“Got it!” Quickly closing the door behind him, Warren stopped with a frown, his eyes darting around the dark room. “Drusilla?”
“You are late.” Stepping out of the shadows, Drusilla cocked her head to the side. “Were you seen?”
“No! Of course not.” He let out a nervous laugh. “It’s cool. I knew what I was doing.”
She watched him closely for a moment, then a smile spread on her face. Letting out a squeal, she eagerly clapped her hands together. “Good puppy deserves a treat. Come here.”
“Really?” Warren obediently walked over to her, chuckling a little. “Was nothing, really. I just...” He stopped himself, giving her a hopeful look. “Just what exactly do you mean by ‘treat’?”
“Hm...” Drusilla ran her fingers through his hair. “Means you do what I say, and you will be rewarded.” She put her other hand on his cheek, leaning closer, like she was going to kiss him. Then she stopped, her lips mere inches away from his. “Tell me, sweet puppy, what do you want?”
“Seriously?” Warren could barely contain himself, but struggled to act casual. “Can I, um...?” He hesitated. “Can I see your boobs?”
Drusilla frowned, clearly taken aback. “My... boobs?” He nodded, eagerly. “You get to choose your reward, and you wish to see my breasts?”
“Um, yeah?“ Warren gulped. “Please?”
Giving him a strange look, Drusilla then smiled a little. “Very well.” She took his hand, calmly placing it over her left breast. “Do you like this?”
“Are you kidding?” He swallowed. “Wow, this is so cool!” A pause. “So, can I...?” He glanced at the buttons of her nightgown.
Instead of answering, Drusilla grabbed his wrist, a little too hard for Warren’s liking. “You wish to see, and so do I. Show me.”
Eyes widening in surprise and confusion, he looked down at his chest. “You wanna see my...?” He stopped as realization hit him. “Oh.” A somewhat embarrassed laugh escaped him. “Right. Of course.” Reaching into his pocket, he quickly pulled out a neatly folded paper and handed it to her. “Here.”
Practically ripping the paper out of his hand, she giggled in excitement. But as her eyes greedily ran over the text, her expression started to change. “No, no, no...” Drusilla glanced up, a hard look on her face. “This is all wrong!” She threw the paper away from her in disgust.
“What?” Warren stared at her. “Oh, no, I did what you asked. You wanted information about your husband. I hacked into the hospital computer system, and this is what I found. So, about my reward...”
“This is nothing!” Drusilla glared at him before furiously starting to pace back and forth, mumbling to herself; “Bad, bad, bad puppy...”
“Wait...” He hurried after her, carefully putting his hand on her arm. She spun around, and in a blink of an eye, her arm shot out towards his face, her long, sharp fingernails scratching his cheek hard enough to break the skin and draw blood. Warren hissed in pain and jumped back. “Hey!”
“I can not use this.” Her eyes were cold as ice. “This is not what I need.”
“But...” Warren hesitated for a moment, torn between the sudden urge of running, and his desire to please the woman in front of him. “I’m sorry; I guess I didn’t understand just what it was you wanted.” He paused, desperately searching his mind for something that would put him back in her good graces.
Reaching down to pick up the crumpled paper from the floor, he cleared his throat. “Look; your husband lives in a town called Sunnydale. Here’s the address. That’s something, right?” He held his breath, waiting for her reaction. She just looked at him, and he swallowed. “Except that you’re locked up here, so you can’t really... go anywhere. Oh, crap...”
“My Spike is coming to see me.” Drusilla’s anger seemed to fade a little as she walked over to the window, her fingers running slowly over the glass. “Won’t be long now. Tick-tock... Soon.” She was silent for a moment. Then she let out a soft moan and raised her arms above her head. “Puppy must leave. I need to prepare myself for the party.”
For a moment, Warren didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed. But he was wise enough not to object, and nodded in agreement. “That’s probably a good idea. Um, I‘ll see you later?” He waited for some kind of response, but Drusilla kept her back towards him, her eyes locked on the dark blind covering the window, and giggled at something only she could see.
Reaching for another slice of pizza, Billy kept shoving food into his mouth like he’d never eaten before, and Buffy found herself watching him in fascination. Unlike her, there was obviously nothing wrong with the boy’s appetite. She, on the other hand, had barely touched her food. All she could think of was Spike – how much she missed him, and why he had yet to call and let them know everything was okay.
