Chosen(plus)Twenty
Just clearing up some stuff.. First of all, Tara never died in Season Six Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Kennedy and Willow were never a couple.
Pairings are as follows - Buffy/Xander, Cordy/Angel, Dawn/Andrew, Willow/Tara, Faith/Robin, and Fred/Gunn
Spoilers for the first couple of eps of Angel Season 5. Connor never went to Quor-Toth and therefore, Cordy was never in a coma, coz Connor was still a baby, so no Jasmine.
All the potentials are back in their original locations, except for Kennedy, Vi, Rona and Chao-Ahn, who are in Cleveland, on the Hellmouth there.
All the rest you will find out when you read (and review!!)
Disclaimer: I own *nothing* except all the kids of the scoobies. It al belongs to *the * one and only god JOSS and all his minions at Mutant Enemy!!
Distribution: Ask and it's yours! :P
As the sun shone through the bay windows of the main bedroom of the Harris household, Buffy lay in her bed, regaling in the silence that was daybreak. Any minute now the silence would be broke. Any moment there would be fights over the bathroom and breakfast foods. All these thoughts reminded Buffy of life back in Sunnydale all those years ago. Life back in her mother's house with Dawn. The fights that they had had in that house both while their mother was alive and after she had gone. None of that compared to her life now.
Her life with Xander; whom she had been married to for sixteen years. They had gotten together officially after they had settled down in Los Angeles. After the final battle and the destruction of Sunnydale (and the deaths of both Spike and Anya) Buffy and Xander found themselves growing closer and closer together while they were helping Giles rebuild the new Council in England. When they moved back to California, Buffy, Xander, Dawn and Andrew shared a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment. For the first six months, Buffy shared with Dawn and Xander shared with Andrew, until such time as both Buffy and Xander couldn't live without each other. So Dawn ended up sharing with Andrew and before they knew it sparks flew and the two of them were also very couple-ish.
Buffy was pulled from her thoughts with the familiar sounds of doors slamming and voices screeching at each other. *Yep* she thought *time to get up and play referee again.* Xander was away on business until Saturday and today was only Thursday. She missed him terribly when he was out of town. She waved to the picture of him she had on her nightstand as she grabbed her robe and tied it and opened her bedroom door and launched herself into the open battlefield.
'Lex, can you hurry up and get out of the bathroom, coz some of the rest of the people in this house have to use it you know.' The only response that the came back was a 'go away'
'Hey cheeky boy, you stirring up that sister of yours again??' Buffy asked as she planted a kiss on the boy's forehead. 'She's in there more that she's not Mom! There are other people in this house.' 'I know, I know and we have this discussion every morning, and you and Lex always end up fighting all morning about it. Look, why don't you go and use my bathroom and I'll go and get breakfast organised.'
Happily, the eleven year old walked off. Defiant that he didn't have to wait around for his fifteen year old sister to finish hogging the main bathroom.
Buffy could only smile. This was a crazy house she lived in, purely crazy. Life now was like nothing she had ever faced ever before. Even all the demons and monsters she had fought, hadn't prepared her for life as a mother. Mother to Alexis, her fifteen year old bathroom hogging daughter, Nathaniel, her eleven year old, who was always fighting with his older sister about anything, then there was eight year old Elijah, who would rather stay in bed, than fight with his older sister and brother. And at the end of the Harris line were Jordynn and Jessalynn, who were five and were both the picture image of Buffy when she was their age. Platinum blonde hair and both had petite figures. They were both always full of energy, always keeping Buffy and Xander on their toes.
Buffy made her way downstairs to the kitchen and started organising breakfast. The twins were there, waiting, already dressed and ready for school. They were the most organised out of anyone in the house, and that was including herself and Xander. Buffy served up Jordie her Cocoa Puffs and made Jesse her toast with peanut butter. Eli would have an Apple & Strawberry pop-tart, Nate would have Honey Joys with warm milk and Lex would probably not have anything, but Buffy poured her some yoghurt. Maybe she'd decided to be co-operative today, just for once.
An hour later, the house was empty - messy, but empty. The house was quiet more to the point. The phone rang and broke the silence. Buffy slowly moved towards the phone and picked up the handset.
'Hello, Harris residence, Buffy speaking.' 'Hey Buff,' came the voice on the other end. It was Dawn. She rang every morning once she had sent her kids to catch the bus. 'Hey Dawnie, how are you? How are the kids?' 'I'm good, the kids are good. Emmett's watching cartoons and the others all finally went to school.'
