Chapter 56: Home Sweet Home

One Week Later. BPOV

And we’re finally back in Nevada! That last week felt like it was never going to end. We had to wait it out though because there were a lot of things that needed to be taken care of. Dawn’s house was completely stripped of all evidence that she used to live there. Giles let us use his jet, and borrow a couple of slayers from the school and they helped us pack everything up and then they moved it into a storage facility and it’s going to stay there until escrow is up on the house that’s down the street from us. When we told Giles about it he immediately offered to buy it for her and she didn’t put up much of a fight. She wanted to do it herself, but he told her that her money should be spent on taking care of herself and the twins. I did a lot of calling around for her, canceling all of the stuff for her house. I called the electric company, the gas company, the hot water people, the people who deliver the paper, the gardener, and the housekeeper. Yeah, Dawn had a housekeeper, how insane is that?

But all of that stuff is taken care of and we’re back in Nevada. We’re not home yet though. We still have to stop by Chris’ place and pick up Joseph. I can’t wait to hold him again. I hope he didn’t give Chris too hard of a time. Our little boy has a schedule that he likes to follow so he might have had a hard time adjusting. This little boy is so picky about everything. He’s worst then Goldilocks, I swear. But he’s my baby and I love him, so I put up with his pickiness. That and I really don’t want to hear him cry for hours on end just because he doesn’t like the feel of the light green blanket. I don’t know why, it’s really soft, but he likes the little green quilt that Faith got for him. He likes to eat at certain times every day and night, and you can set a clock to his naps. Like I said, he’s a very picky little boy and he runs a tight schedule. It’s actually better this way ‘cause my body has adjusted to it so at night I wake up a few minutes before he does and I have a bottle ready and waiting for him.

We’ve already dropped off Dawn at the hotel she’s going to be staying at. Unfortunately there was no word from Kyle. She never had her hopes up or anything, she knew he wasn’t going to show up or call her or anything. Everyone else wanted to have hope though, but I think deep down we knew he wouldn’t come back. There are just some things you don’t do to someone and what she did is one of them. But let’s not talk about that right now because whenever I think about it I get a little depressed and now is a time to be happy because we’re going to be home soon. I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed. That hotel bed was brutal on my back. And Addison sneaking in after Faith and I fell asleep didn’t help either. When I woke up I was practically hanging off of the bed and she was snuggled right up against me, using my breast as a pillow. I would’ve gotten very irritated but then I saw that her eyes and nose were still red from crying, and I couldn’t be annoyed with her anymore. Besides, she’s really cute when she’s asleep.

“Alright, lets go get our baby boy,” Faith says and pulls into the parking lot of the apartment complex. I am excited about seeing him again. We were gone for a lot longer then we thought we were going to be. I’m sure Chris is going to be very happy to see us. I hear Matthew sigh from the backseat and I look into the rear view mirror. He has his arms crossed over his chest, and he’s staring out the window with a pissy look on his face. He’s been a grouch since we left the hotel this morning. See, even though Faith made him say a better apology to Dawn he’s still been very…hateful towards her because of what she did. Neither of us were about to let him treat her like that, and when we started to get on his case about it he flipped out and started yelling and saying that he can’t understand how we can be nice to Dawn after she cheated on Kyle. Faith sent him to the bedroom, and he absolutely refused to apologize to Dawn again.

That’s when things got a little more heated because Faith laid down the law and said that when we get home he’s going straight to his room and he’s not going to come out until he’s ready to say he’s sorry. So he’s probably going to be in there for a long time. I know she said he’s not going to get to come out but she’s going to be reasonable about it. He’ll eat meals at the table with the rest of us and he can use the bathroom when he needs to, other then that he has to stay in there. I’m starting to panic a little bit about the situation. He’s never acted like this before, he’s never disrespected anyone the way he did Dawn, and I really don’t think we’re prepared to deal with this. Addison says some pretty rude stuff sometimes, but she’s only three so she doesn’t know any better and after we explain that she can’t talk like that she’ll apologize, but Matthew knows better then to call people a whore. Faith parks the car and shuts it off.

“Ok, lets go.” We all unbuckle our seatbelts. Me and Faith a little faster then the other two. I open Addison’s door and she climbs out. She doesn’t need help with her car seat anymore. Gotta love that slayer strength. We walk inside the building and up the stairs. The elevator here hasn’t worked for the last six months or so, and management doesn’t want to spend the money fix it. We walk all the way up to the third floor and down to the end of the hall. Faith knocks on the door and I wait a little impatiently. I want my baby back and I want him back now. Chris watching him was a big help. Things would have been so much more stressful if Joseph had been in Redding with us, but I miss him. The door opens and I smile when I see Chris. I used to think he looked a little too rugged, but now that I know him better he’s just a big ol’ teddy bear. In a very father in law type of way.

“Back so soon?” he asks and chuckles a little bit. Faith talked to him this morning and he said he was getting worried sick about us, and he had been trying to track us down. Then he lectured Faith about not turning off her cell phone at night just because she wants to have sex. She got a little grossed out because her dad said that, but she got over it. Anyway, Faith gives him a big hug and then he steps aside and lets us in. Addison immediately runs to him and lifts her arms us. He reaches down and picks her up just like she wanted. He gives her a big kiss on the cheek and she wraps her arms around his neck in a big hug. “How was my little princess? Did you have fun in California?” We still haven’t told him about the demon situation, or the drama with Dawn. I can’t wait to hear what Addison has to say about all of that.

