Chapter Two – New Job

Buffy straightened the items on her desk for the fifth time then leaned back with a sigh. "It's only my second day on the job and I'm already bored out of my mind. This is one of the most well-behaved prisons I've ever heard of."

"Thank you. That's exactly what I'm trying to achieve."

Buffy bolted up from her chair with a small squeak. "Oh! I didn't see you there. Um… who are you?"

Maggie Walsh waved a dismissive hand as she took a seat in one of the industrial strength un-comfy chairs in front of Buffy's desk. "That's quite all right, Nurse Summers, I'm Warden Walsh. Do you mind if I call you Buffy?"

Buffy shook her head. "Oh no, not at all. That would be fine."

"Thank you, and please call me Maggie. Have you had breakfast yet? They're still serving down in the dining hall if you'd like to get something."

Buffy shook her head with a small chuckle. "No, I haven't, but it's okay. Breakfast and I have never really gotten along, so I officially ended the relationship a few years ago. I'll be just fine until lunch. Thanks, anyway."

Maggie gave her a quizzical look then checked her watch. "Well, if you're sure. I'm sorry I wasn't here to welcome you when you arrived the other day, but my son has also taken a position here and we were getting caught up."

Buffy smiled warmly. "That's nice. Your son being here, I mean." She laughed quietly, "I could never work with my mom. I love her, but we'd just drive each other crazy. Not to mention the fact that I know absolutely nothing about art. She owns a gallery."

Maggie laughed. "Riley and I have always gotten along well. His father died when he was eleven, so we've always been all the other has. We're like two peas in a pod. I missed him terribly when he enlisted in the Army, but it was what he always wanted to do, so I had to let him go."

"Riley can't be very old; you don't look old enough to have a son that's retired from the military. You hardly look old enough to have a son that's graduated from high school."

Maggie blushed slightly and chuckled. "Thank you, but we might need to get you some glasses." She dropped her gaze to her lap and picked at the sleeve of her jacket. "Riley didn't retire; he was injured in a training accident and received a medical discharge."

Buffy's brow furrowed slightly as she frowned. 'She's lying. Why would she lie about the reason her son is no longer in the Army? Did he do something wrong?'

Buffy shifted her face back into a smile as Maggie looked up from her lap. "He's only twenty-four and wasn't interested in going to college, and I couldn't have him just hanging around with no real purpose like so many people his age are prone to do, so I secured a position for him here."

Buffy smiled. "College can be fun, but you really have to be into it… the studying part anyway… or you're just wasting your time. There were a few kids I went to school with that basically just threw their tuition away because they spent most of their time partying."

Maggie gave her a knowing smile. "I'm guessing you weren't a partier. You seem very driven, to have a master's degree at such a young age."

Buffy smiled back, a little embarrassed. "Luckily my dad left me enough to pay for school, so I didn't have to work while I earned my degree. I also went to school year-round, so that's why it didn't take me as long as some others. I received my Nurse Practitioner license in a little over five years. A friend of mine is still working on hers. She's got about two years to go and we started at the same time. I know I'm young, but I've always wanted to be a nurse, so I worked hard." She looked over at her newly framed license hanging on the wall next to her desk. "I wanted to thank you for giving me the job. I really didn't expect to be hired so quickly... I mean, the ink on my license was barely even dry when I received your offer letter."

Maggie beamed a smile at her. "You're very welcome, but you must know that you came highly recommended. Mr. Flutie just gushed about you. He said you were one of the brightest and most dedicated students he's ever had the pleasure of having at his school." She looked over the rather Spartan office. "Are you settling in all right? Finding everything you need?"

Buffy nodded, a little embarrassed by all the praise. "Oh yes, I'm doing fine, thank you."

"And your room is satisfactory?"

Buffy glanced at the slate gray door in the corner of the office that led to her suite. "Yes, it's actually very nice. I was a little surprised that I'd be required to live at the prison, but it's a very nice room."

Maggie smiled. "Well, since you are our only medical professional, we do require you to be available at all times, but you don't have to be in the office if there's no need."

Buffy's eyes went wide. "I'm the only medical person on staff? That wasn't mentioned in the brochure, not that I got a brochure… but…"

"You're the only one with a degree and a license to practice, but we do have a few employees with some medical training who are available to assist you, if needed, and as long as you carry your prison issue cell phone, you're free to go wherever you like. You're allowed to stay in your room, visit the prison library, or walk around and familiarize yourself with the facility and the employees. Our staff is top notch and I'm sure you'll find at least a few that you have something in common with. They're really a very tight knit group."

Buffy picked up her stapler, turning it slowly in her hands. "Do all the staff members live at the prison?"

Maggie nodded. "Yes. We're so far away from any of the towns in this area that it's easier on the staff to stay on site. One wing of the prison was remodeled for employee housing, and the married staff members reside in the bungalows on the west side near the main gate. I could have one of the staff give you a complete tour... if you have time, that is."

Buffy laughed. "Well, considering you're the only person who's visited the infirmary since the Associate Warden brought me down here, I'd say I have the time."

