Chapter One

Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns everything.

Sunnydale, California

February 2012

Buffy Summers sighed heavily as she stared across the room at the blank television screen. Sure, she, Tara, and Willow had been put in charge of hosting the next Scooby gathering, last week it had been Giles and the previous week Anya and Xander. But none of it mattered to her. She could not remember the time she honestly cared about something ever since her younger sister had sacrificed herself to save the world. Sure, some things she knew were important and she came very close to caring. Instances such as Anya and Xander's wedding and later, the births of their children, Matthew and roughly one and a half years later Morgan.

"Buffy?" Tara asked as she appeared in the doorway to the room where Buffy lay slouched on the couch. "They're going to be here soon. Do you maybe want to get out of your pajamas?" she finished as she looked down at the ensemble the Slayer was wearing, fluffy pink pants with cows on them and a matching pink shirt.

Buffy sighed again as she finally stood up and walked over towards the stairs. "Why does it matter? It's only a Scooby meeting?"

"After which we're most likely going patrolling," Tara added as she gave Buffy a gentle push up the stairs. "Don't think Giles will appreciate the cows."

"Fine," Buffy grumbled as she began walking up the stairs and over towards her room, a journey she could have cared less about if it had not been that she was doing it for Giles. Apart from Giles, Willow, and Xander, Buffy did not think there was anything worthwhile to live for. Sure, she was the Slayer, but if she were to die the next one would be chosen.

Three short knocks came to her door and Buffy turned herself around as if to go down the stairs and answer it. "No," Tara began as she made a motion at Buffy with her finger, motioning for the Slayer to turn around and go to her room to change. As soon as she heard Buffy's door closing, Tara opened the door and quickly moved aside as to allow the hyper and excited Matthew Harris to run inside.

"Hi Aunt Buffy! Hi Aunt Willow! Hi Aunt Tara!" the eight-year-old yelled without looking up as he ran into the family room and began flipping the channels.

Willow smiled, walking over towards the door. "What's the excitement?" she asked with a small laugh as she watched the brunette boy sit down on the floor in front of the television, catching his breath.

"You guys get cable," Xander said with a smile as he opened the door further, allowing Anya to walk in along with their six-year-old daughter Morgan held in her arms at the side of her body.

"Oh, of course," Willow began as she closed the door behind Anya. Giles had called saying he would be a little bit late as he was getting held up in traffic from the Watcher's meeting in Los Angeles. "And how are you doing sweetie?" she asked the little girl in Anya's arms.

Morgan said nothing, only rested her head against Anya's shoulder and clung to her mother tighter.

"How is she doing?" Willow asked Xander as they all began moving into the family room with Matthew. Willow, Tara, and Xander sat on the couch while Anya and Morgan sat on the chair. The little girl reached for the blanket while Matthew jumped up as the commercials began playing.

"Ok, I have to go bathroom, but don't change the channel please!" he begged as he rushed out over to the hallway bathroom.

"We won't," Xander promised his son as he turned his attention back to Willow and Tara on his left. He sighed, glancing over at Anya and Morgan for a second before answering Willow's question. "Not so well. Her throat's so sore and swollen that Anya and I have given up on trying to get her to eat anything."

Willow winced sympathetically. "Have you been to a doctor?" she asked finally as Matthew reentered the room, wiping his damp hands off on his dark denim jeans.

Xander shook his head slightly. "We got her an appointment for tomorrow. Which kind of brings me to my next thing" he began, the look that he was about to ask for a favor appearing in his face.

"What do you want?" Willow and Tara both asked with a laugh. Over the years they had grown used to that look.

"How can you do that?" Xander asked in amazement.

"Do what?" Buffy asked as she emerged from the bottom of the stairs, dressed in a more appropriate red sweatshirt and light blue jeans.

"Hey Buff," Xander greeted as he moved over slightly on the couch, making room for the petite Slayer. "I need a favor," he continued as everyone paid attention to him, with the exception of his children as Matthew undivided attention was on the television cartoons while Morgan was struggling to keep her eyes open.

"Sure, what is it?" Buffy asked. "As long as it's not money I can probably do it for you?"

"Unemployed again?" Anya asked sympathetically.

Buffy nodded, feeling slightly embarrassed. It was not as if she had a truly good job to not be working at. Over the years all she had been able to do was minimum wage jobs, her longest being the DoubleMeat Palace for six years before the smell she had when she came home finally became to much for her and she quit. "Your favor?" she asked, returning her attention, and hopefully the attention of everyone else, back to Xander.

Xander nodded. "Right," he said. "We made a doctor appointment for Morgan tomorrow, but I have to be at the site all day--"

"And I really don't want to take both the children up there if I don't have to," Anya added as she shifted slightly to a more comfortable position on the chair.

