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Giles almost missed Buffy at Sunnydale airport, looking for the bouncy vivacious blonde he remembered his daughter-in-law to be, he walked right passed the small self-conscious woman holding a baby.

Buffy touched his arm as he passed “Giles? I’m here” her voice was low and horse as a result of the almost constant crying she had done on the plane. That’s it! She thought, I need to be strong for Katie, no more crying or moaning, I need to make the best of this.

“Buffy! I’m sorry I didn’t see...” his words trailed off as he got a good look at the state of her face, the bruising ran from her black eye, all the way to her split lip and was tinged with yellow at the edges. “What happened? Who did this?” his voice was furious, and he was looking around as if he would find the culprit in the small arrivals lounge.

She smiled sadly at him as she waited for the other shoe to drop, “That bastard!” he exclaimed, “I’ll kill him, I know he’s my son but I swear, I’m going to rip his head off and…”

“Giles, please don’t” she broke in close to tears, “I just can’t discuss this now, I need some sleep. I will talk to you about it….I promise, please?” He looked into her eyes, seeing her pain, he quickly apologised and led her to his car.

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Two hours later, once they where in the two story home that Angel had grown up in, Giles insisted on calling a neighbour to borrow a travel cot and had set it up in the living room so Katie would have a place to sleep. He asked Buffy if there was anything special Katie would need and promptly set off to the local shops to buy the items she had listed and quite a few besides that where simply to spoil his only granddaughter. Buffy settled Katie into the travel cot, and sank down on to the sofa to watch her daughter, who had promptly fallen asleep, much too young to be seriously affected by the change in her location.

Am I doing the right thing? Should I have stayed? Will this just make things worse? The questions went round and round in her head, making her dizzy. No she thought, watching her daughter, it was the right decision; God only knows what Angel would have done next. But if it’s the right decision, why do I feel like my heart has been ripped out? Why do I feel so bad? Somewhere between one though and the next, her exhausted body overruled her churning mind and she fell into a fitful sleep.

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“Da, I’m home” an English accented voice called out. When he didn’t get a response, Spike assumed his father had stayed late at work, he went straight into the kitchen and made himself a sandwich, which he munched as he wandered into the living room to see if there was anything on the television.

He stopped dead when he saw the most beautiful sight in world, sleeping on his father’s sofa. My God, he thought, running his eyes over the petite but very sexy body and the shoulder length blonde hair. A golden goddess, but what was she doing in his house? He walked over, intending to wake her, when he was distracted by a small cry, looking around he saw the travel cot and the little girl who was the spitting image of her mother. He changed his direction, heading instead for the baby, whom he picked up.

“Hush now nibblet, your mum’s trying to get some sleep” He cradled the miniature beauty carefully and she began to coo, Spike felt his heart melt as he looked into Katie’s eyes, “Lets, go into the kitchen little one, I’ll show you the garden, let your mummy sleep a little longer. Wish you where old enough to talk, then I could find out who you are”. The blond wandered off with the baby securely in his arms.

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Buffy woke slowly, sure that the past twenty-four hours had been a dream, albeit a rather unpleasant one, she knew Angel was having problems, but he would never hurt…She opened her eyes, seeing the unfamiliar room reality hit her like a punch in the gut, her pain was as much physical as emotional.

Her eyes travelled instinctively to the travel cot, where her daughter was sleeping and her heart stopped when she saw it was empty. Swinging to her feet, she called out, “Katie? Giles?” moving into the hallway she shouted again, this time louder, “Katie? Where are you?” Starting to panic, she ran into the kitchen and almost collided with a man coming through the back door.

“Katie!” She exclaimed, snatching the precious bundle from the stranger, “what are you doing with my baby?” she snarled.

Spike backed up warily eyeing the small blond fireball in front of him, “I think I liked you better when you where asleep!” he remarked, secretly delighting in the sight of this beauty in protective mother mode, but was shocked by the deep bruising that had been hidden by the pillow whilst she had been sleeping, she looks like she’s gone twelve rounds with Mike Tyson, he thought. Who did it? He wondered, if I ever meet him I’m gonna rip off his head and…

“Are you going to answer my question? Or just continue to be a rude asshole?”

“I was showing her the garden” he answered, “I didn’t want her to wake you, you seemed like you needed the rest. Anyway, what are you doing in my da’s house?” He started to get defensive; he didn’t hurt the little bit! Never would, what kind of monster did she think he was?

“Your what?” She questioned, fussing with her daughter, as if Spike had done some invisible damage.

“My da, you know my father?”

“Your father?” Buffy questioned again. “Giles is your dad? Are you sure?”

Spike began to laugh, “So my mother told me! Not sure he was too happy about it when I was a teen, but yes, I’m Spike Giles. And you are?”

“Buffy Giles” she said vaguely, shaking her head “Oh!” she exclaimed, “That’s right, you’re the one married to the loon… um… well, woman in England. Yes Angel told me about you!”

Spike stopped laughing abruptly, “Drusilla, yes I’m divorced now, been living with da for the last 6 months. You’re the bird Angel married? Guess you can’t fault his taste! What happened to your face?” This last question was asked in a soft caring tone, he hadn’t meant to ask, but dammit, who would want to hurt this delightful creature?

“Angel happened” She answered softly, “Giles said I could stay here for a while, until we work it out”

“What! Spike exclaimed, “Angel did this to you? That wanker! I always knew he was a bit of a tosser, but I didn’t think he would stoop this low! I’ll kill him, wait, he didn’t touch the little bit?”

“No!” Buffy answered, “look, he’s just having some problems and me being there is just making things worse, please leave it” Spike took pity on her, dropping the subject but resolved that this would not be the last of it and God help Angel if he came looking for her, he thought with some satisfaction. The ponce wouldn’t live long enough to apologise if he got his way!

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When Giles returned from shopping, he was relieved to find Buffy and Spike sitting at the kitchen island chatting like life long friends. In his concern over settling Buffy and Katie in, he had completely forgotten to warn Buffy that Spike was living with him again. He thought it very unlikely that Buffy had heard much about Spike; given that his two sons hadn’t spoken a word too each other since Angel had left home for college at eighteen and Spike had moved to England a year later. Neither one had ever told him why nor he had ever had the relationship with either of them that would allow these things to be discussed. I wish you where here Jenny, he prayed now as he had prayed then, you would know exactly what to do.

Buffy asked Spike to take Katie and play with her whilst she spoke to Giles, Spike wasn’t too happy at being left out, but dutifully took the little nibblet and the bag of toys Giles had bought into the living room. He was sure that once Buffy got to know him better, she would confide in him, in fact he was hoping she would learn to trust him, but at least she trusted him with her daughter, a fact that pleased him a little too much, but he refused to look at that feeling too closely, he didn’t want to know where it would take him...





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