North and South...and West
by Rin
Deciding Buffy's Future
[reviews]
Buffy was still nothing but tears, as she made her way inside the house. She just wanted to crawl into bed, and not come out for days. Will loved her, wanted her...but wasn't willing to take those risks to marry her. What was the redhead afraid of...other than the obvious 'she's a girl' thing? Buffy would never tell anybody that...as long as she got to be with her.
"Buffy...I'd like to speak to you please." Joyce made no room for argument, so Buffy made her way into the den, where she found her mother reading the weeklies that just arrived that day.
"Yes, mom?" Buffy sat down, and watched as Joyce put down the newspaper on the coffee stand.
"Buffy, I want you to marry Xander." Joyce was firm in this matter. Xander was a good man, and he had high society status. His father was pitted to be in the next election for the presidency. That would look good for Buffy.
"What? Mom...no. I can't marry Xander. I don't love him." Buffy saw the steel in her mother's eyes, and knew this was one battle she wouldn't win. "What...what happened to me not marrying a farmhand? I thought..."
"Xander isn't just a farmhand. He's only passing through. His father is Senator Harris from California, Buffy. He's pitted to be in the next election as a presidential candidate. He's asked to court you, and I gave him my blessing."
"And I quote, 'you shouldn't get too attached to those two boys because I would never give my blessing.' What happened to that?"
"Things change when new information arises. This may be the thing you need to boost your societal status. It might be the thing to bring us out of the bad gossip pool after your father left." Joyce knew it was partially about her, and unfair to Buffy.
"What about Will? Is Will a senator's son, too?" Buffy wanted to know. It could be what she needed to convince her mother.
"Xander didn't say. I did ask...but he only said that he and Will were friends from the same town." Joyce was being unreasonable but this was too great an opportunity. Imagine...Buffy being the president's son's wife. That would put them in A status again.
"Mom, I can't marry Xander. I don't even love him."
"You WILL marry, Xander...or I will throw Will off this farm today, and I won't pay him a dime." Joyce steeled gazes with her daughter. "I'm your mother. I see the way you look at him. He's just a farmhand, Buffy. Xander is the potential president's son. I'm not giving you a choice in this matter."
"But, Mom...that's not fair. You can't just throw Will off the farm like that...and not pay him something for all his hard work. The crop has never been picked and sifted faster. You can't do that to him. He has nowhere to go!" Buffy was on the defensive. Was her mother really giving her an ultimatum?
"I'll let you think about it but I expect an answer tomorrow. Either you marry the Harris boy, or I kick Will out with nothing but what he came in with. It's your decision. I suggest you choose wisely."
"Why didn't you tell me they were Yankee soldiers?" Buffy decided to bring out the big guns. Fight fire with fire. She didn't want to marry Xander but she knew Will would have no place else to go. She wouldn't do that to Willow.
"Who told you that? Will?" Joyce was shocked that the boy had betrayed her trust like that. He had promised not to court her daughter, and not to confess to being a Yankee soldier. Yet, he had done both. She decided that after the crop was finished (since she knew Buffy would choose to marry Xander instead of kicking Will out), Will was to go anyways. She couldn't have that liability over her heads.
"Will was a lieutenant in the army, directly under Ulysses S. Grant...another shoe-in for president next election. Xander was just a wounded private. Will is just a good a choice for a husband, and you know it."
"Yes but he fought on the side of the Yankees. This is South Carolina, Buffy...you're a Southern girl. No matter his military ranking, he still fought for the 'other' side. People around here aren't gonna take too lightly to that. It won't help us in society; it'll only make it worse." Joyce was known for her hot temper. She raised two stubborn daughters, and an impossible son. Not to mention she put up with Hank Summers all those years. It's not like she wanted to marry him, either. Her mother had forced Joyce to marry Hank to help the family name. Lot of good that did when he ran off, and shamed her family even more...now she was doing the one thing she vowed never to do to her own children: force them to do something they didn't want to do for the sake of the family. "Now, you WILL marry Xander...or else I've told you the consequences...and I don't want you to see Will anymore. I'm moving him to the old slave quarters, and I'm putting Forrest on guard. You won't speak to him except in the field. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, ma'am." Buffy couldn't believe it. Her mother had just sold her out. She felt no better than a girl at a brothel. She took the weeklies so that her mother couldn't read them, and bounded up the stairs to her room, where she slammed the door, and sobbed into the pillow the rest of the day...missing both lunch and dinner.
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Willow was shocked. She was moved to the slave quarters without reason, and now Xander was marrying Buffy. Buffy had agreed to marry him? Was she trying to punish Willow? Make her jealous?
