Buffy exited her apartment the next day, planning to walk to the dry cleaners to pick up one of her dresses. She walked pretty much everywhere she went now, and unless someone else could drive her, she refused to get behind the wheel. She hadn't driven since the accident, partially because her injuries left her with poor peripheral vision, and also because the thought of being in full control of a vehicle again terrified her. The last time she had done that ended in tragedy.
When Buffy was halfway across the apartment parking lot, she halted, knitting her eyebrows together in confusion as she recognized the red car parked directly across the street as Clem's. William certainly hadn't mentioned that he would be stopping by for any reason, so why was he there?
When Clem realized Buffy had spotted him, he figured speeding away would only serve to make her more suspicious. Not to mention it would mean he'd have to leave her unguarded. So he exited his car, closing the door behind him and leaning against it in an attempt to act nonchalant. He gave Buffy a friendly wave and a smile, and when she reached him, he was pulled into a warm greeting hug.
"Clem!" She said cheerfully, "What are you doing here?"
Clem knew lying wouldn't get him anywhere, and would only lead to more questions. He was a pretty horrible liar, so he figured it was better to be up front with her. "Well, uh, sorry to be all secret agent, but William actually wanted me to stop by while he was gone to make sure everything was ok over here. You know, keep an eye on things . . " He trailed off.
Buffy nodded. She expected as much. "I see," She knew Clem was aware of her situation with Angel, and she trusted him as much as William did. She knew William wouldn't leave her in anything but good hands. He wanted to make sure that she stayed safe while he was away.
'But why didn't he just tell me Clem would be checking up on things,' She silently wondered. A nagging voice invaded her thoughts in response, 'Because there's something he didn't want you to find out. . . .'
Buffy tried to fend the thought away. They had promised each other there would be no more lies, no more secrets between them. William wouldn't lie to her, not now, not after everything they'd accomplished, how far they'd come in rebuilding their relationship . . .Would he? Then, as though answering her own question, something dawned on Buffy, and she instantly felt sick at the prospect that William had flat out lied to her face.
"Why aren't you with him?" She inquired.
"Er, Pardon?" Clem shifted uncomfortably.
"William," Buffy clarified, "Why aren't you with him at the seminar?"
"Seminar?" He asked, thoroughly puzzled until he suddenly remembered where William had told Buffy he was going. "Oh, right, seminar! Well, you see-"
But Buffy continued speaking as though she hadn't heard him, uncovering the pieces of the puzzle in her mind, "I mean, you both have the same job. You work in the same office, same department, and you're on the same team, so why weren't you sent to the seminar too?" It was really more of a rhetorical question, because as much as she didn't want to believe it, the growing knot in the pit of her stomach seemed to indicate the truth. William had lied to her.
Buffy glared at Clem, who looked like a deer caught in headlights. She raised an eyebrow and folded her arms tightly across her test, tapping her foot impatiently as she awaited his response. He cleared his throat, more in an effort to stall so he could have a moment to collect his thoughts. Then he began to speak, though not very convincingly.
"Oh, well, erm, you see - I'm not going because, well - because it's, uh . . .not my turn to go?" He finished in a lame attempt, unable to come up with any good excuse off the top of his head. Buffy clearly wasn't buying his story, either, nor was she amused.
"Clem, if you know something and you're keeping it from me, I swear . . ." Her hand unconsciously clenched into a fist at her side and she took a menacing step toward him.
"Whoa, hey now, no need to get violent!" He put up his hands in surrender.
"William, he, uh . . . well, it's really kind of a funny story, you see - he-"
"He what? Where did he go, Clem?"
Clem looked at her guiltily, then back down at his feet. "Wolfram and Hart" He choked out, wincing as he half expected her to fly at him for withholding that bit of information.
"What?!" Buffy yelled. "How could he be so stupid?! He lied to me - he lied right to my face and he went there all by himself! He doesn't even know what Angel is capable of . . .how could he do this to me? Why would he do this? What is he thinking?!" She turned to Clem again. "Clem, you have to take me there-"
Clem looked at her, shocked. "But William said-"
"I don't care what he said, Clem. I need to get there - I, I can't let anything happen to him and I need you to take me . . . . I can't drive. Not since - " She cut herself off, not able to finish that sentence. Her voice was small and tremulous, tears polling in her big green eyes as she met Clem's gaze. "Please, Clem," She pleaded, the words barely audible over the wavering in her voice.
