Fic: Beautiful Disaster
May. 8th, 2011 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_huffsterTitle: Beautiful Disaster
Author: the_huffster
Pairing: Buffy/Giles
Rating: G
Timeline: Six years after 'Angels on the Moon'
Synopsis: Giles had promised himself that he would find a way to save Trenton, but there's always sever consequences when dealing with life and death.
Author's Note: I have another one planned after this, to tie everything up- unless the ending surprises me and leaves it open for more. Anyways, based loosely on Kelly Clarkson's 'Beautiful Disaster'
“Ian Lucas, I am gonna kill you!”
Buffy ran into the living room to see her 11 year old daughter lunge for the six year old boy, who was now hiding behind his 13 year old brother. There was a notebook flung carelessly on the couch and a spilt box of crayons, allowing the mother to realize what had cause the scene.
“Amy, knock it off.” She warned as she walked further into the living room.
“Mum…he took my notebook and colored all over my stories!” Amy explained while she sent a glare towards her baby brother.
“I was drawing you a pictor.” The boy replied, not understanding why his sister was yelling at him.
“Ian, what have I told you about using your sister’s notebooks?” Buffy gently scolded, her hazel eyes going to the 17 year old who had entered the living room. “Apologize.”
“Sowwy, Amy.” The six year old ran over to his sister and gave her the biggest hug he could muster.
“It’s okay, Ian. I’m sorry I yelled at you.” She replied, hugging him back. “How about I give you some blank paper and you can draw me a picture then?”
He nodded his eagerly and scrabbled to get his crayons ready, sitting by the coffee table and waiting. Trenton just shook his head once he understood what had happened and went back to the kitchen to continue making a peanut butter sandwich. The Slayer smiled at her daughter, glad that nothing worse had happened.
“I dunno why you bother, Amy. It’s gonna be a stupid drawing anyway.” Alex retorted, plopping on the couch cushions and watching the movie he had started a few minutes ago.
“Isn’t stupid, Lex.” Ian insisted, glaring at his brother.
“Yeah, Edward.” Amy agreed- the use of his real name letting everyone know she was still upset with him from the previous day’s events.
“Shut up, Amelia.”
“Both of you, enough.” Buffy cut in while shrugging on the jacket she had left on the recliner. “I don’t need you two fighting while I’m gone.”
“Can I come, Mummy?” hope shone in Ian’s bright green eyes as he rushed over to her, bouncing up and down in excitement.
“Not this time, Critter.” She ran her fingers through the soft brown hair, sighing as his shoulders stooped and he scuffed his foot against the carpet.
“I never get ta go with,” he lightly tugged on the hair at the back of his head, which was something she had learned that Giles had done as a child when he was upset.
“How about I take you out to lunch?” Trenton asked as he walked back into the room, giving half of his sandwich to Amy.
“Ice cream after?” Ian suggested, a half smile on his face.
“Always.” The 17 year old laughed, rolling his eyes when Alex and Amy sent him the glare all four of them had inherited from their father. “You guys are coming too.”
After a few more minutes, Buffy made her way to the front door with her stepson right behind her. She turned around and gave him a small smile at the unspoken question shining in his dark green eyes. He nodded his head and disappeared back into the living room, leaving her to think about how similar Trenton was to his father.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
“Ian wanted to come with me,” Buffy said, leaning against the back of the cushions.
“I wish I was allowed to see the kids as well,” Giles sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck. “Of course, if I hadn’t done what I did, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“But we would have lost Trent,” she pointed out, looking at her husband. “It’s the fact that you saved Trent that keeps me from hating you.”
“You should hate me though,” he whispered, his hands twisting together as his mind slipped into memories of what he had done. “What I did, how I did it…I’m not quite sure why any of you bother still loving me.”
“The same reason the Board sent you to rehabilitation and not death,” Buffy explained, moving closer to her husband and grabbing one of his hands before he could move away. “We know, and understand, why you did it. It wasn’t like you woke up and thought, ‘I think I’ll use dark magicks and kill a bunch of people just for fun’. You used those magicks to save your son…”
“I didn’t have to kill those people, Buffy. The spell I used did not need murder,” he interrupted, not looking at her. “I’m the one who allowed the magicks to control me, allowed myself to become Ripper once more. I killed those people because I could…”
A heavy silence fell over the couple as Giles tried to fight off the tears that threatened to fall, the images of dead bodies filling his mind. It was true, the spell he had done didn’t make him murder those people but Buffy still couldn’t bring herself to hate her husband the way he wanted her to. Besides, it wasn’t Giles who had gone on a magick induced killing spree- it was Ripper.
“I have some things to show you,” she reached for the folder she had brought in with her, moving so she was sitting in his lap.
