A/N: Ok, for the record, in this story, Buffy goes by a different name in order to keep herself closed off, but rest assured, the female lead is Buffy. Also, this may not be one of my best stories, but I've had this idea in my head for awhile, so here lol.

Disclaimer: Any recognizable characters belong to Joss Whedon.

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

Will woke up in the shabby motel room he had been staying in for the last week. He quickly got dressed and walked into the motel's restaurant. He had come into this small town a week ago to the day, and his wallet was starting to show for the hotel fees. He needed to find a job and more permanent living arrangements. He smiled at Sue the waitress and ordered his usual steak and eggs. He noticed the newspaper on the table over and decided to look through the classified section. He smiled when he saw that one of the biggest stories in the paper was the deer that the police chief's son had killed two days ago.

He turned to the desired section. He saw a few odds and ends jobs and some land for sale, but no houses. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to ask around. Just then Sue came back with his order.

"There you go, darlin'." She smiled.

"Thanks, Sue. Hey, I been thinkin' 'bout lookin' into gettin' a job 'round here. You know anyone who could use the help?"

"As a matter of fact, Randy was just in here last night talkin' about how he was lookin' for an extra hired hand." She told him as she filled his coffee cup.

"Really? Well, where can I find him? What's the job?" Will asked, immediately perked up at the news.

"Oh just helping his granddaughter run the farm, I'd imagine. He's got a chicken farm 'bout a mile down the road that a way." She pointed towards the left. "Just drive straight down the road and it's the first property to your left. The main house is all the way up the hill and to the left."

"Thanks, Sue." Will's whole face lit up. This is exactly the kind of break he was looking for. If he could get a job, then he could find a good place to live and maybe stick around this place for a little while.

He finished his breakfast and quickly hopped into his truck and followed Sue's directions to the farm.

"'Working 9 to 5, What a way to make a livin'," Buffy was working in her last chicken house, which happened to be the closest one to the main house. She liked to work her way home. True she had her own house on the property now and she didn't live in the main house anymore, but her grandmother still made her lunch every day, and an occasional dinner. She always listened to music while she was working, it made the time pass faster, and gave her momentum to move faster. However, she listened to it so loudly that it blocked her from the outside world, and her grandfather, ever the trickster, many a times would use this to his advantage to scare her.

Today, though, it was not her grandfather that scared her. In fact, she had never seen this man before. He was at one time what she had considered attractive. Light brown hair, nice muscle build and blue eyes she could get lost in, but that was once upon a time, and she had long since woken up from fairy tale land. She suddenly realized that he was still holding her after he'd scared her and she'd lost her balance. She quickly stood up and pushed away from him.

"Can I help you, mister?"

William didn't know what he expected when he stopped outside the chicken house with the four-wheeler outside instead of going all the way to the main house. Maybe he'd find the boss in there and then discuss the job. But he definitely wasn't expecting to run into this beautiful creature. She was the most beautiful girl he'd ever see. Then he noticed she was singing and it was like a heavenly chorus in his head. He had startled her and she fell backwards, but he'd caught her in his arms. That's when he really got a good look at her. She had beautiful honey brown hair with the slightest hint of faded blond highlights, and her eyes… They were a perfect shade of green, it was like gazing into emeralds. All too soon she was moving out of his arms and then he realized she had spoken to him.

"Can I help you, mister?"

"I heard you had a job for a hired hand 'round here, and I was hopin' I could be the man for the job." He finally answered her question. He had to remember to throw on the accent, as she almost made him forget.

"And where'd you hear that?" She asked, almost looking annoyed.

"Sue, down at the diner said a man named Randy had mentioned it." He didn't know how he had already offended the gorgeous woman by simply asking about the job.

"Did he now? Alright, that your truck?" She motioned to his pick-up and he nodded. "Fine, follow me on my four-wheeler and I'll take you to him."

"Thank you, ma'am," He tipped his hat to her before hopping in his truck. As he followed her up the hill he noticed the large amount of land on the property, he could tell it went farther than what he could see. Also, he saw dozens of head of cattle that he was sure he would also be working with if he got the job. That calmed him down considering his only real farm experience was not a chicken farm, but a cattle ranch.

They pulled into the drive of a pretty house, but not one he could have pegged as the main house of an operation this big. It was just so simple. The woman, he just now realized he hadn't even introduced himself or gotten her name, hopped off her four-wheeler with practiced ease. She quickly walked into the house assuming he'd follow. He jumped out of the truck and ran in after her. She turned and stopped him in the kitchen.

