Title: The Perfect Gift
Author: Luisa
Email: [email protected]
Pairing: B/G
Rating: PG
Distribution: Dword, Kattie, Dee, TL... all my usual archives. Anyone
else, who wants it, just let me know where!
Summary: The Scooby family await the arrival of two baby-shaped Christmas
Presents.
Spoilers: Through Chosen S7
Disclaimer: Not mine although I wish they were. All I own is an
overactive imagination. The ingenious invention of the Buffy-Verse belongs
to Joss, Fox, ME and co.
Feedback: As always... DEFINITELY!
Notes: *Emphasis* [Thoughts]
Thanks: To Angela, Tracy and my mother for advice and to Gail for the
Beta. Thanks also to Angela and Donna for advice and encouragement - and
for help with the babies' names.
Dedication: To David And Poppy for the safe and healthy arrival of Noah
John... may he enrich and bless your lives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Come on, come on, come on..." The pretty redhead pacing the length of the waiting area paused long enough to glance up at the clock on the wall and frown. "What's taking so long? It's taking too long. What's going on? What's taking so long?"
Faith stepped away from the wall, throwing her hands up in front of her in self-defence. "Hey, don't look at me, Red. How would I know?" She grinned, "Those kids will get here when they're good and ready."
Not knowing how to answer that, Willow turned to resume pacing, a frown still etched deeply into her forehead as she rubbed a hand over her weary face. "Yeah, I know, but..."
The Slayer reached out a hand and rested it on the redhead's shoulder, effectively stopping her before she could pick up pace. "Just chill, already. It's not your problem."
"But..." Willow pulled away from the other girl's touch. "But, Buffy's in agony! Can't you hear her yelling?" The Wiccan shuddered as another yell echoed down the hallway.
Faith smirked in response. "That's how labour's *meant* to sound, Red."
Another voice spoke softly up, it's owner talking more to herself than the other occupants of the small room. "I'm *so* glad I'm gay."
Willow glared in her lover's direction. "Not helping, Ken."
"Hey, I'm just sayin'..."
"Look, can we all calm down, please?" Dawn spoke up for the first time and glanced over to Xander who was rubbing a weary hand over his face once more as he leaned into the chair back.
He nodded in agreement with the teen's plea. "C'mon guys, you know that *none* of this is helping. The pacing, the chanting... the arguing." He heaved a sigh before adding quietly, "Nothing's gonna help Buffy get through this."
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Let's have another push, Mrs Giles..."
"Come on, love, you can do it... give a nice big push..."
"I *am* pushing..."
"Well... push harder, sweetheart..."
"I'll give you *push harder*, Mister..."
"Ow! Buffy! My hand! *I* don't have superhuman strength, remember?"
The midwife looked up for the briefest of moments in astonishment at the Englishman's words before another yell drew his attention back to the task at hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Faith winced involuntarily as another drawn out yell sounded from the delivery room.
"I saw that."
"Whatever, brat." Faith shrugged off the younger Slayer's observation.
"No need to be like that... I'm just surprised." Kennedy gave a wry smile as Faith's eyebrows briefly raised before settling into a frown.
"You think I don't get what she's going through?"
"No! It's not... I mean... i-it's just that you seem... um, like well," The younger girl shifted slightly in embarrassment, "Like Super Girl... all made of steel... don't feel pain - *can't* feel pain. You give out this signal that everything just deflects off you, like nothing affects you. Which is good when we're out fighting... kind of inspiring, really... but... sometimes it makes it hard for us to identify with you. Oh..." Kennedy clutched her head in frustration. "I don't know what it is I'm trying to say, really. God -Willow is rubbing off on me really badly..." She flushed a deep crimson in embarrassment, "*Babbling*, I mean... oh, for..." She started backing toward the corridor leading to the vending machines. "Tell you what, I'm going to go away and come back when I've found my brain." With that, she turned and ran out of sight.
