BPOV

After breakfast we let the kids open up all the presents that Chris bought them. And there were a lot. I don’t think Chris is making up for all the years lost with the kids, I think he’s trying to make up for all of the lost years with Faith. He spoils our kids rotten because he never really got the chance to spoil Faith rotten. Faith has told me stories about the infamous Lehane temper, and how mad her dad used to get, but I think she exaggerated it a lot. And I think that because of the way Chris is with Faith, and the way he is with the kids. There’s no doubt in my mind that Faith was treated like a princess by her father. I think it’s really cute how Faith can act like such a kid around him. But at the same time it’s kind of annoying because she’ll encourage our kids to do bad things.

Anyway, after the kids got done opening their presents and figuring out which ones they wanted to open first there was a knock at the door. I answered it and was wrapped up in a huge hug from Willow. She was really excited and I got to see a little bit of the old Willow for a few minutes. She was babbling, and stuttering so bad I didn’t understand her, but then she calmed down and told me the happy news. Sky had proposed. They weren’t sure when they were going to tie the knot, but the fact that Sky asked Willow to marry her, and gave my redheaded friend one of the biggest diamond rings I’ve ever seen is a big deal. I’m really happy that Willow is so happy. That she finally found someone to settle down with. Maybe they will have a couple of kids. Willow has always wanted children, but Kennedy didn’t, so she never had any.

It’s a little passed noon right now. I just put Joseph in his crib. He dozed off about ten minutes ago. Addison is getting a little tired but I doubt she’ll be taking a nap today. She usually doesn’t take naps anymore, but Christmas morning at our house can be a little over stimulating for a little kid, and she was up about an hour before she normally gets up. That’s not why she won’t be taking a nap though. She’s way too excited about the new puppy to do anything else. She isn’t really interested in the toys she got this year. All she wants to do is play with the lady dog. I am still pissed at Faith for not telling me about the dog. But I have to admit that seeing my baby girl so happy is a great thing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this happy before. And it’s all because of that little runt. Yep, that’s right Faith spent almost five hundred dollars on the runt of the litter. I just hope she doesn’t have any health problems because if she has to be put down after Addison has already bonded with her then all hell will break loose.

“So Buffy, are all systems go for tonight?” Willow asks with a little smirk on her face. She’s a big part of that very special surprise I had for Faith. Now I’m not so sure if I want to go through with it. Since Faith, Sky and Chris are all outside smoking I guess it’s ok to talk about this now. Matthew’s too busy playing the video game I bought him and Addison is trying to come up with a name for the puppy. So far Ruby is her favorite. I don’t know why she doesn’t want to name the puppy lady. I mean, that’s the name of the dog in the movie and that’s the whole reason why she calls it a lady dog. But I guess I shouldn’t even try to understand. I mean, what goes on inside the mind of a four-year-old is probably too far out there for adults to understand. Anyway, I turn a little on the couch so I’m facing Willow a little more and get a small, sad smile on my face.

“I don’t know, Will. I want to but I’m so mad at her right now I don’t know if I can force myself to be with her like that. I’m still not very comfortable with using toys in the first place, and this is so intimate. And what if it doesn’t work?” I sound like I’m panicking a little bit but I’m not. I’m just overreacting. I take a little sip of my wine and take a few calming breaths. This was all my idea. I thought it would be a great present for Faith, and me but now I’m not so sure. Luckily Willow is here to lend me some support of the best friend kind. I’m sure if Willow could convince me to give Riley a shot she can talk me into doing this too. Then again the whole Riley situation ended horribly. What if I do go through with tonight, and it ends just as bad? Ok, maybe not just as bad, but pretty close? I don’t think I can handle another fight with Faith. I like the way things have been going. We’ve been happy, and communicating again.

“Well, I don’t mean to sound conceded, but I am the one who came up with the spell so it will work. As for the other stuff, Buffy just look at how happy Faith made Addison by giving her that puppy. Now she may not have talked to you about it beforehand, but she didn’t tell you that she was going to buy Matthew a puppy either.” Why did she have to bring that up? I take a bigger drink from the glass and swallow it in one big gulp. I wipe away the little bit that dribbled out the corner of my mouth and I look into my best friend’s eyes. She’s trying as hard as she can to be serious right now. I know that this situation is a little silly, but I’m still pissed off about it. And she does have a good point. Addison is very happy that she finally got a lady dog.

“Yeah, but I was so mad at her for that we didn’t have sex for almost two weeks. And that was when we were still having it a lot. We’ve slowed down a lot since then.” It’s true. Back then we couldn’t go more then a couple of days without sex. Now it’s down to once, maybe twice a week. We’ve been tired. We have three kids and a house to take care of. Not to mention the dog. And we have to do all the slaying because we’re the only slayers in Lincoln. Emma has been making a lot of money lately because me and Faith slayer on a more regular basis now. We had to pull Emma aside and explain to her about slayer, and vampires, and demons and all of that because she would just find out anyway. We thought it would be better coming from us then her finding out by seeing a demon or vampire. She freaked a little but now she’s more then happy to watch the kids whenever we need her to.

