Aug 03 – NYC Princess
Chapter Summary: Buffy adores her life in NYC and her extended family. **Part of the 2018 LiveJournal's Twisted Shorts FaD** challenge.
Challenge: for the livejournal 2018 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.
Timeline: Immediately after Daddy House chapter; about season 2ish of L&O. Hand wave to make timelines match up.
A/N: I'm pretending that Ben doesn't have kids because I didn't remember him mentioning them when he was on the show. I'm also not sure they mentioned Adam's wife's name, so I made one up.
Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Law & Order characters belong to Dick Wolf and NBC. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
Ben Stone's Apartment
Ben stared at the social worker with a bit of exasperation. "You want me to take custody of a 5-year-old girl?"
"At least for a little while as we search for another family member who can take her. You were the only one from either side of her biological family we could contact on short notice. If you won't take her, we'll have to put her into foster care," the lady explained, hoping that he relent.
While he didn't have anything against the system per se, he knew there were enough cases where the child suffered in some way.
Sensing that he was wavering, the woman quickly suggested, "Perhaps a short trial period to see if you get along?"
"I assume there was no pun intended with your wording," he remarked dryly. He sighed and said, "Very well, we'll give it a shot for a little while."
"My colleague has her down in the car right now. I was hoping you would agree and thought it would be best if she was here to meet you," she admitted.
"Before I can change my mind?" he said with a slight chuckle. Her sheepish look gave him his answer. She left to go get the girl.
Several minutes later, there was a knock on his door and he gathered himself before opening it. He still wasn't sure this was a good idea; he didn't know anything about raising kids and had more than his fair share of enemies in the city. Those concerns didn't diminish when he looked at the child, either. She was adorable…and a perfect target.
"Hello, sir. My name is Buffy Summers," she introduced herself with a maturity he didn't expect from a girl so young.
"Hell, Buffy. You can call me Ben," he told her with a welcoming smile. "Did Ms. Harper explain to you why you're here?"
"You're going to take care of me now that Daddy Greg went to be with Mommy and Daddy," she replied with wet eyes as she fought the urge to cry again.
"Oh boy," Ben muttered under his breath. He was in serious trouble. "Would you mind telling me a little more about yourself? What you like to do, that sort of thing?"
She smiled, feeling a little happier now.
The social worker watched with a healthy dose of optimism that this would work out. She wondered how long it would last.
Several months later…
Buffy bounced into the DA's office and right into Adam Schiff's lap, much to the astonishment of Ben and his fairly new ADA, Claire Kincaid.
"Hi, Grandpa Adam!" she chirped, stunning them further.
"Grandpa?" Ben prompted.
Adam smirked a bit and explained, "Buffy said she never had a grandpa – or grandma for that matter – and wondered if I would mind."
"So now you have four uncles – Mike, Lenny, Don and Paul – and a grandpa?" Ben asked his little girl.
"And Grandma Vera!" she added happily.
Ben considered the timing of his idea and decided that it wasn't too bad. She gave him the opening he was looking for, even if it meant he had an audience. "What do you think about making it official that I'm your Daddy Ben?"
"For real and for keeps?" Buffy asked hopefully.
"Yes," he said before she jumped from his boss' lap and launched herself at him.
"I love you, Daddy Ben!" she proclaimed.
Ben smiled and kissed the top of her head, "And I love you, Buffy."
After 'Old Friends'…
It had been a particularly grueling case, shaking Ben's faith in himself. It's possible that Ann Madsen might have been killed by the Russian mob anyway but forcing her to testify was akin to signing her death warrant…at least in his mind. It was bad enough that he had turned in his resignation to Adam earlier that evening.
"Do you need snuggles, Daddy?" Buffy asked, seeing the pain in his eyes.
"I sure do, sweetheart," Ben agreed. She had explained the first time she saw him upset during a case that when her Daddy Greg was hurt or upset, she helped him by giving him snuggles. She was a world-class snuggler, and it always lightened his heart when she climbed into his lap and hugged him.
The next day, Briscoe and Logan came to talk to Ben about his decision and were immediately alarmed when they saw his front door slightly ajar. Pulling their weapons, they carefully entered and called out for him.
They swept the house and finally discovered his body on the bathroom floor. It was clear he had been murdered.
They carefully used the phone to call it in to dispatch. Then Lenny asked the question they had tried to ignore, "Where's Buffy?"
A/N: So I'm guessing that you really hate me now! I went through a half dozen fandoms before deciding on this one.
