Au Contraire, Au Pair
folder
BtVS AU/AR › Het - Male/Female › Buffy/Spike(William)
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
19
Views:
8,798
Reviews:
107
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
BtVS AU/AR › Het - Male/Female › Buffy/Spike(William)
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
19
Views:
8,798
Reviews:
107
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Chapter 13
If you're happy and you know it leave a review! *clap clap* Apparently I have traded my life for you all, so for pity's sake, let me feel the love! :*
~~~~~
Chapter 13
“You want me to come inside with you? Not because you can’t do it yourself, but I want to make sure you don’t embarrass the other kids with how together you are.” Buffy smiled and handed James his backpack.
James was secretly glad that he didn’t have to walk into that building all by himself. Some of those kids looked BIG. He slyly reached up and took her hand and together they walked to the kindergarten wing.
Buffy’s heart was swelling up inside her to the point where she was having trouble breathing. *This place is HUGE. How can they put such little bodies in such a big, scary place? These people are wrong. Maybe he should wait a year...*
“You must be James! How nice to meet you!” James’ new kindergarten teacher was squatting down to his height and reached out to give him a hug. She stood up and took him by the hand, then looked over at Buffy.
“You must be Mrs. Giles. Nice to meet you, I’m your son’s new teacher, Mrs. Franklin.”
“Buffy’s not my mom yet, but she’s gonna be.”
Buffy was red to the tips of her ears when she saw the expression on the teachers face at this new information, and then change again when she noticed how, um, young this young woman looked. *So THAT’S how it is in their family.*
“Well James, in all of my years there’s one thing that I’ve learned: you can’t have too many people love you, right? Ms. -?”
“Summers. Buffy Summers. I’m his nanny.” Again with the look.
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Summers. I try to give my new students the chance to get acquainted with one another right off the bat. I find it helps them adjust to the new schedule if there aren’t too many parents staying around. I’ve found that this day is harder on them than the children.”
“Kiddo, that’s my exit. Can I have a quick hug and kiss first?” James almost knocked her over with the force of his hug.
“I love you. I’ll see you when school’s out, ‘kay?”
She blew him a kiss as he walked back into the classroom. As she walked back to her car she started crying. *I don’t know what I’m boobing about. He looked so small in there...* She quickly wiped her tears away as she approached a group of mothers at the entrance. One of them silently handed her a tissue.
“I always cry, too, and this is my third one I’ve sent off to school. They look so small, don’t they?”
She laughed, sobbed a bit, and got a friendly pat on her back as she walked back to her car. She drove the short distance back home, and went straight to the kitchen for consolation. She found that when she got there she needed to be the strong one, however.
“Ach, my wee little man is growing up.” Cook held a dishtowel to her face and bawled like a cow. “I couldn’t get him to eat anything, he was too excited to be off, he’ll never make it to lunch time. He’ll fade straight away. Oh, my little man!” After a few moments of boo-hooing, she pulled it together and sat a cup of coffee down in front of Buffy. “I’ll have some scones out of the oven in a minute. It’ll be just the thing we need to straighten us out.”
William walked in that minute, finally done with his early morning meeting that prevented him from seeing his boy off. Alarm crossed his face when he saw the tears on everyone’s faces. “What’s happened? Ladies, what’s happened?”
“I’ll tell you what’s happened,” Cook sobbed to him. “That wee little laddie has grown up and left us here to fret with worry that they’re taking care of him properly. Oh sir, I do believe my heart is breaking. Here, have a scone.” She broke a bite off her biscuit and slumped into a chair to eat.
William bit the inside of his cheek until he thought it might bleed. “And you, pet? About the same?”
Buffy gave him a half-hearted grin and told him how brave James’ was on his first day of school. “There was a group of moms crying outside, and they gave me a tissue. I think that was entrance to their club,” she laughed. It touched William to see just how attached Buffy had become to his son. She had shown more love and devotion to him in that one hour’s time than his natural mother did in his whole life. Natural mother? There was nothing natural about abandonment. From there on, William decided to refer to Dru as the “egg donor.”
“Well, I think I have everything arranged for my new schedule, so at least that’s taken care of. Why don’t you accompany me on a walk outside and tel abo about your morning, the school, and the battle ax that now has charge of my son.”
********
Buffy tried to keep herself busy with registration booklets for fall semester, but she kept most of her attention on the clock waiting for it to be 2:30 - when school was let out for the day.
By 2:00 she couldn’t wait any longer and went down to William’s office. She knocked and heard William call out, “Come in.” He motioned for her to wait a moment and finished typing whatever thought was threatening to escape his memory. Once complete, he stood up and walked around the desk to her, and took her into his embrace. With a kiss on her head he asked, “is it just time to head out there and stalk the school grounds?”