Clem let out a sigh and gave her an awkward pat on the shoulder. "Oh, hey, no need to cry. Here, have a hanky - " He offered when he saw the tears streaming down her face, and reached into his pocket for the small package of kleenex, "I, uh, always carry some of these. Bad allergies." He explained as he handed her a tissue.
"Thank you" She graciously accepted and dabbed at her eyes, "So" She sniffled, "What's your answer? Will you take me there, Clem? Will you?" She paused, "You're my only hope." Her lower lip trembled slightly as she said this.
Clem hesitated, a frown marring his features as he made his decision, and nodded reluctantly. "Well, William's gonna kill me, but-" He looked over at her one last time, and, seeing her eyes wide with hope, he finally caved in, "I'll take you," He agreed.
"Oh, thank you Clem, thank you!" She threw her arms around his neck, excitedly giving him a big hug that nearly knocked Clem off his feet. He staggered back a few steps. "Oh, sorry," She said when she felt him nearly lose his balance, and took a step back.
"No problem," Clem responded, straightening himself up. "So shall we, uh, hit the road?"
Buffy nodded. "Let me just grab a few things from the apartment. I'll be right back"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Pookie, here's your coffee!" An all-too-perky Harmony chirped in her whiny voice. She made a big show of bending over Hank's desk and placing the coffee in front of him so he could have a look down her cleavage, which was in full view thanks to her shirt that was so tight it could practically be used to take her blood pressure. But when she didn't leave his office immediately, he looked up at her in irritation.
"Um, thanks Harm, you can go now," He brushed her off, giving a flippant wave of his hand and not even sparing her a second glance as he turned his eyes back to the papers on his desk.
"But-"
"I'm busy!" Hank snapped, still not even glancing in her direction.
Harmony stamped her heeled foot and pouted, flipping her blond hair over her shoulder as she left in a huff. The overpowering scent of something floral and much too sweet clung to the air in her wake.
"Well, at least we know she's good for one thing," Hank muttered under his breath with a shake of his head. Hearing another knock on his door, he groaned loudly, but didn't look up from his paperwork.
"Harm, I thought I said-"
"S'not Harm, mate."
Hank jerked his head toward the direction of the unexpected voice, slightly startled when he saw who it was, though he quickly recovered and adopted a neutral expression. Maintaining composure was something he had mastered as a top lawyer.
"Let's see, low class British accent, cocky attitude . . .you must be Billy"
"In the flesh," William responded tightly, closing the office door behind him before turning to approach Hank's desk.
Hank smirked at him. "And what exactly is it you want, Billy?"
"I wanna have a little chat with you, Hank. Have a few questions that need answering, so you're gonna meet me once you're through doing whatever it is you lawyers do during the day, and we're going to talk like civil adults. Yeah?" William received a loud snort in response. If there was one thing Hank hated, it was being dictated what to do.
"And what makes you think I'd agree to that?" He demanded, standing up from his chair and walking in front of his desk to stand directly in front of William, staring him down challengingly. They stood at roughly the same height, so he was about eye level with William, who didn't back down, but returned his glare full force, his face impassive. It was William's 'poker face,' as Buffy called it. And he was a damn good poker player.
"You don't really want me to make a scene in front of all your lawyer buddies and tarnish your precious reputation now, do you Hank?" Hank glanced over William's shoulder at his office door, behind which he knew were plenty of people who already hated working with Hank because of his condescending and egotistical attitude and would love any excuse to take him down a peg or two. His jaw clenched and he looked back to William, who watched him with his arms crossed tightly across his chest, a smirk on his face as he knew full well he had just win some little victory. Hank returned to his chair and sat back down before speaking again.
"Fine," He said coldly, "Meet me at-"
"No, mate," William interrupted, "Looks like I'm the one making the rules right now. We'll meet when and where I say. Understand?" If looks could kill, William would be six feet under cold ground at that very moment.
