ONE NORMAL LIFE / TWO EXTRAORDINARY LIVES

CHAPTER 93 – IDENTITY PAPERS

July 15, 2008
Tuesday
9:00am

Buffy got up early the next morning, before William awoke, and took the cell phone with her outside so she could call Willow. She hadn't been able to call the night before, because there wasn't a time when she was alone.

"Hello?"

"Willow?"

"No, Kennedy, who's this?"

"Hi, Kennedy, it's Buffy. How are you?"

"Oh, hi. I'm fine. Glad Willow's back, I missed her. How about you?"

"We're...I'm fine," she corrected, not knowing how much Willow had told her.

"And Spike?" Kennedy asked, letting Buffy know that, indeed, she did know.

"William's fine, too, Kennedy," she said, using his real name, not denying or confirming that it was or had been Spike until she talked to Willow.

"Hold on, I'll get Will."

"Buffy?" Willow said a few seconds later.

"Hey, Willow. How are you? When did you get back?"

"About 2 days ago. Still in a bit of a fog from all the driving and jet lag, and hey, really is a bit foggy here, too."

"Huh?"

"Weather."

"Oh."

"So, how's it going with you two? Is William glad to be home? Is he getting any more memories back now that he's there?"

"He's fine. He seems like he's settling in really well. But no, he's not getting any memories back, he doesn't remember ever being here," she added, a bit sadly.

"On the up side, him and Clem got together," she said, then told her of how they'd gotten shit-faced together.

"So, that temporary spell I gave him must have worked,"

"Huh? Oh, you mean Clem, for a moment...nevermind."

"Oh," she said, laughing. "Next time you see Clem, tell him I'm going to ask the coven if they have anything else he can use to lengthen the amount of time he can stay in his human face. I figure if it's tied in with Spike, they may be willing to go with it."

"Great, I was hoping when he'd gotten drunk, that he wouldn't slip into demon face, though I think William would've just thought he was seeing pink elephants or something. Nearly did! God, he was a mess!"

They talked a while longer until Buffy said, "Um, listen, one of the reasons I'm calling you is because I wanted to remind you about those identification papers I need for William. He couldn't even get a stupid library card the other day without having anything saying who he was."

"I haven't forgotten Buffy, in fact, as soon as we hang up, I'll get working right on that."

"I'd really appreciate that. He wants to learn to drive, that means that he'll need a permit, then eventually a license. Anyway, you know how many things you need identification for. Also, about his degree...do you think you can look up what it is he has a degree in and just doctor, or mojo up the same one? Only 100 some years more current?"

"Yeah, I can probably do that, Buffy. Oxford, did you say?"

"Yes. Oxford. I don't know when he graduated, though. Of course I don't! Duh! But he was born 1852, so maybe that'll help."

"Yeah, that helps. In case I can't find anything, though, what did he study?"

"English Lit, 19th Century, not 20th, History, Latin, Greek, that's about all I know."

Willow whistled, "Cool. Don't worry, I'll keep the correct century in mind."

"Thanks."

"What else?" Willow asked.

"We need the naturalized citizenship papers."

"Complete with a real record in their databases, check,” Willow said, “anything else?"

"I think that's the biggies, oh and social security number or whatever they give to naturalized citizens."

"Check."

“Oh, one other thing…I hate to ask…”

“What?”

“The car?”

“Car? What car?”

“Spike’s DeSoto. Him and Clem are going to fix it up so he can drive it again. It just occurred to me, that Spike probably stole it. If I have to go register it, I’ll probably get arrested, once they run the VIN number. Crap!”

Willow thought for a minute; “I think I might be able to help, can you give me the VIN number, Buffy?”

“Um…hold on a minute, got to walk over there,” she said, walking toward the barn, “okay…where is it? Oh, okay, I see it,” Buffy said, leaning up over the hood of the car. She read it to Willow.”

“Better give me the plate number, too.”

“Okay,” Buffy said, and read it off to her.

“Great, now I’ll see what I can do about making the car legal and all that.”

"Thanks, Willow."

"I'll work on everything right now…well, after Kennedy and I have dinner…and as soon as I'm done, I'll send it express, like you did when you sent me his essence in the jar before. Overnight express."

"I remember."

"Okay, I'd better go, or Kennedy will be getting irate with me, we're about to go out and get a bite to eat."

"Oh, that reminds me Willow, Kennedy mentioned Spike to me. I didn't know you told her."

There was a pause, "Sorry about that, if it's any comfort, she's under the same spell that everyone else is, if it's not a specific person who I named as a 'safe' person, she won't even remember about him or be able to answer any questions regarding him. In other words, just you, him, me, Xander, Dawn. That's basically it."

Buffy breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh, okay, then. Guess it would be sort of strange to be doing all this and have to hide it from her. Especially since you were away almost a month."

"I knew you'd understand."

"Yeah, I get it. Okay, that's it from here. Talk to you later. Call me if you've got any questions I can help you with."

"Okay, I will. Bye…wait. What's William's middle name?"

"I don't know, he never said. Maybe he doesn't have one."

