A/N : Okay, here is the chapter I think you've all been waiting for...it's about time William returned now, isn't it? ;-) Just before we get to that, I want to thank all those wonderful people that reviewed; fictionfreak2, SpIkEs AnGeL, buffspike (twice!), Slayer87, SouthernRain, golden+girl736, courtney, Rachel, SlayGal, fashiongrrl. Sorry I left you guys waiting for so long, I'll make this An short so you can get to the new chapter asap. Enjoy!

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 12 : Homecoming - 7th November 2003

It was the night of the Homecoming Dance, just eleven days ago now. The biggest thoughts in my head were; would Riley like my dress, and would it be me, one of my friends, or one of our hated enemies who got to be queen this year? Typical teenage girl thoughts, right? Exactly. Typical day in my life, again, but it was about to take a dramatic turn. Here's how...

"Well, what do you think?" Buffy turned to her sister and asked Willow's opinion of the dress she now wore.

"Oh Buffy" the red-head gasped, "You look beautiful" she exclaimed as she looked upon her blonde sister in her specially-bought figure-hugging red dress that stopped at her knees.

"Thankyou" Buffy smiled, "but look at you" she gestured, "You look so great too"

Willow blushed the colour of her hair or perhaps Buffy's dress, the way she always did when anyone complimented her, but it was true, she did look wonderful in her own deep green dress that was ankle length and less clingy than her sisters. Both girls had equally fine figures, but Buffy was much more confident about hers than Willow and it was reflected in the clothes the pair wore.

"Girls, are you ready to go?" Joyce called up the stairs, "Your friends will be here any minute" she reminded them, as the two checked themselves in the mirror one last time before grabbing their evening bags and hurrying, as much as heeled shoes allowed, across the landing and down the stairs.

"My goodness" Giles smiled as he watched them descend the stairs, Buffy first and Willow behind her, "You both look lovely, and so grown up" he realised, almost teary-eyed, it was so easy to forget they were almost eighteen now, young women and not babies anymore.

Joyce insisted on taking a couple of pictures and Buffy reminded her it wasn't prom, just their final homecoming dance. The limo soon arrived, already containing Xander and Cordelia, Riley and Oz.

"Sweetheart, you look gorgeous" Buffy's boyfriend told her as she climbed into the car and sat beside him.

"Thanks" she smiled "You look pretty good yourself" she told him right before they kissed. Similar comments were shared between the other members of the group in the car and then the conversation soon turned to Homecoming queen.

Cordelia had been nominated as had Buffy, but their's was a surprisingly friendly rivalry, neither one minding if the other got it or not. The competition against the pair was Harmony Kendall, blonde and bubbly but a total ditz, and Anya Jenkins, Xander's ex who was pretty but very blunt and often tactless. Most people would vote for Cordy or Buffy, one of them should definitely win tonight.

The six arrived in style, and took advantage of the live music and fun atmosphere. They danced, they laughed, they talked and they kissed, a couple of hours passed and finally the time came to announce the winner, the Homecoming Queen!

"Okay, can we have some quiet please" the leader of the band on stage, Devon, called order to the party, "It is time to announce this years Homecoming Queen. It's been a fierce battle but..." he opened a gold envelope and read the name of the winner to himself before continuing, "yes, the right girl won. Give it up for this years Homecoming Queen...Cordelia Chase!"

Said brunette girl screamed with surprise and joy as she ran toward the stage, dragging Xander with her. Her friends smiled and applauded as the rest of the room complied and did the same. As Cordelia got her crown and started on a speech that promised to last a very long time, Buffy slipped from her place between Riley and Willow, making her way over to the punch bowl, hoping that maybe someone had spiked it.

"Buffy?" her sister said as she appeared beside her again, "You okay?"

The blonde smiled and almost laughed at herself.

"It's pathetic, I know" she sighed, sipping her fruity drink and realising that, yes, it had been spiked with some kind of healing liquid, "And I'm happy for Cordy, but..." she trailed off.

"But you wanted the crown?" Willow guessed, feeling bad. She never wanted to be Homecoming Queen, she had absolutely no desire to be the centre of attention that way, but she knew how much her sister wanted it.

"Yeah, I kind of did" Buffy looked deep into her cup and suddenly felt a pair of arms slip around her waist from behind.

"Must have been a fixed vote" Riley whispered in her ear, "You totally deserved that crown"

"Thanks" Buffy giggled, as did Willow.

"And if it helps" her boyfriend continued as he held her close, "You'll always be my queen"

"That's sweet" the blonde girl told him as she turned in his arms, never putting down the punch that was going straight to her head. She kissed him once, before pulling away from him and re-filling her cup. In all honestly, it didn't help much. Riley was sweet, sometimes too sweet and it got annoying after a while, and his comments didn't stop her wishing she'd have taken the crown and the title tonight.

