Thin Ice – story by The Kings of Mercia – NC17 Eventually
Pairing: S&B
Disclaimer: Just borrowing the characters for our selfish need to write don’t sue!

A Christmas ‘treat’ when Buffy was 7 years old sows a seed that will shape her life to come…


Prologue: Christmas holidays, 1989



Buffy shivered slightly in the chill atmosphere of the ice rink.

“You okay love?” Joyce asked, tightening her scarf and pulling her woolly hat down a little further

Buffy smiled and nodded, her gloved hand holding her best friend Willow’s gloved hand.

Suddenly, the lights went down, and some music started playing, and the Buffy watched as on the sparkling white ice, lit by a spotlight a young girl in raggedy clothes stood sweeping forlornly – three cackling girls came skating in with a flourish, and ordered her to do things, make the dinner, wash the clothes, clean the house, all the time talking about the fabulous ball they were going to.

Buffy watched transfixed, she’d always loved the book Cinderella, and then she’d got the video, but this, Cinderella on ice – this was something else! The way they moved on the ice, they twirled around and jumped! She was amazed.

In the interval, she’d made up her mind, THAT is what she wanted to be when she grew up, be an ice-skater…………………………


************************


Hank was only half listening to his wife as he got ready; he had rested one foot on the dining room chair tying his shoelace.

“Dancing lessons – how much will those cost?” After tying his other lace, he grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair.

“Not much, the dance studio is opposite the gallery, and it’s something she wants to do – and whatever it costs, it’s cheaper than a pony………”

Hank felt in his pocket for his car keys.

“Well okay then, but if it starts to get expensive, I’ll have to know she’s REALLY interested, I’m not made of money”

“I know – that’s why I’ve told Mr Duggan at the gallery I’m going full time”

“What? We didn’t discuss this!”

“You’re never here TO discuss things – always out at some meeting or other!”

Hank felt a guilty stab – he was lying to Joyce – he didn’t have all these meetings, he was having an affair with his secretary – life at home had become boring and stale. He supposed he was partly to blame, they couldn’t afford another child, couldn’t afford to renew the car, or take fancy holidays – this fling with his secretary just took the edge off him going mad with boredom…

“Okay, look I’m sorry, but with Larry out and Chuck going on-“

“All right – just try an get home at a decent hour, we can talk about things in bed, okay? I’m going to have to have words with Roger Newcomb when I see him at the office Christmas party”

Hank turned and looked slightly worried when Joyce mentioned his boss’s name, although he tried not to show it.

“W-why?”

“Tell him he’s not paying you enough for all the extra work and meetings you do – this is the third one this week”

Hank gave her a very quick kiss on the cheek, saying for her not to make a fuss, it was the same for everyone, and he left, knowing he wouldn’t be able to relax in his lover’s arms tonight.

*********

“Mommy…what did daddy say – can I go to lessons?” Joyce tucked her daughter in bed and leaning over her, stroked the hair from her face.

“Sure honey, I thought that when I meet you from school tomorrow, we can go the dance academy then, see if we can get you a place, okay?”

“Okay!”

“Now you go to sleep, night-night”

“Night-night. Mommy”

Joyce turned at the door

“Yes honey?”

“Daddy won’t shout at you tonight like he did the other night, will he?”

Joyce gripped the door, but tried to keep her voice light

“Course not baby, daddy was just tired, he didn’t mean it – now you go to sleep”

Joyce closed the door and made a mental note to mention what Buffy had just said to Hank. Things weren’t brilliant between her and her husband, she knew that, the rows they had had got more frequent, but it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be fixed – and by her going full time would give them something extra, money for treats – days out, a proper holiday even.







Chapter 1


At fourteen, Buffy had been doing ballet training and dancing for seven years, it gave her the grace and flexibility she needed on the ice to execute the moves she did in her complicated ice-dance programmes.

A junior champion at the age of 12, she’d won many cups and medals, all proudly shown off by her mother in a trophy cabinet at home.

It was a few months before her sixteenth birthday, and Mrs Keogh, her dance teacher approached her.

“Elizabeth…can I talk to you please?”

Mrs Keogh was the only person in her life to call her by her real name, and not ‘Buffy’ like everybody else.

“Sure, what can I do for you?”

“You are my best pupil, you know that, and I know that, I have exciting news, have you heard of Angel O’Connor?”

“Of course – who hasn’t – he’s top coach of the American ice-skating team, and the current men’s Ice-dance Champion Xander Harris and that Canadian girl, Faith Hope. Why?”

“Well, Faith is leaving, she is giving up competitive ice-skating – and he’s looking for another challenge – I want him to see you”

“ME?” Buffy’s eyes nearly popped with surprise

“Just think, in three years time, when it comes to the Olympics – you could be on the team”

Buffy was gob-smacked!

“But where would I see him, how would I get there, how much would it cost?”

Mrs Keogh laughed

“One question at a time! Now, if your parents agree, I would be your chaperone, we would fly to Toronto in Canada where he is based, he would access you, and see if he wants to take you on”

“CANADA!” Buffy squealed

Mrs Keogh winced and Buffy covered her mouth, then she looked a little worried

“But how much would it cost?”

“To you, nothing”

“Nothing – how come?”

“Well, with your qualifications, you are reigning junior champion and have been for three years running, it will be government sponsored as you could end up being part of the Olympic team. Have a chat with your parents, see what they say”


*******************

“MOM! MOM! – Where are you – MOM!”

“Good gracious Buffy, what on earth – “ Joyce appeared in the hallway, holding the evening paper, her glasses perched on the end of her nose.

“Canada! Mrs Keogh wants to take me to Canada – I could end up on the Olympic team!”

“What – oh my lord – come into the lounge and sit down, now start at the beginning!”

**************

“………And before you ask, it won’t cost us a dime, as Buffy is junior champion, she has the automatic right to be seem by the top coach – she could well end up on the Olympic team” Joyce said

Hank grinned, and said

“So what do we have to do exactly?”

“We have to sign a consent form – both of us as were are not divorced. Mrs Keogh will chaperone this first visit, and if this Coach O’Connor decides to take Buffy on, then she’ll go and stay in Canada during the summer, but she’ll be here winter time – it’ll just be like her going to boarding school – she can come home for the holidays”

Buffy came in via the back door, carrying her usual paraphernalia, training skates and schoolbag.

“Daddy!”

“Hello Princess – come and give your old dad a kiss, hmm?”

Buffy put her stuff down and went over to him and gave her a hug.

“I didn’t know you were coming! Has mom told you about Canada?”

“She has indeed!”

“And?” Buffy held her breath – she didn’t know why, coz she could always twist her ‘daddy’ round her little finger, and since he and her mom were now separated…

“I’m very proud of you – of course you can go!” Joyce looked and felt a little exasperated – she’d already given Buffy permission anyway!

“Thankyou daddy!”

“Be a lot of hard work you know, Princess”

“I know daddy, up at 6am, train before classes, then another 2-3 hours after school – weekends too if there’s a competition”

It had been about six weeks since Hank had seen his daughter, and he could already see a change in her, she was growing up, fast.

“Look at you, I don’t know…I remember the day you were born…!”

“Dad!” Buffy was saved from a trip down memory lane by the phone ringing

“I’ll get it!” Buffy hared off into the hall

“She’s growing more beautiful every day”

“She is”

“Do you think we should tell her our news?”

“No, I do not, not yet, I don’t want her upset, it might blow her chances with this coach O’Connor if she knows…there’s plenty of time yet to tell her were getting divorced”

“Can’t make it too long Joyce…” Hank said, rubbing his chin nervously

Joyce stood and picked up the empty tea things off the counter, ferrying them to the sink

“What’s the hurry?” Joyce asked casually

Hank fidgeted on the kitchen stool and said quietly,

“It’s Maureen…she’s pregnant”

The tea things fell into the sink with a crash, Joyce held onto the unit either side, her knuckles going white. She felt like all the air had been sucked out of her body, the words he’d just uttered stabbed like a knife into her heart…

“What was that, what’s the matter, is everything okay?” Buffy dashed into the kitchen, looking worriedly from her father to her mother’s back.

Joyce quickly pulled herself together, turned and said over her shoulder,

“Sure honey, it’s me, butter-fingers, and I slipped on a drop of spilt tea!”

“Anything broken?”

Joyce stared at the crockery in the sink

“Just the one casualty, would you believe it, that old mug of mine!” she fished out the two pieces of the mug, and then the broken off handle.

“I’ve got some old newspaper I can wrap it in out in the garage…who was that on the phone honey?” All the time Joyce tried to keep it light

“Oh Willow – she wanted to know if I wanted to go Bronzing with her”

“That’s nice dear!” Joyce’s disembodied voice said from the garage. She felt hot, and sick and she could kill Hank, she really could! Not that she loved him anymore – it was just years of being told they couldn’t afford another child…and four months – just four months with this floozie – and she was pregnant!

“Mom…what are you doing?” Buffy made to go through to the garage

“Is this what you’re looking for Joyce, last night’s evening edition?” they heard the freezer door shut.

Hank said, picking up yesterdays paper off one of the other stools.

“That’ll do!” Joyce came in carrying a frozen chicken, and put it on the drainer, reached for the paper, and wrapped up the broken cup.

“Well, I better be off” Hank stood, and Buffy hugged him, Hank reached for her hand and pressed twenty dollars into it, winking. Buffy smiled

“Don’t forget, ring me at the office, I’ll drop by when you get that form for me to sign!”

Joyce turned and said,

“I’ll leave Buffy to see you out, I’ve been touching raw meat!”

Hank went to lean across to give her a kiss on the cheek, but Joyce had pre-empt his move and turned away quickly focusing on unwrapping the chicken.

“You and mom could come for a holiday in Canada to see me!” Joyce heard Buffy say as Hank followed his daughter to the front door.

Joyce closed her eyes, she didn’t want to cry – and she definitely didn’t want Buffy to see her crying…

A minute or so later after seeing her father off, Buffy came back into the kitchen.

“Um, could you leave me some cold chicken – I don’t want dinner”

“Sure honey – are you going out with Willow then?”

“Yes, dad gave me $20! – I’m in the shower if anybody rings, take a message!”

“Okay dear” Joyce said, pulling out the bag of giblets from inside the chicken, muttering about how Hank had said he couldn’t afford the $120 he promised to give her each month for Buffy – but he gave her $20 and his girlfriend of four months was pregnant!

Chapter 2


“Remember Elizabeth, do your best, that’s all anyone can ask of you” Mrs Keogh said. Buffy smiled and nodded, she still felt nervous though – it would have been unnatural not to.

She’d chosen to do her routine that she’d won her last Junior Ice-Dance Championships gold medal with, a lively, fast-paced piece to a syncopated Latino dance rhythm. She took her place on the ice, and then the music boomed out over the sound-system.

Concentrating, but remembering to smile, she shimmied and shook her shoulders, circled and took off right skate leading, she jumped, twirled, doubled salcow’ed and double toe-looped, lutz’ed and spun, covering the ice with ease – she danced it perfectly – coming to a dead stop, throwing her arms up and dropping her head back on the last note of the music.

She held the pose for a couple of seconds, and heaving for breath, she skated over to where Mrs Keogh, stood with Coach Angel O’Connor and his choreographer, the ex-Russian ballerina, Illyria Rubinskya.

“Very well done Elizabeth!” Angel said, smiling at her

“Please call me Buffy, everybody does! Well, everybody except Mrs Keogh!”

“Buffy it is – well, I have two more dancers to see, so if you’d like to go back to your rooms, I will see you at dinner tonight, and give you my decision”

Buffy unlaced her boots, fixed on the blade-guards and picked up her sports bag. Mrs Keogh had been chatting to the coach and the ex-ballerina, Buffy had read up on Coach O’Connor, and she’d also read how Illyria Rubinskya had defected to the West with her then Russian boyfriend, also a ballet-dancer, Rudolph Poliakov in the early 1970’s.

Walking out of the ice-rink, and across the parking lot to the building that would be home if she won her place there, Buffy said,

“Well, did I do good? It felt good, I knew as soon as I took off I’d nail those jump landings, in fact, I think that’s the best I’ve ever skated that piece!”


“Well Elizabeth, like I said, you can only do your best…you did very well”

Pulling open the door, they just smiled at the reception lady at the desk, and made their way to the lifts. They could hear music playing. Opposite the lifts were double doors leading off to dance rooms, and the gymnasiums. There were two huge dance floors, where general training took place, and there were also several smaller rooms for personal practice.

The building housed 36 rooms. It wasn’t only ice-skater’s, who trained there, but ballet-dancers and gymnasts too.

“I’m starving!” Buffy said as the lift ‘dinged’ to announce its arrival

“Well no doubt there’s something in the room, or maybe there’s room service – we can check when we get upstairs”


Buffy dumped her stuff by her bed and picked up a ‘menu’ card…

“Hmm, let me see, three hours ‘til dinner…I fancy something sweet………I’ll have a slice of apple pie, and a chocolate malt milkshake, please”

Mrs Keogh ordered two pieces of pie (one for her) but a pot of tea for herself.

“Do you think I’ve done it?” Buffy asked chewing the last mouthful of pie.

“I don’t know Elizabeth, I don’t know the calibre of the other dancers. The one girl here today is from the Balkan States, her mother used to be an ice-skater too”

Buffy’s face clouded

“Really?”

“Yes – but you did your best, I know that, and if that isn’t good enough then – well, you can’t do better, you gave it your best shot.”

Buffy nodded

“Well, I’m going to put my feet up” Buffy nodded again, and pulled a magazine out her bag and lay down herself.


******************

“Buffy………Buffy, wake up, its dinner in ten minutes”

Buffy sat up and yawned, her magazine fell to the floor – she must have dropped off, she hadn’t realised how tired she was – she’d been up since 5am that morning for the flight here – the flight itself had been under an hour, it was just hanging about at the airport, and emigration that took the time.

She went into the bathroom and splashed her face, changed her clothes and brushed her hair.

They went down to dinner, the dining room was large and bright, filled with hopefuls, all chattering and excitedly nervous, Buffy no exception.

After a dinner of chicken salad, then fresh fruit and yoghurt – Coach Angel O’Connor stood

“Well, Ladies and gentlemen, I won’t keep you in suspense any longer, and would the following people please assemble in the main hall now please………

Susan Adams, Jane Addison, Julie-Anne Benson, Dianne Brown, Dee-Dee Coulter…………………………………………Shane Robson, Wendi Stevens, Kerry Thompson, Chelsea Whitmore and finally David Wragg – go through to the main hall please, follow Illyria”

Buffy was almost in tears, she wished she’d bought a handkerchief, instead of just sitting in the now practically empty dining room, she just wanted to get her stuff and leave – this was cruel, everybody could look in and see them – the rejects…

“Right, the five of you I have left, would you gymnasts please go with Mr Gunn here…(a girl and boy got up with their chaperones) and I believe there are two ballet dancers?” Angel looked up from his clipboard
Two girls stood hesitantly with their chaperones

“Would you go with Mr Wyndham – right, that leaves you, Miss Summers –welcome aboard – I’ll warn you know, things are going to be tough – you might have been junior champion three times over, but it means nothing now you’re nearly sixteen – you’ll be in the premier league with the adults, it’ll mean working your way through the ranks, if you don’t have the will-power or the stamina, tell me now, so I’m not wasting my time”

Buffy was gob-smacked again! She’d got it wrong, the names he’d called out first were the rejects – not her – she was in she’d done it!

“Elizabeth…Elizabeth?”

“Huh?” Buffy had been lost in her reverie, she glanced at Mrs Keogh, who nodded towards Coach Angel O’Connor. Buffy looked and saw he’d got his hand out, so she could shake it

“Oh god! I did it, I mean thankyou! Oh god – I can do it, I promise I’ll work hard!”

“I can promise you that!” Angel said as Buffy shook his hand.

“Well, I’ll let you go to your room, I imagine you are tired, but before you leave tomorrow, I’ll have all the information ready for you, okay?”

“Um, uh huh, yes, thankyou!” Buffy felt so happy she could burst –

“Phone – I must phone mom!”

Not waiting for the lift, Buffy ran up the stairs and swiped her key card at her room door

*************

“BUFFY! Calm down love…now say again?” Joyce wasn’t sure at first whether Buffy was screeching in delight or wailing at failure…

“I’m in – I’VE DONE IT MOM – I’ve done it!”

“You have? – Oh Buffy – that’s – that’s wonderful news!” Joyce swallowed her emotions

Buffy bubbled on about how she’d bring all the information home, and how she’d skated her best…

“I’ll see you tomorrow tea-time then love – do you need a lift from the airport?”

“No, Mrs Keogh will drop me – I’m going to phone dad now!”

“Oh, but – okay then bye!” Joyce put the phone down, feeling mixed emotions – she was so pleased and proud of her daughter, but she was going to be more alone than ever now…


************

“…………………Leave your name and number after the tone, I’ll get back to you…”(BEEP)

“Hi dad, it’s me – don’t tell me you’re working AGAIN! Look, just wanted to remind you what a clever and talented MODEST daughter you have – you are now talking to, well listening to a pupil of the Coach Angel O’Connor American team! – I did it dad! I got in – must go, I’m calling from Vancouver this must be costing a fortune – speak soon, bye!”

Hank was lying on the bed, fully clothed, next to his fully clothed girlfriend, they had been looking at a photo, it was a scan of their baby.

“You haven’t told her about us yet, have you?” Maureen asked

“Joyce thought it best not to, she didn’t want Buffy upset”

Maureen sighed and said,

“Hank, the decree absolute will be through any day now, and the girl is sixteen – she’s hardly a child, she must be told, it’s not JUST Joyce’s choice – I should have some say, you’re practically divorced, we will be getting married, we’re having a baby – Buffy should know! I will be her step mother!”

“She’s nearly sixteen. Yes, I agree, but no, I meant Joyce didn’t want her upset before she did this thing in Canada – now she’s in – I’ll tell her the weekend”

“Promise?”

“Promise”

Hank closed his eyes………god spare him from nagging women………

********************

Joyce had made up her mind, she was going to invite Hank over to the house, and then together they would tell their daughter that they’d decided to call it a day on their marriage, there was no hope of a reconciliation and why let things drag on.

She picked up the phone, pressed Hank’s number, but pressed the cut-off digits before it could ring.

She felt slightly shaky, a little nauseous, and with a slight tremble she pressed Hank’s number again.


“…………………Leave your name and number after the tone, I’ll get back to you, (BEEP)

Joyce swallowed a couple of times, and said,

“Hank, it’s me, Joyce. I don’t know if you’ve spoken to Buffy yet, but she has-“

“Hello”

Joyce was suddenly shocked into silence hearing a woman pick up and speak.

“H-Hello?”

“So Joyce, as Hank always seems too busy to introduce us, I’ll do it myself, hello, I’m Maureen”

Joyce sat down heavily on the stairs, she opened her mouth twice to speak, but nothing came out at first………

“Hello?”

“Oh, um s-sorry, I sorry…have um, well! Do you know if Hank has spoken to Buffy yet – about her American team place?”

“We had a message, yes”

“Good, right, I um, I wasn’t going to tell him…I was just going to say that I think it’s only right if he could come here on Friday night, and together we could tell Buffy about the divorce”

“Excellent idea – I just said to Hank Buffy isn’t a child, she should know, she is nearly sixteen after all” This rankled with Joyce

“I DO know the age of my daughter, I didn’t want her knowing before she did this trial, I wanted for her to give it her best shot without upset, that’s all”

“And I said to Hank, it shouldn’t be just your decision – you will be divorced any time now, Hank and I will be getting married and like it or not, Buffy will be having a step-sister – I will be her step-mother when she stays with us”

“Stays with – look, is Hank there?” Maureen gave Hank a glance, (who was still lying fully clothed on the bed, fast asleep)

“He’s um, he’s in the bath at the moment”

“Well get him to phone me back will you – thankyou, goodbye”

Joyce didn’t wait for a reply, she just put the phone down, she was shaking like a leaf! She looked at the time, it was 8.30pm, and headed for the dining room, taking a bottle of Scotch out of the sideboard and poured herself a large measure………

Chapter 3

3 weeks after the trial weekend, Buffy and her mother were sorting out stuff Buffy wanted to take with her.


There were two piles of clothes on the bed, and a black plastic bin-bag on the floor, along with a half-full box.
It basically boiled down to: what Buffy wanted to take to Vancouver, what she wanted to keep but leave at home, and what could go to the charity shop………

“You’re NOT taking Mr Gordo, are you?” Joyce asked incredulously at her daughter. Buffy snatched up the tatty little pig, swaying form side to side, cuddling Mr Gordo to her cheek.

“Why not – he’s like a lucky mascot! Besides, YOU bought him for me when I had my tonsils out when I was 6 – he’s like, been with me forever”

Joyce smiled indulgently at her daughter, and pulled some red trousers out of the back of the closet.

“What about these?”

“Oh GODS NO! – Definitely not taking those! What WAS I thinking!”

“You were never out of them at one stage, I had to wash them when you were at school, so you could put them on again clean when you got home, else you’d throw a tantrum! Joyce folded them and dropped them into the bin-bag for the charity shop.

“Well to the charity shop they go! – Here, these can go in the box too, I think all the jigsaws have all the pieces” Joyce took the three boxes off her daughter and put them in the big box on the floor.

“What about this cheerleaders kit?”

Buffy looked at the maroon and lemon outfit, and was just about to say,

‘I’ll have to keep it,’ when the doorbell rang.

Joyce ‘s arms dropped from holding up the short pleated skirt and said,

“I thought you told Willow you couldn’t got out tonight?”

“I did! Besides which, she told me her aunt Bernice and uncle Reuben were visiting, so she couldn’t come out anyway…”

“Well I wonder who this could be?” Joyce trotted downstairs, opened the front door to be confronted by Hank.

“I thought we said tomorrow!” Joyce said pointedly, but opening the door wider so he could come in.

“Believe me Joyce, this way is better!”

Joyce sighed, rolled her eyes and muttered something about she bet it was better for him not anybody else, to Hanks retreating back.

“Well?”

“Look, Maureen thinks I’m working – if I’d have come tomorrow, she wanted to come with and – BUFFY! Baby come and give your dad a kiss!”

“I’ll put the kettle on” Joyce retreated to the kitchen, thinking how much of a novelty things were, his girlfriend thought he was at work, and instead, he’d ‘bunked off’ to see his wife! How times had changed!”

“Daddy! I thought you were coming tomorrow!”

“Plans changed honey – so, you nearly ready to go, huh – when is the flight?”

“Tuesday tea-time”

“Wow…my little princess – on the Olympic team!”

“I haven’t been chosen yet dad!”

“Well, just a matter of time!”

Joyce entered the lounge with a tray of tea, and set it down on the coffee table.

“So Buffy…your um, your mother and I have something to tell you”
Joyce sat, began to spoon sugar into cups before pouring the tea.

“Oh?”

“Well…Princess…your mother and have been apart now for nearly six years…”

“You’re getting divorced” Buffy said, quite matter-of-factly.

Hank let out a breath and said,

“Yes”

“Well…it isn’t a surprise really, I mean I always hoped you two would, (she shrugged) get back together…”

“That’s not going to happen princess”

“No, I realise that” Buffy said. Both Hank and Joyce were relieved that she took it so calmly.

“In fact um…” Hank went to tell her about Maureen, but his courage fled and he said,

“In fact what?” Buffy asked

Joyce looked at Hank, knew he was stalling – but she was damned if she was going to tell her daughter the news, so she said,

“In fact, we applied nearly two months ago, and the decree absolute will be through any day now, isn’t that right Hank?”

Her soon-to-be ex husband took a gulp of scalding tea and nodded.

As Hank didn’t say anything, Joyce volunteered,

“There was something else you wanted to tell Buffy, Hank?”

“Um, oh yes – you er, you know I’ll always love you princess, that’ll never change”

“I know dad”

“AND?” Joyce said pointedly – there was no getting away from it – he had to tell her now, coz both Buffy and Joyce were waiting expectantly.

“And um…well I er, I’ve got…I’ve got myself a girlfriend” he said, taking another gulp of tea.

Buffy rolled her eyes and asked

“Is she like all the other ones I’ve met?”

“No. Maureen is – well she’s special”

“Special, what do you mean, special – is she older than the others?”

“Not exactly, no”

“Younger then?”

“Well I suppose you could say that, yes”

“Dad, if she’s not older, she’s got to be younger, just how old is she?”

“She um, she’s 26 next birthday”

“DAD!” Buffy groaned and closed her eyes. Joyce’s eyes blazed at him to tell her the other news…

“And um, well, Maureen and I are um, well she’s, we are –“

“DON’T tell me you’re getting married!”

“Well, um I don’t know, we’ve talked about it, and she’s keen I know, but-“

“Course she’s keen! She can see dollar bills before her eyes!” Buffy said, and Joyce let out a little ‘huh’ noise, to which Hank frowned.

“Come on dad! See her for what she is, at that age, with you, she’s a gold digger!”

“Buffy! How dare you, you don’t even know her!”

“And I don’t want to either!”

“Well, that might be difficult, because she’s going nowhere, and-“

“And dad, get real, as soon as she learns you’re not a company director, she’ll be off – although with all the hours you used to put in, I’m surprised you’re not the big cahuna by now!”

Joyce was surprised her daughter could still be so naïve as to all the ‘hours working’ Hank always claimed as a cover for his affairs…

“Look daddy, mom and I were sorting out my clothes to take to Vancouver, and if you’d like to help, I need a new winter coat, and-“

“Buffy, sit down”

“I NEED to get on, I’ve only got the rest of the weekend to-“

“I said, SIT!” surprised at her dad’s sharp tone, Buffy sat.

“Good. Now…Maureen and I, well.. we’re are going to have a baby”

Buffy blinked at her dad

Hank swallowed, and continued

“We didn’t tell you before, because, well because your mom-“

“Because I didn’t want you upset before the trials, I wanted you to give it your best shot, without distractions” Joyce said, by way of explanation.

“How many months?” Buffy asked

“Sorry?”

“I said, how many months?”

“She’s five and a half months”

“WHAT?!!”

“We’re having a girl – the scan showed-“

“Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh! I don’t want to know, it’s DISGUSTING that’s what it is – are you sure it’s even yours? God, you’ve only been going out with her five minutes! Fuck dad! She MUST have seen you coming and saw ‘sucker’ written across your forehead!”

“How DARE YOU use that tone and that bad language to me young lady – after all I’ve done for you?!”

Joyce’s eyebrows shot up, and although she didn’t like Buffy’s bad language, when Buffy screamed at him,

“All you’ve done for me – I get the odd twenty dollar bill – you don’t even pay mom the maintenance you should – you’ve done nothing, do you hear me NOTHING except make me embarrassed! I HATE YOU!” Buffy covered her mouth and ran off upstairs.

Joyce put her cup down quietly on the tray

Hank sat back on the sofa, fuming.

“How dare she speak to me like that, how DARE she! This is YOUR doing Joyce!”

“ME – what have I done?”

“Poisoning her mind against me – how come she knows that I can’t pay – oh, hold on………(Hank took out his ringing cell-phone out of his pocket)

“It’s Maureen, keep quiet, she thinks I’m at work”

Joyce sat there quietly fuming at being told to keep quiet in her own home…upstairs Buffy was banging around enough to wake the dead………

“Hi honey…no I told you, Jeff and I were going to play golf, then have a late afternoon meeting………do you kitten, well don’t bother to cook if you feel ill, I can stop on the way home and get, what? Okay, I’ll bring something in if you feel too sick to make anything………I don’t know, a pizza or a burger or something…Chinese, well alright………you want what…but I thought you said you felt sick? Okay, okay, don’t go mad, I’ll bring you special fried rice, king prawn curry and some egg rolls……about an hour…okay honey, bye” he flipped his phone shut.

Joyce was about to say something flippant, but she couldn’t be bothered. She stood and picked up the tray.

“I was thinking, this is ironic”

“What is?” Hank frowned up at her

“This – this bunking off work to come and see your wife!”

“Very droll!”

“Buffy needs a new winter coat”

“And I have a nursery to create out of the spare bedroom”

Joyce rolled her eyes, the phone rang and she said,

“Well, you can see yourself out, bye”

She picked up the phone and a familiar female voice said,

“Is that Joyce?”

“Yes” Joyce knew immediately it was Maureen

“Is hank there?” Joyce thought about telling her how he’d just left, but if this Maureen chucked him out for lying to her, the last thing Joyce wanted was for him to turn up on her doorstep…

“Hank, no why – he supposed to be coming here tomorrow”

“Only he…it doesn’t matter” (Click)

“And goodbye to you too, you ignorant bitch” Joyce said to the dialling tone…

******************

Buffy’s room looked like a bomb had hit it, gone were the two neat piles of clothes on the bed, she’d come upstairs and cleared them with one fell swoop of the arm, and she now lay diagonally across the bed sobbing.

Joyce went to come up the stairs, when the phone rang again

“Hello, Joyce it’s me, I just thought Maureen might ring you and-“

“She already has”

“What?”

“I said, she already has”

“Oh Christ, you didn’t-“

“No, I didn’t drop you in it, she asked if you were here, and I said no, you were due tomorrow, that was it, she went to say something else, then put the phone down”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, when I said no, you were due tomorrow, she said, ‘only – doesn’t matter, and put the phone down. No goodbye or anything”

“Thanks Joyce – you’re the best!”

“Well, surprise, surprise, I actually agreed with you for once – you did the right thing by coming here alone, I dread to think what would have happened if Maureen had come with you, you know, Buffy’s reaction”

“Look, I gotta – sonofabitch – how much fuckin’ road do you want! I gotta go Joyce, bye!” Joyce heard a car-horn blaring as she said goodbye.

***********************


“Buffy…baby?”

“What?”

“Can I come in?”

“Please yourself” Buffy’s tone was cool – and Joyce knew why.

She came in, sat on the end of the bed

“You DO understand why I didn’t tell you sooner, about the divorce don’t you?” Buffy’s bad mood sulk with her mother broke and she nodded, she concentrated of gently pulling on one of Mr Gordo’s tatty ears.

“Did you know about is girlfriend being pregnant too?”

It was Joyce’s turn to nod

“You know, it hurt me too – and I don’t mean I still love your father or anything like that, it’s just… the three years we had before you were born, we were reasonably happy, we didn’t have many aspirations…then he got promoted, we moved here, got a nice car – then I found out I was expecting you…we were overjoyed and I was happy – we both were for about four years, and then…”

“Then what?” Buffy asked sitting up.

“Then your dad got restless, people, men at work, younger, been there a shorter time than he had, got promoted above him…he told me, only a couple of years ago mind, that’s when he had his first affair…he got more and more depressed – he was always working – or so he told me – I got lonely, I wanted another child – but he said we couldn’t afford one – we could never afford things…I mean I scrimped and saved to give you the best – I took the job at the gallery, even went full time so we could have treats, holidays, days out, to be able to change the car even…but it wasn’t enough. So when he calmly announced that after just four months she was pregnant…” Joyce felt the tears well up

Buffy sat up and put her arms around her mom

“I hate him!”

“Don’t say that, he IS your father, despite his faults!”

“Well I don’t want to meet her – and I don’t want to see the baby…it’s disgusting at his age!”

Joyce looked at her daughter

“He’s only 38 Buffy, that’s not ancient you know”

“I know but” (eugh!) she shuddered

“Come on…fancy pizza for supper?” Joyce asked, drying her eyes

“Yeah!”

“You order it then – and get ice-cream, then we’ll blitz this mess!”

Chapter 4


The airport farewell had been tearful, and Buffy sat low in her seat with her headphones on. The flight was short and uneventful, and a bus took her and seven others to the O’Connor academy.

Once they got there, it was organised like a military operation, they were allocated rooms, lockers and were each given a copy of the rules, opening and closing times of the medical centre, kiosk and dining room, they were also given a time to go for a medical examination the following day.

She got up onto the second floor found her room, went in.

It was basic, single bed, nightstand, small wardrobe, chest of draws, six high. There was a shelf for books or a small TV, and a notice on the back of the door saying posters could be put up using blu-tack putty, NOT sticky-tape or thumb-tacks. The bathroom was what you would expect, toilet, sink and bath, with a showerhead up on the wall at the tap end.

Buffy put her flight bag down on the floor, her other stuff would be sent up directly, they’d been told. So it was just a matter of a quick wash and change, and then down to dinner.

There was a knock at the door, and Buffy thought it was her luggage, she was surprised to see a small girl standing there, looking apologetic.

“Hi, my names Fred, Fredericka actually, I’m in the room next door - I was wondering, have you got such thing as a plastic bag? A small one will do, only I’ve broken the bottom of my shampoo bottle, it got crushed in my bag…”

“Oh um…no I – oh, hold on, will this do?” Buffy held out a vending machine polystyrene cup.

“Great – it won’t stand up on its end, stupid bottle – thanks – see you at dinner!” Fred disappeared into her own room, and Buffy was just about to shut the door, when she saw the lift door open and luggage being pushed out on a trolley.

She pulled her two suitcases and holdall into her room and began open them.

************************


“Quiet please………quiet – can I have your attention please” After various amounts of ‘shushing’ the dining room fell silent.

Angel O’Connor stood and said,

“Right, I trust you all had a good journey here, and will get a good nights rest. Tomorrow sees the start of a new regime for some of you, and I’m warning you now, it’s going to be HARD WORK – I don’t want or need half measures from anyone – we can all have ‘off’ days, I can appreciate that, but if I think that you’re not giving me 101% - then I’m afraid you’re out on your ear – we give you three chances, and after that - if you don’t want the place – there are plenty of others out there just waiting to take it – so don’t say you haven’t been warned.

Rules and regulations:

1. You DO NOT leave the premises, that is the residential block, or the training block or the parking lot during weekdays, at ANY hour without permission and a pass.

2. Main lights are out at 10pm, breakfast is between 8-8.30am those of you with televisions in your rooms are asked to use headphones with them – if there are complaints about anything disturbing other borders, the piece of equipment will be confiscated, do you understand?”

Everybody in the room either nodded or said ‘yes’.

3. Weekend passes will be handed out after lunch on Fridays – if you haven’t picked it up by 2.30pm, then TOUGH – you’ve lost your weekend pass – anybody who leaves the premises with out a pass is instantly sent home, without possible chance of coming back.

4. If you hear this bell (thankyou Mr Wesley) “ The fire alarm sounded for a few seconds, you assemble on the parking lot between the two buildings – if this is unsafe to do so, then go to wherever the fire department direct you, NEVER re-enter the premises after the bell has sounded, and don’t use the lifts – we shall have a practice run sometime this week


Right, any questions?”

A couple put their hands up, one asking about telephones, she was told that there were phone cards available at the kiosk where various things could be bought, it was open from 10am-4pm everyday.

The other question was about extra wardrobe space for ‘costumes’

“Oh yes, I forgot to say, if you have a special costume, this applies to the ice-skaters and ballet dancers, we will keep it in a special place for you so it doesn’t have to get crushed in your small wardrobes – anything else? – No, right then, I’ll leave you to get to know one another, and I shall see you in the morning”

“Hi! – S’me again – sorry about bothering you, I didn’t catch your name earlier”

“Oh hi Fred, I’m Buffy, Buffy Summers – was the cup any good?”

“Perfect thanks –so did you have to come far?”

Buffy wasn’t sure how much she’d have in common with this tiny girl – she seemed very thin and slight, and young………

“No, flight was less than an hour, you?”

“Six days”

“What?”

“Not really! It just felt like it…I was driven here, by the foster home mother, she can’t fly so we drove…it took three days”

“Foster home?”

“Uh huh – no parents, no family, just little ole’ me!”

Buffy felt instantly sorry for her

“So, how old are you?”

“I’ll be sixteen in three weeks”

“Really, me too!”

Buffy was shocked; she was expecting the girl to say she was 13, tops.

“What date?”

“Fifth of November” Buffy said

“Mine’s the sixth!”

“Double celebration!” they laughed and Buffy began to relax, it had been one of her biggest fears that it would be like Sunnydale Junior-High again, where it took her almost a term to be on speaking terms with anybody, let alone friendly…

“Do you know anybody else here?” Buffy asked

“Um yes, but nobody who’d want to talk to little old me…see that girl over there – the one with the long fair hair – she’s Amy. Silver medallist in the juniors – I’d LOVE to be as good as good as her – have you seen her on the beam – she’s like…poetry”

“No, no I haven’t – to tell you the truth, I don’t know much about gymnastics, I’m an ice-skater”

“Wow – do you do all those fancy jumps and things – listen to me, course you do, else you wouldn’t be here!”

“I was Junior Ice-Dance champion three years running – but I’m too old now”

“Three times! Wow…I can just about stand up on the ice!”

Fred turned her head and gave a big yawn

“Ooh sorry, it’s the travelling, it’s catching up with me”

Buffy looked at her watch

“It’s twenty passed nine – shall we go up, there’s still a few bits and pieces I want to put away before lights out at ten”

“I haven’t even started yet!” the two girls went up to their rooms, and said goodnight.

Buffy went in, put out what she wanted to wear in the morning, set out her toiletries in the bathroom and brushed her teeth. She was too tired to take a shower, she’d had one before dinner and if she took another now it would ‘wake her up’ and she wanted to be fresh for the morning.









Chapter 5


“Breath in…and out………………again please, in………and out, okay thankyou” The Dr took the stethoscope out of his ears and went and fetched another instrument.

“Right, just relax, this won’t hurt, give me your arm please………the doctor held her arm and this ‘thing’ pinched the flesh.

“This is to measure your body mass index – that is the ratio of fat to muscle………hmm, okay, you can dressed now – oh, did you bring your urine sample?”

“I gave it to the nurse” Buffy said from behind the curtains.

“Good, good”

Buffy was used to medicals, she had to have them every time she competed, she never used to worry about them, they were just a chore.

She swished the curtain back, and the doc asked her questions about her periods and allergies, her diet and any recurring injuries she had. All in all, the process took about twenty minutes.

Leaving the doc’s surgery, she made her way back to her room to change for training.

********************


“And hold it for the count of four – breathe out through the nose…two, three, four – and relax. Okay ladies, lunchtime – I want you at the rink at 1.30pm prompt”

Buffy stood, pulled on leg warmers to keep her stretched muscles warm, and she put on her padded jacket as she had to cross the parking lot.

Entering the dining room, there was a queue, not at the serving counter, but at Mr Wesley, he was saying something to each person, then ticking something off on a clipboard. It got to Buffy

“Name?”

“Summers, Buffy summers”

“Let me see…ah yes, take tray 18 out of the chiller cabinet, that’s your lunch – next”

Buffy got to the counter, saw a tray covered in shrink-wrap.

Frowning, she went to move away, when she was confronted with a basket of fresh fruit

“Take two, different, though, not two the same”

Buffy looked and said,

“I’ll pass”

“You need it to make up the calories of your lunch”

“Then I’ll go hungry, won’t I?”

Buffy moved on and sat down, just dropping the tray with disgust on the table. She was just in the mood for a hamburger

Unwrapping her tray, she’d got a carton of orange juice, three wafer thin slices of ham, a tomato and some lettuce, two rice cakes, a fat-free yoghurt, and a small plastic cup with two pills. The one tablet she recognised as a multi-vitamin, the other she didn’t know.

When Mr Wesley came walking past her she said,

“Excuse me, Mr Wesley, what’s the blue tablet?”

“You are?”

“Buffy Summers”

“Right, let me look………you’ve been prescribed a multi-vitamin and an iron tablet, you had your medical this morning I take it?”

Buffy nodded

“Yes, and oh yes, apparently you have a wheat intolerance too, it says no wheat, light diet, needs to loose 14lbs”

“No, I don’t!”

“Say’s so here – perhaps the medical picked it up this morning”

“First I’ve heard of it!”

“Mr Wesley” he looked up and excused himself from Buffy and left.

Buffy stared at the tray with distain, and despite being hungry, decided she didn’t want it, and pushed it away.

She sat back, put in her earpieces, switched on her ipod and took out a magazine and began to read.

A bell rang, and she noticed everybody standing up, she glanced at the clock, it was 1.15pm, she had fifteen minutes to get to the ice-rink

Plucking out her earpieces and turning off her ipod, she stuffed the magazine into her bag and stood up.

“Buffy…Buffy” She turned to see Coach O’Connor coming towards her

“You didn’t eat your lunch”

“I don’t like wafer thin ham, tomatoes or lettuce – yoghurt is just ew - yuck, I hate rice, bananas make me bloat – and I DON’T take tablets unless I know what they are and what they are for – and my mother always said if I eat a balanced diet, there’s no need for vitamin supplements”

“Well skipping lunch is hardly well balanced, is it? Look Buffy, you need to follow a strict regime, you’re slightly over-weight, and your blood sample shows a wheat intolerance”

“First I’ve heard of it!”

“You mean you’ve never felt bloated after eating a sandwich, or pizza?”

“No” Buffy could feel her cheeks begin to redden

“Well look, we’ll let this go for today – I’ll get another appointment for you at the medical centre, get the doctor to go through things with you”

“Can I go now, I have to be at the rink”

“Yes, you may go”

Buffy hitched her bag up on her shoulder and left, with Coach O’Connor staring after her – he’d have to watch this one – seemed she wasn’t going to swallow any old rubbish they sometimes told their students to get them to conform………


*******************


Illyria Rubinskya had everybody standing around her on the ice, she told them what she wanted them to do, standard set pieces while she watched each person in turn.

The others skated to the sides to watch while the first person took to the ice.

When it came to Buffy’s turn, she noticed she was just in time to see the Coach enter the rink. She skated to the middle of the ice, and began her set pieces – she skated faultlessly, nailing the jumps perfectly, no slips or jerks, she did them all smoothly and cleanly, earning a ripple of applause from her fellow dancers.

“Very good Buffy” Illyria politely clapped, and then said with a smile,

“But you need to start doing triple salcow’s and triple toe-loops and lutz’ now – as well as three and a half turns, you’re no longer in the juniors” Buffy nodded, she wasn’t worried, Mrs Keogh had had her practicing them for a good few months now as she too knew that moving from the junior ranks to the adult world of skating would require them.

After everyone had done their set pieces, each were told to go off and practice what they’d been told.

There was plenty of falling over by everybody, Buffy included. She noticed the Coach and Illyria were deep in conversation, and occasionally they looked her way. So Buffy just kept her head down and got on with the task in hand.


The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, and she made her way back to her room at 4pm – to be greeted with four ‘homework’ tasks to be completed and handed in the following day.

Sighing, Buffy threw herself on the bed and looked at the tasks. She had American History, the Civil War, math – the binary system, English – a comprehension, and social studies – the welfare state.

