Making A Life
by Slayer Tash
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Don't own them but damn I am loving playing with them
right now.
Plot: It is a few weeks after the end of 'Making Love' we catch up
with Buffy and Faith and maybe tie up some points I had brought up
in the other fics.
"Now I get why that damned castle was so big" Faith says lugging one of my cases inside.
"Why?" I say following behind her carrying a box.
"To fit all your shit in."
I ignore her comment on account that I still have a lot of stuff that needs to come inside.
"What the hell is in this case anyway? Rocks."
"Yes. I didn't know if you would have rocks here in Cleveland so I brought my own."
She stops in front of the flight of stairs up to her floor "Sarcasm stops the moving."
I put my box down and lean in to her "What will kisses get me?"
"In to a whole lot of trouble." She smiled.
"Yeah…you being trouble?"
"Something tells me you are trouble." She gives me a quick kiss and heads up the stairs. I stay where I am appreciating the view as she goes up "Quit staring at my ass and move your shit."
"Fine" I sigh and also make my way upstairs.
She puts the case in the spare room that once served as my bedroom and the box I had soon follows it.
I make my way back down to the car I hired to pick my stuff up from the movers and see Faith bending over to reach a box right up the back.
"You know if you want me to stop staring at your ass you have to stop flaunting it about in front of me" I stand behind her and press myself up against her.
She stands up and I slide my arms around her my naughty right hand sliding up under her top rubbing her stomach.
"B." She sighs more aroused than the pissed off she is trying to convey.
"Yeah?" I answer then kiss her neck.
"You can't do this."
"Why not?" I kiss her neck a few more times.
She turns in my arms "I have neighbours and a shit load of boxes to move."
"But baby" I pout and run my finger slowly over the skin just above her jeans "I haven't seen you in like 2 hours and I want to show you how much I love you."
"I ain't sayin you can't show me how much you love me we just have to do it behind closed doors in the privacy of our own home." She runs her hands up and down my arms.
"I wanna show you here" I kiss her chin then start a trail to her ear "As well as inside" I whisper then suck her ear lobe in to my mouth.
I hear her breath hitch in her throat.
"Don't you want me to show you?" I whisper sliding my thigh between her legs.
"Buffy please." She whispers.
"Please what?" I say undoing her belt and unbuttoning her jeans.
"Buffy."
"Yeah?" I slide my hand inside her panties and in to her folds "Baby you are so wet, so fucking wet" I coat my fingers and start to toy with her clit.
"Buffy please!" She groans.
"Please what?" I say again sliding two fingers inside her.
"Fuck me." She breaths "Please fuck me."
"That's what I thought" I smile at her.
She slides her hands in to my hair and pulls me to her for a ferocious kiss.
I use my palm to grin in to her clit and speed up my hand. I want her coming hard and fast and all over my hand.
She is pumping her hips up in to me as well and I can tell she is close cause she is making these little whimpers at the back of her throat.
I break the kiss "You close?" I breathe.
"You…hmmmm…You know I am…uhhhhhhhhh."
"You gonna come for me Fai? Gonna come all over my hand."
She whimpers and I feel her walls grasp at my fingers.
Her fingers are now grasping on to my hips for all they are worth and her hips are just a blur.
"Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee." She groans out as she comes.
I keep moving my hand with long slow jab like movements in to her…a little trick I learnt from her.
"Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck oh Fuck B oh Fuck Fuck Fuuuuuuuck."
Her hips stop moving and she rests her head on my shoulder, I slowly stop moving my hand but keep it inside her.
"Trouble." She says "Nothing but trouble."
"Yeah but you love it."
She lifts her head and looks at me "I do. I love you B."
I kiss her lips softly "I love you too baby" I say against them.
Lying on the couch snuggled up in Faith…yeah she snuggles. I am on my back and she is on her side draped over me snoring softly. She is so adorable…yeah snuggling, adorable…not words you really associate with Faith not unless you know her and I do. I don't know everything but I figure we kinda have forever so why rush it.
"Drowning!" She says sitting up.
"Faith?"
