Chapter 4.

Buffy pulled her compact out from her handbag and checked her makeup, then applied a layer of gloss over her lips. She snapped back the lid, stood up and straightened her skirt and turned towards Wesley's office. She called it Wesley's office but 90% of the time it was hers. All the artwork on the walls had come from the gallery her Mother had worked at. She had even rearranged the office so she could see out the window when she sat at the desk. Wesley hadn't minded, he was never there anyway so he encouraged Buffy to make it her own.

"Nothings wrong, nothings wrong, nothings wrong." She repeated in her head as she made her way across the office floor.

"B!" Faith beckoned her over, "If he is as hot as Harm reckons invite him to the party tomorrow, you never know your luck!" Faith wiggled her eyebrows.

"Strangely Faith, getting laid is low down my list of priorities today." Buffy snapped, and then instantly felt guilty, "Sorry, just a bit stressed out".

"No problem, and don't worry you can blow off some steam over the weekend, were gonna party Faith style." Faith wriggled seductively in her chair. Buffy rolled her eyes and turned towards Wesley's office.

Buffy tapped lightly on the glass door and then pushed it open slowly.

She had expected a bombshell, expected the worst, from Harmony's girlie swooning she had expected some well toned Adonis that had come in to steal her job with a smile and a few well-chosen charming comments. But it was worse, oh so much worse.

"Buffy, long time no see pet."

There he sat perched on the corner of the desk, her desk! Smiling at her like nothing had ever happened. She didn't reply, just stared back with her mouth open while his deep blue eyes pierced into her. He hadn't changed a bit, although he was dressed a lot smarter than he used to. He was wearing a suit for one, a damn expensive suit Buffy noted, and the heavy boots were gone, in their place a shiny pair of Gucci loafers, but apart from that he looked just the same as he had when he walked out the door 5 years previous. His hair was slightly longer, but still bleached out white, he still had a body to die for, and the cheekbones, oh those cheekbones! "Stop that right now" she thought to herself.

"Did you miss me luv?" he purred at her, and then blew her an imaginary kiss.

That was enough for Buffy, she span round to face Wesley, who was sitting on the sofa in the corner. Wes was oblivious to the obvious tension and was smiling like a Cheshire cat.

"Do you want to tell me what's going on?" she rasped at him.

"Elizabeth, William here is going to take over from me for a while, he has been running a similar operation in London for the last 2 years and I really feel you will benefit from his experience…" Wes began to explain, but was interrupted by the furious blonde girl.

"Experience! Experience er hello, I am experience girl  Wes, I don't need any helpful tips and pointers from peroxide boy here! I have doing just fine by myself" Buffy raised her voice.

Wesley frowned, he hadn't expected her to react in this way, in fact he thought she would be happy for the help, she already had a heavy workload not to mention Dawn who although technically no longer a minor, was still the cause of many sleepless nights for the blonde.

"Well I met with William last time I was in England," Wesley continued, "He was a tower of strength for me at the hospital" "Yeah I bet he was" Buffy mumbled under her breath. She could just picture him being all supportive, all helpful, all Spike, all the time with his eyes on her job! Worming his way into Wesley's affections just to screw her over.

"Yeah good old Spike, always there for people when they need him" she spat aiming a hard glance in his direction.

Spike stood up annoyed, and walked over to the table where her had placed his folder. "As much as I would love to sit her and listen to you bitch I have places to be, so I'll be seeing you Summers" he snarled, "And Wes, if you can talk some sense into the silly bint then give me a call, I'll be in town a couple of days." And with that he turned on his heel and exited the office.

Buffy turned and slammed the door behind him and then turned back to her boss.

"What have I done to deserve this Wesley" she begged, "I thought you were happy with my work, happy with the way things were going around here, I can't work with him, no way, not ever." She pouted but it wasn't washing with Wesley today, and he was becoming tired of the situation.

"Buffy, you have done a great job, and one day you will take over permanently, but as much as you like to think you know everything you are far from that stage. You have done a fine job of holding the fort for me, but I need someone with vision to take us further, not just keep us going. William can do that, and he can help you become the person you need to be to run this operation alone. I have known you a long time Elizabeth and I know you like to be independent but you will work with me on this. William is joining the team, and you will make it work!"

Buffy stared back shocked, Wesley had never spoken to her like that before, she felt like he had scolded her like a child.

"Make it work Elizabeth," he repeated slowly and seriously.

Buffy nodded and made her way to the door, tears welling in her eyes. All eyes were on her as she crossed the office to her desk all the time fighting back the tears.

"I am not going to cry over you again," she thought to herself, but it was too late.