As I Lay me Down chapter 18---Holiday.
Authors notes:1)This chapter takes place two months after the last chapter.
2)This goes out to all of those friends of mine,and all of those readers, who have to suffer through Summer school, I feel so sorry for you guys. 3)And finally, even if you get ton's of idea's for a chapter at three in the morning while you're dealing with a bad case of insomnia and an ear infection, don't try to write the chapter all in one sitting because it'll just come out full of misspelt and missing words.
Buffy and Xander walked into the library feeling more relaxed then they had all week. They had taken the last of their midterms and were now free to do whatever they wanted for the next nine days.
"Giles!"Buffy exclaimed,"You here?"
"G-man!"Xander called out, "I don't think he's here."
"Well, I guess we'll just wait for him then."
"I agree."Xander said, sitting down at the table."So, is that a new shirt?"
"Yeah, I had to put away all my old ones, and finally go out and buy some maternity clothes. With my mother, might I add. That was a very akward moment, I'll tell you that."
"She seems kind of okay with the whole you being pregnant thing. I mean she did let Spike move in with you."
"What was she supposed to do? Let the father of her first grandchild live on the street?"
"I guess you've got a point."
"But she is trying to be nice to him. I mean she hasn't had him thrown him in jail, that's a plus right?"
"Do the two of you have any classes?"Giles asked walking through the door, carrying a stack of books.
"Yeah, but we're kinda look at the whole failing out aspect of school."Xander said sarcasticly.
"Hey now!"Buffy exclaimed, "Speak for yourself. I'm working my butt off so that I can impress my mom and talk her into getting me that pimpin' state of the art stereo system for my room."
"But won't that stereo system be useless in a couple months when the baby's born?"Giles asked, raising an eybrow
"Giles, it's never to early to get a child listening to the classic's."
"The Classics..."
"You know The Clash, Black Sabbath,NKotB, and ooh, Nirvana. And the Sex Pistol's. I love the sex pistols."
"Okay, one, don't you have to love the Sex Pistol's 'cause isn't you're boyfriend an honorary member and two, who's NKotB?"Xander asked confused.
"New Kids on the Block."
"New Kids on the Block? You're putting them up there with The Clash, Black Sabbath, and the Sex Pistol's?"Giles asked stunned.
"And don't forget Nirvana."
"Hey you guys."Willow exclaimed walking into the library with Oz right next to her, holding her hand and Cordelia behind them.
"Does no one have classes anymore?"He asked frustrated.
"Nope."The all said in unison.
"Hey Willow. Hey Oz."Buffy said smirking.
"Stop smirking."Willow whispered sitting down at the table with them.
"So it's going good between the two of you?"
"Yeah it is. I'm going to owe you and Cordelia forever."
"You heard that right Buffy."Cordelia asked.
"Oh yeah. And you know what that means."
"Free baby sitting."The said in unison.
"Hey Oz, we've got a music question for you."Xander said breaking up the whispering, "Do you think New Kids on the Block deserves to be named along with The Clash, The Sex Pistol's and Black Sabbath?"
"And Nirvana."Buffy said quickly.
"New Kids up there with the Classic's? Uh-uh."
"Told you so."Giles said as he picked up his books and headed up the stairs to reselve them.
"God Giles, competitive much?"Cordelia said
"Uh Cordelia, this is nothing. You've got to remember, I've seen him wacked out on Band Candy."
"You're right. I can only imagion what that was like."
"Believe me, no you can't. And even if you could, you wouldn't want to. I still have nightmares about him and...I can't even think about it."
""So do you guys talk like this all the time?"Oz asked, "With all these inside jokes?"
"Yeah, pretty much."Willow told him,"But most of the time we all understand the inside jokes."
"I think this is our cue to change the subject."Cordelia said.
"I think you're right. Ooh, I've got a great subject. What are you all doing tomorrow night?"Buffy said.
"Well I know my night is just packed full of the Harris family's drunkin' fun. Why?"Xander asked.
"Because my aunt on my mom's side of the family and her like fifty kids were supposed to come down for Christmas, but her son Robbie broke his leg skiing so they can't come, and my mom's already bought all this food and she doesn't want it to go to waste, so she wanted me to see if you guys wanted to come over and eat with us."
"Well, I for one will be there."Cordelia said, "And probably Angel too. There's no way we're passing up free food. And this gives us a reason not to go see my parent's."
"We've got one, any other takers? Giles, Will, Xander?"
"What the heck. Sure."Xander said, "Will?"
"Can we watch 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'?"she asked.
