Author's Note: Thank you so much to all the people who have emailed me or reviewed my stories over the years. You don't know how much it helps me to know that there are actually people out there reading my stories and that people like what I'm writing. There are days when it feels like a waste of time. That no one is reading them…so why do I bother writing. Then I read your heartfelt emails and it doesn't seem like such a waste…it seems like lots of fun and entertainment. So I'm taking the time thank you by name: Thank you: Imzadi, Rogue-Slayer, Seraph's Rhapsody, Lisa, Maliek, Jess, Athlantis, Simurg, The 2nd Evil, Si.Crazy, Catwomen, and Lilaeth. But most of all Thank You to Lily, the one who got me to start writing this chapter. (I really hope that I didn't miss anyone.)

This Year

Chapter 10: July

Robin Wood's POV

There is a certain misconception that everyone seems to believe about high school principals. Everyone, including the teachers and staff, seem to think that the principal just goes on vacation during the summer and comes back just in time for the first day of school. They would be wrong.

I don't think anyone realizes the amount of work that goes into making a school one of the best in the city. It takes time to hire teachers, acquire funding, update old technologies, and create a workable budget. Never mind following never-ending state conditions and regulations. However, in less than a year, I've taken a mediocre high school and wielded it into an educational heaven. Trust me when I tell you, everyone has noticed it; Even the students. My suggestion box is filled with complaints from parents. What ever happened to the days when the child was responsible for their grades, not the teachers? I don't let any of them back out of their responsibilities. And god help the students who think that they (or their parents) can force me to change my mind. I always remind them of my Halloween Party when they nag. I scared five students straight that year (with the help of my vampire friends, of course.)

I love my job.

Both of them.

By day, a very disciplined and serious high school principal, and by night, a private investigator/demon hunter. In Sunnydale, it was different. I was principal of Sunnydale High School…so the principal part was the same. But no one knew about my demon fighting, not until I ran into the Slayer; specifically Buffy. I didn't really get a chance to work with the Scooby Gang as they called themselves, until the apocalypse was already in Sunnydale's mouth--The Hellmouth.

There are days when I wish I'd never gone there. Then I would've never found out about my mother's murderer: Spike. The only vampire in recent history to kill not one, but two slayers: one of them my mother. If you'd have asked me ten years ago, if I'd ever work with the man who killed my mother, I'd have laughed in their face.

Now I work with the man daily. In Sunnydale, I would've sold my soul for revenge against Spike. In L.A., he seems like a completely different person. I suppose that he is: he has a soul now. Never would've thought that he would be the kind of man to risk his life for someone, but he surprised me. He actually died to save the world. And when he came back, he came back with a purpose. We all believed that Spike had come back for redemption for his past evil deeds. That he had come back to protect the "miracle child", Angel's son.

At first, I thought that Angel and the rest were insane to even allow Spike near Connor. He was just a baby, didn't they know that he was a vicious killer. Cordy was the first to trust him. She saw right through the "rebel" exterior and saw his true self, proven when she decided that she would only call him by his given name: William. Soon after, Angel followed her suit by letting Spike move in with them.

I fought his decision, trying everything to get them all to turn against Spike…to let me stake him. It was a hard battle that I soon lost. It was clear to me that Spike was Angel's family. His only 'blood', with the exception of Baby Connor.

Still, my blood boiled with rage. I wanted him dead with every fiber of my being. Nothing, my (then) girlfriend, Faith could say would deter me. It's funny how the one thing that you hate most in this world could be the one thing that saves your life.

Both Charles Gunn and I believed that Spike should've been staked at first site. Gunn believing that to be the case for his hatred of vampires. We both used to gang up on Spike when the others weren't around. We did our best to make him miserable and trying to force his hand into leaving L.A. The both of us went so far to throw him out of a hotel window in hopes that he would fall on a piece of wood and die.

