So Damn Domestic

Three Days Later. BPOV


It’s been three days since Addison had that nightmare about Holly. Ever since then she hasn’t had any. It’s been two nights now with no screaming, or crying, or waking up terrified, or wetting herself. I’m hoping tonight she doesn’t have another one. Willow and Sky have been working almost nonstop to figure out what’s happening. They’ve been calling every warlock and witch they can think of who could help. They even called Angel and told him what’s going on and he has Wesley and Fred looking for a solution. Willow thinks she’s getting close to something, and she wants to try an experiment with Addison and Sky, but I’m a little hesitant. I mean, this is my baby we’re talking about. And no matter how good Willow is at it now, or how much control she has magic is still very dangerous. Her going inside Addison’s mind could have screwed her up beyond repair.


But I’m not going to think about all of that right now. Because today the kids are back in school, and Faith is over at her dad’s house visiting with him because Brittany has classes all day long. Today it’s just me and little Joseph. I just dropped my rings off at the shop to be cleaned and the diamond is a little loose on the engagement one so they’re going to fix that. It feels weird not wearing my wedding rings out in public. I can’t them off whenever I take a shower or when I go swimming, but I always have them on when I’m out in public. But that’s fine. The people said it’s a slow day today so my rings should be finished in about an hour and a half. So I’m going to walk to the park since it isn’t very far from here. It’ll be good for both of us since we don’t get out much.


“You see the leaves moving around because of the wind?” I ask Joseph and glance down at him. He’s in the light blue umbrella stroller. He hates his other stroller because he can’t see everything as well. He looks around like he actually understood me and it makes me smile. We pass a smell group of people who are also walking on this particular sidewalk and they smile at us. I hear him squeal, and he starts laughing, and the people smile even more. He loves making people smile. “That’s an ugly color for a car. Why would anyone paint their car orange?” I know I probably sound insane, but you’re supposed to have conversations with your baby like they can understand you. It helps with their language development. Then he sees a blonde woman walking towards us. She’s wearing a curve hugging, white dress with little daisies all over it. Joseph sees her and starts laughing a clapping his hands. She looks down at him as she passes and smiles. “So you like blondes, huh? You take after your mama.”


When we get to the park I find a nice shady spot for us to sit down. There aren’t too many people out here today because it’s a Tuesday. And in five days my little boy will be eleven months old. And then it’ll be one month exactly before he turns a year old. It doesn’t seem like it. It really seems like only yesterday the doctors cut me open and took him out, and then I went all crazy from the postpartum. I’m glad all of that is over with. And I’m so lucky that we had him. When things get too stressful, when Matthew gets a bad attitude and goes to his room or when Addison throws a fit and gets put in time out and things are just a little overwhelming, all I have to do is hold this little guy and he smiles up at me and all of my stress just melts away. I unfold one of his baby blankets and spread it out on the grass. I sit down and pull the stroller a little closer to me. Joseph reaches out for me and I smile.


“Are you ready to come out of your stroller?” I ask and he starts whining and leans forward a little. “Woe, there, I have to unbuckle you first.” I gently push him back by his shoulder and he doesn’t look too happy. I get him unbuckled and I pick him up and sit him down on the blanket. He looks over where all of the little kids are playing and he smiles and starts crawling towards them. I reach out and grab him by his ankle. “And where do you think you’re going?” He starts to whine again but I ignore it. I pick him around his waist and sit him down a little closer to me. Then I lay down on my back and sit him down on my stomach so he has one leg on either side. He leans forward a little and holds himself up by putting his hands just below my breasts. If I’m lucky then he won’t grab them. All babies will grab at your breasts. They don’t know any better. I think they do it on purpose just to make us uncomfortable.


“Where’s Joseph?” I ask and cover my eyes up. He loves playing peek-a-boo. It’s his second favorite game. His favorite game is ‘I drop this, and you pick it up’. That one gets a little annoying. Anyway, I uncover my eyes and smile really wide. “There he is.” I have a very enthusiastic tone and it makes him laugh. Then I cover my eyes up again and repeat the process. He laughs and claps his hands, and before I can cover my eyes up, he leans forward and covers them for me. He has one palm over each eye. He’s pushing down a little hard but that’s fine. I laugh a little louder then I meant to but it makes him laugh so it was worth any embarrassment. “Where’s Joseph? Huh, where is he?” I feel him shift backwards and his hands leave my eyes. “There he is.” He laughs and claps his hands.


I feel something bump into my thigh and I look down to see what it is. It’s a soccer ball. I look around and see a little girl running towards me. It must be hers. She looks like she might be three, maybe four. She has long red hair that’s braided into pigtails, and she has a lot of freckles on her face. She has bright green eyes, and even though she’s like twenty feet away I can tell that they’re green, that’s how bright they are. I put my had on Joseph’s back so he won’t fall over when I sit up. I reach down and grab onto the soccer ball with my free hand. She gets about four feet away from me and then stops. She doesn’t say anything and she won’t look into my eyes. She looks down at her feet and then up at me through her really long eyelashes. Every time Willow and Xander start telling stories from their childhood I try to imagine what they looked like. This kid looks exactly like the image I of Willow.


“Hi there,” I say in a friendly tone. “Is this yours?” She nods her head and I smile a small smile and hold the ball out. She’s standing about a foot away from my outstretched hand and she looks like she doesn’t know what to do. I look over her shoulder and scan the area and I don’t see an adult coming to her rescue. So she’s either here all by herself, or she got lost or something. “Sweetie, are you here with your mommy or daddy?” She nods her head yes and I sigh a little in relief. “Do you know where they are?” She shakes her head no and I try not to groan. I’m about to put Joseph back in his stroller so I can get up when I see a man, very tall, very well built, with red hair and lots of freckles, jogging towards us and he has a worried and relieved look on his face. I know the feeling. That’s the look of a parent who lost track of their kid and they just found them.


“Kayla,” he calls out and she turns around. She yells out ‘daddy!’ and runs up to him. He picks her up and holds her close to him. She wraps her arms around his neck, and her legs around his stomach. He gives her a little kiss on the side of her head and I can’t help but smile at the little reunion. “Don’t you ever run off like that again. You almost gave Daddy a heart attack.” Again, I know the feeling. When Matthew was three he wondered off while me and Faith were shopping at the mall. He was missing for half an hour before we found him hiding behind a rack of clothes. Then the man looks over at me and he smiles. “Thank you so much for keeping an eye on her. Why don’t you join us for lunch? We have more food then we can possibly eat, and I insist. This town may be small, but it still has it’s fair share of weirdos, and anybody could have found her.” That is true, and I am getting a little hungry.


“Well, if you insist,” I tell him with a small smile. I put Joseph back in his stroller, and trust me he isn’t too happy about that. I pick up the blanket and shake it out a little bit to get all the grass off of it. Then I fold it up and put it in the little storage pocket on the back of the stroller. “I’m Buffy Lehane.” I hold out my hand for him to shake. He smiles a little bit and gets a little twinkle in his eyes. It’s an all too familiar look. That’s the ‘oh my God, who would actually name their kid that?’ My mother, thank you very much. There is nothing wrong with the name Buffy. Anyway, he shakes my hand and introduces himself.


“Richard Cook. And this little runaway is Kayla.” I look at her and tell her hi, but she doesn’t say anything back. She just hides her face in her daddy’s shoulder. “She’s really shy.” Yep, that little kid is exactly what I picture Willow was like when she was a child. I wonder if there are any Xander look-a-likes here too? He leads the way over to a picnic table. There’s a very large lunch spread out across the table. Sitting at the table are four more kids. The oldest looks like he’s in his early teens, and the youngest is little Kayla. Richard goes ahead and introduces everybody. “The oldest is Mike, he’s fourteen.” Ha, I was right. “Then there’s Brian, he’s ten.” The little boy with the very messy hair waves a little at me and I wave back. “That’s Danny, he’s eight.” This little boy blushes and looks away and it makes me smile, even though I try not to. “That’s Angela.” The only other girl at the table waves and smiles and I do the same. They all seem pretty friendly, except for Danny and Kayla. “Everyone this is Buffy, she found the little escape artist.” He puts Kayla down next to her sister.


“Actually she sort of found me.” Richard sits down on one of the benches and tells me to go ahead and take a seat. So I sit down to him since it’s the only available spot. The two girls and the younger boys are sitting one side of the table, while Richard, Mike and me are on the other. I have to say it’s a little intimidating being watched by so many people. Angela hands me one of the paper plates and I help myself, but without looking like a total pig. They must’ve spent a very pretty penny at the KFC they went to. There’s three buckets of chicken, ten containers of mashed potatoes and gravy, five containers of coleslaw, twenty biscuits, three containers of macaroni and cheese, and two boxes of the twenty piece bar-ba-que wings. They’re just lucky it was me that was here today and not Faith. So I make up my plate with a little bit of everything and then sit Joseph down on my lap and we eat our meal, and I enjoy the conversation that’s going on. That is until one of them decides to talk to me.


