*Banner By Ariel Dawn*
Thanks AD! Hugs~Opal
Story Dedicated to Meli!
Thanks for being a great Beta. Hugs~Opal
Chapter 9 - Firsts
The little green sign on the side of the highway indicated that they had just reached LA city limits. Buffy was not sure how long she had been asleep for, but the evident sounds of William crying had woken her right up. She unbuckled her seatbelt and crawled into the back seat to be with her son. She sat down next to his car seat, and proceeded to take him out. She picked him up and brought him over to hold in her lap.
She could have sworn that his blue eyes flashed green for a moment, but she dismissed it to her being tired. She pulled the little guy close to her chest and into a hug. He calmed down a little bit, but was still whimpering.
No matter what she did, it was as if she could not do enough.
It was clear that whatever William needed, she could not provide. However, she knew the vampire who could. She was hoping that he would not be infuriated with her for running as she did; at least for William’s sake, and hopefully they could learn to be friends and be civil with each other.
Now that they were in LA and almost at Angel’s, she was not sure how things would go down or how she would even get word to Spike. She felt like she had been a bad, bad mommy. Panic gripped her as she realized that it was possible with the Initiative converging in on her that they could have taken Spike. She became panic stricken, and tears rolled down her eyes. William sensed her reaction. His whimpers quickly rose to loud wails. ‘Oh my, I may have left my baby’s father to die. What kind of mother am I?’
Riley interrupted her thoughts when he tried to speak to her over the volume of William’s cries.
“Buffy, are we going to go to our own hotel or straight to Angel’s place?”
Buffy knew if the went to a hotel, they would have to share a room. Plus, they would not have Angel on site for protection.
“We’ll go to Angel’s he has plenty of rooms at the Hyperion that we can stay in.”
Riley moaned. He had been hoping to spend as little time as possible with Buffy’s cold blooded ex.
“How do we get there?”
“This exit! Now!”
Luckily, it was still dark and traffic was light. Riley cut across three lanes of traffic onto the off ramp.
“Sorry Riley. I just realized that was the exit.”
“That’s ok. Just give me directions from here.”
“No problem. I’ll just yell over my wailing son.”
Buffy proceeded to dictate the turns to Riley. She was definitely nervous about seeing Angel, no doubt. She wondered if he would be able to sense if Spike were William’s father. Either way, she hoped that Angel would feel protective in a familial sense.
~~~~
Sex Pistols blared out of the radio of the old Desoto. Spike, however, was not bouncing around to the music as usual. Instead, he had a look on his face of complete concentration.
Spike slowly tailed behind the SUV. He had allowed himself to bring the Desoto a little closer to them when he felt his son getting upset. He had seen Buffy crawl into the backseat with him and pull him out of his chair to comfort him. He was concerned when he could sense her panic through the baby, but what ever was bothering her did not have to do with the baby’s welfare.
He could sense little William was just fine.
William. Buffy had named the little sprout after him. Just thinking about it filled him with joy and hope. Hope that maybe the Slayer would be open to letting him into their lives willingly.
Either way, he would be a part of his son’s life. Very soon.
~~~
Riley pulled the SUV into a spot near the Hyperion. He was nervous about meeting up with Angel. Hopefully, the vampire still had a soul and would help him. He helped Buffy out of the car. She held onto William as she walked into the hotel, while he lagged behind her with all of the baby gear.
“Oh my God! Buffy is that you? With a baby?” Cordelia spoke, with surprise. ‘Wow, look at that hunk of man behind her. Damn, that means Angel’s gonna be pissed.’
Buffy cringed at the way Cordelia tactlessly announced her presence. Surely, Angel would have heard with his vampire hearing and would be down in the lobby in no time flat.
“Hey Cordy. So how have things been?”
“Good. Never mind me, for once, let’s see this cute little baby!”
Buffy carefully handed William over to Cordelia to hold.
“Oh he is just a little bundle from heaven. And do I get to meet this lucky guy over here?”
Riley stuck his hand out to Cordelia. Quickly, she reached out and grabbed his hand.
“Hey. I’m Riley, nice to meet you.”
“Cordelia, but everyone calls me Cordy. Congratulations on being a daddy!”
Riley felt a little awkward in that moment. This was exactly the reason why he had broken off his relationship with Buffy.
“Cordy, I’m not Buffy’s boyfriend. I’m also not the father.”
Cordelia’s mistake embarrassed her, but as usual let it roll off real quick.
“Oh. Sorry. Well looks like Buffy has some explaining to do.”
Buffy definitely felt like she was under pressure, especially since she could sense Angel lurking in the shadows.
