An Honorable Lineage
Disclaimer: Whedon owns everything ( I am fairly sure he even patented the light bulbs)
Authors note: Spike is the villen in this piece, for plot resons onley. I actually like the charichter (a lot). Also Angel is going by the name Liam,.
November 2021
"Romans considered it more honorable to commit suicide using a sponge on a stick then to fight the animals in the circus. Who knows what a sponge on a stick was used for in roman times?"
Professor Dewar's voice boomed across the classroom. Stella sitting five rows from the back was too shy to answer; the stranger besides her was not.
"It was the roman equivalent of toilet paper sir, except it was reusable "
Half the class gagged, as a few first year boys giggled, the professor glanced down at his watch "O.K. remember the midterms are a week from today."
Everyone had already half packed their bags before he had finished speaking, And Stella was jostled down the stairs and out the door. She walked home quickly, pushing past the individual students that began to congregate into groups. No one stopped to talk to her; she was anonymous among the masses.
Stella climbed the ock stairs to her loft apartment. She plunked her bag down on the floor and began to sift through its contents, searching for her elusive keys on their large plush hello kitty key chain. The door opened before she could successfully complete her search.
"Dad" Stella said with a smile and a hug "I didn't want to wake you up, did I?"
"You didn't" Liam replied with a smile "I was working on the new add campaign. Which operates on the general assumption, that women will only date men that wear echo jeans"
"And they say the Romans were crazy" Stella said flippantly "can I see it?"
Liam led her too his drawing table, which took up a good portion of the loft apartment "They also say that the Romans founded modern culter"
"Now that is a scary thought" Stella said as she admired the drawing. It was like all her fathers drawing clinically perfect, as if it was mass produced somewhere, without lead smears, or eraser rubbings. Stella dropped her bag besides the table. It fell a little to fast, the contents spilling out. Liam was down on the floor picking up the contents before she could stop him.
Liam mechanically put her mess of candy wrappers, drawings, books, and cds back into her bag in till he reached the scrap of torn lined paper, with the unfamiliar uneven writing on it.
"What is this" Liam said as he read the wavy, shaky, words.
I noticed you in class quite and alive. My name is James Cohn; I love Lobsters, The Cowboy Junkies, Kayaking, my little sister Ivey, and mist at night. My phone number is 416 312 542
"What do you think?" Stella said trying to act the part of a petulant teenager, for once in her lif.e
"I think that this guy genuinely likes you, but you should be cautious. I could always follow you on your first date, I am a good stalker" Liam said his hands almost trembled, but he stopped himself. His life was about to change, but that was nothing new.
"But dad"
"You have sacrificed a lot for me, Stella. You grew up moving every few years, so that no one would notice anything odd. You weren't mad when I missed every one of your softball games. You even understood that once you were 19, you could no longer introduce your friends to a father that was only six years older then yourself in appearance. . .You have but one life, you must live it"
"But what if he doesn't understand" Stella said still not entirely understanding what was happening here
"If he is right for you, he will" Liam said quietly Stella smiled, all would be right.
-Two weeks passed-
Stella, danced to her doors she felt as if stars surrounded her, James was the man she had read about in books for years, honest, loving, and thankfully eccentric. She grabbed the keys out of her purse and twirled in front of the door because she felt it. Stella unlocked the door and danced in, Mozart was playing, and there was a note on the table. Stella picked it up
Dear Stella
I love you more then anything, but you have grown beyond me now. The apartments rent is paid through 2036, and I added money to your bank account so you will never have to worry, about finances. But I need to go now; you need more, but I will always be there for your children and their children.
Love
Your Father (Adopted and otherwise)