Monsters and Trials
Title: Monsters and Trials
Author: Katya Starling
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Characters/Pairing: Joyce, Spike, hints of Spike/Joyce and Giles/Joyce
Rating: PG-13/T
Challenge: Nekid-Spike Episode Week: Band Candy
Warnings: None
Word Count: 828
Date Written: 5 May 2019
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Whedon, not the author, and are used without permission.
She looked at the broken man on her doorstep and felt her heart break for him. It had been doing that quite a bit lately: breaking over people and things she never thought it would have before, things and people that she never thought were even possible to be real. She forced down the ball in her throat as she took in the man before her and all he was trying, and failing, to hide. He was broken, thoroughly and completely broken.
What had happened to him? she wondered. Had her daughter done this? She knew he and Angel were not exactly friends, and Buffy would have done well to stay away from that other Vampire. She had staked this one before -- Joyce had seen her do it --, but somehow it had never quite taken a hold like it was supposed to. He was a Vampire, though, and that meant she should fear him.
But she didn’t. In fact, looking down at him right now made her feel . . . made her feel something she hadn’t felt in quite a long while, except for in those recurring dreams she had about the school’s librarian. Those things were strange, too, she reflected, especially with how real they consistently felt. She remembered dancing and smoking with Mister Giles. She remembered getting quite . . . personal with him and a pair of handcuffs, even at one point right in front of police cars.
They couldn’t possibly be real, even if she had wondered before if the dreams had something to do with some kind of strange spell. But this was real. This handsome, young man standing before her, needing her help, humbly requesting her assistance, was real. “I don’t know where she is,” Joyce admitted, finding her voice, “but she’s sure to come home soon. Would you like to come in and wait?”
He smiled. She felt something shiver down her spine, but she wouldn’t exactly call it fear. She should fear him. He was a Vampire, she reminded herself sternly, but she didn’t. If Buffy could willingly give her virginity to one of the undead things, why couldn’t she give her friendship to one? But Spike was no thing.
He had feelings. He had heart, a heart that she could tell was broken and needed mending. “Come on inside,” she insisted, stepping to the side and leaving the door wide open for him. “I was just about to make some hot chocolate. Would you like some?” Instead of waiting for him to answer, she walked on toward the kitchen, knowing and fully expecting him to follow her.
Again, her mind flashed back to that night and particularly those handcuffs. She’d actually hunted through the house for them, just in case the dreams had been more real than she truly wanted to consider, but she hadn’t found them, which had been the final proof she’d needed to believe they were only dreams, no matter how real they felt every time she had them.
She waved at herself as she heard him come into the kitchen behind her. They were only a dream, and she really was being worse than her teenage daughter if she was wanting handcuffs now to lock up a Vampire! She glanced over her shoulder at him. God, but the man was gorgeous!
He was also deadly, she reminded herself, but the moment she looked into his handsome face again, she remembered that he was hurting too. Just because he was a Vampire didn’t make him a monster, she reasoned with herself. People liked to believe that other people were monsters because of a difference in their skin color, religion, or sexual preferences. What right did she have to judge anybody, to call anybody, regardless of species or any other differences, a monster? She’d made mistakes too. Why, she’d even let her teenage daughter run away to a city when her child had needed her the worst!
Joyce sighed and put a mug of chocolate down in front of Spike. “Talk,” she whispered, and before either of them really knew what was happening, he was talking. He was talking and all but crying on her shoulder, and Joyce knew two things then. For one, what her daughter did really was more important than schoolwork or anything else she could be doing, and it was more complicated than perhaps even Buffy understood.
Secondly, and more importantly still, being a different species, even a Vampire, didn’t make a person a monster. They chose to be a monster, regardless of their species or any other differences. Monsters weren’t born that way. Something led them to make those decisions, and something else could lead them away from those decisions. She leaned across the table and put a kind hand over Spike’s. Perhaps she could be one who led them away. She’d certainly try; for this man, and for her daughter too and all the things she didn’t yet understand but Joyce now did, she would try.
