CHAPTER THREE: DISHING IT OUT
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A/N: I'm really glad so many are liking this story! Please read and let me know in a review what you'd like to see in future chapters. All reviews are like manna from heaven!
In this chapter, Buffy and her sister discuss letters and boys. No Spike, I'm afraid, but be patient! Spuffy will come soon.
"You're awfully quiet, Buffy," Dawn Summers, Buffy's younger sister, observed. She peered at her older sister with deep blue eyes.
"Don't you want any dinner? I cooked it myself, and it's not bad," Dawn said, helping herself to some salad. Buffy toyed with the mixed vegetables on her plate.
"Is it work?" Dawn asked. "Are you missing Riley already?" At that question, Buffy's green eyes strayed to her sister's. She ate every bit of her steak and some of the vegetables. The younger woman laughed a little at Buffy's defiance. Buffy gave her sister a look.
"What?" the youngest Summers asked, her mouth full of mashed potatoes.
"Don't talk with your mouth full, Dawnie," Buffy scolded. After swallowing her potatoes, Dawn snorted.
"Now you're sounding like Mom," she said. Buffy cast her eyes downward at her sister's comment. The older Summers wiped her mouth and her next words were soft.
"Well, someone's got to do it," Buffy whispered. Dawn looked immediately apologetic.
Her younger sister's hand reached out to touch her sister's. "I miss her, too," Dawn said.
Both sisters thought about their mother just then. Joyce Summers had been so full of life; so healthy…until breast cancer took her from her two daughters suddenly last year. Their father, Hank, had never been there even when Joyce had been alive. Her unexpected death had pushed him even further away, making Buffy the sole breadwinner, mother, and father to her 18 year old sister.
Dawn had struggled through college that year as her usual B average plunged to a D. The end result was that she had to make up her studies at the University of Southern California: the
L.A. Branch. Buffy had thrown herself into her work as a soap opera star. Her generous salary had left enough to support both herself and Dawn and pay off the house note, but her acting career was on the skids due to the tabloids splashing about the fake stories about an affair with Riley Finn, her co-star. The emotional upheaval had taken its toll on Buffy. Her once jovial attitude now bore traces of sarcasm, and she was becoming downright snappish to everyone.
Buffy had never developed very many friends in her young life. Her father's leaving her and her younger sister when Dawn was just five and she was nine had ruined any chance at the elder daughter connecting with anyone. The way Buffy saw it, people who had deep relationships with others were abandoned, and subsequently hurt. Buffy had learned that bitter lesson early, and she strove never to forget it. Acting seemed to be a way to be outgoing, yet be able to withdraw into her shell when the roles ended.
Joyce had encouraged Buffy's hobby and then career as a way to provide an outlet for her eldest daughter to somehow connect with people. Yes, Joyce had known, acting could provide some contact with people Buffy's age and older. Unfortunately, it didn't do enough to break the cocoon Buffy had woven around herself. Joyce saw her eldest daughter still holding herself off, preferring to remember lines rather than go out clubbing or with boys when she was old enough.
When Buffy had met Xander Harris, a track star in school, Joyce was overjoyed. He seemed to be the first boy her oldest daughter was interested in as a possible date rather than just an acquaintance. But the year before Joyce had complained about pains in her chest, Wilson Harris's son broke things off amicably and went to college in another state. The year during her mother's illness brought in a new inamorato: Parker Abrams.
Parker was a law student whose parents were with a very prestigious law firm: Abrams, Mercader and Shlab. The establishment handled very rich clients in famous litigation cases, and Harrison Abrams wanted his only son to manage the firm's minor cases, including a lawsuit at the studio Buffy had been working in when they'd met.
There was chemistry, to say the least, between both young people, and before long, the usually single junior Abrams' moniker became Abrams and Summers. Buffy found that she was smitten with the dashing, dark haired, dark eyed future attorney, and she expected her mother and sister to be, too.
Joyce and Dawn had been anything but.
"He's a cold man, sweetheart," Joyce said. Behind her, Dawn nodded her agreement.
