"Jesse, little man, I need your help." Xander informed his nearly two year old son.
"Me, Daddy?"
"Yep, you. There's a very special day coming soon. It's called Mommy's Day. It's a day we give Mommy lots of hugs and kisses and presents. We do that so we can show her we love her."
"Kissed Mommy, Daddy." Jesse pointed out, very certain both he and Daddy had kissed Mommy this morning. And they hugged Mommy all the time. Jesse was a little worried, did Daddy forget that?
"I know we hug and kiss Mommy everyday and tell her we love her too, but we don't give her presents. Extra special presents that say, you're the bestest Mommy ever! That's what the special day is for, a day to give her presents, plus hugs and kisses. I need your help, because she's your Mommy, to find her a present for Mommy's Day. You ready to help Daddy find the perfect present for the bestest Mommy ever?"
Jesse nodded excitedly, of course Mommy was the bestest Mommy ever and should have presents, Duh!
"Well, let's head over to the Mall and see what we can find that says bestest Mommy ever." Xander suggested.
"Mall?" Jesse didn't look excited anymore, now he looked very unsure.
"I know, neither of us like the Mall, but Mommy does, so we know we can find something she likes there. Mommy's worth going to the weird Mall place, isn't she?"
Jesse set his little face in a determined expression. Daddy was right, Mommy was worth it! "Let's go, Daddy!"
"That's my brave little man!"
Jesse straightened up, Daddy said he was brave! Brave boys weren't scared of the Mall! Even if it smelled funny.
Dawn giggled as she watched the two, Xander and Jesse were so alike, that it was oh so funny watching them, they practically read each other's minds. It was a little bit early to go Mother's Day shopping, being the end of April, but Xander liked to get things like that done a head of time, you never knew if something would come up last minute and then you're out of time and gifts given after an event didn't have the same impact. At that point it felt more like an apology, 'Sorry, I forgot all about Mother's Day' didn't have the same feeling as, 'You mean so much to us we braved the Mall and went early, just for you!' did. She watched as Xander picked Jesse up and settled him on his hip and headed down to the car, where he strapped him in his car seat and the two of them headed off to brave the Mall to show Cordelia how much they loved her. She went back to pretending she was reading the book in her hand. In actuality she was anxiously watching out of the window. She was pretty sure Xander picked now, rather then this weekend, to go Mother's Day shopping because Faith was coming today for a visit and it was the first time they'd seen her since Sunnydale.
Since Dawn had found out she was magically made from Faith, not Buffy. Not something they'd had a chance to discuss at the time or on the few phone calls they'd shared in the eleven months since then, in-between the assignments Faith had with Demon Command. And while Dawn and Cordelia were cleared to know Demon Command existed, they weren't cleared to know details of her assignments. Not unless they pertained to them directly anyway, like what had happened in Sunnydale and the existence of the clone and the Echo.
She saw a car pull up to the curb across the street, the two bedroom apartment they'd moved into was on the second floor instead of the fourth like the one bedroom had been, that made it easy to see Faith step out of the car, wearing fatigues. Which meant she'd boarded the plane without bothering to stop at the little apartment she kept in Sunnydale, which Demon Command had taken over, as her home base. She'd been packed and ready to go as soon as she'd finished her current assignment. Dawn felt butterflies in her stomach. Did that mean Faith was eager to see her or in a hurry to get the visit over with?
She set her book down and moved nervously toward the door of the apartment and out onto the landing, waiting for Faith to walk up the steps where she stopped at the top of the landing and Dawn watched her rub her hand on her pant leg and abruptly realized Faith was nervous too. Probably scared of the reception she'd get.
"Hi, Faith." Dawn offered, she no longer hated Faith now that she knew the truth about what had happened the end of Senior year and after Faith had come out of the coma Buffy had put her in. She looked at Faith, she no longer had the thin look she'd sported after escaping from prison to run down Angelus and help with the First's apocalypse. She had some definition to her arms and looked taller. Dawn realized it was because she stood like Xander did, spine straight, shoulders squared, not afraid to look someone in the eye, no matter how nervous she was. She met Faith's eyes and stepped forward, arms outstretched, to hug her sister. She felt Faith's arms come around her and held on to her. She had one of her sisters back and no intention of losing her.