July 27th ,2003
Willow, Dawn, and Xander looked up from their breakfast as they heard Buffy and Angel approaching down the stairs and into the kitchen.
"But Angel.." Buffy whined, rubbing her now rounded belly, "You can't leave me. We've got an appointment for a sonogram and an exam, and I hate exams."
"Sweetie, I've got to go get some stuff finished up an Angel Investigations. You know that I'll be back as soon as I can. And you can call me on the phone." He kissed her.
"I know but.. but."
"I'm sorry Buff, I have to." She began to protest him again but he put his finger over her lip to quiet her. "Take my credit card and have a few fun girls only days with Will, Dawn, and Anya okay? You guys can go have lunch and go shopping and watch movies. It will be a blast."
"Okay." Buffy said her face brightening some. Dawn's face brightened at Angel's suggestion too.
"OH Angel, you have the best ideas!!" Angel smiled at Dawn. He then looked to Willow without saying a word, but she knew what his eyes were saying.
"Don't worry, we'll take good care of Buffy. She'll be fine." She said giving him a reassuring smile.
"Thank you, I'll talk to you all soon. You girls have a good time." He said before passionately kissing Buffy. He then leaned to her stomach and then pressed his lips to it, kissing the growing babies goodbye.
"Daddy will be back real soon okay, be nice to your mommy. Don't kick until I get back." Angel said before pressing his ear against her stomach to hear the strong heartbeats of the babies.
"Bye Angel, bye Xand, maybe you can hook up with Cordy again." Buffy said as Angel and Xander carried their luggage to the car. Xander saw Angel's trip as an opportunity to see LA, but more importantly Cordy.
Dawn quickly got up from her place at the table and walked over to Buffy, placing her ear against her stomach. After a few minutes of feverishly moving her head around to different spots on Buffy's bump, she sighed exasperated.
"I wish I could hear the babies like Angel."
"Awww, Dawnie." Buffy said taking her sisters hand, "Why don't you and Will come to the doctors appointment with me? The doctor will let you hear the babies and you can see them on the sonogram. The doctor said we might even be able to tell the sex. I know how much these two little ones mean to you too. We'll make a day of it."
Dawn smiled sweetly at her sister, she loved Buffy's new extremely happy disposition.
"You sure you don't mind us coming Buff?"
"Of course I don't mind, I'd rather not go alone. So what do you guys want to do while we have the house all to ourselves?"
" We could rent chick flicks, and eat ice cream till we wanna barf." Dawn suggested.
" And we could go out to lunch, and spend Angel's money." Willow said smiling.
"Yeah to the chick flicks, ice cream, lunch, and spending my honeys money, no to the whole barf thing, had enough of that."
Dawn smiled sheepishly at her sister " I didn't mean we'd really barf." Buffy smiled back.
" Okay great, I also need to go shopping for some maternity clothes. These babies keep on growing. And we could also do some shopping for the nursery once we find out the sex or sexes of the babies."
"So Buff, when do we want to do all this stuff?"
"Well, my appointment with the doctor is tomorrow, and I generally don't feel so good after all the poking around, gives me the wiggins. So how bout you guys come with me tomorrow, we can come home afterwards and crash with a few chick flicks, and then the day after tomorrow we can go shopping."
"K, what time is your appointment?"
"It's at 12:30, but we should probably leave an hour earlier, I hate to be late."
"Okay, how bout we go out for breakfast before?" Willow suggested, breakfast was her favorite meal of the day; she used to love cooking it with Tara.
"Alright, since I can once again enjoy eating before 12. How bout we go have breakfast at 9:30?"
"Sounds good to me, maybe they'll have some funny shaped pancakes like I like." Dawn said winking at Willow.
"Awww, Dawnie, I think that's a house special."
Dawn frowned a little but then smiled, "Spose only Willow's cool enough to make funny shaped pancakes."
"Of course, cause. cause, I'm just a cool gal who wears fuzzy things on her shirt." Willow said smiling but then remembering the awful day when Joyce died when she had wished she could just be a grown up with grown up clothes.
Buffy gave her friend a one armed hug around her shoulders, "I like my best friend with her fuzzy shirts and funny shaped pancakes, you wouldn't be Will without them."
Willow smiled, "and I like my best friend with her nice round tummy with babies and all." Willow said rubbing her hand on Buffy's stomach. "Hi in there little babies, I'm you Aunt Willow and we're so excited about you."
Dawn smiled and joined Willow in touching Buffy's stomach and cooing to the growing lives inside, "Yeah, and I'm your Aunt Dawn and I'll let you do everything mommy and daddy won't, cause I'm still kind of a kid myself."
Buffy laughed and her face glowed with happiness, "That tickles, you're going to spoil those two before they're even born."
"That's okay, they deserve it." Buffy smiled at Dawn's statement, the babies really did deserve to be spoiled. She couldn't deny that this was the happiest she'd been in years, she hadn't felt so much joy and love since she was a very young child before all the fighting started between her parents. When she still had the innocence of childhood.
Later that night after the girls had a nice dinner and watched their favorite TV show, Friends, Buffy let Dawn climb into bed with her.
"Thanks for letting me sleep in here Buffy."
"Oh, you're welcome sweetie." Buffy said pushing some of her sister's hair out of her face. Willow had told Buffy that Dawn had slept next to the Buffy bot after Buffy's death and the knowledge of this completely made Buffy's heart melt. Buffy was trying to make up for all the times she hadn't treated Dawn right.
"I remember when I used to crawl into bed with you when I was..." Dawn stopped suddenly and looked sad, but Buffy finished her sentence.
"When you were little."
"I was never little, it's just some stupid memory the monks gave you so you would have a reason to protect me."
"Dawn sweetie," Buffy said pulling her sister in close for a hug, "Now you listen to me, you are my sister, I do not care where you came from or why you got here, but you are here now and I thank God for that every day. You're my baby sister; there aren't many bonds in the world stronger than that. The monks made you my baby sister because it's the most natural instinct in me, to protect you. I remember everything about you, I remember the day mom brought you home from the hospital, I remember your first step, I remember how it used to break my heart when you were a baby and you cried and I couldn't make it better for you, I remember when you used to crawl into my bed after a bad dream so I could protect you from the monsters, and I remember when I used to rub your back to help you sleep. That's all real to me, you are MY sister, they made you out of me. Sweetie, I did NOT jump into that porthole to die because you were the key and I wanted to save you, I jumped into that porthole because you're my sister and I would die to protect you. Okay? That is all that matters."
Dawn sniffled a little and looked at Buffy tears welling in her eyes. "You promise?"
"Oh gosh yes Dawnie, I couldn't have made it through these past few years without you. Let me ask you something, if these babies were in danger, would you do anything to protect them? Do you love them?"
"Of course, I'd die if it would save them." She said touching Buffy's tummy, a wave of fear rushing through her when she thought about something happening to the babies.
