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["Femvamp " <femvamp000@xxxxxxxxx>]

TITLE: Devil's Law: Confronting The Devil
AUTHOR: Femvamp
E-MAIL: femvamp000@xxxxxxxxx
FEEDBACK: Yes. Yes. YES! 
DISTRIBUTION: You want it? It's yours. Just tell me where it goes.
DISCLAIMER: Joss Wheadon and many others own the characters of BtVS 
and Angel (lucky bastards). 
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Confronting The Devil

Life changing things have a tendency to either happen very slowly or 
so fast that you can't even see it happening until its too late. Hank 
Summers had seen both happen in his lifetime. His wedding to Joyce 
and the birth of their only child had seemed to happen in slow motion. 
Every gesture, every moment, every word took an eternity to happen. 
The failure of his marriage and the withdrawal of his daughter seemed 
to happen at light speed. 

Hank still didn't know what went wrong. How his perfect family could 
fall apart the way it did. For awhile he blamed Buffy and even Joyce, 
but eventually he realized it was as much his fault as it was theirs. 
If he had been around more. If he had been stricter with his 
daughter, maybe she wouldn't have become a criminal.

He had been too late to save his marriage, but he was determined to 
save his daughter...whatever the cost.

Hank had taken the job at Wolfram and Hart because it was close by to 
Sunnydale. A few hours drive. After he got settled in, he would 
call his daughter and they would make plans. It would be the first 
step to getting her back. 

Hank wasn't a stupid man. He knew Wolfram and Hart had a shady 
reputation. Then again, that's all it was, a reputation. From what 
Hank had seen, Wolfram and Hart was legitimate. It was a good firm. 
Hank was going places and he liked the view.

Then another life changing event happened in his life. He was 
discussing a case with Lee Mercer when Buffy came barging into the 
office. The first thing he noticed was his back literally being 
against a wall.

"Hello, dad." 

"B..Buffy." 

"Well hello, Miss Summers." 

Lee walked toward Buffy only to be stopped by a man who looked to Hank 
to be his own age. That's when he noticed the other people in the 
room. Most of them he didn't recognize. One he did, his ex-wife, 
Joyce.

"Do I know you?" Buffy asked Lee.

"No, but I've heard alot about you." Lee put out his hand but Buffy 
didn't take it, "My name is Lee Mercer."

"Ahh, then you are the one who had my friends arrested." Buffy said 
angrily letting go of her father.

"They were criminals." Hank said angrily.

Hank watched as Buffy's face turned red with anger. Hank wasn't one 
to be scared. He had seen alot in his life and very few things scared 
him. This however, scared him to death.

"Cordelia is no criminal. " 

"None of them are." Joyce spoke for the first time.

"Ahh and you must be Mrs. Summers." Lee walked over to Joyce. "It's 
a pleasure to meet you."

"I bet." Joyce folded her arms across her chest.

"What are you doing here, Joyce?" Hank asked.

"What do you think?"

"I think if you'd been a better mother, our daughter wouldn't be 
associating with known criminals." Hank said angrily.

"If I were you, sir." Giles said with gritted teeth, "I would take 
that back."

"And who do you think you are?" 

"No, who do you think you are?" Buffy said angrily.

"I'm your father."

Buffy smiled evilly, "You were never my father. " Buffy pointed to 
Giles, "He's been a better father to me then you ever have. " Buffy 
paused, "And now it's gonna be for real. He's marrying mom. Now I'm 
going to have a real father. Not one who is only there when it suits 
him. Not one who is only proud when I do what I am told. You know 
what 'dad'?" Buffy paused, "He loves me. Even when I go against what 
he says. He loves me. You never have." Buffy paused and began to 
walk out the door but before she left she turned around, "I'm going to 
get my friends out of jail, even if I have to go through you to do 
it."

With that Buffy and the others left. The only ones who stayed behind 
where Joyce and Giles who simply stared at the man for a moment. Then 
Giles walked toward Hank and looked him over.

"How does it feel, Mr. Summers?" Giles paused, "To make and enemy of 
your own daughter?"

With that Giles and Joyce left Hank's office.

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Hank sat at his desk in his dark office. He continued to play the 
confrontation over in his mind. All his plans had crumbled in a 
single moment. He had lost his daughter. There was no going back. 
Things had gone too far. The girl who had so much potential was gone. 
His daughter was gone.

For the first time in years, Hank Summers cried.