Title: Let's Never Wake Up
Author: soft_princess
Website: Fly With Me
Date: August 21, 2007
Word count: 5,800

Pairing: Giles/Xander
Rating: FRT
Disclaimer: Joss owns the characters, I own the rest.
Spoilers/Setting: Post-Chosen
Summary: "There were two security guards and three nurses present at all times, along with five educators, all rotating in shifts every eight hours, and Xander had to admit, the place looked like a fortress, not somewhere anyone could come in and snag children in the middle of the night."

Notes/warning: Toddler warning. Two adorable toddler twins. At least, in my head they're adorable, hopefully that transferred well into the written words. This is pure fluff with a plotty twist. You might die from sugar overload by the end. I am not, in any way, pretending that I know how an orphanage is run. I made up my own vision of one, and it may differ immensily from reality.
Written for soraidh who, in response to a post from mireille719, bemoaned the lack of G/X baby!fic, which in turn triggered this idea that would not leave me alone. *g*
Posted for gilesxander's OctoberFest.

The orphanage was about as big as a small mansion, if a mansion could ever be called "small". According to Giles, it had been the Phelps family home for almost eight generations until Philippa Phelps (née Travers) had converted it about ten years before. Now, the first floor housed two classrooms, a playroom, and a "living room" -- Xander had been told it was used by prospective parents when meeting the kids for the first time -- along with the kitchen, the cafeteria, and Mrs. Phelps' office. The second floor had two dormitories -- one for the boys, one for the girls -- a nursery, and a series of small bedrooms for the more difficult children. And the third floor had been converted into Mrs. Phelps' private quarters, and some rooms for the staff and visitors. There were two security guards and three nurses present at all times, along with five educators, all rotating in shifts every eight hours, and Xander had to admit, the place looked like a fortress, not somewhere anyone could come in and snag children in the middle of the night.

But that was exactly what had happened. The mansion could house sixty children at all times, and on Monday, there had been sixty of them. Now, on Friday, there were only fifty-six. And none of the missing -- read dead -- children had been adopted out.

"We've had the police here around the clock since Paul-- the, the second body was found," Mrs. Phelps had told Giles and Xander when they arrived that morning, "but they haven't done anything."

Not only had they not done anything, two more children had been found dead -- one just that morning an hour before their arrival -- on the police's watch.

"I would have called you earlier, but I wasn't certain the supernatural was what we were dealing with here," Mrs. Phelps said. "And, I'm also aware of how much you loathe my family, and I can't say we've done anything to endear ourselves to us, even after my father's death..."

"Philippa, please," Giles interrupted her. "You've no need to bring up past grievances." Never mind that most people concerned were now dead. "What can we do to help?"

She'd gone on to explain the situation, and soon, Xander was agreeing to patrol the hallways that night, with Andrew, while Giles kept an eye out for trouble. It looked like this was definitely some kind of demonic activity, and the police wouldn't be any help at all.

"It's the least we can do," Giles had said, and Xander couldn't have agreed more.

"God, I hate this place." Talking seemed to kick the tension down a notch, so Xander kept going. "I used to have nightmares about it." He kept his voice low, arm brushing against the dark wall as he walked, Andrew just a few feet behind him. You'd think, this being Xander's eighth year of battling demons and averting apocalypses, that he'd have gotten over the panic, the racing heart and the blood pumping in his veins just waiting for something to jump behind him and--

But he hadn't, and this place was not helping him not be scared.

"About the orphanage? Really?" Andrew whispered. At least he'd learn a few tricks in the stealth department. It wasn't top notch yet, but it was getting there. Xander thanked the Powers that Be for small favours.

"Yeah," Xander replied. "My parents figured that threatening to send me to the orphanage would get me to behave. So they made up this whole story about how horrible it was, and how if I didn't do as I was told, I'd end up here." The only thing he'd ever been scared of more than that was clowns.

Xander stopped walking for a moment, and took a good look behind them. He was sure he'd heard something, but the corridor was empty. With a shrug, he nodded at Andrew to keep going, and started down the second half of the hallway again. That's when he heard it.

