Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Summery: A day in the life of Buffy Harris. Prequel to Not Happily Ever After but you don't have to read it to get this.
Warnings:no sex but there is some kissing and stuff that starts to head that way, but no nudity or anything.
Buffy woke up to the sound of crying. She opened her eyes hesitantly, she wanted to sleep for the rest of her life but she knew she had to get up. She tried to blink the sleep from her eyes. She got out of bed , walked down the hall, and looked tired into the crib.
"Hey Kendra." she grabbed her from the crib, put her across her chest , started walking with her she eventually quieted down so Buffy put her back down in her crib. Buffy made her way down the stairs to where Xander had cooked eggs, bacon, and from what she could smell hash browns.
"Hi honey." Xander said when he came into view, he was eating bacon, eggs, and hash browns and drinking coffee.
"How can you be so chipper." she sat down grumpily across from him.
"I get to drink coffee." he said with a annoying smile. Of course she was easy to annoy this early in the morning, so his smile might not be as annoying as she thought it was. She put her head in her hands and closed for eyes for a few seconds.
"Why did I think that doing this, the natural way was a good idea." she whined.
"Because it is it's healthier for the baby."he said annoyingly right.
"When I do I get coffee again?" she said wistfully.
"When the baby is on solid foods." he got up and put his dishes into the sink.
"And when would that be?" she said sulkily.
"Well it'll happen when it happens, but the good news is you can have as much bacon as you want."he sat next to her.
"Aren't I suppose to watch how much fat I eat too?" Buffy asked.
"Do you want the crispy delicious bacon I cooked or don't you?" he asked waving a crispy strand in front of her face.
"I do." Buffy popped some bacon into her mouth and savored it.
"I wish you didn't have to go to work already." Buffy said wistfully, it was 6:45 she was still in her pajamas , he was already dressed in a suit and would be soon on his way out the door. Sometimes she wasn't sure how he did it, he got up before all of them and cooked breakfast, then he would leave most of the time before seeing Joy or Jesse.
"So do I, but that's what happens when you have a crazy idea to own your own business."
"Well, I love that you followed your heart, and that your in the black." Xander smirked.
"I knew it, I knew you married me for my money." he mock accused her.
"Caught me." Xander kissed her briefly and then broke it off and smiled regretfully.
"I really have to go to work now, I should be home by 12."
"I'll see you then." Xander smiled and grabbed his keys and walked out the door, Buffy smiled contently for a moment. Then she remembered she had to check on Kendra to make sure she was okay, and make sure that Jesse and Joy got ready in time to eat and catch their bus so that she wouldn't have to drive them."
"Jesse! Joy! Get your butts down here!" 11 year old Jesse came down the stairs followed by his sister Joy who was 8. Both were dressed which was great, now all she had to do was make sure they eat and get them to the bus before...
"Wah!" Kendra was up again and that was great.
"Jesse, Joy, eat and be out there waiting for the bus when it comes, if I have to drive you you'll both be grounded for a week. " She saw them both nod and went up the stairs and into the nursery and picked up Kendra. She shushed her and rocked her back and forth on her small frame, Kendra settled down after several minutes and feel back asleep.
Buffy glanced at her watch, it was after the pick up time, if Joy and Jesse were still here she was going to have to drive them to school. She put Kendra back into her crib and made her way downstairs. She walked into the kitchen and saw to her relief neither was still in there. Buffy smiled she loved her kids but sometimes she just loved being alone. Kendra should get up in an hour but until then she had time to herself. What was she going to do with her alone time? She smiled she knew exactly what she wanted to do.
Buffy enjoyed a long luxurious bath that left her feeling very calm. She got dressed again and started picking up the house but before she got done she heard crying, and looked at the clock on the wall. It was time for Kendra to get up, so that also meant that it was time for Buffy to take care of her. She went upstairs and got Kendra out of of her crib and soothed her.
Buffy had decided and Xander had agreed that she would go back to work when Kendra was a year old part time. Until then she would play the part of a domesticated house wife doing the laundry, and the cooking, and cleaning, although mostly she just took care of Kendra. Which is what she did until she heard the door open and heard voices in the hall. She corrected herself voices arguing. Joy and Jesse were arguing which they did a lot lately.
