Chapter 43: Christmas Tales, Part One
Author's Note: Once again you awe me with your reviews. Thank you all so much. I'd answer them all immediately but I'm in a writing craze and assume you'd prefer a new chapter before my responses. I hope you do anyway, or I've got some 'splainin' to do. :-) This chapter is in two parts because it's just too long for one. I did want to point out the timeline here, as in a story as long as this, posted in chapters over time, it's easy to think more time has passed than has actually done.
Saturday, Dec 11th the police came.
Monday, Dec 13th was the trial
Thursday, Dec 16th she met Giles etc at school
Saturday, Dec 18th she visited Katie and went to the Bronze
Monday, Dec 20th was the first drug meeting
Tuesday, Dec 21st was her first date
Wednesday, Dec 22nd she talked to Willow
Thursday, Dec 23rd Willow talked to Spike
Friday, Dec 24th she talked to Spike
Saturday, Dec 25th is -- now
So as you can see it hasn't been long at all. Just something to keep in mind when reading. Thanks again for your wonderful support.
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Saturday Christmas Day The roast beef was perfection, the potatoes, the oysters, the carrots -- all beautifully presented within their special serving dishes, and each guaranteed to be as tasty as it was inviting to the eye. She had outdone herself this year, and as she ladled the gravy into it's special boat, she felt proud that she was able to play hostess again for her family on Christmas Day.
*Belch...Ahhh...*
Well, most of them, anyway.
Joyce grimaced and turned to see Darlene's latest husband rummaging around in her refrigerator for a beer. She scowled at his back. He'd been told several times that there was no beer in the house, but he kept returning to the refrigerator for one in the apparent belief that if you wished something to be true often enough it might magically appear before your very eyes.
Carl straightened up and shut the door with a sigh, turning to see Joyce frowning in his direction. "Well, it
is Christmas," he offered by way of explanation, his gravelly voice showing just a hint of humor. "Jesus turned the water into wine, am I right?" He winked at her and ambled off in the direction of the powder room.
She just shook her head. What was her sister thinking with this one?
"This is a lovely meal, Joyce." Hank pronounced from the head of the table, toasting her with his water goblet. The others present raised their goblets also, and she smiled proudly as she gazed at her family seated around the table. Now
this was a holiday.
"And a toast to my poor Faithie, wherever she is, that she has a good Christmas too," Darlene added.
Hank shifted his gaze back over to Joyce.
"Well, if 'Faithie' had just kept her nose out of other people's business, we might have Buffy here with us this year also," Joyce declared under her breath with a brittle smile.
"Uh, how about that roast? You wanna cut me off a thick slice there, Hank? I been smellin' that for hours." Carl interposed, leaning forward with his elbows on the table, hoping to distract the ladies from confrontation.
"Well, if you hadn't practically thrown Buffy to the lions she wouldn't have needed to call Faith and ask for her help in the first place." Darlene threw back at her sister as she dished out some potatoes onto her plate.
"Here you go, Carl," Hank passed the plate back to his brother-in-law. "Dawn, honey, hand me your plate."
Dawn passed her plate down and slumped in her seat, already fed up with this whole family Christmas crap.
"I did no such thing. The adoption was all set to go forward, Buffy had agreed to do it, and then
Faith steps in and suddenly my little girl is three thousand miles away living in some dump with a stripper ... Rolls Hank?" she turned toward her husband and passed him the bread basket.
"You know I don't usually go for carrots, but these are mighty tasty, Joyce," Carl complimented around a mouthful of the vegetables.
"Oh, get off it. Buffy wasn't okay with any adoption or she wouldn't have run away with the kid in the first place. Faithie just gave her a home when you wouldn't, is all --"
Darlene handed her plate down to Hank, and Carl tried to pass the carrots over to Dawn, who just ignored him.