One night, Gunn and I went to Gunn's old 'hood. Gunn always checked on his former gang members to make sure that they didn't need anything and that everything was still working well. He'd gotten in good with the remaining members of the gang. I'd heard them were forced to leave for the murder of peaceful demons. Most people can't even see the danger in front of them. This group of teenagers got together, formed a gang rivaling most military groups, and defended their lives by killing vampires on a daily basis. It was amazing. In my case, I have always known about the dangers that surrounded us on earth. My mother was a Slayer. She fought the forces of darkness everyday of her life and made sure that I could protect myself as well. Even after she had died, her watcher took me in and trained me to fight: to protect myself and others from evil. I had read almost every Watcher's Diary, English translated demon text, the current rendition of prophecy texts, and the Slayer Handbook. Those children knew nothing…only myth and legend. I wished that I had been here to help them; even-so, it seems that Gunn had done a wonderful job of training them.

Gunn and I were driving towards Anne's that night. On the way there, we'd both her screams coming from the alleyway behind us. Gunn turned his truck around, practically flying, to come to their aid. We had assumed that it was vampires, pulling out wooden stakes. We assumed wrong.

The Morgul demons are one of the most dangerous demons in the world. They are fast! The fastest demons that I've known. Before you can get a chance to attack them, they are already on top of you, choking you to death. Truly, if it wasn't for Spike following us, we'd both be dead. From out of nowhere, Spike jumped off the building and started attacking the two Morguls. It was a long, hard fight for Spike. We had both thought that they were going to kill him; many times they had come extremely close to doing so. At the end of the battle, the demons no longer had heads. Spike was in a bad way. He had collapsed on the ground, blood was just pouring out of him. He couldn't move anymore; the Morgols had thrown him against the bricks at least five times. It took everything in me not to stake him. He just lay there with his eyes opened, looking at me. Not a sound was made until Gunn grunted, then bent over to help Spike up.

Between the both of us, we had dragged Spike to the car and to Cordelia's "nursing station", the round sofa in the lobby of the hotel. That was when I began to feel something other than hatred for the vampire who ruined my childhood. I began to respect him and started to realize that maybe, just maybe, he had changed.

But in all seriousness, I didn't have that much time to plan Spike's murder. I was so busy with the cases Angel that the only extra time I had…I spent trying to get Faith to marry me. That woman was so stubborn. Even after we had gotten pregnant, she still refused me. Of course, after Nicky was born, all hatred of Spike just melted away. I was too in love (with both my wife and my son) to bother with hate anymore.

I never realized what a joy being a father could be. I mean, I never knew my biological father and my mother never got the chance to discuss it with me. Her watcher was the closest thing that I had to family growing up. Now I have my own family.

Nicky was a joy from the moment that he was born. It was scary because we had come so close to losing him. Thank god for Cordy. If it wasn't for her…I don't even want to think about what could've happened. He's so smart and funny. He looks like his mother, but his personality is unique. Nicky has such an old soul. He sees into people, literally due to his empathic gift. That makes him the most understanding child that I have ever met. The only problem is his shyness. He hates to meet new people and often hides behind his mother or Aunt Cordy. We all take into account the fact that he had watched his cousin Connor get kidnapped as a reason for his fear of abandonment.

Now eight years later, we are having another baby. I try to stop myself from getting too excited less my eight-month pregnant wife hits me for being insensitive to her pain. We're having a little girl, this time. I excited about it. A little girl! Daddy's girl, I suppose; especially since the moment that Faith found out that it was a girl, she retreated into herself.

Faith stopped talking about the baby. She stopped making plans and decorating the new nursery. We had decided previously that we would just use Nicky or Cathy's old baby things for the new baby and then buy anything that the new baby would need. All of those plans never fell through. She made me stop moving furniture and would yell at me if I told her that we needed to get things ready.

What scared me the most was her leaving the hotel in the middle of the night to go for "a walk." I knew that she was patrolling the area. I caught her at least twice. One time, I actually had to force her into my car to drive back to the hotel where it was safe. After what had happened to poor Fred, Faith still won't listen to me. She keeps heading into danger; into danger with our baby.