“Why is your name Buffy?” the oldest one asks. He doesn’t look too happy that I’m here. I glance over at him and while my eyes are in that direction I notice that Richard isn’t wearing a wedding ring, and there was no mention of a girlfriend. Uh-oh. I think I walked into something horrible. Maybe there was a little more motive behind the lunch invite then just a thank-you for finding his daughter. And I think the kids know that this is sort of a set up and they’re not about to let it happen without a fight. Well, at least I think the oldest one is aware, I’m not too sure about the younger ones since they haven’t been glaring at me ever since I sat down.


“Well, my mother liked that name when she had me, so she named me it.” He takes a bite from his drumstick and then answer around a mouth full of food. Either this kid wasn’t taught any manners or he’s being rude on purpose. And from the way the rest of the kids are acting I’m going to go with the latter.


“We used to have a dog named Buffy, are you sure your mom didn’t want a dog instead?” Ouch. That was just plain mean. I’m about to say something but Richard jumps in like any good parent would because that was just rude. And it wasn’t like he said it in a nice tone either. His voice was fully of attitude, and chicken parts. A little kid saying something like that wouldn’t have been as bad because they’re just little and they don’t know any better. But this kid is fourteen, he should know by now not to say stuff like that.


“Mike, you don’t talk to people like. You apologize right now.” He sighs and swallows the food that was in his mouth and then puts the piece of chicken down. He doesn’t look happy at all, and I’m thinking that maybe I should just leave.


“I’m sorry,” he says and takes a drink from his soda. I try to tell him that the apology is accepted, even though I don’t really mean it, when one of the other kids speaks up. The older girl, ummm, Angela? Yeah, her name is Angela.


“How come your baby has brown hair when you have yellow hair?” Well, I guess that is a valid question. Although my hair isn’t naturally yellow, it’s brown. I’m about to explain that to her and just leave out the part about Faith because I really don’t feel like opening that can of worms, but then the youngest boy...Danny? Decides it’s his turn to ask a question.


“And how come his eyes are brown? And how come he doesn’t have all his teeth? And how come he can’t talk?” Wow, these kids really want to know a lot about my baby boy. He seems to be the star of this show now. As long as he doesn’t look up and see everyone staring at him he should be fine. Little Danny and Kayla aren’t the only ones who are shy. But I think he won’t start crying as long as I’m holding him. I take a little sip of my soda and put the can out of reach of the miniature disposal that’s eating up all of my food, and I try to remember all of the questions that they asked me.


“Well, he has brown hair and brown eyes because his,” I don’t want to say father but that’s sort of what Faith is. Technically speaking she is the father, because at the time of conception she had a penis, and it was her sperm that fertilized my egg. Ok, so we’ll go with father for now. “Faith has brown hair, and brown eyes. He doesn’t have all of his teeth because they’re still growing.” He still needs three more. Two top ones and one on the bottom. It’s kind of funny because he has the rest so it kinda looks like he was punched in the face and his teeth got knocked out. Well, it sounded funny when Faith said it. “And he can’t talk yet because he’s a baby and he doesn’t know how.” Danny lets out a little ‘oh’ and goes back to eating. And then the middle boy, I can’t remember his name for the life of me, speaks up.


“Are you gonna be my dad’s girlfriend now?” he asks and I try so hard not to choke on the bite of coleslaw that’s in my mouth. I finish chewing and swallow it with a little bit of trouble, and then I take in a deep breath to calm myself down. I look over at Richard and he looks totally embarrassed. He’s about to say something but I’ll go ahead and cut in on this one.


“No, I’m not. I’m already married.” I hold up my hand but then I remember that my ring isn’t there. “Right, my ring is being cleaned right now, but normally it’s here. On my finger. Where is should be.” All of the kids, except for Mike, nod their heads and keep eating their lunch. Things are a little awkward now, but then Joseph squeals and starts laughing out of nowhere and it breaks the tension. I smile and look down at him. I laugh a little bit when I see that he has mashed potatoes and gravy all over his face. I clean him off with my napkin and he isn’t too happy about having to sit still. “So, uh...” What’s his name, what’s his name? “Brian.” Thank God I remembered. “You’re ten right?” He nods his head yes. “Do you know a kid named Matt Lehane?” At school he goes by Matt. He says that Mattie is too girly, and Matthew is just too long.


“Yeah. He’s on the basketball team. A lot of kids don’t like him because he’s really good.” Since when is being really good a bad thing? Oh, I think he means that they’re jealous. I might have to have a little talk with Matthew when I get home, see if anyone has been giving him any trouble. “Why?” I guess that’s a good question. I mean, if someone just randomly asked if I knew somebody I’d want to know why too.


“That’s my son. I was just wondering if you knew him.” This kids gets a look of...astonishment on his face and he stop mid-bite. His eyes are big and his mouth his hanging open a little. Ok, what’s so shocking about that? I help Joseph eat a piece of biscuit while I wait for this kid to come out of the shocked silence and talk.


“You’re Matt’s mom?” he asks and he sounds just as shocked as he looks. I nod my head and I’m almost afraid to ask what the big deal is. So his dad asks him for me, and by the look in this kid’s eyes I’m probably going to regret bringing it up in the first place. I just had to ask so I’ll have no one to blame but myself. “Matt has two moms, and they’re lesbians.” Yep, I just knew one way or another that was going to be brought into the conversation. By a ten-year-old kid was definitely not the way I pictured it, but it was still brought up. There are mixed reactions around the table. Mike starts laughing his ass off, Brian has a big smile on his face, Danny looks a little confused but is laughing because his brother is, and both little girls have no idea what’s going on. Richard looks a little shocked but a little amused at the same time.


“Oh man, Dad, you really know how to pick ‘em,” Mike says around his laughter. He gives his dad a big pat on the back and keeps laughing. He stops just enough to say something else. “First a klepto, now a lezzie. What’s next, a stripper?” He starts laughing harder, and Richard tells him to behave himself but he doesn’t listen. Joseph starts laughing just because all the other kids are laughing now. I have to say it is kind of funny. I totally wasn’t expecting that reaction from them at all. I glance down at my watch and I should have been at the jewelry cleaners five minutes ago.


“I’m sorry to cut this short, but I really need to get going. I have to pick my rings up and I have some shopping I need to get done. I was really nice meeting everyone.” I put Joseph in his stroller and then wipe off my face and hands with a clean napkin and then clean off the little mess that is my baby boy. I tell them goodbye one last time and they all say bye and wave. Mike starts laughing again only this time not as hard. Richard gives him a little smack on the back of the head, but that doesn’t stop him from laughing. I walk away with a smile on my face but a little sympathy as well. If Richard really is trying to find a girlfriend then I feel sorry for him because trying to date as a single parent is tough. But dating as a single parent with five kids and one of them is a teenager who doesn’t want his dad dating in the first place? Sounds impossible. I’m just glad Faith and I are never going to get divorced.


FPOV


So it’s been two nights since Addy’s last nightmare and it’s good for all of us to finally get some sleep. She was getting dark circles under her eyes and that’s not right for a kid to have that shit. And I will admit that it’s been nice to get some sleep. I don’t know how long it’s gonna last, hopefully a long time. I don’t want my baby girl to go through this shit anymore. I don’t want her to lose sleep ‘cause she’s having nightmares about horrible murders. And I don’t want to be woken up at one in the morning ‘cause she had a horrible nightmare. I know I’m her mom, and I’m supposed to be all comforting or whatever, but moms need sleep too, ya know. Anyway, enough about that shit. I just left my dad’s place. I hung out with him for a couple hours, and now that Brittany’s back in school it was actually enjoyable.


We didn’t do much. Sat around, watched a game, had a couple beers, but that’s just what we do. Talked a little bit but we avoided the touchy subjects. Ok, the one touchy subject. And do I really have to say it? Fine, so we didn’t talk about Brittany. Instead we talked about Joey’s birthday that’s comin up in about a month, and we talked about my birthday that’s comin up in a couple weeks, and then we talked about the kids’ training. The whole reason Giles is paying my dad enough for this apartment and everything he needs to make his life comfortable is so that he’ll track the kids’ progress. I know Mattie has been holdin back, that became wicked obvious after he took down that demon. So now we have to come up with some ways to train Mattie that won’t kill anybody. He’s a lot stronger then me, that’s for sure, so training him could get dangerous if we’re not careful.