"So we were wondering if we could dump Matthew off here for an hour or so tomorrow at around nine?" Xander finished.

Buffy nodded. "Oh, sure," she instantly agreed. "Not a problem, right?" she asked as she turned towards Willow and Tara.

"Yea, we can watch him," Willow agreed with a smile. "Actually, I have work so it doesn't matter to me."

"Perfect," Xander said with a smile as he turned towards Matthew. "Matt?" he called as he pulled his son's attention away from the Doritos commercial.

"Yea?" Matthew asked as he turned around slightly.

"Do you want to go to Aunt Buffy's tomorrow morning?" Xander asked curiously.

"Yes!" Matthew instantly agreed with a smile. "Perfect day for that. There's supposed to be an all day cartoon marathon with all my favorite cartoons!"

The door opened in a rush, snapping everyone's attention at it. "Sorry so late," Giles said as he closed the door behind him. "They should make sure people can drive before issuing them a license," he mumbled a moment later. "Did I miss anything?" he asked as he walked into the room.

"Nothing demon-y related," Xander replied as he moved over and pulled the chair from the desk up next to where Anya was sitting.

"Oh, but I'm going to be in late tomorrow," Anya informed her boss as Giles moved over and sat down in Xander's vacated couch spot. "Morgan's throat is still bothering her so we're getting her to a doctor early tomorrow morning," she elaborated to eliminate any other thoughts from the Watcher's head.

Giles nodded. "That's fine. Take as long as you need."

"So, is there anything demon-y worth noting?" Buffy asked curiously as she looked over at her Watcher. Although her voice hinted that she might be interested in whatever the Watcher might say, her facial expression did not as the Slayer mostly looked bored.

The Watcher shook his head. "Nothing that would be of interest to you."

"So that whole big Los Angeles meeting was for nothing?" Xander asked curiously.

Again, Giles shook his head back and forth. "Not for nothing," he began. "But nothing to do with big bad demons and vampires coming to the Hellmouth. It mostly focused on the more magickal part of fighting the forces of evil."

"Magick?" Willow perked up as she sat herself up a little bit straighter against the couch. "Anything interesting?"

Giles smiled as he pulled a few sheets of paper out from his coat and handed them to Willow. "I took notes on the things you might find note-worthy."

Willow smiled as she eagerly took the sheets into her hands. "You're the best," she told Giles with a squeal of excitement as she reached across and hugged Giles.

"Thank you," the Watcher began as he wigged free from Willow's embrace. He sighed wondering what she would be doing to him if he had actually brought home the book the Watcher running the meeting was using. He sighed, shrugging it off. "How was business today?" he asked as he looked over to Anya.

The ex-demon frowned as she tried to remember. Even before she had closed the shop, her attention was mainly on Morgan and not the customers, something surprisingly rare for the capitalist inside of her. "We made money," she began dimly. "Not one of our best days, but certainly not the worst."

Giles nodded. "And things went smoothly while I was gone?"

"Yes. Tara was helping me," the ex-demon recalled.

"We do need to stock up on some of the herbs. There's a list back at the store," Tara added for Giles's benefit.

"Thank you Tara," Giles commented.

Willow jumped up, hearing the oven timer go off. "Well, I guess it's time we eat," she began as she calmly walked over to the kitchen to begin preparing drinks and whatnot.

Tara smiled as she followed Willow into the kitchen, walking over and grabbing the utensils before walking out to set the table.

"What does everyone want to drink?" Buffy asked curiously as she looked at the five people remaining in the family room.

"Just a coke," Xander said absently as he hit the 'power' button on the remote for the television, getting his son's attention.

"Hey!" Matthew protested as he turned around.

"Dinner," Anya informed Matthew. "What would you like to drink?"

"That you can have at dinner," Xander instantly added.

Matthew frowned, thinking the concept over for a moment before making a decision. "Chocolate milk," he announced. "That way I can be strong just like you Aunt Buffy."

"Alright," Xander said with a smile. Now go wash your hands," he continued as he gave Matthew a light push towards the bathroom.

Matthew gave a slight sigh, but did as he was told.

"Giles, Anya?" Buffy asked as she resumed collecting drink preferences.

"Just some water's fine," Anya said as she glanced down at Morgan, checking to see whether or not her daughter was asleep, which she was.

"Buffy, do you even have to ask?" Giles asked with a slight laugh. "Whatever tea you have lying around should do just fine," he added as he walked out to assist Tara in setting the table.

"Um, Buffy?" Anya asked as she arose from the chair, Morgan still held within her arms.

"Hmm?" Buffy asked as she turned around to face Anya.

"She's feeling a little warm and since she wouldn't eat anyway, would you mind if I let her rest in the guest room until we go home?" Anya asked.

Buffy shook her head. "Not a problem," she assured Anya. "Actually, why don't I take her while you and Xander pick out what Matthew might want to eat," she suggested as she reached for the six-year-old.