I keep trying to figure out what happened that day. It rolls around in my head as if it was a movie reel that keeps jumping off the track. I don't understand. The only thing that I feel is the need to go back in time to be there for my wife.

Work, it's always work with me. I try my best to be there for my family, but work always gets in the way. The day, that catastrophic day, was the day that Faith and I were supposed to go to the OB/GYN for a monthly checkup. The school called me in for an emergency board meeting. So what did I do, I went to the meeting. I was expecting the board to actually discuss something important at this "emergency" meeting. There was a new health journal that came out with an article on the safety of peanuts in school cafeteria lunches. It seemed that in one of our elementary schools, a child had eaten a peanut butter sandwich, after being told by his mother, school nurse, and teachers that he wasn't allowed to have it, and ended up in the hospital for treatment of anaphylactic shock. The board was "outraged" at the school for not removing ALL TRACES of peanut butter from the entire student body.

I was sitting at that meeting, keeping my temper at check from trying to scream at their stupidity when my cell phone rang. The news reached my feet before it reached my mind. Quickly, I ran to the door and to my car in order to get to the hospital. Faith was crying. My Faith, was crying at the other end of the phone. She said that Cordy had been knocked unconscious and both Angel and Fred had been shot. Angel, I wasn't really worried about, after all, Vampire. But Fred and Cordy…my heart leapt out of my chest. The nurses couldn't stop me from running down the halls to find my wife. I found her in the arms of Wesley as the man cried, his shoulders shaking. Cordy, apparently now awake, rubbed his back, while the other men sat in the waiting room with their heads in their hands.

I asked how Fred was doing, almost afraid to hear the answer. Angel took me aside and explained it to me. How Wolfram and Hart send armed men to the hotel to shoot them. How Fred had gotten shot in the crossfire and the doctors had found out that she was about two-three weeks pregnant. Angel's voice shook as he said that there was no way to save the baby. Looking at my wife, I just wanted to hold her and forget about the violence, the grief.

Before I could think of an appropriate response, the nurse came running out to us. It seemed that Fred had woken up and was asking to see her husband and friends. The nurse took one look at Faith and denied her entry into the room. Faith was too exhausted to fight the nurse, so I waited with her in the waiting room as the others went in to see her.

Minutes later, they were escorted out of the trauma room and Cordy was whisked away by the medical staff. It seemed that they were going to try to save Fred's baby by a surrogate, in this case, it had to be Cordy. Andrea, Gunn's wife, cried against his shoulder, cursing female biology.

All of us waited anxiously for the doctors to tell us how the procedure went. Wesley, that man, completely fell apart. One minute, his was crying, another cursing, another planning revenge, all the while staring at the clock and praying for a miracle. I felt for him. I knew what it was like…to almost lose a child before they were born.

Hours later, the doctors came by; all had smiles on their faces and told us that both procedures were a complete success. The embryo had be implanted in Cordelia's womb, bed rest ordered for the next two days, while Fred was in the recovery room, expected to make a 100 recovery, if you didn't count the fact that she could no longer have children.

I expected Fred to be devastated, but her cherry outlook on life helped her through one of the most difficult and trying experiences of her life. She ran around smiling, helping Cordy, excited and very anxious about the baby. The only problem was that Fred never left Cordy's side, fearful of something happening to the baby or that Cordy would need help.

Wesley on the other hand, he avoided Cordy like the plague. He didn't want anything to do with the baby. He sat in his office and read his journals and texts like there was no tomorrow. I also caught him drinking on the job a couple of times. The only person who could get through to him was Fred, but she was too obsessed with keeping the baby safe to notice.

Angel tried to talk to Wesley, but had ended up getting so frustrated, that he threw him against the wall. This, in turn, caused Cordy to run in to stop her husband, which caused Fred to freak out about Cordy running through the halls. Didn't Cordy know that she could slip and fall?

