Fiction APP07- Back And Forth

Title: Accidental Pen Pals

Chapter Title: Back And Forth

Author: Restive Nature

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to BtVS or Dark Angel. They belong respectively to Whedon & Mutant Enemy and to Cameron/Eglee. No infringement is intended and this fiction is for private enjoyment only.

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Crossover

Type: Friendship/ Humor

Pairing: Dawn/ Joshua (as friends)

Summary: All she asked for was a little help on a school project... but this IS Dawn we're talking about here.

Spoilers/ Time line: This is Season 7 for BtVS and Season 2 for Dark Angel. But things have been skewed for BtVS so that the show fits into the Dark Angel format of Post-Pulse.

Feedback: Always welcome!

Distribution: Ask first please.

A/N: This is a response to the Pen Pals Challenge. For challenge details, please see the first chapter.

Accidental Pen Pals

Chapter Seven

Back And Forth

Dear Dawn,

I wanted to let you know that I did receive the letter you did not mean to send. If you have received the last letter I sent, that must be very obvious. It seems to me that it was a simple mistake that your friend made. Some times friends do that. I hope you are not too upset with your friend Willow. At least she is a person who cares. And after I talked with Max about it, we understand better about how grief sometimes works. And sometimes doesn't. I know that there have been times when my mind has taken me to places that I did not understand. I would hope that no one would hold that against me. I do not hold your sadness against you. It is part of you and so far, I have liked what I have known about you.

I received another letter from you today. I was very happy to see my post man back. But I think he has a cold and that was why he wasn't working before. I don't get colds very often. Almost never. Do you? I recall that I do not like them. When I sneeze, my nose tickles before and after and it is hard to breath.

I hope your friend Anya finds another job. One that she will like. My friends Max and Cindy work at jobs that they don't like. Actually, I think it is their boss that they do not like. Max stays at her job because she likes the people there and she gets to go outside lots, away from her boss. It would be better if people could work at jobs that only made them happy. But I guess we can't be happy all the time. If there was no sadness or hard times, then we would not appreciate the good times when they come.

What kind of work do your friends do? You said that your sister works at your school. That must be exciting to have someone you love around all day. Of course, I think that you must have to be in different places when she is working and you are in your classes. Which class is your favorite now? And what do you want for a job when you are done your schooling? If I could choose a job, I thought I would like to be a post man.

I told that to Max and she said that she thought I would do well at it. To go outside and walk and deliver happy letters to people. But then Max laughed and said that some people don't like the post people because they deliver letters from companies that demand money in not so nice ways. I would not like to deliver bad news. And I do not think I would like delivering letters in the rain. And it rains a lot here. Maybe that is how the post man caught his cold.

That is what people always say. How bad weather always makes people sick. But it is not. Colds are actually caused by germs. And germs like to be where it is warm. Not where it is cold or rainy, or snowy. I know that California does not get a lot of snow. At least not most of it. Do you get many rainy days?

I wanted to learn about Halloween. It is not an occasion that I have ever celebrated. When I read that you dress up, I first thought that you meant special occasion clothes. The kind that are sparkly and fine. But then I read more about it. You meant costumes! I never imagined that someone could dress up like a big machine, like you did when you were little. But I found a book that had some costume ideas. They even had a special section for just face painting. I laughed so hard when I saw the painted faces for the puppies and the kittens. They were very cute. The skunk was very funny as well.

I am sorry that your friends Xander and Anya did not marry. Or maybe I am more sorry that the decision caused them so much upset. When I told Max that, she said that she did not understand why people got married when the rate of divorce was so high. Then she changed her mind when she went to her first wedding a while ago. I think that sometimes, if people enter a union like that, where they know that they can just change their mind, even if they say they will be together forever, it can end badly. If you are going to make a commitment, then you should be sure that you can honor it.

I think that maybe your friend Xander was unsure about himself being committed. But that is just my thought. Perhaps it was for the best for him to take time to discover this truth about himself. And I wonder now, what kind of job does Xander have, since I had asked before. Is it something that makes him happy?

I should probably end this letter soon. Even though I have enjoyed asking you questions and telling you what I have learned and thought. Max says that it is only fair that you have a turn as well. So I look forward to your next letter very much!

Your friend,

Joshua

*****

Dear Joshua,

That last letter was just great. It made me smile and laugh. Wow, you thought a lot! It's so great. Sometimes I have trouble getting the chance to express myself. With my big sister, sometimes she doesn't listen to what I have to say because she doesn't think I have enough or as much experience she does. And with so may people in the house all the time, sometimes I can't make my voice loud enough to be heard. And since the friends I have made at school are still pretty new to me, I don't always say what I want to. I just nod and smile.

See, I started high school this year. And because of the area we live in, that means that I go to Sunnydale High, instead of the other high school. So a lot of the kids that I went to junior high with, are not there in my classes any more. And because we have different teachers and so many different classes to choose from instead of just the core classes of math and English and history, I don't have a lot of the same kids in my classes.

