Daddy Knows... Best?

Rating: R
Disclaimer: All of the materials borrowed from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel belong to Joss Whedon and to the entities and companies associated with their creation. I have borrowed them for creative and entertainment purposes only. No compensation has been or ever shall be received for the writing below. No copyright infringement is intended. Please don't sue
Distribution: The Kennedy Fanfic Archive: http://www.kennedyfanfic.com/fanfic/
Wolf Tales: http://www.elfie.org/~wolfkin/wolftales/index.html
If you are interested in posting my story on your site, please contact me first for permission. I'm okay with the idea, I just wanna know where it ends up.
Feedback: Yes, please. Any type you wanna send. Can't fix what I don't know is broken, right?
Spoilers: Show's been off the air since May of 2003. Can they still be considered spoilers?
Author's Notes: I have kept to the BtVS/Angel canon to the end of Chosen and season 4 of Angel. After that, It's my little world!
F/F romance: This story assumes a loving and sexual relationship between people of the same gender. If this offends or is illegal for you, then please leave. Come back when you are older, have an open mind, moved, or changed your laws.
Pairing: Willow/Kennedy, Faith/Dawn, Buffy/Xander

Summary: Picks up immediately from the end of Build An Emerald City, Hank Summers has arrived and wants to meet the men in his daughter's lives..

Set-up: Gang is based in Cleveland, rotating new Slayers through a six month training cycle before sending them home or where ever the council assigns them. Giles spends three months in England, three months in the US. Permanently based in Cleveland are Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Kennedy, Faith, Xander, Rona, and Vi.

Chapter 1

Dawn slowly straightens from where she's leaning heavily on Willow, her mind still trying to process the fact that her father is apparently at the door. She still feels somewhat faint and incredibly reluctant to take the last few steps into the foyer where she will be able to see the man that abandoned them nearly a decade ago.

Willow holds the girl upright, worriedly trying to get a response from her. "Dawnie? Are you alright? Come on, sweetie, speak to me!" Getting nothing, she switches mental gears and sends her thoughts toward Buffy. [Buffy! I need help in the game room with Dawn, and I think your dad's here.]

The redhead winces at the power of the return thought, [WHAT!! On my way!]

"'M'ok, Will." Dawn mumbles. A few seconds later, she repeats in a slightly more normal voice. "I'm ok, now." She pauses, then, in a horribly forced bright tone, adds, "Let's go see my dad." With that, she pulls away from the witch and starts toward the front door.

Willow follows, but readies a holding spell, just in case. Buffy rarely talks about her father and Dawn never does, not in years. Whenever Buffy does say something, it's never with the same love and devotion she reserve for their mother. Actually, it's almost always with a goodly helping of contempt. "This should be interesting." she says under her breath.

Hank Summers smiles at the petite young brunette in front of him and asks again, "Are either Buffy or Dawn around?"

Kennedy stands, returning his friendly gaze with a helpless one. She's heard the stories, from both Willow and Buffy herself, about this guy, and she's not sure if she should let him stay or see if she can hit the sidewalk with him. [Although], she thinks to herself. [At least he had the decency to actually leave, unlike my dad, who was only there physically.]

"Uh, yeah. I-I think Dawn's in the game room with my fiance and Buffy's working out. Can you wait a..."

"Dad?" Dawn's voice echoes slightly in the large open space. She stands juts outside the game room doorway, making no move to close the distance.

Hank's eyes soften as he sees his daughter. "Dawnie? Is that you? My God, how you've grown! You're even more beautiful than your mother." He crosses to her and enfolds her in a hug that she doesn't return.

Buffy runs into the room as he releases her and the man turns toward his older daughter. The elder Summers looks at her, taking in her appearance, her beauty, the strength written large in her face. He misses the wariness and anger, though. "Buffy. You've turned into the kind of woman I'd hope you would. Strong, beautiful, in charge of your own life, from what I can see. I'm so proud!" He beams at her, still not seeing the anger building.

Buffy shakes off her stupor and holds a hand up as her father moves to hug her. "Dad, what the hell are you doing here and how the hell did you find us?"

Hank's smile dims a little at the blonde's questions, and he stops advancing toward her. "Your grandmother told me where you were when she wrote to me to tell me about Dawn's engagement. When I heard that my baby girl was getting married, I had to come and meet the fellow she's engaged to. I wanted to make sure he's the right one for our Dawnie!" He tries to make the statement a joke, but succeeds only in making Dawn scowl.

"Make sure he's the right one, huh?" she asks, stressing the pronoun.

Buffy signals her to back off, to let her handle this. "Thanks for coming Dad, but I've got this under control. Dawn's fiance is a wonderful person, and they have my complete support. She's perfect for Dawn, so thanks for dropping by. Come by again in another ten or fifteen years, ok?" The Slayer tries to usher him out the door.

He just smiles again. "Nonsense, Buffy. I don't even know when the wedding is. How am I supposed to give the bride away, if I don't even know when or where to show up?" He looks at his watch, then continues. "Listen, I have to go. I just wanted to make sure I had really found you both and to invite you to dinner tonight. Well, both of you and your fiance and your boyfriend, too, if you have one right now, Buffy. Bring your friends here, too, if you want."

"No, that's ok. We already have..." Buffy starts, trying to back out furiously.

Hank shakes his head. "I won't take no for an answer, so I'll see you all at eight at Rembrants down town, ok?" His eyes sparkle as his smile widens impossibly huge. "I have a surprise for both of you!"

With that, he turns and opens the front door, but looks back before leaving. "Nice to meet you all. Hope to see you tonight. Remember, Buffy. Eight o'clock, Rembrants. And Dawn, I can't wait to meet your future husband!" He leaves, closing the door behind him.

All eyes turn toward Buffy. She just stares at the closed door for a full minute, before saying disgustedly, "Aw, crap."

Chapter 2

"Buffy, I don't wanna go!" Dawn wails, arms crossed defiantly. "We haven't seen the man in ten years and now he wants to be in my wedding?! Tell him to go to hell and forget him!"

Buffy tries to get the younger girl to calm down. "I'm planning to, Dawn. Look, we can go eat his food, tell him everything's covered and thanks for coming by. I'll make sure he understands that we don't need him here."

"But why do I have to go? I mean, I haven't even seen a picture of him in years! He doesn't call, doesn't write, nothing! For years! Even when Mom was sick, he never called. Not once! If Grandma hadn't told him about her dying, I bet he would've asked where Mom was!"

Willow speaks up for the first time, adding her pleas to Buffy's. "Dawnie, no one's asking you to try to like him. Just to tolerate him long enough to see what this surprise is and for Buffy to convince him to go back to where ever he came from. One night's not too much to ask, is it?"

Dawn manages to say, "But, I..." before the front door opens again, admitting an anxious Faith.

The once dark Slayer quickly scans to room and spots her fiance, taking in her highly agitated state. Crossing the room, she engulfs the girl in a tight embrace. "God, Dawn! Are you ok?

Confusion arcs through the brunette's eyes as she returns the affection. "Sure. Why wouldn't I be?" She kisses her girl, then draws back, waiting for an answer.

Faith shrugs, a little confused herself. "Kennedy called me and said you were in trouble and that I should come home right away. She said you needed me."

Dawn smiles and kisses her Slayer again. "Always need you, lover, but I'm not in trouble. Well, not really." She pauses, an expression of distaste plainly evident. "It's just. - My dad showed up about an hour ago. He wants us, well, Buffy and me and my fiance to come to dinner. Faith, he thinks you're a guy!"

"You didn't tell him different?"

"He didn't give me the chance!" she cries, moving out of Faith's arms and gesturing wildly. "He was just - He was all 'Can't wait to meet him!' and 'Have dinner with me tonight!' and 'Hey! You've grown!'. Hello! Been ten years, that kinda happens.

"Then he just left! And now, Buffy wants us to go eat with the asshole and I don't want to." She stops and looks imploringly at her girl. "Tell her we're not going, baby! She won't leave me alone about it."

Faith watches her as she acts out her frustration and suppresses the automatic urge to comfort her. She knows Dawn has to get this out of her system before anyone, even her, can get the girl listen. In that, Faith hides a small smile, both Summers girls are exactly alike, though both would vehemently deny it.

The Slayer crosses to her girl and takes her into her arms, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. "Wait a minute, Dawnie, I'm still playin catch-up here." She turns toward her future sister in law. "B, how's about you tell what happened and why D's so upset."

"Faith, no! I said I don't want to see him!" Dawn complains, trying to pull away.

Faith tightens her arms slightly. "Never said we were, baby. Just want to know what's goin on, that's all. It's ok." she reassures her brunette, kissing her gently, but quickly. "B?"

Buffy watches as Faith does in seconds what she, Willow and Kennedy have been trying to do for an hour, calm her sister and get her to listen. She smiles to herself as she remembers Xander doing the same thing to her and Willow calming Kennedy that way. She feels the last of her reservations about the once rogue Slayer fall away as she finally sees what the others have all along. These two are right for each other.

She sees, at last, that Dawn will keep Faith out of trouble and working for good and Faith will, in turn, keep her sister safe and make her strong enough to fully live her life. She knows now that only death will separate them. [Although, in this family, that isn't quite the sure thing it is for most people,] she thinks, looking at a certain redheaded witch fondly.

