Chapter 77 : We Haven't Changed So Much After All

One Week Later. DPOV

I’ve missed this so much. You have no idea. Tonight was possibly the most perfect night in the entire world. Well, for me at least. Now that Faith, and Willow are home I finally went out on a date with Eric, the cute delivery guy. And he looks even hotter in slacks and a button down red shirt then he does in his uniform. Anyway, he picked me up at eight and took me out to dinner. The conversation was nice. He talked a little more then I did, which is fine by me. He’s so funny, and he had me laughing so hard I almost cried a couple of times. But that would’ve ruined my makeup so I forced myself to get a little control over the tears. When it was my turn to talk he listened to what I had to say instead of just pretending. I’ve learned to tell the difference. Some people are better at pretending then others, but I could just tell he wasn’t.

After dinner we went to the movies. I was a little nervous at first. It’s been a very long time since I’ve dated anyone, and I wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t know if I should hold his hand, or wait for him to make the first move. The only time we touched during the movie was when we would reach for the popcorn at the same time. He was the perfect gentleman. Throwing out all the trash, and opening doors for me. The normal gentlemanly stuff that a lot of guys don’t do anymore. I don’t really blame guys for that though. Chivalry is dead and feminists killed it. A guy doesn’t know if he’s going to get a polite smile and a thank you for opening a door, or a large rant about how women are just as equal as men. But Eric wasn’t afraid to do any of that stuff for me.

On the walk back to the car he reached over and gently touched the side of my hand with his fingertips. When it first happened I didn’t know if it was an accident or not. But when he did it again I knew he was trying to hold onto my hand. So I slowly put my hand into his and we entwined our fingers together. We held hands on the walk to the car, in the car, and when he walked me to the door. We had been talking the entire drive back to the house. Mostly about the movie and how it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t that good either. We walked in silence though until we reached my front door. The porch light was on so we weren’t standing there in complete darkness or anything. We were just looking into each other’s eyes, and he started to look a little nervous. I knew what was coming next, and I almost squealed when I saw him leaning towards me.

I didn’t squeal though, ‘cause how embarrassing would that be? Very embarrassing, that’s how much. Anyway, our first kiss was sweet, and soft and his lips felt so good against mine. I didn’t want it to end, but then he pulled back. He looked into my eyes again with this look on his face like ‘Do you want me to do it again?’ And I definitely wanted more. We made out for a little while on the porch, and I don’t know exactly when it happened but at some point I was pressed up against the wall. I don’t know how long we were like that before he thought it would be a good idea to end things before they went too far. I kissed him again, and took him by the hand. Without saying a word I unlocked the door, and led him into the house. Before he could question me on any of it, I told him that I wanted him, and that tomorrow I won’t have any regrets.

And right now we are basking in the afterglow of some of the best sex I’ve ever had. Or maybe it just seemed great because I haven’t had it in a long time? God, it really doesn’t matter. I look over at him and I know I have a big goofy smile on my face. We haven’t made any noise in the last ten minutes. We’ve just been lying here in a comfortable silence. His hand is resting on my stomach, and he’s gently rubbing his thumb back and forth. It’s very soothing, and I don’t want him to stop. I lean over and kiss him on the lips. Just a little peck, and he reciprocates right away. It doesn’t deepen or anything, though. I really don’t think I could go again even if I wanted to. I’m completely spent, and loving every second of it. By the look on his face I’d say he’s pretty happy too.

“Good date?” he asks with a little smirk on his face. I can’t help but giggle a little bit. Yeah, I giggled like a little school girl or something. I’ve been doing that all night. I don’t know why really. I guess he just makes me feel like a little high schooler again. Which isn’t exactly bad or anything. I’ve had more fun tonight then I’ve had in a really long time. And it isn’t just because of the sex. Sure that was great, and mind blowing, and I really needed it. But if we hadn’t slept together tonight would still have been one of the best dates I’ve ever had. Probably the best one. I never thought I’d have that much fun on a first date. First dates are usually pretty awkward, at least they are for me. Although I haven’t been on a lot. The ones I have been on were a little tense.

“Dawn.” Ok, his voice just turned serious. I wonder what the problem is. “Do you want me to go?” And here comes the part I didn’t want to think about. I told Buffy that Eric was pretty much just a boy toy. But now that we’ve been out and I’ve seen how great of a guy he is I really don’t want him to go. There’s so much to consider though. Am I ready to date again? Do I even want a boyfriend? Does he want to be my boyfriend or does he just want more sex? I don’t get why this is so hard. I planned on sleeping with him once and then going back to being friends who sometimes flirt. Now I don’t know what I want to do. Why do things always have to be so damn complicated? “Dawn?” Ok, ok, jeez keep your pants on. Well, he doesn’t have any pants on, but whatever.

“No, I don’t. Will you stay with me tonight?” I didn’t mean to sound that desperate, but I did and there’s nothing I can do about it now. He smiles a little, and pulls me closer to him. I press my body up against his, and he gives me a little kiss on my temple. I’ve missed this so much. Falling asleep alone has always been one of the hardest things for me to do. I’ve missed falling asleep in someone’s arms, and waking up next to them. Like I told my sister, late at night and early in the morning are two of the loneliest times for me. I didn’t plan on having him spend the night, and yes I know I sound like a total slut, but I don’t care. Anyway, I’m glad that he’s staying, even though this is probably going to complicate things more then they were going to be already. But I’m not going to worry about that right now. I have tomorrow to worry. Right now I just want to be happy.

“Goodnight,” he whispers. His breath tickles my neck and I smile as he gently places a little kiss on my warm skin. I whisper it back, and then everything is quiet. I listen to his breathing as it slows down, and gets a little deeper. Well, it didn’t take him very long to fall asleep. But that’s ok. It means I get to bask in this wonderful feeling and I don’t have to think of something to say. I don’t really talk a lot after sex. Sometimes if I’m in the mood to afterwards I will, but right now isn’t one of those times. No, right now I’m going to memorize every little thing about this moment. What it feels like to have strong arms wrapped around me, the sound of his rhythmic breathing, but most of all this feeling of contentment. Maybe if I can memorize them, then tomorrow night when I fall asleep alone I want feel so lonely.

No, I don’t wanna wake up yet. I was having a really good dream. I was on a beach somewhere, sitting in a lounge chair in a bikini, and two really hot, totally ripped guys were serving me drinks. Why do all good dreams have to end before anything really good happens, and yet really bad stuff happens in nightmares before you wake up? I know, it’s really lame. Besides, it’s too early to be awake. I don’t know what time it is, but it’s too early for me to be up. And who is talking? Why are there people talking when I’m trying to sleep? Oh fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, no! Now that I’m a little more awake I recognize the voices. One of them is Eric, and the other one is Nick. This is bad on so many levels. The biggest one would have to be that I never told Eric that I have kids. I’m pretty sure they don’t know I’m awake, and I really need to hear what’s being said.

“But why are you in my mommy’s bed?” Nick asked and he sounds so confused. I can totally picture the look on his face. His nose slightly scrunched and his eyebrows all furrowed together. And the use of the word ‘but’ means they’ve been talking for a little bit. Knowing Nick he’s probably interrogating this guy. I know he’s only three, but I swear he’s going to grow up to be a cop or something. I guess that would be pretty cool if that’s something he wants to do. But that so isn’t the point. I think the thing we should be focusing on is how Eric is going to explain this to my three-year-old son.

