So Damn Domestic

Lehane-Summers Household. Present Time. FPOV


“Faith, are you ok?” I hear Willow ask. I look up from my plate and everyone is staring at me. Thanks Red, ‘cause I really wanted to be on the spot like this. Truth be told I’m not ok. B’s been gone for almost twenty minutes and that weird feeling I got when she left is just gettin worst. I can’t sit still, my leg is shakin a little ‘cause I got all this nervous energy and it needs a way out.


“Yeah, Red, I’m fine.” They all know I’m lying. I’ve always been a bad liar, don’t know why I try. I look over at the clock. She’s been gone for twenty-two minutes. Where the fuck is she? How long does it take to circle the block? I can’t take this anymore. I get up and now they’re all worried about me and shit. “I’m gonna go see what’s takin B so long.” I’m almost out of the kitchen when I hear Willow.


“Wait!” I whip around and look at her. She has this weird look on her face, and her eyes are startin to turn white. Ok, what the fuck is wrong with her? “I can feel something....magic...dark magic. Big, dark magic. It’s close by.” Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck. Ok, stay calm. There’s dark magic all over this town. It’s almost as bad as a hellmouth. But Willow’s freaked about this so I know I should be too. “Lets go.” Xander and Dawn jump up and they head into the living room. I look at Katie, Kyle and Giles. I can tell Giles wants to go but unfortunately he’s not gettin around as good as he used to.


“Watch the kids, ok?” They all nod their heads and I walk into the living room. The others are at the weapons chest over in the corner of the room and they’re all suiting up. Xander grabs the biggest axe that was in there and I can’t help but roll my eyes. He always goes for the big and flashy. I hear someone walkin behind me and I turn to see Mattie followin me and lookin just as serious as everyone else. He walks towards the chest but I grab him by the shoulder. “You can’t go, Matthew. You have to stay here.” He looks up at me and he looks pissed.


“But aunt Willow said there’s bad magic, and Mom and Addison are out there. I can help, Mama. I’m a slayer too, remember?” I was really hoping he wouldn’t go through this stage until his teen years. I kneel down next to him so I’m at his eye level and he looks so determined. I can see the slayer inside him tryin to force it’s way out. I can’t help but feel a little proud.


“I know baby. That’s why you gotta stay here.” I need to make him feel important or he’ll just follow us a couple minutes after we leave. He’s never done it before but he’s a kid, that’s what they do. “You need to stay and protect everyone here. Can you do that for me? Can you keep all of them safe?” He nods his head yes and he looks a little pissed because I won’t let him go with us. I walk over to the weapon chest and grab a little hatchet. I walk up to him and give it to him. He looks at it, and flexes his fingers around the handle.


“Be careful with it, it’s sharp.” He nods his head yes. I lean down and give him a kiss on the cheek. “I love you.” He says it back and I walk over to the chest again and grab a broad sword. I turn and face the others. Willow and Xander both have axes, Dawn has a crossbow and a sword. “Lets go.” We walk out the door, me in front with the others flanking me. Xander’s on my left, Willow and Dawn are on my right. “Ok, Red, where’s this big bad mojo comin from?” I turn around and look at her as she closes her eyes and concentrates.


“This way,” and she starts walkin down the sidewalk. We all follow her, I don’t like the fact that she’s ahead of me, it’s just a slayer thing to want to be the leader, but she’s the only one who can track this thing down so I have to bite back my instincts and just go with it.


“Will, do you know what we’re getting ourselves into?” Xander asks. He doesn’t sounder nervous, or scared, but he’s right, we should at least have some idea before we just jump in. Well, they should have an idea. I don’t care what it is if it’s tryin to hurt B or Addy I’ll kill it no matter how I have to do it. Even if I have to die in the process....woe, when did I get so fuckin noble?


“No, I don’t. But it’s powerful. Maybe you two should go back to the house. Faith and I can handle this.” Yeah right, like that’s gonna fuckin work.


“How can you even say that? This thing might be after my sister. I’m staying Willow whether you want me to or not.” Xander doesn’t say anything but I can feel the anger comin off him because of Red’s suggestion. “It’s not like we haven’t gone up against big bads before.” I shake my head a little and try to ignore her but she keeps talkin and it’s gettin on my fuckin nerves.


“Dawn, shut up!” There, that go her to be quiet. “It was just a fuckin suggestion. You can stay if you want but just shut the fuck up.” I don’t mean to be a bitch but there’s something about this whole thing that has me on edge and this is what I’m like when I’m on edge. If she can’t deal with it she can just go back to the house. They’re all quiet as we keep followin Red. We’re about five minutes away from the house now. Why did B come so far? Or did something take her? Is she being dragged away right now?


“We’re almost there,” Red says and I feel the magic comin off of her in waves. The air around her is a little warmer and there’s a strong smell, like wet dirt. B told me about this before. That happens whenever Willow draws power from the Earth, like a power boost or something. If Willow’s trying to get more power then she already has then this thing’s gotta be big and nasty. I grip my sword a little tighter as we keep walkin forward. The tension between the four of us could be cut with a fuckin knife.


I hear it before I see it, the sounds of a fight and I run passed Willow and turn the corner. I see B fighting a demon. From here it looks about six foot, maybe a little taller, with bright red skin, and it’s wearin a black cloak. I watch as she tries to punch him in the face, but he blocks and uses one of his large hands to backhand her. She flies towards me as I’m runnin towards the fight, and I drop my sword to catch her. She’s goin so fuckin fast that it knocks the wind outta me and we fall backwards.


“Get Addison! Get Addison!” she screams and jumps up. She grabs onto my hand and pulls me to my feet. I get a little glimpse of her face before she runs toward the demon again, it’s bruised and bloodied. They’ve either been at this for a while or that demon is wicked strong. I see the stroller next to a bush in someone’s yard. I pick the sword up off the ground and see Xander and Dawn rush towards the fight and I run over to my baby. She’s crying and grabbin at the straps that are holdin her in. I give her a quick once over and she looks fine, I don’t see any blood or anything. She’s just scared.


I turn around just in time to see Dawn being backhanded and she goes flyin back and slams into a tree. I wince as I watch her fall to the ground. Xander runs over to make sure she’s ok. He checks her pulse and he doesn’t look too worried so she’s still alive. I walk towards the demon, goin slow ‘cause I don’t wanna get too close, not just yet. B’s standing about ten feet away from and she looks tired, this fight’s takin a lot out of her. It won’t be too much longer before she won’t be able to fight back.


We rush the demon at the same time and I swing at him with my sword. I cut his arm and he yells in a deep voice that sends a chill to my bones. I see some bright blue blood leak out of the cut. It’s just a cut, a scratch, that should’ve taken his arm off! This demon is way too fuckin strong. B kicks him in the side and he grabs her ankle, and before I can fuckin move he grabs me around my neck and he throws us. I hit the side of a house and I can feel the wood crack from the force. My vision gets a little blurry but it clears up almost instantly.


I look over and see Willow, standing ten feet behind the demon and she’s chanting, but I don’t think she’s gonna be strong enough to stop this. I jump off the at the same time B does. She’s all cut up ‘cause she landed in some rosebushes. We stop runnin when we see the demon hold his hands out in front of him. A ball of white light is startin to grow off them, and it’s getting bigger and bigger. This is not gonna be good. We start runnin towards him at the same time but he yells somethin out and two seconds later I fall to the ground. That fucker! I hate it when they use magic on me!


I look up and the ball of light is about four feet around, and it’s really fuckin bright. I can barely look at it. I jump up and start running towards him again but he yells out the same thing as before and I again I fall. I look up again and he throws the light and it goes flying. I look ahead of it and see what it’s goin for. No! No, no, no, no, fuckin no! I jump off the ground and start runnin for the large ball and I already know I’m not gonna make it in time. B’s runnin for it too but she’s farther away from it then I am. I’m runnin faster then I ever have in my fuckin life but I’m not goin fast enough. I watch the big ball of light collide with the stroller, and Addy lets out one long scream and then she’s gone, stroller, diaper bag and all.


