DISCLAIMER: *laughs*
DISTRIBUTION: I won't object. Just tell me.
TIMELINE: Future.
DEDICATION: To Patch, even though he may never read this.
FEEDBACK: Make my day a little better? dani_vasq@hotmail.com , a_d_v_v@yahoo.com.ar
A.N.: IMHO... pink mashmellows are EVIL (just ask my used-to-be- pristine-white fav pants. Grrr.) And they taste weird, too.
A.N.2: *sighs* See what happens when you are not spoiled? I wrote this before being knowing one 'little' detail of the finale. I'm in denial and SO not changing my story. So, I guess that 'detail' is NOT happening here. That's. All.
Before the fic: Anyone please has CYNAMIN'S E-MAIL?

There were good days, she thought.

But today was definitely not one of them. Not only had she had to give a double martial arts class - and there she blamed Claude, her fellow teacher, completely. What right did he have to get the flu *just* on Wednesday? Didn't he know that every Wednesday there were two *very exhausting* lessons and that *two* teachers were necessary to impart them?! - but she had also has to walk all the way back home because Angel had taken the car to the repair shop in L.A *again*

They really did need another car, maybe something with more space so the children could play in the backseat?

She sighed.

Those were the times when Marissa and Catherine slept quietly sucking their thumbs... But the twins were now seven-year-old healthy children and as such couldn't stay silent for more than fifteen minutes.

Thank God Giles had offered to pick them up from school. Well, not much 'offer' as respond - like any responsible 'Grandpa' - to her cry of help. She wouldn't have been able to walk to the school and then BACK to her house with TWO children on tow. She may have been the Slayer but, damnit! she wasn't made of stone!

She opened the front door ready to the cries of 'Moooom, dinner's still not ready!' and 'Look what we did today!' but the house was strangely... silent. Too silent.

"Cat? Marissa?"

She put the gym bag on the floor and waited for an answer.

Nothing.

"Girls?"

She quickly took off her coat and moved to hang it on the holder. Just there he noticed a note with her Watcher's careful writing. 'Took the girls home. Just rest tonight. Giles.'

Buffy blinked. The note still said the same.

Huh? Had Giles just *willingly* taken the Tornado Duo to his house? To his clean, tidy and always so Giles-y house? And to spend the night!

Sure, they had left the girls at Giles' some times in the past, back when the girls couldn't do more than crawl from one corner of their playpen to another... Did Giles even know that they liked to hear stories before being put to bed? And that they liked chocomilk with mashmellows (Cat wouldn't eat the pink ones. Therefore, in typical sisterly manner, Marissa would try to leave only pink mashmellows for her sister which would result in a sisterly spat and Angel scrubbing sticky pink grumps from the floor while Buffy tried to change them into their pijamas...)

And Giles was *willing* to have them overnight?

Then she read the rest. 'P.S.: Willow is coming by to help me put them in bed.' Buffy breathed out in relief, Cat adored her auntie (she still claimed that her red hair came from Auntie Willow even though Angel had explained that his Grandma was a redhaired too. Cat had demanded proof of it, there *had* to be a photography of her great-grandmother somewhere, wasn't there? And neither Angel or herself knew how to explain that cameras were not even invented then.) and Marissa, well, she loved anyone who could tell her a fairytale... as long as it was an original one. Buffy smiled remembering that her favourite was the crossover between Sleeping Beauty and The Magic Beans, with a guest appearance of the Wicked Witch from the West... Poor Angel had conceived the crazy story on a night when the girls wouldn't fall asleep at the Harris'...

Oh really, this Saturday it was their turn to have the kids over.

Buffy considered it a fair arragement: Every two Saturdays the children - the twins, Mark and little Jesse - would spend the night at a house, alternatively theirs and the Harris', and stay there until Sunday late afternoon. That way each couple had a 'free night' every month... Anya was the one to come up with Rule Number One: The visiting parents don't leave until their children are asleep and silent (that was after the twins had kept her up until three in the morning...) That rule was followed by Angel's 'if they are left around pink mashmellows it's NOT our fault'.

She remembered that on that special night -ninth anniversary!- Marissa had been fussing too much, never quieting enough to sleep... and Angel was desperate because he had made reservations in L.A. and they were *late*...

That's how her husband had invented the story of the lonely princess who traded her spinning wheel for a magical bean and... well, truly, the only one who actually remembered the whole story was Marissa herself. It was so funny to hear her plead with her Daddy to tell her the story.. and in the end it was she the one who told it!

