Jack of Truths
by Electra
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: As unfortunate as it is, I don't own them, nor do I make
money from this. :o/
Timeline: Post-Chosen, about a year.
Author's Notes: I've been without my computer since early February, stuck with
a loaner puter that doesn't have a Word program. I've been writing
this in bits and pieces from work, thus the long time it's taken for
me to get the first chapter done. I'll still be writing my other
fics. This is just something new and different I've been wanting to
try. I'd only expect 3 or 4 chapters to complete this bad boy.
Buffy stood with her arms folded across her chest, trying her best to look as calm and rational as possible. Though she and Willow had been best friends for over eight years, they still clashed from time to time, now being one of those times.
"Buffy, I don't understand why you won't just tell me. It's what best friends do! We shop, and go for mochas, and talk, and tell each other our deepest darkest secrets and then we do that little pinky swear thing and promise never to tell anyone."
"Except there's nothing to tell this time, Wills," Buffy said, holding her position.
"But there is!" Willow continued, excited yet seemingly upset. "The sneakiness, the total lack of quality Buffy and Willow time, the newfound best-friendliness of you and . . ."
"Willow," Buffy interrupted, then sat down next to Willow and turned to face her, "for the last time, there is nothing going on between Faith and I."
Willow took a deep breath and frowned, her frustration evident on her face.
"But Buffy, how do you explain the going out with her every night, and the way you two stick together like glue? Something is definitely going on. Why won't you just tell me?" She pleaded, trying hard to wear her resolve face but instead looked completely frustrated.
"Faith and I are . . ." Buffy paused and chose her words carefully, ". . . friends. And I really don't understand why you're giving me such a hard time about it. When you brought Faith back to Sunnydale and then when you dragged her along to Cleveland, you were all gung-ho about her and I being buddy-buddy. Now that we are, you've resorted to being Jealous Willow from high school again."
Willow snorted unceremoniously.
"I'm not Jealous Willow from high school. I'm concerned Willow. It's just . . . I don't like when you keep things from me, Buffy, and I really feel like you are. I feel like we're not as close as we used to be, and it kinda scares me a little," she said nervously.
Buffy smiled softly and took Willow's hand gently in hers, giving it a soft squeeze.
"Willow, you're my best friend, and you always will be. How about we set aside some of that quality Buffy and Willow time and just . . . hang out. I'm thinking pizza, Sixteen Candles, and more wine coolers than we can handle."
Willow's frown turned into a small smile, but it quickly faded when Faith walked into the room.
"Sup B, Red?" Faith asked as she sauntered across the room and plopped onto the couch next to them.
"Hey," Buffy said with a smile.
"Hey," Willow replied halfheartedly.
Faith leaned back and got comfortable, obviously not getting that Buffy and Willow were having a heartfelt talk.
"So B . . . you gonna come out with me tonight? Got a new pair of boots I've gotta break in and there's a new DJ spinning at Roxy's tonight. Gonna be a good time."
Buffy instantly perked up, looking forward to another night out with Faith, but then she remembered her offer to Willow from just moments before. She looked over to Willow who was now busy staring at her lap.
"Actually," Buffy began, turning her head to look at Faith, "me and Wills are gonna have a girls night tonight. Just me, her, Molly Ringwald, and lots of junk food and fizzy beverages."
Faith smiled a little and got up from the couch, smoothing out her shirt.
"Well, you girls have fun with that. Maybe me and Kennedy will get up to some trouble or something," she said as she backed out of the room, looking at Buffy and Willow.
"We will," Buffy said, still holding onto Willow's hand. Willow just looked happy now, for the most part. "You guys have fun too. Behave."
Faith grinned, unable to stop it.
"Me? Behave? Might happen one day, B." And with that, she turned and made her way up the stairs, off to get ready for her evening out.
Buffy turned to face Willow again, a smile upon her face.
"See, Wills? There's nothing going on between Faith and I. We're friends, just like you and I are. Speaking of which, don't we have a pizza to order and some wine coolers to buy?" She said, standing up from her place on the couch and waiting for Willow's response.
Willow continued to smile, though it still looked like something was bothering her deep down.
"You bet, Buff."
Many hours and several Molly Ringwald movies later, Buffy made her way up to her bedroom as quietly as she could. It was late, after all, and she didn't want to wake any of her housemates. As supernaturally strong as they were, the junior slayers were pretty cranky if they didn't get enough sleep.
Buffy crept into her bedroom, closing the door quietly behind her. She didn't bother to turn on the overhead light, but instead turned on a small table lamp. In the dimly-lit bedroom, she took off her clothes and put on a Nine Inch Nails concert t-shirt that was much too big for her small frame. In a quick motion, she swept her hair up into a loose ponytail, her movements still quiet and soft.
After she had thrown her dirty clothes into the laundry basket, she made her way to the desk to turn off the dim lamp before making her way over to her bed. She crept in slowly, situating herself on her side neatly under the many layers of blankets.
Just as a small yawn escaped her lips, Buffy felt a strong arm wrap around her stomach from behind. She snuggled back into the warm embrace, a small smile on her face.
"Do you think she bought it?" Faith asked, her lips brushing softly over the back of Buffy's exposed neck.
"Yep," Buffy said a little too cheerily, "a few hours of quality friend time should buy us at least another month before the next inquisition."
Without hesitating another moment, Buffy turned around and came face to face with Faith, her features illuminated by the soft moonlight.
"Did you have fun with Kennedy?" Buffy asked quietly, her hand instantly moving to Faith's side to caress it gently.
"Nah, ditched her at the last minute," Faith said before giving Buffy a quick kiss on her lips, "came and hid up here so she couldn't find me."
Buffy leaned in and gave Faith a quick kiss this time but pulled back again so they could continue talking.
"Why didn't you go out? I thought you were ready to break in your new boots. Besides, you and Kennedy have fun when you guys go out," she said, smiling as she felt Faith's deft fingers slip under the hem of her shirt and start caressing her stomach.
"Well," Faith began, pausing for a moment as she rolled a bit so that Buffy was laying flat and she was hovering just above her, "Kennedy's fun to dance with and all, but I can't come back here and fuck her all night long like I do you."
"Not unless you want a boot-shaped mark on your ass," Buffy replied with a grin, taking that moment to squeeze Faith's perfect ass with both hands.
Faith's grin matched Buffy's as she pushed their bodies together, starting up a small rhythm despite their clothing.
"And we can't have that, now can we?" Faith asked, her breath catching in her throat as she felt Buffy's hands slip under her shirt, her nails scratching temptingly down her back.
"Definitely not," Buffy answered with a teasing smile. "And we definitely can't have sex with all of these clothes on, now can we?"
Faith didn't need to answer. She sat up enough to pull off her own t- shirt, not needing to stop to pull off her panties seeing as that she wasn't wearing any.
Buffy grinned as she looked down and noticed Faith's lack of panties as Faith was busy trying to rid Buffy of her panties and t-shirt.
"I see you were ready for me," Buffy said with a chuckle, but her laughter was cut off as she gasped, feeling Faith's fingers slip between her swollen lips.
Faith slid her fingers around Buffy's pussy, spreading her wetness up and around her clit.
"And I see you're ready for me too, huh" Faith asked huskily, slipping her fingertips one last time over Buffy's hard clit before bringing them up to her lips and licking them one by one.
And before either girl could respond with words, Buffy put her hands in Faith's hair and pulled her back down, crashing their lips together in a hungry kiss. Faith's body instantly found its place above Buffy's and started up a slow grinding motion.
After only a minute or two of the delicious teasing, Buffy slipped her hand between them and spread Faith's pussy so that their clits bumped together every time that Faith moved.
"Ooh yeah, just like that," Buffy said as quietly as she could, her breathing heavy as Faith began to grind quicker and harder against her.
Many times Buffy had nearly considered asking Willow to put a sound- buffering spell around her room to prevent noises from being heard, but she couldn't quite do that without rousing more suspicion in her best friend.
Meanwhile in a room a few doors down the hall . . .
Willow took her time in going back up to her and Kennedy's room, knowing that it would likely be hours before Kennedy and Faith came stumbling in the front door. She finished washing up the dishes that she and Buffy had made before making the slow trek up to her bedroom, making sure all of the lights were off and doors locked as she went.