She laughed, glad he knew her well enough to not try and talk her out of it. “Let me get the keys, and we’ll be right off.”
When they arrived at the school it became apparent that they were not the only ones waiting to hear how the first day went. Buffy saw several parents from the party who waved hello to her. They also saw William standing behind her with his hands on her shoulders scanning the front doors for signs of his son. A few of them smiled, most whispered to their spouses. Buffy didn’t notice; she was filled with dread that someone made James cry, or picked on him, or hit him with a ball, or didn’t pick him for a game... William squeezed her shoulders and whispered to her, “he’s not the first child to ever leave his home for the day, and he knew most of the children beforehand. It will be fine - trust me.” He tried to sneak a little kiss on her cheek, and more of the parents whispered at her blush. Several of the men were looking at the blonde British man with newfound respect. Several of the younger mothers looked daggers at Buffy.
After what seemed an eternity, James and his class emerged from the doors. Buffy was frantically waving in his direction. He caught sight of her and broke into a run, face breaking wide with a grin from ear to ear. “Buffy! Dad! Mrs. Franklin is the best! She said I had very good manners! And I made lots of friends! And we played outside, and in the gym, and I went to the library, and -“
William laughed and scooped James up into a fireman’s carry over his shoulder. “Alright, son, take a breath. If I don’t get you home and let Cook fatten you up, you’ll be eating me for dinner tonight instead of the feast she’s been working on all afternoon.” James giggled at his silly dad and continued his stream of talking to Buffy, walking behind them and swinging his hands back and forth in hers.
“And we get to have a class pet! We voted on it and I voted for a bunny and you know what we picked? A bunny! And Mrs. Franklin has a turtle and there is a TV in the class and lots of computers and I can ask to borrow games and take them home, but I have to bring them back after three days, and...”
By the time they walked into the kitchen Buffy’s ears were numb with all of the details James had explained on the drive home. She swung him up in her arms, planted a kiss on his forehead and sat him down at the table.
Cook waltzed in as if she hadn’t known they had ever left. “Hello, sweetheart. Have a bite.” She set a plate down with what appeared to be one of everything in the house. A tall glass of milk, a chocolate cookie, some carrots and celery sticks, a few squares of cheese, a few of her special meatballs with toothpicks inserted, apple slices, a bunch of grapes, a glass of orange juice, a scone (his had icing drizzled on it, Buffy noticed)... She heard the timer to the oven go off.
“Oh, I threw together some mincemeat tarts, in case anyone had a taste for something of that sort.” Cook knew that they were William’s favorite. William solemnly walked up to her, took her by the shoulders, and kissed her soundly on the lips. “Ach, go on with you.” She slapped at him with her ever-present kitchen towel, and blushed like a schoolgirl. “You do beat all. It’s only food, and Lord knows you don’t eat enough. How you can manage to stand on what you don’t put into...” She putzed around the kitchen mumbling to herself, trying to hear snippets of James’ day in school.
Buffy stood in the corner watching the whole scene. *This is mine. My boys. My family.* She felt her eyes misting again. William, who was sitting at the table happily stuffing his face with James on his lap doing likewise, looked at her and winked. She mouthed, “I love you,” and felt complete for the first time.
*******
After being stuffed to the gills at dinner and then having a good scrubbing top to bottom in a steamy bath, James was half asleep on his feet and made his way to bed. William was in his office working on some last minute work details, so Buffy sat on the edge of his bed and held his hand until it went slack. With a kiss on his forehead, she quietly made her way downstairs and across the house to William’s office. He had left it open, so she walked in.
William was looking out the window at nothing, with a serious look on his face.
“Are you alright? Did I come at a bad time?” she asked.
He snapped out of this thoughts and gave her a smile, and indicated for her to come and sit on his lap. “No, sweetheart. Just thinking about something. James get off to sleep?” At her nod he then asked, “and how are you? Long day?”
He reached behind her and began massaging her neck and shoulders.
“Gahhhhh. I didn’t even know I could hurt there. Oh... That is exactly what I needed.” She began to relax under his hands and said, “William, I feel like it’s wrong to care so much for a child that isn’t mine, or that it’s strange somehow. But it doesn’t feel strange. It feels like he’s mine. Is it wrong for me to feel so deeply for him? I have this fear that you and he will be taken away from me, that you aren’t for me to have.” She stood up and looked at him, grinning nervously. “That’s silly, I know. I just, I don’t know. And it’s a little pushy for me to call you mine when nothing’s official, really. I guess I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop or something.”
