Title:
Acting The Part
Author: Pattyanne
[email protected]
Disclaimer: None of
the BtVS
characters belong to me.
Feedback: Love some, thanks.
Rating:
Up to NC-17
Summary: AU. William St. James is
an actor in a hit television
show. While
appearing at a fan convention, he meets
Buffy and her six year
old daughter, Melanie
AN: Hey, check out the pretty picture vamps
made
for the
story:
www.offangsandfairytales.net/actingthepartmain.html
Part
twenty-four...
"Mommy?"
Buffy opened her eyes. No amount
of counting or
wishing was going to get her out of this one.
Both
William and Angel had arrived.
At the same
time.
"Mommy?"
Melanie's voice was taking on the fretful note
Buffy recognized all too well. It was the tone she
most often heard when
the little girl was distressed
about something and was close to
tears.
She couldn't fall apart about this. Not now, with
Melanie
sitting here.
And the more she thought about it, the more she
was
certain that there was no earthly reason for her to fall
apart. She
was a grown woman, and she had absolutely
no obligations to Angel anymore.
She was perfectly free
to go out with whomever she chose, whenever she
chose
to do so.
Pasting a smile on her face, she took Melanie's hand
and
walked her over to the door. "Nothing's wrong, baby," she
said,
kneeling beside her daughter and smoothing her hair.
"Daddy's here to get
you. Do you need to use the bathroom
before you go?"
"No."
"You
sure?"
"Uh-huh."
Taking a deep breath, Buffy stood up and turned
the
doorknob. "All right, then," she said brightly, opening
the
door.
Her heartbeat picked up its pace considerably when
she saw
William. He looked wonderful; dressed mostly
in black and it suited
him.
Black silk trousers, with a perfectly cut button down shirt
tucked into them that must have been tailored for him, it
fit him so
perfectly. He had a pair of expensive looking
sunglasses on that hid his
eyes from her scrutiny, but
he was definitely looking at Angel and probably
sizing
him up.
Angel was returning the favor. Dressed in one of
his
ridiculously expensive suits that he'd never allowed
Buffy to have
cleaned by anyone other than an exclusive
and obscure laundry service clear
on the other side of
town. As she watched, he began walking a bit
faster,
obviously trying to beat William to the front door.
But
William hung back a little, not allowing Angel to
make a contest out of
their arrival.
Holding Melanie's hand, Buffy stepped out onto
the
porch. "Hi, Angel," she said, pulling the child around in
front of
her.
"Hey, babe," he said casually, climbing the porch
steps and
leaning down to brush a kiss across her
cheek before she could pull away. His
eyes traveled
up and down her body. "You look sensational."
She
ignored the compliment and heard him laugh
softly before he turned his
attention to Melanie.
"Hi there, kiddo," he said, his voice a touch
too
jovial in the manner used by a person who wasn't
all that good with
small children.
"Hi," she answered him, so quietly that it was
almost
inaudible, pushing back against Buffy's legs.
By now, William
was standing on the bottom step of
the porch, leaning against the railing.
Buffy could tell
that he was preparing to give an Emmy award
winning
performance that would completely disguise the truth
of his
opinion regarding her ex-husband.
Angel stepped back and gave William an
appraising
once over. "Angel Conner," he said, extending his
right
hand.
Buffy's cheeks turned pink. Introducing them had
been
her job. She was allowing herself to get flustered.
After a
hesitation that anyone with eyes could see was
quite deliberate, William
stepped up onto the porch and
shook Angel's hand. "William St.
James."
Angel's head tilted slightly. "St. James," he mused.
"Now,
where have I heard that name before?"
"On television," Melanie
supplied helpfully.
Thinking it over for an insultingly long time, making
it
clear that he felt William to be of such little importance
that he had
to search his mind high and low for recog-
nition, Angel finally nodded.
"Ohhhh...yeah. Now I've got
it. You're on that Star Trek wanna-be show,
right?"