Due to the craziness of the hotel, Connor and Harrison were told to take care of the children. Both Nicky and Cathy couldn't have been any happier. They loved their "older brothers." They were taken to the zoo, the park, the arcade, the swimming pool, the beach, and anything else they could think of to keep them occupied during their summer vacation. Lorne, in some instances, even let them "sleep over" at the club. Cathy, like her mother, loves to be in the spotlight and would jump on stage to sing. Nicky was a little more quiet but also loved karaoke, but only if he could sing along with Cathy.

At first, I didn't notice, I was too busy trying to help settle the chaos that surrounded us. Faith was very quiet. I would catch her in the garden staring at the jasmine flowers. Her eyes were haunted. When I would ask her what was wrong, I would get snapped at. Then slowly, she stopped getting ready for our little girl.

I thought that she was just getting nervous about going into labor again, but it didn't seem the case. Slayer strength does have advantages. I recalled the history of slayers that even in the early years, only two of all the slayers who decided to have children, died of childbirth. I suppose, it wasn't a very good statistic, especially since many of the slayers died before they even reached their childbearing years.

Slamming my fists on the desk in front of me, I can't believe that Faith had been sneaking off while I was at work to slay vampires. We had both decided that when she hit the fifth month of pregnancy that she would stop all dangerous activity, which included slaying vampires. My god, all it would take to lose them both is a swift kick at her belly. Deciding to take my life in my own hands, I went to Spike. He was the only one not caught up in the drama unfolding before us.

He had known many slayers, and erringly, he knew them better than I did. Spike has this insight into how the slayer mind works. I found this out in Sunnydale. After I had tried to kill him in a cross-filled room.

My mother's (Nikki Wood—"Lies My Parents Told Me") voice fills in my head, "…Remember, Robin, honey what we talked about. Always got to work the mission. Look at me. You know I love you, but I got a job to do. The mission is what matters...right?"

He repeated those same words to me that night. He let me live knowing that he knew more about her than I did. I hated him for that as well, but now, I am grateful for his insight.

Knocking on Spike's door, I waited until he hollered, "Come in" before walking into his room. He looked extremely surprised to see me and a little on guard. I looked around his bedroom, funny I'd never been in Spike's room before. Spartan. That was what had come to mind when I saw his room. Except for the bed, nightstand, and small entertainment center to hold his TV/DVD player and discs, his room was bare. The color was the same beige color that the hotel had been painted with previously. On the nightstand, there was a picture of the entire family during Christmas. The only other pictures on the wall were coloring book pictures made by Cathy and Nicky.

Spike was currently lying on his bed, watching TV, so I adjusted myself to turn toward the TV; I noticed he was watching Charlie's Angels. Shaking my head at his immaturity, I took a breath then started to ask my question.

"Spike, I need a favor from you." There I said it.

He lifted his head to stare at me, "You need my help with something?" Scratching at his chin, "Well, what is it then? I don't got all day."

Closing my eyes, I thought about how I wanted to say this. "Faith, she's upset about something. She's so upset that she's self-destructing again. I'm afraid for her. She's going to hurt herself or the baby if she keeps going like this. I caught her patrolling." Once I got started, the words flowed out of me like a river, "She's eight months pregnant, she can't patrol. I know her; she's doing this to 'feel' something other than numb. This is what she is right now: Numb. She doesn't even want to talk about the baby. Ever since Fred got hurt, Faith doesn't seem to care about her daughter, our daughter."

Spike stood up, stretching himself. He looked thoughtful. "You said that this started the day Fred got hurt? Wasn't that the day that she got the ultrasound?"

"Yeah…" I slowly nod, hoping that Spike wasn't suggesting what I thought he was.

"Did she tell you about it?" He asked me, sounding oddly concerned.

"Yeah. She told me that we were having a baby girl and that the baby was completely healthy. I really don't think that she would've lied to me." At least, I hope so.