She looks back at me her face is all scrunched up and she is trying to get her breathing under control.
I sit up "Baby are you okay?"
"Was I asleep?" She rubs her eyes.
"Yeah sweetly snoring for about half an hour."
"Huh." She lies back down on the couch. I do as well but I move so I am facing her.
"Hi" I say softly and gently rub her back.
"Hey."
"So…are you okay with me being here?"
"Yeah…why are you not okay with being here?"
"I am more than okay with being here."
"Do you think I don't want you here?"
"No, I just think the last month has been a blur and you may feel pressured or bombarded by me."
"I don't."
"Would you tell me if you did?"
"Yeah…B are you sure you don't have something you want to tell me?"
"No. I just want to make sure you are okay with this. It is kinda fast."
"It is but it feels right not scary." She kisses my nose "Are you scared?"
"If I say a little bit would that upset you?"
"No, I'd like to know what scares you though."
"Our past. We have gone from gutting and drowning each other to living together in a lovey dovey way just like that."
"Our past needs to stay in the past cause that is where it belongs."
"But what about the issues that caused us to be that way."
"I had a wicked itch that couldn't be scratched so I lashed out the only way I knew how at the time. I couldn't fuck ya so I fought ya."
"And now…is it about being able to fuck me?"
"Would you still be here if it was? If it was about fucking you B then it would have ended after our first night together."
I sit up on the couch again "All that mess and anger and fighting was because you couldn't have sex with me?"
"It was deeper than just sex. It became deeper than just sex. There was the initial attraction where it was just about sex but the more I saw you the more it became so much more. You drove me crazy B. I'd never been rejected before. If I wanted someone I got them and here you were so close but so gad damned far away. I wasn't even a blip on your radar and it drove me nuts. I just wanted you to notice me and since doing the good thing didn't work I started on the shitty things cause at least then you noticed me and I know that is fucked up, I know it is fucked up…all I have to give is apologies B."
I look at her and she sits up to face me.
"It isn't all you have…you have your love."
"My love?"
"Your love, you give me your love and I swear that is all I need to make it through each day."
She smiles "And to think I hated mushy shit…if I knew it made ya feel like this on the inside I woulda done mushy shit ages ago."
I move so I am straddling her lap "I am kinda glad you didn't, I am kinda glad you have only been mushy with me."
"Yeah where as you are a bit of a mushy whore ain't ya." She pulls me right against her and holds me to her so I don't move but she doesn't need to worry cause I have no intention of moving.
"They were all school girl crushes compared to this."
"Yeah?" She smiles.
"Yeah baby. I never loved anyone like I loved you."
"Not even Big A?"
"That was love but it was also pain and angst and anguish and tears and death."
She frowns "How is this different to us?"
"I don't feel any of that towards you. When I was in love with him it felt like torture with you it feels like puppy dogs, candy hearts, walking on air, a warm blanket on a cold day…if I am not this close to you at all times I feel lost."
She leans up and kisses me deeply.
"Oh spew!"
She pulls back from the kiss "Hey C."
"Don't let me interrupt, I just came up for some of that leftover pizza before I head off with Sam for late patrol."
"We won't" Faith says before capturing my lips again in another heated kiss.
I groan in to her mouth when I feel her hands slide up my pj top and rub my sides…I am already aching for her.
I pull back from the kiss in protest when I feel her hands disappear but it dies in my throat when I see her undoing the buttons on my top.
Once she is finished with the buttons she slides her hands inside cupping my breasts, her thumbs rubbing over my nipples.
"So how do you feel when I am this close to you?" She places a kiss between my breasts.
"Wet" I answer.
She looks up at me and grins "You mind if I get mushy with your pussy?"
"Not at all."
She kneels on the couch and lays me down on it and as she kisses down my stomach pulling my pj pants down as she goes I just hope to god Caridad isn't still in the kitchen.
"Ouch…okay new rule…Weapons away before any after slaying bedroom activity" I say jumping around the bedroom holding my foot which is currently in immense pain.
Faith turns her bedside lamp on "What did you do?"
