ONE NORMAL LIFE CH. 106 - 110 SPIKEALICIOUS.COM

CHAPTER 106 - LIFE GOES ON

He got down and stood back, admiring it. She went over and turned out the lamps and stood next to him, putting her arm around him, as they basked in the glow of the tree lights.

"It is, isn’t it?" he asked, in wonder.

"It really is," she agreed, and reached up to kiss him, "it really is."

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November 30, 2008

Saturday

10:00am

"There they are!" Buffy said, waving at Dawn and the young man whose arm she had.

"Dawn! Over here!" she yelled, loud enough to be heard over the throng of Christmas shoppers.

Buffy and William had come down to San Diego to go Christmas shopping and to meet up with Dawn and Dr. John, who were spending the night with his cousin.

"Buffy! William!" Dawn said, making her way through the crowd with Dr. John in tow.

The sisters hugged and kissed, then Dawn and William hugged.

"This is John," Dawn said, smiling proudly at him.

Buffy looked over at him, John was tall, about 6’2", with curly, dark brown hair and eyes, a rather round face, and full lips that easily gave up a warm smile.

"Hi John, I’m Buffy and this is William. It’s nice to finally meet you. We’ve heard a lot about you for quite a while now."

"You, too."

"William," John said, holding out his hand, which William shook, "nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you, too."

"Well, why don’t we go to Starbucks and get tanked up on caffeine as we plot our strategy," Buffy suggested.

"Always the slayer," Dawn whispered to Buffy as they walked ahead of the guys, toward Starbucks."

"Huh?"

"Tanked up? Strategy?" Dawn rolled her eyes.

"That would’ve been ‘suited up,’ or ‘geared up,’ not ‘tanked up.’ That would’ve been the government…"

"What do you want?" William asked, "I’ll buy for everyone."

Buffy gave him her order, as did Dawn and John. She felt bad knowing he was going to be down over $10 already, and they hadn’t even bought a single present yet.

They chit-chatted over coffee, then decided that for the first two hours the couples would shop together, then they would meet for lunch and decide how to proceed from there.

The first stop was the mall’s Radio Shack. Xander was first on Buffy and William’s list of friends to shop for. William picked up a copy of Typing Tutor for him. They also found a child’s version for Alex, geared for the 4-6 year olds. It had dozens of games, all played while teaching keyboarding skills. William also got Xander something called, ‘Let’s Fish!’ on CD-ROM that was like the Gideon’s Bible of fishing information. From lures to tackle, bait, poles, reels, line, types of fish, and what’s more, had a website where Xander could connect to, for up-to-date reports on the conditions of any watering hole he could think of wanting to visit.

Buffy spotted and couldn’t resist a little remote control racecar for Xander and Alex. In it’s seat sat a little character from the latest Disney movie she was sure they were probably familiar with.

"Great little car and a good price," said the sales clerk as he walked up to them.

"It’s adorable," Buffy agreed, "but I think when one purchases a car, they should be allowed to test drive it first, don’t you, um…Doug?" Buffy asked, using his the name on his tag.

"Uh…sure you can," he said looking around for somewhere that they could play with it, where it wouldn’t trip someone.

"Follow me," he said, leading them through the store, two cars and two remotes in his hand, "I probably shouldn’t let you do this, but…" he opened up the back door of the store and took them into a hall that only store personnel entered by. The hall was empty.

"You can play with it here, just don’t let anybody know I let you, okay? Oh, and don’t run the cars into each other’s, don’t want them looking all banged up," Doug said, handing Buffy and William the remotes. He put the cars on the ground in front of them.

"Have fun!"

"Thanks, Doug," said Buffy.

November 27, 2008

Wednesday

11:00am

Buffy walked by the window in her classroom, just in time to catch a glimpse of William in Spike’s old army jacket, walking into the shed, carrying a rake.

"Where did this come from?" he’d asked of the jacket, a few weeks ago, when the weather had gotten cool and she’d suggested he wear it.

"I don’t know, just something you had here."

He made a face, but put it on, to see how it fit. He put his hands inside the pockets and pulled out a handful of tree bark.

"Why do you think these are in here?"

"I don’t know," she answered, looking at them. Then it dawned on her, "Yes I do, they’re from when you carved our initials in our tree."

He turned them over in his hands, examining them, then put them back in his pocket and stepped over to her and put his hand on her cheek, "S’all connected, isn’t it?"

She nodded, looking him in the eyes, "Yes, it is."

He’d been working now, for over 2 months, and they’d settled into a comfortable routine.

William worked in the mornings, then waited for Buffy to get finished with work, usually an hour after the children had gone, at the library. He passed the time by reading or using the Internet for the first couple of weeks, but eventually, started helping the librarian catalogue some of the books and periodicals that came in. About a month later, with the library board’s agreement, she offered him a part-time job from 1:00pm - 3:30pm. He was quite pleased with this development, as it he now was working almost full-time, and he only had to wait another half-hour or less for Buffy to get out of work, so they could go home.

Tomorrow was Thanksgiving Day. They planned on a small dinner with just Clem as their guest.

Dawn had called to say that their father was going out-of-town with his new girlfriend, and she herself had been invited to Dr. John’s parent’s home in Sacramento.

Buffy was sorry about Dawn, but relieved that she didn’t have to make her own excuses to Hank.

The following day, her and William’s main goal was to get a Christmas tree. It would be the first time; in all the years she’d lived there, she’d never once celebrated a holiday. She’d decorated her classroom last year for the students, and in past years, had gone to her father’s apartment to celebrate the holidays with Dawn. But when she returned to Julian, to ‘their’ house, it was like she drew a curtain, separating her outside life with that of the memories she’d shared with Spike.

The only thing she did religiously every year was to build another ‘Snowman Spike,’ around Valentine’s Day.

This year was different though, this year she had something to celebrate!

They walked through the tree lot in Julian, looking for the best tree and feeling bad for the trees that had given their lives for the holiday, as well.

"How about this one, Elizabeth?" William asked, showing her a Scotch pine tree, whose bottom was covered in burlap.

"That’s nice, we could plant it afterwards, too. But what would we put it in?"

They went to search for the man who worked there. When they found him, he showed them a huge 10-gallon red plastic tub, which could be used to keep the bottom of the tree moist, over the holiday season.

"What a racket!" Buffy said, grinning, half-hour later, as she and William paid the $50.00 for the tree and $10.00 for the tub.

They got the tree into the car’s trunk somehow, tied it down with twine, and brought it home. They moved the coffee table, which sat next to the desk against the wall, and set up the tree there.

Next, they went shopping for decorations. They went to a ‘Christmas Store,’ which had opened up for the holidays. William had never seen so many decorations in his life, and had to stop at every display to look and make his choices. They wound up with an eclectic selection. William wanted silver and gold glass bulbs; Buffy wanted multi-colored ones, so they bought some of each. Same with lights, garland, tinsel, and ornaments. All in all, they spent a couple of hours and a couple of hundred dollars getting a little of everything.

The one thing they both agreed on were the bird ornaments that he’d found. Love birds, doves, cardinals, blue birds, and others, made of feather, ceramic, and glass. They bought some of each kind.

Snowmen, Santas, reindeer, and a glass star for the top, rounded out their selection of ornaments.

Buffy looked at William, enjoying his childlike happiness at picking out ornaments and looking at the decorated trees. The proverbial kid in a candy store. Truth be told, she felt like that, too.

She even talked him out of grumbling over the cost of it all by explaining that they would have these decorations and ornaments for years and wouldn’t have to spend this much again.

They picked up a couple of Christmas CD’s and went home with their spoils.

That evening, after dinner, to the sounds of Christmas music and hot apple cider, they decorated their first tree.

Buffy got out the stepstool, and William stood on it, arranging the lights on top, while she directed from about 10 feet away. The bottom lights they both put on. Then it was time to put on the ornaments, which took them over an hour, just to decide where each one looked the best.

Lastly, she handed him the star and he stood on the stepstool again to reach the top of the tree.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"It’s perfect."

"Yeah, thanks!"

"What color do you car do you want? Blue or green?"

"Ladies first."

"Blue."

"Then green it is," he said, switching the cars so that the green one was now in front of him.

They practiced a bit, getting used to the remotes, laughing when their car would run backwards in circles, when the wrong lever was used.

Finally, they got the hang of it and raced their cars up and down the 20 or so feet down the hallway.

"WOO-HOO! I won, I won," William yelled with glee, as his car smacked into his foot.

"No fair! Your car was in the way, when I tried to turn around!" Buffy said, pretending to sulk.

"Aw…poor Elizabeth! Okay, let’s go again, I’ll even let you start off first."

"Oh, don’t think I can win? Let’s go!"

They raced their cars for another 5 minutes, laughing and trying to block each other’s car, as to get the advantage.

"Okay, last race," Buffy said.

"On your mark, get set…hey, that’s cheating!"

The green car took off, straight down the middle, then veered from side to side, as it blocked the blue car’s advance. Buffy faked to the left, then took off in front of the green car. At the end of the hallway, she tried to make a turn, only to be pushed out of the way, as William’s green car came full speed into the side of hers. He quickly reversed and got straightened out and started coming back in the home stretch. Buffy righted her car and raced after his, staying on his tail, but he anticipated her every move to overtake him, and raced to the finish.

"I think you cheat!" she said.

"Yeah, well, what are you going to do about it?" he asked, smirking at her in a very Spike-like way, that made her weak in the knees.

She grabbed him and kissed him hard, and wrapped her leg around his thigh until she had maximum contact with his body. They stumbled back up against the door to the Radio Shack, and as they did, she fingered the remote, advancing her car, which had been stopped at their feet, to the wall a few feet away, until it banged up against it.

They stopped to look, "Oops, looks like I won after all!" she said, trying to look innocent.

"That’s because you cheated," he said, panting. "and you’ll pay for that, missy!"

"Promise?"

"Oh, I promise alright!" William said, wagging an eyebrow at her in a suggestive manner.

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There was a long line at the counter when they went up to pay for their purchases.

"Look, they ship!" Buffy said, pointing to the sign, "think I’ll just have them ship these from here, that way I won’t have to go to the Post-Office later. Just wish I had some cards to enclose," she said wistfully.

"Like these?" William said, as he picked up a box off of an end cap that he’d been standing by.

"Great, we can do these while we’re waiting!"

"What about Clem?"

"Crap, that’s right, why don’t you go look around, while I keep our place in mind, if you find something, let me know, then you can hold my place."

"Can we do that?"

"Why not? If we both get out of line, by the time we get back to the line, we’ll have to wait another half-hour."

He looked at the line that had formed behind her. There were at least another 20 people.

"Good point," he said, nodding and heading off in search of more presents.

He came back a few minutes later.

"Find anything?"

"I think so. Wasn’t Clem talking about wanting to be able to put his old tapes on DVD’s?"

She thought about it for a minute, "Yeah, I think he was. I think he has a DVD-VCR player, but not a DVD recorder."

William nodded, "Right. There’s one on sale for about $65.00, what do you think?"