He bent down to open the nightstand, pulling out a pack of cigarettes, he pulled one out to light it. Before speaking, he took a long drag, "Don't tell the princess." He exhaled, I suppose, if you could call it exhaling. "Let's think about this logically now. Faith was all excited before the accident. Sure, she had mood swings from hell, but she was happy about the bit. Then Fred had her accident right after she found out what the baby's sex was. She seems okay about Fred now. Hell, I haven't really noticed her hanging out with Fred recently. But she also doesn't avoid her. So that tells me, she doesn't have a problem with Fred's accident; she has a problem with the baby. Specifically, the baby's sex. Bloody hell. I got it! It's a girl this time. Nicky is a boy. Faith didn't worry about Nicky because he's a boy. She's worried about the new bit though because it's a girl."

I sat down on Spike's bed, well, fell down is more accurate. I shook my head again. "I don't understand. What does the baby's sex have to do with anything? As long as he or she is healthy, what it is doesn't matter."

Spike started pacing in front of me, running his hands through his hair as he smoked, "You're a bloody idiot. Of course, it matters. It matters to Faith. Hell, it'd probably matter to Buffy and the rest of the Watcher's Council. After Willow's spell, any girl with the potential to become a slayer WILL BE A SLAYER. Your little girl is going to be a slayer like her mommy. Faith probably doesn't want that for her little girl. Buffy used to talk about it…like she could change her destiny. Kept saying, 'I wish I was a normal girl.' But it'd never happen. You can't change yourself like that. In Faith's case, she's probably scared that she'd end up like she did. Watcherless, hunted, and scorned as a slayer."

This time, I leaned back so that my back was against the bed and I was staring at the ceiling. I took several deep breaths trying to keep myself in control. Feeling the bed dip, I opened my eyes and turned my head to look up at Spike. He spoke softly, as if he knew how I felt and didn't want to disturb me further, "You should talk to her…you know before she hurts herself. That's sort of Faith's cycle. She'll start doing small things that make her feel in control, like staking vampires. Then she'll want more, she'll start to feel like god, until killing is all she does. Nothing else will matter, only having fun killing. It's not even about the vampire anymore…it's about the kill. The control and power. And I should know because I'm like her. I—Spike—killed more people than vampires she's staked."

After he said that, he left the room so that I could think. I must've stared at the ceiling for hours because Nicky had come back from the zoo. He ran into the room and jumped on my chest. "Hi, Daddy."

Smiling despite my dizzying thoughts, "Hi Nicky. How's the zoo?"

Now he started bouncing on my chest as he described every animal and every noise they made. He was bristling with excitement and happiness. Cordy's voice rang throughout the hotel, "DINNER TIME!!!" Hearing the announcement, I walked down the stairs with Nicky to have dinner.

OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO

A week later

The screaming in the house is completely out of control. You can't even hear your own thoughts because it's so loud.

Cordy has finally snapped. She can't take Fred anymore. Fred is driving her insane with her over-protectiveness. She was practically hounding her every move.

Things have gotten violent with Wesley. Angel found out about the drinking. He found out after he had sent Wesley to a meeting with a snitch. The snitch called Angel to tell him that Wesley had puked on his shoes and passed out. Angel went ballistic on Wesley, throwing him against the walls, slapping him, even going so far to vamp face and threaten to bite him if he didn't stop.

The others were fighting about things that I didn't even hear about. Lindsey, Connor and Harrison were fighting about the roofing project at Anne's. Lorne was on the phone with a new bartender; let's just say out of the four, this one is the worst. Apparently, the new guy almost burned down Caritas. Lorne was screaming at him to call 911 and put out the fire…screaming "not with water" into the phone before slamming it down to run out the door.

Gunn and Andrea weren't in the house, volunteering to take Nicky and Cathy out for ice cream when the screaming first started. As for me and Faith, things have finally come to a boil. I tried to talk to her, to tell her that I understood. I ended up getting things thrown at me for the effort. I fought back this time, trying to get her to understand. Grabbing her by the arm, she shocked me by punching me in the face hard enough to knock me down. She tried to run away, but I quickly recovered and stopped her. I was trying to be as gentle as I could, but she was fighting me like I was trying to kill her.

Spike jumped in between us, trying to get her to calm down. We were scared that if she didn't calm, she'd go into labor.