"Of course."Buffy told her, "'A Charlie Brown Christmas' is a Christmas staple."
"Then I'm in."
"Awesome."
(Buffy's house, Christmas eve)
Buffy stood infront of her mirror surveying the outfit she had picked out for the night.
"Are you sure I look alright?"She asked Spike
"You look fine, I on the other hand look like I'm trying to be Peaches or something."he told her buttoning up his shirt.
"You don't look like Angel. He would never wear navy. He's strictly a black on black man."
"So is he coming tonight?"
"Well, when I talked to Cordelia this morning she said that he was probably going to show up but he wasn't sure. So, it's all still up in the air."
"Buffy!"Joyce called from downstairs,"Someone's here to see you."
"Oooh!"Buffy squeaked, "Someone's here. Come on." Buffy took Spikes hand and pulled him out the door and down the stairs.
"Who is it?"She asked and then stopped dead in her tracks at the bottom,"Oh my god."
(Angel's apartment)
Cordelia sat on the couch taking picture after picture of Connor while Angel finished getting dressed.
"You should see this Angel!"Cordelia called out, "Connor's discovered that his Rudolf toy's nose blinks when you press it. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen!"
"Cordy, you're doing it again."Angel told her, walking out of his room.
"I'm sorry. I'm trying to quit. I really am, it's just that I think he's starting to figure out exactly what's going on and I want to make everything fun for him."
"Cordelia, we're talking about a kid who thinks playing with his toes is fun, so anything you do with him will be fun. You understand?"
"Yeah, I do. Now are you ready to go? 'Cause I told Buffy I'd try to get over there early so I could help her and her mom finish up."
"Yeah, just let me grab the present."
"Okay, we'll be out in the car, meet us down there."
Chapter 19---For You
"Oh my god."Buffy repeated, "Daddy?"
"Hey sweet-pea."Hank said
"What are you doing here?"
"Your mother called me and asked if I felt like surprising you and coming down early for Christmas."
"And here you are. Oh my god."
"You've said that already love."Spike whispered.
"I know."she said through gritted teeth.
"Are you going to introduce your father to Spike?"Joyce asked.
"Oh yeah. Dad this is my boyfriend Spike. Spike this is my father Hank Summers."
"Hello Mr. Summers."
"Hello Spike."
"So, dad, how about we all sit down on the couch and talk. Doesn't that sound like a good idea Spike?"
"Bloody brilliant."
Buffy, Spike, and her father all went into the living room and took a seat on the couch, while Joyce went into the kitchen to check on the dinner.
After a few minutes of occuard silence Hank asked, "So Buffy, how have you been? We haven't gotten to talk in a while."
"How have I been? I've been good."
"School's good?"
"I haven't been kicked out if that's what you're asking."
"That's good. Has anything else been going on?"
Spike could tell where this conversation was going so he politely excused himself and went into the kitchen.
"There is something that's been going on, but you have to promise me that you won't freak out."
(Kitchen)
"So, is this whole family thing becoming too much for you?"Joyce asked as Spike walked in and leaned his head up against the backdoor.
"Lil' bit, yeah."
"Did your family ever do things like this when you were growing up?"
"The whole dinner thing, yeah all the time. But it was usually just me and my mum. My dad wasn't around."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Joyce!"Hank called from the living room.
"Sounds like he's found out about the b-a-b-y."Spike said running a hand threw his hair, "This is going to be fun."
(Living room)
"I cannot believe this!"Hank said pacing infront of Buffy.
"Daddy, you promised you wouldn't get upset."
"That was before I found out that my sixteen year old daughter is pregnant."
"Hank calm down."Joyce said coming out of the kitchen.
"Did you know about this?"
"Yes."
"God,how did this happen?"
"I can answer this one!"Buffy said perking up, "When two people love each other very much...or I could give you the line about the male plug and the female creating elecricity."
"Don't be a smart alek."Her parent's said in sync.
"Okay fine. There was a whole bunch of kissing. And you know, when I say 'kissing' I really mean 'insemination'...and when I say insemination I kinda don't mean the artificial kind."
Just as Hank was about the speak the doorbell rang.
"Oh thank god. I'll get it!"Buffy exclaimed getting up off of the couch and hurring over to the door,
She threw the door open and was pleased to see Xander, Willow, and Oz waiting for her.
"We come with gifts!"Xander told her while he and Willow held up matching boxes.
"I brought pie."Oz told her.
"You are a god send. Come on in."
Buffy ushered the two boys in while she pulled Willow aside.
