ONE NORMAL LIFE / TWO EXTRAORDINARY LIVES

CHAPTER 53 - HELL, HE'D FOLLOW HER ANYWHERE!

Willow came out of her bedroom, "Who was that?" she asked, stretching her arms above her head.

"Dr. Turner. He called to tell me that Dr. Polydefkis is dead. He fell down the elevator shaft after we left that evening. Guess the power was out and...I hate to say this, but I'm glad. From what I know of him, I'm...just glad is all. Glad he won't be able to hurt anybody else."

Willow shuddered thinking of the gross things he had talked to her about, all the while trying to hit on her.

"I can't generate much sympathy for him, either, I'm afraid."

Buffy poured her and Willow a cup of coffee.

"Hold that coffee, I'll be right back," she said, slipping into the bathroom.

"Hey, that's not fair," Buffy said, "I was up first."

She heard Willow laugh behind the closed door.

After they'd both used the restroom, they took their coffees outside to the deck.

"Pretty here. Peaceful," Buffy said, looking at the lake.

"Yeah, I really am enjoying this. Especially after the other night!"

"Yeah."

"Listen, Buffy, there's a couple of things I need to talk to you about. First thing is that I need you to get William out of the house for a couple of hours, so I can concentrate on some spells I need to do."

"Okay, I was thinking of taking him to the beach. I think he can handle that now. He seems to be coming out of his shell quite a bit. He was sort of on a roll there yesterday, wasn't he?"

"He was. Had me in stitches with the toilet paper comment," she laughed.

"Yeah, pretty good sense of humor for an 'uptight Victorian,' wouldn't you say?"

"Well, a long time ago you said it would be, 'Nice to go out with someone who didn't remember the Industrial Revolution,' didn't you?"

Buffy rolled her eyes, "I remr, ar, and boy is this a classic case of be careful what you wish for, if I ever heard one."

Willow laughed, "You're not kidding."

They looked at each other and cracked up.

"Besides, he's not that uptight," Buffy said, with a bit of a smirk that reminded Willow of Spike.

"I'll leave that for you to decide. Not going to touch that with a ten foot pole," Willow answered, suddenly aware of the possible double entendre.

Buffy just grinned.

"Okay, new subject. The second thing is have you thought how we're going to get William across the country? Back to California?"

Buffy was glad to hear the word; 'we're,' instead of, 'you.' "I don't know. I probably should have been giving more thought to it, but I've just wanted to make sure William was alright, you know? Then I've been just sor enj enjoying being here. With him. With you guys. Guess I haven't really put too much thought into it."

"Well, we could fly, but that probably won't work."

"I don't think so. I just can't see him being able to not freak out."

"Train?"

"That's a thought. Is there one that goes all the way?"

"Think there's one that goes all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles."

"I don't know if I can subject him to going into Chicago. For one thing, it's way too large for him to handle, and second thing, the memories. I mean, Chicago is a wonderful city, and I'll always remember it for having found Spike there," she put her hand, unconsciously up to her heart, "but it's also where it almost took him away from me. Where he was lost and afraid."

"There's probably other cities that a cross-country train goes across-country from."

"Yeah, but I bet anything that is from anywhere near here, still feeds into the Chicago station. Seems my mom was once looking up this stuff, when she thought that maybe I'd live with a relative in the Chicago suburbs while attending Northwestern University," she said, laughing at the impossibility that scenario had presented. "Never even thought to look them up, when I was there with Dawn."

"You were kind of busy," Willow said.

"Yeah, looking and talking to every homeless person, every shelter for 5 days. Going through boxes at a museum, visiting dead professor's apartments. Though we did manage to do a little shopping. At Marshall Field's no less. And some other places."

"Cool."

"Very. Just have a wicked shoe craving I have to satisfy sometimes."

"Try the gum, in case the patch doesn't work."

"Neither worked. I tried."

"I see."

They sat quietly drinking their coffee for a while.

"We can drive," Willow suggested.

"Don't have a car."

"Rent one?"

"Maybe. Sort of confined for such a long trip, though."

"What about a camper?"

"What? Like a Winnebago?"

"That name cracks me up. Yeah, one of those. They have bedrooms, stereo and TV’s, music, showers, kitchens, all the comforts of home. All we have to do is to find a campground every night! It could be fun."

