Time Line:

Today: March 16th, 2004

History:
The twins (Danielle and William) were born on February 12th, 2004
Annie turned five on February 14th.
Spike and Buffy have been married five years in February. (seems longer, doesn't it?)
Buffy turned 23 on January 19th.

All the Potentials were endowed with full Slayer power in February 2003.
Buffy and Spike learned of the other dimensions in May, 2003.

**~**


March 16th, 2004:


As promised, the doctors released Buffy the following day. Unfortunately, since there wasn’t any underground parking at the hospital, she had to wait until after dark to actually leave with the twins. Since the Gem of Amarra was at the bottom of the ocean with Angel, Spike’s invincibility against the rays of the sun was gone. Of course, Giles, as well as Willow and Tara, and Xander and Anya all offered to give Buffy and the twins a ride home during the day, but she felt like Spike had more than earned the right to drive his family home from the hospital.


Buffy and Spike strapped the babies into car seats in the back of the DeSoto and Annie into her booster seat between them. It was a tight fit, but luckily the old dinosaur of a car had a backseat made for making out with your best girl at the drive-in, when there used to be drive-in’s . . . and apparently for holding the babies that sometimes arrived about nine months after the making out.


“We really should get a minivan,” Buffy told Spike as he pulled out of the parking lot and headed for home.


“Yeah,” Spike agreed. “We can trade in your car and you can get one.”


“My car?” Buffy questioned. “I like my little car. We should trade this gas guzzling monster in.”


“WHAT!?” Spike exclaimed, taking his eyes off the road to look at Buffy. “No bloody way! This is a CLASSIC! Not every day you can find a ‘59 DeSoto Fireflite Sportsman. I went to a lot of trouble to steal this car!”


“Spike!” Buffy admonished him with wide eyes, tilting her head back towards where Annie sat in the back seat listening.


“I mean . . . ummmm, getting it was a big DEAL,” Spike corrected, rolling his eyes.


Buffy rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Spike, it’s just not practical. It doesn’t even have air conditioning.”


“It’s not bloody well supposed to be practical or have air conditioning! It’s a classic! They don’ make cars like this anymore!” Spike argued. “I’m not drivin’ a bloody minivan! That’s for poofters.”


“And fathers . . .” Buffy added.





“Pffffft,” Spike snorted. “There’s nuthin’ wrong with this car.”


“Well . . .” Buffy started. “Maaaybe it would be ok if we could get some of that necro-glass installed . . .”


Spike narrowed his eyes and glared at her for a moment before turning his attention back to the road.


“It wouldn’t be as ‘poofy’ as a minivan . . .” Buffy pointed out with a sly smile.


Spike shook his head and rolled his eyes . . . she’d won . . . again.


**~**


Spike pulled the DeSoto into the garage at the mansion and got out to take Danielle out of the car seat on his side while Buffy unbuckled Annie and got William out of the one on her side of the car.


“Here we are, Billy! Home sweet home!” Buffy said as she started for the door with her son.


“Just a bloody minute!” Spike started. “His name is William.”


“Yeah . . . and Billy is short for William,” Buffy told him. “Anyway, you’re William . . . we can’t have two – it’ll get confusing.”


“I’m Spike. He’s William,” Spike informed her as he opened the door to the house and held it open for her and Annie to go in ahead of him.


“You’re also William . . . to me, you’re William,” Buffy told him as she walked in ahead of him.


“Yeah, well I’ve been known to be ‘Billy’, too, luv,” Spike pointed out.


“Oh, just once in a while . . .” Buffy said rolling her eyes. “What would you rather call him? And don’t say ‘William’.”


“Fine. How ‘bout Will?” Spike suggested.


Buffy laid Billy down in a bassinet in the great room and tucked a blanket around him before she turned to Spike and started flailing her arms around and saying, “Danger! Danger! Will Robinson!” imitating the robot on Lost in Space.


“No ‘Will’,” she informed him. “And most definitely no Willie! And under no circumstances are we using Liam.”


Spike had no argument with THAT. “Rupert? Rupes?” Spike suggested, half-heartedly.


“What? You want him to get beat up his first day at school?” Buffy asked rolling her eyes. “There are lots of great men named ‘Billy’. Billy’s a perfectly good nick-name.”


“Yeah? Name them,” Spike challenged, tilting his head to await her answer.


“Well . . . Billy the Kid! and . . ummm . . .OH! Billy Joel! and . . . of course, Billy Idol! You like Billy Idol!” Buffy pointed out.


“Just ‘cuz I like Billy Idol’s music, don’ mean I’d want him for a bloody son! And really, ‘Billy the Kid’ – not a real convincin' argument for the name, there, Slayer.”


Buffy rolled her eyes. “What do you have against ‘Billy’, anyway?”


“Don’ know . . . just sounds cheeky,” Spike said with a sigh.


“That’s the best ya got? Cheeky?” Buffy asked him raised brows.


Spike just shrugged.


“Billy, it is, then,” she announced before taking Danielle from Spike’s arms and laying her down in the second bassinet.


Spike sighed, shook his head and then smiled. “You’re bloody insufferable, ya’ know that doncha?”


Buffy smiled back at him. “Of course, that’s why you love me so much.”


**~**


Later that night, after they finally got the babies and Annie to sleep, Spike lit the candles in their room and put on some soft music as he waited for Buffy to get her shower. He lay on their bed wearing his PJ bottoms as he waited for her, thinking of how close he’d come to losing her, again. Is this how their whole life would be? One life-threatening crisis after another?


As The Slayer, Buffy would be considered a relic at twenty three. She’d certainly lived well past the average for a Slayer and having three children was beyond anything any other Slayer could ever imagine. Not only did Buffy have to face the demons and devils of the world, but she’d taken on the additional challenges, and dangers, of having a family.


There had been some close calls over the century he’d been with Dru . . . the last in Prague being the worst, but it hadn’t been such a constant barrage of threats and it was just the two of them to worry about. Now there was so much more to consider with Annie and the twins. Spike knew his destiny was at Buffy’s side . . . there was no doubt in his heart or soul about that. He just hoped that he was man enough – or demon enough – to rise to the challenge and keep her, and their children, safe from harm.


As strong and smart as Buffy was, Spike knew from experience, that the thing that made her different from other Slayers were her ties to this world; friends and family – all the people that loved her and helped her, which included him. Slayers were typically solitary creatures . . . “she alone stands against the demons.” Buffy had never been truly alone in her stand against the demons, even when she was the one and only Slayer – she’d always had her friends and family.


Spike’s mind flashed back to the night in the high school when Buffy’s mum smacked him over the head with that axe and he had to smile.





“Thank God,” he said aloud just as Buffy stepped in the door.


“Thank God what?” Buffy asked as she closed the door behind her. “Thank God I didn’t use all the hot water? ‘Cause, you’d be wrong about that . . . I think I ‘lather-rinse-repeat’ed like five times before my hair felt clean.”


Spike smiled at her and got up to meet her. “Thank God you Summers women are all tuff birds. Billy’s gonna have it rough with the lot of you ‘round ‘ere.”


Buffy smiled at Spike’s use of “Billy”. “Yeah, and what about you? You gonna have it rough with all us Summers women?” Buffy asked as she wrapped her arms around Spike’s neck.


Spike wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. “Well . . . it’s my cross to bear, I suppose – just like me being this good-lookin’ and athletic,” he said with a smile. “There’s some things ya’ jus’ have to learn to live with.”


Buffy rolled her eyes then laid her head against Spike’s hard chest and closed her eyes, relishing the feel of his arms around her, of his body against hers – she had missed him so much.


“I missed you, Buffy,” Spike murmured as he dropped a soft kiss on top of her head. “I love you, Slayer.”


“I love you too, Slayee,” Buffy said, looking up at him with a sly smile. Buffy captured his lips in an eager kiss and slid her tongue into his mouth to taste him as he swirled his tongue around hers in a silent tango.





Buffy loved how Spike smelled and tasted . . . nothing else in the world was Spike. At once earthy and spicy with a hint of tobacco . . . he never could give that up completely, but it didn’t matter, because that’s what made Spike Spike and she loved it all. The memory of the very first night they’d been together . . . the night he gave her one of his shirts to wear after Angelus had slashed hers, flashed through Buffy’s mind. She’d loved how that shirt smelled . . . how he smelled, even then.


Laying in the coma after having the twins, Buffy knew that Spike was there with her. She could feel his presence tingling down her spine, she knew when he would leave, too . . . the tingling would stop and she prayed that he’d come back - and he always did. She could hear him talking and singing . . . although she was never sure if it was really him she heard or if she was dreaming it. Everything was so fuzzy. She remembered words to a song, Please forgive me, I know not what I do, Please forgive me, I can't stop lovin' you, but she still wasn’t sure if that was real or something her mind made up.


Even though she could hear Spike’s voice there and sense his presence, and, from time to time, she’d get a small glimpse of him and even feel his hand in hers for brief moments – she could never hold him– never inhale his scent – never taste him. The feeling of being in his arms, and that taste and scent that was no one but Spike, was out of her reach.





She kept trying to find her way back to him – back into his arms. Buffy remembered wandering through dark caves and labyrinths for what seemed like months as she followed his voice and let him lead her out. Sometimes she’d get so tired that she would just have to sit down on a rock and rest. She wondered if she would ever really get out of the maze of caves – out of the darkness that she was surrounded by. She wasn’t even sure if she was just imagining Spike’s voice and wandering around in circles the whole time. But, every time she was on the verge of simply giving up, that’s when she would hear him singing to her or feel his hand in hers or get a quick glimpse of him waiting for her in the shadows ahead and she would will herself back to her feet and begin anew.


Buffy pressed her body harder against Spike’s . . . she wanted to feel him, all of him, against her, holding her in his strong arms, loving her . . . God she missed that so much – it seemed like she’d been gone so very long.


“You sure? You ok? You don’ have to . . .” Spike whispered to her as he pulled away from the kiss and began swirling his tongue in small circles behind her ear as he held her body against his.


“Yes . . . fine . . . very sure . . . need you,” Buffy replied breathlessly as she tilted her head to the side with a moan, allowing Spike free access to the sensitive skin behind her ear.


Spike slid his hands under the robe Buffy was wearing, running them lightly down her sides, tracing the curves of her body from her full breasts, down to her waist and all the way to the flare of her hips as he continued to swirl small circles of fire down her neck from her ear to her collar bone.


His touch sent shivers down her spine and made her whole body tingle in anticipation of having him in her. Buffy moaned as she reached down between them and felt his cock straining hard against his PJ’s. Spike gasped against her skin as Buffy slid her hand down the front of his pants, wrapped her hand around his cock and began slowly stroking up and down his hard length.


“God, Buffy . . .” Spike moaned as he leaned down and twirled his tongue around one hard nipple and started to slide the robe off her shoulders with his hands.


Buffy suddenly pulled her hand away and backed up pulling the robe closed as she moved towards the bank of candles on the dresser.


“What’s wrong, luv? Did I hurt you?” Spike asked with concern, as he moved behind her.


“No . . . no, not at all . . . it’s nothing . . .” Buffy mumbled as she blew the candles out and put the room in total darkness before turning back to him. Buffy slid her hands under the elastic of his PJ’s and slid them down his thin hips and Spike stepped out of them as he slid his hands under her robe and dropped it to the floor.


Buffy wrapped her arms around Spike’s neck, pulled herself up on her tiptoes and pressed her body against his as she began dropping soft kisses all over his face. She pressed her lips softly against his eyelids, the tip of his nose, his forehead, his square chin and traced the sharp lines of his cheekbones with her tongue before stopping and hovering her mouth over his.


“Thank you for leading me home,” she whispered to him, her lips brushing his as she spoke. “I wouldn’t have found my way back without you.”


Spike traced the curve of her lips slowly with his tongue. “I’ll always be here for you, Buffy,” he whispered back to her before slipping his tongue between her lips and into her heat. Taking her lips in a slow, sensuous kiss, Spike pulled her body even harder against his with strong arms as she moaned against his mouth – every cell in her body felt like it was on fire . . . and only Spike could quench it.


Buffy turned them so Spike’s back was to the bed and pushed him backwards until the back of his knees hit it and he fell onto his back, bringing her down with him.


“Need you now,” Buffy moaned against his lips as she straddled his hips with hers before lifting up and positioning herself over his thick, hard rod. Spike reached a hand between them and guided his cock into her as she slowly lowered herself down on him, enveloping him, inch by tantalizing inch, in her wet heat with a throaty moan.


“God Buffy . . .” Spike moaned in a deep, rumbling voice as his hands went to her hips and he began lightly caressing her skin from her ass down her thighs and back again. With Spike buried deep inside her, Buffy stopped moving and just let the feeling of completeness wash over her. How he could always make her feel this way, she didn’t know . . . but he always did. It was like without him, there was a piece of her that was missing and when he was in her she felt whole – complete. He completed her.


Buffy leaned forward and took Spike’s lips in a soft kiss as he continued to caress her soft skin, trailing his hands up her back to her shoulders and slowly back down to her hips. “You make me feel safe and loved . . . you complete me. I love you, Spike,” Buffy whispered against his lips as she began to move her hips slowly back and forth on him.





“You are my soul, Buffy . . . without you, I’m nuthin’ but a shell of a man. I’ll always love you,” Spike murmured to her as she continued to move her hips slowly up and down on his hard length.


“Take me to heaven . . .” Buffy mumbled against his lips as she began moving her hips faster, coming down against him harder, pounding his cock deep into her core. In one deft motion, Spike flipped them over – holding her hips against him and keeping his cock buried in her burning channel.


Spike pressed Buffy’s legs up high against her chest and she hooked them over his shoulders, opening herself to him completely and letting him take over control of their lovemaking. Spike went back to long, slow strokes; pressing his cock deep within her before pulling nearly out and then pressing back into her again.


“You’re so bloody beautiful . . . so hot . . . so fucking tight . . . always so wet for me . . . God Buffy, I love being in you . . . what you do to me . . . feeling you under me . . . you are my heaven . . . cum for me, Buffy . . . cum for me . . .”


The words drizzled from Spike’s tongue like warm caramel as he began moving faster and faster until he was hammering into her with unrestrained lust and desire. His pelvic bone pounded down hard on her sensitive clit as she clung to his arms and raised her own hips up to met his on each stroke.


“Yes, Spike! God . . . . YES . . . Fuck! Harder! More . . . Spike . . . more, baby! Take me . . . MORE . . . YESSSSS! ” Buffy screamed at him as she felt that tingle in her pussy swell and begin to expand, sending wave after wave of pleasure out from her core to every cell in her body. Buffy’s words deteriorated into screams of pleasure as she climaxed and the feeling of falling into heaven overtook her entire body like a tsunami after an earthquake . . . an earthquake named Spike.


Spike continued to pound into her hard and fast as her pussy tightened around his rock-hard cock, squeezing him harder and harder as wave after wave of bliss washed over her body. Spike brought his demon up so he could see her face in the dark as her orgasm overtook her. He loved watching her cum – he thought she was never more beautiful than when she was cumming for him. He could see the utter love and rapture on her face . . . and he knew it was all for him.


“Bite me!” Buffy screamed at him as her orgasm began to fade. “Need you . . . all of you . . . now, Spike, NOW!”


Spike growled low and deep and pushed his body down hard against her, folding Buffy nearly in two as he pressed his lips against her neck just at the pulse point. His sharp fangs sliced cleanly into her soft skin and her Slayer blood flowed into his mouth. He growled even louder as the first drops hit his tongue and his hips began to slam into hers with renewed force – sending her once again over the brink of pleasure and into heaven.


Buffy held Spike down against her body with her arms. His fangs slicing into her neck hurt momentarily but then the feeling swung around 180° to incredible erotic rapture and began lifting her higher and higher into the clouds of heaven until all she could feel was indescribable ecstasy.


She screamed loud and long – as if not releasing some of the bliss would cause her whole body to explode from the pleasure of it. She clung to Spike fiercely as her hips bucked up of their own accord to meet his with every hard stroke as he drove his thick, hard cock into her. Buffy’s whole body jerked and writhed under Spike as she came long and hard with his cock and fangs buried deep within her.


The taste of Buffy’s blood as she came, along with her screams of pleasure, and her body bucking and writhing wildly under him sent Spike over the edge – he couldn’t hold back any longer. A deep, rumbling growl emanated from deep within him as he felt his cock fill with liquid fire and he began the dreamy fall into heaven with Buffy.


He slammed into her with a few final hard strokes as the volcano that had been building within him erupted and flooded his entire body with waves of molten pleasure. His cum filled her tight channel and spilled out as he continued to suck passionately at her neck and press his body down hard against hers.


As Buffy’s screams faded into long ragged breaths and her body’s convulsions slowed to small tremors, Spike pushed the demon down and nuzzled his mouth and tongue against the wounds on her neck to seal them. His cock was still buried deep within her . . . the heat of her body against his skin felt like fire.


He rose up slightly to let her unhook her legs from his shoulders and she moved them down and wrapped them around his waist, still holding his spent cock tight within her burning core. Buffy wrapped her arms around his back and pulled Spike back down atop her. She was still struggling to breathe . . . but she wanted his body touching hers, covering her, holding her . . . making her feel safe.


Spike closed his eyes and just let the feeling of her body warming his fill him with a feeling of happiness and belonging. This was where he belonged; he had no doubt about that. He wasn’t sure what he’d ever done to deserve to be her man . . . but he was sure that she was his soul – she held his heart in her hands – she completed him, as well.


***
{{
Hear the song at the following YouTube Link:
YOUTUBE : You Complete Me, Keyshai Cole
}}


Can you hear me out there?
Have you ever had someone who loved you
Never leave your side?
I know you'll be here because you love me, yes, you do

I'm givin' all my life and all my love if you
Promise me that you'll be here forever
I'll give you all of me, I'll give you everything
If you promise me you'll never leave me

What my friends say don't matter
You'll be right here from the start
And I'll get on my knees, I'll give you all of me
If you never leave my side, because

You love me, you complete me
You hold my heart in your hands
And it's okay 'cause I trust that
You'll be the best man that you can
Baby, you love me, yeah, oh yes, you do, yeah

And no matter what they ever say about you
I'm gonna stay by your side
Promise me no matter what they say about me
That you're gonna be here until the end of time

'Cause you held me down when nobody was around
And gave me all the love I need
So give me more, don't you ever leave
'Cause you complete me

I know, you love me, you complete me
You hold my heart in your hands
And it's okay 'cause I trust that
You'll be the best man that you can

'Cause you, give me my heart back
Give me my love back, baby
I want it all because it's never enough
Give me my heart, give me my love back
I want it all because it's never enough

You love me, you complete me
You hold my heart in your hands
And it's okay 'cause I trust that
You'll be the best man that you can

You love me, you complete me
You hold my heart in your hands
And it's okay 'cause I trust that
You'll be the best man that you can

And it's okay
I know you do, I know you do
Yes, you do, I need you, too
Yeah, I love you, baby, ohh

Time Line:

Spans: March 28th, 2004  - April 17th, 2004



History:

The twins (Danielle and William) were born on February 12th, 2004

(They came home on March 16th)

Annie turned five on February 14th.

Spike and Buffy have been married five years in February. (seems longer, doesn't it?)

Buffy turned 23 on January 19th.



All the Potentials were endowed with full Slayer power in February 2003.

Buffy and Spike learned of the other dimensions in May, 2003.



**~**



March 28th, 2004:



Buffy slipped away from the group of women and demons that were gathered in the living room of the Harris home, of what had been Buffy’s mom’s house – the house that Buffy had called home her sophomore and junior years in high school, and made her way up the stairs. Buffy, Willow and Tara, along with Xander’s help, had planned and organized the baby shower for Anya. They had invited all the female demons that had been at Xander and Anya’s wedding, along with friends of Anya’s from her job at the “Video Hut”. The shower had been a great success! Anya was giddy with delight from all the presents that had been heaped on her today. So far, this had been the BEST thing about being pregnant - presents!





At the top of the stairs, Buffy turned and looked into the master bedroom. Even though it was completely changed – different paint on the walls, different carpet, and different furniture – it still brought up memories of her mom.





She missed her mom a lot and talked to her every day . . . she knew her mom was in a wonderful place – in heaven – and Buffy hoped that her mom knew what was going on in her life and about the twins. She wished many times that her mom was here to see the beautiful babies and see what a sweet, beautiful girl Annie was – she really would’ve been so proud of Buffy and Spike and the family they had made.





Buffy turned back and went down the hallway to her old room. Xander and Anya had turned it into a nursery for the baby. Buffy smiled at the huge mural of the Joshua Tree from the U2 album of the same name that Anya had painted on one wall. It had the weather-beaten tree in the foreground with a big blue sky and mountains behind it and a golden desert laid out at the tree’s feet.











Everything in the room matched the colors in the mural – Anya had really done a wonderful job picking out just the perfect quilts and blankets and even furniture to compliment the Joshua Tree theme.





Buffy walked into the room and touched the soft blankets and pillows with a sigh. It wasn’t her room anymore. Even though it hadn’t been her room for years – it had still looked like her old room until recently. Buffy walked slowly over to the window that opened out onto the roof below and looked out with a smile. How many times had she climbed in and out of that window? A hundred? No. FIVE hundred? Possibly. A THOUSAND? Seemed more likely.





“Whaddya think?” Xander asked, walking in behind her.





“I think you better fix this window so Joshua doesn’t go patrolling cemeteries for vampires in the middle of the night,” Buffy said with a smile as she turned towards her friend.





Xander shrugged. “Well, if vampires are the worst thing he finds, it would be a relief,” he told her.





Buffy laughed. “Yeah, good point.”









Buffy’s face turned serious and she laid a hand on Xander’s arm. “Look at us . . . we’re parents . . . is that crazy or what?”





“Scary as hell,” Xander told her. “What if my son turns out like me? Slayer’s lovelorn puppy, demon-bug magnet, hyena . . . Cordelia’s boyfriend and finally married to an ex-vengeance demon with a commune of kooky Twilight Zone rejects for best friends.”





“Don’t forget ‘one who saved Slayer’s life’, ‘one who was right about Angel all along’, ‘one who knew what a trigger was’, ‘one who made sure Annie was out of harm’s way’ . . .” Buffy pointed out to him with a small smile. “A faithful, loving puppy who turned into a faithful, loving man and father. I think he’d be really lucky if he turned out just like you, Xand.”











Xander just shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets, but a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth at the compliment. “I was wrong about Spike . . .” he admitted.





Buffy shrugged. “Well, you couldn’t have known. You were just worried about me. You came ‘round – eventually,” she told him with a small smile and a roll of her eyes.





“Eventually . . .” Xander agreed with a shrug.





Buffy gave Xander a hug and said, “What’s scary is that we’re the adults now! Geez, when did that happen?”





Xander shook his head and smiled as she released him from the hug. “I have no idea. The world is definitely doomed.”





Buffy smiled and started out of the room. “You’ve done just what I hoped you would, Xand. You’ve taken this house and filled it with love and soon with a family . . . I couldn’t have hoped for anything better. I love it.”





Xander smiled and nodded, looking more like that lovelorn puppy than the man he’d grown into at that moment. “Thanks . . .” he told her, looking at his shoes.





“You better watch who you call ‘Twilight Zone rejects’, though . . . a Slayer, a vampire and two witches could put some hurtin’ on ya for that remark,” Buffy threw over her shoulder as she started back down the stairs.





**~**



April 13th, 2004:





Spike was sprawled out on some mats in the training room watching his favorite drama, “Passions”. He’d missed a few shows – well more than a few – and now was trying to figure out what was going on. He couldn’t believe Brandi actually slept with Justin AND Nick and now she was preggers and didn’t know who the father was. Of course, her husband, David, thought it was his. Justin was a tosser – why a smart girl like Brandi would sleep with him was beyond Spike - why she stayed married to a loser like David was also a mystery.





“I just don’t know what I’m going to do!” Brandi was telling her therapist.





“Dump David and marry Nick, you daft bint! Nick’s the only good guy you ever shagged!” Spike told her . . . she never listened to Spike!





The twins were sleeping (finally!) in a playpen set up in the corner of the room. As wonderful as Annie was as a baby, the twins were the complete opposite. Spike remembered something he’d heard one time about how God had a warped sense of humor . . . he’d give parents an angelic child for the first baby and trick them into having more . . . then God would send down the real babies. The ones that cried and screamed no matter what you did and got the croup in the middle of the night . . . yeah, Dani and Billy were ‘real’ babies.





Annie was on the other side of the training room playing dress-up with Miss Kitty Fantastico and a few of her favorite dolls . . . Miss Kitty didn’t seem to mind being dressed up in fancy dresses that Annie took off the dolls and put on the kitten. Miss Kitty would just stretch and yawn and curl up in them until Annie decided to try a different one.





Spike had been doing patrols at night since he’d brought Buffy and the twins home from the hospital. The demon and vamp population around Sunnydale was starting to rise again and he’d been finding more and more fledges . . . which meant more and more vamps were in the area – so his patrols were running longer and longer and he had to go out nearly every night now.





Buffy had been staying home with the babies . . . twenty-four hours a day it seemed. Sleep was at a premium – the twins demanded almost constant attention and Annie had to be driven to pre-school and picked up, then taken to her other activities, like gymnastics class and dance class and picked up. Spike was doing all he could to help Buffy, but since he couldn’t go out in the sun, he was relegated to mostly night or inside duty.





