Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Fourteen

Buffy let out a sigh as she sat down and put her plate before her. She drew the chair in carefully as someone poured her drink. William was already returning with a plate for himself by the time the man finished with her glass. He then went about pouring for William, who sat across from her. Generally, it was considered rude to speak to the person right across from you, or so Kit rammed into her skull; however, this was a rather informal setting—not a dinner—so she guessed it was probably alright. Otherwise, he would have sat next to her.

"Where's your uncle, if you don't mind me asking?" He was cutting a piece of meat carefully as he spoke.

Buffy nibbled on something similar, thinking about how to answer. Once she swallowed she responded. "He has some business to attend to in London. I'm not sure he'll come at all, but he might.

"Are your sisters not around?"

"We arrived earlier, but were tired from the trip." He smiled slightly, catching her gaze. "It's seems to be hereditary that none of my family can sleep in a carriage ride, no matter the length of time spent in one."

Buffy chuckled at that. "It's not very restful anyway."

"Indeed not," he agreed. "Thus, we slept the afternoon away. They awoke around the same time I did, famished. I imagine they'll be down shortly. For whatever reason it takes almost twice as much time for a woman to get ready than does a man."

Buffy chuckled again. "Well, you can thank all the layers of clothes for that. It takes time to put it all on and do their hair."

"I know that very well. I've seen how long it takes to do Regina and Lilith's hair."

"You'd rather they wear it down?"

William stilled at that, thinking. "I'm not sure. Some might say that it's vulgar… but, I'm not sure it matters either way."

Buffy shrugged. She'd had her hair long and short. She tended to prefer it to her shoulders, but it wasn't bad the way it was now. Still, she'd kill for a bottle of Pantene and a real shower. She couldn't have a bath every night and not washing her hair all the time was slowly getting to her. She had done the best she could with the sink and getting the sweat off her body like Kit told her, but it sucked big time.

Still, regardless of her hair length, she'd never trade her pants for all those layers of clothes just to have kept it the way it was.

She looked up at him after a few more bites, her mind drifting from the topic of her hair to Hallie. Just why in the hell were Anya and Hallie there? She'd heard her name before—Cecily… But… when? Where? Obviously William knew her… she knew William… She blinked, recalling the conversation and then bam, it hit her like a train. The first part she recalled was when William told her last week about Cecily's refusal in the library; however, that more than connected the dots to a much father point in his past—one she wasn't proud of.

You're beneath me…

Oh… god. The words rang, hung, in her mind as she tried not to let it show while he went about eating his late night meal. It was hard though. She remembered that night with perfect clarity, as if it were last night. She remembered throwing those words back at him, the ones that had driven him into Drusilla's arms initially. How could he stomach being the same room with her? What's more to the point… Hallie? Really? But now it all made some twisted sort of sense; Hallie had likely refused him because, well, she was a damned Vengeance demon at the time. And William, being so dedicated, would have needed someone to put him off the trail hard. But then, who knew if she'd refused him because he was human and she had a part to play, or, if she really didn't care for him.

Not that it mattered.

William had no idea. Spike knew, she realized as she recalled another night when she'd asked them if they knew one another. Liars… She snorted internally. So, he knew; Spike did. But, William had no idea.

"Are you alright?"

He glanced up at her, cold blues curious and distant. "Why do you ask?"

She sighed. "Well… I seem to recall you mentioning the woman who refused you last week being a Cecily. I'm merely wondering if the woman I spoke to a moment ago is the very same one."

"…She is." He hid his face behind his glass as he took a few swallows.

"…Can I ask what happened?" She really wanted to reach across the table and take his hand, but it just wasn't done. Maybe if they'd been alone… Maybe.

He sighed and set his glass down, staring at it. Cold blues gave the room a brief look over, as if wondering if anyone would overhear them. At least, that's what it looked like to Buffy.

Eventually, those same penetrating eyes drew back to her and settled. "You could say I'd been pining after her for months since her debut. At least, that's where it all started. In those months I spoke to her in passing, wrote terrible poetry in secret, and slowly bided my time for the right moment.

"We were on good terms. We knew each other well enough… She'd been kind to me. I assume the night I finally asked her to be apart of my life…"

"To marry you?"

He sighed and rubbed his glass. "Well… I didn't say those exact words, no. At most, I was hoping we could become closer. I wanted it to lead to marriage. I hadn't called on her yet; I'd only spoken to her at parties and so forth. So, I was trying to ask her if she would mind if I did call on her, that is if she were receptive to me as a person."

"But… she wasn't."

"No, she wasn't," he admitted. He smiled almost bitterly. "She refused me quite simply by telling me I was beneath her.

"At that's essentially that." He raised his glass to her before taking another generous sip.

Buffy wasn't sure what to say after that, trying to find a way to reassure him. Though, she wasn't sure it would truly do any good. Spike never dealt with rejection well; she imagined that was part of him that would always be William. Though, the William before her now was looking to hold the heartbreak in fairly well; Spike's mask, more than likely.

"Oh, I'm just famished!"

Buffy looked up as Reggie and Lilith came to sit. She moved to stand but both women waved her off as well as William.

"No need," Lilith told them as she took a seat next to Buffy. "I don't think anyone gives a fig about formal manners tonight. That trip from London was horrible. I'm not looking forward to making it back next Sunday."

"You've got a whole week to enjoy not leaving yet," Buffy told her, grateful for the change of topic on William's behalf. He looked like he was already putting it behind him for the time being.

