Willow Rosenberg sighed as she tapped her pencil against the table in the library. Where was everyone? She watched as the new Watcher, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce paced back and forth, hands clasped firmly behind his back.

"Are you okay?" she asked softly.

He stopped and looked at her in surprise for a moment, like he had forgotten that she was there. "Oh, yes, quite." And then he went back to pacing.

Willow watched him, for a while, and a small smile formed on her face. Watching the Watcher. "Where's Giles?"

This time Wesley didn't stop pacing as he answered her question. "I haven't the slightest idea."

"That's why you're so nervous - 'cause the no Giles - not that you need Giles, but I mean - hmm, I wonder where they are?" said Willow in full ramble mode.

"Precisely."

Willow studied Wesley as he continued to pace and noticed how cute he was when he was worried - Oh, no! she thought. Am I turning into Cordelia?

That was when Cordelia entered the library. "Hey, G - oh, where is everybody?"

Wesley blushed just at Cordelia's presence, and Willow felt herself getting jealous. "That would be the question of the day, actually," Willow said.

Cordelia shrugged and then fixed her gaze on Wesley. "I was wondering, if maybe..."

Willow narrowed her eyes and tried to think of a way to get Cordelia away from Wesley. Finally, she said, "Um, Wesley, since you're big with the languages, do you think you could take a look at my French homework? I'm not sure if I'm totally -"

Cordelia gave Willow an evil look, catching on, and huffed away. Wesley's eyes followed her retreating rear end the whole way, and then, a bit flustered, he realized that Willow had asked him a question. "Of course."

He studied the paper from behind her, resting his hand absently on her shoulder, which made Willow perk up.

"No, this looks correct to me," he said, going over the paper one last time. "You seem to have quite a talent for the French language."

And for French-kissing, Willow thought, and then started to panic, wondering if she had said that out loud. Releived, she realized that she hadn't. "Oh, thank you." She sighed, and in one breath, came out with, "Do you really like Cordelia? Or do you only like her because she has big boobs - which is cool, you know, all with the breastiness - because you couldn't like her for her personality - or is it her butt - because her personality is so vile, and she's slutty and evil - she's an evil slut!"

"Miss Rosenberg -"

"I mean - that's not what I - she is evil and she is slightly slutty - well, at least she dresses slutty - and is that why you like her? Because she's slutty?"

Wesley leaned down and put both hands on her shoulders, and he smiled, obviously amused. "Miss Rosenberg, I do not like Miss Chase. She is quite attractive, yes, and it's very flattering that she thinks the same of me, but she's not nearly the kind of woman I would date."

Willow studied him for a moment. "What - uh, what is your type?"

Wesley brushed a strand of her hair away from her face. "Well, you, Miss Rosenberg."

"Call me Willow," she breathed as Wesley leaned in and kissed her.

Jus then the library door swung open, and the rest of the Scoobies filtered in, until they all came to a dead stop as they saw what was going on between Willow and the new Watcher.

Giles began to clean his glasses. "Oh, do stop."

Buffy and Xander just looked shocked, and Oz looked down uncomfortably. The only one not disturbed was Faith.

"Ooh, go, Wes, go! Gettin' a little Red action." She leaned in and whispered to Buffy, "Check out the tongue action goin' on."

As the two dubyas realized they had been walked in on, they pushed each other away and both fell to the floor.

"Ooh! Oops," Willow said sheepishly as she propped herself up on her elbows.

Wesley's eyes were wide as he got up. "That was not what it looked like - her dentist is - he's - I heard he was very good, and now I know that he is, so I'll be making my appoiontment now." He left the room quickly, whispering a barely audible "bugger" under his breath.

Willow chewed on her cheek as her friends continued to stare at her like she was from another planet.

"Were you - you were kissing Wesley? *Wesley?*" Buffy asked, stunned. "What is wrong with you?"

"I have a really good dentist."

Oz silently walked out of the room and Xander went after him.

Buffy sighed. "He's way old, Will. I mean, you can snog whoever you want, but come on, he's an uptight British man -" she glanced at Giles "- no offence. And he is like twenty-six."

Willow got to her feet and raised her eyebrows. "Okay, so he's twenty-six - so what? Must I remind you that Angel isn't exactly a teenager?"

As Buffy responded with a rather close-minded "This isn't about Angel, this is about Wesley," Giles went to find Wesley.

******

Giles found him in front of the trophy case, staring intently at Cathrine Madison's cheerleading trophy.

"It's quite disturbing," Wesley said as Giles approached him. "The eyes seem to be - well, real eyes."

Giles smiled softly. "They are."

Wesley considered this. "Oh."

