Warnings and disclaimer in Chapter 1. Enjoy.
She entered the kitchen to a chorus of 'Happy Birthday' just as she thought. Giles, Anya, Tara, and Andrew were congregating in the kitchen. Someone had gone up and brought the twins down, her money was on Anya. The only person missing was Xander.
"Did Buffy need help?" Joyce asked.
"No," Dawn answered, distracted by the pile of presents she could see in the living room. She returned her attention to her mother. "She was still a bit tired. We still have time right?" Joyce nodded. Dawn sat down, a big smile on her face as the conversation washed over her.
"What?" her mom asked, poking Dawn in the knee lightly.
"Buffy wished me a happy birthday." Dawn felt her smile grow bigger, though she wasn't sure it could grow anymore. Joyce smiled too, knowing what those simple words would mean to her youngest. The conversation stopped momentarily as everyone smiled at that before resuming. Dawn just basked in the glow of her family.
Her birthday fell on a Wednesday this year. That night they were having a family only dinner party, but on Friday her friends were taking her to the Bronze for an all-night party. Her mom even relaxed her curfew for that one night only and the best part was everyone agreed to stay away during her Bronze time. Not that she didn't love everyone here, but she did have a circle of friends that she needed to hang with too.
"So how did it go today?" Giles asked once the conversation had died down a bit. Everyone stopped talking, giving Joyce their complete attention.
"Everything's fine," Joyce said tersely, not even turning away from the stove. Everyone gave out a sigh of relief. Since Buffy's transplant she needed more medical checkups than ever before. She had to go back every two weeks at first, which had been lengthened to every month. Ben kept saying if she kept improving it would soon be every two months, then every three, but she wasn't quite there yet. "Ben wants to try another adjustment with her medication. He thinks the current mix is making her queasy, which is why she's not eating as much as he hoped. She's still underweight."
"But," Willow started to protest before thinking about what she said. "That actually makes sense." Everyone nodded. Buffy hated hospitals with a vengeance before her reconditioning. Now it was almost impossible to get her to go anywhere near the hospital, even if she was dying. They found out the hard way she would never admit to being sick in any way.
"She doesn't admit she's sick so she doesn't get taken back to the hospital," Dawn said sadly.
"That doesn't make any sense," Anya piped up.
"To us, no," Giles added, "but in her mind it does." Anya huffed and rolled her eyes.
"At least she's getting better at admitting she's sick when we ask her," Tara piped in, trying to lighten the mood. "And we're all getting better at reading her. And actually going to the hospital isn't quite as traumatic as it was before." Everyone nodded their agreement. Ben and Abby helped a lot, making the hospital a much friendlier place. It also helped that they were so willing to come for a house call when Buffy needed medical attention. With their help they had managed to nurse Buffy through the various colds she had gotten since her transplant without actually admitting her to the hospital. Much to Joyce's never ending gratitude.
"But there has been no significant worsening of her condition!" Joyce finished with forced cheerfulness. She paused for a moment. "No significant improvement either though."
"It's still better than before," Tara told her comfortingly. "And way better than dead." Everyone nodded their agreement when the front door opened again. Xander numbly made his way into the kitchen.
"Xander!" Anya shrieked, passing over Billy to Andrew and rushing to her husband. "What's wrong?" Her tone caught everybody's attention and he soon found himself the focal point of everyone's stare.
"I was called in to see Mike today," he mumbled dazedly.
"Were you fired?" she asked, trying to be comforting, but everybody could see the wheels in her head turning as she subtracted Xander's income from the family budget and began figuring out how that would affect everything.
"No," he muttered, stopping her thinking in its tracks.
"No?" she repeated. "Then why are you looking like the world is ending?" She looked around to the rest of the group. "The world isn't ending, right?"
"It's not Ahn," Xander said, coming out of his funk a little. "It's just. He wants to leave the company to me."
"What?" Anya gasped, not even able to mentally compute the profit from this statement.
"Not right away," he told them, overcoming his shock in the face of their own. "He wants to retire in a few years and he wants to start grooming me to take over for him."
"Why you?" Giles asked before realizing how that sounded. He quickly added. "Don't get me wrong, I think you've a marvelous career in construction, but why wouldn't he leave the business to his own children? Or another relative?"