Dawn and Andrew (known as Andy to the scoobies) had four kids with one on the way. Dawn just loved kids and she planned on having them until she couldn't have anymore. Their eldest, Megahn, was thirteen. She reminded Buffy of Dawn at that age, or at least at that memory. Their second daughter, Arielle, was ten and more so like Andrew than Dawn. Her features were very similar to Andrew's, but she had Joyce's curly hair. She was the only one of the Summers' children to have those tight curls. Amelia was their third daughter, she was seven, and she was like a carbon copy of Megahn, only younger. The youngest (for the minute, anyway) was Emmett, their one and only (tentative rank for the time being) son, who was three. Buffy loved here sister's family as much as she loved her own. The two sisters continued their conversation until Emmett interrupted them and Dawn had to go. Buffy quickly invited them over for dinner on Sunday night, and asked if she and Andy would mind having the kids on Saturday night. It wasn't often she had time alone with Xander, and after a long stretch without one another, she couldn't think of a more perfect time to have the night all to themselves.
Dawn had agreed, because she knew that Buffy would do the same thing for her if she asked. Not that Andy was out of town much. He worked at Wolfram & Hart as part of the Angel Investigations team. He was the firm's AV technician at the firm, and rarely had to go out of town on business.
'Okay Dawnie, I'll let you go. Talk to you tomorrow, love you' 'Love you two Buff. Bye!'
And with that Buffy hung up the phone and went back upstairs to get showered and dressed before she started on the cleaning. While she was in the middle of cleaning the kitchen post-breakfast rush, the phone rang again. *This'll be Dawn back, she will have thought of some new pregnancy induced ramble to tell me about* Buffy thought 'Dawnie, as much as I love you, this house isn't going to clean itself!' 'What about as much as you love me?' came the voice from the other end of the line. Buffy melted when she heard his voice. 'Hey honey, how are you?' she asked him. 'Tired, lonely, the usual, you?' 'I miss you baby' was all she could muster. It was funny, how she could never seem to find the words like a normal person would when they spoke to each other on the phone after he had been out of town for more than a couple of days. She wanted him here, right now. It was as simple as that and she knew that he wanted to be there just as much, if not more. The only thing that kept him from leaving his job was the money. Interstate trips paid him five times his normal wage, so they just had to keep focused on that. Besides, five kids weren't going to raise themselves.
'How are the kids?' he questioned. 'Fine. Lex and Nate were fighting over the bathroom again this morning. Eli slept in and the twins were up before daybreak, ready to have breakfast and leave for school.' 'I miss you all so much' 'I wish you were here Xan, we all miss you.' 'I wish I wasn't cooped up in this office with Tony, Jon and Peter either. The two laughed. 'And you'll still be home on Saturday night hon?' Buffy questioned her husband. 'Nothing could make me stay back any longer.' Buffy was getting excited. She hadn't seen her husband in over a week. 'Dawn and Andy are having the kids, so we will have the house all to ourselves.' 'Oooh, I like the sound of that.' Buffy smiled widely. She knew that Xander was smiling at the other end too. 'I have to go babe, work calls.' Xander added 'Oh, okay then' Buffy was saddened that he had to go 'I'll get the kids to call you this afternoon after they get home from school.' 'Okay, I love you Xander.' 'I love you too Buffy.' With that, Buffy placed the phone handset back on the cradle and got back to the cleaning. She was heading over to Willow and Tara's for lunch today, so she had to get all the jobs done before then.
Two hours later, the house was spotless and Buffy was ready to go out. She walked out the front door and down the porch steps and onto the path. At the end of the path, where it met with the sidewalk, stood the letterbox. Buffy lifted the back and pulled out the mail that was inside. She flipped through the bills and stopped when she got to a crimson envelope. *Oooh, flashy* she thought. She flipped it and read the sender's address that was printed on the top left hand corner of the front of envelope. It was printed in metallic silver. It read : 'WOLFRAM & HART LOS ANGELES OFFICE 2417 WILSHIRE BLVD LOS ANGELES, CA, 90010.' Also on the envelope, this time however hand written in metallic silver ink, were the words 'Mr & Mrs A. Harris 3140 Maidstone Ave, Los Angeles, 90036' Buffy was intrigued to find out what was contained in the envelope. She knew it was from someone at Wolfram & Hart. Probably Angel, but she wasn't sure exactly *what* it was. She had been there yesterday, for work, and Angel had not said anything about anything. Buffy worked at Wolfram & Hart four days a week, under normal circumstances, but with Xander away this past week, Angel had let her organise herself and come in when she had the time. She had her own office there and loved working as part of the Slayer Academy. Along with some of the others, they worked to keep an eye on the Slayers in America and also had an inside eye on the demons as well. Faith, Robin, Willow and Tara were her team, along with some other Wolfram and Hart lackeys and Joely, her assistant. Although she wasn't the only slayer these days. She still liked having the power over all these other slayers. She was the oldest living Slayer and she wouldn't be the last that got to their forties. Angel was a great boss. He had changed so much since the days back in Sunnydale when they were a couple. He was now human, and had been for just on 21 years now. He was married to Cordelia, to which they had four children. Connor was the eldest, and although he was not Cordelia's biological son, she had adopted him as her own. He was Angel's son to Darla, and he was 21 and was studying Law at UCLA. He was very much like Angel, right down to the brooding. Angel and Cordy had another son and two daughters. Mikaylah, who was seventeen; Blake, who was fifteen; and Kymberlie, who was eleven. They all lived in the top level suite of the Wolfram & Hart building, except Connor, he lived on campus at UCLA, until such time as he graduated and started his full - time job at his father's branch of the Wolfram and Hart franchise.