"Wesley, about what happened with Willow -"

Wesley shook his head. "It won't happen again."

Giles smiled. "Look, she is eighteen, and she can make her own choices, but if you hurt her, I will kill you."

Wesley swallowed hard. "Yes, sir. I understand."

"Good," Giles said as he walked away.

******

Later that night, Willow sat in bed staring at her ceiling, and the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Miss - uh, Willow?" Willow was pleasantly surprised to hear Wesley's voice from the other end of the receiver.

"Hey."

"Hey, yourself," he said awkwardly. "Would you care to have dinner with me? Well, I mean, I have a reservation, and it'd be a pity to have it go to waste." There was an audible intake of breath and Willow waited for him to exhale, but he didn't.

"Sure."

Finally, he exhaled, and she could almost hear him smile. "Well, then, I'll be there at eight?"

"Sounds good to me."

"I'll see you then, Miss R - Willow."

"Okay."

They hung up and Willow finally let out the squeal she had been holding in. She hadn't been happy at all since Oz had found her and Xander, but now she was exuberantly so.

She hurried to find something to wear.

******

Wesley stood outside Miss Rosenberg, er, Willow's door and knocked softly. He quickly shoved one hand back in his pocket and rocked gently on his heels nervously. He would have shoved both hands in his pockets, but the other hand was holding a bouquet of flowers.

Willow opened the door and had a big smile on her face. "Hello, Wes - oh, my God, you brought me flowers!" She took them from him and invited him in, so she could put them in water.

"Um, I have to put them upstairs so," she blushed, "my, uh, mom doesn't see them. Do you want to see my room?"

Wesley's eyes got wide. "I, uh -"

Willow realized what he thought she meant, and blushed more. "Oh, God, I didn't mean - it's not like the dentist thing, I swear!"

Wesley laughed. "One would hope." He shrugged. "I'll take a look." He hoped it didn't sound like he meant he would never want to have sex with her - he would, he very much would - but it was hardly the time for that at this beginning stage of their relationship.

He followed her upstairs and she placed a vase with the flowers in it on her desk. "Well, that's my closet, and my computer, and there's my bed," she said as she pointed thing out. "And that's pretty much it."

Wesley smiled. "You have a very nice bedroom," he offered as they descended the stairs. He placed one hand on her lower back absently, and felt her back arch under his touch. He quickly pulled his hand away, remindin himself that she was only eighteen. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

******

At the restaurant, their dinner was nice. Wesley almost forgot that she wasn't over twenty-one and ordered a bottle of wine, but he quickly caught himself and ordered them both Cokes instead.

"So what's it like being a Watcher?" Willow asked, slightly in awe.

Wesley fiddled with his napkin while thinking of how to answer this. "It runs in my family."

"It's not about liking it, it's about duty. I feel as if I am serving a purpose, of course, but whether I like it or not isn't even an issue."

"Would you prefer if you weren't a Watcher?"

"That's not an option."

"But if it was?"

Wesley was slightly surprised by her sudden turn for the confrontational. "I suppose I may choose something else, but I haven't really thought about it."

Willow accepted that as an answer. "What would you do if you weren't a Watcher?"

Wesley thought about that for a moment. "I don't know."

"Maybe you should think about it," Willow said softly. "I mean, not that you would get fired, but Giles was a good Watcher, too, and they fired him, so I don't know, I just figure it'd be smart to have a back-up plan, you know, not that you'd need it or anything."

Wesley studied her for a moment and finally broke out in a huge grin.

"What?"

"I was just thinking, you're so cute when you ramble," Wesley said, boldly.

Willow blushed profusely. "Oh, well, I ramble all the time. At least three times a day, and after every meal." She glanced down at her steak. "And sometimes during."

Wesley just had to smile.

******

Wesley drove her home, and walked around the car to open her door, but she was already getting out. Willow realized he was trying to be a gentleman and felt bad for assuming that she had to open her own door, but she was used to it.

Wesley walked her up to her porch and they stood face to face, slightly awkwardly.

"So, well, I'll see you tomorrow, then?" he asked softly.

Willow studied him. "Don't you want to kiss me?"

Wesley blushed and stepped forward, embracing her in a quick, closed-mouth kiss.

"Don't you like me?" she asked, worried.

Wesley felt bad. In all his trying to make her comfortable, he had forgotten to show just how much he did like her. He brought her in close to him, and kissed her gently, a slow-burning kiss that made Willow slink against him and whimper slightly. After they broke apart, he said, "I like you very much, Miss Rosenberg."

And then he turned around and left.

Willow had to hold onto the railing on her porch to keep from swooning. "Call me Willow," she breathed.