"A Big Family Christmas"
Author: Pamela
Contact: destructo-girl@cox.net
"Where is he?! Where's my little Jacob-Henry?"
Angel looked at his grandmother-in-law, overwhelmed. "Uh... living room."
"Oh, you're such a doll!" She grinned; squeezing his cheeks and pulling his head down to kiss him on the cheek before she rushed past him towards the living room.
Truman Evans followed his wife into the house, giving Angel a smile. "Hello Angel, how are you doing?"
"I'm great, Sir. How are you?"
"Anxious to greet the newest member of the family. Speaking of, it looks like you haven't gotten much sleep."
Angel smiled and shrugged. "He tends to want to eat every three hours and I like to get up with Buffy."
"Ahh... yes... the exhaustion that comes with a newborn." Truman smiled as he followed Angel to the living room in time to see Mary pull Jacob out of Buffy's arms as she gushed over how adorable he was.
Angel watched her nervously. He was always a bit apprehensive when anyone other than he or Buffy held their son. Seeing the distress on her husband's face, Buffy cuddled up against his side and wrapped her arms around his waist after hugging her grandfather.
Looking down at his wife, Angel couldn't help but smile warmly before looking back up to watch her grandparents meet the baby.
"Angel he has your eyes!" Mary announced.
Angel grinned proudly. "That's about it... other than that he looks just like Buffy.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Oh please. He looks exactly like Angel!"
Truman smiled at his glowing granddaughter. Although he could tell she was overtired, she looked radiant; motherhood suited her well.
"Oh, ignore Angel... he's very proud of Jake's resemblance to him, but he likes to be modest." Spike piped up as he strolled into the room from wherever he had gone at sunset. "Luckily the boy does have some of his mother's looks or he'd be in trouble."
Buffy laughed. "Spike, knock it off!"
"Spike?" Mary asked.
"Oh... sorry, I totally forgot. This is Spike, Angel's... half-brother. Spike, these are my grandparents, Mary and Truman." Buffy introduced the vampire, using the story they had concocted earlier.
"Angel, I had no idea you had a half-brother! How lovely!" Mary smiled as she shook Spike's hand.
"What kind of name is Spike?" Truman asked, eyebrow quirked, as he shook Spike's hand as well.
"My kind of name." Spike replied bluntly. "It's actually William, but *I* am not a William. I'm a Spike."
Truman nodded and smiled. "I like him."
"Grandma got runover by a reindeer, walking home from our house Christmas Eve. You can say there's no such thing as Santa, but as for me and Grandpa, we believe!" Spike sang loudly, and off key, from the passenger seat of Angel's 4 Runner.
Angel's grip on the steering wheel as he forced himself to continue driving instead of staking the vampire right in front of his son and wife as they sat in the backseat.
"Spike... please keep your voice down so you don't wake the baby." Buffy pleaded from the backseat. Jacob had fussed for the first hour of their trip to the cabin her grandparents had rented for the holiday and she had finally gotten him to sleep.
"Sorry, Luv, I'll be quiet." Spike apologized, turning to give her a sweet smile.
"You're the best." Buffy grinned at him.
Angel rolled his eyes and sighed, missing the old days when they had hated each other with a fiery passion. "Why did you come with us anyway? Now we have to lie about you being allergic to sunlight and Buffy has to hide your blood from her grandparents. Wouldn't you have preferred to spend a few days alone?"
Spike frowned. "It's Christmas! I have to spend the day with my family!"
"Spike, your family died centuries ago."
"Bullshit! You three are my family."
Angel sighed. "We are not, Spike. We are of no blood relation to you. Buffy and I are married... we are Jacob's parents... the three of us are a family... you are a... hanger-on."
Buffy gasped in the backseat. "Angel, what a mean thing to say! Spike has feelings, you know!"
"You bloody are too my family! You are my sire, which makes Buffy my step-mum and lit'l Jake my baby brother! Buffy agrees with me."
Angel rolled his eyes. "You two are nuts. Why do I bother?"
Pushing down on the gas harder, anxious to get to his destination, he tried to tune out Spike and Buffy's conversation, knowing it would only annoy him. This was going to be a long three days in the woods.
"I can't believe you brought that thing."
