Title of Chapter: Showdown
Author's Note: As promised, a monthly update.
Note 2: HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!! Make sure you keep those New Year resolutions. Conviction is the key. Take me for example, my resolutions are as follows:
Get Usher to ask for my hand in marriage
If that fails, get Alexis Denisof to propose to me, or ya know, I can do the proposing. It's the double 0's and all.
Go to the gym (this coincides with the two above). Need to look my best when the marriage proposal happens.
Refrain from Spike hate, grant it, I doubt, for me at least, that that will ever happen, but hey, it's the New Year and I'll try.
And last but not least, be the first in line to buy ticket to see "Serenity", then returned 10 more times to see the movie again.
Note 3: Thanks to all that have reviewed. Queenie, you should know by now. Spike is a delude-er. In fact, he's deluded altogether. (Crap! See, there goes my new years resolution number 4. Oh well, can't keep em' all I say. )
Psst! Go Read the "Cheekiad". Important message there for all. It will save your life and the lives and peace of mind of millions of others.
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Chapter 10
Getting up, his father standing upright once again as to remove himself from his sons ascend, Spike looked at his father with curiosity. "When do you care about who I snuggle up to?" asked he.
Leaning his backside comfortably on the edge of the desk, William Preston crossed his arms about his chest and looked directly into the eyes of his son. "Don't question me. Just do as I say", resoluteness soaking into each syllable of his words.
With an arch of the eyebrow, the scar above his eye slightly becoming invisible by the angle of his expression, Spike crossed his arms, a reflection of the man who raised him, and responded with as much resolve in his voice as he could muster. "No problem, but not before you tell me why"
"It's complicated," William simply said, removing his weight from the desk, to walk over to where Spike stood. "Not to mention, none of your business. I'm telling you to stay away from Buffy Summers. I fail to see the difficulty in that. I tell you something and you do it," he finished with a fierce headstrong tone, one that would make the knees of the most competitive of men quiver. Spike knew this tone and he knew it well.
Spike looked at his father hard. Events of the past running in his head. His father had spoken to him with that edge to his voice and that serration peaking through the back of his orbs on only a few occasions. One in particular, ramming its way into Spike's thoughts. He was 15 years old, wild beyond comprehension. Never went to classes, hung out with the wrong crowd, a rebel without a cause, or so he would boast. His father had been furious; tried every persuasive technique he knew to get his son to change his ways. Failing to force reason upon Spike, he sat him down, looked at him the way he was looking at him now, spoke in the tone he was speaking now, slapped him at his audacity to talk back disrespecting-ly, and told him that he was being shipped off to England. "Boarding school will do you some good". With that, he had walked away, leaving his assistants to deal with the aftermath. The next time Spike would talk to his father was 3 years later when he returned home, complete with a new outlook on life, an accent and a vocabulary that was eccentric enough that it fitted his personality perfectly.
Standing there, Spike slowly came out of his reverie. "Yeah. I get it. I'll stay away from blondie", he said, all defensiveness lacking in his tone and walked out of the office.
Sighing, William watched Spike's retreating form, then turned, walked over to his desk, picked up the phone and dialed a number. He waited impatiently as it rang and when a female voice picked up on the other end, he didn't wait for a greeting and just jumped in. "Hank Summers please"
--
Hank Summers sat in his office, a ton of paperwork piled in stacks on his desk. He looked up and smiled at his secretary standing only a few feet away, a smile as bright as his own etched on her face as well. She stood, a fitted skirt clinging to the curve of her hips, her blue laced blouse tucked into the skirt; 2 buttons from the top undone, revealing a hint of cleavage, her fingers curling a strand of her blonde hair.
"Mr. Summers, a Mr. Preston is on the line for you", she told her boss in what could only be described as seductively.
Seductively was not a word or action Hank Summers minded one bit when it came to females, attractive ones like Darla to boot. He welcomed her every advance with merriment and flirted back ever so subtly.
