Chapter 5
Buffy took a deep breath before knocking on the door. She hoped this wasn’t a mistake, but there was no going back now.
The door swung open to reveal an attractive, older woman, the shock clearly written all over her face.
Buffy only smiled. “Hey, Mom,” she said, not knowing what else to do.
The woman continued to silently stare at her.
“Joyce, who’s at the door?”
She then seemed to break out of her trance. “It’s your daughter, Hank.”
He joined her in the doorway, also stunned to see Buffy standing there.
“Hi, Daddy. You haven’t aged a bit.” She figured complimenting him might make things a bit easier.
Hank smiled and gave her a hug. “It’s good to see you, princess.”
Buffy teared up at the name he used to call her when she was little. She pulled out of the embrace after a moment. “It’s good to see you, too. Both of you,” she claimed, looking at her mother. “Do you think I could come in?”
Hank nodded and moved out of the way. “Of course, we want to hear all about what you’ve been up to. Don’t we, Joyce?” he asked his wife.
She didn’t respond and just closed the door once Buffy was inside.
They all made their way into the living room and sat down.
Buffy was playing with the hem of her skirt to keep herself busy.
Hank decided to break the silence. “So, how has Boston been treating you? We didn’t know you were in town.”
“Boston was great for a while, but I eventually just got bored of it. I decided to move back here. I’ve been in town for about a month now, trying to keep a low profile.”
Joyce scoffed. “Of course, why would you care to let us know that you were in town? I’m surprised you managed to stop by at all.”
Buffy knew her mother would be the hardest to deal with, but she hoped that a lot would have changed in the last eight years.
“That doesn’t matter, Joyce. The only thing that matters is that she’s home now.”
Buffy gave her father a grateful smile, but Joyce wasn’t finished.
“Right, and where was she when her sister needed her the most? She couldn’t even care to show up to the funeral.”
Buffy really wished that her mother wouldn’t talk as if she wasn’t in the room. “I wanted to go to the funeral, Mom. I wanted to be there for both of you, but I didn’t know how. I was just scared, okay? I figured you didn’t want to see me. It would have been too hard for me to be there, knowing that Elizabeth was gone. I couldn’t handle it, but I know that’s no excuse. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there. I don’t know what else to say.”
Hank decided to change the subject before Joyce could answer negatively to that. “Well, what are your plans now that you decided to move back? Have you found work yet? I could get you a job with my company.”
Buffy shook her head. “That sounds great, but I’m already covered. I’m actually working for William now. You could imagine my surprise when I found out my sister was married and had a kid. I guess that’s just something neither of you cared to share with me the few times we talked on the phone.”
“It didn’t seem like you wanted to know what was going on in her life. You never called to talk with us and whenever we decided to call, you would make up some excuse of why you couldn’t talk. Your new life away from your family seemed to be the most important thing to you.”
Buffy glared at her mother, knowing that she probably wouldn’t be able to control her anger for much longer. “You know that’s something I would have wanted to know about. Why didn’t Elizabeth tell me? Never mind, I can guess why she didn’t. Well, I’m staying at William’s house now and helping him care for his daughter,” she said with a smile, pleased at the look of shock on her mother’s face.
Hank cleared his throat. “Yes, well, how is William doing? We sort of lost touch with him after the funeral. He’s been keeping to himself these days. We’ve been around to see Emma every now and then, but he hardly says anything to us. How is she?”
Buffy nodded. “They’re both doing fine. I’ll tell William that you asked about him. I think he’s doing a lot better than he was when we first met. I guess it just takes time.” She then stood up. “I should be getting back now. If you guys care to talk to me again, you know where I’ll be,” she finished and headed out of the house, not bothering to wait for a response.
* * * * *
Buffy got back to the house and found Spike in his office. The door was open, so she just let herself in.
He was looking at a photograph of Elizabeth and seemed to be lost in thought, but glanced up when he noticed her. “How did it go?”
She shrugged. “Pretty much as good as I expected it to. They still hold a grudge for me leaving. My mom especially seems to still be on my case. I doubt things will ever get better between us.”
“I’m sure it will, pet. Your mum loves you, she was just hurt.”
Buffy sighed. “Yeah, but that doesn’t make me feel any better. What picture is that?” she asked to change the subject.
Spike held it up for her to see. “This was our wedding photo.”
Buffy smiled and took the picture from him, gazing down at the happy look on her sister’s face.
“She was always the most beautiful woman in the world.”
Buffy set the picture down on his desk. “Well, since we have the same face, I’ll also take that as a compliment.”
He smiled. “You’re just as beautiful, Buffy, but in a different way. I can’t really explain it.”
She nodded. “It’s okay, I think I understand. I wish I could have been at the wedding. I missed out on so much, but I won’t make that mistake with Emma. She’s all that I have left of Lizzie. I plan on always being there for her, you’ll probably start to get sick of me.”
Spike laughed. “I highly doubt that, love. You don’t seem to realize the change you’ve made in me since you’ve been here. If you think I’m letting you go now, you’re sadly mistaken.”
Buffy’s breath caught in her throat at the look he was giving her. She immediately backed away from his desk. “I think I’m going to check on Emma now,” she said and hurried out of his office.
Spike watched her go and could tell that he made her nervous. She was so different from Elizabeth, but he was determined to find out all that he could about her.