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 Thirty-one:
A sudden flurry of
personal appearances to
promote the season finale of 'Outpost:Space'
kept
William from visiting as much as Buffy and Melanie
would have liked.
During a two week period at the
end of May, apart from an almost daily phone
call,
they had no contact with him whatsoever.
On Wednesday, May
25th, the weather turned bad,
producing a sudden rainstorm complete with a
thunder and lightning extravaganza. Buffy had been
working overtime
preparing for the "End of School"
sales event she'd been planning, having
posters
printed and stock marked down, rearranging displays
and clearance
racks.
After collecting Melanie from after school care,
she
stopped at the market and purchased the ingredients for
Melanie's
absolute favorite dinner....Kraft Macaroni and
Cheese, and hot
dogs.
At the check out stand, Buffy picked up the TV Guide
and
opened it to Wednesday, showing Melanie the full
page ad for that night's
show. The little girl studied it
carefully, sounding out the words
slowly.
"Season.....finally?"
Buffy smiled. "Finale," she
corrected.
"What's it mean?"
"Means the last new show
until next fall. During the
summer, you'll just see reruns of the shows
you've
already seen."
Melanie didn't miss a beat. "That's
okay."
"Yes, I didn't think you'd mind." Buffy placed the TV
Guide on the conveyor belt and began unloading her
cart.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They were both
fairly drenched when they finally got
inside with the
groceries.
Buffy stripped Melanie's clothes off and popped her into
a
hot bath, then changed into a dry pair of sweat pants and a
old flannel
shirt.
She put away her groceries, then started the water boiling
for the macaroni. In the bathroom, Melanie sang quietly as
she played
with the half dozen 'Bathtime Barbies' that lined
the edge of the tub. Buffy
drained the pasta and dumped it
back in the pot, added a chunk of butter and
the powdered
cheese, then reached into the cupboard over the stove for
her
measuring cups.
Hands on her hips, she scanned the shelf.
"Melanie?"
"What?"
"Have you seen the measuring
cups?"
"Yes." That was all.
Buffy sighed and headed down
the hall. Melanie's literal
turn of mind could be frustrating at times.
"Where are they?"
she asked, stepping into the bathroom and pushing
the
curtain open around the tub. "Oh, Melanie...."
Half the
contents of her kitchen was currently floating in
Melanie's bath water. All
of her measuring cups, her large
ladle, a Tupperware mixing bowl, two rubber
spatulas, the
small sauce pan she sometimes soft boiled an egg in, a
jumbo
sized plastic soda cup from McDonald's, and a wire
whisk.
Melanie
offered up the measuring cups in one soapy little
hand. "Can I have them back
when you're done?"
"No, you may not." Buffy tried for a 'no nonsense'
face. "And
you'd better hustle it up if you want to have your dinner
and
homework finished before the show starts," she said in a
voice that
meant business. "It's extra long tonight and I want
you ready to hop right
into bed the second it's over."
"I will."
While Melanie
finished bathing, Buffy washed her
measuring cups and added milk to the
macaroni mixture.
She stirred it up until the butter melted, then placed
two
hot dogs into their buns and wrapped them in paper towels
before
placing them in the microwave.
As she was setting the table, Melanie
walked into the
kitchen wearing her Snow White nightgown, a
miniature
copy of the yellow skirted, blue-bodiced number
worn by the Disney princess.
She had a red hairband pushing
back her damp curls, and wore a pair of red
slippers with Snow
White's face on them. In her arms, she carried a stuffed
'Bambi',
'Thumper, the rabbit', and 'Flower, the skunk'....animals from an
entirely different movie, but Melanie didn't make those distinctions.
Still in her bedroom, was a stuffed version of all seven
dwarfs.
The entire ensemble and it's accessories came from the
Disney-
land Character Shop, courtesy of William St. James. The
reason
Buffy had allowed the over-indulgence was because, unlike
most
children her age, Melanie actually played with all her stuffed
toys.
Being the solitary child she was, she made up elaborate games
that
included every single one of them at some point. None of her
animals gathered
any dust on shelves or languished in toy boxes
after being played with one
time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After dinner was eaten and the
dishes were washed, Buffy
sent Melanie to brush her teeth. She supervised the
small
homework assignment she'd been given, then settled down on
the
couch beside her and switched on the television.
It was an exciting
episode. The crew of the Phoenix were
in considerable jeopardy for nearly the
entire two hours,
and the captain himself was in not one, but two
rather
lengthy fistfights. Buffy was more than a little impressed
by the
fighting skills he was exhibiting. He'd explained to
her once that the fights
were scripted and choreographed
down to the smallest detail, and a stunt man
handled the
more elaborate and potentially risky maneuvers, but quite
a
bit of the work was all his own and he spent a great deal of
time
working with a martial arts teacher to perfect his craft.
Shortly
before the final commercial break, something
happened that bothered her far
more than she'd thought
it would. something that the writers had been
flirting around
the edges of and teasing the audience with for the last 5 or
6
episodes.....Captain Amara and his female second in
command, some sort
of tall and very beautiful alien with
jet black hair that reached nearly to
the backs of her
knees....finally gave in to the sexual tension
between
them and had an encounter Buffy had to send Melanie
out of the
room for.
It was easy to tell herself that she was stupid for
feeling jealous. That there was nothing between
William and this woman
except for the words the shows
writers put in their mouths.
But
stupid or not, the sight bothered her. She almost
wished for a moment that he
wasn't such a good actor,
as he certainly appeared to be enjoying
himself.
