Phoebe sat in the circle of people, looking around in an almost scared manner as though she was being surrounded by a bunch on strangers. Buffy noticed the look on her daughters and nodded for Angel to retrieve their second gift from their hiding place. After Angel left the room, Buffy picked up a large present and dropped it in front of Phoebe, who looked at it with gleeful eyes.
'You can open it, sweetie,' said Buffy, nodding her approval.
Phoebe pushed herself towards the present, which towered over her, and pulled at the wrapping paper. The wrapping paper split and a huge smile burst over Phoebe's face. Phoebe stood up, swaying slightly, and grabbed a clump of the wrapping paper, pulling it off in one swift motion. Everyone watched in amusement as Phoebe fell into the wrapping paper, resulting the present to topple over.
Dawn laughed and stood up, deciding to give her niece some help. In one quick motion Dawn tore off the wrapping paper and squealed at the huge black teddy that was almost as big as her.
The bear was above Dawn's waist and was as wide as an armchair. The black bear had blue eyes and a red bow wrapped around its neck, its hands drooped by its side. Everyone grinned at the big bear as Phoebe began to cuddle it, loosing her fascination in the wrapping paper now.
'Good call,' whispered Dawn, squeezing Buffy's shoulders.
Buffy grinned. It had been her idea to get Phoebe the huge black bear as she remembered having one during one Christmas. It didn't take long before it ripped and the stuffing had made a huge mess. Her Mother refused to get her another bear that size again – well, at least until Buffy was able to clean up the mess herself.
Angel returned downstairs carrying an enormous present decorated in pink wrapping paper. Everyone cocked their eyebrows as Angel set it down at the door. No one knew about the second gift, Buffy had only told them about their huge teddy bear. Angel winked at Buffy, who smiled and stroked her stomach fondly, before turning to Phoebe.
'Phoebe, guess what I've got?' he called.
Phoebe pushed herself up from the teddy and turned around, eyeing up the huge present. She stood up, with a little help from Oz, and clambered over to her Father with amused eyes.
'Fwor me?' Phoebe asked, looking up at Angel.
'Course it's for you!' Angel laughed, standing besides her.
Phoebe began to claw at the wrapping paper, without any help this time, and opened this present faster than the big bear. A few minutes later, Phoebe revealed the rocking chair beneath all the wrapping paper. The wood looked shiny and new, and Phoebe was engraved on the wood across the top.
Phoebe climbed up on it and cried out in laughter when it rocked backwards. Everyone laughed and praised Angel on his choice of present. They watched for a few minutes while Phoebe rocked backwards and forwards, laughing to herself the whole time.
'Come on, Pheebs, come open some more presents,' instructed Buffy, who had been to the bathroom and returned to see her daughter still on the rocking chair.
Buffy picked up Phoebe and balanced her on her hip as she brought her towards the pile of presents. She plopped Phoebe in front of the presents and stepped backwards, telling Phoebe it was ok to open them.
Phoebe launched towards Dawn's present, which was decorated in blue paper with gold stars, and dragged it back over near her parents. Angel patted her on the head and gave her a thumbs up, which she giggled sweetly in return. She hurriedly pulled off the wrapping paper and was greeted with a white bear.
'Touch it, Phoebe,' said Dawn, smiling.
Phoebe looked up at Buffy, as if she was asking for permission, and Buffy nodded.
Phoebe poked the bear in the stomach and waited patiently, keeping the white bear under her gaze. Slowly the bear changed from white to red; the colour spreading across the bear like ink on paper. Phoebe squealed and clapped her hands together in amusement.
'Wow,' smiled Buffy.
She crouched down slowly, her bump weighing her down, and poked the bear. Within a few minutes the bear had turned orange.
'Changes colours every time you poke it,' grinned Dawn proudly.
'That pretty awesome, Dawn,' praised Faith, eyeing up the bear in amusement.
'Yeah. Well Done nibblet,' added Spike, nodding at Dawn.
