William watched as Joyce walked back over to Anya. The two figures converged again. He could swear he saw a slight glow illuminate Anya's stomach before Joyce completely disappeared. His jaw hung slack and it wasn't until he heard Buffy calling his name that he was able to close his mouth and come to his senses again.

"Will!" she called, trying to snap him out of his daze.

He finally looked up at her and saw her brow furrow, silently questioning where he'd been.

"Right here, Love," his voice coming out softer and more tender than he'd even intended.

Buffy's eyes widened slightly.

"Who are you talking to?" Dawn wanted to know.

Buffy smiled and turned back to her sister.

"The man I've been seeing," she said.

Dawn looked around the room before letting her eyes rest on Buffy's smiling face.

"The only man in here is Giles," she told her sister.

"No… yes... uh…"

Buffy looked to Willow and Tara for help. The Wiccans smiled at their friend and then Tara leaned across the table.

"It seems that Buffy has inherited a not-so-dead secret admirer," she joked.

"Hey! I'm not so sure about the whole admirer nonsense," William interjected.

Anya stifled an amused giggle. She could swear that William was blushing.

"Oh, settle down, Casper," Anya told him lightly. "I mean, it's going to take some doing to explain to Dawn that her sister's new friend is the imaginary sort."

"He's not imaginary!"

"I'm not imaginary!"

Buffy and William yelled out their defensives simultaneously.

"Touchy, touchy!" Anya said, putting her hands out in front of her in a gesture that said 'okay, I'm backing off.'

"NOT touchy!" Buffy insisted. "Just… stressed by this whole thing."

"So, let me see if I've got this right; you've got an invisible man following you around and, apparently, only you and Anya can see him?" Dawn asked, not discounting anything.

"Uh, yeah. I mean, it sounds silly when you say it out loud…"

"Not so much," Dawn smiled. "In this family, anything is possible."

Dawn grinned at Giles and Anya before locking eyes with her sister.

"So, why you? Why now? Why this guy? And who is this guy anyhow? Did you know him, you know, before…?" Dawn made a slashing gesture across her throat with her finger and a loud hacking noise to further illustrate her point.

"That was uncalled for," William said with a mixture of annoyance and amusement in his voice.

"But quite effective," Anya told him, enjoying how everything was playing out.

"Well?" Dawn said, looking from Buffy to Anya, waiting for some answers.

"Um, his name is William Grieves. He owned Buy the Book. He also lived in my apartment. I… I never met him before last night."

Dawn looked like she was turning it all over in her head.

"If you're going to get a ghost… why not Angel?" Dawn asked the question that had been on Buffy's mind since the moment she'd lain eyes on William.

"Good question," Buffy told her sister before turning to Anya, who seemed to hold all the answers. "Why not my Angel?"

"Well, I would assume because his work hereis done. Or because he was needed somewhere more important. Or… or…" Anya shook her head and shrugged. "What am I? The Shell Answer Man?"

"The what?" Dawn asked.

Giles pulled off his glasses and began polishing them on his sleeve. He was the only one old enough to catch Anya's reference. It made him wonder how she had even known who the Shell Answer Man was. It's something Joyce would have said.

"The Shell Answer Man, Dawn," Giles told the girl. "He was a spokesperson for the Shell gasoline company and… oh, it's neither here nor there. What we need to do is figure out William's purpose."

"Getting us all together, I'd say," Dawn told him as she looked around the table. "I mean, the only person missing is Xander."

Buffy's mouth fell open and closed again. Xander. When was the last time she'd seen him? Had it been at the wedding that never was? She couldn't remember. She looked over to Anya to see if his name had affected her at all.

"But that's quickly remedied," she continued, pulling out her cell phone.

She pulled up his number and hit send. And Buffy noticed that it didn't take her very long to find it.

"Hey, it's me," Dawn said into the phone. "No, everything's fine. Uh-huh. No, not at all. Xander, calm down… this is a good call. Not an I'm punking out on lunch tomorrow kind of call."

She covered the mouthpiece and whispered loudly to her friends that she had a lunch date with Xander the next day.

"No, I'm at the Magic Box. You should stop by. Yes, she is. I think we're all past that. Aren't you? Good. Hurry. Uh-huh. No, I'm really not trying to cancel on you in front of a crowd so that you don't make a scene. Okay. Bye."

Dawn flipped her phone closed and shoved it into her pocket all the while shaking her head.