"Buffy
had a home, Darlene," Joyce bit out, the strained smile still firmly in place. "If Faith hadn't 'helped' her, she'd have realized she needed to do what needed to be done, and she'd be home and happy instead of winding up in some jail in California."
Dawn was so sick of the Buffy/Faith drama. At least
she hadn't gotten pregnant at fifteen. You'd think they'd be
thrilled about that, but she may as well be
invisible.
"May I please be excused?" Dawn started to get up. Hank motioned her back down, so she sat in a huff once more, not touching her food.
"She was in jail for a coupla nights, big deal," Darlene's voice was rising. "She's in a nice foster home, all snug and safe. And I won't even mention the fact that she
asked to come home and you wouldn't let her. So who's to blame here, really,
Joyce?"
"Janice invited me over to their house for dinner, and I said I'd go," Dawn said to no one in particular.
As the argument was getting louder and showing no signs of calming down soon, Hank reluctantly nodded at Dawn. "Be back by eight, Dawnie."
The teen was out the front door in a heartbeat, and Joyce looked at Hank in shock. "Why did you tell her she could leave? It's Christmas dinner!" Her anger was now aimed in his direction.
Hank stood and quietly announced, "I'm not feeling particularly hungry right now, either." And he left the table and disappeared into his home office.
Joyce stared after him in shock, then back to Darlene. "Do you see what you've done?!"
"I see a hurt and angry woman who can't accept any blame for her own mistakes," Darlene rose and threw her napkin down on her plate. "You'd better learn, Joyce, that good food and a beautiful house do not make a happy family."
"And you'd know that how?" Joyce rose as well.
"Keep it up, Joycie, and
no one will be left." Darlene walked out of the dining room in search of her coat and purse.
Carl looked up from his plate, stared a moment at Joyce, and sighed heavily. "I guess that's my cue." He rose with a groan and grabbed a couple of rolls and held them up in Joyce's direction. "Excellent food, Joyce."
Carl took his coat, picked up the sack of their opened presents, and he and Darlene walked out together, shutting the front door softly behind them. Joyce just sat back down and stared at her lovely dinner, ruined. She sat there, alone, for a long time.
~~~~~~~
She'd thought Christmas in Southern California was weird. That had
nothin' on south of the equator, where it was full on summer now. Twinkly lights strung on palm trees and ninety degree weather was just all wrong. She took another swig of her beer, leaning against the railing on the lanai, watching the waves lap gently along the beach.
"Hey baby," Robin rumbled as he came up from behind and wrapped his arms around her.
"Hey."
"Merry Christmas." He kissed her ear, adding with a whisper, "My girl's been very good this year. Come inside and see what Santa left ..."
She shrugged, the novelty and excitement of life on the run with Robin having worn off quickly. She didn't want to go inside, to open presents, to
be here at all. She was awash in guilt over leaving Buffy to clean up her mess in Sunnydale, regretting it almost as soon as the decision had been made to flee. It had only been two weeks and she was drinking more and more just to stay numb enough to pretend to be happy. Happy for Robin, happy for herself, happy for their new life in paradise. Happy together. Yeah.
She turned around in his arms and graced him with a wide smile, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Merry Christmas," she kissed him lightly. "Show me what you've got."
He grinned broadly, cupping his hands under her ass and lifting her up in his arms. Her legs wrapped around his waist automatically, and he leaned his forehead down onto hers and groaned. He carried his Faith inside their bungalow, and began to show her exactly what Santa had in mind for good little girls ...
He never once noticed the sadness behind Faith's eyes.
~~~~~~~
She sat there, wide-eyed, watching the little boy
zoom zoom around and around her playpen, arms wide, making airplane noises and trampling on anything in his path. Around and around she followed him with her eyes, fascinated by the little boy and his strange noises. A red rubbery ball came flying out of the air and landed inside her pen, catching her immediate attention, and prompting her to crawl over and try to pick it up with small fat baby fingers. It was too wide, however, and she couldn't get purchase on it. The older boy raced up and snatched it back, making funny faces at her and calling her baby names that she didn't really understand. The boys were loud and moved too quickly and scared her sometimes, but she liked how they made funny faces and called her sweet names and always helped her stand up when she fell down. She really liked playing with the boys.
