Three months after Buffy's arrival at the manor it was nearing Christmas and Dawn's arrival. Lord Fairfax was hosting a winter ball in celebration of William and Buffy's engagement. Dawn arrived two days before the event.

"Buffy!" Dawn yelled running towards her older sister. The two sisters greeted each other with a fierce hug.

"Oh Dawnie! I missed you so much!" Buffy said.

"Wow Buff. This sure is some manor. I can't believe that you are actually going to own all this."

"Yeah well. I guess. So what about you? Have mom and dad made a match for you yet?"

"No. Not yet. Although they are 'entering into serious negotiations as we speak'" They both looked at each other and laughed. "I totally owe you Buffy. Seeing you this unhappy in your match is what made them not make one for me."

Buffy lowered her eyes and put her arm around her sister. "Well at least there is one benefit out of this arrangement. I love you Dawnie."

"I love you too Buffy." And the two sisters walked into the mansion discussing the ball, not noticing William watching them from a window contemplating the interaction he had seen between the two sisters.

The ball arrived quickly and Buffy found that having Dawn around made her "confinement" in the manor much more bearable. While Willow was a great confidante, she was not supposed to fully interact with the family. But Dawn could. And she frequently side tracked William's attention and chatted on about anything and everything. Buffy watched them from the window seat while pretending to read a book. She was impressed at how good William was with Dawn and idly thought that he make a good father. She dropped her book in shock at that thought. Everyone starred at her and she mumbled something about excitement about the ball tomorrow and quietly exited the room.

But here she was now sitting in a deep royal blue gown while Willow pinned up her hair in an intricate pattern. Dawn flounced in wearing a light purple gown, her hair flowing out behind her.

"Hey Dawnie." Willow said concentrating on pinning the flower in her hand to Buffy's hair.

"Hey guys. Soooooo do you think that anyone will ask me to dance?" She asked mischeviously.

"Well Dawn. You are only thirteen." Buffy said cautiously.

"Buuuuffy! C'mon! It's a ball! Some one will ask me!"

"Well you do look lovely Dawnie." Willow said smiling.

"Thanks Willow. I really really really really hope I get to dance tonight."

"Well…maybe you can dance with Daniel." Buffy suggested. Dawn merely rolled her eyes.

"Oh please. He is sooo not even going to dance." Dawn said.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked confused and then she noticed that Willow was turning bright red. Dawn laughed at her sister's blindness.

"Daniel likes Willow." Dawn said and rolled her eyes at Buffy's look of surprise. "Oh come on! It is so obvious. They talk all the time."

"Willow! You didn't say anything!" Buffy admonished.

"Well, I mean…it-it…it's not my place and I am just a servant…" Buffy spun around to face her and hugged Willow tightly.

"Oh this is just perfect! I'll be able to help you with this match! Oh Willow! We'll finally all be sisters!" Buffy and Dawn both began babbling excitedly until Willow cut them off.

"No. You guys, it would never work. I'm just a servant. And he is a wealthy man."

"Wills! You are totally underestimating yourself. You're smart and sweet and funny…" Willow began to blush. "and don't let anyone tell you that you're not good enough. Especially when it comes to the way that you feel. The heart knows nothing of the limitations of society." The three sat silently as they thought and a knock on the door broke them out of their reverie.

"Who is it?" Willow called.

"William. I was sent to see if Buffy- er Elizabeth is ready." The girls looked at Buffy's half-done hair and laughed.

"Uh…Just a minute William. I'll send Dawn out to keep you company." Dawn walked out into the hallway where William stood with a contemplative look on his face. They heard Buffy and Willow giggling and William looked at the door with longing. He quickly averted his gaze when Dawn started chuckling lightly.

"What?" He asked defensively.

"Oh. Nothing." Dawn replied before starting to laugh harder.

"WHAT!?" He was starting to get embarrassed that his affections had been so easily figured out. Dawn looked at him thoughtfully.

"Don't worry. She doesn't know." And Dawn smiled at him and William began to fiddle with his jacket sleeve.

"Oh. I mean…uh…I have no idea what you're talking about." And he smirked at her regaining his former confidence.

"Yeah so…could you hear what we were talking about?" Dawn continued. He gave her a sheepish look.

"Maybe." He gave her an evil grin and was about to taunt her about dancing when Buffy and Willow stepped out. William took a deep breath and smiled lightly at the bright smile she gave to Dawn. She looked at him and scowled. He quickly smirked at her but his heart ached at the though of how much she hated him.

"Come on Dawnie. Let's go to the ball."

"Hold on. I'm supposed to escort you down." William said and offered his arm. Buffy huffed and rolled her eyes and then finally accepted his arm.

