BtVS Quadruple Drabble: A Mother's Love
Title: A Mother's Love
Fandom: BtVS
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Joyce, Buffy.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 400
Spoilers: Innocence.
Summary: Buffy’s in a strange mood on her birthday, despondent instead of happy, so Joyce does what she can to comfort her daughter.
Written For: Challenge 357: Amnesty at fan_flashworks, using Challenge 46: Comfort.
Disclaimer: I don’t own BtVS, or the characters.
A/N: Quadruple drabble.
“What’s going on with you, sweetheart?”
Joyce wishes she could ask that question, but at the same time she’s not sure she wants to know the answer. It’s Buffy’s birthday; she should be happy, excited, overjoyed at turning seventeen and being one year closer to adulthood, but she’s not. Instead she seems sad, wistful, weighed down by some unimaginable teenage hurt.
There’s no way Joyce would ever want to go back and relive her own teenage years; that would be her worst nightmare. She still remembers, and probably always will, how awkward she felt, and how every slight from her friends, every rejection from a boy she liked, every harsh word spoken by a teacher, felt like her world was ending. Teenagers always take the smallest things so much to heart, and yet with Buffy, it feels like there’s more going on than the usual teen angst.
So Joyce won’t ask, because even if she did, she knows enough to be sure her daughter wouldn’t tell her, and perhaps that’s okay. Part of growing up is learning to deal with your problems and disappointments by yourself without expecting your parents to fix everything. Parents aren’t the all-powerful demigods young children seem to think they are. They have their limits.
If Buffy does want to talk later, then Joyce will listen and be ready with the patented parenting advice, but she won’t push anything. There’s one question she can ask though.
“So what'd you do for your birthday? Did you have fun?”
“I got older.”
Perhaps that’s the root of the problem; growing up can be scary, so many new responsibilities, and college only a year or so away…
“You look the same to me.” Those are the only words of reassurance Joyce can come up with right now, but perhaps words aren’t what Buffy needs, just the simple comfort of knowing she’s loved unconditionally, and that her mom will always be there for her.
She reaches to stroke her daughter’s hair, trying to convey her love and support through touch alone, and maybe she succeeds, because Buffy leans against her the way she hasn’t since she was a little girl. They sit in silence as the movie they’re watching winds down to its end, and Joyce keeps stroking Buffy’s hair, drawing comfort of her own from the gesture.
Whatever’s going on in her daughter’s life, they’ll get through it together.
The End
Fandom: BtVS
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Joyce, Buffy.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 400
Spoilers: Innocence.
Summary: Buffy’s in a strange mood on her birthday, despondent instead of happy, so Joyce does what she can to comfort her daughter.
Written For: Challenge 357: Amnesty at fan_flashworks, using Challenge 46: Comfort.
Disclaimer: I don’t own BtVS, or the characters.
A/N: Quadruple drabble.
“What’s going on with you, sweetheart?”
Joyce wishes she could ask that question, but at the same time she’s not sure she wants to know the answer. It’s Buffy’s birthday; she should be happy, excited, overjoyed at turning seventeen and being one year closer to adulthood, but she’s not. Instead she seems sad, wistful, weighed down by some unimaginable teenage hurt.
There’s no way Joyce would ever want to go back and relive her own teenage years; that would be her worst nightmare. She still remembers, and probably always will, how awkward she felt, and how every slight from her friends, every rejection from a boy she liked, every harsh word spoken by a teacher, felt like her world was ending. Teenagers always take the smallest things so much to heart, and yet with Buffy, it feels like there’s more going on than the usual teen angst.
So Joyce won’t ask, because even if she did, she knows enough to be sure her daughter wouldn’t tell her, and perhaps that’s okay. Part of growing up is learning to deal with your problems and disappointments by yourself without expecting your parents to fix everything. Parents aren’t the all-powerful demigods young children seem to think they are. They have their limits.
If Buffy does want to talk later, then Joyce will listen and be ready with the patented parenting advice, but she won’t push anything. There’s one question she can ask though.
“So what'd you do for your birthday? Did you have fun?”
“I got older.”
Perhaps that’s the root of the problem; growing up can be scary, so many new responsibilities, and college only a year or so away…
“You look the same to me.” Those are the only words of reassurance Joyce can come up with right now, but perhaps words aren’t what Buffy needs, just the simple comfort of knowing she’s loved unconditionally, and that her mom will always be there for her.
She reaches to stroke her daughter’s hair, trying to convey her love and support through touch alone, and maybe she succeeds, because Buffy leans against her the way she hasn’t since she was a little girl. They sit in silence as the movie they’re watching winds down to its end, and Joyce keeps stroking Buffy’s hair, drawing comfort of her own from the gesture.
Whatever’s going on in her daughter’s life, they’ll get through it together.
The End