Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)
Two months went by in the Scooby household, and excitement was building among the house's occupants as Faith's slayerversary fast approached. Xander, however, was beginning to feel a little frustrated. Whenever he had dropped by for visits during the last couple of months, he couldn't help but feel that his friends were hiding something from him, and he wanted to know what it was. He hated being out of the loop, yet he always seemed to be lately. If a situation arose and Buffy forgot to call somebody, you could bet it would be him. Willow never remembered to call either, but that was understandable. She had her family to worry about now. Xander had reached a point in his life where he was beginning to think about starting his own family. The problem was that whenever he thought about this, in his mind it was always with Anya. If Anya was still alive she probably would have made him feel better about feeling as distant from the other Scoobies as he did lately. But she wasn't still alive, and she couldn't make him feel any better. Xander Harris was definitely out of the loop, and he didn't like it one bit.
--
Because Faith, unlike Buffy, had explained to most of her friends about her wish, why she was receiving it, and what she was going to wish for, the day of her slayerversary was being treated as a very important occasion. Giles and Andrew had flown over from England, and tonight, the night before the party planned to celebrate the Dark Slayer's milestone, Angel, Spike, and Illyria were due to arrive.
--
"Sorry we're late" said Spike when he and the rest of the Fang Gang made their way into the house. "Angel thought he saw Lorne out the back of some nightclub and spent an hour trying to follow him."
"It wasn't him" Angel sighed. "But at Christmas Cordy said that talked the other powers into letting her talk to him awhile ago, and she said that his resolve to never see us again is starting to weaken a little, so that's a pretty good sign." The vamp's eyes lit up when he spotted Willow holding her now three-month old baby daughter. "This must be Lily." The Fang Gang had not met her yet as the recent rise in the senior partner's attempts on their lives had made making the trip to Cleveland difficult, but they (meaning Angel) had sent a lot of presents.
"Yup, that's our girl" Willow smiled, passing the baby to her vampire friend. She felt somewhat closer to Angel since her children had come into her life, because they were both parents now, and only a parent could ever truly understand another parent.
"Aww, you're a real little cutie-pie aren't you? Yes you are!" Angel tickled Lily's stomach, making her giggle.
"Nice one Red, you just had to give him the bloody baby didn't you?" said Spike. "Now he'll be all baby talkin' and coochy-cooing and we won't be able to shut him up."
"But she's so cute, yes she is! She's a cute widdle baby" said Angel in a ridiculous baby voice. "Come on Spike, how can you resist that face?"
"The kid is cute, I'm not disputin' that" said Spike, smiling over at Willow and Tara, "I just like the older ones better, you can do more with 'em." He turned to Sophie as an example. "Hey Little Red, wanna come watch my DVD box-set of 'Passions' with me? It's got witches and a doll that comes to life in it."
"Okay Uncle Spike" Sophie replied, following the vamp into the lounge room.
--
That night, Faith sat awake, waiting for the Powers to return and grant her wish, as she had been informed would happen a week before. Buffy had been sitting up with her, but had fallen asleep against her girlfriend's shoulder. Echo, who was now reaching that clumsy age when his legs were too long for the rest of him, was curled up at her other side. Suddenly, an all-encompassing white light filled the room. But, unlike the one that had appeared the week before, or the one that had appeared on Buffy's slayerversary, this light cleared to reveal Cordelia.
"Hey" she smiled brightly. "I get to grant your wish!"
"Great" Faith grinned. "You already know what I want, make it so Queen C."
"Gladly" Cordy grinne back.