To Everything, There is a Reason
Part of the Omniverse Project
By Benji: the Vampire Confuser
Buffy and Dawn and all associated characters belong to Joss Whedon.
"I'm home!" Dawn called out, flinging her bag on the chair. There was no answer. No big surprise, Buffy was usually out all the time anyway, and Andrew had taken to Italy like a fish to an aquarium.
Having the place to herself suited her just fine. She turned on the stereo and headed into the kitchen for a snack. She didn't hear the phone ringing at first. She got to it just before the machine would have picked up.
"Buon giorno." she said, thumbing the remote for the music system, muting it.
"Uhm, hello?" an uncertain voice said in English. "Is this Buffy Summers?"
"Oh, no," the younger Summers said, switching to her native tongue, "This is her sister Dawn. Can I take a message?"
It took a moment for what the speaker on the other end of the line had said to sink in. Dawn's face paled, and she found it hard to breathe. She numbly hung up the phone as her knees gave out, tumbling her onto the couch. She sat there, staring at nothing. Which is where Buffy found her several hours later.
"Dawn?" the Slayer said, kneeling in front of her sister. "Dawnie what's wrong?"
"Dad's dead."
Buffy looked at the sleeping face of her sister beside her. They were about mid-way through their flight to Spain, to…take care of their father's affairs. Buffy hadn't wanted to come. In her mind, Hank Summers had stopped being their father the moment he abandoned them to move to Spain with his secretary. The fight had worn her out, but apparently not as much as it had Dawn. There were still red circles under her eyes from where she'd been crying.
But that hadn't been what had broken through her defenses. Though they had come close.
"Buffy the police think he committed suicide!" Dawn had finally shrieked before collapsing into a ball of tears.
So here she was. Afraid of what she'd find. She didn't want to forgive him. Did she? Part of her was so angry at him still. Not just for leaving her and Dawn alone. Not simply because he'd been gone when their mother had passed away. She had never forgiven him for the divorce. And now she desperately wanted a reason, any reason at all to forgive him. But first she had to know why he had shut them out.
A haggard looking woman answered the door. It didn't look like she'd gotten much sleep the past few days. Buffy didn't care. This was the woman who'd taken her father away from her. There was no way she was going to be sympathetic to her.
"You must be Buffy and Dawn." Dawn recognized the voice of the woman who'd contacted her in Italy. "Thank you for coming."
"Yeah whatever." Buffy said shortly, before Dawn could respond. "What are we here for the reading of his will or something?"
"Buffy," Dawn muttered, shocked. Sure she knew her sister was angry, but she didn't have to be so…rude.
"That too." The woman, who introduced herself as Julia answered. She looked saddened, but not surprised or even angered by Buffy's attitude. "But mostly I wanted to give you this." She heaved a large steamer trunk into the center of the room. "Hank specifically wanted you to have this. He…he wrote in his…in the-" Her voice broke, and she fled from the room.
Dawn's head went from the trunk to the room where their hostess had fled. Buffy just sighed.
"Let's get this over with." She grunted, opening the trunk. Her mouth dropped open. "Oh my God," she murmured.
"Buffy," Dawn echoed the sentiment, "This is,"
It was everything. Every photo he'd ever taken of them, every home movie video. Every cheesy kiddy gift they'd given him, every picture they'd drawn him. Buffy swallowed her tears and willed her wall back up. This wasn't it. This was not good enough.
"I loved your father." Julia said from the doorway. "Hank was a good man but he just couldn't deal with his problems. He kept running away. It's why he divorced your mother. It's why he came to Spain. You have to understand, he was desperately unhappy after that. He couldn't deal with not having you in his life-"
"He could have had us in his life anytime he wanted!" Buffy shouted at her. "We were less than an hour away, and he visited ONCE! We had one summer with him, and then nothing!" She was crying now, but she didn't care. "OUR MOTHER DIED AND HE ABANDONED US!"
She felt Dawn's hand on her shoulder, and she clung to it desperately. There was nothing else to say for either of them.
Julia merely nodded. "I know. That's what I said. Sort of. That he didn't have to…not have you in his life. But like I said, Hank kept running from his problems. He thought instead that if he shut you out completely, left that entire life behind him, he could start over. I guess it didn't work." she concluded in a small voice. "I came home and found him…"
She couldn't help herself. Buffy reached out and drew Julia into the embrace already shared between herself and her sister.
"I'm so sorry," Julia kept repeating over and over.
Her father, Hank Summers had messed up royally. But she couldn't bring herself to be mad anymore. Not now that she knew, now that she understood why he'd done what he'd done, stupid though it had been.
Mr. Summers had punished himself more than he ever needed to be punished by his daughters.
"I hope Mom whacks him upside his head for being so stupid." Dawn said quietly. It was the first full sentence she'd spoken since they'd left Italy. Now they stood at Hank's graveside. Buffy gave a short laugh.
"I'm sure she will Dawnie. I'm sure she will."
The End