Family, College, Live and Love
by Suki
Rating: R
Disclaimer: M.E. owns Buffy and Faith and the other mentioned.
Note: Joy is now age 22 and in her last year of college and well the
chicks dig her. This is wicked sappy I'm just in a mushy way right now. Ta!
Feedback: Please I like it.
Joy ran across the campus towards the dorms of University of Sunnydale. Maggie a girl she once dated in high school was matriculating at the start of this semester and Joy had planned on surprising her. She needed to get back to her dorm shower and change and find her off campus apartment.
She had dated a few people in the few years of school but nobody compared to Maggie, she just couldn't get her out of her mind. They hadn't really kept in touch but a few weeks ago she got an e-mail from an old friend saying she ran into Maggie and that due to circumstances beyond her control Maggie would be attending college back home. It never really registered that "circumstances beyond her control" would be anything bad, Joy was just happy her friend was back.
Joy counted the doors of the duplex units looking for number 12. "Can I help you dear?" an elderly resident said.
"Yes Ma'am, I'm looking for #12?" She was still looking at the piece of paper her mother had jotted down the information on.
"Oh you must be looking for Maggie, are you a friend of hers?" She looked at Joy scrutinizing her.
"Yes, we went to high school together and now she's attending college here."
"Oh, okay, well she's not here right now she went to pick up her daughter from daycare she usually gets back around 5:00, do you want me to give her a message?" Mrs. Smith looked at Joy it seemed the girl was in shock, she was staring with her mouth open.
"Miss, are you alright?" She touched Joy lightly on the arm.
"Yes, umm did you say daughter?"
"Yes, little Lizbeth she's such a cutie, she's just turned 4, Maggie takes very good care of her." Mrs. Smith was rambling on about them and either of them saw Maggie approaching with a little blonde girl running in front of her dragging a small book bag.
"Mrs. Smifth (that's the way Lizbeth pronounces it) I'm home."
"There they are." Mrs. Smith looked up and smiled. Joy turned slowly and looked down the street and saw Maggie walking her head was down she seemed to be lost in her own world.
She froze as time telescoped back and she felt all the nerves she first felt when she was around Maggie, she felt 16 again.
Maggie feeling eyes upon her looked up and noticed someone standing next to Mrs. Smith's porch and talking with Lizbeth. She picked up the pace to see just whom it was talking to her daughter.
When she got closer she recognized the woman that had now kneeled down and was talking to her daughter. My god it's Joy, how did she know I was back, she looks good, I look like crap. "Joy is that you?" Maggie looked down at her and smiled.
"Hi Maggie." When she stood Maggie wrapped her arms around the taller woman.
Joy's head spun at the feeling of Maggie in her arms, she closed her eyes and held on.
She felt a small hand tugging on her jacket.
"Hey what about me Mommy?" Lizbeth raised her arms and up to her mother.
"Sorry baby, this is an old friend Joy." She set the little blonde girl on her hip and looked at Joy.
"Hello Miss Lizbeth, it's very nice to meet you." Joy shook the little girl's hand.
"Hi Mrs. Smith." Maggie acknowledged the older woman.
"Hello dear, well time for me to go inside sun's starting to set and well it is Sunnydale."
"Bye." They all said in unison.
"Come on in, want to catch up a little?" Maggie started to pick up Lizbeth's book bag but was beat to it by Joy.
"I got it." She held the gate open for the two then followed them up to the small apartment.
Once inside the second floor walk up, Joy looked around.
The apartment was small but clean, it had two bedrooms and a small kitchen with a window that looked out over the quad.
"Want something to drink?" Maggie offered.
"Actually I can't stay long I promised my Mother I would come by for dinner, Daniel is leaving for England and I want to say goodbye."
"How are your mothers, and Daniel?" Maggie had always gotten along with Faith and Buffy and stopped Joy a few times from killing Daniel.
"We almost lost Mom last year, Buffy that is, they sent her to check out this big demon in Texas of all places, it nearly killed her." Maggie could tell that Joy had been pretty shaken up by this.
