Chapter 23

By the time Buffy got back to the hotel in London, she was wiped out. She'd spent hours coordinating with Watchers not involved in the conspiracy but who needed to be told what was going on. Willow had gotten the Devon Coven onboard to help fix the wards on Council HQ and track down any additional unauthorized magic, so Willow didn't kill herself trying to do everything. She'd also gotten Giles' aunts looped in on what had happened to him, and when Buffy left Bath the three witches were planning some kind of healing mojo to work on Giles while he slept. Buffy wasn't sure adding more magic to the situation was the best plan, but she figured the other women knew more about magic and had Giles' best interests at heart, so she let them lead.

They'd spent some time setting up protocols among the Watchers for searching out who might have helped the conspirators, which left the Coven and Buffy's team to manage the process and check people's work. Hopefully that would make the rest of her trip less stressful, but Buffy had the sneaking suspicion it meant she'd spend the next week in meetings full of British people who took forever to get to the point. The whole day had taken diplomacy skills she didn't really have, and she wanted nothing more than to get into bed and have William feed her ice cream naked until she fell asleep.

The way today had gone, she wasn't entirely surprised when she opened the hotel room door to find William and Tommy set up at the small dining table in the room with takeout Chinese and huge binders of some kind, as well as Tommy's laptop. "Hey, luv." William smiled at her, and Buffy relaxed fractionally. Okay, she could hang out with people at least long enough to eat.

"Hey, Will. And Tommy." She really hoped she didn't look like she was grimacing.

"Penny?" Tommy was blinking at the empty room behind her as if she could make his fiancé materialize.

"She's in your room." Buffy offered. "She woke up on the ride home. She's groggy, but coherent. She was hungry, but we had some snacks in the car, and she said all she wanted to do was find you and go to sleep, so she headed for your room."

Tommy stood before she was even done speaking. "I'll text you if I need to come back for anything." He nodded in Will's general direction and bolted out the door.

And then it was just the two of them in the room, and it was quiet. Buffy sighed in relief and dropped to the bed in a boneless heap.

"Poor love. You had quite the day, didn't you?" William grabbed a container of lo mien and some chopsticks and rolled towards her. Once he was beside the bed, he waved the container over Buffy's face, taking in the purple splotches beneath her closed eyes. "Can you sit up long enough to get some noodle into you, or do I have to brace you?"

Buffy blinked her eyes open and watched the white paper container hovering above her head. She was honestly torn. Part of her just wanted to go to sleep, but she had been fantasizing about him and food. But, sleep. She sighed and sat up, slumped against the arm she was bracing herself with. "Okay, I can stay awake a little longer. I really am hungry."

"Good girl." William smiled and leaned forward to kiss her cheek. "Lemme grab something, an I'll come join you." He handed her the container and chopsticks, then headed back over to the table, where he grabbed a binder and put it on his lap. Then he gathered the beef and broccoli, a box of rice, and the General Tso's chicken, as well as an empty plate and his used dish. Once he'd situated everything across his lap so that he didn't need to hold it, he headed for the nightstand, where he carefully placed the dishes and food. Then he tossed the binder to the middle of the bed, shifted the chair around, and boosted himself onto the mattress with her.

Buffy watched him move around as she absently shoved noodles into her mouth. Part of her was pleased at the quality of the food, the noodles definitely seemed less slimy than the lo mien in Sunnydale. Mostly, she was admiring Spike's movement and appreciating his energy. Sometimes when she was tired, awake people seemed like an affront. Either they were keeping her from sleep with their energy, or they made her feel like she couldn't keep up. William was easy to be around. He'd always been that way since the soul, even as a vampire. Heck, he'd had his moments pre-soul. Somehow his being awake didn't rub her the wrong way, she just appreciated what he was doing and didn't feel pressured to perk up and be entertaining.

Once he was situated on the bed, William spread his legs and patted the spot between them. "Wanna come up here, pet? I can help feed you up while you relax."

Buffy smiled. It wasn't nudity and ice cream, but clothed cuddling and Chinese food didn't sound bad, either. She stretched to hand him the paper container, then crawled up the bed and into his arms. "Ahh." She smiled as she leaned back against his chest and the container reappeared in front of her. "This is just what I needed." She turned and kissed his shoulder. "Thank you."

"Hey, you asked me to be at the hotel with takeout, I could only obey." He leaned forward and kissed her neck, then reached over for the binder. Positioning it next to them, he flicked it open and unclipped the pen attached to the page he'd been looking at. Then he frowned. The damn binder was on his right. Ah well, it wasn't like he needed perfect handwriting to circle and star things, he could make due.

