Learning Curve by Suzee
A quick note before the chapter, I put up the right version of Chap 1 after I realized I'd posted the unedited one, thanks to those that pointed it out.
b Chapter 2: He Won't Do It /b
"William, how was the interview? It was yesterday afternoon, was it not?"
"Buffy was the one that told you about the job, right?" William asked
instead of directly answering his uncle's question.
"Yes, isn't she a dear. I tutored her some in history while she attended
here, very bright girl." Giles couldn't understand why William wouldn't
just tell him how the interview had gone, "But son, do tell me how the
interview went."
"Well, Buffy was sweet, I guess-"
"What do you mean you guess? She's lovely." Now he was really confused,
he'd just seen Buffy a few days ago and she'd seemed like the same sweet
girl she'd been years ago; what was William on about?
"She was only in the room for about two minutes but she was sweet
for those two minutes. But I'm not so sure about her being bright--she
married a moron."
"Oh certainly not, maybe you just misinterpreted some tings."
"Come on Rupes!" William was starting to get exasperated with his
father's constant defense of Buffy. It was like she could do no wrong,
like she was his golden child, but "She's not your daughter, even if you
are acting like it." Not giving Giles a chance to dispute what
he'd just said William soldiered on, his voice getting slightly louder.
"The Buffy Summers you knew might have been a perfectly wonderful girl,
but there's no way that she can still be that girl after marrying an oaf
like she did. Buffy Summers-O'Connor is obviously a very different
person than Buffy Summers. It was obvious, dad, that she lets him do
whatever he wants, I mean he basically dismissed her and she just went
along with it. Now maybe it's just happened that over the last six or so
years he's broken her down to that or maybe she was just weak to begin
with, I can't really tell since I didn't know her before. But the way
Liam treated me and the way he spoke about his wife and his daughter,
add to that the way Buffy follows his every word and I don't think I can
work in that house. Not only would I go insane, but it would go against
everything I believe in, to teach that little girl by that man's
standards. There's no way I could do that."
"Come on, son, it's not like you'd be leading some cult or another,"
Rupert really wanted his son to have the chance to see that he was wrong
about Buffy, "Just teaching a six-year-old the way her father wants her
to be taught. You can do that."
"But he shouldn't have to." Both men were surprised when they heard the
feminine voice from the other side of the room, neither having heard
Buffy come in to the library. "I could tell yesterday that you hadn't
really been impressed by what Angel said, but I didn't know you were
that opposed to taking the job. He's really that bad?"
"No, he's not that bad." William knew he was lying (and so did everyone
else in the room), but he just, for some reason, couldn't let Buffy
Summers think her husband was that bad of a person. Even if he was.
"Really, he's not," he added when she looked incredulously at him, "I
just don't have the same views on things as he does so I don't think I'd
be able to teach Samantha the way he wants her to be taught. Or the
things he wants her to be taught. And I'd rather not have getting fired
on my résumé so I'll not take the job and that'll solve that."
Buffy could tell he was trying to be respectful, to her or her husband
she couldn't tell, though. "Don't play dumb Mr. Giles; I heard what you
said to your father before I came in here. You think I'm some kind of
idiot for marrying him and that Sam and I deserve whatever we get
because of it, right?" William at least had the tact to look ashamed.
"And I know that Angel told you that I took education classes in college
and I also know that you know I didn't get your name from St. Luke's
like I told my husband. Am I getting things right so far?" William only
nodded, not sure where she was going with this. "And I heard Giles tell
you that he thought I was smart. So add together that I'm not an idiot,
IQ wise at least, with the fact that I have nearly a degrees worth of
education classes and it would make sense that I could teach my own
daughter. But see I did marry Angel, which was my choice not Sam's
by the way and since he's not letting me teach her, I need to do all
that I can to see that she gets an education that won't turn her into
her father.
This has probably left you wondering why I married Angel, but that's not
something I'm going to go into at the moment. And I know that I'm not
necessarily being the most eloquent person ever, but, well I didn't have
this planned very well. I guess what I want you to know is that I don't
want Angel choosing who educates my daughter, I want to be the one
making that decision. And I have, I chose you--and he did too, granted
it was with a bit of wrong information, but he wants you to teach her,
too William. So what's the problem?"
