Chapter One Hundred and Forty Three

Blooming Romance

New Sunnydale, the world without shrimp - Christmas Day 2006

T'was the holiday season, and everyone was in good spirits. Anya had put on rather a tremendous spread of everybody's favourite foods, and after her second year in a row, was starting to enjoy the happy faces seated around her dining room table. "No Spike?" Anya asked Buffy as she sat down, on edge waiting for her response, she hovered over the table with a bowel of yams in her hand.

"Um, no he's not coming, sorry Anya. He's off on some mission he won't tell me about." Buffy replied, looking down at her plate and praying for the mash potatoes to take her to another dimension.

"But I made the blooming onion thing he likes so much!" Anya protested, pulling herself away into the kitchen to be consoled by Xander. They left everyone sitting at the table, picking out of various bowls, Willow was eagerly licking her fingers of gravy.

Xander put his arms on Anya's shoulders and looked her in the eye, "honey, it's fine. Everything's still okay. Maybe it's time to tell them, An. Please, please can we tell them?" Anya relaxed, thinking about the pregnancy was quite exciting now she was over the morning sickness.

"Okay," she conceded, "yes let's tell them now, over dinner." Then she leaned up and kissed him gently, her smile forming over her lips as she pulled away. "Mm, happy Xander." She said, taking Xander's hand and pulling him back into the dining room, "everybody, we have an announcement to make!" She declared, gathering everyone's attention quickly, half a dozen heads whipping round to stare at Xander's puffy reindeer jumper.

"Go ahead Anya," he said, stepping aside and pulling the sonogram pictures from his pocket.

"Okay, well hi," she did a little wave, and Tara chuckled, looking back at Willow. The two of them knew where this was going. "I am pregnant!" Anya said a little too loudly and with a few arm gestures dangerously close to taking Giles' glasses off. There were a few excited gasps from Dawn and Buffy, but pretty much everyone else knew. "Yay! We're going to have a baby," Anya continued, "Xander show them the pictures." So he did. Passing them around the table for everyone too look at. Giles smiled pleasantly and said congratulations in a very English tone, but he meant it. Leo said something very similar and let Dawn squeal for a while. Buffy looked at Xander and could see how happy he was, only then did she hug him. Oh and Willow and Tara promised to take Anya shopping for baby stuff, not that they knew much about that sort of thing, but Tara thought it might be good preparation.

But all in all, the reception of their news went well. Willow looked out for Jenny as she slipped out the back door for some air. The red witch followed, biting her lip as she stepped out onto the back porch. "Jenny." She said sternly, but her eyes softened immediately after seeing the red puffy skin around her eyes.

"Willow don't," she warned, holding her hand out. But Willow approached regardless, she stood beside her former teacher and offered her presence. She heard Jenny sobbing silently, "just a hard day," she said between tears. Grateful that Willow wasn't trying to force her to talk.

The redhead put a hand on her shoulder, a warm, gentle sign of support. Something she'd missed. "This stuff isn't easy," Willow started, "I know I-"

"Hey, Willow, just leave it okay. I'm alright, I'm not broken. Sometimes I just feel everything too much." Jenny said, turning to stare at the back door. Willow nodded along like she understood, like she was trying to sympathise, but she would never truly understand. Not until she felt something like that, and nothing so far had taken a piece of her like the dark magic had taken Jenny's body from her.

"Jenny- I'm sorry." Willow tried to help but Jenny just touched her shoulder lightly and but she shrugged her off. She turned her back and walked back into the house, brushing tears away from her face. Willow was left wondering if there was anything she could've said, anything that didn't make her sound like a complete jerk. But there was nothing, they were just in an unfortunate situation. Then the door was opening again and Tara walked out onto the decking. She saw the looked on Willow's pained face and walked to her. Her arms magnetising to her girlfriend's side.