"Joy they aren't still slaying are they?" Maggie knew that while they were slayers they had to be in their forties.
"No, well not really, they train slayers now, although Faith thinks she can still kick it around." Joy and Maggie laughed.
"Mommy, I'm hungry." Lizbeth announced coming from the bedroom.
"Well why don't I go okay?" Joy started for the door.
"Joy wait, don't go wait." Maggie reached for her elbow. "Can we get together soon." Maggie looked up at the taller girl.
"Sure Maggie why not." They exchanged numbers and Joy was just about out of the door when Lizbeth called after her.
"Are you coming back?" She looked at Joy with deep blue eyes.
Joy kneeled down to the little girl's level and tugged at the collar on her dress straighten it out.
"Sure am, see I know your Mommy from way back and last time I lost her, this time I won't, okay?" She touched noses with her.
"Kay!" Lizbeth skipped back through the doorway.
"Do you mean that?" Maggie asked but didn't look into Joy's eyes.
"What do you think? Is it everyday women track you down on the hellmouth trying to get a date?" Joy bent her head down to try and make eye contact.
"No I guess not, it's just, well it just with Lizbeth now most people aren't really interested in a woman and her child."
"Well I'm not most people." Joy kissed Maggie on the cheek then bounded down the stairs. "See you!" She waved and rounded the bottom landing.
Maggie closed the door and leaned against it her cheek still tingling where she had been kissed.
"Mom? Mom?" Joy entered the house on Rovello drive and called up the stairs.
"Anyone home?"
"Hey" Daniel came out of the kitchen, he was about the same height as Joy but he had a mop of blonde hair and Buffy's coloring with hazel eyes. Joy on the other hand could at times pass as Faith's twin in her younger days; the only difference about the two was Joy had Buffy's eye color they were a deep green.
"Hey snot!" She fake punched her brother in the stomach.
"You are such a dyke."
"Tell me about it, where are the uber Moms?"
"One is in the kitchen cooking dinner and the other in on a call with Grampa."
"Please tell me Faith is cooking?" She put her hands together in the sign of prayer.
"Yes, she's cooking, I would like to make it to England without food poisoning."
Daniel's head quick snapped forward as the small blonde came around the corner from the dining room.
"Owww Mom, thanks." Daniel rubbed the back of his head.
Buffy still being on her game had heard her son disparaging her cooking skills as she hung up the phone with Giles.
"It's not that bad Daniel." She laughed a little because only one of her children had inherited the slayer skills and it was Joy.
"Hey little woman." Joy scooped up her Mother and spun her around.
"Joy Amber Summers you put me down, Faith Help!" Buffy called her wife from the kitchen.
Faith hearing her wife's distress call figured that Joy had to have arrived, now they just had to wait for Willow to show up with her crew and they could eat.
Faith and Buffy had been together more years than most slayers lived. Joy laughed as Faith hugged Buffy and for the first time she noticed that her Mothers were aging.
Buffy head of blonde hair pulled into a bun streaked with gray and tiny crows feet were apparent around her eyes, her smile always light up a room especially when she saw Faith walk in. Faith tough girl demeanor had been tempered by Buffy over the years. Faith's love for her children and wife had pulled her through many a scrap over the years, but Joy could she the scars she had received from the battles she fought over the years.
"You could have hurried and saved me ya know?" Buffy slapped at Faith's arm.
"Now now my little Twinkie I can't fight slayers anymore, I am hoping to be able to chase grandkids around." Faith pulled Buffy into a hug and kissed her.
"Ewww" Daniel said as he walked away from them.
Joy didn't walk away she leaned against the banister and watched the exchange between the two, they loved each other so much. Faith threaded a few errant hairs from Buffy's plait while the blonde ran her hands up and down her mate's arms as they talked. They were just perfect, she wished someday she could share that with someone maybe even Maggie.
"Earth to Joy?" Daniel waved his hand in her face. "Did you see Maggie today?"
"Oh I forgot Joy, how did it go, did you find her?" Buffy asked while swatting Faith's hand away from her behind.
