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Spike woke up to an incessant poking at his side. Between that and the bright light he sensed over him it was a bloody awful way to wake up and his first thought was of the Initiative. Following his first reaction he gave a deep guttural growl of warning, only to be puzzled by a childish giggled reply.

Opening his eyes, he found himself half covered in sand and two sandy blond haired children packing more on him. Children! Children were torturing him!

“Get off me, you filthy little buggers” Pulling into a seated position he looked around the near empty beach. The little boy and girl looked at him and giggled more. They were trying to push him back down with their tiny hands.

“Why don’t you bloody bas- er scamps go and find your mum huh?” Their little eyes lighted with glee making their brown eyes dance with gold flecks of joy.

“Go on now with you, leave a man to anguish in peace. Go find your bloody parents and leave me be.” He growled again and made like he was going to stand. This time both of them did the absolute unthinkable, and scared Spike right out of his Doc Martens. They climbed into his lap

‘Oi, now get off!” Spike didn’t know wether to shove them off or just stand and let them fall, landing on the sand wouldn’t hurt than much.

“You talk funny.”

The pigtailed little demon had the nerve to settle herself in his lap and cuddle next to him, followed by her little brother.

Spike didn’t know what to do and began frantically searching the beach for worried parents. He saw only a few joggers and a couple of groups of teenage girls, no one looked like their mum. Opening up his senses he sniffed the breeze to see if he could catch their matching scent, and nothing just salt water and tanning lotion. Concern went through him, knowing just what some demons did to children was almost enough to send a chill down his spine. Dru had always been one for the little mites, while Spike preferred prey, with a little more challenge.

“Okay little nippers, where’s your mum?”

Immediately he could feel their sadness and something deep inside him started to crumble. The laughter was gone from them. Both hung their heads down looked at the sand, then out to the ocean.

“She walked into the ocean and didn’t come back. She told us to stay here, that someone would find us and take care of us and keep us safe. Mommy told us to be brave and that she would see us in Heaven some day.” The little bit laid her head on his chest while tears ran down her cheeks.

Gently Spike wiped her tears away and put an arm protectively around the little girl who was reminding him more of Dawn as each moment went by.

“Where’s your da Bit? We should take you home to him.” It was evident to Spike that their mother hadn’t thought of her children when she decided to end her life and it made his heart anger and ache for the little children she had left stranded on a beach. He’d figure out a way to get them home on the bike. The throbbing of his hangover was slowly subsiding, but the pounding of a regular old headache was fast approaching.

“We don’t have a daddy, but you could be him, if you want to. We like you.” The lad looked into Spike’s eyes and he cringed at how full of hope they were, although the boy’s bottom lip trembled at the memory of his mother.

Really looking at both children for the first time he realized just how young they were. Both of them were nearly identical in looks except just a little difference in eye color, they were just about the same height and weight. There was no doubt in Spike’s mind that they were twins and weren’t much older than five maybe six years of age. They were beautiful children and Spike’s anger grew even more for the mother who left them selfishly behind.

“Everyone’s got a da lad, it’s just how things work.” Spike put his other arm around the little guy comfortingly and patted.

“We don’t, mommy said we were miracles. That we just kind of happened.”

“I’m sure you have a da out there, Poppet. I’ll help you both find him okay. Now where to both of you live. I’m sure your neighbors might know a thing or two.”

“Cleveland. We drove here in mommy’s car. She said it kind of steered us here.” The lad cuddled next to Spike like his sister and stuck his thumb in his mouth. He showed Spike complete faith and trust, something that Spike had rarely felt alive or dead.

“Where’s your mum’s car lad? Maybe there’s something in there we need to get you back to your mother’s family.”

“Mommy didn’t have any other family, she said we were all alone in the world.”

The children climbed off and let him stand. Looking out over the sunlit ocean, the beauty of it took him by surprise and he really felt alive. The realization of Willow’s spell hit full force, he was human. The sun didn’t hurt him anymore, his heart was beating and his lungs breathed deeply of the salty air.

Spike felt two small hands take his, making him feel oddly comforted. Glancing down he saw they were looking up at him and he couldn’t help but give both of them a dazzling smile. They really were beautiful children. And yet another crumble could be felt in his chest. Shaking off the feeling he couldn’t think about right now he began walking them back to the parking lot. His first concern had to be seeing these two precious children home safely.