"Why?"
Dawn shrugged a little; she knew her sister was trying to make a point. "Because I love them."
"But you don't know them, you've never held them."
"But... I'm their aunt, it's my job, and I don't have to know them to love them."
Buffy smiled at Dawn, hoping she'd made her point, "Well, does that show you that you are so much more than just memories to me?"
Dawn nodded and hugged her sister tight.
"Want me to rub your back like when you were little?"
Dawn smiled and nodded gratefully at Buffy. She closed her eyes and quickly nodded off into a peaceful sleep.
Dawn groaned as she was awakened the next morning by something cold splashing on her face.
"Time to get up kiddo." Willow said loudly.
"Did you throw ice water on me??"
"Sorry Dawnie, it was Buffy's idea, but we HAVE been trying to get you up for an hour, come on, we're going out to breakfast."
Dawn stumbled out of Buffy's room and into her own and quickly began to dress. She chose a beautiful but simple spaghetti-strapped pink sundress and some white flip-flops. She hooked a sparkling silver necklace with a heart shaped charm around her neck. Next she put earrings into her ears. Buffy had finally allowed her to get three holes in each ear after Dawn argued for about a year. Dawn quickly pulled her long brown hair up into a ponytail and put on some blush, mascara and lip-gloss. She looked at herself in the mirror and pleased with her appearance, headed downstairs. She knew it was silly to fuss over her looks so much, but for some reason she wanted to look good for her first "meeting" with the twins.
"Don't you look nice Dawnie." Willow said smiling as Dawn came down the stairs.
"Yes, Dawn, beautiful as usual, let's get going, I'm starving." Buffy said grabbing her sister and Willow by the hand and pulling them out the door.
"Going for comfy?" Dawn asked smiling at Buffy's outfit as they walked out the door.
"Whaaaat?" Buffy whined looking down, she was wearing a white spaghetti strapped maternity shirt and some gray yoga Capri pants with flip-flops. "When you're pregnant and this big already, you always go for comfy."
"It's okay Buff, I think you look cute." Dawn said smiling at her sister.
Buffy smiled, "Thanks Dawn, but I don't think I'll ever get my figure back." She said rubbing her stomach.
"Actually Buff," Willow said climbing into the drivers seat of the car, "I was talking to Giles on the phone, and he said despite the fact that a slayer has never made it to pregnancy before, he imagines that your super slayer healing powers and strength will make the birth easier and your recovery faster."
"Yeah, I was talking to Giles about some baby stuff too, I wish he were here." Buffy said buckling her seatbelt as they backed out of the driveway.
"You know he'll be here closer to the birth. It's just there hasn't been much evil on the hell mouth lately"
"Yeah, thank God."
Dawn rolled her eyes in the backseat; all the slayer talk was boring her slightly. Even though she had once been excited with her sisters job, the twins growing in her sisters stomach were now much more interesting.
"So Buff, when are the babies due?" Dawn asked in an attempt to change the subject.
"Well, the doctor said they're actually due the 24th of December, but because they're twins, she doesn't think I'll make it to my due date. She says because I've got such a small body that she doubts I'll carry them past December 10th. But then I talked to Giles and he said that my body is much stronger than the average woman's so I could very well carry them until term. We'll just have to be on the lookout for premature labor." Buffy said, Willow could sense a hint of fear in her friends voice and apparently so could Dawn. She reached up and placed her hand on her sister's shoulder.
"It'll be alright Buff, these two are going to be perfectly healthy."
Buffy smiled back at her sister, "I know."
Buffy sat across from Willow and Dawn in a comfy booth at the restaurant where the girls decided to eat breakfast.
"I'm so excited about getting to see and hear the babies today. I've been so jealous of Angel, getting to hear their heartbeats."
Buffy smiled at Dawn, "I know you have, but it's been really nice that Angel still has that ability, I never have to worry about how the babies are doing, he would hear if something was wrong."
"Hi, I'm Cody and I'll be your server today" A handsome boy about Dawn's age with blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes said as he approached the table. Buffy grinned as she saw a huge smile spread across Dawn's face and heard a slight sigh escape her mouth. It was a look Buffy couldn't mistake, her sister in love.
"Hello Cody, I believe I'll start off with some decaf coffee, a water, and your eggs and bacon platter. Please make sure that's decaf coffee."
"Of course." Cody said politely. "And for you?" He said his piercing blue eyes looking right at Dawn. She just started back up at him, practically drooling. A swift kick from her sister under the table broke her from her trance.
"Um, a coke, and do you have pancakes?"
"Sure."
"Can you make them in funny shapes?"
"Anything for you beautiful." Cody said smiling at Dawn and winking.
"I think I'll have the funny shaped pancakes too." Willow said chiming in. After Cody left Dawn sunk into the seat and hid her face.
"Did I actually ask for funny shapes??"
"Aww Dawnie," Willow said hugging her, "I think ya did. It's okay though, he called you beautiful."
Buffy smiled, "He's right you are beautiful, but how dare he hit on my little sister."
Dawn whined, "Buffy I'm sixteen, I'm not little anymore."
"Nope, but you will always be my baby sister, even when you're 30."
Cody brought everything the girls had ordered to the table and they all enjoyed their meal thoroughly. As soon as they'd finished eating Buffy's cell rang.
"Hello? HEY baby!!! Gosh you don't know how much I've missed you." There was a pause. "How are things in LA? That's good! Yeah, the babies and I are fine, we're all fine, just enjoyed breakfast, of course I'll call you after the appointment. No, I haven't had any more pains, everything's fine. All right, I love you too. MWA." Dawn and Willow giggled as Buffy made kissing noises into the phone before hanging up.
"I'm going to take a stab at things and guess that was Angel. What did he say?"
"He said he missed me and he loved me and the babies and to make sure I take good care of us. He also said things at Angel Investigations are fine and that it's good to be home for a while. OH and Angel also told me Xander spent the night in Cordy's room." Buffy said winking and then smiling.
"Oh gosh, can you imagine if Xander and Cordy hooked up and had kids??"
"Yikes, they'd be cuties though, probably have some interesting personalities." Willow said with a slight laugh as she thought of how much Cordy had grown since graduating high school.
Buffy looked at her watch and groaned, " I suppose we should get going, almost time for the poking around."
Buffy shifted uncomfortably in the chair in the waiting room of her doctor's office.
"You okay Buff?" Willow asked looking up from the parenting magazine she and Dawn had been flipping through; they were busy cooing at the cute baby pictures.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine, just a little nervous" She said as her foot tapped away at a mile a minute.
"You really hate doctors huh Buff?"
Buffy nodded and looked down, "it's been worse ever since.... well, ever since mom died." Willow frowned and hugged her friend.
"I know Buff."
"Buffy Summers??" Buffy, Dawn, and Willow looked up as they heard a nurse call Buffy's name.
