Time Frame: A decade or so after both BtVS & AtS finales.
Rating: T-Mature (cuz Faith still curses like a sailor)
This story contains several gay relationships, consider yourselves forewarned.
Pairings: as of the moment B/F, Wes/Ill are planned, more may eventually follow.
Legalities: All B:tVS characters are that of the Mighty Whedon and his glorious intellect. This work is meant only in celebration and nothing ulterior.
Chapter 1 - Shades Beneath a Family Tree
It was an ordinary Monday morning in Woodbury Elementary School. Class had already started and the bustling activity of children teachers and staff was typical of the beginning of the week. In one hall, in one class, one child fidgeted nervously as he listened to his classmate finish her presentation on her family.
The room was darkened and an overhead projector beamed pictures of the presenter's family onto a lowered screen as she spoke. They were a mostly normal family; a mother, a father, an older brother, and their dog. She had grandparents in Florida, and aunts and uncles in New York.
As the young girl presenting from the front of the classroom neared the end of her project, a deepening apprehension was felt by one boy in particular. The anxious child was dusky in complexion, and his black hair was wavy, like wind through prairie grass. He had sharp eyes and a small round nose.
The presentation finished and the class clapped politely as the young girl moved back to her seat. Nicholas Wood Summers-Lehane fidgeted in his seat, nervous as his own turn to present finally came.
"Okay, Nicky, you're next." The teacher, a handsome woman of gaining years, offered a supportive smile to her nervous student. He only nodded and the walk from his desk to the front seemed like an eternity. Standing before his fellow students, his Powerpoint slideshow was projected and with notes written on flashcards in hand, Nicky began speaking.
"This is my mom and dad." His small, but clear voice stated as pictures of a pretty brunette and big smile besides a keen eyed black man appeared on the screen. The woman was pale, she wore biker boots, a leather jacket and matching skin tight pants. The man she lovingly embraced wore more conservative attire of slacks and a collared shirt. Both donned Christmas hats and stood in front of a tall evergreen in a living room. The woman's nose and mouth was similar to the boy's, as were the man's eyes.
"My dad, Robin, was a high-school principal and worked for a charity. He died when I was half a year old." His steady voice faltered for a just a moment before continuing. His teacher's brow raised with concern but relaxed seeing the child working way through his difficult moment.
"I never really got to meet him, but my aunts and uncles tell me he was really nice and real smart. It's hard for my mom to talk about him, she just gets real sad when she does, but my gram'pa Rupert told me he that was extremely intelligent, highly educated, and very, very brave. His hobbies were reading, traveling, and baseball."
"My mom, Faith, is a..." he glanced at his notes and read aloud carefully. "she's the..." he squinted a moment for concentration, "chief of security for a..." another pause as he consulted the paper in front of him wanting to get the title right, he slowly, painstakingly, pronounced the first few words slowly but correctly, "non-governmental charity organization that helps young women in really bad situations all over the world." he finished with a breath.
"Her hobbies are eating a lot, riding her motorcycle, martial-arts and trivia. Her favorite food is anything but as long as there's lots of it." A montage of Robin and Faith followed, with the two looking very much like an affectionate couple. A few of the pictures showed a pregnant Faith and a beaming Robin holding her. They looked happy, and so very much in love.
The slides of the couple was replaced by a smiling blonde holding Nicholas as a toddler. She had a pert nose, bright hazel eyes, and a sun kissed Californian tan. "When I was two, my mom married her childhood friend. Her name is Buffy, she's my other mom, she's my Buffy." Nicky declared proudly with a wide smile.
"She's a school counselor and helps part time for the charity my mom works for. Her hobbies are shopping, trivia (her and mom do trivia night twice a week with our neighbors) and shoes. Her favorite food is pizza."
"My mom and dad didn't have a big family, 'cuz a lot of them died before I was born, but Buffy's got a lot. She says they're so big she calls it a clan!" The next slide was one of a large group of people, smiling hugging and laughing, Faith and Buffy were seen flanking another slim blonde with bright eyes and a mousy red-head, with Nicky as a toddler being held by a cheerful looking man with an eye-patch. Other than the severe looking gentleman in a tweed suit-jacket, they all looked to be in their mid twenties.
Another picture of just the pair of men in the group, the older man was gray in the hair and had a light scar running down this forehead above his right eye, the other was the man with the patch over his right eye and a twinkle in the other. Between them stood Robin, arms crossed and grinning. Their pose and posture, the eye-patch, and the leather jacket Robin wore cut an incredibly dashing image.
