Chapter 2
Buffy arrived in Sunnydale a couple of hours later. After getting situated at the hotel and calling her parents to let them know that she got there safely, she took a cab to the home of Joyce Summers. Buffy stared at the house for a moment, taking a deep breath before knocking on the door. An older, blonde woman appeared after a few seconds. She gave Buffy a kind smile.
“Can I help you?”
Buffy’s mouth was suddenly dry and just knew that she was looking at her birth mother. She cleared her throat and returned the smile. “Hi, my name’s Buffy Giles. I don’t mean to just show up like this, but I think I’m your daughter.” She cringed at just blurting it out like that, but didn’t know what else to say.
Joyce was stunned, but stepped back a little. “Would you like to come in?”
Buffy nodded and entered the house, surprised that the woman didn’t slam the door in her face.
They headed into the kitchen, where Joyce motioned for Buffy to take a seat at the table.
“Do you want something to eat or drink?”
Buffy shook her head. “That’s okay; I really just came here to talk. I don’t want anything from you, that’s not what this is about. I just want some explanations. I have a lot of questions, one being why you decided to put me up for adoption. I have the birth certificate if you need actual proof. I wouldn’t want you to think I’m some crazy person that would just make all of this up.”
Joyce took in a long breath and sat down across from her. “I don’t think that will be necessary. I trust you, and you look so much like me when I was your age,” she said with a small smile.
Buffy was glad to finally be getting somewhere, but was interrupted from asking anymore questions at the arrival of a small child being carried on the back of an older man.
“I think I’m getting too old for this,” he said, then noticed that his wife wasn’t alone.
“Hank, this is Buffy. We have a lot of talking to do. Could you watch the kids and make sure they all get cleaned up for dinner?”
He nodded and left the kitchen.
Buffy watched him go, then turned back to Joyce. “Is he my dad?”
Joyce shook her head. “I got married to Hank years after I met your father. I knew him in high school. He was the popular boy that all the girls were crazy for, so you could imagine my surprise when he chose me. We were together for three months when I realized that I was pregnant. I was only sixteen-years-old. Mark was a year older than me and had a lot of plans for when he graduated high school, plans that definitely didn’t involve a baby. He wasn’t very happy when I told him and wanted me to get rid of you, but I couldn’t do that. I was so young and not ready for any of the responsibility of having a child, but I decided to keep you. My parents were furious and talked about disowning me if I went through with it, so I decided that adoption would be the best choice. I knew that I wouldn’t have been able to take care of you, but I had hope that you would be given to a nice family. That couple I met was delightful, how did things turn out with them?”
Buffy wiped her eyes, not realizing that she was crying. “They’re great, I couldn’t have asked for better parents.”
Joyce smiled in relief. “That’s very good to hear. I took one look at you after you were born and knew that giving you up would be the hardest decision of my life, but I didn’t have any other options back then. Your father left me months before that, not wanting anything to do with me or a baby. I haven’t heard from him since. It was years later that I met and fell in love with Hank. He’s a wonderful man and he gave me three, beautiful children. He was supportive through every one of my pregnancies and was always there when I delivered.”
Buffy nodded and looked away from Joyce’s gaze. She didn’t realize that her birth mother would have had a whole new family, one that she wasn’t a part of. She had her own family now, but it still hurt to think about. She glanced back up at her, needing to know one more thing. “Does he know about me?”
“I told him that I had another child in our first year together. I didn’t want any secrets between us. It was hard for him at first, but he was supportive of my decision. Would you like to be introduced to the rest of the family? I have two girls and a boy; they would be your brother and sisters.”
Buffy suddenly perked up at the thought of having siblings. She didn’t think about that before. “I would like that.”
Joyce smiled and stood up.
Buffy did the same, then followed her into the living room. She saw three children watching TV with their father, who looked up once they walked in.
Joyce cleared her throat to get all of their attention. “This is Buffy, she’s my daughter.” She noticed their eyes widen, but continued before anyone could say anything. “We talked about Mommy having another child before any of you were born. Well, this is her. She decided to visit for a little while.”
Buffy felt nervous under their stares.
Joyce finished the introductions by pointing to each one of them. “This is Hank, my husband. This is my oldest, Connor, Dawn, and my youngest, Samantha.”
Buffy gave a small smile and wave. “It’s nice to meet all of you.”
The little girl was the first one to speak up. “I like to be called Sam. Mommy doesn’t like it, but Samantha is too girly,” she said with distaste.
Hank ruffled his daughter’s hair. “You are a girl, pumpkin.”
She scrunched up her nose. “That’s not what Jimmy says in class. He says I look like a boy, but he’s a big poop head.”
“That Jimmy is a bad seed. I wouldn’t listen to anything he has to say.”
Buffy smiled at the banter between father and daughter. It reminded her of times when she was younger and would always have lame arguments with her dad.
Samantha turned a smile on her mother. “Can I go play at Uncle Spike’s house? He has the new Playstation and said we could come over whenever we like.”
Joyce nodded. “That’s fine, but I don’t want you going alone.”
Sam gave her sister the puppy dog eyes, which she knew no one could resist.
Dawn rolled her eyes in response. “Fine, I’ll take her.” She got off of the couch and grabbed her little sister’s hand, then left the house.
Connor headed up to his room, without saying anything.
Hank made his way out to the backyard after giving Buffy a smile, which made her feel a little more at ease.
“Spike is the next door neighbor. He’s not really their uncle, but the kids love to call him that. He’s practically a member of the family,” Joyce explained.
Buffy nodded and reached into her purse. “I don’t know if you’re interested, but I brought my photo album with me. It has a lot of pictures of me growing up. I figured maybe you would want to see them.”
Joyce smiled and took the album from her. “That would mean a lot to me.”
Buffy smiled in return, pleased that everything seemed to be going well.