Coo Coo Ca-Choo

Buffy was dreading facing her co-workers on Monday. Well maybe not all of them. Fred and Wes had been very nice to her but still it was embarrassing. She mostly dreaded dealing with Riley. She had promised William that she would make sure everyone was set straight though. Just let me get through this day she prayed as the elevator doors opened to the floor her offices were on.

Buffy made her way down the makeshift walkways between cubicles on her way to her office. Just as she was almost at the door she was stopped with a “Buffy!”
Crap, she thought, foiled again. She turned to find Anya walking up to her briskly. She sighed in relief, thankfully it wasn’t Riley.

“I wasn’t sure if you would show up today, after your big secret about your very young, amazingly handsome, well-built, who I’m sure is hung and not your cousin for real boytoy came out. Especially after the HUGE fight you had with him right out in the open” Anya said bluntly and rather loudly with a cheery smile on her face.

Buffy felt her shoulders slump and wished the ground would swallow her up as heads popped up from cubicles to glance in their direction. Great, my day isn’t 5 minutes over yet and already the entire office knows what a pervert I am, Buffy thought to herself.

“Buffy? Can I talk to you in your office?” Anya’s questioned brought her out er ter thoughts.
“Uhh...yes. Come in” she said as she opened the door. Anya followed her closing it.
The two women took seats on opposite sides of Buffy’s desk.
“So, Buf.I’m.I’m going to be blunt and get right to the point” Anya started.
Buffy supressed a snort. Anya was ALWAYS blunt and to the point.

“Go ahead” Buffy told her.
“Is your little friend’s friend, the dark haired one from the pizza place your cousin as well?” Anya asked.
“You mean Xander?” Buffy countered.
“Yes, that’s the one” Anya answered.
“No, he isn’t my cousin. Neither is William if you remember.” Buffy said.
“Well, yes but I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t yoow, ow, wink wink, code name cousin as in you were boinking him as well” Anya smiled.
“WHAT? NO...no. Of course not. He is William’s best friend. They go to UCLA together.” Buffy was slightly aggitated that Anya just assumed she was “boinking” Xander as well.
“Great, so you won’t mind if I receive many orgasms from him then?” Anya questioned.
“Uhhh...you want to go out with Xander?” Buffy looked incredulous.

She had been hiding William from everyone due to his age and now here was Anya wanting to get it on with Xander who was the same age as William. Was all the pain and heartache for nothing?

“Yes. He was quite pleasant to look at and appeared very friendly. Are you still on speaking terms with William?” Anya questioned her.
“Yes...we...uhh..worked out our differences” Buffy informed her.
“Will you tell William to have Xander call me. Here is my cell and home phone numbers” Anya handed a piece of paper over to Buffy.
“You do realize he is only 18, right?” Buffy inquired.
“Of course. I shall make a fine man of him” Anya looked off dreamily.
“Uhh...alright. I’ll let William know to give him the message” Buffy told her.
“Thank you, Buffy. I hope you and William have made up sufficiently and that you give each other many orgasms in the future.” And with that she flounced out of Buffy’s office.

Buffy sat there for a long moment thinking what on earth just happened here. Thankfully the rest of the day wasn’t quite so “in your face”. Both Wes and Fred had come by and checked to see how she was and were happy to hear that William and her had made up after their argument.

She ran into Gunn in a inter-departmental meeting and he was nothing but pleasant and professional. So good, so far, Buffy thought as she was walking back to her office after the meeting. It was almost the end of the day and she was feeling much better. I spoke too soon she thought as she bumped into Riley in the corridor.
“Jesus! Watch where you’re going!” Riley yelled a little too loud.
“I’m sorry...I didn’t see you” Buffy stammered.
“Yeah well maybe if you were looking where you were going instead of looking off in the distance dreaming about your COUSIN, you wouldn’t have ran into me” Riley said trying to make sure other people heard him.
“Excuse me? How do you know what I am thinking and furthermore he ISN’T my cousin you big dumb jerk” Buffy snapped.
“Me? I’m the jerk? Guess it’s better than being a cradle robbing sleazy slut like you, Buffy!” Riley’s face was beet red but it got even more whenwhen Buffy reached out a hand and slapped him across the face.
“Don’t ever speak to me again, Riley. Ever!” she stomped away.
“Yeah, you can count on that, you bitch” Riley yelled after her.