I don’t wanna think about that shit right now. Right now I’m going to relax and let Bobby D work his magic. And no we’re not doing anything sexual. I’d never cheat on B, ever. I look down at what the very large guy is doing and I can’t help but smile as I watch. Buffy’s gonna freak when she sees this. But in a good way, definitely not the kind when I end up sleepin on the couch for a week. This is taking a lot longer then I wanted it to, but there’s not much I can do about that. See, Bobby D is a tattoo artist and he owns this shop that I’m in. I came in a few days ago with a picture of what I wanted. But the picture has a lot of detail and he closes the shop up at eleven. My nightly business class lets out at ten thirty, and I can only convince this guy to stay open half an hour longer. And by convince I mean pay him a hundred bucks extra. It seems like a lot, but he’s the best Vegas has to offer.


But like I said before, this picture has a lot of details so I have to come back after my business class and he’s getting it done little by little. And because of this I can’t have sex with Buffy. I don’t want her to see it until it’s done so I’ve been hiding my stomach from her. Trust me it’s a lot harder then it sounds. Especially when she wants to fool around. So I’ve been faking tiredness and telling her that I’m still getting used to being back at school again since Christmas break is over and she’s bought it so far. Luckily I only have two more nights of this shit and then I won’t have to lie to her. But I know she’s going to love it. And you’re probably wondering what I’m getting done? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s the picture I took of Buffy when she was in the hospital when she had Mattie. She’s holding him, and they’re looking into each other’s eyes, and she looks so happy. I know she’s gonna love it.


I’m already thinking of the other tattoos I’m going to get in the very near future. One of Buffy in her wedding dress, and looking like the happiest person in the world. I’m not sure which pictures of the kids I’m going to get done, but I know I want one of each. And I’m going to get their names done. I’m not too sure how yet, but I know I’m going to. I don’t know why I waited so long to get this done. I guess I always thought it was a little too good to be true. That one day Buffy would finally get sick of me and we’d split up and that would be the end of my happy family. So now me and B can never split up ‘cause I don’t want this tattoo to be a huge regret. And if we break up then that’s all it would be. Kinda hard to start a new relationship with someone when your ex’s face is painted on your skin.


“Alright, that’s it for tonight,” Bobby says and turns off the needle. He wipes up the little bit of blood with a tissue, and then puts a bandage over it. I stand up and button and zip my pants back up. I’m getting the tat next to my right left hip, and it goes a little below the beltline. I pay him his money, two hundred bucks. He charges a hundred bucks and hour, plus the hundred I’m bribing him with to stay open a little later. Like I said before, it’s expensive but it’s damn worth it. I’d rather spend a lot of money on a guy who knows his shit, then save some cash and have some novice fuck it up. After I leave the shop, I hop in my car, blast the stereo and head for home. It’s a half hour drive from Vegas to my house, and B’s probably going to be pissed that I’m getting home so late. She probably thinks I’m having an affair or something. Well, won’t she feel dumb when I show her that I was just getting a tattoo done?


I feel my slayer healing taking care of the little bit of pain that’s on my stomach. I can’t help but smile a little bit. I’m probably not going to be able to stop thinking about it until it’s done and I’ve shown Buffy. I definitely be trying not to smile whenever I look at her. Not only because of the tattoo but because I bought her birthday present today. I got her diamond earrings and a gold watch. What can I say? She loves the bling. I think this woman has more diamonds then a movie star. She doesn’t wear ‘em too often, but when she does she’ll wear a whole set. Ya know earrings, necklace and bracelet. And these earrings are by far the biggest ones I’ve gotten her. I think for her next birthday I’m going to buy her a new car. She’s a little bummed that can’t afford one anymore because we went a little overboard on Christmas presents for each other and the kids.


I turn down the radio when I pull onto my street. Don’t wanna wake up the kids or piss off any of the neighbors. I pull into the driveway and shut off the car. The only lights on in the entire house is the faint glow from the floor lamp in the living room. Everyone else has gone to bed. The light being on is a good sign. It means that Buffy’s not mad at me. If she was pissed off for me being out and about so late then she would have turned all the lights off. Even with that light on I’m a little hesitant to go inside. She isn’t going to be happy with me, and I hate it when she’s mad. She’ll try to act like everything is ok, but on the inside she’ll be pissed because I didn’t come home when I said I would, and I didn’t call to tell her I’d be late. So the light being left on could be a trick to make me think that everything’s ok.


Oh my God, just go inside. Why am I being so paranoid? Now I remember, it’s because I’ve been with Buffy for thirteen years now and I know a setup when I see one. Alright, I’m not saying it’s a setup for sure, but I should go in prepared just in case it is. I take the keys out of the ignition, grab my purse and get out of the car. It’s pretty nice out here tonight. Not too cold, just enough to let me know that it’s still January. For a lot of people it’s the one thing that they love about living in Nevada, that the weather is pretty much the same all year around. I miss the big weather changes that happen in Northern California and in Boston. You can tell what month it is just by looking outside. Here if you don’t know you have to look it up on a calendar. I hate that. I miss the rainy winters, and the snowy Christmases. Anyway, I unlock the front door and I was wrong about what I said earlier. Someone is still up and waiting for me by the door.


“Hey, Tucker,” I say in a light tone and pet him on the head. I put my keys in my purse and toss that onto the end table next to the door. My dog does not look too happy, and I can’t help but smile a little bit. “Aw, what’s the matter? Did Buffy kick you outta the bedroom?” It’s perfectly ok to baby-talk to an animal when no one else is in the room. He groans a little bit and I try not to roll my eyes. All those years ago Buffy refused to let him sleep on our bed anymore because he was so jealous of her. But now that he’s getting older she’s starting to have more sympathy for him, and he’s been sleeping in our bed a lot more. She still makes him sleep in the living room whenever we have sex, but we haven’t been having that a lot lately. And not just because of the tattoo, but because we’ve been so tired from trying to figure out what’s happening to Addy.


I kick my boots off and push ‘em up against the back of the couch. I go into the kitchen and grab a beer outta the fridge. Then I go into the living room and sit down on the couch. I twist off the cap and toss it onto the coffee table and take a long, slow sip. This feels good after the day I’ve had. Hanging out with my dad was relaxing, but then I had to come back and study for an exam we had tonight in my business class. Those things are getting harder and harder. The professor told us that it’s going to get a lot harder from here. The work is going to be more extensive, and a lot more difficult. That totally fuckin sucks ‘cause I have trouble getting the work done now. We’ll have a couple of small quizzes, then another exam in March. The exams aren’t too hard. Ten multiple choice questions, ten fill in the blanket, five word definitions, and then an essay question.


In April the biggest thing we have to worry about is the mock-business project. Each person is told a certain amount of money and we have to come up with an idea for a new business and describe everything. From what the business does, the size of the building we’d use, the type of advertising we’d do, shit like that, but we can’t go over the limit. I figured I’d go ahead and write up what I plan to do after I get my business license. I wanna open up my own motorcycle shop. We won’t sell ‘em or anything. Nope, it’ll be a repair and customizing place. I might buy an old, beat up, piece of shit bike every once in a while then fix it up and then sell it for a little extra cash, but that’s not going to be our main source of income. My dad’s gonna go into business with me, and Giles said he’d help out with the money but I don’t think he’s going to need to. I plan on starting out very small and then going bigger over time. People who try to go big too quick usually go bankrupt.


“No gonna happen to me,” I say to Tucker and gently pat his head. He rests his chin on my knee and scoots a little closer to me. I take another sip of beer and gently pat the empty cushion next to me. He understands what I’m doing, and he instantly jumps up on the couch. Or at least he would but his arthritis is getting to bad that he’s having some trouble with it. I put my beer down and help him up. He lays down, and curls up a little bit, and rests his head on my lap. He’s eight years old now, that’s pretty old for a dog I guess. It’s not like I would know. He’s still in pretty good health for an old timer. The only real problem he has is with his hips and legs. Other then that he’s perfectly fine. I know that he only has a couple more good years left before his health starts to go. I already promised myself when he first got the arthritis that I’d have him put down before he gets really bad. He’s a great dog and he doesn’t deserve to suffer.


“Let’s stop with the depressing thoughts for a while,” I tell him and gently stroke his long fur. I smile a little bit when I feel the spots that have thinned out a little bit. Tucker is too big for Ruby to take down when they play but that doesn’t stop her from trying. She’ll grab onto a fat chunk of his fur and then pull with all her might, and a little bit will come out and she runs around with the evidence hanging from her mouth. I’m starting to think that puppy is a Godsend. Addy maybe a little kid but she doesn’t just forget those dreams when she’s awake. The only thing that can keep her distracted from them, and eventually forget is playing with Ruby. She’s given us some problems, chewed up a couple shoes, and destroyed B’s garden, but other then that she’s perfect. She’s already housetrained, she isn’t aggressive and she doesn’t chew on the furniture. “That little girl still giving you shit?” He groans again and I chuckle a little and take another really long swig of beer.