It sounded like a wail. A soft, broken wail, but Xander couldn't tell if it was human or not, if it was crying, laughing, or growling. He closed his fists, hands shaking, really shaking. He had to get a grip on himself before they got in there, or he wouldn't be any good in the fight. He'd get himself and Andrew killed, and Giles would be really pissed.

But then again, children. Xander couldn't think about that without seeing red. "Did you hear that?"

Andrew nodded, and pointed at one of the doors on the other side of the hallway, to their left. "It's coming from in there. I think."

Xander listened again. "Yeah, you're right. Come on," he whispered. He crossed the hallway and put his ear against the side of the door. Yes, it was definitely coming from that room. Xander gave Andrew a nod, and turned the doorknob slowly. The wailing got louder as the door turned, and Xander peeked around the frame. When he saw what was making the noise, he immediately swung the door all the way opened and turned to Andrew. "Go get Giles and Mrs. Phelps, I think we might have a problem."

Andrew took one look into the room and frowned. "Huh, Xander, it's just a kid." Xander couldn't help but notice that Andrew shuddered as he said it. Interesting.

"Yes, a little boy crying his heart out, and there's an empty bed right there in the corner that looks like someone was in it five seconds ago." Xander glared at Andrew. "Go, Andrew."

Andrew took one last look at the kid, and took off. The boy noticed Xander then, turning around at the noise, and stared. He was still crying slightly, eyes puffed and shiny in the soft light of the hallway.

"Hey, little guy," Xander said, walking in carefully. He turned on the overhead light, and immediately assessed his surroundings. The room was small-ish, with two twin beds, one with a blue comforter, the other yellow. The boy was sitting on the blue bed, a stuffed red turtle set next to him. The yellow bed was unmade, and another stuffed turtle, purple this time, was tangled in the sheets near the pillow. "It's all right, I'm one of the good guys," he continued, eyes coming back to rest on the boy. Xander sat down on the edge of the bed. The moment he was settled, the boy scrambled on his lap and tugged one of Xander's arm around his stomach. He was shaking all over and hiccupping, eyes staring straight ahead at the empty bed.

"Mili," he whispered.

"Mili?"

The boy turned his head to look up at Xander. "Mili," he repeated, pointing at the bed. "Mili, gone." His lower lip was still quivering.

"Milo!"

Xander had been so focused on the boy, he hadn't noticed the sound of footsteps in the hallway until Mrs. Phelps ran into the room, Giles and Andrew on her trail, and knelt down in front of Xander. "Milo, are you all right?"

"Mili! 'Lipa, Mili gone!" Milo fisted his hands in Xander's shirt, burying himself closer and looking on the verge of breaking into sobs again. Xander put his hand on the boy's back and started rubbing gently.

"You were in the hallway the whole time?" Giles asked.

Xander looked up at him and nodded. "Yeah, we didn't see anything come out of the room, we just heard him cry," he said.

"Milo," Mrs. Phelps said. "Where did Mili disappear?"

Milo turned up to look at Xander. "'Zet," he said. "Monster in 'zet take Mili, boom, gone."

Xander turned his head just in time to see Giles head straight for the closet in the corner. "We're probably dealing with a Gyruto demon," he said matter-of-factly.

"Gyruto?" Andrew asked. He followed Giles to the closet and peeked inside. "Wow, that's a tiny closet."

"Yes," Giles replied, quickly, taking off his glasses. "Philippa, how old is Mili?"

"Two and a half, she's Milo's twin sister," the woman answered quickly. "They've been here for over a year now. I--"

The moment Mrs. Phelps said "sister," Milo started crying again. Xander shifted slightly, pulling the boy up and closer to his chest. "Shh, it's okay, we'll find her."

Giles gave him a curious look, but continued. "She's younger than the other -- victims. The demon is getting desperate."

"How?" Xander asked, trying not to sound as hysterical as he felt. With Milo crying against him, it wasn't all that easy to keep his head cool. "How can it get desperate if there's a bunch of older kids sleeping just a few doors away?"