“NO! NO! FUCKIN NO!” I scream as loud as I can. She’s gone. I didn’t make it in time and now she’s dead. I can’t feel anything, I think I’m in shock or something. All I can do is stare at the burnt ground where my daughter used to be. She’s gone, she’s dead. I’ll never get to hold her again. I’ll never get to teach her how to ride a bike or read a book or write her name. I’ll never hear her laugh, or see her smile, or watch her fall asleep. I’ll never hear her fight with Mattie, or scream when she gets mad because she’s gone. My baby’s gone.


“MOTHERFUCKER!” I scream so loud I think my voice box just snapped. I can feel something now: rage. Pure rage. I can feel it in the pit of my stomach, it’s makin the muscles tighten up, it hurts a little. I can feel it flowing through in my veins. I can feel it from my fingertips down to my toes. I can taste it, it’s bitter like baker’s chocolate. It’s all I can feel right now, every other emotion has been cut off. I don’t think I’ve ever been this way before. I’m so pissed I can’t see straight and everything is kind of a blur.


I look over at the demon and he starts laughing. It sends shivers all over my body. I run at him. I’m gonna cut his fuckin head off. I’m gonna stab him over and over and over again until he’s fuckin nothing! He’s gonna fuck die for what he did! He backhands me and sends me flying into the side of a tree. I sit there for maybe half a second before I jump back up. I run towards him again and pick my sword up off the ground and throw it at him. And right before it reaches his chest, it stops. What the fuck?


“Don’t kill him!” Willow screams. What the fuck?! He just killed my baby and she wants to save him? Why would Willow want to do something like that? I want to hurt her, I want to kill everyone who tries to save this fucker. He’s going to die for killing my baby, and I’ll kill everyone who gets in my way.


“WHY THE FUCK NOT?!” I scream and rush at the demon again but he backhands me again and I fly back at least fifteen feet and land against the side of another tree. I get up and start runnin for the demon again. I don’t care how long it takes, this fucker is going to die. I glance behind him and see Willow, her hair is completely white, which means she’s makin with the really big magic. She holds her hands out towards the demon and a yellow, semi-transparent bubble goes up around him. She’s using her magic to protect a murderer. What the fuck is the matter with her? I lunge at the demon but I bounce off the force field and land hard on my ass.


“She’s not dead. That was a portal, he just sent her somewhere else. We need him alive if we’re going to get her back.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything as good as that. I can feel all that rage melt away and I feel relieved. I fall to the ground and just sit there for a few minutes. I can’t breathe, why can’t I breathe? Buffy...where’s Buffy? I look around and she’s lying about ten feet away from me. Oh God, she’s not moving. I try to stand up but my legs don’t want to work. So I crawl to her. She’s breathing, and her pulse is strong. She must’ve passed out after Addy disappeared. I almost did.


I reach out and gently touch her face. I can feel a couple of cracks in her cheekbones. They’re not very deep, so they’ll heal on their own and she’ll be ok. Her face is swollen and bruised and a little bloody. Her lips are cut, her nose is swelling up pretty bad, it’s probably broken, and she’s all cut up from the rosebushes. Her clothes are torn a little and the front of her shirt is bloody from her nosebleed. I check her hands, some of the bones in them are broken, probably from hitting that demon so hard. Her legs look fine, except for the ankle that he grabbed when he threw us back. I need to get her home so I can fix her up and I can go get Addy.


I legs feel like they’re ready to work now so I stand up. They’re a little shaky but I’ll manage. I gently pick Buffy up and cradle her in my arms. She’s completely limp, like she’s dead. She’ll be fine, she has to be fine. I walk towards the others. I see the demon, wrapped up in that bubble. He’s trying to get out but he can’t. Willow shrinks the bubble down so it looks like he’s in a giant vacuum-sealed bag freezer bag. Dawn’s awake again, but she can’t walk on her own so Xander’s helping her, one of his arms is wrapped around her waist and one of her arms is around his shoulders. Xander has all the weapons in his other arm so I guess we’re ready to go.


We walk towards the house in silence. I feel a strain in my stomach and chest. I feel like I’m abandoning her, just leaving the spot where she disappeared. I’m just leaving her there. But I have to leave. We have to figure out a way to get her back and we can’t do that on the middle of a sidewalk. Willow has to do the smart witch thing and she’ll probably need some supplies or something for whatever spell she’s going to cast.


I don’t know where we’re going to get the supplies. This town doesn’t have a magic shop, they probably have a couple in Vegas but it takes at least an hour to get their and back, and if the traffic is bad then it’ll take longer. Ok Faith, don’t think about that, just think about your baby. She’s probably scared and all alone. No, don’t think like that. Willow said it was a portal, so she got sent to a different dimension, there are thousands of dimensions out there. Maybe she got sent to the one with no shrimp, it’s possible. I’m sure someone found her and is taking care of her right now and she’s just waiting for me to come and bring her home.


“I’ll get the door,” Red says and walks in front of me. I look behind me and the demon is floating in the air and trailing behind us thanks to Red and her magic. Willow opens the door and blocks me from walking in. “I’ll have Matt go to his room, just wait here, ok?” I nod my head yes, I’m still feeling a little numb right now, and I was screamin so much I don’t think my voice would work even if I tried. I glance over at Dawn and Xander. They’re both a little cut up. I don’t know how Xander got the cuts. Maybe he tried to hurt the demon when I was runnin for the portal?


“Ok, come on.” I follow Red into the house. Everyone is in the living room, waiting for us. They all stand up off the couch and I gently lay B down on it. She’s gonna be pissed when she sees the blood stains but whatever. I’ll just buy a new couch. I look up when I feel a hand on my shoulder. Giles is standing over me with a bunch of washrags and Katie has a bowl of water. I take the rags from Giles and Katie puts the bowl next to me, on the floor. I clean her up a little bit but most of the damage is bruising. I dip the rag in the water to clean it off and the water turns a nasty brown. This is the part of bein a slayer I hate, seeing the wounds, cleaning them up, it would be fine if I was the only one that got hurt, but B? I hate seeing her get hurt.


“What happened?” I hear Katie ask. Xander starts to explain everything. Since Katie and Kyle aren’t used to the slaying thing and hearin about the demons they’re a little shocked and very upset, but Giles is only moderately surprised. Either that or he’s hiding his emotions, he is British after all. I look up when I hear a sob. Kyle is sitting in my recliner with Dawn in his lap, she’s hiding her face in his neck and crying. He’s doing his best to comfort her but it’s not working. I can’t take it.....I can’t listen to her cry....it’s like she’s mourning.....make it stop!


“Stop it,” I try to say but no one can hear me. My throat hurts so fuckin bad from all the screamin earlier. “Stop it.” I say it louder but only Xander and Katie hear me ‘cause they’re only standin a foot away. I get up off the ground and it’s like I have tunnel vision. All I can see is Dawn, and her whole body’s shakin from her sobs. “Stop it.” I say loud enough for everyone to hear me. My voice is horse and cracking and it hurts so fuckin much to talk, but I need to make it stop. “Stop it!” I scream and run over to her. Before anyone can move I grab her and pull her to her feet. I hold onto both of her arms very tight and I shake her.


“Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT! She’s not fucking dead so stop! Stop it! She’s not gone yet! She’s still alive! We’re gonna get her back! Stop crying! Stop!” I keep shaking her and she doesn’t stop crying. So I shake her a little harder. “Stop it,” my voice is a whisper and I can feel my anger going away. “Stop, just stop.” I fall to the floor and Dawn lands in my lap. Oh my God, what did I do? I wrap my arms around her and I break down. I can’t help it. I try to stop but I can’t. It was just too much. Everything is just too much. I can’t take it. I can’t do this by myself.


