On this day, 27/02/2025, Michelle Trachtenberg, actor or Dawn Summers, sadly passed away at 39. May she rest in peace
The world felt dimmer now that Joyce was gone, and everyone could feel the change. So many things had to be dealt with, and no one wanted to sort them out. Funeral arrangements, house ownership, cancelling cards and accounts, it felt all too much for the family. Julie had left the funeral arrangements to Buffy and Eris so she could focus on dealing with the more technical things. She didn't want to think about her sister and planning a way to mourn her, so instead she threw herself in to making sure her nieces were stable and well looked after.
Everyone deals with their grief differently, some take on multiple things at once so as to distract them from the pain, some ignore it entirely as the grief is too much to bare, and some become completely drowned by it. Whilst Buffy took on the role of caring for her mother, Eris was simply existing. Her mind had become a maelstrom of thoughts that swirled around endlessly, never letting her escape the harsh reality of loss. Death had taken from her, and all she wanted was to bring Joyce back.
The family would watch her go about the house like she was on autopilot, lost in her mind and her grief. No amount of supportive words or cheerful tactics could cheer her up, she didn't want it to. Every time she would think of Joyce her eyes would tear up, every memory would stab her heart with a thousand knives. Not even the soothing warmth of her immortal lover could help lift her spirits, all he could do was hold her at night and listen to her cry.
A few days had passed by so slowly to the family, like time had slowed down so that they would feel every second of their time without Joyce. But they continued on as best as they all could. Buffy had been out looking for a coffin that her mother would rest in, it had to be the best, the most comfortable.
Giles had been flittering between all the women when they needed support. Whenever one felt like they were about to break, he was right there to help them. He was there to be a guiding hand for Buffy, a strong shoulder for Eris, a fatherly warmth for Dawn, and a caring heart for Julie. Without him, the family would have fallen apart.
Dawn was the odd one out of the family, she felt as if everyone had pushed her to the side. She needed her family, but their grief kept them away. All she wanted was her mother, she was the only person who was ever there for her no matter what, and without her she felt like the lonely little girl again, not real and not loved.
"The prices of different florists and funeral homes seems to be fairly competitive," after a taxing day of calling around and price matching all the services they needed, Giles and Buffy were looking over their information to pick what they thought was the best for Joyce. Xander had come over to help out and try to help Eris become engaged in the conversation. Being the one who was always the heart of the group, he thought that maybe he could get through to the poor woman. Willow had also tagged along as the support for everyone, hoping to ease any burdens they were all feeling.
As Buffy looked over the papers strewn across the table, she sighed and pulled up a pink brochure to show Giles, "Julie is paying for this, so we can go for one that suits our wants. This one looks good."
"Sure," Giles nodded and grabbed the pink brochure Buffy handed him so he could look at their deals and prices.
As they looked at the various information packaged, Dawn was walking around the room and looking at all the flowers' people have sent to them in condolences. So many people loved Joyce, they even had Brian come to the door not too long ago to give his condolences. He didn't get to spend too much time with Joyce, but he felt like he had fallen for her deeply, and the news of her passing had broken his heart. Buffy decided to reserve him a spot at the funeral, he deserved to say goodbye.
Once Dawn was satisfied with her inspection, she sat back down at the dinner table and looked at Giles and Buffy, hoping that she could be included in the planning, "what colour flowers?" she asked as Willow came back in with a large pitcher of cold water.
Buffy looked at her little sister briefly as she looked at all her papers, "uh, white. They're nice," she said offhandedly, as if she wasn't putting too much thought into that. The other adults nodded in agreement, white was simple yet elegant, "uh, what about an announcement? People are gonna be expecting a wake after the burial unless we say something."
"Um, well, we could put a line in the program expressing your mother's preference not to have one."
Willow looked at Giles in confusion as she asked, "there's no wake?"
"Mom didn't like them, she said that potlucks are depressing enough as it is," Buffy answered instead, which made her sister feel confused.
"She said that? When?" Dawn asked, trying to recall a time where she heard that but sadly came up empty.
"Um, right before she went in for the operation. We had a talk about what she wanted, in case…"
"She never said anything to me."
Xander saw the way Dawn's face look down in sadness, and quickly spoke up to try and ease her, "I'm sure she just didn't want to upset you, Dawnster. Now you better get workin' on that dinner, you barely touched it."
Hearing Xander, Buffy looked over at her sister's plate to see it still piled with various meats and salad. Very similar to Eris' plate with the only difference being that Dawn had at least touched it, "you have to eat something Dawn."
"Why should I? You're not, neither is Eris," the usual defiant teenager attitude reared its ugly head in Dawn, which made Buffy give her a disapproving look.
"This isn't about…" luckily the phone had cut off her scolding, though having to deal with more condolences felt like the worser option, "I'm all phoned out. Will you? Unless it my dad," she asked Giles who nodded and quickly went off to answer the phone, "I can't believe he still hasn't called."
"Your dads still AWOL, huh?" Xander asked as he looked at Buffy with pity.
