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*Buffy slowly lifted her head to see whom she had run into. She gasped in surprise as she realized who it was*

"Hello . . . .Hank" She said coldly, teeth clenched and eyes full of disdain as she stared into the face of her absentee father. She quickly distanced herself from him, crossing her arms tightly across her chest and lifting her chin high, not wanting to show him any vulnerability whatsoever on her part. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"Hey, kiddo." He forced a tight smile on his face as he greeted her.

"Oh, please!" She snorted loudly, "Drop the doting father act. And don't you dare 'Kiddo' me!" When Hank tried to place a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, she hastily pushed it away. He hesitantly lowered his arm back at his side with a loud sigh.

"Is that any way to talk to your father?"

Buffy looked to the ceiling and let out a small, sardonic chuckle.

"No, it's not a way to talk to a father. But you, Hank, are not a father," She met his gaze defiantly, fire in her emerald eyes, "Because being one implies actual parenting. Not abandoning his family to go off canoodling with some twenty-something year old bimbo."

She was in a full blown rage now as she felt the need to vent to the very man who had caused her so much emotional turmoil, "God, since I was ten, I never even received more than an occasional birthday card from you. Gee, thanks so much, dad, it's good to know you care enough to throw a piece of carboard in the mail every other year. And you couldn't even take the time out of your oh-so-busy schedule to show up for my graduation." Tears stung the backs of her eyes, "You weren't even here to help me when mom was sick. You could've cared less."

She angrily wiped her tears away, frustrated with herself for showing him weakness. But in all honesty, she was beyond the point of caring what her father thought of her. She wanted nothing to do with the man, especially not after all he had put her and her mother through.

Though Buffy didn't really care to hear a word he had to say, she was slightly surprised by his lack of response, and even more surprised by the slightly remorseful look on his face. He looked down at the floor in silence, perhaps not so much out of shame for his treatment of Buffy as it was for feeling like a failure as a father in general. The man didn't take failure in anything very well.

After several long and highly uncomfortable moments of silence, Buffy spoke again.

"Why are you even here?" She demanded, her voice wavering slightly as she swallowed her tears.

Just then, her answer arrived.

"Hey, snookie bear, I've been looking all over for you!" An annoyingly high pitched voice whined.

Buffy turned to see the source of the voice from hell, her eyes instantly locking on a blonde girl who was probably a couple years older than Buffy at most, clinging to Hank's arm posessively. Trying hard not to gag at the pathetic sight, Buffy settled for rolling her eyes, her lips pursed together tightly. It was painfully obvious that Hank had come to the Bronze at the request of his much younger counterpart. Apparently being with younger girls made him feel like some sort of a stud. It was as though getting older was a disease in Hank's eyes. Buffy secretly wondered exactly how many shiny new sports convertables he'd bought for himself in the depth of his mid-life crisis.

Hank finally spoke up to fill the awkward silence. "This is, Harmony," He told Buffy, "My, uh" He cleared his throat, "Fiancee"

Buffy's eyes were drawn to the obnoxiously large diamond perched on Harmony's finger.

"Gee, daddy, I'm so happy for you." Buffy forced a sacharine smile on her face, her voice dripping with mock-sweetness.

Harmony eyed her up and down. "Oh, right, you must be Betty," She said nonchalantly, and Buffy didn't even bother wasting her breath to correct her, "I thought I remembered Hank mentioning something about a daughter."

"Good to know my father speaks so highly of me," She looked pointedly at Hank and narrowed her eyes. "So, how'd you meet this one? Not that I care"

"Well, she was my-"

"Let me guess, your secretary," Buffy interjected, and Hank's lack of response verified her assumption was correct. She shook her head in disgust. "How very original. You know, I really think you need a new routine. The secretary thing is getting old."

Hank was a lawyer at Wolfram and Hart, the biggest law firm this side of LA. The woman he had originally left her mother for had been one of his secretaries there, and at this point Buffy was sure he only hired attractive women at his office so he could ogle them.

Hank ignored her comment, attempting instead to make casual conversation. "So, is Billy back from England yet?"

"His name, is William," Buffy replied through gritted teeth, "And as a matter of fact, he is. Not that it's any of your business." She threw up her hands in defeat. "You know what? I can't do this."

She couldn't take it anymore. That Harmony bitch was glaring snidely at her, and she didn't want to have to deal with her father's scrutiny anymore, or worse, his complete indifference. She had too much else on her plate right now to bother with him too.

But as she turned to walk away, Hank called out to her.

"Buffy-"

"Don't!" She spun around, holding up a hand to silence him. "You can't possibly have anything to say that I'm willing to hear. You weren't even at mom's funeral. And there is no excuse in the world that could make up for that." Her voice dripped pure venom and anguish, "You have no idea the pain you caused me, and mom too, for that matter. You had every chance to prove yourself to me, and you didn't even try," She glared daggers at him, "I'm tired of waiting for you to come around when you've done nothing but prove time and time again that you could give a rat's ass about what happens to me."

Her chest was heaving now as she was finally telling him exactly what she'd been wanting to say for all those years, "As of this moment," She paused briefly, "You're dead to me."

With those words, she spun on her heal and stormed away from her father, not even so much as glancing back. Suddenly feeling dizzy from the myriad of emotions churning inside of her, the need to get outside for some fesh air became overwhelming. Buffy had only fainted once in her life, but she remembered the strong feeling of light headedness that preceded, which was exactly the feeling she had now. So for fear of passing out and a desperate need to blow off steam, Buffy pushed her way through the crowd and exited the Bronze through the back door, the lively thumping of the music and noisy chatter from inside still echoing in her throbbing head as she emerged into the cool night air.

