020: Joyce
Title: Degrees of Grief
Author: Beer Good (beer_good_foamy)
Word count: 678
Rating: PG13
Prompt: 020 - Joyce
Characters/Pairing: Willow/Tara
The Degrees of Grief
She makes it back to their room.
It's been a long and awful day. After they left for the hospital, she held it together. Turned into the backbone of the group, looked after Buffy and Dawn most of the time, made sure they ate something, had a hug for everyone.
But she makes it back to their room, and as the door closes she breaks down; just stops in the middle of the floor, turns around with shaking legs and holds her arms out as if drowning.
"Tara... please..."
As Tara goes to her, Willow falls apart. They end up on the bed, Willow curled up like a little girl in Tara's lap, a mess of tears and wracking sobs, beyond consolation. Tara strokes her hair, torn between wishing she'd known Joyce better and being grateful that she didn't, that she's not in too much pain to think back with fondness to the first time she met Joyce. She liked Buffy's mother right away, even if she barely dared talk to her - especially after Willow's little stunt.
"...He seemed so nice and normal. A little pale."
"A good Sunnydale rule of thumb? Avoid white-skinned men in capes."
"I'm not like this. I don't invite strange men over for coffee, it's just... Oh, when you girls are older you'll understand. It's hard to date. Sometimes you just... feel like giving up on men altogether."
They both smiled at that. Tara thought it was just a private joke, but then Willow took her hand and lead her over to Joyce.
"Yeah, speaking of... there's something I-we need to tell you, Joyce. Remember how I introduced Tara as a study buddy?"
She smiled. "Willow, of course I remember. It was ten minutes ago. I'm not THAT old."
"Yeah, well, that was kind of a little white lie. We're... sorta... I guess the phrase is more than friends. As in girlfriends. As in in love. Which is kind of a weird sentence, I know, and I probably should have planned this better or one of you should have stopped me before I got this far and... OK, shutting up now."
"Oh. Wait, you mean... OH." She looked back and forth between them, obviously taken completely by surprise, confused and a bit uncomfortable, but at least not outraged... that's a start, Tara supposed, though she'll never know who was more mortified, Joyce or her.
Between the all-around blushing and stammering, Willow was the only one who still sought eye contact. "I wanted to tell you because, y'know, we always hang out here and this is who I am and I don't wanna have to sneak around. But... but also because I really hope you're OK with it. I-it would mean a lot to me."
There were hugs then - awkward, but still. At the time, it seemed weird to Tara that Willow would come out to Buffy's mother long before her own, but... when Willow talks about her life in Sunnydale, Joyce turns up twice as often as Sheila. She had always been around for the gang, the one dependable thing in their life, always kind, always strong. She had to be. Tara was never sure if Joyce was ever completely comfortable with the idea of the two of them being a couple, but she cared so much for Willow that she never let on, while Tara's supposed almost-mother-in-law for all of her assurances is still a distant and pretty scary figure for both of them. Tara misses Joyce, but she's sure she's in a better place; it's worse for the ones who need to learn to do without her.
Willow is weeping for Buffy and Dawn, but for herself as well. Tomorrow she'll have to put on a brave face and be strong again. Support Dawn and Buffy, help them take care of the day-to-day stuff, probably patrol... put her own emotions on the backburner for a while. But tonight, she needs to crash. And so Tara holds her, rocks her, loves her. She knows what it's like to lose a mother.
Author: Beer Good (beer_good_foamy)
Word count: 678
Rating: PG13
Prompt: 020 - Joyce
Characters/Pairing: Willow/Tara
The Degrees of Grief
She makes it back to their room.
It's been a long and awful day. After they left for the hospital, she held it together. Turned into the backbone of the group, looked after Buffy and Dawn most of the time, made sure they ate something, had a hug for everyone.
But she makes it back to their room, and as the door closes she breaks down; just stops in the middle of the floor, turns around with shaking legs and holds her arms out as if drowning.
"Tara... please..."
As Tara goes to her, Willow falls apart. They end up on the bed, Willow curled up like a little girl in Tara's lap, a mess of tears and wracking sobs, beyond consolation. Tara strokes her hair, torn between wishing she'd known Joyce better and being grateful that she didn't, that she's not in too much pain to think back with fondness to the first time she met Joyce. She liked Buffy's mother right away, even if she barely dared talk to her - especially after Willow's little stunt.
"...He seemed so nice and normal. A little pale."
"A good Sunnydale rule of thumb? Avoid white-skinned men in capes."
"I'm not like this. I don't invite strange men over for coffee, it's just... Oh, when you girls are older you'll understand. It's hard to date. Sometimes you just... feel like giving up on men altogether."
They both smiled at that. Tara thought it was just a private joke, but then Willow took her hand and lead her over to Joyce.
"Yeah, speaking of... there's something I-we need to tell you, Joyce. Remember how I introduced Tara as a study buddy?"
She smiled. "Willow, of course I remember. It was ten minutes ago. I'm not THAT old."
"Yeah, well, that was kind of a little white lie. We're... sorta... I guess the phrase is more than friends. As in girlfriends. As in in love. Which is kind of a weird sentence, I know, and I probably should have planned this better or one of you should have stopped me before I got this far and... OK, shutting up now."
"Oh. Wait, you mean... OH." She looked back and forth between them, obviously taken completely by surprise, confused and a bit uncomfortable, but at least not outraged... that's a start, Tara supposed, though she'll never know who was more mortified, Joyce or her.
Between the all-around blushing and stammering, Willow was the only one who still sought eye contact. "I wanted to tell you because, y'know, we always hang out here and this is who I am and I don't wanna have to sneak around. But... but also because I really hope you're OK with it. I-it would mean a lot to me."
There were hugs then - awkward, but still. At the time, it seemed weird to Tara that Willow would come out to Buffy's mother long before her own, but... when Willow talks about her life in Sunnydale, Joyce turns up twice as often as Sheila. She had always been around for the gang, the one dependable thing in their life, always kind, always strong. She had to be. Tara was never sure if Joyce was ever completely comfortable with the idea of the two of them being a couple, but she cared so much for Willow that she never let on, while Tara's supposed almost-mother-in-law for all of her assurances is still a distant and pretty scary figure for both of them. Tara misses Joyce, but she's sure she's in a better place; it's worse for the ones who need to learn to do without her.
Willow is weeping for Buffy and Dawn, but for herself as well. Tomorrow she'll have to put on a brave face and be strong again. Support Dawn and Buffy, help them take care of the day-to-day stuff, probably patrol... put her own emotions on the backburner for a while. But tonight, she needs to crash. And so Tara holds her, rocks her, loves her. She knows what it's like to lose a mother.