"Trod on something very sharp" I make my way over to the bed and rest my leg across my lap.
"Baby you put clothes on."
I can hear the pout in her voice. Yep she snuggles, she snores and she pouts! Could she be any more perfect for me?
"Yeah I did which is a good thing cause I would hate for you to have to take me to the hospital while I am naked."
"Is it that bad?" She is out of bed kneeling in front of me.
"It feels that way" I haven't actually let go of my foot to check out the damage.
"Let me look." She says running her hand over mine.
"Okay but if my foot falls off I blame you."
"Okay foot falling off my fault I accept that." She says.
I move my hand and she inspects it…well I assume she inspects it cause I have closed my eyes.
"Holy shit." She breathes.
"What?"
"You don't want to know B."
"How bad is it?"
"I am serious B you don't want to know."
"Just tell me Faith, just tell me!" Okay now I am really worried.
"There is good news and bad news…Good news is that it didn't fall off. Bad news is we may have to amputate."
"What?" I look at my foot and see the tiniest of scratches on the bottom of my foot that probably just needs some antiseptic on it to clean it up "You are evil" I say to Faith.
"You were crying over that!"
"I did not cry!" I cross my arms over my chest.
"You were close to it."
"You know what you are close to…sleeping on the couch."
"Ha! My house B you don't wanna share the bed then you can have the couch."
"I'm injured!"
"You are scratched!"
"Aren't you going to clean it up?"
"Yes." She sighs and heads in to the ensuite to grab the first aid kit.
Ha! She is so pussy whipped.
"What were you getting up for anyway?" She asks walking back in.
"I'm hungry."
"Well I don't have any non fat yogurt."
"Ha ha ha. Such a comedian."
"I try." She grins and kneels again.
"I was thinking of making a sandwich I brought some cold cuts earlier today."
"Oooooh did you get any pastrami?"
"Maybe."
"Sorry Bub but this is gonna sting." She warns before wiping antiseptic over the scratch.
I flinch a little.
"Sorry, it is a bit deeper than I first thought."
She blows over the cut and I swear I almost come then and there.
"It isn't bleeding anymore but did ya still want me to put a plaster over it?"
I nod biting my lip…I don't want her to think I am a perve and if I talk I think my voice will be all wavery.
She gently puts one over it "There ya go all better."
I smile at her.
"You okay?"
I nod again.
She moved in between my legs "Buffy?"
"You blew on my foot" I blurt out.
"Yeah to dry off the antiseptic."
"I almost came."
She wiggled her eyebrows "Mad skills."
"Thank you for looking after me…naked."
She looks down "Huh, didn't even notice."
"Sure you didn't" I brush some of her hair back behind her ear "You are so beautiful."
She rolls her eyes at me.
"Don't roll your eyes at me!"
"I may be hot B but I ain't beautiful."
"Yes you are."
"Pffft." She looks away from me.
"Hey" I put my hand under her chin and make her face me again "Faith."
"Don't B." She pushes my hand off her and gets up.
"Faith what's wrong?"
She starts pulling her clothes on not answering.
"Faith?"
"Just leave it Buffy." She pulls her jacket on.
"Okay, where are you going?"
"Out." She picks up the stakes that were lying on the floor and shoves them in a pocket and leaves the bedroom.
When I woke up I was alone. I figured she had ended up on the couch but she wasn't there or in any of the spare beds. I went down to Caridad's floor but no luck there either.
I call her on my cell phone and get her voicemail right away.
"It's Faith, leave a message."
"Hey Baby it's me…Buffy…just calling to see if you are okay…I am sorry if I upset you. I didn't mean to. Please call me and let me know you are okay. I love you."
I end the call and put my phone on the kitchen counter and let out a sigh.
I go over the percolator and start a fresh pot of coffee and I know this sounds sappy but I miss her. Every morning that I have been here I would make the coffee and she would come up behind me and give me cuddles and kisses and whisper stuff in my ear, sweet stuff, dirty stuff, what she was gonna make me for breakfast…yeah I know sappy.
