Seeking Vengeance

 Chapter 16 – Not So Dark

I didn't even hear till the next day. It hurt, but I could see that neither of my friends had been thinking clearly. Willow rang, late next morning with the  sorry tale, of how Dawn had been taken away, and she hadn't seen Buffy since. It didn't take too much imagination to work out where she'd be, so I left work and drove to the cemetery.

This time was different. I don’t know how I knew that, but I did. She’d been drinking, that much was obvious, but it didn’t seem to have gone so far as before. Her face was pale and her eyes red from too much crying. I remember wondering for a second what had happened to the Buffy I knew from before – the one who could send Angel to hell and not talk about it. I mean, I don’t think she handled that well either, running off like that, but she coped.

She didn’t react when I came in. I only got her attention in the slightest when I went and squatted in front of her.

“Time to come home,” I told her.

She just shook her head.

“You’ve got to come home, Buffy.”

“Can’t,” she sobbed. “No home, not any more. Promised. I promised I’d take .. take care of Dawn, p..promised Mom.”

“I know, Buff. But we can’t fix this if you stay here. We’ve, no, you’ve got to prove them wrong. Prove you can take care of Dawn. Things were going well before last night. Willow told me Dawn’d been hurt, but she didn’t say how. She didn’t make a lot of sense either. What happened? Did you take her on patrol? ‘Cos, if you did, we’ll just have to make sure you don’t have to do that again. Willow or, or Anya and me, we can have her while you patrol.”

She shook her head at that, but I didn’t know then what she didn’t agree with. I realised she wasn’t in any state to talk to me though, so I just helped her up and out to the car. It was a relief not to have to carry her.

She didn’t try to talk while I drove. She just sat, staring dejectedly out of the side window.

When we got to her house, she went straight upstairs, muttering something about a shower and some sleep. I didn’t argue. Sleep seemed the best thing for her right then. Half way up the stairs, she turned, and looked back, almost shyly.

“Th ..thanks,” she managed.

“No problem,” I answered, because it wasn’t.

I joined Willow where she sat.

“How is she?” she asked, looking almost as bad as Buffy.

“Tired, upset, you know.”

She nodded at that, and I could see that she was trying to get the courage from somewhere to say something. I decided to help.

"So, what happened last night?"

She told me, haltingly, what she could remember of the previous night. I listened, I heard the words, but I couldn’t take them in. I mean, I knew Buffy was going through a bad time. That whole ‘being pulled out of heaven’ thing had really screwed her up big time. But Willow? I mean, yeah, she hadn’t been as ‘there’ for Buffy as I’d have expected, and I had my suspicions about Amy and all that, but I’d really no idea.

“You took Dawn out, late, to a place where you get some sort of magical fix?” I stated, willing her to disagree. She didn’t.

“And then, you were being chased by something, a side-effect of the magic, and you stole a car, and you crashed it?”

The nod she gave was almost too slight to be visible.

“And Dawn got hurt, and Social Services found out, and that’s why they’ve taken her?”

The nod this time was a little bigger, but not much.

I sat back in my chair. I honestly didn’t know what to say. I was just sitting there, letting the situation trickle fully into my brain when she added something.

“And, and Tara saw everything.”

There was something in that last statement that triggered something that had been lying dormant. I've always looked up to Willow. She's always been there, always sensible, always knowing the answer. When it came to being responsible, she was always the first person I thought of.

"I can't believe you took Dawn to that place, put her in danger."

My voice sounded unnaturally calm, even to me. I wanted to shout, to yell, because she'd hurt Buffy and Dawn, and that hurt me too, but I knew it wouldn't help. Shouting might disturb Buffy, and even if it didn’t, it's exactly the sort of thing that'll make Will defensive. I guess she's just not used to criticism, so she doesn't take it well.

"I didn't think it'd be dangerous. It was just meant to be a quick, fifteen minute stop, and then we were going to eat."

"You put her in danger," I repeated.

"It's not as if it's the first time," she countered, and I had to brace myself against the chair for a moment.

"Buffy trusted you with her. There was no danger except what you caused. And now, Social Services has exactly what it's been looking for all along - an excuse to take Dawn away. That woman has had it in for Buffy from the start, you know that. You're not stupid, Willow, I'm the one who has that label. So how come you did something so unbelievably irresponsible? And it sounds like all you're worried about is Tara seeing what you did. Doesn't it matter that you could have ruined Buffy's and Dawn's lives? Isn't that important too?"

