TITLE         : It's the thought that counts.
AUTHOR        : Black Widow
EMAIL         : bw@l...
SUMMARY       : A dead letter to Buffy.
SPOILERS      : Early Season 5
RATING        : G
PAIRING       : Gen Fic
DISCLAIMER    : The characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant
                Enemy, Kuzui, Sandollar, and Greenwolf Productions, 20th
                Century Fox, the WB Network, and whoever else may have a
                hold on them. The situation is wholly mine, and I do
                not mean to infringe upon any copyrights.
ARCHIVE/DIST  : Whatever.  An email me if you use it would be nice
NOTES         : A Joycean response to the Dead Letters Home challenge.

*

I wonder how the gallery is doing without me? Not that it was ever
very important, it really was just an excuse. You know, a new
exhibition every now and then, somewhere to be when you weren't
around. Which was most of the time really, when I come to think about
it. Unless you wanted something. Or something was really wrong. No,
wait. You ran away then, didn't you?

I suppose it was a pseudo-intellectual thing to do. Not that I knew
much about art. Not that anyone could tell. And since you never went
there, and what I did was so unimportant to you, I would imagine it's
still there exactly as it was left. I never did thank you for opening
that one crate. Any fool could have run the gallery, but it was my lot
in life.

Much like you and Dawn.

Of course, I did love you. Well, I think I loved Dawn more but she
never got into half the trouble that you did. It's easier to love
someone when you know where they are and what they're doing.

The parenting books never were much use.

You really should have read them yourself. It would have saved me a lot
of heartache and trouble if you'd known your role. Or if you'd gone to
live with your father. He could have stayed up half the night worried
sick and I could have been left in blissful ignorance.

And you were always so thoughtless. I couldn't even take you shopping.

With all the trouble that followed you around did you never expect any
of it to come after me? I'd rather not think about Angel, so let me
tell you about the other one. I suppose you thought the chip in his
head made Spike completely harmless? 

Well, you underestimated him. You have no idea how much he schemed and
planned and plotted his revenge against you. All the bitterness and
rage in him was something to behold. Yet that chip made him as tame as
a puppy dog and he couldn't hurt anyone. But that never stopped him
from trying to come up with ingenious ways to hurt you or those around
you.

I remember the way you treated him after his girlfriend left him. And
then when he was at his most vulnerable you taunted him and mocked him.
You really should have staked him while you had the chance.

Not that anything he did ever worked; he never was the most intelligent
person to start with. He was also quite the coldest person I ever knew.
And he couldn't wire an electric blanket to save anyone's life.