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Author's Chapter Notes:
I know, I know, I haven't posted in like forever. But the domain name on this site changed plus I've been without a laptop forever and I've had writer's block. Anyhow, I hope to placate you with another chapter so here is here - please read and review...you know the drill!
Chapter 3

Maggie Summers was laying face down on a massage table. Sven, a hot, young Swede was busy tending to her aching muscles with his magic hands. Soon she would have to start preparing for the evening’s festivities, but first she needed to make sure her daughter was prepared. Her husband had rung her earlier from his office to tell her of his deal with Riley and had suggested it might be better if she spoke to Elizabeth about the possibility of a future union with Wilkins’ stepson in order to prepare her for their meeting that night.

The door to her quarters opened and Joyce entered. When Maggie had given birth to Elizabeth, she was young and not particularly maternal so she had persuaded Hank to hire a nanny to look after the new baby and Joyce had been given the job. Even though Elizabeth was now sixteen, she was still very close to Joyce who had remained working for the family as Elizabeth’s personal attendant.

“What can I do for you, Mrs Summers?”

“Joyce, where’s my daughter. Can you find her for me? I need to speak with her.”

Joyce left the room and returned moments later with Elizabeth in tow.

“Mother, what is it?”

Waving Sven away, Maggie sat up, holding a towel to her body. “I have something that I wish to speak to you about. Joyce could you leave us, please?”

Seeing Joyce heading for the door, Maggie began to panic. She had spent little time alone with her daughter since she was born and was not quite sure how to speak to her. “Joyce, come back. I think it would be best if you were here for this too. After all you know my daughter well. She has grown up fast, hasn’t she?”

“Yes, she has. It’s hard to believe its been sixteen years. I remember the first day I came to work here and I held her in my arms – oh she was such a beautiful baby and she looked up at me with those wide green eyes and gurgled. Oh it was the cutest sound I ever heard. And when she started crawling and then walking, oh she was a little rascal, running away whenever I told her it was bath time, little blonde curls bouncing round her face…”

Joyce continued to digress on the subject of Elizabeth with memories of her childhood, until Maggie called a halt to her recall.

“I’m sorry, Mrs Summers. Its just she was the sweetest child I have ever looked after. No wonder I couldn’t ever find it in my heart to leave her. Oh, I can’t wait till she herself gets married and has children.”

“This is exactly what I wanted to talk to you about, Elizabeth. Let me ask you – how do you feel about marriage.”

Elizabeth, who actually preferred to be known as Buffy (though her parents would never call her anything but her given name) knew it was a possibility that she might soon meet somebody that she might eventually marry. She also knew that whoever she married would have to be approved of by her parents, more considering who they were than because at her current age of sixteen she could only marry with parental consent. But even though she had thought about it, she had not considered it a real possibility as yet.

She frowned a little. “I would like to get married one day, Mother.”

“Perhaps that one day will be sooner than you think, my dear. Plenty of girls marry at your age, you know and they are very happy to be wives and mothers. When I married your father I was only a little older than you are now. Anyway the thing is, there is a young man who has expressed a desire to marry you – Mayor Wilkins stepson, Riley Finn.”

“Oh Buffy,” Joyce said. “That’s wonderful news. I have heard he’s very handsome.”

“Oh he is,” Maggie agreed.

“So what do you think? He’s coming to the party tonight and your father is going to introduce him to you. Allow him to woo you, Elizabeth – he’ll make you a good husband.”

“And she’ll make him a good wife,” Joyce added.

“So tell me, my dear – is this something that you would be ok with?”

If both her mother and Joyce agreed that Riley Finn was good looking and a nice man then the prospect of having him pursue her with the eventual possibility of marriage was not a completely repulsive idea. But if she did not find him attractive there would be no way that she would consent to anything. She may be Hank Summers daughter but she had a mind of her own – something her parents frequently forgot.

“I know you wish this for me and if I like him then I’ll allow him to woo me.” Buffy agreed.