“Brother saved Mommy from a demon!” she yells out and looks really excited. She’s practically shaking she can’t wait to get the story out. “And the demon beat Mama up real bad.” Then Chris does something I’ve never seen him do before. He shushes Addison and tells her to keep his voice down. This coming from the man who lets them run around in nothing but their underwear and act like hell beasts. Then I hear it. The sounds of someone in the kitchen. And from the voice it sounds like a female someone. I exchange a curious glance with Faith but Addison doesn’t care she just wants to tell her story. So she lowers her voice to a whisper and keeps on going. “And Brother got yelled at. ‘Cause he sneaked out and the demon hurt him. But he killed it and saved Mommy.” Chris glances over at Matthew with a look on his face like he’s a proud parent or something. I will admit that I get a little jealous but I keep it under control.

“Well that’s great,” he says and puts Addison down. He looks over at Matthew again and his eyebrows furrow. Matthew isn’t being the most sociable person right now. His attitude is downright shitty right now. “Why don’t you two go look in the spare room, I got something for ya.” Addison’s face lights up and she runs off at top speed. Matthew just walks off like he doesn’t care either way. He probably knows that whatever it is he isn’t going to get it for long because as soon as we get home he’s going on restriction. “What’s wrong with him? He didn’t wanna leave his little cousins?” Chris knows how excited Matthew was about the babies. All of that changed as soon as he saw them, and it breaks my heart.

“Not exactly. I don’t wanna get into the details but Dawn slept with someone else and had his kids, and Mattie thinks is a god or something, and he’s pretty pissed at Dawn.” Chris just nods his head a little and he has a very solemn look on his face now. I glance over at Faith and she has a hesitant almost scared look on her face. I furrow my eyebrows a little at her but she isn’t looking at me, she’s looking at her dad. “We wanna get home as soon as possible, but sometime soon do you think you can talk to Mattie about, ya know, growing up and changing from a boy to a man?” Oh my God, she is so uncomfortable right now. It’s hilarious. But I can’t laugh out loud and not look crazy so I bite my lips to keep from laughing. Chris looks just as uncomfortable and I really want to laugh right now.

“Yeah, I can do that.” Well, now that they got all of that out of the way, I think he should give Joseph back to us, especially since he’s crying now. But before any of us can say anything or move towards the sound someone yells out ‘don’t worry, I’ll get him!’ Me and Faith look at Chris with mischievous smiles on our faces because that voice was from a female someone. He clears his throat and scratches the back of his neck. I’ve come to learn that when he does that it’s because he’s embarrassed about something. The three of us walk further into the apartment and I can se the kitchen now. Someone is making a very nice dinner. We can’t get a look at who that someone is yet because she left to take care of Joseph. I can hear her walking down the hallway towards us. She’s talking to my baby. I know that because she’s using a baby voice. At least I hope she is. As soon as we see her Faith chuckles a little and playfully smacks Chris on the back.

“Dad, you ol’ dog you.” I smile wider and laugh a little bit but one glare from Chris and I’m silent and avoiding eye contact. “She’s hot.” And with one glare from me Faith is silent, no longer smiling and looking everywhere but the hot, blonde bombshell. I’ve never really had a thing for blondes. I’m more of a brunette and redhead kind of girl, but that is one hot blonde. Is it a bad sign if you’re jealous of your four-month-old son because he gets to be in the arms of a very hot blonde? Because I think it is. She looks a little surprised to see us. I guess she wasn’t expecting us back or something. She doesn’t look mad or anything so I don’t think we’re interrupting anything…intimate. But you never know, she could just be really good at hiding her emotions. I can’t wait to tease Chris about this.

“This is Brittany from next door. She’s been helpin me out since your little one cries all night last night long.” I told you he’s a fussy baby. He likes his crib and nothing else. But Faith was in too big of a hurry to haul the crib all the way over here. “This is my daughter Faith, and her wife Buffy.” Hey, how come I’m just the wife? Why didn’t he say this is my daughter Faith and my daughter in law Buffy? Oh well, I guess it doesn’t matter. She smiles and looks over at Faith and I can’t help but get a little bit jealous. But right now I can’t really force myself to do anything about it. I’m tired, and I just want to go home. I’m pretty sure this chick could start making out with Faith and I’d…well she’s hot enough that I’d ask to watch. As long as they don’t touch anything below the belt or under the clothes it isn’t considered cheating. At least not if I’m watching.

“Aw, the infamous Faith,” she says and holds her hand out for Faith to shake. I get a little nervous because she’s holding my baby with only one arm. I do it all the time, but still that woman isn’t me so I don’t feel comfortable with her doing that. They shake hands and the girl gets this look on her face like something just dawned on her. “Here, you probably want your little boy back.” Faith smiles and nods her head a little and says something but I’m not paying attention. I’m busy watching the look on my little boy’s face as he’s handed to Faith. He starting to wake up some more, so he isn’t as out of it and he’s finally realized that his mommies are back. He smiles starts to wiggle around and makes this whining noise that if it weren’t coming from my kid I’d think it was annoying.

“We hate to just take off like this, but we really want to get home. It’s been a long week for all of us,” Faith says and looks over at her dad. He gives her a hug and kisses her on the forehead and she gets a little embarrassed. Then Chris gathers up the stuff that Faith left here for Joseph and loads it all up in the truck of the car. It would’ve been awkward while he was gone but luckily Brittany took that as her cue to leave. She was polite about it, and she seems sweet, she’s just a little young. Young enough that if there was something going on between Chris and her we probably wouldn’t take it too seriously. But whatever. I just want to get home.