Hank didn't answer. He merely folded his arms over his chest, raised his chin and cocked an eyebrow as he awaited William's instructions. Though he remained expressionless, William knew he had gotten under his skin as his face was gradually turning ten shades of red, his right hand tightly clenched into a fist.
"What time are you finished with work?"
"6:00," Hank answered without missing a beat.
"Fine. Meet me at 7 then. Here." He handed Hank a small scrap of paper with the name of the hotel and room number where he was staying. "And don't be late."
With that, William was gone in a swish of black leather, pulling the door closed behind him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy tried for the tenth time to call William's cell phone, but again received no answer. "Dammit!" She shouted in frustration when she got his voicemail for the umpteenth time. She was growing more and more anxious by the second, not knowing what to expect as they continued the trek to LA.
"Why isn't he answering his phone? Did he turn it off or something? Why would he turn it off!? He needed to have it on in case anything came up, right? He told you to call him if anything went wrong, right?" Clem nodded in response, and let Buffy continue her rant, "So then he wouldn't have turned it off! So why the fuck can't I get through?! Maybe . . . maybe, he can't get a signal wherever he is? Or, better yet, maybe the bonehead forgot to charge the goddamn thing!" Buffy's chest was heaving now, and she felt almost on the brink of a panic attack, or nervous breakdown, whichever came first.
She glanced out the window again and then put her head in her hands, taking a few deep breaths.
‘Ok, Buffy, calm down. Giving yourself a heart attack won’t help anything. Breath in, and out. In, and out . . .’ She thought, trying to calm herself.
When she looked up again, she felt that ever-present knot in her stomach tightening yet again. They were still at least an hour away from LA and the day was growing late, which only served to increase Buffy's feeling of panic.
"I just don't know what to do anymore," She said in a hoarse, choked voice, and a tear rolled down her cheek. Clem glanced at her sympathetically.
"Hey, cheer up," He soothed, "I'm sure William's just fine."
Buffy shook her head. "That's just the problem. He seems to think he's invincible, but he's not. I don't think he realizes what he could be getting himself into.” Another tear followed the first, and her voice wavered. "What if something happens to him, and I can't find him?"
"You'll find him," Clem assured her.
Her gaze drifted back out the window as she stared at the road ahead.
"And then what?" She whispered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When William heard a knock on his door at 7:15, he turned off the TV and stood up slowly.
“And now the fun begins,” He muttered with a loud sigh as he approached the door. Peering through the peephole to verify that the person knocking was indeed Hank, he then undid the bottom lock and slid the chain before swinging the door open. William tisk-tisked and peered at his watch.
"Thought you lawyers were supposed to be anal about time. 15 minutes late, Hank. I was-"
William was instantly silenced when he heard a soft click and felt cold metal pressed against the side of his head. His eyes widened when he realized what it was, though he tried to control his fear. All William could do now was keep his cool and pray his plan would work as intended.
The small pistol quivered slightly in Hank's hand as he stepped into the room, pushing the weapon more forcibly into William’s temple as he did so and forcing him to back up. His eyes never left William's as he slammed the door shut behind him with his foot, still gripping the gun tightly.
"Now," He said coldly, "We play by my rules."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Buffy and Clem finally arrived at Wolfram and Hart and pulled into the parking lot, it was already almost 7:00, and most of the workers had gone home for the day. Though she knew her workaholic father might still be there as he usually put in a lot of overtime. She practically leapt from the car as they came to a rolling stop in front of the main building, assuring Clem she'd be right back and running with superhuman speed. Just as Buffy pushed through the double doors and rounded the first corner toward the elevators, she heard a noise behind her.
"Hmm, well what do we have here? A little red riding hood among all these wolves," The voice instantly made her skin crawl and the hair on the back of her neck stand straight up. She slowly turned around to face the bane of her existence. "Buffy, Buffy, Buffy. You should really know better than to barge in here like this."
"You know you're not supposed to come near me, Angel." She kept her distance, backing slightly as he advanced on her.