She paused as she passed by Buffy's room, sure that she had heard something stirring within, but shook her head and smiled at her own false suspicions. After a moment she continued down the hall, walking quietly until she was safely within her room.
"Hey baby."
Willow jumped and turned around to face her bed, surprised to see Kennedy laying there in her pajamas and playing Xbox.
"Gah, you scared me," Willow said with a smile, her hand up over her heart. "You're back early, I wasn't expecting you until the wee hours of the morning."
Kennedy shrugged, her attention focused on the game she was playing.
"Never went out. Went to meet Faith but couldn't find her, so just been here all night. Figured you and Buffy could use your bonding time."
Willow's smile immediately fell, suspicion replacing her formerly cheery mood.
"I knew it. I knew it!" She said and began pacing the room. "Buffy can try all she likes, but she can't keep a secret from me. Faith never went out and now I heard rustling in Buffy's room . . . they're in there together! Doing . . . together-y things!"
Kennedy managed to pull her attention from the video game for a moment and glanced over at Willow, one eyebrow raised.
"Will, you need to calm down about this, it's been making you crazy- like for months. If Buffy says they're not together, they're not. And even if they are fucking, who cares? They're big girls, they can handle themselves."
Willow turned to face Kennedy who had already shifted her attention back to her game.
"You don't understand, Kenny. Buffy is my best friend. If she's not telling me something, there's definitely something wrong. I need to know."
Kennedy scoffed, "You need to keep your nose out of other people's business, Willow. Nothing good comes from prying and digging up useless dirt."
Willow placed her hands on her hips and looked defiantly and Kennedy, who still was too focused on her video game to really pay her complete attention.
"Well . . . we'll just see about that," Willow said before storming off into the adjoining bathroom and closing the door shut behind her.
She walked to the sink and stood there for a few moments, looking at herself in the mirror.
"I'm not crazy," Willow said to her reflection, "I know something is going on. I just need proof," she said, trailing off as a blue candle on the toilet tank caught her attention.
A small grin appeared on her face as she lifted the fragrant candle to her face, the small wick jumping to life in an orange flame as she blew over it, magicks sparking over her eyes.
"Mighty Goddess of Light and Truth, if my assumptions are right, show me proof," Willow said quietly under her breath, hoping not to be caught using magic. Hesitating for only a moment, she blew out the flickering flame, watching carefully as blue smoke began to fill up the room.
Before Willow could worry about the blue smoke seeping under the door frame to her bedroom and alerting Kennedy to her secret spell- casting, the smoke completely disappeared as if a large breeze had blown it away.
"Well that was a bust," she grumbled under her breath before heading back into her bedroom, not yet ready to quit her suspicions.
Meanwhile back in Buffy's room . . .
"Oh god . . . oh god . . ." Buffy chanted over and over again and she clung to Faith who was moving feverishly above her.
"He has nothing to do with it, this is allllll Faith," Faith breathed out roughly, her pleasure evident in her straining voice.
"I'm gonna come," Buffy said breathlessly, her nails scraping down Faith's back now.
"Me too, B . . . gonna come all over your pussy," Faith responded, encouraged by Buffy's nails on her back.
Buffy's eyes, which had previously been clenched shut in pleasure, now flicked open so that she could look up at Faith. A look of fright appeared on her flushed face.
"You're glowing!" Buffy nearly screamed as she came, never once gazing away from Faith.
"I always glow when I feel this fucking good," Faith responded, grunting loudly as her orgasm washed over her.
"No, I mean really glowing! Smurf glow!" Buffy exclaimed as she touched the side of Faith's face to see if the glow was real or an illusion.
Faith finally came down enough to open her eyes, which grew wide almost as soon as they opened.
"Holy shit!" Faith exclaimed as she stared down at Buffy, "You're glowing too. What the fuck?"
Buffy unwrapped her arm from around Faith's back and looked at her sweat covered skin, now glowing a bright blue. It took a moment of studying the obviously magical glow before a sense of realization washed over her.
"Willow!" Buffy said mostly to herself, knowing fully well that her friend had likely been the cause of the magical aura.
"Not exactly the name I like to be called after sex, but whatever works for you, twinks," Faith said with a smirk, carefully rolling to Buffy's side as if the blue glow wasn't a big deal.
Buffy, however, felt much different about the situation. Before she could stop herself, before her internal censor had the opportunity to pop up and tell her `stop', Buffy wrapped the comforter around her naked body and stormed out into the hallway.
"Willow!" she yelled, unceremoniously stomping her blue-colored foot even though there was no one there to see her.
A moment later, Willow and Kennedy appeared from their room, looking over Buffy with shock. No sooner than they had appeared in the hallway did Faith follow suit, wearing only her Nine Inch Nails t- shirt that Buffy had been wearing a short time before.
"A-ha!" Willow exclaimed, pointing at the blue-hued matching slayers. "I knew it! I told you!" She said as she turned towards Kennedy, a gloating look on her face.
"Yep, you caught us red-handed," Buffy said sarcastically. "Or blue- handed, really. But now the question is," she indicated her partially covered blue body, "what is this stuff, and what does it do?"
Willow smirked smugly, her arms crossed over her chest. "Oh, it's just a little truth spell. Guess my suspicious were right, huh."
By this point, a few of the junior slayers were poking their heads out of their rooms, wondering what the commotion was.
Buffy sighed and dropped her arms to her sides, careful to protect her modesty now that they had company.
"I guess they were, Will. But I was never lying; Faith and I are only friends," Buffy explained.
"With naked benefits," Faith added casually, trying half-heartedly to rub some of the blue glow off of her arm.
"Congratulations, you've both managed to find someone who could keep up with you in bed," Kennedy said, unsurprised and seemingly unaffected. "Are we done now, cos I was just about to give this monster guy a beat-down and I'm itching to hit the pause button."
"Feels done to me," Faith said easily as she strode back into Buffy's room, Kennedy following suit and heading back into her and Willow's room.
After a brief glare from Buffy to all of the snooping junior slayers, only she and Willow were left in the hallway.
"I can't believe you used magic to find out about my sex life," Buffy said with a small smile, unable to stay mad at her best friend.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me you even had a sex life," Willow responded with a guilty smile.
A moment of silence passed between them between Buffy spoke up again.
"So, I'm not gonna turn into Smurfette or anything?" She asked, keeping a close eye on her glowing skin.
"Nope, the effects should wear off shortly. Then it's back to normal, and we get to go out for mochas tomorrow so you can tell me about your new and interesting lesbian lifestyle," Willow said, still grinning.
Buffy smiled and glanced toward her friend one last time before heading into her room, a seemingly large weight lifted from her shoulders.
No sooner than she walked into her room did she see Faith draped casually across her bed, smirking up at her in all her blue-toned glory.
"So," Faith began, a mischievous look on her face, "was it just me, or did you ever find Smurfette a little bit hot for a girl smurf?"
Buffy grinned too, casually dropping the comforter from around her body and making her way toward the bed.
About four weeks later . . .
"`The effects should wear off shortly', my ass!" Buffy said as she sat on the edge of her bed with a look of disbelief on her face, holding a small white and pink stick in her hand.
"I was never good at school and all that stuff, but a plus sign generally means positive, right?" Faith asked, taking the very positive pregnancy test from Buffy's hand and examining it carefully.
Buffy flopped back onto her bed and covered her eyes with her forearm, sighing dramatically.
"I'm gonna kill `auntie' Willow."
Author's Notes: That wasn't too long between updates, right? *looks around nervously* Anyhoo, here's chapter two. Thanks to everyone who has sent along their thoughts and opinions, it means a lot to me. :) Only planning one more chapter for this, so yes . . . the speed and jumping around is fully intended. :p Thoughts and opinions welcomed as always. :)
Buffy and Faith walked through the front door together, a look of sheer fright etched across their faces. They made their way to the living room where they were greeted by their very anxious friends.
Of course, what happened in Buffy's life was never a private affair. When she had confronted Willow with the odd news that she believed she was pregnant, Willow went into panic mode. She anguished for days, trying to figure out what might have happened, what she might have done wrong, but finally realized that her solo research was coming up with nothing.
They had to call in the big dogs: the Scooby research team.