It didn't work! It fueled the fire. She started attacking him as well.

The shouting seemed to shake the entire hotel. Words were no longer recognizable; it all became a jumble.

LOUD WHISTLE

All of us turned to see Trish Burkle pull her fingers from her lips. "Now what it tar-nation is going on in here? You all wouldn't have even noticed if a giraffe walked in here with all that screaming," Roger Burkle drawled.

Fred ran to her parents, "Mom, Dad!" She held them tightly, she cried against them, "I'm missed you so much."

"Well, sweetie, we couldn't wait to see you. Oh, my baby's having a baby." Trish gushed at her daughter. With that being said, Fred lost all semblance of control as she sobbed against her father. Her father tightened his hold around her as he led her to the couch to sit down. Kneeling in front of her, he asked what had happened.

Fred described every detail. How she had gotten shot, how the doctors told her that she couldn't have children anymore, how Cordy agreed to surrogate, and how scared she was of losing her baby, again. Apparently, she also knew about Wesley's drinking and subsequent lack of emotion about the baby that Cordy now carried.

Trish and Roger immediately took control, glaring at Angel for beating Wesley up, instead of getting him "professional help" like them. They led Wesley and Fred into the office for a talk. Before they shut the door, they order all of us to sit down quietly, drink some water and not to talk to each other until told to.

Funny, they made me feel like we should all be sitting in the corner or given demerits or something.

An hour later, Fred and Wesley walked out, their heads in between their legs. Trish walked out, and like a school nurse, called out for Angel and Cordy. Then Lindsey, Connor, and Harrison.

Seemingly taking forever, Faith and I were called into the office. I tried to pull out Faith's chair and was promptly glared at.

Roger sat on Wesley's chair, leaning back with his arms against his stomach. That's my 'principal-is-mad' pose, I thought to myself. "Now, children. Why don't you tell Uncle Roger what's the matter? You know that Trish and I are happy to try to help you. After all, we've been married for close to thirty-five years. Maybe we can give you an insight or somethin'. What're ya'll fighting about?"

Faith just sat there with her arms folded over her belly. I guess it was up to me to talk, "I don't know if you know what a slayer is, do you?"

Trish jumped in, "Actually, we do. After we found out our little Fred was getting into all this vampire and demon work, Roger and I decided to take a class on demonology and myths at the local community college. They have lots of information. Why, we even told them a thing or two about the demons we've seen in L.A."

Roger interrupted, "Trish, they don't wanna hear about that. Let them talk, woman."

"Don't you 'woman', me, Roger Burkle or else--."

"Yes, dear." Roger calmed her, "Now let's get back to your story."

I sat back in my chair, smiling to myself at the Texan couple, as I described our troubles. They both listened intently, even when Faith jumped in to argue with me. It seemed like nothing was getting settled…just more screaming.

Slowly, I stopped fighting and began to listen as the Burkle's were. Faith's shouts were getting louder as she screamed and cried all of her frustrations and fears.

Her fears of the baby becoming like her; becoming a murdering cold bitch. Of her becoming a slayer. Of her destiny, fighting evil. The fear that her daughter would hate her for it.

The words came out in jumbles, tears streaming down my wife's face, but her not willing to stop her litany. Nothing was recognizable anymore. At that point, I stopped her by kneeling down in front of her and holding her against my chest. She just cried. I cried along with her.

The Burkle's had stood up behind us and wrapped their arms around the both of us. Trying to offer comfort. What seemed like hours later, Faith wiped her face and started swearing, "Fucking hormones."

We all laughed together. The room filling with the sound.

"Now see that wasn't so hard, now was it." Trish Burkle boasted proudly, "I knew that you two could do it. Marriage is all about sharing now, Faith. If you're not happy, you have to share that with your husband. If you're mad, share that too. Upset, whatever."

Roger brushed his wife aside, "She's just kidding now Faith. You don't have to share your anger with your old man. Just the happy stuff. Okay?" He got elbowed in the side, "oww."