“Well, uh,” he says and then stops making any noise. He sounds so nervous. Maybe I should ‘wake up’ and go have Nick play in the other room or something. “Sometimes grown ups have special friends, and they let their special friends sleep in their beds. I’m just your mommy’s special friend.” I really, really want to laugh at that but I know I can’t. It’ll ruin the whole spying thing. Besides I want to see how Nick is going to react to that. One thing about my boy’s is that neither one of them are stupid. They are only three so they don’t know what sex is yet, but they’re definitely not stupid.

“So you’re my mommy’s special friend?” Another thing about little kids is they’ll repeat what you say and turn it into a question. It gets really annoying very fast, but Eric is a pretty patient guy. I don’t know how he feels about children, the subject never came up last night, but he’s definitely patient. Anyway, I guess Eric just nodded his head because Nick moves on to a different subject. “Why don’t you have clothes on?” I have to bite my lips to keep from smiling at that question. From what I can feel I’m completely covered up so I’m not worried about him seeing anything a little boy shouldn’t see, but I guess Eric is only covered from the waist down. I wait to hear what he has to say about that, and after a few minutes of silence I get my answer.

“Hey, little man, why don’t you wait for me in the hallway, and we’ll make some breakfast. Do you want to do that?” Avoiding the question with the offer of food. I take it he has nephews or something. Oh God, what if he has kids too and we were lying to each other? Wait…that would actually be a good thing because then he wouldn’t be able to get mad at me for not telling him that I’m a mom. But I don’t like the fact that we were lying, if he has kids too that is. Then again I wasn’t really planning on having a morning after. He wasn’t supposed to spend the night. Why do I have to be such an emotional person? I just wish I could control them better then I do now. I blame my dad for abandoning us for his secretary.

I close my eyes when I feel him roll over in the bed. I can feel him staring at me and trust me when I say I really want to shiver right now. It’s such an intense stare and I’m not even looking at it yet. I have no idea how I’m going to explain this to him. He probably thinks I’m a horrible person. I lied to him about something I should have been completely honest about because there’s no reason for me to hide it. Ok, so I’ll admit I thought that if he knew I’m a mom then he wouldn’t want me. I could tell he wanted to ask about my stretch marks but he didn’t, and I’m thankful for that. I guess he just assumed I was once really fat but then I lost a lot of wait, and he’s about half right. I was really fat but not in a ‘sitting on my ass all day eating nothing but Cheesy Poofs’ because I don’t even like Cheesy Poofs.

“Dawn,” he says and gently shakes my shoulder. Wow, he’s actually trying to wake me up. A part of me thought he was going to sneak out quietly and never talk to me again. I’m not sure if I should be happy about this or not. “Dawn, wake up.” He shakes me a little harder. Ok, I guess it’s time for me to ‘wake up’ because there’s no way the sleeping me would be able to sleep through all this shaking. I very slowly flutter my eyes open. I have to pretend like nothing is wrong. I have to act all girly and sweet, and maybe even flirt a little bit. Yeah, I should definitely flirt. Especially now that I know how damn good looking he is in the morning. I probably look like something the cat dragged in or something.

“Good morning,” I practically purr. I lean forward and give him a little kiss on the lips. He lets me kiss him but he doesn’t reciprocate. Ok, so he isn’t completely fine with the fact that I didn’t tell him about my kids, which is totally understandable. I just really hope he isn’t going to freak out on me. I don’t want get into a fight with him or anything, and I don’t want things to be weird between us. We have to see each other a lot because he’s the delivery guy at my work. Anyway, I pull back from the kiss and look into his eyes. He looks a little mad, but mostly confuse. Hopefully the mad stays down. “Something wrong?” I’m supposed to act stupid, remember?

“Why didn’t you tell me you have a kid?” Surprisingly he doesn’t sound mad. He sounds just as confused as he looks, but not mad. I wonder how long that’s going to last. At this point honesty would definitely be the best policy. I’m not going to tell him that I used him for a night of meaningless sex, because nobody wants to hear that. But I am going to tell him why he didn’t know about the boys. He deserves that much. I sit up a little bit and lean against the headboard. I have a feeling this might be a long conversation and I want to be comfortable.

“Actually I have two. Twins, Nick and Alex. And I didn’t tell you because I was afraid if you knew that I’m a mom then you wouldn’t want to go out with me. A lot of guys out there don’t want to date a single mom. I really like you and I just wanted to have a good time.” I can’t tell what he’s thinking and I don’t like that. He has a very expressive face so I can usually tell what he’s feeling, but now I don’t have a clue. “Are you mad at me? Because I would totally understand if you were. You have very right to be. I lied to you about something that I should’ve been honest about from the beginning. I’ll understand if you never want to talk to me again.” He gets a little smirk on his face, and it makes me feel a little better. Maybe he doesn’t hate me after all.

“I’m a little mad, but I get it. I know a lot of guys like that. But I’m not like that. If I really like the girl it doesn’t matter if she has some kids, or lots of cats, or two different colored eyes.” He’s trying to make me smile and it’s working. So he likes me? That might be a little bit of a problem. See, I’m not exactly sure if I want to see him again or not. Why do things have to be so complicated? I can’t just go out with a guy and have some fun. No, I have to have spectacular sex with him and then develop feelings the next morning. Why do women have to be so damn clingy? What is it in our brains that prevents us from having emotionless sex? Because I’m really mad at it right now. “I told one of your kids I’d make some breakfast so you just wait here and I’ll bring you some food.” I smile and lean over and give him a kiss. This one he does reciprocate and I do a little happy dance on the inside.

“That sounds nice. And just to let you know there’s a slight possibility that my sister is out there, or will be soon if she’s still sleeping. She might’ve gone home after we got back, but she still thinks I’m fifteen or something so she might try to intimidate you.” What? Did you really think I’d leave my kids alone while I went out on a date? No, I asked Buffy to watch them for me. I really hope she left. I don’t want her getting all protective and do something stupid. Just because I’m not sure if I want a relationship with him that doesn’t mean I want him to know what it means to have your ass handed to you by a slayer. Anyway, he leaves a little kiss on my lips and gets out of bed. I can’t help but stare at him and I get a little smirk on my face.

“Don’t worry about it. You just relax, and I’ll be back bearing breakfast.” I have to admit the thought of that is very, very nice. Eric isn’t so bad. I mean, he did give me one of the best nights of my life. He was perfect at everything, and so far he’s been nothing but great. He always makes sure to deliver the materials just a little earlier then we scheduled because he knows how crazy things can get at my company, and we’re always running a little behind. Whenever I’m really stressed and freaking out that we’re not going to make a deadline just seeing him walking through the door with very large rolls of fabric can calm me down. I’m starting think I was wrong before. Maybe having an actual boyfriend won’t be so bad after all. Then again this is going to create a lot of gossip at work. Maybe we should just keep this to ourselves.

FPOV

Alright, so here’s what’s been goin down in the last week. Day before yesterday we went to Mattie’s football game and my boy kicked ass. I recorded everything with the video camera and B took a lot of pictures. They killed the other team 14-6, and Mattie threw the ball perfect every time, he made six interceptions, and tackled a bunch of people. Even people he didn’t really need to tackle. If they got in his way they were goin down. It was so fuckin awesome. I’ve never been prouder of my boy then I was then. We sat pretty close to the field and I know he could hear me and B cheering him on. His slayer hearing is very sensitive, so there’s no doubt in my mind that he heard us. He was just ignoring us. We were probably embarrassing him since we were the loudest parents at the game.