Finding the car wasn’t a problem since there was only one nearby and someone parked it directly beside his bike. The children were playfully swinging both of his arms much like he could remember doing to his father when he was a boy.

“That’s mommy’s car.” The children said in unison as they got closer to the old blue Chevy Nova. The paint was so badly faded it looked almost white. What surprised Spike was how abandoned the car seemed. A typical moving family’s car would be packed with boxes and suitcases. This car seemed empty.

“Where are your thing’s lad?” Spike’s concern was building rapidly about finding any info in the car.

“It the car, mommy sold all of our things so we could take the trip. We each have one suitcase and an old trunk that mommy said we couldn’t do without.” The Nibblet seemed to be the speaker for the two. She pulled a key ring with one key from out of her overall pocket and handed it to Spike.

“There’s also this, mommy told us to give it to the man who would take care of us.” Give Spike a sealed envelope he put it in his pocket without really thinking about it.

Inside the car were two tiny suitcases and indeed and old trunk. There was no way he was going to be able to carry those let alone the children on the bike. Taking his cell phone from his pocket he punched in Wesley’s number, hoping that he would at least answer a phone call from him, since they all refused to see him. Wesley ever alert as usual answered the phone after two rings.

“What is it Spike?” Wesley knew what the girls had done to him, he didn’t entirely agree with their methods, but he didn’t disagree with them either.

“Get a hold of Gunn for me and tell him to bring his truck. I’m at the beach in Santa Monica, just tell him to look for my bike next to an old blue car. He can’t miss it, it’s about the only thing in sight. Then I need you to remove the barrier from the Hyperion, I’m going to need you and Fred’s help with something. And no before you ask, this has nothing to do with Buffy. Tell Charlie to get a move on it.” Spike hung up the phone looking at the children, who had crawled in the back seat of the car and had fallen promptly asleep.

Thinking this was turning out to be some morning he opened the hatch back of the car and sat down. The children had said they were from Cleveland He had been to Cleveland once, after the debacle of kidnaping Xander and Willow. It was there on the other Hellmouth that he found the information on the Gem of Amara. Having been drunk out of his mind most of the time, a lot of Cleveland he couldn’t remember. He had been stuck in a gutter when someone had pulled him out before he caught aflame. Her name had been Isabelle and he’d used her shamelessly before coming back to Sunnydale. Her face was still clear in his mind, and he was ashamed to have treated the one human woman to have ever cared for him badly.

She’d had long brown hair and eyes the color of maple syrup full of life and laughter. Her body was lush and full of curves a true Raphaelite goddess. When he had awoken from his stupor his first thought had been to shag her senseless, then drain her dry. He’d used his best come on lines only to have her laugh at him, then tell him that no vampire was going to get the better of her, no matter how hot they were. Spike, aghast, then angry, thought of using force to get what he wanted. But the way she looked at him in mirth and friendship made even his demon balk at taking away her light. Instead they spent six months together, most of that time in her apartment wrapped in each other’s arms. When he’d gotten all the information he needed to get the Gem of Amara he’d written her a note. Saying that she needed a good man to look after her, not a vampire that would only cause her pain, or get her killed. Leaving a stack of money behind, he’d left for Sunnydale, never realizing just how much the time spent with her had changed his life. She was one of the reasons for his change that he’d told no one about. Her belief in him had wanted him to be a better man, even if he didn’t see it until later. Now he realized why he had liked Tara so much, her and Isabelle were so alike and Tara like Isabelle was too good for the likes of this world.

Watching the children sleep he felt a peace come over him, a peace that he hadn’t felt since that time with Isabelle. They were beautiful. How could a mother walk off and leave them to a stranger, any number of things could have happened to them, taking away their light forever? Angelus himself had once gotten off on turning children, just so he could watch the demon wage a war inside a body so young. Spike pulled his jacket closer to him, a chill deep in his bones. His demon growled angrily at the thought of anyone laying an ill meaning finger against the two children he was rapidly becoming fond of. He would do whatever it took to keep them safe until they could be back with their family. Hugging his arms around him, Spike heard the crunch of paper in the inner coat pocket. Taking out the envelope his heart caught in his chest as the one word stared up at him in fierce black and white.





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