FPOV

“Mmm, what smells so good?” B asks when she walks out onto the back patio with me. It’s our first day back, and yeah I’m tired as hell, but I thought I’d make something special for dinner. That and this meat would’ve gone bad in the next couple of week so we might as well eat it now instead of wasting about a hundred bucks. “Steaks, huh? You must be really glad to be home.” She wraps her arms around my waist from behind, and gives me a little kiss on the neck. “Joseph’s almost out of wipes so I need to run to the store, and I want to do a little shopping while I’m there so I won’t have to go tomorrow. I don’t know if I’ll be back in time for dinner.” I want to ask her not to go, to just stay home and go shopping tomorrow, but I don’t feel like arguing right now. Besides if I argue with her right now, and make a big deal out of this I won’t get any tonight. And we may be tired but she’s been in a pretty good mood all day so the odds are definitely in my favor.

“Ok baby, we’ll save some for you. Could you pick up some more beer? We’re almost out.” She nods her head and gives my neck another little kiss, and a little nibble. “If you don’t stop that you might not be leaving tonight.” I turn my head and give her a little kiss on the lips. She pulls me away and gives me a little smack on the ass and leaves. I use the tongs to turn the meat over and I take another sip of my beer. See, B doesn’t care if I drink this stuff. Our metabolisms are so fast that it doesn’t really do anything to us unless we have a lot. She only gets on my case about the hard liquor ‘cause as you’ve seen it fucks me up. When the meat’s done I stack ‘em up on a plate and wrap it in foil. I take ‘em into the kitchen and put ‘em in the microwave just to keep warm.

I get started on what we’re going to have with the meat. Potatoes come to mind because it’s a cliché for a reason. So I get out six potatoes, clean them off, wrap them with foil, stab them with a fork and put them in the oven. Ok, now that those are going, what else can we have? I thought a homemade meal would be a good idea but now that I’m actually doing it I’m starting to think Chinese would have been better. Ok, so now better but easier. I do enjoy cooking but I’m a lot more tired then I thought I was. The jet lag and everything from the last few days is finally catching up with me and I just want to sleep. Great, and now the doorbell is ringing. I yell out for Mattie to answer it, but he doesn’t respond. He’s in his room and on restriction and I guess he’s still pissed about it.

“I’ll get it, Mama!” Addy yells out from the living room and then runs for the door. I can’t see the door from here, and I can’t really hear that well ‘cause the TV is so fucking loud, but I can still feel with my slayer senses. The thing that rung the doorbell is not human. Definitely vampire, and the only vampire who would show up at a slayer’s house is Angel, so I’m not really worried. Addy will feel that he’s a vampire and she’ll either shut the door or come and get me. Yep, any second now she’s going to come running in here telling me that there’s a vampire at the door. Or not. I stop chopping up the lettuce for the salad and put the knife down. I walk over to the doorway and glance at the front door. From my spot I can see them, but they can’t see me. It isn’t Angel like I thought it was gonna be. Nope, it’s Spike. And he’s kneeling down so he’s eye to eye with my little girl. Now that I’m closer I can hear every word they’re saying.

“My mommy’s at the store,” Addy says. I guess Spike asked for Buffy. What the fuck does he want with her? We just got back, things aren’t supposed to be stressful and dramatic and shit. We were supposed to get some time off, because that’s how it works. Something really bad goes down, and we deal with it, and then we get time off! That’s how it always been! I want to rush forward and pull my baby away from him and tell him to fuck off, but I stay back. Spike’s never been invited in so it’s not like he can hurt us, and I want to see what Addy’s going to do. She’s never been around a vampire before and I just want to see how she reacts. I remember how Mattie reacted, nice clean punch to the nose, just the thought of it makes me smile a little. “She won’t be back for a long time.” I roll my eyes a little bit but then pay attention.

“Is that so?” he asks and she nods her head. “And does your other…mommy,” I guess he was going to say ‘mummy’ but decided not to. “Always let her little girl answer the door?” She shakes her head no, but she doesn’t say anything. Well I’ll be damned, Spike is the thing that gets her to shut up. Maybe he should come by more often. I know that sounds mean, but Addison loves to talk, and it gets annoying after a while. When you just want some peace and quiet, the last thing you want is a little kid following you around telling you some stories about her imaginary friend and all of the shit they do.

“Are you a vampire?” she asks and he just stares at her. Hmm, I wonder what he’s going to say? I mean, he could lie to her, but then she’d know that he’s lying. Or he could tell her the truth, and I have no idea how Addy is going to react. Well, I guess we’re about to find out.

“Yes, but I’m a good vampire.” Good vampire my ass. “I have a soul.” Right, ‘cause she really knows what having a soul means. She’s three for God’s sake. Then she does something that makes me want to run out and kiss her.

“You’re a good vampire like Angel?” I don’t think I’ve ever seen Spike so pissed before. I want to laugh but I don’t want them to know I’m here. Oh man that was some good shit. I’m actually glad he showed up because it gave me this memory that I’m going to cherish forever. You probably think I’m crazy, so let me explain. Spike hates being compared to Angel more then anything in the entire world. And he was just compared to him by a three-year-old that he’s never even met before. It’s some great shit that I’m so glad I was a witness to.

“No, I’m not like Angel.” I have to give him some props here because he’s trying as hard as he can to keep the anger out of his voice. I can tell by his expression. It almost looks like he’s in pain or something. “Angel is as dull as a table lamp.” That makes Addy giggle a little bit. She’s never met Angel before, but Buffy has told her stories about him, tried to make him a big hero and all, which he is, but Addy wasn’t too impressed.

“Why do you wanna talk to my mommy?” Yeah Spike, what do you have to say to my wife? Buffy’s gone so I don’t have to worry about him actually talking to her, but I am curious. I’d be just as curious if it was Angel or anyone else so don’t look at me like that. This has very little to do with jealousy.