After I finish unwinding I toss the empty bottle in the trash and turn out the light and head for bed. I slowly walk in so I won’t wake anybody up but Buffy is still awake. I can tell because of her breathing. She tensed up when I opened the door so she’s awake, she’s just playing possum. I go into the bathroom and brush my teeth like I do every night. Then I go back into my bedroom and B tenses up again. I take off my clothes and slip on a baggy t-shirt. I don’t bother with the boxers ‘cause we got the air vents for this room fixed so the heater finally works in here, and it’s a little warmer then I’m used to. I crawl under the covers, and Buffy tenses up a little more as I scoot closer to her. I pretend not to notice and wrap an arm around her. I give her a little kiss on her shoulder and whisper goodnight before I close my eyes. She’s still tense so I know going to sleep isn’t going to be that easy.


“You’ve been gone a long time,” she says in an emotionless voice. I nod a little bit and snuggle in a little more to her. “You should’ve been home almost an hour ago.” Again I nod and I give her another little kiss on the shoulder. She sighs in frustration so I stop with the kisses. I really don’t feel like having my lips ripped off tonight. “I was worried about you.” Ok, that one was a little weird. I ask her why and she raises her voice a little bit, and she sounds wicked irritated. “Because you’ve been late getting home for the last couple of nights. You’re my wife, I’m going to worry when you do stuff like that.” Her voice cracks just a tiny bit with some emotion and I tighten my grip around her. When is she going to learn that I’d never cheat on her? She puts herself through all this stress for nothing. But I understand where she’s comin from. I’d be worried if she was late getting home at night too.


“Look, B, I can’t tell you where I was. It’s a surprise, but it’s nothing bad, baby, I swear. You’re gonna love it, but it’s taking a lot longer then I thought. So I’m gonna be late the next couple of nights too. I’m sorry that I worried you, I didn’t mean to.” She rolls over so she’s facing me and she looks into my eyes. I guess she’s making sure that I’m not lying or anything. When she’s looked enough and decides that I am telling the truth she kisses me. She must be really turned on because it gets deep very fast. She starts to gently grind against me and her hand is making its way from my shoulder down to my thigh. She rubs my thigh for a few minutes while we continue to kiss. She goes from the hem of my shirt, down to my knee, and back up again. God I’ve missed the feel of her soft hands.


I reach down and lift up her pajama shirt a little and rub the soft skin of her abdomen. Her skin feels really soft tonight, softer then usual. It sends up a couple red flags but I ignore it. I slide my hand down her pajama bottoms and even more red flags go off in my mind. The things I immediately notice are: she’s not wearing any underwear, and she’s completely shaven. The thing that takes two seconds to register after the first two is the fact that her pussy is dripping wet. She planned this out tonight. She was pissed at me for not being home on time because she wanted us to be together. Knowing her she probably had something romantic planned, and I ruined it. And the worst thing of all is I’m going to have to put a stop to this if I want my tattoo to be a surprise when it’s finished. So I pull back from the kiss as she slips her hand under my shirt and lightly rubs the skin she finds.


“Baby, we have to stop.” She completely freezes. She isn’t even breathing anymore. After a few seconds she takes in a deep breath and asks why. “We don’t have to stop completely, but it’s just…I have this whole surprise planned out and it’ll ruin it if you see me, or feel a certain part of me.” I kiss her before she can say anything and I reach down and grab onto her wrist. I roll her over onto her back and kiss my way from her mouth to her neck. I pin both her wrists above her head. I kiss my way down to her collarbone and I stay there for a while. I slowly lick and nip my way from one side to the other and back again. I leave a few small hickies on both bones and then work my way down towards her breasts. But I’m stopped by her pajama shirt. So I go back up to her ear and slowly suck on the lobe for a few seconds, then blow some hot air on the moisture, and she shivers.


“I’m gonna take your shirt off,” I whisper to her, by lips brush against the shell of her ear, and my voice is nice and husky. “Don’t move your hands, alright?” She nods her head and tries to say ‘ok’ but I think she’s too turned on to talk at this point. I make my way under the covers until I’m down by her waistline. I unbutton the first little white button and just look at the skin that’s exposed. Her breathing is harder with the anticipation of what I might do, and even this part of her stomach is caught in the up and down rhythm. I leave a soft little whisper of a kiss on the warm skin, and she shivers. I hear her let out a low moan, and the heat from her pussy is burning against my stomach. I can feel her legs quivering but I’m going to be slow about this. I ruined whatever she had planned so now I’m going to make it up to her.


I unbutton the second little white button on her shirt and kiss the little bit of skin that was under it. I know I said I wanted to go slow, but I don’t think I can hold out much longer. It’s been a long time for me too, not just her. I miss tasting her the most. I swear before we had kids and Dawnie would spend the night at a friend’s house on the weekend I would spend hours just tasting Buffy. I’d bring her to her first orgasm pretty quick, but then drew out the others. That’s what I’m gonna do tonight. I get her shirt taken off and spend a couple minutes suckin on her breasts. I leave a hickie on the right one just for the hell of it. I go back under the covers and take off her pajama pants. I drop them to the floor, and then focus all my attention on Buffy’s bare, glistening pussy. My mouth waters up and I slowly make my next move.


I use the tip of my tongue to spread her lips apart. She moans and tries to press herself against me, but I pull back a little. I hold onto her hips so she can’t move and she lets out a small groan in frustration. I wiggle the tip of my tongue at her entrance, and she moans and her hips try to buck, but I stop them. I slowly lick up my way up to her throbbing clit, and I tickle it a little with my tongue, and she’s moaning consistently now. It won’ take long for her to go over the edge and I can tell she’s already there. She just needs a little push. She wraps her legs around me and tries to push me against her, but I don’t let her. We’re going to do this at my pace, not hers. I wrap my lips around her clit and start to slowly suck on it. I can practically feel her whole body tensing up as her hips try even harder to thrust against my mouth.


I start sucking a little harder, and scrape my teeth against her clit. Her whole body tenses up and she stop moving for about half a second and the flood gates open. She’s withering, and shaking, and moaning, and groaning, and come is getting all over the sheets. I let go of her clit and start lapping at her entrance like a cat with a bowl of milk. God, she tastes so fuckin good. I don’t wait for her to come down from her high before I stick my tongue inside of her. Ya know how when people speak Spanish they roll their R’s? Well I do that inside of her. She goes nuts. She comes against almost instantly, and my mouth fills with her honey, and she’s calling out my name, but trying to be quiet and I gotta admit it’s not working out. And I’m under the covers with her thighs clamped around my head, so she must be screaming if she sounds loud to me.


I guess I’m not going to get to go through with my plans. One of the key factors in my little description of it earlier was ‘before we had kids’. Well, we have kids now, and Buffy screaming out my name in a fit of passion (yeah, I totally got that out of a romance novel) has woken up a very pissed off eleven-month-old. Hopefully what we did will tide her over for the next couple days because I really do want this tattoo to be a surprise, and she knows how to get me so horny that I forget about anything else. Hopefully she won’t do that. She only does that when she’s desperate. I think me going down on her for an hour and a half was long enough so she won’t become desperate. I leave a little kiss on her bald mound before I climb out from under the covers. I go into the bathroom and rinse my mouth out. I think about brushing my teeth again but decide against it.


Then I got back into the bedroom, and pick up my very angry boy. I give him a couple kisses on his forehead, and walk over to the bed. Buffy’s putting on one of my baggy t-shirts. I guess she’s still feeling too hot for her pajamas. I lay down on my side of the bed and put our boy in the middle. He’s still screaming his head off and he feels pretty warm. I try so hard not to roll my eyes and get irritated. He isn’t used to the room being this warm because of the heater, and Buffy put him in his sweats ‘cause I guess she thought it was going to be really cold tonight. So I strip him down to his diaper and cover him up. As soon as he spots Buffy he crawls over to her. He snuggles up to her, and his head is right under her chin. But having the baby against her like that isn’t stopping her from enjoying her afterglow. She’s smiling like an idiot, and she’s much more relaxed then she was when I first got here. I lean over and give her a little kiss on the lips before I put my head down on my pillow and drift off to sleep.


BPOV


I wake up to the smell of bacon and the sound of the kids laughing. I glance over at the clock and see that it’s already seven in the morning. I should have been up by now. I guess having two mild blowing orgasms will make a person oversleep. I sit up and stretch my arms high above my head. I feel the bones in my spine pop back into place and it feels a lot better now. I feel so much more relaxed and refreshed after last night. It’s been a while since me and Faith have had sex, mostly because we couldn’t because Addison kept having those nightmares, but now I know Faith is hiding something. I don’t know what, and I have my suspicions, but she is hiding something. She told me it’s a good thing and I’m going to love it so I’m going to trust her on this one, because she wouldn’t risk having to sleep on the couch unless she was right.