"Coming." Buffy said picking up her purse and heading to the door with Dawn and Willow.
"Hi Buffy how are you today?"
"Oh, I'm good Ally, how are you?"
"I'm fine, are your friends coming back with you?"
"Oh yeah, how rude of me, this is my sister Dawn and my best friend Willow."
"Nice to meet you two."
Dawn and Willow both greeted and smiled at the young nurse. Dawn noticed that Buffy had called her by her first name she thought it was nice the doctor's office had such a relaxed and friendly environment.
"So Buffy, where's Angel?"
"He's out of town on business."
"Oh alright, well, let's get you settled in exam 3, you can get dressed into your gown and I'll send Willow and Dawn and Dr. Lee in when you're finished."
"Okay, thanks Ally." Buffy said disappearing into the exam room.
Dawn and Willow stood outside the exam room and talked while Buffy got changed.
"Think Xander and Cordy have a chance?"
"I don't know Dawnie, I mean, they were pretty hot and heavy for a while.. But then the whole me and Xander thing happened and it just kind of broke them up."
"Oh." Dawn could tell the subject made Willow very uncomfortable.
"Hello, you must be friends of Buffy." Dawn and Willow turned as they heard the voice from behind them. They both turned around and saw a tiny woman, not too much older than Buffy standing there.
"Oh, you must be Dr. Lee, hi." Willow said extending her hand to the woman.
"Please, call me Elizabeth, it's very nice to meet you... I'm sorry I don't know your names."
"I'm Willow, Buffy's best friend."
"And I'm Dawn, her sister." Dawn said smiling and holding her hand out.
"Well, it sure is nice to meet you two. I assume you'll be attending the birth." Willow and Dawn both nodded.
"Believe me, Buffy's tough and she's strong, you'll probably need the help."
Dawn laughed, "Yeah, people will have to take turns holding her hand."
Elizabeth laughed also, "I can tell from Buffy's personality that she's strong, she's got an extremely strong love for those babies. And Angel, well, I don't think I've ever seen a man so in love with a woman.
Dawn nodded, "These babies are a new thing for all of us and they are loved so much already by so many people."
Elizabeth smiled, "Buffy's lucky she's got such a tight knit group of friends and family to support her, recently I've treated so many woman who've had to go through this alone, and Buffy's just. she's surrounded by people who love her, I feel like I've met your entire family, will your mother be attending the birth?"
Dawn looked said and Willow reached out for her hand, "Um, I guess Buff didn't tell you, our mom died a little over two years ago."
Elizabeth's face was filled with sympathy as she looked at Dawn's frown, "Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry, what happened??" A pause, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be asking."
"No, no, it's okay, usually when we tell people they just say they're sorry, get uncomfortable, change the subject or walk away. She died from complications of a brain tumor.. It was sudden."
" I could tell your sister had been through a lot from her eyes but I had no idea.."
"It's alright, we're doing okay."
"I'm ready..." they heard Buffy call from inside the exam room.
"Hi Buffy." Elizabeth entered the room followed by Willow and Dawn. Buffy was lying on the exam table, a sheet covering her lower half.
"Hello Elizabeth, how are you?"
"I'm fine, I was just having a nice chat out in the hall with Willow and Dawn."
Buffy laughed, "Hope they didn't say anything bad about me."
"Only the nicest stuff." She said pulling on a pair of gloves and turning to Dawn and Willow. " If you two want to pull up some chairs by Buffy's head I'll do the exam and then we can get to the nice part and pull out the sonogram okay?"
"Okay." Dawn said taking a seat on Buffy's right side as Willow sat down on her left.
"Are you ready Buffy?"
"As ready as I'll ever be." Buffy reached for Dawn's hand. She squirmed uncomfortably at Dr. Lee's necessary invasion and her grip on her sister's hand tightened.
"I'm sorry Buffy, I know you hate this part, I'll make it as quick as I can."
Buffy nodded and exhaled slowly through her mouth.
"It's okay Buff, just think, you'll get to see the twins on the sonogram soon." Willow said in a soothing voice trying to distract her friend with her words. Buffy only nodded and gave Willow a half smile.
"All done." Dr. Lee said patting Buffy on the leg, her whole body relaxed and her grip on Dawn's hand loosened.
"Do you think I'm a wimp?"
"Far from it, I know it's uncomfortable, but you're high risk to begin with, you're carrying twins, and I know you said you've had some pretty heavy blows to the stomach in the past few years, just want to make sure everything still checks out."
"Does it?"
"Perfect condition, you must heal fast."
Buffy laughed a little and shifted on the exam table, "You have no idea."
"I'm going to go get the sonogram machine, I'll be back." Elizabeth said before exiting the room.
Dawn looked worriedly at her sister, "Does it really hurt?"
"No Dawnie, I'm alright, I'm just a wimp." She said winking at her sister.
"Promise?"
"Yes I promise." Willow looked at Buffy and raised her eyebrow; she kind of figured her friend was stretching the truth a little for Dawn.
Elizabeth came back into the room pulling the sonogram machine, "You ready to see those babies."
"Sure am, Dawn and Will have been waiting for this for a while too."
Elizabeth smiled, "I bet Angel hates that he has to miss it."
"He does, but Will's going to help me email the pictures to him later."
"He'll be thrilled."
" Angel's going to drive everyone crazy showing them, he sure is a proud dad."
Elizabeth smiled and lifted up Buffy's gown to reveal her already large stomach. "Looks like the twins are developing really nicely, I'm just going to put this gel on your stomach."
"Okay, gel I can deal with." Dawn and Willow both sat staring at the screen, their anticipation growing. Elizabeth turned on the machine and picked up the wand.
"Okay, you ready?" Buffy, Dawn, and Willow nodded and Elizabeth started to run the wand over Buffy's belly trying to locate the babies. A sound came from the sonogram machine.
"What's that? It sounds kind of like the ocean."
Buffy smiled at her sister and took her eyes off the screen for a moment, "That's what you've been waiting to hear Dawnie, that's their heartbeats."
"Oh wow Buff, it's amazing."
Buffy grinned, "I know Will."
"Okay, here we go." Elizabeth said smiling and pointing to the screen. "Here's twin A, and here is twin B." She pointed to two distinguished heads; Dawn could even see their little noses.
"Oh my god, they're so cute." Dawn squealed.
Buffy was totally enchanted with the first "picture" of her children.
"Buffy, they're great, is that one sucking its thumb?" Willow asked pointing to Twin A on the screen.
Elizabeth smiled and nodded, "Yes, it's quite common, we usually see it a little later on in the pregnancy but it's not unheard of in the 4th month, I wouldn't be at all surprised if you started to feel them kick soon."
"Can you tell their sexes?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah, am I going to have nieces or nephews or both?"
"Are you sure you want to know?"
"Positive, I'm not real big on surprises, even good ones."
"Well, I can tell that these two are identical because they share one placenta, and they are little baby girls, perfectly healthy, very strong heartbeats."
