Chapter Three – Regular, Ordinary Life

As Grace bounced her way out of her classroom at three, she saw her dad instead of her mom waiting for her. Sometimes it bothered her when he picked her up. Grace understood that her mom's job was sometimes dangerous, so every time there was a change in plan, it made her nervous. But her dad was smiling, so no bad this time.

"Daddy," Grace yelled as she ran into his arms. He squeezed her tight and placed a kiss on her forehead. Something her broody brother would never let anyone do now. Mom sometimes snuck one in at bedtime, otherwise no smoochies for Liam. Now, her mom and dad, they gave each other smoochies all the time. She'd never do that with a boy. Yuck. But Dad wasn't a boy, so that was OK with her.

"How was your first day, pumpkin?" She loved listening to her dad's voice, especially when he read stories to them at night.

"Well, we introduced ourselves, then we did math, then recess, and then we sat down on the rug to listen to this great story. By then it was time for lunch. Stevie got in trouble at lunch. Then we had art. I made you a great picture. Then we had handwriting. I hate handwriting. Then Claire got in trouble for talking too much. Then we broke into our reading groups, which was fun because I can read really well the teacher said. Then it was time to go."

Liam walked up to the two. Grace knew exactly what he would say when Dad asked him the question.

"Liam, how was your first day?"

"Fine."

Hunter yelled goodbye as he raced down the stairs to be picked up.

"Looks like you made a friend."

"Yeah."

Man of no words, Grace thought.

When they got home, Mom was lying on the couch. That was so not of the good.

"Mom, did everything go OK today?" Liam asked slowly, looking their mother over.

"I'm fine. Still haven't adjusted to the time change."

Grace knew it had been two weeks since they'd arrived. Why couldn't they have gone to Cleveland to be with Uncle Xander? Instead they ended up in stupid California. At least it was warm most of the time and not raining like it was in England.

"Homework?" her dad asked.

"Nah. First day and all. But the teacher said by next week we should have lots." Grace hated homework with a passion. Maybe she'd con Liam into doing some of it.

"How 'bout the handwriting, kiddo?" Her mom was now up and moving.

"Do I have to?"

"Just fifteen minutes today. Gotta be able to read your stuff."

"I know. I know." Since her mom's handwriting was crap too, well, she didn't know why it mattered.

"Liam?" Her mom ruffled Liam's hair. God, she couldn't believe that he was almost as tall as Mom. She'd give anything to be a little taller. Everyone thought that Liam was her older brother, when in fact he was only older by a couple of minutes. Her dad had called him an eager beaver, whatever that meant.

"When does Dawn get here?" Oh great, Dawn. Just what she needed. She hoped that Connor didn't tag along too. Those two were joined at the hip.

"About an hour."

"Just as long as she doesn't cook," Liam mumbled. He had that right. Her dinners stank.

"Don't worry. All taken care of." Dad was at it again. "Dinner's in the crockpot."

All three groaned in unison. "Now I am going to barf again." Mom loved teasing Dad about the inventions he cooked. Unfortunately, sometimes it even tasted good, so he kept trying.

"Beef stroganoff?"

"Does it have those gross vegetables?" Liam was not too keen on anything green.

"Leeks are good for you. Just pick them out. You'll survive."

Liam clutched his heart like he wouldn't survive it. That's what Grace didn't understand. The guy could be perfectly normal at home, and then turn into such a goober at school.

"Very funny. My children are comedians."

The phone rang, breaking up the melodrama. Grace hated when the phone rang. Too many things happened after the phone rang. Her dad hung up after talking for a few moments.

"Just Dawn. Wondering if she could bring Connor with her."

"Just as long as they don't smooch," Grace whispered to her brother.

"They're getting married, Gracie. It's legal." She knew for a fact that her mom and dad had smooched before they got married. But that was OK, since they were her parents.

"They always make us go to bed early," Liam whined.

"Hence, the whining begins. This is why you go to bed at a decent hour," Dad stated the obvious.

Grace looked at Liam with the "cut it out" look she often gave him. "I'm going to ride my bike now."

"Oh no, you're not. Handwriting first."

"But Liam gets to do whatever he wants."

"No, he gets to clean up his room first. Found your experiment in the closet."

Her brother was always performing experiments, trying to fool Dad. Never worked. She didn't know why he had to mix all that gross stuff together. One of these times, he'd blow up his room, then Dad would get really mad.

Dad really never got too mad with either one of them. He was always calm, unlike Mom. Dad only got mad with Mom when she did stuff she wasn't supposed to do, like go after a big demon without him there to back her up.

An hour later, Dawn showed up with the dork. That's what Liam had named him. He'd known Connor since he was born, but hadn't noticed how pretty Dawn was until recently. That's when he started thinking of Connor as the dork. The dork always got what he wanted, was tall and strong, was smart. Liam didn't think he was that smart, but that's what everyone said. He bet that Connor couldn't translate the Tirezian Prophecies to save his life.

"Hey, Liam," Dawn said as she came through the door. "OK, now when did you grow more? I just saw you last week." She always told him he grew. That didn't bother him just as long as he was bigger than Connor soon, very soon. Then he'd show the dork a thing or two.