Buffy kept her word and told everyone she talked to, which was just about everyone at the game, that her son is the quarterback. Once she got a little bored with that, she started talking to Rachel, Lucas’ mom. Apparently he’s on the team too, but I wasn’t really paying attention. I was too busy keepin an eye on Mattie. We did have the pizza party on Friday night, just like B promised. We had four different kinds of pizza, chips, dips, sodas, three different kinds of ice bream, and a bunch of balloons. Addy and Joey had fun popping those. Joey is such a little wuss though. He’d grad a balloon and squeeze until it’d pop, and it scared him every time. He must’ve popped ten or twelve balloons, and every time he’d jump a little and almost start cryin. Watching him do it was fuckin hilarious, and yes I got it all on film.

Anyway, the kid stuff isn’t the only shit that happened this week. Giles called and talked to me. Told me how glad he was that they finally got me back. I promised that we’d visit him soon, but I think he took it with a grain of salt. We are goin to Ohio in November but I’m the only one who knows it. Anyway, he also called because the group of girls that I’m going to be training is ready to come to Lincoln. He said he delayed the departure so I could have some time with my family after being away from them for what felt like forever. That call took place on Wednesday. It’s now Sunday and I’m standing at the Las Vegas airport waiting for a group of girls to hurry the fuck up and get here. According to the arrival board thing, the plane should have landed twenty minutes ago. I’ve been here for thirty-five. He isn’t just sending the group that needs special attention. There’s an intern that’s coming with them to live in the apartment building and keep an eye on them while I’m away.

I don’t have a problem with that. I think it’s pretty smart. This way they’ll have a harder time sneaking out for alcohol and boys. I just wish they’d get here. I spent along time yesterday cleaning up all of the rooms and putting fresh sheets on all the beds and restock the refrigerators. I don’t think we’re going to do any training today. I’m going to take them to the apartments, show them what rooms they’ll be staying in, and then give them a tour of the town. Giles didn’t say who the intern is. All she said was she’s twenty-two and she’s the student who’s shown the most improvement ever. I’ve been tryin to think of who it could be but there have been so many slayers at that school and most of the I’ve never met. I felt like we needed to get more involved with the school ‘cause for the longest time we never did anything. So this is me waiting at the airport, being more involved.

Giles did tell me the names of the girls comin here for the school year. One of ‘em is a freshman even though I requested sophomores and juniors only. But I guess it doesn’t really matter. One freshman isn’t going to hurt. Anyway, there are seven girls coming here to be trained. One of ‘em is Georgia Serra, the girl that helped with the research party. She’s fifteen, a sophomore, and pretty good at studying, but apparently she’s having a hard time with the physical stuff. I guess she just needs to learn to let loose and go with the flow. The freshman’s name is Cristina Goodman. According to Giles she’s a classic case of what happens when parents home school their kids. She doesn’t know how to just be a kid, let alone a slayer so she’s comin here so I can rip her out of her shell.

The juniors are: Michaela Brennan, Joy Lipski, Carmen Alverez, Shea McCormick, and Natasha Winter. He didn’t tell me much about them. Just that they haven’t improved much since freshman year and he wants to see if I can help. Of course I’ll be able to help. You’re lookin at one of the original slayers. If I can’t teach these girls anything then I might as well retire. I am gonna know all about their background and stuff too so I can get a feel for ‘em and know how to talk to them. Giles is sending over all of their personal files with the intern. It’s buggin the fuck out of me that I don’t know who she is. Who is the most improved student ever? I guess I’m gonna find out since a group of eight girls is walking towards me. I stand up from my seat and holy fucking shit. She’s the most improved slayer in the history of the slayer school?

“Well, look at you all grown up. Damn, girl, you’re lookin good,” I say and give her a little friendly punch on the arm. She just smiles and shakes her head a little bit. She definitely looks different then the last time I saw her. Then again I saw her seven years ago so I’m sure I look different too. “I think I’m gonna have to steal that jacket from ya.” It’s a black leather jacket, and it looks brand new and fuckin expensive. I have one kinda like it but not as good as that one.

“You’ll have to rip it off my cold dead body,” she says with a small smile. I look around at the other girls and they’re lookin at me with this look of awe. It feels good to be admired, I’ll admit that. All they have are their carryons so I know they haven’t hit the luggage pick up thing yet. I guess she’s thinkin the same thing ‘cause she turns to ‘em and says, “Why don’t you guys go get our bags? We’ll be right over here.” They nod their heads and walk off. I smile a little bit at the littlest one. She’s definitely the freshman. She’s looking around like she’s never seen so many people in one place before. And from the way Giles talked it up she probably hasn’t. “So, Faith, what have you been up to the last few years?” She sets down the small plastic crate and stretches her arms above her head. She’s definitely different. More mature, a lot calmer, and more filled out.

“Oh you know, had another kid,” she snorts a little at that, and I give her a mock glare that she completely ignores. I would’ve done the same thing. “Saw my dad for the first time since I was ten, opened up a bike shop with him, almost killed a guy for fuckin with my daughter’s mind, and got kidnapped by some weird alternate universe. So, pretty much what I always do. Shit comes along and throws a wrench into things and I deal.” Both of her eyebrows almost touch her hairline, and she chuckles a deep throaty laugh. Her laugh sounds really nice and it must be contagious ‘cause I’m laughing a little too. Once I can breathe right I try to talk again. “You?” She picks up the plastic crate and I try to glance inside but there’s cover over the front so I can’t see what’s in it. That’s gonna bug me until I find out.

“Let’s see, someone ran me over because they thought I was trying to break into their garage when all I did was stake a vamp. I got arrested for trespassing and the bastards put me away for a while ‘cause of all the other shit on my record. It added up to eight months, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. I got out a little early for good behavior, and that’s always nice.” I know she’s talkin about juvie ‘cause I’ve seen her police record and it’s been sealed. “I fought off two apocalypses, almost died in the second one, I wore nothin but my birthday suit under the gown at graduation, and I’ve been doin this intern thing ever since.” I laugh a little bit, and she starts up too. If you had asked me if we’d be this relaxed around each other I probably would’ve said no. I don’t know her all that well, and when we did have a little ‘get to know you’ talk it wasn’t very pleasant.

“Sounds about right,” I say and glance over at the girls. They’re still waiting for some of their luggage. Great, I hope we don’t have to wait for a long time. I think the tour of the town is going to include going to Lee Chinese Palace and ordering three of everything. I’ll have them charge it to Giles’ account since it’s for ‘official school business’. Yep, as long as I got out with the girls I can do fun stuff and have Giles pay for it. He offered, that’s all I’m sayin. And yes I’m more then willin to take advantage of his kindness. At least when it comes to feeding eight hungry and jet lagged slayers. “Can’t say for sure if B’s gonna be happy to see you or not, but it’s good to have you here.” She gives me a playful look and I think I know what’s comin.

“What, are you goin all mushy on me now? Didn’t we have a very long chat about you not being such a pussy all the time?” Yeah, even if I were blind I would’ve seen that coming. The other girls come back with all of their bags, and there aren’t as much as I thought there was gonna be. Ok, there are eight girls and only seven suitcases. They’re going to be living here until the end of December and all they have is seven suit cases? “Ok, time for the intros.” I guess intros would be good since I don’t really know who is who. “You already met Georgia, and this is Cristina.” Yep, I was right. The tiny one is the freshman. And from the look on her face I’d say she has a critical case of hero worship. I shake her hand and give her a little wink. She blushes, and hides behind her dirty blonde hair.

