Angst Bingo - Moments Lost
Dec. 8th, 2011 05:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theroadhouseTitle: Hard Conversations
Author:telaryn
Word Count: 761
Fandom: Leverage/BTVS
Characters: Nate & Faith
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: No ownership implied, no profit obtained.
Summary: Nate tries to understand Faith's feelings about a certain Sunnydale politician.
Author's Note: Written forangst_bingo, for the wild card prompt "moments lost". And unless I've terribly miscalculated, THAT'S THE BINGO!
It was a process – Nate understood that. Faith had lived a rough life, full of bad choices and not a lot of opportunities to trust people. He tried to encourage her to open up as often as possible, but thirty years of memories would have been a long time for two people to share under normal circumstances.
Thirty years of a Slayer’s life…
He knew she tried to protect him from the darker side of her history, no matter how often he tried to convince her that he wanted to know everything. Sometimes random pieces would tumble into her conversations, and he would be left with a burning desire to interrogate her until he had the whole truth of whatever had happened.
Like now. “Tell me about Richard Wilkins,” he said, sitting on the couch next to her.
The dark eyes that glared at him said as clearly as words that this was a subject Faith didn’t want to discuss. So be it, he thought, refusing to be swayed. “Richard Wilkins,” he repeated.
“Hardison can tell you everything you need to know,” Faith said, getting to her feet and stalking into the kitchen. “Google – type in large-ass snake.”
Nate watched her go, sensing that she wasn’t exactly speaking metaphorically. “Faith…”
Halfway to her destination, his daughter rounded on him. “No. I’m serious, Nate. As me anything else about my past and I’ll tell you, no matter how gory. The only thing you could learn by asking me that is how stupid and naïve I am.”
Interesting… “I already know the basics,” Nate said. “I know you worked for him, and I know he paid for your care while you were in your coma.” He paused. “What I don’t know is why you get so impossibly sad when the subject comes up?”
He watched her struggle between her desire to please him and her reluctance to discuss whatever hold it was this mysterious “Mayor” had on her. Finally she sighed; her body sagging slightly from the release of tension.
“He was the first person who ever really gave a damn about me,” she said – returning to his side. “He was the only real father I had when I was a kid.”
The revelation stung, but Nate forced himself to be patient. “They cared about you at Belmont,” he said – referring to the facility she’d been incarcerated at during her teenage years. Nate had first seen her there, although he’d been unwilling to dry the right conclusions at the time.
Regardless, Faith laughed. “You cared about me at Belmont,” she corrected him. “And you and I both know if you’d shown anything more than casual curiosity they would have kicked you out so fast it would have made your head spin.”
He couldn’t argue with her assessment, so he didn’t try. “What did this man do that made him so special?”
Nate wondered if Faith even realized the same sad, wistful smile had returned to her lips. “He listened,” she said. “He cared. He told me I was special, and that he valued me for who I was. And even though I didn’t know it at the time, he was apparently devastated when Buffy put me in the coma.” She laughed softly. “And not just because it fucked up his plans to become a pure-bred snake demon.”
“Um…what?” Nate asked, blinking in surprise. He was trying to get use to the supernatural suddenly interjecting itself into conversations with his daughter, but occasionally it still threw him.
“That’s why he wanted me to work for him at first,” Faith said. “He was trying to become a purebred demon. You see why I get so messed up about him?”
Nate nodded. “It makes sense though,” he said. “You were what – eighteen – when you knew him?”
“Yeah,” Faith said. “Eighteen, and a super-powered guy like Wilkins is suddenly buying me clothes and video games, and important things to do in his organization.” She sighed heavily. “And he lit up every time he saw me, Pop. Not in a creepy, sexual way,” she added – looking at him apologetically. “Kind of like you do, like I was some kind of amazing gift he got.”
“Pretty perceptive guy,” Nate said. So many moments… So many things that had gone into making his daughter, and he could claim credit for none of it. On the one hand it hurt, thinking about everything they’d lost in the time they’d been apart.