'Watcha doin'?" Buffy asked around a mouthful of noodles.

"This is one of the inventory books listing all the items my estate has in storage here in London." William replied. "I'm going through it marking stuff I'm gonna want to sell, and things I may want to take back to Los Angeles with me. Jezebel's building us that apartment, we're gonna need furniture for it. No use buying new stuff when we have so much already. And I don't wanna keep paying storage fees for stuff I don't have any interest in keeping. Like this, for example." He pointed to a picture of a very ornate looking chair with damaged fabric. "This was in the attic when I was a kid, I have no idea why it wasn't just thrown out when they emptied the house. If someone'll pay for it I'm happy to sell it, otherwise it goes in a dumpster."

Buffy swallowed and put down the lo mien. "Wait, some of this stuff is from your childhood? Like, from your house when you were growing up?"

"Still got the house, too. There's two tenants, it was sub-divided at some point into two flats. Tom's tryin' to get me an appointment to see it this week. Gonna be a bit of a shitshow, it's not exactly wheelchair friendly, but I want to get a look at it and see what condition it's in, how badly the remodeling changed the floorplan." His memories of the house were somewhat wonky, granted, due to the memory spell. He knew that when he'd actually grown up there he'd spent many years only visiting for holidays and living at Worthington House the rest of the time. Then the fake memories had given him a whole different experience of the place, of spending hours exploring the house alone.

Buffy picked up the lo mien again. "From what Penny told me when I was in LA, I thought the estate was just a few things from before you were turned, and then they just kind of…Followed you around and picked up artifacts from your life as a vampire."

"Oh, there's some of those, too." He frowned, considering a cabinet. "There's a book over on the table with the contents of a flat Dru and I had in Piccadilly in the 60's. I'm having all the vinyl shipped to LA, figured I'd have you look at everything else, see if you wanted a vintage outfit or any of the furniture or whatnot. What do you think of this cabinet, luv? I think it's pretty, nice quality, but I can't for the life of me figure what I'd use it for."

Buffy handed him the mostly-empty food container and picked up the book. "Can you add some of whatever the beefy-smelling food is to that?"

"Beef with Broccoli."

"Perfect." Buffy examined the picture. "I think that's a lingerie chest, or a jewelry box. It's a little ornate for my taste, but Dawn may want it. She filled her bedroom in Rome with really ornate, girly stuff."

"Okay, circle it and write DS next to it. We'll check with the Bit once she's here." William handed her the pen, and when she was done set the newly refilled food container on top of the book. Then he eased her back against his chest so he could look over her shoulder. "What about that couch?"

"Definite no from me." Buffy picked up the chopsticks and shoved a strip of beef into her mouth, so Will took the pen back and starred the settee. They made it through two pages of furniture like that before Buffy's food was gone and she started nodding off again.

"Buffy, luv, time to wrap up, yeah? Can do more tomorrow." He took the empty container and set it next to his now-empty plate on the nightstand.

"Yeah." Buffy groaned and heaved herself out of bed. "Hand me the book, I'll get it back on the table."

While she put the book away and bundled some of the leftovers into the fridge, William got back into his chair and gathered the trash. It was wonderfully domestic, and his heart swelled with hope. It felt like they could really make this work, be a real couple and have jobs and not get stifled by the normalcy of it all.

Once they had the room back in some sort of order, they went to brush their teeth together. William was enjoying making faces at Buffy in the mirror, something he hadn't previously been able to do, and feeling thankful the double sink and vanity were in an alcove outside the washroom and WC so he didn't feel awkward sharing the space with her. They were working up to being able to share the shower, for now it was still too raw. After a minute trying not to giggle and swallow her toothpaste, Buffy headed back into he main part of the room, and Spike stifled a sigh. He'd probably gone too far with the horsing around and was due a tongue-lashing. He was surprised when Buffy came back with the furniture book, hopping up onto the counter and flipping through pages she hadn't seen yet as she brushed her teeth.

When they'd both rinsed, Buffy pointed out a cabinet to him. "Do you not like this one? It's so pretty, I'd love it for my bedroom…Or, our bedroom? We haven't really discussed that."

William smiled, feeling the tension drain out of him. Not upset, then. That was was a relief. "It's a fine piece, that wardrobe. It was my mother's." He reached out and grabbed her hand. "The apartment will have three bedrooms, luv. No pressure, if you're not ready to be full time bedmates we don't have to rush it. But you know I'd love to have you with me, sleepin' next to me with your sweet self…"

"Kicking and rolling around in my sleep, making you wake up in pain when I throw myself on top of you…"

"Legs won't be injured forever, Goldilocks. Never minded the enforced snugglin' before."

