CHAPTER FOUR: MURKY
A month passed by without incident. Angel had helped Buffy and Stephen to get the correct papers to ensure that the government thought that they had always been there. Stephen's was a little harder to get than Buffy's. Having to create twenty years of records for his own son whom he had desperately wanted to see grow up was painful, but he knew that once he had done it all, Stephen would be grateful. And Angel loved to see his son smile.
Buffy's history was easier to fabricate. There was only seven months missing, and with very little effort, he had made it so that she had been in the Summers household the entire time. He even went so far as to change the Social Services records, to add small additions to Buffy's record, making it seem as though she was a perfect parent. Angel had had a marriage certificate fabricated, even though Buffy and Stephen wanted to have a proper ceremony with their family. It had been decided that they would wait until after their child was born.
Buffy had slowly grown into her role as Dawn's guardian. She had quickly realised that Dawn was an incredibly independent person, something that Dawn had assured her was a good thing. Dawn was making Buffy's life easier, going to school and not skipping classes. Buffy had been informed of a small shoplifting incident, for which Dawn had been severely reprimanded by Spike of all people.
It had been easy for Stephen to find a suitable place of employment. Xander had seen Buffy's husband carving a piece of wood to begin making a cot for the child that was soon to be born. Xander had noticed how professionally Stephen had been making the cot, and had told Stephen he should consider going into construction. With help from Xander, Stephen had been initiated into construction work and was loving every second of it.
Buffy had wanted to get a job as well, but whenever she had mentioned that she was pregnant, many employers told her that they were hoping for someone a little more permanent. They couldn't afford to let her have time off for maternity leave. Buffy had been dejected, but a small part of her hadn't particularly wanted to begin a job so soon. And for now, she was back in UC Sunnydale, auditing her classes until she could be fully re-enrolled in college.
It wasn't a special day that the official looking envelope came in the mail. It had been a Friday afternoon, one that Buffy had been greatly looking forward to. Stephen had the weekend off, and they would get some alone time. Dawn was spending the weekend with a friend and Willow and Tara had offered to be elsewhere so that Buffy and Stephen could finally have the house to themselves.
Buffy opened the front door with a sigh. She looked down to see a pile of mail at her feet, dropped through the slit in the door. She bent down to pick them up, sifting through them quickly. She hated the bills that had piled up, but with Willow, Tara and Stephen splitting them three ways, it was far easier to keep up with the finances of the house.
Her heart dropped as she saw the white envelope with a crest in the top left hand corner. She dropped the other pieces of mail onto the coffee table in the living room and flopped onto the couch still holding the one that could change her life.
She'd been almost expecting it since Christmas Day, but she had hoped that it wouldn't arrive. Dawn hadn't known about Buffy's suspicions in regards to her father's intentions for taking care of them, but Buffy had been petrified the entire time. And now it was finally here.
She took a deep breath and ripped the envelope open, unfolding the letter. She scanned the letter quickly and closed her eyes.
Stephen found her sitting on the couch holding the letter an hour later.
"Buffy?" he asked quietly as he discarded his jacket in the hallway. He walked towards her cautiously. He had been on the receiving end of some truly painful hits after waking up his wife in a manner that frightened her.
Buffy however, wasn't asleep. She opened her eyes and looked at him sadly. He raced to sit beside her, gathering her in his arms.
"What's wrong?" he whispered against her hair as she burst into a fresh round of sobs.
Buffy wordlessly handed him the letter. He scanned it quickly, feeling his heart drop as well.
"Can he do this?" he asked quietly. "Get custody of Dawn?"
"I don't know," Buffy replied miserably. "He's going to try."
"But Angel got us all those papers for our wedding and for our entire lives," Stephen said, trying to comfort his wife. "And you're a good mom Buffy. They can't take her away from you."
"Not unless they prove I'm completely incompetent."
"And they can't prove that because you're not," he whispered.
Buffy sighed and buried herself into her husband's embrace.
"So much for our perfect weekend," Buffy said tearfully, looking up at him.
He gave her a soft smile and kissed her gently. "It's you and it's me, and it's perfect no matter what."
She kissed him and let herself forget everything in the feeling of his lips against hers. "Sweet talker."
He grinned into the kiss and pulled her closer to him, his heart jumping a few beats as he remembered how blessed he was to have such a woman in his life.
"I do what I can," he teased.
"Anything you can?" she asked coyly.
Stephen gave a little laugh and stood up, sweeping the tiny blonde up in his arms. "Anything for you."
He began walking up the stairs with ease, Buffy still firmly ensconced in his arms.
"Make me forget," she whispered.
He nodded and opened the door to their room, depositing her on the bed. He quickly discarded his shirt and shoes, going to lay beside her, touching her cheek lovingly.
"We're going to have a perfect weekend Buffy," Stephen assured her. "You and I, together…we'll go out, go dancing, maybe even frolic in the park."
Buffy couldn't help but laugh at that. "Frolic huh?"
"Yep. You and me, frolicking together. And then, after we frolic in the park, we could come back here and frolic some more," he said, kissing her gently.
"What about now? Are we gonna frolic?" she asked, her voice strained.
He grinned and felt his heart burst with love for her.
"You know it."