“This is Shea, Joy, Carmen, Natasha and Michaela.” Shea’s the tallest of the juniors, and taller then me by about three inches. Natasha’s about two inches shorter then Shea. She has this whole California girl thing goin on. You know, bottled blonde hair, fake baked skin, and really skinny. Someone needs to get this chick a sandwich before she drops dead. Anyway, Michaela’s the same height as Natasha. If I had to guess I’d say she’s half Chinese, and one of the hottest people I’ve ever seen. If I weren’t married and she weren’t underage I’d definitely buy a ticket for that ride. Carmen’s next when it comes to tallness. She has this whole tough girl ‘don’t fuck with me’ vibe goin on. Joy’s the shortest of the juniors by about an inch. Even though she’s short she looks like she can start some trouble.

“Well, it’s nice to meetcha. I’m Faith, but I guess you already know that.” I shake all of their hands, and they don’t look as impressed as Cristina did. Well, I guess I’ll have to change that. “Alright, if you guys are ready we can head over to the apartment building and I’ll show you what rooms you’ll be stayin in.” They all nod and we head out to the parkin lot. I guess I forgot to mention that I rented a van for the day. There’s no fuckin way I could’ve fit everyone into my Camero. This van is totally lame, but if fits everyone so I guess it’s alright. I can already tell there’s gonna be some problems between Michaela and Carmen. They fought like little kids for all the way to the car over who gets to ride shotgun. But the intern took ranks and hopped in the front seat while they weren’t paying attention. I don’t know what the fuck is up with them, maybe it’s part of why Giles sent them here.

“Alright ladies, this is where you’ll be living for the next two months. I’ve already talked to the principal at the high school and if you wanna go to the Halloween at the end of the month he said it’s alright as long as you don’t cause any trouble. I’d spike the punch if I was you. It’s not like you’re gonna get expelled, right?” They laugh a little bit, and they grab their bags from the back. I seriously wanna know how the hell they plan on living here with only one bag of stuff. I know I did that for a long time but that was out of need. It’s not like I only wanted one duffle bag worth of clothes. “So what’s the deal? Am I takin you guys shopping or something? No offense but when teenage girls go on a long trip they usually pack everything they own.” All of ‘em laugh a little bit, but only just a little. They’re still tired from the trip. They’ll be laughin their asses off at my jokes in no time. Anyway, it’s the intern that explains.

“All of us packed four bags each, but the airport has this new thing about charging some huge ass fee if you have more then two bags, including the carryons. And you know how cheap Giles is. He did the math and figured out it would cost him less to send our bags by UPS. So they’ll be here in a couple days. This is just the stuff we need and can’t live without.” I glance down at the plastic crate again, and I really wanna know what the fuck is in there that she can’t live without. Then again, since it’s plastic and has little air holes on the sides I’m guessin whatever’s in there is alive. Maybe a little yappy ankle biter dog or something. Crate looks about the right size for one of those. Great, I probably should’ve said no dogs allowed. I’m sure she coulda found someone at the school to take care of it for her. Then again I hate goin places for a long time without my dogs. So I guess I can see where she’s comin from. But if that little motherfucker bites me I’m bitin back.

“How the hell are we supposed to get dates for the party?” Joy asks as we start walking towards the building. I totally should’ve seen that one comin. These are teenage girls we’re talkin about here. I roll my eyes a little bit and thankfully they didn’t see or I might’ve gotten a bitch attack. Joy is definitely one girl you don’t wanna fuck with, and I really don’t feel like arguing with a seventeen year old. I’ll have more of that then I can handle when Matt turns seventeen.

“Well I guess you guys will just have to go stud hunting later. A lot of the high schoolers hang out at the park, and they play football, and basketball. A bunch of the girls hang out to watch them so you might wanna be careful. This is a small town and people can be pretty mean to outsiders.” That’s for fuckin sure. When B and I first moved here we definitely weren’t welcomed with open arms. Especially when we held hands in public. But now that we’ve been livin here for a long time people have calmed down. For the most part. A couple of people still give us shit when they see us but we ignore ‘em. “And here comes the part when I lay down the rules.” All of ‘em but Cristina groan and roll their eyes. Oh yeah, this was such a good idea. Why did I wanna help out the troubled girls at the school? Oh yeah, to help out the slayer community. Next time I get a bright idea stop me from goin through with it, alright?

“There are no boys allowed in this building unless I say otherwise. If you’re caught with a guy you’ll be sent back to the school and someone else will take your place. That’s Giles’ rule so blame that one on him. Durin the week when we’re not training and you’re not doin your homework you can go out but you have to be back in this building by sunset. We’ll meet up down here before we go on patrol.” All of ‘em look happy at the idea of patrolling. And hey, who wouldn’t when I’m the one who’ll be takin ‘em? “On the weekends if all your work is done you can stay out until midnight. There’re a couple all age clubs just outside of town I’m sure your intern won’t mind takin you to.” I give her a little wink and she just rolls her eyes. “And if you’re thinkin about sneakin off with some guy or go some place you’re not supposed to just remember I have the world’s most powerful witch on speed dial. And she’ll find your ass in a New York minute.”

Some of ‘em laugh, mostly me and the intern. I don’t know what it is about her she just has this vibe or energy or something goin on. She’s makin me feel like I used to before I had kids and had to grow up. I can tell we’re definitely going to have some fun together. And by that I mean we’re gonna go party at some of the clubs. Maybe I can get Red to watch the juniors while we’re out or something. It isn’t just that we’re getting along so well but being around her is makin me all hyper. I haven’t felt this hyper since I ate three huge cotton candies, five ice cream bars, seven caramel apples, and drank a forty-eight ounce Pepsi. The Adventure Dome is so sweet. We need to go there more often. Anyway, I show ‘em around the building and all of ‘em look like they can’t wait to try out the training room. We have just about everything, and it’s fuckin cool as hell. They’re also really happy that they get their own rooms. At the school it’s two girls to a room, but here they don’t have to share.

“So, what else have you been doin over the years, you know, besides jail and savin the world?” I ask and watch as she puts the plastic crate on the foot of the bed. The intern’s apartment is the biggest and trust me it’s that way on purpose. I wasn’t sure if there were gonna be any interns willin to give up living at the school so I had to sweeten the deal a little bit. Having a huge, fully furnished apartment with a big ass flat screen TV and a Jacuzzi bathtub all to yourself is definitely something worth having for a couple of months. “You gotta special guy in your life yet?” She laughs a little bit and sits down on the edge of the bed.

“Nah. That shit’s not for me. I don’t think I can be tied down to one person, you know?” She says that now, but she’s only twenty-two. I’m sure in a couple years she’ll be looking for someone to settle down with. Then again you never know. People tend to surprise you. I watch her as she opens the door on the crate and I finally get to see what’s inside. Well, I will when it comes out. “Oh come on you big baby. Don’t be afraid.” She holds out her hand and wiggles her fingers a little bit and at the same time she makes a little whistling sound. Almost instantly the biggest cat I’ve ever seen walks out of the crate and rubs against her hand. “See, it’s not so bad out here.” There’s no way that’s the same little thing from seven years ago.

“Jesus Christ, did you give that thing steroids or something?” I ask and she laughs a little bit. I start laughin too since her laugh is pretty infectious. I haven’t to admit the way I’m acting around her it seems a little like I’m flirting or whatever. Let’s just hope B doesn’t get jealous ‘cause I do not need that headache. Anyway, the cat jumps down from the bed and starts rubbin on my legs. I hate it when cats do that. I know they do it to rub their smell on your and claim you as theirs, but still it’s fuckin annoying. That’s what I really hated about Buffy’s stupid cat Tink. She was always rubbin against my legs when I was in the kitchen and she wanted something to eat. Only she wouldn’t just rub against my legs she’d meow all fuckin annoying and it made me wanna kick her across the room. I never did though, ‘cause that’d be fucked up.