The evening was pretty uneventful after that, there was dancing, laughing, talking and even more laughing as Buffy decided the punch was the best drink ever and downed a considerable amount in a short period of time. The more she drank, the more annoying Riley seemed to become to her, until finally Willow got worried and said perhaps they should leave.

The limo wasn't due to pick them up for an hour and Willow was grateful when Oz offered to walk to his house, since it wasn't far, and fetch his car to take the sisters home. Riley wasn't anywhere to be found by now and Willow had no doubt it was because of Buffy's kind of anti-social behaviour towards him.

"Buffy" the red-head sighed, "I think we should go wait for Oz outside, y'know where the fresh air lives?"

"Sounds like fun" Buffy giggled a little madly as her sister led her to the doors.

Oz was just pulling the car up outside and he got out to help his girlfriend with the drunken Buffy. Once they were all in the car they began the bumpy journey home, making a certain member of the group feel very nauseous. Thankfully she didn't actually throw up but Willow feared for their dresses and the cars leather interiors more than once in the short journey.

"Thanks sweetie" Willow smiled to Oz, leaning through the window to kiss him goodnight, as Buffy tried to stumble her way up the path to her front door.

"Stupid shoes" she complained to herself as she tripped over her own foot, with a deep breath she again attempted the normally simple task of putting one foot in front of the other, but again her heels caused problems and she was inches away from landing on her butt when a pair of strong arms caught her.

"Oh damn...!" she began to curse as she realised the heel had broken clean off of her red strappy shoes, it was only afterwards that she noticed she'd been falling but never actually hit the ground, "Er...Riley?" she guessed, trying to figure out who would have caught her and then kept their arms around her even now.

"You okay, luv?" said a voice, coming she surmised from the man that had a hold on her.

"I'm fine" she snapped, pulling from his grasp and trying to turn around to see who he was, almost knocking herself over yet again. The stranger grabbed her arms and kept her steady.

"Thanks...I...." her sentence stopped abruptly as she finally looked at her 'saviour'. It was dark but a nearby streetlight gave off enough of a glow for her to notice the brightest blue eyes she'd ever seen, blond hair that was equally as dazzling, a gorgeous face with cheekbones to die for, just north of a clearly well toned body all in black and leather, "Wow" Buffy gasped, not really realising that she'd said it outloud, her mind was screaming that and many other things none of which she'd planned to let come out of her mouth but her drunken state was not aiding coherent brain and body functions.

"Buffy!" a voice called, breaking whatever moment had been starting between the blonde girl and the stranger who had been eyeing each other quite appreciatively, "Are you okay?" Willow asked as she came to stand beside her sister, "What are you doing to her?" she yelled somewhat angrily at the mystery man.

"I bloody saved her from falling on her ass is what!" he yelled back, "And what thanks do I get?"

"Oh, I'm sorry" Willow blushed, she was a little worried by this guys bad-boy looks, but she'd obviously jumped to the wrong conclusion.

"Doesn't matter, pet" the stranger sighed, "Wonder if you could help me out actually, I was looking for Rupert Giles, I thought he lived here but...?"

"Oh, he does" Willow nodded, before frowning, partly because Buffy's eyes seemed to have glazed over as she stared at the so far nameless man in front of them, second because the same girl was drooling on her shoulder because of the guy and the drunken-ness, and third because she suddenly worried; "Why do you want to see our father?"

"Your father?" the bleach blond looked strangely at the red-head., squinting for a second as if trying to see her more in focus, before he gasped, "Willow?"

"Who wants to know?" she asked, backing up a little, dragging Buffy with her as the blonde leaned on her.

"Willow and Buffy?" the man began to smile, seemingly ignoring Willow's question, he looked perfectly happy for no discernible reason, until he realised they were backing away from him, "You don't know who I am" he realised with a shake of his head, just as Buffy's legs buckled and she completely passed out.

In one movement, he stepped forward, caught the blonde girl in his arms and lifted her unconscious form off the ground, one arm around her back, the other underneath her legs.

"Not exactly how I planned to make my entrance" the stranger smirked to Willow as they headed for the front door of the house, "but my name is William Giles, and I'm your brother"

I can't believe I passed out without even knowing who my 'saviour' was, to be honest I barely remember anything even before my spell of unconsciousness! Willow filled in several blanks, and I'm glad she did. The next couple of hours would change our lives...

[Give me a couple of days and I should have the next chapter of 'One Wild Night' ready for posting :-)]