“You’re slowly getting better at changing the subject,” Giles chuckled as pulled his wife closer to him. “What’s in there?”
“It’s a surprise,” she smirked, pulling out a folded piece of construction paper. “Ian drew this for you.”
The Watcher unfolded the paper and smiled at what was on the paper. His six year old son has somehow managed to capture a horror story that one of his siblings had told him, a crudely drawn monster attacking a campsite full of campers. It wasn’t until he noticed the blond with a sword that Giles understood it was a story about Buffy that Ian had been told.
Every time Buffy came to visit him, there always a new drawing form his youngest child. He had three years worth of drawings in his small room, and six years worth of actual photographs of Ian in his room- always reminding Giles that he was missing out on watching his children grow up.
“He inherited your knack for overusing blood in drawings,” Buffy’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. “He’s so much like you, Giles. More so than Trenton is, which surprises me.”
Giles laughed as he placed the drawing on the cushion next to him. He looked through the photos Buffy handed him; one of Amy grinning next to a painting she had won first place for at her school, one of Alex holding a metal he received for placing second in his first mixed martial arts tournament, one of Trenton and his girlfriend on their way to their school’s dance and one of Ian sleeping on the floor with an open book under his head. He was laughing at the images his wife had captured when he noticed there was still a photo in her hands.
“Any particular reason you’re hiding this one from me, love?”
“This is from Halloween,” was all Buffy said as she gave him the photograph.
“This is priceless!” the image in the photo made him burst into laughter.
Trenton was leaning against the wall, dressed in a dark brown pinstripe suit and black Converse while black, thick-rimmed glasses were on his face and a silver tube with a blue light at the end was held in his arms. Amy was standing next to him in jeans, worn out tennis shoes and a black shirt under a light blue/black plaid shirt that was left open with the sleeves rolled to her elbows. He narrowed his eyes as he studied the image of his daughter.
“What happened to her hair?” Giles asked, his gaze shifting to Buffy.
“She dyed it red. Looks nice, doesn’t it?” He merely nodded before looking back at the photograph.
Ian was sitting in front of his brother and sister, a huge grin on his boyish face. He was wearing a tweed suit- that made Giles chuckle- and a red bow tie, a small red fez resting on his head.
“Alex refused to go out for Halloween, so he stayed home and watched horror movies all night.” Buffy added once she realized that he was searching for his son. “That, and he was grounded for fighting. Again.”
Giles rolled his eyes; well aware of the trouble the 13 year old was giving Buffy. And that only made him feel even guiltier for not being able to be there for his family.
“Ian insisted that I had to be Rose,” the Slayer continued when guilt flashed across her husband’s face. “He said that Ten needed to have a companion since he was Eleven and Amy was…well, Amy. And since all three of them told me Rose reminded them of me…”
She shrugged as she trailed off, a smile creeping on her face. She went on to tell him that Trenton had painted Ian’s wagon blue while Amy constructed the outside of the TARDIS out of cardboard and then painted it.
"I had to find a way to put that on to wagon. Let me tell you, that was a bitch.” the both chuckled at that, knowing Buffy wasn't exactly known for her creativity.
They spent the next fifteen minutes just talking about the mischief their children got into since her last visit. The more he listened, the guiltier he felt. And the guilt did nothing but make Giles angry with himself. And the angrier he got, the harder Buffy tried to take his mind off the guilt he was feeling, knowing that Ripper would make an appearances if he got angry enough.
“Giles…” she sighed as soon as she saw the brief darkening of his green eyes, not wanting Ripper to ruin this visit like he had on the rare occasion.
“I’ve set myself back another six months in recovery.” He muttered, the hand on her hip absently tightening its grip.
“How?” she asked.
“I nearly killed one of the Watchers who was talking me two weeks ago.”
This wasn’t the first time he had been sent back because he- No, Ripper, Buffy corrected herself- had attacked someone. But, considering the other times this had happened, six months wasn’t so bad.
“You’ll get out of here, honey.” Buffy reassured him, wrapping her arms around his neck and looking at him. “I know you will.”
Without saying a word, Giles leaned forward and kissed her for all he was worth. The next ten minutes were spent with them just holding and kissing each other, making it that much harder for her to leave when it came time to go.
“I’ll be back by Trenton’s graduation in June.” He promised, holding his wife close. “I love you, Buffy.”
“I love you too,” Buffy gave him one last kiss before making her way out of the room, promising to tell their children that he loved them.
As she drove back home, Buffy found herself counting down the days until she could visit her husband next month. No matter how bad things had gotten, or would get, she had no doubt that Giles would do his best- and then some- to be rehabilitated by the time his oldest son graduated high school.
And she had no doubt that he would be back home by then.