“He wishes. No he eats a pretty steady idea of left over meat and stuff like that. Plus the cat food he sometimes puts up with.” That another thing I hate about cats. Dogs’ll eat just about anything especially if it rolls in the dirt first, but cats are all finicky and shit. I do like some cats. I’m not a complete hater. I had one back in Sunnydale. She was really cool. She was gone most of the time doin God knows what, and only came back when she was hungry and wanted some love. As far as cats go she was pretty cool. “He really isn’t as big as he looks. It’s mostly ‘cause he’s so fluffy.” This thing looks like he weights about thirty fuckin pounds. I really don’t wanna piss him off ‘cause cats can be fuckin mean and this one looks like he can eat me if he wants. My cell phone starts to ring and I look down at the caller id. Great, this should be fun.

“It’s my son’s school callin.” Mattie probably got in a fight or something. He does that sometimes. There’s this kid named David Lynch that’s always givin him shit about us. I guess his mom is one of those religious extremists, and he takes after her. He’s always tellin Mattie how me and B are gonna burn ‘cause we’re gay. I know I’m a grown woman, but that kid just makes you wanna hit him. I have no problem with people sayin shit like that to me ‘cause I’m used to it, but anyone who goes after my kid because of the way I live my life makes me wanna knock ‘em out. I really hope he didn’t get in a fight ‘cause if he did then he’ll get kicked off the football team, and he was really lookin forward to playin. Well, I better answer this before it goes to voicemail.

BPOV

So today Faith picked the slayers in training up from the airport. I wanted to do it but there are a lot of things that need to be done and she won the coin toss. I mean that literally. Neither of us wanted to do all the chores so we flipped a coin, and Faith won. I hate it when she does stuff like that. Later on I’m going to stop by the apartments and have a little meet and greet. I want the girls to know that I can have fun and I’ll listen to what they have to say, but when it’s time to be serious then I mean business. I don’t want them to think that we’re unapproachable just because we’re the original slayers. Faith kind of had the right idea back in Sunnydale when she took the girls out to the Bronze. If there hadn’t been a huge war going on at the time then I would’ve have been so pissed off, ad I would’ve kept my hands to myself.

You know, the entire concept of chores is completely stupid. I’m not the only person who lives in this house, so why am I expected to clean it up? Faith helps out a little bit but she always does everything half assed and I end up doing it all over again. So today I’m cheating. Matthew got out of school early because it had to be shut down because there was a fake bomb scare, but they had to shut down anyway just in case. Anyway, after Faith left to give the other slayers a tour of the town I made a deal with my son. I told him if he does all of the chores and he does them as good as me then I’ll give him fifty bucks and let him spend it on fifty bucks no questions asked. I think that is one of the benefits of having kids. When they reach about ten or eleven you never have to do housework again. Well, some things you have to do yourself. I really don’t want my son washing my laundry. At least not the intimates, ‘cause talk about traumatizing.

So what am I doin instead of cleaning the house? I am out back, spread out on a lawn chair wearing my bikini and working on my tan. I love that the weather here is just like the weather Southern California. Well, except here there are no floods and deadly mudslides. Or fog because we don’t have an ocean. But that’s ok. I can live without all of that stuff. We have enough to worry about. Like rattlesnakes, and scorpions, and spiders, and coyotes, and gambling addicts. But you have to take the bad with the good and learn to accept that you can’t change it no matter how hard you try. We’ve snaked proofed the yard as best we can, but over the years the occasional one has gotten into the backyard for a little dip in the pool. Faith has become an ‘expert’ snake handler removing them from the yard. She’s afraid of spiders, even really small ones that can’t bite her no matter how hard they try, but she’ll pick up a rattlesnake? Yeah, all of her brain cells are working properly.

I’m not stupid or anything, and I do have sympathy for them. Snakes are cold blooded, and the average temperature here in the summer is a hundred degrees so I get the need to escape the heat. I just think they’re creepy with the non-blinking eyes, and forked tongues that flick out every few seconds. What is up with that? And the way they slither around all weird and gross. So far all Faith has done is put them in a bucket and driven them back out to the desert where they can’t hurt anybody, but if one of my kids ever gets bit I’ll have her kill them if they come in the yard. Faith built a little gate on the deck so the kids can’t go out into the yard without us unlocking it. I’m not sure why we didn’t think of doing that sooner. It’s not like three-year-olds are known for staying put when you’re distracted. But enough about creepy killer snakes.

This whole cheating thing totally reminds me of how I used to be back in LA. We had weekly chores that our mom made us do, but I could totally get out of them if I pouted to my dad when she wasn’t around. He would do them for me and I would still get paid my allowance. And then when Dawn was old enough to do chores I would just find something on her that I could use as blackmail and tell her if she didn’t do my chores for me I’d tell Mom. From there I would either go out with my friends or head to the beach and soak up some rays. Kind of like I’m doing right now. So yeah, it’s pretty safe to say that I haven’t changed much since I was a teenager. I still hate doing chores and I still manage to find ways out of them. Even with Faith I can get her to do them the right way. Not all the time, only once very couple of months, and when I’m feeling energetic because her ‘reward’ for doing a good job is pulling an all nighter.

It’s time for me to roll over and I don’t want to be distracted from my basking anymore. I very slowly roll over onto my stomach because I’m feeling lazy like that. It sucks that Faith isn’t here to rub the sunscreen on my back. I did it earlier but I know I didn’t do a very good job. Oh well, I guess parts of me will just have to be sunburned. I don’t want to get any tan lines on my back because how stupid do those look? So I take my top off and set it on the deck. Awww, that’s better. I should do this every day. This is seriously relaxing. I should do this every day. I’d be really tan if I had the time to do that. Faith doesn’t like it when I get too tan though because of the patches of white. I wish I could tan nude, but when you have kids tanning naked in your own house becomes impossible. Hmmm, maybe I should do it on the roof. I freeze up a little when I hear the backdoor open. By the sound of the footsteps it’s definitely not Matthew. It’s probably just Faith home early from taking the girls out.

“Hey, you’re here early,” I practically purr and keep my eyes closed. I feel the chair depress a little bit as she sits down next to me. I wiggle around a little bit to make some more room for her. “Will you put the tanning lotion on my back, please? I didn’t do a very good job and I don’t wanna get all burnt up.” She doesn’t say a word. She just squirts out some of the lotion and then rubs her hands together. She’s being really quiet. Normally she’d make some kind of comment about giving me a ‘proper rub down’. My back muscles jump a little bit because of the cold lotion. I like the cold feeling though because it’s really hot out here today. “Mmmmm, that feels good.” I arch a little into her hands but she doesn’t add any pressure. Normally Faith gives me a back massage whenever I ask her to put on some lotion, but all she’s doing it rubbing it on. Ok, so what did I do to piss her off now? This might cheer her up. “You wanna make out for a little while?”

“I really don’t think your wife would like that.” WHAT THE FUCK?! I whip around as fast as I can and see Willow sitting there smiling at me like a retard. Then she glances down and puts a hand out in front of her and turns her head to the side. Her eyes are kind of scrunched up. Ok. You know for a genius she can act really dumb sometimes. “Um, Buffy, I know you’re your own person and everything, female empowerment and all of that good stuff, but those kind of belong to Faith.” Huh? I glance down and no duh, I’m topless. I cover myself up with an arm, and Willow puts her hand down. Her looks into my eyes and she has a goofy smile on my face. Willow’s seen me nude before. Hello, we took gym together in high school. But ever since she came out in college I always kind of…hid from her when I’d change. This is back when I was still drowning in denial, and thought Willow would come onto me if she saw me naked. Yeah, I’m a horrible person sometimes.

