Chapter Twenty-Four
Author's Note: Thanks to Kristine for the review. I think I figured out a format that makes the chapter easier to read, let's see if it works! Let me know what you guys think of it.
Anyway, I was procrastinating this morning. Instead of finishing a paper for a class on Thursday I wrote another chapter. I hope you all enjoy. More is on the way soon! Thanks again for reading! LA
It was eleven-forty-three in the morning on New Year's Day. William walked through the front door of the Giles' house. He looked into the family room and saw four empty sleeping bags. It looked weird to him. "Hello? Anyone home?"
Just then Dawn emerged from the dining room. "William, your home! How was England?" Dawn inquired as she offered him a hug.
"It was nice. Christmas was good. Dawn, what's with the sleeping bags? Did you have a sleep over?"
"Yes, with Xander and Willow and Buffy. We just got up. Well, at least the three of them did. Everyone is in the kitchen, come on," Dawn explained cheerfully.
William walked into the kitchen with Dawn. He saw Buffy with two of her friends sitting at the table.
"Hi William, happy New Year," Buffy told him as she hugged him.
"Happy New Year," he said as he returned her hug. Her petite body felt smaller than the last time he hugged her.
"I was on my way to take a shower but when I come back down I want to hear all about your trip. Will you tell me about it later?" Buffy asked pulling out of their hug.
"Yes, of course," William agreed.
Buffy smiled as she left the room. Xander, Willow, William and Dawn made small talk until William heard the shower go on.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with her? She's so thin, she's all skin and bones," William expressed his concern.
"And she has so many bruises all over her body. I saw them when she was changing the other night," Dawn added.
"Is this still from him? Riley? Is he still doing this to her?" Xander chimed in.
"Wait, Riley her boyfriend?" Willow dumbfoundly questioned.
"Yeah her boyfriend," Dawn answered her.
"Xander," William began to talk, "I think you're right. I just wish we had some proof."
"What if we talk to her?" Willow asked.
"No, it won't work. She is always smiles when she talks about him," William answered.
"I got it!" Xander exclaimed as he bolted out of his chair. "What if we talk to her?"
"What?" Dawn and Willow both sighed.
Before Xander had a chance to explain, William jumped in almost angry. "What the hell? Aren't we listening to us?"
Wait, calm dawn for a minute. Why don't we do an intervention type of thing?" Xander began to explain.
"An intervention?" Dawn questioned.
"Yes. We can each talk to her about particular things. This way it shows we all care about her." Xander added.
"Don't you think she'd think we were ganging up on her?" Willow asked.
"Red is right," William began to say. "But I for one don't care if she thinks we're ganging up on her. She needs to hear this. I don't think this is a bad idea."
"Let me call Oz, he'll want to help out," Willow said as she grabbed the phone to call him.
Dawn hurried up to her room and grabbed pens and some paper. Each person outlined what they wanted to tell Buffy. Lucky for them she was still in the shower and always took a long time to shower, dress and to dry her hair.
Willow placed her call to Oz first. He at first didn't want anything to do with the idea. He was still hurt over Buffy not making the time for their friendship. Then Willow began to explain how Buffy looked and about how Dawn saw bruises all over her. Oz then felt guilty for alienating his friend. It was clear to him that his life long friend was definitely being battered. He agreed to work on his part and be at the meeting.
Oz arrived between the time Buffy finished showering and drying her hair. Without going into too much detail, everyone briefly said what they were going to discus with Buffy. Every single one of them knew that no matter how much they practiced their little speeches no one had a clue to how Buffy would react.
William sat alone in the family room and waited until Buffy came down the stairs. Everyone else was in the dining room.
"Hey," Buffy said as she sat on the other end of the couch.
"Hi," William simply replied.
"Where is everyone?" Buffy asked.
"They are in the dinning room. They-we all would like to talk to you about something," William honestly told her.
"All right," Buffy slowly commented. "Is everything all right?"
"I guess we're about to find out," William answered as they entered the dining room.
Buffy was a little shocked to see Oz sitting in a chair in her dining room. The last time they spoke involved a lot of yelling, crying and more screaming.
"What's going on?" Buffy questioned. "Is it mom and dad? Are they all right?"
"Joyce and Rupert are fine," William said looking at the floor. He then looked up and into Buffy's eyes. "This isn't about them, it's about you."
"Me?"
"Yes, you," Xander jumped in calmly.
"All right, what about me?"
"Buffy," Willow began, "we are all a little worried about you."
"Why?"
Silence filled the entire house. No one wanted to start first. Everyone looked at their pieces of paper.
"I guess I'll go," Oz volunteered. He took a deep breath and began. "You haven't been yourself lately, well, since school started. You don't go out anywhere with out Riley any more. Buffy, you have been my best friend since what seems like the beginning of time and you were always there for me. You haven't been there at all. I have had some pretty important things happen and you just haven't showed any interest in it and you know it hurts," Oz stopped for a moment. "But this isn't about me, it's about you. You're not acting like yourself. "
"I'm confused," Buffy said. "Why aren't I acting like myself?"
"Let me try," Xander said shifting from Oz's concerns to his own. "You have also been a really great friend to me. You have been there for me since you moved here. I think I know you pretty well, as does everyone in this room. I have also noticed you acting different and very un-Buffy like. Remember when I came home from Europe? Remember I showed up to your dorm and you went all crazy on me? You screamed and yelled at me and didn't treat me very nicely."
