Title: This Magic Moment
Rating: K+
Summary: Buffy gets a taste of Jack's family, up close and personal.
Disclaimer: I claim ownership of nothing except the plot. Buffy belongs to Whedon, and the Montgomery's and Taggert's belong to Jude Deveraux.
Feedback: I would most certainly appreciate it!
Note: Thanks to kristy, faroffdream, irina, WhiteWolf3, francesca, Toniboo, greeneyes3048, c-wolf, sparky24, onlimain, 7vampire, and Claddagh for the wonderful reviews!
faroffdream: Well, both Jack and Buffy are very stubborn people. I'm hoping to wrap this up with happy ending in the next five or so chapters, though. Thanks for the review!
irina: Yeah, I agree that the scene was a little abrupt. Sure, Buffy's relationship with the Scoobies defines her, but the Scoobies aren't Buffy's whole life, just as the Scoobies have shown that Buffy is not their whole life when they betrayed her. As you can see, she doesn't completely remove herself from them. She has offered her help with whatever they might need, she just needs to grow on her own and she knows that. Thanks for the review, and I totally understand your points.
WhiteWolf3: Don't be embarrassed. I have a horrible memory, so I always forget things and I have to reread it. I said in one of the earlier chapters, I can't remember which, that Angel is head of Wolfram and Hart and he is Buffy's lawyer. I love Buffy/Angel, but I feel like it's good to branch out with her romances. Thanks for reviewing.
sparky24: Well, these aren't exactly supposed to be chapters, more like drabble type things. Y'know? But I'll make the next chapter/drabble/section longer, OK? Thanks for the review!
onlimain: Dang, I hoped nobody would notice I didn't mention Dawn! For the sake of not wanting to write about her, let's just say she's at Oxford, ok? Thanks for the review!
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Family Magic
"I can't go in there."
"Yes, you can."
"No, I can't."
"Can too."
"Can not."
"Can too."
"Can no-you know what, I'm not going to argue with you over this, Buffy. It's not going to kill you."
"Yeah, Jack. It probably will. They're like a pack of hungry wolves, ready to rip me to shreds. Look, I think that one is salivating."
"Buffy, that salivating wolf is my 75 year-old Aunt Gertie," Jack said impatiently, tugging the reluctant Slayer by the hand into the throng of Montgomery's and Taggert's. It had been a month since Jack had decided to be Buffy's "friend", and he still had not cracked at the wall of reserve she had shot up around her. They would go to the movies together, eat dinner together, even go shopping together on excursions that Buffy refused to call dates, but of which Jack had classified into the date category in his mind.
The time of month had arrived for another family "get-together", which was actually more like a family reunion that happened four times a year, and Jack had invited Buffy. Not wanting to seem rude, and quite curious about the people that Jack had grown up around, she had accepted. However, when they had pulled up at the park that would hold the reunion, Buffy had blanched and almost jumped out of the car and ran home. It was only because of Jack's hand on her arm, and her need to appear strong and fearless, she had stopped herself from running and hiding in her room.
There were millions of them. Surely billions. Buffy conceded that maybe she was exaggerating, but it sure as heck didn't look like she was. There were so many of them! Kids galloping to and fro, adults milling about. It seemed that most of the kids were triplets, maybe even quadruplets. When she had mentioned her thought to Jack, he had only laughed and assured her that, no, there wasn't more than one of each, except for a few sets of twins, and that the only reason she had assumed there were so many was because they were so fast, flitting around the park, seeming to be in two places at once.
This got Buffy to thinking that maybe this family was magical, and their talent was reproducing and maybe even disappearing and reappearing, because there was a little girl, and suddenly she was gone, and there she was over there with the little boys! And then what should happen? She would seem to get lost in the crowd and suddenly show up at the edge of the family, staring at Buffy with the most peculiar look.
Matching the look, the Slayer drew her eyebrows together in confusion as the little girl continued to gaze at Buffy with an odd expression on her pixie face. Tugging on her hand, Jack led Buffy towards a small group sitting at a picnic table. Distracted, she lost track of the impish girl and saw Julie Taggert sitting with the group of women.
