Daddy Knows... Best?

See Part 1 for Ratings and Disclaimers

Chapter 6

Once half the cup is gone, Gina looks up, her expression much more alert and approachable. "Thanks. Kennedy, right? And you're Willow's girlfriend, right?" Kennedy slowly nodded, but looks questioning as well. Gina blushes lightly. "Sorry, I usually remember people I meet, but last night is kind of a blur. I mean, Mikey and I left Indiana oh God nothing yesterday morning, drove to West Virginia, took a long, and I mean long tour of Marshall University, then drove up here. In fact, we only beat you guys here by like ten-fifteen minutes, so sorry if I seem a little out of it."

Kennedy chuckles lightly, waving away the apology. "Don't sweat it. You should've seen Dawn and Buffy the first morning after we got to Cleveland. They were wandering around like zombies for the first half hour or so until Will and I went and got coffee for everyone.." She chuckles again, smiling in memory as well. "Hell, Faith didn't get up 'til after we got back and she was more alert than they were!"

Gina smiles in return, feeling much better and more sociable since the caffeine has started taking effect. "Yeah, that sounds about like Buffy, but Dawn was always easier to wake up."

"Well," Kennedy says, temporizing. "To be honest, this was like the morning after we started moving in here, so that was about two, maybe three weeks after Sunnydale collapsed and things were kinda non-stop right then."

"And everyone was wasted, right? Yeah, that makes sense. I'm usually not this bad in the mornings, but I'll admit to being moderately usless until after at least one cup of coffee."

"Boy, is that the truth!"

Both women look toward the doorway to find Michael standing there grinning. "Careful, little brother or I might just comment on your uselessness most of the time!" Gina winked at Kennedy, who chortles.

Michael grins back at his sibling. "Oh, look. My old...er sister is threatening me. Must be a normal day." He laughs when she acknowledges the barb. "What is there to eat? I'm about ready to chew on the woodwork!"

Kennedy laughed. "There's a buncha kinds of cereal in the cupboard there and frozen breakfast stuff both in that freezer," she pointed to the refrigerator, "and in the big freezer in the garage. If you feel like cooking, there's stuff for that too. Want coffee?"

The young man shakes his head while Gina says, "He doesn't do coffee. Which makes me wonder if he's really human."

Michael doesn't seem to notice what Gina says. Instead, he makes a great show of searching for a bowl and spoon for cereal, setting them on the table. He searches through the dozen or so boxes of cereal, selecting one, then getting milk and a large glass of juice, returning with everything to the table. Kennedy watches him with a little smile on her face. The "fight" the two siblings had reminds her of more than one playful argument she'd had with her baby sister over the years.

Seating himself and pouring cereal into the bowl, Michael glances up at the Slayer, pointedly ignoring his sister. "Where is everybody? And what time is it, anyway?" He looks around for a moment, finally spotting the clock on the front of the microwave. His eyes widen a bit when he sees it's after one in the afternoon. "We slept how long?!" The young man squeaks.

Gina smirks. "Yeah, I know. Guess yesterday took more out of us both that I thought." She takes a gulp of her coffee, finishing off the cup. Standing, she gets another cup, spotting a small mountain of sugary pastries near the coffee maker. Glancing at Kennedy for permission, she secures two honey buns, popping them in the microwave for twenty seconds, then returns to her seat. "So, you were telling us where everyone else is?"

Kennedy smiles. "No, I wasn't, but that's okay. Buffy, Xander and Faith are at work. Will's out shopping for a present for her mom's birthday and Dawn's got classes today 'til three. I'm expecting everyone home by three thirty, since Buffy told her dad to be here at four to talk." The brunette scowls. "From the way he was acting last night, I'm expecting a fight over Dawn and Faith being engaged and I hope I can stop Faith from hurting the guy." She grins lopsidedly at man and woman in front of her. "She's a little protective of Dawn, y'see."

"Won't Buffy help?"

The Slayer looks at the other girl. "Actually, I'm counting on Will and Xander to stop her, not her stopping Faith." Kennedy smiles broadly, snorting a bit in laughter. "If anything ever really hurts Dawn, we all figure one of two things'll happen. Either whoever or whatever will get away, cause Buffy and Faith are fighting each other to see who gets to kill it, or no one will ever find all the pieces."

Michael's eyes open wide as he stops eating and stares in horror at the woman sitting across from him. "Wait. I know how overprotective Buffy is. You're saying Faith's worse?!" He slowly shakes his head. "I can't picture that, but if it's true, I almost feel sorry for Uncle Hank now!" His eyes sparkle with merriment. "Almost!"

Gina smiles and lightly punches her brother's shoulder. "It's in the big sister's contract, Mikey. We have to go after anything that hurts our little brother or sister. Besides, what would you do if anyone tried to hurt Brian?" She laughs at the suddenly serious expression on her brother's face. "Exactly. You'd hurt them back harder, right?"

