"Shadow" (Claire, Topher, OMC, PG-13)
Title: Shadow
Author: jackiejlh
Characters: Claire, Topher, OMC
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None.
Spoilers: Episodes 1 through 12
Disclaimer: Not mine. Not even a little bit.
Word Count: 521
Summary: Every doll has a handler.
Whiskey doesn't require as much monitoring as most. There isn't a van; there aren't screens somewhere monitoring her stress levels and heart rate. She almost never glitches.
Gordon's life isn't nearly as interesting since being assigned to this particular doll, but it's a lot less dangerous, so he doesn't complain. He watches from afar; she doesn't notice him among the other handlers, not when she's got so many dolls to care for and reports to write.
He does monitor her, though. There are cameras in the little Dollhouse apartment that she remembered perfectly before she ever set foot inside of it, and her office is full of them as well. He knows that she looks at herself in the mirror and whispers that it doesn't matter if her face is scarred because it's not as if anyone outside the Dollhouse ever sees her anyway. He knows that she thinks the dolls aren't treated as well as they should be.
And he knows, long before Topher tracks him down, exactly when she finds out that she wasn't born Claire Saunders.
She doesn't look surprised that Gordon's sitting in her office the next day, even if she can't remember where she's met him before, and when he asks her if she'd like a treatment, he can almost see her newfound sense of self warring with her programming.
"Yes," she finally answers. Her tone is hesitant, reluctant, but she follows him without protest.
He's glad-the last time she'd learned the truth, he'd had to drag her to the chair kicking and screaming.
"Take out the computer skills," he bites out at Topher as a blank and emotionless Whiskey sits watching them curiously. "Are you trying to sabotage the imprint?"
Topher glares daggers, and for a moment, Gordon almost feels bad for him. The real Dr. Saunders had been Topher's friend, and so it'd only seemed natural when he made friends with the new Dr. Saunders as well. And then he'd said the wrong thing, she'd freaked out, and it had all ended with a wipe and a new start, one where she hated Topher because he said he couldn't handle that kind of guilt a second time. He wouldn't have intentionally let her find out again any more than Gordon would have, the handler thinks-except that no doctor needs to know that much about computers, and Topher isn't an idiot.
Gordon is already trying to figure out exactly how much of this he should tell DeWitt.
Whiskey is drugged before she's imprinted, and Gordon carries her to a waiting van and then takes her home, leaving her on the sofa. She'll wake up and recall lying down for a nap just a few hours prior.
This time she won't remember ever having any interest in computers beyond their usefulness when compiling her reports. She'll still hate Topher Brink. She'll know that her scars shouldn't matter to her, and will tell herself so whenever she looks in the mirror. She'll know that sometimes her job breaks her heart more than it fulfills her. And she'll know that she's always been Claire Saunders, and never anyone else.
Author: jackiejlh
Characters: Claire, Topher, OMC
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None.
Spoilers: Episodes 1 through 12
Disclaimer: Not mine. Not even a little bit.
Word Count: 521
Summary: Every doll has a handler.
Whiskey doesn't require as much monitoring as most. There isn't a van; there aren't screens somewhere monitoring her stress levels and heart rate. She almost never glitches.
Gordon's life isn't nearly as interesting since being assigned to this particular doll, but it's a lot less dangerous, so he doesn't complain. He watches from afar; she doesn't notice him among the other handlers, not when she's got so many dolls to care for and reports to write.
He does monitor her, though. There are cameras in the little Dollhouse apartment that she remembered perfectly before she ever set foot inside of it, and her office is full of them as well. He knows that she looks at herself in the mirror and whispers that it doesn't matter if her face is scarred because it's not as if anyone outside the Dollhouse ever sees her anyway. He knows that she thinks the dolls aren't treated as well as they should be.
And he knows, long before Topher tracks him down, exactly when she finds out that she wasn't born Claire Saunders.
She doesn't look surprised that Gordon's sitting in her office the next day, even if she can't remember where she's met him before, and when he asks her if she'd like a treatment, he can almost see her newfound sense of self warring with her programming.
"Yes," she finally answers. Her tone is hesitant, reluctant, but she follows him without protest.
He's glad-the last time she'd learned the truth, he'd had to drag her to the chair kicking and screaming.
"Take out the computer skills," he bites out at Topher as a blank and emotionless Whiskey sits watching them curiously. "Are you trying to sabotage the imprint?"
Topher glares daggers, and for a moment, Gordon almost feels bad for him. The real Dr. Saunders had been Topher's friend, and so it'd only seemed natural when he made friends with the new Dr. Saunders as well. And then he'd said the wrong thing, she'd freaked out, and it had all ended with a wipe and a new start, one where she hated Topher because he said he couldn't handle that kind of guilt a second time. He wouldn't have intentionally let her find out again any more than Gordon would have, the handler thinks-except that no doctor needs to know that much about computers, and Topher isn't an idiot.
Gordon is already trying to figure out exactly how much of this he should tell DeWitt.
Whiskey is drugged before she's imprinted, and Gordon carries her to a waiting van and then takes her home, leaving her on the sofa. She'll wake up and recall lying down for a nap just a few hours prior.
This time she won't remember ever having any interest in computers beyond their usefulness when compiling her reports. She'll still hate Topher Brink. She'll know that her scars shouldn't matter to her, and will tell herself so whenever she looks in the mirror. She'll know that sometimes her job breaks her heart more than it fulfills her. And she'll know that she's always been Claire Saunders, and never anyone else.