Maggie looked around the tidy office again. "I'm sorry that you're bored, but my boys are quite well behaved, as you've noticed."

Buffy blushed. "Yes, I have. I do wish I had something to do, but I don't want somebody to get hurt or sick just to keep me busy."

Maggie got to her feet. "First I'll arrange your tour, and then we could talk about scheduling full physicals for the staff and inmates. Our previous doctor was mostly reactionary, but I think you have the initiative to be proactive, catch things before they become a problem. And it will give you a chance to meet everyone."

Buffy giggled a little nervously, "Um, okay." 'Because that's the fastest way to make new friends... get them to take their clothes off for you while you poke and prod and ask them personal questions.' She got to her feet and walked Maggie to the door. "I'll see you later, Maggie. Thanks for coming down to see me."

Maggie shook her hand. "No problem, Buffy. Feel free to come see me anytime, my door is always open. I'll have one of the staff here in about fifteen minutes to show you around. Welcome to the family."

Buffy watched her walk down the hall until she turned the corner and disappeared from sight. She closed the door and walked back over to her desk, dropping down into her chair with a contented sigh. "Yeah, I think I'm going to like it here."

XXXX

Riley panted as he backed away and tucked himself in then zipped his pants. "Not bad, Willy, not bad at all. With a little practice, you could be one of Mom's biggest money makers."

Spike spat out the fluid in his mouth then glared up at Riley with murder in his eyes as he roughly wiped his lips and chin. "Fuck you. This was a one-off. I'm never doin' that again, not for you or anybody else. And that cunt you call a mother can just go fuck herself."

Riley laughed then threw a viscous punch that slammed Spike's head into the wall. "You'll do what you're told. This is Mom's prison, and as long as you're here, you belong to her. You're property, and if she wants you to use that pretty mouth to earn your keep, then that's what you'll do."

Spike started to get to his feet, but Riley pistoned his foot out, slamming his steel-toed boot into Spike's groin. He leaned down, sniggering at the man lying at his feet who was curled into a ball with tears dripping down his face. "You know, I guess there are other options. If you don't want to use your mouth, I'm sure Mom can find a few people that would pay a hell of a lot to use your ass, whether you want them to or not. We could make a ton of cash by selling the privilege of raping a pretty boy like you."

A weaselly looking man stepped nervously into the cell. "Finn? Uh… Harris and the new nurse are upstairs and she wants to come down to examine these shitbirds."

Riley looked down at Spike then straightened up and walked to the cell door, calling over his shoulder, "You just wait right there and I'll be back in a few. We're not done yet." He pushed the other man out of the way and slammed the door.

Spike lay curled into a ball on the floor, cradling his throbbing bits and trying to shut down the tears leaking from his eyes. 'I'm well and truly buggered. Or I'm about to be if I don't do what they want. Fuck!' He did some mental arithmetic, trying to figure out how much longer he had on his sentence. 'When the bitch tossed me down here, I only had just over a year to go. I've probably been down here two… maybe three months. Can I suck off other blokes for the next eight or nine months? Without going completely sack of hammers?'

The memory of what had happened in the alley behind the nightclub started to surface again and he squeezed himself sharply. The pain shattered the memory and brought him back to the present as he closed his eyes, letting the tears fall as despair washed over him. 'My first sexual experience was bein' gang-raped in an alley and I've managed to keep my arse an exit-only area since that night, despite bein' locked up for the last six years. Never did anythin' but snog Dru and now my second real sexual experience is bein' forced to suck some bloke off. And if I don't keep doin' it, I'll get raped… repeatedly. So I guess I'll just have to…' Waves of anger suddenly washed over him and he struggled to a sitting position then leaned back against the wall, panting from the pain. 'I won't! I won't fuckin' do it! They'll have to force me… fuckin' strap me down… and I will bite off the next todger that gets shoved in my mouth!'

The cell door slammed open and Riley stepped through, frowning when he saw Spike leaning against the wall instead of lying on the floor. "Thought I told you to stay put."

Spike sneered up at him. "Sod off, mama's boy."

The punch sent Spike flying across the room to crash headfirst into the wall. He struggled to his hands and knees, trying to stay conscious. Riley's foot arced between Spike's legs like he was punting a football and Spike screamed and collapsed to the floor, curling around the white-hot ball of pain that had settled in his center. Riley chuckled as he leaned down and thumped Spike on the head. "There. Now you're back to where you were supposed to be."

He straightened up and landed a hard kick to the back of Spike's thigh, smiling at his strangled howl of pain. "It's really too bad that you don't have any family." Another kick and another strangled howl. "If you did, you'd never be a candidate for Mom's special work program. Sucks to be you, doesn't it, Willy? Knowing that nobody gives even half a fuck about what happens to you and that all you're good for is getting it up the ass."

Spike tried to pull himself into an even smaller ball as the kicks kept coming. He cursed Angel, Dru, his father, even his mother for dying and leaving him alone. He cursed anybody he could think of as the separate points of pain scattered around his body blended into one huge pulsing wave of agony. He had one final thought just before the blackness took him. 'Just bloody kill me. Please.'