Buffy closed her eyes and leaned up against the side of the building as she sucked in some deep, ragged breaths and tried to regain her composure. The manic thumping of her heart started to gradually return to normal, though her whole body was still shaking, mostly from nerves, but also from the slightly chilly breeze, though it felt good against her heated face. Her poor frazzled nerves couldn't take much more excitement, of that she was sure.

That had been the first time since her accident that she had even spoken to her father, let alone seen him. She'd given up trying to contact him a while ago, instinctively knowing her calls were rarely returned. Whenever she tried to reach him at work, one of his airheaded secretaries would answer and give her the run around, saying how terribly busy he was. She didn't even know where he was living now, other than it was somewhere between LA and Sunnydale.

Buffy let the tears flow freely, finally releasing all those years of resentment and frustration. She cried for how he abandoned her and her mother, for how he threw them away like yesterdays's newspaper. That was what hurt the most, the fact that he could simply cast them aside without so much as batting an eyelash the second some young bimbo looked in his direction. It was a bitter pill to swallow.

"Buffy!" Her head snapped up as she heard her name being called.

She turned to see William coming through the doorway, looking rather frantic and upset. When he laid eyes on her, his expression was at first one of pure relief, quickly turning into anger as he neared her shaking form.

"What the bleedin' hell are you doing out here all by yourself?!" She took a slight step back at his outburst, but he quickly grabbed her by the upper arms to halt her movements.

"Do you realize you've been gone-" He glanced at his watch, "40 minutes? 40 soddin' minutes, Buffy!" He scolded, "I was worried sick, convinced that Angel wanker dragged you off somewhere, and yet here you are late at night, all by yourself, in a dark alley, no less! Have you gone completely DAFT?!!" He was seething now, giving her a few firm shakes to illustrate his frustration with her.

She averted her eyes. "I'm - I'm sorry -" She mumbled weakly.

He released her and raked a shaky hand through his hair. "There's some ponce stalking you, who's threatened you, and you go wandering off in a dark alley where anyone could easily have their way with you? For God's sake, THINK!" He stopped pacing and clutched a hand over his chest. "Jesus Christ, Buffy, you almost gave me a heart attack!" His breathing was starting to return to normal now, and though his heart still pounded in his ears, his voice was slightly calmer.

"Don't ever do that to me again, understand?" Buffy simply nodded, still avoiding his gaze as she remained poised against the cold brick wall.

"I'm sorry I worried you," She responded softly.

Now that William had regained his composure, he immediately picked up on the sad tone in her voice. Her tears had gone unnoticed by him in the midst of his outrage, but he could tell now that she was clearly upset about something.

Cocking his head slightly to one side, he quickly approached her, covering the distance between them in one long stride. When she still wouldn't look at him, he frowned and tilted her chin upward so he could clearly see the tears pooling in her eyes, her lower lip trembling slightly. Any remaining anger vanished instantly upon seeing her tears.

Her pain was his pain. That's how he'd first come to know he had fallen in love with Buffy, when he realized he cared more for his girl's well being than he did his own.

"Sweetheart," His voice was gentle now, soothing, "What's wrong?" He brushed a tear away with his thumb.

"I, my-" Buffy sputtered, desperately trying to form a coherent sentence, "I ran into my father-" She practically spat the word as though it were distasteful.

Nothing more needed to be said. William knew full well about Buffy's history with her father, and despite having never met him, he still hated the man with a burning passion for the way he had neglected Buffy. Number one on his hit list for sure. Well, maybe tied with Angel for the first spot.

Will nodded in understanding and wrapped an arm around her trembling shoulders. "Let's get you home, pet."

"But what about Willow and Xander?"

He offered her a tiny smile. "Already left." He said, "Willow went off with Tara, and Xander left with that bird he was dancing with. Anya, I think was her name." As he spoke he placed his hand at the small of her back, urging her to start moving.

Once they reached the DeSoto and were settled inside, Buffy leaned her head against the window and gazed through it wistfully. Though she couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was amiss. Something had been said in her conversation with Hank that didn't sit quite right with her, though she couldn't put her finger on it.

Then, the light bulb suddenly went off in her head as it dawned on her.

She hadn't spoken to Hank since her accident, so how could he have possibly known William had been in England?

Without warning, a second, more poignant revelation hit her like a ton of bricks.

Angel.

She could remember it so clearly now.

When he'd inquired about her husband, she had told him William was in England, though neglected to say why. But Angel obviously had ways of obtaining information as he had known about William's return.

And she also recalled his briefcase, plain as day, embroidered with the letters WH which she found strange at the time as those obviously weren't his initials. He'd told her his father was the co-owner of a major law firm, though he never said where, but it all made such perfect sense now. She knew with gut certainty that the letters stood for Wolfram and Hart, the law firm where her father worked, which would mean Angel's father was Hank's boss.

Angel knew her father.






A/N: Still with me? Hmm, so there's another curveball, Angel and Hank both have ties to W&H. Sorry I know everyone was expecting an Angel confrontation, but please please keep the faith! It will all come soon enough, I promise. As I said before I don't want to drag it out too long, but I just needed to set everything up. And I also wanted Buffy's father to make an appearance, as Hank is a character I most definately love to hate.
Anyway, I hope you guys are still enjoying the story! Thanks so much to dreamgirl4eva, Bint, BuffyandSpikeForever, blondiebear, Caitie, and Kimber for your reviews. You guys are the best!
~Jess :)





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