"What, that restraining order that says I can't come within a hundred feet of you? Honestly, Buffy, you really think that little piece of paper is going to protect you?" Buffy tried not to flinch or show him any fear, but deep down she knew he was right. The restraining order only helped when and if the right person saw Angel come near her, and it certainly couldn't help her now, nor protect her, as they were the only ones present in the cavernous corridor. "Besides," Angel continued, "Seems you're the one coming near me, since this is where I work and all."
Buffy snorted. "What makes you think I came here to see you?"
Angel was circling her now, slowly, like a shark moving in for the kill.
"Oh, right, come here to see old Hank then, have you?"
"So it's true. You do know each other, then."
"Let's just say Hank and I go way back," He answered cryptically.
"So, you and Hank are in cahoots to be, what, royal pains in my ass? Or, let me guess, Hank’s afraid your dad will cut him loose and ruin his precious reputation? Is that it? Because-"
She snapped her mouth shut when she heard his sinister chuckle, accompanied by a sardonic and amused grin. His eyes flashed coldly as he stared her down.
"Don't you get it, Buffy? It's not about you," He took another step towards her, " It was never about you."
Buffy’s confusion was fleeting as the meaning behind his words cut her like a knife. "William," She whispered, eyes wide with terror. Suddenly completely oblivious to Angel's presence, she poised to run but didn’t make it very far when she felt a strong hand grab her wrist, halting her movements.
"And just where do you think you're going?" Angel demanded, yanking her towards him and wrapping a beefy arm around her waist, his grip bruising. He pulled her flush against his body, and Buffy felt like she was suffocating. "I wasn't lying when I said I liked you, Buffy. You're quite the catch." He whispered in her ear, thoroughly nauseating Buffy. "But I can't let you leave here and get in the way of what needs to be done"
What needs to be done.
Buffy's entire body tensed as she realized the implication of those words. William was in danger. She could sense it now. She needed to find out where he was, and fast. But first, she needed to get away from Angel. And she couldn’t reach her cell phone at the moment, nor the mace in her pocket she always carried for protection, so neither of those would help her present situation. Buffy knew her only hope would be to catch Angel off guard and use his own strength against him, because she was no match for him physically. He towered over her, and must have outweighed her at least twice over, which in her present position was incredibly intimidating. So, knowing she would only have one shot to get away, Buffy forced herself to relax in his arms, because struggling against him would only make him tighten his already crushing hold on her. She waited to make her move, waited for the moment when he thought he had her under control and let his hold loosen just a little, and when that moment finally came, Buffy reacted instantly, moving with lighting speed.
With all her might, she simultaneously brought her heel down as hard as she could on his foot while twisting her body in his arms, using the added momentum to jab her bony elbow into his stomach and momentarily knock the wind out of him. The element of surprise proved to be her friend, and she successfully wriggled free of his grasp. She spun around and lashed out, thrusting the heel of her hand up into his nose with all her might, only slightly satisfied when it started gushing blood.
"You bitch!" He roared, clutching his nose with one hand and blindly reaching for her with the other, which earned him a sharp knee to the groin. He cried out in pain and doubled over, providing Buffy with ample time to make her escape, and Buffy silently thanked Miss Congeniality for teaching her to 'SING'.
‘Solar plexus, instep, nose, and groin, the key sensitive areas in self-defense. Thank you, Sandra Bullock!’ She thought as she made a beeline for the stairs, heading toward her father’s office on the third floor and holding her mace at the ready, just in case.
When Buffy reached the third floor, she pushed open the stairwell exit and ran through the nearly empty corridor, rounding the corner and passing through the double doors that lead to her father’s office. Her father had worked in the same office for years, and though Buffy had only been there once or twice, thankfully she had a mind like a steel trap and was able to remember his location in the building.
When she finally reached her destination and saw the light was turned off, door locked for the night, she let out a cry of frustration and pounded once on the door with her fist.
"Fuck" She mumbled under her breath, slumping against the closed door and lightly banging her head against it. Now what?
She didn’t know where William was, or her father for that matter, and suddenly she was back at square one. All she knew now was that all of this had something to do with William, or something related to William, and she had no idea what this all meant. Though there was an inkling that it didn’t directly involve William, because he would have told her as much. At least, she hoped he would have, and trusted him enough to know he would never keep something like that from her. Maybe it involved one of his parents - Jenny, or Rupert, maybe? Nothing seemed to make sense anymore, and Buffy once again felt the familiar panic taking over and tears stinging the back of her eyes as the reality of the situation hit her like a ton of bricks. More than ever, she felt helpless, powerless to do anything, and the thought scared her like nothing before.
