Part 7
"William..." Giles began, as he paced back and forth in front of William.
"Look Giles, I don't know what this is about but I really don't want to hear it right now." William said, glancing at the older man that he had come to regard as his "real" father.
"Well, to bad you're going to..." Giles yelled harshly. William looked up at him sharply, slightly shocked at the tone in his watcher's voice. "Buffy is evil... chip or no chip... and I will not allow you to start a relationship with her. If she had the chance, we would all be dead; she would kill us one by one and she would enjoy every minute of it...."
"She loves me, she loves Dawn and I'm pretty sure she likes the rest of the gang... except for maybe Xander... but..."
"But nothing, William. I refuse to believe that she is capable of any feelings whatsoever and I will not allow you to get involved..."
"Well, too bad. It isn't your choice. It's my life and I can do with it what I want."
"You're still my slayer..."
"Not anymore," William said defiantly, before walking out of the training room, slamming the door behind him.
"... and then I said to him, if you want her to sleep with you, you're going to need more than the candles' " Anya recounted to Buffy. Buffy politely smiled. Anya was a sweet kid, but she told the most pointless stories - almost all of which revolved around sex. But Buffy's attention hadn't really been focused on Anya's latest tale, but rather on the heated argument between William and his watcher. Though she couldn't make out what they were arguing about, she had a sickening feeling that is was over her. And if that were the case, she hoped to whatever god there was that William wouldn't agree with Giles.
Startled, both Anya and Buffy jumped when William came storming out of the training room. Buffy stood as he hurried over to her. Grabbing her hand, he quickly pulled her from the shop. Buffy looked up at him, but the look of extreme anger on his face kept her from saying anything to him. So instead, she allowed him to drag her down the streets of Sunnydale, hoping that he would soon calm down enough to release the death grip he had on her hand.
The two of them proceeded silently until they reached his house, where he stopped and let go of her. Now that his anger had passed, a feeling of weariness had come over him. He was tired of thinking about what was right, wrong, good, bad; everything had become so blurred, he didn't even know which way was up anymore.
"Luv?" Buffy asked gently, uncertain of what he was thinking. William said nothing. Instead, pulling her close to him, he kissed her soundly on the lips. Just as Buffy started to relax and melt into Williams's arms, he suddenly pulled back from her. Again taking her hand, he led her up the stairs to his bedroom. Closing the door behind them, he guided her to the bed.
Giles exited the back room just as Xander, Willow and Tara walked into the front of the shop.
"Hey, G-man" Xander greeted cheerfully as he walked over to Anya to give her a kiss on the cheek.
"Hey, Giles" Willow and Tara said simultaneously, causing them to smile at each other as they went to sit at the table at the back of the shop. Giles sat heavily across from them and took off his glasses.
"W-whats wrong, Giles?" Tara questioned, as Willow took her laptop and a few files from the local PD out of her bag.
"I'm afraid William and I had a bit of an disagreement earlier."
"'Bout what, G-man?" Xander asked, while helping Anya put a few things on the shelves behind the counter.
"His and Buffy's relationship."
"They have a relationship?" Xander responded in surprise, sitting down next to Giles.
"Duh... isn't it obvious?" Anya said rolling her eyes.
"Yes, unfortunately. William thinks Buffy 'loves' him and Dawn."
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe she does?" Anya countered, as she stopped her stocking.
"She doesn't have a soul, Anya." Xander replied, looking over at his girlfriend.
"You people and this soul business. Why is a soul so important to you, anyway? I don't have one and no one seems bothered by me."
"You're different, An. You're human."
"How is that so different? Buffy was human once. Do you really think she was asked, 'hey, do you want to be a evil soulless creature?' "
"Can we not talk about this?" Giles stood. "Buffy is evil. She will always be evil and I refuse to believe otherwise." At this, Willow looked over at Tara, and then shoved her papers and laptop back into her bag.
"We're leaving," she announced as Tara rose beside her.
"Why?" Xander asked, looking up at them in confusion.
"B-because unlike you and Mr. Giles, we think Buffy is N-nice and that she really does love William and Dawn." Tara answered, before quickly leaving the shop, slamming the door behind her. Willow frowned at Giles, disbelieving that he could be so black-and-white about everything. Sadly shaking her head, she followed her girlfriend.
Giles looked over at Xander and sighed.
"Don't look at me, G-man. I was sitting there holding her while she cried. She's been through a lot and while I think she was soulless and would have loved nothing more than to kill us all, I think she's changing, and I don't know whether that's a good thing or not." With that, Xander stood and went down to the basement to help Anya with the stocking, unsure of where this sudden revelation had come from but knowing that it was most likely for the good.
Willow and Tara wandered hand in hand back to William's house discussing Buffy and the fact that they still didn't have much of a lead on who had kidnapped her. All they knew was that he was a male between the ages on 15 and 65, was tall and had a deep voice, and that all of the women he took were either visiting Sunnydale or were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The only thing that really linked all of the women together besides their visitor status was the fact that they were all found bound to a tree with their eyes gouged out.
When they arrived at William's house, Tara reached to open the door, only to find it locked. The two women briefly exchanged a puzzled look, then Willow pulled her key out to unlock the door. As they entered, they heard the distinct sounds of moaning from the upstairs bedroom. Tara glanced at Willow and blushed.
"Should we interrupt them?" Tara asked doubtfully.
"Let's just give them a few minutes while we go into the kitchen and set up the computer." Fifteen minutes later, Willow noticed the sounds from the second floor had stopped, so she walked to the living room and stood at the foot of the steps.
"William? Buffy?" she called up the stairs.
"Yeah?" William's voice called back in a slightly flustered tone.
"Umm... if you two are done, could you come down here. Tara and I are here and umm.... we need to use your girlfriend." She then returned to the kitchen and sat down with Tara.
Upstairs, William and Buffy looked at each other slightly confused.
"Girlfriend?" Buffy asked in a shaky voice. Smiling, William kissed her hand, then handed her her shirt.
"Why not? Unless you're seeing someone else?"
"No pet, no one else." Buffy answered, smiling back at him.
TBC (soon I promise)
AN/ ok I realized that chapter 6 was in a different format then the rest and that was a mistake on my part and I apologize for anyone that had trouble with the change the format is back to the way it was in parts 1,2,3,4 and 5. and it I have time I'll go through and change the part 6.
Hope it was worth the wait... leave a review and tell me what you think.
Ash
