Back Before the War
A/N: Damn it, another response to Candle's challenge! I don't own any of it. The song is Back Before the War by Reba McEntire.
Oh, Catlimere, get out those tissues.
Stacks of paper, my name in bold print
He bit his lip. It was stupid, showing weakness as he signed divorce papers, but he couldn't help it. He didn't want it to come to this.
Their daughter would be going to live with her. Jenny was only four; she didn't understand at all. Their six year old son, Jesse, however had told them in no uncertain terms that he was going to live with his Aunt Buffy, because he didn't trust either of them.
Kevin and Kendra, who were both seven, had echoed their little brother's words.
Yours beside it on this document
She saw him bite his lip, knew that he thought that real men didn't show weakness. He'd always been so tough. But when it was just the two of them, it had been different.
Things had changed however. And they'd changed for the worst.
Too many lawyers, too many angry words
"You were having affairs behind my back weren't you?" she hissed. "You're just like your father. Aren't you, Shane-o Mac?"
"And you're a fucking bitch, always needling and not minding your own business. Just like my mother!"
So much we didn't say, so much we never heard
"Buffy," she'd said, "I don't think I can take the arguing for much longer. If we don't stop soon, I don't know what will happen."
"Then for all of your sakes, I hope that you two do stop."
After her friend had left, the Slayer had dropped onto the couch. "Shawn, those kids don't trust them anymore. If they don't stop fighting and start showing them how a peaceful family acts, I don't think they'll ever gain those kids' trust back."
Her husband had sighed. "Honey, all we can do is to be here for them. For all of them."
Do you remember
When I was all that you were living for
Back before the war
"Have I ever mentioned how much I love you?" Shane asked, dropping kisses onto his wife's stomach.
She giggled. "Was that meant for me or for our fourth child?"
"For both of you, of course." He grinned. "I love you and the kids so much."
Back before the broken vows
The shattered trust, this empty house
She'd listened to the phone call, sobbing her heart out after it was done. Some woman named Moriah. Moriah meant Wind in some other language. She didn't know which language, that was Willow's department, but she knew that it definitely wasn't English.
Maybe this woman would be like the wind, drifting across Shane's life. But he was sleeping with her.
He'd broken the trust that had taken years to build up. She'd known that their marriage was getting bad, but she hadn't thought that he'd cheat on her.
When nothing really mattered but us
Back before we climbed too high
My dreams were yours, your dreams were mine
Back before we fell so out of touch
Back before the war
She gazed at her husband. They'd only been married a week and they'd only known each other for six months before getting married.
It was a whirlwind courtship but they hadn't cared. They loved each other.
"So, do you want a boy or girl?" she asked.
"I don't care either way," her husband answered. "Honey, I want lots of children."
She grinned. "So do I. I guess we should get started, shouldn't we, Mr. McMahon?"
"Certainly, Mrs. McMahon."
Children's laughter trailing down the hall
Tiny footsteps, God how I miss it all
At seven, Kendra Anne already knew how to hate. Like her namesake, she would, most likely, become a Slayer. And like her other namesake, she would march to the beat of a different drummer.
Her littlest sibling, Jenny, was still unscathed. Still so trusting. But the rest of them weren't.
Her Aunt Buffy told stories about when her mom had helped the Scooby Gang when they were all in high school. Her mom had been nice back then. Well, semi-nice anyway.
But she wasn't that way anymore. She was a right bitch. And she and her brothers were going to be allowed to choose who to live with. They'd already told their parents and the courts that they wanted to live with Aunt Buffy and Uncle Shawn.
They loved them at least.
It's not as simple as who's right and who's to blame
How could we fly so high to be shot down in flames
Buffy wasn't really certain who exactly was to blame for Kendra's parents' breakup. She would have loved to have said, "Shane," and know that there wasn't anything that her friend had done to contribute. But she couldn't.
She'd seen it coming from a mile away. Shane was an adulterer that was true. But his wife was still in love with someone else, no matter how much she denied it.
Her friend's heart had always belonged to Xander. The years hadn't changed that, even if she did have four kids and a multi-billionaire for a husband.
Buffy shook her head. The truth was that both of the McMahons were to blame. They'd stopped communicating, stopped caring.
Do you remember
When you were all that I was living for
Back before the war
Xander watched his wife and husband pace. "You two are making me dizzy."
Oz glanced over at him. "Sorry."
Willow grinned. "Should we show him how sorry we are, Oz?" She purred her question out, knowing how hot her husbands would get.
Xander shook his head. "We need to concentrate on the matter we were discussing."
"The McMahon kids." Willow sighed. "It's too bad they ended up the parents they did, you know?"
"I know. But what happens if the four of them end up separated?" Xander asked.
Willow sighed. "It's inevitable. The older three are moving in with Buffy and Shawn. Jenny's staying with her mother."
Oz summed it up the best, "Poor kids."
Back before the broken vows
The shattered trust, this empty house
When nothing really mattered but us
Back before we climbed too high
My dreams were yours, your dreams were mine
Back before we fell so out of touch
Back before the war
Shane ducked his head. He knew that most of the blame lay squarely on his shoulders. But between the two of them, they'd alienated three of their four children.
And his fourth child was so scared of him, that she hid in a closet until he was gone.
He set his pen to the papers, tears forming for a minute.
Just a minute, mind you.
Stacks of paper, I guess this is where we sign
Strange how your signature so closely matches mine
On the divorce papers and the adoption papers, their signatures were almost identical.
Shane McMahon.
Cordelia Chase-McMahon.
I never dreamed our love would ever come to this
Avoiding each other's eyes, still craving your tenderness
Do you remember
When love was all that we were living for
Back before the war
Back before the war
At seventeen, Kendra was a beauty. She'd been one of the two Slayers for three years now, since she was fourteen and a half. She'd be eighteen soon enough and after that she'd graduate from high school.
"Mom, Dad, hurry up! We're going to be late to Kev's wrestling match! And I still have to go on patrol tonight!" she called up the stairs.
"Hold on, Ken," her mother called down the stairs.
An hour late, the wrestling match was over. A teenage girl came up to Kendra as she stood in line. "This is going to sound weird, but I think I recognize you."
"I'm Kendra Michaels," she introduced. "My brother was the one who won against the San Francisco High wrestler, Dane Gilas."
"I'm Jenny Chase-McMahon," she smiled. "Dane's actually a friend of mine. I'm only in town to watch him wrestle. Then I'll go home to San Fran."
"It was nice to meet you," Kendra forced out. "Jenny, tell your mother…tell Cordelia, that Kendra Michaels said that she still didn't trust her. She'll understand what I meant."
Jenny cocked her head to one side, eyeing the other girl quizzically. "What do you mean?"
Kendra sighed. "She gave me and my brothers up when you were four. You would have been too young to understand. I couldn't trust her then and I still can't."
Before Jenny could say anything, a blonde woman called out, "Kendra, hurry up! We're leaving and you still need to do your chores tonight."
"Coming, Mom!" Turning back to Jenny, she smiled. "That's my mom. As far as Kevin, Jesse, and I are concerned, Cordelia and Shane are nothing more than egg and sperm donors."
That having been said, the young woman walked off. Jenny didn't know it, but as she walked off, Kendra's eyes were full of tears.
Back before the war, they'd been a family. They'd been the McMahons. After the McMahon War, three of them were Michaels. And Jenny grew up a Chase-McMahon, never knowing that she had siblings out there.
At that minute, Kendra realized why she really hated her biological parents.
The war had split up her first family.
A/N: Well, whatcha think? Please review! REVIEW! REVIEW!