I let go of Dawn and crawl over to Buffy. She’s still unconscious. I gently shake her shoulders. “Baby, wake up. Wake up....please.” Nothing, she just lies there. I put my head on her chest and cry. I don’t know what else to do. Everything is so screwed up, I don’t know how to handle it by myself. Addy’s gone. I wanna believe that she’s somewhere nice but that demon could have taken her anywhere. She could be dead by now, eaten or tortured or sacrificed by another demon or vampire or something. I feel someone grab onto me, their hands are hot and I know it’s Red. She’s using her magic to make herself stronger. She lifts me off the ground and holds me up so we’re eye to eye.


“Faith, stop. You can’t break down, not yet. I cast a truth spell on the demon, he told me where he sent her. You have to pull yourself together if you’re going to get her back. Do you understand me?” I nod my head yes and finally control my tears. God, I cried in front of everyone like a little fuckin girl. How embarrassing is that? Xander looks completely shocked, I don’t think he’s ever seen me cry before. Kyle looks pissed but that’s understandable. I did almost kill his girlfriend. If I had shaken Dawn just a little harder, just a fraction harder her neck would’ve snapped. God, how could I just lose control like that? I’m supposed to be a fuckin slayer. I’m supposed to be calm and collected in situations like this. Maybe this is why the slayers before me weren’t supposed to have family or friends.


I go into the bathroom and wash my face. Willow is getting some supplies out of her car and then we’re going to have a good ol’ fashion scooby meeting at the dinner table. I guess the others were so worried and anxious for us to get back that they cleaned everything up just to keep their minds busy. I look at my face in the mirror, I look like hell, but my slayer healing is already kickin in. Willow didn’t say where Addy is. She just told me it’s a delicate situation and it needs to be discussed with the other scoobies. B still hasn’t woken up. I checked her eyes, she doesn’t have a concussion. I think she’s just shut down emotionally, and psychologically. Apparently she went all catatonic when Glory snatched Dawn.


“Faith we’re ready when you are,” I hear Xander say as he knocks on the door. I’ve been in here for ten minutes, washing my face and hands. I still can’t believe this is happening. It’s like a never ending bad dream or somethin, that’s just getting worst. First Riley shows up, then this happens. What next? I don’t want to list any guesses ‘cause I really don’t wanna jinx it. I dry my face off with a towel and go into the kitchen we’re all but Kyle and Katie are waiting.


“I’ll just go ahead and get to the point,” Red says and sighs. “The portal he used didn’t send her to another dimension like I thought, which is good.” I thought she was getting to the point. Saying useless shit like that is called stalling. “He sent her through time instead.” Um...ok. So where is she? “She’s in Sunnydale, the summer after we killed Adam.” She looks into my eyes. She had been looking down at her fingernails. She sighs and holds my gaze.


“Which means you’re in jail and no one there is going to be happy to see you. So I made this.” She holds up three little red pouches. “I don’t know where she is in Sunnydale and the quicker you get there the better. Hopefully Buffy found her on a patrol or something. And if you run into any of us you need to try and get them into the same place and then throw this on the ground and then get the hell outta the room and whatever you do don’t inhale the smoke. It’s a forgetting spell. If any of them remembers her or you it could change so much. You and Buffy might not get together because of it, and everything here would be different, no Matt or Addy or any of this. Here’s the list of ingredients just in case you need to make more.” She slides the pouches and a folded piece of paper over to me and I pick them up and look at them for a few seconds. The other two are being quiet, which is weird.


“You’ll need this too.” She holds up another leather pouch, only this one is brown and bigger then the others. “When you find her find a safe place to go and pour the sand around in a circle. You need to put some of both your blood in the center of it.” I have to hurt my kid, but at least I’ll be bringing her home. But still, I’ll be hurting her. She’ll probably be mad at me for a while. But at least she’ll be safe.


“It might take a few minutes for the portal to start to form and since you’re not a witch it could take days to get large enough for you to go through.” Great, so I guess I’ll be stickin around Sunnydale for a while. “Luckily it’ll also be forming here in the same spot where I send you there and I’ll give it a power boost to make it go faster.” Good, that’s good. I really just want to get in and get out. I don’t wanna stick around and get beat up by Buffy. I know that back then she fuckin hated me, I don’t blame her for it, I’m just sayin I’d rather not see her.


“Remember Faith,” Giles speaks up. He takes off his glasses and cleans the lenses on his shirt. “Due to the circumstances back then if you do come in contact with any of our past selves don’t take any malicious thing they maybe have to say to heart. This was before you came back to Sunnydale and proved how much you have changed.” I smile a little despite the circumstances.


“I know G-man. Don’t worry about me. I’ll go there, find Addy and get out. If B found her I’ll deal with it, convince her to give Addy to me ‘cause if she thinks I pulled a Shawshank she’s not gonna be willin to hand over a little baby to me. Does it matter....I mean, should I not tell them about the future, about me and B or any of this?” I look over at Willow and then Giles and then Xander and back to Willow. She gives me a little smile and fidgets in her seat.


“Well, you’re going to be wiping their memories clean of you and Addy. I took some hair out of your hairbrushes for the DNA, so they’ll forget all about her and you, well, the present you. They’ll...I mean, we’ll remember the past you. Well, their present you....you get what I mean right?” I stopped paying attention a while back so I just nod my head like I know what she’s sayin. “Alright, well get ready to go. You should probably take a couple of weapons with you just in case.” We all get up I put the paper in my back pocket and go to the weapons chest in the living room. I get a knife and a stake. I shouldn’t need anything more then this.


I sigh and fallow Willow out to the garage. The circle of sand is already poured. I cut my fingertip with my knife and then put it through my belt. I hold my hand out and let three drops fall into the center of the portal. Willow steps forward but not inside the circle and she says a little chant. I hate chanting, it always gives me a headache. I don’t know what she’s saying ‘cause she isn’t speaking English. There’s a buzzing sound in the air and my muscles tense up. Then there’s a loud cracking sound and a bright ball of light appears in the center of the circle and it slowly takes on the shape of a door. Alright, this is it. I take in a deep breath and step forward, but Willow stops me.


“Faith, good luck.” I give a little nod and try to step forward again but she stops me again. “And I know I won’t remember because you’ll use those potions to make me forget but until you use the potions I’ll remember, so please don’t, like, make up any stories just to mess with us. Like, don’t tell us that in the future the entire world has been enslaved by robots or something.” I smile a little bit. Now why would Red think I’d do something like that? Ok, so the thought did cross my mind.


“Well, you’re not gonna remember anyway so where’s the harm?” I step into the portal before she can answer me. It feels like someone’s grabbed onto my chest and is pulling me forward. It’s so fuckin bright, I can’t keep my eyes open. It feels like I’m fallin in five different ways at one. Cartwheels and spins and shit like that. I think I’m gonna hurl. There’s a noise in the background, like a loud gust of wind, and a buzzing sound. I can feel things crawling all over my skin.


I’m spinning around and around and before I can brace myself I’m thrown out of the portal and onto hard ground. I fall down onto my hands and knees. Oh God I’m gonna....I throw up everything that I had earlier. Remind me next Thanksgiving not to eat so much cranberry sauce, and to kill Willow for not warning me about the spinning. I get up on shaky legs and sit down on the park bench a few feet away from where I landed. I take a couple of deep breaths and take a look around. I’m in the park, I know that much. It’s good to be back in Sunnydale, I didn’t think I would think that but I am.


