The new and greater Summers family, including Beth, Brandi and their husband Oliver Pike, as well as Joyce's apparent almost-beau Doyle, had headed out for an breakfast at an IHOP before heading for the get together at the beach. Buffy was amazed at the babies that were already seven months old and a little fidgety.
"Why are they so jumpy?" she asked Dawn quietly as the little ones finally went to sleep.
"Oh, they just sleep better when the 'Cats or 'Drags are around Buffy. And they're used to sleeping together like little puppies instead of separate in the stroller."
"Oh," the Blonde Slayer of this Earth remarked, smiling at the small people, "And I can't believe you're a Slayer and a mom at the same time."
Beth spoke up, leaning over on Pike as Brandi happily scarfed down blueberry crepes, "Well, with seven Slayers, I think it's going to be the norm pretty soon."
Pike choked on his coffee as her words and stare hit home, Brandi stopping her assault on food to beam, "Really?"
"Yes!"
Squeals from both and the infectiousness of the moment catching up Joyce and Buffy and Dawn as Oliver Pike just shook his head in a daze, "I guess I'll be needing to square things away with the Captain and Ash, huh?"
"Why's that, Pike?" Dawn asked as she took the opportunity to actually eat while her kids were asleep.
"Well, I was going to free-load a while before taking them up on their plans to get things going and all, but I'll need to set a good example if I'm gonna be a dad, right?"
The women nodded with approving smiles at the young man. And Doyle, quietly holding Joyce's hand the whole time, could only think 'nice save, lad.'
Alexander and Willow spent the morning overseeing the team efforts to preempt Acathla, build up an amazingly airtight and well-evidenced case against the Mayor and his human minions, and other problems turned up in the course of the Long Slide Home. Willow's parents were out of town, as usual, and that really left only her Uncle Hiram as immediate relation, but they decided to wait on revealing their new status outside of the group until they were completely ready.
The time for the beach rendezvous came, and the two of them, the babies and the Rupert and Deidre from Beth's world, headed out to integrate the family further.
The beach had been a very good idea, and the groups had had the time that morning to better integrate; Rupert and Jenny had swung by just a little early to visit, and they'd driven them over. Food from four or five different places meant that everyone had something of a comfort food to enjoy should nervousness arise, but all went quite well; the only shadow of any kind was the question of whether the Resets were over. The Powerful Beings had told them it would be so, but…
Two o'clock came and the group headed back to the ship; it had been determined that they would face the Time of Reset as a whole.
The others that had traveled through the various worlds were happy that those serving, for want of a better term, as Catalysts of Destiny, were united once more with their homes and families.
Kirk, Scott, Hunt, Harper, and Rommie had relied on the help of the former vampires as well as the Watchers for assistance in carrying out their survey assignments. The locals were all too pleased to be engaged fully in human life once again, even if those they helped were nearly as lost as they at the bewildering daylight universe of daylight twentieth century Earth.
Maggie, Ash, Anakin, and Anakin's mother handled the details of the ship and making sure all was in order for possible relocation of flora and fauna to the targeted property acquisitions, and in this they'd drafted Jonathan and Jesse. The 'Cats and 'Drags seemed to like the two well enough, but none had felt overwhelmed with a desire to bond, so in this at least the two young men were only overwhelmed by meeting characters come to life and the craziness of their space menagerie.