I get up and go into the bathroom. I avoid looking at the mirror and go straight to the toilet. When I’m done doing my business I wash my hands and then look up at the horrible mess that is my face. I splash some cool water on it and that helps a little. I comb out my hair since it looks like I was fucked a lot rougher then I really was. I shouldn’t say that. I was fucked last night, I was loved. It doesn’t matter how stupid that sounds, but that’s what I was. It was gentle and slow, and for a while I thought I was going insane because she kept me on edge for what felt like forever. Anyway, after I wash my face I gurgle a little bit of mouthwash to get rid of the morning breath. I don’t bother brushing my teeth because I’m about to go eat breakfast so what’s the point? It would be better to brush them afterwards.


When I walk back into my bedroom I slip on some panties and head out to the kitchen. The closer I get to it the louder the noise gets and I can’t help but smile. When I walk into the kitchen I see Faith standing at the stove making some eggs, and the kids are at the table with their plates full of pancakes, sausage, bacon, toast, hash browns, and an English muffin. Joseph has a pancake that Faith or one of the kids tore into little pieces so he can eat it without choking. He’s almost eleven months old now and his personality is really starting to show. He interacts with his big brother and sister way more, and they love it. Matthew’s sitting in the chair next to the highchair and he’s encouraging my little baby boy to blow raspberries, and Addison is watching them and laughing hysterically. I try not to roll my eyes as I walk over and give Matthew a kiss on the top of his head.


“Hey, how’s my champ feeling this morning?” He has a basketball game today against a team from Las Vegas. Apparently Matthew’s school has never beaten this team, but the coach thinks they are because my boy is the star player. I know that’s not saying much because he’s only in fifth grade, but I’m still really proud of him. He tells me he’s feeling fine and he starts eating his breakfast. “And how’s Mr. Grouch doing today?” I ask Joseph and he starts laughing at the voice I just used. I lean down and try to give him a kiss on the lips, but he does this thing now that whenever you try to give him a kiss he opens his mouth as wide as he can and sticks out his tongue. So instead of kissing his little pink lips, I get licked by his slobbery pink tongue. I pull back and smile at him. He smiles right back and he looks absolutely adorable.


“Well, thank you for that. It was very kind of you.” He picks up a piece of pancake and shoves it in his mouth and then starts banging his hands on the plastic tray. I sit down next to Addison and give her a kiss on the cheek. “And how’s my princess? Did you have any bad dreams?” She shakes her head no while she chews the very large bite of toast. “That’s great, sweetheart.” I try not to say anything like ‘maybe they’re gone for good’ because I don’t want to get her hopes up. I glance over at Faith and just watch her make the last of the breakfast. The burner for the eggs is turned off so now she’s letting them cool. I stand up and get a plate out of the cupboard and walk over to the stove. The meats and hash browns are still in their skillets, the toast is on a plate but it’s on the counter, and I guess I’ll be making my own English muffin.


“Alright, who wants eggs?” she asks in a very cheerful voice and all three of my kids raise their hands. I know Joseph is only doing it because the other two are but it’s still hilarious to see. She picks up the skillet and walks over to the table and serves them the food. “Now be careful they’re still a little hot.” She puts a large scoop of them down on Joseph’s tray so I know they aren’t very hot. He practically attacks them but then slows down when he realizes that he has to chew them up. “Are you gonna be able to make it to Mattie’s game?” Why would she ask me that of course I’ll be….oh fuck! I look over at my oldest son who’s looking at me with some anticipation and eagerness. I guess he’s really looking forward to it. We haven’t missed any of his games, but most of his games are on Thursdays, and I don’t have class on Thursdays.


“No, I can’t make it.” He face drops a little bit, but he tries to hide the disappointment. We all caught the glimpse though. “I’m so sorry, Matthew, but I have class. And I can’t miss it today because we have a big test we have to take.” I sit down at the table and wait until he makes eye contact with me. “I promise I’ll make it up to you.” He just nods his head and tries to act like it’s no big deal. I feel like shit for having to miss this. It’s one of the biggest games of the year. If they win this then they go to the finals, and if they win those four games then they go to the championship, and if they win that then everyone gets a trophy, win or lose. But I mostly feel like shit because in a couple years he’s going to be in high school and he won’t want us to come to the games because he’ll be too busy trying to impress a girl or something.


“How about I have Mama record it, and when I get home we can watch it together?” He brightens up a little bit at that idea, but not by much. We hear the school bus honk outside and he gets up and goes to his room to get his backpack. He finished off most of his food, but he pretty much stopped eating after I disappointed him. I have no idea how I’m going to make it up to him, but I’m going to. He walks out of his bedroom, and starts to head for the front door, but I stop him. “Hey, you’re not leaving the house like that.” He stops, rolls his eyes, and comes back into the kitchen. He gives me a kiss on the cheek, and then gives one to Faith. “That’s better. Have a good day a school.” We have one, maybe two more years of him willingly giving us kisses, so we’re going to take all the kisses we can get. “What are you gonna be up to today?” Faith finishes chewing and then swallowing before she answers.


“Might do a little grocery shopping. Ruby’s vet appointment is today and I don’t know how long that’s gonna take.” It turns out that Faith only told me she’d be getting the puppy spayed this week so I would calm down and not freak out. But the vet said that their office won’t spay a puppy under the age of five months. So we have to wait awhile. “I don’t have class tonight so I’m gonna take it easy. I wanna be at the school a little early so I can get a good seat since you want me to record the game for you.” I feel a little pang of guilt at that. I can’t believe I have to miss his game all because of this stupid business class. Then again life isn’t fair and I think we need to start teaching our kids that a little more. I think they’re getting spoiled. The last thing I want to have to deal with is a spoiled teenager who throws a fit whenever they don’t get their way. Ok, so I don’t think they’re gonna be that bad. At least I hope not.


“Are you still gonna be late?” I ask, and I try to sound pleasant about it, but I can’t help but have a little irritation in my voice. All she had to do was call and say that she was going to be late. I had something big planned. We were finally going to use that spell. We were rested because Addison hasn’t been having any nightmares and the kids went to bed without any problems, and I wanted to be with her, and I wanted to try something new. I was so pissed because I’m going through all this trouble to try and please her and she can’t even meet me halfway. But she says she has a surprise that I’m really going to love, so I’ll just suck it up and stay off her back about it.


“Not as late as last night, but yeah I might be a little late.” She finishes her breakfast then rises off her plate and puts it in the dishwasher. She looks over at the clock on the stove and then down at her watch for whatever reason. “Alright, Addy, time to go to school.” Unlike Matthew, Addison still loves giving us kisses and hugs. Ok, so she doesn’t and she never really has. She’s never been very affectionate with us because her world revolves around her older brother. I swear, it’s like she looks at him and she sees God. Anyway, she gives me a hug and a kiss, and I hug her, and kiss her back, and tell her I love her. Then she runs out the door like she doesn’t have a care in the world. And that’s how it’s supposed to be. “See you in a little bit.” Faith gives me a little peck on the lips and leaves to take our baby to daycare. I take another bite from my bacon and look over at the little boy in the highchair.


“Well, little man, what are we going to do while everyone else is gone?” I ask him and he just smiles at me. Then he starts blowing raspberries again and I roll my eyes. Now that Matthew taught him that new trick that’s all he’s going to do. He better not do that when I feed him his baby food or things will get very messy and gross. I try to avoid buying all things green, but Faith thinks they’re just so funny. Well she isn’t going to think it’s funny when she has split pee all over her when she feeds him. “I would suggest going to the park but I don’t know if those people are going to be there or not. Probably not since I’ve never seen them there before. But we can always go for a little walk.” He gets excited when I say that. I’ve always loved taking walks with my kids. I don’t know, there’s just something nice about walking down the street, pushing a stroller and showing your baby the big world outside the walls of the house.


When I finish eating I rinse off my dish and put it in the dishwasher. Then I clean up the big mess tha Joseph made on his tray. Then I wipe off his face and hands, and give him a couple of toys to play with while I’m in the shower. I said earlier that I feel more relaxed after last night, well I also feel a little icky because dried sweat on my skin is not something that I enjoy. I use my lavender shampoo and conditioner instead of the vanilla, which is what I usually use. I don’t know why, I’m just in a lavender sort of mood this morning. I guess because everything is calm again. Addison isn’t having nightmares, there are no big bads causing trouble, everyone is happy, and healthy, and it feels good. It feels good to just relax and not have to worry about anything. I’m trying to be more like Faith today and just live in the moment instead of worrying about the future.


