Disclaimer, etc, see part one.
Conversations.
* * * * *
"You've been gone too long, Xander," she said.
I laughed. "That's exactly what Willow said."
"She's here already? Good."
Buffy. I couldn't get my head around the fact that she was here. I just wrapped my arms around her and closed my eyes. She didn't hug me as hard as she might have once; at least, it didn't hurt. I think she'd gotten used to pretending that she didn't have the power that she did. Although I had always thought that she was have to kill the occasional vampire to be allowed to keep her powers.
When we finally released each other Angie and Kennedy were watching us. Kennedy nodded briefly to her sister-slayer. Buffy nodded back, but she was focused on Angie. Angie knew I knew her, which meant that she was from my mysterious adolescence. And given what had happened recently, and the stories I told, it couldn't possibly be good.
Buffy was smiling shyly at Angie. Willow had asked her to come. I had no idea what she was playing at. But I had to play too. I could trust them so much more than I could trust myself with this.
"Angie, this is Buffy Summers. She and Willow and I were at Sunnydale High together. Buffy, this is Angie."
They shook hands with murmured "pleased to meet you."
"'Buffy,' is that short for Elizabeth?" Angie asked.
I cursed myself as strongly as knew how. Remember, I'm a builder, I can swear pretty heavily.
"Nah," Buffy said. "My dad just hated the name Marie."
She didn't notice, or ignored, the accusation in Angie's voice.
"Willow and Kennedy arrived about half an hour ago," I said, accusation in mine.
"Without the boy?" Buffy asked.
"Apparently so," I said. I wasn't sure how often Willow and Buffy saw each other, or how well they kept in touch. But it seemed her attachment to her son was now a permanent part of her character.
"Would you like to come in?" Angie offered.
"Please," Buffy replied.
She followed us back through the hallway to the living room. Angie poured Buffy a cup of tea from the tea and we all took another cookie. I asked Buffy a little about she was going in LA. Her practice was doing very well. Kennedy left with a murmured apology, insisting that she could find her own way to the bathroom. Angie remembered that Buffy had a sister, and so the discussion turned to Dawn, which allowed Angie and Buffy to talk.
Willow came out of the kitchen with the girls in tow, looking flustered. She interrupted the story of Dawn's first semester in college.
"Xander, you've got to tell them … Oh, Buffy you're here. Good to see you, but Xander, you've really got come and explain that I really do have a son, argh!"
Lizzie giggled. Sarah smiled, too, she claimed she was too old for giggling now. I gave Angie the 'it'll be your turn next' smile and followed Willow back into the kitchen.
I took me maybe two minutes to satisfactorily swear that it was true.
"So how long have you and Kennedy been together?" Sarah asked.
"Almost eighteen years. Well, longer than that now, actually. But it's our eighteenth anniversary in August."
"If you don't mind answering, who's the father?" Sarah asked.
"Oz," Willow said.
"The werewolf?" Lizzie asked.
Sarah turned her withering glare on her sister. It was a scary thing to be hit by Sarah's glare.
"Oh, Xander told you about that," was Willow's response. "Yeah, he's a werewolf. But we didn't actually, you know …"
She looked at me for direction and I shrugged. They were girls, it was Angie's place to explain those things. I had no idea how much Lizzie knew, but I knew that Sarah knew enough.
"He wasn't actually there. It's a little complicated."
"He would have turned all wolfy, wouldn't he?" Lizzie asked.
Sarah looked embarrassed by her sister. Lizzie, at ten, didn't always understand what was for public consumption. Sarah, of course, wanted to cling to the belief that I had made up most of what I told them. I wish I could believe that too.
"Well that happened when he first came back and found out about Tara. But he's written me a couple of letters. He's comes and visits Daniel regularly, and it's fine."
Sarah was looking anxious. She stared at Willow a moment before glaring at me. Then she glared at Lizzie. And at me again. Kennedy appeared at my elbow.
"I'd really like a tour of this house," she said.
I knew she was getting me out of the room. If I left then Sarah and Lizzie could concentrate on learning from Willow instead of being angry at me. I lead Kennedy out of the room as discretely as I could manage.
"How's Cleveland?" I asked.
"North," Kennedy said. "We haven't had a Hellmouth opening in a while. Daniel's going into fourth grade. Michael's leaving for a conference in a couple of weeks. How is it here?"
"Okay," I said. I shrugged.
"Except that Willow's explaining to your daughters that the scary stories you told them are all real. And Buffy's talking to wife around to the fact that he brother was killed by vampires."
I sat down on the step heavily. Kennedy sat the next step down so she could watch me.
"The questions you've got to ask yourself is why you didn't tell them," she said. "I don't you think for a moment it was to keep them safe."
I remembered the flash of laughter in Angie's eyes when I told her about Caleb. She hadn't even considered the possibility that I was serious. I knew that it wasn't to keep them safe. I knew that you were safer if you knew what dangers you might be facing. I hadn't wanted it to be real. I had wanted it to be not real. I had wanted my family to have the life I should have had. But maybe you couldn't escape your life. Everything was crashing on top of us. I couldn't even get angry at Trevor for his stupidity.
Kennedy rubbed my knee. It was a strangely comforting gesture from her. Most of what I remembered about her was her yelling at the potentials. Or covered in demon slime.