“Buffy, you shouldn’t let a little fight get in the way of you being intimate with Faith. Or at least tonight. It’s Christmas, and what better gift could you give Faith then this?” She’s right, I’m pretty sure Faith is going to love this gift a lot. Oh God, what if she loves it too much? What if she can’t be with me any other way after this? Ok, I’m panicking. Why didn’t I think of any of this stuff before? Oh, because I was too excited about it to really think about anything else. I look up at Willow to voice my fears and she holds up her hand. “Huh-un, don’t even go there. You were thinking really loud and I picked up on the little mind babble. Faith loves you, and yes she’s probably going to love ‘the gift’, but there’s no way she’s going to love it more then you. What happened to ‘I can’t wait until Christmas night’ Buffy? Where is this panicky Buffy coming from?” I guess that is a good question. This sudden fear does have a lot to do with some emotional stuff that I’d rather not talk about.

“Hey, what are you two whispering about over there?” Sky asks as she and the others walk into the living room. She takes her place next to Willow, and Faith sits down next to me. Chris sits down in the recliner and rubs his face with both his hands and yawns a little bit. I guess he had an early start too. Willow tells Sky we were just gossiping, and she wraps an arm around Willow. Sky is very touchy feely with her. I can’t help but wonder if she was always like that or if she’s only like that with my redheaded friend. Then again, why do I care? It’s not like I’m going to be getting touchy feely with Sky at all, ever. I’ll admit that she’s a very attractive woman, but I’m with Faith. So it doesn’t matter that Sky is attractive and has a very nice body, or the fact that if I wasn’t with Faith and Willow wasn’t with Sky, then I’d spend all night ravaging her and-

“Stop right there,” Willow says and elbows me a little bit. Oh God, she heard that? Please tell me she didn’t listen in on that. “I can’t help it you’re thinking too loud, calm it down a little bit. And stop thinking about that.” She snuggles into Sky a little more and Faith totally picks up on the little move. Sky looks obvious but mostly because she’s too focused on watching Matthew play that game and she didn’t hear the beginning of the conversation. I’m sure that Faith has a good idea of what I was thinking. God I hope she doesn’t, or it won’t be me freezing her out tonight, it’ll be the other way around. And I don’t take rejection very well. But all Faith does is chuckle and wrap her arm around me. She’s going to stay calm and not make a big deal out of it, but she’s a little jealous and I can’t help but smile. I take a little sip of my wine and snuggle in closer to her.

“I’m gonna take off,” Chris says and gets up. I wasn’t really expecting him to stay for too long. Earlier he mentioned having some plans, but he never said what they were. I think he’s leaving to meet up with a woman. I don’t know why, but that’s the feeling that I’m getting. Anyway, he gives the kids kisses and hugs goodbye. Then he walks over to Faith and gives her a really big hug. “Merry Christmas, dolly-face.” He gives her a kiss on the cheek and ruffles her hair a little bit. She what I mean about the princess treatment? If he’s like this with her when she’s a grown woman just imagine what he must’ve been like when she was a little kid. She was probably treated better then a princess. Then again my dad treated me like that for a long time. At least until he started cheating on Mom. That’s when he became distant from all of us.

“Dolly-face?” Willow asks in a teasing tone after Chris leaves. Faith doesn’t answer her, just pretends like she didn’t hear Willow speak. That’s probably best for everyone. Faith can get a little...defensive when it comes to her dad and some of the pet names he has for her. And I should know because I tease her about them sometimes, and she gets pissed. But that’s ok, she does have an image to maintain even if it’s already been completely ruined. Oh sure all of the other slayers still think she’s some big badass because of Andrew and him keeping all of her horror stories alive, but the scoobs know that those are just exaggerations of what Faith is really like. She can be blunt, and rude, and a little conceded, and adventurous and sometimes a little threatening, but deep down she’s a sweetheart and all of the scoobies have seen that side of her, thanks to Matthew. It’s really hard to be badass when you’re talking baby-talk to a five-month-old.

“We’re going to take off too, Buffy,” Willow says and gives me a little hug. She holds me close to her so her lips are touching my ear and she whispers very lightly so Faith and Sky hopefully won’t be able to hear her. “And no more sexy thoughts about my fiancé. You have your own hot brunette to think about.” We pull back from the hug and I give her a little mock glare but she knows that I’m just playing around. Sky and Willow take turns hugging and kissing the kids goodbye, and then they each give Faith a hug goodbye. It’s really funny watching it because she’s not used to hugging people other then me and the kids, and her dad of course. And as soon as they’re out the door Faith gives me a little mischievous look and raises one of her eyebrows. I ignore because I know what she’s going to ask about. So instead of looking at her I focus my attention on Matthew’s game, but I can feel her eyes on me.

“Wanna tell me what that was all about?” she asks and scoots closer to me so she can wrap her arm around me again. I scoot away from her a little and she just keeps on moving closer. I tell her I have no idea what she’s talking about and she chuckles a little bit. “Alright, then I’ll tell you. What was going on inside that dirty little mind of yours that had Willow telling you to stop thinking sexy thoughts about her fiancé?” I blush but I ignore it and take another sip of wine. Faith isn’t going to give this a rest anytime soon though. “So you think Sky’s hot, huh?” She grabs onto my arm and turns me so I’m facing her. She gives me a deep kiss that I fight at first, but I get lost in after a few seconds. The little bit of wine I’ve had, and the feeling of Faith’s tongue all over my mouth is making me feel a lot drunker then I really am. “How about we role-play then? You pretend I’m Sky and I’ll pretend you’re Katherine Heigl.” I start to laugh but she cuts it off with another deep kiss.