When I get out of the shower I blow dry my hair and go into my room to get dressed. Since this is a day for relaxation I’m going to dress very casual. Very simple under-stuff. Cotton, white, a few months old. This bra and panties are for comfort, not looks. Then I slip on my light blue jeans, fitting but not too tight, the knees are starting to wear down a little, and they’re very faded. Again the point here is comfort. The only thing that’s going to be for looks is the jewelry, but I haven’t decided what I’m going to wear yet. I put on my light green shirt with the picture of the cartoon panda, sitting in a bamboo tree and looking adorable. I slip on my light blue flip flops, and put my hair up in a loose ponytail. I keep my makeup light, mostly some cover up, a little bit of eyeshadow, nothing fancy. But then I put on the diamond bracelet that Faith got me for our anniversary. I feel like showing off a little bit.


“Ok, chunky boy, lets get you dressed so we can go out,” I say as I walk into the kitchen. He starts smiling the second he hears my voice, and then he starts laughing because he just threw one of his toys at me. Damn, that kid has a good arm. I guess it’s safe to say he’s a slayer too. We won’t know for sure until he’s older and we can test him but I don’t know of any other babies who can throw a toy that far across a room. I hear a high pitched yelp come from the backyard and I look out the window. Ruby just pulled out another chunk of fur from Tucker. That poor dog. I don’t think it’s very fair for him that he has to put up with that little brat. And he’s getting older now so it’s not like he can out run her or anything. I open up the backdoor and let him in and use my foot as a block for the little hellhound. I might as well take Tucker with us, give him a break from the little beast that’s making his life a little harder.


I take Joseph into my bedroom and sit him down on the bed. Tucker tries to jump up there with him but since he can’t jump to well these days he just stands there with his front paws holding him up so he can lick my little boy’s face clean. I guess he still smells like pancake and formula. But he doesn’t care that the dog is licking him. Nope, just the opposite. He loves it. He’s laughing and squealing and grabbing onto the fur on Tucker’s neck so he can’t pull away. It’s kind of gross, but I’m being relaxed today so I don’t really care either. I’ll wipe his face off with a baby wipe after I put him in the stroller. Anyway, after I change his diaper I put him in some dark blue jean shorts, his little pleather sandals, and a red shirt that has a picture of a building on fire, and firefighters trying to put out the blaze and underneath it in big bold letters are the words ‘hot stuff’. Faith bought it for him, and I thought it was a little much at the time, but now I think it’s adorable.


When Joseph is strapped in the umbrella stroller, and Tucker has his leash on I leave a note for Faith telling her that I took the boys for a walk and I’ll be back in a little while, I grab my purse and we leave. It’s a really nice day today, but it’s kinda always like that here. Faith doesn’t like it too much because she’s so used to living in places where the weather changes a lot with the different seasons, but I’m totally not used to that. LA girl here, remember? Northern California was a little too much for me. I don’t know how we lived there for so long. I guess we just got caught up in being moms and we couldn’t do the things we had planned. We used to talk about buying a small yacht, taking it out to sea for a couple weeks at a time. Just the open ocean, a couple bottles of champagne, and us. But then I got pregnant and we had to cancel all of our plans. But we have our golden years to do all that stuff.


I’m sure in our golden years we’re going to be living on a yacht, sailing around the world and just being together. Yeah right. Like that’ll really happen. We’d drive each other insane. See, Faith and I love each other very much, but no two people can spend every second together and not get on each other’s nerves. I honestly think that rough patch we had all those years ago when we broke up for a couple months was because we spent too much time together. We still do things together but we have time that’s just for ourselves. Sort of. We’re taking the business classes, and Faith spends a lot of time at her dad’s, and I spend a lot of time with my circle of friends. I haven’t been hanging out with them a lot lately because of the business class and everything else I have going on at home, but we try to get together at least once a week, usually on Sundays. I’ll have to call Kim and see who’s house we’re meeting at this week.


I didn’t plan on coming here, but while I’m out I might as well go into the little corner store. Not buying something would be rude so I’ll just browse around until something strikes my fancy. Dogs aren’t allowed inside so I have to tie Tucker up to the metal picnic bench outside. I go inside the mini-mart and the first thing I notice is the clerk. He’s tall, I can tell he’s a smoker because of the leathery looking skin. He has black hair that’s balding on top, and a fading goatee. He looks bored out of his mind and his eyes are all over me the second I walk through the door. I just give him a small smile and keep on walking. I can practically feel his eyes on my ass as I walk further into the store. The way I’m looking at it is this: I’m almost forty. And screw you, thirty-four is totally almost forty. I should be thankful for all of the people who still ogle my goodies because that doesn’t happen to a lot of almost forty-year-old women. So I’m standing in the middle of an isle trying to decide which type of Pringles I want: sour cream and onion, or original when I hear:


“Daddy, look at the baby!” She sounds four, maybe five years old so I won’t get too defensive. I look down and see and blur of blonde and pink running towards the stroller. As soon as she gets close enough she drops to her knees so she can be eye level with my little boy. I glance down at him and he looks a little afraid. But then she starts smiling and talking to him. “You’re a cute little baby. I wish a had a little brother that looked like you.” Wow, that’s probably one of the sweetest things that someone has said about my kids. The little girl is a cutie herself. Blonde hair, light hazel eyes, looks a lot like me when I was a child. I smile a little bit and she looks up at me with a big toothy grin. “Your baby is very cute.” Well isn’t she just the sweetest little angel?


“Thank you,” I tell her and make my selection. I decided to just get both, clear up the confusion and this way I can give one to Faith. But which one will she want? Better make it two of each. “You’re very cute yourself.” She blushes and then tries to hide behind her hair. “Don’t be shy. A girl can never be told enough that she’s cute.” What? It’s true. I’m about to ask her about her dad and where he is, ya know the normal ‘who does this child belong to?’ type of stuff but I’m cut off before I can get my mouth open. I hate it when that happens.


“Hannah, I told you not to run away from me.” The voice is deep, but not too deep. I look up at the man walking towards us and see the most gorgeous creature on the face of this earth. He has dark hair that’s combed just right. He has the brightest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. Nice, full, pouty lips that I just want to nibble. A perfect smile with perfect teeth. A clean shaven face with skin that looks so soft that I just want to gently caress it. He’s wearing a nice suit, black pants and jacket, a blue button up shirt, and a light blue with white diagonal stripes. Everything about him screams success, and everything in my body is telling me to fuck. “I’m so sorry. She’s been begging me for a brother, so every time she sees a baby boy she runs after him.” He smiles a very charming smile and I feel like I’m in high school again, trying to figure out a way to get the hot guy to ask me out and be subtle about it.


“Oh, that’s alright. He seems to be quite the girl magnet. They chase after him all the time.” Did I really just say that? He seems to think it’s funny though, and his laugh is just like music to my ears. “I’m Buffy.” I tell him and hold out my hand. He shakes my hand, and he’s firm but not too hard. And that sounded a lot dirty then it should have. He tells me his name is Keith. Hmmm, I think that name. Well, I like it on him at least. “And this is one of my prides and joys, Joseph. I have two more, Matthew and Addison.” Why am I telling him all of this stuff? He smiles and nods his head a little bit, but he doesn’t look like he’s panicking. Kids are like hot guy kryptonite or something. But he has a little girl, so he’s probably married. Hmm, no ring, interesting. Maybe he just doesn’t like to wear rings. That’s entirely possible.


“I have another daughter, Sarah.” He pulls out his wallet and shows me a picture of a little girl who looks exactly like the girl standing in front of me now, only she’s younger. “She’s two going on twenty.” We both laugh at the little joke and I glance down and then look up at him through my eyelashes. He has a very nice smile on his face, and I can’t help but smile flirtatiously back at him. I make some comment about him and his wife being proud because they have beautiful children and he tells me everything I need to know. “Oh, I’m not married. We split up right after Sarah was born.” I play the sympathy card, but he doesn’t look too broken up about it. “I have to go, but maybe we could continue this later over lunch? There’s this place called Lee’s Chinese Palace, they have the best Chinese food.” I smile a little and nod my head.


“Yes, I’ve been to the Palace a few times. I have some stuff that I have to get done today, but how about tomorrow at around one? Will that work?” He pulls a palm pilot out of his jacket pocket and checks the date. He says that one o’ clock tomorrow will be perfect. “Ok, I’ll see you then.” I say bye to Hannah and she reluctantly leaves. She wasn’t done talking to Joseph and he’s a little sad to see her go. He’s only eleven months and he’s already a big flirt. I can’t even imagine what he’s going to be like when he’s older. I’m about half way up to the counter to buy my purchases when I realize: I just got asked out on a date, and I accepted. What the hell is the matter with me? And didn’t he see my rings? I mean, they’re kind of hard to miss. When I’m wearing them! God, I must’ve forgotten to put them on after I took my shower.


