Buffy hummed happily under her breath as she folded tiny yellow romper suits. Lotty's bassinette was set up next to the couch she sat on and the baby was sleeping contentedly. The laundry basket at her feet was filled with a mixture of baby clothes and her own but she could not have been happier. Over the past two months life had finally settled down, more than she had ever thought it could when she had stood in the kitchen with her family making their final stand.
Everyone was out at college or work so the house was empty and for the first time Buffy finally had time to reflect on how much her life had changed in less than a year. She grinned. A year ago she had been a college student, footloose and fancy-free. The idea of being a married child had been unthinkable. After all, how did Slayers find husbands? The answer had been staring her in the face even though she had not realised it. Her love had been there for her ever since she came to Sunnydale although it had taken her three years to recognise him.
Maybe that was what had changed the most for her over the past year. Her ability to see beyond the surface, into the true depths of a person, was better. She no longer made snap-judgements about people. After all it was that tendency that had cut her off from Giles for so long.
But it was the birth of her baby, a creature that depended solely on the people around her, which had changed her most. She could no longer make choices based on what she wanted and what would be best for her. Lotty came first in everything, and if that meant she had to sacrifice something then so be it. There was no place for self-absorption in her life anymore.
Buffy smoothed a tiny green and purple sleep-suit out on her lap. Lotty was growing at an incredible rate. Although she was only two months old she was already ounces heavier than her age-mates. But that extra weight had been turned into inches rather than fat and the doctor thought that she would be a tall adult. Which was not surprising, considering the height of her father and his family. If Lotty was even as tall as Mary she would be a tall woman, and Buffy grinned at the idea. Little Lotty was not going to be an accurate nickname in a few years.
As though she sensed her mother's thoughts, Lotty woke up and gave a snuffling sigh.
"Hey, you're not meant to be awake yet," Buffy said with a grin as she shuffled to the end of the sofa and peeked over the edge of the bassinette. "Your daddy isn't home yet, so don't go griping if I can't sing to you like he can."
Lotty crossed her eyes and blew a raspberry.
"You, little miss, are getting impertinent. Is that anyway to look at your mother?"
A tiny hand closed around Buffy's outstretched finger and shook it.
Buffy's delighted smile spoke more than words say. "Guess we'll need to find you some rattles soon or something. Not that you need any more toys, but you know your daddy. He just can't resist them."
Lotty blew another raspberry and tugged on Buffy's finger, bringing it to her mouth and so she could chew on it with toothless gums.
"Sweetheart," Buffy cooed, "are you hungry?"
Wrinkling her nose, Lotty gazed up at her mother. Her grey eyes twinkled cheekily as she tried to produce a baby-smile around a mouthful of finger.
Buffy heard the front door open and close and then footsteps approaching the lounge. It was much too early to be Giles, Faith or Xander so the only person left was Willow.
"Hey," she greeted as the redheaded witch trotted into the lounge. "How's my favourite Wicca?"
Willow dropped her book bag next to a chair and immediately moved to the side of the bassinette. She grinned at Lotty who returned her gaze gravely for a moment before closing her eyes as she yawned.
"I'm fine," she said absently. "And you? And Lotty? How's my favourite kinda-niece."
"Your kinda-niece is being as good as gold today," Buffy said with an indulgent grin. "Isn't Tara with you?"
"She's got an English class," Willow said, pouting. "I think she's gonna meet me here later."
"Lonesome already?" Buffy teased.
Willow blushed. "No, just cursing the gods of class scheduling that made comp-sci run an hour earlier than English Lit."
"Will, it is all ok, isn't it? You're happy, right?"
"Of course I am. I've never been this happy. You're safe, Lotty's great, and now I have Tara. It's like someone up there is rewarding us for everything we've had to do over the past few years."
"Maybe something is."
"Yeah, maybe."
Willow sat down in an armchair on the other side of the bassinette just as Button ambled into the room. The black cat gazed around sleepily before making his way over his owner and hopping into her lap. He curled up and promptly went to sleep.
"I was worried, at first, that he'd miss Gizmo," Willow said, stroking his thick fur. "But I don't think he's awake long enough to."