I make myself a coffee and sit at her breakfast nook and try not to cry. Again with the sap but the look on her face last night was absolutely heartbreaking and I don't know what I did to upset her and I made her stay out all night…from her house.
"Fresh Coffee?" Caridad asks as she walks in.
"Yeah."
"Where is your usual hip attachment?"
I shrug my shoulders "She got upset last night and took off. She hasn't been home since."
"She hasn't taken off since…a while anyway."
"Since?"
"It was something bad, I think she should tell you."
"I don't even know what I did! One minute I am calling her beautiful the next she is off in a bad mood."
"You called her beautiful?"
"Yeah. Why is it so strange for me to call my girlfriend beautiful?"
"Nothing."
"What is going on?"
"It is up to Faith to tell you Buffy."
"Is it something to do with her brother?"
"If you thought she was upset last night wait until she hears the one about her house mate sticking her nose in where it shouldn't be."
"Okay fair enough but do you know where she goes when she is like this?"
She shrugs her shoulders.
She so knows but she isn't saying.
I feel like such an idiot. A few days ago I was sitting there like Queen of the world thinking I knew my girlfriend better than anyone, that we were finally where we should be and it turns out I know none of the important stuff and that her house mate knows more than me. Shouldn't I know where my girlfriend goes when she gets upset?
"She always comes home."
"Yeah, after how long?"
"It varies. Overnight, a couple of hours, a couple of days or weeks even."
"Weeks!"
She shrugs her shoulders.
"What does she do? Does she go away, or go to a bar…oh…oh" I say as it hits me.
"She wouldn't do that, she wouldn't cheat on you."
"Uh…okay. I might go get changed. See if I can find her. Staying here won't help at all" I get up and head to the stair case, out of the corner of my eye I see Faith making her way up the stairs.
I wait for her to reach the top. I don't want to rush her. I don't know if she is still mad at me.
She reaches the top step. Her face is bruised and the left arm of her jacket has been ripped off. I can see cuts up and down the arm, there is blood caked and dried in her hair, rips in her jeans and top as well. I am assuming she is probably black and blue underneath the clothing as well.
"C would you mind meeting me upstairs with the large first aid kit."
"I can do it" I offer.
"C?" She says to Caridad ignoring me.
"Sure be right up."
"Faith…what is wrong why won't you talk to me about this. I don't understand what is wrong."
She doesn't even look at me she just walks up the stairs in silence.
I wait in the kitchen for them to finish upstairs. Maybe half an hour later Caridad comes back down.
"How is she?"
"Asleep."
"What happened?"
"She patrolled…drunk."
"Is that something she does often?"
"Not in months. She has been doing really well. No drinking, no reckless patrolling."
"And on my 3rd night in the house she is back in to it."
"It isn't you."
"Isn't it?"
"No. Look I can't tell you, Faith is one of my closest friends and if I were to tell you then I would lose that friendship."
"I'm not asking you to tell me. I would never put you in that position. I just meant it is my fault cause if I didn't do what I did last night then she would be fine. She wouldn't be putting walls up and trying to get herself killed."
She doesn't say anything.
"Am I wasting my time?"
"I don't know. Since I have known Faith she has never been in a relationship…she has hardly been with anyone. I do know that when she is like this it is pretty bad…it takes her a while to snap out of it."
"Maybe…Maybe I should just go. She didn't even acknowledge me before… I knew that…I pushed her. I made her decide" I say to myself.
"What?" Caridad asks.
"I uh…I said it would be better if I just go. I made her like this and if I stay it won't get better."
"Are you joking? She has been walking on air the last 4 weeks."
"And now look at her. She is rock bottom cause of me. I know this pattern it just ends up ruining lives. I have…we have fucked each others life up enough and I love her too much to let her fuck it all up again because of me."
"You guys have fought so hard though! To be here with each other. Please don't go cause I know that will make her slip back even further."
"She is hurting cause of me."
"And you are hurting because of her. So you are kind of even."
"I think I am more confused and upset than hurt."
"Please Buffy. Please don't go. I know you don't think so but she is going to need you."
