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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks for all the great reviews guys. They really make my day. I hope you enjoy the new chapter. A big thanks to Megan for betaing it for me.
Chapter Ten

“I think I’m going to die,” Joyce groaned loudly as she sank into a kitchen chair.

Buffy laughed and heaved a dozen different shopping bags onto the table. “Don’t worry too much. I know the perfect cure for shopping overdose. One cup of tea coming up.”

Sighing dramatically, Joyce relaxed into her chair. “You are a godsend.”

“I know,” Buffy replied with mock arrogance.

As they drank their tea, Joyce practically beamed with delight over their day out together. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into that red dress.”

“Are you kidding? You look fantastic in that dress,” Buffy assured her. “Now you just have to insist that Dad take you out on the town so you can wear it.”

Joyce perked up at the idea. “It has been a long time since we went out.”

“See?” Buffy grinned sheepishly. “I know children are supposed to be grossed out by the thought of their parents being romantic. But I believed you guys were divorced for so long that I kind of get a kick out of it.”

Seeing a flash of disquiet cross Joyce’s face, Buffy could have kicked herself for mentioning anything to do with her time in Sunnydale. She’d been trying very hard not to bring it up lately because she knew it only upset her mother.

“Well, we’re not divorced and we have no plans to get divorced. We’re happy now so there’s nothing for you to worry about.”

Buffy frowned. “Wait a minute. What do you mean you’re happy now? Mom, was there a time when you weren’t happy?”

“Buffy, every couple has ups and downs, especially when you’ve been married for as long as your father and I have.”

Unconvinced, Buffy prodded a little further. “Were you and Dad going to get a divorce?”

For a long moment Joyce sat staring at her, as if deciding how she should respond. Then she took a sudden deep breathe, looking down at her empty tea cup. “We talked about it a long time ago. But we decided to try again, and here we are.”

“When?”

The reluctant look on Joyce’s face told Buffy everything she needed to know. “Oh God. It was my fault, wasn’t it?”

“No.” Joyce’s suddenly vehemence tone made Buffy jump. Her mother’s eyes held hers firmly as Joyce spoke. “It absolutely was not because of you. It was around the time you went to the hospital, yes. But what happened between your father and I was absolutely not your fault.”

“Then what–”

“I’d really rather not talk about it Buffy.” Her eyes were downcast; her voice quiet. “Some things are just…private.”

Buffy nodded, understanding her mother’s need to keep the details to herself, despite the face that she was desperate to know more.

“Besides,” Joyce said cheerily, as if shrugging off the sombre mood of the previous conversation. “As I said, we’re happy now. That’s all that matters, right?”

“Yeah. It is.” After a moment she added, “I’m really glad you’re still together.”

Joyce smiled. “So am I honey. So am I.”

**********

A week later, Buffy skipped down the stairs shortly after dinner, shrugging on a light jacket.

“Mom? Dad? I’m heading out for a while.”

Hank quickly rounded the corner. “Buffy, can’t you stay home tonight? You know how much your mother worries when you go out at night.”

Resisting the urge to groan in frustration, Buffy headed for the living room, her father following behind her.

“Mom? I’m just going to go to Freestyler’s with Will and some friends.”

Joyce frowned, concern etched deeply on her face. “Do you really have to go out again?”

Buffy was perplexed at the emphasis her mother put on the last word. “Mom, I haven’t left the house, except to go to work, since we went shopping last week.”

“I just don’t like you wandering around the streets at night. It’s not safe.”

Taking a deep breath, Buffy tried again. “I’m hardly wandering the streets. I’m going to have a few drinks with friends and then I’m coming home.”

“You’re drinking?” Hank’s voice suddenly sounded behind her. “Do you think that’s wise honey?”

“Right now?” She rounded on him in exasperation. “It’s sounding better and better all the time.”

Joyce jumped up from the couch. “Now Buffy, you’re too young–”

“Enough!” They both fell silent at her sudden shout. Seeing that she’d gotten their attention, she continued in a quieter voice. “I know that you’re just trying to protect me, but I’m not sixteen anymore. I’m a grown woman now and I’m capable of making my own decisions.”

Joyce’s concerned expression quickly turned to a glower. “Oh don’t pull that age argument on me. You may be twenty-two but you’ve been in that hospital since you were sixteen. You don’t have any experience–”

“Yes I do!” Buffy glared at her parents, her control snapping as she felt anger flood her body. “When I lived in Sunnydale, I was forced to make life and death decisions everyday. I’ve faced more messy ethical dilemmas and borne more responsibility than you could possibly imagine. Do you really think deciding whether to have an extra shot of vodka is going to stump me?”

She saw the apprehensive looks on their faces at her outburst but she didn’t care anymore. She wasn’t going to collapse under the first sign of pressure and it was time they realised that.

Her father stepped forward then, his hand held out in front of him in a protective manner, as if he was suddenly scared of what she might to. “Now Buffy honey. Please, you have to remember that none of that was real.”

Rolling her eyes, Buffy threw up her hands with a load groan. “I don’t care. It doesn’t matter to me that they didn’t ‘really happen’.” She drew quotation marks in the air to emphasis her last words. “Those experiences, real or not, are a part of who I am. No one can take them away from me. Not you, not the doctors, no one.”

The sound of knocking on the front door startled all three of them.

“That’ll be Will,” Buffy told them quietly. “I’m leaving now. I have my phone if you need me. I won’t be late.”

Turning away from them before they had a chance to reply, Buffy left the house.





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