Dawn was so smart and funny in his book. Even funnier than his mom. Of course, that's not what Dawn's sister said about her, but what did Buffy know anyway. She was just a dumb slayer, for goodness sake. Her hair was long and shiny. When he was younger, he used to sit on her lap for hours just playing with her hair. That would be totally unacceptable now, since he liked her as a girl. He liked his mom's hair too, just not as much.

"Hey, kid," Connor called from the doorway. He was not a kid anymore. When would the dork get it through his thick skull?

Grace took a flying leap into Connor's arms. Gracie liked Connor because he would spar with her when his parents left. One of these times he should tell on the two of them, because well, he just didn't like the dork. Besides, Gracie could probably take him if she would just grow some more.

"Connor, Connor. I had my first day of school. And it's so neat. The teacher said I was a good reader and I made some friends."

"Who are all guys," Liam pointed out.

"The girls are such, such . . . ." Grace couldn't find the words to finish.

"Ah, girls, Gracie," Dawn finished her sentence for her.

"God, you're telling me."

"Gracie, language," Liam heard Dad yell from the upstairs. Connor and Dawn just smiled.

"You guys are so much fun," Dawn pointed out.

"And you can hand them back at the end of the day," Connor finished.

Thank goodness Connor didn't live with them or life would be horrible. It was bad enough with a sister.

When Mom and Dad came down to say goodbye to them, Liam didn't understand why Gracie had to make such a fuss about them going out slaying. Gracie just worried too much. Not like him. He had confidence that his mom could do her job. That's why she had Dad. To help her be careful and to back her up.

"So, you'll be careful?" Gracie asked the two.

"Yes, we will, Ms. Worry Wart," Faith answered.

"Enough stakes?"

"OK, Giles Jr., we're ready."

"Love you Mom. Love you Dad." Gracie kissed them both goodbye. Kissing Mom and Dad goodbye was not his style. So much like a baby to him. Plus, not cool in front of Dawn.

"Mind Dawn and Connor, you two," Wesley commanded

"Yeah," Liam answered. Just because I have to, not because I want to.

After the parents left, Liam sat down with his new book on folklore.

"Cough up the new game. Remember?" Daggonit, Gracie remembered.

"It's in the family room. But if you mess up my level."

"I won't. I won't even save."

"Hey, Connor, you want to play a new video game?"

"Sure, kiddo."

Connor was going to play his new game. That was so not part of the bargain. But if he said anything now, his sister would surely rat him out. And he'd never get that translation done before next week, especially since he wanted to have it finished before Uncle Rupert came to visit them.

Going up to his room was the only other choice. Just so he wouldn't hear what a good time Gracie and Connor would have. Before he could get up the stairs, the doorbell rang.

"Could someone get that?" Dawn yelled from the kitchen.

Since they were eight now, his sister and he could answer the door, but only if it was light outside, you looked to see who it was, and you never, ever invited anyone inside.

Liam looked out the glass part of the door to see an older guy in a suit standing on the front porch. It was still light out, plus lots of people outside, so he didn't see any harm. So he opened up.

"Can I help you?" he asked the guy in the suit.

"Hello, young man. Is your father at home by any chance?" The guy had the same accent as his dad. Never tell someone that your parents weren't home. Another Dad rule.

"Hold on a sec." Liam slammed the door.

"Connor?" Liam screamed. "Come here."

Connor came racing around the corner. "What?"

"Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to scare you?" Yeah, I actually did. "Guy at the front door wants to talk to my dad," Liam whispered.

"Good call. I'll talk to him."

Connor opened the door back up to talk to the man. Liam was able to study him a little better. The man was older than Uncle Rupert, and his blue eyes looked a little cold. Liam knew he had this innate ability to size up adults quickly and make judgment calls on whether they were evil or good. This guy didn't look like a very nice man at all.

"Hi, can I help you?" Connor asked.

"I'm looking for Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. Is this where he lives?"

"Who wants to know?"

"His father actually. I work for his father. Now, if you'll just let me in."

"No, I don't think so. There's no Wesley here."

Connor slammed the door in the guy's face.

"Go find your sister," Connor ordered.

"Ah, man."

"Now." Man, Connor must be ticked off at that guy. He threw the deadbolt too. "Dawn, I need you now."

Connor looked out the window to see the man get back into a limo. Liam saw this because he looked too.

"Liam? Grace, please get her."

Dawn came into the living room. "What's up?"

"Were Faith and Wesley going to be out of cell phone range?"

"Yeah, I think so. Why?"

Liam ran to get his sister. The look on Dawn's face said it all. They were in danger.

TBC

Next: Are they in danger yet? We'll see. Nothing can be good with Wesley's father around.

Author thanks to: pari106, Steph, SlayerFan, FaithandWesley4ever (yay, new reviewer to this series!!), Grace(another new one), and Sketchie. You guys are great!! My favorite reviewers. You came back for a fourth installment. Just remember, you don't have to read the first three to really know what is going on. If you do read, that would be great (if you have hours to read it though! I write way too much sometimes.).

Pari106—hey, thanks for the great reviews along the way with all my stuff. I like opening up your reviews each time.

SlayerFan—yes on the second part; Cordy will be showing up soon with news; glad you are still following.

Grace—I like the name too; it's my grandmother's. I was so glad no one dissed it.

Sketchie—I just like getting reviews from you. They don't have to make sense. They just have to be funny, unlike some of the reviews I've been getting on my other fic. (Author cringes and walks away.) That's why I like all of you so much!!