"Woah, Buff. Nice crib," Willow blew out as they approached the house.
"Crib?" Dawn asked. "Since when are you Dr. Dre?"
Willow shrugged and nodded. "Well, I'm just sayin'. You've kinda got a mansion over here. I didn't even know there were houses this big in Sunnydale."
Anne winced. "Would you totally judge me if I said that the Chases used to live four houses away?"
"Yup," Willow nodded cheerily. They got out of the car and headed inside. "So where's this husband of yours?" she asked. "I still can't believe you're married. And Xander! I didn't think he'd ever, not after what happened with Anya."
"Danny's visiting with his family today. I thought it might be easier for him, before he got thrown into all of mine." While Anne explained this, Dawn had walked in to the kitchen and then the living room. "You redecorated? Again?"
Anne shrugged defensively. "I got bored. Hey Dawny, can you show Willow where the guest room is? I'll order pizza for lunch."
"Yes!" Liam cheered, following Anne into the kitchen. Anne got out the phone book and was flipping through the yellow pages when she gave Liam a tentative look…which of course, he noticed. "What?"
"So, Willow's fun, right?" she asked him.
"Yeah. Plus, she gave me this," Liam pointed out, tugging at his Manchester United scarf. "When's Spike coming? I like Spike, he said he'd come back."
Anne had taken the phone off it's cradle, but she but it back down with more force than she'd intended. "Um…listen, Liam. About Spike..."
"Why's his name Spike?" Liam interjected.
And this was exactly what Anne had been trying to avoid. The reason that Spike had picked up that nickname had been due to his tendency to torture his victims with railroad spikes. And this was something that she was supposed to tell her eight-year-old son. "It's just a nickname," Anne answered vaguely. "Anyway, listen Liam. Aunt Dawn and Aunt Willow, and a lot of the others who you're gonna meet me in the next few days …they don't really like Spike."
"Why not?"
Because he tried to kill us on several occasions. "They just…don't like his hair."
"I like his hair. I think he's cool. Don't you like Spike?"
"Of course. But maybe Spike can be our little secret, okay?"
"Cool," Liam concluded.
"Okay, good." Anne ordered a couple of pizzas before Willow and Dawn came back down the stairs.
"Do you have the third edition of the Sumerian text though?" Willow was asking Dawn. "The translation is a little better, so the spells are much more efficient."
"Nice. I'll check it out."
"Spells?"
"Guys," Anne reprimanded. "Ix-nay on the ells-pay."
"Got it," Dawn nodded.
"The doorbell rang and Anne frowned. "That can't be the pizza already," she said out loud, going to open the door. Before she could recognize the person, they had thrown their arms around her, practically jumped her.
"B," Faith sighed, giving Anne a tight squeeze.
Anne blinked, feeling rigid for a second before giving in and embracing Faith. She felt bad, that her initial reaction was still to back away. But it wasn't like Faith hadn't given her good reason. Even if she had, that was all done now. Faith had redeemed herself, as far as she was concerned, and now she just wanted to get back to normal. This thought startled Anne. She was actually looking forward to patrolling with Faith. That hadn't even happened back when she and Faith were friends.
They pulled away and Faith gave Anne a playful punch on the shoulder. "Hey, check out what I picked up in the driveway."
Faith stepped out of the way, exposing Xander. His hands were in his front pockets, his shoulders hunched, and for a second he looked like a fifteen-year-old boy, about to ask her on a date. "Hey," Anne greeted him, holding her arms out.
Xander hugged her back, and Anne knew he was relieved that she wasn't angry at him in any way. "Hey Buff. Long time, no…anything." When they broke away, Xander asked, "Where's the little monster?"
Motioning for them to come inside, Anne told him, "He's in here, but he's not so little anymore."
"I'm eight!" Liam volunteered.
"Woah, that's the kid?" Faith asked. "Would it kill him to get a tan?"
"I'm allergic to the sun," Liam glared at her.
"It's a vitamin D deficiency," Anne offered.
Faith gave Xander a look that asked, "Does anyone actually believe that?" Xander met her gaze for a moment, as if to say, "Yes, so drop it," before looking away. Buffy felt her stomach pull and wrench.
"Oh my God, Xander Harris get over here right now," Dawn demanded, coming down the stairs.
Xander looked up, blinking. "Oh my God, Dawn. I wouldn't even have recognized you. You're like…an adult."
"I know, right?" Dawn smiled.
Xander hugged her, picking her up off the bottom stair and planting her back down on the carpet in a ballroom dip. Dawn giggled as Xander stood her back upright. "Okay, let's stop now before we all start breaking out into song."
"Huh?" Faith asked.
"Well, it started out innocently enough," Xander offered.
"Hey guys?" They looked at Buffy. "Can we not talk about this in front of Liam."
"Talk about what?" Liam asked.
"Christ, B, the kid doesn't even know?" Faith asked.
Buffy crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Faith. She held her hand up in defense. "No judgment. I mean, I wouldn't know how to raise a kid, either."
"And lets hope you never have to find out," Xander joked.
"Hey, I might be…twenty-six, but I can still kick your ass," Faith warned, getting ready to punch Xander.
"Oh, so that's what we're playing? Twenty-six?"
"Alright, that's it," Faith said, and Xander screamed like a girl, trying to deflect his face from Faith's punches. Buffy knew that she was only trying half-heartedly. If she was going full force, Xander would at least have a broken nose by now…or worse.
"Guys, can we not?" Buffy asked, gesturing to Liam.
"Hello?" somebody called though the house.
Faith gave Buffy an annoyed look. "B, did ya have to invite the geek squad?" she asked as Andrew joined them in the hallway.
"Uncle Andrew!" Liam exclaimed, grabbing Andrew's hands. Anne figured he was probably glad to see a familiar face.
"Uncle Andrew, Buff? Really?" Xander asked, obviously pained.
Andrew picked Liam up and pretended to drop him a couple times. "I'm Liam's favorite," he casually bragged.
"Yeah! He gave me all my Star Wars toys," Liam confirmed.
"I bet he did," Xander said through a tight-lipped smile.
"Hey Andrew."
"Hey Willow."
The six of them quieted down as Xander looked up at Willow, who was at the top of the stairs. He paused for a second before bounding up the staircase, two at a time. "Don't even think about making a joke right now," Willow warned as Xander wrapped her in a bear hug.
"Wouldn't dream of it," he assured her.
Buffy felt her heart well, almost to the point of bursting. Everybody she loved would be in the same place soon. With the Scooby Gang all back together, it was easy to believe that, really, everything was going to be okay.