"Damon, can you get Jonathan ready, please?" Buffy called from the kitchen.

"Already on it." Damon said, walking in with ten month old Jonathan in his arms.

"Where's Lexi at?"

"Here I am, mommy!" Five year old Alexia ran in with Alaric chasing her down. "I put on my dress."

Buffy laughed. "It's backwards, sweetie."

"Oh. Well, I like it."

"Can we turn it around before aunt Dawn gets here?" Alaric asked. "I think she'd like to see it on the right way."

"Um, I guess." She turned and ran back out of the kitchen.

Alaric sighed and turned to follow her. "I hate that Jo had to work today. She's so much better at chasing down munchkins."

"This is good practice for you." Damon said. "The twins will be here before you know it." Alaric sighed and walked out of the kitchen to chase down Lexi.

Buffy looked over at Damon. "Did you…."

"Baby, everything is set. Dawn is not going to care if the presents are perfect under the tree. Willow and Tara are not going to care if the forks are on the right side of their plate. And I know that Xander will only be thinking about the food."

"I know, I just…. I want this Christmas to be perfect. It was a mess last year."

"You were pregnant."

"That's no excuse."

Damon laughed. "Baby, take a break." He handed Jonathan over to her. "Love on your child."

Buffy grinned at her son. "He's really starting to resemble you."

"I still think he looks more like you." Damon put his head on Buffy's shoulder and made faces at his son, making him laugh.

"Hello?" Caroline's voice called from the foyer.

"We're in the kitchen!" Buffy called. A moment later, Caroline, Elena, and Bonnie walked in with Matt and Tyler not far behind them.

"The place smells great." Bonnie said.

"There he is!" Elena cooed, walking over to take Jonathan from Buffy. "Oh, you're getting so big!"

"Isn't he?" Buffy asked.

"Where's Jeremy?" Damon asked.

"He's running late." Elena said. "He'll be here soon."

"Aunt Elena!" Lexi screeched, running back in and tackling Elena's legs in a bear hug. Elena was used to it and had braced herself.

"Why do I never get that reaction?" Caroline asked Bonnie.

"Probably because you're always super busy and haven't gotten to spend much time with her." Bonnie said as Lexi came to hug her.

"Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie, do the magic trick!" Lexi jumped up and down in front of Bonnie. "Please, oh please, oh please! I've been good."

"Buffy?" Bonnie asked.

"It's Christmas. Go for it."

"Ok. Come on." Bonnie led Lexi out of the kitchen.

"How are you?" Caroline asked Buffy, giving her a tight hug.

"Oh, I'm great."

"The tree looks amazing." Matt said.

"How many of those presents are from Stefan to the kids?" Caroline asked.

"About ninety-eight percent." Elena joked.

"There's a second tree in the library with even more presents under it." Damon said.

"There'll be more when Dawn gets here." Buffy said.

"You guys have really gone all out this year." Tyler said.

"Well, it's Johnny's first Christmas. Buffy wanted to make it special." Damon said.

"Where are Willow and Tara?" Elena asked. "I thought they were flying in early."

"Willow couldn't get off, so they had to bump their flight to a later one." Buffy said. "Stefan is going to pick them up."

"Oh, I thought he was picking Dawn up."

"Nope. Dawn is driving down from New York."

"Shows how much attention I've been paying."

"Well, you've been finishing up medical school."

"I still don't know how Stefan puts up with me."

"Because he's head over heels in love." Damon said. "Give me my son." He took Jonathan back from Elena.

"What about Xander?" Matt asked.
"He's riding with Dawn." Buffy said. She looked out the window. "And they just pulled in. Matt, can you and Tyler go help them unload presents?"

"Of course." Tyler said, walking out with Matt.

"What do you need me to do?" Caroline asked.

"Um," Buffy looked around the kitchen. "Can you take that cheese plate out to the living room for everyone, please?"

"Of course!" Caroline took the plate and headed out of the kitchen.

"Elena, call your fiancé and ask him his ETA, please."

"On it." Elena pulled out her phone and followed Caroline.

Damon bounced Jonathan in his arms. "So far so good, huh champ?" He laughed at the baby babble coming from his son. "I think he agrees. Tell mommy to stop fretting over everything. It's going to be perfect."

"Mama!" Jonathan suddenly said. Buffy and Damon stopped in their tracks and turned to their son.

"Did he…." Buffy started.

"Mama!" Jonathan said again.