Shaking off her thoughts, she looks at her dark haired counterpart and states, "Well, basically, what Dawn said is true. Our dad showed up about an hour ago, said he'd heard about you guys' soon to be married-ness and wants to meet you." She pauses, then adds, "Well, he said he wanted to meet the 'man' Dawnie was marrying. I tried to tell him he was wrong about that, but he just didn't hear what I said. Seemed like old times, with all the not hearing," she says somewhat bitterly.

Faith nods. "Ok, I got that part. What's this about dinner?" she asks, ignoring the part about the expectation that she's male. Faith herself was still occasionally amazed she was marrying another woman. She wouldn't change it for anything, but, even though she's known she was on the gay-er side of bisexual for years, she'd always assumed that if she did marry someday, it'd be to a guy.

When she'd fallen in love with the brunette teenager, she'd been as amazed as anyone. When she has realized that Dawn was the person she wanted to stay with forever, she'd spent several minutes marveling at the irony of it, then forgot it. She knew, from personal experience, that life was cold, lonely and hard and that if you managed to find someone who would share it with you, no matter what, you kept them, if they let you. Dawn was willing to stay with her, even knowing what she'd done, what she was capable of doing. More than that, the younger girl loved her and Faith loved her more than anything else she'd ever known. Nothing else mattered. Especially not the opinion of the jerk who'd left them years ago and never looked back.

Buffy just shrugs. "It's like Dawn said. He wants us all, especially me and Dawn and you, to meet him for dinner tonight at one of those really nice restaurants downtown. He also said he's got a surprise for Dawnie and me." She stops, trying to remember anything else her father had said. Suddenly, she looks toward her sister. "He also said Grandma told him how to find us. Dawn, how did she know?"

Willow interrupts, confused. "Buffy, I thought your grandmother was dead."

"Mom's mom, yeah. Dad's is going great. She even likes us. Sometimes." the blonde answers offhandedly, her eyes never leaving the younger Summers. "Dawn, did you tell her where we were? Cause, I haven't talked to her since before we left Sunnydale."

Dawn buries her face against Faith's shoulder, her face burning hotly. "I-I sent her a letter when Faith and I got engaged." She looks up at Buffy, still red faced. "Hey! I was telling everyone then, you know that! I mean, hello! Happiest day of my life, here." She stops and smiles at her Slayer. "Well, so far." She kisses Faith, slowly, but it starts building almost immediately.

"Do that later." Buffy commands, causing the couple to pull apart. "Why did write her? We're all registered with that database California put together, telling where people from Sunnydale moved to. She could've found us, if she wanted to, but she didn't, so we obviously didn't matter enough to her. Why'd you tell her?"

Dawn looks at the floor, chagrined at starting all this. Faith rounds on the oldest Slayer, anger building in her eyes. "Back off, B. It's not Dawnie's fault, so just drop that shit. You said it yourself, you're all in that file, with this address. He could've found us by doin a web search, right Red?"

"That's true, Buff. It would be easy, cause, there's a link on the state website to be all helpy," Willow confirms.

"So, see?" Faith continues. "He coulda found us, easy. D's letter doesn't matter at all."

Buffy reluctantly agrees. "Ok, fine. I still wanna know why she wrote to her." She takes a step toward her sister. "Dawn?"

The brunette looks even more embarrassed. "I-I. I guess the ghost of Anya was haunting me."

The blonde Slayer looks around at her friends, matching their perplexed expressions with one of her own. "I think I speak for all of us here, when I say, 'Huh?'"

Dawn's face looks like it's about to catch fire and her eyes are closed as she answers in a very small voice, "I wanted a wedding present from her."

For thirty seconds, nothing happens, then, starting with Buffy, the others begin laughing. It gets harder by the second, til Faith can't keep standing. She falls into the nearest chair, pulling Dawn with her, the younger girl ending up on her lap.

The brunette swats at her lover. "Stop laughing at me! I mean it!"

Faith manages to choke out between giggles, "Not... at... you... baby. Just... you're right. Just... such a... demon-girl... thing... to do!" She collapses against her fiance, the laughter redoubling. Dawn glares at her Slayer and friends for another few seconds, then breaks up and joins them.

A few minutes pass before the friends can pull themselves back under control, but one by one, they do. Buffy looks at her sister and says, "Ok, since this is really your fault," At a glare from Faith, she adds, "At, least partly, you have to go to dinner. Both of you."

"But..."

Faith kisses her lips, silencing the protest. "No buts. We're going." Seeing the anger and determination building in her girl's eyes, the Slayer says, "Think of it like this, Dawnie. We go, he buys us dinner, then he goes away. That's his wedding gift and he doesn't have to come back, right?"

Dawn sits on her Slayer's lap and broods for several minutes, then, reluctantly, replies, "Ok. We'll go." She looks at Buffy, fire still in her eyes. "But, if he says one stupid thing, especially about being in my wedding, if he won't take go to hell as an answer, I'm coming home. I mean it."

The blonde just nods. "That's fair." She looks around at her gathered friends and family. "Come on, guys. The restaurant he said is in the rich part of town, so we need to dress up. That means you two as well, Willow, Kennedy." She smiles wickedly. "He said bring my friends, so he can buy you dinner, too!"

Willow glances at her Slayer, seeing her nod. "Ok, Buff. We'll tag along. Just, be nice, both of you? At least until he's not."

Buffy agrees, but Dawn just scowls. Willow sighs and takes Kennedy's hand, leading her girl to their room to get ready. Buffy leaves as well, heading for her room to pick out a suit for Xander and to call him with the evening's plans.

Faith hugs her fiance tightly, kissing her cheek. "Hey. Thanks for agreeing, baby. I know you don't really want to do this."

Dawn turns toward her Slayer. "Then why am I? Why was this so important to you? You've never even met my Dad."

"That's part of the why. Look, D, I liked your Mom. She was great and always nice to me. Well, except for that one time, but no blame here. I did kinda take her hostage and..."She shakes her head. "Anyway, I liked Joyce, a lot. I got real sad when Willow told me she was gone cause I wanted to tell her I was sorry and then I couldn't."

The Slayer cups her brunette's cheek as her eyes begin to fill as she remembers her mother. "Sorry, baby. Didn't mean to make you sad." She kisses her lightly. "Anyway, where I was goin with this, was, I know that your dad ran off and left you guys. I know that this is the first time you've seen him in years, but I want to meet him. I want to know that everything in you came from your mom and Buffy. That's all."

Dawn looks into the once rogue's eyes, her own a little hard. "You want to know if I'll leave you someday the same way."

Faith violently shakes her head. "Not even a worry. We both know, with the whole 'Get some, get gone' attitude I used to have, I'm the one who's more likely to run, and that's so not a worry. You're everything I want in life, well, besides a vampire to stake now and then."She flashes a grin and Dawn returns it, eyes rolling.

"Seriously, D, you're stuck with me. You're the one who wanted us to start seeing each other, so now you gotta put up with me for a while. That ok?"

Dawn just smiles big, tears slipping down her cheeks. "Can that while be forever?"

The Slayer matches her smile with a tender one, a smile only Dawn ever sees. "That was my plan. You're mine now and I belong to you. Now and forever. Nothing's gonna change that and I'll kill anyone who tries!" Her words choke off as the emotions become too much and she softly kisses her girl, once, twice, then again before simply holding her close for some immeasurable time.

Finally, Faith pulls back a little, touching her forehead to Dawn. "Come on, babe. We need to start gettin ready if we're gonna be on time."

Dawn sniffles and answers, "Ok." She suddenly smiles. "Can I order something expensive to eat?"

Faith just laughs and sets her fiance on her feet. Taking her hand, she leads the girl to the stairs. "Sure. Speakin personally, I'm planning on totally eatin like only a Slayer can. Hope he's rich!"

The former Key just giggles and wraps her arm around her love as they head for their room.

Chapter 3

Xander walks into the room he shares with Buffy, looking around for her. Hearing the shower in the bathroom stop, he walks in there, just in time to see his girlfriend leaving the stall, rubbing her hair vigorously. She gives a gasp, reflexively trying to cover up, then scowls at him.

"Xander! You scared the crap outta me!"

He smiles, a little lustily as he studies his Slayer's nude, damp form. Shaking his head and looking to the side a bit, so he can think of something besides his beautiful girlfriend, he notices the suit laid out. "Did I forget we were going out?"

Buffy's reply is muffled by the towel as she finishes drying her hair. "No, but yeah, we're going out." She removes the towel and hangs it up to dry, stalling. "Did I ever introduce you to my dad?" She finally gets out.

Xander thinks for a moment, the answers, "No, don't think so. Heard about him, of course. Usually you or Dawn saying something not so good." His eye narrows suspiciously. "Why? Did I miss something today?"

The blonde grimaces, then turns to face her man. "Well, yeah. Uh, my dad kinda showed up today. Here. He wanted to treat me and Dawn and our 'boyfriends' to dinner. So I got you a suit ready, since it's a fancy restaurant. You should hurry and shower. We need to be there a little before eight."

The confused man waves his hands in a stop motion, as he says, "Whoa, wait! Ok, couple things I'm not real clear on here. Your dad was here today? The one you haven't seen in, what? Ten years, or so? And we're going to dinner with him?"

Buffy sighs and reaches for her underwear, slipping it on as she answers. She grins and ignores the whine from her boyfriend as she dresses herself. "Yeah, he was here. Big as life and twice as unwelcome-y. And, yeah, ten years, three months a few odd days." she completes, her tone harsh.