KNOCK, KNOCK

“Yeah, come in” Buffy looked passed her papers to the opening door, it was Fred

“Hi Fred, come in”

“How was your first day?”

“Well the medical and the exercises, and the training is fine, I’m used to it, lunch was a bitch though!”

“Oh, why?”

“Geared up for hamburger!”

“And got lettuce leaf?”

“How’d you guess?”

“Tried it with me too…told me I was over-weight!”

Buffy snorted and said

“Gods, if they think YOU’RE overweight, what chance do I have?”

“Oh this was when I first came here, when I was eight – I left for two years, when I was 11-13 I had a knee operation, didn’t think I’d be good enough to come back – but, here I am – glutton for punishment!”

“You must be! So how did you get on today?”

“Fine, except this – have you got a social studies paper?”

Buffy sorted through and held it out

“Yup, why?”

“Only I’ve never covered this stuff before – the prison system”

“Oh I have! – I’ve never done the welfare state”

“Look, they’ve given you the wrong paper, that’s my name…I’ll tell Miss Calendar tomorrow”

“Whose that, the tutor?”

“Yes, she’s nice, really nice, you can talk to her – about anything, she doesn’t mind”

The two girls worked together until six o’clock, when they went down to dinner

“This rate, I’ll have to get mom to drop me ‘Red Cross’ parcels in before I fade away!” They both giggled while they waited in the queue.

The same operation as lunchtime, they waited for Mr Wesley to tell them what tray number

“Summers, isn’t it…tray 43, next! Hello Fred – anything from the servery…next – your name is…”

Fred looked over Buffy’s arm to the contents of the tray she was holding, then Buffy’s face.

Buffy didn’t look overly impressed, but at least it was something she’d eat this time. A skinless, boneless chicken breast, with a small jacket potato and some coleslaw in vinaigrette, for afters there was a small pot of red jello, and a bottle of water

Buffy unwrapped her tray – it looked unappetising, and the chicken was slightly dry, and the savoury smell of Fred’s meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy was almost torture. Funny enough, meatloaf wasn’t a dish Buffy particularly enjoyed when she was at home, - she supposed it was the ‘forbidden fruit’ syndrome – she couldn’t have it, so it seemed that much more appealing………


*************


When Buffy saw the doctor the following day, she questioned him about her weight.

“Only MY doctor said I was the right weight for my height, just”

There wasn’t a lot the doctor could say to that, it was true – but then…

“It’s the dancing you see, puts unnecessary strain on the joints, knees in particular. As well as the ankles and hips. The lighter you are, the better it is for them”

“But last year, when I had gastric ‘flu, and couldn’t keep anything down, I lost 16lbs, my periods stopped”

“Don’t worry about that, as soon as you gain the weight, that is as soon as your body mass goes up to 4% fat – they’ll come back”

After answering her questions about the vitamin and mineral supplements, Buffy left the office and went straight to training.

Angel went into the Doctors office.

“Well?”

“Oh don’t worry, I think I allayed her fears” The doc said

“Good, I don’t want trouble, especially from a chit of a girl like that – I’ll have to keep an extra close eye on that young lady”

“Why?”

“Oh, (Angel shrugged and grinned) No reason…you know – they come here, think they know it all, next stop – anarchy!”

The doctor gave him a false smile and a small upward nod.

“Well, I better leave you to it then, bye doc, and thanks”

********************



Following day, lunchtime:

“Tray 10, next” Buffy picked up tray 10, she got a distinct fishy whiff, and her stomach turned over.

“Eugh, I can’t look!”

Fred sat across from her, tucking into a turkey and bacon salad baguette.

“What is it?”

“Cat food!”

“WHAT?”

“Tuna – but I can only eat it if it’s got mayo and things chopped in it, like bell peppers and onion and that – and somebody else has to open the tin, else it’s just like cat food!”

“Never mind…I’d give you some of this, but we’re being watched?”

“Oh – who”

“DON’T turn round…Mr Wesley………they watch us all like hawks – don’t you want your strawberry mousse?”

Buffy wrinkled her nose, she couldn’t be bothered.

Ten minutes before the end of lunch bell ended, Mr Wesley came up to her table.

“Not eating lunch again Miss Summers – I’ll have to report it you know”

Buffy just shrugged, slid her chair back and said to Fred,

“Catch you later, I’ve got to get my other trainers, bye”

*************************


And so it went on, there was a battle of wills for about a month, with Buffy skipping lunch most days, because it was usually something she didn’t like.

Two months into training, and she was coming up to a weekend pass, she was three weeks away from her first competition, some regional heats to get ceded, that was, her ranking before the major competitions started.

It was Friday lunchtime, and Coach O’Connor was giving them all that were going on a weekend pass home the standard lecture.

“Don’t blow all your hard work – don’t go doing anything stupid, like hand-gliding - even bowling – I don’t want anybody coming back here with injuries, alright – and remember your diets – now go, I’ll see you all back here at 8pm on Sunday – go!”

Buffy hoisted her holdall onto her shoulder and went out to the bus to take her to the airport.

Again the short flight was uneventful, and as she’d taken her holdall on as hand luggage, she didn’t have to wait at the carousel.

Making her way out of the arrivals lounge Buffy was mildly surprised to see her mother talking to a tallish man.

Buffy walked right up to them and said

“Hi mom”

Joyce turned, and her beaming smile turned t one of practically horror.

“BUFFY! On my baby – what have you DONE to yourself! – Look at you – skin and bone – don’t they feed you – oh gods!”

“Mom…MOM, stop! I’m okay, honestly, I’m fine – I was 14lbs overweight, now I’m not”

“Don’t be ridiculous! 14lbs my foot – I’m taking you straight to Dr Gull’s office in the morning and see what he says about- Buffy! Don’t walk away from me!”

“Mom, I’m tired, you’re making a big fuss and EVERYBODY’S watching – can we just get home please? – where have you parked the car?”

“I didn’t – I couldn’t, um Buffy, you’ve heard of me talk of Mr Duggan the gallery owner - well this is he, Mr Duggan, my daughter, Buffy, what’s left of her anyway”

“MOM!”

“Mr Duggan kindly bought me here, I accidentally left my lights on all day in the parking lot yesterday and drained the battery”

“So ladies, where can I take you, downtown for a special treat, perhaps?”

“Buffy? – We could go to the Viennese Coffee and Cake house – or the pancake shack?” Buffy shook her head

“MacDonalds then – Burger King…Pizza Hut?”

“No mom, I mustn’t, honestly they’ve found out I’ve got a wheat allergy”

“Wheat allergy? – Since when?” Joyce frowned

“Since I had tests at the academy, now can we PLEASE just go home?”

Mr Duggan had a big false smile on his face, and he said in a jovial tone,

“Home it is then – that’s where the heart is, or so they say, can I take that for you?”

Buffy shook her head

“No, it’s fine, it’s not heavy”

“Right then, this way, short-stay parking lot, row G16”

************

“Are you sure you won’t come in for some tea, you’re very welcome”

“No, honestly, there are one or two things I need to do at the gallery, I’ll see you on Monday, have a nice weekend both, bye”

Mr Duggan sped off.

Joyce came into the lounge where Buffy was sitting on the sofa still in her coat.

“Can I make you something to eat, I’ve got-“

“Stop fussing mom. Actually, I’d like a bath and a rest, I’m tired”

“Okay then love, you know where everything is” Joyce said quietly. She resisted giving her daughter another hug, but watched with concern as Buffy trudged up the stairs.


**************

“Hey, sleepy-head, are you going to wake up? You’ll never sleep tonight, and I’m hardly going to see anything of you as it is!”

Buffy roused herself – she yawned and stretched, she felt thick-headed and exhausted.

“Sorry mom”

“Now, you MUST be hungry by now – what can I get you?”

“Not much, I’m not really hungry” Buffy yawned again and stood. Joyce looked concernedly at her daughter and said

“Well come down and see what you want, I’ve stocked the fridge”

Chapter 6


“………………Honestly Hank, she’s skin and bone, and all she did was sleep the weekend, I hardly saw her at all”

“Well I’m sorry Joyce, but what can *I* do about it? Now isn’t a good time for me, I’m trying to paint the nursery, Maureen’s having a tough time of it, what do you expect me to do, hmm?”

“I expect you to care Hank, after all, she’s still your daughter! Oh to hell with you, I don’t know why I bothered ringing you in the first place, you’re about as much use as a chocolate teapot!” Joyce slammed the phone down. She rubbed her forehead and sat on the stairs. The phone rang

“Hi mom, it’s me, I’m back safe okay?”

“Oh, hi love…”

“Sorry about sleeping so much – it just kind a crept up on me, next time I come home, we’ll do something, okay?”

“Sure – when will that be?”

“Um…four weeks, I’ve got the Mitsubishi Cup in three weeks, it’ll be the weekend after that…hold on…the 19th, yeah – Friday the 19th”

“Right…why does that date ring a bell with me?”

“Coz it’s the Mitsubishi Cup?” Joyce could tell Buffy was smiling.

“No, the nineteenth…”

“Something at the gall-“

“Oh, OH – I know what it is”

“What?”

“That’s the date Maureen is supposed to be having the baby”

“Like I wanna know…hi Fred – okay then mom, I’ve got to unpack, and I want to talk to Fred – I’ll phone you in the week”

“Remember I’m working late Thursday and Friday we’ve got that showing of African Tribal Art I was telling you about”

Buffy frowned but said

“Did you, oh, sorry haven’t been very listening mode Buffy, but enjoy, and don’t work too hard”

“I won’t – and eat something!”

“Yes mom – bye”

“ Bye love”

Buffy followed Fred into her room.

“So how did you do?” Buffy asked her friend

Fred turned round; all smiles, clutching a piece of paper.

“Da-da! There you go, look! One confirmed pass to the next round of heats for the Interstate Gymnastic Championships!”

“Clever girl!”

“So, ho did the weekend go?”

“Actually, I feel terrible”

Fred looked up from tucking away her certificate

“Terrible as in ill?”

“No, I slept mostly – and of course, mom freaked at the weight loss – kept trying to feed me up”

“And you didn’t succumb?”

“No…right from when she picked me up at the airport, she offered to take me into town, the Pancake House, MacDonalds, there’s this Viennese coffee house that does these cakes and gateaux to die for – but just the thought of it…”

“Well, that’s good – you won’t have to do the killer-laxative and throwing up routine then!”

Buffy frowned

“Killer laxative and…ew!?”

“That’s what some of them do, they splurge and have a blow-out on weekend passes, some can put on as much as 7lbs! Then like from NOW they take two whole packets of laxatives – spend the next three days in the toilet”

Buffy made a disgusted face

The lift ‘dinged’ to announce it’s arrival on their floor, and Jenny Calendar came out and walked towards them

Hello ladies…here are you assignments for this week…yours Buffy…and yours Fred, now any questions?”

“How did I do on my test paper?” Buffy asked biting her bottom lip

“Enough – just, your problem is dates – you just need to concentrate a little more”

Buffy nodded

**************************


Buffy skated out onto the ice, she got a little speed up, turned 90 ° so she was skating backwards, and attempted a jump with a triple twist, she almost succeeded, but she didn’t nail it properly and her leading skate was lost beneath her and she fell. She got up resignedly and tried again. It was one thing loosing weight to save her joints, only problem was, now her little bit of padding had gone, she had nothing to cushion the falls…

“Come on Buffy, concentrate, you need to throw that right leg behind you higher, that will help keep your balance - like this”

Illyria skated around and executed the perfect jump with triple twist and landed perfectly

Buffy nodded and tried again – this time she landed, and managed to stay upright, but it was clumsy, jerky and not smooth like it should be.

“Better, but keep your head lower, raise your hips”

Buffy practiced all afternoon, she came off the ice tired and aching slightly – nothing a hot bath wouldn’t cure.

When the bell sounded to indicate end of training, Illyria caught up with Buffy as she changed into her trainers

“You did well today Buffy, I could see you took what I said on board, do you feel you are ready for the um…” Illyria wiggled her fingers, trying to think of the name of the competition, and Buffy smiled and said,

“What, the Mitsubishi?”

“Yes! That’s it, the Mitsubishi”

“I need more practice on my routine, and I’ve sorted out some music for it though”

“Good, good, you are the only one to have mentioned music so far, I was going to ask during the next training session – what have you chosen?”

“It’s a Beatles song, Eleanor Rigby, but played on strings, by the New York Philharmonic, they play it quite quick, and it suits the routine”

“Excellent! Have you got a copy?”

“Yes, I’ve got it on my ipod – I do my exercises to it”

“Good” They both looked up and saw Coach O’Connor coming towards them, smiling.

Buffy felt a slight twinge in her neck, she put her hand up to rub the back with her fingers, and she rotated her head from side to side.

“Have a good weekend, Buffy – hey, got a twinge?”

“Yes just a bit (Angel grabbed her by the shoulders, turned her around and massaged her neck) Aah – um, yes thanks, but I slept most of it!”

He stopped and looked at Illyria and smiled when he said,

“Unlike the others, who seemed to have eaten through most of it!”

“Buffy has had a very good practice, and she has already picked out her music for her routine – something I hadn’t even mentioned to the others yet” Illyria said smiling

Angel gave Buffy a grin, and casually draped an arm around her

“Good, excellent in fact – when do you practice again?”

“Tomorrow, 2.30 my ice-time slot”

“Right, I’ll make a note to come and see how you’re getting on – do well at the Mitsubishi, and you should find the Grand Prix at Stuttgart easy” he gave her shoulder a squeeze, then dropped his arm.

Buffy nodded and stood, hoisting her bag on her shoulder

“Well I must go, got a math paper waiting for me that’s not going to do itself” Angel stood to one side and he and Illyria both watched her leave.

“And I thought that one was going to be trouble”

“She’s knuckled down well – she’ll be fine at the Mitsubishi – but the Chinese are good, VERY good, they’ll be at Stuttgart”

“Hmm, not really used to big venue’s yet though…tell you who might be a problem, though”

“Whose that?”

“Faith Hamilton”

“Faith, you mean your old pupil?”

“That’s the one – she’s been training in England, exclusively with that British guy, Rupert Giles – he of the 7 Olympic gold medals fame for Ice-Dancing…she’s been with him 14 months, and so I hear, they’re coming back to the states so she can represent her home country again”

“Then Buffy needs to train hard. Where will this Faith be homed?”

“Don’t worry, Buffy already knows this girl from the junior circuit, they are similar in age - Faith is going to be training out of Ethan Raine’s place………I’ll send someone from here – see if we can get some secret footage of her training, she how good she really is”

“You can do that?”

“It’s not what you know, but who…” Angel said walking away with a smile, tapping his nose then pointing to her

Illyria’s brows fell eventually – it would be VERY useful if they knew before the competitions who was doing what as regards routines. Not to steal the other competitors routines of course, just to make sure that their dancer’s routines were better……………


**************

“Okay raise your arm when you’re ready” Illyria called as Buffy took her place on the ice.

Buffy stayed still on the opening bars, and when the words would have started, she wriggled her arms upwards, staking forward, 90° turn, skate backwards, cross skates, up into a first jump, treble twist, great landing, she skated, concentrating on the beats to the moves of her routine, she made one error, she did a double toe loop instead of a triple – but unless you absolutely knew what it should have been, you wouldn’t have know.

The music finished and Buffy spun tremendously fast, then came to a dead stop, dropped her head and arms back dramatically on the last note.

“Excellent- bravo!” Both Illyria and Angel skated towards her, grinning

“I…made ………a mistake…” Buffy gasped, she was panting heavily

“Double instead of a triple toe loop, I know, but you could easily throw one in when you skate round before the final spin – between when you change legs spinning on the spot, and the ballerina spin, if that happens again” Illyria suggested

Buffy nodded, trying to get her breath back as they skated to the side.


**********


Ten days later, Buffy had the routine off absolutely perfect! She could skate it in her sleep – she did too!

***************


Buffy was lying on her bed, reading a magazine, when there was a knock at the door

“Yeah, come in”

“Look at what I’ve got for you!”

Illyria came in carrying a costume swathed in plastic. Buffy smiled and stood up, putting her magazine down on the nightstand.

Illyria hung the outfit on the back of the wardrobe door, and the plastic cover slid to the floor to reveal a midnight blue mini dress, the top half from the top of the bust to the neck and the sleeves were made of very fine see-thru organdie net, it had a sprinkling of diamond-like crystals over it that shone a rainbow of colours in the light.

“What do you think?” Illyria stood back so Buffy could take a better look

“Oh! It’s – it’s beautiful!”

“Good, I’m glad you like it – it’s for Stuttgart”

Buffy didn’t have to wear underclothes with the dress, just tights as the dress was made over a swimsuit, with built in bra top so there would be no ‘visible panty-line’.

“I’ll try it on after my shower”

“Good – see you later”

************************

Buffy did really well at the Mitsubishi Cup, she came third overall. That meant she had a ceding of No. 3 in the US, her marks put her in 68th cede in the world, which, for a junior switching ranks was excellent, it usually took at least 12 months to drop down from the one-hundred-and-something kind of numbers.

Having caught a slight cold at the Mitsubishi Cup, Buffy cancelled her home weekend pass, and told her mother that she would go home after the main competition.

*******************

Stuttgart came round fast.

Buffy got on the coach for the airport; she always had slight nerves on a longer flight.

When they eventually got there, the competition was due to start the following day, Buffy’s slot wasn’t until the evening – she had two daytime ice practice slots tomorrow, one 10.30-11.30am, the next at 3-4pm – tonight she could relax and watch the pairs and the men’s heats of the competition.

Top couple were from Belarus, Ivana and Boris Menova, a brother and sister whom Buffy had seen many times when she was a junior, other favourites for the title this year were a British couple, Carly Mason and Andy Johnson, and the American couple, Brad Douglas and Tanya Glenn.

Buffy got to the rink just in time to see the American couple skate their new routine, they’d picked a dance routine from the hit musical ‘Chicago’ – ‘All That Jazz’ – and it went down a storm with the crowds, fast paced, with some of their trademark moves incorporated into the routine, everybody watched the scoring with bated breath, the ‘technical merit’ scores came up first,

There were mostly 5.7’s, a 5.6 from the Russian judge, the British judge had given them a 5.8 – and as usual, the highest and lowest scores were eliminated, and the mean average was taken – this meant they were on course to beat the French couple, who’d come out of nowhere and were lying in third place.

The ‘overall marks’ came up, Buffy could see them, sitting in the scoring bay – waving to the crowd, Tanya’s arms full of flowers. Cameramen trained on them from 2 different angles.

The second sets of scores came up, and there was booing from the American corner – the marks were quite low, 5.4’s, even a 5.3 from the Spanish – GB judge gave them another 5.8, their best mark the other four giving them 5.5’s. Their coach stood by them and Tanya waved again and they stood, Buffy knew how disappointed they’d be feeling right now – they were back in fourth – nobody ever got anything for coming 4th…………

Chapter 7

She’s had a fairly good night’s sleep, considering it was a strange bed, and after a smoothie for breakfast, Buffy went to the Rink for her practice slot.

Already there, was Faith Hamilton, it had been about 18 months since Buffy had seen her rival – they weren’t enemies, just barely talked when they were juniors.

Buffy sat at the end of the row Faith was sitting in, and busied herself putting on her practice boots and leg warmers.

Faith turned her head and looked at her, and said,

“It’s Betty, isn’t it?”

“Buffy”

“Buffy, yeah…so it’s been a while, how goes it?”

“Fine, you?”

Faith pouted, nodded her head, and said

“Five by five…so you’re with O’Connor then”

“Yes”

“I used to be with him…’til I wised up”

“I’m sorry, wised up?”

Faith smiled and shook her head like she was talking to naïve little six year old.

“Haven’t you ever noticed…things?”

Without wishing to appear thick, Buffy just repeated the word.

“Things?”

“Yeah…such as – say you get a cramp – or stiff neck…it seems, well”

“Well what?” Buffy asked, standing up to put her coat back on as it was very cold.

“Well, it seems HE gets more out of it than you do – when he’s massaging you – got to be touching – you think it’s friendly at first, the odd arm around your shoulder – THEN you get to realise the touching gets…”

Buffy frowned, and a young woman came up to Faith, who stood and said,

“Well, I gotta go, my turn – break a leg, as they say”

Buffy just mumbled a ‘bye’ and pulled her coat more tightly around her, thinking about what Faith had just said…

*****************

“Hey, you were miles away, are you ready?”

Buffy jumped, startled as Angel loomed over her, smiling. He had his hand on her shoulder, and she immediately thought as to what Faith had just said to her, and stood quickly, shrugging off the hand

“Sorry, got mesmerised!”

“Illyria’s rink-side waiting, she has your music – now go do your best” Buffy nodded and left.

Her first practice session was dreadful, she fell twice, both times in the same part of the routine, and she must have slowed up somewhere, because the music finished before she did.

Disappointed, she skated rink side to where Illyria was waiting.

“What was that? Buffy, that was the worst I’ve seen you skate! (She gave a heavy sigh and continued)

Never mind, you have this afternoon, you seem to slow down after your first set of jumps – double axel, triple toe-loop, double Lutz, then you slow down for some reason – make for the end of the rink fast as you can”

Buffy nodded

“Have you any bruises?”

“I’m okay, I’ve got some arnica and aloe vera gel”

“Good, use it, have a hot bath first and rest, try not to think about this and come back refreshed this afternoon for your second practice, okay?”

Buffy nodded and went back to her room.

Illyria went up o Angel

“Well, you know the old adage, lousy rehearsal, great show – I just hope in THIS case it’s true – she was all over the place”

“Nerves, that’s all – she’ll be okay later.” Angel said, hopefully

“Did you manage to see Faith practice?”

“Not a chance, she saw me and I was asked to leave! Cheeky or what!”

“She’s quite entitled”

“I know, I know…got too big for her boots that one – tell you who I DID see though, that little Chinese girl – what’s her name? Sui-Pey Yip – she’s mustard – zips round like she’s rocket-propelled”

“Speed isn’t everything”

“No, I know, but boy…come on, lets get a cup of coffee”


***********************


Buffy sat on the edge of her bed in her towelling robe, hair in a towel turban, she squirted some arnica and aloe gel on the bruise forming just above her knee, and rubbed it in.

Having done that, she put everything ready for later, dried her hair and lay down. There was too much noise to sleep, people shouting in different languages, doors banging – so she put in her earpieces and listened to her ipod, and read a magazine.

************************

The afternoon practice went better, she didn’t fall this time, but her timing was still slightly out, but Illyria didn’t say anything, Buffy knew what she had to do.


Half an hour before she was due on the ice, Buffy sipped her isotonic glucose drink for energy, and checked her makeup.

It had to be heavy, her eyes banded with blue, silver and white sparkling glitter shadows, black eyeliner and false lashes, she’d put her hair up in a tight chignon, using glitter gel spray.

Doing her breathing exercises to counteract the butterflies in her tummy, she sat with Mr Gordo on her lap, fondling his ears.

(KNOCK, KNOCK)

“Time, Buffy”

She stood, kissed the little photo of her mom and left the room

Illyria stood by her as she waited for her turn on the ice, Buffy slipped off her blade guards, and waited until all the volunteers had finished collecting the flowers thrown on the ice for the last skater.


She heard the announcer say her name, and she skated onto the ice (to tremendous applause, whistles and yells from mostly the American’s in the audience) and struck her pose, waiting for the music to start.

The first strains of Eleanor Rigby started, and when the words ‘Eleanor Rigby, picked up the rice in the church where a wedding had been’…etc, would have normally started, if it hadn’t been an instrumental version of the song, she began her routine.

She skated, concentrated, nailed every jump, remembered her speed and coming to the last combo of skating on the spot, then changing legs she knew she’d done it, her timing was perfect, as she ballerina spun, stopped dead, threw her head and arms back dramatically on the last note. – NOW she could smile -a grin a mile wide when she saw Illyria almost jumping up and down on the spot and Angel punching the air with a ‘YES!’ With the audience on it’s feet, whooping and cheering

Chest absolutely heaving she skated to the side, flowers raining down she forgot what Faith said as Angel pulled her into a big bear hug and kissed the top of her head.

All smiles she waved to the camera as they made their way to the scoring bay, where she sat, slipped on her blade guards and received her armful of flowers.

“Technical merit’’ scores first, she got 5.8 across the board, artistic marks ranged from 5.6 from the Ukrainian judge, to 5.9 from the GB judge – she was in fifth place – with Faith and the favourite, Drusilla St John yet to skate, and two more Chinese girls, so it wasn’t in the bag for her yet.

Leaving the rink, Buffy made her way to her room, she opened the door to find more flowers waiting for her, one of the helpers from the academy was putting them in vases for her

“You were fantastic!”

“Thanks – gotta phone my mom!”

“I’ll leave you to it – “ the girl left and Buffy fished out her mobile phone.


Buffy ended up in seventh place overall – which, considering she’d only just joined the senior ranks was totally amazing – Angel had quite expected her to got into the top fifty, as she was very good, it was a lot more than he’d dared hope, for her to get into the top ten straight away! Good for business too – he was sure that applications to the academy (for paying customers) would go up too………

Chapter 8

Weeks drifted into months, and months into years, the calendar being one long round of competitions rather than holidays, Buffy won her fair share, her mother having to get another trophy cabinet to store all her cups and medals.

With her nineteenth birthday looming, and the winter Olympics on the horizon, Buffy was safe in the knowledge of her place on the team. She’d become over the last three years the ‘darling’ of the circuit, and along with Faith Hamilton, things were looking rosy in the medal hopes for them. Faith and Buffy didn’t even speak, their paths never crossed, even at the same meetings and events, and when asked about each other in interviewers, they always just smiled and complimented each other.


******************


“More height Buffy, you need more height on that triple lutz if you’re going to land properly” Illyria said.

Buffy skated round, getting more speed up, and executed the perfect triple lutz.

“I can do it, but not straight after a toe loop – I can do a double, not a triple!”

“Well try harder!”

Buffy sighed, and tried for the rest of her 45-minute practice, she just couldn’t get it.

Illyria met a totally fed up Buffy as she was changing out of her skates.

“I know what I think it is – it’s the music”

Buffy looked up and said,

“I was thinking that – I don’t usually do classical music anyway, doesn’t suit my dance – I need something with more beat – a definite pace to it”

“Yes Buffy, but this is for the set pieces – you can use what you want for the free-dance programme – it’s just that the judges like to see that you can do all the basics with a certain amount of discipline…I suppose we could always put it first…triple lutz, double toe loop then the salcow…leave it with me, and I might change the music, still something classical, but with a bit more ‘oomph’ in it than Bach” Buffy nodded and left the rink.


***************************


Illyria was sitting in her office, at her computer working out the choreography to Buffy’s set piece, when there was a knock at the door.

“Yes, come”

“Hi, s’me – I did it – I found out what Faith’s doing for her free dance programme” Angel said smugly

Illyria swivelled her office chair so she was facing Angel

“You do? – How?”

“Got myself an insider in the camp, haven’t I!”

Illyria sat there waiting for him to elucidate.

“Well, I know the music, very cute, she going to use George Michael’s ‘Gotta Have Faith’, and old Rupes himself is choreographing the dance.

Illyria swivelled back to face her monitor

“Well just be careful, we can’t know too much, else they’ll say we cheated, that’s all – we’ve already got one law-suit in the offing”

“THAT’S Going to go away, our lawyer states that it was the gymnast herself that was negligent – she should have chalked her feet as well as hands it wasn’t MY fault she didn’t follow company procedure, she’s been here long enough to know the rules!”

Angel’s mobile started ringing, so he said a quick ‘’bye’, and left


******************


The next four weeks Buffy trained extra hard. Illyria had come up trumps with changing the music for her set piece, and had gone totally the opposite of the quiet Bach piece that Buffy was having so much difficulty in skating to, and changed it to Tchaikovski’s 1812 Overture, complete with exploding canons!

For her free-dance routine, Buffy had chosen to do something that little bit different, she was going to be the Ice Queen from the Brother’s Grimm fairy tales, she had the most fantastic costume, the purest white encrusted with crystals that shone and sparkled a myriad of colours like diamonds, her boots too, and she was even going to wear a crystal encrusted skull-cap – she sparkled and shimmered from head to foot, and when skating the effect was spectacular.

For the final four weeks leading up to the Olympics, she was totally strict with herself not only because she was going to represent her country, but she knew she could wind down after the games, she could have a really good Christmas and New Year at home – and not worry about having to start any serious training again until mid February, when she would begin to train for the Ford Classic America’s Cup – a prize that had eluded her when she was a junior.

*******************


Buffy couldn’t help grinning as she got off the plane – she was in Switzerland – and going to represent her country doing the thing she loved most in the world – life didn’t come much better than that!

A luxury tour bus took them to the Olympic village in Lausanne, they were staying in an apartment block right near Lake Geneva, the view from her room window was so beautiful that Buffy vowed to herself that one day she’d come back here for a holiday…but now – to the matter in hand, to train lightly for the next three days, get through the heats and then – the free-dance, it was what she lived for!

********************

Little niggles about costumes, skates make-up were ironed out, and it was Buffy’s turn to be skating her set piece for the heats. She felt calm, she’d decided to try as much as she could to treat this like every other competition she’d ever been in – to start thinking that the eyes of the world were on you, - Man! THAT was scary – she couldn’t block it out altogether, flags with the five rings hung everywhere, with the words Lausanne 2002 just to remind everyone – and the banks of foreign TV commentators you had to walk past, but the rink was a standard, honest-to-goodness oval of pure white ice, just what she was used to, so that was comforting.


To get into the finals, Buffy knew that she’d have to get into the top 15 to stand any sort of chance – the thing was, there seemed to be more girls than ever – and then she realised, since the Soviet Union had broken up, there were lots of other little countries sending girls.

At 6.30pm, on Monday, November 18th, 2002 Buffy skated her set piece, she chose her favourite blue for her outfit, and when the time came, she barely had butterflies – she skated with aplomb and confidence, and didn’t fault. She wouldn’t know her exact placing until the Wednesday; that was until all the competitors had skated.

Illyria and Angel were very pleased with the way she’d skated, they knew she’d done her best – that was the most anybody could have asked of her.


Buffy was excited and when the information came through on the Wednesday morning that she was lying in 5th place, she was overjoyed! She was shocked to see that Faith had only just made it into 14th place…………


******************


Joyce knew better than to wish her daughter ‘good luck’ – it was the kiss of death as far as both of them were concerned.

“Did you watch me?”

“Of COURSE I watched you! Mrs Koplinski from next door came in – she bought a tray-bake, and Willow and her mother Bernice came over, bringing wine and chocolates, and I had Rachel, Susanne and Dorothy from the gallery, and old Mrs Keogh came round, bless her I’d ordered pizza – we had a real girlie night, we watched, AND I taped it, AND I phoned our father to remind him you were on”

Buffy smiled, her mother continued,

“Are you going to phone him?”

“Not before the main event, no – he always forgets and say’s those two kiss-of-death words, then he bangs on about his precious ‘Princess Chelsea’, and how she uses the potty on her own, and ooh, it just annoys me”

“Well I ring him again then, he should know when you skate”

“Just so he can boast around the office you mean – okay mom, I’ve got to go, my training slot is in half an hour, and they are very strict with the times as there are so many dancers wanting to practice”

“Okay then love – well, you know, and phone me afterwards, okay?”

“Will do, bye – oh, and say hi to everybody for me – tell Willow we’ll hit the town when I get home!”

“Okay love, will do, bye!”

“Bye mom”


********************

Buffy sat in her room, she was doing her little routine, sipping her glucose-based isotonic drink and fondling Mr Gordo’s ears, it was slightly uncomfortable to sit in the costume, the crystals made it lumpy – her make-up was immaculate, her eyes heavy with white and silver glitter and long false lashes, and even white sparkly lips – she was an ‘Ice Queen’ after all.

Illyria went to fetch Buffy, so she wouldn’t have to run the bank of TV reporters and commentators on her own.

“Oh god, oh god not her – NO!” Buffy pulled back in the doorway leading to the rink.

“Who, what is it Buffy?”

“Her, that, that what’s her name – Cassie Newcome, she does that ‘Sport Today’ on channel 6 on satellite – I DON’T want to speak to her – coz she always wishes people the ‘L’ word!”

Angel joined them and could see Buffy wasn’t happy

“What’s wrong?”

“That woman down there in the blue jacket – Buffy doesn’t want to talk to her”

“That’s okay, follow me”

“Where are we…”

“Press room – come on, we only need let in the people we want”

“But I don’t want, not until after!”

“Then we won’t let anybody in, relax!” Buffy felt he stomach muscles relax and she followed Angel, Illyria bringing up the rear.

With two minutes to go, Buffy went out to stand by the rink. She saw the girl from Belarus in the final throes of her routine; she’s chosen to do the dying swan from Swan Lake.

Buffy heard the announcer mention her name and country, and the title of her dance. The lights dimmed and then she was picked out by a spot-light and she began her routine – she skated it perfectly – she didn’t put a foot wrong, the audience ‘oohing’ when she did her particularly complicated set of jumps – her costume was something else, commented upon by all the sports commentators of every nationality.

Coming to the end of her routine, Buffy raised her arms above her head and spun, pulling them close together to spin faster she stopped, eyes closed, heaving for breath – she heard the roar of the crowd and opened her eyes with a huge grin – flowers raining down on the ice – the American’s in the audience on their feet waving their flags, cheering and hollering – Buffy knew that it was the best she’d ever skated, she practically floated to the side of the rink, Angel and Illyria beaming.

It was Illyria that hugged and kissed her, holding her hand leading her to the scoring bay.

Buffy got a mixture of 5.8 and 5.9’s for technical merit, for Artistic merit she got mostly 5.9’s, with the exception of the judge from the Balkan States and the French, who both gave her 5.7, and were booed by the crowd, it was totally unfair and it was political, because both of those countries had skaters with vested interests – they had yet to skate, the Belarus girl was favourite to win gold.

Waving to the TV camera’s Buffy went off to do her chat to the waiting commentators and press………

***************

In the end, it was the girl from Belarus that won gold, Buffy came second with silver, Faith came nowhere – she said that a recurring knee injury had spoiled her chances, but she was philosophical about it and said she was still young enough to take part in the next Olympics.

The Belarus girl announced her retirement straight after the medal ceremony, leaving Buffy to take the waiting ‘world number one’ crown that was now in the offing.

Little did she know what catastrophic events would be waiting just around the corner………………………………………………

Chapter 9



The closing ceremony over, Buffy went back to her room to pick up her stuff.

Bags and luggage were stowed away on the coaches and they made their way to the airport.

Once they’d arrived, and had checked in, they had an hour and a half to kill before take-off, so Buffy went and phoned her mother.

“……………Yes, honey, I saw the closing ceremony – who was that nice guy carrying the flag?”

“That was Brad Douglas – his skating partner is Tanya Glenn – they did really well, got the bronze”

“Not as good as my baby though! – So, when will you be home?”

“From this flight, or do you mean with you?”

“Well, both!”

“It’ll be the middle of the night by the time we land in LA, I’ll try and sleep on the plane, but you know what it’s like, I might need a few hours sleep once I’m back at the academy, I’ve got to sort out my pass, see Fred, wash my clothes, repack to come to home - but all being well I’ll see you Friday evening, early – around 6-ish”

“I’ll check the flight time and come and pick you up”

“Great – we could go out…get a Chinese dinner or something”

Joyce beamed at this suggestion, and readily agreed.

Buffy said goodbye to her mother and went to find her ‘team’ who were in the coffee shop.

On her way back, she saw Faith being pushed in a wheelchair, and stopped to talk

“I’m so sorry about your injury – tough call”

Faith smiled and shrugged and said

“Like I said, there WILL be a next time…congrats on the silver by the way”

“Thanks – uh oh, smile”

“What?”

“Paparazzi”

The two girls smiled and several shots were taken, then Buffy spied Illyria looking down at her from the coffee shop upstairs.

“Gotta go, you take care- bye”

“Yeah, bye”

Buffy made her way up to her team, after signing an Olympic programme for an autograph hunter.

She ran up the rest of the steps

“There’s a party of school girls due in, Angel said he thinks it’ll be better if we go and sit in the VIP lounge and wait else we’ll be inundated for autograph requests” Illyria said, holding out Buffy’s flight bag to her.

“I’ve got about a dozen signed photographs of you, I’m going to give them to the air hostess so you shouldn’t be bothered too much during the flight, and as we’re in first class, we shouldn’t be disturbed anyway”

Buffy nodded and followed Angel through the double doors of the VIP lounge.

***************

Having got comfy, she settled down to watch the in-flight movie, and had a delicious dinner of salmon teriyaki with wild rice and mixed mushrooms, followed by a sinful chocolate mousse – and she enjoyed every mouthful.

Stretching and yawning Buffy lowered her recliner seat to nearly horizontal, got a mask, sleep pillow and cover from the hostess and settled down for a nice sleep.

She woke, refreshed after a nice long sleep, went and freshened up, there was about a hour to go before they landed she took a magazine from her flight bag and began to read.


**********************

Riley Finn steered the old hog-hauling wagon through the torrential rain storm on the highway, the rain falling almost faster than the windshield wipers could shift it, he risked a glance at his father, who had been drinking Budweiser, and about twenty miles back had scratched his three-day growth of beard, belched and closed his eyes and was now snoring like a band-saw through a log.

“Geez daddy, I’m awful tired myself…but then I guess you are too – and jeepers, it’s colder than polar bears ass in here…” (He began to fiddle with the controls till he felt some heat blasting out into the cab.

“That’s better!” Tuning in the radio too, Riley began to sing along quietly to the country music he could hear playing………


***************************


Fifteen miles out from the airport, Captain Jonathan Andrew called the control tower………

“Control tower, this is delta India flight niner-niner-zero coming into land on runway…4, over” the landing gear dropped with a satisfying clunk and the confirmation co-ordinates came up on the flight path for landing on runway 4.

“Control tower to delta India flight niner-niner-zero, you have confirmation on your runway, sorry about the weather you guys, we wish you a safe landing, over”

************************

Riley felt his head droop, and he jerked it back up, a slight swerve in the steering gave him a jolt, his father gave a grunt in his snoring, and his head lolled against the window, till he settled back to sleep again. Riley blinked and shifted slightly in his driving seat – boy was he tired…the hypnotic swish back and forth of the wipers coupled with the warmth of the heater lulled him again……………

Suddenly there was a loud bang, and Riley was jerked awake, he tried to make sense of what was happening, slammed on the brakes, the wagon was all over the wet road, he couldn’t control it, as it aqua-planed and was heading straight in front of the path of a tour bus, he caught smack in the middle, which sent the bus straight through the crash barrier and down a steep embankment, rolling over and over, throwing the occupants around inside like rag dolls.

Riley had no sooner heaved the steering to the left, when he was hit by a huge juggernaut, sending the hog wagon in the same path as the tour bus, which was now lying on it’s side on some tarmac, hissing and steaming…

The last thing Riley remembered was seeing his father go flying out of the passenger door before the wagon rolled over again and again, something hit his head and everything went black.

The juggernaut driver tried desperately in vain not to follow the hog-wagon, but the road was so slippery with all the rain that it was nigh on impossible, and he felt the impact as vehicles slammed into him, sending him down the embankment too.

*******************

Captain Andrew yawned, slipped his headphones from his ears to round his neck, and began to flick switches off at the controls and said,

“Well Larry, that’s me done for the weekend – got my daughter and her husband coming up from-“

“Jon – they DID say runway four, didn’t they?” the captain’s co-pilot Larry asked worriedly putting on his headphones again

“Yes, why – “

“Look – what’s that faint orange glow on the runway?”

The captain immediately got onto the control-tower, they were coming into land, their altitude dropping below 100ft…

“Control tower – this is delta India flight niner-niner-zero please advise – runway four has a fire, repeat runway four has a fire,”


Clem Foster, the air-traffic controller’s eyes nearly popped when he saw on radar the size of the objects that were on the end of runway four -

“Christ, it MUST be a crash - a crash – it’s a crash – abort the landing – it’s a crash!”

Larry began to disengage the autopilot landing, flicking on switches and tried to pull up the nose of the plane – alarm bells went off, the engines screaming, inside the cabin the oxygen masks dropped and the lights went out, even with seatbelts on people were jolted and thrown around, even though they were pinned in their seats, some began to scream, others prayed.


“JESUS! This is the control tower, delta- India, ABORT LANDING, I REPEAT ABORT LANDING! Holy mother of – “

Clem Foster hit ever alarm button he could in the control tower, bringing in his fellow flight-path attendants, and sending out the fire engines

“What is it Clem– Jesus Christ – oh my god, this is going to be SO bad…”

Inside the plane was chaos, overhead lockers flew open, bottles, hand luggage was being thrown about, Buffy thought it was all over – she could hear through the screaming a voice telling them to assume the crash position…terrified, she leaned forward and covered her head with her hands, praying, seconds later she felt a hard thump on the back of her head as a seat from further up the plane flew backwards, hitting her………her screams, and those of others ceased………


“Ambulances will be required…this is the control tower of airport, we have a major situation down here – seems there has been some accident on the highway, they have broken through the crash barrier and are on the runway…initiate Code Red Alert Emergency Procedure – Code Red, repeat………”


Captain Jon Andrew desperately tried to bring the nose of the plane up, but realised it was hopeless, they were going to crash…

“LARRY!”

“I know, I KNOW!”

“ENGINE’S STALLED – SHE WON’T GO UP!”

“I’LL TRY AND STEER HER AWAY FROM………OH GOD PLEASE…!”

The plane literally wobbled in the air, tipping dangerously to the left, biting his lip and pulling back on the steering column for all he was worth Captain Andrew could see the runway coming up to them faster and faster, the left wing clipped the juggernaut, tipping the plane onto the other wing, and by some miracle the plane hadn’t touched any other debris on the runway, captain Andrew dong a superb job of steering, but it was not enough, and the stricken plane ‘belly-flopped’ and practically broke in half, although the two halves were still joined - the right wing was now scraping along the runway, causing sparks, aviation fuel gushing out from the wing-tanks covering everything and suddenly the engine burst into flames, flames that crept everywhere where the fuel had sprayed.


With superhuman effort, Larry and Jon managed to bring the plane to a halt, the fire engines were already there, spraying the plane with foam, the emergency services well practiced in rescues.

There was a rush of cold air as doors were opened, and emergency chutes were set up.

Rescue workers were quickly swarming the plane, looking for injured passengers – there were a few obviously dead.

“Here, there’s someone here” The medic looked at the small blonde girl still in her seatbelt.

“Is she breathing?”

