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-five:
The waiters at Veronique's were
dressed
as though they were about to perform in a
symphony orchestra.
After turning over his car keys to the valet,
William took Buffy's
hand and walked her up a
purple and black carpeted path. He pulled open
a
large frosted glass door with a 'V' etched into
it, and was greeted instantly
by a hostess dressed
every bit as elegantly as the waiters were.
The
whole restaurant staff functioned liked a
team, smoothly and effortlessly,
addressing William
as "Mr. St. James". They were shown to a secluded
booth
on the far side of the dining area, set back into
the wall and surrounded on
either side by large
potted plants.
He ordered wine from one waiter
and their food
from another. A third one placed expensive crystal
glasses
before them. The wine arrived, and the
waiter hovered anxiously waiting for
William
to sample it.
Buffy took a sip from her glass as the waiter
disappeared. "What do you suppose they do
with it if the wine doesn't
get a thumbs up?"
William chuckled. "Maybe they take it back into
the
kitchen and polish it off themselves."
It was clear that the wait staff
was accustomed to
serving well recognized clientele. They made
obvious
and, for the most part, successful efforts
to keep anyone from approaching
their table in
search of an autograph.
One or two fans did manage to
get past the barrier,
but William was unfailingly polite and pleasant,
signing whatever they asked him to sign and even
posing for a woman to
take a photograph with her
cell phone.
"Does that ever bother you?"
Buffy asked, taking
another sip of wine.
He grinned at her.
"Actually....it doesn't. I suppose it
might, somewhere down the road, but
it's still fairly
new for me." He shrugged. "I kind of like it, and
they're
the reason the show is successful in the first place.
Doesn't
matter how good the acting or writing is if
no one's watching
it."
"That's true. I never thought of it like that." She sat
back in
her chair as the waiter set a plate in front of
her, cautioning her that it
was a bit hot to the touch.
They talked while they ate, making nothing
more than
causal conversation. She told him what was happening
at
'Melanie's Garden' and he told her more about the
season finale of the show,
informing her that there was
going to be a hell of a cliffhanger, but
refusing to di-
vulge any further information about what it might
be.
"I made reservations at the hotel," he said, wiping his
mouth with
a linen napkin. "I thought we could drive
down on Friday evening, and that
would give Melanie
all day Saturday and Sunday. My secretary told me
that
it's impossible to "do" Disneyland in only two days. I
guess they've
added a lot on since the last time I was
there, but I thought we'd just stick
to the main park."
"Two days will be fine," Buffy said. "She's going to
be in
heaven."
He looked pleased, she noticed, and she couldn't
help
wondering if he was subconsciously trying to compete
with Angel in a
'let's see who can score more points
with Melanie' contest.
"I
reserved a suite," he went on. "There are two bedrooms,
but if you'd rather
have a separate one for you and Melanie,
I can arrange it."
It was a
sticky situation. On one hand, she'd like nothing
better than to put Melanie
to bed in one room, then join
William in the other, but she knew she'd be
opening a
Pandora's box of questions from her daughter if she
did,
questions there were no answers for just yet.
"I think....as long
as there are two bedrooms, the one
suite will be fine," she told
him.
"You sure about that, love?"
No. No, she wasn't. But it was
the right thing to do at
this point, so she nodded and smiled. "Very
sure."
He reached across the table and took her hand, raising
it and
placing a kiss on her palm. "It's going to be very
hard sleeping in one room
while you're right behind the
door of another one, so close to me." Looking
up at her,
he winked devilishly. "Very...very...hard," he added,
making
his double meaning clear as to what would be
the 'hardest' thing about
it.
Buffy caught her breath at the feel of his lips caressing
her
hand. "I know," she said softly. "For me, too."
"But we have to set a
good example for Melanie."
"Uh-huh," she nodded again, staring into his
eyes,
nearly gasping out loud when he teasingly bit the
tip of her
fingers. Her skin prickled with awareness,
and a warm flush suffused her
entire body. She picked
up a glass of ice water to cool herself down, trying
to
decide whether it would be more effective to drink it
down fast or
dump it in her lap. "We definitely do."
"It wouldn't look
right."
"No, it wouldn't."
"She might not
understand."
"Might not."
"So...do you think we can get a little
time alone
together before we go?"
"You can count on
it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"This is a nice
car."
William turned to look at her, waiting for the traffic
light to
turn green. "Thanks. I like it, too. It's the first
thing I bought when I
landed the job on 'Outpost Space."
"Really? I would have thought the
house."
"Um...no. I didn't buy the house until I was sure the
show
would be picked up."
"You're very sensible," she said.
