FIC: Some Assembly Required 4/4 (Angel)
FIC: Some Assembly Required (4/4)
Title: Some Assembly Required
Section: Part 4 of 4
Category: Angel/BtVS (Lizverse)
Rating: PG due to Language
Pairings: Many. Main pairings are Faith/Wes, Fred/Spike, Buffy/Angel and Lindsey/Cordelia
Summery: A day in the life of the group on the day the newest Wynham-Pryce makes his apperance. Takes place in Lizverse, 7 months after Shattered Glass. Sequel to Addiction , The Perfect Life , Christmas Time Again andShattered Glass (In that order, although SG is not completed yet)
Warnings: This tends to be extremely fluffy, especially for this particular pairing. There are also children in this fic.
For those of you who haven't read Liz-verse before, It is an AU where Fred never became Ilyria and her and Spike have a 2 year old daughter named Elizabeth (or Lizzie) Bracknall. Buffy and Angel also have a son named Alec Summers. Connor knows who his father is and is apart of the family (even though he's not really in this fic). Spike and Fred are recently married, Lindsey and Cordelia have been dating for about seven months, Willow, Oz and Xander have joined them all in LA. Andrew and Giles are floating around somewhere, I'm sure. Also, Lindsey's yougner brother Jeremy has decided to join the company, and is currently moving into his new office.
The reason I'm posting this is in parts is because it's long. It wasn't chapter to start off with. This has also not been completely beta'd so there may be some changes later on. comments greatly wanted on this due to that fact (and I'm trying to get better on characterization)
~*~
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Blake Edward Wyndam-Pryce was born at 11:24 pm, with family and friends around. Faith was very happy to have that experience behind her and told her boyfriend quite blankly that it would not be repeated. She was surprised though that she felt so happy to be holding the baby afterwards. He already had some hair on his head, blue eyes (Everyone said they would probably change, but she kind of hoped they’d stay blue), and all the fingers and toes he should have. The doctors said he was perfectly healthy, despite being a little early, and probably could go home as soon as the next day, depending on how Faith checked out.
She knew full well she’d be better then ok. Granted, the doctors didn’t know she was a slayer and even if they did, slayers rarely lived long enough to have children so the case history was a little thin. Buffy had looked up previous cases when she had gotten pregnant with Aiden and found that only four slayers in the history of Slayer-dom had given birth before her…and all the sons. So it had been expected that her child would be a boy. She had hoped it would have been a girl just to mess up the precedent.
She relaxed against the pillow, watching as father and son bonded. Despite feeling tired, she wanted to watch them walking back and forth near the door of the room. She never expected this…this warm, happy feeling. Just knowing her family was nearby.
This mushy feeling. She squinted her nose at that thought but was soon distracted when Blake began to cry; already hungry again.
~*~
After Blake had been fed, both he and Faith had fallen asleep. Wesley had approached Xander about finishing the crib. He could admit when he was finally beaten by something and Xander had offered to do it before. Xander gave him an understanding smile and agreed, taking the keys to the apartment, allowing Wesley to stay with his girlfriend and infant son. Faith still wasn’t too comfortable about hospitals and Wesley didn’t want to leave them anyway.
Most of the group dispersed soon after, telling Wesley congratulations. Fred and Spike went home to their daughter since the babysitter had actually been watching Lizzie for over an hour extra. Oz, Willow, and Jeremy went home (they all lived near each other), and Xander went to the apartment that Wesley and Faith shared to finish up the crib so it was ready in the morning.
Lindsey and Cordelia stayed and kept him company, and he didn’t let them know he could see that they were using him as a diversion from something else. Lindsey offered to pick up Wesley’s parents from the airport after they had called and said they were going to be landing within a couple of hours. That left Wesley and Cordelia alone outside Faith’s room talking about movie the baby shower around so that it would happen while his parents were there.
Cordelia had the whole thing planned out by the time Lindsey got back. Since Faith was still asleep, Roger, Lindsey and Wesley went to the cafeteria to get some coffee or hot tea, which left Cordelia and Shelia alone to plan the baby shower.
By the time they had returned, Faith had awoken and the three girls were chatting about the arrangements they would implement in the new baby room. Well, it was mostly Cordelia and Shelia discussing things while Faith looked on and tried to keep her mouth shut before she said something her child shouldn’t have to hear so young. She shared a look with Wesley before rolling her eyes at another comment about how something was cute.
She did not do cute.
~*~
“Shelia was interesting,” Lindsey said as he and Cordelia walked towards her car. “She seemed to get along well with Faith.”
