Chapter Four
Later that day Xander and Willow stopped by to talk more about their babies and the generalness of life. Willow ended up leaving early to go type up a history paper so they could hang out later. Buffy and Xander were taking their usual procrastination approach and decided to walk around Sunnydale.
"So Cordelia actually took it on a Saturday? Forgive me while I faint," Buffy said. Her baby however was being carried in some weird strap type thing that went around the front of her body. She didn't bother asking why her mom had one that looked so new.
"Apparently her and 'the girls' are gonna go shopping."
"For the dolls?"
"Buffy, she offered to free me from the thing, I wasn't gonna ask questions."
"Point taken." They continued down the street, passing all the small businesses that lined the streets. Buffy paused when she looked in a window and saw Spike sitting by himself at a table in a coffee shop. "You've gotta be kidding me."
"Buffy?" Xander asked. He looked at the direction of her gaze and cautiously walked towards the window. "Is that?"
"I can't believe him! He says he can't take the baby, when it's his turn to do so, because he needs to sit in a coffee shop?!"
"Uh, Buff." Xander redirected her attention to Spike, who was now joined by a woman. She sat with her back facing them.
"That little home wrecker!" She turned angrily to head inside but Xander quickly stood in her way.
"Uh, I don't think that's a good idea Buffy."
"Why not?"
"Because you're in a very angry place right now and why are you so mad about this?" Xander wondered.
"Because a date is no reason to ditch this project."
"But you're already stuck with the thing anyway so why go in there and annoy the Annoying One more?"
"Because I'm angry and irrational right now and it seems like a great idea."
"No, Buffy, I can't-" Xander tried stopping her by continually stepping in her way but she acted like she was going one way and then whizzed around him.
Buffy walked inside nonchalantly and called out, "Spike. Interesting running into you here."
Using "shock" to explain the look he was wearing doesn't' even cover the foundation for this emotion. "Buffy, what're ya doin' here?"
"What, I can't drink coffee? It's nice to see you decided to ditch our daughter to go on a date with-" Buffy's words froze in her mouth when she noticed the forty something woman's face. She questionably looked from the woman, back to Spike.
"Buffy, this is my mom. Mom, this is Buffy. We're partners for a health project."
"Oh, nice to meet you." She offered her porcelain hand to Buffy, who, still dazed, gently shook it. "I'm Anne."
"Anne? Really?" The woman nodded with a genuine smile on her face. "That's my middle name."
"Well how about that. Buffy Anne. That's very pretty. Your mother has good taste." They shared a small laugh.
Buffy's throat tightened when she noticed Spike's head was hanging low. She quickly said, "Uh, I gotta go because my friend is waiting for me outside. But it was nice to meet you Anne and Spike, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah."
"Okay." She awkwardly grinned and quickly left the shop.
"How'd it go?" Xander quickly asked.
"Bad." Buffy took a breath. "It's his mother."
"His mother?"
"Yeah. I just bombarded on his visit with his mother." She slammed her back against the outer wall of the next store over. "I am such an idiot."
"Come on Buff, I'm sure it wasn't that bad."
His friend's gaze remained on the cement sidewalk. Her eyes were beginning to tear up so she took a deep breath to help calm herself. "Let's head back to my house."
They quietly ambled back down the street towards the safety of the Summers' household. Joyce was MIA but there was a note taped to the banister. "Buffy, your father called and said he won't be able to make it at 9 but he'll come get you at 5. I'll be home by 6. Love, Mom." Buffy crumpled up the note and went to the kitchen to throw it out.
"At least he's still coming," Xander assured her.
"Huh? Oh, yeah." Her baby started crying for the third time since their walk. Buffy removed the bottle from her jacket pocket and put it against its plastic lips.
"You want me to baby-sit her for awhile?" Xander offered.
"No. Thanks. With my luck that's when Mr. Daniels decides to observe me- do we know how this works yet? How does he know if something were to happen?" Buffy questioned.
"I think Willow said something about a chip in its head."
"Like a computer chip?"
"I don't know. I unconsciously tune out when I hear all those big words I don't understand."
"Oh good, then it's not just me," Buffy confessed.
For the rest of the afternoon they hung out in Buffy's room watching old movies from her mom's "classics" collection. They were nearing the end of the second one when there was a knock on the door. "Rock paper scissors?" Buffy offered. Xander held out his fist, silently agreeing. They wordlessly counted "one, two three" and then threw out scissors and rock. Xander rolled his eyes and got up. As he did so the baby started crying which made him quickly leave before she would try playing him for who would take care of it.
Xander opened the front door and revealed his red headed best friend of over a decade. "Willow, nice to see you're still a slutty teenager," he said in comment to the baby.
"Believe me, it's not easy trying to hide one of these things from my mother."
"You could just tell her it's a project for school." Willow looked at him like he hadn't known her for very long. "Good point." He shut the door behind her and started heading up the stairs. "We're watching bad movies upstairs."
