Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Hope and Dominic.
CHAPTER 3-REPEATING OLD OCCURENCES
"Where are Faith and Wesley," Cordelia asked an hour later as she sat down at the table that Oz and Fred were sitting at, looking up at Connor, who only briefly shrugged back in reply.
"I don't know, last I saw them they were dancing to that slow song, after that though is anyone's guess," Oz answered with a relaxed shrug of his shoulders before he turned back to Willow and handed her the folder.
"They'll be okay just as long as no one leaves early and goes to get their coat," Angel said with an odd smirk on his face as Fred looked up and started to open her mouth to question him about what he meant but her mind worked quickly enough and she got the message, blushing furiously and dropping her gaze to the tabletop in front of her.
"Ugh…someone needs to sedate those two, they keep going on like this the Hyperion won't be empty for long, guess we're going to need a bigger nursery," Cordelia groaned with a slightly annoyed, but also slightly envious, expression on her face as she shook her head and glanced over towards the hallway that led to the coat room.
"Speaking of nurseries," Connor started to say with a very nervous expression on his face before Jocelyn's eyes went wide and she slammed her heel down onto Connor's toes. Cordelia pretended not to notice but both she and Fred couldn't help but avert their gazes and grin. Angel seemed to be completely clueless as to what exactly had happened just a foot from him.
"Congratulations kid," Gunn shot back with an excited grin on his face as he stood up and then patted Connor hard on the back.
"Thanks," Connor said with a nervous and slightly embarrassed smile on his face and shrug of his shoulders as Jocelyn looked to be about ready to pass out.
"Calm down Charles you're scaring them," Fred admonished Gunn with an unhappy frown on her face as she looked Gunn's way before she turned and smiled very warmly at Jocelyn. Gunn started to say something in his defense but his voice was drowned out by the excited scream from Cordelia as she leapt up to her feet and ripped a scared Jocelyn away from Connor long enough to give her a massive hug. Angel looked on in confusion as he was desperately hoping that someone would tell him what was going on.
"You're going to be a grandfather Angel," Oz joked with a sly grin on his face as he did his best to make his letting Angel in on the secret be as casual as possible, trying to keep Angel from looking any more foolish than he already did.
"I'm going to…a…wow," Angel stammered out in total shock and disbelief before the full weight of what Oz had said hit him and a very large grin appeared on his face.
"This is all your fault you know," Faith said with an unhappy scowl on her face as she crawled around on the floor while looking for one of her earrings, being careful not to tread on her dress that had been discarded on the desk when they first entered the room and locked the door behind them.
"How is this all my fault, you're the one that shoved me in here and nearly choked me out with my own tie," Wesley shot back with a slightly playful expression on his face as he picked his shirt up off of the floor as he watched Faith crawl underneath the table wearing only panties, high heels, and other assorted jewelry.
"Only because you…made me," Faith shot back with a frustrated frown on her face as she found her earring and then let Wesley help her back up to her feet.
"I did not make you do anything Faith, at least nothing that you didn't already want to do, here's your dress," Wesley said back with a sly grin on his face and wink as before he handed Faith her dress.
"Thanks, just don't do it again tonight, if we're lucky then nine months from tonight we won't be having to rush to the hospital in the middle of the night…again," Faith said with an acknowledging smile on her face as Wesley helped her slip back into her dress and he zipped her back up.
"Lightning never strikes the same place twice Faith," Wesley started to say back with a nervous sigh as Faith turned around and smiled her cocky smile up at him.
"Except you're forgetting something dear, we're not exactly normal, the usual laws of nature don't generally apply to us, freaky things happen to us all the time," Faith said back with a sly grin on her face as she put her hands on her hips and stared up at Wesley, almost daring him to dispute her claim.
"You're not wrong, however I don't think that it works that way," Wesley said with a somewhat hesitant look on his face as he dusted his coat off.
"Hope and Dominic prove you wrong Wes," Faith said with a sly and triumphant smirk on her face as she touched up her makeup in the small mirror on the wall.
"The only thing that our children prove Faith is our love," Wesley snickered back with a wide grin hidden beneath a calm look as he began to tie his tie.
"Guess I should be glad that you're not shooting blanks then huh," Faith shot back with a sly wink and grin on her face as she half turned her head towards Wesley as she zipped her small purse back up and focused on her hair.
"There hasn't been a childless male member of the Wyndam-Pryce clan in over four hundred years Faith, in fact the fewest children that any of my ancestry have had is seven, except for my father," Wesley said with a proud smile on his face before Faith stopped abruptly in the middle of getting her hair back to where she wanted it and turned to Wesley with eyes wide and a surprised and somewhat worried look on her face.
"Seven," Faith stuttered out in a gasp as her mind went reeling from the thought of having seven children.