"He's an only child, as was his wife," Xander explained, retelling what he was told. "Both their parents are dead, as well as any aunts and uncles. They had two children. Their daughter died early from cancer. Their son was in our class. He died during graduation. Roger Williams."
"I remember him," Willow said. "He was a quiet kid, able to flit between social circles but not really belonging to any one group." Xander nodded. That was what he remembered too.
"I don't know if it was the mayor snake or the vampires, but something got him at graduation. They got his mom too. She survived but had some sort of mental breakdown. She started commenting on everything that goes on here instead of ignoring like the rest of the town. She never said anything to anyone but him, but it was enough to open his eyes. Unfortunately, she couldn't live with the truth she was finally accepting. She committed suicide shortly after, leaving him completely alone."
"That's so sad," Tara commented.
"Yes sad," Anya agreed. "Let's get back to you getting the business."
"He's getting to the point where he wants to retire," Xander explained, "but he doesn't want to sell the company. He wants to give someone half the business while he lives out his last years on the other half. Then in his will he will leave that person the rest of the shares when he finally dies."
"And he wants that person to be you?" Giles asked, trying to wrap his head around the situation.
"He said I have a knack for construction," Xander told them, "and I know what's going on and help fight back."
"You do," Joyce told him proudly. "I think you'll do an amazing job with a construction company." Xander smiled at her.
"It's not just that though," he said, frowning once again. "He wants me to go to college and get a degree in Business Management before he'll turn over the company to me. He said he'd even pay for it."
"That's no problem," Willow told him. "U C Sunnydale has a Business Management program. You could easily get a degree and not even need to leave town."
"Yeah," Xander started, "but I've always been defined by my non collegey life. That's always been my thing. Besides," he lowered his voice slightly, "I don't think I'm smart enough for college."
"Alexander LaVelle Harris!" Joyce snapped. Xander winced when he heard her tone. It was never good to be on the receiving end of her Mom Voice. "You are not a stupid man. You are a very intelligent and smart individual. You can graduate college if you try."
"Besides I'll help," Willow volunteered. "I got you through High School. I can get you through college too."
"Yeah but High School was different. I didn't have a job or family commitments like I do now."
"Buffy had a job," Willow pointed out, "and I got her through it. I'm not entirely sure how but I did."
"Hey!" Joyce and Giles said at the same time. Willow sighed before turning to her best friend.
"You made it through High School despite all the date drama, apocalypses, vampire attacks, crazed witch burnings, magical mayhems, zombies, and general Hellmouthy scary crap. Not to mention the Mayor ascending to a giant snake and trying to eat everyone during graduation. And yes, Buffy was the Slayer and handled most of those things, but you were right there in the thick of it every time. If you really want to do this, you can do it. And I'll be there for you every step of the way."
"Thanks Will," he said, feeling infinitely more calm now. "Maybe I could even take a few design classes? Maybe check out becoming an architect." He was over his panic and was starting to see possibilities.
"Maybe I can go with you," Anya said. "Apparently there is a degree that will let you charge people to tell them how to spend their money."
"I believe that's called Accounting," he said, pulling his wife into his arms, "and I think that would be perfect for you."
"I think it's settled then," Anya announced. "We should look into starting next year. That will give us plenty of time to get everything settled and ready."
"Wait a minute," Giles called out. "You can't just up and leave. Who will help in my shop?"
"I will," Andrew volunteered. "I can't wait to work with you every day. In fact, I can start tomorrow."
"Wonderful," he said, cleaning his glasses to hide his irritation. Willow smirked.
"I guess it doesn't hurt to look into it," Xander admitted as the different food items slowly finished cooking. Joyce pulled the dishes from the stove and oven, garnishing them before putting them on a plate to be carried into the dining room. In no time the table was set and the food was out. They were heading to the dining room when there was a knock at the front door. Everyone looked at each other before heading to the front door.
"Surprise!" Faith called out as she and Daniel entered the hallway. "Happy Birthday D." Daniel came over and enveloped Dawn in a big hug, lifting her off her feet and twirling her in the process.
"We weren't expecting you Faith," Joyce said as she gave a welcoming hug, one of the few people who could get away with this. Faith shrugged.