Xander lowers the toilet lid and sits down. "But who's counting, right?" he attempts to joke. Seeing the look she gives him, he drops it. "Ok, if you don't want him here, why are we getting dressed up to go have dinner with him? And, why did he show up now?"

"He's here because he heard Dawn's getting married. He invited us to dinner because he wants to meet his future 'son' in law."

Xander's eyebrows drew down in confusion, then rose in realization of what was likely to happen. "You guys didn't tell him about the pronoun problem, huh?"

Buffy shrugs. "He didn't really give us a chance. I tried to tell him he didn't need to stay, that I had it all under control. I even tried to tell him that Dawn's fiance was perfect for her. She's perfect for her, I said, but he didn't listen. Nothing new there!" she says bitterly.

"And he still didn't get the clue?" Xander asks, then he smiles and looks directly at his blonde. "Wait. You said Faith was perfect for Dawnie?" She nods. "You did? My Slayer? The one who doesn't just hold grudges. She takes care of them til they're fully grown, into big, strong vendettas? That Buffy?"

She grimaces at him, then throws a pillow from their bed at the man's head. "Shut up!"

He dodges with a laugh and tackles her back onto the bed, turning as they fall so she's on top. She giggles at his action, they leans in, laying across his chest and kisses his lips for a second before drawing back quickly.

"Yuck!" she exclaims. "You forgot to shave this morning." The blonde rubs her upper lip and cheek, trying to remove the scratchy feelings the stubble on her man's face has put there.

He chuckles as he watches her. "I didn't forget. I'm trying to grow a beard." At her scowl, he quickly expands on his explanation. "Winter's coming and I wanted to keep my face warm."

Buffy gives him a disgusted look. "Wanna keep your bed warm?" He nods enthusiastically. "Then lose the fur," she tells him sternly.

He grins and tries to rub his cheek against hers, but the agile blonde rolls off him and then off the bed, keeping the furniture between them. "Seriously, Xander Harris. Unless you want to sleep alone for the foreseeable future, you need to undergo some serious defuristation!"

The Slayer puts on her own resolve face and Xander just holds up his hands and heads for the bathroom. After all, she might not have been joking about sleeping alone.

They all meet in the foyer again and all stops have been pulled. Xander is handsome and respectable in his best suit, looking every inch the young architect he's becoming.

With the loss of his eye and therefore, depth perception, he could no longer do the actual construction work he loved, so he'd found a more than acceptable substitute in learning to design buildings. He'd even enrolled in college part time to take the necessary classes to get his architecture certifications and degrees and Buffy and Willow have never been prouder of him.

The ladies have similarly pulled out the stops, all of them unconsciously trying to outdo each other. Buffy, Willow and Dawn have changed into evening gowns of various colors. Black for the blonde, cobalt blue for the brunette and forest green for the red head, all with contrasting wraps. Kennedy and Faith are both in black pants and silk tank tops, leather and gold for the younger Slayer and jeans and a red top for the older. Both are wearing black satin jackets and boots.

Compliments are exchanged and the group separates to their respective cars. They all arrive at the restaurant with ten or so minutes to spare and head in. Identifying themselves to the maitre 'd, the three couples are escorted to corner table set for ten.

As they approach, Buffy and Xander in the lead, they see Hank Summers sitting there, alternating between looking toward the door and the rear of the restaurant. When he spots his daughter, he stands and smiles.

Giving a small wave, he calls, "Buffy! Over here!"

The Slayer smiles in return, though Xander can tell it's a bit forced. "Hi, Dad." She waves the others over, making sure Dawn sits beside her and farthest from their father. "Dad, this is my boyfriend, Xander Harris."

Hank and Xander shake hands, the older man smiling at the younger. "Good to meet you, son. Are you taking care of my little girl?" He notices the eye patch, but says nothing, out of politeness.

Xander chuckles. "More she takes care of me, but I do what I can."

Hank smiles and nods, looking back at his oldest daughter to continue the introductions.

Waving her hand at Willow, the blonde smiles at her best friend, though it dies a bit when she turns it told her father. "I think you met Willow when we first moved to Sunnydale, but, if not, this is my best friend, Willow Rosenberg." Hank smiles and nods at her. "And the lady beside her is her fiance, Kennedy Perez."

The elder Summers' smile fades a bit, but he replies, "Nice to meet you both. Did Buffy say the two of you were engaged?"

The redhead smiles and blushes a bit, taking her girl's hand. "Yes, we are. Dawnie and I have been helping each other plan our weddings, though we're trying to schedule everything so they're a few months apart. We kinda got engaged on the same day, but we don't want the weddings held that way. Lots of separation, in fact. We really don't-"

Her words are cut off by Kennedy's lips as her Slayer kisses her in thetime honored way to stop Willowbabble. The others, totally used to this, just grin as the couple's kiss lasts for a few seconds. Xander, however, sees Hank's smile completely die for a second, then he looks away. His eye narrows as he processes this, wondering if there's a problem.

Buffy, smiling even bigger at Willow's embarrassed blush as she and Kennedy finally pull apart, turns to her dad, intending to introduce Faith. Before she can, Hank smiles and looks off behind his daughter.

Smiling proudly, Hank nods and motions to someone just out of Buffy's sight and she starts to turn that way, but doesn't turn quite quickly enough. "Buffy, Dawn, everyone. I've got someone for you to meet, too." He holds out his arm and an attractive, thirty-something blonde woman slides in under it long enough to give the man a pecking kiss on the cheek. She draws away from him slightly as he rotates toward the Scoobie group.

"Everyone, this is my wife, Gloria." He looks at his daughters, both of whom are sitting with very serious expressions. This was woman their father left their mother for. "We were married a little over six years ago."

He nods at his wife and she bends over for a second, standing again with a light brown haired little boy on her hip. "And this is Greg. Your baby brother."

Chapter 4

Dawn scowls and addresses her sister, ignoring their father and his new family. "Aw, come on, Sis! It's been years since he's actually given a damn about us. Why would he think we'd care about knowing we had a brother?" She shakes her head and stands, glancing at Faith. "You know what? I was right. This is a mistake." She looks at her father, her eyes cold and hate-filled.

Before she can say anything, though, Buffy stands beside her gives her a Slayer-y look and she changes what she was going to say.

"I need to... I'm..." She shakes her head and walks quickly toward the restrooms.

Faith watches her for a second, then glances at Buffy. The elder Slayer nods slightly and Faith is up and after her girl like a shot.

Hank frowns a little as he watches his youngest daughter storm off, then gets a little confused about who the young woman that runs after her is. His eyes slide back to his other daughter. "Um... Buffy. Who was that? And where is Dawnie's fiance? I thought he was coming with you."

Buffy's expression goes from annoyed to apprehensive. "Oh, uh... That was Faith. Andrews. She lives with us. Well, with Dawn, to be exact."

Hank's face shows his confusion, though his wife's expression is much clearer, as well as somewhat unhappy. "What? Lives with Dawn. Are they roommates or something? Cause your house looked kinda big. Like everyone had their own room, so why would she have to share."

The Slayer mentally grimaces and looks at her family, hoping for some help. Xander looks back at her, his expression supportive, but he doesn't say anything. Willow looks much the same as Xander, though she's smiling, watching the antics of her little brother, while Kennedy appears to be watching Gloria. Glancing at her brother, she sees that her... "step-mother"([God, how weird is that to think about!] she thinks) now has little Greg in a high chair and the boy is happily playing with a couple cars.

Taking a deep breath, she turns back to her father. She forces a smile and says, "Well, yeah, I guess you could say they're roommates, in that they share a room. And you're right, they don't have to share. They want to, kinda the same way Will and Kennedy want to, or Xander and I. Cause..." She stops, realizing she's babbling. Grinning a little, she turns to Willow. "Sorry, Will. The babbling is your job!"

The redhead smiles broadly, even laughs a little. "No, that's okay, Buffy. It's cute when you do it!" She bubbles.

Kennedy gives her a heart melting smile. "Yeah, but nowhere near as cute as when you babble," she says, raising their joined hands to kiss the back of Willow's.

Xander, smiling and looking at Buffy to add something, sees a shudder run through Buffy's father, as well as a sour look. His eye narrows and a sense of foreboding flits through his mind.

"Yeah, but you're biased," Willow flirts back with her fiance.

Hank's voice cuts through the couple's playful bantering. "Buffy, I'm still waiting to know where Dawn's fiance is. Why didn't he come with you like I asked?" His expression is somewhat stern and expectant, his tone insistent and bordering on demanding.

Buffy takes a deep breath even as her eyes narrow. "Dad, I tried to tell you this earlier, but you didn't listen. There is no 'he'. Dawn is engaged to Faith. She's Dawnie's fiance." She stops and waits for her father's reaction.

Faith looks around for a moment, until she finally spots the hidden entrance to the restroom. [Damn good thing I don't really have to piss,] she thought acidly. [It'd already be runnin' down my leg time I found this place!] Pushing the door open, she immediately starts looking for Dawn. Not seeing her by the sinks or mirror area, she move over and starts to walk slowly by the stall doors. At the far end, she hears a familiar noise and, this close, detects the scent of her fiance. She knocks softly on the metallic door.

"This one's in use. Next one down." Dawn's terse voice floats up.

"Diz, it's me. Can I come in?" Faith says softly. After a moment, the latch slides, the door moves an inch or so and Faith pulls it open enough to slip inside. "Hey baby. You okay?"

