XIII.

Dawn saw Riley to the door, smiling broadly. Although he'd always been distracted by Buffy and the ups and downs of their relationship, Riley had always been good to Dawn and tried to look out for her. She'd been sad when he'd left, back when Dawn was still in Junior High.

"You sure you don't need a ride back to your car?" she asked him. "I'll have Xander drop you over there, really."

"No, it's no trouble, Dawn." He bent over and kissed her on the cheek. "It was really good seeing you again, and dinner was great. You've picked up some real skills. I don't think I've eaten like this since I was back home- I'll need the walk back to the truck if I'm going to sleep tonight."

"Okay, well you just call me any time okay? I mean, whatever happens with the job or Buffy or whatever, okay?" She was trying not to sound too needy, but there weren't a lot of people in Dawn's life who went away that ever came back, and she wanted to not lose track of him.

"That's a deal." He grinned, and it was almost the old giant goofy grin. He waved as he started down the sidewalk, heading back towards his Suburban parked a mile or so away.

Man, is he tall, she thought, looking after at him. You really notice how petite Buffy is when you park her next to a guy like that.

"And speaking of," she said to herself, heading back into the house. "Where is sister, O sister mine…"

Xander and Buffy were sitting in the back yard, next to each other on the swing. Xander had Hope sleeping in the crook of one arm. Buffy was talking to him, leaning towards him and trying to keep her voice low to not wake the baby.

"Okay, so what on earth made you think bringing him here as a surprise was a good idea? Do you have any idea how awkward it was for me? And what's the story with him working for you. I just don't buy for a second that he happened to apply for a job with you."

Xander rocked the swing gently. "Last point first- it seems from my talk with him that he completely applied for the job not knowing about me, or Dawn and I or anything, some weeks back. He knew a guy in the Peace Corps, just like he said, who told him to check us out. I know the guy too, we did some Habitat stuff last year. Good guy."

"As for the surprise, you should have seen me calling him in for his sit-down. Apparently he learned a few weeks back that A New Dawn was my company, but he's been avoiding me. Then he met Robin and Faith at one of the kendo sessions. I guess he didn't feel like answering a lot of questions, which I guess is understandable."

"Why shouldn't he? I mean, why did Sam leave him, and how did they go from fighting demons for the government to building a dam in Panama? And the scars, and his voice…" Buffy shuddered dramatically. "He sounds totally creepy. I almost staked him when he came running after us."

"It's pretty obvious some horrible things have happened to him," Dawn said, settling down across from them. "But you said he met Robin and Faith, did they tell you how that went?"

Xander laughed softly, and Hope cooed and gurgled before settling back to sleep nestled against him. Xander closed his eye and rocked some more.

"Well, seems like he missed the whole 'Faith goes to jail and comes out a better person' episode of our saga. She walks into the dojo, and Riley freaks out. From what Robin and Carlos told me, he shook off the rust pretty quick and laid her out."

"Riley took down Faith?" Buffy asked, impressed. "You're kidding, right?"

"No, that pretty much matches with what Faith told me this afternoon when I called," Dawn said. "After Xander told me who was coming for dinner, I figured we better call Faith and get things straightened out. She and Riley did not part on the best of terms. She says he got in a good shot while she was trying for a peaceful solution."

"Huh," snorted Buffy. "That's usually Faith-speak for 'I got distracted and he dropped me' as I recall. Still, taking down a slayer in her own dojo… I wonder what's driving him."

"Buffy, are you totally opaque? Nothing gets through?" Dawn was a little exasperated. "He obviously still has feelings for you. I don't know what happened with him and Sam, but I think you better find out. And if you're not interested in him, you have to let him know soon and be firm about it. None of that eyelash batting stuff you do just to keep in practice."

"I do not flirt just to keep in practice." Buffy looked at Xander, who seemed to be having trouble controlling his laughter. "Tell her… Xander? Oh, come on. Do I really do that?"

Hope started to fuss, and Xander stood, and offered her to his wife. "I figure she must be starving, sweetheart. This is the longest she's gone in a while."