Willow and Tara had both gotten their Bachelor’s degrees the previous fall, Willow in Computer Science and Tara in Psychology, and were now both working on their master’s degrees, leaving very little time for either of them to help much with the kids – or the housework, or demon fighting or much of anything else other than studying.





Spike looked up as Willow and Tara came into the training room carrying their books and computers with them.





“Can we join you?” Willow asked Spike as she set her stuff down on one of the tables by the wall. “Buffy’s on the warpath.”





Spike rolled his eyes, shrugged and went back to watching the TV. He knew Buffy was on the warpath – why did they think he was in here with all the kids? It had been a more and more frequent occurrence – lack of sleep and the extra responsibilities were taking their toll on her. When Spike left her in her office upstairs, she was trying to get the bills caught up and the income taxes done while obsessing about who kept leaving the wet towels on the floor in the bathroom, the lime scale that was built up on the tile in the shower and the fact that no one but her seemed to care that the research books had an inch of dust on them.





“Bloody hell,” Spike muttered rolling his head back and looking at the ceiling. “Demon bird’s here,” he told the group gathered in the training room.





“BUFFY?!” Tara and Willow asked at once, looking wide eyed at the closed door.





“Noooo . . .” Spike said rolling his eyes. “Anya.”





Tara and Willow both sighed with relief as Anya opened the door and poked her head in. “Oh – there you all are!” she said, opening the door wider. “What are you all doing in here?”





Willow jumped up and pulled Anya into the room and closed the door behind her. “Hiding,” Willow informed her.





“Not hiding!” Spike corrected. “Givin’ the Slayer some space.”





“Mama’s on the ‘warpath’!” Annie announced smiling up at Anya as she picked Miss Kitty back up and started changing her dress again.





“So, three adults and three children are in this one room and Buffy’s got the whole rest of the house?” Anya questioned. “What are you all scaredy-cats?”





Spike, Willow and Tara all nodded with wide eyes.





“You know, I don’t know why you don’t get her some help, Spike,” Anya informed him, her hands going to her hips. “A housekeeper or a nanny . . . or someone that could do both! I have a friend . . . you haven’t met her, she was supposed to be at the wedding but . . . well, something came up and she couldn’t make it. Anyway, she would be PERFECT for you! Her name’s Halfrek . . . she’s an ex-vengeance demon, too.”





Spike furrowed his brow, considering Anya’s idea . . . it was brilliant! Get someone that could help with the twins . . . help with the housework – let Buffy get out of the house and let her kick someone else’s ass for a change, that would do the Slayer a world of good!





Spike jumped up from the floor and walked over towards Anya. “This friend of yours is reliable?” Spike asked Anya.





“Oh, Halfrek is such a sweetie . . . hard working, very reliable, wonderful with kids,” Anya opined.





“Halfrek . . . do I know ‘er?” Spike tried to remember where he’d heard that name before – it seemed like something from a dream.





“No – she didn’t make it to the wedding . . . she got caught up in some big scandal and D'Hoffryn, well – he took her powers away and dropped her in the middle of Bangladesh . . .” Anya rolled her eyes. “He does that kind of thing for amusement.”





“We don’ have to get ‘er out of Bangla-fucking-desh, do we?”











“Oh no – she’s here now . . . well, she’s in Dillon . . . not too far,” Anya told him. “I’ll bring her by tomorrow, ok?”





“Better make it Friday . . . after the taxes are done,” Spike told her as he went and plopped back down on the mats in front of the TV to finish watching his show and giving Brandi his expert, yet mostly unheeded, advice.





**~**





April 16th, 2004:



Buffy wasn’t too sure she wanted a nanny-housekeeper; and was really not sure that she wanted an ex-vengeance demon nanny-housekeeper. As much as she loved Anya, she really wasn’t sure she could handle two Anyas or living with someone like Anya.





Plus, they already had a small herd (or ‘commune’, according to Xander) of people living in the mansion – if everyone could just pitch in and carry their own weight – or, at least, pick up their wet towels off the bathroom floor, maybe they wouldn’t need help.











But, Spike convinced her to at least talk to Anya’s friend and see what she thought. Being an ex-demon could have its advantages – it wouldn’t be like Slayers and vampires and other beasties would be foreign to her. And they wouldn’t have to explain why Spike drank blood or why they had trunks of weapons stored all over the house.





So Buffy tried to keep an open mind as she met Anya and Halfrek at the Espresso Pump for lunch. Spike stayed home with the babies – leaving the ‘interview’ to Buffy.





“Do you have any experience with this kind of work, Halfrek?” Buffy asked her after they’d ordered their lunch. “I wouldn’t think that caring for infants and doing housework were high on the list for vengeance demons.”





“Oh, honey, call me Hallie!” Halfrek told her as she leaned forward and laid a hand on Buffy’s arm.











“You have no idea the things I’ve had to do as a vengeance demon and children, as Anyanka would say, are my thing!” Hallie informed Buffy.





“One time, after I turned this woman’s husband into the jack-rabbit he was, she went into labor with her twelfth child and I had to help deliver the baby! Then, of course, I couldn’t leave her alone with the baby and all those kids! Since I didn’t have anything pressing at the time, I stayed and helped her for a couple of months until her mother could get there. That was a learning experience, believe you me!” Hallie told her, rolling her eyes.





“That’s how Hallie’s always been . . . really goes the extra mile!” Anya interjected cheerfully on her friend’s behalf.





Then, turning to Hallie, Anya lowered her voice and said, “Seriously, you couldn’t have thought of anything worse to turn him into, could you? A bunny of all things! No one deserves that! Ewwwww!” Anya shuddered at the thought.





“Well, he was just breeding like a bunny, Anya! That’s all he wanted to contribute to the family . . . so I thought it was only fair,” Halfrek explained with a shrug.





“What do you know about getting lime scale off tile?” Buffy asked Hallie.





“OH!” Hallie exclaimed, jumping slightly in her seat. “One time, I did this job for Martha Stewart! I got all the inside scoop on getting anything off of anything . . . and I can make a double-chocolate, extra moist devil’s food cake that is to die for! It’s Martha’s own top-secret recipe!”





“Double chocolate?” Buffy asked, suddenly more interested.





“Extra moist . . . to die for, honey!” Hallie confirmed with a nod.





**~**



“So,” Buffy said to Spike later that night over dinner. “I think this idea may work out. Hallie seems pretty nice and she’s got the qualifications,” like Martha’s double chocolate, extra moist devil’s food cake recipe Buffy added to herself.





“Plus, Anya seems to really think she can do the job . . . I don’t think Anya would lie about that – do you?” she asked Spike as she instinctively moved Annie’s glass of milk further away from the edge of the table.





“I don’ think the demon bird’s capable of lying about anythin’ . . . even when she should,” Spike told Buffy.





Buffy laughed. “Yeah, you’re probably right. So, Hallie will be coming by tomorrow and you can meet her and we’ll see how she does with the babies. But, she seemed fine – I think it’ll work out.”





Suddenly, screaming started coming from the baby monitor that was sitting on the table and Buffy sighed heavily and closed her eyes. Thirty minutes . . . it had only been thirty minutes since she’d gotten them to sleep. Buffy pushed herself up from the table and started up the stairs to the nursery. She sincerely hoped it would work out with Hallie.





**~**





April 17th, 2004:





“Hey, Buffy! Spike! Anybody up?!” Anya called as she and Hallie walked in the garden doors the next day at about mid-morning.





Spike had been on patrol late the previous night and was still asleep. Buffy answered from the kitchen where she was still cleaning up from the morning meal and getting the bottles ready for the twins. Anya and Hallie went into the kitchen and Hallie jumped right in helping Buffy get the dishes cleaned and dried and put up. Before the bottles were even warmed up, the screaming began coming from the baby monitor and Buffy’s shoulders slumped.





Those two couldn’t sleep longer than an hour without having screaming fits. Buffy had tried everything – even Tara’s suggestion to just ignore them instead of running every time they screamed. That only rewarded the screaming, Tara told her . . . but that didn’t work either.





“I’ll take care of it, honey,” Hallie told her as she checked the milk’s temperature. “Just show me the way.”





Buffy showed Hallie up the stairs to the nursery. Somehow Hallie was able to cradle both babies in her arms and, by wrapping her arms around some-which-way, she held both bottles for them. The twins immediately stopped crying and settled into her arms for their meal.





Hallie fed them and then burped them and then played with them for a while – keeping them entertained and quiet for longer than Buffy had ever been able to do – mostly because Buffy always had something else that needed to be done – some other responsibility or crisis pulling her attention away.





“You’re hired,” Buffy told her after Hallie got the babies put back down and the bottles washed and sanitized. “When can you start?”





“Now?” Hallie asked, hopefully. After D'Hoffryn took Halfrek’s powers away and dropped her in Bangladesh, she had been doing (almost) anything she could to get by. Anya and Xander had sent her enough money to get out of India and back to California and, taking Anya’s advice, Hallie had been trying to find an actual job so she could pay them back, live somewhere decent and make a new life for herself, like Anya had. Hallie was overjoyed at the prospect of having a decent place to live, food on the table and money coming in.





Buffy gave Hallie the “grand tour” and gave her a choice of the three remaining bedrooms in the mansion before leaving her to get settled in.





**~**





Later that afternoon, after getting her meager belongings brought in from Anya’s car, Hallie jumped right in and started cleaning in the upstairs bathroom – since that seemed to be Buffy’s current obsession. She was able to get the whole thing spic-and-span in just a little while, even with taking time out to quiet the babies down twice.





Hallie turned the corner coming out of the bathroom when she ran head long into Spike, who had just gotten up and was still in just his PJ bottoms.





“Bloody hell!” he exclaimed, backing up and rubbing his chin where she had run into him.





“Oh – sorry!” Hallie said as she bent down to pick up the cleaning supplies that she’d dropped when she ran into Spike.





“Who the bloody hell are you, now?” he asked.





“I’m Halfrek . . . you can call me Hallie. You must be Spike,” Hallie said, still gathering up her things from the floor.





Hallie stood back up and faced Spike and her brows knit in confusion. It was William . . . well, a version of William – a hot, hard bodied and scantily clad version of William.











“Bloody hell . . . I bloody well knew I knew there was a reason I shoulda' remembered that name! Cecily! You’re Cecily!” Spike exclaimed pointing a finger at her.





“William? But . . . but I thought you were Buffy’s husband - Spike.”





“I am Buffy's husband Spike, you dizzy bint!”





“But . . . but you’re William – how’s that possible?” Hallie said, looking Spike up and down.





Spike smirked. “Vampire,” he told her. “Now you can just pack up all your little things and go . . .”











Hallie stiffened, squared her chin and stood up straight. “I will not. Buffy hired me – I’m staying.”





“Yeah, well I’m un-hiring you – get the fuck out!”





“Hey guys, what’s going on?” Buffy asked, walking up from behind Spike.





“Oh, I see you met Hallie,” Buffy said, wrapping one arm around Spike’s waist. “She did great with the babies, Spike! I hired her. I hope you don’t mind! She’s all moved in already and everything – it’s gonna be so wonderful having her here – now maybe I can actually get some sleep and not be all head-bitey-offy all the time.”





“Can I talk to you a minute, Slayer . . . in private,” Spike said, turning Buffy around and walking down the hall away from Hallie.





“Get rid of ‘er,” Spike said once they were out of earshot of Hallie.





“What!? You’re the one who wanted me to hire someone! Now you want me to get rid of her!? Why?” Buffy asked, exasperated.





“You can hire someone else,” Spike told her.





“Why? She did so great with the twins, Spike – honestly – I don’t understand you.”





“Buffy, just trust me – you don’ want her here – I don’ want her here.”





“You haven’t even given her a chance.”





“Don’ need to.”





“Why? Tell me why,” Buffy insisted.





Spike closed his eyes and shook his head. “I just don’t like ‘er.”





“Why?”





“Just ‘cuz,” he said opening his eyes and looking at Buffy.





“That’s something Annie would say . . .” Buffy told him, her hands going to her hips. Spike stood firm, pursing his lips together and narrowing his eyes at his wife to show her he was serious.





Buffy put her arms around Spike’s neck and pressed her body against his. She leaned in and began drawing small, hot, wet circles on his neck with the tip of her tongue.





“It’ll give us more time to ourselves,” Buffy whispered against his neck. “Just give her a chance, ok? A month - if you still don’t like her in a month, then we’ll fire her. Okay, baby?”





She never gave me a bloody chance, Spike thought, but was powerless at that moment to resist what Buffy was doing to him. Plus, he had no desire to tell Buffy why he didn’t want Cecily . . . or Hallie, here and he knew if he continued to push it, he would have to tell her why – Buffy would never accept ‘just cuz’.





Spike closed his eyes and nodded with a heavy sigh. He was still love’s bitch – he wondered silently if he should just get some t-shirts made: “Love’s Bitch – Ask me how!”





Hallie stayed near the doorway of the bathroom and watched Buffy convince Spike to let her stay. She let her eyes wander slowly down Spike’s well muscled back to his thin hips and cute ass and wished those PJ bottoms were just a bit tighter . . . or perhaps off completely.





She smirked when Spike melted with just the slightest touch from Buffy. He may look like a ‘Spike’, but he’s still William inside, Hallie thought as she raked her eyes back up from his tight tush. Her eyes lingered on his “dimples of Venus” that were peaking out above his PJ bottoms and her mouth began to water.





She let her eyes roam further up Spike’s body, licking her lips as she focused on his sculpted back. Hallie continued her inspection of what William had become, as her eyes wandered up to Spike’s shoulders before ultimately taking note of his strong arms and imagining how they would feel wrapped around her.





If I had known that was hiding within William, I certainly wouldn’t have dismissed him so casually . . .





Suddenly, the thought of William being beneath her took on a whole new meaning for Hallie.

Time Line:

April 21st, 2004

History:
The twins (Danielle and William) were born on February 12th, 2004
(They came home on March 16th)
Annie turned five on February 14th.
Spike and Buffy have been married five years in February. (seems longer, doesn't it?)
Buffy turned 23 on January 19th.

All the Potentials were endowed with full Slayer power in February 2003.
Buffy and Spike learned of the other dimensions in May, 2003.

**~**

April 21st, 2004:


“Oh God!” Anya cried as another contraction hit her and she clutched Xander’s arm and tried to breathe through it.


When the contraction finally passed, Anya lay back in the hospital bed breathing hard and looked at Xander with wide eyes. “Can I change my mind about this now?” she asked him. “’Cause, honestly, this planet doesn’t need any more people on it! Look at all the homeless people that are already here . . . maybe we could just adopt one from the shelter. Maybe find one that’s already housebroken.”


“Ahn . . .” Xander started.





“Don’t ‘Ahn’, me, buster! Men are evil! God! How could I have forgotten?! A thousand years of vengeance against the scourge of the Earth and you made me forget how evil men are!


“You convince us that having a baby will be the most wonderful thing in the world – knock us up and you - what? Stand around laughing and joking and smoking cigars while we carry a money sucking, future axe murderer around in our bodies for nine months as it kicks and punches and bruises our delicate human internal organs and makes us eat barrels of pickles and gallons of pistachio nut ice cream with Tabasco sauce!





“Ha-ha, what a barrel of laughs! I’ve eviscerated men for less! Turned them into toads, rats, snakes, trolls . . . bunnies . . .” Anya told him with a snarl. "And I never realized until now just how right I was to do those things, your kind so deserves to suffer!" Anya folded her arms across her chest and glared at her evil husband with a thousand years of vengeance in her eyes.


Xander looked up at the nurse that was standing near them, chuckled nervously and waved a hand back and forth. “She’s kidding! Such a jokster I have for a wife! Not even labor can stop the funnies . . .”


“Anya!” Xander admonished her in a stage whisper though clinched teeth. “Ix-nay on the evisceration-way alk-tay!”


Anya rolled her eyes. “I pretty ure-say that ig-pay atin-lay does not require a decoder ring to understand-way, Ander-xay.”


Xander started to say something else when another contraction hit Anya. She grabbed his upper arm and dug her nails into his flesh, drawing blood and making him scream out in pain along with her.


“Holy shit, Anya! I’m bleeding!” he told her after the contraction had passed and she had released her grip. He examined his arm, holding it up and turning it back and forth to see all around it, and started wiping the blood off.


“Well, it’s a good thing we’re in a hospital, isn’t it?! You’re the big man – I’m sure you can handle a little pain! Wanna’ switch places?! I WISH . . .” Anya started.


“ANYA!” Xander exclaimed, clamping a hand over her mouth. “Don’t be making wishes on the Hellmouth! Has that baby melted your brain?!”


“No . . . I think you melted my brain . . . how else can you explain me allowing you to do this to me, Alexander LaVelle Harris? That’s obviously it! Men give women orgasms and make us feel all squiggly inside and it melts our brain for a while so you can talk us into ridiculous ideas like having babies!”


“Anya . . . you wanted to have a baby, too – in fact, you brought it up first! Don’t be laying this on me! I was the sexual pawn in your plan . . . not the other way around! You used me! You melted my brain!” Xander informed her.


“Life is short, you said; people die all the time, you said; we could make a life and it would be beautiful, you said; sex is about more than two bodies smooshing together, you said!


“God, I feel so . . . so cheap – used like a man-ho and tossed aside . . . and now bleeding, to top it off,” Xander said dourly, looking back down at the red marks on his arm.


“Oh zip it!” Anya told him with a frown. “You weren’t supposed to remember all that! You can’t remember to buy milk on your way home . . . how can you remember that!?”


Xander shrugged, a smile played at the corners of his mouth and he rubbed his hand across his face to try and wipe it off. “I remember because you were right,” Xander told her softly – leaning in next to her as she leaned back in the bed.





“Anya, I love you and I love our son and if I could switch places with you . . . well, I probably wouldn’t – but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you all the more for harboring our little axe murderer the last nine months and what you’re going through now.”


“You mean it?” Anya pouted.


“Of course. I love you more than anything. You’re the best wife – the woman of my dreams, and you’ll be the best mom of an axe murderer there ever was. Lizzie Borden’s parents will have nothing on you . . .”


Anya rolled her eyes. “I love you, too . . .” she said quietly. “Maybe we can keep him from being an axe murderer . . . but with the kooks we have for friends, well, I don’t know.”


Xander laughed and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “We’ll keep the axes locked up; we’ll do our best.”


Another contraction hit Anya and she grabbed Xander’s arm again . . . this time trying to avoid actually drawing blood, until the contraction passed.


“They’re getting closer . . . God, Xander – I’m scared. I don’t want to die - it seems like I just got here!” Anya told him with a hint of panic in her voice.


“You aren’t going to die . . .” Xander assured her.


“Where’s Willow? Is Willow here?” Anya asked him as her eyes darted towards the door of her room.





“Yes, Willow and Tara are both here . . .” Xander assured her.


“Why don’t you go make sure?”


“Ok, but I’m telling you, she’s out in the waiting room,” Xander told her, as he started towards the door.


“Maybe you should just bring her back here with you – you don’t run as fast as Spike does . . . maybe it would be best for her to just stay with me the whole time,” Anya suggested.


“Ahn, I don’t think they allow non-family members in the delivery room,” Xander informed her.


“Well . . . tell them she’s family! She’s my lesbian lover - no! . . . you’re married to both of us – we’re polygamists. That’s family, right?”


“I think that’s also illegal in most states, Anya . . .”


“Really? Even California?”


“Yeah, even in Berkeley, amazingly,” Xander informed her. “Ahn, Willow’s right outside – everything will be fine . . . What happened to Buffy isn’t going to happen to you.”


“How can you know that? It’s impossible to know that,” Anya informed him.


Xander moved back towards her and took her hand in his. “I just know. Everything will be fine, I promise,” he assured her. “You know Buffy . . . she’s like a disaster magnet!”


Anya sighed but brightened slightly . . . Xander was probably right. What were the chances of her having the same problems that Buffy did? Anya inwardly rolled her eyes . . . they were on the Hellmouth, after all – where chances for disaster were almost a sure bet.


“Maybe later, can we, you know, talk about this polygamist idea, though?” Xander asked hopefully, pulling Anya out of her thoughts of what the Las Vegas book makers would put her odds at and what the handicap would be for being on the Hellmouth.


“Because that sounds . . .” Xander stopped when he saw the look on Anya’s face – like she was ready to kill him (again), “. . . terrible!! Absolutely HORRIBLE! What man in his right mind would want more than one woman? One woman is all I’d ever want or need – yes sir-eee! That’s just crazy talk – more than one woman!? Pfffffft.”


**~**


A few hours later, Xander came running out into the waiting room of the hospital maternity ward. Willow, Tara and Buffy all stood up in a panic when they saw him – afraid that something was wrong.


“It’s a boy!! It’s a boy!!” Xander exclaimed with glee, grabbing first Willow, then Tara and finally Buffy into bear hugs and squeezing them until their eyes nearly popped out of their heads – even Buffy’s.





“Geez, Xand – you scared us half to death!!” Willow admonished him. “You KNEW it was a boy, for Hecate’s sake!”


“Being told it’s a boy and actually having a boy is totally different! Those little squiggles on those sonograms could’a been anything! It’s actually a boy – with a squiggle and all!” Xander beamed. “Joshua Jacheal Harris,” he announced proudly. “A middle linebacker, coming in at eight pounds, ten ounces and twenty one inches!”


“Holy shit, Xand – he’s half grown! Is Anya alright?” Buffy asked him.


“Oh yeah – she’s fine! Well . . . maybe not fine fine, but yeah, fine . . . she’ll forgive me one day . . . many years from now . . . probably when JJ’s in college . . .” Xander told Buffy.


“What kind of name is ‘Jacheal’ . . . don’t tell me it’s another album!” Willow asked, scrunching her nose up.


“No, it’s not another album . . . it’s our names all smooshed together,” Xander told them.


“I didn't finish college, but I’m pretty sure ‘Xander’ and ‘Anya’ don’t spell ‘Jacheal’,” Buffy pointed out.





Xander rolled his eyes. “Noooo. It’s the first letters of all our names, Alexander LaVelle Harris and Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins – Jacheal!”


“That’s an acronym – not smooshing . . .” Willow informed him.


“Well, smarty pants, he’s my son and if I want to say it’s smooshing, then it’s smooshing . . .” Xander told her with a “so there” look.


“You can see him in the nursery soon – I gotta get back before Anya has a cow!” Xander said as he turned and started back down the corridor.


“I think you mean another cow,” Buffy pointed out as he hurried away.


**~**


Hallie asked Spike if she could have the night off to go see Anya and the new baby and he’d agreed. Spike tried to steer clear of Hallie – he only had to endure her one month –that’s all he’d agreed to – then she’d be gone. He had no desire to talk to her or have any more interaction with her than absolutely necessary. If she was upstairs with the twins, he always made sure he was downstairs; if she was in the kitchen, he’d go to the training room; if she was vacuuming and dusting downstairs, he’d go upstairs. They were like two magnets – whenever they got close to one another, an unseen force (named William) pushed them away from each other.


He’d put Annie to bed around nine and was now working diligently on finding the secret to getting Billy and Dani to go to sleep – and stay asleep. When Buffy got home from the hospital around ten that night, she heard music coming from the training room.


Buffy stepped up to the open door of the training room and found Spike and the twins in there. Buffy leaned against the door jamb and watched silently as Spike ‘serenaded’ their babies. Although she’d never heard anyone serenade babies with “Addicted To Love” before, it seemed to be working – the twins weren’t screaming, at least.


Spike had his back to the door as he stood at the foot of the bassinets that held the babies and rocked out to Robert Palmer – singing along and moving his feet and pumping his hips to the beat. Occasionally he’d close his eyes and play air-drums or air-guitar along with the song – bopping his head back and forth in time to the music as he sang and putting every effort into hitting all the notes on his air-guitar just right – including the mandatory body language that goes with playing air-guitar.





{{
Hear the song at the following YouTube Link:
YOUTUBE : Robert Palmer - Addicted to Love
}}


Your lights are on, but you're not home
Your mind is not your own
Your heart sweats, your body shakes
Another kiss is what it takes

You can't sleep, you can't eat
There's no doubt, you're in deep
Your throat is tight, you can't breathe
Another kiss is all you need

Whoa, you like to think that you're immune to the stuff, oh yeah
It's closer to the truth to say you can't get enough
You know you're gonna have to face it, you're addicted to love

You see the signs, but you can't read
You're runnin' at a different speed
Your heart beats in double time
Another kiss and you'll be mine, a one track mind

You can't be saved
Oblivion is all you crave
If there's some left for you
You don't mind if you do

Whoa, you like to think that you're immune to the stuff, oh yeah
It's closer to the truth to say you can't get enough
You know you're gonna have to face it, you're addicted to love

Might as well face it, you're addicted to love
Might as well face it, you're addicted to love
Might as well face it, you're addicted to love
Might as well face it, you're addicted to love
Might as well face it, you're addicted to love

------~~ air guitar ~~ ------

repeat verses . . .



Buffy smiled and shook her head as she watched him. The twins apparently liked the song, or the rhythm - or perhaps they thought their father had lost his mind and they were afraid to scream lest he pick one of them up and dance them around the room to that beat.


On the last set of Might as well face it’s, Buffy moved up behind Spike silently, grabbed his sides hard and shouted, “BOO!”


Spike screamed out and jumped– just barely missing Buffy with his fist as he twirled around to face his ‘attacker’. “Bloody hell, woman! You scared me to death! Well, more to death! What the bloody hell was that for?”


