Title:
The Sidestep Chronicles: Third Chronicle (Part 53 (295))Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Constructive criticism is always welcome. Flames just demonstrate you have a tiny mind.
Spoiler warning: I’m really not going to bother after all this time except to say that this fic will totally spoil my own Sidestep: First Chronicle and Second Chronicle which can be found in the Completed Fics archive (A-M)
Distribution: This story was written for Pens. Pens is its home. No archiving off Different Coloured Pens and the Kitten Board please. (This applies to all my stories, fics and particularly to Sidestep Chronicle as a whole.)
Summary: The confrontation with Toni.
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc. I am making no money from this series of stories however all original characters and situations remain my property.
Rating: The earlier Chronicles of Sidestep were much darker and I slapped a blanket R rating on them for occasional content. This series is lighter in tone caution is only recommended for occasional scenes. However to understand absolutely everything that went before you’d have to have read the first two fully so…
Couples: Tara and Willow forever. Rupert and Jenny are also married with a family. Nothing else referred to.
Text convention: We’re occasionally dealing with some deaf characters here and that has to be addressed. Speech inside asterisks is spoken in sign language only. Occasionally people responding to signed speech may do so inside speech marks, which indicates that they are also verbalising as well. Occasionally I might make a mistake and get this wrong but when dealing with a character that only signs, take it as read that they’re doing so when they “speak.”
Notes: Confession time, this is another much changed part from the original idea. Now that the cat is out of the bag I can tell you that Mal wasn’t originally dead and neither, actually, was Charlie. In the original version he’d taken the baby away with him because of what Toni was into at work. Now that version actually had a lot more narrative power, it made what she was doing seem even worse, but it did raise the question about what she wouldn’t have done to get her child, rather than her father back. Or as well. And I didn’t want to turn her into a total villainess.
Also though, it meant that to conclude the story I really did have to bring her Dad back anyway and – possibly – also Mal/Charlie. Yeah, narratively that might have been a nice ending. But as we’ve proven from reader feedback… you don’t like her right now! I am hoping you feel a little better about her by the end of this part but… Toni get what she wants? F-that. (Excuse my French for saying ‘flip’ there… yeah, flip.) Why SHOULD she get what she WANTS? She gets what she NEEDS as determined by the others and perhaps gets pushed onto a path that will be better for her.
Finally, this whole end sequence from this point provides an ending to a number of different characters in their own chapters. I’ve played with the order many different times and still am not totally happy but this is the best order I think. So though the story climax comes in this part, I wanted to give you this and then the other endings…
Thanks to: Those who care. Doesn’t matter what you care about. Just care. Also to SMGOVAN who had a great idea in feedback that I didn’t think I could work into the story so late in the process, but I twisted it a little and turned it into part of the intervention. So thanks for that, something so close to the end after you were the one who prodded this story into existing at all. (BTW you can let up with the stick now. Seriously. Stop prodding me!
)
Willow had offered not to come with her, but Tara wasn’t having that.
Toni was going to be hit with the reality of what she’d done as well as the reality of what was going to happen next. True, she didn’t anyone softening that for her, or trying to explain what she meant. Nor to try to make it less confrontational. It needed to be confrontational.
Tara knew what she was going to say and would mean every word of it. But Willow not being there would let Toni ignore a big part of what she’d done – at least done most recently…
The girl that they’d rescued as a teenager and given a new life to, who the Giles’ had adopted and so been in their lives ever since, had
blackmailed Willow.
And that was what was unforgivable in Tara’s eyes.
Not the danger – they’d have faced that if they’d been asked to. Sometimes danger just happened.
Nor was it about the things Toni had done to earn the ‘chance’ – apparently being misled by her employers that it was the only way to get her father back. Things that… well, if they’d still been the ones who fought the evildoers at every turn in this life then they might well have found themselves fighting those very events. But that wasn’t it.
No, the betrayal was in the fact that Toni had gone to Willow and forced her to do what she wanted, knowing full well what Willow might face. Okay, the younger woman wouldn’t have grasped the specific threats like the Master and inappropriate-touching Willow because she probably couldn’t have known about them – but that didn’t change the overall facts.
And perhaps Toni had even known that she’d have ended up going after her wife. Perhaps she’d even calculated it offered a greater chance of success to have them there together. Certainly Toni knew very well that once she found out then there’d have to have been a confrontation.
They’d
had that bust up, but that had been shrouded in concern about Willow and lost something with the after-effects of the teleportation. Did Toni understand then? Maybe, but whether she’d flown or teleported to Manhattan, that angry response had still part of her scheme. A chance to get her out of the way so that Willow could slip off unhindered to do her bidding.
This time it was going to be different. There’d be no doubt at the end that Toni had heard everything she needed to.
She and Willow were here together, and they weren’t here on their own.
“Sweetie,” Willow said. “I know it’s tempting, but please… lets not blow the door of its hinges unless we have to.”
It was only half a joke.
Tara understood that Willow had silently allowed her to build herself up to this moment. One of them had to mind Charlotte and be the more caring, sympathetic face for the benefit of the little girl, if nothing else. On the other hand Toni needed to understand that what she’d done was in no way okay and would never, ever be repeated.
