Title: The Assistant, part 60
Author: Sweetdoggie (stirling_summer@yahoo.com)
Pairing: B/G
Rating: R
Summary: Merrick didn’t die. AU
Spoilers: season 4
Disclaimer: No permission has been granted to use the characters.. They are owned by their creator, Joss Whedon, Twentieth Century Fox, UPN, WB, and Mutant Enemy. This story is non-profit and is intended solely as entertainment. No copyright infringement is intended.
Faith and Anna came back from patrol to find they had missed all the excitement. They snuck into the bedroom and peeked at the baby, being extra quiet because Buffy was still sleeping and Giles had crashed in his chair. They left the room before talking.
“It’s so tiny! Is that normal?” Faith asked the younger girl.
“I saw Jamie when he was born. He was bigger than that—but Joyce is bigger than Buffy, so maybe that has something to do with it.”
“Yeah, but Giles is bigger than Merrick.”
Anna nodded. “I do not know. My Watcher was unmarried and I had no contact with babies.”
Faith put her hand on the younger girl’s shoulder. “I’m sorry you lost him.”
“Yes. It is a great sadness for me.”
“The guys say that we have automatic go-to-heaven tickets when we die—I’m sure that applies to Watchers too.”
“It must be so,” Anna replied. “He was such a very good man. He knew everything—or at least, I thought he did.”
“My first Watcher was killed too. Vampire. She delayed him so I could get away.”
“How awful.”
“Yeah.”
They headed into the kitchen and rummaged around looking for snacks.
~*~
Giles woke the next morning with a severe crick in his neck from sleeping in the chair. He glanced over at the bed and found his wife was still sleeping. That was good. Slayer healing worked best when she was asleep. The baby appeared to be awake and was kicking its tiny heels and moving jerkily around in its crib. He bent over and gathered the child up in a blanket. She gave a tiny cry at the new sensation but was comforted by the big man’s scent. He walked around the room quietly, whispering softly to his daughter, marveling once again at her perfect beauty. She was so small that his hand nearly spanned her entire body, but each part was exquisite. He offered her a finger and her little hand grasped it firmly. She had blue eyes, but he had read that many babies had blue eyes and that they would assume their real color within a few months. He rather hoped that they would turn the same blue as Buffy’s.
He sat back down in the chair and contemplated baby names whilst he played with her fingers and toes. Giles was absolutely sure Buffy would never countenance them giving the baby his mother’s name—and he wasn’t sure that he didn’t agree with that. Harriet was an old-fashioned name and really didn’t suit this lovely young lady in his arms.
Buffy opened her eyes and took stock of her situation before trying to move. She didn’t ache anymore and she felt much better. Groaning mentally at the thought of how many hours of aerobics she was going to have to do to get back in shape, she sat up.
Giles looked up at her movement.
“Good morning, love. How are you feeling?”
“Good. I feel good. Not sore or anything. Show me our baby.”
He came over to the bed and crawled in next to her holding the child in his arms. “Isn’t she exquisite?”
Buffy examined her closely. “Pretty quality work, if I do say so myself. Isn’t it amazing? This little person came from you and me. Look, Rupert. She’s got your fingers.”
Buffy showed him how long the baby’s hands were. The pinkies had the slight twist that Giles’ hands also sported.
“That’s just amazing!” he whispered. He held up his hand that was nearly as big as the baby while Buffy held up the baby’s tiny paw.. They were identical in all but size.
“I hope she got your brains too.”
“Buffy, there is nothing wrong with your brain.”
“I know there isn’t, but why drive a, a Citroen when you can have a BMW?”
“That is a perfectly serviceable car! And your brain is far more than serviceable. You show flashes of brilliance, love. You’re just young, yet.”
“I want our daughter to have your book smarts. I can sometimes think on my feet, but I could study from now till the cows come home and I would never be up to your standards.”
“I could try from now till eternity and I could never have your loving heart,” he told her. “I love you and a very select number of other people, whom I reluctantly let get close to me. You open yourself and give your heart freely. It’s a beautiful gift. I hope our daughter gets that.”
Buffy pondered the thought. “If you open yourself, you get hurt. I never want her to hurt.”
“Hurting is a fact of life, love. Hopefully the love we share and bear for her will help her on her path. It’s all we can do.”
She snuggled against him. “I do love you so much, Rupert. And now, I love this little mutt too. You know, we don’t have a name?”
“I was just thinking that myself.”
“Any ideas?”
