Disclaimer: I do not own Buffyverse or anything else you may recognize
So this one-shot is just Holden Webster being the awesome therapy giving Vampire he is, and he'll do that for some Buffy characters, and for the fic's sake imagine Knox has a different actor than him.
The ones getting therapy will be- Willow, Tara (she never died to me, and she and Willow are forever), Spike, Faith, Xander, Anya, Dawn, Giles, and even Kennedy and Andrew (more on that later).
Not Buffy because she already got hers in the actual episode.
And I'd do the Angel characters but it'd get too long then.
Have fun.
And yes, imagine Holden wasn't dusted by Buffy in this, and runs his practice in spite of being a Vampire.
Also, this won't be chronological, rather intercut conversations between Holden and various characters.
"Oh, Willow, long time no see!" Holden said happily as he and Willow shared a little hug. "You do remember, me don't you?"
"Well, not many remember me so I remember you all", Willow shrugged as they sat down with a chuckle.
"So, why did you feel the need to come to me?" Holden asked her.
"Well, I just feel, well, conflicted is the word", Willow confessed to him.
"Hmmm, interesting", Holden noted.
"Since you're a Vampire, you shouldn't have problem believing in magic I think?" Willow asked him.
"Like what, you can move stuff and all that?" Holden asked her.
Willow telekinetically summoned a pen to her hand, then held it out to him as he took it, impressed. "That and much more. Anyway, I need, well, a proper way to reach a balance."
"What kind?" Holden asked. "I can't help you unless I know the relevant details, I am sure you can understand that, Willow."
"Well then", Willow took a deep breath and started. "It began when I met Buffy in high school-"
"So I feel I am just getting burdened, you know?" Tara said as Holden listened, nodding. "I mean, I love Willow, and I love Dawnie, and Buffy, Spike, Xander, Anya and Giles as well, but-"
"You feel by constantly taking care of them, you are harming your own mental health, and that makes you selfish", Holden realized, and Tara nodded.
"Look, Tara, I get why you feel that way, but it doesn't make you selfish, it is good to take care of the people you love, especially to the extent you do", Holden said to her. "But ignoring your own well-being is not a good thing either, so I suggest-"
"-that you try to talk to Buffy about it", Holden said to Spike. "I mean, she doesn't blame you for anything you did without this soul of yours, right?"
"No, she doesn't, even though she should", Spike sighed.
"If you think she should, why did you go and get your soul back in the first place?" Holden asked, and now Spike was confused. "See? You, my friend, while you don't show it, do hate yourself over everything you did when you were a monster. By the way, can I get a soul too? Does it make a difference in the whole evil thing?"
"Well, if you were a righteous sod before, it does", Spike told him.
"Never mind then, I love the pure evil thing", Holden shrugged. "Anyway, you feel you are a monster, and so you feel like you don't deserve her even after working hard for it-"
"-and in spite of all your hard work, Buffy was already the Slayer, loved and adored by everyone", Holden noted, and Faith nodded.
"Yeah, it really killed me, and so when I killed a guy, I decided I must be a monster because I can't be Buffy, and so I went deeper and deeper into the hole till Angel saved me", Faith told him.
"And while you feel that you are not bad anymore, you still feel inferior", Holden realized, and she nodded, since that was right. "Maybe, instead of trying to be Buffy, just try to be Faith. There's nothing wrong with that either-"
"Well, you sure did mess up there, I have to say", Holden said to Xander.
"I was protecting her from myself", Xander told Holden what he thought.
"Or, you were protecting yourself from commitment because you were never ready for it", Holden spoke the truth, but Xander was in denial.
"What? No! I just saw my dad and my mom and-"
"But that wasn't the only incident, Xander", Holden pointed out to him. "How many times did you delay announcing your engagement?"
"What does that have to do with this?" Xander asked.
"When you proposed, she said you were doing it only because the world was ending, and your actions proved her right", Holden revealed, and now Xander's jaw dropped as he looked down, deep in thought, Holden's words hitting him where it mattered.
"And it is all his fault, he left me right there, when we should have been a thing, my heart broke, someone hit it with a hammer", Anya ranted to Holden. "And then he got mad because I slept with Spike to dull my pain. He had no right! He is not my man anymore!"
"You are right, he had no right then, but you slaughtering that frat-house was on you, not on him", Holden said, and Anya seemed shocked.
"What? No!" Anya denied. "How can you take his side? If he hadn't left me, I wouldn't have gone back to being a Vengeance Demon-"
"And you are right there, him leaving you is what led you down that path", Holden agreed with a nod. "And I am not taking sides, but think, by the time of the frat-house, your actions were your own, even if you felt pressured, they were your own, not Xander's."