Buffy started laughing and just couldn’t stop . . . the look on Spike’s face, like the Ghost of Christmas Past himself had grabbed Spike, was too just much. Spike stood up straight, folded his arms across his chest and glared at her. “It wasn’t that bloody funny,” he informed her.


“You . . . you . . .” Buffy couldn’t talk from laughing so hard. She was bent over, holding her stomach and, every time she thought she could stop, she’d look at Spike glaring at her and it would start anew.





“Yeah, hilarious,” Spike said, trying to be stern, as her laughter started to infect him, as well. “Givin’ a bloke a bloody heart attack . . .”


Buffy collapsed on the floor, literally rolling in laughter at the thought of giving the vampire a heart attack and, despite Spike’s best efforts to not laugh – he couldn’t contain it any longer, either.


“You cheeky little wench,” Spike said as he started laughing along with her and went down to the floor, pinning her hips with his and her arms with his hands. “I’ll teach you to laugh at me . . .” he threatened as he started blowing raspberries on her neck. Buffy screamed and laughed and wriggled under him, trying to get him to stop his raspberry attack, but she was laughing too hard to have any effect on him.


Spike let go of her hands, sat back up and just watched her as she wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to rein in her laughter. He looked over at the twin bassinets just a few feet away and was surprised that the babies hadn’t awoken with all the commotion . . . apparently they liked classic rock n’ roll . . . Robert Palmer seemed to have them out for the count.


Spike looked back down at Buffy, who was trying to catch her breath and still had a grin on her face. “You’re bloody beautiful, ya’ know that?”


“And you’re a kook,” Buffy informed him. “Certifiable!”


Spike shrugged. “Could be . . . but I know beautiful . . . you’re my addiction, Buffy,” Spike told her as he leaned down, pressing his body against hers, and kissed her lips softly. Buffy wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, sliding her tongue into his mouth – past his soft lips and across his teeth until she found his tongue and swirled hers around it – tasting, probing, exploring. She never grew tired of his kisses, or the feel of his tongue as it danced with hers.





Buffy moaned into his mouth as she felt the familiar tingle of desire starting deep in her loins and felt his cock harden between their bodies and strain against his jeans.


“Babies . . .” Buffy moaned as Spike began trailing his tongue from her collar-bone up the side of her neck to her ear.


“Hmmmm?” Spike murmured as he twirled his tongue around lightly in that spot behind her ear that he knew drove her crazy.


“Babies . . .” Buffy moaned again. “Not here . . . people . . . babies . . .” she finally articulated.


Spike moaned in frustration, but stopped what he was doing and just laid down gently atop her, holding her body under his as he ran his fingers through her hair and closed his eyes, reveling in the heat and scents and feel of her body against his.


Buffy closed her eyes and slid her hands up and under Spike’s t-shirt to feel his skin. The softness of his skin never ceased to amaze her – it was in such sharp contrast to the hard muscles that it covered. She ran her hands slowly up and down his back as he lay atop her.


A small smile tugged at her lips and she began raising and lowering her hips (and Spike’s, too) in time to a beat only she heard. “Might as well face it, you’re addicted to love,” she sang softly against Spike’s ear.


Spike raised up, a smirk on his face as he looked at her – she really was bloody beautiful – even more so when she was laughing or smiling, like now. “You know, the first step to a cure is facin’ your addiction . . .” he teased her.


“Oh, well, in that case – forget it. You can just stay addicted – no cure for you,” Buffy told him with a smile.


Spike dropped a soft kiss on her lips before laying his body back down against hers and softly singing a different tune to her – one that promised no cure for his addiction.

{{
Hear the song at the following YouTube Link:
YOUTUBE : BJ Thomas, Hooked on a Feeling
}}




I can't stop this feelin' deep inside of me
Girl, you just don't realize what you do to me
When ya hold me in your arms so tight
You let me know everything's all right

I-I-I, I'm hooked on a feelin'
High on believin' that you're in love with me

Lips are sweet as candy, the taste stays on my mind
Girl, you keep me thirsty for another cup of wine
I got it bad for you, girl but I don't need a cure
I'll just stay addicted and hope I can endure

All the good love when we're all alone
Keep it up, girl, yeah ya turn me on

I-I-I, I'm hooked on a feelin'
High on believin' that you're in love with me

All the good love when we're all alone
Keep it up, girl, yeah ya turn me on

I-I-I, I'm hooked on a feelin'
I'm high on believin' that you're in love with me

Time Line:

April 23rd, 2004 - April 24th, 2004

History:
Joshua "JJ" Harris was born on April 21st, 2004
The twins (Danielle and William) were born on February 12th, 2004
(They came home on March 16th)
Annie turned five on February 14th.
Spike and Buffy have been married five years in February. (seems longer, doesn't it?)
Buffy turned 23 on January 19th.

All the Potentials were endowed with full Slayer power in February 2003.
Buffy and Spike learned of the other dimensions in May, 2003.

**~**

April 23rd, 2004:

Buffy had the music in the training room cranked up to ‘rock concert’ levels, as she danced around on her toes, punching and kicking at the heavy bag hanging in the center of the room.


{{
Hear the song at the following YouTube Link:
Livin’ La Vida Loca, Ricky Martin
}}



Ricky Martin blared out of the speakers telling her about “Livin’ La Vida Loca”. Buffy rolled her eyes as she kept time with the beat and thought that she could teach Ricky a thing or two about a crazy life – she’d lived one for the last eight years, since being called into her sacred duty as the Chosen One in 1996 at the tender age of fifteen. In fact, “crazy” didn’t even begin to describe her life since then.


I have three miracle children with a vampire for a father, witches for aunts and an ex-demon for a nanny and I live in a Goddamn half-way house for wayward 'Twilight Zone rejects' - of which I am one - man, could my life get ANY crazier? I'm thinking that would be a world of no . . . Buffy laughed aloud as she continued hitting and kicking the bag . . . dancing naked in the rain would be a welcome moment of sanity compared to her life.


It had been five days since Buffy had hired Hallie to help with the kids and the housework and she had been doing a wonderful job. Buffy finally felt like she could go with Spike on patrol and not have to worry about anything with Hallie watching the twins and Annie. Well, she felt like she didn’t have to worry about the kids, what she did worry about was her ability to carry her own weight out on patrol; her ability to fight effectively – to be The Slayer.


It had been so long since she’d been on patrol or even worked out properly – it seemed like forever since she’d actually sparred with Spike or fought a demon or a vamp – she was worried that she’d be rusty, be a liability to Spike on patrol rather than an asset. Plus, carrying her “own weight” had taken on a whole new meaning after the twins. The “baby fat” that had melted so easily after having Annie wasn’t budging this time. So Buffy attempted to raise her confidence and heart rate, while hopefully reducing the bulge around her middle, by working out and singing along with the songs that she had blaring from the speakers.


"She'll make you take your clothes off
and go dancing in the rain
she'll make you live the crazy life
or she'll take away your pain
like a bullet to your brain

upside inside out
she's living la vida loca
she'll push and pull you down
she's living la vida loca

her lips are devil red
and her skin's the color mocha
she will wear you out
she's living la vida loca
living la vida loca . . ."


Buffy had started doing morning workouts every day after she got back from taking Annie to pre-school – before Spike got up, trying desperately to get rid of the “baby fat” and get in good enough shape to go with him on patrol. She hated him going by himself – she knew as well as anyone that anything could happen. “One good day” . . . that’s what Spike had told her once; the vamps only needed one good day while you had to have a good day every day. He’d said it one time when, at her urging, he’d told her about how he’d killed two Slayers; but with him patrolling, the same rule applied to him – another vamp or demon only needed one good day.


Spike going on patrols alone had begun to scare Buffy to the point of making her wonder if she had made a mistake leaving the Gem of Amarra under the ocean with Angel. With it on, Spike would be protected – not just from sunshine, but from stakes and even beheading. But, there wasn’t anything she could do about that now – what was done was done. What she could do was get back in shape so she could go with him on patrols, so they could cover each other’s backs – just like they’d always done before. She knew in theory that a Slayer shouldn’t get rusty . . . didn’t she have some kind of innate ability and, of course, strength? But, that didn’t stop her from worrying that she had, indeed, lost her edge.


Lost in her thoughts, the workout, and the music, Buffy wasn’t aware of the demon that had walked up behind her until it touched her on the shoulder. Buffy instinctively spun around with a roundhouse kick and caught the demon in the mid-section, sending it flying across the room and down onto the padded floor of the training room with a thud.


“Holy shit!” Buffy exclaimed. “Lorne! I’m so sorry!” she said as she ran over and knelt down beside him. “God, are you ok?”


Lorne lay on the floor and rubbed a green hand over his ribs where she had kicked him as he tried to get air back into his lungs. “I’m ok, Sunshine . . .” he said with a grimace that belied his words. “I shouted, but I guess you didn’t hear me over the . . . music.” He considered calling it “racket” but, decided pissing The Slayer off, probably wouldn’t be the smartest move.


Buffy jumped up and turned the music off before coming back and helping Lorne to his feet as she continued apologizing and asking if he was okay. She helped him into the kitchen and sat him in a chair as she got an icepack for his bruised ribs and a drink of water.


“Don’t you have anything stronger, Sunshine?” Lorne moaned leaning on the table, holding his ribs and wondering if they were broken or not.


“JD Black?” Buffy offered, reaching for the half empty bottle on the top shelf of the pantry. She set a shot glass down on the table and poured a shot for Lorne and he promptly downed it and held the glass out for another. After three shots, Lorne was finally feeling a bit better.


Buffy sat down across from him and, after he’d finished the third shot, asked, “Are you here to see Annie? ‘Cause she’s a pre-school now – she won’t be home until about three.”


“Actually, I’m here to see you . . . or you and Spike,” Lorne told her. “Buffy, you told me that I was welcome anytime . . . is that offer still good?”


Buffy furrowed her brow and frowned with a bit of confusion about why he would be asking that. “Sure – of course – you’re family Lorne, you’re welcome here anytime.” After a small pause, she asked, “What’s going on?”


Lorne sighed and poured himself another shot of whiskey. “Gunn and Cordelia are convinced that you and Spike did something to Angel,” Lorne started.


Buffy shrugged. “Yeah, I got the idea that they thought that when they were here a couple a months ago.”


“Look, Sunshine, I don’t know what happened to Angel Cakes, but, if you and Spike had anything to do with his disappearing act, then I’m guessing there was a pretty good reason for it,” Lorne told Buffy. “I guess my mistake was saying that to them.”


“They kicked you out?” Buffy asked, agitated. “After all you’ve done to help Angel – standing by him all these years, those two half-wits kicked you out!?”


Lorne nodded slowly, pouring the last of the Jack into the shot glass. “Not only kicked me out, Gunn’s old gang burned down my club. I was lucky to get out of there with most of my wardrobe . . . now, losing that would’ve been a tragedy!”





Buffy smiled at Lorne’s attempt to lighten the mood. “Of course you’re welcome here for as long as you want. Although, I think that Charles Manson had fewer people living with him than we have here right now . . .”


“Oh, well, if you don’t have room . . .” Lorne started.


“No – no, we have room!” Buffy assured him, laying a hand on his arm. “We’re all just one big, happy Manson family, so don’t expect much privacy outside your own room.”


“Any special rules I should know about?” Lorne asked as he downed the last shot.


“Actually, I just finished a list of ‘House Rules’ . . .” Buffy said as she got up from the table and picked up a pad of paper with some notes on it off the counter. “You know, kinda like ‘Cider House Rules’, only I thought I’d call ours ‘Nut House Rules’.”


• Annie, Billy, and Dani do not leave the house with anyone other than Spike, Buffy, Willow or Tara. There is NO EXECPTION TO THIS RULE – ZERO TOLERANCE.
• No public nudity – keep your privates private.
• Observe boundaries. Don’t go into anyone else’s room or use anyone else’s stuff without permission.
• No hurting another person. No yelling, screaming, spell casting, name calling or curses on anyone's mother.
• Whining, bitching and complaining need to be kept to a minimum – moaning is allowed, but only in private. Bad attitudes need to be left in the garden – you can pick them up on your way out the next day.
• If you make a mess, clean it up.
• If you use all the TP, get more out of the cabinet and put it on the dispenser; if you get the last roll out of the cabinet – put it on the shopping list.
• If you eat the last of something, throw the container away and put it on the grocery list – don’t just put the empty container back on the shelf.
• If you break something, fix it or replace it – don’t just put it back broken.
• If you’re going to be gone longer than twenty-four hours, tell someone where you will be.
• Don’t feed sugar and caffeine to the underage inhabitants of this house after five pm, no matter how much they beg you or how sad they look.
• Wet towels go in the hamper; not on the floor.
• Spike’s a vampire – he can hear you – if you don’t want him to hear you, then don’t say it.
• I’m The Slayer – I can hurt you. These are my rules; follow them or feel my wrath.


“Very thorough . . . and convincing,” Lorne said, nodding his head and looking back up at Buffy. “So, just how many people do you have living here, anyway?”


Buffy rolled her eyes and started counting off on her fingers. “Two witches, an ex-vengeance demon turned nanny, a vampire, a Slayer, a precocious Key, two screaming banshees, two hermit crabs, one fantastic kitty . . . that’s eleven . . . and, to make it an even dozen, one homeless, green empath demon with a wardrobe to die for.”


“Well, you’ve certainly got all the bases covered with that list . . . all you need now is a par-tridge in a pear treeee,” Lorne commented, singing the last words of the old Christmas carol. “Think I could get a gander at the ‘screaming banshees’ – you make them sound so adorable.”


Buffy laughed. “Sure – I’ll show you your room then introduce you to Hallie and our adorable blonde banshees.”


**~**

April 24th, 2004:


“You need to tell her!” Willow said in a stage whisper.


“No! It’s n-n-none of our business,” Tara replied, keeping her voice low.


“Anything in this house is our business, sweetie,” Willow assured her. “Buffy should know.”


“Buffy should know what?” Buffy asked, walking into the kitchen where the two witches had been talking.


“Tara needs to tell you something,” Willow announced, turning Tara around to face Buffy.


“I-i-it’s probably nothing . . .” Tara stammered.


Buffy tilted her head and considered Tara. Tara rarely ever stuttered anymore – in fact, Buffy couldn’t remember the last time she had stuttered, so whatever it was, it was obviously more than ‘nothing’.


“Well, why don’t you tell me and let me decide if it’s nothing,” Buffy offered.


“Tell her,” Willow urged when Tara didn’t answer.


“Ok - ok!” Tara said looking at Willow with a frown. Turning back to Buffy, Tara said, “It really is probably nothing . . . but, well – it’s Hallie and Spike . . .”


“What about Hallie and Spike?” Buffy asked her.


“Well, I noticed, when they’re like in the same room together . . . their aura’s change,” Tara told Buffy.


“Change how?” Buffy asked.


“Well, like Spike . . . when he’s around you his aura is a very clear red with streaks of light pink and bright emerald green . . . it’s a positive aura – powerful, energetic, passionate, nurturing – centered around the heart and love. But, when he’s around Hallie . . .”


“Go on . . .” Buffy prodded.


“Well, it turns almost instantly into blacks and browns and grays with streaks of dull red . . . it’s guarded, insecure, unforgiving . . . and really angry.”


“Tell her about Hallie!” Willow instructed Tara, putting a hand on her shoulder.


“OK!” Tara said to Willow before turning back to Buffy. “Hallie’s aura is mostly grays and blacks most of the time – I assume because she was a vengeance demon for so long and has only been human a short time.”


“But . . .” Buffy supplied.


“But . . . when she’s around Spike, she gets these streaks of muddy forest green, murky pink and crimson . . . showing jealousy, resentment, dishonesty . . .”


“. . . selfishness and lust.” Willow supplied when Tara hesitated.


Buffy raised her eyebrows. “Really? Lust?”


Tara shrugged. “It may be nothing . . . I mean Spike’s attractive . . . for a guy – it may just be a reaction to that.”


“So, you haven’t actually seen Hallie do anything . . . out of the way?” Buffy asked the witches.





“N-n-no,” Tara told her. “That’s why I didn’t even want to bother you with it. Aura’s are . . . well, they’re open to interpretation – they aren’t like paint chips in the hardware store . . . I wouldn’t want you to, you know – jump on anyone over it . . . it may be nothing.”


Buffy nodded. “Well, I’d rather know than not know . . . Willow was right, I’m glad you told me.”


**~**


“What’s this?” Spike asked as he helped Buffy unpack the groceries and put them up later that day.


Buffy turned to look at what he had in his hand. “Condoms,” she informed him.


“I know they’re condom’s, luv – what’re they for?” Spike asked, walking closer to her.


“You don’t know what condoms are for? Did your father never have the talk with you, William?” Buffy asked with a small smile.


Spike rolled his eyes and tried again. “WHO are they for? Pretty sure Red and Glinda don’t need ‘em,” he informed her.


“They’re for you . . . for us. I got my period back . . .”


She didn’t have to tell him she’d gotten her period back . . . he knew it before she did. Spike’s eyes went wide with realization that she expected him to wear them.


“Sorry, luv – allergic to rubber,” Spike told her, putting the box of condoms back in the grocery bag.


Buffy laughed. “They aren’t made of rubber any more, fang-boy – latex.”


“Even worse – breaks me out allll over,” Spike informed her, as he waved his arms up and down his body to illustrate “all over”.


Buffy shook her head and smiled. “Betcha I’m more allergic to getting pregnant that you are to latex – shall we compare allergies?”


“Pfffttt,” Spike snorted. “Vamps don’ make babies, you know that, luv.”


“You may have noticed the three small humans living here with us . . . they tell a different story. It’s just until I can get to the doctor and get on the pill.”


“Buffy, if the PTB can make me and my jizz alive – don’t you reckon they can break a fucking rubber if they want to . . . or even take that 99% effective pill and use the 1% to get you preggers again if that’s what floats their boat?”


Buffy sighed. Of course Spike was right – the PTB could do whatever the fuck they wanted with them, like puppets on a string – free will, my ass.


“Well, it would just make me feel a little better – maybe they wouldn’t go that far. If they see we’re taking precautions, then maybe they’ll respect our choice,” Buffy told him with a frown.


Spike sighed – he’d never actually used a condom before . . . he wondered silently if they were one size fits all or how that worked . . . hopefully Buffy knew . . . although how she would know was beyond him, too. She’d only ever shagged vampires, after all!


Spike pulled the box back out of the bag and looked at it. “XXL, Super Sensitive,” it said on the box and Spike smirked. Oh yeah – ‘XXL’; his t-shirts may say ‘medium’ but his condoms say ‘Double X-L’.


“Do you know how to use these bloody things?” he asked her, examining the box closer.


“It’s not rocket science, Spike – it’s like putting on a glove . . . only you don’t have to worry about getting your fingers in the wrong holes . . .”


Buffy walked up behind him as he looked at the box and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Ok?” she asked him softly, laying her head against his shoulder blade.


“Yeah . . . ok, luv – if it makes you feel better, then it’s ok with me,” Spike told her with a sigh, turning around in her arms before lifting her chin and dropping a soft kiss on her lips.


**~**


Later that night, after getting Annie to bed with her requisite bedtime story and the twins to sleep with Spike’s rendition of "Breakdown" (originally by Tom Petty), Buffy and Spike went out on patrol together. As they walked towards Restfield Cemetery, they talked about the last couple of days, about Cordelia and Gunn and what they had done to Lorne, about the finger paintings that Annie had brought home from pre-school, about the twins and how, when Spike sang them classic rock songs, they seemed to settle down and sleep better. When the conversation waned, Buffy turned it as casually as possible to the subject of Hallie.


“So, how do you think Hallie’s working out?” Buffy asked as they continued walking down the sidewalk side by side.


She could almost feel Spike roll his eyes before he answered her. “Fine, I suppose,” he answered dryly.


“She’s good with the babies . . .” Buffy offered.


“Mmmhmm.”


“And she’s keeping the place cleaner than it’s been in months . . .”


“Mmmhmm.”


“And you still don’t want her around.”


“Nope,” Spike confirmed, popping the “p” for emphasis.


“Did you . . . know her before? Maybe when she was a demon?” Buffy questioned as they reached the entrance to the cemetery.


“Vamp!” Spike announced and took off running into the cemetery ahead of Buffy, hurdling tombstones and leapfrogging over the larger monuments before disappearing around the corner of a crypt. Buffy took off behind him, but didn’t trust her strength and coordination enough to hurdle anything, so she ran around the tombstones and lagged behind her husband. When she turned the corner around the crypt he’d disappeared behind, he wasn’t there.


“Crap,” Buffy muttered as she concentrated on sensing where he’d gone and moving quickly in that direction. When she saw him, Spike was just dusting the vamp that he was fighting – two more piles of dust were evidence of the other’s he had already defeated. “Guess he doesn’t need my help . . .” Buffy muttered to herself as she approached him.


“Even the Lone Ranger waited for Tonto,” she informed him.


“They’da got away, luv, sorry. You can have the next ones, yeah?” Spike told her as he tucked his stake into the waistband of his jeans at his back. In fact, Spike hadn’t seen a vamp at all when they’d first gotten to the cemetery entrance – but it was the best way he could think of to avoid answering Buffy’s question. Luckily, he’d run into two vamps as they sat by and waited for their fledge to rise – effectively solidifying his alibi for running off. He figured he could always say the vamp got away, but this way was better – more credible.


“Yeah . . . . whatever,” Buffy muttered as she turned and started walking further into the cemetery, scanning the area for vamps or fresh graves.


“What’s wrong with you, now?” Spike asked, catching up to her.


“Nothing – what could possibly be wrong with me?” Buffy answered curtly.


“Don’ know – that’s why I’m askin’ . . .” Spike pointed out.





“Team, Spike, team. You do know the meaning of ‘team’, don’t you?” Buffy asked as she continued walking through the cemetery. “You know – Batman and Robin, Pancho and Lefty, Han Solo and Chewbacca, Laverne and Shirley, The Captain and Tennille, Roy Rogers and Trigger . . .”


“Trigger was a horse, luv,” Spike pointed out.


“Yeah, well – still a team, Spike. Trigger never left Roy and went running into cemeteries all by himself, now, did he?”


“Suppose ya’ got me on that one, luv,” Spike said with a smirk. “Now, ya’ wanna tell me what’s really eatin’ ya?”





Buffy stopped walking and turned to face Spike with a sigh. “I just . . . I just worry about you – ‘one good day’, remember?”


“Nothin’s gonna happen to me, luv,” Spike said stepping up to her and taking her into a hug.


“You don’t know that,” Buffy told him as she leaned into him, laying her head on his chest and wrapping her arms around his waist.


“I’m careful . . . I promise – you can’t get rid o’ me that easy,” Spike assured her. “You were worried ‘bout me?”


Buffy nodded against his chest. “Yeah . . . I worry,” she told him in a whisper.


“DUCK!” Spike exclaimed suddenly.


“Duck? Huh?” Buffy asked in confusion, raising her head up to look around.


Spike pushed Buffy to the side and down to the ground with one arm as his other reached behind him to retrieve his stake. A vamp was charging fast, coming from behind Buffy as she stood in Spike’s arms. Spike got his hand on his stake, but wasn’t able to get it out before the vamp tackled him around the midsection and drove him back against a tombstone, pinning his hand and the stake against his back.


Spike vamped out and swung his free arm at the attacker’s face, hitting him hard in the jaw with his fist and driving the other vampire back away from him enough to free his other arm and bring the stake around. Buffy had jumped up and was running towards the battling vampires when the attacker dissolved into dust in front of Spike.


Buffy stopped short when the vamp dissolved and rolled her eyes. Yeah, he sooo needs your help – he’d be better off without you even here, she thought to herself as Spike flexed his hand that got caught behind him to make sure it wasn’t broken.


“You ok?” Buffy asked him.


“Right as rain,” Spike said, walking towards her. “Better finish a sweep here then head over to Lakeview . . . they’ve been really heavy there last coupla nights.”


“Sure,” Buffy said somewhat despondently, falling in step beside Spike. Holy heroes, Batman! The vamp had to save The Slayer – again, she thought, rolling her eyes.


Buffy allowed Spike to take the lead; he seemed to know just where to go to find the new fledges and they even met a few older vamps along the way. Buffy dusted a couple of them, but Spike dusted more, and it seemed to Buffy that he’d actually ‘given’ her the ones she did stake, after he’d already beat them down. Hell, he practically shoved them onto the end of her stake, so it didn’t really lift her spirits much.


She was happy when Spike announced that they’d done enough for the night and should head home. The normal high, the adrenaline rush, she used to get from fighting and dusting the vamps wasn’t there – she just felt like she was extra baggage – lots of extra baggage, for Spike to carry.


We get a nanny to handle the household and the babies so I can help Spike and I can't even do that right. I suck as a mom and I suck as a Slayer - you'd think I'd be able to get at least ONE of those right . . . Buffy thought glumly as they walked towards home.

Time Line:

The night of April 24th, 2004 after getting back from patrolling . . .

History:
Joshua "JJ" Harris was born on April 21st, 2004
The twins (Danielle and William) were born on February 12th, 2004
(They came home on March 16th)
Annie turned five on February 14th.
Spike and Buffy have been married five years in February. (seems longer, doesn't it?)
Buffy turned 23 on January 19th.

All the Potentials were endowed with full Slayer power in February 2003.
Buffy and Spike learned of the other dimensions in May, 2003.