“What are you some kind of perv now?” She starts laughing and rubs the rest of the lotion onto her arms. She should really put more of that. If she’s out in the sun for more then two minutes she starts to freckle. Sky thinks it’s hilarious, but Willow hates it. She thinks one of these days she’s going to morph into one giant freckle. At least then she would have some color to her instead of being death white with a touch of spots here and there. “Do you sneak up on innocent tanning women and molest them to get your jollies or something?” She starts laughing a little harder, and I can’t help but join in. Willow’s laugh has always been infectious like that. Sometimes all we have to do is give each other a look and we’ll start cracking up laughing.

“Oh yeah. Sky and I haven’t been intimate for so long that I’ve become the neighborhood pervert. Peeking in windows and touching half naked woman when they’re not expecting it.” Ok, that was a little bit of an over share but it was still funny. “But you were expecting it. You were just expecting your honey.” Yeah, I totally was. I kinda wanted to make out with Faith and have her play with my breasts. I like it when she does that. “Ok, did your mind turn to the Buffy/Faith porno channel, ‘cause I can leave you alone for a little while if you need it.” I smack her on the arm with my free hand, and she reaches down and hands me my top. “You might want to put that back on. Matt was bragging how you’re going to give him fifty bucks and he’s almost done with the chores.” I’ve been out here for like two and a half hours. I guess he wants to make sure everything gets sparkling clean or something.

“So, Will, what brings you here? I thought you were going to spend a quiet day with Sky?” Willow and I hang out almost every day. Dawn joins us when she finds the time but she’s so busy with her company and taking care of those boys that she doesn’t get a lot of time to herself. Although she had a date the other night. I didn’t hang around to find out where it ended though. When I left she was talking to the guy on the front porch. And by talking I mean making out with him. I need to call her and find out what happened, and how good of a kisser that very cute guy is. I know I’m married and all of that but I still need my vicarious new relationship tinglies. You know those little fluttery feelings you get when everything is new and exciting? Well, it’s always nice to hear about it from someone else.

“Yeah, we were. But she got a craving for honeydew so I’m supposed to be going to the store. Not just the grocery store, but the specialty store that sells the organic stuff? Yeah, she was very specific about where to buy the honeydew. But that store is in Vegas so I’ll just tell her there was a lot of traffic and she won’t even know I was slacking off. As long as you keep my secret.” I nod my head a little and give her a smile. Willow knows I’m kind of good at keeping secrets. “I just wanted to come over and see what my Buffy shaped friend was doing today. And relaxing is obviously on the agenda.”

“It was a last minute addition. I was supposed to go get the slayers from the airport, but Faith wanted to do it too. So we flipped a coin, and she won, and I got stuck doing the chores. But being the brilliant person that I’ve always been.” She snorts and rolls her eyes at that. I glare a little bit and she goes back to normal. “I cheated and told Matthew if he did everything I’d give him fifty bucks. You’ll find that one of the perks of having a teenager. They can easily be bribed with money especially when you say they can buy anything they want no questions asked.” She gives me a ‘tell me you didn’t’ type of look.

“Ok, so if he goes out and buys some drugs you know who to blame.” I give her a little glare and she just smiles. “You know I’m just joking. He’s a teenage boy with fifty dollars. He’ll probably buy porn.” She just had to cross that line, didn’t she? I get a very grossed out look on my face and she just laughs. “Facts of life, Buff, there’s nothing we can do about them. You remember what Xander was like in high school. Remember how he’d always check out those books on witchcraft just to look at the semi nude engravings?” We both start laughing because of that and I suddenly realize it’s been months since I’ve talked to Xander. I try to keep in touch but everything has been so crazy lately and it just doesn’t happen.

“How’s he doing by the way? I haven’t talked to him in a really long time. It sucks that he can’t move here with us. The scooby gang isn’t really the scooby gang without him, you know? Faith and Sky are great but they can’t replace what belongs here.” I know that was a little corny, but it doesn’t really matter. She gets a really sad look on her face and she looks down at her feet. Willow only does that when she doesn’t want me to see how bad she’s hurting. And if she’s hurting this much then Xander must be doing horrible.

“He’s taking everything really hard. To him Katie was like his last hope, you know? He never thought he was going to love anyone again after Anya, even though he said he was going to try. He loved Katie so much, and he still hasn’t told me why they split up. And now Miranda is caught in the middle of all this bad stuff. Katie wants her all to herself, and it isn’t fair you know? Xander treats Miranda better then a princess, any little girl would be lucky to have a dad half as good as he is.” That’s for sure. Seeing Xander with Miranda always made me feel a little…sad, I guess. I would see how gentle he was with her and then feel sad because it just reminded me of how much I miss the way my dad would treat me like that.

“I feel kind of responsible for this whole mess. I’m the one that introduced them. I’m the one who pushed so hard for Xander to ask her out. Maybe something better would have happened if he had ignored me and found someone else to love then maybe they would still be together and happy.” But then again Xander wouldn’t have Miranda. So I guess there is an upside to all of this. “Do you think maybe we should go see Xander, like, just the two of us? Reunite the scooby gang for a week or two? Maybe that will make him feel a little better.” She smiles at the idea, at least I think that’s what she’s smiling at, and she looks up at me. She wipes the stray tears from her face and sniffles a little.

“Yeah, maybe we should do that. I have some vacation time coming up soon. I was going to spend it in bed doing nothing with Sky, but maybe we should go to California and see our old buddy.” Then she gets really quiet again, and I just sit and wait. She has that contemplative look on her face and I know if I ask then I’ll break her train of thought and I probably won’t get even a little piece of what she was thinking. “He wouldn’t move out here even if he could.” Ok, where did that come from? “He told me over the phone. At first I thought he was drunk or something because he sounded a little funny, but then I realized that he had been crying. He said he wouldn’t move out here if he could, no matter how much he misses us, because he doesn’t want to drag Miranda into the demony stuff. He said he’s going to tell her about vampires and all of that when she’s older, but he wants her to be innocent for as long as possible.”

“Luckily Redding doesn’t have that many vampires, and the ones they do have are weak ass junkies.” Willow nods her head in agreement. We just sit in silence for a little while. I think about Xander a little more. How lonely he must feel, and how sad it would be if that were to happen to me. I’m not trying to be selfish and turn everything into a big self-pitying type of thing, but I’m just trying to imagine how he must feel. Faith and I split up for that couple of months way back when, but we never got into a huge custody battle. She never tried to take Matthew away from me, and I always sort of knew Faith would be there for me. I knew at any minute I could pick up the phone and call her and tell her how much I missed her, how much I still loved her and she would come running because once Faith loves somebody she never gives up on them even if they’ve given up on her.

“Well, I better be hitting the road,” Will says and stands up. “I have me a pregnant woman to get home to, and if I don’t get back soon with the honeydew she might turn me into a rabbit or something.” I laugh a little bit and say my goodbyes as she leaves. When the door is closed I take my top off and lay on my stomach. Just because I’m in a kind of sad mood now it doesn’t mean I can’t still bake in the sun. Maybe the baking will make me feel better. Like, the sun will just melt away the sad stuff? Yeah, that sounded pretty cheesy when I said it and I don’t think it’s going to work. In fact, I think I need to head inside now because all of this sun can’t be good for what brain cells I have. I think they’re starting to cook.

WPOV

I’ve been a Scooby member since I was sixteen. I’m now in my thirties and I’ve helped stop countless apocalypses, changed the slayer line forever, and I’m one of the most powerful witches in history. With all of that said, nothing in my years of experience with the unexpected could’ve prepared me for this morning. It was just like any other morning, really. I woke up, helped Sky make some breakfast, got a shower and started thinking of all the things I needed to do today. I was just about to call Buffy and see what her plans where and maybe turn my errands into some best friend time when the door bell rang. I definitely wasn’t expecting anyone, and Sky wasn’t expecting anyone. So you can imagine my surprise when I answer the door and see my parents standing on the other side.