After Giles' initial embarrassment of finding out about Buffy and Faith's extracurricular evening activities, and his disappointment in Willow using magic for personal reasons, he took an earnest interest in determining the cause of Buffy's condition. While he busied himself studying archaic texts and prophecies, he gave Andrew the job of researching old records from the Watchers Council to see if there had been any other mystic pregnancies in the traceable slayer lineage.
And of course, once Andrew knew about the situation, everyone knew about the situation. He was never the kind of person who could keep important information secret, especially when he was given a part in finding out how it happened.
Dawn and Xander, well . . . they were just nosy and had to know what everybody was trying to hide after Andrew taunted them with, "I know a seeeeeecret."
Buffy walked past the anxious group and plopped down onto the large armchair, her eyes focused on some far away point, while Faith leaned against the door frame with her arms crossed over the front of her body.
For the first time in her life. . . Faith looked smaller than her grand personality.
"So?" Willow asked, wringing her hands together. "What did the doctor say?"
"He confirmed what we already know: I'm good and pregnant, and staying that way for about seven more months," Buffy said blankly, still gazing off into space.
"Are you sure? Is he sure?" Willow asked nervously as she paced, guilt written across her face.
"Oh, I'm sure. He's sure." Buffy said as she pulled out a partially crumbled black and white picture from her pocket. "He said eight weeks was a bit early to do an ultrasound and that I should come back in four weeks. I told him that there was a very good chance I could be carrying some type of demon spawn and wasn't leaving until I knew the thing didn't have horns or hooves, even if that meant tying him up in a closet and doing the ultrasound myself.. So," Buffy said, finally looking up to her friends as she handed over the ultrasound photograph, "not only did I get an ultrasound, I also got a referral for a psych consult."
Xander took the small picture from Buffy's hand and turned it around and around in his hands, trying to make heads or tails out of it.
"I'd say it looks like you're having a little indistinguishable lump, Buff" he said as he handed the photo to Giles for inspection.
"Hey, as long as it doesn't come exploding out of me and trying to eat my brains, I'd say I'm okay with an indistinguishable lump," Buffy answered evenly.
"This is truly amazing," Giles began, taking his glasses off so he could study the photograph more closely. "I was beginning to believe that there was just some type of error in your prior testing, but this . . ." he trailed off as a small smile appeared on his face, ". . . there's no precedent for this. You and Faith are the first slayers in known history to have conceived a child together."
The entire group chose that very moment to look over at Buffy, who just looked back at them somewhat innocently.
"Uh . . . go us?" Buffy said, trying to look enthusiastic, then looked over to Faith. Everyone else followed her gaze, looking over to the other slayer who had been quiet the entire time.
"Yeah, great," Faith murmured, caught off guard by everyone who was staring at her and waiting for some type of response. "I'll be out back," she said casually and turned to leave the room without so much as another word.
Everyone stayed silent until they heard the back door shut behind Faith.
"She seems a little bit spooked. Have you talked to her?" Willow asked Buffy as she finally sat down on the couch across from Buffy. Kennedy stood behind her, rubbing her shoulder softly to keep her calm.
"She hasn't really said a word since we left the doctor's office. I mean . . . we never really talked about it in depth beforehand, cos we were sure it was just some kind of mistake. A magic thing that would go away. We just went on like normal while you all researched it," Buffy explained.
"So you were still making with the girly-lovin' then?" Xander asked, a goofy grin on his face.
Kennedy took that moment to give him a smack on the back of his head.
"Hey!" Xander said as he stood up straight, fixing his rumpled hair. "You're messing with a handicapped man here," he joked as he pointed to his eye patch. "I would've caught that if you were standing on my good side, you know."
Buffy shook her head, trying to ignore the interruption.
"Not that it matters now that the deed has been done, but . . . that's not really your business, Xander," she said softly. Then she decided to get a bit more serious. "Listen, I think we all need to agree on something here. What I do, where I go, who I see . . . is my business. You guys are my friends, which is why I share my life with you. Why I don't care that you know about what's going on. But please . . . give me the same courtesy that I give to each and every one of you. I don't need to know who's in your bed or what you do in your bed, unless you feel the need to share that with me. Can that go both ways?"
Xander dropped his shoulders a bit and nodded, knowing that what Buffy was asking was a reasonable request between friends.
"I'm sorry, Buff. Of course it can go both ways. Not that I have anyone in my bed or anything but . . . anyway, I'm sorry to be nosy. I can't help it. I'm about to be an uncle! That and the fact that you've been sleeping with Faith . . . can't you see why I'm excited?" He said, the goofy grin back on his face.
Buffy just chuckled softly and accepted the warm hug that Xander offered her.
Of course, like a yawn that's passed around a packed room, more hugging followed, along with more questions about baby stuff and the like. While the gang busied themselves, excited about a baby being introduced into their home, Buffy sneaked out of the room and made her way to the back door.
She opened it slowly, hoping that the creak of the of hinges wouldn't draw the attention of her friends. Now wasn't the time for awkward intrusions; she needed to talk to Faith.
Closing the door quietly behind her, Buffy finally turned to see Faith leaning onto the railing, staring thoughtfully into the back yard. She almost felt bad interrupting the deep thoughts she knew Faith was having, but she knew that it was time for them to have the big conversation.
"Hey."
"Hey," Faith replied, not turning to look at Buffy.
Buffy walked slowly over to where Faith was stood on the old wooden porch and mimicked her position, elbows resting on the porch rail.
She let a few minutes of silence pass before she finally spoke.
"You're unusually quiet," she said, trying to sound as lighthearted as possible.
"Yeah, well . . . you're unusually pregnant," Faith replied easily. "I think I'm allowed a bit of silence."
Buffy chuckled quietly as she gazed out into the back yard, "I guess you're right about that. Silence is good. Especially when, instead of silence, there could be random outbursts of screaming, panic, and general freak-outery."
Faith sighed and let her shoulder slump down ever further as she looked down, doing her best to look at anything and everything except for Buffy.
"Listen, before I even start to sort this out in my head and do the dealing thing, I have to ask: you didn't happen to, like . . . fall on any guys while you were naked or anything, right? Or sit on a toilet seat after Xander did or something?"
Buffy smiled softly, "Nope. You're the only one that I've fallen on. And, well . . ." she took a step closer and tried to get Faith to look at her, ". . . there was lots of nakedness there. Obscene amounts of nakedness, really. A veritable cornucopia of nakedness."
Faith smiled slightly as she felt Buffy's arm brush against hers, but she quickly remembered that it was a time for serious talk, as much as she hated that.
"You wouldn't shit me or anything, right? Cos . . . this is big, Buffy. Wicked big. And I don't wanna be the sucker here, yunno?"
Buffy took that opportunity to fully face Faith now, squeezing her body between Faith and the splintered porch rail. She laid her hand gently on Faith's forearm, a soft gesture that she hoped would comfort the girl. Faith, however, continued to stare at some random spot over Buffy's shoulder in the yard.
"You're right, Faith, this is big. And I'd never do that to you . . . lead you along like that. This is important. It is a big deal. And if you're willing . . . if you want to, that is . . . I want you to be a part of this. This . . . surprise . . . is as much yours as it is mine."
Buffy waited for a response from Faith, but was met with a long silence.
"Of course," she continued, a bit unsure now, "I'd never force you to do anything you don't want. You have the choice to go if you . . ."
"You really want me to be in this with you?" Faith interrupted Buffy, loosening up enough now to meet Buffy's gaze without it being awkward. "I don't know anything about kids or parenting. My parents did a crap job and I can't expect to be any better, cos yunno . . . `monkey see, monkey do' and all that. And I'm not the most patient person, and the thought of you being all big and round, well . . . it's making me wig out a bit," she said, smirking a little at the last bit.
Buffy met Faith's playful smirk with a smile. "I'm gonna be huge. You should've seen my mom when she was pregnant with me and Dawnie. And . . . I don't know much about kids either. Most of them annoy me. But, if you want to, I want you to. Be there, I mean. And all that stuff."
"Yeah, I think I do," Faith said, casually resting her hands on Buffy's hips.
Buffy took that opportunity to lean into Faith, her head coming to rest just under Faith's chin as she wrapped her arms around her back.