Ok, Buffy, you’re fine. This could just be a friendly lunch. Just because he’s divorced it doesn’t mean he thinks this is a date. But he’s so gorgeous that he probably does think it’s a date. Why, why, why did I say yes? Faith isn’t going to get mad because she knows I’ll explain the situation to him and everything will be fine. Nope, she’s going to think it’s hilarious. She’s going to make fun of me for becoming a teenager again, and she’s going to think it’s hilarious that this guy is about to be rejected. Why do I have to act so blonde all the time? It isn’t even my natural hair color! Everything is going to be fine, just calm down. Even though I’m freaking out a little because I have a date tomorrow, I can’t help but feel a little excited because I have a date tomorrow! I wonder what I’m gonna wear?


FPOV


So Buffy has her big date today. When she told me that she got asked out I thought it was fuckin hilarious. I am a little jealous though, for multiple reasons. One, because my wife is going out with someone else. Two, because she gets to have Lee’s Chinese Palace and someone else is paying for it. And three because according to her this guy is the hottest guy she’s ever seen. I want a really hot guy to ask me out on a date. But no, all I get are the other people who are taking the nightly business class with me. Buffy is the one who gets asked out on actual dates because she looks like the kinda girl you wanna bring home to mom. I’m the one who gets out ask to the dance clubs, and the bars and places like that in hopes that I’ll get drunk enough to let the other person fuck me.


Don’t worry though ‘cause everything is all good. She’s gonna tell Romeo that she’s married so she can’t actually date him. She did tell me that she might not do it right away because she kinda of wants to see where this is going to lead. Yeah, she’s crazy. I do understand it. We’re getting older, we have kids, we no longer have to beat the guys off with a stick. So when a really hot guy does pay attention to you it makes you feel special. She just wants to feel that way for a little bit before she ends it. I trust her completely, and I know she would never cheat on me. But still, this is crap. She gets to go out and I’m stuck here with the kids. I love my kids and everything, but everyone could use a break once in a while. And taking care of kids is a lot harder when you’re by yourself.


Things aren’t that crazy though. Addy’s in her room playin with Brad, Mattie’s still at school, and Joey is takin his nap. So I’m sitting on the couch, watchin TV, and Ruby is passed out in my lap. I had to save her earlier because those little monsters known as four-year-olds wanted to use the markers to color her purple. And she’s tired anyway. Yesterday at the vet’s she had to get all kinds of shots and he said that some of them might make her a little drowsy for a couple days. And in this house if you don’t move fast enough you can fall prey for the little devils. Mattie won’t really do anything because he’s older and knows better. Addy and Joey on the other hand are evil when it comes to the animals. Addy will hold ‘em down and dress ‘em up, or color on ‘em, and all sorts of weird shit. Joey will just do the typical baby stuff, pullin on the ears, and the tail, and the fur. Poor little dog is so stressed I think she’s about to have a breakdown.


I turn off the TV because there’s nothing on, and I notice the one thing that parents always notice even though they don’t want to. It’s quiet in this house, way too quiet. Great, now I have to get up and investigate because those kids could be doing God knows what. So I put the dog down on the floor, and she whines, and takes a couple of steps away from the couch before she collapses and goes back to sleep. I get up and start walking around. Nope, they’re not in the kitchen trying to steal junk food from the cupboards. I was going to stall and check all the other rooms in the house before checking Addy’s room, but I think I’ll just skip that and go straight there. I have to admit I am a little afraid of what I might catch them doing. Four-year-olds do the weirdest shit ever. If you don’t believe me then ask someone who has one and they’ll tell you that they do weird shit.


So, now I’m standing in front of Addy’s door. It’s closed, and she knows she’s supposed to keep it open whenever she plays in there. It helps stop her from doing the really weird shit. I can them whispering inside but I can’t hear exactly what they’re saying. I can’t help but imagine what the future is gonna be like. When my little baby girl is twelve or thirteen, and she has a boy over at the house, and they’re sitting outside on the porch swing, and she gets her very first kiss. Me and Buffy will probably be watching from the kitchen window, because that’s just what parents do when their daughter brings home a boy. Now in this little vision I’m having I can’t really put a face to the boy who presses his lips against my daughter’s ‘cause she’s only four so I don’t know what her type is gonna be. But that’s not the point, the point is I need to open the door now and find out what’s going on.


I slowly open the door ‘cause I don’t want them to be aware of me right away. I can’t believe my eyes, my jaw actually drops a little bit. And it’s nothing dirty like I thought it was going to be. I thought they were going to be completely naked and playing doctor or something like that. But nope. Brad has his shirt off, and he’s lying on the floor on his stomach, and Addy is drawing on his back with the markers. I guess when I took the puppy away she found a new victim. I feel relieved that they weren’t doing anything under the belt, but I’m pissed because she knows not to color on people, or herself. When she started asking me about the tattoo on my arm, again, I explained to her what it is and now she wants to become a tattoo artist. And somehow she suckered Brad into letting her draw on him. Well, I don’t know exactly how she did it, but I’m not surprised, the kid is kind of a pushover.


“Addison Kristine!” I yell and it makes her jump and she messes up whatever picture she was drawing on him. She looks surprised and a little scared for like two seconds, but then she sees the fat red line that’s going straight through the picture and she looks pissed. I have to bite my bottom lip to stop myself from smiling ‘cause that’ll just make her even more pissed off and we don’t want that. When she gets really pissed she screams, and I don’t want to deal with that right now. So I need to stay calm because if I don’t then she’ll just get all uppity


“You made me ruin it!” she yells and jumps up off the floor. Brad sits up too and he looks really scared. He tries to put his shirt back on but I stop him. The marker is washable but his mom will still kill me if she sees it. Apparently they’re neat freaks or something, and Connie is scary as hell when she wants to be. And I’m a fuckin slayer, and this chick can intimidate me. Everybody thinks it’s so hilarious, but let me tell you that shit isn’t funny. Connie really does scare me, more then any demon ever has.


“Addison you know you’re not supposed to color on people.” My voice isn’t as loud or as mad as it was before. Mostly because I don’t care. She’s coloring with nontoxic, washable marker, who cares? Buffy does, which is why I have to make her stop. Addison drew all over her arms and she let Brad color on her face. “Come on, let’s get you two cleaned up.” I take ‘em into the bathroom and take out a couple of washcloths from under the sink. I get ‘em wet with warm water and some soap. “Now hold still.” I wash off Brad’s back and it doesn’t take too long. He holds still and doesn’t put up a fight. I know better then to think that Addy will go that quietly. When little Brad is done I have him go into the bedroom and put his shirt back on. Then I rinse the rag off, and put on some more soap. “Ok, Addy, your turn.” She backs away a little bit and gets a defiant look on her face.


“No. I like my pictures. I don’t want to wash ‘em off, Mama,” she tries to make herself sound pathetic, like she’s begging or something. She’s pretty good at it. She backs away a little more and I give her a warning look. It won’t do any good, but I have to at least try. I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong. I don’t understand why I can’t get my kids to listen to me. Mattie is kinda the same way. I guess this is what happens when two stubborn as people reproduce; you get stubborn ass kids.


“Addison, you can’t keep your pictures. Now get over here.” She makes an irritated noise and backs away some more. Fuckin kid, I swear. “Addison I’m not playin with you, now get over here.” She just stands there, pouting and looking pissed off. I reach over and grab onto her arm and pull her towards me. She yells out and fights it but I got a pretty good hold on her. I have to force myself not to spank her. Me and B don’t believe in doing that, but sometimes it’s hard to remember why. Like when she’s acting like this. “Hold still.” I start to wash the marker off her arms but she’s trying to get away. “Do you want me to spank you?” She shakes her head no and stops fighting. I feel like an ass using that shit against her, but nothing else is working. After I get her all washed off I hold onto her chin and lift her head up a little so she’s looking at me.


“I’m sorry I got mad, but you need to start listening, ok?” I ask in a soft tone and she nods her head yes. Year right, I give it five minutes before she starts acting up again. “Alright, give me a kiss.” I pucker up and she gives me a kiss on my lips and runs out of the room. Little brat. I get up and go back into the living room. “You two play out here now. Grab some toys and bring ‘em out to the living room.” They don’t argue which is fuckin weird, but whatever. I sit my lazy ass down on the couch and start watching TV again. I’m feeling a little restless, and anxious or whatever. One of my legs won’t stop shakin a little, and it’s driving me a little crazy. I know it’s because of Buffy. I trust her, I know she won’t cheat on me, but I don’t trust the guy she’s goin out with. Yeah she’s a slayer and she can take care of herself, but he can still make a pass at her, and I’m not there to tell him to fuck off.


