Chapter 6
Note: Uhh. changed the summary on the front a little, technically doesn't go back to Sunnydale first. yada yada. so. yeah. ch.6
Tuesday Evening
Giles wiped his again for the seventh time, "So let me get this straight, all of us are going to meet Spike for lunch tomorrow at this French restaurant"
Buffy paled, " I don't think I have enough money for something 'that' expensive."
Cordy shook her head, "First of all, his name is William, he just looks like Spike. And second of all, we'll pay for yours, Dawn's and Willow's lunch. Don't worry about it."
Xander's brow furrowed, "Now, why such a fancy place? I mean, the Evil Dead would probably have a better time at a bar or maybe in some back alley."
Wesley gave a sheepish look, "Well, actually, like Cordy said, we don't think that he's Spike and that's not the impression we got when we went to the Monet Gallery."
Angel just shrugged, "Look, we need to figure out if he's Spike, if he's on our side and a bunch of other things. I guess confronting him is the best idea. Why don't you guys just stop worrying and get settled in the hotel. We'll worry about this tomorrow?"
~~~ "Hey Grandpa" William called out as he entered his Grandfather's apartment.
"Son! I'm here in the kitchen."
William swiftly walked to the kitchen and found his grandfather sitting on the bar stool, reading a TIME magazine and eating some eggs.
William smiled, "Interesting article?"
"Yes very. It's about you."
"Oh. that article. Lets see what Stephanie Fieldman had to say about me." William said as he reached for the magazine.
Owen smacked his hand. "Hey, you can read it after I'm done."
William mock pouted and Owen glanced at him.
"You won't like what you read anyways, she's being quite a vicious bitch in this article."
"That's probably because I only gave her a five minute interview."
Owen shrugged. "Maybe. Here, she's saying how you're such a ruthless businessman and she's even calling your techniques 'Machiavellian'."
"And you're saying that they aren't."
Owen gave an annoyed sigh. "I know that we must use such tactics to stay above the rest, but this is bad P.R., we need the public to see us in a good light."
William nodded. "I know, I'll take care of Ms. Fieldman. Don't worry Gramps, she'll be out of our hair soon."
Owen raised an eyebrow. "Don't kill her."
William gave a hearty laugh as he began to leave Owen's penthouse. "Kill her?! When tormenting her is so much better?"
"Oh and one more thing!" Owen called out.
William's head popped back in, "Yes?"
"I heard that there's been some dangerous activity going on in L.A., a whole law firm was murdered. I'd feel safer if you took Marci with you to your lunch meeting with these strangers."
William gave a mock annoyed sigh. "Alright Gramps, you're the boss."
~~~
As William sat in his limo with three other bodyguards, he sipped his scotch slowly while looking out at the L.A. scene. Mercy rowed down the window that was separating them, "We'll be there in about 10 minutes sir."
William nodded, then he glanced at the TIME magazine that was sitting next to him. Swiftly he whipped out his cell phone.
"Hey Sharon,"
"Yes?"
"I want you to look up all the Information you can find on Sharon Fieldman. Everything, from her bank account number to what size shoes she wears, got that?"
"Everything eh? Alright. I'm really going to be pushing for that bonus you know."
"Why are you even pushing for it hun? You're already getting it."
Sharon smiled on the other line, "Thank you William."
"You're welcome." William happily replied back. He really had no qualms in giving raises, as long as his employees did their job and pulled their weight more often, they'd get their raise. But then, of course, it was human nature to be lazy.
'Maybe Sharon is not human.' William mused.
Marci turned around as the limo stopped, "Sir, we're there."
William nodded as he exited the limo, magazine in hand, Marci and another bodyguard walked ahead and two other bodyguards followed closely behind. Marci walked over to the Valet and gave him the keys to the limo.
They silently walked into the restaurant. William looked at the French styled décor, "Nice place," he said to himself.
The person at the reception desk asked, "Um how many?"
"Four for them, but I'm also meeting someone. Is she there in your book, under Ms. Chase?"
"Oh yes. She came with a fairly large group, they're upstairs"
William nodded and followed one of the waiters who led them up to be seated. ~~~
Dawn fidgeted in her seat, they were all seated at an extremely large round table upstairs. She sat right across from where Spi- William would be seated. Seated to her right was Xander, Tommy, Anya, Gunn, Fred, and Cordy and to her left Buffy, Willow, Giles, Wesley and Angel. There were two vacant seats, it turned out that Lorne was really tired from his trip, so he stayed at the hotel.