Buffy looked at the happily oblivious cat. "He slept through demons, fireballs and weird glowing women. He'd sleep through anything."
"Yeah. So, have you chosen Lotty's university yet?"
"Will! I'm not that bad, am I?"
"Uh, you and Giles argued last night about her high school classes. Yeah, you're that bad." Willow grinned at her. "Poor Lotty, isn't she going to have any say?"
"Sure. It's just . . . it's hard not to want to plan. Through the whole pregnancy I didn't even feel right planning anything after she was born. Now we have this whole life ahead of us and . . . I want to make sure it all happens. That we use this gift we've been given."
Willow smiled sweetly. "You will. I think we're all doing the second chances thing right now. I know I am."
"Yeah."
Buffy picked up a stuffed penguin from the small pile of toys under the bassinette and began playing with Lotty. Although she was only two months old, the baby could now focus on the toy and she giggled happily as Buffy made the penguin dance around in front of her.
After a few minutes the ringing of the doorbell intruded into their peaceful playtime. Buffy looked at Willow hopefully and the witch sighed but stood to answer it. The blonde Slayer heard the door open and then the sound of voices, but it was too low for her to make out details. Then the door closed and footsteps approached down the hallway. She looked up in time to see Willow leading Quentin Travers into the lounge.
Buffy immediately stood and placed herself between Lotty and the Watcher. "What are you doing here?"
"Ah, Mrs Giles, I see your manners haven't improved," Travers said, his voice dripping sarcasm. "It's nice to see you again."
"Well, I could go whole life-times without seeing you again, so the feeling isn't mutual."
"Really, why do you insist on being so antagonistic?"
Buffy glared. "You locked me in a house with an insane vampire, you fired my Watcher, you told me you were going to kill my baby and you kidnapped me. Just in time for me to get kidnapped back by a cult of demons. I can't imagine why that doesn't make me want to put you on the Christmas card list."
Travers smiled coldly. "The famed Summers wit, I see. Well, well, it can't be helped."
Willow moved to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her best friend, incidentally shielding Lotty from Travers' view. "You're making a big mistake, buster. I'm a powerful witch now. Oh, yeah, I'm big with the power. If you're not careful I'll turn you into a . . . not a frog . . . oh, yeah, into a goldfish."
Travers looked at her curiously. "Mrs Giles, how do you manage to inspire such mindless devotion?"
"Just lucky, I guess," Buffy said shrugging. "Now, what are you here for?"
"It's quite simple, really. That child you're trying to hide is of vital importance to us. She is the first child of a Slayer to survive birth. I am here to retrieve her and take her to England, where she can be studied properly."
***
Giles parked the car and spent a moment just sitting there, reflecting as usual on how lucky he was to be going home to his beautiful wife and their equally beautiful daughter. Some people might regard it as overly sentimental, but after all his years as a Watcher he was developing a firm belief that there was something out there that watched over them. It might not always be in the way they expected, but how else could he explain the good fortune that had reigned over them all for the past few weeks? They had been through hell and now it was as though they were being rewarding for surviving it. And after the events surrounding little Lotty's birth he was not inclined to argue the point. It just was.
Sighing, he got out of the car and made his way to the front door. As soon as he entered the house he knew something was wrong. His heart sank. The last time he'd had this feeling it had been the beginning of their nightmare. Although he now had a beautiful daughter from it, the idea of something else terrible happening . . . well, it was not worth contemplating. And just when he thought that everything was getting better.
The house was silent but he could feel the tension even from the front door. He dropped his briefcase and immediately hurried to the lounge without even stopping to consider that Buffy could be somewhere else. He just knew where she was.
Giles entered the room just in time to hear Travers tell Buffy that he was taking Lotty away. The older Watcher had his back to the door so he could not know that Giles was home.
"And how, pray tell, do you propose to do that?" he asked Travers, giving the man what Buffy referred to as his 'Ripper glare'.
Travers jumped and spun around to face Giles. A cold smile slowly crossed his face.
"Well well, if it isn't Mr Giles himself. So good to see you survived." Travers' eyes told a completely different story. "I was just telling your good wife-"
"I heard," Giles cut him off. "And I believe I speak for everyone when I say, go to hell."
