Hey
guys! Thanks loads for your loveliness and support and patience! I put out a
chappie of 'Childeren' and I seem to have lost all my readers judging from the
response! Wanna thank my new wonderful beta persona, Aeth! Thanks loads! Yeah,
so that's enough random babbling from me! I hope you guys like this and are
still reading! Review!
(btw! I got 5A's, 5 B's!!!)
This is a loongg chappie J Please please review!!
~~~***~*****~~~~~~~******~~~~~~~~*
"Hi Anya."
"You look very well Buffy."
"Thanks, you look great too. Your kids are beautiful."
"Thanks. They're great."
They fell into a silence thick with words and apologies that were too built up to break down for each other. Xander simply came forward and gave the blond a hug and whispered, "I missed you."
Nodding into his shoulder Buffy let the tears fall and for a long time, she just hugged each of them in turn, clinging to them for the longest moments before forcing herself to pull away. Haile and Poppy awed her the most with their Anya-isms and Xander loyalty. The happiness in Giles' eyes tore at her heart and she felt that perhaps he could never be sated.
The drive to Spike's hired building was made in polite conversation but after a few hours at the rooms, the gang had eased up around each other a lot more. Giles, Haile and Poppy were in the midst of a story, Anya was ordering dinner, Dawn had left to go pick up Brian to bring him over and Buffy and Xander were talking on the couch.
"The whole teacher thing is still pretty cool, Buffy."
"Thanks. Who would've thought? But I really do love it, so it's great."
"I'm glad you're happy, if you're happy?" The way he said it hinted at things that the ex-slayer had hoped would not arise.
"Yes, I'm v-"
"Cut the crap Buffy. Are you still in love with Spike? Coz guess what, he's head-over for you. Esta en amorada contigo....or whatever, it might be amorado…"
"…the slime is a deep green colour, its because of their dimension-travelling. They have rather large feet…yes, Poppy, just like your Dad's…"
The silence between the two friends stretched and finally Buffy answered.
"No."
~*~*~*~*~**~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~~
Xander grinned as he watched his daughters play with the large mastiff. Sergio was a big hit with Haile and Poppy. All they could talk about was how adorable and sweet he was and Xander had a feeling that there would be the not-so-faint pattering of not-so-little paw steps in the Harris house soon.
Liz and Buffy were getting on amazingly and Liz had officially become Felia the cat's other owner. The group of friends went out for picnics and trips to the cinema or theatre and had an amazing time getting to know each other. Dawn shocked all of them with her anecdotes and catching-up was still being done. The kids had basically decided to stay with Giles and Angel and Cordelia were due to arrive soon.
Brian was very surprised to meet this whole family of new people from a past Buffy claimed to have let go. None of them had been able to meet his eyes and Liz kept looking at him almost longingly. Feeling quite uncomfortable, he drowned himself in wedding preparations and all but left Buffy to her friends.
~~~~~~~~~*******~~~~~*****~~~~~******~~~~~~~~
"What time were they meant to get here?"
"Well Angel said that the flight landed at 2.30 so they should have been out nearly half an hour ago now."
"I'm sure the baby is just slowing them down."
Giles, Buffy, Dawn and Liz were all at the airport waiting for Angel, Cordelia and Connor to arrive. The Harris clan were being fitted for the wedding and would join them later.
Liz, her small hand held firmly between Giles' older ones, tried to peer past the crowd in an attempt to spot her Grand-Sire.
"There he is!" she screamed, running towards the vampire.
Angel grinned and scooped her up into his arms, lifting her high into the air. Giving her a thorough hug, he set her down and she clung to Cordelia's leg. The proud new mother bent down, holding her precious baby, and hugged Liz.
"He's still so little." Liz murmured, too scared to touch the baby.
Cordelia grinned and pulled away a little of the blanket so that Liz could see Connor clearer. His small hand curled against the blankie and soft pink skin nestled towards Cordelia's body.
Angel smiled, still awed by his parenthood, and grabbed their trolley of luggage. Standing, Cordelia and Liz joined him, and the four made their way towards Giles, Buffy and Dawn.
"Giles." Angel asked, somewhat shocked at the change in the watcher.
"Angel." Giles replied warmly.
"…Da-Dawn?"
"Yeah, geez. When I say you have not changed one bit, I can be taken literally."
Angel grinned and exchanged hugs with Giles and Dawn. Behind him, Cordelia held nervously onto Liz's hand and glanced towards the luggage. Her mate recognised the nervousness and gently pulled her forward.
"Cordelia, and our son, Connor."
Giles and Dawn smiled as Angel carefully took Connor from her arms and eased her towards Giles.
"Congratulations, you make a beautiful mother, Cordelia. It's been far too long."
