SUMMARY: Nerves wrack Buffy on her first Thanksgiving
RATING: TV-PG
SPOILER: Nothing and everything and other stuff. That made a ton of sense didn't it? In English, if you know who the characters are, nothing's gonna be spoiled.
DISCLAIMER: Everyone belongs to Joss. I belong to no one. Heehee. I love being all powerful.
WEBSITE: http://planetslaythis.homestead.com
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Go me! Getting back into the fanfic swing of things is not only enlightening but fun. I'm trying for three fics a week. I stopped counting so how'm I doing?
DEDICATION: To Ed. The cute guy on the NBC show. I owe him stuff.
AUTHOR'S NOTES2: MAKE ME STOP SINGING "LUCKY"!!!!!!!!!!!! Send me MP3s. Do SOMETHING.

"What'd you buy?" Buffy asked when Angel brought the paper bags full of groceries into their mansion.

"Everything they had left, which wasn't much." he set the last bag down and went to the sink to wash his hands. "I'm gonna grab a quick snack and then go back out. We still need peas."

"And butter," Buffy said, looking through the bags.

"And crescent rolls," Angel added as he raided their fridge. He still wasn't used to the sight of food on the shelves--he and Buffy had been married a year but it still felt odd. He moved a Pepperidge Farm refrigerated cake--Buffy's newest obsession since becoming pregnant six months ago--and found his stash. After quickly drinking a few pints, he flushed it down with a bottle of Evian.

"I don't see ice cream either."

"What kind do you want?" Angel took a piece of paper off the pad on the fridge and began to write things down.

"Get vanilla for the apple pie my mom is bringing and chocolate because Xander is coming and doesn't like traditional Thanksgiving desserts."

"I'm surprised a food exists that Xander doesn't like." Angel remarked.

"Enough of that." Buffy pulled a pumpkin pie out of the oven and replaced it with a pan of green bean casserole; something she hated but knew Angel loved. "Go, because it's twenty to eight and Felicity's on at nine and--"

"We have to watch it together," Angel finished. "I'm already out the door."

"Thank you!"

Angel growled.

"Love you!"

"You too."

The door shut and Buffy set to putting things out on the buffet table for the dinner the next day. She'd been able to set up something really cool in the mansion she and Angel called home. She put his marble table to the far left of the dining room and covered it with dishes at one end. The rest of it would hold all the food and hopefully, if she made it, Willow's infamous lemonade punch. Buffy hadn't had it since the party to celebrate her pregnancy, and she missed it.

Tired and sweaty, Buffy took a quick shower and settled in the living room to watch the remainder of a lame Dawson's Creek rerun until Angel got home. At nine p.m. on the dot, he walked through the door.

"I hate this show," Buffy griped when Elena broke up with Tracy.

"I love this show," she commented, tears in her eyes, as Meghan out-and-out told Sean that she loved him.

"Women," Angel remarked. "I'm gonna be surrounded with them."

"The baby could be a boy," Buffy pointed out.

"But it's not," Angel said, standing up and helping Buffy to do the same. "It's a girl, I just know it."

Buffy rubbed her belly and laughed. "Kellie or Joshua, will you do me a favor and tell your father to just relax and wait until February to see what happens?"

Just as Angel laid a hand on Buffy's stomach, the baby kicked hard.

"See?" Buffy said. "Joshua."

Angel growled as they went upstairs.

*****

"You're not actually tired, are you?"

"Of course I am," Buffy crawled into bed and pulled up the covers. "I gotta get up at six a.m. and put the turkey in. And then I need to--"

Angel silenced her with a kiss. "You need to relax, for your sake and the baby's."

"All right," she settled on his shoulder and sighed as he turned his reading light on and picked up his copy of Angela's Ashes. "I just want everything to go good, you know? I want everyone to say, wow, Buffy cooked a great Thanksgiving dinner, all on her own. I want it to be like when I was a little girl." she turned and looked at Angel. "My mom always made the best Thanksgiving dinners. My aunt Arlene and my dad's crazy sisters Liza and Litta would come and we'd eat and then everyone would rave about my mom's cooking until Christmas. I want that for me."