It suddenly hit her that Billy had barely said two words since their pizzas had arrived, and she watched him again, a little more closely this time. Billy was the one who had suggested they would eat in front of the TV, but now she realized that he kept his eyes on his food, almost like hypnotized, completely ignoring what was happening on the screen.
Buffy got the strange feeling that he had wanted the TV to be on, just so they wouldn’t have to talk, something that – as far as she was concerned – was deeply out of character for him. She opened her mouth, then closed it again, suddenly not sure what to say. Unaware of her sudden concern, Billy slumped back into the couch and started tapping his fingers against the cushion.
She recognized the behavior; an almost desperate need to keep his hands busy with something – anything, having seen Spike act exactly the same way whenever he was nervous or worried. Although she found it cute, seeing how the two of them were so much alike without even realizing it, the thought of something seriously bothering Billy made her heart ache for him.
Just as she had finally decided to say something about it – although she still had no idea what – the phone rang, startling them both. Feeling the hope rise, she started to get up, but Billy beat her to it; jumping up from the couch and rushing to pick up the cordless phone from the table. She held her breath, praying it would be Spike.
“Hello? Hey, Dad.” Buffy could clearly see the change in Billy’s behavior; from sulky and restless to nonchalant in a blink of an eye. She frowned, wondering what that was about, but tried to focus on what he was saying. “No, everything’s fine. Eating pizza.” A pause. “Yeah, Buffy tried to cook. Don’t know what it was, but it looked even worse than your cottage pie.”
“Okay!” Buffy cleared her throat, holding out her hand while blushing furiously. “Billy, sweetie, can I please talk to your dad?”
The boy glanced at her for a moment, then turned his attention back to his father on the other end of the phone. “Are you in LA now? You seen Mum yet?”
Buffy had to struggle to keep from jumping up and down in frustration while Billy kept talking to Spike for a couple of minutes, and when he finally handed her the phone, she felt like hours had passed. She tried not to sound as eager as she felt when she brought the phone to her ear. “Spike?”
“Hey, pet.” For some reason, just hearing his voice made her want to cry, and she turned her back towards Billy. “How you doin’, luv? Miss you.”
“I miss you, too.” Buffy swallowed. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, m’fine.” She could hear some kind of noise in the background. “Arrived at the motel ‘bout ten minutes ago. Just gonna unpack, then I’m off.” A pause. “Call you again as soon as I get back, yeah? Just wanna get it over with.”
How badly she could relate to that feeling. She really, really wanted it to be over as well. “Okay. I’m glad you called. Can’t wait to talk to you some more.” She glanced at Billy, who had returned to the couch and what was left of his pizza. “I wish you were here. I don’t like being so far away from you.”
She heard him chuckle a little. “Feeling’s mutual, pet. Can’t wait to get back to you. Both of you.” He was quiet for a moment, clearly reluctant to hang up. “Better go, luv. Talk to you later.”
“All right. Bye, honey.” Buffy pouted a little as she hung up, then rolled her eyes at herself and went to sit down next to Billy. “So, your dad’s in LA. Everything’s just fine. He said he’ll call again later tonight.”
“I know.” Billy looked up from his food. “He’s off to see Mum.”
“Yeah.” Buffy bit her lip, hesitating for a moment. “You wanna talk about that?”
At first, he didn’t answer. Then he pushed away his plate with a grimace. “Had enough.”
“Me, too.” She gave him a patient look. “Look, Billy...”
“What?” He sighed. “My mum’s sick. Dad already told you. Makes her do bad things. That’s why she can’t live with us.”
“Yes, I know.” Buffy nodded. “I just thought maybe you wanted to tell me how you feel about it.”
The boy shrugged. “What’s to tell? I’m glad she’s locked up. That way she can’t hurt me again.”
Buffy closed her eyes for a moment, feeling a wave of sympathy well up inside her. “She did hurt you, didn’t she? Your dad told me what happened. I’m sorry.”
Billy shrugged again. “Was a long time ago. Doesn’t matter now.” He paused. “Dad said you thought he was hurting me.”
She was taken aback by his statement, having almost forgotten about that. It felt like a lifetime ago. “I was wrong. I’ve already apologized to your father for jumping to conclusions. He would never hurt you. I know that now.”
Billy nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face, and Buffy found herself wondering what was going on inside his head. She suspected he had a lot of suppressed emotions building up inside, and sooner or later, it would all have to come out, one way or the other. The question was, would he trust her enough by then to let her help him?
TBC