"Never mind him, now. Why don't ya'll go freshen up? I brought my secret recipe with me and I'm treatin' ya'll to a homemade dinner ya'll never forget. Go on, now." She ushered us out of the office, hand-in-hand with Roger. They stared at each other before kissing gently.

I heard their whispered 'I love yous' before Trish announced her dinner plans.

"Now, I know you girls are all modern and all, but I'm going to make you cook with me. No arguing. Into the kitchen, scoot." She pushed Faith, Fred, and Cordy into the kitchen. Angel chasing after them, telling him that Cordy couldn't cook and that she wasn't allowed to make anything edible. A few seconds later, a loud smack and a chagrinned Angel walked out of the kitchen rubbing at his behind.

"You didn't have to smack me with a dish towel…" Angel muttered under his breath.

Faith pulled me to her so that we were chest to chest. She reached out to touch my face, "I'm sorry, Robin. I didn't realize that I was sliding down that path again. I was just so scared, I wasn't thinking about you or your feelings. Just that my daughter would end up hating me for making her a slayer one day. She'll be okay, right? We'll be good parents to her so she won't feel so out of control. We'll love her and take care of her. Hell, she'll be the most kick-ass slayer the world has ever known. Ya know? Her grandma was a slayer, mommy is a slayer…I'd say she's got rockin' genes. I just never considered the pros of the situation. It'll be okay." She said once again.

"Damn straight, it'll be okay." With that said, I grabbed her for a breath-stopping kiss. She grabbed my butt, pulling me against her. We both started moaning; forgetting that we were in the middle of the hotel lobby.

Splash.

Cold.

Wetness.

We pulled away from each other as Trish splashed us with a pitcher of ice water. "You two, make up in your own time. It's dinner time. No kissin' or hanky-panky in the parlor. Well, what're ya waitin' for, go get dressed for dinner." She commanded.

Doing as we were told, we came down ten minutes later, now dry and dressed for dinner. Gunn, Andrea, and the kids had come back. They were currently being scolded by Trish for eating ice cream before dinner time.

After the "eating good food" lecture, we all sat down for dinner. Trish and Roger were still pretty traditional so we held hands for a prayer.

Roger started the prayer, "Dear God, Powers that Be, who ever else is listening, we're grateful for the gifts you've given us on this day. You've given our dear Fred wonderful friends, a husband and family who love her, and now, we're having a grandbaby. Not the traditional way, but through a woman we are eternally blessed to have in our lives, Cordelia. We also thank you for a long happy marriage and wish the same for the wonderful folks here today. Thank you for blessed little, giggling, children who eat too much ice cream and teenaged boys who argue with their elders. May they one day see the light. Thank you for vampires. Well, I should rephrase that: Thank you for vampires with souls, Karaoke singing demon friends and demon fighters who keep us safe. Thank you all, know let's chow down. Amen." We all wiped at our eyes.

"Amen" We say, before ravaging the endless food in front of us.

I fill a plate for Faith, handing it to her and whispering, "I love you."

She leaned in to kiss me.

Splash

Cold

Wet.

"Didn't you two learn your lesson? My god, I only had to spray down Fred once after I caught her with a boy in the barn. Never caught her doing anything else again. What do I have ta do to get ya two to cool off?" Trish prattled on.

Our son, Nicky spoke up, "You can't do nothin'. Uncle Lorne says that they got magnets in their lips and when they get too close, they have to kiss."

Laughter filled the dinner table. Spike had water squirting out of his nose from laughing so hard. Which made everyone laugh harder.

All was back to normal, I guess. We're one big happy family.

THE END

How'd ya'll like that? Read and Review Thanks for the ideas Lily.

Next Chapter: Chapter 11: Gunn's POV.

HELP. Just so you know, I'm not really good at writing Gunn. I definitely need ideas for this one. I don't think that Andrea and Gunn should have a baby though. Too many babies already.

I was thinking maybe he could do something with Anne? Maybe to help her get together with Lindsey???

Let me know. I'll take your suggestions into account when writing it.