They had big smiles on their faces and they didn’t look irritated with me or anything which is good. The sun was shining very brightly so they couldn’t be vampires, and they both gave me some big hugs before I could even get a word out so they weren’t the First. After all of that deduction I was happy because that means my parents aren’t dead…for about five seconds. After that I started panicking because it meant that my real parents were on my doorstep. I was trying really hard not to panic. Because I was taking so long Sky came to check on me and see who was at the door. Of course she got all excited because she gets along pretty well with my parents and I was kind of pushed aside as she took them into the living room.

That’s when some of the bad things happened. I told Sky that I would tell my parents about the pregnancy, and I did. I e-mailed my mom and told her all about it. Apparently that wasn’t good enough for them because as soon as they could take some time off from their jobs they packed some bags and flew out here. So I learned that not only are they here in the flesh, but they’re going to be here for at least three weeks. You’re probably thinking ‘well, that’s not so bad’ but you’re wrong. My mom actually said out loud ‘we were so excited to read your e-mail that we had to come out here’. I could feel Sky burning a hole in my shirt with her eyes, and I’m talking about the literal sense of that. Her emotions have been all over the place because of the hormones and it’s making her powers all wonky. Trust me when I say I’ll be cut off from the lovins for a while.

All of that was over three hours ago. Sky and my mother went shopping for baby clothes and they were gone for about two hours. Trust me when I say it was the longest two hours of my life. My father and I have almost nothing in common. He asked about Sky, and how she’s doing but he had a tone that I didn’t like. It was the same kind of tone he used whenever he asked about Kennedy or Tara. He only asked to be polite and he’s not trying to pretend otherwise. My father isn’t ashamed of the fact that I’m a gay woman, but he had plans for me when I was growing up. Ok, so not really plans, but certain expectations, just like all parents have some expectations for their children. My father wanted me to grow up and marry a nice Jewish boy, and we’d have a few Jewish kids so that we’d pass on the traditions. There’s nothing wrong with that but it’s not what I want. I want to be with Sky and I’m not going to change just to please him.

I glance over at Sky and I can’t help but smile at how happy she looks. Her and my mother are actually getting along. I never really thought that was possible because Sky gets pretty upset when she thinks about the fact that I was practically ignored by my parents all of my life. But here they are chatting away as we eat our lunch. So far the embarrassing stories about me as a baby have been at a minimum but I have a feeling they’re going to be coming almost non-stop once my mom gets to know Sky a little better. I understand why Sky is so happy that my mom is here, but a little heads up would have been nice too. She’s glad they’re here because she’s been freaking out about some of the baby stuff and now she has someone experienced she can talk to. She can always talk to Buffy and Faith, but it isn’t the same. Their oldest is barely a teenager, and Sky wants someone with a little more experience.

Plus I think she’s clinging onto my mom because her mom is out of the picture now. It’s pretty obvious that her parents aren’t going to come around to us anytime soon. I’m just glad that she’s happy, and can finally relax. So it looks like my parents have finally done something right. Even though I’m going to be cut off from the lovins because of it. This totally blows, and not in a good way. She was finally letting me touch her again, and finally touching me again. But I guess it all works out, because I don’t think I’d be able to have sex with my parents sleeping two rooms down from us. It would be too weird. Sky can be pretty loud, and I’m not exactly mute when I come. I’m still unsure as to how Sky is going to fully react to the fact that I told my mother about our baby in an e-mail. She’s been polite about it so far because my parents are around but what happens tonight after they go to bed?

“I remember once when Willow was just a little girl around seven or eight years old.” And it starts. They haven’t really been talking much about my childhood. I’ve been steering the conversation towards the pregnancy and how happy we are and how we can’t wait to be parents, but now I guess it’s time to tell my fiancé things about me that are totally embarrassing. I glace over at Sky and she has a little smirk on her face because she’s been dying to hear stories about me. This is karma, isn’t it? I told my parents that we’re having a baby in an e-mail instead of writing a nice letter by hand, or calling them and now I’m being punished because I broke a promise. Karma bites. “She was playing with Xander in her bedroom.” Wow, I’m surprised she remembered his name. My mom has always had a hard time with names. “I was in the kitchen making some lunch when Willow walks in and says she needs a thermometer.” Oh great, not this story.

“And I said ‘Willow you’re perfectly healthy, why on earth do you need a thermometer?’ And her reply was ‘Because I’m playing doctor with Xander’. So I gave her one of our teaspoons, you know the ones grandma Kempinski gave us?” I nod my head and take another bite of my salad. Grandma Kempinski is my grandmother on my mom’s side of the family. Since we’re Jewish we don’t celebrate birthdays, but every year on the day after my birthday she’d send me an ‘out of the blue no reason at all’ gift. She always gave me the coolest stuff. She wasn’t as strict about our religion as my parents are. “I didn’t realize until she had already gone back upstairs what playing doctor really means to children that age.” Sky gives me a little look and I can’t help but roll my eyes. “So I run upstairs and when I walk into Willow’s bedroom and she had the spoon in Xander’s and she was using some of her father’s headphones as a stethoscope, and telling him to breathe deep. It was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“So what was the diagnosis?” Sky asks with a very amused smile on her face. I give her a questioning look and she gives me the ‘don’t play dumb’ look. Yeah, I have all of her looks memorized. I think that’s one of the first things you should do when you’re in a relationship to avoid any future miscommunications. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember. You have the best memory of anyone I know.” That’s probably not true. I’m sure there’s someone out there that she knows who has a better memory then me. She probably just doesn’t know it. There are a lot of very smart brainy types at the slayer school and Sky was there for a long time so I’m sure she knows someone from one of her classes who’s memory is better then mine. And yes I’m just stalling. I do remember what I told Xander and I remember what happened afterwards. So I sigh a little bit and try to hold back the smile.

“Lung cancer,” I say and she gets a little smirk on her face. “I gave him six months to a year to live. He got really sad and almost started crying so we went downstairs and told Dad about it, and he gave us some ice cream. When he thanked Dad he said ‘thank you sir, for giving a dying man one last pleasantry’. Xander’s always been a little overdramatic.” Everyone laughs, including my dad which is kind of rare. My dad has a sense of humor. It’s just been hibernating since his dad passed away. I know it was a really long time ago, about a year after the big battle when Sunnydale when boom, but he took it really hard and according to my mom he hasn’t been the same since. Maybe coming here will do him some good. Maybe I can explain to him that Sky and I plan on teaching our baby about the Jewish traditions. I know I’ve never really taken them as seriously as my parents, but they’re still family traditions, and I can’t just turn my back on them.

“How has Xander been?” my mom asks and takes a sip of her water. Well, this is might be a long explanation. Xander definitely hasn’t been doing too well. After he and his wife got divorced he got really depressed, especially because Katie was trying to get full custody of Miranda, and if she had won she would’ve never let Xander see her again. “You don’t talk about him much in your e-mails. Are you two no longer close friends?” We stay in touch even though we don’t live near each other. We talk on the phone once a week for about three hours and we e-mail each other very long detailed letters. I’m not sure when but sometime soon he’s going to come out and visit us. I know he’s going to be here for my baby’ birth, and for my wedding. Unfortunately I couldn’t get him to agree to be my maid of honor. I was just joking when I said that. He’s definitely going to be my best man.

