[Reviews - 51]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 2535 times

- Text Size +




Thanks once more to Tahmoe, Beth (the song that inspired me this time was Seven Circles by the Tea Party), Brat, Cordykitten, Isabel, Bernadette, shippy, starshine, and spikeslovebite.



Epilogue

London, New Watcher's Headquaters and School, Christmas 2005

Spike didn't realize at the time when he'd conjured it, that his fondest wish come true would include so much drool. The vampire awoke on Christmas day with the sensation of something warm bundled in the center of his bare chest and the cool stickiness of moisture against his skin.

"Oh Bella, honestly pumpkin!" Spike groaned. "Can't your mother remember for once in her life to be considerate enough to put a bloody towel down?!" The dozing infant paid him no mind, perfectly content to be resting on her father's chest. A moment later he was hit in the face with a hand towel. Buffy sailed past him still wrapped in a towel from her shower, her damp hair clinging to the skin of her back. Spike allowed himself a few moments to appreciate the view before carefully slipping the towel under the baby's head to absorb her little puddle on his chest. "What time is it, pet?"

"Just a little after eight. Dawn and most of the Slayers are already up and waiting impatiently downstairs for us. The others are coming around noon and dinner's at four." Buffy removed the towel and draped it over the chair near her vanity. After combing out her hair and securing it up in a tight bun, she started to dress, but stopped after putting on her jeans. She came to them and sat next to Spike on the bed and began to rub the baby girl's back. "She had breakfast at 4am. You slept through it."

"Sorry, you could've had me get her for you."

"You looked too peaceful to wake. She didn't cry, just whinged a little. Like she did when I changed her before my shower. She wanted her daddy." The baby woke and yawned then began her whimpers of discontent again. Buffy picked her up and cuddled the three month old to her chest. With her mouth open wide she sought for and found her mother's nipple and latched on. Buffy sighed and relaxed against the head board and pillows while Spike inched closer until his head rested against his wife's shoulder. Buffy began to hum a quiet lullaby and Spike caressed the baby's face, feeling the strong workings of her mouth and cheeks as she suckled.

"Oh Bella, you are a miracle, aren't you? The love of our lives." Wrapping his arms around them both, Spike thought back to the previous Christmas. After returning to Buffy at her apartment, they spent three days straight making love. They emerged only for food and once for a proper dinner with Dawn. It took some time, but he and the younger Summers sister were close again, like old times. After the final battle with the minions of the Senior Partners, Spike, Angel and Illyria had survived. The necessity to go underground had kept the three of them together and hidden while they waited for retaliation. When it didn't come they talked about maybe going back to civilization. Illyria was confident that the Senior Partners had abandoned this dimension, but Angel was more skeptical. There was still a fight out there against evil to wage as far as he was concerned. Without expectation of any other future Illyria and Spike agreed. They were formulating a plan of action one night in a highway motel room outside of Los Angeles when Spike disappeared.

He was gone for only a few seconds, but Illyria clearly observed him fade out and then reappear. She knew it was not as uncommon as the populous believed that sometimes people simply disappeared. When he snapped back into this dimension he was shaking and calling for Buffy. When he regained his senses Spike quietly explained what he'd experienced of the Samsara, omitting a few details to spare Angel's residual feelings for Buffy. He left for Italy a few days later.

While Spike and Buffy were occupied with cementing their reunion, Dawn made the call to Bath and spoke with Giles. The three of them travelled to the mansion that the funds of the past Watchers Council purchased as a home for the new Slayers in the world. Not everything went smoothly with Spike's integration back into the lives of the refugees from Sunnydale. But now, a year later, he was like family to one and all.

William had wished to leave Buffy with a child. The implications of which never occurred to him, but at the moment he thought it the perfect solution to their imminent separation. There would then always be part of him with her. The notion was gone from Spike's mind, until when on Christmas Eve they were laying in bed together.

"You cold, love?" he asked, wrapping both arms around her and pulling her close.

"There's a fire in the hearth, Spike," Buffy replied, her eyes closed and sleep beckoning. With his naked body pressed against hers she was as far away from cold as she could get. "I feel fine, perfect even."

"I know you've been feeling a bit off lately. It's a bit colder this year and we've gone on patrol every night since we arrived and you n' all the other Slayers have been flitting around trying to make this place perfect for Christmas....don't want you coming down with something."

"I won't. Go to sleep, William."

"It's silly to say this, but I don't think I can on account of it being Christmas. I just want to savor this perfect moment with you."