"Well, you don't think we'll need it?"
"Angel, Jacob's bassinet is in the same room as us, why do we need the babycam?"
"Because we aren't always in here, Buffy. What about when he is sleeping in here in the afternoon and we are in the living room or something?"
Buffy smiled and shook her head, finding her husband's over-cautiousness when it came to Jacob adorable. "I love you."
Angel's annoyance at her dissipated in a matter of seconds. Sliding into bed and cuddling up to his wife, he returned the smile. "I love you too."
They kissed lovingly, then pulled apart to turn off the lights, only to return to each other's embrace.
"Excited about tomorrow?" Buffy asked quietly as they lay in their dark room in the cabin.
"Let's see... another day of having to pretend not to want to kill Spike... no, not at all."
Buffy chuckled. "I always have loved Christmas Eve. Usually my grandparents came to visit for Christmas, so it was always a night I knew my parents would either not fight, or be so quiet I didn't have to hear it. They usually bickered their way through any other holiday."
"I'm sorry." Angel told her as he softly stroked her arm.
"It's not your fault."
"I know..."
"Let's just make sure that every night of Jacob's life is as safe to him as Christmas Eve was to me." She replied, placing a soft kiss on Angel's jaw.
"Deal." He replied planting a kiss on the top of her head.
And that was one promise he was sure to keep.
"Please? Please, please, please? Just one present?" Buffy begged her grandfather.
"Buffy, you know tradition." He replied. "We wait until Christmas Day to open gifts."
"Actually, Dad, tradition is that you insist we wait until Christmas Day to open gifts, and Buffy begs you to let her open just one gift and you always cave." Joyce smiled from her spot next to her husband on the couch.
Angel smiled as he held Jacob in the recliner and watched Buffy crawling around the Christmas tree like a child. Christmas with family was actually turning out to be quite nice. Jacob was starting to eat less frequently, which made life all around easier for Buffy and Angel. Also, being around all these other people who wanted to hold his son made Angel realize that Jacob recognized Buffy and sometimes him. It made him feel great to know that sometimes his son would cry just because his Mommy or Daddy wasn't holding him. It made him feel needed.
"Well... she really wants to open a gift, Joyce." Truman sighed. He was a sucker for his granddaughter's pouty look.
Grinning in triumph, Buffy dug around under the tree and found a gift from her grandparents. "Can I open this?"
"That's a good one, Sweetie." Mary told her as she held Toby over by the television so she could point out the Grinch in the cartoon special on television.
Buffy tore the present open and found a small silver heart shaped locket. Opening it, she found a tiny picture of Jacob in it. "Oh my God... I love it!"
Truman grinned. "I saw it! And Angel gave me the picture!"
"Oh, it's wonderful!" Buffy smiled as she hugged her grandfather tightly then gave her a grandmother a hug before sitting in the arm of the chair so she could lean over and kiss her husband.
"Ho ho ho." A completely enthusiastic Santa announced as he entered.
Buffy looked over at Spike in the red costume with the faux beard and couldn't help but laugh. Seeing what his wife was looking at, Angel joined her in laughter. Spike looked ridiculous.
"Oh bloody Hell, would you shut up?!" Spike growled.
"I'm sorry!" Buffy apologized, trying to stop laughing.
"Come on, you two... Spike was very kind to agree to be Santa this year." Joyce told them as she walked up to the vampire and took his arm, leading him to the other recliner.
"Toby, want to see Santa?" Mary asked her grandson, carrying him over to Spike.
Toby took one look at the strange man and began screaming and crying. Mary tried to calm him, but he wouldn't stop crying until he was five feet away. Buffy took Jacob out of Angel's arms and placed him in Spike's, but even seeing the little baby wasn't afraid of the man didn't make Toby any more anxious to sit in Santa's lap.
So, after Joyce had snapped some shots of her grandson and Santa, Jacob was handed back to his father and Buffy sat on Spike's lap, showing her little brother that he wasn't a bad man. Luckily, they managed to get Toby to sit in Buffy's lap long enough to take a picture.
After Toby was in his father's arms, Buffy moved to get out of Spike's lap, but the vampire grabbed her waist and pulled her back down.