I won’t have to worry about vampires ‘cause it’s daytime. I just need to find Addy. I have no idea where to start. I guess I’m gonna have to go to B. She’ll know where to look. Willow can hack into the police reports, see if a baby was found and turned in.....or if a body was found. I don’t wanna think that like, but I’d be foolin myself if I didn’t think it. If she is dead then I really hope I’m not around any of the scoobs when I find out ‘cause I know I’ll beat to death the nearest living or un-living person. And I’ll do it all in a blind rage so I won’t even know who I’m beating. Well, I don’t know for sure if that’s what’s gonna happen but it’s a pretty good guess.


I get up and break out into a run. I need to get to Buffy’s house. She’ll be there, she has to be there. Willow said it’s the summer, she doesn’t have class and Buffy didn’t have a job until after she was brought back from the dead. So she’s either at home, at Giles or at the beach. Or possibly shopping. Ok so I have no idea where she is but I have a couple of good ideas. It doesn’t take me long to get to Revello Drive. Good thing Sunnydale isn’t very big and I still remember where everything is.


I sneak around a little bit. I look in the front windows and then the back ones. I don’t see anyone, but Joyce’s Jeep is parked in the driveway so she’s home. I do the only thing I can, I ring the doorbell. I fidget around a little bit. My last encounter with Joyce wasn’t the most pleasant what with me pretending to be Buffy and all that other shit. I tense when she opens the door and a look of horror instantly comes on her face.


“Hi Joyce.” I try to sound as friendly as possible. “Look, there’s no time to explain, I’m not the Faith you remember. Well, ok so I am, but I’ve changed, a lot. And I really need to know where B is.” I don’t think she’s breathing. She hasn’t called out for B so either she isn’t here or Joyce is just in shock. “I know I tried to kill you before and I’m sorry about that but I really need to know where Buffy is. There’s a baby, my baby, and I need to get her back.” Her eyebrows furrow just a little bit, and not in a surprised sort of way but in a suspicious one. Fuck, she’s seen her, she’s seen Addy.


“Where are they?” She tries to close the door but I don’t let her. I pull my wallet out of my back pocket. I open it up and show Joyce the picture of me and Addy the day we moved into the house in Nevada. It’s the most recent picture I have of her on me. She looks at it closely and then up at me. She’s having a hard time processing this, that much is obvious. “That’s my baby, Joyce. Her name’s Addison Kristine Lehane and she’s a year old and she was brought here by a demon. Please Joyce, please tell me where my baby is.” I don’t know whether it’s the desperate sound in my voice or the look in my eyes or possibly the picture, maybe it’s a mix of all three but she comes out of her shock and looks into my eyes.


“Buffy found her last night. She took her to Rupert’s place. They’re doing a spell to find out what she is.” Ok, what the fuck? I give her a questioning look and I guess she catches my meaning. “All they know is that a little baby came out of a portal, they don’t know where she came from so they’re doing a spell to find out if she’s a demon or not. Buffy’s being very protective of her so she won’t let them hurt her, but there was something about them needing some of the baby’s blood.” Why does it always have to be blood? I put my wallet back in my pocket and wrap Joyce in a big hug.


“Thank you. And I’m so sorry.” She hugs me back and while she’s distracted I slowly reach into my back pocket and pull out one of the pouches. I let go of her and take a step back. I give her a warm smile and hold my breath. I throw the pouch down on the ground and it explodes into a large cloud of pink smoke. I jump down the steps and take off for Giles’. I need to get there and fast before they find out what she is. That’ll just bring up more questions that I probably shouldn’t answer. If they find out she’s a slayer they might want do experiments on her or something.


I run as fast as I can down the stairs without fallin. It’s a lot harder then it sounds. I slow down as I reach Giles’ door. I don’t want B to hear me before I’m ready. I figure I’ll go with a big entrance, somethin flashy that they won’t expect. Then again I really don’t think they’re expectin me to show up. I sneak over to the little window like I did when I woke up from the coma, and I look inside. Woe, deja vu. I see all of ‘em but B standin in the living room. Giles, Red and.....Tara? Her name’s Tara, right? Anyway, they’re all standin around a table lookin into some bowl. Xander and Anya are a few feet away but they don’t look as interested.


“W-w-what does that mean?” Tara asks and looks at Willow. Red looks shocked and a little...upset. Giles isn’t sayin anything, his face is a blank slate. “What does purple mean?” They’re not answering her. They know. I know they know. Where is she? I don’t see her or hear her anywhere. If they did the spell, and it’s pretty clear that they did, then they had to get some of her blood so she should be crying. Unless they gave her something that made her go to sleep.


My heart stops when I see B walk into the room with Addy in her arms. I can tell my girl’s been cryin, most likely from however they got the blood, and she’s clingin to B like her life depends on it. No one in the room notices but Addy gives a little death glare to Giles. I guess he was the one who cut her or whatever he did. That little expression she just made...she definitely takes after B. Only with B it isn’t so much her glarin at someone who hurt her, she glares at someone for simply eatin the last half of her sandwich or somethin. She can be possessive of her stuff, and I had to learn that the painful way. Anyway, gettin back to what’s goin on.


“Did it work?” B asks and she sounds a little scared. I don’t know why I haven’t gone in there yet. I want to hold my baby so bad but at the same time I just wanna watch. B’s a natural with her, holdin her just right. Addy likes to be held a certain way on your hip and she’ll fidget around and whine a little until she’s in that perfect spot. I can’t help but smile a little as Addy sticks her thumb in her mouth and rests her head on B’s shoulder. It’s gettin to be her naptime. She’s gonna get really cranky here pretty quick. Red catches my attention when she starts to panic.


“This isn’t right. It-it can’t be right. Giles, tell me this isn’t right. We’ll just do it again. Something must’ve messed up. Buffy, bring her back over here, I’ll get a new needle.” Like hell she is. She’s not gonna hurt my baby again. I walk over to the door and throw it open. It slams against the wall and all of ‘em jump and whip around. Every single person in this room isn’t happy to see me, but I already knew they weren’t gonna be. There’s a thick silence and I look into B’s eyes.


“Faith?!” Xander and Red scream at the same time. I wasn’t expectin a ‘welcome back party’ but a little more talking would’ve been nice. Talking I can handle, it’s the not saying anything that drives me crazy. I can’t help but smile when Addy reaches for me and says ‘mama’ in a whiney voice. B looks surprised and shocked and she tightens her grip on my girl. Well, technically our girl but whatever. I take a step forward and Buffy steps back. She hands Addy to Willow and stands in front of the group in that superior stance that she likes to stand in. Ya know the one, shoulders squared, legs shoulder length apart, hands on her hips, stone hard expression on her face.


“What the fuck are you doing here?” she asks and her voice sends shivers through me. Over the years I forgot what that tone sounds like. B hasn’t hated me for a long time and hearin her sound like this makes me wanna cry. I look at my baby but B steps to the side and blocks my view. I can hear Addy whining and saying the word ‘mama’ over and over again. She’s gonna start crying soon.


“I came to get my baby.” I don’t think any of ‘em are breathing anymore. The tension is so thick I can almost taste it. I reach back to get my wallet so I can show ‘em the pictures but before I can even blink B has me pressed up against a wall. I guess she thought I was goin for a weapon or somethin. I could easily overpower her. I’m a lot stronger then she is ‘cause of all the years of training I’ve had but I’m not gonna win this one by force. At least not without killing one of ‘em on accident.


“You haven’t been in prison long enough to have fucked one of the guards and have a baby. At least not one this old.” She presses her arm against my throat and it’s gettin a little hard to breath but I’m not gonna fight back. “What are you doing here Faith? Prison isn’t fun so you decided to come back and kill us off? Maybe torture us a little? Or are you gonna switch bodies with one of us?” She pulls me forward and then slams me against the wall. I feel it crack a little ‘cause of the force. “Answer me!” I take in a deep breath. This is really fuckin hard ‘cause all I wanna do is hold my baby, especially now that she’s crying.