“Well, actually, I think it just did. That was my ex-wife’s lawyer. He had some... interesting news for me. About Dru.”
Buffy felt like cold water was running down her body.
~~~
hate me?
~~~~~
Chapter 13
“You want me to come inside with you? Not because you can’t do it yourself, but I want to make sure you don’t embarrass the other kids with how together you are.” Buffy smiled and handed James his backpack.
James was secretly glad that he didn’t have to walk into that building all by himself. Some of those kids looked BIG. He slyly reached up and took her hand and together they walked to the kindergarten wing.
Buffy’s heart was swelling up inside her to the point where she was having trouble breathing. *This place is HUGE. How can they put such little bodies in such a big, scary place? These people are wrong. Maybe he should wait a year...*
“You must be James! How nice to meet you!” James’ new kindergarten teacher was squatting down to his height and reached out to give him a hug. She stood up and took him by the hand, then looked over at Buffy.
“You must be Mrs. Giles. Nice to meet you, I’m your son’s new teacher, Mrs. Franklin.”
“Buffy’s not my mom yet, but she’s gonna be.”
Buffy was red to the tips of her ears when she saw the expression on the teachers face at this new information, and then change again when she noticed how, um, young this young woman looked. *So THAT’S how it is in their family.*
“Well James, in all of my years there’s one thing that I’ve learned: you can’t have too many people love you, right? Ms. -?”
“Summers. Buffy Summers. I’m his nanny.” Again with the look.
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Summers. I try to give my new students the chance to get acquainted with one another right off the bat. I find it helps them adjust to the new schedule if there aren’t too many parents staying around. I’ve found that this day is harder on them than the children.”
“Kiddo, that’s my exit. Can I have a quick hug and kiss first?” James almost knocked her over with the force of his hug.
“I love you. I’ll see you when school’s out, ‘kay?”
She blew him a kiss as he walked back into the classroom. As she walked back to her car she started crying. *I don’t know what I’m boobing about. He looked so small in there...* She quickly wiped her tears away as she approached a group of mothers at the entrance. One of them silently handed her a tissue.
“I always cry, too, and this is my third one I’ve sent off to school. They look so small, don’t they?”
She laughed, sobbed a bit, and got a friendly pat on her back as she walked back to her car. She drove the short distance back home, and went straight to the kitchen for consolation. She found that when she got there she needed to be the strong one, however.
“Ach, my wee little man is growing up.” Cook held a dishtowel to her face and bawled like a cow. “I couldn’t get him to eat anything, he was too excited to be off, he’ll never make it to lunch time. He’ll fade straight away. Oh, my little man!” After a few moments of boo-hooing, she pulled it together and sat a cup of coffee down in front of Buffy. “I’ll have some scones out of the oven in a minute. It’ll be just the thing we need to straighten us out.”
William walked in that minute, finally done with his early morning meeting that prevented him from seeing his boy off. Alarm crossed his face when he saw the tears on everyone’s faces. “What’s happened? Ladies, what’s happened?”
“I’ll tell you what’s happened,” Cook sobbed to him. “That wee little laddie has grown up and left us here to fret with worry that they’re taking care of him properly. Oh sir, I do believe my heart is breaking. Here, have a scone.” She broke a bite off her biscuit and slumped into a chair to eat.
William bit the inside of his cheek until he thought it might bleed. “And you, pet? About the same?”
Buffy gave him a half-hearted grin and told him how brave James’ was on his first day of school. “There was a group of moms crying outside, and they gave me a tissue. I think that was entrance to their club,” she laughed. It touched William to see just how attached Buffy had become to his son. She had shown more love and devotion to him in that one hour’s time than his natural mother did in his whole life. Natural mother? There was nothing natural about abandonment. From there on, William decided to refer to Dru as the “egg donor.”
“Well, I think I have everything arranged for my new schedule, so at least that’s taken care of. Why don’t you accompany me on a walk outside and tel abo about your morning, the school, and the battle ax that now has charge of my son.”
********
Buffy tried to keep herself busy with registration booklets for fall semester, but she kept most of her attention on the clock waiting for it to be 2:30 - when school was let out for the day.
By 2:00 she couldn’t wait any longer and went down to William’s office. She knocked and heard William call out, “Come in.” He motioned for her to wait a moment and finished typing whatever thought was threatening to escape his memory. Once complete, he stood up and walked around the desk to her, and took her into his embrace. With a kiss on her head he asked, “is it just time to head out there and stalk the school grounds?”
She laughed, glad he knew her well enough to not try and talk her out of it. “Let me get the keys, and we’ll be right off.”