"How can you be so sure?"
"I am the person that is around her the most. I have seen a lot of things. She is fighting so many voices in her head right now…demons she is fighting her demons and she can't do that by herself anymore. Trust me when I say she needs you."
I don't answer. My head is swimming with thoughts and feelings and emotions and even actions.
"Thanks Caridad" I say to her "I might go lie with her."
"She'd like that."
I give her a small smile and make my way upstairs and hopefully not for the last time.
Notes: I was on a roll with this fic and then after I wrote the first section of this fic I hit a brick wall. Then this morning I got a flash of how to wrap it up...it is different to how I have done my chapters before but I kinda like it!
I can feel sun in my eyes and I don't like it I put my hand over my eyes and whimper my displeasure at the unwelcome intruder.
"You snore ya know." Says a raspy voice behind me.
"I didn't mean to fall asleep."
"It's okay" I feel her rub my stomach.
Now I am not concentrating on the evil sun I can feel her spooning me. Yay!
I snuggle back in to her.
"Warm blanket in winter?" She says.
"Yeah except it is summer."
"Am I too hot for you?"
She can't joke her way out of this "Nope, I heard you were nearly too dead for me."
"Isn't that how you like your partners?"
I push her hand off me "If you want me gone Faith just grow up and say so. Don't throw under handed insults at me. I mean it when I said I was done hating you."
"It was a joke."
"I am not laughing" I sit up on the side of the bed.
"Baby…I'm sorry…I am new at this."
"I know" I say quietly.
"I guess you want to talk?"
"Only if you are ready to. I want to know what is wrong but I am not going to push you…I am not gonna stand by and let you push me away either."
"It's hard! I can't believe the things I think at times…you think I want to verbalise them and have you think them about me too?"
"That is kinda unfair. Judging my response…deciding that I am just going to look down on you and make you feel like shit. I am in love you you idiot and that means sharing no matter how stupid things are! You think I felt super cool around you after I told you about my Dorothy Hammill stage?"
I hear her chuckle softly.
I turn and face her and give her my best scowl. It is the first time I have seen her since her cameo as a walking bruise earlier this morning. You wouldn't have even known she came home battered and bruised to look at her.
"What did I do?" I ask her "What did I say to upset you so much?"
"This is totally going to sound like a line but trust me when I say it is me and not you. You didn't say anything wrong…you just reminded me of something someone did say to me and I hadn't heard it since."
"Okay."
She sits up and hugs her knees to her chest "My brother…Reid…he uh…he passed away about…it is coming up to a year since….since he died."
I move beside her on the bed but facing her. She puts her hand in my lap and I take it in both my hands.
"He got sick…Leukaemia…which in adults isn't really good…they don't get a high survival rate once diagnosed. He fought it though. He fought it for almost two years and they gave him maybe 6 months at the most when he was first told. He was strong ya know." She looks at me as she says the last part.
I smile and squeeze her hand gently.
"He was so tired though B…so tired." Tears slide down her face "I told him that it was okay…to sleep…to let go. He uh…he took my hand and said 'Boof you are my best friend and I have gotten so much of my strength from you' I told him that the pain killers were messin with his head he gave a little chuckle then said 'Don't ever forget who you are, don't ever forget just how beautiful you are' then closed his eyes then he kinda stopped breathing then his grip on my hand loosened. He uh…he died."
"Baby I am so sorry" I bring her hand up to my mouth and kiss it a few times.
"When you called me beautiful…I tried to play it off…but you were the first person to say that word to me since he said what he said to me and I uh…freaked out. I guess you kinda know that though."
"Yeah…when I came back from being dead and Willow and Tara had taken Mom's room I was so mad. Before I died I used to lie on her bed and hug her god awful dressing gown to me…it smelt like her. The whole room smelt like her and it felt like she was still there, that she would always be with me…then I come back and it was hard…so harsh and loud and all I wanted was to lie on her bed have her close to me cause Mom always made it better but she was gone…no dressing gown…no smell…no Mom. I was so pissed off cause they didn't think! They didn't think that those things in that room meant something to someone. It was already hard enough being ripped out of heaven and dealing with that…look how well I dealt with things. I slept with yet another vampire!"
