Chapter 8: Great Expectations
Author's Notes: A note regarding the last chapter: I have set the period of this story's beginning in the year 2003. If I had used 1996 - the year Buffy in the series would have been fifteen - I would have run smack into the middle of the massive legal changes that have taken place in the federal and state laws regarding minor teenage parenting, and I did not want to deal with the two separate legal and benefit systems involved. So I chose the more recent laws, and moved the date up. The dates and holidays etc used in the story follow the actual calendar from 2003 on up. Note for this chapter: the movie mentioned in this chapter is a real one, and the plot and dialogue are written from memory only but follow the actual plotline and dialogue of that movie very closely. And yes, it was that bad. :-)
Disclaimer: The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer are owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and Fox studios. This story is not meant to infringe upon anyone's rights, only to entertain.
2004In the beginning of that most memorable year, a year in the lives of four girls, New Year's was a time for both hectic activity and hopeful resolutions. A time for the accounting of a season, of a year, of a life. This new year came with the promise of fresh starts and a better future.
But none truly realized, on that day, what great changes a year could bring.
~~~~~~~~~~
For Faith , this New Year's Eve was a time of great expectations. This new man in her life could actually be 'The One'. She was crazy about him. He was tall, handsome, intelligent, with a chiseled body and a charming smile. And he seemed to be as enchanted with her as she was with him. His name was Robin Wood, and they had met over the purchase of a false ID card for her cousin. He had asked no questions - people who require false ID cards do not usually welcome such inquisitions - and she had given no answers. Yet he longed to know more about this beautiful girl with the brown eyes and the flirty smirk. He was bedazzled by her. And she? She thought that, this time, she might even risk love.
So far they had met for coffee twice and lunch once. Robin's job kept him busy most evenings; he tended bar for a club in the nearby town of San Martine, and his nights were not always his own. This New Year's Eve, though, he managed to get coverage for his shift and planned to take Faith out to a friend's New Year's party in celebration of both the year and of the budding relationship. Faith tried hard to keep her cool unconcerned exterior in place, but everyone who knew her, thought her radiant.
~~~~~
For Fred, this New Year's Eve was a time of regret. Regret for past failures, regret for unwise choices, regret for a marriage that seemed determined to unravel as fast as she tried to shore it up. This new start in Sunnydale had seemed like just the thing she and Gary needed to get back on track again. The fights, the family interference, the disappointments and betrayals were left behind in Texas along with her parents and a dog named JoJo. Fred was thinking lately that it may have been better to have brought the dog and left the man back in Texas.
There was Stevie, however, to consider, and he worshipped his hard working father with all of his little heart, and often said that he wanted to be just like his daddy when he grew up. Fred believed that this was the great tragedy of women throughout all the ages; that the little boys they suckled and nurtured and who looked upon their mothers with such love and affection while young, seemed always to grow up to be the same spoiled and ill-tempered men that their fathers had become. With each passing year, Stevie grew up and away from her gentle loving ways, and moved more and more toward his father's imperious sense of male entitlement. It broke her heart.
This New Year's fell during a week when Gary was on the platform again, so their celebration would have to be separate. And she
was so very tired. She decided to have a glass of champagne and go to bed early this holiday. She didn't know what the big deal with New Year's was anyway. For Fred, it was just another day.
~~~~~~
For Buffy, this New Year's Eve was her first as an 'adult' in her own right. She realized she wasn't
actually an adult, but did feel that living away from home, with her own daughter to raise, and being in possession of ID that marked her as having reached her majority, she could make the claim for this night at least.
Of course, there didn't seem to be anything she could do to mark the evening, what with the baby and the fat clothes and the no money and all. Faith had managed to obtain some champagne, but Buffy knew she could not drink any as she was breastfeeding. Her intention to have an adult holiday had been seriously sidetracked. Until....
Until she remembered that Faith had cable. Well, actually, that Faith
stole cable was more accurate. And although she had not really checked to see what offerings were available, she had a suspicion that some of the movies that evening might not be family fare.
Using the cable menu guide, Buffy tried out a few titles to see if they contained anything remotely interesting. She was disappointed to see how quickly she became bored with the entire thing. These poorly written and acted movies were a big deal? They were all the same, with little variation and no real plot to speak of. Except....
Except there was one that caught her eye. A raunchy comedy about a porn movie school for pretty young girls and handsome men who wished to learn all about acting in the movies. Their instructors were very helpful, with a hands-on teaching style.
This is sooo bad it's fantastic!
Buffy settled down to watch her bad porn movie. Yes, this New Year's Eve was definitely turning out to have some interesting...themes....
