Chapter 7

It's been quite a while from my last update. Not a lot happens in this chapter though – plot-wise – but more to come! (hopefully)

"Spike!"

Wham!

William hit him hard with a headstone but still Spike was dead to the world – well, deader than usual.

"Come on, Spike. Wake up!"

He shook him a few more times before shoving him off the bed in frustration. Spike only continued snoring. William thought that it was a curious thing to do for a vampire - to snore. It wasn't like they needed to breath or anything; Angel never snored. But William thought that it was also kind of cute that even vampires – especially Spike – would still have these insignificant human habits. But this wasn't time to dwell on cute.

"Ugh!" He said as he gave up. It was still early in the morning and it would be quite a while before Spike could get out when the sun goes down. He didn't want to stay here doing nothing, waiting for Spike to wake up. He was bored.

Finally deciding on what to do, William tip-toed, but then remembering that it was unnecessary, walked instead, to the chair where Spike put his duster over the night before. He poked around in all the pockets and, finding what he was looking for with a triumphant 'aha!', fished out the wads of cash.

Now, William was not one to just steal someone else's things without telling them, so finding a pen and a piece of paper he wrote Spike a note:

'Spike. Took all your money. Ha Ha!"

William crossed out that last bit and replaced it with 'Love, William.'

Looking at the piece of paper with satisfaction, he placed it on the table next to the bed and ventured out into the day.

This world is not so much different than my previous one, he thought as he exited the cemetery, it was only sans demon in plain view. William shivered for a moment and decided that the first thing he was going to get was jacket. The clothes Spike bought for him weren't big on the keeping-you-warm part.

Two hours later, William walked out of the mall with a big smile plastered on his face. He wrapped the jacket tighter around himself, loving the feel of it against his body. He didn't mean to get something so beautiful and therefore equals to expensive but the nice man at the store gave him a discount and he couldn't resist – from $168 to $105…. then to $55. He smiled wider. So the clothes Spike bought him had other perks too.

He took a candy bar from one of the jacket's many junk food-filled pockets and ate it as he walked. He went to wherever his feet took him and after a while a big building came into view. Curious, he walked closer to see the sign and found that it was Sunnydale High School. Great, he thought, maybe the others are here. He walked towards the school grounds with a mission.

Buffy looked out the window of her history classroom in boredom. She never thought she would say this, but she couldn't wait until school was over so she could research other ways to defeat Angelus. She thought it was pointless to keep going to classes when a war was waging right now but Giles was insistent on keeping up appearances.

Just then something caught her eye. Someone was walking across the school grounds and towards her building. Her curiosity piqued, she kept watching him until he came closer. But before she could have a good look at his face, he walked in another direction, out of her view. Sighing, she turned back to the front of the class and saw the teacher still explaining about something uninteresting.

Her neck was getting tired so she moved her head left to right, but when her sight came to fall on the window again, she nearly jumped out of her skin.

Pressed right up against it was William smiling at her and mouthing 'hello, Buffy'. He waved animatedly at her but before she could react, something must have caught his eye because suddenly he was gone again. Buffy was struck into speechlessness and didn't realise that the teacher had stopped talking.

"Miss Summers, this is the last time. Please pay attention, before I am forced to send you to the principal's office."

That brought her back instantly and she said quickly "I'm paying. attention." She smiled innocently.

The teacher stared at her for a moment before continuing with the class. Buffy let out a breath and waited anxiously for the bell to ring.

William walked through the empty school hall in wonder. Being home-schooled himself, he has always wondered what it would look like in a public school. It's certainly big, he thought, kind of like a museum. He was looking at the pictures and plaques that lined the hall when he saw someone appear from the left corridor. It was a stout woman carrying a bunch of folders.

They were surprised to see each other and for a while nobody said anything. William knew that he wasn't supposed to be here but just kept quiet, waiting to see what would happen. Then she broke the silence.

"Hey… are you Mr. Giles' replacement?"

William at first didn't know what to say but something suddenly clicked and he asked "What's wrong with Giles?"