"It needs more than just children, Xander, it feeds on innocence. It usually prefers slightly older children simply because they are more easily controlled, easier to keep asleep." Giles sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We need to find out where it took the girl and quickly."

"If it disappeared from the closet, shouldn't you be able to determine where it went?" Mrs. Phelps asked.

For a moment, Xander wondered what the hell she was talking about, but Giles seemed to know.

"Yes, of course," he said. "I can open a mirror view..." He seemed to think for a moment. "Andrew, I need you to head back to Mrs. Phelps' office, and take a look on the security cameras. See if you notice anything out of the ordinary in any of the other rooms. Give me a call immediately if you do."

"Sure thing, boss," Andrew said quickly, before bolting out of the room.

"Philippa," said Giles as he turned to Mrs. Phelps, "I need a piece of clothing that belongs to Mili, and a glass of water."

From his place on the bed, Xander watched Mrs. Phelps grab a shirt from the laundry basket in the corner. He kept a hand on Milo's back, gently shushing him, and holding him tightly as the boy's cries subsided into the hiccups again. Mrs. Phelps picked up a sippy cup from the nightstand next to the yellow bed, and handed both the shirt and the cup to Giles.

"That will do, thank you," Giles said, before sitting down cross-legged and facing the open closet. "I'll need you to stay close, Philippa, to identify the room. The image will only last a few seconds."

"Of course," Mrs. Phelps answered. She went to stand just a few feet behind Giles.

Giles took a deep breath, and laid the shirt down on the floor in front of him. Then, he took off the top of the cup, and spilled the water on the shirt. Without thinking, Xander turned Milo's head until it was facing away from the closet and resumed rubbing the boy's back. "It's okay," he whispered, "it's okay, Milo, we're going to find Mili now."

Giles said a few words that Xander didn't recognize and the air crackled, charged with energy. A bright light appeared and a moment later, Mrs. Phelps exclaimed "it's one of the classrooms! Upstairs, right next to the staircase."

Before Xander could really register what was happening, Giles was up to his feet, and was picking up the sword he'd left by the door when he'd come in. "Xander, I need you to come with me." Another curious look passed on his face when he looked at Xander and Milo, and then it was gone, leaving determination in its place.

"Sure," Xander said, standing to his feet with Milo in his arms. The moment he tried to put the boy down, the screams started up again. Bewildered, Xander looked at Mrs. Phelps.

She immediately came to his side and held up her hands. "Here, Milo, come see Philippa, Xander has to go now."

"No, no, no, no!" the boy was yelling, clutching at Xander's shirt and arms. "No!"

It wasn't that Xander wanted to put the boy down, but he had to, and they didn't have a lot of time. "Okay, Milo, you have to let me go now." The boy looked up at him, shaking his head. "Yes, you do. I have to go find Mili, and you have to stay with Mrs.-- Philippa, okay? She'll take care of you, and I promise to be back soon."

"'mise?" Milo said, finally stopping his cries.

"Yes, promise, I'll be back, and I'll have Mili with me, but you have to let me go now."

The boy seemed to understand, and let himself be pushed into Mrs. Phelps' arms this time. With a sigh, Xander grabbed the sword Giles was handing him, probably Andrew's, and followed him out of the bedroom.

They walked through the corridors in silence, descending the stairs one at a time. Then Giles stopped next to a door, and stopped to listen.

Xander couldn't hear anything. "Are you sure this is the right room?" he asked, keeping his voice low and steady. They were running out of time, and Xander really didn't want to go upstairs and have to tell Milo that they hadn't been able to save his sister.

"Yes, I am." Giles picked up his cellphone, and hit the speed dial. "Andrew?" he said, quietly. "Can you see into the second classroom? Yes, the one on the right." He paused. "All right, keep your eyes on it; I'll need you to guide us in the dark."

"In the dark?" Okay, that didn't make any sense. How were they supposed to fight a demon in the dark?