"Goody," Willow rejoiced.
The rest of the night they hung out in Buffy's room laughing about old stories and making food in the kitchen. They made sure to leave the babies in the living room so they wouldn't accidentally catch fire.
The next morning, around 5, Buffy was dressed in fitted, white washed jeans and a white, long sleeved shirt that revealed her shoulders. She had her hair in a bun so it wouldn't get in her mouth as she ate her cereal. "So how did the rest of your night go?" Joyce asked. She was dressed in a tan, flowing skirt and black sweater.
"Good. The babies were pretty quiet and we watched a couple of those 'classics' you have hidden in your room. You know, most teenagers expect to find old dirty magazines or something more disturbing, but you give me movies."
"Disappointed?"
"Extremely relieved actually."
"Just don't go looking in the back of my closet." Joyce smiled as she walked into the living room with her cup of coffee.
"Ew, mom!" Buffy ate the last mouthful of cereal and placed the bowl in the sink. She made her way through the dining room and towards the stairs as the doorbell rang. She turned around and answered it. "Spike."
"Buffy."
"Uh, hold on, I'll go get her." She headed up the stairs while Spike stood in place on the porch.
Joyce got up and walked to the door. "Hello Spike. You want to come in?"
"No thanks Mrs. Summers. Fine here."
"All right." Joyce headed back to the living room as Buffy descended the stairs with the carrier.
"Here ya go." Buffy offered the infant to the unkittish bleach blonde.
"Still in one piece. Good job Summers."
"Thanks." Spike started to walk away but Buffy stepped outside and shut the door. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I thought you were on a date."
"I was."
"You know what I mean. Can ya blame me?"
"Already do," he retorted.
"Whatever, have fun with her," Buffy said, giving up on trying to be civil.
"She left. Went back to England."
"I meant the baby."
"Ya know people are actually namin' these things?" Spike said, in no way suggesting anything.
Buffy folded her arms and leaned against the door. "Yeah, my friends sadly included in that statistic."
"Figures."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.
"That means they named their little Cabbage Patches."
"Why does that figure?"
"You're not exactly friends with the highest on the lack-of-humidity scale."
Buffy pushed herself off the door and took a step closer to Spike. "You're starting to cross a line English patient."
"Oooo, scared." Spike smiled and walked to his black Tracker.
Buffy anxiously waited for five o'clock to roll around. She helped her mom dust, so dishes and even clean out the refrigerator. Unfortunately her mother was called into work at ten to five. "I'll be home as soon as I can." She put on her coat as her daughter waited in front of the steps for her to leave. "I love you." She kissed her on the forehead and headed out.
The next ten minutes went slowly and Buffy reacted to every car that drove down her street, which was surprisingly more than usual. It was like the world knew she was waiting for her father and they were all directed to drive down her street.
It was now 5:23 and Buffy was becoming even more anxious. She had been picking at her fingernails for the last ten minutes, occasionally glancing out the living room window. Suddenly the phone started ringing and Buffy pounced on it. "Hello?.. Hi Dad. Where are-… Oh… No, I understand… Yeah, some other time… Love you too. Bye." Buffy placed the phone back on the hook and stared at it for a moment, hoping he would call back and say there was a mistake and he was free to take her dinner after all.
Sadly that didn't happen within the next five minutes. The tears came slowly at first, only one every now and then, but then she continually thought about what had just happened and they came in a steady stream. She fell onto the couch and curled up into a ball. She tightened her arms around one of the pillows to try and decrease the noise of her sorrow.
A car pulled up in front of the house and she quickly stopped her gasps for air. She sat up and looked outside, seeing headlights, paused on the street in front of her house. "Dad?" she whispered. She tossed the pillow on the couch and ran to the door. Instead of seeing the figure of her father approaching, it was Spike making his way up the path. "What do you want?"
Spike was going to make a smart-ass comment but stopped when he noticed her slightly running mascara and red eyes. "What's wrong?"
"I don't want to talk about it." She left the door open and staggered to the couch.
He followed her in, shutting the door quietly in the process. "Did something happen?"
"I don't want to talk about it." She tried to hide the fact that she was wiping under her eyes in attempt to conceal her already known grief. She inhaled deeply and faced him. "What do you want?"
His mind froze. He had come to drop off the baby but he couldn't think of anything to say. "Uh, I came to tell ya I'm gonna keep Melanie all tomorrow, so I won't see ya at lunch."
"Who's Melanie?"
"The baby."
"You named her?"
"Well I was getting tired of callin' her 'it' so I named her." She was looking at the floor and biting her bottom lip. Spike decided to end this little session before she needed a shoulder to cry on. "I'll see ya tomorrow Summers." He waited a couple seconds for some sort of response and left without receiving one.
As the car drove off Buffy whispered, "Bye." She grabbed the same pillow cushion she had before and cradled it in her arms until her mother came home.