Chapter 17
“Maybe she’s tired…”
“I doubt it, I never heard her cry this much… something must be wrong.”
Soon they heard hurried footsteps coming from the hallway. It was Buffy, she had heard Prue’s wails from downstairs where she had left the monitor, forgetting to turn it off. “Hey, is everything okay?” She asked as she saw William and Darla pacing the room.
“She can’t seem to stop crying… I don’t know what to do,” William told her as he continued bouncing the crying infant in his arms.
“Let me see,” Buffy walked over to William, she asked for Prue but he hesitantly gave her as if he didn’t want to be away from her. But finally he did hand her over and Buffy felt for her temperature. “She’s warm… I think she has a fever.” William gave her a panicked look, “It’ll be okay.”
“Don’t you think it be better if we take her in… for the doctor to see?” Darla suggested as they heard Prudence wails subside.
“I think that would be best… right?”
“I’ll call the pediatrician, then.” Darla offered taking her phone out of her purse. “You guys go on ahead, I’ll take care of everything here… I’ll explain to the guest,” she held the phone firmly to her ear as she waited for an answer.
“Thank you.” William asked Buffy to follow him, looking at Prue once more before hurrying to the garage.
“Shouldn’t we call for, Giles?” Buffy asked as she tried to keep up with William’s strides.
“No, It’ll be faster if I drive.” He opened he passenger door for her before he jumped in the car and stepped on the gas.
“You should really drive slower,” Buffy suggested. William had been going over eighty kilometers per hour. With his driving they might just get into an accident, instead of getting to the doctor’s clinic faster. William didn’t seem to hear her as he stepped on the gas. “William,” Buffy placed a hand on his arm and the car slowed to an acceptable speed.
“You don’t understand,” he tried to explain as he continued to drive, “She’s hurting and I don’t know what to do!”
Buffy could almost laugh if he didn’t sound so helpless, “She’s just having a fever, she feels a bit worse right now but she’ll be fine,” he tried to make him understand but the problem still remained, they still had a crying baby in her arms.
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
“I’m sure Prudence would be fine,” Darla had just finished explaining to Lindsay what had occurred. After the program she had calmly told the guest that the birthday girl won’t be able to join them for candle blowing. The guest had fluttered out saying their thanks and giving their care to the family.
Now they have nothing to occupy themselves as the caterers cleaned out the backyard. William and Buffy had been gone for over two hours now. The sun had set and Darla was beginning to worry. There was nothing to fear if what Buffy said was right that little Prue did just have a fever but how about if it were something else.
As they heard the sound of a car coming into the driveway, Darla immediately jumped from her seat and waited for William and Buffy to come into the door.
As they turned the knob on the main door they were met with Joyce, Willow, Giles, Darla and even Lindsay apparently anxiously awaiting their return.
“How’s Prue?” Darla immediately hovered over Buffy who had the sleeping baby in her arms.
“She’s fine…” Buffy answered question after question. They have seemed to let their imagination go wild while they were away.
“I think I better take her upstairs,” William took Prue from Buffy. The chatter of the household was bound to wake her up, either that or they’ll be getting a good shouting courtesy of him. He proceeded up the steps to tuck Prue in for the night.
Lindsay, who had stayed behind with Darla at the lobby soon got bored and decided to follow William upstairs. He had been meaning to talk to him something.
From down the hall he could hear a voice coming from his granddaughter’s bedroom. As he neared he recognized it as William’s.
He had Prue tucked in his arm, pacing the room as he hushed her to sleep. “Don’t you ever scare Daddy like that again, princess. You understand?” He was seemingly talking to the sleeping infant in his arm. “My heart almost stopped when I realized you were in trouble… Daddy loves you very much…” He slowly lowered her to her crib. “I can’t live without you, princess… Don’t you dare scare Daddy like that ever again.” He slumped down the lounge chair beside the crib, eyes not turning away from Prue.
Lindsay, having heard the little exchange, stood from the hallway utterly astounded. He had always pictured William as the uncaring father. He knew that he had wanted a baby from the beginning; Drusilla couldn’t have stopped talking about it. But after his wife’s death, William had seemed to pull back from his daughter he had held precious and to the work he had been most dedicated to.
He knew that one of the main reasons why William had worked himself into a success was because he had been searching for their approval. From the first day Drusilla have brought him home for them to meet, he had already disapproved of him and ever since then he had been pushing himself to meet their expectations.
They or rather he was blind, unable to see the man he had become, a loving husband and a dotting father. The sheer joy he could place on his most precious girl’s face just by his mere presence. He might have been wrong all along.
Looking back to where William had been, he saw him sitting at the lounge chair, sleeping as he quietly shut the door.
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
The next morning, Buffy came up the stairs to check up on her charge. Last night, after she had answered all of Darla’s questions; she had wanted to check up on Prue. But Lindsay had come down saying that she and William were both fast asleep. Since she knew she was with her father, she thought nothing of putting off on it.
With a warm milk bottle at hand she opened the bedroom door. William was slouched on the lounge chair, in a seemingly uncomfortable position. Prudence on the other hand, she found wide awake on her back, fever forgotten. She had a big smile on her face as she scooped her up and fed her the bottle.
