Buffy's reality gets worse

Buffy's father said, "I gotta go get make a phone call so I'll just let you two get acquainted."

And just like that, he left Buffy's hospital room, leaving her alone with her new stepmother.

"Why in the world would he marry you?" asked Buffy. "You're closer to my age than his and you look just like m -- Oh, God! Please don't tell me that's why he married you. He wasn't the greatest father I could ever have but I'd like to think he's a lot better than that."

"Okay, I won't tell you," said Buffy's stepmother. "But we have been married for about two months now so it's safe to say that he has seen me naked on more than a few occasions. And hey, at least this way he's not throwing his money away on college-age strippers who just happen to be thin and blonde."

"Please stop talking, Kathryn," said Buffy.

"Kathryn?" asked her stepmother. "Not 'Mom'? Or 'Mother'?"

"You know very well that I already have a mother and that she's still alive," said Buffy.

"Yes, I know that," said Kathryn. "I also know that your mother's daughter hits very hard and likes to go naked in public."

Buffy replied, "I do not like to go naked in publ --"

Kathryn interrupted. "I have a security tape from the Bronze that says different, Buffy. A security tape that I could show your father and other people -- like, say, your mother's employers -- if you don't cooperate with me."

Buffy sighed. She was willing to risk her own reputation defying Kathryn but her mother's job? That was a different story.

"Okay, Kathryn," said Buffy. "What do you want?"

"As soon as you get out of the hospital, I want you to come spend the summer with your father and me in LA," said Kathryn.

"That doesn't sound so bad," said Buffy.

"While you're there, I also want you to stop wearing clothes," said Kathryn.

"Seriously?" asked Buffy. "You expect me to go naked in front of my own father?"

"Why not?" asked Kathryn. "You went naked in front of your own mother."

"That's a different story," said Buffy. "You see --"

"That's not what your friend CrazyGi -- er --Faith says," said Kathryn.

"Well, Faith's not really my friend and anyway, how would you explain my nudity to my father?" asked Buffy.

"Simple, really," said Kathryn. "We'll simply tell him you decided to go nudist. After all the things you've done in the past -- including burning down that high school gym and that brief period you spent in the mental hospital -- he should have no trouble believing that."

"You think you know all my secrets, don't you?" asked Buffy.

"Not yet," said Kathryn. "But I'm pretty sure I will by the end of the summer. Now do we have a deal or should I go get that security tape?"

Buffy sighed. "We have a deal."

"Oh, great," said Kathryn. "I thought this year was going to be so boring now that I'm an old married woman but now... You and I are going to have such fun, stepdaughter. I don't know about you but I can't wait to get started!"