"Hey Jesse, Hey Joy!" she called loudly and the yelling stopped and they both came into the room.
"Hi Mom." they said together, they both tried to look innocent like they hadn't just been arguing.
"How was school?"Buffy asked.
"Good." Jesse said nodded nonchalantly.
"Good." Joy said but she didn't say it as convincing, but before Buffy could ask what the matter was, she turned around and ran up the stairs. Buffy turned to Jesse.
"Do you know what's wrong with your sister?"
"She's a girl." he said like that explained everything. Buffy laughed he was so his fathers son.
"Can I go?"
"Yeah you can." Jesse smiled his easy loop sided smile, which was just like his fathers and went up the stairs as well. Buffy smiled and turned her attention back to Kendra, who was playing with her toys. Soon after she started making the preparations for dinner that night. Buffy was an okay cook she was getting better over time. Then a little bit later she was ready.
"It's dinner time." Buffy yelled up the stairs. She heard a footsteps start moving and was satisfied that they were on their way down. Jesse was the first one down he was a growing boy and like his father always seemed up for food. He sat down and drummed on the table impatiently. After only a few seconds of waiting he yelled upstairs.
"Joy get down here!" Buffy looked at him and he gave her an innocent look. Joy came down and sat at the table across from Jesse. She didn't look happy, oh the joys of having a tip lipped child. Ever since she was 7 she would never talk to her about what was bothering her, which was strange since she was only 8, but it probably had something to do with the amount of secrets she had to keep in her life.. The secret itself could be anything a boy, a girl made fun of her, a fight with her friends. Or something to do with the fact that she had to hide that she knew about the supernatural, which could put a strain of friendships. She would ask but whenever she did Joy always change the subject.
"So did you guys learn anything at school today?"Buffy asked.
"Nope." Jesse said and Joy shrugged. Buffy opened her mouth to ask another motherly type question when Joy asked excitedly.
"Mom? Cindy's mom says I can sleep over at her house can I can I?"before Buffy could answer Jesse asked
"Yeah mom Kyle wants me to come over."
"Does Kyle's mom?" Buffy asked knowing that Jesse sometimes forgot to ask.
"Oh I forgot to ask." he got up and got the phone and started dialing.
"Cindy's mom said you could come over." Buffy asked. Joy nodded she wanted to go and was a Friday night and she wasn't being punished for anything, Buffy nodded.
"Yeah you can go." Joy beamed at her and gave her a short hug.
"Thanks mom your the best." she ran upstairs presumably to go call Cindy the good news. Buffy focused in on Jesse, who was putting the cordless phone back on the cradle.
"Kyle says that his parents says that's fine."
"Okay then what time I'm I dropping you off? You did ask what time it was okay to come over?"he often forgot to ask that as well.
"Yeah is 6 good?"Buffy nodded, it was in a half an hour hopefully she could drop Joy off as well.
"I'm going to pack." he raced up the stairs as well. Buffy moved into the living room , put Kendra down on a blanket on the ground, laid her there and tickled her and played with her. A smile suddenly came onto her face when she realized she could use their sleep over to her advantage.
"Anyone who wants to have a sleepover, must do the dishes!" she yelled up the stairs heard two groans and shuffling down the stairs. They stood before her looking sad, hoping she wouldn't make them, they're effort were in vain. Buffy handed them dish towels and went to go pick up Kendra who had just started crying. She heard the clanging of dishes and smiled, at least she wouldn't have to do them today. She enjoyed hearing the sound of their doing the dishes.
"Joy, what time are you going over there?" Buffy called.
"Uh.. Cindy's mom said whenever." Joy called back.
"Okay 6 it is." Buffy called back. The clanging stopped around 5 minutes before 6, and she could hear them going up the stairs. Then a few minutes later them coming back down and standing before her. She looked at her watch it was time to go, even though Cindy and Kyle's house weren't that far away it was after sundown. There was no way she was going to let her kids walk there, even though they were trained 3 days a week, either here in their own training room, which Xander had custom built into the house or at slayer headquarters.