“Yeah, they seem to get along well, although Shelia’s still hoping to turn Faith into a lady. She hasn’t given up hope yet,” Cordelia joked as they reached the car. She stopped when she noticed he paused a few feet from the car. Turning to face him, she went to ask him what was wrong, but he beat her to it.
“We need to talk,” he said softly, moving to sit on the back bumper of his car. “I’ve been thinking about our conversation earlier.”
“Oh, can we not talk about that.” She didn’t want to think about it.
“We have to. Even if you’re not pregnant the subject is going to come up later on and we might as well face it now.” She sighed and sat down beside him. He was right; they did need to deal with it. And even though she figured she probably wasn’t, there was still a chance she was.
“I don’t think I’d be a good mother. You know how in high school there was that class where you were sent home with the toy babies overnight? I failed that.” She commented.
“First of all, that was years ago, and I’m sure you’d do better when your own child.” He paused. “You know, I’m not going to be upset regardless of how this goes. If you’re not pregnant, then that’s fine and we will just go on. Maybe someday down the road we will have kids. I definitely want those kids with you though. And if you are, then I’ll deal with it because I would want the baby. I’d probably be a lot more frantic and panic way too much about things but I’d be there and I’d be happy.”
“Really?” She asked looking at him. To be quite honest, she and Lindsey had never really talked about the future. When they first had gotten together it had been more out of shock than anything else and then later because neither had wanted to think about it. It had taken her a couple of months to finally realize she wanted a forever with him, even if she had hated him less than a year before.
“Really.” He smiled a little bit and squeezed her hand.
“Really. But I think we should probably find out for sure though, don’t you.”
“Yeah, probably a good idea.”
~*~
“I don’t think this vehicle is going to suit the family, Wesley.” Roger commented as he surveyed the car that Wesley was leading him too. It was one of those SUV things he kept hearing about.
“It’s fine Dad. We checked into everything. This isn’t exactly our first day knowing we were going to be parents.”
“Well, if you are sure.” He paused before saying his next words. “Your mother and I have been talking. I know you and Faith have no intention of marrying in the near future, but we wanted to give you the option of using the family ring if you choose to do so.” Wesley stopped walking and turned to look at his father.
“While I’m not surprised mum wanted this, I’m kinda surprised that you would have agreed to this. You haven’t exactly been the biggest supporter of my relationship with Faith.”
“Well, things change. I may not be entirely happy with how you two went about it, but she apparently makes you happy, and she seems to understand the importance of what we do. And your mother loves her. Therefore I’d be happy to have her officially added to the family.”
“I’m glad you think that way. I was actually thinking about asking her to marry me soon.”
“Do you think she will say yes?”
“I’m hoping so, but with Faith you never know. She’s never been too happy with the idea of marriage. And I need to find a way to ask without her thinking it’s because of Blake.”
“Well, if it was, I would have thought you would have asked months ago, back when you first found out about the child. After all, it’s a little late to marry for appearances now.”
~*~
Cordelia sat on the tile floor of her bathroom waiting for the results of what could be a life changing event. Lindsey was still sleeping in their bedroom. They had talked almost until dawn about things so she wasn’t expecting him to wake up anytime soon. She hadn’t slept at all. She needed to do this, she needed to know or find closure or whatever it is she would find after the test came out.
The whole idea of her being a mother was kinda scary. She wasn’t completely self-centered; she knew she could be an unobservant and insensitive bitch sometimes. She wasn’t exactly what she’d call Mother Material. Then again, Faith was now a mother, and she seemed even less made for motherhood then Cordelia. She seemed to be doing ok so far though so perhaps there was hope for Cordelia. Then again, it had only been one day, hours actually but Cordelia was an optimistic person.
She peered up at the test. Another minute or so and she’d have a result. She closed her eyes and leaned it against the bathroom wall. She tried to imagine what her child would like. She tried to imagine a boy, but couldn’t. The girl came to her mind instantly. Five years old with her hair and Lindsey’s eyes. Totally a Daddy’s girl but had her mother’s sense of fashion. Well, as much as a five year old could have. She was smart, ahead of her class although she was a bit mischievous.
She opened her eyes with a start. The image in her head was too clear and two precise to be her imagination. She had a feeling she knew exactly what it was, and what the test results say.
“Cor?” She turned to the door when she heard Lindsey’s sleepy voice come from the next room.
“In here,” she responded. He opened the bathroom door a few seconds later and peaked around, his hair still messed up from sleeping.
“Why are you setting on the floor?” He moved towards her and sat down next to her. She silently pointed at the test kit still setting on the sink that he had apparently missed on his way in. “Oh.”
“Yeah.” She responded. “I think it’s done. Haven’t had the nerve to check it, but I think I know what it will say. “They sat for awhile looking up at it before Lindsey spoke again.
