Buffy Summers woke up to a flashlight in her face. She put her hand over her eyes, wincing from the pain in her head.
"Ma'am?" she heard the voice of a male and adjusted her eyesight to see an officer standing over her. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah… I—I'm fine" Buffy said, sitting up and looking around, not remembering where she was.
"Name, miss?" the officer asked and she looked up again, still confused.
"Uh… what?"
"Your name?" the officer asked again, this time more demandingly.
"Uh…" Buffy thought quickly as she stumbled to her feet. "L—Leena, Leena Solomon" she spouted off her friend's name without even thinking about it. She hated cops and every time she ran into one she seemed to end up in trouble.
"Can I see some identification please?" the office asked.
Shit, Buffy thought. "I… must have forgotten at home" she said after patting her pockets a couple of times, her heart racing. She looked around again nervously as the office looked her over skeptically. She realized she was sitting on one of the benches in the local park in her town.
"Can I have your date of birth and social security number please?" the officer asked and Buffy looked at him, her eyes widening a bit. She was afraid he'd ask that. She had no idea what her friend's social security number or date of birth were and if she gave him her own he'd know she was lying. After only thinking for a second, her head told her to run and that's exactly what she did, sprinting away from the officer in a flash. The police officer was right on her in a second, chasing her down. "Wait! Stop!" he yelled just before tackling her to the ground.
"I didn't do anything!" Buffy yelled as she tried to get out of his grasp.
"Then why'd you run?" the officer asked her, forcing her hands behind her back. "You're under arrest for evading, we'll see what else when we get down to the police station." With that he cuffed her and forced her to stand up, ushering her to his police car.
Buffy sat in a jail cell sobering up. In the hour and a half she'd been there, she had remembered the night before and all she had done. She had left her two young children with her mother again to go out partying with a few friends. They had done a few drugs throughout the night and consumed an inordinate amount of alcohol. She couldn't remember how she had gotten to the bench, but that didn't matter now. She had been arrested for evading the police, public intoxication and false identification. She didn't know what was going to happen to her, but she knew she didn't want to lose her children.
"Summers" a police officer said as he came to her cell. "You can have your phone call now."
"About time" Buffy mumbled as she stood up and he let her out of the jail cell. He followed her over to a phone and she dialed her mother's number warily. She knew Joyce would be pissed and disappointed that she had gotten yet another call from Buffy asking for bail money. The phone rang a couple of times and someone picked up.
"Hello?" Buffy heard the voice of her little sister, Dawn on the other end.
"H—hey, Dawnie" Buffy said cheerfully. "Can I talk to mom?"
"Sure, but Amara's been asking when you're coming to get her and Liam" Dawn said. Amara was Buffy's 6-year old daughter and Liam was her 2-year old son. They're father Liam O'Connor, or better known to everyone as Angel, had joint custody of them.
"Tell her soon" Buffy said, growing teary-eyed. "I really need to talk to mom though."
"Okay. Mom!" Dawn called and Joyce came to the phone a couple of seconds later.
"Hello?"
"Hey, mom" Buffy said.
"What's wrong?" Joyce asked right away and Buffy cringed.
"Um… why would you… say that?" Buffy asked.
"Because I know you, Elizabeth" Joyce said sternly. "What's going on? Are you in trouble? Do you need money?"
"Okay, look, it isn't as bad as it sounds" Buffy began. Joyce always knew that meant it was going to be worse. "My friends and I were doing a little… celebrating—because Leena got into that college I was telling you about… Well, I guess I had a little too much to drink and… kinda slept on a park bench last night. The police officers are making it out to be a bigger deal than it really is."
"The cops? Buffy, you're in jail again?" Joyce asked.
"Mom, we can talk about this later, okay? I need you to come bail me out" Buffy said.
Joyce sighed heavily. "How much do you need?"
"$300."
"Elizabeth, I don't have that kind of money right now" Joyce said.
"Mom, look, just get me out of here so I don't have to spend any more time away from my kids. Amara's already asking about when I'm coming to get her. Do you really wanna tell her that her mommy's in jail cuz grandma wouldn't bail her out?" Buffy asked and heard Joyce sigh again.
"Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can" Joyce said unemotionally.
"Quickly would be good" Buffy told her and hung up the phone.
Buffy sat in her cell for another half an hour before she was told her mother was there to bail her out. Joyce paid the bail money. Buffy was given her court date and released. Joyce said nothing to her daughter on the way to the car and most of the drive home.
"Mom, say something, please" Buffy told her. Joyce sighed with anger and annoyance.
"Buffy, I just don't know what you were thinking. The police said you were arrested f—for evading police, giving a false name and public intoxication. Your blood tested positive for drugs too, they said."
"Mom, we were just having a little fun, okay. It wasn't a big deal" Buffy said.
"Well, I think it is a very big deal. What would your kids do if you were to be sentenced to time in jail? What would Angel do? He'd definitely petition the court for full custody" Joyce told her.
"Angel's not getting full custody of my kids, okay" Buffy said. "He's never gonna find out about this. The kids aren't gonna find out about this, Dawnie isn't gonna find out about this and neither are any of my friends from work. Let's just keep this between us, okay?"
"And if you go to court and the judge sentences you to jail time?" Joyce asked. This time it was Buffy who sighed.
"I'll jump off that bridge when I come to it, mom" Buffy said, annoyed and Joyce sighed, dropping the subject as she pulled into her driveway. Buffy quickly got out of the car and went quickly into the house, followed by her mother. As she entered, her daughter spotted her and the little girl's eyes lit up.
"Mommy!" Amara said, running to Buffy. Buffy picked the 6-year old up in her arms and swung her around.
"Oh, hello, princess" she said cheerfully.
"You promised you'd be here before I woke up" Amara said sadly and Buffy set the little girl back down on the ground and knelt in front of her.
"I know, baby, mommy's sorry. I… I got caught up at work, but I'm here now and you me and Liam are going home, okay?" Buffy told her and she smiled.
"Okay."
"Okay, go get your brother ready for me, sweetheart." Amara ran off to do as her mother asked and Dawn came up to them.
"Hey, where were you?" Dawn asked.
"I was… just out" Buffy said.
"All night? Away from your children? I see."
"You have somethin to say to me, Dawn?" Buffy asked angrily, crossing her arms over her chest.
"No, of course not. No one crosses Buffy" Dawn said sarcastically, walking past her sister into the kitchen.
"Dawnie" Joyce scolded her youngest and Dawn glared at her mother, mad that she was defending her sister's actions. Deciding that she didn't want to start a fight, she let it go and went into the kitchen. Buffy sighed with frustration.
"Amara, Liam, let's go" she called with annoyance.
"Buffy, sweetie, don't go upset, okay? And if you need me to watch Mari and Liam, just let me know" Joyce said.
"Why? So, my bitch of a sister can poison them against me?" Buffy asked.
"Elizabeth, now don't call your baby sister such things" Joyce scolded as Amara came into the living room with her little brother in tow.
"Why not? I'm sure she says much worse things about me" Buffy said as she picked up her son and took her daughter's hand. "I'll see you later." With that she left with the kids, loading them into her car and driving away.
"Why do you defend her?" Dawn asked, coming into view from the dining room and leaning against the doorway with her arms crossed. Joyce shut the door and looked at her daughter.
"She's my daughter, sweetie, just like you. I love you two and my grandbabies more than anything in this life. And I… stand by them no matter what."
"Even if one of them has a drug problem?" Dawn asked and Joyce's expression changed to sadness, knowing Dawn was right.