Possibilities Alternate and Infinite: Supposed

[sapphirequill]

Possibilities Alternate and Infinite

Procrastination plot bunnies/one-shots, a series of unrelated points of contact for Stargate/Buffy crossovers.

I don't own Buffy or Stargate.

In this instalment, spoilers for BtVS S5 (through "Listening to Fear"), none for SG-1.

Originally posted: 23 May 10

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Supposed

When Buffy began school, Joyce did, too, intending to finally finish her degree in art history and another in business, though Hank didn't see the need for the latter since, as he put it, he was perfectly capable of supporting his family.

At the time, Joyce couldn't admit to herself, let alone to him, that somewhere deep inside she knew that the rough patch their marriage was currently experiencing would not be the last, and she would need employable skills, eventually.

She wondered later if her therapist had come to that realization and that was why she'd recommended the classes for Joyce, more than just as an activity that would get her out of the house.

That was all it was supposed to be, regardless of Hank's (projected, she knew now) accusations otherwise.

She'd met the boy – and being ten years younger than she, that was what he'd seemed at first, despite the fact that he was finishing his second doctorate – when he needed to check a reference in a book she was using for a paper of her own. They'd started talking, and it wasn't supposed to be anything more than a friendly chat about art and societies in South America in the library.

Over coffee, once they were reprimanded one too many times for laughing too loudly.

Over dinner, once it became necessary for sustenance other than caffeine.

Over drinks, once it was time for the restaurant staff to close and go home.

It was not supposed to be more than that.

By the time they went their separate ways, however, he to study in Chicago, she to try, once again, to save her marriage, it had become much, much more.

It was also why, whether Hank realized it or not, she refrained from throwing his affairs in his face the next time their marriage faltered. But Dawn had been 'premature,' so he may have suspected.

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When Joyce learned the truth about Dawn, that her daughter had been implanted in their lives rather than a baby born, she wondered how much of her memory had been fabricated: just the pregnancy? The affair? The entire meeting?

There was no way to know for certain, of course, though she was surprised at the depth of regret she felt at the possibility that none of it had been real.

It was time to tell the girls. She had always intended to tell Dawn eventually, but it was so easy to convince herself that Dawn wasn't yet old enough. Now, there could be further-reaching implications, and Buffy would have to be told as well.

Just as soon as we're certain this tumour has been dealt with, she affirmed, watching her daughters lean on each other as she was wheeled into the operating room.

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AN: Most of the bunnies on deck are not relative fics, and I had hoped to space out the posting of those that were, but this is the one that burst forth, Athena-like, in near completion, so this is the one you get. It's been that sort of month.