William just smiled. "Something like that," he said,
visibly
dismissing Angel from his mind. He knelt down
beside Melanie and smiled.
"Hello, pixie. How's my
best
girl?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Even if he'd
known nothing about Angel Connor before
this moment, William would have
wholeheartedly
disliked him.
He oozed smarmy, arrogant superiority,
the kind
that blared, "Hey, notice me! I only wear and drive
the very
best! You WISH you were half as important
as I am!"
When he'd
observed the way Angel had picked up
speed to beat him to the porch, he'd
hung back,
refusing to play 'King Of The Hill' with Melanie's
father.
His deliberate calm had only wavered for a moment
when Angel
had leaned down to kiss Buffy's cheek,
whispering some kind of comment in her
ear in an
intimate way that William detested.
It was restored after
seeing her reaction to it...the
turning of her head and the way she'd pulled
back
from him.
William had no trouble seeing just what kind of
show
Angel was going to be putting on. He'd dealt with too
many of the
same types of phonies not to recognize one
when he saw it. Lawyer or not, the
man was no actor.
His surface charm, which was being laid on a little
too
heavily to be real, was pretty much all he had.
Even though he had no
intention of playing whatever
game Buffy's ex was starting up, some small and
childish part of him was more than a little pleased to
note Melanie's
reaction to her father. She was clearly
going along with all this just
because she felt she
should.
The child's wide blue gaze lingered on
her mother's
face, then glanced around the yard, then stared down
at her
shoes. She never really made eye contact with
her father at all, even when
he spoke directly to her.
Hating himself just a bit for it, he decided to
make a
point of his own. "Hello, pixie," he said, turning his
back on
Angel and kneeling next to Melanie. "How's
my best girl?"
Her little
face bloomed as she returned his smile.
Tousling her soft curls, he
stood up and met Buffy's
eyes. "And," he added softly, "how's my other
girl?"
To his intense delight, Buffy smiled and lifted her
face. He
took immediate advantage of the opportunity
and dropped a kiss on her
lips.
Melanie giggled.
William pulled away and looked down at her.
"And just
what's so funny, giggle box?" he asked, tweaking the
tip of her
small nose.
"You kissed Mommy," the little girl said, then tilted
her
head up and looked at her mother.
William looked from Melanie to Buffy,
and promptly
forgot all about Angel. "I did, didn't I?" he said quietly,
caught up in the intense emotions rising in him,
emotions he could see
reflected in her eyes.
The moment was far too brief. Before he could
analyze
what he was seeing and sensing, Angel Connor once
again made his
presence known.
"So," he said, a little too loudly, "how long have you
two been...seeing each other?"
Buffy answered first. "Not
long."
"Ten days or so," William added.
Angel shoved his hands in
the front pockets of his
trousers. "Is that a fact? Where did you meet? I
mean,
Buffy's not exactly the type to run with the Hollywood
elite. She's
kind of a small town girl....aren't you, babe?"
Surprisingly, Melanie
jumped into the conversation.
"We went to the convention," she announced.
"And then
we had dinner...and then we had ice cream....and we went
to see
his house...are the doggies still there?" she asked
William.
"Yes,
pixie, they're still there. And speaking of the conven-
tion...I have
something for you in my car." William held
out one hand and Melanie finally
pried herself away from
her mother and walked back down the sidewalk with
him.
Buffy didn't give Angel a chance to say anything. "I'll get
my
keys and you can get Melanie's booster seat out of my car.
And make
sure she's buckled in right."
"I will." Angel yanked his hands out of his
pockets and
checked his watch, a new one that Buffy had never seen
him
wear before. "Christ, Buffy....she's my kid, too!"
They stood there,
staring at each other for a long moment,
and Buffy was on the verge of
pointing out the numerous
occasions when he'd forgotten the very point he'd
just made.