The woman let out a relieved sigh and walked towards him "So you are his replacement." She took his shoulder and dragged him quickly somewhere while she talked "He was admitted to the hospital this morning – really bad stomach pains; it could be food poisoning but the doctors are still making sure."

William, unaware of what was happening, continued the conversation "Really? He looked absolutely fine yesterday."

"Ah, these things happen." They arrived in front of a set of double doors and the woman swung them open, entering the room with William closely behind her.

"Well, here you are - the library." She stated. "You know what to do, right?"

William panicked and said the only thing he could think of. "Uh… yes?"

"Great. Close up at 4.30." She instantly turned around and walked briskly out the door.

He looked at her retreating back and said dramatically but softly "Then she was gone."

William thought that one close call was enough so he decided to stay in the library for the time being. Whistling, he went to look around the library but after ten minutes of seeing books after books he became bored. He took out another chocolate bar from his pocket and sat on one of the chairs. Then he saw the library computer on the counter and, what the heck, decided to explore.

He got up to it and switched on the computer. After he opened the program, he scrolled through the names, hoping to find one he recognized. He couldn't find a Xander, but he did see that Cordelia had taken a book out called 'A Child Called It'.

After a bit more looking around, William was bored again. He was thinking of what to do when suddenly, he smiled. He looked around, although he knew that he was alone, then pressed a few keys. After he was done, he looked at the screen and said cheekily, "Why, Mr. Patrick, an overdue book, I see. Naughty, naughty."

William was in the process of doing his evil laugh – complete with the 'I rule, bow before me' hand gesture – when the doors suddenly swung open, followed by a female voice saying "-waving at me through the window-"

His voice instantly caught in his throat as he quickly tried to compose himself. He saw the two females enter and said nervously "Hi Buffy, Willow!"

Buffy stopped mid sentence and they both turned to look at him. Willow waved him a friendly 'hello' but Buffy just said "William! What are you doing here?"

After a moment's pause, William looked at himself as if that would give him the answer and looked back up again with a smile and said proudly "Can't you see? I'm the librarian."

She gave him a questioning look and asked slowly "Where's Giles?"

"He's in the hospital. I'm here in his place." He said enthusiastically.

Buffy suddenly turned concerned "What happened?"

"The doctors don't know yet. But don't worry, I'm sure he'll be fine." Buffy was still concerned but she knew she couldn't do anything about it except worry so she let it go. She joined Willow who, having earlier left the two to their conversation, was sitting at the table already doing some research using Giles' book. After a moment of quiet, Buffy turned to look at William again.

"Not that I don't like you or anything but, why are you here?"

"I told you, I'm-"

"Yeah, I know. But are you even supposed to be here? In school? They wouldn't just pick you off and say you're hired."

Actually, that's exactly what happened, William thought. "You'd be surprised." Buffy was about to ask him what he meant by that but suddenly he remembered something. "Hey, I almost forgot. Wesley came."

Willow stopped reading and looked at them. Buffy said with confusion, "Wesley? But you're…Oh." She said as she remembered "What happened? Did he hurt you?"

"No… but he did leave a message."

They waited for him to say what it was but after a minute had passed when it seemed like he wasn't going to say anything, Buffy prompted him, "Well?"

"Well what?" William said through a full mouth as he finished his chocolate bar and threw the wrapper in the bin.

"What was his message?" She said impatiently.

"Oh, yeah." He smiled. Then he frowned "It was… um… I forgot."

"What!"

William tried to defend himself. "To be fair, that message was directed at Spike, so I had no business eavesdropping at their conversation." He gave a small nervous laugh at the end but Buffy just gave him an 'I am not amused' look.

His shoulders slumped and he tried to remember back on that night "Well, it was something about Lord Tennyson or someone." He said softly.

"Lord Tennyson…? The poet?" Willow asked, remembering the name from a book of collected poems she'd read some time ago. William just shrugged.