Dawn returned the smiles and praises, the proud smile never faltering on her face, before Giles passed Phoebe his present. Phoebe took the purple decorated present and ripped off the wrapping paper in one quick motion.
Buffy chuckled as Phoebe stared at the three books: The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, and My Tall Book of Colours. Phoebe immediately reached towards the Tall Book of Colours and opened it up, staring carefully at the page.
'Thank you, Giles,' smiled Angel.
'You're very welcome. I am glad to see that she isn't as unfriendly to books as her Mother,' replied Giles, flashing Buffy a smile.
Buffy rolled her eyes, though she couldn't help herself from grinning.
Phoebe turned each page of the book, studying the colours carefully, before putting down the book. She stumbled over to Giles and hugged his legs as her own little thank you. Giles patted her head full of blonde curls and smiled. Phoebe walked back over to her presents and dropped down in front of them, reaching towards Faiths.
She pulled off the yellow wrapping paper and a box fell out. On the front of the box read 'V-smile' with a picture of a learning video game system. Phoebe tried to open the box, although it was shut tightly so she unable to.
'Wow, educational games from Faith!' gasped Buffy mockingly.
'And Spike!' smirked Faith, grinning back.
Angel sat besides Phoebe and promised her that she could open the box later when Daddy got some batteries. Phoebe nodded sadly, though brightened up when Willow pushed her present towards her.
Willow's present was the smallest out of them all. However, when did size ever matter? Phoebe pulled off the bow from the top of a red box and passed it to Angel for him to open. Angel smiled and opened the box, a huge smile spreading across his face.
Buffy watched her fiancée and daughter. She could feel the warmth radiating off the two of them like they were two hot balls of sunshine. Buffy loved the bond between Angel and Phoebe, it was unbreakable. Buffy patted her stomach and thought of the twins growing inside of her. Her family would be complete when she gave birth.
Buffy waddled forward and peeked over Angel's shoulder.
In the box lay a bracelet – a charm bracelet. A small silver cross was hanging off it, twinkling from the light of the sun. The charm bracelet was a beautiful idea and gift for anybody; a lot of thought had obviously gone into this present. Buffy smiled warmly at Willow and Oz, thanking them for their beautiful gift.
'Don't worry, we have decided to buy her a charm every birthday,' said Oz, returning the smile.
'Thank you,' said Angel.
'It's our pleasure,' grinned Willow, thankful that they liked her gift.
'Sorry to be snippy but can Phoebe open my present now?' asked Cordelia.
Buffy wondered how she had ever forgotten the large present. The present was long and tall, Buffy couldn't work out what Cordelia had brought her daughter. Angel picked up Phoebe and carried her over to the large present, sitting her down in front of it.
Phoebe instantly grabbed the paper and ripped it off. It was five minutes before Phoebe had cleared the present of wrapping paper, leaving a small pink convertible in its place. The car stood there, looking as shiny and realistic as a normal car would have, whilst Phoebe watched it with excited eyes.
Cordelia stepped forward and opened up the drivers' door. She picked up Phoebe and placed her inside, closing the door behind her.
'If she steps on the gas pedal then the car will move,' said Cordelia happily.
Cordelia pressed down on the pedal and the car shifted forward like a real convertible would have. Phoebe screamed happily and clapped her hands together, looking at Cordelia with gleeful eyes. Cordelia grinned and ran her hand through Phoebe's head of curls.
Buffy sighed.
'What's up?' asked Angel, his tone sounding rather worried. 'Don't you like it?'
'Of course I do!' smiled Buffy, nodding her head approvingly. 'It's just that I never expected that her birthday would be this perfect. Normal, you know?'
Angel hugged Buffy's shoulders with one arm and dropped his other on her large bump. 'I understand what you mean. I can't explain how much her smile warms me up. Our family is perfect.'
Buffy snuggled into his embrace.
******************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Authors Note: YAY! AN UPDATE – FINALLY! HAHA. I would like to thank; Silverspoon, ba2006 and MacKenzie creations for their amazing birthday present ideas! And thanks so much to everyone who has replied and kept this story alive! x