When they arrived at the school it became apparent that they were not the only ones waiting to hear how the first day went. Buffy saw several parents from the party who waved hello to her. They also saw William standing behind her with his hands on her shoulders scanning the front doors for signs of his son. A few of them smiled, most whispered to their spouses. Buffy didn’t notice; she was filled with dread that someone made James cry, or picked on him, or hit him with a ball, or didn’t pick him for a game... William squeezed her shoulders and whispered to her, “he’s not the first child to ever leave his home for the day, and he knew most of the children beforehand. It will be fine - trust me.” He tried to sneak a little kiss on her cheek, and more of the parents whispered at her blush. Several of the men were looking at the blonde British man with newfound respect. Several of the younger mothers looked daggers at Buffy.
After what seemed an eternity, James and his class emerged from the doors. Buffy was frantically waving in his direction. He caught sight of her and broke into a run, face breaking wide with a grin from ear to ear. “Buffy! Dad! Mrs. Franklin is the best! She said I had very good manners! And I made lots of friends! And we played outside, and in the gym, and I went to the library, and -“
William laughed and scooped James up into a fireman’s carry over his shoulder. “Alright, son, take a breath. If I don’t get you home and let Cook fatten you up, you’ll be eating me for dinner tonight instead of the feast she’s been working on all afternoon.” James giggled at his silly dad and continued his stream of talking to Buffy, walking behind them and swinging his hands back and forth in hers.
“And we get to have a class pet! We voted on it and I voted for a bunny and you know what we picked? A bunny! And Mrs. Franklin has a turtle and there is a TV in the class and lots of computers and I can ask to borrow games and take them home, but I have to bring them back after three days, and...”
By the time they walked into the kitchen Buffy’s ears were numb with all of the details James had explained on the drive home. She swung him up in her arms, planted a kiss on his forehead and sat him down at the table.
Cook waltzed in as if she hadn’t known they had ever left. “Hello, sweetheart. Have a bite.” She set a plate down with what appeared to be one of everything in the house. A tall glass of milk, a chocolate cookie, some carrots and celery sticks, a few squares of cheese, a few of her special meatballs with toothpicks inserted, apple slices, a bunch of grapes, a glass of orange juice, a scone (his had icing drizzled on it, Buffy noticed)... She heard the timer to the oven go off.
“Oh, I threw together some mincemeat tarts, in case anyone had a taste for something of that sort.” Cook knew that they were William’s favorite. William solemnly walked up to her, took her by the shoulders, and kissed her soundly on the lips. “Ach, go on with you.” She slapped at him with her ever-present kitchen towel, and blushed like a schoolgirl. “You do beat all. It’s only food, and Lord knows you don’t eat enough. How you can manage to stand on what you don’t put into...” She putzed around the kitchen mumbling to herself, trying to hear snippets of James’ day in school.
Buffy stood in the corner watching the whole scene. *This is mine. My boys. My family.* She felt her eyes misting again. William, who was sitting at the table happily stuffing his face with James on his lap doing likewise, looked at her and winked. She mouthed, “I love you,” and felt complete for the first time.
*******
After being stuffed to the gills at dinner and then having a good scrubbing top to bottom in a steamy bath, James was half asleep on his feet and made his way to bed. William was in his office working on some last minute work details, so Buffy sat on the edge of his bed and held his hand until it went slack. With a kiss on his forehead, she quietly made her way downstairs and across the house to William’s office. He had left it open, so she walked in.
William was looking out the window at nothing, with a serious look on his face.
“Are you alright? Did I come at a bad time?” she asked.
He snapped out of this thoughts and gave her a smile, and indicated for her to come and sit on his lap. “No, sweetheart. Just thinking about something. James get off to sleep?” At her nod he then asked, “and how are you? Long day?”
He reached behind her and began massaging her neck and shoulders.
“Gahhhhh. I didn’t even know I could hurt there. Oh... That is exactly what I needed.” She began to relax under his hands and said, “William, I feel like it’s wrong to care so much for a child that isn’t mine, or that it’s strange somehow. But it doesn’t feel strange. It feels like he’s mine. Is it wrong for me to feel so deeply for him? I have this fear that you and he will be taken away from me, that you aren’t for me to have.” She stood up and looked at him, grinning nervously. “That’s silly, I know. I just, I don’t know. And it’s a little pushy for me to call you mine when nothing’s official, really. I guess I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop or something.”
“Well, actually, I think it just did. That was my ex-wife’s lawyer. He had some... interesting news for me. About Dru.”
Buffy felt like cold water was running down her body.
~~~
hate me?