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In the ritzier section of Sunnydale...

William, unaware that he was about to receive a guest on a mission, busied his mind by making everything 'just so' in his new and improved study. With Cecily visiting her parents in London, and him having given the household staff the week off, he was the only person in the house. The staff deserved a vacation from his demanding wife. He preferred doing things for himself, anyway. Feeling alone and lonely was a common thing for him, even when his wife was there. Especially when she was there.

At 25 years old, William was doing very well for himself. He helped run a large charitable organization, he was well-read and artistic, and happily married... well, he was married. His wife was 30, just a little older than him. They'd married 2 years before, and things had been less than idyllic ever since. Cecily had never been overly warm or affectionate, but it seemed that she'd cooled even more once they'd taken their vows. His family hadn't been crazy about him asking for Cecily's hand in marriage: his father had been very vocal about his own dislike for the woman. But William had been love-struck and adamant, so his family had learned to keep their opinions to themselves. Though his dad still didn't like having to talk to or spend time with William's wife.

William didn't actually need to work for a living, his family was affluent and he'd gotten a hefty inheritance when his paternal grandparents had passed away when he was 18. After William graduated from Oxford, his father appointed him as the head of the Watchers Council, a charitable organization started by his grandfather years before. Philanthropy was a perfect fit for William, he found it tremendously rewarding to work with various charities around the world and help those in need. In his spare time, he enjoyed artistic pursuits, such as writing, painting, and playing music. He wanted to contribute things of beauty to the world. He used to love sharing his poems, artwork and music with others, but he didn't have confidence in his own abilities anymore. His wife had done a thorough job of convincing him that he was no good at just about everything. He also liked working out and going for runs to keep his body fit -- fit for what he wasn't sure, but at least concentrating only on pushing his body to its limits helped quell his needs and focus his mind for a while.


William picked up framed photos and went round the room placing them on the bookshelves. He smiled and chuckled as he placed a picture of Buffy (Cecily’s charming American cousin) taken a few months before. It was from a day trip he'd taken with Cecily on their yacht; he'd asked Buffy to come along as well. Buffy was so much fun to be around, she could always make him laugh. He didn't feel nearly as self-conscious around her as he did most other people. For the picture, Buffy had posed at the prow of the boat, saying that she just had to do that cheesy 'I'm the king of the world!' thing from 'Titanic'.

William thought back to meeting Buffy at his wedding, he'd developed an instant fondness for her. She'd been 19 at the time, and was just as pretty, bubbly and vivacious as he'd expected a girl her age to be. What he hadn't expected was that he and Buffy would become friends. Cecily had insisted on having their main home in Sunnydale where Cousin Buffy lived. It was a nice town, so William didn't mind. With modern technology it was easy to do business from Sunnydale, he could talk to the Board of Directors via conference calls, and when it was required, he flew out for face-to-face meetings or to visit sites where the foundation wanted to build clinics, shelters, schools, wildlife refuges, etc.

They started having Buffy over for dinner, and the more William got to know her, the more he liked her. He didn't know that Cecily was happy to have Buffy over mostly because she liked showing off her fabulous wealth to her less monetarily gifted relative (Buffy was a clerk at a curio shop in town, she made enough to get by, but wasn't rich, by any means). Whatever Cecily's motives were, William and Buffy were able to form a friendship.

William spent most of his time alone in his study, reading, writing, just relaxing and letting his mind drift away from his troubles. Cecily was usually the cause for his brooding, she treated him like dirt. William knew that she didn't love him. She couldn't possibly love him, not with the way she talked to and acted in regard to him. She said the words 'I love you' to him, but there was no emotion behind them, she may as well have been telling him what she'd had for breakfast.

