Jennifer Nancy Osborne and Jesse Ken Osborne were the daughter and son of Willow Rosenberg and Daniel "Oz" Osborne. Jennifer's godmother was Buffy Summers and Xander Harris was Jesse's godfather. Their mother legally had full custody of them but it was not entirely uncommon for them to spend the odd weekend with their father if he was in town. When they were babies, their father, Oz, had moved to Rhode Island while their mother, Willow, stayed in Sunnydale with her partner, Tara. Jennifer and Jesse's 5th birthday was approaching, their mom had just broken up with her girlfriend, Kennedy. Or rather, The Scoobies had hosted an intervention for Willow, saying how she needs to break up with Kennedy because all she gets is treated badly by her, as if Kennedy was some addictive drug. After Sunnydale's distruction in 2003, they'd moved to Phoenix, Arizona. At the beginning they'd been living with Willow's relatives, but after a few weeks, Willow became embarrassed at surviving off of them and moved into a small, one-bedroom apartment. But she made it work. She was working a few minimum-wage waitressing jobs and she was still receiving child-support from Oz. Kennedy didn't have a job, but also didn't take care of Jesse and Jennifer. She had claimed she had a job, but was actually cheating on their mom with Chao-Ahn. Willow hadn't broken up with her, despite the fact that Kennedy would constantly threaten to break up with her for still being upset over Tara, even post-Chao-Ahn. The Scooby Gang now rotated apartments, their Uncle Xander often referred to it as "Musical Apartments".
The Scooby Gang were sitting in the library. Willow smiled at them to try and convince them, and herself, that she was ok.
It wasn't working.
At that moment, Kennedy walked in.
"Fuck off, Kennedy." Buffy said, standing up from her chair and holding intense eye contact with Kennedy.
"Relax, super-bitch." Kennedy said, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest, "I'm just here for my stuff, I take it Willow has them?"
"Guys, please, can we be civil? The kids." She cocked her head in the direction of Jessie and Jennifer.
Buffy's posture relaxed slightly and Kennedy let her arms fall to her sides.
"Yeah, fine." Buffy said, her voice softening.
"Thanks." Willow said, smiling genuinely but sadly.
"You always were sappy, Willow." Kennedy said rolling her eyes.
"What do you mean, 'sappy'?" Giles asked.
"Well, I mean," Kennedy began, as if she was the president about to give an important speech, "ever since we first met, Willow always has gotten all 'I hate being here and I regret my past' like."
"I never said that?" Willow objected.
"Yeah, but you think it." Kennedy shot back. Willow resumed her reading, unable to deny it.
"No shit!" Buffy gasped in mock surprise, "You mean she grieved her late-girlfriend, who was the love of her life and died in her arms?!?! The audacity!"
"Haha, so amusing." Kennedy said, shooting Buffy a look of pure disdain.
Jennifer gave Jesse a knowing look that was far too old for her age. Jesse returned the look as they started one of their famous 'twin-telepathy' conversations,
'You think they're gonna start yelling?' Jennifer thought,
'I'm not sure,' Jesse thought in reply, 'but at least if they do, Uncle Xander might let us go and get ice cream like last time!'
'Yeah, that was yummy!' Jennifer replied.
'What flavour did you get?' Jesse asked her,
'I'm not sure, didn't you get vanilla and I got...mint choc-chip?' Jennifer answered
'No, I think I got mint choc-chip and you got vanilla? ' Jesse said,
'Ohhh, yeah! I think that was it!' Jennifer said,
'You know, Jennifer ' Jessie said, 'you really do have the worst memory.' Jessie said, jokingly.
Jennifer burst into giggles...out loud.
The whole room stared at her as she quickly covered her mouth, trying (and failing, might I add) to stifle her giggles.
"Sorry." She said, "Just thinking about...a joke Aunt Buffy told mommy after she didn't get accepted into a college she originally got accepted into."
But she immediately regretted this cover up, when Kennedy's annoyed frown turned into a smirk.
"Oh, what's this?", Kennedy said, cockily, Willow looked down in embarrassment, suddenly finding the table corner the most interesting thing in the room. "Is Mom needing emotional support from her friends again? Aw, how sweet!" Her voice was dripping in faux sweetness.
"No!" Jesse said, confidently, "She just needed some cheering up when she was disappointed about not getting into a school. She always tells us our emotions are understandable and valid."
"Aww, that's so sweet!" Kennedy said, in the same tone, "Well, to think, she would've gotten in if she didn't have you so damn young!" She continued, "How old was she again? Nineteen?"
"Eighteen.." Willow said quietly, not looking up. Her voice carried a hint of shame in it.
"Well, I guess that technically means that you are both were the reason your mom was sad. Isn't that kind to your mom." Kennedy said, looking at the twins.
"Leave them out of this, Kennedy." Willow said, "This is between me and you."
Kennedy gave them one last spiteful look before giving up and turning her attention back to Willow.
"Mom told us we weren't a mistake." Jesse added quietly, his voice angry and his face scrunched up in frustration.
"Oh, is that so?" Kennedy chuckled, bitterly, "Well if you say it then it must be true!"
"It is." Jennifer chimed in.
"Well, you may not've been a mistake, but you definitely were an accident." Kennedy spat back.
"Kennedy, for your own good..shut the fuck up." Buffy said, her voice dangerous but quiet.
"They weren't an accident." Willow said, her voice quiet and exhausted.
"Oh, is that so? Because I seem to remember Buffy telling me that when you found out, you spent three days simultaneously being in denial, desperately flailing around like a headless chicken trying to track down Oz, crying and throwing up." Kennedy said.
"What?" Jennifer said, her voice breaking, clearly heartbroken. She got up from her chair and sprinted out of the room,
"Jen!" Jesse said, running after her.
"You. Actual. Bitch." Xander said, in disgust.
"Well, I just speak the truth." Kennedy said, smiling and shrugging her shoulders, smugly, clearly pleased with the chaos she'd caused.
~
Outside, Jennifer was sitting on the bench in the corridor outside the bathrooms. Jesse held her as she cried, he started crying, too.
"I can't believe Mom lied to us!" She exclaimed.
"I'm so mad." Jesse said, "It's like-"
"-like if someone took the last HotPocket even when you called dibs?" Jennifer finished for him, wiping her tears and nose on her sleeve.
"Yeah." Jesse sobbed.
They cried in silence for twenty minutes or so.
"Should we go see if Kennedy is still here?" Jesse suggested.
Jennifer nodded.
~
As they made their way back to the main library, they heard the adults' conversation, immediately darting behind the water-dispenser.
"I'll take the kids, Will needs to be alone right now." They heard their Uncle Xander's voice say.
Xander and Giles were sitting at the table while Buffy stood. Xander was slumped back slightly, Giles was cleaning his glasses on his shirt while buffy stood, with her arms crossed.
"Xand, you know we cant leave her alone when she's in this state, last time she got like this we nearly lost her." Their Aunt Buffy responded, her voice soft and serious.
"Buffy's right." Giles agreed.
At that moment, Buffy noticed the kids.
"Hi, sweeties, how you feeling?" Buffy said, her voice quiet but sad.
"Where's mommy?" Jennifer asked.
"Mommy's just taken a breather on the other side of the library. She just needs a minute sometimes. We all do."
"Even grownups?" Jesse asked.
Buffy chuckled and smiled sadly, crouching down to meet their eyes, "Yeah, even grownups."