Buffy’s heart leapt in her throat when she heard a muffled noise, straining her ears to try and figure out where it was coming from and realizing the women’s bathroom seemed to be the general direction. She approached cautiously and swung open the door, immediately recognizing that someone was crying, and followed the source of the noise to the stall in the far corner. Buffy took in a deep breath.
"Excuse me? Um, I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for my father. Hank Summers. And I was wondering if you could tell me where he is?" She heard some shuffling and rustling, and then the door creaked open, revealing none other than a tear stained and miserable looking Harmony. Her hair was disheveled, mascara running in black trails down her cheeks, and she held a wadded up tissue in her hands.
"Oh. It's Betty." She mumbled, barely glancing at Buffy as she shuffled past her to get a look at herself in the mirror.
"Um, Buffy, actually," Buffy corrected weakly, but she quickly collected her thoughts as there were much more urgent matters at hand.
"Do you know where my father is?" She repeated. Harmony shrugged, dabbing at the smudged mascara under her eyes.
"It's not like he actually tells me anything.” She turned on the faucet, wetting another tissue and using it to blot the smeared makeup, “You know, you'd think he'd actually pay more attention to me, since I’m his fiancée and all, but NO. Hank doesn't care. All he cares about is his stupid lawyer stuff, and his stupid . . .whatever other things lawyers do, and he doesn't care about me!” She through another soiled tissue into the garbage with a growl of frustration. “It's always, 'Go get me coffee, Harmony,' ‘Schedule my appointment, Harmony,’ ‘Give me a blow job then get out of my office, I’m busy, Harmony!' ARG!” She was in a full-blown rant now, and Buffy tried not to cringe at the nauseating visual Harmony’s words had given her, but tried instead to focus on the pressing matters at hand. She was growing impatient. Time was quickly running out, and at this point, any and every second could make a world of difference.
"Harmony-" She tried again, but Harmony spun to face her and cut her off.
"Today, he barely even looked at me. He left here in a huff, and he just pushed past me and acted like I was dirt!” Fresh tears streamed down her face and her voice practically raised three octaves as she grew more upset, “He told me to get lost, that he had actual important things to do. That - that creep! How dare he treat me like that!" She exclaimed, blowing her nose loudly through a torrent of tears. "I thought - I thought he loved me." She whispered dejectedly.
Surprising even herself, Buffy actually felt sorry for Harmony. Perhaps because she could sympathize as yet another victim on the list of women Hank had so callously wronged. She took a step towards her.
"Honestly Harmony, I don't think my father is capable of loving anyone. He couldn't love me, and I'm his daughter. The only person Hank loves is himself, and you deserve to find a guy who actually appreciates you, and doesn’t treat you like dirt." Harmony looked at her, nodding in agreement.
"You’re right. I didn’t want to see it before, but I do now. He never loved me, that – that loser, jerk, CREEP! OW!” She exclaimed, clutching at her foot as she had kicked the garbage can in her rage and stubbed her toe. “And look, now he made me ruin my Manolo’s! My favorite pair, too!” She gestured wildly at the scuffed shoe and screeched. “I don't know what I ever saw in him in the first place! I can so do better than him! Like, that really cute guy that works on the seventh floor! He’s way better looking and I doubt he has the same little problem Hank does-"
"That’s great, Harmony!” Buffy interrupted before she could finish that last sentence. She certainly didn’t want to know about Hank’s little “problems”, that’s for sure. Especially if they were the kind of problems she feared they were. “Go get your seventh floor, um, problem free guy,” Buffy encouraged, but right away had to get down to business again, "But first, please, Harmony, do you know if there's any way we can find out where Hank went?" Harmony frowned.
"Uh, well I know he said he had to meet someone, but that’s all. He never really tells me anything . . . .” Suddenly, her face lit up, “Oh, I know! We can search his office!”
