Welcome Home
by Rin
Don't wake the baby!
[reviews]
A/N: I'm an asshole for keeping it hanging like that. I just have a deadline to reach, and it's keeping me busy!!!
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"Oh, okay. So the diaper needs to be further back; I get it now, I think." Willow tried again to fit the diaper on Elita, and the cooing baby just waited for her covering from the chill in the room.
"Wills, I should give you a sticker." Buffy smiled at her wife. Willow was starting to understand the finer parts of parenting, and once the pneumonia cleared, the tension went with it.
"Huh?"
"You have it right." She pointed down to the diaper, and watched her wife finish the successful diapering with excitement and concentration plastered on her face. Willow had been back at work, and everything was actually running smoother than usual. Xander had been ultra quiet, and uber parent, husband, and worker. The girls figured that something happened in New York that was bothering him, and decided to let him figure it out for himself before flanking him for answers.
"Yippee!" Willow picked up the giggling Elita, and gave her Eskimo kisses. Buffy just chuckled along with them.
"I think we should take a walk to the Espresso pump; I'm craving a mocha." Buffy was still recovering from the pregnancy, and it was only one more week until she would be allowed to seduce her wife again. Their little girl was six weeks old, and they had fallen into a pattern of gentle, tired kisses, and sleep. It wasn't that passion wasn't there; it was more like it was on pause for the moment. They had other things to tend to first.
"Sounds great!" Willow beamed, as she donned Elita in her baby breeches and cute, little white baby shoes. "You're just too cute!"
"Will, you're going to spoil her before she even says her first word." Buffy grabbed her purse from the stand, and went to get the stroller from the closet.
"Well, she's gonna say her first word here soon, so I'd better up my ante." Helping her wife position the giggling baby into the stroller, Willow went to grab the pre-pumped bottles, and diaper bag from the kitchen.
"What? Are you saying you're going to force her to speak before she's ready?"
"Of course; she's going to be reading Dostoevsky before she's two!" Willow kissed her wife, as she passed her going out the door. Buffy just glared amusedly after her, as she pushed the stroller from the house, and locked the door before they made their afternoon walk.
"Wills, what do you think is wrong with Xander? He seems kinda..."
"I know, and I've been meaning to talk to him but I've been so busy with work, and getting home that I haven't..."
"You won't be like them, baby. Calm down; if you need to stay a little longer at work to finish things the right way, don't worry. We're not going anywhere." Buffy leaned over to kiss Willow again, as she pushed the stroller along down the sidewalk.
"I just can't help but think that we do what we know, and I don't know a parents' love." Willow's forlorn face made an appearance, and Buffy stopped the stroller for a minute. Turning, she took her wife's hands in hers, and kissed them with all the love she felt inside and out.
"If we do what we know, then you are going to be the most amazing parent I've ever met because you know love. I love you, and Elita loves you, and I hope you love us both in return."
"With my whole heart."
"Then, there's your answer. If we do what we know, and you know love, then there's nothing to worry about because you are going to love Elita with your whole heart, and she's going to feel that for the rest of her life." Buffy pulled Willow into an embrace that she'd waited weeks to give, keeping one hand on the stroller's handle. "Even when she's a teenager, and thinks we're the worst people on the face of the planet."
"Buffy..." The tears in Willow's eyes needed halting, so the blonde leaned the extra few centimeters to reach her wife's eyelids, and kissed the tears away for the moment. "I love you."
"I love you, too." Buffy pulled Willow closer, and positioned it to where she was holding her hand, and pushing the stroller at the same time. "Now, time for mochas!"
"Lead the way!" And that she did.
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"What's your deal, Wonder boy?" Faith couldn't understand why Xander was so freaked. All they did was end up passing out in her hotel room; nothing happened. Maybe he didn't understand that, and actually did think something happened. It was time to set the record straight.
"We...ya know...have a connection. It's kinda..." Xander was sitting behind his desk, waving his hands around, not making eye contact. Faith just propped her feet up on his desk from her position in his guest chair.
"Look, nothin' happened. We both just got drunk, and you ended up passed out on my bed before you could make it to your room. Calm down. Even drunk, I know better." She snorted, and started to laugh at his relief.