Sure, she'd had a good argument, but she'd still missed his main point,
"The problem is," William snippily began, "that your husband also made
it quite clear that he was the one in charge of his daughter's
education, not you, no matter how much you wanted to be." He knew he was
sounding like an asshole, but the woman just wasn't getting it, "And
sweetheart, it doesn't matter how much you want me to teach her
certain stuff, if he's the one making sure that I teach her
things. He's going to know what I teach her and how. And that, my dear
will get me fired."
"There's one thing you can trust me on," Buffy knew she was going to
sound like a complete bitch, but she didn't care, she needed to convince
him to teach her daughter, "when it comes to Sam, or me for that
matter," she laughed humorlessly, "follow through is something that
Angel is not familiar with. If he kept up with things regarding my
daughter and I half as much as he does with those cases of his, he would
know that you're not from St. Luke's for one. But he doesn't so when he
says he'll be in charge of what you teach Sam, it's basically going to
be a conversation of, 'is Buffy telling you what to teach her?' 'No'
'Okay is Buffy doing any of the teaching?' 'No' 'Sounds good, you're
teaching her all the right stuff and she's doing well?' 'Yes' 'Good job,
William, maybe I should pay you more.'
He's not going to ask you for any proof he's never going to sit in on
you or anything. He's never even going to be there, hell he probably
won't even ask you anything after a week or two. Please, William, if you
don't do this, he's going to send her to that damned boarding school."
Exit bitchy Buffy, that apparently never really showed up and
enter weepy Buffy. "I can't lose my daughter like that, sure he says I
can visit her whenever I want, but that's not going to happen, he's
going to drag me to all these work parties and then when I do actually
have time, they won't let me see her-I looked into it, I'll only be able
to see her between 8 and 9 at night, what kind of crazy schedule is
that. My baby needs to go to bed at 8 o'clock for Christ sake. And I've
seen Angel's family. They were all sent to those kinds of boarding
schools, I've seen how they came out. I can't have my little girl being
taught that her main purpose in life is to get married and give some man
heirs to his family fortune."
William hated to see a woman cry, but he still didn't really think he
could do it, there was still too much that wasn't for sure. And who knew
how much of what she'd said she actually meant. All of those rich trophy
wives were drama queens weren't they? "I'm sorry Buffy, I just can't do
it, I'm sure you'll figure something out."
"You know I'm this close to telling you to go fuck yourself. But since I
know who your father is and what he said about you, I'm going to try
just one more thing." Buffy really was about to tell him where to stick
it, but something told her that she needed him to be the one that
taught her daughter. "I'm going to be back in twenty minutes. Don't you
dare go anywhere. Giles," what she had just said to his son seemed to
flood her mind as she turned and looked at the older man, looking
contrite she amended what she was going to say, "I'm sorry about the
language and the yelling and everything." Once he'd assured her, with a
look, that it was okay, she continued, "Would you make sure he doesn't
leave, please."
"Sure, Buffy." Giles ignored the look his son was giving him and smiled
at Buffy, "I'll make sure he stays right here, but make sure it is
twenty minutes or it might become a tad difficult."
"Thanks Giles and I promise twenty minutes." Buffy turned and left the
library, ignoring what William called after her.
"What are you doing?" William was starting to think he'd missed
something. He had no idea what was going on, but it seemed like Buffy
was very sure of what she was doing and that it was somehow going to get
him to take the job.
'What could it be?' he though, 'more money, something to bribe me with,
maybe her husband to prove to me again what an ass he is?'
TBC :-) Please Review. Thanks to SoulNyte, Caitie, Charlene, Elanor, and Mari for reviewing.
A/N: I thought I should also let you know that I'm going to be updating the chapter on my Livejournal (Suzee05) a day early and they might be firiends only. So if you want to read the chapters a day early, head on over to my LJ and friend me.