**~**


April 24th, 2004:




Spike didn’t bother lighting the candles that night – Buffy would just blow them all out anyway when she came in, so he waited for her in the dark. He wished he could figure out what was bothering her – he was sure if she got out of the house, got in a good fight or two and dusted some vamps, that would make her feel better, get her out of her funk, but it seemed to only put her in a deeper one.


She hadn’t said two words the whole walk back to the house that night after patrolling. He hated seeing her like that – he loved it when she laughed and smiled and wanted her happy. Of course, no one was happy all the time, but Buffy’s bad mood was starting to be more and more prevalent, even with Hallie here taking the pressure off. He was usually good at sussing out her moods and figuring out just the right thing to do or say to make her feel better, but this one had him stumped.


Buffy opened their door and stepped in, letting in a shaft of light from the hall, before she closed the door behind her. God, she’s beautiful, Spike thought as the light washed over her in that brief moment, illuminating her with a golden glow, like an angel. Buffy climbed into bed, leaving her shorts and t-shirt on, and laid on her side, facing away from Spike. Spike rolled against her and kissed her shoulder as he ran a hand lightly down her arm, then to her hip and down the outside of her bare thigh before starting back up.





“Spike, can we . . . umm . . . I’m just feeling kinda crampy tonight . . . can we just . . . not,” Buffy said, laying her hand on her abdomen to illustrate.


“A little release is the perfect cure for that, pet . . .” Spike told her quietly as he nuzzled against her neck and started drawing circles with his tongue up and down her sensitive skin. "Plus, ya got them one fingered gloves we can try . . ."



“Spike, please . . . I’m just tired and I don’t feel good – ok?”


Spike stopped what he was doing and frowned. When had she ever been fighting vamps and not wanted this?


“Why don’t you tell me what’s buggin’ you?” Spike asked with a sigh, rolling onto his back and away from her.


“Nothing’s bugging me, I just – I don’t know, it’s probably the hormones still all wacky or something. I’m sorry . . .” Buffy told him, as she rolled over and cuddled against his side and put her head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry . . .” she said again quietly. I’m sorry for being such a crappy Slayer and a crappy mother . . . and now a crappy lover, she added silently.


Spike smoothed her hair and wrapped an arm around her. “No worries, luv. Get some rest, you’ll feel better tomorrow, yeah?”


Buffy nodded her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes as she felt the sting of tears threatening. You don't even deserve him, she thought before falling into a fitful, dream-filled sleep.


~~*~~

Buffy found herself standing in the sitting room of a Victorian home – she moved back against one wall and out of the to get her bearings. She looked down at herself – she had on a beautiful floor length, ivory silk brocade dress with a plunging neckline and long sleeves. It had a deep “V” waist with silk covered buttons that lead down to a full skirt. Buffy saw a mirror and walked over to it, turning first one way then the other as she examined her fancy attire.





The dress accentuated her assets while hiding the bulge around her middle – she decided that she liked it. Her hair was chestnut brown, the color of Annie’s, and was pulled away from her face and hung down her back in large curls – she had a small beaded clutch in one hand that matched her dress and a folding silk oriental hand fan in the other, which also matched the color and brocade of her dress.


Her attention was drawn away from her image in the mirror by voices behind her.


“Ah, William! Favor us with your opinion. What do you make of this rash of disappearances sweeping through our town? Animals or thieves?”


Buffy turned around to see who was speaking. There were several men standing together talking . . . and Spike – what was he doing here?





“I prefer not to think of such dark, ugly business at all. That's what the police are for. I prefer placing my energies into creating things of beauty,” Spike told the men . . . but it didn’t sound like Spike at all, he sounded more like Giles, and it almost didn’t look like Spike – his hair was different – but then, so was Buffy’s, and he had on glasses. Buffy started to step forward towards him when she noticed Spike gaze longingly at another woman . . . Hallie!


God damn it! I knew he was hiding something! Buffy thought as she started moving towards them. Before she could get there, one of the men snatched a paper from Spike’s hand.


“I see. Well, don't withhold, William,” the man said. “Rescue us from a dreary topic.”


“Careful. The inks are still wet. Please, it's not finished,” Spike told them, reaching for the paper.


“Don't be shy,” the man told Spike as he began to read from the paper. “ ‘My heart expands, 'tis grown a bulge in it, inspired by your beauty, effulgent.’ . . . Effulgent?” the man asked as he began laughing and soon all the men had begun to laugh. Hallie walked away from the group, looking somewhat embarrassed, and Spike grabbed his poem back from the other man’s hand before following her.


“And that's actually one of his better compositions,” one of the men commented.


“Have you heard? They call him ‘William the Bloody’ because of his bloody awful poetry!” said a ‘lady’ that had been standing nearby.


“It suits him. I'd rather have a railroad spike through my head than listen to that awful stuff!”


“What the fuck is your problem?!” Buffy asked the men after Spike and Hallie had walked away, her hands going to her hips.


“I beg your pardon?” one of the men asked her.


“What are you deaf? I asked you what your fucking problem is. That was rude!” Buffy informed them, waving her arm in the direction Spike had gone.


“Well, I never!” one of the men said while another commented that while it was lovely for the host to supply a trollop for their enjoyment – he wasn’t sure why she had been allowed into the gathering so early in the evening.


“You arrogant ass!” Buffy said as she balled up her fist, pulled it back and hit the one that had snatched the poem from Spike . . . or William, she now realized – because Spike would’ve never let him get away with that – right in the nose as hard as she could while at the same time bringing her knee up into the groin of the man that had called her a trollop.


Both men screamed out in pain. The man who she'd hit with her fist bent over, holding his now broken and bleeding nose and muttering obscenities, while the other reached down, grabbed his smashed gonads, and tried to find a chair, but fell backwards onto the floor, instead.


“Just as I thought – you’re big pussy-wimps – a little trollop can beat you up! Both of you together don't make half the man that William is!” Buffy told them before turning on her heel and heading in the direction that Spike, or William, and Hallie had gone.


Buffy stopped outside the door to the room William and Hallie had gone into and listened . . .





“I'm going to ask you a very personal question and I demand an honest answer. Do you understand?” Hallie asked William.


Buffy peeked around the corner to see William nod his agreement. They didn’t seem to see her, so she watched silently from the doorway.





“Your poetry, it's... they're... not written about me, are they?” Hallie asked William.


“They're about how I feel,” William told her.


“Yes, but are they about me?”


“Every syllable.”


“Oh, God!” Hallie exclaimed, turning away from him.


“Oh, I know... it's sudden and... please, if they're no good, they're only words but... the feeling behind them... I love you, Cecily.”


Oh God! Oh God – he loves her . . . Oh God! That’s what he’s been hiding! No, no, no! Buffy turned and ran from the doorway, back past the snooty men who had made fun of William, out the door of the house and into the street. She turned and ran down the cobblestones – tears stung her eyes as she made her way quickly along the dark, deserted streets – she had to get away, away from them – away from the words, “I love you, Cecily.”


Blinded by her tears, Buffy ran head long into someone, knocking both of them down. As she picked herself up from the dirty street, she began to apologize but was struck dumb when she looked up and saw who she’d run into . . . it was Drusilla . . . and Angelus and Darla were helping her back to her feet.


“NO! No, no, no! This can’t be happening! Stay away from him! Leave him alone!” Buffy screamed at them.


Angelus walked slowly towards Buffy. “Now, who would you be talkin’ about, little girl?” he asked her with a thick Irish brogue. “Don’t see anybody here but you.”





“Leave him alone! Leave me alone! Why can’t you just leave everyone alone?!” Buffy screamed at him.


“Not in my nature,” Angelus told her as he vamped out, grabbed her and spun her around in one deft move before sinking his fangs into her neck.


Buffy screamed as she kicked and punched at Angelus trying to get free – struggling against him with all her strength and screaming for Spike.


~~*~~


“Buffy! Buffy! SLAYER! Stop! Wake up!” Spike yelled at her as he tried to capture her fists and avoid her kicking legs.


Buffy finally woke enough to stop screaming and striking out at Spike. He released his grip on her hands and turned the bedside light on before turning back to her. “Buffy . . . it was a dream – just a dream, luv,” he told her soothingly as he smoothed her hair out of her face with one hand before wiping the tears from her cheeks with the pad of his thumb. “Everything’s ok.”


Buffy was trembling and crying and her heart was racing. She looked at Spike – he had a split lip and his nose was bleeding, one eye was starting to swell and turn purple. “Oh God, Spike – I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Buffy told him as she touched his injuries lightly with her fingers.


“No worries, luv – been beat up worse, mostly by you . . .” he smiled at her. “What were ya’ dreaming about gotcha so riled up, luv?”


Tears stung her eyes again and Buffy blinked them back. “Angelus . . . it was Angelus,” she told him.


“Ahh, well – no worries ‘bout the wanker – he’s all tucked away safe and sound at the bottom of the deep, blue sea, yeah?”


“Yeah . . . nothing to worry about . . .” Buffy agreed with a sad smile. Spike laid back down and pulled her to him. Buffy laid her head on his shoulder, draping one leg over his and one arm across his stomach with a heavy sigh.


No worries other than having the woman your husband loved and desired – the woman he wrote poetry for and endured ridicule for, living in the same house with us . . . yeah, that’s totally worry-free. Obviously, he didn’t want her here so he wouldn’t have that constant reminder that he could’ve had her all this time, if he’d only known. Apparently, he ran into Dru that night and she took him away from ‘Cecily’ and whatever life he could’ve had with her . . . away from a life that he must now wonder about – a life with what must have been his first true love.


That explains the change in aura’s that Tara had seen . . . Cecily, or Hallie now, Buffy corrected herself mentally, is still attracted to Spike and hiding her feelings; Spike's angry about having lost his chance at a happy, normal life with her.


I couldn’t listen to him just this one time, could I? No! Bring your husband’s first true love to live with you – fucking brilliant, Buffy! You are nothing if not brilliant! God, why don’t we just resurrect Dru and she can move in, too!


Sure – it’ll be a harem – Spike’s harem: a crazy vampire, a vengeance demon (or ex-demon - whatever!), and a washed up Slayer . . . It’ll be like Three’s Company – only with gratuitous sex and violence and no laugh track . . . and four, Four’s Company – an HBO Original Series . . . God, I’m losing my fucking mind!


You’re gonna have to talk to him about this, Buffy! She silently admonished herself. God, what if he says he wants her instead of me . . . the normal life he was robbed of . . . his first true love . . .”


“Spike?” Buffy asked softly.


“Yeah, luv?”


“Do you still think we should fire Hallie?”


YES! YES! YES! Get the bitch the fuck outta here! Send ‘er back to Bangla-fucking-desh! Spike’s mind screamed, but Hallie had taken a big burden off Buffy and was good with the children . . . If Buffy was going to get out of this funk that she was in, firing Hallie now wouldn’t help – it would just drop all that stuff right back down onto Buffy, onto them.


“Whatever you want to do, luv. It’s up to you,” he told her in a neutral tone.


Buffy nodded against his chest. Totally worry-free . . .

TIME LINE:

Spans: April 25th, 2004 - May 24th, 2004


History:
Joshua "JJ" Harris was born on April 21st, 2004
The twins (Danielle and William) were born on February 12th, 2004
(They came home on March 16th)
Annie turned five on February 14th.
Spike and Buffy have been married five years in February. (seems longer, doesn't it?)
Buffy turned 23 on January 19th.

All the Potentials were endowed with full Slayer power in February 2003.
Buffy and Spike learned of the other dimensions in May, 2003.

**~**

April 25th, 2004:


The next morning, Hallie opened Spike and Buffy’s bedroom door and stepped in – closing the door silently behind her. She leaned back against the door and waited for her eyes to adjust to the dim light of the room. Buffy had just left, taking Annie to pre-school, and the twins had been fed and should be quiet for at least half an hour, she figured. Spike was still sleeping and didn’t awaken when Hallie came in the room. She was disappointed to find him half covered with a sheet, but fairly impressed with the ‘tent’ in the sheet over his hips . . . he was obviously having a good dream!





She wondered silently if she pulled the sheet back, would he wake up . . . then an image of her atop Spike, riding him like a prized bull, came to her mind. She shook her head to clear that thought – she knew she had to be smart about this, getting William away from Buffy would take more than just great sex – it would take driving a wedge between the pair, then making sure she was “there” for William – a shoulder to cry on, a harbor in the storm, solace for his wounded heart, comfort for his deflated pride . . . THEN she could get to the great sex and riding him like her very own prized bull.


But Hallie just had to get a closer look . . . since that first day when she literally ran into him, she hadn’t seem William without a shirt on . . . in fact, she had seen very little of him at all. He always seemed to disappear when she showed up. Hallie crept silently forward, walking slowly to the side of the bed where Spike was sleeping. Spike stirred slightly, turning onto his side to face her and Hallie froze, but Spike hadn’t woken up. Hallie let out a slow breath and tiptoed slowly closer. When she was next to him, she let her eyes rake up and down his body . . . even on his side, his erection was still obvious under the cover and Hallie longed to move the sheet down just a little bit . . . damn!


Afraid that he’d wake up if she did that, Hallie bent down and picked up Spike’s jeans and t-shirt off the floor and lifted them towards her face – at least she could inhale his scent if nothing else. Hallie let out a startled cry and jumped back when Spike’s hand shot out and grabbed her around her wrist in a death grip.





“What the fuck are you doin’ in ‘ere?” Spike questioned.


“I . . . ummm . . . well . . . I . . . uh, just getting the laundry, of course,” Hallie stammered, holding up his jeans and t-shirt as proof.


“Bollocks! Laundry’s in the bloody hamper in the loo! What the fuck are you doin’ in ‘ere?” Spike asked again as he sat up, keeping a tight grip on her wrist.


“I thought there might be more laundry in here – needed some more to make a full load and saw these on the floor, I assumed they were dirty,” Hallie told him, trying to pull free from his grasp. “You’re hurting me.”


“Am I, now?” Spike smirked and squeezed harder around her wrist.


“Ow! Stop it! You’re going to break my arm!” Hallie informed him as she pulled against him.


“Wouldn’t that be a cryin’ shame?” Spike retorted and held firm as she struggled to get free. “Why don’ you tell me what you’re doin’ in ‘ere?”


“I already told you!” Hallie retorted, pulling hard against Spike. “Let go!”


“I’ll let go when you quit lyin’,” Spike informed her.


“I’ll tell Buffy you’re the one always leaving the wet towels on the floor in the bathroom! I know it’s you!” Hallie retorted as she leaned back away from him and pulled with all her strength to get free.


Spike released his grip on her wrist and Hallie fell back against the wall and down to the floor. “You’d be wise to keep your nose outta stuff that don’ concern you – including this bedroom and my wet towels,” Spike threatened.


“Or what? You’re gonna break my arm?” Hallie shot back, getting to her feet and retreating back towards the door.


“For starters,” Spike smirked. “Could do fer you what you did fer me . . .” he told her, as he gathered the sheet around his waist, stood up and began stalking slowly towards her.





“I never hurt you!” Hallie told him, as she reached behind her for the door knob.


“Didn’t you? I seem to have a different memory of that . . .”


Hallie didn’t wait to hear anymore, she snatched the door open and hurried through, pulling it closed with a bang behind her before hurrying down the hall towards the nursery, sure that Spike wouldn’t follow her in there to continue their ‘conversation’.


**~**


Buffy kept a more careful eye out after the dream . . . she really didn’t know what to do. If she fired Hallie, that would force Spike to choose – and she really wasn’t sure at that moment who he would choose – his first true love that had been stolen from him so long ago or the out of shape, half-assed Slayer that had bore his children.


One minute he said he didn’t want Hallie around, but, when Buffy tried to put the decision in his hands, he deferred back to her. Obviously, he didn’t want to come right out and say to keep her there, but he knew that Buffy thought she was doing a good job, so by leaving the decision to Buffy, he knew she would stay.


Yes, he always told Buffy he loved her and he always seemed ready to make love to her, but he was a guy, weren’t guys always ready for sex – regardless of feelings? Buffy was determined to get back into shape, lose the baby weight and get back to top fighting form – to show Spike that she was just as good as ever, before forcing him to choose. After all, he didn’t fall in love with a ‘mom’, he fell in love with The Slayer . . . someone who was, at worst, his equal – not dead weight for him to carry.


As the weeks went on, Buffy began to notice that Spike’s shirts, which he never could quite get into the hamper in the bathroom, but only close to it on the floor, smelled of Obsession . . . Hallie’s perfume. Other times, Buffy thought she saw lipstick on the collar of his shirts, even though it was hard to see on the black, when she ran her fingers across the collars, they came back stained with Hallie’s shade of lipstick. She also began to notice that every time Spike went to Willy’s for poker night or went on patrols alone, Hallie needed the night off, too.


All of this pointed to badness . . . Spike didn’t act any differently around Buffy – he always seemed attentive and ready for love, but he was a vampire – he could be having sex with Hallie and still be ready to have sex with Buffy a little while later with no problem. But, Buffy had no proof of anything – it was nothing but circumstantial evidence at best – things that could easily be explained away perfectly innocently.


Buffy had been working hard to get back in shape over the last few weeks, and had lost about half of the baby weight, but there was still a bulge in her tummy that wouldn’t budge, no matter what she did, how hard she worked out or how long she went without chocolate.


She felt strong, though, and no longer rusty – she could carry her own weight in a fight again and was on at least equal footing when sparring with Spike, sometimes she bested him, sometimes he bested her – but overall she felt good about her Slayage again. Now, if she could just feel sure about everything else . . .


May 21st, 2004:


It was around seven in the evening when Buffy came in the mansion with Annie - she’d picked Annie up from her dance class and then a few of the mothers and kids had gone to Baskin Robbins for ice cream. Buffy had been being sooo good on her diet, she thought she deserved a little treat, so she and Annie had gone with them and she’d been gone longer than she intended.


Buffy sent Annie upstairs to clean up before dinner when she heard singing coming from the training room – but it wasn’t Spike. When she walked up to the door and opened it, she found it was Lorne that was singing. He was holding Billy, swaying back and forth with him to the beat while slowly rocking the bassinette that Dani was in with the other hand as he sang . . .


{{
Hear the song at the following YouTube Link:
Rock and Roll Lullaby – BJ Thomas
}}


She was just sixteen
And all alone when I came to be
So we grew up together
Our mama-child and me
Now things were bad and she was scared
But whenever I would cry
She'd calm my fear and dry my tears
With a rock and roll lullaby

And she'd sing
Sha-na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na
It'll be all right
Sha-na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na
Just hold on tight
Sing it to me, mama
My, my, my, my, mama
Sing it sweet and clear
Oh mama, let me hear
That old rock and roll lullaby

We made it through the lonely days
But, Lord, the nights were long
And we'd dream of better mornin's
When mama sang a song
Now I can't recall the words at all
It don't make sense to try
'Cause I just knew lotsa love came through
In that rock and roll lullaby

And she'd sing
Sha-na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na
It'll be all right
Sha-na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na
Just hold on tight
I can hear ya, mama
My, my, my, my mama
Nothin' moves my soul
Like the sound of the good old
Rock and roll lullaby



When Lorne finished, he laid a sleeping Billy down gently in the other bassinette, which he’d put right next to Dani’s so they were actually touching, and tucked a small blanket around him. Lorne looked up and saw Buffy in the doorway and made a “shhhh” sign with his finger to his lips before he moved slowly away from the babies and finally out the door of the training room.


“I thought they only liked, you know – classic rock,” Buffy said when Lorne had shut the door behind him.


“That is classic, Sunshine!” Lorne told her. “Turns out you don’t have to be a head banger to get them to sleep . . . actually, if you just put their cribs closer together, I think you’ll find that the screaming banshees will disappear.”


Buffy furrowed her brow in thought. “Put their cribs closer together? They’re in the same room,” she pointed out.


Lorne shook his head. “I’m telling you – put them closer together – they need to be touching – they need to be close – like peas in a pod . . . like two babies in a womb.”


“Are you serious?! All that screaming and not sleeping because they . . . they weren’t close enough to each other?!” Buffy asked with wide eyes.





Lorne nodded. “Trust me, Sunshine, all your troubles will be solved if you just let the babies be what they are – two parts to one whole. Those babies are special – I can see it in them, they aren’t just twins, they share a soul . . .” Lorne informed her.


“Share a soul? That’s not . . . that’s not good, is it? I mean – that’s worse than sharing a toothbrush!”


“Don’t you share your soul with someone?” Lorne asked.


“Yeah, I guess . . . but she’s in another dimension – not here . . .” Buffy responded.


“No, that’s not who I mean, Sunshine,” Lorne told her, laying a hand on her shoulder. “It’s true your soul is divided between other ‘Buffys’ in other dimensions, but the person I was talking about is Spike.”


Buffy shook her head. “We don’t share a soul . . .”


“Do you know what a ‘soulmate’ is?” Lorne asked her, moving away from the door and over to the table in the research area.


Buffy followed him and they sat down at the table. “I guess – it’s someone that you click with, that you love . . .”





Lorne shook his head. “No, it’s more than that. Your soulmate completes you . . . it is the yin to your yang, it’s the other half of your soul. The legend is that humans originally consisted of four arms, four legs and a single head with two faces and a single soul. Zeus feared their power, and split them in half, condemning them to spend their lives searching for the other half that completes them.


“Buffy, your soulmate is Spike – don’t you know that? Can’t you feel that? Don’t you feel complete when he’s near you and a little empty when he’s gone?” Lorne asked her.


Buffy rubbed her eyes tiredly before looking back at Lorne. “Yeah . . . I feel that,” she admitted. “But you’re saying Dani and Billy are soulmates? That’s bad . . . isn’t that bad – they’re brother and sister!”


Lorne shrugged. “I don’t know if I believe there’s only ONE soulmate in all the world for us . . . for their sake, I hope not . . . otherwise . . . well, Flowers in the Attic comes to mind . . .”


Buffy rolled her eyes. “Great!” Buffy stood up and started pacing back and forth. “Just fucking great! The PTB do nothing but fuck with us! Why the fuck would they do that to them!? Mother-fucking sons of Goddamn bitches . . .”


“Buffy!” Lorne said, putting a hand out to stop her pacing. “Sit down . . . c’mon, sit down and calm down.


“Why don’t you worry about that bridge when you get to it? I’m just telling you so you’ll know – those babies, they need to be close, if they aren’t physically close, you’ll have screaming banshees . . . if they are, you’ll have angels.


“Most people never find their ultimate soulmate, Sunshine – you have, Spike has – you’re both lucky. The twins, well – they can find love and happiness outside themselves – it doesn’t have to turn out badly,” Lorne assured her.


“Do you think there’s more than one . . . like, I don’t know, maybe humans had eight legs and eight arms and eight faces . . .” Buffy asked Lorne.


Lorne smiled. “I do – I do think there can be more than one – or maybe there’s one ‘ultimate’ soulmate, but a few others that are ‘premium’ . . . and then maybe one or two that are just ‘regular’,” Lorne told her.


“Are we still talking soulmates or have you switched to gasoline?” Buffy asked with a smile.


Lorne laid a hand on one of Buffy’s and his smile faded. “Buffy, I see a lot more than I let on sometimes. I can see a lot about futures and destinies when people sing, but I can see a lot just from listening to them talk – you need to take care of your marriage, you can’t lose Spike to that . . . woman.”


“How did you . . . how did you know that?” Buffy asked Lorne. “You can see that?”


Lorne nodded. “Spike is yours – you are his; she’s the intruder and you need to take care of it or she’ll drive you apart. Neither of you will ever recover if that happens – you’ll always be missing a part of yourself. Don’t let her steal your love, don’t let her take your destiny from you.”


Tears stung Buffy’s eyes and she pressed her fingers against them hard to try and stop the flood. “I think it’s too late . . .” she told Lorne quietly, her hand still covering her face. “He’s . . . they’re . . . I think he’s chosen her.”





“Buffy, look at me,” Lorne said quietly, shaking his head slowly. “He hasn’t chosen her . . . but she’ll take him from you if you don’t take charge. You’re The Slayer . . . BE The Slayer, Buffy. ‘Want, take, have’ . . . Faith used to say that all the time – you need to take back what’s yours.”


Buffy closed her eyes and rested her head heavily in her hands as she sat with her elbows on the table in front of her.


BE The Slayer . . . Want, take, have . . . Lorne’s words rang in her head. He hasn’t chosen her . . . want, take, have.


He’s MY fucking husband! She doesn’t even know him – she only knew William – not Spike, she only loved William . . . I love them both – all of him.


What can she offer him? She’s not even a demon anymore . . . she can’t fight, he’ll fucking break her unless he constantly holds back with her . . . She’s not his destiny – if she was his destiny, then the PTB wouldn’t have put him in Dru’s path that night . . . wouldn’t have sent him to Sunnydale at just the right time . . . wouldn’t have sent us Annie and Dani and Billy . . .


Oh God – why didn’t I kick her ass out when I realized it? The PTB were finally trying to help you with that fucking dream and you just didn’t see it! Stupid . . . you have got to be the stupidest Slayer in the history of Slayers Buffy Summers-Weckerly . . . Weckerly . . . MRS. Weckerly . . .



Buffy raised her head up and looked at Lorne. “Where are they?”


Lorne shrugged. “Spike got a call from Clem and he left shortly afterwards, said he was gonna go on a short patrol of the sewers between here and the Bronze before sunset and would be back for dinner . . . A little while later, Hallie asked me to watch the babies, said she had to go out while.”