"What do you mean, cold?" Buffy asked. "He treats me right, and he has nothing but good things to say about you both."
"Yeah, whenever you're in the room," Dawn muttered. When Buffy gave her a look, she loudly drained her glass of its root beer float.
"Don't get me wrong; he seems like a nice boy," Joyce admitted, "and he has all of the right connections." She gathered the candy wrappers from the living room coffee table and tossed them into the tiny trash can by the end tables next to the rust colored couch.
"Then what's bothering you, Mom?" Buffy asked. "Parker and I are so mix-y, it's like Fate or something!"
Joyce gave her daughter a searching look, as though she was reaching into Buffy's soul to find the right way to respond. She lifted the plastic bag out of the trash can and sighed.
"It's just that he seems too good to be true," Joyce said, "as though he has a hidden agenda. And, tell me this, why does he always have a client or a meeting whenever he's in town? It seems to me that if a man loves a woman as much as Parker claims, he should be attentive to her needs and put her even before his career."
"Like the way Dad has been with his secretary Cassandra?" Buffy asked bitterly.
At her mother's stricken look, Buffy immediately apologized.
"It's just that he keeps himself hidden from you, and he hasn't given you his heart," Joyce told Buffy. "Any man who does that is not the type of man a young woman should fall in love with. Mark my words, sweetie, he'll take what's left of your love and leave you empty before he ever gives you his."
Buffy just shrugged her mother off and left the room. Dawn shook her head back and forth and went upstairs.
As if on cue, the sound of a key inside a lock was heard, and Parker strode into the house. Buffy finished remembering the past and her eyes welcomed him. His dark eyes scanned the living room for her. He finally saw her at the dining room table and without being asked, Parker took his seat at the head of it.
"Hey, Buffy," he greeted as Dawn glared at him. Parker totally paid the youngest in the Summers clan no mind. He knew Buffy's sister didn't like him, but he really didn't care.
"Parker!" Buffy said, getting up from her seat and going over to hug him. Parker hugged her back from his seat, but he didn't make any other overtures to greet his girlfriend.
"What a surprise!" Buffy squealed. "I thought you said you'd be out of town with your family this week!" They broke apart, and she resumed sitting in her seat.
"Well, I finished my business early, and I thought to myself, 'self, where's the one place I wanna be right now'?" he responded. "And I realized I wanted to be here."
Dawn rolled her eyes, then cleared her throat. "I think I'll just go upstairs and study," she said. She deposited her plate in the sink and went upstairs.
Buffy was apologetic as she said to Parker, "I'm sorry. I don't know why she acts that way in front of you."
Parker waved her off, saying, "Buffy, it's okay. She's just a kid." He crossed over to her chair and, taking both her hands, pulled her out of it.
"You, on the other hand, are a wo-man," he emphasized, kissing her. Buffy's arms snaked around his neck. She tugged at his shirt as they spun each other until they reached the living room couch.
Parker broke apart from her as he lowered her to the sofa. "The kind of woman with just the loving I need," he breathed, making Buffy feel as though she was the only woman on Earth. He tugged at her top and she unzipped his pants. They kissed and made love without preamble on the couch.
Here's to you, Mom, Buffy thought, projecting how happy Joyce Summers would be to see her daughter with the man she knew was The One. Both Parker and her eldest daughter failed to see the ghostly figure of Buffy's mother, looking on at Parker with censure and disappointment in her glowing eyes.
Oh, Buffy, how wrong can you be? The Spirit of Joyce thought.
She wished that Buffy could hear her; if the young woman could, she would have rethought her current relationship. But of course, Buffy had no idea of the future that was looming, or the part Parker would play in it or of the man who was meant for her waiting in the wings.
After they finished making love, Parker slowly rose from the couch. "Oh, shoot…" he said. "Buffy, honey, I just remembered! I hate to do this to you, but I have to go."
Buffy looked disappointed, and incredulous. "But why?" she asked. "You just got here! I was gonna feed you and tell you my exciting news."
Parker tugged on his shirt, telling her, "I'm sorry, babe, but I really can't skip this appointment. I promise I'll make it up to you. We'll do some fun things this week, 'kay?"
