After an awesome wedding reception, in which Jesse had a little too much to drink and proposed to his girlfriend of two years, Sarah Andrews, and she told him to ask again when she could be sure he was sober; the couples left on their separate honeymoons.
Two weeks away, in which Xander gained a new appreciation for how well Cordelia could fill out her hot pink bikini and he was glad they had rented a private cabin on the beach, instead of a room, because as others have noted, Cordelia is loudly enthusiastic, made for a happy and contented Xander. And hey, he sure didn't mind, she had a way of actually making him feel like a god, even if he wasn't actually one. By the time they returned to Sunnydale Xander was convinced life couldn't get much better. Until Cordelia dropped a little bomb on him, that is.
Xander was whistling as he climbed out of his truck. It had been a good day at work. The recent promotion to assistant foreman was going well and Xander was enjoying the hard, but satisfying work in construction. Around Sunnydale, with the constant 'gangs on PCP' damage being done to buildings and homes, it also made for steady and reliable work.
The small two bedroom bungalow that Cordelia's father had floated them a low interest loan on, wasn't going to pay for itself, after all. He and Cordelia, along with the Pack and extended family had spent weeks painting and fixing it up to Cordelia's liking. Nothing was new, but everything had been brighten up. The girls had decorated it, the only part of which, that mattered to Xander, was the living room furniture, TVs and their bed. Everything else, Cordelia could do whatever she wanted, as long she was happy.
Xander headed straight for their ensuite bathroom to clean up. An enhanced sense of smell and a hot California day spent working in the blazing sun, meant showering was an absolute necessity as soon as he got home. Once cleaned up, he headed for the kitchen to make a sandwich. He was spreading mustard on his ham and swiss, when Cordelia came in. Her scent indicated nervousness. Why would she be nervous? There was something else there too, but he wasn't sure what it was and he'd been noticing it for a few weeks now, but whatever it was, it piqued his curiosity.
"Xander, I saw Grandma today. I haven't been feeling well, as you know, and since I haven't had so much as a cold since I was kid, I thought I should talk to her about it."
"Are you okay?"
"Yep, healthy as a horse, as they say. I don't know who says it, but apparently someone says it." Oh yah, definitely nervous, she was bordering on Willow levels of babble here. "But she did find one thing. Congratulations, ya done knocked me up. You're gonna be a daddy."
It was a good thing Cordelia was a Protector and preternaturally fast, because if she wasn't Xander's head would have clipped the kitchen island as he went down to say hello to the floor.
When he came to, he found himself laying on the living room floor. Cordelia was sitting on the couch, with her feet resting on his chest and a bowl of popcorn on her lap. He could smell both butter and cheese. That wasn't how she usually ate it. Why was she eating it that way? Then he remembered. He was going to be a daddy! He came up off the floor so fast, Cordelia's feet seemed to hang for a moment in mid air. He pulled her up off the couch and swung her around.
"A baby! I'm going to be to be daddy!"
Cordelia smiled indulgently at him. "Yes, you are. Want to celebrate by reenacting the conception?"
He had her in the bedroom as fast as his Protector enhanced reflexes could get her there.
Later, they called everyone up and invited them over on Saturday for a cook out. They didn't say anything about the baby yet. They wanted the whole extended family together, before they did that.
Cordelia put on some extra perfume just before the Pack arrived and sprayed air freshener throughout the house. All to confuse their senses for a little while, until they could make their big announcement.
Once everyone had arrived, Xander and Cordelia stood up and put their arms around each other to make their big announcement. "Everyone, we have something we want to share with you. The Pack and the family is growing. We're having a baby!"
A moment of silence and then everyone was crowding around them. A babble of excited voices was asking questions, one on top of the other. How long have you known? Have you started picking out names yet? Who's going to be the godparents? Have you told your parents yet?
"To answer your questions in order. We've known for two days, no we haven't started thinking of names yet, we haven't decided on godparents yet and no, we haven't told our parents yet. We're going to do that tomorrow. At this point, the only other person that knows is Grandma, since Cordy went to her when she realized she wasn't feeling well."
"Is this why it smells like you emptied a can of air freshener in the house?" Heidi asked. "You thought we would scent it before you could tell us?"
"Yes, we wanted to tell everyone at the same time. The Pack would have known before everyone else."
After they finished eating and everyone was sitting in the outdoor lounge area, the girls began making plans for clothes shopping and baby furniture and decorating the second bedroom for the baby, and oh! a baby shower.
The guys decided to go patrolling, as a group, and left the girls to their excited talking. They weren't sure the girls would even notice they were gone. But hey, Xander still got lots of back slaps from the guys.