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TITLE: Book Five: The Roads Series ? These Roads We Travel (2/?) AUTHORr: Kimber (kacoe@xxxxxxxxxxx) DISCLAIMER: All BTVS characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Grrr, argh. SPOILERS: Everything is fair game. AUTHOR?S NOTES: The more feedback I get the more I?ll post?.nuff said. flashbacks are enclosed in { } Thoughts enclosed in < >
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Buffy closed and locked the door behind her. It was a rough day and she felt every minute of it right down to her bones. They say loss gets easier with time. Buffy Summers would have liked tohave a word or two with who ever 'they' were and find out what 'they' would say when a motherless nineteen year old looks at you imploringly and asks one simple question. 'Why?' Those big green questioning eyes were enough to frazzle the nerves of even the Immortal Slayer. Well, not so immortal now. Now she would die just like everyone else, or, just like every other Slayer before her.
She played with the gold band on her finger absentmindedly and smiled. It seemed like only yesterday that they exchanged the rings and vowed to love each other forever. In reality itwas almost twenty years ago, right after Willow discovered she was pregnant.
They discussed starting a family at least a thousand times but never really followed through with the plans. It seemed like nothing would makeeither of them happy. Willow wasn'ttoo fond of the idea of adoption because she wanted the baby to at least be a part of her or Buffy. Then when the subject of artificial insemination came up Buffy totally nixed the idea because she didn't like the fact that she wouldn't know anything about the father. She also didn't like that there was a possibility of the father showing up on their doorstep. Precautions were often taken, but nothing was fail-safe. Add that in with living on the hellmouth and Willow came around to Buffy's way of thinking on the matter of 'frozen fathers'.
It all seemed so cut and dry now, but when the discussion was happening, it was anything but. Buffy grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and opened the sliding door to the patio. The view still amazed her every time she saw it. She and Willow decided to go house hunting on a whim. They thought it was a good way to pass the time and would enjoy looking at the many different styles and structures of the houses in Sunnydale. This was the first and last housethey looked at and two weeks later they bought it thanks to the money from Willow's computer programming hobby.
The house was set on a cliff near the outskirts of Sunnydale. It was as if this particular cliff was made just so a house could be nestled into it nicely among the trees and other greenery. When you stepped out onto the porch you were assaulted by the sweet smell of flowers and there was a lake and a forest about twenty feet below. The house was close enough so they wouldn't have to worry about leaving their friends or family, but it was far enough away so that if anyone wanted to see them, they'd have to drive. Well, except for Xander. He could 'beam' in and out of anywhere in the blink of an eye. The setting for the house and the house itself was perfect and private and romantic. And now Buffy Summers was occupying it alone with Willow's daughter.
Buffy sat down in her favorite lounge chair and took a deep breath of the warm night air. She could remember a night just like this. Being out here with Willow and without a care in the world.
{{"Buffy! You're incorrigible. You know that?" Willow swatted her lover's arm playfully. She was sitting in the Slayer's lap, straddling her legs and from the grip Buffy had around her waist, Willow wasn't going anywhere.
"I know, but you have to admit you've thought about it, Will. Come on." She drank down the last of her iced tea then looked up at Willow with great big puppy dog eyes.
Willow attempted to reprimand the errant Slayer, but her tone of voice came out as amused. "Don't you turn those eyes on me, missy."
Buffy smiled.
"You *have* thought about it.
I'll bet it crossed your mind the first time we stepped out on this deck
together when we came to view the house."
Buffy reached up behind Willow's neck and gently
pulled her down for a kiss. She
pulled away after a few moments, much to Willows dislike. "You vixen, you. If you had told me sooner then I could
have made your wish come true."
"Not want to make love to you under the stars? There are still so many things you have yet to learn about me Miss Rosenberg." Buffy smiled.
"But what if we get caught?"
"Don't you have some sort of protection spell in your
little bag of witchy tricks?
Something to make us, you know, invisible but not."
Buffy watched with keen interest as Willow cast a spell over them. She saw a thin mist begin to bear down on the entire house then just as it looked like it was going to billow over them, it disappeared.
"So mote it be." Willow whispered. She opened her eyes and leaned down close to Buffy's ear. "Now. Where were we?" She whispered. "Here?" She trailed light kisses down the Slayer's neck and up to her chin. "Or here?" She took Buffy's head in her hands and turned her face. She proceeded to kiss her cheek, her forehead, and down her other cheek. "Or maybe we left off here." Finally Willow pressed her lips to the blondes.
Buffy felt as if her blood was set on fire. It was very rare when Willow tookthe upper hand, but when she did. . .look out. All other thoughts fell away from the Slayer's mind when Willow increased the pressure of the kiss. Buffy parted her lips slightly to grant the redhead access and the rest of the night was. . .}}
<Amazing.> Buffy smiled at the memory. They'd had such great times together in this house right from the moment they moved in. That night, that wonderful, passionate, amazing night ? was the night Willow got pregnant. Biologically it was impossible. But magically. . .well, if anyoneknew about magic it was Willow and if there was a way for her to get pregnant with a child that was part of her and Buffy, then Willow was just the one to find that way and make it work.
