What Are Friends For?

Chapter 3

Part 1

Buffy had been a patient at the asylum for two weeks and except for brief periods when she met with Dr. Jameson, a different doctor from the one who admitted her, she was kept sedated. Joyce had never met Dr. Jameson and every time she came to visit her daughter, Buffy was unconscious. At her last visit, Joyce told the admitting doctor that she would return in two days and at that time she wanted her daughter conscious, or else. She left the 'or else' condition open, but the doctor knew that Joyce Summers could cause considerable trouble for him if he did not comply with her demand.

The admitting doctor contacted Hank and asked him to come with his wife when she returned. He did not want to face Joyce alone when she saw the condition that Buffy was in.

Two days later Hank and Joyce arrived together and met with the admitting doctor.

"I'm very sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Summers, there is no response from her at all. She has reverted back into her make believe world and I don't know when, or if, she'll ever return to us."

He flashed the mini-light into Buffy's eyes again. "See?"

At long last Elizabeth roused from the drugs they had given her and pushed the doctor away. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop flashing that light in my eyes? You've taken everything else from me, are you trying to take my sight as well?"

"Buffy!" Joyce exclaimed. She was so happy to see her daughter awake and talking; she rushed to the bed and took Buffy in her arms.

At that moment Dr. Jameson entered the room, excused the admitting doctor and asked Buffy's parents to have a seat. Joyce declined the seat and stayed next to the bed with her daughter.

Part 2

When Dr. Jameson asked to speak privately with Hank, it did not occur to Joyce to be suspicious; she was too happy to see Buffy. Once the doctor and Hank left the room, Elizabeth begged Joyce to do whatever was necessary to get her out of the hospital. She was afraid that if her mother left her there one more night, they would never see each other again. She had been kept so thoroughly sedated most of the time since she was admitted to the hospital that she did not know how long she had been there or which doctors she could trust.

What she did know was the conversation that she remembered shortly after she first arrived. She heard her father's voice and the voice of the admitting doctor. Her father insisted that his daughter must have encountered some situation that was so traumatic for her that it caused her to have a split personality because Buffy would not otherwise be so disobedient and resentful, she would not have attacked him as she had before he had her committed. The doctor had been certain and reassuring; he had promised Hank that if Buffy did indeed have a split personality, with the current methods that they used, they could have her reintegrated in a matter of days.

Elizabeth was adamant about wanting to leave the hospital, but she had to be cautious. She could not let Joyce know that she was not Buffy.

Part 3

In the meantime, Dr. Jameson and Hank were speaking in the doctor's private office.

"As I informed you earlier, Mr. Summers, your daughter does not have a split personality; there are actually two distinct persons inhabiting your daughter's body. One of them is Buffy, the girl that you know as your daughter; she is kind, polite, gentle and loving, just as you described her. The other is Elizabeth. She is rude and belligerent; her only redeeming quality is her absolute loyalty to Buffy and her desire to protect Buffy.

"Most of the time Elizabeth is happy to play the secondary role; she will remain dormant until she feels that Buffy is threatened in some way. At such time she attacks like a lioness defending her cubs."

"Then why did she attack me? I came to say goodnight to my daughter and she attacked me."

The doctor looked at Hank with cold, steely blue eyes. "Oh come now, let's be truthful here, Mr. Summers; I know exactly what you did to your daughter. Buffy may have buried the memories so deep that she is not aware that it happened, but Elizabeth has not. That is when Elizabeth first reasserted herself, and it was to protect Buffy... from you."

"That's not true." Hank almost yelled at the doctor. "I was just coming to say good night to her."

The doctor's steady gaze did not waver; with one raised eyebrow and a most condescending voice, he asked, "At two-thirty in the morning?"

Hank knew he was caught in his own lies to the doctor. "I-I..."

"As of this morning I am releasing Buffy into her mother's care and I will expect regular reports from her on Buffy's well being. I will not inform your wife of what I know, but let me make myself very clear. If I hear anything from Mrs. Summers or from Elizabeth that might suggest that you have made any untoward action whatsoever against your daughter, I will personally press charges against you. I have recordings of every meeting that my staff and I have had with your daughter since she was brought here and I assure you, I can make the charges stick.

"Now," he asked with a contemptuous smile, "shall we rejoin your family?"