“In my back pocket is my wallet. Take it out and see. I have pictures of me and Addison.” B looks a little shocked but she covers it up. “I’m not the Faith you know. I know it’s gonna sound crazy and a little tacky but I’m from the future.” Xander actually lets out a little laugh. Buffy pulls me forward and slams me against the wall again.


“Do you honestly expect me to believe that?” I think she’s going to kill me. The look in her eyes says so at least. I don’t think she would actually try but she wants to and that’s the scary thing. I sigh and lean against the wall. “Xander, go get the chains we used on Spike.” Oh, no fuckin way. I watch as Xander walks down the hall, I guess there’s a closet back there or something.


“B, please, just look in my back pocket.” Her eyes are hard, I forgot they could look like that. All of this is so...sad to see. I’m so glad things worked out fine. Well, if I can get Addy back and then wipe all of their memories of it then things should work out fine. But I’m not leaving without my baby, if Red does something and I go back without her then future B, or my B or whatever you wanna call her, will probably hate me.


But this Buffy has a little bit of a conflict goin on inside her. I can tell she doesn’t want to believe me but at the same time she’s not so sure. So I do the one thing that always makes my B cave. I make my eyes water up and prepared myself for a long, hard cry. She sighs and keeps her hold on my throat with her right arm as she reaches around and starts to feel my pockets to make sure I’m not lyin. She’s takin to time doin it too. I know this is a serious situation, but Addy’s fine, she’s in great hands, she’s safe and not goin anywhere so why not fuck with B a little?


“If you wanted to cop a feel, B, all you had to do was ask,” I say in my cocky tone and raise an eyebrow. I know what she’s gonna do long before she does. That’s just how good I know her. Quicker then the blink of an eye she pulls her right fist back and tries to punch me in the face. I say try because I’m quicker then this B, and I duck down. I only said I wasn’t gonna fight back, but I’ll avoid a punch to the face if I can. And while I’ll all squatted down I might as well get the wallet out. So I reach around and take it out while I stand back up and hold it up for her to see. Xander walks back into the room with some chains and a couple pad locks. They have got to be jokin.


“I don’t know what’s wrong with her. I can’t get her to stop. It’s like she wants to go to Faith or something.” I look over B’s shoulder and Red is bouncin Addy up and down a little but my baby wants me bad and she’s screamin her little head off. It’s not ‘or something’, my baby wants me. I try to go to her but B holds me back by my throat. There’s only so much more of this I can take before I’ll start to fight back. B tosses the wallet down to the floor a few feet behind her so she can hold me with her other arm.


“Will, take Addison upstairs, try to calm her down. Xander, go open the bathroom door and pull the shower curtain back.” She’s gonna have me take a shower? Well, I’ll be damned, this B is kinda kinky after all. Wait...I remember somethin about this, my B told me and I know I should remember ‘cause it’s kind of important......they’re gonna chain me up and put me in the bathtub! Well, fuck that.


“Buffy, I think Faith is telling the truth.” I hear Anya say. Wow, out of everyone in here I didn’t expect it to be Anya to come to my defense. Maybe Tara, ‘cause accordin to B she was just that kinda person. Always willin to give the benefit of the doubt and a second chance. “In her wallet, there are pictures of her and the baby.” I look over B’s shoulder and Anya’s goin through all the pictures that I have in my wallet. This isn’t going to end well. “Some pictures of her and a little boy.” She flips to one and stops. I know what she’s lookin at. Fuck, this isn’t gonna be good at all. “When were you and Faith orgasm friends?” B’s eyes get about five times their normal size. I think they’re gonna pop out of her skull. And no one is breathin again. Except for me and Addy, but she’s still cryin. She’s startin to cough.


“What?! We never were!” B screams. Fuck, it’s not like it’s that much of an insult, no need to make me go deaf in one fuckin ear.


“Well then how do you explain the picture of you lyin on a bed in nothing more then a thong?” Both Xander and Buffy dive for the fuckin picture. B gets there first and grabs it from her and looks at it wide eyed. “Jeez, take my hand off why don’t you. It’s not like you couldn’t have asked for it.” If I didn’t think B was gonna kill me before I know she’s gonna do it now. A vein in her neck is throbbin so hard I think it’s gonna pop.


“Where did you get this? Have you been spying on me?” She lunges for me but I duck and push her away from me. I’m not gonna hurt her but I don’t think I deserve to be beat up. I’m just tryin to get my kid back. And that picture was a present, I in no way pushed for it or expected her to give me that. Well, not this B. My B gave it to me when we first started sleepin together.


“I haven’t been spying on you! I told you, I’m from the future, things are totally different there and I just wanna get my baby back, so fuck off!” I yell and push her back as she lunges for me again. There’s only one way they’re gonna one hundred percent believe me that Addy is mine. I pull my knife out of my belt and out of its sheath. Everyone in the room freezes. I hold out my free hand and cut down the middle of my palm. Nothing too deep, it’ll heal in the next couple hours. I toss the knife to B and she catches it without even lookin. I hold my hand out to her, almost like an offering or something. “Here, take my blood, do a DNA test. If that’s what it’ll take to prove that she’s mine so I can take her home then do it. Red’s big with the magic, I’m sure if she can do a spell to find out that Addy’s a slayer then she can do one that’ll tell you she’s mine.”


Silence. That’s all I get, is a thick silence from everyone but Addy. She’s still tryin to get to me. Red won’t be able to hold for very long. She’s startin to get tired just keepin a grip on her now. I’m surprised Addy hasn’t forced her way outta Red’s arms by now. She’s gettin tired, that’s probably why. If we had done this a couple hours earlier my little baby woulda forced herself to me by now. Well, B probably woulda stopped her, but she would’ve pushed passed everyone else.


“This isn’t possible.” Red says and hands Addy to Tara. Big mistake. Blondie over there believes me and five bucks says she’s thinkin about handin her over right now while she has the chance. “I mean, if a slayer had a baby the purple wouldn’t be this dark because of the dad’s DNA, it would be light color, but this...it means she’s a whole slayer, that both of her parents are slayers. That’s just not possible. I mean, unless you really are from the future and somehow scientists have figured out how to let two women have a baby.” She glances over at Tara. I can’t stand to see that look in her eyes. She’s so...hopeful. She wants to one day have a baby with Tara, and I can’t stand to see it ‘cause I know it’s never gonna happen. I am Faith, bringer of disappointment. I watch as my blood starts to drip off my hand and onto the floor.


“Not science, Red. Magic.” I give ‘em a chance to let that sink in. “I’ll do the big explanation, tell ya what the future’s like and all that shit, just let me hold my baby. Please, give her back.” I look into Tara’s eyes and let mine water up a little. She takes in a deep breath and holds it. She looks away from me. This is killin her inside ‘cause she knows Addy’s mine, and she wants to hand her over, but she’s afraid of what the rest will think.


“Not yet,” B says, her voice is still as hard as stone or some shit like that. It feels like a blow to the gut. “Not until we prove it. I’m not about to hand over an innocent baby to you. And just because you’re from the future it doesn’t explain this.” She holds up the picture of her. She hasn’t look at any of the others. If she would just keep flippin through ‘em then she would see the family picture that we got taken together when Mattie was two. B looks into my eyes and sighs. She hands the knife to Red.


“Will, do the test. I wanna know what the fuck is going on.” She points to the couch and looks at me again. Ok, what is she thinkin? “Sit down.” I don’t move. “If we’re going to do this then you’re going to be chained up.” I look over to my left when I hear a noise. Giles has the tranquilizer gun and he’s pointing it right at me. Gotta give props to G-man, I wasn’t expecting that one.