An audible silence sounded in the waiting area as the remaining Scoobies looked at each other in bemusement. Finally, Faith let a chuckle escape and in turn, the others joined in until laughing until they were clutching their sides.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Okay, Mrs Giles... I need you to give a really, really big push. I can see the crown of one of the babies. With any luck, this next push should do the trick."
"Thank heaven. I don't think I can take much more of this pain."
"What?! You think *You're* in pain?" Buffy looked at her husband with a mixture of amazement and disbelief. "I'll give you *pain*. Try being in my position, Mister."
"Buffy, sweetheart," Giles leant down and murmured a soft admonishment into her ear, "You really shouldn't say things like that... you should know that by now."
In reply, the blonde Slayer simply heaved a deep breath and gave her strongest push yet - an almighty yell accompanying the action at the agonising feeling it produced.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey guys - guess what?"
Dawn paused in her giggling and looked up at Xander's soft words curiosity replacing laughter in her shining eyes. "What's up, Xand?"
"I just realised..." He nodded toward the clock, mid-sentence, "We've been here all this time, but never noticed the time... not properly. I mean... it's four in the morning... and, while we've seen the hour hands move... has anyone realised that we've gone from today to tomorrow?"
"Huh?" Faith's look was blank and she could only glance at the usually- knowledgable redhead to see if she was following whatever insane Xander- Logic was building.
Judging by the growing light in Willow's eyes, it was evident that she had realised what her best friend was meaning.
"Oh-my-great-goddess!" The words ran into each other on an excited squeal and, in a split second, Xander found himself suffocating in Willow's happy embrace.
"Anyone wanna tell me what's going on here?" The Wiccan drew back with a silly grin on her face at the sound of Dawn's puzzled voice.
"It's a sign." Willow's grin widened, her green eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Still not getting it." The words were almost in unison as Faith, Kennedy and Dawn frowned in confusion to the two grinning people before them.
"It's a...." Willow's explanation was cut off as a cultured English voice ended her sentence unexpectedly. "Boy." As one, the four turned to see Rupert Giles grinning from ear to ear as he ran down the corridor to them. He repeated his statement, joy and awe mingling in his tone. "It's a boy."
"Wow! Cool! Go 'G'!"
"Oh, Giles... that's wonderful..."
"Yeah, that's so great..."
"One down, one to go, eh?"
Giles looked at his sister-in-law in mild bewilderment. "One to go? What do you...?" His voice trailed off to a whisper as another yell sounded from the delivery room.
"Giles! Get in here, *Now*!"
~~~~~~~~~~~
"What were you saying about a sign, before, Will?"
Faith's confused voice broke the silence that had descended upon the small group ever since Giles had returned to his wife's side.
"Huh?" The Wiccan looked up in surprise for a moment before smiling softly. "Haven't you realised?"
Before Willow could explain, Dawn blurted in sudden realisation, "It's Christmas day."
"Uh... when did that happen?"
Xander laughed at Kennedy's question. "Um, about four and a half hours ago, Ken. What planet were you on?"
She ignored his sarcasm, gazing in understanding at her lover instead. "I get it, now." Her words were full of wonder as Willow's former words sank in. "You're right. It's a sign."
"Yep." Willow grinned and tightened her embrace around the Slayer. "Things are gonna be alright."
A small sniff sounded in the sudden silence that followed and all eyes fixed on the usually tough Slayer leaning against the opposite wall.
"What?"
No one responded directly to Faith's defensive remark, but each instead grinned silently to one other.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Giles? What's taking so long? Shouldn't they come out in one 'pop'? Where's the other one?"
Giles smiled silently but lovingly at his wife's questions and gently brushed some stray locks of hair from her face before bending to kiss her forehead.
"From what I understand, everything's okay, sweetheart.... everything's fine. I expect your stomach muscles are just gearing up for another round."
"Of what? Squeeze so hard that something'll come out one end or another?"
"Buffy."
She giggled at his grimace for a moment, before her giggle became a groan.
"Oh no... I think the intermission is over..."
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Here we go again."
