April of 2014
The Council Headquarters: Main Grounds: Section C
Long lines of Slayers and recruited soldiers from various countries marched the grounds of the ginormous estate. Their arms swung in unison with each step. Their eyes glued facing forward, never wandering around to look around their surroundings.
Others were running in long straight lines, trying to keep up with the supernatural speed of the Slayers.
In another section of the main grounds, soldiers took turns wrestling with the Slayer's in hand to hand combat fighting. They ran different simulations using their fists, weapons, and whatever was around them. Fighting demons and vampires was much different than fighting humans. Demons had a certain speed and power than humans just did not possess. These soldiers needed to learn that quickly, otherwise, they will be pulverised in the field.
The soldiers training on these grounds were the best of the best.
Standing tall and with authority, Graham watched the soldier recruits and the Slayers as they completed the dreaded obstacle course, which Graham had been making increasingly harder and harder throughout the years.
Dressed in a crisp unmarked army field shirt with the sleeves rolled all the way up his arms, past his elbows, a pair of cargo tactical tucked into a pair of combat boots and an ACU patrol cap hovering over his eyes.
Watching one by one as his troops in training climbed up the rope, Graham waited for someone—any one of them to slip.
Pushing off his back foot, Graham marched over to the soldier that had slipped from the rope with burning hands.
The soldier ignored his pain and stood at attention with his arms stiffly to his side, chest out, chin up.
Graham stood nose to the nose with the elite soldier and screamed, "With your imablance you had just lost your enemy and killed your entire team? Do I find that acceptable?"
"No, sir!" answered the former Mossad soldier with a heavy Israeli accent.
"You will do this again, until you get it right! Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir!"
Graham's jaw tightened and pointed to the back of the line. "Get into the back of the line, Mizrachi!" Graham watched as the soldier ran to the back of the line and the next one in line stepped up to climb up the rope to get to the otherside of the large wall blocking the next course.
In the distance, Xander and Buffy drove up the green hills overlooking the massive grounds filled with her recruited international troops and newly-called Vampire Slayers.
"Who would've thought that this would be what we were doing?" said Xander, looking out to the magnificent sight of organised troops marching, running, wrestling, and completing the dreaded obstacle course.
Buffy smiled, "Not a million years."
Xander put the golf cart into gear and continued to drive down the path towards the obstacle course area.
As they passed the long lines of troops marching. The instructor marching alongside the flanks of troops and Slayer's walking in organised lines shouted something that was inaudible to Buffy's ears.
The lines of soldiers snapped their heads towards Buffy and raised their right hand, fingers, and thumb extended, and joined together. The palm faced down, and placed the tip of the right forefinger on the rim of their ACU caps, slightly to the right of the eye.
Still very much uncomfortable with the sign of respect, Buffy awkwardly waved her hand with a tight smile adorned on her face.
"How many times do I have to tell them, not to salute me?" whispered Buffy, leaning closer to Xander.
Xander chuckled and continued to drive the golf cart.
Arriving at the obstacle course, Xander turned the key in the ignition and stepped out of the golf cart.
Buffy began to push herself up from the golf cart seat with one hand while the other rested over her heavily pregnant belly.
A hand extended out to her.
She smiled and took the offered hand to help her out of the golf cart. "Y'know, it was so much easier getting into that stupid cart then getting out of it."
Riley chuckled. "The trials and tribulations of being nine months pregnant."
"Yeah, if this doesn't convince Sam of the 'joys of pregnancy' I don't know what will."
Riley laughed and guided Buffy out of the golf cart.
Buffy thanked him for his help and pushed the rolled up sleeves of her blazer coat higher up her arms.
"Graham isn't gonna be too happy that you're out here," said Riley, holding his hands into the pockets of his combat pants. "He's very protective over you."
Buffy rolled her eyes with a smile. "Don't I know it. I can't even walk up the stairs without him hovering. He's acting like—"
"Like you haven't given birth before?" Riley smiled.
"—Like I'm not a Slayer." She finished her sentence then frowned as she thought about what Riley had said. "Yeah! You're right! I've done all this before!" Buffy said, gesturing towards her rounded belly.
"Buffy," Riley gave her a sideways look. "You may be a Slayer but you're a Slayer carrying Graham's child. I've never seen him fuss over anybody the way he does over you and Ryder."
Over the past year, Riley and Sam had been happily working at the Council. They were looking forward to commanding one of the sub councils across the world. After a decade of bouncing around the world on long tours and dangerous missions, they were getting antsy to getting back out there.
Buffy had promised them to send them somewhere exoitc. The Finns' much preferred that instead of someplace more homely like the UK, Italy, Germany, or even Russia.
It was nice to have Riley back in their lives again. Buffy was so glad that Graham once again had his best friend. In fact, him, Xander, and Riley had become quite the trio over the past months.