"Thank you Darla", he said picking up the phone and watched intently as she turned from him and walked out of his office, her hip swaying from side to side by design. His focus on matters at hand returned with the disappearance of his secretary's form out of view. With the phone to his ear he spoke. "Hank, so nice of you to finally get back to me", he said, a hint of sarcasm and disdained mingling as one.
He listened, picked the nearest folder off the top of the nearest stack on his desk, opened it and proceeded to scribble information down. "Yes, I'm listening, go on"
He continued to listen, filed through the remaining papers in the folder opened on his desk, closed it, pushed it aside and removed yet another folder from the nearest pile, opened it and filed through it. He went through 4 or 5 folders before he spoke into the phone once more.
"So I can expect her home sometime soon then," Hank Summers said
He listened
"Uh huh. And you think that will work?"
He listened
"So she has no clue then?"
"Good. Splendid actually. My day could do with a bit of good news I'd say," Hank sighed, relief evident in his slouch. "So, William, tell me, how is that son of yours…"
The two men exchanged pleasantries over the phone for a few minutes after, before the conversation was ended. Hanging up the phone, Hank paged his secretary and a second later, there she stood in his office, eying him with want. "Do me a favor and cancel all my meetings for today and tomorrow".
--
Buffy Summers stood at the entrance to the infant ward in Preston Hospital. She had woken up that morning with resolve to finish out the task she came to this town to do and then leave as soon as possible. Get as far away from Angel as she could manage. The day before on the car ride he'd offer her back to the hotel, she came to a shocking realization. She was falling for Angel hard. Hard and fast. Though if Buffy was completely honest with herself, she'd fully confess to have already fallen for Angel. She was his long before she realized it.
Sighing, Buffy took a deep breath and pushed open the swinging doors. She headed over to the front desk, smiled at the receptionist there and said "Hi, um, I was wondering if Valrose Dallen was around", she finished a bit shaky.
The young woman, around the same age as Buffy herself, returned the smile and said "Yes, she just came in".
Exhilaration slowly crept throughout her entire body making her tingle with nervous energy. "Oh wow, that's great. Do you think I can talk with her? I just need to ask her a few questions", Buffy told the woman behind the desk.
"Sure, can you just hold on one second while I go in the back and get her", the receptionist told Buffy before disappearing behind another pair of swinging doors.
Buffy waited, fiddling with the sleeves of her shirt, looking about taking in her surroundings. She glanced to the swinging doors she came though moments earlier and her eyes caught a glimpse of bleach blonde through the glass of the doors. 'Spike' she thought and trotted over to the door, pushed it open and called out his name.
He turned around, surprised to see her. "Buff… what are you doing here?" he asked a bit taken back.
"Nothing, just came to speak to a friend", she lied. "What are you doing here", she returned.
"If I said I was sick, could I count on you to…", his words faded and his demeanor suddenly changed. "Listen, I'm in a real hurry, so I'm gonna head out", he rattled off, never answering her question and walked away.
She stood in his mist, and watched his form disappear from sight, perplexed at the recent and very out of character, for Spike at least, exchange. No come on, no rude remarks, no arrogant disposition. Something was up and though she was curious to find out what it was, she dismissed it all together and re-entered the infant ward.
As if in perfect sequence, just as Buffy returned to the front desk, two women emerged from the swinging doors. One she had already met and a new person, one she concluded having to be Valrose. Valrose was older in age, quite so. A bit plump… all over, dark brown hair, cut short that made her face seem less rounded, reached the same height as Buffy and had a warm smile.
Buffy met the two women half way, extended her hand in shake and introduced herself. At the reveal of her name, Valrose blanched and her face whitened a few shades. "I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?" Buffy asked confused.
Valrose regained her composure, and forced a smile upon her face. "No, um… I ate something earlier that didn't sit well", she offered in explanation. The young receptionist left them and returned to the front desk. Valrose smiled awkwardly and waited for Buffy to say something.