Dawn could tell that everyone else was just as nervous as she was, Buffy especially. She was more than uncomfortable that Angel was paying for their dinner at such a fancy place. A few times, Giles tried to strike up a conversation, but no one really participated; lost in their own thoughts. They finally decided to remain quiet.
Tommy was the only one that was making any sound, he was a little confused at the inactivity and looked back and forth between his parents. Finally, for the first time since they came on this trip, Willow spoke up, "Is that him?"
Cordy stood up and walked over to the stairs for a better look, the group then crowded around the window that looked downstairs, they could see him walk out of limo and into the sunlight in his gray Armani suit and dark blue shirt.
On the side, Giles commented, "Well at least that throws out the notion that he might be a vampire."
Dawn looked at the bodyguards, "What are they for?"
Cordy looked a little baffled too, " I don't know."
Then she gave a sheepish shrug and returned to look at William entering the restaurant. William talked to the person at the desk for a few seconds and one of the waiters began to bring him up.
Wesley motioned to their table, "We better get back to our seats, it would look strange if he found us crowding around and staring at him."
Everyone agreed and they swiftly returned to their table.
A few seconds later, they saw a female and male bodyguard at the top of the stairs and William only a step behind. Cordy stood up and walked over to William to shake his hand. "Hi, William I'm glad you could make it."
William smiled, "Hello Ms. Chase, I'm glad to meet you again."
Then William looked over at the table, "Wow, we seem to have a huge party."
Cordy blushed, "Sorry, I should have warned you."
William shook his head, "Don't worry about it, the more the merrier hm?"
William slightly tilted his head while looking at bodyguard in front. The bodyguard nodded his head and the three men took a seat at the three tables that were closest to the large circular table that Cordy's friends sat at. William and Marci walked over to the group.
Cordy nervously rubbed her hands together, "You guys, this is William Dale."
William gave a polite smile and gestured toward Marci, "This is Marci Loraine, my personal bodyguard."
Cordy nodded, "Um this is the Harris family: Xander, Tommy and Anya. That's Charles Gunn, Winifred Burkle. The two sisters are Dawn and Buffy Summers, next to them is Willow Rosenberg, Rupert Giles, Angel and you've already met Wesley."
William politely shook hands with everyone and politely said his "Hello's" and finally to Wesley a "Good to see you again." On the side, Marci just slightly nod to each person William shook hands with. Once seated, William placed his magazine under his chair. Eventually everyone seated themselves and the waiter came by to take everyone's order on drinks.
Cordy spoke up, "So, how is your stay in L.A. so far?"
William smiled, "Wonderful, I've gotten a lot more done than I expected." In the back of his mind he laughed as he recalled his hostile take over last week.
Cordy nodded as she sipped her water daintily.
Cordy smiled again and returned to their small talk.
"So, do you work?" Cordy inquired.
William laughed, "Yes, of course I work. Actually I'm the current owner of LuminaCorp."
The group was silent, not recognizing the name.
"Ah, I guess we're only known on the east coast and no one reads Business Weekly."
Cordy sipped her water again, "Sorry."
"Oh don't be, It just shows that LuminaCorp should try to reach out more to West Coast. It was my Grandfather's dream, but now he feels that he's too old to go through with it, so he just sort of resigned and handed the business over to me."
Cordy's eyes widened, "Wow."
The others nodded, but mentally, they all just brushed it off as a minor fortune from some dot com company.
William raised an eyebrow, "Enough about me, what about you. What's your job."
"We'll, I'm apart of the Angel Investigations team."
William looked over at Angel and then back at Cordy. "Are all of you in Angel Investigations?"
Cordy shook her head, "Oh no no, It's just me Angel, Wesley, Gunn, Fred and Lorne. sort of."
"Lorne?" William asked, remembering that he hadn't heard that name in the group.
"Oh, he's not here today, he was feeling a little. green this morning."
Gunn quickly squeezed his lip together to keep himself from laughing at Cordy's attempt to walk around the truth. Angel slightly snorted.
William noticed the tiny reactions but decided to pretend he had not seen it. "Oh, I'm sorry he couldn't make it."
Meanwhile, Xander and Anya were quietly talking to Tommy and Willow was quietly talking to Giles.