"His first word! Yes!" Buffy broke out into a grin and took Jonathan from Damon. "Good job, sweetie!"

"You let me down, Johnny boy." Damon said, grinning from ear to ear. "You were supposed to say 'dada' first. That was our deal."

"Mama!"

Buffy laughed. "I win again."

Damon shrugged. "Well, there's always the next one."

"Next one? Who are you planning to have another one with? We've got the perfect family. A girl and a boy. We don't want to upset the balance."

"There wouldn't be an upset. I mean, the third baby is the insurance baby."

"Insurance baby?"

"You know, in case one of the first two is a super genius or something, the other two will still have each other to be non-geniuses with."

"That's the weirdest logic I've ever heard."

"Aunt Dawnie!" Lexi screeched out in the foyer.

Buffy looked at Jonathan. "Let's go see your aunt." They headed out to meet Xander and Dawn. Dawn's boyfriend James wasn't with her.

"He's with his family for Christmas." Dawn explained, swinging Lexi by her arms in front of her.

"He was probably scared we'd toss him in the fire." Damon joked.
"Maybe. God, look at you, handsome man! You're getting so big!" Dawn cooed at Jonathan.

"He said his first word." Buffy announced.

"Mama?"

"Yes." Damon sulked.

"There's always the next one."

"I still want to know where this next one is coming from." Buffy said, handing Jonathan over to Caroline's waiting arms.

"Oh please. You and Damon were destined to have a big family." Xander said, hugging Buffy tightly. "Where's Will and Tara?"
"They're on their way. Stefan went to get them. Elena, did you get a hold of him?"

"He said they're on their way back now and he thinks it'll be another ten minutes."

"Hey, when are you and Stefan going to get a place together?" Dawn asked Elena.

"We've been asking that question for a very long time." Damon said.

"When I finish medical school." Elena said, sticking her tongue out at Damon. "We've been looking at places."

"You should just get one of those places and leave the house to me and my family."

"You mean you don't want me to move in here after medical school?"

Damon wrinkled his nose at her. "My house is full enough."

"Your house is huge." Matt said as he, Tyler, and Alaric came back in carrying armloads of presents.

"Dawn!" Buffy cried.
"They're not all for the kids."

"Don't feel bad. Stefan provided more presents for Lexi and Johnny than their own parents did." Elena said to Dawn.

"Merry Christmas everyone!" Jeremy called, walking in with arms full of presents.

"There's the art school drop out!" Damon said.

"I didn't drop out for good. I'm just taking a break." Jeremy kissed Buffy's cheek. "Food smells great."

"Thank you." Buffy said.

"Um, should we put some of these presents in the library?" Alaric asked. "We seem to have run out of room under this tree."

"No. Just let them spill over. We'll be opening everything under that tree tonight. The other tree is all for Christmas morning."

"You guys don't do Santa?" Tyler asked.
Damon glanced at Lexi sitting with Bonnie on the couch reading a storybook. "Santa visits, but he only leaves stocking presents." He lowered his voice. "That fat man in a red suit is not getting all the glory for the big, awesome toys that mommy and daddy buy. Hey sweetie!" Damon caught Lexi up as she ran and jumped at him.

"Santa said he would bring me a puppy." Lexi announced. "He said so when I saw him at the mall a couple of weeks ago."

"Yeah? Well, Santa and I had a talk and the puppy is going to wait until your little brother is older."

"Why?"

"Because puppies and babies don't mix."

"Why?"

"We're not starting this again, are we?"

Lexi giggled. "Why?"

Damon laughed and let out a growl, playfully dipping his face into his daughter's neck and blowing a raspberry. She let out a loud squeal and wriggled away. The door opened just then and Stefan came in with Willow and Tara right behind him.

"Sorry we're late." Tara said.

"The airport was madness." Willow said. "Madness! Lexi!" She scooped Lexi up in a big hug as she screamed happily.

"God this house is noisy all of a sudden." Stefan said.

"You should definitely leave it then, brother." Damon said playfully as he helped Stefan carry in Willow and Tara's bags.

"I'm going to go get dinner put on the table since everyone is here now." Buffy announced.

"I'll help." Jeremy said.

"So will I." Elena said.

Damon and Stefan put the bags in the guest room Buffy had set up for Willow and Tara and went down to join the festivities. Damon headed over to join his wife as she watched everyone interacting happily. He wrapped his arms around her waist. "We are so incredibly lucky." Buffy said.