Dawn stands with her back to the wall, her eyes focused on the other side of the stall. Absently, she wipes at a tear that slowly inches down her cheek. "Will be," she whispers. Wiping another tear away, she takes a deep breath and says, "I told you this was a bad idea."

Faith reaches out and runs the back of her fingers down Dawn's arm and gives her a little smile. "Well, yeah, you did, but so far? Not really seein' the bad." The younger woman looks up and stares at Faith sharply and the Slayer holds up her hands. "Whoa! All I'm sayin' is, so far, all that's happened is we found out your dad's married again and that you're a big sister. Where's the bad part?"

"Are you serious?" The former Key's eyes open wide in incredulity, then narrow. "Faith, did you miss that little presentation out there? I mean, if he really gave a shit about me or Buffy, wouldn't he have tried to contact us before now? Maybe just to, I don't know, tell us that we had a new brother before now? Or maybe, 'Hey girls! Did you know I married the air headed bitch I left your mother for?' Would that have been too much to ask for?"

The once rogue gives her lover a hooded look. "So, which are you pissed about? The brother, the new wife or the never telling you about any of it?"

"Yes," was the petulant reply.

Faith just laughs and pulls the younger girl into a tight hug. Pulling back a little, she kisses her fiance, softly at first, then with rising passion until then have to stop, oxygen becoming a serious issue. "Tell you what, Diz," she says, still a little breathless. "Let's go back and intro me to the old man, then we'll eat his food and get an address for him." Seeing Dawn about to protest, she adds, "So you can keep in touch with the kid. Don't wanna be like the sperm donor, right? Ignore him for the next 10 years or so, then show up and screw around with his life?"

Dawn shook her head quickly. "No, I definitely don't wanna do that. I mean, it's not Greg's fault our dad's a worthless pile of shit, right?" She smirks and tries to pass off her comment as a joke, but Faith knows her too well and can plainly see the hurt behind her words.

"No, it's not." The Slayer agrees, then holds up a hand. "But you need to remember, your dad's always been there, as far as the kid knows, so you need to be careful with what you say, right?" Dawn looks away a little and Faith sighs. "Baby, I'm not sayin' you gotta praise the man or nothin', just not talk shit about him in front of baby brother. I mean, I know how you feel about him and I remember everything B ever said about him years ago when we were patrollin', but to the littlest Summers there, he's Daddy and Daddy is pretty much a god." She turns her girl's face toward her and smiles. "So play nice, okay, Dizzy?"

The younger brunette tries to glare at her fiance, but, almost against her will, she slowly smiles, then pouts. "Stop that! I was in a perfectly good rotten mood and you ruined it!" Dawn complains, lightly punching Faith's shoulder before hugging her girl and laying her head on the same spot. "Okay, I know you're right. Greg is innocent and when I talk to him," she stresses the qualification. "I'll be nice and big sisterly and not saying anything bad about Dad." She looks up at her Slayer. "You do know that this means you get to hear me bitch about him, right?"

The once rogue just laughs and slips her arms around Dawn and hugs her just as tightly. "Ain't that why I'm here?" She asks flippantly. "Well, that and making you crazy and gettin' B to cut you some slack and then there's the wild sex 'til you pass out on me and..."

Dawn cuts off whatever else her lover has to say with a deep, exploring kiss, one that leaves both women breathless. She smiles at the older woman. "You were saying?"

Faith grins at her. "I was sayin', we go back out, we eat a little dinner, then I suddenly remember I forgot to tell Rona and Vi they needed to cover patrollin' and we need to leave. We're outta here in forty-five minutes, an hour tops. That work?"

"Can it be a little quicker?" Dawn asks, wistfully.

"All depends on how fast they cook the food, babe."

The former Key takes a deep breath and slowly nods. "Okay." Another deep breath. "Okay, I can do this. I can be polite for an hour." She spits her lover with an intense stare. "I'm expecting a reward for all this, you know, so you better start thinking something up!"

Faith just smiles wickedly and leans in to whisper something in Dawn's ear. Pulling back a little, she playfully kisses her girl's nose. "That reward enough, or do I need to think of something else?" She laughs at Dawn's lost, lustful expression.

Shaking her head and grinning from ear to ear, the younger woman kisses her fiance soundly, then pulls away, grabbing her hand. "Come on, let's get this over with, cause now we need to get home fast!!"

The Slayer just laughs and allows herself to be dragged from the room.

Hank sits there, staring at Buffy for nearly a full minute, his face plainly showing that he's trying to process this information. Finally, he finds his voice. "Let me get this straight, Buffy. You're telling me my little girl thinks she's going to get married to another woman? Do you hear how crazy that is?"

The blonde's expression slams shut and, even without Willow's telepathy, she can hear the indignant thoughts coming from Kennedy and the hurts ones from her best friend. Suddenly hard eyes lock on her father. "No, Dad, it's not crazy! And Dawn doesn't think she's marrying another woman, she is. No one can help who they fall in love with and Dawn fell for Faith. If you spent any time with them, you'd see that they're good together, that they give each other what they each need, like any great couple should. They both have my complete blessing and I can't wait for their wedding!"

The eldest Summers shakes his head, unable to believe Buffy has deluded herself this much, unable to believe she would let Dawn choose this kind of life. He now intensely regrets not contacting his daughters after their mother died, not bringing Dawn into his home to finish raising her. Obviously, Buffy has allowed someone, probably her redheaded friend and her "fiance", to fill Dawn's head with nonsense.

Well, maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe he could still talk sense into one or both of his girls, Make them see how perverted and wrong the idea of two women "marrying" was. Not to mention, illegal in this country. Surely Buffy wouldn't advocate her little sister breaking the law!

A memory of when Buffy was growing up surfaces and he nods to himself. Buffy always did like to follow the trends and Dawn was showing signs that she was going to be the same way when he and Joyce had separated. Right now, if the news was correct, it was "trendy" to declare yourself "gay" and take a same sex lover. He also knew that most of those people discovered how wrong they were and regretted it immensely. Well, he wasn't about to let his baby girl throw her life away for the sake of being trendy!

Hank looks at Buffy, intending to start his goal of "saving" his girls, but, before he can say a word, the waiter comes by to take drinks orders. He sits back, silently watching his eldest and her friends, allowing Gloria to order him a drink. The first thing he notices is, except for Dawn, and maybe the Kennedy girl, all of them are old enough to order alcoholic beverages, but they all stick to soft drinks. He's not terribly surprised when Buffy orders for Dawn, but is a little bit when she also orders for the other girl... Faith, was it? She's the only one who gets anything even faintly 'adult' to drink, as Buffy orders her a beer.

The waiter finally leaves and again, he's cut off from what he was going to say by Dawn and her... "friend" coming back. Even in his own mind, the man can't make himself apply the term fiance to the slightly older girl with his daughter. Shaking his head, he finally notices Buffy is speaking, though not to him.

"... for you and a beer for Faith. Is that okay?"

Dawn catches Faith's nod and she smiles reassuringly at her sister. "Yeah, thanks Buffy." Taking a deep breath, she turns and faces her father. "Sorry about that, Dad, but..." she trails off for a second, then forces a smile, one that turns genuine when she looks at her lover. "Dad, I'd like you to meet Faith Andrews, my fiance. Faith, this is Hank Summers, my father." After the formal introduction, Dawn waits for Hank's reaction.

All his usual pleasantries stick in his throat. After all, he can't say 'it's nice to meet you', cause it's not. Just as he's not please to meet her either. Finally, he realizes he's waited a beat too long to respond. "Yes, Buffy was telling me about... my mistake," he responds with, forcing a tight smile. "So, this is the... um, person you're... engaged to? Yes, um, hello, Faith, was it?"

Faith forces a smile and nods tightly, but flicks a glance at Dawn. The younger brunette shrugs helplessly and turns a hard stare of her father

He starts to say something about Dawn rethinking this choice, but Greg bangs his car on the tray of the high chair he's in, drawing his attention and he decides that this might not be the best place or time for that kind of talk. From what little Buffy has already said and they way they've reacted, the entire group believes this "gay" thing is okay. [And maybe it is,] he thinks. [For the redhead and her "friend", but I can't let one of my daughters ruin her life like this. But I don't want to fight with them, not here and not in front of Gregory.]

Forcing a jovial smile, Hank looks over the entire group. "Well, I think that's enough wedding talk for now. Buffy, Dawn, we can always get together later and discuss that." The sisters look at each other at his words, Buffy worried and Dawn angry. Hank didn't even let Faith respond to his greeting! "Oh, and you too, of course, uh, Faith. For now, why don't you tell me about yourselves and what you've been doing here. Buffy, where do you work?"

The oldest Slayer turns a 'deer in the headlights' look at her father as what she'd been preparing to say is neatly sidetracked. She stumbles for a moment to answer him. "Me? Oh, uh, well, you see, uh..." She grinds a halt, pauses to collect her thoughts, then tries again. "Actually, I have, well, two jobs. An old boss of mine got me a job at one of the local high schools as a kind of counselor, which is what I did just before we left Sunnydale.

"I also work part time, in the evenings as a self defense instructor for girls. Well," she corrects herself with a smile at her fellow Slayers. "Faith, Kennedy and I own the place. They do most of the work, with Will and Dawn helping with the office type work." She looks back at her father. "You might say it's a family business," she says, in a deliberate, very satisfied tone. She also very pointedly includes only the Scoobies in her description of 'family'.