“Just, help me – undo the belt, okay after three lift…what’s the, why can’t – oh god, her foot’s trapped………here, buddy here, she needs to be cut out, her foots trapped”

The fireman nodded and came over to the paramedics with his hand held circular saw, he located where the young girl’s foot was trapped and proceeded to cut the metal foot-rest bar from the seat in front that was trapping her foot.

“Okay, you can lift now”

The two paramedics put a neck brace on her and then onto a stretcher, she was lowered to a waiting ambulance

**************************


“ Are you Mrs Joyce Summers, mother of Buffy Summers, the ice-skating star?”

“What – good grief, it’s 3.40 in the morning, can’t you wait until-“

“Mrs Summers”………

“A decent hour – she’s not here anyway, she’s been taking part in the Olympics and –“

“MRS SUMMERS!”

“What? - How DARE YOU raise your voice to me and -”

“Mrs Summers, there has been a terrible accident, I’m afraid Buffy is in hospital”

“SHE’S WHAT? - Oh my god, oh my what happened – she was coming back from – I saw the closing ceremony this morning…”

“Look, Mrs Summers, stay put, I will get the local cops to come out to you to tell you of any up-date news and to bring you to the hospital”

Joyce got out of bed on shaky legs, and began to dress, she wondered whether to phone Hank or not, and decided to wait until she knew more herself.

Chapter 10


Joyce was pacing back and forth in the hospital corridor, every now and again she’d wipe her eyes, or her red nose and sniff, praying that her baby girl who was undergoing surgery be all right.

The double doors burst open, and Bernice and Willow Rosenberg came in

Joyce immediately went up to them

“I’m so sorry to bother – “

“Shush now, oh god, come here – how is she”

“I couldn’t think of anyone else to contact, I tried to contact Hank, but I remembered he was at a conference, and Maureen goes to stay at her mother’s while he’s away, I don’t have the number………so when they asked me if there was anyone they could call for me – it’s so early I know, but thankyou for…” Joyce’s voice cracked

“Shush now, don’t you worry – you did right, come on, let’s sit” Bernice said

Willow had that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look about her while she watched her mother gently lead Joyce to sit on the wooden seat.

“They had to cut her out of the seat, something about her foot being trapped, but it’s her head I’m worried about………she had a blow to the back of the head – “ Fresh tears fell for Joyce and Bernice got more Kleenex out of her purse.

“Here you go…try not to worry too much, she’s young and fit, and in the best place, hmm – come on honey” Bernice pulled Joyce into a side hug and Joyce was soothed.

“Will, go get us some coffee from the vending machine” Willow took the coins offered by her mother and went down the corridor.

Doing a balancing act, Willow bought back three cups of coffee and placed them on the table to her Joyce say,

“But it’s her life – if this foot injury is so bad, what if she can never skate again?”

Bernice passed Joyce a coffee and said,

“You cross that bridge when you come to it – for now lets just concentrate on her getting better, okay”

Joyce nodded and popped the lid off her coffee and sipped.

The three women sat there in silence, holding hands, offering up silent prayers for Buffy.

The door at the end of the corridor opened, and a distinguished looking man came down the corridor towards them, wearing a white coat. Joyce stood and looking terribly anguished she said,

“How is she doctor?”

Dr. Quentin Travers smiled and said,

“Well, we operated to remove a blood-clot from her brain, that was caused by the trauma to the head, there’s a lot of swelling and there’s tubes to drain fluid, and she’s on oxygen and a saline drip – the next 48-72 hours are crucial”

“What about her foot – if she can’t skate again, I don’t…”

“Ahh, now – we’re calling in a specialist, he’s brilliant in his field, he’s a special surgeon who deals with sports injuries and such, - he’s done all the top names, we’ve put a cage at the bottom of her bed to keep the covers off her foot, and he’ll be here by lunchtime. Dr Travers went onto name several famous American and Canadian sports stars that this brilliant surgeon had operated on…

“We’re flying him especially from Florida”

“Will it be okay until then – to leave it I mean?”

Dr Travers smiled

“Oh yes, don’t worry, Buffy won’t be any the wiser, she’s on strong medication at the moment”

“When can I see her?”

“Well she’s in the recovery room at the moment, but I’ll tell the nurse you can see her for a few minutes – remember, it looks worse than it is with the tubes and machines and that, its all there just to help her, okay?”

Joyce nodded and Dr Travers said he’d go tell the nurse that she could see Buffy for a few minutes.

She went over to Bernice and Willow to reiterate what the Dr had just told her.

***************


Joyce tentatively went up to Buffy’s bedside. The black corrugated rubber inside the glass tube rose and fell with a huff helping Buffy to breathe, and there was a little beep-beep-beep of the heart monitor. As the Dr said, there were tubes all over the place, her head was heavily bandaged, and there was a drip in both arms, one giving blood, the other a saline drip. Joyce teared up, her daughter looked so tiny and the machines looked so scary, she swallowed a couple of times trying to summon up the courage to touch and talk to her daughter – she was afraid to touch her in case she broke she looked so fragile…

Joyce gently touched her daughter’s hand and whispered,

“Buffy, honey – I’m here………please get better………” Joyce stemmed tears and continued stroking the back of Buffy’s hand

“I’ll try and contact your father – you might know, he’s away at a conference………” Joyce wondered why she was babbling on about Hank for – but she didn’t know what to say.

A nurse came in and checked the machines and the blood bag, wrote something on the clipboard that hung on the end of the bed.

“You’re going to be all right………I won’t let anything happen to my baby girl………you rest now and I’ll be here when you wake up”

Joyce left the room and Willow peeked in through the window, staring at all the machinery around her best friend’s bed.

As Joyce came out of Buffy’s room, she recognised Buffy’s coach and choreographer at the nurse’s station. She had her arm in a sling, and a bandage around her forehead, she was walking with a limp.

“Miss Rubinskya?”

“Mrs Summers – I’ve just come from the ER, I wanted to know how Buffy is?”

Joyce told her what the doctor had told her, and enquired after others she knew, starting with Illyria herself

“Oh me? - Well I was unconscious, slight concussion, a broken wrist and I hurt my ankle slightly somehow – I don’t know how, I just know it feels sore. Coach O’Connor got away with a few cuts and bruises, he burnt his hand clutching the plane door on the way out, and they’d only just put out the flames – he’ll live”

Joyce gave a small smile and nodded

“Was Buffy’s friend, that little gymnast Fred, was she on that plane?”

“No, she was flying to Boston, she wasn’t on this flight, that reminds me, I’ll have to contact her”

The elevator doors in the corridor opened and an intern and a candy-striper wheeled out drip stand and a bed, containing a girl who’d just come from surgery

Both Illyria and Joyce recognised the dark haired girl as Faith Hamilton.

“Oh, is that Faith…how is she?” Illyria called to the intern

“She should be okay, couple of broken ribs” they disappeared through double doors down to one of the private rooms like Buffy’s.

“I must go…I need to call a taxi” Illyria said, suddenly feeling more tired than she could ever remember.

“Here, I’ll help you, I could do with a breath of air” Joyce said, and she told Willow and Bernice she was just popping out for a few minutes.

In the reception part of the hospital, it was chaos, police, journalists and reporters, news crews, ambulance workers all milling around, along with the walking wounded and relatives of the injured were arriving all the time demanding news on their loved ones.

“Doesn’t look like I’m going to get a taxi any time soon…”

“Are you – yes you are – you’re that ice-skating coach aren’t you?” A reporter came up to Illyria just before she had the time to put on her dark glasses

“Leave her alone, can’t you see she’s in no fit state to be answering questions!” Joyce said quite angrily at the reporter’s tactlessness.

Illyria put her hand on Joyce’s arm and said to the man,

“Young man, take me home and I’ll tell you what happened, what I can remember anyway”

The reporter’s eyes lit p and he said

“Great! Come on, my car’s this way!”

“Take care Mrs Summers, I will pray for Buffy, keep in touch via the academy” Joyce nodded and turned and went back down to the relative calm and quiet of the corridor.

“It’s chaos out there, reporters, police, news crews…Illyria decided to give her story just to get a lift home off one young journalist”

“Well she would, publicity seeking type that one” Bernice said.

They stayed until lunchtime, when being up so early had started to get the better of them both.

“Why don’t you go home, have a shower and something to eat, then come back later, hmm?” Bernice suggested to Joyce

“Nun uh, I want to be here in case my baby wakes up, I promised her I would be”

“Okay then, do you want me to drop by and pick up some clean clothes for you?”

Joyce said she’d be grateful and gave Mrs Rosenberg her front door key.

Chapter 11


Joyce woke with a start, she raised her head from her arm, she was holding Buffy’s hand, and had felt a definite movement.

She looked at her daughter’s face, and saw her eyelids flicker

“Buffy…honey? – Can you hear me?”

Buffy’s eyes briefly opened, closed again, Joyce could see the movement of her eyeballs beneath her closed lids

“Honey – baby wake up, I’m here”

Joyce looked above the bed and hit the call button for the nurse.

Ten seconds later, the nurse came in to see Joyce standing over her daughter.

“She’s trying to wake up, she opened her eyes for a fleeting second”

“Okay Mrs Summers, can I just…”

Joyce stood back while the nurse swung into action. Going to the foot of the bed she depressed a bar and the bed lowered, but the top part rose so Buffy was at an angle. Next the nurse took off the oxygen max, and gently pulled the fine tube from her throat, which made Buffy cough.

Reaching for the ‘sippy’ cup of water, the nurse said

“Come on Buffy, take a sip…and another…there”

Buffy swallowed and rested back, then she opened her eyes fully and croaked something

“You’re in hospital, there was an accident, but don’t worry, everything will be fine”

Joyce came to the side of the bed and said,

“Honey?”

“Mom?”

The nurse smiled and said to Joyce – there you go, no brain damage then, she knows who you are!”

Joyce gave a little gasp and covered her mouth, she couldn’t help the tears falling again – happy tears – that her daughter had got over the first hurdle and wasn’t brain damaged, and she held Buffy’s hand while the nurse said she’d go and fetch the doctor.



****************



Dr Travers came into the room smiling and did various tests, and putting his pen-torch back in his pocket after checking Buffy’s pupils dilated when he shone the torch into them he said,

“Well, I think that’s about it!”

“How do you feel, my dear, hmm?”

“What’s wrong with my foot?”


“Ah, that, well, you had it trapped and you had to be cut out of your seat, but initial x-rays shows no serious damage, just a couple of broken bones”

“It’s not all cut and mangled?”

“I promise you, bruised and swollen, not cut and mangled, and we have a specialist flying in - he’s the best in the world, so you’ll be in safe hands”

Buffy nodded and laid her head back against the pillows.

“Well, I shall leave you to chat with your mother – ladies” Dr Travers smiled and left, the nurse followed him.

“Did you stay all night?”

“Course! I wanted to be here when you woke up, I promised”

“What happened?”

There was a soft knock at the door and a lady with a trolley came in, offering newspapers, drinks and candy. Joyce bought a newspaper

“Well, there you go, you were cut out of that!”

Joyce opened the newspaper to show her daughter the double page of the picture of the plane crash

“OH MY GOD!”

“Oh my god indeed – it says here the Captain and his co-pilot were hero’s, it was a miracle that it wasn’t hundreds of dea - ………um, oh god – I’m sorry” Joyce had to sit and reach for tissues, the enormity of what had happened hit her.

Buffy picked up the paper and read that there were only four people dead from the plane, two airhostesses, and two passengers who had the misfortune to be sitting where the plane broke in half………

She went onto read that the crash happened due to an accident on the highway, where vehicles had crashed through the barriers and rolled down an embankment and onto the runway, and out of those, 17 people had been killed, 14 of them from a tour bus full of a school football team, coaches, and parents.

Buffy lay back and closed her eyes………she couldn’t remember a thing.

**********************


“I’m trying to locate a Hank Summers…yes, S.U.M.M.E.R.S………yes, Jacobs, Jacobs and Donaldson…thankyou” Joyce was put on hold while they tried to locate her ex-husband.

Double doors opened down the corridor and Joyce saw Willow and Bernice Rosenberg coming towards her, beaming smiles, carrying flowers, a fruit basket and a helium balloon.

“She’s in there, go in, she’s awake, I won’t be a moment, I’m trying to contact Hank to tell him – Oh hello….he isn’t?…They’re not – but I thought…well okay then, thankyou for your trouble, bye”

Joyce went back into Buffy’s room

“Look mom, aren’t they beautiful!” Buffy grinned as she showed her mother the flowers

“I’ll go to the nurses station and see where I can get a vase for them”

“So, how are you feeling?” Bernice asked

“Like I’ve been in a plane crash! – No seriously, not too bad, got a bit of a headache, and my foot’s achy, but I’m glad I don’t remember anything! – ‘Specially not THAT – look at it!” Buffy held up the morning paper.

“I know, we’ve been watching it on TV, it’s been about nothing else! They’ve had the pilot and co-pilot interviewing them, they’re going to get bravery awards, and your picture was shown, saying you were injured, and that other girl skater, what’s-her-name?” Willow clicked her fingers trying to think

“Who, Faith Hamilton – she hurt too?”

“Couple of broken ribs, your mom and I saw her wheeled from surgery, we asked” Bernice said

“I didn’t think, I wonder how Illyria and O’Connor is?”

“Ah, now I can help you again, Illyria came to the nurses station to see how you were, she got a broken wrist and slight concussion, and a limp…and I think she said something about the guy got cuts and bruises and a burnt hand – but they’re both okay”

“Right, thanks” Buffy said. Joyce came back without the flowers or vase, saying one of the orderlies would put them in water and bring them to the room.

“Did you get through to daddy?”

“No honey, he um, I don’t know if he’s messing Maureen about like he used to me, but he’s not at the conference – the woman on the phone told me his company aren’t there this week”

“Have you tried to phone her?”

“I did, but there was no answer, Hank told me she goes to stay at her mother’s when he goes off to conference”

Buffy tutted, said ‘typical’ and turned to her friend.

“So, you can’t remember anything at all?” Willow asked

“No…the last thing I remember is………leaving Lake Geneva – I remember the last thing I put in my case was Mr Gordo, I always put him on top so he doesn’t get squashed…what? (Buffy felt slightly embarrassed at her grinning friend) – I know, I know, silly n’all but then I shut the case, and Illyria knocked the door and asked if my luggage was ready to put on the trolley so it could be taken down to the coach”

“And that’s it?”

“Yeah, that’s it, I don’t remember getting on the coach or the airport or anything”


A knock at her room door bought in the orderly with Buffy’s flowers, and he also bought in another fruit basket, and a list of people who had phoned in asking after her welfare, and put them on the table over her bed.

“Who’s that from?”

Buffy fished out the card and said,

“Let me see…oh, it’s from Illyria, Coach O’Connor and staff at the academy”

“That’s nice of them”

“Don’t want you eating chocolate I suppose!” Willow said, and everyone laughed. Buffy picked up the list

“And Fred’s phoned wanting to know how I am – she’s in…she’s in…(Buffy looked puzzled) I forget, but she wasn’t on our plane”

“Boston, Illyria told me, I asked” Joyce said

“Yeah, that’s it, Boston…who else…oh Xander Harris, that was nice of him – he did well in the finals………I can’t think of who half of these people are” Buffy said frowning

“Don’t worry, there probably people who saw your picture on the news, fans – “

“Yeah – aww listen, Mrs Keogh – I’ll HAVE to ring her later mom” Joyce nodded.

There was another knock on the door and it was time for Buffy to go through some medical procedures, have her dressings changed, medication, and a bed-bath, so Willow, Joyce and Bernice said they’d go for coffee while this was done.




************************

Chapter 12


By the time everyone got back from coffee, Buffy was asleep – it had been a long morning for her, and she’d undergone surgery, so it was only to be expected.

Bernice and Willow left, saying they would come the next day, Joyce said she wanted to wait until Buffy was awake again, before going home to wash and change.

Three hours later Joyce got her chance and told Buffy she’d be back later that evening.


********************


“…………Well where the HELL do you THINK I’ve been, huh? - Of course at the hospital…and I DID try and phone you at the conference, but they told me Jacobs and Co weren’t there this week!” Joyce held the phone tight her knuckles were white. There was suddenly silence from a spluttering Hank.

“Look, I don’t care what you’re doing, if you’re playing around on Maureen then that’s her look out, but don’t blame me because you had to read about your daughter’s accident in the morning paper………well the news then, all I’m saying is, is that it’s not my fault, I tried to contact you………well of COURSE the lines to the hospital were busy, there’s been a plane crash, there were 354 people on that plane alone, 350 of which needed hospital treatment, even if they weren’t injured they’d be in shock! – THEN there were all the other people injured and killed on the runway and highway!

I honestly wonder sometimes what you use for brains Hank – look, I’ve just got in, I’m tired, hungry, I want a shower and a change of clothes before I go back, now if you don’t mind…what…cell phone number? – Go on then…………………………right, got it – but don’t expect hourly bulletins, I’ll let you know how she is every morning, and if there’s anything significant happening, now, if you don’t mind…bye!”

Joyce put the phone down, only for it to ring immediately again.

“Hello?”

She excused herself from the journalist and put the phone down, then lifted the receiver and put it on the side, she wouldn’t get a minutes peace if she didn’t.

**********************


“What did you have for dinner, honey?”

“Soup…and Jello”

“Is that all you wanted?” Buffy nodded sleepily at her mother.

“I managed to speak to your father, I’ve got a cell-phone number to get him on now………you close your eyes and rest now, I’ll be here when you wake up”

“Staying the night?” Buffy slurred from the meds she’d had given her

“Of course, I’ll be right here” Joyce patted the recliner seat Buffy gave a brief smile and went straight to sleep.

******************


Joyce spent a fairly comfortable night in the recliner, the main problem was the noise, there had been a couple of emergencies in the night.

Morning dawned and the change over of the nurse’s shift bought in a young nurse to check on Buffy. While this was being done, Joyce took the opportunity to freshen up herself.

*******

When Joyce got back into the room, Buffy’s head was no longer swathed in bandages, and as Joyce walked around the bed to sit, she saw the reason for her daughter’s forlorn look

“They shaved my hair off!”

“I know baby, but it’ll grow back – they didn’t take it all off – and it was to save your life” Joyce said

Buffy nodded miserably – all the same she felt freakish.

“The nurse said there was this specialist coming to see me today – he’s quite a hottie, all the nurses fancy him like crazy, so she says”

“Oh, that’ll be nice, a bit of good scenery about the place!”

“MOM!”

“What, I’m just saying…I mean, I’m back on the market now – and Dr Travers is a bit old and crusty for me!” Joyce joked. She then opened her purse and said, here, this is the cell phone-number for your father, I’ll go fetch the trolley with the phone on it”

Joyce did just that, and Buffy spoke to her father.

****

“All he was bothered about, was who was paying for all this – the hospital, the specialist – I can’t believe him!” Buffy fumed

“Honey, calm down. I can believe it, I know what he’s like after all these years”

“I could hear Maureen in the background, she didn’t sound too happy, yelling at him to do this and that for Chelsea”

“What did he say?”

“He yelled back he was on the phone to me from my hospital bed, I said I’d phone in a few days”

Buffy’s breakfast arrived and Joyce said she’s go home and get a few things done and be back after lunch.

“What about the gallery?”

“Mr Duggan is being an angel, he said I could have as much time off as I needed, his wife will help until I’m ready”

“That was nice of him”

“Isn’t it – well honey, I’ll be off and I’ll see you this afternoon, bye baby, get some more rest if you can” Joyce kissed her daughter’s forehead and left, leaving Buffy to eat her scrambled eggs.


****************


“There you go, one silky dressing gown, I pair silky jammies, your make-up case, latest editions of Cosmo and Style magazines, and two packets of sugar-free mints – that was everything, hmm?”

“Wet wipes?” Buffy asked

Joyce opened her purse and produced a packet of wet wipes

“One packet of wet wipes”

“Thanks mom”

“So, what did the doc say about you when I left?” Joyce pulled the chair up and sat by the bed

“Well, he’s very pleased with his embroidery”

“What?” and Buffy just lifted her hair to show the shaved head with the stitches.

“Oh, yes, right, go on”

“My blood pressure is fine, so was my water sample, I need to put on 18lbs and this surgeon thingy doctor, the specialist will be here later to see about my foot”

“Eighteen pounds eh, I wonder what Coach O’Connor would have to say about that!”

“Well, I’m bound to put it on anyway, not getting any exercise”

There was a knock at the door and a large black lady came in carrying a tray.

“Hi Pearl, hmm, smells yummy!” Buffy sat up and cleared the table across her bed, handing her mother the magazines.

“Enjoy darlin’ be back for the tray later” She left and Buffy lifted the lid

“Barbecue chicken and French fries…and chocolate mousse – well I can see it won’t be hard to put 18lbs on!”

Buffy tucked in and said between mouthfuls,

“I’ve ordered roast pork for dinner – and apple pie. Oh and look over there, see those pink flowers?”

Joyce looked up from reading, she was smiling

“Uh huh”

“Daddy sent them” Joyce cast her eye over what could be described as a mediocre bunch at best………

“Broke the bank I see”

“MOM!”

“Well…did he say anything about coming to visit you?”

“The card said he’d come when he can, and he wants to know who’s paying for all this”

Joyce angrily slapped the magazine down on the night-stand and said,

“That man is obsessed, by MONEY! – Ooh, he makes me SO mad!”


******************


“Sorry for the delay honey, had a couple of emergencies, see you at dinner – how are you feelin’?” Pearl took the tray from in front of Buffy

“Fine thanks Pearl, going to see this specialist doctor later, about my foot”

“Dr Carling?”

“Um, yeah, I think so, he’s English, does sports injuries”

Pearl mock swooned and grinned a mile wide, showing Buffy several of her gold teeth

“Doctor Hottie we call him, ooh, I could just eat him up and then some!”

Buffy giggled and Pearl left with a big grin and a wave, Joyce grinned too

“She’s nice!”

“She’s lovely, she was telling me her daughter is obsessed with dancing, that’s why she has three jobs to pay for lessons for her!”

“Wow”

*****************

Buffy was dozing, and Joyce sat reading when she heard talking outside, and then in comes Dr Travers with a young and very good looking doctor.
This, Joyce presumed, was ‘Dr Hottie’ – and boy, was HE aptly named!

Buffy woke and blinked

“Miss Summers, this is Dr Carling, he’s here to see about your foot – I’ll leave you to it, there’s a couple of things, emergencies, you know” Dr Travers left

Buffy sat up and ran her hands through her hair, being careful of the stitches and looked up into the face of the most gorgeous man, he had light brown and white blond streaked hair, with sharp chiselled cheekbones, full lips, and the bluest of blue eyes she’d ever seen,

She was aware that he’d spoken, but not what he said

“Um, er, I’m um – sorry! Just woke up, would you run that passed me once again?”

“I said, hi, I’m Dr Carling” and looked into the face of a little green-eyed angel……………………………

Chapter 12


“It’s your eyes…FOOT! I – I, er, sorry! I mean it’s your foot, right?” He could feel the colour creeping up his neck as he spoke – he didn’t know what had come over him! Tiny little pretty blonde – and he was like a student doctor again!

“Y-Yeah, yes…it’s my foot – although don’t ask me what happened, I was pretty much…(Buffy made the mistake of looking up and she was mere inches away from the dreamiest blue eyes she’d ever seen…) god, they are SO blue!…………SORRY! I m-mean um- don’t…don’t know what happened – I was out of it! Buffy mumbled, her face hot.

Trying not to let his hands shake, Dr Carling expertly looked at Buffy’s foot.

“Hmm…metatarsals can be tricky…this might need more than just setting, but with any luck, all you’ll need is a quick pin job…then you can get back to winning medals!”

“You know I win medals?” Buffy asked, surprised

“Hey! The price somebody is paying me to make you all shiny new again – yes, I KNOW you win medals, Miss Summers, I’ve actually followed your career with interest!”

This time, Buffy felt the colour rise on her chest and neck, and it began to creep upwards………

“I’ll need for you to have some x-rays done, then we can decide the course of action I need to take” It was with reluctance that he let her foot go.

Buffy nodded and felt dumb – she didn’t want him to think her stupid – so she desperately tried to think of something intelligent to say, or at least ask.

“How long will it be – till I can skate again?”

Dr Carling smiled and perched on the bed.

“Well now, that all depends on what treatment you need, if it only need setting, then you’ll be in plaster for a few weeks, then you’ll need physiotherapy, say 5 or 6 weeks, BUT, if it need surgery you could be looking at double that. It’s a fairly quiet time now for you, as regards competitions, isn’t it?”

“Yes!” they sat there, smiling at each other, until Joyce came into the room a few seconds later, and she smiled at them. She almost swore she could hear the twang of Cupids Arrow as her daughter and the doctor looked at each other

“So doctor, what’s the diagnosis?”

“Hmm? OH! I’m sorry – you must be…Buffy’s (sheer devilment made him say this) sister!”

Joyce giggled and Buffy rolled her eyes

“Oh Dr Hot – um, I mean Doctor Carling! I’m Joyce, her mother!”

“NO! Well, as I was saying to the little lady herself, we need some X-rays done, and then I can tell you for sure”

Joyce nodded still smiling

There was a knock at the door, and a blonde candy-striper said,

“Dr Carling, what time do you want the X-rays to be done, Dr Travers wants to know?”

“Ah, Harmony, tell Dr Travers ASAP will you – the sooner we can get started…”

“Sorry, AP – what?” the blond stammered

“As soon as possible” The doc said, realising she wasn’t too bright.

“Oh, right!” She went off happily to tell the other doctor

“Right then young lady, we have a date in about 10 minutes, don’t be late!” he left giving Buffy a smile and Joyce a wink.

Joyce grinned and sat down. When he was out of the door Buffy hissed

“MOM! You nearly called him Dr Hottie!”

“Hmm? – Oh…but that’s such a good name for him, don’t you think? – I mean, isn’t he all sorts of salty goodness!” Joyce said, and Buffy’s eyes nearly popped they opened so wide, never having heard her mother come out with such a term before!

“MOTHER!”

The door opened and Willow came in

“Hi! Mom just dropped me off, she’s back at work today – so how are you this morning?”

“Embarrassed!”

“Why?” Willow smiled at her friend and put her purse on the bed.

“My mother – drooling over the doc!”

“Oh come on Buffy, he’s as dishy as hell and then some!”

“Dishy?” Willow asked with a grin, and Buffy smiled saying,

“Don’t encourage her, she was just telling me she thought he was all sorts of salty goodness a second ago before you came in!”

Willow cocked an eyebrow and grinned

“He thought I was Buffy’s sister!”

“MOM – he was teasing you!”

“I KNOW! But it does the old ego good you know!” Joyce said, patting her hair

“So he IS a hottie then?”

They all looked up when the candy-striper, Harmony came back and opened the door back wide, propping it open.

“Well SHE was hanging on his every word, looking at him like she wanted to jump his very bones – look, I gotta go have some X-rays done, stick around?” Buffy asked

“Sure, we can get coffee if you like Joyce” Willow asked, and Joyce nodded and stood, and they followed Buffy being wheeled out of the room.


**********


Twenty minutes of having X-Rays taken every-which-way, Buffy was wheeled back to her room.

Willow was sitting reading, waiting for her friend.

When Buffy was back in bed, and Harmony had gone and Joyce was making her daily phone-call to Hank, Buffy said to Willow

“I might have to have surgery…Dr Carling said they might have to pin the bone back together”

“Dr Carling, is this the good looking one, Dr Hottie?”

“He’s okay…well actually, he IS gorgeous…you ought to see the nurses and candy-stripers around him – they look at him like he’s a god or something – hanging on his every word – and that girl that bought me back, she said all the nurses fancy him like crazy!”

“You don’t fancy him then?” Willow asked, and Buffy’s tummy did a back-flip

“ME – NO, c-course not!”

“Buffy…your ears have gone pink…I know you’re lying!” Willow said with a grin, and immediately Buffy felt her ears, and glanced up at her grinning friend, then lay back against her pillows

“Oh…for all the good it’ll do me – there’s loads of women who fancy him, he could have the pick of the bunch…He’s got the dreamiest blue eyes though………and when he talks to you, he looks at you straight in the eye and it’s like nothing else exists!”

Willow gave a low whistle and sat back grinning.

“Oh that man! I swear to god he only half listens to what’s said to him!”

Joyce said coming back into Buffy’s room snapping her purse shut.

“What’s up?”

“I told him yesterday that you were seeing the specialist today but he swears blind I didn’t, and then he asks me who, and I told him, Dr Carling, then he gets all enthusiastic, telling me whom this doctor has operated on – like I want to know which Laker’s player he saved the career of – and THEN he gets onto his favourite subject, of just who’s paying for all this – I gave him a shock, I said ‘you’ and put the phone down…I wonder if he’s having a heart-attack about now?” Joyce said sitting

“MOM!”

“Well…how much is this, what’s the cost of that, it’s not as if he’s EVER put his hand in his pocket for you, is it?”

There was a knock at the door, and a candy-striper walked in

“Mrs Summers, there’s a telephone call for you at reception”

Joyce rolled her eyes

“No prizes for guessing who this is…isn’t it amazing how he can get through when wants…” Joyce left the room. The door had barely shut when after the briefest of knocks, it opened again and Dr Carling came in.

“Hi – um, do you mind, I’d like to talk to the patient please?”

He smiled at Willow as he said this, and obligingly Willow stood and went outside.
“ Right then, well, I’ve looked at the X-rays, and I think to be on the safe side, I’ll operate and pin it like I told you. As it’s the foot you land on after a jump, it would be very vulnerable to a re-break, and you don’t want to be in plaster for weeks at a time now do you?”

Buffy smiled and shook her head.

“You don’t have to worry, it’s a simple procedure, I just insert a tiny little titanium rod either side of the bone, and then cover it with a special medical mesh – and in a few weeks, you’ll be as good as new!”

“Great…um, when?”

“Well, as you’ve got your lunch and dinner ordered today, I’ve scheduled for surgery tomorrow tea-time, I have two other operations to do tomorrow, one on your rival”

Buffy looked up and asked,

“Who – oh, you mean Faith?”

“That’s the girl!”

“Is it her knee? – She did poorly in the Olympics because of her recurring knee problem”

“Well, I’m not at liberty to say, but I’ll notify the staff that you’re down for surgery tomorrow, so nothing by mouth after 8am please, and that includes water – you’ll be able to wet your lips with ice-cubes, but nothing more, okay – well I must be off, busy, busy, busy! Tomorrow then, bye Buffy, and don’t worry, will you?”

Buffy smiled and shook her head

“No, I won’t worry, and um, thanks!” he winked and left, leaving Buffy feeling all fluttery………

Joyce and Willow came back grinning

“So, what did he say?”

“He’s going to operate tomorrow, put a pin in it as it’s the foot I land on after jumps – I don’t want to keep breaking it, so………was that dad on the phone?”

Joyce nodded

“You might know…he said I’d got an evil sense of humour”

“What did you say?”

“I told him I wasn’t joking, he was paying for your operation!”

“And what did HE say?”

“He said he thought the country ought to pay for it, after what you won for them, so I said ‘anybody as long as it isn’t you then, huh?’ – And I put the phone down on him…again!”

“I see why he’s known as Dr Hottie!” Willow piped up with a grin, and all three of them chatted away until lunchtime, mostly about Buffy’s hunky doc!

Chapter 14


Dr William Carling didn’t know what was the matter with him. He could hardly concentrate without his thoughts wandering to a certain little blonde ice-skater.

It wasn’t as if her foot he was thinking about either, oh no. What her feet was attached to, yes…and her face, most definitely, her large green eyes haunted his every thought!

He made his way to the cafeteria and grabbed himself a tray.

“Hi, Dr Carling!” One of the nurses from the ER greeted him, giving him a dazzling smile.

“Oh, Hi um…Amy!”

“You can sit with us if you like Dr!” A group of theatre nurses grinned and patted an empty seat at their table.

“Got some reading to do!” he politely indicated the book under his arm with a smile

“Go on…we’ll test you!” One of the more voluptuous nurses teased, giving him a wink, sucking tomato sauce sexily off her finger, and he could feel himself going red…

“Ah, Dr Carling, William, I was wondering if you have a moment or two spare, could you drop by my consulting room sometime today, I’d like your professional advise on my um…well, you see when you get there, won’t you!”

Dr Drusilla Tate couldn’t resist touching him, she put her hand lightly on his chest, straightened his collar and fixed him with her hypnotic eyes.

“Hmm, er, n-no, sorry, got um, three, y-yes, three ops this afternoon…”

“Well this evening then………I know - come to dinner – Dr Day and Dr Inkerman were coming, but they’ve both cried off… Dr Travers is coming though, but still I find myself with enough Chicken Marengo to feed a small army!”

“Er-“

“I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer, we can play catch up – you can tell me what’s been going on in jolly old London Town, okay – about eight for eight thirty, just bring yourself, I’ve got all the wine we need!”

And with that, Drusilla left without him being able to say no…still he supposed safety in numbers, with Dr Travers there, AND he’d get a decent home-cooked meal, that meant he could save his Findus microwave lasagne-for-one until tomorrow…That was one thing, apart from omelettes, salad, grilling a steak and doing jacket potatoes, he was virtually hopeless at, was cooking.

Sliding his tray along in front of the plastic pigeon-holes that held sandwiches and cakes of various types, he was going to have chicken, but if he was having chicken tonight…he gave the tuna a wide berth, didn’t want to stink of fish talking to patients and what have you, so he opted for the safe bet and chose a cheese salad sandwich on wholemeal bread, an apple, and a carton of orange juice.

After paying he surveyed the room and saw a quiet table in the corner, making his way to it he passed Harmony at lunch with her friends

“Hi Harm…oh, look at all those fries!” Pinching one off her plate he winked and carried on to his table.

To Harmony, this was almost as good as a date!

“Oh my god, OH MY GOD! Did you SEE what he just did!”

“He stole a fry off your plate Harm, stop having orgasms over it!” Kendra said, who, like Harmony’s other friends were getting a little tired of Harmony and her one-topic-of-conversation-when-he-was-at-the-hospital, Dr Carling!


Drusilla walked down the corridor until she came to the consultant’s door she wanted, and knocked. When she got the reply she wanted, she stuck he head around the door and said,

“Ah, Dr Travers, awfully sorry to do this to you at such short notice, but I’m going to have to cancel our dinner party tonight, what with both Dr’s Inkerman and Day crying off…” Drusilla tried to look suitably sorry………

Dr Travers looked up from his desk and said,

“Drusilla my dear, don’t be silly, of course I don’t mind…well just take a rain check as they say”

“I KNEW you’d understand!” Drusilla smiled and closed the door, thinking if she left half an hour early, she’d have time to drop into Victoria’s Secret on the way home………



***************************


“…………And then this special mesh which is made of a natural material bonds the pin in place, and you’ll be good as new!” Dr Carling was demonstrating to Buffy the procedure he was going to do on her using his pen as the pin and a small piece of paper as the mesh.

“Right, any questions? – Oh, there will be a scar, but I can work from the sole of your foot, so nobody will see it”

Buffy smiled

“Happy?”

With him sitting on the bed next to her rubbing shoulders, she was VERY happy………

“That’s great, thankyou…I’m starving though!” William smiled and looked at his watch

“Only another…three hours to go – then tomorrow you can tuck into all the hamburger and fries and all the chocolate cake you want”

“Huh, I wish!”

“Go on – I bet you’d love to!”

“Oh, it’s not a case of not wanting to, it’s just if my coach saw me…”

“Hmm, seriously though Buffy, you are under-weight”

“I know, but they tell me it’s better for my joints and that if I am”

“Hmm…I suppose, but then it’s not a natural process you put your body through every day is it, all that twisting and jumping”

He turned and looked at her body as she lay on top of the bed, and then quickly wished he hadn’t!

Buffy was conscious of his look and felt tingly all over, to the point that her nipples began to harden and she sat up.

There was a knock at the door and Dr Travers put his head around

“There’s a theatre slot available if you want it Dr Carling, Dr Inkerman’s cartilage patient was found eating chocolate so it’s been rescheduled”

William looked at Buffy

“Want it – ten minutes to go – you’d be fine for dinner then!”

Buffy smiled and nodded

“Sure”

“Okay then, I’ll go get scrubbed up, I’ll send one of the nurses in to give you your pre-meds”


***************


Willow saw Joyce sitting outside Buffy’s room, reading a magazine

“Doctor in with her?” she plonked herself down next to Joyce

“No, she’s in theatre, having the op!”

“But I thought that wasn’t until tea-time, that’s why I came now” Willow said.

“I know, but there was a slot available, somebody who was due their operation forgot the ‘nil by mouth’ rule and ate some chocolate or something, so they can’t have their op until tomorrow now”

“Oh…why is that?”

“It’s the anaesthetic, in case they’re sick”

“Oh, I see…so how long will she be?”

“She’s been gone twenty minutes, the doc reckoned half an hour for the procedure, then she might need an hour or so on the recovery ward”

“I’ll wait then, we’ve got visitors coming tonight so I wouldn’t be able to see her”

“It’s very good of you to come everyday as it is Willow”

“Well, she’s my friend! Even though she usually miles away, we’ve always kept in touch”

Double doors opened and Doctor Carling came down smiling at them, his fabric mask pulled down around his neck so he could talk.

“Everything went fine, like textbook, she has a half an inch scar, but it’s on the sole of her foot, and I managed to put it in a crease, so I doubt it’ll be seen at all when it’s healed”

Both Joyce and Willow grinned and Joyce stood and went to shake his hand, but pulled him into a motherly hug instead.

“Thankyou doctor!”

William smiled and hugged her back

“You can see her in about half an hour, somebody will bring her down from the recovery ward – well I must go and scrub up again, I’ll see you tomorrow, bye”

“Bye doctor, and thankyou again!”

“”Isn’t it marvellous what they can do these days – mind you, with all the little scars she’s got, I’m sure if there had of been a scar Buffy wouldn’t have been bothered. I suppose better call Hank and tell him”

Chapter 15


William entered the scrub room for the third and final time that day. He was due to operate on Donovan ‘The Don’ Daly, star player of the Rochester Rhino’s Basketball team.

The guy had been having trouble with his one leg, and had been treated by the team doctor for ‘shin splints’, but it was obvious to everyone, having collapsed in tremendous agony at the final game of the season and having to be stretchered off the court, that the problem wasn’t going to go away with aspirin and cold compresses………

The anaesthetist had the patient under, and the theatre nurses were ready. Assisting Dr Carling was a junior doctor, Dr Day.

William entered the theatre, hands held aloft and he stood in front of his patient, said good afternoon to everyone, checked with the anaesthetist that everything was fine and he could proceed. The patient’s right leg had been painted with a yellow antiseptic and William called for the scalpel to make the first incision.

After making the first cut, he called for clamps and suction and got a look at what was causing his patients problem, and it wasn’t what he was expecting at all………frowning, he cut a little lower, asked the nurse for a ‘tappet’ hammer and tested the bone.

“Who is the osteo-registrar today?”

“That would be Dr Quentin Travis, Dr Carling”

“I see, would you page him immediately for me please, I need him to confirm my suspicions”

The head nurse left the room and did Dr Carling’s bidding. Eight minutes later, having scrubbed up, Dr Travers shouldered his way through the doors into the theatre holding his hands in their rubber gloves at shoulder height.

“Right then Dr Carling, what is it?”

“See for yourself, I need you to confirm my suspicions………”

Dr Travers looked at the incision and at the exposed tibia and frowned.

“It’s grossly misshapen…tappet hammer…” Like Dr Carling had done, he tested the bone and it sounded hollow.

“Oh dear god…” he looked at Dr Carling

“I’d say this young fellow was in the advanced stages of bone cancer”

“That’s what I thought…there’s nothing I can do for him…Dr Day, close him up please” Dr Carling said, and he made his way out to the scrubs room followed by Dr Travers.

Ripping of his rubber gloves he threw them into the incinerator, next he tore off his mask to around his neck.

Gesticulating wildly, he shouted,

“It’s a wonder that guy could walk on that leg, let alone play basketball! He told me he’d had pain for about a month, well he MUST be lying!”

“William, William…calm down, I know you’re angry, but-“ Dr Travers said, divesting himself of the scrubs

“But NOTHING! I want that bloody coach and team doctor down here to explain themselves, I want those guys heads on a plate!

That guy is most probably going to die now because they covered the truth up of what his condition was so they could get to the finals of some bloody stupid game! My god, they must have filled him with enough painkillers to stun an elephant – I bet you I could have nailed his feet to the floor and he wouldn’t have felt it!” Spike heaved a sigh and ran a hand through his hair.

“William, we don’t know he’s going to die”

“Well I know one thing, if treatment had started three months ago, Donovan would have a FAR better prognosis than the one he’s got now!

He’ll at the very least he’ll loose his leg, and have to suffer months of painful treatment, radio-therapy, chemo-therapy – he’s just got engaged, he’ll be wanting to start a family no doubt, the treatment alone could leave him infertile!”

“William, look, it’s very sad I know, but there will be an enquiry, his coach and team doctor will have to answer for their actions, all we can do is hope that now we DO know what’s wrong, we’ve caught it in time”

William sat on the bench, he felt wiped out for the poor guy.

“He’s 26 for god’s sake………these bloody coaches have a lot to answer for, they ruin peoples lives – putting girls on stupid diets, making them practice for hours a day so that in the end a 16 year old has the hips and knees of somebody of fifty odd – it’s not right!”

Dr Travers patted William’s shoulder

“Look, I’ll contact the family, you get yourself off home, there will have to be a news blackout until his family have been told, and I’ll see the hospital governors about setting up an enquiry”

“Thanks…oh god, all I want is a bath and to vegetate in front of the TV” William closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the lockers.

“Sounds like an excellent idea”

“Can’t can I – I’m going to this dinner party like you”

“Dinner party?”

“At Dru’s?”

“She cancelled it”

“Did she? – When – oh look never mind, gets me off the hook, me not getting messages comes with not having an office here I suppose…are you sure you don’t mind contacting the Daly family for me?”

“I’m sure, now you get yourself off home”

“Thanks” Spike changed back into his everyday clothes and made for the lift. Instead of pressing for the ground floor, he pressed second and only realised what he’d done when the lift doors opened practically opposite Buffy Summers’ room.

He knocked softly on the door and went in.

Buffy was lying propped up, dozing.

Ever the professional, he went to the end of her bed and checked her chart and was pleased to see since the operation her vital signs were normal.

“Oh, hey, sorry, dozed off there for a minute!” Buffy sat up and smiled sleepily

William came and stood at the head of the bed.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fine…mom said I won’t be able to see the scar”

“That’s right, I cut in a crease!”