Author: the_huffster
Pairing: Buffy/Giles
Rating: G
Timeline: Six years after 'Angels on the Moon'
Synopsis: Giles had promised himself that he would find a way to save Trenton, but there's always sever consequences when dealing with life and death.
Author's Note: I have another one planned after this, to tie everything up- unless the ending surprises me and leaves it open for more. Anyways, based loosely on Kelly Clarkson's 'Beautiful Disaster'
“Ian Lucas, I am gonna kill you!”
Buffy ran into the living room to see her 11 year old daughter lunge for the six year old boy, who was now hiding behind his 13 year old brother. There was a notebook flung carelessly on the couch and a spilt box of crayons, allowing the mother to realize what had cause the scene.
“Amy, knock it off.” She warned as she walked further into the living room.
“Mum…he took my notebook and colored all over my stories!” Amy explained while she sent a glare towards her baby brother.
“I was drawing you a pictor.” The boy replied, not understanding why his sister was yelling at him.
“Ian, what have I told you about using your sister’s notebooks?” Buffy gently scolded, her hazel eyes going to the 17 year old who had entered the living room. “Apologize.”
“Sowwy, Amy.” The six year old ran over to his sister and gave her the biggest hug he could muster.
“It’s okay, Ian. I’m sorry I yelled at you.” She replied, hugging him back. “How about I give you some blank paper and you can draw me a picture then?”
He nodded his eagerly and scrabbled to get his crayons ready, sitting by the coffee table and waiting. Trenton just shook his head once he understood what had happened and went back to the kitchen to continue making a peanut butter sandwich. The Slayer smiled at her daughter, glad that nothing worse had happened.
“I dunno why you bother, Amy. It’s gonna be a stupid drawing anyway.” Alex retorted, plopping on the couch cushions and watching the movie he had started a few minutes ago.
“Isn’t stupid, Lex.” Ian insisted, glaring at his brother.
“Yeah, Edward.” Amy agreed- the use of his real name letting everyone know she was still upset with him from the previous day’s events.
“Shut up, Amelia.”
“Both of you, enough.” Buffy cut in while shrugging on the jacket she had left on the recliner. “I don’t need you two fighting while I’m gone.”
“Can I come, Mummy?” hope shone in Ian’s bright green eyes as he rushed over to her, bouncing up and down in excitement.
“Not this time, Critter.” She ran her fingers through the soft brown hair, sighing as his shoulders stooped and he scuffed his foot against the carpet.
“I never get ta go with,” he lightly tugged on the hair at the back of his head, which was something she had learned that Giles had done as a child when he was upset.
“How about I take you out to lunch?” Trenton asked as he walked back into the room, giving half of his sandwich to Amy.
“Ice cream after?” Ian suggested, a half smile on his face.
“Always.” The 17 year old laughed, rolling his eyes when Alex and Amy sent him the glare all four of them had inherited from their father. “You guys are coming too.”
After a few more minutes, Buffy made her way to the front door with her stepson right behind her. She turned around and gave him a small smile at the unspoken question shining in his dark green eyes. He nodded his head and disappeared back into the living room, leaving her to think about how similar Trenton was to his father.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
“Ian wanted to come with me,” Buffy said, leaning against the back of the cushions.
“I wish I was allowed to see the kids as well,” Giles sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck. “Of course, if I hadn’t done what I did, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“But we would have lost Trent,” she pointed out, looking at her husband. “It’s the fact that you saved Trent that keeps me from hating you.”
“You should hate me though,” he whispered, his hands twisting together as his mind slipped into memories of what he had done. “What I did, how I did it…I’m not quite sure why any of you bother still loving me.”
“The same reason the Board sent you to rehabilitation and not death,” Buffy explained, moving closer to her husband and grabbing one of his hands before he could move away. “We know, and understand, why you did it. It wasn’t like you woke up and thought, ‘I think I’ll use dark magicks and kill a bunch of people just for fun’. You used those magicks to save your son…”
“I didn’t have to kill those people, Buffy. The spell I used did not need murder,” he interrupted, not looking at her. “I’m the one who allowed the magicks to control me, allowed myself to become Ripper once more. I killed those people because I could…”
A heavy silence fell over the couple as Giles tried to fight off the tears that threatened to fall, the images of dead bodies filling his mind. It was true, the spell he had done didn’t make him murder those people but Buffy still couldn’t bring herself to hate her husband the way he wanted her to. Besides, it wasn’t Giles who had gone on a magick induced killing spree- it was Ripper.
“I have some things to show you,” she reached for the folder she had brought in with her, moving so she was sitting in his lap.
“You’re slowly getting better at changing the subject,” Giles chuckled as pulled his wife closer to him. “What’s in there?”