Anya's lip was now quivering, as she was realizing Holden was right.
"And that makes you think you are just an ordinary, whiny brat with nothing to offer", Holden noted, and Dawn nodded.
"Yeah, after the whole thing with Glory, my Key thing has never even been relevant", Dawn sighed.
"Look, just because you don't have powers doesn't mean you are ordinary, you contribute too", Holden assured Dawn. "And while I feel you went overboard sometimes, it is okay to feel like that."
"It is?" Dawn asked in surprise.
"Yes, while Buffy was dealing with her own problems, she should have talked about it instead of keeping it to herself, and she treated you like a 5 year old while ignoring every single need of yours in the process", Holden pointed out to her. "And Willow even got you in an accident. Tara was the only adult who spent time with you, and took care of you, without any accidents. So feeling mad at the adults, is perfectly fine. It does not make you whiny and useless. It makes you a teenager, I know, I've been one too."
"Well, this is a contradiction", Holden commented, confusing Giles.
"I do not get it, what do you mean there?" Giles asked.
"You left because you wanted Buffy to grow on her own, but now on coming back, you went behind her back and betrayed her trust, how does that make sense?" Holden asked Giles, who was now lost for words.
"She was trusting Spike, imagine what could have happened had he been triggered", Giles defended himself.
"So why try to kill him instead of, well, forcing him to face his Demons?" Holden asked and now Giles was silent. "With the resources a man like you has, I am sure you can do it."
"So, you know? I even faked being sick and all that, but she still stays with her innocent Tara instead of having some naughty fun with me, how vanilla is she?" Kennedy asked as Holden sighed. He normally tried to keep a level head around patients, but it was really tempting to punch her on the face. "And I am fascinated by her magic, she tells her to balance it-"
"I think I am gay", Andrew said, confusing Holden.
"Okay, what?" Holden asked him.
"You know, with how I act to women, it is a mechanism to keep my gayness under wraps", Andrew said to him. "So I must be gay-"
"Well, you have issues, a lot of them, and I understand why you do", Holden said to Willow. "And what you did to Tara, well, she is a saint to forgive you, but you show improvement, now what you need is to do this magic thing with her, listen to her as well about it, rather than doing it on your own, which is the problem really, and leads to bad decisions."
"Right, magic brought us together, so we must trust each other with it completely", Willow realized. "Thanks Holden."
"No problem", he smiled.
"Well, first your family, then Glory, and then even Willow, whom you loved and trusted with all your heart", Holden commented. "And because of these incidents, your family trauma, it still haunts you."
"What do you suggest I do about it?" Tara asked.
"Well, it is not my place, but well, have you tried, umm, kinky stuff in…..you know?" Holden asked.
"No, not really", Tara shook her head.
"Well, I'm learning, but I'm still not the biggest professional in this field, so this is the best advice I can give you", Holden said to her. "I'm thinking do some power play kind of thing, either you can be the senior partner, so it will give you a semblance of power over her, and you can have her obey you there, or, you can let her be the senior partner, and put your full trust in her, and she can this time reward your trust by proving she is worthy of it."
"Wow!" Tara finally said, not having expected this guy to suggest kinky sex as a way to move on from her trauma, but the way he put it, it did make sense. "Thank you for your advice."
"It's what I do", Holden smirked.
"So, you see, you do love her, and she loves you, the real you, which is you with a soul", Holden explained to Spike. "And now you're not a bad person anymore. You feel guilt, and you should, but don't let it define or control you. Just, be the man she deserves, that's what you wanted, right?"
"Yes, I wanted just that", Spike nodded.
"So go for it. She feels the same way, man", Holden assured, remembering his own conversation with Buffy.
"Makes sense, you definitely have something up there", Spike quipped as Holden chuckled.
"Buffy is the Slayer-"
"No, she is A Slayer", Holden said to Faith. "You are a Slayer too. I get it, she was the Slayer, so your destiny was already taken. But you can be a different kind of Slayer from her. Where she is rigid, you can compromise, where she falters, you can pick up the slack, where she refuses to listen, you can offer a helpful ear. Your experiences have made you more mature than her, you still need to work on it, but you swam in the darkness while she has only tasted it, and you have come out the stronger for it."
"So, I can be even better than her if I tried?" Faith asked.
"Yes, you can, she is Buffy, you are Faith, you are a different kind of Slayer, but you are one too, you bring things to the table she does not", Holden assured.
