The phone stopped as soon as he flicked it open, but he was able to catch that it was Riley.
Riley. Finn. Riley fucking Finn.
“Who was it?” Buffy groaned into her pillow.
“It was your partner in crime.”
“Huh?”
“Riley Finn,” William all but spat at her.
That was when Buffy shot up. “What am I doing in bed with—“ she looked down at herself, the duster still on. “Oh. What am I doing here?”
“You don’t remember?”
She wrinkled her nose and lay down slowly. “I… drank like a fish. I came in here and found your duster and I kind of remember you being here…”
“What the hell is Riley calling you for? Didn’t you tell him you’d be away? Did he have some yoga emergency? He sprain a calf or something?”
“Well, seeing as how I didn’t talk to him, how am I supposed to know…oh…I did call him last night though.”
“What the bloody hell for?”
She looked at him, annoyed. “To find out how classes were going. What is the matter with you?”
“You’re asking me what’s wrong? You’re the one snooping in my room and wearing my duster.”
“You could have put me back in my bed,” she snapped.
“You were a mess. I wasn’t going to have you puking on me.”
Buffy crawled out of bed despite her head pounding and the room spinning. He could go from taking care of her, obviously, while she was drunk, to being an ornery old man for no reason. God, she just wished she could hate him. All she did though was hate herself for loving him. He, however, did not have to know that.
“I hate you!” she shouted at him. Apparently though, she could muster up some anger for him.
“I hate you more!” he shouted back and stomped out of the room to his shower.
She went the opposite way to her bedroom, and then the bathroom, where she promptly threw up.
“You want to what?” Faith said to Buffy, completely taken back.
“I want to file for custody of Ella. I don’t want to take her away from William, he can see her of course, but I want to work something out where I can take her to the States with me. I can’t be here anymore.”
“Isn’t taking her to the States making it so he can’t see her?”
“Well, I was hoping that we could work something out, like I have her for six months of the year, and he has her for the next six. Course, that would probably work better when she’s older, but he could come out to the States until she’s old enough to travel.”
“What about you coming here?”
“I am done with here.”
“Buffy, I really think you should talk to William about this.”
“We’ll talk when the papers are drawn.”
“Buffy, you know nothing happened with William and me last night, right?”
“Faith, your relationship with William is none of my business.”
“Buffy, there is no relationship with me and William. He’s a co-worker. He’s a friend at work and for work related functions, but we don’t spend time together or anything.”
“That’s fine, whatever; I just want to get this under way.”
“I will draw up some drafts for you to go over with him. In the meantime, though, on a personal note, I really think you should talk to him about this first. He’s going to be hurt when he reads some papers without hearing it from you first.”
Buffy’s eyes welled up in tears. “Well, then he’ll know how it feels to have his heart ripped out then, won’t he?”
“You didn’t talk to her.” Faith stood in the doorway of William’s office.
“Good morning to you Faith,” William replied, not looking up from his work.
After this mornings outburst with Buffy, all he wanted to do was get lost in is cases and forget all about one Buffy Summers. Someone obviously forgot to tell the rest of the world about that.
“I told you to go home and talk to her Will, what happened?” she came in and sat down at the desk.
“I don’t see what my personal life has to do with my professional life, so unless this is about work Faith, you can leave.”
“Ok, but before I go, let me tell you about a new case I am working on, a custody case.”
“You are in real estate Faith what the hell are you doing taking custody cases?” His head was starting to pound; it used to be that work was the place where he could relax. Not any more.
“Buffy came to see me this morning.” A punch to the stomach would have been a softer blow. “She wants custody of Ella so she can take her back to the States.”
It took a few moments for her words to sink in. Buffy was leaving. Moreover, she wanted to leave. Leave London; leave him.
“What did she say exactly?” his words came out more frantic than he had meant them to.
“Talk to her Will, I haven’t filed anything, and I won’t until you tell me to.”
“She hates me. God what am I going to do? All I want is to make her happy.” He felt sick to his stomach. All his life he had protected himself from emotional attachments for this very reason. They can be taken, snatched from you, in the blink of an eye.
“Then talk to her, you can sort it out. Tell her how you feel.”
“Pissed off is how I feel.”
“About her, you need to tell her.”
“Tell her what? That I love her? I don’t think so. She hates me. God, I screwed this one up good and proper haven’t I?” he held his head in his hands and he tried to sort out the conflicting emotions running through his body.
“She doesn’t hate you Will; you should have seen her this morning. She was distraught.”
“We had a fight this morning. I overreacted when her phone rang -- there was yelling and she told me she hates me.”
“Talk to her Will. Ever consider the idea that she’s hurting and lashed out like that to make you hurt too?”
“What if I give her what she wants? She can’t hate me then can she?” The idea of Buffy hating him, of being disgusted by the sight of him, was too much for him to bear. If she could at least tolerate him, maybe there would be some hope, some day. He could fix it one day. One day…one day he could fix it.
“You don’t have to do this, just….”
“Draw up the papers. She can have custody, but here in London, she can have run of the estate and I want visitation on the weekends. Also, set up an account in Ella’s name but make Buffy a signatory, whatever the usual weekly allowance is, triple it.” He buried himself back into his papers, willing his tears away. A few moments passed before he realized that Faith was still there.
“I don’t pay you to sit around and do nothing Faith, draw up the papers.”