The third story in the "Phantoms" series :-) If you haven't been keeping track, Phantom Dennis has a new phantom friend...and they've been helping each other work through their respective issues. Mild sadness in this part, but it's more the "awww, how shweet" kind.

Joanna C, masked_spangler@yahoo.com
http://members.nbci.com/mspangler/fics/
NEW mirror site http://www.oocities.org/masked_spangler
Spoilers: The Body and Epiphany
Disclaimer: Not mine, Joss is god, no profit etc.
Distrib: My site (see sig) and elsewhere with permission. If you have the other Phantom stories, you don't have to ask again.
Dedication: Thanks as always to Deb, the fastest beta-reader in the world.

God Bless the Child

Demons, Demons, Demons On-Line
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phantom_dennis: J! Hiya J!

jsummers: Well, someone is in a good mood this evening :-)

phantom_dennis: Couldn’t be better. Milady bought me a little present.

jsummers: Oh?

phantom_dennis: Yup. Well, actually, it was Fang that bought it, although Milady…hey, did I tell you, they’ve reconciled?

jsummers: That’s great!

phantom_dennis: Yeah. And he feels guilty. REALLY guilty.

jsummers: Well, he should, from what you’ve told me.

phantom_dennis: Anyway, he said he’d do anything to make it up to her. So she told him he could start by thanking me for all my help the past few weeks. And when she mentioned that I’ve been on-line a lot…well, guess which favourite phantom has himself a brand-new used computer of his very own?

jsummers: Dennis, that’s wonderful! But forgiveness can’t be bought, sweetie, remember that. Make him earn it.

phantom_dennis: I know. Milady is far more easily swayed in that regard than I am, but I think this time he got her deep. She’s making him grovel some.

jsummers: Good girl!

phantom_dennis: Yeah, nobody guilt trips like Milady does. But speaking of girls, J, how are yours doing?

jsummers: I don’t know. Some days, they do fine: my oldest buys groceries, makes dinner…and we’ve managed to keep my ex-husband out of the way, even though my youngest still needs a parent.

phantom_dennis: From what you told me about your ex, I’m assuming you made a better choice?

jsummers: Yup. And the courts take very seriously the final wishes of a single mother who raised her girls alone after her scummy ex abandoned them. Thankfully, it didn’t get quite that far.

phantom_dennis: Meaning?

jsummers: Meaning that my eldest can bully almost as well as your lady can tantrum. Her father didn’t stand a chance.

phantom_dennis: I’m glad it worked out for them, J.

jsummers: Well, I still feel…I mean, if it had worked out right, I should be feeling ready to leave them, shouldn’t I? But I don’t. Something is still keeping me here.

phantom_dennis: Don’t worry, J. You’ll know when the time is right.

jsummers: But you…you’re still around, aren’t you? What if I…I mean, what if I’m never ready? Could I…forever?

phantom_dennis: It doesn’t quite work that way. I was in limbo because I never had a chance to resolve my issues.

jsummers: But your girl…she freed you. You could have gone then.

phantom_dennis: Careful J, we’re heading into real names, real places here :-) There are things I haven’t told you about Milady, and one of them is her special relationship with the Powers-That-Be. Someone like you…normal life, normal death…it’s not the same thing.

jsummers: Well, I might understand it better than you think. There are things I haven’t told you about my daughters, Dennis. Both of them…they have a special place in the world too, and I don’t just mean that in the motherly pride sort of way.

phantom_dennis: I’ve gathered as much. My life with Milady doesn’t surprise you nearly as much as it should :-)

jsummers: There are things I could tell you…my oldest…and her friends, they’ve been great for her. Now, especially: helping her out with the special-place-in-the-world stuff while she deals with my…death. It’s inspiring, but a bit sad, you know?