That she wouldn’t allow it. No matter what that meant.
“We’ll ring the bell,” Tara said and then to make the point reached to do so, only to find that the little girl wanted to be lifted up to do it instead.
She looked at Willow. Willow
had to be the one to lift her up. Tara was well aware that if she took Charlotte in her arms again now then she’d soften. Toni would come to the door and get the wrong impression. Knowing Toni as she did, what made her a good lawyer, she might even find a way take control of the situation. That wasn’t going to happen.
Charlotte, though she’d just about been talking before she… passed, hadn’t said a word since her return. With so many other reasons for concern, Charlotte appeared healthy and happy enough – especially around the Mayor – but she just wasn’t talking.
One day, she would. It’d taken Willow months to sort her memories and her mind out after coming back from beyond death. Different circumstances and different place – no limbo involved - but Tara was hoping it’d be much easier for the little girl than it had been for
her girl. Also, what they could do to get her checked out right now was limited – Charlie was officially dead… How could they explain that away?
Once Charlotte rang the bell, Willow backed out of the doorway and away from obvious sight. Yes, they’d planned this out.
Toni was going to be confronted. In many ways this was going to be something like an intervention. Okay, it was just the two of them – plus Charlotte – but they were going to sort this out here and now. And there wouldn’t be any debate about the terms either.
The door opened and Toni stood there, looking like she’d just arrived back from work despite the fact it was gone ten at night.
*Tara - *
“Inside,” Tara said, walking forwards and making Toni back up and get out of the way or get run down. A subtle change of the air pressure only encouraged that movement.
*What - ?*
“No,” Tara said, “You’re listening to me now.”
Behind her she was aware that Willow had walked into the apartment and Toni couldn’t have missed what she was carrying. Who she was carrying... Maybe Toni would realise that. Maybe she wouldn’t.
*Oh my God - *
“Toni!”
The younger woman was straining past her, trying to push her aside to get a better look. To get to Willow and the infant she was carrying. *Is that - ?*
This time Tara didn’t take anything but compliance as an acceptable answer and pushed Toni bodily into her own apartment, stocking feet sliding over polished floor as the wall of thickened air forced her backwards and away from Willow.
Once she had Toni inside she heard Willow close the door behind them and – according to the plan – taking Charlie into what had been her bedroom. Where all her toys and clothes still were, basically untouched except for a loving – tortuous – dusting now and then.
And a newish bloodstain on the floor where the after-effects of the teleportation had spoiled things and – even though Toni had sent Willow into danger – that had been all that bothered the younger woman about her anger inspired visit.
*Tara, that’s - *
“I
know who it is,” she said, drawing herself up to dominate the space between Toni and the door through to Willow and Charlie. “But
you aren’t going near her. Not until you show me your fit.”
*What - ? You can’t - ? I’m - *
“You’re nothing to her right now. She died,” Tara said. “It was no one’s fault. She died. Just like he did.”
Toni hadn’t asked about her Dad, the supposed point of all this but then she’d probably have gotten around to it if it hadn’t been for Charlotte.
*I know she died,* Toni’s eyes narrowed as she signed. Her breath expelled almost as a hiss. *Don’t you think I know that?*
“I don’t know,” Tara said. “Because all we heard, once Mal left you and then once he and Charlie were gone, all we heard was about your Dad and then what you did? I don’t know what you knew, what you were still conscious of. I’m not sure I want to.”
*You brought her back?*
“What do you think?”
*Not him?*
“Not him. We couldn’t have brought him if we’d wanted to – I don’t think he was even there and if he was… there was no way to find him amongst millions – billions – of others. But her, your daughter, we found her by chance.
“I don’t believe in chance, not when it comes to things like that. Once the odds are too steep, fate takes a hand. But we found her. We brought her back here.”
*I need to see her,* Toni said.* There were already tears in her eyes. *Let me see her. She needs me.*
“No.” It was heartbreaking, but she didn’t let it show. She couldn’t let it show because that was one step towards giving in to Toni’s very real emotions. She just had to hold onto the anger and make sure that this was the right thing they intended to do.
*What? I’m her mother.*
“No.”
Toni charged at her, something Tara had been ready for – holding that shield of air between them. But once the initial rush was absorbed, she let that dissipate and instead grappled with Toni bodily until the young woman pulled away long enough to sign again. *Let me - *
“Not until,” Tara gasped, regretting the removal of the air cushion too soon, “you prove to us that you can be her mother.”
Toni froze. *What?*
“All her short life, you were still obsessed with your Dad.”
*I tried – I tried to re-negotiate – they wouldn’t let - *
“You were still obsessed with your Dad. You blackmailed Willow. You risked her life. You were still obsessed with your Dad.
“It drove Mal away, at least in part, and you know it. The things you were doing, the effect they had on your relationship with both of them. That was why he left and took her.
“When you didn’t fight for custody… you knew, Toni. You knew he was right, that she was safer away from you. You must’ve done because you never fought like this for her, even then. And it was a factor in them being where they were when it happened. You know that too.”
