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thanks so much to everyone that has taken the time and trouble to leave a review. It means the world to me.
[A/N: I never expected the response I’ve gotten to this story. And how can I explain to anyone what it means to have that response? I never expected to write an all-human Spuffy fic, despite my liking some of the genre, but you can all blame Addie completely for this one. Its all her fault. She sort of pushed me into it after we had been discussing things and well, the result of that little confab is this story. These next couple of chapters are all for her. The title is from Jonathan Swift (Polite Conversation, dialogue iii, and the quotes are as attributed. The disclaimers are in full force and effect. I own nothing, but oh boy if I did. . . there’d be little statues to certain persons scattered all around.]

Eighth. There’s two words to that bargain.

The tie which links mother and child
is of such pure and immaculate strength
as to be never violated.
Washington Irving

A bargain is in its very essence a hostile transaction. . .
do not all men try to abate the price of all they buy?
I contend that a bargain even between brethren
is a declaration of war.
George Gordon Noel Byron, Letter, July 14, 1821



Normally she’d be hanging with Willow and Xander all day, since it was Saturday and nothing much was on her agenda. But she was home, feeling decidedly miserable. Buffy had woken up this morning, sicker than she’d ever been in her whole life. Every time she moved, her stomach threatened to spew itself all over everything, including herself, her head was pounding and she just felt awful.

She didn’t think this was just the baby although being pregnant certainly wasn’t helping. Buffy rolled over slowly trying to keep the room from spinning.

Oh baby do you have to? Can you just give Mommy a break, please? Mommy really doesn’t feel so good. Settling her face against her pillow, Buffy thought over how things had changed in the last two weeks. Everything had just gone crazy. Riley and she were a – well, she’d thought they were a solid couple and college wasn’t that far away. Now, no more Riley and college was going to be put off for a while, at least until baby was ready to go to school. It was weird but she wasn’t really upset about either of those things.

Guess it kinda doesn’t matter anymore. None of that is important. Okay Buffy, stop lying to yourself. Not having Riley hurts. He’d chased after her, begging her to go out with him but she’d resisted, not liking him nearly as much as he’d liked her. She’d finally given in, and he’d grown on her, little by little, but she’d never really been in love with him, not the way he’d said he loved her.

Riley had said it all the time, while Buffy had been more guarded, shielding her heart, afraid of letting him in. Looking at how things were going now, she’d done the right thing.

So smart with the not trusting of Riley. He’s not a good guy, baby. He doesn’t want anything to do with us.

After the incident in school, her mother had insisted on getting her an order of protection, using their size difference and his almost stalking of her as the reasons why she should be wary of of him. Buffy didn’t have the energy to fight with her mother over that. It was hard enough fighting with her over the baby.

And boy had they been fighting. Constantly. Over every little thing. Just last night had been – they’d done nothing but scream at each other, neither one of them backing down. At first, when Buffy had told her mother she was pregnant, Joyce had tried talking her into terminating the pregnancy. Buffy had, for once, reacted calmly, saying simply, “No Mom.”

Which had pretty much ended that discussion. Joyce’s latest campaign was for Buffy to give up the baby for adoption, pulling out all her arguments. Resting her hand on her still flat belly, Buffy thought about the conversation she’d had with Mr. Stevenson the other night. She had lots of questions for him about how his mother had managed it on her own and she wondered if he would be willing to tell her more.

Oh baby, if only Riley was more like him. I don’t think he would pretend we don’t exist. He would be trying to see us every day and he’d take care of us, I’m sure of it. Tears seeped from beneath her closed eyes and Buffy’s thoughts changed tact – who am I kidding? He’s not thinking of me the way I want him too. I bet he doesn’t even think of me at all. Except as one of his students and a dopey one – one that was stupid enough to get pregnant.

Curling up into a ball, Buffy was so wrapped up in her own misery she never even heard the doorbell.


**********************************************************************************

Joyce was in the kitchen, going over her shopping for the week, going over in her mind how to tell Buffy she was leaving for a nearly week long buying trip, when her attention was distracted by the doorbell. Sighing heavily, Joyce got up from her seat to answer the door, not wanting to know who was disturbing her Saturday afternoon.

She was not prepared for the sight that greeted her.