“If you cooperate we’ll let you stay awake,” he tells me and I know he’s serious. Great, this is just fuckin great. I look at Buffy and she has this smug little grin on her face. Why does B have to be such a bitch all the time? Ok, so the me tryin to kill her and her mom and friends and then takin her body has me out of her good graces but that was like.....a couple months ago. This sucks. I sigh and sit down on the couch. I sit still has B wraps the chains around me, she does ‘em up a little too tight on purpose. Then she snaps the locks into place. They put Xander in charge of bandaging my hand. Do they hate me that much?


“So, you’re from the future, huh?” he asks, sounding a little...curious, I guess. Great, he’s gonna start asking about himself. Well, here’s my opportunity to fuck with him a little. This day could go well after all. “Am I successful? Got a high payin job, lots of ladies chasin after me?” He’s talkin low enough so Anya won’t hear him or she’d probably smack him. I didn’t know her for a long time but she’s pretty easy to figure out. I sigh and look into his eyes. It’s a little weird since I’m so used to seein him with the patch.


“Last I heard you gotta sex change and you and your husband are living happily ever after in Vegas.” He looks like he’s gonna faint. That was fun, and very easy. Who else can I fuck with? I don’t wanna be mean to Anya. Somethin seems a little wrong about fuckin to a girl you know is gonna die in a couple a years. So if she asks any questions I’ll just tell her what she wants to hear. She has a high paying job, makes lots of money and lives in a huge mansion with three kids and a drop dead sexy husband. That’ll keep her satisfied. Tara probably won’t ask anything ‘cause if I remember right about what B said she seems to want to keep the natural order of things flowin. Red might be a problem.


“Ok, Tara, will you hold her still? I need to get some more blood.” I look over at Red and she’s holdin a needle and lookin at my little girl. I can’t just sit here and watch it happen, she’s cryin enough as it is. And they’re gonna hurt her. I can’t...I have to do something.


“Can’t you just use some of her spit? That’s what they do in hospitals, right?” The look Red gives me could burn the skin off a cat. B tenses up when I start to flex my muscles. These chains are pretty tight, but I might be able to break through ‘em. Slayer strength plus maternal instinct equals someone strong enough to break through chain. And I’m thinkin B knows that, or at least thinks it’s a possibility.


“This isn’t a hospital, I don’t have any of the equipment they use, so no I can’t. I need some blood if I’m going to do this.” Then she gives me this look like she wants to say something but at the same time she wants to keep her mouth shut. It’s gonna be an insult, five bucks says it is. “And I doubt that it’s true but if it is, you must be one terrible mother to let your little baby crawl into a time portal.” Ouch, that actually stung a little. I want to ignore it, I really do, but I just can’t. I’ve never just let people talk to me like this, and I’m not gonna start now.


“Yeah, I guess I am.” They all know I’m being sarcastic ‘cause of the tone I’m using. “I mean, what was I thinking trying to save her life from a demon and almost dying doing it? But I guess I’ve learned my lesson.” I look her right in the eyes and she just looks away. “What, no witty come back?” She doesn’t say anything, she just picks up the little bowl thing and takes it into the kitchen and cleans it out. This fuckin sucks. I hate being tied up. Well, I hate being tied up when it isn’t silk and I’m being eaten by Buffy. When I get home and everything goes back to normal I’m so gonna have her do that. Only I’ll have her use the strap on so I can kiss her as she fucks me.


“What are you smiling about?” B asks in a harsh tone. I sigh and try to relax. Red’s back in the room and she’s holdin the needle again. Addy starts to cry harder and I flex my muscles again. I could break through these chains, and I just might. I need to say somethin to B ‘cause she’s getting a little pissed. But I can’t tell her what I was thinkin about ‘cause she’ll probably kill me. So I’ll just have to lie my way through this one. I hope it sounds convincing.


“Nothin, just thinkin ‘bout what I’m gonna do when I get home.” There, it wasn’t a total lie ‘cause I was really thinkin about that. She just doesn’t need the details. I look over at Red and Tara. Red’s tryin to get a hold of Addy’s wrist but she won’t let. And she’s cryin really loud now. I can’t take this. “Please, you guys, please just let me hold her, she’ll calm down.” None of ‘em move. Addy keeps cryin and Red keeps tryin to get a hold of her hand. That’s it, these chains are comin off. I try to pry my arms away from my body but Giles raises the gun. “B, you hold her. She’ll calm down a little.” She gives me this suspicious look but I know she’s been dyin to go over there and hold our girl.


“Shh, baby, it’s ok. Shh,” B says as she puts down the knife and takes Addison from Tara. She bounces her a little and Addison puts her head on B’s shoulder and starts suckin on her thumb. I can’t help but smile a little bit. B’s a natural at this, but I already knew that. Sure she has her days where she has no fuckin clue what she’s doin and she freaks out a little, but for the most part she knows exactly what to do when it comes to the kids. I’m the one who’s lost most of the time. She holds onto Addy’s wrist and Red pokes her middle finger with the needle. Addy starts freakin out, squirmin, tryin to get away, but B has a good hold on her. Red let’s a couple drops drip down in the little bowl thing. When she’s done B takes Addy into the bathroom to get another band-aid.


“So how does this work?” Xander asks and sits down in the chair next to the table. “I didn’t even know they had spells for stuff like this.” Neither did I. Then again if Red’s magic can help make Addy I shouldn’t be surprised it could tell them who she belongs to and what she is. Red takes a deep breath. She picks up the knife and tries to get the blood to drip off but it’s already startin to dry. She sighs and cleans it off with a rag.


“I need to mix their blood and after I mix in the Fleabane and say the incantation the blood will turn a different color. If she really is Faith’s then the colors will be the same, otherwise they’ll be different. Like, Faith’s blood could turn black.” She gives me a little glare. I roll my eyes and try to listen in on what’s goin on in the bathroom but I can’t. “And Addison’s could be pink. It’s pretty simple stuff. But I need a couple drops of Faith’s blood.” She looks over at me and I can tell she’s afraid, even though she’s tryin to cover it up.


“Well, are you gonna get some or not? Look, Red, I know I’m right, I’m not lyin to you guys. I just wanna get my baby and go home. So hurry the fuck up so I can do that, ok? I really need to get home.” Just thinkin about how I left B……maybe I should’ve stayed a little longer. What if she’s not wakin up? What if she’s paralyzed and she was tryin to move around but she couldn’t? What if she has a blood clot in her spine and the paralysis spreads and she stops breathing and no one notices and she suffocates to death? Ok, Faith, stop freakin yourself out. She’s fine. She was just so devastated ‘cause she thought Addy was gone forever and she passed out. Very understandable. She’s gonna be fine.


“Why? Why do you need to get home so badly? Is it the demon? Because I thought you said you killed the demon.” Leave it to Anya to ask the questions I really don’t wanna answer. I sigh and shift around a little bit. Xander and Willow are walkin closer to me but they’re being cautious about it. If they keep movin at that speed they’ll be over here in about an hour.


“The demon’s been taken care of.” Apparently Willow killed it after she did the truth spell. “It hurt someone real bad and I need to get back and make sure she’s ok.” I don’t wanna say it’s B. I don’t want them askin questions about me and B’s relationship ‘cause I know they’re gonna think I’m lying. And I don’t wanna argue with them. I just wanna hold my little girl and get the fuck outta here.


“You mean Buffy?” Again with the askin of intrusive questions. She really is this annoying, huh? And here I thought she just did it to piss us off. “You got all sad when you said it and you only have pictures of one baby girl, the other is a boy. So you’re worried about Buffy?” I sigh and nod my head. I hold my breath as Xander gently unwraps the bandage and Red opens up the cut that was startin to heal. She’s not too nice about it either. She lets my blood drip into the bowl and Xander wraps my hand up again and they walk away. I hear B walkin down the hall and Addy is still cryin. Only this isn’t a pain cry, it’s a tired cry.