She made it to the safety of her office. Got to get out of here, she thought. She shut down her PC and grabbed her coat and purse as quick as she could. Instead of taking the more populated elevators, she took the back stairwell to get to the parking garage. Finally she made it to her car and got it and drove away. Breathe, Buffy, Breathe she told herself. You made it. You did it. You got through the day. It’s over now. You don’t need a drink. You don’t need a drink. No you don’t. She talked herself down.

Once she reached her apartment, she was much more calm. She parked in her designated space and made her way to her front door. When she got there, Spike was sitting in front of it, knees pulled up to his chest, arms resting on his knees, head resting on his arms. He looked to me asleep.

“William, honey...wake up” Buffy ran her fingers through his hair.
“I’m awake” he said as his head shot up. “Was just resting my head”.
“Not that I’m not happy to see you but what are you doing here? I don’t get off work until 5 and with the drive home and traffic, it’s already 6 now. How long have you been here?” she questioned him.
“My last class was over at 4. I got here about 4:30. I wasn’t sure when you got home. I figured it would be soon though.” He answered.
“I should give you a key for when you want to come over in the future so you don’t have to sit out here and wait for me to get home” Buffy told him as he stood up and she moved to unlock the door and let them in.
“I just missed you. Wanted to come straight here after I got out of school” he looked down shyly.
“I missed you too.” She smiled.

Buffy took her jacket off and hung it on the coat rack in the entry way then laid her purse down on the table next to it.
“We can order some dinner. I don’t know about you but I’m hungry. I didn’t eat lunch today.” Buffy told him as she made her way to the phone and answering machine.
“Sure...sounds good.” William flopped down onto the sofa. “And you better start eating lunch. Didn’t we already talk about this once?”
“What do you feel like? Pizza or Chinese?”she ignored his last comment.
“Chinese...that is unless you feel like pizza” he smiled at her.
“Chinese it is. Here’s a menu. Circle what you want. I’ll listen to the messages first before I call and order” she handed him a chinese take out menu she had on the table the phone rested on.

Buffy pressed play on her machine.

“Hi Dear. It’s Mom. Just calling to check in with you. See how things went with your young man. I hope you resolved the situation like we talked about. I love you, Dear. Call me when you have time.”

Buffy looked sheepishly at William as he raised one eyebrow.
“The young man is you. I swear.” Buffy explained. “I told my mom about you when I was there”
“I kinda figured as much” he answered. “Unless there is some other “young man” you have a “situation” with?” he teased her.
“Oh! Speaking of that. You’ll never believe what happened today!” Buffy exclaimed.
“What, pet?” Spike asked her.
“Do you remember the girl I work with, Anya? Real blunt. Likes orgasms.?” Buffy questioned him.
William laughed. “Yeah, pet. Hard to forget someone like that chit”
“Well, that “chit” a b a big crush on your friend Xander and now that she knows you and I are together she asked me to give you her number to have Xander call her so she can...give him many orgasms” Buffy was laughing.
“You’re kidding me?” William grinned.
“I swear. Cross my heart.” Buffy walked to where her purse was and brought it back to where she had been standing and opened it up to dig out the piece of paper Anya had given her earlier that day.

“Here you go.” She handed the paper to Spike.
“The whelp is going to go apeshit. Can’t wait to see his face when I tell him” Spike grinned, shoving the paper into his pocket.
Buffy turned around and pressed her machine to get the next message.

“YOU ARE A FUCKING WHORE. I HOPE YOU DIE OF AIDS YOU BITCH. USING ME AND THROWING ME AWAY FOR SOME DISGUSTING PUNK KID JERKOFF. I HOPE YOU ROT IN HELL YOU SLUT.” Riley had screamed into her machine.

