metric and inches, too," he explained, grinning.

"Thank you, this is great! I’m sure I’ll get plenty of use out of these, especially once I know what I’m doing."

"Here, open mine next," Dawn said.

Again, William opened the card first, and after swallowing a couple of times, he looked up and nodded to her. He then took the package and opened it.

"Typing Tutor?" he read, looking at Dawn quizzically.

"It’s for the computer, Buffy can install it for you. You were saying how you don’t know how to type properly and this’ll teach you. There’s a bunch of lessons, and it’s just like taking a class. In fact, if you go to their website, you can take the tests online if you want, and when you pass, you’ll get a certificate of completion or something like that," Dawn said.

"Thanks, Dawn," he said, leaning over to give her a hug, "this should be quite helpful."

"You’re welcome. Here open these," she said, handing him the last two packages.

He looked at Buffy, but she shook her head.

He unwrapped the long one first. Inside, was a priority mail carton, which had been addressed to Dawn. He looked at questioningly.

"It’s for you," she assured him.

He slit open the box, with a pair of scissors that Buffy got for him from the desk.

He pulled out the card first and opened it. It read:

William,

I hope you get a chance to use this where you live. I know you’re new to this sport, but it’s fun and relaxing, even if you don’t catch anything. By the time we come for a visit, I expect you to now all the great fishing spots around.

Xander

He pulled out three parts of a disassembled fishing pole; "It’s from Xander," he said, his voice betraying his emotions, as he put the fishing pole together.

"Wow, that’s really nice," Clem said, "I’ll have to take you fishing."

"You fish?" Buffy asked, before William did.

"Haven’t for a while, but now that I know someone else with a fishing pole, guess I might give it a try again."

William looked at him gratefully.

"Here, last one," Dawn said, handing him the smaller package.

The box inside the wrapping was also addressed to Dawn. It was a small, red, plastic tackle box. Inside was fishing wire, bobbers, hooks, a pair of pliers, and some lures.

He opened the envelope and unfolded a piece of paper. There was a crayon drawing of a pond, on the sides stood two large, what looked to be men, and a small boy. They each had a fishing pole in their hands and on each of the lines, there was a fish.

On the top and bottom, in a child’s shaky scrawl, was printed:

To William,

Happy Birthday, Love, Alex.

"Aww," Dawn and Buffy said.

"That’s from Xander’s son? Talented little tyke," Clem said.

"He is, isn’t he?" William said, admiringly.

"Xander sent me these things a few days ago when he knew I was coming up here, William. He wanted to make sure that you had them on your birthday," Dawn said.

He cleared his throat, "Thank him for me. They’re really nice."

"You can thank him yourself."

"Of course. I will, just if you talk to him before I do. Or email before I do," he added, "but I will, I definitely will."

William kept shaking his head, overwhelmed by the gifts and attention. Buffy put her arm around him for support.

"There’s one more thing we have to do. Come on," she said, pulling him up before he could protest. The others followed to the kitchen.

"Wait here," she said, letting go of his hand and leaving him and the others in the dining room area. She quickly went into the kitchen, lit the candles on the cake, and turned off the lights.

She then came back to him, "Close your eyes," she said.

He looked at her and knew she meant it, so he complied. She took his hand and led him into the kitchen, "Now open them.".

The room was bathed in candlelight that was coming off of the cake that stood in the middle of the table. On it was written, "Happy Birthday, William." The chocolate cake was frosted in white, with red and yellow roses and green leaves.

He stood there staring at it, unable to process it all.

"Um…it’s customary now for us to sing Happy Birthday to you, then for you to make a wish and blow out the candles. Then you cut the cake and get to eat it. Ice cream, too! "Buffy said, smiling at his shocked face.

Buffy started out the song, with the others joining in.

"Now close your eyes again, make a wish, then blow out the candles," she coaxed.

"But don’t tell anybody," Dawn said.

"That’s right, has to be a secret wish," Clem added.

William closed his eyes, his life; this life was so good right now that he didn’t know what he could possibly wish for himself. Instead, he wished, "Let me always be the kind of man that Elizabeth deserves," then he opened his eyes and blew out the candles, amidst clapping and good-natured cheer.

They had their cake and ice cream out in the living room, sitting in front of the fire, talking, and listening to music.

William stood up, "Can I take anyone else’s plate to the kitchen? Or get anything for anyone?"

"You don’t have to do that," Buffy said, "sit down, you’re the birthday boy."

He shook his head, "No, it’s quite alright, really," he said smiling.

Nobody wanted anything else, but they gave him their plates.

Buffy half-heard the water running, as she talked with Clem and Dawn, thinking she should go out to the kitchen and make him come and sit down instead of cleaning up, but she got caught up in the conversation. It wasn’t until Dawn asked where he was about 10 minutes later that she realized she’d heard the porch door open and shut a while back.

"I don’t know, I think he might have gone outside," Buffy answered.

"Do you want me to go get him?" Dawn asked.

"No, I’ll do it."

She went out to the kitchen, and out to the porch. He was standing just outside the back door.

Buffy opened the door, and stood next to him, putting her hand on his arm, "You okay?"

He nodded.

"I hope you don’t mind that I didn’t tell you about Dawn coming or the party. I wanted it to be a surprise."

