ONE NORMAL LIFE / TWO EXTRAORDINARY LIVES
folder
BtVS AU/AR › Het - Male/Female › Buffy/Spike(William)
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
210
Views:
11,326
Reviews:
182
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
BtVS AU/AR › Het - Male/Female › Buffy/Spike(William)
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
210
Views:
11,326
Reviews:
182
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.
THE LAKE
CHAPTER 55 – THE LAKE
"Come on, let's float," Buffy said, grabbing a floating raft she'd brought down.
William picked up the other one and followed her into the water. She was already on hers, when he tried to get on his, and wound up flipping off it. Coughing, and trying to maintain his dignity, he tried again with the same results.
Trying not to laugh aloud, since he seemed to be taking this enterprise rather seriously, she hopped off of hers. "Here, I'll hold it still for you," she said, as he, this time, successfully got on and adjusted to it.
Buffy pulled him over to her raft as she got on, and using a plastic cord that was at the ends, tied the rafts together.
"Okay, lets head over to the rope out there," she said, motioning to the deeper end, marked by a rope, kept afloat by floating jugs, and other stuff.
"Um, I can't swim, you know," William said hesitantly.
"I won't let you drown, promise," she said.
"Use your hands to paddle," she said, showing him how.
Once they were out there, she twisted her foot around the rough rope, so that she would stay in one place. William did the same. They were facing towards the rest of the lake. She took his hand, so that his raft would stay right next to hers.
A speedboat with a water-skier came racing across the lake, causing rolling waves to come toward them, bouncing them up and down.
"Ug," William said.
"What's wrong?"
"Makes my stomach feel...queasy."
"Poor William. Well, it's only every once in a while."
Personally, she liked the feel, having grown up going to the ocean; this was nothing in tavesaves department. This lake didn't even have it's own waves, just little ripples.
Every time the boat came by, William groaned, but Buffy enjoyed the sensation, her mind drifting other things that went up and down, like waterbeds. Not that she had any experience in one of those, only from laying on one in a waterbed store.
The next time the boat came by rea reached out to steady himself by putting his hand over on her stomach. The feeling of the waves making the raft undulate, plus his hand on her stomach, somewhat south of her belly button was now giving her the most sensual-like feeling. She moaned as his hand pressed down.
"See, I told you. Making you queasy now, too?"
"No, it's your hand."
"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, moving it.
"No," she said, pulling it back, "good groan, good hand, feels nice."
"Oh," he said, bewildered. He had so much to learn about women!
The boat came back, and again William pressed his hand down on her stomach to steady his raft. Once again she felt like she was in some sort of sensual heaven.
He glanced over at her, watching her chest rise and fall, as she smiled to herself, with her eyes closed. William forgot about his queasiness, and now hoped the boat would hurry back.
Dawn came back from shopping. Willow was still asleep and she didn’t see William and Buffy. Glancing out at the beach, she saw the chairs they’d bought sitting empty. Smiling, she put on her bathing suit and went down to the beach.
“This is nice,” Buffy murmured.
“Yeah, it is,” William agreed, “I wish, ahhhhh!” he yelled.
“Hey guys, what’s ya doin?” Dawn said, coming up from underneath them.’d p’d pushed up a little on William’s raft, startling him.
“Hi Dawn, just waiting for our ship to come in,” Buffy sagigggiggling, “be careful, okay? William can’t swim.”
“Can’t swim? Sheesh!” Dawn said, grabbing onto Buffy’s raft, instead of his.
“Well, nobody ever taught me to when I was a boy.”
“I’ll teach you, William,” Dawn offered.
“Um…I don’t know.”
“Well, think about it.”
“I will,” he said, glad she didn’t mean right now.
“How was town?” Buffy asked.
“Small, doesn’t take long to find everything. Grocery store, gas station, drug store, a Subway, McDonalds, old-fashioned barbershop. That’s about it.
Buffy had been thinking about offering to give William a haircut, this gave her an idea.
“William,” Buffy began, “how would you like to go into town this week and get a haircut at the barbershop?”
“Um…I don’t know. I…” he mumbled.
“Come on William, Buffy, I mean Elizabeth and I will take you. Your hair is pretty long and the sideburns…”
“What about the sideburns?”
“Well, they’re…”
“Dawn!”
“Elizabeth, let Dawn talk. What about them?” he asked.