You okay? She asked with her mind, something they were attune to doing when alone, a level of closeness no one else could penetrate. Bears repeating: this was union without penetration. Tara's eyes narrowed, lines forming around them as concern for her love grew. Willow nodded hesitantly back, her gaze flicking between Tara and the door.

It's Jenny, I don't know if what I said was right. I don't know if she'll ever, you know, trust me again. Willow answered, Tara's hands on her shoulders calming her down immensely. I don't know if we can ever understand what she's going through. Tara moved forward, expressing her support by pressing a kiss to Willow's forehead and then letting their brows rest against each other, their eyes closing as the cool December breeze wrapped around them. Leaves swept up from the lawn, flowing around in the air until they were swirling in magnetic spirals around the two witches.

Open your eyes, Tara whispered inside her head. Willow obliged, peeking through the thin slits her eyelids allowed her. She gasped against Tara's lips, they were completed surrounded by the swirling leaves, the patterns of orange and red, burnt ochre and sepia danced around them. A small miracle Tara had afforded them, a little beauty for the tired night. "Wow," Willow said out loud, her hand cupping Tara's cheek. They shared numerous kisses in the magical world Tara had created for them, sometimes sharing words telepathically and sometimes out loud. After a while they forgot Jenny's plight and instead focussed on making jokes about Xander and Anya as parents. Tara felt a little bad laughing at their expense, but there was little harm in it.

As the food slowly disappeared from everyone's plates and Xander started on the washing up, there was a repetitive chiming coming from Dawn's pocket. "Oh- hang on guys," she said, taking herself from the table and out into the hall. Leo followed her, his phone had been buzzing steadily over the last hour too. He'd been ignoring it in favour of Christmas dinner, they'd been working almost non-stop lately, talking to new recruits, classes and midterms, missions. He was getting tired of being bossed around on his days off. But he followed Dawn regardless, ruled by duty. Dawn retrieved her phone from her jeans pocket and flipped it open.

"Hello," she said, mouthing 'Helen,' to Leo who stood opposite her. "Well, yes but-" she turned sideways and stood in the middle of the hall, "no, it's Christmas- Helen. Yes we have plans, we're at dinner with family. Helen we can't just-" She looked up at Leo, her eyes pleading with his. "Fine. We'll leave first thing tomorrow." She said with a finality that Leo deeply respected. He thought Dawn was possibly the only person who could talk to their boss that way and not get reprimanded. She was too good for that, too indispensable. "Ugh, why couldn't she just give us one day?!" Dawn said angrily, Leo felt her for that. Putting a hand on her arm, he silently comforted her. "I got her to give us today, at least." She smiled sadly for a moment, letting the news that they had to work on Boxing Day, sink in before putting on a fresh smile and dragging Leo back into the dining room for dessert.

Later than evening, after all the food truly was gone and Willow was half asleep on the couch, Giles was a little drunk, Dawn, Leo and Tara were playing scrabble and Xander had finished the washing up. He dried his hands with a cloth and then walked through the quiet house. Tara nodded at him and he chuckled when he noticed Willow had started snoring. He found Anya upstairs, flipping through baby magazines and told her he was just going to check up on Buffy.

She was sitting on the porch out the front when he found her. She looked up as the front door opened and closed, the Xand-man smiled and sat down next to her as she played with the grass peeking up through the slats of wood the porch was decked with. "You doin' okay?" He asked, resting his elbows on his knees as he stared out at the empty street. Stars twinkled and shone from their millions of light years away, but the world seemed so peacefully empty on a day like this. Homes were lit up with street lights and laughter echoed from within dozens of houses up and down the road. Buffy didn't look at him but he could tell she was thinking.

"Yeah, I think so." She replied, "it's nice to have a break sometimes, from slaying, from Spike." Then she paused, "everything is too much sometimes."

Xander nodded, he knew what she meant, he remembered their last year in the original Sunnydale. The First torturing Spike, Spike torturing himself, Jenny's recovery from magic addiction, Buffy almost defeated by evil. She'd had that burden to shoulder. As least now she had help; she had a whole army at her disposal if she needed it, and she didn't have to go out every night. Spike being tortured again was clearly bringing up old memories. "Yeah you gotta let us get our jollies in with us too. We miss you, Buff."