The phone rang.

Buffy rushed to the living room and reached for the cordless phone on the couch. "'Lo?"

"Hey Buffy, did you read Giles' note?"

Buffy smiled, it was Willow of course. "Yeah... aren't you supposed to go to his house to help him with the girls?"

"Don't worry. I already told him to pick the pink coloured 'mellows out... and we'll tell them the G-rated version of your first year in Sunnydale. Giles has prepared a masterful villain's voice for the Master--- heh, pun not intended."

"Will!"

"What?"

"The *Master*?"

"Well... hadn't you and Angel decided to show the twins our *real* world?"

"Yeah but... the Master?"

"Well, it was the best we could come up with. Though I guess we could do Mayor Wilkins instead... only Giles can't do his voice as well..."

"Wil-lo-ow..."

"Just kidding. But the Master's really Giles' best impersonation... 'sides, the girls already know about it and they are naturally curious. We figured this was the best way to introduce her to our past."

"WHAT?"

"Well, you know Anya... she told the boys and Mark is a communicative little guy and he told Marissa 'in secret' but you know the girls can't keep anything between them so she told Catherine and then Cathy told me that there used to be, and I quote, 'a big bad man with a bat's face in the basement but mommy made him go out'."

"After he killed me..."

"Well, be glad Anya didn't add that particular detail."

"Thank God for little favours, you mean?"

Willow smiled. "You know Anya as well as I. By the way... Buffy, you still haven't checked your bedroom, have you?"

"Errr no. I just got in."

"Then go. Now." And she hung up.

Buffy looked at the phone in puzzlement and then shrugged. Her bedroom, huh? What had Willow left there this time? Ever since they were best friends they had taken to leave little presents on each other's beds... it was always a nice surprise and after all the angst from ten years ago they had resumed the old habit.

She hacked up the stairs veeeeery slowly. Her thighs still ached from the strain and she could feel sharp needles in her neck and upper back... She felt *awful*.

Thank God the girls would stay at their Grandpa's tonight. Nothing better than a stressless night to relax. Maybe a hot bubble bath to soothe her muscles? If only Angel was here and not repairing the damn car!

She opened their room's door and only noticed a slip of paper on the mattress. In Willow's hurried handwriting it read: 'Poor you, it's D.T.D. (Double Time Day) and Claude has left you alone (I found his girlfriend at the pharmacy today). You must be very tired and in need of a good masseuse. So, as my gift for you I'll take your car to repair. P.S.: I'll be back in time to help Giles with the girls.'

"You like the gift?" a soft voice asked from behind her.

Buffy grinned. "Oh yes." She watched him as he leisurely approached her and put his arms around her. "I like it very much."

Angel chuckled and kissed her crown. "I love you too, Buffy." Buffy smiled because that was what she had meant.

"I think you owe me a massage," she reminded him pointing to Willow's note.

"I think so, too," he drawled. "Willow gives excellent gifts, don't you think?"

She nodded. "Don't forget Giles, he'll be the one picking mashmellows from the floor tonight." Still smiling, she took off her blouse and laid herself face down on the mattress. She waited patiently until Angel situated himself behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. He began a smooth circling motion... it hurt. Just a bit. But then it became nicer, she could almost feel her muscles relaxing back into their respective places.

She nearly purred in delight.

After a while she felt better than when she first woke up. Angel's movements were now slow and meant to entice her. It was working. "Did you know that they are telling our girls about the Master tonight?" she asked when the silence got too much.

"Giles does a wonderful imitation," he answered, "sounds like a real villain. Must be all those years as the Ripper."

"Mmmm." She closed her eyes and enjoyed her husband's ministrations.

"You feeling relaxed now?"

Buffy just nodded into the mattress.

When she opened her eyes again, Angel's eyes were inches apart from hers while his lips were just milimeters away... she crossed the distance without a second thought.

And she silently thanked Giles for keeping the girls overnight. And Willow for the good idea.

And, really, this was one of those good days.

Don't Ask. After my last angsty fics I needed some fluff... Oh well, I've had the idea of a fic which included a massause ever since reading Patch's 'Wanted: Masseuse' (Sailor Moon fanfiction) and I finally got the plot to include it in. Yes, there was a plot, didn't you see the two lines of it? *g* Hope you liked ;-)

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