"I'll just go tell him you're here."

He nodded and she walked into a hallway went one direction, but she didn't go far because he could hear her when she spoke. "Where's Pap?"

"In his office, why?" He heard a soft, female voice answer.

But she made no reply as she came back through the hallway going the other direction. This time he heard her open a door, and her voice was fainter as she said, "There's a man here sayin' Sue told him 'bout a hired hand job up here?"

"Oh, good." A gruff, older man said. "I wasn't expecting her to tell anyone, but now I may not have to waste money on an ad in the paper."

"You didn't tell me you were hiring any help. I can manage." Will noticed that her southern drawl went away as the conversation progressed, and that the two people she'd spoke to didn't have one at all.

"It's just so you have some extra help, now send him in." He heard the man reply.

"Fine," She came back to the kitchen with her arms crossed in front of her. "Randy will talk to you about the job now."

He nodded and she led him to a room that he assumed was Randy's office. It just had a computer, desk and couch. A man who appeared to be in his late 50's, the same height as Will rose up to shake his hand.

"I'm Randy Morgan. And you are?"

"William Giles, sir."

"Giles…I don't know that name. Are you from around here?" Randy said after he looked to be in concentration for awhile.

"No, sir."

Randy started walking towards the door and motioned for Will to follow him. They walked all the way down the hall to what Will assumed was the living room. The woman, he still didn't know her name, was sitting in a couch next to a chair that had an older woman sitting in it. Randy sat in the other chair and Will sat in the couch next to Randy's chair.

"So, William, can I call you Will?" Randy asked after he had settled in his chair.

"Yes, sir." Will nodded.

"Good, so, I already told you, I'm Randy, this is my wife, Joan," he motioned to the older woman and Will rose to shake her hand.

"Nice to meet you, hun." Joan greeted as she shook Will's hand.

"You, too, ma'am."

"And you've already met my granddaughter…" Randy motioned to the woman.

"Just call me Bennet." She interrupted Joe, as Will shook her hand.

"Right," Randy continued. "So, Will, have you ever worked on a farm before?"

"I worked on a cattle ranch in Texas for a year up until about 2 months ago." Will explained.

"And how'd you get to this little town?" Randy asked with a furrowed brow.

"Honestly, sir, just drove till I got tired and ended up right in front of the motel in town. Been there ever since." Will told him.

"Why'd you leave Texas?" Joan piped in.

"Came there for a girl, didn't work out, so I left the ranch." Will wasn't usually this open about his life, but he had been here long enough to know that everyone took people at face value.

"Understandable. Where were you before that?" Randy took back the reigns of the interview.

William liked this man and decided that he probably didn't have to lie to get this job. So he thought he'd tell them some of his story.

"Well, sir, I'm actually from England. Met a girl at university that I thought I loved and thought she loved me. After graduation I moved back to the states with her, and then she cheated on me."

"You don't sound English?" Randy asked. Just as Will opened his mouth to answer, Bennet interrupted him.

"It's a defense mechanism. Probably couldn't get hired around here so he took on a Southern accent to blend in better."

"That's right." William was astounded.

"How'd you know that, sweetheart?" Joan asked her.

"I do the same thing all the time. It's easier to be a wallflower than to stick out." She shrugged as if it was nothing.

"Good point." Randy rounded up the conversation. "Well, Will, I don't see why you can't have the job. We'll eat some lunch and 'Bennet' can show you around the farm and you can get settled into the house."

"What house?" Bennet asked. "They're all rented out."

"Yours, you're gonna live together." Randy said as if it was obvious.

"What?!" Bennet asked completely irritated.

"I can stay in the motel if it's that much trouble." William insisted, really not wanting to upset Bennet anymore.

"Nonsense," Randy continued. "The job has always promised a place to live and you'll just waste time driving back and forth from the motel." He turned back to Bennet. "You have an extra room, it'll be no different than your apartment in college. That's final." He finished in a voice that left no room for argument.

"Yes, sir." She said in a soft voice.

"Now that that's settled, let's have some lunch." Joan said as she got up and went to the kitchen.

"Here's the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and your room." Bennet showed him each room as she walked quickly through the house. He walked into his new room and set his things on the bed.