"That’s perfect, bring it over."

He came back a few minutes later, "It was the last one," he said, dejectedly.

"Crap!" Buffy said.

Just then Doug walked by, "Doug, we wanted to buy that DVD recorder that you have on sale for $65.00, but it’s the last one. Do you think you have any more in the back?"

"No, I know we don’t," he answered, "it sold out early yesterday."

"Damn!" Buffy said, "what about other Radio Shacks?"

"Same thing, but you can probably order one online, I’ll go check."

He returned in a few minutes, "Sorry, it’s out of stock, too. If you’d like though, I can sell you the floor model."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I asked the manger already, just let me find the box, then I’ll have it at the counter for you. The manager knocked 10% off too, since it was the floor model."

"Great!"

Buffy hugged William, "I’m glad you spotted that! Clem will love it!"

"Anyone else?"

"Willow and Dawn, but I don’t think I’m going to buy them anything from here. The Science Store has something that Dawn wants, and I’m thinking of a coat for Willow. Last time I talked to Kennedy, when Willow was out, she told me that Willow had been looking around for a new one, but hadn’t been able to afford the one she wanted."

Buffy knew she probably shouldn’t be spending so much money either, but especially this year, with all the help that they’d given her, she was definitely so spoiling her friends!

"What about you? You see anything here that you like?"

"Me? No. You don’t have to buy me anything. Got everything I need," he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

She shook her head, laughing.

"What about you?" he asked.

"Same thing," she said, taking his hand, "got everything I need."

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"You don’t have to wait with me, if you don’t want to. There’s a bookstore across the way and some other shops, or you could sit down on a bench out there, if you can find one," she said, about ten minutes later, while they were still behind at least another half-dozen people.

"Trying to get rid of me?" he asked.

"Not at all, just thought you might be bored. Know I am."

"I can wait in line for you," he suggested.

"No, I’ve got Xander’s address, so I’d better do this."

"Well, maybe I will step outside then. How long do you think it’ll be?"

"Another 15 minutes, maybe. Want to meet me in front of the store then, by the benches?"

"Okay," he said, and giving her a parting kiss, made his way through to the exit.

He breathed in a sigh of relief, momentarily, as he realized it was about 20 degrees cooler outside of the store.

He stood there looking at the different stores, until the sight of a jewelry store caught his eye.

Walking over to it, he stood in front the display window looking at a variety of rings, necklaces, watches, bracelets, earrings, and chains. Drawing up his courage, he stepped inside, squeezing between the throngs of customers lined up against the display cases, some talking with sales associates, some to their partners, some alone.

William felt a yearning as he watched as a happy couple looked at engagement and wedding rings. The woman’s face was aglow, as she looked at her partner and then the ring on her finger.

"May I help you?" a woman asked, interrupting his reverie.

He cleared his throat, "Um…I’m looking for a Christmas present."

"For a woman?"

"Yes, my…" the word wife stuck in his throat and he faltered.

"Someone very special?" the salesclerk asked, perceptively.

He nodded, grateful, "Very special."

"Are you looking for a ring?"

"I…I’m not sure."

"Why don’t I show you some of the rings and let you get some idea of what we have?"

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Buffy finally left the store, happy that she’d managed a big portion of her holiday shopping, even if she was going to be paying for it until February. Xander and Alex’s gifts would be shipped tomorrow and would be there next week, and Clem’s and William’s gifts were being shipped to the school, where she would find some way to sneak them into the car after they arrived. She smiled when she thought of her brainstorm she’d had and how she’d gotten William to leave for a while.

She looked at her watch; he should be waiting for her right about now. Only he wasn’t.

Gratefully, she saw someone get up from one of the benches and took their seat, hoping he’d finish whatever he was doing soon.

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William walked out of the jewelry store discouraged; the ring he thought Elizabeth would really like was way out of his price range.

With what he was earning after taxes; which had been a rude shock, he’d only managed to save a small bit of it over the past couple of months. Elizabeth had tried to explain to him that there was a household budget fund for things such as groceries, fuel, etc. Still, it didn’t feel right to just pocket his money, while he knew that the ‘fund’ was mostly being supported by her earnings, and so, when Clem would take him driving, they’d stop at the nearby grocery store and he’d pick up what they needed, using his own money.

He saw Elizabeth sitting on the bench, her eyes scanning the crowds looking for him. She spotted him and he waved to her as he approached.

"Hi," he said, squeezed in between her and a heavyset woman a seat away, "been waiting long?"

"Not too long."

"Did you decide against the DVD recorder for Clem?"

"No, I bought it, they’re going to ship it to the school for me next week, so I don’t have to carry it around the rest of the day. How about you? You find anything interesting?"

He shook his head, then leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Not until this very minute."

She laughed, "Flattery will get you everywhere."

"That’s my plan," he said, laughing along with her.

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"I see her," William said, waving at Dawn, who was standing next to a table in the middle of the practically overflowing food court.

"I hope you don’t mind the location, it took us about 15 minutes to spot an empty table," Dawn said, when Buffy and William had made their way to the table.

"No, it’s great. Hey, you got pizza and everything!"

"Yeah, John stayed with the table and I took the liberty to order food and pop for everyone, so you guys didn’t have to wait in line. Figured everyone likes pizza. Right?" Dawn looked at William, who nodded.

"Thanks, that was really thoughtful, Dawn," Buffy said, sitting down. She would’ve rather just had some sort of salad, but looking over at the long lines, she’d go with the pizza, gladly.

They ate lunch, and got to know John better. He was very intelligent and soon, William and him were discussing the classics, among other things.

"I agree, A Midsummer Night’s Dream may ‘read’ the funniest, but if you ever see them performed live, you’ll have to agree that Taming of the Shrew is funnier, still," John had argued.

"Yes, well, you may have a point, but I still think that A Midsummer Night’s Dream has the funniest plot. Come now, you’ve got…"

Dawn and Buffy looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Dawn leaned over and whispered to Buffy, "If they were our spouses, I’d say they’re espousing!"

They both cracked up.

The men stopped to look at them, "What?" William asked.

"Nothing," Buffy said, innocently.

Dawn looked at John, also shaking her head and batting her eyelashes at him.

"William, I’d say we’ve just been made the brunt of a cruel joke, if I know this one," he said, nodding over to Dawn.

"Wouldn’t surprise me a bit," he agreed, looking at Elizabeth.

Buffy and Dawn giggled.

"What do you say we get back to shopping. Now, how are we going to do this?" Buffy asked.

After some discussion, they broke into two groups again, Dawn with William, and Buffy with John.

"Two hours enough?" Buffy asked Dawn.

"Probably. I’ll call you on the cell, if it gets reception here. If not, we’ll meet you in front of Starbucks around 2:00pm."

Dawn and William went off to find something for Buffy. William complained about the jewelry store prices and not knowing what he should get.

"Were you looking for a certain kind of ring, in particular?" Dawn asked, hinting.

He turned to face her, "You know I would in a heartbeat, but I…I don’t think…I don’t want to rush Elizabeth, if she doesn’t want…"

Dawn put her hand on his arm, "Relax William, I was teasing you. I think she really does want to, deep down. I can’t tell you when the right time will be; hopefully you’ll know that. So…what about a different kind of ring?"

They discussed his options for a few minutes.

"William, how would you like to blow this pop stand for a little while?"

"What do you mean?"

"I noticed a nice little antique shop about 2 blocks away on our way here. What do you say we get the car and go over there and see if there’s anything nice that’s in your budget as well?"

He nodded gratefully and they took off for the exit.

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It was just after 2:00pm, as Buffy stood talking to John at the Starbuck’s counter, having just ordered a Café Mochachino for herself and Dawn and two regular coffees for the guys. Three large shopping bags full of presents were on the floor next to her. Her and John had stayed together part of the time, like when he enlisted her help in picking out a pretty cashmere scarf for Dawn and a matching sweater. Mostly though, they just shopped by themselves, meeting up before going on to the next store.

"There they are," she said, noticing Dawn and William walking up, arms linked and looking mighty pleased with themselves.

"So, did you find anything? Did ya? Did ya?" Buffy teasingly asked them.

"Nope, not a thing," William answered, a bit too quickly.

"But we had a good time getting ideas," Dawn added, winking.

Neither had any packages, so Buffy had no reason to doubt them, although William seemed to be trying a bit too hard to act nonchalant.

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"So, you didn’t find anything today, huh?" Buffy asked, later that night, as they sat curled up in front of the fireplace, enjoying the warmth of that, each other, and the twinkling of the Christmas tree lights.

"Um, not really, just looked at a million things," he said, chuckling, "never understand the attraction to these malls."

"You didn’t have a good time?" she asked, hurt.

"Didn’t say that, luv," he said, pulling her in tighter and kissing the top of her head, "had a lovely time with you, seeing Dawn, meeting her boyfriend. Just malls in general," he said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, they’re kinda crazy sometimes, especially a couple of days after Thanksgiving Day," she said, looking at their intertwined fingers.

He brought their hands to his mouth, kissing hers, "Actually, it was pretty fun. You did good though; got that coat for Willow, some clothes for Dawn, and that thing from the Science Store, right?"

"Yeah, I did okay," she said, smiling at him, as she thought of what she’d bought him, too.

For the first time in longer than she could remember, she was really loving this season.

END CHAPTER 106

A/N Sorry this took so long, what with the holidays and such.

I’m getting to some ‘interesting’ parts of the story, in fact, I was tempted to post the next chapter as well, but I have to make 100% sure about it first, so it will have to wait. Darn…there’s something about the last line of this that would flow right into the next one…but you guys have waited a long time for these chapters, so at least you’ll have these for now. Just remember to go back and read the last line before starting the next one…unless I totally change it between now and then.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday like I did.

CHAPTER 107 - STARBUCKS

December 2, 2008

Monday

10:45am

"I really hate this season," Angel said, tossing the latest cheerily, cliched Christmas card in the trash.

Actually it had been the card prior to this one, which had really set him off. It was a card from his former ‘loyal’ A.I. employees. It had the usual, cheery holiday crap, but their newsletter was a bit different than most. It detailed their latest cases, which they were now quite efficiently solving, so it would seem.

Wesley, Fred, and Gunn each added a little personal note for him, either asking him to reconsider coming back to the firm he’d created, or offering their assistance, should he need it.

They had all gone with him to Wolfram & Hart in the beginning, but one by one, they had found that the company was corrupting them into people they didn’t recognize anymore. Or like.

The only one who stayed on was Lorne. He loved his job hobnobbing with the celebrities.

Angel had insisted from the beginning, that W & H give them all a 90-day no-strings-attached trial. Slowly but surely, one by one, they bailed on him, like the weak humans they were. They’d given up the world of resources that Wolfram & Hart provided at their fingertips, all for the greater good, or so they’d said.

From Angel's perspective, he could do more good in a week from the belly of the beast, than a year on the outside. Who cared how it was achieved, as long as it was? And that, he’d thought, would surely come to the notice of The Powers that Be, when ultimate prophetic rewards were being considered.