Michael rolls his eyes at his sister's explanation. "No, well, yeah, I would, but I got the why and stuff, I just can't picture anyone being more protective of Dawnie than Buffy, that's all. I mean, love our cousin and all, but if you acted as much like a pitbull over me as she does over Dawnie, I'd've had to have hurt you by now!" He winks to show Kennedy he's only joking. Well, mostly.

Gina gives her brother a smug grin. "I'm much more subtle than our well meaning cousin," she informs him piously.

Michael rolls his eyes again and snorts derisively. "Godzilla is more subtle than Buffy, so you're not really saying much, sis!" He pauses, mostly for effect then quietly adds, "Quicker on the uptake, too,"

Kennedy stands and goes to the fridge, biting her tongue, trying desperately to not laugh, even though Gina's gales of laughter don't make that easy. On the one hand, it's not really fair, them talking about Buffy while she's not there to defend herself, but Kennedy has to admit that Gina and Michael have nailed her leader to a tee. When she's mastered herself, the brunette turns back to their guests. "Listen, it's gonna be a couple hours until Buffy or Dawn get back, but Buffy asked that I take care of you guys. Anything you wanna do til they get home?"

Gina looks at her brother, then shrugs. "Not really. I just need to call my mom and let her know why we're not home yet." She looks at Kennedy a little apprehensively. "You think Buffy or Dawn'll mind if we stay a day or two?"

Kennedy smiles and shakes her head. Grabbing the cordless phone, she hands it to the other girl. "Nope, but you can call the gym and ask her, if you want. Before you call your mom, I mean."

The younger brunette smiles, her eyes showing her gratitude. "That'd be great, thanks!" She looks at her brother, raising her eyebrows questioningly. "Assuming it's okay, you want mom to pass along a message to Brian or you wanna call him later?"

Michael smiles as he thinks of his boyfriend. "I'll call him later, but have mom tell him it'll be later this evening. Probably like eight or nine, okay?"

"I can do that." Gina smiles at her brother, then looks at Kennedy. "What's the number for Buffy?"

"Just press 'speed dial' then 3 and ask for her."

A smile. "Thanks!" Spinning, the now completely awake girl sweeps from the room.

Kennedy watches her go, then laughs quietly to herself, looking down and shaking her head.

"What?"

The Slayer looks up at the smirking young man. "What what?"

Michael smiles back at her. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, I was just thinking how much she reminds me of Dawn, that's all." Kennedy grins mischeviously.

Michael rolls his eyes and snorts out a laugh. "Tell me about it! Mom and Aunt Joyce used to say they thought Dawn and Gina were twins that forgot to arrange for the same mother!"

Peals of laughter erupt from the petite brunette, redoubling when Gina ducks her head back into the kitchen with a curious pout nearly identical to the one the younger Summers wears when she's confused. The elder Roberts just rolls her eyes at the amused duo and leaves the room again.

Still chuckling, Michael finshes the last of his cereal and asks, "So, everyone else'll be back in a couple hours?"

"Yeah, about that. Buffy and Faith should be here first, though Willow could surprise me." Seeing the confusion flit through the younger man's eyes, Kennedy gives him a half smile. "Will's still trying to get her mom and dad to accept that we're together and that she's not going to 'come to her senses and find some nice Jewish boy'. God, the guilt trip Sheila tried to lay on my poor Willow when she told her parents we were engaged..." Kennedy shuddered, managing to look both appalled and angry at the same time.

"Anyway, that argument's been bugging Will more and more, so she decided to get her mom a really nice present for her birthday. Kind of a 'Let's make up' thing and she's been looking everywhere for just the right thing, y'know?" Kennedy laughed a little. "She's looked at nearly every on-line store she can Google, not the mention hitting the local places every couple days."

Michael smiles, though it's a little sad Kennedy notices. "Hasn't she found anything that she likes yet? Even a little?"

"Sure. There's a list of nearly right things that changes every time she finds a new store, but so far, nothing that she's willing to buy and keep." Kennedy reaches over and snags a snack cake, unwrapping it and taking a bite, all without taking her eyes off the young man in front of her. "What was the sad look for?"

Michael looked up at the Slayer. "Hmmm? What sad look?"

"The one you got when I mentioned the fight with Will's parents. I'm guessing something similar happened with you and your boyfriend?"

Even as he thinks of what happened, Michael can't help but smile when he thinks of his lover. "Yeah, you could say that." A deep breath. "Brian and I have been together since about halfway through his senior year of high school. He's a year older than me," he explains. "Anyway, we came out to my mom about six months after we started dating, just after he graduated, but not to his folks. Gina knew all about us, of course. They were in a lot of the same classes, so he was around our house a lot, since they studied together three or four times a week."

