The next morning, I woke up and reached out for her only to find her side of the bed empty. I opened my eyes and saw that it was a little after eight and Buffy was no longer in the room.
I slipped on my sweatpants and went in search of her, finding her in the living room with Kathy, watching cartoons. Buffy was doing Kathy's hair as she animatedly told Buffy stories about her friends in school, who she was best friends with and who was the cutest boy in class.
When Buffy mocked that she secretly liked the cutest boy in class, in true eight-year old fashion, her face scrunched in disgust as she said eww, boys have cooties. She and Buffy had a laugh and my heart just swelled at the sight.
Kathy noticed me and ran over to hug me around my waist.
"Morning daddy!"
"Morning, sweetheart", I greeted her and leaned down to kiss her forehead.
"Aunt Buffy tied my hair today".
"So I see. It's very pretty. Did you thank her?"
She immediately turned and said, "Thank you, Aunt Buffy".
"You're welcome", giving Kathy a smile.
"I'm going to go and start breakfast. What would you like today, kitty Kat?" Buffy asked.
Kitty Kat was a nickname Buffy had for her since she was three and as she grew older, Kathy would indulge Buffy by meowing whenever she called her that. I found it cute and sometimes, I call her kitty Kat too.
"I want pancakes!...and bacon!...and eggs…and strawberries!"
"Woah…slow down, Kathy. We don't want to be too much trouble for Aunt Buffy".
"It's no trouble at all, Angel. Anything for my kitty Kat", Buffy said before going into the kitchen.
I turned back to Kathy and asked if she had cleaned up her sleeping area which she hasn't so I sent her back upstairs.
I entered the kitchen and saw Buffy standing at the counter stirring the pancake batter in a huge bowl. I stood behind her and wrapped my arms around her, gently resting my hands on her bump and kissed her neck.
"Good morning, baby", I whispered in her ear.
"Morning".
"You left me alone upstairs".
"I'm sorry. I heard Kathy looking for you but you were still deeply asleep. I didn't want to wake you since I kept you up last night".
"Let's keep me up again tonight".
"Really? What happened to 'I'm sorry, did I hurt you?', 'are you okay?' "
"That stupid guy? Forget about him".
She giggled and I turned her around, kissing her soundly on her lips. I lifted her onto the counter and she instinctively wrapped her legs around my hips.
"Angel, we need to stop…the kids…" Buffy said, breaking our kiss.
"They're still asleep", I kissed her again.
"Kathy's awake".
"I kept her busy upstairs".
"You're seriously not thinking of…"
"I can be really fast…" and my hands began inching up her thigh closer to her warmth.
"Baby, stop…one of them will see us".
"They won't."
"I need to make breakfast".
"Make it later" and I continued kissing her neck and collarbone.
For a moment, I thought I had won Buffy over as she moaned and wrapped her arms around my neck. But suddenly we heard, "Mommy?" and we repelled, imitating two like-pole magnets.
I turned and saw Connor in his pyjamas with his hair ruffled from sleep and rubbing his eyes. Buffy gave me a 'I-told-you-so' look and gave her attention to Connor, leaving me alone in the kitchen. I sighed and went upstairs to take a shower.
Life went back to routine; I wake up, have breakfast, go to work, come back, have dinner, sleep and repeat the process. The only difference was, I did it all with Buffy.
Shortly after the baby was born, Buffy sold her house and together, we bought a bigger house so we could have more space and rooms for all the kids. Since I moved in with her, I have been renting out my apartment.
Our show was going on quite well despite the producers' skepticism since Buffy and I went public. Unsurprisingly, a lot of fans were rooting for us to be an item since 'Blara-ship' so when we officially announced, they were nothing but supportive.
Buffy gave birth to our baby boy in July and we named him Aidan Blaine. We knew we wanted the baby to have our initials, 'A' and 'B' and we tossed around a lot of possibilities before settling on the name.
Our kids adored their new baby brother and by now, Buffy and I have bonded with each others' kids. Kathy always looked forward to spending time with Buffy and together with Dawn, they are always laughing or giggling.
Liam and I eventually talked and although he admitted he wasn't that enthusiastic of the idea that Nina and I will never reconcile initially, he could see that I was very happy with Buffy. He was always fond of his Aunt Buffy but he never expected that she would someday, be my other half however overtime, with her charm and effort to get closer to him; Liam became smitten with her and like Kathy, enjoyed his weekends with Buffy and me.
Connor was very receptive to me since the beginning, probably because like Kathy, he was too young to understand what was going on. I took him to soccer practise, fetched him from school, took him to the park, I basically became a father figure in his life.
Dawn however took a longer time to open up to me. She wasn't too happy of my relationship with Buffy, disliked that I was always around and hated that I tried to be a father to her. 'I already have a dad', she would tell Buffy defiantly.
Like a teen, she lashed out and started to get into trouble which drove Buffy up the wall but I always tried to reach out to her. When Buffy was angry, I would gently talk to Dawn, just so she knows that I am not trying to be her father but will always be there for her.
Later, I found out that she has been keeping in touch with William since he got incarcerated. She wrote him letters and talked to Buffy to let her visit him but William was indifferent and did not return her letters nor affection.
Buffy told me that William was a good and attentive father to Dawn until she was seven. That was when the affairs started. Buffy knew William has not been faithful to her for a long time but stayed together because of the kids.
It was during this period he became verbally abusive with Buffy. Dawn's image of him as a loving father stayed with her and even as she got older and saw her parents' marriage deteriorate, she still held William in high regard.
His actions after the divorce disappointed her but she still held hope that one day, she will get her father back. It is this hope that kept her writing letters to him and her yearning to see him.
Buffy hated that pain William brought Dawn and although she tried to make him see that he is still a father to Dawn and Connor, William seemed not to care. I couldn't believe how much he's changed. We were not friends but we've acquainted enough times for me to know that William was a decent guy when he and Buffy started dating.
What triggered his change was a mystery but he told Buffy that he was sick of it all; being a husband, a father and his routine life. He wanted adventure and it triggered his affairs, his verbal abuse but to cause harm to another person was not something even Buffy saw coming.
After being disappointed by William enough times, Dawn sadly accepted that the man that she put up on a pedestal is gone. Seeing this made me even more committed to make sure that I was always there for her.
When Buffy couldn't volunteer at her school fair due to her schedule, I cancelled my plans to play golf with my buddies and went in her place. When she has sleepovers at her friends', I would volunteer to send and fetch her back when Buffy couldn't.
When Buffy was hell bent on not allowing sleepovers at our house, I convinced Buffy to let it happen and even promised to clean up after them. Little by little, her resolve crumbled and now, when she talks about me, she refers to me as her 'cool stepdad'. I was elated.