Three AB drabbles

[mhalachai]

Crossposted to abvh100, and all for fanfic100. I'll get to 100 yet!

Title: Card
Fandom: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (master list here)
Characters: Anita
fanfic100 Prompt: 04 - Insides
Word Count: 100
Disclaimer: Laurell K. Hamilton owns all things Anita Blake. Only the story is my own.
Rating: PG
Note: A nine-year-old Anita tries to reach out on Mother's Day

~~*~~

That morning, Anita hid the card she'd made for Judith on her lap under the table. Judith looked expectantly to Andrea for a Mother's Day card and hug, and hadn't been disappointed. But then Judith had started making breakfast, and didn't look at Anita.

That night, Anita went up to her room and looked at the card again. The words "Happy Stepmother's Day" looked ugly and stupid now, and made Anita feel sick inside.

Quickly, Anita ripped the card up and threw it in the garbage. Judith wasn't her mommy. Judith already had a daughter and didn't want another one.


Title: Flaws
Fandom: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (master list here)
Characters: Jean-Claude, Anita
fanfic100 Prompt: 82 - If?
Word Count: 100
Disclaimer: Laurell K. Hamilton owns all things Anita Blake. Only the story is my own.
Rating: PG

~~*~~

Jean-Claude loved Anita. Still, he recognized her flaws. Everyone had flaws. So what if the woman he loved could be too brash, straightforward, judgmental?

Asher had once asked him why he "put up" with Anita. In the end, he had said nothing.

He often said nothing, when Anita cried her way through nightmares, or tried her damnedest to navigate her way through the minefields of the dead and the damned, or pushed him away with her fears of abandonment.

All he could say to her was that she was beautiful and he loved her. On most days, it was enough.

Title: Thin
Fandom: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (master list here)
Characters: Anita, Zerbrowski
fanfic100 Prompt: 79 - When?
Word Count: 200
Disclaimer: Laurell K. Hamilton owns all things Anita Blake. Only the story is my own.
Rating: PG

~~*~~

"Anita!" Zerbrowski called. She waved and made her way over to his desk.

"Hey, yourself." Up close, Zerbrowski saw dark circles under her eyes, stark against her white skin. "What's up?"

Zerbrowski shrugged. "Not much. You were talking to Dolph?"

Anita nodded. "About the Handers case."

"We got him," Zerbrowski pointed out.

"And yet."

Zerbrowski wished he could tell her that she looked like crap, that she was going to kill herself with work. He'd heard from Larry that Anita was routinely raising six zombies a night. Add to that all her police work, and Zerbrowski wondered when she had a chance to sleep.

He'd seen it before in cops: working too long, caring too hard, wearing themselves thin. It'd get to the point where she was so tired she'd miss something, be a fraction too slow on the draw one day, and they'd be bringing her home in a body bag.

But cops didn't say talk about that, and so Zerbrowski couldn't say those things to Anita.

"Want to grab a coffee?" he said instead. Anita shook her head.

"I have to be at work in half an hour. Maybe some other time?"

"Yeah."

Zerbrowski watched her walk away.

Comments

[plsteward.livejournal.com]

Aw, now I'm kinda getting Jean Claude.

Anita Blake- it works like Jerry Springer b/c the reader is never as screwed up as the characters on stage.

As always, liked, loved, am going to try to finish, no, start my ff100. Really. Maybe.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Anita Blake- it works like Jerry Springer b/c the reader is never as screwed up as the characters on stage.

Man, I'd love that to be on the book jackets next time around. LKH sure would pick up a new audience.

What's your FF100 on?

[plsteward.livejournal.com]

Oma Desala from SG1- I know, it was insane to even think about.

[uforeah.livejournal.com]

Awww I almost cried over little Anita.
I have a step mom and I would have been heart broken if she ever did that too me (happily she never did).

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

I should probably write that one from Judith's POV, to save her character. I only realized after I posted it that her reaction isn't in any way explained like it is in my brain.

*sigh*

some days, I can't win for trying.

(thanks :)

[watcher457.livejournal.com]

omg, the mother's day one kills me. that's so tough. poor baby.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Anita's got so many issues it ain't funny, and a heck of a lot of them stem from her family issues. Poor baby is right.

