Dawn finished the book Sunday night and had a host of questions for Mr. Pratt Monday afternoon. She wanted to tell him she got why he’d wanted her to read his autobiography. It was all about his mom, how he’d spent his whole childhood resenting her. At first Dawn had been offended at the obvious tactic, but soon the tale caught her up in its rhythm.
She couldn’t stop reading until the end, when his mother’s ashes were sitting on the kitchen table next to a package of Jaffa cakes and the day’s mail. Spike hadn’t realized how much he’d loved her of course, of course until she was dust and overdue postage. Dawn wasn’t made of stone; she’d cried. She’d cried so hard Riley knocked on her door and asked what was wrong. Dawn had told him mostly the truth, that she missed her mother.
So Monday afternoon, Dawn had waited patiently through class for her revelatory moment; except Mr. Pratt wasn’t in the mood to talk to that day. He was looking even worse than usual, and he’d been looking genuinely awful for weeks now. When she cornered him in the empty school room he’d given her a tight smile.
“I finished your book,” Dawn said.
Mr. Pratt scooped his papers into his battered brief case and looked at her over his hurried movements.
“What did you think?” he asked, absently.
“It was amazing, I can’t understand why it didn’t sell a bajillion copies like that glittery vampire book,” Dawn said.
He gave Dawn an authentic smile and slipped his silver pen into the front pocket of his pale, blue dress shirt.
“Maybe if I’d put a werewolf subplot in,” he said.
“So, was that true, that stuff about your mom?”
He set the case on his desk and zipped it closed.
“Every syllable,” he said.
“And the sex stuff with that Cecily lady?
“All poetic license,” he said, with a bounce of his eyebrows.
“That’s a huge relief,” Dawn said with a wide, silly grin.
Mr. Pratt started to walk away and Dawn caught the sleeve of his brown jacket by a frayed cuff.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
He looked down at her hand and hesitated. Then Mr. Pratt patted her clutching fingers.
“Something happened with your mother, she’s going to be alright, but the baby didn’t, the baby isn’t,” he said.
Dawn looked at him, stunned.
“Buffy wanted to be the one to tell you. I have to go Dawn, we’ll catch up later,” he said. Then Mr. Pratt disappeared.
Dawn went through the rest of the day in a daze. This was what she’d hoped for when she was at her angriest but now that it was happening, Dawn felt ashamed to have ever entertained the thought. The baby was not going to be; no tiny toes or slobbery kisses, no pink-faced midget to spoil and tease. Even though her sibling had only been a concept before, Dawn realized she was going to miss him or her.
By the time her mother came to pick her up, Dawn was already waiting by the sidewalk. Dawn got in the car, uncertain of what to say.
“Hi mommy,” she said. Dawn only called her mother mommy anymore when she was really sick. Buffy looked at her with a sad smile.
“Hey Dawnie, I’ve got some bad news,” she said.
“Mr. Pratt, Spike, told me, about the baby. I’m so sorry,” Dawn said. She gave her mother a hug.
Then her mom was crying and Dawn got a little freaked out. She’d never seen Buffy cry before. The hug ended and Dawn looked down at her too-red fingernails.
“Is it my fault?” Dawn asked, daring to flick her eyes up to meet her mother’s.
“Of course not, why would you think—“
“The stress I’ve been putting on you, I know it wasn’t good for the baby,” Dawn said, thinking of what Mr. Pratt had said, ‘You’re killing your mother.’
“It wasn’t your fault, bad things just happen for no reason sometimes,” Buffy said.
The two women sat together.
“Are you moving back in with me and dad?” Dawn asked, carefully.
“No Dawn, I’m sorry. But I still want you to come live with me, at least a few days a week,” Buffy said.
Dawn didn’t speak for a breath. She hugged her mom’s thin shoulders and rested her head against her neck. Dawn thought about what it would be like to lose her mom, really lose her the way Spike had. To have her body disintegrate outside in the cold before Dawn even knew her mother was gone.
“I’ll get over it. Besides, I think Spike needs you more,” Dawn said.
Buffy started to turn over the collar of Dawn’s shirt.
“What are you doing?” Dawn asked.
“Looking for the seam. You’re probably going to pull off that Dawn mask Scooby-Doo style, because there’s no way my daughter just said that,” Buffy said, with a silly smile.
“Ha, ha,” Dawn said with a dramatic eye roll. Then she hugged Buffy just a little tighter.
[Reviews - 108]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 2397 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks to all who have kept reading and commenting. I posted a chapter earlier today, so do go back and read it if you haven't. This is the second to last chapter, please let me know what you think.
Chapter End Notes:
The the sparkle vampire is an obvious reference to the Twilight series. The Scooby-Doo reference is a nod to the series and to the fact that Sarah Michelle Gellar was in the live action Scooby-Doo movie.