A/N: I'm returning to the previous posting schedule for this fic – every other Sunday. I've almost finished writing the fic and it's coming to a grand total of 30 chapters and then an epilogue. Once the fic is completely written and chapters are beta'd, I'll start updating every Sunday.

A/N2: The last scene actually contains a smut scene. In accordance to the rules of this site, it's been removed. However, if you are old enough to read it, feel free to go to my profile and follow the link to Twisting the Hellmouth. You can read the chapter in its entirety there.

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Buffy, what in the hell were you thinking?" John asked, his disbelief clearly heard through the phone line.

"If I had gone over there with all of my stuff it would have scared her half to death," Buffy argued. She had already had this conversation with both Dave and Jack.

"That's highly besides the point. It could have been a trap. You're smarter than that," he said in exasperation.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Buffy really didn't want to go through all of this again, so she tried to change the subject. "So, how's Cleveland?"

"Oh, no! No distractions!"

"John, I get it, really. Don't remove my weapons in the field. Never going to happen again. Can we move on, please?"

"Did he and Dave already do this?" He asked, sensing there was more than what she said.

"'Til they were blue in the face," she said with a sigh.
"Fine, but if this happens again, I'm coming back to knock some sense into you," he warned. "Remember, you're not infallible. You can make mistakes."

"Agreed, so how's Cleveland?" She asked, thankful to be moving on.

After a moment he asked, "Is Faith always like that?"

"Like what?" She prompted with a grin.

"Lewd."

"Only on a bad day. On good days she's downright naughty," Buffy teased. She laughed when she heard him groan. "I wouldn't worry about it. She's just letting you know that she likes you. How about everyone else?"

"Giles was a bit leery until I proved I knew what I was doing. He's got me teaching martial arts classes to the younger ones."

"That's great," Buffy said.

"Yeah, except they're preteens and they think I'm cute," he said in disgust. "Stop laughing! It's not funny!"

"But it is!" She insisted between giggles.

"I don't like fending off advances from children. I keep waiting for them to write something on their eyelids."

"What?"

"Like in Raiders of the Lost Ark. The girl wrote 'love you' on her eyelids and kept doing this slow blink thing so Indy could read it."

"Oh, yeah. It's been a while since I've watched it," she said, suddenly remembering the scene. "But it's still cute."

XXXXXXXXXX

Buffy nervously wiped her hands on her jeans. While she knew the other members of her team had individually come over to Dave's house for dinner, this was her first time visiting.

"Oh, for cryin' out loud, relax, will ya. Sharon's going to love you," he said, grabbing one of her hands and giving it a light squeeze.

"You've met her?" Buffy asked, looking up at him.

"Several times, and I'm still here," he said with a chuckle before knocking on the door.

A few moments later, the door swung open to reveal a twelve-year-old boy with light brown hair. "Jack!" he cried out, "Come in! Come in!"

Buffy winced at the invitation, but didn't say anything.

"Caleb, what did I tell you about inviting people in?" Dave asked, coming down the hallway.

"Sorry, dad," the boy said with a sigh.

"Summers, Jack. Good to see you," Dave said, shaking Jack's hand. "This is my second oldest, Caleb."

Caleb waved hello as Dave introduced Buffy to him, and as he shut the door behind them, he said, "Let me take your coats."

Jack helped Buffy out of hers before shrugging his own off. Dave quickly hung them up before leading them into the living room.

"That's my oldest, Joey," he said, indicating the teenager sitting on the sofa who looked like and older version of Caleb. The boy didn't even look up from the video game he was playing. "You'll be lucky if you get a word out of him that's not dripping with teenage sarcasm," he said with a roll of his eyes, before moving to lead them farther into the house.

He had barely taken a step before a small child came running through the living room. Dave quickly swooped down to pick him up. He promptly turned the boy upside down and hooked the boy's legs over one of his powerful arms. "No running in the house munchkin. At least, not while your mother is home," he added, causing the boy to giggle.

Dave easily swung him back up into a more traditional hold. "This is our youngest, Matthew. He's seven. Matthew, this is a member of my team, Buffy Summers, and you already know Jack."

The little boy shyly waved at them before burying his face into Dave's shoulder.
"Ack, stop that. You're giving them the wrong idea," Dave teased the boy. He looked back at his guests. "Normally he'd be talking your ear off. Come on, Sharon and Elizabeth are in the kitchen." He led them through a swinging door.

Buffy smiled at the large, cheerful room. It had been done in a bright yellow with green accents with an island in the center providing even more countertop space in what was obviously an often-used room. A woman, no taller than herself, was bustling about the kitchen with a young girl.

Dave leaned over and in a stage whisper said, "It's best to stay out of her way, she gets a little nasty if she has to work around you."

"Don't be saying such crazy things, David. You know it's only you who gets in my way in the kitchen," came a distinct southern voice.

The slayer blinked in surprise. She knew Dave had met Sharon while he was stationed in Mississippi, but for some reason she just never expected her to still have the southern drawl.

Sharon handed the girl a spoon and said, "Keep stirrin' the sauce," before turning around to greet her guests.

Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled back with a scarf. Even though she had had four children, she hadn't lost her girlish figure. A fact that was accented by the neat clothing she wore. Although the look was marred only slightly by the brightly flowered apron she wore.

"Oh, sugah, you must be Buffy," she enthused, giving her a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Aren't you just a pretty thing?"

"What am I, chopped liver?" Jack teased.

"You old flirt," she said, stepping back from Buffy to smack Jack on the arm with the towel she held in her hand. "Always stirrin' up trouble," she said, reaching up to give him a hug and a kiss.

