Authors Notes: Yes I've been reeeeeeeeeeally bad about updating this fic *apologizes profusely* I wanna thank everyone who wrote me and asked if there was going to be more and I want to thank all of you who have left me reviews, y'all all ROCK!!!!! This chapter is dedicated to you guys :)
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"So I suppose you're going to tell me you weren't referencing Farscape out there too!" Doyle teased, soaping the dish in hand.
"Ooooh Farscape! Crichton is so cute for an old guy!" Dawn piped in, receiving dirty looks from Giles and Joyce at the old guy comment, both had watched enough of the show with the girl to know Crichton was only in his mid-thirties. "I wish he'd get together with Chiana! She's so much cooler and she's way nicer to him than Aeryn is." Dawn added nonchalantly drying a dinner dish.
She, Doyle and Cordy had gotten stuck with the dinner dishes while Joyce and Giles watched the little demons in the living room, not much by way of a fair trade but such was life for adults.
"No Way! Are you Nuts! Crichton and Aeryn are..." Cordy cut herself off with a sheepish expression. "People I have never heard of?" She finished lamely.
"And Dennis was the one watching Sci-Fi Channel the other day." Doyle snorted.
"Oh, whatever!" Cordy exclaimed, flinging soap suds at a still giggling Dawn. "You watch Passions Doyle! That's way worse!"
"At least I admit to watching what I watch." He pointed out, receiving death glares from Ms. Chase in return.
"Bite me Doyle!"
"Ah fair Cordelia, your words woundeth me so." He replied, stumbling around the kitchen, hands clasped over his heart.
"Well, Cordelia certainly has Doyle well trained." Joyce noted with amusement, taking her eyes off the five who were enthralled by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Giles chuckled. "She certainly does. I'm glad, I didn't think she'd let anyone get close after that fiasco with Xander and Willow last year."
Joyce nodded with a sigh. "They're all so young and have been through so much hurt already."
"They're resilient though, they bounce back." Giles replied, watching Spike get off the floor rubbing his head from his tumble off the couch, Xander smirking proudly from his perch on the handle. Spike got back up on the couch and pushed Xander off the handle and then Willow smacked them both upside the head. He laughed as the two little boys rubbed their heads but took the warning to heart and stopped fighting. Ever the peacemaker, Willow was.
Giles sighed and shook his head.
"Why do you think she did this spell?" Joyce wondered, voicing his own thoughts.
"She and Xander have been on the outs since last fall after the 'fluking', with Oz gone and Buffy busy babysitting Spike, I guess she was feeling a little lonely and nostalgic for old times." Giles surmised, watching the eager young faces avidly drinking in the story. "I don't think she actually meant to turn her and Xander back into three year olds however."
Joyce smiled and stroked Angel's head where it rested against her knee. Little Liam was fast asleep, poor kid was all tuckered out. She would have loved to leave them like this. To not have them turn back into their adult selves, just hold them and keep them safe forever.
"Wingardjum levioza! Wingardium levioza!" Willow chanted as the movie ended and Giles and Joyce shepherded the little demons upstairs to bed. Well the movie actually wasn't over but Xander had spilled too much juice on Buffy and Spike had thrown a tantrum when Draco left the screen so the movie was over.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" She yelled in perfect imitation of Hermione pointing at Xander when she said it. And then to everyone's surprise, Xander levitated a good three feet off the floor.
Xander screamed, Willow screamed, Buffy screamed because she wanted a go and Spike and Angel hid behind Giles' legs in fear of the little witch.
"Xander!" Joyce's yelp turned into a cry of fear as Willow dropped her hand and Xander plummeted, caught in the nick of time thanks to Giles' quick reflexes.
"You were saying something about wishing we could keep them this way?" Giles asked dryly, setting mini Xand down.
Joyce made a face at him following the little demons up the stairs.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Peeing! Peeing! La la la La la!" Buffy hummed taking her turn going potty on the 'big girls' toilet before going to bed. "I done peeing?" She wondered out loud. "I' done peeing." she decided bellowing "MOMMY! I"M FINISHED!" at the top of her lungs. Joyce smiled and shook her head, ushering Buffy out of the bathroom and pushing in Liam who was still afraid of the PeePee Monster.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Doyle wakes up and the first thing he notices is Cordy's hand isn't hanging down over the side of the bed. Rising up on his elbows he peeks at the bed, still no Cordy. Getting to his feet he wanders out of the bedroom, scratching his head and staring fuzzily at the clock on the wall. It isn't even four a.m. yet. He finds her cuddling a sleeping baby Angel in the armchair in Joyce's bedroom and can't help but smile at the sight. Running a thumb across her cheekbone he calls her name softly, smiling down when her hazel eyes flutter open.
