“Dammit Buffy! That’s not true!” Hank shouted, his hands falling away from probing at his split and swollen lips. “I am not a vampire!”

“So then tell me, Dad, since you seem to remember so much better than I, tell me just what exactly you are,” Buffy said quietly, leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms over her chest.

“H-Hank. You don’t have to…” Dreyfuss stammered.

“Do be quiet Alec. It’s time that Buffy knows about her family and if she decides to stake me, then everything, all of it, goes to her and she can finally have some peace.” Looking at his brother, Hank spoke quietly. “I’m tired Alec. No more lies and no more covering up. I trust her. Buffy will do the right thing.”

Looking across the table, Hank took in the handsome dark haired man to his daughter’s left. Perched on the table they sat at, Angel looked very solemn, returning his stare unblinkingly, sitting possessively next to his daughter, his dark eyes flashing. Blinking and looking to the man to his daughter’s right, Hank took in Giles, observing the apparent confusion etched across his features, noting that he leaned towards Buffy in an almost protective, fatherly way, noticing that she leaned towards him slightly, silently accepting his support. Moving his eyes back to his daughter, he sighed quietly. She looked so tired; her eyes were steely, hard, but he could see the shadows in them as well and her golden skin was pale making her appear almost fragile.

Taking a deep breath and expelling it slowly between his throbbing lips, Hank Summers began to speak; staring at his hands balled up loosely on the table in front of him, quietly and precisely he began to unfold a story that very few knew of.

“It happened the night I was born. I was a large baby and my Mother was a slight woman.” Glancing quickly up at Buffy, meeting her eyes with his own he continued. “You look very much like her in fact, in height and your colouring. She was a beautiful woman,” and he returned his eyes back to his hands in front of him. “When she went into labor, I was breeched. It was hard for her. She had been laboring since early in the morning hours and the sun was starting to set when the doctor decided the only way I would survive was to turn me. H-he cut her…down there and he put his hand up inside her to turn me and she started bleeding heavily. He had cut her too much and the incision tore when he was trying to turn me and she was losing so much blood that she couldn’t push anymore. She was weakening, dying really, and I still hadn’t been born and the doctor panicked. He sent everyone out of the room and when he was alone with her he bit her. He was scared that he would be held responsible not only for her death but for mine as well since he could no longer detect my heartbeat, so he turned her. An hour later I was born and my mother bled out.”

Looking back up at the trio before him, Hank continued quietly. “I am not a vampire. I don’t have any of the vampire abilities and I can go out into the sun. Only three times that I know of, have I changed. Once when I was small, maybe about 3 or 4 year old, I was following Alec around; I was told he was my cousin and he was hunting with some other cousins of ours around by the lake and they had killed a deer and I remember being so upset about it because they were skinning it and then I changed.”

“I s-saw his face before anyone else did,” Dreyfuss interjected just as quietly. “His forehead was ridged a-and his eyes changed to this golden colour. I didn’t know what to make of it so I took him into the woods so no one else would see and we picked out birds and named them and a-after a b-bit he changed back. He was normal again. I never told anyone. Hank didn’t even remem-member it until I told him when he was s-sixteen and by then, it was like it had never happened. He hadn’t ever changed again since that d-day that I knew of. I was also the one that witnessed what the doctor did the night Hank was b-born and know why Hank is the way he is.”

Pressing his lips together so tightly, they almost disappeared, Dreyfuss looked towards Buffy, staring into her eyes continuing at her slight nod. “I w-was almost four years old and I was scared. I kept hearing Rose, my favourite Aunt, crying a-and she would scream with the pains. I only wanted to see her and no one would let me in to see her s-so w-when the adults came out of the room I-I ssnuck in and hid in her cupboard. I-I c-could see through the slats in the middle a-and I saw him c-cut her and she w-was screaming and all of this blood just started c-coming out of her. He made James and Aunt L-L-Lillian leave the room a-and he pushed his hands inside her and s-she started bleeding even more and he j-just kept saying ‘Oh Dear God’ and h-he spread h-her legs apart a-and bit her inside her thigh.” Breathing hard, Dreyfuss closed his eyes, his hands balling into fists as he remembered events of long ago.