Buffy now had the envelope open and held two pieces of paper in her hands. The first was a crimson piece that matched the envelope and the second piece was a white piece. Buffy unfolded the crimson piece first and read it. It was printed with silver ink, the same as the envelope.
'Wolfram & Hart extend an invitation to Alexander, Buffy, Alexis, Nathaniel, Elijah, Jordynn and Jessalynn Harris to the 20th Anniversary of the merger of the LA Branch of Wolfram & Hart and Angel Investigations. The celebrations will consist of week - long festivities at several locations across Los Angeles. Your accommodation will be complimentary, and you will be staying at the Hyperion Hotel. Mr Angel has organised this part of your stay. Please contact Mr Angel with your response to this invitation. We hope to see you at the celebrations, signed, The Senior Partners' *Well, that's interesting* Buffy thought as she shuffled around the papers, so that the white piece was now unfolded and ready for her to read. The white piece was a handwritten letter, written on a Wolfram & Hart letterhead, in black ink. Buffy read it,
'Dear Buffy, Xander and kids,
Just thought I would drop you a line to accompany the wonderful invitation the senior partners arranged. Sorry I didn't tell you anything of it, but I didn't know until Eve told me today. It's going to be a big celebration, apparently. There are the major W&H celebrations, but Cordy and I are going to organise some more personal celebrations, to which you, as part of the team, are invited to. I've sent a personal letter, similar to this to Willow & Tara, Dawn & Andrew, Faith & Robin, and Giles. Contact me when you have made your decision, you know where to find me.
- Angel.
As Buffy was folding the pieces of paper and putting them back into the envelope, she slid them into her jacket pocket. Buffy remembered she had to get over to Willow and Tara's for lunch. She decided not to take the car; instead, she decided to walk. The day was gloriously sunny and Willow and Tara's place was only a couple of blocks away. So she headed off down the street.
A few minutes later, she arrived at the three bedroom house where Willow and Tara lived. She walked up the two steps to the front door and rapped her knuckles on it. The front door opened and Buffy was greeted by her bubbly red headed friend.
'Buffy! You made it.' Willow brought her into a warm hug. 'Come on in.' she motioned for Buffy to move into the house, towards the kitchen 'Tara's in the kitchen cooking lunch, I just have to go get changed and I'll be straight back down.' 'Okay' Buffy replied as she closed the door and made her way towards the kitchen as Willow headed up the hallway. In the kitchen, Buffy found Tara stirring a pot of something that smelled fantastic. 'That smells delicious, what is it?' Buffy questioned her friend. 'Hey Buffy, good to see you' Tara greeted her 'It's Chicken Curry and Rice.' 'Oooh, yum, I wish I could cook as well as you.' Buffy sighed; Xander was the chef of the Harris household. 'You been eating take-out and frozen meals while Xander has been out of town?' Tara asked, already knowing the answer to her question. Buffy was no Jamie Oliver in the cooking stakes. 'Yeah, and spaghetti on toast.' Buffy laughed.
Just then, Willow made her way into the kitchen. 'Did I miss the joke?' she asked 'No honey, we were just making fun of Buffy's lack of cooking skills' Tara responded. 'Ah, okay' she nodded and joined in on the giggling.
Buffy tried to look offended, but she couldn't pull it off. She knew her faults, but she also knew her abilities. She had saved the world numerous times, so what if she couldn't cook food; she still had her friends, her sound mind and her sense of humour. That was all that mattered.
Over lunch, the three friends talked about everything from TV, to Sunnydale, to kids. Willow and Tara had two adopted children, Ashton and Emmalee, sixteen year old twins, who had been adopted by the two witches when they were two weeks old. All that was known about their birth mother was that she was a fifteen year old girl who had been forced by her family to give the twins up for adoption.