Dawn just kept drinking water, trying to not cry. He looked like Spike, except for the dark brown hair and no accent, she was hoping from the bottom of her heart that he would somehow recognize her. But as he was shaking her hand, his eyes showed no recognition at all. His handshake was stiff and formal, like he really had never met her before. She had expected him from the bottom of her heart that he would say. "Hi my Little Bit." But no. just "Hello Miss." As he was talking to Cordy, she sort of realize that maybe this wasn't Spike at all, he sounded like had had an entirely different life from any them.
Buffy was also quiet and a little mopey, she was pretending to read her menu with much interest, but her brain didn't process any of the words. She could occasionally glance up at Cordy and William avidly talking and at Angel who was quietly brooding and studying William. She hated this, she knew that once he smoothly said 'Hello Ms. Summers' to her as he shook her hand, he didn't recognize her at all. He couldn't be Spike. Spike called her anything else but Ms. Summers. And not to mention, he did the same thing with Dawn. She could see the devastation that Dawn was feeling at the moment. And she also knew that Dawn was silently cursing her for sending him away all those years ago.
"Ms. Summers, Ms. Summers?" William asked her.
Buffy and Dawn snapped out of their thoughts. "Yes?" They both asked.
William tilted his head towards the waiter, "Are you ready to order yet?"
Buffy looked back down at her menu, she furrowed her brow as she flipped back an forth, everything on the menu cost between 30 to 100 dollars. 'God, it was just food!'
Buffy shrugged, "I'm not sure what to order. Why don't you come back to me later."
William shrugged, but his eyes studied her. "Alright."
After everyone, including Dawn ordered, Buffy hesitated again.
William leaned forward a little, "Ms. Summers, don't worry I'm paying for all of this. Just order anything you want."
Buffy ordered a salad and lamb and quietly gave her menu to the waiter.
Once the waiter walked away Cordy lightly smacked William on the arm. "We invited you to lunch. Why are you paying?!"
William rolled his eyes, "Please let me pay, I'd feel insulted if you paid."
"But that's about three hundred dollars right there, I can't."
"No, I'm paying." William's voice was dead serious this time.
The rest of the table was silent from tension.
William laughed, "I mean, what's money for, if you can't spend it?"
"But you alone can't possibly pay that much for one meal." Anya insisted.
"Why not?"
"Well, we were going to split the check amongst us."
William shook his head. "Like I said, I'd feel insulted. Really..."
Finally the group acquiesced and William seemed satisfied. Dinner eventually came, but William seemed to only talk to Cordy. Finally Dawn sort of felt lonely, having no one to talk and spoke up.
"So, do you have a family?"
William looked up and he turned to Dawn. "Yeah I do. well sort of."
"Sort of?"
"Well I didn't have a real family before, until I was adopted by Owen Dale. Before I lived with Leng and Shi-Fu."
Angel looked a little disturbed, "That sounds Asian."
"They are, I used to live in Canton before I studied abroad in Cambridge."
"But you're not Asian."
"No, I'm not, I'm still a little unclear about my past though. As far as I know, I just woke up in southern China with Leng standing over me and all she knew was that my name was William."
Angel's eyes widened as the pieces began to fit together. "Well, how long ago was this?"
"About 10 years ago."
Angel began to smirk. But Buffy's eyes darkened, and she softly spoke, "Spike left only 5 years ago, it can't be him."
Cordy turned to Buffy, "Really? Are you sure?"
"Yeah, he left right before Willow went magic crazy."
Cordy shook her head, "No that was ten years ago. You called me right after it happened."
Buffy scoffed, "Why are you messing with my head?"
"I'm not messing with your head. That was ten years ago."
"No, it's not. It's 2006." The Harris family and Willow insisted.
Angel's team, Giles and William shook their heads, "No, it's 2011"
Buffy's pouted at Giles, "How can you take their side, you're one of us!"
Giles knitted his brow, "This isn't about sides Buffy, this is about what's really happened. 10 years really have passed by. You know I wouldn't lie to you."
Anya shook her head, "No way, I'm sure."
Soon the group was arguing over what year it really was. In the arguing they never noticed William silently studying them and his eyes flashing violet for a few seconds.
'So,' William thought as he looked at everyone's aura's ' The ones from Sunnydale seem to have been in a time anomaly, how interesting.'