Only that hadn’t seemed to be the case.

"I really hate this season," he repeated, as his office door opened.

"Well, maybe this will cheer you up," Lilah said, handing him a VHS tape.

"What's this?"

"Oh, just something that stood out today, when the latest tapes were run though the scanner," she said, referring to the multi-million dollar machine, which had been set up to identify anybody remotely of interest in Wolfram & Hart from all over the country. Every single thing about a person was programmed into the computer, hair color, eye color and shape, cheekbones, bone structure, DNA, weight, gait, clothing style and even what they would look like wearing a disguise.

Every day, thousands of video feeds from Starbucks all across the country were run through the program, and when somebody of interest was identified, be they human or demon, the computer would generate a report on a possible sighting. Starbucks had been chosen, because of it’s overwhelming popularity with both humans and demons. The chances were, at least once a week; everybody of interest would probably be on camera, paying for their coffee, innocent of the fact that they were being recorded.

"What's this, the latest Ghora demon, having a triple espresso in Boise freakin' Idaho?" Angel scowled, taking the tape, and putting it into the VCR,

"Well?" he asked, a few minutes after it started.

"May I?" Lilah asked.

Angel handed her the remote and she brought up the onscreen menu. She then fast-forwarded to frame 3350.

"Right here, it's coming up," she said, smiling slyly at him.

"Buffy!" Angel exclaimed, seeing her standing at a Starbuck’s counter. He stared at the screen for a while, as she talked to a tall, dark haired man, smiling easily and touching his arm.

Out of habit mostly and years of conditioning, a part of him was pained to see her talking to any man, but a grin slowly spread across his face, as he realized the person was most definitely not Spike.

"Interesting," he said, emotionless, though she could tell differently.

"Hold on, don't get too happy," Lilah said, enjoying seeing him squirm.

"Here we go," she said, fast forwarding another 20 or so frames.

Angel watched as Buffy turned and smiled happily towards someone off screen. The man walked up to her, Dawn on his arm, laughing. They unlinked arms and Dawn went to the unidentified dark haired man, while he went to Buffy, putting his arms around her as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She turned to him, her pleasure at seeing him there, apparent in her eyes and body language; the way she leaned in towards him. She had a teasing look, as she said something to him, then laughed. The man turned to her, said something in return, shrugging.

"William!" Angel spat the name out, like a piece of gristle stuck between his teeth.

"Uh-huh," Lilah said, "a little more interesting, huh?"

"What else is there?" he asked through gritted teeth.

She rewound the tape to when they'd first got to the mall.

Angel watched as Buffy and William first arrived, then greeted Dawn and the other man, and as they sat and talked, drinking coffee, before going off to shop.

Angel’s face was dark with anger, as he watched Buffy and William hold hands, as they walked off, out of view.

"That's it," Lilah said, grinning as she turned off the VCR, "your ex and Shanshu boy out doing their holiday shopping; sweet isn’t it?" she purred to him.

She started to take the tape out of the VCR.

"Leave it!" Angel said, raising his voice.

"Whatever you want, boss," she said, taking her hand off the machine and backing up as she saw the expression on his face. No use getting her head cut off, yet again; it would most definitely ruin her new white, silk blouse.

"Where was this taken?"

"San Diego," Lilah said, "Mission Valley Mall."

The wheels were going around in his head, "San Diego, huh?"

"That’s the place."

"Leave now," Angel said to Lilah.

She nodded and headed out the door, grinning as she shut the door.

He reached for the remote and turned on the VCR again, pausing the tape when he got a clear shot of Buffy’s face. He stared impassively at her for a long time, wondering to himself what it was he was feeling.

It finally came to him. Revulsion.

Angel’s eyes flashed yellow, as his mind conjured the last images of her, sending him away, giving him that stupid cookie dough speech of hers! Cheating him, Angel, of his destiny, so that Spike, whom she’d said wasn’t her ‘boyfriend,’ but ‘in her heart,’ got the chance to Shanshu.

He advanced the tape, until he saw William and hit the pause button again.

Angel’s face, now in complete vamp mode was distorted, his yellow eyes narrowed, as he glared at the cursed image on the screen.

"So, Spike, you think you’ve suffered? Think you’re deserving enough to live happily ever after with her, do you?" he muttered, as images of just what he’d like to do to William to make him suffer filled him with satisfaction.

All of a sudden he banged his fist on the desk as hard as he could, causing his mug of O+ to spill all over the desk.

"Willow!" he said darkly, impotently, recalling the protection spell she’d cast and the threat of annihilation, should he try to interfere with the prophecy, as it played out.

"Damn her! Damn them all to hell!"

END CHAPTER 107

CHAPTER 108 - PRE-CHRISTMAS DREAMS & DOINGS

December 3, 2008

Tuesday

3:00am

"Come with me," William said, "I have to show you something."

"What is it?" Buffy asked.

"Just come with me, Elizabeth," he repeated taking her hand.

They hiked the trail behind their house, up to the overlook near The Tree.

"What did you want to show me?" she asked, looking at him questioning.

"Wanted you to remember me here, like you always said you did."

"What do you mean?" she asked, a sudden sense of dread coming over her.

He just looked at her with sorrow, and shook his head; "It wasn’t enough, was it? You couldn’t return it; not the way I felt about you."

"What the hell are you talking about?" she asked, blinking her eyes, as William seemed to be…less?

"William?" she asked, reaching out to him, "what’s happening?"

He backed away from her outstretched hand.

"It’s too late, not your fault, just…" he shook his head, "I love you, Elizabeth, always have, always will."

"William!" she screamed, as it was obvious that William was fading before her.

She looked at him, her eyes pleading with her brain, for it to be some sort of trick of lighting; "This isn’t happening; it’s not real! You can’t…" she choked back a sob, "can’t be leaving me. It’s not supposed to happen…" Buffy stopped talking.

William looked at her sadly, "It was always up to you," he said.

"What do you mean? Let me stop it then! Tell me what to do!"

"It was never mine to know, but for this minute, I didn’t…it’s too late, it’s done."

She looked at William, who was almost completely transparent now. Her eyes looked into his and she saw all that he was, all his love in his beautiful, fading blue eyes. He was right, there was nothing more to be done, whatever ‘it’ had been, she had blown it, missed something; let something irrevocably slip away.

Buffy looked into his eyes, "I love you," she said in a tiny voice.

He made a little sound, as he almost imperceptibly shook his head, "No you don’t, but thanks for saying it," he whispered back, and with that, he was gone.

"William!" she cried, "come back to me, please don’t leave me, you can’t be gone, you can’t!"

"WILLIAM!" she screamed, sitting bolt upright in bed, her heart pounding, her face wet.

"Elizabeth?" William asked, his own heart pounding, having been awoken by her screaming. "What is it? What’s the matter, luv?"

She turned suddenly towards his voice, his wonderful voice! Her eyes brimmed with wetness, which soon spilled down her face as she blinked, tried to come back to the present, push the images away.

"Are you real?" she asked, her voice breaking.

William nodded, as he cupped her face in his hand, wiping away her tears with his thumb, "Don’t cry, luv. Just had a bad dream. I’m here…"

She let out a sob as she threw herself over on him, showering him with kisses, even as her tears still fell.

"I love you, William! You know that, don’t you? Because I do, I do," she said, pleading with him, "please tell me you know…that it’s enough."

"Elizabeth," he spoke softly, put his hands on either side of her face, to make her look at him, "I know…of course I know. Why would you ask me if it’s enough?" he asked, a bit of hurt creeping into his voice.

"Have I ever given you any reason for you to think that I don’t think it’s enough, that you’re not enough?" he asked, shaking his head. How could she think that?

Was this what her dream was about? That he rejected or left her because she wasn’t enough?

"Listen to me, Elizabeth. Don’t you ever, for a single second ever think that what you’ve given me isn’t enough, that your love isn’t enough! It’s more than enough, more than I could’ve ever dreamed possible. It’s I, who should be…"

"No, William, you shouldn’t. Never!" she said,

Buffy silenced any more talk with a kiss, tried to put as much of herself as she could find to give into it, Tried to dig down within her heart to find more of herself to love him with, even the little parts that she held back. The part that only Spike lay claim to.

December 20, 2008

Friday

12:00 Noon

It was the last day of school before winter holiday and William had been invited by the class to come and enjoy their party that afternoon, which consisted of games, food, stories, and crafts from here and different countries.

William sat on the floor in Elizabeth's classroom, surrounded by children as he read them a Christmas story from England, in a book he'd borrowed from the library.

Buffy too, sat on the floor at the outer circle of children, watched his face, animated in its expressions when the story called for it, listened to his various voices, as he read the different characters and held his audience’s rapt attention.

The story ended, and one of the older children started a round of applause. He smiled a big grin at them, slightly embarrassed. She looked at him, proud that he’d come so far, proud that he was who he was, proud that he was hers.

He looked over the heads of the children towards her, and held her glance for a moment. The grin left his face, replaced for a half-second by awe, when he saw the look of love that her eyes held for him. The children quickly looked from one to another, conscious of the emotional vibe being transmitted around them. Some started to giggle.

Buffy smiled at him, then got up, "Okay, let’s get organized for the lunchroom activities," she said.

William went over to ‘his’ group of students to help with their last minute preparations.

At 12:30pm, all the students came down to the lunchroom. The teachers had been using the kitchen with their students over the past week, cooking up traditional holiday fare from different countries. The upper and lower elementary classes had been doing research over the past weeks on different cultures and this afternoon's lunch had been the culmination of that.

Each group of students took turns in front of the lunchroom to talk about the culture they had studied; then they would walk around the lunchroom, offering the diners a taste of what they had cooked.

As part of their research project, Buffy had sent the group assigned England, over to the library to talk to William. Now that group, having finished their presentation, approached their table.

"Would you like to try our mince pie and plum pudding Mr. W.?" asked Katie.

"Of course!" William said, smiling at her, as she handed him a plate.

December 23, 2008

Monday

3:30pm

Buffy was in the kitchen trying hard to duplicate that Plum Pudding, that the kids had done so well. William was standing behind her as she stirred.

"Turn the heat down a bit, or it’ll burn," he said.

"I already did."

"Just a little more," he said, giving her a peck on the cheek.

"Okay, I can do this," she smiled at him, "really I can."

"Know you can, luv. You can do anything."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but culinary skills aren’t my forte."

"It’s just practice. And finesse," he answered grinning.

She snorted, "Yeah, I’m big with the finesse, aren’t I? Oh, hey…phone’s ringing. Can you…?"

"Yeah, I’ll get it."

He went to the bedroom, locating the phone in Elizabeth’s purse.

"Hello?"

"Hey William, its Dawn. Just who I wanted to talk to…"

"…. That’s just great, Dawn. Elizabeth will be so pleased!"

"Just don’t let on William, okay? I want it to be a surprise!"

"Don’t worry, I won’t," William assured her.

