"Thank you everyone for coming today to remember our mother, Joyce Summers," Buffy began with Dawn by her side. "It means a lot to us to know that our mom had impacted so many of your lives."
"So before we cut the cake, my husband, Xander has made a little video about what mom meant to all of us," Dawn explained, signaling to her husband to get the video started.
Buffy and Dawn sat down with their families and friends while Xander fumbled around to operate the video system. Thankfully, Willow, the tech genius of the bunch, was able to get the video started in half the time it took Xander to get the video into the player.
The camera shook slightly as Xander was trying to place it on the tripod. It had only been a day since Joyce had died and the girls approached him with this idea, so Xander sat in front of the camera waiting to find the right words. "Hi, I'm Xander, Xan Man by some, and occasionally Nighthawk. I'm Joyce's son-in-law, but I knew Joyce long before I started to date Dawn. For the longest time, Dawn was just Buffy's kid sister and Joyce was the mom I always wanted. The kind who would ask you how your day was going and would make you cookies if you got upset. The cookies were the best. Joyce was the best and I'm sure that she is in a better place. Someone like her has to be."
After Xander's confessional, the camera cut to another section of the video. Off screen, slight arguing could be heard. "Mom, do I half to?" Liam complained. He loved his grandmother, but he didn't want the whole world to see him like this. It was embarrassing. What if kids from school saw?
"Liam Alexander Summers! Get your butt in that chair, sit down, and stop whining. You can brood later," Buffy said harshly pushing her son in front of the camera and into the hot seat.
That had earned a few chuckles from the audience, much to Liam's displeasure. Buffy smiled at her son. Though he didn't show it in public, Joyce's death took a toll on him. When Buffy got him from school, the day her mother died, he froze. Eventually Buffy walked him to the car in silence before he broke down in the car.
"What am I supposed to say?" Liam asked his mom, who was concealed behind the camera. Buffy shot a you've-joke-to-be-kidding-me look at Liam. "Okay. I got it." Liam put his hands defensively in the air. "Grandma was one of the best people I knew. Being in school made it hard on my parents to raise me, so I spent a lot of time with Grandma. We baked the cookies Xander would always eat, so we eventually started to hide them from him." Xander was just about to protest, when Buffy had shushed him. "She read me stories and even took me to the gallery. I'll miss Grandma, I'll miss her a lot." Liam was on the verge of tears but quickly wiped them away before staring at his mother. "There mom, you happy?"
Buffy felt bad as soon as the camera stopped recording that day and the guilt was coming back watching her son. She regretted pushing him and bought him ice cream immediately after they had finished wrapping. Cookie dough fudge mint chip always seemed to do the trick.
"Okay, it's my turn," Willow began. She fidgeted with her hands nervously. "Joyce was-"
The screen turned black and went to static. Willow and Xander were just about to rush back to the video system, when the video had appeared to have fixed itself. However, it wasn't the same video.
"I, Xander Harris, sophomore and soon to be junior in an hour and a half, am about to venture into the unknown world of the teacher's lounge." The video looked as dated as Xander said. Xander wore one of his goofy, bright colored, button up shirts and held the camera close to his face. "They say that the teacher's lounge is where the faculty goes to gossip. And if I am lucky, I can blackmail one of the teachers into giving me an A for the next two years. Or better yet, find enough dirt to hold over Snyder's head so he could get off my back. So what if I accidentally put a stink bomb in Cordelia's locker freshman year. We've moved past that."
Willow, Buffy, and Cordelia huffed remembering Xander's master plan which failed miserably. The camera battery died shortly there after and Xander set it up right before summer break. That meant no teachers for three next months and a very boring video.
"Someone's coming." Xander heard footsteps from down the hall and decided to evacuate. He placed the camera behind the napkin holder on the windowsill. "I'll be back for you later." Xander gave his signature goofy grin at the camera and ran away.
"Fix this," Dawn said pulling Xander down by the ear. This was supposed to be a loving tribute to her mother and Xander's inability to work a camera ruined it. The only reason Dawn had begged Buffy to give Xander the job was because it meant that Xander was focused on something other than her and the baby's wellbeing.
Xander went back to the video system with Willow, trying to fix his mistake. He knew he should have checked the tape before using it.
There was dead silence and an empty teacher's lounge for another minute or two while Xander and Willow tried to figure out how to solve the problem Xander had created. It wasn't until the sound of a familiar voice that caught their attention away from the video system.