"Gyruto demons can only be seen by children. They are the legendary closet monsters, literally," Giles explained. "Mili will see it, but we won't. If we shut down the light, Andrew will see a shimmer on the video screen, and that will help us find it."

"Light means no shimmer."

"Yes, exactly," Giles replied, and then he put the phone back against his ear. "Andrew, I'll be putting you on speakers now. Concise directions will be needed."

"Concise," Xander heard Andrew say, "okay, I can do that."

Giles put the open phone in his shirt pocket, and turned to Xander. Xander allowed himself to give him a soft smile and nodded at Giles' unspoken question. "I'm ready."

Giles smiled back and touched his arm, fingers sliding across the skin and making Xander shiver. "All right," Giles said, breathing deeply. "Mili will also be invisible, but the moment we manage to wound the Gyruto, it'll lose its grip on the invisibility spell, and she'll be the first thing we'll see."

Xander gave a small nod, and lifted his sword. "All right, just like in training; see with your ear and all that." He hadn't actually taken any of the training sessions the Council now offered to its "civilian consultants", but he'd witnessed Giles training Buffy enough times that some lessons stuck. Not that it was going to be that hard anyway, considering he'd already had to learn to compensate for being half-blind. "Let's do this."

"I'll go first." Giles pushed the door open with his foot, and immediately found the light switch and turned it off. "Andrew--"

"Still too much light from the hallway," came the response.

Xander followed in and shut the door. "How's that?" he asked in the dark. There weren't even any light coming from the window and the only reason he knew how close he was to Giles was that he could hear Andrew very clearly when he said "opposite corner of the room from where you are, just walk straight across. There's a weird shimmering light thing."

Xander heard Giles move swiftly, but hung back. He closed his eye and breathed, listening to the silence in the room. "Can't hear anything but your footsteps," he muttered.

"He's moving!" Andrew screamed in the phone. "He's moving really fast."

That was when Xander heard it, a smooching sound coming straight at him. The atmosphere of the room suddenly changed, and a moment later he could hear a child crying and wailing, the sound so familiar he breathed a sigh of relief.

"I've wounded it, get the child," Giles said urgently.

Xander let his sword fall down on the floor, and moved quickly in the direction of the noise. He was navigating in the dark, but apparently Mili could hear or see better than he did, because the crying girl flung herself at him while he was trying to navigate the rows of desks.

He picked her up immediately, both arms holding her tight. "Here! Is here!" she screamed in his ear.

Remembering what Giles had said about children being the only ones able to see the demon, Xander turned back in the direction of the door and, holding Mili with one hand, turned on the light. "Where is it?"

Giles was standing in the corner where Andrew had directed them to. Xander could see Giles' sword dripping down a weird blue liquid that must have been the demon's blood, but there were no traces of it anywhere.

"There!" Frantic, the little girl pointed at the blackboard next to Giles. Giles swung his sword around, and next thing Xander knew, there was a -- really damn ugly -- beheaded demon falling down on the floor of the classroom, blood spilling everywhere, and its head rolling under the teacher's desk.

One hand on her cheek, he pulled Mili's head into the crook of his shoulder so that she wouldn't look at it, shielding her. "It's done now," he whispered. He could feel her shaking and her little arms tightened around his neck. "It's gone, the monster's gone."

Giles picked up Xander's sword, and put it down next to his own on a desk. Walking to Xander's side, he grabbed the cellphone from his pocket. "Andrew, contact Mrs. Phelps and let her know the Gyruto's taken care of. We'll meet her in the living room as soon as possible." Then he flipped the phone off.

"God, that thing's gross." Xander grabbed Giles' arm and pulled him close. No wonder children were scared of the thing. It was about five foot tall, scaly and green, and it had a huge crooked nose and bulbous eyes. "Do you think there's more of them?" he asked, trying not to think about more children being snatched away in the middle of the night.

As if he could hear Xander's thoughts, Giles wrapped both arms around him and Mili and held them both close to his chest. "Not here, not tonight. Gyrutos are passably rare, and never travel or attack in pairs. The children here are safe."