"I see," Hank replies, looking thoughtful. "And you help with this... 'school', Dawn?"

Dawn pastes a sickly sweet smile on her face. "Yeah, I help out, mostly so I can spend more time with my fiance. I'm also taking classes toward business and history degrees."

The elder Summers looks at his younger daughter proudly. "A double major? How are your grades? Really good, I'll bet! You always did love school and I'm sure that hasn't changed."

Once more, he ignores the whole concept of Faith and Dawn being engaged and again, Dawn notices and gets even angrier. She opens her mouth to say something, but Buffy cuts her off. "Sorry, Dawnie, but does anyone mind if we go ahead and order? I didn't get any lunch and I'm just really hungry now!" She smiles brightly, but all the Scoobies can tell it's false. That she's just trying to stop an argument before it can start.

Buffy looks at Willow and thinks, [Will, can you hear me?]

[Yeah. What's up? Oh, and sorry, but I don't think I like your dad.] The witch looks apologetic.

Buffy actually smiles at Willow's thoughts and expression. [Hey, I don't like him! Why should you be different?] She gives her head a little shake. [Listen, can you tell Dawnie to calm down and not start an argument now, please? Tell her let's just eat and get out of here, okay?]

Willow nods and looks toward Dawn, who jerks a little and looks at Willow, then hotly at Buffy. The elder Slayer smiles her 'Please? For me?' smile and her sister rolls her eyes, but nods minutely. "Thank you," Buffy whispers. [Thanks, Will,] she sends as well. The redhead smiles and bows her head a little.

Unaware of their silent conversation, Hank responds to Buffy's request by calling over the waiter. "Sure, Buffy, we can order. And you shouldn't skip meals! You're just too skinny now!" He tries to make his smile seem concerned and fatherly, but, along with the comment, it just makes Buffy angry again.

Biting back a retort, the blonde Slayer takes a deep breath and forces herself to calm down once more, taking her own advise. Sensing motion, she looks up and almost smiles in relief as their waiter approaches and everyone busies themselves with ordering dinner.

After the waiter is finished and leaves, Buffy searches for a topic of discussion that won't tick someone at the table off, but can't think of anything. She starts to panic, then is startled into a confused, "Huh? Um, what did you say, Dad?"

He smiles a little. This is the Buffy he remembers, easily distracted. "I asked, how do you meet Xander? And have you been dating long?"

"Oh! Uh, we, uh, we met my first day at Sunnydale High. Just before I met Willow, in fact." Thinking back to the first time she met either of her best friends, Buffy smiles gently at both of them, amazed at how far they've all come. She gives her head a little shake, returning her mind to the present. "Oh, and we've been dating about a year." She looks at Xander, her eyebrows drawn down, like she's unsure of her facts. "Is that right, Xan? About a year?"

He smiles indulgently. "Just over, Buff. Will and Kennedy have us all beat, with their third year mark coming up, then Faith and Dawnie, with just over two years, then us." She looks at his family and his smile gets bigger and much warmer. "All still deliriously happy, too, right guys?" He flicks his eye toward Hank, letting Buffy know he's caught all the tricks and slights and that this is his way of fighting back. Subtlety.

The other two couples smile at each other and Kennedy kisses Willow's hand as Faith does the same with Dawn's. Xander also kisses the back of Buffy's hand, but watches Hank and Gloria's reactions at the same time. Not giving any sign, he frowns internally and thanks God that Buffy stayed with her mother after the divorce. Not just because the world would've been destroyed several times over if she hadn't been in Sunnydale, but because he just can't imagine his wonderful, understanding, supportive Slayer being raised by the man sitting across the table from them.

"So this is the same boy you used to tell me about when I would pick you guys up for a weekend? I thought you said then that you were just friends." Mr Summers asks, looking for clarification. Once more, he ignores the mention of the other couples. He does flick a glance at Willow. "And are you the same Willow that Buffy was always telling me about? The last time we talked, she said you were dating a boy in some garage band. Whatever happened to him?" He stresses the word 'boy' ever so gently.

Buffy gives her father a harsh stare and signals Willow to not rise to the bait. "Yes, Dad, they're the same two people I used to tell you about. As for the last time I told you anything about them, well, that was almost eight years ago. A lot of things can change in that amount of time. People can grow up and change. And besides," she looks around at her friends, taking in Kennedy, Dawn and Faith's pissed off looks, Willow's drawn expression and Xander's flush. "Everything worked out the way it was supposed to and definitely for the better!"

The blonde Slayer takes a deep breath, calming herself and forcing a more even tone into her voice. "Now, would you answer a few questions for me?" She asks her father. He nods, looking a little chagrined for upsetting Buffy so badly. "I seem to have a little brother I know nothing about. Wanna fix that?"

Hank smiles, relieved and begins to tell the Scoobies about Matthew Gregory Summers, complete with little anecdotes of things the little boy has done that his doting parents consider cute and noteworthy. The stories continue right up until the food arrives and sporadically during the meal.

As the meal winds down, the dessert cart is wheeled over and Hank notices, not too surprisingly, Dawn, Xander and the redhead, Willow, all select a small cake or pastry. The others are what truly startle him, since all three women are slender and, between the three of them, you couldn't squeeze more than two pounds of fat. He watches, his disbelief mounting as Buffy chooses a truly monstrous confection and Faith and Kennedy both select two desserts, both choices on the large side.

"My God!" Gloria exclaims as she too watches the three women dig into their treats. "How can you eat that many calories and look like you don't care in the slightest? I know you're all young, but you just have to be worried about your figures!"

Buffy self-consciously stops eating, then reconsiders when Faith and Kennedy just shrug and take a slightly bigger bite of what they're eating. She gives Gloria a somewhat condescending smile. "Well, our self defense classes and workout schedules are pretty energy intensive, so the only problem with calories is usually that there's not enough of them." She takes another bite and smiles at the now envious woman. "Means we can pretty much eat whatever we want." She sighs as she takes another bite of the delicious, sugary treat.

The older blonde graces all three Slayers with a fake smile that does nothing to hide her jealousy. "You're all so lucky, then! Maybe I should copy you and start the same exercise program."

Buffy freezes for a second, but Kennedy immediately asks, "Do you work out now? Regularly, I mean?"

"No, nothing regular," she admits. Smiling at Greg, she adds, "With a two year old, I don't really have time for visits to the gym."

Kennedy smiles regretfully. "Then you couldn't do this one. It's designed for people who work out regularly and really intensely. To be honest, you'd hurt yourself before the first hour was up." She looks at Buffy and winks where neither Gloria nor Hank can see. "Wouldn't you agree, Buffy?"

She nods and turns a sincere look onto her step mother. "Kennedy's absolutely right. Exercise is good and you should if you want, but our program is really for experts only." She does a little double take, like she's just noticed something. Rotating her arm up so she can look more fully at her watch, Buffy asks, "Is it that late?"

Automatically, Hank looks at his own watch and frowns. It's not quite nine thirty. That's not very late.

"Sorry to eat and run, Dad, but I have to be up to get ready for work at six in the morning and I think Dawnie has an early class. Right, Sis?" Dawn nods. "See? And, when you add the forty minute drive, well, we're kinda pushing things, So, again, sorry, but we should be going now." At her words, all the Scoobies finish what they're eating and stand.

Hank watches helplessly. True, the evening hasn't gone exactly like he'd planned, but it's still the first real time he's spent with his girls in years and he isn't ready for it to end. Still, work is important and maybe he should've scheduled this dinner a little earlier. With a sigh, he admits defeat and smiles at Buffy. "I understand, sweetheart. It's really good that you have such a great sense of responsibility, so thank you for indulging me with dinner tonight." He looks over the group. "It was... good... to meet you all."

Everyone nods or smiles tightly as they start to move away from the table. Buffy smiles. "Thanks for dinner. Oh, and if you would, pass along our compliments to the chef, okay? Everything was so good!" She smiles again, then walks over to Greg's high chair. Squatting down, she smiles and reaches out to lightly ruffle sandy blonde hair. "Bye, little brother. You be good, okay?"

The little boy giggles at the caress, but shyly doesn't speak. Straightening, the Slayer looks at her father and her smile dims ever so slightly. "Bye, Dad." She turns to leave.

"Buffy, wait!"

She turns back, an eyebrow cocked in polite inquiry.

Hank waits a second for her to say something, but, when it's apparent she isn't gonna say anything, he asks, "Would it be all right if I came by your place tomorrow afternoon? We never really got a chance to talk about this marriage of Dawn's and I'd still like to."

Buffy sighs and seriously considers telling him no. She starts to, then decides it's Dawn's decision. If she wants to take to their father, wants him to attend, or even participate in her wedding, then that's her choice. Hers and Faith's and she has no say in it. Sighing again, she turns the same glare she uses on vamps on her father. "If you want, but if Dawnie says she doesn't want to talk to you about it, and she might, then that's that. It's her wedding and her decision is final about it. Agreed?"

Hank hesitates, then slowly nods. He can't talk sense to Dawn if he can't talk to her, so his choice seems obvious. "I can live with that. What would be a good time?"

"About four," Buffy responds, not really thinking about it. "We'll see you then." Without another word, she turns and leaves. Catching up with the others in the lobby, she takes in Dawn's frown and grimaces. a little.

"So, what did he want? I heard him call you back," she softly snarls.