"Yeah." She says quietly.
"I know how it feels to lose the most important person in your life… it happened to me once Fai and I don't think I can let it happen again."
"You mean me?"
"Yep."
"What about Dawnie?"
"Please she is a pain in the ass!" I smile "Baby I am here for you, no matter how hard, no matter how scary, no matter how difficult, no matter how stupid you may think it is, if it affects you then I wanna know about it. I wanna be part of it. I wanna be part of you."
"Okay." She breathes out "Okay."
6 Months later
"You are such a pig" I say moving between her legs as she makes herself comfy on the kitchen counter.
"Yeah I am, kinda comfortable with that fact." She says around a mouthful of Oreos.
"Comfortable or proud?" I ask with a smile.
She thinks for a second. "Both." She says with a chocolaty grin.
I shake my head and laugh.
"What?"
"You kinda got something in your teeth" I motion with my hand.
"Would you be a sweetie pie and get me a glass of milk?"
I should have known that was coming. She always has milk with her Oreos but some nights after patrol she is all about the cookies and forgets the milk so I become her milk wench.
I head over to the fridge and grab the carton out and her Redsox glass and fill it up. I turn to give it to her and find her kneeling on the kitchen floor looking up at me.
"Are you okay?" I ask setting her glass down.
We had quite an active patrol and she got a few good kicks to the stomach so I am thinking internal bleeding right now.
"I've been okay for a while now." She says shakily.
"Faith."
"Just let me talk okay." She says gently.
I nod.
"First off I'm not hurt. I can see the look on your face. I am fine baby I promise." She reaches out and takes my left hand "I am better than fine. Most days I am on top of the fuckin world and it is all cause of you...and me. You and Me…Us. I am on top of the fuckin world cause of us. I have a past full of mistakes…we used to have a past full of mistakes but I love those mistakes cause they all lead to here…to me kneeling on the floor holding your hand telling you that I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you."
I watch as she reaches in to the pocket of her pants and holds up a ring.
"B…would ya?" She grins "Would ya be my milk wench for the rest of my life…our life?"
"I guess so" I answer with a shrug.
She frowns and stands up "You guess so?"
"Yeah. I guess so."
"Who answers a proposal with I guess so?"
"Uh maybe one that included the f word twice and referred to me as a wench."
She smiles at me "Baby waby, schmoopy woopy, honey bunny would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"
"I think I preferred the first proposal" I say with a grin.
"Seriously though Buffy." She says putting an arm around me "You make me happy…you make me excited…you make me so fucking horny at times and I want that every single minute of every single day forever…so seriously what do you say?"
"Well it isn't every day a proposal with 3 F words combined with a schmoopy woopy comes along…so I would have to say yes…yes Faith that is what I say."
She rests her head on my shoulder "Oh thank fuck for that!" She says in to my neck.
"Were you scared?" I ask rubbing her back.
She pulls back and looks at me "You have no idea! I had so many speeches prepared and none of them sounded right and I always came back to on top of the fuckin world and I figured it was me asking you so I was just gonna be me. I use words like fuck and wench and you know that, you know me, you get me."
"And now I get your forever."
18 Months later
"What do you mean by Faith is pregnant?" Dawn asks over speaker phone. We had just called her to tell her our good news.
"We asked Willow for a spell, she gave it to us and now my wife is knocked up."
"Is it yours?" She sounds confused.
"Yes, look the details are wicked gross but Dawn you are gonna be an Aunt."
"Wicked gross…you sound just like your knocked up wife. Mom was right she always said if you spent too much time with Faith she would eventually rub off on you."
"Well it was kinda an essential part of me getting knocked up…we kinda had to rub off on each other" Faith says.
"Ew! I just hope that you don't scar this child as much as you scar me."
"Did you say scar or scare?" Faith asks sitting on my lap.
"I think both are appropriate."