Introducing herself yet again, Buffy went on. "I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions. See, I think you might have been the midwife at my birth and I was just wondering if you had any recollection of my mother's name possibly or anything at all you could tell me about my birth", Buffy finished, delving into the insides of her purse and emerging with the slightly crumpled adoption papers in her hand. Pushing the piece of paper into Valrose's hand, she talked on. "That's my adoption papers". Pointing to a specific area on the paper, she continued again. "See, right there… that's your name… Dallen, Valrose. See, and underneath, the lawyers name that took care of my adoption. It's kinda faded and hard to read so I can't really decipher the name, but I was hoping you might know who he is". She pointed to another area on the adoption paper again and recommenced. "And on top, you'll see the town where I was born, which is this town and…"
"Buffy is it", Valrose interrupted suddenly. "I would really like to help you out. You seem like a nice young girl, but I think you have me confused with someone else. I only became a midwife recently, so it's impossible for me to have delivered you. I'm really sorry"
Buffy's face fell and she looked at Valrose, uncertainty sprinkled on her features. Valrose looked at Buffy with sadden eyes and wanted desperately to tell her everything she knew, if only because it was the right thing to do, but she needed her job. Didn't want to anger her boss in the least, so if lying was what she needed to do, then lying was what she would do. "I'm really sorry. I really do wish I could have helped", Valrose told Buffy, before turning on her heals and heading back towards the swinging doors.
Remembering something suddenly, Buffy ran and tapped Valrose on the shoulder before she escaped her view. Valrose turned to see the petite blonde, hand at her hip ready for a face off. "You said you just recently became a midwife, but that can't be. You delivered Tara, who happens to be my age, so either you have really, really, really bad memory, is suffering from Alzheimer's, or you're basically lying to my face."
"Wha…"
"Now before you invent another lie and stand there and lie to me yet again," Buffy interjected, "let me just say this. I don't really care why you feel that you need to keep what you know from me, but you see, I came here with a friend in hopes of finding you, finding out any bit of information I can on who my parents-- biological parents are. I've had to lie to my father, my boyfriend, deceive them so utterly because this… what I'm here for, is worth all that", Buffy spat, her voice raised to a level she was completely unaware of, the receptionist now taking notice, looking at the two inquisitively, a few other nurses peeking their heads out of doors looking on as well.
Buffy's emotions spiraled on the brink of unruly. She was screaming now, a trail of tears making their way down her cheek. "My boyfriend may never talk to me ever again for things I've done since I've come to this damn town, and my father feels as if I've betrayed him by coming here… and you're telling me that I went and did all that for NOTHING? I've ruined those relationships, precious relationships for NOTHING? Is that what you're trying to tell me? Is it Valrose?" she finished emotionally exhausted and drained physically.
Valrose looked at the tiny blonde in complete disarray, then raised her head slightly, looked around, completely embarrassed as she noticed her friends and acquaintances all looking at her scandalized and hoping to get an explanation. Focusing on Buffy once more, she put a hand to her back and proceeded to usher her out of the infant ward altogether and away from the watchful eyes of so many.
Feeling the sudden contact of another, Buffy swirled, swinging her hand to swat away the hand that rested on her back. "I can find my way out thank you', she growled, and continued to walk in the direction she was just recently being ushered.
Valrose followed and when the two were in the lobby, she made a desperate plea for forgiveness. "Buffy, I'm sorry. I really am. I want to help you, more than you know, but I can't"
Buffy swung around. "What do you mean you can't?" anger replacing her emotional exhaustion. "There are a lot of things people can't do… live forever, fly, eat 20 beef tacos and then not have to shit afterwards, but last I remember, telling the truth wasn't one of them. That is something people can do, and in fact, when in doubt, should do. Grant it, I'm not the best example of this technique, but logical thinking isn't a friend of mine at the moment and I don't really give a damn. All I care about right now, is you telling me what I want to know", Buffy concluded, her arms folded at her chest and then added "So, what's it gonna be"?
To be continued…
You'll have a new chapter before January is out.