But I did make some friends my very first day. Their names are Kit and Carlos and we try to eat lunch together every day at school. And I do see Buffy occasionally. She works in the office as a guidance counselor. Technically, she's not qualified with a counselor's degree or anything like that. Our principal, Mr. Wood, hired her through the community outreach program for volunteers. He said that since she was young, it might be easier for teenagers to relate and open up to her. And I guess they do.

I also see my friend Xander at the school some too. He works in the construction business. They just rebuilt Sunnydale High this past summer. When my sister graduated there was a horrible mess because of an explosion from some problem with the gas lines in the basement or something like that. So enough of the new school was built by the start of the school year, but Xander and his crew are still working on the science wing and they are about done with the reinforcements of the gym they were doing. And he loves his job. I remember that he first started doing it just to earn some money. But he was very good at it and the company wanted to hire him on full time. He even gets to meet with the clients and stuff now. I think they call him a foreman or something.

Our friend Willow is not working at a job at the moment. She just got back from a trip to England, where she took some time off from everything to deal with everything that was going on in her life. She attended college with my sister. She just started back there now. I don't think she's actually trying to earn a specific degree. At least she hasn't said anything like that. But she does like taking classes in psychology and history and stuff about feminism. Willow's a lot like me in that we are both book nerdy. And pretty smart.

Speaking of which, my reports on the cities are going really well. We should be doing our final presentations soon. Probably middle to end of next month. Our teacher even gave the AV club permission to film it. So instead of doing it in the classroom, like we had thought, we're going to do them in the auditorium over several days. We're even planning on inviting our parents or guardians and any friends we want. They should have copies available to buy. So what kind of media should I get for you? I thought it was only fair that you get to see what you helped me do. If I order a dvd, would that be okay? I am so excited and nervous at the same time to be taped! I hope I don't get so nervous that I throw up.

Now as for myself, I don't know anymore what I want to be when I grow up. For the longest time, I used to be jealous of Buffy. She always had such a great time, it seemed to me, at whatever she did. But I'm starting to see now how tough she really has things. My mom had an art gallery that focused on natural history and sometimes I think that I'd like to do something with art. And sometimes I think that I would be great at researching things. I'm also trying to learn some of the more obscure languages. I was curious one time, so I borrowed Willow's computer to research which schools have the best language programs.

It would be neat to study at a few of those places, but Ivy league schools are still so expensive. I'd have to get a ton of scholarships to even begin thinking about it. But I still have several years plus what's left of this one to get through. Yikes. Sometimes it seems like forever and sometimes it doesn't seem like enough. I think, if I really could do what I wanted, without having to worry about how much it cost or anything like that, I would want to study abroad. Like maybe take courses at different schools in different countries. That would be so amazing.

Like, I could go to England and Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, maybe even China. That would be so funny because I'm getting so tall and Asian people are usually so short. I could just see myself trying to talk in a funny accent and sound like I belong, but I would so look like a tourist. Maybe I should just think of sticking to places that predominantly speak English. So there's a question for you? Do you know any other languages? If so, what are they? And if not, are there any that you would like to learn? Spanish language classes are pretty mandatory here. But French is making a comeback.

And Joshua, just so you know, I think you're kinda right about what you said about Xander. Maybe I'll write more about him in my next letter.

Your friend,

Dawn

*****

Dear Dawn,

I hope you had a good Halloween. My Halloween night started off very slowly. There were children dressed up and running around in the streets. I could hear them laughing and screaming and see them chasing each other as the went to the places they wanted to. I thought I would have to stay home because Max doesn't like Halloween. But she changed her mind and took me out to trick and treat. There were so many scary costumes. But I could tell it was just people underneath. We had fun together everyone liked my costume. Cindy wanted to dress up as someone called Rick James. I don't know who that is. But she couldn't get her hair to curl like she wanted to.

Max told me the day after Halloween, people from her job put toilet paper all over their work building because their boss is mean. She laughed and told me that she warned him that was going to happen. I think that's not very nice. I am glad that my house did not get T.P.'d. That's how Max said it.

I do not know any other languages, except the English that I was taught. It would be interesting to be able to speak another language, but I think the language we speak is very confusing some times. I should probably master it a little more before I speak another language. If I could choose one though, I would want to speak Chinese or Japanese. Then I would understand some of the things I hear people yelling down the street. I think it is funny that when they yell, they always sound angry, even if they are laughing and happy.

I am glad that your friend Xander likes his job. And Willow sounds like she has a job too. I heard someone call it being a professional student. I don't suppose that it would have a paycheck, because the student has to pay for the classes themselves. At first, I didn't think that was fair, but then I realized that schools have to pay for the teachers and the books.

I think that I too, would like to visit all those places that you talked about studying in. Did you mean studying at a school? Or did you want life lessons? Those are very important too. I like to read about Italy, Rome and think about what I could learn from the ruins and artifacts they have there. Did the people that live there a long time ago think about the things that we do? Were their lives simpler than ours? Or were they more complicated because they had to do more for themselves without the modern conveniences that we have? These are the things that I think I would like to learn. I would be a professional philosophy student, ha ha.