phantom_dennis: Yeah. Special destinies can’t easily be run away from. Milady…she’s still a kid, and she has all this stuff…

jsummers: And they’re in it for the long haul. Since I’ve known…about what she really does…her friends, they’ve been great. But only one of them has ever gotten away. Only one…she wasn’t my daughter’s best friend, but she was still part of their group. She used to come over with the rest of them and eat my cookies…and she fought with them, she loved with them, then she finished school and moved to Los Angeles to become an actress. It’s so…normal, can’t you just scream?

phantom_dennis: I know.

jsummers: And do you know what’s funny? Looking back, she’s the one I knew the least. I love the others, love them like they’re my own children. But her…she’s the one I pray for most. She got away, and whenever I picture her out there, leading the kind of normal life my daughter doesn’t have…I pray for her and hope she does it well, because it’s like she’s doing it for all of them.

phantom_dennis: Life doesn’t have to be lived normally to be lived well, J. If there’s anything I’ve learned from Milady, it’s that.

jsummers: I know. I just…I just wish that my daughters could still have choices. That having a destiny won’t deprive them of having a life. I had some rough patches, Dennis, I won’t kid you. But I’ve known love. I’ve had two wonderful children who, destiny or not, gave me more joy than grief. I’ve had a creative, satisfying career, and a comfortable home. I want my daughters to…

phantom_dennis: They can still, J. Milady…she didn’t chose her special place in the world, and she’s had to lose a lot, and live a lot to get where she is. But she has friends who would kill for her. Who would die for her. She has a sense of purpose most kids her age don’t have. She has the kind of street smarts you can only get from knowing what the world is really like, in all its terrible, powerful glory. She’s seen pain and death. She’s seen evil and suffering. But J, she’s seen redemption. And once or twice, she’s even had a hand in it.

jsummers: But…I’m a mother, Dennis. I know they’ll only learn how to live if I let them have their life, their mess, their mistakes. But part of me will always want to wrap them up and keep the world from hurting them. There are things out there…things you can’t imagine…

phantom_dennis: And things you can’t control. There are things to conquer, and things to fight. I get that, J. But at the end of the day, there’s also beaches and ice cream cones, purple roses, fleecy sweaters, poetry and moonlight. If Milady is anything like your girls, she’s had it all. She’s seen the devil and been to hell and back, loved and lost…oh boy, has she lost…and maybe been a bit less lucky than those who haven’t had the hand of destiny throwing them an occasional curveball. But she has this resilient little…spunk…that amazes me: cracking jokes even as she washes the bloodstains out of her clothes, and finagling a raise out of every ruined outfit. She’s…she’s priceless, J.

jsummers: Dennis…

phantom_dennis: J?

jsummers: That’s beautiful. May I….have that? I’ve done some work on the letters I’m writing for my girls. And I think that’s what I want to leave them with…from things to conquer onward. Can I?

phantom_dennis: As if you need to ask! Of course you can :-)

jsummers: I’m tired. Is it normal for a ghost to be tired?

phantom_dennis: It means you’re more ready than you thought. Next time you feel like sleeping, it’ll be because you’re ready to move on.

jsummers: But I can choose, right?

phantom_dennis: Absolutely. Won’t happen until you’re ready.

jsummers: Because…well, they are having a memorial service on Friday and I’d like to stick around at least that long. My oldest has some friends coming up for it…an old boyfriend, and…well, that girl I told you about. The one that got away :-)

phantom_dennis: This might seem like an odd thing to say about your own funeral…but have fun, J. See who you need to see. Bless who you want to bless. And sweetheart, drop me a final note before you leave this world for good, will you?

jsummers: I promise.

phantom_dennis: I’ll say a prayer for you tonight, J. Wishing you well this weekend.

jsummers: I’ll say a prayer too, Dennis: for your lady, that in time, she’ll discover how to learn without it hurting so much. And for you, and your generous, poetic spirit: that it might do its part in whatever cause you’ve been recruited for.

*end chat transcript*

Well, you like? I'm at work on the last Phantoms story (yes, somebody figures out who they really are) and feedback might just speed up my progress...