"But I apologized for that." Buffy began to defend herself.
"You did, but that still isn't the way you act, it's just not in your nature to act meanly. After my grandmother was buried you left in a hurry and really just made an appearance at the reception afterwards. I understand that you have school and you have a life outside of Sunnydale, but that isn't the way you act. You are a very caring and sensitive person, you don't act like that, and it's not part of who you are."
Before Buffy had a chance to say anything to Xander, Willow started her part. "Hey, I'm not going to jump into this conversation and say you have been acting this and that way. I don't know how you are acting. I've been on the other side of the country. We went from talking every other day to just a couple times a month. We have both been busy. We are in college; we are out experiencing things and living life. I can say that your tone in your voice has gone from being very cheerful and upbeat to always so sad. You never tell me what is going on in your life. You always change the subject back to me or have to get going then. I want you to know that I lied to you when I got off the plane last week. I told you that you looked really good. Buffy, you don't look good. You look sickly thin and so tired. I am really worried about you."
Tears were forming in Buffy's eyes. Her face turned red. "Really, there is no reason to worry about me. I am perfectly fine," she said offering a smile.
"Buffy," William started. "When I first came to Sunnydale last summer you were so much to be around. We had so much fun together. Remember the trips to the beach and out to the bars? Remember the last time?" He asked referring to the time when Buffy had gotten drunk. She was so embarrassed over that. A smile found its way to Buffy's face as she looked at the floor. No one else in the room knew what they were talking about but that was fine with him. He didn't have a long history with her like her sister and friends had. He had only seven months with her.
"We had fun," she answered.
"Yes, we did. I remember right before you moved into school. You told Rupert and your mum that you weren't excited about college but you told me you couldn't wait and you had all of these expectations." William paused looked at his folded hands and then looked Buffy directly in the eyes. "Where did that girl go? You aren't excited over things any more. You look like you are in pain and like Willow said; you have lost so much weight. I can think of one thing that has made you feel this way."
"And what is that?" Buffy asked.
Silence filled the house. Again, William looked at his folded hands. Still looking at his hands, he replied. "Riley."
Buffy started laughing. "Riley! You think Riley has done this to me? How would he possible make me loose weight and make me look so tired?"
"By hitting you." Dawn said quietly but loud enough for everyone to hear.
"What? Dawn where did you-"
"I saw the marks Buffy. I saw the bruises on your stomach and arms and back. When you were changing in my room and talking to me. I saw your face in the mirror. You looked like you were in so much pain and-" Dawn paused for a second. She had tears forming in her eyes but she held them back. She shifted the subject a little. "The way he treated you when William and I were at your dorm. Buffy, he went crazy. He was going to hit William."
Buffy was silent for a minutes. She saw how upset her sister was. She then walked over to her sister and hugged her. "Hey, Dawnie, Riley wouldn't hit me. He was going to hit William because he thought William was hurting me."
"But Buffy he was yelling at you and-"
"He was yelling at me because he was caught up in the excitement of what was happening. He thought I was being hurt." Buffy explained.
"Buffy, Anya told me that she hears you at night crying. She has seen your bed the next morning with blood on the sheets," Xander jumped in to save Dawn who was about to loose her composure.
"Xander, Anya doesn't like Riley; she would say anything for people not to like him. Let me straighten things out right now before this gets back to my parents. I am tired because I am so busy. I have classes all day and then I tutor and I have my committees that I belong to. When I am not on the run, I like to go to the gym and keep my body in shape. Then, with what little time I have I divide my time between school work and spending time with Riley. I am never in my room and I am always on the go.
"The loosing weight part of your concerns can be explained simply. I walk to all of my classes. As Oz can tell you some of those buildings are pretty spread apart. I walk everywhere and I forget to eat sometimes. The food is so bad at school. Really, you can't even tell the difference between a veggie burger and a hamburger, it's so bad, ask Oz," she said as she laughed. Then she looked at Oz.
"Oz, I am sorry I haven't been there for your performances or for any of the things happening in your life right now. I know some pretty big and important things have happened at these concerts. Every night of one of your performance I have had a major project due the next day. Most of the projects are oral presentation so I have to rest. I am really over whelmed by my school work. I'm sorry. If you allow me to, I will try to go see you over break if you are performing.
"Dawn, didn't Riley apologized over and over again to you and William for the way he acted? He didn't mean to get so angry. I can't believe you guys think that Riley is hitting me! Do you think I'd just sit there and take someone hitting me again and again and again? I don't think so. Dawn the bruises that you saw was from slipping on the stairs of Riley's frat house. I fell down basement stairs. They are wooden and not sanded right and that's were all of those ugly marks from my back came from.
"You guys don't know anything about Riley. He is a great person. He volunteers with under privileged kids. He is a big brother in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. Last summer he was in some third-world country helping them build a school. He went with his church. His family is ultra-conservative. These don't sound like characteristics of an abuser, do they?"
Silence filled the room as Buffy continued to keep her calm composure. Thank you all for being so concerned. I appreciate it. I want to ask you all not to say anything to my parents. I don't want thoughts put into their heads." She paused for a minute as she looked at the clock. One-twenty-three. "I am going to the store to pick up some things that mom wants for dinner, I'll be back in a bit," She said as she stood up, grabbed her purse and walked out the door.
"That went well," Xander mumbled.