Buffy let out a squeal, "Two little girls."
Dawn nudged her sister, "Told you so."
"I'm so happy for you Buff, this is wonderful."
Buffy smiled, "Thanks Will, Angel and I didn't care what they were, as long as they were healthy and happy, but it is nice to know."
"I'm just going to print you out some pictures and then you can go home okay?"
"Thanks Elizabeth."
"You're very welcome Buffy. Call me right away if you have any unusual pains or bleeding, if it's on a weekend feel free to call me at home and I'll come right over. You may start having some false contractions soon, but it's just a way of your body getting ready."
"Well how can we tell the difference between that and premature labor?"
"Feel your stomach now, it's soft, if you were having real contractions all the muscles in it would be ridged and your stomach as hard as a rock, that's the main way, but if anything worries you at all, just call me."
"Okay, thank you so much."
"No problem, go on and get dressed and I'll see you at the next appointment." Elizabeth said handing a few photos to Willow and a few to Dawn as the followed her out of the exam room.
"Can you believe it Buff?" Willow asked as they drove away from the doctor's office.
"No, but I'm thrilled, two little baby girls. They're already beautiful, and now we can stop calling them its."
"Angel's going to be so happy." Dawn said rubbing her sister's abdomen.
"I know, it's nice to know what we're having so we can start planning."
"And picking out names."
"And buying them cute little dresses."
All three girls had huge grins on their faces.
"Hey Buff, you feel up to going to the video store to rent some movies or are you sore?"
"I'm sore but I'm fine, let's go."
"Okay."
Anya came over to Buffy's house a little later in the day to watch movies, have pizza, and discuss baby plans. Just as the girls were finishing up dinner the phone rang. Buff answered it.
"Hello?? Oh hey sweetie, I'm good how are you? Just finished up some pizza. The doctor's appointment was great; Will's going to e-mail you some of the sonogram pictures. They're perfect beautiful little baby girls..." A pause, Dawn could actually hear Angel scream through the phone from where she was sitting. Buffy smiled, "Yes I said two perfect little baby girls, we're going to have daughters. One of the girls was sucking her thumb it was so cute. Yeah, the doctor said they're growing just fine." Another pause and then Buffy lowered her voice, "um, Angel, you don't think there is a risk of them becoming slayers do you? I know I know, I shouldn't worry this early but I can't help it. Okay, you're right, one step at a time, they have to be born first. I love you. So how are you? How's Xander?? That's good." Another pause, "We're going shopping tomorrow." She paused again, "Okay Angel.. You can say goodnight to the girls." She removed the phone from her ear and placed it up against her belly for a few seconds. She smiled as she heard Angel cooing to his unborn daughters. She then put the phone back up to her ear, "I love you Angel, okay I'll sleep well, talk to you tomorrow, Night babe." She hung up.
"Angel's dying for those pictures Will, can you send them tonight?"
"Sure thing Buff."
"Is Xander having sex with this Cordelia?" The random question from Anya. Buffy, Dawn, and Willow stared at her.
"What? Xander and I used to have sex, it was nice, and then he left me at our wedding." She said all in a very matter of fact voice.
Buffy laughed, "I don't know Anya, I wouldn't worry too much about it, it's totally Xander's loss." She said giving Anya's hand a squeeze, she felt bad for her after what Xander had done.
Later that night while Willow was surfing the net Dawn walked into Buffy's room to find her looking at some pictures.
"What's that?" Dawn asked pointing to the sonogram picture in Buffy's hand. "It's not the twins is it?"
"Nope, one baby, a very special baby, it's you."
"Wow, I didn't... Didn't know we had these." She studied the picture closely.
"We've got everything." Buffy reached into a box that was sitting next to her and pulled out a worn pink blanket. "This was yours too Dawnie." Buffy smiled fondly, obviously remembering her sister as a baby.
"Um. do you think I could maybe.. Have it?"
"Of course." She handed her sister the blanket. Dawn rubbed it against her face. "It still smells like mom."
Buffy took and end of the blanket and held it under her nose, inhaling the sweet aroma of her mother. "You're right, it does."
"I miss her so much, sometimes I don't know how I've survived these past two year."
Buffy took her sister's hand, " I know sweetie, I miss her too, but you know what I think when I wonder how I survived since her death?"
"What?"
"That I survived because of you." She pulled out a picture of a much younger version of herself holding a bundle of pink blankets and baby. "That's the day you came home, I asked mom if I could take care of you. She said yes, and I did.. Always, well, up until I started being super bitch of the world and not treating you the way I should have."
Dawn smiled a little, "I was kind of annoying."
"You were going through a lot."
"So were you."
"I'm your big sister and it's my job to push my problems aside."
"Even when your problems include saving the world?"
"Yep." Buffy smiled and handed her sister the picture, " I remember, when you were about 2 years old, and you had to go to the doctor for a shot. And mom brought me along, and I was fine until you got the shot and you started crying and screaming, I got upset that the doctor hurt you so...I kicked him... hard."
Dawn laughed, "Little slayer at work huh?"
Buffy grinned and blushed a little, "Yeah, couldn't let anyone hurt my little sister."
"So where did you find all this neat stuff?" Dawn asking looking through the box and pulling out a teddy bear.
"Um.. I found it after mom died." Buffy spoke quickly, as if she couldn't stand saying the words.
"Do you think she looks out for us?"
"I know it, and I think she sent us these two little angels." Buffy said taking her sisters hand and pressing it against her belly. "She wanted us to learn how to be happy again."
"I really love them Buffy, I think I know kind of how you felt when.. When you had to protect me." She said leaning over to kiss her sister's belly, "I don't know them but I'd give up my life to save them."
Buffy smiled and ran her fingers through some of Dawn's hair, "I know sweetie, I'd give up my life to save them.. And you again in an instant"
"I'm so glad you're my sister." She said wrapping her arms around Buffy and hugging her.
"Oh, me too sweetie."
"I love you Buffy."
"I love you too Dawnie, always." Buffy said kissing her sister's head. She'd always been reluctant to share these memories with Dawn before, after all, how would she feel, knowing they'd never really happened. But right now, Dawn was just a normal sixteen year old girl who needed to know about her past, about her life, she was no longer the key to anything, just a wonderful sister to Buffy.
"Hey Dawnie, what to you say we go pay a visit to mom's grave sometime soon?"
"But Buffy, you've never...been there... I mean, not since she was buried."
"I know, but I think it's about time now, time to start healing."
**Okay, sorry this took so long, I should be updating more soon. I know this was mainly just Buffy Dawn sister mush, no monsters, but I feel like it's Buffy's turn to get to be a normal girl, ya know? And I have a very good relationship with my older sister that has inspired this. Also big opps on my part, I had some things dated 2002, but really this story takes place in 2003 sorry everyone, I've changed it! Hope you're still enjoying this story!**
Willow, Dawn, and Xander looked up from their breakfast as they heard Buffy and Angel approaching down the stairs and into the kitchen.
