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Author's Chapter Notes:
I was warned by a favorite reader that this chapter should be posted with a warning. Apparently she almost choked on her ice cream when she couldn't help laughing like a loon. So be very very careful and don't put anything in your mouth while reading this.
Buffy sat on her couch watching Spike charm her mother. She was sipping on a cup of hot chocolate and trying to sort through her rather ambivalent feelings. On the one hand, it was a good thing that her mom liked Spike. Maybe it would make it easier for Joyce to take the news that he was having incredible sex with her daughter.

Hopefully.

On the other hand, she found it just a little bit disturbing how warmly her mother welcomed into her home what she knew to be a vampire who had repeatedly tried to kill Buffy. Okay, so yeah, he had helped her save the world that one time, but it was for totally selfish reasons! Then, totally ignoring the deal they had made, he came back a few months later and kidnapped Willow and Xander. And again with the selfish reasons. Although, when you stop and think about it, is kidnapping ever an altruistic activity?

She was also a little disturbed to realize that she had never revoked Spike's invitation to her house. She had revoked Angel's. Twice. Once when he went all evil soulless dickhead on them, and then again when he tried to put that claim on her and pissed her off more than she had previously thought possible. So why hadn't she added Spike's name to the spell the last time? Or done a disinvite spell specially for Spike at the appropriate time, like the moment he had last walked out the door?

Seriously, what the hell?

As the Slayer, her first priority should have been ensuring that a known Slayer of Slayer's did not have access to her home, where he could slip in and slaughter her and her mother in their sleep, so why had she never even thought about doing a disinvite, much less done it?

To make matters just a little bit worse (because even the PTB need a good laugh every now and then) the only reason she had even noticed her huge lapse in judgement was the look on Spike's face when he was able to walk in unhampered without a new invite. Then she was unable to feel as mad at herself as she wanted to be thanks to the wave of warmth and happiness flooding her through the bond as Spike oh-so-politely helped her out of her coat.

Damn vampire with his warm fuzzy feeling and good manners. What the hell kind of vampire has warm fuzzies anyway? Just then she noticed the play of muscles under his tight t-shirt as he reached across the table for more tiny marshmallows, which made her feel her own warm fuzzies right in the pit of her stomach.

Her kind of vampire, obviously. Damn vampire.

"So, Buffy," her mom interrupted her mental ramblings, "what are these new developments you mentioned on the phone this morning?" Joyce asked.

Buffy wasn't the only one who was wallowing in ambivalent feelings. Joyce still hadn't decided how she felt about all the changes that had occurred for Buffy the last month or so. It was great that Buffy was stronger and faster now. Anything that made her harder to kill was a good thing, but Joyce still resented the hell out of the whole original Slayer package. It put an expiration date on her baby girl. The baby girl who hadn't even had the chance to really experience life yet, was now put in the middle of so many terrible situations. Situations that would cost most people to lose their minds but only made Buffy's eyes look older. Too old. And now with what Buffy referred to as the 'Slayer improvement package' it was just another thing that pulled Buffy even further away from the normal, happy life Joyce wanted most for her daughter, and apparently the so called 'improvements' were still coming in.

"Well," Buffy tried to start, but this whole conversation wigged her out, big time. How the hell do you tell your mom that you're 'married' to a soulless killer who is about a hundred years your senior? Not even the fact that Joyce genuinely like Spike was going to help smooth this over. Oh, well. It had to be done. May as dive right in. "When I went to stop at the Bronze last night and say hi to the gang before patrol, I happened to run into Spike."

Or I felt his signature, tracked him down, dragged him to the alley and molested him. Same diff really.

"For some reason, the whole demony, must claim thing with the eyes and the fangs happened, so I dragged him into the alley and we performed a claim...ceremony...thing."

"So now he's your...oh what is it? Oh! Your childe, like that nice Mr. Dalton then? Surely you didn't make Spike your minion, from what you told me about what happened with Angel, it sounded more like an assault than a ceremony when you made him your minion." And yep, her mom just sneered when she said Angels name, just like she always had. And yep, Spike giggled like a little fangirl at the reminder that a highschool girl had made his grandsire her minion.

Lovely.

Joyce and Spike would probably spend many wonderful hours bonding over their mutual hatred of Buffy's ex. If they all managed to survive this conversation. "Surely that's not a bad thing either way, though Buffy. So why are you acting so nervous.?"

"Well it's kind of like what happened with Dalton, but it's a different kind of claim this time." She looked down at her fingers twisting together in her lap, unable to meet her mothers eyes as she tried desperately to think of something to call a mating claim that didn't actually involve the word 'mating'. Nobody wanted Joyce to think of Spike and her daughter mating, that could only ever be of the bad.

"Well what kind of claim? And just how many different kinds of claims are there that you can perform anyway Buffy?" Joyce asked.