William glanced across again. 'Xander and Anya has fainter traces of the strange red aura, Tommy has even less. Dawn and Buffy have quite more, but Willow has the most. Actually, it looks like it's coming from her.'
William silently filed that information away to be researched later when he had some spare time. After that William wave a waiter over and asked him to go across the street to buy that day's newspaper. The waiter happily accepted the $10 bill and went to retrieve the newspaper. The group was so involved in their argument that they barely noticed when the waiter returned with the newspaper.
William quietly stood up, causing the group to become silent. He walked over to Buffy and pulled out a pen from his shirt pocket, circled the date on the newspaper, and handed it to her. Buffy's hands began to shake as she saw that it really was 2011.
William finally spoke, "I'm sorry Ms. Summers that this is a shock to you."
Buffy began to breathe heavily as the panic set in. "G-go away."
William remained there, "Do you want me to get you some help or something to deal with this?"
Buffy's mind raced, this couldn't be happening, she had just missed out about five years of whatever the hell was happening in the world just because she live in Sunnyhell. William was being an asshole under that polite exterior. She could hear the pity in his voice. She didn't need pity, especially from him. Not this evil, stupid.. Jerk. God, she didn't even know what to call him anymore.
Then she felt a hand on her shoulder, even though his hand was warm, the gesture seemed cold. She violently shrugged off his hand and pushed him away.
William glared down at her. "Are you alright?"
"Leave me alone!" Buffy spat at him.
William didn't even recoil like Spike usually did when she shouted at him. He just looked at her with cool, indifferent eyes, which probably pissed her off even more.
She screamed at him even more, "You don't know anything! What do you think you are, my psychiatrist?! Leave me alone. I don't need your help, I don't need your money and I damn don't need your pity! Don't touch me your idiot!"
She could hear Angel trying to hush her and her sister whispering, "Calm down Buffy." But, William was still unfazed. He raised an a eyebrow and shrugged, then he returned to his seat. The room was thick with tension, Buffy sank inter her chair and silently brooded, William just looked at he wine and would sip it a little and everyone else just kept looking back and forth not knowing what to do.
Luckily, William's cell phone rang.
Cont.
Note: Uhh. changed the summary on the front a little, technically doesn't go back to Sunnydale first. yada yada. so. yeah. ch.6
Tuesday Evening
Giles wiped his again for the seventh time, "So let me get this straight, all of us are going to meet Spike for lunch tomorrow at this French restaurant"
Buffy paled, " I don't think I have enough money for something 'that' expensive."
Cordy shook her head, "First of all, his name is William, he just looks like Spike. And second of all, we'll pay for yours, Dawn's and Willow's lunch. Don't worry about it."
Xander's brow furrowed, "Now, why such a fancy place? I mean, the Evil Dead would probably have a better time at a bar or maybe in some back alley."
Wesley gave a sheepish look, "Well, actually, like Cordy said, we don't think that he's Spike and that's not the impression we got when we went to the Monet Gallery."
Angel just shrugged, "Look, we need to figure out if he's Spike, if he's on our side and a bunch of other things. I guess confronting him is the best idea. Why don't you guys just stop worrying and get settled in the hotel. We'll worry about this tomorrow?"
~~~ "Hey Grandpa" William called out as he entered his Grandfather's apartment.
"Son! I'm here in the kitchen."
William swiftly walked to the kitchen and found his grandfather sitting on the bar stool, reading a TIME magazine and eating some eggs.
William smiled, "Interesting article?"
"Yes very. It's about you."
"Oh. that article. Lets see what Stephanie Fieldman had to say about me." William said as he reached for the magazine.
Owen smacked his hand. "Hey, you can read it after I'm done."
William mock pouted and Owen glanced at him.
"You won't like what you read anyways, she's being quite a vicious bitch in this article."
"That's probably because I only gave her a five minute interview."
Owen shrugged. "Maybe. Here, she's saying how you're such a ruthless businessman and she's even calling your techniques 'Machiavellian'."
"And you're saying that they aren't."
Owen gave an annoyed sigh. "I know that we must use such tactics to stay above the rest, but this is bad P.R., we need the public to see us in a good light."
William nodded. "I know, I'll take care of Ms. Fieldman. Don't worry Gramps, she'll be out of our hair soon."
Owen raised an eyebrow. "Don't kill her."
