"From the Brink "
Author:
Michelle
Email: michellabella52478@yahoo.com
The sun shone brightly in the morning sky when Liam opened his eyes after a fitful slumber. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept so well. Looking over at the sleeping girl to his left, he knew the reason why: Buffy. After months of denying his attraction, he finally gave in to his feelings and followed his heart. And for the first time in his life, Liam was glad he ignored what his brain told him to do.
Buffy moaned softly in her sleep, making her lover smile at the sound. He'd never seen her so contented since he'd known her; so happy and peaceful and free. If there was one thing Liam hoped she realized was that she wasn't loved only by the people in Sunnydale. In Los Angeles, she had friends, family and a man who wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. She never needed to return to Sunnydale again.
The clock read ten-oh-five when he heard the doorbell ring. He'd been laying in bed watching Buffy sleep for over an hour. Not wanting to disturb her, Liam quietly climbed out of bed and threw on a pair of jeans to hide his nakedness. The doorbell rang again while he jogged down the hallway.
"Coming!" he whispered loudly, but not loud enough to wake Buffy. He opened the front door, finding Mr. and Mrs. Summers standing on his front porch. 'Oh shit,' Liam thought. 'I completely forgot they were coming.' "Mr. and Mrs. Summers. I…I forgot you were coming by this early. I must have overslept."
Mr. Summers gave him a friendly smile. "That's okay. With your busy schedule, I'm sure you don't get many opportunities to sleep in."
"No, I don't. Please, come in," invited Liam. He held the door open while the couple entered.
"You have a nice place here," Buffy's father complimented. "Meadow Woods must pay its doctors quite well for you to be able to afford such a nice house."
"I only moved in here last year," Liam informed him. "Before that, I lived with a bunch of my medical school buddies in an apartment. As soon as I could afford it, I bought this place."
Mrs. Summers couldn't have cared less about how the doctor managed to afford his house. "Where is Buffy?" she asked, a stern look on her face.
Liam took a deep breath and bit his lip. "I think she's still asleep. I'll go wake her up."
Mr. Summers waved his hand back and forth in front of him, stopping the younger man. "No need to do that. If there's one thing that hasn't changed about my little girl is her love of sleeping in on Saturday mornings. This will give us some time to talk about things until she wakes up."
"Hank, let's just get Buffy's stuff, wake her up and leave," Mrs. Summers said strongly. She wanted to get her daughter as far away from Liam Donnelly as quickly as she possibly could.
"You are being rude, Joyce. Liam here was nice enough to take Buffy in for a few days while she worked through some things." Mr. Summers shared a knowing smile with Liam. He liked the doctor and knew innately that the man was good for Buffy; he trusted him with his daughter's life.
"I am aware of that."
Liam could sense the hostility coming from Buffy's mother. The last thing he wanted to do at that moment was get on her bad side, though he had a feeling he was halfway there. He wanted to wake Buffy and get her out of his bed without giving her parents reason to suspect anything. "Maybe I *should* wake Buffy."
Before he had a chance to move from his spot in the living room, Buffy trudged out of the bedroom wearing one of his shirts over her otherwise-naked body. "Liam? Come back to bed."
He looked down at the floor, not wanting to see the look of horror on her parents' faces; his face turned red with embarrassment. It was by far the most humiliating situation he'd ever been in. 'If there is any justice in this world, please let me spontaneously combust right here and now.' He waited for it to happen. 'Figures.'
"Buffy!" her mother exclaimed. Mrs. Summers was horrified to see her daughter so undressed, making it easy to see what had been going on between Buffy and her former doctor. It appalled her. "How could you do this!?"
Buffy stopped dead in her tracks, seeing her parents standing next to Liam. From the look on his face – and the way he avoided looking at them – she could tell he hadn't told her parents about them yet. "Mom, Dad, I didn't expect you to be here so early. I haven't even gotten dressed yet."
"So I see," Mrs. Summers fumed. "Hank, say something!"
Mr. Summers turned to look at the red-faced psychiatrist standing to his right. "Liam? Could you explain this to me?"
He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Summers. I know I promised you I wouldn't let my feelings get in the way of my better judgement, but I couldn't fight it anymore."
"No. You don't have to apologize to them for what we did last night, Liam," Buffy disagreed.
"Like hell he doesn't!" her mother shouted. "Buffy, put some clothes on and pack your things. Then we'll leave this place and go home. We'll discuss this there."
The girl walked over to her lover's right side. She stood her ground, determined not to be bossed around by her mother. "I'm not going anywhere."