“Well, me and your mum used to be friends but we haven’t seen each other in a long time.” That was a pretty good answer. At least he’s not saying stuff to my kid that I don’t want her to know. Otherwise I’d dust him and tell Buffy he tried to attack me or something. I’m pretty sure after all these years she’d get upset if I dusted her precious vampire. “And I heard about the demon that took her when she was in California, and I wanted to make sure she was ok.” That son of a bitch. So that’s why he’s here? That shit happened a little over a week ago and he’s just now coming to see how she’s doing? What is he playing at here?

“My brother saved Mommy,” Addy says and I roll my eyes a little bit. And she found another person to tell her story to. Spike lets out a ‘really?’ that he puts extra emphasis on, just like everyone else. “Yeah. The demon hurt him bad.” And my baby girl does something I never thought she’d ever do. She steps forward, out of the safety of the house, and onto the lap of the vampire on our porch. She’s never done that before. It took her a little over a week to get used to my dad enough to let him even give her a hug, and she’s crawling into the lap of Spike after only talking to him for like five minutes? What kind of shit is that? Alright, I’ve had enough. It’s time I break this tea party up. I walk out and make sure to step down a little harder then normal so they’ll both hear me. Addy is still going on and on about Mattie the Great. Spike sees me and puts Addy down on the porch and Stands up to face me.

“Faith, how are you?” he asks with a little nod of his head. I reach over and flick on the porch light so I can see him better. He flinches a little bit but it only takes his eye seconds to adjust. I reach down and pull my baby back into the house before I say a word, and when I do all I say is ‘fine’. He gets that innocent look on his face when he thinks he needs to explain himself or something. And that’s exactly what he’s going to do. “Right, I’m not here to make trouble. I heard about what happened in good ol’ Redding, and I just wanted to make sure that Buffy is doing ok. I would’ve come sooner but I didn’t find out about it until this morning.” I sigh and cross my arms over my chest.

“Well, Buffy’s fine. If she wasn’t I would’ve called Angel to let him know. So why don’t you go ahead and run along? You’re smart enough to know when you’re not wanted.” Yeah, I know I’m being harsh, but I don’t care. Buffy forgave Spike for all of the horrible things he did, which I sort of get. She obviously forgave me but then again I never tried to rape her. Not only that, but my little girl just crawled into his lap, and he had his arm around her. Mostly to keep her from falling, but it still bugs me. I don’t want him touching my kid, and my kid isn’t shy about being near him, which is really fuckin weird since she’s usually pretty shy around men that she doesn’t know. I start to close to the door but something blocks it. I look down and Addy is holding onto it and she has a panicked look on her face.

“No, Mama,” she says and jumps back outside and stands next to Spike. “I wanna tell him about Brother.” Are you fucking kidding me? What is it about Spike that has all of the girls fawning over him? Seriously? Dawn had a major crush on him, Buffy slept with him, Anya slept with him, I’m sure he’s had plenty of other women and she-vamps over the years, so what’s the deal? He’s not even that good looking. But I have to admit that when I first got back to Sunnydale after the prison break, and before I brushed up on my Buffy and Spike history I thought about sleeping with him. Mostly ‘cause I’ve always been kinda curious what it’s like to be with a vamp, and because I was fresh outta prison and hornier then a dog in heat. Fuck that, I was hornier then a teenager in heat.

“Addy, dinner’s almost ready so Spike is gonna have to leave so we can eat.” Yeah, I know it’s a flimsy excuse but I don’t care. He isn’t going to be invited into this house, and he isn’t going to hang out on our porch all night, and he isn’t going to be spending anymore time with my daughter. But then she starts whining, and it’s really annoying. She’s also grabbing onto Spike’s leg so he can’t leave, and all of this is grinding against my nerves. Then she gets the tears in her eyes, and her bottom lip is quivering. Dammit! Why am I so soft? “Fine, Spike can stay. But you still have to eat dinner.” And just like that, the tears are gone, the lip is back to normal and she’s all smiles. She holds onto his hand and starts to walk forward, but he doesn’t move an inch. I still haven’t said the magic words. “Come in, Spike.” He gets a very cocky smile on his face and he walks right in and takes a look around.

“Nice digs. Way better then the little shack you had in Redding.” He pauses for a few seconds and I roll my eyes a little. “Then again my crypt in SunnyD was better then any house in Redding.” That’s pretty true. It used to be a nice town when we first moved there. But then meth got really bad and all of the property values dropped and all the rich people moved away and the meth heads pretty much made up the general population. God, I’m really glad we decided to move. I really don’t want my kids around that kind of shit.

“Come look at my room,” Addy says and starts pulling him towards the hallway. I can’t help but smile an evil little smile. If Spike thought he could come in here and be left alone then he’s fucking stupid. Addy obviously likes him for whatever reason and she’s going to torture him. Ok, so not actual torture, but five bucks says she’ll try to get him to play Barbies with her. Yep, Spike is like her new bestest friend right now. If it wasn’t him it would be Mattie, but he’s on restriction, and that’s probably why she’s acting like this with Spike. She just wants someone to play with, and I’m busy with dinner and Buffy is at the store. Too bad Spike’s a vampire, otherwise I’d take pictures. I’m not too worried about him being in her room with her. He’s a vampire but he has a soul and he’d never hurt a child. And if he does in any way, shape, or form I’ll dust him and I know that not even Buffy can be pissed about it.

