Fix me now I wish you would
Bring me back to life
Kiss me blind somebody should
From hollow into light ~ Fix Me Now, Garbage
Buffy was discovering how hard it was to maneuver a child in a bookstore. Brandon was as happy as a clam, babbling in his car seat, playing with the colorful dangly toys that swished on his lap every time she moved. It was a good thing he was happy, cause she wasn’t.
“Glad you’re happy, boy,” she told him, looking down at him. His eyes flickered to her and he smiled which then caused Buffy to giggle. Okay, he was just too darn adorable.
Thankfully, the line to the author to get her book signed was moving along at a fairly decent pace. Buffy figured she had about another half hour before her little boy started fussing for food.
Moving again, Buffy picked up the car seat and accidentally knocked the guy in front of her with it in his calf. He turned and she smiled apologetically. “Sorry. Tricky things these car seats.”
He smiled, his warm chocolate eyes traveling down to Brandon who looked up at him with a look that said it was the man’s fault for being in the way, not his mothers and certainly not his, and then returned to his toys, babbling away.
The guy chuckled. “He’s cute.”
Buffy laughed as she watched her son play. “Thank you.”
“How old is he?”
“He’ll be two months next week.”
Turning, the guy smiled and stuck out his hand. “Hi, I’m Riley.”
Really studying him now, Buffy noted how easy-going and natural he seemed. His looks were wholesome, and he was handsome with his sandy blond hair and gentle features. He was dressed comfortably in jeans and a cream pocket t-shirt; he was all sorts of casual and comfortable. Inviting. That was the word. He seemed inviting. The kind of person you could really talk to, and seeing how she was on the market for new friends…
Not that she didn’t harbor the hope that one day she could work things out with Faith and Doyle – and it wasn’t as if Doyle hadn’t tried to contact her the past week, he had. She’d kindly told him, however, that she was needed a break. Instead of trying to explain her side over and over and meet resistance at every turn, she figured her best course of action was to just take a break and let them both get their heads on straight. Really, it was either that, or she was going to have to kick some ass, and she was thinking the dating thing for them had pretty much flown out the window. The fact that he’d gone and told Faith about Cecily and her going to see William after she asked him not to, really made her blood boil. Especially when she figured out why he did it. He figured, she was sure, he wanted Faith on his side to gang up on her and bully her into feeling guilty about going to see William and sticking by him. In that way, he could be sure to keep her for himself.
This was what she was guessing anyway; it wasn’t as if she’d had confirmation from him on it. And was that something he would ever admit to? If there was one thing she’d learned about human behavior it was that more often than not, people did crappy things that they constantly made excuses for to justify it to themselves and to the other person that they had their best interest at heart and not their own personal gain. She would actually have a lot more respect for Doyle if he just told her that he’d tried to manipulate her in that situation to keep her for himself because he was afraid to lose her to William, than being crappy about it and make excuses that it was really all for her.
Of course, that would mean actually having to talk to him, and that wasn’t happening anytime soon. She wanted to keep a clear head when she spoke with him, not have it turn into one big sarcastic biting match. As for Faith…oh, Faith. Well, Faith was another matter altogether. Faith could never admit when she was wrong and even if the girl did realize she had been out of line; she wasn’t going to be admitting it anytime soon. That was fine. Faith could take all the time she needed to come out of her self-righteous kick and talk to her. Buffy sure wasn’t begging to talk with her at the moment.
Willow, bless her heart, was experiencing love and Buffy didn’t think it necessary to drag her into the drama that surrounded her. She didn’t need that crap. Finding true love with someone should be unhindered and fun, all the nasty things people could do to one another need not be part of it. It was all part of that purity that Buffy so desperately wanted to believe existed. Willow was her last hope.
So, it was with all that in mind, that Buffy stuck out her hand and hoped perhaps this went beyond idle chitchat in a bookstore. “I’m Elizabeth Summers, or, just Buffy for short.”
His eyes widened. “Buffy from BU?”
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Yeah?” Had Cecily hired someone to trail her now?
“I just got hired by Judy—I’m the new professor in the American Lit program.”
So, paranoia had set in courtesy of Cecily, and everyone around her immediately became suspect. It struck Buffy how much power that woman and that family had even when they weren’t doing anything.
“How did you hear about me?” Buffy asked, picking Brandon up again as the line moved.
Riley backed up. “Judy told me I should meet you. Said you were a year in at the school and that you were incredibly nice and brilliant and I should talk to you if I had any questions.”
Judy, Buffy was sure now, was her own personal guardian angel. She couldn’t help but beam at the compliment. “Wow.”
Riley grinned, “Small world isn’t it? Here you are.”
“Here I am, and here you are.” God, she sucked at this now. She steps out of the loop for a while and becomes inept at how to converse with others. Instead, dorky things come out of her mouth…. though, Riley was kind of dorky too. In a sweet and completely honest sort of way. She threw him a dazzling smile that she hoped would cover her social retardation and he grinned.
“Is your husband around?”
She faltered a bit. “Oh, I’m not…I’m not married.”
“Engaged?”
“No…” now she felt like a loser, like one of those women.
“It’s really none of my business, sorry. My wife Sam is right over there in the café.”
That threw Buffy for a minute. He was married? She looked down at his ring finger. No ring. She looked back up at him and must have had a questioning look on his face because he looked sheepish. “I was fixing the pipes at our house and lost the ring. It’s on order.”
God, that was just so…sweet. Perfect. Innocent. Honest. “Where is she?” Buffy asked, looking toward the café that was in sight.
Riley waved and a woman with light brown hair waved back, smiling. Buffy waved to her and the woman waved back. Talk about trust and talk about being okay with your husband chatting up another woman in line. God, Buffy wanted that. If she were with William and he chatted on some chick in line, would she be okay with it? Or wonder?
“Listen, do you mind if I pick your brain after this is done? Have a coffee with me, Sam and Junior?”
“Junior?”
”Oh, you probably can’t see him behind the partition, but he’s in his car seat with Sam.”
“How old?”
“One month yesterday.”
Buffy grinned, “I’d love to have coffee with you, Sam and Junior. Though I doubt Junior’s going to be drinking coffee…”
Riley blushed, “No, of course not. He definitely doesn’t need it.”
“Neither does Brandon.”
“I like that name.”
“Thanks!”
“So, tell me about Judy…”
The other two most important people in William’s life, aside from Buffy and Brandon were coming to see him and he paced the airport waiting area, waiting for them to come off the plane.
When people started filing out, William felt like a kid at Christmas. And then he saw them.
“Mom! Dad!” he waved wildly at them and nearly wept when they came toward him, the both of them engulfing him in a hug.
“God, I’m so glad you’re here,” he gasped, trying to keep his tears of relief at bay.
Anne Giles looked up at him and brushed some hair from face and then patted the side of his face, smiling up at him reassuringly. “Of course we’re here. I want to see my grandson.”
William smiled. “He’s beautiful mom, you’re going to love him.”
“Besides,” Rupert Giles said, patting his son on the back. “Did you really think we’d leave you to handle all this alone? You need us now, son.”
William nodded, the tears coming no matter what. “I do, I really do.”
“Come now dear,” Anne said, slinking her arm through William’s and leading him off to baggage claim whilst handing him a tissue she had, of course, in her pocket. It smelled of lipstick and gum. A scent he always associated with her. “Tell me about this Buffy.”