"I am not in the mood for an argument, Buffy Anne Summers. Get dressed now," Mrs. Summers ordered between gritted teeth.
"Fine, then you can listen. I refuse to go anywhere with you. Ever since I came home from the clinic, you have been treating me like a ten-year-old, trying to tell me how to live my life. Well, you know what? I'm not ten years old anymore, I'm twenty-one. Which means I'm well past the age of reason and am able to make my own decisions."
"I see you've made some great ones. Running away from home because things aren't going your way is really mature of you. And so is sleeping with a man eleven years older than you. A man whom you barely know."
Mr. Summers sighed. "Joyce, calm down. You are blowing things way out of proportion."
"Am I? Maybe that's because you haven't said a word about it yet!" she retorted. "It doesn't concern you the least bit that our daughter slept with her doctor?"
"Not as much as it does you, apparently," he said. "I tend to agree with Buffy on this one, Joyce. She's not a child anymore; she's a grown woman who should be allowed to make her own choices. From what I can see, she has made some good ones. Despite what you may think."
"How can you say that?" his wife demanded. "She is still vulnerable and very impressionable. Who knows what that man is filling her head with. And do I even need to mention that he probably took advantage of our Buffy? He'll do nothing but hurt her."
Liam felt it was time for him to defend himself, and Buffy. "I didn't take advantage of her, I swear. Buffy is more than competent enough to make her own decisions in life. And last night, she and I made one together. I would never force Buffy to do something she didn't want to do."
Mrs. Summers smirked. "Of course you didn't have to force her. You knew all along that she has a crush on you. So you thought you could get her in bed with this knowledge?"
"Stop it!" Buffy screamed. She was sick of hearing her family argue about her. All heads turned her way. "Stop this, Mom. I love Liam and he loves me back. Why can't you see that?"
"Honey, I'm only trying to protect you. I don't want to see you get hurt."
"He's not going to hurt her, Joyce," Mr. Summers stated.
She glared at him. "How can you be so sure, Hank? You don't know him. I don't know him. *Buffy* doesn't even know him!"
Mr. Summers smiled at the couple. While he was shocked to discover that his daughter had had sex with the handsome doctor, he knew the doctor's intentions were nothing short of honorable. He could see in Liam's eyes how much he loved Buffy. "I have a good feeling Buffy knows Liam as well as he knows her. She's a bright, intelligent girl who knows what is good for her. Liam Donnelly is good for her. He loves her, he told me so yesterday when I stopped by the clinic to see him. And that's why he refused to treat her privately when she left the clinic, despite my pleading with him to take her as a patient again. Liam promised me he'd never hurt her, and I believe him. He hasn't given me reason not to."
"I don't believe him. We're going home. Get your things, Buffy."
Buffy remained by Liam's side. She felt reassured when he took her hand in his. "No, Mom. I am staying here with Liam."
"I'm not playing games. We are leaving right now." She headed for the front door. "We're going home."
But she still didn't move. "I *am* home." She looked up at Liam for confirmation; he smiled down at her and nodded his head. "My life is with Liam now."
Mrs. Summers took a deep breath. "If you choose to stay with him, don't even think about coming back to stay with us when things turn sour."
"I won't," Buffy told her. "Goodbye, Mother."
Incensed, the older woman stormed out of the house, leaving her husband behind. Mr. Summers just looked at the two. "I'll talk to her, Buffy. She didn't mean what she said."
"I'm sorry, Dad," she apologized. "This isn't how I expected things to go down today. I never thought she'd be so upset."
"Neither did I." He paused before posing his next question. "Is this what you want, sweetie?"
She nodded. "Yes, it is. I love him and I want to be with him. I think…I *know* I'm going to stay with Liam. He makes me happy."
"I'm glad. Will you call me and let me know how you're doing?"
"Sure. And I'll be by to pick up my things from the house in a few days."
"All right. If you need anything, or if you change your mind, don't hesitate to call me." Mr. Summers turned his attention to Liam. "I trust you'll take care of my little girl?"
Liam smiled, blessed that Buffy's father trusted him enough to leave his daughter in his care. "You have my word, Mr. Summers. Buffy will be safe with me."
"Good. I guess…I'll see you soon." Giving her a kiss goodbye, he looked once more at his only child before following his wife out the door.
"Are you sure you're okay with this, Liam? I know I kind of sprung this on you out of the blue, so I'll completely understand if you don't want to go through with it," Buffy said. "I can find someplace else to stay."