BPOV

So I guess before I got home Spike was here. Faith invited him in the house and everything. It’s all because of Addison that she caved. That little girl is turning into a master of manipulation. But Spike didn’t stick around for long. Apparently my little girl got him to play Barbies with her but he drew the line at dress up, and said he had a demon he needed to slay, and got out of here as fast as he could. I’m kind of sad that I missed it. It’s not like Faith could take pictures or anything because Spike’s a vampire and doesn’t photograph very well. I think it’s a little funny that William the Bloody, psycho murderer who killed off a lot of Europe can’t stand to be around my little girl. She’s the one that scared him off and he probably won’t be coming back. Gotta admit it does make me a little proud.

“Matthew, it’s time for bed,” I tell him and he glances up at me over the screen of his Gameboy. At first Faith had said that he wasn’t allowed to play with any toys at all, but I talked to her about it and we both agree that it would be a cruel and unusual punishment to do that. Being locked up in his room is going to be punishment enough since it’s summertime. Five bucks says his friends are going to show up tomorrow asking if he can play. He turns off the game, puts it on his nightstand and crawls under the covers. He never says a word to me. I walk into the room and sit down on the edge of the bed, and gently stroke his hair. “Matthew, why are you so mad at aunt Dawn? I promise no matter what you say you won’t get in trouble, and I won’t get mad. “At least I’ll try not to. He just keeps staring straight ahead, and he doesn’t look up at me or move a muscle.

“Because she cheated on Kyle.” He doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. I’m about to asking him something else but he keeps going. “When you’re in love with somebody you’re not supposed to cheat. She did something really bad and nobody cares. Nobody thinks what she did was bad. And Kyle’s gone and it’s all her fault.” Ok, so I do understand where he’s coming from. He’s not just angry at her, but all of us but he’s taking it out on Dawn because she’s the easy target. I sigh a little and shift my weight around on the bed. I need to explain this as best as I can so he’ll understand. I understand why he’s so mad, but I don’t want him to be hateful about it.

“You’re right.” That makes him look up at me. I guess he wasn’t expecting that. “What aunt Dawn did is very wrong, and she shouldn’t have done it. She should’ve been loyal to Kyle and not have slept with that other man. But she knows, Matthew. She knows that what she did is wrong, and that Kyle probably won’t be coming back and it’s all he fault. And right now she’s raising those two babies, and she’s alone. Yes, we’re going to be helping her, but it’s not the same. Kyle isn’t there anymore to hold her when she’s upset. Or cheer her up when she’s sad, or share the babies with, and she knows it’s all her fault. She made a mistake and now she’s paying for it. It’s ok to be mad at her. I’m mad at her too. But I love her enough to not let my anger get in the way of helping her.”

“But I don’t want to help her. I’m too mad at her to help her. I don’t won’t anything to do with her.” He’s being stubborn about it, that much is obvious. I don’t know how I’m going to get through to him. Maybe I should just back off? He’s angry with her, that’s just how he feels, and I’m sure that only time will take that away. But I have to make it clear that he can’t talk to her like he has been all week. I don’t care how angry is get he has no right to call my sister a whore. So I’m going to do something that might blow up in my face, and it is a low blow, but I’m desperate. I’ve used this card before and even then it was a last resort.

“I understand that you’re angry, but you can’t talk to aunt Dawn, or anyone like you did. You’re the oldest, Matthew, so you have to set a good example for your sister. She heard you call aunt Dawn some bad names, and she saw the way you were acting. She looks up to you, and if she sees you doing it then she’s going to want to do it too. You don’t want you sister acting hateful, do you?” He shakes his head no but he doesn’t say anything. “And it’s ok to be angry right now, but do you think maybe one day you’ll be able to be the bigger person and forgive aunt Dawn for what she did? Forgiving her won’t mean that what she did was right. It’ll just mean that you love her enough that it doesn’t matter. That you’ll be there for her, and be nice to her again.” He shrugs his shoulders, but against he’s quiet. “Will you think about it? Can you do that for me?” He nods his head yes and I smile a little bit. I lean down and give him a kiss on the cheek.

“Goodnight, I love you,” I whisper and he says it back. I give him a hug, and one more kiss then I get up, turn off the light, and leave the room. I gently close the door and my eyes instantly well up with tears. I’ve already said my goodnight to Addison so I don’t really need to worry about stopping the tears. I go into my bedroom, and shut the door. Faith is feeding Joseph his bedtime bottle out in the kitchen, and I feel a little lonely being in here by myself. I open up the window a little bit because it’s hot and for whatever reason the air conditioner doesn’t want to work in our bedroom. It’s nothing too bad. It just means that I’ll only be sleeping in a baggy t-shirt, so will Faith, and Joseph will be in nothing but a diaper. I strip down and put on one of Faith’s nightshirts. It’s the one she wore last night so it still has her smell on it. I crawl under the covers and pull the collar of the shirt up to my nose and take a little whiff.

I glance over at the door when I hear it open. Faith is holding Joseph and he’s asleep. One arm is hanging off to the side and dangling a little bit, and I can hear him snoring a little. It makes me smile a little. The tears still haven’t gone away and Faith looks a little concerned. She carefully puts our baby in his crib and covers him up with the blanket. It’s a very thin blanket and it shouldn’t make him overheat or anything. It’ll just keep his skin from getting chilly. Anyway, after she puts him down she crawls under the covers and turns out her lamp. It takes a couple seconds for our eyes to adjust to the darkness we’re lying on our sides facing each other and I know she’s going to ask why I’m upset. Before she can get a word out I kiss her. Even though my eyes are closed I can feel my tears disappear, and they’re replaced with something else: desire.