“Wouldn’t have mattered…but thanks…so…you off home now, you’ve no white coat on?”

“Yeah. Well the one room I call home while I’m here, it’s actually a broom cupboard with a bed – an old hospital bed too, none of this hi-tech stuff like you’ve got!”

“Shame…(Buffy felt light-headed, most probably from the anaesthesia, it made her bold too)

“Well if all gets too much, I can budge over a bit and you can share with me!”

Buffy knew she should feel embarrassed, but was glad she didn’t, and was delighted when she saw his eyes flash and he grinned

“Be careful, I might JUST take you up on that offer if I have another night like last night!”

“Well, you know where I am!”

William looked at her and Buffy licked her lips. He had this over-whelming desire to kiss her, but knew he couldn’t possibly, it was the patient/doctor etiquette.

“So…what are your plans………partying with all your army of fans”

“Army of fans?” William asked genuinely puzzled

“All the nurses here…love you to bits they do – fancy you like crazy!”

“Get away…no, no parties………a bath, a frozen lasagne for one and I’ll probably fall asleep in front of the TV” Buffy smiled, he’d gone quite red…

“I do that! – Something we have in common!”

Buffy could see he looked a little sad.

“You okay, you look kinda sad” Buffy raised her head off the pillow and looked him in the eyes.

“Oh…bad call on my last operation…I can’t tell you about it obviously, you know patient/doctor confidentiality…but lets just say things didn’t turn out how I expected – no doubt you’ll read it in the papers in a day or two.”

“Well you did your best for him, I’m sure” William felt Buffy squeeze his hand and he squeezed back gently, taking comfort.

The door opened and Joyce walked in, beaming.

Buffy was sorry that William quickly took his hand away from hers, and wished that her mother had been a little later in coming into the room!

“Well, that frozen lasagne’s calling me – I’ll drop by in the morning, you rest now, goodnight Buffy, Mrs Summers”

When he’d gone, Joyce grinned at her daughter and said

“Coming to see you ‘after hours’ eh!”

“Huh?”

“He was in his civilian clothes, no white coat!”

“Yeah I know, we were getting along famously too!”

“And I spoiled it – oh honey, I’m sorry!” Joyce smoothed back her daughters hair and smiled

“So how are you feeling?”

“Starving…can’t wait until – OH NO!”

Alarmed Joyce stood up and looked worriedly at her daughter

“What, what is it, shall I get a nurse, what’s the matter?”

“Dinner! I thought I’d be having my op now, so I didn’t order dinner – and I’m starving!”

Joyce let out a huge sigh.

“Oh is THAT all, I thought you were in pain!”

“But I am, well my stomach thinks my throats been cut!”

“Look, I’ll go to the kitchen, see what I can do for you okay?”

“Okay…but not fish…they’re big on fish here, and I’m not…and no liver anything either!”

“Alright, alright - I DO know what you’ll eat, believe it or not!” Joyce said, going out of the door. Buffy slumped back against the pillows thinking of when Dr Carling squeezed her hand…he’d looked quite shocked at what she’d told him, about the nurses all fancying him like mad and he looked adorable, sort of half shy and half smiling………

“Buffy………Buffy!”

“Huh – what – hmm?”

“No prizes for guessing who you were dreaming of, that big smile on your face!”

Buffy looked on the table in front of her, at a ham salad sandwich on a plate, with a bag of potato chips and a blueberry muffin, and a carton of apple juice.

“Best I could do I’m afraid, that’s from the cafeteria, they only had liver and onions or fish pie in the kitchen, so I bought you that instead”

“Thanks mom!” Buffy unwrapped and began to demolish the sandwich

She finished it in double-quick time too, and Joyce blinked at her daughter and said,

“I see the anaesthetic does nothing to quell your appetite then!”

“Hmm, Starving, STAR-HAR-VING!” Buffy said between mouthfuls

“You’d better have these then, and I’ll wait until I get home” Joyce handed Buffy her roast chicken with lemon an thyme stuffing sandwich, and a strawberry yoghurt.

When she’d finished, Buffy lay back, hand on her stomach

“Hmm, that was yummy…listen mom, I’m kinda sleepy now, if you want to go I’ll see you tomorrow”

Joyce stood, asked if she was sure and said,

“Would it be okay if I leave it until after lunch, only I’d like to drop into the gallery in the morning, Mr Duggan has been more than kind, and-“

“That’s fine mom, honestly – I’ll try and get a bath or something you go to work” Buffy also remembered that Dr Carling said he’d drop by in the morning…

“Thankyou honey…you rest then, night baby, sleep tight” Joyce kissed her daughter on the forehead and left.


**************


Having fallen asleep as predicted in front of the TV, William woke with a start at the loud, piercing noise.

He looked at his mobile phone, but remembered that he’d switched it off, and then when the savoury smell hit his nostrils, he realised it was the microwave beeping and he got up, took the plate out of the micro, grabbed a fork and a cold beer out of the mini fridge and settled back to watch a documentary on Egypt and the pyramids.


***************

Drusilla checked that the casserole wasn’t burning in the low oven, the salad was ready in the fridge, all she had to do was dress and toss it, wine was chilling, with back-up bottles in the fridge, a new bottle of brandy on the side…

She’d put on the new bodice-come-corset she’d bought in Victoria’s secret, with black lace topped hold-up stockings. She’d changed her out- fit four times, finally deciding on a gypsy style skirt and a blouse with buttons down the front…after all, they could be ‘helped’ to pop open discreetly………

She’d debated whether to wear her hair up or down, and in the end took it up at the sides but letting the length fall down her back. Finally she’d carefully done her make-up, smoky eyes and shiny red lips and sprayed on a cloud of Mitsuko perfume, by Guerlain, an exotic heady fragrance that was her signature, she sat sipping cold white wine, having turned off the main lights and just had the room bathed in the soft glow from three lamps…she looked at the time, he was a little late, it was now 8.10pm, but she’d forgive him, he was operating at five o’clock so that might have gone on late………………………

**********

Having finished the first bottle of wine and staring on another, Drusilla couldn’t quell the feeling that she’d been stood up – it was a quarter to nine now…by ten passed ten, the second bottle of wine finished, she poured (slopped, actually) a very large brandy and huffed - standing her up indeed! Well you wait until she saw him in the morning………

Chapter 16


William entered the hospital bright and early the following morning; he noticed that there were quite a few media cars and journalists hanging around the parking lot.

He went straight to Dr Travers’ office, knocked and went in. Travers was sorting through his mail, still in his ‘civilian’ clothing, having not long arrived himself.

“Ah good, you made it in early…thought I’d have to run the gauntlet of the press on the way in, they’re champing at the bit for a report on Donovan Daly, luckily security held them back” Travers said.

“Did you manage to contact the family?”

“Yes, I spoke to his parents, they are flying in from Alabama as we speak, with his fiancé and his brother and sister.” William nodded at this and went over to the window.

“How did they take the news?”

“Surprisingly calm, did you know his father is a minister of the church?”

William was noseying through the Venetian blinds to the parking lot looking at the increasing numbers of press arriving.

“No, I didn’t…they’ll be the forgiving sort then – did you see the governors, about setting up an enquiry?”

“I telephoned Charles Heaton at home last night, he said he’d like to keep things quiet if he could, and it was up to the family if they wanted to take things further with the coach and the team doctor, he didn’t really want this hospital to be dragged into it, if at all possible.”

William let the blind-slat he was bending snap back into place and turned and faced Dr Travers and said,

“Typical! I know, don’t tell me, I’m a freelance, not affiliated with this hospital, so I don’t get a say” William held his hands up in a surrender mode.

“William…don’t take things so personally, it’s up to the family”

“Well time marches on, I better go see my patients. Page me when the family get here will you, I’d like to chat with them”

“I will, but William, remember what Charles said, don’t make waves”

William opened his mouth to speak, but decided better of it and just left the office.

******************

Drusilla slammed the door of her car shut, locked it and stomped into the hospital.

Going to the reception she cornered one of the secretaries and positively barked,

“I want you to page me the MINUTE Dr Carling enters this hospital, okay?”

“Yes- yes I can do that for you, where shall I tell him you’ll be?”

“No, you didn’t LISTEN to what I said, I said I want you to page ME, not to contact him, or tell him I want him!”

“Okay, alright, I’m sorry!” The secretary nearly added ‘geez doc, what’s your problem’, but then one of the other secretaries piped up with a shrug,

“He’s already in – ten, fifteen minutes ago”

“Right!” And with that Drusilla stormed off

“What’s HER problem?” The one secretary asked the other

“Don’t know, but I swear I could smell drink on her”


**********************

Drusilla impatiently waited for the lift, at last the light indicated that it had arrived, and the doors opened, and who should just be about to step out was Dr Carling.

“I want a word with you!” Taking William by the arm, Drusilla marched him backwards, back into the lift

“Dru! Oh, um, g-good morning”

“Good morning – is that all you can say – what happened last night?”

William, having his ‘wires crossed’ thought she was on about his last operation, not knowing that she hadn’t cancelled ‘their’ dinner date, only Dr Travers’, so he said,

“Well, I opened the poor guy up, exposed the tibia, I could see at once it wasn’t shin-splints we were dealing with, the bone sounded hollow, and was grossly misshapen, I called in the osteo-registrar to confirm my suspicions, it was Travers, and he did – bone cancer…tragedy. Well after that, I just felt for the guy you know, and I was relieved when Quentin said you’d cancelled dinner, believe me, I wouldn’t have been much company”

From looking confused as to why he was telling her about his last operation, realisation set in and Dru immediately had to change tack, she couldn’t let on she only cancelled Travers dinner invite so she trying to look suitably concerned she said,

“Poor you! I thought when I arrived that there was something up, all the press in the car park!”

She gave him a big-eyed smile, relieved that she hadn’t been ‘caught out’

“I couldn’t leave you a message as you don’t have a pigeon hole – and I didn’t know your mobile number – so I um, well I just had to hope you got the message!” Dru lied, she then added,

“We’ll have to reschedule!”

“This the floor you want?” William asked as the lift had stopped at the fourth floor

“Hmm, yeah, yes, it is, look, can we meet for coffee later?” Dru asked hopefully

“Well I’ll try, but I’m going to see Donovan’s family, and I have to do my rounds, then Dr Inkerman has asked me if I’d mind supervising his replacement cartilage this afternoon”

“Lunchtime then, say……… twelve thirty?”

“Okay, if something crops up, I’ll let you know” The lift doors slid shut and William pressed for the second floor.


**************

Buffy was just combing her hair

“Morning, and how are you this morning, hmm?” William smiled and took the chart from the end of her bed, gave them the ‘once-over’

“Good girl, everything normal – so how was dinner?” he perched on the bed grinning

“I’m such a klutz – I forgot that I hadn’t ordered any as I was due to have my operation later than I did – mom had to go to the cafeteria for me!”

“I’m sure the kitchen could have rustled up something for you!”

“Fish pie or liver – B-I-G no-no so I had a ham sandwich, and a chicken sandwich and potato chips, a muffin AND, a yoghurt!”

“Wow…and where did you pack that away! The yoghurt is good for you, extra calcium, (he leant in close and said) good for the bones” Buffy could smell his clean shower gel…

“So, did you fall asleep in front of the TV?”

William smiled and said,

“Guilty as charged, your honour – the microwave beeping woke me up!”

“Oh poor you!” They both beamed at each other

William thought he must be a bit more professional and said,

“So, how does the foot feel?”

“Great, doesn’t ache any more – and I didn’t need the pain killers in the night either!”

“Good!”

“I was wondering…when can I get up, you know, walk around a little?”

“Well, I don’t want you putting any pressure on that foot yet, not for at least another two or three days, but can you use crutches?”

Buffy nodded

“Uh huh”

“Okay then, I’ll try and sort something out for you later – anyway, I must fly, I’ve got a very busy morning, I’m pleased your foot feels okay, I’ll see you later, bye!”

“Me too, bye!” As he went out, he held the door open for Pearl, wheeling her trolley.

“Tank’you Dr Hottie!”

“You’re welcome, gorgeous!” William winked at Pearl and she beamed a smile at a smiling Buffy

“Ah, dat man jus’ made my day! Here you go honey-chile…how’s the foot?”

Pearl swapped Buffy’s empty water-jug and glass for fresh ones

“Great thanks”

“Oh here, before I forget, my daughter, the one whose dance mad, she did this for you” Pearl took out an envelope out of her pocket

Buffy took it and tore it open to reveal a hand-made get well card

“Oh isn’t that sweet of her! Oh Pearl, tell her thankyou for me will you, isn’t that great, there’s me, there’s you…is that Dr Carling?”

“With the bright yellow hair, yes!” Buffy giggled and asked Pearl to put it pride of place on the shelf.

“No mama this mornin’?”

“She’ll be along after lunch, she’s had a lot of time off from her job, Mr Duggan, her boss is very good, but she doesn’t want to abuse his kindness – and anyway, not like I’m dangerously ill or anything” Buffy said.

“Well honey, you be good – oh, ‘nother visitor!”

A candy striper came in and said,

“Buffy Summers, you requested a bath?”

Buffy sat up hopefully

“Yes”

The girl came over to her

“Ah, not with that on your foot………have you had surgery?”

“Yesterday afternoon”

“And you can’t put weight on it I suppose”

“No, not yet” Buffy said, disappointed, she was looking forward to the fresh feeling of a bath or shower, after all, there was only so much you could do with baby-wipes, body spray and deodorant…

“Well no worries, I’ll get a waterproof sleeve to cover your leg and you can have a sit down shower, but somebody, most probably me will have to be there with you, okay?”

Buffy nodded

“Okay!”

The girl left so set things up and Buffy reached into the nightstand and got her sponge-bag out.

************************



“Hi mom!”

“There you are, I was wondering where you’d got to”

Buffy was wearing her bathrobe, had her hair in a towel turban, and was being wheeled in a wheelchair

“After three, one, two – three lift……… there, okay?” The two girls smiled as they lifted Buffy back into bed

“Thanks Patty thanks Jen, that feels SO much better!” Buffy said

“You had a bath!” Joyce said

“Sit down shower, ‘coz of my foot, they put this sleeve thing on my leg, and then blew it up with air to make it waterproof, then I was sat on a plastic seat and I was able to shower, they helped me!”

“I bet you feel better now!”

“I do, so how’s things at the gallery?”

“Fine, Mr Duggan and the girls send you their best – oh here’s your lunch”

“Hi Pearl!”

“Hello, hello!” Pearl beamed at the pair and set about putting Buffy’s lunch out.

“Oh mom, look, see that card in the middle…Pearl’s daughter made me that, isn’t it great!”

“Must go honey-chile, see you later!” Pearl left as she had the lunches to serve.

“Ah, isn’t that sweet………so what have you got?”

“Um (Buffy lifted the cover) steak pie, mashed potatoes, green beans and carrots, and………lemon mousse cake for pud, yum-yum!” Buffy began to tuck in.

“Oh, I had a phone call from your father first thing this morning………he wants to come and visit you”

Buffy shrugged and carried on eating

“He said JUST him though, he wouldn’t bring Maureen or Chelsea as it was too near Christmas, whatever THAT’S supposed to mean”

“Oh. God, Christmas – I almost forgot it was nearly Christmas! I reckon I’ll have to do my shopping on-line this year mom”

“Alright dear…any idea as to when you can come home?”

Buffy stopped, fork poised. Thinking about it, that was one question she hadn’t asked

“Do you know, I haven’t asked that! Next time I see Dr Carling, I will – hope it’s soon” As soon as she said it, the thought that she wouldn’t see Dr William Carling again hit her and she frowned

“What’s up, bit of gristle?”

Buffy shook her head but slowed down her eating.

Joyce said she was just off to get a coffee from the vending machine and went out.

Meanwhile, Buffy had had an idea for Christmas…………………

Chapter 17


Buffy was lying back dozing, her mother had gone home saying she would be back that evening with more clean underwear and Pyjamas for her.

There was a knock, and one of the candy-stripers that had helped her shower earlier, Patty, came in carrying some crutches.

“Here you go, Dr Carling said he thinks these are about the right height for you…have you used crutches before?”

“Yes, but years ago, when I was 9, I got a septic in-growing toenail and had to have it removed…”

“Well it’s most important that you take the weight on your arms, not under your arms…here let me help you swivel round in bed………okay now, put your left hand on my shoulder…that’s it, now can you slide to the edge of the bed…that’s right…now don’t put your bad foot down…here’s the right crutch………okay, now stand…that’s it, just on the good leg…here’s the other crutch…”

Buffy let go of the girl’s shoulder and took the other crutch

“Now slowly………”

Buffy tentatively moved the crutches forward and followed with her good leg, holding her bad foot up off the floor. She did several turns around the room

“There – it’s like riding a bike, you never forget!” Patty said grinning at her

“I can do this, I can stand up on ice...but I can’t ride a bike!” Buffy said, concentrating on taking small steps.

“Well that’s enough for today, Doc said 5 minutes tops, but you can probably go outside tomorrow, I’ll take you down to the gardens in the wheelchair, and you can walk along the path for a while if you like”

“Great!” Buffy rested the crutches against the bed, leaning on the bed herself standing on one leg.

“Okay, turn around…that’s it, put your hand on my shoulder if you need to balance and slide your butt back onto the bed…there!” Patty helped Buffy lift her legs back into bed and she pulled the covers straight.

“I’ll put these by your locker…and I’ll see you tomorrow”

“Thanks Patty”

“Welcome”

Buffy lay back, she suddenly felt weary, that small amount of exercise had really sapped her strength, so she lay back and dozed again, thinking about Christmas.


*******************


“William…WILLIAM!”

“Oh, sorry Dru, miles away…which floor?”

“Fourth…and you forgot, didn’t you”

“Forgot what?”

“Our coffee date at lunchtime?”

“Oh god, sorry! I did, I clean forgot all about it! In fact, it was so much about forgetting, somehow lunchtime bypassed me altogether, I had to play catch up on my correspondence, letters and emails and what have you, I checked my watch and it was twenty past two, and then I saw the Daly’s, you know, Donovan’s parents…they’re totally devastated about their son’s condition”

“They would be. Is there to be an enquiry?”

“I asked Travers about that – even before I met the Daly’s, but he said that the board of governors wanted things to be kept low key and discreet, I was told ‘don’t make waves’”

Dru rolled her eyes and said,

“Figures………and because you’re not contracted to the hospital…”

“I’ve just got to grin and bear it and take it in my stride. Except, well, his parents, his father is a minister in the Pentecostal Church, and his mother is a lay-preacher or something, they seemed quite resigned to what’s happened, not so his fiancé, Janine her name is, she wanted to know how long would his condition take for him to start feeling something, bad pain as opposed to just a little niggling ache, to feeling really bad – I told her straight, anything from 1- to 3 or 4 months”

Dru nodded sympathetically.

“And there was misshapenness to the bone?”

“It was grossly misshapen and hollow sounding, they must have been pumping him full of painkillers so much, I said to Travers, I could have nailed the guys feet to the floor and I bet he wouldn’t have felt anything!”

“Oh god, poor guy, and all that suffering just for a stupid game!”

“My argument precisely!”

“So, are you busy now?”

“Sorry, in ten minutes I’m due in theatre with Dr Inkerman, he wants me to supervise his cartilage op”

“Oh yes, you said, okay then, I’ll try and catch up with you tomorrow”

“Right, bye then Dru”

She waved and the lift doors slid shut.


********************


“Mom………”

“Yes?”

“Now don’t start raining on my parade or anything, I know it’s only a possibility, a very remote chance, BUT………would you mind if I asked Dr Carling to spend Christmas with us?”

Joyce grinned

“Oh course I wouldn’t mind – I’d LOVE to have him at the house, give me somebody to lavish Christmas on for a change!”

“Good, okay, I’m gonna ask him, so don’t you say anything, promise?”

“I promise…but honey, don’t get your-“

“A-a, you promised, my parade” Buffy held her hand up not wanting to hear her mother say not to get her hopes up – she knew she had about a 1 in a million chance of him saying yes, but that 1 chance was still a chance as far as Buffy was concerned, and she was determined to ask.

************************


William stood by Buffy’s bed smiling

“So, I heard from Patty you did well earlier on the crutches!”

“Yes, felt a bit shaky at first, but it all came back to me! She said I could go outside tomorrow, a walk along the path in the garden or something”

“Excellent idea, but remember, no over-doing it, and no putting that bad foot on the ground yet, okay?”

“I Promise”

“Dr Carling…can I ask you something?”

“Sure, fire away!”

“It’s nothing to do with the injury or the hospital or anything like that”

“Go on”

“Well…I was wondering…would you like to come to my house for Christmas? – I mean mom would love to have you, to be able to spoil somebody rotten with all the traditions. In the past, I’ve either not been there coz of competitions, or in strict training so the diet alone meant I couldn’t celebrate properly.

“Buffy – this is, well…I mean surely you have friends?”

“Oh yes, but my friends go home to their families”

“What about that red-headed girl that comes to visit you, she lives local to you doesn’t she?”

“Willow, well yes, but she’s Jewish…” Buffy realised she’d probably embarrassed him and she half wished she hadn’t said anything, she could see he was in a bit of a turmoil.

She could feel the tears at the back of her eyes and her throat tighten, and suddenly she rushed,

“Oh gods I’m so sorry, look, forget I asked – there’s probably a million and one things you’d rather be doing than spending Christmas with mom and me!”

Spike dropped his hand lightly on top of hers, and they both felt a spark of something. Buffy looked down at their joined hands, and William broke the silence by saying,

“No, Buffy, it’s not that, I mean I don’t have any plans, well I thought I might, well, um I was going to –“

Suddenly the door burst open, and looking past William’s shoulder Buffy saw her father standing there with a cuddly toy, a helium balloon and a bunch of flowers

“PRINCESS – DADDIES HERE!”

Cringing with embarrassment, Buffy closed her eyes and dropping her head forward she whispered,

“Oh g-g-o-o-o-o-d-d-d-d!” William withdrew his hand

“Well, I’ll leave you to your visitor – I’ll um, I’ll try and drop by later”

Buffy went to call out to him, but he was swiftly out of the door

“Hey young lady, you leave these young interns alone!” Buffy looked daggers at her father and said,

“Dad, he was my surgeon, he’s a consultant surgeon, and one of the top bone specialists in the world!”

Hank looked at the door but William was well gone

“Looked like a kid to me…anyway, forget about him, don’t look at your old dad like that, one who’s travelled miles just to see you - how’s my widdle Princess den eh?” Hank pinched her cheek, grinning inanely at her.

“Ow…dad do you mind, I had brain surgery too you know, don’t be so rough!” Buffy frowned and rubbed her cheek

Hank pulled a chair up to the bed and sat, resting the flowers and ‘bunny’ on the bed, earning a sharp,

“Not by my foot – careful!” Buffy had thrown her arms out to try and protect her bandaged foot.

“Where shall I put this?”

Modesty prevented Buffy from telling him EXACTLY where he could put the helium balloon, but she told him to tie it to the bed-head.

While he did this, she looked at the lemon and white stuffed rabbit. Frowning, she raised the toy to her nose and sniffed and thought ‘ew, sour milk’

“Was this one of Chelsea’s toys?”

“Yes, she said she wanted to send Mr Bunny to help you get better quicker!”

With a roll of the eyes Buffy said,

“Really, advanced for her age, isn’t she?”

Hank ignored the inferred sarcasm and asked her how she was feeling, what happened and so forth.

Buffy answered all his questions, but all the time she was thinking about William, and how he was ‘saved by the bell’ – or her dad, he didn’t have time to answer her, and the way he left so suddenly…she’d ruined everything now, and even though he said she’d see him later, she doubted if she would, he’d probably give her a wide berth now………


******************


“You PROMISE me William it wasn’t you that bought up the subject of an enquiry to the Daly family?”

“I swear Quentin, Donovan’s parents both seemed quite resigned to their sons fate, but Janine – hoo! She’s a right little fire-cracker, waded in all guns blazing about the coach and the doctor’s and negligence and all sorts. Anyway, now he’s at the Cedar’s, I don’t see why it should involve this hospital”

“You involved me” Travers said

“What? – Are you telling me I did wrong?”

“No, of course not!”

“Because procedure states, that if you find something unexpected during an operation, you have to call for the registrar of whatever department the trouble lies with, ergo, I called you as you’re the osteo-reg to confirm my suspicions”

“William! I know, I know! You did exactly right, everything by the book” Travers concurred.

“So there should be no come-back then” William said simply

“No, there shouldn’t…”

“But what your saying is, it won’t stop Charles Heaton from trying to have the hospital name kept out of things – I don’t see his problem, it’s not like WE caused it – it isn’t negligence on OUR part”

Travers sighed and said

“I know”

“Anyway, with any luck, I won’t be here when the enquiry starts”

“Oh?”

“I had a request yesterday, via email – to go to Germany, Munchen-Gladbach want me to go to Munich to operate on their top soccer striker, Gerhardt-Wolfgang Schroeder”

“Cartilage?” Travers asked idly doodling on his pad.

“Yup…I mean, he’s getting on now as regards his career, he’s 31 – but still a brilliant player”

“Do you ever get tired of it?”

“What?”

“All the travelling. Ever thought about putting down roots – setting up a clinic of your own, people coming to you rather than the other way round?”

“I’ve thought about it yeah…it would be nice not having to live out of a suitcase all the time, but…” William shrugged, and idly tapped the desk leg with foot

“But what?”

“One, I couldn’t afford it and two, to be affiliated with some hospital or other – I couldn’t be doing with the bureaucracy – have the likes of Charles Heaton breathing down my neck all the time telling me I’m using too much suture-silk or what have you – drive me nuts” William perched on the end of Quentin’s desk.

“There is that I suppose”

“I’ve had offers”

“Really?”

“Yeah, The London College of Surgeons wanted me on their teaching courses. I’d be doing the rounds of three hospitals, but well, London…I know it’s my original home town, but no thanks – I don’t like the place and to live there – no way!”

“I was thinking more along the lines of you being head surgeon somewhere…a Swiss clinic or something” Travers said

There was a knock at the door and one of the secretaries said,

“There’s a Mr Hank Summers would like to talk to you, Dr Carling, is it convenient?”

William looked at his watch and nodded

“Tell him I’ll be down directly” The secretary nodded and left.

“Is that our little skater’s father?”

“Yes, first time he’s been in to see his daughter, I understand her parents are divorced, so he’ll want all the details I suppose”


**************


Buffy grabbed her mother’s wrist and hissed

“Go with him, I DON’T want him asking anything embarrassing!”

Joyce looked at Buffy then nodded

“I’ll come with you Hank, there’s something I want to ask the Dr too”

“Mom, not about, you know!” Buffy warned

“No…I’ll ask him what he thinks about when you can start training again, because it’s bound to differ from Coach O’Connor, and I don’t want any damage doing to that foot okay?” Buffy nodded and Joyce followed a grumbling Hank out of the door.


After five minutes of talking in the corridor, a beaming Hank came back into Buffy’s room, followed by a glaring Joyce, Buffy just looked worried and asked,

“What happened, what did you say – what did he say mom?”

“Honestly – I’ll give you three guesses – Joyce put on a ‘funny voice’ and mimicked,

‘Only I’m not a rich man doctor, and your fees, well I’m just wondering what to expect – have I got to pick up the tab?’ Joyce slipped back to her normal voice and said angrily,

Is it REALLY your only one topic of interest, money?” Joyce glared at the back of her ex-husband. Buffy rolled her eyes and said,

“Oh daddy you DIDN’T!”

“Well Joyce, I have another family to think of besides Buffy!”

Joyce’s brows rose and she said,

“Do you know how much you’ve given me for Buffy since we split, hmm? Shall I tell you? Exactly $134 – and I had to nag you for every dime of that!”

“Look, the doc said his fee will go to Buffy’s Coach, who’ll pay it out of any insurance they’ve got coming, and then they can see if there’s any compensation due – did you hear that Princess – you’re going to be rich!”

Buffy just blinked at her father and then shook her head

“Well, I better get going…I’ll tell Chelsea that you love Mr Bunny she sent you, and MWAH – MWAH! (he gave her a hard kiss on each cheek) You take care now, ring me when you’re out of hospital okay?”

“Okay dad, bye”

Hank just looked at his ex and said,

“Joyce” and left. Buffy heaved a sigh, threw her arm back against the pillows and closed her eyes.

“He couldn’t have picked a worse moment to announce his arrival – I’d just asked William about, well you know…then the door flies open and it’s ‘PRINCESS, DADDIES HERE!’ – It reminded me of that film, when Jack Nicholson’s at the door saying ‘Daddies home’ in that horrible creepy voice – William couldn’t leave quick enough!”

“Well he seemed fine when I spoke to him just” Joyce said, trying to arrange the wilted flowers Hank had bought.

“Well he would be to you and dad…I’ve ruined things, I know I have!”

“He didn’t give you an answer?” Joyce asked smiling

Buffy just miserably shook her head.

“Well, look on the bright side, he might not have said yes, but then he didn’t say no either!”

“He didn’t have to, he couldn’t get out of the door quick enough!”

“Yes well, Hank has that same effect on me!” Joyce said with a wry smile.

“Yeah but you know dad, William doesn’t!” Buffy turned on her side, determined to be miserable.

“Did he say anything at all?”

“Only he’d see me later”

“Well there you are then, no doubt he’ll explain then. Honey, chin up. Look, Mr Duggan wants me to go to the gallery tonight to meet an artist who we will be having an exhibition of next month, so would you mind if I went early?”

“Course not…I’m not good company Buffy anyway, I’m in brooding wallowing-in-self-pity Buffy mode”

Joyce looked at the flowers and put the vase next to the bouquet Buffy already had on the side

“Well, I did my best with them…knowing your father, he probably bought them at a gas station somewhere”

“Did you see this? ‘Mr Bunny – it’s one of Chelsea’s – stinks of sour milk, would you wash it please?”

Joyce took the toy with a tut, and shoved it in her bag

“Tight-wad to the last, I bet the poor mite will be crying for this – well honey, I’ll see you tomorrow, and try not to worry or brood, after all, you did say yourself it was a long shot”

“Yeah I know…night mom”

“Night honey”

An hour later, Buffy hadn’t moved. She was ‘miles away’ thinking and then there was a soft knock at the door, and through the glass Buffy saw William standing there

“Come in!”

“Sure I’m not disturbing you?”

“Honestly – sit down…wanna grape?” Buffy offered the fruit bowl, trying to put off the inevitable ‘why I won’t be coming to your house for Christmas’ speech he’d no doubt prepared

He surprised her when he grinned and took one, throwing it into his mouth and catching it expertly.

Smiling at each other Buffy said

“Sorry about my dad” William closed his eyes, smiled and shook his head

“Don’t worry, my dad used to embarrass me all the time at one time”

“And now he’s proud of you I bet!” Buffy offered the bowl again, and he took another one

“I wish…I wish he was around to embarrass me sometimes…he died when I was 15…my mum died when I was 9, I went to live with a series of maiden aunts, the one, Aunt Cecily was so Victorian in her attitude, thought children, even though I was a teenager, that didn’t matter, she thought children should be seen and not heard!” Buffy’s brows rose high as she bit into another huge seedless black grape.

Chapter 18


They sat there talking for a while, eating the grapes.

“………So when I bought home this kestrel with a broken wing, nursed it back to health, my uncle said, that’s about a dozen animals you’ve saved, isn’t it?”

“I didn’t tell him about the loads I’d helped that I couldn’t bring home, but then he put it into my head about becoming a vet. I was 16 at the time, and study was about as much as I was about, a real geeky swot I was!”

Buffy grinned and said,

“You – a geek – I don’t believe it!”

“True, I had this real ‘fro going on with my hair, went round in ripped jeans, always got my nose in a book…anyway, I find out that to be a vet, I’d have to study for seven years, but to doctor humans, I’d only have to study for five, so I chose to become a doctor instead…surgery fascinated me.

Do you remember an athlete called Audley Akibua? – He was a small wiry Ethiopian, he ran bare foot - he was a distance runner, he was my first operation, I had to repair his hamstring…I operated on him and then I had to go somewhere else, and quite by chance, I saw him about six weeks later, he came and hugged me, and told me thankyou he was now better, it was the few English words he’d learnt – I felt like crying, it just felt so good to help a fellow human being, you know?!”

Buffy smiled and nodded

“Oh goodness, I’ve eaten all your grapes!”

“Don’t worry…” Buffy was in a quandary, wondering whether to bring up Christmas again…

“Buffy, about what you asked me earlier, about Christmas”

Buffy’s stomach leapt to her throat and her heart missed a beat; she was holding her breath, waiting for the disappointment…

“The thing is…”

“You have other plans?” (Oh god Summers, shut up, Shut Up, SHUT UP! Keep calm and just listen to him will you!) Buffy mentally chided herself.

“No, and I’d really LOVE to come to you and your mother’s house………”

Buffy KNEW there was a ‘but’ coming…

“But?” She asked, not being able to help herself

“But, well you’re my patient, if somebody here accidentally found out, I could get struck off – patient/doctor, it’s a no-no”

Buffy knew this, but it still didn’t stop her feeling crushed

“But, well…it’s MOM inviting you to dinner, it’s HER house, she’s not your patient”

Buffy stated, looking hopefully at him

William thought about this, he quirked an eyebrow and said,

“Look, leave it with me, I’ll see what I can do, okay?”

Buffy let out the breath she seemed to be holding and she felt all excited and could hardly keep still.

“Do me a favour though, tell no one about it, will you?”

“I promise!” Buffy beamed and William stood up

“God, is that the time – I better be going – well, goodnight then, and I’ll see you tomorrow, and remember (he mouthed ‘not a word’)

Buffy smiled and nodded and said goodnight. When she heard the door shut and the lift go down she felt like punching the air! Okay, there could still be snags, BUT…he didn’t say no!!!

***********************


The Following Morning……………


“There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you!”

William looked up from his book as Dru placed her tray opposite him at the table in the cafeteria. She put her coffee cup on the table.

“Why, got a problem?”

“No, I just thought about that rain-check, to reschedule that dinner you missed last week”

William frowned briefly, then looked at his watch

“Oh god, is that the time! – There never seems to be enough hours in the day to-“

“Whoa, there, hold your horses, another five minutes won’t kill you!”

Dru had grabbed his arm when he’d stood up, and resignedly, he sat back down

“Sorry, but you really must be quick, I was due with Dr’s Inkerman and Travers five minutes ago”

“Well, I was thinking –“

“Dr Carling – Dr Carling!”

William turned his head and saw Dr Travers’ secretary looking around the canteen

“Here, just coming – sorry Dru, I’ll try and catch up with you later!” William stood, picking up his book, notebook and pen and his phone

“Don’t forget!”

“Is he annoyed with me?” William asked Betty, Travers’ secretary as they walked down the corridor

“Truth? – He’s not in the office himself yet, but when Dr Tate came in looking for you…I know she’s got a habit of keeping people talking”

“So you came and rescued me – aren’t you an angel!” As they turned the corner to the office, the two doctors were walking towards them.

“Good, we can get on, I was just saying to Dr Inkerman that you are not available after Tuesday, is that right?”

“No, Monday really, I fly Monday night, get to Munich on Tuesday” William said

“Only we have a nagging back-log of day surgeries that we could use your help in clearing…”

The meeting went on for over an hour, so he was late doing his rounds.


******************


Buffy had been counting the hours since she last saw Him. The hours, the minutes and the seconds, now all the hope she’d been harbouring for a ‘yes’ to Christmas was evaporating quicker than a snowflake on a hotplate, it was gone lunchtime, and he still hadn’t showed……………


“Ya didn’t like your lunch, honey?” Pearl asked, taking the barely touched plate of ham salad.

“Oh, not hungry…that’s all”

“Have you seen Dr Hottie this morning?”

Buffy sighed and shook her head.

“No, neither have I, something’s keeping him busy, I usually see him at least twice on my rounds – and I haven’t seen him once!”

“Well Pearl, join the club!”

“It’ll be that doc Travers, working him too hard, you mark my words, trying to get as much out of him as he can before he moves on again, well see you later honey-chile”

“Uh, oh, yeah, bye…”

The words ‘moves on again’ struck Buffy like a knife to the stomach, she hadn’t thought about him leaving LA, especially not before Christmas…oh god – he’d be out of the country, not only would he not be in the same room as her at Christmas, it was doubtful that he’d be in the same state, country or even continent!

Buffy threw herself on her side, her back to the door feeling as miserable as sin………


“Buffy…are you asleep?”

She turned and looked over her shoulder.

“No, come in!”

“I didn’t want to disturb you”

“You’re not!” William came into the room

“So, let me see, how are you this afternoon?”

“I feel fine” Buffy sat up while William checked her chart at the end of the bed.


“And the foot?” Buffy nodded

“Good, oh boy, have I been busy this-“

“THERE YOU ARE! – You are SO hard to track down!” Drusilla came into Buffy’s room.

“Hello, you’re the skater that was in the plane crash, right?”

“Um, yes”

“Oh, er Buffy, this is Dr Drusilla Tate, an old friend of mine as well as a colleague, Dru, Buffy Summers” The two women exchanged smiles, then Dru said,

“Don’t leave the hospital before you’ve seen me, I want to make arrangements for that dinner”

William looked bored, but said,

“Okay - but I’m staying late tonight, so I don’t know what time I’ll get to seeing you”

Drusilla was just about to say something, when she was paged, and she said goodbye and left.

“Sounds cosy” Buffy said, trying not to sound like a green-eyed monster………

“Hmm, what’s that?” Spike looked up from her chart.

“That dinner she wants you to go to”

“Oh that – there’ll be other doctors there too, least I hope so – but then I might not be here, I’ve got to go to Munich on Monday night – I shan’t be back in LA until at least Friday”

That statement had answered two of Buffy’s questions, no, he obviously didn’t fancy Dru, and two, he was coming back next week!

“We were at med school together, well not together, we were there at the same time, same place in London, had two different circles of friends, and we sort of overlapped the two circles and made one big circle - we used to have a laugh, big crowd of us, we’d do things like take off for Brighton for a weekend, one of the guys and one of the girls used to go get a room each in one of the cheap bed and breakfast hotels, and then we’d all sneak up and sleep on the floor or in a chair, we could fit five of us in a double bed if nobody turned over!”


“Did you ever get thrown out?”

“Oh loads of times, we’d be half drunk, start giggling and we’d get found out – many is the time I’ve slept in my car!”

Buffy grinned and said,

“Sounds like fun!”

“Dru seems to remember it with rose-tinted glasses, I remember it as a time of living on toast, baked beans and dried pasta, and not too much sleep as somebody always seemed to have music blaring…

Right, I want to look at your stitches, so I’ll just pull the curtains…I suppose you call them drapes…” William pulled the curtain round the bed shut, and said

“If all is well, and I don’t see why not, you can have a smaller dressing on, we can fore-go all these layers of bandage, okay?”

Buffy was only half aware of what he was saying, she was concentrating on his full soft looking kissable lips………

“Buffy………Buffy? – Buffy are you – oh-hmm-mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!”

She just couldn’t help herself, and she closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his – an electric current (or so it seemed) zinged down to her toes and them settled in her tummy, sending the butterflies flapping ten to the dozen!

She broke the kiss and lazily opened her eyes with a slow grin

“Been wanting to do that for ages!”

“Buffy, are you mad? – If we get caught, then I’m struck off, and I’d never get to see you again!”

Buffy immediately felt remorse, of course she didn’t want him to get struck off! She could feel the colour rise up her neck and she mumbled her apology…

“Buffy, babe…don’t think that I didn’t want…oh so god help me -!” And with those words, William’s lips were on hers again, his cool tongue plundered her mouth, softly massaging her tongue, footfalls in the corridor had him breaking off the kiss and walk to the end of the bed, without looking at her he began to undo the bandages.

Buffy just stared at what he was doing, thinking, ‘he’s undoing the bandage – he kissed me!’

William wondered what on earth had come over him to take leave of his senses like that, one whiff of scandal, and his career would be over before you could say, ‘gross professional misconduct’…what was he on about – of COURSE he knew what had come over him, that sexy little blonde child-woman, that 19 year old pocket-Venus with the most gorgeous green eyes he’d ever seen had come over him, that’s what – she filled his every waking moment – he wondered how long it would be before she was in his dreams…

“W-well, um, every-everyth-thing seems fine – yes, fine…you won’t s-see a scar. Okay, I’ll just beep for one of the nurses to um, to come and er, dress it again for you…”

“William, do you mind if I call you William?”

“N-No, not at all!”

“Before you press that button to call the nurse…”

“Yes?”

Buffy pulled him towards her by his tie and gave him another big luscious kiss that left them both breathless.

“Buffy!”

Oh god, he could do with sitting down, thank god this white coat of his was baggy, that’s all, else everyone would have seen what effect she had had on him…

Snatching one more quick peck on the lips, William warned her he was now going to open the curtains and call one of the nurses.

He did as he said, and within thirty seconds, Jen came in, all bright and happy

“Hello! What can I do for you?”

“I want you to redress this wound for me please, just a light gauze dressing and a tubigrip sock to the knee, just in case of a DVT” Jen left to get the dressings cart.

William wrote on her chart and then said

“You okay?”

“Wonderful…you?” Buffy eyes shone and she stretched luxuriantly, like a cat

“More than fine, but we’ve got to be – “

Jen backed into the room, the cart in front of her.

“Okay then Miss Summers, I’ll see you later before I go home, and we can discuss when you can start your physiotherapy”

“Thankyou doctor, bye!” he left giving her a sly wink and Buffy was on cloud 30 million and nine………

“Isn’t he all kinds of gorgeous!” Jen said smiling as she pressed a piece of surgical tape in place to stop the gauze falling off the stitches

“I suppose he is!” Buffy said

“You SUPPOSE?!” Jen asked, incredulously

“Well, I hadn’t really thought about it!” Buffy lied, slipping crossed fingers under the cover!

“Not that he’d notice me in a million years………that Dr Tate is always hanging around him when he’s here”

“Whose that?” Buffy asked, again feigning that she didn’t know

“That woman doctor, she’s got these mad looking eyes…well I think they’re mad looking…long dark hair, talks with a British accent”

“Oh yes, I know her. But then, he’s a Brit too, isn’t he – perhaps they know each other from England – or you know all ex-pats together sort of thing, that Dr Travers is a Brit too, isn’t he?”

Yeah – hey, I’d never thought about it like that, maybe there’s hope for me yet!” Buffy smiled and thought,

‘Not a chance!’

