Chapter 13
Outside the Taylor’s house
“Aren’t you going to say anything at all?” Hank asked Joyce, glancing at her as he drove towards the Taylor’s house. “Please, honey, try to understand. I thought I was doing the right thing…”
“The right thing? The right thing?” She exclaimed furious. “And didn’t you think these are the kind of things that you’re supposed to consult with your wife? Buffy wanted to come home to us and what did you do?”
Hank had the decency to look ashamed. “I know and I promise…”
“Hank, not now, please. I’m too worried for Buffy now to bother with anything else,” Joyce said, lowering her voice. “And just so we’re clear on this, I know it’s not just your fault. I’m at fault here, too. I’ve dedicated myself to be your wife, forgetting that I had a daughter that needed me; even after I had vowed that I’d never turned into my own mother, I did...” Her voice broke as fought back her tears. “The only thing I want you to promise me… is that we’re going to find our little girl and make things right for her… if she-if this boy is what makes her happy, you have to promise me we’ll help them.”
Hank pulled his car into the Taylor’s house driveway and stopped the engine, before answering. “How about we compromise? See what they have to tell us first…”
“No, Hank, we’re doing this now, before we meet them,” Joyce interrupted. “Do I have your word that you won’t get in the way of Buffy’s happiness?”
She glanced hopefully at him and he couldn’t do anything but agree. “Okay, okay, I promise. If this boy is what she wants or needs to be happy, I won’t get in the way. You have my word on that. Happy?”
“I knew you’d see things my way, darling,” Joyce said, leaning towards him to give him a quick peck on his lips and with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, she added, “And just so you know, if you try to break your promise or if you don’t behave as you should with Spike’s parents, I’ll personally tell each and every one of your business associates that your word doesn’t have any value anymore, we’ll see if they’ll like to keep associating with you then.”
“You wouldn’t…” he stammered, blanching at the idea, thinking Joyce certainly knew what buttons to push to make him stay in line.
“Oh, just try me, honey. Just try me,” she responded with a deceptively sweet smile, before she rang the door bell.
A handsome man of about forty years old opened the door. “Hi, may I ‘elp ya?”
“Good evening, I’m Joyce Summers and this is my husband, Hank. Are you Spike’s father?”
“Yes, I am. Please do come in. My wife ‘n I ‘ave been waiting for ya,” he said moving out of the way so Joyce and Hank could get inside.
After they got settled in the living room, Joyce decided to break the uncomfortable silence that had fallen upon them, so after taking a deep breath, she said, “Uh, I’m not sure how to say this, but, eh—”
“If what ya mean to say is that our son ran away with your daughter, we already know,” Josh interjected.
“Josh!” Anne said, a bit embarrassed by her husband’s straightforwardness.
“What? Do ya want us to keep tiptoein’ ‘round this all night lon’ or do ya want us to find the kids?” he replied, cocking an eyebrow at his wife.
“You know the answer to that; I just think you could be a little more…”
“No, don’t worry, Mrs. Taylor. I think it is better this way,” Joyce said, smiling encouragingly. “I think we want the same thing, to find our kids.”
“Ya see, Mrs. Summers ‘ere agrees with me.” Josh smirked. “But before we continue, I’m mighty curious, may I ask ‘ow did ya got our address ‘n phone number?”
“Hmmm, it seems Buffy, that’s my daughter’s name, by the way, and Spike, asked my daughter’s best friend to find it for them on the web and she gave it to them before they ran away from the boarding school my daughter was studying in,” Joyce explained, she glanced towards Hank, who had decided to stay quiet and not interfere so he wouldn’t get in his wife’s bad side. “So, you see, we think that they might contact you eventually and we wanted to be here when that happens.”
Josh and Anne shared a look and he took one of her hands in his before he replied, “I’m not sure if Spike’ll contact us or not, we ‘aven’t been in touch in a long time.”
“Oh, but surely he will or he wouldn’t had asked for the address,” Joyce said comfortingly. “May I ask how did you find out about them running away?”
“Oh, we contacted the Honor Council after ya called. My wife ‘as been in touch with them for a while now tryin’ to get our son out of the damned place. Ya see, there seem to be some irregularities in ‘is detention, nothin’ that ya really need to know, but let’s just say that the punishment didn’t fit the crime, especially since there wasn’t really a crime to punish in the first place. So, all in all, they’re tryin’ to ‘elp us ‘n that’s ‘ow we found out.”
* ring, ring *
“Excuse me, please,” Anne said before answering. “Hello? … Ms. Goodday, do you have more news for us? … Really? … Hmm, no, I’m not familiar with the area, but my husband is … 6:30 am? Yes, I’m pretty sure we can manage to be there at that time… Oh, before I forget, the Summers are here with us, can you arrange for transportation for them, too? … Oh, thank you, I’m sure they’ll appreciate it as much as we do… Yes, I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
Anne hung up the phone and turned towards Josh and the Summers, saying, “Well, it seems the Council at last is pulling through for us. Ms. Goodday says that they have a tentative location for the kids; we all have to be ready tomorrow at 6:30, a car will pick us up and then they’ll transport us there.”
“All of us?” Hank couldn’t stop asking.
“Yes, all of us, Mr. Summers. We all have a lot of interest in finding them, don’t we?” Anne smiled kindly.
“That we do, Mrs. Taylor,” Hank answered, surprising Joyce with his next comment and the sincerity she heard behind his words. “But please call me Hank; after all if our kids love each other as much as I’ve been told they do, I think we might be seeing a lot of each other from now on and it certainly would be easier for them if we forged some kind of friendship, don’t you think?”
“Of course, Hank, and please call us Anne and Josh,” Anne said.
After that and deciding that Hank and Joyce would stay at the Taylor’s house, since it just didn’t make sense that they went to a hotel when they had a furnished guest room, they spend most of the night talking about their kids and planning how they would try to right all the wrongs that they had made through the years with them.
* ~ * ~ *
Back at the cabin…
Spike woke up very early the next day and wrote Buffy a note explaining that there was something he needed to do and that he’d be back in time for them to have breakfast together. Then he took out the waterproof duffel bag he’d bought the day before and filled it with some of their clothes, toiletries, the money they still had left and some provisions. He also took a plastic bag containing some tools and before leaving he leaned down to kiss Buffy on the lips. She mewled softly and smiled in her sleep and that was almost enough to make Spike return to the makeshift bed with her, but he needed to do this now. He had the feeling they didn’t have much time left.
* ~ * ~ *
Snyder sneered evilly as his goons uncovered the DeSoto, he’d finally found the boy and this time there wouldn’t be anything that would save him.
tbc
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you so much to Luxferi, BuffyandSpikeForever, Seraiza, Amelia-Jane, Niamh and TammyAsh666 for the reviews, I'm so happy you're still enjoying the story. :) And a special thank you to Brat42 for betaing this chapter.