Faith wrapped her arms a bit tighter around Buffy and pressed her lips to the top of her head. She couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her lips.
"Holy shit, B. We're gonna have a fuckin' kid!" Faith said, letting her chuckle turn into an all-out laugh.
Buffy, however, didn't find the funny.
"Rule #1: no swearing in front of the baby," she said, not moving from Faith's arms.
Faith smiled and rested her cheek on Buffy's head. "This is gonna be reeeeeal interesting."
"I don't know why they call it morning sickness. It should be called `morning noon and night sickness' or something more accurate," Buffy said as she crawled back into bed, the sound of the still-running toilet the only other noise in the darkened room.
"There is another name for it, B: pregnancy. Nine months of barfing and aching and all kindsa gross stuff. Dontcha love it?" Faith asked in her sleep-laden voice, slightly irritated for Buffy waking her up every hour.
"Yeah, well . . . your `love spawn' is surely making it a pleasant experience for me nonetheless," Buffy replied sarcastically, resuming her position curled up in front of Faith. "I'm almost four months along now. You'd think this crap would stop already. I'm ready for this to be done now."
Faith chuckled huskily, letting her arm drape around Buffy's only slightly rounded belly.
"Well, unless you want a kid that's the size of a ping-pong ball, you'll keep incubating for about five more months. You're a slayer, you can hack it."
Buffy let Faith's last comment go, deciding not to argue the fact that being a slayer changed nothing about the intensity or morning sickness or general irritability. Then something caught her attention.
"It's the size of a ping-pong ball already?" She asked, turning back to face Faith just a little, the soft glow of the moon the only light in the room. "How do you know that?"
She felt rather than saw Faith shrug.
"Been reading the books Red gave me. Lotsa cool stuff in them. Besides, I don't wanna be a total loser when it comes to this kid stuff. Gotta make sure I know what to do when it cries and stuff," Faith answered, her voice quiet and sleepy still.
Buffy smiled, unable to help herself, "Aww, you're studying to be a Mom? That's adorable."
"Quit it, B, you're gonna make me all wiggy if you say shit like that." Faith said sounding a bit more awake now.
"I mean it though," Buffy said. "The most I've done is watch 'Look Who's Talking' a couple of times. You're more prepared than I am. It's cute."
She felt Faith shrug against her again.
"Well, like I said . . . I'm not gonna be a crap parent like mine were. The way a kid is raised affects its life a lot. I want ours to have a better go at it than I did, that's for sure," Faith said, her arm a little tighter around Buffy now, as if she was already trying to protect their child.
Buffy couldn't help but smile. She was worried about how things might go between Faith, or even between Faith and the baby, but she was more and more confident every day that things would work out.
Then, as if she had received a shock, Buffy jolted forward, her hand instantly going to her stomach.
"Oh god . . . it's moving!" She said, excited but freaked out at the same time.
"What?" Faith asked, sitting up and inching back on the bed as if Buffy was covered in slime.
"It's moving. It's fluttering around like crazy," Buffy said as she rolled onto her back, looking partly excited and partly freaked out. "Oh god, it feels like there's an alien in me!" she squealed quietly, genuinely looking freaked out now.
She reached over and grabbed Faith's hand, ready to place it on her stomach, But Faith pulled it back quickly.
"Oh hell no, I don't need to feel that!" Faith said, literally jumping off the bed and standing there staring at Buffy's stomach.
Buffy stopped her whining and looked at Faith, tilting her head to the side.
"Come on, touch my stomach," she said, holding her hand out to Faith.
"Fuck no," Faith replied easily, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Faith!" Buffy said indignantly.
"No way, B, that's weird. I don't wanna feel that thing worming around in your stomach. I'll put up with getting you sandwiches and ice cream and pickles at stupid o'clock every night, and I'll even hold your hair back when you puke, but . . . no, I'm not gonna do the belly rubbing thing."
"But it's your baby too," Buffy said, moving her hands back to her stomach.
"It sure is, why else do you think it's causing you so much grief?" Faith asked with a smirk.
When Buffy heard some stirring out in the hallways, she realized that they had probably woken up a few of the girls with their conversation. Not wanting to bring any more attention to their conversation, Buffy decided to drop it for the night.
"Fine," Buffy said, rolling to her side. "I'll let you get away with it for now. But you WILL feel the belly and you WILL learn to love it."
Faith snorted as she crawled back onto the bed and stayed clearly on her own side now. "Sure thing, B," she said sarcastically, knowing fully well that `rubbing the belly' was one thing she would never do.
She was still Faith, after all.
Buffy stood in the kitchen, immersed in making herself the perfect double-decker sandwich, while Faith was busy rubbing and talking to her perfectly round and nearly-ready-to-pop belly.
"Lesson #126," Faith began, "Never let Uncle Xan-man hold your food while you go to the bathroom. You'll come back to an empty plate and a trail of crumbs leading to a very guilty-looking Uncle Xan," Faith said as she knelt beside Buffy, her hands on both sides of Buffy's bulging belly as she spoke enthusiastically.
Buffy rolled her eyes and she slathered a healthy dosing of mayonnaise onto her towering sandwich with a spatula.
"Faith, I'm sure that Kristen . . ."
"Paige," Faith interrupted.
"Natalie . . ." Buffy corrected.
"Marley," Faith interrupted again.
"Whatever!" Buffy cut in, annoyed. "I'm sure that our daughter, whatever her name may be, will greatly appreciate the life lessons that you're bestowing upon her. But do you think you can do it, you know . . . without groping me and interrupting daily sandwich time?"
Faith chuckled and stood up, but kept her hands firmly planted on Buffy's stomach.
"These lessons are gold, B. Little Regan . . ."
"Hannah," Buffy cut in, but Faith continued on.
". . . is gonna make it through life nice and easy knowing fully well not to wear leather when it's too humid out and not to sit too close to Xander after he's had tacos," Faith finished.
Buffy took that opportunity while Faith was distracted to smack Faith's hands away from her stomach. She hurried over to the kitchen table and sat down awkwardly in a chair so that Faith couldn't manage to touch her belly again.
Faith, however, had different plans. She walked over to the table, took a whopping bite of Buffy's sandwich, and proceeded to touch and talk to Buffy's stomach again.
"You are seriously violating my territorial bubble right now," Buffy said, annoyed. "What is it that when a woman is pregnant, everyone thinks that her stomach is fair game for grope-age? I've got Xander rubbing the `magic lamp' and trying to make the genie pop out, Dawn playing it like a bongo drum, Willow rubbing weird smelly stuff on it and trying to do Wiccan blessings, and oh . . . let's not forget the way Giles rested his coffee mug on it yesterday when there was no room on his desk."
Faith chuckled as she continued to touch Buffy's stomach, not letting Buffy's rant get to her.
"Jess, tell your Mom that I'm allowed to touch her belly," Faith said, speaking to the belly. "It's like . . . a commandment or something. `Thou shall let thy lesbi-friend touch thy pregnant belly'."
"Oh what, you're Catholic now??" Buffy asked in disbelief, smacking Faith's hands away from her again.
"Was," Faith said, trying to sneak her hands back. "Born and bred. Can't say I follow it much these days, but . . . it's a good way to start out. Gives ya a bit of a routine and stuff. Learn some lessons, get a bit of the big fear instilled in ya. It keeps a kid on the straight and narrow, I'll tell ya that much."
Buffy raised her eyebrows and glanced down at Faith before snorting.
"Lots of good it did you, Miss Girl-loving Ex-Con," she said before she could stop the words from leaving her mouth.
Faith froze, her hands just about to touch Buffy's belly again before they dropped to her sides as she stood up.
She stared at Buffy for a moment, hurt and anger evident across her face, before shaking her head and walking out of the room without so much as another word.
"Shit," Buffy mumbled under her breath. "Faith, wait!" she called out, but Faith was already long gone. "Shit shit shit!" she repeated again and again as she struggled to get up out of the chair, her large belly hindering her movement.
She walked around the house, checking out the room that they now shared, the back porch, the living room, and all of the other rooms that Faith normally retreated to when she wanted to be alone. After she checked out all of the usual spots, she knew that there was only one spot left. Buffy sighed to herself; it was never a good thing when Faith went there.