Harmony was the only other person who had a key to Hank's office, so she opened the door and let Buffy enter first, flicking on the light as she went. Buffy went around to the other side of the desk and pulled open the top drawer, finding only a stapler, some pens and a paper clip. Thinking hard, her eyes were drawn to the wastebasket at the side of his desk. She crouched down to find it was relatively empty, except for a few crumpled papers, a broken pencil, some used tissues - ew - and . . .
"Bingo," Buffy muttered as she eyed the small scrap of paper. She instantly recognized William's handwriting, with the name of a hotel and room number scrawled across it. Knowing William, he’d told Hank to meet him there. Buffy got up off her knees and waved the sheet of paper triumphantly.
"I think I found it." She beamed. "Harmony, I can't thank you enough for doing this for me. You don't know how much this means." Buffy said with a look of gratitude.
"Um, yeah, sure." Harmony shrugged.
"And remember, you're definitely better off without him." Buffy reminded her as she slipped through the doorway and headed down the corridor.
When Buffy disappeared around the corner, Harmony studied the large engagement ring on her finger. 'Bet I can sell this for a lot of money,' she thought with a smirk, contemplating all the different ways she could get even. She laughed as she envisioned the look on Hank’s face when he realized all his precious disks were missing. Every disk contained separate information about each individual case he was working on, and Harmony knew he’d be completely lost with out them, so she slipped them out of the bottom drawer and tucked them discreetly under her shirt. Humming to herself triumphantly, she pulled the door closed and locked it behind her.
'Looks like I'll be having a little bonfire tonight.' Then, with a flourish, she was out the door.
Meanwhile, Buffy realized that she was relatively alone again on the third floor.
‘Shit, I’ll have to get past Angel again!’
Her cell phone couldn’t get a signal inside the building, so calling the police was out. Luckily, however, there were still a few security guards around, and one happened to be getting on the elevator right in front of her.
"Excuse me, sir?" She asked politely, trying to look as innocent and overwhelmed as possible, "I think someone may have been following me earlier, and I don't really feel safe, so can you please escort me to the door? It's late and I'm very scared," She tried to make herself sound very shaken up, which wasn’t hard considering the circumstances. The guard smiled at her kindly.
"Sure thing, miss. It's the end of my shift so I'm headed home anyway." Buffy smiled her thanks and stepped onto the elevator with him, unconsciously clutching the mace in her pocket for a sense of security. Lately, she almost didn’t know who she could trust.
When the elevator doors opened in the main lobby, Buffy let out a sigh of relief that Angel was nowhere to be seen. She thanked the guard once again as she passed safely out the main doors, running towards Clem’s car and quickly jumping in the passenger seat beside him. She read off the information on the slip of paper clutched in her hand, and without a word Clem took off, the sound of screeching tires piercing the evening air.
A/N I'm so sorry I haven't updated for awhile! I've been really busy with finals (which I'm finally done with - whew!) And I hope this chapter doesn't suck too much (I'm trying really hard to make it so I can tie all the loose ends of the story together in the next chapter) And I know it seems like William's acting really rash and stupid, which may be partially true, lol, but he does have a plan, which we find out next update when we get the 'big reveal'. (Muahaha) And wow, I just realized this is the first chapter that doesn’t have any spuffy interaction (withdrawal, anyone? Lol) But there will be more Spuffy to come, definitely.
Also, I wanted to keep things balanced in this chapter, which is why I kept going back and forth between Buffy and William. Because it seemed like everyone wanted a confrontation, but that there were some slightly different opinions on how it should play out. Sorry for not having a big Spike/Angel brawl, but I thought it more fitting that Buffy got a punch in on Angel, while William deals with big bad Hank. And just to warn there may be a lot of angst in the coming chapters, but please keep the faith – I promise things will work out :)
Anyway, on Saturday I'm going on a weeklong end-of-the-semester-celebration cruise (Yay!) So I won't be able to update while I’m gone, but I'll try my hardest to have the next chapter out before I leave
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks so much to everyone who has been following the story and reviewing! Thanks to; shelly, blondiebear, missy, PK, Caitie, Kimber, BuffyandSpikeForever, and Bint. I love love love the reviews! You guys are awesome! :)