Here Without You

Chapter 1: "One More Night"

A/N Thank you to my two lovely betas...Charlien and Rapunzel..this story wouldn't be half of what it is without you guys. Oh yeah, I'm a sucker for feedback...so feel free.

DISCLAIMER: Buffy The Vampire Slayer and all of the characters are property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and Fox. I don't own anything...I'm poor...please don't sue me.

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Elisabeth Anne Summers, or Buffy, as her friends and family called her, couldn't help but smile as she stared out the window of her mother’s Jeep Grand Cherokee. Life is good, she thought to herself, as she caught a glimpse of the black DeSoto that was following not too far behind them.

"What are you thinking about?" Joyce Summers asked, as she spied the ear-to-ear grin on her daughter's face.

"Nothing, really, just...excited, I guess," she replied, looking away from the window and towards her mother.

"I bet you are. You only move away to go to college once." Joyce paused for a moment, almost laughing at her daughter’s excitement. "But could you try not to look so happy about it. You're breaking your poor mother's heart over here," she finished with mock aggravation.

Buffy smiled at the joke, knowing that her mom was half serious. She then took her mother’s hand in hers and looked into her eyes. "I'm sorry, Mom. You know that I'm going to miss you more than anything. It's just that it's so exciting, so new, so not Sunnydale. Besides, you know that I'm going to call you everyday and then winter break will come and I'll be home and you can comfort yourself with lots of dirty laundry," Buffy pointed out with a mischievous look in her eyes.

"Ha, ha," Joyce replied and let go of her daughter’s hand to turn the wheel into the main entrance of the University of Georgia campus. "Well, here we are," Joyce sighed. "Do you know which one is yours?"

"Keep going straight," Buffy instructed, as she checked the rearview mirror again to make sure that the Black Desoto was still behind them. "Turn right here," Buffy told her mother, as they neared the entrance to her dorm. "This is it, Oglethorpe House."

Joyce pulled the car up to the front where other students were unloading luggage and parents were stealing hugs and snapping pictures. "I'm going to go get you checked in. Buffy, do your mom a favor and start unloading the things from the luggage rack," Joyce instructed, as she made her way into the dormitory. Before she started to unload the car, Buffy dashed over to the Black Desoto that had just pulled into a space in the packed lot. The door swung open and she heard a faint "Bloody Hell," as the person inside the car stepped out and stretched his arms. Her William. It never ceased to amaze Buffy how they had been together for three years, and even though his appearance had not changed in that time, looking at him still took her breath away. He was average height with bleached platinum blonde hair. His face held piercing blue eyes that, depending on what he was wearing, would sometimes appear to be gray. His face was long and he had sculpted cheekbones that danced when he smiled. His body was lean and muscular." Perfectly huggable," thought Buffy, as she watched him work out the tension from his shoulders.. "Hey, handsome," she finally called to him, making him turn around to face her.

"I thought we were never gonna sodding get here," he sighed, his British accent thick with exhaustion.

“What?" Buffy retorted. "It's not like you've never made the trip before, going back and forth for the past year." She wrapped her arms around his waist as she finished, and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, but I've never followed your mum down here before. Does driving incredibly slow come on with age? Because if so, I want preventative treatment now."

"Don't you start in on my mother." Buffy pushed William away from her and stuck a finger up at him in warning.

"Oh, yeah, your mother. She's brilliant," he continued.

Buffy opened her mouth to retaliate, but was interrupted when William scooped her back into his arms and brushed his lips lovingly against hers. "You know I'm only fooling, pet. I love your mum, even though she does drive like a friggin’..."

"Hello, William," Joyce interrupted, as she joined the two by his car.

"Good morning, Mrs. Summers," William replied, as Buffy buried her head in his chest trying to stifle a laugh.

"Did you have any trouble with the trip? I didn't lose you at all, did I?" Joyce asked.

"No, not at all. It was a lovely ride," William lied, trying to hide the sarcasm in his voice.