"That's my Gram'pa Rupert and my uncle Xander. When my dad was alive they all worked together on the charity that my moms work for now. Gram'pa Rupert used to be the curator for a museum in England and he's real good at archery, he knows a lot of about history and when he used to babysit me, he'd tell me stories about really famous battles with knights and kings. Uncle Xander owns a construction company that's got offices all over the country, he likes to build stuff out of wood but doesn't do that as much after he got his eye poked out in an accident. He spent a lot of time in Africa, he says he misses being there but he likes having a television and being able to shower all the time, so he's okay with living in the states too. He's real funny and takes me camping a lot."
A slide of two other women appeared after a nod to the teacher from Nicky. "These are my aunts, Dawn and Willow. They're really, really smart, like my Gram'pa Rupert. Auntie Willow works a lot with computers and Aunt Dawn is a linguist, which means she works with old languages that no one can speak anymore. Both live in Europe right now but they visit me when they can. Aunt Dawnie goes around and speaks at a lot of universities and colleges in America, so I see her more often."
"We're the Summers clan." Nicky Lehane stated with pride. "A lot of us aren't really related; Uncle Xander, and Auntie Will are really just good friends of Buffy's since they were in high-school, same as my mom, but they've known each other for so long that they're like brothers and sisters. Gram'pa Rupert's not really my grand dad but he treats everyone like they're his kids, even my mom, so I call him my gram'pa. He came from England and helped take care of Buffy and my Aunt Dawn, when their mom died. They've known my mom since they were teenagers and when my dad died, Buffy took care of her 'cuz she was havin' a real hard time. My aunt Willow says that people can have a hard time when they lose someone they love and my mom said that dad was the only man she ever loved, so, I guess it was real hard for her." A pause and a slow montage of the various members of the Summers clan cycled through, scenes of camping trips, tropical family vacations and one of several of them walking down castle crenelations.
"Now I have all those people as my family," images of two men in dark clothes, one dark haired and scowling and another pale blonde, smirking wickedly at the camera, besides them was a bald black man in an expensive suit. Then a couple standing side by side, reservedly, the man was well groomed and had a scar clear on his neck, the woman, a slim and severe looking brunette appeared on the slides, "and I got a bunch of other uncles and aunts in California and England, so that's real cool." He said excitedly.
"We love each other, we try to take care of each other. Uncle Xander said that life can be short and that it's important that help each other while we can. Mom told me that my dad thought that protecting people is the most important thing a person can do." The montage behind him showed a series of women, all different; a redhead with an overbite, an Asian woman holding a martial-arts stance, Willow holding a dark haired woman like a lover, and a scarred Hispanic woman grinning.
The end of the slide came to a picture of picnic setting with Nicky's two mothers kneeling to hug him, with the rest of his family standing over them, sharing in their happiness and mirth. They were surrounded by a crowd young women in fitted t-shirts, fatigues and combat boots all grinning at the camera looking like a sturdy wall protecting Nicky's family.
"All those girls are from the school Buffy counsels at. They were all sponsored by the charity my moms, uncles, aunts and gram'pa Rupert help run." Nicky continued. "Buffy once told me that all of them needed each other in some kind of way. That all of them needed just a little help to make sure that their lives were so much better. So, that's what I wanna do when I grow up, I want to help people, just like my moms do, just like my dad did before he died. Just like the same way my family tries to help other people all over the world."
"Buffy says, no matter how big you are, or how much money you've got, if you can't help and protect the other people, then there isn't a point to having those things."
The child stopped and took a breath. "My family isn't like everyone else's, my uncle Xander says that we're like a really, rally big quilt, a lot of different parts stuck together to make one big, warm blanket. And my aunt Dawn says that even though we don't all share blood, like other families, we share lots of love, which is more important."
The slideshow ended with a picture of a baby Nicholas in the arms of a broad chested Robin and then, an older Nicky, in a more recent photo with his two mothers sitting on a porch giving big happy smiles and waving to the camera. Once again the class politely clapped.
"Very good work, Nicky." his teacher complimented with a nod as the lights turned back on and the boy headed back to his seat. He smiled a thank you at her, and breathed out in relief. His heart was still thudding as he took his seat and his hands shook from the easing fear, no confused comments, no strange looks, these children had yet to learn to fear differences and gave the child with the a less than regular family no more interest than normal.