Chapter 40

Buffy's mind was blank. She wanted to say something - but she had a hard time remembering even the simplest things. Like breathing. So it was a good thing that breathing generally worked just fine on a subconscious level.

Is daddy moving in with us?

Where the hell had that come from? Oh, hey, look. She had just formed a coherent thought.

A question even.

Now all she had to do was work on that speaking thing.

"Uh."

Well, that was a start. Not a good one, but a start nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Jack knew better than to answer Dawnie's question. Unlike Buffy, he'd already had time to get used to Dawnie's decision of him being her daddy. Not that he minded, though. In fact, he felt rather elated - especially as Buffy could hardly back down now. So when Dawnie looked at him questioningly, he pulled her onto his lap and smiled.

Encouraged by this, Dawnie studied her mommy curiously. She looked ... kinda funny. With her scrunching up her face the way she did. But her daddy didn't look too worried so she wasn't worried either. Then again, she was only a small girl and sitting still for ages was rather boring. "Mommy?" Dawnie waited till she was looking at her. "Is daddy-"

"Stop!" Buffy held up one hand while the other quickly covered her daughter's mouth. Once was enough. And hey, she managed to say an actual word! That was surely an improvement to the universal 'uh'. Maybe now she could try and form a whole sentence. "How ... why... how?"

Dawnie giggled behind the hand that was still covering her mouth. Pulling the hand away she said, "That's funny!"

"No it isn't!" Buffy said immediately. Ha, and there was the first comprehensible sentence. Now she just had to keep going.

"Yes it is!" Dawnie replied immediately.

"No it -" Great, now she was playing silly games with her daughter. Buffy closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Focus.

Right. Daddy. How did she know? She ... Jack. Once the realisation hit, she glared at Jack. "You!"

"Oh no! I've nothing to do with it." He shook his head vigorously. Turning his daughter so he could see her face, he asked, "Right Dawnie?"

Scrunching up her face, she looked at him in confusion. "Daddy?"

"Why do you call me daddy?" Jack asked softly.

"Cause you are!" Dawnie said with conviction.

Now it was Buffy's turn to turn her daughter to face her. "How do you know? Who told you?"

Looking into her lap, Dawnie shrugged her shoulders, wondering if she'd done something wrong.

"Dawnie?"

"Daddy feels safe. Like you."

Hugging her tightly, Buffy kissed the top of Dawnie's head. "It's okay. Jack really is your daddy."

Leaning back, Dawnie grinned at both her parents. "I know."

Shaking his head in relief, Jack ruffled her hair. "Smarty pants."

"Yep." Still giggling, Dawnie looked back at her mommy. "Is daddy moving in with us now?"

"No."

Her face fell immediately.

Jack put his hand on Dawnie's shoulder. "I'm sorry sweetie. It's complicated."

Dawnie huffed and glared at her parents. "I hate complicated!"

"Me too!" Buffy and Jack said in unison. And, despite not wanting to, Dawnie had to smile at that.

The following silence was interrupted by a loud knock on the basement door. "Yeah?" Buffy asked and moments later the door opened and Janet came down the stairs, carrying a small tray.

Jack stood up, complaining good-naturedly when his joints protested - and getting a few giggles from his daughter in return - and took the tray from Janet. His face lit up when he saw several sandwiches split between two plates. "Food! You're an angel, Doc!"

Janet snorted and shook her head. "I'll make sure to remind you of it the next time you're in my infirmary."

Jack stopped short and pulled a face a behind her back, his eyes lighting up when he saw Dawnie trying to hide a giggle behind her hands. Winking at her, he pulled another face.

"I saw that," Janet said unblinkingly, causing both Dawnie and Buffy to laugh out loud. Narrowing her eyes, Janet gave Buffy a thorough once over. "Are you okay?"

Buffy gave a lopsided smile and nodded.

"Good." Taking Dawnie by the hand, she continued, "Why don't I and Dawnie make dinner while you have another chat." Raising her eyebrows, she nodded towards the empty bottle and added, "Without the whisky."

Both Buffy and Jack had at least the decency to look chastised by her words.

Dawnie tugged on Janet's hand to get her attention. "Where's Auntie Sam?" she asked confused, "She makes the bestest and yummiest cookies!"

"That's true. But she, uh, she needs to go home to make her own dinner." Janet's eyes searched for Buffy's as she spoke.

"But we can make more for Auntie Sam!" Dawnie said immediately. "Puh-lease!"

Rolling her eyes, Buffy sighed. "Why not. The more the merrier."

Moments later they were alone once more. Buffy stood up and walked around the room, stretching and loosening her muscle as she did so. Jack watched her quietly for several moments. "I'm not going to like it, am I?" he eventually asked quietly.

--

"That was Cassie," Janet said as she put her cell phone away. "Her friend isn't feeling too good so Cassie's coming here instead."

"Yay!" Dawnie jumped up and down with joy. "Can we have cookies?"

"For dessert," Janet replied immediately. They'd brought the majority of cookies they made earlier with them when they went to Buffy's house. "Can't have them lying around after we worked so hard to make them, right?"

Dawnie nodded enthusiastically. "Yup!"

"Good." Janet sat down at the breakfast bar and crossed her arms in front of her. "Let's make dinner, then."

"But I dunno how!" Dawnie replied at once, lifting her hands and shoulders in the universal 'I've no clue' gesture. "Auntie Sam?"

Mimicking Dawnie's gesture, she barely managed to keep a straight face. "I'm good at making cookies. Not so good with making dinner."

Dawnie's eyes widened in surprise. "You can't cook?"

"Oh, I can cook eatable food. But Janet knows how to cook delicious food!"

"Yup." Dawnie nodded in agreement. She knew that already. "Can Uncle Teal'c and Uncle Daniel come too?"

Janet shrugged her shoulders, thinking why not. Besides, she knew what Buffy was going to say to Jack and figured the sooner Daniel and Teal'c learned about it, the better.

Meanwhile Sam was kneeling down next to Dawnie and stage-whispered, "Now, how do we best convince your Auntie Janet to cook for us?"

Moments later the kitchen was filled with laughter as Sam and Dawnie tickled Janet until she yielded and agreed to cook for them. If they were helping, that is.

--

Jack was ready to tackle Buffy to the ground if she wasn't going to stop pacing soon. He was about to get up to do just that when Buffy stopped in the middle of the room, lifted her head towards the ceiling and shouted, "I hate you!"

Jack stopped mid-motion and thought that maybe waiting another minute or two wasn't so bad.

Buffy glared upwards for another moment before her shoulders slumped and she dragged herself over to Jack. Plopping down next to him, she let her head fall against the wall behind her, groaning in frustration.

"Is there anything I can do to help ... whatever it is you need help with? Shoot the 'I hate you!' guys?"

Buffy's mouth twitched slightly. "Thanks-"

"-but no thanks?"

Buffy nodded. "All I wanted was a normal life for my daughter."

He didn't like the resignation in Buffy's voice. Or rather the implications of it. "Having a Dad sounds pretty normal to me," Jack said cautiously.

"Yeah. I guess that part isn't so bad after all." Buffy smiled wistfully before she continued, "Shame we can't tell anyone."

"What!?"

--

A/N: I know it's short but NaNoWriMo starts in just over an hour! I have to start writing at midnight - or She-Muse and He-Muse will run away and not come back. Now, we can't have that, right? But there is good news too. I've finished the story. Yup. Just one more chapter to go. It needs a bit of polishing up but I figure with the first week of NaNo being characterised by procrastinating (at least in my case), a bit of editing shouldn't be a problem...