Leaving Her
by Salix
Reminiscing
[reviews]
Buffy Summers walked up the stairs to her new apartment, carrying the last of the boxes from her car. She had left Sunnydale one week ago, and had finally arrived in this little town. She had gotten herself out of California, after a very tough decision to leave. There were plenty of other slayers around since Willow had performed that spell to turn all of the potentials into the real thing about twelve years ago. They had resurrected Sunnydale a few days after the big cave in, brining back all of the houses and the items that had been destroyed.
After that some serious time off had been taken by the scooby gang and Willow and Buffy were finally able to take that Europe trip they'd been planning since high school. Even back then the two were inseparable. They started dating in their junior year of high school, and stayed strong as a couple. After graduation they stayed together in college and couldn't wait to plan their futures together. They were always talking about how when they graduated from UC Sunnydale they were going to get married, a spring wedding with lots and lots of lilies.
But when Buffy's mother got sick the blonde dropped out of school so that she could be around more and help take care of her little sister. Willow remained in school but was very supportive and moved into the Summers' house. The two couldn't stand to sleep apart so it made sense. When Joyce finally got better the two decided to stay living in the home for a while, and they enjoyed 'playing house'. Buffy would send Willow off to school just like a wife from the fifties would send her husband off to work. A late lunch was always ready for Willow when she got home, and they were constantly joking about how corny it was, but that they couldn't wait to do that for real.
But then Joyce died, and it hit Buffy hard. She never really got the time to grieve because she had to take care of Dawn and the house and the hell god Glory was always bothering them, searching for Dawn to bring about the end of the world. It was a lot of stress on everyone and Willow and Buffy just sort of fell apart. They were always fighting or pretending not to fight, but the tension was always there, nagging at them for attention. After the big battle and Buffy survived the fall things got better.
They decided that they weren't going to wait. Because in Sunnydale you never know when it is going to be your last night. So they weren't going to put anything on hold anymore. They would stay in Sunnydale of course, their trip to Europe would have to wait until after graduation. They didn't wait on the other stuff though, at least not very long. Willow worked extra hard at school and graduated early, years early, and was able to get a great extremely well paying job. She was able to pay off the debts, the medical bills from Joyce's surgery and hospital stays, all of the repairs on the house and she even supported Buffy when she decided to go back to school.
They got married, a spring wedding with lots and lots of lilies. Xander was the best man, Dawn was the maid of honor, they invited close family friends and had the reception at the Bronze. It was very causal, the wedding took place on the beach and no one wore shoes. They didn't have big poofy dresses, but rather strapless ankle length white dresses that they both looked gorgeous in. Their honeymoon was a week in a lovely little cabin in a very secluded part of a camping ground. There weren't many families there so they practically had the whole forest to themselves.
They decided not to wait on kids either. They felt like they wanted to do something really great, saving the world a bunch of times is good, but they wanted to see a better pay off then just going to the Espresso Pump afterwards. So, they adopted a little girl, a little six-year-old named Emily Jayne, well now Emily Jayne Rosenberg-Summers. The only thing that prolonged the adoption was the fact that they were both so young, Buffy was twenty-two at the time, Willow only a couple of months younger then her, but they convinced the good people at Sunnydale Social Services and the judge, of course, that they were ready and on June 23, 2003 the adoption was finalize, she was theirs.
Everything had been going fantastic. Dawn was doing great in school, she had stopped with the stealing, Buffy was in her last year at UC Sunnydale, and planned on being a preschool teacher, they loved being parents more then they ever imagined they would, the two love birds were more in love then they ever thought possible, so it was natural that at that moment in time things started to go all crazy. Girls were being murdered by the bringers, there was a new big bad parading around, threatening all of them and they had no idea how to stop it. And then finally Angel showed up to save the day. Well, at least make it a little more stressful, considering Willow will be forever jealous of the souled vampire.
He used the amulet to kill all of the 'uber-vamps' and then Sunnydale collapsed in on itself. It was little Emily herself that gave Willow the idea to perform the resurrection spell and bring the town back. After that things were perfect. Five slayers stayed in Sunnydale to help out with the slaying so there was never really much to kill because they made sure there was nothing to kill. Buffy had all of this free time off because she didn't have to slay, Willow was working from home now for the company so they could pretty much go wherever they wanted. So the big trip to Europe was put off no longer.
They went to Italy and saw all of the sights during the day, Emily just loved it, and they enjoyed being able to spend a normal vacation with her. At night they would have Dawn baby-sit for them and they went out to the local nightclubs, most of the time they would rent a hotel room so they would be able to enjoy other late night activities without waking the younger girls. They would wake up extra early in the morning to make it back to their apartment in time for breakfast, usually making it back before Emily woke up so that she wouldn't ask questions about where the two had been.
