"Mama when are we going to have something to eat?" Faith asked Joyce as she sat building sandcastles at the base of Buffy and Joyce's towels. Joyce looked over the top of her book at the toddler who was covered in sand.
"Are you hungry sweetheart?" Joyce asked and Faith nodded pouring more sand on top of her castle.
"Well I suppose we should get out of the sun for awhile anyway," Joyce said reaching over and shaking Buffy who was dozing on her own towel, "Buffy honey we're going to go and get some lunch."
Joyce stood up and helped Faith brush the sand off of her before handing her a pair of shorts and a tank to put on while Buffy packed up their things.
"Oww the sand is hot," Faith whined as she hopped up and down on the sand.
"Get on then," Buffy said bending over so Faith could jump on her back.
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Buffy sat Faith down on the railing on the boardwalk as they waited for Joyce to return from getting their lunch.
"B do we really gotsta go home tonight?" Faith asked Buffy who was standing in front of her her hands resting on the toddler's knees.
"We can't stay here forever Faithy, Mom has work and I have to go back to school," Buffy said readjusting the hat on the young girls head.
"But I like it here," Faith pouted.
"I know you do I do as well, maybe we can talk Mom into letting us come back another time," Buffy replied.
"Mom will have to see," Joyce said joining them the smell of greasy fish and chips wafting from the butchers paper package she held in her arms.
"Come on Mom we could make it an annual thing," Buffy said picking Faith up off the railing and placing her on the ground.
"Yeah Mama we had lots of fun here, can we come back please," Faith said grabbing hold of both Buffy and Joyce's hands placing herself in between the two as they walked along the boardwalk.
"We'll see," Joyce smiled at her youngest.
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"So how are you feeling?" Buffy asked as they sat at a picnic table overlooking the beach. Faith was running around in front of them feeding the seagulls the leftover chips.
"Buffy I don't know how many times I have to tell you, I'm fine it was just the stress getting to me," Joyce said.
"I know I just worry about you is all," Buffy said.
"Well you don't have to worry this vacation has done the trick and I'm feeling fit as a fiddle," Joyce said.
"Fine, but I still want you to take it easy when we get home," Buffy said.
"I can't make any promises," Joyce smirked, "uh Faith honey I think they've had enough," she called as the group of birds around Faith grew as the toddler threw them more food.
"No Mama they're really hungry look at how many of them there are," Faith called back throwing them more chips.
"That's what I'm worried about," Joyce said a little worried.
"Don't worry Mom I'm sure they'd be no match for her," Buffy smirked.
Joyce's suspicions were proved correct when a couple of minutes later one of the seagulls swooped down and plucked Faith's hat from her head flying off with it in its beak. The toddler was stunned for a second looking around at the birds that flew off when they realised their food had stopped but then her lip began to tremble and she turned and ran towards where her mother and sister were sitting.
"The birdie took my hat," she wailed as she threw herself into Joyce's waiting arms.
Joyce laughed, "I know sweetheart I saw it."
"Why did it take it I was being nice to them and giving them chips," Faith cried.
"He was a naughty bird if we ever see him again we'll have to give him a good talking to," Joyce said wiping away Faith's tears as the toddler gave shaky laugh.
"He was real mean," Faith agreed.
"So after we kick Tweety's butt what else are we going to do on our last afternoon?" Buffy asked.
"I think we should make the most of it and spend as much time on the beach as possible," Joyce replied.
"But Mama how and I meant to go to the beach if I don't have a hat?" Faith asked.
"You can borrow mine," Buffy said leaning over and placing her straw hat on Faith's head, it was too big so it fell over the toddler's eyes.
"What are you going to wear?" Faith asked pushing the hat out of her eyes.
"I'll just put on extra sunscreen so I don't get burnt," Buffy said to Faith, "are we going to go back to the room for naptime first?" she asked her mother.
"No nap time today we have a five o'clock flight tonight so hopefully we'll get some rest on the plane," Joyce said.
"Yay no nap," Faith yelled jumping off her mother's lap and doing a little happy dance causing both Buffy and Joyce to crack up laughing.
"Alright girls lets go and spend the last few hours we have here in the beautiful sunshine," Joyce said.
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"Mom can Faith and I go exploring for a bit?" Buffy asked her mother as they waited in the departures lounge. Their flight had been delayed for two hours and the toddler was starting to get restless as they had been sitting in the departure lounge all this time.
"Don't be gone for too long they'll be calling us soon," Joyce said.
"Come on Faithy let's go see if we can kind some souvenirs for the gang," Buffy said taking Faith's hand.