He shook his head and turned towards her, "Of course not. This is…Thank you, Elizabeth, this is…nobody’s ever…" he choked up, "nobody has ever done anything like this for me before."

"You’ve never had a birthday party before?" she asked, amazed.

"I…I don’t think so. I mean, I don’t really remember, but I don’t think so…"

She silenced him with a gentle, lingering kiss, "Then I guess it was time that you had one."

"Let’s go back inside," she said, smiling. He nodded.

Clem left a little while later. William walked him to the front door, "Thank you for the gift, for getting Dawn, for cooking, for everything!"

"The pleasure was all mine, Spike," Clem said, then corrected himself, "I mean, William."

"That’s okay. We both thank you," he said, laughing, and took hold of Clem’s hand to shake it.

Clem pulled him in and they embraced briefly, slapping each other on their backs.

"Good night, William. Tell Dawn I’ll see her tomorrow before she leaves."

"Night, Clem," William said, smiling as he watched his friend get into his car and drive off.

Buffy excused herself for a few minutes to go take care of something in the bedroom, leaving William and Dawn in the living room.

"So, how’d you like the party?" Dawn asked, "bet you were surprised, huh?"

"Quite. Like I told Elizabeth, I don’t recall ever having a birthday party before."

"Are you serious? That sucks!"

He shrugged, "I don’t think that it was because they didn’t care, I just think…that my family didn’t go in for that sort of thing. At least, what I can remember of them. I mean, my mum may have bought me a new pair of trousers and a jacket or something along those lines, but there was no party, no cake and cream. Though come to think of it, she may have made me my favorite meal that day," he said, remembering, "and dessert."

"What was that?"

He thought for a moment, "I really don’t recall what I liked to eat best for a meal. Maybe roast or something, but I’m pretty sure I liked rice pudding with cinnamon and raisins," he said, not sure if it really had been, or if he was remembering Elizabeth’s failed Easy Rice Pudding fiasco.

"How about now?"

"What’s that?"

"Your favorite meal and dessert?"

"Hm…have to say that I probably like steak the best, though I’m beginning to get a real appreciation for eating different kinds of fish. Had salmon today at lunch that was great. Oh, and tasted Elizabeth’s crab cakes and they were really good, too. For dessert, ice cream, hands down."

Dawn laughed, "I knew it!" she squealed, "the way you went for that stuff at Fuller’s. Got you hooked, didn’t we?"

He laughed, too, nodding, "That you did, Dawn, that you did."

Buffy returned and they all talked for another half-hour, before Dawn excused herself to go to bed.

William was in bed, when Buffy sat down on his side, "Happy Birthday William," she said, handing him a small, wrapped box, "this is from me. I didn’t want to give it to you in front of the others."

He took it from her, gently fingering the outside of it a few moments, "You didn’t have to…"

"Just open it. Please?"

He undid the ribbon and undid the tape on the wrapping paper. Inside was small, hinged black box. He opened it up and his face lit up with pleasure. It was a watch fob, with two doves on the front. He took it out, looking at it closely, then opened it up to see the watch face.

"It’s wonderful," he said, looking up at her and smiling in delight.

"I hoped you’d like it, the birds on the front kind of reminded me of my necklace, except they’re two doves, not love birds, but still…oh, and look on the back."

He turned it over. Etched on it was WE, just like it was on her necklace.

William looked at her, shaking his head, "When did you…?"

"When you were out driving with Clem last week. I went to the local jewelry store, about a block from Edna’s. I was hoping you wouldn’t spot me, when you were driving around," Buffy said, grinning, "you nearly did, too. You and Clem were driving by just as I was pulling into the store’s parking lot."

"Anyway, I thought about getting you a regular watch, but I figured you might like this more. Besides, you can get a cheap watch, if you need one for work. I had the jeweler etch the initials WE on the back, just like it is on my necklace. I was going to have them put E Loves W, but I wanted it to be the same. Do you really like it?" she asked, nervously babbling.

He pulled her down to him and kissed her, "I love it, Elizabeth, thank you. It’s the nicest thing I’ve ever received. It’s beautiful, you’re beautiful. I’ll cherish it always, cherish you always," he said, voice husky, as he pulled her body totally on top of his.

Hands cupping her face, he kissed her sweet mouth. They rocked back and forth against each other, both moaning, as their passion ignited once again. A few moments later, clothes discarded, she drew her knees up alongside his thighs, and reaching down and grasping him, guided him in.

"Love you, love you so much," he whispered to her, as he kissed her neck and her earlobes, her breasts and her lips, "you make me so happy, couldn’t want for anything else," he murmured, his hands rocking her hips to increasing rhythm.

Looking down at his awe struck face, she felt a wave of tenderness wash over her heart for him, "I love you, too William, love you," she managed to gasp out, seconds before her orgasm made her body shudder and convulse. Pleasure and love coursed through them both, as he followed, seconds later.

She’d nearly fallen asleep on him, when he gently rolled her over, still entwined, still inside her, he pulled the covers up over both them, "Happy Birthday," she mumbled, as she snuggled down next to his chest, a look of contentment on her face.

An hour later, he still watched her as she slept, tried to imagine a time when he didn’t love her or that she wasn’t in his life, and barely could.

Finally, William drifted off to sleep as well, with the thought that all was as it should be. They loved each other and all was right in their world.

Life was good.

END CHAPTER 104

CHAPTER 105 - BACK TO WORK