Xander gave a short nod. "Okay." He had to believe that, he really had to. They dealt with a lot of bad stuff on a daily basis, but apparently, this was hitting him a lot harder than he thought anything should.

"Come on," Giles murmured, kissing Xander's cheek. "We should head out. I'll have a cleaning crew here in an hour and then all traces of it will disappear."

Giles pulled away, but the moment he wasn't close enough to touch anymore, Mili huffed and squirmed and held out her arms to him. Xander chuckled at the bewildered look in Giles' eyes. "Don't look at me," he said when Giles did exactly that. "She wants you to hold her. Apparently, you're her hero."

Giles shook his head, but he did take her from Xander's arms. "You'll have to bring the swords then."

Xander didn't argue at all. Just the sight of Giles holding Mili, her little head buried against his neck, was enough to make Xander forget that he hated carrying swords around ever since that time in Africa when he'd been running for his life and had almost severed his own arm. "You know," he said, following Giles into the corridor. "I never thought you'd be that good with kids." Or so completely hot.

"I never thought much about it either," Giles replied. "I must admit, I was rather surprised myself, earlier. You were good with Milo up there."

At the name of her brother, Mili perked up and smiled through her tears. "Milo?" She clasped her still shaking hands together and Giles laughed.

"The amazing resilience of children," he whispered. "It's a shame it can't be bottled up."

Xander had to agree. "She'll still have nightmares..."

"Yes," Giles said, pushing the girl's head back against his shoulder in what seemed like the most natural of movements. "But hopefully, they will be easily contained."

Bedtime stories, Xander thought. Bedtime stories, a warm hand rubbing her back, and a purple stuffed turtle held in her arms; feeling safe would be the first step. Xander wasn't sure she'd have this here. Sure, it was a fortress, and the people who worked here were probably the best at their jobs, but... God, he wanted to be there for that part of it, to be the one to get up in the middle of the night and promise that it would be okay, that the monster was gone and they were safe. He gulped and one look at Giles, and Xander knew he was thinking the exact same thing.

They'd been doing the dating thing for a while now, almost a year, but with a continent between them most of the time, it often felt both a lot longer and a lot shorter; completely new, and like a lifetime. They talked for hours when Xander was off on an assignment, and then had sex at every opportunity when he was in town. Children though, children they'd never talked about. Xander had no idea if Giles wanted any, or heck, if he had any, come to think of it; with that wild youth Giles was never talking about, you never knew what you could learn at the drop of a hat. And it wasn't like this was one of those conversations you were required to have; with a woman, it made sense, there could be accidents, but not with a man, and Xander hadn't ever thought about it at all.

And now, just watching Giles holding Mili, shushing her softly, was making it hard for Xander to breathe. Oh, and there was a wild idea: they were in an orphanage, the twins were orphans, and maybe-- maybe they could take them home. Adopt them.

Oh God, he needed to talk to Giles. He was insane, completely insane, because just what had happened tonight was enough to make him rethink that idea, but he wanted it. He really wanted it.

Still a little high on that revelation, Xander walked into the living room, and was immediately greeted by a pair of little arms grabbing his legs. Carefully, he put the swords against the wall, and picked the boy up. "Hey, little guy," he said, looking down at Milo. "See? I promised." He waved at Mili in Giles' arms, and Milo grinned at him.

"Mili!" the boy said, grinning wildly, and clasping his hands together exactly like Mili had done just a few minutes ago.

Xander gave the boy a squeeze, and put him down, just as Giles did the same. Milo practically ran to his sister and took her hand, just as she kissed his cheek.

"I'll go fetch them a snack," Mrs. Phelps said, standing up from the sofa. "Chocolate milk and scones should do."

Both the children bounced at that, and Xander couldn't help the chuckle. He slumped down on the couch next to Andrew, groaning. "What time is it?"

Andrew craned his neck, and said: "almost eleven."