"Oh, one more thing," Dawn said, "do you think you can change the reservations from 6:00 to around 5:00pm instead? I know it’s early, but we’ve all got planes to catch later. John and I are catching a flight from San Diego to Sacramento at 9:00 and you-know-who catching a flight cross-country around then, too. That way we can spend more time with you guys."

"Got it, add a person to the reservation, and make it an hour earlier. I’ll just tell Elizabeth if she asks, about your flight."

"That’ll work!" Dawn said, "see you guys tomorrow evening!"

"Bye Dawn,"

"Bye William."

END CHAPTER 108

CHAPTER 109 - CHISTMAS EVE WITH FRIENDS

December 24, 2008

Tuesday

4:30pm

"Are you ready yet, Elizabeth?" William said, jingling the car keys he held in his hands.

"We don’t have to be there for a half-hour still, which means we really don’t have to leave for another 15 minutes."

"Alright, alright," he said dejectedly, plopping down on one of the chairs. He smoothed out the cerulean blue and tan sweater that Elizabeth had bought him while at the mall a couple of weeks ago. She’d given it to him today as an early gift, in case he wanted to wear it, assuring him it was dressy enough, even for Christmas Eve. He wore the nice tan pants that he’d got him as well.

About 10 minutes later, she walked out of the bedroom. William inhaled sharply, as he gazed at her.

Her hair was in a loose ponytail, two ornate gold and green chopsticks through it, with a couple of curled tendrils framing her face. She wore a see through, forest green, lace top, with a thin, spaghetti strap tank top underneath it. She had on a black velvet skirt that came down just beneath her knees and black boots that almost came up to her knees, sporting about 4" heels. She carried a matching black and dark green velvet jacket over her arm. She had on her lovebird necklace, as always, and a simple gold chain, which had couple of gold beads every 4 inches or so. Her earrings were gold and green stars.

William stood up and just stared at her.

"What do you think?" Buffy asked, turning around once for him.

"You take my breath away," he said, his voice filled with emotion and appreciation.

"You, too," she answered, pleased by his response.

He held out his hand to her and she took it. He pulled her into his arms and onto his lap as he sat back down.

"Look at you," he said, "you’re…what’s another word for gleaming?"

"I gleam?"

"Like a precious gemstone, like a diamond…"

She kissed him, stilling his sudden burst of poetic expression, "Thank you, William," she said, gently breaking off the increasingly passionate kiss, "but I thought you said we had to go."

He groaned, putting his hand down along her hip, which in turn made her moan from the contact, "Uh…there it is," he said, pulling out his watch from his pocket.

"We still have a good 5 minutes," he said grinning, pulling her in for another kiss.

"Just watch the makeup. I won’t have time to reapply it."

"I will, promise. Um…lipstick okay?"

"Yeah," she said, grinning, "I’ll have time to put some more on, and you’ll have time to take some off."

"Come ‘ere then!"

Buffy and William walked into The Rittenhouse Restaurant at exactly 5:00pm, carrying a large bag of presents.

Buffy had finally decided that the only way for Edna not to be overzealous every time she saw William, was not to avoid going there, but to go there. So, she had one day after school, she suggested that they have dinner. That had been early in September, and ever since then, they had come at least once a week. Luckily, it paid off in that manner and Edna never again said something that sent William into a nightmarish tailspin.

Edna never let them pay, much to William and Buffy’s chagrin, so William offered to at least do something around the restaurant for her, as did Buffy. At first, Edna wouldn’t even hear of it, but when Buffy said that William would not be comfortable coming there to eat anymore, if they couldn’t pay and couldn’t at least return the favor, Edna relented.

"At least I could mow for her," he’d said.

"I think her grandson does that."

"Yeah, but he’s busy with school now."

And so, that was one thing that William would do on the occasional Saturday morning.

And when one day he’d come home and told Buffy that Edna had said that the hostess was ill for the day and the other was out of town, Buffy called Edna, telling her she would be glad to step into the role for the evening.

"Master William! Miss Elizabeth," Edna said excitedly, seeing them as she walked up to the front from the dining area.

"Edna!" they both said.

"Merry Christmas," Buffy said, reaching into the bag that William held and handing her a large present.

"Oh my!" Edna said, flustered, "you didn’t have to…"

"Nonsense, my dear," William said, giving her a card and a peck on the cheek.

"Shall I open this now?" she asked.

"Sure," Buffy answered.

Edna put the package on the maitre d’s stand and carefully undid the wrapping, making sure not to tear it, as she was a die-hard saver and re-user of wrappings and bows.

Finally, she came to the package and opened it up.

"A cuckoo clock? How did you know?" she asked, her eyes tearing.

"A little bird whispered that it was always something you’d wanted and that it reminded you of when you were a little girl," Buffy said, smiling.

William grinned. He’d been that little bird, as he’d heard her talking to some other diners one night about her childhood and the subject of clocks had come up somehow. He hadn’t heard the whole conversation, but he remembered that when Buffy wondered what to get her.

"Thank you William, thank you Elizabeth," Edna said, coming up and giving them a hug. "I’m going to put it right over that wall," she said pointing to the wall that the museum room was located on.

"Maybe I can put it up for you later," William suggested.

"Yes, you can, but not tonight William. No work on Christmas Eve! Now, if you’ll wait one moment…" she said, and disappeared into the dining room.

She was back in a couple of minutes; "Your table is waiting, if you’ll kindly follow me."

Buffy smiled when she saw Dawn and John were already seated.

"You’re here!" she said excitedly, giving them hugs.

William hugged Dawn and shook John’s hand.

"Hey, there’s Clem," Dawn said, waving to him as he walked over.

They sat down and started to talk, but Dawn interrupted, "I have a surprise for you Buffy," she said, grinning.

"What’s that?"

"That would be me," said a familiar voice.

Buffy turned around and there was Willow!

"Will!" she shouted, standing up and hugging her. "How? When?"

"Just last night. I spent the night and part of today with my mom and dad, and now I’m here!"

"But I thought they were going over to England for Hanukkah, "Buffy said.

"They already did," she said, taking a chair, "but it fell early this year; about 2 weeks ago. I wasn’t going to come to the states again so soon, but then Kennedy got homesick and wanted to go see her family in New York, so that’s what she’s doing. In fact, I’m catching the red-eye back there tonight."

"Tonight? Already?" Buffy said, disappointed, "but at least you’re here now!"

"Yeah, I know, it’s a short trip. Kennedy and I are spending tomorrow with her family on Long Island, then we’re going over to New Jersey, to see Xander and Angela and the kids."

"That’s great. Okay, you’re forgiven then for spending less time here."

They had ham and turkey and all the side dishes of a traditional dinner, plus Edna had some specialties from Ireland that she had cooked up as well.

Mrs. Carpello came by the table with her sister on their way to being seated.

"Hello Elizabeth, hello William. Merry Christmas Eve."

"You, too. Everyone, this is Mrs. Carpello, directress of Montessori, where we work. Mrs. Carpello, this is my sister Dawn and her boyfriend John, and this is my best friend Willow. She’s in from England."

"Ah, another English person in our midst," she said, smiling at William.

"Not really," Willow said, "I’m from California, but I live there now."

"How wonderful for you," Mrs. Carpello said, "and this is my sister Marjorie."

Hellos were said all around once again.

"Well, I’ll leave you to your dinner. Will you and William be at midnight service tonight?"

"Um, I don’t think so, I…" Buffy stammered.

"You should think about it, St. Marks it’s quite nice. Very old fashioned church we have here, built around the turn of the century and it’s really quite spectacular looking at midnight; very special."

"Um…maybe we’ll think about it," she said, looking questioningly at William.

He nodded, "We will."

"Well then, maybe we’ll see you tonight," Mrs. Carpello said, smiling as her and her sister went to their table.

"Looks like everyone in town is here tonight," Buffy said, looking around.

"It’s like this every year. You would have known that if you’d come with me all those years I invited you," Clem said.

She just shook her head and shrugged. There was an awkward silence for a moment, until Willow started talking to John.

William squeezed her hand and leaned over, whispering in her ear, "Why didn’t you ever come here on Christmas Eve."

She looked at him, before softly answering, "Well, a couple of times I went to my dad’s, to see him and Dawn, but mostly I just stayed home."

"Alone?" William asked, his eyes sad.

She shook her head, "Not here," she said, putting her hand over her heart, which he took in his, his eyes never leaving hers.

Dawn cleared her throat, and Buffy and William quickly returned their attention to the table, "So, when are we going to get to the presents?"

Buffy grinned at her, ever the little kid who can’t wait, "You know the rules Dawn, first you eat, then you open."

"Aw, mom!" she said.

They finished dinner with still 2 hours to spare before Willow, Dawn, and John had to leave to catch their flights.

"Why don’t we just invite them back to the house?" William whispered to Buffy.

Quickly her mind took in not only the time logistics of it, but the idea that now, their house, Spike’s house, would be opened up to guests. Willow she didn’t mind, Dawn had already been there, but John… She looked at William and she didn’t have a good reason she could come up with for denying him this. Besides, she’d just make sure that Willow still had that protection spell in place, maybe throw a forgetting spell in for good measure. Besides there was something she wanted to talk to Willow privately about.

"Okay," she answered him. He smiled at her, pleased.

"Elizabeth and I would like to invite you back to the house to open presents there with us, instead of here. It’s not far and you’ll still have plenty of time to make it to the airport. And, we have wine."

"Well, if there’s wine," Willow said, smiling, as she raised her glass of White Zinfandel.

"Goodnight, Edna, Merry Christmas, dear," William said, holding the shopping bag full of gifts with one hand, Elizabeth’s arm linked through his other.

"Merry Christmas to you, too, William, Elizabeth. I’m so glad you’re together again…" she smiled at the happy couple, but stopped herself before she got carried away.

"Teresa said maybe you would be coming to services tonight?" Edna asked hopefully.

"Teresa? Oh, Mrs. Carpello, well, um…maybe," Buffy said.

"Good night dears," Edna said.

"Boy, everyone is really wanting us to go to church tonight," Buffy said, laughing, as they drove toward home. Behind them were Clem and Willow in one car, Dawn and John in the other, following.

"Did you ever go?" William asked, after a moment.

"Where? Church? Um…not really. I mean, I think my mom took me a couple of times when I was real small. Dad wasn’t with us, I don’t think. Then when I was about 10, I went to a friend’s church once or twice, but my mom didn’t like what I told her about it when I returned, so I never went again. Other than that…guess Elizabeth and church are unmixy things," she said, feeling a bit more than the usual ungodly heathen she rather thought herself, not without some perverse satisfaction. Well, rather an ‘ungodly,’ than someone like Caleb. She stifled a shudder; "What about you?"

"I went to church pretty regularly as a boy. We went to a small church, not far from our home, but every other year on Christmas Eve; we went to services at Westminster Abbey; it was quite…moving. To be in that grand cathedral…we sat in this part of the Abbey called the Nave. To look up as a child and see that ceiling that is over 100 feet tall, all gothic arches and such…well, you can imagine, it’s quite an impressive thing; sharing that sense of awe, the sense of history. And when we sang, the music seemed to echo right off the walls, the ceiling, until it felt like the music was right inside you; hundreds of people all there on that special night, all holding little candles, all singing. It was…oh, nevermind. It was a long time ago," he said, hastily.