On the other hand, it meant that they weren’t likely to run out of things to talk about, anytime soon.
Author:
telarynWord Count: 761
Fandom: Leverage/BTVS
Characters: Nate & Faith
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: No ownership implied, no profit obtained.
Summary: Nate tries to understand Faith's feelings about a certain Sunnydale politician.
Author's Note: Written for
angst_bingo, for the wild card prompt "moments lost". And unless I've terribly miscalculated, THAT'S THE BINGO!It was a process – Nate understood that. Faith had lived a rough life, full of bad choices and not a lot of opportunities to trust people. He tried to encourage her to open up as often as possible, but thirty years of memories would have been a long time for two people to share under normal circumstances.
Thirty years of a Slayer’s life…
He knew she tried to protect him from the darker side of her history, no matter how often he tried to convince her that he wanted to know everything. Sometimes random pieces would tumble into her conversations, and he would be left with a burning desire to interrogate her until he had the whole truth of whatever had happened.
Like now. “Tell me about Richard Wilkins,” he said, sitting on the couch next to her.
The dark eyes that glared at him said as clearly as words that this was a subject Faith didn’t want to discuss. So be it, he thought, refusing to be swayed. “Richard Wilkins,” he repeated.
“Hardison can tell you everything you need to know,” Faith said, getting to her feet and stalking into the kitchen. “Google – type in large-ass snake.”
Nate watched her go, sensing that she wasn’t exactly speaking metaphorically. “Faith…”
Halfway to her destination, his daughter rounded on him. “No. I’m serious, Nate. As me anything else about my past and I’ll tell you, no matter how gory. The only thing you could learn by asking me that is how stupid and naïve I am.”
Interesting… “I already know the basics,” Nate said. “I know you worked for him, and I know he paid for your care while you were in your coma.” He paused. “What I don’t know is why you get so impossibly sad when the subject comes up?”
He watched her struggle between her desire to please him and her reluctance to discuss whatever hold it was this mysterious “Mayor” had on her. Finally she sighed; her body sagging slightly from the release of tension.
“He was the first person who ever really gave a damn about me,” she said – returning to his side. “He was the only real father I had when I was a kid.”
The revelation stung, but Nate forced himself to be patient. “They cared about you at Belmont,” he said – referring to the facility she’d been incarcerated at during her teenage years. Nate had first seen her there, although he’d been unwilling to dry the right conclusions at the time.
Regardless, Faith laughed. “You cared about me at Belmont,” she corrected him. “And you and I both know if you’d shown anything more than casual curiosity they would have kicked you out so fast it would have made your head spin.”
He couldn’t argue with her assessment, so he didn’t try. “What did this man do that made him so special?”
Nate wondered if Faith even realized the same sad, wistful smile had returned to her lips. “He listened,” she said. “He cared. He told me I was special, and that he valued me for who I was. And even though I didn’t know it at the time, he was apparently devastated when Buffy put me in the coma.” She laughed softly. “And not just because it fucked up his plans to become a pure-bred snake demon.”
“Um…what?” Nate asked, blinking in surprise. He was trying to get use to the supernatural suddenly interjecting itself into conversations with his daughter, but occasionally it still threw him.
“That’s why he wanted me to work for him at first,” Faith said. “He was trying to become a purebred demon. You see why I get so messed up about him?”
Nate nodded. “It makes sense though,” he said. “You were what – eighteen – when you knew him?”
“Yeah,” Faith said. “Eighteen, and a super-powered guy like Wilkins is suddenly buying me clothes and video games, and important things to do in his organization.” She sighed heavily. “And he lit up every time he saw me, Pop. Not in a creepy, sexual way,” she added – looking at him apologetically. “Kind of like you do, like I was some kind of amazing gift he got.”
“Pretty perceptive guy,” Nate said. So many moments… So many things that had gone into making his daughter, and he could claim credit for none of it. On the one hand it hurt, thinking about everything they’d lost in the time they’d been apart.
On the other hand, it meant that they weren’t likely to run out of things to talk about, anytime soon.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-09 07:23 pm (UTC)