It had her so mad those first few weeks that she would only work with Forrest, and make Buffy work the fields with Xander. 'If she wants to marry him so bad, then she can just work with him instead.' Forrest was apparently the guardkeeper, too. Whenever she would go inside the house for something, he was right by her side, never letting her out of sight. It was frustrating at first but she got used to it. Instead, she devoted more of her time to running the water machine through the field. After everybody took off for the day, Willow would continue working...wanting to get out of SunnyDale that much quicker. She couldn't believe Buffy would do that...not after the way she acted and the things she said in the mill that afternoon.
Two months, they'd been engaged, and the crop was completely picked and bundled. They would attend parties, and Xander would be the guest of honor at some. Their engagement was a big deal, and Willow would have no part of it. She couldn't even speak to Xander without Forrest being there. And Xander always looked so happy...even if Buffy looked like she wanted to get her mother's shotgun, and shoot him. Xander could be frustrating at times.
When the numbers and pay came in, Willow was out of there. She didn't want to see any of them ever again. Not even Xander, her lifelong friend...the one she'd faked her own death for, and changed herself completely...just to help him graduate from West Point. That seemed like too many years ago. They really were different people now.
She'd gotten a letter in the mail the other day. Odd, since the letter was from Cordelia. They never liked each other back in Sunnydale, so why would Xander's ex-fiance...the reason they took the job at the plantation to begin with...why would she write Willow a letter?
Willow's father died, and Cordelia thought she should know...even if Willow Rosenberg was the 'late daughter of Ira Rosenberg.' Willow could never go back...she could never prove her status...she could never convince Joyce that she was just as suited for Buffy...not without lying, or revealing that she was a girl. It was obvious that Joyce chose Xander because of his father's status in Washington. He was pitted to be in the next presidential election. Willow wondered what voters would think if they found out Senator Harris beats his kids and wife?
So...now her father was dead. Not that she'd been around him much. He was still family. Since Ira Rosenberg was a bigshot author, and published many predestined classics and political satires articles, Willow knew her father's death would be in the weeklies. She only hoped that when Joyce read them, she didn't put two and two together...and discover that the 'late Willow Rosenberg' was actually Will. Of course, Willow had never mentioned her last name, so all was safe there.
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Buffy took the weeklies and mail from the courier, and sifted through them. Nothing for her but the occasional letter of congratulations on her new engagement. She wouldn't even bother reading letters from her 'friends' anymore. She just threw them out on contact. She despised her mother and Xander, and refused to let him touch her. 'I'm waiting for my wedding night. I won't let a boy kiss me until then.' She just had to find a way to get out of the wedding, so she wouldn't have to be even more repulsed at the thought of kissing Xander Harris, let alone bed him. The very thought made her sick.
She cried every night, and tried her hardest to find a way to speak to Willow alone. Buffy had to let her know that she didn't want this; that she was given an ultimatum, and she wouldn't let Willow be thrown out with nothing. It was killing her to watch Willow work in the fields. She would stare out her bedroom window, and just watch Will continue to work well past the hours, and still she wept.
Since her mother was still in bed this morning, Buffy took the weeklies to read herself. The front page was about a famous author that had passed away, and there was a picture of him, and one of him with his family. Three boys and one girl...that looked strangely like...
"Willow?" Buffy pulled the picture closer, and examined it better. Then, she read through the article. This had to be Willow...the last name was the same. The face was the same, and the dates of death matched. She had to find Will fast, and didn't care if Forrest was guarding her way. They had to talk.
Buffy rushed out the door, weeklies in hand, and ran right past Forrest into the slave quarters. She still couldn't believe her mother made Will sleep out here. Her mother didn't even make Forrest, Mary, and Susie sleep out here. They slept in the house.
Forrest noticed her running, and followed right after her. He couldn't allow Buffy to see Will. He didn't know why but he feared what Ms. Joyce would do if he did. She had made it clear that Will was to have no contact with anybody else in the house. Seems Buffy was awfully determined this morning...
"Will! Get up!" Buffy pushed Willow from the bunk, and knocked her off the bed. She looked adorable with her tousled hair and sleepy, pillow-creased face. Buffy had to prevent herself from brushing those red locks from Will's sleepy eyes.
"Buffy!! You know you're not supposed to be here." Forrest ran in after her, and stopped at her resolve and death glare. "Ms Joyce will have both our hides if she finds out you been out here."
"I can handle my mother. This is important." Buffy steeled herself. "And personal...she's still asleep...will be for another hour or so. Just watch guard, and act natural. I won't tell, if you don't."
"But Ms. Joyce..."
"No, Forrest. I have to speak to Will alone. Please?" Buffy pleaded with him, and she even gave the pout. Yes, even Forrest was NOT immune to the pout, so he relented and left them alone...afraid for his life if Ms. Joyce woke up, or worse...his mama.