“We’re still in the room, ya know,” Matthew says and the sound of his voice makes me pull away from Faith. I can’t believe we were just making out like a couple of teenager right in front of the kids. I blush a little bit and hide my face in Faith’s neck. That’s a bad idea though, because now I have the greatest temptation to start nipping at all the hot skin just sitting there right in front of me. I hear Faith sigh a little bit and I know she’s going to say something to him, even if it’s just a smart ass remark.

“You’re playing your game, so what do you care? It’s not like you can see us with your eyes on the TV.” She does have a good point, but still we shouldn’t be making out like a couple of horny teenagers in front of our kids. That’s the kind of thing that can scar them for life. Matthew doesn’t say anything ‘cause he’s getting too wrapped up in the game again. Faith pulls back a little until she can see my face, and she smiles. She leans in and kisses me, and I don’t fight it. I guess it’s ok as long as we keep the use of our tongues to a minimum. Yeah, and that little plan only lasts about a minute and a half. As soon as the tip of her tongue touches mine I melt against her and let her take over.

“I can hear you kissing and it sounds gross,” Matthew says in a very irritated voice and I pull back again. Faith tries to follow me and keep the kiss going, but I put my hands on her shoulders to block her. She pulls back with a little irritated noise and she looks over at our son. He isn’t paying attention to us anymore, he’s too busy playing his game, but I’m sure if we start kissing again and he hears the noise he’ll get really pissed off. So I give Faith a little peck on the lips, and get up and start to make dinner. We always have an early dinner on Christmas, and I always make a huge amount of food and we just eat the leftovers for a couple days. That’s our tradition and we’re sticking to it. I’m about half way through fixing my big dinner when Addison comes into the kitchen holding the puppy and she has a little frown on her face.

“Mommy,” she says in a little whiney tone. I stop mashing the potatoes and look down at her. She’s standing about a foot away from me and she’s looking up at me with that little frown. I don’t have to ask what the problem is because she keeps talking before I even get the chance to respond. “My lady dog won’t wake up.” I kneel down next to her and make sure the dog isn’t dead. I’m sort of afraid that the kids will play too rough with it and accidentally kill her. She’s a small puppy, and they’re slayers sometimes they forget about their super human strength. But the lady dog isn’t dead, she’s just sleeping. Addison hands her to me like she’s sick or something. The puppy wines and collapses in my arms. She is a really cute little dog, I will admit that.

“That’s because she’s tired. Puppies are like babies, they need a lot of sleep.” Addison sighs and yawns really wide. I guess she’s getting a little worn out. “Come on, let’s put the puppy in her crate. Maybe you can have Mama open up your new Barbie and you can play with that.” Addison lets out a little ‘alright’ but she’s disappointed that she doesn’t get to play with the puppy anymore. I put her in her crate and she stands there for about two seconds before she collapses and goes back to sleep. I’m still a little irritated with Faith, but that little thing is starting to grow on me already. And the bright side is she isn’t going to get very big so she won’t tear up my house. Hopefully. I really hope I didn’t just jinx it. If this little lady dog gets as bad as Tucker did I don’t think I’ll be able to wait for Faith to retrain her. Tucker almost destroyed the old house, and he got very jealous of me whenever I was around Faith. I’m not going to tolerate it this time. I shouldn’t have tolerated it last time but I did, and I can’t really remember why.

After dinner I called Dawn to see how she’s doing. I called her this morning and she said she wasn’t going to make it. Not only do both boys have a really bad cold, but she’s getting it too. I offered to go over there and help her out but she says no, that I should be with my family because it’s Christmas. I feel a little bad that she’s alone on Christmas and sick at the same time. I really wish she could find somebody to be with but she probably won’t even think about playing the dating game until the boys are two, maybe three. And even then dating as a single mom has all sorts of problems. I tell her I love her and wish her a merry Christmas even though it’s clear she isn’t having one. When I get off the phone I check up on the kids. They went to bed about half an hour ago. Addison threw the biggest fit when we told her that the puppy has to sleep in the crate instead of in the bed with her. This way it won’t be able to hop down and crap all over the carpet. I go into my bedroom and see Faith tucking Joey in. Poor little guy is all worn out.

“Hey baby?” I ask in a low voice and close the door. The only light on is the little lamp on Faith’s nightstand so the room is pretty dark. We don’t use high watt light bulbs because those wake Joey up. He’s a pretty light sleeper just like me. She turns around and raises an eyebrow as her reply. I don’t really know where to begin. The plan was to do the spell at the very last minute and surprise her, but now I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. I sit down on the edge of the bed and look down at my hands. She can tell I’m nervous and she’s being kind of supportive. She lays down on her back and looks up at me with a little smile on her face. I smile back at her and run my fingers through her long hair. She scoots towards me a little and rests her head in my lap. She takes one of my hands and gives the back of it a little kiss. Without even using words she’s make me feel a lot more at ease. How does she do it?

