Challenge 71
Jan. 30th, 2008 01:33 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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tthdrabblesSeries Title :: Something Real
Author :: ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
avamclean
avamcleanWord Count :: 200 (for each section)
Disclaimer :: I do not own these characters and I am making no profit from the use of them.
Challenge :: #71 ‘a truth and a lie’
Characters :: Hank, Buffy
Fandom :: Stargate
Note :: You might want to read these in order or they won't make a lick of sense.
Note :: You might want to read these in order or they won't make a lick of sense.
Something Real
The sun slipped over the horizon flooding the front seat of the sedan with hazy orange light. Buffy flinched and tucked her chin to her chest, reaching toward the floorboards and her backpack. After a few moments of rummaging she found a pair of oversized sunglasses and slipped them on, glancing toward her father as he pulled down the useless visor.
The automatic windows cracked, cycling in the brisk Colorado air as Hank slipped his hands over the steering wheel and pulled the car from the highway onto the off ramp leading into Colorado Springs. Joyce’s frantic call three weeks ago, detailing Buffy’s downward spiral and her possibly slipping back into a dissociative state had him requesting a sudden leave of absences from his boss, who had sympathized. His daughter on the other hand, the bright vibrant child who he had helped raised had reverted into herself, barely speaking more than a few words to him since he and Joyce had informed Buffy of their decision for her to move in with him.
She blinked, pulling herself from internal ramblings to ask, “Where do you work now?”
Hank stiffened, surprised and silent a moment before smiling and answered, “Cheyenne Mountain.”
Who Looks For the Truth Anymore
The walls were white; the only furnishing a queen size bed that dominated the curiously vacant room. She stepped forward, her boots sinking into the plush carpet as she deposited her backpack onto the bare mattress and turned toward her father as he entered behind her with a box of Buffy’s belongings. The knuckles gripping the corners had turned white as he struggled to lower it gently to the ground.
“It’s a little empty, I know.” She arched a brow when he finally succeeded in setting her things down before he straightened and offered her a wide, false smile. “How about we go furniture shopping after we unload?”
She nodded and moved toward the box; bending at her knees Buffy grasped the sides and lifted it easily from the floor and onto the bed. She flipped open the top and began to shift around the contents searching for something.
Hank watched, startled a moment before he added, “Maybe you can even guilt me into a new pair of shoes.”
A ghost of a smile lifted her lips, “Like last time?”
He nodded, relieved by the hint of emotion and wondered if the SGC’s insurance covered therapists. “Exactly like last time.”
Lies Make It Easier
He was doing it again. That false, brittle smile that looked ready to crack at any moment. It was the smile Hank had worn when he and Mom sat her down to explain that they had grown apart and needed space. It was the same smile he had worn when Mom said she needed time, she needed space—from Buffy.
Her gaze dipped and she fiddled with the straw of her smoothie, absently stirring the strawberry and banana concoction as she turned to the side, watched the food court passersby continue on with their lives. Completely and utterly oblivious to the how close the world had come to being sucked into Acathla’s big stony mouth and completely oblivious to what she had lost. Buffy’s lips thinned and she blinked back the sudden and horrible urge to cry. The straw was lifted to her lips and she took a quick, cold sip to distract herself.
Green eyes turned back to her father’s and Buffy couldn’t ignore the sympathy any longer. “I’ve missed you.”
The three words had tumbled from her mouth before she could stop them and she watched his eyes widened before his smile became real. “I’ve missed you too.”
Regression To Better Times
He found her curled up on the sofa, her head resting on the arm and eyes staring almost vacantly at the television as Wyle E. Coyote leapt off a cliff. His lips quirked when he caught sight of Mr. Gordo peaking out from the blue comforter she had wrapped around herself.
“Good morning, sweetheart.”
Buffy rose, tilting her head back to stare up at him from where he stood behind her. “Work?”
She made the one word a question and he nodded. “I’m going to take off early today so we can go school hunting.”
Her nose wrinkled, “You know home schooling is all the rage nowadays.”
He arched a brow. “I’ll be home around one.”
Her lips pursed with the veiled order. “In other words I should be ready to go by then.”
Hank smiled, “You read my mind.”
“You’re hilarious.” She bit her lip before asking hesitantly, “Dad, can I use your computer and email Willow today?”
He frowned, trying to place the name. Then remembered a thin redhead that had hugged Buffy for nearly five minutes straight when they had said their goodbyes. “Sure. The login password is your birth date.”
She smiled and nodded, oddly touched.
Truth Can Be Stranger…
“Hank, good to have you back.”