Just then the doors opened and Maggie’s hairstylist and make up artist entered. “Mrs Summers, the party begins in two hours and we must work our magic.”

As Buffy’s mother sacrificed herself to their will, Buffy headed for her quarters to start getting ready, with Joyce following her.


“So what we gonna say when we get there?” Will asked Xander as they drove up the hill towards the Summers mansion. “Or are we just gonna go in and hope they don’t pay us too much attention?”

Will still didn’t think what they were doing was a good idea, but Xander refused to be dissuaded and he’d even convinced Faith, Will’s best friend of the genius of his plan.

Faith worked for Mayor Wilkins and was his most trusted employee – pretty much his right hand girl. He had been close friends with her late parents and after their deaths he had become like a father to her. Even though she was Will’s friend, as an impartial citizen of Sunnydale, she was invited to the Summers ball and was impressed with Xander’s proposal for getting Will’s mind off of Cecily.

“There’s no need for us to say anything,” Xander replied. “Faith’s got an invitation and we’re her guests. So stop worrying and get ready to have some fun.”

“Fun?” Will raised his eyebrow and the tone in his voice made it obvious how unlikely he thought the prospect of having fun, especially given him current situation.

“Absolutely. There’s going to be a veritable bevy of beauties out tonight ready to dance with us and though I’d never cheat on Anya, there’s nothing wrong with looking, right?”

“I’m not in the mood for dancing.”

“Jeez, Will,” Faith spoke up. “Can’t you just try to enjoy yourself for one night?”

“It’s alright for you,” Will said. “You’ve never been in love. It makes me so depressed when I think that I’ll never get to hold her in my arms or kiss her beautiful lips.”

“And why I do you think I don’t do love. Because it turns people into a pathetic saps. We used to have so much fun hanging out together and now all you can talk about is Cecily. And the two of you aren’t even together. You’re wasting all your energy on a girl who’s probably going shopping for her nun’s habit tomorrow. Take a leaf out of my book – if you don’t let emotions get in the way, you can have great fun and great sex without getting hurt, so I suggest you forget about Cecily, find some hot chick at the party tonight and let her ride you at a gallop till your knees buckle.”

“I’m not about to use some poor girl just to get over Cecily – it’s not fair. Besides, the way I feel right now, I’d be useless to another woman. Love’s a bitch.” He muttered his last words under his breath, but Faith still heard him.

“For God’s sake, Will, you’ve got to pull yourself together. If you think love’s a bitch, then stick two fingers up at it.”

As the car pulled up to the gates, Faith handed her invitation to the guard and Will and Xander handed over their weapons. They drove into the grounds and parked and got out. As it was a fancy dress ball, Will and Xander had chosen outfits that would allow them to best disguise their identities. Will was dressed as a pirate, complete with bandana and eye patch, while Xander was dressed as a soldier, his face covered in brown-green greasepaint. Faith on the other hand was making the most of the fact that she didn’t need to hide anything and was dressed in a rather revealing French maid’s outfit that would have looked more at home in the bedroom.

“Come on,” Xander said, grabbing Will’s arm. “If we don’t hurry there won’t be any hot girls left to dance with – just the ugly ones or Harmony.”

“I told you I’m not in the mood for dancing.”

“You may be my best friend, Will but you’re starting to ruin my night,” Faith said. “Now quit being such a pussy or I’ll tell the guard who your father is.”

“Ok, fine,” Will conceded, tugging at his bandana. “But I still don’t think us going to this ball is very good idea.”

“Why not?” Faith asked.

“I just have a bad feeling about it.”

“No offence but you need to lighten up and stop worrying that something’s gonna go wrong,” Faith said. “I swear, all this melancholic love stuff has made you thoroughly macabre.”


Chapter End Notes:
Btw I haven't forgotten my other fics, I'm currently working on another chapter for 'Nice to Naughty' - I know, I know, about bloody time - as well as another chapter for 'Hiding From The Pain'.

Now you know what to do - love and kisses from Spike to you all



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