"What's a sovaear?" Faith asked.
"When people go on holiday sometimes they buy stuff to remind them of that place and sometimes they give them to other people who didn't get to go," Buffy told her.
"Is my new hat my sovaear?" Faith asked. Joyce had gotten her a new one because Buffy's hat was way too big for her and the toddler had kept complaining that it was falling off.
"That's a kind of boring souvenir we'll see if there is something else that we can find for you," Buffy said.
They found a kitschy tourist shop in the airport departure lounge and went about finding gifts for the Scoobies. They found a pair of wind up Retirees in walker frames that raced each other for Xander and an Investment for Dummies book for Anya. Buffy let Faith pick out the souvenirs for Tara, Willow and Giles and the toddler chose a pink flamingo comb for the redhead, a dolphin shaped magnet for Tara and a teacup and saucer set for the Watcher that had brightly coloured flamingos and alligators painted on it. Buffy sniggered a little as she pictured the stuffy Englishman drinking his tea from it.
"Hey baby what about this for a souvenir?" Buffy asked holding out a stuffed alligator for Faith to see.
"Won't Mr Darcy feel sad if I had another toy?" Faith asked.
"I'm sure he'll understand, but this way you can have two friends looking out for you," Buffy said.
"Am I allowed to have two?" Faith asked, "I've never had two before," she said quietly.
"Baby, no matter what happened before, no matter what your old Mom said to you it's different now. It's okay to have more than one toy, no one is going to get you in trouble for that," Buffy said kneeling in front of Faith.
"Sometimes I forget and I think my old Ma is gonna get mad at me," Faith mumbled.
"Sweetheart you will never get in trouble for something as small as having more than one toy. Mom or I would only get you in trouble if you had actually done something wrong and there is nothing wrong with wanting or having toys okay," she said placing their chosen gifts on the floor so she could pull Faith to her.
"What should I name him?" Faith asked quietly as she pulled away from Buffy.
"Hmm, what about Albert the Alligator and then you can call him Al for short," Buffy smiled handing the stuffed toy to her sister who hugged it tight to her chest.
"Al is a good name," Faith said as Buffy picked up the rest of their souvenir choices.
"Come on, let's go pay for these and get back to Mom, she's probably freaking out that we're not going to make the plane," Buffy said as she heard their flight called over the loudspeaker.
The cashier smiled at them as Buffy paid and handed them their purchases in a bag. Buffy took the toy out and handed it to Faith who yawned as she held her arms out for Buffy to pick her up.
"Getting tired baby?" Buffy asked scooping her up and resting her on her hip.
"Yeah," Faith sighed resting her head underneath Buffy's chin, her new top still clutched in one hand.
"Well you had a pretty busy day, played on the beach for ages plus that bad seagull stole your hat that was pretty traumatic," Buffy said kissing Faith on the top of her head.
"Maybe when we fly on the airplane we will see the birdie that stole my hat," Faith suggested.
"Maybe, but if I was that bird I'd be far away from here because I wouldn't want to suffer the wrath of Faith," Buffy smirked and Faith giggled before yawning again readjusting herself so that her head was resting against Buffy's shoulder. The young girl was asleep before they reached where their mother was sitting her hand holding the stuffed animal slipping from where it was resting against Buffy's shoulder. Buffy prayed that the toy didn't fall from her sister's grip because she didn't have enough hands at the moment to save it.
"Buffy where have you been they called us already," Joyce said looking at her daughter with a mixture of an angry and panicked expression.
"Sorry Mom we went to get some souvenirs for the gang and lost track of time," Buffy said, "can you grab Al?" she asked as the stuffed toy fell from the slumbering toddler's hands.
"Al?" her mother looked at her confused.
"Albert the alligator, the toy," Buffy said pointing with her foot at the fallen alligator.
"She's going to grumpy when we have to wake her to get our boarding passes checked," Joyce said putting the stuffed toy in Faith's small backpack. She put that as well as her own carry on luggage over her shoulders before helping Buffy with hers.
"Do we have to, we already got our ID's verified when we checked in earlier," Buffy whined. A tired Faith was a grumpy Faith and a grumpy Faith was either teary or extremely irritable and not so fun to be around.
"Hopefully not, we can only keep our fingers crossed," Joyce's eyes twinkled as they walked towards the gate.