Buffy looked at the clock . . . 7:30 – if Spike was coming back for dinner, he should’ve been back by now. Buffy’s stomach tightened into a knot, what if she’d waited too long . . . what if she had let Hallie take him back?


“Will you watch Annie . . . she should be back down any minute . . .” Buffy asked Lorne as she stood up from the table and started towards the basement door and the sewer access down there – stopping only briefly at one of the weapon’s chests to retrieve a stake.


“Of course, Sunshine. Don’t worry about us!” Lorne called after her.


“Make sure she got all the ice cream off her face and out of her hair . . .” Buffy called back over her shoulder as she headed down into the basement.


Buffy stepped into the sewer access tunnel and tried sending out her spidey senses to figure out which way Spike had gone . . . if she could find Spike, she was pretty sure she would find Hallie, too, but she couldn’t feel him. It was dark outside now; he might have already gone up to the street . . . crap!


Buffy pulled her cell phone out, if old fashioned spidey senses didn’t work, then maybe new-fangled technology would . . . but she had no signal in the tunnel. Think! He got a call from Clem . . . he was going to patrol between here and the Bronze . . . Clem musta overheard someone at Willy’s talking and called Spike to tell him what was going down . . . Ok, just head towards the Bronze . . . if he isn’t in the tunnels, then maybe he’s there.


Buffy started running through the tunnels, splashing through the dirty muck at her feet and covering her jeans with the gross, smelly water. When she got to a split in the tunnel she stopped . . . both ways could take her to the Bronze – one went to the back of the Bronze, one went to the alley at the side . . . which way would Spike have gone? Buffy closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind and just let kismet guide her – either the super heroine or the hand of fate, she didn’t care which at that point.


Buffy opened her eyes and started running again, heading down the tunnel to the left – she was sure this was the way Spike had gone, she didn’t know how she was sure, but she was. Buffy passed several piles of vampire dust floating in the dirty water on her way, but she kept going – those weren’t Spike – they were Spike’s doing, no doubt, but not Spike.


When she reached the ladder that lead to the street behind the Bronze, she climbed up quickly and slid the manhole cover off. It made a loud clanging and scraping noise as she did it and she cringed internally, she wanted to be a little more stealthy than that. Oh well, Buffy thought – time for stealth is over, time to be heard now.


Buffy pulled herself up through the manhole and looked around – the street was empty except for two more piles of vampire dust. She slid the cover back before closing her eyes and turning in a slow circle . . . but she still couldn’t feel him. Crap!


Buffy went to the side door of the club and stepped inside. He was in here . . . somewhere – she could sense him now. The music as blaring and the place was packed with people – dancing, drinking, eating, making out . . . tons of people – the whole town of Sunnydale seemed to be there. Of course! It was the semi-annual post-fumigation party – no wonder there were so many people – and so few cockroaches . . .


Buffy started walking through the crowds, looking for Spike. She checked the bar and the tables in the back and ran into Willow and Tara, who had taken the night off from study to attend the semi-annual tradition, but they hadn’t seen Spike, either. God, I wish we could get the bond back – that made it so much easier to find him! Buffy thought as she kept searching the crowded club.


Sure that he wasn’t on the first level, Buffy headed up the stairs to the upper level. When she reached the landing, she saw him and sighed in relief . . . until she saw who he was sitting with – Hallie, and her heart sank. Spike’s back was to Buffy and he was leaning forward towards Hallie in order to talk over the music. Hallie was smiling and sipping at a drink – every once in a while, she’d say something that Buffy couldn’t hear. Apparently Spike was doing most of the talking, but she couldn’t see his face.


Buffy circled around, trying to get closer to where they were sitting to try and hear the conversation without being detected. She maneuvered behind a support post that was near their table and strained to hear what was being said. As the band came to the end of the song, there was a lull in the music and Buffy heard Spike say, “wherever ya want,” then the singer in the band started talking and he drowned out most of Spike’s words; Buffy heard, “love . . . you . . . need . . . go . . .” before the music started again.


Oh God! I am too late! He’s getting ready to go off with her – wherever she wants – he’s gonna go, he still loves her. He’s chosen her . . .


Tears stung Buffy’s eyes, she closed them and leaned heavily against the hard metal post at her back and tried to breathe . . . she felt like she’d just been kicked in the stomach, all the air had suddenly left her lungs. Buffy willed herself away from the post and walked back to the stairs, but broke down as she got to them and just sat down on the top step and buried her face against her knees, putting her arms over her head as she attempted to block out the words that she heard Spike say . . . but it was too late –they rang in her head like a funeral march, Wherever ya want . . . love you, need to go . . .


“Buffy? Buffy, what’s wrong?” Willow asked, walking up to her and laying a hand on her shoulder. “Did you find Spike?”


Buffy nodded her head against her knees with her eyes still closed tight, trying to hold in the tears.


“Then what’s wrong?” Willow asked again, sitting down next to her on the step, putting an arm around Buffy’s shoulders and leaning her head down next to Buffy’s.


“He doesn’t love me . . . he loves Hallie . . . he chose Hallie,” Buffy told her.


“WHAT?! Did he tell you that?” Willow questioned.


“No . . . I heard . . . I overheard him,” Buffy told her.


“You OVERHEARD him . . . in here?” Willow asked, brows furrowed in confusion – how could she have overheard him with all this noise?


“Silentium!” Willow announced, waving her arm out to encompass the whole club and suddenly all the noise stopped – no one seemed to notice, they were still talking and dancing but for Buffy and Willow, there was only silence.


“Now,” Willow said without having to shout over the music and gaiety, “tell me exactly what you heard.”


Buffy drew in a deep breath and sat up. “Spike told Hallie that he loved her . . . that he would go with her wherever she wanted to go . . . that he needed her . . .”


“You overheard ALL that?” Willow asked, skeptically.





Buffy nodded and covered her face with her hands.





“Where are they?”


Buffy pointed back behind them where Spike and Hallie were sitting at small table in the back of the upper level.


“Audite!” Willow commanded, waving her arm at Spike and Hallie. Suddenly Spike and Hallie’s voices could be heard clearly by Willow and Buffy – like those were the only sounds in the club.


“ . . . and I told you before you dizzy bint, I. Love. Buffy. You jus’ need to go on your merry way! I’ll bloody well pay you to leave – buy you a ticket – you can go wherever you want, but you need to go, now! I’m bloody well tired of you following me ‘round this town every time I step foot outside the soddin’ house!


“Whatever your game is, I ain’t playin – and I reckon the Slayer ain’t interested in playin’ it either – no matter how good you clean the bloody loo.”


Buffy sat in stunned silence . . . it was the words, but not . . . not the meaning that she’d inferred. ‘I love Buffy’ . . . he told Hallie ‘I love Buffy’! He was offering to pay her to leave! To go away! Oh God . . . oh, thank God!


“William, William, William,” Hallie said sweetly as she reached out and touched Spike’s hand. “I’m not going anywhere . . . I told you before, I’m perfectly happy where I am – a roof over my head, three square meals . . . you to keep me company . . .”





“I ain’t your bloody lap dog anymore, Cecily – and I sure as hell have no intention of keeping you comp’ny! You didn’ want William then and I can assure you, you don’t want Spike now,” Spike told her as he lifted her hand off his, squeezing it perhaps a little harder than was required, before dropping it back in her own lap.


“I made a mistake . . . it was an honest mistake, I mean really, William . . . ‘effulgent’? But I’m big enough to admit my mistakes and I’m woman enough to make them right . . . I can assure you that I’m woman enough to make it all up to you, William,” Hallie told him as she reached her hand out and caressed his thigh.


“Are you, now?” Spike asked with a smirk. “And what do you think you could give me that I don’ already have?”


Hallie smiled seductively and ran her hand further up his thigh until it was pressing against Spike’s groin as she leaned in closer to him. “Over a thousand years of experience from every corner of the world and beyond . . . I can do things to you your little girl couldn’t even imagine, William . . .”


“That little girl’s got a pretty good imagination . . .” Spike told her with a smirk. “You think you can do better . . . show me . . .” he said as he started unfastening his belt.


Buffy’s heart pounded in her chest as she watched and listened . . . What is he doing? Has he lost his fucking mind? One minute he wants her to leave, the next he’s going to fuck her right here?


“Here?!” Hallie asked, alarmed, pulling her hand back and off Spike’s leg.





Spike shrugged. “Me and the Slayer, we done it right there – in front a God ‘n everybody . . .” Spike told her, motioning with his head towards the railing of the upper level. “Thought you had imagination, pet. It’s no good without guts . . .”


Hallie straightened and lifted her chin. If Buffy could do it, so could she . . . she would show him who had guts! “Fine . . .” Hallie said a little too curtly. “Fine,” she said again, in a more seductive tone as she placed her hand back on Spike’s thigh, ran it back up to his crotch and gave his cock a hard squeeze. Hallie stood up, walked over to the railing and looked out at the revelers that were dancing and drinking below as she waited for Spike to join her.


Buffy started to stand up – to go put a stop to this whole thing, but Willow pulled her back down onto the step. “Just wait . . .” Willow told her.


Buffy looked at Willow with concern. “What if he . . . what if they . . .” Buffy started but Willow just shook her head.


“Just wait . . .” Willow told her again. “If you stop this now, you’ll always wonder – what if you hadn’t, would he have? Trust me . . . trust Spike.”


Buffy turned back to the pair. Hallie was at the railing and Spike was stalking slowly up behind her as the silent party raged through the club. Buffy closed her eyes and sent a prayer to anyone who was listening before opening them again to watch and wait, as Willow had advised.





Buffy’s hands were balled into fists; her nails dug into her palms as she held her breath and watched the pair on the balcony. She hoped Willow knew what she was doing . . . because Buffy still wasn’t completely sure.


Buffy was sure that if Spike went through with what he was suggesting right in front of her, she would lose her mind – and no person, demon or fumigation-proof cockroach in the place would be able to escape her madness. She’d seen an insane Slayer before; she’d fought an insane Slayer before . . . she felt like she was on the verge of becoming an insane Slayer at that moment.


Spike put his hands on the railing on both sides of Hallie, blocking her in, as he pressed his body against her and lowered his head so his mouth was near her ear.


“Do you want me?” Spike asked her in a deep, rumbling voice.


Hallie swallowed hard and nodded her head.


“Say it . . .”


“I want you,” Hallie told him.


“I want you, William,” Spike corrected her.


“I want you, William,” Hallie repeated.


"Do you love me?" Spike asked, nuzzling his mouth against her neck.


"I . . . I do . . . I love you, William," Cecily moaned as his lips touched her skin.


“I’ll do anything to be with you,” Spike prompted.


“I’ll do anything to be with you . . . William,” Hallie mimicked as she closed her eyes and leaned back against Spike, molding her body to his as her heart raced in her chest in anticipation.


“Cecily?” Spike whispered against the skin of her neck.


“Mmmm?” Hallie answered with a moan as she pressed her body even harder against his.


Spike kept his tone low and seductive and said, “I wouldn’t shag you if you were the last woman on Earth.


“You’re beneath me,” Spike smirked as he pushed off the railing and away from her.


Buffy broke out laughing with relief and amusement at the stunned looked on Hallie’s face as Spike pushed off the railing and backed away from her. Buffy jumped up and ran to Spike, throwing herself at him and nearly knocking her startled husband down as she wrapped her arms and legs around him and caught his lips in a passionate kiss.


Spike recovered quickly, wrapped his arms around Buffy and returned her kiss, devouring her lips with his and twirling his tongue around hers. She tasted like chocolate and tears and maybe a little bit of sewer muck, but that didn’t matter – she was perfect and she was his – all he ever wanted or longed for.


Hallie watched the warriors with disdain . . . folding her arms across her chest and raising her chin so she could look down her nose at their vulgar display. “If I still had my powers, I’d turn you both into rabbits!” Hallie told them.


Buffy released her hold on Spike and slid back down to the ground, giving him a small nibble on his bottom lip before letting go completely and turning to Hallie. “Excuse me? YOU were going to screw him right there!” Buffy pointed out, waving her hand at the railing.


“That’s the pot calling the kettle black! YOU did!” Hallie retorted.


Buffy smiled . . . she knew what Spike was talking about – but it wasn’t her and it wasn’t him, even though they had the memories of it deep within the darkest recesses of their minds. “Not me, sister . . . and not him, either,” Buffy informed Hallie. “Just you – you’re nothing but a two-bit, husband-stealing . . . trollop!”


“You two deserve each other! Dumb and dumber! William never did have any sense, and I see a century as a vampire hasn’t changed him. A vampire married to a Slayer! How much more ridiculous can you be, William, really? I’m sure you and your chubby little whore will have a wonderful time raising those brats you call children – she can pop ‘em out, but doesn’t have a clue what to do with them then!”


Buffy and Spike both started moving towards Hallie with clenched fists and razor sharp retorts, when Willow stepped forward and beat them to it. “You’re the dumb one here – thinking you could steal Spike away from Buffy! And, you want to talk about chubby – what was that about the pot and the kettle? And you don’t even have any kids – what got you chubby, a millennium of bon-bons?! What a sacrifice! For Hecate's sake! You’re nothing but a . . . a . . . FAT RAT!” Willow exclaimed, waving her arm empathetically at Hallie.


Suddenly, Hallie disappeared, the clothes she was wearing dropped lifelessly to the floor where she had been standing.


“Ooops,” Willow said with wide eyes, holding both hands over her mouth.


“What did you do, Will?!” Buffy asked with raised brows, moving forward towards her friend and the pile of clothes on the floor.


“Ummmm . . . I think I might have turned her into a . . .” Willow started to explain when a fat, brown rat crawled out of the pile of clothes and sat up on its hind legs looking at the trio that now surrounded it, “. . . rat.”





Buffy burst out laughing as Hallie-rat sat there and looked from one to the other of them with beady black eyes, rubbing her whiskers with her paws and flicking the end of her tail back and forth.


Spike’s eyes went wide when he saw her. “That’s bloody brilliant, Red! Fittin’ if ya ask me. Just glad you didn’t call her a big ole BEAR . . .”


People around them were starting to take notice of the big brown rat that was on the floor of the club – and just after the fumigation, no less!


“Oh Goddess!” Willow exclaimed. “Ummmm . . . . Undo! . . . Reverse! . . . Human! . . . Explico! . . . Aperio!” Willow looked at Buffy and Spike with wide eyes. “It’s not working! I can’t change her back!”


Buffy started laughing again and put her hand over her mouth to try and stop – it really wasn’t funny . . . not the least little bit . . . nope . . . not laughing . . . this is NOT funny! Buffy turned around and buried her face against Spike’s chest as she laughed harder – the harder she tried NOT to laugh, the more she laughed.


“It’s not funny, Buffy!” Willow admonished her friend. “I can’t change her back!”


Willow looked around and saw some of the club employee’s coming with sticks and brooms to take care of the rat. “Oh no!” Willow exclaimed as she moved forward and wrapped Hallie-rat up in Hallie’s clothes and picked her up. “C’mon! Let’s go!” Willow told Spike and Buffy as she started back down the stairs.


“Audite!” Willow commanded, sweeping her arm across the club and all the noise that had been there before suddenly returned – the music was blaring again, the people were talking and laughing and yelling as she made her way quickly downstairs to find Tara and get out of there before someone actually killed Hallie-rat.


Spike dropped some bills on the table where he and Hallie had been sitting and he and Buffy followed Willow downstairs and then outside into the cool night air.


“What are we gonna do?!” Willow asked wide-eyed when they were all outside.


Buffy shrugged. “I guess Annie has a new pet . . . Fat Rat.”


“That’s a terrible name!” Willow told Buffy. “Annie can’t be calling things ‘fat’!”


“Well, call it what you want . . . well, anything but Ben . . . don’t call it Ben or Willard – no rat movie names – I hate rat movies, they give me the willies!” Buffy told her friend as they all started walking back towards the mansion.


“You’re covered in muck from the sewers and rat movies give you the willies?” Willow questioned Buffy.


“Totally! Have you seen those movies? The rats eat people . . . it’s – it’s disgusting . . .” Buffy defended, putting her hands up in front of her mouth and making chewing motions with her fingers as she scrunched her nose up.


“I have to agree with Buffy . . . those movies are the worst,” Tara interjected.


“I like rat movies, m’self . . .” Spike said, taking hold of Buffy’s hand as they continued walking towards home. “They make me feel all warm and fuzzy . . . they’re really kinda romantic.”


“SPII-IKE!” a chorus of female voices rang out into the night as the group continued walking, debating the finer points of rat movies and whether it was appropriate to have cheese flavored popcorn while watching a rat movie . . . and what about Stuart Little – that was an okay rat movie . . . no, that didn’t count as a rat movie – that was a cartoon! Not a cartoon – an animation, where have you been, anyway . . .

Time Line:


Night of May 24th, 2004 (the night Hallie got turned into a rat at the Bronze)



History:



Joshua "JJ" Harris was born on April 21st, 2004

The twins (Danielle and William) were born on February 12th, 2004

Annie turned five on February 14th.

Spike and Buffy have been married five years in February. (seems longer, doesn't it?)

Buffy turned 23 on January 19th.

All the Potentials were endowed with full Slayer power in February 2003.

Buffy and Spike learned of the other dimensions in May, 2003.

**


Night of May 24th, 2004:

That night, Spike sat in their bed, leaning up against the headboard and waiting, as usual, for Buffy to come to bed after she’d checked on the children and taken her shower. He wondered what their conversation about Hallie, and what Buffy had obviously witnessed at the Bronze, was going to be like. Was Buffy going to be mad? Royally brassed off? Angry enough to stake him for that display?


She’d seemed happy when he rejected Hallie, but she hadn’t really had time to consider it fully then. He knew that her mind must be spinning trying to suss out what had led him and Hallie to be there having that discussion in the first place.


Spike sighed heavily. God, he had really hoped to avoid admitting to Buffy what a ponce William was . . . even though he’d told her before that William was a poof . . . he never had to give her examples of his poofiness. The thought of dragging all that ancient history up now and laying it out at her feet was daunting. Would she laugh? Would she feel sorry for him? He didn’t want any of that – he really didn’t want to discuss it at all, if given the choice.


Spike was pulled from his thoughts as Buffy entered their room, freshly showered in shorts and a tank top and carrying the baby monitor. She had done as Lorne suggested and moved the twins’ cribs next to each other in the nursery and there hadn’t been a peep from them since they’d gotten home – utterly astounding.


“How’re the nippers?” Spike asked, tilting his head towards the monitor in her hand.


“Perfect ang . . . ummm, perfectly fine,” Buffy told him with a small smile.


Buffy sat the monitor down on the nightstand and crawled into bed, sliding over and sitting next to Spike at an angle. She leaned her back against his chest with a sigh. Spike put his arms around her and held her to him, burying his face in her hair, he closed his eyes and inhaled her wonderful scent – a scent that was no one but Buffy.


After a few moments, the silence was broken when both Buffy and Spike spoke at once. “About Hallie . . .”


They both laughed and Spike pulled her more tightly against his chest. Buffy leaned her head back against his shoulder and closed her eyes. “You go first, luv,” Spike whispered to her as she rested against him.


Buffy took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She kept her eyes closed as she spoke. “I know you loved her . . . she was your first love, wasn’t she?”


Spike pursed his lips together and furrowed his brow. “How d’ ya know that, luv? Did she tell ya’?”


“Not important . . . she was, wasn’t she?”


“Yeah, I reckon so . . .” Spike admitted with a sigh.


“And you . . . did you . . . you don’t . . .” Buffy sighed. She was afraid to ask the question – Do you still love her . . . but, surely he didn’t - he spurned her in the Bronze . . . but your first love isn’t easy to get over, no matter what – Buffy knew from experience. As much as she loved Spike, she always gave Angel the benefit of the doubt, always gave him a second chance, always stood up for him even when he didn’t deserve it . . . your first love is hard to just toss away.


“Buffy, I love you. You’re the only woman I love – you’re the only woman I want – you’re the only woman I need,” Spike told her tenderly.


“Dru took you away from her . . . don’t you wonder – ‘what if?’ What if that hadn’t happened? What your life would’ve been like?” Buffy asked softly.


Spike chuckled slightly, wrapping his arms even tighter around her. “Never . . . I’ve never regretted meetin’ up with Dru. I wouldn’t be here with you if I hadn’t of. My life with you has outshined anything I could’ve ever had as William – my whole life has been leading me to you. You are my destiny.”


Buffy nodded slowly, her eyes still closed, considering his words for a few moments. “Lorne says we share a soul – that we’re true soulmates . . . Do you think that’s true?” Buffy asked, opening her eyes, sitting up slightly and turning her head so she could see Spike’s face.


Spike smiled softly. Looking into the depths of her green eyes, he tilted his head and considered her question a moment before answering. “Yeah . . . yeah, I think that’s true, luv.”


Buffy nodded. “Me too,” she admitted quietly, lowering her eyes from his. “I love you - I love Spike and I love William . . . you know that, right?” she asked him, raising her eyes back to his to await his answer.


Spike nodded. “And I love you – all of you. Slayer, lover, friend, wife, mum - every befuddling and frustrating bit – eyeballs to entrails . . . I love you all.”


Buffy smiled and nodded as she leaned back against him again and laid her hands and arms over his where he held her around the waist.

“Spike, did you ever . . . ummm . . . ever write any poems for me?” Buffy asked cautiously . . . afraid his answer would be ‘no’.

“One or two . . .”

“Could I . . . I mean, if you don’t mind – could I hear one?”

Spike closed his eyes, leaned his head back against the headboard and sighed.


“I’d really like to, you know . . . just one,” Buffy prodded.


Spike cleared his throat and recited as if reading Shakespeare – slowly, seriously and with reverence, “Roses are red, Violets are blue, Cashews are nuts and so are you.”


Buffy rolled her eyes and jabbed him lightly in the ribs with her elbow. “Spike!” she said sharply – using the same tone she took with Annie when Annie had left her toys in the middle of the floor. “I’m serious.”


“Oh – serious, are we? Ahh, well – I didn’t realize you were serious, luv. Ok, ummmm . . . let's see . . .” Spike cleared his throat and started again.




“All I am, all I'll be
Everything in this world
All that I'll ever need
Is in your eyes
Shining at me


“When you smile I can feel
All my passion unfolding
Your hand brushes mine
And a thousand sensations
Seduce me 'cause I


“I do
cherish you
For the rest of my life
You don't have to think twice
I will
love you still


“From the depths of my soul
It's beyond my control
I've waited so long to say this to you
If you're asking do I love you this much
I do


“In my world, before you
I lived outside my emotions
Didn't know where I was going
'Til that day I found you


“How you opened my life
To a new paradise
In a world torn by change
Still with all my heart
'Til my dying day


“I do
cherish you."




Buffy listened to Spike as he recited the poem, but the further he went with it the more her brows furrowed in confusion – the words sounded familiar to her . . . wasn’t that a song? She was really sure she’d heard Tara playing that on her Ipod not long ago.


“That’s beautiful,” Buffy told Spike softly, turning her head to look at his face. “You wrote that for me?”


“It’s how I feel about you, Buffy,” Spike told her lifting one hand to touch her face tenderly.


Buffy nodded. “And you wrote it . . . for me?”


“I do cherish you, Buffy – I’ll love you forever,” Spike answered, evading her question.


Buffy pulled the arm that Spike still had around her waist up and away from her and spun herself around quickly so she was straddling his hips with hers and looking directly into his eyes.


“Show me . . .” she challenged as she leaned over towards his nightstand to retrieve his journal. Spike grabbed her wrist and stopped her – pulling her arm back and holding it against his chest.


“Don’t,” he told her.


Buffy sat back on his thighs, her legs still straddling his and sighed. “You don’t have to hide your heart from me,” she assured him lovingly.


“I know, luv – it’s just – that stuff don’ amount to much of anythin’ – just words and prattling on – it’s not any good.”


“Did you write it from your heart? Is your soul in those words?” Buffy asked him, her voice low and kind, as she leaned her forehead against his and wrapped her arms around his neck.


“Yeah . . . but . . .” Spike closed his eyes and sighed heavily.


“But?”





“Buffy, I couldn’t take it if you laughed, I just couldn’t – I’d rather you stake me right now than have you laugh.”


“I’d never hurt you, William – I love your poet’s heart.”


Spike sighed again before reaching over and picking up his journal from the nightstand. Buffy sat back and waited as he flipped through the pages for a few moments before settling on one.


He looked up at Buffy – his eyes locked onto hers as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly . . . he really would rather be staked at that moment than have her laugh at his words . . .


Spike lowered his eyes to the page and, with trepidation, began to recite the words he’d written there . . .


“You came to me, as if in a dream,
You’re like the sun, a ray,
A golden beam, to light my way,
Out of the dark and into the day,
You kindled a spark, but I didn’t stay.


“You didn’t give up on us, on me,
What I did to deserve you, I can never see,
But by your side I made a promise to be,
Because to my heart, only you hold the key.


“You gave me your hand, I gave you my name,
Then came the day, when everything changed,
You gave me a child, a father I became,
And my heart burned, with an ever brighter flame.


“You proved your love, time and time again,
How to tell you your worth, I can’t even begin,
‘I love you’ seems so small, compared to the feelings within,
My heart and soul are yours – shackled under my skin.


“But I’ll never attempt to break out, to be free,
I want nothing more than your arms holding me,
Your love and your smiles – that’s all that I need,
You are my world, my life, my soul. I love you, Buffy.”



