Chapter 19
Addie instantly pulled away to stare in shock at the appearance of her husband, not expecting him back so soon.
“Sweetheart, this isn’t what it looks like. She said some very cruel things to me; I just wanted to teach her to respect her elders.”
Buffy had tears in her eyes, silently begging her father to not believe the heinous woman.
Hank stepped further into the room, glaring daggers at his wife. “I know what I saw, Addie. I witnessed most of what you said to her. What gives you the right to treat my daughter like that? How long has this been going on under my roof?”
Addie took a moment to look ashamed, but it quickly turned to anger. “You think she’s so innocent, but she’s nothing but a brat. You see what she’s doing? She’s trying to tear us apart and you don’t even realize it.”
Hank ignored her and held his hand out to Buffy. “Come here, honey.”
She immediately moved to her father’s side, more tears falling from her eyes when he wrapped an arm around her.
“I’m so sorry that I never believed you,” he whispered.
Buffy nodded and remained silent, knowing that this was something he had to do.
Hank turned back to Addie, the love that he once felt for her now gone. “I can’t believe I let you fool me. Everything you said about me sending Buffy away for her own good was nothing but a lie, wasn’t it? I just wish it didn’t take me this long to figure out. I can’t believe I trusted you. This marriage is over, Addie. I don’t care where you go, but I want you out of this house. I want a divorce and then I don’t ever want to see you around my daughter again. I think you’ve caused enough trouble.”
Addie couldn’t believe that he had the nerve to kick her out. “You don’t know what you’re saying. That little bitch is trying to turn you against me!” she spat.
“You leave her out of this! We’re over, Addie. I gave up a good woman for you. I gave up everything, but it’s just not worth it anymore. I’ll be damned if I’m going to give up my daughter, too.”
She gave him a thunderous expression, then turned it on Buffy. Addie marched by them and headed to the front door, glaring at them one more time. “You will regret this, Hank. I’ll see to that,” she claimed and made her way out of the house, slamming the door behind her.
Buffy finally burst into tears once she was gone, clutching her father in the process.
He wrapped his arms around her and let her cry against his chest. “It’s okay now, sweetie. God, I’m so sorry for everything. I never realized just how bad she was. I should have listened to you. Can you ever forgive me?”
Buffy pulled away long enough to look at him. “I can try. You don’t know how hard it was to live with her, Daddy. She made me feel horrible. I wanted to kill myself again just to get away. If it wasn’t for Spike, I probably would have.”
Hank held her tighter, beyond relieved that she didn’t go through with it. “I will find a way to make this up to you. For all the pain that I caused you and Joyce, I’m so very sorry.”
Buffy could see how sincere he was and nodded, gracing him with a small smile. “It’s a start.”
* * * * *
“Spike, it’s okay.”
He shook his head, a look of pure hatred on his face. “Where is she now?”
Buffy shrugged. “I don’t know, probably staying at a hotel somewhere. I just hope we never have to see her again.”
Spike clenched his fists at his side. “If I ever see her anywhere near you again, I won’t be held responsible for what I do. I don’t care about the fact that it’s wrong to hit a woman. I’ll make an exception for her.”
She smiled. “I’ll let you. I would hardly call her a woman, anyway.”
Spike agreed and wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. “I’m just glad that you’re okay. It looks like your dad really came through.”
Buffy nodded. “Yeah, we actually had a conversation that lasted more than a minute. I never would have expected that.” She took a deep breath and gazed into his eyes. “There’s something you should know about my past. I haven’t been completely honest about what happened before I came here. I was too afraid to tell you, but I think I’m ready now.”
Spike grasped her hand. “You can tell me anything,” he said and lifted up her hand, placing a kiss on the knuckles. It was then that he took notice of something and slowly rolled her sleeve up a bit. The scars on her wrist took him by surprise as he stared at her. “Buffy?”
She pulled her hand away and knew that it was time, but laughter put her confession on hold.
“Well, isn’t this sweet? It’s just like Romeo and Juliet,” Megan stated.
Harmony took on a look of confusion. “Uh, didn’t they like totally kill themselves?”
Megan rolled her eyes. “Yes, Harm, what did we say about me doing the talking?”
Harmony nodded and remained silent after that.
Megan turned back to the couple, with a sinister grin on her face. “So, Buffy, why didn’t you tell us you spent time in a crazy house? That explains so much.”
Buffy’s eyes widened at what the blonde said, wondering how she could possibly know that.
Spike just looked puzzled. “What are you on about?”
“Oh, she didn’t tell you? Yeah, your precious girlfriend spent time in a mental institution. It’s in her school file, which I just happened to stumble across. I guess you really know how to pick them, Spike. First Drusilla and now this? I’m starting to really worry about your interest in whack jobs.”
Buffy threw her books down and stood up from where she was sitting with Spike by his locker. She officially had enough. “Okay, that does it. I like to think that I’ve dealt with enough of your crap to last me a lifetime. It amazes me that you would stoop so low as to read my file, but I don’t even care. You don’t know anything about me or my life. This obsession you seem to have with me is pretty pathetic. If I didn’t know any better, I would say that you were jealous.”
Megan scoffed. “Jealous? Of you? That’s beyond ridiculous. You’re a total freak, there’s nothing you have that I could possibly be jealous over.”
Buffy smiled. “That would be a lie. Come on, we all know how much you want Spike. You’ve been after him for years. It must really eat you up inside that I’m with him instead. If that’s not jealousy, I don’t know what is.”
“You stupid bitch!” she spat and was about to attack Buffy, but crashed into a hard body instead. Megan was too distracted to notice when Spike suddenly stood up.
“This ends here, you annoying bint. I thought I made myself perfectly clear about staying away from her. If anything you found out in that file gets out to the rest of the school, I’ll be sure to let everyone know about a certain summer that you spent in fat camp.”
Her eyes bulged. “You wouldn’t.”
He grinned. “Now, I thought we already went over this. I would do it in a heartbeat, including explaining to the principal about stealing the file. You know how much he just loves to expel. This is the last time we’re going to have this conversation. If I ever see you bothering her again, there will be hell to pay. You got that?”
Megan backed away. “Crystal clear,” she responded, then grabbed Harmony’s arm and pulled her in the other direction.
Spike turned back to Buffy once they were gone. “I guess we have a lot to talk about.”