She didn't answer, but I could see she was thinking.

"I don't suppose cookies would make this better?" she managed after a moment. I didn't answer. At least it was a small sign that she really knew she had something to be sorry for other than ruining her chance of getting back with Tara.

It was such a stupid thing to say, making cookies? I could hardly believe it. But the phrase 'make it better' stuck, and I had an idea.

There's this guy, at work, and he's recently had some problems with his own kids. You know, messy divorce, and his ex-wife was insisting he wasn't fit to have contact with them. He'd raved about this lawyer he'd seen, told me that once he was involved, his ex had backed right down. I picked up the phone, called him and asked for the guy’s phone number.

The next step was to call his office. I explained the situation as well as I could, and made an appointment for Buffy to see him the next day. One more call, and I'd arranged to take the next day off so I could go too. Even the initial consultation was going to cost, but I could afford it. I scribbled a note of the details on some paper, and left it for Willow to give to Buffy. And then I remembered that I'd better tell Anya what I was doing, so I left Willow and drove to the Magic Box.

Now, there was something funny about that. As soon as I walked in the door, I knew something was wrong, but I couldn't work out what. I was sure Anya had been talking to someone, but there was no one there. Then there was her attitude. We were trying to put everything right between us, but we still had a long way to go. She welcomed me like I was exactly what she wanted right then, throwing her arms around my neck, and putting her legs around my waist. Fortunately, there weren't any customers around, but I was still surprised. There weren't many things that could put Anya off when it came to sex, but she didn't mix it with retail.

Still, all this occurred to me later. Right then, I was just so worried about Buffy and Willow that all I felt was a non-specific niggle. I explained what had happened, and to my surprise, Anya listened, and she didn't complain - even when I told her I'd be paying for the lawyer to see Buffy. I should've put it together then, I know that now, but then .. well, I guess it just goes to show Anya was right all along. I might love Anya, but she always took second place to Buffy.

Anya surprised me by asking how Willow was. When I told her she seemed sorry, she looked at me as if I'd answered the wrong question, which, from her point of view, I had. She meant to ask me what Buffy had done to Willow - fully expecting that Buffy would have taken out her anger on the person who was responsible for the situation. I had to admit that that prospect hadn't even occurred to me.

I called Buffy first thing next morning to make sure she knew what I’d set up. I drove to Revello Drive in time for the appointment, to find Buffy looking sick and tired. She had also done her best to be ready. She was dressed in a pale coloured skirt and blouse, and she looked a picture of responsibility. Willow was hovering, ready to wait on Buffy's every whim. As far as I could see, Buffy was too far out of it to even notice. There was no sign of anger, it seemed rather more like she was mourning.

We drove into town, and met with the lawyer. To be fair, he'd already done some work on the case, as much as he could do without pulling confidential files. We explained the situation, and he got Buffy to sign an authority for him to view the Social Work department's files, then summarised what he understood.

"From what you've told me, and assuming you haven't left anything significant out of what you've said, I can't see this order removing Dawn from your guardianship being ratified. I understand that Dawn has been.. difficult since your mother died, but that’s to be expected. The shoplifting is obviously a symptom of that, and, it could be argued, would have happened regardless of who had guardianship. So far, all they have against you is the fact that you couldn't be contacted when Dawn was arrested, and the fact that she was involved in an accident late at night. If we can find evidence that you had reason to trust Miss Rosenberg with your sister, then you should be absolved from blame in this instance. If your sister's grades and attendance at school have been improving, there's been no recurrence of the shoplifting, and you now have a job, I can't see any court removing Dawn from the only blood relative she seems to have. In short, unless your father suddenly appears, something you seem to believe is unlikely, I can't see that this is more than a temporary measure."

The relief on Buffy's face was a joy to see. She almost smiled, although it was a kind of watery smile. We both shook his hand as we left, and he offered to get back to us in a couple of days once he'd accessed the files.

The change in Buffy was huge. Once she was home, she calmly checked the time, and realised she was due at work in an hour. She quietly got ready, and I offered to give her a ride.

I really thought we were out of the woods then. Buffy was going to go back to making a go of it, and I went home to Anya feeling much better.

Unfortunately, once I was home, I realised Buffy's wasn't the only home with major problems. I arrived to find that Anya had packed, ready to leave.