He didn't know why he let Cecily treat him so badly. He felt that he must have done or been doing something wrong. He'd never been comfortable around the fairer sex. So much so that he was still a virgin when he married Cecily. It was more than just anxiety that kept him a virgin; William also had the notion that it was more romantic to 'save himself' for the woman he took as his wife. And he’d found that -- to put it simply -- sex was overrated. There were no fireworks, no heavenly choirs singing 'Hallelujah!'. He didn't feel the spiritual bond that he imagined he would at being joined with the woman he loved. It just felt embarrassing... and somehow wrong. It didn't help that Cecily told him everything he did was wrong, or hurt, or bothered her when they were in bed. As bad as the sex was, he still had needs, and he wanted to be able to make love to his wife. Therefore, they got together, usually about once a month, for another go. Two years, and it was still like pulling teeth to get Cecily to agree to having 'a cuddle', and then it was so unpleasant that he had to fantasize about other women to get off. Another thing that irked him and made him feel worse was that Cecily insisted that he wear a condom -- he’d thought that they could have the pleasure of having no barriers between them since they were married, but nope. She didn’t want to get pregnant or get his ’mess’ on her. William could understand the not wanting to have an unplanned pregnancy, but he thought it would be sexy, not disgusting, to have the proof of your lover's passion on your skin.

It had to get better... right? The idea that it could possibly get worse made William wince and shudder.

During one of their attempts at intimacy, William had let his mind drift to beautiful, sexy women to help him along. He had been shocked when Buffy's image popped into his mind. He couldn't make her go away, she kept coming back. He'd been able to convince himself that it was okay to imagine he was making love to Buffy just that one time. Pretending that it was Buffy under him had made him cum harder than he ever had in his life. He did his best not to think of her again in a sexual manner, she was his friend, it wasn’t proper (though she still snuck into his mind when his guard was down).

Purely by coincidence (yeah, right!), Cecily had only acknowledged William's existence when she found out how extremely wealthy his family was. Before then, she had been nothing but cold and dismissive.


Little did William know, but Cecily was relieved that she wouldn't have to pretend to be gaga over William once the wedding ring was slipped onto her finger. She didn't want him getting any crazy ideas about leaving her though -- she wanted to be Mrs. William Giles, but only for his family's social standing and wealth. William, himself, bored her to tears and held no fascination whatsoever. And his family, especially his father, pissed her off, thus, they rarely visited with his relatives. The Giles’ got upset if they thought she was being unkind to poor little William -- that's why he'd turned out to be such a weakling, Cecily had mused, they‘d coddled him. In her opinion, her husband was a sentimental fool. And she made sure William knew just how lucky he was to have found her, how worthless and useless he'd be without her as his wife. She made it a mission to strip away his self-esteem so that he believed no one else could possibly want him for anything. And it had worked beautifully for her. Cecily didn’t consider what she was doing to William ‘abuse’, but it most certainly was. She considered it her duty and God-given privilege to treat him however she saw fit.


William was an optimist, and he did love Cecily, though it was more out of habit now. From the beginning, he’d put her on a pedestal, making her and his feelings for her much larger than life. Cecily didn’t come close to being the woman he’d thought she was. It was getting more and more difficult for him to interact with her, he was getting to the point where he didn’t even want to try talking to her. All she seemed to do was hurt him. But William desperately wanted to make his marriage work. He had a deep-seated need to love and be loved, and he clung to the hope that his wife would realize how good they could be together if she only let him fully into her heart. He fooled himself into believing that things would change for the better. Perhaps once they started a family of their own... But they would actually have to have sex for her to get pregnant -- which they hadn't for the last few months. He hadn’t even asked her for sex during those months, it was too degrading and emasculating to know how much his wife obviously loathed having him touch her.

Was it so much to ask the Gods to grant him a lover that would crave his touch? He’d settle for one that actually moved or complimented him when he touched her. Only his fantasy women moved for him, only they yelled his name in passion.

His mind whispered, ‘I bet Buffy would move...’ accompanied by a pornographic picture in his mind of a naked Buffy beckoning to him.

William shook his head and sighed, trying to dispel the bad thoughts that crept into his head. He didn’t like to dwell on his woes, or his forbidden fantasies about his friend. Buffy would, no doubt, be disgusted with him if she suspected he had those kind of thoughts about her.

He made an effort to concentrate back on making his study perfect.

The doorbell rang.

William raised his eyebrows and turned his head. He wasn’t expecting anyone. It was probably just a package delivery.

William went to answer the door, straightening his tie and suit jacket cuffs as he walked.


Chapter End Notes:
Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the first chapter! I got a great response, which only makes me want to write more :D *hugs and smoochies all around*



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