"But Angel.." Buffy whined, rubbing her now rounded belly, "You can't leave me. We've got an appointment for a sonogram and an exam, and I hate exams."
"Sweetie, I've got to go get some stuff finished up an Angel Investigations. You know that I'll be back as soon as I can. And you can call me on the phone." He kissed her.
"I know but.. but."
"I'm sorry Buff, I have to." She began to protest him again but he put his finger over her lip to quiet her. "Take my credit card and have a few fun girls only days with Will, Dawn, and Anya okay? You guys can go have lunch and go shopping and watch movies. It will be a blast."
"Okay." Buffy said her face brightening some. Dawn's face brightened at Angel's suggestion too.
"OH Angel, you have the best ideas!!" Angel smiled at Dawn. He then looked to Willow without saying a word, but she knew what his eyes were saying.
"Don't worry, we'll take good care of Buffy. She'll be fine." She said giving him a reassuring smile.
"Thank you, I'll talk to you all soon. You girls have a good time." He said before passionately kissing Buffy. He then leaned to her stomach and then pressed his lips to it, kissing the growing babies goodbye.
"Daddy will be back real soon okay, be nice to your mommy. Don't kick until I get back." Angel said before pressing his ear against her stomach to hear the strong heartbeats of the babies.
"Bye Angel, bye Xand, maybe you can hook up with Cordy again." Buffy said as Angel and Xander carried their luggage to the car. Xander saw Angel's trip as an opportunity to see LA, but more importantly Cordy.
Dawn quickly got up from her place at the table and walked over to Buffy, placing her ear against her stomach. After a few minutes of feverishly moving her head around to different spots on Buffy's bump, she sighed exasperated.
"I wish I could hear the babies like Angel."
"Awww, Dawnie." Buffy said taking her sisters hand, "Why don't you and Will come to the doctors appointment with me? The doctor will let you hear the babies and you can see them on the sonogram. The doctor said we might even be able to tell the sex. I know how much these two little ones mean to you too. We'll make a day of it."
Dawn smiled sweetly at her sister, she loved Buffy's new extremely happy disposition.
"You sure you don't mind us coming Buff?"
"Of course I don't mind, I'd rather not go alone. So what do you guys want to do while we have the house all to ourselves?"
" We could rent chick flicks, and eat ice cream till we wanna barf." Dawn suggested.
" And we could go out to lunch, and spend Angel's money." Willow said smiling.
"Yeah to the chick flicks, ice cream, lunch, and spending my honeys money, no to the whole barf thing, had enough of that."
Dawn smiled sheepishly at her sister " I didn't mean we'd really barf." Buffy smiled back.
" Okay great, I also need to go shopping for some maternity clothes. These babies keep on growing. And we could also do some shopping for the nursery once we find out the sex or sexes of the babies."
"So Buff, when do we want to do all this stuff?"
"Well, my appointment with the doctor is tomorrow, and I generally don't feel so good after all the poking around, gives me the wiggins. So how bout you guys come with me tomorrow, we can come home afterwards and crash with a few chick flicks, and then the day after tomorrow we can go shopping."
"K, what time is your appointment?"
"It's at 12:30, but we should probably leave an hour earlier, I hate to be late."
"Okay, how bout we go out for breakfast before?" Willow suggested, breakfast was her favorite meal of the day; she used to love cooking it with Tara.
"Alright, since I can once again enjoy eating before 12. How bout we go have breakfast at 9:30?"
"Sounds good to me, maybe they'll have some funny shaped pancakes like I like." Dawn said winking at Willow.
"Awww, Dawnie, I think that's a house special."
Dawn frowned a little but then smiled, "Spose only Willow's cool enough to make funny shaped pancakes."
"Of course, cause. cause, I'm just a cool gal who wears fuzzy things on her shirt." Willow said smiling but then remembering the awful day when Joyce died when she had wished she could just be a grown up with grown up clothes.
Buffy gave her friend a one armed hug around her shoulders, "I like my best friend with her fuzzy shirts and funny shaped pancakes, you wouldn't be Will without them."
Willow smiled, "and I like my best friend with her nice round tummy with babies and all." Willow said rubbing her hand on Buffy's stomach. "Hi in there little babies, I'm you Aunt Willow and we're so excited about you."
Dawn smiled and joined Willow in touching Buffy's stomach and cooing to the growing lives inside, "Yeah, and I'm your Aunt Dawn and I'll let you do everything mommy and daddy won't, cause I'm still kind of a kid myself."
Buffy laughed and her face glowed with happiness, "That tickles, you're going to spoil those two before they're even born."
"That's okay, they deserve it." Buffy smiled at Dawn's statement, the babies really did deserve to be spoiled. She couldn't deny that this was the happiest she'd been in years, she hadn't felt so much joy and love since she was a very young child before all the fighting started between her parents. When she still had the innocence of childhood.
Later that night after the girls had a nice dinner and watched their favorite TV show, Friends, Buffy let Dawn climb into bed with her.
"Thanks for letting me sleep in here Buffy."
"Oh, you're welcome sweetie." Buffy said pushing some of her sister's hair out of her face. Willow had told Buffy that Dawn had slept next to the Buffy bot after Buffy's death and the knowledge of this completely made Buffy's heart melt. Buffy was trying to make up for all the times she hadn't treated Dawn right.
"I remember when I used to crawl into bed with you when I was..." Dawn stopped suddenly and looked sad, but Buffy finished her sentence.
"When you were little."
"I was never little, it's just some stupid memory the monks gave you so you would have a reason to protect me."
"Dawn sweetie," Buffy said pulling her sister in close for a hug, "Now you listen to me, you are my sister, I do not care where you came from or why you got here, but you are here now and I thank God for that every day. You're my baby sister; there aren't many bonds in the world stronger than that. The monks made you my baby sister because it's the most natural instinct in me, to protect you. I remember everything about you, I remember the day mom brought you home from the hospital, I remember your first step, I remember how it used to break my heart when you were a baby and you cried and I couldn't make it better for you, I remember when you used to crawl into my bed after a bad dream so I could protect you from the monsters, and I remember when I used to rub your back to help you sleep. That's all real to me, you are MY sister, they made you out of me. Sweetie, I did NOT jump into that porthole to die because you were the key and I wanted to save you, I jumped into that porthole because you're my sister and I would die to protect you. Okay? That is all that matters."
Dawn sniffled a little and looked at Buffy tears welling in her eyes. "You promise?"
"Oh gosh yes Dawnie, I couldn't have made it through these past few years without you. Let me ask you something, if these babies were in danger, would you do anything to protect them? Do you love them?"
"Of course, I'd die if it would save them." She said touching Buffy's tummy, a wave of fear rushing through her when she thought about something happening to the babies.