She stood up and decided it was time to attempt another break for it, lifting her leg up almost to the top of the pen and trying with all her might to lift herself up and over the side. But she just wasn't tall enough, and finally gave up and sat back down. Reaching beside her, she picked up her toy dolly and started chewing on it's foot, then banged it on the floor of the playpen for a minute, then chewed on it some more ...
Life was, all in all, kinda boring here. She missed her mommy. Her mommy was fun, and laughed, and played with her, and took her for walks, and always always blew raspberries on her tummy when she changed her diaper. Her mommy slept in the same room with her, so she was never lonely-alone in a big room all by herself, with no one breathing softly nearby. Bedtime was so lonely here ...
"There's my girl!" the big man came up and without any warning picked her up with both his large hands and tossed her into the air, catching her safely each time but each time she was always so startled by the suddenness of the movement that she didn't really enjoy the ride. She wished he wouldn't do that, but it made him laugh and she liked it when people laughed. She liked their laughing faces and the sounds they made when they did that.
This time he didn't put her back down, though, but she found herself being carried to the big table in the special room, the room with all the things that were 'no' to touch. She wasn't supposed to be in that room on her own, because of all the 'no touching' things there. But this time the table was covered with food and there were lots of people she didn't know all sitting around it and the big man with the large hands put her in her high chair and buckled her in so she couldn't climb out like she did that first day when she hit her head. She cried then, and after that there was always the buckling in. 'Safe and sound', he always said, every time as the buckle snapped shut. 'Safe and sound'.
"Safe and sound," he smiled as he patted her head and sat down in a seat nearby.
"Corrine, she's just precious," a gray haired lady gushed from her right.
"Yes, she really is. I don't know how you got her so quickly. I thought adopting white babies took forever here. What secret rituals did you do to get her so fast like that?" the red-haired lady laughed. She thought the red-haired lady was funny, and had a funny laugh. She pounded on her tray and laughed too, when the red-haired lady laughed that funny laugh.
"Well, she's not ours to adopt yet," said the tall lady who kept calling herself 'mommy'. But that wasn't right because she wasn't her mommy. "We're just taking her as a foster child for now, but the social worker said it was as good as done that we'd be able to adopt her by the end of the year. The mother is just a little high school girl who is in trouble with the law or something, drugs and guns I think it was, and there's just no way a judge would hand this little thing back to her." She looked over at the tall lady, who was talking really fast like she always did, and she pounded her tray some more until the big man's large hands put some cooked carrots on her tray. Carrots were yummy. She liked to eat carrots.
"My goodness, guns and drugs," another lady said from the other side of the table. "That's just terrible, just terrible. What are they thinking, even considering giving her back this little lamb?"
"Well, it's called a dual plan. They have to go through the motions of getting the natural mother into some kind of shape to get the baby back, but since it's not good for babies to be left in limbo for so long they place the baby in a foster home where the parents are ready to adopt the baby as soon as the judge terminates the mother's parental rights. That way the baby is already in her permanent home, and there's less trauma for the poor little thing since they don't have to move her again." The tall lady always used a lot of words whenever she talked. "The law says they only have a year or so to get it settled, or the judge will have to terminate the parental rights, so the baby can go to a permanent good home as soon as possible." The tall lady talked a lot to other people, but not a lot to her, and there were always big words, too.
The large man handed her half of a roll, which she decided looked good to chew on. She'd already made a pretty mush of her carrots, but they weren't looking as good to eat now. The roll looked good though.
"The social worker said they have to work with the mother and try to get her the baby back, and she has to have visitation and everything, but Pat -- the social worker -- she doesn't think there should be any problem and that Kathy is practically ours. Just the formalities left now."