Slowly but surely, Buffy made her way down the basement stairs and down into the gym area. Before she even got close to the private workout room, she heard the music pumping loudly and the sound of Faith grunting as she was busy working out.
Without knocking, she opened the door and crept into the room, watching silently for a while as she watched Faith take out her anger on the large punching bag. Faith's back was turned to her, but she was sure that the other girl could feel her.
After a few minutes, Buffy walked over to the radio and turned the power off, leaving the room filled only with the sound of Faith and the punching bag.
As she slowly approached Faith, she saw the girl tense up as she stopped punching and threw her arms over the bag, bracing herself on it so she could catch her breath.
"Just go, B."
"I won't," Buffy said quietly, still moving forward slowly.
"I'm not kidding. Get out of here, there's nothing left to . . ."
"I'm sorry," Buffy interrupted, her voice soft and quiet. "I . . . I didn't mean it. I said it, but I didn't mean it."
"Sure sounded like you did," Faith said stiffly, her arms still thrown up over the bag, her weight resting on it.
"I didn't," Buffy said, close enough to Faith now that she was able to reach out and touch Faith's arm. "I'm sorry. I'm just frustrated, and ready to have this baby already, and I'm huge, and I can't stop eating, and . . . you're closest to me, so I take my frustrations out on you. It wasn't fair of me. I'm sorry."
Faith sighed, relaxing a bit but still not turning to face Buffy.
"B . . . this is never gonna work if you keep digging up the past and saying shit like that. Are you gonna push me away every time I try to do the right thing? Cos seriously . . . I'll get out of your hair right now if you want."
"No!" Buffy said, moving around to the other side of the punching back now so that she could try to look at Faith's face. "I don't want you to go anywhere. You belong here with us, with Samantha."
"Jamie," Faith corrected.
"I . . ." Buffy continued, stumbling over her words, ". . . I don't want you to leave."
Buffy looked up and found that Faith was finally looking at her, trying to read her face. She tried to convey to Faith that what she said was true, that she really did want her to stay.
And it must have worked, as Faith finally dropped her arms from around the punching bag and loosened up her tense muscles.
"Don't use my past against me, Buffy. It's the surest way to get me fired up and push me away."
"I won't, I promise," Buffy said quietly, moving the punching bag to the side. Of course, the bag came swinging back and knocked into her, pushing her right into Faith's arms. "Oops," she said with a small smile, embarrassed of her clumsiness.
Faith couldn't help but smile at Buffy, who was radiant even though she was, quite frankly, as big as a house. She wrapped one arm around Buffy's back and was prepared to put the other on Buffy's stomach, but quickly remembered the way that Buffy had been freaking out about it lately.
Restraining herself as much as she could, Faith moved her hand to her side, ready to head back up to the kitchen with Buffy, when she felt Buffy grab her hand gently. She looked at their joined hands, then smiled big as she felt Buffy place her hand directly on her stomach where the baby was happily kicking away.
"I dunno about you, but I think Dana's gonna be a wicked little soccer player," Faith said as she slowly led them toward the door.
"No," Buffy corrected, "Leanne will be a ballerina."
"Yeah right," Faith laughed, not even able to imagine her daughter being girly enough to ever wear a tutu, let alone be a ballerina.
Had there ever been a Slayer ballerina in the world anyway?
"Get this thing out of me!" Buffy screamed as the doctor cheered her on from the bottom of the table.
"You sure make lots of noise for such a little thing," the doctor commented, looking up at Buffy over the top of his spectacles.
"You did NOT just call me little!" Buffy grunted, trying to use her leg to kick the doctor, but being restrained by a scrub-wearing Faith.
"Relax, B, it's almost over. One more push and we're gonna walk out of here with little Dallas before you know it," Faith said, struggling to keep Buffy from knocking the doctor out with a slayer-kick to the head.
"You try squeezing a bowling ball out of your body and then tell me to relax. And I am NOT naming my baby after a city! Oh god," Buffy stopped her ranting to howl in pain, "I think I'm giving birth to a Balrok demon!"
At that, the doctor looked up at Buffy, and then over at Faith.
Faith just shrugged and leaned closer to the doctor, "She hasn't been able to take her medication, being pregnant and all."
"Ahh," the doctor said, giving a knowing look to Faith, who just nodded in response.
"One more push, Miss Summers, and your baby should be here," the midwife told Buffy from the other side of the table.
Buffy looked over to Faith and gripped her hand tight, a look of fear in her eyes.
"You can do it, B . . . . you're the strongest person I know," Faith said, using her free hand to wipe the sweat from Buffy's brow.
Buffy nodded and looked into Faith's eyes for one more moment before squeezing her eyes shut and giving her all into one final push.
After a few moments, a loud wail was heard throughout the room. The nurses all smiled and looked over to Buffy and Faith, who were anxiously looking over the sheet to see their . . .
"Umm, doctor?" Buffy asked breathlessly, looking down at the baby with confusion. "Why does my daughter have a penis?"
Author's Notes: And we reach the end. It was meant to be short and sweet, and I hope that you enjoyed it as just that. :) Thank you so much for the oodles of support that has been sent my way in regards to this fic. I appreciate it more than I can possibly say. I'd love to hear what you think about this part as well if you can spare the time. :)
"What do you mean 'Buffy had a boy'? The doctor's wrong!" Willow exclaimed as she stood up from her uncomfortable chair in the maternity ward waiting room, a large stuffed purple giraffe being held tight in her arms.
Faith chuckled and pulled out her cell phone, pressing the buttons a few times.
"Nope, he's pretty right, Red. Ten fingers, ten toes, one penis," she said, showing the small phone to the group. On the display was a picture that Faith had taken of the baby just after they'd cleaned him up.
"But that's impossible!" Willow said excitedly as she grabbed the phone from Faith's hand and inspected the picture more closely. "When Buffy had her sonogram, the doctor said it was a girl."
"What he said," Faith cut in, "was that the baby's legs were crosses, but that he didn't see any dots. No dots, no balls. No balls, no boy."
"See?!" Willow said, her eyes wide in fright.
"Yeah, but that didn't mean it was a girl. It meant that maybe junior had his bit tucked up or something. I dunno. B just went with it and started giving it girl names." Faith shrugged and took her phone back from Willow, smiling slightly as she stared at the small picture of her son.
"But I did the spell to verify what the doctor thought. Lots of chanting and stinky burning cloverleaf later, all I felt was female essence, and it wasn't Buffy's essence." Willow explained.
"Did you say cloverleaf?" Giles asked, putting his glasses back on his face after looking at the photo of the baby. At Willow's nod, he chuckled to himself. "For someone as advanced in magicks as you are, Willow, I find it rather amusing that you failed to remember that cloverleaf picks up on the essence of the slayer when used in rituals."
Willow's eyes went wide.
"So I . . .?"
"You didn't pick up on the female essence of Buffy and Faith's child, you picked up on the slayer essence -- the female slayer essence -- in Buffy," Giles explained, smirking over at Willow who had a look of terror on her face.
"Oh boy, she's gonna kill me!" Willow said, panic stricken.
"Wait a minute, calm down," Faith said. She walked to where Willow was now pacing and put a hand on her shoulder to steady the girl. "Listen: did Buffy flip out when she found out that you used a spell on her? Yeah, but she got over it. Did she flip out when she found out that you conjured up an ancient truth goddess that happened to dabble in fertility magic when you did the spell which resulted in her getting knocked up? Yeah, but she got over it. Sure we were planning on a girl, and sure all of the clothes we picked out are pink and purple, and the nursery looks like it was bathed in Pepto-Bismol. But she's gonna get over it, Red. She always does."
"I know," Willow said, her shoulders slumping even further. "I just wish I could make it better. That I was as good at magic as I thought I was."
Faith shrugged. "You wanna make it better? Get in there and see that kid, cos he's all pink and bald and wrinkly and B needs her best friend to tell her that he's the cutest kid in the world. And when you're done giving him the purple giraffe you bought and Xander gives him that ridiculous pink camel . . ."
"It's a llama," Xander interrupted, clutching the pink stuffed toy to his chest.
". . . whatever," Faith continued, "you're gonna go home and make the nursery look like a boy's room so that B has one less thing to worry about. She's making me crazy in there, talking about the kid having a gender identity crisis. He's not even two hours old yet!"