William gave a hearty laugh as he began to leave Owen's penthouse. "Kill her?! When tormenting her is so much better?"
"Oh and one more thing!" Owen called out.
William's head popped back in, "Yes?"
"I heard that there's been some dangerous activity going on in L.A., a whole law firm was murdered. I'd feel safer if you took Marci with you to your lunch meeting with these strangers."
William gave a mock annoyed sigh. "Alright Gramps, you're the boss."
~~~
As William sat in his limo with three other bodyguards, he sipped his scotch slowly while looking out at the L.A. scene. Mercy rowed down the window that was separating them, "We'll be there in about 10 minutes sir."
William nodded, then he glanced at the TIME magazine that was sitting next to him. Swiftly he whipped out his cell phone.
"Hey Sharon,"
"Yes?"
"I want you to look up all the Information you can find on Sharon Fieldman. Everything, from her bank account number to what size shoes she wears, got that?"
"Everything eh? Alright. I'm really going to be pushing for that bonus you know."
"Why are you even pushing for it hun? You're already getting it."
Sharon smiled on the other line, "Thank you William."
"You're welcome." William happily replied back. He really had no qualms in giving raises, as long as his employees did their job and pulled their weight more often, they'd get their raise. But then, of course, it was human nature to be lazy.
'Maybe Sharon is not human.' William mused.
Marci turned around as the limo stopped, "Sir, we're there."
William nodded as he exited the limo, magazine in hand, Marci and another bodyguard walked ahead and two other bodyguards followed closely behind. Marci walked over to the Valet and gave him the keys to the limo.
They silently walked into the restaurant. William looked at the French styled décor, "Nice place," he said to himself.
The person at the reception desk asked, "Um how many?"
"Four for them, but I'm also meeting someone. Is she there in your book, under Ms. Chase?"
"Oh yes. She came with a fairly large group, they're upstairs"
William nodded and followed one of the waiters who led them up to be seated. ~~~
Dawn fidgeted in her seat, they were all seated at an extremely large round table upstairs. She sat right across from where Spi- William would be seated. Seated to her right was Xander, Tommy, Anya, Gunn, Fred, and Cordy and to her left Buffy, Willow, Giles, Wesley and Angel. There were two vacant seats, it turned out that Lorne was really tired from his trip, so he stayed at the hotel.
Dawn could tell that everyone else was just as nervous as she was, Buffy especially. She was more than uncomfortable that Angel was paying for their dinner at such a fancy place. A few times, Giles tried to strike up a conversation, but no one really participated; lost in their own thoughts. They finally decided to remain quiet.
Tommy was the only one that was making any sound, he was a little confused at the inactivity and looked back and forth between his parents. Finally, for the first time since they came on this trip, Willow spoke up, "Is that him?"
Cordy stood up and walked over to the stairs for a better look, the group then crowded around the window that looked downstairs, they could see him walk out of limo and into the sunlight in his gray Armani suit and dark blue shirt.
On the side, Giles commented, "Well at least that throws out the notion that he might be a vampire."
Dawn looked at the bodyguards, "What are they for?"
Cordy looked a little baffled too, " I don't know."
Then she gave a sheepish shrug and returned to look at William entering the restaurant. William talked to the person at the desk for a few seconds and one of the waiters began to bring him up.
Wesley motioned to their table, "We better get back to our seats, it would look strange if he found us crowding around and staring at him."
Everyone agreed and they swiftly returned to their table.
A few seconds later, they saw a female and male bodyguard at the top of the stairs and William only a step behind. Cordy stood up and walked over to William to shake his hand. "Hi, William I'm glad you could make it."
William smiled, "Hello Ms. Chase, I'm glad to meet you again."
Then William looked over at the table, "Wow, we seem to have a huge party."
Cordy blushed, "Sorry, I should have warned you."
William shook his head, "Don't worry about it, the more the merrier hm?"
William slightly tilted his head while looking at bodyguard in front. The bodyguard nodded his head and the three men took a seat at the three tables that were closest to the large circular table that Cordy's friends sat at. William and Marci walked over to the group.
Cordy nervously rubbed her hands together, "You guys, this is William Dale."
William gave a polite smile and gestured toward Marci, "This is Marci Loraine, my personal bodyguard."