Buffy tries a soft little smile. "I was just saying goodbye to Greg, so he wouldn't think both of his sisters are jerks." The blonde lightly touches Dawn's arm at the younger girl's guilty look. "But, you're right. Dad did ask for something. He wanted to come by tomorrow to talk about your wedding. I told him okay, he'll be there about four."

The former Key's guilty look is swiftly replaced by an angry frown. "What?! No!!" She shakes off Faith's hands and moves to stand nose to nose with Buffy. "I was here tonight, I was even nice. Mostly," she adds at her sister's raised eyebrow. "That doesn't matter. You go back in there and tell that worthless pile of shit he can't 'come by'!" Dawn snarls. her voice slowly getting louder. Faith comes up behind her and starts rubbing at her shoulders, trying to calm her down a little.

Buffy's temper flares as she hisses back. "That 'worthless pile of shit' is your father and mine and I'll thank you to remember that and not speak like that again!"

Dawn shakes her head violently. "He isn't anything to me, remember? It doesn't matter what the memories say, this was only the second time I've ever met him, so why should I care what he wants?!" She shakes her head again, scrunching her eyes closed for a second and taking a deep breath. "Buffy, even if we go with our memories, why should I talk to him again? He's been gone more than half my life." She smiles back over her shoulder, then looks back at her sister. "As Faith put it, he's my sperm donor and that's pretty much it. I won't talk to him again."

Buffy looks away, up at Xander, who has moved beside her and takes a deep breath. Looking back at Dawn, she smiles sadly. "If you hadn't gone off like that, I'd have finished telling you that I said he could come by, but that it was your choice to talk to him and that he shouldn't get his hopes up." Her expression softens and she reaches up to lightly caress Dawn's cheek. "Dawnie, talk to him tomorrow if you want, or don't. That choice is yours, like it should be. Why don't you and Faith talk it over tonight, okay? Just let me know what to tell Dad before four tomorrow, please.

Dawn holds her stare for another second, then drops her eyes, nodding. Buffy smiles gently. "Thank you. Now, can we all go home? My shoes may be stylish, but they hurt!"

Dawn snorts once as a laugh tries to escape, then grins against her will. "Serves you right for choosing style over comfort."

The blonde laughs as well as she steers the group out the door and toward the valets. "Faith is such a bad influence on you! You used to have style, but now everything is just 'comfortable'!" She teases.

"I prefer to think of it as she opened my eyes and got me to stop being a slave to fashion trends!"

Buffy pouts, the laughs as the friends wait for the valets to bring their cars forward. When they both get there, Willow steps up beside Buffy and gives her a small smile. "Buffy, Kennedy and I are gonna take one of the cars and go get some ice cream. We'll be home later, okay?"

The elder Slayer looks at her friend incredulous. "Will, she just had two desserts and you had the huge puffy thing! You guys can't still be hungry!"

"Well, no, not really," She admits, looking pained. "The truth is, that just wasn't all that fun and now we wanna go have a little before we go home. Fun, that is." She smiles guiltily. "Sorry, Buffy, but neither of us liked your dad, but if it helps, I don't think he liked us, either, so we're all even, right?"

Buffy smiles gently. "It's okay, Will. I noticed all the looks and rather pointed ignorings of your guys and Faith. Like I said earlier, I don't like him, why should you have to? Go on. I'll see you tomorrow."

The witch flashes a genuine smile at the Slayer, then grabs her Slayer by the hand and literally drags her to a waiting car. Xander laughs as he watches Willow and Kennedy's eagerness to escape, then looks around him. "Come on ladies, let's head for home," he says as he opens Buffy's door for her. They all pile into the remaining car and Xander points it toward home.

An uneventful, mostly quiet half hour later, they pull up to their house, though Dawn notices a strange car. As they get out and turn toward the front porch, two people stand and start toward them from there. They get closer and step into enough light for Dawn to see their faces and she growls softly and rolls her eyes. "God, what is this?! Long lost relatives week?!" She laments to the heavens.

Chapter 5

Dawn just shakes her head and stands aside, letting her sister get a clear look for herself. Buffy's jaw drops as she gasps, "Gina?! Mikey?! What are you... How did you find... What's going on?"

The tall brunette walking out to meet the group stops and smirks at the oldest Slayer. She appears to be about Dawn's age, though she carries herself with a lot of self assurance. She looks at Buffy and sarcastically says, "Nice to see you, too, Cuz!"

Buffy's incredulous expression is swiftly replaced with glee. She's always liked these cousins, mostly because they've always been so much more fun than the couple they have on their dad's side of the family. She smiles brightly and pulls the girl into a tight hug, then quickly hugs her brother. Behind her, both Faith and Xander relax, watching their girls.

Gina steps up to Dawn and grins. "Come on, Daybreak, admit it. You're happy to see me, right?"

Dawn just stares at the other girl, her expression still faintly hostile. She fights the smile that threatens at Gina's use of her old nickname, but finally gives in, mostly because she really is glad to see her favorite cousins. She glances back at her girl and sees that Faith both heard and made note of the nickname and is smiling wickedly. The former Key rolls her eyes and turns back to her cousin.

"Yeah, I'm glad to see you. And on any other day, I'd probably be jumping around and planning all kinds of trouble we could get into." She doesn't lose the smile, but it dims and she sighs.

Gina looks at Dawn confused. "Why not this day?"

Dawn sighs heavily. "'Cause this day, I just left from seeing my dad," she says simply.

Brother and sister both make a face. "Ouch," Gina says. "Yeah, I can see where that'd turn a day from good to a pisser." Behind Dawn, Faith grins at the girl's words and Gina's eyes flick toward her. She grins back, then refocuses on her cousins. "So, what was he here for? Guilt finally get the best of him after... what? Eight? Ten years?"

"Just under ten," Dawn confirms. "As for why the visit, he introduced us to our shiny new baby brother. He and the bimbette he married have spawned-" At Buffy's cough and glare, Dawn rolls her eyes, but modifies what she said. "I mean, they've had a kid. Actually, he's a cute kid. About three and I think I wanna keep in touch with him. That way, when Dad runs out on him, we can compare notes."

Gina laughs appreciatively at her words, while Buffy growls softly and rolls her eyes. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan." The young woman notices the ring on Dawn's left hand and her eyes widen slightly. "So, is that the only reason he was in town?"

"Huh? Oh, no. Not the only reason." Dawn smiles as thoughts of her father are replaced by ones of her Slayer, then it dims and the scowl makes a partial comeback as she remembers the real reason for her father's visit. "No, the real reason he showed up was Granma Summers told him I'm engaged and he decided he wants to be in my wedding."

Gina smiles broadly, as does Michael. "Well, that explains the big blue rock on your finger, cause I was wondering," he says. He looks at his sister, then his younger cousin. "Something tells me Uncle Hank didn't think much about your choice of marriage partners!"

Buffy coughs and Dawn looks murderous as Faith mutters, "Got that right!"

Gina looks again at the dark haired girl standing with a equally dark haired man behind her cousins. The woman, for some reason, reminds her of Buffy somewhat, which is crazy, since both being female is all they apparently have in common. "So, Daybreak. These your friends? Not ashamed to admit you know me, are you?"

Dawn smiles and laughs lightly. "Yeah, usually," she teases. She turns slightly so that she can see everyone. "Gina and Michael Roberts, this is Buffy's boyfriend, Xander Harris."

The siblings both smile and nod politely, though Gina's brows contract a bit. "You went to school with Buffy, didn't you?"

Xander smiles. "Yeah. Me and Willow, who's not here right now. You can meet her later. And before you ask, we've only been dating a little over a year, although I first asked her out at the end of our sophomore year."

The brunette feigns astonishment. "You tried for nearly seven years to get her on a date?! Now that's what I call persistence!" She smiles brightly for a second before it changes into a flirtatious smile and she bats her eyes at him. "I kinda like that in a man," she purrs.

"Get your own," Buffy growls, stepping up beside Xander, her territorial streak coming out.

Gina laughs merrily and holds up her hands, taking a step back. "Down, girl! I don't steal boyfriends, especially from family, so throttle back, okay?" She stares at the blonde Slayer for another few seconds to make sure Buffy believes her, then looks back to Dawn. "So, who's your other friend here? I know she's not Willow, 'cause Buff said she was a redhead."

Dawn smiles back at her girl and holds out her hand. Faith comes forward a bit and takes it, drawing up even with Dawn. "No, you'll meet Willow later, cause she and her fiance stopped for ice cream on the way home." She looks lovingly at Faith, then back at her cousins. "This is Faith Andrews, my fiance. Faith, my cousins Gina and Mike."

Faith starts to say hello, but stops and narrows her eyes as she takes in the shocked expressions on their faces. She growls softly, her earlier anger at Hank Summers returning and intensifying at this fresh display of incredulity.

"Y-you're marrying a girl?!" Gina squeaks, her eyes locked onto the dark Slayer. Her brother echoes her surprise.

Faith rolls her eyes and throws up her hands, while Dawn actually growls. "Yes! Yes, the love of my life is a woman and we're getting married! Why is this such a big problem for everyone related to me?! First Buffy gets all forbiddy, then Dad won't say more ten words to her and turns his damned nose up at her all night, now you guys act like this!" She looks at Buffy, her eyes flashing with anger. "See?! This is why I never bother to talk to any of our relatives!"

