Disclaimer: Not mine, except Alex :)
AN: Thanks to emeraldsorceress (thanks for feeling sorry for Angelus, I hope he will repay your kindness in "ways" lol), Imzadi (a girl after my own heart, you read my mind completely :) so happy!), Willow-189 (I feel for you girl, I hope you kicked some academic ass..:)), WarmTea (love your name! hope you'll continue to update!). Thank you all for your generous reviews:) Are there ppl who reviewed? cuz I don't think the review count matches the reviews page...mm...if not...ppl...you're lagging!
Chapter Eleven
As Buffy entered the inn, she noticed that the light was on in her room and that Jenny was coming out of it. Buffy rushed towards her, "Oh my God, is something wrong with Alex?"
"Mom!" Her eight year-old rushed out of the room in his PJs, "Where did you go? I was so worried! I thought you were gonna be like them." Alex burst into tears.
Buffy felt horrible, she hadn't thought that Alex would wake up and found her gone. She should have left a note, but she didn't know what to put down. She hugged on to her son tightly, apologizing over and over again, "Oh, Alex, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to leave you alone like this. I just had some errand to run. I'm sorry, I should have told someone where I was going." Buffy had tears in her eyes again from seeing her son so distressed. The mother and son held on to each other as tightly as they can.
Faith came out of the room, frowning at Buffy. When Alex found Buffy to be gone, he'd gone to Jenny and asked if she would call Faith to see if his mother was with her friend. She wasn't, but Faith was determined to look after Alex's well-being, so she drove out to be with him.
After Buffy carried Alex into the bedroom and tucked him in again. She stayed by his bedside because she knows that he's still feeling insecure, opening his eyes from time to time to check for her presence. It took nearly half an hour till Alex fell into a deep slumber again.
Still holding on to Alex's hand, she said, "Hi Faith, I'm sorry that you had to come down here." Her eyes strained by a whole night of incessant crying.
"What happened? Where did you go tonight?" Faith was curious, Buffy looked all dishevelled, her eyes were red, much too red than it should be comforting Alex, she looked like she'd just been tossed around like a puppet, or fought a nasty war or something.
"I went to see Angelus." She confessed.
"And?" Faith was worried, she had thought it would be something along that line,
"I told him that I know, that, he slept with Darla." She paused, taking a deep breath, "I think it's over," Giving Faith a weak smile, "I'll be getting that divorce."
Faith said nothing, but went to Alex's bedside where Buffy sat and enveloped her best friend into a big hug. Buffy reached out to her with one arm and cried softly as Faith comforted her in mourning of her marriage.
Buffy woke up cursing the fact that this was the day which she is to meet some of the most important people in her future life in LA. She mumbled as she dragged herself from the bed to wash up. She was not in a good mood, the lack of sleep, the dramatics of last night and, though she would not admit to herself, the final understanding that it really is over between her and Angelus, brought about a black mood she could not shake.
After taking out her smartest business appeal, which is a light buttery yellow suit completed with pencil skirt that emphasis the lines of her legs, Buffy quickly dressed and went to wake a grumpy son up for their trip into Sunnydale.
As they entered Sunnydale, they drove directly to a building on Main Street. When she decided to return to Los Angeles and contemplated staying permanently, she started to search for a career opportunity. Before leaving LA, before Angelus, she was just a kid. She met Angelus when she was a sophomore in UCLA and married him before she became a junior. She quitted school after 6 months, never getting her degree in Art History. Before everything, Buffy had wanted to pursue a career in running an Art Gallery, her mother's art gallery to be precise. Ever since her mother's death when she was a freshman, she'd wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps, and her previous summers being her mother's unpaid child labour for her gallery had became an advantage. Now, she's obviously not qualified for that sort of work. Luckily, she had found a new opportunity. She stepped into Magic Box Publishing, and alerted the receptionist that Miss Maclay's 11 o'clock appointment has arrived.
"Miss Summers?" A timid woman came to fetch her at the front desk.
"Yes, Miss Maclay?" Buffy puts on the best smile she can manage.
"Yes, please come with me?" The woman smiled warmly at her, making Buffy's stomach less agitated and hopeful that her new job might work out.
As they walked down the corridor, Tara Maclay showed them her cubicle but led them into a room conspicuously marked War Room on the door outside. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you Miss Summers."
"The pleasure's all mine, please call me Buffy. This is my son, Alex, I hope you don't mind that I brought him along, we have some other business in Sunnydale later."
"Oh, no, of course I don't mind. Hi, I'm Tara." She introduces herself.
"I'm Alex." Not shy at all, Alex introduces himself with a sparkling smile.
"So, let's get down to business. Can I get you something to drink first?" Tara moved to a small kitchen adjunct to the small conference room. "Hot chocolate? Coke? Tea?"
"Tea for me and I think hot chocolate for Alex would be great."
Tara brought in two cups of tea and a cup of hot chocolate on a tray. "So, I've talked to the Senior Editor, and he thinks that this is a great idea, and it's definitely going to sale. We're a small company, but we think we can do your travel book justice and we won't have to bring in a second investor."
Buffy beamed, "That's great! I've brought some pictures and writings of a couple of places that I think will be interesting."
"I can't wait to see them!" Tara smiled, "We're very honoured that you contacted us about publishing your travels, Miss Summers. Everyone's very enthusiastic about it after they've seen the pictures you've emailed us."
"I'm honoured that I'm publishing at all! I thought it was rather bold of me to just email you my proposal for a traveling book out of the blue." She pulled out a couple of yellow manila envelopes. "So, which country do you wanna look at first?" She read off the name she marked on the envelopes, "I brought, France, Denmark, Bhutan, Thailand, Czech Republic…"
"Wow." Tara was impressed, not only of the places where Buffy had gone, but that she was super-organized, it is gonna be a breeze working with Buffy Summers. "mm…what about Italy? We're thinking of doing something a bit more conventional first."
"Okay, but Italy's got a huge pile though. I spent quite some time there."
"Well, maybe we'll separate them into different books according to regions I guess." The two women chatted on about this future project, looking over the photos Buffy took and her scribbles of thoughts about Italy, and both felt relieved and sensing that this will be one of the best projects they've ever worked on.
After a light lunch in a sidewalk café, Buffy and Alex drove to a nice neighbourhood. They parked the car on the side of the curb, and walked to the doorstep of a nice, normal two-storey house with green rooftop and a small and neat garden. The mother and son looked at each other for strength, holding hands, Buffy rang the door bell.
The door was answered by a red-haired woman, it swung open cautiously. "Can I help you?"
"I'm looking for Willow Rosenberg? Dr. Willow Rosenberg?"
"I'm Willow, sorry, do I know you? Are you from the university or the hospital?"
"Oh, no. um…I'm Buffy Summers." She put her arm around her son's shoulders, "This is Alexander Bill Harris."
TBC...