“Just that I’d like to name her something that marks the occasion, somehow. She is a brand new start for us, a new dawn, if you will.”
“Dawn, huh? That isn’t too bad. Dawn Giles. Needs a middle name.”
“My grandmother’s name was Gracelynn.”
“Dawn Gracelynn Giles. Not too shabby. I like it.”
“Strangely enough, I do too.”
There was a soft knock on the door and Joyce stuck her head inside. “Oh, good. You two are awake. I called the Doctor and he wants to see mother and baby right away.”
“We’re fine, mom.”
“I know, but it will make me feel better if you go get stuff checked out.”
Buffy shrugged. “OK, but I need a shower first.”
Joyce hesitated, “I know you said you weren’t going to breastfeed, but have you reconsidered at all? It’s really good for the baby.”
“Slayer here, mom. I can’t take my baby on patrol just in case I have to nurse.”
“Well, I brought a bottle of formula up. She needs to be fed.”
Giles got off the bed and retrieved the bottle. It felt warm. He handed it to Buffy and watched her feed their daughter who attacked the bottle like a hungry little piglet. He had to smile. Clearly, one of the characteristics this child shared with its parents was a hearty appetite.
Buffy watched the baby eat for a few minutes before looking back up at her mother. “We named her.”
“Oh?”
“Dawn Gracelynn Giles.”
“Hmmm. Not too bad. I would have named a second daughter Dawn..”
“Really? I never knew that.”
“Your father had a vasectomy after you were born. He just didn’t want any more children.”
Buffy crinkled her nose. “Yeah, well, those don’t always work, do they?”
~*~
The doctor’s appointment was pretty straightforward. He examined Buffy carefully and pronounced her 100% recovered from childbirth, a fact that amazed him. “I don’t understand how you heal so rapidly, Mrs. Giles.”
“Good genes?” she offered tentatively.
“I’d say excessively good.” He examined the baby and performed a number of tests. “Little Dawn looks good too. She’s strong and healthy. Congratulations.”
“Thanks. I think we did pretty good, even if I do say so myself.”
Buffy exited to the waiting room where Giles was talking to several expectant mothers. She was in time to hear part of the conversation.
“No, we weren’t trying to have a child. In fact, we had been told that it was impossible,” Giles told one woman near his own age.
“Middle-aged fertility is a bitch,” she admitted, patting her own protruding belly. She clearly assumed that Giles’ wife was his own age.
“Ah, well, my wife is a bit younger than I am.”
“Still…”
Buffy decided to intervene before he totally painted himself into a corner.
“Hey, Giles. We’re good to go.”
“Ah, Buffy. I trust everything was where it should be?”
“A-OK.” She handed him the baby, grabbed the diaper bag and her purse, and nodded to the assorted women who were watching with mouths open.
“This, this is your wife?” one asked in a semi-strangled tone of voice.
“Yes. This is Buffy and our child, Dawn.”
The women barely glanced at the baby. They were too taken aback by the girl standing in front of them. It was pretty clear that she was at least half Giles’ age. She also looked like she was perfectly healthy.
“I thought you said you just had the baby last night?”
“Yes. Buffy did very well.” He smiled loyally at his wife.
“But, but she’s all better! She doesn’t even have any excess weight!”
“I have a rapid metabolism,” Buffy told her blithely.
One of the women couldn’t resist the temptation. “How old are you?”
“I’m almost twenty,” Buffy replied brightly.
“Rupert said you’d been married three years!”
Buffy thought a minute. “Yeah, nearly.”
As a unit, the expectant mothers turned to Giles. This man had married a seventeen year old girl, had a child with her, and didn’t seem to be embarrassed over the fact.
“Weren’t you awfully young to be married? I mean, seventeen is still a minor, right?” one of the women questioned.
“Well, yeah, but there were special circumstances. Giles had just found me after I’d been kidnapped, drugged, and lost my memory of home. We didn’t want to wait after that.”
The other women looked shocked. Finally, one of them spoke up. “No, I guess you wouldn’t want to wait after that.”
Giles was still cradling the baby but he looked up at that. “That was a dreadful time in all our lives. We learned to set priorities. Waiting until Buffy was eighteen no longer seemed like a viable plan.”
“Let’s go, honey. The rest of our family is going to want to know that everything is OK.”
Giles smiled down at her. “Very true, my dear.” He glanced back at the women. “Thank you and I hope your pregnancies result in beautiful, healthy children.”