"You forgot to tell Santa what you want for Christmas." He told her.
Buffy giggled as her husband rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe that they would let Buffy's grandparents see her flirt shamelessly with her 'brother-in-law'.
"Okay..." Buffy smiled, then whispered in Spike's ear.
Angel raised his eyebrows as he heard Spike's cry of disgust. He wondered what exactly Buffy had wished for.
"The End." Angel read aloud, then closed the book and smiled down at his now sleeping son in his wife's arms. "Are you sure reading Dr. Suess to him when he's so young makes a difference?"
Buffy nodded as she got out of bed, carried the baby to the bassinet and laid him down carefully positioned on his side between two rolled blankets. "Sweet dreams, Jacob-Henry."
"He can't even understand us, though." Angel told her as she climbed back into bed and his arms.
"All I know is, every book I read or website I visit says that it's good to read to your child from the start. It's not as if it's going to hurt him. Besides, this way he gets quiet time with us so we can bond. He'll recognize our voices even more." She explained, nibbling on his ear.
Angel sighed contentedly. "I suppose you're right."
Yawning, Buffy turned the lamp off and settled into her husband's arms to sleep.
"Honey?" Angel asked.
"Hmm?"
"What did you tell Spike you wanted for Christmas."
Buffy chuckled. "I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"Because if I tell you, then I might not get it."
Angel rolled his eyes. "You're ridiculous."
"But you love me!" She grinned.
"You got that right." He replied, before kissing his wife passionately.
"Wakey wakey!"
Buffy and Angel both drowsily sat up in bed as Mary fluttered into their bedroom, trying to get them out of bed.
"What time is it?" Buffy asked.
"Seven." Mary answered.
"Why do we have to get up?" Angel yawned.
"Because we all have to see what Santa left!" Mary exclaimed.
"Grandma, everyone here is either too old or too young to believe in Santa." Buffy grumbled as she got out of bed, knowing there was no arguing.
"Doesn't matter... it's tradition." Her grandmother reminded her.
Seeing Buffy cave, Angel got out of bed as well, looking for his robe to combat the cold morning air.
"Don't forget to bring Jacob with you." Mary told them as she left the room.
Buffy sighed. "He's sleeping peacefully! I don't want to wake the poor little guy!"
Angel shrugged. "Maybe he'll stay asleep. He always seems to like sleeping when you hold him."
"Let's hope." She replied, carefully picking the infant up and laying him against her chest before following her husband out of the room.
The sight that greeted them as they came down the stairs was amazing. Presents filled the room. There was a super saucer for Toby, a special kind of chair for Buffy and Angel to sit in with Jacob, as well as plenty of other gifts for everyone. They spent the next several hours opening gifts, and Angel was surprised to see what a good time he was having with everyone. Being part of a big family actually was fun at times.
After all the gifts had been opened, Joyce and Mary went to the kitchen to prepare some food. Jacob had awakened and gotten hungry, so Buffy was feeding him as discreetly as possible with a blanket over her shoulder. Giles was helping Toby play with a new toy, Truman was reading the paper and Spike was laughing rather loudly as he watched a 24-hour marathon of 'The Christmas Story.'
Angel sat silently next to Buffy on the couch, taking it all in. With the changes in technology, Christmas was quite a bit different now than it had been when he was human 200 years ago, but the warm feeling he had from being part of a large family was the same. Even last year hadn't been this good. Angel smiled as he remembered how different life had been one short year ago. He'd been planning on proposing to Buffy, but still... there were so many changes. She was in college, they were happily married... Jacob. All changes for the better.
"So... want to know what I asked Santa for?" Buffy smiled over at him.
Angel returned the smile. "Of course I do."
"I asked him if he could please take care of Jacob for a night to give us some alone time."
Angel's eyebrow quirked. "Oh really? And did that wish come true?"
Buffy grinned and showed him a little paper that had obviously been written on by Spike. It was a coupon for one night of babysitting so that they could have their disgusting shag-a-thon.
"Of course, we still can't redeem that for a few weeks... but I thought you'd be happy to know..."
Angel's smile grew wider as he leaned over and kissed his wife, looking forward to their upcoming shag-a-thon.
It was definitely the best Christmas of his long life.
The End