“Shh, Addison. It’s ok baby girl, I’m not gonna let big bad Willow do that again.” Red gives her a little glare but B ignores it. She tries bouncin Addy a little, she tries rockin her, but our girl just won’t quit. She gets like this when she’s tired. “Shh, please baby girl, please stop cryin.” I sigh and shift around a little. I hate just sittin here and doin nothing. I hate it more then you’ll ever know.


“She’s gettin tired. You got the diaper bag right?” B nods her head yes. “Make her a bottle and there shoulda been a book in the diaper bag I don’t know if you remembered to put it back or not.” Oh shit! I wasn’t supposed to say that. Fuck. I really didn’t want to talk about this but I guess I’m gonna have to now. B’s eyes bug out, they get about ten minutes their normal size. Earlier when she freaked about the picture I just told her that things are different in the future, I never told her that we’re together and we have kids. I give a little nervous laugh. “Uh, surprise B. Addy is yours too. And the little boy in the picture.” I nod my head towards the pictures on the table. “He’s ours too.” She picks a picture up off the table and looks at it.


“But how?” I sigh and shift around a little bit. These chains are really fuckin tight. My fingers are startin to go numb.


“I told you, B, magic. Red cast a spell and it changed some stuff inside us so we could conceive.” She closes her eyes and gets this look on her face like she’s gonna get sick. Hmm, that’s interesting.


“Not that. I mean, how are we together? I hate you, I’d probably sleep with Spike before sleeping with you.” Well, technically she is right. I mean, she did sleep with him while I was tucked away in prison so she slept with him first. I must have one of those all knowing looks on my face ‘cause I think she’s gonna faint. “I sleep with Spike!” Addy starts screamin again and B snaps back to reality and tries to calm her down. “Why would I do something like that?” I don’t wanna tell her this part. But I’m gonna wipe their memories anyway so I might as well. I always have the option of lying. Nah, I think even now B will be able to tell if I’m lyin or not.


“You were……emotionally disturbed at the time. You needed someone who would fuck you rough and he was there. But you got help, got better and when I came back you stepped out of the land of denial and owned up to your feelings.” Everyone is givin he some shocking looks. “We close the hellmouth for good and we finally get to leave Sunnydale. We move, end up gettin together and now we’re a happy family, complete with two car garage in the middle of suburbia and a Golden Retriever.” Everyone kinda smiles a little, except for Red and B. Red glares at me, I guess she really hates the thought of me bein happy. Or at least me bein happy with B. Buffy is jus tryin to let it all soak in.


“Stop this.” Giles says and lifts the gun again. “You shouldn’t be telling us this. Who knows how much you’ve changed just by coming here. To tell us what the future holds, whether true or not…..you could cause catastrophe by telling us this. So no more.” I wanna smile ‘cause I got those pouches that’ll make ‘em all forget but they can’t know that. They might take them. Red looks up from the bowl and glares at me. I guess the spell finished. Addy starts cryin again.


“Are you gonna make her a bottle and read to her or not?” I ask a little harsher then I intended. But she’s startin to piss me off. Our girl needs her and she’s not doin anything about it. Buffy hands Addy back to Tara and goes into the kitchen. I watch as she unzips the diaper bag. Was it on the counter the entire time? She pulls out the can of formula and the bottle. She looks a little lost. Didn’t she make her a bottle for breakfast? Did Addy eat anything today? “What did you feed her this morning?” She takes the lid off the formula and off the bottle.


“Some eggs and bacon and toast.” I bet she loved that. Her usual breakfast is a pancake and a bottle. “It makes sense now that I know she’s a slayer. She ate almost as much as Xander.” I can’t help but smile with pride. That’s my girl, eatin more then her share. I swear this kid is like a never-ending pit. She’ll just keep eating and eating. But she’s a growin girl, she needs all that food if she’s gonna become a kick ass vampire slayer. “Faith,” she sounds…embarrassed. “How do I do this?” Ah, that’s why.


“Fill the bottle up to the eight, heat it up for thirty seconds and put in four scoops of formula, shake it up until all the chunks are gone.” I look over at Red and she’s still glarin. She moves a little closer to Tara and my baby. I’m not liking this at all. The look on her face, the hate just pourin outta her in waves, she could do something on accident with her magic. She could lose control and hurt my girl. “So Red, what did the spell say?” She looks like she’s gonna flip out. Tara walks over to the bowl and takes a look. She looks over at me with…sympathy? I guess she feels bad for puttin me through all this shit for nothing.


“She’s t-t-telling the truth. The b-b-baby is r-r-really hers.” Xander’s lookin a little pale. Anya looks bored, Willow’s pissed, Giles looks surprised and I can’t see B’s face ‘cause her back is turned but I’m sure she’s surprised. Tara takes a step towards me but Red stops her.


“No, Tara, we don’t know for sure. She could have done something, she could’ve cast a spell to change their DNA or something. We need to do some more spells, we need to prove that she’s lying.” Well fuck you too Red. I look into Tara’s eyes and let mine water up a little bit. Addy starts cryin again ‘cause she’s cranky. She looks at me and reaches for me sayin the word ‘mama’ over and over again like when I first showed up. That’s my girl, provin Red wrong. I can see the shock and horror on Red’s face. I can’t help but smile very smugly.


“W-w-willow, you know as much as I do that there’s no getting around the spell you just did. If she did s-s-something to try and alter their DNA that spell would have revealed it. She isn’t lying.” She isn’t stuttering as much as I remember. I mean, I only heard her try to say one sentence and I went all bitch-o but still. I guess she’s really grown or whatever. I see Xander reach into his back pocket. I can’t see what he’s holding but I’m willing to bet it’s the key to these pad locks. They all look a little…lost.


“Whatta we do Buff?” I look into the kitchen and see B shakin up the bottle. It’s about damn time. Our little baby is still cryin ‘cause she really needs a bottle and a nice long nap. I feel the same, only I wanna bottle a JD, but still a bottle and a nap sounds like heaven. Maybe I should get some rest before I go home. I mean, fightin the demon, thinkin Addy died, and goin through the portal, I feel like I’m gonna pass out. And I have enough money in my wallet to afford a room at a nice hotel here in town. If it was just me I would just stay in a shit hole like what I lived in before, but I’m not gonna let my kid go anywhere near that place.


“Addison is hers, there’s nothing we can do.” What? What the fuck is she talking about? “Unchain her.” Oh thank God! I sit up a little straighter on the couch and lean forward a little bit, tryin to get a little closer to Xander without fallin off the couch.


“What?” Red yells. She looks a little surprised. “You can’t be serious? You’re just going to unchain Faith and hand over an innocent baby? Buffy she could be lying. What if she’s playing us, and hurts Addison the second you hand her over?”


“Fuck you Red, I would never hurt my kid.” She turns to me and she looks pretty pissed off. I struggle against the chains. If I wanted I could break through these and if Xander doesn’t unchain me soon I will.


“Yeah, ‘cause you’re just so trust worthy. You’ve never lied to us before, you would never try to hurt someone. Get real, Faith. You’re a killer, it’s what you do. And we can’t just hand over a little baby to some evil skank bomb like you.” That’s it, these are comin off. I take in a deep breath and focus all of my energy into my arms. Giles taught us how to do that when we opened up the slayer school. Anyway, I focus all my energy and push my arms outward away from my body. The chains snap and fall off me. I stand up and everyone is lookin at me like they’re at a zoo and lion just escaped. B runs into the room and hands the bottle to Tara before standin in front of the group and gettin into a fighting stance.