"Alright everyone in the car."
"Shot gun" Jesse yelled and speed for the car. Buffy turned to Joy and asked her.
"Joy would you take Kendra and strap her in?"
"Yeah sure." she said and took Kendra from her and headed towards the car. Buffy followed she got into the drivers seat and looked through the rear view mirror as Joy buckled Kendra in.
"Everybody buckled up?" Buffy asked and looked at Jesse and Joy to make sure they were. Then she drove to Cindy's house and stopped in front of it.
"You be good, listen to Cindy's mother and go to bed when she tells you to." Joy smiled and nodded, though Buffy knew perfectly well that neither of her children would going to get much sleep tonight. She waited until Joy was in the house and then drove to Kyle's, Jesse popped out of the car the second the car stopped moving, and he was already moving towards Kyle's house when Buffy yelled.
"Jesse listen to Mrs. Wallace!"
"Sure Mom!" he shouted back.
"And don't play fight with him." Buffy yelled at his retreating back, he waved. She drove home and took Kendra out of her car seat and brought her into the house. Buffy played with her for awhile until she fell asleep.
Buffy laid Kendra in the cradle, now she had the house to herself what was she going to do? Ten minutes later found her on the couch, watching one of her shoes on their DVR. About half way through the show Buffy heard the door open. When Xander walked through the door of the den Buffy smiled.
"Hi Wifey." he said with his lopsided smile.
"Hi Husbandy? What are you doing home so early?" Although technically it was 9:00 pm, which wasn't really early just early for him since he usually went on patrol for a few hours, especially on the weekends.
"I thought hunting the ugly and gross undead, or being home with my beautiful wife," Xander kissed her "Being home with my wife obviously won out." Buffy smiled glad that he was home and that they could be together. Buffy remembered that Kendra was down for the night. Jesse was at Kyle's house and Joy was at Cindy's house , that meant they had the house to themselves for the first time in a long time and that they could do coupley things.
"Are you tired?" she asked nonchalantly he shrugged.
"Not really, I was thinking I would watch the highlights of the game and then head to bed."he sat besides her and put her arm around her and focused on the television screen. Buffy smiled and said.
"You know there's something else we could do you know as a couple." he slowly turned to her.
"And what's that?" Xander asked smiling knowing what she was talking about.
"Oh, I'm so tired." Buffy faked a yawn "I'm going to slip into something a little more comfortable."
"No complaints here." Xander whispered so softly that even her slayers hearing had a hard time picking it up. Buffy left the room in a way she made sure that Xander was following her every movement. She changed into a little black number that she had bought before Kendra was born, and had just barely managed to fit comfortably again. She looked at herself in the mirror to see if she looked good and finding that she did she left the bedroom. She walked down the stairs and model her nightwear for Xander.
"You like?"
"Yes very much, why I do I patrol again." Buffy kissed him again which was when the phone just had to ring. Buffy continued kissing him.
"Buffy." Xander said softly.
"Just let it ring."she replied.
"Would love to, but you know as well as I do that it could be people in life or death situations."Buffy groaned and pulled away a bit, as Xander got up and headed towards the phone. He picked up the handset and said.
"Hello." their phone was loud, so much so that if there wasn't any outside noise you could hear what the person on the other side was saying across the room. She heard Dawn say very miserably.
"Xander." All his carefree demeanor immediately disappeared and everything about him was serious.
"Dawn what is it? Are you okay?"
" I'm fine." she sobbed "...England council is gone... everywhere there died, Giles, Rona, Willow..everyone." Buffy was shocked and could see that Xander was shocked as well. Xander said.
"Thanks for telling us Dawn." he didn't wait for a response and didn't try to console her, he just hit the end button. He looked up at her and Buffy could see the pain in his eyes, which probably mirrored hers. Her outfit felt too open, and all she wanted to do was bury herself into bed for the rest of her life. They were all gone all of them and there was no bringing them back.
Author's note: I'm sorry if this comes off as being boring I'm more used to unhappy stories and angst and discontentment and anxiety then I am with happy family stories. Or at least mostly happy family stories.
Review please :)