"He's, uh… he hasn't had much luck with dating. He's always so paranoid that he's going to be stood up that he ends up overcompensating and then, well… he ends up getting stood up," Dawn tried explaining.

"Are you dating him?" Willow blurted out excitedly.

"Uh, not… um… well…"

Dawn was blushing profusely.

"Oh how wonderful!" Willow continued. "I saw him about a month ago and he was just so depressed! How wonderful would it be for you and Xander… Xander and you! Awww!"

"Honey," Tara said, trying to reign in her girlfriend.

"Just… don't freak him out," Dawn said, her pink cheeks indicating that this wasn't just some lunch date to her.

"I think that Giles and Anya will be enough to freak him out," Buffy pointed out.

"Oh, he already knows about that," Anya said dismissively.

All eyes turned to Giles' pregnant fiancée. She seemed unconcerned by what she'd just blurted out.

"How do you know that?" Willow asked.

"We ran into him about a month ago at the Espresso Pump. Probably it could have been ugly had he not been… with…"

Anya turned to look at Dawn and Giles did the same. It seemed that there were a lot of secrets and omissions of information floating amongst the friends.

"Like we knew! Come on!" Anya said defensively.

"Knew what?" asked the boy in question as he walked through the door to the Magic Box.

"That you and Dawn were exchanging orgasms," Anya accused.

Xander's eyes went big and round as dinner plates. Dawn blushed and began stammering out unintelligible defenses.

"You don't have to defend our… our… what we have, Dawn," Xander told her, before shooting a dirty look at his ex-fiancee.

"Oh, for crying out loud, children," William suddenly burst out. "Can't we just get on with this?"

Anya and Buffy turned to find him invading Buffy's personal space.

"Don't get your… knickers in a twist!" Anya scolded him. "We'll get to you!"

"Get what to me? And what in the Hell are knickers?" Xander wanted to know, hands on hips, eyes on Anya.

"She's not talking to you, you git," William said, clearly more irritated than he'd been before.

"What's a git?" Buffy asked him.

"What are you talking about? No wonder I stopped hanging out with all of you! You're all crazy!" Xander yelled, throwing his arms in the air.

Anya stood a little too quicky and felt her pulse flutter. Giles was immediately there to steady her.

"Please, children," he said, trying to be calm for his fiancée. "Anya, darling, please. You need to sit down and relax. It's not good for…"

Giles stopped abruptly before raising his eyes to meet those of one very angry young man.

"Not good for what, Giles?" Xander said stiffly, challenge in his eyes.

"The baby," he finished softly. "It's not good for the little one."

Xander looked like he wanted to bolt. His body was rigid, but poised in flight form. He should have been expecting this. He'd known they were together. And when he had told Anya that he didn't want to have children two days before their long-awaited Spring wedding, the pain in her eyes was something he never wanted to face again. I do, she'd said. There was no compromise to be made. Flowers were cancelled, gifts were sent back, phone calls were made to friends and family saying that something unexpected came up and that no, they would not be rescheduling. He'd packed his suitcase and went back to the basement he'd once lived in at his parents' house; back to his father coming home to his drunk mother and telling her she was useless… back to fists cracking plaster and bones. One day they'd kill each other. No child should ever have to live through that.

"Congratulations," he finally said, although his voice betrayed his well-wishes.

Anya and Giles exchanged a guilty look.

"No, really," Xander told them, stepping back with his hands palm out in front of him, a defensive gesture he'd picked up from Anya. "I wish you both the best. Seems that Rupert here really is the better man. He could give you what I wouldn't."

Xander's use of the older man's first name came as a surprise. He still looked like he wanted to run. But he didn't.

"This isn't why I called you, you know," Dawn told him softly, tentatively touching her hand to his arm.

She was relieved when he let her slide it down into his own hand. He gave her hand an appreciative squeeze.

"Buffy's been seeing someone," Willow blurted out.

Xander's smile was rueful. Seems that everyone was moving on. He turned and looked at Dawn. Maybe he should, too. Maybe he should take their lunch dates a little more seriously. Maybe he should take their coffee dates a little more seriously. Maybe he should take Dawn a little more seriously.

"That's… that's wonderful, Buff," he sighed, sounding defeated. "Dare I ask who the lucky guy is?"

Buffy turned to see William waiting expectantly behind her.

"Um, it's not… that simple," she said shakily, never taking her eyes from William's. "It's… he's…"

"He's a ghost, Xander," Dawn said a little too brightly.