"So do you want details?" I ask her sliding an arm around Faith.
"Of the rubbing…no thanks."
"On your little niece or nephew ya perve" Faith chuckles.
"Oh! Yeah…god for a second there I thought you had found a new way to torture me."
"So Lehane Jnr is due in about 6 and a half months. The doctor says something about being pregnant for 40 weeks and that means pregnant for 10 months but it so doesn't make sense cause that would make me more pregnant than what I am. We only tried the spell once and that was like 10 weeks ago and he is trying to tell me go from the date of my last monthly visitor. I said to him that it didn't make sense cause if we go by that date it is only 9 and a half months I am pregnant for not an extra month cause you ovulate halfway through your cycle if it was a whole month I would be up to my next period and so not pregnant." She takes a huge breath in.
"Baby ya think we maybe shouldn't have this conversation with Dawn…or again?" I gently rub her stomach.
"I just don't get it though B." She turns on my lap to look at me "It just doesn't make sense."
"I know…we decided that we would go by our timetable not Dr. Jenkins."
"You would think people with the medical degree would know proper medical facts."
"You would but lets not worry about it."
"Ah hello…little sister still on the line here…I am thinking of hanging up and calling social services cause my nephew or niece is going to be brought up by crazy women."
"Sorry, we will let you go. Talk to you soon Dawnie" I say.
"Okay Love you both."
"Love you too." We both say.
"And despite all the jokes, congratulations guys."
"Thanks Dawnie" I say then hang up.
Faith gets up off my lap "Do we have any Oreos. I am fuckin starved."
6 Months later
I thought I had heard Faith swear a lot over our 2 and a half years together but right now she is setting a new record and I just know that our child's first word is so going to start with an F…in fact the first thing our child is going to hear as it enters the world is most likely to start with an F.
I don't blame her though. She went in to labour two weeks earlier than Dr. Jenkins said she would and rather than worry about that she was all about making sure he knew her theory about the date being messed up was right…that was 36 hours ago now she doesn't care about her theory and wants to kill Willow for letting us know the spell.
I am kinda glad that we did all this through the council because Dawn's joke about social services would quickly become reality if we were at a normal hospital right now. Faith wanted to try and do it independently in case some of the council methods were still about and they wanted to run tests on the baby once they were born but Giles promised her that wouldn't be the case. So she had legal documents drawn up and made him sign them…and most people thought I would be the over protective parent!
"Okay the baby is crowning Faith. Just a couple of more pushes and this will all be over with."
"Oh god. About fuckin time." She pants.
"On the next contraction Faith I want you to push."
"Uh huh."
I wipe her brow with a cool cloth "You are doing so good baby."
She shoots me a look that isn't entirely appreciated but I will let it slide on account of the tiny person trying to make its way out of her.
She squeezes my hand and lets out a string of expletives that a sailor would be proud of then relaxes.
"Great work Faith. We have a head and shoulders, one more push and hopefully we will have an entire baby."
"You really think now is a good time to joke with me? My feet aren't fuckin restrained in these stirrups, I can kick you in the fuckin head anytime I like."
"Right, okay. Point taken."
I feel her grip n my hand tighten again and I know in about 2 seconds our whole world is gonna change forever.
Tiny little cries fill the room and Faith relaxes back against the bed.
"Congratulations ladies you have a perfectly healthy little boy."
"Oh my god! A boy!" I say to Faith "We have a little boy."
She smiles tiredly at me.
"Well done baby" I say and we share a soft kiss "I am so proud of you."
"Buffy would you like to cut his cord?" Dr. Jenkins asks me.
I leave Faith's side momentarily to cut the cord, then the nurse places him on Faith's chest and she holds him.
"Hi little fella." She says softly.
He stops crying instantly and looks at her.
"Hi Reid." She says her eyes filling with tears "I'm your Mommy."
I look at my wife and brand new son and totally love that our life is going to change forever.
3 Years later
"Reid Alexander Lehane you get back here right now."
I hear Faith call out 2 seconds before I see a blonde haired blur run in to the kitchen and take refuge behind my legs.
