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Chapter 24

“Promise me you’ll call me the minute you land?” Buffy asked Willow, clutching her in a strong embrace.

“Uhm, yeah, Buffy. Uh…uh, Slayer strength!”

“Sorry,” Buffy said sheepishly, letting go of her friend. Willow smiled.

“And you have to tell me wherever you both end up.”

“I don’t know what I’m gonna do without you here.” Buffy was tearing up, her eyes round and sad, full of tears. Spike gently rubbed Buffy’s back to show his support. “You sure you can’t stay a little longer?”

“I have to get back to Kennedy. She’s not gonna be too happy with me. Who knows, I might need a couch to crash on. Maybe I’ll cross international borders to do it.”

“You better. If you need a place, that is,” Buffy replied quietly. “These babies need their Auntie Willow, after all.”

“Take care, Red,” Spike said, pulling Willow’s luggage out of the trunk of the taxi.

“Thanks,” Willow said with a nod. “Well, I better get going.” She cleared her throat and ran her fingers through her hair. “I hate goodbyes.” Buffy began to cry at those words, and Willow reached out to hug her again.

“Sorry,” Buffy whimpered. “Stupid hormones.”

“Hey, that just means you’re still pregnant, and that’s good,” Willow responded comfortingly, patting Buffy on the back. “Just take it easy. Don’t over work yourself.”

“Yeah. I know. But it’s…”

“Easier said than done?”

“Yeah,” Buffy sniffled, wiping her eyes. “Go on. Don’t be late for check in.” Willow nodded, and with a quick glance at Spike and then back at Buffy, she turned and was off. Buffy sighed, and she felt Spike curl his arm around her waist.

“You alright, pet?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think so. She’s just…she’s my best friend, you know?”

“Yeah. I know.” He kissed her temple, and she closed her eyes, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Where are we gonna go, Spike?” Buffy wondered. “I don’t want to stay here. I want…I want our kids to grow up in a small town, but I need to be someplace where I can…you know, be a Slayer.”

“Why don’t we just start driving and go?”

“We won’t get very far on the motorcycle,” Buffy laughed, as she and Spike got back into the cab.

“That’s why I sold it this morning.” Buffy’s eyes widened.

“You sold your motorcycle? Spike!”

“We’re gonna be a family of four, luv. Can’t exactly bring the little bits home on the back of the bike can we?” Buffy smiled a little. “What?”

“You called us a family.”

“Well…we are, aren’t we?” Buffy nodded, taking his hand in hers.

“Yep. Can you believe it, Spike? We used to try to kill each other, and now we’re having twins.” The cab driver tried to pretend he wasn’t listening, but hearing Buffy say that made him choke a little bit. Buffy smiled a kissed Spike’s neck, making his temperature rise just slightly.

“Luv, let’s save it for christening our new car.”

“It runs?”

“It runs,” Spike promised. “I wanted to surprise you.”

“No black smudges on the windows,” Buffy said dreamily. “You realize it makes driving at night very difficult.”

“When were you ever in my car at night?”

“The night you tricked me into a stake out with you.”

“Our first date,” Spike said with a recollecting nod. “Ah, memories. I can’t wait to tell the kids all about that one.”

“We are not telling them about that. It was a disaster.”

“Which part?”

“Which part?” Buffy asked with a scoff. “Gee, I don’t know, Spike. The part where you tried to get me drunk, or the part where you tied me up and tried to prove your love and devotion by threatening to kill Drusilla.” The cab driver looked even more nervous.

“I was messed up, luv.”

“I won’t argue,” she giggled, as he turned to look at her. He was about to say something, but she stopped him with a quick kiss.

They rode the rest of the way in silence, and when they arrived back at the hotel, a shiny, somewhat new car was waiting out front.

“How did you get it here?” Buffy asked with surprise, and she got out of the cab, and Spike paid the driver.

“Hey, I figured I could get a favor out of somebody over at good old Wolfram and Hart.”

“Oh,” Buffy said with a nod. “I like it. It’s…surprisingly blue. I pegged you for something bright red, and shiny.”

“Hey, red’s most likely to get pulled over, you know.” Buffy laughed at Spike’s logic.

“Alright,” she said with a nod. “I guess all we do now is load up the car and…drive.” She took a shaky but deep breath, realizing that the rest of their lives was about to begin. It was scary, and it was a big step. But, it was a step she desperately wanted to take.

***

Buffy woke to find herself leaning on Spike’s shoulder, as they drove down an empty state road. She blinked, letting her eyes adjust to the sunlight, but she didn’t move, not wanting him to know she was awake just yet. This silence was good. It was perfect. Her hand was resting against his knee, and he had a hand resting over hers. He was humming softly to himself, as a song faintly drifted out of the car speakers.

The world outside the car was harsh and bright, and all Buffy could see for miles around was yellow fields meeting blue, cloudless skies. The sun beat down hard on the road, making the air much warmer than it should have been for this time of year.

She was comfortable with him. She only hoped she wasn’t hurting him by leaning on him like this. At least she wasn’t leaning on his injured shoulder. Come to think of it, he hasn’t complained about the pain since the other night.

“Where are we?” she finally asked, making her waking status known. Spike stopped humming and cleared his throat.

“Passed the Nevada border about an hour ago, luv.”

“Okay.”

“You want to stop and get some breakfast?” Buffy was about to answer when she heard Spike’s stomach rumble. She couldn’t help but giggle.

“What? Bloke’s gotta eat, doesn’t he? I’ve missed a lot of good food. Gotta make up for lost time.”