Anya gave a short sigh as she reluctantly handed her daughter over to Buffy. "You'll be careful with her, right?" she asked warily.

"As if she were my own," Buffy promised as she made sure she had a good hold on the girl before heading up the stairs.

Anya sighed as she watched the two of them until Buffy reached the top of the stairs. She then took that as her cue to go over to the boys in her life, Xander and Matthew. "What are we serving?" she asked as she grabbed a plate from the counter for her son.

"Icky green stuff," Matthew answered in disgust as he looked at the various plates and dishes of food in front of him at the table. "And also chicken, which I like."

"Come on now, if you want to be strong, you're going to have to eat a little bit of the green stuff," Xander began as he placed a few string beans on Matthew's plate.

"How many?" the little boy demanded.

"Five," Xander answered plainly as he placed the smallest piece of chicken on Matthew's plate.

Matthew frowned. "That's not fair. Morgan doesn't have to eat any!" he pouted.

"Your sister doesn't feel well enough to eat anything right now," Xander pointed out with a heavy sigh. "Fine, you only have to eat four, but you have to eat all your chicken."

Matthew sighed. "FineÉAs long as I get dessert!" He smiled, looking over at Willow and Tara. "There is dessert, right?" he asked.

Willow nodded slightly. "Chocolate chip cookies," she announced proudly as she took her usual seat between Tara and Buffy and began serving herself some dinner.

"Yay," Matthew perked up as he sat down in between his parents.

Buffy appeared in the doorway from the kitchen as she began bringing out the drinks. First Matthew's, Xander's, and Anya's. "Sorry if it's a little warm," she began. "Thought we had ice, but nope."

"It's fine," Xander assured his friend.

"Good," Buffy said as she came out with Giles's tea. After handing the cup to her Watcher she took her seat at the end of the table across from Giles. Willow was on her left and Xander on her right. 'It's all good," she said softly as she picked up her fork and began slowly working her way through the small pile of mashed potatoes she had built up on her plate.

"So there's really no big danger coming?" Willow asked curiously to break of the long moment of silence that had fallen over the table. "'Cause we normally would know about it by this time of the year. I mean, it's the middle of February."

Giles shook his head. "The Council has gotten extremely technological in the past few years, almost to a point where Jenny would feel old fashioned, but they could not detect anything. Just the same number of vampires we have here," he stated.

"Wow," Xander began at the mention of how advanced the Council was in their technology. "How do you manage to be in that building?" he asked in shock. "If they're as sophisticated as you say they are, then it must be a living hell for you."

Giles rolled his eyes at Xander's remark. "Very funny," he said sarcastically. "The real advances are over in England."

"But as far as they can tell we're not in any more danger than a normal Sunnydale day?" Buffy asked. "As in no apocalypse?"

Giles nodded. "That is correct."

"There's going to be an apocalypse," Buffy immediately countered.

Matthew's expression wrinkled into a frown as he tugged on the sleeve of Xander's blue t-shirt. "What's an apocalypse?" he whispered into his father's ear.

"Something you don't need to worry about," Xander answered shortly. "What you should worry about is finishing your potatoes."

"Ok," Matthew grumbled as he returned to eating his dinner and being quiet, something he generally does at these gatherings. Unless he was watching television or fighting with Morgan.

"Buffy, the Council isn't wrong about everything," Giles began. "They were right about Glory being a god."

Buffy rolled her eyes and folded her arms angrily across her chest. "Right, but they couldn't think of any way to stop her. It's their fault my sister is dead."

"Dawn did what she thought was best for the world," Giles said as he tried to rationalize his point, but found it mostly useless.

"Giles, if you want to be the cheerleader for the Watcher's Council, then by all means do so," Buffy began as she stood up. "I'm just not going to sit around and watch it," she added as she walked over and grabbed her coat.

"Where are you going?" Giles asked as he looked over at Buffy while the Slayer headed towards the door.

"Out," Buffy said as she closed the door behind her.

Giles let out a huge sigh as he turned back around, fighting the urge to start saying a few words that should not be spoken in front of the eight year old.

"Don't worry," Willow began. "She'll come around. She always does."

Anya nodded. "Yea, just let her kill those who aren't even alive. That'll perk her right up."

Giles sighed. "For her sake, I hope you're right."

"Sun sets and she appears," Spike noted as he saw the Slayer once again barging into the dank and dark crypt he called home. "What's up?" he asked,

"You know what's up," Buffy replied gravely as she walked over to him and began tugging at his shirt before getting frustrated with it and tearing it off him.

"Right," Spike began as he picked her up in his arms and kissing her wildly as he made his way towards the bed.

((Tehe...Cyber brownies to anyone who knows where I got the names of the Harris children from...))