"Let's get this over with Willie." William scowled at her and offered his other arm to Dawn who smiled and happily accepted it giggling.

"Don't call me Willie." He muttered and Buffy smiled at him evilly.

"Okay…Willie. As long you remember to actually call me Elizabeth tonight." He groaned and Dawn giggled again.

"This is going to be a long night." William thought as they entered the ballroom. All heads turned to look at the trio and a booming voice announced…

"We are pleased to announce the engagement of Elizabeth Summers and William Fairfax. Let the ball begin!"

Shortly after their entrance, Buffy had taken Dawn's hand and the two had walked to the other side of the room. William found himself watching her intently and wishing she would smile at him the way she was smiling at the other men in the room. **Oh God!** he thought **I really do love her! Now how can I get her to love me back?**

While William was debating ways to get Buffy to fall in love with him, he suddenly noticed something that made his thought stop abruptly, the appearance of Sir Riley Finn. Riley and he were old rivals at University. Actually Riley had done everything possible to humiliate William from getting him locked out of his room naked to spreading rumors that William was gay, Riley was behind it all. Now he was flirting with Buffy…and she was buying it. Throwing his plans of charming her out the window, William marched over to the pair and grabbed Buffy's arm firmly.

"Come- Elizabeth we should dance." He said while glaring at Riley who merely stood there and smiled at the couple blandly.

"What?! Have you gone crazy?" She asked looking at him confused. She had been having a nice conversation and now he-of course- comes over and ruins it. And what did he have to look so mad about?

"No. I just- want to dance. That's all." He looked at her intently trying to beg her with his eyes to go with him for once.

"Well you should have asked then." She said still looking a little confused by his strange actions. Then she turned around to face Riley again who was happily taking in William's humiliation.

"Buffy-" William began, but she spun around quickly and pulled her arm free from his loose grasp.

"You're not supposed to call me that in public…Willie." She hissed and Riley snickered at her words. William's eyes clouded over with rage and humiliation. Buffy took a step back out of fear. He had never actually hit her before but he had also never looked that mad at her before. Riley took her elbow lightly in his hand.

"Milady, would you do me the honor of this dance?" he asked while smirking over Buffy's head at William.

"Uh- Sure." She said quickly and practically ran from William towards the dance floor. Glancing over her shoulder she saw William's shoulders slump and felt a pang of guilt. As Riley began to talk about his lands and interest in the military, Buffy tuned him out and instead began thinking about why William-who she was sure hated her- had asked her to dance in the first place.

William watched as sodding Riley Finn escorted his fiancé out to the dance floor. He felt so dejected. He only had three months until the wedding to make her at least like him, but he felt for sure that was impossible. Looking around the dance floor he noticed Dawn sitting down looking depressed. He decided to go and talk to her- at least that way maybe one Summers woman wouldn't think that he was a total git. He quickly walked over and sat down beside her.

"Having fun Dawn?" She looked over at him sadly.

"No one ever asks me to dance." Dawn mumbled.

"Well! I'm sure that's not true."

"No. It is. I'm ugly. They always flock to Buffy. No one ever notices me." She slumped lower in her chair as the dance began.

"That's ridiculous Dawn! You are a beautiful young woman. In about two years you'll be beating them off with a stick." Dawn giggled at him.

"Do you really think so?"

"Of course. Now, how about you grace me with a dance once this one ends?"

She smiled up at him. "Really?"

"Of course really. Who else would I rather dance with?" He replied with a smile.

"Buffy." She answered giving him a sly smile of her own. William pressed his lips together in embarrassment.

"Well, I- uh…I mean No! Don't be crazy! Oh bugger. I'm not very convincing am I?"

She laughed again. "Not really. So when did you finally realize that you loved her?"

"Tonight. But she'll never even like me. I did some pretty awful things to her in the past."

"Oh please! Just don't irritate her and you'll be fine."

"My very existence irritates her." He said gloomily. Dawn burst out laughing and William looked at her in surprise. "What?"

"Men really don't understand women at all." Dawn said laughing harder. He looked at her in confusion and shook his head. The dance ended and his eyes followed Buffy as Riley led her off the floor to get some punch. Couples began to line up for the next dance and William stood up to escort Dawn to the floor.

"I guess not Dawn. I guess not."

"Don't worry William. I'll help you out." She smiled at him and his heart felt a little lighter.

"Thank-you Dawn."

Just a little note: I have a lot of the story written already but since i prefer to write things out by hand it is not typed up yet. Yeah yeah...I am from the stone age. But I will try to get what I have up as soon as possible :)