"We'll need a cleaning crew, Andrew," Giles stated. He sounded tired, but when Xander looked at him, he was alert, never taking his eyes off the children who were still standing there, babbling at each other. Xander couldn't understand a word they were saying, but it was possibly the most adorable thing he'd ever seen.

Andrew seemed just a little bit too happy to have something to do. The moment Giles mentioned the cleaning crew, Andrew was off the couch and heading for the office to deal with it.

Xander met Giles' frown, and shrugged. "I think he's scared of them," he said, pointing at the twins. "He looked really uncomfortable upstairs with Milo."

With a teasing tone, Giles said, "Perhaps we should take them home, then, it might keep him out of our hair when you're in town."

Xander knew Giles was joking -- probably -- but it didn't stop his heart from skipping a beat and tightening in his chest. "Yeah, about that--"

He didn't get to finish his thoughts. Mrs. Phelps entered the room with a tray and set it down on the coffee table. "Where is Mr. Wells?" she asked.

"Dealing with the cleaning, for the moment. Your classroom will be clean and ready to be used by morning." Giles leaned down, obviously intending to pick up a cup of tea from the tray, when Mili walked to him, and insinuated herself on his lap.

Xander couldn't help but smile at that; Mili's determined stance brokered no arguments, and Giles had to let her climb on. Before he could really fully appreciate the view, it was Xander's turn to become a human chair. Milo decided to imitate his sister, and grabbed a hold of Xander's shirt as he settled down. "Yeah, why don't you two get comfortable?"

Giles gave him a look over Mili's head and smiled. "It seems we make good chairs."

They managed to drink their tea -- Xander had acquired a sort of taste for it since Giles had started making it for him every time he was there -- with one hand while the children drank their milk, and ate their scones. There were crumbs everywhere.

Xander didn't care. By the time Giles and he were putting down their cups under Mrs. Phelps' knowing gaze, both Milo and Mili were sleeping on their laps, heads pushed into the crook of their arm. Andrew hadn't come back since leaving to make that phone. He'd poked his head in to let Giles know the crew was on the way, and he'd wait for them outside, and that was that.

"Have you never considered adoption?" Mrs. Phelps asked, breaking the silence that had settled in the room.

Xander turned to stare at her. "Why?" he croaked. He knew why, he didn't need her to say it. It was painfully obvious just looking at them that they didn't want to put the children down, at all.

"Milo and Mili-- they're different from most children here. The psychiatrist calls it an attachment disorder. Being abandoned so early--" she waved in the air and sighed. "This is the first time I've seen either of them willingly approach anyone without being coaxed into it."

"Perhaps a hero complex?" Giles asked.

With a shake of her head, Mrs. Phelps stood and gathered everything on the tray. "I don't think so. Not only did they approach both of you, but they've fallen asleep quickly after a horrible ordeal. Trust is not something easily acquired by orphaned children."

Xander looked down at Milo. The boy had both arms wrapped around Xander's forearm, holding loosely now that he was asleep. By the time he looked up, Mrs. Phelps was walking away with the tray.

Giles sighed. "I suppose we should talk."

"Yeah," Xander said, turning to him. "I just-- do you-- I mean, children?"

"I've never given it much thought, but I admit that being here is making me consider it." Giles smiled down at Mili, and Xander had to bite his lip not to say something stupid like "we could take them home now."

"I haven't thought about it for a while either. I just-- they're really cute." And Xander didn't think he'd ever felt anything like this before. The feeling of a child, asleep in his arms was almost overwhelming. He had a hard time thinking.

Xander heard Giles breathe in deeply. "Perhaps-- let's take the weekend and think on it."

"Okay. The weekend," Xander agreed. That gave them two days to talk. Not that Xander was thinking that it was a good idea, because demon fighting really wasn't the type of life you wanted to throw really young children into, but if Giles thought they could make it work...

"The Council can help speed up the adoption process," Mrs. Phelps said as she walked back into the room the next Monday. She had greeted them at the door, and then had to run deal with an emergency involving two of the older kids.