As much as they would have like to of sat around all day talking over cups of coffee, at 3pm, Buffy had to rush off to meet the kids when they arrived home from school. 'No doubt, just to hear Nate and Lex argue over how many cracks are in the pavement' Buffy commented as she hugged her two friends' goodbye and thanked them for a wonderful lunch, and started walking the few blocks home.
She had not talked to Willow and Tara about the invitation; it had completely slipped her mind. They have been too busy eating curry and talking about the kids. She would ring them later and talk to them about it then.
With that thought, Buffy rounded the corner and walked back up the path, and sat on the top step of the porch. A minute later, she was met by her five wonderful children as they hopped off the bus, right outside the house. Firstly, she was greeted by two grinning five year old girls, who ran to hug her and nearly knocked her down onto the porch. 'Hello Mommy' they both said simultaneously as Buffy stood up. 'Hello my girls, how was your day?' she asked, as they walked up the steps. The both replied 'Good thanks' 'Very good to hear, how about you go inside and organise a snack and then you can ring Daddy.' 'Yay!' the girls cheered and ran inside. Buffy chuckled to herself. Nate was the first of the older kids that met her at the top of the porch. 'Hey honey' she greeted him, planting a quick kiss on his forehead as he motioned past her. 'I'll be in my room, I have a test tomorrow and have to study, love you Mom' Buffy watched as he rushed through the front door and up the stairs to his room, well the boys' room. He shared a room with Eli. Xander promised to build him a room in the attic in his next holidays, to which he was looking forward to and he wouldn't let Xander forget about what he had promised.
Lex was also in a rush to get past her and into the house. 'Hey, hey speed demon, where are you off to in such a rush?' She questioned, always worried about why her daughter was always in such a rush. 'Have to get changed so I go out to the movies with Ash, you do remember me telling you about this don't you?' She looked into her mother's eyes. Alexis had been dating Willow and Tara's son Aston for close to six months now. Buffy was happy that Alexis, her daughter had found a sensible young guy to go out with. 'Yes, I remember Lex, but you have to talk to your father on the phone before you go out and I need to know if you will be home for dinner or not. 'Okay' Lex replied '.and probably not on the dinner question front, coz the movie doesn't start till 4.30'
Last but not least to come up the path was Eli. He wasn't a badly motivated kid; he just had days where he was just slow. 'Hey darling' Buffy said as she wrapped her son up in a bear hug 'How was your day?' 'It was really good Mom, we did sports today and I my team got 15 home runs in t-ball!' 'Congratulations Eli, that's fantastic.' She was happy when her son got involved in school-related activities. He was a smart child, but didn't have a huge self esteem when it came to working in a team, but slowly he was working towards a healthier esteem. 'Why don't you head on inside, get something to eat and then the twins are going to ring you're Dad, and if you're lucky, we'll have pizza for dinner' Eli nodded and headed up into the house. Buffy followed him into the kitchen to where all the kids, except Lex had regrouped, happily feasting on all sorts of post-school treats.
When they had all finished, Jordie and Jesse stood eagerly by the speaker phone, waiting for Lex and Nate to come downstairs to talk to their father. 'C'mon you two, the girls want to ring already' Buffy called up the stairs. Moments later there was movement down the stairs and she walked back into the kitchen. 'I want to type in the number tonight Mommy,' Jesse stated 'Jordie did it last night, it's my turn Mommy' 'Okay Jess, okay, settle down. Now, the number's there, on the piece of paper. Push the numbers and then press the Green button Jess.' Jesse dialled the numbers, slowly, but making sure she pressed the right ones 555-7199 and then pressed the green button to dial the number. 'Okay, now I'll get through to your Dad and then you can all talk to him okay?
The phone rang twice and a woman's voice answered on the other end 'Canterbury Constructions, Nelle speaking, how may I direct your call?' 'Alexander Harris please' Buffy stated 'Just a moment' came the reply After some quite boring classical music, the line was picked up and a male voice sounded. 'Alexander Harris.' He answered. 'Hey Daddy!' Jesse called out to her father 'Hey Jess, hows my girl?' the loving father asked. 'We're all here Xan, on the speaker phone.' Buffy butt in 'Ahh, ok then, how are you all?' A general response of 'good' came about and the family conversed with their father for the next half an hour. Buffy loved hearing his voice again. She knew she would talk to him again before she went to sleep. He always rang to say goodnight and just talk to her, exactly the same as what he would do if he was here with her.
By 8 o'clock that night, all the kids had pigged out on pizza and just about talked Xander's ear off on the phone. The twins were in bed. And Nate was still studying for his test. Eli was in the shower and Lex had called and said that Willow was going to drop her off after they had finished Tara's famous apple pie.
So Buffy was again, revelling in the silence. Now it was only 2 days until her husband was home. She felt like a little kid at Christmas.
