Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, baby Jesse, and Echo :)
AN: Here it is, the first vacation snapshot! Not completeley sure how many of these there'll be, but I do know what will happen, and some of it's gonna be big! Also, I don't know how long a drive from Cleveland to L.A would actually be, so just humour me.
"Xander" Anya whined as they drove along, headed for L.A, baby Jesse nestled safely in his seat. The need for infant car-seats was what had prompted the Scoobies to take three cars on this trip. "Are we there yet?"
"No, Ahn" Xander sighed.
"Are we almost there?"
"No" Xander repeated.
"Well, how long until we get there then?" Anya frowned.
"It'll be a few more hours" said Xander. "Try not to be too impatient, okay?"
"Okay.." Anya pouted. "But it's hard! I can't do anything fun with you because you're driving, I don't have any money to count or fondle, and I can't even cuddle Jesse 'cause he's stuck back there, and I can't take him out because I'd be putting his tiny human life in danger!" She looked over the back of the seat and stretched her arm as far as she could, then dropped it, sighing in defeat. "I can't even touch him from here!"
Xander, touched by Anya's distress at not being able to hold their son, looked around, and then, like a gift from above, spotted a rest stop, and turned off into it. Anya gave him a confused look.
"We would have had to stop and feed him soon anyway" said Xander with a smile, gesturing to little Jesse. "Might as well just do it now since there's a rest stop here. And you can have your baby cuddles at the same time. It's win-win!" Anya grinned and kissed him, then leapt out of the car to run and fetch Jesse from the backseat. As Xander got out of the car himself, he saw the other two cars pull up beside his, one carrying Buffy, Faith, Dawn, Connor, and Echo, the other carrying Willow, Tara, the girls, and Miss Kitty Fantastico the 2nd. "Hey guys, what brings you all here?"
"We saw you stop and thought we should take Echo for a toilet break" Buffy explained, while Faith led the dog off to a patch of grass.
"We just stopped 'cause we saw the rest of you stop" said Willow.
"And we wanted to get some fresh air" Sophie added, setting Miss Kitty the 2nd's carrier on the hood of the car so the kitten could partake of the fresh air as well.
"Yes, that too" Tara chuckled, lifting Lily out of her carseat.
"Isn't this exciting?" Willow grinned, cuddling up to Tara's side. "Our first big trip since Lily was born!"
"Eh?" Lily perked up at the sound of hr name.
"Yes, you" Willow laughed, ruffling her daughter's hair.
"Ih-oh!" Lily cooed, grabbing at Willow's fingers. Willow beamed as she took her from Tara's arms.
"Hey Lil, look at that big playground over there!" she said. "You wanna go play?"
"'Phie?" asked Lily, pointing to her sister.
"Yeah, Sophie'll come too, won't you kiddo?"
"Uh-huh!" Sophie replied eagerly, dashing off towards the play equipment. "Race you there, Mommy Willow!"
"No fair!" Willow pouted, running after her. "It's hard to race when you're holding a baby!" Tara smiled after her family, then turned to Xander and Anya.
"How's Jesse? I don't know how Lily would have gone on such a big trip when she was his age."
"Yeah, how is my favourite little nephew?" asked Dawn, reaching for the baby.
"He's fine, he's perfect" said Anya as she jerked him away, making Dawn frown. "You can't have him right now."
"Anya's just having a 'Mom' moment" Xander explained with a chuckle. "See, this car ride was the longest she's gone without holding him, so.."
"I get it" Tara smiled. "Let her be, Dawnie. You can have a cuddle when we get there."
"Okay" Dawn grumbled.
After everyone had stretched their legs, they piled back into their cars for the remainder of the trip. When they reached the Hyperion, outside they were greeted warmly by Giles and Andrew, who arrived the day before and had been waiting for them. Inside they were greeted just as warmly by Angel, and slightly less so by Spike. Illyria seemed indifferent to their arrival, aside from that of Sophie, to whom the God-King flashed a half smile.
Late that night, Sophie woke, feeling something slightly amiss. Knowing that Lily usually shared her feelings with this sort of thing, she glanced over at her sister, who still slept soundly in the port-a-cot beside her bed, seemingly undisturbed. Still, Sophie felt that something wasn't quite right, and, following this feeling, she climbed out of bed and crept over to the window, quickly finding the source of her problem. A figure was standing uncomfortably outside, face obscured by a hood. Sophie was remarkably unafraid, sensing that this person, whoever they were, didn't mean any harm. So, instead of bothering her sleeping Mothers or Aunties with this unusual occurence, she elected to inform her nocturnal vampire Uncles instead.
"Uncle Angel, Uncle Spike!" At the sound of Sophie's voice, Angel instantly looked up from the book he was reading. Spike took a few more seconds to tear his eyes away from a 'Passions' re-run. "There's a strange person standing outside!"
"What do they look like?" asked Angel, concerned.
"I don't know" said Sophie. "I couldn't see his face." Angel shared a look with Spike, and the two vamps headed out to investigate. "Don't hurt him!" Sophie called after them. "He doesn't want to hurt us.."
They returned a few minutes later.
"There's nobody out there" said Angel, sounding strangely disappointed.
"But I'm sure I sawed.." Sophie began.
"Probably just your eyes tricking you" said Spike quickly. "Go back to bed kiddo."
"Okay" Sophie frowned, reluctantly heading back upstairs. Something was going on here. Who was the stranger outside?