"Why?"
Dawn shrugged a little; she knew her sister was trying to make a point. "Because I love them."
"But you don't know them, you've never held them."
"But... I'm their aunt, it's my job, and I don't have to know them to love them."
Buffy smiled at Dawn, hoping she'd made her point, "Well, does that show you that you are so much more than just memories to me?"
Dawn nodded and hugged her sister tight.
"Want me to rub your back like when you were little?"
Dawn smiled and nodded gratefully at Buffy. She closed her eyes and quickly nodded off into a peaceful sleep.
Dawn groaned as she was awakened the next morning by something cold splashing on her face.
"Time to get up kiddo." Willow said loudly.
"Did you throw ice water on me??"
"Sorry Dawnie, it was Buffy's idea, but we HAVE been trying to get you up for an hour, come on, we're going out to breakfast."
Dawn stumbled out of Buffy's room and into her own and quickly began to dress. She chose a beautiful but simple spaghetti-strapped pink sundress and some white flip-flops. She hooked a sparkling silver necklace with a heart shaped charm around her neck. Next she put earrings into her ears. Buffy had finally allowed her to get three holes in each ear after Dawn argued for about a year. Dawn quickly pulled her long brown hair up into a ponytail and put on some blush, mascara and lip-gloss. She looked at herself in the mirror and pleased with her appearance, headed downstairs. She knew it was silly to fuss over her looks so much, but for some reason she wanted to look good for her first "meeting" with the twins.
"Don't you look nice Dawnie." Willow said smiling as Dawn came down the stairs.
"Yes, Dawn, beautiful as usual, let's get going, I'm starving." Buffy said grabbing her sister and Willow by the hand and pulling them out the door.
"Going for comfy?" Dawn asked smiling at Buffy's outfit as they walked out the door.
"Whaaaat?" Buffy whined looking down, she was wearing a white spaghetti strapped maternity shirt and some gray yoga Capri pants with flip-flops. "When you're pregnant and this big already, you always go for comfy."
"It's okay Buff, I think you look cute." Dawn said smiling at her sister.
Buffy smiled, "Thanks Dawn, but I don't think I'll ever get my figure back." She said rubbing her stomach.
"Actually Buff," Willow said climbing into the drivers seat of the car, "I was talking to Giles on the phone, and he said despite the fact that a slayer has never made it to pregnancy before, he imagines that your super slayer healing powers and strength will make the birth easier and your recovery faster."
"Yeah, I was talking to Giles about some baby stuff too, I wish he were here." Buffy said buckling her seatbelt as they backed out of the driveway.
"You know he'll be here closer to the birth. It's just there hasn't been much evil on the hell mouth lately"
"Yeah, thank God."
Dawn rolled her eyes in the backseat; all the slayer talk was boring her slightly. Even though she had once been excited with her sisters job, the twins growing in her sisters stomach were now much more interesting.
"So Buff, when are the babies due?" Dawn asked in an attempt to change the subject.
"Well, the doctor said they're actually due the 24th of December, but because they're twins, she doesn't think I'll make it to my due date. She says because I've got such a small body that she doubts I'll carry them past December 10th. But then I talked to Giles and he said that my body is much stronger than the average woman's so I could very well carry them until term. We'll just have to be on the lookout for premature labor." Buffy said, Willow could sense a hint of fear in her friends voice and apparently so could Dawn. She reached up and placed her hand on her sister's shoulder.
"It'll be alright Buff, these two are going to be perfectly healthy."
Buffy smiled back at her sister, "I know."
Buffy sat across from Willow and Dawn in a comfy booth at the restaurant where the girls decided to eat breakfast.
"I'm so excited about getting to see and hear the babies today. I've been so jealous of Angel, getting to hear their heartbeats."
Buffy smiled at Dawn, "I know you have, but it's been really nice that Angel still has that ability, I never have to worry about how the babies are doing, he would hear if something was wrong."
"Hi, I'm Cody and I'll be your server today" A handsome boy about Dawn's age with blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes said as he approached the table. Buffy grinned as she saw a huge smile spread across Dawn's face and heard a slight sigh escape her mouth. It was a look Buffy couldn't mistake, her sister in love.
"Hello Cody, I believe I'll start off with some decaf coffee, a water, and your eggs and bacon platter. Please make sure that's decaf coffee."
"Of course." Cody said politely. "And for you?" He said his piercing blue eyes looking right at Dawn. She just started back up at him, practically drooling. A swift kick from her sister under the table broke her from her trance.
"Um, a coke, and do you have pancakes?"
"Sure."
"Can you make them in funny shapes?"
"Anything for you beautiful." Cody said smiling at Dawn and winking.
"I think I'll have the funny shaped pancakes too." Willow said chiming in. After Cody left Dawn sunk into the seat and hid her face.
"Did I actually ask for funny shapes??"
"Aww Dawnie," Willow said hugging her, "I think ya did. It's okay though, he called you beautiful."
Buffy smiled, "He's right you are beautiful, but how dare he hit on my little sister."
Dawn whined, "Buffy I'm sixteen, I'm not little anymore."
"Nope, but you will always be my baby sister, even when you're 30."
Cody brought everything the girls had ordered to the table and they all enjoyed their meal thoroughly. As soon as they'd finished eating Buffy's cell rang.
"Hello? HEY baby!!! Gosh you don't know how much I've missed you." There was a pause. "How are things in LA? That's good! Yeah, the babies and I are fine, we're all fine, just enjoyed breakfast, of course I'll call you after the appointment. No, I haven't had any more pains, everything's fine. All right, I love you too. MWA." Dawn and Willow giggled as Buffy made kissing noises into the phone before hanging up.
"I'm going to take a stab at things and guess that was Angel. What did he say?"
"He said he missed me and he loved me and the babies and to make sure I take good care of us. He also said things at Angel Investigations are fine and that it's good to be home for a while. OH and Angel also told me Xander spent the night in Cordy's room." Buffy said winking and then smiling.
"Oh gosh, can you imagine if Xander and Cordy hooked up and had kids??"
"Yikes, they'd be cuties though, probably have some interesting personalities." Willow said with a slight laugh as she thought of how much Cordy had grown since graduating high school.
Buffy looked at her watch and groaned, " I suppose we should get going, almost time for the poking around."
Buffy shifted uncomfortably in the chair in the waiting room of her doctor's office.
"You okay Buff?" Willow asked looking up from the parenting magazine she and Dawn had been flipping through; they were busy cooing at the cute baby pictures.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine, just a little nervous" She said as her foot tapped away at a mile a minute.
"You really hate doctors huh Buff?"
Buffy nodded and looked down, "it's been worse ever since.... well, ever since mom died." Willow frowned and hugged her friend.
"I know Buff."
"Buffy Summers??" Buffy, Dawn, and Willow looked up as they heard a nurse call Buffy's name.
"Coming." Buffy said picking up her purse and heading to the door with Dawn and Willow.