Michael laughs lightly, his eyes twinkling mischeviously. "I remember the first time she caught us making out. Bri had come over to study for a calculus test and Gina had to leave the room for some reason. As soon as she left, I was in there like a shot and we were kissing before I even sat down. We hadn't seen each other for a couple days and God did I need him!" He looked at the brunette sitting across from him and chuckled. "Been there yourself, huh?" Kennedy smiled wickedly and nodded, causing him to laugh more fully.

"Anyway, we're making out like it's our last chance ever when a throat gets cleared loudly and Gina says something like, 'When you two get done, one of you come find me, okay? We need to do some more studying.' We both froze and looked at her all guilty and fell over each other trying to explain. My rat of a sister let us babble for a couple minutes before laughing her head off and telling us she'd known about us all along."

Kennedy giggles. "Yeah, I've been there. My little sister surprised the hell out of me one day when she asked if a girl I was hanging around with was my girlfriend. When I choked and asked what she meant, she looked at me like I was the dumbest thing to ever live and said she knew I was gay and what was the big deal? She grinned and said it just meant there were more guys for her." Kennedy smiles and shakes her head. "Since she was like eight at the time, I told her there better not be any guys for her, not for a long time. She just grinned again and changed the subject."

Michael nods vigorously. "Exactly! Gina just dropped the bomb that she knew I was gay and dating her best friend and that she was totally fine with it, then calmly asked if Brian was ready to study some more or should she find something to do for a while. I was still in total brain lock, but Bri just calmly tells her to go away, that he'll come find her when he's ready to study some more." Michael pauses when Kennedy breaks up, then just smiles and lets her laugh. His smile gradually dies as he thinks about what happened not long ago, the thing Kennedy's comment about the Rosenbergs brought up.

The brunette Slayer notices his mood shift and stops her laughter, turning more serious. "I take it that his family didn't react as well to you guys as your family did?"

Michael snorts in annoyance and remembered anger. "Yeah, you could say that. Brian's dad always wanted him to be this big athlete and Bri does love swimming. In fact, he was the captain of the swim team in high school." Michael pauses to sigh wistfully as thinks about Brian in his swim trunks, water beading and running down his chest. He looks at Kennedy and blushes as she chortles at his expression before resuming what he was sayig. "He even had a couple olympic scouts looking at him, but his dad doesn't consider swimming to be a sport. He played football and baseball in school and expected his son to do the same and just didn't handle it well when Brian finally told him in eighth grade he hated both sports and just wouldn't play any more."

He tapers off, quiet as thoughts and feelings wash over him. Kennedy just sits quietly, letting the man have the time he needs. "Anyway, his dad kept up a steady stream of negative comments about 'sissy' sports, never once going to one of Bri's competitions, never saying anything about the steady stream of trophies Brian brought home. From a couple things I've heard Brian say, I think his dad was just biding his time until Brian had a son, then he could try to make the kid like him, all in the name of 'spoiling the grandkid'. Needless to say, Mr Murphy didn't react too well when he found out about us."

"How did he?"Kennedy asks, her expression a mix of sympathy, compassion and curiousity. "Find out about you two. I mean, from the way you describe the guy, I can't really picture you just sitting down and having a little talk. Did he catch you making out or something?" Kennedy cringes slightly, remembering when her own father had caught her with a girl in her room. They'd both been only half dressed and Kennedy was seriously working on removing the other half when her father had knocked and walked in without waiting. The resulting argument hadn't been fun.

Michael shakes his head and grins sardonically. "No, we were never that careless anywhere he might catch us. No, what tripped us up was I dropped Bri off for work one day and leaned over and kissed him goodbye. I didn't even think about it and neither did he. Just one little kiss." He pauses and takes a long drink from his glass of juice. "Unfortunately, one of Mr Murphy's friends was walking by the car, heading into the store and recognized Bri. He told Brian's dad and there was a big fight, ending with Mr Murphy saying he didn't have a son anymore. Bri says he threw every picture of him away, from the first baby picture to the last one his mom had snapped, just cleared the house of any sign Brian had ever existed. I think Mrs Murphy managed to save a few things, but not many."

Kennedy frowns and shakes her head. "God that sucks. I mean, my dad doesn't exactly approve of my lifestyle, but he understands that it's just me. He even likes Willow, although I'm not sure he's convinced we're serious about getting married yet." She shakes her head again. "I just can't imagine what I would do in that situation."

"Neither can I. Know what my mom did when I came out to her, though?" Kennedy shakes her head, but her face says she's expecting the worst. Michael smiles. "I told her that I was gay and that Brian was my boyfriend and we were serious. She just sat there looking at me for a minute and I'm all braced, expecting the absolute worst. Y'know, a real explosion, when she just says, 'And?' I asked what she meant and she asked what the big announcement was, cause if that was it, fine but that she'd figured that out months before then."

