Chapter 6

Buffy and Drew walked hand in had through Central Park. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and Buffy had taken it off to spend time with her husband. "So, what did the doctor say?" Drew didn't say anything. "Drew?"

"Let's not talk about it today, Buffy. It's too beautiful." Drew said, squeezing her hand.

Buffy pulled away from him. "No. What's wrong? What did the doctor say?" Drew sighed and walked over to a bench to sit down. She walked over and stood in front of him. "Drew?"

"It's not good, baby. But we have options."

"I don't…. Options? What are you talking about?"

"Sit down."

"I don't want to."

"Please?"

Buffy sighed and relented. She sat down next to him and looked at him. "Drew, don't leave me hanging here. What's wrong?" Her voice was tight with unshed, worried tears.

"She said there's a tumor."

"What?"

"It's in my brain…. Buried pretty deep actually."

Buffy's breath hitched. "Can…. Can they…. Operate? Can they fix this?"

"She said there's no operating where this thing is. But there's always chemo to think about."

"Is it…." She couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Malignant?" Buffy nodded. "Yeah."

The tears finally started falling. "Drew…."

"Hey, don't give up hope now. We'll beat this. Medicine's really improved in the last few years."

She smiled bravely even though she didn't feel brave at all. "Yeah. We will."

Buffy and Angel sat in Central Park and watched the people go by. Buffy was on her lunch break, which Edie allowed her to take for however long she wanted. She'd been back to work for three weeks now and things were starting to feel normal. But that was Buffy's problem. She didn't think she should feel normal yet.

"Buffy, you can't feel guilty because your life is starting to move forward." Angel said.

"I know, but…." Buffy sighed. "For the last six years it was Drew and I. And I loved it. I let it completely consume me because he promised me he would never leave me. I knew he wasn't lying to me."

"You can't promise that."

"Drew did. And he meant it. I knew he would be with me forever." Buffy looked down. "Just another piece of evidence that my love life is not meant to be. Men never stay with me. They always leave."

"Buffy, I…."

Buffy stood up. "I should get back to work. Edie can't stand Rachel and she's ready to fire her when I'm not around." She picked up her purse and happened to see an elderly couple strolling down the path behind the benches. She felt a pang of sadness and jealousy go through her. "That's a real honest to goodness couple right there. They've probably been together since the flood." She snorted. "Humans are so arrogant, aren't we? So afraid of age, we do everything we can to prevent it. No one realizes what a privilege it is to grow old with someone. Someone who loves you for everything that you are and not just certain parts of you." A tear coursed down her cheek and she wiped it away.

Angel stood up. "Come on, let's get you a taxi."

"Oh, I've got the company car. I don't need a taxi."

"Aren't you the big shot?"

"No. Just…. Favored. It'll probably pass the minute I screw something up."

"You've worked there seven years, I don't think you could screw something up thatbad." Angel said confidently.

Buffy walked into the office and set her things down on her desk. She looked over at Rachel who was walking up to her with a worried look on her face. "Hey, is everything ok?" Buffy asked.

"Edie wants to see you." Rachel said.

"Ok." Buffy headed for Edie's office.

"Oh, she's not in there."

"Where is she?"

"She's up in the conference room."

"Ok. Why do I get the feeling I'm going to the guillotine?"

"I don't know, but the way she said 'when Buffy gets back, tell her I need to see her immediately', she sounded kinda pissed off."

"Pissed off? Was it something I did?"

"I don't know, Buffy. Oh, I hope you don't get fired! I can't handle Edie by myself again!"

Buffy smiled. "I'm sure it'll be fine." She headed back out of the office and stepped into the stairwell. She still wouldn't get on the elevator. It always reminded her of Drew since that's where they always met to go get lunch or to leave the office together.

What in the world could Edie want that was so serious?

The conference room was where the heads of each department in the magazine met to discuss the upcoming issue and what would go in it. Buffy had been in there a number of times and had even gotten to submit some ideas that Edie had loved and put in the magazine. The walls of the room were made of sound-proof glass and Buffy could see that Edie and the owner of the magazine, Edward Young, were the only two in the room. Edward Young was a conceited prick who thought the world revolved around him. If he was involved in a private meeting, it couldn't be good. She gulped and smiled at them as she opened the door.

"Buffy." Edie said.

"Hey Edie. Hi Mr. Young." Buffy looked at Edie. "Rachel said you needed to see me?"

"Yes. Have a seat." Edie gestured to the open chair across from her. Edward Young sat at the head of the table and the two woman were on either side of him now.

"I'm sorry, is something wrong? I just get this crazy feeling you're about to fire me."

Mr. Young laughed. "No, no, Miss Summers."

"Mrs. Turner."

He smiled arrogantly. "I thought now that you were single again, you'd revert to your maiden name. It's much more kosher when you're back in the dating scene."

"No. I love my husband and just because he's no longer with us does not mean I'm going to disrespect his memory by ditching his last name. And I'm not 'back in the dating scene', thank you."

"Very well. Mrs. Turner, Edie was telling me that since you've been back to work, you've done nothing but just that. Work."

Buffy glanced at Edie, but she was watching Edward. "Yes."

"We can't have you sulking in the office hiding from the world. Edie feels that you would be best suited to replace our party consultant. Which means that you would have to go out into the world. Are you prepared for that?"

"Wait, I'm confused. Are you trying to get rid of me or promote me?"

Edie laughed and her face broke out into a rare smile. "We're promoting you, Buffy!"

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. Chad, our party consultant, just turned in his month's notice. Edward came to me and asked me to find him someone to replace Chad and the first person I thought of was you."

"Me?"

"Yes."

"But I don't have any experience or training or schooling or…."

