Part 6

"Everything looks so different."

Hank smiled and nodded. "Things change fast in this city."

"I had forgotten," Buffy said. They were seated at a small café, enjoying one of those dainty sort of lunches where all the woman wear expensive, cream colored suits along with Gucci sunglasses and Prada purses. Buffy felt like she was being entirely bombarded by waves of Caesar salad and mineral water. LA was a complete one-eighty from Sunnydale, and it was hard to believe she used to call it home.

When she was younger, Buffy had sworn to herself that she would never, ever leave LA; it was the city where she belonged. She wanted to grow-up there and get married there and start her own life there. Instead she moved, and even though she'd only been gone a couple of years (nothing compared to the time she'd spent here before), she felt utterly strange and out of place.

"So, Buffy, tell me about what you've been up to lately." The look on Hank's face told her that he was genuinely interested, which made it all the harder to tell him the truth.

"W-well, I've been working really hard with my school work. I'm trying to graduate early so that's really all I have time for. I think that not going to school for a while has really helped me academically." She finished with an honest nod and waited for her dad's reaction to her I'm-trying-to-make-my-life-sound-better-than-it-really-is speech.

And it worked. Hank beamed at her, so proud that she was going to be ahead of the class. "That's wonderful, honey. You should be very pleased."

Buffy had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. She'd been the talk of the town for months. Her mother had practically shunned her. How could she possibly be happy?

"How's the baby doing?" he asked next.

Buffy shifted in her seat, the back of her brain relentlessly forsaking the question. What was she supposed to say? Tell him about how the doctor told her she was practically killing it? "Fine. She's fine."

Hank eyes nearly popped out of his head in delight. "It's a girl? Oh, Buffy that wonderful! Are you glad?"

Buffy couldn't impede the smile that snuck onto her face. "I am."

More beaming, followed by a quick hug and beaming. It almost made Buffy's day.

~~~

"Would you like something to drink? Coffee? Tea? Soda? Scotch?"

"No thank you. I'm fine."

Hank nodded and poured himself some decaffeinated-tea, which he had started drinking since Buffy had convinced him to stop the coffee (with massive amounts of caffeine) intake. That little conversation had taken place seven years ago and yet he still drank tea everyday.

He always became irrationally annoyed at those who didn't drink. Couldn't they just accept just for the heck of it? After talking, who didn't want some water? They were all just too polite and stiff for his taste.

They were sitting in his home office, which looked more like a conference room than anything. Hank hated having to drive all the way to his office in the city for a meeting so he just invited the people to his house. He found that it made him more relaxed and the people more agreeable and civilized, promoting negotiations and deals.

"Thank you for driving all the way out here. I know it was probably not on your agenda to go all the way to my home for our meeting."

The other man nodded and said, "It's a Saturday; who wants to go into the office?"

Hank smiled knowingly and took a seat across the table. Taking out his many folders, he scanned them over before saying, "So, you have hired Lindsay McDonald, correct?" When he received a curt nod, Hank scratched his head and said, "I would just like to warn you that he has done nothing for my company when he was employed there. I just wonder, as you've probably already guessed, what you're motives are for hiring him, even after we dismissed him."

"I don't feel it's necessary to explain our reasoning for that. Mr. McDonald has so far shown that he is a hard-working, devoted man, and until I see otherwise, I intend to give him the benefit of the doubt."

Hank considered him for a moment. "I see. Well, I can only hope that you had no desire to use him to find out information on us. It is no secret that our two associations are somewhat unfriendly with each other."

"No, Mr. Summers, it's no secret. I have no intention of letting things become ugly. There is no need or time for that, and I hope you will agree."

"Indeed, of course," Hank said quickly, trying hard not to become agitated by the other man. They both owned the two biggest companies in the country and this was the first time they'd come face-to-face. He couldn't help being a tiny bit intimidated by the tall man in front of him. It was no wonder he won so many cases, he was positively frightening in all the right ways. He knew how to throw his opponents off and take advantage of their hesitation.

The only reason they were meeting was because Hank had recently found out that his opposition had hired Lindsay McDonald, a lawyer he'd fired. Suspicions had immediately been aroused about the reasoning behind that decision, and when he found out the Lindsay's employer lived near to LA, he seized the opportunity to finally meet him.

"Well, I suppose if we are both in understanding, our meeting is concluded."

Hank nodded and stood hastily, mirroring the younger man's action. They shook hands firmly, leaving no room for discussion. He smiled courteously and said, "It was very good to finally meet you. Thank you for coming on such short notice."

Hank received another nod in return as the man headed out. When the door was finally closed, he slumped into a chair, ready to fall over from the accumulated fear of meeting someone he'd only just exchanged messages through lawyers and secretaries. Man, that guy was scary.

~~~

"How is it?"

"It's good."

"Just good? This used to be your favorite dish."

Buffy glanced up from her dinner at her father and graced him with the hint of a smile. "I know. I'm just tired."

"Are you sure that's all?" Hank asked. "You look upset."

"It's nothing, really. Just stress and stuff."

Hank nodded, unconvinced, but dropped it. "Well, that makes the both of us. I had the shortest, but probably most stressful meeting of my life today. Have I even told you about that company that, well, I guess rivals ours?" Buffy nodded. She'd heard her all too many times about that stupid company from her dad. He talked about it all the time; about how rich it was and how powerful it was and how one day he knew it would take over his own. Buffy had never been particularly interested in business so she never really paid all the much attention when he started up about either company.

"Well, today," Hank continued, "the owner of it came to the house to discuss a lawyer they'd hired even after we'd fired him. I had expected it to last a long time and for us to write up an actual legal document or contract of some sort. But no. This guy is damn efficient or something. Ten minutes total. No document. Anyway, so I finally met the man and let me tell you, he scares even me. I mean, he actually looked young and here I was, shivering in my seat…"

Buffy only half listened as Hank continued about his interaction with "the enemy." Her stomach really wasn't processing food the right way and she didn't really want to have to huge amounts of morning sickness the next day. Her father had prepared this huge meal for them, and she'd merely pushed her food around her plate the entire time.

"Daddy," she said, "I'm kinda tired. Would you mind if I went to bed now? I know we were going to do bonding time but…"

Hank stood instantly and said, "Oh, we can do that another time. You should get some sleep if you need. Of course. Do you want me to walk you up?"

"No, I'm fine. Thank you for dinner. It was really good."

"Goodnight, Buffy."

"Goodnight."

Buffy tiredly rinsed off her plate before heading down the hall and to the stairs. She walked past vast rooms she had never even been in and just as she was nearing the other hall, she stopped. Something. Something was…she could sense…something. She turned and abruptly went into the nearest room. What she saw made her blood race and slow at the same time. It sat alone on the chair, perfectly in place in the darkened conference room. Images of the past unwittingly flashed across Buffy's eyes, as she stood stationary at the door. Somehow, though it must have taken at least twenty minutes, she found her legs were able to move. And they did, taking tiny, shaky steps. But the turtle finally reached the finish line. Buffy stared at the chair, her eyes stinging relentlessly.

It wasn't until she ran the tips of her fingers over it that she realized that it really was there; she hadn't been dreaming. And if it was here, then that meant…oh God. As her vision began to blur, her hand closed around the material and she choked back a cry. As the world began to spin, she put her hand over her mouth so she wouldn't throw-up. Her stomach, though it was empty, had never felt so nauseous. How she made it to the bathroom, she didn't know. But she found herself curved over the toilet as she insides gave way. Her body kept pushing for more but her stomach had nothing left to give. She collapsed across the porcelain rim, coughing with an impotent lack of strength, unable to will herself to move.