"Now that's what I like to see."
He walked over and sat down in one of the
chairs. "I wouldn't worry about
that, Buff. I can
regenerate."
Xander chuckled. "You might want to save that 'eww' for
after I tell you it was one night that you and Will came over for
dinner."
"A who?"
"Gremcheu.
It's kind of like a dog but not.
It's hard to explain. The
pets here have *nothing* on the pets we have in limbo."
"I forgot my bag. I was just gonna slip in and out,but
then I saw you out here. It's nice
to see you smiling again."
Buffy genuinely smiled. "I am sorry about that, Xand. I just couldn't believe it. I thought it was impossible untilWillow
explained it to me."
"It was about four months after Willow's birthday/graduation party. We were only in the house a week and you two kept disappearing. What was I supposed to think?" Buffy glared at him playfully.
"That's my Slayer. Punch first, ask why later."
"And what made it even worse was the fact that everyone was there! Even Angel and Cordelia. I walked onto the patio and immediately had a bad flashback to that time in the library when you guys found out Angel was back. I thought you were gonna pull some crazy intervention thing on me again."
{{Buffy dropped her duffle bag near the doorand yawned. The yawn wasn't so much from slaying as it was from boredom. The demons and vampires were scarce lately. Giles had checked into it severaltimes in the past few weeks but nothing seemed out of place. There was no big evil coming up, no prophesies, no doom and gloom. Nothing. It was as ifthe forces of evil finally got a clue and decided to let the Slayer have a semi-normal life for once.
She walked into the kitchen then onto the patio where she knew Willow would be waiting for her. The minute she opened the door she knew something was wrong. Her mom, Giles, Angel, Cordelia, Faith, Anya and Xander were all there. They were sitting in a semi-circle and Willow was in the lounge chair facing them. What made it even worse was that they all stopped talking when they noticed she arrived.
"Buffy." Willow got up to greet her and they exchanged a quick kiss. "You're back early."
Buffy thought Willow almost sounded disappointed about that. "Evil lurks. . .somewhere else I guess. Patrol was a bust." She looked around at all her friends. "Not to sound un-hostessy but, why are you all here?"
Giles cleared his throat and stood up. "Buffy, you may want to sit down for
this."
"Alright, you guys have managed to wig me inrecord time." Buffy turned to Willow. "What's going on, Will?"
Willow took her hand and led her to the chair. She sat down in her own chair andlooked at everyone gathered for support. Finally, she turned to Buffy and took her hand in her own. "It's nothing bad." She smiled. "But it is a surprise. A good surprise! I mean I wasn't expecting it and we talked about it a lot and I should have told you what I planned on doing before actually doing it but I think you're gonna be happy about it, at least I hope so and?"
"Will!" Buffy pleaded. This wasn't the best time for babble mode.
"Sorry."
She said sheepishly. "I, um.
. .got some news today."
"And," Willow smiled and her eyes suddenly became wet with tears. "and I'm pregnant." She choked out.
Buffy audibly gasped and her eyes went wide. "You're, you're. .
."
"How? What? How?"
"Three very good questions, Buffy." Giles smiled at the Slayer. "We've been waiting for you to arrive so
Willow could explain it to us."
"No, Buffy, no." Willow squeezed her hand. "I called everybody so I could tell you in front of them. Giles was the first to arrive and he kind of guessed but I didn't confirm it until just now."
Buffy nodded in understanding. Nodding was really all she was capable of right now. Nodding and crying and a little smiling too.
"I guess you're wondering how it happened." Willow finally said.
Buffy nodded.
"Well, you know how we've been talking aboutit. We just couldn't seem to agree onhow to do it. The logical thing we both agreed on was that I would be the one to get pregnant because we didn't know what would happen if a Slayer got pregnant because it's never happened before. I was really keen onthe donor thing till we researched it. I just couldn't stand it if some strange guy showed up on our doorstep demanding to see his child."
"Frozen pops.
Literally." Xander quipped.
He saw the look Buffy shot him and looked sheepishly down at his
hands. "Sorry, Buff."
"Will." Buffy pleaded again. "Tangents not such a good thing right now. I'm gonna explode if you don't get to the point soon." She smiled at the redhead.
Willow smiled apologetically and rushed on in the explanation. "Okay, so I figured why beat them if you can join them? I talked to Xander about the stuff I found and he did a little research on his own. Once we put everything we found together, it was easy. I can't believe how easy it was. Well, except it was a little awkward at first. . .especially for Xander. But we did it!"
Buffy scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. "You did it?"
"Yes! Isn't that great!"
Angel noticed the look in the Slayer's eyes first. It was that look she always got just before she was about to seriously maim or even kill something. "Uh oh." He didn't get a chance to take one step before Buffy was out of her seat and on top of Xander pummeling him. "Faith!" Angel yelled and the two of them ran over to Buffy and Xander.
It took Faith and Angel a good amount of time to get her off of Xander. She was screaming enough profanities at him to even make the vampire blush. Once Angel got a hold of her arms, Faith grabbed her legs. Between the two of them she wasn't going anywhere.