"Hi Buffy how are you today?"
"Oh, I'm good Ally, how are you?"
"I'm fine, are your friends coming back with you?"
"Oh yeah, how rude of me, this is my sister Dawn and my best friend Willow."
"Nice to meet you two."
Dawn and Willow both greeted and smiled at the young nurse. Dawn noticed that Buffy had called her by her first name she thought it was nice the doctor's office had such a relaxed and friendly environment.
"So Buffy, where's Angel?"
"He's out of town on business."
"Oh alright, well, let's get you settled in exam 3, you can get dressed into your gown and I'll send Willow and Dawn and Dr. Lee in when you're finished."
"Okay, thanks Ally." Buffy said disappearing into the exam room.
Dawn and Willow stood outside the exam room and talked while Buffy got changed.
"Think Xander and Cordy have a chance?"
"I don't know Dawnie, I mean, they were pretty hot and heavy for a while.. But then the whole me and Xander thing happened and it just kind of broke them up."
"Oh." Dawn could tell the subject made Willow very uncomfortable.
"Hello, you must be friends of Buffy." Dawn and Willow turned as they heard the voice from behind them. They both turned around and saw a tiny woman, not too much older than Buffy standing there.
"Oh, you must be Dr. Lee, hi." Willow said extending her hand to the woman.
"Please, call me Elizabeth, it's very nice to meet you... I'm sorry I don't know your names."
"I'm Willow, Buffy's best friend."
"And I'm Dawn, her sister." Dawn said smiling and holding her hand out.
"Well, it sure is nice to meet you two. I assume you'll be attending the birth." Willow and Dawn both nodded.
"Believe me, Buffy's tough and she's strong, you'll probably need the help."
Dawn laughed, "Yeah, people will have to take turns holding her hand."
Elizabeth laughed also, "I can tell from Buffy's personality that she's strong, she's got an extremely strong love for those babies. And Angel, well, I don't think I've ever seen a man so in love with a woman.
Dawn nodded, "These babies are a new thing for all of us and they are loved so much already by so many people."
Elizabeth smiled, "Buffy's lucky she's got such a tight knit group of friends and family to support her, recently I've treated so many woman who've had to go through this alone, and Buffy's just. she's surrounded by people who love her, I feel like I've met your entire family, will your mother be attending the birth?"
Dawn looked said and Willow reached out for her hand, "Um, I guess Buff didn't tell you, our mom died a little over two years ago."
Elizabeth's face was filled with sympathy as she looked at Dawn's frown, "Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry, what happened??" A pause, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be asking."
"No, no, it's okay, usually when we tell people they just say they're sorry, get uncomfortable, change the subject or walk away. She died from complications of a brain tumor.. It was sudden."
" I could tell your sister had been through a lot from her eyes but I had no idea.."
"It's alright, we're doing okay."
"I'm ready..." they heard Buffy call from inside the exam room.
"Hi Buffy." Elizabeth entered the room followed by Willow and Dawn. Buffy was lying on the exam table, a sheet covering her lower half.
"Hello Elizabeth, how are you?"
"I'm fine, I was just having a nice chat out in the hall with Willow and Dawn."
Buffy laughed, "Hope they didn't say anything bad about me."
"Only the nicest stuff." She said pulling on a pair of gloves and turning to Dawn and Willow. " If you two want to pull up some chairs by Buffy's head I'll do the exam and then we can get to the nice part and pull out the sonogram okay?"
"Okay." Dawn said taking a seat on Buffy's right side as Willow sat down on her left.
"Are you ready Buffy?"
"As ready as I'll ever be." Buffy reached for Dawn's hand. She squirmed uncomfortably at Dr. Lee's necessary invasion and her grip on her sister's hand tightened.
"I'm sorry Buffy, I know you hate this part, I'll make it as quick as I can."
Buffy nodded and exhaled slowly through her mouth.
"It's okay Buff, just think, you'll get to see the twins on the sonogram soon." Willow said in a soothing voice trying to distract her friend with her words. Buffy only nodded and gave Willow a half smile.
"All done." Dr. Lee said patting Buffy on the leg, her whole body relaxed and her grip on Dawn's hand loosened.
"Do you think I'm a wimp?"
"Far from it, I know it's uncomfortable, but you're high risk to begin with, you're carrying twins, and I know you said you've had some pretty heavy blows to the stomach in the past few years, just want to make sure everything still checks out."
"Does it?"
"Perfect condition, you must heal fast."
Buffy laughed a little and shifted on the exam table, "You have no idea."
"I'm going to go get the sonogram machine, I'll be back." Elizabeth said before exiting the room.
Dawn looked worriedly at her sister, "Does it really hurt?"
"No Dawnie, I'm alright, I'm just a wimp." She said winking at her sister.
"Promise?"
"Yes I promise." Willow looked at Buffy and raised her eyebrow; she kind of figured her friend was stretching the truth a little for Dawn.
Elizabeth came back into the room pulling the sonogram machine, "You ready to see those babies."
"Sure am, Dawn and Will have been waiting for this for a while too."
Elizabeth smiled, "I bet Angel hates that he has to miss it."
"He does, but Will's going to help me email the pictures to him later."
"He'll be thrilled."
" Angel's going to drive everyone crazy showing them, he sure is a proud dad."
Elizabeth smiled and lifted up Buffy's gown to reveal her already large stomach. "Looks like the twins are developing really nicely, I'm just going to put this gel on your stomach."
"Okay, gel I can deal with." Dawn and Willow both sat staring at the screen, their anticipation growing. Elizabeth turned on the machine and picked up the wand.
"Okay, you ready?" Buffy, Dawn, and Willow nodded and Elizabeth started to run the wand over Buffy's belly trying to locate the babies. A sound came from the sonogram machine.
"What's that? It sounds kind of like the ocean."
Buffy smiled at her sister and took her eyes off the screen for a moment, "That's what you've been waiting to hear Dawnie, that's their heartbeats."
"Oh wow Buff, it's amazing."
Buffy grinned, "I know Will."
"Okay, here we go." Elizabeth said smiling and pointing to the screen. "Here's twin A, and here is twin B." She pointed to two distinguished heads; Dawn could even see their little noses.
"Oh my god, they're so cute." Dawn squealed.
Buffy was totally enchanted with the first "picture" of her children.
"Buffy, they're great, is that one sucking its thumb?" Willow asked pointing to Twin A on the screen.
Elizabeth smiled and nodded, "Yes, it's quite common, we usually see it a little later on in the pregnancy but it's not unheard of in the 4th month, I wouldn't be at all surprised if you started to feel them kick soon."
"Can you tell their sexes?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah, am I going to have nieces or nephews or both?"
"Are you sure you want to know?"
"Positive, I'm not real big on surprises, even good ones."
"Well, I can tell that these two are identical because they share one placenta, and they are little baby girls, perfectly healthy, very strong heartbeats."
