Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon and company.
Prompts: Written for kwritten for Round #115 at femslash_minis. The prompts were the pairing along with art galleries, pantyhose, wine without Giles and teenagers. (Although teenagers are mentioned a few times, they don't actually show up.)
Notes: Set roughly sometime between Seasons One and Two where Joyce knows that her daughter isn't exactly a normal teenager but doesn't really address it with her daughter. There are also some vague references to Season Five, in the fact that I mention that Joyce has two daughters instead of just one.
Joyce has had a very long day at the gallery and she's just about to close up when a woman enters the gallery. She knows that she can point out the time (it is five minutes until the close shop) but she's not particularly interested in going home to deal with the typical angst and drama of having two teenage daughters. And, if she was really being honest with herself, there's something quite intriguing about the woman who's entered her little gallery.
"I know that you're about to close up for the day but I was told that you might have a statue of Taweret."
Joyce blinks in confusion and then remembers the display about a six months ago of ancient fertility goddesses. She believes that the statute that the woman is referring to was a crude, pregnant hippopotamus statuette that Joyce had disliked the minute she had touched it.
"I know that I have a few pieces left over from a collection that the gallery had hosted. I am not sure if I have that particular goddess."
For some reason, Joyce is loathe to allow this woman to have that piece even though she'd be grateful to have it off of her hands. There's something about it that unsettles her. Instead of the other figures that had seemed to celebrate the pregnant form, this particular piece had seemed malevolent, as if it was cursed.
"Do you mind showing me the pieces that you have?"
Joyce nods. Despite how she feels about the figure, she can't really afford to turn away a potential customer.
"Of course, I am just going to lock up as the collection is in the back room."
The other woman nods and Joyce almost wishes that she was younger. This woman with her sleek hair and fashionable clothes make Joyce feel far older than she should. They fall into a silence as Joyce leads her to the back room and pulls out the remaining pieces of the collection. The other woman's hand hovers over the goddess she had asked about and she looks up at Joyce.
"It feels evil."
Joyce gasps in surprise before nodding. Despite how she had felt about the figure, she had felt silly for imbuing it with a sense of malevolence that it shouldn't possess.
"It's not quite what I am looking for."
Joyce puts the pieces away before guiding the other woman out of the gallery.
Joyce is about to close up shop when the woman from the other week enters again, this time with a bottle of wine. Joyce arches an eyebrow at the other woman but gives her a welcoming smile.
"How can I help you today?" Joyce asks.
"Well I have a buyer for that statuette that you showed me last week."
"What?" Joyce asks.
Instead of answering, the woman hands over a cheque. It's far too much and Joyce can't keep the surprise off of her face.
"Your buyer knows that it's not the real thing, that's a reproduction, most likely Victorian?" Joyce asks.
"Yes but they have rather esoteric tastes."
"Oh," Joyce says. "I don't even know your name."
"Jenny Calendar," Jenny says with a devastating smile.
Joyce knows that she should ask why this woman would go out of her way to find her a buyer who's willing to pay such a large sum for it. But instead she gives Jenny a smile and decides to enjoy the fact that the piece will be out of her gallery soon enough.
After that first sale, they wind up being friends. It turns out that Jenny teaches at Buffy's school (not that they ever talk about her daughters or about the school.) They spend far too much time at the gallery, late at night, sharing bottles of red wine as they talk about art and computers, trips that they'd like to take and books that they think the other should read.
Before long, the trips that they talk about are always about trips that they'd like to take together. Joyce tells Jenny about the galleries in LA that had inspired her to run her own and Jenny tells Joyce about the trendy galleries back east that she had visited that are nothing like Joyce's.
A evening or two a week spent over a bottle of wine becomes more and more frequent and Joyce realizes that she likes Jenny more than just a friend. And she agonizes over how to tell this vibrant woman that she'd like to take things to the next level. The last time she had felt this way, it had been in high school with a man who she had ended up marrying. Joyce never really though that she had feelings for women and maybe it's just Jenny but she knows that she feels something when she's dressing for work and gets frustrated with how much her wardrobe makes her look like a middle aged mother of two.
Too many outfits are frumpy or throw backs to her days in the 1970s when she wanted to be a hippy and bemoaned the fact that she had been born to late. None of her clothes are clothes that make her feel vibrant or young or sexy. Even her pantyhose seems to be dowdy and dated.
What's worse is that Joyce doesn't even know how Jenny feels about her. For all she knows, Jenny just enjoys talking to the only other woman in Sunnydale who doesn't seem to be consumed with such petty things like the PTA, shopping and soap operas.
Jenny is late for their meeting, it's the first time that they had agreed to meet outside of the gallery. It's a chic little French restaurant that Joyce suspects will only last a month. She feels out of place with her daring little black dress, thigh highs, bright red pumps and red lipstick. She'd never dressed this way for Hank, not even when they were first dating. And she can't help that other patrons are looking at her with disgust or pity or some combination of the two in their eyes. No doubt she's trying too hard for what is probably only a causal meal between two friends.
Joyce sighs as she drains her glass. The red wine isn't as good as the bottles that they normally share in the gallery despite the price that the restaurant charges. She's almost ready to leave when Jenny slides into the chair across from her.
"Sorry I'm late," Jenny says.
Joyce wants to ask her what kept her but there are things that they don't talk about. Her daughters and Jenny's esoteric friends are just the tip of the ice berg. They both have secrets and Joyce realizes rather bleakly that even if Jenny felt the same way that she did, they'd never work out.
"It's alright," Joyce says.
"No it's not," Jenny replies. "I wish I could tell you what happened but I'd doubt you'd believe me."
Joyce purses her lips. This is Hank and Buffy all over again. She sighs as the waiter comes over and takes their order for drinks - she orders another glass of wine and Jenny orders a scotch.
"Well it's not as if you'll tell me, so I guess we'll never know," Joyce coldly says when the waiter leaves their table.
Jenny looks up in shock and Joyce almost wishes she could take the words back. But she had dressed up, foolishly thinking that Jenny had invited her out on a date.
"You look nice," Jenny says.
It's exactly like being with Hank towards the end. He used to give her compliments to avoid talking about the real issue. The waiter stops by with their beverages and the pair of them ask for a few more minutes with the menus.
"Fine," Jenny says. "There was an infestation of demons at the library and I had to help your daughter, her Watcher and her friends fight off the demons."
Joyce takes a sip of her drink. "Thank you. I don't like being kept in the dark."
Jenny just looks at her in shock as if she had suspected Joyce to react differently.
"Although I don't understand what you mean by Watcher, I know that my daughter isn't a normal teenage girl. I do wash her laundry and clean up her room for her. I don't press because she doesn't seem to want to tell me. And even though the books all say that I should press her for answers, I figure that she's not doing drugs and the last time I pried into her life, things didn't go as smoothly as they should have."
"You know?" Jenny asks.
"Yes, I know."
* * *
They never do end up ordering from the menu and the French restaurant is replaced by a Thai one two months later. By that time, Jenny and Joyce have progressed from barely flirting to dating. They still haven't told Joyce's daughters but Joyce likes to keep this relationship to herself, soon enough she'll have to share it with her daughters but for now she's okay with weekend trips up to LA that involve a gallery or two, several bottles of wine and plenty of kissing and touching.
((END))