Buffy grinned. It seemed Sharon knew him pretty well. Although, in all fairness, anyone who met Jack for more than five minutes could figure that out.

"You look like you're staying well fed. Good. There's nothing worse than a man who doesn't have enough meat on his bones." Sharon turned back to her daughter. "Elizabeth, you can stop stirring now and come meet our guests."

Elizabeth obviously took after her mother's features, but at eleven years old, she was already as tall as her mother. It looked like she would get the best of both worlds – her mother's looks and her father's height.

After introductions were made, Sharon shooed them out of the kitchen. "Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes. David, why don't you show them around the house."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, heading for the door, still holding Matthew in his arms.

While they toured the home, Buffy noticed that the house was neat, but it had a very lived in feeling to it. Whether it was from the football stashed in the corner of a bookcase where a son probably quickly tucked it away, to all of the family pictures that adorned the walls and shelves she couldn't tell but it was definitely a comfortable, loving place to live in.

Fifteen minutes to the second later, Sharon announced dinner was ready and the two oldest boys rushed into the dining room. Matthew squirmed in Dave's arms until he let him go. The three adults followed at only a slightly more sedate pace.

Buffy's eyes widened at the amount of food that had been prepared. She had only ever seen a dinner like this laid out for special holidays. There was enough food to satisfy even the pickiest of eaters.

Conversation flowed easily through the meal, although Joey only let out the occasional grunt or monosyllabic answer to questions. She could see Dave fighting the eye roll at the bullish behavior, while Sharon sent the oldest son a stern glance.

It was from that look that Buffy finally began to understand exactly what Jeff and Simon had been talking about. There was pure steel behind it and she would have hated to have that same look directed at her. To his credit, Joey acted like it didn't bother him, but she couldn't help but notice that afterwards he was a little more polite when asked a question.

After dinner, the two oldest boys wordlessly cleared the table and started washing dishes without being asked, while Elizabeth took care of putting the leftovers away. Sharon thanked each of them in turn for doing their chores and smiled lovingly at them. Then she turned to Dave and gave him a pointed look.

"Right, right," he said, standing up. "Jack, why don't you and I take Matthew down to the den. He's got a new game you should see."

For a moment it looked as if Jack was going to object, but Sharon sent him a pointed look as well. "Sounds great," he said, quickly standing and following Dave and Matthew out the door.

Buffy suddenly found herself alone with the powerhouse that was Sharon Dixon. Her nervousness from earlier in the evening slammed into her as she felt like she was meeting the parents of her boyfriend. Not like she had ever experienced that before. Angel and Spike's parents had long since passed away, and Riley's lived halfway across the country. This was new territory and it terrified her.

"Oh, come on now, sugah. Don't look so scared," Sharon said with a soft smile. Her southern accent giving her a brief sense of relief. "I'm not goin' to hurt ya."

Buffy tried to smile back, but she knew that it probably came out looking more like a grimace.

"I just want to check and make sure that Jack is treating you okay."

The slayer blinked in surprise. "What? I thought this was going to be you assessing me."

"I already know you're wonderful. My David speaks very highly of you. He's had nothing but good things to say about you since the day you joined his team. He's a good judge of character, and if he says you are good people, then you are. Because of that, I'm making sure that Jack is taking care of ya."

Buffy blushed. It was rather nice to have an older, female figure looking out for her. While Giles was great, he wasn't her mother and there were things she would never be able to discuss with him because of it.

"Yeah, he takes care of me," she said shyly.

Sharon reached out to pat one of her hands. "That's good. If he doesn't, you just let me know and I'll take care of it. Now, there's something else I wanted to discuss with you."

"What's that?" Buffy asked, fear gripping at her again, only less so this time.

"I know you haven't lived out here for very long, and there's no way you've had a chance to meet a lot of people outside of work, 'cause I know how much of your time it eats up. I just want you to know that if you ever need anything, all you have to do is ask."

"I will," Buffy said.

"No, I mean it," Sharon said, gripping Buffy's hand. "I know people say that all the time, but from where I come from, your friends are as close as family and you take care of family. And I don't care how small it is. If Jack is gone and you need a cup of flour, you just call me. Day or night, and I will help you."

Buffy could feel the skin around her eyes tingling slightly as they wanted to tear up, but she blinked a couple of times to force them away. This woman she had just met was opening her arms and welcoming her into her own home. A home that Buffy could clearly see was filled with love and laughter. She wasn't sure how she had been graced with such a wonderful team and then family, but she wasn't going to argue with it.

"I'll remember that," Buffy said sincerely. "On one condition."

"Name it."

"I want to hear the whole story about the day Dave met you. I've heard his version, and now I want the truth," she said with a wicked grin.

Sharon laughed. "Oh, sugah. I do like you."

XXXXXXXXX

"You and Dave are such cowards," Buffy said with a laugh as they walked down the hall towards their bedroom.

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked defensively.

"The two of you left me alone with his wife. She gives you one little look and you both scurry off like mice running from a cat."

"Yeah, but I see you survived," he pointed out, reaching out to pull her into his arms.

"Only because she likes me and she feels bad for me having to deal with the both of you all the time," she said with a smirk.

Jack frowned. "And we did not scurry."

"Right," Buffy said sagely with a nod of her head. "You're men, and men don't scurry. You scamper," she said, rising up on her toes to give him a quick kiss.

"Why do I think it's a bad idea that we introduced you to Sharon?" He mumbled against her mouth.

"Because you know me all too well," she replied, pressing her lips more insistently against his own.