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summer_of_giles2021-07-19 06:23 pm
aaronlisa) wrote in summer_of_giles2021-07-19 06:23 pm
Entry tags:
FIC: Under Pressure, FR13, no parings
Title: Under Pressure
Author:aaronlisa
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Characters: Rupert Giles, Joyce Summers, mentions of Buffy, Xander, Oz, Willow and Cordelia.
Rating: FR13
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon and company.
Notes: Written for the 2021 round of Summer of Giles. This is set during Season Two nad Three.
Summary: Sometimes, Giles wonders if Joyce is that great of a mother.
Word Count: 1230
In the quiet of his office, Rupert Giles can admit that he's fairly close to burning out. The pressure that he has felt since the first week of Buffy's disappearance following her going off to face Angelus has only grown worse day after day. He goes to sleep every night thinking that maybe it would just be best if he packs up a few things an runs away. Or maybe it wouldn't be that awful if he starts to self-medicate with whiskey. Yet he manages to convince himself that it's best if he stays in Sunnydale. Even as he listens to Joyce's angry voice as she accuses him once again of not doing enough to find Buffy.
"I don't think you understand Mr. Giles that this is your fault and as such, I expect you to find my daughter," Joyce angrily shouts at him over the phone line.
Rupert sighs in frustration. He can understand her frustration, he feels it as well. Yet he has managed to bit his tongue several times to stop himself from accusing her of not being that great of a mother. There is a part of him that wants to accuse Joyce that her blindness time and time again had left Buffy feeling like she had to live a split life: one that was seemingly normal to fool her mother and the other her real life as a Slayer.
"Further, I don't think you're doing enough to find her. I mean I gave you that lead about that girl in San Francisco and you didn't even go, in fact you told me that a meeting at the school was more important!"
He's rather tempted to pour a couple of fingers of the whiskey he keeps in his office into his tea cup. It's only the voices of Buffy's friends in the library that still his hand.
"As I told you, I sent Oz to San Francisco to follow up on that lead. He and Xander weren't able to find anything to indicate that it was Buffy."
"A pair of teenage boys? And you expect me to believe that they were thorough?"
Normally, Rupert would be inclined to agree with her. But Oz has been nothing but serious and has taken to booking his band's gigs to purposely follow up on leads that Rupert and Willow present him with. And Xander has been rather serious. There's been less comic-book reading in favour of actual research as of late. Yet, Rupert doesn't do anything to argue with her.
Nor does he tell her that his poor Citroen has taken a beating as he has driving up and down the state and further beyond chasing up lead after lead. He doesn't remind Joyce that he has to keep both is job as the high school's librarian and as Buffy's Watcher in tact so that when he finally finds Buffy - or more likely when she decides to come home - her life in Sunnydale will be somewhat normal.
"You said that you had this under control Mr. Giles," Joyce shouts, her voice getting louder as the conversation continues. "Yet there's been no results."
He tries to tell himself, yet again, that she is powerless. The Sunnydale Police have not taken Buffy's running away seriously and the Los Angeles Police Department won't do anything without a report from Sunnydale. As far as both police departments are concerned, Buffy is a product of divorce and she's of a certain age and disposition. Girls like her run away all of the time and in most cases they come home when they are ready too. The fact that the Sunnydale Police are biased against Buffy doesn't help. Yet, he wants to ask Joyce how many hours as she spent cruising the worst parts of Los Angeles looking for her daughter?
"I can understand your frustration," Rupert tries to say but she cuts him off.
"I don't want you to understand my feelings, I want you to bring home my daughter."
She hangs up on him before he can say anything, which is probably for the best since he's fairly certain he would have said a few nasty things about her parenting of Buffy. Something that Rupert knows would do far more harm than good. Yet he can't help but question her parenting skills.
He's not a parent himself and he knows that he probably will never be a true parent. At best he will be a father figure to Buffy and her friends. A role that he's not overly keen on but one that he has accepted. And as such, he knows that he has no real right to criticize Joyce Summers and her own parenting skills. However, he can't help but wonder how oblivious she's been over the past two years and from what Buffy has said in passing longer than that.
There have been one too many incidents when he had overheard Buffy moaning about unfair her mother had been to Willow. And he had ignored it because it wasn't his place and as an adult, he suspects that most teenagers moan about how unfair their parents are when their parents are being rather fair. Yet he can't help but think of his own Grandmother who had always kept tabs on him, even when he had run away from his own destiny.
And he thinks about all of the times that Buffy must have gone home with bruises and injuries that weren't immediately healed by her Slayer healing. All of her clothes with curious stains, including blood and grave dirt, and tears and rips. And not once did Joyce question what was happening in her teenage daughter's life? It wasn't a simple case of Buffy breaking curfew and coming home with clothes that stunk of cigarette smoke or alcohol.
There's also the fact that as much as she berates him for not doing enough, she hasn't once offered to drive up to Los Angeles to chase down a lead. When they had first started working together, Rupert had thought that she would help him, especially with Los Angeles being a place that she would be more familiar with since she had lived there. Instead she had always expected him to chase down lead after lead since she had the gallery to run.
Rupert likes to think that if he were Buffy's father, he'd not expect her Watcher to do all the heavy lifting in trying to find her. He does his best to write it off a s yet another example of the stress that Joyce must be under. After all, he knows that if he were to lose his job at the high school. he'd still land on his feet financially and that he'd still have his role as Watcher. Yet it's more pressure on him that's pulling him down to the point where he's lost.
He sighs. Tomorrow, he will have a better lead to chase after and when he brings Buffy home, he will have the time to relax and to do all of the things that he hasn't had a chance to do. Right now, he has to prepare himself to face Buffy's friends. They have been helping him and he it owes it to them to keep them alive while they shoulder the burden of trying to keep Sunnydale safe while trying to find their friend.