While they'd waited for her to come back, a nurse had brought the twins into the room. There was an awkward moment before the children recognized them, and then, Giles and Xander were both being assaulted by overexcited toddlers. Milo had grabbed Xander's hand to show him the building blocks in the corner, and Mili was charming Giles by showing him the purple turtle she'd brought with her.

When Mrs. Phelps entered, Xander put down the block and Milo immediately scooted into his lap. Xander shot Giles a look and got a soft smile in response. "We..."

"We're not sure it's wise," Giles interrupted him. Mili was looking up at Mrs. Phelps, holding the turtle close to her heart.

Xander looked at her, and then down at Milo, and he knew, he just knew that he wanted to bring them both home. Demon fighting be damned.

"They're both already aware that demons exist," Mrs. Phelps replied, softly. "They've barely slept since Friday, and Milicent won't stop calling for you at all hours of the day and night," she continued. She looked tired too, like someone who hadn't slept at all in over a week, which, considering, she probably hadn't. "They've been difficult to place, despite the number of interested families, because they don't form attachments easily except with each other, but the both of you..." She smiled, and shook her head. "It's as if you've gotten under their skin. Of course, a small amount of it is due to the fact that you've saved their lives I suppose, but I've known them since they were barely a year old, and I can tell it's more than that."

Xander stood up, with Milo under one arm, delighted when it made the boy laugh, and sat down next to Giles on the couch.

"They should not be here, not these two," Mrs. Phelps continued. "No children should be in an orphanage to start with, but definitely not the twins. They should have been adopted the moment they came here, and I've never understood why they hadn't until this weekend."

Xander looked at Giles, arms wrapped around Milo, and he smiled. No, they hadn't really talked about it, hadn't come to a decision despite all the silences, and the thoughts Xander knew they were both trapped in, but when Giles looked up at him, he knew their decision was made -- had already been made the moment the twins had fallen asleep on Friday. "There's the guest room that we could convert into a bedroom for them, I guess. They can sleep in that bed until I've put something together for them. Bunk beds would work, right? Unless you want them to each have their own bedroom, in which case we'll have to move."

Giles grinned. His eyes drifted down to Mili, and he visibly cradled her closer to his chest protectively. "We'll have to move either way."

"Right," Xander said. With the both of them, it was already tight, even more so when the girls were visiting, and now they were adding twins to the mix, toddlers who would need space to play and run and just be kids. "Definitely too small."

"I suppose the guest room will have to do until we find something better, though, since I don't think moving will happen in the next couple of days."

Xander frowned. "Days? Shouldn't it take, like, weeks for an adoption to go through?" At least, he knew that in the States it could take up to years for it to happen.

"As I was saying when I came in," Mrs. Phelps said, her smile broadening as she spoke, "the Council can help speed up the process. They have ties to several branches of the government, and a little nudging here and there could mean that the twins would be yours before Friday evening. If we start the process right away, of course."

"That gives us just enough time to do some shopping," Xander declared with a smile. Tiny clothes, and toys, and food, and -- oh my God, would they need a stroller? Or car seats? What about a babysitter?

Giles must have seen the look on Xander's face, because he laughed, and patted Xander's knee. "All in good time, Xander, we can make a list of things we need."

"We'll need a babysitter," Xander said hastily. "I mean, with how much you work every day, and me being away half the time--" He looked at both of the children and his heart skipped a beat. "Do you think--" he gulped "--I mean, I don't know if I want to be working in the field anymore." Having a relationship when you're halfway across the world from each was hard enough, adding two kids to the mix would be even harder -- maybe a little too much for him to handle, actually.

"Of course not," Giles said fervently. He took a deep breath before continuing: "I mean to say that if you wish to keep traveling, we can make arrangements, but it'd be a lot better for you and the children if you stayed in London."

Xander smiled at him and took his hand. "Yeah, I get what you're saying. And hey, this means we'd be like, a family now."

They both looked down at the same time, just as the children looked up and smiled. "Yes," Giles said, his voice tight. "I suppose so."

Xander squeezed Giles' hand and turned to Mrs. Phelps. "So, when can we take them home?"