“Lucy, I’m home!” Mattie yells as he runs through the door. He slams it shut and tosses his backpack over by the couch. Addy jumps up off the floor and runs over to him. She gives him a big hug and starts talking a mile a minute about all the stuff she did today. He’s only half listening as he walks into the kitchen with her at his heels, and he gets something outta the fridge. He walks back into the living room and sits down on the couch and opens up the soda. Well, he looks like he’s in a really good mood. I wonder what’s up? Something had to have happened or else he wouldn’t be smiling the way he is. “We got a new teacher today.” His teacher quit right before Christmas break, and they had a substitute for a couple days, and now I guess they have the replacement. It takes a little bit of coaxing before he opens up about the new teach and I have to hide my smile. “Her name’s Ms. Marino. And she’s really nice.”


I bet she is. It seems my little boy has a crush on the new teach. I think maybe tomorrow I’ll pick him up from school, see if I can meet this Ms. Marino who has obviously stolen my little boy’s heart. It probably won’t last more then a week. She’ll give the class some assignment that they don’t wanna do and he’ll view her as just another teacher and nothing more. I remember when I was in eighth grade I had the fattest crush on my history teacher, Mrs. Alvarez. Now that was a fine piece of ass. She was tall, tan, long black hair, dark eyes, and a hint of a Spanish accent. I remember one day we didn’t really have anything to do because we just finished a test and she didn’t have anything else planned so she tried to teach us some Spanish. I have no idea what she was saying, but it sounded hot coming from her. I’m getting a little worked up just thinking about it.


“Do you have any homework?” I ask him and he nods his head, but he doesn’t take his eyes off the TV. “Alright, half an hour of relaxing then I want it done.” He nods his head again but he could really care less about what I’m saying right now. We’ve never had a problem with him and homework, and I thank God for that everyday. I glance over at the clock on the cable box and I sigh and shift around a little bit. All the kids can tell that I’m anxious, but I’m not even trying to hide it, and they’re not stupid. But I have to try and hide it because they’re getting nervous and uncomfortable. I wonder what they’re talking about? When me and Buffy had our very first date we talked a lot, but I don’t think Buffy would tell that guy what she told me. It was some pretty personal stuff. She finally admitted to feeling the double H rule, and how frustrating it was for her when Angel was back because they couldn’t sleep together, and apparently me being around only made matters worst.


I wonder if she’s told him that she’s married yet. I mean, she has to tell him. I’m not mad that she’s having lunch with this guy but I’ll be pissed if she didn’t tell him about her marriage. I mean, I’m supposed to be the love of her life, right? That’s what she tells me. Ok, I need to stop obsessing about this. She’ll tell him. She wouldn’t just lead on some poor guy like that, and she would never cheat on me. Then I get an image in my mind, the memory of seeing Buffy pressed up against the kitchen counter, getting fucked by that redhead. But that doesn’t count, we were broken up so technically that wasn’t cheating. And we made up, and we got back together and now we’re married with two more kids. Now I really need to stop thinking about this before it drives me crazy.


I hear Joseph start crying and I thank God for the distraction. I get up and hand the remote to Mattie, and he instantly turns it from whatever channel it was on. I don’t even know what we were watching, would’ve been porn for all I know. No, I think I would have noticed that. Anyway, I got into the bedroom and my baby boy is standing up in his crib, holding onto the rail, and crying. There’s no tears or anything, he isn’t upset, he just wants out of his crib. I pick him up and he stops crying. He’s still a little groggy, and he yawns really wide and rests his head against my shoulder. I love this feeling, I always have and I always will. When your baby wants you for comfort, and when they rest their little bodies against yours, and put their head on your shoulder, and just sit there peacefully. I can’t describe exactly how it feels emotionally, but trust me when I say that it’s better then heaven. I’m sure Buffy would agree with me on this one.


“Hey Moose, did you have a nice nap?” I ask but he doesn’t respond. It’s not like I was expecting him to say anything, but sometimes he’ll nod his head or say something in baby speak. I gently rub his back and I hear him yawn again. I smile and walk over to the bed. I gently lay him down, then get a fresh diaper and the box of wipes. He starts whining right away and kicking his legs, but he doesn’t try to crawl away. I guess he knows it’s useless. “I haven’t even touched you yet, what are you whining for?” He just whines some more and keeps kicking his legs. I take off his shorts, and unbutton the onesie, and take off the dirty diaper. It’s just urine so nothing too gross. He keeps whining until I have the new diaper on and all of his clothes buttoned back up. “There, ya whiner.” I pick him up and carry him into the living room with the others. He lights up when he sees Addy, and when I put him down on the ground he crawls over to her and tries to take her toy.


“No, Joey, stop!” she yells and pushes him back. But he’s a slayer too so he’s stubborn and strong, and he isn’t going to go down without a fight. And she just keeps getting frustrated. She screeches which hurts my ears like hell, and rips the toy out of his hands. But he’s persistent, and he tries to crawl on top of her so he can reach the toy. “Mama, make him stop!” I can’t help but roll my eyes a little bit. I walk over to them and sit down next to Brad. I try to distract Joey with the other toys that are on the floor that aren’t being played with, but he wants the toy that Addy has, and there’s no changing his mind. “Stop it, Joey!” I tell her to stop yelling and that just makes her mad. “Well then do something and I won’t have to yell.” Remind me again why I’m against spanking my kids? But then Ruby runs by and Joey sees her and he loses his interest in Addy’s toy and crawls off after the dog.


“There, now you can stop screaming.” I get up and sit back down on the couch. We have the living room surrounded with baby gates so I don’t have to worry about Joey crawling into the kitchen and drinking the Drain-O or anything. I do glace over at him every once in a while to make sure he isn’t hurting the puppy. But that’s not the case. He’s trying to crawl away, most likely back towards his sister, but Ruby has a hold of his shorts and she’s pulling for all she’s worth. He’s whining and trying to get her off but she won’t budge. I start laughing a little bit, but I’m trying not to ‘cause that would just be mean. But then he just gives up the fight altogether, and lays down flat on the floor, with his arms spread out wide, and his face in the carpet. And he’s just crying as hard as he can. Ruby is pulling on his shorts, and thrashing her head from side to side, and if I don’t stop her she’s gonna rip a hole in those shorts, and make my boy have a nervous breakdown.


“Alright, Ruby stop it.” I kneel down there and make the dog let him go. She tries to bite him again until I give her a little smack on the nose. “No.” She runs off and starts playing with her squeaky mouse since there’s nothing else for her to play with in the living room. And then I feel Buffy at the front door. I look up and wait for her to walk in here. She calls out to us to announce her presence and Addy jump up and runs over to her and starts huggin her and telling her all about her day, but I don’t think Buffy’s listening. She looks a little...weirded out is the best way to describe it. She puts her purse on the end table and walks into the kitchen. She gets something out of the fridge and walks into the living room and sits down on the couch. She twists the cap off the beer bottle and takes a long swig. She downs half of it before pulling the bottle away from her mouth and taking a deep breath. “So, what happened?” She gets a disturbed look on her face.


“I think he wanted to breed with me,” she says and takes another swig of beer. Me and Mattie give her a confused look, but the other kids have no idea what she’s talking about. “He called me beautiful a couple of times, which I thought was really nice, but then he started talking about how he wants more kids and it freaked me out a little. Then he asked if I want to have more, and I told him that I can’t because of the complication I had with Joey, and he dropped the subject completely. It was weird, and when he asked me out to dinner for Saturday night I apologized about not telling him sooner that I’m married.” She takes another long drink from the bottle and rubs her thumb against the label for a few seconds. “So, not this weekend but the weekend after we’re all going to the Adventure dome. He said that just because we can’t date it doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.” I sit down on the couch next to Buffy and take a drink from her beer.


“Nothing wrong with making new friends. He has a daughter Addy’s age, right?” I ask and Buffy nods her head yes. So, Addy can make a new friend, see, there’s nothing bad about this at all. Except this guy wanted to fuck my wife. I don’t think I’m going to become best friends with this guy. “We can have Emma babysit Joey, ‘cause he’s still too little for that place.” If we take him we’ll just have to leave in a couple hours ‘cause he’ll get fussy and that place is kinda expensive. The kids are really excited about it, but Mattie seems a little weary. Good, I don’t want all my kids to think this guy is the coolest thing since sliced bread. They’re supposed to think that about me. But I guess it doesn’t matter. It’s just one day, and after that we never have to see him again. “Are you sure we have to go? I mean, we could just blow this guy off, tell him we don’t have enough for all of us to go.” Buffy rolls her eyes and takes her beer back.


“He insisted on paying for everything, and he’s not going to take no for an answer.” Sweet, we are totally going. I can’t wait. I love that place almost as much as the kids do. And I’m not just talking about my kids, I’m talking about all of the kids and teenagers that go there. Now I suddenly can’t wait for next Saturday to hurry up and get here.