The Absence of Joyce

Blocker

The Absence of Joyce





character study
time frame: the Christmas after Joyce's death
word count: 326

They didn't put up decorations this year; they didn't buy a tree. They didn't even mention the word Christmas. Not this year. Not the year their mother died.

There would be no holiday cheer in the Summers household this year. They tried to pretend it was any other day. Buffy had invited the whole gang over though; she thought the silence might be suffocating and needed the companionship of her friends to get through it.

It was hard, trying not to think of her. Not even mentioning her name. All of them sat around the table and ate their dinners in near silence. Buffy made sure that there was no empty spot at the table so that her absence wouldn't be that conspicuous. She made hamburgers for dinner - the most un-Christmasy meal she could think of.

They barely ate the meal, just moved the carrots and french fries around on their plates. As Willow stood to clear the table, the picture of her mother doing that in Christmases past was more than Buffy could take.

Her reserve broke and the tears she had been trying not to shed come flooding out. Dawn broke down as well and the rest of the gang followed suit. They cried together, mourning a loss that could never be replaced. She wasn't just mother to Buffy and Dawn, she was friend, counsel and surrogate mother to them all. What their own mothers had lacked in child-rearing abilities, Joyce made up for in spades.

They couldn't stop crying. Dawn started talking, telling of the first Christmas she remembered, one where her mother had spent so much time curling Dawn's hair for church that they were late to the service.

They all took turns after that - telling stories and remembrances of the woman they all loved. They talked and cried for hours. Hours and hours.

When they were all talked out, the tears finally subsided. The healing could finally begin.



The End