"Gender identity crisis?" Willow asked. "Because he has two mommies?"
Faith chuckled, "No, cos he's wearing a fucking pink outfit and is gonna be paraded home in a pink car seat to his pink bedroom."
"Some men think pink is a nice color," Andrew chimed in, clinging tightly to the stuffed Ewok toy that he'd bought for the baby.
"And on that note," Faith said as she took a few steps back toward the doors to the nursery, "I'm back to see my gender-confused son and his nutcase mother."
Faith turned and walked through the double doors, leaving the surprised yet happy group of friends standing there clutching their stuffed toys for the baby.
"Wait," Dawn said as she stood up, confusion etched across her face. "I know I got a C in Biology, but isn't it impossible for two girls to produce a male? I mean . . . there's a total lack of the Y chromosome. That baby should have two big, beautiful X's, but he's got a little dangly Y instead."
"I suppose that in most instances, you'd be correct," Giles answered. "However, two women shouldn't be able to naturally create an offspring either. I presume that when magic was introduced, all rules of genetics and nature were disregarded. Is it really that difficult to fathom after all we've seen together?"
The group look from one another, understanding what Giles said was likely true. After a moment or two, Kennedy finally stood up from an uncomfortable waiting-room chair.
"So what we're agreeing on -- yet again -- is that the little sprog is Faith and Buffy's, right?" Seeing Giles nod, Kennedy grabbed the purple giraffe that Willow was clutching to her chest, then took Willow's hand and led her through the swinging double doors. "Then let's go see the offspring and make him feel all big and manly so we can go out and eat, I'm starved."
A soft knock sounded through the nursery as Buffy lay back on the hospital bed, resting her tired body while Faith took a turn holding the small sleeping baby.
"Come in," Faith said in a hushed tone, trying her best not to disturb either Buffy or the baby.
Willow opened the door slowly and poked her head in to make sure it was okay for them to enter. When she got the okay from Faith, she practically pulled Kenned across the room with her as she headed straight for Faith and the sleeping baby.
Faith smiled, pride evident in her face as she turned the baby to face his `auntie' Willow.
"Awww!" Willow said as she finally laid her eyes upon the napping infant, who was swaddled in a powder-blue blanket that the hospital had given him. "Look at him, and his squishy little pink face and his bald head." She grabbed one of his hands and held it gently, placing a soft kiss on his knuckles.
"He's not bald, he's hair-impaired," Buffy added weakly from her spot on the bed, letting her visitors know that she was awake.
Willow immediately smiled and headed over to her best friend, hopping excitedly before leaning over to give her a hug.
"He's beautiful, Buffy, hair or none," Willow said with a smile. "Besides, I can see some light blonde hair. He's definitely yours."
Buffy smiled and held her arms out towards Faith, who happily obliged and placed the now fidgeting baby into Buffy's waiting arms.
"Oh, he's definitely Faith's." Buffy said as she arranged the baby comfortably in her arms.
"Why, did he beat the doctor up or something?" Kennedy asked with a chuckle.
"Not quite," Buffy said as she fussed with the baby's blankets, opening them up so that everyone could see him clearly. "After he was busy tearing Mommy a new one – which, by the way, better get me at least 20 years of top-notch Mother's Day presents – he screamed his little head off. And as soon as the nurse put him in my arms, he opened up his eyes and looked right at me . . ."
Buffy trailed off as she tickled the back of her finger along the baby's cheek, trying to get him to respond. After a moment, he opened his eyes wide and did what could only be described as a grin . . . which revealed two of the darkest brown eyes and two of the cutest dimples that had ever been seen.
Willow laughed and covered her mouth, trying to hide her surprise. Faith just smiled all proud again as she leaned over and kissed the baby on the top of his head, effectively making him cross his eyes as he tried to focus on her.
"Oh yeah, there's no denying it; he's definitely the both of yours!" Willow said cheerily.
"No doubt about it," Kennedy said, her hard exterior finally coming down and a smile spreading across her face. "He's got one hell of a grip," she said as the baby wrapped his long little fingers around her thumb.
"Don't use the hell word around my baby," Buffy said as she covered him back up and pulled him protectively against her chest.
"Hell isn't a bad word, it's a place," Kennedy said.
"Right, a place that he will never learn about, because he's going to be shielded from all of the bad stuff by his very strong mommies, and his magical auntie Willow, and everyone else that doesn't wanna get throttled by Momma B."
Kennedy chuckled, "Got it. Shield the spawn from bad stuff."
"Speaking of spawn," Willow interrupted, "we can't just keep calling him `him' and `the baby'. What are you gonna name the little guy?" Buffy shrugged as she looked up toward Faith.
"We're not sure. We have a middle name picked out. But all of the first names we had picked out were for girls, and neither one of us have male family members that we want to carry on the name," she said. "Yeah, the only men in my life were Jack Daniels and Johnny Carson. Mom would sit back and nurse the bottle all night long, which was fine by me cos it meant I could stay up late and watch Johnny. They were the only two men in my life that I could count on," Faith said wistfully.
"Well that's . . . macabre," Kennedy said.
Faith shrugged, "Maybe, but it's life. Besides . . . so long as B doesn't name him anything like Belvedere or Tad, I'm pretty cool with it."
"Jackson," Buffy said quietly as she looked down at her son. The baby took that moment to let out a loud coo.
"What?" Willow asked, looking from Faith over to Buffy.
"Jackson. It's perfect. And he seems to like it," Buffy answered with a smile.
"For real, B?" Faith asked, smiling as she stole a seat on the edge of the bed next to Buffy. "You don't have to do that for me. I'm happy with whatever you pick. Just . . . not Rudolph. Or Maxwell. Or Arthur. Or Bart. Or . . ."
"I get it," Buffy said as she looked over at Faith. "But I really like it. Jackson. It has a nice ring to it. We can just never tell anyone that he's named after Jack Daniels and Johnny Carson." Faith chuckled as she covered the top of the baby's head with her gentle hand.
"At least not 'til he's old enough to appreciate it," Faith responded. "So we're agreed?" Buffy asked as she looked to Faith.
"Hell yeah. I mean . . . heck yeah," she corrected at Buffy's glare.
"Then I would like everyone to meet . . . Mr. Jackson Thomas Lehane," Buffy announced proudly.
"You have a last name?" Kennedy said as she looked over at Faith in surprise.
"Yep," Faith answered casually. "Turns out I wasn't raised by a pack of wolves after all," she said with a smirk.
After a few minutes of a comfortable silence as the girls all fawned over the baby, Faith finally took him from Buffy's arms. Buffy scooted over a little so that Faith could sit next to her, and Faith graciously accepted the seat, resting back next to Buffy with the baby in her arms.
"What do you think, little man?" She said as she looked into his big brown eyes, mirrors of her own. "You've got two hot mommas, a family that loves ya even if you did trick them all into thinking you were a girl, and a pretty sweet crib back at home. You ready for what life has to offer you, Jack?"
He chose that opportunity to yawn as big as he could before closing his eyes for another little nap.
"I think he needs to sleep on it," Willow said, giggling.
Faith and Jackson crouched behind the couch, their homemade tin-foil hats resting awkwardly on their heads.
"Okay, this is how we're gonna do this," Faith said in a hushed tone. "I'm gonna go left, and you're gonna go right – that way over there," she said and pointed to where Jackson was supposed to go. "Once you see me give you the signal – you remember it, it's when I wave my arm – the coast is clear. You grab the cookies, and I'll meet you back behind the couch with a nice cup of milk. If I start to pat the top of my head, you better run, little buddy, cos it means someone is coming. Deal?"
Jackson merely smiled as he looked at Faith in amusement, his tinfoil hat nearly covering his eyes.
Faith peeked around the side of the couch, then looked back at Jackson.
"You ready, Jack-Jack?" She asked and held out her hand. Jackson responded by slapping her hand, giving her a little high-five. "Okay, go!"
Faith stood up and made her way into the hallway, where she made sure the coast was clear. After a moment, she waved her arm about, signaling for Jackson to make his move.
The toddler began walking to where he was supposed to go, stumbling as he was barely able to keep his balance. When he finally reached his diaper bag which was packed in the front foyer, he stooped in front of it and fumbled around until he found his blue container of cookies.