In one motion I roll her over onto her back and straddle her waist. My hands instantly go to the hem of her shirt and I lift it up. She arches her back a little to help me out, but I don’t lift it all the way up. I only lift it over her breasts, and then I stop kissing her mouth and latch onto her left nipple. She moans a little, and she pulls my on hair. It takes me a few seconds to realize that she isn’t pulling my hair because I’m making her feel good. She’s pulling my hair so I’ll let go of her. So I do because I’m not going to keep doing something if she doesn’t like it. I look into her eyes and she looks a little confused, but the desire is in there too. I know she’s going to ask what’s wrong with me. She’s going to ask why I was about to cry, and she’s going to ask why I’m still lightly grinding against her when I was upset just a minute before. But I cut her off because I don’t have words for why I’m upset. I just am, and talking about it isn’t going to make me feel better. She can make me feel better.

“Faith, please, just make me feel better.” She nods her head a little and gives me a little smile. I go back to sucking on her breast. I roll her nipple around in my mouth, and she’s moaning but trying to be quiet. I let go and take off my shirt. I’m completely naked and she’s staring at my body with a lot of desire on her face and it’s making my wetter then I already am. Even though I have stretch marks, and been pregnant twice, and we’ve been together for twelve years. I thought that by now the spice would be out of our love life, but it’s not. I still need her, I still want her, and she feels the same about me. She takes off her shirt, and we’re both completely naked. I’m sitting up high enough that the covers have slipped down my body and have pooled around my hips. I take a hold of her right hand and gently put it on my stomach. She knows what I want and it won’t be long before I get it. Faith loves it when we have sex this way because she likes the view, and she gets to slack off a little bit.

I don’t really care about that right now. Her little bit of laziness doesn’t make me feel insecure about my body. The feel of her hand slowly sliding down my stomach, to my abdomen, and now she’s gently running her fingers through my curls is turning me on even more though. I start to quiver a little when her middle finger touches my throbbing clit. I start to rock against her hand, and I’m moaning and not trying to hold back. I don’t care if the kids hear, I don’t care if the neighbors hear because the window is open a little, I just don’t care. I need this, and that’s all that matters. Then she slips her finger lower and teases my dripping entrance. I push myself down on her finger and I moan when she enters me. I pull up and when I go to push back down she enters me with two more fingers. I moan out and I take in a deep breath through my partly open mouth.

We find a rhythm and it doesn’t take long for it to speed up. She brushes against my g-spot and I throw my head back and moan out her name. I keep riding her, and look down at her. She’s watching me so closely. First her eyes are on my face. It’s flushed and there’s sweat around my hair line, and I’m sure my eyes look black my pupils are so big with desire. Then her eyes travel down a little and she’s watching my hair lightly bounce around my shoulders. I can tell she wants to reach out and run her fingers through it, but she knows I won’t let her. So her keeps going. Her eyes watch the little beads of sweat make their way down my chest and in between my breasts. Her eyes stay there for a few minutes. She watches my breasts bounce with the motion of me riding her. But her eyes don’t stay there for long. They travel down to my stomach and abdomen, and then to her hand. She’s watching me ride her, watching her fingers slip in and out of me. Her breathing increases, and she starts to sweat a little more.

I’m riding her hard now. The headboard is slamming against the wall so hard I think it’s going to leave a dent. I can feel my orgasm building, and I close my eyes. I can’t force myself to keep them open anymore. I concentrate on the feel of her fingers pumping in and out of me at a hard and fast pace. I concentrate on the feeling building up inside of me. It’s like I’m trying to force it out instead of waiting until I’m ready, but I don’t care. I need this, and I’m going to have this. The pressure builds up even more and I don’t have to force it out, I don’t have to do anything but keep riding Faith’s hand, because she knows my body almost better then I do. She knows that I’m close and she’s rubbing against my g-spot with every thrust.

And then I finally pop, as Faith would say. My orgasm gushes out of me and all over Faith’s hand. I start calling out her name, over and over and over again and I’m not trying to be quiet, because I still don’t care. As my orgasm finally starts to subside so does all of my tension, and pain, and anger, and all of the feelings that I’ve been bottling up for the last couple of weeks. I collapse to Faith’s side and she rolls with me so we’re facing each other again. Her fingers are still buried inside of me and she’s gently rubbing my g-spot. It doesn’t matter that my orgasm has come and gone, she knows that. She’s trying to get me worked up again, and it’s working. I kiss her deeply and wrap my arms around her. I roll over on my back and she moves with me. She’s in between my legs, I can feel her mound pressed against mine and I groan. Her fingers aren’t in me anymore.

Instead she reaches down and spreads our lips apart and positions herself so our clits are rubbing against one another. Her forehead is pressed against my shoulder and I can feel her hot and shallow breath against my burning skin. She’s already way more worked up then I am and it only takes her about five thrusts before she comes all of my hot, wet pussy. She keeps going though, she barely slows down as she rides out her orgasm, and even when her muscles start to relax she doesn’t stop the slow rhythm we have going. I don’t know how long it takes, but she gets another orgasm out of me. I call out her name as I feel the pleasure wash over me. I grip her back with my nails and scratch her a little bit. She loves it when I do that.

I feel her come again only seconds after I do, and it makes me moan out her name. It’s the only thing I can think of to say. My brain is completely useless at this point. We stop moving after a few minutes and my muscles feel exhausted. We’re both breathing hard, and sweating like crazy as we try to recover from what just happened. We’re both trembling and I feel hot tears land on my shoulder. It’s been a while since she’s come hard enough to make her cry. I wrap my arms around her and just hold her. It’s been a long time since I’ve held her, since I’ve comforted her. She’s always comforting me, always holding me and making me feel better. I feels nice being able to do the same for her. It isn’t long before the sobbing subsides. I give her a little kiss on her ear since it’s the only part of her face that’s exposed to me. She lets out a little sigh and I smile as we both slip into unconsciousness.