Smiling, the teenager in her leaped forward and she clung to him, desperately seeking the support she'd always felt in Sunnydale. They pulled back and she hugged Dawn, complimenting the younger woman's growth.
Buffy had stepped back, watching the scene play out, again feeling alienated and ashamed. As Cordelia took Connor from Angel and showed her son to the two, Buffy felt as if she should leave and run far far away. The dark-haired vampire saw her and came forward.
"Hello Buffy."
"Angel, congratulations. He's going to be a great kid."
"Thanks. Congrats are due to you also. I hope this guy knows how lucky he is."
"He does, thank you. You missed all the messy stuff luckily. Everything is pretty much ready now, so you get the beautiful glossy version."
"I'm glad, you seem really happy."
"I am. It's good to see you."
"It's amazing to see how you've escaped aging as well as I have."
Buffy laughed and grinned. "You've not change much."
They spent a moment in a fairly comfortable silence that Buffy broke, "I don't think Cordelia wants to be here."
"I'm sorry." He said, not willing to deny the truth.
"No no, I don't blame her. It's nice to see she cares about her…son I guess."
Angel couldn't help but smile at that. "When trying to get on Cordelia's good side, do not mention the whole 'mother of Spike' thing. She is still unwilling to accept the title. When Liz told her that Spike had insisted that Connor is Liz's uncle, she nearly had a fit."
They laughed until finally, the other five walked over.
"Hey Cordelia."
"I'm not the type to fake nice unless there is a very good reason, so I won't. Congratulations on your wedding, Buffy. I won't hide the fact that I could never condone what you did to Will, but I'm trying to get over it."
"Thanks Corde-"
"I also won't lie like everyone else. He loves you. So if you love him, don't be stupid."
"Honey…" Angel began, worried at her bluntness.
"No. I won't let her sit back and toy around with this. Spike is your childe Angel, why the hell don't you care enough to do something about that."
"It's not our place."
"Since when has that ever stopped me?"
"I…" Buffy began, shocked.
"Connor needs a change, I'd appreciate if we could head to Spike's place." She ended the conversation and Buffy nodded, mute.
Giles cleared his throat and led the way.
~*~*~*~*~**~~**~
They all made it to the building, carefully avoiding the incident. Giles proved to be very good with Connor, which immediately put Cordelia in a great mood, and she chattered to the ex-watcher and Dawn about her baby. Angel and Liz had a lot of catching up to do and they giggled and laughed as though they'd not seen each other for years rather than weeks.
Longing to be comfortable with her friends, Buffy felt tears spring to her eyes. They were all trying so hard to forgive her, but she knew that they still could not understand the cold-hearted way she had treated Spike.
She hadn't seen him for a while now and there seemed to be this palpable longing, a deep rooted ache, an unscratchable itch to stare into his eyes one more time and see, see if she really could spend the rest of her life away from him.
In love with her? Could he be?
She did love Brian, and she could never hurt him by cancelling the wedding so close to the day. They would be happy together, and life was comfortable and steady with him. The goofy, devoted and patient man had truly been her support the past few years and loving him had happened so carefully and beautifully, it didn't seem right to ruin it. She couldn't help but wonder, however, about passion and fire and heat and electricity and breathless-
"Buffy?"
"Yeah?"
"You ok?"
"Yeah, I'm just thinking… maybe I should have the deep red tablecloth?"
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
"Tomorrow at 6PM, I am going to marry you, Buffy Summers."
"Well guess what. I happen to be marrying you at that exact same time."
"Damn. That's good."
Buffy smiled and they continued walking through the garden. The night was a classic summer night with autumn beginning to seep. The air was gripping in a clean, icy stillness with a distinctly fresh and thin feel to it. The ground was damp and the stars were crisp and clear.
Looking back at the house she had started a new life in, Buffy stopped for a moment.
"It'll be so strange to leave home."
"We're not too far. It's a ten minute drive."
"Yeah."
They talked together for a while and finally decided to head inside. Liz, Cordelia, Connor, Anya and Xander were with Giles and Dawn, getting ready for dinner. Angel had taken Haile and Poppy out for the night since he'd not spent much time with them recently.
As they neared the back door, Sergio pawed towards Brian and Felia curled around Buffy's leg. Scooping up the cat, Buffy peered inside the apparently bustling house.
"Whats going on?" Brian asked.
"I dunno." Buffy replied and they walked through the conservatory into the living room. The sight that greeted them was one that Buffy was not sure she could fully absorb.
3D, Full-colour, Surround Sound Spike.
Oh, and Willow.
~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~
My brain is like mush
And the scary voices won't hush
Make it all go away
By saving the day
There's not much to do
Please just review!!