"Yeah I saw her." Joy started to walk to the kitchen.
The three quickly caught up with her.
"Details please daughter?" Faith handed her the bread to cut for dinner.
"Okay, she's here and I am going to see her again." She busied herself with her task.
"Not so fast girl, spill?" Buffy knew her daughter too well; she was too much like her mother when she didn't want to talk you had to force them a little.
"B, leave it if she doesn't want to talk just let it go." Faith went back to stirring her sauce.
"I will not!" Buffy folded her arms across her chest.
"You will not what?" Willow said as she entered the kitchen with her wife Tori.
"Hi Aunt Willow, Aunt Tori." Joy knew that with the four together she stood no chance of escape.
"Joy saw Maggie, old Maggie from school Maggie, remember Will?" Buffy filled her old friend in.
"I think so, didn't they leave Sunnydale right after you graduated?" Willow tested her memory.
"Yup that's the one, curly hair big on the attitude, perky, reminds me of MOM!" She threw a slice of bread at Buffy.
Buffy slapped Faith on the ass for laughing.
"She's got you there B." She continued to laugh.
"Well she is now two!"
"Huh?" They all said in unison.
"Two as in she has a daughter, she's about four, she really cute." Joy didn't realize but she was smiling broadly.
"Sounds terrible." Willow was smirking.
"Huh?" Joy looked at her Aunt.
"You look miserable dear?" Aunt Tori kissed her on the cheek as she walked out of the kitchen.
"Okay okay it was great, she was still so beautiful and Lizbeth is a firecracker."
"Well you'll have to bring them by." Buffy hugged her "Come on lets eat."
The family dinner went well, as always it was loud and boisterous. Willow's wife Tori had many funny stories from her job in teaching. Their son Jesse was 12 and very embarrassed by his mother's antics. Jesse like Daniel had inherited the magicks side of Sunnydale he was a powerful witch for his age but under Willow's watchful eye she keep his gifts in check.
Daniel was on his way to England to study with the council, he would of course be staying with Giles, which made Buffy happy, her watcher was really starting to get up there in years.
Later doing the dishes Faith started to question Joy about Maggie.
"So, you are going to see her again right?" She was up to her elbows in soapsuds.
"Yeah, I want to she's Maggie, she was everything."
"That was a long time ago, and if I remember right you were heart broken when she left."
"I was, well I was only what 17, 18?" Joy continued to dry the same dish she had been drying for 5 minutes now.
"I think that one is dry now." Faith smiled at her daughter. "What about the kid, does that bother you, knowing she you know…. With a man?"
"Thanks for the visual Mom, yes it bothers me a little, I guess I have a lot of questions, but are they any of my business?" She looked at her mother for some sage advise.
"Honestly Joy, when your Mother and I got together your Aunt Dawn and her were a package deal, but I loved Buffy I didn't care I just wanted to be with her, so maybe you are asking the wrong person."
"Or maybe the right person Mom!" Joy kissed her Mother on the cheek and looked at her watch.
"Yes, it's still early and I will finish the dishes and tell Maggie I will expect her and Lizbeth for dinner next Sunday." Joy threw her arms around Faith then yelled a goodbye to Buffy and Daniel as she ran from the house.
She took the stairs two at a time and found herself in front of Maggie's door. "Okay here goes nothing!" Joy knocked and stepped back a little.
Maggie opened the door wearing an oversized Tee shirt and boxer shorts. Her hair was a little mussed, and she shuffled in slippers that didn't match.
"Joy? Is everything okay?" Maggie stood aside to let her in.
"Ummm yes, sure, wow you look great." Joy looked her up and down.
"Did you hit your head or something?" Maggie tried to smooth her hair out.
"What, no, I'm fine, I have something to tell you okay?" She was pacing back and forth in the small kitchen. "Just let me finished before you say anything okay?" Maggie nodded and chewed on her bottom lip.
"Okay, here goes. When you left my heart was broken, I hurt for a long time, and I know the letters we exchanged you said you were miserable, but I never forgot about you, I tried…" Joy took a deep breath and continued.