FPOV

After last night I am definitely feeling more relaxed. This morning I woke up in Buffy’s arms, which is pretty rare, and I felt great. We were well on our way to having a quickie but then the baby woke up and I volunteered to get up and get him some breakfast. That was half an hour ago, and B is still lying down. I told her to just stay in bed and relax for a little while. I’m going to make her breakfast in bed and for that she kinda needs to be in bed, ya know? Addy and Mattie woke up not too long ago and I already got ‘em doing chores. Well, Mattie is, Addy is just helpin out. I haven’t told B about it yet, but last night I made a deal with Mattie. I’ll let him come out of his room but he has to be doing chores. He can’t play with his friends, or go swimming, or anything like that. He likes doing chores more then being locked away in his room and this way I can have him do the things that I would normally have to do.

I make up B’s plate and put it on the tray. I don’t know why I’m feeling so…giddy this morning. Probably ‘cause I had two mind blowing orgasms last night. Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s why I’m in such a great mood. I carry the tray into the bedroom but I stop in the doorway. I watch Buffy as she sits on the bed, back against the headboard, legs bent at the knee and Joey is laying on her thighs, his feet against her stomach, and she’s talking baby talk to him and tickling him and he’s laughing and it makes her laugh. Her hair is really messy from last night, and she has little bags under her eyes ‘cause she didn’t get a lot of sleep, but she’s never looked more beautiful then right now. Seeing her smile, and hearing her laugh, just seeing her when she’s happy it’s making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It makes me feel like I’ve finally done something right in my life.

“Hey baby,” I say and walk into the room. She looks over at me and smiles wider. God she’s just so damn beautiful. I sit down on the edge of the bed and put the tray down. I lean over and give her a little kiss on the lips. Her morning breath doesn’t bother me a whole lot, but I guess mine bugs her, ‘cause she pulls back pretty fast. “I made us some breakfast.” She puts Joey down on the bed and he gives her this little ‘why?’ kinda look and it makes both of us laugh. He’s a mommy’s boy that much is already obvious. I hope he doesn’t get so bad in the future that he’ll only go to Buffy, and listen to Buffy, and want to be around Buffy all the time. Addy was starting to get that way but then we had Joey and she just went back to worshipping the ground that Mattie walks on.

“You did make some for the kids right?” she asks and takes a bite of toast. I nod my head since I’m currently chewing some bacon. She hates it when I talk with my mouth full and I don’t want to annoy her. I want her to be happy for as long as possible. There been so much angst lately I just want her to be happy. Things probably aren’t going to be this peaceful again for a while. Mattie is still acting like a little punk and I don’t know how to make him stop. I tried talking to him when I took the kids to the park, but he wouldn’t open up. I’ve always been able to get him to open up. When he finishes with all the chores I’m going to give him, I’m going to take him out to the training shed and we’re going to spar for a while. Maybe if I let him get out all of his aggression he’ll calm down and tell me what’s been bothering him.

I watch as Buffy puts a little bit of jelly on the tip of her finger and then reaches down and rubs it on Joey’s bottom lip. His eyebrows scrunch up and he gives her a ‘what the hell?’ kind of look and squirms around a little. At first he looks like he’s gonna cry, but then his tongue pokes out and he licks his lip and he calms down when he tastes the artificial grape deliciousness. Oh God, I think I just channeled Xander. When all of the jelly is gone from his lip he opens his mouth really wide and starts whining. He looks kinda like a baby bird or something right now and it’s damn cute. I take my half eaten piece of bacon and gently rub it against his tongue for a few seconds. His eyebrows scrunch up again at the new taste, but he gets used to it and starts to relax. I have to pull it away when he tries to close his mouth around it. I don’t want him to choke or anything. And he starts crying when I take the meat away and he sees me stick it in my mouth and chew it up.

“I think you created a monster, B. Now he’s gonna want to eat all of our food.” I’m only teasing and she knows it. He doesn’t stop crying until Buffy puts a little more jelly on his lip and now he’s busy with that. “So, what do you want to do today? ‘Cause I was thinking we could just hang out, maybe take a dip in the pool.” She looks over at me with a little bit of guilt and I know why. She’s going to go over to Dawn’s and help her out for a while. “It’s ok, baby, you don’t have to feel guilty about it. She needs your help, nothing wrong with that.” I lean over and give her another little kiss on the lips. I hear the backdoor open and slam closed. Great, they must be done. I hope they didn’t let Tucker in the house while he’s soaking wet. Then I hear Addy’s little footsteps running across the floor towards our bedroom. She runs in and she’s soaked from head to toe. Good thing I had them wear their bathing suits or B would be pissed.

“Mama we’re done. And Brother took Tucker for a walk.” She climbs up on the bed and sits down next to Joey. He starts kicking his feet and squealing because his big sister is in the room. Yep, Joey seems to be madly in love with the women of this house who aren’t me. I don’t mean to sound jealous but…well…Mattie was always so attached to me when he was little and the other two aren’t like that. Addy is all about Mattie, and Joey is all about B and Addy. The only one who still wants to be around only me is Tucker, and that’s only when he gets up off of his dog bed. He’s getting old, and his joints are giving him hell. He’s on pain medication but I don’t think it’s enough. But let’s not thing about depressing stuff that will only lead to even more depressing stuff. I want to be happy right now.