Buffy blushed, lowering her eyes to the book. With a shrug and a nod she grabbed her PJs and headed back toward the bed to change. When she heard the faint creek of the wheelchair behind her, Buffy spoke. "When we agreed to share the hotel room, we talked about it being a test, of finding out if we could share a space and live together, but I didn't tell you…" She took a deep breath. "With Riley, I didn't sleep well when we shared a bed. It wasn't just that he was a big guy, although that was part of it. I was always too hot. I'd wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat, breathing too hard, feeling like I needed to get away. I never felt like that when I slept with you before. Not that we spent many nights sharing a bed to sleep, and yes that was my fault, but I always slept soundly when we did. And, I was worried that it would be different, now that you were all with the body temperature. I need you to know that's not a concern for me now."

William unbuttoned his shirt, unsure of how to respond. "Thanks, I suppose."

"No, you don't get it." Buffy tried to push down her irritation. Why was she so bad with words? "I was worried I wouldn't be able to stay with you because you're alive. You did this amazing, heroic thing and went through this incredible transformation that I pushed you towards, and then I realized I might not be comfortable with you anymore because of it. I'm a horrible person, and possibly a necrophiliac!"

He tried not to laugh, but didn't quite manage it. "You're not a necrophiliac, luv. I've seen you around real dead bodies. You've just had some unique dating experiences. You met and got close to a couple of vampires, and some of your longest-lasting relationships are with people without heartbeats. A body that's not animated by something and can't respond to you doesn't do a thing for you, and you'll realize that if you think about it. You may be a demon-lover, but that's another thing entirely."

"Vampire-aholic?" Buffy shrugged. "I mean, yeah, I see your point, but I still feel like five kinds of heel for worrying about how I'd react to you having a body temperature."

"Couples have all kinds of concerns when they move in together. This is a unique one, granted, but we have unique lives. Even if we'd had a few nights together dating regular-like, it'd still feel different living together. Don't rush it, luv. We have weeks before we get back to LA to decide if we need one bedroom or two."

"But, I wanna shop for fancy antique bedroom furniture." Buffy picked up the book again as she got under the covers, then drew the comforter back for him.

"By all means. We'll need two bedroom sets anyway, either yours and mine, or ours and guest room. Enjoy yourself."

Buffy smiled as he climbed into the bed next to her. "You're kind of amazing, you know that?"

"Why, because I'm willing to share my furniture with you?"

"No, because you're so willing to put up with all my crazy mood swings and temper tantrums and freakouts." Buffy lay back and propped the book up on her ribs so she could see the pictures.

William scooted down so he was laying next to her and moved a couple of pillows between his legs so he could lay on his side comfortably. "Easy to give you what you need, luv. Easiest thing in the world."

Buffy opened her mouth to argue with him, when a weird feeling came over her, and she tensed. What the hell? It was almost like her memories…

"Dawn!" William gasped. "What the hell…Why do I remember her being eighteen AND sixteen?"

"Something happened." Buffy was wide awake now, her heart pounding as she bolted out of bed to get her phone. "When I left Italy she was in college, I swear. She was totally fine being on her own for a few days. It was only supposed to be a few days!" She dialed Dawn's mobile number with trembling hands. "What the hell could she have gotten into? Or, did she get attacked? Oh, God, what if she ran into some leftover Glorificus-worshiper…"

"Buffy, luv, come here, you're gonna hyperventilate." William gestured, feeling incredibly frustrated by his inability to go to her. He relaxed a bit as she walked back towards the bed, but didn't take a deep breath until Buffy was beside him again. The call went to voicemail, and he took the device from her shaking hands. "Alright, take a deep breath, luv." He rubbed her back with his right hand, hitting redial with his left and putting it on speaker.

This time the call picked up on the second ring. "Buffy?" Dawn's trembling voice came through the receiver.

"Dawn, sweetie, what happened? Are you okay?" Buffy looked like she didn't know if she should yell or cry, and William squeezed her shoulder gently.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Dawn looked across the bed at Marco. "I…Umm, I think I really screwed up." She winced at the unintentional double meaning. "I…We…Kind of rewrote reality, a little."

Buffy and Spike looked at one another. "Okay. Why don't you start explaining exactly what you mean by that, while I raid the minibar. Something tells me this conversation will go better with alcohol." Buffy slid out of bed, leaving William the phone.

"Alright now, Bit. Why don't you start from the beginning for me, okay pidge?"