He took her in his arms. "There's nothing I want more than to wake up next to you every morning for the rest of my life. I'm not letting you go anywhere. Welcome home."
Buffy gave Liam a smile on Monday evening when she knocked on the front door of her parents' home. "You didn't have to come with me, you know. I'm just picking up my things."
"I know I didn't but I wanted to. You're going to need someone with you, especially
if your mother is home with you. I can play the part of the peacemaker in case
you two start arguing like you did the other
night. Besides, you are going
to need someone to help you carry all of your belongings back to my place. And
I can't see you walking all the way back to our house."
She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. "Thank you. And I like the sound of that. *Our* house."
The front door opened and on the other side stood Mr. Summers. "Buffy, Liam, it's good to see you two. Please come in and have a seat."
"We're not going to stay that long, Dad," Buffy told him. "Not if Mom is here. I don't want to start another argument."
He stepped aside while the couple entered. "There is no need to worry about that, Buffy. I haven't seen your mother since early Saturday afternoon."
"Why not?"
"I'm assuming she didn't like the fact that I took your side over hers. When we got home on Saturday she packed some of her clothes into a suitcase and left. And I haven't seen hide nor hair of her since."
Buffy frowned and shook her head. "Dad, I'm so sorry for doing this. All I ever seem to do is cause trouble. And you and Mom are fighting because of me."
Mr. Summers hugged his daughter, Liam watching as if he were an outsider intruding on an intimate moment between father and daughter. "This isn't your fault, sweetie. Your mother and I have been having problems long before the incident Saturday morning. This was just the straw that broke the camel's back, but it's been coming for years."
"Then why did you stay together if you weren't getting along?" she wanted to know.
"We stayed together for you. Your mom and I were planning on becoming legally separated around the time you went into the hospital. Because of your fragile mental state, neither of us knew what getting a divorce might do to you. We worked things out, or so we thought. But, Buffy, you shouldn't blame yourself for something that should have happened six years ago."
"Do you know where she's staying?"
Mr. Summers shook his head. "I'm afraid not. The only two places I can think of
would be a hotel or the gallery. I have a feeling the next contact we are going
to have with each other will be through our
lawyers."
Liam gripped Buffy's hand tightly, feeling the slight shudder go through her body.
"Are you ready to get your things?" he asked. He knew it would be a good way for
her to take her mind off of her parents'
problems.
She nodded. "Yeah," she answered softly. "Are you going to be okay, Dad? I don't want to leave you alone if you need me here."
"You do what you have to do to get well. I'll be fine," Mr. Summers told his daughter truthfully. "Like I already said, it's been coming for years."
"As long as you're sure…"
"I am. Liam, there are boxes downstairs you two can use for Buffy's clothes and whatnot. Take as many as you need."
"But what if your wife needs them if – when she picks her things up?" Liam asked.
The older man shrugged his shoulders. "That's too damn bad for her, I don't particularly care if she has to wear all of her clothes out of here when she comes back for them." He immediately regretted his words when he saw the crestfallen look on Buffy's face. "I didn't meant that, honey."
"Yes you did. You don't have to lie to protect my feelings anymore. I'm not a fifteen-year-old girl who has to make up stories about demons and vampires to protect herself from her parents fighting," Buffy stated. "No, I can handle it on my own now."
Entering Buffy's bedroom, Liam placed the last box on the floor next to the bed.
His love stood in front of her dresser holding a wooden object in her hand, staring
intently at it. "Hey, you. That's the last of the
boxes from the basement.
Do you think we'll be needing any more?"
"No," Buffy replied, shaking her head. "That should be enough."
"You didn't even look." Liam walked over to her side. "What's that in your hand, Buffy?"
Buffy held it up. "It's a wooden stake. It's what I'd use to 'kill' the vampires when I went out on patrol. I find it amazing how such a simple object can kill something so powerful and evil."
Her musings were beginning to frighten him; he feared Buffy was having a relapse caused by the stress of her parents' separation. "You don't need that anymore, love. Remember?"
"I know." She put it back inside her dresser drawer, burying it beneath several sweaters. "But it brought back memories and it made me realize why I created the world of demons and vampires, and even Sunnydale itself. I did it as an escape, Liam. Because there, my parents didn't fight. And I could control things where I couldn't do it here. I was helpless here, but I wasn't there; I was in control." After holding her feelings in for so long, Buffy let herself cry.
Liam held her, understanding – finally – what caused her schizophrenic episodes in the hospital. Buffy had been afraid of losing her family, so she created a world where her parents didn't fight, where she was important to the safety of the world. It all made sense to him now.