Only 2 days...
Just clearing up some stuff.. First of all, Tara never died in Season Six Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Kennedy and Willow were never a couple.
Pairings are as follows - Buffy/Xander, Cordy/Angel, Dawn/Andrew, Willow/Tara, Faith/Robin, and Fred/Gunn
Spoilers for the first couple of eps of Angel Season 5. Connor never went to Quor-Toth and therefore, Cordy was never in a coma, coz Connor was still a baby, so no Jasmine.
All the potentials are back in their original locations, except for Kennedy, Vi, Rona and Chao-Ahn, who are in Cleveland, on the Hellmouth there.
All the rest you will find out when you read (and review!!)
Disclaimer: I own *nothing* except all the kids of the scoobies. It al belongs to *the * one and only god JOSS and all his minions at Mutant Enemy!!
Distribution: Ask and it's yours! :P
As the sun shone through the bay windows of the main bedroom of the Harris household, Buffy lay in her bed, regaling in the silence that was daybreak. Any minute now the silence would be broke. Any moment there would be fights over the bathroom and breakfast foods. All these thoughts reminded Buffy of life back in Sunnydale all those years ago. Life back in her mother's house with Dawn. The fights that they had had in that house both while their mother was alive and after she had gone. None of that compared to her life now.
Her life with Xander; whom she had been married to for sixteen years. They had gotten together officially after they had settled down in Los Angeles. After the final battle and the destruction of Sunnydale (and the deaths of both Spike and Anya) Buffy and Xander found themselves growing closer and closer together while they were helping Giles rebuild the new Council in England. When they moved back to California, Buffy, Xander, Dawn and Andrew shared a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment. For the first six months, Buffy shared with Dawn and Xander shared with Andrew, until such time as both Buffy and Xander couldn't live without each other. So Dawn ended up sharing with Andrew and before they knew it sparks flew and the two of them were also very couple-ish.
Buffy was pulled from her thoughts with the familiar sounds of doors slamming and voices screeching at each other. *Yep* she thought *time to get up and play referee again.* Xander was away on business until Saturday and today was only Thursday. She missed him terribly when he was out of town. She waved to the picture of him she had on her nightstand as she grabbed her robe and tied it and opened her bedroom door and launched herself into the open battlefield.
'Lex, can you hurry up and get out of the bathroom, coz some of the rest of the people in this house have to use it you know.' The only response that the came back was a 'go away'
'Hey cheeky boy, you stirring up that sister of yours again??' Buffy asked as she planted a kiss on the boy's forehead. 'She's in there more that she's not Mom! There are other people in this house.' 'I know, I know and we have this discussion every morning, and you and Lex always end up fighting all morning about it. Look, why don't you go and use my bathroom and I'll go and get breakfast organised.'
Happily, the eleven year old walked off. Defiant that he didn't have to wait around for his fifteen year old sister to finish hogging the main bathroom.
Buffy could only smile. This was a crazy house she lived in, purely crazy. Life now was like nothing she had ever faced ever before. Even all the demons and monsters she had fought, hadn't prepared her for life as a mother. Mother to Alexis, her fifteen year old bathroom hogging daughter, Nathaniel, her eleven year old, who was always fighting with his older sister about anything, then there was eight year old Elijah, who would rather stay in bed, than fight with his older sister and brother. And at the end of the Harris line were Jordynn and Jessalynn, who were five and were both the picture image of Buffy when she was their age. Platinum blonde hair and both had petite figures. They were both always full of energy, always keeping Buffy and Xander on their toes.
Buffy made her way downstairs to the kitchen and started organising breakfast. The twins were there, waiting, already dressed and ready for school. They were the most organised out of anyone in the house, and that was including herself and Xander. Buffy served up Jordie her Cocoa Puffs and made Jesse her toast with peanut butter. Eli would have an Apple & Strawberry pop-tart, Nate would have Honey Joys with warm milk and Lex would probably not have anything, but Buffy poured her some yoghurt. Maybe she'd decided to be co-operative today, just for once.
An hour later, the house was empty - messy, but empty. The house was quiet more to the point. The phone rang and broke the silence. Buffy slowly moved towards the phone and picked up the handset.
'Hello, Harris residence, Buffy speaking.' 'Hey Buff,' came the voice on the other end. It was Dawn. She rang every morning once she had sent her kids to catch the bus. 'Hey Dawnie, how are you? How are the kids?' 'I'm good, the kids are good. Emmett's watching cartoons and the others all finally went to school.'