((END))
Author:
aaronlisa Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Characters: Rupert Giles, Joyce Summers, mentions of Buffy, Xander, Oz, Willow and Cordelia.
Rating: FR13
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon and company.
Notes: Written for the 2021 round of Summer of Giles. This is set during Season Two nad Three.
Summary: Sometimes, Giles wonders if Joyce is that great of a mother.
Word Count: 1230
In the quiet of his office, Rupert Giles can admit that he's fairly close to burning out. The pressure that he has felt since the first week of Buffy's disappearance following her going off to face Angelus has only grown worse day after day. He goes to sleep every night thinking that maybe it would just be best if he packs up a few things an runs away. Or maybe it wouldn't be that awful if he starts to self-medicate with whiskey. Yet he manages to convince himself that it's best if he stays in Sunnydale. Even as he listens to Joyce's angry voice as she accuses him once again of not doing enough to find Buffy.
"I don't think you understand Mr. Giles that this is your fault and as such, I expect you to find my daughter," Joyce angrily shouts at him over the phone line.
Rupert sighs in frustration. He can understand her frustration, he feels it as well. Yet he has managed to bit his tongue several times to stop himself from accusing her of not being that great of a mother. There is a part of him that wants to accuse Joyce that her blindness time and time again had left Buffy feeling like she had to live a split life: one that was seemingly normal to fool her mother and the other her real life as a Slayer.
"Further, I don't think you're doing enough to find her. I mean I gave you that lead about that girl in San Francisco and you didn't even go, in fact you told me that a meeting at the school was more important!"
He's rather tempted to pour a couple of fingers of the whiskey he keeps in his office into his tea cup. It's only the voices of Buffy's friends in the library that still his hand.
"As I told you, I sent Oz to San Francisco to follow up on that lead. He and Xander weren't able to find anything to indicate that it was Buffy."
"A pair of teenage boys? And you expect me to believe that they were thorough?"
Normally, Rupert would be inclined to agree with her. But Oz has been nothing but serious and has taken to booking his band's gigs to purposely follow up on leads that Rupert and Willow present him with. And Xander has been rather serious. There's been less comic-book reading in favour of actual research as of late. Yet, Rupert doesn't do anything to argue with her.
Nor does he tell her that his poor Citroen has taken a beating as he has driving up and down the state and further beyond chasing up lead after lead. He doesn't remind Joyce that he has to keep both is job as the high school's librarian and as Buffy's Watcher in tact so that when he finally finds Buffy - or more likely when she decides to come home - her life in Sunnydale will be somewhat normal.
"You said that you had this under control Mr. Giles," Joyce shouts, her voice getting louder as the conversation continues. "Yet there's been no results."
He tries to tell himself, yet again, that she is powerless. The Sunnydale Police have not taken Buffy's running away seriously and the Los Angeles Police Department won't do anything without a report from Sunnydale. As far as both police departments are concerned, Buffy is a product of divorce and she's of a certain age and disposition. Girls like her run away all of the time and in most cases they come home when they are ready too. The fact that the Sunnydale Police are biased against Buffy doesn't help. Yet, he wants to ask Joyce how many hours as she spent cruising the worst parts of Los Angeles looking for her daughter?
"I can understand your frustration," Rupert tries to say but she cuts him off.
"I don't want you to understand my feelings, I want you to bring home my daughter."
She hangs up on him before he can say anything, which is probably for the best since he's fairly certain he would have said a few nasty things about her parenting of Buffy. Something that Rupert knows would do far more harm than good. Yet he can't help but question her parenting skills.
He's not a parent himself and he knows that he probably will never be a true parent. At best he will be a father figure to Buffy and her friends. A role that he's not overly keen on but one that he has accepted. And as such, he knows that he has no real right to criticize Joyce Summers and her own parenting skills. However, he can't help but wonder how oblivious she's been over the past two years and from what Buffy has said in passing longer than that.
There have been one too many incidents when he had overheard Buffy moaning about unfair her mother had been to Willow. And he had ignored it because it wasn't his place and as an adult, he suspects that most teenagers moan about how unfair their parents are when their parents are being rather fair. Yet he can't help but think of his own Grandmother who had always kept tabs on him, even when he had run away from his own destiny.
And he thinks about all of the times that Buffy must have gone home with bruises and injuries that weren't immediately healed by her Slayer healing. All of her clothes with curious stains, including blood and grave dirt, and tears and rips. And not once did Joyce question what was happening in her teenage daughter's life? It wasn't a simple case of Buffy breaking curfew and coming home with clothes that stunk of cigarette smoke or alcohol.
There's also the fact that as much as she berates him for not doing enough, she hasn't once offered to drive up to Los Angeles to chase down a lead. When they had first started working together, Rupert had thought that she would help him, especially with Los Angeles being a place that she would be more familiar with since she had lived there. Instead she had always expected him to chase down lead after lead since she had the gallery to run.
Rupert likes to think that if he were Buffy's father, he'd not expect her Watcher to do all the heavy lifting in trying to find her. He does his best to write it off a s yet another example of the stress that Joyce must be under. After all, he knows that if he were to lose his job at the high school. he'd still land on his feet financially and that he'd still have his role as Watcher. Yet it's more pressure on him that's pulling him down to the point where he's lost.
He sighs. Tomorrow, he will have a better lead to chase after and when he brings Buffy home, he will have the time to relax and to do all of the things that he hasn't had a chance to do. Right now, he has to prepare himself to face Buffy's friends. They have been helping him and he it owes it to them to keep them alive while they shoulder the burden of trying to keep Sunnydale safe while trying to find their friend.
((END))
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