"Won't be long now, Will." Kennedy rubbed her lover's back soothingly. "Boy, you sure are jittery tonight, aren't you?"
Xander made a face and responded before Willow even had a chance to open her mouth.
"You would be too, if you knew what sort of history Buffy has with special occasions and apocalypses."
"Huh? I thought you guys said this was sign. I guessed you meant a *good* sign... you know, that things would get better... less apocalypse-y."
"We can only hope." Dawn's quiet comment caused each to turn their eyes to her, before wordlessly nodding in agreement.
A heavy blanket of silence fell once more upon the small group as thoughts of hope for the future filled them all.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"I can't do this anymore, Giles. It hurts too much."
"Yes, you can, sweetheart. I'm sure it won't be long until this is all over."
"Giles... promise me, when this is all over..." Buffy's gaze flickered to the midwife, whose attention was mercifully not on their conversation, before lowering her voice, "...That I can go out and start slaying again? I really need to get this out of my system."
He chuckled softly in response and gave her hand a loving squeeze.
"I'm sure that can be arranged."
"Goo-" The word died on her lips as another contraction took hold of her body, the unbearable pain ripping through her gut.
"Oh, oh..." The words were almost wept and she angrily brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes, before fixing a steely gaze on the midwife, as she noticed him watching her.
"Mrs Giles..."
"I know, I know." She heaved a deep breath and braced herself for the coming pain. "Okay. Let's get this over with so that I can have a nice long *agony-free* sleep."
"By the looks of things, that's going to be very soon, Mrs Giles."
~~~~~~~~~~~
"I wonder what they'll call them?" Kennedy's idle comment was murmured sleepily as she leaned her head against Willow's shoulder, her eyes half closed.
"Hmmm..." The redhead didn't even have the energy to form words anymore and instead just blinked open her eyes to look at the clock before closing them again and nuzzling into her girlfriend's dark tresses.
A sudden soft cry piercing the air caused both Willow and Kennedy to bolt up and share excited looks with the now-alert Sccobies. For several long moments the only sound was that of the clock ticking until Dawn squealed happily.
"Hey guys - I just realised - I'm an aunt!"
~~~~~~~~~~~
With one twin in each arm, Buffy looked at the people surrounding her with unconcealed teary eyes, before turning her misty gaze up to her husband.
"Well, shall we introduce them?"
Looking around at the smiling faces, Giles nodded. "After you."
She looked down at the beautiful girl she held in her left arm and lowered her head enough to place a gentle kiss on the sleeping child's forehead. Lifting her head once more, the tears of happiness spilt over as she smiled widely at the people she considered her closest family. "Well, guys," she swallowed past the lump in her throat, continuing. "Here are the latest additions to the Family. Everyone... meet Emma Joy Giles."
Not ready to be parted from her daughter, Buffy clutched her tighter before bending her lips to her son's crown and handing him to his father.
Giles took his cue, and in awe gazed first at his son and then at the small group of friends. His voice was still awed as he made his introduction.
"My son..." Just as Buffy had struggled to contain her emotions, he too, almost choked on the beautiful sound of that single word. He forced himself to keep his composure and tried again. "Oliver, meet 'the Scoobies'," he gave a semi-watery grin before turning his attentions to his audience. "Well, everybody, allow me to introduce you to Oliver Noel Giles."
"Emma and Oliver... that's so..."
"Perfect." With a surprisingly emotional smile, Xander completed Dawn's dreamy sentence.
"Well, I was gonna say, 'British-sounding', but yeah, it's perfect, too." She grinned at him before looking back to her sister and brother-in-law with an even wider grin. "Happy Christmas, Buffy - and you too, Giles."
"It's Christmas?" Buffy's eyebrows arched in surprise and she turned toward her husband, her eyes silently seeking out his confirmation. He nodded, a loving smile alighting his handsome but weary features.
"You had mind on other things."
"I sure did." She winced at the memory of the pain until a wriggle between her arms and stomach reminded her that it had truly been worth it. At that thought, the happy tears began spilling over again. In that moment, the friends and family surrounding them were forgotten as she whispered her gratitude to the man still holding her son.