“He then cut his wrist and m-made her drink. There was b-blood everywhere. After awhile, he took his hand away and started to p-push on her s-stomach. He pushed one hand up into her again and pushed down on her stomach w-with his other one and it looked like he was turning the baby. He k-kept telling her to h-help him and t-to push, please p-push and she sh-she did finally and H-Hank was born. R-Rose kept bleeding though and the doctor couldn’t s-stop it so h-he cleaned Hank off and flipped him over and smacked his bottom b-but Hank wouldn’t cry. He unwrapped his wrist and put it to Hank’s m-mouth b-but he wasn’t moving so h-he flipped him over in his hands and put a h-hand on his back and started to squeeze. I-I thought he was going to squash his ribcage between h-his h-hands, and then Hank made a sound a-and the doctor held him upside down and smacked him on the back a-and after that H-hank started to cry. The next thing I-I know, everyone came into the room and he was given to Aunt L-Lillian to clean up and J-James covered Rose-my Mom with the sheets and everyone walked out of the room.”

Stunned silence reigned for a full minute before Giles was the first to break the quiet. Addressing Buffy’s father, he spoke just as quietly as the others before him had, looking from Hank to Dreyfuss and back to Hank. “Why would Buffy think you were a vampire then Mr. Summers?”

Looking at his daughter once more, Hank stared at her, watching her face as he answered the question directed at him. “Because the second time I changed, Buffy saw it happen.”

“What do you mean, changed,” Angel spoke, his head bowed slightly and looking at Buffy’s father from beneath his brow.

“Joyce and I were fighting. It was a terrible fight really, lots of shouting and I had been drinking and…”

Taking a deep breath once more, Hank continued, staring at his daughter as the memories of that night returned, her face etched in agony as that night replayed in her mind. “I was supposed to have been gone for business that weekend. That is what I told Joyce but she caught me. I was having an affair with my secretary and she was in a hotel across town to check one of their ballrooms for a small art showing for some reason or another and she seen us in the dining room kissing. She followed us up to our room and managed to get a key and walked in on us. She said a few things and then turned around and left and I didn’t have the courage to go after her right then. So I stayed where I was and emptied the mini bar before I found the courage to go home that night. She was already upset after having caught me but then you had gotten into trouble again at school that day so when I got home, she had already had half a bottle of wine. The first thing she did when she saw me was to throw the bottle at me and scream at me that you ran off again and we fought. I didn’t lay a hand on her, but there was a lot of shouting and slamming doors and screaming and we had no idea that you had come back home and was hiding in the basement. All those things that we said to each other…” Hanks closed his eyes tightly for a moment, shaking his head slightly as if to clear it, before looking into Buffy’s eyes again.

Seeming to withdraw into herself, Buffy drew her knees up into her seat, wrapping her arms around them, rocking slightly. Feeling Giles place a comforting hand on her shoulder, she stopped rocking and looked up, her eyes full of anguish as tears slid quietly down her cheeks.

“I’m so sorry Pumpkin. I’m so sorry you had to hear all of those awful things we said to each other. We didn’t know you were home. I know that doesn’t excuse the things we said, but it was hard for us Buffy. Your Mother had every right to be angry with me and say the things she did. I, on the other hand, did not. I was shallow and caught up with my new business and I let the success go to my head. All of a sudden I was important and people listened to what I had to say and women started hitting on me and I was weak. I was trying to deal with a 14 year old daughter that was physically stronger than anyone I knew, grown men included, and who was constantly getting into trouble at school and your Mother was gone a lot trying to get the art gallery going and saying I was gone too much and leaving her to do everything and we were fighting about sending you away because we thought there was something wrong with you because you kept talking about seeing vampires and demons. There was just so much pressure on me and it seemed everything was spiraling out of control and the only place I had any was at work. I was needed and I was the guy people came to for ideas and decisions and they admired me and I let it all get to me. I had respect and power and in the end it went to my head and did some things that I'm not proud of including cheating on your Mom. I know I don’t have any excuse really, but that night it all just came to a head and we fought and I was going downstairs to the basement to get away from her for a few minutes and have a drink and she threw a vase at me and it hit me in the head and cut me and the next thing I know there you are and your shouting at me too. I didn't understand what you were saying at first. You tried to run away again and I didn’t want you to and I grabbed you and you almost fell and your ring cut me when I tried to keep you from falling and I just got so… so angry; and then you started screaming saying I was a vampire and shouting for your Mom. I didn’t know what in the hell you were talking about. I thought you were deluded or something because here’s my daughter, my little girl, screaming about demons and vampires and now all of a sudden I’m not the guy you turn to anymore when you’re scared of these things because now you’re scared of me and calling me a vampire. You grabbed a hockey stick and started hitting me with it and it broke and you tried to stab me with it and I didn’t mean to, honest to God, I didn’t mean to, but I pushed you the rest of the way down the stairs and I did the only thing I could think of. I ran,” and with that his voice broke and the tears that had been simmering in his eyes ran unheeded down his cheeks.