"Mommy! Lookit, Mommy!" Melanie's voice was bright
with
excitement as she ran back up the sidewalk, holding
a large manila envelope
in her hands. "Lookit! It's our
pictures."
Buffy accepted the
envelope from her daughter and removed
the contents. "Already?" she asked,
remembering the
fine print at the bottom of the form she'd signed, the one
warning her that the pictures probably wouldn't arrive for at
least four
to six weeks. "How?"
William shrugged, rejoining them on the porch.
"Pulled a
couple of strings."
The three glossy 8X10s taken at the
convention had come
out beautifully. Melanie's smile in the one she'd had
taken
with William was incandescent. Buffy wasn't thrilled with the
one of
her and William alone. She definitely looked nervous
in that one.
The
best was the picture of all three of them. Seeing
it now reminded Buffy of
the moment it was snapped,
when she had looked at William instead of the
camera,
and had found him looking back at her.
Melanie, in between
them, was glancing upwards,
and it gave her the look of a small angel
petitioning
the Lord for a big favor.
**Which....in a way....was
pretty much what she was
doing** Buffy thought.
"I think," she said,
smiling down at her daughter,
"we should have these framed. How about
you?"
"Okay...I do, too."
Angel, who was apparently getting tired
of being ignored,
craned his neck to see the photos. "Cute," was his
only
comment.
Buffy glanced at him, then looked at William for a
possible
reaction. He simply smiled, pretending to take Angel's
terse
statement at face value for Melanie's sake.
"Let me just put
these inside, baby." She slipped the
pictures back into the envelope and
placed it on the coffee
table, then grabbed her purse. "Here," she said,
handing
Angel her keys.
Buffy watched as he moved Melanie's booster
from her car
to his own. Taking a deep breath, she knelt beside her
daughter. "You have fun with Daddy, okay? I have my cell
phone if you
need anything and he has the number."
Melanie nodded, then looked up at
William. "Will you be
here when I get home?"
The longing in the
little girl's voice was plain to hear, and he
had no intention of
disappointing her. Without caring one iota
as to how Angel might feel about
it, he picked Melanie up and
gave her a hug and kiss. "Of course I will,
pixie. Cross my
heart."
Melanie, who had little faith in the promises
made by her
biological father, believed him utterly and without
question.
"Okay," she said as he set her on her feet.
By this
time, Angel had returned to the porch. "All ready
to go?" Melanie nodded, and
he looked at Buffy. "I'll have
her home in a couple hours" he said, returning
her keys.
She nodded. "It's a school night," she reminded
him.
"Yeah, I know. I take it you're going out, too? You
should
probably tell me where you're going to be, just in case."
"I
have my cell with...."
"Veronique's," William interjected
smoothly.
For the first time since his arrival, Angel looked
slightly
dumbfounded and a little envious...and Buffy knew
why.
Veronique's was a highly exclusive restaurant, with a
re-
servation list at least six months in advance.
William had
obviously pulled more than one string.
"Really?" she asked, honestly
surprised.
"Of course, really." He slipped one arm around her
waist
and pulled her close. "Only the best for you,
love."
For herself,
Buffy couldn't care less about impressing
Angel, but she understood William's
need to show him
up a bit.
She leaned down and exchanged a kiss
goodbye with
her daughter. "See you in a little while, okay?"
"Okay."
Melanie accepted her father's outstretched
hand and walked with him to his
car.
After buckling her in, he closed the door and gave
Buffy a
brief wave.
William copied the gesture with a wide smile. "I
really
don't like him one bit," he said softly. "In fact, I may
even hate
him."
"I can see that," she replied, her own smile painted
on a
little too brightly.
Angel glanced at the street. "Nice
car."
"Your's too," William replied in a friendly way, then
under his
breath again,still smiling, "Driving around
in a new sixty-five thousand
dollar car while the mother
of your child has one that's falling apart, you
selfish
prick."
Buffy bit her lip to keep from laughing.
"I
really...fucking...hate
him."
TBC....