**********************************************************************************

When his father had presented his proposal to him, part of Riley had wanted to balk at the solution his parents had come up with, and another part of him wanted to just give in. Unfortunately, the part that wanted to protest was a very small part. Riley wanted to go to West Point more than he wanted anything else. From the time he was five years old, and his father got his gold stars, he wanted to go to West Point and be just like him. Nothing was going to stand in his way. So he’d thought about it for about five minutes and nodded his agreement.

His father had prepared himself, getting his speech and false sincerity in place for the coming confrontation, instructing Riley to do the same. He and the boy were going to present themselves at the Summers residence.

Which was where they were now, on the last Saturday in October, preparing to discuss things with Buffy’s mother.

The first thing Joyce did upon seeing them both standing at her front door, the elder Mr. Finn in full uniform and Riley in a suit, was slam it in their faces.

Riley looked at his father, then hit the doorbell again. Joyce was torn between answering it and ignoring it when Buffy appeared at the top of the steps, looking decidedly under the weather. “Mom? Who is it?”

Glancing up at her daughter, Joyce’s features softened. As much as she hated this situation, she did love her daughter and she hated seeing her like this. “Its Riley and his father.”

Buffy’s legs gave out underneath her and she fell hard against the top step. “Mom?”

Joyce nodded her head, her features settling while she ignored the knock at the door. “I know honey. Do you want me to send them away?”

“Might as well let them in Mom. I have a feeling Riley’s dad doesn’t take no for an answer.”

“All right then.” Joyce resolutely opened the door, just as the General was preparing to knock again.

Joyce waited for them to speak, her stance belligerent and protective. “Mrs. Summers? May my son and I come in to speak with you and your daughter?”

Giving them the full measure of her disdain, Joyce looked straight at the General, not intimidated by either his rank or his size. “Your son is not permitted any contact with my daughter. I don’t want him near her.”

“Mrs. Summers. I believe with the two of us in attendance, no harm will come to your daughter. In fact I can guarantee that my son will not move unless I give him permission. Do we have your consent to this meeting?”

“I’m not happy with this General.” Joyce saw nothing on either of their faces to inspire any amount of trust. “I don’t believe this is a good idea.”

“I still believe you and your daughter should hear us out.” The General was implacable, his body language and stance confident that Joyce would let him in the door, despite her obvious reluctance.

With a glance up the steps at Buffy to see what her reaction to this was, Joyce waited until she nodded her head in acceptance. Better off just getting this over and done, coz I so just wanna go back to bed. I feel like shit. Getting slowly to her feet, Buffy walked past the door to curl up on the couch, not waiting for the others to enter. She never even looked at Riley, deciding that looking at him might not help her upset stomach.

“Come in, gentlemen.” Joyce placed added sarcastic stress on the last word, not-so subtly letting them know how she felt about the pair of them.

The General strode into the house like he thought he owned it, which just aggravated an already on edge Joyce and Riley never once glanced at Buffy, which also set her teeth to grinding. Joyce realized that she was going to have to get a grip on her temper otherwise whatever they had to say was going to descend quickly into a shouting match, if not something worse.

“Buffy? How are you feeling?” Surprised by the tone in the General’s voice, Buffy looked up at him as he stood over her, sincerity on his face, but something else glittering in his eyes.

“Not so good.” She shifted, trying to get more comfortable, then reached for the throw blanket behind her. “Thank you for asking.”

Satisfied with her answer, he moved to take the chair opposite, while her mother, forestalling any attempt by Riley to sit anywhere near Buffy, sat beside Buffy on the couch. “What is it you want?”

Joyce was under no illusions that this was a social call, given the attire and the demeanor of the man sitting in her chair. And since she harbored no illusions, she wasn’t about to be cordial or act like a welcoming and gracious hostess, offering them drinks and making them welcome. Had Riley perhaps not acted the way he did, she might have done things differently, but Joyce was not in a forgiving mood.

“I’d like to offer your daughter a choice, Mrs. Summers.” The General’s tone was calm and even, his gaze never wavering from Buffy’s face.

“And what is that?” Joyce’s maternal instincts went into hyper-drive fearing that the next words out of the General’s mouth were going to be devastating to her only child.