"You are picking up some bad habits, Mr Giles," Travers said reprovingly.
"Do you know? I don't think I've ever cared about anything less." Giles moved around Travers to stand next to Buffy, putting his arm around her waist. "Any bad habits I may have picked up don't seem to matter to my family, so why should I care what a bunch of prissy old men in England think of me?"
"Because we have the power and authority to take your daughter back to England with us. I'd advise you to be very careful how you address us."
Giles felt Buffy give his hand on her hip a reassuring squeeze as she spoke. "I think that you are a very stupid man, Mr Travers. Or can I call you Quentin? You see, you've had at least one child of a Slayer under your noses for years but you didn't recognise it. I'd imagine that if one survived before Lotty, there must have been others. You are so obsessed with controlling Slayers that you can't see beyond that."
"And you, Mrs Giles, are so intent on rebelling that you can't see how much we've done for you!" Travers shot back, and then paused when her words sank in. "There was another one? Where? When? How did you know about it?"
"Quentin," Buffy said, and out of the corner of his eye Giles could see a vicious smile on her face, "he was one of you. He trained with you. He put his life on the line hundreds of times to save your worthless hides and you never once looked into his background!"
Travers slowly turned disbelieving eyes on Giles, who simply smiled benignly. After everything they had tried to do, and for the most part failed miserably at, payback had a very pleasant taste to it.
"Yes?" he said, raising an eyebrow.
"You . . . but . . . you . . . you're from a respected family! How could you . . . I knew your father and he would never . . ."
Travers trailed off helplessly.
Giles smiled broadly. "I believe that you'll find you didn't know my father as well as you thought you did."
Buffy grinned at Travers' rapidly reddening face. "You know, red doesn't really go with that tweed."
"This makes no difference!" the older Watcher said sternly. "The child is coming with me and that is the end of the matter. She should be observed, trained . . . I cannot leave her in the hands of-"
"Rebels?" Giles suggested.
"Precisely. You cannot possibly be equipped to deal with a child like this. You've been out of control for too long now and it's high time you both gave your selves up and returned to the Council."
"Y'know, Quentin," Buffy began, "you're even stupider than I thought if you assumed, even for a second, that I'd just give you my daughter. Who better to raise the child of a Slayer than a Slayer and another Slayer's son? Tell me, what do you plan to do with Lotty? Will she have special powers? She's just a child like any other - what on earth could you people give her that she won't already have here?"
"I-I-I-"
Buffy continued ruthlessly and Giles just watched her proudly. "If you want to 'study' a Slayer's child then just read Rupert's records. They'll tell you anything you want to know. Charlotte will be no different to any other child - hell, you could learn just as much by studying your own children as you will by studying her."
"That's not acceptable!"
"And how do you propose to take her away from us?" Buffy asked. "There's only you here. Your special ops unit was taken out months ago and I have good information that you haven't managed to train anyone else. From what I can see, instead of trying to take my baby away you should be looking at your own organisation. So far you've lost two Slayers and two Watchers in less than two years. Seems to me that your problems might be better solved by looking in rather than taking my child and using her to hide any problems you may have."
"But-"
Willow frowned. "How long ago was it that you reviewed your training procedures anyway? Four, five hundred years? It took Giles a year before he was better at anything aside from looking in books. To be honest, I don't think that's any good anymore. And Giles is unique - how many of your Watchers get killed in active duty?"
"That's not-"
"And your Slayers? Pfft!" Willow snorted. "The only ones that survive are the ones that rebel against you - and they still manage to save the world. How do you think Lotty will solve those problems?"
"She's-"
"Will's right," Buffy chimed in again. "Your track record is worse than terrible. What will studying my daughter achieve?"
"It will-"
"And then there's the small matter of how you're going to get her out of the country," Giles added. "She's an American citizen - and if you so much as try to take her we'll have every police-officer in the state after her. You couldn't take her if you tried. And before you say anything, revoking my green card is impossible. I don't think there's a judge in the land that could argue my marriage to Buffy was not genuine."
Travers spluttered, turned puce but could not seem to think of anything to say.
