The Taken Care Of Series

Xander and Anya's Letter

Taken Care Of – Part 10


Story: Taken Care Of Series

Author: Bek Allen

Chapter: 10/16

Title: Xander and Anya's Letter

~*~*~*~

Xander rolled over and snuggled closer to Anya. “Good morning sweetie.” He brushed a kissed to her cheek as he slowly opened his eyes.

“Morning. We have to read this.” She shoved the slim envelope under his nose so abruptly that he had to roll back, almost falling out of their bed.

“God! Anya, I thought we talked about this.” He sat up on the edge of the bed, pulling his robe over his bare shoulders.

“No, Xander, you talked, I ignored you.” Anya sat up, pulling the sheet up over her chest. “Joyce gave us this letter Xander. They are her last thoughts to us, we should read it.” She sat the letter on the bed between them. “Please Xander?”

He looked across and into her sad green-brown eyes. “No, I don't want to read it Anya.”

“Why not! She was like a mother to you.” Anya pounded her fists on the bed, letting the sheet fall down around her waist.

“An, I just… It's hard okay? It's like pouring salt on a wound.” He brushed at the tears that threatened to fall down his cheeks.

“But, she wrote it especially for us Xander. I want to know what she says, why she wrote it.” She looked at him pleadingly, “Please?” She reached for his hand as it settled back on the bed.

“Okay.” He nodded as she pouted at him and began rubbing her thumb across the back of his hand.

Anya handed Xander the letter as he settled back against the head of the bed, pulling her to him. “Do you want to read this, or should I?” She pulled the quilt up over their legs.

“We'll do this together.” He smiled, leaning down to kiss the top of her head as he slid his finger beneath the flap of the envelope and proceeded to break the seal.

Anya nodded as she wrapped her arms around his chest and leant into his side. “Okay.”

Xander kissed her head again as he pulled the letter from the envelope and began to read.

“Dear Xander and Anya,

What can I say to you two that you don't already know?”

Xander smiled as he envisioned a smiling Joyce sitting there and pondering what to write next.

“You are two of the most in love people I have ever met. To have known you both, is to have been included in the most, happy and welcoming family. I feel proud to have known you both, and I feel doubly proud to be able call you both my family .I may not have said it very often, but I do look upon you both as my children. And I am sure that, no matter what you both do, you will succeed.

Anyone that can see the two of you can tell just by the look in your eyes that you two are so in love. You will have the happiest of marriages, don't ever let anyone try to destroy what the two of you share. You will make each other so proud, the bond you share is so strong, that, it will be incredibly hard to break.”

Xander felt Anya's hot tears soak through his robe to his flesh. Bending his head, he brushed a kiss to her soft hair, “It's okay sweetie.”

“I'm sorry that I will miss your wedding, and your first child. Believe me when I say, you will both be wonderful parents. Your warm, caring and loveable personalities will fill your household with joyful times and such peace and tranquillity that I am sure you will be the envy of the Heavens.

However, as an old married woman, let me tell you that, to succeed in being a happy married couple, you must never let the trivial things in life get to you. You both have so much to offer, not only to each other, but also to the entire world. You have already proved yourselves to the cause of saving man kind and to Buffy and the others, now it is time to prove yourself, your love and most of all the courage I know you both have with succeeding in this marriage.

Take care, and Xander, don't get too frustrated, it's a bride's prerogative to be neurotic, and Anya, it's a groom's prerogative to be nonchalant.

Love,

Joyce.”

“I am not neurotic.” Anya sat and looked to Xander with red-rimmed eyes. “Well, maybe…just a little.” She burst into tears again. “I miss her Xander.”

“It's okay sweetheart, I miss her too.” He set the letter on the shelf above their bed. “I miss her so much, it's still sometimes hard to believe she isn't here anymore.” He pulled her closer to him, resting his cheek on her head.

“Do you believe her Xander?” Anya began to fiddle nervously with the lapels of his robe. “Do you think that, everything she said is true?”

“I think, that Joyce is the wisest person that ever lived.” He ran his hands across her back.

“Yes, I mean, when it comes to marriage and family things, she is, terribly wise. But, can we make it? Can we not let trivial things like life get in the way of us being happy?” She tilted her head back to look up into his watery brown eyes.

“I believe her with all my heart.” He whispered as his voice broke and he finally burst into tears. “You and me Honey, we'll make the best parents, and our family will be so incredibly happy, so full of love and joy.” He smiled through his tears and lifted her face up to kiss her. “And, our Christmases will be full of snoopy dancing and presents and mistletoe and family, not just our own, but, Willow and Tara and Buffy and Giles and Dawn and possibly even Spike.”

Anya laughed as she moved to straddle his lap. “I love you so much Xander Harris. You make my heart feel so full and so loved. I'm glad Cordelia made her wish when she did.” She ran her fingers through his hair, her heart and love filling her eyes as she leant down to kiss him, wriggling her hips slightly as she felt him harden beneath her.

“I love you to Anya Jenkins, more then I can ever really say.” Grinning mischievously, he flipped them over and continued to show her just how much she loved him.

~*~*~*~

Buffy smiled as she poured herself another cup of coffee. “Do you think she's persuaded Xander to open the letter yet?” She asked as she sat down at the dinning room table.