"Mom!" Jack called, waving to a woman who had seemed to have grown more beautiful with age, because who could be so beautiful when they were young? Suddenly feeling self-conscious in her jeans and tank top approaching a group of women who were dignified in their clothing and beautiful in their faces, Buffy tugged her shirt down to make sure it covered her belly and wished she had worn her sundress instead. The woman waved back to Jack, then laughed at something Julie said.
Drawing closer, Buffy yanked her hand from Jack's when a few of the women glanced at it questioningly with raised eyebrows, earning a weird look from Jack. As Jack's mother rose and hugged her son, Buffy took the opportunity to finger-brush her hair.
"Hello, you must be Buffy. My name is Stephanie," Jack's mother said, smiling warmly, albeit warily, holding her hand out.
"Nice to met you Stephanie," Buffy said, shaking her hand firmly, smiling as Stephanie Montgomery introduced the women still gazing at her in curiosity. Greeting Julie, she chatted with her for a few moments about how her building and her defense school was going. Getting comfortable, she barely noticed when Jack sidled away to a group of men. Engrossed in conversation with the group of women, Buffy glanced up when she felt a stare boring into her. She frowned when she saw it was the little girl from before.
"Who is that?" She asked Stephanie, nodding her head to the child who stood in the crowd of family yet seemed to be held apart.
Stephanie, who had been surprised by Buffy and her whole personality, quite used to the usual bimbos Jack brought over, glanced at Tierney Montgomery, who was staring avidly at Buffy. "That's Tierney. She's the daughter of my brother-in-law Roger Montgomery. She's a quiet child, which is unusual in this family. Tierney was in a car accident about 3 years ago when she was 6. Her mother was killed instantly. She hasn't been the same since."
Buffy nodded sympathetically, still gazing at the little girl, now recognizing the expression on her face; and it was sadness, a deep longing, maybe for something she couldn't have anymore.
As the conversation flowed around her, Buffy found she couldn't keep her mind off the little girl who seemed to have lost one of the people who she loved most on this Earth. Being able to relate to the experience of losing a mother, Buffy knew what Tierney must be thinking. That no matter what people say about how they understood what she was feeling, it couldn't be true because they couldn't possibly understand the feeling of utter grief that overtook you, the rush of just plain longing you felt whenever you witnessed someone with a mother, and you just felt like that should be you, that you shouldn't be feeling this way and it just was not fair!
Excusing herself from the group of women who had kept chatting merrily, and feeling an unfair feeling of anger towards them for that, Buffy rose from her chair, not noticing the looks she received or the gazes that followed her form as she moved towards the lonesome Tierney. In the little girl's arms was a doll, and it so reminded Buffy of the doll her mother had gotten her when she was a child that it briefly brought a bout of tears to her eyes before she ruthlessly blinked them away.
Kneeling before the child, she smiled softly and spoke. "Hi. I'm Buffy. What's your name?" She asked, even though she already knew.
"Tierney," she replied in a soft voice, Buffy's ears straining to hear her over the loud crowd.
"Well, Tierney, that is such a lovely dress. And your doll is so pretty," Buffy grinned at her, getting a small smile in return. "You know what?" She asked conspiratorially. "I had the a doll just like it when I was a little girl. She was my best friend," the Slayer told her, smiling in reminiscence.
"Really?" Tierney asked hopefully, hugging the doll closer to her chest.
"Yep. You want to go over to that bench and sit down? We don't want to get your dress all dirty," Buffy asked, gesturing towards an empty bench a little bit away, smiling when Tierney nodded. Taking her by the hand, she chattered to the little girl about whatever that came to mind.
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Stephanie watched the scene with a smile on her face, heaving a sigh of relief when Tierney followed Buffy and sat next to her, seeming to go into a deep conversation with the blonde woman. Standing up and walking towards her husband, who stood in a group of men that included Jack and Roger, Tierney's father, she slid her arms around James' waist and tucked her head against his shoulder.