"And you'll have it," Angel kissed the top of her head. "Just take your time with everything, and it'll be perfect."

"I hope you're right," Buffy said as she drifted off to sleep.

Angel smiled at her before going back to his book. Before turning out the light, he made a mental note to suggest to Buffy that Kellie's middle name be Angela.

*****

When Angel woke up Thanksgiving morning, the bed was empty beside him. Buffy was downstairs, singing along to Jewel's Christmas CD and watching the Macy's parade on mute.

"Need some help?" he asked her.

"It's twenty after ten...oh hi!" she ran over and gave him a quick kiss. "No, I don't, I'm all set. Yams are yamming, potatoes are mashing," she pointed to the mixer, "And the peas, corn and brussel sprouts are in the microwave, ready to go whenever.

The turkey'll be out at one-thirty, the stuffing and rolls will go in then, and Wesley insisted on bringing the cranberries."

"Wesley?!" Angel asked. "He's English."

"When in Rome," Buffy smiled. "So our feast will be perfect. If the turkey isn't dry. Or the mashed potatoes aren't lumpy. Or maybe--"

"Buffy, Buffy, sweetheart," Angel smiled. "Everything is going to be fine. Need some help?"

"I--"

"Fine." Angel repeated. "Now, what would you like me to do?"

"Go change the CD," she told him. "I'm dying for some *NSYNC."

*****

DING-DONG!

"Oh God!" Buffy hissed. "They're here!"

"I'll get it," Angel abandoned the symphony orchestra he was watching on PBS and went to the door.

"Mrs. Summers. Giles." he smiled.

"Buffy's in the kitchen?" Joyce asked and didn't wait for the answer before disappearing down the hall.

"Happy Thanksgiving." Angel called after her.

"Yes, right, that," Giles said as he took his coat off. "I'm afraid I'm still adjusting to this custom."

"I think Buffy's mother is still adjusting to our marriage."

"It's been fifteen months, Angel," Giles sat down on the couch and Angel followed. "I don't believe she's going to adjust."

"That's a positive attitude," Angel remarked dryly.

"I'm sorry. I wish she felt differently."

"But she doesn't. It's not your fault. It's not like you've always been so joyous over my relationship with Buffy."

"No, but I see you with her." Giles looked him in the eye. "You truly love her, and you make her happy. I could never stand in the way of that. She deserves it more than anyone in this world."

"I couldn't agree with you more."

"Angel?"

"Yes."

"Give Joyce a hug when we leave tonight. It'll drive her mad."

"You're an evil man, Giles," Angel smirked.

"Takes one to know one, my boy."

*****

"The food smells great," Joyce said, sniffing the pumpkin pies. "When did these come out of the oven? They're not warm."

DING-DONG!

"Angel!!" Buffy called, begging for someone to intercept. Her mother meant well, but she was driving Buffy crazy.

"I've got it," Buffy heard him say, and a moment later, Willow, Oz, Tara and Devon arrived. Buffy wasn't really sure about the specifics of their relationship, but as long as they were happy, so was she. The four lived together at Devon's house and Buffy never asked questions--it was a lot less confusing that way.

"Hey, Buffy," Willow entered the kitchen with a shrimp tray. "Tara's parents sent seafood over last night, so we brought most of it with us."

*****

"I'm allergic to shrimp," Devon was telling Giles, who pretended to care. "So we brought all the seafood with us."

*****

"I don't really like seafood," Joyce told Tara. "It's so--"

DING-DONG!

"I'll get it!" Buffy and Angel shouted in unison.

"You girls go do it," Joyce ushered Tara and Willow out of the kitchen. "We'll see you at the dinner table."

The vampire beat her to it and let Cordelia and Wesley in. Spike and Faith were at their heels.

"Faith!" Buffy yelled. "I need some help in the kitchen!"