“I’m not gonna fight you, B. I just want my baby back. Please, just give her back.” Addy isn’t cryin anymore ‘cause she’s too busy suckin on her bottle. She’s snortin and gruntin and makin all sorts of sounds. B backs up and gently takes Addy out of Tara’s arms. She’s handed over willingly and Red looks like she’s about to burst she’s so pissed. Buffy slowly walks up to me and gives Addy a little kiss on the head before gently handing her over. I take my baby in my arms and I can’t help but cry. Just a few hours ago I thought I’d never see her again, hold her again. Her little body pressed up against mine feels so……I can’t describe it, but it’s probably the best feeling in the entire world. I sit down in the chair to the left of the couch and cradle my baby in my arms as she drinks her bottle.


I sniffle loudly and someone holds out a Kleenex. I look up and see B standing there with a box of ‘em in her hand. I take it from her and wipe my nose and nod a thanks. She smiles a little and backs up. I look down at my little girl again. She’s lookin up at me while she drinks her bottle. She’s big enough to hold it on her own and she gets mad when people try to do it for her. I gently caress her check with the back of my fingers but she gets annoyed and frowns but when I don’t stop she pulls her face away and grunts. I can’t help but smile.


“She has quite the attitude, doesn’t she?” Anya asks. I look up and they’re all watching me. I smile wide and look at B. She wants to smile but she won’t let herself.


“Yeah, takes after her mom.” I give B a little wink and look down at my girl again. Her eyelids are tryin to close but she’s fighting it. If I had the book I could read to her and she’d go right to sleep. I still haven’t memorized it yet. I have about half of it down but it’ll take while to memorize the last half. “B, where’s the book?” I look up at her and she walks into the kitchen where the diaper bag is. I feel a little tug on my hair and I look down and Addy’s playin with a lock of it. She’s twistin in her fingers around it and pullin until all the hair slips through her fingers and she starts all over. B brings me the book and I open it up and clear my throat and read my baby girl her favorite story.


“Shh, sleep little angel girl,” I whisper when Addy opens her eyes a little. I’m puttin her on Giles’ bed since she fell asleep a few minutes ago. I gently stroke my hand over her eyes and she closes them and her breathing evens out again. I give her a little kiss on the forehead and cover her up with the blanket. I leave one more little kiss on her cheek and leave the room. I stand in the doorway and watch her. I just got her back, she’s not leavin my sight. I don’t turn and look who’s walkin up to me ‘cause I already know. I can feel it ‘cause of our slayer connection. I lean up against the doorway so B can look in too and not feel crowded.


“She’s really ours?” she whispers and I smile. She sounds all awestruck or somethin. I think she only time B’s ever sounded like that was after the kids were born and she was holdin ‘em in her arms for the first time. I look at her and she has that look on her face, that ‘this is real, they’re real and they’re mine’. I smile again and fold my arms across my chest.


“Yeah, she is. She was born November 11, 2012. She was tiny, five pounds, seven ounces. She was a month premature but that’s normal for the first pregnancy.” She looks down at the pictures in her hands. She hasn’t put ‘em down yet. I’m gonna have to take those back before I throw the pouch and make them forget all of this. I don’t wanna, I want B to remember what kinda future she has to look forward to. But I know I can’t let that happen. If she knows that she has a family in the future then she might not try as hard as she does to save Dawn and if she doesn’t die then the slayer line won’t be as fucked up as it was, and the First won’t be as strong as it was, and I won’t have to go to Sunnydale after I save Angel so I’ll just turn myself back in and rot in jail for the rest of my life. Ya see what I’m gettin at?


“What about him?” she asks and holds up the picture of our boy. I smile and slowly take it from her so I can look at it a little closer. He’s five in this picture, after his very first t-ball game. He slid into home base getting his uniform all dirty, and dirt all over his face and in his hair. B almost had a heart attack tryin to get everything spotless again. He was so excited that he got to join a sport. He’s always wanted to but we were a little nervous ‘cause of his slayer skills. We thought someone would notice that he’s…advanced when it comes to coordination and speed and stuff like that. But he made sure to miss the ball every once in a while.


“Matthew James. He was the best accident to ever happen,” I tell her and smile as I look at the picture. He’s missing three of his teeth, his hair is all messy and his clothes are so fuckin dirty from the slide he did. B washed ‘em seven times before she got all of it out. “We were livin in this apartment building up north, a witch cast a spell that she couldn’t handle and it affected you. I came back from New York that night and you pretty much jumped me as soon as I walked in the door.” She shakes her head a little bit and looks a little grossed out. I try not to roll my eyes.


“You gave birth on July 18, 2006. You were in labor for nine hours. Screamed and cussed your head off, not literally though.” I hand the picture back and she looks at it again. “We thought he was gonna be a girl since neither of us have a Y chromosome. It took us a few days to decide on a name.” I wanna tell her that it was Dawn that suggested Matthew but I can’t. Dawn isn’t here yet. The monks still haven’t created her.


“How old is he here?” she asks and holds up the family picture that we had taken by a professional. We’re gonna get another one taken for Christmas since we haven’t gotten one with Addy yet. I take the picture from her and look at it. It’s been so long since I’ve look through all the pictures we’ve taken of our babies. All the pictures we’ve taken since we became a couple. There are hundreds, maybe close to a thousand, but I’ll get through ‘em all when I get home.


“Two months. He was supposed to be propped up with a pillow in between us but he cried until you picked him up. He’s clingy sometimes. He’s seven years old now. On his first day of kindergarten I bawled like a little baby ‘cause I didn’t wanna leave him, he practically pushed us out the door ‘cause we were embarrassing him. You didn’t break down until we were at the mall and you saw a little suit that would’ve fit him.” She smiles and shakes her head a little.


“How long have we been together?” I hand her the picture and she puts it back in the pile. I look down at my engagement ring. Gross, there’s blood on it. Remind to take it off the next time I get a bad feelin and go lookin for B.


“Nine years.” I hold up my hand so she can see the ring. “I proposed two Christmases ago, I think.” I can’t remember exactly when. “We’re still makin plans for it, we wanna wait a little while.” I can’t tell her that we’re gonna wait until we graduate ‘cause then she’ll ask why she never graduated college and I don’t wanna tell her all that sad stuff. “We live in Nevada now, a little town called Lincoln. It’s not a hellmouth but it has its share of supernatural evils.” I look over at our little girl. She’s rollin over, hopefully she’s still asleep. “I need to get back. Things were pretty bad when I left.” I walk into the room and carefully pick up my girl. Luckily she stays asleep. I guess this day was too stressful for her ‘cause she’s normally a pretty light sleeper, just like B.


I’m standin at the front door of Giles’ place. They’re all standin in front of me. Addy is still asleep and in her stroller. I don’t know where I’m gonna perform the spell but I’ll find a quiet place. Red still looks a little mad but luckily she won’t remember any of this. B looks a little sad. Not ‘cause I’m leaving but because Addy is. When I let B hold her and say goodbye she almost didn’t give her back. They’re all standin pretty close together so it should be pretty easy for the smoke to reach all of ‘em but I’ll throw both pouches just in case. I open up the front door ‘cause I’m gonna have to pick up the stroller and run as fast as I can.


We’ve already said our goodbyes but there’s one thing that I wanna do before I go. I take a couple steps forward and grab B by the arms and pull her to me and kiss her for all I’m worth. It takes her a couple seconds but she kisses me back. I’m suckin on her bottom lip so she’ll be distracted enough for the next couple seconds. I slowly reach into my back pocket and pull out the leather pouches. I pull back from the kiss and she’s panting and lookin shocked but turned on at the same time.


“See ya at home,” I say and hold my breath and throw both the pouches on the ground and they explode into two huge clouds of pink smoke. I turn around and grab onto the stroller and run as fast as I can without fallin. I don’t know where I’m gonna go, it’ll have to be somewhere Buffy wouldn’t go. So maybe a warehouse. I’ll figure it out and get home and then everything will be ok again.