Cordy nodded, "Um this is the Harris family: Xander, Tommy and Anya. That's Charles Gunn, Winifred Burkle. The two sisters are Dawn and Buffy Summers, next to them is Willow Rosenberg, Rupert Giles, Angel and you've already met Wesley."
William politely shook hands with everyone and politely said his "Hello's" and finally to Wesley a "Good to see you again." On the side, Marci just slightly nod to each person William shook hands with. Once seated, William placed his magazine under his chair. Eventually everyone seated themselves and the waiter came by to take everyone's order on drinks.
Cordy spoke up, "So, how is your stay in L.A. so far?"
William smiled, "Wonderful, I've gotten a lot more done than I expected." In the back of his mind he laughed as he recalled his hostile take over last week.
Cordy nodded as she sipped her water daintily.
Cordy smiled again and returned to their small talk.
"So, do you work?" Cordy inquired.
William laughed, "Yes, of course I work. Actually I'm the current owner of LuminaCorp."
The group was silent, not recognizing the name.
"Ah, I guess we're only known on the east coast and no one reads Business Weekly."
Cordy sipped her water again, "Sorry."
"Oh don't be, It just shows that LuminaCorp should try to reach out more to West Coast. It was my Grandfather's dream, but now he feels that he's too old to go through with it, so he just sort of resigned and handed the business over to me."
Cordy's eyes widened, "Wow."
The others nodded, but mentally, they all just brushed it off as a minor fortune from some dot com company.
William raised an eyebrow, "Enough about me, what about you. What's your job."
"We'll, I'm apart of the Angel Investigations team."
William looked over at Angel and then back at Cordy. "Are all of you in Angel Investigations?"
Cordy shook her head, "Oh no no, It's just me Angel, Wesley, Gunn, Fred and Lorne. sort of."
"Lorne?" William asked, remembering that he hadn't heard that name in the group.
"Oh, he's not here today, he was feeling a little. green this morning."
Gunn quickly squeezed his lip together to keep himself from laughing at Cordy's attempt to walk around the truth. Angel slightly snorted.
William noticed the tiny reactions but decided to pretend he had not seen it. "Oh, I'm sorry he couldn't make it."
Meanwhile, Xander and Anya were quietly talking to Tommy and Willow was quietly talking to Giles.
Dawn just kept drinking water, trying to not cry. He looked like Spike, except for the dark brown hair and no accent, she was hoping from the bottom of her heart that he would somehow recognize her. But as he was shaking her hand, his eyes showed no recognition at all. His handshake was stiff and formal, like he really had never met her before. She had expected him from the bottom of her heart that he would say. "Hi my Little Bit." But no. just "Hello Miss." As he was talking to Cordy, she sort of realize that maybe this wasn't Spike at all, he sounded like had had an entirely different life from any them.
Buffy was also quiet and a little mopey, she was pretending to read her menu with much interest, but her brain didn't process any of the words. She could occasionally glance up at Cordy and William avidly talking and at Angel who was quietly brooding and studying William. She hated this, she knew that once he smoothly said 'Hello Ms. Summers' to her as he shook her hand, he didn't recognize her at all. He couldn't be Spike. Spike called her anything else but Ms. Summers. And not to mention, he did the same thing with Dawn. She could see the devastation that Dawn was feeling at the moment. And she also knew that Dawn was silently cursing her for sending him away all those years ago.
"Ms. Summers, Ms. Summers?" William asked her.
Buffy and Dawn snapped out of their thoughts. "Yes?" They both asked.
William tilted his head towards the waiter, "Are you ready to order yet?"
Buffy looked back down at her menu, she furrowed her brow as she flipped back an forth, everything on the menu cost between 30 to 100 dollars. 'God, it was just food!'
Buffy shrugged, "I'm not sure what to order. Why don't you come back to me later."
William shrugged, but his eyes studied her. "Alright."
After everyone, including Dawn ordered, Buffy hesitated again.
William leaned forward a little, "Ms. Summers, don't worry I'm paying for all of this. Just order anything you want."
Buffy ordered a salad and lamb and quietly gave her menu to the waiter.
Once the waiter walked away Cordy lightly smacked William on the arm. "We invited you to lunch. Why are you paying?!"
William rolled his eyes, "Please let me pay, I'd feel insulted if you paid."
"But that's about three hundred dollars right there, I can't."
"No, I'm paying." William's voice was dead serious this time.