When the show resumed, her mind was so preoccupied
that
she nearly missed the big finish...the cliffhanger the
audience had been told
to expect in various magazines
and interviews, a plot development so
carefully guarded
that even most of the cast had no idea it was
coming.
Buffy watched in amazement as Captain Amara battled it
out
with an alien twice his size. As the music swelled
dramatically, the action
slipped into slow-motion. The
alien wrenched a piece of pipe from the wall
of the star-
ship and smashed it into the side of the captain's head.
He
collapsed on the floor in an unconscious heap. The creature
then knelt
beside him and twisted the captain's neck until
a sickening snap
sounded.
The action then focused on approaching footsteps.
Slowly,
the camera panned up from a pair of boots, over shapely legs
and a
curving torso clad in tight red leather, up to the face of
the woman Captain
Amara had been dallying with moments
ago.
But instead of reacting
as expected, the woman smiled. Glossy
red lips parted and she said, "He's
finally dead" in a tone of
long denied satisfaction. The screen went black
save for three
small words....'To Be Continued...'
Melanie turned
to her mother with tears welling up in her
eyes. "What
happened?"
Buffy fumbled for the remote and punched the
'off'
button, then slipped her arm around Melanie's shoulders
and pulled
the little girl onto her lap. Why hadn't he warned
her about
this?
She did her best to explain how TV shows sometimes did
such
things...threw out shocking plot developments, then
left their viewers
hanging for three or four months. Melanie,
however, couldn't get past the
concept that William's
character was dead.
Sudden inspiration
saved her.
"Listen...how about if we call him and you can talk
to
him yourself," she suggested. "Would that make you feel
a little
better?"
Rubbing her small nose with the back of her hand,
Melanie nodded.
"Okay, then." Buffy retrieved her purse and
searched
through it for the slip of paper with his phone number on
it that
William had given her the day they'd first met at
the convention. Punching
in the numbers, she settled
down on the couch next to Melanie.
The
number rang nine times, and Buffy was about to
hang up when someone finally
answered....a soft and
decidedly feminine voice practically purred,
"Hello."
Certain that she must have dialed the wrong number,
Buffy hesitated.
The voice on the other end of the line repeated
it's
greeting, following it up with a sexy sounding
chuckle.
"Um....I'm sorry...I must....I think I dialed the wrong
number?"
Buffy stammered. It came out as a question.
"Well, maybe
not," the woman replied. "Who are you
trying to
reach?"
"William...um....St. James...."
"No, this is his
number....hang on."
Buffy's brow furrowed.
"Hey, baby,"
she heard the woman call out. "Phone call....how
should I know who it
is?.....One of your legion of women, I
assume....hey!...."
More
giggling. Her stomach tightened.
"Hello?" William's voice,
finally....sounding highly amused.
She didn't know what to say.
Everything seemed to be
backed up in her throat for some reason. Dimly, she
heard
him say "hello" a second time, then once more. He sounded
on the
verge of hanging up when she glanced down at her
daughter's worried face and
her vocal paralysis broke.
"It's me....it's
Buffy."
"Buffy?" He actually sounded delighted to hear her
voice.
"How are you, sweetheart? I was going to give you
a call in a little while
after my...."
"That's okay," she said quickly. "Um...actually,
Melanie
wanted to talk to you." She sketched the situation out for
him
briefly, then handed the phone to her daughter.
Buffy made busy work
for herself around the room,
trying not to listen and succeeding for the
most part. She
vaguely heard Melanie talking and asking questions,
and
could tell by her tone of voice that she was being reassured
about
Captain Amara's fate.
"He wants to talk to you, Mommy," Melanie
said,
holding out the phone.
Buffy started to take the receiver,
then stopped
herself. "Um...tell him I'll talk to him...some other
time."
"How come?"
"Just tell him."
She sat
down at the computer, listening as Melanie
relayed her
message.
"She said can she talk to you later....I don't
know....
no....just sitting down.....okay....."
Buffy hit the on
button and waited, then turned the
machine off again.
"Mommy? He
says can you please talk to him for
just a minute?"
Hating herself
for putting Melanie in the middle of
this, she shook her head. "Not right
now, honey," she
said, keeping her tone light. "I need
to...um...do
something with my accounts...okay? I'll call
him
later."
Clearly confused, Melanie put the phone back to
her
ear. "She said not now....um....I don't think so...okay,
I
will....uh-huh.....okay, bye..."
Buffy didn't give Melanie a chance
to ask any
questions. "Time for bed,
sweetie."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An hour later, she came
downstairs.
After putting Melanie to bed, she had taken a hot
bath and tried desperately to analyze her reasons for
not wanting to talk
to William.
Unfortunately, as hard as she tried, she couldn't
come
up with even one good one. Rationalize it all she
wanted, but when
push came to shove it all boiled down
to one thing.....hearing that woman
answer his phone,
the way she had sounded so natural, so comfortable
doing
it...not to mention the "legions of women" comment,
had jarred her
badly.
Dressed in her nightgown and robe, she'd gone into
the
kitchen and made herself a cup of tea. Sleep wasn't
likely to come along
anytime soon, so the caffeine
really wouldn't make a
difference.
Now, mug in hand, she flipped off the kitchen light
and
headed back upstairs.
Her foot was on the bottom riser when
there was a
sudden loud pounding on the front door, startling her so
badly
that she nearly dropped her cup.
"Buffy! I want to talk to
you....now!"
TBC....