"The weather's going to be turning pretty soon. We wanted one last road trip before we had to put the hogs up for the winter and figured this was as good a place as any." They made their way back to the dining room, this time using the hallway instead of cutting through the kitchen. They saw Buffy slowly wheeling herself to the room. "Hey B," Faith greeted, clenching her fists when they automatically came up. Not to fight though but to help. Help that Buffy rarely wanted from any of them.
"Oh good you're up," Joyce said as she neared her daughter. "I was just about to come get you. Dinner is ready." The entire group stopped as they waited for Buffy to get through the door. Buffy threw her a distracted smile as she slowly pushed herself forward. "We'll have to put out two more settings though." She immediately backtracked to the kitchen. A few minutes later Buffy had finally cleared the doorway and the group headed in. Joyce had beaten them in, and was laying out the extra plates.
"How are my favorite kids of all time?" Daniel asked, reaching for Billy while Faith did the same with Alex. "They've gotten so big," he said. He settled Billy with practiced ease, who promptly started trying to eat his shoulder.
"I think they're teething," Joyce told them as everybody took their seats. Faith and Daniel put the kids in their swings, while Andrew produced their bottles from the supply belt he still wore. Buffy stopped her chair next to her mother, her arms shaking with the exertion. "They're chewing anything they can get their hands on," she continued, throwing her oldest a worried glance. Buffy didn't notice, but everyone else did. She got up and repositioned the wheelchair slightly to get it square with the table. Again Buffy didn't notice.
"She had a nightmare earlier," Dawn told everybody. "Plus she's always a little extra weird on checkup days." The Scoobies nodded as they began dishing up their food. Joyce put a spoon in front of Buffy. It was the test they used to see how much control she had each mealtime. On a good day she could handle a fork and spoon easily, feeding herself just like old times. Joyce sighed as she clumsily picked up the utensil, but couldn't keep it from shaking. This was not going to be a good day.
She took Buffy's plate and put some mashed potatoes on it, hopefully not enough to get everywhere, and put it in front of her daughter. She watched Buffy as she dished up her own plate, adding extra that she would be feeding to her daughter. Buffy managed to get her spoon to the plate and was trying to scoop up some potatoes. When she finally did get some on the spoon, she slowly raised it to her mouth. But her arm was shaking the whole time, shaking so bad that most of the food fell off before it reached her mouth. Faith and Daniel watched worriedly. This was the first time they had visited since the feeding tube was removed. They threw Joyce a concerned glance.
"It's okay," she told them, as she filled her own fork and reached over to feed her daughter. Buffy obediently opened her mouth and took the food, all the while trying to fill up her spoon again. "It's normal on a bad day." They nodded and returned to their own meals. Slowly the conversation drifted up again, talk about college and the stores where the main topics today. A half hour later almost everyone was done.
"Why don't we bring the presents in here?" Giles suggested, looking to the other end of the table. Joyce nodded, as she filled up another forkful for Buffy. For some reason Buffy was eating slower than normal. She was still attacking her plate of potatoes though and eating anything Joyce gave her. Joyce filed that away mentally, knowing everyone else was doing the same. Hopefully it was just one of the weird behaviors she had picked up on checkup days. If it continued over the next few days she would go to Ben, otherwise she would chalk it up to a quirk.
"We don't actually have a present for you," Faith said as Xander and Willow moved the stacks of presents over to the table after Anya and Tara cleared the dirty plates to make room. "More like an invitation. If you ever need a weekend getaway or a month long getaway, feel free to come over to our place. We'll show you the town and do things that," she paused when Joyce coughed discretely, "you can absolutely tell your mother about cause they will be safe and boring."
"Thanks Faith," Dawn told her, grinning slightly, "but I was kinda hoping to borrow Daniel for a bit after graduation."
"What?" he asked, looking at Dawn. Joyce also gave her youngest daughter her full attention.
"Now don't freak Mom," she started, "but my friends and I were talking about things we could do between graduation and college and Janice mentioned backpacking through Europe and I realized I really want to do that."