“There, how does that feel – its not too tight, is it?” Buffy wiggled her toes and shook her head no, it was fine she said.

“Good, I’ll just go get the Tubigrip stockinette” a minute later, Jen re-appeared with what looked like a bare lampshade and the stockinette bandage stretched around it. She slid the ‘lampshade’ bit up Buffy’s leg and asked her to hole the top of the tube bandage in place. Buffy did this while the intern gently lowered the frame, and stopping at her toes, she began slide the frame back up, to cover the first layer of elasticated stocking right up to the knee, to stop the danger of Deep Vein Thrombosis.

“If your foot goes numb or your toes go blue, bell me and I’ll come and change it” Buffy nodded and thanked her and she left, leaving Buffy to dream her day-dreams…she’d decided NOT to tell her mother of these ‘new developments’ – it might put her off letting William stay over Christmas, because once he was at Revello Drive, Buffy had got some ideas how to keep him there…

Chapter 19


“Sunday night?”

“No, sorry I can’t, Dru…”

“Oh come on Will, not tonight, not Saturday or Sunday – what’s the problem? – Monday then?”

“Look Dru…you seem to be going to an awful lot of trouble just for a simple dinner”

“It’s no trouble!”

William batted his eyelids with exasperation and said,

“What I mean is, WHY is it so important to you?”

Dru looked at him like he was stupid at first, then she smiled – of course, she’d been mapping things out in HER mind – she just hadn’t let him ‘in’ on things, men – you just HAD to put them on the right track before THEY realised what THEY wanted, didn’t you?

“For us to get reacquainted, to catch up – then I thought for Christmas we could-“

“Hold on, hold on, Christmas?”

“You haven’t anything planned, have you – I mean, guy on his own, I thought that we could-“

William screwed up his face and waved his hand in front of his body, like he was trying to wipe away her words…

“Dru, you think way too much, you take too much for granted – and as regards Christmas, I DO have friends you know!”

Dru felt like he’d smacked her in the face, but she tried to make light

“I know! I was only thinking that to save us both being on our own, we might –“

“See – there you go, assuming I’d be on my own! – I won’t be”

“Oh”

William warmed to his task now, that of putting any cosy thoughts Dru had about ‘them’ being a couple totally right out of her head.

“I’ll be with my girlfriend”

“GIRLFRIEND?”

Dru said the word loud that other people I the cafeteria looked over to them

“Y-yes, girlfriend!” William’s bravado began to wain slightly, knowing now that he’d said that, he’d have to lie, and invent things………

“You didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend!”

“I didn’t know I’d got to!”

Dru felt stung, all her cosy Christmas plans began to unravel…

“Look, I’m sorry Dru, but, hell, I don’t really know what I’m apologising for – I think dinner isn’t a good idea besides, I’m going on Monday night”

“Going? Going where? - But you’ll be coming back to LA before Christmas, surely?”

“Yes, no, I don’t know, depends”

“On what?”

“On what…Deborah’s doing”

“Deborah being?”

“Being my girlfriend”

“What does she do?”

William sighed – he knew now it would be ‘twenty questions’ with Dru – she’d want the full mental picture

William looked at his watch and stood

“I’ve got to go Dru – I imagine I’ll see you before I go”

“You didn’t tell me where you’re going”

“Europe, I have a footballer to operate on, now if you’ll excuse me”

Dru said nothing, she was thinking………

********************

“Sorry I’m late honey, I’ve come straight from the gallery!”

Joyce deposited an armful of paperwork and two glossy programmes of the latest exhibition that the gallery was going to hold over the next three weeks on Buffy’s bed, being careful to mind her daughter’s bad foot. She kissed her on the forehead and saw that Buffy looked really well, she had a glow in her cheeks she hadn’t seen for a while…

“That’s okay!” Buffy said bright and happy

“You seem chipper, feeling good?”

“Great!” Buffy stretched her arms above her head and grinned, Joyce smiled too

“Has he said yes or something?”

“What?”

“Dr Carling, silly! Has he said yes to ‘you know what’ with us, you look like the cat that got the cream!”

“Oh, no, not yet, but I’m sure he will!” Buffy added, beaming.

Pearl knocked and entered Buffy’s room, bringing her dinner, which she placed in front of her

“Dere you go darlin’ eat up – see you later!” she left with a wave and Buffy lifted the cover off the plate to reveal meatballs and spaghetti in a herby tomato sauce

The savoury smell hit Joyce’s nostrils, and she grabbed her purse and said,

“I’ve just GOT to go and get me a sandwich and a coffee, I missed lunch, I won’t be long”

Buffy ate and then there was a knock at the door

“Hi!”

“Hi, caught me stuffing my face!”

William smiled

“Look, I just thought I’d warn you, that Dr Tate…she’s becoming a pain, I told her I’d got a girlfriend, one I was going to be with at Christmas – so it’s more important than ever now for us not to say –“

Buffy grinned and William knew she understood.

The door opened and Joyce came in carrying a sandwich and vending machine coffee

“Hi!”

“Hello doctor – how are you?”

“Oh, you know, over-worked, under-paid!”

They grinned at each other and Joyce sat, unwrapping her sandwich

“Please do forgive me doc, but I missed lunch!” Joyce took a bite of her chicken salad with lemon and tarragon mayonnaise sandwich and closed her eyes in rapture…

William noticed one of the programmes on the bed and picked it up.

“Felix Von Hendrikson – I LOVE this guys work – I saw him in Holland about three years ago and was blown away by his stuff!”

Joyce swallowed and grinned

“Was that the exhibition in Amsterdam?”

Without looking up and flicking through the programme William said,

“Yeah, that’s right, oh, you don’t mind me looking through this, do you?” he held up the programme

“Course not, in fact you can have that one if you want, I was there for that exhibition, I’d been in Europe, watching Buffy take part in some European championships, and took the ferry from England to the Netherlands, met my boss Mr Duggan there – it was a great success, and he promised, that is Felix promised he would exhibit at our gallery next time he was in LA. It’s taken three and a half years to get him here, but it’ll be well worth it!” Joyce said

William was still flicking through the programme, looking at all the colour photographs of the artists work

“I WISH I could have seen him here!”

“Well you can – the exhibition doesn’t start for another ten days, then he’ll be here for three weeks. He’s in New York at the moment, then he’s stopping off in Chicago, although I don’t know if they’re big on landscape art there, then he’s coming to us on the 15th”

William grinned, he’d go to Germany, do the operation and be back well in time…

“Oh Mrs Summers – really?”

“In fact, if you like, you could come as my special guest and have a pre-exhibition preview, and meet the artist himself – it’s where he meets all the serious customers, and then the following evening is the press review before it’s open to the public. There will be wine and canapés served, then my boss, Mr Duggan will take him out to dinner – you could come as my guest, I’d be delighted”

“WOW – really, that would be WONDERFUL!”

Everybody was smiling, although Buffy felt a twinge of jealousy that her mother would be spending time with William…

“I’ll sort things out, get you a VIP badge made – “

All of a sudden, William’s beeper went off, and he looked at it

“Sorry folks, I gotta go, Buffy, in the morning I’ll go through the physiotherapy routine I’ve set out for you okay, night both and thanks for this Joyce!”

“Welcome, night”

“Night!” Buffy said, giving him a little wave.

“It’s not fair!” Buffy whined

“Oh now come on, I know who he’d much rather be with…but it keeps him here, doesn’t it!” Joyce said

“Yeah – mom, there’s this woman doctor here – she used to know William back in London, well, she seems to think, well, she’s got it into her head that – look, Will’s told her he’s got a girlfriend, and he’ll be spending Christmas with her – so it’s important we say absolutely NOTHING about it to anybody, okay?”

“Sure honey, not a word will pass my OH – hello Pearl – golly, you look tired!” Joyce saw the door opening and stopped what she was saying…

“I am honey-chile, this workin’ t’ree jobs is a catchin’ up wid me!”

“Oh Pearl! You want to go home and put your feet up!”

“Oh I shall tonight!”

“Make sure you do, night!”

“Night darlin’!” Pearl put Buffy’s empty food plate and dish on her cart and left.

“Three jobs, I hope her daughter appreciates it!”

“I’m sure she does mom, I’m sure she does!” Buffy said


*****************


William put his pen down, yawned and rubbed his eyes, then looked at his watch.

It was twenty past ten, but at least he’d caught up with all his paperwork, including working out a routine for Buffy’s physiotherapy on her foot.

Locking everything away in his drawer he realised that as he hadn’t been shopping (again) it would have to be a take-away (again)…he’d decided on Chinese, and made his way downstairs and out to the parking lot

*********


Having eaten his fill of chicken with bamboo shoots and water chestnuts, beef with ginger and green onion and egg-fried rice, William picked up the programme Joyce had kindly given him – there really was some lovely pieces in it, and this time, he was more in a position to buy some artwork – he had the money at least!

**********

Back home, having rooted around in the garage until she found what she was after, Joyce knelt on the lounge floor and placed the blow-up photos all around her, she went through them, one by one, she was beginning to think it was a stupid idea, but then, on what must have been at least the 50th photo of the exhibition in Amsterdam, there in the bottom left hand corner, among a sea of other people was the distinct picture of Dr William Carling! He had on jeans and a leather jacket, and some rather smart looking glasses, but it was definitely him all right! She’d keep this as a surprise to show him Christmas. She found another two, one with his back to the camera, and one a sideways shot of him, looking at a programme standing in front of the main piece of artwork – there were other people in the photo too – she smiled and put the three photos on the side and put the rest away.

***************

Dru drained the last few drops of Chardonnay into her glass. She picked up her photo album and tried to remember the names of the people standing in front of St Thomas’ teaching hospital in central London, all throwing their stethoscopes and what have you up in the air…

“Lionel…boring stuffed shirt YOU were………Vanessa – what happened to you huh?………Martin, no Michael – no, MITCHELL – Mitchell, that’s it, Mitch…poor Mitch, fell off the back of a lorry – no, crashed into a lorry din’t ya…(hic)…then there was Da (hic) Darla…bitch! Always tryin’ to steal Will (hic) Will-yum off me………who the fuck is this Deborah?” Dru asked out loud, she’d drained her glass, wrung the bottle dry and frowned – she couldn’t be out of booze now, not now – the 7-11 would be closed, it was a quarter passed…

“Ah, brandy! Yeah, where did I – oh yeah…come on brad- (hic) mean brandy…eh? She stood unsteadily, remembering she’d bought a bottle of brandy for the diner party that didn’t happen. Must have spilt a lot!” Dru held the bottle up to her nose and stared owlishly at the lack of contents; incredulous that ¾ of it had gone – she certainly didn’t remember drinking it…

She frowned and scrabbled about in the cupboard and smiling came out with a full bottle of…god knows what – one of the nurses had bought her back for her from holiday in Mexico.

“You’ll do!”

She opened the bottle, and took a big, long swig – and she nearly spat it out – it tasted like bitter medicine – but then booze was booze, and at this time of night, she couldn’t afford to be choosy about what she drank, besides, some juice would sweeten it up.

An hour later, all the booze gone, including what was left of the brandy, Dru was tearful, incoherent and had intermittent bouts of weeping and screwing up photos, only to try and straighten them out again…

She tried to stand up, but the room was spinning too much, so she lay amongst the photos until she passed out.

********

When Dru woke at twenty to seven, she had an ache in her head as well as her back, she’d wet herself and she had a foul taste in her very dry mouth. She sat up and the room swam slightly. She stood unsteadily, went to the bathroom and stared hollow eyed at herself I the mirror.

Shakily she reached for her toothbrush, and when she saw how much her hands were trembling with the DT’s, she felt scared. Getting dressed as quickly as she could, she pulled her hat down over her eyes and went down to the 7-11 store, where she bought 2 x 1 litre bottles of Chardonnay, and a litre of vodka. She hurried best she could back to her apartment and went straight to the kitchen. She could hardly get the vodka bottle open quick enough, and she opened the fridge to get juice – no juice – where was the juice? She knew she’d had some…Going into the lounge for a glass, she saw the empty Tropicana orange juice box lying on it’s side, then she saw the empty bottle of Mexican gut-rot, and remembered what she’d done. Nothing else for it then, she made coffee and poured herself a very large vodka, just to stop the shakes you understand…it would also liven her up for work.

Chapter 20



By 8.45am, Dru felt sufficiently enough in control to drive into work. She could always blame car trouble for being late.

Having poured some neat vodka into the only bottle small enough to be deemed suitable, Dru placed the mouthwash bottle in the glove compartment of her car – she could nip down during the day if she felt herself flagging.


*********************


“Hi!”

“Hello…did you have a good night?”

“Yes. Silly thing though, my elbows and knees are sore” Buffy angled one arm to look at the sore pink patch.

“Really – we’ll have to watch that, pressure sores can develop, I’ll get one of the girls to get you cream to put on, it’s where your skin rubs against the sheets”

“Oh, I’ve got cream, don’t worry, I just wondered what it was.”

Buffy looked past William’s shoulder and whispered hopefully,

“Any chance of closing the drapes?”

William grinned at her and said,

“Why you little minx, what had you in mind?”

Buffy gave him an impish smile

“Okay then, but first let me…”

William drew the curtain around her bed, making sure it was closed properly, and then he pulled down the bedclothes and took the stockinette tubigrip bandage off her leg.

Several passionate kisses later, footfalls in the corridor outside made William move to the bottom of the bed – good thing too as there was a knock at the door

“Dr Carling, are you in here?”

William sort the opening in the curtain, stuck his head through to see Betty, Travers’ secretary and said,

“Yes Betty, what can I do for you?”

“Dr Travers wants to see you ASAP – you left your beeper in his office that’s why I’ve had to come and find you”

William patted his pocket and said,

“Oh, I’m sorry – I’ll just finish seeing to Miss Summers foot and I’ll be right there”

“Thankyou”

They both heard the door close, and Spike gently took the gauze dressing off the sole of her foot.

“That’s healing nicely…I’ll get one of the girls to come and redress it – and I’ll also send the physiotherapy schedule I’ve drawn up for you – now, when are you due to go back to the academy?”

Buffy shrugged and said,

“Sometime in the New year, first week I suppose”

“Well that’s far too early for you to be skating – gentle exercise is one thing, treble salcow’s are another – so I’m going to say no skating until at least the end of January, okay?”

“Okay – I can delay returning there, stay with mom for a while longer, I’m sure she’d like that!”

William snatched a quick kiss and pushed back the curtain

“I’ll try and get to see you when I can, but I’m very busy today as I leave tomorrow night”

Buffy gave him a rueful smile and nodded, William winked at her and left.

Making his way to Travers’ office, he encountered Drusilla in the lift, and she looked AWFUL!

Frowning William said,

“Are you feeling okay Dru, because you look awful!” Giving him a dirty look Dru said,

“Thankyou and good morning to you!”

“No, sorry, all I meant was – are you sickening for something?”

“I didn’t sleep, my um, my back is playing me up – that’s what I wanted you to look at – but you’re so busy doing other things…”

“I’m sorry – but you know the best doctor for backs is Travers”

The lift door opened and William got out, Dru stayed in

“Aren’t you going to your office?”

“In a while, I’ll see you later”

The door closed and Dru carried on up to the top floor, she needed more caffeine………

******************

William knocked on Travers’ door, waited for the ‘come in’. Quentin motioned for William to sit down, mouthing he wouldn’t be long, so William sat and waited politely.

“…………Yes…yes I will Charles………my handicap? I can’t play – that’s my biggest handicap…just joking…I certainly will, goodbye then Charles, bye”

“Right, William!”

“Quentin, what can I do for you?”

“As you probably gathered, that was Charles Heaton on the phone, he wants a written report from you as to how the meeting went with the family of Donovan Daly”

“A written report, why? – Oh I get it, because Donovan’s fiancé kicked up a stink about his condition, he’s thinking I put her up to it – you told me not to, and I didn’t!”

“I told him that, and he seems resigned to that fact that you followed procedure to the letter, and the man’s condition wasn’t down to negligence or anything we’d done here at the hospital”

“Did he read my operation report?”

“He’s read everything, and now he wants to finish off with a written report from you about the family meting” Will rolled his eyes, as if he didn’t have enough to do!

“Okay, but it’ll have to be tomorrow – I’m much too busy
today, helping you clear these day-surgeries, I’ve got four bunions to do and two curled up little fingers to straighten”

“I do appreciate it William, and I wanted to ask you what you were doing for Christmas?”

“Me, oh I um, well I’ve got plans”

“Will you be in Europe, or?”

“No, I’ll be here, in LA, staying with friends, although..(William turned and looked at the door, dropped his voice and said )

“I’d appreciate if you’d keep that piece of information quiet, Dr Tate has been making plans, including me and I just had to put a stop to it”

“Say no more, William, I understand, she can be very …intense sometimes!”

William nodded and stood

“Is there anything else?”

“Yes, here’s your pager. “ Quentin put it on the desk, and said,

“William” he slipped it into his white coat pocket

“Quentin?”

“Have you…well have you heard anything about Dr Tate lately?”

“Heard anything, such as?”

“Complaints – from staff or patients?”

“I don’t think I know any of her patients…I’m not one for ‘office politics’ I usually try and keep to myself in the cafeteria, what sort of complaints?”

“Well I’m not sure, only Betty said she heard two of the secretaries on reception bitching about Dr Tate, and um, saying, well saying that she smelled of drink - it was first thing in the morning too”

William raised his brows

“Well, I know she can knock it back when she wants, she could easily drink us all under the table a few years back………I tell you what it could be, it could be her back, she wanted me to have a look at it for her – I saw her in the lift this morning as I was coming up here – she looked awful, she told me she hadn’t slept”

“Her back… do you think she could be addicted to painkillers then or something?”

William’s brows rose and he shrugged

“She could be I suppose, why have some gone missing?”

“I don’t know, we’re due a drugs count at the end of the week, only we also had a complaint from a patient stating she was quite un-professional with him, she was surly, unsympathetic and she hurt him while examining him, then she admonished him when he complained – he said he might sue”

“Well if she’s having no sleep – that can make anyone ratty”

“I know William, but we can’t afford to be sued!”

“Look, I told her I was too busy to look at her back and YOU were her man – if I see her, shall I tell her I mentioned it to you, in a friendly way – you know I said something like ‘poor Dru looks awful, it’s her back, I haven’t got the time to look at it for her so I asked you to instead’?”

Travers nodded and said he’d go and see her

“Don’t say anything about the painkillers though”

“No – bye then – got the first one on the table in twenty and I want a quick coffee before I do – see you later”

*****************

“And relax…how does that feel?”

“Phew…like I’ve run a marathon!”

“Really – I haven’t pushed you too hard, have I?”

“Oh no, don’t worry – I’m used to far worse”

“Well I’ll call for one of the candy-stripers to take you to the shower now”

“Thanks, see you tomorrow”

“Yes, and remember, if you feel like you’re getting cramp in your calf muscle, pull your foot towards you, it should work it out” Buffy nodded and was wheeled out of the physio room.

When she got back to her room, her mother was waiting.

“Hi love, how did it go?”

“Fine – been waiting long?”

“About twenty minutes, it’s okay though, I’ve been making lists – food lists, presents lists…I was on the Internet last night, looking up how to make mince-pies”

“What are they?”

“Well, the mincemeat doesn’t have meat in it, although it used to back in Victorian times, but it’s a mixture of dried fruit, currants, sultanas and raisins done up with sugar and finely chopped candied citrus peel, spices like cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg, and alcohol, brandy, sherry – you add suet too”

“Sounds very rich! Oh, hey some good news for you” Buffy said

Joyce had her head down looking at one of her lists

“Hmm? –What’s that honey?”

“I won’t be going back to the Academy until the end of January”

Joyce looked up and smiled

“Really – great! For a minute there, I thought you were going to say…”

“What?”

“Nothing, it’s – “

“Go on!”

“For a minute there, I thought you were going to say, I’m not going back to the Academy, full stop.”

“Oh. So………what’s on your prezzie list?”

“Nothing for you to see!!!!!” Joyce held the paper close to her chest with a big grin.

*****************


“Dr Tate – I’ve been trying to page – Dr Tate?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry!” Dru woke with a start; she stared down at the cup of cold coffee in front of her.

“Sorry did I make you jump?” Travers put a hand concernedly on her shoulder.

“I-I, um, I was miles away…it’s my back!”

Travers pulled out the chair next to her, took in the bloodshot eyes, the dark hollow rings around them too, and the definite tremor in her hands.

“Not sleeping, you know!”

“Are you taking anything for it?”

“NO – good grief no, not anything, no!”

Travers thought this odd but didn’t say anything.

“Why not – it might help” Dru stood

“I must get on – I’m –“

“Dru…there’s been a complaint”

“A c-complaint?”

“About your um…how shall I put it? – We had a complaint from a patient who said you were less than gentle with him when you were examining him, and when he complained, you told him in no uncertain terms-“

“What I thought of him, yes I did! Malingerer – that’s all he is! He supposedly trips over in his house and shatters his ankle, and then he-“

“Dru – DRU!” she stopped mid-rant

“What?”

“You’re shaking like a leaf!”

“I’m angry!”

“Well I think you should go home for the rest of the day, don’t you?”

“Why?”

“Because with your back, and lack of sleep – it isn’t conducive to good doctoring…I’ll write you out a prescription for something to help with the pain and then you can get some sleep”

“But what about my rounds?”

“Don’t worry about that, Dr Day and I can do them between us, come on”

Travers led her out of the cafeteria.

**********


The Following Day, Monday


“And she went?”

“Meek as a lamb – I wrote her a script for some painkillers and told her to get some sleep”

William nodded

“So William, your last day with us for a while, what’s on the agenda today?”

“Well I have two operations this morning for you, a hamstring repair and a trapped nerve in a frozen shoulder – then from lunchtime I just want to tidy up loose ends – I’ve got two patients here still, Buf- Miss Summers and now Donovan Daly is at the Cedar’s Specialist Cancer Unit, I have that awkward cartilage op I did for Dr Inkerman – I took him over”

Travers nodded

“Will you get a chance to have a drink with me?”

“Sorry, doubt it! – Anyway, I better not, I’m driving myself to the airport”

“What time’s your flight?”

“10.45pm – I’ll leave here at 8’oclock sharp, sometimes the traffic can build to the approach road to the airport – it’s all the taxi’s”

Travers nodded

“Well come and say goodbye at least!”

“Sure I will!”


*****************

Their final day before William leaving involved a few stolen kisses, and some illicit handholding…

“Going to miss you” Buffy said quietly

“Yeah? Well I’m going to miss you too pet”

Buffy smiled, squeezed his hand and then had to let go because Joyce had come back into the room.

She’d been very good though, she kept on ‘nipping out’ to the vending machine, to make a phone call, to buy a newspaper…so she could leave them on their own.

“You should see the lists she’s been making”

“Really – look tell her not to make a fuss on my account!”

“Oh don’t say that – she’s found somebody to spoil – your going to get the full works!”

“I’ve got your number, as soon as I get back I’ll ring you okay – I’ve recommended that you be discharged on Wednesday – the stitches will be out then, and as long as you promise to be good and rest…”

“Oh good – I do, I do, I promise!”

“Dr Travers is taking you on for me – he’ll be your discharge doctor, and he’ll give you all the appointments for your physiotherapy” Buffy nodded.

It was coming up to 6pm, evening meal time and William said he’d got to go and finish packing, but he’d get back to see her before he left.

Buffy picked at her vegetable and pasta bake, not really hungry at all.

There was a knock at the door and Pearl came in

“Dr Hottie goes tonight!”

“I know…never mind!”

“Not hungry again honey-chile – can’t have dis ya-know, you’ll fade away! See ya in de mornin’”

Pearl left with a wave and Buffy sighed

“He’ll be back soon – and Christmas will be here soon enough!” Joyce said

“I know…I was just wondering where I go from Christmas”

“What you mean the Academy?”

“NO!”

“Oh. Oh, I see – well, you’ll just have to-“

“Yeah I know, cross that bridge, etc…”


**************


Inside the lift, Illyria was giving Coach O’Connor short shrift.

“How many times is it now – four, five times you told me ‘it’s a mistake’ – well let me tell you buster, this one isn’t going to go away, her parents have-“

“I KNOW what her parents have said and done, I’M the one on the receiving end of the allegations!” Angel said with quiet anger

Illyria turned sad eyes to him

“You promise me that you didn’t – didn’t touch her in any way?”

“Look, I sometimes grab thighs to raise the girls legs, or I hold their ribcages to help them breathe, I DID NOT touch that girl where she said I touched her!”

The lift opened and Illyria stepped out, she didn’t look happy at all, and Angel even less so………standing outside Buffy’s room Illyria said

“Put on a smile”

Angel slapped on a grin, knocked and entered Buffy’s room, holding a bouquet of white carnations.

“Buffy – how are you?”

Buffy blinked, the last people she thought she’d see was her coach and dancing teacher…

“H-Hi!”

Joyce took the flowers saying she’d find a vase, telling Illyria to take her seat.

After the pleasantries were exchanged all about Buffy and her foot, Joyce came back in and began chatting to Illyria.

“Buffy…I wonder if you would do me a favour” Angel asked, leaning over her talking quietly

“I can’t skate yet – not until at least the end of Janu-“

“No, no, no, no, no, it’s not that…I was wondering if you’d be a character witness for me, see some stupid little girl has got it into her head that I, well she’s saying that I ‘touched’ her inappropriately – it’s all nonsense of course, I mean, I’ve been working with young girls for nearly twenty years now, why on earth should I – a man of standing, think of what I’ve got to loose – as if I’d do something like that!” He gave her a grin, but Buffy could see the desperation in his eyes………

Buffy had a flashback, she was sitting at an ice-rink, and Faith made the comment about Angel, touching…putting a casual arm around their necks………


“Buffy…Buffy? – Can I, please, huh? Can I rely on you to-“

“Oh my god – the time mom, look at the time! – I must go see if I can see him before he goes!”

Everyone looked at the clock; it was just gone ten to eight.


At twenty to eight, William had stopped by Buffy’s room to say bye, but saw her coach and some woman in there, and deciding that he wouldn’t have been able to say goodbye in the way he’d like to, he’d phone her in a couple of days instead, when she was back home…

Buffy hopped to the door, threw on her robe, grabbed her crutches and pressed for the lift.

“Where is she going?” Illyria asked, puzzled

“There’s someone she must see”

A bell rang to indicate that visiting time was over, and Angel said to Joyce

“Will you ask Buffy to contact me on what we talked about”

Not knowing what this was Joyce said,

“You’re not going to bully her into coming back and skating before she’s ready I hope”

“Good grief no, she can dictate the pace, tell us when she’s ready!” Angel said with a false grin

“Okay then, well I’ll tell her what you said” Joyce said, not entirely trusting him.

*****************

Buffy got to the outside double doors and shivered

She realised that she didn’t know what car William drove, or even if he was parked on this lot… then she heard his voice behind her.

“Yes Pearl, I promise you! Come here, big hug!” Buffy turned to see William getting a hug from a grinning Pearl, and she grinned at him

When Pearl put him down, he immediately came over to her

“What are you doing out of bed?”

“I didn’t want to miss you?” Suddenly she felt tears threaten

“Come on, I’ll walk you back to your room”

They took the lift, which William stopped between floors so they could have a kiss…

“See you”

“Soon”

“Miss you”

“I’ll miss you more” Buffy said

“I’ll ring you Wednesday, you’ll be able to go after you’ve seen Travers, and he’s strict, likes his rounds done by 10.30, it’ll be mid afternoon where I am, so I’ll ring you at home, okay?”

Buffy nodded and William saw a tear and his stomach immediately knotted

“Hey, come on sweetheart, don’t make this harder than it already is for me” he cuddled her up and they had one more kiss, then he started the lift again

Just Buffy got out on the second floor and William waved and pressed for ground,

“Say bye to Joyce for me!” Buffy nodded and turned and went into her room, relieved to find Illyria and Coach gone. Joyce was putting her coat on

“Did you see him?” A tearful Buffy nodded her head

“I didn’t want him to go mom”

“I know honey…but it’s not like you’ll not see him again, you’ll see him real soon………”

Chapter 21


“So what did he want exactly, I can’t believe he came all this way out of the goodness of his heart just to see you” Joyce said

“He um…he wants me to be a character witness”

“A character witness, why – I mean, what for?”

“He said, he said some girl has made an allegation that he touched her, you know, ‘inappropriately’ – he started banging on about a man of his standing, blah, blah, worked with young girls for over twenty years, yadda, yadda…”

Joyce stared at her daughter and sat down, still wearing her coat.

“I thought there was something, Illyria looked like she was going to burst into tears. Do you think there’s anything in it – the allegations I mean?”

Buffy sat up in bed, twiddling her fingers, not looking at her mother, which immediately put Joyce on edge.

Buffy shrugged, but didn’t look up, Faith’s words kept on going through her mind…

“Buffy – has he ever, (she swallowed nervously) touched you?”

“What – NO! – Well no, but then, I didn’t give him the opportunity – if he put his arm around me, I always used to move fast or shrug him off…”

“But you think the intent was there?” Joyce leaned forward looking drawn

“I don’t know…I never thought anything of it until…”

“Buffy, you’re scaring me now, until what?”

“Well I thought he was just being friendly – you know when I did good, pulling me into a hug – he knew you and dad had split up, I always thought he was trying to encourage me into seeing him as a father figure or something…”

Joyce grabbed Buffy’s hand

“Did he say that to you? Because that could be classed as ‘grooming’ – it’s what paedophiles do, they lull you into thinking that you’re somehow to blame for their sick perverted actions and-“

“MOM – calm down! Like I said, I didn’t let him touch me, but one day, this was years ago – I was at a rink waiting for my turn to practice, and that other skater Faith was there…and she made some comment about how she thought Coach O’ Connor was creepy the way he ‘touched’ all the time – it was then I became more aware of it, with me and other girls”

“Oh god Buffy, if you have the slightest doubt that his intentions were less than honest, you can’t go in the witness stand and say-“

“I know…that’s why I’ve decided not to”

Joyce felt relieved and sick at the same time.

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“What was there to say? ‘Mom, I skated really well and Coach O’Connor hugged me – what would you have said? – He was just congratulating me – he was proud of me? He never touched me in an inappropriate manner, but then I didn’t give him the opportunity to”

The door opened and Patty came in

“Ready for your physio Buffy?”

Buffy nodded and Joyce said she’d go for coffee.

*****************

Buffy put the newspaper down when there was a knock at the door, it was Pearl with lunch.

“Hi me darlin’ how is you this mornin?”

“Great thanks Pearl…oh here…I got mom to sort out some stuff I never used from the dancing school…there are some leg-warmers…a tee shirt, couple of video’s…a leotard and a skipping rope – do you think Keisha would like them?”

“Oh darlin’ she’d LOVE dem!”

“Here you go, tell her I hope she enjoys them!”

“Bless you child! Hey, you caught me huggin’ Dr Hottie before he went las’ night!”

“I know”

“Well, gotta go, and thanks for these!”

“You’re welcome!”

Joyce picked up the paper and said,

“Did you read this on page two?”

“What’s that?”

“The accident investigation people looking into the crash – they reckon from what they can piece together, one guy in a pig hauling truck was the culprit for the accident, he was all over the road according to a biker witness, he slammed into the central reservation, bounced off a truck and hit an on-coming bus full of those schoolboys…shame, they buried two more of them yesterday”

Buffy shuddered, she tried not to think about the accident, she’d give herself nightmares……there was a knock on her room door and a guy stood there.

“Whose that?”

Joyce got up and opened the door

“Ah hello, I was wondering, could I speak to Miss Buffy Summers please”

Thinking it might be somebody from the accident investigation team Joyce was just about to say ‘yes’ and open the door when one of the secretaries came trotting down the hallway

“OO- ooh, don’t let him in – I’m sorry sir, we don’t allow journalists to see patients without their permission first” Joyce frowned and tried to shut the door, but the guy pushed back and called in,

“What’s it like been coached by a pervert Miss Summers – did he ever touch you – give me your story and – ow – OW!”

“Get out, get OUT!” Joyce managed to shut the door just as security arrived to escort the man off the premises.

A minute or so later security came to her room and apologised

“That’s okay, not your fault”

Joyce went out and chatted with them, one guy gave her a different newspaper

She came back into the room, and threw the paper on the bed.

“Look at this”

Buffy picked up the newspaper; it was a different one to the one her mother bought in originally………

The front page had a picture of Coach Angel O’Connor with the Academy behind him, the headline screamed:
‘Daughter of Senator in paedophile allegation’

The piece read, The 11 year old daughter of Senator Greg Harvey was at the centre of allegations against Coach Angel O’Connor, she said he touched her in an inappropriate way during swimming lessons, and had walked into her room on several occasions without knocking, twice ‘catching’ her naked. Coach O’Connor who has many prestigious names on his books including the Olympic medal winner Buffy Summers said that these allegations were totally bogus and false, he’s used this sort of ‘hands on’ approach for over twenty years and never had any complaints before. He said he would fight to clear his good name’

Buffy put the paper down

“I wish they hadn’t put MY name in that piece.” Buffy continued to casually flick through the pages and she stopped when she saw a familiar name…

“Oh god, he was William’s patient here, remember when I told you he was all down and sad, and he couldn’t tell me what was the matter, then I learn through the grapevine about that basketball player Donovan Daly?” Buffy gushed and she carried on reading

“What a shame!”

“What’s that?”

“Well, he’s got bone cancer, but he’s got to have his leg off – EW…he’s at the Cedar’s hospital in Sacramento they say he’ll have to undergo months of chemotherapy and that – poor guy’s only just got engaged too”

“See, there’s always somebody worse off than yourself” Joyce said philosophically, and Buffy agreed.


*****************

Buffy lay back in bed, idly flicking through the TV channels, she settled on the news.

Seeing one journalist standing at some taped off area of the Highway and seeing the airport runway, Buffy turned up the volume and heard the story she’d read earlier in the paper, that was the crash investigation team had put the cause of the accident down to a pig hauling truck driven by Riley Finn.

After the story ended, she was just about to switch it over, when she saw
a picture of Coach O’Connor. Next there was a picture of a young girl skating and then a photograph of Senator Greg Harvey, and then the allegations were read out – the story added that several other girls had also come forward to say that they’d been inappropriately touched too, and Buffy sat up in shock, watching the news item wide eyed.


Joyce wasn’t going to visit that evening, she was going to work at the gallery helping Mr Duggan; they were going to arrange a floor plan for the upcoming exhibition.

At 7 o’clock, Willow came in all smiles and carrying a paper sack

“Got goodies!”

“Great! Hi Will, how are you?”

“Never mind me, what about you?”

“Just learning that my supposed mentor is a paedophile…”

“Oh god that – I saw the paper this morning!”

“They’re all coming out of the woodwork now, loads of allegations!”

Willow sat down heavily with shock

“You’re kidding – what are you going to do?”

Buffy shrugged

“I don’t know…it’s not something I’ve got to think about until the end of January anyway…”

“So, have you seen him today?” Willow asked with a grin, dipping into the sack

“No, he’s gone now…he’s in Europe, Germany to be precise”

Willow looked up and said,

“Germany, what’s he doing in Germany?”

“Saving a top footballer’s career, he’s doing some top soccer-player’s cartilage”

“Wow…Just imagine that - being the best in the world at what you do!”

“As opposed to the SECOND best? – I DID only get the silver, you know!”

“Oh no gods no! That’s NOT what I meant!”

Buffy grinned and said,

“I know!”

Willow smiled and asked,

“So, when do you think you’ll see him again?”

Buffy gave a none-committal shrug and replied,

“Not sure…but I know he’s at my house Christmas day!”

Willow shrieked with delight and jumped up, hugging her friend.

Willow was suddenly aware of being held firmly by Buffy by the shoulders, and Buffy was speaking

“You DO understand, don’t you – I mean besides the fact that he and mom are old good friends, we mustn’t say ‘ANYTHING’ about him coming to our house, XMAS!”

“Yes, sure, I understand…”

Willow sat down and began to take things out of the paper bag

“I have…grapes!”

“Oh yum…William and I ate the last lot between us!”

“Ooooh! William is it!”

Buffy grinned and tried to look into the bag

“Ah, ah! I have………”

“Please tell me food with no nutritional value what so ever, I feel like being naughty!”

Willow grinned and said,

“You got it…just the stuff to cause a sugar rush!”

“Bring it on!” Buffy said with a grin. Willow put the things on the bed and said,

“We have…Twinkies………Oreo cookies…and da-da-da-da-da-da-daaaaaaaaaaaa! Peanut butter cups!”

“Oh god, gimme, gimme, gimme!” Buffy sat up excitedly and Willow took them out of the bag.

*********************************


Buffy lay back

“Oh, did I tell you, I can go home tomorrow!”

“Great – that’s the night my parents are going out with the Leibermann’s I could come round, bring a DVD or something”

“Good, coz I think mom will be stuck in the kitchen for all the rest of this week preparing food for Sunday!” Both girls giggled

*********************************


“And Dr Carling told you not to skate until the end of January, is that right?”

“Yes Dr Travers, but there’s some debate about that” Buffy said quietly

Having finished examining her foot, Dr Travers looked up at Buffy

“I wouldn’t advise you skating before, you could do all sorts of damage”

“Oh, no, it’s not that…my coach – he’s the one embroiled in all the scandal” Buffy said without looking up.

“Oh god yes! I remember now…how awful for you! You’re thinking of changing coaches?”

“I don’t know yet…I think…well I think I’ll have a few weeks at home, think about things”

“Very wise…well Miss Summers, you may go home! You have your physiotherapy schedule?”

“Yes, and the outpatients appointment on the 27th of January”

“Good, well when I say I hope not to see you in here again, you’ll take it in the manner I mean it in!”

“Of course, thankyou Dr Travers, you’ve been very good and kind to me, everybody has”

“That’s what I like to hear, another satisfied customer!”

Chapter 22



“Yes mom………yes mom………yes mom………ye – I mean no, mom………I will………mom………mom ple………yes mom…please – PLEASE mom, stop fussing!

Yes I know you’re at work, but I’m fine, I’m lying on the sofa where you left me, I’ve got everything I could possibly want on the coffee table in front of me, TV remote control, magazines, phone, flask of tea, cold drink, snacks, my sandwich lunch, wet wipes, tissues, my crutches are on the floor, so there’s really no need for you to come home lunchtime……… positive I’m sure, anyway, Willow said she’d drop round after her last lecture, she’ll be here just before two o’clock………okay mom, take care, bye”


Buffy looked at the clock, it was 11.05am. Although she’d had a good nights sleep, she still found herself to be tired, so she settled down with the TV on low, she soon dropped off.

She woke feeling refreshed, she sat up, brushed her hair had a cold drink and a breath mint, it was 1.20pm, Willow would be here soon. As if on cue, the phone rang and Willow said she’d be there in twenty minutes as the lecture had finished early.

Willow breezed in, carrying two parcels.

“I met the delivery driver at the driveway………Internet buying! So, come on, what are they?!”

Buffy grinned and said,

“Well, I hope one’s a nice sweater, and the other is a men’s grooming kit – but I hope he doesn’t take it the wrong way – I just thought as he travels a lot, you know, a nice small masculine black leather bag to keep all his toiletries together in………put them on the dining table for me would you – I’ll wrap them later”

Willow did as she was asked and came and sat on the arm of the sofa

“Want a drink making or something?”

Buffy indicated the crowded coffee table

“Already got one thanks, but you go ahead”

Moving to the armchair Willow picked up her bag and said,

“No, I’m happy with my bottled water thanks, so – what’s it like to be home free?!”

“Well mom’s phoning every hour worrying she should come home, but I’m fine”

“What about your Coach eh?”

“What about him?”

Buffy looked up sharply

“You mean you haven’t seen the news or read a paper this morning?” Willow asked, opening her bag with all her folders in, she produced a folded newspaper and handed it to Buffy

Buffy opened it out and turned to the first page

“Oh my god!”

She was shocked to see the headline, that Coach Angel O’Connor had been arrested and was going to be investigated for over three dozen claims of sexual assault, on underage girls.

Buffy quickly scanned the names of the girls, she knew all of them, one stuck in her mind…

“God what a pervert, mom said he should be put up against the wall and shot!” Willow said, taking a swig of water.

“I don’t know Will…I can’t believe………I’m not saying it DIDN’T happen, but I can’t help feeling this is a few jumping on the band-wagon………see this girl here, Eloise Van Den Hauwe – she’d been at the school for about eight or nine months, not quite a year, anyway – so then her parents split up, and neither can afford to pay for their little darling to stay at the academy – I don’t know what happened, but she stayed another couple of months then she went – she’d made an allegation about O’Connor – now you’d hardly stay another couple of months if it were true, would you – she tried to make some deal, she wouldn’t say anything more about the allegations, if she could stay on free of charge?”

Willow looked philosophical and said,

“No, I suppose not…but – well, oh I don’t know. What do you think?”

“I don’t know – I haven’t made my mind up if I’m going back yet”

“You’re gonna change coaches?”

“I don’t know…you know it’s strange, I’ve loved skating, it’s been my life for over 11 years now, I know nothing else…but I don’t feel especially urgent to get back on the ice”

Willow looked surprised at this revelation

“You don’t?”

Buffy shook her head, and unwrapped her sandwich, passing Willow hers

“So have you heard from Dr Hottie yet?”

“Give him a chance! It’s still…um, I can never work it out are they behind or ahead?”

“They’re 8 hours ahead or 7, I forget but I know it’s ahead”

“He was operating today, some famous German footballer”

And so Buffy and Willow spent an idle afternoon watching TV and gossiping. Willow was just about to leave when there was a ring at the doorbell, and she answered the door to a huge bunch of pink and cream roses, handed to her by a grinning delivery driver

“Ooh – thankyou!” Grinning she took them over to the sofa

“I’m not going until you tell me who they’re from, as if I didn’t know!”

Buffy fished out the card and her stomach back-flipped and her heart missed a beat – the grin on her face gave it away and she just said,

“William!”

Willow saw her friend’s eyes dance and she couldn’t keep the grin off her face.

“So, what does it say?”

“S’private!” Buffy said, holding the card towards her chest, still with the big, beaming smile.

Willow didn’t push it, she just grinned at her friend.

“Okay well, I’ll ring you tomorrow, I have lectures all day”

“Thanks Will, don’t work too hard!”

“I won’t, say hi to William from me when he rings!”


******************

Idly flipping through the TV listings, Buffy saw that there was a film on that evening she’s like to watch. Reading about it, she casually reached out for the phone when it rang

“Hi”

“Hello baby”

A thrill rippled through her as William’s deep sexy voice reached her ears

“Hi – how are you?”