He glanced up from the deconstructed pieces covering the workstation he was seated at and smiled, “Morning Bill and thank you again for letting me take the personal time—”
A hand was lifted interrupting him mid-sentence. “Hank, family should come first.” Bill paused, “Unless you don’t have family and then of course they wouldn’t be able to come first. So I suppose your health should come first in that instance…” He trailed off shuffling papers around on his desk and away from the Ancients Communications Stones. After a few silent minutes of searching he sighed and looked up, “Have you seen my notes on Arthur’s Mantle?”
Hank rose, moved toward the filing cabinets along the far right of Dr. Lee’s haphazardly organized lab and pulled down a brown satchel. Bill’s eyes widened behind his glasses, “Hank you’re a Godsend.”
His lips quirked, “Tell that to my daughter.”
Bill shook his head, “You’re alone there my friend. Children and I don’t mix very well.”
Hank sighed, “She’s not exactly a child anymore. She turned seventeen this last January.”
Bill cringed. “A female teenager? I didn’t even understand them when I was one.”
“Me either.”
Nightmares and Dreamscapes
She rested against a cold silent chest and the strong arms wrapped around her waist tightened to nearly painful. Her brow furrowed, eyes narrowing on the blue surf stretched out before them as she asked, “How did you find me here?”
Her breath hitched as Angel spun her, his face pulled into grim lines. “If I can find you. They will find you.”
She looked up into his face, confusion drawing her lips downward. “Who can find me?”
He shook his head, stepped back from her. “It’s too late. They’re already here.”
“Angel?” Buffy moved forward, shivering as the warm sand beneath her feet rippled and smoothing into cool marble. She glanced down, stared at the intricate silver vein work and looked up to find Angel gone and beautiful architecture had taken his place.
“Buffy Summers.”
Her spine stiffened with the resonating voice and she turned around painfully slow. Green eyes widened at the pale-faced stranger with scars running down his cheeks. “Hello?”
His eyes flared orange as he held out a hand to her. “Come, and gaze upon the flames of enlightenment.”
She flinched and took a step back, “I’m gonna have to go with no.”
“So be it.”
When Reality Sets In
Buffy shrieked and jerked up from couch, her pajama top sticking to her sweat slicked skin as she relearned how to breathe. Green eyes widened as she glanced anxiously around the living room while pulling herself free of the comforter, wincing as a searing pain radiated up her forearms.
She looked down, eyes widening as she twisted her arms inward to see what had caused the sudden wave of discomfort. Her skin was a swollen and red, wet looking where blisters were already forming along the outside of her forearms.
Buffy stood, letting the comforter fall to the ground and winced as the movement made the painful ache in her arms spread into her chest. She remembered lifting them to block the wall of flame that had leaped from behind the scarred pale guy but she couldn’t remember when Slayer dreams left her with real damage. She moved toward the kitchen, the cordless phone, torn between calling Giles and her father.
She didn’t know much about burns but she was more than certain hers weren’t going to go away by the time her father got home—Slayer healing wasn’t that spectacular. “Dad, call Dad first and then Giles.”
Things Better Off Left Unsaid
She hated hospitals, Hank remembered that as he watched his daughter fidget for the sixth time since she had been placed on the hospital bed. He shifted in his seat as they waited behind a thin curtain for one of the emergency room doctors to find a spare moment. His blue eyes narrowed when Buffy forgot and let her arms fall to her lap. He stood and moved to stand in front of her and lifted his hands, “Here.”
Green eyes that mirrored Joyce’s stared up at him questioningly as he gently grasped her hands, lifting her arms up. “Relax.”
Buffy watched him another moment before doing as requested and nearly sighed when she was able to loosen the tense muscles of her shoulders. She sent her father a sheepish smile, “Thanks.”
His lips thinned, “How did this happen again?”
Buffy flinched and swallowed, pushing back her unease with lying and stated with a shrug that preceded a wince of pain. “I was trying to make tea.”
Hank’s brows drew down, “Tea?”
Her eyes rose, face blank. “I like tea now.”
He remembered the overturned pot in the kitchen and the still warm stove with a nod, “What happened next?”
The End…for now.
Author’s Note :: This was a fantastic prompt that let me vent a rather large plot bunny but I want to see what the next prompt invokes so I'm ending this series here for now. Thank you for reading and jedibuttercuponly two of these really starred Stargate characters so please only count those two towards my six.
jedibuttercuponly two of these really starred Stargate characters so please only count those two towards my six.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 09:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 01:46 am (UTC)MORE PLEASE!!!!
no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 01:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 06:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 06:43 pm (UTC)So this is instead of her running away to L.A. after Season 2? Ooo, and set in the Ori Seasons instead of the Goa'uld ones. I don't think I've seen that done before. Nice.
I look forward to seeing where else you go with this plotline.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 10:38 pm (UTC)And yep, this is a 'what if' scenario that Hank took custody of Buffy instead of her running away and the Ori are just a wee bit creepier than the Goa'uld. Not to say a Goa'uld or two won't make an appearance.