"It sounds like it was really nice. How old were you when you first went?"

"Um…maybe around 8. My mum always had wanted to try it, but my father wouldn’t hear of it, since he thought the vicar of our church would be insulted, even though lots of the parishioners went to the cathedral for Christmas Eve. Still…it wasn’t until my father died that we went. My mum’s compromise was that we only went every other year, that way, she felt like she wasn’t hurting the vicar’s feelings too much, or my father’s memory."

"I see. Well, that was pretty clever of her, really."

"Yeah, she was that…" he trailed off.

Buffy put her hand over his, as they approached the house, "That was a nice story. Thanks for telling me that."

He reached over and took her chin in his hand, then kissed her, "You’re the keeper of all my memories, Elizabeth. Aren’t you?" he asked, his question obviously carrying so much more than one meaning.

She nodded, "I guess I am at that."

He nodded back briefly, then got out of the car, as did she.

"Come on in everyone," Buffy said, as William held the door open.

"William, Buffy, this is so nice," Willow said, once inside.

William took Willow and John on the tour, while Clem started the fire and Dawn helped Buffy in the kitchen with the getting the wine poured.

"Bet it feels funny having everyone here, huh?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, but nice, too. William is the one who suggested it, he loves his friends," she said, smiling at Dawn.

The trouped into the kitchen just then, on their way out the back door. John came over to Dawn and pulled her with him. She gave Buffy a helpless grin.

"Where you taking them now?"

"Out to see the sky, the barn, I dunno."

"William, don’t you want our guest to be able to have some time to relax, drink some wine, open presents?" she gently scolded.

"They will, they will," he said, as the door banged shut.

It opened again, and Willow came back inside, "Think I’ll skip the barn tour," she said, grinning.

Buffy rolled her eyes, "Do they know you stayed? Otherwise, they’ll be outside for an hour looking for you!"

"Yeah, I grabbed Clem and told him."

"Good. Anyway, I’m glad you stayed," Buffy said, giving her a hug, "want to help me carry these glasses out to the living room? Oh, wait, we need to move a table first."

After they’d transported the coffee table from the spare bedroom to in front of the couch, dusted it off a bit, they put the glasses and bottles of wine down on it. Next they put everyone’s Christmas presents under the tree. Buffy plugged in the tree lights.

"Ooh, pretty!" Willow said, smiling.

Buffy nodded, "Yeah, it is. Our first tree, actually my first tree since coming here."

They stood there admiring it for a moment.

"Um…Willow, I’m sort of glad you stayed behind there’s something I wanted to ask you about."

"What’s up Buffy."

"I’m not sure exactly, see I had this dream the other night…"

"A slayer dream?"

"No. I mean, I don’t think so, there was no slaying but there was…this is hard, and some of it’s kinda fading, you know, how dreams are, but other parts, the ones I wish would fade, they’re still so clear if I think about them," she shook her head.

Buffy proceeded to tell Willow the content of her dream, how William had told her that it hadn’t been enough, how he had faded into oblivion before her very eyes.

"What do you think it means?" she asked Willow.

"I’m not sure," she said, "could just be a bad dream."

"Yeah, but what if it isn’t?"

"Buffy, maybe you’re just letting your insecurities get the better of you. After all, it’s still been a relatively short amount of time since Spike’s been back, I would think it’s normal to still have dreams that he’s gone or that he’s left. I think it’s just your subconscious fear."

"I have conscious fear, too. I’m well aware of my fear. My fear and I are old friends. And believe me, I’ve had those kind of dreams, too. But this was so specific, it wasn’t just that he’d never come back or that he left, but that somehow I…I was responsible. See, I’ve been thinking Willow. Maybe this has to do with the prophecy. Maybe the part you couldn’t read? Please Willow, what if there’s something I’m supposed to be doing to make it stick, but I don’t know what it is, what if…"

Just then they heard the others come back in from the back door.

"Buffy!" Willow said, "There’s nothing else you can be doing. You guys are good, right?" she asked, with a slightly worried expression.

"We’re better than good, we’re wonderful," Buffy answered.

"Then don’t worry, okay? Dream, that’s all."

William came into the living room and walked over to Buffy, putting his arm around her, "Sorry, luv, got caught up with talking about the DeSoto." He said, sheepishly, looking over at John.

"Don’t blame poor William, I kept him out there, making him answer 101 questions about his awesome car," John said, winking at her.

"It’s okay, I forgive you both. Besides, Willow and I were enjoying our visit," she said, smiling.

"Hey, presents!" Dawn chirped, going over to the tree, while everyone watched her with amusement. She turned around, blushing a little. "What? Can’t I be excited about presents anymore?"

"Of course you can, Dawn," Buffy grinned, "you can be as excited as you want, but we’re still going to make a toast first."

Dawn looked at Buffy, nodding, "I’m down with that."

"Oh, here, this is for you, John," Dawn said, handing him a package, "it’s from William."

John opened it up, "Hey, it’s…wait a minute. Dawn, hand William the package from me, would you, hon?"

"William, I want you to open this the same time I’m opening yours," he said, laughing. "It’s for you, too, Buffy."

"Alright," he said, taking the package from Dawn, as he looked at John, questioningly. "Elizabeth, do you want to…?"

She shook her head, "Nope, you do the honors."

"Good. Okay. Ready, set, unwrap!" John ordered.

William tore off the wrapping, coming to a large box, which for its size was incredibly light. He opened it up and foam noodles popped out onto the floor. Digging down, he found a smaller box inside, also wrapped. Again, he tore off the wrapping, until he came to a small, long box. He opened it up and looked inside the envelope. He started to laugh and pointed at John, who was also doubled up.

"What is it you guys?" Buffy asked. She took the envelope from his hands and looked at a set of four tickets inside. They were for two Shakespeare plays at The Old Globe Theater in San Diego for the next spring and early summer. One was A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the other for Taming of the Shrew. Buffy stated to laugh.

"We’ve got tickets, too," Dawn said.

"This is so cool," Buffy said.

John held up an audio CD, "Plays of Shakespeare, read aloud by Sir Alec Guiness," he said, laughing, "guess we’re both bound and determined to win our points, aren’t we William?"

"I should say," William agreed. They shook hands and thanked each other.

Buffy got up and handed Clem his package, "It’s from William and me."

He opened it up and whooped when he saw the DVD Recorder; "Thanks! This is great, guys! Now I won’t have to miss any of my favorite shows and I can copy all my old VHS tapes…wow!" Clem sat back, looking a bit overwhelmed.

"This is for you, Dawn," Buffy said, handing her a package.

"Yeah, present!" Dawn said, and unwrapped it. "Wow! This is…wow!"

"What is it, Dawn?" Willow asked.

"It’s called Archeology Palm Pilot. It’s got…wow…just about every single thing I ever need to reference. See, when you’re out in the field, and you come across a find, you can look up the data on it, based on shape, location, density, etc. But you can also use the camera to take a picture of it, which is fed right into the Palm’s memory, which will bring up either what it is you’ve found, say a bone from a Mastodon’s little toe, or at least give you points of reference."

"Cool," Willow said.

"Very. Thanks, Buffy!"

"You’re welcome."

"John, here’s another small present from me," Buffy said, handing him a box.

He undid it and laughed. It was a mug which said, ‘Shrink This!’ on it, filled with Christmas candy.

"Thanks. Next time a patient is giving me a hard time, I’ll just hand ‘em a candy in this mug."

Willow stood up and handed out gifts to Dawn, William, and Buffy, all wrapped with Harrod’s of London wrapping paper.

Dawn and Buffy each received a light blue sweater with a huge snowflake in the middle, which sported a detachable, thin, matching scarf. William also received a sweater. It was quite similar, sans the scarf and a darker shade of blue, and had a few snowflakes on it, instead of one large one.

"I was going to get you and William matching sweaters, but I thought maybe you wouldn’t go for it," she said laughing.

William shook his head, "With a scarf?"

"Um, no William, the his and hers sweaters didn’t come with a scarf."

"This is fine, Willow. They’re really nice! And they almost match, don’t they, William?" she teased.

"Closely enough, but still allowing me some modicum of dignity," he said.

The girls giggled.

Buffy rolled her eyes at Dawn, could she get more domestic? Almost matching ski sweaters. Sheesh!

"There’s one more for you guys," Willow said, handing Buffy the package.

"Hmm…must be matching toothbrush holders!"

"Ha-ha. In fact, it’s not, just open it."

Buffy opened the package. It was a bank shaped like Kensington Palace.

"Cool, a bank!"

"Not just any bank, but a we’re-going-to-save-money-so-we-can-come-and-visit-Willow-and-Kennedy-bank.

"Even cooler! Thanks," she said, reaching over William to give her a hug.

"I’ll be right back," Clem said, going out to his car.

"William, close your eyes," he said, as he came in the door.

William heard something being rolled across the floor.

"You can open them now," Clem said.

William looked at the large red and gray tool chest on wheels, sporting a big bow on top.

"Wow, Clem…"

"This is from me and Xander, for your tools," Clem explained, "thought you might need it, when you’re working on your car and what have you."

William stood up to look at it. He pulled open the drawers and lifted out the top section. There was a wrench and screwdriver set in there, as well as a sealed tray full of screws, nails, brads, washers, etc.

"Clem, this is…thank you."

Clem just nodded, "My pleasure. Mine and Xander’s that is."

William went over to Clem and whispered something to which Clem nodded.

"We’ll be right back," William said to Elizabeth, "and you close your eyes this time."

"Okay," Buffy said, wondering what was going on.

She heard them go out the door, then a few minutes later, come back in.

"Your eyes still closed?" William asked from the doorway.

"Uh-huh."

"I think she’s cheating," Dawn yelled.

"No cheating!"

"I’m not, I’m not."

"Okay then."

William and Clem walked into the living room, carrying a large mirror, the dark wooden frame, ornately carved with birds and flowers, and leaves.

"Can I look now?"

"You can look," William said.

Buffy opened her eyes and gasped.

"I hope you like it. You said you always wanted a mirror over the dresser…"

"William, it’s beautiful. Where did you get this?" she asked, standing up and walking over to it.

"At an antique store that Clem and I went to during one of my driving lessons."

"My God, it must have cost so much," she said, looking at him.

He shook his head, "Not as much as it would now. It was in pretty bad shape. No varnish, mirror was all cloudy, bits of the frame broken," he said, pointing to a fine hairline crack that she could barely see.

"You fixed it up?"

William smiled shyly, looking down, "Well, Clem and I did…"

"Uh-uh, Buffy. William did most the work. Sanded it, varnished it. Put it together. All I did was find another mirror for it."

"But you supervised and got the stain and brushes and all that, fixed the crack in the frame," Clem argued.

