by Red WolfThe four of them sat around the lounge room, wearing differing expressions. Willow was determined, Tara torn, Spike furious, but Dawn was completely blank, numb. None of them seemed willing to break the silence.
Willow finally looked away from Spike's unblinking stare. "I... I'm sorry, Dawnie, but it's for the best."
"What? Packing her off to some arsehole who couldn't even get his finger out to call her on her birthday and has now buggered off to parts unknown to shag his secretary?" Spike's tone was low, measured. He wasn't yelling or slamming Willow against the wall in an attempt to shake some sense into her, but his voice was enough to send shivers of fear up Willow's spine. "Over my dead body."
"Technically —" She broke off at Spike's look.
"Don't I get a say in what happens in my life?" Dawn's quiet voice succeeding in breaking the tension where Willow's attempt at humour failed. "I'm not a problem to be solved."
Tara laid a gentle hand on Dawn's arm. "What do you want to do, sweetie?"
"I want to stay." She held up a hand to stop Willow's protestation. "This is my home. All my friends are here. I don't know anyone in LA."
"But you should be with your family." Tara hugged Dawn against her side.
"Don't you get it?" Dawn reached across to take Spike's hand. "You guys are my family. You're all I have left and I don't want to lose you too." Her eyes were shiny with unshed tears.
Willow sniffed loudly, unable to hold her tears in check any longer, and flung herself into Dawn's arms. "I just thought you'd want your family. I didn't think you meant us."
Spike pulled is coat on and was about to head for the door, leaving the women to their sob session, when Dawn's words stopped him. "Spike, you have to stay, you're family too."
He ducked his head. It wouldn't do his image as the Big Bad much good if he was caught crying like a girl.
15 Minute Ficlets — word #60: father
Published Babble Horde — 26.06.2004
Published fanfiction.net — 28.06.2004
Published Forever Fandom — 28.06.2004
Published Little Girl Lost — 28.06.2004
Published The Slayer's Fanfic Archive — 02.09.2004
dawn summers | fan fiction | fiction | spike | tara maclay | willow rosenberg
I see you managed to come up with something for this week's FMF. And very nicely written, too. Love the last line — via LiveJournal
— posted by Laridian at 28.06.2004 14:58 AEST | 
It finally came to me, took nearly a week, but better later than never. Thanks for reading — via LiveJournal
— posted by Red Wolf at 28.06.2004 14:59 AEST |
Awwwwwwwww... *sniffles* Aw! Sweet and I think I really like the thought of Dawn refusing to go to her Dad's to stay with the Scoobies — via LiveJournal
— posted by Leni at 28.06.2004 14:59 AEST |
They've been more of a family than Hank ever proved himself to be. Pleased you enjoyed — via LiveJournal
— posted by Red Wolf at 28.06.2004 15:00 AEST |
Sigh. I love how you write and this... this just proves me how right I was in that estimation. I love the sadness, and I love the fact that they were together, that Dawn was strong enough to make them see this point in this story — via LiveJournal
— posted by Raaah at 28.06.2004 15:01 AEST |
Thanks muchly for your feedback. I feel all warm and fuzzy now — via LiveJournal
— posted by Red Wolf at 28.06.2004 15:01 AEST |
Aww I so love this! Thanks for making me smile today. It's really wonderful — via LiveJournal
— posted by Kristi at 28.06.2004 15:02 AEST |
My pleasure, more than happy to have brought a smile to your face — via LiveJournal
— posted by Red Wolf at 28.06.2004 15:03 AEST |
Oooh! I love this! I love this! I love this! I love this!
;-) Good one!
So, what's this fifteen minute fic about? — via LiveJournal — posted by Murielle at 28.06.2004 15:04 AEST |
;-) Good one!
So, what's this fifteen minute fic about? — via LiveJournal — posted by Murielle at 28.06.2004 15:04 AEST |
Thanks.