They decided to move back to the states, after staying in Rome for a year or two. They thought it would be best to move back now before Emily got too settled and the transition of moving from one country to another became too hard. Dawn decided to stay in Rome because she had a great life there, and would be graduating from her school in another year or so. With many tears they boarded the plane and went back to Sunnydale. They moved back into their old house, Buffy had never found it in her heart to sell it because it had been her home all throughout high school, it was the last home her mother lived before she died, it held a lot of sentiment for the blonde.
They were finally getting settled, growing roots and becoming a great family. It didn't take long for their daughter to adjust and they themselves got used to living the nine to five life. Buffy finally became a teacher at the local preschool, and loved her job to no end. Everyone morning consisted of getting up, drinking her morning coffee, watching Willow cook breakfast, dragging the little girl out of bed because she is in no way a morning person, and then getting ready for work. After she gets home she helps Emily with her homework and they read some of the children's books they had up on a bookcase. Then Buffy makes dinner, greets Willow with a kiss when she walks in the door and the three enjoy a nice meal, do the dishes together, and settle down for some mother daughter snuggle time on the couch while they watch T.V.
It felt pretty nice to be part of a routine that didn't consist of killing things. They made sure to spice things up every once in a while. The two lovers have been caught fooling around at most of the stores there in Sunnydale and in the bathroom at the Bronze. Every Friday they would go to the little club that's still doing great. It was nice to work off the week's tensions and stresses out on the dance floor and then spend some quality time making out on one of the couches towards the back of the club. They'll usually sneak in at around midnight, saying thanks to Xander before going upstairs to quietly ravish each other. All in all things were great.
'The calm before the storm', Buffy thought as she set the boxes down on the floor in the living room. She took a good look around and couldn't help but be a little depressed. This place just wasn't her home. She was the one who had left. She packed up her stuff and left Sunnydale, left Willow, her house, her home. Things didn't start to grow bad until more recently. They spent years in marital bliss, but the last two years have been really bad. Willow's company started to go down the drain and the redhead was working almost non-stop. She never made any time for her wife and daughter, and Buffy was starting to get a little frustrated. 'Yeah, a little,' she thought sarcastically and sat down, taking a break from all of the unloading.
She can still remember their very first fight about it. Willow was in their office, Dawn's old bedroom. She had been working all day and all evening. Buffy had made sure that Emily was sleeping instead of staying up and watching T.V. in her room. She had started to do that, ever since that girl turned fourteen she hit a stage of teen rebellion that was really starting to remind the two mothers of how Faith used to be. But Buffy put all thought of parenting out of her mind because she was feeling a little frisky.
She went into the bedroom she had shared with Willow for the last few years and lit all of the candles she could find, causing the room to glow. She chanced into the black lace thong and matching bra she had bought for this occasion, she and Willow hadn't made love for three weeks now and she was so worked up it was almost unbelievable. She smiled to herself, glad that this was finally going to happen.
She walked into the office through the adjoining door and saw Willow typing away at the computer. Her shoulders and neck were tense with all of the stress that she'd been carrying around, and Buffy was determined to help her ease it. She slowly and very quietly walked up behind Willow and started to massage her shoulders. She felt the redhead slightly relax, and give out a little moan and her smile grew even wider. But then she frowned when she felt the redhead start to shrug her off.
"I'm sorry, baby, but I have to get this done. If I don't finish by this Friday then the company will die out for sure," Willow said without even looking up at the blonde. Willow had been saying that for a month now and Buffy just couldn't understand why taking a break, just one night off would be so bad. Sure the company was dying, but there were other people to help take care of it, Willow wasn't the only employee there. Determined, Buffy stepped over to Willow's side and straddled the redhead's lap. She rested her hands on Willow's shoulders, and leaned forward a little, so Willow could have a great view of her cleavage.
"Are you sure you can't just take one night off? 'Cause I have something in mind that I'm sure you'll enjoy very, very much," she said in a sultry voice accompanied with a sexy grin. She leaned forward and started to nip at the very sensitiva spot on Willow's neck. She heard her wife moan in pleasure and she couldn't help but smirk when she felt Willow's hands start to rub the length of her back. And then she felt said hands on her hips and then on her stomach slowly making their way up. She felt Willow's fingertips brush against her breasts and she moaned at the contact. She was just about to congratulate herself on winning Willow over but then she felt her wife's hands grasp her shoulders and gently push her back. She looked into Willow's green eyes, a little confused, very aroused and becoming extremely frustrated.