Dawn and Andrew (known as Andy to the scoobies) had four kids with one on the way. Dawn just loved kids and she planned on having them until she couldn't have anymore. Their eldest, Megahn, was thirteen. She reminded Buffy of Dawn at that age, or at least at that memory. Their second daughter, Arielle, was ten and more so like Andrew than Dawn. Her features were very similar to Andrew's, but she had Joyce's curly hair. She was the only one of the Summers' children to have those tight curls. Amelia was their third daughter, she was seven, and she was like a carbon copy of Megahn, only younger. The youngest (for the minute, anyway) was Emmett, their one and only (tentative rank for the time being) son, who was three. Buffy loved here sister's family as much as she loved her own. The two sisters continued their conversation until Emmett interrupted them and Dawn had to go. Buffy quickly invited them over for dinner on Sunday night, and asked if she and Andy would mind having the kids on Saturday night. It wasn't often she had time alone with Xander, and after a long stretch without one another, she couldn't think of a more perfect time to have the night all to themselves.
Dawn had agreed, because she knew that Buffy would do the same thing for her if she asked. Not that Andy was out of town much. He worked at Wolfram & Hart as part of the Angel Investigations team. He was the firm's AV technician at the firm, and rarely had to go out of town on business.
'Okay Dawnie, I'll let you go. Talk to you tomorrow, love you' 'Love you two Buff. Bye!'
And with that Buffy hung up the phone and went back upstairs to get showered and dressed before she started on the cleaning. While she was in the middle of cleaning the kitchen post-breakfast rush, the phone rang again. *This'll be Dawn back, she will have thought of some new pregnancy induced ramble to tell me about* Buffy thought 'Dawnie, as much as I love you, this house isn't going to clean itself!' 'What about as much as you love me?' came the voice from the other end of the line. Buffy melted when she heard his voice. 'Hey honey, how are you?' she asked him. 'Tired, lonely, the usual, you?' 'I miss you baby' was all she could muster. It was funny, how she could never seem to find the words like a normal person would when they spoke to each other on the phone after he had been out of town for more than a couple of days. She wanted him here, right now. It was as simple as that and she knew that he wanted to be there just as much, if not more. The only thing that kept him from leaving his job was the money. Interstate trips paid him five times his normal wage, so they just had to keep focused on that. Besides, five kids weren't going to raise themselves.
'How are the kids?' he questioned. 'Fine. Lex and Nate were fighting over the bathroom again this morning. Eli slept in and the twins were up before daybreak, ready to have breakfast and leave for school.' 'I miss you all so much' 'I wish you were here Xan, we all miss you.' 'I wish I wasn't cooped up in this office with Tony, Jon and Peter either. The two laughed. 'And you'll still be home on Saturday night hon?' Buffy questioned her husband. 'Nothing could make me stay back any longer.' Buffy was getting excited. She hadn't seen her husband in over a week. 'Dawn and Andy are having the kids, so we will have the house all to ourselves.' 'Oooh, I like the sound of that.' Buffy smiled widely. She knew that Xander was smiling at the other end too. 'I have to go babe, work calls.' Xander added 'Oh, okay then' Buffy was saddened that he had to go 'I'll get the kids to call you this afternoon after they get home from school.' 'Okay, I love you Xander.' 'I love you too Buffy.' With that, Buffy placed the phone handset back on the cradle and got back to the cleaning. She was heading over to Willow and Tara's for lunch today, so she had to get all the jobs done before then.
Two hours later, the house was spotless and Buffy was ready to go out. She walked out the front door and down the porch steps and onto the path. At the end of the path, where it met with the sidewalk, stood the letterbox. Buffy lifted the back and pulled out the mail that was inside. She flipped through the bills and stopped when she got to a crimson envelope. *Oooh, flashy* she thought. She flipped it and read the sender's address that was printed on the top left hand corner of the front of envelope. It was printed in metallic silver. It read : 'WOLFRAM & HART LOS ANGELES OFFICE 2417 WILSHIRE BLVD LOS ANGELES, CA, 90010.' Also on the envelope, this time however hand written in metallic silver ink, were the words 'Mr & Mrs A. Harris 3140 Maidstone Ave, Los Angeles, 90036' Buffy was intrigued to find out what was contained in the envelope. She knew it was from someone at Wolfram & Hart. Probably Angel, but she wasn't sure exactly *what* it was. She had been there yesterday, for work, and Angel had not said anything about anything. Buffy worked at Wolfram & Hart four days a week, under normal circumstances, but with Xander away this past week, Angel had let her organise herself and come in when she had the time. She had her own office there and loved working as part of the Slayer Academy. Along with some of the others, they worked to keep an eye on the Slayers in America and also had an inside eye on the demons as well. Faith, Robin, Willow and Tara were her team, along with some other Wolfram and Hart lackeys and Joely, her assistant. Although she wasn't the only slayer these days. She still liked having the power over all these other slayers. She was the oldest living Slayer and she wouldn't be the last that got to their forties. Angel was a great boss. He had changed so much since the days back in Sunnydale when they were a couple. He was now human, and had been for just on 21 years now. He was married to Cordelia, to which they had four children. Connor was the eldest, and although he was not Cordelia's biological son, she had adopted him as her own. He was Angel's son to Darla, and he was 21 and was studying Law at UCLA. He was very much like Angel, right down to the brooding. Angel and Cordy had another son and two daughters. Mikaylah, who was seventeen; Blake, who was fifteen; and Kymberlie, who was eleven. They all lived in the top level suite of the Wolfram & Hart building, except Connor, he lived on campus at UCLA, until such time as he graduated and started his full - time job at his father's branch of the Wolfram and Hart franchise.