“Tired – oh, excuse me, I’ve just got in from the hospital” She’d heard him yawn.

“What time is it with you?”

“Getting on for midnight I think, hold on………yup, twenty to - I guess its 3.40pm with you”

“Yes, and before anything else, thankyou for the roses, they’re so beautiful!”

“You got them, oh good. I hope they didn’t get you out of bed delivering them!”

“No, Willow was here, besides, I’m on the sofa… So how’d things go – I mean I know you can’t tell me, well you could tell me if you wanted, but I wouldn’t understand, I mean I’d understand if
you………I’m talking too much ………you must think I’m a real –“

“Adorable!” he chuckled and continued,

“And the operation went fine, and he’ll be back scoring goals for his club in next to no time”

Buffy smiled and relaxed, she felt all tingly

“Good – so have you eaten?”

“Well, I’ve just sent down for some sandwiches on room service – Jeez, I tell you, I thought the Lacey Memorial Hospital was big on paperwork – oh, hold on, that must be my supper………………...Hi, I’m back…paperwork took me over an hour – so Travers allowed you home”

“Yes, and I got my physio schedule and my out-patient’s date for the 27th of January – was that your supper arriving?”

“Uh huh, you’re okay, the sandwiches aren’t going to get cold.

“No, but it’s very late, and you must be tired!”

William chuckled

“Just a little Kitten, but then I don’t have to be up in the morning – all I have to do is to check my patient after lunch, and then get my flight back to LA”

“Great! There was something I’d got to ask you…oh yes, mom said, do you have any food dislikes or allergies?”

“Nope, no allergies…and I know shouldn’t really say this, what with it being healthy and me being a doctor and all but, well…I don’t go a bundle on fish!”

“Oh me neither! – If I have tuna, I have to have stuff chopped in it, peppers and that else it reminds me of cat food”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Look tell Joyce, I mean your mom, really not to go to any trouble just for me, honestly”

“Let her spoil you! She always buys enough food to feed an army for weeks – I swear you could lay siege to this place and we wouldn’t run out of supplies for weeks!”

William chuckled again, giving Buffy a nice warm feeling.

“So what time’s your flight?”

“Tomorrow afternoon, 4.10pm Lufthansa flight L119 to LAX – I should be in my bed at the hospital grounds around midnight”

“Then you’ll be staying here, won’t you” Buffy said

“Will I? - I honestly hadn’t presumed that-“

“But you Simply MUST! – By the time mom’s finished feeding you up, you won’t be in any fit state to drive!”

“But i9 don’t want to put you or Joyce to too much inconvenience!”

“Don’t be silly! We have a spare room, always on stand-by, and this time it’s reserved for you”

“Well okay then – what time shall I come Christmas morning?”

“Early as you like – I’m a real kid when it comes to waking early and wanting to open my presents, but I shall wait until you arrive – so you better come early!”

“Okay Kitten, you got it!” William yawned again and Buffy said he should get his supper and then some sleep.

“I’ll ring you before the flight, okay?”

“Fine, you take care now!”

“Will do, night babe!”

“Night William”

Buffy was beaming when she put the phone down – she’d been wondering how to approach the subject of getting him to stay – and he’d accepted with out argument! She couldn’t wait to tell her mother when she came in!

Chapter 23


Joyce collapsed into the armchair, her myriad of shopping bags around her legs.

“Give me a minute – god that mall was horrendous!”

“That’s why I used the Internet – are you okay mom…oooh, what’s that sticking out of that bag, it looks interesting!”

Buffy had leaned forward throwing off the cover but Joyce was too quick for her.

“Oh now you don’t! There are surprises in here for- oh aren’t those lovely – from William, I take it!” Joyce had spied the roses

Buffy beamed, turned and glanced at them

“Yes, AND he phoned me – AND he said he’d stay here - I told him, it would be a physical impossibility for him to drive after you’ve fed him, so, he had no choice but to-“

“Hang on! I hope he didn’t take that the wrong way, like I’m going to poison him, for fill him with stodge!”

“No, don’t be silly – anyway, he seems quite happy to stay, AND I told him to come early Christmas morning!”

Joyce smiled and took a cellophane wrapped pack out of one of the carrier bags.

“I’m glad he’s staying, I haven’t wasted any money on this then!”

Buffy took the large thick pack off her mother

“One single duvet cover and matching valance sheet and matching pillow case – great, love the colour!”

“Well I thought the dark blue with the light blue trim was more manly than the lemon and white I’d already got” Buffy nodded and handed her mother back the packet

“What else did you buy?”

“Well, I thought this was practical. See, the two faces next to each other, I thought he could set one to LA time, and the other to where he is”

“Oh mom, that’s great! I got him a sweater, that cashmere one in dark blue, and that grooming case – it’s got a mini shampoo, shower gel, comb and nail clippers and that in a handy black leather case”

“Nice, and ta-da! I got that artist he likes so much to autograph the new coffee table book the gallery are selling - it’s all about this exhibition we’re going to see in the new year” Joyce held the book up for Buffy to see.

“Oh he’ll love that!”

“And this, I couldn’t resist it” Joyce held up a shiny silver letter ‘W’ on a keyring.

“Last but not least, I checked with Dr Travers on this, William likes a drop of Irish whiskey, so hence the Jameson’s”

“He’s gonna love it!”

*****************


Having checked on his patient, and pleased that everything was fine, William made for the airport in plenty of time.

He desperately needed to do some Christmas shopping, and thought that he could wander around the duty free shops and get something nice for two beautiful ladies he suddenly found in his life………

“Hi Kitten!”

“Hello? Oh William!”

“Sorry pet, did I wake you, I forgot it would be early there”

“No, you’re okay, I was awake – so how was the patient?”

“Patient A1, and I’m all checked in for my flight. I’ve only got a flightbag – so that’ll save time when I land, no scrabbling en-masse at the baggage carousel!”

“Good idea”

“Well, I’ve got to do some shopping, um…tell me, is there a favourite perfume your mother likes?”

“Oh Will, you don’t have to worry about-“

“Please?”

“Well, she likes light, citrus or floral types, not ones that smell like melons though, neither of us likes those…um L’air du Temps is one she likes…oh and um, Parure”

“Right, got it – and how about chocolates, milk or plain?”

“Plain – although I prefer milk!”

William chuckled and said

“And how about a favourite colour?”

“What for?”

“Ah now, THAT would be telling!”

“Well, mom loves green”

“And what about you?”

“Blue” she was going to say, ‘like your eyes’ but knew it sounded so cheesy!

“Okay then Kitten – see you later”

“Have a good flight, bye”

“Bye!”

Having bought some beautiful Champagne flutes, he had them specially gift-wrapped, William thought he’d splash out and buy a big bottle of Champagne to drink out of them. He bought a silk scarf too, multi shades of green, and bought some novelty socks for Buffy, in blue, with each toe knitted a different colour.

During the flight, he consulted with one of the flight attendants, and she came up with four different perfumes from the duty free range they carried, and William chose one for Buffy called simply ‘Beautiful’, and one for Joyce, called ‘Jardin du Fleurs.’ He noticed that they had some little gold necklaces for sale too, and he chose both a J and a B initials, with little diamante stones. Like the perfume, they came beautifully ready gift-wrapped, in shiny striped paper with bows. He’d got two huge boxes of chocolates; both had Christmas sleeves on them, so he didn’t need to wrap those either, and the scarf and the socks came in special Christmas pouches, so he hadn’t got to wrap anything.


******************

“Taste…what do you think, more lemon? – Is it herby enough?”

“Fine, no, it’s fine mom, great stuffing”

Buffy went to turn away

“Hey, don’t go…the cranberry sauce, new recipe I’ve tried uses port wine and orange juice…”

“Hmm – THAT’S lovely!” Buffy licked her lips

“I thought so too, it’s the one I’ll be making from now on…now, turkey is ready in the tin, covered in bacon and aluminium foil, it’s out in the cool garage on top of the chest freezer, I shall put it in the oven at 9am in the morning, along with the boiled ham I’m going to finish off roasting with mustard and honey”

“Making me hungry mom!”

“Good, now we have roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts – don’t think I didn’t see that ‘ew’ face my girl!” Joyce said, mock stern

“Mac and cheese?” Buffy offered

“No, we’re having a traditional British Christmas, for William, they don’t eat macaroni and cheese – they have little chipolata sausages with bacon wrapped around them, carrots, boiled potatoes-“

“As well as roast?”

“Yes, and roast parsnips”

“Parsnips – what are they?”

“Look a bit like a carrot, but they are creamy white in colour and have a distinctive taste. Now have you finished wrapping all the presents?”

“Uh huh”

“Right then, I can put them under the tree”

“I’ve done it – I’m not TOTALLY helpless mom!”

Joyce looked around the kitchen, and then at a long list she’d made so as not to forget anything.

“I think that’s it…whip cream, I can do that in the morning…right, so the only thing I’ve got to do now, is to get the new covers out of the tumble dryer and make up the spare bed, and to get the best tablecloth out of the airing cupboard and the napkins…do you think two pillows will be enough for him?”

“Plenty mom, he keeps telling me for you not to make too much fuss!”

“A Christmas house guest, and I want to do it right – for several reasons – now scoot go order us a Pizza and we can watch TV with a glass of wine!”

Buffy grinned and hobbled back into the lounge on her crutches

“Right on it!”

Chapter 24


Laden down with presents, William carefully opened his room door, edged it shut with his shoulder and slammed it with a back kick of the foot. The presents had begun to slip his grasp and he was worried it was something glass would fall and break, so he quickly made for the bed.


The presents had a soft landing and everything was okay. Switching on the bedside lamp William yawned and scratched his head. He couldn’t make up his mind whether he was hungry or not – it was a ‘between’ sort of feeling, you know the one, you could eat something, but didn’t know what you wanted, or how much. Airplane meals tended to do that to you, coz there was always something on them you wouldn’t eat, and it left a gap………


Deciding he needed caffeine at the very least, he filled the kettle and switched it on.

Pulling a bottle of Jameson’s Irish whiskey out of one of the Duty Free bags, he put it on the side. It was then he noticed an envelope had been slid under the door.

Wiping off his footprint off it he opened the Christmas card and read,

‘Bes Wishe, Drooooooooooola’. At least that what it looked like, the handwriting was atrocious.

He frowned and looked at the shaky writing again and said softly to himself,

“Blimey Dru, I KNOW doctors are notorious for having bad handwriting, but!”

He put the card flat on the table and threw the envelope, and went and made himself coffee. He realised that it was getting on for midnight and hoped the coffee wouldn’t keep him awake


Carefully putting all the gifts in a bag, William crawled into bed. He was tired and had been travelling a lot, so sleep would not be a problem, coffee or not………


************************


“Tell me then, go on!”

“Well, I’ve decided that as it’s a bigger turkey than I usually buy, I’ve changed the cooking time from 9.30am, to 7.30am – I’ve got to do the ham too remember, and then roast veggies” Joyce said, sitting with Buffy. There was one slice of pizza left; both had nearly empty wine glasses.

“Roast potatoes, yum-yum!” Buffy giggled, the wine making her hot and slightly light headed.

“You be careful, we don’t want you falling over and doing any more damage to yourself!”

“I’m alright…but we don’t want anymore injured Buffy, coz Buffy’s gonna have a fab Christmas!” Buffy said, lying down and grinning with her eyes shut. Joyce glanced up from checking her list and smiled at her daughter. Her eye then caught the daily paper and Joyce said,

“Have you thought anymore about – well you know, that business with Coach O’Connor?”

Buffy sat up and looked serious for a moment, and then said,

“To be truthful mom…I don’t even know if I’m going back there”

“Why, because of what he’s done?”

“We don’t know he’s done anything, or, or even done it all, and even if I said I wanted to go back, would there be anything for me to go back to? – I mean if Coach goes, who would run the school?”

“Wouldn’t that woman, what’s her name, Illyria, wouldn’t she do it?” Joyce sat with the list on her knee, and reached for her wine.

Buffy shrugged

“If they began to leave in droves, the school couldn’t pay for itself.”

“So you think by going now just saves prolonging the agony?” Joyce asked

Buffy shrugged again and began to pick threads on the cover over her legs

“Thing is mom, skating has been my life for 11 years now, it’s all I know, but – I don’t know……... Everyone keeps saying to me, ‘huh, bet you can’t wait to get back on the ice’ – truth is, I CAN wait – in fact, I’m not hankering after it and it worries me a little. What if I never feel like it again? What can I do?”

Joyce leaned forward and smiled, patting her daughter’s hand

“Honey, you’ve come through a really traumatic experience, it’s still very early days yet and you don’t have to make any decisions just yet. Let’s get Christmas over with, and then see how you feel, okay?”

Buffy looked up, nodded and smiled at her mother, who picked up her list and said,

“Right, after this I’m going to peel the veg and leave them in pans of cold water, that will save time in the morning, the stuffings are all made, so are the bacon and sausage garnishes…they’re all in the fridge – I wonder how long I should boil the pudding for………”

“Boil the pudding?” Buffy asked, perplexed

“Yes, the Christmas pudding, it’s VERY rich almost black in colour, chock full of raisins, currents, sultana’s, spices, mixed citrus peel, sugar and alcohol – you wrap it in a cloth it comes in a bowl, and you boil it in a pan of water”

“Where is it, let me look at the instructions on the back of the packet, it should tell you” Buffy said, remembering her mother saying that the writing was always too small for her to read.

Joyce handed Buffy the said pudding and Buffy was amazed just how heavy it felt.

“You’re planning on giving us THIS after the biggest turkey dinner in the world? Oh, you’re okay mom, this one’s civilised…you can just heat it in the microwave – think I might pass though!” Buffy weighed it in her hand and passed it back to her mother again.

“That’ll save me some time then, right, turkey, check, ham, check, stuffings and garnishes, check, peel potatoes and vegetables – do that after this – is there anything you can think of?”

“Have you made the bed up with the new covers for him?”

“Yes”

“Put him some clean towels?”

“Oh god no, I forgot, glad you reminded me!”

*******************


William woke with a start to the jangle of the news blaring. 6.30am, he’d forgotten to alter the cock…he knew she’d said early, but this was ridiculous, he couldn’t turn up on the doorstep before 7am, so he decided to have another hours sleep, then get up and have a shower. Things should have quietened down in the shower block too by then, all the doctors would be in work by then, those who had to work.


Slipping into his best trousers, William did up his favourite blue shirt and bent down to look under the bed for his shoes. He found it necessary to talk to himself

“Shoes, shoes…where are you shoes…bloody things…where are – oh shit – there in my locker at work!” Frowning at his tatty old trainers, he really COULDN’T go in those, there was nothing for it, he’d have to stop by the hospital and get them.

Slipping in the back entrance, William trotted up the stairs, he ignored the elevators altogether. He got to the fourth floor and was VERY surprised to see the light on in Travers’ office.

William knocked and went in

“Didn’t think you’d be work – oh! Dr Gupta, it’s you!”

“Dr Carling, what brings you here – don’t have any patients do you?”

“Me, no, just came to pick up my shoes, I thought for a second you were Dr Travers!”

“We have an understanding – he covers me for Diwali, I cover him for Christmas, nice little arrangement we have” William smiled, opened his locker and took out is shoes, throwing his tatty trainers in their place.

“Well, don’t work too hard” William finished tying up his laces and made to leave. Outside he could hear the double fire doors flip-flapping shut, then gales of girlish laughter. Will closed his eyes, the ONE person he didn’t want to see…

There was a light knock and a smiling Drusilla walked in holding a folder

“Dr Gupta, I wonder if – WILLIAM! What are YOU doing here!”

“Me, oh I um, I came to get my shoes”

“But I thought you didn’t know what you were doing for Christmas – I thought you were in Dresden? Dusseldorf?”

“Munich, and now I have plans, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ve-“

“Don’t run off! We could dinner together, tonight, my place – I’ve bought in far too much food and-“

“Sorry Drusilla, I’m spending Christmas with friends, and if you don’t mind, I’ve got a very long drive ahead of me” William fibbed

Chapter 25


“Was there something specific you wanted Dr Tate, I was just going to do my morning rounds” Dr Gupta asked

“Oh erm, well I, er – it’s this Darlston case, the boy who fell out of the tree – are you familiar with it?”

“If you’ll both excuse me” William made to walk out of the door, but Dru caught William by the arm.

“Will, please don’t run off, I need to speak with you”

“Sorry, Dr Gupta, I’ll see you after your rounds” Drusilla said, slipping out of the doorway after William

Out in the corridor William made it clear with his body language that he wanted to get going.

“Why are you avoiding me?” Drusilla asked William, not looking him in the eye

“Why am I – look, Dru, you seem to be under the impression that we were/are great friends, and quite frankly…”

“Quite frankly what – WHAT, TELL ME!”

William could see some desperation in her eyes

“Keep your voice down for one – Dru, we had some laughs, we used to be with a gang at med school that had a laugh, fun – the usual stuff, but that was 5 years ago, people move on – I’ve moved on”

“Oh, so you think you’re better than me, is that it, hmm?” Dru snapped

William frowned

“I didn’t say that! Goodness Dru, what happened to you – you used to be so much fun, always up for a prank or a giggle, and now – you’re letting things get to you – you’re SO intense – it puts people off!”

“And by people, you mean YOU”

“Well yes me – you seem to have this fixed idea that you and I have got to get together, at any cost – I feel pressurised!”

“I asked you to dinner – that’s all, as one old friend to another!”

“So why do I feel so…why do I feel, that when I turn you down, you won’t take no for an answer, hmm?”

“Why are you asking me what YOU feel – I can’t help the…”

Dr Gupta came out of Dr Travers’ office carrying an armful of folders

“Goodbye Dr Carling, Happy holiday to you”

“Yes, thanks Dr Gupta, nice seeing you again” The couple waited until the Dr had gone through the fire doors and then William said,

“Dru, you’ll have to excuse me, I’ve got to go, I don’t know when I’ll be here next, but when we see each other again, I hope we can be civil to each other, and just say hi, hello, how are you, and leave it at that, okay?”

Drusilla looked at William. She didn’t know whether to scream, lash out or cry. She’d never in her whole life wanted somebody so much as she wanted him, and he was too stupid to see it!

William went to walk away

“You slept with me once” Dru said

William stopped, turned and faced her frowning

“I beg your pardon?”

“August 23rd, 2000. We’d been to a concert – Party in the Park, we saw loads of bands, ate hot dogs, drank god knows how many bottles of beer and wine, and you slept with me – and it meant nothing to you”

William’s mind began to race

“We were with Tim Willoughby-Smith…Nathan Thomas…Sarah and Diane Sutton…those guys who I never did get to know their names, those Canadian’s who were over here back-packing, Jonathan Meer and his cousin Sid and his girlfriend Pat…good grief, there must have been at least a dozen and a half of us and you were the only one with a room on campus. I remember we were sitting cross legged on the floor, trying to play Trivial Pursuits – it was about four in the morning and I needed the toilet, I noticed two people asleep in the bath, and I remember thinking, ‘sleep- what a great idea!’ and I pushed open a door, and I see an empty bed, and I crash on it.”

“It was my bed, as you know!”

“Probably, but all I saw was and empty bed, I needed to sleep – I was still fully clothed when I woke!”

“Next to me!”

“But you came to bed, I didn’t make you, nothing happened I know – god, it would have been a miracle for me to raise a bloody smile, let alone anything else, we’d all drank enough to sink a bloody battleship! – And I can’t believe I’m standing here having this conversation with you! Look, I’m sorry if five years ago I gave you the wrong impression – but let me put you straight now, I don’t, never have, and never will think of you in any sort of romantic connotation - an acquaintance, certainly. A mate, most probably, but a lover? – Never, I’m sorry Dru, but you’re just not my type”

William turned and left – he didn’t want to talk any more. After the holidays were over, he’d phone Quentin Travers and tell him that as long as Drusilla Tate was at the Lacey Memorial, he wouldn’t work there again………

Dru was rooted to the spot, she felt tears of humiliation and rejection well up, her throat was tight and it felt like she could barely breathe, her chest heaving.

William, annoyed banged open doors and ran downstairs to get out as quick as he could – god SOME PEOPLE!

Once Dru’s feet started moving, she practically ran to her office, a dry sob emitting her lips every so often. Luckily she encountered no one and when she got to her office, she fumbled to open the door. Locking it behind her she didn’t turn on the light. Sitting at her desk, she pulled open the bottom drawer and took out a nearly full bottle of vodka. Grabbing her coffee mug, she poured half a mugful and drank it neat. Gasping for breath, she downed it and poured herself another, then another before she felt the panic ebbing away…

************

William pointed his keyring towards his car as he strode purposefully across the parking lot and heard the mechanical whirl and clunk of the central locking system dis-engaging.

He yanked open the door and got in, forced the keys into the ignition and turned the key. Nothing.

“Come on, stupid-“ he turned the key again, and again, nothing.

Angry he slammed his hands against the steering wheel

“For fuck’s sake, what’s the bloody matter with you, start, you heap of junk!”

Again he turned the ignition key, and again for the third time, nothing.

His stomach muscles taut, he leaned forward letting his head drop on the steering wheel for a few seconds to calm himself. He then looked up, went to reach for the keys again, when he saw the fuel gauge on ‘E’. That big old red ‘E’, for empty. That’s right, he’d been too busy to get fuel. And now it was Christmas day with no hope of finding a gas station open…

Reaching for his mobile, he sort out Buffy’s number

“Hi, Buffy”

“William! Happy Christmas!”

“Yes baby, Happy Christmas to you too!”

“What time will you be here?”

“About that kitten…”

Buffy holding her breath felt her world come tumbling down around her…

Chapter 26


“MOM!” Buffy bellowed from the sofa, looking worried

“What is it honey?” Joyce came into the lounge wiping her hands on a dishtowel.

“It’s William, his car won’t start, he’s stuck on the Lacey Memorial hospital parking lot, can you go fetch him?”

Joyce looked at her watch (9.43 am) and smiled

“Sure, we’re at a non-crucial stage, turkey and ham are roasting nicely – I’ll just turn it down a little, tell Will I’ll be there in ten minutes” Joyce went to fetch her car keys.

Buffy’s beaming smile lit up the room

“Mom will be with you in ten minutes, sit tight!”

“I feel SUCH an idiot, I meant to get petrol when I left the airport, and forgot, then I had to come to the hospital because I’d left my shoes here– I’m getting worse…tell Joyce I’m SO sorry – well I’ll tell her but-“

“But nothing, everything is fine, you phoned at an non crucial-ly moment! There, she’s just started the car she won’t be long”

“I’m sorry, really, as if your poor mom hasn’t enough to do this morning, I’m really such an idiot!”

“Will you stop saying that – it’s not your fault!”

“Have you opened any presents yet?”

“Just the one, from my grandmother, she usually puts $5 in a card for me, she has done for the last 18 years, anyway”

Buffy heard three little beeps

“What’s that noise?”

“Oh bloody hell…sorry, it’s just another thing I forgot to do – re-charge my cell-phone…I’ve got very little power left! Oh who cares, nobody I want to talk to anyway besides you and Joyce, and as I can do that face to face anyone who wants me, well, they’ll have to wait coz I’m not going back for the adapter now!”

As he said this, William looked up at the hospital building and gave an involuntary shudder thinking briefly on his encounter with Dru…

In the background, William heard the doorbell ring at Buffy’s house

“I let you get that kitten, I’ll see you soon, bye pet”

“Thanks, bye then! JUST COMING, HOLD ON!” Buffy stood, got her crutches and went to the door. It was Willow and her mother

“Hi, come on in!” They stepped into the hallway

“We won’t stop, Ira has the car engine running still, we’re going over to my sister’s in Merrydale, we just wanted to wish you a happy holiday”

Willow’s mother handed Buffy a bottle wrapped in paper

“Thankyou…and I’m to give you this” Buffy handed Bernice a box of chocolates that were on the hall table

“Mom’s had to go pick William up, his car’s died!”

“Oh dear, well we must go – tell Joyce I’ll ring her in the week about those tickets for the gallery” ~After kissing cheeks Willow and her mother left, Buffy waving them off from the door

Just as soon as she sat down, the phone rang again

“Hello?”

“Princess, Happy Christmas!”

“Oh, hi dad, Happy Christmas to you!”

Buffy could hear Chelsea in the background making a real loud noise.

“So, did Santa bring you lots of gifts?”

“Yeah, but I haven’t opened them yet, we’re waiting until Wi – we’re waiting until my boyfriend gets here before we do any unwrapping” Saying the word ‘boyfriend’ gave Buffy a warm feeling.

“BOYFRIEND – Your mother didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend!”

“Dad, why should she, I AM nineteen you know, not some little kid…speaking of which, did Chelsea like that speaking ABC screen we bought her?”

“Oh it’s YOU that bought her that is it…it’s noisy”

Buffy grinned and said

“It’s simulation, children respond to bells and whistles and lights”

“So do father’s, when clonked on the head with it at 5.05 in the morning!” Hank said his voice heavy with sarcasm

“Is that what time the little darling woke you up is it? Never mind, you’ll fall asleep in the chair after a big boozy lunch, you always did” Buffy said

“Huh, not this year…we’re going on walk after lunch, and um, there will be no alcohol, Maureen says with all the business lunches I go to, I drink enough”

“Really – not your idea of fun I take it?” Buffy had to bite her lip to stop laughing out loud.

“No”

“Okay, I’ll tell mom you called, I gotta go dad, I want to look my best when William gets here, which will be in about ten minutes, mom should be there by now”

“There, there where?”

“To pick him up, his car died so mom went to fetch him”

“So, what’s he like?”

“William is, tallish, fair to blondish…very good looking, and sexy as hell!”

“BUFFY!”

“Bye dad, have fun on your ‘walk’ and alcohol free lunch – you never know, it might turn into a six-mile hike – bye!”

Buffy put the phone down, and put her purse on her knees, she got out her little mirror and checked her make-up and hair. Satisfied she sat back and waited, switching on the TV and flicking through the channels until she found something suitably festive.

*****************


Joyce pulled round in a big arch and parked next to William’s car, facing the opposite direction.

She got out smiling

“Hi! Merry Christmas!”

She gave him a hug and William wished her Merry Christmas too, looking apologetically at her.

“I’m SO sorry Joyce, you must have a million things to do and-“

“Think no more about it, honestly, the turkey and ham are roasting nicely, everything else is prepared ready to go onto the stove or in the oven, and all I’ve got left to do is decorate the trifle”

William transferred his leather hold-all and all the presents onto the backseat of Joyce’s SUV

“I’ll sit in the back with these, I don’t want them sliding around, one or two delicate items, you know – oh god, not that I’m criticising your driving or anything – it’s just – god me and my big mouth – I just don’t know what’s-“

Joyce was giggling

“Will, calm down, now strap yourself in and relax, your holiday starts here, okay”

William grinned and nodded and did up his safety belt. Joyce got in and started up.


**********


Dru stared out of the window. Suddenly a black SUV came into view, she recognised it, but couldn’t remember where from…she looked again and saw it was William in the back, and she put her hand on the window, feeling her heart lurch…who did that car belong to...who, think…come on, think!

***************


Ten minutes later, Joyce pulled up on the driveway with a bib on the horn. Buffy stood carefully; she couldn’t keep the grin off her face, Joyce led the way into the house carrying William’s hold-all, while William carried in the presents

“William! Merry Christmas – again!” Grinning, William put the presents down and gathered Buffy up in his arms.

“Hi baby! – Merry Christmas, oh, come here!”

Joyce tactfully made her way upstairs, taking William’s case up to his room…

Chapter 27



“Let me look at you – how are you kitten, how’s the foot, hmm?”

Buffy grinned and gave him a peck on the lips

“Nuh-uh, no doctor William, not today! I’m great thanks”

“Yes, you are, aren’t you” Buffy blushed and was pleased when he homed in for another kiss, giving her a gentle squeeze

Tactfully again, Joyce came down stairs saying,

“Would you like some tea or coffee?” They broke apart and grinned at Joyce

“Great, please, anything that’s going, I’m not fussy”

“Morning coffee coming up – now you two go and sit down”

“Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to help – I must have set you back at least half an hour” William asked Joyce

“No, honestly, everything is under control – just you sit and relax!”

“Mom has everything arranged with military precision in there!” Buffy said, hobbling back to the sofa.

While waiting for the coffee machine, Joyce saved time and whipped the cream for the trifle, and then when the coffee was ready, she took it in on a tray, and sat with them

“Presents, I think!” She announced and stood and went to the tree

*****************


After watching the black SUV pull out into traffic forlornly Dru turned to her desk and sat down, she splashed another quadruple measure of vodka into her coffee mug and let the tears stream down her face for what COULD have been.

She took a couple of gulps of vodka and closed her eyes.

Next thing she knew, somebody was knocking urgently on her office door, but as the blind was down and she hadn’t put the light on, they couldn’t see in, and she had had the presence of mind to lock it…

“Dr Tate…Dr Tate, are you there, Dr Tate, there’s an emergency coming in…oh god where are you…”

Whoever it was left and Dru stood she swayed a little, yawned and thought she’d better go and splash her face with cold water.

After splashing her face she went to the elevator and pressed.

A woman, one of the admin secretaries came through the fire doors and looked relieved

“THERE you are! Your beeper must be off – I’ve been looking for you, there’s an emergency coming in, a road traffic accident”

The sirens of the ambulances could be heard as they got into the lift

Dru made two attempts to press for ground, missing the button the first time.

The secretary studied Dru and said

“It sounds bad, first reports say four vehicles have been involved”

Dru mumbled something about being all she needed, and had to really push herself forward off her shoulder to get out of the lift.

The first paramedics were through the doors, holding up drips and trying to staunch blood as they trotted in with the first gurney’s having the worst injured patients

Unsteadily Dru looked down the waiting line of doctors and nurses waiting to take the casualties to the cubicles.

She made her way to the end.

When it got to her turn, the paramedic said,

“This is Nicola, she’s been in and out of consciousness since we picked her up, she has trauma to the head and stomach crush injuries, administered two units of cross match blood at the scene, and 10CC adrenalin – her blood pressure is low, barely 75 over 50”

Dru stood there impassively the paramedic frowned

“Did you hear me – “

“OKAY, what do we have here…” one of the big male nurses pulled the gurney into one of the cubicles and said

“Shall I order more blood, Dr?”

“What – oh yes, yes, carry on…um”

“I’ll get the blood, you set up the IV”

“Right, IV, IV, um…” Dru looked at the girl, and began to fumble with a syringe packet off the emergency trolley

The curtain swished open and a young nurse was literally horrified with what she saw – Dr Tate trying to stick the needle into the back of the girls hand, after clumsily sticking it into her own finger first, blood poured out of the needle injury on Dru’s finger and just ignored it

“DOCTOR – NO! DOCTOR – Gloves – where are your rubber gloves, you’ve stuck yourself with that needle, you can’t –

“What’s going on?” Another Dr, a Dr Rae swished open the curtain. Dru was swaying all over the place, and suddenly the patient went into crash and flat-lined, all the alarms went off. Dr Rae quickly swung into action; he shoved Dru out of the way towards a passing orderly

“Get her out of here – you get me four pints of cross match, you tell me her systolic number and you all stand back…”

The doctor administered the shock pads to the girl’s chest, and jolted her.

They all watched as the girl was still flat-lining……

“130 this time…ready, stand clear” – he jolted the pads again and the girl’s body jumped and the beep started again to show they had got her heart started. Four people worked on the girl, they managed to source the bleeding and staunch it, give her some pain relief and her blood pressure systolic number crept back up.

The orderly had sat Dru down on a chair by the office

She felt really drunk and could barely sit up straight

Dr Rae could be heard saying,

“………And she needs to be operated on immediately, she has a ruptured spleen and a crushed liver – her kidney’s will need to be checked too…” He clicked off his pen and put it in his pocket, swishing open the curtains; he stared angrily at Dr Tate

“What the HELL do you think you’re playing at?”

Dru looked up at him swaying, her face crumpled and she whined out something unintelligible.

Dr Rae frowned and was quickly joined by Dr Gupta and the big male nurse

“Get her OUT of here – the state she’s in she’s a COMPLETE MENACE”

“Come on Dr, lets get you-“ The male nurse took her arm, but Dru pulled away frowning and crying

“No, I won’t…I won’t go…I mean go where…I don’t want to be on my own…” the rest was unintelligible again as Dru’s tears, drool and snot ran down her face. She sniffed and tried to wipe her face on the back of her arm, but she felt a rushing sensation and she realised that they’d put her in a wheelchair.

After putting her in an empty private room, the nurse put her in the recovery position so she wouldn’t choke if she was sick, and locked the room door. He went down to the ER and one of the secretaries told him that Dr Rae wanted to see him

“I want a full report on what happened, but you can just tell me now, okay?”

“Yes Dr Rae. The medic came to us and told us the girls status, she was obviously critical, with head trauma and stomach crush injuries, he told us he’d administered cross match blood at the scene and her blood-pressure was dangerously low, I pulled the gurney into the cubicle and thought that Dr Tate would immediately call for more blood and would be setting up an IV for it”

“So what happened?”

“Well Dr, she just looked at the patient like she didn’t know what to do, so I said, shall I call for some cross match while you set up the IV”

“Then what happened?” Dr Rae asked

The male nurse shrugged and said,

“I don’t know Dr, I left immediately to get the blood, I knew it was vital”

“Thankyou Nurse?”

“Collins, Dr. Rae, Jeff Collins”

He left the office and one of the secretaries had her hands on the shoulder’s of another nurse, the one who tried to stop Dru sticking the needle into the girl’s hand after Dru had stuck it in her own finger.

“This is Sally Parfit Dr Rae”

“Come in, now there’s no need to be worried or scared, you did a very good thing here today and I want you to tell me in detail, okay?” The nurse smiled and went inside the office to give her account of things.


****************


“Perfect fit – how did you know my size?” William marvelled at the fit of the cashmere sweater, holding out his arms and looking at the body of it fitting perfectly.

“I have an eye for these things! Now…this one!” Joyce said

“Oh no, it’s YOUR turn…here this one’s for you and this ones for…hold on…no that’s right, yellow and gold stripped for Joyce, pink an silver for Buffy” William handed the two women the prettily wrapped packages

“You must have spent HOURS wrapping these – it’s almost a shame to rip it!” Joyce said

Buffy had no such qualms and tore open the paper. She took the pure white box out of the wrapper, tore off the cellophane and opened the box

Taking out the perfume she took off the top, sprayed and sniffed

“Oh WOW – THAT is BEAUTIFUL!” Buffy sniffed again, instantly loving the fragrance

“Actually, it IS, look!” William showed her that’s what it was called and they all laughed

“Your turn mom!” Buffy said and Joyce was far more carefully than Buffy took out her perfume and sprayed

“Oh – oh William, it’s lovely – delightful – I can smell freesias…lily-of-the-valley – oh it’s so lovely – thankyou!”

“Next there’s this, but it’s a kind of present for all of us – you DO like champagne, don’t you?”

William drew out the magnum of Dom Perignon and handed it to Joyce

“Oh my goodness! I’ll go put it in a bucket of ice immediately!” Joyce stood and took the double sized bottle out with her.

“Champagne! I LOVE Champagne ! Buffy said grinning.

“Good, but no dancing around on that foot now!”

“I know…here it’s your turn, open this one!” Buffy handed him a small box

“You have me spoiled!

Chapter 28


Dru woke suddenly; she had pins and needles in her arm as she’d been lying on it.
She tried to sit up, and was totally confused. She straightened her one bent leg, realised that ‘somebody’ had put her in the ‘recovery’ position, and tried to remember where she was, she peered blearily around in the dim light. Her brain still fuzzy with the alcohol…

Then it suddenly hit her.

She went cold. She went hot and sweaty – closing her eyes she could visualise legs on an stretcher – a gurney in front of her…she was trying to do something, but she’d been wrong – why was everybody shouting at her -
She saw her movements, slow motion…blood………a needle………William leaving in a black SUV…she was in a wheelchair………………shouting, why was everybody shouting? Lying down, comfy at last, she could sleep…

Dru’s eyes rolled sleepily and she pulled the covers up and went back to sleep. It was just a dream, all a bad, bad dream………


****************************


“……………And I thought, wherever you are, you could have LA time, and time where you are” Joyce said as William looked at the two miniature clock faces next to each other that Joyce had bought him

“Oh Joyce, that’s fantastic! – So practical too! Anyway, your turn…these are for you! Joyce excitedly unwrapped the box

She took out the champagne flute glasses.

“Oh Will – I was thinking, I’ve got ordinary wine glasses, and I’ve still got five out of six Hock glasses that were a wedding present – but we’ll be able to the Champers justice now!”

“Hold on, don’t run off…here” He handed Joyce and Buffy the 3”by2” small box from the plane. Buffy managed to beat her mother opening her identical box

“Oh look! I’VE got a sparkly letter ‘B’ on a gold chain – oh I LOVE IT! Come here!

Buffy pulled William into a hard kiss and grinned

“And I’ve got a ‘J’ oh it’s lovely, really lovely William, you have us spoiled!”

“Two best girls, why not!” he winked at both grinning ladies

“Here, this is for you!”

Joyce handed him a packet

“Ooh, heavy…book I reckon…oh yes – oh – OH WOW it’s signed – you’ve had it SIGNED! William was genuinely over the moon with the gallery book Joyce had got for him – he was thrilled and couldn’t stop grinning

“And he’s interested in meeting you too – I told him how you’d operated on Buffy – he’s full of admiration for you!” Joyce said

Buffy was SO pleased, William looked awe-struck, he was obviously more than pleased.

“I can’t WAIT for that exhibition” Oh, right my turn…just a stocking filler …Joyce, Buffy”

William handed them the little Christmas pouches

Joyce drew out her shades of green silk scarf.

“Oh it’s beautiful! You must be psychic, I’ve been meaning to get myself a silk scarf…and it’ll match my new green coat perfectly – Thankyou!”

“Ha-ha, look mom…individual toes! Buffy held up her novelty ‘Pippy Longstocking’ socks.

“My turn!” Buffy thrust the last parcel into William’s hands

“I thought it would be useful when you’re travelling around…”

William finally dragged the paper off the leather grooming kit and grinned

“JUST what I needed! I tell you, I’m sick and tired of cleaning my teeth with soap!”

“Uh?” Buffy asked with an ‘EW’ face!

“Well, I DO use toothpaste, but I usually drop a bar of soap, my toothbrush and paste into a carrier bag, and the brush sometimes gets embedded in the soap…now it won’t – come here, clever girl!!!” William planted a huge big kiss on Buffy’s lips!

“Last, but not least, a friend told me you liked a tipple” Joyce handed
William a gift bottle bag.

He took out the bottle of Jameson Irish whiskey

“Lovely – my favourite! – I can make us all Irish coffee’s later”

“Ooh lovely!” Joyce beamed and was pleased she’d bought in extra whipping cream!

“And here – the way to most ladies hearts I think!” William handed Joyce and Buffy the plain and milk chocolates

They both beamed at him in total admiration!

*******************




“Dr Tate…Dr Tate, wake up…come on WAKE UP!” Dr Gupta shook Dru firmly by the shoulder, she’d been asleep six hours now, and he was into overtime, due to the road traffic accident patients.

“Huh…leave me ‘lone…”

“Dr Tate!” Drusilla! – WAKE UP!

“Hmm, alright…wha’s so bloody impor’n’t, huh?”

“Dr Tate, I need you to wake up, I need you to realise what I’m going to say to you, you MUST understand”

“Understand - understand what, what are you doing in my apartment – go way, I’m tired!”

“Dr TATE! I’m not IN your apartment, you are at the hospital, you’re in very serious trouble Dr Tate, I can assure you of that!”

“Huh?” Dru opened her eyes and tried to think...she knew three things for sure, one, she had a headache – the MOTHER of all headaches in fact, two, she just wanted to sleep and three –

“OW, what’s with the bloody lights, who said you could come to my place, I don’t remember saying you could…oh!” Dru had sat up angrily as the main bright lights had been switched on; she saw a hospital room wall, not her own familiar bedroom wall, and frowned, trying to think……...

“Dr Tate, I have to inform you that you are being suspended from this hospital pending an enquiry for gross misconduct by you, do you understand me?”

“What?” Dru sat up, she felt her dry mouth saliver up and thought she was going to be sick

Images flashed through her mind, the needle-stick into her finger, the shouting – Dru put her hands over her ears and screamed………

***



“You did the right thing, Dr Gupta, she couldn’t be allowed home in the state she was in, it was right to having her sectioned under the mental health act”

“How is the girl patient, any news?”

“Unfortunately, she died on the operating table, her injuries were too severe” Dr Rae said

“Oh god…do you think Dr Tate’s initial delayed action could be-“

“No…no I don’t, not in this case, the girl had lost too much blood, her injuries were too severe, if she’d have survived, she’d have never walked again, would have needed 24 hour constant care – she’d have been paralysed, the head trauma was severe too, her spine was also crushed, but Dr Parnell said he did everything he could to try and save her” Dr Rae said. Dr Gupta slowly nodded

“Even though, it doesn’t excuse Dr Tate’s behaviour”

“No, it certainly doesn’t, was she drunk or ‘on’ something, do we know yet?”

“More than likely drunk…I’ve heard a few rumours rumbling around here before now – she’s a very intense woman, and she seemed to have been having an argument earlier this morning”

“An argument?”

“Well, not argument, a disagreement of sorts”

“Who with?”

“Dr Carling”

“Dr Carling- I wasn’t aware he was working here today, I could have done with him earlier, that multiple broken leg of the second car-“

“No, he wasn’t working, he had to come back for his shoes, he was going somewhere for Christmas”

“And he had a disagreement with Dr Tate?”

“Well, he was in Dr Travers’ office with me while he put his shoes on, and Dr Tate comes in, she seemed surprised to see him thinking he was still in Europe - to tell you the truth, he didn’t look too happy too see her – she invited him to dinner and he turned her down flat, and then when he tried to leave she caught his arm, told me she’d see me after my rounds and follows him out into the corridor”

“That was it?”

“Well William was turning his body away from her, scratching his head, his whole attitude was – ‘I just want to get out of here – now’ sort of…well Dr Tate said something about why was he avoiding her, and he said they weren’t as close as she’d like to think – then I heard him say something about ‘five years ago, and moving on’ and then I didn’t hear any more as I had to go and do my morning rounds”

“Do we know where Dr Carling is?”

“No, Travers might, but he’s not attached to the hospital, so?” Dr Gupta shrugged his shoulders and Dr Rae nodded

“Well, I suppose I’d better phone Dr Travers and tell him what’s happened, and we’ll need to get some sort of statement from Dr Carling too”

“Why – it’s not his fault – he can’t be held responsible for her actions!”