Faith smiled as she watched him, then gave him the thumbs-up sign as he began stumbling back toward the couch with the container in his hands.
"Faith, what are you doing? Why do you have your spy hat on?" Buffy asked as she breezed into the hallway with a basket full of fresh laundry.
"What?" Faith asked nervously as she grabbed the tin foil hat from her head and tossed it into the living room.
"Your spy hat . . . you're getting into trouble. What are you up to?" Buffy asked as she tried to look into the living room, which Faith was blocking with her body.
"Nothing!" Faith answered quickly, doing her best to stop Buffy from looking into the living room and at Jackson was making his way toward them now. She started patting the top of her head, hoping that Jackson would recognize the signal and run away with the cookies. "Why do you always assume I'm up to something?"
She figured that trying to distract Buffy was her only hope now. Buffy stopped trying to look into the living room and instead focused on Faith, who was busy smacking the top of her head. She smiled a knowing smile and positioned the laundry basket on her hip.
"Because I know you, Faith. Besides," Buffy said, using her now free right hand to point at the way Faith was patting the top of her head, "that's your `retreat' signal. You should really try to switch up your signals if you're going to be using them in this house to plot and scam."
Just then, a small rattling noise was heard directly behind Faith's back. She froze, her hand mid-air between pats on her head. Buffy simply smirked and tilted her head to the side, effectively looking around Faith.
"Cookie," Jackson babbled as he shook the blue plastic container of cookies, trying to open it to get the goodies inside.
"Aww, baby, you know that it's not cookie time yet," Buffy said as she smiled down at her innocent son, his messy blonde hair and big brown eyes tugging on her heartstrings. "Give mommy the cookies, and she'll get you some juicy instead."
She held out her hand expectantly, and Jackson happily complied, too young to know that cookies win over juice any day. Whereas most children would have had a temper tantrum, Jackson just stood there and smiled up at his mothers. He was a good baby by all accounts. He slept through the nights, he never cried unless it was without cause, and he was smarter than they ever could have hoped for.
After giving his hair a little ruffle, Buffy stood up and smiled at him before turning her attention to Faith.
"Really, Fai, trying to get our year-old son to help you scam just so you can eat his cookies? Lame."
Buffy tried to hide her smile as she turned on her heel and walked into a different room, leaving Faith stood there with a disappointed look on her face.
"I'm not lame," Faith said to herself, her shoulders slumped in defeat.
"Not lame," she heard a little voice say from behind her, copying her words almost perfectly.
Faith instantly smiled, the disastrous cookie incident instantly forgotten. She turned around and scooped Jackson up in her arms, bringing them face to face.
"Yunno, for such a smart little guy, you sure know how to get your signals crossed," she said before kissing his cheeks several times, earning a small giggle from him.
"Car?" Jackson asked, his big brown eyes the perfect reflection of Faith's.
"Not `til later, boo. We're gonna wait `til after your nap to go and pick up Auntie Dawnie from the airport," Faith answered, trying to clarify her son's confusion.
Jackson made sure to look right into Faith's eyes and hold her attention as he said again, "Car."
Faith began to shake her head, ready to explain again that it wasn't time to go in the car, when she realized what Jackson meant. A big smile appeared across her face, her prominent dimples on display.
"Mommy keeps extra cookies in the car, doesn't she?"
Jackson smiled then too, his dimples matching Faith's perfectly, "Car."
"Judging by the mountain of presents in Jackson's room, I'm gonna go ahead and say that he's one of the luckiest two-year olds around," Faith said as she slid out of her jeans and lifted her t-shirt over her head, walking around her and Buffy's bedroom in only a bra and panties now.
She searched through the room that she and Buffy had been sharing for over two and a half years now for her favorite sleeping t-shirt. Not that she liked to wear a shirt to bed, or any clothes for that fact, but Jackson had a habit of finding his way into their room whenever he had a bad dream.
Buffy breezed out of the adjoining bathroom, adorned in the t-shirt that Faith had been searching for.
"Just remind me the next time when Xander says, `let's have the other 15 kids from Jackson's daycare over for a party' that most two-year olds are evil and not as handsome or well-behaved as our little angel," Buffy said, clearly exhausted from a long day of chasing around children and trying to be a proper hostess.
Faith watched Buffy walk across the room and crawl onto the mattress, her eyes focused on the t-shirt she was wearing the whole time.
"You're wearing my favorite sleeping shirt," Faith said as she stood there, still watching Buffy.
Buffy stopped trying to get under the blankets and looked down at her shirt, realizing that Faith was right.
"Well, you left it lying on the floor, yet again. I thought it was dirty," she explained.
"So you're wearing my dirty t-shirt to bed?" Faith asked with a grin.
"Just find another one, Faith. It's late and I'd like to sleep at some point in time tonight. Not only do I have to clean up from the party tomorrow, but I have to help clean up after the twenty other people who live in this house that expect me to mother them now too," Buffy said as she slipped under the covers.
"Ohhhhh," Faith began, "so you're mothering me now too, cos you always have to pick up my stuff," she said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
"Faith, this room is small enough without all of your crap lying around it," Buffy explained, too tired to choose her words carefully. "I picked it up, I put it on, and now I'm going to bed."
Faith crossed her arms across her chest, anger written across her face.
"What ya sayin', B?" She asked angrily. "My `crap' is messing up your pristine room, I'm this big hassle on you . . . seems to me like you don't really want me here in your room anymore."
Buffy quickly realized the situation that she had put herself in. Within two short minutes, she had managed to put Faith on the defensive and imply that she wasn't wanted in their room.
Of course Buffy wanted her in their room. She didn't, however, want Faith to feel like she was being forced to stay there if she didn't want to. She knew how quickly Faith could feel trapped, and she never wanted her to feel stuck in their situation, neither in their living arrangements nor in their life together.
She chose to respond as vaguely as possible, so not as to scare Faith off.
"Well . . . I mean, you're not obligated to stay in here if you don't want to."
She nervously kept her gaze locked on Faith's, waiting for a reaction.
The reaction she got was not the one she was hoping for.
"Right. I'm not obligated," Faith said angrily. She walked over to the bed where Buffy was laying and leaned down . . . only to grab the pillow from her side of the bed.
Without another word, she turned and walked out of the room, closing the door a bit harshly behind her.
Buffy flopped back on the bed and covered her eyes with her forearm before letting out a loud sigh.
"Shit," she mumbled.
Instantly, she knew that she had chosen the wrong words. She could have teased Faith to come and get the t-shirt back herself if she wanted it so badly, and then they could have spent the night having sex.
But she was exhausted, and a bit irritated, and she had only wanted to go to bed because she knew she would have a busy schedule the next day. Living in a house with that many people, she took on responsibilities that she shouldn't have had to, but that she did because she was Buffy.
She didn't want that to strain her relationship with her son, though, and definitely not her relationship with Faith.
Her relationship with Faith. Now that made her chuckle to herself as she lay there not knowing what to do.
There were no clear definitions or rules in her relationship with Faith. It all started with them having sex. That was what their relationship was back then: sex. It was easily definable and completely uncomplicated.
But then things exploded, and Buffy ended up with a mystical pregnancy and an incredibly awkward situation. She knew that Faith would stand by her side, being on the `road to redemption' and all. Faith wasn't about to shirk her responsibilities. Then again, Buffy never wanted Faith to feel like she was obligated to stay. Faith had never been the kind of person to stay in one place for too long.
And just because they had been having sex, she didn't want Faith to feel obligated to stay for a mistake that Willow had caused.
No, it wasn't a mistake. It was a blessing. Buffy knew that Jackson was the best thing that had ever happened to her. He was the one thing that she had always wanted but, prior to closing the Hellmouth, she never thought she'd get. Now that she had him, she never wanted to let go.
And speaking of never wanting to let go, she didn't want to lose Faith either. Since she had gotten pregnant, they had grown closer and closer together. Granted neither of them had ever said the "L" word. There had been times, undoubtedly, where both girls had wanted to say it. They definitely felt it. But they were both scared. Scared of making the other feel trapped, scared of losing one another, and most importantly . . . scared of losing Jackson.