Giles attempted to defuse the situation. "Buffy, I don't think Willow explained
the situation entirely." He looked
over to Willow who was standing there in shock. "I hope."
"Gee thanks, Will." Xander dryly commented from his position on the floor of the deck.
"No offense, Xand." She put her hand out and helped him
up. She noticed there wasn'ta
scratch on him and he didn't even moan in pain, but she'd have to save that
discussion for another time. Right
now she had a very pissed off Slayer on her hands. "Think you can behave while I explain
the rest?"
Willow looked over at Xander. "I think you might want to try and
explain it this time. I think I
left a few things out."
"The rest of what, Xander? I swear, it wouldtake you six hours what any normal person could say in six minutes." Cordelia remarked.
"I'll spare you the details but basically, Itook some of the essence of the active Slayer in that world and brought it back to Willow. She had to time it correctly, otherwise we never would have gotten that opportunity again. It's a whole mess with the temporal folds and the alignment of the stars and planets and. . ." He shrugged. "Like I said, I'm sparing the details."
"I still don't get it. Why couldn't you take B's Slayer essence for what ever little brew Will was gonna cook up?" Faith asked.
"Everyone has a doppelganger, an exact clonein a parallel universe. Buffy's clone, the active Slayer there, is male." Giles deducted. "By taking the essence of the male Slayer and giving it to Willow for a fertility spell, it is ensured that the child will be a part of both of them."
"Exactly." Willow nodded at Giles.
Buffy walked quickly over to Willow. "I'm so sorry, Will. I just. . .I thought the worst and. .
."
Buffy froze under Willows touch and looked at her with realization in her eyes. "Oh God, we're gonna have a baby!!"
Willow smiled.
"That's pretty much what I've been trying to tell
you."
"I don't think our family needs the exact time and location of conception, do you?" Willow blushed.
"Sorry."
Buffy hugged her. "You know,
I thought that iced tea tasted a little funny." Willow giggled at that. Buffy pulled away to look at her,then
over at Xander who was sprawled out on the lounge chair. She suddenly got a mischievous look in
her eye. "I'll tell you one
thing. We're never getting rid of
that lounge chair. It's partof the
family now."
Anya whacked him for that comment.
Willow buried her face in Buffy's shoulder out of embarrassment. "I can't believe you did that."
Buffy squeezed her tighter and smiled. "Oh, but it was so much fun."}}
Buffy was trying to catch her breath from laughing so
hard. She's missed this. Missed laughing and smiling and
remembering the good times. She
looked up at Xander who had a smirk on his face. "Oh, come on Xand, your reaction was
classic. And so worth it might I
add."
"God, what happened Xander? How did we get so far away from where we started?"
Buffy's words were sobering to him and he got out of
his chair and knelt in front of her.
"It's that big old wheel of life, Buff. It just keeps turnin', turnin', turnin'.
. .no matter what we do we can't stop it."
She fell into his arms then, sobbing. He rubbed her back in comfort and
sighed. "I wish I could change it
Buff. I'd give up everythingI
have, if only I could go back to that day. . .and so would Giles."
He sighed. He knew it was useless and there was no point in arguing with her. "He is sorry, Buffy."
"He's not sorry enough. I should have made him sorry whenI had
the chance. It's all his fault and
no one is gonna make me think otherwise."
He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her
waist. "Because that's the way Will
wanted it. You know that Buffy." He
whispered. "The resolve facecomes
out and we all run for cover. There
was no use in arguing with her, she would have done it anyway because it was for
you and Laurel. I just wish I had
found out about what she and Giles were planning sooner. Then maybe. . ."
"I think you two are really pathetic."
"Laurel. How long have you been there?" Buffy asked. She was surprised that Laurel was able to slip in without being noticed.
"Somewhere around you saying that Papa wasn't sorry enough for what happened to mom." She bit out angrily.
"Laurel, you weren't there. You don't know everything." Xander warned.
She ignored him and stomped over to Buffy. "No, I wasn't. But you know what I do know? I love my Papa and I miss mom. And he misses her too. You don't know how sorry he is for what
happened because you haven't seen him or spoken to him since."
Laurel sighed and walked the one step it took to put
her arms around Buffy's waist. "I
just miss my family, mamma. I miss
Papa coming here and us having dinner together and mom laughing at Uncle
Xander's lame jokes and Anya and Faith trying to do the dishes without
strangling each other?"
She pulled away from Buffy and looked up at her with
sad eyes. "Can Papa come next time
we go visit mom? Please? You don't even have to talk to him or
anything I just, I want him there.
It's important to me."
Buffy looked over at Xander feeling like shejust got suckered big time. The innocent look on Xander's face confirmed it.
"Don't give me the Slayer eyes, Buff. She's your daughter."
"The mamma thing works every time. As soon as she gets her way it's back to
'Buff'." She couldn't help but
smile. "I just got played by my daughter and her
uncle. That'll teach me to cave
into the puppy eyes."
"I'm goin.
But just remember. No
fighting with the G-man. He's not
as young as he used to be."
"I hate it when he does that." Buffy mumbled as she walked inside, locking the patio door behind her. ----------- |