“I was just wondering if you ever think about the day we made Joey?” I worded that really weird. I didn’t mean to word it like that, it just came out. “I mean, do you ever wish that Willow would cast that spell again, so we can have sex like that again?” She looks a little confused and I know it’s not because of the questions. She’s wondering why I’m asking the questions. “Well?” I ask sounding a little impatient and she has to think about it. I just want to get this conversation over with so I’ll know if I should go ahead with the surprise or not. She’s quiet for a couple of minutes and I distract myself by running my fingers through her hair. It feels a little greasy ‘cause way early this morning we got a little sweaty together and she didn’t get a shower today.

“Not really no,” she says and I don’t really know what to think. Is that a bad sign, or a good one? I don’t know and it’s going to drive me a little crazy. “It was great, really great, but it was a temporary thing. If you’re trying to ask if I want to do it again, well yeah I wouldn’t mind it. But only if you want to. You know I don’t want you to be uncomfortable with anything we do together.” I smile down at her and I feel a little better. “Only if we do that again we’re going to the store first and buying lots and lots of condoms. Wouldn’t want you getting knocked up again.” Well that’s a little discouraging. Has she already forgotten that I want four kids? Oh well, she’s right. It wouldn’t be safe for me to get pregnant again because the possibility of something going wrong is pretty much a hundred percent. “Did Willow show you how to cast that spell or something?” She tries to keep the suggestiveness out of her voice, I can tell she tried but it came out sounding suggestive.

“No, not that spell. The spell she came up with one that lets the wearer of the strap-on feel like it’s real, but it’s not so there’s no need for protection.” I can’t help but blush a little bit. Willow has gotten so that she likes telling me very descriptive stories of her sexcapades just to embarrass me. Only I don’t get embarrassed too easy so she has to exaggerate them a little bit. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. “I was going to cast it tonight as a surprise, but then I started rethinking everything because I didn’t know if you’d want that or not.” She closes her eyes for a couple seconds and makes this little purring sound ‘cause I’m still stroking her hair. She’s so weird sometimes. “Faith I’m trying to be serious.” She opens her eyes and then rolls them at me. Sometimes she can be so aggravating. Why do I even bother?

“I know, and you need to stop. It’s not like we’re talkin life or death here, B. Come on, we’re married now. If you have any questions about what kinky new things I wanna try you should be a little more relaxed. And we can do the spell if you still want to. But lets not do it tonight. I’m fuckin tired,” she says that last part around a big yawn. I can see the back of her throat and I’m so tempted to do something with th situation, like drop something in her mouth, but I’m not holding anything. I’m only thinking it because it’s so something she would do to me if the situation was reversed. And this just goes to show how much we really have changed over the years. I think for the first time ever Faith’s too tired for sex. Hide under a table or something to protect yourself from falling debris ‘cause I think the world is about to end.

“I have a feelin Addy’s going to be coming in here tonight. Do you think maybe we should talk to somebody about the nightmares?” I’m not sure if that’s a good idea or not. If we take her to a child psychologist she could tell them about being a slayer, and all about demons and vampires and how her moms are like the best slayers ever, and we’ve saved the world almost countless times, and the person would think that my baby’s crazy. Or they could believe her and hand her over to the government for testing. Either way I don’t like the outcome. And they’re just nightmares, I’m sure they’ll go away. All little kids have nightmares. “I know that most kids have nightmares, but not of the shit she says she sees in those dreams.” That’s true. Her dreams are pretty...graphic. I don’t know where she’s seen that kind of stuff before. We don’t let her watch violent TV shows or movies. And there’s no way she’s getting all of those images from one of Faith or Matthew’s video games.

“I don’t know. Can we talk about it more tomorrow? I just want to curl up in your arms and go to sleep.” She smiles a little and nods her head, but I think she’d rather talk about it now. But she doesn’t push for it. We change into our pajamas, and curl up under the covers. Faith turns out the light and I snuggle up to her. She holds me as we fall asleep and I silently give thanks to everything that I have to be grateful for. But most of all I’m grateful for her. I don’t know what I would have done if she hadn’t come along. If I hadn’t fallen in love with her I’d probably still be having horrible relationship after horrible relationship. Or I could be married to someone else and have completely different kids. I’m glad that when I told her that I love her she didn’t reject me, and she didn’t laugh in my face. She didn’t want to date me right away, but I’m stubborn and I got my way after a while. And I highly doubt she regrets any of it. We have a wonderful, very happy family, why would anyone regret that?

FPOV

I jolt awake when I feel something shake me. What the fuck? I was having a great dram. But now it’s gone because someone just had to wake me up. I feel them push on my shoulder again and I slowly open my eyes. I see Addy standing about four inches in front of my face and I jump a little. Damn kid’s trying to give me a heart attack. Addy’s still trying to wake me up. I guess she didn’t see my eyes open or something. She’s crying a little and I can smell the urine from here. These nightmares that she’s been having have really gotta stop. Not only has she been waking me up, but she hasn’t been sleeping very good since they started happening. She wets her bed way more, and she gets so scared that she bawls her eyes out. Didn’t I tell B that Addy would be in here tonight? I so totally called it.

