Title: A Collection of Drabbles (Part 4)
Fandom: Dollhouse
Pairings/Characters: Includes: Topher/Adelle, DeWitt/Dominic, Adelle
Rating: T
Spoilers: Up to Epitaph: Return
Disclaimer: Dollhouse does not belong to me.
Author's Notes: I seem to have accumulated a number of drabbles that I don't think I've posted here specifically. They've all been written for different occassions, but most for whedonland. Each part contains five drabbles. Some are exactly 100 words, others are over.
Adelle, Epitaph
Adelle finds a photo when she's cleaning out her office one day. It's tucked into the bottom of one of her draws, forgotten.
The photo is of her and Topher at some company Christmas party. Topher's got his arm thrown around her and is grinning like a maniac, while she's just smiling awkwardly.
She sighs and sits, suddenly weary. Topher looks so...alive in the picture. She'd almost forgotten how he used to be; now he's just a broken child. It's not that she resents her charge. She loves Topher. But it's day like this, where she remembers the wonderful man he used to be, that she wishes so desperately for nothing to have changed.
/
Adelle, Season 2
She drinks –
She feels as if she cannot stop. A single glass of whiskey turns into another, and another, and another, and she downs them all as if they were her first.
She feels like she's drowning, overcome by a surging sea—crashing waves and unforgiving tides. She's being pulled under, tossed and turned, until she cannot breathe and she falls asleep in a drunken stupor.
She feels numb. There is nothing. No pain, no fear, no humiliation or regret or doubt or any other emotion that any good Head of House should not be feeling. When she feels numb, she can pretend that she is not weak. She can pretend that she is not broken, that she is not slipping, that this House—everything she lives for—is not being taken away from her.
She drinks –
– because she fears she has no other option.
/
Adelle and Topher, Epitaph
When Topher's good days last a long time, Adelle sometimes forgets there are even bad days to begin with. On his good days, Topher acts just about normal. He leaves his pod to visit his lab and fiddle around with the tech. He chats with her, with Saunders, with the actives, just as he would have before.
It pleases Adelle to see Topher on his good days; so happy, free from guilt. It reminds her of what used to be. Of how he used to be and the wonderful man he was.
But at the same time, the good days scare her as well. Because she knows that they can't last, and she knows it'll only break her heart again and again to see Topher crying and broken when she can remember so clearly what he could be.
/
Adelle, Dominic, Pre-Series
"It's not safe here, Ms DeWitt," Mr Dominic is saying and all she can think is iAlphaAlphaAlphaAlpha/i. There's screaming going on downstairs, and why isn't Mr Dominic down there helping them? Except he's just standing there, watching her with concern, and she realises she hasn't actually said anything since he stopped talking. Best fix that.
"Nonsense, Mr Dominic. This is my House and I intend to stay here to make sure it still stands tomorrow." She gives him a worn out smile. "Now go do your job."
"Yes ma'am." He nods.
Once he's gone, she falls into her chair, weary.
/
Alpha
He picks them off one by one, little glass dolls that smash into thousands of tiny little pieces. They don't even put up a fight, and his knife makes quick work of their delicate, beautiful faces. They're broken on the inside, all of them, despite how the Dollhouse likes to convince them otherwise, so why not make them broken on the outside as well? Then everyone will know. Then everyone will know the lies the Dollhouse tells its people, both clients and employees alike. He'll break them, smash them and destroy them, and then he'll take his Echo and they'll be gone from this nightmare.
/