Buffy’s face fell. William stood up and walked to her, taking her in his arms.
“Don’t listen to that wanker, Buffy. He is an idiot.” He told her.
“I bumped into him right before I left work and he made a big scene there too. He must’ve called from the office after I left” Buffy informed him.

“Forget him. Bloody poofter. He best not ever come around me. Come on, Buffy. Don’t let him ruin our night, O.K., luv?” Spike told her.
“You’re right. What can he do to me? He’s just a jerk. Hopefully he got it out of his system and feels better now and will leave me alone then. Alright, let’s order some food. Did you pick out what you wanted?” she asked him.
“Yeah, luv. Here you go.” He handed her back the menu.

Buffy called and placed their order. She then went to change out of her business clothes and into something more comfortable, sweats and a t-shirt. She put her hair up in two pig tails which made her look much younger and almost like a little girl.
Spike groaned when he saw her when she came back out to the living room.
“Are you trying to kill me, luv?” he teased her motioning to her pig tails.
“What?” she said innocently.
“You know what. All you need is the Catholic school girl’s uniform and you’d be all set” Spike grinned.
“Mmmmm....maybe I already have that uniform...” she trailed off winking at him.

She went to the kitchen to get them some drinks.
“Want something to drink? Beer? Soda? Anything?” Buffy asked him.
“Soda is fine.” William answered. “What kind do you have?”
“Mountain Dew or Cherry Coke” Buffy called out to him.
“Cherry Coke” he called back.
Buffy smiled a naughty smile. Thinking of William and cherries always made her smile.
She came back with his coke and a beer in her other hand. William saw it and sighed.
“Do you think we could go one night without you drinking?” he asked.
“I haven’t had a drink all day!” Buffy said defensively.
“Then you can go a little longer. The rest of the night, with me” William told her.
“Fine!” Buffy went back to the kitchen and grabbed a Mountain Dew instead.
“Happy now?” she said as she flopped down on the couch next to him.
“Yes. Please don’t be upset, Buffy.” He took her hand in his.
Buffy sighed. “I’m not. I’m sorry. Just a sensitive subject. I know I need to stop. It’s not going to be an overnight change though, William. It’s a long haul.” Buffy told him.
“I know, Baby. But the journey has to start with a first step, right?” he smiled at her.
“I know. I promise you I will try. I’ll find out this week where a local AA meeting is, sound good?” she said.
“Sounds g he he smiled. “I love you”
“I love you” she responded.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Buffy jumped up to get her purse to get money out, knowing that was more than likely the delivery guy at the door. William already had his wallet out.
“How much is it?” he inquired.
“I got it. Don’t worry” she answered.
“No, I’ll pay this time” Spike demanded.
“Really, you don’t have to” Buffy repeated.
“Buffy! You pay almost all the time. Let me pay for dinner one bloody time, alright?” Spike stomped to the door and threw it open.
He paid the delivery guy after he told him the amount, giving him a generous tip, then took the bags of food from him and walked to the kitchen.

Buffy met him in there.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was such a big issue” Buffy began.
“It’s not. I’d just like to feel like a man every once in awhile and buy my girl dinner” Spike said.
“You don’t think I make you feel like a man?” Buffy questioned.
“Buffy...pet...please..just drop it. It’s no big deal. Let’s just eat” Spike began opening cartons and diving into the food.
Buffy kept quiet and let the subject drop but she had a feeling this issue was going to come up in the future. How could it not?

She pushed the thoughts from her mind and began devouring the food along with him.
After they were stuffed to the brim, Spike put the leftovers away while Buffy did the dishTheyThey decided to pop a DVD in and stretched out together on the couch. After about 30 minutes of Spike playing with Buffy’s pig tails he spoke up.
“So, uhh..do you really have a school girl uniform?” he said sheepishly.

She smiled up at him. “Yeah, though it’s not really “Catholic” but it can get the job done” she grinned saucily.
“Go put it on” he ordered her.
“Yes, Sir!” she teased him.
She got up and walked back to the bedroom smiling and thinking, “Let the games begin”.

Continued in Chapter 14- Games People Play in the Middle of the Night