Buffy had talked to Willow about it. She told her of her feelings for Faith, but that she was scared of how Faith would react to it. Of course, Willow had advised her to talk to Faith about it. She explained that they had a child together, and that Faith wasn't about to get scared and just hightail it out of there.
Still, Buffy was scared, so she had always waited for Faith to make the first move. To be the brave one.
But now, on this night when she had finally pushed Faith enough to make her leave their room . . . she knew that she had to be the brave one. The ball was in her court now.
Slowly but surely, Buffy stepped out of bed and out of their room, on a mission to find Faith and finally let her know how she felt.
When she finally reached the door to Faith's old bedroom, she hesitated for a few moments before knocking gently. After a few moments passed and there was no response, she knocked a little bit louder.
"Faith, can I please come in?"
Another few moments passed and Buffy finally gave up. She gave the door one more gentle knock before turning the squeaky door knob and opening the door.
Without even turning the lights on, she could see that Faith's wasn't in there. There were several of Jackson's toys covering the bed and the floor, but it was quite obvious that the room hadn't been slept in – or lived in – in quite some time.
Buffy slowly pulled the door shut, careful not to disturb any of the other residents of the long hall. She crept slowly down the hall, making her way to the only other place Faith would be at that hour, when she heard a door creak open as she crept by.
A tired looking Willow poked her head out of her bedroom door.
"Hey Buff . . . everything okay?" She asked sleepily.
Buffy sighed and faced her best friend.
"I think I blew it, Will," she said quietly.
Willow smiled and shook her head. "Buffy, no matter what you do or say, and no matter what kind of nasty little fights you may get into . . . you're not going to blow your relationship with Faith. You're both in it for the long haul. One of you just needs to be the first to say it, and it will all work out from there."
Buffy smiled, but she was still wary. "I'm just scared, will. I . . ."
Kennedy, of course, chose that exact moment to stick her head out of the door and interrupt.
"Oh, for fucks sake, Buffy. You love her, and she loves you. Now go tell her and make up so that we can all get some sleep, yeah?"
Without giving Willow and Buffy the chance to say anything more, she closed the door, leaving Buffy stood there in the hallway with a big decision to make.
She thought about it only for a minute or two before a smile finally appeared on her face.
It was time.
The walk to Jackson's room was only a short one, seeing as that it was only the room next door. Buffy considered knocking on the door, but she didn't want to wake her son up. Not if she was going to have the conversation that she was planning on.
Slowly, Buffy turned the door handle and pushed the door open quietly, careful not to let the old door creak. Xander had used many cans of oil to make sure that the hinges stayed perfectly quiet on that particular door.
Buffy instantly saw Faith lying on the small white couch in the room, Jackson snuggling against her chest as the moonlight illuminated them just enough for her to see. She couldn't help but smile at the scene; she'd walked in on the very same scene a hundred times before, and it never failed to make her heart skip a beat. Faith, who could still kick a vampire's ass like none other; Faith, who was too cool to go bowling with the Scoobies but would don a tin-foil hat to make her son smile; Faith, who when she couldn't sleep, would sneak into Jackson's room and just stare at him as he slept in her arms.
Everything she loved was laying there on the couch right in front of her.
Slowly, Buffy made her way into the room and towards the couch. "Sometimes," Faith began, her voice a whisper, "I forget to breathe when I look at him."
Buffy smiled in response and sat gently on the edge of the couch, her hand instantly resting over Faith's on Jackson's back.
"I never liked kids, yunno?" Faith continued. "They were always loud, and smelly, and obnoxious more than even I could stand. But . . . he's not. Jack-Jack is this perfect little man . . . smart, and silly, and fun, and he smells good too, yunno?"
Buffy chuckled, but tried not to break the moment. She wanted Faith to say whatever she wanted before she decided to say what she needed to as well. Faith continued.
"I dunno how it happened, or why, but someone decided to give this little guy to us. And I love him so much, Buffy. More than I thought was possible. And I know we started out on kinda unclear terms, but I'll be fucked if I didn't fall in love somewhere along the line with you too."
Buffy's heart nearly leapt out of her chest at that. Instantly she felt her eyes well up with tears, but all she could manage was, "Faith, language."
Faith looked at her like she was crazy as she indicated the still sleeping child in her arms. Buffy just smiled, knowing how ridiculous her response was, before squeezing Faith's hand a little.
"I fell in love with you too," Buffy whispered softly. "I love you – and Jackson – so much. I . . . I don't ever want to lose this, Faith. With Dawn off studying with the Council and Giles always traveling, well . . . you and Jackson are my family now. I can't lose that."
Faith smiled back, all signs of her previous anger completely melted away now.
"I'm not going anywhere, B. We'll live here, and we'll get frustrated with each other at our total lack of privacy, and you'll be stressed because you have to take care of everyone, but . . . I'll always be here, and I'll always love you and Jack-Jack. Even if you are being a moody . . . witch," Faith said, choosing not to say bitch at Buffy's disapproving glare.
"Well," Buffy tentatively began, "I've been thinking about that too. Jackson loves it here. He loves seeing his Auntie Willow and Kennedy, and he loves when the junior slayers give him attention. But . . . maybe it's time for us to find our own place. A place where we can have more space, and more privacy, and more . . ."
"Room to grow?" Faith finished for her, smiling. "A dog, a white picket fence . . . the whole she-bang?"
"Well, I was gonna say more sex, but yes . . . room to grow, too," Buffy responded, making them both chuckle.
"I like that idea," Faith said, smiling as she squeezed Buffy's hand back.
They let a few minutes pass as they just sat smiling and looking into one another's eyes. It was as if everything made sense now. No more confusion, and no more wondering about what could be and what might have been.
Only when Jackson started to stir at their quiet ongoing conversation did they decided to lay him back in his crib and go back to their own as well.
Buffy and Faith lay in their bed together, excitedly discussing the possibilities of finding a place that they could make their own home. There was a nice house not far from where they were living now, close enough to walk to if needed. They'd have to find appropriate funding, but after years of serving the council, they were sure that they could get some help from there if needed.
"Yunno," Buffy finally admitted as Faith began to rub her back and kiss along her shoulder, "the only reason I took your shirt in the first place was because I wanted to smell like you."
Faith grinned and pulled back so that she could look into Buffy's eyes, "If you wanted to smell like me, I'm sure that I could've just wriggled all over you and got nice and sweaty. No need to wear my dirty old t-shirt."
"Well," Buffy said with a smirk on her face, "maybe we should get rid of this old t-shirt and try that out then. You know . . . for reference for the next time."
Faith couldn't help but chuckle at Buffy's suggestion. Immediately, she sat up a little and began to pull the t-shirt over Buffy's head.
Buffy happily lifted her arms so that Faith could undress her, but found herself confused when Faith got the shirt to her head and stopped lifting it off.
"Umm . . ." Buffy said, her voice muffled in the material of the shirt over her face, ". . . a little help here?"
When she heard Faith chuckle, she began to fumble around with the material of the shirt, trying to remove it so that she could see what was going on.
"Holy shit," she heard Faith laugh, "you're so not gonna believe this."
Buffy pulled the shirt from her head just as Faith said that, only to find that both she and Faith were glowing a very familiar blue hue.
"Ugh!" Buffy said as she gazed upon the unbecoming blue glow. "Willow so must've been listening in on her conversation. I'm gonna kill her!" She began to get up, but found herself stopped by Faith's hand on her chest.
"Orrrrrr," Faith said, a mischievous smile on her face, "we can just go with it and see what fate throws at us this time around."
She waited for Buffy to roll her eyes or to push her off, but instead Buffy looked off into the distance and tilted her head to the side.
"I guess we did get pretty lucky the last time around," Buffy said, then looked back to Faith who merely shrugged at her. "And you definitely make a hot smurf," she said with a big grin on her face.
Faith simply wiggled her eyebrows at Buffy and leaned over her, pressing her back into the pillows as she brought their lips together in a tender kiss.
The sounds of their passionate lovemaking weren't heard in the next room over, where Willow and Kennedy lay soundly asleep in each other's arms, as they had been for the previous hour.
The only other sound in the house was a giggle from Jackson, who lay awake and clapping his hands in his crib, his brown eyes glowing a bright blue.