"Whatever for?" Full of wonder, his voice was equally low. A beautiful warm sensation flooded his soul as his wife smiled through her tears - first at her children and then at him.
"For giving me the best Christmas present I could ever ask for." She yawned suddenly as a wave of tiredness hit her, before smiling sleepily and continuing, "Your love, your children... You gave me completion...
...The perfect gift."
END
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Come on, come on, come on..." The pretty redhead pacing the length of the waiting area paused long enough to glance up at the clock on the wall and frown. "What's taking so long? It's taking too long. What's going on? What's taking so long?"
Faith stepped away from the wall, throwing her hands up in front of her in self-defence. "Hey, don't look at me, Red. How would I know?" She grinned, "Those kids will get here when they're good and ready."
Not knowing how to answer that, Willow turned to resume pacing, a frown still etched deeply into her forehead as she rubbed a hand over her weary face. "Yeah, I know, but..."
The Slayer reached out a hand and rested it on the redhead's shoulder, effectively stopping her before she could pick up pace. "Just chill, already. It's not your problem."
"But..." Willow pulled away from the other girl's touch. "But, Buffy's in agony! Can't you hear her yelling?" The Wiccan shuddered as another yell echoed down the hallway.
Faith smirked in response. "That's how labour's *meant* to sound, Red."
Another voice spoke softly up, it's owner talking more to herself than the other occupants of the small room. "I'm *so* glad I'm gay."
Willow glared in her lover's direction. "Not helping, Ken."
"Hey, I'm just sayin'..."
"Look, can we all calm down, please?" Dawn spoke up for the first time and glanced over to Xander who was rubbing a weary hand over his face once more as he leaned into the chair back.
He nodded in agreement with the teen's plea. "C'mon guys, you know that *none* of this is helping. The pacing, the chanting... the arguing." He heaved a sigh before adding quietly, "Nothing's gonna help Buffy get through this."
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Let's have another push, Mrs Giles..."
"Come on, love, you can do it... give a nice big push..."
"I *am* pushing..."
"Well... push harder, sweetheart..."
"I'll give you *push harder*, Mister..."
"Ow! Buffy! My hand! *I* don't have superhuman strength, remember?"
The midwife looked up for the briefest of moments in astonishment at the Englishman's words before another yell drew his attention back to the task at hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Faith winced involuntarily as another drawn out yell sounded from the delivery room.
"I saw that."
"Whatever, brat." Faith shrugged off the younger Slayer's observation.
"No need to be like that... I'm just surprised." Kennedy gave a wry smile as Faith's eyebrows briefly raised before settling into a frown.
"You think I don't get what she's going through?"
"No! It's not... I mean... i-it's just that you seem... um, like well," The younger girl shifted slightly in embarrassment, "Like Super Girl... all made of steel... don't feel pain - *can't* feel pain. You give out this signal that everything just deflects off you, like nothing affects you. Which is good when we're out fighting... kind of inspiring, really... but... sometimes it makes it hard for us to identify with you. Oh..." Kennedy clutched her head in frustration. "I don't know what it is I'm trying to say, really. God -Willow is rubbing off on me really badly..." She flushed a deep crimson in embarrassment, "*Babbling*, I mean... oh, for..." She started backing toward the corridor leading to the vending machines. "Tell you what, I'm going to go away and come back when I've found my brain." With that, she turned and ran out of sight.
An audible silence sounded in the waiting area as the remaining Scoobies looked at each other in bemusement. Finally, Faith let a chuckle escape and in turn, the others joined in until laughing until they were clutching their sides.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Okay, Mrs Giles... I need you to give a really, really big push. I can see the crown of one of the babies. With any luck, this next push should do the trick."
"Thank heaven. I don't think I can take much more of this pain."
"What?! You think *You're* in pain?" Buffy looked at her husband with a mixture of amazement and disbelief. "I'll give you *pain*. Try being in my position, Mister."