“It’s just that they look a little bit…” she thought how to say it without hurting his feelings. She couldn’t just say that they looked like they belonged back in the 1880’s or 1960’s, for that matter. “They make you look older than you are. I think you’d look younger without them. And hotter.”
“Dawn!”
“Hotter?” William asked.
“Cuter, han handsome.”
He smiled. He liked Dawn, she was funny.
“What do you think, Elizabeth? Would I look ‘hotter’ with a haircut and shorter…” he looked at Dawn, who shook her head back for forth, “no sideburns?”
“You’re already hot, William,” Buffy said, putting her hand on her stomach over his, “but a haircut would be nice for you,” she said, diplomatically.
“Alright, then. I’ll do it. For you, Dawn, and you Elizabeth, and for the sake of being hotter,” he said, grinning.
Dawn giggled and Buffy let out a sigh of relief that he hadn’t taken the idea the wrong way and also, that he was willing to go into town.
“When shall we go?” William asked.
“How about tomorrow? After breakfast?” Buffy suggested.
"Tomorrow?" he asked, gulping.
"Okay, how about the end of the week? Friday?"
“Alright, Friday, then,” he agreed, and closed his eyes against the sun.
Dawn gave Buffy a thumbs-up and swam off.
The rest of the week Buffy slowly worked on just having William be able to be comfortable with his immediate surroundings, inside and out. She got him to go to the beach everyday, and take walks around the campground.
A couple of evenings later, they all even rented a rowboat and took turns rowing around the lake, admiring the houses on the other side, imagining what it would be like to have a house with it's own beach and boat on this lake.
One evening, right before dusk, Elizabeth and William rented their own rowboat and went around the lake.
"Thank you, Elizabeth," he said, abruptly, as they were resting near some lily pads and trees.
"For what?"
"For everything you've done for me, getting me out of the hospital, bringing me here...everything."
"You're welcome," she said, "I...sometimes I can't believe that you're here, with me...you're welcome," she finished unable to go on.
"I wish..."
"What do you wish, William?"
"I wish we could stay here. Live here. It's so...I don't know, peaceful."
"I know. I like it, too," Buffy said, "but my life, I mean our lives, our house is back in California. When you see how beautiful it is there, you'll love it like I do, too."
"I wish I could. See it, I mean," William said, "tell me about it again."
And so she did, she told him of the house, and the rooms, the kitchen, their bedroom, the fireplace, furnishings, the way it was nestled bac the the forest and away from everyone. Told him of the beauty of the surrounding area and of the trails, and secret hot springs, of how it snowed there only for a short time every winter, and of the snowman they'd built, less the part about the fangs. Told him of how you could see the desert off in a distance from a lookout point on the trails. Told him of a special tree, where he'd carved their initiabut but didn't mention what the tree had been used for. She told him of Clem's place down the road from theirs, that they had been friends for a long time. Told him about Edna, The Rittenhouse Restaurant, and her son, Lawrence.
William sat still, listening to this, transfixed, as they floated near the lily pads.
“What’s the name of it?”
“Huh?”
“The name of the town? All ve sve said is California.”
“Oh, sorry,” she said, she had been so with the keeping it a secret, she didn’t even realize that she hadn’t even told William yet. “It’s Julian. It’s about an hour from San Diego and about an hour and a half from where we used to live in Sunnydale.”
“Pretty name. Sounds familiar, somehow,” he said.
She hoped that William didn’t recall the source of that memory right now. His brother. She sighed quietly in relief when he didn’t.
“William?”
“Hmm?”
“I know this is going to sound strange, but nobody but you, me, and Clem know the where the house is, and I’d sort of like to keep it that way.”
“What do you mean? That even your friends don’t know where you live? Willow? Dawn?” he asked.
“No. Nobody.”
“But why? Why didn’t you want them to know where you lived?”
“It’s hard to explain. You had kept it secret and when you…went away, I came up there to live and I just couldn’t bear to…”
“To what, Elizabeth?”
“To share it…your house, our house, with anyone else. It was all I had,” she said in a small voice.
He scooted forward and lifted her face; her eyes had tears in them.
“And you changed your name?”
She nodded.
“I don’t understand,” he said.
“I know and I’ll…I’ll explain it to you someday. I promise, but I can’t right now. Please. Just…please, let this still be only ours, okay? I just don’t want anyone to know…”
“Of course, Elizabeth. Whatever you want, you know I’ll do it for you!”