"Hey, what are you doing in here?" the seer asks, as Cordy nuzzles her cheek into his palm letting her eyes fall shut. When she opens them again they are sparkling with unshed tears.
"He had a nightmare and woke up, I was coming back from the bathroom and found him sitting in the corner of the hall in the dark by himself trembling because he was so scared but even more afraid of waking someone. He said his dad would thrash him if he did that at home. He was so relieved when I picked him up Doyle, so happy and trusting. He had absolute faith that I could make things right for him." She whispered, fingers unconsciously running through the dark hair resting on her shoulder.
"He's so sad all the time when he's Angel, Doyle. He gets this kicked puppy look and I just wanna hug him and tell him it'll be okay but he's so much of a 'don't touch me' kind of person and I'm not exactly the most touchy feely either,"
"So you're doing it now, while you can." Doyle finished for her and Cordy nodded with a faint smile, hugging the toddler on her lap closer.
"He does it for me every day." She whispered. "You both do." The ex-cheerleader amended, looking right into Doyle's blue eyes. "I don't say it but just having the two of you around makes me feel like it will all be okay, and I should probably shut up now, I get more sentimental the later at night it gets." She said and if Doyle didn't know better he'd think she was blushing as she buried her nose in Angel's hair, inhaling that clean baby smell.
The half demon lightly stroked her cheek and settled in against the base of her chair, resting his head on the piece of cushion left over from where Cordelia had her knees curled up under her.
"Doyle," She began but he put a hand on her knee and caught her eyes.
She smiled softly at him, and subsided while he returned to his previous position. She'd go back to being a bitch in the morning she decided, revelling in the warmth of his shoulder where her knees pressed against it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Joyce came quietly down the stairs, a sleepy baby Buffy in her arms on the way to the kitchen for breakfast so Buffy wouldn't wake the others who were thankfully still asleep to find Giles sprawled on his stomach across her pullout sofabed. The covers kicked off and lying in a pile on the floor, sweatshirt all out of skew, showing that he may have given up the tweed but not the layers, displaying the white t shirt he wore undereath it. Joyce sat buffy down on the armchair and turned on Saturday morning cartoons. It had been a few years, even with Dawn but Cartoon Network never failed her before and it didn't now, the theme song for The Jetsons reaching her ears as she broke eggs into a bowl.
"Giles!" Buffy whined, poking her watcher's inert form. He grunted in his sleep and rolled onto his back, arm thrown over his head. She crawled up onto the couch and poked him some more. Her little fingers smooshed his cheeks together and she giggled at the fish-face he was making. "Giles! Giles! Giles!" she chanted pulling up an eyelid that refused to open.
Giles wakes up to a toddler who has squirmed underneath his sweater, her head poking out of the neck beneath his own, golden curls tickling his chin.
"What the...? Buffy?" He asks the giggling mop which pulls away, stretching his shirt collar horribly, to turn and look him in the face. "Giles! You wakey!" She announces happily.
"Uhm...er..." Giles' stuttering is cut off by Joyce's laughter from the kitchen doorway.
"She used to do that with her father when she was about this age. She and Hank watching Saturday morning cartoons, some days I wondered who was the real kid." Joyce's smile was just slightly wistful.
"He doesn't come up much anymore does he?" Giles asked, Buffy happily giggling at the cartoons on TV and ignoring their conversation.
"No, not as often as she'd like." Joyce replied, running an affectionate hand over Buffy's uncombed bed hair.
Dawn paused on her spot on the stairs still unseen by Joyce or Giles and grimaced, gagging silently. Man would she be glad when Giles wasn't spending the night at their house anymore, these early morning shippy scenes between him and her mom were just plain creepy, she turned tail and crept quietly back up the stairs breaking up the first one had been embarassing enough.