"Jack, look at where your girlfriend has run off to," she said, smiling mischievously up at her husband, who got a suspicious look on his face and followed Jack's line of vision.
Inhaling sharply, he got a smile of disbelief and hope on his face and then he nudged Roger out of conversation with his older brother Tom.
"What?" He asked his brother, who only nodded at something out of sight. Shifting to see better, he froze. There was his daughter, smiling. Laughing with the woman Jack had brought. Seeing this brought a wave of tears to Rogers eyes, and he didn't bother hiding them. One escaped when the blonde woman reached a hand up and ran it through Tierney's black hair. She hadn't allowed anybody to really touch her, save her father, since her mother's death. And to see a total stranger hold Tierney riveted, Roger felt such emotion that he didn't know what to do.
"Who," he started out, but he had to clear his throat. "Who is that?" He asked, turning to Jack.
"Buffy," his nephew replied, staring at the blonde girl in a kind of adoration. "Buffy Summers. And she's mine," Jack added possessively.
That cleared the tears from Rogers eyes as he laughed and clapped Jack on the shoulder. "And you should keep it that way," he said, gazing tenderly at his daughter.
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"Nothing's going on," Buffy protested for what felt like the millionth time. She glanced at Julie Taggert exasperatingly, who only shrugged unhelpfully and grinned at her cousins, who had surrounded Buffy and were now grilling her. Grimacing, Buffy ran her hand through her hair, messing it up and not caring anymore. "Nothing is going on with me and Jack. We're just friends," she repeated.
"Right," one of the cousins said, and for the life of her, Buffy couldn't remember her name. "Like someone, a female that is, is really friends with someone like Jack."
"Well, I am. Besides, he's not my type." Buffy told them, shaking her head in amusement.
"What is your type?"
"Let's not get into that," Buffy replied, not wanting to share her intimate details with people she hardly knew.
"Girls, girls. Enough. Leave the poor girl alone," Julie said, laughing. "Let's talk about something else. Like your upcoming wedding, Elsie. Tell us how he proposed."
Buffy tuned them out for a few minutes, gazing through the crowd of family that were still milling around, even though it was closing in on ten. Not finding Jack, she sighed in disappointment before realizing that the group of women were staring at her expectantly. She flushed guiltily. "I'm sorry. What?"
"It's okay," Julie said, giggling. "We were wondering how you would like to be proposed to when the time comes."
Knowing there was no way to avoid this subject since she had refused to talk about the other topic that came up, Buffy sighed and got ready to reveal the little girl dream she had always had. She never realized that Jack had gotten into hearing distance, and he was also very interested in her answer.
"Well," she began, "ever since I was a little girl, I've had this little fantasy. It was never really descriptive or conclusive, but I just knew how I would want to get proposed to." Buffy smiled at herself. "It would have to be big. It doesn't have to be expensive, but I want some kind of gesture that tells the world that the guy that it proposing really loves me, and he really wants to marry me. Make it a surprise, kind of hit me with it when I'm not expecting it. And I would want him to make it fun," she added, laughing at the riveted faces of the cousin's. Buffy sighed dreamily, really getting into it. "Make me want to say yes, like that is what I am going to expect my whole life, then I can't live without it. Without him. And I don't want the ring to be so traditional. Maybe something with color. And I want it to be silver, because gold on me looks tacky. Fake. Maybe I'm just dreaming, though," Buffy shook her head, breaking the spell that had fallen over the women.
As they all laughed at themselves, Jack approached and threw an arm around Buffy's shoulders. "Ready?" He asked her.
Buffy nodded, really needing to get home to change for Slaying. Saying good-bye to everyone, which took a long time because there were so many of them, Buffy finally reached a drooping Tierney. Pulling a business card from her pocket, she scribbled her home phone and cell phone numbers on the back and handed it to her. "If you ever need to talk, give me a call anytime, anywhere. Okay?"
"Okay," the little girl nodded, then leaned forward and kissed Buffy on the cheek. Stroking Tierney's soft hair, Buffy smiled, then stood and left with Jack.
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End
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