The End
Author: Katya Starling
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Characters/Pairing: Joyce, Spike, hints of Spike/Joyce and Giles/Joyce
Rating: PG-13/T
Challenge: Nekid-Spike Episode Week: Band Candy
Warnings: None
Word Count: 828
Date Written: 5 May 2019
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Whedon, not the author, and are used without permission.
She looked at the broken man on her doorstep and felt her heart break for him. It had been doing that quite a bit lately: breaking over people and things she never thought it would have before, things and people that she never thought were even possible to be real. She forced down the ball in her throat as she took in the man before her and all he was trying, and failing, to hide. He was broken, thoroughly and completely broken.
What had happened to him? she wondered. Had her daughter done this? She knew he and Angel were not exactly friends, and Buffy would have done well to stay away from that other Vampire. She had staked this one before -- Joyce had seen her do it --, but somehow it had never quite taken a hold like it was supposed to. He was a Vampire, though, and that meant she should fear him.
But she didn’t. In fact, looking down at him right now made her feel . . . made her feel something she hadn’t felt in quite a long while, except for in those recurring dreams she had about the school’s librarian. Those things were strange, too, she reflected, especially with how real they consistently felt. She remembered dancing and smoking with Mister Giles. She remembered getting quite . . . personal with him and a pair of handcuffs, even at one point right in front of police cars.
They couldn’t possibly be real, even if she had wondered before if the dreams had something to do with some kind of strange spell. But this was real. This handsome, young man standing before her, needing her help, humbly requesting her assistance, was real. “I don’t know where she is,” Joyce admitted, finding her voice, “but she’s sure to come home soon. Would you like to come in and wait?”
He smiled. She felt something shiver down her spine, but she wouldn’t exactly call it fear. She should fear him. He was a Vampire, she reminded herself sternly, but she didn’t. If Buffy could willingly give her virginity to one of the undead things, why couldn’t she give her friendship to one? But Spike was no thing.
He had feelings. He had heart, a heart that she could tell was broken and needed mending. “Come on inside,” she insisted, stepping to the side and leaving the door wide open for him. “I was just about to make some hot chocolate. Would you like some?” Instead of waiting for him to answer, she walked on toward the kitchen, knowing and fully expecting him to follow her.
Again, her mind flashed back to that night and particularly those handcuffs. She’d actually hunted through the house for them, just in case the dreams had been more real than she truly wanted to consider, but she hadn’t found them, which had been the final proof she’d needed to believe they were only dreams, no matter how real they felt every time she had them.
She waved at herself as she heard him come into the kitchen behind her. They were only a dream, and she really was being worse than her teenage daughter if she was wanting handcuffs now to lock up a Vampire! She glanced over her shoulder at him. God, but the man was gorgeous!
He was also deadly, she reminded herself, but the moment she looked into his handsome face again, she remembered that he was hurting too. Just because he was a Vampire didn’t make him a monster, she reasoned with herself. People liked to believe that other people were monsters because of a difference in their skin color, religion, or sexual preferences. What right did she have to judge anybody, to call anybody, regardless of species or any other differences, a monster? She’d made mistakes too. Why, she’d even let her teenage daughter run away to a city when her child had needed her the worst!
Joyce sighed and put a mug of chocolate down in front of Spike. “Talk,” she whispered, and before either of them really knew what was happening, he was talking. He was talking and all but crying on her shoulder, and Joyce knew two things then. For one, what her daughter did really was more important than schoolwork or anything else she could be doing, and it was more complicated than perhaps even Buffy understood.
Secondly, and more importantly still, being a different species, even a Vampire, didn’t make a person a monster. They chose to be a monster, regardless of their species or any other differences. Monsters weren’t born that way. Something led them to make those decisions, and something else could lead them away from those decisions. She leaned across the table and put a kind hand over Spike’s. Perhaps she could be one who led them away. She’d certainly try; for this man, and for her daughter too and all the things she didn’t yet understand but Joyce now did, she would try.
The End