Xander looked around the room waiting for the other shoe to fall. This had to be a joke. He zeroed in on Tara. Tara wasn't in the habit of lying. She nodded her head slightly letting him know that this was, indeed, very real.

"Is it… is it Angel?" he whispered, not sure why he was whispering.

"Why the Hell does everyone assume it's got to be Peaches, huh?" William growled defensively.

"His name is Angel and it's a natural assumption, Captain Snarktastic!" Buffy growled back, just as defensively.

"Is he here?" Xander whispered, leaning into Dawn.

"Uh, pretty much, yeah. At least that's what I'm told," Dawn told him.

"And, uh… why is it we're being so calm about this? I mean…" Xander dropped his voice even lower. "Maybe this is just her imagination."

"It's NOT my imagination!" Buffy shouted, standing for full effect.

"Anya can see him," Tara told him.

"Oh, and that just seals the deal! The only woman on earth who's deathly afraid of BUNNIES can see him," Xander barked out without thinking.

He got a glimpse of Ripper as Giles fleyed him with his eyes. Luckily for the boy, the older man was able to control his temper.

"My fiancée's irrational fearshave no bearing on this matter, Xander," Giles told him tightly. "The fact is, she can see him and she's managed to figure out his purpose."

"Yeah? What's that?" Xander asked just as tersely as his arms came to fold defensively across his chest.

"This is the first time in more than a year that we've all been in the same room," Dawn smiled, not willing to let Xander's irritation ruin the moment for her.

"That's… it's…"

Xander was stammering. He looked around at the people he once thought he couldn't live without. Willow, with her resolve face firmly in place. Tara, with that familiar look of quiet countenance. Buffy, who looked tired and older from the pain she'd suffered. Anya, who looked radiant beside an equally radiant Giles. Dawn… the girl who had turned into a beautiful young woman and who seemed genuinely interested in him beyond the school-girl crush she'd once had… how could he have stayed away from these people for so long?

"Who… who is it? Who's this… ghost?" Xander wanted to know.

"Remember the guy who owned Buy the Book?" Dawn asked him.

"Yeah… Grieves. He hired my company to do some remodeling work for him awhile back," Xander told her.

"You know Will?" Buffy found herself asking.

She was surprised that Giles, Tara, Willow and all Anya seemed to have some sort of connection to him.

"Yeah," Xander nodded. "You remember him, Dawn. We ran into him at the Espresso Pump. Kind of quiet, British guy. Not as uptight as Giles, but all with the polite and reserved."

Giles shot Xander a dark look but let the boy's comment go.

"Oh! I do! He rode a bicycle around town," the younger Summers smiled. "He's kind of cute in a smarty-pants kind of way."

Buffy stuck her tongue out at Dawn.

"Well, look at that," William grinned. "Looks like someone in your family recognizes brilliance when she sees it."

"Mmmm… well, there's really no accounting for good taste, now is there, Will?" Buffy scowled back at him.

"What did he say?" Dawn asked excitedly.

"Never you mind what he said," Buffy huffed. "I want to know how to help him help us so that he disappears!"

Her words stung William. He was just as much an innocent in this as she was. He hadn't asked to be brought back. Had he asked, it wouldn't have been to haunt her.

"I'm going now," he announced, the hurt etched in his eyes as his jaw clenched and unclenched.

"Go then," Buffy said dismissively. "Don't stick around on my account."

"Don't worry, I won't," he shot back. "And just in case nobody's ever told you, no wonder these peoplehaven't made the effort to bearound you. You're a right bitch."

Buffy's mouth dropped open as William walked through the shop door. The tears came to her eyes and threatened to fall no matter how she fought them. She stared for several moments waiting for him to return. He didn't.

"Problem solved," she announced shakily, to her friends. "He's gone."

They all continued to stare at her wondering what he had said to make her eyes so wide and tearful.

"He didn't mean it," Anya said softly, reaching out to hold Buffy's hand. "Honey, look at me. He didn't mean it. He's just as frustrated as you."

Buffy looked up at Anya and saw something she couldn't place. Something familiar in her eyes… something that was so much like her mother.

"Mommy?" she whispered, disbelieving.

Anya smiled and winked at her.

"I'd want my mommy, too, if I were in your shoes," she told her. "This whole situation is just right out of the movies."

Buffy stared for another moment before shaking her head to clear it.

"Yeah… I… I think I should just go home. I'm feeling really tired all of a sudden," she told her friends. "I'll call you later, Dawn. And… it was really good seeing you all."