Dawn wrote once every two weeks. She wrote pages and pages in her neat, bubbly writing about what they were seeing; about the people she met; about the witches and vampires and demons that were everywhere, not just in Sunnydale. On the day Dawn was to start her senior year of high school, a few weeks after her 18th birthday, Buffy got a new letter on pale-pink stationary.

"Have you ever seen 'On Golden Pond'? Do you like Katharine Hepburn? I forget, old movies were such an exclusive Buffy-Mom thing. Either way: I married Xander in Brussels." her sister wrote, circles over all her i's.

She showed Giles who read the letter with a smile and watery eyes.

"'On Golden Pond'?" Buffy asked.

"A movie. I'll buy it for you while I'm out." he promised. Buffy was still her small self, just with a large swell where the flat plane of her stomach used to reside.

"I knew if I let them go, they'd be gone." she said, sniffing. Out side the kitchen window, the sun set. She pulled on her black trench coat, the new coat she bought that tied around her belly and waited for Giles to gather his briefcase. He'd hired a staff for the magic shop and started working at the History museum in downtown Sunnydale after hours working on decoding relics and other artifacts that passed over the hellmouth. The museum staff always needed his expertise. Buffy walked him downtown and then patrolled. He was wary of her patrolling in her current state, but she proved that she could more than take care of herself. He thought she looked even more graceful fighting while pregnant. At night, Giles slept with his hand on her stomach, feeling the baby kick against his palm. In the mornings, he broke capsules of vitamin E on her skin to reduce stretching and fixed her eggs and made her juice.

He could see that she was lonely. After living in a house filled to the brim with friends and loved ones to having everyone leave… it took its toll on her.

"It will be better when the baby comes." he told her. He missed the gang, too. Willow called and begged him to come to England, to bring Buffy and the baby, to have a high church wedding, to see how happy Dawn and Xander made each other. Buffy didn't want to abandon post but the hellmouth had been losing power. Even he could see it. A pregnant slayer was like having a neon target painted on her and yet patrols had been slow. There were other hellmouths all over the world and he suspected Sunnydale's golden age was ending. Buffy had done her job here. Faith would be willing to take over the new hot spot and the world was full of slayers. Buffy needed her friends. She needed her sister.

When he came home, she was asleep on the sofa with a cold mug of tea and the news on TV. He kissed her forehead.

"What if we sold the house?" he asked.

"What? We just bought the house!" she said, opening her eyes and sitting up groggily.

"What if we raised the baby abroad? What if everyone was together again?"

"I know I've been moody but it's the baby. I'm not unhappy here. Besides, I'm the slayer. Here is where I slay." she said. "Your daughter is awake." She put a hand to her stomach to calm the movement inside.

"Do you want to get married?" He asked. "That is to say… will you marry me?" She stared as he fumbled for the ring in his suit jacket. It was platinum, princess cut, and a modest sized diamond.

"My God, how long have you been carrying that around?" she asked.

"About two months. It was my grandmother's engagement ring." he admitted. "She was just your size."

"Aww. Giles! It's so beautiful. Of course, I will, of course." he slid the ring on her finger.

"I want to make you happy. I want us to be a proper family."

"I don't know what's gotten into you!" she looked at his hopeful face. "Sell the house, though? It feels like… this house, it's the last thing I have of my Sunnydale life." Giles was often surprised how much Buffy looked like Joyce, the older she got. Buffy had gotten the boxes of her mother's clothing out of storage. Joyce had liked to wear large, flowing tops and Buffy found the worked well as maternity clothes in some cases. Other days, she just wore Giles' button down oxford shirts.

"Perhaps we could rent it, then. Use the tenants rent to pay off the mortgage so we wouldn't be losing money and we always have a place to come back to." he suggested.

"Do you miss home? England, I mean?" she asked.

"I do. I made the choice to come here and to stay with you but there are some things I miss, of course."