Buffy ignored the suspicion gathering in her mind that said that her current inamorato was hiding something and said, depressed, "Okay. I know the business is very important to you."
Her boyfriend's dark orbs roamed over her once. "Hey, don't be like that!" he chided. "I don't like it any more than you do, but if I don't return to work tonight, I'll be out of a job."
"Your own dad would fire you?" Buffy asked, surprised. She had only met Parker's parents the one time during their dating stint, but Harrison Abrams didn't seem to be that unforgiving.
"He's treating this like any professional job," Parker responded. "Says it's for my overall growth. So, let me go, or get used to Parker, the Pizza Delivery boy."
It was on the tip of Buffy's tongue to say that she didn't care what her boyfriend did for a living, but she held her mouth. She desperately wanted things to work out between them, and if her trouble-causing tongue got herself into trouble like it had in the past, she would bite it back with a vengeance.
Buffy hugged him, saying softly, "I wouldn't want him to fire you." Parker smiled and kissed her warmly.
"Thanks, babe," he said, kissing her.
"I love you," Buffy said, returning his kiss.
"Likewise," Parker told her. He strode to the door and slammed it.
Dawn came back downstairs after the door had shut. "Is Hurricane Parker gone?" she asked.
Buffy glared at her. "Parker is not a hurricane," Dawn's sister ground out.
"Well, let's see: he blows into town, then blows out, leaving devastation in his path," the younger Summers said. "Sounds like a hurricane to me. Oh! And the best part, he takes all of your emotional stuff with him, just like a storm does when it tears your life apart."
"That's enough!" Buffy retorted. "You're just jealous." Dawn gave her a look that reminded Buffy of Joyce just then. It was a scrutinizing look that saw right through Buffy's masks and shields to the inner woman.
"No, I'm not," Dawn said, "but I'm not gonna beat a dead horse." She got the mail and sifted through it.
Dawn's hand stopped when she saw the neatly typed envelope without a return address. It was similar to the few that had been found in their mailbox recently, though the dark haired Summers realized that the number of letters resembling the one she held in her hand had increased somewhat in the past few weeks.
Buffy looked over at the small amount of letters. She held out her hand expectantly, and waited for Dawn to give her the correspondence. Her sister didn't take the hint as she opened the envelope.
"Nice," she breathed as she caught a whiff of the herbal fragrance. Her eyes grew wide as she began to read.
"'Dearest Muse,'" Dawn read, "'you are the flame that keeps my heart burning for you. I start each day anew longing for the peace that only thoughts of you give me. I cannot wait to spend eternity each night lying in your arms. Ever yours, Your Secret Admirer.'"
"You see?" Buffy said, touched by the letter. "And you thought Parker didn't love me."
"Uh, Buffy," Dawn said thoughtfully, "if Parker sent this and the other ones you've gotten, why doesn't he sign them?"
Buffy sniffed the fragrance before saying, "You don't know anything about romance! He wants to be all mysterious 'cause he knows I like that and not tell me who he is."
"If you say so," her sister responded. "I just think it's...I dunno...not like him. He seems to be the type that would sky write his feelings, or put them on the Internet or something."
If he has any feelings, that is, Dawn's mind supplied.
Buffy dropped the letters on the table with a decided plop. Dawn's next words had Buffy wondering that night as she went to bed about solving said mystery.
"You don't think these letters are something to worry about, do you?" she asked with trepidation.
"No, why should we be afraid of Parker?" Buffy asked incredulously. "I think these are very sweet." She placed the romantic letter to the side and began to open the bills. After going through them, Buffy regarded her sister.
"How good are you with finding out about people's vital statistics on the Internet?" she queried suddenly, turning her thoughts to the offensive Mr. James.
"Killer," Dawn said. Her eyes lit up at the thought of a little mischief. Buffy smiled.
"Just what I wanted to hear," she said conspiratorially, outlining her plan for tomorrow's shenanigans. Her sister booted up the computer, and together, they searched the 'net for everything they could about William James.