The woman who took their boarding passes smiled at the sleeping girl in Buffy's arms and assured them it wasn't necessary to wake her up and both Buffy and Joyce thanked her for it. When they boarded the plane Buffy groaned inwardly when she recognised the same man from the flight over and he seemed to do the same thing when he noticed them. As fate would have it they were seated directly behind him again and he scowled as they walked down the aisle.
Buffy slipped in to the window seat as Joyce put their luggage in the overhead compartments getting the stuffed alligator out before she closed the door. Buffy sat herself down and then carefully placed Faith in the middle seat resting the toddler's head against her shoulder. The young girl stirred and Buffy held her breath but she eventually settled back down her thumb winding its way into her mouth. Joyce leaned over and carefully did up Faith's seatbelt and tucked the stuffed toy under her arms before settling herself in her own seat.
"I'm looking forward to my own bed," Joyce said as she looked over at her eldest.
"I know right, no matter how swanky the place is that you're staying in nothing is ever as good as home."
The deep rumbling of the plane's engines as they sped down the runway woke Faith and the toddler burst into tears as she woke reaching out to Buffy. Buffy smiled sympathetically at her as they rose into the air stroking her hair and ignoring the snark remarks from the man in front of them who couldn't help but comment. As soon as the seatbelt sign clicked off Buffy pulled Faith onto her lap hugging her to her chest and ran her hands soothingly up and down her back.
The toddler didn't calm down immediately and they were still receiving annoyed looks from other passengers so Buffy stood gathering Faith up in her arms.
"What are you doing?" Joyce asked as Buffy slipped passed her and into the aisle.
"Just going to take her for a walk hopefully calm her down some," Buffy said, "don't worry we can't get lost."
"Let's go look at the back of the plane huh," she said to Faith who whimpered as she snuggled her head back under Buffy's chin. Faith wasn't the only child who had cried when the plane had taken off and Buffy passed several other parents who were walking with upset toddlers and all smiled sympathetically at one another as they passed by.
Several flight attendants were gathered around the back of the plane when Buffy and Faith made it down there and they smiled warmly at the two of them.
"What's your name sweetie?" one of them asked the toddler.
"Faif," she mumbled around the thumb that had found its way back into her mouth.
"That's a pretty name, did you have a nice holiday?" she asked.
"A birdie stole my hat," Faith said around a yawn.
"That's no good I hope you told him off," the flight attendant smiled.
"He flyed away with it," Faith said yawning again as her hand wound its way into Buffy's hair.
"It was quite the ordeal," Buffy smirked.
"So are you girls from Sunnydale or are you just passing through?" another of the flight attendants asked.
"From LA originally but we've been in Sunnydale for about four years now," Buffy said as she rocked side to side.
"My aunt and uncle are from Sunnydale so I've been there a few times, it seems like a pretty nice place to live," the first flight attendant said.
"It's nice, it was a change coming from LA at first but now I really enjoy living there," Buffy said.
"So is Faith your daughter?" the second flight attendant asked somewhat hesitantly.
"No, no she's my sister," Buffy said.
"She's adorable and I think she's asleep so I think you're safe from any more disapproving glares," the first flight attendant smirked.
"Bet you get a lot of complaints about that huh," Buffy said.
"Most people understand but there is always one or two who feel the need to say something, but we understand sometimes there's not much you can do," the second attendant smiled.
"I should get back to my Mom she's probably wondering where we've disappeared to," Buffy said.
"Have a good flight," the attendants said kindly.
Buffy made her way back to their seats and Joyce got out of hers to let the two of them pass kissing Faith on the top of the head as they went past. The blonde Slayer sat down in the middle seat and settled Faith on her lap so the toddler was sitting sideways with her head resting against Buffy's chest. She took the stuffed animal her mother was holding out to her and tucked it safely in Faith's arms. She sighed as she closed her eyes and rested her head against the back of her seat.
"Have I ever told you how wonderful you are with her?" Joyce asked.
Buffy cracked her eyes open and turned her head sideways so she could see her mother, "You didn't think I would be?" she questioned.
"I didn't think you wouldn't be, I just thought with it being Faith, and you used to being an older child it might take you awhile, but I am so impressed with you and it warms my heart to see the two of you together."
"To be honest I wasn't sure what to expect when Giles said she would be young, I kind of thought a little leather wearing potty mouth would walk through the front door, but she's shy and loving and open to affection so many things that I would never have thought she would be and I guess it just proves to me how much those events of her past shaped who she would become," Buffy said looking down fondly at the slumbering toddler's face.
"Makes you determined not to let it happen again doesn't it," Joyce said stroking some of the baby soft hair away from Faith's forehead.
"It kind of does."