Buffy refused to look at anything other than the busy fingers in her lap that were trying to twist each other right off of her hands.

Spike finally stepped in, much to Buffy's relief. Let him be the one who used the dreaded word. She would give him some blood afterwards to help speed up the healing he was sure to need. "There are only three kinds of vampiric claims Joyce. The one that Buffy and I have entered into runs much deeper and stronger than the other two, then all of the others, really. They all work differently, it's actually quite fascinating,"

Buffy looked at Spike in awe. Not only was he heroically saving her from being the one to tell her mom this, but as soon as he started talking about vampy bonds everything about him changed. His posture, his accent, and even the rhythms of his speech now closely resembled Giles when he was giving a lecture.

Who would've thunk it? Spike was not only intelligent and educated, he was well bred too! Oh this would make good tease material at the right time! "The minion bond can be forced on anyone by a vampire with power, human or vampire. Both can be made minions by the act of biting and saying the proper words in the ancient language. It's rather like having having a robot slave in some aspects, as a minion will be physically incapable of refusing to carry out an order from their master spoken in the ancient words. The childe claim however can only be formed between two vampires. Usually..." he looked at Buffy out of the corner of his eye. She didn't let it bother her, she was used to being a freak in the world of humans already so she could care less if she was now a freak in the demon world as well.

It didn't bother her at all.

Really.

"A childer claim can not be forced as some amount of heartfelt agreement must be felt at the time of the ceremony when the words are spoken. One can be tricked into it, but even if you forced someone to say they agreed, if they didn't really feel agreeable the claim will be unsuccessful. If however you get them to think about agreement at the right time, it doesn't matter what they think they are agreeing to. As long as the feeling of aggreement is truly felt then the claim will succeed." he paused and took a sip of his hot chocolate.

Too bad Joyce knew a stall tactic when she saw one.

"What about the claim between you and Buffy now?" she asked.

"Well it's very different from the others, as there has to be reciprocation as well as agreement, which basically means that I have the same claim on her as she has on me, and this claim can only be shared with one other, whereas you may claim multiple childer and The claim we have upon each other is only ever shared with one other, and the bond created cannot ever be broken, not even by death. When one of us dies, the other will shortly follow. Because of this the link between us is much stronger than what you have with the other claims. Where they can feel emotions and sometimes even thoughts that she sends out intentionally, we have to actually work at blocking them away from each other, although we will probably never be able to block the emotions. I believe it is a survival tool. Since our survival is now so closely linked to each other, it is a good thing that we can alway sense when the other is in danger. And if we're too far apart to reach other strength can actually be sent through the bond to the one in danger."

"That is totally of the good! " Buffy couldn't help but interrupt. "So I could send you on patrol and stay home watching my shows and sending you the muscle power! We gotta try that out!"

Joyce rolled her eyes and tried to look annoyed with her daughter, but really this was probably the best Slayer related news she had heard yet. Buffy now had a very strong and capable fighter who would stand steadfastly in her corner. Spike was nothing if not a survivor.

However, all that aside, Joyce was no fool and knew that there was still something they were hiding. "Well that is fantastic news. I'm very glad to know how this claim works, now you just need to tell me exactly what kind of claim this is."

Spike and Buffy looked at each other nervously before Buffy returned to her determined monitoring of the twisty fingers in her lap.

Nuh-uh.

There was no.

Way.

She would not be the one to tell her mom this last bit of news. Spike better suck it up and get it over with, because Buffy could sit here and count the pores in her hands for hours.

Spike rolled his eyes at her cowardice and bit the bullet. "Itsamatingclaim." he rushed through the words quickly and softly, but Joyce heard anyway.

"A. Mating. Claim." Joyce repeated slowly the word bouncing around in her head. She took a few moment to process this information. "When, exactly, does the mating part of a mating claim come into play?" she asked in a deceptively calm voice.

Spike looked around for a way out of the coming conversation and the hazards he was sure it represented to his health, but found nothing. Cowardly damn Slayer was still counting the wrinkles in her knuckles.

"Whentheclaimisfirstformed." Spike finally answered in a rush, still afraid to meet the woman's eyes, but even more afraid of taking his eyes off of her. After all, Buffy was always pulling stakes out of pockets that couldn't exist on outfits that barely existed. She might have gotten her ability to pull weapons out of midair from her mother, it's not like the other Slayer's he had faced had displayed this disturbing skill.

"So when you were out all night last night..." Joyce led, and Buffy, much to Spike's dismay, followed.

"We were...strengthening the claim." Buffy tried to be diplomatic, she really did, but Spike couldn't help but wish she had kept her mouth shut and just let her mother reach her own conclusions. The look on her face was becoming more frightening by the moment, but at least she wasn't reaching into God knoows what or where for an axe yet. Still, her silence and her absolute stillness were starting to seriously freak the blonde couple out. The two warriors were sitting tensely on the edge of their seats ready to bolt at the slightest provocation.

