Work Text:
Prompt: Love
Crossover: Joan of Arcadia and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Joan hadn’t realized how privileged she was when it came to her parents until her last year of high school. The idea that other kids had parents that didn’t unconditionally love and care for them didn’t occur to her until she saw the examples of her friends and other students in the school. Realizing that Judith’s absent parents weren’t simply allowing her to do as she wished, but truly didn’t care unless she embarrassed them or destroyed their property, was probably the moment that cemented her future plans.
She was reminded of Judith, and of Grace’s mother, and Adam’s mother, as she watched the teenage girl fidget with the necklace that she’d slipped into her sweatshirt pocket. Certainly Dawn wasn’t as good of a pickpocket as she thought she was, and store security was eyeing her from the door. They couldn’t do anything until she tried to leave the store. Joan knew the girl’s background, knew that her father was in another country and couldn’t be bothered to come to his ex-wife’s funeral last spring. Her sister was doing her best to fill in the spaces that their mother’s death had left, but she was barely holding on and no one was truly doing anything to help her.
Her boss had dropped her here with just enough background knowledge to stay physically safe in this nightmare of a town and enough contacts to research everything else. There had also been a loosely worded suggestion about who she might need to help, but nothing on exactly what kind of help was needed. It was hardly the first time she’d been put into place like this. It might be to avoid a major catastrophe, or it might just be to put good ripples out into the world. Joan had been a contributor to either one on her jobs for God.
In the meantime, she needed to consider whether it would be better for Dawn to be picked up by mall security, or to try and get her to reconsider her choices before then. When she was younger, she would have immediately chosen the second option. Now she realized that Dawn’s sister being called to deal with this would cause problems for Buffy on several levels, but it might be the best thing for Dawn. The real problem was that social services in Sunnydale was a mess, riddled with legacy decisions made with the authority of a mayor that was purposely fueling a sacrifice for his own purposes and had very little care about the well-being of children. Add in the spells that had been woven into the town to keep people from realizing what was going on, now self-perpetuating thanks to the mechanics of what the mayor had done, and Joan wasn’t confident that foster care in Sunnydale wouldn’t lead to every horror story that existed out there and topped off with ritual sacrifice. At this point you’d need to dismantle the entire town to undo Richard Wilkin’s spell work. The man hadn’t been sloppy with his plans, no matter how horrific they had been.
The real trick, of course, was that Buffy Summers needed real support. She was barely keeping her head above water financially, holding on with her fingernails mentally and emotionally, and only one of her friends was the least bit helpful. Most of them were either dismissive or using her for a support instead, and it wasn’t a situation that was sustainable. It was telling that the actual demon was being more helpful than her supposed best friend. Her biological father, who should have loved her, was practically acting like she didn’t exist, and Rupert Giles, who did love her but wasn’t sure how to demonstrate it, was being manipulated into thinking that helping her would keep her from reaching her full potential. It wasn’t an intentional manipulation, at least, but Willow Rosenberg’s unconscious magic use was mildly terrifying. The watcher had been upset at what had been done to his slayer and reprimanded the witch, and she didn’t want him around to notice anything else. Pure wish magic, from someone in her early 20’s.
To help Dawn, she needed to help Buffy, and Buffy wouldn’t be helped by dealing with this today. Buffy would probably best be served by a solid reality check delivered to her friends, but that would be tricky and Joan would need to plan for it. For the moment she settled for easing closer to the teenager and watching from the corner of her eye as the girl continued to slip things into her pockets. The security guard was still watching closely, his face blank but his posture ready. Finally, Joan’s chance came as the girl pretended to stop and look at purses while her friend aimed for nonchalant confidence as she headed for the door.
“The guard has had his eye on the two of you this whole time,” Joan said quietly as she looked at a bag that had far too few pockets for her taste. “Even if the two of you disabled every single alarm, he’s still going to pull you both aside and order a search.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” came the slightly petulant reply.
“You’ve got a necklace in your shirt pocket, a bracelet up your left sleeve, a scarf up your right sleeve, and a pair of earrings tucked into your bra. And I can promise if I noticed, he noticed. Just wait and watch. He won’t make a move until one of you tries to leave.”
Dawn gave a shrug that seemed to exude impatience, but she slowed down and waited for Janice to exit the store. It turned out that she hadn’t done as good as a job as she thought with removing the alarm tags because the detector went off at the door and the security guard was there immediately.
“I’d put those things back while he’s distracted if I were you,” Joan said before stepping away.
It wouldn’t be hard to step into a role at social services with the state they were in. That would be the leverage she needed to get her foot in the door with both Summers girls. Buffy and Dawn needed the support and love of an adult, and that was exactly what Joan was planning on giving them. There was no telling if it was to help them avoid a disaster or simply help them make it through it, but Joan would do her best anyway.