A/N : Thanx muchly to the latest reviewers; Moonjava, Daniel Wesley Rydell, Demonica Mills, Spuffy6, EMBER91, funkydevil206, spuffygurl11, XspikeXbuffyX, Brunettepet, phantomphan85, Moluvsnumber17, wicked-angel-413, xmadbrilliant, Freezyboncoolipants, Spikez-babe91, and spuffygrl. I love writing this fic and am so pleased that you all seem to like reading it so much.
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 6 - The Confessional

"Nice room" Buffy commented as she sat herself down on the edge of William's bed. What she'd just said was an out and out lie but she was at a loss for anything else to say right now, and everything she knew she should say seemed to get stuck somewhere in her throat.

"Is that why you're here?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow as he moved to sit down on the nearby chair, "To discuss the state of my decor?" he smiled slightly when she looked over at him, a sign he was trying to make a friendly joke. It broke the tension somewhat, a pleasant relief all round.

"I don't think Giles was too impressed with us" she said, returning his smile and indeed trying not to giggle by now, "Not that I did it to piss him off" she shrugged, "I just..." she paused not really knowing how to phrase it but feeling that maybe if she could, William of all people might understand. The fingers of her left hand spun a ring on the other and she studied that instead of the person she was speaking to. Somehow it was easier that way.

"You ever feel like you just want to escape?" she asked, "Like if you could just run fast enough or yell loud enough you could break out of this bubble that's life and there'd be something else, something better?"

William studied the figure of her sitting there. She was shorter than the average girl her age, but didn't seem at all weak. When she glanced up at him, presumably waiting for an answer to her questions, there was a depth in her eyes the like of which he'd never seen before and wish he hadn't then. Beyond the fire of youth and the anger of what she'd lost before, there was so much pain and a gaping chasm almost visible in her heart that he only wished he knew how to fill. He wanted to mend every part of her that had been broken by her past, and wished she could do the same for him. All this he thought and felt in just a few moments when their eyes met, and still she waited for his response.

"I do not presume there to be something better than this" he said more softly than he'd meant to as his eyes stayed fixed on hers, "I have yet to find it, and what good can there be living with false hopes?" he said somewhat sadly, his mind switching onto more serious topics than Buffy could imagine as he turned away from her gaze at last.

"If wishes were horses then beggars would ride" he heard her say and looked back at her when she smiled, "My Mom used to say that, when I was little"

"So did mine" William nodded, getting a faraway look in his eyes "at least Dru says she did, no way to know if it's true" he added quietly and Buffy so wanted to ask what he meant but was afraid of venturing further into the subject after what had happened before. Maybe the scar he had and his not knowing his mother were related?

"Who is Dru?" she asked carefully, "Is she your sister?" she realised it could be true as she recalled their argument before, in what was apparently his sisters bedroom.

"Yes, Drusilla is my sister" he confirmed, though he wouldn't look at her at all. He knew she was going to ask about Dru now, why she wasn't here, why her word could no longer be trusted, and he would have to answer her, there was no way to avoid it.

"Drusilla is twenty one now, a little more than two years my senior" he sighed, "and she's not here because...because she lives in an institution"

Buffy wasn't sure where to begin by way of a reply. His sister was a whack-job? Well that explained why he'd said she wasn't dead but she wasn't really here either. The girl probably didn't even know what day of the week it was half the time, and here Buffy was trying to steal her possessions, the few things William had in the house to remind him of the real person his sister was.

"Er...was she always...?" she began, stopping short when William looked up at her, clearly finding the whole thing difficult, possibly even fighting tears it was hard to tell at this distance and when he kept looking down.

"She wasn't born crazy if that's what you mean" he told her with a shake of his head, "There was an accident, seventeen years ago now. My mother lost control of the car and Dru suffered damage to her brain" he paused to swallow hard and wonder briefly why he was telling Buffy all this, he never spoke of it to anyone before, "They say she was lucky in some ways, at least she survived...my mother didn't"

The room fell silent, William's story of pain and loss hanging between himself and Buffy, making the air too thick to breathe. She thought she'd had it bad losing her parents so young, but she tended to forget other people shared her situation. Will had no-one to blame for what he'd lost, which could be better or worse, she wasn't entirely sure and she didn't want to ask his opinion. She truly had no idea what to say, which came as somewhat of a surprise to the girl that always had a smart-ass remark on hand for every occasion.

Not only had William been raised without a mother, but he'd had to cope with a sister that probably didn't know who he was half the time. She wondered if this same accident had caused the cut that left the scar on his face. Buffy stared at her companion, wishing he'd just look up at her, hopefully say something so she didn't have to, but he didn't.

After a silence that went on too long she took in a breath and got to her feet, moving to sit down on the arm of the chair beside him. He glanced over at her then and she dared to speak.

"Is that why you didn't wanna talk about this?" she asked, fingers reaching out to hover above his eye but not quite touching his skin, "This is the only injury you got but they..." she trailed off and William shook his head.

"I wasn't in the car with them" he told her, "This," he paused, running his own fingers along the mark, "Drusilla did this" he admitted so softly Buffy almost didn't hear him.