"I miss Dawn." she said. It wasn't an agreement from her but it was a step in the right direction so he didn't push it anymore for the time being.

Buffy was calm when she shook his shoulder to wake him.

"What?" he asked, his face pushed into the pillow.

"Giles, I think my water just broke." she whispered, not wishing to startle him. He turned on the light and looked at her.

"Are you quite sure?" he asked, trying to repress the panic he felt rising inside. She threw back the bedclothes and he saw the dampness she was laying in. "Oh my God. I'll call an ambulance."

"Giles, no. I'm fine. I'm going to get dressed and then why don't you drive me to the hospital? An ambulance taking the slayer away is like ringing the dinner bell." she said calmly. She had a light sheen of sweat covering her.

"Have you been in labor?" he screeched.

"It hasn't been so bad, yet." she said, slowly standing and removing her wet nightgown. On the chair near the bed were her maternity sweats and a button down flannel shirt.

"You have an extremely high tolerance for pain! Buffy, you should have told me." He'd thrown on some clothes and was guiding her downstairs.

"I'm sorry." In the car, he sped through red lights and she cracked the handle about the door gripping it so tightly. Still, she didn't complain or cry out. He was forever marveling at her strength. She took his cell phone from the glove compartment and turned it on.

"Are you calling the doctor?" he asked. "Because we're only a block away."

"I was sending a text message to Xander's phone. To let everyone know." she said. Giles parked in a red ambulance zone and ran around to open her door. She tried to protest his erratic behavior but as soon as the staff saw them, she was put into a wheel chair and taken into the backroom while he went to park the car. The E.R. staff knew them well and knew that Buffy was due.

The doctor was there when Giles was finally shown to her room. He put on some proper scrubs over his t-shirt and jeans and went to hold her hand.

"You're wife waited too long to come in, Mr. Giles." he chided.

"I know. She has a high pain threshold." he didn't bother to correct the wife mistake. She would be soon enough.

"Either way, we'll begin pushing in just a few minutes." The doctor stepped out to wash his hands and to let the nurse prepare everything. Buffy was unusually quiet.

"Are you okay? Are you ready?" he asked, kissing her sweaty forehead.

"I'm ready. I'm just worried. Will the baby be… special?" she asked, eyeing the nurse. "Can we keep it safe?"

"I was going to tell you after but I asked Willow months ago to gather a special coven." he said.

"Why?" she asked, through clenched teeth. The need to push was beginning to overwhelm her.

"They've been putting protection spells on you and the baby around the clock. They haven't rested for months." he assured her.

"For me?" she asked.

"Yes. You're a slayer and you're having a child. I didn't and don't want to take any chances." The doctor came back in. "Everything will be fine." Giles promised one last time.

The doctor looked at them.

"Are you ready to start?"

The baby had red hair.

"My mother was a natural red head." Giles commented. "Actually, I think she might rather look like my mother."

"She's so small." Buffy commented. The baby was barely over six pounds and the entire nursing staff had been coming in and out for hours to see the newest Scooby. They were happy to see Buffy and Giles in the hospital for something other than an injury. The card on the crib just said 'Baby Giles'. They'd barely talked about names, let alone decided on one. "What was your mother's name?" Buffy asked, ashamed she didn't know more about his family.

"Rosemary. She died when I was 32. Cancer." he said.

"Hmm, so something Rosemary Giles. It's a start." she said and Giles smiled at her kindness.

"What was your grandmother's name?" he asked.

"Elizabeth. I was pseudo named after her." she said, wrinkling her nose. "We should give her a strong name. She comes from strength."

"I agree." he said, "Lets ask the others."

"Have they called?" she asked, looking at the sleeping bundle in her arms.

"Willow called while you were sleeping but the connection wasn't good so I told her we'd try again when we got discharged tomorrow morning."