“Probably should see what it has to say.” Cordelia motioned with her hand that he could do the honors. He raised himself so he could get the test, and then came back down to sit next to Cordelia, his back resting against the tub. “Positive.”
“I’m beginning to wonder if there is something in the water supply at work,” she joked with a slight smile. He grinned back at her and pulled her into a hug, her head leaned against his shoulder and under his cheek. She sighed and hugged him back.
“You ok?” She looked up at him at the question and just looked at him for a few seconds.
“Yeah. Just not a big fan of radical change.” She leaned back against him and closed her eyes. “What do you think about a girl?”
“That would be nice.”
“You wouldn’t have cared either way would you?” She said with a grin.
“No, not really.”
“I tried imagining what our kid would like,” she started, sitting up a little straighter so she could look at his face instead of just talking into his chest. “I couldn’t picture a boy, but when I switched to a girl I got this image that was so clear.” She paused. “I’m almost certain it was a vision. I could see Lizzie in the background, eight years old or so, and there was our daughter and then I could also see another little girl, who was joining in on all their adventures. They were a group. Those three girls…” Suddenly something occurred to Cordelia.
“What is it?” Lindsey asked noticing that she had gone white.
“What if…What if she gets my visions? I mean, they don’t hurt much anymore but still.”
“First, we shall deal with it if it should come up. Second, I doubt she’d inherit your visions and not the DNA to handle them.” She nodded. It made sense. After a minute of two of calming down, she suddenly smiled.
“We’re having a baby,” she said, looking at him.” He grinned back.
“Yeah, we are.”
~*~
Faith was glad to be home. All she wanted to do was put Blake to bed, and climb in her own and sleep for a couple hours. She doubted that she get even that much, but that is what she wanted. Shelia had helped her prepare for going home, talking a mile a minute about the shopping she and Richard planned to do that evening. They wanted to get some things for Blake as well as some items for Wesley’s brother and sister.
It had caught her off guard when, after Richard and Wesley had gone to get the car, Shelia had brought up marriage. She had never really thought about it. While Shelia had not gone right out and asked ‘are you planning on marrying my son’ she knew that Shelia was trying to figure the answer to that question out. Personally, she would have no problem with marrying Wesley as long as he meant it and she got to keep her last name. She definitely intended to be with him for as long as she could see. She didn’t need the paper to tell her that would happen though, so it was up to Wes to take the step if he wanted to.
Shelia had changed the subject when they got to the front entrance and Wesley and Richard were waiting for them. Shelia and Faith got into the back with the baby while Richard rode up front with Wesley. It was odd how friendly and…well, family like the trip home had been. Richard and Wesley were having a conversation that didn’t require a referee, and Shelia and she were laughing at them in between turns playing with the baby.
Xander met them at the parking lot, helping them carry up all the bags they now would have as a constant companion. Faith already knew she’d have to have a couple stashes of stuff so she didn’t have to lug that stuff everywhere. Walking into the house (and balanced she might add for the first time in a couple months) she noticed it was set up for a small party. Apparently after the failure of the surprise birthday shower, everyone decided to have a welcome-home party for her and Blake. It was smaller and less ornate than the one Cordelia planned, but everyone was still there. The crib was finished and ready for Blake so the first thing she did after everyone had a chance to ‘ooo’ and ‘awe’ over him was to put him down for his nap.
She went back to the party because even if she was tired, she wasn’t that tired to miss a party. There was cake, and other goodies of an unhealthy nature. Clearly Xander had been the caterer. She didn’t mind, though, and just went around having a good time with her friends. Her family.
It was odd, to have a family. She never really had one. Her biological one had been torn apart when she was young and her sister Dana was almost a stranger to her, living in England with her boyfriend Andrew. The Scoobies had given her family for a little bit till she got overwhelmed by them and the Mayor. She regretted doing what she did, but not for the feeling she had while she worked for him. He had been the first to give her a true sense of family. And then Angel. Angel had brought her back to this one and she was happy he had.
She remembered a while ago Xander had rambled on about writing a book about their family. About how it wasn’t one borne but rather one assembled and yet stronger then blood. She felt he was right about that, and looking around her living room, where they all stood laughing and having a good time (or a messy time in the case of Alec who had cake all over him and Angel who was trying to clean him up but got himself messy in the process).
Wesley came behind her and wrapped his arms around her.
“Hey there,” she said softly, leaning back to kiss his cheek.”
“Hey,” he responded with a return kiss to her forehead. They stood their comfortably for a few minutes, soaking in the scene. Their family, crazy and complicated and everything in between.