"To a smooth adoption, and to our newest family member, Kathy." the large man said, holding his glass up high. The other people did the same.
She just chewed on her roll and pounded some more. The people at the table all laughed, so she laughed too. And when the big man turned in his chair and smiled at her, she smiled right back.
She liked him.
~~~~~~~
Buffy woke up Christmas morning, not feeling the spirit of the day at all, but knowing that she was going to have to fake it in order to keep the foster family happy and deal with her own personal hellgod, Glory. *God I hate her.*
On the bus yesterday, she had searched the little stack of mail Zack gave her and was disappointed to find only junk mail and bills. Nothing from Fred yet. She thought that was strange, it being Christmas and all, at least a card would have arrived. She didn't go in for paranoia much, but the thought occurred to her that their private mail might have been intercepted by one of the police agencies still working on the drug case and who were still searching for Faith and Robin. The more she thought about it the more that seemed likely. She decided she'd find Lorne or Gunn next week and ask them about it. Even if they had her personal mail and couldn't give it to her, perhaps they would at least give her Fred's address and phone number. At least that much. Buffy had no other way to find Fred, and Texas was huge. She'd never find them unless Fred wrote and told her how to get in touch with her.
She prayed fervently that Fred had written, would write. She missed her a god awful bunch right now.
When she had trudged dejectedly into the front door at dusk yesterday, Glory was waiting for her in the dining room, like a spider pouncing on a fly who had wandered innocently into her web. An over-bleached blonde slutty spider, grinning with some secret hurt, just waiting her time to deliver the blow. *God I hate her.*
While Buffy had been across town in search of her mail, Spike had shown up at her doorstep and been confronted with Glory. Glory had relayed back to Buffy the message that Spike was looking for her and left a 'sad little present' for her to place under the tree. Glory had also mentioned that Spike was an 'interesting' boy and although a little young for her, she'd take him for a spin when Buffy was finished with him. 'Oh, wait,' she'd smiled wickedly, 'I think it was the other way around;
he is done with
you. Isn't that right?' She had tossed the present to her and laughed, headed back to the kitchen to help Rosemary bring in dishes for the special Christmas Eve dinner they were all having.
Buffy had almost broken down right there in the foyer, but managed to keep control on her emotions long enough to lock herself in her room for a good cry. She had contemplated telling them she wasn't hungry, but since it was a special holiday meal she knew she had to appear and act happy. She wasn't going to let Glory win the battle, reducing her to tears and to locking herself in her room in a teenage angsty snit. She had to show them all she was mature and gracious and more than anything
grateful for their hospitality in taking her in.
She groaned and got out of bed. Lather, rinse, repeat, dress to kill. It was Christmas morning. She heard Glory's laughter trilling from across the hallway. *God, I hate her.*
In this house, no presents were opened until all the guests arrived around twelve o'clock. Buffy was assured that presents would be opened, conversation made, and then Christmas dinner would be served around one-thirty, with more conversation, dessert at three or so, and then anyone remaining was invited for left overs at six. It was heading out to be a long day.
At eleven forty-five everyone who was coming had arrived. Buffy was introduced to the fourth sibling in Rosemary's family, the youngest one, named, weirdly enough, Harmony. Harmony and Glory shared more than just bleached blonde hair and attribute names from their mother. They both also seemed to be a little hateful and tactless. Glory was clearly the more developed hateful bitch, but Harmony was still young and had a lot of growing in that direction yet to do. Buffy mused that the two siblings with regular names seemed to be the more pleasant and normal, and the two with the attribute names were evil bitches. Made her glad she'd given Katie a regular name.
At any rate, Harmony had talked to her just long enough to decide that she was beneath her and that no further attempts at friendship would be necessary. Buffy was dismayed to learn that Harmony was her age and in her high school, so she'd be seeing a lot of the girl from now on. The upside was that Harmony was so dismissive of her that Buffy thought she might at least be able to stay far away from her. Having Harmony
like you seemed the worse option to Buffy at this point.
