A tear rolled down Buffy’s cheek. Spike had been gone for 3 months, and now here he was, standing in front of her. All emotions coursed through her body. She couldn’t be mad at him, he looked beat up.

“Spike” she said, her voice quivering. How badly she wanted to run to him and kiss him. But that was what had led to this situation in the first place. She didn’t know what to say.

Spike ran a hand through his bleached blond hair. He hadn’t wanted her to find him back so soon. He had just arrived the night before. “Buffy” he said in almost a whisper. He couldn’t possibly look her in the eye after what he had tried to do to her. “I can’t deal with you right now. It hurts when you’re around me. And the bloody soul isn’t really to my advantage at the moment.”

Buffy flinched at his words. She hurt him just by standing there. Right when she was about to snap back an answer, white lights started to surround them. “Spike, what’s going on?”

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Spike awoke lying on a couch. He sat up instantly. This wasn’t his crypt. He looked around the room, then realized it was Buffy’s house. And what surprised him more was the beating of his heart. “Bloody hell” he said sitting up.

This little girl ran into the room. “Daddy! Daddy! Guess what? I tied my shoes! Look!” she yelled excitedly holding up her foot for him to see.

What the bloody hell was going on? He was at Buffy’s house and a little girl was calling him Daddy…

Buffy woke up on a king size bed. She turned over. This wasn’t her room. She immediately remembered her last thought and ran downstairs as quick as possible. She stopped dead in her tracks when she came upon the sight. A little girl was sitting on Spike’s lap watching TV. Something weird was definitely going on. One thing, Spike was in her house.

“What’s she doing?” asked the girl curiously.

Spike raised an eyebrow. He felt weird with a little girl sitting on his lap. “I dunno Midget. Haven’t got to watch it in a while. A very long while apparently.” Then he spotted Buffy.

“Spike what’s going on?” she asked nervously. She figured he had something to do with it. Maybe his return was a setup.

Spike shrugged. “I dunno Slayer, but I like it here.”

The girl giggled. “Daddy your so funny!”

Buffy’s face cringed. Daddy? Where the heck was she? She put on a fake smile. “Spike, can I see you in the kitchen please?”

Spike rolled his eyes. She would probably blame him, like always. But he followed her anyway.

Once they were in the kitchen, Buffy spun on her heel. “You did something, I know it! Where are we? This is my house, yet not quite mine. And who is that little girl and why is she calling you daddy?”

Spike sighed. Yep, as he suspected, she blamed him. “I didn’t do anything slayer, I have no idea what is going on, and I don’t know why the sodding Midget is calling me her father.” Ugh, he hated when she blamed him. There was no way he could have came up with this.

“Well this is obviously some diluted dimension, what else could it be?” she asked, her eyes darting around the kitchen.

“I don’t know” he answered looking at his feet. He smirked. “Pretty bloody awesome huh?”

_______________________________________________________________________________________

“Spike what are we going to do?”

“Play along?” he replied looking into the living room.

Just then, the little girl came into the kitchen. She smiled at Spike, and headed over to the island. “Mommy I’m hungry. Can me and Daddy go out to eat?” she asked excitedly.

Buffy’s mouth dropped open. She was the mother of Spike’s child. That couldn’t be. He was a vampire!

Spike came behind the girl and lifted her up. “Sure we can Midget,” he said happily. He leaned over and whispered to Buffy, “Call Willow or somebody. I think we need to play along with this.”

Spike and the girl left outside quickly. Buffy rushed to the window to see what the hell Spike was thinking going out into the sunlight. She was amazingly relieved when she found him not in a pile of ashes. So much had changed, she couldn’t keep up. Then she thought about what he had told her. She grabbed the cordless phone that was now by the couch, and dialed the Magic Box number. She hoped it was still the same. She was shocked to hear Giles answer.

“Hello?” his British accent sounded over the phone.

“Giles?” squeaked Buffy.

“Ah Buffy. We’ve been waiting to hear from you. We’ve found out more information on the demon. I think we may very well have a Halyard Demon on our hands.”

Buffy was confused. Demon? “Uh sure, I’ll head over there.”

She hung up and slunk down on the couch. How did she end up in this mess? She looked down and saw a Family Photograph book lying open to a page. Spike must have been looking at it. She picked it up and awed at the pictures. There was one of Buffy on Spike’s back, them both smiling, and one of Spike, Buffy, and their supposed daughter. She sighed and went out of the door.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Buffy arrived at the Magic Box. She gasped at the sight of Dawn. She looked about 22 and she was beautiful. Willow had grown out her hair past her shoulders and it was flipped at the ends. “Dawn” she said almost in tears.

Dawn gave her a weird look. “Hey Buff, Giles told ya about the demon already huh? I’d offer to take Lilly, but she needs your guy’s protection. Where is she by the way?”

Buffy thought for a moment. Who was Lilly? “Uh…”

Before she could make up a lame answer, Spike and the little girl walked through the door. “Aunt Dawn!” she screamed
running in her arms.

“Hey Lilly” replied Dawn taking her in a huge embrace.