"Don't worry Faith, I'm not aiming for that many children if that's what you're afraid of, I just thought that I should warn you in case my mother and father ever decide to visit," Wesley said back with a reassuring smile on his face before he pulled Faith into a supportive hug. He only let her go after he felt her relax and the tension leave her body.
"You okay," Angel asked softly with a nervous and slightly unsure look on his face as he slowly sat down next to Connor and handed him a beer.
"No…and I thought that you said that I was too young to drink," Connor glumly replied with a scared stupid look on his face as he looked like he was half ready to throw up.
"You are, and don't ever let me catch you drinking after tonight, but we should be celebrating so I'll let it slide tonight," Angel replied with a nervous look on his face as he shrugged his shoulders and twisted the top off of his beer.
"Okay, guess that means that I'm lucky," Connor said back with an equally nervous look on his face as he slowly twisted off the top of his own beer.
"You are, but this Connor…this is a special occasion that I never dreamt of ever seeing, you're going to be a father, and what's more that means that I'm going to be a grandfather, guess I'm old enough," Angel said with a look of disbelief on his face as he started to raise the bottle of beer to his lips but then stopped.
"What's wrong," Connor asked with a concerned look on his face as he turned his head and saw the look of deep thought on Angel's face.
"Forgot that I gave this up," Angel answered with a sheepish smile on his face before he noticed the look that Connor was giving him.
"Why," Connor asked with an interested look on his face as he slowly took a sip of the beer, wanting to learn more about his father's past.
"Because I would lose control when I drank, the demon could come out and play, I couldn't live with myself if I had done something to someone and didn't remember it, I didn't want to wake up with blood on my hands and not remember where it came from," Angel replied with a horrified at the thought of it expression on his face before he shook his head in an attempt to dispel the images and thoughts from his mind.
"Good thing that you stopped then huh," Connor joked back with a wiry grin on his face as he kept facing forward but glanced over at Angel out of the corner of his eyes.
"Yes, for both our sakes," Angel glumly agreed as he shook his head before he couldn't help but smile and begin to laugh as he clapped Connor hard on the back.
"What's so funny," Faith asked with a half smile on her face as she and Wesley walked, arm in arm, up to the table with a beer for each of them.
"I'm going to be a grandfather," Angel announced with a scared stiff smile on his face as he turned to Wesley and Faith.
"Congratulations Angel…you to Connor," Wesley said with an enthusiastic smile on his face as he leaned over the side of the table and shook Angel's hand first before shaking Connor's.
"Congrats kid, just don't ask us to baby-sit, Hope and Dominic are enough of a hassle," Faith said with a grin through a yawn before she popped the top off of her beer and took a drink.
"I think what my lovely wife is trying to say Connor is that we have our hands full taking care of Hope and Dominic and that it would be best to ask someone else to baby-sit for your son or daughter, although now that I think about it Dominic will be a little more than a year old by the time that…," Wesley started to say with a nervous smile on his face before his expression changed to one of deep thought.
"No Wesley, it's a miracle that we've done as well as we have, I don't want to jinx it," Faith edged in with a raised eyebrow and odd look at Wesley before she took another sip of her beer.
"Thanks…I think," Connor said with a confused expression on his face before he lifted his bottle up and took a drink.
"So do you know the sex yet," Wesley asked with a calmer look on his face as he leaned back in his chair and popped the top off of his beer.
"No, it's still to early, Josie said that she wanted to be surprised so I doubt that we'll know until the baby is born," Connor replied with a nervous look on his face as he slowly shook his head.
"Good idea, that way Angel won't max out anyone's credit cards before the kid is even bored," Faith mumbled out half under her breath and half as a joke with a sly smirk on her face before she was cut off.
"Hey, I only did that when Connor was born," Angel declared with a defensive scowl on his face as he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.
"Not to change the subject but what did Oz and Willow want to talk to you about Angel," Wesley asked with a casual tone to his voice as he leaned forward slightly onto the table and looked directly at Angel and then took a quick sip of his beer.
"Nothing much, just a few unsolved murders that seemed to have a supernatural element to them," Angel replied with a calm look on his face as he shrugged his shoulders and took a packet of sugar out of the small tray on the table and began to toss it up into the air and then catch it.
"Did they need my help with anything," Wesley asked with an interested look on his face as he set his beer down on the table.
"I'm not sure, it didn't seem to be their top priority really, they seemed more interested in the baby news," Angel replied with a serious look on his face before a change in songs caught his attention. "If you three will excuse me I'm going to go find Cordy, this is her favorite song and I'll never hear the end of it if," Angel started to add with a tense smile on his face before Faith cut in with a short wave of her hand.
"Just go Angel we understand," Faith said with a laid back expression on her face before she watched Angel get up from the table and hurry off.
"Thanks," Angel said over his shoulder as he hurried off while Wesley and Faith did their best to keep from cracking up.