"My dad's here."
"You're kidding."Willow said sympatheticly, "Does he know about the baby?"
"Oh yeah. And believe me when I say that there will be a world of yelling tonight. So please I'm begging you stay as long as you can."
"It'll be okay."
Just as Willow and Buffy were about to go into the living room the doorbell rang again.
"You go and get introduced to my father while I see who's at the door."
Buffy took a deep breath and then reopened the door.
"Hi Cordelia, Angel."
"We would have been here sooner but we had to turn around and go all the way back home 'cause we forgot Jesus the Goat."
"Well you're here, and that's all that matters. Come on in."
"You okay?"Angel whispered as Cordelia made her way passed the two of them.
"Peachy. Come on in, dinner's gonna be ready momentarily."
Buffy took Cordelia, Angel and Connor into the living room and gave them both chairs to sit in.
"Well since everybody's here, I guess introductions are in order. You've already met Xander and Oz I see, and that's Willow, and over here we have Cordelia, Angel and their son Connor."
"It's nice to meet you guys."
(Living Room, Later)
Buffy and the group sat around the television exchanging gifts while Angel sat on the sidelines watching them laugh and exchange banter about their gifts.
Buffy looked over at Angel and then whispered into Spike's ear, "I'll be right back."
"Hey."She said taking a spot on the wall next to Angel, "So, you really like her don't you?"
"Who?"
"Cordelia. Angel, come on you can tell me I mean it's not like I'm going to come unglued. I've seen the way you two act together, you smile when you're around her. I can count the number of times you smiled when we were going out on one hand. Now come on, spill."
"What if I do like her, it isn't going to change the way she feels about me."
"No it's not, because she feels the exact same way about you. I remember the Cordelia Chase I went to high school with and she would never hold a child especially not one that cries, and she would never give up Daddy's credit if she didn't have to, and she's done all of that for you."
"Buffy?"Joyce said interupting the conversation, "Mr. Giles is at the door, he needs to speak with you, it's urgent."
"Thanks mom."Buffy said smiling slightly.
She walked to the door afraid of what Giles was about to tell her.
"What's up?"She asked, "Is something wrong?"
"Quite the opposite actually. You see I was going through my text and I found something I thought you would find very interesting."
"What is it?"
"I found a way for you to return to the future."
Authors notes:1)This chapter takes place two months after the last chapter.
2)This goes out to all of those friends of mine,and all of those readers, who have to suffer through Summer school, I feel so sorry for you guys. 3)And finally, even if you get ton's of idea's for a chapter at three in the morning while you're dealing with a bad case of insomnia and an ear infection, don't try to write the chapter all in one sitting because it'll just come out full of misspelt and missing words.
Buffy and Xander walked into the library feeling more relaxed then they had all week. They had taken the last of their midterms and were now free to do whatever they wanted for the next nine days.
"Giles!"Buffy exclaimed,"You here?"
"G-man!"Xander called out, "I don't think he's here."
"Well, I guess we'll just wait for him then."
"I agree."Xander said, sitting down at the table."So, is that a new shirt?"
"Yeah, I had to put away all my old ones, and finally go out and buy some maternity clothes. With my mother, might I add. That was a very akward moment, I'll tell you that."
"She seems kind of okay with the whole you being pregnant thing. I mean she did let Spike move in with you."
"What was she supposed to do? Let the father of her first grandchild live on the street?"
"I guess you've got a point."
"But she is trying to be nice to him. I mean she hasn't had him thrown him in jail, that's a plus right?"
"Do the two of you have any classes?"Giles asked walking through the door, carrying a stack of books.
"Yeah, but we're kinda look at the whole failing out aspect of school."Xander said sarcasticly.
"Hey now!"Buffy exclaimed, "Speak for yourself. I'm working my butt off so that I can impress my mom and talk her into getting me that pimpin' state of the art stereo system for my room."
"But won't that stereo system be useless in a couple months when the baby's born?"Giles asked, raising an eybrow
"Giles, it's never to early to get a child listening to the classic's."
"The Classics..."
"You know The Clash, Black Sabbath,NKotB, and ooh, Nirvana. And the Sex Pistol's. I love the sex pistols."
"Okay, one, don't you have to love the Sex Pistol's 'cause isn't you're boyfriend an honorary member and two, who's NKotB?"Xander asked confused.
"New Kids on the Block."
"New Kids on the Block? You're putting them up there with The Clash, Black Sabbath, and the Sex Pistol's?"Giles asked stunned.
"And don't forget Nirvana."