"When I heard you were coming back the only thing I could think of was seeing you, so I tracked you down…. Sorry I hope that wasn't bad." Maggie nodded a no to her statement, which made Joy smile.
"So, I graduate this year, and my Aunt Willow has a company a software company and go figure I am good with computers, who knew. So I am going to be working for her so don't worry about anything." Joy let out the rest of her breath and just looked at Maggie. "Well?"
"Well what Joy?" Maggie looked at her puzzled.
"Worry about anything, I got it covered." Joy was proud of herself.
"Joy I'm confused just what are you trying to tell me, what am I worrying about?"
"Everything, Lizbeth, school, money, you can count on me I'll take care of you." Joy stood before her with a huge smile on her face.
"Joy I don't need you to take care of me or Lizbeth, is that what you came here to tell me?" Maggie face was red with anger.
"Maggie wait I think I started this out wrong, I just wanted you to know that I am here for you." Joy was back peddling.
"All I ever thought about was you. All I ever wanted was you." Joy was on her knees in front of Maggie.
"But, but things are different now Joy I have Lizbeth and we aren't the same anymore."
"Tell me you feel nothing for me, tell me you don't and I'll walk away. When I saw that little girl walking down the street I felt a door open in my heart I didn't even hear her speak and I knew she was a part of you a special part. Don't you see I can't walk away, not this time, no vampires, no bad father making you move, it's just us and Lizbeth. I can't walk away from her, the only thing I want to do is protect her."
Maggie started to cry. "Why, why now god I needed you so many times over the years." Maggie threw herself into Joy's arms. "Don't ever go, please don't ever go again."
"I won't, I promise baby, I promise." Joy held on tight to the sobbing woman, she picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.
Joy wanted the first time she made love to Maggie to be special she wanted candles and flowers and heart shaped water beds, but in the real world you need to grab on to love hold onto it fight for it and that's what Joy was going to do.
She lay Maggie down and rested herself on her elbows to look into her eyes. "I have wanted you from the first time you kissed me on the stairs of your house."
"You have me, I'm yours Joy I always have been." Maggie pulled Joy's lips to hers.
They touched lightly at first exploring finding out the special spots that made them long for each other. Maggie wanted to feel Joy inside her, to taste her, to cum only for her, to give herself forever to her love. Tangled in each other Joy thrust up in to Maggie asking her "Do you feel me baby, can you feel me? I love you." Small tears leaked from Maggie's she felt as if she were loosing her virginity again but this time to the one person she truly wanted to have it. The callous touch of Lizbeth father was a faded memory as she looked up into the hazel eyes that asked her to cum for her only her. Maggie felt her breath hitch in her throat as Joy last thrust sent her over the edge and wave after wave of love washed over her. Joy kissed her tears and whispered in her ear telling her she loved her and always would.
Not too many years into the future………….
"Gramma Buffy come on!" Lizbeth pulled her Grandmother into the living room to look at the Christmas tree.
"Oh it's beautiful, did you decorate it all by yourself?" Buffy picked up the little girl who bore an uncanny resemblance to her into her arms.
"Yup, all by myself." She wrapped her arms around her grandmother.
"Lizbeth Faith Summers are you telling tales?" Joy entered the room with her wife.
"Well I didn't do the high ones cuz you wouldn't let me on the stool."
All heads turned when they heard the crash from the study. Faith's laughter boomed from the room, and out she came carrying a small boy with light brown hair and hazel eyes.
"Mom what did he do?" Joy went to take the little boy from her mother.
"He did nothing wrong you leave him alone." She slapped her daughter's hands away.
"Fine I am going to put on the kettle." Joy went to the kitchen.
"I swear Mom he's just like you." Maggie laughed as Faith played peek a boo with Samuel.
"Mom, Samuel, you are in so much trouble."
"Come on buddy that our que to leave." Faith escaped out of the room with the small boy in tow.
Joy came in carrying the dog that was covered in Christmas bows.