"I hope that they didn't give you to much trouble D," Faith said with a tired yawn as she walked back into the living room after having changed clothes and put Hope and Dominic to bed.
"Nah they were good, except for when Hope tried to dump her supper on the floor," Dawn replied with a tired smile on her face before she yawned deeply and rubbed her eyes.
"You sure that you feel up to driving all of the way back to Sunnydale tonight Dawn, you could always just crash here and call Buffy, she'd understand, it's not like it would be the first time that you'd stayed the night with us," Faith replied with a tired yawn of her own as the sounds of Wesley shutting the closet door in their bedroom filtered down the hallway and out into the living room. Their house had been only recently built and Wesley had taken great pains to make sure to extensively research the history of the sight, dutifully making sure that the property wasn't haunted or anything of the sort. Their house stood three floors high with a full basement underneath and a large barn set back away from the road on seven acres. Their house was on the edge of town and so they had small woods as a backdrop to their house. The house had originally been built to be a halfway house from drug rehab however the funding had fallen through after it was finished and Wesley had paid to have the building renovated into a home. In fact two years after buying the house the top floor was still unfinished. Wesley would work on it when he could but the demands of helping Angel rid the world of evil plus raising two young children with Faith demanded a lot of his time.
"Thanks but…on second thought I will stay here tonight, when I left Buffy seemed to want me to stay here tonight, probably because she wants some time alone with Spike," Dawn replied at first with a hesitant wave of her hand before she reconsidered and acknowledged how tired she was.
"Gee, I wonder why," Faith chimed in with a knowing grin on her face as she made her way towards the kitchen with Dawn trailing behind.
"Gee I wonder why what," Wesley asked with a tired yawn as he sat down at the table and opened up a notebook that Dawn saw was a record of the events of the day, something a lot like a journal.
"Oh nothing, just that Buffy hinted to Dawn that she wouldn't mind if Dawn stayed the night with us after watching Hope and Dominic," Faith began to answer with a tired smile on her face as she pulled out a chair next to Wesley and sat down.
"So that she can spend some time with Spike, I see," Wesley interjected with an amused smirk on his face before he started to write in the notebook.
"That's the theory dear," Faith said back with a short chuckle before she leaned up against Wesley and laid her head on his shoulder, watching what he was writing.
"Well then you're welcome to stay here tonight Dawn, there's plenty of room, the spare bedroom should be the same as it was the last time you slept here," Wesley said with a deep breath that he let out in a long sigh as he finished up what he was writing and started to lay the pen down but Faith snatched it from him and began to add something as Dawn spoke.
"Thanks, just make sure to wake me up before ten, I have to be back in Sunnydale before one tomorrow, I have a job interview and I don't want to be late," Dawn replied with a happy smile on her face as she pulled the newspaper closer and glanced at the headlines.
"An interview, who with," Faith asked softly as she finished writing whatever it was that she wrote in the notebook and then handed the pen back to Wesley.
"One of the clothing stores downtown, one of the few that I'm still allowed in," Dawn replied with a guilty and embarrassed smile on her face as she looked down and did her best to hide her face.
"You don't have to be embarrassed about it in front of us Dawn, Faith and I have both done things in our pasts that we regret and are embarrassed about, we're the last two people that are going to judge you," Wesley said with a very serious but kind tone to his voice before he turned his head abruptly and rolled his eyes at the small figure that padded into the room, leaning heavily against the wall, her mane of chocolate tresses falling down around her shoulders.
"Hope, what are you doing up, you should be in bed young lady," Faith exclaimed with an exasperated look on her face as she sat up in her chair and lightly glared down over Wesley's shoulder at their daughter.
"Tirsty," Hope mumbled very sleepily as she rubbed her eyes and looked beyond adorable as Dawn couldn't help but grin and Wesley dropped his chin to his chest and laughed.
"I'll bet you are, come here baby, momma's going to get you a glass of water and then you're going to go to sleep," Faith said back softly with only the slightest bit of sarcasm in her voice as she stood up and walked over to her daughter before picking her up and walking towards the kitchen sink.
"Is Dominic still asleep, you didn't wake him up did you," Wesley asked softly with an easy but stern look on his face as Faith and Hope passed by. Hope's only response was to weakly shake her head no while trying not to fall asleep on Faith's shoulder. "That's my girl," Wesley replied with a content smile on his face as Faith picked a small glass up out of the strainer and then filled it with cool water.
"All done," Faith asked Hope before yawning widely and turning back towards the table as Dawn slipped her watch off of her wrist.
"Yes," Hope mumbled back softly before she couldn't fight the pull of slumber any longer and her long lashed eyelids slowly fluttered closed. Faith smiled at the act before bending over just enough for Wesley to brush a soft kiss on his daughter's head. With a nod of her head towards Dawn Faith headed off towards the children's bedroom as the cell phone in Wesley's pocket began to beep.
END OF CHAPTER 3