"Do you realize what sort of," Giles paused, looking uncertainly in Buffy's direction, "things roam the undeveloped wilderness of Europe?" Since they discovered Buffy's negative connotation to anything supernatural, they had tried their best to keep Slaying and supernatural issues and words away from her ears, much to Joyce's delight.
"Yes," Dawn told them calmly. "I read about them in one of your books." Giles backed down, looking chastised.
"And if they realize you're special and try to kidnap you?" Xander asked. Dawn rolled her eyes.
"Who better to protect me than Daniel? And if there's something he can't handle we'll come home right away." Willow opened her mouth, but Dawn beat her to it. "Look, I'm not saying we don't need to discuss it or I'm leaving right away. It won't be until after graduation and that's still a long way off. I might change my mind. But I think I want to do this. Europe is where most of the art, the history, and the ideals that have shaped our country originate from. I want to explore that, and not in a tour group where they hit the landmarks and leave out everything else. I want to experience Europe, not just see it. Just think about it, please."
"We'll see," Joyce told her. Dawn had made some really good points. And hadn't she felt that same compulsion to travel abroad. She shared a look with Rupert, both of them thinking the same thing. Her three-month stint in England and a drunken couple of nights neither of them could rightly remember had brought them all here.
"So let me get this straight," Faith said, studying the nineteen year old carefully. "You want to steal my boyfriend for a few months, and you want me to be fine with that?"
"That about sums it up," Dawn said. Daniel was smirking, clearly as excited as the trip as Dawn was. He had also wanted to see the world, which was one of the reasons they took so many road trips during the summer months, but they had never left the country. Faith sighed.
"The things I do for Summers women," she grumbled, looking heavenward.
"Maybe you can come with us?" Daniel suggested.
"And leave home for months at a time?" Faith asked. "V would have a heart attack if I even suggested it." She thought for a minute. "Maybe I can join you for the highlights."
"Maybe," Joyce said, realizing she probably wouldn't win this one but not willing to give up just yet. Dawn smiled and began opening her presents. She was nearly finished when Buffy finally turned her head away, refusing to eat any more food.
"Finally," Anya said as she cleared away the last plates. Giles and Xander took all the remaining food into the kitchen. Joyce would put it away when they were done with dessert. "I thought you'd still be working at it while we had cake and ice cream."
"Speaking of cake," Tara said as she brought out the cake. Nineteen candles burned brightly on top. Someone dimmed the lights as they group broke into song. Dawn was blushing furiously by the time they were finished, but wouldn't trade this moment for anything in the world. She made her wish and blew out her candles, plunging the room into darkness momentarily before the lights came back on. Giles cut the cake while Willow and Tara began dishing out everyone's favorite ice cream.
"Thank you," Joyce said as a piece was passed her way. She bypassed the cake, instead getting a little of the ice cream on her spoon and turned to her daughter. Buffy turned her head away, but Joyce didn't give up so easily this time. "Buffy," she said. Buffy turned toward her mother and Joyce took the opportunity to push the spoon into her lips, hoping Buffy would be willing to take a few bites of the sugary treat once she realized it wasn't more dinner. "Here you go." It worked. Buffy took a few more bites of the ice cream before turning her head again. This time Joyce let it go.
It was dark by the time the party winded down, the various couples slowly heading back to their homes. Towards dusk Spike had made an appearance, giving Dawn a birthday present before heading to patrol. Faith and Daniel offered to go with him, but he declined. Nothing extraordinary was happening, just the run of the mill patrol, and he said they should enjoy their vacation. As the group cleaned up the cake and started working on dishes Buffy slowly rolled out of the dining room. "Do you need any help getting ready for bed?" Joyce asked as she rolled by. Buffy shook her head and continued on her way. She and Dawn shared a look.
"I'll go," Dawn volunteered. "I still have some reading to do." Joyce nodded and Dawn left to follow her sister, detouring just long enough to get one of her schoolbooks.
"Something's wrong," Daniel said when they were sure Buffy was out of earshot. "She's different."
"It was just the checkup," Joyce assured them. "It throws her schedule off. Plus, she's extremely uncomfortable anywhere near the hospital."
"You sure Ms. S?" Faith asked. "Cause I have to agree with Danny boy. Something's off with her."
"Positive Faith. She'll be fine tomorrow."