“He’s doing better. He and his ex are still fighting for custody of their little girl, and he’s pretty depressed about it. As of right now they have joint custody and the arrangement is pretty reasonable, at least I think so. Xander gets her for a week and then his ex gets her for a week. But his ex wants sole custody, and when she’s not suing for that then she’s suing for more child support. Even the judge is getting sick of her, and so far she hasn’t won anything. At the last court hearing the judge said if Xander wanted he’d lower the child support cost, but Xander said just to leave it the way it is. But I don’t know how much more he can take. He loves Miranda more then anything, but I think it’s getting to be too much.” Sky reaches over and puts her hand on top of mine. She can tell I’m getting a little upset. It’s just so sad what happened. He and Katie loved each other so much, and none of us have any idea what went wrong. Some things just don’t work out, I guess. And poor little Miranda is caught in the middle of it.

“That’s too bad,” my mom says and she sounds sincere. I’m just really glad she hasn’t started talking about statistics and age groups. I think I would freak out if she said something like that. She knows it bothers me. We don’t just e-mail each other, we have instant messenger, and we’ve talked on there a few times and I’ve told her how frustrated she can make me feel when she stereotypes me by talking about age groups, and statistics. “And what about…oh what’s her name? Oh, Bunny Summers. How has she been lately?” Sky looks over at me with an ‘is she serious?’ type of look and she’s trying really hard to hide her smile. She starts eating again to cover it up. I think she looks really cute when she tries not to smile.

“She’s great. Her son won his football game on Thursday so they’re excited about that. Now that the kids are in school again she has some more time on her hands during the day so we usually run errands together.” I’ve given up when it comes to correcting my mom on Buffy’s name. It’s a hopeless cause. My dad doesn’t have a problem remembering, and he thinks it’s kind of funny that Mom can’t remember. “She and Faith are going to be leaving soon, for a vacation and we’re going to watch the kids for them. They love coming over here because we spoil them so much. There youngest is always kind of a handful because he’s a mommy’s boy and he always whines for Buffy at night.” Yeah, I totally babbled like I used to before I stopped with the babble. Sky thinks it’s cute when I do it but my parents are looking at me like I grew a second head or something. Oh yeah, this is going to be fun.

I haven’t seen my parents in so long that it’s almost like I don’t know who they are anymore, you know? They’re still my mom and dad but they’ve changed, and I’ve changed too. I’m not their shy, geeky little girl who never stood up to them. I’m more outgoing, I’m still geeky but I hide it better, and if they say something I don’t agree with I’ll tell them. Well, at least in theory. Now that they’re here I feel like I’m in high school again when my mom used to pick out my outfits and do my hair for me. That’s going to be something I’m definitely not going to do to my child. As soon as he or she is old enough to pick out their own outfits then I’ll leave them to it. It’ll probably take them a while before they learn how to do their own hair, but I’ll teach them. And I’m sure Sky can help out big time in that department. She can always get her hair to do these really cool things, and I can’t figure out how she does them. I know it’s not magic because she doesn’t use magic for everyday stuff like that.

“Your parents are so nice,” Sky says as she takes all of the decoration only pillows off the bed. Well, I survived the first day of my parents visiting us. Hopefully I’ll be able to get through tomorrow. After lunch it went pretty smoothly. We took them for a tour around Lincoln, and they loved it. They think all of the houses are really neat looking in a classical sort of ways. Yep, things were going really great. So it wasn’t a huge surprise that they went a little bad at dinner time. It was my dad who I had a little…debate with. We started talking about how we plan to raise the baby. You know, all the traditions that we’re going to pass down, and some of the new ones we might start. I told them that we plan on teaching him or about Judaism because I’m Jewish, but we’re also going to celebrate Christmas because Sky isn’t Jewish, and that’s where things got a little heated.

“Yeah,” I say as a rub the lotion into my arms. This skin doesn’t get silky smooth on it’s own you know. “Except for the part where my dad almost ruptured a blood vessel while we were eating.” She gives me a little look and I know what that means. I ignore it though. “He didn’t have to be so mean about it. He can be so stubborn sometimes.” I crawl under the covers and sort of flop down my pillow. I know I’m acting a little immature but I think I deserve to be a little immature. I stare at the ceiling while Sky turns out the lights and gets into bed with me. Tonight we were supposed to be having a quiet, cozy evening together. We were going to make dinner, and eat out on the back patio. Then we were going to share a container of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Then we were going to turn on the air conditioning, light place, and make love all night long.

“Well now I know where you get the stubbornness from.” I glance over at her and then roll my eyes. I know she’s just trying to lighten up my mood, but when I want to pout and be mopey there’s no changing my mind. And that’s not being stubborn. That’s just having a strong will. Ok, so it’s almost the same thing. This is a mopey parade there’s no room for logic or reason. “Baby, he’s just a traditionalist, that’s all. I’m sure once the baby is born, and he sees our little one for the first time none of that stuff will matter. All that will matter is how happy we’re going to make this kid every single day.” Yeah, and cows can understand quantum physics. “Do you think maybe you’re being a little hard on your dad because of something else?” I hate it when she gets all intuitive. I know she’s not reading my mind because I’d be able to feel that, but it seems like she is and I don’t like it. “Do you think maybe you’re acting this way to cover up some insecurities?” See what I mean?

“Yes,” I say and I definitely don’t sound happy about it. A quick little sigh escapes my lips as I think about that for a few seconds. I guess I’m now a willing participant in this conversation since I agreed with her. I roll over onto my side so I can look at her face while I talk. Her soft, warm hand rests on my shoulder, and she gently caresses my skin with her thumb. Hmmm, if she’s willing to caress me maybe I will get some lovins tonight. “It’s just I’ve changed so much over the last few years. I’ve grown a lot, and matured way more and I have you to thank for that. But I get around him for five minutes and it’s like I’m that same wall flower nerd I was in high school. I never stood up to him, ever, and when I did tonight I thought I would feel…empowered or something but when he got mad it made me want to run away and hide. It’s like I was that shy little girl again.”

“I get where you’re coming from. I really do. But he’s your dad, and to him you’re always going to be his little girl. He’s always going to give his opinion, and he’s always going to think his way is the right way.” I can tell she’s projecting some of her feelings about her father into this conversation but I don’t say anything. The last thing I want to do is upset her. “Just put up with it, ok? Take his criticisms with a grain of salt. Don’t let what he has to say get to you too much. This is just what parents do. There’s no use arguing about it because their opinions aren’t going to change overnight. He accepts us. He’s ok with us being together. That’s a start, right?” I nod my head a give her a reassuring smile. Yep, a lot of her family stuff definitely got thrown into that little speech. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I turn my head a little bit and kiss the back of her had. I look over at her with a suggestive smile but her face is still neutral.

“Do you wanna have a little lovin before we turn in for the night?” I ask and wiggle my eyebrows for good measure. She thinks it’s cute when I wiggle my eyebrows. I would lean over and give her some of my soft, teasing kisses that she loves so much but I don’t want to push my luck. Her thumb stops moving and she gives me a little look, and I know there will be no lovin in this house tonight.

“Oh, don’t for a second think I forgot that you told your mom about this baby in an e-mail. You told me you were going to talk to her over the phone, to make it a little more personal.” Again with the insane pregnancy hormones. I’m pretty sure a demon created these hormones imbalances and I think I was put on this earth to find a way to stop them. Ok, so maybe not, but it’s nice to think that maybe one day she’ll stop making mountains out of mole hills. When she’s finished talking she rolls over so her back is facing me and I sigh a little bit. Sometimes having a pregnant fiancé sucks.

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