"Hey you guys."Willow exclaimed walking into the library with Oz right next to her, holding her hand and Cordelia behind them.
"Does no one have classes anymore?"He asked frustrated.
"Nope."The all said in unison.
"Hey Willow. Hey Oz."Buffy said smirking.
"Stop smirking."Willow whispered sitting down at the table with them.
"So it's going good between the two of you?"
"Yeah it is. I'm going to owe you and Cordelia forever."
"You heard that right Buffy."Cordelia asked.
"Oh yeah. And you know what that means."
"Free baby sitting."The said in unison.
"Hey Oz, we've got a music question for you."Xander said breaking up the whispering, "Do you think New Kids on the Block deserves to be named along with The Clash, The Sex Pistol's and Black Sabbath?"
"And Nirvana."Buffy said quickly.
"New Kids up there with the Classic's? Uh-uh."
"Told you so."Giles said as he picked up his books and headed up the stairs to reselve them.
"God Giles, competitive much?"Cordelia said
"Uh Cordelia, this is nothing. You've got to remember, I've seen him wacked out on Band Candy."
"You're right. I can only imagion what that was like."
"Believe me, no you can't. And even if you could, you wouldn't want to. I still have nightmares about him and...I can't even think about it."
""So do you guys talk like this all the time?"Oz asked, "With all these inside jokes?"
"Yeah, pretty much."Willow told him,"But most of the time we all understand the inside jokes."
"I think this is our cue to change the subject."Cordelia said.
"I think you're right. Ooh, I've got a great subject. What are you all doing tomorrow night?"Buffy said.
"Well I know my night is just packed full of the Harris family's drunkin' fun. Why?"Xander asked.
"Because my aunt on my mom's side of the family and her like fifty kids were supposed to come down for Christmas, but her son Robbie broke his leg skiing so they can't come, and my mom's already bought all this food and she doesn't want it to go to waste, so she wanted me to see if you guys wanted to come over and eat with us."
"Well, I for one will be there."Cordelia said, "And probably Angel too. There's no way we're passing up free food. And this gives us a reason not to go see my parent's."
"We've got one, any other takers? Giles, Will, Xander?"
"What the heck. Sure."Xander said, "Will?"
"Can we watch 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'?"she asked.
"Of course."Buffy told her, "'A Charlie Brown Christmas' is a Christmas staple."
"Then I'm in."
"Awesome."
(Buffy's house, Christmas eve)
Buffy stood infront of her mirror surveying the outfit she had picked out for the night.
"Are you sure I look alright?"She asked Spike
"You look fine, I on the other hand look like I'm trying to be Peaches or something."he told her buttoning up his shirt.
"You don't look like Angel. He would never wear navy. He's strictly a black on black man."
"So is he coming tonight?"
"Well, when I talked to Cordelia this morning she said that he was probably going to show up but he wasn't sure. So, it's all still up in the air."
"Buffy!"Joyce called from downstairs,"Someone's here to see you."
"Oooh!"Buffy squeaked, "Someone's here. Come on." Buffy took Spikes hand and pulled him out the door and down the stairs.
"Who is it?"She asked and then stopped dead in her tracks at the bottom,"Oh my god."
(Angel's apartment)
Cordelia sat on the couch taking picture after picture of Connor while Angel finished getting dressed.
"You should see this Angel!"Cordelia called out, "Connor's discovered that his Rudolf toy's nose blinks when you press it. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen!"
"Cordy, you're doing it again."Angel told her, walking out of his room.
"I'm sorry. I'm trying to quit. I really am, it's just that I think he's starting to figure out exactly what's going on and I want to make everything fun for him."
"Cordelia, we're talking about a kid who thinks playing with his toes is fun, so anything you do with him will be fun. You understand?"
"Yeah, I do. Now are you ready to go? 'Cause I told Buffy I'd try to get over there early so I could help her and her mom finish up."
"Yeah, just let me grab the present."
"Okay, we'll be out in the car, meet us down there."
Chapter 19---For You
"Oh my god."Buffy repeated, "Daddy?"
"Hey sweet-pea."Hank said
"What are you doing here?"
"Your mother called me and asked if I felt like surprising you and coming down early for Christmas."
"And here you are. Oh my god."
"You've said that already love."Spike whispered.
"I know."she said through gritted teeth.
"Are you going to introduce your father to Spike?"Joyce asked.
"Oh yeah. Dad this is my boyfriend Spike. Spike this is my father Hank Summers."
"Hello Mr. Summers."
"Hello Spike."