"Hide me Mommy." He says gripping my legs.
Faith reaches the kitchen holding a screaming 2 month old baby.
"Reid I am serious." She says looking frazzled.
"What happened?" I ask her.
"I had just gotten Sav to sleep and he woke her up."
Yeah we had another one. Savannah Joyce Lehane only this time I was pregnant and this time we have to contend with a jealous little 3 year old.
I bend down and pick him up "Is that true? Did you wake your sister up?"
He pokes his bottom lip out in a classic Faith move that normally gets her out of trouble.
"Yeah but I had a good weason." Tears are welling up in his eyes.
"Which is?" I ask him smiling ay his pronouncing of reason. He still can't say his R's.
"She always gets Momma cuddles, I just want Momma cuddles." He buries his head in my neck and cries.
"Oh bubba" I say and rub his back "All you have to do is ask."
"I do but she just yells at me."
I look over at Faith who is pouting herself a little and also has tears welling up in her eyes. I think fairly soon I am going to have 3 crying humans to contend with, something slayer powers does not help with. Time for a patented Buffy Summers, sorry Buffy Lehane speech perhaps…
"She doesn't mean it champ. Sav is just so tiny and new that she kinda needs Momma and Mommy a lot" I tell him.
He looks at me "I still need you a lot I am only 3!" He holds up 3 fingers for effect.
I put him on the kitchen counter and wipe his eyes "That is true but you can do a lot of things that Savannah can't and we need to do them for her."
"Like what?" He says using his sleeve to wipe his nose.
I reach for a tissue and put it up to his nose "Blow."
He does and I wipe and screw up the tissue.
"Good boy. Well you can blow your own nose."
He laughs at this.
"What else can he do Momma?" I throw it over to Faith.
She walks over still trying to calm our daughter down "Well you can dress yourself and you know how to brush your hair and your teeth."
"She doesn't have hair or teeth yet!"
Okay so it seems like those reason aren't good enough for him.
"Well you can talk to us and tell us what you need. All Sav can do is cry and we don't always know what the cry means so it can take us a little longer to sort her out."
"Did I cwy like that when I was little?"
"Yep."
"So I got plenty of Momma and Mommy cuddles?"
"Yep, we used to fight over who got to cuddle you the most" I tell him.
It's true we did!
"And a good bwother would let his sister have the cuddles if she needed them?"
I nodded.
"Did you let Aunty Dawn have cuddles when she needed them when she was a baby?"
I look at Faith, I am in so much trouble…I tried to suffocate her with a pillow a few times when she was a baby isn't exactly something you tell your 3 year old son and I can't lie to him, he totally knows every time I do.
"Of course she did buddy" Faith chimes in.
"What about Uncle Weid…did he mind that you got more Momma cuddles when you were new?"
Faith is now looking at me asking for help with her eyes. I take Savannah who has stopped crying and is now asleep and hold her against my chest while she picks Reid up. We talk to Reid all the time about the people who were part of our life but are longer physically with us. He totally loves that he is named after her brother and my sentimental baby still gets kinda misty eyed when Reid brings up his namesake.
"I think he kinda did mind but after I got Momma cuddles I always got Uncle Reid cuddles. He was my best friend and I think it would be kinda cool if one day you and Sav could be best friends."
"Do you miss your Uncle Weid cuddles?"
"Yeah I do…very much so."
"Well maybe I can give them to you instead."
"That would be nice buddy."
Reid rests his head in the crook of her neck and they get the cuddles they both need.
I got over to my wife who is trying so hard not to cry right now.
"I'll go put this little one to bed and let you guys have your cuddles."
"Thanks." She says a little shakily.
We share a few soft, sweet kisses and I make my way to Savannah's nursery.
After I lay her down in her cot and cover her up a picture of the 4 of us the day we brought her home from the hospital catches my eye. My heart soars kinda like it did only a minute ago when my beautiful little 3 year old son talked his way out of getting in to trouble in such a Faith like way. Full of pouts and love.
Who would have thought that when I was making a life for myself I would get so lucky?