canon au } of motherly concern and understanding the dark

[cunningwolf]

Joyce: [and when Buffy is getting in some sister time, she will make her way over to steal Buffy's seat next to Peter] Hi.

Peter: [casually sipping his champagne] Hello.

Joyce: So I don't think we've had the chance to meet yet. I'm Joyce.

Peter: [snorts, smiling a bit as he puts his drink down] I think you know who I am. But I will play along. I'm Peter.

Joyce: [she nods in agreement] I have heard quite a bit about you, Peter.

Peter: As have I over the years. Your daughter misses you a lot.

Joyce: We were all we had for a while. I'd be surprised if she didn't.

Peter: [nods] My sister tried to mom her for a while.

Joyce: I'm sure she and Dawn both appreciated that. Buffy always spent too much time taking care of everyone else.

Peter: Still does. Sometimes to levels of scaring the children.

Joyce: By children you mean Scott and his friends?

Peter: Yes.

Joyce: She's always been a bit of a mama bear, especially with werewolves.

Peter: Well, she has her own little pack to shove her motherly desires down the throat of.

Joyce: Yes, she does.

Peter: So how are you enjoying Heaven?

Joyce: It's weird. And a little redundant after a while, but I'm dead and I could be worse places.

Peter: Yes, you could. But I highly doubt you were going anywhere else anyway.

Joyce: You can't say for sure. I had my wild days before Buffy was born - and I certainly made my mistakes after.

Peter: Mistakes happens. It's intentions that matter.

Joyce: I'm sure it does.

Peter: [thinks a moment] Would you like to dance?

Joyce: [considers for a moment before nodding] I would love to.

Peter: [stands and offers her his hand] Then let us dance.

Joyce: [and she will take it, more than happy to let him lead]

Peter: [and he will, because Peter Hale is from money and he knows things like this which helps fuel his ego]

Joyce: [yep, that sounds about right] So. Tell me about yourself.

Peter: What part are you more interested in? Such an open ended question like that will lead to boring topics I'm sure.

Joyce: I want to make sure that you and my daughter are a good fit and you'll make her happy.

Peter: Sadly, I can't promise that. I still have no idea why she puts up with me.

Joyce: Because she sees a reflection of herself, most likely.

Peter: Well, we are both extremely attractive. [smirks]

Joyce: [she laughs] That is not what I meant.

Peter: Ah.

Joyce: She needs someone who understands her darkness.

Peter: She isn't as dark as she thinks she is.

Joyce: Maybe not that you can see, but she's also pretty good at hiding what she feels. She spends a lot of time being everyone else's hope because she has to be. But she's also the girl who is always going to have to stand at the edge of the darkness ready to make the killing blow.

Peter: I am aware of that fact.

Joyce: It takes a bigger toll on her than you think.

Peter: I said I was aware of it. I didn't say I understood it.

Joyce: Well, look at it this way - you're fifteen years old, and someone comes to you and says that we're giving you superpowers and you have to save the world. What they don't mention is that saving the world involves a whole lot of death and killing that evil, and you probably won't live to see eighteen let alone twenty-one. And then at every turn they test you - when she was eighteen, they had this test for her, where they made her Watcher strip her of her abilities without her knowledge and set her up against a scary as hell vampire and forced her to save herself. And they didn't mention that that death might not just include all the vampires and demons that she has to kill personally, but also the people who will die because of her. Because they help her. Because she can't do it on her own but she can't save everyone either.

Peter: [just nods]

Joyce: She's died at least twice, that I know of. [holds up a finger] If there's been more, don't tell me. And she's already almost doubled the Slayer life expectancy. Everyone else in her life has relied on her to be the line of good versus evil. To be ... the thing that they redeem themselves for, but I honestly don't think that's why she's been drawn to people like Spike or Angel or you, from what I've heard. She's drawn to you because she needs someone who won't condemn her for spending most of her life being a weapon.

Peter: And here I thought it was my winning personality.

Joyce: [she laughs] I'm sure it was a little of that too.

Peter: [he's quiet, thinking a moment] I'm a different person from the one she first dated. Sure, I show the same face to the outside world, but I'm not the same after the fire that took my sister.

Joyce: She's not the same as she was before she died. Before I died. People can change.

Peter: Death has a way of doing that. So does the absence of it.

Joyce: Maybe you understand her better than you think.

Peter: Perhaps. Though I'm still working on understanding myself at the moment.

Joyce: So let her help and maybe you'll both be better for it.

Peter: Oh, she helps whether I want her to or not.

Joyce: That sounds like the Buffy I know.

Peter: For better or worse... it's the Buffy I have grown to love.

Joyce: Good.

Peter: So you're not going to warn me away from her?

Joyce: If you try and hurt her, I will come back and haunt you. And you don't want me haunting you. I think I'm what the kids these days would call a "troll." [there's a beat as she lets that sink in] But I've seen the way she looks at you and she hasn't looked at anyone like that in a very long time.

Peter: I can't say I can promise that. And she knows it too. She knows one day I may become the thing she needs to put down.

Joyce: Yeah. I've heard that problem before. I've lived that problem before. But don't see her as a weakness and a way to avoid that. She can help you more than you think.

Peter: She already has.

Joyce: [she nods] Just don't under estimate your ability to help her - and how that might help you too.

Peter: I won't.

Joyce: Good.

Peter: [and the song ends] Have I answered your questions to satisfaction?

Joyce: [she nods as she steps back] And you're a very talented dancer.

Peter: Thank you. That free lesson at Fred Astaire’s helped.

Joyce: [she smirks and nods] Well, keep it up.

Peter: I do have one question for you. Something that I'm not sure I was going to ask, but seeing that your time is limited, I may as well ask.

Joyce: Ask away.

Peter: If, a day came in which we were in the right place and time for us both... would you give your blessing on me asking Buffy to be my mate?

Joyce: [she smiles softly at that, before nodding her agreement] If you're who she wants, then you have my blessing.

Peter: [he smiled, and lifted her hand to his lips and gently kissed her knuckles] Thank you.

Joyce: Thank you. For not letting her do this on her own.

Peter: We've both learned that nothing good comes from abandonment. A mistake neither of us will willingly make again.

Joyce: Good.

Peter: Well, I will leave you to use your last few dances with your daughters and son-in-law. It has been a pleasure meeting you finally.

Joyce: You as well. [and with that she will wander off to harass Derek some more.]