"Well, Buffy, let's get you moved in," Joyce sighed. "Where did you put the things from the top of the car?"

Shit! Buffy thought to herself. "Umm well I..." Buffy drifted off as she pointed to the still fully loaded car.

"Right," Joyce sighed. "William, do you mind?" she asked, rolling her eyes at her daughter, who now wore a sheepish grin on her face.

"At your service, Mrs. Summers." William started over to the car and began to untie the items that were stowed in the luggage rack, while Buffy and Joyce headed inside the building.

"Well, this is it," Buffy said, as she stopped in front of a large wooden door marked #120. "At least we didn't have to wait in line for the elevator. One of the many advantages of a first floor domicile." She smiled as she fiddled with the keys that she had just been given. She opened the door and stepped into the less than spacious room, observing her surroundings. There were side-by-side closets to the right of the door. A small dresser was pushed up against the adjoining wall. Opposite the closets, were two twin size wooden frame bunk beds. Two small wooden desks sat on the opposite side of the room. One desk was strategically placed facing out of the window that showed a view of the still busy parking lot. The other desk was directly opposite facing the other way, so if Buffy and her roommate were both sitting at their desks at the same time, they would be sitting with their backs to one another. The arrangement of the furniture made the room look much smaller than it actually was. It's okay, Buffy thought. We'll have a lot more room once we rearrange and get the loft put up.

"This is a bleeding disgrace," William said, as he came into the room. "Who lived here before...Oompa Loompas?" he asked, obviously unhappy with the size of the room.

"It's not that bad," Joyce chimed in. “It's practically a fortress compared to what the dorms were like when I was in college," she finished.

"It'll be better when it's fixed up, you'll see…" Buffy added, setting a box on the desk by the window, claiming it as hers. She turned around to face William as he was searching for a proper place for his armful. "Oompa Loompas?" Buffy asked with a sarcastic smile on her face.

"Well, yeah," William said, as he finally settled her things on the floor around her desk. "Creepy little buggers. Small, clown-like, and very disturbing." He took a moment to sit down on the bed and take a breather, as Joyce made her way into the bathroom to further explore. "So what are your plans, pet?"

"Plans?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, plans to make our new home more home-like," William asked, unable to hide his ear-to-ear grin.

"Shhhhh," Buffy hushed him, quickly waving her hand in the air in a mad gesture. She then looked over to the door to the bathroom where her mother was still exploring. "She'll hear you," she whispered.

"What, you mean your mum doesn't know?" William asked, cocking his head to the side with a confused glare.

"Know what?" Joyce asked suspiciously, as she finally emerged from the other room.

Buffy tried to hide the look of terror on her face, not sure of how much of their conversation her mother had overheard. "That...William and Xander are going to be right across the hall," Buffy nodded, as she shrugged off the twinge of guilt. After all, it wasn't exactly lying. William was listed as living across the hall with Xander Harris, his longtime friend and fraternity brother. However, her mother had no idea that they were planning to switch roommates. William would live here with Buffy; Anya, Buffy's "roommate", would live with Xander, who happened to be her boyfriend of six and a half months. It seemed like the perfect plan. Buffy had deliberately not mentioned this to her mother, because she figured that it would be a good “get out of jail free” card for Unhappy Mom news." Hi, Mom, academic probation sure is fun. Guess what? William and I are living together, and have been since I left. Shitty grades don't seem like all that big of a deal now do they?"

"Buffy," her mother exclaimed, waving a hand in front of her daughter’s face. "Have you been listening to anything I've been saying?" Joyce asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Umm, what? Oh, right...um...no." Buffy finally admitted.

Joyce shook her head and gave Buffy a worried look. "I was just saying how wonderful it is that William is going to be so close to you. I feel better knowing that you'll be looked after. I just want you to promise that you'll behave yourself," Joyce finished with a very serious tone and look on her face.

"Moooom!" Buffy exclaimed, embarrassed by her mother’s blatant statement. "They have R.A.’s on every floor, you know. Twenty four hour supervision, just like at home." Buffy nodded her head to emphasize her point.