Just then she felt the sleeping body of William stir at her side. “Good morning,” she greeted him as she carried Prue around happily sucking on her bottle.
“Morning…” he stifled a yawn as he got off the chair and stretched his muscles out. “How is she?”
“Good as new, all cheery as if nothing happened.”
“That’s good…” he nodded walking over to them. She looked at Prudence encased in Buffy’s arms while she fed her and he didn’t know what came over him but as he looked at them, he felt a warm feeling surge up inside of him like the picture before him was how things should be. “Can I?” He offered and Buffy nodded handing Prue over to him.
“Dada!” she greeted him. William smiled down at her as she offered her the bottle once more.
“I think I’ll go and get her medicine ready, you’ll be okay alone with her?” Buffy asked as she finished making Prue’s bed. William was sitting on the lounge chair as he fed her, oblivious to pretty much everything around him. “Okay, I’ll go then,” she looked over one last time and William just gave her a dismissive nod. All she could do was smile as she went out the hall and down the steps.
“Oh hello Mr. McDonald” Buffy greeted as he saw Lindsay come into the front door, “Is Mrs. McDonald with you?”
“Oh yeah… she’s out back with Joyce, they needed to talk about something. Do you mind if I see Prue?”
“Oh… no not at all,” she smiled hesitantly, as soon as she knew about the fight for custody with William, Buffy had a very biased opinion on the couple but she tried not let it show whenever they were with her. She didn’t really want to meddle in business that she had no right interfering with. “She’s upstairs with William. Go on up.”
“Thank you.” He answered as he made his way up the steps, walking down the hall in front oh his granddaughter’s bedroom.
“What are you doing here?” William asked in a hushed yet sharp tone as to not disturb the little girl sucking her bottle in his arms. “The party was over yesterday… there’s no business for you to be here.”
William didn’t want to sound hostile; this is after all still his wife’s parent and his daughter’s grandfather. But he couldn’t help it, when someone plans to take your own daughter away from you, you really can’t be expected to act like your best buddies with them.
“Darla needed to talk to Joyce about something,” he walked over the threshold and stood over William sitting on the lounge chair. “I thought I’d see my granddaughter. It’s not a crime is it?”
William sneered up at him, “Now you’ve seen her… you can go.”
“Look, William-“
“What?!” he stood up holding a defiant posture before walking over to the shelves and placing the bottle on top as he held her daughter up over his shoulder. “I’m sick and tired of this bullshit you’re trying to play at. What the bloody hell is it that you want from us?” He tried to keep his voice as low as his he could. He didn’t really feel like arguing in front of Prue was the best example neither of them could give her.
“I just want what’s best for Prue.”
“Bollocks!” William snarled at him. “You think what’s best for her is taking her away from her own family?”
“We’re her family too, William.”
“Family… you’ve got some nerve. You have never treated me like family!”
“How can you say that! We treated you very well.”
“When?” William scoffed.
“We let you marry our daughter didn’t we?”
“Yeah...! After I had to practically beg to take her hand in marriage! Make sure that I had more than enough riches! Reach you expectations!” William trailed off.
“Nevertheless, we never treated you anything less than kin.”
“Bloody hell! You sodding ponce!” He placed Prue down on her playpen, their tone was still hushed but no one could deny the hostility each word delivered held. “I never felt like I was family! Never! Not even when we we’re already married. You knew that Drusilla held you very dearly and you damn well used it to you’re advantage! You made sure that my life was as close to hell as possible… that’s not what family does!”
“We wanted what was best for her,” Lindsay answered, teeth grinded together, jaw twitching.
“What was best for her was to treat her husband like crap? I don’t think so… so don’t come in here and tell me that you’re family!”
“Whatever you might think, William. You have to understand that it was never my intention –“
“Don’t feed me that bullshit!”
“Bullshit?! You wanna talk about bullshit? We were damn right not to trust you, William! Putting your own daughter up for adoption isn’t really one of your brightest moments was it?” he knew it was a low blow but he was right.
“That was a long time ago” he grinded his teeth together, this was something he could never get away with was it. There are just some decisions you make that haunt you forever. “I have paid my dues on it… you don’t know how much it kills me to even think of it.”
“What’s done is done… how do you expect me to trust that you won’t wake up one day and decided to want to rid of your daughter?”
“Because I love her, that’s why… She’s my world. If you really did give a damn… don’t do this,” his voiced softened. He didn’t intend to show how vulnerable he was, but he was willing to do anything to keep his daughter. If he had to beg then he would because nobody was more important to him than Prue and he knew that he wasn’t gonna be able to keep her if they kept this going. “You can’t just take her away from me… She’s the only one I’ve got.”
Silence befell as neither man said anything.
“You’ve got to understand what I’m saying, you’re a father too.” Lindsay shook his head as he looked down onto the floor, not wanting to look into William’s direction. He did understand… William had lain down his cards and now it was up to Lindsay to make his choice.
to be continued...
[Reviews - 116]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 2520 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
Sorry I havn't updated, but I went of vacation for a couple of days but I didn't forget about you guys! So here's an update =) Thanks for all the previous reviews, they were greatly appreciated!