15 Minute Ficlets is a challenge community. Each week you get a one word challenge for use or inspiration, you then have fifteen minites in which to write your response. Fiction can be fandom or original. The idea is to not look until you're ready to write, but sometimes the muse is uncooperative and takes its own sweet time like it did this week.
I love them, there is a real diverse range of people taking part, so you can find just about anything there. Buckets of fun — via LiveJournal — posted by Red Wolf at 28.06.2004 15:05 AEST |
15 Minute Ficlets is a challenge community. Each week you get a one word challenge for use or inspiration, you then have fifteen minites in which to write your response. Fiction can be fandom or original. The idea is to not look until you're ready to write, but sometimes the muse is uncooperative and takes its own sweet time like it did this week.
I love them, there is a real diverse range of people taking part, so you can find just about anything there. Buckets of fun — via LiveJournal — posted by Red Wolf at 28.06.2004 15:05 AEST |
This sounds like fun! I used to do a five minute thing like that every night before I went to bed. It's amazing what you can come up with in a few minutes.
One more question, please?
If you write it in fifteen minutes, do you get to edit (spell check), or is that part of your fifteen?
Thanks. :-) — via LiveJournal — posted by Murielle at 28.06.2004 15:05 AEST |
One more question, please?
If you write it in fifteen minutes, do you get to edit (spell check), or is that part of your fifteen?
Thanks. :-) — via LiveJournal — posted by Murielle at 28.06.2004 15:05 AEST |
Strictly speaking it should be as is, but I refuse to post stuff that way.
I write for fifteen minutes, then run a spellcheck and edit on the work. If I did it as I went, I'd still be noodling around with the exact structure of the first sentence and never get anything written — via LiveJournal — posted by Red Wolf at 28.06.2004 15:07 AEST |
I write for fifteen minutes, then run a spellcheck and edit on the work. If I did it as I went, I'd still be noodling around with the exact structure of the first sentence and never get anything written — via LiveJournal — posted by Red Wolf at 28.06.2004 15:07 AEST |
i really liked it! u pulled that 1 off perfectly!!! keep it up!!! — via LiveJournal
— posted by Nightshadow at 28.06.2004 15:08 AEST |
Nice to see you've joined the insanity and life-sucking force that is LiveJournal. Shame you had to time your arrival with one of the worst server outages I've seen since joining. Really, it's much better than recent days would suggest.
Fancy taking a shot at 15minuteficlets? Fandom or original, wherever the challenge takes you in fifteen minutes.
Or take a crack at wordoftheday100. It's fandom based, but any fandom is acceptable. You have to include one of the challenge words and your drabble must be exactly 100 words. Not everyone's idea of fun, but I love them — via LiveJournal — posted by Red Wolf at 28.06.2004 15:08 AEST |
Fancy taking a shot at 15minuteficlets? Fandom or original, wherever the challenge takes you in fifteen minutes.
Or take a crack at wordoftheday100. It's fandom based, but any fandom is acceptable. You have to include one of the challenge words and your drabble must be exactly 100 words. Not everyone's idea of fun, but I love them — via LiveJournal — posted by Red Wolf at 28.06.2004 15:08 AEST |
Nice sentiment, Wolf. Good feeling, very true. Heck, Buffy stood up to fight for a still-new Tara against her relatives... I can't honestly believe the rest of them would ever be willing to give Dawn up to her dead-beat dad. But I also think they'd give her the option, regardless of their own feelings.
But Spike, crying? ::scrunches face up in thought:: Don't know if I can see that happening in this case — via LiveJournal — posted by Moonbeam at 28.06.2004 15:11 AEST |
But Spike, crying? ::scrunches face up in thought:: Don't know if I can see that happening in this case — via LiveJournal — posted by Moonbeam at 28.06.2004 15:11 AEST |
I think it says a lot about Dawn's father that he never offered to take her, whether she wanted to go or not. Legally, she should have been with him, the Scoobies avoided this by using the BuffyBot to make people think Buffy was still alive.