"Just cry, Buffy. Let it out."
"I never cried about it before. I held it in, Liam; trying to pretend that everything was fine at home. And that is why I ended up in the hospital. I know that now."
"Probably. But if you
cry now, it'll help you feel better. And tomorrow, we are going to find you a
new doctor so you can work through all this. You had a breakthrough today and
it might help you find the
answers you've been looking for if you continue
with your therapy," Liam suggested.
She sighed. "There's no chance you'll be my new doctor, huh?"
He laughed and shook his head in response. "Umm…no. The medical field tends to frown upon taking patients home and making love to them until they fall unconscious. Which is exactly what I plan on doing once we pack up the rest of your clothes."
"Is that an order from the doctor?"
"Yes it is. If we don't hurry up, I might take you right here, and I don't think your father would appreciate that," Liam said, handing her an empty box.
In their bedroom, Buffy and Liam finished getting dressed for Christmas Eve mass. She fidgeted nervously in front of the mirror while Liam brushed his hair. He couldn't help but notice her nervous twitches.
"Are you okay, Buffy?"
Buffy nodded slowly. "I guess. I'm nervous about tonight, though."
"It's only my parents and kid sister. You have nothing to be nervous about. They are going to love you just as much as I do," he promised. 'If anyone has reason to be nervous, it's me.'
"Are you sure?"
Coming up behind her, he held her in his arms, wrapping them around the young woman he loved. "I'm positive." Liam planted a kiss on her neck. "You know, you worry entirely too much. It's bad for your health."
She smiled. "I guess it's a good thing I'm sleeping with a doctor then."
Liam turned her around so that they faced each other. "A very good thing indeed."
Their lips met in a slow, passionate kiss, their tongues massaging each other as they slipped from mouth to mouth. He picked Buffy up by her waist and carried her to the bed. They laid down, hands roaming one anothers' bodies, searching for something neither of them had discovered before. As Liam began unzipping her dress the doorbell rang.
"Damn," Buffy swore.
"It's probably my family."
Buffy frowned as Liam sat up to get the door. "You family has *the* worst timing."
"Sorry."
They got off the bed and made their way down the hall to the front door. He opened it, and Buffy took in a nervous breath. 'What if they don't like me? What if they think I'm some crazy person who fixated on their son? Maybe this is a big mistake.'
"Mom. Dad. Kathy. It's good to see you," he greeted.
The three other members of the Donnelly family entered the living. By looking at them, Buffy was able to tell where Liam got his looks from: his father. Mr. Donnelly had brown hair with a touch of gray and brown eyes much like his son. Kathleen looked like her mother, with blonde hair and blue eyes. "You've really done wonders with your home, Liam," Mr. Donnelly complimented. "It's a good thing you inherited your mother's sense of style instead of mine."
"He is lucky, isn't he?" teased Mrs. Donnelly.
Buffy's heart pounded in her throat when Liam clutched her hand in his, flashing her a comforting smile. "I'd like you guys to meet someone very special to me. This is Buffy Summers, my girlfriend."
The three of them looked her over before Mr. Donnelly extended his hand toward her. "Nice to meet you, Buffy. I'm Patrick Donnelly, William's father. You must be very special if he's actually introducing you to us. He never does that with just anyone."
Buffy raised her eyebrows in amusement. "William?" she asked.
"I prefer Liam to Bill, Billy or Will," Liam answered. "Are you planning on embarrassing me any more, Dad?"
"I think I'm done for now."
Mrs. Donnelly came forward. "Liam and Patrick are always antagonizing each other. But I am very pleased to meet you. Elizabeth Donnelly."
"Nice to meet you, too."
"And I'm Kathleen Donnelly," his sister introduced. "But you can call me Kathy. Everyone else does."
"I was under the impression you don't like being called Kathy. At least that's what Liam told me," Buffy said to her.
Kathy grinned. "Yeah, but I like yanking his chain. What good is having an older
brother if you can't harass him? That's why I call him Angel; because he hates
it. But I still call him that because it's true.
He is my angel."
Buffy immediately felt a camaraderie with Liam's younger sister. "He's my angel, too."
"You don't look much older than me. Mind if I ask how old you are?"
"Not at all. I'll be twenty-two next month. Liam told me you and I are pretty close in age."
Kathy right away took a liking to her brother's girlfriend. She liked her better than any of Liam's past girlfriends she'd met before. Buffy seemed like someone she could have been friends with back in high school.
"We are; I just turned twenty-one in September. Do you go to school around here?"