Buffy now had the envelope open and held two pieces of paper in her hands. The first was a crimson piece that matched the envelope and the second piece was a white piece. Buffy unfolded the crimson piece first and read it. It was printed with silver ink, the same as the envelope.
'Wolfram & Hart extend an invitation to Alexander, Buffy, Alexis, Nathaniel, Elijah, Jordynn and Jessalynn Harris to the 20th Anniversary of the merger of the LA Branch of Wolfram & Hart and Angel Investigations. The celebrations will consist of week - long festivities at several locations across Los Angeles. Your accommodation will be complimentary, and you will be staying at the Hyperion Hotel. Mr Angel has organised this part of your stay. Please contact Mr Angel with your response to this invitation. We hope to see you at the celebrations, signed, The Senior Partners' *Well, that's interesting* Buffy thought as she shuffled around the papers, so that the white piece was now unfolded and ready for her to read. The white piece was a handwritten letter, written on a Wolfram & Hart letterhead, in black ink. Buffy read it,
'Dear Buffy, Xander and kids,
Just thought I would drop you a line to accompany the wonderful invitation the senior partners arranged. Sorry I didn't tell you anything of it, but I didn't know until Eve told me today. It's going to be a big celebration, apparently. There are the major W&H celebrations, but Cordy and I are going to organise some more personal celebrations, to which you, as part of the team, are invited to. I've sent a personal letter, similar to this to Willow & Tara, Dawn & Andrew, Faith & Robin, and Giles. Contact me when you have made your decision, you know where to find me.
- Angel.
As Buffy was folding the pieces of paper and putting them back into the envelope, she slid them into her jacket pocket. Buffy remembered she had to get over to Willow and Tara's for lunch. She decided not to take the car; instead, she decided to walk. The day was gloriously sunny and Willow and Tara's place was only a couple of blocks away. So she headed off down the street.
A few minutes later, she arrived at the three bedroom house where Willow and Tara lived. She walked up the two steps to the front door and rapped her knuckles on it. The front door opened and Buffy was greeted by her bubbly red headed friend.
'Buffy! You made it.' Willow brought her into a warm hug. 'Come on in.' she motioned for Buffy to move into the house, towards the kitchen 'Tara's in the kitchen cooking lunch, I just have to go get changed and I'll be straight back down.' 'Okay' Buffy replied as she closed the door and made her way towards the kitchen as Willow headed up the hallway. In the kitchen, Buffy found Tara stirring a pot of something that smelled fantastic. 'That smells delicious, what is it?' Buffy questioned her friend. 'Hey Buffy, good to see you' Tara greeted her 'It's Chicken Curry and Rice.' 'Oooh, yum, I wish I could cook as well as you.' Buffy sighed; Xander was the chef of the Harris household. 'You been eating take-out and frozen meals while Xander has been out of town?' Tara asked, already knowing the answer to her question. Buffy was no Jamie Oliver in the cooking stakes. 'Yeah, and spaghetti on toast.' Buffy laughed.
Just then, Willow made her way into the kitchen. 'Did I miss the joke?' she asked 'No honey, we were just making fun of Buffy's lack of cooking skills' Tara responded. 'Ah, okay' she nodded and joined in on the giggling.
Buffy tried to look offended, but she couldn't pull it off. She knew her faults, but she also knew her abilities. She had saved the world numerous times, so what if she couldn't cook food; she still had her friends, her sound mind and her sense of humour. That was all that mattered.
Over lunch, the three friends talked about everything from TV, to Sunnydale, to kids. Willow and Tara had two adopted children, Ashton and Emmalee, sixteen year old twins, who had been adopted by the two witches when they were two weeks old. All that was known about their birth mother was that she was a fifteen year old girl who had been forced by her family to give the twins up for adoption.