The rest of the table was silent from tension.
William laughed, "I mean, what's money for, if you can't spend it?"
"But you alone can't possibly pay that much for one meal." Anya insisted.
"Why not?"
"Well, we were going to split the check amongst us."
William shook his head. "Like I said, I'd feel insulted. Really..."
Finally the group acquiesced and William seemed satisfied. Dinner eventually came, but William seemed to only talk to Cordy. Finally Dawn sort of felt lonely, having no one to talk and spoke up.
"So, do you have a family?"
William looked up and he turned to Dawn. "Yeah I do. well sort of."
"Sort of?"
"Well I didn't have a real family before, until I was adopted by Owen Dale. Before I lived with Leng and Shi-Fu."
Angel looked a little disturbed, "That sounds Asian."
"They are, I used to live in Canton before I studied abroad in Cambridge."
"But you're not Asian."
"No, I'm not, I'm still a little unclear about my past though. As far as I know, I just woke up in southern China with Leng standing over me and all she knew was that my name was William."
Angel's eyes widened as the pieces began to fit together. "Well, how long ago was this?"
"About 10 years ago."
Angel began to smirk. But Buffy's eyes darkened, and she softly spoke, "Spike left only 5 years ago, it can't be him."
Cordy turned to Buffy, "Really? Are you sure?"
"Yeah, he left right before Willow went magic crazy."
Cordy shook her head, "No that was ten years ago. You called me right after it happened."
Buffy scoffed, "Why are you messing with my head?"
"I'm not messing with your head. That was ten years ago."
"No, it's not. It's 2006." The Harris family and Willow insisted.
Angel's team, Giles and William shook their heads, "No, it's 2011"
Buffy's pouted at Giles, "How can you take their side, you're one of us!"
Giles knitted his brow, "This isn't about sides Buffy, this is about what's really happened. 10 years really have passed by. You know I wouldn't lie to you."
Anya shook her head, "No way, I'm sure."
Soon the group was arguing over what year it really was. In the arguing they never noticed William silently studying them and his eyes flashing violet for a few seconds.
'So,' William thought as he looked at everyone's aura's ' The ones from Sunnydale seem to have been in a time anomaly, how interesting.'
William glanced across again. 'Xander and Anya has fainter traces of the strange red aura, Tommy has even less. Dawn and Buffy have quite more, but Willow has the most. Actually, it looks like it's coming from her.'
William silently filed that information away to be researched later when he had some spare time. After that William wave a waiter over and asked him to go across the street to buy that day's newspaper. The waiter happily accepted the $10 bill and went to retrieve the newspaper. The group was so involved in their argument that they barely noticed when the waiter returned with the newspaper.
William quietly stood up, causing the group to become silent. He walked over to Buffy and pulled out a pen from his shirt pocket, circled the date on the newspaper, and handed it to her. Buffy's hands began to shake as she saw that it really was 2011.
William finally spoke, "I'm sorry Ms. Summers that this is a shock to you."
Buffy began to breathe heavily as the panic set in. "G-go away."
William remained there, "Do you want me to get you some help or something to deal with this?"
Buffy's mind raced, this couldn't be happening, she had just missed out about five years of whatever the hell was happening in the world just because she live in Sunnyhell. William was being an asshole under that polite exterior. She could hear the pity in his voice. She didn't need pity, especially from him. Not this evil, stupid.. Jerk. God, she didn't even know what to call him anymore.
Then she felt a hand on her shoulder, even though his hand was warm, the gesture seemed cold. She violently shrugged off his hand and pushed him away.
William glared down at her. "Are you alright?"
"Leave me alone!" Buffy spat at him.
William didn't even recoil like Spike usually did when she shouted at him. He just looked at her with cool, indifferent eyes, which probably pissed her off even more.
She screamed at him even more, "You don't know anything! What do you think you are, my psychiatrist?! Leave me alone. I don't need your help, I don't need your money and I damn don't need your pity! Don't touch me your idiot!"
She could hear Angel trying to hush her and her sister whispering, "Calm down Buffy." But, William was still unfazed. He raised an a eyebrow and shrugged, then he returned to his seat. The room was thick with tension, Buffy sank inter her chair and silently brooded, William just looked at he wine and would sip it a little and everyone else just kept looking back and forth not knowing what to do.
Luckily, William's cell phone rang.
Cont.