“Mama,” she whispers and she sounds like she’s trying so hard not to cry. I sit up a little bit so she knows I’m awake. I don’t want to wake Buffy up. My voice is always a little harder to control when I first wake up. “Mama I had a accident.” She starts crying a little and I reach out and gently cup her cheek. I slowly get out of bed and hold onto her hand. I had lead her out of my bedroom and into the bathroom down the hall. I flip on the light and we both wince at the sudden brightness. She starts crying a little harder and I don’t know if it’s because she doesn’t have to be quiet or if the light hurt her eyes. I draw her a bath but then decide that I might as well take one too. I never did get a shower yesterday and I feel kind of gross. After the bathtub is full of warm water I help Addy take off her cold, wet clothes and put her in the tub. Then I strip down and slowly climb in.

“Addy, shh, baby. It’s ok,” I tell her in a low, raspy voice. She’s still crying really hard and it’s only getting worst. I pull her into my lap and she rests her head right under my chin. I gently rub her back and hold her tightly against me. We’ve got to do something, anything to get the nightmares to stop. This is getting out of control and I hate feeling like I don’t have any control. I takes her about fifteen minutes to finally calm down. She’s so quiet now that I think she fell asleep. “Want me to wash your back?” I feel her nod her head. Guess I was wrong about her being asleep. She scoots off my lap and sits by my knees. I grab the washrag and the soap and gently scrub her back and she moves her hair to the side so I can wash her shoulders and neck. She likes taking bath with me ‘cause then she doesn’t have to wash herself ‘cause she knows I’ll do it for her.

“Did you have a dream about the bad man?” I ask and keep my tone light. When I finish washing her back I grab the plastic cup on the far corner of the tub and rinse off the soap. It must’ve been one graphic dream to have her so broken. She usually doesn’t cry that hard. I want to know what she saw but I don’t want to push her. If she doesn’t want to talk about it I can’t make her. “What did the bad man do?” She doesn’t say anything she just shrugs her shoulders. I try not to sigh ‘cause I don’t want to her think I’m getting irritated. “Addison, you can tell me anything. Nothing is going to happen. No one is going to hurt you.” I feel her tense up and all sorts of red flags start going off.

“He said he would…” she tries to get out but a sob cuts her off. So somebody is hurting her? Somebody is hurting my baby? I ask her who he is but she doesn’t say anything. So I ask her again and she starts shaking. “I don’t know.” She starts sobbing again and I pull her into my lap and try to get her to calm down. It isn’t easy though ‘cause she’s really fuckin upset. I can feel my blood boiling and my heart breaking all at the same time. I don’t know how long it takes her to calm down but when she does she gets a little nervous. She grabs the washcloth and starts washing herself and she won’t look at me. She’s acting just like Buffy when she doesn’t want to talk about something. I ask her who the man is again and she sighs all dramatic and pissed off. Yep, definitely takes after Buffy.

“Addy, is he a real person or is he just in your dreams?” I ask and she keeps washing herself off but he does reply. I just hope I can get some answers out of her that’ll help me figure out what the fuck is going on. If this ‘bad man’ is a real person he’ll be unrecognizable when I dump him on the doorstep of the police station. Hell, I might just toss him to the vamps, let them clean up the mess. Sounds like a plan to me.

“He’s not real. He’s just in my dreams.” Ok so is she telling the truth or lying because she’s scared? I can’t tell. It’s always hard to tell if she’s lying or not because she’s so damn good at it. She’s practically a four-year-old con artist. I ask her what the bad man did in her dream and she stops moving. The room’s completely silent as I wait for her answer. I think she’s emotionally worn down enough to answer my questions. I feel like shit for breaking her down like that but this is important and I need answers. “He hurt my lady dog.” She doesn’t say anything else. She starts washing my shins and knees. I guess she’s trying to keep herself distracted so she doesn’t have to think about what she saw.

“What did he do to your lady dog?” I ask in a soft voice. She pauses for a couple seconds so I know she heard me. But she ignores me. She keeps washing my legs and it’s getting a little annoying. I try not to sigh in irritation. I can’t get mad at her for not talking or she’ll never open up. What I want to know is why doesn’t she trust me enough to tell me what happened? What did the bad man tell her? “Put your head back.” I try not to sound frustrated but it’s hard. I just want to help her. I just want these nightmares to go away so she doesn’t have to wake up in fear. I use the cup to wet her hair and I take my time washing it. I make sure that every strand gets clean, and then conditioned. Ok, so maybe she does get that ‘distracting yourself to keep your mind off something’ thing from me.

“Why are you two up so early?” Buffy asks as she walks in. She yawns really wide and stretches her arms high above her head. Addy tells her that she had an accident but Buffy is still too tired to really care. She will in a little while though, and maybe she can get some more answers out of Addy. B pulls down her pajama pants and panties and sits down on the toilet. She glances over at us with a raised eyebrow. “Privacy please?” I roll my eyes and close the shower curtain. And even with it closed she has to turn on the faucet so we won’t be able to hear her take a piss. Ok, we’ve lived together for how long and she’s still self-conscious? That’s just stupid. “Addison did you have another bad dream?” She flushes the toilet and after a few seconds she turns the water off, and now she’s brushing her teeth. It’s like five in the morning, what the fuck is she doing? You’d think she’d want to go back to bed. Guess she’s just weird.