[practical-puss.livejournal.com]

Poor Little!Anita. Maybe Judith just wasn't expecting anything. Who knows. "Stepmother's Day". Sadly cute, or cutely sad, I'm not sure.
Poor JC. Really, just... Poor JC.
Poor Zerbrowski. So worries, so ineffective. So badly dressed.
I think Thin was my favorite, due to the combination of Zerbrowski, and nice, fulfilling angst.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Maybe Judith just wasn't expecting anything

See, now I have to write the drabble from Judith's POV. Save her from the character assasination I started above :)

Yeah, poor JC. He cannot win.

I love Zerbrowski. He just sees stuff, and is a good man and a good cop. I think the world needs more Zerbrowski fic.

[practical-puss.livejournal.com]

See, I thought you said once Judith may have been misunderstood/underestimated. And I think she was. I don't think she was the best stepmother, but I really do think she tried to be at least decent.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

See, and what you say above just cinches it. I'll write that drabble first thing tomorrow.

(Whatever Anita thinks, it can't have been easy for Judith to come into Anita's life after her mother's death, and try to deal with that ghost)

[catherinecookmn.livejournal.com]

Wow. What everyone else said. Amazing.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)

[jaydeyn-sitari.livejournal.com]

Ooh, ouch. Card just hurt - I've done stuff like that, the feeling of rejection is heart-rending. Very nice with the JC - Asher having a hissy fit again? :D

And I'm in on the Zerbrowski-love. He's a fantastic character and one I miss in the later books. *g* Now if only LKH would subsitute some of the sex with a little Z-time... that would be great!

But cops didn't say talk about that is that a double up on concept there or am I just not able to read after my incredibly long day?

By the by, that's something that really needs to be addressed with Anita - the burn out factor/PTSD...

:)
Jaydeyn

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Card was supposed to hurt. I do really mean things to my girl sometimes. Poor kid.

Asher havinga hissy fit? Never!

And oops yeah, a total misspelling. *scurries to fix*

Funny you mention the burnout factor. I'm going to touch on that in Switchback at some point. It's a valid observation.

[alydhe.livejournal.com]

You keyed me up with the Inevitable update and then smashed my heart with Anita angst. Poor darlin'.

Asher can say all he wants that he doesn't know why Jean Claude puts up with her but he's just as taken with her.

BTW, I know you don't usually read the comments once you've posted a new journal entry, but I'm really curious if I got the hint right in Inevitable. Any chance you could glance at my comment there?

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Anita has such a hard time of it. Poor kid.

Asher is taken with Anita, but he doesn't really understand her. If he did, they wouldn't have had so many problems getting together in the first place.

I'll get to your comment in a bit. Such a busy day, but I do try and respond to comments like that!

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks!

Angsty

[dulcenoir.livejournal.com]

You must Be feeling angsty today

Re: Angsty

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

You betcha. One of those days. o_O

[thekams.livejournal.com]

Oh man, the mother's day one killed me. Little!Anita is so cute, and I feel so bad for her. She really does have issues stemming from back then. I'd love it if LKH gave some insight into her childhood, and those of the other major chars.

JC is...JC. He loves Anita, and sometimes, I wish she'd give him the benefit of the doubt. She doubts him too often, wondering if he's being truthful or just wantsa something from her. I don't think he does, or, if he did, he doesn't anymore.

Oh, Zerbrowski. He really does care, and no one ever takes him seriously. If he had his way, I think he's stick Anita in a bed with some chicken soup and never let her leave. Well, at least until she was in perfect health and had gotten at least 24 hours sleep! LoL

These were just awesome, much ♥

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

I'm so mean to little Anita some times. Heck, I tend to give big Anita hell. You can get little hints of her sense of loss and abandonment in the books. Not an easy life.

I wish she'd give him the benefit of the doubt.
She doesn't doubt him (well, okay, she does, but not like that); she doubts herself to the point where she can't let anyone in. At least, not in those early books.

Zerbrowski is love.

[thekams.livejournal.com]

she doubts herself to the point where she can't let anyone in.
Yes, exactly. And it ends up not only hurting herself, but those she loves and those who love her.

[dhark-charlotte.livejournal.com]

The first one just broke my heart. Sigh

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

It's really sad that Anita has just a hard time in her life, with her abandonment issues going back to far (she can claim it's her college fiance all she wants, but her issues are so much deeper than that).

[ansku]

Ouch, ouch, ouch. Great drabbles :)

[houses7177.livejournal.com]

Guh. Card was like a kick in the gut. It was a very real portrayal of how Anita's childhood could have worked out. And I love Zebrowski. He's quite the man.