"Thank the goddess," Dawn said, "I'm so full I'm soaking my pads."

"Okay," Buffy said, waving her hand, "Too much information, Dawnie."

"Don't be such a sissy, sissy." Dawn opened her top and Hope began nursing greedily. "You know, they talk about the whole natural nurturing wonder of nursing, but when she's locked on and really eating… it's kind of a rush."

Buffy was turning pale, and Xander was watching his wife intently.

"You know," he said, "there's something really beautiful and erotic watching you do that. It's like this primal force, you know, the creator of life and the sustainer of life." He titled his head to one side, as he often did when trying to get depth perception since he lost his eye. "Plus, you've never been more beautiful. I mean, I think the whole exhausted parent thing is some sort of evolutionary defense mechanism to keep us from humping like crazed weasels until the baby's old enough to sleep through noise."

"Hello, inappropriate much?" Buffy asked in disgust. "Sitting right here? Aside from the entire Eww factor of you two having any kind of physical relationship, she's still nursing Xander. You're gross in ways I cannot begin to catalog."

"Hey, zip it Buffy," Dawn said with a broad grin to Xander. "I think it's great that he still finds me attractive right now. I plan to enjoy it while I can- there's no way my boobs can stay this size forever the way Greedy Gus here eats." She shifted Hope to her shoulder, and started coaxing a burp from her.

"I give up," Buffy said. "I'm going to go take a bath. Try not to say anything disgusting till I'm gone, okay?"

She went up to draw her bath. As the water ran, she looked down into the back yard. Through the leaves of the grapevines that climbed the arbor, she could see Dawn, her baby now nursing on the other breast, leaning her head on Xander. He'd moved and put an arm around her, and the three of them were snuggled together on the gently rocking swing. They looked completely at peace, and Buffy turned away. She felt like a voyeur seeing them sitting together so tranquilly.

She slipped her clothes off and settled into the bath. Even the guest bath had a deep tub, suitable for long soaks or for washing crowds of small children. Xander had really done a job with the house. As she closed her eyes and smelled the bath salts in the bowl by the tub, Buffy's mind drifted back.

She was sixteen, and they had just moved to Sunnydale. She'd been getting ready for bed, and heard something from her mother's room. She'd knocked and heard sniffling and nose blowing from her mom's room, then her mom's clear strong voice calling for her to come in. She'd peeked around the door and seen her mom, in her bathrobe, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Mom, are you okay?" Buffy had asked. She'd asked that a lot, right after her parents split up, but Mom had been doing better, she'd thought.

"Sure honey. Go on to bed." Joyce Summers had been a woman with a certain dignity even with a red nose and puffy face from crying.

"No, something's wrong." Buffy had gone and climbed over her mom's bed to her side. "Talk to me. Is it something I can help with?"

Her mom had laughed, a single sharp sound without humor. "Would you believe it's the tub?" She'd put her arm around Buffy.

Buffy had snuggled against her, feeling the worn terrycloth of her mother's favorite bathrobe tickling her cheek. "What did it do? Has the tub been saying mean things to my Mom? Because I could give it a talking to if you think it would help."

Her mom had laughed again, warmer this time, and they'd fallen back on the pillows still snuggled together. "No, honey. I was just getting ready to take a bath, and I remembered the big tub your father put in the house in Hemery."

"Do you still miss Daddy, too, Mom?" Buffy had known that things were a lot harder for her mom than for her and her sister.

There'd been a long pause, and Buffy had wondered if she was going to get another 'someday you'll understand it but for today you just need to accept it' speech. But then she realized her mother was crying again and trying not to let Buffy see.

"Well, I sure miss that tub." Joyce had said, and they'd stayed together on her mom's bed till Buffy had fallen asleep. She'd woken the next morning in her own bed, with no clear recollection of getting up and going to her room.

Buffy looked around her at the tub that her mother would have loved, and thought about the tableau she'd seen out the window of her sister, Xander, and her niece. She realized she was crying again, and tried to blame hormones from the baby. Must be sympathy hormones. Sure, that's what it is, she told herself, as the tears ran down her cheeks and mixed with the scented bathwater.