~~~~~~
For Katie....well....basically she ate, played with her feet, and slept that night. There really wasn't a story there yet.
~~~~~~~
The following Tuesday, Faith came home from work and found Buffy sitting raptly in front of the TV in the living room.
Faith had noticed that Buffy seemed to be watching more TV than usual lately, but hadn't really given it another thought until she took a moment to take in the nature of the movie that had Buffy so absorbed. Faith pulled up in her tracks while her jaw dropped.
"What the hell are you watching?!"
"Vampire porn." Buffy's eyes never left the screen.
Faith's eyes widened. "What?"
"Vampire porn."
"And again.
What?"Buffy turned to Faith for a second to be sure the other girl was watching the TV, and having been assured of the undivided attention of her audience, turned back to the screen and excitedly explained the movie to her cousin.
"See, this girl - the one on the left there - she's being stalked by this female vampire, who wants her to join them in their unholy yet eternal life. But the girl doesn't want to be turned into a vampire, she wants to live."
"Uh-huh," Faith sat down beside Buffy on the sofa.
Buffy continued breathlessly, "But the vamp lady, she tricked the girl into letting her in her house, and talked her into having sex with her. But the real reason the vamp lady wanted to have sex was to get her all vulnerable and turn her. Which she started to do, but didn't completely drain the girl dry before the girl got away a moment and called 911."
"Uh-huh."
"So the paramedics arrived, but the vamp lady almost finished the girl off before they got there -- I think the vamp lady kept getting sidetracked from the actual vampire-turning by having sex with her instead -- Anyway, the paramedics and police are there, and save the girl. They're loading her up into the ambulance and taking her to the hospital. That's where they are now, in the emergency room. They're trying to save the girl."
"Uh-huh."
"That's as much as I know right now...Wait! Something's happening!"
~~ "Doctor! her blood pressure is practically nothing!"
~~ "Dammit! We're losing her! Quick, take off all her clothes!"
~~ The girl is quickly stripped by the two nurses, and she now lies nude upon the gurney.
~~ "Give me the paddles!"
~~ ka-ching!
~~ "It's not working!"
~~ "Again!"
~~ ka-ching!
~~ "We've lost her doctor. There's nothing more you could have done."
~~ Nurse pats the doctor's arm soothingly and takes the paddles from him.
~~ "So young, so beautiful....Take her to the morgue!"
~~ Doctor walks briskly away as nurses leer appreciatively at him.Faith frowned. "He zapped her with the paddles right on top of her tits."
"I
know. Isn't this the best bad movie
ever!?" Buffy grinned.
"Uh-huh."
"Hold on! What's that morgue guy doing to her now?" Buffy leaned in toward the TV.
Silence.
"
Oh!" Buffy's eyebrows shot up and she pulled back.
Faith settled in at the other end of the sofa to watch the movie. Even at her young age, Faith had seen enough porn to note a sameness to it all that made most of it boring after a while.
"Jeepers." Buffy blushed three shades of scarlet.
But watching Buffy watch porn? Now
that was
entertainment!
~~~~~~~
Once Buffy realized that Faith had herself a new honey, she was relentless in her questioning of the older girl.
Who was he? Where did she meet him? What did he look like? Where did he work? Was it serious or just a fling? Did he know about Buffy living there too? When could she meet him?
Faith indulged her cousin up to a point, but hesitated to mention the number one fact about Robin that she thought - no
knew - that Buffy would have a problem with. And that one critical piece of information was that Robin was a bartender in a club that catered to men. In other words, a strip club. Her new man worked in a strip club.
Faith was dismayed to learn of this development herself, but not for the obvious reasons. It wasn't that she thought less of Robin for working there, or would be embarrassed to let people know what he did, or even that she would be concerned about whether he could be faithful to her in such an environment, night after night.
No, Faith's number one worry was that she had run three thousand miles away to get away from her mother and her sleazy boyfriends only to wind up following in her mother's footsteps. Secretly, Faith worried that her life would not be so very much different than her mother's, that her contempt for Darlene's way of life would eventually blow up in her face when she looked in the mirror one day and saw her mother staring back at her. Faith could think of nothing worse than that. This was the core of her nightmares: that all of Faith's dreams of a good life because she had made better, smarter choices than her mom had, would amount to nothing, and she would, perhaps, one day be the object of scorn of her own daughter, and for the same reasons.
Faith told no one of her secret fears. She hardly admitted them to herself.