"Not
really." He made a face. "I was so overwhelmed
by having that kind of money
for the first time that I
wasted a ridiculous amount of it. The house and the
cars
were the ONLY sensible things I bought."
Buffy shifted a little
in her seat, settling herself into
it. "What else?" she asked.
The
light turned green. "A lot of things I didn't
need, although I managed to
convince myself that
I did," he said, neatly merging into freeway
traffic.
"Well, tell me," she insisted.
"Oh....that huge home
theater system that I hardly
ever use. Clothes I've never worn. Hundreds of
DVDs I've never watched. Two other cars that I
never drove. Then, after
I was done indulging
MYSELF, I moved on to indulging my family and
friends. I bought them expensive gifts for no reason,
sent them on
vacations all over the world, picked up
every tab. It went on like that for a
long time."
"And then you stopped yourself?"
"No, my mother
stopped me. I was at my parent's
house for Christmas, passing out more loot
than
Santa ever dreamed of, and she made me go into
the kitchen with her
and asked me exactly who I
was trying to impress."
Buffy smiled
widely. "You're kidding!"
"Oh, NO, I'm not," he insisted. My mother is a
very practical, 'both feet planted firmly on the
ground' type. She
teaches school part time and
doesn't put up with much. So, then she told me
to stop being such a show off, that I had no
use for four cars or a
watch that cost more than
her annual salary, and had I ever heard of
open-
ing a savings account."
"What did you do?"
"I sold two of
the cars, returned the watch, and..."
"....opened a savings account,"
they said at the
same time. "That's a great story," Buffy
added.
Turning onto Revello Drive, there was no sign of
Angel's car.
William parked in the driveway,
leaving no room for her ex to pull in behind
him,
proving to Buffy that even a modern and civilized
man could be
prone to bouts of territoriality.
He shut off the engine and released his
seat belt,
then did the same for her. "You know," he said,
kissing the
senses right out of her, "I wish I'd
driven the Lexus tonight
instead."
"Why's that?" she asked, kissing him back.
"The seats
recline." He nuzzled her ear,
biting playfully. "I could lay you down faster
than you could say 'I didn't sign up for this'."
"Very funny," she
said, giving his shoulder a
push.
"Oh, come on," he coaxed her.
"They'll be
back any minute, and we haven't had any
quality time all
evening."
"Going out to dinner wasn't quality time?"
"That was a
different kind of quality."
Between the tone of his voice, the look
in
his eyes, and the nearness of his body, Buffy
was finding his words
seriously tempting.
His lips captured hers and they kissed
hungrily,
moving their mouths together with
demanding
eagerness.
But it soon became clear that the Carrera
just
wasn't designed for that type of activity. Too
small for any real
abandon, the gear shift kept
digging into Buffy's thigh.
"Why don't we
just go in the house?" she
suggested. "We'd be a lot more
comfortable."
"Race
you!"
"Hey!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He beat her to
the front porch, then stood behind
her while she searched for her house key.
His arms
wrapped around her waist, he rubbed himself
against her, kissing
the back of her neck and
mussing her hair.
"You're distracting me,"
she told him.
"Good. I'm glad I have that effect on you." He
pushed
her hair aside and continued his
attentions to her neck.
By the time
she found her key, her hand was
almost shaking too hard to use
it.
William saw her predicament and placed his
hand over hers,
guiding the key straight in and
then turning the doorknob.
They almost
fell into the house, then William
closed the door, pulling her
close.
Much to her surprise, he suddenly stiffened all
over, staring
over her shoulder into the living
room, the smile fading from his
face.
"What's..." Buffy turned and followed his gaze,
her eyes
widening with shock. "....going on?"
Sitting on the couch was a middle
aged woman
Buffy had never seen before. She had a hard,
not particularly
friendly face, and she looked
highly put out about being there.
On
the opposite side of the room, as far away
as it was physically possible for
her to go,
Melanie sat curled up in an armchair, shrinking
back into it
as if she were trying to sink into the
very fabric of the cushions. Her face
was soaked
with tears, her eyes red and swollen. "Daddy....had
to go,"
she whispered, her voice nearly inaudible
and hoarse from
crying.
"What? I don't under....who are YOU?" Buffy
demanded,
frowning, barely hearing it when
the woman told her that she was a legal
secretary
at Wolfram and Hart, that Mr. Connor had called
her at home, had
asked her to.......
William said nothing. He crossed the room in
three long strides and scooped Melanie up in
his arms, rubbing her back
as she buried her
face against the side of his neck and clung
to
him.
He had already deduced what Buffy was just
beginning to
realize.
Angel had brought Melanie home, then left
her here with one
of the secretaries working
at his firm.
A complete and utter
stranger.
TBC...
(Gee, I must be trying to get Angel killed,
huh?)