“You should be careful,” Buffy laughed. “Vampire metabolism is a lot better than human metabolism.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t have to worry about that. You’re the Slayer. Slayers have, what? Some kind of inborn physical training system that never lets them get fat?”

“Um, hello?” Buffy asked, pointing to her large belly.

“That’s different. You’re pregnant.”

“Yeah, I just wish I could fit into my jeans again. I miss those jeans. They made my butt look great.”

“You have a nice ass, Slayer. Even as a pregnant lady.”

“You’re just saying that because you have sex with me.”

“Well, that, and because it’s true.” Buffy rolled her eyes at him. “You’re the sexiest pregnant woman I’ve ever seen.”

“Shut up. I’m ugly. I’m fat. I’m…look at my split ends. I thought being pregnant gave you great hair.” Spike eyed her.

“So you don’t want to be pregnant ever again?” Buffy looked up at him sharply.

“I…well, I don’t…I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it. I didn’t think I was going to get out of this alive, so I haven’t thought that far ahead.” She looked at him when he said nothing. “Have you?”

“Sure, I’ve thought about it, luv. ‘Course, it was when I was a vampire and had no idea I’d ever be a dad. I always pictured you as a mum, though.”

“Really?”

“Sure. You took good care of the Nibblet, you know…after your mum and everything.”

“Yeah,” Buffy said quietly. “I guess so. She was a pain in the ass though.” Spike laughed at that. “She was! She never did her chores or went to bed on time. She sucked at getting off to school on time. I’m sorry, but once she’s out that door, it’s her own responsibility…” She sighed and let it go. “She’s doing better now. She’s better off away from me.”

“How can you say that?”

“It’s true. Her grades are better. She’s happy.”

“Just because she’s got good marks doesn’t mean she’s happy. She could be staying in every night and studying, because she’s miserable there.” Buffy shrugged.

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

“You’ll be a good mum, Buffy. You will. And I’ll try to be a good dad. Maybe that’s why I’m still here, eh? Maybe that’s why I’m human. Maybe I’m supposed to do the one thing I never got to do before.” He moved his hand to her belly, and she smiled. “I don’t remember my dad.” Buffy perked up a little. She sat up in the seat and looked at him intently. “My mum was a good woman, before I turned her into a monster. She always looked out for me. I guess now that I think about it, she smothered me too much. Probably why I was such a ponce.” He shook his head at the memory of sitting alone in the corner of the parlor, writing down words dripping with sap as he gazed at the beautiful Cecily. Perhaps she was beautiful to William, but to Spike, nothing compared to Buffy.

“I don’t know much about your life before you were a vampire,” Buffy said quietly. “I wanna know. I wanna be able to tell our kids.”

“In case I die?”

“Spike…”

“Sorry, luv. Didn’t mean to sound like that.” He cleared his throat. “What do you wanna know?”

“Well, I know that you were a poet. I know that Dru turned you. But…I’d like to know more.”

“Well…like I said, I didn’t know my dad very well. The only memory I have of him was when I was little. I remember, because I was looking up between him and mum, and they were arguing. I was scared. And then he knelt down to me and told me something…I can’t even remember what it was, but he looked sad.” The next thing I remember was mum waking me in the middle of the night. There were a bunch of people just rushing through the hallway, carrying my dad to his bed. But he was already dead.”

“That must have been terrible for you.”

“Mum took good care of me. She felt guilty, I think. She blamed herself for his death. Back then, we didn’t know what caused it, but it was probably a heart attack.” Buffy nodded. “I was an only child, and Mum was afraid of losing me too, because I got sick a lot as a lad. It was mostly chest colds and such, but it scared her to no end.”

“Spike?”

“Hmm?”

“What was your last name? I want to know…I want our babies to have your name.” Spike smirked a little, and he looked at her.

“Pratt.” Buffy made a face.

“Pratt?”

“William Gunther Pratt.”

“Gunther?” Buffy laughed. “Like the coffee guy on Friends?”

“Yes, luv, because he was serving coffee at a café with a big, tacky couch in 1852.”

“Sorry,” Buffy giggled. “No offence, but our son won’t be taking your middle name.”

“That’s quite alright, pet. I don’t particularly like it anyway. Besides, I died. I don’t have a last name. I don’t have a first name. I’m just…”

“Spike.”

“Yeah.”

“I want our babies to have your name. And not Spike.”

“Why don’t you just stick Summers on the end of their names? Summers would sound a lot better than Pratt.”

“I like Pratt,” Buffy said thoughtfully. She ran the thought over and over in her mind. Buffy Pratt. Elizabeth ‘Buffy’ Pratt. Elizabeth Anne Pratt. Buffy Anne Summers-Pratt. Pratt-Summers? She suddenly realized what she was doing. Get a grip, she thought to herself. Just because you’re having babies doesn’t mean you’re getting married. Still, she couldn’t help but think Elizabeth Pratt had a sophisticated sound to it. Buffy Pratt? Eh. She wasn’t so sure about that. Anyway, there was no need to think about that. It wasn’t like they were even talking about getting married. Or engaged, for that matter. Could ex-vampires turned human even get married anyway? Could a slayer marry an ex-vampire? Were there rules about that in some slayer handbook that she never received? She made a mental checklist to get in touch with Kendra’s watcher, who’d apparently given his slayer a handbook.

Instead of talking about scary things like marriage, Buffy decided to stray away from the topic of names.

“I’m getting pretty hungry. Let’s stop soon.”

“Sure, luv.” He kissed the side of her head, and she moved to sit back in her seat and close her eyes until they got where they were going.





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