But she really liked this guy, might even be falling in love with him. And he seemed to be a good guy, the kind of guy who could prove worthy of her love and trust. She had to step out and move beyond her fears at some point, didn't she? Who was to say that this was not the time to do just that? That this was not the man to do that with?
Faith decided to take a chance. If happiness and love had walked up to her at this place and time and in the person of this man, then who was she to refuse it? She would die a bitter old woman if she never took a chance on love when offered to her. And he was a
good guy, she'd bet any amount on it. He was worth the risk.
Oh, yeah. She was falling, all right. Falling hard and fast.
~~~~~~
"Tai Chi."
"Gesundheit."
"Ha ha, very funny," Buffy retorted. "Tai Chi is a system of exercises that builds strength, flexibility, and endurance for people of any age and health, and also a martial arts...art. Like kung fu. Or karate."
"You know, I wasn't
actually going to spank you."
Buffy laughed. "Silly. I'm not doing this for self-defense, I'm doing it to get in better shape and so I can fit the new clothes I want to make. I'm not putting all this effort of learning to design and sew new things just to wind up making new fat clothes. I
have to get my figure back as quick as I can. You know?"
"So...out of all the exercise programs the rec center offers, you chose one that can also teach you to kick my ass." Faith looked suspiciously at her cousin.
"That was just icing on the cake." Buffy explained.
Faith frowned.
"Okay, the truth is, it was the only one that was actually free and that I could join any time I wanted to, no waiting for the next class to start or anything. The whole self-defense thing didn't even enter my mind...Although, now that you mention it..." She grinned devilishly.
"Yeah. I thought so." Faith smirked back. Buffy just gave her an enigmatic smile and went back to reading the pamphlet for the new class she had enrolled in that morning. This was going to be fun.
~~~~~
Fred looked over the pictures clipped from fashion magazines and the drawings Buffy had made of clothes she thought would do Fred proud. She had to admit that they weren't too bad. They were up to date and stylish, yet very casual and comfortable and wouldn't make Fred self-conscious were she to wear them out anywhere. Buffy had really captured her well.
This was a huge relief to Fred, who had been practicing for weeks on ways of gently letting Buffy down when she was made to face the terrible fashions she was certain Buffy would gleefully attempt to force upon her.
Dodged a bullet there.
Buffy had also found some things for herself that she thought wouldn't be too difficult to pull off, given her money situation and the fabrics and accessories she already owned. Fred thought most of Buffy's choices were actually doable, given the right skills and equipment. Fred had both, so they were all set to go. They would work on some things for Fred first, so Buffy could learn while doing them, and also to give the girl time to get back in shape so the sizes would be right.
Buffy went into teacher-mode, using her research as her guide. Why reinvent the wheel, right?
"Okay, first things first. When you want to look good on a budget, you have to know what you can make and what you'll have to buy. Accessories must be bought, and you must buy those that are of as good a quality as you can. If you make something from scratch, or even remake something you already have, you have to do it as professionally as possible so that it looks great on you. Then you accessorize with belts, shoes, purses, and jewelry that you buy." Buffy looked expectantly at Fred, to make sure she was following her logic. Fred nodded her understanding. "So, let's start with this little blouse ...here... cuz it'll look so cute with those new sandals you bought and it also fits in with some of the slacks you already have."
"Okay. I guess we should hit the fabric store and get started then."
Buffy beamed. This was going to be so great.
~~~~~
It was a simple pattern to follow. It should have been a simple thing to make. Then why oh why was she ripping out this damn seam for the
third time, Fred having found it wanting and needing a do-over? Buffy was sooo frustrated by how hard this had all turned out to be. And it was devilishly difficult to concentrate when you had to take a break every thirty minutes or less to tend to a fussy baby. She wanted to cry.
Fred saw that the poor girl was near tears, and decided to step in and rescue her from herself.
"Baby steps, sweetie, just baby steps." Fred smiled at Buffy as she looked up tearfully from the seam she was ripping out. "How about I do the sewing on this one, and you watch and pay careful attention, and then you can try the next one while I watch and guide you? I mean, it's no shame, honey. You're very new at this sewing thing. We're working together, right? It's all in building experience and skills, right?"
Buffy nodded tearfully and handed the seam to Fred, who fixed it up with no problem whatsoever. She envied Fred her skills. And she vowed she would build her own if it was the last thing she did.
But first she thought she'd better change Katie. Her baby steps came with an actual baby.
~~~~~
Hope you're still with me here. Spuffy will be coming up in the future, and it will be the primary relationship of the story, but these other relationships are critical and we have to move at the right pace. Please read and review, tell me what you think.
Sara