Rating: NC-17
Summary: Giles's and Willow's little girl likes scary stories.
Story Notes: Post-"Chosen." The final story in the "This Will Be Our Year" Willow/Giles series.
Disclaimer: Joss said to write fanfic.

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Contentment
Gwynnega
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"Tell me a scary story, Dad," said Lizzie, on her father's lap.

Giles sighed. "And so it begins," he said. He stroked his daughter's dark hair. "Wouldn't you like to hear a story about a princess instead?"

"Does she get captured by a monster?" Lizzie asked eagerly. Giles raised his eyes heavenward, and Willow stifled a laugh.

She was a funny little four-year-old who liked to take dolls apart - like Willow, she had a scientific bent. She also had her mother's enormous eyes.

"Uncle Spike tells the best stories, Daddy."

"Oh, that's just marvelous," Giles said.

This time Willow did laugh. "She's your daughter, all right."

"Oh, yes. Mummy knows nothing about monsters."

Just then Michael took a spill. He sat for a moment on the carpet looking stunned. Then he began to howl, and Willow picked him up. Their little boy had his father's smile - and he smiled frequently - but he also had an ear-shattering yell. She jogged him on her knee until he quieted down.

"I simply think you're too young for such stories," Giles said.

"I'm not!" Lizzie said. "Hey, I know a good story, Dad - Hansel and Gretel!"

"That's a wonderful story, dear," he said. "I can tell you all about how your grandmother almost burnt your mother at the stake - "

"Giles!" Willow exclaimed. "I don't think she's old enough for that story."

"Grandma burned Mom's steak?" Lizzie asked.

"Yes," Willow said, "that's exactly what happened. But let's not tell any scary stories right now, okay? You don't want your dad to have a nightmare, do you?"

"Do you get nightmares, Dad?" Lizzie asked, turning big green eyes on her father.

He smiled gently. "Sometimes, precious. Everyone does from time to time."

She considered this. "Even Uncle Spike?"

Now Giles pondered. "I imagine so."

That seemed to surprise her. "Well," she said dubiously, "I guess some other kind of story would be okay."

"How about Dr. Seuss?" Willow asked.

"Horton Hears a Who!" she cried, so loudly she startled Michael, who looked round at his sister with large, grave eyes. Lizzie grinned at him. "Horton Hears a Who," she told him, and he broke into a smile.

Our kids are too cute for words, Willow thought - not for the first time. But it was the expression on Giles's face that made her the happiest. It was that look of calm delight that he so often wore: contentment.

***

When she got pregnant with Lizzie, they had considered leaving town, perhaps moving the Council Headquarters back to England. But they liked it here. It was home, and their friends were here. So they decided to go with whopping big protection spells instead. Besides, it was well known that Willow was a bad-ass witch, and none of the local demons seemed particularly eager to incur her wrath.

"I want one!" Buffy had said the minute she laid eyes on their newborn daughter - and now she and Spike did have one, a three year old named Joyce. Buffy had been off of active Slayer duty since she got pregnant, and surprisingly it seemed to suit her. Motherhood seemed to connect her to her own mother in a way that softened her, opened her up, so that she was more like the girl Willow had met all those years ago, before so much death had made her tough and insular. Now she and Buffy were moms together - who would've thought? And, even more amazing, Giles and Spike were dads - and, of course, husbands.

***

The children tucked in bed, they adjourned to their bedroom, where they undressed companionably, not paying much attention to each other, or so Willow thought. Naked, she hunted in a drawer for a sleep shirt. When she turned around, Giles was naked on the bed. His eyes were fixed on her, his hand moving slowly on his cock.

"Why, Giles..." She let the sleep shirt drop.

"I can't help myself," he murmured. "You're so beautiful."

No matter how long they'd been together, she never tired of being Giles's object of desire - as he was hers. "You're not so bad yourself, Mister."

"I want to see you touch yourself," he said.

She put one hand between her legs, the other on her nipple. He watched her, his face intent. She was so focused on his hand working his big, hard cock, it was as if her hand between her legs was his hand on his cock.

She started to wobble, standing there, so she sat on the edge of the bed. They stared at each other, touching themselves, eyes smoldering.

"I'm going to fuck you soon," he said. "But first I want to watch you come."

Just his words, plus his eyes, opaque with desire, brought her very close. She rubbed herself harder, faster, and went over the edge, her eyes locked with his.

She had barely finished before he pulled her on top of him. His cock slid into her, producing delicious aftershocks. She lay full-length on him as he fucked her, his hands caressing her ass. She raised herself on her arms and kissed him, pushed her tongue into his mouth. Between the voluptuous kissing and his cock inside her, suddenly she was almost there again.

She sat up and moved on him, grinding into him. "I think I'm gonna come again..."

"Yes, you are..." He stroked her clit with his fingertips until she gasped and came, squeezing him hard. She collapsed back onto him, but after a few moments he lifted her, laid her on her back and fucked her hard. "So beautiful...my darling wife...mine..." he whispered hoarsely, and arched his back. She loved to watch him come, loved to watch the pleasure take him. She loved to hold him afterwards, his heart pounding, his body hot and strong and hers.

***

He turned out the light, and they talked quietly. Giles returned, as she knew he would sooner or later, to the topic their daughter had broached. "I don't want all the monster-hunting to touch them. When I was ten, my father told me I must become a Watcher, like him and his mother before him. I want them to be able to choose a different life - a safer one, at any rate."

"They will choose, Giles. But I wouldn't have chosen a different life. Would you?"

"The path I took led me to you, and our family, and I wouldn't give that up for anything." He kissed her.

"Yes, of course," she said. "But also, it's good work we do. You know you love it. We wouldn't be living on our second Hellmouth if you didn't. And if it ends up being what Lizzie and Michael choose, we shouldn't stand in their way."

"I hope they become grocers," Giles grumbled, and Willow gave him a little slap on the shoulder, then hugged him tighter and gave a contented sigh. It was still sometimes hard for her to believe that it had all turned out exactly the way she'd wanted, in her secret heart. But seeing as it had, she couldn't help but believe everything would work out for their children as well.

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The End
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