You Are the New Day
by Cynamin

Miracle Jennifer Summers celebrates her first birthday today. Everyone is already here, and the pile of gifts is substantial for a child so small. I can guess pretty well what she'll receive from some of them.

It will be a book from Giles, and I will read it to her tonight as she goes to bed. She will smile at my voice and eventually fall asleep in my arms. It will be her favorite for the next couple of days until she finds something new.

From Xander she will receive something that Buffy and I will wish he never found. Probably something very noisy. If Anya had any part in buying the gift it will be even stranger. Buffy will hide that gift if she gets the chance, but Mira will love it.

Something cuddly from Willow, a new stuffed animal probably. Something practical from Joyce. I don't know what the rest of them will be. Mira will love each and every gift.until she gets the next one and forgets the first. She won't really understand what's going on this year, but she will next year.

I stand in the doorway of the kitchen in the place Buffy and I now call home. No one's noticed me standing here yet, but I don't mind. Buffy's enough of a host for both of us. She is talking seriously to Giles and her mother about something at the moment. Willow is making a fuss over Mira, who basks at the attention as she runs around the kitchen in her walker, going from person to person.

Mira spots me first and squeals in delight, running across the kitchen as fast as the walker will let her. I scoop her up before it can collide with my legs, which it does anyway and I wince slightly. Mira giggles.

Buffy turns as she hears her daughter. She smiles when she sees that I've joined the party and for a moment I rejoice in my good fortune. To think that I came so close to missing this.

I find happiness in so many places now, it's a good thing that I can't loose my soul. It's found in occasions like today, when friends come together and I'm no longer an outsider. It's found in my love's eyes when she smiles just for me. It's found in my daughter's innocence and unconditional love.

Mira squirms in my arms, and I smile at her. "Dada," she says in an insistent way that she must have learned from her mother.

"Alright, little miracle," I say, and return her to her walker to tear across the kitchen again. That's what she is - my little miracle, and incredible child who almost never came to be. She has her mother's golden hair, and already I can see glimpses of the girl she will become. I think she has her mother's strength, too, but only time will tell. She certainly has her mother's spirit.

When night comes, though, that's when I know she is her father's daughter. She listens to me tell stories she couldn't possibly understand with serious eyes. I love her every moment of every day, but those moments are special. That is when I feel closest to the tiny gem that I am proud to call my daughter. I think night is her time, just as it has always been Buffy's and mine.

I watch Mira play now, weaving in between the furniture and people's legs, and I know I am truly blessed. She sees me watching her and grins. She has her father's eyes.

You are the new day

The End

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