"Almost perfect."

"Why's that, love?"

"Because I haven't told you about the baby yet." Buffy felt Spike's body seize behind her. He touched her shoulder and had her turn over to face him.

"I...I made a wish....William did, that last time with you."

"I know you so well Spike. I saw it in your eyes then. I was going to tell you tomorrow in front of everybody, but I thought maybe you'd like to."

"I..." His expression turned from one of shock to one of such tearful joy he couldn't speak. So instead, Buffy held him and talked to him, telling him of all that was to come with the new life that a miracle had created.



"Spike?" Buffy whispered to him, giving him a little nudge with her elbow. He looked up from where Bella was still nursing, eyes bright and blue and staring up at Buffy.

"Hmmm?"

"Daydreaming?"

"Uh, no, luv. I was just remembering this time last year."

"My best Christmas ever. Except for maybe this one." Buffy switched Bella to her other breast without complaint from the baby who resumed her breakfast with enthusiasm. Bella's palm rested on the soft mound of her mother's breast, tiny fingers curling and relaxing. "She's being a little piggy this morning."

"She gets that from you. I saw you last night with the shortbread." Buffy playfully gave his ear a good cuff, then kissed his cheek. When Bella was finished, Buffy passed her to Spike so he could rub her back. Buffy finished dressing and put on a warm sky blue cashmere sweater, Bella's favorite to cuddle against. When she returned to the bed, Spike was cradling their daughter and rubbing her warm full belly while they stared back at each other with smiles on their faces.

"Our guests will be arriving soon, so you better hop in the shower. As the resident Englishman, you're on breakfast duty. Dawn's orders."

"You're making Giles help!"

"Yes, sweetie. Pass her over."

"Rather stay here all day."

"You know I would too, but we have lots of days with just the three of us. This is the only time when Dawn's home from school for more than a weekend and the only time everyone's all together and they all want to see Bella."

"I dread today and you bloody know it. All those other people making time with my girl." Reluctantly he placed Bella back in Buffy's arms, the little girl wiggly and smiling.

"She'll get cranky after the fifth new person's held her and cry until she's back in her daddy's arms." Spike sighed and reluctantly got out of bed. "Be merry, Spike! It's Christmas!"

"Hum bug!"



"Is it my turn yet?" Angel asked, holding out his arms for the baby.

"Just another minute," Fred cooed, stroking Bella's plump cheek. Spike sat in his chair on the other side of the room watching the group gathered around the Christmas tree. His eyes rested on the resurrected Fred, looking none the worse for wear after her journeys. The idea had come to Spike a few months after he and Buffy were back together. Buffy had been sound asleep and he was listening to Bella's rapid heartbeat inside her mother. He'd remembered every word from the mysterious woman in their strange dimension and played it over and over in his mind countless times. The thought came to him out of nowhere. The metaphor of the ocean inspired him to talk over his thoughts with Giles and Willow. Illyria claimed that Fred's soul was destroyed and at the time they'd all believed it. But Spike wondered, hoped, that maybe it hadn't been destroyed, but dissipated. Perhaps elements, molecules and the essence was still out there in the ocean of the ether.

Illyria grew increasingly weary of existing as less than what she'd been in her former glory. She understood humanity and had formed bonds with both Spike and Angel, so when she caught wind of Spike's hypothesis, she offered to allow her body's former owner to reclaim it. Illyria would return to the earth, go where the occupants of the Deeper Well had gone. The rulers of old had become food for the planet in the wake of the Senior Partners abandoning this dimension.

Fred's return had not been an easy task to accomplish, especially in reforming the body Illyria had partly destroyed, and the months following her resurrection had been ones fraught with angst, grief, anger and disbelief to be without Wesley. Which was followed for more sadness due to the death of Gunn. She came to live with Buffy and Spike in Rome for a while and it was Buffy who saw her through the worst of it. The two women shared a bond and no one but Buffy understood what it was like to return from death. It was Bella that had given Fred hope for the future. That after everything Buffy had experienced, Fred found that the Slayer now having a baby was a sign that a reason for living could be found.

Bella never complained when Aunty Fred held her, but much to Spike's amusement whenever her Uncle Angel held her, she started with a whimper that soon escalated to a howling wail. This time however the baby permitted the other vampire a relatively quiet cuddle before her calls for her father started up. Once Bella was back in Spike's arms she yawned and relaxed, falling asleep almost instantly. Spike shifted her into the crook of his arm and the baby curled herself inwards into a small ball against him. He walked around the large room and watched everyone around the decorated tree opening their presents and drinking various ciders and mulled wines while devouring the Christmas baking. He raised Bella up so he could whisper to her and the waking baby cooed softly before her eyes drooped shut again.