After what had to be the longest five minutes of his unlife, she finally raised her eyes and glared at the nervous vampire with fire in her eyes. "So you spent all night...mating...with my daughter in an alley?" she asked hoarsely.

"We left the alley, Mom, Spike has a motel room..." Spike grabbed her hand and squeezed it in warning. He squeezed hard, but it was too late. The words were already out there. He watched Joyce's hands very closely hoping to at least see the pocket in reality where the Slayer hid her weapons before he dusted. The look on this middle aged woman's face had him feeling closer to dust than he had ever felt before.

"So you had my teenage daughter in a motel room all night. Mating." She stood up and took a step in his direction. Nerves jumping and fear running through his limbs he jumped up and did something he hadn't done since he was turned. He skittered away.

Fucking.

Skittered.

He was sure he'd be ashamed later, but for now he was too busy skittering from the terrifyiing woman stalking him to worry about later. Right now, he wasn't sure there would be a later. Buffy jumped and put herself between Spike and her mother, yelling to get her mom's attention. "You can't kill him, Mom! If he dies, I die!"

Joyce's eyes never wavered from the peroxide blonde as she continued to stalk him. He backed out of the living room and into the dining room with a look of panic in his eyes.

And yes, he was ashamed to say he was still skittering.

Maintaining eye contact with her prey, Joyce bent and grabbed an axe from underneath the chair without missing a step.

"I won't kill him baby. I just need to hurt him a little." Joyce growled.

Spike's emotions were practically crippling Buffy now as he began to outright panic. Joyce had just fucking growled at him! He'd always wondered about the heritage of Slayer's but not anymore. Obviously they were descended from demons!

"If you hurt him, you hurt me! That's the way a mating claim works Mom!"

Why the hell did she keep using that word? Was she trying to get him killed?

"I feel what he feels and he feels what I feel."

Joyce paused. "Really?"

"Yes!" they both shouted.

Joyce dropped the axe, then reached out and smacked Buffy upside the head, smirking victoriously when Spike cried out just as loudly as Buffy. "What the hell, Mom?!" Buffy yelled.

"He touched you, Buffy." Joyce yelled back. "He...he...mated with you! In an alley! My teenage daughter, mated in an alley! Joyce started stalking him again, but at least the axe was now hanging at her side and not propped up on her shoulder. Buffy and Spike were both skittering away from her now. "Why would he even tie his life so closely to yours in the first place? You're the one who's always reminding me that Slayer's come with an expiration date, so does that mean he's suicidal? I just don't understand what would lead him to mate with my daughter! IN A FREAKING ALLEY!" Joyce was screaming by the end.

"No expiration date now Mom!" Buffy saw a way out of this. "I heal like he does now, and I won't age, so the only thing that can kill me now is a stake to the heart, beheading or fire! It's like being a vampire, without losing the sunlight or drinking blood to survive!"

Well, she drank his, but this didn't seem like the time to get into that too deeply. They were backed against the kitchen door now and there was no where else to go.

Joyce stopped and dropped the axe, staring at her daughter, stunned. "No more expiration date?" she whispered.

"No more expiration date," Buffy said, matching her mother's tone and trying to ignore the way her big bad vampire was cowering behind her. "I'm like a twinkie now, so full of preservatives I'll outlast time itself. And Mom, I'm not fighting alone anymore." Tears started rolling down Joyce's face and Buffy took a small, cautious step forward. "I'll never live a normal life the way you want for me," Another small step. "No kids for me. But that's okay because they're gross anyway with all leaky and loud." One last step and she kicked the axe behind her "But I have a real partner now. One who can help me in the fight and won't be a distraction or a hindrance, because he's just as strong as me." Spike grabbed the axe and threw it out the door behind him. "And I'm not gonna die anytime soon, if ever." Buffy finished.

Joyce threw her arms around her daughters neck and the two women sobbed on each other as they slowly sank to the floor. "Normal is overrated anyway." Joyce finally said between sniffles as they both calmed down. "I only ever wanted you to have a chance to live. And if being...." she just couldn't say the word again, she could still feel the outrage burning inside her, waiting for an excuse. "If being with Spike will give you that chance, then I have no objections."

"Thank you Mom." Buffy whispered, standing and walking over to Spike to help him up from where he still sat against the back door. "Can we go back to the living room now and discuss this calmly? No yelling, no stalking, no weapons, and no skittering or cowering." She shot a derisive look at Spike with this last.

"Oi! You were skittering too, little missy!" he pointed out. He may have sacrificed a large piece of his manhood tonight, but if he was going down for it, she'd go down with him dammit!

"Maybe so, but at least I didn't cower!" she shot back. Joyce rolled her eyes and led them back to the living room. It was going to be a long day if they acted like this the entire time they were hammering out the detail of this new arrangment.





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