Valentine by Meghan O'Hara (PG)

[lyr]

Hello! It's your friendly neighborhood Lyr here again, this time driving the Buffy and Angel van. As per usual, I'm going to try to bring you a wide selection of stories for March, with a little something from each of the gen, het, slash, and femslash categories, and a mix of classics and new finds.

Fandom: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Pairing: Gen
Length: 1,441 words
Author on LJ: theohara
Author Website: just her LJ
Why this must be read: In this snippet of fic, Tara runs into Spike at the store on Valentine's Day while each of them is trying to pick out a gift for the woman they love. I miss Meghan's stories, and reading this will show you why. She always has a gift for packing a lot of emotion and dramatic punch into very few words without ever tipping over the edge into maudlin sentimentality, and her characterizations are reliably exquisite. Reading her work is always a richly satisfying experience on every level. Without giving too much away, I can say that the thing I like best about this particular story is the ending; it is perfect in more than one way. The ending is told with a lovely and striking narrative device, but on top of that, it also manages to add a more powerful emotional charge to a canonical event. The skill it took to craft something that works so completely still dazzles me five years after the fact.

"She told you," Spike repeats, dumbfounded.

"I'm the only one, though," Tara says, then kindly adds: "Right now, I mean. Y'know. First."

"Told one of the bleedin' Scoobies," Spike mutters, staring at a rack of Hershey's Kisses as if they could help him comprehend the import of this bizarre new information.

"Well, I mean, I dunno if I'm really a Scooby, I've always been sort of a..."

"What'd you say to her?" Spike demands suddenly. "When she told you?"

"Well, uh..." Tara's caught by his eyes, which are suddenly so human, so hopeful. "I told her that you'd done a lot of good, and um, that you loved her? And that it wasn't, y'know, bad. Being with you."

He smiles ruefully. "She listen?"

"I don't know." Watching those eyes, she can't bear even this small lie, and corrects. "I don't think so."

He nods; she thinks he already knew that answer.

"I c-could help you," she offers. "Pick out something for Buffy? If you'd help me find something for Willow."

It pains her, how sharply kindness shocks him.

Valentine

Comments

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

I'd forgotten how beautifully written and heart breaking that piece is. Seeing the supermarket Valentine's Day display through the filter of Spike and Tara's battered love lives makes me hurt.

[lyr]

Every couple of years I go back to theohara's work, and I'm fresly surprised by how lovely it is every time.

[firewings133.livejournal.com]

Thanks for recommending Meghan O'hara. I spent all weekend reading her stories for BTVS. She has such en eye for a character and takes a familiar route to lead you somewhere completely unexpected. She seems to have stop writing on LJ - our loss.

[lyr]

You're very welcome. She's been gone a while, but I still miss her stories, and I'm glad to keep pointing others towards her work.