“Well Cordy, Willow did a spell. To keep it real simple, the spell went wrong and the end result was a pregnant Buffy.”
“Wow! You had an immaculate conception by magic. That’s incredible.”
“No it wasn’t an immaculate conception.”
“Well then, what’s holding you back? Who’s the lucky guy that got caught up in this mess?”
Buffy saw Angel start to emerge from the shadows. For the first time she was truly afraid of him with his soul. Not for her sake, but for William’s.
Angel came over cool and collected, but he did not touch the baby.
“It’s ok Cordy. Why don’t you let Buffy and I talk. You can show soldier boy where he will stay.”
Riley was about to protest, but Angel was quick to stop him.
“Don’t worry, she’s not staying in my room, but she isn’t staying in yours either.”
“But if she is alone shouldn’t someone stay with her?” Riley questioned Angel.
“Um, hello? I’m right here.” Buffy said, but the men seemed to have not heard.
“She’ll be fine. I’m sure Spike will be here soon to see his son and he won’t be happy to see either of us in the room with her.”
Buffy’s mouth dropped as she heard the words come from Angel’s mouth. She held William closer to her, almost as if he was her protector.
“Angel, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for you to find out like this but the Initiative is after William and me.”
Angel winced as he heard her roll his Grandchilde’s given name off her lips. Clearly, she respected Spike enough as the father to name the baby after him. He was upset that the Powers That Be had not been so kind to give him such a gift, but he had no time to brood now.
“Buffy, its ok. I’m not upset, but I just wished you had called.”
“I’m sorry. Riley got the call and we ran.”
“You can fill me in about that later. I want to know more about Spike and William. Has he seen his son yet?”
Buffy hung her head down.
“Yes. He saw him as we were running from the Initiative. I should have grabbed him and taken him, but I was so confused and scared at the moment.”
“Understandable Buffy. He is a vampire, you acted on instinct.”
“I acted irrationally, and now because of that William may never be held by his father and Spike may never have had the chance to hold his own son. I feel awful.”
Buffy began to shake and cry all while continuing to clutch William, who had finally calmed down. Angel purposely leaned forward as close as he could to Buffy and wiped the tears from her eyes.
“I can tell you he hasn’t been dusted. In fact, I could tell you a lot of things, but perhaps he’d rather tell you himself.”
Buffy looked up through her tears at Angel. “Huh?”
She felt the familiar tingle down her back as Spike stepped in from the door he was leaning against.
“Buffy.” Spike said, acknowledging her. He was still smarting over her keeping William away from him in Sunnydale, but after hearing her remorse, he had forgotten all about it.
“Spike. I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry. I shouldn’t have left you.”
“No worries. I managed to find my way, thanks to our little bundle of joy. Now don’t be shy or scared, ‘m not gonna hurt you. I just want to hold my son.”
Buffy nervously walked over to him with William. Angel stayed right behind her just in case Spike did something irrational.
“Peaches, give me a sodden’ moment with my son and girl.”
Angel looked at him suspiciously. ‘His girl?’ He thought. ‘Buffy didn’t even protest to Spike referring to her as his.’
Angel moved back to the shadows to brood while Spike had his first moment with his son. Buffy gently placed him into Spike’s arms.
Buffy watched as a gigantic, genuine grin crossed over the master vampire’s face.
“He’s got your eyes.” Buffy said.
“He’s got my name too.” Spike whispered.
“How did you…” Buffy began.
“I just do. We have this link. In fact, I have a link to both of you. It’s a familial bond that allows me to sense you.”
“So that’s how you found us so quickly.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m glad you did. I’m scared and he needs all the protection he can get.”
“Heard Peaches rambling about talking ‘bout it later. How ‘bout we go upstairs, settle the nibblet in and talk.”
“Ok.”
Spike was pleased that she was responding to him in a positive manner. He was concerned about the broody one, but that could wait. He took her hand and lead them over to the elevators so they could find a room.
“By the way luv, he’s got your eyes too.” Spike said as their little bundle of joy peaked open his eyes from his sleep. As they stared down at him, cooing, they both witnessed his eyes flashing emerald green.
Buffy gasped in shock when she realized she had not been seeing things incorrectly earlier. Now not only did they have the Initiative to deal with, but also she had to find out why William’s eyes were flashing green.
“Buffy, it’s a good thing. I promise.”
“What? His eyes flashing green?”
“Yeah goldilocks, but like I said we can talk later. It’s time for some rest.”
Spike opened up the last room at the end of the hall. Buffy followed him in, with no reservations and without questioning his intentions.
So will everything be all happily ever after?Does the adventure stop here? Or will Angel and Riley much things up?
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*hugs* Opal