The End of a Perfect Day
By Sauscony
E-mail: sauscony@forty-two.co.nz
Rating: G
Pairings: Buffy/Giles and others
Summary: Reply to a 2000 Christmas Challenge
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel characters are copyrighted ©20th Century Fox, Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, UPN and the WB, and are used without permission. No copyright infringment is intended.
Buffy was sitting on the stairs, watching as her husband locked up for the night. "Everything's right now, you know," she said suddenly.
Giles slid the last bolt home and turned to look at her. "What do you mean?"
"You and me. Brianna and Angel. That's the way it was always meant to be. Me and Angel, that was Fate making a mistake."
He came and sat beside her. "Maybe."
"Definitely. Angel was all angst and pain. With you, it's different."
"We had our moments," he reminded her.
"Huh." She snorted. "You're not supposed to have an infallible memory, lover mine. Don't you forget that."
He smiled, but his voice was serious. "I don't think you could have loved me the way you do if you hadn't loved Angel first. And I don't think Angel could love Brianna the way she deserves if he hadn't loved you first. I'm not so sure that Fate made a mistake."
It was a point Buffy wasn't prepared to concede, even though she suspected he might be right, so she changed the subject. "Bree is going to be happy, isn't she?"
"Almost as happy as us," Giles predicted. "And if she isn't, I'll take Angel outside and I'll..."
"Can't stake him," Buffy said, almost gleefully. "He's human now."
"Don't worry," he assured her. "Fathers have been dealing with their daughter's boyfriends and husbands since the beginning of time. I'll come up with something."
Buffy chuckled, slipping her arm through his. "I still can't believe it. Angel human."
"It was prophesied a long time ago," her husband reminded her.
"I know," she agreed. "But you know me and prophecy - I was usually trying to stop them coming true, not the other way around."
"He deserves it," Giles said quietly. "He's made his amends."
"I know. But it still doesn't seem real."
"It will tomorrow," Giles promised her. "When he comes on our Boxing Day picnic with us and doesn't burst into flame."
Buffy stood up. "I don't know why we still keep that weird English custom of yours."
Her husband chuckled and got up to join her. "Because I convinced you it was a good idea a very long time ago."
She pretended to have to think about it. "Oh, yeah. I remember now. My Slayer stamina had trouble keeping up with you that night."
"Of course you did." He laughed and kissed her.
"Gotta be prepared for that when you marry a stevedore," she teased when they broke apart.
He reached out to flick off the light. "Come on, love. Let's go to bed."
A moment later, her voice came to him out of the shadows. "I know they're a bit too old to need it, but come patrol with me?"
Giles smiled, looking down at her as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. "We haven't done that since Joy reached her teens."
"I know. But tonight, it feels right."
He slipped his arm around her shoulders. "All right, then. Let's patrol."
They went silently up the stairs together, stopping first at the door to Joy's bedroom. Buffy pushed the door open and they looked in on their youngest child. She had tossed the blankets off as she slept, and now they made a jumbled pile on the carpet. Without even thinking about it, Buffy crept inside, rearranged the bedclothes and kissed her daughter lightly on the forehead. Joy stirred and mumbled something, but didn't wake, and Buffy slipped out again.
The spare room's door was standing open. Inside, Miri was sprawled on her back, sleeping with an innocence only the very young can manage. Wesley was leaning over the cradle where Jeremy was sleeping, but he straightened up as his parents stood in the hallway outside. He tiptoed out to join them, and pulled the door almost shut behind himself.
"Patrolling, huh?" he whispered with a grin, and his mother nodded a little sheepishly.
"Old habits..." she answered quietly. "With all of you home again, it felt right."
"I was checking on Jeremy," Wesley said. "He's having trouble with his teeth. But he seems to be fine at the moment. Susan's already asleep."
"You should go and join her," his mother told him.
Wesley smiled, and kissed his mother. "I will. Good night, Mom. Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, love."
"Merry Christmas, Dad." Wesley left them to go back to bed, and Buffy took her husband's hand again.
"Just Brianna, now."
"Maybe we should leave Brianna alone," Giles suggested tactfully.
Buffy stopped outside their eldest daughter's bedroom door. "No way." She shook her head firmly. "She wouldn't be ... well, you know ... in her parents' house. She wouldn't. Would she?"
"We did," Giles reminded her mildly.
"But that was different," Buffy protested. There was a moment's pause. "Okay, it wasn't different, but still..."
She listened at the door for a while, then put her hand on the knob. "It's quiet," she said. "And I just want to check on her. I need to."
Giles raised his hand in surrender. "Your call, love."
So Buffy opened the door.
Brianna was sound asleep, wrapped safely in Angel's arms. He looked barely more than twenty with the moonlight shining on his face as he slept, and Buffy smiled. I was right, what I said to Rupert. We're all where we're supposed to be, now. And maybe he's right too. Maybe everything was leading us to today.
As she backed out of the room, she realised they had left the curtains open. Given the direction the room faced, they would be woken by the morning sunrise.
She shut the door behind her and wrapped her arms around Giles' neck. "It's been a perfect day, Rupert."
"It's not quite over yet," he answered, picking her up and carrying her along the hallway until they reached their own bedroom door. There, he set her on her feet again.
"Look up," he said huskily. "You have to kiss me now."
Buffy chuckled. "Look closer."
He looked up at the sprig of mistletoe he had stuck above the door earlier in the day, and realised there was now a second cluster of leaves and berries pinned beside it.
"You have to kiss me, too," Buffy said firmly. "Twice the mistletoe means twice the kisses."
"I think I can probably manage that." He pulled her to him and bent his head as she lifted her face to his. "Merry Christmas, Buffy love," he whispered just before his lips closed on hers.
