Story 14: Extended family

Author notes: In my little AU world here, the end of "You're welcome" onward in Angel season five didn't happen. So just nod and smile and act like you know what's going on, alright? Lol. Also people do remember Connor…so just go along with the ride

Angel was staring at the baby in Buffy's arms, seeming unable to think of anything to say for several moments as he met her for the first time. Her head turned toward him, Callie stared back at him gravely, as if utterly fascinated by the sight of him- and she probably was. Angel was the first vampire she had ever seen, and if she was to be a Slayer one day, she might sense what he was even as such an early age.

"She's so little," Angel said at last, his voice holding a note of amazement, and Faith grinned, smoothing a gentle hand over the pale fuzz of Callie's head.

"Yeah, they generally come like that, Angel- unless you're Cordy, of course," she said playfully, referring to Cordelia's birthing of the full-grown Jasmine two years before. Cordelia had come out of her coma almost a year ago and was fully functioning now, but it was generally only Faith, with her blunt ways, that ever brought up Jasmine or anything that had occurred during that time period. "Plus she's half B's so that kind of cinches her fate in being all pint-sized here."

Buffy smirked at her, adjusting her hold on Callie slightly; the infant was still gazing at Angel, almost unblinking. But the baby didn't seem afraid of him; in fact, she seemed utterly intrigued.

"So what do you think, Angel?" Faith asked, stroking Callie's head again tenderly. Callie took her eyes off of Angel long enough to pull her head away slightly, giving Faith what could only be described as a baby version of a Faith-ish scowl- a look that made Buffy grin widely. "She's pretty awesome isn't she? Thought we'd come up to see you guys since none of you came to us," she said with a raised eyebrow, smirking.

She was teasing, but Angel didn't seem to realize that; he looked up quickly from his gazing at the child and shook his head.

"Sorry…I know I should have, after she was born…just, it's been busy, with everything…"

"Yeah, yeah, no rest for the leader of the evil law firm and all," Faith rolled her eyes, but she wasn't angry. "We got the cradle though…it's pretty cool, she likes it better than her crib."

"Yeah, she likes to be rocked," Buffy added, realizing suddenly that she was swaying Callie unconsciously even as she talked and making herself stop. God, she was already such a mom.

"She has your eyes color, Faith," Angel said quietly as he took a slow step forward, looking Callie over as if he couldn't quite stop. "But she has your ears, Buffy…"

"My ears?" Buffy said in surprise, frowning as she looked down at Callie's, wishing she could look at her own as well. "How do you figure she has my /ears/?"

"'Cause they're so little, right, Angel?" Faith grinned, as Buffy made a face back at her.

It had been a little weird at first, when Buffy and Faith had first publicly came out as a couple. It wasn't like they saw Angel very often…but the times that they had had been awkward at first, because of the triangle of entwined sexual history between the three.

Faith and Buffy had thought it would probably be best if they just saw and spoke to Angel only when necessary, keeping things as discreet as possible, until Angel had deliberately arranged a meeting to talk to them. It wasn't just their relationship they needed to get out in the open- there was the fact that he was now the head of Wolfram and Hart, whose office they were now currently standing in with him, as well.

But Angel hadn't let them get very far in their fumbling of starting conversation. Looking them both in the eyes, he had told them that he was glad they were happy, that they deserved to be- and that he was proud of them. He wouldn't let the conversation go any further than that, despite Faith's several attempts- she had never been one to easily let things go. They both knew that he still loved Buffy, and Faith too, in a different way… but things were different now, Angel was different now, and he knew and accepted this without bitterness or pain.

Besides…it seemed pretty obvious just from the few times they'd seen and spoken to Angel since Cordelia had emerged from her coma that something was going on between them. Neither would come out with it so far, but Faith's not so subtle comments would have to force them to go public sooner or later.

It had been a little weird again when they had called to tell Angel Faith was pregnant…but now this too seemed something of the past as Angel continued to gaze at Callie in Buffy's arms, his expression strangely and rather amusingly soft.