“Yeah Mommy,” Addy says and opens the shower curtain. She hates not being able to look at someone when she’s trying to talk to them. “I saw the bad man again.” She sounds so sad now. Why does the bad shit always happen to her? First she gets sent back to the past, then she gets a fuckin brain tumor, and now this shit. Is anyone else seeing a pattern here? Good, so it’s not just me. Buffy pauses for a couple seconds and glances over at her for about two seconds and then starts brushing her teeth again. I have Addy turn around so I can clean off her front. I know she already did it, but she’s a little kid so she probably missed some spots.

“What did the bad man do?” B asks and spits a fat glob of froth and saliva. The way she’s treating the situation it’s like she’s askin Addy what she did at school. Does she just not care or is she just too tired to care? I can’t decide which one. I’ll have to ask her about it later. How can she not care? If that is her answer, I mean. Addy’s wetting her bed and waking up terrified, how can B act like this isn’t a big deal? So many questions but I can’t ask ‘em in front of Addy just in case a fight breaks out. We try as hard as we can not to fight in front of the kids. Just hearing your parents fight is bad enough, but seeing it happen can fuck a kid up. And the last thing either of us want to do is fuck our kids up.

“He hurt my lady dog,” Addy says and looks down at her lap. What the hell? I had to practically pull teeth to get her to talk to me, but she’s talking to Buffy without any trouble. Then all of a sudden a light bulb goes off over my head, figuratively speaking. When I started asking questions I was all serious about it, but B’s acting relaxed and calm and Addy isn’t getting uncomfortable like she did with me. You may have won this round Buffy, but I will so take you down. Wait…what the fuck am I talking about? I need to stay focused ‘cause Addy might tell B what she saw. Then maybe we can figure out why these nightmares keep happening.

“Well, don’t worry, baby. Nobody’s going to let anything bad happen to your lady dog.” That’s it? She’s not going to ask her what happened to the dog? It could be important. “Come on, lets get you dressed so you can let your lady dog outside to go potty.” She puts her toothbrush back in the holder, and grabs a towel from under the sink for Addy to dry off with. She gets out of the tub and they leave the room. This fuckin sucks. I got like no answers out of her, at least none that are helpful. There’s only one thing I can think of that could help. Buffy doesn’t want her to see a shrink, and we can’t just do nothing, so I guess it’s time to call up Glenda and get her to do something magical. Maybe Red can do some kinda mind reading spell, see if Addy’s lying or not. I don’t know what would be the best thing to do so I’ll just have to wait to talk to Willow. And Sky’s a witch too so maybe she can help Red do whatever it is that she’ll do.

I wash myself off mostly for a distraction. Addy’s awake now so the ‘bad man’ can’t hurt her so I can deal with all this stuff later. Getting this resolved is important but I have some other important stuff to do also. Mostly just housework. I’m going to do more then my fair share to give Buffy a little bit of a break. Alright, I’ll admit it I’m mostly doing it just to make sure she isn’t mad at me anymore. I’m pretty sure she’s not, but I should do this just in case. I mean, last night she wanted me to hold her, and she never lets me touch her when she’s pissed off at something I did. I also need to do some laundry. We’re going over to my dad’s house for dinner tonight and I want the kids to wear their nice clothes. Their nice clothes are still dirty from the last time we had dinner over there.

After I let the water out and get out of the tub I dry off and throw on some clothes. I guess I’ll wash Addy’s sheets and blankets first. We don’t have to be at my dad’s until six so I have all day to do the laundry. After I throw in that stuff I scrub off her mattress and spray some Febreeze on it. I’m surprised we haven’t boughten one of those plastic covers to put over the mattress. I guess that would be too embarrassing for her. She gets really upset with herself whenever she wets the bed. Me and B keep telling her it’s ok and it’s not he fault, but she gets really ashamed when she does. I wonder if she got made fun of at daycare? She hasn’t worn a diaper since she was two and a half, maybe she wet herself during naptime and some kids made fun of her? I’ll have to ask her teacher about it. I know Mattie would never make fun of her for it and me and B have been nothing but supportive so why does she get so ashamed?

“What’s for breakfast?” Mattie asks when he walks into the kitchen. Well good morning to you too. Don’t these kids have any fuckin manners? I thought we taught them that kind of stuff. Hmm, maybe we forget. Oh well. I’m joking. I know they have manners, he’s just tired. I tell him I’ll make some ham and cheese omelets if he’ll take out the trash and I don’t even need to say please. He really likes my omelets. As I’m cutting up some ham from last night’s dinner I glance out the window and I can’t help but smile. Buffy and Addy are in the backyard, sitting on the grass across from each other and rolling the soccer ball back and forth, and the puppy is chasing the ball trying to bite onto it but her mouth isn’t big enough. Then Tucker stand over her, grabs onto the ball and takes off running. B and Addy both yell at him but he doesn’t stop. So they both jump up and run after him. I laugh to myself a little ad go back to fixing breakfast.

“Mama does my lady dog hafta go in the cage?” Addy whines and I tell her yes. “Why?” I tell her that it’s time for us to eat and the dogs aren’t allowed in the kitchen while we eat. I also tell her that Tucker learned to stay out of the kitchen during meals and one day the lady dog will too and she won’t have to be locked up. She gets a little irritated and I know she’s getting pissed off. Great, I really hope she doesn’t throw a fuckin tantrum. That’s the last damn thing that I need right now. “Fine.” She sound all pissy and she stomps off to the kitchen. But she surprisingly doesn’t throw a tantrum. She isn’t acting very pleasant, but there’s no yelling, no screaming, no mean words, or tears or melodrama. I go into the kitchen and everyone’s at the table already, and they’re waiting for me. I sit down and Buffy starts making up the kids’ plates. She puts an omelet on Addy’s plate, and some fruit but my precious little angel makes this weird noise, almost like a growl, and pushes the plate away.