Spike closed his eyes and held his breath – not that he needed to breathe, but breathing was comfortable, it was relaxing and he didn’t feel the least bit comfortable or relaxed at that moment.

Spike could still hear the echo of people laughing at him, at his heartfelt words, another lifetime ago. He remembered the humiliation he'd felt and the way it had stung, and he hadn't even cared about those people. If Buffy laughed too... he was sure he couldn’t bear it.

He waited for the inevitable; he waited for the laughter, he waited for Buffy to clear her throat and stammer out a few unintelligible words before excusing herself, going into the bathroom and puking. But he didn’t hear anything . . .

Finally, Spike opened his eyes and looked up at his wife. Tears glistened in her eyes and she gave him a small smile.


“Bored ya ta tears, eh?” Spike quipped – hoping that wasn’t the actual truth.

Buffy shook her head slowly as she took the journal from his hands, closed it and laid it back on his nightstand. Turning back to him she leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss on his lips before telling him, “That was the most beautiful poem I’ve ever heard, William. I love you, too. You are my world, you are my heart, you are my soul.”

Spike smiled and drew in a deep breath. She liked it, she bloody well liked it, he thought as he pulled her to him and kissed her.

Buffy pulled back and laid a hand tenderly on his cheek. “You have no idea how scared I was that I’d lost you . . . that you didn’t love me anymore – that you wanted Hallie, instead.”

“Buffy . . . how could you ever think that, luv? You’re all I ever want – don’ you know that?”

Buffy shrugged and lowered her eyes as she picked absentmindedly at the string holding Spike’s PJ’s around his slim hips, twirling it around her finger, before unwinding it again.

“Buffy – please tell me what’s wrong – you’ve been in a funk and I just can’t suss it out, luv.”

“It’s nothing . . .” Buffy started and Spike put a finger to her lips, stopping her.


“It’s not nothin’ – you made me share – now it’s your turn, pet. Truth or Dare - only, you can’t choose dare . . . what’s botherin’ ya?”

Buffy rubbed a hand tiredly over her eyes and let out a long sigh before looking back at Spike and taking a deep breath. “I just feel like . . . like I’m not who you want . . .” Buffy stopped Spike from protesting by laying two fingers softly on his lips before she continued, “. . . not that you don’t want . . . ‘Buffy’ but that I’m not quite the ‘Buffy’ you bargained for or fell in love with . . .”

Spike looked at her with confusion and pulled her hand away from his lips. “You’re . . . what, not my Buffy? – ‘cause, gotta say, you look like my Buffy and smell like my Buffy . . . you’re confusin’ as hell – like my Buffy . . .”




Buffy gave him a small laugh and rolled her eyes before explaining further. “You fell in love with Buffy the Vampire Slayer . . . or Slutty the Vampire Layer . . .” she told him with a smile. “I’m not that girl anymore, Spike – I . . . God, I have all these scars and this fucking roll of fat around my middle that will not go away not matter how much I work out or how little chocolate I eat – Hallie was right . . .”


“BOLLOCKS!” Spike exclaimed, interrupting her. “Hallie is full of shite! You think that because you’ve finally got some meat on your bones, that I, what? Don’t want you anymore? Don’t think you’re the most beautiful woman in the bloody galaxy? ‘Cause, you’d be wrong about that, luv.”


“Spike! Look at me! Look at this!” she told him, laying her hands on her abdomen. “I’m not Buffy the Vampire Slayer anymore! I’m Buffy –the Mom – and I’m not even very good at that, it seems.”


“I’m not even going to dignify that with a response, Buffy – ‘cause everythin’ you just said is nothing but a load of bollocks. Get up . . . UP! Get off me, woman!” Spike ordered as he took her by the shoulders and rolled her off his legs and down onto the bed.


He stood up and walked over to the old-fashioned, free standing floor mirror that stood in one corner of their room. He pulled it up closer and positioned it so it was directly in front of one corner of the bed.


“Ok – drop those bloody clothes and sit down ‘ere. C’mon – not gonna ask twice, Slayer,” he instructed her, pointing to the corner of the bed reflected in the mirror.

“Spike!” Buffy whined.







“Don’t ‘Spike’ me – and sticking that bottom lip out ain't gonna change nothing - do as I say . . . class is in session. C’mon – Slutty the Vampire Layer – you’ve obviously forgotten some a your lessons – time for continuin’ education.”


Buffy rolled her eyes and sighed before standing up and reaching for the light switch to turn it off.

“Nope – havin’ none a that for this lesson, Slayer,” Spike told her as he caught her hand before she could reach the switch. “And don’ start – you asked for lessons, don’t forget.”

Buffy put her hands on her hips and shot Spike a look that would’ve killed any mortal man . . . but he stood firm and raised his eyebrows saying “I’m waiting!” with nothing more than a look.




“Fine . . . you asked for it,” Buffy told him as she slid her shorts down and kicked them off before pulling her tank top up over her head.

“Full Monty,” Spike told her, cocking a brow and tilting his head towards her panties that she’d left on.


Buffy rolled her eyes again before sliding her panties down and stepping out of them. “Happy now, Professor?”

“Very,” Spike said with a smirk. His eyes wandered down her body then back to her meet her eyes as his cock jumped to attention within his PJ’s. He almost forgot what it was he was getting ready to do – his lesson plan seemed to fly out the window for a moment as he took her in. Spike shook his head to re-focus and motioned for her to sit on the corner of the bed, facing the mirror.

Resigned to her fate, Buffy did as he asked, sitting on the corner of the bed, but keeping her eyes averted from the full length mirror that held her reflection, staring at the very interesting pattern in the carpet, instead.

Spike dropped his own PJ’s to the floor and climbed behind Buffy on the bed, so she was sitting between his legs and he could see her reflection in the mirror as he looked over her shoulder. Of course, Buffy couldn’t see him in the mirror, which she thought wasn’t quite fair.

“Now then,” Spike started. “Let’s see what we ‘ave ‘ere. Look in the mirror, luv.”





Buffy closed her eyes before lifting her head to face the mirror. “It’s not that hard, Slayer – just open your peepers,” Spike whispered into her ear. Buffy opened her eyes with a roll, looking first to the left, then the right of the mirror before finally meeting her own eyes in the reflection before her.


“Look at how beautiful you are . . . you’re a goddess, Buffy – can’t you see it?” Spike asked her as he looked at her reflection in the mirror.


Buffy shook her head slowly with a frown on her face.


“No? Let me show ya, luv,” he said softly.


Spike picked her hair up and ran his fingers through her soft, luxurious, golden tresses. Buffy could see her hair moving in the mirror – almost as if it had a mind of its own and she had to smile at the weirdness of the image.

Spike spoke slowly, deliberately, his voice deep with emotion and desire. “Your hair is your halo . . . glowing, golden – like spun gold. I love the feel of it on my skin . . . when you’re above me and you move down my body . . . your hair glides over my skin like the wings of an angel – just barely there, caressing me softly with a thousand heavenly fingers – it sends rivers of pleasure through my whole body when it touches me.”

Spike pulled her hair away from her neck to reveal the scar left from his fangs. He slowly circled the scar with is tongue before he spoke again. “Your neck is my chalice . . . where you offer yourself – all of yourself – your life blood, to me. You share your most precious gift with me – you trust me to take only a sip, but that sip is so sweet. There’s nothing in this world I could compare it to, made all the sweeter because you give it in love and take nothing in return.”

Spike let her hair fall and moved his hand to lightly touch her cheek. “Your face . . . Buffy, your face is the face of an angel – framed by your golden halo. Your green eyes pull me into their depths until I feel like I could drown in them. When you pour your love over me, when our two bodies are as one, I look into your eyes and I do drown . . . I drown in you – in your love, every time – every – single – time.


“Your mouth is such a contradiction – I think perhaps I love it most of all. One moment soft and supple, giving and pliant – the next moment demanding, taking, insisting on more – but always full of passion.

“Then, when you smile – oh, Buffy – when you smile you light up my world. It’s like the sun on my skin, it makes me warm and fills my heart with joy to see you laughin’ – that’s when you’re the most beautiful - when you show the world your smile.”

Buffy’s eyes moved as Spike spoke – first to her hair, then to her neck and the scar there – Spike’s scar, then to her eyes and her mouth. Spike’s voice was mesmerizing . . . deep and rumbly, it seemed to come from deep within his heart as he spoke and she was spellbound by it.




“This scar . . .” Spike started again as he touched a finger to the starburst shaped scar on Buffy’s chest that she’d gotten from the amulet she’d worn in the Hellmouth, the amulet that Angel had brought her, “. . . is your heart, Buffy. It shows the world what you did, what you were willing to sacrifice, to save it. It is who you are more than anythin’ else – The Slayer. The one who stands against the demons, against the armies of hell itself – the Chosen One - the protector of this world.

“You face the demons that no one else wants to even admit are there – and you do it without question, without a thought of your own safety, and without hesitation. That is your heart – that is who you are at your core.

“This scar is your soul,” Spike told her as he moved his hand down and touched the scar on her abdomen from the emergency C-section. “I think I love this scar most of all – it’s where you gave me m’ son. Without it, William would’ve never seen this world, sweet Danielle would be missing a part of herself, and I would’ve never held that beautiful boy made from our love – made from us. It’s something I never thought I’d see, Buffy – but you . . . you gave it to me, like you always do – without asking for anythin’ in return.”

Buffy blinked back tears as she listened to Spike describe what he saw when he looked at her scars. The scars that she thought made her look like a prizefighter that had lost a few too many fights – beaten and scarred for life, Spike saw different meanings for. He found the beauty in them – the heart and soul of them – he actually loved them.

“And this . . .” Spike said, as he moved his hands down to encompass her lower abdomen, where the dreaded ‘baby fat’ was hanging on, before sliding his hands down to the flare of her hips, “. . . all this just means you’re a woman, Buffy. You’ll always be m’ girl . . . but you’re a woman now – a Mum – a good Mum, loving and kind, and yeah, a little cranky at times,” Spike said with a small chuckle that made Buffy smile, too. “But I couldn’t have asked for a better woman to share my life with, to raise children with, to be with until death . . . or dust, do us part.

“You think I fell in love with the girl, but you’re wrong. I fell in love with your heart, with what you are inside. I fell in love with how you try, what you do, your kindness and your strength. I’ve seen the best and the worst of you, and I love you even more for sharing it all with me. You are a helluva woman, Buffy Summers – you’ll always be the one.”

Buffy closed her eyes to hold back the tears as she leaned back against Spike’s chest and pulled his arms around her middle.

“I love you, Spike,” she whispered to him.

“I love you, too, Buffy,” he returned, his mouth near her ear.

They sat in silence for a time as Spike’s words echoed in Buffy’s mind. Everything that she had been hating about herself, suddenly had a new light – or a light of any kind, shined on it. Spike had found good in everything that she had seen as only bad; he had found beauty in what she saw as only ugliness; he had found desire in what she saw only as undesirable.

“Spike?”

“Yeah, luv?”

“I think you missed some parts . . .” Buffy told him with a sly smile.

“Did I now?” Spike smirked, looking into her eyes in the reflection before them.


“Ummhmm.”


“Ahhh, you mean your naughty bits?” Spike asked with a smirk.


Buffy shrugged, a small smile still playing on her lips.


“Well, now . . . let’s see here,” he started, sitting her back up straight and disentangling his arms from hers. “These are two of the most amazin’ things God ever invented . . .” he told her, cupping her breasts in his hands. “They can make a young boy cum in his jeans with just a quick look; they’re soft and oh so supple . . . and just look how they bounce when you move – make a grown man cum in his jeans jus’ watchin’ ‘em.


“And, when I do this . . .” he said, moving his fingers lightly across her nipples, “they stand at attention, beggin’ for more – sendin’ little tingle-telegrams downstairs saying, ‘Get ready!’”


Buffy moaned and leaned back against his chest as he caressed her softly; lightly squeezing and releasing her full, round breasts as he brushed a thumb across her nipples with feather touches. Spike watched her face in the mirror as she closed her eyes and leaned against him. That look – that look of pleasure – he loved to see that look on her face almost as much as he loved to see her smile.


Spike leaned down and began drawing small circles of fire on the skin of her neck with his tongue and Buffy moaned deeper and tilted her head to the side, pulling her hair away, to give him access to that sensitive skin.


“God, Spike . . .” she moaned when he hit the spot behind her ear that made her crazy and he lingered there even longer than normal . . . teasing, tasting, kissing and flicking his tongue lightly around and over that spot.


He loved when she moaned his name, he loved knowing that he was giving her pleasure – a Slayer’s life didn’t normally include a lot of pleasure – it was short, lonely and usually met with a violent end – he knew, he’d ended two that way. It gave Spike just as much pleasure as it did her, knowing that he gave Buffy that ultimate, unadulterated, complete bliss – knowing that he could still take her to heaven.


Spike’s cock stiffened against Buffy’s back and she reached her hand back between them to stroke his hardness as he teased and tantalized the skin behind her ear with his heavenly tongue - sending quakes full of desire out to every part of her body.


She rubbed her thumb across his slit and felt a drop of his pre-cum there. Buffy rubbed small circles around the head of his cock with her thumb, spreading the slick liquid all around and over his sensitive skin – relishing the feel of it.


She was silently glad that she had gotten to the doctor and started on the pill – there would be no need for the condoms tonight. The thought of his cum spilling into her core made Buffy moan even deeper and squeeze Spike’s cock hard in her hand – producing a deep, rumbling moan from his throat as he kissed and suckled at her neck with his soft lips.


Spiked looked up into the mirror to watch Buffy’s face as he ran his hands down from her breasts, past her waist and hips, and down as far as he could reach onto her thighs before starting back up with butterfly touches – finally stopping at her mound of dark curls. Buffy spread her legs further apart for him, and Spike slipped a finger between her pussylips sliding up from her dripping hole to her hard, aching clit. He pulled his slick finger out and held it up for her to see.


“This naughty bit is what the best dreams are made of, luv,” he whispered to her. “You’re always so wet for me, Buffy – your quim is like a heavenly banquet . . . ambrosia, nirvana, paradise . . .” he told her as he brought his wet finger to his mouth and sucked her juices from it with a deep, reverent moan.


Spike slid his hand back down and spread her outer lips open, revealing her soft, wet, pink skin to the mirror. “Look at what I see, Buffy . . .” he told her softly. “You don’ know what that does to me . . . your skin glistening with desire for me; your little nub pokin’ out . . . begging to be licked and touched; your slit, pulsing with anticipation, squeezing and throbbin’ – wantin’ to be filled.





“So hot . . . so tight – when you envelop me, when we’re joined and I look into the depths of your eyes . . . Buffy, that’s . . . it’s the most perfect feeling in the world. Knowin’ that I still take you to heaven with me – that’s all the sustenance I need, luv. You are my only desire – making you happy, my ultimate reward.”


Buffy looked at what Spike was showing her . . . her skin seemed to move on its own, her outer lips spread of their own volition in the mirror as he opened her to it with his hand. In the mirror, she was alone – her eyes roamed the mirror, looking behind her for her husband’s handsome face, for his blue eyes, his scarred brow – but he wasn’t there.


In the mirror, she was The Slayer – standing alone against the demons – alone and lonely; but when she turned her head and looked at Spike’s face, she had a feeling of belonging, of being a part of a bigger whole – of having someone to stand with her against the demons. Even the strongest of demons, her own, internal demons – were no match for them when they stood together as one.


“Lift up, pet . . .” he instructed and Buffy slid her feet to the floor and lifted her ass off the bed. Spike slid forward and, pulled her slowly back down with one hand as he guided his cock into her wet, throbbing slit with the other. Buffy slid onto him slowly – relishing the feel of his cock as it entered her. She never tired of that feeling as he pushed in – his cock stretching her, filling her, as her supple pussy walls molded around his hardness – squeezing and pulling him in deeper with Slayer strength and Slayer desire.


Buffy moaned and let her head fall back against Spike’s shoulder as his cock pressed into her until her ass was on his lap and her juices were running down his cock and covering his balls with slick, warm goodness.


They both stopped moving when he was buried to the hilt in her heat. Spike reached around her and spread her pussylips with one hand. “Look at how bloody hot you are, Buffy . . .” he whispered to her. Buffy lifted her head and opened her eyes, looking in the mirror at what Spike was looking at. Her pussy was held open by invisible fingers, revealing her slit, stretched wide around an invisible cock. Spike dropped a finger softly onto her clit.


“God!” she exclaimed and her eyes closed as her hips jerked involuntarily and electricity shot down her legs while her cunt squeezed even tighter around his hardness. Spike began moving his finger lightly back and forth across her sensitive nub, keeping her spread open to the mirror as he watched and felt her body react to his touch. Buffy’s legs quivered with every soft touch of Spike’s finger on her clit and her pussy pulsed around his cock as he teased her gently with a feathery touch.


“Jesus, Spike . . .” she moaned pressing her ass down even harder against him as she reached down and held his thighs, pulling them up against her at the same time as she pressed down.


“Ahhhh, God – fuck!” she exclaimed as he continued teasing her clit with his finger and she began squirming in his lap, wanting more – needing more.


“Do you see yourself, Buffy?” he asked, his voice husky with desire; he also wanted, and needed, more. “Open your eyes, pet . . . see what I see. Head to toe, luv – can’t you see how beautiful you are?”


Buffy opened her eyes and Spike stilled his ministrations to her clit a moment so she wouldn’t close them again. “You are a goddess . . . you’re my goddess – I worship you,” he whispered into her ear as Buffy looked at herself in the mirror. Her golden skin was flushed and covered in a thin sheen of perspiration, her cheeks were rosy pink, her eyes smoldered with desire, and her hair was tousled. The scars on her body were still there, but now they had new meaning – they were badges of honor, of courage – they symbolized her heart and soul.


The bulge of baby fat around her middle and the wider swell of her hips were there because of the family she and Spike had made – a family neither of them had ever dared to dream was possible not so very long ago. She was a woman, a mom, a Slayer, a friend, a wife, a lover . . . and she finally felt like she could be all those things and not have to sacrifice one to be the other. She was loved and in love with a man who . . . who worshiped her, cherished her and she cherished him. It made her heart fill with joy to know that she was able to give him a family – to give him not only two daughters that he adored, but a son – a legacy.

“I love you, William,” Buffy whispered to him, turning her face to his and away from the mirror before laying a hand gently on his cheek.

“I love you, Buffy,” Spike told her as he buried his face against her neck and began nibbling with blunt teeth down to her shoulder.

Spike resumed his teasing touches to her clit and began pressing his hips up and around in a slow circle under her.

“Need to see you . . .” Buffy moaned as Spike’s cock started moving ever so slowly in and out of her cunt. Spike put his arms behind him, lifted his hips up and pulled them both back away from the edge of the bed before he laid down flat on his back. Buffy lifted up a bit onto her knees and started to turn in place, to face Spike, but she rose up too far and Spike’s cock popped out of her.


Buffy moaned as she finished turning around and climbed back atop his hips. “Ah,ah,ah Slayer . . . bad form on the sit ‘n spin there . . . I believe you need some remedial trainin’ . . . or punishment . . . I think a blowjob would be fittin’ . . .”


Buffy cocked a brow at him, pressed her hands against his hard stomach and slid herself down between his legs on the bed. “I think I know what you are, William,” Buffy told him with a sly smile.


“Do ya’, now? Incredibly sexy, good lookin’, and smart?”


“Don’t forget modest,” Buffy said with a laugh. “But, no – you’re a Tootsie-Pop.”

Spike liked the sound of that . . . the thought of her licking and sucking his cock like a Tootsie-Pop made his cock twitch against his hard abs.

“You’re hard on the outside, but have a soft, gooey center . . .” Buffy continued as she took his cock in her hand and brought it to her lips. She circled the mushroom head with her tongue, tasting his pre-cum, as well as her own juices, on him.

“I wonder how many licks it takes to get to the gooey center of a Tootsie-Pop?” Buffy asked with a devilish smile.

Buffy held his cock against his body and dragged her tongue from his balls all the way to the head of his cock in one long, hard lick. “Ah-one,” she announced with a giggle. She repeated the long lick again. “Ah-two,” she said, barely able to contain a laugh before licking the length of him again. “Ah-Three!”


Suddenly, the old commercial with the owl licking the Tootsie-Pop leapt into Spike’s mind and he reached down and grabbed her by the shoulders and hauled her up onto his chest and away from his cock. “Oh no you don’t – you scamp! They’ll be no biting of the teacher! Not there, anyways!”


{{


Don't remember the commercial? Then you probably shouldn't be reading this! Ok, here it is: YouTube Link:


How Many Licks – Toostie Pop


}}

Buffy threw her head back and laughed – her eyes danced with joy and Spike smiled at her. This was heaven, his two favorite ways to see Buffy – laughing and sexy –naked on top of him, her skin aglow with desire and that little funny, evil streak she had just peeking through.











As Buffy’s laughter faded, she looked down at him, his bluer than blue eyes were the most beautiful color she’d ever seen. She knew exactly what Spike was talking about when he said he could drown in her eyes, she felt the exact same way about his - they were like liquid pools of cool, crystal blue water and she wanted nothing more than to drown in their depths. Buffy leaned down and pulled Spike’s bottom lip into her mouth, tasting and teasing him as she sucked and nibbled on it lightly with her teeth.

Spike wrapped his arms around her and pulled her body hard against his as he deepened the kiss, exploring her mouth with his tongue, tasting her and swirling his tongue slowly around hers. Buffy lifted up her ass and straddled his hips, never breaking the kiss, before guiding his cock back into her tingling channel.

They both gasped into each other’s mouth as she pressed down on him and took his shaft into her again. Suddenly, as if ignited by a single spark, they both demanded more from the other. The kiss became frantic, heated and hungry as the flames of their mutual desire danced and flared higher. They both began moving their bodies in an ever increasing rhythm – plunging his cock deeply into her tight channel before pulling away and then crashing together again.


Buffy sat back on his pelvis, pulling away from the kiss, to take him in deeper – she needed to feel him at her core, feel him pressing against her womb. Spike drove his hips against her feverishly and Buffy matched his tempo with her own burning desire, impaling herself on his hard cock as he drove deep into her.


Spike reached a hand between their bodies to finger her clit. “Cum for me, Buffy . . . cum all over me . . . cover me with it . . . God Buffy . . . so fucking hot . . . so tight . . . Jesus . . . Bloody Christ, woman!”


Spike felt his balls tighten with that familiar burn and his cock surged with his cream as he watched her body moving on him, devouring him, taking everything from him - giving everything to him . . . “God –Buffy!”


Some foggy recess of Spike’s mind realized that Buffy hadn’t cum yet – she was so close, he could see it on her face, but he couldn’t hold back . . .


Spike morphed into the demon, grabbed her by the shoulders and flipped them both over as his cum began to spill into her. Holding himself above her with strong arms, he drove his cock into her with renewed force, grinding his pubic bone against her clit on each down stroke.


“Yes!! God, Spike! Fuck me! Harder! More! More! God! Yessssss!” Buffy screamed at him as she wrapped herself around him and allowed him to take her into heaven with him. She could feel his cock pulse – expand within her as he came, and all conscious thought left her – words had no meaning – all that mattered was the feeling of him within her, filling her with his seed and sending her over the edge of oblivion and down into the clouds of heaven.


Her primal screams of release echoed off the walls of their room as Spike ground harder against her on every stroke. A deep, growling roar joined Buffy’s scream as another rush of cum swelled up from his balls, into his cock and spewed deep within her as he thrust one last time with all his strength into her core.


Buffy’s scream had faded, there was no more oxygen left in her lungs to sustain it, but her orgasm continued as Spike’s cum gushed into her for the second time in as many minutes. Buffy’s body thrashed and bucked frantically against him, her channel squeezing him tighter and tighter until it held him captive deep within her. Spike dropped to his elbows, needing to feel her body against his, as they both floated amongst the clouds.


As they slowly floated back down to earth, like feathers on a soft, summer breeze, Buffy pulled Spike down so all his weight was on her body as she fought to get oxygen back into her lungs. She began running her hands slowly up and down the soft skin of his back; over the hills and valleys made up of the muscles there, then down to his ass, cupping his cheeks in her hands and squeezing lightly, before starting back up his body.


“God Buffy . . .” Spike moaned against her. “That was . . . I’ve never that quick – Bloody hell, twice! . . . God Buffy!”

Buffy smiled. “You were pretty God-like yourself . . .” she told him as her breathing began to return to normal.

Spike rolled slightly to the side and propped himself up on one elbow so he could look at her. Buffy rolled her hips with him, keeping her legs wrapped round his waist and his cock buried within her. She let her hand slide around from his back to his chest as he moved and continued her soft exploration of his skin and body.


“You are magnificent, truly amazin’, a helluva woman,” he told her with an adoring look.







“Oh, go on . . .” she said with a smile, “. . . really – I mean it – go on . . . I’m listening . . .”

Spike laughed and leaned in to drop a soft kiss on her lips.

“You know how you make me feel?” Buffy asked when he pulled back, her smile fading to a loving, but serious look.

Spike shook his head as he studied her face.

“Effulgent,” she told him – there was no mockery – it was said with love, because it was true – he made her feel effulgent.


Spike cocked his head to the side and considered her a moment before smiling at her. “You are effulgent, luv.”


_______________________________________


For whatever reason, this chapter made me think of this song . . . I guess it's Spike's crystal blue eyes . . .