"Isn't everything lovely, my sweet?" he asked his daughter. "I remember Christmases like this from when I was a lad. All the family was together. There was faith that the world was going to always become a better place. Families were always more than just the parents and their offspring. There were aunts, uncles and cousins by the dozens. There was wassail, roasted chestnuts, pudding and goose. Carolers would go through the streets making merry. Those were beautiful, peaceful times. I haven't felt like I did then until you came along." He continued to smile while quietly humming a lullaby and swaying. Becoming a father had changed him in ways unimaginable. Moreso it had given him an inner peace that kept him content and centered and would do so for as long as he lived. His bond with Buffy had strengthened as they shared in caring for Bella. He felt his betrothed's presence long before her hand came to rest on his shoulder. Buffy came around in front of him and enveloped the pair in hug.

"What are you two cooking up?" she asked, nuzzling Belle's cheek.

"I was just telling our little queen of my Christmases past."

"These are the pre-vamping ones, right?"

"Yes, of course. I was also telling her how beautiful you looked today."

"Flatterer."

"I speak nothing but the truth."

"We should put her down, she'll sleep till after dinner."

"Rather keep her."

"I know, honey. But you can't keep her by your side twenty four hours a day, seven days a week."

"I can on Christmas though, right?" She kissed his cheek and hugged him.

"Of course you can. As long as you share with me."

"You're wanting to hold her, aren't you?"

"Just for a little while." Spike gave what resembled a very serious pout before passing the baby into her mother's arms. Bella yawned and stretched, but didn't wake, sensing only that she was still protected and comfortable. "Dawn needs your help in the kitchen."

"You bloody sneak!"

"You're the only one who remembers how to make an authentic Victorian Christmas food. And there's this week old pudding thing that you need to set on fire at some point. Who'd want week old pudding? Dawn also said something about a Mrs. Beaton, whoever she is." Spike sighed and his head fell forward.

"I haven't opened my prezzies yet."

"Poor vampy. Neither have I. You can open them after dinner with just me and Bella." He sighed again and gave both his girls a kiss before reluctantly trudging out of the room towards the kitchen. When Buffy looked back to the baby cradled in her arms she found her daughter's bright blue eyes looking back at her. "Well hello sweetness. Shall we see what Santa brought us this year?"



Many hours later, after all the turkey and goose were eaten, the Christmas pudding devoured and the spirits consumed the gathering of friends, family and Slayers went to their beds. In the master bedroom a new family lay together wrapped in each others arms atop a canopy bed surrounded by wrapped and unwrapped gifts. Buffy's fingers ghosted over the pair of pearl earrings on her ears that matched her engagement ring. Spike had them made special for her. Bella lay before them, wrapped in her new hand knit blanket, made from the same cashmere as her favorite sweater of Buffy's. The littlest Summers slept once more, tired from a long day of being fawned over. Her nursery was full to bursting of gifts that wouldn't interest her for years to come, but the gift from her father, the blanket, was a definite success. Her tiny fists grasped the fabric tightly and Spike was certain there was a smile on her face.

Perfectly comfortable in their bedtime clothing (which only remained on until it came time to get under the covers), the new parents admired the greatest gift they'd ever give each other.

"Is it just me, or has she been smiling more?" Spike asked in a hushed voice.

"Dawn says it's just gas, but I think you're right. She brightens up whenever you come near."

"She does for you too, especially right after she's nursed."

"That's because she's warm, full and drunk...and that probably is gas."

"Nonsense. You're the joy of her life."

"You are."

"We are. And she is ours. Just think of all the Christmases to come, love. How big our girl's going to get, all the things she'll learn. Sometimes I wish she could stay just like this. Then sometimes I think about the future and..." His voice faded away and his expression turned sad. Buffy knew what he was thinking. He was immortal and his girls were not.

"Live in the present, William. No one knows what the future holds. Just cherish every second we three have together."

"I do, sweetheart, I do." The baby stirred in her sleep and Spike bent forward to take her in his arms. She settled again without waking and Buffy curled up at his side, her cheek resting against the downy top of their daughter's head. Soon enough, Buffy and Spike joined their daughter in sleep. They dreamed of oceans.



The End





You must login (register) to review.