“Riley is a candidate for West Point, in fact got his appointment letter just last week. I’m not sure if you are familiar with the standards of the Academies, but none of them allow the cadets or midshipmen to have family entanglements or dependents.”

Buffy shared a look with her mother, getting a sinking sick feeling in her belly about all of this. Her mind was screaming at her, and she placed a protective hand over her belly.

“While I respect your daughter’s right to chose what’s best for her, I’d like you to consider what might also be best for Riley. We are willing to shoulder any financial burden that might be incurred should your daughter decide to terminate the situation.”

Buffy’s face drained of all color, and her heart plummeted to her feet. Oh no. no. no. no. I am not. . . “I’m not going to have an abortion, whether you pay for it or not.”

Joyce, meanwhile, was sitting on the other end of the couch, stunned and completely speechless. She couldn’t believe that the General had just said what she thought he’d said.

Finding her voice, and after a long look at Buffy, Joyce got to her feet moving toward her front door. “General, I think you should leave now. This conversation is over.”

The General didn’t move to get up, instead, he leaned forward to where Buffy sat, tears in her eyes, one hand still curled protectively over her belly. Earnestly, he said, in a tone of voice designed to gain her confidence, “Having a baby at your age alone isn’t easy. Think of all the things you’ll miss, all the things you could be doing instead of staying home and taking care of a fatherless baby. You don’t want that. You’re young. You shouldn’t have to worry about anything but college and other boys. You have your whole life ahead of you. Don’t throw it away on this one situation.”

“My baby isn’t a ‘situation’ General. It’s a baby. Mine. I’m not going to kill it to make your son more comfortable.”

Before the General could speak again, Joyce stood between him and Buffy, blocking his view of her now openly crying daughter. “I said you should leave. I want you out of my house. Now.”

The General looked up into the set features of Joyce Summers and knew when he was defeated. Time to regroup and rethink the current strategy. Getting to his feet, Kevin Finn looked down once more at Buffy and with a sideways glance to ensure his son was following, left the house without another word.

Joyce was shaking, no outlet for her anger, and she very nearly threw something at the door when it closed behind the Finns; and it was only the sobs of her daughter that stopped her from doing so.


**********************************************************************************

It was supposed to be a date. He was supposed to be having fun, enjoying the company of a female adult, with the possibility of more sometime in the future. So what was he doing? Sitting in a restaurant, eating a decent meal and paying no attention to the woman on the opposite side of the table. He’d actually been doing okay, up until fifteen minutes ago, when some woman sat down two tables away and something about the way she walked reminded him of Buffy. Will found himself staring at the table, wishing it was her, so that he could go over and interrupt.

That hope was . . . really, Will, what the hell are you thinking? What the bloody hell are you thinking? Hoping that its Buffy? She’s a kid. Mentally placing his head in his hands and groaning at his own stupidity, William tried to refocus his attention on his date. It didn’t work.

Jenny was a nice woman, but really, she was much better suited to date his uncle. Oh. There you go. That’s an idea. Liking that idea the more he thought about it, Will smiled at the dark haired woman, leaned forward and said, “Jenny, I want you to meet someone.”

“Really?” She was intrigued.

“Yeah. His name’s Rupert Giles, but don’t let that put you off meeting him.” He smiled at her and Jenny sighed a bit. She wasn’t stupid, she knew the start of a brush off when she heard one.

“So why do you want me to meet Rupert Giles?”

“I think you’d get along with him.” Inhaling deeply, Will gathered his courage and told her at least a partial truth. “I’m sorry. My mind isn’t on you and that’s not fair. I like you, I do, but – its. . “

Jenny thought about letting him flounder about a bit more, but the truth was, while she found him attractive, and really what woman wouldn’t, the more they talked the less they had in common. So she let him off the hook. “I understand. Really, I do. Its okay.” Looking down at her half eaten dinner, she said wistfully, “I really hate to leave though, because this is really good.”

Relief clearly on his features, Will smiled broadly. “Tell you what, let’s stay and finish this while I tell you all about Rupes.”

Jenny looked up, a slight smile playing about her features. “Sounds good to me.”

Pressure off, Will relaxed back into his seat and proceeded to tell Jenny Calendar all about his uncle.



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