Here's a YouTube LInk:


Crystal Blue Persuasion, Tommy James and the Shondells

Time Line:

May 25th, 2004

History:
Joshua "JJ" Harris was born on April 21st, 2004
The twins (Danielle and William) were born on February 12th, 2004
Annie turned five on February 14th.
Spike and Buffy have been married five years in February. (seems longer, doesn't it?)
Buffy turned 23 on January 19th.

All the Potentials were endowed with full Slayer power in February 2003.
Buffy and Spike learned of the other dimensions in May, 2003.

**~**

May 25th, 2004:


Buffy woke from her foggy, happy sleep in Spike’s arms the next morning – she’d been up only twice during the night with the twins – moving their cribs next to each other really did seem to be the key to solving the constant screaming fits they’d had since they’d come home.


Buffy sighed and snuggled closer to Spike – she hadn’t felt this well-rested and happy since she didn’t know when. Fuck! That’s bad . . . that’s very bad! Bad Buffy! ‘Buffy’ and ‘happy’ are totally un-mixy! she admonished herself silently – ‘happy Buffy’ always seemed to bring out the karmic forces of evil to thwart her good mood. Buffy sighed. Oh well, might as well enjoy it while it lasts, she thought as she slid her hand down Spike’s chest and abs until she reached his ‘naughty bits’ and began stroking his rod slowly with her hand.


Spike moaned in his sleep and Buffy smiled wondering how long she could do that . . . how much could she could do to him, before he woke up. A devious smile came to her lips as she began moving her hand a little faster up and down Spike’s hardening cock as she watched his face. He was still sleeping, but seemed to be having a wonderful dream if you went by the happy look he had on his face.


Buffy bit her bottom lip, let go of his cock and slid slowly out of Spike’s arms and down the bed. Spike moaned lightly and Buffy stopped moving for a moment. When he didn’t wake up, she continued moving down the bed and then carefully climbed over one leg, nudging it slightly to give herself room to get between them. She suppressed a giggle when he actually moved his leg and still didn’t wake up.


I wonder what else I could get him to do in his sleep . . . hmmmm . . . clean the bathroom, do laundry, vacuum, dust, pick up his wet towels off the floor . . . she thought with a smile as she lowered herself down and took his cock back in her hand. Buffy watched Spike’s face as she pulled his now hard cock to her and licked the pre-cum from the tip.


“Bloody hell . . .” Spike muttered dreamily and Buffy stopped, but when he didn’t open his eyes or say anything more, she started again; licking slow circles around the head before flicking the tip of her tongue in and out like a snake all the way down the hard length of him.


When she reached his jewels, she circled them with her tongue before sucking first one, then the other, into her mouth with a low, involuntary “mmmm”. Buffy felt the muscles in Spike’s thighs flex and his hips raise up slightly as she did that and was sure he’d woken up, but when she raised her eyes to look, he still looked the same – happy, but asleep.


Buffy released his jewels and began licking small circles up the length of his cock while caressing his balls lightly with one hand. When she got to the head, Buffy flicked her tongue over and around the sensitive glans while she began stroking up and down on his shaft with her hand, eliciting another moan from Spike.


Buffy raised her eyes to Spike’s face, but he still looked just the same, so she sucked down on the swollen mushroom head of his cock, pulling it into her mouth and hollowing her cheeks as she went.


“Bloody Christ . . .” Spike muttered as she took more of his cock into her mouth. Spike’s hips were reacting to her as well, rising and falling slightly in a reaction to her mouth engulfing him.


Buffy raised her eyes up to his, but his eyes were still closed, so she continued bobbing her head up and down on him, swirling her tongue around his hard shaft as she went and still stroking what wouldn’t fit into her mouth with her hand.


“Ahhhh, yeah, pet . . .” Spike muttered but otherwise didn’t move or open his eyes.


Talk about a wet dream. . . Buffy thought as she moved her mouth faster up and down on his hard cock until the head was slamming against the back of her throat.


“Yeah . . . ahhh . . .” Spike muttered sleepily. “Gotta hurry, pet . . . wife’ll be back soon . . .” Buffy gasped and let go of his rod, letting it spring back against his abs with a wet slap as she sat back on her heels and glared at him.


Spike opened one eye and quickly closed it again. “Don’ stop now, pet . . .” he muttered as if still asleep but the small smile that had been on his face had turned into more of a devilish grin.


Buffy crawled up his body, trailing her hair along his skin all the way from his hips to his shoulders. Straddling his hips with hers, she leaned down next to his ear and whispered, “You want more, baby?”


“Mmmhmm . . . so bloody good,” Spike answered in a sleepy voice, keeping his eyes closed.


Buffy pressed down with her hips against his pelvis then suddenly grabbed his sides with her hands and began tickling him mercilessly.


“AHHHHH!” Spike shrieked as his eyes flew open and he tried to grab her hands. “STOP! NO! AHHHHH!” he screamed at her through bouts of laughter. “PLEASE! STOP!” he yelled as he squirmed and wriggled under her, trying to get away or still her hands.


“Who’s your goddess?” Buffy asked him as she continued to hold his hips down with hers and poke and tickle his sides.


“YOU!” Spike screamed at her as he squirmed and tried to roll them off the bed.


“Are you sure, pet?” Buffy asked calmly as she continued torturing him with her hands and holding him firmly down to the mattress with her hips.


“YES!”


“Really, really sure?”


“YES! FUCK! AHHHH! Bloody well sure!”


“I don’t know . . .” Buffy laughed as she continued her assault on his rib cage.


“FUCK! Buffy – you . . . ARGH! Only you! PLEASE!”


Buffy laughed as she stilled her hands and sat back. Spike rubbed at his sides, trying to get the tickling sensation to stop.


“I think you need some punishment . . .” Buffy started.


“Bloody hell, woman! I think I just got enough soddin’ punishment for the next ten years!”


“Not even close . . .” Buffy told him with a laugh.


“What did you have in mind, luv?”


“Hmmm, well, let’s see . . . there’s the vacuuming, dusting, laundry, wet towel duty . . .”


“I got a better idea . . . why don’ you come up here and sit on my face?” Spike offered, running his tongue suggestively along his top teeth.


Buffy cocked a brow at him and tilted her head. “Will you tell me you love me, if I do?”


Spike smirked. “Even better, I’ll show you what a goddess you are . . .”


“Yeah?” Buffy asked, raising her eyebrows as she turned around atop him and positioned her hips over Spike’s face.


“God, Buffy . . . so wet already . . .” Spike murmured as he pulled her hips down and began darting his tongue between her pussylips. Buffy’s hips jerked and her back arched when he hit her clit with the tip of his tongue and she pushed her pussy down harder on his inscrutable mouth.


Spike spread her open to him with one hand and began teasing her hole with his tongue as Buffy sat up straight above him and began to circle her nipples lightly with her fingers and let her head loll back. Spike moaned as he tasted the manna she offered him, slowly circling the sensitive skin around her slit with the tip of his tongue before sliding up and flicking lightly at her clit.





“You are a goddess, Buffy . . .” Spike told her as he sucked hard on her sensitive nub causing Buffy’s whole body to jerk and eliciting an “Oh God!” from her.


“No need to be so formal, pet . . . you can just call me ‘Spike’,” he smirked.


“I’ll have Willow call you a rat pretty soon if you don’t stop with the talk and get on with the ‘walk’ . . .” Buffy informed him, pressing down even harder against his face.


Spike chuckled before driving his tongue deep into her dripping hole while using his thumb to lightly tease her clit.


“OH! Yes! . . . God! Fuck, yes! Spike . . . Aggghhh!” Buffy exclaimed as she lost the ability to hold herself upright above him and came down onto all fours over his body as he fucked her furiously with his devilish, heavenly tongue. When she fell, Spike pressed down hard on her clit as he continued thrusting his tongue deep into her channel, causing Buffy’s body to spasm, her back to arch, and a scream to escape her lips as she came.


Spike continued fucking her with his tongue as she came, driving deep within her heat and fingering her clit all the while. Buffy’s cum flowed out of her hot hole and flooded his mouth with her burning essence. He moaned against her pussy, relishing the taste of her, the heat of her, the passion of her, as her channel throbbed and her body trembled above him.


As Buffy came back down from floating among the stars in heaven, she dove back down on Spike’s cock with her mouth, sucking down on him deep and hard. Spike gasped against her dripping pussy as she slammed down on him and his aching glans hit the back of her throat.


“Fuck! Agggh! Yes!” Spike exclaimed as Buffy began pumping him hard with her hand and her mouth and flicking her tongue along the length of his rod as she moved quickly up and down on him.


“God! Buffy . . . Jesus, yes! Aghhhhh . . . Bloody Christ! FUCK! Aghhhh . . . So fucking hot . . . yes! Buffy, God!”


Spike’s hips reacted to her fervor and rose from the mattress of their own accord as Buffy continued sucking his hard shaft. She loved how she made him scream and moan and cuss and call her name. She wanted nothing more at that moment than to taste him, to feel his cum in her mouth, to make him lose all control – to take him to heaven.


Spike pressed first two fingers, then three into her hot channel and began pumping in and out of her in rhythm to her feverish stroking and sucking of his cock. Buffy gasped around his shaft as he entered her and her mind seemed to float away. She resumed her task with renewed force . . . her body, her primal need, taking over as her mind floated in the stratosphere above them.


Her hips pressed back against Spike’s fingers just as his pressed up against her mouth. When Spike felt his cum begin to boil up from his balls into his cock, he pressed a thumb against Buffy’s ass and pushed into her puckered hole, sending her plummeting over the edge of ecstasy.


Her body joined her mind in the stratosphere as she came with Spike’s cock filling her mouth and his fingers fucking her ass and pussy. Her whole body tensed and jerked and her legs trembled as she orgasmed around his fingers and cock. Her mouth and pussy shackled Spike as they tightened around him – his only possible escape was in the clouds with her, so he let his mind go and allowed his body to follow her.


Spike’s body tensed, his balls tightened and seemed to be on fire as he came screaming Buffy’s name. Buffy sucked fervently on his rod as his jizz exploded into her hot, hungry mouth and every cell in her body seemed to burst with pleasure. His cream filled her mouth and he felt her suck harder and swallow all that he shot into her, which only made him scream her name louder and press his cock harder against her burning, wet mouth.


As Buffy swallowed the last of Spike’s nectar, she licked and sucked up the length of his softening cock as she pulled her mouth slowly off him before collapsing against his body and gasping for breath. Spike pulled his fingers out of her, licking her cum from his digits like it truly was manna from heaven and reveling in the feeling of her body now laying atop his.


“I love you, Buffy,” Spike told her as he ran his hands down from her round ass along the back of her thighs and back up again.


“Mmmmm, I love you too, pet,” Buffy replied dreamily, a wry smile playing on her lips.


**~** Later that morning **~**


“Yes, Giles . . . yes . . . yes, I know . . . I’m trying!” Buffy said into the phone as she rocked the double stroller that held Billy and Dani gently.


“Mama . . .” Annie said, standing next to her and looking up at Buffy with big blue eyes, her dark hair falling in waves and curls halfway down her back.


“Everyone’s coming to the grand opening . . . yes – trust me, we’ll be there!” Buffy assured Giles.


“Mama . . .”


“Yes, I know you want us there early for the tour . . .”


“Mama . . .” Annie repeated, tugging on Buffy’s shirt.


“Giles, honestly – trying to make all these people go in the same direction at the same time is like trying to round up . . . cats! I’m working on it!” Buffy continued talking into the phone.


“Mama . . .” Annie said again, still tugging on Buffy’s shirt.


“Yes, I’ll tell Spike to wipe the crud off his shoes down in the basement before tracking into the store . . . yes – he understands,” Buffy said, looking at Spike who was sitting on the couch not far away watching TV. He rolled his eyes and nodded his head.


“Mama!”


“Giles, if you don’t let me off this phone, I can guarantee you that we’ll be late…er than we already are . . .” Buffy said, looking at the clock. They were supposed to have left fifteen minutes ago.


“Mama!”


“Why don’t you call Xander . . . make sure they’re on their way, ok?” Buffy asked Giles, trying to give him someone to talk to other than her.


“MAMA!”


“Ok – ok –yes, we’re all coming . . . ok. Bye,” Buffy said into the phone with an eye roll.


“MAMA!” Annie yelled, now tugging on Buffy’s arm.


“ANNIE! I’m not deaf - yet! What!?” Buffy asked her daughter as she hung up the phone.


“I wanna go with Papa!”


Spike smirked but kept his eyes glued on the TV.


“No,” Buffy told her. “You come with us.”


“WHY!!?? I wanna go with Papa!! He said I could!” Annie told her with a pout, folding her arms across her chest.


Buffy raised her eyebrows and looked at Spike, who kept his eyes riveted to the TV. “Well, he was wrong – you’ll get all dirty – plus, that’s no place for little girls,” Buffy told her, as she shot a death glare at Spike.


“BUT MAMA! I won’t! I promise I won’t get dirty! Papa said I could ride piggyback! PLLLEAASSEEE! PRETTY PLEASE!!” Annie begged, folding her hands in front of her as if in prayer.


“Annie, honey . . . Papa’s going through the sewers – it’s nasty down there – trust me – you really don’t want to go that way. You can walk with us and help me with Dani and Billy – I thought you were gonna be the best big sister ever . . .” Buffy tried the guilt trip on her daughter . . . it had usually worked on her when she was little.


“I wanna go with Papa,” Annie said, reverting back to the pout tactic, adding some tears to the battle plan, since the screaming and begging weren’t working.


Buffy sighed – she really didn’t have time for this. The whole group was supposed to have left for the grand opening of “The Magic Box”, what Giles had re-named the old Magic Shop when he purchased it. He, with some help from Xander, had been working on getting it ready for weeks, and today was the unveiling. He wanted everyone there early for the grand tour – before the customers started scavenging through the goods and messing everything up. He’d even installed sewer access in the basement so Spike could come and go anytime of the day without any problem.


“William Weckerly,” Buffy said in her best ‘Mom’ voice.


Spike looked up from the TV with wide eyes, like he was ten years old and had been caught looking at pictures of native women with no shirts on in National Geographic magazine. “If she has one speck of sewer muck on her, I will stake you faster than you can say ‘Bloody Hell’,” Buffy told him with a stern look and narrow eyes.


Spike gulped slightly and nodded. “No worries, luv.”


“YAY!!” Annie screamed, jumping up and down and running to her father. “LET’S GO!!”


Spike tried to hide a smirk – he knew if anyone could convince Buffy that Annie should go with him, it would be Annie herself. She was big enough and smart enough now to start learning her way around the sewers. Learning the way to the Magic Box was a perfect way to start.


Annie climbed up on the couch behind Spike and wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his ribs like a monkey. “Giddy up!!” she yelled and Spike laughed as he stood up and grabbed her legs, making sure she was secure.


“Off we go then,” Spike told Buffy, leaning in to give her a kiss. “See you there . . .” he said as he turned and headed down to the basement with Annie clinging to his back.


“Not one speck!” Buffy called after them with a small smile and a shake of her head.


“OK everybody! Let’s get this freak show on the road! WE’RE LATE! Giles is going to kill us all!” Buffy yelled. When no one appeared, she screamed, “NOW PEOPLE!” and suddenly Willow and Tara came trotting down the stairs with Lorne not far behind.


“God, I feel like Jack Nicholson in Cuckoo’s nest – trying to round all the crazy people up to go on the fishing trip . . .” Buffy muttered to herself as her co-inhabitants made it down the stairs.


“We’re late,” Buffy informed them as she started pushing the stroller towards the front door, since going up the stairs to the street through the garden entrance was practically impossible with the stroller – she’d been forced to start using the front door, which was at street level.

“Where’s Annie?” Tara asked.


“She went with Spike,” Buffy told her as they stepped outside.


“In the sewers?! She’s gonna be covered in muck!” Willow informed her.


“Not one speck . . .” Buffy told her with a smile as they started down the road towards downtown Sunnydale and the Magic Box.


**~**


Buffy and her troupe of kooks walked into the Magic Box to find Giles standing in the center of the floor awaiting them impatiently – and wearing a wizard’s hat and robe.





Buffy stopped and looked at him for a moment without a word before saying, “Harry Potter, you’re not.”


Giles rolled his eyes and took the hat off. “So glad you could make it for the tour . . . five minutes before I must open the doors,” Giles told her sarcastically as he walked over to look at the twins in the stroller and give them each little, soft pinches on their cheeks.


“Hey – you try getting three kids, a vampire, two witches and a jolly green giant ready and out the door on time,” Buffy told him as she wheeled the stroller over to one side of the room and began absentmindedly rocking it again.


“Presumably, at least four of those people are capable of getting themselves out the door . . . where’s Annie?” Giles asked looking behind Willow, Tara and Lorne.


“She’s coming with Spike . . .” Buffy told him.


“Dear Lord, she’ll be covered in sewer muck!” Giles told her.


Buffy laughed and said, “Not if Spike knows what’s good for him.” Buffy paused a moment and looked around the shop as Willow, Tara and Lorne began wandering around, examining the various artifacts and supplies Giles had procured.


“It looks really good, Giles – much better than how the last owner had it – who is dead, by the way . . . as is the owner before that and the one . . .” Buffy started.





“Yes, Buffy, I’m well aware of the history!” Giles interrupted her. “Which is why I had Lorne put me in touch with the Furies and they were able to put a demon non-violence spell on the entire shop. This is now perhaps the safest, most violence-proof place in all of Sunnydale,” Giles informed her.


“Huh!” Buffy said, impressed. “What about just normal people with guns?”


“Well . . . there’s always that,” Giles admitted. “But, Willow and Tara cast a special protection spell on the back room – so, if by some chance just a normal person with a gun comes in, all I have to do is go back there . . . come, let me show you . . .” Giles said, turning and moving towards a door at the back of the shop.


Giles opened the door to the back room and let Buffy push the stroller in ahead of him.


“Cool . . .” Buffy said, looking around. It was like a big playroom on one side, with colorful floor mats and toys for the kids, even a computer and a TV with a VCR and a Play Station hooked up to it. The other side was a workout area with a punching bag and weapons all locked up in thick Plexiglas fronted cabinets which were up high enough from the ground to keep small hands from reaching them.


“I thought . . . well, perhaps if you wanted to spend some time away from the mansion . . . well – you would be welcome here, Buffy – as well as Annie and the twins . . . I could help you and Spike train . . . watch the children for you sometimes . . . They’d be safe here,” Giles started. Giles really had missed his role as Watcher for Buffy . . . he missed seeing her and the gang everyday and hoped that he could get more involved in their lives again, now that things had settled down a bit. He’d also noticed that the demon population of Sunnydale was starting a slow increase again . . . the Turok-Han dust that clogged the Hellmouth was most likely starting to dissipate, so perhaps there would be more need for his expertise in the future.


Buffy smiled at him. “Sounds wonderful,” she told him as she gave him a hug.


Suddenly, Annie came running into the room. “Uncle Giles!” she screamed as she latched onto his leg.


“Annie!” Giles exclaimed releasing Buffy and bending down to pick Annie up, but only got her a foot off the ground before setting her back down. “Good Lord, child . . . what have they been feeding you? You’re growing like a weed!”


Annie giggled. “I weigh thirty-seven!” she announced proudly. Buffy laughed and wondered at what age girls stopped announcing their weight to the world . . .


“Bloody Hell!” Spike exclaimed as he picked himself up off the floor outside the door of the play/training room, rubbing his nose and checking to make sure it wasn’t broken.


“Oh dear . . . Spike . . . I do apologize – I forgot to warn you! The protection spell included a type of cloaking spell as well, making this room operate like a home . . .” Giles started as he moved towards the open door where Spike was now standing and glaring at him with his hands on his hips.


“Uh . . . Please come in, Spike,” Giles told him. “You are invited . . . as long as your shoes are clean.”


Spike rolled his eyes and stepped through the invisible barrier. “You’re bloody dangerous, Watcher!” Spike informed him as he walked past Giles and into the room.





Annie had started looking around at all the toys and games with wide eyes and excitement, exclaiming, “OH! Look!” every few seconds as she found something new.


When she got to the computer she clicked it on and sat down in front of it.


“Annie – that’s not a toy,” Buffy told her as she moved forward to get her daughter away from the expensive equipment.


“No – it is for her, Buffy,” Giles said, stopping her. “She can play games on it – there’s ummm . . . . programs on there for her – educational games – Willow and Tara assisted me . . . well – they set it up, actually.”


Annie seemed to be at ease with the computer – Willow and Tara had often shown her how to do things on their computers, how to work the mouse and click things – and she also had one in her pre-school that the kids took turns on.


“Great, my five year old is better at a computer than I am . . .” Buffy said with a sigh and an eye roll.


“I’m sure she could teach you . . .” Giles told her with a smile.


**~**


Despite a slow start, the grand opening at the Magic Box was a huge success. In fact, it was almost too much of a success; Giles hadn’t been prepared for the deluge of magic-supply-deprived people and enlisted all the Scoobies for help keeping up with the demand.


Since Anya was the only one with any retail sales experience, she ran the cash register, while the others helped customers choose the right items and bagged the purchases.


“Thank you! Please come back again when they raise your credit limit!” Anya told the last customer as she closed and locked the door behind them.


Everyone had helped with the store, taking turns in the back watching Dani, Billy, JJ, and Annie throughout the day, and they were all exhausted now. Well, everyone except Anya, who seemed to be just as chipper as she was when she arrived – maybe more so.


“Look at all the money we got today Giles!” Anya said, holding up handfuls of bills.


“Indeed . . .” was all Giles could say as he slumped in his chair. “I never knew retail was so bloody arduous.”


Buffy raised her eyebrows. “You’ve been hanging around Spike too much . . .” she told him. “Too bloody much.”


“OI! Don’t be blamin’ me for your Watcher’s bad mouth – he’s always talked that way – just hides it well . . . ain’t that right, Ripper?”


Giles didn’t have the energy to argue with Spike. “Quite . . .” was all he could say.


Anya was nearly dancing as she counted down the till with a huge smile on her face. “Oh, and Giles, here’s a list of the things you’re out of – you better get them reordered right away – don’t want to lose those sales!” Anya said, waving a piece of paper in the air.





“Indeed . . .” Giles muttered tiredly.


Then Giles got an idea. “Would you like a job, Anya?”


Anya looked at him and scrunched her face up in thought.


“How much will you pay me?”


“Whatever you’re making now at the Video Hut . . .” Giles offered.


“How much vacation time do I get?”


“Ummm . . . two weeks?” Giles guessed.





“Do you pay overtime or would it be a straight salary? What about maternity leave, if I ever allow Xander to talk me into that again . . . or daycare? Do you have a healthcare package? Prescription coverage? Well care? Dental? Eye care? What about a profit sharing plan? You know, one day I would like to be able to actually retire like a normal person and sit in a rocking chair and complain about the neighbor’s dog . . . and what about sick leave and . . .”


Giles sighed, shook his head and stood up wearily. “Anya, stop.”


Anya stopped talking and looked at him.


“I hereby pronounce you Store Manager,” Giles said, picking up a ruler from the counter and tapping her on each shoulder, as if knighting her. “You make up your salary and benefits package and, if you don’t bankrupt me with it, I’ll approve it. Would that be satisfactory?”


Anya smiled triumphantly. “I have to give two weeks notice at the Video Hut, just in case you turn out to be a horrible shopkeeper and go out of business or some guy with a gun shoots you and I have to go there begging for my job back . . . but, I accept.”


“Wonderful . . .” Giles said rolling his eyes and plopping back down in a chair. “Perhaps as you first official assignment, you could re-order the inventory items that we’re out of . . .”


**~** Later That Night **~**


Buffy rolled sleepily out of bed and turned the baby monitor off as she pulled on shorts and a t-shirt. She was exhausted from the day spent helping Giles at the Magic Box, but the twins were crying and it was her turn – Spike had gone last time.


Buffy walked slowly down the hall, her eyes still closed – she knew her way to the nursery by heart – even in her sleep she had no doubt she could find it without any problem.


Buffy began “shushing” the babies softly as she walked into the nursery. It wasn’t time for feeding – she wasn’t sure why they were crying – maybe they needed changing. Buffy picked Billy up first, but he seemed fine, he actually wasn’t the one crying. She laid him back down gently, her eyes drooping closed again as she reached for Dani.


Buffy’s eyes flew open as she touched Dani. “Oh God!” Buffy exclaimed, laying a hand on Dani’s forehead – she was burning up with fever! Buffy grabbed the thermometer from the dresser and placed it in Dani’s ear. 106.5° it read when she pulled it back. “OH GOD!” Buffy exclaimed again, picking Dani up and heading out of the nursery with her.


Buffy banged on Willow and Tara’s door, which was right across the hall from the bathroom. Taking Dani in the bathroom, Buffy ran some cool water on a washcloth and began lightly pressing it against her daughter’s hot skin.


When Buffy saw Tara open the door to their room she yelled, “Get Spike – we have to go to the hospital!”


Tara didn’t hesitate, she ran down the hall and banged quickly on Buffy and Spike’s door – when she got no response, she just went in and got Spike up – startling him fully awake as she passed on Buffy’s message.


In a moment Spike was there, his jeans mostly zipped but not buttoned, his belt hanging loose and no shirt or shoes on. “What?! What’s wrong?” he asked, reaching a hand out towards Dani.





“I don’t know – she’s got a fever . . .” Buffy told him as she continued pressing the cool cloth to her daughter’s skin. Dani continued to cry and she screamed each time the coolness touched her. “We have to go . . .”