"Buffy, sweetheart," Giles leant down and murmured a soft admonishment into her ear, "You really shouldn't say things like that... you should know that by now."
In reply, the blonde Slayer simply heaved a deep breath and gave her strongest push yet - an almighty yell accompanying the action at the agonising feeling it produced.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey guys - guess what?"
Dawn paused in her giggling and looked up at Xander's soft words curiosity replacing laughter in her shining eyes. "What's up, Xand?"
"I just realised..." He nodded toward the clock, mid-sentence, "We've been here all this time, but never noticed the time... not properly. I mean... it's four in the morning... and, while we've seen the hour hands move... has anyone realised that we've gone from today to tomorrow?"
"Huh?" Faith's look was blank and she could only glance at the usually- knowledgable redhead to see if she was following whatever insane Xander- Logic was building.
Judging by the growing light in Willow's eyes, it was evident that she had realised what her best friend was meaning.
"Oh-my-great-goddess!" The words ran into each other on an excited squeal and, in a split second, Xander found himself suffocating in Willow's happy embrace.
"Anyone wanna tell me what's going on here?" The Wiccan drew back with a silly grin on her face at the sound of Dawn's puzzled voice.
"It's a sign." Willow's grin widened, her green eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Still not getting it." The words were almost in unison as Faith, Kennedy and Dawn frowned in confusion to the two grinning people before them.
"It's a...." Willow's explanation was cut off as a cultured English voice ended her sentence unexpectedly. "Boy." As one, the four turned to see Rupert Giles grinning from ear to ear as he ran down the corridor to them. He repeated his statement, joy and awe mingling in his tone. "It's a boy."
"Wow! Cool! Go 'G'!"
"Oh, Giles... that's wonderful..."
"Yeah, that's so great..."
"One down, one to go, eh?"
Giles looked at his sister-in-law in mild bewilderment. "One to go? What do you...?" His voice trailed off to a whisper as another yell sounded from the delivery room.
"Giles! Get in here, *Now*!"
~~~~~~~~~~~
"What were you saying about a sign, before, Will?"
Faith's confused voice broke the silence that had descended upon the small group ever since Giles had returned to his wife's side.
"Huh?" The Wiccan looked up in surprise for a moment before smiling softly. "Haven't you realised?"
Before Willow could explain, Dawn blurted in sudden realisation, "It's Christmas day."
"Uh... when did that happen?"
Xander laughed at Kennedy's question. "Um, about four and a half hours ago, Ken. What planet were you on?"
She ignored his sarcasm, gazing in understanding at her lover instead. "I get it, now." Her words were full of wonder as Willow's former words sank in. "You're right. It's a sign."
"Yep." Willow grinned and tightened her embrace around the Slayer. "Things are gonna be alright."
A small sniff sounded in the sudden silence that followed and all eyes fixed on the usually tough Slayer leaning against the opposite wall.
"What?"
No one responded directly to Faith's defensive remark, but each instead grinned silently to one other.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Giles? What's taking so long? Shouldn't they come out in one 'pop'? Where's the other one?"
Giles smiled silently but lovingly at his wife's questions and gently brushed some stray locks of hair from her face before bending to kiss her forehead.
"From what I understand, everything's okay, sweetheart.... everything's fine. I expect your stomach muscles are just gearing up for another round."
"Of what? Squeeze so hard that something'll come out one end or another?"
"Buffy."
She giggled at his grimace for a moment, before her giggle became a groan.
"Oh no... I think the intermission is over..."
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Here we go again."
"Won't be long now, Will." Kennedy rubbed her lover's back soothingly. "Boy, you sure are jittery tonight, aren't you?"
Xander made a face and responded before Willow even had a chance to open her mouth.
"You would be too, if you knew what sort of history Buffy has with special occasions and apocalypses."
"Huh? I thought you guys said this was sign. I guessed you meant a *good* sign... you know, that things would get better... less apocalypse-y."
"We can only hope." Dawn's quiet comment caused each to turn their eyes to her, before wordlessly nodding in agreement.