She turns back to her cousins, her eyes narrowed and a sarcastic smile on her face. "Great seeing you guys! Drop by again in a few years, IF you can manage to get over the fact that I'll have a wife. Later!" She turns and starts toward the house.

Gina shakes her head, grimacing at Dawn's tirade, and steps forward, laying a hand on her cousin's shoulder to stop her. "Hey, Dawn! Wait." Dawn shrugs her hand off and keeps walking. "C'mon, Daybreak! I'm sorry! Cut me some slack here, please?"

Dawn stopped and glanced back over her shoulder. "Why? You're being just like my dad! He wants to talk to me tomorrow and I just know it's to try to talk me out of marrying Faith, not that it'll do him any good!"

Gina looked back and forth between Dawn and Faith, judging what she could of the interaction between the two women. No quite sure yet, she asks, "Is that what you want to do? Marry your girlfriend here, I mean?"

Dawn turns back to face her cousin, a scowl on her face. "Of course I do! Haven't you been paying attention? I love her and nothing you say will change my mind!" The former Key almost shakes with her anger. All she can think of is all the confidences she and Gina used to share and how this seems to be betraying them. [Okay, we didn't really, cause I didn't really exist, but still! She's my favorite cousin and this is what I get?] Her thoughts continue to seethe as her scowl darkens and she decides to just leave the other brunette standing there and go inside and to hell with her.

Faith, on the other hand, has been looking at Gina a little more objectively. Sure, the comments and attitude from her girl's dad really pissed her off and the cousin here's reaction restarted that anger. She can't help but notice, though, that the other girl's subsequent actions and words were more like she was trying to apologize, not keep up the negative, snide comments like dear old dad.

Putting a hand on Dawn's shoulder, Faith stills her lover's move toward the front door. "Hang on D. I'm thinkin' things just ain't the way you're thinkin' they are." She looks at Gina and addresses her next words to her. "I'm gettin' this vibe that you don't really have a problem with D doin' the marriage thing with me, no matter how you reacted a minute ago. Am I right?"

"God no!" Michael answers her instead. "If you two really love each other, Gina and I are totally happy for you!" He smiles broadly and, at least it looks to Faith, genuinely.

Gina nods her head. "Mikey's right, Daybreak. If she's good enough for you, then serious congrats and I better get an invite to the wedding!" She smiles brightly and winks, causing Dawn to roll her eyes.

"If you weren't wigging out because of the girl thing, what's the problem then? I don't understand." Dawn asks, her face clearly showing her confusion.

Gina smiles and shakes her head. "I was 'wigging' because in all the summers we spent together since we both started noticing boys weren't quite so icky, you never mentioned liking girls! So, I think I'm entitled to a minor freak-out when you up and tell me you're marrying one, don't you?" The dark haired girl laughs a little at Dawn's expression, although she doesn't quite understand the sad part of it. She just figures it's embarrassment and let's it go at that.

Dawn herself is thinking about how all the conversations Gina remembers are implanted memories, all but one. Only her and Buffy's last visit to Gina and Michael's house really happened, the summer while Willow was in England recovering from her magic overdose. That summer had been pretty much like everyone remembered all the others, except Aunt Arlene had commented how much more vibrant Dawn had become now that she was in high school. Dawn had blushed and said thank you, not really knowing how to tell her mother's sister that the difference wasn't due to her being nearly seventeen, but because the memories being made were actives ones, rather than implanted.

The younger Summers forces a smile to appear as she nods, though the relief that her favorite cousins seem to approve is very real. "As long as you get over it quickly, then feel free to freak away!"

"Why thank you!" Gina's smile gets a little bigger and turns mischievous. "Besides, if I was to kick up a fuss about both of you being girls, Brian would just never forgive me!" She grins back at her brother. "Would he Mikey?" The young man shakes his head ruefully.

"Who's Brian? Is he your boyfriend or something?" Dawn asks, curious.

"No," Michael replies, a wondrous smile on his face. "He's mine."

Suddenly, it's Dawn and Buffy's turn to look incredulous as they try to process this new information. Dawn quickly smiles. "Hey, congratulations! Will I ever get to meet him? Oh, and how'd your mom take the news? Buffy kinda freaked when I told her Faith had asked me out, then really freaked the night we got engaged!"

Michael chuckles quietly and Gina laughs out loud at her statement. "Knowing Buff, I'd say 'freaking out' is probably an understatement!" She turns laughing eyes onto the blonde Slayer. "Sorry, cuz! Love ya and everything, but God! You can be such a drama queen sometimes!"

Faith mutters, "What do ya mean, 'sometimes'?" just loud enough for everyone to hear and Dawn and the cousin's laughter redoubles while Buffy yelps a startled "Hey!"

Everyone laughs at the irate Slayer's reaction as she makes a grumpy face and crosses her arms over her chest. Xander chuckles as he loops an arm around Buffy's shoulders and hugs her to him a little. She looks up at him, her face still showing how miffed she is, but she slowly starts to smile a little, her boyfriend's good mood infecting her as usual.

Michael smiles at his older cousin's reaction to his sister's teasing. Looking back at Dawn, he smiles and answers her earlier question. "Yeah, Dawnie, you probably will get to meet Brian, since he and I are thinking about going to Marshall University. It's in West Virginia and just a few hours from here, so visits will not be too hard to arrange."

"Very cool!" the brunette declares with a broad smile. She turns to Gina. "What about you? Any boyfriends, girlfriends, both? What?"

Gina blushes ever so slightly, but grins. "I'll leave the girlfriends to you, but I have a boyfriend." A sad look crosses her face. "Well, had. We broke up about a week ago."

Dawn instantly makes a little sympathetic noise in her throat and enfolds her cousin in a hug. "I'm so sorry, TM. He's an idiot, if he let you go."

Gina hugs her back, then pulls away a little. "He is an idiot, so don't waste the sorries, 'k?"

Dawn releases her and takes a step back. "What happened?"

The brunette shrugs and tries to downplay it, but Dawn can see the residual pain in her cousin's eyes. "He couldn't deal with Mikey and Brian. He made one particularly bad comment and I told him to fuck off and tossed him out the door."

Dawn starts to respond, but Buffy speaks up first. "Gina, I'm sorry to hear about what happened, but why don't we take this inside, okay?"

Gina smiles a little. "I was getting ready to ask. Mikey and I have been driving all day and I kinda want to sit somewhere that's not moving for a while before we hunt up a hotel or something."

At the mention of a hotel, Dawn looks at Buffy and sees a matching look on her sister's face. She turns back to the slightly taller brunette in front of her and holds out a hand. "Keys," she says, imperiously. At Gina's blank look, she elaborates a little. "Car keys. So we can get your bags? Give'em."

"No, that's okay," Gina says, waving a hand. "We planned this, so don't worry about it."

Michael gives his sister a dirty look. "Ignore her, Dawnie. Her 'great plan' was for us to sleep in the car at a rest area somewhere between here and home." He smiles at his cousins and their friends. "Speaking for myself, I'll take a warm bed and a bathroom I don't have to worry about being robbed or worse in, so thanks!"

Dawn smiles back at him while Buffy laughs. She then turns a stern look on Gina. Sighing, but with a hint of a smile, the tall brunette fishes out her keys and moves passed the Scoobies. "Come on then."

Dawn smiles at having gotten her way and Faith just shakes her head, following her lover to the cousin's car. When Gina opens the trunk, the dark Slayer reaches is and grabs both overnight bags, then looks at her fiance. "Lead the way, Diz."

Gina looks at the younger Summers with a raised eyebrow, clearly wondering about the nickname. "Later," mumbles Dawn and her cousin nods and follows her and Faith into the house.

Buffy stops in the foyer and waits for the others as Xander continues into the house, muttering something about drinks and snacks. Once the other four catch up, she looks speculatively at her cousins, then Dawn. "I was thinking a dorm room would probably be the easiest answer, don't you think, Dawn?" She smiles at Gina and Michael. "That is, if you guys don't mind sharing a room for the night."

Gina shrugs and glances at her brother. "We would've had to if we'd have gotten a hotel room, so sure."

The eldest Slayer nods and looks at Faith. "Could you run their stuff up to one of the dorm rooms for me, please, Faith? Thank you," she says at the dark Slayer's nod. As Faith bounds up the stairs, she calls after her, "We'll be in the game room!"

Faith waves a hand and Buffy looks back at her sister and cousins. "Well, come on. Unless you'd rather go on to bed?"

Gina looks back at her brother for a second, then back at her blonde cousin. "Maybe in a little while. Like I said, I kinda want to sit somewhere that's not vibrating or moving." She pauses until the group arrives in what the inhabitants of the house call simply, the game room.

A widescreen tv decorates one corner, flanked by racks of movies and a state of the art sound system. It's ringed by several comfortable looking chairs and two sofas. Along one wall are 3 computers with several generic tables running parallel to them toward the center of the room. Two pool tables are also present, as is a foos ball table and two dart boards on a wall.

Gina glances around the room for a moment, trying hard to not be impressed by what she sees. "Besides, we wanna hear the real reason why you guys left California." She looks at Buffy and grins sardonically. "I mean, we know the 'official' story, earthquake, sinkhole and all that, but what really happened?"

Buffy looks at Dawn and raises an eyebrow, silently asking if she wants to "explain" or if she herself should do it. Dawn nods slightly and sits, saying, "Well, the official story is correct." She waits until the others have found seats, then continues. "The founders of Sunnydale didn't know anything about tectonics, of course, so they couldn't know that the ground was even more unstable than the rest of southern California. No one knows what set it off when it did, but whatever happened, the whole town and a little of the surrounding countryside fell in and now we live here. A family friend suggested it, said we'd feel at home here." She ignores a snort of derisive laughter from Xander as he enters the room with a tray of drinks.