"I'm the lucky one. You gave me all of this." Damon kissed her neck. "I love our family."

"Let's add one more." Buffy said quietly.

The sound of throwing up startled Damon awake. He looked around his and Buffy's room and realized it wasn't Christmas and they weren't surrounded by family and friends. He sighed heavily and got up to go hold Buffy's hair back.

"I'm sorry I woke you up." Buffy said as she laid her cheek against the toilet lid.

"It's ok." Damon lied. "Are you better?"

"I thought morning sickness was only in the first trimester."

"Maybe your body is just making up for lost time."

Buffy snorted. Damon got her a clean rag and helped her back into bed. Her stomach was more pronounced and she was on the verge of "popping" soon according to Alaric's classes he'd signed her up for. "What were you dreaming about?" Buffy asked, curling up against him.

"Nothing. It was stupid."

"You looked happy."

"I'm happy now." He pulled her back closer against his front.

"What was the dream about?"

Damon sighed. "Do you remember our little scenario that we talked about?"

"Which one?"

"The one where we were both human and had a family." Buffy was quiet for a long moment. "I told you it was stupid."

"That's not stupid." She turned around and looked up at him. "I've dreamed about it too. Recently."

"Have you?"

"Of course. It's hard not to when we're faced with this little real life scenario of ours. The what ifs are always buzzing in my head these days."

"Do you ever mourn what we can't have?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because if we were both normal humans, we wouldn't be here right now. I wouldn't trade you and what we have for anything in the world."

"At one point, we thought that we had the opportunity to become full blown humans. You didn't want it."

"You didn't either. Have you changed your mind?"

"I don't know. No." Damon shook his head. "It's hard not to think of all the possibilities being human with you would offer. But our future together…. The one where we can go anywhere and do anything…. I love that future. I've always loved that future with you."

"It's still ours."

"Is it? I feel like it's suddenly been yanked away." He placed his hand on her small bump. "This changes everything, Buff. This changes that future no matter how much you don't want it to." Buffy took a breath. "It's no longer just the two of us. It's you and me and Alaric and these babies."

"Not forever. We'll have something to keep us occupied for the next few decades."

"And the next and the next and…. Those kids will grow up and have kids and those kids will have kids and the worst part about it is that we'll never be able to truly be their parents or their grandparents. They're not ours."

"Families are what you make them. We'll love these kids and their kids and their kids…. Just like they're ours. We'll raise these kids with Alaric and make sure they're healthy safe. But even parents and grandparents need to get away sometimes, so our future isn't dead. We can still get on our boat and sail off to faraway lands like we planned."

"What about watching them grow old and die? How can you stand the thought?"

"I can't. Not really. But I'd rather them grow old and die than be forced into eternity like we were. You and I? We got lucky…. So very lucky to find each other to share eternity with. Not everyone gets that lucky. I'd rather these babies and their babies and so on…. I'd rather they live out long human lives than to face eternity not knowing if they'll ever find something that makes them smile the way you make me smile."

"How do you always have the answers?"

"I don't. But I have a lot of time to think since I don't need as much sleep."

They were silent for a long time, listening to each other breathe. Damon was concentrating on the heartbeats of the babies and his wife's. It was the strangest sound to hear her strong, yet slow and steady heartbeat combine with the two small, almost fluttering heartbeats inside of her. "I want these babies to be ours." He said softly. "Just yours and mine."

"Me too." Buffy said just as quietly.

"I didn't know I wanted kids with you until you were holding Hope in your arms. I could see that future very clearly and I wanted it suddenly more than anything."

"I loved watching you with Hope. You were amazing with her."

"This hurts more than anything I've ever dealt with in my long life. I don't know how to deal with it properly. Or if there's even a proper way to deal with it."

"There' not. We just…. We have to wing it."

"I'm apologizing in advance for anything that happens these next few months. I just…. I don't know what to do except try to protect you and the babies anyway I can."

"Why?"

"Because I'm your husband. I'm supposed to protect you…. I'm supposed to keep you safe…. And I failed you once. I don't want to fail you again."

Instead of arguing that he couldn't protect her from everything and there was nothing he could've done against this particular situation they found themselves in, she just reached up and stroked his cheek, running her fingers through his hair. "I love you, Damon. We'll get through this. We'll figure it out day by day. We'll be ok." She said it not just for Damon's benefit, but for hers as well. "We'll be ok."