"I want this as badly as you do, trust me, but I have to get this done. This weekend, I promise, we'll send Emily over to Xander's or to Nikki's (Emily's best friend from school) house and we'll have a romantic night filled with lots and lots of lovin', but please, I really need to concentrate right now." A couple of emotions started to fight within the blonde at that moment. Anger at the redhead for denying her, sadness because the redhead didn't find her desirable enough to put away her work for one night to spend it with her, frustration because she hasn't felt her lover's touch in three weeks, sympathy because Willow was so stressed. Anger and frustration teamed up and wiped out sadness and sympathy and they took control of Buffy's judgment.
"Fine," she said harshly and got off of Willow's lap and stomped into the bedroom. She started to blow out all of the candles and she threw on her robe and tightly tied the sash. She heard Willow sigh loudly in the other room and she shook her head, angry because Willow didn't want her anymore. For half a second she thought that it was a little silly at how mad she was getting. Willow did want her, she knew that but the fact that she's been ignored for three weeks was really starting to get to her. She was about to calm down and think rationally when she heard Willow speak.
"Please don't act like this. You know how important you are to me, and you know how much I love and how beautiful I think you are, but my work is important to me too. I really need to get this done, and then we can be together, I promise," she said and stood in the doorway. Buffy sent her a glare and got into a defensive stance. This was going to be a long night. She shook her head at the redhead's words. Willow just doesn't understand.
"How can I not act like this? We haven't made love in three weeks, Willow. You say that you still want me but how can I be sure when you're turning me down like this?" she asked, not really wanting an answer. She was angry and she knew that they were both probably going to say some things that they didn't mean, but she didn't care, frustration was clouding her mind.
"I do want you, baby. It's just that I need to get this done, and I've been too tired to make love. I promise though, this weekend, when all of my work is finished, we'll be together. I'll take you out for a nice romantic dinner and we'll come back here and spend all night together. But please don't be mad at me. This work is really important." Bad thing to say, very, very bad thing to say. Buffy was pissed and Willow was trying not to get defensive and stay calm. But more importantly, Buffy was pissed.
"Is your work more important then your family?" she asked but she didn't give Willow a chance to answer. "You've been working so hard for two straight months, you've ignored me, ignored your daughter! She needs you just as much as she needs me! Ever since you started working non-stop she's gotten so much worst. Her grades are slipping like crazy, she's been sneaking out at night, she does only God knows what when she's with Nikki, and she's smoking now, did you know that? Did you know that a month ago she almost broke her wrist climbing out her window? Or that her teachers have been calling and asking if there's anything wrong at home because she seems depressed and she's acting out? You're completely neglecting her, Willow!"
The redhead shook her head. She didn't know all of that was going on because she had been too busy to ask. It was true when Buffy said that she was neglecting their daughter. The only time they ever saw each other was when Willow went downstairs in the morning for coffee and Emily was eating her breakfast. But other then that they never saw each other, and it was really hard on the teen. Willow felt guilty, but she also felt threatened, almost like Buffy was challenging the love she has for their daughter, and it was off of that feeling she started to get angry and the words just kept flying.
"Do you like this house?" Willow asked, her voice was the vessel that carried all of her anger that she was harboring inside, all of the frustration of the last couple of months came flying forward. "Do you like your car, or the food that we eat every night, or all of the clothes that we buy? All of the stuff that we've been able to afford? Because if you do then I need to work if we're going to keep them and be able to get more. If I loose my job then we'll loose this house. We'll have to sell it, and I know how much this place means to you, Buffy. I'm working so damn hard so we can keep the life that we've created together!"
"I'd rather live off of my salary and move then keep this place and be arguing all the time. I want us to be happy Willow, and your work is taking that away. We used to be happy, remember that? Do you remember going to the park together, with Emily, or the family dinners and going out at night to get ice cream? Do you remember any of that? Do you remember how it feels to be with me? Because I gotta say, Willow, I'm starting to forget what it's like to be with you." The fight kept on going like that for the next couple of hours. Willow slept on the little couch that's in the office and Buffy tossed and turned all night. Neither of them went in the check on their daughter or they would have found the empty bed. She had taken off in the beginning of the fight, not wanting to hear them and how unhappy her family has become.
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So, what do you think? I know it probably isn't very good now but it's still in the 'thinking back' stage. Soon it will be about the presant and the things going on, but a lot needs to be explained about the past before that can happen. Another thing, I changed the location of where Buffy and Emily moved to so I also changed the moving time from three days to a week. So if there are any references saying that it took them three days to get to their destination just ignore it and think one week. Telling me about the mistake would also be a nice thing to, not that I'm asking you to or anything.