"I imagine Lady Aniston has a whole passel of things planned to keep her guests busy. Likely, we won't know until tomorrow morning," Lilith went on before digging into her food.

"I heard from one of the footman something about a printed schedule," Reggie said from where she sat next to William.

"Truly?"

She nodded at her sister. "She plans on having it given to all the guests before breakfast."

Lilith shook her head with a sigh. "That woman is such a planner. I imagine I'll need a day off from the festivities. Though, at least I'll know ahead of time which one to plan to spend time in my room for."

Reggie laughed. "Whatever day they have croquet planned for."

"I don't think I've played that before," Buffy admitted, unsure if she should have.

"I suppose they don't play it much where you're from," Reggie continued after a bite. "But, you hit balls with a mallet and try to get them through rings poked into the ground. Some people can be quite competitive which is why I never play anymore."

"Ah…"

"I'm not playing, I tell you," Lilith said.

"No one's going to force you, Lily," William said with a smile.

"Do you play?" Buffy sked him.

He shook his head. "I'd rather read, truth be told. Aside from riding horseflesh I'm not very athletic."

Buffy had to stifle a laugh at that comment, making it look like a cough.

"Are you alright, Dare?" This from Reggie.

"Just fine…" she managed, smiling all the while. "I think something I ate didn't go down well."

"Careful," she reprimanded with a joking frown.

After that Buffy listened as Reggie and Lilith went on about what was what and who what coming to this country party. The whole while she kept her gaze on William, who was being just as silent as she was. She wondered if it had been wrong of her to ask about Cecily at all. Perhaps she might have been better off leaving it alone. But, truth be told, she felt like she needed him to tell her as he was now.

Gods, why couldn't Kit hurry up with that damned research? The longer she was here, pretending to be someone she wasn't, the more she wanted to go home with Spike—her Spike. Then again, there was really no guarantee he'd even want her after…

She sighed.

"I believe I'm going to go find a book to read in the library," William announced as he stood up.

"Not going to sleep?" Lilith asked.

"Too restless."

"Do you mind if I join you?" Buffy asked, not entirely sure she was ready to left with the girl just yet.

"Not at all."

"Great."

#

"Tell me again why we're still in London when I wanted to go that great party down in Greece we go invited to? The one you promised we go to together after you finished this gig and D'hoffryn gave us a week free?"

Hallie sighed long and hard as Anya helped her strip out of her clothes. They had a maid, but the two of them had wanted some privacy and thus gave the girl the night off. "I told you, Anya," the brunette said as the blond tugged to and fro at the corset, "I owe William something."

"You don't owe that mortal a damned thing," she bit off. "He's an idiot for falling in love with you." Something ripped and she sighed.

"I didn't like this anyway," she muttered, slipping off. She eyed the rip and deduced that it didn't matter anyway. It's not like she couldn't buy something new. That, and she had at least seven other corsets like it in the closet, but nowhere near as uncomfortable. She tossed it on the floor unceremoniously. "He's a good man, Anya," she told her, watching her friend flop down on the bed. They were sharing a room this time out of preference, and because Lady Aniston really did have too many house guests.

She took a seat in a nearby chair and began slipping her stockings off. "It's certainly not his fault I'm the wrong girl."

Anya was staring up at the ceiling as she pulled pin after pin from her hair. "He's just a man, no different from any other man. All their good for is—."

Hallie laughed, interrupting her. "Yes, I know. But, William is different. I hated what I had to do to him."

"You say that like you have a heart."

"Well, I am a patron of abused children, am I not?" She turned in her seat to looking in the vanity it was placed before and moved onto undoing her hair. Unlike Anya, each pin was carefully placed in a glass dish. "And you do what you do because you care about scorned women. Yes, what we do is awful, and rightly so. But, we do have a reason for doing it.

"And, at his heart, William is a good man, Anya. He was a good boy one time before." She sighed. "I just want to be around long enough to see if I can't set him in the right direction… perhaps with the right girl.

"Give me that, will you?"

"You know what D'hoffryn will do to you if you use any Vengeance powers to help him, right?"

"I won't need to do that. I know the rules. I do have a few tricks stowed away from over the years." She smiled.

"I'm giving you three days and then I'm leaving you here," she told her with a grunt. "You won't be able to stay without a chaperone and I'm tired of making myself look like I have age lines just to pass as your mother."

"I know… I know…"

"Did you even get an empathic reading off of him?

"You mean in regards to the girl playing a boy?"

"What else?"

They'd talked about it at dinner since they'd been left to eat alone for a little while. It hadn't been hard for Hallie to figure out that Darien Clarke was in fact a woman. Why, she had no idea. But, she had no plans to spoil it for her, whatever her reason may be. What Anya was asking about was William though and she had to think about it as it had become hard to focus on William's emotions when more people came into the room. But, he seemed mixed though positive about Darien. It had got her wondering if the little poet had feelings for woman-playing-a-man.

"I'm not sure, but I'll have to watch for it tomorrow. They do seem close though."

"You think he knows?"

"I doubt it very seriously."

"Three days, Hallie," she warned her once more.

"That's all I need," she said with a laugh.

AN :: Well, I'm glad I got this update out before too many days passed by the beginning of the month. We're getting there, right? I know this chapter wasn't super long, but I felt like it touched on some important places. I do hope you like Anya and Hallie. I'm trying really damned hard not to misspell anyone's name. But, if you notice it, please make a gal aware.