“It’s a surprise,” she smirked, pulling out a folded piece of construction paper. “Ian drew this for you.”
The Watcher unfolded the paper and smiled at what was on the paper. His six year old son has somehow managed to capture a horror story that one of his siblings had told him, a crudely drawn monster attacking a campsite full of campers. It wasn’t until he noticed the blond with a sword that Giles understood it was a story about Buffy that Ian had been told.
Every time Buffy came to visit him, there always a new drawing form his youngest child. He had three years worth of drawings in his small room, and six years worth of actual photographs of Ian in his room- always reminding Giles that he was missing out on watching his children grow up.
“He inherited your knack for overusing blood in drawings,” Buffy’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. “He’s so much like you, Giles. More so than Trenton is, which surprises me.”
Giles laughed as he placed the drawing on the cushion next to him. He looked through the photos Buffy handed him; one of Amy grinning next to a painting she had won first place for at her school, one of Alex holding a metal he received for placing second in his first mixed martial arts tournament, one of Trenton and his girlfriend on their way to their school’s dance and one of Ian sleeping on the floor with an open book under his head. He was laughing at the images his wife had captured when he noticed there was still a photo in her hands.
“Any particular reason you’re hiding this one from me, love?”
“This is from Halloween,” was all Buffy said as she gave him the photograph.
“This is priceless!” the image in the photo made him burst into laughter.
Trenton was leaning against the wall, dressed in a dark brown pinstripe suit and black Converse while black, thick-rimmed glasses were on his face and a silver tube with a blue light at the end was held in his arms. Amy was standing next to him in jeans, worn out tennis shoes and a black shirt under a light blue/black plaid shirt that was left open with the sleeves rolled to her elbows. He narrowed his eyes as he studied the image of his daughter.
“What happened to her hair?” Giles asked, his gaze shifting to Buffy.
“She dyed it red. Looks nice, doesn’t it?” He merely nodded before looking back at the photograph.
Ian was sitting in front of his brother and sister, a huge grin on his boyish face. He was wearing a tweed suit- that made Giles chuckle- and a red bow tie, a small red fez resting on his head.
“Alex refused to go out for Halloween, so he stayed home and watched horror movies all night.” Buffy added once she realized that he was searching for his son. “That, and he was grounded for fighting. Again.”
Giles rolled his eyes; well aware of the trouble the 13 year old was giving Buffy. And that only made him feel even guiltier for not being able to be there for his family.
“Ian insisted that I had to be Rose,” the Slayer continued when guilt flashed across her husband’s face. “He said that Ten needed to have a companion since he was Eleven and Amy was…well, Amy. And since all three of them told me Rose reminded them of me…”
She shrugged as she trailed off, a smile creeping on her face. She went on to tell him that Trenton had painted Ian’s wagon blue while Amy constructed the outside of the TARDIS out of cardboard and then painted it.
"I had to find a way to put that on to wagon. Let me tell you, that was a bitch.” the both chuckled at that, knowing Buffy wasn't exactly known for her creativity.
They spent the next fifteen minutes just talking about the mischief their children got into since her last visit. The more he listened, the guiltier he felt. And the guilt did nothing but make Giles angry with himself. And the angrier he got, the harder Buffy tried to take his mind off the guilt he was feeling, knowing that Ripper would make an appearances if he got angry enough.
“Giles…” she sighed as soon as she saw the brief darkening of his green eyes, not wanting Ripper to ruin this visit like he had on the rare occasion.
“I’ve set myself back another six months in recovery.” He muttered, the hand on her hip absently tightening its grip.
“How?” she asked.
“I nearly killed one of the Watchers who was talking me two weeks ago.”
This wasn’t the first time he had been sent back because he- No, Ripper, Buffy corrected herself- had attacked someone. But, considering the other times this had happened, six months wasn’t so bad.
“You’ll get out of here, honey.” Buffy reassured him, wrapping her arms around his neck and looking at him. “I know you will.”
Without saying a word, Giles leaned forward and kissed her for all he was worth. The next ten minutes were spent with them just holding and kissing each other, making it that much harder for her to leave when it came time to go.
“I’ll be back by Trenton’s graduation in June.” He promised, holding his wife close. “I love you, Buffy.”
“I love you too,” Buffy gave him one last kiss before making her way out of the room, promising to tell their children that he loved them.
As she drove back home, Buffy found herself counting down the days until she could visit her husband next month. No matter how bad things had gotten, or would get, she had no doubt that Giles would do his best- and then some- to be rehabilitated by the time his oldest son graduated high school.
And she had no doubt that he would be back home by then.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-05-09 01:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-09 03:15 pm (UTC)Glad you liked it
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Date: 2011-08-07 09:12 am (UTC)