"The number he left for us in Spain is no good, Aunt Julie's been trying to contact him through his friends but nothings come up," everyone at the table could see the anger and hurt in Buffy's eyes, she had dealt with him abandoning her for almost all her life, but she never thought he'd do it when Joyce died. She tried to put it in the back of her mind and focus on her mother, using that to push past the pain, "um, how 'bout a line that just says, following the burial, there'll be no wake or gathering? A-at the request of Joyce, there will be no gathering. Ugh, that sounds lame."
As Xander leant over to his left where Eris sat and nudged her so she would start eating, Dawn asked, "what are we gonna do? After, I mean. Are we just gonna come back here?"
"Uh, I don't know. I guess so. Um, how about, at the request of the family, there will be no wake."
Xander and Willow moved over to Buffy to help her, showing Dawn even more how they cared little for her thoughts. Even when she said, "I don't want to be here," they didn't react.
"That makes two of us," she heard Eris mutter, which was the first thing her cousin had said the entire dinner. At least there was someone in this house that felt the same as her.
She didn't want to be home anymore, she wanted to get away from all the depression and feeling like she was put in a corner, and as Willow walked over to take some bowls to the kitchen, the youngest Summers asked, "can I go to your place tomorrow?"
The question made the red headed witch stop and look at Dawn, "Tomorrow?" she asked, wondering why she wanted to be away from her family after the funeral.
"After everything?"
"Um, well, maybe you and your family should…I don't mind."
"Can I?" Dawn turned to her sister, who didn't even realise Dawn had spoke, "Can I go to Willow's tomorrow after the service?"
Buffy looked at Willow, feeling a little sadness that her sister didn't want to be with her after they put their mother to rest. But even if she felt sad, she didn't want to hold her sister back on how she wanted to process her grief, "uh, if you want to. I guess so."
"I'll get my sleeping bag out of the attic, Eris, can you help me?" Dawn looked to her cousin, wanting to spare her from being stuck at the table.
"Can you take a plate of food up to Aunt Julie? She hasn't come down to eat," Eris nodded to Buffy and grabbed her own plate that she didn't touch, she knew her mother wouldn't eat it anyway.
Dawn and Eris headed upstairs and gave a frazzled Julie her plate. She was staying in Joyce's room and was sitting at her dresser with a pile of paperwork strewn across it. Dawn had managed to see some words that mentioned custody before Julie quickly slid it under a pile of bank statements. The little summers knew the only person who needed custody was her, and that made her worried about what that could mean.
After getting a quick thanks from Julie, they went to the hatch in the roof and pulled it down so the ladder would slide out, revealing the entrance to the attic. They took turns heading up and once Eris was inside Dawn pulled up the ladder, letting them have some privacy, "I saw custody papers on the dresser," she said to Eris once the door was fully closed.
Eris frowned and turned to Dawn who started looking for her sleeping bag, "you're technically under your dad's custody."
"But he's not around."
"He never gave his parental rights away, its why Julie has been so frantic to get in contact with him."
"I don't want to go with him, I've never even met him," Dawn shoved a small pile of books of one of the boxes, enjoying the way they cluttered to the ground.
"You're not going to, Mom and Giles have been working together on finding a lawyer. They want to split custody of you between her and Buffy," Eris moved over to pick up the books and place them somewhere away from Dawn wrath.
"Why between her and Buffy?"
"Because if Glory does something to either one of them the other can still have custody. Its to stop you from going to the foster system."
"Thanks for letting me know, everyone is keeping me in the dark about everything."
"Don't let it get to you, they used to do it to me to when I first came here, remember?" Eris knew that technically Dawn didn't exist when she first came to Sunnydale, but she felt in her heart that it was real, she could remember the way Dawn excitedly ran down the stairs and nearly knocked her over. It was real to her.
"I wish they'd stop; I'm not a kid anymore."
"Grief makes people do stupid things, just look at me. Most of the time I'm crying," Dawn looked up and stared into Eris blood shot eyes that were irritated from the many tears she had shed.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to complain when you're struggling too…"
Eris shook her head and moved over to Dawn, "I'll live. You're more important," she pulled Dawn into a hug and held her tightly.
Dawn felt tears prick at her eyes, and that well of grief she kept trying to stuff down in front of people started to rise once more, "I wish mom was here…"
"Me too, Dawn, me too…"
As they continued to hug the entrance to the attic pulled open, Dawn quickly pulled away so she could hide her crying but when she was it was Spike she relaxed a little, "sorry for interrupting, little bit, you ok?"
"Yea, I'm fine," she tried to sound nonchalant, but Spike was too observant.
"Can't hide the tears from me, I can smell the salt," he climbed fully into the attic and walked over to Dawn to pat her head, "I'm not part of the loser squad downstairs, don't need to hide it from me."
"I don't want to bother people."
Seeing that Dawn clearly didn't want to speak about her feelings, he shrugged his shoulder and walked over to Eris to kiss her cheek, "that's fine with me, but I'm always here for you to cry, scream, or punch me to feel better."
"You're very sweet," Eris said softly to kill and kissed him back.
Moving on from the pain, they continued to look for the sleeping bag and helped Dawn pack for tomorrow before heading to sleep themselves. Spike wouldn't be able to go to the funeral as it was in the sun, so he'd spend the day in Eris' room until they would come home or he could go to her. She would need him the most tomorrow.