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William woke when the earth shook.

Well, it turned out less the earth and more his father, shaking him awake. William squinted at the disturbance; Rupert seemed in good spirits and looked as if he wanted to share something important.

“Well, out with it,” William moaned tiredly.

“I have great news! I wanted to tell you tha-“ Rupert’s smile faded when he noticed William’s downcast expression. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s… it’s nothing. Tell me the good news.” He didn’t meet his eyes, which only caused the man to question him more.

“It’s not nothing. What is it William? Is it Buffy again?” Rupert tried to sound as concerned as possible, but was still not on the Buffy-support-wagon one hundred percent.

“She’s gone for a few days. I’m just going to miss her.” William sat up. His father felt sorry for him. Although he didn’t trust the girl as much as he claimed, Rupert saw how happy she made William. He recognized the changes in his son as mostly positive ones. Perhaps he would stick to his promise of support a bit better, for Rupert really did want to patch up the relationship with his son.

“I’m sorry William. That’s awful.” Rupert patted his shoulder gently. “Maybe this calls for a little man on man time, hmm?” William looked at him curiously.

“And do what?”

“Well, I don’t know… What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know…”

“Hmm… Hey! Why don’t you show me a movie in the attic? You said earlier you wanted to show me what you built up there. Then, maybe we could talk?” he asked hopefully. William’s face brightened significantly at the prospect of showing his precious room and nodded.

……………………


Buffy had been waiting for over an hour. The several-month old magazines held no interest after the first twenty minutes, especially when angry voices found their way into the waiting room. She could not make out exactly what her parents were saying, but she imagined it was along the lines of:

”She’s our daughter!”

“She’s your daughter!”

“Why do you want a divorce?”

“Why don’t you want a divorce? We don’t even spend time together! It’s not like we’re married.”

“What about my career? The family man concept? Does my life concern you at all?”

“What about my life? Do you care about my life either?”

Etc, etc, etc…

Buffy wasted more time coming up with variations of the same conversation. In her mind, they became wildly unpredictable and soap opera like.

She’s my baby!”

“Well, you wouldn’t have had her had you not slept with my brother!”

“You drove me to it with your career and other women!”

“You got pregnant and forced me to marry you!’

“I only wanted your money!” *sighs and feints.

Etc, etc, etc…

The girl laughed at the developments she came up with. In reality, it didn’t matter what they were fighting about. In the end, her mother would get what she wanted and her father would disappear forever. It was what she always expected; Buffy just did not expect it to happen so soon. She predicted her mother would find a lover and keep it that way until she got to college. Then, the rest would follow.

The door opened quietly and Joyce stepped out. Buffy was so lost in thought that she did not notice it until her mother kneeled in front of her.

“Buffy, honey? I want you to listen carefully, ok?” Buffy nodded suspiciously. “Alright. Your father and I think it’s best for you to spend the rest of the week here with him.”

“Why?” She didn’t want to sound as panicked as it came out, but she wanted to get back to William as soon as possible.

“Because your father wants to spend some time with you before we get a divorce.” Even though the thought that the great and mysterious Hank Summers wanted to spend time with her made her giddy, she could not understand why her mother looked so nervous.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

“Honey, just be on your best behavior, ok? Listen to what your Dad tells you and on Sunday you can fly back to Sunnydale.” Buffy looked mistrustful, but nodded anyway. Joyce nodded in return and stood up again. Placing her hand gently on Buffy’s back, she led her back to Hank’s office.

……………………

“William! Wow, this is… wow!” Rupert was awestruck from the unbelievable room his son designed and built. William beamed with pride, momentarily forgetting his melancholy. Sadly, it came back full force soon after. The emotional blow forced him to sit on one of the red couches and lean his head back.

“It’s pretty great,” he said in monotone. Rupert looked at him concernedly.

“William,” he sat on a nearby couch. “Tell me what’s wrong. Maybe I can help.”

“I already told you! She’s gone.”

“Yes but… she’ll be back. Won’t she?”

“Of course! But… I just…”

“You miss her.” Rupert analyzed his expression as William faced him again. His son looked so tired. The boy nodded and the man patted his shoulder. “She’ll be back soon, son. And you could call her on the phone, couldn’t you?” he said, trying to be optimistic.

“I could… but what if she’s busy? Or, I don’t know, in the middle of her parent’s divorce or something?”

“It’s possible. Well, do you want to hear my good news?” Rupert asked carefully. He didn’t want to ruin the good talk their were having, but he was itching to tell him. William did not move or say anything, but he spoke anyway. “You know the woman I’ve been seeing? She is coming over for dinner tomorrow night!” Rupert could barely contain his happy smile, but was hopeful that William would have a different reaction from the last time he mentioned her.

“Oh?” he said nonchalantly.

……………………

Buffy was sick of traveling. The thought continued to repeat in her mind as Hank’s Driver drove her back to his house. She didn’t understand what the point was in her staying at his house for the rest of the week. All she wanted to do was fly back to Sunnydale and into William’s arms. She imagined him smiling brilliantly at her surprising return. But that would have to wait until Sunday. For now she was stuck in the District of Columbia, which sounded much more foreign and much further away.

The house was bigger than she remembered from her two previous visits. Hank typically visited them in Sunnydale, if he visited at all. Strangely enough, Buffy was not mad at her father for his absenteeism. She wasn’t pleased with him, naturally, but she didn’t mind the way he treated them. He gave them everything they needed, was caring and adoring when he came to see her, sent her holiday cards and gifts whenever he could. But Buffy was not sure how to act during her stay, which would be the longest of her life and the first without her mother beside her.

Buffy was walked to her room, which turned out to be a plain white room with pale yellow linens and a wooden dresser. At first, she decided not to unpack due to the length of her stay, but then thought it rude and unpacked the few things she brought with her. She would have to go shopping or something along those lines because she only had two more outfits for the remainder of the week. And yet, the idea of shopping didn’t even strike a chord. She missed William too much.

A few hours of television later, Hank came home. He looked exhausted and lugged himself across the foyer to meet her. After hugging and kissing her, Hank shuffled to his room and took a nap. Buffy went back to the tv set.

A few hours after that, Buffy heard her stomach churn angrily with hunger. She didn’t want to wake her father, but she was not aware if certain foods were off limits or anything. Unluckily, when she finally built up the courage to wake him, he simply refused to open his eyes. Buffy tried shaking him, slapping his back and even went as far as trying to pull him off the bed entirely. But it was all to no avail.

She wasn’t sure what she ought to do. So, Buffy went back to her room and took a nap as well. It occurred to her that this would be an incredibly boring trip.

……………………

“You will meet her, won’t you?” Rupert asked hopefully.

“Do I have a choice?” William responded sharply.

“Of course you have a choice, but… I want you to approve. I want to support you and your relationship with Buffy, so I am. I can only hope that you will show me the same courtesy.” William thought about this and nodded.

“Alright, fine. Do I get to know her name?”

“Oh! Of course, it’s Olivia. She’s a teacher at Sunnydale High, actually.”

“What’s her last name?” Something seemed very familiar in that name.

“Wilcox. Her name is Olivia Wilcox and she’s lovely and wonderful and-“

“Oh dear lord!” William smacked his head into his hands.





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