"Community college right now. I started this past semester. Liam tells me you go to Columbia University for political science."
Kathy nodded. "Yep. What are you taking up in school?"
"At the moment? Space."
Patrick Donnelly clapped his hands in an attempt to get everyone's attention. "If we don't get a move on, we are going to be late for church. Let's go."
At eleven-thirty that night, Liam walked into the living room to sit with his
family. Buffy had fallen asleep upon putting her head on the pillow and he was
glad for it. He wanted to spend some private time with
his parents and sister
and discuss some things with them. They all sat on the couch while Liam took a
seat on the chair nearby.
"What do you guys think of Buffy?" he questioned. "I want your honest opinions here. Don't sugarcoat it."
"She seems very nice," Elizabeth Donnelly stated. "A little quiet, but nice."
"Buffy is a lovely young girl," Patrick Donnelly answered.
"I really like her," Kathy told him. "She's nice and funny and totally perfect for you. She and I got along really well."
Liam sighed. "Good, I'm glad you all like Buffy so much. Because…because tomorrow, I'm going to give her this." He showed them a diamond ring he'd purchased the month before.
Kathy widened her blue eyes and her jaw dropped. "Is that an engagement ring?"
"Yes. I'm going to ask Buffy to marry me. I spoke with her father a few days ago and he gave me his blessing. That's why I invited you over for Christmas this year, I wanted you to meet her before I did it," Liam informed them.
Nobody said anything for several moments. "Congratulations, big brother," his sister finally said, breaking the ice.
"Yes, congratulations," his parents told him.
"Thank you. But there is something you need to know about Buffy. She and I didn't exactly meet in the most conventional of ways. We met at the clinic back in March."
His father was surprised. "At the clinic? Isn't Buffy a little young to be working over there? She isn't a nurse, is she? Because I was under the impression she is still in college."
Liam shook his head. "No, she is still in school. Buffy didn't work there. She was one of my patients."
Once
again, silence filled the room. It proved to be a shock to everyone in the living
room. None of them ever thought he would fall for one of his patients. "Buffy
was in an institution?" his younger sister
asked. "For what?"
"That's something I should let you ask Buffy. She was there for six years and I started treating her when her regular doctor went on vacation for a couple weeks. When she had a breakthrough while he was gone, I continued on with her case. And in the interim, I fell in love with her."
"Is she okay now?" Elizabeth questioned.
"Yes. She's still seeing a doctor once a week. But she's fine; a lot of her troubles stemmed from her parents fighting back when she was in high school. Look, I know this sounds strange to you now, but I love her and I want to marry her."
Patrick looked at his thirty-two year old son. "Are you waiting for our permission?"
"Maybe. I don't know. I just wanted you to know."
"Well, you don't need it. If you love her, ask her."
"Guess that's it for all the presents," Buffy commented upon opening the last Christmas present in her pile. "Now what?"
Liam gazed at his family, and Kathy nodded her head at him. "There's one more for you, Buffy. I got you something else."
Buffy looked around the room, not seeing anything else unopened under the Christmas tree. "There's nothing left under the tree."
"It's not there." From his pants pocket,
Liam pulled out the same diamond ring he'd showed his family the night before.
Buffy stared at the ring, unable to say anything. But she had a feeling what was
happening when he got down on his knee. "I love you, Buffy Anne Summers. When
I first saw you that March day in 1997, you affected me in ways I never thought
possible. But then I started talking to you and I got to know you and I fell so
deeply in love, I didn't know what to do. Now I do. I want to spend my life with
you; I want to be with you. I want you to be my wife. So will you marry me?"
She swallowed the huge lump that had formed in her throat during his proposal. "Oh my god…"
"Is that a no?"
Buffy vehemently shook her head. "No, it's not a no."
"Then say yes already," Kathy interrupted, anxious to hear her say it. "His head is going to explode if you don't."
"I was getting to it, Kathy," she responded. "Yes. Yes, I'll marry you."
"I love you and I promise you won't regret this, Buffy. I swear." He placed the ring on her left hand, thinking about how perfect it looked there. "Do you remember when I told you how much my birthdays sucked when I was growing up because it was on Christmas? Well, you saying yes made this my best birthday ever."
"I love you, Liam Donnelly. And I can't wait until I'm Mrs. Dr. Liam Donnelly," Buffy said.
He grinned, taking her into his arms. "I can't wait either. I will make you the happiest woman in the world. Just like you've made me the happiest man by saying yes."
"You already have made me happy. You're my guardian angel."
The End