"So, dad, how about we all sit down on the couch and talk. Doesn't that sound like a good idea Spike?"
"Bloody brilliant."
Buffy, Spike, and her father all went into the living room and took a seat on the couch, while Joyce went into the kitchen to check on the dinner.
After a few minutes of occuard silence Hank asked, "So Buffy, how have you been? We haven't gotten to talk in a while."
"How have I been? I've been good."
"School's good?"
"I haven't been kicked out if that's what you're asking."
"That's good. Has anything else been going on?"
Spike could tell where this conversation was going so he politely excused himself and went into the kitchen.
"There is something that's been going on, but you have to promise me that you won't freak out."
(Kitchen)
"So, is this whole family thing becoming too much for you?"Joyce asked as Spike walked in and leaned his head up against the backdoor.
"Lil' bit, yeah."
"Did your family ever do things like this when you were growing up?"
"The whole dinner thing, yeah all the time. But it was usually just me and my mum. My dad wasn't around."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Joyce!"Hank called from the living room.
"Sounds like he's found out about the b-a-b-y."Spike said running a hand threw his hair, "This is going to be fun."
(Living room)
"I cannot believe this!"Hank said pacing infront of Buffy.
"Daddy, you promised you wouldn't get upset."
"That was before I found out that my sixteen year old daughter is pregnant."
"Hank calm down."Joyce said coming out of the kitchen.
"Did you know about this?"
"Yes."
"God,how did this happen?"
"I can answer this one!"Buffy said perking up, "When two people love each other very much...or I could give you the line about the male plug and the female creating elecricity."
"Don't be a smart alek."Her parent's said in sync.
"Okay fine. There was a whole bunch of kissing. And you know, when I say 'kissing' I really mean 'insemination'...and when I say insemination I kinda don't mean the artificial kind."
Just as Hank was about the speak the doorbell rang.
"Oh thank god. I'll get it!"Buffy exclaimed getting up off of the couch and hurring over to the door,
She threw the door open and was pleased to see Xander, Willow, and Oz waiting for her.
"We come with gifts!"Xander told her while he and Willow held up matching boxes.
"I brought pie."Oz told her.
"You are a god send. Come on in."
Buffy ushered the two boys in while she pulled Willow aside.
"My dad's here."
"You're kidding."Willow said sympatheticly, "Does he know about the baby?"
"Oh yeah. And believe me when I say that there will be a world of yelling tonight. So please I'm begging you stay as long as you can."
"It'll be okay."
Just as Willow and Buffy were about to go into the living room the doorbell rang again.
"You go and get introduced to my father while I see who's at the door."
Buffy took a deep breath and then reopened the door.
"Hi Cordelia, Angel."
"We would have been here sooner but we had to turn around and go all the way back home 'cause we forgot Jesus the Goat."
"Well you're here, and that's all that matters. Come on in."
"You okay?"Angel whispered as Cordelia made her way passed the two of them.
"Peachy. Come on in, dinner's gonna be ready momentarily."
Buffy took Cordelia, Angel and Connor into the living room and gave them both chairs to sit in.
"Well since everybody's here, I guess introductions are in order. You've already met Xander and Oz I see, and that's Willow, and over here we have Cordelia, Angel and their son Connor."
"It's nice to meet you guys."
(Living Room, Later)
Buffy and the group sat around the television exchanging gifts while Angel sat on the sidelines watching them laugh and exchange banter about their gifts.
Buffy looked over at Angel and then whispered into Spike's ear, "I'll be right back."
"Hey."She said taking a spot on the wall next to Angel, "So, you really like her don't you?"
"Who?"
"Cordelia. Angel, come on you can tell me I mean it's not like I'm going to come unglued. I've seen the way you two act together, you smile when you're around her. I can count the number of times you smiled when we were going out on one hand. Now come on, spill."
"What if I do like her, it isn't going to change the way she feels about me."
"No it's not, because she feels the exact same way about you. I remember the Cordelia Chase I went to high school with and she would never hold a child especially not one that cries, and she would never give up Daddy's credit if she didn't have to, and she's done all of that for you."
"Buffy?"Joyce said interupting the conversation, "Mr. Giles is at the door, he needs to speak with you, it's urgent."
"Thanks mom."Buffy said smiling slightly.
She walked to the door afraid of what Giles was about to tell her.
"What's up?"She asked, "Is something wrong?"
"Quite the opposite actually. You see I was going through my text and I found something I thought you would find very interesting."
"What is it?"
"I found a way for you to return to the future."