Ooh, That was Lilly. She turned back towards Spike, not making eye contact with him. But he was gazing at her with his icy blue eyes. No matter what, she always felt as if he could see right through her. Her thoughts were interrupted by Lilly running to her holding a McDonalds toy.

“Mommy! Look what I got!” she yelled holding up a bratz doll. Buffy couldn’t believe they still made those.

“Buffy” said Giles taking off his glasses and cleaning them, “Maybe this isn’t the best time to have Lilly here.”

Buffy looked confused. Did they not want her to hear about the demon? Surely she had heard it before…

“Right” said Spike interrupting the silence. It was turning to evening, and he needed to try to find out what was going on? “Hey Midget, want to go shoot hoops with your old man?” he said smiling.

Lilly giggled. “Yeah!” She turned to go, but not before running and throwing her arms around Buffy’s neck. Spike smiled. Ever since she had seen him, she hadn’t seen him smile. Lilly ran back to Spike who put her on his shoulders, and headed out the door.

Buffy turned back to the gang. “Ok, so what about this demon? What kind of threat is it to us?”

They all looked stunned. This demon had tried to kill Lilly on a number of occasions. Buffy knew that she really should know.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

The afternoon flew by fast as Buffy was given tons of information about the Halyard demon. He was trying to kill Lilly so he could possess the power she holds. How dare he! She was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of her house. She continued up the steps and walked through the door. The lights in the house were dim, and she saw Spike close a bedroom door upstairs. He stopped when he caught sight of her, but shook it off and sat on the living room couch. Buffy followed him solemnly.

“What the hell is going on?” she said. One minute she was arguing with Spike, and the next she didn’t know where she was.

Spike sighed. “Look at the calendar across the room. What year is it?”

Buffy looked across the room to a flower calendar. The year was 2010! “You mean we’re…”

“…In the future” he finished her sentence. “Either that or another dimension.”

“How are we supposed to get back?” she said, her voice quivering.

“I don’t want to go back. I won’t. I’m staying here. If this is the future, I’m in heaven. I have a wife, a daughter, sunlight…what more could a bloke ask for?”

“Wife?” she asked curious. She looked down at her hand, and noticed for the first time she was wearing a wedding band on her left hand. “Oh.”

Spike started to say something, but the same white orb lights appeared around them. Before they knew it, they were standing before two god type of people on clouds. A man and a woman. They both had smiles plastered on their faces.

The woman spoke first. “You’re probably wondering why you’re here. This was a very hard situation for us. If you’ll please sit…”

She waved her hand and two chairs appeared behind them, which they sat in.

“Thank you” she smiled. “You have both now realized where you are, the future. A long time ago we did a spell so that if you two died in the future, the past you would be sent to replace them. We didn’t know it was going to happen. We never expected this.”

The man spoke up this time. “None of the others know you died, it is held a secret. But in order for you to know things, we are willing to give you all the memories the champions had.”

“Champions?” Buffy asked nervously. This couldn’t be happening to her.

The woman smiled once again. “You two of course. Now we need to make this quick, so you two may relive the day in their shoes. You will have your memories, and their own. Those combined will assure us the safety of your daughter, although we’ve seen the same attitude that William already had towards her.”

Buffy about fell backwards! They expected her to stay in the future! “I…I can’t stay, Dawn and everyone needs me. I can’t leave them alone.”

The woman looked down in dismay. The man understood and spoke up so she wouldn’t have to. “That time no longer exists, Buffy. It was shattered the moment you were tooken from it. I’m sorry. Asuncion.”
__________________________________________________________________________________________

With that last word, Spike awoke on the Summers’ couch and Lilly ran into the room yelling excitedly. “Daddy! Daddy! Guess what? I tied my shoes! Look!” she held up her foot for all the world to see. He immediately remembered everything.

“Hey look at that, my little girl is growing up,” he said gently, sitting up. She ran back into the kitchen, and he walked up the stairs to his now bedroom.

Buffy awoke in the same bed, but this time felt another presence in the room. She didn’t even have to look. Some how she automatically knew it was Spike. Then everything hit her. “Oh god Spike, they’re dead.”

He sat by her on the bed. “Shh it’s ok luv, they’re still alive here,” he said soothingly. And for some reason these words meant the world to her. “We have to look at the good things in our life now. But we need to make a decision. Who does Lilly stay with?”

“What?” asked Buffy sitting up. “What do you mean?”

“Buffy” he said looking away for a moment. “We both know you don’t want to be with me. And I would never put you in this position. Yes, your future self loved me and you may very well have her memories, but the real you doesn’t. I’ll leave you the house, of course. And as for Lilly…”

“Spike I don’t want you to leave. I…I don’t love you, but I wouldn’t be able to survive here without you. You’re all I have left of the past. You know what I’ve been through, and I doubt I could raise a 5 year old on my own” she said smiling.

Spike smiled back and they shared a comfortable silence. Lilly ran and jumped on their bed. She snuggled in close to Buffy. “Can we go to the park today?” she asked.

Buffy and Spike exchanged glances. Buffy hugged Lilly close to her. “I think the park’s a great idea.”