“Addison Kristine,” B says in that stereotypical mom way. “You straighten up right now, and eat your breakfast.” She finishes making up Joey’s plate and he starts jabbering to himself while he eats. Addy still doesn’t cooperate. She pushes the plate back more and Buffy gets really irritated. I try really hard not to smile ‘cause it’ll just undermine B’s authority if Addy sees me doin it. But it’s hard not to ‘cause no matter what B says she is a lot like her mom when she gets irritated with the kids. It’s hilarious to watch. “You know, Addison, Santa doesn’t like it when little kids act bratty out their Christmas presents. You might want to start acting nicer or he might come back and take your lady dog back to the North Pole.” That threat will only be good for one, maybe two more days. It does the trick for now. Addison is still mad ‘cause she didn’t get her way, but she eats her breakfast.

I don’t say much while he eat. Mattie’s talking about how he can’t wait to get back to school because the first week they go back they have a basketball game with some team from Vegas. It took me a while but I finally got Buffy to agree to let him play. I gave her more head in that one night then I have in the last three months. I got so dizzy I thought I was gonna pass out. I wonder what my dad’s gonna make for dinner tonight? He’s an ok cook, but his skills are a little…limited. I’m just saying there are other animals out there besides the cow that are raised and slaughtered for their meat. Every time we’ve gone over there he’s made something out of beef. Would it kill him to make some pork chops or something every once in a while? But I guess I can’t complain. It is his house after all, and he’s just fixing what he likes. Doesn’t mean he has to try and convert us to the ‘beef lovers society’.

“Would you two hold still for like five seconds, please?” Buffy nags at me and Mattie. We weren’t doing much. I poked him so he poked me back and we got into a little contest. It’s not my fault we’re bored. This elevator ride is taking forever! How long does it take to get to the third floor? I mean, seriously this is bullshit. Finally the elevator stops and the doors open. We step out and walk down the hall. Damn, how long is this hallway? “Faith will you stop dragging your feet? You’re acting like a three-year-old.” Addy lets out a very offended ‘hey!’ and Buffy rolls her eyes. “You’re not three anymore, Addison.” I laugh a little but stop when B glares at me. She’s pissed off at me because Ruby, Addy finally decided to name her, got into the garden when I left her outside by herself, and she completely destroyed it. I’m gonna have to replant the whole thing, and it’s going to take forever ‘cause B’s garden was pretty big.

Finally we make it to the end of the hall. B knocks on the door and we wait. After about two seconds someone yells ‘come in’ but it didn’t sound like my dad. We walk into the apartment and hear someone giggling, a girl someone giggling. What the fuck is going on? Buffy parks the stroller next to the door and takes Joey out of it. Mattie and Addy run off to find their grandpa. We follow them and find him in the kitchen and he’s not alone. There’s a girl in here with him alright. The ‘she’s just a neighbor helping me take care of the baby’ Brittany to be exact. Well, she’s quite the friendly neighbor isn’t she? I mean, she helps my dad take care of a four-month-old when she has no obligation to, and now she’s cooking dinner for us. Maybe we should move into this apartment building if the neighbors are so helpful. I’d never have to do chores again.

Tonight she’s wearing a cashmere sweater that’s red with little snowflakes all over it. It hugs her body very well and in all the right places. She has on some tight fitting blue jeans that probably hug her ass perfectly. I’ll have to wait until she turns around to see if they do. She blushes and looks a little embarrassed and I really want to know why. But I think I have a good idea. See, the sweater isn’t a turtleneck, and I can see a teeny-tiny little hickie on the juncture where her neck meets her shoulder. I get a very mischievous smile on my face and my dad gives me a warning look. So there is something going on, and he’s silently telling me to back off. Oh, this is going to be good. And here I thought tonight was going to be just another dinner at my dad’s. Moderately fun, especially after we break out the wine, but now it’s different. Now I can stir up some trouble.

“Sorry dinner isn’t ready yet, but we weren’t expecting you for another fifteen minutes.” Yeah, no kidding. “The chicken has a garlic seasoning on it and I didn’t know if the baby could have that so I’m baking a chicken breast for him.” Well, that was nice of her. Buffy is the one to thank her ‘cause I’m too busy giving my dad a playful look and he keeps glaring at me. Tonight is going to be so much fun. “You kids can go play if you want. You know where the toys are.” Ok that bugs me a little bit. She’s just being nice, so let it go. They do run off to the spare bedroom and dig into the toys. “So, what have you girls been up to today?” Buffy tells her ‘not much’ but I’m waiting for the perfect moment to try and draw them out. If they’re in a relationship I’m so going to find out.