As much as they would have like to of sat around all day talking over cups of coffee, at 3pm, Buffy had to rush off to meet the kids when they arrived home from school. 'No doubt, just to hear Nate and Lex argue over how many cracks are in the pavement' Buffy commented as she hugged her two friends' goodbye and thanked them for a wonderful lunch, and started walking the few blocks home.
She had not talked to Willow and Tara about the invitation; it had completely slipped her mind. They have been too busy eating curry and talking about the kids. She would ring them later and talk to them about it then.
With that thought, Buffy rounded the corner and walked back up the path, and sat on the top step of the porch. A minute later, she was met by her five wonderful children as they hopped off the bus, right outside the house. Firstly, she was greeted by two grinning five year old girls, who ran to hug her and nearly knocked her down onto the porch. 'Hello Mommy' they both said simultaneously as Buffy stood up. 'Hello my girls, how was your day?' she asked, as they walked up the steps. The both replied 'Good thanks' 'Very good to hear, how about you go inside and organise a snack and then you can ring Daddy.' 'Yay!' the girls cheered and ran inside. Buffy chuckled to herself. Nate was the first of the older kids that met her at the top of the porch. 'Hey honey' she greeted him, planting a quick kiss on his forehead as he motioned past her. 'I'll be in my room, I have a test tomorrow and have to study, love you Mom' Buffy watched as he rushed through the front door and up the stairs to his room, well the boys' room. He shared a room with Eli. Xander promised to build him a room in the attic in his next holidays, to which he was looking forward to and he wouldn't let Xander forget about what he had promised.
Lex was also in a rush to get past her and into the house. 'Hey, hey speed demon, where are you off to in such a rush?' She questioned, always worried about why her daughter was always in such a rush. 'Have to get changed so I go out to the movies with Ash, you do remember me telling you about this don't you?' She looked into her mother's eyes. Alexis had been dating Willow and Tara's son Aston for close to six months now. Buffy was happy that Alexis, her daughter had found a sensible young guy to go out with. 'Yes, I remember Lex, but you have to talk to your father on the phone before you go out and I need to know if you will be home for dinner or not. 'Okay' Lex replied '.and probably not on the dinner question front, coz the movie doesn't start till 4.30'
Last but not least to come up the path was Eli. He wasn't a badly motivated kid; he just had days where he was just slow. 'Hey darling' Buffy said as she wrapped her son up in a bear hug 'How was your day?' 'It was really good Mom, we did sports today and I my team got 15 home runs in t-ball!' 'Congratulations Eli, that's fantastic.' She was happy when her son got involved in school-related activities. He was a smart child, but didn't have a huge self esteem when it came to working in a team, but slowly he was working towards a healthier esteem. 'Why don't you head on inside, get something to eat and then the twins are going to ring you're Dad, and if you're lucky, we'll have pizza for dinner' Eli nodded and headed up into the house. Buffy followed him into the kitchen to where all the kids, except Lex had regrouped, happily feasting on all sorts of post-school treats.
When they had all finished, Jordie and Jesse stood eagerly by the speaker phone, waiting for Lex and Nate to come downstairs to talk to their father. 'C'mon you two, the girls want to ring already' Buffy called up the stairs. Moments later there was movement down the stairs and she walked back into the kitchen. 'I want to type in the number tonight Mommy,' Jesse stated 'Jordie did it last night, it's my turn Mommy' 'Okay Jess, okay, settle down. Now, the number's there, on the piece of paper. Push the numbers and then press the Green button Jess.' Jesse dialled the numbers, slowly, but making sure she pressed the right ones 555-7199 and then pressed the green button to dial the number. 'Okay, now I'll get through to your Dad and then you can all talk to him okay?
The phone rang twice and a woman's voice answered on the other end 'Canterbury Constructions, Nelle speaking, how may I direct your call?' 'Alexander Harris please' Buffy stated 'Just a moment' came the reply After some quite boring classical music, the line was picked up and a male voice sounded. 'Alexander Harris.' He answered. 'Hey Daddy!' Jesse called out to her father 'Hey Jess, hows my girl?' the loving father asked. 'We're all here Xan, on the speaker phone.' Buffy butt in 'Ahh, ok then, how are you all?' A general response of 'good' came about and the family conversed with their father for the next half an hour. Buffy loved hearing his voice again. She knew she would talk to him again before she went to sleep. He always rang to say goodnight and just talk to her, exactly the same as what he would do if he was here with her.
By 8 o'clock that night, all the kids had pigged out on pizza and just about talked Xander's ear off on the phone. The twins were in bed. And Nate was still studying for his test. Eli was in the shower and Lex had called and said that Willow was going to drop her off after they had finished Tara's famous apple pie.
So Buffy was again, revelling in the silence. Now it was only 2 days until her husband was home. She felt like a little kid at Christmas.
Only 2 days...