“I know. Thank you,” she said, her emotions all jumbled up.
They rowed back in silence to the shore; each lost in their own thoughts.
END CHAPTER 55
"Come on, let's float," Buffy said, grabbing a floating raft she'd brought down.
William picked up the other one and followed her into the water. She was already on hers, when he tried to get on his, and wound up flipping off it. Coughing, and trying to maintain his dignity, he tried again with the same results.
Trying not to laugh aloud, since he seemed to be taking this enterprise rather seriously, she hopped off of hers. "Here, I'll hold it still for you," she said, as he, this time, successfully got on and adjusted to it.
Buffy pulled him over to her raft as she got on, and using a plastic cord that was at the ends, tied the rafts together.
"Okay, lets head over to the rope out there," she said, motioning to the deeper end, marked by a rope, kept afloat by floating jugs, and other stuff.
"Um, I can't swim, you know," William said hesitantly.
"I won't let you drown, promise," she said.
"Use your hands to paddle," she said, showing him how.
Once they were out there, she twisted her foot around the rough rope, so that she would stay in one place. William did the same. They were facing towards the rest of the lake. She took his hand, so that his raft would stay right next to hers.
A speedboat with a water-skier came racing across the lake, causing rolling waves to come toward them, bouncing them up and down.
"Ug," William said.
"What's wrong?"
"Makes my stomach feel...queasy."
"Poor William. Well, it's only every once in a while."
Personally, she liked the feel, having grown up going to the ocean; this was nothing in tavesaves department. This lake didn't even have it's own waves, just little ripples.
Every time the boat came by, William groaned, but Buffy enjoyed the sensation, her mind drifting other things that went up and down, like waterbeds. Not that she had any experience in one of those, only from laying on one in a waterbed store.
The next time the boat came by rea reached out to steady himself by putting his hand over on her stomach. The feeling of the waves making the raft undulate, plus his hand on her stomach, somewhat south of her belly button was now giving her the most sensual-like feeling. She moaned as his hand pressed down.
"See, I told you. Making you queasy now, too?"
"No, it's your hand."
"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, moving it.
"No," she said, pulling it back, "good groan, good hand, feels nice."
"Oh," he said, bewildered. He had so much to learn about women!
The boat came back, and again William pressed his hand down on her stomach to steady his raft. Once again she felt like she was in some sort of sensual heaven.
He glanced over at her, watching her chest rise and fall, as she smiled to herself, with her eyes closed. William forgot about his queasiness, and now hoped the boat would hurry back.
Dawn came back from shopping. Willow was still asleep and she didn’t see William and Buffy. Glancing out at the beach, she saw the chairs they’d bought sitting empty. Smiling, she put on her bathing suit and went down to the beach.
“This is nice,” Buffy murmured.
“Yeah, it is,” William agreed, “I wish, ahhhhh!” he yelled.
“Hey guys, what’s ya doin?” Dawn said, coming up from underneath them.’d p’d pushed up a little on William’s raft, startling him.
“Hi Dawn, just waiting for our ship to come in,” Buffy sagigggiggling, “be careful, okay? William can’t swim.”
“Can’t swim? Sheesh!” Dawn said, grabbing onto Buffy’s raft, instead of his.
“Well, nobody ever taught me to when I was a boy.”
“I’ll teach you, William,” Dawn offered.
“Um…I don’t know.”
“Well, think about it.”
“I will,” he said, glad she didn’t mean right now.
“How was town?” Buffy asked.
“Small, doesn’t take long to find everything. Grocery store, gas station, drug store, a Subway, McDonalds, old-fashioned barbershop. That’s about it.
Buffy had been thinking about offering to give William a haircut, this gave her an idea.
“William,” Buffy began, “how would you like to go into town this week and get a haircut at the barbershop?”
“Um…I don’t know. I…” he mumbled.
“Come on William, Buffy, I mean Elizabeth and I will take you. Your hair is pretty long and the sideburns…”
“What about the sideburns?”
“Well, they’re…”
“Dawn!”
“Elizabeth, let Dawn talk. What about them?” he asked.
“It’s just that they look a little bit…” she thought how to say it without hurting his feelings. She couldn’t just say that they looked like they belonged back in the 1880’s or 1960’s, for that matter. “They make you look older than you are. I think you’d look younger without them. And hotter.”
