Title: Let that be a Lesson to you…part 5/11
Author: Sweetdoggie
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.
They got the children settled in front of the TV and Giles went off to prepare supper. Buffy took baby Willow upstairs and bathed her. She was so tiny that Buffy washed her in the sink. She wrapped the baby in a fluffy towel and took her into her bedroom, realizing as she set her down on the large bed that she had no sheets for the crib. Damn! She made sure Willow couldn’t roll off and went to the linen closet. Pulling out a flat sheet, she folded it in half and tucked it tightly around the crib mattress.
“Good enough for government work,” she muttered.
She found a fuzzy bunting and after freshly diapering the baby, got her dressed. It was a struggle because the tiny feet kicked and windmilled around. Buffy picked her up and gave her the last of the formula. She wondered if this was enough nutrition and made a vow to look up baby food on the Internet when she had an opportunity. Willow dropped off after being burped and Buffy arranged her carefully in the crib, drawing one of the soft baby blankets over her and putting a stuffed frog in the crib with her.
She snuck downstairs and found the girls were still watching TV. Xander was playing under the kitchen table with the Farmer game. She entered the kitchen and Giles gave her a look.
“What?”
“Why in God’s name did you buy them something that made those hideous noises?”
She looked at the toy ruefully. “Inexperience?”
“Let us hope no one gives them drums and a tuba.”
“Oh yeah.”
He had poached some chicken breasts and sliced them up into a green salad. After drizzling a bit of balsamic vinegar on the repast, he called the girls to eat. They looked at the salad on their plates as if it were a dangerous animal. Xander picked the chicken out and ate it and they finally followed suit.
“Yuck!” Anya told them. “Icky!”
“No, it’s good. Mmmmmm,” Buffy said taking a bite.
They looked unconvinced but were finally persuaded to try a bite of tomato. After three or so bites they were full anyway, so she wasn’t going to push them. If this turned into a long-term child-raising project, they’d have to learn to eat vegetables, but one night wasn’t going to kill them.
While she and Giles finished eating, the girls got into a food fight. Giles spoke sternly and they stopped for all of two minutes. In another second, they were pinching each other and managed to knock a cup of milk into his lap.
“Girls! Stop at once!” He thundered.
They looked suitably cowed. He cleaned up the milk. “There will be no more horseplay during meal times unless you wish to spend time alone in your room.”
Anya began crying and Giles felt like a beast. He was about to comfort her when he caught Buffy’s eye. Shaking her head no, she stood up, ignoring the crying child. “Time to have a bath! Who wants to be first?”
Nobody spoke up so Buffy swooped up Xander as the dirtiest. “Come on you mud pie! You’re getting cleaned up.”
She swept him up into her arms and he struggled and squealed like a young pig. After he nearly got away, she simply grabbed him by his ankle and carried him to the bathroom upside down. The novelty was enough to momentarily dull his hatred of bathing. Giles urged the girls to follow her and soon all five of them were in the bathroom.
They managed to get the children undressed but Xander wriggled free and took off at top speed for the stairs. Giles thundered after the boy and managed to catch him just as Xander started to slide down the stairs on his bare butt. Xander yelped and giggled when Giles caught him and swung him into his large, secure arms. “Don’t run from your mum, naughty boy.”
“Mum,” said Xander. He apparently liked the sound of the word because he repeated it about forty more times in the next few minutes.
Giles laughed and carried him in to the bathroom. “Here’s your mum.”
Xander held out his arms and Buffy took him and gave him a hug. She had run about three inches of water in the tub and carefully set all the children down into it. She and Giles each grabbed a baby and began washing. In a few minutes, amid much squealing, giggles and ear-piercing shrieks they were clean. Buffy lifted them out one at a time and dried them with fluffy towels. Deciding that tooth brushing was mandatory, she showed them how to handle it. Xander was simply too young and she finally had him open his mouth while she brushed his pearly white baby teeth. The girls were a bit better, but Giles ended up giving them a hand as well. After much rinsing and some excited spitting, everybody was ready for their jammies.
By careful maneuvering, she got them all into the bedroom.
Xander, revved up from the bath ran around the room naked before Giles caught him and wrestled the wriggling child into his nightwear. The girls were easier and not as excited and soon everybody was lying on the bed with their covers tucked around them.
“Story!” demanded Tara. The other two took up the refrain.
Giles sighed as Buffy handed him a book from the bag she had carried in earlier. He read them the story of the Three Bears and then Henny-Penny and Chicken Little. They fell asleep and he carefully closed the book and followed Buffy out of the room. He helped her clean the bathroom and gather up the baby clothes.
“Throw those in the washer, OK?” she requested. “I’d like to get started on patrol. I’ll try not to be out too long.”
“All right,” he agreed. “I’ll clean the kitchen as well.”
“Thanks. I know that’s my job since you cooked, but those kids just wear me out.”
He smiled at her. “Quite all right, love. You’ve taken on the lion’s share of the child-minding duty after all.”
“Yeah and I can’t begin to tell you how much I want you to find a reversal spell.”
He walked over to her and backed her against the wall. “I don’t know, not having the others around to make gagging noises when we tell them we love each other is rather pleasant.” He stroked one large hand down her cheek and bent over her slowly, giving her plenty of time to withdraw.
She angled her head up and slipped her arms around his shoulders. Their kiss was worth waiting for. He slid his hand over her shoulder and around her waist pulling her closer to him. “I love you, Buffy.”
“God! I love you too, Rupert. Why did we wait so long?”
They stroked and soothed each other and finally he backed away when their light petting was threatening to get out of control. “You’d better go, love, before I eat you up.”
She licked her swollen lips and wondered if patrol was all that important. He read the thought in her eyes and shook his head.
“Go. The sooner you are finished the sooner we can be together again.”
She nodded and headed downstairs. Grabbing up a couple of stakes from a drawer in the kitchen, she exited out the back door.