End Ch 13
More to come soon, the more you bug me, the faster I write :)
a/n: Yes I know Harry Potter hadn't come out yet but I couldn't think of any movie to include beside it and it worked out nicely with the magic thang :)
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"So I suppose you're going to tell me you weren't referencing Farscape out there too!" Doyle teased, soaping the dish in hand.
"Ooooh Farscape! Crichton is so cute for an old guy!" Dawn piped in, receiving dirty looks from Giles and Joyce at the old guy comment, both had watched enough of the show with the girl to know Crichton was only in his mid-thirties. "I wish he'd get together with Chiana! She's so much cooler and she's way nicer to him than Aeryn is." Dawn added nonchalantly drying a dinner dish.
She, Doyle and Cordy had gotten stuck with the dinner dishes while Joyce and Giles watched the little demons in the living room, not much by way of a fair trade but such was life for adults.
"No Way! Are you Nuts! Crichton and Aeryn are..." Cordy cut herself off with a sheepish expression. "People I have never heard of?" She finished lamely.
"And Dennis was the one watching Sci-Fi Channel the other day." Doyle snorted.
"Oh, whatever!" Cordy exclaimed, flinging soap suds at a still giggling Dawn. "You watch Passions Doyle! That's way worse!"
"At least I admit to watching what I watch." He pointed out, receiving death glares from Ms. Chase in return.
"Bite me Doyle!"
"Ah fair Cordelia, your words woundeth me so." He replied, stumbling around the kitchen, hands clasped over his heart.
"Well, Cordelia certainly has Doyle well trained." Joyce noted with amusement, taking her eyes off the five who were enthralled by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Giles chuckled. "She certainly does. I'm glad, I didn't think she'd let anyone get close after that fiasco with Xander and Willow last year."
Joyce nodded with a sigh. "They're all so young and have been through so much hurt already."
"They're resilient though, they bounce back." Giles replied, watching Spike get off the floor rubbing his head from his tumble off the couch, Xander smirking proudly from his perch on the handle. Spike got back up on the couch and pushed Xander off the handle and then Willow smacked them both upside the head. He laughed as the two little boys rubbed their heads but took the warning to heart and stopped fighting. Ever the peacemaker, Willow was.
Giles sighed and shook his head.
"Why do you think she did this spell?" Joyce wondered, voicing his own thoughts.
"She and Xander have been on the outs since last fall after the 'fluking', with Oz gone and Buffy busy babysitting Spike, I guess she was feeling a little lonely and nostalgic for old times." Giles surmised, watching the eager young faces avidly drinking in the story. "I don't think she actually meant to turn her and Xander back into three year olds however."
Joyce smiled and stroked Angel's head where it rested against her knee. Little Liam was fast asleep, poor kid was all tuckered out. She would have loved to leave them like this. To not have them turn back into their adult selves, just hold them and keep them safe forever.
"Wingardjum levioza! Wingardium levioza!" Willow chanted as the movie ended and Giles and Joyce shepherded the little demons upstairs to bed. Well the movie actually wasn't over but Xander had spilled too much juice on Buffy and Spike had thrown a tantrum when Draco left the screen so the movie was over.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" She yelled in perfect imitation of Hermione pointing at Xander when she said it. And then to everyone's surprise, Xander levitated a good three feet off the floor.
Xander screamed, Willow screamed, Buffy screamed because she wanted a go and Spike and Angel hid behind Giles' legs in fear of the little witch.
"Xander!" Joyce's yelp turned into a cry of fear as Willow dropped her hand and Xander plummeted, caught in the nick of time thanks to Giles' quick reflexes.
"You were saying something about wishing we could keep them this way?" Giles asked dryly, setting mini Xand down.
Joyce made a face at him following the little demons up the stairs.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Peeing! Peeing! La la la La la!" Buffy hummed taking her turn going potty on the 'big girls' toilet before going to bed. "I done peeing?" She wondered out loud. "I' done peeing." she decided bellowing "MOMMY! I"M FINISHED!" at the top of her lungs. Joyce smiled and shook her head, ushering Buffy out of the bathroom and pushing in Liam who was still afraid of the PeePee Monster.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Doyle wakes up and the first thing he notices is Cordy's hand isn't hanging down over the side of the bed. Rising up on his elbows he peeks at the bed, still no Cordy. Getting to his feet he wanders out of the bedroom, scratching his head and staring fuzzily at the clock on the wall. It isn't even four a.m. yet. He finds her cuddling a sleeping baby Angel in the armchair in Joyce's bedroom and can't help but smile at the sight. Running a thumb across her cheekbone he calls her name softly, smiling down when her hazel eyes flutter open.