"Uh huh." Gina looks frankly skeptical, but a glance at each of the Scoobies faces tells her that's the story she's gonna hear from any of them, so, after a glance at her brother, she decides to drop it. "All right, then why didn't we get a call from you guys saying you were alive? Mom was worried sick, so I finally looked at the database California set up with the lists of survivors and found your names." Her eyes flick around the room. "I also found this address, but we weren't sure if it was right, so Mikey and I decided to stop by on the way back home from his tour of the Marshall campus."

"And here we were!" Dawn chirps brightly, though everyone can tell her cheer is forced. As fast as her chipper smile appears, it's gone again. "We're sorry, TM. You're right, we should've called way before now and neither Buffy or I thought about it." She pauses, trying to think of the best way to say what she's thinking. "I guess... both of us have gotten used to thinking of everyone who lives here as our only family, so we just didn't think about you guys worrying or anything."

Buffy sees the hurt looks that flash across the sibling's faces and hastens to add, "Please, don't take it like that! Dawn and I are both really happy to see you guys and I promise, I'll call Aunt Arlene tomorrow and make sure she has the phone numbers and address for here." She stops for a second, then continues. "Dawn's right about the way we all tend to think around here, though."

She smiles up at her boyfriend. "Xander's parents have never paid much attention to him. I think the last time they really took notice of him was at his not-wedding day. Faith doesn't have any family except us and Angel and Willow's parents travel most of the year. Besides, they pretty much disowned her when she told them she was marrying Kennedy, so again, we're it. Kenn's dad doesn't approve of her lifestyle or that she's marrying another woman, so she only talks to him when she absolutely has to. She and her sister get along really well, but she's not eighteen yet, so their dad limits how much they see each other."

"So, as you can see," Dawn says, taking up the explanation again, "It's kinda 'Us against the world' around here. Or, at least, that's the way it seems a lot of the time. So see," she smiles brightly at her cousins. "It's not that we don't still love you guys, we just weren't thinking." She gives them both a contrite look. "Forgive us?"

Gina looks at her brother, trying to maintain a stern appearance, though it's hard. Seeing Michael's nod, she faces the Scoobs. "Well..." she drawls, "On one condition." She pauses, taking in her cousin's expectant looks, then she smiles. "Can I be there when you tell Uncle Hank to go screw himself?"

There's a bark of laughter from near the door and everyone turns that way to see Faith returning in time to hear the last part of the conversation, and she smiles broadly at Gina's qualifier.

Dawn glances at her girl, smiling as she chirps, "Sure!" in answer to Gina's question.

At the same time, Buffy rolls her eyes and gives a more conservative, "We'll see."

Dawn scowls at her sister, but doesn't rise to the bait. Scooting over a little to make room for Faith, she looks at Michael. "So, tell us about Marshall," she requests with a smile.

Michael smiles as well and starts to tell the group about the college he and his boyfriend are considering and his tour of the campus earlier that day. He continues the description of the university campus, speaking excitedly, for over half an hour between the sound of the front door opening distracts the Slayers in the room.

Buffy and Faith both look toward the doorway of the room and Faith appears to take a deep breath before smiling slightly. "Red 'n K are home," she announces to the room.

Gina frowns slightly and looks at Buffy, one eyebrow raised. "And she knows this how?"

Buffy grins and shakes her head. "Long story." She turns her head and looks at the door, just as Willow and Kennedy come into the room, laughing quietly about something. Both women stop as they notice the extra bodies. Buffy smiles. "Willow, I know you remember me talking about my cousins Gina and Michael, my Aunt Arlene's kids. Well, this is them." She grins at Gina, then looks back at her best friend. "They were in the area and stopped by to make sure we weren't dead. Gina, Mikey, this is Willow Rosenberg and her fiance Kennedy Perez."

Gina smiles. "So, I finally get to meet the infamous Willow!" She teases Buffy for a second before looking at Willow and Kennedy. "It's nice to meet both of you and congratulations! When's the wedding?"

Willow blushes a little, but smiles as well, glancing at her fiance. "It'll be a handfasting, but we're still working on the when." She gives the younger Summers a pointed look. "We're kinda waiting on someone to make up their mind, since we don't wanna overlap or anything."

Gina rolls her eyes and scoffs playfully. "You may be waiting a while then. I'm not sure Daybreak over there has decided whether water is wet yet, let alone important things!"

"Hey!" Dawn growls, flipping her dark haired cousin the finger. "I can too decide things! Besides, we do have a date. We were just waiting for a good time to tell you guys, that's all!" She stops and her eyes widen as she realizes what she's said. She grimaces and turns to her fiance. "Sorry, baby," the brunette Summers says sheepishly.

Faith tries to glare at her girl, but just can't hold it. With a sardonic grin and a shrug, she says, "Guess this is a 'good time', huh Diz?" She makes a 'go ahead' gesture to her lover.

Dawn gives Faith one more apologetic look before turning excited eyes to the group. "Everyone needs to have their passports ready before August tenth, 'cause by the fourteenth, we're all gonna be in Toronto!"

A look passes around the room, one of mixed excitement that they know when the first of the household's weddings will be, and relief that they finally have a confirmed date. The only confused expression is from Gina. "Why would you want to go all the way to Toronto just to get married? There's no where good around here?" She wonders aloud.

Though she's looking at Dawn for an answer, it comes from her brother. "Same sex marriage is legal there, not here. What?" He asks at her speculative look. "No, Brian and I aren't talking marriage, but hey, maybe some day, so I keep up with these things. That's all."

Gina seems to consider his words for a moment, then shrugs. "Yeah, that makes sense." Suddenly, she yawns hugely, covering her mouth at the last second. Looking sheepishly at the others, she offers a embarrassed, hesitant smile. "Sorry. It's not the company, I swear. Mikey and I have been awake for going on twenty hours and driving for most of that. At the risk of being rude, is it okay if I go to bed now? I promise, we'll talk more in the morning, Dawn." She smiles tiredly. "I want all the details. How you guys met, how long you dated, who proposed and how. All that kinda stuff, okay?"

Dawn smiles brightly. "You bet! Tell you what, we'll all go out to breakfast or lunch and I'll fill you in, then we can talk about Buffy, 'k?"

"Hey! Still in the room, you know!" The eldest Slayer protests, ignoring the muffled laughter from the others.

"That's what makes it funny, cuz," Gina replies, grinning happily. Drinking the rest of her drink in one smooth swallow, she stands and looks toward Dawn. "So, where's this room? Unless you wanna get handsome over there to have to carry me upstairs. Although, that's not such a bad idea, now that I think of it." She gives Xander her very best seductive, come hither pout.

The man quickly grabs Buffy's arm, ignoring both her growl and his body's instinctive reaction. "Actually, it is. I mean, you're almost as gorgeous as Buffy, but her beating us both to a bloody pulp would kinda take the fun of anything, so..." He trails off, shrugging and smiling one of his trademark goofy smiles.

Dawn quickly stands and grabs Gina's arm, tugging her toward the door. "Come on, TM. I'll show you where your room is before Buffy breaks something you're gonna need later."

The others watch as the former Key half leads, half drags her cousin from the room, then Faith looks at Michael as he stands to follow the two girls. Smirking at the young man, Faith says, "Lemme guess. TM stands for TroubleMaker, right?" At his nod of long suffering, she breaks up laughing. "Knew that had to be it," she gasps out. Getting her chuckles under control, she looks up at her girl's cousin. "Tell D I put your stuff in three west, okay?"

He smiles and nods, then looks at Buffy apologetically. "Sorry, Buff. You know how she gets, sometimes. She didn't mean it." At her dubious look, he grins and ducks his head. "Well, okay, she wasn't serious, then!" He laughs at her sour expression, knowing she'll accept that. "Where's this three west?" He asks, looking toward Faith.

"Top of the stairs, go left, third door on the left."

He smiles. "Thanks! Night everyone!" He calls as he quickly leaves.

Willow and Kennedy stand next, agreeing with their guests that it's bedtime and they head for their room, Faith following them to find Dawn. Once they're alone, Xander pulls Buffy against him and lightly kisses the top of her head. "Hey, you know she was just joking, right? And that I don't want any other woman but you? You know that, right?"

Buffy gives a big sigh, then nods. "Yeah, I know she was just trying to get a rise out me." She turns her head and smiles gently at her boyfriend. "And yeah, I know the only way you'd touch another girl is if we split up. I trust you completely." Leaning up, she kisses his lips softly, then snuggles back into his chest.

He chuckles and gives her a little squeeze. "If you trust me so much, why are you always acting so jealous whenever another girl talks to me?"

She shrugs a little. "You and our family, I trust. The rest of the planet? Not so much."

It starts slowly, but Xander's serious expression quickly becomes one of humor, then outright laughter as he just shakes his head at Buffy logic. Gathering her up, he kisses her passionately and repeatedly. After a few pleasurable moments like this, he smiles at his girl. "Come on, Buff. Let's go to bed, too."

She shrugs, carefully hiding a teasing smile. "Not sleepy."

"Did I say anything about sleep?" He growls softly, standing with the petite blonde in his arms.

Go To Part 2

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