Tara watched as Toni was confronted with that truth. If she hadn’t been so obsessed, hadn’t done the things she’d done. Mal wouldn’t have left with Charlie. They’d probably still have all being together.
But she wasn’t done. “After she died… you were no better. Worse, because it came to this. If you’d have asked Willow to get
her, your daughter I might’ve understood more. You say you wanted to re-negotiate. I know you, you would’ve done – you were still fixated on him and maybe that was partly our fault for not helping you past it. But Toni he died so long ago… I won’t let you see Charlie if you’re going to be the person you are now. I won’t let you ruin her new chance.”
Tara took a breath, waited a moment. But there was no response from the stunned woman. And then…
*What do… what do you want?* Toni was craning, trying to see her daughter.
Toni had to understand this and maybe now she did. Or was she still just excited and not really paying attention? No, this was sinking in. As it needed to.
The fear she’d had about maybe having to restrain Toni again, to stop her from being more forceful about it melted away. Suddenly Toni seemed very much smaller. Shrunken and weak, which was never something they’d associated with her. Not ever, even when they’d first met her fleeing from vampires.
But that wasn’t who Charlie needed either. With what she’d been through, she needed her mother’s strength.
In the right way though. Only the right way.
“You
will quit Wolfram and Hart in the morning. You will
not serve your notice period, you’re just out. If that causes problems with them, I’ll take care of it.”
*Tara, you have no idea what you’re - *
“I know
exactly what I’m saying,” Tara said. She knew what that firm was capable of but if they came after her – or Toni and Charlie – then she’d cost them more than they’d ever make from the move. In fact she’d take an interest in tearing them down, at least in this world.
Like Willow always said, if she put her mind to something – and she had – then anything was possible… It was an interesting bunch of parents that had sent their children to the school over the years. Including some political, judicial and legal figures. Some from the media too. They might not accept clients off the street, but she could cost them some of their big corporate accounts, linked to government contracts. Maybe even stir up some investigations that would hamper their operations and harm their reputation further.
Then there was always more… direct methods.
“You
will come and live with the Giles’. You’ll do whatever they find for you to do until we can collectively trust you to be out of our sight. They and the kids, they’ll watch Charlotte while you find something
else to do with your life. Or so help me… What you did to her. What you made her face, for you...”
Toni didn’t say anything, but she didn’t turn it down either.
“You
will take, love and look after your daughter,” Tara said. “And you
will never let her know that what happened to her was anything but a bad dream. If she asks, if she figures it out then we’ll talk about that – find a way to deal with it. But she’s young enough not to have to remember it her whole life so you treat her like she was never away.”
*You won’t even let me go to her,* Toni said, her hands a blur of angry motion to match her face. Impatience was taking over and it was going to stop her hearing what she needed to hear. Or ‘seeing’ it anyway.
“She’s fine with Willow. And you’re not seeing her until you agree to this.”
*They’ll kill us both,* Toni said.
“No, they won’t,” Tara said just as firmly.
*Tell me why they wouldn’t do that, and don’t think anything you can do to them will do more than scratch them.*
“Because there’s no profit in it and you’re not leaving to go to a rival, you’re not stealing clients. You’re just getting out. You’re done with them, done with the law. All of it.”
She watched as the younger woman subsided a little, deflating as Toni seemed to realise she might be right about that.
*What else?* Toni asked.
“You come to me if you need help,” she said. “You come to
us. You know you always can. But… apart from that you stay away from me.”
Toni was obviously stung by that, it was like she’d slapped her in the face, but what could she really expect?
“At least until the holidays,” Tara added, even in her anger she wasn’t that heartless. And then there was Charlie to consider. “By Thanksgiving maybe I’ll quit being so mad at you.”
It’d take much longer than that to get over it, but by then – if Toni was being as good a Mom as she could be – she might be able to put the rest of it behind her. See the good and appreciate it, rather than being angered by the bad.
*Tara – My dad - *
“Isn’t what you need to think about right now because, honey, we love you. But if you mention him again…” She shook her head. “If you mention him again I will have you possessed and drag your ass over to the place where we’ve just been. And you can spend as long as youw ant making peace with him and Mal, if you can find them. But you won’t see Charlie again if you do.
“Look, he’s gone. Leave it. Don’t explain. Just leave it. You don’t want me thinking you’re ungrateful. Be thankful for your daughter.”
Toni, face stiff, nodded.
“I want your word,” Tara said.
The long pause wasn’t one that made Tara doubt the outcome.
And watching mother and daughter reunited after so long removed any doubts that she might’ve had.
Any doubts at all.
****************
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I AGREE..
. When she mentioned her dad (old habits are hard to break I guess), I wanted to scream 
! But, for Charlie's sake, I pray that she gets it together.
! But, I know this isnt Burger King. So, we can't have it our way.....4 more..... 
.
! I almost feel sorry for the guy....and then I remember what Faith looks like then all I feel is envy! That was a great comedic break. I love Faith. She says all the things that normal folk wish they could. My tummy hurts.......