Buffy smiled victoriously. "So what I suggest, Quentin, is that you take your tweedy butt out of my house before I kick it out. Take it back to England and tell them exactly what we've said. I'll even get a transcript if you want. And I never want to see you near me or my family ever again. I'd hate to use violence in front of my daughter but I'm willing to make an exception."
"And if she won't, we will."
Travers turned to find Xander, Faith, Mary, Anya and Tara in the doorway behind him. His eyes widened as he saw the other Slayer, and he looked as though he was about to have a fit when he spotted Mary behind her.
"You! And you! You're meant to be-"
"Dead?" Faith offered. "Sorry, I don't get dead that easily."
Mary drew herself up imperiously, which emphasised her extra inches over the Watcher. "And I rarely stay where I'm supposed to. I believe that this time you're in over your head. If you're sensible, you'll do exactly as my niece has told you. I'll be making a formal complaint to the head of the Council and I expect you to take our suggestions as they are intended - extremely seriously."
"I cannot leave without the child," Travers managed to get out.
"As my young friends would say," Mary said with a cheerful grin, "bite me."
"But-but-"
"You've outstayed your welcome, Quentin," Buffy said glaring icily. "You should leave before we get angry."
Travers' eyes darted helpless around the room but he found no sympathy anywhere. Giles raised an eyebrow at the defeated man. "Well?"
The group at the door stood back to create a small corridor for Travers. The Watcher shook his head.
"Very well, you win. I'll make you a deal."
"A deal?" Giles said mildly. "I believe we're the ones with the power in this situation - why would we be willing to make a deal with you?"
"We won't pursue our claim, if," Travers paused, casting a pleading look at Buffy, "you will send us monthly reports on the child's progress."
"Her name is Charlotte," Buffy informed him. "And you have no right to make demands."
Travers' shoulders slumped dejectedly.
"But I suppose it won't hurt us to let you know how she gets along. Maybe it will teach you a few things. You guys really need to start living in the modern world - staying in the past can't be healthy."
The gratitude in Travers' eyes was almost pathetic, and Giles wondered briefly what the situation back in England was like for him to be taking such crumbs so eagerly. The loss of Slayers and the entire special ops unit had to have been a severe blow to the Watchers. Maybe they could include a few helping hints in their reports. It never hurt to try. The philosophy behind the organisation was not the problem - it was how that philosophy was put into action. The training churned out mindless automatons instead of men and women who were capable of training modern Slayers or facing the evils they were intended for.
Travers straightened and met first Buffy's eyes and then Giles'. "Thank you. We will await your first report eagerly."
There was still no sympathy in their gazes, but the hostility had lessened a little. But Travers finally decided to be intelligent and he made his way to the front door. Once there he looked back and met Mary's cool gaze.
"Miss Stewart, I believe the records of your sister need to be adjusted. I would be grateful in the extreme if you could see your way to providing us with a summation of her actions prior to her death."
Mary watched him for a moment before relenting and giving him a frosty smile. "It will be my pleasure. Louisa was a brave woman - almost as brave as my niece back there. You could learn a great deal from her."
Travers nodded and left. For a moment there was silence before Buffy let out a relieved sigh. She turned and buried her face in Giles' shirt as he brought his arms around her to hold her tightly. For a moment they stood that way, enfolded in the love and connection they shared. He could smell Buffy's shampoo and feel her warmth through his skin and it was home.
"It's all over." Buffy's voice was muffled.
"Yes, love, I think it is."
Buffy looked up and Giles was surprised to see tears in her eyes. "I love you, you know that?"
Giles smiled. "I had gathered that."
"Good. Because I think that's more important than anything else we can do. If I ever forget to tell you how much I love you, will you promise to remind me?"
"Always."
He leaned down and kissed her. Her lips were smooth and warm, and she tasted faintly of toothpaste and cookies. The rest of the room disappeared and he lost himself in the kiss.
***
"Think we might want to leave them alone?" Faith asked Mary quietly.
"We could make tea," the white-haired woman suggested.
Faith glanced at the oblivious couple. "Good plan. Come on troops, we're on supper duty."
*finis*