Buffy smiled and elbowed him lightly. "Congratulations Xand," she said unprompted, "really, I mean it, about the baby. Though you're the one who has to put up with pregnant Anya, so good luck with that one. Ooh can I send Dawn over to babysit?" She joked excitedly, but completely seriously. Xander shot her a look, "no okay, I know. But you're gonna be a great dad, you know that right? You've been looking out for me and Dawn for years, you're like my big brother. I know Dawn feels the same, despite the insane crush she used to have on you. Remember that?"

"Those were the days, what happened anyway? How did we get here? How did we become grownups all of a sudden?" He replied.

Buffy shrugged, "I know right, you're married now, you're having a baby, Willow and Tara will be getting married as soon as the government permits it in the state of California. Dawn and Leo are attached at the hip, and will not be getting married for at least five years under my watch. Even Jenny and Giles, I mean I know they've had their problems, but they're alright now. What about me? When do I get my chocolate chip cookie happy?" Xander looked at her slightly oddly, wondering what the hell that referred too and hoped it wasn't some weird sex thing Spike was into.

"You'll find it one day Buff. I believe in you," he nudged her shoulder and she looked at him heavily, her eyes tired and her limbs looking brittle as a bird's. "Maybe it'll be Spike, maybe it won't be. But you deserve someone, not that we aren't the bestest buds you've ever had." He pointed to himself and made her properly laugh for the first time that night.

She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder, "how did I get so lucky to land you guys?" She mumbled, half asleep and staring out at the stars again.

"Don't know, maybe you won a lucky dip or something. Do you remember buying a raffle ticket at any point?" He asked facetiously, tilting his head into hers.

Buffy chuckled, "so have you thought of any baby names yet?"

Las Vegas, the world without shrimp - Boxing Day 2006

Junior watchers Dawn Summers and Leo Silvera arrived on the scene of the former man-made Hellmouth located in downtown Las Vegas, only to find a series of small white tents and a dozen guys in hazmat suits. The whole setup looked like it was straight out E.T. The two of them just stood in awe and watched the hazmat men take out boxes of equipment and lay it all out ready to used. Then Helen Jamison-Smythe came into view; the pair's boss and senior member of the Watcher's Council. "What's going on?" Dawn demanded to know, but Helen shook her off for a second, trying to catch her breath.

"The situation is far worse than we could've imagined. I thought you two were supposed to be clearing this up," she said in her clipped British accent, not waiting for them to reply. "Either way, you two are being recalled from missions, you clearly haven't had enough training. It's my own fault. I'm sending you to Ireland," Dawn's jaw dropped, Leo just stood patiently waiting for the rest of it, the punishment. "I want you in training alongside the young watchers I have at the Shancoom Castle, I believe you have visited before, Miss Summers?" It was a rhetorical question, there was still more to come. "It's only for a few months, surely you understand, I can't have messes like this."

She sounded like she was being kind, really she was trying very hard to, but there was a sternness behind her eyes Leo knew all too well. There was no getting out of this. He could feel Dawn trying to protest, her lips opening, words about to pour out and possibly land them in more trouble. So he held his arm out, piping up himself instead. "Yes," he said, Dawn's head whipped round to look at him. "We'll go. And we'll promise not to stir up anymore trouble. Helen, I'm sorry we messed up," Helen almost melted in front of him and took his hand, shaking it lightly before walking off to deal with the E.T. situation. "There is no way to get around this Dawn, we did mess up. We did a spell, but we didn't anything properly. We didn't even check it worked, we just left it. We're shoddy watchers," Leo said shaking his head and walking away from her. Dawn was left making goldfish movements with her mouth until she registered what he'd just said. She'd been so wrapped up in the missions and the work, she hadn't stopped to think if they were actually doing a good job or not.