"She reminds me of Connor," he said softly, and Buffy raised an eyebrow, a little offended in spite of herself.

"I hope not too much- she's a GIRL," she said defensively, brushing her hand over Callie's head as Faith had done before. "Faith, I told you she needs a ribbon or bow or something in her hair."

"B, she barely HAS hair to put in a bow, and no kid of mine is gonna be all frilly while I'm seen with her," Faith maintained. As Callie started to wiggle in Buffy's arms making faint grunting noises, Faith took her from her, propping the baby in her arms in such a way that she could face outward and see around herself.

"She's beautiful," Angel said quietly, and there was an odd longing, even pain, that flashed across his eyes. Looking over at him, Buffy knew he must be thinking about his own son and the childhood he had missed out in watching…and maybe the fact that he could have no other children. She doubted Faith realized this.

But it was Faith who was followed Angel's gaze to her daughter and spoke up casually.

"Want to hold her, Soulboy?"

Angel's face froze, and he lifted his hands quickly, shaking his head; eventually he even went so far as to take a step back.

"No…I don't think so, it's-"

"Ah, come on, man, I know you want to, you've got the gooey baby eyes," Faith laughed, her eyes glinting in amusement. "Look, if I haven't killed her yet then you won't either…right?"

Her voice became suddenly suspicious and unsure at the end, and she held Callie a little closer to her as she looked Angel over, as if searching for evil in him. Buffy smiled, but she eyed Angel quickly too before starting to gang up on him.

"Yeah, Angel, you can't really see a baby right if you don't hold her," she said mock earnestly.

When Angel hesitated, his eyes dropping to look at Callie again, Faith simply stepped forward and transferred her to his arms without further ado.

"Here you go…see, she likes you, she actually holds still for you. B, I think our daughter is definitely 100% straight, she always goes all quiet and still and starey when men hold her."

"Do you think she's boy-crazy? Is she already boy-crazy? Can you be boy-crazy when you're only a baby?" Buffy asked with sudden alarm and Faith burst out laughing.

"B, was that a serious question?"

"Well, babies are sexual too- I learned that in my psychology class!" Buffy said defensively. "Freud used to say that, he-"

"Freud?" Faith practically yelled, fully guffawing now, and Callie's eyes shifted to her briefly, her eyebrows rising in alarm. "B you took ONE psych class like five years ago and suddenly you think that makes you Dr. Phil?"

"He's not a psychiatrist! He's just-" Buffy began, but Angel hadn't been paying attention to either of them. Holding Callie in his arms, he stared down at her with his eyes glinting strangely before he broke out into a goofy smile.

"Hey there, little baby," he said in a voice that was much higher and sweeter than normal, letting his face lean close to Callie's. "How are you? How /are/ you, little girl?"

Buffy stopped talking, and she and Faith looked at each other, both grinning widely. Faith spoke up with her eyes gleaming with amusement and mischievous intent.

"She likes it when your voice is higher…she really smiles then," she said in a deceptively casual tone, though Buffy could tell that her dimples were just threatening to burst forth.

Angel looked over at her quickly, frowning, seeming unable to decide if she was messing with him or not. As he looked back at Callie, who stared at him with round, fascinated eyes, Buffy hid a grin of her own as she spoke up in supposed serious critique.

"Yeah, you need a slightly higher pitch to it, Angel…baby's ears are very sensitive, you know, they really like it when they can hear sounds like that, ones that go up in their upper hearing range."

Frowning, seeming to be considering this, Angel looked down at the baby, his voice cracking as he tried to aim it up to a higher pitch.

"Hey, Callie…is this better? Does the baby girl like this better?"

Just then the door to the office opened, and Cordelia nearly strutted in, her face drawn into a narrow-eyed suspicious look.

"Okay, either there's a demon in here or you've gone evil, because that irritating shrill noise CANNOT be- ohhh it's a baby! Where did you get the baby?"

She hurried forward, seemingly having managed to have blocked out Buffy's and Faith's presence entirely as she went to Angel's side to peer down at Callie as well. This only further amused Faith, sending her into further gales of laughter that made her lean somewhat weakly against the wall. Buffy, however, was a tad bit miffed, and she spoke up a little pointedly.