"Hey, what are you doing in here?" the seer asks, as Cordy nuzzles her cheek into his palm letting her eyes fall shut. When she opens them again they are sparkling with unshed tears.
"He had a nightmare and woke up, I was coming back from the bathroom and found him sitting in the corner of the hall in the dark by himself trembling because he was so scared but even more afraid of waking someone. He said his dad would thrash him if he did that at home. He was so relieved when I picked him up Doyle, so happy and trusting. He had absolute faith that I could make things right for him." She whispered, fingers unconsciously running through the dark hair resting on her shoulder.
"He's so sad all the time when he's Angel, Doyle. He gets this kicked puppy look and I just wanna hug him and tell him it'll be okay but he's so much of a 'don't touch me' kind of person and I'm not exactly the most touchy feely either,"
"So you're doing it now, while you can." Doyle finished for her and Cordy nodded with a faint smile, hugging the toddler on her lap closer.
"He does it for me every day." She whispered. "You both do." The ex-cheerleader amended, looking right into Doyle's blue eyes. "I don't say it but just having the two of you around makes me feel like it will all be okay, and I should probably shut up now, I get more sentimental the later at night it gets." She said and if Doyle didn't know better he'd think she was blushing as she buried her nose in Angel's hair, inhaling that clean baby smell.
The half demon lightly stroked her cheek and settled in against the base of her chair, resting his head on the piece of cushion left over from where Cordelia had her knees curled up under her.
"Doyle," She began but he put a hand on her knee and caught her eyes.
She smiled softly at him, and subsided while he returned to his previous position. She'd go back to being a bitch in the morning she decided, revelling in the warmth of his shoulder where her knees pressed against it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Joyce came quietly down the stairs, a sleepy baby Buffy in her arms on the way to the kitchen for breakfast so Buffy wouldn't wake the others who were thankfully still asleep to find Giles sprawled on his stomach across her pullout sofabed. The covers kicked off and lying in a pile on the floor, sweatshirt all out of skew, showing that he may have given up the tweed but not the layers, displaying the white t shirt he wore undereath it. Joyce sat buffy down on the armchair and turned on Saturday morning cartoons. It had been a few years, even with Dawn but Cartoon Network never failed her before and it didn't now, the theme song for The Jetsons reaching her ears as she broke eggs into a bowl.
"Giles!" Buffy whined, poking her watcher's inert form. He grunted in his sleep and rolled onto his back, arm thrown over his head. She crawled up onto the couch and poked him some more. Her little fingers smooshed his cheeks together and she giggled at the fish-face he was making. "Giles! Giles! Giles!" she chanted pulling up an eyelid that refused to open.
Giles wakes up to a toddler who has squirmed underneath his sweater, her head poking out of the neck beneath his own, golden curls tickling his chin.
"What the...? Buffy?" He asks the giggling mop which pulls away, stretching his shirt collar horribly, to turn and look him in the face. "Giles! You wakey!" She announces happily.
"Uhm...er..." Giles' stuttering is cut off by Joyce's laughter from the kitchen doorway.
"She used to do that with her father when she was about this age. She and Hank watching Saturday morning cartoons, some days I wondered who was the real kid." Joyce's smile was just slightly wistful.
"He doesn't come up much anymore does he?" Giles asked, Buffy happily giggling at the cartoons on TV and ignoring their conversation.
"No, not as often as she'd like." Joyce replied, running an affectionate hand over Buffy's uncombed bed hair.
Dawn paused on her spot on the stairs still unseen by Joyce or Giles and grimaced, gagging silently. Man would she be glad when Giles wasn't spending the night at their house anymore, these early morning shippy scenes between him and her mom were just plain creepy, she turned tail and crept quietly back up the stairs breaking up the first one had been embarassing enough.
End Ch 13
More to come soon, the more you bug me, the faster I write :)
a/n: Yes I know Harry Potter hadn't come out yet but I couldn't think of any movie to include beside it and it worked out nicely with the magic thang :)