Buffy let out a squeal, "Two little girls."
Dawn nudged her sister, "Told you so."
"I'm so happy for you Buff, this is wonderful."
Buffy smiled, "Thanks Will, Angel and I didn't care what they were, as long as they were healthy and happy, but it is nice to know."
"I'm just going to print you out some pictures and then you can go home okay?"
"Thanks Elizabeth."
"You're very welcome Buffy. Call me right away if you have any unusual pains or bleeding, if it's on a weekend feel free to call me at home and I'll come right over. You may start having some false contractions soon, but it's just a way of your body getting ready."
"Well how can we tell the difference between that and premature labor?"
"Feel your stomach now, it's soft, if you were having real contractions all the muscles in it would be ridged and your stomach as hard as a rock, that's the main way, but if anything worries you at all, just call me."
"Okay, thank you so much."
"No problem, go on and get dressed and I'll see you at the next appointment." Elizabeth said handing a few photos to Willow and a few to Dawn as the followed her out of the exam room.
"Can you believe it Buff?" Willow asked as they drove away from the doctor's office.
"No, but I'm thrilled, two little baby girls. They're already beautiful, and now we can stop calling them its."
"Angel's going to be so happy." Dawn said rubbing her sister's abdomen.
"I know, it's nice to know what we're having so we can start planning."
"And picking out names."
"And buying them cute little dresses."
All three girls had huge grins on their faces.
"Hey Buff, you feel up to going to the video store to rent some movies or are you sore?"
"I'm sore but I'm fine, let's go."
"Okay."
Anya came over to Buffy's house a little later in the day to watch movies, have pizza, and discuss baby plans. Just as the girls were finishing up dinner the phone rang. Buff answered it.
"Hello?? Oh hey sweetie, I'm good how are you? Just finished up some pizza. The doctor's appointment was great; Will's going to e-mail you some of the sonogram pictures. They're perfect beautiful little baby girls..." A pause, Dawn could actually hear Angel scream through the phone from where she was sitting. Buffy smiled, "Yes I said two perfect little baby girls, we're going to have daughters. One of the girls was sucking her thumb it was so cute. Yeah, the doctor said they're growing just fine." Another pause and then Buffy lowered her voice, "um, Angel, you don't think there is a risk of them becoming slayers do you? I know I know, I shouldn't worry this early but I can't help it. Okay, you're right, one step at a time, they have to be born first. I love you. So how are you? How's Xander?? That's good." Another pause, "We're going shopping tomorrow." She paused again, "Okay Angel.. You can say goodnight to the girls." She removed the phone from her ear and placed it up against her belly for a few seconds. She smiled as she heard Angel cooing to his unborn daughters. She then put the phone back up to her ear, "I love you Angel, okay I'll sleep well, talk to you tomorrow, Night babe." She hung up.
"Angel's dying for those pictures Will, can you send them tonight?"
"Sure thing Buff."
"Is Xander having sex with this Cordelia?" The random question from Anya. Buffy, Dawn, and Willow stared at her.
"What? Xander and I used to have sex, it was nice, and then he left me at our wedding." She said all in a very matter of fact voice.
Buffy laughed, "I don't know Anya, I wouldn't worry too much about it, it's totally Xander's loss." She said giving Anya's hand a squeeze, she felt bad for her after what Xander had done.
Later that night while Willow was surfing the net Dawn walked into Buffy's room to find her looking at some pictures.
"What's that?" Dawn asked pointing to the sonogram picture in Buffy's hand. "It's not the twins is it?"
"Nope, one baby, a very special baby, it's you."
"Wow, I didn't... Didn't know we had these." She studied the picture closely.
"We've got everything." Buffy reached into a box that was sitting next to her and pulled out a worn pink blanket. "This was yours too Dawnie." Buffy smiled fondly, obviously remembering her sister as a baby.
"Um. do you think I could maybe.. Have it?"
"Of course." She handed her sister the blanket. Dawn rubbed it against her face. "It still smells like mom."
Buffy took and end of the blanket and held it under her nose, inhaling the sweet aroma of her mother. "You're right, it does."
"I miss her so much, sometimes I don't know how I've survived these past two year."
Buffy took her sister's hand, " I know sweetie, I miss her too, but you know what I think when I wonder how I survived since her death?"
"What?"
"That I survived because of you." She pulled out a picture of a much younger version of herself holding a bundle of pink blankets and baby. "That's the day you came home, I asked mom if I could take care of you. She said yes, and I did.. Always, well, up until I started being super bitch of the world and not treating you the way I should have."
Dawn smiled a little, "I was kind of annoying."
"You were going through a lot."
"So were you."
"I'm your big sister and it's my job to push my problems aside."
"Even when your problems include saving the world?"
"Yep." Buffy smiled and handed her sister the picture, " I remember, when you were about 2 years old, and you had to go to the doctor for a shot. And mom brought me along, and I was fine until you got the shot and you started crying and screaming, I got upset that the doctor hurt you so...I kicked him... hard."
Dawn laughed, "Little slayer at work huh?"
Buffy grinned and blushed a little, "Yeah, couldn't let anyone hurt my little sister."
"So where did you find all this neat stuff?" Dawn asking looking through the box and pulling out a teddy bear.
"Um.. I found it after mom died." Buffy spoke quickly, as if she couldn't stand saying the words.
"Do you think she looks out for us?"
"I know it, and I think she sent us these two little angels." Buffy said taking her sisters hand and pressing it against her belly. "She wanted us to learn how to be happy again."
"I really love them Buffy, I think I know kind of how you felt when.. When you had to protect me." She said leaning over to kiss her sister's belly, "I don't know them but I'd give up my life to save them."
Buffy smiled and ran her fingers through some of Dawn's hair, "I know sweetie, I'd give up my life to save them.. And you again in an instant"
"I'm so glad you're my sister." She said wrapping her arms around Buffy and hugging her.
"Oh, me too sweetie."
"I love you Buffy."
"I love you too Dawnie, always." Buffy said kissing her sister's head. She'd always been reluctant to share these memories with Dawn before, after all, how would she feel, knowing they'd never really happened. But right now, Dawn was just a normal sixteen year old girl who needed to know about her past, about her life, she was no longer the key to anything, just a wonderful sister to Buffy.
"Hey Dawnie, what to you say we go pay a visit to mom's grave sometime soon?"
"But Buffy, you've never...been there... I mean, not since she was buried."
"I know, but I think it's about time now, time to start healing."
**Okay, sorry this took so long, I should be updating more soon. I know this was mainly just Buffy Dawn sister mush, no monsters, but I feel like it's Buffy's turn to get to be a normal girl, ya know? And I have a very good relationship with my older sister that has inspired this. Also big opps on my part, I had some things dated 2002, but really this story takes place in 2003 sorry everyone, I've changed it! Hope you're still enjoying this story!**