"I'm being Paranoid Mom now, aren't I?" Joyce smiled at her daughter.

"A little." Buffy smiled and gave her mom a quick hug.

"Well, let's get the rest of your stuff from the car. I know that you're anxious to start decorating." Joyce stepped out of the room.

Buffy started to follow her, and looked over to William who had not moved from his spot on the bed. "Are you coming?" she asked him, holding the door open.

"You've got some explaining to do when we have some alone time," William said, as he started out the door.

"Oh, yay, something to look forward to after the manual labor. Be still my heart," Buffy said in a sarcastic tone. William smirked at the blonde and walked out of the room and back toward the car to help collect the rest of her things.

Two hours had passed. Joyce had said a tearful goodbye and Buffy was starting to unpack her belongings. William was again sitting on her bed watching her. "Why didn't you tell your mum that I'm moving in here?" William asked with a slightly hurt expression on his face.

"William, my mother has been an emotional train wreck ever since I started collecting college brochures. She would make with the major wiggins if I told her that I was planning on moving in with you and not with Anya. Please don't think that I don't want to live with you, I just didn't want to cause her any more grief than necessary. I'm going to tell her, I promise. Just let her get over the whole ‘my baby just left for college’ stage." Buffy had slowly made her way over to William and was now sitting in his lap. William wrapped his arms around her waist and laid his head down on her chest. She kissed the top of his head as she leisurely ran her hands through his hair. "Forgive me?" she whispered.

"You're not getting off that easy, pet," he breathed. “But it's a good start.” William flipped Buffy around so that her back was now on the bed and he was positioned on top of her. "But I could definitely think of some way you could make it up to me," William replied, arching an eyebrow and looking intensely into her eyes. William leaned in to kiss her softly. He ran his hands over the small of her back and was about to deepen their kiss when they heard the door to the room open.

"Oh, please don't let me interrupt," Anya chirped, as she stepped into the room. She had an overnight bag on her shoulder and one box with a few items stuffed inside. "Carry on with your pre-orgasmic activities."

"What the sodding hell are you doing here?" William asked, his aggravation towards the intrusion evident in his tone.

"I live here," Anya replied with a sarcastic smile on her face. Anya Jenkins had turned tormenting William into an art form. Buffy couldn't help but smile as she watched her friend tease him.

"Hey, Anya." Buffy wiggled her way out from under William and gave her friend a hug. "How was your trip?"

"Oh, frightfully dull," Anya replied with a bored expression. "That is until I got here. Looks like things were just starting to get interesting." Anya wagged her eyebrows at Buffy and both girls started to laugh hysterically. "I'll be right back," Anya said grunted through her laughter. "I'm just going to get the rest of my stuff," with that she disappeared into the hallway.

"Bloody hell," William muttered as he stood from the bed. Buffy turned around and saw the disappointed look in her boyfriend’s eyes and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her chin was resting on his chest as she looked straight up into his eyes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"S'alright, pet. Just one more night apart." He smiled down at her.

"So, you're not disappointed at all?" she asked.

"I wouldn't go that far, but it's nothing I can't take care of myself," he said wagging his eyebrows at her.

"Thanks a lot!" she yelled, slapping him playfully across the chest.

"Sweet dreams, baby." William curled his tongue behind his front teeth as he smirked at his girlfriend, who was now flushed standing in front of him. He grabbed her to him and brushed his lips against hers, flicking out his tongue and begging for entrance.. She accepted him into her mouth, however, except for the passionate lingering kiss she was expecting, she was surprised when William lightly ran his tongue along the inside of her top lip and then quickly grabbed onto her bottom lip with his teeth, tugging at it lightly, teasing her. She moaned in protest when he pulled away. "Something to remember me by, luv." He smirked as he turned to open the door. He was stopped by a faint whisper. If it had been any softer, he wouldn't have heard it at all.

"I love you, William."

"One more night, pet."

With that, he let himself out of her room and quickly made his way to his car