"Did the curtains for the nursery ever come?" she asked. Giles had spent the last few weeks changing Willow's old room into a nursery since it was right across the hall from their room. He'd painted the walls a light green, bought a crib and changing station and tons of clothes and diapers. They didn't stencil the walls or do anything too permanent since the idea of moving abroad was still fresh.

"I put them up already when I went home to change." he assured her.

"Then everything in my life is perfect." she said and fell asleep.

"Do you want me to come home?" Dawn asked over the phone. "Because I'll come help for as long as you need me."

"Aww, no. Well, I want to see you but you live there now." she said. "Besides, I think this crazy idea of moving out there is something I'm starting to consider, maybe in the next year or so." Buffy said. "Then you can come and help us pack."

"Oh yay. Packing." Dawn said. "Remember how not good we are at that?"

"We'll just hire movers. The magic box is good. So good, Giles hardly ever has to go in and he loves his museum gig. It's been so long since I haven't been poor. It's nice." she said.

"Xander is doing renovations on this old cathedral and I'm a waitress. It's like being in college but without the smarts." she said. "Did Giles tell you that I got my G.E.D. through the mail? I am a United States high school graduate."

"He told. I'm proud. Hey, I gotta go. Baby and Giles are leaving."

"Okay. Well, call when you name her. Sheesh."

"Bye." They hung up and Giles smiled handing her the whimpering baby.

"She's hungry. You'll be okay?" he asked.

"Yes, go. I'm fine." she said. "Don't walk because I can't walk you. Drive."

"Yes, Ma'am." he said and kissed his wife and daughter goodbye and left for work.

She let the baby start to nurse and finished out the list of names from her pocket.

Kathryn

Natalie

Elizabeth

Joyce/Joy

Stacy

Tara

Anya

She wanted the name to have meaning but didn't really want to name her after someone, no matter how much she'd loved Tara and Anya. Plus, she though naming the baby Anya might be weird for Dawn and Xander. She wanted to start fresh. She liked Natalie but it sounded bad with Rosemary. The baby had fallen asleep and Buffy leaned down to smell her baby smell and went upstairs to put her to bed.

At first, Buffy was almost afraid to touch the baby. She was the strongest woman in the world and the baby was so tiny and fragile and helpless. Giles assured her that while the baby was small and helpless, she was stronger and more resilient than she seemed.

Her hair was staying vibrant Willow red but the blue eyes she'd had at birth had starting turning green like both her parents.

Buffy opened to the obituaries of the newspaper by habit. She skimmed what seemed like a small amount of death announcements for Sunnydale. Most were elderly or died of a disease. There were no disappearances or mysterious neck traumas. Maybe Giles was right - maybe Sunnydale's hellmouth was past its prime. there hadn't been any demon-y crisis since well before the baby was born and even vampires were scarce. She had a family now. She was no longer the last line of defense. She could have the life she always wanted. It was just within her reach.

The house was all crated up and now she was watching the big, burly movers move all the crates to their truck to be shipped across the Atlantic. The new family who was renting the house was to arrive from Texas next week. She was packed, the baby was packed and all she had to do was catch a taxi to the airport, get on a plane, and Giles would be there to meet her on the other side.

Two movers walked by and she saw one of the men's foot catch and the crate start to fall. Reaching out her left hand, she caught it and made sure it was upright so the men could move forward again.

"Thanks," the guy said, looking at her with awe. "that was amazing."

"I work out." she said, shrugging, with a mysterious smile. She saw her daughter roll into the room with her rolling seat and smiled.

"You ready to go, Ellie?" she asked and the child raised her arms so her mother could lift her up. Next week, Eleanor would turn one year old and they would all be together for that. She hadn't seen her sister or Xander since they had left for their 'summer vacation' almost two years ago and she hadn't seen Willow for longer. She was too excited for words. Giles had gone to England to find a home and then gone once again to get the new place ready. He'd been gone for two long weeks and today (or was it tomorrow in England?) she would see him.

She saw the cab pull up outside. Gathering her child and all the luggage, she said goodbye to Sunnydale.