“I'm sure she's found a way of convincing him.” Smiled Giles. “I actually gave her the day off from the store today so she can go and peruse the bridal shops and dress makers.”

“I can't believe it's been three weeks since they were given the letter and they still haven't opened it.” Buffy continued. “I mean, I opened mine straight away. So did Dawn, and you. I'm really not sure about Daddy. And I really don't care.”

“Buffy, are you actually listening to a word I've just said?” Giles looked up from his cup of tea.

“What? Oh, the day off… Bridal shops, dress makers.” She nodded. “I guess I'm just, trying to avoid all things bridesmaid.” She put down her coffee cup and looked at him. “Whenever we even talk about bridesmaids dresses, I get this heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I just know, that, I'm going to be stuck wearing the most hideous kind of dress, blood larvae and burlap. I just… The moment I put on that dress, I just know I'm going to be stuck in the eternal hell that is being a bridesmaid.”

Giles almost choked on his tea. “W-w-what makes you s-so sure?”

She turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “Oh, right. I can just see you and I organising this beautiful wedding, the white dress, the tux, the guests, the cake, the cars, and I'd show up, covered in vamp dust or demon gore, scaring the crap outta everyone but you, the minister would have a heart attack, because, the Hellmouth would get all twitchy and my bouquet would be a sword and instead of rings, we'd exchange stakes.” Buffy shook her head. “And besides, I just couldn't do that, not to you. It wouldn't be fair.”

“Do what?” Giles picked up his teacup and gazed at her over the rim.

“Giles, we both know I'm living on borrowed time. I couldn't marry you, have two point two kids, then, have the cops show up, after a night of heavy slaying only to tell you that I've been found in a back alley somewhere dead due to neck rupture. It's not fair.”

“Y-you've thought about us having children?” He looked at her shyly.

“Haven't you?” She asked picking up her coffee cup. “I mean, I've always wondered what it'd be like to have a family of my own, but, ever since I saw you walking Bekky and Matthew home, I've thought about what you'd be like with kids of our own. And I mean, it looked cute. Sweet even.” She smiled shyly at him.

“Well, I-I-I've thought about it, occ-occasionally. In between fighting apocalypses and saving the w-world.” He put down his now empty cup and watched her as she smiled.

“You've thought about us having kids? Little uses?” She grinned as she swallowed the last of her coffee.

He nodded, his expression set in lecture mode. “Of course I have. I've dreamed about it, about marrying you, the whole… how would Xander put it? The whole shebang.”

“Wow.” Buffy sat back in her chair as she let shock register on her face. “I mean, I've thought about it too… a lot actually, and then, things like Glory happen and then I think of how unfair it is, to, well, what happens if I died on patrol and left you alone with three screaming little babies? I couldn't do that to you. Not ever.” She smiled sadly as she envisioned another dream floating out the window. “And, isn't it in the rules somewhere that Slayer's can't have children?”

“Since when did we ever follow the rules?” Giles smiled at her.

“Well, yeah, rules were made to be broken and I was born to break them, but… I can't hurt you Giles. Not anymore. Not when I love you too much to hurt you like I have in the past.” She sniffled and looked down.

“What's this really about Love?” He asked, moving off his chair to kneel in front of her. Buffy burst into a riot of tears. Her heart breaking more and more with each soul shattering sob. Giles gently wrapped his arms around her waist in a warm embrace. “Shhh, Buffy it's okay. What's the matter?”

“I don't want to leave anyone behind Giles. It's not fair! I don't want, my kids to come home from school, and find their mom dead on the floor, or on the couch, or anything. I can't… not when I know how much it hurts.” She continued to sob into his shirt.

Soothing her hair like he would a small child's. He pulled back and made her look up at him through tear-glazed eyes. “Well, if we ever come to that bridge of us wanting children, I promise, I'll find a way to make it so you see them graduate from college and marry and have children of their own.” Gently, he stroked a stray tear away with his thumb.

“You'd do that, for me?” Buffy looked at him and wiped her nose with her sleeve.

“Of course I would Buffy, I'd do anything for you, you should know that by now.” He held her close. “Including getting you a tissue from the top of the refrigerator so you won't have to keep using your sleeve like that.” He stood and grabbed the box easily. “Why you insist on keeping them where you can't reach is beyond me.” He handed her the box and smiled.

“I don't know. Mom just, used to keep them there. Old habits I guess.” Buffy shrugged. “So, you've thought about us having kids huh? Are they cute kids? Like me? Or nerdy kids like you?” She teased as she rose and threw her arms around his chest.

“Well, both actually. A little girl, just like her mother. Gorgeous blond hair, smiling sweet face, and the cutest spectacles you could imagine.”

“What? No son?” She asked playfully.

“Dear Lord no. He'd turn out like me.” He laughed heartily.

“Oh, well, that's just not fair.” Buffy smiled. “We'd need a son. He'd grow up tall and handsome, just like his dad. I can see it now, always with a nose in a book. ‘Occult and Mysticism For Beginners', taking his little glasses off, cleaning them with a handkerchief, telling his sister which is better, quarter staff or crossbow.” She giggled. “No tweed though.”

Giles rolled his eyes as she turned and walked upstairs, rambling on about what their children would one day be like.