"Yeah, it just might be. Give William a chance to see the country. Heck, give us a chance to see the country," Buffy said.

"Road trip, then?"

"Yeah, road trip!" Buffy agreed.

"Wait. Who's going to drive it?" Buffy asked, "I'm not the best driver in the world, but what I do drive is a small Subaru. I can't see driving a Winnebago."

"Me either. Dawn?"

"I don't think so."

"We could all take a turn, couldn't we?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, Buffy, Dawn, you, and William, too."

"Might be interesting."

"Might be dead."

"Probably you and William wouldn't have to worry about that. Dawn neither. Probably you'd all come back. Hmm, I should worry, though."

"Yeah," Buffy agreed, "you probably would be the one who'd be dead-dead."

"So, if we're not comfortable with driving a honkin' big RV, who can we call? Um, ask to drive for us?"

"Rent-a-driver?"

"Really?"

"I don't think so. Maybe," Buffy said, pondering the possibility.

"Hey, hey! What about Bernie? He is a driver! Maybe he'd be able to take some time off and drive the thing!"

Buffy thought about that for a while, "That's not too bad an idea, Will. Except for one thing, I don't know if he'd really wan lea leave home and drive cross country with us, and the second thing is that I don't know if it's fair to mix him up in all that is us, if you know what I mean."

"I know what you mean, but he was already mixed up with it, when he started taking you and Dawn around looking for Spike, being the get-a-way car, etc."

"Yeah, but that was different. And he was a blessing to us, but our lives, even if momentarily they're not being overrun by the supernatural, there's always that chance. I've never wanted to involve innocent people more than I've had to. Let me think about it for a few days, okay?"

"Okay, but that's what I wanted to tell you. You don't have to worry about protecting William from supernatural interference. I've already cast the supernatural protection spell over you and William. Over Dawn, too. Now all I have to do is take care of the forgetting spell, so that non-supernatural beings can't find you, either. And erasing the paper trail; that stuff."

"When did you do the protection spell?"

"The other night, after you and William were asleep, I came in, sprinkled sand around you both, making sure you were within a circle and cast the protection spell. Easy. Same with Dawn. She’s a bonus."

"Really? That's great," she said, but glad that Willow hadn't come in when her and very un-uptight William had been 'engaged.'

"I knew you guys were asleep, don't worry. I'm not a peeping Tom or Tamara." she said, reading Buffy's mind.

"I know. I’d wondered where the sand had come from, since the only sand either of us could have brought into the bedroom, was on our shoes."

"Now you know," Willow said, smiling. "I know I said I wasn't a peeping Tom or Tamara, but I did notice how happy you guys seemed, even as you were sleeping. You both seemed happy and content, snug as a bugs..."

"I am. Spike, um, William seems like he is, too. When we're together like that, and I don't even mean that I feel so, I caneveneven put it into words, only that I never again want to spend another night without his arms around me. Ever."

Willow smiled, "That's great, Buffy. That's really great. I'm so happy for you. And you deserve it, you both do."

"I agree," she said.

Buffy sipped her coffee, lost in thought for a few minutes.

"How long will the protection spell last?" Buffy asked, finally.

"As long as..." she stopped, catching herself, "I'd say it's good for a couple of years, at least."

"Oh. Like an expiration date or something?"

"Sort of."

"Then you can do another one?" she asked hopefully.

"I don't know. Probably. Sure. I don't know why not, though I'll have to get the coven's permission again."

Buffy thought for a moment. "Why didn't they just allow you to put a permanent protection spell on Spike, knowing what they know about how he saved the world? Doesn't that seem a fair trade?"

Willow knew she couldn't give the true answer, without revealing what she was sworn not to reveal. Instead she said, "It does, when you put it that way, seem like a fair trade. Remember, it's because of Spike's special sacrifice that they've allowed me to do this at all. It's a very special and strong magic that will protect him, and you, from all things supernatural. Maybe it does have to be renewed every couple of years. Or maybe it's a 'let's reevaluate this again in two years,' kind of thing. I'm not sure."

Buffy digested this for a while.

"Hey, does this mean that I can kick some demon ass, and they can't kick mine? Like I have an invisible shield or something?" Buffy asked with a wicked grin.

"Um, not sure about that, Buffy. Besides, thought you were out of the demon ass-kicking business."