"He got her from us…you know, the ones standing right here?"

"Oh, she's yours?" Cordelia half turned, seemingly genuinely surprised but unruffled to see them, and she gave them both such warm smiles that Buffy was somewhat mollified. Maybe her coma had affected her vision or focus or something- and Callie did tend to divert people's attention. "I can see it now, she looks just like you, Faith…oh, and good thing, she's got your nose too!"

"Got HER nose? Why do people keep implying something's wrong with MY nose?" Buffy said indignantly, but also with some worry as she self consciously touched it. Faith grinned and leaned to kiss its tip as Cordelia ignored her, beaming down at the now even more alert baby.

"Don't sweat it, B, quirks are hot. Like scars."

"It's not a QUIRK, it's just a normal NOSE!" Buffy said loudly, and the office door opened again, a green-skinned demon in a loud red suit sticking his head inside.

"The feeling in here is very intense, what's going- oh, hello there, Faith, Buffy!" he said warmly, going to hug both women with a smile. "And hello, beautiful little munchkin! She /is/ yours, I assume?"

"Yep," Faith said proudly, smiling back, and Lorne's red eyes glowed as he went to join the crowd gathering around the child.

"She's absolutely darling, girls- a perfect little cherub! Someone should tell Fred she's here, she'll want to see, I'm sure."

"Oh I'll call her," Cordelia said quickly, extracting her cell phone from her purse and detaching herself from the baby's general vicinity long enough to speed dial Fred. "Fred? Angel's got a baby, come see! In his office- what? Oh, yeah, Faith and Buffy's…go get Gunn and Wes too!"

Hanging up, she immediately turned her attention to Callie, speaking in a singsong not unlike Angel's earlier efforts.

"Yes, you're a good girl…you want your Aunt Cordy to hold you, don't you, Callie? Isn't that what you want? Your Uncle Angel doesn't know how to do it right…"

"Hey," Angel protested, backing up a half step protectively, as if afraid Cordelia would snatch the child from him. "Uncle Angel is doing just fine. Uncle Angel HAD a baby, remember?"

"Yes, and that little baby lovvved it when his Cordy held him," Cordelia replied in the same gentle singsong before looking up at Angel with a pointed scowl, dropping her voice to a normal tone. "So hand over the baby, don't be greedy."

As Angel reluctantly shifted Callie into Cordelia's waiting arms, glancing at Buffy and Faith first as if for permission, the door to the office opened yet again, and Fred burst through excitedly, Gunn and Wesley following somewhat more composedly in her trail.

"Ohhh look at her, she's so sweet… Wesley, isn't she beautiful? You should hold her- that is, if it's okay…"

"Well, I don't think that's-" Wesley began awkwardly, glancing at the Slayers, but Fred wouldn't let him finish his sentence.

"Hey, no, it's okay, I'll just-" Gunn started to back up too, even as he looked at Callie with a little smile, but Fred just rolled her eyes.

"Stop being so silly, everyone knows you want to. So if they're okay with it…"

She grabbed each man by his sleeve and walked them quickly with her to the considerable crowd forming around the baby, who had now been passed on to Lorne, first smiling and greeting Buffy and Faith enthusiastically. Buffy and Faith stood back as Lorne began to sing to Callie softly, smiling, but still watching closely. They would have thought that such a throng of strangers around her, particularly a sinister-looking demon, would have scared their daughter, but she seemed to absolutely love the attention, staring around at all the new faces. She seemed to recognize them, to regard them as just more family. Buffy had been a little nervous at first about coming, and not only because it was Wolfram and Hart…but as she watched the people gather around Callie, she knew no harm would come to her child with any of them present. No doubt about it…however unconventional her "family" might be, their daughter would never lack for love.

Author notes: Guys…I have written up to Callie being four now story wise and have 19 stories written, 5 more planned. Need more ideas for Callie between the ages of eight months and 8 years…so anyone who has any ideas let me know!