"Is your father Ira Rosenberg?" Straight to the point...she knew they didn't have much time. "Answer me, Will! Dammit!"
"Is that how you speak to all your farmhands, or just the ones you're not marrying?" Willow was bitter. This was the first contact alone they'd had in two months.
"That's not fair. You have to know I never wanted to marry Xander. My mother forced me to accept his proposal, or else she was going to throw you out. She knew I was in love with you, and she held that against me." Buffy was angry. She knew Willow would be beyond angry at her but that comment was not appropriate.
"Yes, Ira Rosenberg was my father...but he's dead." Willow laid back down on the bed, and put her back to Buffy. She didn't want to see her...not with being so close to getting paid. She knew Joyce was relieving her once the money was in the Yankee's hands.
"I know...and so does the rest of the world..." Buffy put the weeklies in Willow's face, and forced her to look. "That's you in the picture, isn't it?"
"Yes...though I didn't think they'd put a picture of all of us on there...wow...I haven't seen everybody in so long...I'd forgotten what my brothers looked like..." Willow sat up, and stared at the front page. "My hair was so long..."
"You were beautiful..." Buffy sat down on the bed next to Will. "You still are...even if you do look scragglier than usual."
"Buffy, I wanted to tell you...but I'm considered dead. Imagine if your mother had agreed after she found out I was a famous educator and a famous author's 'son.' The way she parades you and Xander around, my face would make the weeklies, too...and it would've gotten back to my parents, or my brothers. They would've recognized me, and the whole 'me being a man' thing would've been blown out of the water. I know how delicate your mother is about your societal status. There was no way I was dragging you into that scandal."
"Willow, I love you...I wouldn't have cared. I was willing to run away with you. We could've moved north, or out west. You would've gotten a great job for being a lieutenant, and we would've been fine. My mother would've found a way to survive here on the plantation. She always does."
"Buffy, you love this place just as much."
"But not as much as I love you."
"Buffy, please don't talk like that. You're engaged to be married now...to my best friend nonetheless. He's happy with you. I can tell."
"Yeah, well...he's not so great. You should see him at the socials. He flirts more with the other girls than he does me. I'm not happy, and I never will be with him. I meant it when I said I only want you." Buffy placed her hand on Willow's knee, and the redhead bit her bottom lip to stop from crying.
"I can't let you throw away your future for me. I won't let you."
"Of the two of us here, who is the boss of me?" Buffy turned adoring eyes to Willow. Oh, how she'd missed her. "I love you so much, Will...just..."
"I told you...it would never work...and look? My dad is in the weeklies, so it's not like I can say, hey...I'm the 'son' of Ira Rosenberg. People would know better b/c look at the picture...obviously not a son...and I don't look as manly as my brothers. People would either say I'm lying, or out me as a woman." Willow held up the paper again.
"All I ever wanted was to be with you..." Buffy laid her head down on Will's shoulder, and attempted not to cry for the thousandth time. It was so soothing being in the redhead's presence. It always felt like home here...just being near her.
"I want to be with you, too...but your mother would never allow it." Willow wanted to relish this moment, for she feared it would be their last time alone. She wrapped her arm around Buffy, and pulled her into a tight hug.
"Oh, Will..." Buffy cried, and was shocked when she felt tears falling from Willow's eyes. She looked up to see that indeed, the redhead was crying. "Don't cry...please don't cry..."
"How can I not? After I went to West Point, gave up my identity, I didn't think I'd ever have the chance to fall in love...but here you are, and it happens, and I can't even be happy...I can't make you happy...I'm not allowed to love you..." Willow was freely crying now, and it was Buffy's turn to take Willow in her arms, and stroke those tousled red locks. "The crazy part...is that you love me, too..."
"I do...I do love you. So very much..." Buffy kissed all over Willow's crown and forehead, calming her down.
"Buffy, my mother is up..." Forrest came in, and caught the tail end of the intimate moment. He'd never seen a grown man cry before...and he was shocked to find out that the reason these two weren't allowed to see each other is because they were in love. It seemed crazy to him that Ms. Joyce would condemn such behavior...especially after trying to get Buffy to marry all these years. Now Buffy was supposed to marry Mr. Xander? It was obvious to anybody with eyes that Buffy didn't love him...so why was Ms. Joyce making her marry him? She never cared what other people thought before...so why now? Why force her daughter to marry somebody she doesn't love? What was the big secret there? Maybe his mama knew...and as sure as Buffy was his best friend, he was determined to figure it out.
"I love you, okay?? Never forget that." Buffy kissed Will on the lips, not caring anymore that Forrest was there, waiting for her to make her exit so they didn't get caught.
"I love you, too." Willow nodded her head, and captured Buffy's lips one last time. One last goodbye...