“No, I know, and I’m not suggesting for one second he can be, I just want to get the full rounded picture – after all, she hasn’t been sent home drunk, she’s been sectioned, that’s a pretty serious matter”


*****************


“More trifle?”

“Joyce stop – you’ll have me explode! But boy, was that THE best Christmas dinner I’ve ever had or what!” Joyce beamed at him

William sat back and patted his bloated tummy – he’d done full justice to everything put in front of him and cleared his plate, and delighted Joyce by having seconds of turkey and ham, stuffing, gravy and roast potatoes – his secret vice – so he told her, before going on to enjoy a dish of trifle.

“Well I suggest you two go and sit on the sofa and vegetate in front of the TV”

“Oh no, I MUST help with the clearing up, you must let me wash up at least!”

“The dish washer will do that – and there’s only what’s on the table to do, everything else is done!”

William stood, poured them all more champagne

“Well I’ll bring this in with us!”

“Good idea – oh, and if you feel like nodding off, you won’t be in bad company, wine always makes me sleepy!” Joyce said

Taking in their glasses and then returning for the bottle William couldn’t honestly remember having a nicer time – the ugliness of what happened with that encounter with Dru that morning had drifted away and he was warm, comfy, full of superb food and with two of the nicest ladies he’d ever met………

He sat on the sofa, and Buffy snuggled up, he put is arm around her and they settle down to watch the Christmas family movie


***************

“Oh dear god no………she didn’t actually stick the girl with the needle afterwards, did she?”

“Doesn’t matter if she did Quentin, the girl died on the operating table, so there will be no come-backs from there.

We put Dr Tate in one of the private rooms to sleep it off, but even after 7 hours sleep she was loud and obnoxious, got rowdy, so Dr Gupta sectioned her for 72 hrs under the mental health act”

“I see, well at least we know where she is”

“She seemed to have had disagreement with Dr Carling this morning, so Dr Gupta was telling me”

“Dr Carling- what was he doing there – he was staying with friends for Christmas, or so he told me”

“He was, came for something…shoes, that’s it, he had to get his shoes”

“Was it a screaming row – did anybody else hear anything?”

“I don’t think it was a screaming row as such, that’s not how Gupta described it, more him trying to get away and she reluctant to let him go sort of thing, she invited him to dinner, he turned her down as he’d got other arrangements - from what I can gather anyway”

“Oh I see, yes, well that sounds about right”

“Oh?”

“They were at med school together, well not together, at the same place, same time sort of thing - she seems keen to try and reminisce and she’s far too intense about it – I know he’s not interested in her, he told me”

“Has he got a girlfriend do you know?” Dr Rae asked

“I have no idea”

“Will you be in tomorrow, Dr?”

“I hadn’t planned on it, so much for my relaxing lie-in, I can come in first thing, but I’m playing golf with the MD – I suppose you want me to phone him an give him the news………”

“If you wouldn’t mind, you know him better than me – well goodbye Quentin, and um, Happy Christmas!”

“Very funny Vernon, goodbye”

“What is it Quentin, who was that?”

“Oh, just some crisis at the hospital, I just have to go into work in the morning, that’s all”

“Oh Quentin – remember you’re playing golf”

“Haven’t forgotten sweetheart” Quentin went back into the lounge and joined his wife.

Chapter 29

William jerked his head awake and looked around the room and then he smiled, Buffy was softly snoring against his chest, and Joyce had pushed her relaxer chair back to a more horizontal position to rest, she too sound asleep.

He softly kissed Buffy’s hair, and she woke

“Sorry kitten, but um well…call of nature”

“Oh! Sorry!” Buffy sat up, yawned

William stood and went upstairs

She looked at the time, it was 5.40pm – she still felt full, BUT she’s spied the box of chocolates William had bought her and she couldn’t resist.

She’d popped one in her mouth and was chewing when William reappeared by her side

“Here- help yourself!”

“But I bought those for you!”

“Have one while I let you then!” Buffy said with a grin popping a nut cluster into her mouth

William grinned, perused the assortment list and chose a caramel.

“Are you bored?”

“Me – good god no! Relaxed yes, and that’s something I haven’t felt in a long time”

William raised his arm and Buffy snuggled up, and they watched TV. When the commercials came on, the first one was for a holiday………

“I can’t remember the last time I went on holiday – where I was for the Olympics in Switzerland, it was beautiful…I promised myself to go back there one day”

“I love Switzerland – best place I went for a holiday though, was the Seychelles – it was just before my finals…there was this guy, Tim – he was an absolute scream, his father was head consultant at one of the big teaching hospitals in London, anyway, he’d got this yacht, and four of us guys flew to this yacht and had a week of just sunbathing and swimming, fishing, eating what we’d caught, drinking cocktails it was sheer heaven –the water was so blue, and you could see all the coral and the fish and that...the sand was soft and white – paradise…sorry, am I boring you?”

“Absolutely not! Sounds like heaven!”

“It was. Just what I needed too – I was so calm before my exams – I’d almost got this, ‘who cares’ sort of attitude when I went into the exam room – they seemed a piece of cake after that, so if anytime I’m facing something daunting, I just remember that holiday!”

Buffy smiled

“If I’m doing a comp, doesn’t matter whether it’s heats or the final, I have this little ritual. If it gets altered, it doesn’t feel right. I do my hair first, then put on my makeup, left eye first – then I put on my costume, then my skates, always left skate first, and then I sit with Mr Gordo, he’s a papier maché pig bought for me by my mom – anyway, I sit with him on my lap, and I pull gently at his ears and sip a glucose drink and I try and empty my mind of all thoughts”

“Oh, excuse me – must be all that Champagne I’ve drank, made me tired!” they both looked at Joyce who had righted the chair and sat up

“I’m ready for a cuppa or something how about you two?” Joyce asked going to get up

“How about, if you two ladies sat here, and I make us all Irish coffee’s?

Both Buffy and Joyce beamed and readily agreed with him, Joyce getting up just to show him where everything was.


Ten minutes later, William appeared out of the kitchen with three perfect Irish coffees on a tray, and Joyce opened her chocolates…………


********************


“I’m sorry Dr Tate, Drusilla, it’s for your own good” Dru couldn’t understand why she was in the pysch ward, and they wouldn’t let her leave….

“Please, just – just let me go home and sleep it off, I’ll be fine in the morning, I swear”

Dr Gupta looked pained and said,

“Dru…it isn’t as simple as that”

“What isn’t – why not – I over-dosed on um, cough medicine, I’d taken a pain killer too, I had a bad reaction, and-“

“What about the vodka?”

Dru’s head snapped up quickly

“Vodka?”

“Don’t try to deny it, we found a bottle on your desk with about an inch left in it, and a coffee mug that you’d been drinking out of”

“So I had a little nip to…to keep the shakes away….there’s no crime in it!”

“That’s where you’re WRONG – there IS a crime in it – you can’t drink whilst on duty, and you could barely stand up!”

“I TOLD you, that-“

“Dru save it, we ran a toxicology report on your blood, you’d got nearly ¾ of a bottle of vodka inside you, and NO sign of drugs”

Dru sat on the edge of the bed, her thin fingers twisting the sodden tissue.

“Do you remember anything at all about the emergency we had come in?”

Dru blinked and tried to think, but all that happened was she just said the word, ‘emergency’ over and over in her head………

“Well, do you?”

Dru opened her mouth to speak but closed it again, she felt the tears well out again and she shook her head no.

“We had a four-car road traffic accident come in, twelve patients, three were pronounced dead at the scene, the rest bought in here for treatment, we still have five of them, two of them have been allowed home, and two died after they got here – one of them no thanks to you to try and save her”

Dru was trying to think – flashbacks, blood on her finger, somebody shouting, William storming off, her in the office with Dr Gupta, curtains swishing back…a loud beep – oh, she was pushed back, William turning away from her…she poured more vodka into the mug and drank, banging on the door, William walking away, he said he didn’t think of her as a lover, never would…he never would…never would…

A dry sob left her throat and Dru grabbed two handfuls of hair and started sobbing

“I jus…I just want him…I………want him to l-love me!” Dr Gupta frowned and put his hand on her back

“Dr Tate, aren’t you in the slightest bit bothered about the emergency – about the girl that died – luckily we have staff here, nurses I might add, that were totally on the ball and stopped you from putting a contaminated needle into a drip feeder? That after the paramedic told you the girl’s status, you stood and did nothing until one of the nurses pulled the gurney into a cubicle and ordered blood?

“I don’t remember” Dru said quietly

“And is that going to be your tack in front of the general medical council, ‘you don’t remember, is it?’”

Dru looked up and frowned

“Medical council?”

“YES – FOR GOODNESS SAKE WOMAN – haven’t you sobered up yet – this is the SECOND time I’ve tried to tell you what’s going on! Can’t you get it into your drink-addled brain the seriousness of this, hmm? You’ve been sectioned under the mental health act for 72 hours, you’ve committed gross professional misconduct, drinking on duty, being drunk, unable to function at a basic level, I have to inform you that you’ll never practice medicine again, not I this country you won’t anyway”

“I’m sor-ry – I’m sorry!”

“Dru – listen try and keep calm, but it isn’t good, there’s no two ways of looking at this, you are in some very, VERY serious trouble. I have to go now, but I’ll come back and see you tomor-later on today – now get some sleep”

Dru lay down on the bed, bringing her legs up into the foetal position and quietly sobbed.

Dr Gupta sighed and checked his watch, it was after midnight, he’d done his shift plus five hours overtime now, still no peace for the wicked…he made his way over to the main hospital building.

*****************


“Ooh, this is LOVELY!” Joyce sipped the alcohol laden sweetened coffee through the rich whipped cream, and licked off the ‘moustache’ it left on her top lip.

“Yummy – never had one before – so how come you can make these?” Buffy asked

William smiled and said,

“Well, they used to be all the rage in the restaurants at one time but they were expensive, so as I was the one with the steadiest hand, I learned to make them!”

“I’m hooked – here have a chocolate – unless you’d like a sandwich or something?” Joyce offered her box of chocolates

“Oh goodness no thanks, not yet – ask me next week! – No seriously, I’ll have something later, I’m still rather full thanks – but I’ll have that soft caramel with hazelnut, if I may” William helped himself

“Well, don’t be shy to say” Joyce said, putting a dark chocolate mint crisp into her mouth.

“I’m surprised you father hasn’t rung, Buffy”

“Oh he did, I forgot to tell you, while you were out fetching Will…hey get this mom, Maureen said no booze with his dinner, and afterwards they’d have to go for a walk! – Long one too – and Chelsea woke him just gone 5am with that ABC screen thingy we bought her, hit him on the head with it!”

Joyce was grinning and said,

“Nice one Chelsea! Walk – your father? He used to moan if I left the car parked in the road and not on the driveway and he’d have to walk eight yards to it! – So why no alcohol, did he say?”

“Something about all the corporate dinners he goes to she said he drinks enough at those”

“Oh, shame, still cheers Hank!” Joyce held up her coffee and grinned.

Chapter 30


William couldn’t remember spending a nicer Christmas, and he said so to Joyce

“And you’re VERY welcome William, anytime you need a place to stay, think of this like your home”

William smiled fondly at her

“Want mustard on this?”

“Just a dab – I’m being greedy, but it was SO delicious!” Joyce beamed as she passed him a sandwich of turkey, ham and stuffing.

She warmed mince pies and made tea and took it into the lounge.

They watched TV, then they played ‘Charades’, then cards – for matchsticks

Buffy and William hardly had a matchstick left between them – Joyce had them all!

Will looked at the clock, it was well after midnight, nearer 1am in fact.

“Would you have any objections if I turned in – I woke at 6.30am this morning, I’d forgotten to re-set my clock!”

“Not at all William, in fact, I’m going to turn in myself now”

Joyce took the dirty crocks into the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher, she then said goodnight to them both and went upstairs

“It’s been fabulous, really, I told your mum, best Christmas ever” he gently stroked the hair away from her face.

Buffy homed in and began to kiss him with passion.

When she broke for air she smiled.

“Best Christmas for me too”

William stood

“Baby, listen, as much as I want things to develop between us, I’m not going to disrespect your mum, she’s a brilliant lady, and I don’t want to do anything to upset her”

“I know – there will be other times for us, yes?”

“Count on it, in fact – let me do a bit of sorting my diary, and I promise you we’ll do something great okay?!”

Buffy nodded, kissed him again and then let him go

William went on up to bed, while Buffy switched everything off.


***************


Angel sat in his room, staring at the TV, not taking anything in. He didn’t know where Illyria was, or what she was doing, and he couldn’t put the phone back on the hook because it did nothing but ring with either journalists, or strangers hurling abuse, calling him names and threatening to firebomb the place…


*******************


“And if you’d just sign here, this is your release papers…and then again here, this is your formal suspension notice – thankyou Miss Tate. Now, as you’ve been suspended on full pay until the enquiry is over, you are not allowed on hospital property as an employee anymore, everything from your office has been collected together for you and put in some cardboard boxes – I think there are three of them – now you will be informed of the hearing of the board of governors sometime this week, okay – you will be required to be at these hearings, do you understand?”

Dru nodded dumbly, she understood – she understood alright, she understood that now she was up shit creek without a paddle, luckily for her, she’d have full pay, but that wasn’t going to last more than a few weeks tops – and she hadn’t a clue what to do next………

“Miss Tate...Miss Tate”

“Hmm?” Dru looked up to the nurse who was holding out a laundry bag with her clothes in it…

“Come along, get your skates on – you’ve been discharged early, you can go home!” A nurse was holding her civilian clothing out to her

Numbly Dru took the bag of clothes and put them on the bed. She pulled at the hospital issue white robe and suddenly stopped, the garment halfway over her head

‘Get your skates on…get your skates on’

In her minds eye, Dru saw William leaving in a black SUV, then she saw, again in her minds eye the same car pulling up, a neat attractive woman in her early 40’s came bounding up into the hospital…

Where had Dru seen her before-got it, she, had, GOT IT!! she nearly whupped with delight!

She was that little blonde skater’s mother…so William was consorting with a patient was he – well he wasn’t going to be the only doctor in trouble around here, not if she could help it……....

*****************

William woke feeling refreshed, he turned on his back, yawned and stretched, there was a quiet knock on his bedroom door

“Um, yeah, come in!”

“Morning! I thought you’d like a nice cup of tea – breakfast is ready when you want it and you can get up anytime you like – I’ve put you a bath towel to warm in the airing cupboard, it’s the blue one, and the shower is simple enough to operate, the more right you turn the knob, the cooler it gets, or there’s plenty of hot water if you prefer a bath – and now I shall leave you in peace – oh were you warm and comfortable enough?”

“Pure heaven Joyce – and cheers, you’re an angel!” Will propped himself up on his elbow and reached for the tea. It was already half past eight.

Halfway down the mug, there was another soft knock on the door

“Hey!” Buffy put her head around the door and grinned at him

“Hey, did you sleep well?”

“Like the proverbial log!” Buffy went into his room, she was still in her nightdress and robe, and she sat on the side of the bed and leaned down and kissed him

“Sorry – morning breath!” William said, having not had chance to clean his teeth, but Buffy was all minty fresh.

“Don’t worry – you’re fine!” Buffy said with a grin, homing in for another kiss, thinking ‘oh yes, mighty fine…bicep – me likey!’

************************

The first thing Dru did when she got home was to pour herself a drink.

She hadn’t even taken her coat off, she sat on the sofa, putting the litre of vodka and the bottle of tonic on the coffee table and filled a half-pint tumbler half full of spirit, added a splash of tonic and drank deep. She looked at the time, it wasn’t even 10am.

“Bastards! – Fucking bastards – the lot of them – well they can go……they can go to hell!” Dru listed sideways and laid her head on a cushion, tears of self-pity running down her face.

She should have learned from the last time – that hospital in Iowa. They said if she left quietly, they would say no more, and as she’d only been there three months, she left it off her CV, claiming she was trying to find somewhere to live before applying to a hospital.

She hadn’t been helpless drunk in Iowa, she just had a few before her shift to give her a ‘lift’ and it was only really a quiet little ‘country’ hospital mostly farm injuries, rashes and bites…bored her silly, but one day not concentrating on her driving, she knocked a lad off his bicycle – it had been his fault, but she’d been done for Drinking Under the Influence, and of course the police told the hospital and that was that.

She sat up and took out the letter of formal suspension out of her purse, and read it. Her gut tightened and he felt panic rising, and reached for her drink, downed it and shakily poured another. Things were bad she knew, really, REALLY bad this time – she would loose the apartment, her livelihood…and it was all William’s fault! Why couldn’t he see they would be great together – she wouldn’t need to drink if she had him………trying to dismiss what they had when they were students, she always sat next to him in the car or danced next to him when they were in a group – even those in the group noticed, one girl, what was her name now, Rebecca, that was it, cow she was, made some comment about her being William’s little lap-dog, his shadow, how the poor guy must have felt stifled under her constant vigilance. Dru wanted to scratch her eyes out………

After a few more vodka’s, Dru felt more confident, and phoned the hospital, wanting Dr Carling’s telephone number.

“Hello, yes, is, is that the Lacey Memory-rial Hospital?” Dru slurred slightly

“Yes, how may I help, you?”

“Good, I want the telephone number of Dr Carling please”

“I’m sorry madam, we don’t have a doctor of that name working at this hospital, are sure you’ve got the right-“

“Don’t tell me I’m wrong! I know I’m not wrong, I’ve work – I’ve seen him there!”

“Hold on please”

“Bloody stupid woman…” Dru muttered to herself, she cradled the receiver between her neck and shoulder, holding the main body of the phone in one hand, and her drink in the other, she paced around.

“Hello”

“’Ello”

“We DID have a surgeon of that name working here but he isn’t affiliated to this hospital, so I’m sorry, I can’t help you”

“Aff-lif-liffiated – look………he operated on that skater, the one in the air-crash”

“Yes madam, I know who you mean, but-“

“Well if you know, get me ‘is bloody phone number, jeez, is it so hard?”

“I’m sorry madam, I don’t like your tone, I’m not here to be sworn at, I’ve told you he doesn’t work here, and I can’t give out telephone numbers to all and sundry if he did, goodbye!”

“No, wait, don’t hang – hello – HELLO – fuckin’ stupid COW!” Dru threw the phone and it bounced on the sofa and onto the floor. She started to cry again, and only picked up the phone and put it back together again properly when the rapid beeping got on her nerves.

Chapter 31


After an nice hot shower, William dressed and went downstairs.

“Breakfast?”

“Oh Joyce, you have me spoiled!”

“Would you like the works – eggs and bacon?” Joyce asked with a smile

“Much as I’d like to say yes, I think coffee, juice and maybe toast will do just fine!”

“Sure – you could have pancakes – cereals?”

“I’ll stick with the toast, but thanks!”

“Did you say pancakes mom?”

“Sure honey”

“Great – help me lay the table Will?”

William laid out the cutlery and the glasses while Buffy placed napkins on side plates.

“What would you be doing if you were in England William, would you be out in the snow?” Joyce asked, fetching in the coffee pot

“Actually, despite popular belief, white Christmas’s England are quite rare, as I was growing up I only remember three – where it actually snowed on Christmas day”

“Really – but do you find the heat odd here – I ask because a few years ago, we had an English lady working at the gallery, she’d bought sweaters and boots and had to shop for light clothes, she kept saying it didn’t feel like Christmas!” Joyce said

“Yeah, I know what she means – strangest Christmas I ever had was out in Oz three years ago – we had a ‘barbie on the beach’ as they put it – they got this huge pot and actually deep-fried the turkey – tasted fine, but the whole being on the beach on December the 25th was weird!”

“Sit, get it while it’s hot” Joyce put four slices of toast in the rack and put them on the table.

The phone rang, and as Buffy wasn’t sitting, she said she’d get it.

“Hello………Oh um Angel, what is it? ………………(Both William and Joyce looked at each other, then back over to Buffy)………No, actually I hadn’t thought about what you asked me, Angel, it’s CHRISTMAS, I’m still trying to recuperate!………………Look, I’m sorry okay, but………………yes, I will think about it, I promise, but……………contact who – Angel, if and when I decide, I’ll contact you and get the name of your attorney then, okay, now if you don’t mind, I’d appreciate a little peace so I can enjoy the rest of the holidays with my mom and my boyfriend, bye…bye Angel” Buffy put the phone down and turned to face a concerned William and her mother.

“Honestly – have I given it any thought about testifying for him! Well duh!”

Joyce placed two rolled up pancakes in front of Buffy, and sat down herself, pouring tea. She looked at her daughter

“Sounds like a very desperate man if you ask me, do you really think speaking up for him is the right thing to do?”

“You’re as bad as HE is mom – can I have Christmas first please?”

“Yes, I’m sorry honey, just don’t let him push-“

“I won’t, end of subject, okay?” Buffy interrupted, Joyce looked up and smiled, nodded and then said,

“I don’t suppose you want to come to your great aunt Susan’s this afternoon, do you?”

“I’ll pass!”

Joyce grinned

“Thought you might!”

“Hey, don’t not go on my account Buffy!” William said

Joyce came to Buffy’s rescue by saying,

“If I offered Buffy a trip to the dentist, or a trip to see her aunt Susan, she’d pick the dentist every time, wouldn’t you honey?”

“Sure would! - And, I might add, I hate the dentists!”

“She’s a witch who lives in a big haunted house even the Munster’s wouldn’t look at twice!”

“Buffy!” Joyce admonished

“Well…always seemed that way to me…and by the smell of things, she must live on boiled cabbage and fish…and that horrible dog, it must be getting on for about 20 years old, it smells worse than she does – why do you still go mom?”

“Because………well, duty I suppose, I shan’t stay too long, I’ll just take her some Christmas cake and the box of lavender soaps I’ve bought her”

“Not that she’ll take the hint and use them!” Buffy said with a grin, wiping the last mouthful of pancake round her plate to mop up the last of the syrup.

“It’ll give you two a couple of hours on your own”

Buffy felt her cheeks go pink and she downed her juice to cover.

************************


“Great shot Charles!” Quentin patted the MD on the back. Charles Heaton’s caddy took the golf ball out of the hole and replaced the flag.

“All I need to do is birdie this next hole, and I’m home and dry………tell me Quentin………………(The MD lined up his shot and shouted FORE, then drove off sending the ball hurtling down the fairway)………………………do you think this furore will cause a stink, I mean Dr Rae sectioned her under the mental health act – why didn’t he just let her home and sleep it off?”

Quentin pushed his tee into the grass and placed his ball.

“She was in no fit state, and when Dr Gupta tried to tell her what was happening, she went berserk”

He too hit his ball with a cracking shot, and they made their way to the buggies.

Finishing the game, they decided to call it a draw, they went into the clubhouse, where Quentin called for one diet club soda for the MD, and an orange juice for himself.

“Time for lunch Quentin?”

“I’m sorry, my wife’s sister is coming this evening, we’re having a special celebration, and I’ve got to watch, you know! ” he patted his stomach.

“Fair enough…anyway, I’m off to the old yacht tomorrow, sailing her to Bermuda – could I leave things in your capable hands, get a statement off this Dr Carling, since he seems to be involved”

“I’ll see what I can do Charles, but I don’t see we can force him – he did absolutely nothing to encourage the woman, in fact I’d say just the opposite, in the most polite way too. He cannot be held responsible for one insane woman’s fantasy world”

“It would be better for him, if he wants to work at the Lacey again”

“Charles…how can I put this without seeming disrespectful…the fact that Will- I mean Dr Carling worked at the Lacey is kudos for US, not the other way around, he’s the leading expert in his field – just ask any of the top orthopaedic surgeons in the country”

“Is that right – oh well, do your best old man, just do your best”

Quentin finished his juice and left, thinking how these directors hadn’t got a clue what went on in the real world of the hospital, all they did was sit in ivory bloody towers and got paid for it, and he could just imagine William’s reaction for yet MORE paperwork off him.

*******************


“Don’t you want to?”

“Of course I want to kitten, it’s just, well you’re mom’s been gone not two minutes – and here’s me going to pounce on you…doesn’t seem right”

“Why do you think she left us on our own? – She realises we need time to get to know each other better.

“Buffy, babe – slow down – we have all the time in the world! Not saying a kiss and a cuddle wouldn’t be nice – very nice, but if you don’t mind, I’d like us to wait until your at least completely mobile before we………”

Buffy smiled and put her arms around his neck, where William completely surprised her by picking her up and carrying her to the sofa.

He lay next to her on the sofa, stoking her face softly

Buffy couldn’t hep but reach up and scratch her head

“Sorry…my hairs growing back, and it itches like crazy!”

“I know kitten, don’t worry” Buffy smiled and homed in for a kiss. Soft and tentative at first, before William raised himself up on his elbow and leaned over her, deepening the kiss, he felt her tongue brush his and he teased her with his own.

Buffy could feel herself getting hot, and when he started to nuzzle her neck, it was all she could do not grab him and pull him on top of her.

He went to bring his hand up to caress her cheek, but his fingers brushed against her hard nipple, making Buffy gasp an ‘oh yes!’

Moving his hand back down to her waist, his fingers on her soft skin where her tee shirt had ridden up, Buffy shivered with delight as his hand swept up her bare back

The kisses getting more heated, Buffy pulled up her teeshirt and guided William’s mouth to where she wanted it to be. He teased her at first, breathing warm air on her already heated skin, her nipple taut, he kissed between the valley of her breasts before slowly moving over the swell towards her proud nub, suckling on it gently, Buffy moaned so erotically, she shifted her legs, being careful of her bad foot, but she desperately wanted to lock her hips up to his

The delicious little moans and breathy gasps had him hard as a rock, and Buffy smiled to herself.

She moved her hand down to the outside of his thigh, before letting it drop between them. She felt him jump slightly when she pressed the length of him, she deliberately ran her finger slowly up and down, making him loose concentration on her nipples as he gasped and rocked his hips

“Baby!”

“Shh, tell me if it feels good”

“Oh baby it –ahhhh!”

She slowly tugged down the zipper and was surprised to find out that he went commando…

Her small fingers closed around him, her fingers not meeting! Slowly she slid her hand down over the turgid hot flesh, and then slid up…up and down slowly and gently – it was sweet torture

William was trying to keep his balance, Buffy pulled him closer and asked

“Am I doing this right?”

“Y-yeah…yes – oh baby, faster…harder please I – oh!”

Buffy obliged him making her hand movements fast and firmer, it was hard for her to concentrate as he suckled at her nipples, his hand gently kneading and moulding the flesh of her breast.

She kept on with her ministrations until she felt him swell and he lost concentration, his head lolling back

“Buffy – baby – I’m – I’m gonna – oh- ooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh” Buffy felt her hand warm and wet, she slowed down to stop, feeling William shudder and pant. She raised herself up and reached over to the coffee table and snagged up some tissues.

“I’ve never done that before…was it okay?”

William was lying there with his eyes closed, he smiled and leaned over her and kissed her – not before he whispered ‘perfect’.

He felt her wriggle slightly, and stopped kissing her to look worriedly down into her sweet face.

“Are you okay kitten, do you want me to – “ he went to sit up, but she pulled him close, not knowing how to tell him SHE had needs too

“Please – don’t stop what you were doing, it was…” her courage fled, and she couldn’t say anymore her cheeks went pink and William thought it adorable.

“As long as you’re comfy kitten”

Buffy shifted to more on her back, and when William’s hand slowly rubbed her tummy, she nodded and gasped and rocked her hips slightly. William alternated between kissing her, her neck and her nipples while his fingers inched down the elasticated waist of her soft jogging pants and then he came to her tiny little briefs

Holding his head to her so he wouldn’t see how red she’d gone, Buffy begged him with a soft, ‘don’t stop’ – giving him the green light

Feeling the soft scrub of her curls, she parted her legs as much as she could, she felt hot, wet and swollen almost as William gently found her clit and circled it with his thumb, while his fingers gently slid back and forth in a soft sawing motion over her labia making Buffy’s head whip back and forth, she could feel herself coming she snapped her legs shut trapping his hand and rocked her hips as her orgasm overtook her.

“That better little one?” William gave her a soft kiss and smiled

“Oh yes!” They tidied themselves up, William went up the bathroom, washed and got rid of the tissues.

When he came down, Buffy was in the kitchen

“What are you doing?”

“Coffee! I fancied some coffee”


“Well, you go and sit down, your mom showed me how to this yesterday when I made the Irish coffees – you go rest and I’ll bring it in”

Buffy grinned, kissed him lightly and hobbled into the lounge.

Chapter 32


Joyce beamed as she accepted two bunches of flowers from the delivery driver. Closing the door with her hip, she quickly went into the lounge passing the bunch of long-stemmed red roses to her daughter she looked at her own bouquet and then read out,

“I can’t begin to tell you what a fantastic time I had this Christmas with you both, it was truly my best Christmas ever, love Will”

“Aren’t they the most beautiful bunch of star-gazer lilies you’ve ever seen!” Joyce leant over the back of the sofa, and asked with a grin,

“Well, what does the card in your red roses say?”

Buffy was beaming and she held the card to her chest

“There are SOME things a girl doesn’t tell her mother!”

“What time is Willow coming?” Joyce gently took both bouquets into the kitchen and took two vases’ out from the cupboard under the sink.

“About eleven-ish, her mom is dropping her off. We’re going into town, hopefully there’s something left in the sales!”

“You be careful!”

“We will…I can always hit people with my crutches if they get in my way”

They chatted while Joyce snipped the bottom of the stems and arranged the beautiful flowers.

Buffy wandered off to get the morning paper off the lawn

“Oh god mom, look at this”

“What is it, honey?”

Joyce came out of the cupboard under the stairs after putting the vacuum cleaner away.

“Look – even Faith’s jumped on the bandwagon now”

She passed her mother the newspaper.

‘My eighteen months of hell with Coach ‘Grope’ Joyce frowned and read the first paragraph.

The phone rang and Buffy answered it

“Hello”

“Hello, is that Buffy Summers’ residence?”

“Who wants to know?”

“Hi, my names Nicky Piper, I work for the Tribune, I was wondering if you’d like to put your side of things about your coach – you”

“Um, no, look, I’m sorry I’ve got to-“

“Did he ever touch you in an inappropriate way?”

“I have to go!”

Buffy slammed down the phone

“What is it?”

“Journalists -they want my story!” The phone rang again

“I’LL get it this time…hello?”

“Is that the home of Buffy Summers, my name is-“

“Look, WHOEVER you are, we’re not interested, do you understand, besides which, my daughter is still recuperating from the terrible plane crash, and all these phone calls and all this pressure isn’t helping, it’s hampering matters, I’ll thankyou not to trouble us again!”

“Please Mrs Summers, we only want-“

“I don’t CARE what you want, leave my daughter alone!”

Joyce too slammed down the receiver. Before it had chance to ring again, she lifted the receiver from the cradle.

“Leave it off the hook, anybody in the know has our mobile numbers, and when I get the chance, I’ll get onto the phone company”

“I can do that mom, I’m not helpless” (DING DONG) Buffy opened the door and staggered slightly as a young man burst forth

“Buffy Summers?” he thrust a small microphone in her face and Joyce had to push him off the doorstep to close the door

“You IDIOT! My daughter is on crutches, you nearly had her over – what gives you the right to think you can barge in MY house asking questions!” Joyce screamed at the closed front door

The letterbox flipped open and the journalist said,

“I’m sorry, but I only wanted to ask if-“

“GET AWAY FROM MY DOOR NOW!”

“But I only want to ask if-”

“YOU GET AWAY FROM MY DOOR, OR I SHALL SQUIRT MACE THROUGH THE LETTERBOX AT YOU AND CALL THE POLICE!”

Joyce was shaking with rage. Buffy hobbled into the lounge and was looking through the window. She could see the local radio car outside, plus another one drawing up.

The young man moved out off the porch, but only as far as the driveway, and began to talk to somebody.

Another car drew up and a smart looking woman and a cameraman got out.

“That’s it, I’m calling Mr Duggan at the gallery telling him I’m going to be late, then I’m calling the police” Joyce angrily untied her apron and threw it over the chair………


1 hour later

“Yes, it’s okay officer, she can come in” Buffy said via the radio the police had left in the house for communication with her.

Willow was allowed down the path and let in

“I tried to ring, but……” said Buffy’s bewildered friend

“Sorry, but the phone’s not stopped ringing, this journalist, that newspaper, all wanting to know stuff”

“What are you going to do?”

“I spoke to mom’s lawyer, he said the best thing was to issue a none-committal statement to the media for now, as I haven’t made up my mind if I’m going to testify yet – and then state I must be left alone to recuperate”

“Have you spoke to William?”

“Yeah, but he’s walked into some crisis or other at the hospital, one of the doctors has been suspended, citing William as the cause, so he’s got enough to think about”

“Oh goddess…so I guess we won’t be going into town then?”

“Sorry Will…Mr Fleming will be here in less than an hour”

“And he is?”

“Mom’s lawyer – he’s going to help me draft a statement and read it out for me, we said to the press 2o’clock”

“I’ll make some tea then, camomile? – It’ll calm your nerves”

“Great”

********************


‘………An operation to remove a blood clot from my brain, and also an operation on my foot following a crush injury to it. If and when I want my side of the story heard, I will come to one of you. So to finish I’d just like to say to ANY journalists, leave me alone to recuperate, and I will co-operate with you if and when I deem the time right, thankyou – is that okay?” Buffy read over it.


“Fine, yeah that’s fine, thanks”

“Right, if you’ll just sign here………and here…excellent!”

Buffy handed back Mr Fleming his pen.


*************************

William paced back and forth in front of Quentin Travers’ desk, running his hand through his hair, he too, wasn’t a happy bunny.

“I SWEAR to god, I’ll-ooh!”

“Calm down William, nobody is blaming you!”

“I bet Charles Heaton would like to!”

“There are other’s on the board that know your worth William, don’t fixate on the one man, the one man that would fall out with his own shadow if he could. He just wants you to put your side of the story, that’s all”

“You know this whole thing is STUPID!”

“I know William, I know, and if you hadn’t forgotten your blessed shoes…”

“That poor girl needn’t have lost her life!”

“Hey now, stop that, I have it on good authority that the girls injuries were just too severe, her liver was crushed, she was a mess, very bad head trauma too, IF she’d survived, well it would have been nothing more than an existence, her spine was all mangled up too, she wouldn’t have been able to walk, or talk properly, dress herself, she’d have needed 24 hour constant care. No William, she had a less than 5% chance when she got here, she’d had to be cut out of the vehicle and had been trapped for nearly an hour and a half – that first vital hour was lost”

Travers went on to show him all the other reports written

“And all on the board be shown the complaint about Dr Tate before Christmas, and the rumours of her drinking too. Has she…has Dr Tate tried to contact you at all?” Travers asked, putting the reports back in his bottom drawer.

“No. I didn’t re-charge my mobile, I don’t think she has the number – at least I hope she doesn’t! If I find she has, then I’ll change my number – there’s no way I want that insane woman rambling on at me all hours of the day or night”

The phone rang and Quentin answered, listened and said ‘thankyou’, and put the phone down

“Speak of the devil”

“Oh Christ, she’d not here is she, coz if she is I’m-“

“Relax Will, she’s suspended, that means she’s not allowed on hospital premises except for medical emergencies, and by that I mean her own medical emergency, if she had an accident or something”

“Good” William felt all the relaxation he’d earned over Christmas rapidly draining away to be replaced by the jaw tightening stress he was used to.

“That was Charles Heaton’s secretary, she said the date for her disciplinary hearing is the end of next week”

“Really – good I’ll be out of the country”

“Really?”

William looked down and shrugged

“I don’t know, I doubt it, but I feel like it, go somewhere just for the hell of it, so I don’t have to be here and look at the wretched woman”

“Stick around William, if you’re called and are not here, then this will all be put back until you ARE free – you might as well accept the inevitable, and get it over with – I can assure you, nobody is going to blame you”

William nodded, muttering about the ‘bloody woman’.

***************************


“………And I conclude and ask you to leave Miss Summers alone to recuperate from her injuries, any breech of this request will result in a prosecution for harassment of a potential witness. Thankyou”

Buffy and Willow had the unusual dual opportunity to watch what was going on outside on the porch either through the lounge window, OR live on TV, it was on the afternoon SDTV news bulletin.

Mr Fleming the lawyer came back in the house and closed the front door behind him.

“There, all done, and the telephone company have-?”

“Yes, they’ve set us up with a temporary injunction on the line, an operator answers first” Buffy said

“Good, well I shall be off, I hope you feel better soon Miss Summers, and if there’s anything I can do for you, don’t hesitate to ring me, okay?”

“Sure, thanks bye” Willow saw him out and reported back to Buffy that all the journalists that had been outside had now gone.

“Good…isn’t worth going shopping now is it?”

“No…worth having something to eat though, I’m starving!” Willow said

“Oh, I know what we can have!”

***************************



“I’m sorry, ma’am, but the card’s been rejected, insufficient funds” The storekeeper handed Dru back her debit card

“Don’t be ridicule – cudelous…try it again!” Dru was already swaying slightly, as well as slurring

He swiped the card through the register again, and again it gave out three loud beeps, ‘insufficient funds’ flashing up on his screen

“I’m sorry…do you have another card?”

“Wha?- Oh um………this?”

“That’s for Victoria’s Secret only ma’am”

“Here…you look!”

Dru tossed the purse on the counter, looking bored and making sure he was in full view of the in-store camera in case there were any comebacks, the storekeeper went through the purse and found a credit card to a ‘Dr Drusilla Tate’, and frowned

By sheer luck, a police car drew up and two officers walked in. Dru was beginning to flag a little but she tried to stand up straight when she saw the two officers

The one officer opened the fridge and took two cans of soda

“Hi officer Johnson, Alvarez…erm” he motioned for them to come down to the other end of the counter, showed them the credit card and said

“Does she look like a doctor to you?”

The Hispanic officer frowned and said

“Dr Drusilla Tate?”

“Yes, tha’s me, wha you want?” Dru tried to look sober

“Are you okay ma’am?”

“No, I’m not…trying to push-per-per-purchase, a drink! He won’ let me…say’s I’ve suffish-insuffish…”

“Insufficient funds?”

“That’s them, yeah – insufferance ish funds…(hic)”

“Would you mind standing to one side while I ascertain one or two facts please ma’am”

Dru went to reach for the litre of vodka but the officer said

“Oh, no, no, no, not yet ma’am…right, you are Doctor Drusilla Tate, is that right?”

Scowling at the officer because he wouldn’t let her have her bottle she shouted

“Yes! Told you once!”

“Please keep your voice down ma’am, could you tell me what surgery or hospital you work at?”

“Why?”

“Because quite frankly ma’am, you don’t look like a doctor to me, and – “

“Look…don’t bloody CARE what you think…let me get me voddyka, n’ I can go!”

“Oh no – where do you live?”

“Round the corner”

“Round. The. Corner. Where?”

Dru tutted, grabbed the officer by the arm and pulled him towards the door

“Hey – what do-“

“M’ showin’ ya…there….one, two, fird one up – wiv the light on” (hic)

“Steve, I’m going to check this out, okay?”

“Sure”

Five minutes later, the officer came back

“Well, seems that she’s telling the truth…I’ve seen her photographs everywhere and um…some suspension papers, seems the hospital have um…”

“Can I go now?”

Officer Steve Johnson looked at his colleague

“Well she’s not driving, and she wasn’t violent, so…”

“Thankyou!” Dru grabbed the litre of vodka and went to leave

“Hey, just a minute – you haven’t paid for that!”

“You got my cred-(hic)card!” Dru said indignantly

“Oh yes, um, hang on…”

He swiped the card and the purchase went through

“Can you sign this please?”

Dru heaved a sigh, carefully put the vodka on the counter, scrawled over the tab and picked up the bottle and went to leave

“Don’t forget your card ma’am”

The storekeeper put the credit card back in her purse and she put the strap round her neck and lurched off, holding onto the vodka like it was a lifeline.


Dru went out muttering about ‘bloody Diego’s’

“My god….what’s it coming to eh, no wonder she’s been suspended!”

Chapter 33

William had arrived early for the hearing, got himself a vending machine coffee and phoned Buffy………


“I know baby, but you could come here, mom said any –“

“I’d LOVE TO, really, but we don’t need any more problems, until I sign off as your doctor on the 27th, we, I mean *I* could be in trouble, we have to be careful. I tell you pet, I’m not looking forward to this, I swear to god, if she says I gave her ANY encouragement, I’ll –“

“Honey, nobody will believe her, you have Dr Travers and Dr Gupta both on your side then there’s that stuff they’ve dug up on her, why she was supposedly ‘unemployed’ but had a regular salary going into a bank account, NOBODY is going to blame you in the slightest”

“I know…it’s just that ooh, she makes me SO mad! Anyway, enough of my ramblings, how are things with you my sweet?”

“We’re still having mainline calls pre-answered, I had one journalist try and sneak through…”

“Have you decided what to do yet, about testifying, I mean?”

“No…he never touched me, but then, well…after what Faith said, I never gave him the opportunity, so I don’t know if that makes me a good or a bad witness”

“Speak to his attorney, let HIM decide”

“Her, he’s gone for a woman, thought it would make a better case for him”

“Well let her decide then”

“Yes, I think I will. Mom said to say hello, and that second exhibition has been set for three weeks time, she’s put you down as a VIP visitor”

“Great! I was thinking about buying a picture…but first I suppose I better get somewhere to hang it!”

Buffy sat up

“You mean somewhere other than the hospital room?”

“Yup…and I’ve been doing a lot of thinking too – but I don’t want to say anything over the phone, can I come over on Friday night?”

“Of course, you don’t have to ask…Will – you’re not………you’re not going back to England, are you?”

She tried to keep the desperation out of her voice, she hadn’t succeeded though, and she could feel tears threatening.

“Course I’m not babe! I’ve become acclimatised to California – although I am leaving the state next week, but not the country”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, just for a couple of days, I said I’d do favour for a friend, he lives in Arizona – Phoenix to be precise, I’m going to patch up his dodgy knee – not so much a sport injury as such, more coming off his motorcycle too many times, but we used to room together when I lived in New York, well he put me up for 3 months when I worked in the City General teaching hospital. So kitten, all ready for Thursday?”

“Yes – boy will I be glad to see off my last physiotherapy session with Miss Whiplash!”

William laughed

“Sonia’s tough, but she gets the job done!”

“Boy, I swear to god she still thinks she’s in the military!”

“Babe, I gotta go, Travers and Gupta are walking down the corridor okay?”

