ext_15447 ([identity profile] beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] still_grrr2007-06-17 01:52 pm

018 ficlet

Title: Recurring
Author: Beer Good ([livejournal.com profile] beer_good_foamy)
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 200
Prompt: 018, Jenny
Characters/Pairing (if any): Giles
Timeline: AtS 5.16, "Shells"



Recurring

Six years is a long time, too long to keep grieving over something that never really had a chance to be. He lives with it and what remains is mostly a lingering unease around computers and roses, and an intense dislike of Puccini.

But once a year, it hits him, always on the same day. Giles sits remembering, wondering what might have been if things had gone in a different way, where they would be now. And it's not the emptiness of his bed that keeps him up, but the memory of the shock the one time he found her in it. The feeling that there'll be something cold and dead between his sheets, that it's far too late to do anything about it or stop the monster responsible.

So when Angel calls from Wolfram and Hart the next morning to ask for... make that demand his and Willow's help in resurrecting some "Fred" woman Giles has never met, not exactly sounding like the poster boy for atonement – yeah, maybe Giles could have done something different. Maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe he just needed a good night's sleep.

Maybe that's something they're both going to have to live with.

ext_7165: (well done)

[identity profile] alwaysjbj.livejournal.com 2007-06-17 12:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Ouch!!

[identity profile] lauratd.livejournal.com 2007-06-17 01:53 pm (UTC)(link)
I especially like the part, "what remains is mostly a lingering unease around computers and roses, and an intense dislike of Puccini. "

[identity profile] not-purrrfect.livejournal.com 2007-06-17 04:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Very interesting.
ext_7259: (Giles)

[identity profile] moscow-watcher.livejournal.com 2007-06-17 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Damn! You *are* evil!
But, seriously - a little gem of a ficlet.

[identity profile] rayruz.livejournal.com 2007-06-17 10:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Excuse me while I pick up my heart... it's been ripped out and is bouncing around on the floor somewhere....

[identity profile] divadea.livejournal.com 2007-06-18 04:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow. This is so good. It feels absolutely real to me - I think you really captured Giles' personality.

[identity profile] xlivvielockex.livejournal.com 2007-06-18 06:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude....

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude....

Wow. You have...wow. This was just so *perfect*, I have like no words. I am just...duuuuuuuuuuuude!

[identity profile] diachrony.livejournal.com 2007-06-21 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, that's just ...so good. And so painful.

I happen to have re-watched *that* ep of BtVS last night, too ...

Poor Giles.

[identity profile] boy-named-susie.livejournal.com 2007-06-21 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
Wow, just, wow. Love the last line and the explanation of why Giles didn't help. So well done.

[identity profile] zanthinegirl.livejournal.com 2007-06-21 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
Guh, you did it again! How do you manage to write such powerful emotions in such a short form? Wow!

[identity profile] wereleopard58.livejournal.com 2007-06-28 07:11 am (UTC)(link)
wow that was, actually i have no words but in a good way

[identity profile] mbbthebest.livejournal.com 2007-09-19 10:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Very strong fic.
I don't think i'll be able to watch a Hole in the World again without thinking of Giles from this perspective. :-)