Buffy got the washcloth wet one more time and brushed past Spike, heading quickly for the stairs. Willow was in the hallway now along with Tara, both looking very concerned. “Watch Billy and Annie for us . . .” Buffy said as she hurried by and both Willow and Tara nodded.





Spike sprinted past her, down the stairs and was waiting with the car running and the garage open when Buffy got there with Dani. He squealed tires as he left the driveway and turned onto Crawford Street, heading towards the hospital.


He looked at the clock on the bank building as they passed . . . 3:40am. He frowned – what kind of wanker doctor would be working at 3:40am in Sunnydale he wondered anxiously. Spike sped up on the deserted street and flew through the red lights that seemed to be mocking them, making it to the hospital in record time.


It was a slow night in the ER and a nurse came out immediately when Spike ran in ahead of Buffy, still in bare feet and no shirt, calling for a doctor. Buffy told the nurse what the thermometer said and the nurse led them quickly back to the triage area without hesitation or even asking for their insurance card.


After confirming the extremely high temperature, the nurses immediately rubbed Dani down with alcohol to cool her off quickly before they moved her up to the pediatric ICU (which was nothing more than a couple of rooms in the regular ICU, since the hospital wasn’t big enough to warrant a full pediatric wing).


The nurses had Buffy fill out all kinds of forms then started asking Buffy and Spike questions – had Dani been sick? Yes, she had a little cold about a week ago, but was fine – it was no big deal, Buffy told them. Has she been out of the country? No. Has she been in contact with anyone that has been out of the country? No. Has she been in contact with any livestock – like a petting zoo? No. Is she on formula or breast milk? Formula. Any blood transfusions? No. Has she been diagnosed with HIV? No. Have either of you? No. Has anyone in the household? No. And the questions went on and on . . .


The nurse drew some blood for testing, as well as took some swabs from Dani’s throat. They also took Dani down to Radiology and took x-rays of her lungs and brain and drew out some spinal fluid to try and diagnose what was causing the fever. Then they started Dani on Acetaminophen as well as an IV with antibiotics and fluids to keep her from getting dehydrated, while they waited for a pediatrician to arrive.


“It’ll be alright, luv,” Spike assured Buffy, wrapping his arms around her as they waited next to Dani’s crib in the small ICU room. Buffy leaned against his chest and wrapped her arms around him as tears threatened her eyes. Spike wondered how Dani’s fever could have gotten so high so fast . . . he wondered if he had missed it earlier in the night when he checked on the twins. He was really tired and barely awake . . . God, what if he had missed it and it ended up costing Dani . . .


STOP! Just stop! he admonished himself, refusing to think about what that high a fever could be doing to their daughter . . . It’ll be alright, it’ll be alright, it’ll be alright . . . he repeated over and over in his mind.


Spike held Buffy in his arms as he silently repeated his mantra, looking down as his baby daughter. Just three months old, she’d only just started this life and that life was already being threatened – not by demons or mortal enemies, but by unseen attackers – attackers that Spike had any way to fight, no way to protect her from. He felt completely helpless.


Spike laid one hand on Dani’s forehead, still holding Buffy to him with his other arm. Her fever was still high and it felt like fire against his cool fingers; Spike closed his eyes to keep back the tears that threatened him. He’d promised himself that he’d protect his family . . . had he already failed?


It’ll be alright, it’ll be alright . . . God, please let it be alright . . .

May 26th, 2004 – 8:00am


The doctor finally arrived several hours later . . . the ICU staff had managed to get Dani’s fever down somewhat – at least to a safer level, with the medicine and alcohol rubs. Spike and Buffy waited and watched helplessly as the nurses came and went, checking vitals, checking Dani’s temperature, checking the IV in her arm … just checking, every half hour or so.


The worried parents would take turns sitting next to Dani and stroking her head and whispering or humming or singing to her. She had finally stopped crying so much and had actually fallen asleep a few times.


Buffy and Spike both stood up when the doctor came in the room. He was flipping through Dani’s chart and looking at all the tests that had been run during the night.


Finally, he looked up from the papers and extended his hand first to Spike then to Buffy. “Mr. and Mrs. Weckerly,” he started. “I’m Dr. Weil … I’m a pediatric neurologist and I’ve been called in on your case.”


“Neurologist?” Buffy asked with a frown. “What’s wrong with Dani?”


“She has meningitis . . .” the doctor started.


“Oh God!” Buffy exclaimed in shock as her hands covered her mouth at the mention of meningitis. “But . . . but she got the vaccine!”


“The vaccine was just for one strain . . . there are several different causes; she most likely has pneumococcal meningitis, but we’re waiting on the tests to confirm that – they take about twenty-four hours to complete,” the doctor told Buffy.


Spike moved behind Buffy and began rubbing lightly up and down her upper arms, offering her support. “What’s that mean?” he asked the doctor.


“Well, we got the fever down somewhat; that’s not the danger now. The swelling in her brain, however, has not responded to the steroids yet – it could be a few days before she’s out of the woods.


“Providing she survives the next seventy-two hours, then we’ll have to see if there is any permanent brain, hearing, or other nerve damage from the swelling,” the doctor explained matter-of-factly and Buffy felt her knees give way under her. Spike grabbed her shoulders and helped her to sit in the chair next to Dani’s crib.


“Could give a bloke some warnin’ ‘fore you came out with that . . .” Spike told him with a scowl.


The doctor just shrugged before saying, “Sorry,” without much conviction. “They’ve started her on broad spectrum antibiotics, which we’ll adjust as soon as we know for certain the specific strain she has, and corticosteroids for the swelling, as well as fluids . . . at this point, it’s just wait and see.”


“She could die? We brought her right in . . . you’re saying she could die from this!? Even though she’s in the hospital? You can’t fix it!?” Buffy asked, looking at the doctor with wide, glistening eyes.


The doctor shrugged again. “The infection is in her brain and spinal fluid,” the doctor explained. “It’s causing swelling – swelling around the brain can have serious repercussions, including brain damage, coma, seizures and death.”


“Oh God!” Buffy exclaimed, covering her face with her hands and shaking her head from side to side as sobs began wracking her body.





Spike put a hand on Buffy’s back as he closed his eyes and bit his lip to stop the tears that threatened him, as well. After a few moments, Spike took a deep breath before opening his eyes again and addressing the doctor.


“How . . . how did she get it? Did someone give it to her, like . . . on purpose?”


“That’s doubtful. You said she was sick a week or so ago?” he asked. Spike nodded. “Probably the bacteria that made her sick broke through the protective barrier of her spine . . . it can sometimes enter through the ear canal.”


“What about Billy . . . her twin brother – and Annie . . . or us – can they, can we get it, too?” Buffy asked the doctor, looking up at him with wide, glistening eyes.
“It’s certainly is possible, it is contagious . . . you should have the children, especially her twin, checked immediately, just to make sure.”


Buffy nodded slowly and the doctor turned around and left them alone.





“God, Spike . . . they can’t fix it . . . what if she . . .” Buffy started and Spike shushed her gently, kneeling down in front of her and pulling her to him. Buffy rested her forehead on his shoulder and draped her arms around his neck.


“None of that, now . . .” Spike told her. “It’s gonna be ok, Buffy. She’s a Summers girl . . . too bloody strong and stubborn to let a little bugger like that get the best of ‘er.”


Buffy chuckled sadly through her tears and sat back to look at Spike. “What would I do without you?” she asked him softly.


“Ah, well – prob’ly live a very boring, sexually frustrated life . . .” he told her, trying to lighten her spirits.


Buffy laughed again and rolled her eyes before dropping her head back on his shoulder.


“It’ll be ok, Buffy . . .” Spike whispered to her as he smoothed her hair down her back. Please let it be ok, please, please let it be ok . . he repeated to himself silently as he held his wife.


“I think the PTB hate us . . .” Buffy started, her forehead still on Spike’s shoulder. She lifted up to look into his eyes as tears flowed down her face. “I . . . I shouldn’t have fucked with Angel . . . they’re punishing Dani, punishing us all, for what I did. It’s my fault . . .”


“No . . . that’s not true, luv, it’s not your fault – it’s no one’s fault – it’s just . . . just one of those things that happens sometimes,” Spike told her, pulling her back into a hug, although he had considered that same possibility when Buffy was in a coma – that the PTB were punishing them for what had been done to their favored son. “The PTB aren’t known for subtlety, luv . . . if they were punishing us, I think they’d make sure we knew it was them,” Spike told Buffy, trying to reassure her.


“Well, they certainly haven’t been helping much lately . . .” Buffy said quietly. Spike couldn’t disagree with that assessment.


After a few minutes, Buffy sat back and wiped her eyes, taking deep breaths to try and calm her rattled nerves. She leaned over the edge of the crib and touched Dani’s little hand and Dani’s fingers curled tightly around Buffy’s finger.





“God, Spike . . .” Buffy started as tears welled up in her eyes and started falling again. “I couldn’t . . . I just couldn’t take it . . . how do parents do this? I don’t think I can handle this . . .”


“Buffy, luv . . . why don’t you go call Red and have ‘er bring Billy and Annie over to be tested . . . and, while you’re at it, have Glinda check out this wanker Dr. Weil and see if he’s any bloody good,” Spike suggested, knowing that if Buffy had something to focus on – a task to complete, anything to feel like she was working to solve the problem, it would help her. She always underestimated her strength . . . not her physical strength, but her mental fortitude – but Spike didn’t – he knew she could handle it, he just wasn’t too sure about himself.


Buffy nodded slowly and wiped her eyes again. Spike stood up and grabbed a box of tissues and handed her some.


“You’ll stay here?” she asked him.


“’Course, luv.”


After Buffy left to go call Willow, Spike sat down in the chair and leaned forward on Dani’s crib, lightly stroking her flaxen hair with his fingers and talking to her softly.


“You don’ know this yet, but you’re a Summers girl, Sweet-bit . . . you’re strong and stubborn and full of fire and fight. We love you, your Mum and me . . . more than you know, so you need to fight now . . . don’ give up, ‘cause we’re here, we need you to stay with us, little one.


“I know we aren’t the ideal family to have . . . you’ll prob’ly want to deny us one day . . . but that’s ok – you jus’ need to get better now so later you can tell your friends that you don’ know who those kooks are that live with you . . . that gypsies kidnapped you from your real family and left you on our doorstep . . .”





Tears fell from Spike’s eyes as she spoke to his baby daughter . . . his words turned into soft humming and, after a few minutes, the humming turned into a song; a song he’d first heard David Bowie sing at a concert in New York City during the seventies. He thought it a funny song then, but now he understood it . . . now he had a wife and children of his own and the words actually had meaning.


He couldn’t remember all the words, but sang the ones he did remember and hummed the ones he didn’t . . . as he continued gently stroking Dani’s soft, golden hair with his fingers.


♫
"Will you stay in our Lovers' Story
If you stay you won't be sorry
'Cause we believe in you
Soon you'll grow so take a chance
With a couple of Kooks
Hung up on romancing

♫
"mmm . .. mmm. . .mmm
'Cause if you stay with us you're gonna be pretty Kooky too
hummmm . .. . mmmm. . . mmmmm

♫
"Will you stay in our Lovers' Story
If you stay you won't be sorry
'Cause we believe in you
Soon you'll grow so take a chance
With a couple of Kooks
Hung up on romancing

♫
"hummm . .. . mmmm. . .
mmmmm….hummmm….
Don't pick fights with the bullies or the cads
'Cause Buffy won’t let me punch
Other people's Dads
hummm . ..mmmm .. mmmm
mmmmm. . . .mmmmm . . . hummmm
hummmm… mmmm … mmmmm

♫
"Will you stay in our Lovers' Story
If you stay you won't be sorry
'Cause we believe in you
Soon you'll grow so take a chance
With a couple of Kooks
Hung up on romancing"


Spike was still singing and humming the song when someone walked up behind him and placed a warm hand on his cool, bare back.


Spike nearly jumped out of his skin, his attention was so focused on his daughter and remembering the song, he hadn’t even heard anyone come in the room. When he turned around he saw Nurse Wanda smiling softly at him.


“Sorry, William, I thought you heard me, dear,” she told him.


“’S alright,” Spike replied, drawing a deep breath in to calm his nerves. “Just a little preoccupied, I reckon.”


“I saw the name on the board and couldn’t believe you were back here . . . I’m so sorry. She seems to be improving though . . . her fever’s down a bit,” Nurse Wanda told Spike as she walked to the other side of Dani’s crib and checked the vitals showing on the monitors there.


“Yeah,” Spike said, despondently, looking sadly at his daughter and still lightly stroking her hair.


“Don’t fret, William . . . you know, God works in mysterious ways,” Wanda repeated what she’d told Spike before when Buffy was in the coma.


“Yeah, I bloody well wish He’d switch to Nora Roberts an’ get off the soddin’ mysteries already,” Spike retorted, perhaps a little more tersely than he should have.





Nurse Wanda smiled patiently at Spike before saying, “Everything will work out fine in the end, William . . . if everything’s not fine, then it’s not the end.”


Spike snorted. “Well, I don’t reckon we’ll ever have to worry about gettin’ to the end, ‘cause we can’t go five fucking minutes without somethin’ blowing up in our faces.”


Nurse Wanda walked back around the crib and laid a hand on Spike’s shoulder. “Keep doing what you’re doing – it helped Buffy and it’s helping Danielle . . .” she told him before turning and leaving the room.


Spike had no choice but to take her advice – there wasn’t anything else he could do. He couldn’t slay the germs, he couldn’t fight them, he couldn’t take over the fight for her, as much as he wished he could . . . all he could do was hum and sing and talk to her and make sure she knew they were all there waiting for her to get better.


May 26th, 2004, 10pm:


Buffy had gotten Billy and Annie tested for meningitis and the preliminary tests were negative, they’d know for sure in twenty-four hours, but it looked like only Dani had it. She sent Spike home when the sun went down to stay with them while she stayed at the hospital with Dani.


Dani seemed to be responding to the antibiotics and was acting better – her fever was down significantly and she was more alert, but the doctor still said the swelling had not gone down enough – she wasn’t out of the woods yet.


Buffy couldn’t help trying to check her eyesight and hearing when Dani was awake – even though it wasn’t really scientific, she was relieved to see Dani follow her with her eyes and react to sounds. Perhaps she would be fine, after all.


“Please fight, sweet girl . . . we all need you to fight this. God, I wish I could fight it for you . . . I’d do anything to be able to take it away,” Buffy told her baby daughter as she sat with her alone in the small, cold ICU room. “Please don’t give up . . . you don’t know this, but you’re a Weckerly . . . you don’t quit – ever. You fight, you’re a scrapper – brave and strong – and you can win, I just know you can . . . because that William Weckerly blood is in you and he’s a champion . . . he’s a good man . . . he’s a fighter, and so are you.”


**~**


Tara emerged from the bathroom after her shower and started towards the room across the hall that she shared with Willow when she heard Spike’s voice coming from down the hall – from Annie’s room.


It didn’t exactly sound like Spike . . . his voice was lilting, for lack of a better word, the sound was mesmerizing. He was reading a story, she realized, as she walked down the hall towards Annie’s room.


Tara folded her arms across her chest, leaned on the door jamb, and listened to him read to his daughter.


“‘Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it.

“‘In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop . . . somehow it was hotter then . . . bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum. . . .

“‘There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself.’”


Spike closed the book and set it on the dresser, Annie was already asleep. He tucked the covers around her and dropped a soft kiss on her forehead before standing up and walking silently from her room, closing her door behind him with a soft ‘click’.


When Spike stopped reading, Tara backed up and leaned against the wall on the other side of the hall and waited for him.


“Funny how your voice changes when you’re reading like that,” she told him with a crooked smile. “It’s really . . . lovely.”


Spike snorted softly and smiled. “Now that’s not sumthin’ I get called every day.”


“You know, your aura changes too – not a lot, but a little, I can see it when you’re reading like that, your heart Chakra shines brighter . . . what University did you attend?”





“Pffftt! What makes you think I attended university, pet?”


“Well, you didn’t get that accent you use when you read from the east end of London . . .” Tara told him with a smile. “Could you even hear the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow from your house?”


Spike looked at Tara with disbelief before he smiled and shook his head. “Trouble, that’s what you are, pet. See too much, you do.”


Tara shrugged and dropped the subject of Spike’s decidedly not ‘east ender’ accent. Changing the subject she said, “You know, that’s a high school book you’re reading to Annie.”


“Yeah?” Spike asked. “There a law ‘bout that?”


“No, just didn’t know if you knew . . . she’ll have to read it in high school.”


“Ahhh, well, she’ll be ahead of the curve then, our girl.”


Tara smiled at him, pushed off the wall and started back down the hall. “Yep, with all us university types around here, she’s bound to be ahead of the curve, William,” she called back over her shoulder.


**~**

{{
Hear the song at the following YouTube Link:
Lullaby Baby Blues, James Marsters
}}



♫ “Lullaby baby blues
Time to kick off your walkin' shoes
And hug the pillow on your bed
And lay down your sleepy head

♫ “Hush now no need to talk
Hear the ticking of the clock
Stars that twinkle, stars that shine
Dream and you'll have wings to fly”


Spike sat in the rocking chair in the nursery, holding Billy in his arms, swaying him gently and singing to him softly. With Danielle away from him, Billy had been inconsolable all day, and it hadn’t changed any as the night went on. So, Spike sang and talked and hummed and swayed his son, trying to do anything he could to bring comfort to his child.


♫ “Goodnight baby blue
Close your eyes baby blue
The moonlit sky watches over you
So close your eyes baby blue"


Spike wished there was something he could do to help their babies – either of them, both of them. There was absolutely nothing he could do to help Dani – other than just be there, for her and for Buffy, and there seemed to be little he could do to comfort his son who, without his sister near, seemed to feel abandoned and alone.


♫ “Hush now no need to talk
Hear the ticking of the clock
Stars that twinkle, stars that shine
Dream and you'll have wings to fly"


So, Spike sang the lullaby – one that he’d learned just for his son – a new one. He’d been working on learning new songs ever since The First used his one and only lullaby against him and Buffy – he was trying to not be quite so predictable because he knew, one day, The First would return again. But that wasn’t today or even tomorrow – what was today and tomorrow was getting Dani well and keeping Billy comforted until she came home.


He almost wished for a fight with The First . . . at least that was something he could do. He had no way to fight unseen, microscopic demons. Tara had gone online and looked up Dr. Weil’s credentials, he was well qualified. Despite his lack of bedside manner, he was one of the top Pediatric Neurologists in Southern California. So, Spike had to put his trust in the wanker, not something Spike was keen on after the debacle that nearly cost him Buffy and Billy less than four months ago, but he didn’t see any other choice.


♫ “Goodnight baby blue
Close your eyes baby blue
The moonlit sky watches over you
Close your eyes baby blue”


**~**


Buffy and Spike took turns keeping vigil at the hospital with Dani and at home with Billy and Annie over the next few days. Anya and Xander brought JJ in for testing, but he was clear of the infection, as well – only Dani had it.


Lorne, Willow, Tara and even Giles helped as much as they could - trying to give the exhausted parents a break to get some sleep every few hours. But sleep was elusive for them both and never lasted long or brought much of a respite from their worry. They just wanted Dani to be okay and to get her back home – then they could get some sleep – until then, well – it simply wasn’t possible.


**~**


On the sixth day after being admitted, Dani had tested negative for the bacteria for forty-eight hours . . . the doctors told them, if she continued to check negative for the next forty-eight hours, then they would consider the infection cured. Her fever, although still there, wasn’t dangerously high, and the swelling around her brain had been significantly reduced.


Spike and Buffy continued their vigil through the long days and nights between the hospital and home, each comforting the babies the best they could. They each felt like ships passing in the night … spending only a few minutes each morning and evening together at the hospital with Dani, before one would have to leave for home. They both wished for more time together, more time to give and get comfort from each other … but it simply wasn’t possible.


Willow, Tara, Lorne and Giles took turns keeping Annie entertained, taking her to the playground, out to eat or shopping at the mall so she didn’t feel like she was being ignored. Spike would read to her every night and tell her how Dani was doing and Buffy would greet her in the morning with a hug and a kiss and cook her breakfast before getting her off to pre-school.


**~**


On the eighth day, the doctor told Buffy and Spike that Dani’s infection was gone … she had tested negative for ninety-six hours. Her fever was gone, as was the swelling. From the tests the doctors could run she didn’t seem to have any long-term neurological damage from it, but only time would tell for sure and they should continue to monitor her mental and physical development closely.


Even though she was getting better, she was still crying and screaming almost constantly (at least it seemed that way to Spike and Buffy) only now it was because she was separated from Billy instead of due to the pain of the meningitis and the fever. Buffy and Spike were relieved when the hospital said they could take her home on the tenth day.


**~**


Buffy curled against Spike’s side, her head on his shoulder and his arm encircling her that night. The baby monitor next to the bed was silent except for some gurgling and cooing from time to time, but there was no screaming, no crying – no mournful sounds coming from it for once in a very long time.


The exhausted parents laid still and quiet in their bed listening to the blessed silence of happy, healthy babies and, before long, they were both asleep, too – finally able to let go of the tension and worry of the last days and let their minds and bodies relax and float softly down into the dark abyss of peaceful slumber in each other’s arms.


**~**


The next morning, Buffy left Lorne in charge of the twins and took Annie to McDonald’s for breakfast then to pre-school before stopping at the grocery store.


No one had been shopping in nearly two weeks and the cupboards were beyond bare . . . not one chocolate-chip, not one box of Cocoa Puffs, not one swig of outdated milk remained – she found one snack size box of raisins in the back of the freezer, along with Spike’s blood, which the butcher still delivered weekly. She guessed that Old Mother Hubbard’s couldn’t have had less as she popped the raisins in her mouth that morning before getting Annie up and ready for pre-school. Thank God for McDonald’s . . . Egg McMuffin saves the day . . . details at eleven.


When Buffy got back three hours later, her car was packed with food – she’d always looked dubiously at the people in the grocery store who needed two shopping carts – who could possibly need that much food!? Today, she needed three carts and was afraid it wouldn’t all fit into her small, compact car when she was all done. But two bag boys helped her out with it and helped her get it all crammed in there – now she just needed the army that ate it all to come and help her get it out of the car and into the house.


“Hey guys!” she called from the doorway near the garage . . . no response. “Guuuyyys!” she yelled again and waited. Buffy took a deep breath and blew it out sharply. They can eat it all but God forbid they help haul it in here . . . Mick Jagger suddenly started singing “Beast of Burden” in her mind and she shook her head and rolled her eyes. Buffy started to turn back to the garage to begin hauling the bags in when she heard music coming from the training room.


Buffy furrowed her brow and walked over to the closed door, intent on recruiting whoever was in there as another pack mule. When she opened the door, the music blared out at her as Spike swayed and sang along with the song; the twins were tucked snuggly against his chest in the twin Weego, dancing with him.

{{
Hear the song at the following YouTube Link:
Kooks, David Bowie
}}



♫ “Will you stay in our Lovers' Story
If you stay you won't be sorry
'Cause we believe in you
Soon you'll grow so take a chance
With a couple of Kooks
Hung up on romancing”


Spike turned and saw Buffy standing in the doorway and held a hand out to her as the music continued and he kept singing along with David Bowie.


♫ “We bought a lot of things to keep you warm and dry
And a funny old crib on which the paint won't dry
I bought you a pair of shoes
A trumpet you can blow
And a book of rules
On what to say to people when they pick on you
'Cause if you stay with us you're gonna be pretty Kooky too”


Buffy smiled and shook her head as she walked into the room towards him. The babies were facing each other in the sling he had them in and seemed to be content and happy with the song and Spike’s dancing. When Buffy reached Spike he took both her hands in his and pulled her softly against him, so the babies were snuggled lightly between them as he continued dancing and singing along . . .


♫ “Will you stay in our Lovers' Story
If you stay you won't be sorry
'Cause we believe in you
Soon you'll grow so take a chance
With a couple of Kooks
Hung up on romancing”


Buffy couldn’t help but smile and move along with him as he swayed to the music, her hands in his and their babies between them.


♫ “And if you ever have to go to school
Remember how they messed up this old fool
Don't pick fights with the bullies or the cads
'Cause I'm not much cop at punching
Other people's Dads
And if the homework brings you down
Then we'll throw it on the fire
And take the car downtown


♫“Will you stay in our Lovers' Story
If you stay you won't be sorry
'Cause we believe in you
Soon you'll grow so take a chance
With a couple of Kooks
Hung up on romancing”


As the song ended Spike leaned down and dropped a soft kiss on Buffy’s lips.


“You really are a kook . . . you know that, right?” Buffy asked with a smile, still holding Spike’s hands in hers.





“That’s why ya’ love me, pet,” Spike informed her with a smile.


Buffy tilted her head and considered him a moment. “No, that’s not it . . .” she said, her brows furrowed, looking very serious. “I love you for your body . . . so strong and tireless – all muscley . . . perfect for hauling grocery bags in from the car . . .” she told him with a laugh, before letting go of one of his hands and tugging him by the other one towards the door.


“OI! I feel so used . . .” he objected as she pulled him along.


“Yeah, well better get used to it, buddy . . . ‘cause after the groceries, I have another idea for putting that body and all those muscley-muscles to good use . . .”


** ~ END ~ **

(Well, of course, not "THE END" ... just the end of this story ... got more to come, so don't go too far away!)