"Well, time to be my own person, a different Slayer, thanks man", Faith smiled, lightly punching his shoulder as he smiled and nodded.
"And so, because of Jesse, you take out all your issues on other Demons, Angel and Spike included, even though with their souls, they really don't deserve it", Holden said to Xander. "Maybe it's time to stop seeing your friend in every single Demon, and actually seeing them for what they are."
"So, the Anya thing, it really was my fault, we had problems, and I chose the wrong time", Xander sighed. "And yeah, I guess I do have a bias there against Demons."
"See? You realize it all now! That's progress my man", Holden said as he raised a hand, and Xander high-fived him.
"Huh? So by then it was really my fault", Anya noted.
"Yeah, grief makes us do stupid things, but after a certain point, we just keep doing it, and you did, but you also undid it, so there is a lot of hope for you, Anya", Holden assured her.
"Whoa! That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me since Xander broke up with me. I have hope. I am a hopeful person! I am on top of the world!" Anya said as she hugged Holden and kissed his cheek happily, weirding him out a little.
"You think I have really grown up?" Dawn asked.
"Yes, by 3 years I might add", Holden assured. "The girl I see in front of me, she would not whine and go overboard about it, because she is here, confronting her issues and accepting them. You are going to grow up to be an amazing woman, Dawn, better than Buffy even. And Key or not, you are special."
"Thank you so much", Dawn smiled happily, her heart soaring at Holden's kind words as she hugged the guy, and he hugged back.
"So you see, while you were a good mentor to Buffy, you dropped the ball with the rest, especially Willow, who you could have truly helped due to your own experiences", Holden said to Giles. "Maybe instead of leaving, you should have just distanced yourself from Buffy, and been there for the others, they needed you too. You were the adult they looked up to. And you abandoned them."
"Dear lord", Giles said, guilt and shame flooding through him as he rubbed his head. "I failed them, I failed them all-"
"Hey, it's all good, a mess happened, but now they are all fixed", Holden assured Giles. "And now, you can be there for them when they truly need you, in the way they need you to."
"You are right, I shall not fail them any longer", Giles nodded, deciding to be better from now on.
"That's the spirit", Holden assured, tapping his shoulder.
"So because of all this, I think I am better for Willow than anyone else, I am smart, confident", Kennedy was listing. "She is just mousy and afraid-"
What she didn't notice was Holden was already gone, annoyed by her arrogance and disrespect for someone as kind and amazing as Tara, as well as her disrespect for Tara's relationship with Willow.
"So why doesn't she date me?"
"Yeah, so that's why, my redemption arc has already been done", Andrew was saying, deluding himself into even believing it. "And in my next arc I will come out as gay, because that's the only explanation for my behavior-"
Like Kennedy, he didn't notice Holden was gone either due to being annoyed by his creepiness towards women which he was attributing to being gay somehow and continued rambling.
"So I should try to get into men then."
And that's the end of this. These are just the issues I feel these characters do have, and that's how I believe Holden would advise them.
I hate Kennedy and Andrew, fuck them both. Also, I think people overlook this, but Kennedy literally came onto Willow like a creepy stalker, it sent 'sexual predator alert' all over my head, and if I was there in Willow's place, I'd file a restraining order at that point.
So because of that, I'm 100% sure Kennedy would come onto Willow even if Tara was alive and in a stable, healthy relationship with her. Because Tillow is the best, it is forever, and Tara is amazing and FUCK KENNEDY!
As for Andrew, he is the one character in the whole Buffyverse whose redemption arc I never bought, because when Willow turned into Warren in 7x13, the bastard was happy to see him like he has never been before or after, at that point, I was done with him. And he only showed remorse when Buffy threatened to kill him, that's not genuine remorse, that's just fear of death.
Jonathan's remorse was genuine, he should have been redeemed, not Andrew the bastard.
And the 'gay thing' is just my annoyance at how they turned him gay in the comics, not because I hate LGBT people or couples (Tillow is my most favorite Buffyverse couple, and 3rd favorite of all time, and Tara is in my Top 20 characters of all time, and I also love Captain Holt as well as his relationship with his husband Kevin in B99) but Andrew's behavior was goddamn creepy most of the time, and so I just feel that the writers turned him gay to make his behavior look un-creepy, but I find that completely disrespectful to gay men.
What do you think Holden would advise Angel characters like Angel himself, Cordelia, Wesley, Lorne, Fred, Gunn and even Doyle, Darla, Lilah, Illyria, Lindsey, Harmony and Connor?
Anyway, hope all enjoyed and see you all next time with some other update. Stay safe from the coronavirus ya all!