“Okay babe, good luck, let me know what’s happened”

“I will, bye pet”


************************


………………”Now that everybody has been introduced, I think we can get on with the proceedings………Quentin said.

Copies of everybody’s statements about what had happened on Christmas day were in front of everybody seated.

William made sure he sat the farthest away possible from Drusilla, and was pleased that the seating was arranged in a straight line facing Travers, Charles Heaton and a few other governors of the hospital. Sitting in the middle were two inspectors of the General Medical Council, upon whose say so could either suspend or end Doctor Drusilla Tate’s medical career.

Drusilla dressed in a dark blue coat-dress, with a bright red scarf tied at her throat. She’d tied her hair back and when statements were read out, she put on spectacles to read. By her side was her ‘adviser’ and lawyer, a man by the name of Ford Denton.


The incident with Drusilla being drunk on duty was read out first, with Dr Rae, and the two nurses, Jeff Collins and Sally Parfitt giving their account of what happened in the emergency room.


It was established that the patient died, but it was virtually 95% down to that her injuries were just too severe, and the amount of blood loss and the fact that it had taken over ninety minutes to get her from the crash site to the hospital, a fact that Drusilla’s adviser emphasised.

Travers looked at his watch and decided that it was a good time to break for coffee, it was 10.55am.

Two trolleys with coffee machines on with cups and saucers were wheeled in by the kitchen staff, Pearl managed to wave to William.

William went over and got himself a cup of coffee and took a cookie.

Travers joined him, as did Dr Gupta.

“It’s making it sound like she’s done nothing wrong!” Gupta said

“Well, she didn’t succeed in fixing the drip into the girls hand, but I know, you MUST emphasise on just how drunk she was Ashok, and how you had to section her” Travers said, stirring his coffee

William stood facing the two doctors, when Dr Ashok Gupta went wide-eyed and said,

“I don’t believe it, she’s making her way over here!”

“What?” William looked up, and saw that Drusilla was making a bee-line for him.

“What IS that woman up to now – I better……” Travers swiftly thrust his coffee cup and saucer into Dr Gupta’s hand and pushed between the pair of them to head her off. He stood in front of her and said,

“Miss Tate, I don’t think it would be a very good idea for you to start a scene in here, now would it?”

She was shaking, possibly through nerves, more likely through the DT’s - delirium tremens alcoholics get.

“It’s still Dr Tate, I haven’t been struck off yet, and I was only going to say hello, and no hard feelings to William”

“Well, that’s not really advisable, as I’m sure your adviser will tell you – over he- over here-“ Travers could see Ford Denton frantically looking around for her. He spotted Dr Travers waving and came rushing over

“Tell me you haven’t spoken to-“

“No, she didn’t get the chance, I saw what she was going to do and prevented it”

Drusilla’s face was thunderous

“Please, Miss Tate, I expressly told you NOT to talk to ANYBODY who had to make a statement!” She stood angrily at first, and then she allowed herself to be led away.

“………Getting tired of living out of a suitcase, so I’m seriously thinking of putting down some roots” Travers heard William say to Dr Gupta as he rejoined them

“She wanted to say hello, and no hard feelings, apparently” Quentin said, with a disbelieving shake of his head, taking his coffee back from Dr Gupta.

“Her problem is, she just doesn’t know when to give up – on ANYTHING”

“If we could get back to the proceedings…”

**

“………No, absolutely not – I did NOTHING to encourage her what so ever”

“You weren’t down to work Christmas morning, were you Dr Carling?”

“No, I’m not affiliated with the hospital, I was there because I’d operated on two sports stars at their insurance company’s requests, I don’t ‘work’ there as such”

“So why were you in the hospital at all?”

“I had been in Munich, got back the day or rather the evening before, it had been a very long day and I’d forgotten I’d left my shoes at the hospital – I’d been invited to friends for Christmas, I didn’t want to go in scruffy trainers”

“I see – you had no hopes of seeing Dr Tate?”

“None what so ever, in fact, I didn’t know she was working until she came into Travers office to speak to Dr Gupta”

“And then what happened?”

“Like I said in my statement, I finish lacing up my other shoe and go to leave – Dr Tate prevented me from leaving the office”
“How?”

“By standing slap bang in the middle of the doorway, I couldn’t push passed with out appearing mighty rude, she caught me by the arm and asked me to dinner…………………”

“Dr Rae…you say in your statement that Dr Carling looked ‘uncomfortable and like he wanted to get away from Dr Tate, is that right?”

“Yes…”

**

“You are a secretary from the ER admin, is that so?”

“Yes”

“Tell me, where did you eventually see Dr Tate when sent to fetch her after she failed to respond to her beeper?”

“Well sir, I’d knocked on her office door but got no answer, there was no lights on and the blind was down…………………”

**

“You’ll have to tell me in lay-mans terms ,what the toxicology report revealed?”

“It revealed that she’d drank the equivalent of ¾ of a bottle of spirits, and there were no drugs present, as she claimed she’d had an allergic or bad reaction to painkillers”

“Thankyou Dr Thompson Well, we won’t waste anybody else’s time, we uphold the hospital’s suspension of you and revoke your license to practice medicine in this country, your name will be put on a list available internationally and if you are caught practicing medicine, then it will automatically mean a custodial sentence for you – we also advise you to get some help as regards your addiction to alcohol – although we cannot enforce this. I’m sorry that you have lost your career Miss Tate, but you know that nobody else is to blame but you, you lost your career by your own hand” The two men from the medical council stood, shook hands with Charles Heaton and one or two other of the board of governors, and then left. Dru frowned


“Is that it – no chance of appeal – you CAN’T do this – you can’t do this to me!” Drusilla stood up and screamed

Her lawyer was having kittens, he could have died with embarrassment, and tried to calm her down

“It’s not fair – it’s NOT FAIR – What about HIM – huh – What about him, why isn’t HE suspended – huh, tell me that” Drusilla was trying to point out William

“Miss Tate…MISS TATE! Pull yourself together woman, stop showing yourself up!”

Before she could say anymore, Ford Denton hustled her out of the building. Outside on the parking lot Ford said,

“I TOLD you there was no way Dr Carling would be blamed, he was totally innocent, he couldn’t be held responsible for what YOU were thinking”

Drusilla’s eyes narrowed and she leaned in close to his face and hissed

“HE should be suspended, he’s banging one of his patients – THAT’S why he should be suspended!”

“What?”

“YOU heard me!”

“Have you any proof of this?”

“Yes! – Well no, but on Christmas Day, I saw the mother of the girl pick him up from the car park”

“Where?”

“Here, the parking lot as you lot call it”

“You saw the mother of one of his patients ‘pick him up?’ – What does-”

Dru got angry at the American guy who didn’t understand her British/ English terminology.

“For fuck’s sake! She gave him a lift, he got in her car and she drove away, do you understand now?”

“You saw Dr Carling get into the car of one of his patient’s mother and drive away, that’s it?”

“What more do you want, huh?”

“A lot more than that I can tell you, and I’m afraid if you say anything, it’s just going to look like sour grapes on your half”

“Fuck it – and FUCK YOU TO – I’m off!” Dru stomped to her car – boy could she do with a drink now more than ever………

Chapter 34

William went back to his room. He slipped off his jacket and undid his tie. There were a few things he needed to do, one was book his car in for a complete garage service, he’d decided to drive to Phoenix, and secondly, he thought about getting in touch with some Real Estate agents – he wanted a place of his own…his mobile rang.

“Hello?”

“William, it’s-“

“Quentin, what can I do for you?”

“Actually, it’s um, rather delicate, can we meet somewhere?”

“Not the hospital?”

“No”

“When?”

“ASAP”

William’s stomach muscles tightened

“Well I’ve got to nip into town, there’s a coffee bar by the park, The Espresso Pump, do you know it – the lunchtime rush should just about be over now?” William said looking at his watch

“That’s fine, I’ll see you there in an hour” the line went dead.

********


“I thought you’d better know. Ford Denton came up to me after the hearing – apparently Drusilla saw you getting into Mrs Summers car after your argument on Christmas day, she’s accused you of ‘seeing’ and that’s being polite, one of your patients”

William sighed and shook his head, just his bloody luck…

“Okay, yes she DID see me, did I spend Christmas with the two Summers women, what of it?”

“So it was THE Summers’ girl then”

William played with the froth on top of his cappuccino.

“Yes. Will anything come of it do you think? – I mean I sign off as her doctor on Thursday anyway”

“It would have been better if you’d have either told me, or signed off before, could make things a little…how shall I put it, sticky for you”

William gave a resigned shrug

“It’s not as if I have any burning desires to work at the Lacey again though Quentin, I’ve already told you that”

“Yes, I know, but if what you said to Dr Gupta was true”

William frowned

“What I said? – What was that then?”

“About putting down some roots – I’m sorry, I only heard half the conversation, were you talking about California or”

“Oh, um, well yeah, I meant California, but I don’t follow”

“Well, if it got out about you seeing one of your patients…still severely frowned upon William, could be misconstrued as taking advantage, it IS a strike-offable offence you know, or at least it could prevent you from opening a clinic here in California”

“Skiving off?” William felt a hand on his back

“Huh – JOYCE!”

William turned and smiled at Joyce’s grin,

“It’s Mrs Summers, isn’t it?” Quentin said, not adding the ‘what a co-incidence we were just talking about you bit…

“So what brings you in here?”

“They do the best pastrami on rye around, and when the boss is paying!” Joyce said, holding up a take-out bag.

“Late night?” William asked

“Looks like it could be getting that way, Mr Duggan doesn’t buy me lunch
everyday – plus we’ve just had a shipment of Egyptian artefacts in, they’ll need to be unpacked, listed and catalogued, and it won’t do itself!”

“Oh, you work at Duggan’s Gallery, do you?” Quentin asked

“For my sins, yes, mind you, you meet some VERY interesting people, hold on…I forgot to show you this William – I’ve been carrying it around in my bag now since before Christmas”

Joyce put the take out on the counter and fished the photograph of a younger William Carling out of her purse.

“There you go, remember that exhibition you were talking about in Amsterdam, three- sorry it’s four years ago now we’ve had another new year, Felix Von Hendrikson – well there’s you, I actually remember taking that photograph” Joyce said

William took it off her and grinned

“Oh god, will you just LOOK at my hair!”

“You can have that one Will, I‘ve got plenty more when you um…well, whenever, oh god, is that the time, I better fly, bye!”

Quentin looked steadily at William until he looked up and saw him smiling at him.

“What?” William asked

“Don’t you see – that”

“This? What about it?” William looked back at the photograph

“Well if you knew Joyce Summers three years ago, and it was her that invited you to stay at her house for Christmas, then there’s no case to answer!”

William opened his mouth to say, ‘but we weren’t acquainted then’, but decided against it…no good shooting himself in the foot now was there?

“No case…not even any ‘sticky bits’?” William asked

“No, not in the least bit tacky or sticky – or even any other adhesive quality you can think of”

“Good, well thanks for coming to me discreetly Quentin, I DO appreciate it”

“Not at all William. I doubt really if anything would have come of it, trying to find someone to take her seriously would be one thing, I mean I think everybody would have put it down to sour grapes…Well, I must go, keep in touch won’t you”

“Sure, bye Quentin”


Travers left the coffee bar and William looked again at the photo – how brilliant was Joyce’s timing? He smiled, slid the photo into his inside pocket and finished his coffee and left.


*******************


“I want to see the manager, NOW!”

“I’m sorry Dr Tate, but the manager is away at conference, I could book you in with –“

“Look, just get me SOMEBODY who can deal with this, I’ve NEVER been so humiliated in my life when I was told I’d got insufficient funds when I was shopping the other day!”

“Can I see that ma’am…if you’d like to take a seat” The banking assistant took the debit card off Drusilla and left.

Dru heaved a sigh and plonked herself down, boy was she in need of a drink………

“Dr Tate?”

“Yes?”

“If you’d like to come this way please…”

*****************



“And hold it…hold it…seven, eight, nine, ten – and relax!” Buffy gave a huge sigh and flopped back on the mat.

“There, wasn’t too bad, was it?” Sonia Richards, or ‘Miss Whiplash’ as Buffy had re-Christened her actually smiled at Buffy.

“That was our last session wasn’t it?”

“Yes” Buffy didn’t bother with the ‘thank god’, she hadn’t got the energy!

“When do you re-start your training schedule?” Buffy sat up and looked up at the physiotherapist.

“Actually, I don’t know. I’m not sure what’s happening with the academy to be truthful”

“Oh goodness, that’s right, your coach is that one that’s under scrutiny isn’t he?”

Buffy stood and draped her towel round her neck. She didn’t want to talk about Coach Angel so she held out her hand and said,

“Well thanks for all the agony!”

Sonia smiled and shook Buffy’s hand

“Remember what I told you, keep up with the massages after you exercise, that way you’ll keep the tendons supple”

“I will”

“And don’t worry about those little ‘fluttering’ type sensations, it’s all the little nerve ends knitting back together”

Buffy nodded and left

She went and showered and got dressed. Taking her mobile out of her bag, she missed a phone call from William, and phoned him back.

“Hi beautiful!”

“Hey gorgeous!” Buffy said grinning

“Busy?”

“Nope – got the rest of the day, no more Miss Whiplash, no more crutches – hey, she actually SMILED at me this afternoon, I reckon there is a human in there somewhere under all that military training!”

William chuckled and said

“Okay, now you know the park, want to meet me by the boating lake benches in say…half an hour?”

“Love to”

“’Kay then kitten, see you then – oh, have you eaten?”

“Not yet, no why?”

“Coz there’s a lovely little deli I could take you to if you can wait half an hour?”

“Sure – so I’ll see you in half an hour then”

“Bye kitten”

“Bye”

William smiled and tucked the information about a top floor apartment inside his jacket. Instead of taking a cab the ten blocks to the other side of town, he decided to walk it.


********************


“The error isn’t on our part, Dr Tate, we have been sending you letters, dated the third, the twelfth, the eighteenth and the twenty fifth, in fact another went out this morning for you to top up your current account from your savings account, that’s why it came up insufficient funds”

“Well why can’t YOU do it! It’s only a matter of moving money from that one to that one, what’s so hard about that?”

“Madam, Dr Tate, it’s YOUR money, we can ADVISE you, we can give you information and let you decide for yourself, what we can’t do is to pre-empt or take it upon ourselves to do such things unless you tell us”

Feeling a little sheepish, Drusilla calmed down, and then she said,

“I want some new cards please”

The under-manager frowned an asked,

“Why, these don’t expire until July 2008”

“I want to drop the doctor, and just have Drusilla Tate on them”

“I see”

“Not too much trouble is it?”

“None at all madam, I’ll get onto it right away, I’ll get some forms for you to fill in and – “

“Oh dear, look, is that the time, I um, can I take the forms away and send them to you, I’m late for another appointment?” She lied. The last thing Drusilla wanted to do was to write in public. She had the shakes so bad it would have been impossible for her to write with any legibility

After been brought the forms, Drusilla left. She opened her car door and got in. Throwing her bag on the passenger seat, she decided to go a different way home, there were several liquor stores on the way she planned and she wouldn’t have to keep relying on that bloody awful 7-11 with it’s nosy storekeeper for all her needs.

**************

Dru took a shopping cart and made her way straight to the booze, she put four litres of vodka, four litres of whiskey, two bottles of brandy and six two litre wine boxes of Chardonnay into it. Going to the freezer section she got herself half a dozen ready meals and then she got juice and mixers, bitter lemon, tonic and American dry ginger ale.

“Could you load it into my car please, I um, I have a bad arm”

“Certainly madam”

She was tempted to pull up half way home, but she resisted the temptation.

She made several trips up and down the stairs with the booze she’d bought, and once she’d bought up the last wine box, she slammed the front door and threw off her jacket, pulled the band out of her hair, took the scarf from around her neck and she put the stereo on loud, she opened the vodka, took a good long swig that made her catch her breath, and then another one. She fetched a tall glass, filled it half full of the spirit and then topped it up with orange juice.

Jumping Jack Flash by the Rolling Stones came on, and she suddenly jumped up singing and screeching at the top of her voice

“I was born, in a cross-fire hurricane!”
“Da-da dum...something la-la pouring rain-
But it’s alllllllllllllll righttttttttttttttt nnnnnnnowwwwwwwwww, in fact it’s a gas! It’s allllllllllllllllllllllrightttttttttttttt – Jumping Jack Flash is a gas, gas, gas!”

Dancing round, playing ‘air guitar’ she was on some sort of weird high – she felt wild and carefree, light-headed and when the song was over, she collapsed giggling on the sofa. She reached for her drink and downed half of it.

She swallowed and then a sob left her throat. She put her drink down and one sob followed another. She was bawling like a baby, feeling desolate and sorry for herself, she had no job, no savings to speak of, no references and no chance of ever getting a job in medicine again, well not legitimately, and her name was on a list that would identify her as struck off in any country of note – she’d be lucky if she could get a job inoculating little malnourished African babies…but then she couldn’t do that, the flies – eugh!

She’d been looking through her scrapbook and was still trying to remember some of the student’s names – there was this one guy, weird looking bloke he was, tall, thin with a shock of bright gingery red hair and a scruffy beard – he just upped and left half way through his finals – just never came back – nearly six years of study wasted. Everybody wondered what happened to him, then somebody about two years ago told her they’d seen him in South America, running an illegal abortion clinic……

She reached for her drink, and the phone rang. She couldn’t be bothered to stand up and answer it, so she let the answer machine do it for her.

“Hello Miss Tate, this is Ford Denton, I’ve made some enquiries about the information on Dr Carling you gave me, and I’m afraid nothing will come of it, Dr Travers assures me that Dr Carling and the mother of the patient, a Mrs Joyce Summers, the lady you say you saw Christmas morning giving him a lift is an old friend of his, they knew each other years ago – and there’s nothing in the rule book to say a doctor can’t stay at an old friends house – I’ll be in touch about my fee, goodbye”

Dru felt wretched. Wretched that she’d sunk so low as to saying what she’d said, wretched that nothing would come of it, wretched that HE had friends…somebody to talk to, to hold, to…love – it wasn’t much to ask was it? She’d had a few dates, doctors mostly, but they always wanted to talk shop. She’d been to singles bars, but as soon as they found out what she did, they backed off scared, too intellectual – a woman with brains going out with a road mender? So she’d tried NOT telling them, and found out they were morons, mostly beer-guzzling animals who’d say and do all the ‘right’ things until they’d found somebody dumb enough to take care of their little ‘Brads and Chelsea’s’ for them so they wouldn’t have to, someone who wash and cook and clean and have dinner on the table when they got in from work…

Downing her drink she quickly poured more, she wanted to blot it all out, she didn’t want to think it was too, too painful to think of anything right now.

Chapter 35


“THIS, is the yummiest sandwich I’ve EVER eaten!” Buffy savoured another bite of her smoked ham, fresh tomato, onion and cheddar melt ‘skyscraper’.

“What did I tell you, and their muffins are to die for, so are their cheesecakes! William added with a grin.

Buffy drank some orange juice and grinned

“So, is there anything in particular you wanted to do besides treat me to lunch?”

“Yes – I DO have an ulterior motive – I want you to see what you think of this apartment I’m thinking of renting”

Buffy was just about to take another bite when she stopped

“Really - you’re thinking of renting round here?”

“Why not?” William looked slightly worried

“No, nothing, I mean that’s fantastic!”

“You think? – It overlooks the top end of the park, it’s quiet, got automatic gates to the private parking lot, a concierge, it’s got a short lease left, 16 months, but that would suit me until I could find somewhere to set up a clinic”

“Oh wow!”

After ordering three pieces of tropical fruit cheesecake to take out, William and Buffy went to his car.

“How’s the foot – you okay to walk, it’s only a few yards”

“I’m fine, I could walk miles, feels like there’s never been a problem”

“Good, come on then”

***


“Dr William Carling, Victoria Monckton made the appointment for me” The automatic gates slowly opened and William drove into the parking bay.

The doorman held the door open for them

“There you go sir, top floor, all the amenities are still connected sir, and did Miss Monckton tell you she needs an answer by Friday afternoon at the latest?”

“Yes, she did, thankyou”

William slid open the gate lift door and he and Buffy went up to the third floor.

He unlocked the front door and they went inside. The first thing that struck Buffy was just how spacious it was – the kitchen was huge! The lounge had a large window that overlooked the trees and park. The room was, according to the plan they’d got was 15ft by 17ft.

“Lovely view!”

She followed William down the hall that led to the two bedrooms and the bathroom – all done out in beautiful aqua and gold coloured tiles, the bath was a corner spa/whirlpool type, and there was a separate shower cubicle.

“What do you think?”

“It’s lovely - I love the tiles!”

They walked into the large spacious back bedroom

“It’s really quiet, gets the sun in the afternoon” They wandered into the small room, the second bedroom

“I was thinking, I could make this room my study, have my computer set up here, so that keeps the lounge free for just watching TV and hanging! – so what do you think Kitten, do you like it?”

“Me, I love it, but it’s not up to me is it?”

“Well course – well, it matters to me if you like it, I’d like it if you’d come stay with me sometimes – if you wanted?”

“IF? – Are you crazy - that would be fantastic!” Buffy went up and hugged and kissed him.

“I ask only, well you haven’t said what you’ll be doing, skating wise” William rested his chin on the top of her head.

“Oh that…the nearer it comes, the more I want to push away”

“Are you frightened of injuring yourself?”

“No…it’s not that, and it’s nothing to do with my coach either, it’s…”

“Go on”

“Sure you want to listen?”

“I’m sure, go on, lets sit, there’s a bench on the balcony I noticed”

They went out onto the balcony and sat

William had his body twisted to face Buffy

“It’s like, well, I’ve had my little-girl fantasy, and I’m now in the last year of my teens, and I just keep thinking that well – I’ve had my fun, it’s about time I did something proper – got myself a real job. I’m sick of the dieting, no family life, and the pushing and pushing my body beyond the limits and each time, each competition gets harder – another new skater, another new move, quadruple jumps, back flips – and the worst of all? – The politics. How the Turks will always vote for the Cypriots, and the Germans vote for Austria, or how the French hate the Brits, who in turn hate them, and the only decent mark I’m gonna get is from the Brits, coz nobody else in the world likes us! And I get sick of the political correctness of it all, how a girl who’s from Belarus or Bosnia could skate like a three legged donkey but still get top marks. All the fun has gone out of it now, and I don’t have the dedication any more. People say to me, ‘you’re lucky, you’re so young and you’ve travelled the world’ yeah and seen what of it? The inside of this airport terminal or that building, I didn’t get time to see any of the actual places I’ve been to – it’s pack your case and back on the bus to the airport.”

“I actually know how you feel – about the travelling bit, that’s why I want to put down some roots, have a place I can call home – and I’m young for my profession, the youngest in fact, I get professors look down their noses at me like I’m some whipper-snapper who should know my place, and like you, I have to keep abreast of things, technology – you can bet, there will be some so-called revolutionary new operating technique shown on TV, that if I’m not expert at it then pfft- that’s it so much for my so-called reputation!”

Buffy grinned

“Right couple of old moaners aren’t we?” They both giggled and William nodded towards the lounge

“What do you think then, shall I take it? – Vicky, she’s one of the paediatricians at the Lacey, she will let me have it a third off the rent if I take it as it’s such a short lease, usually people want at least three years”

“Then I would say yes, definitely take it!”

“Yeah?”

“Absolutely!”

“Come on then, lets go give her the good news”


*******************


Buffy woke just as her mother put a mug of tea on the nightstand for her.

“There you go honey, I’ll probably be late again, can you order in take away or something?”

Buffy sat up and grinned

“No problem, William’s taking me out to dinner – to celebrate he’s officially no longer my doctor!”

Joyce grinned

“That’s nice dear – got any plans for today?”

“Furniture shopping – he’s taking this gorgeous apartment in town, the west side, overlooking the park, the top end”

“You mean Oakenfield (Joyce gave a whistle) very posh!”

Buffy went on enthusiastically to describe it to her mother, about the whirlpool bath and the view.

“I’ll have to come and give it the once-over!”

“Of course – I know he won’t mind”

The news came on and this spurred Joyce into action

“Golly look at the time, I must fly or I’ll never get through the traffic on the bridge – ring me later will you?”

“Sure, bye mom…”

“Oh, and there’s mail for you, looks important” Joyce’s disembodied voice called from the hall

“’Kay mom, bye!”

The front door shut and Buffy heard her mom’s SUV leave the drive.

*****************


Buffy read the letter again. Didn’t look like she’d got any option now did it? – She was being subpoenaed…

She dialled the number on the letter and asked to speak to a Lilah Traherne

“Miss Traherne isn’t available right now, can I take a message or ask what it’s about?”

“I’ve had this letter this morning, I’m being subpoenaed to appear in court for the Coach Angel O’ Connor trial”

“Oh right, are you Miss Buffy Summer?”

“Summers”

“Summers, right, sorry………could you come into the office sometime in the next two days?”

Buffy looked at the address and rolled her eyes. Annoyed at being forced into doing something she didn’t want to do, she said,

“Actually, I’m still recuperating, I was in a plane crash just before Christmas, and-“

“Oh my goodness yes – I remember that, how AWFUL for you…look um…can I just put you on hold for a few seconds…………

Buffy sat listening to a snippet of classical music, when the girls voice came back on the line

“Miss Traherne said she could come over to you at lunchtime today” Buffy said,

“That’s fine, although I hope it won’t take long, I have to see a doctor at three o’clock”

She wasn’t about to add it was her boyfriend doctor…

“One o’clock then Miss Summer, bye”

“Bye, and it’s Summer zzz, with an ‘s’ on the end”

“Right, sorry, bye”

************


“They expect you to go thirty mile round trip to-“

“No mom, she’s coming here lunchtime, I told her I’m recuperating I shall put a blanket over me – they want me, they can come to me”

“Right. What did Will say?”

“He said good for me – he’ll be here about three”

“Okay honey, don’t let this woman bully you into saying something you don’t want to”

“I won’t, bye”

*******************

Chapter 36


“Miss Buffy Summer?”

“Summers, yes, that’s me, come in”

Buffy sat back down on the sofa and covered her legs with a blanket

“Please, sit down”

The rather glamorous redhead sat, placing her brief case on the coffee table, and she opened it.

“You don’t mind –“

“Sure, carry on”

“Right, now…here we are” Closing the case Lilah Traherne was holding a sheaf of papers in her hand

“I’d just like to get a few details from you if I may…………

After establishing how old Buffy was, and when she joined the academy, Lilah said,

“I’d like you to tell me, in your own words, what you think of these allegations against Coach O’ Connor”

Buffy looked at the woman, looked at the blanket that covered her legs and picked a few invisible threads

“Miss Summer?”

“SUMMERS, can’t you get that right?”

“I’m sorry – I…are you finding this difficult?”

Buffy sighed and said,

“Truth is…I don’t know what to think”

Lilah frowned

“I’m sorry, I don’t follow, Mr O’ Connor said to me that you’d be willing to speak up on his behalf, I thought-“

“Well, I didn’t say I definitely would, quite frankly, I have enough on my plate as it is, I was in a serious plane crash last month!”

“I appreciate that Miss Summer-s but Coach led me to…okay, I’ll ask you this just once and we can see where to go from there.

“Did Coach Angel O’Connor ever touch you in an inappropriate manner?”

Buffy thought about it for a few seconds and then said,

“No.”

Lilah smiled and was just about to write something down, when Buffy added,

“But then, I never gave him the opportunity to”

Looking up sharply, her smile gone the lawyer said,

“What?”

“He didn’t touch me, but then I wouldn’t let him – I didn’t give him the chance to”

This statement threw Lilah, she hadn’t been expecting it at all.

“You mean you had your suspicions – did you ever see him touch other girls inappropriately?”

“No, well kinda – I’m not sure, it’s difficult”

“Well, which is it? Did you see him touch other girls, yes or no?”

“Not touch them in a bad way touch them, but sometimes…especially with the younger ones, he’d hug them or laugh with them and sit them on his lap for a little while, talking”

“I see – and this wasn’t normal?”

“He’s a coach, not their father – although he never tried to sit me on his lap”

“What made you say originally ‘You never gave him the opportunity’, was there an incident of some kind you can tell me about?”

“Well, not physical incident, I was at a competition, and there was another skater there, we were both watching the other skaters train”

“Who was this?”

“Faith – Faith Hamilton”

“Oh god, was she-“

“She wasn’t with ‘our’ academy any more, she’d moved on to Rupert Giles, we knew each other of course - the media had us as rivals, I suppose we were really but anyway, I was waiting my turn to go practice and she said

“You’re with Coach O’Connor aren’t you, and I say yes, and then she says that she was until…”

“Until?”

“Until she wised up – her words, not mine”

“Wised up – did you ask what she meant?”

“She said ever notice, if you get a cramp or a stiff neck, HE gets more out of it when he massages you than you do – you think it’s friendly, then the touching gets…and that’s all she said, she had to go”

“Did you say anything to her?”

“No, but it made me think”

“About?”

“Well, what she said – I remember once he worked out a cramp in my calf once, he just kinda rubbed it firmly and told me to keep it warm, but there was nothing in it you know, inappropriate about it. But then I got to thinking about how the younger ones, how he used to have them cluster around him…” Buffy shrugged

“And?”

“And I vowed never to give him the opportunity to try and touch me”

“Did he ever give you cause for concern – try and enter you room or the showers or anything like that?”

“He came to my room once, when I’d just had a shower, but I always used to lock my door. I never used the communal showers as I was a resident, and had a shower in my own room”

“Would he have known that you were in the shower?”

“Oh yes, it was after a practice session”

“What did he say?”

“He asked if he could have a word with me, and I told him I’d see him when I was dried and dressed”

“Did he leave?”

“Yes, the girl in the room next door arrived back from a competition, she came up in the elevator, she knocked too and I told her I was just getting dressed, I asked if the coach had gone she said yeah, he went down in the elevator”

Lilah Traherne was writing this down, when her mobile phone rang

She picked it up and studied the small screen for a few seconds and then she said,

“Excuse me, I must take this…” She stood and walked into the hallway. Buffy heard her say,

“Yes Rachel, what’s so urgent?…………Oh my god, I’m on my way, bye”

She ended the call and walked back into the lounge

“There’s been a…a development, and I must get back to the office immediately, I’m sorry to have troubled you while you were convalescing – no, don’t get up, I can see myself out, goodbye Miss Summer and I hope you feel better soon”

Lilah held out her hand and Buffy shook it, not bothering to stand, the woman despite being told STILL couldn’t even get her name right………


***************


“What, just like that, she upped and left after five minutes?”

“Uh huh, she said there had been a ‘development’ and she’d got to get back to the office immediately” Buffy said.

“Wonder what that was then…maybe there will be something on the news” Will said, sitting next to Buffy.

“Maybe. Can we talk about something else – furniture perhaps?”

Buffy turned to face William.

“Ah, about that, I was talking to Vicky this morning, you know, the woman whom I’m having the flat off, well, she said she has loads of stuff in storage, and can use what I like – the only thing I need to buy, is a decent bed”

“I suppose it’s more sensible really, as you’re only there for 16 months – when you move the stuff you’d bought might not be suitable for the new place”

“That’s EXACTLY what I was thinking – great minds, huh!” They grinned at one another.

The phone rang and Buffy got up to answer it.

“Hi honey, how’d things go?” Buffy re-iterated to Joyce how quickly Lilah Traherne came and left, etc.

“Oh dear – well, this is just to tell you not to worry, I’ll be very late tonight, Mr Duggan is taking me to supper, and the gods alone know what time we’ll finish all this cataloguing, so don’t wait up for me if you’re tired, I’ve got my front door keys”

“Kay mom, have a nice time, bye”

“Is William there?”

“Yes”

“Say hi to him for me, bye then honey”

“Bye mom”

Buffy put the phone down.

She was just walking back into the lounge, saying

‘Mom said to say hi’, when the phone rang again

“Little Miss Popular!” William said with a grin

“Hello – oh yes operator, you can put her through - hi Fred, how are you – Sorry about the operator, it’s to stop the journalists from trying to bother me - I meant to phone you yesterday, but…the news, what today? No, no I haven’t seen it why…………oh my god NO – where are you………uh huh…and what about Illyria?…………As well? I don’t believe it…………so are you just collecting your stuff then…yes, I know them – are you, oh Fred, that’s great, I’m really pleased for you…sure…of course, I let you know when I hear of anything, okay – I will, you too, bye!”

Buffy walked back into the lounge, she’d gone pale

“Babe, are you alright?”

William swiftly stood and went to her side

“I feel sick…that was Fred, my friend at the academy, the one I told you about, in the room next to mine?” William nodded and led her to the sofa so she could sit down

“Uh huh come on pet, come and sit down before you fall down…now, what’s happened?”

“She was there collecting her stuff, she’s found herself another coach – but she said the police were there at the academy, they have been for the last three days………they’ve found a laptop with child pornography on it, it’s coach O’Connor’s. They’ve arrested Illyria as well, but they let her go”.

Buffy gave a shudder

“The filthy, perverted, evil – oh god who’s that now” the phone had started ringing yet again…

“Do you want me to get it?” William asked

“No, it’s okay, we’ve got the operator to stop the journalists………”

“Hello………yes, you can put him through it’s my dad………hi dad………yes I’m fine…so I’ve just heard…no…NO dad, I SWEAR, he didn’t…honestly…I’m fine, really – William’s here with me, so I’m not alone………she’s got to work late – then she’s going out…DAD! I’m nineteen, I don’t need babysitting – besides, mom hardly ever goes out!……………Yeah, okay…yes…I just said I will! Okay, bye!” Buffy put the phone down and came back into the lounge

“Honestly, my father! Thinks I’m in danger from a pervert, where’s your mother, why isn’t she there with you? – God he’s got a nerve!”

The phone rang again

“Look pet, want to go out for a drive – save you having to keep answering the phone?”

“Would you mind – let me just see who this is………”

“Yes, you can put her through…Hi Willow…yes I did, just – well about ten minutes ago…”

Chapter 37


Buffy zipped up the case and looked around the room that had been her virtual home for more than five years.

She grabbed the canvas grip and the suitcase and left the room and made for the elevator.

Down in reception, people were milling about. William saw her and took the case and grip off her

“I’ll take these to the car”

“Thanks, I just want a quick word with Illyria, then-“

“You take your time love, I’ll wait in the car for you” William winked at her and Buffy went into the room just off reception.

“So…” Buffy began

“Have you got everything?” Illyria tried to sound bright, but Buffy saw that she was shaking and near to tears, as she was herself.

“Yes…Illyria, I’m SO sorry” the two women came together in an embrace that had them both blinking out tears.

“I really didn’t want to believe it…” Buffy said

“YOU didn’t? – He betrayed us all Buffy, and now…” Illyria shrugged and turned away from Buffy

“And now what – what will you do?”

“I return to mother Russia – I go home to Belarus, Friday. I have one way ticket – I will see my family – things change and it is not so bad in my country now – I maybe start a school – or join an established one, I don’t know” She gave Buffy a sad smile

“Have you got to be here for the trial?”

“They treat me like - how do you call it –bad witness? – My story of nothing they don’t need – how about you, huh?”

“No, I’m not needed either, he never…well you know”

“I don’t want to believe he ever…” Illyria shrugged again; tears and emotion stopped her from talking

“I know…it must be SO hard for you” Buffy looked at the tiny woman – she was shaking so much

“I hate him – I hate him for what he has done…” Illyria’s voice went with emotion and tears fell, she tapped her heart and continued,

“But I love him and don’t want to believe it the pain is too much – we were once going to get married – he ask and I said yes, but we never had the time…” She turned and looked at Buffy and continued

“So, what will you be doing – have you got another coach?”

“Me? – No I………” Buffy didn’t finish –she hadn’t exactly spoken these words out loud to anybody – she’d thought loads about it though

“I could give you some phone numbers of-“

“Illyria, no, stop – I …I’m giving up skating, I’m retiring” Buffy looked at her feet

“What – but how is this – you have makings of being world-best – is it your injury – I thought that it was completely recovered!”

Buffy turned Illyria to face her

“Illyria…it has, no…it’s me. It’s just too hard, and well…I want something different now, no more hard training, no more diets or fitness regimes, no more living out of a suitcase – I want some me time – to grow and to learn about myself – to take some family time – to be with my boyfriend”

“The doctor! He’s very good looking…although I’m sorry that you are giving up…I understand – sometimes I wanted to say to the young girls – go – go have a life”

“Miss Rubinskya, there’s somebody to see you” a young lady stood at the doorway

“I better go – good luck with what ever you decide Illyria”

“You too Buffy – I’m sorry in my heart it had to end this way”

Buffy gave her a sad smile and nodded, tears threatening again.

“Me too – bye and – well –break a leg” they hugged and Buffy left

**********************


It felt like an end of an era when Buffy walked outside to the car – in one way, she felt slightly scared, it was the first time ever she didn’t have her life mapped out, and in another way, it was totally exciting, the world was her oyster, hers for the taking – she could do what ever she wanted.

She got in the car without a word; William could see she was too full of emotion to talk, so, he started up and just drove, but he made for the city centre instead of straight home.

“Where are we…?” Buffy asked with a smile

“I thought either cheesecake or ice-cream might help, then a little retail therapy?” She leant over and gave him a kiss

“Perfect” William laced his fingers through hers and bought her hand up to his lips, kissing it softly.

“I...I told Illyria – I told her, I’m retiring – no more skating”

William arched a brow

“No? – Well pet, the worlds your oyster – you can do what you want!”

“Just what I was thinking…now, did you say something about ice-cream and shopping?”

******************


“How was she?”

“I felt so sorry for her mom, she’d been betrayed by him, it was probably worst for her, she – she said they were at one time going to be married, but they never found the time. She looked so tiny, crushed, I felt if I hugged her too hard she’d break”

“What is she going to do?”

“Go back to Russia. Well Belarus, start up a dance school or something”

“And what have YOU decided?”

“That’s what I want to talk to you about mom…I’m giving – given up – I’m not going to skate anymore, not competitively anyway, I’ve had enough”

Joyce nodded

“Well, I can’t say I’m not relieved, because I am – and now it’s 1.20am, I really must hit the hay, I’ve got to be up at 7.30am!” Joyce leaned forward and kissed her daughter on her forehead.

“Night honey”

“Night mom”


************************

William was sitting at the table, surrounded by papers, bank statements and his own scribblings. He threw his pen down, sat back, yawned and stretched his aching muscles.

“It’s no good, I’m NEVER going to be able to afford it”

Buffy stood, walked behind him and slipped her arms around his neck and nibbled his ear before kissing his cheek

“You’ll think of something…meanwhile, how about some fresh tea?”

“Love some…are you staying tonight?”

“Is that okay?” Buffy called from the kitchen. She filled the kettle

“Course it is kitten”

She stood leaning on the doorjamb waiting for the kettle to boil.

“I’ve had an idea”

William grinned

“Go on then, I’m open to all suggestions!”

“Sponsorship”

“Sponsorship?”

“Yes, sponsorship”

“You mean I go round all the doctors and nurses asking them to sponsor me $10 per operation minute or something like that?”

Buffy giggled

“No, silly!”

“Well what then, co THAT’LL take FOREVER to raise me $500,000!”

“Have you got a favourite scalpel or instrument you use?”

Still a little confused William nodded

“Well then, phone the company who makes it, and tell them you, the top surgeon in your field are willing to endorse their products for…2 million dollars!”

William’s face was a mixture of smiles, confusion and a grin

“I could just see me on TV – “use Baxter’s scalpels, made from the finest quality Sheffield steel – for all your household operations!”

They both giggled

“You wouldn’t be on TV! – It would be doctors literature – what’s that one you have sent from London?”

“The Lancet”

“That’s it, publications like that – it happens in everything these days sponsorship – where would sport be without it – I couldn’t have gone to half the competitions I did without sponsorship”

William turned in his seat, his mind racing

“You know, you might just have something there, the drugs companies try and bribe us all the time with little freebie things….pens and stuff – I once knew a guy in NY that got a golfing holiday and he didn’t have to pay for his car – that was a vitamin company!”

Buffy came in with two mugs of tea, and put them on the table. William pulled her onto his lap.

“Not just a very pretty face, are you?”

Buffy smiled and homed in for a kiss.

“Have you still got that appointment to see Quentin Travers tomorrow?”

William nodded

“Well okay then, you start writing down all the big company names you can think of that you use, drugs, instruments, equipment and while you’re out
I can make a start of ringing round and finding things out”

***************************



“Hi babe, it’s me all finished with Travers– shall I go to the deli and bring us home a treat?”

“Oooh yeah, can you get me…what’s that Italian one you have?”

“What, the smoked ham with sun-dried tomato and blue cheese dressing?”

“Yeah, that’s the one”

“Okay then kitten – I’ll be half an hour”

When William got back from his appointment with Travers at late lunchtime, Buffy had been busy from 9.30am phoning companies William had written down.

She’d been careful to only say ‘top surgeon in his field’ and not name him, and she’d got some startling results.

Setting out plates and glasses, she poured them both juice and got all her writing neatly done on a pad

William came in, washed his hands and they sat down

“So kitten, any joy”

“You listen to this! – Most of the drugs companies were like you say, just pens, writing pads, calendars, that sort of thing – but there are one or two who would be willing to come up with more for, as they put it, ‘the right person’, the scalpels and surgical instruments are not much of anything really – unless it was say YOU that came up with an idea for a new instrument, they’d back you and make proto types and that, but they don’t sponsor individuals…

Now, Zimmermans – have you heard of them?”

“Zimmermans, Zimmermans………I know the name, I can’t think – BEDS!”

“That’s it – IF you were willing to endorse their NEW ortho-beds, they’re fully automatic, can be moved by the patient or locked into place by the medical staff into the desired position, they would give you twenty to have – as long as they could advertise to the patients too – they do a home version”

“Twenty beds huh – that would be a tidy sum!”

“And you’ll NEVER guess who would PAY you ten million pounds to endorse their new product?”

William sat up

“Who?”

“The milk board – they are working on a yoghurt based product, possibly a desert and a drink, with extra calcium and vitamins for children to promote strong teeth and bones – it would be all natural, no chemicals”

William smiled

“I could go with that, as long as it was what it said – it is important for kids to get calcium for their teeth and bones…did they give you a number?”

“Yeah, got it here – oops! – There!” Buffy handed it to him, minus the splodge of blue cheese dressing………

After spending nearly an hour on the phone with the milk board, William came away grinning

“I’m going to go see them on Friday – this could be huge – this could pay for my own clinic! – Come with me – after all, I couldn’t be there without you!”

“Great!”