Title: Family Is?
Author: Kate R.
abelard950@aol.com
Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be. Smallville belongs to whoever created it and Buffy/Angel belongs to Joss
Rating: PG-13 to R
Summary: Buffy dies, Dawn and Giles and the others go to the only family Dawn has left in Smallville Kansas.
Pairings: Giles/Ethan, Angel/Wes, Wes/Tara, Clark/Lex (Eventually) Xander/Anya
Family Is?
by Kate R.
"Great," Dawn muttered as they pulled up outside the farmhouse her mother's address book had listed as Kent Farm. She had to do this since she
lived here now but she didn't want to. She didn't want to deal with her uncle but she had to. She lived in town now and if she didn't do this now, she'd have to do it later. Dawn looked behind her at where Giles and the others were waiting. She sighed and knocked on the door. It was opened a minute later by a woman about her mother's age, maybe a bit younger. Of course if this was Martha, Dawn was going to be nice. It was Jonothan she was mad at. Her mother's twin and he couldn't even be bothered to come when she was sick and dying.
"Can I help you?" the woman asked.
"I'd like to speak to Jonothan Kent?" Dawn asked. "I'm Dawn Summers and I wanted to tell him my guardian and I decided to come back here after mom and Buffy died."
"Joyce and Buffy are both dead?" the woman asked shocked.
Dawn nodded and the woman went into the house coming back a moment later with a man who looked a little like his mother.
"Hi," she said to him. 'I'm Dawn. I just thought I should tell you both your sister and your older niece are dead. I figured since a phone call didn't seem to impress you my guardian and I would come and tell you this time. In person. By the way, we live in Smallville now. We bought the big house on the other side of town."
Dawn turned to walk away to the car where Giles and the others were waiting.
Well, one of them. Wesley had ridden with Angel. Cordy and Doyle had a personal car and Xander had the SUV that had belonged to her mom.
In that car were Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya. She had ridden with Giles, Ethan and Spike. The sun had set before they left so her whole family could come.
"Dawn, wait," Jonothan called. "Why did you come back here? I mean, what is there here for you?"
"Well, mom always told me Family is family even if there are rifts. And here? Well, here is not Sunnydale. Nor is it LA. That's Mr. Giles, he's my Guardian. He's my guardian and not you because he was there at least. When mom and Buffy needed him, he was at least there. Which is more than I could say about you. Now, we have to get settled in. I just thought I should tell you I was here and maybe ask if I can come visit sometimes. We are family. No matter what."
"Dawn, wait. I want you to meet your cousin Clark. He's in the barn."
"Fine," Dawn said as she walked down to where Giles was waiting. "We'll meet Clark."
Dawn waited for a few minutes as teenager maybe a year older than her came down form the barn with Jonothan who had gone to get him.
"Clark," Jonathan said. 'This is Dawn. She's your aunt Joyce's other daughter."
"I thought there were two?" Clark asked.
"Buffy died," Dawn, whispered. "She and mom are both dead. It's just me now and I couldn't take Sunnydale so I asked Giles if we could move here."
"I'm sorry," Clark said. "Are you going to Smallville High?"
"Yeah I start tomorrow," Dawn, said.
"I'll see you then, Dawn. You take care okay?"
"Okay, Clark," Dawn said a she got back into Giles' convertible. As they were driving away, Dawn turned and saw Martha Kent lecturing her husband. Good, someone needed to.
OOO
"Jonothan, how could you not care?" Martha asked coldly. "So, Joyce left? Get over it. Dawn is your niece and she needed you. You could have at least gone to her mother's funeral. Joyce was your sister!"
"I thought she would be okay. I didn't know Buffy had died," Jonothan defended himself.
"You just can't admit your way of life isn't right for everyone," Clark said. "The same as you can't admit Lex is not Lionel. Well, you need to get over it if you want to get to know your niece. That group is protective of her. They were all there I'd bet. I think they travel as a family because they are a family. You need to deal with this. She was your sister, dad. And you couldn't even go to the funeral. I would have gone, you know. I
would have gone to pay my respects to the aunt I never met because of you and your grudges."
"You keep this up, Jonothan," Martha said as Clark walked away, "And you'll lose his respect too. You were wrong about Joyce. And you are wrong about Lex. You are pushing him to become like Lionel the way you behave. Now, go think about things and maybe realize you owe Dawn an apology at east. And if I were you, I'd be very careful how you word it."
She walked back into the house then and Jonothan continued to stand and stare at the road the cars had driven down lost in thought. He couldn't do anything tonight but he had to do something. Something to try to ease this rift in their family. Something.
Part 2
Jonathan walked up to the door of the house in front of him and knocked. The man he knew to be Dawn's guardian opened it. "Can I help you, Mr. Kent?" he asked in a heavy British tone.
"I wanted...is Dawn here?" Jonathan asked.
"Come in," Giles said. He led Jonathan into the house where the group was scattered around the living room reading or whatever.
"Martha wanted you all to come to dinner tonight," he told them.
"She doesn't think you've had time to get groceries yet. Martha and I...We really want to get to know you. I made mistake with Joyce and I should have come to the funeral. I'm sorry. I'm a very prideful man sometimes and it's hard to swallow that."
"At least you can admit it," Dawn said from the steps. 'We'd love to come to dinner, Uncle Jon. Uhm, it has to be after dark though. Spike and Angel can't travel until then. So, if you'd like to call and tell her we'll be arriving soon that would be cool and you can have some coffee."
"Yes, I think that would be good. I have to tell Clark to call Lex yet. I don't want to lose what family I have Dawn. And I think I'm in danger of doing that if I leave this anger at Lex."
"Hating someone because of a last name isn't smart, Uncle Jon," Dawn said. "So, lets see here, do we need to change? Because we haven't gotten unpacked yet."
"No," he said. "You're fine as you are. Can I use the phone?"
"Sure," Dawn said. 'It's right here."
And Jonathan realized they were letting dawn navigate them through this. He knew they were keeping secrets about something but he would wait and earn her trust. What she had said last night and what Clark had said, had opened his eyes. He did judge people and it had to stop. Before he lost any and all chance at having a family that was whole.
"So," Dawn said, "What's for dinner?"
END PART 2