Buffy had wondered what William was up to the past 2 weeks. He’d been going over to Clem’s almost every other night after dinner, telling her that it was a secret. Coming home with smelling like…varnish!

"William…this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done, it’s just beautiful! Thank you. Thank you, too, Clem."

"You’re welcome, Elizabeth. Think we can put it on the dresser for now? Maybe we can hang it tomorrow."

"Sure, come on. I’d better move some stuff off of there, then," she said, heading for the bedroom with Clem and William following.

They put it on the dresser and stepped back to admire it.

"The wood color really matches, she said, admiring it."

"I hoped it would."

"Glad you like it, Buffy," Clem said, walking back out to the living room.

Buffy stood in front of the dresser looking at herself and William’s reflection, as he stood behind her, watching as he bent over to kiss her neck, his eyes meeting hers.

"Thank you," she said, turning slightly in order to kiss him.

He deepened the kiss and for a few moments, their guests were forgotten.

Finally they broke apart. She turned back towards the mirror, straightening her hair a bit.

He smiled at her and when she was done, took her hand, as they went back into the living room.

The rest of the presents were opened. William gave Dawn a pair of earrings that she’d admired in the antique store, buying them while she was busy elsewhere.

She gave him a hug, whispering, "Thank you; you big sneak!"

Dawn had bought William a gift certificate to classicalmusic.com and gave him a couple of CD’s she had burned on her computer of Mozart and of the Sex Pistols.

"Dawn! My God!" he said, blushing when she he saw the label.

"Well, you used to like them," she giggled.

"I doubt that very much! I can’t even imagine it being legal for a musical group to have such a name!"

"Doubt away, William, but it’s the truth. I swear. Didn’t he use to like the Sex Pistols?"

William grunted, blushing even more, upon hearing her say the name. He looked helplessly at Elizabeth, who was doing the best to not burst out laughing, as were the others.

Finally, she shrugged, "Um…well, you did use to go for some of that punk stuff from the 80’s," she said.

He shook his head, rolling his eyes, then threw up his hands, leaning back into the couch, "Give ‘em one thing, a quite daring name!"

Everyone laughed.

Willow’s present to William, was a variety package of foods and teas from England, which he promptly passed around for everyone to sample.

Dawn also had brought a couple of packages of Buffy’s favorite bagels from near their dad’s place.

"Yum! Now my Christmas morning will be complete!"

There were two large boxes under the tree.

Buffy got up and brought them over to William, "These are from me," she said, smiling at him.

He looked at her, quizzically. She grinned back, nodding.

"The remote control cars!" he said, pulling the wrapping off of them. He looked over at her, grinning, "how did you get those home?"

"I have my ways," she said, mysteriously. "Actually, I just had them ship them to the school and when they got there, I just put them into the trunk when you weren’t around."

"Sneaky," he grinned.

"That’s me."

"Who wants to race me?" William asked.

John held up his hand and William handed him a remote.

"No, no, not in here!" Buffy said, as the cars took off towards the tree.

William stood up, making his car back up. It swooped by Willow, crashing into Dawn’s foot.

"Hey, ouch!"

"Sorry," he said, grinning.

"New drivers," she said, rolling her eyes at him.

"Okay, to the kitchen!" William said to John, as they steered their cars through the dining area, "come on Clem, give you a turn at the wheel as well," he offered.

Buffy looked over at the Dawn; "You remember when William and I met you and John at the mall a couple of weeks back? Well, we went into Radio Shack and found these for Xander and Alex, but first I talked the clerk into letting us take a ‘test drive,’ and he let us go and play with them behind the store. He had such a good time, I decided to get him one, too."

"And yourself?"

"Of course. No fun if you don’t have someone to race against," Buffy said, grinning.

They all turned to hear some whooping going on from the kitchen.

"No, you didn’t! Clem, didn’t my car touch first?"

"Better go and investigate," Buffy said, getting up. Willow and Dawn followed her.

"Are you boys fighting again?" Buffy teased, hands on hips.

"I think we should show them how, don’t you?" Dawn asked.

"William, I do believe that’s a challenge," John said.

"I do believe you’re right," William said, half-smirking at Dawn, "how about ladies against gents, then?"

"You guys are so going to get your ass kicked!"

William almost sputtered.

They picked their first contenders, Willow against Clem, while the guys gathered behind him, and the girls behind Willow.

"Ready, set, go!" Dawn shouted.

"Come on Clem!" John and William shouted, as Buffy and Dawn did the same to Willow.

"Hoo hoo! Clem wins!" John shouted.

"Hey, I just learned how to use this thing, and not very well, I may add," Willow said.

"Pffft, pffft, sour grapes," William said, causing Willow to reach over and smack him on the arm.

"Ow! That would’ve made you forfeit if you’d won, I’ll have you know!"

"It still would’ve been worth it," she said, sticking her tongue out at him. He laughed.

"Who’s next?" Clem asked. "Dawn, you want to race John?"

"Oh no, I want to race William," she said, giving him her most wicked smile.

"Okay, then it’s Buffy against John.

"She cheats, so watch her," William warned, remembering how she distracted him at Radio Shack. Well, she wouldn’t do that, exactly…

"Yeah, but you didn’t mind," Buffy said, winking at William.

"Sheesh! I can only imagine!" Dawn said, then turned to John. "My sister is really quite incorrigible."

"Hey, enough talk, you ready?" Buffy asked John.

"You’re on! Clem you start us."

"Okay, Buffy."

Buffy had the green car, John the blue.

"Ready, set, go!"

Buffy’s car shot out, flanked by John’s, who veered away toward the cabinets.

"No, no, no!" he yelled at his car, but Buffy had already turned around and was on the home stretch.

"Hurry John!" William yelled.

"Come on Buffy!" yelled the girls.

"Buffy wins!" Clem said, "sorry guys!"

"Woo hoo!"

"You’re up Dawn, time to show William what us Summers women are made of," Buffy said, handing her the remote.

"Got that right! You’re going down, William!" Dawn warned.

"We’ll see about that," he retorted.

Clem cleared his throat, "Ready, set, go!"

Everyone was yelling for their teammate.

Dawn’s green car shot out, straight and narrow, with William’s right beside her. She tried to ram into him, but he evaded her. Again she tried, and again he evaded. They both got to the stove at the same time, turning around almost in unison. William was slightly ahead, with Dawn coming up fast. This time when she went to ram him, he pulled back suddenly, causing her to go too far to the right, while he sped up, straight for the home stretch.

"No, crap!" yelled Dawn.

"William wins!" John shouted, with him and Clem patting him on the back.

"I believe darling, that’s two out of three," John said to Dawn, "which means guys rule!"

"Boo! Hiss! Boo!" said the girls, with their hands cupped to their mouths.

"See, sore sports!" John said.

"Am not!" Dawn said, "but William has more experience with the remote.

"Oh, you did fine with the remote, Dawn. Just had a bad strategy," William said, grinning at her.

Soon after, they went back out to the living room, to drink wine and talk. Before they knew it, it was time for their guests to leave for the airport.

"Hey Buffy, this was fun, you should do this every year," Willow said, as she stood up to get ready to leave.

"Yeah, it really was. Hmm…maybe I’ll get electric trains for next year!"

"You got my vote!" Willow said, and the others enthusiastically agreed.

"Yeah, Buffy, you could get this mega train set and have the tracks running all over your house, with tunnels, bridges…" Dawn said.

"Overpasses, steam engines…" John added.

And the others added their suggestions to the mega railroad set.

"I think I’m going to have to win the lottery to do all that. That and start constructing it in July!" Buffy said, rolling her eyes. I had more in mind a set about the size of a ping pong table or something."

"And she ruins the fantasy!" Dawn sighed.

"Well, we’ll see. Maybe you guys could each send me one of your paychecks if you want the mega-kick-ass version, okay?"

"Sure, no problem," Dawn answered, "especially since I don’t have one. I know, I’ll just get dad to bankroll our little fantasy."

"Speaking of which," Buffy said, going to get something from the spare bedroom. She came back out and handed Dawn a package.

"Give this to dad when you see him next, will you?"

"Sure, think I’m going to have dinner with him next week, before New Year’s Eve. What did you get him?"

"A robe and a shirt."

"Good. Um, Buffy?"

"Huh?"

"Dad said to tell you that you’re invited, too. Why don’t you and William come down, have dinner with us? I mean it won’t be like you and William will be all alone with him, if that’s what you’re worried about."

"Did you tell him about William?"

"Is this a trick question?"

"Spill!"

"I just told him that you were involved with someone that you knew from Sunnydale and that he’d been a friend before and that he’s very nice."

Buffy was quiet for a minute, "That’s not too bad," she said, blowing out a breath. "Sort of takes the pressure off of me breaking it to him. Not that I would have had to anyway, considering all the things I’ve kept from him, considering how much he really doesn’t even deserve to know anything about me…"

"Buffy? Chill?"

Buffy laughed, "Sorry about that. Did you tell him about William’s memory loss?"

"No, I figured that’s up to you. I also didn’t tell him about you guys living together or where you worked, only that William works at the same school that you do."

"Well, good then."

"So? Will you come?"

"I don’t know…"

"Well, think about it at least, okay?"

"Okay, but I’m not making any promises…"

"I know," Dawn answered.

Willow got her coat from the wooden coat tree that William and Buffy had bought themselves last week.

"Did I thank you for my coat, Buffy? I really love it!"

"I’m glad. Did Kennedy get the books?"

"Yeah, she thanks you, too."

"Good. Oh, and tell Xander, Angela, and the kids that we send our love."

"I will."

"How’s Giles?" Buffy asked in a quiet voice. She had avoided asking about him the whole time Willow had been with them in the summer. It was still point of contention with her, how Giles had betrayed her trust, among other things. Her feelings about Giles were probably more conflicted than she had for her own father. Plus there was honest-to-goodness-fear, should he find out about Spike.

"He’s good…I guess. I don’t see him very often, but when I do, he seems kind of lonely. I think he misses you and Dawn… Xander. You know, the whole gang. Not that he says anything mind you, and definitely not that I say anything, it’s just a feeling I get from him sometimes."

"I’m sorry about that. For him," Buffy said, after a pause.

What else could she say? Life had changed for all of them and even if William hadn’t come back, she still wouldn’t have wanted to go back to slaying anymore. But now that William was back, her life was warmer, richer, better than it had ever been.

The others had walked out to the cars, Buffy put her hand on Willow’s arm; "Will? I meant to ask you…the protection spell on William, Dawn, everyone…?"

"Still in effect."

"Good," Buffy said, letting out a breath.

"And…here?"