"Yeah, just wondering."

"In case you got into a wicked argument with Clem, perhaps?"

"You got it!"

After breakfast, Buffy and William were cleaning up when she suggested that he join her on the beach.

"Um, I don't know. I..." he stammered, red faced.

"What?"

He didn't reply.

"William," Buffy said, coming up close and putting her arm around him, "I know that you're not used to seeing so many women and younger women wearing so little..."

"Well, I've seen that enough for the last few days, Elizabeth, to be rather used to it," he countered. Heck, he’d almost stopped gawking with his mouth open.

"What then?"

"It's just that I've...I've never worn so little in public before. At least I don't remember doing so. You know, me and my false memories," he said with a wry smile.

"I know that Dawn and Willow bought me some swimming trunks,” he continued. That's what they're called, right?"

Buffy nodded.

"But I don't know how I'll feel walking to the beach in them. I think I'll feel quite naked. And I don't really know how to swim," he quickly added.

"Well," Buffy said, lightly kissing his ear, before she whispered into it, "we'll both be almost naked, but socially acceptable for 2008, together. And that was a mouthful, I hope you appreciated it."

“Not to mention, a really poor grammatical sentence,” he joked, as part of him was definitely appreciating both the ear kissing, coupled with the word naked, "Oh, alright. If we must!"

"Woohoo!" she rather squealed, causing his eardrum to vibrate a bit painfully, "I mean, thank you, William."

She danced off to put on her new bikini and he grudgingly went to put on his new beach attire.

Not since he could remember being a boy had he worn short pants, and these were worse still. Way short pants. Well, shorts, except some weird material that were lighter than the pants he'd been wearing lately.

"Hummppfff," he said, looking over at what were referred to as water shoes. He put them on. They felt funny over his toes. Next, he pulled a towel with a bunch of penguins on an iceberg out of the bag. He tried to drape it over his shoulders as much as he could. Wished he had another one for his waist. Wished he just hadn't agreed to this.

Buffy knocked on the door.

"Come in," William said.

She came in, towel in hand, and he was blindsided by her beauty. And he might add her almost naked beauty.

"You...you look," he whispered, almost breathless.

She smiled, innocently, "Hey, take it easy there, William. It's only a bikini."

"Uh huh," he said, nodding, not having taken his eyes from her.

Finally, he said, "It's nice. Quite fetching."

She smiled, broadly then, "I'm glad you like it," she said, walking toward him. She took the towel away from him and throwing it onto the bed, she came up and pressed herself to him, and put her face up to his, she kissed him. His arms went around her and as he hungrily touched her bare back, pressing himself into her, moaning her name.

"You want to make out?"

"Oh, God, yes!" he answered.

"Good, then let's go," she laughed and grabbing his towel, put it around his waist, and pulled a shocked and aroused William toward the door to the deck.

Hell, he'd follow her anywhere, he thought to himself.

She stopped to grab a couple of folding lounge chairs, some floating things, and the NoAd SunBlock #45, before they went down to the sand.

"Help me set up the chairs."

"Okay," William replied as he unfolded hers.

She put the towel over his and he followed suit.

She sat in front of him between his legs, "Can you put some on my back?" she asked, giving him the bright blue bottle.

"Alright," he answered, as he squirted some out and started applying it, rubbing it into her shoulders and arms, and finally her back. He took his time, enjoying touching her.

"Thanks," she said when he was finished, "okay, trade places."

She sat on her chair, and motioned him to sit on the end. He did, and she rubbed sunblock on his pale skin. Not as pale as Spike had been, not as hard and sinewy, but still, very nice. She couldn't believe that she was sitting outside, in the sun, with Spike. Well, William, to be exact. She felt moved and scooted up, kissing his back, forgetting that she had just applied sunblock, "Ick," she said, wiping her lips, and proceeded to get more sunblock on her mouth, "Ick, ick!"

"What's wrong?"

"All your fault!"

"What's the matter," William said, in a concerned voice.

"What the matter is, is that you're so darn kissable, you made me get sunblock on my lips."

"Oh, I see. That's my fault?"

She nodded.

"Well, only fair, I should take some of the blame then," he said, and kissed her lips, right there in the sun and in front of God and the beach populace, "Ick, indeed," he said, smiling at her.

END CHAPTER 53