“Dawn!”
“Hotter?” William asked.
“Cuter, han handsome.”
He smiled. He liked Dawn, she was funny.
“What do you think, Elizabeth? Would I look ‘hotter’ with a haircut and shorter…” he looked at Dawn, who shook her head back for forth, “no sideburns?”
“You’re already hot, William,” Buffy said, putting her hand on her stomach over his, “but a haircut would be nice for you,” she said, diplomatically.
“Alright, then. I’ll do it. For you, Dawn, and you Elizabeth, and for the sake of being hotter,” he said, grinning.
Dawn giggled and Buffy let out a sigh of relief that he hadn’t taken the idea the wrong way and also, that he was willing to go into town.
“When shall we go?” William asked.
“How about tomorrow? After breakfast?” Buffy suggested.
"Tomorrow?" he asked, gulping.
"Okay, how about the end of the week? Friday?"
“Alright, Friday, then,” he agreed, and closed his eyes against the sun.
Dawn gave Buffy a thumbs-up and swam off.
The rest of the week Buffy slowly worked on just having William be able to be comfortable with his immediate surroundings, inside and out. She got him to go to the beach everyday, and take walks around the campground.
A couple of evenings later, they all even rented a rowboat and took turns rowing around the lake, admiring the houses on the other side, imagining what it would be like to have a house with it's own beach and boat on this lake.
One evening, right before dusk, Elizabeth and William rented their own rowboat and went around the lake.
"Thank you, Elizabeth," he said, abruptly, as they were resting near some lily pads and trees.
"For what?"
"For everything you've done for me, getting me out of the hospital, bringing me here...everything."
"You're welcome," she said, "I...sometimes I can't believe that you're here, with me...you're welcome," she finished unable to go on.
"I wish..."
"What do you wish, William?"
"I wish we could stay here. Live here. It's so...I don't know, peaceful."
"I know. I like it, too," Buffy said, "but my life, I mean our lives, our house is back in California. When you see how beautiful it is there, you'll love it like I do, too."
"I wish I could. See it, I mean," William said, "tell me about it again."
And so she did, she told him of the house, and the rooms, the kitchen, their bedroom, the fireplace, furnishings, the way it was nestled bac the the forest and away from everyone. Told him of the beauty of the surrounding area and of the trails, and secret hot springs, of how it snowed there only for a short time every winter, and of the snowman they'd built, less the part about the fangs. Told him of how you could see the desert off in a distance from a lookout point on the trails. Told him of a special tree, where he'd carved their initiabut but didn't mention what the tree had been used for. She told him of Clem's place down the road from theirs, that they had been friends for a long time. Told him about Edna, The Rittenhouse Restaurant, and her son, Lawrence.
William sat still, listening to this, transfixed, as they floated near the lily pads.
“What’s the name of it?”
“Huh?”
“The name of the town? All ve sve said is California.”
“Oh, sorry,” she said, she had been so with the keeping it a secret, she didn’t even realize that she hadn’t even told William yet. “It’s Julian. It’s about an hour from San Diego and about an hour and a half from where we used to live in Sunnydale.”
“Pretty name. Sounds familiar, somehow,” he said.
She hoped that William didn’t recall the source of that memory right now. His brother. She sighed quietly in relief when he didn’t.
“William?”
“Hmm?”
“I know this is going to sound strange, but nobody but you, me, and Clem know the where the house is, and I’d sort of like to keep it that way.”
“What do you mean? That even your friends don’t know where you live? Willow? Dawn?” he asked.
“No. Nobody.”
“But why? Why didn’t you want them to know where you lived?”
“It’s hard to explain. You had kept it secret and when you…went away, I came up there to live and I just couldn’t bear to…”
“To what, Elizabeth?”
“To share it…your house, our house, with anyone else. It was all I had,” she said in a small voice.
He scooted forward and lifted her face; her eyes had tears in them.
“And you changed your name?”
She nodded.
“I don’t understand,” he said.
“I know and I’ll…I’ll explain it to you someday. I promise, but I can’t right now. Please. Just…please, let this still be only ours, okay? I just don’t want anyone to know…”
“Of course, Elizabeth. Whatever you want, you know I’ll do it for you!”
“I know. Thank you,” she said, her emotions all jumbled up.
They rowed back in silence to the shore; each lost in their own thoughts.
END CHAPTER 55