"Will you just listen to me for one minute?!" Buffy yelled. Due to the camera's placement, it was hard to identify either party in the video since the camera had cut off their heads. However, her voice was just a recognizable as the baby bump she had sophomore into junior year.
Buffy froze with horror and dread. She rushed back to Willow and Xander. "You have to turn this off," Buffy ordered.
"I'm trying," Willow explained. "When Xander was setting up the video and it wasn't working, he was hitting random buttons which made the system go all wacky."
Buffy looked back to the screen and bit her lip nervously. "Just please, hurry."
"I've been listening, Buff," the other person said exasperatedly. The man opposite Buffy was clad in his graduation robe and was desperate for this day to end. All he wanted to do was find his friend Spike and share his a pack of smokes, but the tiny blonde had to find him just before he could indulge.
"No you haven't," Buffy argued placing her hands on her large belly. "If you had, then this conversation would have happened much sooner."
The man exhaled. "So what do you want to talk about?"
"I don't know, maybe the fact that you didn't tell me your leaving the day after tomorrow."
"So?" He understood why she was upset. She had a right to be, but he had made it clear long ago where his priorities were at. "You knew I was going to LA. It's not like it's a big deal."
"It is a big deal," Buffy cried. She silently cursed her hormones for making her this way. A pregnant, hormonal mess.
"Look, can we just talk about this later. I have to go. I'll call you. I promise," he tried to reason as he was heading out the door.
"Liam Angelus Giles, don't you dare walk away from me! Not again."
A silence fell over the crowd along with a myriad of confused faces. Buffy's mortified gazed landed on the only person in the room who could understand how she was feeling.
"Angel," Buffy pleaded. "Stay."
"Buffy, you know I can't," Angel reasoned. "I have to go."
Angel had his hand on the doorknob determined to leave no matter what Buffy had to say next.
"It's a boy," Buffy told him, hoping that it would get him to stay longer, even if for a second. "I found out yesterday. I just thought you should know."
Angel cursed under his breath. He let go of the door handle and moved back towards the pregnant blonde and held his hands in hers. "Buffy, I can't be what you need me to be."
"A father to your son?"
"Yeah..." In that moment Buffy winced in pain which did not go unnoticed by Angel. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," Buffy said massaging her stomach. "I think the baby kicked."
"Oh..." Angel was unsure how to react. Until then, he had no part in Buffy's pregnancy, besides the creation of it, and didn't want to. The last time he actually talked to Buffy was when she pulled him into that supplies closet to tell him she was pregnant three months ago.
Buffy studied Angel. She could tell he wanted to run. This was the closest he had been to fatherhood and it scared him. But she could also tell that part of him wanted to feel the baby's kick. His hand was only a few inches away from her stomach and contemplated moving it. Buffy grabbed his hand without warning and placed it where their baby rested.
"Wow..." Angel felt a light fluttering come from Buffy's stomach. That was his baby in there.
Buffy smiled at Angel's amazement and gazed back down to her stomach as their son kicked at his father's touch. "That's right, Liam, that's your daddy."
"Liam?" Angel gulped.
"I'm testing it out," Buffy admitted.
For the first time in months, Angel appeared to be happy. Buffy believed that maybe this was it, they could finally be a family.
Angel leaned down and closed the gap between them without hitting the baby. He began to kiss her lightly and Buffy responded by running her fingers through his hair. Angel took the hint and carried Buffy over to the couch, never breaking the kiss.
Just as the video was about to shift from PG to R in a matter of seconds the video cut out. Buffy looked back at Xander and the now demolished video system surrounding him, but Buffy couldn't escape what was to follow.
Everyone that had gone to the reception to mourn her mother had turned their focus to Buffy in shock and disappointment. Some were sympathetic like Willow, but it was only her close friends.
In a small town like Sunnydale, this revelation would cause a huge scandal. By tomorrow everyone would know, the secret Buffy had tried to keep buried for twelve years. However, when her gaze landed on her son, it was no longer about the town or the people in it. What was he going to think?
"Liam, I-" Buffy was at a loss for words. She watched as Liam stood up with his head hung low and his hands in his pockets as he walked himself out of the building. "Liam, wait!" Buffy pleaded, chasing after her son.
Dawn, still in a state of shock, stood up from the table she sat at to direct the attention away from the situation currently at hand. "There's cake if anybody wants some."