Riley and Sam were good friends to them.
Looking back over his shoulder, Graham spotted Buffy talking to Riley just outside the obstacle course perimeter.
"A-ten-hut!" An instructor shouted, spotting Buffy standing with Riley.
Immediately, every Slayer and soldier that had been running the course halted whatever they were doing and stood at attention. Their shoulders square, arms stiffly at their sides. Fingers curled with the tips of their thumbs alongside and touching the first joint of their forefingers. The heels of their feet touched together in a sharp line, with the toes pointing out equally. Their heads were erect as they faced straight to the front with the chin drawn in so that the alignment of the head and neck is vertical.
Buffy frowned at the soldiers and Slayer's saluting her. That was a costume she would never get used to. She had tried so hard to tell them to not salute her, Buffy stopped complaining about and just... let it happen.
Panic pounded in Graham's chest, noticing Buffy's hand slide over her heavily pregnant belly.
He ran over to her, breaking his mastique of a hardened drill instructor to a very concerned husband.
Standing before his wife, he held her face between his hands, checking her for injury. "What is it? What's wrong? Is it the baby? Oh my God, are you havin' the baby? We are we havin' the baby?" He spoke a mile a minute in a very un-Graham-like fashion, which amused Buffy.
"No, the baby is fine. Not time yet."
"Then why are you here? You shouldn't be out here! What if you fall or trip or-or trip and fall? You should be at home. But I know you won't stay at home 'cause you hate not being busy and…" Buffy gently held her finger over his lips to silence him. She calmly stepped forward, craning upwards to brush her mouth over his.
"I'll continue the course," Riley excused himself, walking back to the obstacle course. He looked over his shoulder and smiled to himself feeling like he was now realising for the first—although the same thoughts occurred to him a hundred times before of just how right their lives had turned out.
"You need to relax." said Buffy, brushing the tip of her nose against his.
Graham's arm snaked around her back, pulling her close. "I can't."
"Clearly," she said with heavy sarcasm in her voice. "Well," her voice grew low and husky as her fingers began to slowly walk up the buttons of chest and touched the skin of his throat, "I know a few things that we can do to… um… hasten this baby business along."
Graham smiled kissed her neck as he whispered, "Someone's been readin' Murkoff again."
Buffy pulled her head back to look at her husband. "Well, I mean, it has been like six years since the last time. I needed a refresher."
Taking her hand, Graham pulled her back to the golf cart, he helped inside and ran to the other side and excitedly jumped into the driver's seat. He turned the ignition and began to drive away leaving Xander on the grounds and without a ride back to the main building.
"Summers, you shouldn't be drivin' around in this thing." Graham frowned and the golf cart wobbled over the bumpy areas on the grass.
"Well, you won't let me walk anywhere. Besides," she looked at him, "isn't it better riding in this thing than knowing if I were walking, I could trip and fall or something?"
Graham's frown deepened. "This thing is a death trap. What if-if you got into an accident."
"Honey, it's a golf cart. It doesn't go faster any than 20 miles per hour."
Graham's eyes comically widened. "That's too fast!" He shouted with surprise. "No more. That's it! You are no longer allowed to leave the house until the baby is born."
Buffy's fingers touched the back of his neck and slid down to his round muscular shoulder. "Not gonna happen."
"Buf—"
Buffy shook her head. "No. You can 'Buf' me all you want. I'm not doing it. The baby will be coming soon but you're not gonna lock me in Kensington Palace until the baby comes."
"She comes," he pointedly corrected.
Raising her brows, Buffy softly smiled at him. Over the past nine months they had been debating the sex of their unborn child. Buffy was sure that the baby was another boy. Graham thought otherwise and was certain the baby is a girl and Ryder thought the baby was an alien.
"You still think it's a girl?"
"Oh, honey, I know so. You're right about a lot of things, Summers, but not this. Not. This." He tossed her a quick glance with a slanted smile across his face.
Buffy shifted closer to him, circling her arm around his neck and pulled him closer to plant a kiss on his mouth. Forgetting himself, Graham fell deeper into the kiss and stopped the golf cart to give his wife the attention that she desired in their kiss.
His hand slid over her large swollen belly and smiled into the kiss.
A small kick halted the kiss. Graham looked down at his hand over Buffy's belly and laughed with excitement. "Did you feel that?"
"Yeah, the baby thinks I'm a soccer ball." said Buffy, removing her arms from around Graham's neck and instead, hugged his arm holding her thigh.
She rested her head over his shoulder and closed her eyes wearing a dreamy smile on her face.
Graham put the golf cart in gear and continued to drive up the path back towards the Council and assist his beloved wife in getting this baby out of her body. He turned his face, burying his nose into her blonde hair and pressed a loving kiss.