"Then why did not so little D follow big sis into the bathroom?" Faith raised her head threateningly, but Joyce just sighed.
"Someone always does," she explained. "She can manage by herself pretty well, but if she needs help in the bathroom she has no way of letting us know. Someone usually waits in my room until she gets into bed."
"So she's done with the nightly ritual?" Faith asked. Joyce sadly shook her head.
"Unfortunately no. She still has no feeling below her ribcage so the B and B part of her nightly routine is still on." Faith winced.
"So is she down for the night?" Faith asked.
"No, it's still early. Why?" Faith shrugged.
"I just can't shake the feeling that something is wrong. I thought we could hang for a bit, maybe I can figure out what is bugging me so much."
"You can go play some video games with her," Dawn said as she came back downstairs. "She might not last long, but she's not quite ready to sleep yet."
"Video games?" Faith asked. Dawn nodded.
"It helps with her hand eye coordination," Joyce told her. "And gives her something to do when she doesn't want to get out of bed."
"Does that happen very often?" Daniel asked in concern.
"Not anymore," Dawn told them, "but when she first got out of the hospital she could go days without getting out of bed. That's why we put the VCR in her room and later the X-Box."
"You guys mind?" Faith asked, pointing toward the stairs. They all shook their heads. Faith hurried up the stairs, walking nonchalantly into Buffy's room. "Check out your crib B. They got you tricked out real good." Buffy looked over and smiled weakly at her. "I hear there's some gaming action going on in here. You game?" Buffy shrugged, which Faith took for a yes. Faith walked over to the game collection, finding two and holding them up to Buffy. "So what's it gonna be? Zombies or unholy, undead demony things?" Again Buffy shrugged. "Zombies it is." She popped the game in, grabbed the controllers, and jumped on the bed. She handed one of the controllers over to Buffy. "Game on," she said as she made herself comfortable.
They played for over an hour before Joyce called a stop. Faith kept her attention more focused on Buffy than the game, but by the end her anxiety had been tempered somewhat. "I'll be right back honey," Joyce said as she followed Faith out of the room. They stopped at the top of the stairs. "Do you feel better?"
"Yeah," Faith admitted. "I figured out what was bugging me. She's been distracted, but I guess that could have been cause of checkup day. She seemed more focused as the night went on." She stopped when they saw Andrew coming out of the nursery. "What is he still doing here?"
"I live here," he said proudly. Joyce rolled her eyes.
"Andrew. Go to bed." He nodded before turning back to Joyce.
"I just checked on the twins. They don't need to be changed. The nightlight is on. The baby monitor is working. They are fast asleep."
"Andrew!" Joyce said again, more sternly this time. He nodded.
"Babyman will retire for the night. Goodnight kind ladies." He gave them each a quick bow then quickly walked down the hall to his room, quietly shutting the door behind him. Joyce sighed and walked into the nursery, spotting Daniel sitting on one of the rocking chairs looking perplexed.
"He still lives here?" he asked quietly, mindful of the sleeping children in the room. Joyce sighed as she checked on the twins for herself.
"We tried kicking him out once," she said, smiling softly at their sleeping forms. "He made it to the front porch before he just sat down, looking so lost. Just like a lost puppy. I didn't have the heart to go through with it."
"You know he is evil right?" Faith double checked. "And just plain weird." Joyce laughed.
"If you can get past that part he's not too bad, unless he starts quoting movies I've never seen. Besides, he does babysit for free, and he helps with the cooking and cleaning."
"He cooks?" Daniel asked. Joyce nodded.
"Really well too. Usually he has dinner ready for us when we get home. The only problem is he likes to experiment a bit, just like Dawn, so we're never really sure what we're eating." She looked over at her grandson and the dark Slayer. "I need to see to Buffy. You can take any of the guest rooms or you can go over to one of the other houses. It's up to you."
"Do you mind if we just stay here for a bit?" Daniel asked. Neither he nor Faith were really tired yet, despite driving all day long. Joyce nodded.
"Just shut the door behind you when you're done," she told them, entering her room. She left the door connecting her room and the nursery open a crack, just enough to hear if something was wrong. Faith dimmed the lights before climbing onto Daniel's lap. He pulled her close as the two of them cuddled and watched the babies sleep.