"You've been under me for seven years and you know what this magazine is looking for. I have the utmost confidence that I've made the right decision by promoting you."

"What about Rachel?"

"What about her? She'll be my full time assistant from here on out and she'll have to look for someone to help her out like she helped you."

"You hate her."

"Buffy, I hate everyone. Some more than others."

Buffy smiled slightly. "You don't hate me."

"Well, I think I've proved that by promoting you. But if you start spreading that around, I won't like you anymore and I'll have to fire you. Understood?"

"Yes."

Edward stood up. "Congratulations Buffy." He shook her hand. "If Edie believes in you and your work ethic, then I have to as well. Welcome to the team." He walked out.

Buffy looked at Edie. "And you, missy," Edie said. "Will have to get yourself a makeover."

"Why?" Buffy asked, looking down at herself.

"Don't get me wrong, Buffy. You're gorgeous. But you've lost a lot of weight and you've allowed your hair to into get a state of slight disrepair. We can't have our party consultant in front of the camera and meeting celebrities looking her worst."

"In front of the camera?"

"We're looking to revamp the party portion of our magazine and you're just the right face to do it with. We'll go over everything in our meeting Monday morning when we announce Chad's departure and your promotion." Edie stood up. "Right now, we're going to the spa for a day of relaxation to kick off the weekend."

"'We're'? As in…."

"You and me." Edie smiled again and Buffy was convinced that the Apocalypse was coming.

When Buffy got home late that afternoon, she found she was half excited and half upset by the promotion she'd gotten. Excited, obviously because this was a big opportunity for her, upset because Drew wasn't there to share the excitement with her. He would've thrown a big, blow out party for just the two of them. They would've stuffed themselves silly and drank enough alcohol to take down Andre the Giant. They would've danced all night long maybe at home or maybe even at a club.

Buffy sighed. She'd always managed to stay focused on the upside of a situation, but lately she'd only been able to see the down side of everything. She was tired of death. Death was stupid. It took people away from her that should've outlived her. She was starting to wonder if she'd be the first Slayer to outlive everyone else. It was starting to look like that.

The phone rang and Buffy picked it up. "Yeah?"

"Hey Buffy!" It was Cal.

"Hey Cal."

"Why so sad?"

"I got a promotion."

Cal chuckled. "Yeah, that's…. That's horrible."

"Don't mock me."

Cal stopped laughing. "Buff, that's great news! We'll have to celebrate tonight."

"Tonight?" There was a knock on the door and Buffy went to open it.

"Yes, tonight!" Cal hung up the phone and scooped her up into a big bear hug.

"I thought you weren't coming in until tomorrow."

"I caught an earlier flight." Cal grabbed his luggage and pulled it in the apartment, closing the door behind him. He looked around. "Wow, Gillian must've cleaned in here."

"That and I don't really do anything except sleep and work. I don't make much of a mess."

"Sleep and work? No wonder your hair looks so haggard."

"Why do people keep saying that?"

"Because it's the truth. But it's the chicest look for a ravishing widow such as yourself." He led her over to the couch and they sat down together. "So, what's new? Other than your promotion, that is."

"My promotion is pretty much it."

"Gotten any more letters from your hubby?"

"No." Buffy said sadly. She looked at him. "Did you help him set this up?"

"Me? No. I was just as surprised as you were that he planned all this without us knowing. We were with him 24/7."

Buffy sighed. "You seem chipper."

"Seeming and being are entirely different things."

"Wish I could act as good as you."

"You're not expected to." Cal sighed. "Look, this is the night of your big promotion! You shouldn't be skulking in this apartment! You should be out on the town drinking Cosmos and showing Carrie Bradshaw what it's really like to be a big shot fashionista in New York City!" He paused. "By the way, what did you get promoted to?"

"Party consultant."

"Oh, wow. What does that mean?"

"It means I have to get dressed in all the latest fashions, go to parties, mingle with people and celebrities, check everything out from the fashion to the food to the decorations, and then write about it all."

"Check you out! The chick version of your husband. I'm assuming you'll invite me to every one of the hot parties."

"Why should I?"

Cal huffed. "I am the events coordinator at a resort. I think I could be a consultant to the consultant."

Buffy laughed. "Of course I'll invite you. You could be my date."

"Just remember that I'm not easy. You have to wine me and dine me if you want to get in these pants."

"Oh! Speaking of pants…. Or rather, clothes." Buffy rushed upstairs and searched for Cal's Irish wool sweater and the box of things Drew had left him.

He appeared in the doorway to the guest bedroom and clucked his tongue at her. "What have you done, Buffy Turner? This room is the wreck of Hesperus!"

"Edie's been piling on the designer clothes and I'm running out of places to put them. My closet's full."

Cal opened the door to the guest bedroom's walk-in closet. "So is this one."

"Yeah and so are all the dressers." Buffy finally found the sweater in a bag on top of the box. "Here!" She handed him everything and they went back downstairs.

"This sweater is perfect, Buff!" Cal said, holding it up to him to look in the mirror over the fireplace. "Thank you!"

"Drew wanted me to tell you that ever since you came out you've slowly started to become cliché."

Cal laughed and looked away. Buffy knew he was tearing up. He missed his best friend. She went over and hugged him from behind and he turned around and held her as they cried together. Finally, Cal loosened his grip and looked down at her. "This is your big night. We're not supposed to be standing here crying our eyes out. Come on. You go get dressed in something wicked and we'll go out."

Buffy smiled. "Sure."

"We'll go to Marquee."

Buffy shook her head. "No way. I'm too old for that place now."

"Nonsense! You're only 30. Didn't you hear that 30 is the new 20?" He gently pushed her towards the stairs. "Go. Change. Look spectacular!"