The other guests, besides the senior Kendalls who had arrived with Harmony, included a geeky middle-aged man named David Nesbitt, who apparently owned his own computer software company and was filthy rich. He seemed like a nice enough man, but very shy. He was a friend of John's and didn't seem to fit in well with the rest of the guests here. His extreme wealth kept them all polite to him, however, and his wealth did seem to be a big hit with both Harmony and Glory. She knew it wasn't his good looks or scintillating conversational style, that's for sure, and his 'niceness' was actually a turn off for those two, Buffy was certain.
The other new guest was a tall slim African-American woman named 'Jasmine', who was introduced as a 'friend of the family' and Rosemary's 'spiritual advisor' and 'healer'. Right. She seemed nice enough, but Buffy thought the whole idea was too flaky for words. Although, if truth be known, she thought that Rosemary, indeed the entire family, could do with some spiritual advice and healing. She didn't think Jasmine had the moves to accomplish that, however. This family was hugely messed up, and it would take more power than this woman had to fix them.
Ben would not be joining them today, and he did not appear at dinner last night, due to his shifts at the hospital. Glory seemed especially pleased to hear it.
They were all gathered around the tree now, and John was being Santa Claus and distributing the gifts. Most of the gifts were large and expensive and wrapped to suit them. All but hers. Since she didn't know most of these people she had only gotten gifts for Rosemary and John, and a little candy box each for Glory and Ben at the last minute. She had not been told about the other Kendalls, David, or Jasmine, so she had nothing for them. And of course, they had nothing for her.
Harmony sat surrounded by her beautiful gifts, having opened them all quickly and commented crassly on their worth even while the givers were sitting right there. Glory, being older, made more subtle dismissive comments regarding her gifts. Harmony had a lot to learn yet about putting people down successfully, and Buffy thought she should be taking notes from her older sister, who was obviously a pro.
Buffy didn't care that Harmony and Glory made fun of her wrapping paper, or that Glory tossed aside the small box of chocolates as being 'milk chocolate' which wasn't to her 'tastes'. *God I hate her.* She was happy that Rosemary and John appreciated her small gift and for her part she loved the new purse they put under the tree for her. The last present John handed out was the red-foil-wrapped box that Spike had left the night before. Buffy was reluctant to open it, being her relationship with Spike was over at the moment. But the others watched her expectantly so she tore off the paper and opened the box, which contained a beautiful five by seven inch silver photo frame. He had placed a photo of himself posed laughingly at the pier, with Willow, Xander, and Oz -- well, Oz wasn't laughing, he had this whole 'not smiling' smile thing down cold -- a photo obviously taken this last summer. It was a beautiful picture of her new friends, and she loved it immediately. Spike knew how to give good gift, she mused with a small smile.
There was a lot of day left to get through, and she was going to have to talk to Spike at some time today since he'd made the effort to hunt her down and give her this present. He might not want her as a girlfriend, under the circumstances, but he was making an effort to apologize and be a friend, and if that was all she was permitted, then that is what she would take. As long as his apology came with the right amount of groveling, of course. She was hurt, and she wasn't letting him off that easily.
"Ew, what a tacky little present," Harmony looked over her shoulder and sniffed. "Who's it from?"
"It's perfect," Buffy shook her head and smiled, choosing to ignore Harmony's rudeness. "It's from Spike."
"Blondie Bear!?" she screeched in her ear.
Buffy had no idea what she was going on about, but she nodded anyway as she gazed at the picture in her hands. "Yep, that'd be the one."
~~~~~~~
That's part one, part two coming up within a day or less. Thank you everyone and please leave a review. I know when I post quickly I lose reviews for some chapters, but I really appreciate feedback for all the chapters, to see how they work and whether you're getting what I'm intending here. Thanks ever so. :-)
Sara