But Spike, crying? ::scrunches face up in thought:: Don't know if I can see that happening in this case.
You really should see Fool For Love. Spike's tough guy act is pretty much a front, he just doesn't show it to the world. I do think Dawn claiming Spike as family would mean a great deal to him — via LiveJournal — posted by Red Wolf at 28.06.2004 15:12 AEST |
But Spike, crying? ::scrunches face up in thought:: Don't know if I can see that happening in this case.
You really should see Fool For Love. Spike's tough guy act is pretty much a front, he just doesn't show it to the world. I do think Dawn claiming Spike as family would mean a great deal to him — via LiveJournal — posted by Red Wolf at 28.06.2004 15:12 AEST |
I do think Dawn claiming Spike as family would mean a great deal to him.
Oh, I agree. :) And if it were just Dawn there, I think he'd let his emotions out closer to the surface. (Though he'd still try to uphold his Bad Ass front, Dawn would probably see right through it :P)
The thing is, I really don't see him as comfortable with the other Scoobies as he is with Dawn or even Buffy. Even as touched as he is by Dawn's comment, he'd keep any reaction from showing until he was in private. At most, I think he'd smile at her without a hint of his usual smirk — just an honest, sweet little William smile. I'll even bet it would mean more to her than full-out tears. I know it would for me! ::wink:: — via LiveJournal — posted by Moonbeam at 28.06.2004 15:17 AEST |
Oh, I agree. :) And if it were just Dawn there, I think he'd let his emotions out closer to the surface. (Though he'd still try to uphold his Bad Ass front, Dawn would probably see right through it :P)
The thing is, I really don't see him as comfortable with the other Scoobies as he is with Dawn or even Buffy. Even as touched as he is by Dawn's comment, he'd keep any reaction from showing until he was in private. At most, I think he'd smile at her without a hint of his usual smirk — just an honest, sweet little William smile. I'll even bet it would mean more to her than full-out tears. I know it would for me! ::wink:: — via LiveJournal — posted by Moonbeam at 28.06.2004 15:17 AEST |
He was hiding his reaction. Dawn and Tara would see through him, but Willow, at this point, was too self-centred to see anything that wasn't about her — via LiveJournal
— posted by Red Wolf at 28.06.2004 15:17 AEST |
He ducked his head. It wouldn't do his image as the Big Bad much good if he was caught crying like a girl.
Oh, man. I'm such a sap for emotional, tough-yet-heart-of-gold Spike — via LiveJournal — posted by Dawn at 01.07.2004 21:17 AEST |
Oh, man. I'm such a sap for emotional, tough-yet-heart-of-gold Spike — via LiveJournal — posted by Dawn at 01.07.2004 21:17 AEST |
The funny thing is that I thought this story was weak and yet everybody seems to like it. Pleased you enjoyed it — via LiveJournal
— posted by Red Wolf at 01.07.2004 21:19 AEST |
This is really good I like the way you made Spike get all emotional right there at the end. You're an amazing writer ^-^ — via fanfiction.net
— posted by Spike'sSavior at 02.07.2004 10:40 AEST |
Ohh, I loved the last line of this! Heartbreaking and simple — via LiveJournal
— posted by Julie at 09.07.2004 19:47 AEST |
Thank you. And apologies for not replying sooner, it seems your comment survived the great LJ server debacle but the e-mail alert didn't — via LiveJournal
— posted by Red Wolf at 09.07.2004 19:48 AEST |
*grins* Oh, alright, I'll admit to literally saying "awwww" after the last part. That was so sweet, and it shows the depths of their feelings for each other — via LiveJournal
— posted by Chessie at 09.07.2004 19:48 AEST |
Thanks. A bit of sweet to balance the angst — via LiveJournal
— posted by Red Wolf at 09.07.2004 19:49 AEST |
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