"Thank God for that."
"You sayin' you wouldn't want me?"
"No, just that I'm a married man."
"And that stopped you before?" Faith hit a sore point, knowing full well the antics Xander pulled in his time off from the marriage.
"Look, how many times do I have to apologize for that? And, hey! I don't have to apologize to you anyways!" He stood from his desk, pointing a finger at her, challenging her. When she stood, he just sat back down again.
"I'm not sayin' you do."
"Then, what are you saying, Faith? That I'm not a good husband?" Xander stood again, once again putting down his
foot.
"For a while there, you weren't! Plus, you're the one that said it, not me, so don't go pointing that finger at me, or you're cruisin' for a bruisin'." Faith stood in an intimidating pose that caused Xander to internally beg for mercy.
"Look, it's none of your business, okay? Can we just drop it, since nothing happened between us?"
"Hey, Xan, what happened? I mean...it is my business because Willow is my business."
"You still love her after all this?"
"Always will, probably." Faith shrugged her shoulders, relaxing into the chair again. "It's not just about her, though. What you did affected all of us, obviously none more than your wife and Jesse; with this new kid, I would only hope that you'd know better, too...drunk or not."
"I'd like to think I do; those few months were the worst point in my life. All those women...I don't even know half of their names, and there were too many times where I would wake up on the floor in the back of Willy's with my pants around my ankles."
"Then, why didn't you stop if you hated it so much?"
"Because at the time, it's what I felt like I deserved. I don't deserve Anya, and especially Jesse and Merrick. What have I ever done to deserve a good family?" Xander's eyes cast pleas to Faith, looking for answers, even in this unlikely source.
"Hey, man...if there is anything I know, it's that your family loves you. Hell, you and Anya belong together." Faith smirked, indicating precisely the depth of that comment. Xander just bobbed his head, and smirked right along with her. Sometimes, great minds think alike. "And if you ever do that to Jesse again, I'll beat the hell out of you myself! Got it?"
"Um..." Xander was speechless, as usual.
"Good!" Faith relaxed back in her chair after the obviously intentional threat that she had every mind to go through with if provoked.
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"Mmm...that feels good." Willow was bent over the desk in the guest room, going over files for Glory's upcoming tour. When she got to her last page, her wife's hands started to massage her upper back and shoulders before she even made a mark on the sheet. Sometimes, Buffy could be so stealthy.
"Like that, do you?" Buffy was itching for some action. She was over the point of breaking in frustration, not even able to use her hand for help. Elita took up all of her time, and she barely got any rest, waking up at odd hours, and sneaking in a nap along with the baby. She was cute but she was whiny.
"More than you know." Willow had been ready since the last day they had made love, which was five months, fourteen days, and six hours ago. Yes, she had been counting.
"Well, then...what's say you stop doing what you're doing...."
"Okay, let's say that..." Willow marked final corrections and notes, as Buffy continued her sensual massage.
"Then, that would require you to put down that pen..."
"And?" Willow was going to do this right. She was going to make every second count, and that meant starting with the playful banter. They had been repairing their marriage through Elita, and hardly ever had a chance just to themselves. When Buffy wasn't finishing her third novel, Willow was working on label or Bronze stuff. Luckily, Xander had upped his work ethic, so there wasn't as much on her plate.
"And...I think that I'm going to take a much needed bubble bath..." Buffy could see where Willow was going, and had every intention to play along. She, too had felt the urge between her legs and through her entire body, craving her wife's touch.
"I wondered what that smell was." Willow suppressed a chuckle, and wasn't faring too well, as she made her final note on the paper. She was finished with her work for the evening but she kept acting like she had more to do, teasing Buffy a little.
"Hmm...well, I was just thinking about how lonely it would be in the tub by myself."
"Better take your rubber ducky, then." Willow moved her pen across the lines, and hoped that her wife didn't notice that there was no pattern to her scanning.
"I lost him."
"Take Elita's then."
"I lost it, too."
"You lost our baby's rubber duck?" Willow turned around, halting her wife's massaging hands, and turned on a look of distress. "How could you, Buffy? You're a horrible parent."