"No you don't dear, we're handling everything," Joyce said.

"You comin'?" Faith asked Cordelia after throwing her leather coat at Spike.

"No, I'm not domestic. That's what we have maids for."

"You're so lucky to have found her," Devon told Wesley sarcastically. He offered to shake his hand. "Good luck."

*****

"Great setup here, B!" Faith said as she stuffed her mouth with shrimp and crab. "I really like this stuff."

"Tara brought it," Joyce muttered.

"Tara, you kick ass!" Faith shouted. "You're having Thanksgiving next year!"

"Hey!" Buffy looked hurt.

"No offense B. I'm sure the turkey will be fine."

"Fine?" Buffy looked and sounded as though she was about to have a nervous breakdown.

"Better than fine," Willow assured her as she brought in a large chocolate cake that was lopsided and only frosted on one half.

"What is THAT?" Buffy asked.

"Anya's contribution," Willow tried to smile. "She and Xander just got here."

"Well, we don't have to eat it," Joyce said.

"Yes we do," Buffy said, determined to defy her mother. "Will, go set it on the buffet table."

Willow left to do so and Buffy sighed, grateful when the microwave dinged.

"DINNER!" Buffy shouted, grateful to have a moment alone in the kitchen with the vegetables.

"That's it Kellie or Joshua," she mumbled. "Next year, your Godparents can make Thanksgiving dinner, and I don't even care if the main course is free shrimp."

*****

"What a lovely little group we have here," Joyce said gingerly as everyone sat down with a plate.

"They're family," Buffy smiled. "And I'm very thankful to have all of them."

Everyone raised their glass for Buffy's makeshift toast except for Joyce, who sat there, staring at her peas, miserable and jealous.

*****

"The cake was actually good," Devon told Anya. The former demon beamed.

It was three hours later, and people were enjoying a second dessert in the living room while watching a Rugrats marathon on Nickelodeon.

"I liked the apple pie," Willow said, knowing it would make Joyce feel good.

"Thank you Willow," she smiled. "It's my mother's recipe."

"Buffy, is the nursery finished?" Anya asked. "I wanna see what my big, strong man did up there." she hugged Xander's chest.

"It was nothing," he blushed. "Really. Just some shelves and a window."

"With really dark shades," Buffy added helpfully. "Come on, I'll show you."

*****

An hour after that, everyone had seen the nursery and was getting ready to leave.

"Dinner was great Buffy," Willow said, standing up. Tara and Oz followed, and after getting a large chunk of Anya's cake to take home, Devon stood up too.

"We'll see you tomorrow at the meeting," Tara said as she hugged Buffy. "Gotta bless that little baby of yours."

"And shopping in the morning," Cordy said as she took her coat from Angel. "Six a.m., you'd better be awake."

"I'll be ready."

"*Six* a.m.?" Angel asked.

"Isn't that a bit....early?" Wesley questioned.

"You don't have to come," Buffy told them. Each man let out a sigh of relief.

By the time all the goodbyes were said and food given out, Buffy was starving again. She sat in the kitchen with her mother, eating a turkey sandwich as Angel watched a Discovery Channel special on dinosaurs with Giles.

"So?" Buffy prodded.

Joyce looked at her over her cup of tea. "So what?"

"So how was everything?"

Joyce paused. "Dinner was excellent. Dessert was very good. The company was--"

"If you're gonna insult my friends--"

"I'm not. I was just going to say....Buffy, I'm actually starting to like your weird friends."

The Slayer beamed. "You are??"

"Especially Tara. She's a lovely girl."

Buffy hopped off her stool and hugged her mother. When they pulled apart, Buffy was still smiling.

"You have no idea how much that means to me," Buffy told her.

"I'm just so proud of you honey. I think it's a great tradition to start having Thanksgiving here every year. What do you think?"

Buffy let out a scream so blood-curdling, it woke a resting vampire ten miles away. Harmony turned in her bed and glanced at the body next to her.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Dru," Harmony murmured. "Go back to sleep."

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