“I told him not to leave the yard,” I say out loud to no one in particular. I sigh a little and shake my head. I take a bite of toast and slowly chew it up. Do all little kids get headstrong when they reach this age? God I hope not. Addy is bad enough as it is. I already know she’s going to be one of those headstrong, arrogant, independent, ‘I don’t give a fuck what you say’ teenagers. I really don’t want my baby girl to be like me, but hey, there’s not much we can do about it. She’s already a little like that now, and I’m slowly starting to accept the fact that she’s most likely going to be like that when she’s a teenager. All of my kids are probably going to be really stubborn when they’re older. One, because half of their genetic makeup comes from Buffy. And two, because they’re slayers. A slayer is one of the most stubborn people you’ll ever fuckin meet. And I live with four of ‘em.

“I want some bacon,” Addy says and flutters her eyelashes. Oh, this kid is good. B rips off a piece of my bacon and hands it to her. Hey, that was mine. I would whine but I’d like to pretend that I’m more mature then that. “Thank you, Mommy.” Well, she has good manners at least we did one thing right. We keep eating, and Addy keeps mooching even though there is a plate sitting on the kitchen table waiting for her. Oh well, I really don’t feel like arguing with her right now so I’ll just let her share with me. Joey is whining for anymore food, mostly because he saw his hand and now he’s concentrating on moving his fingers around. It’s hilarious to see. He’s holding his hand about three inches from his face and he’s slowly bending his fingers and then straightening them out again, and he has this look of concentration on his face like if he looks away he could screw something up.

“I’m gonna get a shower,” B says when she’s done with her food. She gives Joey a kiss on the lips, then Addy and then me. Only she lingers on me for a few seconds until I try to deepen it. She pulls away with a little giggle and a cute little smile on her face. “I think you got enough of that last night.” I smile a mischievous little smile and wrap my hand around the back of her neck. I pull her down and press my lips against hers. She doesn’t fight against me as I open my mouth and run the tip of my tongue over her bottom lip. She opens her mouth and her tongue comes out to tease mine. We battle for a little bit, going back and forth in each others’ mouths and then she finally gives up the fight. I swirl my tongue on the roof of her mouth and she moans a little bit.

“I don’t think I should be seeing this,” I hear Addy say and I barely get my mouth off of Buffy’s before I start crackin up laughin. Man, this kid is hilarious sometimes. B starts laughing too but not as hard as me. I watch her lean over and give Addy a little kiss on the cheek and Addy’s face scrunches up. “Gross Mommy, you got spit on me!” She wipes at her cheek and I start cracking up even more. Man it feels good to laugh like this again. It feels good to not have to worry about anything. Then again I guess we do. We have to worry about Dawn, and her two kids, and then Mattie’s bad attitude. But I’m going to forget about all of that for right now ‘cause last night I had great sex with B, and this morning things are kinda going my way. So I have no reason to worry right now.

I take Joey out to the living room and put him in his bouncy seat. Then I go back into my bedroom and get the tray with the dirty dishes. Addy helps me rinse them off and put them in the dishwasher. Almost all little kids like to help out with household chores and stuff. They like to do a good job and then be praised for it. We even came up with a little reward system for it. We came up with it while B was on bed rest with Moose over there. They made this chart out of construction paper and markers. It has Mattie and Addy’s names on the left side, and then a bunch of squares going in straight lines all the way over to the right. We taped it to the fridge so we can put little gold star magnets in the squares. They get a star whenever they do a chore, and when they get ten gold stars they get to pick out a toy. The only thing they never wanna help me do is clean up the backyard after Tucker. I always get stuck doing that one alone.

“Mama, can Brother not be in trouble anymore?” She sounds so sad. No, I can’t give into it. She’s just trying to manipulate me. She’s getting really good at it, and I have to be stronger then that. “I don’t like playing by myself.” I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. I’m about to explain why Mattie can’t play with her, but then I get another idea. I never thought I’d ever suggest this, but her brother is in trouble and I’m not going to let him off restriction just because she’s lonely. I lift her off the counter and put her back on the floor. She’s looking up at me with those big puppy dog eyes and I can feel my resolve melting. She’s only three, and I’m a grown woman, her mother for God’s sake. I can’t let her just get her way.

“Well, if you’re really good today then maybe we can have Brad come over tomorrow. But not today, alright? Me and Mommy are still tired.” Because we had mind blowing sex last night. I don’t say that part obviously, but I think it. She gets all happy and bubbly and runs outta the room. Whatta weirdo. I sit down at the table where Joey’s bouncy seat is and I start talking to him, and tickling his feet and kissing his belly. He likes it when I do that. I hear the front door open, then close, and I sigh. Here we go. I watch as Mattie tries to sneak by, and go to his room, but it’s too late for that. “Stop.” He stops walking and slowly turns around. Tucker is right beside him and the sight of it makes me think back to all of the times in the past when they would try to sneak into Mattie’s room after he did something wrong.

“I told you not to leave the yard. I don’t care if you were walking Tucker, I told you not to leave. So stay in your room for the rest of the day.” He groans and his shoulders slump down a little bit. “You can end all of this, Mattie. All you gotta do is say you’re sorry to aunt Dawn, and stop being mean to her.” He just shakes his head and walks down the hall and into his room. I sigh and look over at Joey and he’s smiling at me. “What am I going to do with that boy, hmm?” He start laughing a little as I tickle his chin and it makes me laugh. “At least you’re not old enough to give me any trouble.” I give him a little kiss on his lips, and then he starts fussing. I look over at the clock and it’s ten twenty-three. Time for his mid-morning bottle. Only eighteen years and all of the kids will be out of the house, and I won’t have to do this mother thing anymore. At least that’s something to look forward to, ‘cause dealing with Mattie while he’s like this is definitely not something that’s filling me with joy.

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