“So, Brittany,” I say after Buffy gets done describing the stupid candle holder I got her for Christmas. It wasn’t the only thing, but it is by far the most pointless. Luckily the diamond earrings made up for it. “What did you do for Christmas?” She looks a little nervous, my dad looks a little irritated, and Buffy…well she looks genuinely interested because she has no idea what I’m trying to do. I lean against the counter and wait for her to answer. I’m trying not to smile because I don’t want to freak her out, and it’s really hard. And I have to admit that she’s pretty damn cute when she’s nervous.

“I just stayed home. My parents passed away a couple years ago, and the only family I have is a brother but we haven’t spoken in years. I usually go to Aspen with some of my friends but I decided not to go. My boss is sick and I had to cover for her at work.” Wow, that sounds somewhat believable. That must be one hell of a boss if she’s willing to cancel a trip to Aspen just to work. Either that or she was here with my dad. Is it weird that I’m not jealous? You’d think I’d be jealous of her because my dad and I just found each other last year, and if he’s too busy spending time with her then I might get kicked to the curb. But I don’t feel that way. Is that weird?

“That sucks that you were alone on Christmas,” Buffy says and I raise an eyebrow at my dad. His face is turning so red that I want to laugh and tell him to calm down before he has a heart attack but I can’t because it’ll ruin everything. And Buffy saying that was so perfect because Brittany doesn’t really know what to say. I feel like I should be cackling. Don’t wicked witches cackle and wring their hands together? ‘Cause I feel like I should be doing that too. Brittany takes in a deep breath and tries to make her blush go away. Me and B exchange a little glance, and B has no idea what’s going on. Is she really that dense or is she just in denial?

“Well, it was kind of nice being by myself for a change. I got to sleep in and laze around all day. It was nice. Quiet, but nice.” Oh, I just caught her in a lie! She is so going down. I’m about to open my mouth and say something when there’s a loud beep. “Chicken’s ready.” Saved by the bird. But I’m not going to let it go that easy. I’ll keep my mouth shut for now but I will open it later. Oh yes, you better believe it. I’m going to get to the bottom of this even if I have to ask some embarrassing questions I’d rather not know the answers to. My dad and I set the table while the two Bs stay in the kitchen and talk while Brittany finishes making dinner. Not only did she bake a chicken but there’s honey glazed carrots, mashed potatoes, biscuits, and she’s making the chicken gravy right now. All of it smells and looks great. Lets just hope it tastes good too.

“Kids, dinner!” Buffy yells as she and her new best friend walk out of the kitchen and into the dining room. “And when my mom got sick I dropped out so I could be at home more and help her around the house take care of my younger sister. After she passed away I had to get a job to support me and my sister and I never got back around to it.” They must be talking about school. How boring. “But now I’m taking a business course at the community college and hopefully one day soon I’ll be able to open my own self-defense training class.” Yep, that’s what she wants to do. I think it’s a little dumb, but she wants to do it and I’ll support her no matter what. As long as I get to open up my shop all will be good. It’s going to be so bad ass. I still need to come up with a name though.

“That’s cool,” Brittany says and sets the platter down on the table. Everything else has already been set out. “The job I have is only temporary. I’m an assistant so it’s kiss ass work mostly. My boss is pretty cool for a boss. She has her moments. What I really want to do is teach.” Aww, how sweet. We sit down at the table. Buffy puts Joey in the highchair and makes up a plate for him. She calls out to the kids again and this time they actually listen. I watch my dad and Brittany kinda closely but without being obvious, ya know? She’s actually making up his plate for him. And no one is saying anything! “I get my degree this June, then I’ll substitute for a while until I find something a little more permanent.” Now I think is the perfect time to start pulling out the big guns. I’m going to show no mercy until these two lovebirds fess up.

“Not to sound intrusive.” Yeah right. I totally mean to sound intrusive. “But during the subbing and then finding permanence do you see yourself getting married or having kids of your own?” She almost chokes on her milk, which would have been hilarious, but she coughs a couple times and goes back to normal. Buffy’s giving me some strange looks and my dad looks like he could kill me right now. Good, it’s working. Maybe he’ll get mad enough and in a fit of anger confess to there being more then friendship or just being good neighbors. Anyway, Brittany clears her throat a couple times and thinks about my question. I guess she’s trying to find a way to word it carefully.

“Well, that’s a good question.” She’s so nervous that her hairline is starting to get a little bit of sweat. Hmm, maybe I should back off and wait for them to tell me when they’re ready? No, fuck that. They might never come clean, and then I won’t know anything. And I hate being left in the dark. She opens her mouth to say something but my dad totally cuts her off. Well, that’s a little rude. He usually acts more gentleman like then that. Then again, who cares? Lets just listen to what he has to say.

“Actually, if I could interrupt for a minute,” he says and she nods her head. He takes in a deep breath and then reaches over and holds onto Brittany’s hand. Ok, this isn’t funny anymore. I think this relationship of theirs is about more then just sex. And up until a couple seconds ago I thought that’s all it was. “Brittany and I have been seeing each other for a while now, since February.” That was ten months ago! “And yesterday I proposed.” What?! “And she said yes.” The entire room is completely silent. Not even Joey is making any noise. I go to say something but my dad keeps talking. “There’s more.” Oh please don’t say it. “In about seven months we’re expecting a baby.” I think I’m going to faint. Whatever thought I was going to verbalize is gone. All I can do is concentrate on breathing. It’s Addy that finally breaks the deafening silence.

“But you’re so old.”

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