"Oh, and he said a word that Giles should know. It was… it was… something short." he finished lamely. "It could be about someone named 'Trey', or maybe he asked us for 'Thai'."

"That's ok, William. Maybe we should just wait for Spike." Willow said reassuringly.

He nodded in defeat and took out a bag of chips. Buffy saw this and said "You're not supposed to eat in the library."

William looked at the newly opened bag then at Buffy. "And…?" He said.

Buffy then remembered her own disregard for any kind of rules so she said "Never mind." He offered them some but they both declined and returned to their research.

After a few minutes, another student entered the library. He gave William a book and his library card and said "I'd like to return this."

William took both items and – having mastered the system in the first few minutes – placed the book on the shelf behind him. He looked at the name on the card over the top of his glasses – he thought that would look more librarian-ish – then at the person. He shook his head disapprovingly with a 'tsk, tsk' as he keyed in the code. "Mr. Patrick" William muttered softly in a scolding tone under his breath.

Sam Patrick could only try to imagine what he did wrong.

Bonus Entry#1

AU – Coffee Shop

"I'm telling you, he's a serial killer."

"And I'm saying that he likes you. I've seen him stare – not a very subtle guy."

Wesley shook his head and looked at his two friends "Come on. Have you guys ever thought that maybe he comes here everyday because he actually likes the coffee?" Both his friends looked at each other and said at the same time:

"Nu-uh. Are you kidding?" Bob said.

"No way. No one comes here for the coffee." Damon put in.

"What's wrong with the coffee!" Wesley said, putting down his tray. Out of the three of them, Wesley was the one who makes the drinks while Bob makes the cakes and trinkets and Damon takes care of the register. All three of them were behind the counter in a conversation that lasted ever since 'the man' came in.

"No offence, but you have weird taste, dude." Damon said, as he took care of a customer at the register.

"What?" Wesley said with disbelief, putting his hands on his hips.

Damon turned to look at him. "Yeah, you do. And it keeps getting weirder everyday. Have you ever noticed that our regulars politely avoid it, and people who taste it for the first time never seem to have it again?" Damon told him.

"If my coffee is so bad then why do people keep coming back, then?"

"Hello! Three most gorgeous beings ever to walk the earth all in the same place! We're here all day from 6 to 10." Bob said informatively, loud enough for everyone in the coffee shop to hear.

"It's not bad, Wes, it's just… unique. Why can't you just make the coffee like you used to? I miss it. No one makes it quite like you."

"You're dead. How can you know that?" Wesley asked. Damon just shrugged and Wesley continued "Anyway, I like this one better than the one I used to make. I tried so hard to make it right. I can't believe no one else likes it." He pouted.

"Well, that guy seems to like it." Bob pointed out.

"Like I said, as you both so continuously try to deny, he likes Wes! There, he just looked at you again! How can you miss it!" Damon hissed between his teeth.

"Stop it, you guys." Wesley said, although he did catch the look and was starting to blush.

"Ten bucks says he's checking you out."

"And ten bucks says he's a serial killer." Bob chipped in. "Go on, go to him."

Wesley said 'hey!' as they both pushed him from behind the counter and looked on hopefully. He scowled at them but they just smiled back and gave him a thumbs up. Taking a slow deep breath, Wesley turned around walked towards the man in the small corner.

Bob and Damon watched as Wesley introduced himself and took a seat, but unable to avoid the business any longer, had to do their jobs with Damon also taking over Wesley's area. Now and then they would take a peek at the couple as they talked and laughed. They both knew that their friend had finally found someone and were happy for him.

In two hours, Wesley heard Angel's whole life story, from his time as Angelus up to the point where he fell in love with Wesley. Wesley thought that they should start the traditional way and go on a date first, although he was already dreaming a future with him. When it was time to say goodbye, Angel gave him a small kiss on the cheek and Wesley had to muster all his willpower not to fall on his knees. He watched dreamily as Angel walked away until he was completely gone. Then he sighed.

By the end of the evening, he owed his friends 20 bucks.