"How?" she asked, barely a whisper but she couldn't not have the whole story. It was as if she thought if she asked it softly enough it wouldn't be such a difficult question, that perhaps the answer wouldn't be so painful for him to say or her to hear.

"She didn't mean to hurt me, not really" William was quick to explain, as water built up behind his eyes and Buffy almost felt herself getting teary. Her hand subconsciously landed on his shoulder, a comforting gesture, as he explained.

"It was late at night, and I heard something in the kitchen. I would've woken my Dad but sometimes he got so angry at Dru, especially if he was drunk..." he closed his eyes, fought back those particular memories and continued, "I went down alone and she was standing by the counter. I called to her, asked her what she was doing up so late and she said she was making a sandwich. When I told her she should go back to bed, she started to get angry. She had this huge bread knife in her hand, I was worried she'd harm herself" he swallowed hard, voice cracking as he continued to stare at the carpet, "The look in her eyes when she turned was so wild...I tried to take the knife from her, I don't really know what happened, I had hold of her arm and she tried to get away, she slipped and...I didn't even realise what she'd done till I couldn't see anything but red on my left side" his fingers ran subconsciously over that part of his face as he spoke, "When she saw blood she cried and screamed, woke my father who came and yelled...I tried to tell him it wasn't Dru's fault but I think she'd really scared him that night. Within the week she was institutionalised and...and it was all my fault"

A lone tear ran down William's cheek at the end of his story and Buffy was somewhat shocked to realise a matching one ran down her own. This is what Will's guilt was for. He blamed himself for his sister being sent away, all because he'd allowed her to slash him with a kitchen knife. It wasn't as if he'd asked for it or provoked her, and he'd tried to defend her to their Dad. His father could take some blame she supposed, but really it couldn't be anyone's fault, just a nasty twist of fate that an accident should've caused such damage to Drusilla that she did not know her own mind. It was just unfortunate that William had approached her as he had that night and she'd freaked out that way.

"She's in a better place now though" Buffy said after a few moments silence, "They can take care of her better if..."

"A better place would be with her family!" William snapped uncharacteristically as he got to his feet and walked over to the window. Buffy physically jumped at the suddenness of his movements and increase in volume. She was so stunned she didn't even yell back at him, and when she realised she should put him in his place for bellowing at her like that he was already apologising.

"I'm sorry" he said solemnly as he turned back from the view and wiped his face with the back of his hand, "I just...I get so angry, Buffy" he told her, "I hate to think of what she's going through, how hard all this must be for her"

"It's why you yelled at me before, in that room" the blonde realised suddenly, also getting to her feet now, "But you can't blame yourself for what happened to her"

"You blame the whole world for what happened to your parents" he retaliated, feeling as if she were invading his privacy now despite the fact he'd invited her into his past as well as his room just moments ago.

"This isn't about me" Buffy shook her head, frowning as she wondered how this conversation had got so turned around.

"Sure about that" William snapped, "I thought in your world it was all about you"

His tone was a hairs breadth off being nasty, and Buffy was certain if he were less weak and vulnerable right now, if he were anything like the guys she knew back home, he'd be spitting venom and lashing out spectacularly right now. Something Buffy was learning fast was that William was not like any other guy she'd ever met.

"I'm just gonna go" she said, knowing if she stayed a fight of some kind was inevitable and she couldn't deal right now. Talking of his pain and loss only made her consider her own and Buffy refused to spill her guts just to make a trade. She made for the door but stopped half way to say one final thing.

"For what it's worth" she told his back as he faced the window once again, "I'm sorry about your sister, and your Mom"

With that she exited the room, closing the door firmly behind her. On the other side, she shut her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief to be out of that room, away from the intense situation she had found herself in. Two tears escaped from beneath her lids and a slight sob burst from her body before she managed to regain her composure. She headed down the corridor towards her own room but got just half way when she collided with Willow.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Summers, I mean, Buffy, er, hi" the red-head rambled before catching sight of the blonde's tear stained face, "Are you okay?" she checked.

"I'm fine!" Buffy snapped back, continuing walking, looking far from okay. Willow heard a crash from William's room and soon forgot the new girl as she hurried to see what was happening. She tapped on Will's door before letting herself in and finding him sitting on the bed quite calmly. The pieces of the broken vase under her shoes made Willow looked down and realise what had happened, but she didn't understand why.

"It seems to help Buffy" William answered her question before she'd even asked it, though he didn't turn to look at her at all, "The violence and wild behaviour without a care..." he trailed off, head down, and Willow thought possibly he was even crying.

In silence she stepped back out of the room and closed the door, thinking perhaps it was best to leave both him and Buffy alone right now. She wondered what had passed between the two of them in the last couple of hours.

The last she'd heard was when Giles stormed through the house yelling about William's father, Ethan, and the young man not being allowed to turn into such a wild fiend as he was. Xander had soon followed and relayed to his sister how William had been convinced by Buffy to dive in the lake.

How an uncharactarerically wild act such as this could've turned into a scene that caused violence and tears Willow could not understand at all, and for the time being at least, she felt it best not to ask.

To Be Continued...