"Still part of the forgetfulness spell. Without your exact permission, none of us will even remember how to get here. Nothing can be traced back to William. It’s all good, Buffy. Relax, enjoy your life, William…"

"I do, I really am…just sometimes I get worried. I just wanted to make sure. You know me. It’s not like I don’t trust you; you know that, don’t you? I mean, it’s just that sometimes I forget about it, then I overcompensate, because even if I’m living the almost 100% blissful life here, I really can’t forget, can I? I mean what have we here, Willow? Look at us! A former slayer and her formerly dead, then deader still vampire-now alive-and-back-from-Victorian days human lover and sometimes poet, a former dimensional key for a skanky Hellgod, turned sister, now college student, an awesomely powerful witch, a baggy-skinned demon who is hiding the fact from said former vampire-now-turned-human. And then there’s John. Suppose he’s just normal, but then again, shrink? Jury’s out on that one."

Willow put her hand up in front of her mouth and giggled into it. "Kinda funny when you put it that way, especially since it feels all normal-like to us anyway, doesn’t it? Sheesh Buffy, relax! It’s Christmas Eve!"

"Okay, okay," Buffy said, laughing too at the absurdity of it all.

They walked out to the cars.

"Bye Dawn," Buffy hugged her, "take good care of her," she said to John, reaching out to hug him, too.

"I will. I promise," he answered.

The guys shook hands, then William gave Willow and Dawn hugs.

"Merry Christmas, William, "Dawn said.

"You, too, Dawn."

Next came Willow.

"William, I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you, you’re doing great!" Willow said, as he hugged her good-bye.

"Thanks. You know I have all of you to thank…for so much."

"Ach…you’re doing all on your own now," Willow said.

"Well, not exactly alone," William said, looking over at Buffy.

William and Buffy got into their car to lead their guests out to the main road, as did Clem.

They stopped on the side of the road, walking over to the car with Willow, Dawn, and John, giving them directions to the highway and wishing them safe trips.

"Call me, when you arrive," Buffy told them.

"We will," Dawn said, and with last waves, they were off.

William put his arm around Buffy, as they stood there watching the car lights fade off into the distance.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

Buffy nodded and they got back into the car and drove home.

They pulled up at the house and asked Clem if he wanted to come back in with them, but he declined.

"Got some other people to see tonight in San Diego. I’ll be there tomorrow, too, but I’ll be back the next day early."

"Okay. Well, thanks for everything, Clem. Have a great Christmas Day tomorrow."

"I will. You, too. Bye guys," Clem said, getting into his car.

"Bye Clem, drive safely," William said, "and thanks for the nice gift."

"Gift! Almost forgot!" Clem said, bolting out of his car and into their house. He was back in a minute with his gift from them, the CD from Dawn, and some English cookies in a tin from Willow.

"Thanks for this. I love it!" Clem said, putting the DVD Recorder and other stuff in the backseat.

"You’re welcome, we’re glad you like it," Buffy said.

"Bye guys, Merry Christmas."

"You, too!" they called, as he drove off.

END CHAPTER 109

CHAPTER 110 - CHRISMAS EVE, WILLIAM & ELIZABETH

William put out his hand and Buffy took it, as they walked up to the porch and into the house.

"That was fun. I’m glad you invited them back here, William."

"Yeah, it was. Nice to have family and friends around, isn’t it?"

She nodded.

"Shall we have some more wine and look at our lovely tree, then?" he asked.

"Sure, let me clean up a bit first, though."

"I’ll help you," he said, going into the living room and gathering up the wrapping paper from the floor and table. She carried the wineglasses into the kitchen, while he was doing that and put them on the counter.

He walked over to the trash with the spent wrappings; "Need any help?"

"Nah, I’m not even going to wash these now. They can wait."

"Good. I’m glad," he said, going over to the refrigerator and taking out another bottle of wine, which he uncorked at the counter.

She held up two wineglasses and motioned for the living room. He nodded and followed her.

"Shall we move this back or leave it?" she asked, before setting the glasses down on the coffee table.

Underneath the coffee table was a nice warm rug, which they sat on often and sometimes lay upon, watching the fireplace or making love, even. Can’t do either with the table there, he thought.

"Let’s move it back into the spare room," he said, setting the wine bottle down on one of the end tables. She set the glasses down, next to the bottle before going over to one end of the table, as he started to lift it.

"I got it Elizabeth, you don’t have to help."

"I know I don’t have to, I want to."

He shook his head; "Lady shouldn’t be helping move furniture when she’s all dressed up pretty like you are," he said, refraining from adding, ‘or at all.’

She smiled at him, "Hey, I already moved it with Willow once already tonight."

"Yeah, but I wouldn’t have let you do it, had I known, and now, you’ll just have to defer to me. If you please, that is," he added grinning, knowing that his ideas of womanly strength, ability, and sensibilities were different from hers lots of times, but that she didn’t mind him being a gentleman, as long as he understood that she could do things for herself.

He didn’t mind either, as long as she did let him take care of her, as best as he could, given his poor financial station in life, at present. In fact, life with her was much easier than what he ‘thought’ he remembered it being like, in what he ‘thought’ he remembered from his life before; from what it had been like between the sexes.

Buffy just grinned at him, "Have at it, then."

"I will," he said, picking up the table with ease.

She smiled as she watched him. She didn’t really mind him doing things for her, treating her like a lady. When she’d been the slayer, everybody just expected her to have this super strength. In fact, she’d been stronger than all of the men she knew, especially the human variety.

The stupid coffee table.

She sighed.

The first time Spike had brought her to this house, he’d said something to her about the coffee table being heavy, when she was going to move it. She’d scoffed at him, telling him that he was forgetting she could throw men, including him across the room, and in fact, had. He’d gotten this hurt look in his eyes and turned away from her, replying that at that moment, he hadn’t been thinking of her being the slayer, but a woman. She’d apologized. It had been one of many times that weekend that she really had seen the man that he’d once been. She’d seen William, underneath all the posturing, that was usually, part and parcel for Spike.

And so, Buffy chose her battles carefully, and William wanting to be the one to pick up the heavy coffee table, certainly wasn’t one of them.

Besides, considering the world he’d come from, where women needed help just to get into their breath constricting corsets, he’d been amazingly adaptable to life in the 21^{st century; life with her. Not
just learning to drive, surf the net, and what not, but in men/women
kinds of things. William really wasn’t a sexist at all. Respectful,
full of good manners, breeding yes, but not chauvinistic. More men,
modern men could have stood to take lessons from him.}

She turned off the lights, the fireplace and Christmas tree providing enough light and atmosphere.

William returned and poured their wine, sitting down next to her, as he watched her shapely legs move back and forth, trying to remove the indentations of the rug in front of her, until they finally came to a rest. She turned to him and held up her glass, "Toast?"

"You first."

She took a deep breath, "Here’s to you William, for your being home with me this Christmas…the first Christmas I’ve really had any reason to celebrate in so long. So here’s to you and me and home and Christmas," Buffy said, looking at him as they clinked glasses, took a sip of wine, then kissed.

"My turn," William said, clearing his throat.

"Elizabeth, I don’t know how you found me 6 months ago, after I’d gone missing for 5 years. All I knew was that, all of a sudden you were there and even without any memories, the world was now that much brighter, a place that I felt I wanted to be in, because you were. I don’t remember ever being close to anybody, to loving anybody, even you, before, which are really the only memories I regret not having. To me, you are my first love, my last love, and my only love. You’re the one, Elizabeth. So, I make my toast to you and to us and to this Christmas and to many more," he said, holding up his glass.

Buffy had started to cry long before he had finished. She sniffled and clinked her glass with his, never taking her eyes off his beautiful face. As soon as they had drunk their toast, she put down her glass and turned back towards him.

"William," she said, her voice a whisper. And then she was in his arms and he was kissing her eyes, her nose, her lips. All the while, she’d gotten to her knees, pulled up her skirt a bit and climbed onto his lap, where she now settled down, facing him.

He put his arms around her, sliding them underneath the lace of the green top she wore, underneath the silky fabric of the spaghetti strap tank top. His hands caressed her back as she ran her hands through his hair, over his face, his neck, his ears, her mouth closely following their path, then back to his mouth.

"Ever since I saw you in this top this evening, I’ve wanted nothing more than to take it off you and touch you all over," he said, his voice filled with desire.

She moaned, shivering at his words, his touch, at the feel of his hardness rubbing against her.

He stopped and looked at her, his hands slowly moved to her hair, where he gently removed her hair clips and chopsticks, and pulled her ponytail loose, so that her hair now cascaded down her back. She didn’t say anything as she watched him concentrate on not pulling her hair as he went about freeing it. His eyes locked onto hers again and she felt overwhelmed by the openness to his soul that she found in his eyes.

Eyes still on hers, he took hold of the sleeve of her lace top and tugged gently on it, easing it off her, one arm at a time. Then he pulled it up over her head, followed by the tank top, which he first had rubbed his hands down the sides of. His arms went around her back, unlatching her bra, which he also slowly took off her.

His eyes now wandered to the rest of her, his breath coming faster, as did hers, her chest rising and falling, her body now aching for his touch.

He looked up at her, his eyes partly glazed over; a combination of awe and desire, moments before she crushed her mouth to his, opened it so that their tongues could dance erotically with each other’s once more.

William’s hands roamed through her hair, onto her back, and around her front to grasp a breast, which was pressing against his sweater. He lowered his head to her breast, teasing her nipple with his tongue as he pulled it into his mouth.

Buffy gasped, grounding down on him, as her desire grew. Her hands blindly pulled up on his sweater, the need to feel his warm skin against hers, her only thought.

They broke apart just for a moment, so she could pull the sweater up over his head. It fell out of her hands behind the couch somewhere.

"Floor, floor!" she gasped, between kisses. Hands around her waist, he lifted her up, then down to the floor as she clung to him, bringing him down with her.

He moaned as he rubbed his length against hers. Her hand now was at his waistband, undoing his pants, finding little space to undo the zipper, so he moved up a bit until she succeeded. Lips still locked together; he pulled her skirt up around her waist and found that all that she wore were old-fashioned nylons, with a red, sexy garter and nothing else.

He looked down at her and grinned, "Not wearing any undies? You saucy wench!"

"Moi?" she asked, feigning surprise, "I’m not wearing any underwear? Damn, must have forgotten. Wait, I’ll go get…"

William crashed his mouth to hers; pushing her back down, as his hand went between her legs, "God, you’re so…" he got up and scooted back, until his face was on her stomach.

Her breath came labored as he ran his hands up and down over her thighs and lightly underneath the rim of her nylons. His fingers played with the buttons on the garters, as he decided if he wanted to take them off her or leave them on. He decided on the latter.

William’s mouth moved further down, and he met with the end of the lace of the garter, which just covered the front of her pubic area. He pulled it down a bit further, then licked at her clit through the lace, causing Buffy to moan louder than usual.

"Okay luv?" he asked.

"Uh-huh, uh-huh…feels good, friction…"

He did it again that way and again she halfway raised herself up to him, hands starting to pull at his hair already.

"Uh-uh," he said, teasing, as he put her hands down at her sides, "no helping."

He went back to it, his tongue once again, licking her through the lace. She moaned and tried once again to put her hands into his hair, but he held fast, not an easy thing, in his position. He licked circles around her clit and suckled it; it’s hard nub throbbing under tongue and lace, as the extra friction drove her over the edge. She cried out his name, as her fingers curled and uncurled within his, finally gripping him so tight, he could barely feel his circulation.