Kennedy couldn't help it, she broke up laughing. Michael mock scowls at her, but that was the effect he was looking for, so he's not really mad. "Yeah, sure! Laugh it up! You weren't there trying to swallow your heart back down and feeling stupid."

Getting her amusement under control, Kennedy chokes out, "S-sure it was. I told you about my sister, so see? You were not the only one that happened to."

"Okay, I guess you do know." He lapses into silence, staring out the window over the sink for a moment. Just as Kennedy is gathering her dishes, intending to leave the pensive young man alone, he suddenly asks, "How do you think Uncle Hank's gonna handle things?"

Kennedy looks back at him and cocks ah eyebrow. "You mean Dawn and Faith?" At his nod, she sighs and sits down again. "Well, I was here yesterday when he showed up to invite Buffy and Dawn to dinner and he just kept got on and on about wanting to meet his future 'son-in-law' and was 'he' good enough for Dawn. Buffy tried to correct him, but he wasn't listening.

"Then last night at dinner, I was watching his face when Buffy finally got through to him that Faith was marrying Dawn, not some guy. He'd just intro-ed them to their new brother and Dawn took off all pissed, so Faith followed, of course, to calm her down and bring her back. Mr Summers demanded to know who Faith was and where Dawn's fiance was, so Buffy told him, straight out. He... didn't react like it was good news. In fact, he only said one thing about the whole wedding thing after Dawn and Faith got back and spent the rest of the evening ignoring Faith... and me and Willow, as much as he could."

Michael scowls. "Yeah, from what I remember and what Mom said, that sounds like him." Silence lapsesbetween them for a few moments before Michael gives a growly little sigh. "Well, this took a turn for the depressing, didn't it?"

Kennedy grins and chuckles. "Yeah, I guess it did. Hey, listen; We've got at least two hours before anyone gets back and, like I said earlier, Buffy asked me to take care of you guys 'til she gets home." She looked up as Gina reentered the room. "Anything you guys'd like to do 'til they get back?"

"I don't know about my baby brother," Gina just smiles when Michael flips her off. "But I only brought one change of clothes, so I was figuring shopping was in order."

"I take it Mom and our dear cousin both agree that it'll be okay for us to hang around a while?"

Gina nods. "Yep. Although, Mom did say something about this irate guy hanging around the house this morning. Said something about you were suppose to call him last night and where the hell were you?" She laughs at her brother's stricken expression.

"Feel free," Kennedy tells him, pointing at the phone and anticipating his request. Michael flashes her a smile and snatches the cordless phone from his sister, dialing as he leaves the kitchen.

Gina turns back to her host with a smile, shaking her head in a good natured manner. "God knows I love him, but that boy would forget his head is it wasn't screwed on tight!"

Kennedy smiles at the chuckling brunette. "Reminds me of my sister." The two women smile at each other as they share a moment of contemplation on the rigors of dealing with younger siblings, then the Slayer says decisively. "Well! Where would you like to go for your shopping? There's a mall nearby with all the usual shops and a more "upscale" district of clothing stores that you need serious money for." She pauses a moment to let that soak in, then asks, "So, what'll it be?"

Gina thinks about it for a minute, then looks askance at Kennedy. "We only have a couple hours if we're gonna be here when Uncle Hank gets here, right?" Kennedy glances at the clock, then nods. "Okay, then I vote for the mall, since that'll most likely be quicker."

"True. Alright then, we just need to wait for..." She breaks off as Michael comes back and puts the phone on its recharger, a rueful expression on his face. "I take it he was mad?" She fights to keep a grin off her face, though, she notices Gina doesn't even try to restrain hers.

Michael grimaces. "Not mad per se, but I'm gonna be a week or so making it up to him."

His sister just laughs at his tone and the look on his face. "See? You shoulda remembered to call last night like you promised. Then you wouldn't have these problems, right Kennedy?"

The Slayer waves her hands in front of her in a "hands-off" motion as Michael scoffs. "Like you remembered to call anyone last night!"

"I didn't need to call anyone. Mom wasn't expecting us back until this evening, remember?"

"Well, yeah, I guess that's true," he reluctantly allows. "But you know how crappy my memory is, so you coulda mentioned something, right?"

"Sure. If I'd've remembered." Gina laughs softly and playfully swats at him. "Oh come on! It's not like we were both so exhausted, we were asleep almost before we went to bed! Oh, wait..." She gives the younger man a rather pointed look and he blushes a little. "Okay, now that that's settled, come on, we've got shopping to do!" Gina grins wickedly at Kennedy and the Slayer smiles in return.

Ignoring Michael's sputtering protests, the women stand and move purposefully toward the garage door. After a few seconds, Michael grumbles under his breath and follows.

To Be Continued...

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