"We usually eat lunch at the main house like we did today. Sometimes we even have supper there. But mostly I cook breakfast and supper I'm not up to snuff on English food, but I can try if you find me a recipe. But I'm not making blood pudding on your life." She informed him, and he could have swore he seen her biting back a smile at the last part.

William chuckled, and spoke in his original accent before he could think to throw on the fake one. "No worries, I'm sure I'll be fine with whatever you make."

She looked at him curiously. "Why'd you do that?"

"Do what?" Will asked confused.

"You're speaking in your English accent. You didn't do that at all during dinner, but you are now." She explained.

"Didn't notice, honestly, guess I'm just comfortable around you. Haven't even heard my own voice in two months." He smiled bemused.

Bennet nodded absently. "Right, well get settled, then I'll walk you through the nightly routine."

"Sounds good." And just like that, she was gone.

She was a mystery to William if there ever was one. She hadn't said a word to him all through lunch. Randy also looked surprised that she had wanted to be called Bennet, as if she went by something else. She acted all business as she showed him around the house, then he thought she'd loosened up when she made the joke about the pudding, but it seemed to be over before it started and she was all business again. He decided to not give it much thought now and just hope it went away as they got to know each other.

He walked in the kitchen to see her looking through the fridge for something to take out for dinner. She pulled out two steaks.

"Oh, hey, let me just get these marinating and we'll head out." She said when she saw him.

"Ok."

He watched her move around the kitchen getting the meat prepared and couldn't help but be captivated. She moved with such ease, and he took an undeserved pride in the fact that he was sharing these domestics with her. He must have become lost in his thoughts because a moment later they were out the door.

"Alright, we'll both take my four-wheeler tonight and then tomorrow you'll start using Randy's. Hop on." She told them as they jumped on her four-wheeler.

She showed him every inch of the farm, and informed him of all their responsibilities. They would virtually be together all day until he learned the ropes and they could start dividing jobs equally. But even then they'd be around each other quite a lot. William didn't think it would take long for him to get the hang of the job. He had always been a fast learner, and this job didn't seem too difficult compared to others he'd had.

Now, they were sitting in the dining room eating the steaks she'd made.

"We usually do the first walk through at 5 am. You're lucky you came in on the easy part of the grow out. Nothing's broken yet, so we won't do anything but walk and check chickens tomorrow. Day after that though we need to vaccinate all the cattle." She informed him.

"Sounds like a plan, luv." She didn't flinch, didn't miss a beat. Usually whenever he called one of these American girls "luv" they'd giggle or fight back. But she just kept eating as if he'd simply called her by name. So he took this to mean he could call her this regularly, maybe as they got to know each other he'd throw some other pet names in the mix.

"Alright, I haven't got a disposal, so you'll have to throw whatever you don't eat into the bin. I'm going to watch some television."

Bennet was telling him as she stood up and put her dish in the sink.

He stood up quickly. "I'll join you, I'm finished."

"Alright."

They both put their dishes in the sink and put the leftovers in the fridge. Then they went in the living room, he sat on the couch, while she opted the chair. She grabbed the remote and went to her recordings folder. He smiled when he noticed she recorded "Doctor Who" and "The Graham Norton Show". She had stopped on the latter and looked at him.

"I hope you don't mind, they show re-runs in the morning, I record them, then watch them at night."

""Not at all, please."

It was of course an episode they had both already seen that featured David Tennant and Catherine Tate promoting their new version of "Much Ado About Nothing".

"Oh, I've heard that's brilliant, but I've never had the chance to rent it." Bennet said.

"From where?"

"You rent a digital copy on Digital Theatre's website. But I think the good HD one goes for 11 pounds. I'd never spend that much for only getting to watch it once."

"Quite right, too," He agreed.

He kept noticing how she easily slipped into his kind of vocabulary, referring to the price in pounds instead of dollars. He wondered if it was because of all of the British Television she watched. He decided he'd ask about it another time.

"Right," She spoke up. "Five o'clock comes early so I'm gonna head off to bed."

"Night, luv," Will said as he stood and followed her down the hallway deciding it'd be wise for him to turn in as well.

"Night," She replied as she disappeared behind her door.

Will lay in bed thinking about the last 24 hours. Last night he'd been sitting in a motel wondering where his life was gonna go. Now he was in a place he could easily see himself setting up in for the long haul, and that Bennet was a puzzle. He loved a good puzzle, not to mention she was pretty easy on the eyes.