That feels strange to write that I was laughing just then. But since I am writing, how else would you hear my joy? Speaking of joy, I have been learning about the next holiday coming up. Thanksgiving. The name of the holiday sounds so wonderful. It is difficult to learn the history behind it. There are so many accounts of how the people that came to this country abused the Native Americans. It makes my chest hurt to read about it sometimes. Is this something that you learned about in school? What do you plan to do for Thanksgiving? Will you be spending it with your family?

I look forward to hearing from you,

Joshua

*****

Dear Joshua,

Oh my God, the most amazing thing happened today. I was having lunch with my sister out on the bleachers at the track. Which wasn't the amazing thing, but what was, was that the boys were having football practice. I mean, they always have football practise or running or something like that. But I was there today and it was just whoa! One looke and... and I am so totally in love. RJ!!!! He's a quarterback for our team and he is so gorgeous. I mean seriously, he has these absolutely beautiful eyes and hair. I could so run my fingers through his hair. And he throws passes like... like something really fast I bet. Because our team is so totally going all the way this year. Especially with RJ at the helm. I talked to him today! We share the same teacher. Well, I mean, he had him at the old high school. And I have him now. But it's something in common, right? It's like fate is just throwing us together.

And I heard that there are going to be cheerleader tryouts tomorrow! See, the boys really need good solid spirit to drive their plays or something. And normally the cheerleader tryouts are earlier in the year. But one of the girls got hurt. Like, broke her leg or something. So they need someone to replace and I'm going to try out! I can just see it now, I'll be cheering RJ on and after the game we can hang out and before you know it, we'll be going steady. He'll probably get a football scholarship and we can attend college together. I need to remember to get Buffy's old cheer leading uniform out for the tryouts. She was one at the old high school and back when we lived in LA. And really, she's been teaching me some stuff. Not cheer leading exactly, but the moves will be super cool and I bet no one else will know them. I will be looking good, especially since I have an authentic Sunnydale High cheer leading uniform and none of the other girls do. I wonder if RJ likes retro stuff. He must, since he has this really wicked letterman's jacket that he wears ALL the time!

I wonder if the football team is going to watch the try outs and cheer the girls on. That would be so cute. And I could see the guys doing something like that. RJ is so thoughtful like that. You should see how nice he is to everyone. Even people that are being, like total snobs to other people. Well, I'm going to go find Buffy's old uniform. Wish me luck!

Dawn

*****

Dear Joshua,

I am so embarrassed! I'm really sorry I sent that letter. I don't even remember everything I wrote, but judging how things were, it must have been bad. I guess you probably noticed that I just had my first major crush. And not a little kid crush like I had on Xander, just cause he was funny and didn't treat me like a kid. Or Spike cause he was a bad boy and all that. I feel so horrible. I didn't even realize...

I acted like a complete brat, to my friends, my family and even to you. And I didn't mean to, even if it all came out that way. I won't bore you with the horrible, horrible details. Mostly because they are so embarrassing that even thinking of writing them makes me want to vomit. At least it was just a stupid crush. Buffy says I should get ready to feel even more stupid when I do crazy things for real love. Well, at least I can say that I now know what everyone else has been through. How about you? I won't press for details, but was there anyone you ever had a crush on?

In answer to your last letter, we do look forward to Thanksgiving for what it's become to us. But we haven't tried really hard to celebrate the major holidays by doing anything too special. In fact, I don't know if Thanksgiving will feel special in any way because most of the time we all eat together anyway. And the price of turkey seems really high this year. Even with Buffy working at the school, we're trying to watch our budget.

I remember though, a few years ago, Willow and Giles got into the biggest fight over Native American rights these days, compared to what it was. See there was this tribe that was here when the first settlers came and the white people committed so many atrocities against them. They were punished for the most stupid things. Like people stealing bread because the soldiers wouldn't let them have any. Which was just wrong. There are better ways to deal with it. I guess people's fears and paranoia's really rule them when you're fighting for survival.

I remember, when they were fighting, that I was thinking that some crimes are forgivable. That's why there are laws about it. We were actually discussing this in our social studies class last year. Laws that say, like, if you can prove that you were in an emergency situation or dire straits, your crime would be forgiven. I think stealing food to feed starving children should be counted like that. Or maybe getting medicine if you're going to die. Or breaking into a house so you don't freeze to death. Those things are understandable and forgivable. I just wish more people thought that way.

But there are stupid laws all over the country. Did you know, getting back to the Thanksgiving stuff, sort of, that in Montana, it was illegal for the longest time for more than three Native Americans to gather in one of the cities, in public? Apparently it constituted a war party and there was no penalty for killing the Natives. How horrible is that? Or like laws that say unmarried women can't fish by themselves on Sundays? Like, where do people come up with those things? Are there any strange laws in Seattle? I think some of them are so stupid they're funny, but I bet most people don't even think about them or maybe even know about them. Maybe that would be another fun social project we could do. Messed up laws and the people that unknowingly break them. What do you think?

Your friend,

Dawn

*****

Dear Joshua,

I'm very sorry if something in my letters has upset you. I didn't mean to. I'm really hoping that you've just been too busy to write. I don't think I could handle it if something bad happened to you. I just really need a friend right now. The other day, I had a really bad dream, about my mom. Some of the things she said...


Chapter Eight- Care Package