"Wills..." Buffy rolled her eyes in amusement, and just bent down to kiss her wife fully on the lips. Taking the opportunity, she wrapped her hands around Willow's head, and pulled her into a passionate, all-consuming kiss that left the redhead speechless, and longing for more when she departed. "How about that bath now?"
"Coming."
"Not yet." Buffy ran her fingertip across the erogenous zone under Willow's chin, eliciting a shiver of excitement from her wife, as she moved seductively back to their bathroom. It took Willow all of two seconds before she came back to reality from her Buffy-induced haze.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Willow ran into the bathroom, tearing her clothes from her body as she went, dropping the garments anywhere they landed. She'd managed to almost wriggle out of her pants when she reached the bathroom. Buffy was already lying back against the tub, eyes closed, moaning for emphasis, and driving Willow wild in the process, all to the glow of the few candles that adorned the room. Her wife's body took on a heavenly glow, and she couldn't wait to feel every single inch pressed against her without any barrier in tact. It was way over due, and she had every intention to collect the late fee.
"Bout time; thought I was going to have to take matters into my hands."
"No need for that; I'm much better qualified."
"You are, huh? What're your qualifications?" Buffy watched Willow toss her undies to the wastebasket, missing slightly but not caring, and arched an eyebrow to go with her seductive smirk.
"Well, I'm good with my hands, for starters."
"That's a definite requirement for the position."
"I have many talents in and out of the office, including several unmentionable sources." Willow slipped into the water, sliding in behind Buffy.
"Well, sounds like you're well-qualified but I'll need to see you in action to make my decision."
"Is that a direct order, or a request?"
"Doesn't matter, you'll still do it." Buffy leaned back against Willow, and they both felt their entire body burn on fire. "God..."
"Buffy..."
"Willow, I've missed you so much." Buffy had been dealing with her death in a quiet manner. Returning to the therapist she used during her pregnancy, and not informing Willow of the added bill. That's how the blonde's third book seemed to progress. It died when she died, and the therapist was helping her come back to life. There was just one major thing holding her back from living, and the cure was holding her, stroking her arms and playing with her hands through the water.
"Me, too. I've missed you, too." Willow pulled her wife closer, and meshed their bodies even tighter, kissing her way from a slippery shoulder to a dampened neck, taking advantage of the opportunity by torturing the blonde, infiltrating the sensitive spot behind her wet ear.
"I want you..."
"Me, too...want you, that is..." Willow rubbed her arms further down Buffy's body, circling her belly, feeling the flutter beneath her fingertips, outlining the slight stretch marks from her wife's still beautiful body.
"WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Dammit!" They both cried in unison. Exiting the tub, Willow let out the water, while Buffy checked on the now-awake Elita. They just couldn't catch a break. While Buffy fed the baby, Willow went about keeping the intense emotions high in the room, lighting candles, and listening to Buffy's soft lullabies. Tonight was going to happen, baby or no.
"She's asleep." Buffy shut the door slightly, keeping it open just a crack. Moving inside, she noticed the erotic tension still in the room, and a beautifully nude Willow exposed across the sheets. "And you're not."
"You want me to sleep?" Willow crawled up the bed, and stayed on her knees, pulling Buffy towards her by the robe tie. When the blonde was pressed against her body, Willow loosened the tie completely, and rubbed her hands underneath the robe, eliciting a sharp intake of breath from her wife. "I'll take that as a no."
"Definitely not." Buffy let Willow have her way, as she was completely exposed to their bedroom. She hadn't been naked in here for months; it made her blood boil in excitement.
"Of course not; otherwise, you'd put me in time out." Willow pulled Buffy onto the bed with her, laying back as the blonde crawled over her, hair encasing her face.
"Sounds kinky." Buffy arched an eyebrow, and leaned down torturously close to Willow's lips without kissing her.
"Could be..." Willow wasted no more time, and moved quick, pulling the blonde fully atop her, and crashing their lips together in a bruising fashion.
"Willow!" Buffy didn't have much time to breathe; more kissing was in order. No more coherent words were said the rest of the night; there were too many other muffled noises. After all, no need to wake the baby.