Cordelia was sitting impatiently at one of the tables in a little Italian restaurant, waiting for her date to show up. She couldn't believe she had agreed to do this. Wesley had begged her to agree to a date and he had chosen a great partner for her.
****
"Wesley, are you sure Cordy won't kill us for setting her up with...?" Xander asked concerned, only to be interrupted when the lobby door opened.
Xander looked up to see Angel walking in while holding a crying William. He stood up and rushed towards his son. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know. He keeps crying and nothing helps," Angel said frustrated.
Xander took William in his arms and looked at crying boy. That's when he noticed the white bulges in Wiliam's mouth. "Angel, what did the book say about getting teeth?" Xander asked while trying to comfort William.
Angel rushed to the bookshelf to search their parenting book. He quickly searched the index and showed Xander thriumphantly the information they needed. "Do we have a rubber bite ring?" Angel asked after reading the section on teething problems.
"No, but it also says that if we don't have one we could wrap an ice cube in a piece of cloth!" Xander replied.
Angel ran upstairs to grab a clean cloth and ripped a piece from it. While descending the stairs, he saw Wesley walking back with an ice cube. Angel and Wesley wrapped up the ice cube while Xander walked with William whose crying hadn't tempered off.
"William? Look what I've got for you," Xander said to the boy who had quieted down when his daddy placed something cold on the places where it hurt.
William's crying had turned into a mild hiccupping and he continued to gnaw on the ice cub. His small hands tried to grab the cloth, but Xander didn't allow it. "Wesley, could you buy the bite ring now? I don't think it would be wise to work with an ice cube all night long," Xander requested the ex-watcher.
"Yes, of course. GUNN!" Wesley yelled.
Gunn came running downstairs armed with crossbows when he heard his lover screaming. "Where's the demon?" he asked frantically, while looking around for the enemy and only seeing Xander and William looking at him smiling.
"Wesley, why did you yell?" Gunn asked frustrated, realising that he had come down for nothing.
"We need to buy some things for William," Wesley replied, taking Gunn by the arm and dragging him outside. Before Gunn was outside he dropped his crossbows into a closet so William couldn't hurt himself.
William, who had watched the interaction between his uncles with interest, realised the cold was gone. "nhanaialslmmnsee," he said to Xander.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Xander replied smiling. "Oh, you mean the ice cube is gone. Angel, will you get us a new ice cube?"
William giggled and bounced on his daddy's arm, grabbing Xander's hair to pull. "Ouch! William, little one. Let go!" Xander winced.
Angel returned quickly, wrapped it up again and gave it back to Xander. He smiled when William tried to grab it.
****
Cordelia had ordered a glass of red wine when a waiter brought her a single rose. "Whom has sent this?" she asked.
The waiter shook his head and walked back. All Cordelia could do was follow him with her eyes. She looked at her watch again. Her blind date was five minutes late. She looked at the people, perhaps she would see someone she knew. Her eyes fell on a older man looking at her. He looked familiar, but she couldn't place him. He was wearing black jeans with a white shirt and a periwinkle vest. His hair was slightly grey.
The man was looking at Cordelia. She was even more beautiful than the last time he had seen her in Sunnydale. She was looking at him now and he stepped towards her. He saw her staring at him until realisation dawned on her face.
"Giles?" Cordelia whispered.
"Hello, Cordelia," Giles replied softly, taking her hand and kissing the back of her hand softly.
Cordelia blushed. "Would you like to join me?" she asked.
"Yes, I would love to," Giles answered and sat down on the chair across the table.
"I thought you were going back to England?" Cordelia asked curious.
"No, I couldn't. I travelled from place to place. Plus, I wanted to visit Xander. I heard he's staying with Angel," Giles answered.
"Yes, he and William came to us a few months back."
"William?"
"Oh...you don't know! Well, Spike has been given a second chance for saving the world."
"Spike? What kind of second chance?" Giles asked surprised. He always thought Angel would be the one to get a second chance after having helped people for much longer than Spike.
"He's eight months old right now. And he's adorable," Cordelia said, tenderly taking the photo she had taken of the boy from her wallet.
Giles stared at the photo. He couldn't believe this little boy was Spike. "He's so small!" he whispered more to himself than to Cordelia.
"Yes, he is. Would you like to meet him after dinner? Unless he's asleep of course," Cordelia suggested.
Giles nodded. Before they could continue, the waiter came to place their orders. Their dinner went great, they talked about Sunnydale, Buffy and the others and of course about Angel and Xander.
****
"So they are together as in a couple?" Giles questioned, guiding Cordelia back to the hotel.
"Yes, they are. And they made William their son. And Gunn and Wesley are a couple too," Cordelia told him.
"So, Wesley is gay. Never thought I would see the day," Giles joked, remembering the shy young man when he became Buffy's watcher.
"Well, here it is," Cordelia said, taking him inside the hotel.
"Well, well!" Giles whispered when they walked in on a kissing Xander and Angel while William tigered across the floor towards the woman he had been out with.
"Hello, William!" Cordelia cooed to the boy. She took William in her arms and watched him chew on a rubber ring.
William laughed. Someone had picked him up again! "ashaiemiasisle," he said to Cordelia while looking at Giles with curiosity.
"Can I hold him?" Giles asked, still staring at the blond boy.
"Yeah, sure!" she said, placing William in Giles' arms.
The older man looked at the child with wonder. The blue eyes followed every move Giles made. "Now where's your daddy?"
William looked around and when he saw his daddy he continued calling him. "Dadadadada," he said, while pointing his chubby hand at Xander.
****
Xander and Angel had stopped kissing when they heard Cordelia talking to their son. They were now watching the interaction between William and Giles. Xander saw Giles' eyes examining his son before asking the boy where his father was.
Xander was proud when his son pointed at him and called him Dada. "Yes, daddy is here."
Angel smiled while he watched his dark haired lover walking towards Giles in order to take their son into his arms. Xander walked back and leaned with his back against the vampire's chest. Angel's arms closed around the young man and the vampire kissed his lover's slender neck, while sneaking a glance at the smirking Watcher.
"Giles, where are you staying?" Xander asked.
"I'm staying at a hotel nearby," Giles replied while looking at the beautiful woman in front of him.
"Why don't you stay here? We have enough room for another guest," Angel suggested slyly.
Giles looked up in surprise at the suggestion and nodded his head. "I would love to, that way I'll be closer to Cordelia." He walked to the woman and gave her a tender, but deep kiss before walking out with Angel behind him to collect his stuff from the hotel.
Cordelia blushed bright red when she realised she had been kissed by her former school librarian so passionately. She sat down, still dazed from that single kiss.
Xander had watched the byplay and the dazed look on Cordelia's face. He grinned and placed William on the floor before sitting on the couch next to Cordelia waiting for her to come back to herself. He saw she snapped out of her thougths when William giggled and tigered across the floor towards her.
Cordelia snapped out of her thougths when she heard William giggling. She looked down and saw William tigering across the floor towards her again.
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