"That would be highly unusual. Listen, don’t worry about it, unless there’s a whole ton of William Worthington’s who attended Oxford around then, his records will probably have it.”

"You’re probably right, but if I can find a way to bring it up, then I’ll get it for you.”

“Okay, don’t worry though. Bye Buffy.”

“Bye Willow. Thanks."


A few days later, Willow emailed her to let her know that she’d sent the papers, and that as far as the State Department was concerned, William Worthington was a naturalized citizen since 1999. She told her that she could pick up the package from the Fed Ex office in San Diego, the same one she’d gone to before.

Clem had just picked up her mail from their Post Office Box the day before, and the manual for the DeSoto had arrived, so she asked Clem if he would work with William on the car, while she went out for a couple of hours.

“Sure, that would be great, Buffy.”

“Oh, and Clem…”

“I know, no drinking and watch what I say.”

“You got it.”

“I’ll go to the auto store today and pick up some fluids and other stuff the cars going to need,” Clem said.

“That would be great.”


“…so, Clem is going to come over while I’m gone, so you guys can look over the DeSoto.”

“Oh…okay,” William said.

“And there he is,” Buffy said, as she saw Clem coming up the walk.

“Alright, gotta run,” she said, kissing William goodbye, “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, too,” he replied.

She got into the car and giving them a wave, she drove off. She hadn’t wanted to leave him alone for that long, but she had no choice. How would she have explained getting a package from Willow in England that just happened to have all of his documents?

As it was, she told him that she was going to the San Diego County Government Administration Building to pick them up. She’d warned him of large crowds and long lines, enough to keep him from asking to go along. Luckily, it didn’t occur to him, that his personal presence would’ve been necessary in order to get such things.

Buffy arrived at the Fed Ex office, near the airport around noon and signed for her package. She hurried back to the car and opened up the package. There was the naturalized citizenship papers, a social security card, Oxford transcripts, along with his diploma and degree, doctored to reflect a much newer date of graduation and current type of degree. She took out the letter from Willow and read.

18 July 2008

Dear Buffy,

Here are all of William’s papers. This should allow him to do anything that he’d like to do, from getting a library card, to a driver’s license (permit first, of course!) to going back to college, to well…anything.

Funny to think how Spike never needed these things at all, isn’t it?

I also sent you the ‘title’ for the DeSoto under William’s name and old registration card with the VIN and plate numbers you gave me, using your old address from Sunnydale. You’ll have to get a new plate and registration card, before William can start to drive. Just give them the old registration card and show them the title, if they ask for it. Don’t forget about insurance, either. Shouldn’t be a problem, as ‘William,’ has a clean driving record in the state of California.

As for the marriage license, well, you already got that from Lawrence. As for making it real, as we spoke of briefly while we were on the way to the Grand Canyon, I hesitate to take this next step, because of something Xander told me. Maybe I shouldn’t be repeating this, but you are my best friend, so here goes:

William told Xander he really wants to marry you. I think you already know that he would in a heartbeat (and hey, heartbeats…of the good, right?).

You should just do it, Buffy. Don’t wait for his memories to come back, don’t be afraid. Sure you’re scared and given the history of…well, everything in your life and his, I would be, too. But, so what? There are no guarantees in life, and you guys have been given a freakin’ mind-blowing, incredible second chance at love, so just go for it! No holds-barred, 100%, jump off the cliff, go for it. Okay?

For that reason, I have not made the marriage ‘real’ as far as the databanks in California’s registries go. Yes, you both have the same last name, and yes, you have the pretend marriage license from Lawrence. If you are just looking to put him on your insurance at work, that should be sufficient. Who checks these things anyway? In fact, if it came down to it, I could fix that…because I am a powerful she witch, witch to be more accurate. …ahemm…or for real, I could change it so that you really are (legally married). Somehow, though, it seems wrong to take that away from William, that is, you really marrying him, and it seems wrong to take it away from you too…your free-will decision and all that.

Sorry if I’ve overstepped my bounds.

Think about it.

Love,

Willow

P.S. Check out William’s middle name…and the answer to the question I know you’ll probably have, without me further researching it, is…maybe, probably, most likely. Pretty funny, huh?


Buffy sighed. She wished Willow had just done the thing, making them all legally married. Would’ve just been easier to accept the fact than to actually think of getting married. Crap. She already felt married, didn’t she? Darn Willow and her conscience. Darn William for telling Xander he wanted to marry her. Darn her stomach for all those butterflies that are flitting around in there, just thinking of it! Darn it!

Buffy looked at the papers again; she’d only briefly paid attention to his middle name. *Spencer. Spencer? Why did that seem familiar?

Oh, no…she started to laugh. Yeah, that was a good one, wasn’t it?

END CHAPTER 93

*Refers to Lady Diana Spencer, ie; Princess Diana and her family. Just a little, 'With everything else about Spike/William, wouldn't that just take the cake, too?' idea. However, since it means nothing in his life what-so-ever, whether or not he's related will neither be confimed or denied. Just that Willow thought she'd throw it in pass it onto Buffy. And I passed it along, and you'll pass it along....LOL!