“So, you can change then,” Angel asked, standing up as he did so.

“I’ve only changed three times that I know of. The first two times it happened you were told about; the only other time was the last time it happened and that was when my divorce from Joyce was final. We were separated for 6 months before she sent divorce papers. Then they were sent back and forth and back and forth for 6 more months getting signatures and making appendages and such. For 15 months I hoped that maybe she would change her mind, that maybe I would be forgiven. I visited Buffy as much as I could and it was almost like it was back to normal with the two of us, but she wouldn’t let me touch her. When I tried to hug her she would freeze up so I held back and allowed her to initiate any contact with me. The last time I saw her, was the week of what would have been the 17th anniversary of the first date I had with Joyce. I always remembered that and Joyce and I always did something special on that day, no matter how mad we were at each other or how much arguing there was. It was 10 days before Christmas and I just brought Buffy back home and we had an amazing time and I took her shopping and we bought all kinds of things for her and some things for her Mom. I was bringing her things inside and Joyce had made dinner and invited me in and we all had a nice, normal meal like a real family again. I had so much hope that night. Then it was late and I was getting ready to go and Joyce handed me an envelope and she apologized over and over again. The divorce was final. I got completely faced that night in my hotel room. I was drinking heavily and the glass I was hooding broke and I cut my hand and I got really angry all of a sudden. I went into the bathroom to wash my hand and wrap it in something and that is when I saw it. I saw my reflection in the bathroom mirror.”

Smiling without mirth, Hank’s eyes reflected his revulsion of what the mirror revealed years ago. “No wonder you thought I was a vampire. I’m looking at myself in the mirror but its not my face I see. Instead I have this bumpy forehead and my nose is almost flat and my eyes are yellow. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I ran through my room grabbing anything and looking at whatever would reflect back at me and it wouldn’t change. The sliding glass doors, the tv, the glass coffee pot…everything showed this hideous face so I ran back into the bathroom and stared at myself for minutes, hours…and found a monster instead of the man I used to be. The worst part about it was this: not only was I sub-par husband and a sub-par father, but I was also a sub-par vampire because for all appearances of looking like one, I didn’t even have fangs. So there you go. I’m a half-assed vampire with all of the vampire looks, but what you see isn’t always what you get.”

“Fine! Ok, say everything you’ve said is true. Why now? After all of this time and all of these lies, why now? After years without a word from you, even when I called and left message after message after message when Mom was sick and then again when she died, nothing! Not a word from you and now all of a sudden you’re barging back into my life and trying to buy my happiness again, just like you used to do when I was a teenager. Why now, Hank? Why, when I needed you most, you didn’t want to have anything to do with me and now all of a sudden I’m supposed to be turning cartwheels and gracious that Daddy is back and being so generous?” With each word Buffy’s tone grew steadier and steadier, her eyes dark green and determined, still swimming in tears. “I died twice, Dad. Where were you then? Did you even know? Did you even care?” Lowering her legs to the floor, Buffy scooted forward in her chair, palms pressed flat to the table top in front of her. “Mom was sick for months and I called and I left messages with every number I had for you and not once did you call me back. Then she died and all of a sudden I had all of these bills and obligations and a sister to take care of without the first idea of how to do any of it and still, not one word from you. Then I died again. 147 days. I was dead 147 days before they brought me back and still not one word from you. I know because I asked!”

Standing up so suddenly her chair fell over behind her, Buffy leaned over the table, getting as far into her father’s face as she possibly could, her face hardening into a mask of disgust, she shouted “Five years, Dad. I fought alone and lived alone and worked alone and faced countless demons and vampires alone, without you. For five years death was my constant companion and I loved and lost and cried and fought and died and came back without you there so what in the bloody hell makes you think I want you around now? You don’t even have the courage to show up yourself to tell me anything. Instead you send someone else to break the news to me. You use someone else to wedge yourself back into my life without even asking me if its what I want. Who in the hell do you think you are? Really, cause I want to know just who. the. hell. do. you. think. you. are?”

Straightening up, Buffy used to backs of her hands to wipe the tears from her cheeks. Looking down her nose at the man that was now her uncle and then again at her father, her eyes like emeralds and just as hard before she spoke quietly once more, her tone as cold as ice. “You’re not my father. Not anymore. You’re nothing to me. No-one,” and with that she stepped back and around the chair Giles was sitting in and she walked out the door, leaving it standing open as the 4 men remaining inside stared after her, each lost in their own sorrow for the golden girl with the broken eyes.