A heavy blanket of silence fell once more upon the small group as thoughts of hope for the future filled them all.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"I can't do this anymore, Giles. It hurts too much."
"Yes, you can, sweetheart. I'm sure it won't be long until this is all over."
"Giles... promise me, when this is all over..." Buffy's gaze flickered to the midwife, whose attention was mercifully not on their conversation, before lowering her voice, "...That I can go out and start slaying again? I really need to get this out of my system."
He chuckled softly in response and gave her hand a loving squeeze.
"I'm sure that can be arranged."
"Goo-" The word died on her lips as another contraction took hold of her body, the unbearable pain ripping through her gut.
"Oh, oh..." The words were almost wept and she angrily brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes, before fixing a steely gaze on the midwife, as she noticed him watching her.
"Mrs Giles..."
"I know, I know." She heaved a deep breath and braced herself for the coming pain. "Okay. Let's get this over with so that I can have a nice long *agony-free* sleep."
"By the looks of things, that's going to be very soon, Mrs Giles."
~~~~~~~~~~~
"I wonder what they'll call them?" Kennedy's idle comment was murmured sleepily as she leaned her head against Willow's shoulder, her eyes half closed.
"Hmmm..." The redhead didn't even have the energy to form words anymore and instead just blinked open her eyes to look at the clock before closing them again and nuzzling into her girlfriend's dark tresses.
A sudden soft cry piercing the air caused both Willow and Kennedy to bolt up and share excited looks with the now-alert Sccobies. For several long moments the only sound was that of the clock ticking until Dawn squealed happily.
"Hey guys - I just realised - I'm an aunt!"
~~~~~~~~~~~
With one twin in each arm, Buffy looked at the people surrounding her with unconcealed teary eyes, before turning her misty gaze up to her husband.
"Well, shall we introduce them?"
Looking around at the smiling faces, Giles nodded. "After you."
She looked down at the beautiful girl she held in her left arm and lowered her head enough to place a gentle kiss on the sleeping child's forehead. Lifting her head once more, the tears of happiness spilt over as she smiled widely at the people she considered her closest family. "Well, guys," she swallowed past the lump in her throat, continuing. "Here are the latest additions to the Family. Everyone... meet Emma Joy Giles."
Not ready to be parted from her daughter, Buffy clutched her tighter before bending her lips to her son's crown and handing him to his father.
Giles took his cue, and in awe gazed first at his son and then at the small group of friends. His voice was still awed as he made his introduction.
"My son..." Just as Buffy had struggled to contain her emotions, he too, almost choked on the beautiful sound of that single word. He forced himself to keep his composure and tried again. "Oliver, meet 'the Scoobies'," he gave a semi-watery grin before turning his attentions to his audience. "Well, everybody, allow me to introduce you to Oliver Noel Giles."
"Emma and Oliver... that's so..."
"Perfect." With a surprisingly emotional smile, Xander completed Dawn's dreamy sentence.
"Well, I was gonna say, 'British-sounding', but yeah, it's perfect, too." She grinned at him before looking back to her sister and brother-in-law with an even wider grin. "Happy Christmas, Buffy - and you too, Giles."
"It's Christmas?" Buffy's eyebrows arched in surprise and she turned toward her husband, her eyes silently seeking out his confirmation. He nodded, a loving smile alighting his handsome but weary features.
"You had mind on other things."
"I sure did." She winced at the memory of the pain until a wriggle between her arms and stomach reminded her that it had truly been worth it. At that thought, the happy tears began spilling over again. In that moment, the friends and family surrounding them were forgotten as she whispered her gratitude to the man still holding her son.
"Whatever for?" Full of wonder, his voice was equally low. A beautiful warm sensation flooded his soul as his wife smiled through her tears - first at her children and then at him.
"For giving me the best Christmas present I could ever ask for." She yawned suddenly as a wave of tiredness hit her, before smiling sleepily and continuing, "Your love, your children... You gave me completion...
...The perfect gift."
END