Finally he stopped. Her hands relaxed, now flopping back and forth in his, like a fish out of water. When she could breathe again, she put her hands on the sides of his face and pulled him up towards her, catching his mouth in hers, her tongue tasting herself on his, reaching to guide him in; wanting him there, needing him there.

"Love you, love you, love you," she gasped, as he thrust into her, feeling waves of pleasure, as the beginning of another orgasm began to build.

"Elizabeth," William cried out, a few minutes later, coming, too, as he felt her walls tighten around his cock.

They lay in front of the fire, spent, wrapped in the throw from the couch.

Buffy looked down at their feet sticking out, playing toesies with his.

"So," she asked, "you want to go to midnight mass?"

He looked over at her, "Do you?" he asked, surprised.

"I’ll go anywhere with you, William," she said, her hand brushing back a lock of his hair from his forehead, then coming to rest on his cheek.

He smiled slowly at her, "Okay."

"Okay," she said softly.

They arrived at the church just before midnight and parked their car in the grocery store lot across the street, which was already full.

Buffy looked over at the brick church, it’s tall steeple standing sentry against the night sky. Holding William’s hand, they walked up the stairs to the church door.

"Good evening," said a young man, not much older than they were, wearing the long robes and collar of the clergy.

"Evening," William and Buffy said together.

"I haven’t seen you two here before, I’m Father Michael, I hope you enjoy tonight’s service."

"I’m William, and this is Elizabeth. Worthington. Thank you, I’m sure we will."

Once inside, they were handed a program of songs and prayers by what appeared to be a choirboy. They thanked him and walked in to where the congregation was seated.

"Wow, we’d better get a seat, or it will be standing room only soon," Buffy whispered. Looking around it seemed that almost the whole town was there, no matter their religion.

Mrs. Carpello saw them and waved as they walked up the aisle, looking for two seats. They spotted Edna about somewhere towards the middle, on the right side.

"Hi Edna," Buffy said, waving to her.

"Elizabeth! William! You made it! I’m so glad."

"Are those seats taken?" William asked a man behind her.

He shook his head, and motioned for them, half of the row standing up to let them get in.

Buffy and William sat forward talking to Edna for a few minutes before services started.

"You know my grandson Wally," Edna said.

"Oh hi Wally, I didn’t see you there," Buffy said, giving him a pat on the shoulder.

"Hi William, you want me to teach you how to parallel park over winter break?"

"Thanks, that would be great. I’ve been putting it off, but I guess I’d better, eh?"

"Remember, I got THE METHOD for it. No problem."

"Okay, I’ll take your word on that."

"Hello Elizabeth," said a man next to Wally.

"Oh, hello, nice to see you, Lawrence," Buffy replied, shocked.

"Hello William, it’s been a long time. It’s very good to see you," Lawrence said, extending his hand.

William put his hand out to shake the man’s, but looked over at Buffy, helplessly. She put her hand on his opposite arm, "William, this is Lawrence, Edna’s son. He’s also our lawyer."

"Nice to meet you," William said, "um, see you again, too. It’s…I’m sorry, I just don’t remember…"

"I’m sorry William, that was thoughtless of me," Lawrence said, apologetically.

Edna turned around to say something to William, and Lawrence turned around to talk to Buffy.

"Elizabeth, I’ve been meaning to call you…"

"Me, too. Sorry, I know I shoud’ve…"

"About the house, now that…"

"I know…I want to change the deed…"

Father Michael came up to the pulpit.

"Call me soon."

"I will."

Father Michael gave the blessings and started the service. About halfway through, everyone was asked to light the little tapers, which the choirboys passed down each row.

After they’d been lit, the singing of Christmas songs began.

Buffy had to have William hold her candle, while she found her place on the song sheets they’d been given at the door. It was kind of a challenge making sure nothing caught on fire, like the music pages, or the hair of the person in front of you, or your own, for that matter. Must be practice, Buffy thought, as nobody else seemed too concerned with the logistics or hazards of hundreds of burning candles.

Looking over at William, who seemed so happy and relaxed, singing along with hundreds of other voices, made her feel incredibly…wonderful. He smiled at her, as she held the words for the both of them, while he held onto the candles. He had a nice singing voice, and she felt herself giving her own vocal cords an honest work out.

He faced her as he sang one of the songs and she just stopped to listen to him. The look in her eyes warmed him and he felt at that moment, the pure bliss of happiness and joy, in the both receiving and giving that was their love.

For Buffy, it was a sacred moment, one of many that they had shared together. In their physical unions, at the moment their hands caught fire and their souls forever united, and now, together on hallowed ground, in a church on Christmas Eve.

William lifted her hand, which held the music sheets up to their faces, and they shared a kiss behind them, hidden from all those in front, open to all those in back of them, of course.

Surprisingly, she felt at peace here, given her history. She looked up at the cross, symbol of pain and suffering, death and resurrection, life and holiness, and couldn’t help remembering that it was in that dimly lit, old church in Sunnydale where she’d found Spike. In a church, where he first told her of the soul he’d gotten…for her. The soul, that then burned inside him and William. William - who had reemerged as the heart of Spike’s soul. In a church where he’d draped himself over the cross, tormented, wanting only to rest.

After services were over, they took a couple of minutes to wish Edna and her family Merry Christmas. She gave them an open invitation to supper at her house the next day, if they so desired.

The church had partly emptied and they walked up the aisle, hand in hand, greeting people they knew from the school, from the community.

Father Michael was at the door. They told him what a lovely service it had been, and he thanked them, telling them he hoped he’d see them again sometime.

They stopped at the top of the stairs, looking out at the street. It had snowed about an inch while they’d been inside, and the whiteness blanketed everything, making all the pretty Christmas lights look even lovelier.

They turned and smiled happily at each other, then made their way across the street to their car.

"It’s pretty," Buffy said.

"Yeah, ‘tis," William answered, kissing her before she got into the car.

It was after 1:00am when they arrived home.

They walked in, William went to start the fireplace again, but Buffy stopped him.

"Getting kinda late for that, how about just turning on the tree. That way you don’t have to mess with making sure it’s out, when you want to go to bed."

He looked over at her, raising his eyebrow slightly, as a small smile grew, "Other plans for me, then?" he asked, his smile now turned to an almost full-blown smirk.

Buffy blushed, and slapped him lightly on the arm; "I didn’t mean that. I mean, not that I didn’t mean that, I just…"

He kissed her, "I know what you meant. Still think a little fire would be nice and all," he said, looking over at it, wistfully.

"No, go ahead then. Really, I just thought maybe you’d be too tired to bother, if we weren’t going to be up for long."

William walked over and turned on the Christmas tree lights, then decided to just have a small, rather than roaring fire.

"Just started a small one, luv," he told her, when she returned from the bedroom.

"It’s all of the good," she said, handing him a present she had behind her back, "Merry Christmas, William. You can open this now, since it’s technically Christmas Day, or you can wait until tomorrow morning; your choice."

He looked up at her in delighted surprise, "Something else?"

"A little something."

"Now’s good," he said, shyly, "You?"

She nodded.

"Wait right here," he said, going into their bedroom. She could hear him opening the closet and rustling about, as she sat down on the couch.

He came back in a moment, but she didn’t see anything in his hands, until he put his hand into his pocket and handed her a blue velvet ring box, a mini gold bow, placed on top, "Merry Christmas, Elizabeth."

Buffy’s heart sped up, as she took it. She looked up at him, her mouth dry all of a sudden.

He smiled encouragingly at her, "Open it."

Her hands shook slightly as she opened it up. Buffy gasped as she saw the ring. It was gold and made open styled, so that you could see your own finger through the designs. Thin bands of gold ran along the top and bottom, with little ribbons of tiny ridges along the inner edge. The centerpiece was two lovebirds on either side of a heart, with a delicate scroll underneath it and on either sides of the lovebirds, was a flower, a leaf, and another heart. The birds were in white gold.

Buffy had taken it out of the ring box and was holding it in her hand, looking at it.

"It’s lovely, William," she said, trying not to cry.

"You like it? I wanted to get you something that would match your necklace, but it’s not exactly like it. Not the colors, or style even."

"I love it, I really do, I’ve never seen anything like it before."

He smiled happily at her.

She shook her head; "Where on earth did you get this?"

He smiled even broader, "You remember when you sent me off with Dawn that day at the mall? Well, she told me she’d seen an antique store a few blocks away, so we left the mall for a while and did some shopping there and that’s where I found it!"

"Sneaky!" she said, smiling at him, also feeling a bit concerned that he’d left the mall and she hadn’t even known it. If something had happened to him or Dawn…

"I’m glad you did, though. It’s really wonderful," she said, giving him a warm kiss.

He took the ring from her hand and turned it over, "Look," he said. She squinted and then she saw that the letters W E had been engraved on the inside, solid part of the bottom of the band, next to the 14K markings.

"Thank you," she said, again, "I love it even more now, if that’s possible."

He took her hand, putting it on her ring finger. They looked down at it together, then up at each other smiling.

"Now you," she said, "though it’s not nearly as nice as this, I’m afraid."

William undid the wrapping paper, glancing up at her every so often, then hurriedly opened the box.

"A watch!" he exclaimed, excitedly.

"I know I already got you the watch fob, but I figured sometime, you might want to wear one on your wrist…"

"I do. I mean…yes! This is very nice," he said, of the gold-rimmed, black leather banded watch, "very nice, indeed. Thank you, Elizabeth!"

William took it out of the box and undid the strap. He turned it over and sure enough, the letters W E were engraved on that, and the date 12-25-08.

"Thank you, luv," he said, kissing her.

"You like?"

"Very much."

An hour later she stood in front of the mirror in her nightgown, brushing her hair. William stood behind her, hands on her waist. She put the brush down and he wrapped his arms around her tighter.

"It’s a lovely mirror, William. Thank you again."

He kissed her neck and she shivered watching herself and him in it.

"Hmm…"she said.

"Hmm…what?" he asked, distractedly.

"Possibilities…this mirror, us…" she said, with a mischievous grin.

He looked up at her in the mirror, his eyes widening, "Oh? OH!"

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An hour later:

Buffy sighed in contentment; it had been a perfect Christmas Eve. She was nestled in William’s arms, almost asleep, when she looked up at him.

"What?" he asked, softly, seeing the question in her eyes.

She put her hand on the side of his face, as she looked into his blue eyes,

"How is it that you love me so well?"

He smiled then kissed her gently, "Because I love you so much."

END CHAPTER 110

CONT. CH. 111 - 115

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2003*MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE, SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE! HOPE IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT!

**P.S. I HAVE ANOTHER BONUS SHORT CHRISTMAS STORY I'M WORKING ON FOR THE HOLIDAYS - CHECK OUT THE HOME PAGE FOR THE LINK OR HERE: CHRISTMAS EVE IN WILLIAM'S ROOM